Jakarta – Almost one third of Indonesian legislators hardly attended any parliamentary sessions in the 10 months to July, reports said Friday.

East Timorese asylum seekers might find it hard to settle back in their homeland even though it was technically safe to return, the United Nations refugee agency said yesterday.

Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock dismissed requests from refugee lawyers that 1600 East Timorese asylum seekers, some who arrived eight years ago, be issued special visas to stay in Australia.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri has come under fire for appointing her businessman husband Taufik Kiemas as head of a ministerial visit to China earlier this month.

Her advisers and party members fear her opponents will exploit this and other political shenanigans of Mr Taufik to dent her image.

Bambang Nurbianto and Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Reforms have come to a complete halt under the leadership of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, as she prefers to collaborate with the remnants of the New Order regime rather than work with reform-minded leaders, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) said on Thursday.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – An educated, professional Indonesian civil servant – let's call him Johannes – once had a senior, apparently stable job in a region outside Jakarta. His pay and responsibilities came from Jakarta and, though nothing like that received by his intellectual equals in the West, it did arrive with reassuring predictability.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri has come under fire for appointing her businessman husband Taufik Kiemas as head of a ministerial visit to China earlier this month.

Her advisers and party members fear her opponents will exploit this and other political shenanigans of Mr Taufik to dent her image.

Jakarta – Almost one third of Indonesian legislators hardly attended any parliamentary sessions in the 10 months to July, reports said Friday.

Jakarta – United Development Party (PPP) chairman Hamzah Haz, who is also the vice president, is scheduled to meet with Zainuddin MZ, leader of a PPP splinter group, in Surabaya on Jan. 5 to mend the rift in the party, an official said on Thursday.

Banda Aceh – A family of three shot dead by unidentified gunmen were the latest victims of violence in Indonesia's Aceh province where at least eight others were killed in past days, reports said Thursday.

Ambon – At least three people were hurt in a shootout between Indonesian police, soldiers and marines in the riot-torn city of Ambon, residents and a navy officer said Thursday.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Indonesia's once all-powerful army made a rare admission on Thursday that it was still struggling to instil ideals of human rights among its quarter of a million men.

East Timor's health ministry Thursday formally confirmed the territory's first cases of HIV/AIDS infection.

In a statement, the ministry said three members of an unidentified family had been found with the HIV virus and were receiving "assistance and help. "It is estimated that the family contracted the virus in the last three to four years", the ministry said.

Michael Richardson, Singapore – The United States has quietly opened the way to resume military training with Indonesia despite a congressional ban.

Fitri Wulandari, Jakarta – Long criticized for a lack of attention to the widespread abuse of women and children – perhaps the nation's most precious resource – the government promised on Monday to correct this appalling situation.

A leading Indonesian rights group joined the fray in the public debate about President Megawati Sukarnoputri's plan to drop graft charges against former dictator Suharto, saying it will sound the death toll on justice in the country.

Jakarta – Dozens of former employees of the Shangri-La Hotel staged a protest in front of the hotel on Jl. Jend. Sudirman, Central Jakarta, on Monday to mark the one-year anniversary of their dispute with management.

They erected a banner, five meters high and 30 meters long, which they claimed was the biggest ever used in an Indonesian labor protest.

Vaudine England – President Megawati Sukarnoputri tried to put a brave face on her failure to celebrate Christmas with the indigenous Papuans of Irian Jaya province by sending a letter of apology to Governor Jaap Salossa on Monday. While aides said her absence was due to a cold, analysts said it had more to do with the realisation she might be unwelcome.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim country with 210 million people, is labeled as one of the most corrupt countries. In theory, Islam as well as other religions prohibit their followers from bribing and stealing, but in practice, many are involved in corruption. Why?

Ati Nurbaiti – In a country where the first ever woman president stands proud, along with a few other women within the central and local governments, awareness has been raised of the issue of "sexual terrorism."

The alarming term was raised on December 11 by the National Commission for Violence Against Women during a press conference on its annual review.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri called on all government officials and civil servants to carry out all her decisions and not to hamper the implementation of government policies, a senior government minister said on Monday.

Louise Williams – East Timorese journalists are dismayed over an agreement which will probably leave their newly independent nation without an independent national broadcaster and hands control of television and radio to its former colonial power, Portugal.

Jakarta – Indonesian soldiers have killed four suspected separatist rebels in the troubled province of Aceh, the official Antara news agency said Tuesday.

Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta – Indonesia breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday as Christians flocked to churches across the world's most populous Muslim nation for Christmas celebrations free of violence, although security remained heavy.

Jakarta – Indonesia is witnessing a growing number of child abuse cases but does not yet have adequate legislation to cope with the problem, according to the National Commission for Child Protection.

The most common forms of abuse were rape, prostitution and forced labour. School dropouts were also a serious problem, the commission said in its year-end report.

R.K. Nugroho, Jayapura – Jayapura Police apprehended 42 students involved in a violent antigovernment demonstration in the city on Saturday, but some were later released after questioning. The 42 students were arrested because they attacked security personnel after being asked to disperse peacefully.

