Hundreds of East Timorese refugees demonstrated outside the governor's office in East Nusa Tenggara province Saturday demanding a resumption of humanitarian aid, the national news agency Antara reported.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – A recent series of gatherings involving Muslim politicians could lead to the establishment of an Islamic alliance against President Megawati Soekarnoputri should she insist upon deterring the amendment process for the 1945 Constitution, analysts said.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Forking out $60,000 for a five-year-old Mercedes S-Class, bound for the scrap yard is a luxury few Indonesians can afford.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Frequent cases of violence and intimidation against journalists by police personnel across the country reflects their serious lack of understanding of the freedom of the press, an activist says.

Berni K. Moestafa and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Once the big brother amongst Southeast Asian military forces, the Indonesian Military (TNI) now suffers from acute budget constraints which are crippling its arsenal and diluting its might.

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – The latest data showing a precipitous drop in foreign direct investment (FDI) should serve as a wake-up call for the government to quickly take action to improve the country's investment climate, analysts said.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Human rights activists warned on Friday of another red mark against the country's judicial system should the ad hoc Human Rights Tribunal fail to hold a fair trial on the 1999 East Timor human rights abuses.

Jill Jolliffe – The United Nations has increased pressure on the Indonesian Government to produce results over war crimes in East Timor by releasing its own detailed indictments for several cases including the Liquica church massacre.

Jon Land – East Timor's recently elected president, Xanana Gusmao, arrived in Canberra on June 17 for his first official state visit to Australia. Accompanied by foreign minister Jose Ramos Horta and other East Timorese representatives, Gusmao stressed that "Australia is the first country that we came to visit and to talk about the future".

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Some 1,000 Acehnese refugees staged a protest in front of the North Smatra provincial legislature on Thursday, asking the government to keep its promise to provide them with financial assistance.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Calls are mounting for the government to revamp or scrap altogether the Ministry of Religious Affairs following a recent proposal to establish a joint religion office to promote interfaith harmony.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – An Indonesian human rights court yesterday launched the prosecution of notorious former East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres – one of the crucial tests of justice over the violent campaign waged by militias and Indonesian military against East Timor's bid to gain independence in 1999.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Eurico Guterres, former commander of the pro-Jakarta Aitarak militia in East Timor, stood trial at the Central Jakarta District Court on charges of murder and torture in the attacks on East Timorese leaders before the 1999 ballot.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – All 11 members of the General Elections Commission (KPU) have threatened to resign en masse if the House of Representatives passes a new election bill that would effectively undermine the commission's independence.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – As part of the campaign to put an end to the long list of assaults against the Indonesian media, Kompas daily vowed on Thursday to proceed with the legal process against the police for beating one of its reporters while reporting the Maspion worker strike in Sidoarjo, East Java.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – In an effort to lower book, newspaper and magazines prices, editors and legislators on Thursday agreed to demand the government remove the imposition of value-added tax (VAT) on reading material.

Cirebon – Hundreds of bus owners grouped under the West Java and Central Java Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) demanded on Thursday the release of 117 buses currently impounded by the Jakarta office of the Ministry of Transportation, apparently without good reason.

[Siri Frigaard Deputy Prosecutor in East Timor's Serious Crimes Unit, overseeing investigations into crimes against humanity in East Timor has admitted that history may be critical of the justice dealt out to perpetrators of the bloodshed and destruction in 1999.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – Political experts criticized chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) Megawati Soekarnoputri dubbing her a "democracy killer" for defying her party's aspirations by supporting the reelection of Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – Activists on Thursday cast doubts over the upcoming Aceh peace talks, as violence continued unabated with neither the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) nor the government willing to back down from preconditions to move into a dialog.

Jakarta – A number of political leaders belonging to a loose grouping of Islamic parties, plus some Golkar Party legislators, met at the residence of deputy speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Cholil Bisri on Jl. Kemanggisan Ilir 2B, Slipi, on Thursday evening, with the host denying that the gathering had any political agenda.

Several members of East Timor's parliament called Thursday for proposed legislation to be translated into Tetum, as Portuguese is not understood by all of the 88-member assembly.

Berni K. Moestafa, Jakarta – Widespread criticism of the government is growing as transportation fares are set to go up by 40 percent following its earlier fuel price increases.

Critics slammed the decision as a slap in the face of the poor, and called into question the government's unilateral approach of raising the fares.

Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri presented and won an overwhelming vote of confidence from East Timor's parliament Thursday for his five-year government program. The confidence vote was approved by a tally of 69 to four, with seven abstentions. Eight MPs were absent.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri's overriding concern with securing her future through political deal-making is causing ripples in Indonesia's most hotly contested political race after the national elections.

Jakarta – The prosecution appeared to throw in the towel on Wednesday during the cross-examination of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the alleged mastermind behind the murder of Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita.

While Chief Prosecutor Hasan Madani normally asked probing questions, this time he seemed to skip from one question to another.

