Arifin A/Lyndal Meehan, Jakarta – NGOs and students in the province of Jambi, Sumatra, have called on the Minister of Forestry and Plantations, Nurmahmudi Ismail, to immediately close PT Inhutani V due to the extensive environmental damage caused by the state-owned enterprise and that the local Forestry Ministry official be sacked for corruption.

Jakarta – Jakarta City Councilmen questioned on Saturday the absence of police officers on several raids conducted recently by local officials against gambling dens in the capital.

Council Deputy Speaker Djafar Badjeber of the United Development Party said the presence of the police during such operations is necessary to avoid any unexpected obstacles.

Bagus Kurniawan/BI & LM, Jakarta – The nightmare of unemployment has been weighing on the minds of thousands of members of the state-sponsored civilian security forces, known as Kamra, which are set to be officially disbanded at the end of the year.

Ian Timberlake Indonesia – Vigilante mobs have slain more than 100 people on the streets of Jakarta already this year, reflecting a loss of faith in the police since former dictator Suharto stepped down two years ago.

Jakarta – Workers' protests at gas company Vico Indonesia Ltd might cause a total cut in the natural gas supply to the country's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer PT Badak in Bontang, East Kalimantan, a spokesman of state oil and gas company Pertamina said here on Saturday.

Ambon – Ambon was still tense on Sunday following clashes between troops and armed rioters at the border between Batu Merah and Mardika areas that left at least six people dead and 18 others wounded, officials and witnesses said.

Matthew Draper – Political elites who sit on a low-profile committee of Indonesia's highest legislative body, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), are jeopardizing the nation's attempts at constitutional reform.

Joanna Jolly, Dili – With its chrome chairs and international menu, the City Cafe could be in any modern capital around the world. But it is in the burnt-out city of Dili, two doors up from the site of a brutal massacre and just strolling distance from the former headquarters of one of East Timor's fiercest militias.

Banda Aceh – A large number of residents were injured after a gang of soldiers and police officers reportedly ran amok on Sunday, destroying shops and markets in the Idi Rayeuek district of East Aceh on Sunday. Unconfirmed reports said three civilians were killed in the melee.

Michael Sheridan, Manado – The martyrdom of the village of Duma began with the gathering of spectral figures in white shrouds chanting about holy war and death. By the time it ended, 208 Christian villagers taking refuge in a church had been slaughtered by Muslims who call themselves the Laskar Jihad, or holy warriors.

Jakarta – Scores of people who witnessed and survived the 1984 massacre at Tanjung Priok, yesterday rallied outside the Attorney General's Office in Blok M, South Jakarta, demanding that action be taken against retired generals who ordered the slaughter of an estimated 400 Muslims at the North Jakarta port area.

Jakarta – Two UN agencies on Saturday pulled most of their foreign staff out of the West Timor border town of Atambua, a day after pro-Jakarta militia encircled and threatened their offices, UN officials said.

Jakarta – Indonesia's national assembly is expected to shy away this week from committing itself on controversial amendments to the country's 55-year-old constitution, including a proposal to cement the military's place in politics, observers and politicians said.

Jakarta – Members of the Indonesian Workers Prosperity Union (SBSI) yesterday continued their blockade of a coal mining company's site in East Kalimantan. Officials at PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) said the industrial dispute at the Sangatta site had entered its 10th day.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) became the latest organization on Friday to criticize the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) for its reluctance to end military and police representation in the legislative body.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Jakarta – Shortly after taking office in the autumn, President Abdurrahman Wahid, who is nearly blind, quipped to group of visitors in the presidential palace that he and his taciturn vice president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, made "the best team". "I can't see," Mr. Wahid chortled, "and she can't speak."

Indonesia is in a mess, but President Wahid's latest attempts to ease the turmoil have backfired. Lindsay Murdoch reports.

Indonesia is rumbling. And the political tremors are more alarming to the country's 210 million people than the infrequent earthquakes that shake Jakarta's high-rise buildings.

Jakarta – Indonesian soldiers shot dead at least five people who defied warnings and attacked soldiers attempting to disperse Christian and Muslim mobs from a street in conflict-torn Ambon on Friday, Indonesia's state-run news agency Antara reported Saturday.

Bandung – Two groups of Bandung students greeted Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Friday with a demonstration, criticizing the government for failing to uphold law enforcement.

Rayhan Anas Lubis/Lyndal Meehan, Jakarta – In an effort to improve the welfare of motorised pedicab drivers and cap the number of the vehicles serving the public in the troubled province of Aceh, 1500 drivers have formed a new union.

Jakarta – The number of student rallies has increased since the Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly opened on Monday with at least 300 students staging rallies in front of the Assembly complex here on Friday.

Joanna Jolly in Dili and Agencies – United Nations peacekeepers are gearing up for further trouble from pro-Jakarta militiamen as the anniversary of the territory's independence vote draws nears.

Dili – The head of the UN peacekeeping mission in East Timor has demanded that Indonesia arrest and disarm militia leaders responsible for an attack in which a Nepalese soldier was killed and four others wounded.

