Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Student demonstrators seem to be changing from a force that called the shots and pulled politicians into line into a force manipulated and supported by the same politicians whom they would have previously objected to.

Semarang – Groups of students staged rallies here on Tuesday in support of and in opposition to President Abdurrahman Wahid. The demonstrators marched along the city's streets with dozens of police officers separating them. No clashes were reported.

Jakarta – Thousands of students across the country took to the streets on Monday with divided calls but a unified claim to uphold the reform movement. No clashes were reported in the first massive head-to-head meeting between anti-Abdurrahman protesters and his supporters.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid said on Monday that Indonesia should learn from Nigeria's initiative to reduce its reliance on funding from international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Dan Murphy, Dili – Almost trembling as he awaits a decision, Joao Fernandes, barely literate and desperately poor, looked nothing like the cold-blooded killer described in the indictment against him.

Mark Dod, Maliana – A community radio station is being used to counter propaganda from pro-Indonesia militia groups and convince thousands of refugees who fled East Timor or were deported after the 1999 independence vote to return home.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Fed up with Indonesia's political paralysis and craving more stability, foreign investors are not only staying away from the country, but have also started taking their operations to other Asian countries and elsewhere.

Jakarta – Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung on Tuesday dismissed calls to dissolve the party saying that it is a lawful organization and has the right to exist in the country.

Vaudine England – After a peaceful celebration of the Lunar New Year in much of Indonesia, President Abdurrahman Wahid has further burnished his tolerance credentials by promising a greater respect of Confucianism as a religion.

Lukmanul Hakim/GB, Jakarta – Monday has seen the reemergence of mass action as a force in Indonesia's political development.

Ananda Ismail/Fitri & GB, Jakarta – A recent survey by the Public Interest Research and Advocacy Center (PIRAC) apparently reinforces the findings of other surveys: that if President Abdurrahman Wahid got a report card as if he was a student, he would not have passed.

Dili – Hundreds of UN workers in East Timor signed a petition Monday against cuts to their daily living allowances.

[The following is a compilation of four reports by Detik on the pro- and anti-Wahid demonstrations in Jakarta on Monday. Some sections of the text were edited for readability.]

Jayapura – Willem Onde, leader of the Merauke-based separatist Free Papua Organization (OPM) released on Sunday afternoon 13 of 16 hostages who were abducted by his men on January 16.

Three hostages, including two Korean nationals, were not released as Onde wanted a guarantee that his request to meet with President Abdurrahman Wahid is granted.

Christina Sagat's physical wounds have healed but this 32-year-old woman is left with the deep pain of unresolved sorrow and humiliation. There is also the pain of betrayal – how could her neighbors, with whom she had lived in harmony, turn on her, and lead her to a cruel ordeal?

Lindsay Murdoch, Ambon – Hundreds of Christians, including children and pregnant women, have been forcibly circumcised as part of a campaign by extremists to spread Islam through Indonesia's war-ravaged Maluku Islands. Victims have told The Age of multiple cuttings with the same knives and razors that left many with infections.

Jakarta – A local resident was killed and two others severely injured when a bomb went off in a crowd of residents and security personnel milling about in front of the Betoamberi district office on Friday afternoon in Baubau, Buton regency, Southeast Sulawesi.

Jakarta – The government has eased immigration regulations for Chinese travelers, who during the Soeharto regime faced discriminatory and complicated procedures.

Jakarta – Lobbying by factions inside the House of Representatives intensified on Friday, as Monday's deadline for the submission of the report of the special committee investigating the Bulog and Brunei scandals looms.

Jakarta – Anti and pro-government rallies continued on Friday ahead of the House of Representatives plenary session next Monday that will mark the delivery of the House special committee's findings concerning two financial scandals allegedly involving President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid.

Banda Aceh – Detained chief of Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) Muhammad Nazar demanded on Friday that the case against him be brought to court "to reveal the truth behind all the conflict in Aceh".

Jakarta – Irian Jaya local authorities on Friday stepped up negotiation efforts with separatist rebels to free 16 hostages, including three Koreans, who have been held in the province's jungle-clad Asiki district in Merauke regency since January 16.

Jakarta – New fighting in Indonesia's restive Aceh province has killed at least four people, police said Saturday.

Jakarta – The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) and a federation of bank labor unions (Aspek Indonesia) were united on Friday in deploring the actions of Bank Panin and Bank Mayapada managements in obstructing their respective labor unions.

Jakarta – Disputing Shangri-La hotel management and the hotel's labor union lashed out at each other on Friday over what each claimed were illegal actions perpetrated by the other.

Dili – Human rights activists Friday welcomed the first successful prosecution of an East Timorese militiaman implicated in the 1999 post-independence ballot rampage, but said Indonesian commanders responsible for the bloodshed have yet to face justice.

John Haseman, Bangkok – India and Indonesia have signed a military co-operation agreement to expand military contacts and training opportunities and to step up defence purchases. The agreement was signed during Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's mid-January visit to Jakarta.

