Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Poor law enforcement has allowed the sale of illegal narcotics to flourish in Medan, North Sumatra, causing a serious concerns for local residents, according to a prominent drugs analyst.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – Several party factions in the City Council challenged on Tuesday the practice of corruption in the city administration. The issue was raised in their feedback over Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso's 2001 budget speech, which was presented last week.

Almost 50 people were injured in the eastern Indonesian city of Ambon in the worst outbreak of violence since a Muslim-Christian peace agreement in February.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Street rallies slamming Israeli military actions against Palestinians hit at least three major Indonesian cities on Wednesday while a minister said Jakarta would not let local groups send fighters to join in the conflict.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – One would expect applause for last week's announcement that Indonesia is planning to build a bridge linking Java with Bali, putting an end to the two-hour ferry crossing. Not so in Bali.

Geneva – Amnesty International accused Indonesian forces on Wednesday of grave human rights violations in Papua, where the murder of the province's top independence leader last year remains unresolved.

Mike Steketee – East Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta yesterday urged rich countries, including Australia, not to use artificial barriers such as quarantine restrictions to discriminate against exports from his and other poor nations.

Yemris Fointuna, Dili – The Indonesian government and the United Nations Temporary Administration at East Timor (UNTAET) have yet to find an appropriate way of solving the problem of Indonesian assets in the soon-to-be independent nation – even though, until now, they have held six rounds of discussions.

Yogyakarta – The relatives of Aan Yulianto, a bystander during last week's brawl in Yogyakarta who died on Sunday after being questioned by the authorities, said on Tuesday they will sue the local police for allegedly torturing him.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – Students, at the forefront of the reform movement in 1998, have been urged to take up their old role once more in the face of a political elite widely blamed for diverting the winds of change.

Darwin – The Australian government is under pressure to make public its draft agreement on Timor Sea energy reserves to prove the East Timorese were not signing away their legal rights.

Andrew Trounson, Melbourne – East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta said Tuesday there will be no hitches to ratifying a treaty with Australia sharing potentially lucrative oil and gas production from the Timor Sea.

Jakarta – Indonesia's highest Islamic authority is investigating reports that a boarding school is teaching a deviant version of the religion and is linked to a shadowy group campaigning for an Islamic state, an official said Tuesday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's National Assembly Speaker Amien Rais on Tuesday accused police in the Philippines of engineering the arrest of three Indonesians on terrorist charges, a report said.

Rais said a friend of Tamsil Linrung – one of the three suspects detained by authorities in Manila – had told him that Philippine police were currently "creating a new charge" for them.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) will soon dispatch at least 1,850 replacement troops to the rebellious Aceh province, Deputy Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Kiki Syahnakrie said on Saturday.

Jakarta - One of the three Indonesians arrested in Manila on suspicions of terrorism has accused the Philippine police of planting explosives in his bags.

"I saw it myself, the hand of the police that put those things into my luggage," said Tamsil Linrung, according to the Koran Tempo daily yesterday.

Oyos Saroso, Bandar Lampung – More than 300 temporarily employed doctors in Lampung would continue striking this week to push their demand for a clear status and better payment, strike leaders said on Saturday.

Rita A. Widiadana, Karang Asem, East Bali – The Justice and Unity Party (PKP) is planning to merge with other parties in a bid to create a powerful coalition before general elections get underway in 2004, its chairman Gen. (ret) Edy Sudrajat, announced on Saturday.

Ahmad Junaidi and Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Actions speak louder than words, but sadly some equate this as wanton violence and are proud of it even if their actions are nothing more than thuggery.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – A truck carrying a load of diesel fuel was trapped in traffic on Jl. Yos Sudarso in North Jakarta, when a teenager with a plastic bag in his hand crept toward it and slowly opened the fuel tap.

Jakarta – Street gangs in the Indonesian capital Jakarta are stealing fuel from tanker trucks which become stuck in heavy traffic, a newspaper reported Monday.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Major state-owned firms in Indonesia are sending their top executives to an Islamic training centre where they are taught to be better professionals – through lessons in ethics and Quranic studies.

At Ipenburg – There was always something ambiguous about Theys Hiyo Eluay. He became a focal point in the struggle for Papuan independence. But he was also seen as close to top army and police commanders, and the Kopassus special forces were his friends.

The Indonesian military claimed to have killed 12 suspected separatist rebels in the restive province of Aceh over the weekend.

Jill Jolliffe – An Indonesian human rights lawyer has criticised a special court appointed by President Megawati Sukarnoputri to hear war crime charges on East Timor, accusing it of running "show trials".

Jill Jolliffe, Gleno – Just two weeks after a lopsided campaign began for East Timor's presidential elections due on April 14, there are signs that it may be turning dirty.

Four suspected separatist rebels and a public transport driver have been killed over the past three days in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province, the military and residents said.

