Jakarta – Official minimum wage levels throughout the country will increase between 15 percent and 55 percent from April 1, the Ministry of Manpower announced on Monday. Although representing significant increases, the new minimum wages for most regions barely cover the monthly living expenses of a single person, the ministry said.

Reuters, Dili – World Bank president James Wolfensohn yesterday signed over its first US$21.5 million in reconstruction aid for East Timor, amid criticism the bank has dragged its feet in providing funds to help rebuild the ravaged territory.

Jakarta – In relation to the government's plans to cut fuel and electricity subsidies, on February 21, the People's Democratic Party (PRD), led by chairperson Budiman Sudjatmiko, met with President Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) at the Bina Graha presidential offices [in Central Jakarta].

Dow Jones, Jakarta – As Asia's only member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Indonesia's coffers are filling with cash, according to analysts and Indonesian government officials, as the rally in crude oil generates a windfall for the struggling economy.

Banda Aceh – Horror and tension again reigned here over the weekend when three suspected rebels were killed in a gunfight with police in North Aceh, while in Central Aceh the stench of rotting bodies led residents to a hidden mass grave.

Arnold Zeitlin, Dili – In impoverished, war-devastated East Timor, the most urgent needs are food, water, shelter, clothing – and a printing press.

Reuters in Dili – Australian troops in East Timor have been accused of sexual harassment of local women, the second such incident since multinational troops were sent in, a force spokesman said on Monday.

Jakarta – Political activist Andi Arief has attracted public attention by announcing that he no longer believes 14 fellow activists who disappeared in 1998 are still alive.

"I am sure that they died a long time ago. I have no proof of this, I just want those who killed them to get what they deserve," Andi told The Jakarta Post last Monday.

Jakarta – World Bank President James Wolfensohn on Sunday catagorically denied reports millions of dollars of the bank's funds for Indonesia's poor had been funnelled to the militia that devastated East Timor last year.

Mota'ain – Indonesian troops fired in the air yesterday to halt fighting that broke out among East Timorese refugees and residents at an informal reunion at this border crossing point between East and West Timor, witnesses said.

Tangerang – Traffic heading to and from the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport here was blocked for at least three hours on Saturday afternoon by some 300 angry protesters, causing delays of several international and domestic flights.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The World Bank says it knew of allegations concerning misuse of its money to fund East Timor militias but found no evidence when it checked the claims last June. Indonesian bureaucrats named in an Australian television documentary broadcast on Wednesday have, so far, remained silent.

Banda Aceh – Nine more people were reported killed in Aceh in the last two days, raising the death toll for the year to 179.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Jakarta – The Defense Department has quietly resumed training Indonesian military officers in the United States, restoring one element of its relationship with Indonesia that was suspended last year after Indonesian soldiers participated in the violence that engulfed East Timor.

Bandung – The newly created Office of the State Minister of Human Rights Affairs has received some 3,000 reports of missing persons, most of them alleged abductions in Aceh, East Timor and Jakarta.

Jakarta – A total of 72 national banks suffered combined losses of Rp38.7 trillion (US$5.5 billion) last year, while 92 others managed to register profit, a study said.

The study conducted by the research bureau of Infobank magazine on 164 national banks, a copy of which was made available on Thursday, suggested the loss was lower than the previous year's Rp62.49 trillion.

Jakarta – It will much longer to reduce the Indonesian military's influence on the economy than on politics or government, an observer said.

Jakarta – A team of seven prosecutors from the Attorney General's Office are investigating the alleged misuse of reforestation funds by five major figures linked to former president Soeharto.

Jakarta – Former Indonesian armed forces chief General Wiranto appeared on television here Wednesday to defend himself against allegations that he let his troops go on a bloody rampage in East Timor last year.

Jakarta – Nine policemen were injured and three residents suffered gunshot wounds when police opened fire during a riot in a town in Indonesia's easternmost province of Irian Jaya, a report said Thursday.

Mark Davis – In a forest West of Dili, Filomena Amaral is about to learn the details of how her husband, a village schoolteacher and church leader, was tortured and killed.

Filomena: "Why was he killed? Was he a thief? Did he steal people's things or did he kill people like they killed him? No he died without fault."

Dili – The East Timor Human Rights Commission (ETHRC) was established on October 1 to conduct investigations and monitoring of human rights violations in East Timor, educate the East Timorese people about human rights issues and establish rehabilitation, education and advocacy programs.

The commission investigating human rights violations in East Timor has finally completed the report of its findings. The evidence was so convincing that accusations of physical violence and threats to kill were included.

Canberra – East Timor's main political organisation, the National Council for East Timorese Resistance (CNRT), was attacking some of the people it had fought to protect, it was reported today.

Jakarta – Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid decided to suspend General Wiranto over his involvement in human rights abuses in East Timor after significant international pressure, a leading legislator, Mr Amien Rais, said yesterday.

Jakarta – The life expectancy of the Irianese is about 40 years, the shortest among ethnic groups in Indonesia, due to malnutrition and a poor health service, a senior local official says.

