Concerns are still held for the safety of Bernandino Simao, Domingos da Silva, Francisco de Deus, Juvinal dos Santos and Silverio Baptista who remain in custody at POLDA (the local police station) in Dili, following their arrest on 14 November.

Jakarta – Six East Timorese will be on trial accused of committing violent acts during recent incidents between students and security forces at the University of Dili on 14 November.

Jakarta – The Indonesian authorities arrested on Tuesday a Timorese who they accused of murdering a policeman in Dili on 24 December 1996.

According to the authorities, Bobby Xavier, 27, allegedly attacked and killed policeman Alfredo Siga on the day Bishop D. Ximenes Belo returned to Dili after receiving the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize.

Dili – The credibility and capability of the National Commission of Human Rights (KOMNAS HAM) to find out ABRI's brutality in the University of East Timor late November 14, was in question. The uncertainty rose when Marzuki Darusman, the Commission's Vice-chairman acting as the Team Leader in a fact-finding mission, declared its findings.

Jon Land – The Indonesian government is refusing to allow six East Timorese sheltering for more than three months in the Austrian embassy in Jakarta to leave for Portugal. Indonesian authorities allege that two of the East Timorese have been involved in the manufacture of homemade bombs and are members of a "terrorist group".

Stuart Munckton and Arun Pradhan, Perth – On November 12, East Timorese and their supporters attended a protest at Parliament House to commemorate the 1991 Dili massacre.

Edward Alden – Indonesia has been under fire since the APEC summit opened in Vancouver six days ago – charged with illegally occupying East Timor, torturing opponents and jailing labour activists. Tuesday, Indonesia fired back.

James Balowski – On November 18, the Javanese daily Surya reported that the chair of the Centre for Labour Struggles (PPBI), Dita Indah Sari, had been admitted to the Syaiful Anwar hospital in Malang, East Java, suffering typhoid. PPBI is affiliated with the banned People's Democratic Party (PRD).

Sean Moysey – Life in "Irian Jaya" – the name the Indonesian government gives to West Papua – is akin to the colonies of Spain in Latin America, or Europe in Africa. The land and its fruits are plundered by Indonesia. Against the immense military power of Indonesian authority stands an army of indigenous people, the Free Papua Movement (OPM).

Jakarta – Seventeen Indonesian housemaids died abroad while 46 others were either tortured or sexually abused over the past year, a report said.

Howard Williams, Vancouver – Two Indonesian nationals suspected of being government agents were arrested here Tuesday during an anti-Jakarta protest on the sidelines of a Pacific Rim summit, security officials and sources said.

"It would seem they were members of the Indonesian delegation," a senior Canadian security official told AFP.

George Tibbits, Vancouver – Police clashed with protesters Tuesday at the University of British Columbia, squirting pepper spray at them and arresting about three dozen while Pacific Rim leaders met at the school's heavily guarded anthropology museum.

The Indonesian Antara Newsagency claimed on 23 November that Indonesia's opposition political figure, Megawati Sukarnoputri said that East Timor is part of Indonesia. The report quotes Megawati as saying that "the integration of East Timor into Indonesia is the wish of the people there.

One rarely considered element of the environmental drama playing on Kalimantan is the widespread use of often dangerous pesticides. When big companies got an international flogging for using fire to clear the forest for plantations and new transmigration areas, someone floated the idea that chemical defoliants might be a good alternative to burning off.

Jakarta – The daughter of former Indonesian president Sukarno and a leading opposition personality, Megawarti [sic] Sukarnoputri, said on Saturday that East Timor was part of Indonesia.

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – It was a disastrous week for Indonesia in what has become a publicity war over East Timor.

Any benefit gained by President Suharto's "quiet diplomacy" trip to meet South African leader Nelson Mandela was offset by a student riot, pictures alleging torture and the interrogation of East Timor resistance leader Xanana Gusmao.

Dili – Marzuki Darusman, deputy chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, who is leading a team investigating an incident in the University of East Timor on 14th November, has said there were no casualties during the incident and no members of the security disturbance movement (GPK) had infiltrated into the campus as reported by various mass media outlets.

Jakarta – Police in the Indonesian capital have arrested at least 13 people after two days of fighting between a local mafia and residents at a Jakarta market that left two dead, reports said Sunday.

The 13 people were arrested in two waves, late Thursday and late Friday, Jakarta Police Chief Hamami Nata told the Antara news agency.

Vancouver – The Indonesian government has agreed to let Canada send doctors to assess the condition of jailed labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan, Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy said Sunday.

President Suharto's half-brother and business tycoon Probosutedjo has agreed to drop charges against government officials for closing down his bank if they acknowledge that it is a sound bank.

"Of course we want to reach an out-of-court settlement," he said.

"We don't want to cause a headache to the governor of the central bank and the Minister of Finance."

Louise Williams, Jakarta – President Soeharto's son Mr Bambang Trihatmodjo is back in the banking business only weeks after his under-capitalised bank was liquidated under International Monetary Fund (IMF) reforms - a move likely to further undermine confidence in Indonesia's ailing economy.

Yenni Kwok, Kalimantan – The forest fires burning in Indonesia have endangered the health of millions of people across Southeast Asia, strained relations between Jakarta and its neighbors and earned the Indonesian government the contempt of environmentalists around the world.

The United States served notice Saturday that it would oppose Indonesian reprisals against Indonesians protesting their country's human rights abuses during an APEC meeting here.

Jakarta – Indonesia's President Suharto Friday ordered all state-owned companies to allocate 1% of their respective earnings to buy shares listed on the country's exchanges in order to support the slumping capital market, the state-owned Radio Republik Indonesia reported Friday evening.

