Yogyakarta – Many critics condemning a reversal of the burden of proof for corruption cases were those who had participated in construction of the web of corruption during the New Order regime, Minister of Defense Mahfud MD said here on Saturday.

Jakarta – With two weeks to go before legislators meet to censure President Abdurrahman Wahid yet again over two graft scandals, leaders of his power base, the Nahdlatul Ulama Islamic movement (NU), are taking away his strongest trumpcard – NU zealots will not be allowed to declare war on his political opponents.

Aras Napal – The European explorers who penetrated deepest Sumatra in the 18th century recoiled in awe at the beauty of the "dark and savage" forest that covered the Indonesian island. Today, there is hardly any of it left.

Jakarta – The situation in Poso, Central Sulawesi, has heated up over the past several days, with a number of mosques and churches being set ablaze, Antara reported on Saturday.

Banda Aceh – At least six people were killed in renewed violence in the Indonesian province of Aceh at the weekend, police and residents said.

A policeman was killed and three others were injured afer a truck carrying them was ambushed by separatist rebels on Saturday, North Aceh district police Adjunct Senior Commissioner Wanto Sumardi said.

Jenny Denton – At 11 o'clock on a Thursday morning, a handful of people are standing around outside the Anarchist Bookshop in Newtown, Sydney, waiting to load a truck with food and goods donated for East Timor.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – A wayang kulit, or shadow puppet, called Kumbakarna sits behind President Abdurrahman Wahid's desk in his Jakarta palace.

Jakarta – The city administration will launch an open-ended operation against some 1,300 hoodlums, locally known as preman, in the city's five mayoralties starting from Monday, Governor Sutiyoso said on Thursday.

"We have identified the hoodlums, including the places where they hang out," Sutiyoso told reporters after a coordinating meeting at City Hall.

Jakarta – The Jakarta Police announced on Thursday they would take proactive measures to prevent violence in the streets when the House of Representatives meets on April 30 to discuss a second memorandum of censure against President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Jakarta – A suspect has reportedly confessed to having received Rp 27 million (US$2,700) in return for orchestrating the recent attack on striking workers of car upholstery producer PT Kadera AR Indonesia (KAI).

Jakarta – Referring to the ILO convention on freedom of association, the government called on labor unions on Friday to operate independently and promote harmony between workers and employers to help repair the political and economic climate.

Jakarta – Black market activities over the past three years have contributed to the worsening of the economic crisis, former manpower minister Bomer Pasaribu said.

Bomer urged all parties to pay serious attention as the black market has grown robustly over the last three years.

Sinjai, South Sulawesi – Two people were killed on Wednesday night when armed thugs clashed with members of Forbes, a public-initiated group combating crime, in Biroro village, East Sinjai district, Sinjai regency, South Sulawesi.

Warren Caragata and Amy Chew,Jakarta – Kasmiran is a motorcyle taxi driver from Gresik, an industrial town in East Java – Gus Dur country. Recently, he made the 650 km journey to Jakarta to show his support for his compatriot, otherwise known as President Abdurrahman Wahid.

The World Bank has cancelled a three-hundred million dollar loan to help Indonesia's poor. The bank said the Indonesian authorities had failed to meet all the conditions for the loan, which included carrying out public consultations to decide how the money should be spent.

Jakarta – The World Bank has warned that Indonesia's richest natural habitats could be completely obliterated by 2010 if significant measures are not taken to deal with the widespread degradation of the country's natural resources.

Jakarta – Indonesia's government is delaying setting up a human rights court to try crimes committed in East Timor in 1999 because of military pressure and corruption cases taking precedence, rights activists have charged.

Jakarta – Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Wednesday that soldiers currently stationed at the ExxonMobil gas field in Aceh would be redeployed to perimeter duty to encourage the US-based firm to resume operations. Purnomo claimed that the removal of the soldiers was at the request of ExxonMobil.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Fears are growing of violent clashes between Indonesia's two big Muslim organisations as tens of thousands of supporters of President Abdurrahman Wahid prepare to fight to defend him.

Jakarta – At about 10.20am this morning, the Director of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) in Medan, Irham Buana Nasution, was shot with an arrow while he was parking his car in the backyard of his office. The arrow was a 15 cm piece of iron, which stuck five cm into his leg.

Khairul Ikhwan/HD & HY, Medan – Around 5,000 people from the Anti-Communist Front Across Indonesia (Faksi) staged a rally at Benteng field, Medan, north Sumatra, Thursday. In the rally, attended by North Sumatra governor T Rizal Nurdin, they demanded the People's Democratic Party (PRD) be dissolved because it has legalised Marxism and Leninism in Indonesia.

John McBeth, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid and the Indonesian military are engaged in a renewed contest of wills, this time over the rapidly deteriorating security situation in westernmost Aceh province, which could put another nail in the president's political coffin.

Jakarta – Students from the Front for Anti Violence (Fomapak) staged a rally in front of the US Embassy located on Jl. Merdeka Selatan here today.

Ilene R. Prusher, Jakarta – When aides would go on tour with Indonesian Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri, they used to try to get her to act like a politician – or at least, a celebrity.

Jakarta – The US government, under President Bush has shown a renewed willingness to open the access for military equipment and military training to Indonesia as long as the Indonesian government commits to setting up and executing the trials in a professional manner, for those officers and leaders involved in murder, rape, torture, arson and gross human rights abuses in East Timor.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – The United Nations will face renewed pressure to set up an East Timor war crimes tribunal after receiving a report alleging a conspiracy among Indonesian generals was behind 1999's wave of killings and destruction.

Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) director for the Asia-Pacific, Anoop Singh, is optimistic that the Fund's meeting with the Indonesian government to discuss the Letter of Intent (LOI) will run smoothly. "We have conducted good meetings," he told the press yesterday.

Jakarta – Indonesia is unlikely to reach its targeted 4.5 percent to 5 percent economic growth rate in 2001 on account of lower-than-expected economic activity and investment, deputy governor of Bank Indonesia Achjar Iljas predicted here Wednesday.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – In the style of ancient Javanese royalty, Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri is refusing to say whether she would like to be president, while watching power come to her.

Jakarta – Rector of the Jayapura Institute of Science and Technology (ISTJ) Tuesday threatened to close down the school following student protests demanding his resignation.

Rector Moh. Ali Kastella said the school might be closed if students continued their protests and threat to kill the lecturers.

Pip Hinman – The Indonesian government's "limited" military operation, currently underway, is not just against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), but against the majority of Acehnese who want an end to the violence and a referendum on self-determination.

John Gauci Sydney – On April 6, 140 people gathered in the Resistance Centre to hear speakers discuss the political crisis in Indonesia. The event was organised by Action in Solidarity

with Indonesia and East Timor. "In May 1998, Indonesian dictator Suharto was forced out but the tremendous suffering continues", said Max Lane, ASIET national chairperson told the meeting.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia's Parliament and government are close to splitting control of the Central Bank and unravelling the bank's politically independent status, a move that is set to bring a head-on collision with the International Monetary Fund.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Jakarta – The 22 people suspected by the Indonesian government of orchestrating the wave of violence after East Timor voted for independence could escape conviction for crimes against humanity because the attorney general's office has missed a legal deadline for bringing the cases to trial, according to several Indonesian legal specialists and Western diplomats

Canberra – Australia and East Timor representatives are scheduled to resume negotiations in May on a new treaty covering the share of economic benefits from petroleum production in the so-called Timor Gap area, a spokesman for Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Wednesday.

Budi Sugiharto/FW & HY, Sidoarjo – Around 600 workers of PT Prima Aloi Steel, a company producing wheel rims, at Sidoarjo, East Java staged a peaceful rally at Sidorajo Municipality Legislative Council, Tuesday, asking the councillors to facilitate talks with their employer regarding annual leave and recreation funds.

Hestiana Dharmastuti/FW & HY, Jakarta – The People's Democratic Party (PRD) says the arrest of former minister of mines and energy, Ginandjar Kartasasmita for fraud by the Attorney General office, was seen as a means to threaten the Golkar party and political concession of the erratic President Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid.

Sampit – The East Kotawaringin regency capital of Sampit turned into a battlefield again on Monday afternoon as police clashed with hundreds of Dayak protesters who demanded total withdrawal of Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) troops from the area.

Lindsay Jakarta – After months of indecision amid a damaging power struggle in Jakarta, Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri has finally set conditions for taking over from the besieged President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Mr Andi runs a small stall selling Muslim caps on the edge of one of Jakarta's most notorious markets, Tanah Abang. Every stallholder around him is forced to pay protection money to various preman gangs, who visit their stalls on a regular basis.

Jakarta – The trial of last year's bombing of the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) building, which claimed 10 lives, began on Monday at the South Jakarta District Court.

Jakarta – A former Indonesian economics minister under ex-president Suharto on Tuesday took the attorney general's office to court for his alleged unlawful arrest and an illegal probe.

Lawyers of Ginanjar Kartasasmita, 60, who served in several cabinet posts under both Suharto and his successor B.J. Habibie, read out their pre-trial complaints to the South Jakarta court.

Jakarta – Indonesia's second-largest party in parliament said on Tuesday it would support Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri if she were to take over from the embattled incumbent and serve out his term.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid said on Monday that the Indonesian Military (TNI) must remain vigilant and refuse to succumb to the tribulations faced as a result of the embargoes it is facing.

Enrique Soriano – The bleak panorama that unfolds on the drive from Lhokseumawe, the main town in North Aceh, to Medan is punctuated only by the dozens of armed checkpoints manned by the Indonesian army and the police.

Banda Aceh – Land transportation from Banda Aceh capital of Aceh province to Meulaboh in West Aceh has been interrupted over the last three days as unknown parties placed felled trees along the roads of the province's south and west coastal areas.

Ron Moreau – Soldiers dressed in combat fatigues and black hoods would normally inspire fear in an Acehnese village. But not these commandos. As nearly a dozen fighters approach the edges of a hamlet some 30 kilometers southwest of the town of Bireun, their hoods are revealed to be jilbab-the Muslim head scarves worn by women.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid blasted the United States Monday for its embargo on weapons sales to Indonesia and said the military would procure arms elsewhere to deal with the multiple crises threatening the country's unity.

Dili – Manuel Carrascalao, a veteran of East Timor's 24-year struggle for freedom, was elected to head the territory's transitional legislature following last month's surprise resignation of independence leader Xanana Gusmao.

He was named speaker of the National Council after rival candidate, Nobel Peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta, withdrew from the ballot.

Jakarta – East Timorese refugees are dying from a rapidly spreading diarrhoea epidemic in fetid camps in Indonesian-ruled West Timor, a Catholic aid group said Monday.