Robert Go, Jakarta – Resistance from workers, leading politicians and labour leaders threatens to derail the Indonesian government's ambitious privatisation programme and slow down the recent positive turnaround for the economy.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government may allow foreign investors to control 100 percent shares in universities and hospitals, a report said Tuesday.

Jakarta – The origins of religious extremism in Indonesia are rooted in domestic issues, such as low education levels and poverty, and not international factors, a prominent Indonesian Muslim figure told US government officials on a recent trip to America.

Yulie Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Bandung Police detained on Monday seven student protesters for allegedly violating measures taken by police to secure President Megawati Soekarnoputri's official visit to Bandung on Monday.

Jakarta – Hundreds of Bank International Indonesia (BII) employees demonstrated in front of the bank's headquarters on Jl. M.H. Thamrin in Central Jakarta on Monday, demanding the management provide better welfare.

Monday's protest was part of a series of protests staged by the BII worker's union in demand for a better salary and welfare support, El Shinta radio reported.

Bogor – Thousands of laborers of PT Truba Raya Trading, the producer of FILA shoes, staged a rally in Ciawi, Bogor, demanding the company raise their wages in accordance with the new provincial minimum wage. They also demanded that PT Truba not impose income tax on the workers.

Jakarta – Indonesian police may arrest defense lawyers for allegedly bribing witnesses to lie during the trial of Tommy Suharto on murder and illegal weapons charges, a report said Tuesday.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – The University of Indonesia's Institute for the Study of Social Institutions said on Monday there were 13 large illegal gambling dens currently operating in the city, with a daily turnover of between Rp 2 billion (US$200,000) and Rp 10 billion each.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) rejects an UNTAET (United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor) proposal that East Timorese public buses be allowed to pass through Indonesian territory to ply return routes between Dili and Oecusse, the East Timorese shelter in the Indonesian provinceof East Nusa Tenggara, an officer said on Monday.

The trial of five Indonesian officers accused of failing to prevent a 1999 massacre in East Timor hit a snag when six witnesses failed to turn up.

The human rights court adjourned on Tuesday for a week after chief prosecutor Darmono said the three policemen, two soldiers and one civilian witness could not appear due to "technical problems."

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The more than 140,000 East Timorese refugees living in West Timor can not return home till March 20 at the earliest due to transportation problems.

Two soldiers and three separatist rebels have been killed in Indonesia's Aceh province, the military and police said.

Jakarta – Three Indonesian army officers have been detained as suspects in the murder of Papuan separatist leader Theys Hiyo Eluay, the military police chief said Tuesday.

"Three officers of the Indonesian armed forces, all of whom are members of the Tribuana Task Force, have been detained in connection with the death of Theys Eluay," Major General A.B. Sulaiman told AFP.

R.K. Nugroho, Jayapura – Despite Washington's official stance on Papua, visiting US Ambassador Ralph L. Boyce met with officials of the pro-independence Papua Presidium Council (PDP) and visited the grave of former PDP chairman Theys Hiyo Eluway in the Irian Jaya provincial capital of Jayapura on Monday.

Hamish McDonald, Maliana – For Isobelle de Araujo it was a bittersweet day. In the early morning she had walked in her best dress to Mass, then joined thousands of other Maliana townsfolk at the public gymnasium to vote in her new country's first presidential elections.

Sydney – Foreign Minister Alexander Downer dismissed a claim Monday that Australia had been less than friendly towards East Timor, arguing it had been generous over sharing oil revenues from the Timor Gap.

Dili – The government buildings around it are gutted, but surviving intact as a minor miracle in the center of Dili is a billboard urging the locals to speak good Indonesian, the language of East Timors most recent colonial master.

Dili – Almost anywhere else there would be unalloyed delight in an 86-per cent turn-out for a presidential election.

But this is East Timor, the world's soon-to-be newest nation, and Sunday's poll has pundits reflecting deeply on why 14 voters in every 100 either stayed at home or spoiled their ballot papers.

Prangtip Daorueng, Jakarta – The arrival of an Islamic militia group in Indonesia's restive province of West Papua is sowing fear among residents about sectarian conflict like that seen in other provinces before – and community leaders want its members out sooner than later.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Over 120 labor activists from around the country warned on Sunday against pursuing trade liberalization and the privatization of state-owned enterprises, arguing that such moves would only inflict more suffering on Indonesian workers.

Jakarta – Indonesia's currency and stock market were higher in early trading Monday after the Paris Club's agreement to reschedule 5.4 billion dollars in government debt.

Priandono, Jakarta - About 40 million Indonesian people go hungry, according to Bishow B. Parajuli, Deputy Country Director of the United Nation World Food Program.

He went on to explain that the 40 million people account for 17 percent of the Indonesian population.

Jakarta – In a bid to protect their business interests, underground gambling kingpins are pressing for legal casinos to be built in the capital here instead of on a northern island chain.

About 250 fierce-looking protesters from Metro Watch, an organisation allegedly backed by powerful underworld figures, besieged Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso's residence on Saturday.

Jakarta – A coalition of environmental groups here urged the government to withdraw licenses given to mining companies that plan to operate in around one-fifth of the country's protected forests and conservation areas.

Jill Jolliffe – Guerrilla hero Jose "Xanana" Gusmao is expected to win a sweeping victory today in a poll for East Timor's first elected head of state, despite an organised attempt to reduce his vote.

