Jakarta, Kompas – Accusations of human rights violations have not affected retired Lieutenant General Prabowo Subianto's plan to advance towards the presidency. The former head of Kopassus who is believed to be linked to the abductions of a number of students(1) continues to move forward in Golkar's presidential candidate selection process.

Jakarta – Idealists and officials have spoken for years of the benefits of "dialog campaigns" rather than rowdy rallies and convoys, but on the fifth day of campaigning, political parties were still struggling to get people interested in any attempt at dialog.

Dili – A former Australian diplomat said his country's "policy of failure" was partly to blame for Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor and its subsequent 24-year occupation that resulted in more than 150,000 deaths.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – The Indonesian general election campaign started with a bang last week, but it will end with a whimper. Never have 24 parties given people so little reason to celebrate.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – It began with a bang. Just six days ago, party faithful thronged the streets of Indonesia in carnival mood to mark the start of the country's election campaigning.

Jakarta – Almost all of the 24 political parties contesting this year's elections had committed 100 violations as of Monday, according to the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu).

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Monopolistic practices and a lack of concern toward public complaints were continuing to perpetuate a culture of poor public service in the country, the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) lamented on Monday.

P.C. Naommy and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) revealed on Monday that it planned to send a fact-finding mission to investigate the shooting by police officers of demonstrating farmers in Manggarai, Flores, last week.

Geneva – A leading environmental group on Tuesday warned that the exotic Sumatran tiger was bound for extinction if the government of Indonesia did not crack down on illegal trading in the endangered species.

The WWF said only 400-500 tigers remained on the island of Sumatra as hunters continue to kill the animal commercially and for sport.

Jakarta – Five alleged members of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah group have been jailed on terror charges by an Indonesian court, the presiding judge who sentenced them said on Tuesday.

I Nyoman Sumanada, head of the Palu district court, said the five were sentenced on Monday to terms ranging from three to six years.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Islamic-leaning political parties contesting this year's general elections have selected more non-Muslim candidates, a move to pluralism that has been welcomed by political commentators.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government Tuesday issued Rp 2 trillion ($1=IDR8,457) of bonds with a weighted average yield of 11.57%, the finance ministry said.

The weighted average yield was in line with market expectations and lower than the 11.82% weighted average yield for the bonds it issued last month.

A pro-independence group in Indonesia's Aceh province has accused police and troops of intimidation and violence in the run-up to the general election on April 5.

Jakarta – A coalition of Indonesian groups has released a list of names of 61 candidates in the upcoming parliamentary election who it alleges are "crooked politicians", the Jakarta Post reported yesterday.

Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Fabiola Desy Unandjaja, Gianyar/Jakarta – Megawati Soekarnoputri and her presidential challengers strived to make the most of their "comparative advantages" in their election campaign debuts on Friday.

Former Indonesian security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who quit after a row with Presidenti Megawati Surkanoputri, has confirmed that he will stand in July's presidential elections.

Robert Go, Jakarta – With just 23 days to go, Indonesia faces critical hurdles that could impede a smooth parliamentary election next month, officials and observers said.

Any last-minute rush to complete poll preparations, they warned, could increase the possibility of honest errors occurring, or even the chances for manipulation of results.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – An alliance of 23 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) joined force on Friday to call on the National Commission of Human Rights to carry out an independent and thorough investigation into the Manggarai shooting that left five dead and 28 others wounded.

Jakarta – Although the 22-day election campaign period just commenced on Thursday, minor political parties scheduled for Friday's first round of campaigns across the country had already begun showing signs that their funding was running out.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – In a land where the school system is rotting and health care is worse, where millions drink from dying rivers while the rich pay cash for Mercedes, it seems only natural that Indonesians have such a deep interest in their looming elections.

Ruslan Sangadji, Palu – The situation in Donggala, Central Sulawesi, remained tense on Friday following a bloody attack on a predominantly Christian village in the regency a day before.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – A group of environmental non-governmental organizations (NGO) lashed out on Friday at the government for permitting 13 mining companies to resume activities in protected forests through the issuance of a regulation in lieu of law, or perpu.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – The man behind the first efforts to privatize Indonesia's state-owned enterprises, and a staunch critic of the slow pace of the program, has been brought back into the fold to bring state-owned PT Telkom, the country's largest company, back into line after chronic audit problems and market uncertainty.

