Kontras, the Committee for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence, has urged the Military Police to investigate thoroughly and with all haste the kidnapping of a number of activists. Further delays will only make it more difficult for several key witnesses to furnish statements. Delays are also spreading greater fear among the kidnapped activists who have since returned home.

Greg Earl, Jakarta – Indonesia has secured an agreement with international banks to roll over its $US80bn ($128.8bn) in private sector foreign debt – a development which may help stabilise the ailing rupiah.

Jakarta – The National Commission or Human Rights will soon begin investigating reports that more than 39,000 Acehnese have died in various military operations over the past decade and that 1,000 (of) others are still in military detention in Indonesia's westernmost province.

Jakarta – More than 39,000 people have been killed in military operations against a separatist movement in the northern Indonesian province of Aceh in recent years, a rights group said.

Jakarta – Hundreds of striking bus drivers of the state-run PPD bus company gave a rousing welcome yesterday to released labor union chair-man Muchtar Pakpahan as he paid them an impromptu visit.

The Buskers Association of Yogyakarta (SPI) has called on armed forces commander-in-chief General Wiranto to investigate the death of Leonardus Nugroho Iskandar, known to his friends as Gilang, 24, a busker who was also a reformation activist in Solo. After going missing for two weeks, Gilang's body found on 23 May, lying under some trees on the side of the Tawangmangu-Madiun road.

Jakarta – Stranding passengers, hundreds of bus drivers in Jakarta went on strike Thursday to protest against corruption and demand higher salaries.

John Aglionby – A women's rights monitoring group in Indonesia is investigating reports that dozens of women were raped during the rioting last month that contributed to the downfall of the country's dictator, Suharto.

Jakarta – Most of Indonesia's senior military officers in the troubled territory of East Timor died on Thursday in a helicopter crash, a military official said.

By John McBeth, Michael Vatikiotis and Margot Cohen in Jakarta – The Javanese King has gone, long live the President – but how long will B.J. Habibie remain president?

Salil Tripathi, Jakarta – The highway stretched to the horizon. It was empty save for some shattered glass, burned tyres that had disintegrated into a heap of ash, and scattered bricks. The traffic lights at the toll plaza flashed amber; the tollgates were raised skyward in abject surrender.

John McBeth, Jakarta – One of the first casualties of the post-Suharto era was the former president's ambitious son-in-law, Lt.-Gen. Prabowo Subianto. Outflanked by his boss, armed-forces chief Gen. Wiranto, Prabowo was removed from his command of Indonesia's main combat force and assigned to head a staff college in Bandung.

Jakarta – Student protesters shouted "Hang Suharto" outside Parliament and staged a rowdy protest in a main street yesterday, ignoring an appeal by the military chief to halt "out-of-control" condemnation of the ousted leader.

Mr Suharto, a former army general who turns 77 on Monday, faces growing demands to surrender riches accumulated during three decades in power.

The commander-in-chief of the armed forces (ABRI), General Wiranto , has issued a warning that people who fail to restrain themselves in their calls for reform will have to confront the armed forces.

Jim Della-Giacoma, Jakarta – Indonesia's official human rights body said on Wednesday that 1,188 people were killed in rioting which ravaged the capital Jakarta last month, more than double the death toll given by the military.

Joseph Kahn – Almost immediately after becoming president of Indonesia, B.J. Habibie pledged to create "a clean government, free from corruption, collusion, and nepotism." But one of the biggest threats to his rule may be growing concern that he and his family, following the model of former President Suharto, used public office to amass a private fortune.

Surabaya – Hundreds of students marched yesterday afternoon to the private SCTV television station here demanding their demonstration for reform be broadcast and refused to budge until the station managers yielded.

The time has come for the Coalition government to withdraw all support for the corrupt New Order regime in Indonesia. Suharto may have gone, but the foundations of the Suharto dictatorship remain – foundations like the constitutional right of the army to intervene in politics and the outlawing of parties the dictatorship doesn't like.

Jakarta – Indonesia's economy contracted by 8.51 percent in the first quarter of 1998, the Central Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.

Sugito Suwito, the bureau's chairman, also predicted that gross domestic product (GDP) would shrink by 10.1 percent this year, compared to the government's prediction in April that the economy would contract by 5 percent this year.

In a speech to mark the anniversary of 'Pancasila Day', 1 June, Megawati Sukarnoputri said she is feeling deeply troubled to hear the terrible things people are now saying about former President Suharto. She cannot believe that Indonesians would treat their former president in such a way, which, she says, is not in keeping with the Pancasila.

While Suharto's business associates spread far beyond his immediate family, the most intense focus of the crackdown is bound to be the businesses of his six children.

Jakarta – Emboldened by the success of student demonstrations for reform in major cities, fishermen, farmers and other groups are holding rallies to call attention to their own causes.

Andreas Harsono, Jakarta – When dozens of people entered a spacious house on the Gunung Sahari street in a bustling part of Jakarta on May 14, they knew that the high-fenced building belonged to Indonesia's number one tycoon, Liem Sioe Liong a.k.a. Sudono Salim. "The dog of Suharto," brayed one visitor.

Jakarta – President Jusuf Habibie has no plans to change Indonesia's policy on the former Portuguese colony of East Timor, the Jakarta Post reported on Tuesday.

