Kwangju – A coalition is very possible between the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P) and the Golkar Party to build a force in the General Session of the MPR in August 2000. The chairperson of the People's Advisory Assembly (MPR) Amien Rais stated this because of the disappointment of the efficient work of Abdurrahman Wahid's government.

Jakarta – Graphic campaigns promoting condom use to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS have failed to change sexual behavior, an expert said.

Publisher of the Jakarta-based journal WartAIDS Chris W. Green told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that "if there was a reason not to use condoms, then people will use that reason".

Jakarta – A government sweep in Tarakan, East Kalimantan last week allegedly found indications of involvement in the multi- billion dollar Borneo illegal timber trade of Malaysian military elements and timber companies, Forestry and Plantations Ministry secretary general Suripto said.

Chris McCall and Agencies – Activists in Aceh yesterday urged Jakarta to set up a full human rights inquiry into abuses in the province if it wants a de facto ceasefire with separatist rebels to work.

Jakarta – Two international human rights bodies yesterday dismissed as "seriously flawed" the just-concluded trial of 24 Indonesian soldiers and a civilian for a massacre in Aceh province, saying it had missed the real culprits in the slaughter.

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Former Indonesian military chief General Wiranto was grilled for more than seven hours on Tuesday by the Attorney-General's Office over his allegedly complicity in the devastation of newly-free East Timor last September.

Jakarta – Two years after former Indonesian president Suharto was ousted from office, large parts of the industrial empire that was forged by his family are still very much in business.

Jakarta – Some 150 Indonesian reporters accredited to the presidential palace went on strike yesterday to protest against shrinking access to information there.

The boycott followed the expulsion by presidential guards of journalists covering the arrival of ministers in the front yard of the Bina Graha, the office of President Abdurrahman Wahid, said one of the reporters.

Chris McCall, Jakarta – People in Aceh have reacted coldly to the jailing of 24 soldiers and their civilian informant over the massacre of 57 people at a school last July, saying it is just window dressing.

Chris McCall – Top Indonesian human rights activists heaped scorn on yesterday's convictions in Aceh, saying they set a bad precedent for future human rights trials over a host of unsettled cases from the past.

Agencies in Ambon – At least 23 people were killed and more than 50 injured as fighting between Muslims and Christians intensified in Ambon in the Maluku islands.

Those killed since late on Tuesday included two members of the security forces, at least 12 Muslims and at least one Christian, officials, witnesses and the state Antara news agency said yesterday.

Ambon – Nine people were killed and at least 60 injured Thursday as clashes raged for a third straight day between Muslims and Christian in the eastern Indonesian city of Ambon, witnesses said.

The violence came a day after at least 23 people were killed in the worst clashes in a month between Muslims and Christians in Ambon, the capital of Maluku province.

Jon Land – Media reports during the recent visit to Australia by East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao highlighted the improving diplomatic relations between Australia, East Timor and Indonesia. Not so widely reported during Gusmao's trip were renewed calls for the Timor Gap Treaty to be renegotiated.

Jakarta – Mobs who have taken the law into their own hands in the face of weak law enforcement in and around the Indonesian capital have killed 40 people this year, police disclosed yesterday.

"Increasing mob justice indicates a slide in the respect for the law," the Antara national news agency quoted Jakarta police chief Major General Nurfaizi as saying.

Chris McCall, Jakarta – Former military chief General Wiranto yesterday finally resigned his cabinet post, after hours of official questioning over the bloodshed that hit East Timor last year.

Condemning soldiers who took sides in the aftermath of the historic vote for independence, General Wiranto said he was stepping down after four months suspension from his post.

Jon Land - The 100,000 East Timorese refugees in camps in West Timor face daily hardship and terror from the pro-integration militia gangs which control or are active in many of the 200 camps. The repatriation of refugees to East Timor has slowed considerably.

Jonathan Thatcher, Jakarta – A cloud of gloom has descended over Indonesia. Its financial markets have been plunging, along with hopes that a shambling government can lead the country out of economic ruin and political bedlam.

Leigh Murray, Jakarta – Indonesia signed Wednesday the International Monetary Fund letter of intent that outlines key economic reform programs for the government to revamp the economy.

Singapore – Mild haze in Singapore and Malaysia could rapidly get worse, with more smoke blowing in from forest fires on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, officials said Wednesday.

In Malaysia, a gray pall hung over Kuala Lumpur, obscuring the upper floors of the city's skyscrapers and the Petronas Twin Towers, the world's tallest building.

Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Wednesday the Indonesian economy was now on the right track, and that it would not lower its 2000 economic growth rate forecast of three to four percent, despite the weakening rupiah.

John Gauci, Sydney – "The goal of our union is to create prosperity as a welfare state similar to that of Europe or the US", Indonesian union leader Muchtar Pakpahan told 50 unionists gathered in the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union hall here on May 9.

Jakarta – The slide in Indonesia's currrency, the rupiah, has been caused by political and not economic problems, a senior presidential advisor on the economy said here Wednesday.

Jennifer E. Reed, Washington – Priests assisting people in western Timor's refugee camps say the "vast majority" want to return to East Timor, but intimidation by pro-Indonesia militias is keeping them there, said a US human rights activist.

Jakarta – An environmental group demanded a temporary halt to operations of mining company PT Freeport Indonesia following a May 4 accident which resulted in four missing workers.

The chairwoman of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) Emmy Hafild also announced on Monday the organization's plans to sue Freeport on charges of environmental damage.

