M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Over 40 percent of respondents in five major cities in Indonesia stated that the national convention series being held by Golkar to select its presidential candidate was merely a ploy to boost the party's tainted image, according to a survey released on Monday.

Jakarta – Indonesian prosecutors yesterday charged two retired army generals in the massacre of more than 30 Muslim protesters two decades ago during the rule of former president Suharto.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Camping on the rubble of their old houses on Jl. Pipa in Sunter Jaya, North Jakarta, the residents fear two things as night falls: the rain and the police who, on previous nights, forced them to vacate the land.

Rather than point her finger at endemic corruption and poor law enforcement, President Megawati Sukarnoputri says rampant illegal logging in Indonesia is due to rising international demand for timber.

A controversial new policy abolishing visa-free entry for citizens of 39 countries and reducing the length of a tourist visa from 60 to 30 days will come into force on December 1, the government announced Tuesday.

Jakarta – Foreign Affairs Minister Hassan Wirajuda has stated that the government is continuing to monitor the possibility of support from a number of countries in the Asia Pacific region for a group of people in Papua who have ideas of Papuan independence, separating from the Republic of Indonesia.

Dean Yates, Wamena – It was a typical Sunday in a village not far from the highland town of Wamena in Indonesia's restive Papua province.

Dean Yates, Hebuba – Against the backdrop of mist-shrouded mountains and a new brick church, tribesmen in Indonesia's restive Papua province grabbed their bows and began firing arrows into more than 100 pigs tied to stakes. The dying pigs howled and thrashed madly.

Zakki Hakim, Jakarta – "When kancil is released, common people like me will suffer the most," said Sukim, 35, a Bajaj (three-wheeled motorized vehicle) driver in Rawamangun, East Jakarta on Sunday.

Robert Go – Kebumen and Semarang in Central Java are two places which have used their increased powers wisely.

Kebumen is a poor region in Central Java with 1.2 million people and a budget this year of 380 billion rupiah, run by Ms Rustriningsih, 36.

Robert Go, Kutai Kartanegara – Children go to school for free, college students get scholarships, and child labour will be abolished by 2005 in this small town on the edge of the vast rainforest on the island of Borneo. Teachers earn twice as much as they did in 1998, get subsidies for motorcycles, and work in computer-equipped classrooms.

Robert Go – Decentralisation has resulted in dubious enterprises in Kutai Kartanegara and strange regulations in various parts of the archipelago.

Bengkuliu, Bengkulu – Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) Aburizal Bakrie reminded everyone that Bank Indonesia was the country's monetary authority. It could not be used as a political instrument for a certain party or ruling party.

Public radio in the early 1960s aired patriotic songs every one hour or so. The lyrics of one song were "Liberate Irian, Liberate Irian" (Seize Irian, Seize Irian). It was around the time when the country had yet to win Irian Jaya – now Papua – back from the Dutch colonial government.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Assets remain a thorny issue in Indonesia and East Timor relations, as neither of the countries is willing to back down from its stance in settling the problem.

Three people including a soldier have been killed in clashes between troops and separatists in the Indonesian province of Aceh, the military said.

A first sergeant was shot dead during a clash at Bukit Seuntang in North Aceh late Sunday afternoon, said military spokesman Ahmad Yani Basuki.

Dili – A top East Timorese commander said Monday it was time to put the country's troubled past behind it and endorse an offer from Indonesia, its former occupier, of joint military training.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The 2004 general elections should not be used as an excuse by the government to maintain the presence of thousands of troops in the war-torn Aceh province, says a former minister.

Dili – Ali Alatas, the former Indonesian foreign minister who negotiated East Timor's 1999 independence plebiscite, arrived in Dili Monday for a visit, expressing "lament" at the violence that scarred the process, but "satisfaction" with increasing bilateral cooperation.

And they are the passions of Kiam Lay and Toto Djumanto, developed over a decade of growing up in Melbourne.

Djumanto, 21, a manager at McDonald's, avoids cruising Lygon Street but loves tinkering with his red VN Commodore while Lay, 20, is more interested in the Swans' finals chances.

Indonesian troops have arrested 27 suspected separatist rebels in a day of raids in the restive province of Aceh, a report said.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia's military (TNI) showed signs this week of tightening its hold on Aceh and Papua, two resource-rich regions at either ends of the sprawling archipelago that have voiced separatist sentiments and seen much violence in recent years.

Jakarta – A pro-independence activist Saturday denounced a government plan to quell separatist sentiment in Indonesia's easternmost province by setting up a local legislature, saying the body would be unrepresentative and lack strong political powers.

Bandung-More than 400 people from Sumedang regency, West Java, protested at the provincial governor's office in Bandung on Thursday against the government's revived plan to build the Jatigede dam.

The protesters, grouped in the Jatigede People's Communication Forum (FKRJ), were among those to be affected by the project, which was initiated in 1985.

Jakarta - The Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has explained that the government would not be reducing TNI [Indonesian military] and national police levels in Aceh.

Nani Farida and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – At least 108 people have gone missing in Aceh since the government launched its integrated operation in the troubled province on May 19, a police officer says.

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta-The Jakarta Composite Index surged on Thursday to its highest level in more than three years as foreign funds continued flowing into the bourse.

