Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Despite the outcry from city residents, the public order agency continued on Wednesday its controversial door-to-door identity card (KTP) raids in Penjaringan district, North Jakarta, arbitrarily arresting some 98 people, mostly low-income workers.

Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia, which has temporarily halted the recruitment of Indonesian workers after a riot, Thursday deported 22 textile workers, raising to 91 the total of those sent home.

Jakarta – Aceh separatist rebels accused Indonesian authorities of tracking their slain military commander by inserting a microchip into an invitation letter for peace talks.

Riyadi Suparno, Jakarta – The Salim Group is lurking behind the scenes, ready to grab its former jewel in the crown, Bank Central Asia. That's the warning given by various quarters to the government in the sale of its controlling shares in the bank.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Though accomplices implicated in crimes allegedly masterminded by Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra are being tried, the fate of former president Soeharto's youngest son remains clouded in uncertainty.

Police restated Tuesday that its cases against Tommy, relating to his involvement in four main crimes, were strong.

Agus Maryono, Purwokerto – The soaring prices of basic commodities caused by fuel price increases have forced people to try to reduce their expenses. Villagers in several parts of Central Java have gone back to using firewood for cooking in place of kerosene.

Jakarta – The city administration started its controversial door-to-door ID card raids in the five mayoralties on Tuesday, arbitrarily arresting 1,763 people, even though many of them had the necessary documentation.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – The city administration revealed on Tuesday that only 32 companies, among 25,000 private firms here, have officially filed objections over the new minimum wage – amounting to Rp 596,266 (US$60) – due to financial problems.

No more companies were expected to file such an objection as the deadline to make the complaint was on Monday.

Thalif Deen, United Nations – Malaysian diplomat Nagalingam Parameswaran has expressed disappointment that the United Nations has "closed the chapter" on his allegations that the institution was racist, and that his duties as chief-of-staff at the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) had become "a white mission, an Eastern mission with a Western face".

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has alerted the Security Council to the potential threat posed to East Timor by Indonesia-based anti-independence militias and underlined the importance of resolving border disputes between Dili and Jakarta.

Jakarta – An Indonesian human rights court to try those accused of violence in East Timor in 1999 must meet international standards, the visiting president of the UN Human Rights Commission said on Wednesday.

Jon Land – As East Timor's Constituent Assembly draws closer to finalising the nation's constitution there is increasing debate over whether fresh elections should be held for the proposed Legislative Assembly. Chief Minister Mari Alkatiri is adamantly opposed to such a move, stating that "opting for new elections is openly to want to provoke crises".

Jakarta – The State Logistics Agency (Bulog) said on Tuesday that it would import some one million tons of rice this year, higher than an earlier target of 500,000 to 700,000 tons, to meet domestic demand.

Max Lane – There has been almost total support in Aceh for the three-day general strike called by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for January 16-18 to protest against the decision of the Indonesian government to re-establish an Aceh Military Command.

Annastashya Emmanuelle and Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Pressures mounted on Tuesday against the planned reinstatement of the military command in restive Aceh, but both the government and the House of Representatives turned a deaf ear to the outcry.

Max Lane – There have been student demonstrations, involving hundreds of students, in Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Makassar, Denpasar and Jogjakarta against the fuel price increases announced by the Indonesian government on January 16.

Jakarta – Protests have continued in several cities across the archipelago against the soaring price of staple foods and other commodities, spurred by the recent 22 percent increase in fuel prices.

Jakarta – Some 500 activists of the Surakarta-based Islam Defenders Front (FPIS) staged a rally in front of the US Embassy on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan in Central Jakarta on Tuesday morning, protesting the US policy on fighting terrorism.

A'an Suryana and Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – After giving a tepid response to the setting up of an inquiry team to investigate House Speaker Akbar Tandjung, legislators said on Tuesday that they were not in a hurry to decide on the issue.

Jakarta – The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights (UNHCHR) has set a deadline of March 18 for Indonesia to begin trials of suspects accused of gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999, the commission's chairman said Wednesday.

Jakarta – Supporters of an Indonesian party chief suspected of corruption have massed in the capital Jakarta to show solidarity with him, a party spokesman said Tuesday.

Jakarta – Indonesian soldiers shot dead a woman in a dispute at a logging company in the easternmost province of Papua, a rights activist said Tuesday.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – A militant Muslim group blamed for killing hundreds of Christians in the Maluku islands has infiltrated the Indonesian province of Papua, where its fighters are training pro-Jakarta militia, human rights activists claim.

The authorities in East Timor have launched a campaign against domestic violence, which they say is widespread in the territory.

The United Nations administrator, Sergio Vieira de Mello, said domestic violence had become a cancer in Timorese society, and should be eradicated.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Maj. Gen.