Mark Dodd, Dili – One of East Timor's biggest and best known political groups, Fretilin, which spearheaded the bloody 24-year struggle for independence from Indonesia, yesterday began an historic conference to discuss its transformation from revolutionary front to mainstream political party.

Washington – US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Monday hailed last week's truce agreement between Indonesia separatist rebels from its northern oil-rich province of Aceh, pledging US humanitarian aid to support the pact.

Chris McCall, Sigli – An Indonesian soldier cannot expect an easy life in troubled Aceh at the best of times, but most assume their own colleagues will not betray them. That was a mistake for former first sergeant Maju Ali Siagian.

Grace Nirang, Sukra – Tarjan stands barechested in the middle of his small rice field. Dejected. Already suffering from three years of economic crisis in Indonesia, Tarjan has watched rice prices tumble this season, forced down by too much rain and a flood of cheap imports.

Daniel Cooney, Jakarta – Indonesia's economy grew slower than expected in the first quarter, leading a senior government official to warn that political instability could set back the country's recovery.

Jay Solomon, Jakarta – The rupiah's continuing plunge is exposing rifts inside President Abdurrahman Wahid's government and eroding confidence among many Indonesians in the country's economic prospects.

Jakarta – The theft and smuggling of logs in the country is highly organized and supported by security personnel and some officials, a top government official said.

Secretary-general of the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations Suripto told journalists in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, on Saturday that the thieves equipped themselves with sophisticated communication devices.

Mark Dodd, Dili – It is one of the darkest chapters of East Timor's independence struggle, Fretilin's purges and murder of several hundred dissidents and political prisoners in the aftermath of Indonesia's bloody 1975 invasion.

Jakarta – Angry residents have again blocked access to a gold mine in Indonesia's East Kalimantan region, an official said Monday as a row over land compensation threatened closure of the mine.

Jakarta – The military takeover in Pakistan because of the failure in democracy there should be a warning to Indonesia, an Indonesian general involved in the reform of the armed forces has said.

Reuters in Geneva – Jakarta yesterday signed an historic agreement with the Free Aceh rebels to halt fighting in the troubled province. The deal for a three-month "humanitarian pause" was signed in Geneva by Indonesian Ambassador Hassan Wirajuda and the rebels' health minister, Zaini Abdullah.

Jakarta – The rupiah continued falling on Friday, breaking through the 8,500 mark against the US dollar as investors remained concerned over the future of the country's economy and the prospect of a hike in US interest rates.

Chris McCall – Aceh's prayers for peace have not been answered despite a landmark deal to halt the violence that has ravaged the Indonesian province.

Geneva – The Indonesian government and Aceh separatist rebels yesterday signed a ground-breaking three-month ceasefire agreement at a secret location in Geneva aimed at ending more than two decades of violence in the province.

A government statement said the ceasefire, signed under a strict news blackout, would come into effect on June 2 and would be reviewed regularly.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Even as Indonesia's landmark ceasefire accord with separatist Acehnese rebels was being hailed yesterday, analysts warned that the pact could be easily sabotaged by rogue elements who do not want to see an end to the 24-year conflict.

Associated Press in Jakarta – Police fired tear gas and warning shots at an angry mob of people in Chinatown on Saturday in a clash that began when officials tried to remove street vendors from the area's crowded sidewalks, authorities said.

Mathew Dearnaley – Indonesia's corruption inquiry into the vast wealth amassed during the Suharto clan's long stranglehold on power reaches deep into New Zealand's heartland.

New Zealand, the United States and Switzerland have been asked to help recover billions of dollars that Indonesia's new Government suspects are salted away around the world.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Autocratic decision-making by a few senior United Nations officials in Dili threatens the development of democracy in East Timor and the ultimate success of the peacekeeping mission, according to a protest note signed by angry UN district administrators.

Agencies in Jakarta – Indonesian police fired tear-gas yesterday to disperse militant student protesters trying to reach the home of former president Suharto to demand he be taken to court.

Jakarta – Police say former Army chief Hartono signed the order for the 1996 attack on the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

Hartono and five other retired generals, including ex-president Soeharto, will soon be summoned for questioning over their alleged roles in the attack, police said yesterday.

Jakarta – The government of President Abdurrahman Wahid has expressed concern over the increasing number of abortions in Indonesia, having noted that at least 2.3 million women resorted to terminating their pregnancies last year.

Geoffrey Barker – Specially modified RAAF PC3 Orion aircraft are flying electronic spy missions against Indonesia in secret operations that gravely threaten Canberra's efforts to restore relations with Jakarta.

Jakarta – In what is seen here as another blow to the Indonesian justice system, the Attorney General's Office admitted that five state prosecutors are suspected of taking a 12 billion rupiah (S$2.4 million) bribe to conceal evidence.

Geneva – Separatists from Indonesia's northern Aceh province remain committed to their goal of independence, according to a written statement released hours after agreeing a three-month ceasefire with Jakarta here Friday.

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM)'s commitments to achieve its solemn goal remains intact until Aceh gains its independence", said the GAM's statement.

Jakarta – Aceh, at the westernmost tip of the Indonesian archipelago, has remained through the ages a staunch Muslim stronghold which has defied all outside attempts at domination.

Mark Dodd, Dili – At least one suspected militiaman was wounded in a heavy exchange of fire between Australian peacekeepers and a group of pro-Jakarta militia who had crossed into East Timor yesterday, a senior United Nations military official said.