Tjipta Lesmanaa, Jakarta – The current picture of Indonesian workers is not that encouraging. Of the 90 million-strong workforce Indonesia currently has, roughly 60 million are engaged in the formal sector as well as in the informal sector. Forty million of them earn only Rp 150,000 to Rp 200,000 per month, far below the poverty line set by the National Statistics Bureau.

Jakarta – After two years of antigovernment riots and economic turmoil, Indonesia's technology gurus thought it best to keep the public in the dark about possible widespread failures from the Y2K computer bug.

Jakarta – A government-sanctioned inquiry said on Wednesday that Gen. Wiranto could be charged with "omission" for allowing violence and destruction to continue in the ravaged territory of East Timor after the August 30 self-determination ballot.

Jakarta – Foreign minister Alwi Shihab said on Tuesday Indonesia would not allow its generals to be tried overseas.

Responding to concerns from legislators that top military officers may be subject to international humiliation and trial abroad, Alwi said the government was doing its utmost to see that it would not happen.

Jakarta – Military police chief Maj. Gen. Djasri Marin said here on Wednesday that 11 military personnel and two civilians had been declared suspects in the killing of at least 65 people, including Islamic boarding school teacher Tengku Bantaqiah, in the troubled province of Aceh in July.

Sonny Inbaraj, Darwin – Australia's national broadcaster and a magazine have come under investigation by the country's spy agency for airing and publishing a series of highly-embarrassing stories based on alleged intelligence leaks on East Timor.

Jakarta – At least 3,400 stray dogs have been killed this year in the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan in a drive by the authorities to prevent the spread of rabies, the official Antara news agency said Thursday.

Munif Muchsinin, the head of the province's animal husbandry service, said the drive had been successful.

Novan Iman Santosa, Karawang – Like many AIDS volunteers around the globe, Abdurrachman Saibun, 25, is busy at the end of the year preparing to commemorate World AIDS Day, which falls on December 1.

Dili, Tim Johnson – Timorese Tuesday celebrated East Timor's first free anniversary of Indonesia's invasion of the former Portuguese colony on December 7, 1975.

Veteran independence campaigner Jose Ramos-Horta told Kyodo News his people's hearts are filled with sorrow for the many who died during the initial assault on Dili.

Nora Boustany, East Timor – An American relief worker who arrived Sunday from East Timor described horrific conditions in resettlement camps she visited across the border in western Timor, where she said she saw mass graves of children, and refugees living as the virtual hostages of Indonesian soldiers and local militias.

Max Lane – Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor member Chris Latham was arrested in Jakarta on November 29. Latham, who is a student in Sydney, was participating in a demonstration of workers and students organised by the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggles.

Jakarta – A mob of angry Jakarta residents on Wednesday set ablaze four cars and a gambling den in Jakarta's Chinatown on the eve of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, witnesses said.

An AFP photographer said a building believed to be a gambling den was on fire when she arrived at the scene. Police were quick to move in and bring the crowd under control.

Indonesia's rice market is nervously waiting for the government's final decision on an import tariff while players' reluctance to sell their stocks has triggered price hikes, traders said yesterday.

Vaudine England – The Indonesian Government, eager to prove its reformist credentials, said yesterday it had reopened the investigation into alleged corruption by Suharto, but prospects of retrieving his money or seeing the ailing former president in the dock remain unclear.

Jakarta – Indonesia will slow down foreign borrowings and focus more on the domestic bond market to fund government projects, Finance Minister Bambang Sudibyo said Wednesday.

Increasing reliance on domestic financing would improve the country's balance of payment position, Bambang said at a hearing of the parliament's budget committee.

Linda Kaucher – Indonesian military forces shot protesters trying to prevent them lowering the West Papuan independence flag in the south coast town of Timika on December 1. Approximately 30 people were injured by the gunfire, and at least 10 people were arrested.

James Balowski, Jakarta – Spending a day at the People's Democratic Party (PRD) headquarters in East Jakarta watching the stream of activists coming and going, it's easy to forget that just three years ago, the party was banned, its key leaders jailed and the remainder hunted by the military and forced underground.

Jon Land – As investigations by both the United Nations and the Indonesian Human Rights Commission continue into the Indonesian military's involvement in the killing and destruction which took place in East Timor, the Howard government remains reluctant to divulge vital intelligence that would aid these investigations.

Jakarta – Leaked military documents obtained by Indonesia's leading independent human rights group Wednesday showed civil rights abuses over the past nine years in Aceh province were carried out on the instructions of the army in Jakarta.

The Victorian branch of the ALP has voted against a proposal to provide the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT) with $5000 for urgent reconstruction work in East Timor.

Tim Dodd, Banda Aceh – The two men and two women who were paraded through Aceh's capital of Banda Aceh wore signs saying "I stole and I deserve punishment" and "I deeply repent".

Jakarta – Influential security minister General Wiranto on Monday denied allegations of a systematic effort by militias to prevent East Timorese refugees in West Timor from returning to their homeland.

Ambon – Calm returned to the riot-torn province on Monday following two consecutive days of communal clashes which claimed at least 31 lives. Businesses and schools reopened in Ambon as roadblocks were cleared.

The situation in nearby Seram Island was also calm on Monday after the authorities secured the area, according to Maluku Police spokesman Maj. Phillipus Jakriel.

Geneva – Conditions in refugee camps in West Timor are deteriorating, with provincial authorities reporting that at least 35 people, mostly children, died in one camp over a 10-day period, the UN refugee agency said at the weekend. Thirty-two of the victims were children under five.