Jill Jolliffe – It could have been a Meet the Press show anywhere in the world – two presidential candidates on stage in elegant suits fielding questions before an audience of politicians, media and diplomats. They debated domestic and foreign policy, with press assessors watching closely

Hamish McDonald, Dili – A last-minute dispute has blown up over the treaty that will unlock oil and gas resources worth billions of dollars in the seabed between Australia and East Timor, and the new nation's likely prime minister has accused Canberra of mistrust and an "unfriendly act".

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Tomorrow, East Timor votes for its first president, taking its final steps towards independence.

It is a process that many in the Indonesian elite would probably rather forget but, of course, cannot.

Hamish McDonald – A tropical cyclone has been hovering close to East Timor, dumping frequent rain on a mountainous island still in wet-season green and leaving officials wondering if the depression will move onshore just in time to disrupt tomorrow's presidential election.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) seems to be trying to use the on-going ad hoc human rights trial to wash its hands of gross human rights violations in East Timor, blaming the United Nations and civilian authorities for the bloody terror campaign in the territory in 1999.

Paris – Indonesia's foreign government creditors on Friday said they had agreed to re-schedule a portion of the country's external debt service obligations.

Jakarta – Almost two-thirds of Indonesian households who answered a nationwide survey reported falling victim to corruption by public officials, according to a report issued Friday.

Traffic police ere considered the most corrupt body, followed by the customs department and the judiciary, said the report from the Partnership for Governance Reform.

[East Timor approaches the last formal step in its long hard road to democracy and independence – on Sunday the people go to the polls to elect a president. Xanana Gusmao, who led East Timor's struggle against Indonesian rule, first as a jungle fighter and then from prison, is the overwhelming favourite in a two-man presidential contest.]

Transcript:

Jakarta – The government plans to establish an agency to tackle issues concerning the country's migrant workers, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said.

Dan Murphy, Jakarta – An investigator has uncovered new evidence in the murder of a Dutch journalist in East Timor in 1999 that bolsters the case against an Indonesian Army unit accused of murdering 12 people as it pulled out of the former Indonesian territory.

R.K. Nugroho and Sri Wahyuni, Jayapura/Yogyakarta – Separatist leaders have rejected the presence of the Java-based Laskar Jihad militant group in the troubled province of Papua, which they said had sparked disquiet among local people.

Banda Aceh – Seven more people have been found dead over the past three days in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province, aid workers and residents said Friday.

Lela E. Madjiah, Banda Aceh – The Indonesian Military (TNI) seems to be succeeding in its efforts to crush the armed separatist movement in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, with reports of an increasing number of armed separatists being killed and arrested, as well as a rise in the number of separatists surrendering.

Jakarta – Former Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. (ret) Wiranto on Wednesday evening launched a book on East Timor, titled Selamat Jalan Timtim, Pergulatan Menguak Kebenaran, Penuturan Apa Adanya Seorang Wiranto (Good Bye East Timor, Struggle to Uncover the Truth, the Revelation of Wiranto).

Annastashya Emmanuelle, Jakarta – Although the government has constantly vowed to eradicate graft and corruption, the level of budget malfeasance remains high as action is rarely taken by the relevant government institutions to follow up on reports of irregularities released by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).

East Timor's two presidential candidates publicly embraced each other Thursday in Dili, appealing to voters to cast ballots in Sunday's election, the last political milestone before the territory gains independence on May 20.

In calling for a heavy turnout, both Xanana Gusmao, the wide favorite, and rival Xavier do Amaral said more united than divided them.

Robert Go, Jakarta – A lack of investment in Indonesia's power sector has forced the government to schedule regular blackouts in more than 30 regions across the country.

Leo Wahyudi S, Jakarta – Temporarily employed doctors are winning more support for their plight, with the National Commission on Human Rights charging that the mandatory service required of new medical graduates by the government is a form of rights abuse.

Jakarta – Two men claiming to be members of the Aceh separatist rebel movement entered the Finnish Embassy here yesterday and requested political asylum, saying they feared for their lives.

The pair met Ambassador Matti Pullinen before leaving the office voluntarily through a rear entrance.

Padang – The Padang administration in West Sumatra has been criticized for appointing around 100 allegedly unqualified teachers as civil servants in public schools.

Jakarta – The highest-ranking Indonesian officer implicated in a wave of violence that swept East Timor in 1999 defended its former police chief on Thursday, telling a court he had saved the lives of thousands of UN personnel.

Indonesia's powerful former military chief, General Wiranto, has published a book giving his version of East Timor's bloody 1999 breakaway, as he campaigns to clear himself of responsibility for the orgy of killing and destruction.

Agus Maryono, Purwokerto – Thousands of fishermen from Central Java canceled their plan to storm Jakarta on Wednesday in protest over the newly decreed fishing taxes, after Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Rohimin Dahuri heeded some of their demands.

Jakarta – A request for political asylum by two civilian members of the Aceh separatist movement has been turned down by both the Finnish government and the United Nations refugee agency, an Indonesian minister said Thursday.

"The asylum request has been rejected because they did not qualify for it," top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters.

Jakarta – A group of pro-democracy activists voiced concern over the ongoing amendment process of the 1945 Constitution on Wednesday, calling on the Assembly to soon form an independent constitutional commission to avoid a possible constitutional crisis, reports said.