At least 1,500 students took part in a free-speech assembly at the University of East Timor in Dili today, 1 June, according to a report received by TAPOL from local sources.

The event took place despite attempts by the University Rector, P. Theo T. Ralella to prevent it from happening.

Xanana Gusmao, ex-leader of the East Timorese guerrilla fighters who reject integration with Indonesia, has said that the Suharto regime is responsible for most of the problems in East Timor.

George J. Aditjondro – Rays of hope of Indonesia's democracy seem to emerge. Two of Habibie's relatives – a brother and a son – have stepped down from powerful public offices, four political prisoners have been released, and promises of a new election law and the repeal of the repressive press censor law have been made.

Jakarta – The Indonesian military has scheduled for Saturday the court martials of 19 soldiers suspected of gunning down student demonstrators on May 12, a report said Monday.

Fran Abrams – Britain has spent almost £300,000 on military aid to Indonesia since Labour came to power, new figures reveal.

The money spent by the Foreign Office, Ministry of Defence and, to a lesser extent, the Department for International Development – does not include the budget for promoting arms sales to the regime, which remains secret.

Jakarta – Students in several cities, in a move resembling their colleagues' stand in Jakarta recently, are occupying local legislative councils to make their demands heard.

Removing Soeharto was the easy part. Now Indonesia must grapple with his legacy of three decades of corruption and cronyism. Louise Williams reports.

Every day for the past two weeks Adi has stood in front of the charred shell of his electronics store in Jakarta's normally frenetic Chinatown district, the nauseating smell of burnt plastic lingering in the air.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – President Soeharto's richest son, Mr Bambang Trihatmodjo, resigned from the board of his Bimantara business empire yesterday as scores of protesters outside the company's headquarters demanded trials for the Soeharto clan.

The Indonesian forest fires of 1997 resulted in over USD 3 billion in damages, according to a study partly funded by Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and released today in Singapore by the Economy and Environment Program for South East Asia (EEPSEA) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Jakarta – Hot on the heels of an admission that its own soldiers are believed to have shot dead six student protesters, the Indonesian armed forces yesterday announced that senior police officers under its command were involved in the kidnapping of anti-government activists.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – The Habibie Government scrambled yesterday to set a timetable for political reforms, including new elections next year, as fresh student protests flared in the capital and provincial cities.

Greg Earl, Jakarta – President Habibie appears to have fended off attempts to quickly replace him with a deal yesterday to delay any meeting of the country's presidential election college until at least the end of this year.

The riots in Jakarta 13-15 May were probably the worst Indonesia has ever seen. In proportion almost equally devastating riots took place in Medan and surrounds (4-5 May), Palembang (13 May), and Solo and surrounds (14-15 May, with at least 19 dead). When President Suharto resigned, these events were somewhat overshadowed in the media.

Jakarta – Anti-government student protests flared again in Indonesia on Thursday, one week after the army evicted demonstrators from the Parliament complex in Jakarta.

Several hundred university students showed up at the main gate Thursday morning as President Habibie met inside with Parliament leaders to discuss his plans to reform the political system.

Nine students of Djuanda University (Unida), Bogor, West Java have disappeared following an incident on 9 May during which a police officer was killed. Initially, 29 were unaccounted for, but 17 have now returned home and three are under arrest. But nine are still unaccounted for.

The National Human Rights Commission said in a statement issued Wednesday that human rights had been violated towards students at Trisakti University who were being prevented from speaking freely. Several students at the university said they had been threatened by unknown persons who warned them not to give evidence to the Commission.

John Mcbeth, Jakarta – Already feeble at the start of 1998, Indonesia's ability to feed its 200 million people has weakened further in recent months. The triple whammy of a severe drought, an economic slump and political turmoil have exposed fundamental flaws in the country's strategy for agriculture.

Seth Mydans, Jakarta – Indonesia's political upheaval has worsened its severe economic problems, and a high-level team from the International Monetary Fund arrived here Tuesday to explore ways to restart its rescue package.

Richard Borsuk, Jakarta – The investigation of businesses linked to former Indonesian President Suharto's family and friends has widened, opening on several new fronts.

Lindsay Murdoch – Three churches claim they have obtained evidence that Indonesian soldiers are responsible for the deaths of at least 137 people during a military crackdown in Irian Jaya over 18 months.

Terry Friel, Jakarta – The wealth of new Indonesian President Jusuf Habibie and his family is beginning to draw the same attention that helped bring about the ouster of his predecessor Suharto.

Jonathan Manthorpe, Jakarta – As Bacharuddin Habibie announced Indonesia's new cabinet Friday, the question became whether former president Suharto had indeed stepped down or merely stepped aside.

Jakarta – Indonesia's newly-appointed Information Minister Lieutenant-General Yunus Yosfiah said today there would be no problems with media freedom if the local media was responsible and upheld their code of ethics.

Rod Mickleburgh, Jakarta – Hundreds of armed Indonesian soldiers stormed the parliament buildings here late last night, ending a five-day occupation by university students demanding an end to autocratic rule in the country.

Jakarta – The son-in-law of former Indonesian president Suharto was relieved of command of the prestige after he had resigned as head of state a day earlier.

Dana Priest – US officials believe that an elite US-trained military unit in Indonesia has been involved in kidnapping and torturing political dissidents, and Washington is considering a permanent ban on ties with the unit, US defense and diplomatic officials said.