A'an Suryana, Jakarta – In her capacity as chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), President Megawati Soekarnoputri has admonished her supporters at a national meeting for their disobedience.

Faiza Mardzoeki, Jakarta – July 25, 2003, marked a setback in the Indonesian women's movement. On that date an Indonesian businessman, Puspo Wardoyo, the owner of the restoran Wong Solo franchise, organized an awards ceremony for males who had married more than one wife.

Jakarta/Yogyakarta – Four out of 30 provinces gave a thumbs-down to Akbar Tandjung, one of the dozens of influential figures who have been nominated to take part in the party's electoral convention, during which the Golkar party's presidential candidate will be selected.

Jakarta – With an eye to the 2004 general election, the National Mandate Party (PAN) has launched a biweekly tabloid called Media Amanat Rakyat (MAR) to become a vehicle of presidential hopeful and party chairman Amien Rais.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – The Tangerang Prosecutor's Office will investigate a Rp 12.5 billion (US$1.47 million) corruption case in which 45 city councillors have been implicated. The plan to investigate the councillors is based on a report filed by non-governmental organization Independent Institute for State Apparatus Monitoring (Lipan).

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The upcoming Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) has already lost its relevance and is nothing but a waste of state money, a political analyst says.

Tony Sitathan, Jakarta – Just as they have in the developed world, big-box hypermarkets, which are taking over the top end of the retail trade, are causing severe dislocations in the rest of Indonesia's food chain, from smaller supermarkets down to wet markets to the warungs where housewives sell cigarettes and candy out of their living room windows.

Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday welcomed Indonesia's decision to end its five billion dollar IMF assistance program and to enter into post-program monitoring next year.

"We also welcome the intention to sustain reform efforts. We will continue to conduct dialogue," IMF country representative David Nellor told AFX-Asia in an interview.

Tangerang – Hundreds of workers from aluminum melting factory PT Teguh Makmur Sentosa in Benda district rallied at the mayoralty office on Monday, demanding that the administration cancel plans to close the factory for damaging the environment.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Attempts to unravel the May riots in 1998 suffered a severe blow on Monday when the Central Jakarta District Court rejected the request by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to subpoena dozens of retired and active military and police officers.

Lesley McCulloch, Melbourne – The message came via satellite phone. The caller was out of breath and desperate: 15 civilians shot dead by the Indonesian military, including two children. The location: the village of Tutut Sungaimas, West Aceh. The date: July 19.

Nani Farida and Teriani ZB Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh/Lhokseumawe – A House of Representatives delegation visited Aceh on Monday and was quick to judge the military operation in the province a success merely from the number of red and white flags they saw.

Russell Feingold – Last month this newspaper printed a powerful article by Dana Priest relating the story of an ambush last summer in Indonesia that left three dead, including two American schoolteachers.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Kalimantan loses at least 1,000 truck loads of illegal logs every week or about 10,000 cubic meters in the last two months, says a forest ministry official.

In the early hours of July 27, 1996, several hundred people belonging to a splinter faction of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), allegedly backed by the military, attacked the PDI headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta, brutally assaulting supporters of the legitimate leader of the party, Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Jakarta – Tens of university students staged a rally in front of the trade and industry ministry here Monday to protest the government's decision to purchase Russian Sukhoi aircraft and helicopters.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Lhokseumawe – Tengku Hanafi, 65, was back at the Baktiya district office in North Aceh for the seventh time this week desperately inquiring as to when he could get his new red-and-white identity card.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Nani Farida, Lhokseumawe/Banda Aceh – The Martial Law Administration in Aceh is intensifying efforts to prevent Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leaders from fleeing the province or country, an official says.

Although formally, the regulations and institutions for upholding human rights in Indonesian have made progress, in practice this is still far from the expectations of society. The legal impasse in handling cases of gross human rights violations which involve security personnel has become a measure which the public uses in assessing the progress made in upholding human rights.

Jakarta – Scores of mass organisations, workers, farmers and pro-reformasi students have formed the People's United Opposition Party (Partai Persatuan Oposisi Rakyat, Popor). The driving force behind the party, labour activist Dita Indah Sari, launched [the party] in Jakarta on Sunday afternoon (27/7) saying that they are ready to participate in the 2004 general elections.

Jakarta – The bloody tragedy that killed at least five supporters of Megawati Soekarnoputri on July 27, 1996 was commemorated in a low-key ceremony here on Sunday by victims of the attack on her Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters.

Jakarta – The Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle (FNPBI), the National Student League for Democracy (LMND), the National Farmers Union (STN) and 53 other mass organisation have established a new party, the People's United Opposition Party (Partai Persatuan Oposisi Rakyat, Popor), which was launched in Jakarta on Sunday (27/7).

War in Indonesia's Aceh province will last until separatist rebels are rooted out, the military said. "What is clear, the operation to crush Aceh separatist rebels is not limited to six months. As long as those rebels still exist, they will have to be rooted out," Aceh military commander Major General Endang Suwarya was quoted by the official Antara news agency as saying.

