West Timor – Tjitske Lingsma, reporting from one of the most notorious of the refugee camps, considers West Timor may end up with the monster created by the Indonesian army: the East Timorese militiamen.

Jakarta – The rupiah is undervalued due to lingering volatility on the Indonesian political front, according to an executive of a foreign hedge fund.

"Theoretically the rupiah is still undervalued. It should range between Rp 6,500 and Rp 7,000 [against the dollar]," Calvin Y. L. Ho, senior portfolio manager at Citicorp Investment Bank Ltd. of Singapore, said on Wednesday.

Acting for a speedy independence, the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT) has proposed the creation of a joint commission with the territory's transitional United Nations administration to prepare a constitutional conference next year.

Akara Reis, Dili – As workers prepare to celebrate their first May Day in a free East Timor, their pay and conditions of work remain very low, especially compared with the vast sums paid to foreign workers employed by the United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET).

Mark Dodd, Dili – A day after United Nations riot police swooped on armed gangs running amok in Dili, UN peacekeepers have raised concerns about another potential law and order problem: military-style neighbourhood watch groups.

Australia failed to fulfil its duty of care to the Timorese people who were placed at risk by our Government's policy, says Tony Kevin.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – With little fanfare, President Abdurrahman Wahid's Government has so far managed to forestall efforts by radical Muslim groups to send a "jihad" fighting force to the Maluku Islands.

Lindsay Murdoch and Tony Wright Jakarta and Jerusalem – Opposition Leader Kim Beazley has urged that Australia's defence forces resume cooperation with Indonesia's military just six months after the country's soldiers were involved in widespread violence and destruction in East Timor.

Mark Abberton, Sydney – Representatives of the West Papuan freedom movement, meeting at a conference here on April 19, expressed hope about new openings for greater unity and organisation in their struggle for independence from Indonesia.

Helen Jarvis, Jakarta – April 15 marked the first anniversary of the establishment of an extraordinary organisation, the Indonesian Institute for the Study of 1965-1966 Massacre (YPKP).

Indonesian legislators have "doubled" their own pay despite protests from trade unionists and student organisations. Local media reports say the average monthly wage of the 500 members of the House of Representatives is now about US$1,200. This came after the Legislature voted to approve the bill last month and the pay hikes took effect on 1 April.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – A human-rights group alleges that soldiers raped and beat villagers in north Aceh last month while they were conducting raids in search of separatist Free Aceh rebels.

Mr Maimul Fidar, the chairman of a non-government investigation team, said 20 non-local troops had conducted an early morning raid on March 7.

Jakarta – The re-election of Yusril Ihza Mahendra as Crescent Star Party (PBB) chairman has brought about a split within the party. Sixteen senior members said they would reject the results of the congress and hold a separate special congress of their own.

Jakarta – Workers across the country rallied in observance of International Labor Day on Monday to voice their demands, including a 100 percent pay increase. At least 1,500 workers from various organizations grouped under the National Front Struggle for Indonesian Workers (FNPBI) held a demonstration at the House of Representatives to air their demands.

Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office kicked off on Monday their official investigation into last year's violence in East Timor by questioning several Indonesian Military (TNI) officers. Former East Timor military commander Brig. Gen. Tono Suratman was grilled for more than six hours while his immediate superior, former Udayana Military commander Maj. Gen.

Jakarta – A violent clash on Monday between student protesters and police in Medan, North Sumatra, claimed the life of at least two students and injured 17 others.

Both victims were reportedly shot in the neck. The dead were identified as Kelvin Nababan and Rikardo, both economy faculty students from Nomensen Christian University.

Mark Dodd, Dili – United Nations riot police backed by soldiers from the peacekeeping force launched an extensive security operation yesterday to clear Dili's central market area of scores of armed youths, after the worst violence seen in the capital since last year's militia rampage.

Seth Mydans – People here have got used to the scene: a mob of unemployed young men shoving, shouting and weeping in anger outside the headquarters of the United Nations, held back by an impassive multinational police contingent.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Reports that Indonesian authorities are serious about bringing to justice Eurico Guterres, East Timor's most notorious militia commander, appear to be premature.

The long-haired, black-clad, former gang leader in Dili is often seen mingling with Indonesia's elite at a official functions in Jakarta.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid on Tuesday visited Pramoedya Ananta Toer, the country's greatest modern writer whose works remain officially banned here.

Pramoedya described the meeting as "good" but said he did not ask Wahid to restore his name or grant him compensation for the work that was destroyed while he was in jail.

Geneva – The flow of East Timorese refugees signing up to be repatriated from camps in West Timor is "grinding to a halt" because of fears they could be harassed on their return, the UN's refugee agency UNHCR said Tuesday.

Jakarta – A law enacted last year by the Habibie government was designed to ensure that former president Suharto and his cronies would be immune to corruption charges, says a senior lawyer.

David Lague – Hostility towards Australia in the Indonesian military is undermining efforts to rebuild ties between Canberra and Jakarta and threatening the safety of Australian service personnel and equipment.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – After six months of trying to fathom if their President is merely a nicer clone of their former leaders or truly unusually democratic, some Indonesians think they have him figured out.

Ambon – At least six people were killed and 50 others injured on Sunday when security personnel opened fire to disperse warring groups at the border between Batu Merah and Mardika districts.

