Jakarta – A total of 153,357,307 Indonesians have registered to vote in the July 5 presidential election, deputy chairman of the General Elections Commission (KPU), Ramlan Surbakti, said here Tuesday.
Ramlan noted that the figure is final because the KPU will not extend the registration of voters beyond the May 25 deadline.
Jakarta – The General Elections Commission (KPU) has warned that millions of "ghost" voters could affect the July 5 presidential election.
After a month-long registration period, the commission has managed to remove only 1.4 million of an estimated five million ghost voters.
Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – It has been billed as the battle of the generals. The July 5 presidential election in Indonesia will feature three retired generals – Mr Wiranto, Mr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Mr Agum Gumelar.
Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Mr Wiranto advertises himself as a strong leader that Indonesia needs, but it is Golkar's muscles, as well as brainpower, that he is relying on to stay in the presidential race.
Veronica Brooks, Canberra – The World Bank's representative in East Timor, Elisabeth Huybens, is keeping a watchful eye on the protracted maritime border dispute playing out between Canberra and Dili.
Salim Osman – The campaign strategy for presidential front runner Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is simple: ride on popularity.
His advisers believe that in a direct presidential election, man is more important than machinery – which his close rivals Megawati Sukarnoputri and Wiranto can boast of.
Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto gave a lecture on Tuesday at the Police Staff College (PTIK) on the relationship between TNI and the police, stressing their separate functions in the post-reform era.
Max Lane – The government of Megawati Sukarnoputri, apparently at the urging of Indonesia's intelligence agency (BIN) and foreign affairs department, has refused to extend Sidney Jones' work permit.
Indonesia's Supreme Court has overturned a bankruptcy ruling against the local insurance unit of British financial services giant Prudential.
Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Poverty, lackluster growth, rising prices, high unemployment and continuing widespread corruption are adding to the myriad problems facing the five candidates for the Indonesian presidency.
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Presidential candidates know that their rivals are making similar promises about law enforcement. But in a country where many think they have seen enough of the turbulent "transition" period no candidate can do without pledges of law enforcement even though they themselves might have been seen to have violated the law.
Rob Taylor, Jakarta – Indonesia's presidential election race has attracted a galaxy of stars, but most are made of military brass.
The campaign teams of the five candidates – who include two former generals and a third running as vice president – have recruited an astonishing 35 former generals as senior advisers.
Indonesia's tobacco industry is warning that moves to adopt international laws to limit smoking would lead to massive job cuts and billions of dollars in lost tax revenue. Critics in Indonesia say the government is bowing to the tobacco companies in the hope of seeing a reward at the ballot box.
Presenter/Interviewer: Marion MacGregor
Suwarjono, Jakarta – Although Sydney Jones has been expelled from Indonesia, support for the American national continues to flow. National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Hendropriyono believes that those who are supporting the head of the International Crisis Group (IGC) have received money from Jones.
John Phaceas, Perth – Woodside Petroleum might have to defer its Sunrise gas project for at least five years – costing it billions in delayed revenue – if the impasse over Timor Sea production rights was not resolved by Christmas, the company warned yesterday.
Indonesia's Supreme Court has upheld a special court ruling acquitting a former military commander in East Timor of gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999, when its people voted to separate from Indonesia, a court source said Tuesday.
Anton Aliabbas, Jakarta – Sydney Jones' expulsion has created a controversy in its own right in Indonesia. Although there are many who have defended her, there are also however many who want the director of the International Crisis Group (ICG) to go.
A small group of protestors is rallying outside an international oil and gas conference in the northern Australian city of Darwin, angry over Australia's treatment of East Timor in natural resource negotiations.
Simon Elegant – For four years, the Jakarta branch of the International Crisis Group (ICG) has provided one of the clearest windows into the troubled state of Indonesia.
Banda Aceh – An Indonesian general on Monday officially handed over power to the civilian governor of restive Aceh province almost three weeks after martial law was lifted.
Governor Abdullah Puteh and former martial law chief Maj. Gen.
Ahmad Taufik, Yuswardi A. Suud, Banda Aceh – Investigations into allegations of corruption linked to the purchase of electrical generators and a helicopter have begun. Governor Abdullah Puteh is finding himself painted into a corner.
Indonesia's currency has fallen to two-year low, prompting the country's central bank to announce measures to stabilise the rupiah. But there appears to be little consensus as to the cause of the drop in the foreign investment climate.
Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh is to be questioned by National Police HQ nd the Anti-Corruption Commission. Why has he not been suspended?
Darwin – A US oil company challenged East Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri to appear in a US court to respond to allegations that he accepted a multi-million dollar bribe from a rival firm.
Tony Sitathan – The latest crackdown by the Indonesian government, just one month before presidential elections on July 5, is not being aimed at rebel forces in Aceh, but rather at the International Crisis Group (ICG) and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Indonesia.
