Jakarta – Thousands of farmers across the country marked National Farmers' Day on Tuesday with protests demanding comprehensive land reform and protection from the relentless onslaught of the free market.

But an agricultural analyst said that the country needed agrarian reform and not land reform as demanded by farmers.

Robert Go, Jakarta – The anti-US backlash in Indonesia is approaching a feverish pitch.

Dr Amien Rais, Speaker of the country's top legislative body, wrote yesterday in his nationally syndicated column which appeared in many newspapers, that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has cooked up "misleading information in order to provoke trouble in Indonesia".

Tim Dodd – Indonesia's Foreign Ministry has a message for Australia that it evidently wants to be heard loud and clear, rather than in the confines of normally discreet diplomatic communication.

Jakarta – Noted economist Syahrir declared on Monday the formation of the New Indonesian Association Party (PIB) at Hotel Indonesia and was observed by some 3,000 people.

Jakarta – The calls for Mr Akbar Tandjung to quit as Golkar chief are growing louder. In the second serious blow to his grip over the party, his right-hand man Agung Laksono joined the ranks of those demanding his ouster.

About 1,000 Indonesian workers have stormed the parliament building in a protest against a draft labor law which they said favors employers.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – About 2,000 bus drivers, conductors and other employees of state-owned Djakarta Transportation company (PPD) went on strike on Monday morning, causing thousands of commuters to be left stranded at bus stops and stations during rush hour.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Some 6,800 locked-out workers of PT Doson Indonesia, a subcontractor for shoe giant Nike, staged a rally on Monday in front of the company factory. They protested that the management had closed the company suddenly without giving them any advance warning.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Jupriadi, Jakarta/Makassar – Following the indefinite delay to the endorsement of two bills on labor issues, the House of Representatives offered on Monday to mediate between employers and workers, both of whom are upset, in a bid to improve the draft laws.

Maros – Around 300 workers from the Indonesian National Front For Labor Struggle (Front Nasional Perjuangan Buruh Indonesia, FNPBI) clashed with Mobil Brigade (Brimob) troops in the area of the Hasanuddin airport in the Moros regency of South Sulawasi on Monday.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Traffic on the roads was as chaotic as any other day, offices and shops were open for business and people made their way about the city unperturbed.

Ellen Nakashima and Alan Sipress, Yogyakarta – Abubakar Baasyir is a wanted man in Malaysia and Singapore. The Bush administration is weighing whether to add him to its terrorist list for what intelligence officials say is his leadership of a militant Islamic network linked to al Qaeda.

Rowan Callick – Indonesian Embassy in Canberra is investigating claims by the Institute of Public Affairs that "taxpayer-funded Australian non-government organisations are supporting independence movements".

The leader of East Timor's Catholic community, Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, appealed Monday to Portugal's people to give more help to his country, whose situation, he said, is "worse than before independence".

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – For more than 10 years Australians have often seen "Made in Indonesia" labels inside their sports shoes, but now there are signs that these are steadily being replaced by similar labels from China, Vietnam and Burma.

Jakarta – Choking smog worsened in Indonesian parts of Borneo island on Monday but rains cleared much of the haze that had been blanketing Sumatra, officials said.

Visibility was again reduced to tens of metres (yards) in at least two of Borneo's provinces and many schools and offices remained closed as transport continued to be disrupted.

Robert Go, Jakarta – There is a growing backlash here against perceived attempts by the United States and neighbouring South-east Asian nations to pressure Indonesia into cracking down on domestic Islamic militants.

Raymond Bonner, Jakarta – "Beware of US Propaganda." That front-page headline in one of the leading newspapers here this morning spoke to far more than just the article below it.

Detained British academic Lesley McCulloch and American Joy Lee Sadler are "private intelligence" agents determined to see Aceh split from Indonesia, Jakarta intelligence sources say.

The pair were detained September 10 emerging from what authorities say is a known concentration of support for the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Tapak Tuan regency, South Aceh.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – On June 5, alleged al-Qa'ida operative Omar al-Faruq was arrested by Indonesian intelligence officials and handed over to the CIA. Al-Faruq's arrest and deportation were kept quiet from the Indonesian public; the national police were not even informed.

Canberra – The threat of a terrorist attack had receded enough to allow a full reopening of the Australian Embassy in East Timor, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.

The decision to reopen the embassy came as an international terrorism expert warned Australia could be a target because it was part of the global economy.

A report that Muslim radicals are plotting to assassinate President Megawati Sukarnoputri was an attempt to pressure Indonesia into cracking down on militants, analysts believe.

Visitors to Jakarta's Shangri-la Hotel last week were confronted by a reincarnation of the labor dispute that closed the hotel for three months at the beginning of 2001, providing symbolic evidence of the fragile nature of Indonesia's labor relations.

The Federal Defence Minister says Australian military commitment to peacekeeping in East Timor will be phased out over the next 18 months.

Senator Robert Hill was in Darwin yesterday to farewell soldiers heading to East Timor in a peacekeeping role. Included in the battalion is Alpha Company, manned largely by reservists.

Canberra – Executive Director of the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), Dr. Mike Nahan, disclosed here on Friday that a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Australia have given their support to separatism in Indonesia, particularly in "West Papua".