Atambua – The reconciliation meeting among East Timorese on the border between Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province and East Timor continues to reach an agreement on a peaceful life.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto apologized to the Acehnese people on Friday for what he called the negative impacts of the war there.

Imanuddin Razak, Jakarta – The July 19, 2003 shooting spree in a North Jakarta, in which a computer businessman and his military bodyguard were murdered, promptly made headlines in national media, although the motive for the murders seems to have been nothing new.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Having a side job is nothing new for members of the military. Just like other professionals, military personnel moonlight to contribute to their basic incomes in an attempt to cope with the soaring price of basic needs, particularly since the financial crisis of 1997.

Jakarta – The rupiah rebounded slightly on Friday amid market talks that Bank Indonesia had sent inspectors to foreign banks that were aggressively selling the local unit. Bank Indonesia confirmed that it had dispatched officials to some banks earlier in the day.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The central message of a recent seminar here on Islamic extremism was clear and pointed: that moderate Muslims in Indonesia should stand up against radicalism.

There is nothing new in the message. The United States and other countries have periodically urged Indonesia's often-silent majority to take a stronger line against militant groups.

A'an Suryana and La Remmy, Jakarta/Central Sulawesi – The pressure was turned up another notch on Golkar Party Chairman Akbar Tandjung to quit his presidential candidacy as a former Golkar leader said it would just hurt the party.

Jill Jolliffe, Darwin – A ruling by East Timor's only Supreme Court judge that national law should be based on Portuguese, not Indonesian, law threatens to plunge the legal system into chaos.

Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) is defending its stance in ignoring a subpoena by an inquiry of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) into the deadly 1998 May riots, arguing that the investigation has no legal basis.

While reports from the battle for the governor's position in Central Java naturally tended to focus on the "split" in the ranks of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), a more interesting struggle was submerged as the losers burned portraits of the President and party leader in the streets of Semarang.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – The forced sale of one of the world's biggest coal mines appears set once again to damage Indonesia's reputation severely as a destination for mining investment and is likely to leave investors with the knowledge that vested interests, manipulation and harsh government disputes leave them devoid of legal certainty when it comes to doing business.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – William Nessen, an American freelance journalist who spent weeks traveling with independence-seeking guerrillas in the restive northwestern province of Aceh, went on trial Wednesday on charges of immigration violations.

Dili – In a case observers say could have future impact on foreign investment in East Timor, an Australian construction company launched an appeal Thursday against a judgement ordering it to pay compensation to a former Timorese business partner.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia will not seek more loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in a decision that should signal clearly that the country is finally out of its crisis, say senior economic officials in the government.

Robyn Waite, Dili – More than a year after East Timor's labour code came into effect on May 1, 2002, three of the boards required to implement it – the Minimum Wages Board, the Labour Relations Board (an arbitration body) and the National Labour Board (a policy advisory body) – have yet to be appointed.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Topo Susanto, a legal observer from the University of Indonesia's School of Law, said on Tuesday that despite the imposition of martial law, the martial law administration in Aceh did not have the power to impose martial law on civilians.

Jakarta – Three months after placing Aceh province under martial law, Indonesia is losing its campaign to win the "hearts and minds" of the Acehnese people, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) warned on Wednesday.

Al Gedicks, who teaches sociology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and is the author of "Resource Rebels: Native Challenges to Mining and Oil Corporations", says the internal conflict in Aceh is much more about politics and economics than religion.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Most children across the country would probably have nothing to cheer about when Indonesia commemorates National Children's Day on July 23, as their plight seems to be worsening over time.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – The government has taken steps toward banning certain jobs for children in order to protect them from health and moral hazards and to ensure their safety, a senior government official said.

David J. Green – In many circles in Indonesia there is a sense of confidence that has not been present in years. True, the economy is hardly booming at 3 percent-4 percent growth each year and unemployment is unlikely to go down.

Jakarta – A senior member of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's party said yesterday that he and three other top leaders have been targeted by suspected Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorists.

Suherdjoko, Semarang – With the general election drawing near, the cracks within the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) are spreading following the dismissal of the party's Central Java chief Mardijo .

Jakarta (Agencies) – About 1,000 people protested Tuesday at the office of the national food agency Bulog over a deal which would see its funds used to buy Russian fighter aircraft.

Jakarta – Rebels trying to extort money from a family in Aceh have killed a woman and wounded her journalist husband and their daughter.

Three armed men visited Mr Idrus Jeumpa in Lhokseumawe town late on Sunday to demand that he pay 20 million rupiah in overdue "taxes" to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the Banda Aceh-based Serambi newspaper said.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Lhokseumawe – After two months of martial law in war-ridden Aceh, the situation in the province turned more uncertain as pro-Jakarta groups of Acehnese took the law into their own hands .

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – The labor union at PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PT DI) said on Monday it would sue the state-owned aircraft company's president director, Edwin Soedarmo, for has been called a "unilateral decision" to suspend more than 9,000 workers .