Shoeb Kagda, Jakarta – In a major shift in economic direction, Indonesia's newly-elected President Abdurrahman Wahid has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to focus more on agriculture under its US$49 billion (S$81.5 billion) rescue plan for the country.

Jakarta – Hundreds of Indonesian students lowered the national flag outside the Riau provincial governor's office in protest after President Abdurrahman Wahid warned separatist activists would be arrested, a report said Wednesday.

Jakarta – George Aditjondro has just ended a three-month trip to 10 countries – the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia – doing what he has always done: tracing the wealth of Indonesia's autocrat Soeharto and his cronies.

Jakarta – Some 100 former political prisoners jailed by the authoritarian govenrment of ousted president Suharto on Wednesday urged the new government to restore their good names.

Jeremy Wagstaff, Jakarta – It's 2am on October 20, and Indonesia's parliament has delivered a stunning rebuke to President B.J. Habibie. It has just rejected his "accountability speech" – the equivalent of a no-confidence vote. In the expansive parlor of the presidential mansion, Mr.

Jakarta – A mob of some 200 Muslims armed with crude weapons set fire to a church in a town south of Jakarta early Tuesday, residents said.

Some 30 police who rushed to the burning Jemaat Salom church in the Depok township were helpless as they were outnumbered by the arsonists, armed with machetes and other home made weapons.

Jakarta – Security forces broke up a peaceful protest by thousands of residents in Indonesia's remote Irian Jaya province, reports said Tuesday.

The state Antara news agency said the mass demonstration in the district of Fakfak was staged shortly after noon Monday to push for the resignation of district head, Colonel Suparlan Pasambuna.

Associated Press in Jakarta – A day after President Abdurrahman Wahid said it was not yet time to discuss an independence referendum, thousands of people protested violently in strife-torn Aceh province on Tuesday to demand an immediate vote.

Jakarta – Indonesia's senior economy minister, Kwik Kian Gie, on Tuesday handed a copy of an audit into the murky Bank Bali scandal to the IMF, paving the way for a resumption of multilateral aid to Jakarta.

Jakarta – Dozens of Indonesian soldiers ran amok and destroyed a traditional market in the capital, seriously injuring two market workers, reports said Tuesday.

The Suara Karya daily said the soldiers were angered after four of their colleagues were reprimanded by the market's security guard for creating noise and drinking at a bar there on Sunday night.

Jay Solomon, Jakarta – The $123.5 million secretly transferred out of Bank Bali went into the bank accounts of some of former Indonesian president B.J. Habibie's senior aides, as well as his own political party, and entailed a massive money-laundering effort aimed at hiding numerous beneficiaries, according to a report by auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

David Liebhold – The Asian financial crisis of 1997 helped bring down Suharto, so President Abdurrahman Wahid had better pay attention to economics if he wants to hold onto power – and hold Indonesia together. Democracy may have triumphed, but the economy is a mess.

Alexander Higgins, Geneva – Failure by a UN panel last week to approve a special investigation of alleged atrocities in East Timor risks the loss of evidence that could be used in any future international trial of militias or the Indonesian military, an official said today.

Jakarta – Indonesia's consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.06% in October from September, and was up 1.58% from a year earlier, the Central Bureau of Statistics said Monday. Bureau head Sugito Suwito said he saw the inflation rate for the whole of 1999 at no higher than 2.5% despite an anticipated rise in the index in December.

Jakarta – An Indonesian rights body said Monday it had found evidence of organized human rights abuses by pro-Jakarta militia in West Timor, and urged Jakarta to protect the remaining 230,000 refugees East Timorese there.

Malang – Mass unrest and riots on Friday and Saturday (29th-30th October) followed the looting of coffee and cocoa belonging to the Sumbermanggis Plantations in Jogomulyo village, Tirtoyudo subdistrict, south of Malang.

Jakarta – The Indonesian press on Monday expressed relief the country's army had completed its withdrawal from East Timor in a dignified manner, and called for reconciliation to heal the bitter wounds of the past.

Dili – Hundreds of East Timorese Sunday looted the empty barracks of the Indonesian army in Dili several hours after the last occupying troops sailed out of the harbour under the cover of darkness.

Jakarta – Indonesian troops shot dead more than 50 unarmed civilians in Aceh province in July, according to a local government probe rejecting allegations the victims were separatist rebels, reports said Sunday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's new President faced his first security scare from irate protesters yesterday after delivering a tough anti-corruption warning as his cabinet was sworn in.

The cabinet that was announced on Tuesday eliminated the information and social affairs ministries, sparking protests on Thursday and yesterday by civil servants fearful for their jobs.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – A group of high-ranking officers in Indonesia's armed forces have made unprecedented public criticism of the military's powers, including its role in civilian affairs.

Dili – Standing bolt upright after singing the national anthem, the Indonesian soldiers cleared their weapons in unison and marched off across the tarmac as the sun set on Dili's Comoro airport.

Human rights group Amnesty International lashed out at the UN Thursday for dragging its feet in sending investigators into East Timor as it released a new report detailing alleged atrocities there.

Jakarta – Students in Makassar, the capital of Indonesia's South Sulawesi province set fire to a bus after a minister described their demand for an independent state as "half-hearted," reports said Saturday.

Jakarta – Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in the separatist-plagued Indonesian province of Aceh to demand an East Timor-style referendum on independence, a report said Friday.

Dini Sari Djalal, Atambua – Claudio de Jesus Lai trusts very few people. The East Timorese anti-independence activist mans the gates of Tenubot refugee camp in Atambua, West Timor, sternly interrogating visitors. "Western countries are using Asians to spy on us," he snaps at a visiting reporter. "How do I know you're not one of them?"