Jayapura – The United Nations has declared 21 September as an International Day for Peace. The religious leaders in Papua have responded to this appeal by the UN. On Saturday night all the leaders of the main religions in Papua – Christian, Islam, Buddha and Hindu – held a "prayer march" in Jayapura, the capital of Papua.

Liza Power – It's seven in the morning at Wamena's Trendy Hotel. The mosquitoes have retired after a night of feasting on my toes and ears, which means it's time to stumble from room 3, check my collection of flea bites and watch the old Dani man by the door, who wears a penis gourd that reaches to his chin, floss his teeth with a two-metre arrow.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Papuan people urged on Friday that the government immediately reinstate the plan for two new provinces on the island, whose establishment was approved in 1999 to boost development and quench calls for independence there.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – An alliance of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has said it uncovered numerous lies in the country report delivered by the government in the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSSD) in Johannesburg earlier this month.

Kuala Lumpur – Haze from forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia blanketed the northern parts of peninsular Malaysia, reducing visibility to as low as three km, a newspaper and residents said on Saturday.

John Aglionby, Jakarta – A British academic and her American friend detained in Indonesia 12 days ago for allegedly researching the separatist conflict in Aceh province while on tourist visas have accused their police interrogators of falsifying their statements, their lawyer said yesterday.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – New Zealand's Labour Government is the latest to reveal the skeletons in its closet over Indonesia's 1975 East Timor invasion, but the Melbourne family of a Wellington-born cameraman killed there says it is not satisfied.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Lesley McCulloch, a former University of Tasmania lecturer, will wake up today on a mattress on the floor of a windowless office in Banda Aceh police station at the start of her 12th day in captivity.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – PT Perum Angkasa Pura II (PAP), which manages the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, was declared guilty of illegally seizing land belonging to 16 residents living near the airport on Thursday.

Raymond Bonner, Jakarta – The American Embassy here said today that it had "credible threat information" that Westerners in central Java "may be targeted for violence in the immediate future." The warning did not say who was behind the threats, but the area around Yogyakarta, east of Jakarta, the capital, is a hotbed of Islamic militancy.

Jakarta – A police officer testified yesterday that he had overheard Jafaar Umar Thalib, the leader of the Laskar Jihad militia, urge his followers to wage war on Christians in the religiously divided eastern province of Maluku.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – At least two people died and more than 200 houses were torched in a sudden flash of violence in the North Maluku islands, shattering an 18-month period of calm in the province described as a success story in resolving sectarian conflict.

Ray Lilley, Wellington – East Timor President Xanana Gusmao has called on the international community not to forget his tiny new nation, which became the 191st member of the United Nations in late May.

Ibnu Mat Noor and Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – Two foreign women who are being detained for suspected involvement in separatist activities while on tourist visas, will likely stand trial in the Banda Aceh District Court on charges of immigration violations.

Jakarta – Activists believe the use of condoms is the best and cheapest way to prevent the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus through sexual intercourse, but a campaign to encourage safe sex has run into opposition from groups worried it could lead to promiscuity.

Robert Go, Jakarta – They were originally meant to help the poor, who could get them for free, or at a very low cost, at government-run health clinics. But these days, subsidised vaccines – for hepatitis, tuberculosis, tetanus or smallpox – and prescription drugs, including antibiotics, are turning up for sale in the open market. Not surprisingly, corruption is again to blame.

Bill Guerin – Against the backdrop of the sudden closure of the US Embassy, violent clashes accompanying the re-election of Jakarta's widely disliked governor, Sutiyoso, and the brazen refusal of parliament Speaker Akbar Tanjung to step down, the Indonesian capital and surrounding areas were blacked out for long periods on September 12-13.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – In what was believed to be one of the largest turnouts ever of labor protesters, thousands of workers from across the country took to the streets on Thursday to oppose the labor protection and industrial settlement bill.

The workers criticized the bill, dubbed by many as a pro-labor draft law, for not providing enough protection for them.

Jakarta – Some 1,500 workers from the country's metal industry on Thursday rally in front of the House of Representatives compound here to protest against proposed labor legislation, AFP reported.

Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri expressed her disappointment on Thursday with the way students and youths demonstrated.

"Compared to the current rallies, those in the past were well managed," Megawati said while opening the Association of Bandung Institute of Technology Alumni congress at the State Palace.

[An Australian academic who's still being questioned by Indonesian police in the northern province of Aceh has spoken to the ABC from the bathroom of the police station. Scottish-born Australian resident Lesley McCulloch who lectured at the Universtiy of Tasmania was detained with an American nurse and a local translator last week in Southern Aceh.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – Undeterred by public outcry, the City Council's election committee approved on Wednesday the result of the voting in the gubernatorial election and refused to examine the ballot papers, which were allegedly marked in code by supporters of Governor Sutiyoso.

Jakarta – Indonesia's state audit agency has discovered that around 6.421 trillion rupiah from the state budget has been misused by various government offices in the first six months of this year.

Jakarta – Indonesia plans to buy Chinese-made weapons to strengthen the country's armed forces, Defence Minister Matori Abdul Jalil said after meeting his Chinese counterpart Chi Haotian who began a five-day working visit here yesterday.

Jakarta – People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais warned Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri to be alert to any pressure from the United States as it seeks support for its plan to invade Iraq.