Jakarta – Congratulatory messages from around the world poured in for Indonesia's new president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on the occasion of his inauguration on Wednesday.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's United Indonesia Cabinet is a mixture of old and new faces, comprising members of several political parties, as well as experienced professionals and retired military officers.

Jakarta – Indonesia's newly-installed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono inducted his "United Indonesia Cabinet" ministers at the state palace here today.

The 36 ministers include Hassan Wirajuda, Hatta Radjasa, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Purnomo Yusgiantoro and Bachtiar Chamsyah who have served in the previous government of former President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Jakarta – After a long debate, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono finally announced his Cabinet lineup on Wednesday night.

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – Police have arrested an man alleged to be behind recent communal violence in Mamasa, West Sulawesi, and have begun seizing firearms and traditional weapons from warring villagers.

Ruslan Sangadji, Palu – Members of a Muslim youth organization on Wednesday attacked several pig farms in South Tatura they said were polluting the area as the police looked on.

About 20 pigs were slaughtered in the attack and farmers estimated total losses at Rp 75 million (US$7,978). No one was injured.

Jakarta – President-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is struggling to put together a Cabinet on the eve of his inauguration as various political forces lobby to have their say or secure seats at the Cabinet table for their own people.

Jakarta – President-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to take office on Wednesday and before long he will have to start working and fulfilling the promises he and running-mate Jusuf Kalla made to the electorate during the election campaign.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Saying good-bye is never easy, but it is especially difficult for President Megawati Soekarnoputri as she prepares to leave her childhood home, the Presidential Palace.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – The month between Indonesia's presidential vote and Wednesday's inauguration of the country's first directly elected president brings to mind the classic Clint Eastwood spaghetti western, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Jakarta – At the end of his tenure as minister of religious affairs, Said Agil Al Munawwar sparked controversy on Tuesday by banning any discussion of a draft revision of the Body of Islamic Law that was produced by a team under his ministry.

Jakarta – A labor union is protesting the government's plan to close down fertilizer manufacturer PT Asean Aceh Fertilizer (AAF), calling for efforts to seek alternatives.

The Worker's Union of State-owned Enterprises Federation said it refused such a plan because the Aceh-based firm had made significant contributions to both the local and national economy.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Acting coordinating minister for political and security affairs Hari Sabarno advised the new government to put law enforcement and rights promotion, particularly in conflict-torn areas, at the top of its priority list.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Some 300 members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) were told to check out of the Mulia Hotel on Tuesday after its leaders realized, belatedly, that there was no need after all for them to stay in the five-star hotel.

Rofiqi Hasan, Jakarta – Scores of students in Denpasar, the provincial capital of Bali, held a demonstration on Wednesday October 20 to coincide with the inauguration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and Vice-president Jusuf Kalla.

Anthony Smith, Jakarta – One of the interesting photos from the recent Indonesian presidential election featured candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pausing for a day to sit for a doctoral-level examination in agricultural economics at the Bogor Institute for Agriculture.

Medan – An economic observer from Indonesia's North Sumatra University, Jhon Tafbu Ritonga M.Ec, said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's (SBY) new government should keep its distance from international financial institutions. This included the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Zakki P. Hakim, Jakarta – After a lengthy delay, the government inaugurated on Tuesday the National Consumer Protection Agency (BPKN), as mandated by Law No. 8/1999 on consumer protection.

Minister of Industry and Trade Rini Soewandi installed 17 members of the BPKN for the period of 2004-2007.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
President of Indonesia
Istana Merdeka
Jakarta 10110 Indonesia

Dear Mr President,

Suwarjono, Jakarta – Journalists have returned to a "period of gloom" at the new presidential palace. The freedoms which were enjoyed during the presidencies of B.J. Habibie, Gus Dur (Abdurrahman Wahid) and Megawati Sukarnoputri are gone.

Dana R. Dillon – One issue needs to stand out from all others for Indonesia's new president when he takes office today – terrorism. To be sure, it's far from the only problem that Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will have to contend with – everything from corruption to the lack of foreign investment is also crying out for attention.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The whereabouts of the bodies of five migrants, killed a week ago by suspected separatist rebels in a remote area of Papua, remained a mystery on Tuesday as soldiers and police continued to hunt the gunmen.

Adi Mawardi, Surabaya – Scores of students from a various groups in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya held actions at the State Grahadi Building on Wednesday October 20. They were calling for a government which is clean, free from corruption, collusion and nepotism along with one which will uphold the supremacy of law.

Dian Yuliastuti, Jakarta – Scores of students from a number of student and labour groups have demonstrated demanding that the new government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and Vice-president Jusuf Kalla create a democratic government.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Hundreds of members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) checked in at the Mulia Hotel on Monday despite calls by their chairman Hidayat Nur Wahid to lead a simple lifestyle.