Barry Porter – President Abdurrahman Wahid's reformist cabinet ministers have begun the huge task of resolving Indonesia's economic mess and restoring investor confidence.

Oekussi – At least 34 people were believed to have been killed in the East Timorese enclave of Oekussi, victims of militia atrocities, according to a list compiled by returning refugees.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Ermera – In a country where most people grow just enough rice and corn to slake their hunger, Jose Madeira Ximenes never consumed any of his crop.

Jakarta – A group of Indonesian students Wednesday held their first street rally since President Abdurrahman Wahid took office to reaffirm their committment to act as a watchdog on the government.

Jakarta – The so-called National Unity Cabinet, announced on Tuesday, lives up to its name as it groups people from different sociocultural backgrounds, professions and political affiliations.

Some of the new ministers are "nobodies" to the media, compared to their colleagues who often appear on television or in print.

Keith B. Richburg, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia on Tuesday unveiled a new-look cabinet for the country's democratic era, naming an entirely fresh economics team unsullied by corruption scandals and taking steps to bring the powerful armed forces under greater civilian control. With the new lineup, Mr.

Amy Chew, Jakarta – Indonesia's day-old government on Wednesday moved swiftly to bring disgraced former president Suharto to justice, highlighting its new clean image and meeting a key demand from reformists who put it in power.

David Jenkins – Indonesia's new Cabinet doesn't look too bad at first glance, with some impressive names in the list of ministers.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Alwi Shihab, is a sophisticated moderate who once taught at Harvard.

Jakarta – Indonesia's new cabinet announced Tuesday by President Abdurrahman Wahid reflects the new leader's preoccupation with accommodating all factions in the country's politics rather than emphasizing professionalism, analysts said here.

Noel Fung, Jakarta – Uncertainty over the economic policies of the new cabinet and the fact that many of its ministers lack a track record is set to damp investor interest in Jakarta stocks in the short term, and wipe out the euphoria over the country's dawning democracy, analysts said Tuesday.

Jakarta – full list of members of the new Indonesian cabinet as announced by Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri and President Abdurrahman Wahid on Tuesday:

Coordinating Ministers:

Jakarta – Indonesians are confident that new President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri can overcome the country's major problems, a poll published Tuesday revealed.

The poll, which canvassed 919 people in Jakarta and the surrounding area on October 22 and 23, was carried out for the Kompas daily.

Michael Shari, Singapore – For a while, Megawati Sukarnoputri had the edge in the race for Indonesia's presidency. Her party had won the highest percentage of the popular vote in the June elections, and she enjoyed the apparent backing of the military. So the betting was that when legislators voted for a President on October 20, Megawati would walk away with the crown.

Dili – Civilian and military police have discovered another mass grave holding up to 10 bodies at a site on the outskirts of Dili, officials said Monday, as the Australian-led multi-national peacekeeping force spread into more devastated territory in the East Timorese enclave of Oecussi.

Jay Solomon – Indonesia's prospects of a rapid economic recovery have been dashed by the confluence of political uncertainty, financial scandal and the bloodletting in East Timor. Hopes of reversing the trend rest largely on a stable government asserting itself in the wake of the country's most democratic elections in decades.

According to recent reports, the UN mission in East Timor has been able to account for just over 150,000 people out of an estimated population of 850,000.

Keith B. Richburg, Jakarta – Some of the first well-wishers to call on Indonesia's new leader, Abdurrahman Wahid, were struck by the casual air he has brought to Indonesia's stately presidential palace.

He chatted amiably, he insisted on being called by his nickname, Gus Dur, and he sometimes propped a bare foot up on the sofa.

Tony Jenkins – Abdurrahman Wahid, better known in his own country as Gus Dur, spoke to the Expresso in the lobby of the Hotel Mandarin at the start of the Popular Consultative Assembly (MPR), the body that has just elected him President of Indonesia.

Expresso: If you were elected President, would you respect East Timor's independence?

Agencies in Dili – Multinational forces stormed into the Oecussi enclave by sea yesterday securing the last slice of East Timor just days before an expected assault by militia groups.

"This morning Interfet established a lodgement in the enclave," Interfet commander Major-General Peter Cosgrove said, adding that Jakarta had not been informed of the planned action.

Dili – International investigators excavating a well near Liquisa in East Timor have abandoned the site after unearthing 11 bodies, an Interfet spokesman said Saturday.

Other badly decomposed remains could be seen but the investigation was called off when the site became too dangerous, Interfet officers said.

Lhokseumawe – Several thousand people in Indonesia's restive province of Aceh on Saturday staged a protest demanding President Abdurrahman Wahid allow a referendum on its future status, police said.

The protest took place in East Aceh district, one of the areas where support for the separatist Free Aceh rebels is strongest. Police said the protest was generally peaceful.

Jakarta – Some 3,000 residents in the remote Indonesian province of Irian Jaya went on the rampage Friday, demanding the recovery of the bodies of some 300 victims of a boat tragedy, police said.

Jakarta – Thousands of students rallied in Makassar, the capital of Indonesia's South Sulawesi province, on Friday to demand an independent state of Sulawesi, police and television reports said.

Jakarta – Five people have been killed and five injured in two days of fresh Muslim-Christian violence in Indonesia's Maluku islands, a report said Friday.

Most victims in the clashes on Saparua island in the central Malukus on Wednesday and Thursday suffered gunshot wounds, the Republika daily quoted local residents as saying. It was not clear who fired the shots.