Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Despite the World Bank's recent official criticism of counter-trade policies, last week Indonesian Trade and Industry Minister Rini M Soewandi promised that Jakarta will continue to maximize such deals to expand the country's export markets.

Jakarta – Arriving in two Metromini busses at around 11.30am, scores of demonstrators calling themselves the Alliance Against Rotten Non-Government Organisations demonstrated at the offices of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) on Jalan Cisadane in Central Jakarta on Friday February 20.

Haidir Anwar Tanjung, Pekanbaru – Kampar regent Jefri Noer is facing widespread opposition in the regency as calls increase for his ouster.

The rumours started four years ago. SAS troops in conflict with an Indonesian-backed militia group near Suai on October 6, 1999 had overstepped the rules of battle. They had tortured East Timorese militiamen, the rumours said. They had kicked corpses. They had taken photographs of bodies as trophies. One militiaman had been executed.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government is going ahead with plans to build the country's first nuclear power plant in densely populated, earthquake-prone Central Java, officials said Friday.

"The first nuclear power plant should be in operation by 2016," Soedyartomo Soentono, chief of the National Atomic Agency (Batan) said.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Members of the movement to ban contemptible candidates are planning to publish the names of politicians with rotten records by March 11 at the latest to help voters identify the quality of their representatives on election day April 5.

Malang – All government institutions, including state forestry company Perhutani, should observe a five-to-10-year moratorium on logging, while intensifying their reforestation activities, East Java Governor Imam Utomo said on Thursday.

Jakarta – Golkar chief Akbar Tandjung has said he would want to be president if his party posts a strong win in the forthcoming election. There would be pressure from within the party to head a ticket and aim for the presidential post, he said.

Jakarta – He is the President's man. Coordinating Minister for Welfare Jusuf Kalla is one of two politicians being courted by Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri to be her running mate in the election. Her other shield, of course, is Nadhlatul Ulama chairman Hasyim Muzadi.

Surabaya – The government is processing the dismissals of some 700 civil servants for joining political parties, a Cabinet minister says.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Non-governmental organization activists criticized local administrations across the country, including in Jakarta, for handing out unofficial "severance packages" to legislative councillors at the end of their terms.

The activists said there were no regulations to justify administrations awarding this money or councillors accepting it.

Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The government has completed the revised draft of much-criticized Antiterrorism Law No. 15/2003, which will grant more power to security authorities to deter acts of terrorism.

Jakarta – Despite widespread public criticism and opposition to the water resource bill, legislators went ahead with the endorsement of the controversial draft on Thursday.

Rodney Dalton/New York, Sian Powell/Jakarta – Australia is trying to convince a divided UN Security Council that peacekeepers in East Timor should be replaced by police under a new mandate.

Ambon – The commander of the XVI/Pattimura Territorial Military Command (Kodam), Major General Syarifudin Summah, has threatened to shoot on sight anybody to tries to disrupt the elections in the Maluku islands. Direct action will be taken if the situation in Maluku becomes disorderly and control of security would be transferred from the police to the TNI (armed forces).

Haidir Anwar Tanjung, Pekanbaru – A special team of Kampar regency councillors on Wednesday recommended the dismissal of Regent Jefri Noer and his deputy, Zakir, following massive protests by teachers and students in the province.

Jayapura – Dozens of civil servants at the Justice and Human Rights office here have protested for three consecutive days, demanding that the government cancel the appointment of Sukarno as the head of the office, as he was incapable of leadership.

Sukarno has served three years as the head of Immigration at the office.

Suherdjoko and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Semarang/Jakarta – Despite mounting public opposition, the House of Representatives is set to endorse the controversial water resources bill when it convenes for a plenary session on Thursday.

Tommy Suharto, the youngest son of former Indonesian president Suharto who is currently in prison for murder, testified in court that he gave bribe money to associates of former president Abdurrahman Wahid.

Jakarta – The head of Indonesia's Supreme Court has defended its recent decision to clear parliamentary speaker Akbar Tandjung of corruption. The ruling has been seen by many as a setback for judicial reform in Indonesia.

Chief Judge Bagir Manan also accused a lower court judge, who resigned in protest at the Akbar ruling, of lying.

Jakarta - Provisional People's Consultative Assembly (MPRS) Decree Number XXV/1966 cannot in any way be the basis for Article 60 sub-section (g) of Law Number 12/2003 on the general elections. This is because the MPRS decree only specifies that the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) is a banned organisation.

Makassar – Hundreds of students clashed with police on Wednesday during a protest condemning the Supreme Court's unequivocal acquittal of Akbar Tandjung of graft. No fatalities were reported, but several students suffered minor injuries.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Clarity of functions between the central and local governments, and the yawning disparity between poor and rich regencies have posed a real threat to regional autonomy in Indonesia, a World Bank (WB) study reveals.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – An Indonesian court sentenced a Muslim militant from Malaysia to 12 years in jail on Thursday for planting a bomb in a Jakarta church that killed one person and wounded more than 60 during a Mass three years ago.

Jakarta - The Democratic Party has been accused of flirting with the Aceh Emergency Military Command by three Acehnese women's non-government organisations. They say that political party membership cards are being used as a replacement for the red-and-white identification cards.

The Indonesian military says it has stopped publishing figures for separatist rebels killed by its troops in Aceh province.