Jakarta – Jakarta's main stock index smashed through the key 400-point barrier to hit a 50-month low yesterday, with analysts expecting further downward pressure as investors reduced their holdings.

"Players are getting out of the market, selling as much as they can in anticipation of tougher times ahead," an analyst with a European brokerage said.

Douglas Todd, Vancouver – President Suharto's top officials warning that actions will be taken against Indonesians who demonstrate when he visits Vancouver is an insult to Canadians and free speech, says Indonesians attending an alternative APEC conference.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation has decreed that street protests and labour strikes are permitted under Islam, a religious ruling which could directly challenge some of the Soeharto Government's laws on labour organisation and political opposition.

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – The Government came under pressure yesterday to repeal a controversial labour law after it was revealed expenses incurred in its passage were illegally paid for by the state worker insurance company.

[A huge row has broken out about use of money in the social security agency Jamsostek to give hospitality and bribes to members of Parliament to enact the very controversial Labour Law that was adopted in the last days of the old Parliament.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) has received further information about the East Timorese students who were injured and detained on 14 November during a confrontation with Indonesian security forces at the University of East Timor in Dili (see UA 26/97 for details).

Shocking photographs showing the alleged rape and torture of Timorese women by Indonesian soldiers were made public in Australia yesterday.

A representative of the Darwin-based East Timor International Centre (ETIC), a group opposed to Indonesia's 22-year occupation of Timor, released 40 pictures.

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – Influential Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid says Indonesia should consider electing a woman as president.

President Suharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana - known as Tutut - is tipped to become chairman of the ruling Golkar party.

The powerful entrepeneur is now deputy chairman.

Jakarta – Jailed East Timorese rebel leader Xanana Gusmao admitted that he had authorized the assembling of bombs as head of the self-determination resistance movement, a lawyer who attended the police interrogation said on Wednesday.

Cape Town – President Nelson Mandela and a bevy of Cabinet ministers on Thursday laid on a red carpet welcome at Tuynhuys for Indonesian President Mohamed Suharto, soon after 38 Cosatu members were arrested outside Parliament for protesting against Indonesia's human rights record.

Cape Town – About 40 placard-bearing Cosatu members, protesting outside Parliament's main gates against the visit to South Africa of Indonesia's President Suharto, were arrested by police shortly before 11am on Thursday.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – The imprisoned East Timorese independence leader, Xanana Gusmao, has been reported as taking "full responsibility" for a planned bombing campaign in the provincial capital of Dili, but has denied terrorism charges.

Cape Town – The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Thursday accused the police of barbarism following the arrest of about 40 of its Western Cape members outside Parliament for protesting against visiting Indonesian president Mohamed Suharto.

The sixth anniversary of the Indonesian military's massacre of mourners at Dili's Santa Cruz cemetery on November 12, 1991, was commemorated in many parts of the country.

Police admit that they have arrested a number of Bandung students while they were holding a demonstration on the grounds of Gasibu, Bandung, last Monday.

The head of the Bandung police, Colonel Eriwn told the press that the arrest of the students was done in order to interrogate them about the background to the action.

Malang – The chair of the Centre for Labour Struggle (PPBI) which is affiliated with the People's Democratic Party (PRD), Dita Indah Sari, is in intensive care at the Syaiful Anwar Hospital in Malang (East Java) suffering from typhoid.

Becky Ellis – The rapid development of export industries in Indonesia since the 1970s has significantly increased women's participation in the industrial work force. Indonesian women are concentrated in manufacturing, agriculture, trades and services, and make up 70- 80% of the textile and garment industry.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – Millions of dollars from a State-owned workers' insurance fund was paid to Members of Parliament earlier this year as they debated labour legislation, according to documents obtained by the Jakarta Post newspaper.

Linda Kaucher – President Suharto is refusing to declare West Papua a disaster area despite calls from within his own government to do so. More than 400 people have died from the drought, mainly in the Jayawijaya highlands district, adjacent to the PNG border.

Jon Land – More than 1000 East Timorese students staged a peaceful demonstration in Dili on November 12 to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the Santa Cruz massacre. The protest was held at the University of East Timor, amidst a heavy security presence.

Louise Williams – It is not clear how the police came to choose the driver when they stopped his car outside the central Javanese city of Yogyakarta and activated the plan in which he was charged with murder, carrying a maximum penalty of death.

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – The Government appears to be clamping down on the media in the run-up to the presidential elections after it pulled the plug on the Finance Minister's live broadcast to Parliament last week.

Private television stations SCTV and Anteve were set to air Finance Minister Mar'ie Muhammad's speech but it was banned after a last-minute phone call.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) holds grave fears for the safety of eight East Timorese students, who sustained serious gunshot wounds during a confrontation with Indonesian security forces, at the University of East Timor in Dili, on the morning of 14 November, 1997.

Sydney – At least two East Timorese died and other 16 got injured, three of them seriously, when Indonesian police and troops shoot at students in the University of Dili, a religious source told Lusa on Friday.

Today, Monday November 17, the Indonesian People's Front (Front Rakyat Indonesia, FRI) held an action in Bandung [West Java]. FRI is a grouping of Bandung pro-democracy groups including:

Ian MacKenzie, Jakarta – Indonesia's President Suharto leaves a country in economic flux when he sets out this week on a 12-day trip to southern Africa, Canada and Saudi Arabia.

And in the background, like an unwelcome ghost peeping from a partially closed closet, hovers the East Timor issue that has bedevilled Indonesia's foreign policy for years.