Jakarta – Indonesia's economy grew 0.2 percent last year following its collapse during the 1998 Asian financial meltdown, according to statistics released Wednesday. The Central Statistics Bureau said the economy expanded 5.8 percent in the fourth quarter alone from a year ago. The economy grew 0.9 percent in the previous quarter.

Jakarta – National Police chief Lt. Gen. Rusdihardjo vowed on Tuesday that the police would take up to three months, to complete an investigation into the July 27, 1996 bloody takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters.

Jakarta – A day after he was removed as senior government minister, Gen. Wiranto dropped into a popular Jakarta radio station and became their disc jockey for more than an hour, news reports said Wednesday.

Jakarta – UN Secretary General Kofi Annan wound up a protest-peppered, two-day visit to Indonesia Wednesday urging the government not to use force against separatist rebels and warning Jakarta to bring East Timor rights abusers to trial or face UN action.

February 11, 500 workers from clothing manufacturer PT Matahari Sentosa I in Bandung, West Java, staged a sit-in at the parliament building here. The workers, members of the militant Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle (FNPBI) trade union, were demanding a 100% wage increase from their present daily pay of 7700 rupiah.

Bandah Aceh – A police chief, a military subdistrict chief and a policeman were shot dead by unknown gunmen today in the latest attacks on security officers in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, police said here.

Vaudine England – Interpreting the statements and intent of President Abdurrahman Wahid is a full-time, fascinating, but often frustrating task for anyone interested in tracking the evolution of this new and highly original democracy.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday achieved exactly what he wanted – General Wiranto's absence from government – without destabilising the nation's delicate political balance.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia's military yesterday pledged its loyalty to President Wahid after he suspended General Wiranto in an extraordinary back-flip just hours after declaring that he could remain in the Cabinet.

Negotiations continued Friday to resolve one of East Timor's first labor disputes, which saw a day-long walkout from the two floating hotels housing UN employees.

About 40 East Timorese workers at the Olympia and Amos W. hotels walked off the job on Thursday to protest wages, working hours and alleged discrimination.

[Andrew Fowler reports on the story behind the East Timor crisis and how it plunged Australian-Indonesian relations to an all-time low.]

Andrew Fowler: It was a relationship built on Realpolitik. But Realpolitik ended with the carnage in East Timor. And Australia's 30-year foreign policy investment with Indonesia was in tatters.

Sri Wahyuni and Asip Agus Hasani, Yogyakarta – The expectations spoke for themselves when Amien Rais remained virtually unchallenged in his bid to retain the National Mandate Party chairmanship on Sunday.

Jonathan Head – It was at the beginning of last year that we first started to hear reports of attacks by new pro-Indonesian militia gangs in East Timor. It was not, however, the first time the Indonesian army had used such a tactic.

Seth Mydans, Jakarta – In the nearly two years since Indonesia's strongman, Suharto, stepped down in May 1998, it is the press that has been the most free, and the most tumultuous, of Indonesia's institutions. It has been the fundamental underpinning for the continuing move toward a democratic society.

Kate Linebaugh – Indonesia's bank rescue agency (Ibra) inched nearer to recouping the cost of propping up the nation's lenders this week when it replaced management at the country's biggest car-maker, clearing the way for the agency to sell its 43 percent stake.

James Dunn – It seems the Wahid Government has won its fight to ensure General Wiranto and the five other accused generals will face an Indonesian court or tribunal – not one constituted by the UN. The present setting in Jakarta is hardly encouraging, and doesn't deserve the endorsements coming from the US, Europe and Australia.

In his test of wills with the Indonesian military, President Abdurrahman Wahid has received much foreign support, particularly from Washington. On January 31 at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, he met with Stanley Roth, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific. Roth then spoke with Asiaweek Editor Ann M.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – A pro-Jakarta militia commander has testified that East Timor's former governor, Mr Abilio Soares, told him early last year that all supporters of independence for the territory, including priests and nuns, should be "killed if necessary".

Peter Clack – The Australian Government sent a police delegation to train the Indonesian Police Force in Jakarta while Australian Federal Police officers were on duty in East Timor in September, it has been confirmed.

Dili – The UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) has been appointed to replace Indonesia as Australia's new partner for oil and gas mining in the Timor Gap which lies between the two countries, a spokesman said here Friday.

Jakarta – Indonesian police have detained an Australian labor consultant for questioning over his alleged participation in street protests here, the Jakarta Post said Friday.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) unveiled on Thursday a plan to enhance its arsenal and manpower reserves in a bid to address the escalating threats of security disturbances and social unrest in the country.

Seth Mydans, Jakarta – Perhaps the most telling insult to Indonesia's armed forces, people here say, is that mothers no longer encourage their daughters to marry a military man.

Mark Dodd, Dili – A senior East Timorese politician has threatened to resign from a decision-making body in protest over the arrival this week of an Indonesian air force plane delivering humanitarian aid to the devastated territory.