Zainal Bakri, Lhokseumawe – The National Elections Commission (KPU) in Aceh has stated that as of Saturday afternoon, March 6, no foreign election observers – either organisations or individuals – have arrived in Aceh. This is despite the fact that the election campaign will begin on March 11.

Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta – US officials believe local army commanders ordered an ambush that killed two American teachers near a gold mine in a case that has held up resumption of normal US-Indonesia military ties, two American officials told The Associated Press.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) wound up its seven-week long session on Friday with only about 50 legislators showing up at the plenary meeting to hear the closing speech of House Speaker Akbar Tandjung.

Moch. N. Kurniawan and Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Just 30 days ahead of the April 5 legislative election, only 47 percent of the country's population is actually aware of that date, according to a survey by the International Foundation for Election System (IFES) and the Polling Center.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Electoral Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) said misuse of state facilities by government officials for party interests might be widespread ahead of the general election, but sadly it had no power to take action against it.

Jakarta – Indonesia's intelligence chief Hendropriyono has sparked off a controversy by allowing himself to be listed as a national campaigner for the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in the coming election.

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday that the government had succeeded in retaining market confidence three months after the expiration of the Fund-backed special lending program.

Jakarta – A group of teachers representing schools in Kampar regency threatened to return to the streets on Monday unless Home Minister Hari Sabarno approved the proposed dismissal of regent Jefri Noer and his deputy A. Zakir by, at the latest, Saturday.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Playing down public criticism and without the knowledge of its partner in the project, the Jakarta Public Works Agency will start widening sections of Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin, Central Jakarta, early next month to allow more space for private cars.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam) slammed the Attorney General's Office on Friday for declaring that there were no serious human rights violations in the 1998 May riots.

Jakarta – Former president Soeharto's daughter Siti Hardiyanti Indra Rukmana visited former East Timor integration fighters at their "Seroja" housing complex here on Thursday, pledging to help them send their children to school.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – President Megawati Sukarnoputri herself closed the book on the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency last Friday, thanking IBRA officials for their work. According to most observers and by virtually every measure, it was not a job well done.

Anton Aliabbas, Jakarta – The People's Representative Assembly (DPR) has asked the Aceh emergency military command (PDMD) to restrict the movement of foreign election observers in Aceh. This request was submitted in order to better monior the work of foreign observers.

Syaiful Amin, Yogyakarta – On Friday March 5, at least 100 students from a number of schools of higher education held an action warning against the reemergence of the New Order [regime of former President Suharto].

Trevor Sykes with Andrew Burrell – East Timor's Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, has angrily rejected claims he accepted $US2.5 million in bribes from oil and gas company ConocoPhillips to secure an investment in the Timor Sea, threatening to sue the company for including them in a legal action in the US.

An Islamic militant who shielded a key member of the Bali bombings plot has been jailed for nine years, the last in a series of trials arising from the atrocities that left 202 people dead.

Nigel Wilson and Roy Eccleston, Washington – The battle over the Timor Sea's vast gas reserves intensified yesterday with political delays to the Greater Sunrise field development coinciding with a call from senior US Congress members for Australia to accelerate talks on a new maritime boundary with East Timor.

Smoke was hampering rescue efforts after a blaze at an Indonesian gold mine in which at least 12 people, mostly illegal miners, are feared to have died, an official said.

Gunawan Mashar, Makassar – Actions protesting rotten politicians and political parties are still happening. In Makassar, at least 500 students warned of the dangers posed by rotten politicians and political parties.

Jakarta – Indonesian environmental activists filed a police complaint against plans to build a road network through a huge conservation area in Sumatra island.

Indro Tjahyono, coordinator of the Network for Forestry Conservation, said he filed the complaint in Jakarta against Infrastructure Minister Sunarno and the governor of Aceh province, Abdullah Puteh.

M. Munab Islah Ahyani, Bandung – An activist from Aceh Papua Solidarity (Solidaritas Aceh Papua, SAP) who was arrested and detained in Bandung (West Java) and who is suspected of being linked with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), is now being processed by the national police headquarters.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – The collapse of the rupiah in 1998 left Indonesian telecommunication companies barely able to pay their dollar-denominated debts, let alone fund new investment.

Jakarta – Although optimistic, the chief of the Indonesian armed forces (TNI), General Endriartono Sutarto, has said that there is no guarantee that the 2004 general elections will proceed without security disturbances.

Cirebon – The National Mandate Party (PAN) is open to and will allow the ex-members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) to join the party. The precondition being that ex-PKI members - who's political rights were recently rehabilitated by the Constitutional Court - are not allowed to resurrect the ideology of communism.

Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto pointed to the Army leadership as the party responsible for the controversy over the purchase of four Russian-made MI-17 helicopters.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Prominent religious leaders, businesspeople and activists have agreed to step up efforts against corruption by not supporting candidates in the election that have shown an unwillingness to stop corruption.

They publicly announced the agreement during a one-day conference entitled "Building a Union Against Graft" here on Tuesday.

Bandung – An Acehnese student, identified as Mohammad bin Mohammad Toyib, has been arrested for allegedly serving as an adjutant to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) finance minister.

