Jakarta – Millions of Indonesian civil servants are pressing for new regional autonomy laws to be changed, fearing they will lose their salary ratings and promotion system, a report said Friday.

Robert Garran – Australia and East Timor remain far apart in crucial talks over revenue from the Timor Gap oil and gas fields that could become a mainstay of the new country's economy.

Jakarta – Per-capita income in Indonesia in the year 2000 stood at between 600 and 700 dollars, almost no improvement over 1999, according to a senior government economist.

Kupang – Following a clash between East Timorese refugees and local residents, hundreds of East Timorese refugees were returned to refugee camps, officials said on Wednesday. The refugees were returned to Noelbaki and Tuapukan refugee camps.

Peter Symonds – A series of bomb blasts at churches in Jakarta and other cities across Indonesia on Christmas Eve underscores the country's political fragility and the tenuous character of President Abdurrahman Wahid's grip on power.

Banda Aceh – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province said Wednesday they had warned Mobil Oil Indonesia, a subsidiary of US-based Exxon Mobil, to leave the region for its own safety.

Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan – Brandishing sharp weapons, dozens of native Dayak tribesmen in the Tangkiling subdistrict here took to the Trans-Kalimantan highway on Monday following rumors of an impending attack by migrants.

Jakarta – A notorious former East Timorese militia leader went on trial here Tuesday charged with inciting criminal activities against the state during a weapons handover in West Timor.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – When district administrators in the Indonesian province of Kalimantan, on Borneo, were asked to launch pilot projects for autonomy, they spent most of the money on luxury offices and official residences.

Jakarta – The National Police will remain a nationwide institution despite the implementation of regional autonomy, which started on Monday.

Calvin Sims – Cianjur – In this verdant farm belt of West Java, where sorcery and superstition have deep roots, few were surprised last September when an angry mob decapitated a 70-year-old woman accused of casting spells that made people ill.

Uli Schmetzer, Jakarta – Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra loved fast cars and fast women, and at the peak of his playboy days he bought his own racetrack and a stake in Italian automaker Lamborghini.

Jakarta – Two months after former President Suharto's youngest son was ordered arrested, the ease with which he has evaded capture is causing increasing embarrassment to the country's beleaguered President.

Jakarta – Jakarta Police admit that the simple methods used by the Christmas eve bombers have baffled investigators in their quest to uncover more evidence.

George J. Aditjondro – Widespread forest fires, covering significant proportions of Sumatra and Kalimantan, with its smoke and haze drifting to Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia, have become an almost annual occurrence in archipelagic Southeast Asia. Yet, the Indonesian government has not taken drastic steps to prevent their recurrence. Why?

Jack Rieley – Southeast Asia contains seventy percent of the world's total tropical peatland, mostly in Indonesia and Malaysia. But these vast peatland landscapes are under great pressure from years of resource exploitation and land development.

Chris McCall, Jakarta – Church investigators have detailed a catalogue of horrors perpetrated on Christians by Islamic militias in the Maluku Islands.

Hundreds of circumcisions were carried out with a single razor blade, they said, causing heavy bleeding and infection. Some women were subject to genital mutilation. Victims were sent into the sea for "disinfection".

Vaudine England – Near Jember, deep in East Java, is the Meru Betiri National Park, home to near-extinct panthers and one of the last great rainforests. But this park could be wiped out as a result of the new regional autonomy law.

Vaudine England – The Government will keep control of foreign, defence, monetary, judicial and religious policy but devolve many other powers to legislatures at the district level under a law that comes into effect today.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – As the architect of the regional autonomy laws that take effect throughout Indonesia today, Professor Ryaas Rasyid used to tell district officials that if he believed Jakarta was not serious about devolving its powers to them, he would resign his Cabinet post. He is about to do so.

Mary S. Zurbuchen – Even seasoned observers had trouble predicting how difficult the 'post-Suharto era' would be. Yet, despite economic woes, social conflict and vacillating leadership, many Indonesians feel they have indeed embarked on a journey leading toward a more democratic society.

Jakarta – Indonesia on Monday began an unprecedented devolution of power to its regions in a momentous move aimed at keeping the vast archipelago – already fraying at the edges – together.

Sidney Jones – Many knew Jafar as a political science student at New School University, New York. Others knew him as a leader of the very close Acehnese community in Woodside, Queens, where he'd lived since 1996. Some New Yorkers may have known him as one of the least aggressive taxi drivers this city has ever produced.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – A son-in-law of former President Suharto, retired Lt-General Prabowo Subianto, has made legal history in the United States as the first person to be denied entry under the provisions of the United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Banda Aceh – At least 17 people have been killed during the Muslim Eid Al-Fitr holiday in Indonesia's troubled province of Aceh, police and human rights workers said Sunday.

The continuing violence bodes ill for upcoming peace talks between the government and leaders of the separatist Free Aceh Movement. They are tentatively scheduled to take place January 5 in Geneva.

