Jakarta – Most factions in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) turned down on Thursday the proposal advanced by NGOs for the establishment of an independent constitutional commission. The proposal was rejected based on the grounds that it would conflict with the MPR's power to amend the Constitution.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Fretilin, the party that led East Timor's 24-year struggle for independence from Indonesia, has won the fledgling nation's first democratic election. But it fell short of the two-thirds majority in the new Constituent Assembly needed to draft unilaterally the country's Constitution, and may be forced into a coalition.

Jakarta – High expectations by the public of a thoroughgoing eradication of corruption have turned into strong criticism of the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN), due to its poor performance.

• Total Votes Cast: 384,248
• Total Valid Votes: 363,501
• Invalid Votes: 20,747

National Ballot

Jakarta - The National Police are reviving investigation of several defamation cases against former president Abdurrahman Wahid.

"We have studied all the cases and we think that the public are entitled to legal certainty with regard to the complaints they made to us," spokesman Didi Widayadi told reporters last week.

Jakarta – National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro finally released on Thursday afternoon the eight middle-ranking officers who had allegedly breached police discipline, a lawyer representing the officers said.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia is already hard-pressed to meet asset-sale targets of over 33.5 trillion rupiah (S$6.7 billion) this year, but President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Budget proposals, due to be announced today, will set an even higher goal of nearly 42 trillion rupiah for 2002.

Jakarta – An avalanche of red tape caused by Indonesia's attempts to devolve power to the local authorities has left business leaders fuming. According to the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), regional administrations have issued 1,006 new regulations since being handed extended powers by a decentralisation law that took effect on January 1.

Despite its decision to contest the election process, East Timor's UDT party congratulated Thursday the Fretilin party for its victory in last week's voting for the 88-member Constituent Assembly.

Dili – The Chief Electoral Officer of the East Timor's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Carlos Valenzuela, today presented the full and final results of the 30 August Constituent Assembly elections.

Results of last week's elections in East Timor indicate that the territory's new 88-seat Constituent Assembly will have a total of 24 women members.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – With the police and military leaders repeatedly labelling him an agent of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Mr Nasir Djamil knows it is no longer safe to stay in his hometown.

Lindsay Murdoch – The smugglers' plan went like clockwork. Paid up asylum seekers were flown in small groups from Pakistan to Jakarta, transiting in Bangkok, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur.

Jakarta – The police physically abused two student activists arrested during a demonstration protesting the recent fuel price hike, their lawyer told a court here on Wednesday.

Heppy Sebayang, the lawyer, said during the trial of the two students that several police officers had violated the students' human rights during their arrest, questioning and detention.

Jakarta – Millions of Indonesia's poorest are among the worst hit by corruption since they feel powerless to stand up to greedy local officials and policemen, according to a high-level study.

Jakarta – There is increasing concern that Saudi billionaire Osama bin Laden and his terrorist organisation are looking to Indonesia as a potential springboard for their operations.

Jonathan Thatcher, Jakarta – A senior Indonesian official said the government wanted to change controversial laws giving greater autonomy to its provinces, warning that hurried legislation which took effect in January threatened the country's unity.

For Fretilin [East Timor Revolutionary Front] – the party most likely to win the recent Timor Lorosae (TL) elections – there are three main things which need to be maintained [from 1975] should the new country finally become a reality.

Joanne Collins, Jakarta – Indonesia will unveil on Friday a draft budget constrained by a mountain of debt that has left President Megawati Sukarnoputri's government with barren coffers and few options to prove it can fix the shattered economy.

The leader of East Timor's ASDT party, Fransico Xavier do Amaral, told Lusa Wednesday in Dili that he would not be a future candidate for president.

Xavier do Amaral, whose party's strong performance in last week's Constituent Assembly elections surprised many observers, said his decision was due to a lack of adequate funds and support.

The Deputy President of the Dili District Court Rui Pereira dos Santoas stressed that the Timor Lorosae Judiciary will continue using Bahasa Indonesia and Tetun in all proceedings for about 10 to 15 years despite Portuguese being made the official language of the Constituent Assembly.

Jakarta – Minister of Manpower Jacob Nuwa Wea here on Monday criticized an International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention which permits as few as 10 employees to establish their own workers' union.

Xanana's interview with Tempo magazine:

Tempo: At first you dithered on being nominated as president. But you changed your mind later. Why?

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Millions of poor Indonesians are among the hardest-hit by corruption, as various unofficial levies charged by low-level officials are eating into their meagre earnings.

Jakarta – The gap between transparency and accountability within Indonesia's public sector is a major challenge to its economic reform program, according to Mark Baird, World Bank country director for Indonesia.

Banda Aceh – Ships using the Malacca Strait – one of the world's busiest sea lanes – should "seek permission" from separatist guerrillas in Indonesia's Aceh province, a rebel leader said Monday.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – They are valuable for criminals on the run; handy for men who want to take a second wife, and indispensable for people with little tolerance and time for the Indonesian bureaucracy.

