Surabaya – East Java's security forces were ready to anticipate possible outbreaks of violence, ahead of the August1 special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), police chief Insp. Gen Sutanto said on Thursday.

Jakarta – Indonesian police who rushed to their commander's home to protect him from arrest pulled back overnight after President Abdurrahman Wahid appeared to back down.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday ordered the arrest of the police chief he has been trying to sack for weeks, widening the struggle over his impeachment by raising fresh allegations of politicking by the police.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The Indonesian army is training and equipping Javanese migrants in Aceh to defend themselves against independence rebels in the province, non-governmental groups say.

Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Adm. Widodo A.S. sounded on Thursday his strong support for stern measures taken by joint-security troops to restore law and order in strife-torn Ambon.

Jakarta – Indonesian legislators have asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to write off the country's foreign debts, including those to other donors recommended by the Fund.

East Timor's Independent Electoral Commission Friday determined the order in which the territory's 16 political parties and five independent candidates will appear on the national ballot for August 30 constituent assembly elections.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Two days before the start of East Timor's election campaign for a Constituent Assembly, the territory's United Nations administrator, Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, has promised maximum security to ensure a peaceful and trouble-free ballot.

Sadanand Dhume, Jakarta – If the script had unfolded as planned on June 30 officials at the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, or IBRA, would have been popping champagne and posing for pictures after selling a 30% stake in Bank Central Asia, once the country's largest private bank.

Jakarta – Smoke haze attributed to underground fires continued to choke the city of Pontianak on Indonesian Borneo Thursday, local officials said.

John McBeth, Jakarta – Smartly dressed in a suit, tie and polished shoes, the nervous Indonesian visa applicant gave the American consular official interviewing him a strange feeling that he wasn't the businessman he claimed. So the official, drawing on years of experience, asked him to take the ultimate test: Undo and re-knot his tie. Shamefaced, the man couldn't do it.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – A three-day registration period now under way for the start of the new school year is bringing smiles – and extra income – to teachers and education officials ever eager to offer their "services" to frantic parents.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia has started forming East Timor-style militias in oil- and gas-rich Aceh, where scores of civilians are being murdered under the cover of a brutal crackdown against separatist rebels, say Acehnese leaders and human rights workers.

Jakarta – A US lobbyist for Indonesia revealed on Wednesday that he would try to help foster dialog between the United States government and the Indonesian Military (TNI) to promote better mutual understanding.

Vaudine England in Jakarta – A Javanese militia has formed in Central Aceh and, with encouragement from security forces, is stoking conflict between Acehnese and other ethnic groups in the separatist province, human rights workers and analysts believe.

Jakarta – While neighboring countries have been complaining about the choking haze caused by Indonesia's forest fires and have called on Indonesia to take action to deal with the problem, the Ministry of Forestry said on Tuesday it had yet to formulate a program to swiftly remedy the situation. "So far, we don't have a clear blueprint of how to cope with the problem.

London – The situation within the Sukarno family is deteriorating with a clear split between the sisters widening and "becoming more serious now", political analyst Hermawan Sulistyo has said.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Political compromise, intimidation, constitutional deadlock and a divide-and-rule approach to weaken his enemies are some of the options that Mr Abdurrahman Wahid would likely turn to, so as to prevent the People's Consultative Assembly from impeaching him in August.

On July 5, representatives of the East Timor Transitional Cabinet, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor and the Australian government met in Dili and signed the Timor Sea Arrangement, concluding 10 months of negotiating and wrangling over a new deal to replace the Timor Gap treaty.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid appointed on Tuesday his old friend and current Minister of Justice and Human Rights Marsillam Simanjuntak as the new attorney general to replace the late Baharuddin Lopa.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid shared the public's disappointment on Tuesday over the conclusions of the House of Representatives (DPR) on the Trisakti and Semanggi fatal shooting incidents in which 30 youths, mostly students, were killed.

With Wednesday passing as the final deadline for East Timorese to challenge the list of proposed candidates for the upcoming elections, the United Nations transitional administration today said that all political parties and independent candidates had been officially registered.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Indonesian security forces have arrested 23 hardcore militiamen including the notorious leader of the gang involved in the 1999 massacre in East Timor's Suai cathedral.

Dili – As a UN security team toured refugee camps near Indonesian controlled West Timor's border with East Timor Tuesday, officials of the world body in Dili warned that pro-Jakarta militias were still intimidating refugees.

Chris McCall in Tentena, Central Sulawesi – With guns that look like cut-out toys, a Christian army is fighting a war to hold on to its ancestral lands. It is based in Tentena, a beautiful lakeside town that visitors to Indonesia once flocked to.