Shoeb Kagda, Jakarta – Indonesian bumiputra business conglomerate Bakrie and Brothers and state-owned airline Garuda have reached landmark debt restructuring deals – but analysts say many more such deals must be completed quickly if the country's corporate climate is to improve this year.

Jakarta – Papua New Guinea (PNG) Police have arrested an Irian Jaya separatist leader and 12 rebel members, officials said on Thursday.

Jakarta – Students protested in at least two Indonesian cities including the capital on Friday demanding that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign and answer charges that he was involved in two financial scandals.

Jakarta – Indonesia's foreign minister on Friday said the government had imposed new restrictions on foreign journalists travelling to the country's three most troubled provinces, but insisted it was for their own security and was not political, a report said.

Hestiana Dharmastuti/Fitri & GB, Jakarta 00 Coordinator of the Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Munarman, has stated that the government's efforts to pass a new State of Emergency Bill should be dropped because Indonesia is not ready.

Banda Aceh – At least four people, including two soldiers, were killed in the latest violence to hit the Indonesian province of Aceh, the military and local residents said Thursday.

The two soldiers were shot dead in a rebel ambush in Juli Keude Dua, Bireun district, on Wednesday, said the head of their army battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Erda Bachtiar.

Ambon – Fresh violence erupted in Hatualang village in Pirus district, West Seram island in Central Maluku on Wednesday, resulting in the death of a soldier.

Jakarta – Central Jakarta District Court judges trying a lawsuit filed by the Democratic People's Party (PRD) against a number of former top state officials examined on Wednesday the written evidence presented by lawyers of the plaintiff.

Dili – In the first successful prosecution for the destruction of East Timor in 1999, an international court sentenced a pro-Indonesian militiaman to 12 years in prison for murder.

Matdon, Bandung – Five young artists have come together for an exhibition with the provocative title "Dasar Babi-Babi. Hancurkan Sisa-Sisa Orde Baru, Golkar + Militerisme" (You pigs! Crush the remaining elements of the New Order, Golkar and Militarism).

Jakarta – Minister of Industry and Trade Luhut Pandjaitan denied on Wednesday reports claiming that some export-oriented companies had fled Indonesia in fear of rampant labor disputes. He said his ministry hadn't found evidence of any company that had decided to uproot its business because of concerns over labor disputes.

John Mcbeth, Jakarta – The deadly Christmas and New Year bombings in Indonesia and Manila, which killed 40 people and left hundreds injured, have Indonesians and Filipinos puzzled. Is radical Islam, they wonder, entering a dangerous new phase in Southeast Asia?

Peter Johnston, Darwin – "We expect over 50% of the first elected parliament – definitely", Estanislau da Silva reassured trade unionists here on January 11, claiming that his party, Fretilin, is the only political group in East Timor with extensive grassroots support.

Robyn Marshall, Dili – Aurora Ximenes, the coordinator of the East Timor Women's Network, which comprises 15 grassroots organisations, is angry that women are being sidelined in the transition to independence.

Jon Land – Speculation is increasing that, after the stalemate that occurred at the first round of talks in October, the federal government and representatives of the East Timorese are readying to compromise on the future of the Timor Gap Treaty when talks eventually resume.

Vanya Tanaja, Dili – Workers at three World Food Program warehouses here took strike action on January 8 and then went to the headquarters of the WFP the next day when the agency took no notice of their protest. WFP is a UN agency in charge of the emergency food relief program.

Jakarta – The left-wing Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) and the nations biggest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) are to hold a joint rally against forces opposed to democracy.

PRD leader Budiman Sudjatmiko yesterday met with NU Chairman Hasyim Muzadi to discuss the agenda of the rally.

Jakarta – The US administration of George W. Bush will continue to support Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid in his efforts to build a strong democracy and market economy, US ambassador Robert Gelbard said here Wednesday.

Jakarta – The foreign minister of East Timor's transitional goverment – in a shock move on Wednesday – threw his support behind Jakarta's calls for the US to ease its arms embargo against Indonesia.

Jakarta – Crowds of ethnic Chinese, with mixed feelings of fear and a new sense of pride, flocked openly to temples in Jakarta Wednesday to celebrate 'Imlek', as the Lunar New year is known here.

Budi Sugiharto/Hendra & GB, Surabaya – 182 village heads from Sampang regency, on the island of Madura, East Java province, have occupied the office of the East Java Governor in the provincial capital Surabaya.

Accompanied by 11 Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO), they urged the Governor, Imam Utomo, to immediately inaugurate Fadhilah Budiono.

John Gauci, Sydney – One hundred and fifty people rallied outside the Australian Defence Force headquarters here on January 20 to support self-determination for the Indonesian province of Aceh. The action coincided with a self-determination rally of 300 activists in Banda Aceh.

The public should watch out for military control of civilian institutions, says political analyst Kusnanto Anggoro of the Jakarta-based Center of Strategic International Studies and a lecturer of post graduate studies at the University of Indonesia.