Jakarta – The East Timorese people will overlook the horrors of war for the past 23 years and consider the invasion of their country, by the Indonesians, a "mistake in history" if Jakarta is willing to allow them a stronger say in their own political future, jailed Resistance leader Xanana Gusmao told a seminar yesterday.

John Aglionby – Lisa's parents are amazed she is still alive. On June 18, a week after her ninth birthday, this Chinese-Indonesian girl who lives 20 miles outside the north Sumatran city of Medan chose to walk home from school rather than wait for her elder sister Martha.

Andi Arief, who heads SMID, the student wing of the People's Democratic Party, was released on Tuesday [July 14] and has now returned to his parents' home in Lampung, South Sumatra.

Sharon Ayling – Under extreme duress, Indonesia agreed June 25 to accept terms dictated by the International Monetary Fund as a condition for receiving outstanding payments on a $43 billion loan.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – Tensions are rising in East Timor ahead of a visit this week of the United Nations special envoy Mr Jamsheed Marker, and tens of thousands of non-Timorese residents are reported to have fled the contested province.

Jakarta – Coffee beans are travelling under armed guard in Indonesia amid growing looting, traders said yesterday.

Marcus W. Brauchli, Jakarta – For a generation, the World Bank considered this sprawling archipelago's rise from poverty its great triumph. Now Indonesia's unraveling is raising questions about the World Bank's long forbearance of the regime of former President Suharto.

Jakarta – Observers have blasted Golkar's huge executive lineup, saying it was comprised of people affiliated to the government and that it was too big thus making it too cumbersome to meet with the swift challenges of the future. "Just look at the lineup, it is still government-oriented," social observer Mochtar Buchori told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

For the past six years, East Timorese independence fighter Xanana Gusmco has languished inside Jakarta's Cipinang prison, accused of plotting against the state and illegal possession of weapons. Leader of the revolutionary group fretilin, Gusmco, 52, recently began secret talks with Indonesian officials over East Timor's future.

The East Timor International Support Center is deeply disturbed by reports from East Timor's capital, Dili, that shoot on sight warnings have been issued by the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) to East Timorese planning pro-independence protests this week.

Jakarta – Indonesia's ruling Golkar party on Saturday elected the country's State Secretary Akbar Tanjung as its new leader and officially snapped its last links with discredited former president Suharto. The result of the leadership vote was greeted with cheers and hailed as a victory for the party, which many had predicted could not survive in the post-Suharto era.

Louise Williams – "These are primitive people," said the Indonesian military officer of the tribespeople of the pristine forests and coastal mangrove swamps of the remote province of Irian Jaya.

Jakarta – Following the retaking of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters by pro-Megawati Sukarnoputri PDI supporters the day before in Jakarta and Sumut [North Sumatra], on Friday afternoon, July 10, thousands of pro-Megawati PDI supporters simultaneously attacked and retook five branch offices in Jakarta.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) has received further information involving the extra-judicial execution of Maria da Costa (previously reported as Maria Freitas).

Jay Solomon, Sumber Wungu – Unbowed by his poverty, the village elder is more than happy to display his menu for the day: processed cassava root, perhaps some corn – and grasshopper.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – The Australian Foreign Minister, Mr Downer, has strongly defended Canberra's military links with Indonesia as useful channels for urging restraint, despite revelations that Indonesian troops were involved in kidnapping and torturing democracy activists.

Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights put the blame squarely on the government yesterday for the rampant rapes and sexual assaults during riots in Jakarta and other cities in May, denouncing its attitude toward the victims as "insensitive".

Jakarta – More than 10,000 workers from 14 companies in the Jakarta area have gone on strike to demand an increase in the minimum wage, today's Jakarta Post quoted a labor activist as saying.

Jakarta – Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Harmoko swore in 27 new members yesterday, 24 of whom represent the dominant political group Golkar. Some of the new appointments are politicians and public figures known to be close to President B.J. Habibie, including his aide, political scientist Dewi Fortuna Anwar, and cabinet ministers Theo L.

Louise Williams – Thousands of protesting tribespeople in the remote Baliem Valley raised an independence flag early this morning, as pro-independence demonstrations in Irian Jaya widened despite a bloody police crackdown at a similar ceremony on the island of Biak yesterday.

Jakarta – Prosecutors at the military tribunal investigating the Trisakti shooting incident demanded prison sentences for two police officers who ordered their men to shoot into the crowd of demonstrators. They requested a 10 month jail term for First Lt. Agus Tri Heryanto and a seven month sentence for Second Lt. Pariyo.

Jakarta – About 2000 becak (pedicab) drivers pedaled their three-wheeled vehicles to Jakarta City Hall yesterday morning to urge the authorities to allow them to operate in the city's alleys and narrow streets.

Jim Della-Giacoma, Jakarta – Indonesia's food situation has worsened in recent months and it is likely the key August harvest of rice, the country's staple, will fall below target, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.

Stevie Emilia, Jakarta – More pollution. That's the first thing that comes to mind after learning that the city plans to suspend its environmental programs due to its limited budget.

Dili – At the moment in East Timor underground leaflets are being distributed which smack of playing people off against each other [ie anti-and pro-integration supporters - JB] and threats which are upsetting society. The leaflets threaten to finish-off East Timorese people who are anti-integration and anti-Habibie.

Jakarta – Indonesian troops may have killed as many as five people and wounded 141 when they opened fire on a crowd which raised a separatist flag in Irian Jaya province, church and human rights sources said Tuesday.