Led by continued heavy buying of blue chips shares, the index closed at 575.19 points, around 3 percent higher than the previous day's closing.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers has voiced concern to Malaysia over its plans to expel some 250 asylum seekers, including women and children, who fled the war-torn Indonesian province of Aceh.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Indonesia's Vice-President, Hamzah Haz, has accused the US of being the "king of terrorists" in a scathing attack that echoed the language of many of the Bali bombers.

In remarks that may signal a split in the Indonesian Government's campaign against terrorist groups, Mr Hamzah ridiculed suggestions Indonesia had a serious terrorist problem.

Banda Aceh – At least 319 civilians have been killed, 108 disappeared and 117 others have been wounded since the military emergency in Aceh came into force on May 19.

Jakarta – Indonesia will deploy 2,000 more troops in its easternmost province of Papua after recent anti-government protests left five people dead.

Moch. N. Kurniawan and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta-The government rejected on Thursday demands to void a decision by state aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI) to suspend indefinitely 6,000 employees, but promised to raise some US$50 million to provide them with compensation.

Dili – A high-level delegation led by Indonesian Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda arrived Friday in East Timor, its former possession, to discuss issues including border security, trade and property compensation.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The House of Representatives' inquiry into the highly publicized and controversial Russian jet fighter purchase reached an anticlimax on Thursday with just a call for penalties against those involved in the scandal.

Jakarta – Indonesia will seek compensation for its nationals who lost property in East Timor when ministers from both countries meet in Dili for two days of talks beginning Friday, an Indonesian official said.

Kupang – Former deputy commander of pro-Indonesian fighters in East Timor Eurico Guterres on Thursday denied that he would attack East Timor.

"I think the East Timor problem is over, and I am thinking to make peace for its future. But certain parties have circulated rumors that I will attack the country with my 150 men," he said in a phone interview.

Jakarta – Indonesian armed forces (TNI) chief General Endriartono Sutarto has stated that the TNI is considering extending the integrated operation in Aceh until the 2004 general elections. [He said that] conducting the 2004 elections in Aceh, which will be held concurrently with elections in other provinces, represents one of the targets of the integrated operation in Aceh.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky said "there is no subject so old that something new cannot be said about it". And so it is with the long-running saga of Indonesia's serial crony conglomerates. Freeing the legacy of a huge corporate debt overhang by bailing out recalcitrant debtors continues to cost the country dearly.

David Isenberg – Despite the four-year sentence handed on Tuesday to radical Islamist cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir and the August 11 capture of top Jemaah Islamiya leader Riduan Isamuddin, aka Hambali, reports of JI's demise, to paraphrase Mark Twain, are premature.

Vannessa Hearman, Melbourne – Zito da Costa, president of the East Timor Confederation of Trade Unions (Konfederasaun Sindikatu Timor Leste – KSTL), one of several trade union groupings in East Timor, addressed a small gathering at Trades Hall on August 21. Da Costa was attending the Australian Council of Trade Unions congress.

Supporters of radical Indonesian cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir, say the four year jail term handed down by a court in Jakarta is only a token sentence to spare the Indonesian Government the embarrassment of an acquittal. The alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah was found guilty of participating in a campaign of treason against Indonesia.

James Balowski, Jakarta – Taking a leaf out of US President George Bush's cynical manipulation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the Indonesian military (TNI) is trying to take advantage of public fear and anger over last month's deadly bomb attack at the Marriott Hotel in central Jakarta to get more power to deal with "internal security threats".

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The four-year jail sentence on Abu Bakar Bashir proved a disappointment for both supporters and detractors of the militant cleric.

While his followers and sympathisers believe the guilty verdict was unjust, others think the four-year imprisonment was too light, especially compared to the 15-year jail sentence demanded by the prosecutors.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir did not have to shed any tears in court when his verdict was read out yesterday. His four-year jail sentence – with a prospect of an appeal – was a far cry from the 15 years Indonesian prosecutors had pressed for.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Abu Bakar Bashir ended his day in court yesterday in the same way that he had begun it.

Nugroho and Ainur R. Sophiaan, Surabaya – The East Java administration plans to promote free education for the first nine years of school in the country's second most populated province next year by providing subsidies for more than five million students of elementary and junior high schools.

Jakarta – The water table in Jakarta has dropped by two meters due to the severe drought in Java this year, threatening water supplies to nearly half of Jakarta's 8.6 million population, a Cabinet minister says.

Matthew More, Jakarta – Indonesia has failed in its attempts to prove Abu Bakar Bashir is the head of the terrorist organisation Jemaah Islamiah that was responsible for carrying out the Bali bombings.

The Australian government's support for closer military ties with the Indonesian armed forces (TNI), including the Kopassus special forces, is a discredited form of interference in Indonesian politics and society, according to a number of non-government organisations.

Jakarta – Hundreds of squatters staged a rally in front of West Jakarta Mayoralty on Monday, protesting Mayor Sarimun Hadisaputra for issuing an eviction order against them.

The squatters claim the owner of the one-hectare plot next to Mal Taman Anggrek shopping center, Munawar Salbini, permitted them to occupy and cultivate the land.