Jakarta – The Cabinet's new economic team is not seeking major changes in the International Monetary Fund-sponsored economic reform program, Bank Indonesia acting governor Anwar Nasutio

Nenden NF/Hendra & LM, Yogyakarta – A 70% rise in economy class railway fares, implemented Friday, are likely to prove extremely burdensome for the poor.

Rising tensions and an increasing number of attacks on foreign aid workers in West Timor reduced the IOM/UNHCR repatriations of East Timorese refugees to a trickle in July and August.

Jakarta – Indonesia on Friday named three generals as suspects in its probe into the violence that followed last year's East Timor independence vote but immediately came under pressure

Jakarta – With former president Soeharto's appearance as a defendant in his corruption trial in doubt, judicial experts disagreed on Thursday over the legality of trying him in his abse

Jakarta – Indonesian investigators were condemned by rights activists Friday for omitting top Indonesian generals and notorious militia leaders from a list of suspects in last year's bl

Maryadi/BI & AH Detik, Pontianak – A student protest at the Malaysian Consulate in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, today, Thursday 31 August 2000, has ended with four students being bea

Joanna Jolly, Dili – On a day tinged with sadness and joy, thousands of East Timorese yesterday celebrated the first anniversary of their independence from often brutal colonial rule by

Mark Dodd, Dili – After a 24-hour session, East Timor's main independence umbrella group has reaffirmed support for Mr Xanana Gusmao as its leader and approved measures aimed at a smoot

Mark Landler, Jakarta – The corruption trial of Indonesia's fallen leader, Suharto, got under way here this morning in the converted auditorium of a government ministry building that wa

Jakarta – Former Indonesian president Suharto's failure to attend the opening of his own trial Thursday had been widely expected but public patience is wearing.

Jakarta – A peaceful demonstration by East Timorese refugees to commemorate the first anniversary of East Timor's secession from Indonesia turned brutal yesterday, when they attacked Ea

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Western diplomats and senior Indonesian military officers say the pro-Jakarta militias operating in West Timor are still being sponsored by a group of retired a

Jakarta – Student reformists who helped topple former Indonesian president Suharto two years ago reacted with anger and disgust Thursday at his failure to show up at the start of his co

Heather Paterson, Aileu – They fought a desperate jungle war against Indonesia's occupation for a quarter of a century.

Mark Dodd, Dili – East Timor independence leaders have accused the United Nations of failing to uphold its mandate to provide security for the country in the face of cross-border attack

Djoko Tjiptono/Swastika & LM, Jakarta – Around 200 victims of the 27 July incident gathered at Central Jakarta's famous HI Roundabout Wednesday demanding the Jakarta Provincial gove

Jakarta – The government yesterday stepped up pressure on rebels in restive Aceh province to halt violence which could jeopardize a three-month-old ceasefire agreement expected for exte

Jakarta – Indonesia will set up a new agency to oversee state companies in a bid to speed their privatization, chief economics minister Rizal Ramli said yesterday.

Djoko Tjiptono/Swastika & LM, Jakarta – Around 40 representatives of the Indonesian Scavenger's Association (IPI) staged a noisy protest at the National Commission on Human Rights (

Jakarta – Indonesia's first democratically-elected government will put its reform image on the line Thursday by bringing former president Suharto to trial for corruption.

Budi Sugiarto/BI & LM, Bojonegoro – For the past nine days journalists from several media organisations in Bojonegoro, East Java, have boycotted all reports and announcements from B

Jon Land – August 30 is the first anniversary of East Timor's courageous act of self-determination, when, after 24 years of occupation, 78.9% of voters defied concerted Indonesian milit

Francesca Davis, Dili – Its 4.45pm and the heat is stifling. There is a crowd of students at the door, smiling at me hopefully.

Tim Dodd, Dili – "When the UN pulls out, the whole system's going to crash," says Mr Kirk MacManus, the manager of Hello Mister, Dili's only Western-style supermarket, which is housed i

Paul Daley – A small group of Australian politicians and military chiefs still shudder when they recollect receiving a top-secret report from the Australian Defence Intelligence Organis

Denpasar – One person was killed and six others injured yesterday when police opened fire to disperse protesters on the resort island of Bali.

Pip Hinman, Sydney – Romawaty Sinaga, the international officer of the militant Indonesian National Front for Workers Struggle (FNPBI), in Australia to meet other trade unionists, has a

Jakarta – Indonesia's huge public debt is likely to derail its economic recovery, the IMF's Jakarta representative John Dodsworth said Tuesday, urging the new cabinet to make the debt b

Jakarta – University of Indonesia (UI) students marked the first day of going back to campus after a long holiday by boycotting classes on Monday, following the university's decision no

Jakarta – Following are summaries of a government report, obtained by Kyodo News, on the flow of funds at seven charity foundations created and chaired by former Indonesian President Su

Susan Sim, Jakarta – As pep talks go, it was not particularly stirring, but symbolic nonetheless. Work as a solid and compact team; do not be like the previous Cabinet.

Medan – Two bombs exploded separately in an area near Jl. Bahagia in Medan Tenggara district in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Malangke – At least 1,400 residents from eight villages in West Malangke and Baebunta district in North Luwu regency left their homes on Sunday to escape communal clashes in the area th

Vaudine England – It is hard to find a mention of East Timor – the province that got away – in daily conversation or reporting in Jakarta. But it's not hard to find the reason why.

Malangke – Police said on Saturday they found it difficult to arrest perpetrators of unrest in Luwu, while the burning of residents houses in two districts continued.

Jakarta – Multilateral lenders including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have vowed to support the new Cabinet, particula

Susan Sim, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid warded off the prospect of a crumbling Cabinet as he and his allies worked yesterday to project an image of a unified and working leader

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – It had been a bad few hours. Tempers were starting to fray. Some people wept.

Jakarta – The family planning (KB) program in Indonesia has long been perceived as a birth control measure, but ignores the reproductive health of women, who are the backbone of the nat

Maumere – At least 2,000 people from 12 villages in the district of Molo Utara have been occupying a marble quarry in the town of Soe, South Timor Tengah regency, since August 12.

Jakarta – Pro-Soeharto protesters threatened yesterday to bring around 25,000 people to the Agriculture Ministry building in Ragunan, South Jakarta, the planned site of the former presi

Jakarta – In a slum of West Java's Kiaracondong district, hundreds of families live on the border of death.

Barry Wain – The way most reports had it, the Indonesian military ambushed unarmed politicians in the final hours of People's Consultative Assembly deliberations in Jakarta last week.

Jakarta – The state of civil emergency in Indonesia's Maluku islands, torn by warfare between Muslims and Christians, should be extended for another month, the national police chief sai

United Nations – A recent amendment to the Indonesian Constitution might force the United Nations to hold an international inquiry into human rights abuses in East Timor, a spokesman sa

It is no dream team, but can President Abdurrahman Wahid's new Cabinet save his presidency from an early death?

Jakarta – The new Cabinet has been criticized as having ministers lacking in competence and being poorly supported by major political parties.

Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid unveiled a new slimmer Cabinet to tackle myriad problems, ranging from separatist unrest to economic woes and corruption.

Many hope to see the new team last the full term, but early signs are discouraging, says Yang Razali Kassim