Jakarta – More than 500,000 houses have been destroyed in Indonesia due to riots and natural disasters over the past three months, according to Minister of Housing and Regional Development Erna Witoelar.

Jakarta – A mob of some 200 people set fire to a major market in Jayapura, the main city of the country's easternmost province of Irian Jaya, which is seeking independence.

The mob attacked the Sentani market early on Saturday, burning hundreds of kiosks and stalls, the SCTV television station said. No one was injured in the fire, it added.

Makassar – At least 124 people were arrested over the weekend for their alleged involvement in communal clashes in the Central Sulawesi town of Poso, local security officers said on Sunday.

Tom Fawthrop – Political expediency persuaded the UN mission in East Timor to revoke its original requirement to disarm FALINTIL, the army of the pro-independence rebel group Fretilin, but what of its future status?

Ambon – In Maluku terms Mrs. Em, a Muslim housewife in this violence-torn city, is lucky. She is alive and so is her husband, although their house in the Sirimau district of the city was burned down by a Christian mob in July last year, and they fled by ship to the Javanese city of Surabaya.

Jakarta – A senior Indonesian regional military officer has slammed the leaders of the country's political parties, saying their self-interests are leading the country to suicide.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The United States has attacked Indonesia for its double standards over access to the riot-torn Malukus, questioning Jakarta's commitment to openness and democracy. The diplomatic row stems from Indonesia's conflicting policy over access to its trouble spots.

Ambon – Thousands of terrified residents fled the already ravaged village of Waai on Friday, following a murderous overnight raid by a group of heavily armed people.

Jakarta – Indonesia's defense minister has accused supporters of former dictator Suharto of bombing the attorney general's office and inciting fighting across the country, news reports said Friday.

London – Slowly but surely, and away from the prying of television cameras, Indonesia is starting to fall apart. Doomsayers have been predicting the 'Balkanisation' of the country ever since East Timor managed to wrest itself free of the central government's grasp in October last year.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesian Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono has warned of a recurring wave of violence in the country fomented by people who are unhappy with the government's ongoing probe into the corruption case of former President Suharto.

Jose Manuel Tesoro, Jakarta – The Indonesian presidency may be the toughest job on the planet. But for a few months after his October 20, 1999, election, most believed that if anyone could do it, it would be Abdurrahman Wahid.

Jakarta – A Christian crisis group in the beleaguered eastern Indonesian city of Ambon said Friday that troops were withdrawn from a Christian village in the city before it was attacked by thousands of Muslims.

Makassar – Wirabuana Military Commander Maj. Gen. Slamet Kirbiantoro Sulawesi announced here on Thursday that a total of 211 people had been confirmed dead as a result of the recent clashes in the Central Sulawesi town of Poso.

Irna Gustia/FW & LM, Jakarta – The Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI), claims the recent government-sanctioned sacking of around 1,000 workers from Sony Indonesia represents a political scandal.

Jakarta – Electronics giant Sony plans to lay off 928 staff who stopped work more than two months ago in a dispute over new working conditions, a company official said Friday.

Penny Crisp and Jose Manuel Tesoro, Jakarta – It was tough enough to bring down Suharto and sustained enough to help fell his successor. Now the issue of Indonesia's economy looms large again – as possibly the biggest threat to the survival of Abdurrahman Wahid.

Washington – The United States has said its arms embargo on Indonesia would remain in place, despite complaints that the measure is tying the Indonesian government's hands as it battles rampant religious violence.

John O'Callaghan, London – An international group of human rights campaigners called on UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday to set up a tribunal to try Indonesian soldiers who terrorised civilians in East Timor.

Jakarta – The Democratic People's Party (PRD) filed a Rp 5.5 billion (US$617,000) lawsuit with the Central Jakarta District Court on Wednesday against former president Soeharto in connection with the July 27, 1996 violence on Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – There is one small neighbourhood in Jakarta where thieves dare not go. Doors are often left unlocked and everybody knows everybody else. In a city where hunger is endemic, chickens roam freely. Children play soccer and teenagers strum guitars.

Tom McCawley, Jakarta – Two bombs were discovered at the Indonesian attorney general's office in Jakarta on Wednesday, inflaming fears of political uncertainty and helping to drive the rupiah to its lowest closing price for more than a year.

John McBeth in Jakarta and Oren Murphy in Central Sulawesi – Two months ago, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid ordered authorities to stop Muslim militants from landing in the northern Moluccas. They went anyway, and have since been blamed for some of the worst blood-letting since religious strife began there last year.

Jakarta – Fighting between local Malays and settlers from Madura broke out on Thursday in the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan on Borneo island, leaving at least one dead, an official said.

Abdul Haerah HR/FW & LM, Jakarta – Twenty-nine members of the 711 Military District Command are being questioned intensively about inciting and participating in recent riots in Poso, Central Sulawesi. Seven of the accused directly participated, supporting various parties in a conflict which has claimed at least 211 victims.

Jakarta – The Indonesian navy has arrested a leader of a militant Muslim group and some 250 of his men who were fighting sectarian battles against Christians in eastern Maluku islands, a report said Thursday.