Banda Aceh – Two more people have been killed in Indonesia's restive province of Aceh where separatists have been fighting for an independent state since the 1970s, the military and an activist said Tuesday.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government Tuesday announced plans to raise telephone charges as protests continued over last week's stiff increase in fuel prices. Phone charges will rise by 15 percent from the end of January, said Transportation and Communications Minister Agum Gumelar.

Jakarta – Some 300 members of a radical Muslim group on Tuesday staged a protest outside the US embassy, accusing the United States and the IMF of aggravating the Indonesian economic crisis.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Fuel subsidies cost the Indonesian government 16 percent of its overalll expenditures in 2001. A total of US$5.3 billion (53.774 trillion rupiah) went down the drain.

Jakarta – The latest biographer of former Indonesian dictator Suharto said Tuesday he believed the ex-president had no part in plotting the 1965 coup that indirectly paved his way to power.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The fate of one of Indonesia's most powerful political figures, Akbar Tandjung, is being weighed today as a plenary session of the House of Representatives focuses on whether to set up a committee to probe his alleged corruption.

Jakarta – An Indonesian parliamentary commission wants the national logistics agency Bulog to resume its control over the price of rice, a legislator said Monday.

Banda Aceh – At least five people including a marine and two suspected separatist rebels have been killed in the latest violence in the restive Indonesian province of Aceh, the military and residents said Monday.

Dili – East Timor's Constituent Assembly today set 9 March as the date for completion and final approval of the nation's first Constitution.

Jakarta – Prosecutors at a court in Jayapura, the capital of Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua, on Monday sought 30-month jail sentences for each of three pro-independence leaders accused of subversion, one of the defendants said.

A'an Suryana and Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Political observers lashed out on Saturday at what they saw as a conspiracy to save House Speaker Akbar Tandjung, a suspect in a Rp 40 billion scandal involving the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), from facing the music, saying the move would severely erode public confidence and support in any future anticorruption initiatives.

Jakarta – A faction from Indonesia's Muslim United Development Party (PPP) announced it was breaking away Sunday to form a new political group.

The PPP-Reform was declared in brief ceremony at an upmarket hotel in South Jakarta with the party's declaration read out by one of the founders, Zainal Maarif.

Catharine Munro, Jakarta – When Guntur Alfie's friends and colleagues told him to buy a bullet proof vest to sit in judgment on Indonesian military officers charged with human rights abuses in East Timor, they were only half joking.

Jakarta – An angry mob in Indonesia's West Java town of Tasikmalaya took justice in their own hands and burned to death three street thugs who had been allegedly extorting money from local transport operators, a report said Sunday.

Jakarta – Widespread protest against the fuel price hike hit the capital on Friday, creating heavy traffic congestion in many parts of the city, reports said.

Two separate protest marches, organized by members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) and several universities in Jakarta respectively, converged on the House of Representatives (DPR) in the Senayan area, Central Jakarta, on Friday, causing traffic congestion along Jl. Gatot Subroto.

Jakarta – Foreign investment in Indonesia dropped by nearly 42 per cent last year due to political instability and increasing lawlessness that the government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri was unable to control.

According to data from the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), investments last year amounted to US$9.02 billion.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Almost every day it seems, the media report that at least one suspected robber has been shot dead by police.

This perception is supported by data held at the forensic department of the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM), which shows that the number of firearm victims increased by 140 percent, from 108 in 2000 to 255 last year.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The jailing of an Acehnese activist for holding a peaceful rally and the resurrection of a "blacklist" of people banned from entering the country have heightened concerns about freedom of expression under President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – The government's fuel price rises have dealt a blow to public transportation drivers who are complaining that the hike has slashed profit margins.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Former president Suharto's youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, may escape prosecution again after two suspects in the murder of a top judge allegedly ordered by him said they were forced by police to confess.

Robert Go, Jakarta – One in 100 Indonesians, or roughly two million people, are hooked on narcotics, according to information provided by the police and several non-government organisations (NGOs) dealing with the drugs problem.

Jill Jolliffe, Maliana – A special court to judge suspects accused of crimes in East Timor in 1999 should be given a chance, the chairman of the United Nation's Human Rights Commission said on the eve of his visit to Jakarta.

But ambassador Leandro Despouy warned that if national trials failed, the UN could set up an international court.

Jakarta – A three-member Amnesty International team is headed for the remote Indonesian province of Papua to carry out human rights work and investigate alleged rights violations, a rights group in the province said Saturday.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesia's second-largest political party Golkar is going after President Megawati Sukarnoputri's husband for alleged corrupt business dealings and abuse of power in an apparent attempt to protect party chairman Akbar Tandjung, who is under graft investigation.