The items in great demand are identification cards or KTP – a must have for Indonesians over 18 – issued by the government but bearing fake information.

East Timor's Defense Force would be willing to accept Indonesian military aid if the offer was made by Jakarta, the force's commander said on Monday. "If they decide to help us, then we are willing to accept the offer because we want to improve relations with Indonesia", Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak said.

Jose Ramos Horta said Monday in Dili he was "profoundly sad" about the "unhappy", "lamentable" and "incendiary" criticism of the East Timorese election process leveled by the leader of the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT), Joao Carrascalao.

Dili – The winners of last week's historic election in East Timor must listen to the people when drafting a constitution as a prelude to independence, two watchdog groups said Monday.

Lincoln Wright – Two star witnesses behind the allegation that Defence knew beforehand of the murder of five Australian journalists at Balibo in 1975 now maintain they never saw an intelligence intercept warning that Indonesian forces were planning the killings.

Jakarta – An East Timorese claimed on Saturday that members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) have made secret contacts with proindependence East Timorese, asking how the latter won their freedom from Indonesia, Antara reported.

Banda Aceh, – A provincial legislator and five other civilians have been killed in the restive Indonesian province of Aceh, police and residents said Sunday.

Presenter: Sergio Vieira de Mello, head of UNTAET, the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor, has replied to the fraud accusations, made by UDT (Timorese Democratic Union) leader Joao Carrascalao, after the (30 August) elections (for the constituent assembly).

Annastashya Emmanuelle, Jakarta – Complicated bureaucratic procedures await street vendors who wish to claim their belongings after being confiscated by the city public order officials during crackdowns across the city.

The procedures are time consuming and cost them relatively a lot of money before they manage to get back their belongings.

Chris Brummitt, Nusakambangan Island – A group of Afghan refugees detained for two weeks after their ship sank off an Indonesian prison island threatened Saturday to go on a hunger strike unless the United Nations agreed to their asylum demands.

Jakarta – Desperate officials are scrambling to find funds, including taking commercial loans if necessary, to pay striking teachers demanding their six months' overdue salary.

Jakarta – The World Bank has warned the Indonesian government to seriously tackle corruption, saying that progress in stamping out loan abuse was the key to the bank's future lending strategy for the country. Indonesia should focus less on the level of lending it received, more on how well the money was being used, World Bank country director Mark Baird said on Thursday.

Jakarta – Indonesia must properly punish the killers of three UN workers before the United States can resume full military ties, a senior US official said yesterday.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – A military reformer, once tipped as a leading candidate to head the powerful Indonesian armed forces (TNI), died yesterday.

Close friends said that Lt-General Agus Wirahadikusumah, the 49-year-old Harvard-trained officer who made bitter enemies with several generals for exposing widespread corruption in the army, died of heart failure.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri has postponed a September 2 visit to rebellious Aceh province, an official said, citing technical reasons. "The proposal is for the fifth and sixth or eighth and ninth," Aceh governor Abdullah Puteh told reporters on Friday. Asked the reason, he replied: "Technical matters ... preparations."

Lindsay Murdoch in Liquica and agencies – East Timorese kept what the United Nations had called a date with democracy yesterday, voting in the first democratic election of their turbulent history.

Jakarta – Feared ex-militia leader Eurico Guterres declared Thursday a "day of mourning for East Timor" and said its people could end up second-class citizens like Australia's Aborigines.

The United Nations was imposing Thursday's election for a constituent assembly on a people who were not yet ready to stand alone, he told AFP.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Carlos first introduced himself as a driver. When none of Dili's dilapidated taxis could be found, he would always produce one.

Five people arrested Thursday in the East Timorese capital had various weapons in their possession, the UN civil police spokesman said, adding that the operation had nothing to do with the elections occurring on the same day.

Jakarta – Indonesia's chief economics minister said on Thursday the haggard economy would be hard pressed to grow more than five percent next year, signalling more hardship ahead for millions of the country's poor.

Jakarta – Indonesian police on Wednesday released five key negotiators from the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) days ahead of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's visit to the troubled province.

But police said the negotiators still faced trials over allegations of spreading hatred against the government.

Richard Lloyd Parry – Two years to the day after the 1999 referendum on independence, the East Timorese people vote again on Thursday in the first elections to a democratic national assembly.

Woodside Petroleum, Australia's biggest independent oil and gas group, is to evaluate competing proposals from Royal Dutch/Shell and Phillips Petroleum of the US in an attempt to resolve differences over how the substantial deep sea gas fields between Australia and East Timor should be developed.

At the Toko Lay hardware store in central Dili, Charles Tan was checking a newly arrived generator to sell to the burgeoning construction industry. "We will close the shop for the election but we are not expecting any trouble," he said. "Everything is safe here now and we only want it to continue."