Banda Aceh – Marines killed three suspected separatist rebels in a gunfight at sea off East Aceh, Aceh military spokesman Firdaus Komarno said here on Tuesday.

Arya Abhiseka, Jakarta – The General Elections Commission (KPU) announced on Tuesday the campaign period ahead of the upcoming legislative election would take place between March 11 and April 1, 2004.

An investigation into allegations of unlawful killing and brutality by Australian special forces in East Timor led to a soldier being charged with kicking a militiaman's corpse after an ambush, Army chief General Peter Leahy said.

Three and half years after East Timor voted for independence, 1500 East Timorese asylum seekers are still in Australia. For many it is more than a decade since they escaped the former Portuguese colony's murderous Indonesian regime. Some had fled the 1991 massacre of about 200 East Timorese in Dili's Santa Cruz cemetery.

Elcid Li, Kupang – The reunion took place in no-man's-land. Also called the tactical coordination line, a 300-meter-long strip of beach just outside of Belu regency between East Timor and Indonesia, where neither country's laws apply.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – More politicians and observers have demanded that all political parties, be they big or small, be afforded equal chances of nominating their own presidential and vice presidential candidates.

Therefore, the argue, the restrictions limiting the size of the presidential election field must be dropped.

Mari Alkatiri – As the world watched events unfold in the Middle East, we heard talk of the territorial integrity of the nation of Iraq.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesia's state-run television station, TVRI, yesterday officially became a state-owned company, a status that will give it more commercial freedom and help it stay viable in competition with private stations.

In a final bid to salvage Aceh's shaky peace pact, separatist rebels have agreed to meet with the Indonesian Government in Geneva next week. The decision by the separatist Free Aceh Movement or GAM comes after Jakarta called for a final meeting to iron out growing differences over the six month old peace pact.

Stefan Reisner, Bali – Anger, confusion and disbelief – that is the reaction of the tourist industry and the expatriate community following the drastic change in immigration regulations.

Jakarta – Justice Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra on Tuesday defended a much-criticised decree forcing more tourists to obtain visas, saying the policy was vital to protect internal security.

The decision to abolish visa-free entry for short visits for citizens of 38 countries was based on "considerations on internal security aspects," Yusril said.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – The police in Tarutung, North Tapanuli, North Sumatra, arrested on Tuesday three people for preventing log trucks from supplying raw materials to a pulp mill belonging to PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL), in Porsea, some 170 kilometers south of Medan.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Yapenas Murib, 35, one of four civilians suspected of involvement in the theft of arms at the a military district headquarters in Wamena on March 4, died on Tuesday.

Jakarta – Amnesty International said on Tuesday that Indonesian troops had reportedly tortured villagers and torched homes during a hunt for separatist rebels in Papua province.

When engineering and textiles giant Texmaco announced the first of what promises to be a series of defaults on credit last week, the country got an abrupt reminder of the disgraceful price it is still paying for bailing out near-defunct crony conglomerates.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia is in the midst of a crackdown. Between 1997 and 1999, the government lent US$14 billion to ailing banks to keep them from going under.

But audits since then have shown "improprieties" involving as much as 95 per cent of that money, and the bulk of this money appears to have simply disappeared.

Jakarta – Indonesian prosecutors yesterday demanded that a former military chief in East Timor be jailed for 10 years for failing to stop violence leading up to the territory's vote to split from Jakarta's rule in 1999.

Brig-Gen Tono Suratman controlled Indonesian troops in East Timor, now known as Timor Leste, until two weeks before the August 30, 1999, independence vote.

Amnesty International slammed Indonesia's trials of suspects in the 1999 East Timor violence as "not honest, truthful or fair" and urged the United Nations to consider setting up a tribunal.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – A human rights activist has expressed doubts that Indonesia and East Timor are serious about resolving the question of human rights abuses in the former Indonesian province as both are still lack the necessary legal instruments to deal with the cases.

Wamena – According to a report from ELSHAM's contact post in Wamena, a detainee named Yapenas Murib, from Ilekma who was arrested a few days ago died in military custody at the military command, Kodim 1702 on Tuesday, 5am.

Tiarna Siboro, Jakarta – Hopes for salvaging the Aceh peace agreement rose again on Monday after both the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) agreed to sit down at the negotiating table to discuss various alleged violations of the accord signed last year.

Nani Farida and Arya Abhiseka, Banda Aceh – As fear was once again on the rise here, Acehnese leaders warned the government against launching a military operation in Aceh, saying that it had been proven in the past, that such an approach would certainly not resolve the conflict.

Banda Aceh – Ginger farmer Sulaiman looks pensively across his fertile field in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, afraid fresh military operations could soon shatter the calm ushered in by a landmark peace pact.

Prosecutors accused Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir of plotting terror bombings in Indonesia and Singapore as part of a campaign to topple the Indonesian government and set up an Islamic state.

