R.K. Nugroho, Jayapura – As many as 50 Irianese religious leaders and local figures expressed on Wednesday support for the government's plan to give special autonomy to the resource-rich province of Irian Jaya.

The Constituent Assembly today passed twelve articles of East Timor's draft Constitution dealing primarily with political and economic rights.

The articles passed today, all with significant majorities, include the following:

The Indonesia Human Rights Network (IHRN) and East Timor Action Network (ETAN) today strongly condemned a provision in the Defense Department Appropriations bill (HR 3388) aimed at funding US training of the Indonesian military (TNI).

Jakarta – An Indonesian court sentenced a grandson of former President Suharto to two months and 22 days in jail on Thursday for illegal firearms possession, but he could be freed within a week because of time already spent in detention.

Indonesian police have questioned former East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres in connection with criminal charges against former president Suharto's youngest son Tommy.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The government is currently reviewing around 50 regulations deemed discriminative against ethnic and religious minorities in the country, Cabinet deputy secretary Erman Rajagukguk said here on Wednesday.

The Constituent Assembly today passed the fortieth article of East Timor's draft Constitution, approving eight articles relating to rights of the citizen.

The articles passed today, all with significant majorities, include the following:

Jakarta – Indonesia's army commander indicated for the first time that rogue troops may have killed a separatist politician in Irian Jaya province last month. "If it is one of my men who did it, [then] this is an action without any orders," General Endriartono Sutarto said after meeting President Megawati Sukarnoputri on Wednesday.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Human rights abuses involving the state remain rife as the economic crisis continues to batter Indonesia, a local human rights watchdog says.

Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta), an affiliation of the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI), predicts that the situation will not improve next year.

Banda Aceh – The government must be extra careful with an Indonesian Military (TNI) plan to reestablish an Aceh-specific military command, or else the dialog to settle the lingering conflict in the province will be disrupted, an Acehnese figure says.

Indonesian Army Chief general Endriartono Sutarto rejected allegations that the military was behind the murder of an Irian Jaya pro-independence leader and vowed to punish any soldier implicated in the case.

Agence France Presse in Jakarta – Hundreds of students occupied the Parliament in Indonesia's restive province of Irian Jaya yesterday, demanding an independence referendum instead of a new autonomy package from the central Government.

Jayapura – Just four days before President Megawati Soekarnoputri is due in Irian Jaya's provincial capital of Jayapura to hand over the much-awaited Autonomy Law to Papuan elders, students in the country's easternmost province are already intensifying their protests rejecting the proposed wide-ranging autonomy.

Jakarta – Indonesian MPs are planning an all-expenses paid jaunt around Asia to carry out a study of the perks accorded to their peers, the Jakarta Post reported Wednesday.

MPs from the national assembly's In-House Affairs Body will undertake a "comparitive studies" trip to compare their salaries, benefits and office facilities with legislators elsewhere in the region.

Sydney – The commonwealth is fighting a US company's bid to win compensation in the federal court for losing vast gas reserves in the Timor Sea.

Grace Nirang, Jakarta – Gunmen shot dead nine Christians in Indonesia's eastern Ambon city on Wednesday and police said they could not rule out the possibility of unrest erupting elsewhere during next week's Christmas celebrations.

Darlis Muhammad, Palu – This year alone it has been recorded that attacks and violence have affected 61 villages in Poso Regency, Central Sulawesi. The turmoil comprises 124 incidents that have claimed 141 lives, 90 injuries, 27 missing people and 102 cases of abuse. Furthermore, 2438 cases of arsen and other physical attacks upon houses have been recorded.

Ambon – Gunmen shot dead nine Christians travelling in a boat in the riot-torn eastern Indonesian city of Ambon, residents and hospital sources said Wednesday. Six women and three men were killed Tuesday, a nurse at the Halong navy hospital told AFP.

Jakarta – Some 200 people vandalized a police station in Indonesia's West Java, after police rejected their demand to hand over a murder suspect, police said Wednesday.

The mob attacked parts of the Cianjur district police on Monday evening, pelting stones after police refused to hand over the man suspected of having killed a motortaxi driver, First Sergeant Suhendi said.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Public anger is growing in Indonesia over the "soft" treatment that the country's most notorious suspect, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, has received since police investigators nabbed him three weeks ago.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The military says it has found evidence that a group on the Indonesian side of Timor island is striving for an independent state, which it wants to call Timor Raya. Col.

Dili – East Timor's Constituent Assembly appears to be gaining momentum in its deliberations, today passing 12 articles covering a wide range of rights issues.

The increased speed in deliberations – as compared with the assembly's previous passage of, in some cases, just one article a day – reflects a change of procedures and longer working hours agreed upon last week.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Government intervention in political parties' internal affairs, commonplace during the authoritarian New Order era, is making a comeback, analysts say.

They said on Saturday that the practice would disrupt the process of democratization and the new found freedoms that began to emerge following president Soeharto's fall in 1998.