Jakarta – A tribal war between two villages in the remote mountains of West Papua has left more than 100 people dead in the past year, the official Antara news agency reported Monday.

The conflict pits indigenous people from Wampe and Bilaga villages in the Puncak Jaya region of the Indonesian province, Antara said.

Jakarta – The government effort to probe prominent businesspeople's alleged involvement in corruption in the forestry sector is doomed to failure because of the probability investigators are also corrupt, experts said.

Jakarta – Hundreds of workers from various companies across Greater Jakarta took to the capital's main streets on Sunday as they geared up for International Labor Day on Monday. Under the close watch of police, the workers marched from the Proclamation Monument to a roundabout near Hotel Indonesia in Jakarta's main business district on Jl. Thamrin.

Jimbaran, Bali – Aside from mismanagement, poverty and overpopulation have aggravated the development of a social security system in Indonesia.

Mark Dodd, Suai – When Detective Senior Sergeant Matt Reynolds took part in a recent murder case in Canberra, about 20 detectives were assigned within 24 hours to solve the killing.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – As leaders of Aceh's armed rebel movement hovered on the brink of a peace agreement with Jakarta, officials here warned that if it backed out now, it would find itself isolated.

Jakarta – Indonesian police fired warning shots and tear gas yesterday to break up a student demonstration in Pekanbaru during a visit by President Abdurrahman Wahid to the city in the Sumatran province of Riau.

The shots and tear gas were fired as the students attempted to break through the police security cordon around the governor's office, the Antara news agency said.

Yogyakarta – Radical Indonesian Moslem fighters who have vowed to launch a jihad, or holy struggle, in the bloodied Moluccas said on Saturday they had been forced to postpone their departure for the islands.

Banda Aceh – Three military witnesses on Saturday told a court trying 24 soldiers charged with massacring 58 civilians in Aceh province last year that an officer, now declared missing, had ordered the killing of 23 people wounded in a shooting spree there.

In the first part of our special report on the Indonesian economy yesterday, we looked at the controversial issue of fuel and food subsidies and the millions of Indonesians who are still mired in poverty

While Indonesia's middle class do not have to worry about their next meal, many of them are still going easy on imported goods and luxuries.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – In a surprise move, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday proposed a meeting with Australian Prime Minister John Howard and East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao to help repair strained relationships.

Jakarta – Crescent Star Party (PBB) chairman Yusril Ihza Mahendra acknowledged on Friday accepting Rp 1 billion from then president B.J. Habibie to help finance the newly established party prior to the 1999 general election.

Alastair McLeod, Jayapura – West Papuans have emerged from the far west town of Fak Fak with reports of East Timorese style militia threatening and attacking the local people.

In recent weeks 50 supporters of the movement for an independent West Papua have fled Fak Fak to the capital Jayapura in fear of the newly formed Sargas Merah Putih – the red and white militia.

Jakarta – The government-sanctioned National Ombudsman Council received on Thursday a complaint of corruption in the Supreme Court.

Mark Dodd, Suai – An Indonesian court has jailed the notorious militia leader Laurentino Soares, known as Moko, for up to three years for illegally possessing firearms, according to United Nations observers.

Jakarta – Legislators said after a closed-door consultative meeting that President Abdurrahman Wahid told them his decision to replace two economics ministers was due to their alleged involvement in corruption, collusion and nepotism.

Disappointment with Abdurrahman Wahid's (Gus Dur) government is leading to strange bedfellows, with the former ruling party, Golkar, the faction being most courted, says observer Azyumardi Azra, rector of the state-run Syarif Hidayatullah Institute of Islamic Studies in South Jakarta. The following is an excerpt of Wednesday's interview:

Yogyakarta – Skepticism persists about the trial of 24 soldiers and a civilian charged in a mass killing in Aceh last year as violence continued in the strife-torn province on Thursday.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Former Information Minister Yunus Yosfiah has been accused of murdering five Western journalists in East Timor in 1975 by a new witness who gave evidence on an Australian television show.

Two years after the regional financial upheaval, the Indonesian economy is slowly regaining its footing. But the recovery is tentative and many painful tasks lie ahead. In the first of a two-part special report, The Straits Times looks at the controversial issue of fuel and food subsidies and the millions more who are still mired in poverty.

Bogor – Indonesia's forests are disappearing at a rate of 4,000 hectares a day and the government appears to be unable to do anything about it, experts said.

"The situation is getting worse and we should do something," said Jeffrey Sayer, director general of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

Geneva – The United Nations welcomed on Friday a campaign by Indonesia to get East Timorese members of the Indonesian army in West Timor to resettle in other parts of the country or resign from the military.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Meeting 60-year-old Daruna as she chews betel nut in front of the piles of rubbish that are her main source of income, it is hard to see any evidence of Indonesia's economic upturn.

Vaudine England – Finding seizable assets in Mr Suharto's own name may prove difficult for investigators.

During an official probe in 1998, Mr Suharto said he had 22 billion rupiah (HK$24.2 million) deposited in three private banks and that his personal property included two houses in Jakarta and five hectares of land.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Air Force will receive six new Hawk jet fighters from the United Kingdom in June. They will be stationed at Supadio Air Base in Pontianak, West Kalimantan. "We expect the six British-made tactical attack aircraft will be sent soon.