The military says the move is temporary and denied it is linked to criticism from rights activists.

Banda Aceh – During a military operation in the troubled province of Aceh on Friday, government troops discovered various types of weapons and logistic supplies belonging to the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), local military spokesman Lt Col Asep Sapari said in Lhokseumawe on Saturday.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – A study has found that, despite entrenched corruption in Indonesia's legal system, the country's poor are having some success in fighting corruption through the courts at a local level.

Dili – Indonesian presidential candidate General Wiranto has won a political reprieve in East Timor after a UN judge denied a prosecutor's demand for a public hearing over a requested arrest warrant.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – The International Labor Organization (ILO) recommended on Tuesday the Indonesian government invest in labor-intensive public infrastructure projects and support small and medium enterprises in order to tackle poverty.

Local officials, supposedly the frontline of the Jakarta administration's community fix for flooded areas, have done little to help inundated residents, often not even bothering to show up, flood victims said.

However, as water in some areas started to subside on Wednesday, many residents, apparently used to the floods – and the lack of action – downplayed the problem.

Jakarta – City Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo said eight policemen had been named suspects for beating student protesters in front of the Supreme Court on February 12 and would be taken to public courts for trial.

The students were protesting during the reading of the Supreme Court's verdict on Akbar Tandjung's appeal.

Dili – East Timorese officials Thursday welcomed a proposal by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to extend the UN support mission in the new nation for one more year.

"The president welcomes and fully supports the recommendations of the secretary-general," said Agio Periera, chief of staff to President Xanana Gusmao.

Atambua, E Nusatenggara – At least 319 resettlement units in Belu distrit set up in Indonesia's East Nusatenggara province between 2000 and 2002 for local people and former East Timor refugees have been abandoned, an Indonesian official said here Thursday.

United Nations – Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for the withdrawal of almost all UN peacekeepers in East Timor and a shift in the UN's focus to helping the newly independent country consolidate its political institutions.

Max Lane – On February 12, the Indonesian Supreme Court voted, with one dissenting voice, to overturn a guilty verdict for corruption from two lower courts against parliamentary speaker Akbar Tanjung.

Anton Aliabbas, Jakarta – Hundreds of students from a number of different organisations demonstrated today in front of the People's Representative Assembly (DPR). They demanded that the Golkar Party be disbanded and that its general chairperson, Akbar Tanjung be jailed. A bit late maybe?

William Hardiker – In considering what constitutes an act of terrorism, one must first determine if terrorists were in fact those responsible. Next, one must ask what exactly is a terrorist. It would seem that the general consensus, despite the nature of the atrocity, is that those who act without government support and sponsorship are those who in fact constitute terrorists.

Jakarta – The death toll from a dengue fever outbreak hitting Indonesia's sprawling archipelago has climbed to 161, said health ministry data on Wednesday.

Dengue fever has traditionally been a killer across the world's fourth-most-populous nation, but the death toll so far this year is more than double the same period last year.

Kupang – The United Nations Peacekeeping Force (UNPKF) in East Timor aired its pessimism over the security conditions there following the withdrawal of the UN mission scheduled for May 20, an Indonesian Military officer said on Wednesday.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – A seminar featuring respected intellectuals, analysts and religious leaders has urged the government to lift Presidential Instruction No. 1/2003 on the formation of two new provinces in Papua, and consistently enforce Law No.

21/2001 on special autonomy for the resource-rich province to help solve the increasingly complex issues.

Dili – United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan has recommended that the UN's peacekeeping mission in East Timor continues after its planned May withdrawal, but with a significant reduction in personnel.

Aras Napal – The European Union's Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom ended a visit to a huge EU-funded conservation project, expressing alarm that a planned road network could spell disaster for it.

The impact of the financial crisis which devastated the economy is still being felt by taxpayers. Seven years after the crash of 1997 – Indonesians are now set to face a multi-billion dollar bill. In two weeks time the government agency charged with recovering the fortune spent on propping up the country's banks during the crisis, will close its doors.

Dili – A former militia commander was sentenced to seven years in jail Tuesday for killing a pro-independence leader during East Timor's bloody break from Indonesia in 1999.

The Army today admitted it made mistakes in investigating the case of a senior Special Air Service (SAS) soldier accused of kicking the corpses of two militiamen shot dead in East Timor in 1999. An apology had been made to the unnamed soldier.

Mataram – The Indonesian military will deploy soldiers to Batek Island in neighboring East Nusa Tenggara province, which borders East Timor, a senior officer said on Monday.

"So far we have not stationed any soldiers on the island because there have been no serious threats," Udayana Military Commander, Maj. Gen. Supiadin AS, said.

Juli Hantoro, Edy Can, Multazam – A Jakarta court has ordered the Jakarta local government to postpone its plan to hike drinking water rates. A victory for the residents?

Atambua – Illegal border crossing into Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province from East Timor is something hard to control, a local military official said.

"Illegal border crossing is something hard to prevent or control because many of the border-crossers take narrow paths and do so at night," chief of the Security Border Task Force, Col Djoko Setiono said here Friday.

Jakarta – As the Golkar Party fraction celebrated following the release of Golkar Party general chairperson Akbar Tanjung [from corruption charges], Yudi, a student from the Jakarta State University (UNJ) is still languishing in the Pondok Indah hospital in Jakarta.