Lela E. Madjiah, Lhokseumawe – The Indonesian Military (TNI) is considering reestablishing the Iskandar Muda military command, which would be an Aceh-specific military command, if the Acehnese people agree to its resumption, a military commander said here on Sunday.

Bandung – Hundreds of prisoners at the Kebon Waru Penitentiary in Bandung, West Java, were involved in an extremely intense riot on Thursday, damaging the warden's office and smashing windows and other property inside the prison.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The Indonesian military is sounding the alarm over a separatist group that is aspiring to unite both halves of Timor island.

East Timor's interim foreign minister, Jose Ramos Horta, visited the Lisbon headquarters of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP) Monday, reaffirming Dili's intention of joining the seven-nation organization.

R.K. Nugroho, Irian Jaya – Papuans are becoming increasingly impatient with the slow pace of the investigation into the death of independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay, who many believed was murdered for political reasons.

Indonesia has extended its aid programs to some 70,000 East Timorese refugees by one month to the end of January, allowing them more time to decide between repatriation and resettlement in other parts of the country.

The military commander of Indonesian West Timor, Major-General Willem da Costa, made the decision public Thursday.

Debate continued Thursday in East Timor's parliament on the future constitution of the territory, due to become independent next May. Members of the Constituent Assembly voted to remove the term "sexual orientation" from part of article 16 of the final draft constitution which deals with anti-discrimination.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – National Intelligence Agency chief A.M. Hendropriyono backtracked on Thursday from comments he made one day earlier that an international terrorist group in Poso were exacerbating the Christian-Muslim conflict there.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Legislators rejected on Thursday some articles in the government-sponsored antiterrorism bill which, it was widely feared, would justify human rights abuses.

[On November 21 President Megawati Soekarnoputri signed off on a new anti-corruption law. Teten Masduki, chairman of Indonesia Corruption Watch, in an interview with The Jakarta Post contributor Christiani Tumelap, criticizes the definition of corruption adopted in the new law on the grounds that it only covers activities that cause a financial loss to the state.]

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung's days are numbered as parliamentary speaker and party leader as foes within and outside Golkar conspire to establish a special commission to probe his involvement in a damning financial scandal.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – The City administration is hastily implementing stopgap measures to prevent an outbreak of disease threatened by the mounting piles of trash throughout Jakarta, neglected as a result of the dispute over the Bantar Gebang dump site.

Jakarta – Former president Suharto could not be tried because of illness but it was up to prosecutors whether or not to take him to court again, the Supreme Court said yesterday.

Jakarta – Indonesia signed a new letter of intent with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday, paving the way for the disbursement of a long-delayed US$400 million (S$732 million) loan.

Members of East Timor's Constituent Assembly approved a motion Thursday extending the period for debate and approval of the future Constitution until January 25, more than a month after the date originally scheduled.

Oslo – Most of the 60,000 East Timorese refugees still abroad are likely to return by the end of 2002 and any linked to pro-Jakarta militias will be treated fairly, the territory's chief minister said on Wednesday.

Four separatist rebels have been killed in the latest violence in Indonesia's troubled province of Aceh, security authorities said.

Soldiers killed four suspected members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in a gunfight Wednesday in Aceh Besar district, said military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Firdaus.

Jakarta – Employees of state-owned cement maker PT Semen Gresik will strike on Friday, with support from its president, if the government does not drop plans to sell a 51 percent of the company to Mexico's cement giant Cemex SA de CV, a union leadersays.

Jakarta – United Development Party (PPP) chairman Hamzah Haz dismissed on Wednesday media reports claiming that his party had received money from the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) and then president B.J. Habibie in 1999.

Jakarta – Indonesia was unlikely to arrest a military officer charged in the first trial of cases of crime against humanity arising from the mayhem surrounding East Timor's 1999 independence vote, a senior rights advocate said Wednesday.

Max Lane – The cities and towns of the northern province of Aceh were almost like ghost towns on December 4, the 25th anniversary of the GAM, the Free Aceh Movement.

Jakarta – Indonesia has proposed raising domestic phone charges by an average of 15 percent starting next year in a move which will help state phone monopoly PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) boost its revenues and reach its fixed line growth target.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) passed a bill mandating the creation of a council to help the President develop a policy on national defense into law Monday.

Ambon – The situation in Ambon, the provincial capital of Maluku, was tense on Tuesday morning following an explosion onboard the California passenger boat, which was in Ambon Bay sailing from Benteng seaport to Galala ferry port.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra's lawyer, Elza Syarif, played down on Monday the allegation that there was a deliberate ploy between her client and the police over recent cases released by Tommy's lawyers, which were believed to be aimed at distracting public attention.

Dili – East Timor's fledgling lawmaking body on Tuesday adopted the tongues of both their native ancestors and Portuguese colonisers as the official languages of the world's newest nation.

Chris McCAll, Poso – Osama bin Laden's photo adorns sentry posts along the road into Poso, with the words "jihad post" scrawled on the wooden walls. Above them fly flags bearing Arabic calligraphy and sometimes the image of a sword.