Compatriots! Timorese!

Jakarta – Defense Minister Mahfud MD yesterday brushed off suggestions he would step down, which came from local legislator and ex Finance Minister, Fuad Bawazier, "Unless it is requested by the President or the cabinet is dissolved,"

Jake Lloyd-Smith – The Defence Minister has accused supporters of former president Suharto over the wave of church bombings that hit the country on Christmas Eve killing 16 people.

Bandung – Wawan Wahidin bin Engkos, whom police have described as a key witness in the wave of Christmas eve bombings, died here on Friday morning, raising the death toll in the bloody Sunday assault on nine cities to 17.

Chris McCall, Jakarta – A new separatist front in Indonesia's troubled Spice Islands is demanding that Jakarta "restore" the sovereignty of the Christian-dominated south.

Jakarta – The government plans to restructure the national intelligence system, the Jakarta Post reported, quoting defence Minister Muhammad Mahfud.

Jake Lloyd-Smith and Reuters in Jakarta – The fugitive son of ex-president Suharto was caught by police after two months on the run – but escaped custody by jumping out of a window, President Abdurrahman Wahid said yesterday.

Bandar Lampung – Indonesia's human development index has continued to decline over the past two years to reach 109 out of 180 countries.

Speaking on the occasion of Id Fitri prayers here on Wednesday, administrative coordinator of the Health Ministry office in Lampung Drs Zamaksari Shahli MKM said that in 1998, Indonesia still ranked 105th on the human development index.

Jake Lloyd-Smith, Jakarta – Indonesia's main intelligence agency is warning that the country is set for a tumultuous year ahead with a rise in separatist pressures and civil disturbances.

Indonesia commemorated Women's Day on December 22. The plight of women during the crisis of the past few years was among the highlights of a recent conference in Leiden on Indonesian women. Linawati Sidarto, a Leiden-based journalist, shares insights from the four-day talks.

Lely T. Djuhari, Banda Aceh – Tired of daily jeers and insults, Natalia Dewi has done what she never thought she would – she has started wearing a headscarf. Although Roman Catholic, the college student is among hundreds of thousands of women covering up in accordance with Islamic law in rebellious Aceh province.

Sadanand Dhume, Jakarta – Sitting in a corner of a crowded South Jakarta cafi in jeans and a T-shirt, Nazaruddin Abdul Ghani is surprisingly calm for a 22-year-old who's fleeing for his life.

Louise Williams – Sydney, you can't rebuild East Timor with teddies and thongs. And you shouldn't even give a child a teddy to play with outside in a tropical climate, because the soft, new toy quickly becomes a filthy health risk.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Somewhere in Indonesian West Timor, in a camp controlled by some of the most notorious militia thugs who fled East Timor after its people voted for independence in August, 1999, there is a 16-year-old girl called Juliana dos Santos.

Tim Dodd, Jakarta – It would seem that Indonesia 's economy is now far from the intensive-care ward where it spent the whole of 1998 on economic life support.

Dan Murphy, Jakarta – Shortly after Monitor contributor Sander Thoenes was killed in East Timor last year, it seemed as if justice would be served in his case. But that looks increasingly in doubt.

Jakarta – Just days after Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid vowed to prevent the secession of the country's easternmost province, media reports said Wednesday that rebels in Irian Jaya had captured two members of the security forces.

Louise Williams – Four years ago, the then Islamic leader Abdurrahman Wahid publicly begged for forgiveness on behalf of Muslim mobs who had burned every church to the ground in the east Javanese town of Situbondo. He then defiantly opened the doors of his Jakarta home to the nation's Christian leaders.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Senior Indonesian military officials yesterday blamed Muslim fundamentalists for the murderous wave of explosions across the archipelago on Christmas Eve.

Jakarta – At least 15 people were killed and dozens others injured when bombs exploded almost simultaneously in or outside churches in various towns on Sunday night, as Indonesia's minority Christian community was preparing to celebrate Christmas.

The casualties include:

Vaudine England – The bombing of more than a dozen Christian churches across Indonesia on Christmas Eve was known about in advance by military intelligence, but politics precluded any prevention.

Police, human rights activists and President Abdurrahman Wahid believe the campaign was organised, well-funded and timed to inflict maximum terror.

Vaudine England – Christians in Jakarta have come to know December as a time when their faith, commitment and tolerance will be tested.

Christmas this year came at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when predominantly Muslim Indonesia changes its business and social hours to cater to religion. It can be a trying time for those not of the Islamic faith.

Jakarta – Hundreds of workers of the five-star Shangri-La Hotel continued their strike for the third day yesterday, forcing the management to temporarily close their business activities and evacuate guests.

The situation has led the hotel to cancel all its year-end celebrations for Idul Fitri, Christmas, New Year's Eve and the New Year.