Police nabbed Mohammad, a student of Banda Aceh-based state Ar-Raniry Islamic Institute, at the Aceh student dormitory on Jl. Cicendo, Bandung, on Monday.

Kurniawan Hari and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Ansor, a youth group of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest Muslim organization, has announced that it will not support the possible presidential candidacy of former NU chairman Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid.

Rais Hidayat, Jakarta – Several youth organizations were closely tied with the ruling Golkar party under New Order regime. They were its right arm, ready to guard any of its events and to mobilize support. They gained considerable influence, even if some of it was out of fear or resentment.

Jakarta – A consultant with the World Bank in Central Sulawesi rejected on Tuesday a statement that a bank-funded project in Donggala regency in 2002 was marred by corruption.

Jakarta – The husband of Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri yesterday accused the security minister of behaving like a child for complaining about being shut out of Cabinet meetings.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Police have arrested another 30 suspected illegal loggers in Kalimantan, an island adjacent to Malaysia, and seized almost 30,000 cubic meters of logs during an operation conducted from February 19 to February 28.

Jakarta – Aceh has almost become the "forgotten" war. Because of this, Acehnese students believe that is necessary to hold demonstrations in Jakarta to remind people of the issue. Yesterday, at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout, scores of Acehnese activists demonstrated over the fate of several recently arrested colleagues.

Indonesian police said yesterday they had arrested a man believed to be a senior aide in the self-styled government proclaimed by separatist rebels in Aceh province.

Mohammad bin Mohammad Thoyib, 26, was arrested yesterday at a dormitory for Acehnese students in the city of Bandung in West Java, said the local police chief, Eddy Mulyono.

James Balowski, Jakarta – In a statement issued on February 23, Amnesty International said that the five human rights activists and one other person who were detained by the Indonesian police between February 19 and February 23 in Indonesia's northern-most province of Aceh are "at grave risk of torture and ill-treatment".

Jakarta – Efforts in Indonesia to ease chronic traffic jams in the teeming capital Jakarta are boosting one of the city's more curious professions – car jockeys.

But don't think horses and high stakes. Eni and her two-year-old son spend six hours a day riding in strangers' cars, playing a daily game of cat and mouse with traffic wardens.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The government announced on Monday its plan to develop several infrastructure projects worth more than Rp 200 trillion (US$23.5 billion) over five years in the telecommunications and transportation sectors, as well as in the gas pipeline sector.

Fitri Wulandari, Jakarta – The consumer price index (CPI) fell 0.02 percent in February from the previous month as the rice harvest and a stronger rupiah resulted in lower prices for foodstuffs and lower education and recreation costs. The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) also reported on Monday that year-on-year inflation during the month was 4.6 percent, the lowest in four years.

Sri Wahyuni and Slamet Susanto, Yogyakarta – Sleman Regent Ibnu Subiyanto reassured teachers and students here on Monday that state-run Ambarrukmo Elementary School would not be demolished until a replacement building was provided.

"Students, teachers and parents should not worry about the plan," Ibnu told journalists at his office.

Jakarta – Former vice president Gen. (ret.) Try Sutrisno defended on Monday a decision by the military to open fire on a crowd during the Tanjung Priok incident in 1984.

Almost a third of Indonesia's state primary school buildings need repairs and some are so decrepit they threaten children's safety, a senior education ministry official said.

"I estimate that about 30 percent of our primary schools are suffering from various degrees of damage and decay," said Indra Jati Sidi, director general for elementary education.

Eva C. Komandjaja and Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – The City Council urged the Jakarta Administration on Monday to cut down on the bureaucratic red tape on disbursements for impoverished dengue fever victims, who are unable to get timely or professional medical treatment without the money.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – One of Indonesia's worst outbreaks of dengue fever for years has struck more than 19,000 people, killing at least 336 and prompting a flurry of Government promises to fight it.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – The printing of ballot papers may be moved further back as film printing firms have still not finished the templates for the ballots, which will greatly delay the delivery of the election materials to all the polling stations.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – A former business associate of well-connected businessman Tomy Winata told the Central Jakarta District Court on Monday that his Artha Graha company security guards' threats of violence had always been a fixture of how Tomy did business.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – A rise in non-oil and gas exports drove the overall export figure in January slightly higher by 0.74 percent compared to the same period last year, raising hopes that export could help accelerate economic growth to 4.8 percent this year.

Student protesters on Monday burned effigies of former president Suharto and parliament speaker/Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tanjung.

Lee Kim Chew – Indonesia's biggest political parties expect to hang on to the votes they won in the 1999 polls, but two emerging Islamic parties are confident of making gains in April's parliamentary elections.

Jakarta – As the election draws close, political parties are now openly touting their possible presidential and vice presidential candidates in the hope of drumming up enough support to grab power.

Indonesia goes to the polls in next month, with President Megawati Sukarnoputri expected to retain power. But this time around, the president's campaign is doing little to influence a small group of once-loyal supporters.

Chinese Indonesians, who have traditionally shunned politics to focus on business, are now showing a new willingness to get politically active.