Dili – Hundreds of Indonesians armed with bows and arrows have blocked roads in West Timor to keep UN aid officials from continuing repatriation of East Timorese refugees, a spokesman for the UN High Commission for Refugees said Wednesday in Dili.

Shoeb Kagda – High-level government audit has implicated senior members of the former Suharto administration of siphoning off billions of dollars of state funds. The report comes against the backdrop of a political showdown between President Abdurrahman Wahid and Indonesia's Parliament.

B Sugiharto/SWA & LM, Jakarta – A violent clash in Surabaya between police and supporters of a charitable foundation forced to hand over their building to a local business has left 12 hospitalised. Local party officials have denied previous reports that members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Task Force were involved in the clash.

Jakarta – Leaders of the pro-independence movement in Indonesia's easternmost province of Irian Jaya said Wednesday that President Abdurrahman Wahid had not objected to their bid for independence.

D Tjiptono/SWA & LM, Jakarta – Around 50 students form the Student Executive Board (BEM) of the University of Indonesia (UI) demonstrated in front of the US Embassy on Tuesday, Independence Day, demanding the US government stay out of Indonesian domestic affairs.

Jakarta – Controversy over recent comments by President Abdurrahman Wahid that certain political figures stirring trouble to destabilise his presidency will be detained has rounded off today with some denials, some confirmations and yet more fodder for denials and confirmations.

Jakarta – The publication in Gatra magazine this week of a list of prominent figures from NGOs, business and past and current governments who have allegedly sought to discredit the President and destabilise his presidency has stirred up immense interest, not least from those on it.

Jakarta – Recent comments by the President that he will soon detain certain politicians who are fanning the flames of national disintegration in order to destabilise his presidency have created considerable confusion and controversy.

Dili – United Nations police have opened investigations into three more recent discoveries of human remains in East Timor, likely linked to anti-independence violence last year, a spokesman said Monday in Dili.

Associated Press in Manado – An intensive search yesterday failed to find any more survivors of a ferry disaster, as the few who were rescued described the ship's final moments.

East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao's new Australian wife played a "fundamental and key" role over the past decade in the resistance to Indonesian occupation, Portugal's ambassador to Jakarta said Monday in Dili.

Andrew Marshall, Jakarta – The Newmont Minahasa Raya gold mine on Indonesia's Sulawesi island has restarted operations after protesting locals were persuaded to end a blockade of the site, Newmont said on Monday.

Jakarta – Three Indonesian policemen and a separatist rebel were killed when gunmen attacked a police truck in the restive province of Aceh, reports said Monday.

Kupang – Angry over a spate of recent attacks, hundreds of villagers blockaded a road in Indonesian-controlled West Timor demanding that thousands of East Timorese refugees be sent home.

New York – Stressing that a climate of fear is still a reality in the East Timorese refugee camps in West Timor, US Ambassador Richard Holbrooke questioned Indonesia's ability to control the pro-Jakarta militia.

Terry McCarthy, Jakarta – When President Abdurrahman Wahid moved into the presidential palace last October, his spirits and those of the country were riding high. After 32 years of Suharto's dictatorship and 18 months of interim rule by Suharto's former deputy B.J.

[The following is an excerpt from an interview with Revrisond Baswir, an expert on political economy at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta. He shared his views on reforms in the Indonesian Military (TNI) with The Jakarta Post's Agus Asip Hasani last week.]

Vaudine England – Reza Pahlevi's shiny namecard describes him as the head of Laskar, or the Front to Defend Islam (FPI). That means he is mentor to and organiser of thousands of young Muslim men who, fired by a militant vision of Islam, have in recent months shown an increasing readiness to demonstrate, pressure and even attack enemies of the faith.

Jonathan Head, Jakarta – After 18 months, there is still no end in sight to the conflict between Christian and Muslim communities in the Moluccas. If anything, the outbreaks of fighting are becoming more destructive, with the increasing use of modern weapons.

Jakarta – Indonesia's leading politicans sat together on the island of Bali for two days last week dissecting the pros and cons of supporting Abdurrahman Wahid, their controversial president of eight months.

Jakarta – Police in Jakarta will deploy trained marksmen in a bid to combat rising crime in the Indonesian capital, a spokesman said yesterday.

"The move is show that the police are serious in fighting crime and to make people feel psychologically safe," said police spokesman Colonel Zainuri Lubis.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Denpasar – A gathering of prominent national figures made a strong call here on Saturday for the nation to recommit to the ideals of reform by recommending an absolute break from antidemocratic institutions and practices of the past, including putting former president Soeharto and his cronies on trial.

Irna G.W/SWA & LM, Jakarta – The high profile gathering of academics, community leaders and politicians taking part in the National Discussion Forum (FRN), currently being held at the Kartika Plaza Hotel, Denpasar, Bali were surprised by tens of students who staged a noisy protest.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The Indonesian police have taken another significant step towards their long awaited split from the military – restructuring their ranks and replacing their military ranks with British style ranks.