Jakarta – An armed Indonesian civilian group had held military training exercises outside Jakarta, the country's top security minister said yesterday.

Jakarta – Taking the stand for the first time, Tommy Suharto told a packed courtroom yesterday that Indonesia's security forces had protected him while he was on the run for a year.

The son of former president Suharto denied that he had killed a Supreme Court judge but admitted that he had tried to bribe associates of a former president to clear him of corruption charges.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Education Ministry plans to hire 366,630 temporary teachers next year to overcome shortages in schools around the country.

Education Minister A. Malik Fadjar said during a parliamentary committee hearing on Tuesday that his ministry was seeking a budget allocation of 2.3 trillion rupiah, or 200,000 rupiah per teacher, for the plan.

Around 150 Islamic extremists armed with sticks and swords rampaged down a street popular with foreign tourists in Jakarta yesterday, forcing their way into cafes and smashing beer bottles, police and witnesses said.

Jakarta – After participating in the Aceh provincial sports week in Sigli, nine athletes and officials from the Aceh Singkil regency were reportedly abducted by a group of unidentified armed men in Peureulak, East Aceh regency, Antara reported on Thursday.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Local security authorities have broken up a network that allegedly trafficked dozens of East Timorese toddlers over the last year.

The head of the Wirasakti Militry Command in East Nusa Tenggara, Col. Muswarno Moesanip, said on Wednesday that most of the children were taken from refugee camps in the province and sent to orphanages in Java.

Jakarta – The Indonesian export volume to neighboring East Timor increased from around 20 million US dollars in 2000 to more than 33 million US dollars in 2001, an official said Thursday.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives is expected to pass soon a long-awaited bill on the settlement of industrial disputes, which will allow workers and employers to take their disputes to labor courts.

Catharine Munro, Jakarta – Eurico Guterres, the militia leader who fought against independence from Indonesia in his native East Timor three years ago, today faced a human rights tribunal in Jakarta to hear charges of abuses.

Jakarta – In a further move to implement syariah, or Islamic law, in Aceh, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Police will soon recruit officers for its special religious police unit, YAntara news agency reported.

Jakarta – A notorious pro-Jakarta militia leader accused of atrocities in East Timor said on Thursday he was ready to die if found guilty of the 1999 massacres, but said the real blame for the bloodshed lies with Indonesia's president at the time.

Sydney – Former prime minister Gough Whitlam today launched a book which he described as "patronising" of his dealings with East Timor as it sank into Indonesian control.

Author and journalist Bill Nicol has updated his 25-year-old book which was highly critical of the Whitlam government's lack of involvement in trying to secure the struggling nation's independence.

London – On June 16, protesters disrupted Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri's meeting with British Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair. Waving placards, posters and a grave stone for the murdered Papuan leader Theys Eluay, protesters blocked the entrance to Downing Street to draw attention to the Indonesian military's human rights abuses in West Papua.

Tommy Suharto, the youngest son of Indonesia's former dictator, testified for the first time in his murder trial and accused the then-president of interfering in his earlier corruption case.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – A number of legislators admitted on Tuesday that they had largely ignored their constituents, but shifted the blame for this neglect to Indonesia's electoral system.

Max Lane, Jakarta – Natalia Scholastika was a student activist in Bandung, West Java, when the first arrest warrant against her was issued in 2001. A member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD), she had helped organise a protest by thousands of workers in Bandung and there were clashes with the police. Several activists were arrested and put on trial. Natalia was not captured.

Jakarta – Five workers from PT Maspion Unit I in Gedangan area, Sidoarjo regency, East Java and a reporter who was covering the workers demonstration, were injured on Wednesday after a clash broke out between workers and the police, a report said.

Jakarta – Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea slammed employers and law enforcers for the rampant restriction of labor unions, saying workers had the right to strike as a last resort to put pressure on management to meet their demands.

Zacharias Wuragil, Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto has claimed that the security situation in Aceh has improved. However, he still considers the Free Aceh Movement Force (AGAM) as the most important party that determines security in Aceh.

Yemris Fointuna and Jupriadi, Jakarta – Twenty-nine more refugees, including one marine, have returned to their hometowns in East Timor after spending more than two years in refugee camps in South Sulawesi province.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) has received crucial backing from legislators to use force against separatists in Aceh as a military offensive grew imminent in the troubled province.

Jill Jolliffe – Pro-Indonesia militia leader Joao Tavares returned to East Timor yesterday for the first time since the violence of 1999.

Speaking after crossing the border at Batugade, the man considered by many East Timorese to be most responsible for militia crimes said he was prepared to stand trial.

Novan Iman Santosa and Yogita Tahilramani, Jakarta – Not a single eyewitness against nine suspects for the murder of Papuan pro-independence leader Dortheys "Theys" Hiyo Eluay witnessed the murder, defense lawyer Warsito Sanyoto said on Tuesday.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Members of the House of Representatives (DPR) unanimously threw their support behind the Indonesian military on Monday in allowing it to flex its muscles against secessionist movements in the country, particularly the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).