Jakarta – Indonesia's army chief has played down President Abdurrahman Wahid's renewed threat to declare a state of emergency if political parties fail to compromise with him by July 20, local media reported Tuesday.

Jakarta – More than 100 middle-ranking Indonesian police officers yesterday spoke out against their chief, who has defied his sacking by President Abdurrahman Wahid, accusing him of disobedience.

In a petition issued after a meeting at the national police headquarters, the officers stressed that the Indonesian police were under the ultimate command of the President.

Jakarta – UN officials in East Timor raised concern Tuesday about the fate of refugees who chose to be repatriated from squalid camps in Indonesia during an Indonesian-run census last month.

Jakarta – Relatives and parents of students slain in the Trisakti and Semanggi shootings expressed disappointment at the findings of a House of Representative special committee investigating the incidents by throwing eggs during a House session on Monday.

Only 666 of the 1,250 East Timorese refugees Indonesian authorities said wanted to return to their homeland last month have been able to do so, UN officials said on Tuesday.

G.K. Goh, Jakarta – Smoke from land clearing by fire on Tuesday cast a haze over the skies of several cities in Borneo and Sumatra island, causing eye irritations and breathing problems, officials said.

Banda Aceh – Clashes in Indonesia's oil-rich province of Aceh have killed at least 12 people including five suspected separatist rebels, and endangered food supplies to residents, officials said Tuesday.

Guerrillas of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) said they had attacked an outpost of US oil giant ExxonMobil in retaliation for violence directed at locals by security forces.

Banda Aceh – At least nine people and possibly up to 14 died in weekend violence in Indonesia's blood-drenched Aceh province, the military and residents said Monday.

Robert Go, Jakarta – While the KPPU anti-monopoly commission is concerned that mini-mart chains such as Indomaret are driving out smaller retailers, the views expressed by individual shopkeepers tell a different story.

Jakarta – American congressman Tony P. Hall said on Saturday that he fully endorsed US humanitarian programs in Indonesia, in spite of Jakarta's failure to punish the perpetrators of violence in East Timor two years ago.

Lee Siew Hua, Washington – US President George W. Bush's administration is seeking congressional support to restore a modest level of contact with the Indonesian military, as part of its overall policy review of a nation important to Asian stability.

The proposals are "quite modest", Mr Tim Rieser, foreign-policy aide to Senator Patrick Leahy told The Straits Times.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky said "there is no subject so old that something new cannot be said about it". The long-running, serialized saga of Indonesia's "Baligate" scandal, however, leaves little new to be said.

Maryadi/HD, Jakarta – In rejection to Trisakti-Semanggi House special committee's recommendation to bring the case into military's court not into Human Rights court, around 100 students are attacking the parliament complex this Monday.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – A meeting between political leaders and Abdurrahman Wahid set for today will probably fail, making the embattled President appear weaker than ever. But the business of reaching a compromise is going on regardless – behind closed doors.

Bandung – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) has asked its supporters across the country to revive community posts in the lead-up to the special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in August.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Mini-marts selling everything from cold drinks and milk to bread and snacks in colourful packages are changing the way Indonesian consumers shop for their daily needs.

Jakarta – Embattled President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid received a rare show of support from those who were jailed and persecuted during the New Order era.

Author Pramoedya Ananta Toer, who was imprisoned for years for his writings, which the New Order government considered communistic, said on Saturday the President should not step down.

Jakarta – The United States government has maintained its support for the unitary state of Indonesia, saying it will never back any effort by Aceh separatists to secede from the country, aUS official said in Washington D.C. on Friday.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has stepped up pressure on national police chief General Bimantoro, demanding he relinquish all remaining commands of power, the Jakarta Post reported on Saturday.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Finance Minister Rizal Ramli advised the IMF yesterday to stop micromanaging Indonesia's economy and refrain from setting deadlines for restructuring agency Ibra's asset-sale programme.

Jakarta – The government called on Friday for more international aid to fulfill the need for free distribution of contraceptives to 8.25 million poor and needy couples next year.

The UN has its own investigation team in East Timor. Some prosecutions have started against minor players. But the power to investigate stops abruptly at the border with West Timor.

East Timor's big hope for independence was signed yesterday – a pact ensuring the soon-to-be nation has economic security through oil and gas revenue. Tough bargaining between Australia and the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor produced a deal to share oil and gas revenues from the Timor Sea.

Jakarta – Australia and East Timor signed a multi-billion dollar agreement Thursday on dividing royalties from oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea despite an unsavoury row between key political leaders.

Poso, Central Sulawesi – At least five people attacking the police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) troops in the village of Toyado in Lage district, Poso regency, were shot dead on Thursday.