Jakarta – President-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) is being urged to form a clean and productive government.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Demonstrators rallied in Jayapura yesterday demanding that recently elected president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono allow international negotiators to end the decades-long conflict in Papua.

The protest by up to 500 students came as church leaders and civil groups began lobbying Mr Yudhoyono for Papuan self rule in Indonesia's easternmost province.

Jayapura – Some 100 people protested in Jayapura on Monday, demanding president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono re-hold Papua's 1963 referendum.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Gloom fell over Megawati Soekarnoputri's private residence in Kebagusan, South Jakarta, as a small group huddled around the television set, hours after the election runoff on September 20.

Allan Behm – The pundits might want to dismiss Alexander Downer's thinking out loud on a security agreement with Indonesia as a volte-face or the cynical repackaging of a Keating legacy.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Two Papuans were arrested on Monday for questioning over an attack that claimed five lives in Tinggi Nambut village, Puncak Jaya regency.

"The two are being questioned over their roles in the attack," said Comr. Wempy Batlayeri, the deputy chief of the Paniai Police, which oversees Tinggi Nambut village.

Banda Aceh – A senior separatist rebel on Tuesday was given 16 years in jail for treason in Indonesia's war-hit Aceh province.

Sayed Mustafa, a Free Aceh Movement rebel coordinator for southern and western Aceh, was also found guilty of illegal weapons possesion, said chief judge Azhari of the Tapaktuan district court in South Aceh.

Jakarta – There has been a jump in the number of East Timorese refugees returning home from Indonesia, where they have been living since East Timor's bloody breakaway in 1999, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday.

Jongker Rumthe, Manado – Three newly reelected North Sulawesi councillors stood trial at the Manado District Court here on Monday on charges of misusing some Rp 9.6 billion (US$1.06 million) from Manado's 2003 budget.

Hananto Wiryo, Mataram – The Cabinet of president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono must ensure that in designing its health programs focuses on servicing and reaching grassroots by truly optimizing existing health infrastructures, improving affordability and awareness of health services, and also eliminating malpractice.

Andi Hajramurni and Yuli Tri Suwarni, Makassar/Bandung – After two days of relative calm, violence broke out again in Aralle district, Mamasa regency, killing one man and injuring another.

Indonesia's incoming President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, takes office tomorrow with a promise of "a beautiful era", including better relations with the West.

In a public, and unprecedented, gesture of goodwill, the Prime Minister, John Howard, will attend the inauguration ceremony in Jakarta.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Contrary to police findings, a joint government team comprising 14 agencies has concluded that Buyat Bay in North Sulawesi, where PT Newmont Minahasa Raya stopped operations late August, is not contaminated by heavy metals.

The prospect of an openly negotiated security treaty with Jakarta is welcome.

Veronica Brooks, Canberra – Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Tuesday headed to Jakarta to witness the swearing in of Indonesia's new president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, hoping his presence will spur a deeper strategic partnership between the two nations.

The City Population Agency will launch a two-week raid a week before and a week after the Idul Fitri holidays, targeting in-house maids, nannies and private company workers who do not possess Jakarta or newcomer identity cards.

Indra Harsaputra, Malang – Set in the mountains, the picturesque and cool city of Malang, East Java, is now getting hotter according to locals and not, they say, for a good reason.

Rusman, Samarinda – Thick haze from forest fires in Central and East Kalimantan provinces continued to blanket some cities in Kalimantan on Monday, but heavy downpours over the weekend helped ease the fog in some cities in Sumatra.

In Samarinda, East Kalmantan, visibility has been reduced to one kilometer because of the haze.

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Yulianti, a bartender at a nightclub in Surabaya, had a busy couple of nights before Ramadhan started on Friday. On Wednesday night, the club was packed and there was a huge demand for drinks. Pouring a beer was one thing, but some of the cocktails were complicated to mix.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta/Bogor – Outgoing President Megawati Soekarnoputri's decision to skip the inauguration of her successor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will backfire and further damage her image, political analysts said on Sunday.

Indonesia's Megawati Sukarnoputri, under increasing fire in her last days as president for failing to admit poll defeat, has come under new criticism from the country's military chief over controverisal promotions.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – The number of credit card users here is expected to grow by at least 20 percent next year, driven by a more robust growth in consumer spending and an expected improvement in people's income.

A new security treaty between Indonesia and Australia would symbolise the increasingly close relationship between the two countries. The question is whether we really need such a symbol, when practical co-operation has yielded excellent results in the absence of one.

Jakarta – Chief Justice Bagir Manan said the country's first sharia court in Aceh, which applies Islamic law, or sharia, could not work effectively due to the absence of related bylaws.

Megawati Sukarnoputri has won plaudits for smoothing Indonesia's path to democracy, but in her final days as president the taciturn leader is in danger of leaving a lasting image as a sore loser who refuses to bow out gracefully.