A local rebel leader identified as Usman bin Rahmad was killed in a gunfight with soldiers at Simpang Nalep in Bireun district on Thursday, Aceh military spokesman Major Zenal Muttaqin said.

Police in the Indonesian capital have arrested seven people after men wielding machetes and sticks attacked rights protestors, wounding at least 15, reports said.

Nine people were questioned on Friday for their involvement in the attack on Thursday but two of them were released, Jakarta police detective chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri said in the Jakarta Post.

Margot Cohen, Zumalai – Juana Dos Reis fought off a wave of revulsion as the woman held her in a tight embrace. "In my heart I felt sick, but I could still control myself," says Dos Reis, recalling the February encounter at a refugee camp just across the border from East Timor in Indonesian-controlled West Timor.

Jakarta – Indonesia and the United States are to discuss a possible resumption of security cooperation, during a meeting here next month, foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said.

"We believe that talks on a possible resumption of military ties is one of the main items in the agenda of the meeting," Natalegawa told AFP.

Dili - A Special Panel for Serious Crimes in East Timor sentenced a former Mahidi militiaman Wednesday to four years in prison for his role in a murder during the violent aftermath of the UN-run ballot on the future of the territory.

Also Wednesday, a major Crimes Against Humanity trial resumed after a three-week recess.

Yemris Fointuna, Dili – Life is hard in East Timor despite three years after it voted to break away from Indonesia, unemployment remains a serious problem plaguing the country's former province, currently under the UN administration.

Most of the local workforce are jobless due to the limited vacancies and lack of business capital on their part.

Yogita Tahilramani, Jakarta – The need for transparency in the use of State Logistics Agency (Bulog) funds has found a fresh cause as the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) disclosed on Wednesday an alleged misuse of over Rp 377 billion belonging to the institution between January 1998 and December 1999.

Jakarta – Indonesian Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tanjung will retain his post after all, despite his ongoing corruption trial.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, who is charged with murder, sat so lazily during the trial at the Central Jakarta District Court on Wednesday that the prosecutor asked the judge to order him to sit properly to respect the court.

Jakarta – Judges in Indonesia's first human rights court ruled Thursday that the trial of a former police chief in East Timor is legal and should go ahead, throwing out arguments by defence lawyers that the court breaches the constitution.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – While President Megawati Soekarnoputri was preaching to Chinese businessmen that there was no racial discrimination in Indonesia, experts and activists back home were demanding that her administration revoke over 60 rulings that discriminate against Indonesians of ethnic Chinese descent.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Islamic boarding school staff in West Java are brainwashing students into supporting the fundamentalist group Indonesian Islamic State (NII), parents claim.

Leo Wahyudi S, Jakarta – The United States and its allies should tread carefully in their recriminations of radical religious groups here, since over-emphasizing their potential threat may create unwarranted sympathy for these groups, a leading Islamic scholar warned.

Jakarta – An international research group says there is a "slim chance" for peace in the bloody 25-year separatist war in Indonesia's Aceh, but only with sustained international pressure on both sides.

Max Lane – Almost every day, details of the murder of Acehnese civilians by Indonesian military forces are reported by democratic and human rights organisations and international news agencies. At least 300 killings have been reported since January. More than 10,000 Acehnese have been killed in the last two decades.

Tommy Suharto, youngest son of Indonesia's former dictator, said he was the victim of planted evidence as his trial resumed on murder and firearms charges which could result in the death penalty.

"Those things are not mine," Hutomo [Tommy] Mandala Putra told judges after a police officer testified that nine guns were found at a Jakarta apartment complex which he owned.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Buckling under increased international pressure, the Indonesian government said yesterday there was no grand design for a Suharto-like clampdown on the foreign media.

But it continued to evade questions about its recent decision to ban an Australian journalist from working in Indonesia.

Jakarta – Speculation is growing is some circles that the three Indonesians recently arrested in Manila were made scapegoats to ease international pressure on Jakarta to act against reported terrorist elements establishing roots in the country.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government may raise between 7.2 and 9.25 trillion rupiah (750-963 million dollars) from its privatisation program this year, a minister said Wednesday.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Internal investigators of the Indonesian Military (TNI) are likely to name several officers as suspects in the murder of Papuan independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay last November, a TNI official said.

Jakarta – Soldiers are suspected of involvement in the murder of Theys Hiyo Eluay, a separatist leader in Indonesia's Papua province, the military said Wednesday.

Banda Aceh – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province are demanding a ransom for three kidnapped oil company workers, the military said Wednesday.

Hamish McDonald – Australia yesterday announced it would no longer submit to international legal rulings on maritime boundaries – after leading lawyers advised East Timor that Canberra was poised to rob it of tens of billions of dollars in oil and gas revenue.

Oyos Saroso, Bandar Lampung – Three hundred and twenty nine temporarily-employed doctors went on strike in Bandar Lampung, protesting to late payment of salaries, demanding a rise in allowances and guaranteed full-time employment, on Tuesday.