Jakarta – The Indonesian banking sector recorded a combined operating loss of 52.094 trillion rupiah (7.1 billion dollars) in the 10 months to October compared to a loss of 177.02 trillion rupiah for calendar 1998, Finance Minister Bambang Sudibyo said.

Raj Rajendran, Singapore – Indonesia will seal its next letter of intent with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in time to meet its budgetary obligations, Indonesia's chief economics minister Kwik Kian Gie said on Monday.

Edhi Pranasidhi, Jakarta – Indonesia's senior economic minister Kwik Kian Gie said the government plans to sell majority stakes in state-owned PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (TLK) and PT Indonesia Satellite Corp. (IIT) next year, a plan that surprised and impressed the market.

Jakarta – Indonesia has captured provocateurs, some of them formerly with the military, who were trying to stir up trouble in rebellious Aceh province, senior minister and former armed forces chief General Wiranto said on Monday.

Marianne Kearney, Banda Aceh – Wiry, 45-year-old Ainsyah Basyah is not the most typical victim of the Indonesian military's nine-year campaign to wipe out the Free Aceh separatist movement, which marked its 23rd anniversary on December 4.

Tim Dodd, Banda Aceh – Only months after Indonesia's ignominious exit from East Timor, the die is already cast in Aceh, the next rebellious province to demand independence from the Jakarta central Government.

The bodies began to wash ashore about a week after Indonesia invaded East Timor 24 years ago.

"I buried one man over there on the beach," said Joao Pereira, 56, who was a waiter at the seafront hotel Turismo when Indonesian troops landed on December 7, 1975.

Jakarta – The militia have been haunting the East Timorese refugees currently residing in camps in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). Militia are still emotionally charged over not succeeding in their "mission" and have been terrorising and threatening the refugees...

Vaudine England, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid, recently back from China, has injected new insecurity into his cabinet by saying he hardly knows some of them and suggesting some should resign.

Jakarta – Israel has quietly invested 200 million dollars in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated nation, via foreign companies, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has said.

"Israel does not extend the capital directly but through a third party, a Dutch or US company," he told members of his newly inaugurated National Economic Council Saturday.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said he would ask three ministers suspected of involvement in corruption to resign or face trial, reports said Sunday. "As soon as I get the information from Marzuki [Darusman], the attorney general, I will summon them [and ask them]: 'Will you resign or not?

Margot Cohen, Jakarta – It was a stirring reformasi passion play. On the night of November 29, six of former President Suharto's top generals – once untouchables – faced the hot glare of TV lights and fended off scorching questions from legislators about the military's human-rights record in rebellious Aceh province.

Pandrah Kandeh, Indonesia – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province held peaceful flag-raising ceremonies Saturday in their jungle bases to mark their 23rd anniverary, which was marred only by an incident which left seven injured.

Derwin Pereira, Pidie – Indonesia's generals are once again losing sleep over the country's westernmost province. Their concern: that Aceh is headed for East Timor-style separatism.

The signs are ominous. Up to a million people took to the streets in the capital Banda Aceh last month to call for a referendum on independence.

Andrew Kilvert, Timika – Tensions remained high in this isolated mining town on the Irian Jaya south coast yesterday, a day after Indonesian troops opened fire on unarmed pro-independence protesters, injuring 55 people.

The protesters yesterday re-established their burnt tent embassy in the Catholic church grounds where the shooting took place.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) rejected on Friday accusations that it was behind a plan to methodically undermine the "axis force".

Senior PDI Perjuangan executive Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno said the accusations were intentionally made by a "third party" in attempt to damage relations between PDI Perjuangan and the axis force.

Jakarta – Senior executives of the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI) are shrugging off predictions of the organization's demise despite the descent of its chief patron, B.J. Habibie, from the presidency.

Jakarta – Bank Indonesia's deputy governor Ahjar Iljas said on Friday that Texmaco was among 20 exporting companies which received a preshipment rediscount facility from the central bank through state commercial banks in November 1997.

Keith Richburg, Jakarta – Juwono Sudarsono, a soft-spoken academic who has become Indonesia's new civilian defense minister, has acknowledged in an interview that the process of getting the army out of politics will be a gradual one and that the extent of his control over the military is not yet clear.

Dili – A five member UN mission Friday wound up nine days of investigation into allegations of atrocities in East Timor but it declined to say whether an international tribunal to try those responsible would be necessary.

Banda Aceh – A leading rights activist warned Friday that including the option of independence in any referendum on the future of the volatile province of Aceh was non-negotiable.

Agencies in Jakarta and Banda Aceh – Troops in Aceh will shoot on sight anyone found lowering the national flag tomorrow, the 23rd anniversary of the region's separatist movement, the province's military chief was quoted as saying yesterday.

John Aglionby, Takengon – The last thing Suprianto heard before he passed out was his wife shrieking as she burned to death, locked inside their home by five masked gunmen. "It was horrible, her screams will live with me for ever," said the coffee farmer from Takengon. Mr Suprianto could do nothing to help; the attackers had sprayed bullets into his feet.

Beijing – On the eve of expected demonstrations for independence in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, Indonesian President Adurrahman Wahid vowed Friday to use "repressive force" to keep the country from splitting apart.

Jayapura – A day after dozens of people were injured in a clash between police and demonstrators, hundreds of protesters demanding independence for Irian Jaya rallied Friday at the site of the violence.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Jakarta's political elite are starting to wonder who is running Indonesia.

Amid growing criticism that Mr Abdurrahman Wahid has spent too much time overseas since being elected president on October 20, the former armed forces chief, General Wiranto, has emerged as the country's strongman.