Jakarta – Indonesia is the largest labor supplier contributing 50 per cent to foreign worker requirement in a number of countries, the association of labor suppliers said.
Association chairman Sysferi said a few years ago Indonesia supplied only 10 per cent of workers needed by Singapore, Hongkong, Malaysia and Middle East, but now Indonesia has become the market leader.
I Made Sentana, Jakarta – Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina (P.PTM) oil and gas company has raised fuel prices for industrial users to between 50% and 100% of international market prices, effective Sunday, in a bid to reduce government fuel subsidies.
Jakarta – Student and Labor organizations have joined with the May 1st Action Committee to stage a major demonstration at Jakarta Police Headquarters today.
Jakarta – Indonesian corruption fighters on Monday slammed the Supreme Court's dissolution of an anti-graft team as an attempt by judges to protect themselves and a setback to efforts to clean-up Indonesia's judiciary.
Linda Silaen, Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund has warned the Indonesian government of the possibility of a higher-than-expected deficit in the state budget this year due to a delay in the implementation of a tax regulation and only a limited fuel price increase, Finance Minister Prijadi Praptosuhardjo said Monday.
Jakrarta – Hoodlums, locally known as preman, have established themselves in every corner of the capital, "guarding" almost every public place, including bus terminals, traditional markets, shopping centers and even road junctions.
Jakarta – Police and Irian Jaya's rebels were involved in a shootout Saturday when the rebels attacked a base camp of PT Dharma Mukti Persada logging company in Wonggema village, Wasior district, Manokwari regency. o casualties were reported in the clash, Antara reported.
Jakarta – The Information Center for Aceh Referendum (SIRA) will soon file lawsuit against the Indonesian Police Chief General Surojo Bimantoro over the murder of three human rights activists in South Aceh on March 29. We will file lawsuit against the Police Chief, said SIRA Presidium Ridwan in Jakarta on the weekend.
Devi Asmarani, Aceh – A simple bus trip at night can turn deadly in this violence-wracked province, where residents live in constant fear of being caught in vicious clashes between Indonesian troops and separatist guerillas.
Jakarta – More than 600 people signed up on Monday to join a death squad aimed at preventing beleagured Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid from being ousted, a group leader said.
Jonathan Thatcher, Jakarta – The speaker of Indonesia's top legislative assembly on Monday said President Abdurrahman Wahid should quit, accusing him of being stupid, corrupt and of leading the nation to ruin.
Jakarta – Claims that President Abdurrahman Wahid was medically unfit for office was just a political ploy by the President's enemies, an aide said on Saturday.
"The President noted that the issue of his health was always brought up to discredit him", presidential spokesman Adhi Massardi told reporters at Merdeka Palace. "I know the President is very fit."
Jakarta – Legal experts have called on the government to take strict measures against judges whose verdicts spark controversy, instead of just giving them administrative sanctions.
Jakarta – The discovery of a headless corpse and the torching of houses have heightened tension in a district of Indonesia's Borneo island where at least 500 people were killed in over six weeks of ethnic violence, police said Monday.
Jakarta – Communal violence in Central Kalimantan which has left at least 500 dead since it first erupted six weeks ago has claimed another five lives, police said on Sunday.
Charles Scheiner – Eighteen months have elapsed since the Indonesian military and its militia proxies devastated East Timor. A quarter century has passed since the US-supported Indonesian invasion of East Timor began an occupation which killed one-third of the population and kidnapped, raped, tortured and terrorized hundreds of thousands more.
Arifin Asydhad/Heather, Jakarta – The National Front for Indonesian Labour Struggle (FNPBI) is planning a demonstration for workers from PT Kadera-Ar. They demand justice for the attack by hoodlums which killed one worker and injured others.
Ati Nurbaiti, Dili – The rains finally poured in late December, too much in some areas for a good corn harvest. Emergency operations over the past year have alleviated fear of widespread starvation as crops and cattle had been abandoned by farmers who fled the violence with their families.
Jakarta – The Indonesian government has rejected as unacceptable the trial in the United States of an Indonesian general accused of gross human rights abuses in East Timor in 1999.
Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesian Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung has called on President Abdurrahman Wahid to transfer substantial powers to his deputy to defuse a ticking political time-bomb.
Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesia will face mass violence "worse than the riots in 1998" if President Abdurrahman Wahid is impeached, Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung has warned.
On the move by the lawmakers to oust him, he said: "They want him out at all cost. But I have asked them to reconsider because it is very risky to force him out even if we do it by the book.
Robert Go, Jakarta – Questions over President Abdurrahman Wahid's health swept through Jakarta yesterday as two separate medical teams issued contradictory opinions on his fitness to remain at Indonesia's helm.
Jakarta – Former President Suharto remains unfit to stand trial despite some improvement in his health, said the chief prosecutor in the graft case against the former ruler.
Reuters in Jakarta – Senior politicians yesterday warned President Abdurrahman Wahid that discontent with his erratic 17-month rule was so intense he had little chance of surviving much longer in office. Mr Wahid, fighting for his political life, on Wednesday answered Parliament's February 1 censure of him over two financial scandals involving more than US$6 million.
Jakarta – The US embassy here on Friday deplored the "senseless" and "brutal" murder of three Indonesians involved in the peace process in restless Aceh province, and urged the government to investigate the killings.
Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesia's biggest political party yesterday fired the first salvo against President Abdurrahman Wahid by pressing ahead with a potentially fatal second censure motion against the embattled leader.
Jakarta – The guilty verdict handed down to Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) chief Muhammad Nazar drew condemnation on Thursday with some saying the trial, criticized as a political maneuver which made Nazar a prisoner of conscience, contained legal defects.
Jakarta – Two human rights activists and their driver were shot dead in Aceh in an attack that suggests humanitarian workers were being targeted by Indonesian security forces in the rebellious province, a rights group said on Friday. Police confirmed the killings, but said they suspected rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were responsible.
Jakarta – Hundreds of workers of car upholstery producer PT Kadera AR Indonesia in Pulogadung industrial estate were attacked while on strike in the early hours of Thursday, leaving one dead and 11 injured.
Dili – After quitting East Timor's interim legislature in a bitter row over the shape of a new constitution, independence leader Mr Xanana Gusmao yesterday announced he will not compete in the nation's first presidential election.
John Ruwitch, Jakarta – East Timor leader Xanana Gusmao will remain a key figure in the impoverished territory's painful transition to independence despite resigning as head of the de facto parliament, UN officials said on Thursday.
Rita Uli Hutapea/Heather, Jakarta – East Timorese leader, Xanana Gusmao is unimpressed with the Indonesian government's handling of East Timor's transition to independence. He believes the donations have dried up due to the slow implementation of building projects in Timor Lorosae.
Yogyakarta – Some 30 students representing 12 universities in Yogyakarta marched to the provincial legislative council on Thursday to warn the country's political elite that the country was in danger of disintegrating.
Jakarta – Around 1,000 angry residents of Inderagiri Hilir, Riau, Thursday night ransacked and burned down the local police precinct building. No casualties were reported in the incident which was triggered by a fight between two locals on Sunday, Antara reported.
Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said Friday he had ordered prosecutors to arrest a former mines and energy minister implicated in a graft scandal linked to a son of former dictator Suharto.
Banjarmasin – In order to prevent the spread of ethnic clashes between local Dayaks and Madurese migrants, a Dayak and a Madurese representing their respective communities inked a peace deal here on Wednesday.
Jakarta – Former Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto said on Thursday that he was not responsible for the shooting incident at the Trisakti University on May 12, 1998.
Jakarta – Residents in Kaloran village, Temanggung regency, East Java, Wednesday put up a roadblock to their village following a plan to bury the remains of 21 ex-communists there.
Jakarta – To everyone's surprise, the capital was free from huge rallies which had been expected to mark a plenary session at the House of Representatives to hear President Abdurrahman Wahid's reply to its first memorandum of censure on Wednesday.
Jakarta – Police fired warning shots and eventually clashed with pro-independence protesters in the Irian Jaya capital of Jayapura on Wednesday, Antara news agency reported.
The clash started when people boarding eight trucks arrived at the Cendrawasih sports hall on Jl. Ratulangi in Jayapura, where a seminar on special autonomy for Irian Jaya was being held.
Banda Aceh – The Banda Aceh Court sentenced Central Information for Aceh Referendum (SIRA) chief Muhammad Nazar on Wednesday to 10 months in prison for displaying hostile intentions toward the state. The 27-year-old defendant was found guilty of inciting hostility against the state.
Stephen Collinson, Washington – An activist from East Timor tearfully told on Tuesday of his brother's murder in violence that erupted after the territory voted for independence, as a US court opened a civil trial into an Indonesian general's alleged role in the carnage.
Jakarta – About 30 women activists held rally at the US Embassy on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan here today. They asked President Bush not to support the Indonesian military (TNI) in any form, including supporting education program for TNI officers in the US.
Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta – Indonesia's president, defiant before a hostile parliament, denied corruption charges Wednesday and questioned the constitutionality of efforts to remove him from office.
Dean Yates, Jakarta – Indonesian newspapers on Thursday warned more upheaval would follow President Abdurrahman Wahid's rejection of a parliamentary censure, and one leading critic said the Muslim cleric was on borrowed time.
Jakarta – "Unsatisfactory" and "rhetorical" were some of the unfavorable responses from legislators to President Abdurrahman Wahid's reply to the House of Representatives' memorandum of censure.
John Gauci, Sydney – The large turnout of 230 people for a March 17 dinner and public meeting here on issue "Free Aceh, Referendum now!" is an indication of growing interest in the struggle in Aceh among the Australian public.
The event was organised jointly by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) and the Sydney-based Aceh Australia Association (AAA).
Vaudine England – The timber tycoon and golfing buddy of former Indonesian president Suharto, Mohammad "Bob" Hasan, has been moved to a high-security island jail following fears he might escape his central Jakarta cell.
Starting March 27, a United States court in Washington, DC, will hear evidence that Indonesian General Johnny Lumintang is responsible for gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed in East Timor. The proceeding will determine the amount of compensatory and punitive damages to be assessed against Lumintang, who is not expected to attend.
Jon Land – Chances are increasingly remote that the Indonesian legal system will bring to justice those responsible for war crimes and human rights abuses committed before, during and after East Timor's August 1999 referendum. Any trial that does take place will be little more than a whitewash.