Santa Fe, New Mexico – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid will harm his country's stature if he follows through on plans to visit Iraq this year, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Saturday.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – A proposed article in the Constitution that stipulates the implementation of the Islamic Law for Indonesian Muslims has received little support from legislators in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid's "rainbow" Cabinet is losing its lustre. Other than yesterday's resignation of top Economics Minister Kwik Kian Gie, five other ministers have resigned or been dismissed from the Cabinet.

Jay Solomon, Jakarta – Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri's appointment to manage the Indonesian government's daily business has calmed legislators who feared political gridlock if President Abdurrahman Wahid didn't overhaul his beleaguered administration.

Nuruddin Lazuardi/Fitri & Lyndal Meehan, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, or Kontras, has demanded the Attorney General's office investigate the disappearance of Jafar Siddiq Hamzah, the head of the International Forum for Aceh (IFA).

Tom McCawley – A patter of applause from the floor of the 700- member People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) greeted the appointment this week by Abdurrahman Wahid, Indonesian president, of Megawati Sukarnoputri to manage the day-to-day affairs of the cabinet.

Facing a hostile parliament and a deteriorating national economy, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid handed over a portion of his duties to Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri on August 9.

Jakarta – The first trial of a lawsuit filed by the Democratic People's Party (PRD) against Soeharto regime was postponed on Thursday after only four lawyers showed up.

Dublin – UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, will start a three day visit to East Timor tomorrow to monitor developments there since last year's unrest. Although it's gone from the headlines there is continuing violence if obviously not at the same levels as after last year's independence vote.

On the fourth day of the annual session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) demonstrations were held by a number of organisations and students.

Jakarta – Hundreds of youths who call themselves Jakarta Student Consortium (KMJ) were demonstrating in front of legislature complex on Thursday, at about 1pm. They demanded the People's Consultative Assembly to reject the progress report of President Abdurrahman Wahid, popularly called Gus Dur.

Jakarta – Once powerful Indonesian business tycoon Mohammad "Bob" Hasan, who was former President Suharto's confidante and cabinet minister, was formally charged with corruption Thursday, Jakarta's Provincial Prosecution Office said.

Kuala Lumpur – Some 120 Indonesian maids fleeing physical abuse or attempted rape by employers or agents have taken refuge at their country's consulate in an east Malaysian state, a report said Thursday.

Jakarta – Two Muslims accused of spying for Christian militias were lynched on Wednesday by Muslim mobs in the war-ravaged Ambon town.

Jackie Woods, Sydney – A change in how the Indonesian government is managed, which will see Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri handle the bulk of domestic affairs, will exacerbate the already tense situation in Papua, a leading independence activist said Thursday.

Jakarta – The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) may reject President Abdurrahman Wahid's call to revoke the 1965 decree prohibiting communism, but books on communism and leftist figures were the most popular sellers at a book kiosk on the Assembly compound.

Jakarta – Some 150 Indonesian students rallied on Wednesday near the home of former president Suharto to demand that he be immediately put on trial for massive corruption and abuse of power.

On July 27, peaceful student protesters in the central Java city of Yogyakarta were attacked by baton-wielding thugs. At least 21 people were badly hurt. The students were commemorating the military-backed attack on Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) four years ago in Jakarta. The thugs are believed to be members of the Indonesian military.

Jakarta – Former president Suharto has been charged before the South Jakarta district court of allocating 419.593 million US dollars to cover losses of Bank Duta in the early 1990s, with the funds taken from one of his social foundation funds, court documents said.

Jon Land – Despite the announcement on July 31 by Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid that refugee camps in West Timor controlled by the pro-Jakarta militia will be closed, the fate of tens of thousands of East Timorese refugees remains perilous. The terror campaign, which has intensified in recent months, will continue until the militias are disarmed and disbanded.

Jakarta – The United States on Wednesday expressed "deep concern" over the sudden disappearance of a US-based human rights activist in the Indonesian city of Medan last Saturday.

Banda Aceh – A separatist leader in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province has vowed to minimize the group's armed struggle and adopt more diplomatic means to achieve independence.

Abdullah Syafiie, charismatic army chief of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), said a truce signed in May by the separatists and the Indonesian government constituted a partial victory for the rebels.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid has agreed to extend the cease-fire with separatist rebels in Aceh province for three more months, a Cabinet minister said Wednesday.

Representatives of the government and the Free Aceh Movement have been holding talks in Switzerland about extending the June 2 truce that was due to expire in September.

Tim Dodd, Jakarta – Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid is a politician who thrives on chaos. Remember how he disposed of General Wiranto early this year.

Jakarta – The following is a brief chronology of the main events in Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid's nine months in power.

Wahid announced Wednesday that he would hand day-to-day running of the government to vice president Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Robert Go, Jakarta – The majority of Indonesia's legislators indicated yesterday that they would give President Abdurrahman Wahid more time to prove his ability to govern the trouble-ridden country. But they remained critical of the President's progress report in his long-awaited "state of the union address" at the national assembly.

Jakarta – The key turning point yesterday for seasoned observers was not so much the applause President Abdurrahman Wahid received from legislators for his two apologies, but the interjections from the floor even before he spoke.