Jakarta – Police in Jayapura, the capital of Irian Jaya province were seen beating defiant protesters on Saturday in an attempt to break up a demonstration which was held to protest themurder of proindependence figure Theys Hiyo Eluay.The protesters gathered outside the provincial legislative building, which was already tightly guarded by the police.

Jakarta – Four bodies have been found in the Indonesian province of Aceh, a region plagued by violence exchanges between government and separatist rebel forces, a press report said Monday.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government acknowledges it is simply running out of ideas to create employment for the three million new job seekers each year and the nation's pool of 40 million unemployed. Only 1.6 million jobs were becoming available each year, said Manpower and Transmigration Minister Jacob Nuwa Wea.

Jakarta – The city administration's plan to conduct random identity card checks in a campaign to discourage unskilled outsiders from thronging the capital in search of work has sparked criticism and confusion.

The health of former Indonesian dictator Suharto improved slightly as a plan by Indonesian president Megawati Sukarnoputri to withdraw multimillion-dollar graft charges against him sparked intense media debate.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – National Assembly chairman Amien Rais, one of the fiercest critics of former president Suharto, said yesterday that parliament was likely to support a presidential motion to drop charges against the ailing 80-year-old.

Jakarta – Public order officers demolished on Saturday evening dozens of tents, stalls and kiosks erected by sidewalk vendors along busy roads in Kampung Melayu and Jatinegara in East Jakarta.

The demolitions were designed to bring some sense of order to the capital, where vendors operate in an uncontrolled manner.

Jakarta – Indonesia will not follow Argentina and halt its payment on the nation's public debt, top economic minister Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti said Monday.

Berni K. Moestafa, Jakarta – Argentina teetering into economic chaos right under the nose of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) hammers home some lessons for Indonesia on how it should work with the fund, experts said.

Banda Aceh – A policeman and five suspected separatist rebels were killed in the latest outbreak of violence to hit Indonesia's restive province of Aceh, police said Sunday.

Sydnye – East Timor has finally reached agreement with US energy giant Phillips Petroleum on a plan to pipe gas to Australia that could ease the fledgling nation's poverty, its officials said Sunday.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, – Jakarta Oil and gas producer ExxonMobil Indonesia Inc. will not shut down its gas fields in troubled Aceh province despite an ambush by unidentified armed men on Thursday that killed one employee of the company's contractor, a company spokeswoman said on Friday.

Jayapura – Indonesian police beat protesters with sticks in rebellious Papua province on Saturday to break up a demonstration over the murder last month of pro-independence chief Theys Eluay.

John Phaceas – Development of a $1.5 billion gas pipeline to Phillips Petroleum's Bayu-Undan gasfield in the Timor Sea will go ahead after the US energy giant finally reached agreement with East Timorese authorities over project taxes.

Max Blenkin, Dili – In two months in East Timor, the soldiers of the Townsville-based 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, have not fired a shot in anger, let alone sighted any of the infamous militia. But that does not mean they are prepared to write them off as a completely spent force.

Ainur R. Sophiaan, Surabaya – On Thursday, following a two-month deadlock between employers and workers, the governor of East Java moved to set the monthly minimum wages in 36 regencies and mayoralties in the province for the 2002 fiscal year.

Tiarma Siboro and R.K. Nugroho, Jakarta/Jayapura – Bowing to intense public pressure, the government announced on Thursday that it was forming an independent team to investigate the November 11 murder of Irian Jaya independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay.

Banda Aceh – At least seven people were killed in Aceh on Tuesday and Wednesday, three were military personnel and four others were Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels, officials and witnesses said on Thursday. The incidents took place in three different sites in West Aceh, Aceh Besar and East Aceh.

Vaudine England and agencies in Jakarta – An Indonesian military transport plane was destroyed after being hit by rebel ground fire yesterday as it approached an airport in separatist-racked Aceh province.

Makassar (South Sulawesi) – For the fifth – but hopefully the last – time, delegates of the two warring factions in strife-torn Poso, Central Sulawesi, have agreed to end the three-year conflict that has claimed more than 2,000 lives.

Hundreds of street vendors from around the Gambir Railway station attacked city public order officers on Thursday after the officers confiscated the vendors' possessions just days after Idul Fitri celebrations.

The officers transported six truck loads of belongings confiscated from the vendors around the station in Central Jakarta to a warehouse in Cakung, North Jakarta.

Constituent Assembly President Francisco "Lz-Olo" Guterres said today he expects the assembly to pass East Timor's first Constitution by the 25 January deadline.

"The process is difficult but we expect to approve a Constitution within the extra time that we have allotted for the task," he said.

Catharine Munro, Jakarta – East Timor's best-known militia leader Eurico Guterres today said he was ready to face court for human rights violations during the vote for independence in 1999. The Indonesian nationalist who was born in East Timor said he was ready to turn against the Indonesian government in the international courts.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Cash-strapped Indonesia is considering a proposal to sell more than 500 houses alloted as perks to MPs and Cabinet ministers as a means of saving money, said the head of parliament's budget committee.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – A member of the rights commission's fact-finding team on the death of Theys Hilo Eluay claimed there were already strong clues that might shed light on the case, but without presidential intervention the police would be unable to unravel the murder any further.