Jakarta – Students prevented police entering a campus in Irian Jaya Monday to investigate a shooting at a pro-independence rally amid fears over the honesty of the probe, witnesses said. More than 80 students stood guard at the Cendrawasih (UNCEN) University campus where law student Steven Suripatty was shot and seriously wounded Friday during a rally.

Dili, (Yayasan Hak, Rights Foundation) – On June 24, at 1:00 pm a secret meeting was held in the Korem 164 WD military district in East Timor between top Indonesian military (ABRI) officers and the Jakarta-controlled pro-integration party, APODETE. The following were agreed upon between APODETE and ABRI:

[Message received from NGO in North Sulawesi dated July 1 - translated.]

More than 300 young Minahasans (one of the peoples of N. Sulawesi) protested about the presence of PT Newmont Minahasa Raya – the largest gold mine in North Sulawesi located at the village of Ratatotok. A group of "reformists" occupied part of the mine for more than 7 hours.

Kate Beddall, Jakarta, – Indonesian security forces fired rubber bullets to disperse around 700 pro-independence demonstrators in the remote province of Irian Jaya on Monday, wounding 24 people, the official Antara news agency said.

[This is a slightly summarised translation of an account of events in Sorong, West Papua on 2 July by IHRSTAD, the Jayapura-based Institute for Human Rights Studies and Advocacy - Tapol.]

Jakarta – A Coalition of the Democratic Movement (Koalisi Garakan Demokrasi), which will gather together political [opposition] figures outside of the government, will soon form a pressure group and "moral force" to push for total reform.

Amy Chew, Jakarta – Social pressures are building in Indonesia, where nearly half the population is forecast to be living below the poverty line by the end of the year as jobs dry up and prices soar.

Jakarta - The Indonesian military has apologized for shooting at and wounding students during a pro-independence demonstration in the remote province of Irian Jaya, witnesses and press reports said Saturday. Local military commander Colonel Samuel Josef made a public apology Friday in the provincial capital of Jayapura, where the shooting took place, the Kompas daily said.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – On the first day the strike seemed pretty ordinary: hundreds of steel workers milling outside the factory gates on the industrial fringe of Jakarta demanding better food, time off to pray and better wages to cope with rocketing prices.

Jakarta – Leading human rights campaigners have dismissed a bill on street protests as the government's bid to restrict citizens' rights to freely express ideas rather than a serious effort to respect freedom of expression.

Jakarta – Three hundred workers dismissed or laid-off from 22 companies in the Greater Jakarta area demonstrated again yesterday demanding that Minister of Manpower Fahmi Idris step down for failing to help them.

United Nations – The United Nations said Thursday it has made no formal proposals to settle the issue of the status of the former Portuguese colony of East Timor, annexed in 1976 by Indonesia.

The Darwin-based East Timor International Support Center (ETISC) received information, late this evening, that "nindja" groups have been mobilised by the Indonesian military (Abri) to terrorise East Timorese supporting a referendum for the troubled territory.

Padang – Influential Indonesian Moslem leader Amien Rais on Friday backed a referendum on the future of East Timor. Rais, leader of the 28-million-strong Islamic group Muhammadiyah, said a referendum could be held under the supervision of international agencies.

Jakarta – Since Monday June 29, thousands of traders in the village of Kerang Tengah, in the sub-district of Ciledung, Tangerang, have occupied nine hectors of land owned by PT Bogasari. The same thing was done by thousands of traders from North Jakarta on land owned by PT Subentra in the village of Harjamukti Cimanggis in Bogor, West Java.

Jakarta – Indonesia's leading independent trade union has called off all planned demonstrations following appeals from the public and businessmen, its leader said on Thursday.

Irwan Firdaus, Dili – A military court sentenced an Indonesian soldier to 10 years in prison Thursday for killing an East Timorese civilian. Prosecutors accused 2nd Sgt. Slamet, 23, of shooting Herman dos Dores Soares on June 16 in the town of Manatuto, 37 miles east of Dili. They said the victim had been collecting wood by a roadside.

Jakarta – The Ministry of Manpower announced yesterday it will increase minimum wages by an average of 15 percent from August 1. The move is intended to arrest the decline in real wages caused by soaring inflation, Director General of Industrial Relations and Labor Standards Mohammad Syaufii Samsuddin said.

Andrew Marshall, Jakarta – Indonesia is on the edge of an abyss. The country is lurching towards economic disintegration, analysts say, and the only thing that can halt its catastrophic decline is a return of the investor confidence which collapsed last year to set the crisis in motion.

Margot Cohen, Pekanbaru, Riau – A tribal leader reaches over to grasp the gnarled, arthritic hand of a local elder. He straightens one finger and holds it upright. "This is good politics," he announces to the illiterate men, women and children crouched around him on the bare wooden floor. They nod their heads and smile shyly.

[In July we interviewed Muhammad Ma'ruf, chief-editor of Pembebasan-Liberation, paper of the Indonesian PRD.]

What is the meaning of the May unrest in Indonesia which led to the downfall of Suharto?

[Belgian trade union activist Mark Slane visited Indonesia in July. These are his impressions on the development of the working class movement after the May events.]

Jakarta – Troops yesterday opened fire with rubber bullets on more than 1,000 workers who were demonstrating for better pay and conditions at a steel factory in Jakarta's Bekasi district, slightly injuring 23 people, residents and police said.

Jakarta – President BJ Habibie has recalled 41 People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) members, part of whom were former high-ranking government officials in former president Soeharto's administration.