Jakarta – Government troops have shot dead a separatist leader in Indonesia's eastern most province of Papua, a military spokesman said on Saturday.

Derwin Pereiradevi Asmarani – Indonesian security czar Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono quit his Cabinet post yesterday after falling out with the President.

His resignation – the first by a minister in the current administration – is the clearest signal yet that he is gunning for the presidency, a move that could pit him against incumbent Megawati Sukarnoputri in the July polls.

As long-term readers of this column will have realised, Pierpont is unfashionable. He is white, Anglo-Saxon, Anglican, heterosexual, married and monarchist.

Kupang – East Timorese refugees in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) province can no longer claim any assets in East Timor, as Thursday was the deadline for the refugees to do so back in the country of their birth.

Jakarta – Following mass rioting at the Manggarai district police station in Ruteng, East Nusa Tenggara, which resulted in the death of four farmers last Wednesday, the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has been asked to immediately go to the location to gather facts.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Medan Police chief Sr. Comr. Bagus Kurniawan said on Wednesday that the police were focusing their investigations into the discovery of five live bombs in a Medan mall on two distinct groups.

Indonesia will only go ahead with plans to build a nuclear power plant on Java island if the public accepts the project, Research and Technology Minister Hatta Radjasa said Wednesday.

Jakarta – Public support for incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri has dropped significantly during the past few months while those who backed Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono increased, according to a survey on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's dengue fever outbreak has killed more than 400 people this year and the number of cases could keep rising, health officials said on Wednesday.

A spokesman for the Health Ministry said the death toll from dengue since the start of the year was 408 people, with 29,643 cases across the archipelago.

Jakarta – As the General Elections Commission (KPU) disclosed on Wednesday that only 20 percent of the 660 million ballot papers needed for the elections had been produced, on the same day, President Megawati Soekarnoputri instructed the Indonesian Military, the National Police and the Ministry of Transportation to assist in the distribution of ballot papers nationwide.

Robert Go, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri will not sack her top Security Minister despite an increasingly public rift between the two, a senior official yesterday.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – A joint monitoring team will begin immediately to inspect humanitarian projects carried out by the martial law administrator and Aceh provincial government since the implementation of martial law in the troubled province.

Banda Aceh – Military authorities in Aceh on Thursday banned foreign observers from monitoring next month's general elections in 453 so-called "black areas" in the war-torn province due to security concerns.

Washington – US legislators have urged Australia to negotiate its maritime boundary with East Timor to give the tiny nation a fair share of Timor Sea resources.

The fate of substantial oil and natural gas deposits between Australia and newly independent East Timor depends on a boundary agreement to be hammered out between the two countries.

Theresia Sufa, Bogor – "From the beginning I didn't want my husband to become a gurandil, because I know how risky it is digging for gold in Pongkor Mountain. But kang Eman insisted, he said he wanted to get some money for a ceremonial meal to celebrate my seventh month of pregnancy.

Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Thursday he has resigned following a rift with President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

"I have submitted a resignation letter [to Megawati]," he told a press conference.

Haidir Anwar Tanjung, Pekanbaru – Some 1,000 civil servants, teachers and community leaders staged a protest on Wednesday in front of the teacher's council building in Kampar regency, to demand that the central government endorse the dismissal of Kampar regent Jefri Noer.

Fedhly Averouss Bey, Jakarta – The names of six popular presidential candidates have been included in a list of rotten politicians by the University (UI) of Indonesia Student Executive Council (BEM).

Jakarta – Indonesia on Thursday blasted the double standards applied by the United States and Australia in criticizing a supreme court decision earlier this week to reduce the jail sentence of militant Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir and a similar court decision in Germany.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Tarnishing their much-vaunted label as educational institutions, schools are widely prone to corruption practices through unclear school budgets and the lack of supervision by parents, a study by Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) says.

Shinta Shinaga, Jakarta – Although indistinct and only in the background, [former President] Suharto is appearing in a television advertisement by the National Functional Party of Concern (PKPB).

US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has charged Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir is deeply involved in terrorism after Indonesia's top court halved the militant's jail sentence.

Jakarta – The central bank, Bank Indonesia (BI), has predicted that the country's economy will, in the first quarter of the year, grow by 4.2 percent to 4.7 percent on the back of low inflation, the stable rupiah exchange rate and declining bank interest rates.