Medan – Six women from East Nusa Tenggara province seeking work in Medan left a labor recruitment agency in the city, fearing that they might be sold into prostitution, a police officer said on Friday.
They are now in safe hands, said chief of Medan Police detectives First. Insp. M. Taufik.
Farish A Noor – What has upset some sections of the Indonesian political and military elite are not the findings of Sidney Jones and her team, but rather the links and ties they have uncovered in the course of their research, some of which go right to the Indonesian military elite.
Jakarta – Bank Indonesia's plan to halt rupiah speculation in the banking sector should be helpful in curbing the depreciation of the embattled rupiah, analysts said, but only temporarily as the policy did not address the root of the problem – huge liquidity in the banking sector.
Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – A range of cheap merchandise, allegedly smuggled from Malaysia and Singapore, can be found on sale openly at Belawan Port, some 20 kilometers from the North Sumatra capital of Medan.
The contraband include dolls, remote-control cars, CD and VCD players, vases, decorative lamps, perfumes, shoes and clothing.
Jakarta – Pertamina may have caused the further depreciation of the rupiah against the US dollar, as it reached Rp9,500 on Wednesday, an official from Bank Indonesia said.
Jakarta – Jakarta shares plunged on Friday amid lingering worries of the sharp depreciation in the value of the rupiah against the US dollar and rising political tension ahead of next month's presidential election.
The Jakarta Stock Exchange Composite Index fell by 2.9 percent, or 21.105 points at 697.937, which was slightly higher than its intra-day low of 689.536.
While the national authorities are yet to properly deal with child and woman trafficking in several areas in the archipelago, we are jolted by reports of the selling of girl students of Jakarta junior high schools for their virginity.
Dili – A US-based rights group denounced Australia yesterday, saying Canberra should be "ashamed" for allegedly robbing East Timor of much-needed oil and gas revenues from the disputed seabed between the two nations.
Jakarta/Yogyakarta – Political observers expressed discontent on Friday with a group of Muslim clerics, who they said, misused religious teachings to discriminate against a political candidate based on gender.
Robert Go, Jakarta – With a month to go before the July 5 presidential vote, questions have arisen over whether the General Elections Commission (KPU) is up to the task, given its series of embarrassing bungles in April's parliamentary polls.
Jakarta – A total of 237 employees of the Nikko Hotel in Central Jakarta staged a protest in front of the Jakarta Manpower and Transmigration Agency office on Friday, against the hotel management's decision to dismiss them.
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said on Friday that Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh knew that some procedures had been violated in the purchase of a Russian-made Mi-2 helicopter in 2002.
Jakarta – Human rights group Amnesty International has joined a chorus of criticism against Indonesia's decision to expel a US researcher, saying the tactic was reminiscent of former dictator Soeharto.
Lisbon/Portugal – East Timor said today it is willing to reach a compromise with Australia to solve a long-running territorial dispute over seabed oil and natural gas deposits between the two countries.
Abdul Khalik and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The National Police here questioned Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh in Jakarta for more than eight hours over a corruption case worth Rp 30 billion (US$3.1 million) in losses to the state.
Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The sharia police officers here are being criticized over their "sweeps" on women – who have allegedly donned attire deemed inappropriate under Islamic law – which has been in force in Aceh since 2001.
Jakarta – Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea admitted on Wednesday that violence against Indonesian workers overseas was a result of the government's lack of political will to deal seriously with labor exports.
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Less than three months after the House of Representatives approved the water bill amid public outcry, the government has talked about a plan to privatize state-run regional water companies.
Jakarta – An Indonesian anti-corruption commission has announced the wealth of five pairs of candidates running for next month's presidential election, reports said.
Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Professionals, not just politicians, are running the show for the election.
Presidential contenders have been relying on their team of political strategists, public relations consultants and advertising experts ahead of the July 5 election.
Jakarta – With opinion polls showing her facing electoral disaster, Indonesia's normally aloof President Megawati Sukarnoputri has embarked on an unprecedented campaign of mingling with the people.
Shefali Rekhi, Indonesia's – immediate future is gloomy, if former president Abdurrahman Wahid's forecast is anything to go by.
He hinted at the possibility of a coup d'etat and economic instability, advising investors to stay away till the situation has stabilised. Yet he held hope that once the elections were over, Indonesia will pull through.
Surabaya – A gathering of 12 muslim clerics of the East Java chapter of the National Awakening Party (PKB) at the Miftahul Ulum boarding school in Pasuruan district on Thursday reminded themselves that in Islam it is 'haram' (forbidden) for a woman to become president.
Indra Harsaputra, Pasuruan – Several influential clerics of the country's largest Muslim organization issued an edict on Thursday for its members to vote for Wiranto and Solahuddin Wahid in next month's presidential election.
Gunawan Mashar, Jakarta – Scores of students in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar from the United Opposition (Front Oposisi Bersatu, BOB) have for the umpteenth time held a demonstration against military presidential and vice-presidential candidates.