In Indonesia, about 5,000 Muslims have staged a rally near the city of Yogyakarta to pray for the people of Iraq.

Members of Islamic boarding schools in and around Yogyakarta in Central Java gathered after midday prayers outside a mosque for the rally. Police said no incidents were reported.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Home affairs minister Hari Sabarno has added to the confusion surrounding the partition of the autonomous province of Papua into three provinces – Papua, Central Irian Jaya, and West Irian Jaya.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Public demands for a revision of the education bill have been increasing with a call for the House of Representatives to delay its endorsement in order to avert a major rift in society.

Jakarta – The Indonesian military (TNI) has arrested a man suspected of involvement in last week's raid on an armoury in Papua province, a district commander said on Saturday.

A 10-year-old girl has become the latest victim of violence in Aceh, where a four-month-old peace pact between the Indonesian government and separatist rebels is close to breaking down.

In the weeks to come, President Megawati Sukarnoputri will face a crucial decision whether she will surrender to pressure from the military hardliners trying to force her to take military action in putting down the separatism group the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Indonesia's longest and bloodiest conflict is in imminent danger of breaking out again, just four months after a peace agreement was signed to international acclaim.

The government last Thursday told troops to be ready to go back to war in Aceh within five days if necessary, unless disputes over the pact can be settled at a meeting of a Joint Council – the final arbiter.

Ambon – The Indonesian Military (TNI) warned the separatist Maluku Sovereign Front (FKM) on Friday not to hoist the flag of the South Maluku Republic to mark its anniversary on April 25.

"I will arrest those who hoist the RMS flag," chief of the Pattimura regional military command, Maj. Gen. Agustadi SP, was quoted by Antara as saying.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Legal confusion has emerged regarding the new policy revoking the free-visa-on-arrival facility extended to nationals of 48 countries, with an immigration official saying the ruling would not come into effect until executory guidelines had been issued.

Megan Saunders – Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock has rejected a plea by the East Timor President, Xanana Gusmao, to allow up to 1600 temporary visa holders to remain in Australia because his country is too poor to take them back.

Ardimas Sasdi, Jakarta – The process of ending hostilities in troubled Aceh, which has been underway for the last five months, has entered a new, critical phase, which if not handled properly, could wreck the peace plan.

Tiarma Siboro and Nani Farida, Jakarta – Hope for a peaceful solution to the Aceh issue faded on Thursday when the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) declined to attend a Joint Council meeting to discuss violations of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement.

Jakarta – Indonesia threatened yesterday to resume full combat operations in restive Aceh province as fresh clashes between troops and rebels killed four people, putting yet more strain on a shaky peace pact.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Adding insult to injury of the employees of state-owned Djakarta Transportation bus company (PPD), the government has planned to lay off about 2,000 workers as part of its efforts to improve the company's feasibility.

Dili – Police in East Timor have launched a crackdown on prostitution, raiding two massage parlors in the past month and arresting four people, an officer said Friday.

Prostitution has become an increasing problem in this predominantly Catholic country, while the foreign population rises and an undermanned police force struggles with rising crime.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Unhappiness with the way some countries have been treating its citizens abroad is behind Indonesia's tit-for-tat decision to scrap visa-free entry privileges granted to dozens of nations, including the United States, Australia and Britain.

Jakarta – The Star Party of Reform (PBR) failed on Wednesday to make good on its earlier boast that it would gather one million supporters in a rally against the US-led attack on Iraq.

Jakarta – Some 600 people rallied on Wednesday outside the US embassy, torching an effigy of a gun-toting US President George Bush and describing the war in Iraq as genocide.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) has found strong indications of the involvement of its own members in a recent burglary at the Wamena military district's arsenal that left three dead, including two Army soldiers.

Bandung – Hundreds of elementary school students staged a rally in front of the West Java provincial legislature building, demanding the local administration to waive their monthly school fees.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Internal security and transnational crime will be the biggest threat to Indonesia's security and the military should be given more powers to handle them, a government White Paper released recently says.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Cash-strapped state-owned television station Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI) has 7,158 employees and 395 relay stations in 26 provinces. It reaches out to 81.5 percent of the country's total population, or more than 169 million people, but is being slowly but surely forced off the air.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – The role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to oversee the country's economic reform program is still crucial to help maintain investor confidence in the economy, a seminar concluded on Wednesday.

Shawn Donnan and Taufan Hidayat – When Singapore's ST Telemedia paid $630m last November for a 42 per cent stake in Indosat, Indonesia's number two telecommunications carrier, it was widely seen as a major accomplishment for the government in Jakarta.

The Federal Government has been accused of leaving East Timorese asylum seekers to starve by cutting off their welfare payments while they wait to hear if they are allowed to stay in Australia.

Jakarta – Some 57 small islands in Indonesia are ready to receive investors willing to develop businesses there, the fishing ministry's Director General for Coastal Areas and Small Islands Widi Agoes Pratikto, said here on Wednesday.