James Dunn – Timor watchers would have detected a touch of irony in a news item from Jakarta earlier this week.

Jakarta – At least 416 people in Indonesia's remote Irian Jaya province have died of famine and disease and nearly 90,000 face serious food shortages because of a severe drought, relief officials said on Thursday.

Sander Thoenes and Quentin Peel, Jakarta – Indonesia may walk out of talks with Portugal over the status of East Timor unless progress is made soon, Ali Alatas, Indonesia's foreign minister, has said.

Sydney – Five Australian journalists killed in East Timor were deliberately targeted by Indonesian troops and not caught in crossfire as had been thought, a report said on the 22nd anniversary of the incident.

I see this strike as the first action in a wave of actions that could hit the Suharto regime as a direct result of the crisis engulfing the Indonesian economy. Now that the IMF has been called in, new demands will be made on the regime with regard to pet projects of the Suharto Family and cronies.

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – Popular Muslim figures have criticised the Government for failing to provide moral leadership in a time of economic and social crisis and warned it could face mass demonstrations if it does not listen to the people.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – Rising prices, cutbacks in health services and lay-offs resulting from economic reforms to be pushed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will hit Indonesia's poor and could fuel social unrest, a group of non-government organisations said yesterday.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – Hot, dry winds across Indonesia have caused a dramatic fourfold increase in forest fires and new smog warnings, after last week's light rains and initial successes in fighting the fires on the ground.

Four thousand five hundred workers at PT Prima Buana Tex which is located in Anggadita, Klari sub-district, West Java held a protest demonstration Monday to complain of inhumane treatment by their employers and the fact that the local branch of the SPSI (the official union) is not functioning.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – Thousands of workers from Indonesia's state aircraft manufacturer held mass demonstrations yesterday, following rumours of impending lay-offs, as an International Monetary Fund team continued talks on rescuing Indonesia's ailing currency.

Craig Skehan and Louise Williams – In an attempt to secure political asylum for a colleague, jailed East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao has written a letter acknowledging that he authorised the making of bombs to attack military targets.

Quentin Peel and Sander Thoenes, Jakarta –

Western diplomats in Jakarta are urging the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to co-ordinate a largescale rescue package for Indonesia - worth at least $12bn (=A37.4bn) - provided President ' Suharto accepts tough conditions to curb corruption.

Military authorities in East Timor have seized a cache of 20 homemade bombs and detained two rebels accused of planning to destroy the territory's capital, Dili, an Indonesian newspaper reported yesterday.

President Soeharto and his family are the most reluctant to make the necessary sacrifices because of their business interests, contends George J. Aditjondro.

Up to thirteen East Timorese men are believed to be still in detention in Semarang and Dili following two recent incidents involving home-made bombs.

A number of hotels in Kuta tourist complex, Bali, were burned down in a series of fires that engulfed four hotels and a group of tourist cottages. The fires took hold at around 2.30pm and were not put out until about four hours later. Fire engines had difficulty reaching the locations because of the narrow roads.

[Media Indonesia, 10 October 1997, Summary only]

[From Media Indonesia 10 Ooctober and Kompas 11 October 1997, Summarised.]

Jakarta – An Indonesian military official has accused two East Timorese sheltering in the Austrian embassy in Jakarta of being terrorists.

Events in modern Indonesia bear an eerie resemblance to the calamities foretold in an ancient prophecy by a Javanese king. Herald Correspondent Louise Williams in Jakarta traces the connections - and the consequences.

What is life like under the asphyxiating pall created by the burning forests of Sumatra? Australian radio and television journalist Andrea Thomson visited the town of Jambi, in the center of the island. From inside the ring of fire, she filed this eyewitness report:

Jakarta – Indonesia was urged on Thursday to carefully preserve and manage its peat forests to avoid environmental disasters such as that which has covered much of Southeast Asia in choking smog.

John McBeth, Jakarta &150; Almost nightly on Indonesian television, thousands of firefighters armed with little more than water-filled backpacks are shown trying to beat back the blazes that are blanketing Southeast Asia in smoke. Growing alarm has led Malaysia to send 1,200 firefighters to join the assault and Japan to offer pumping equipment and waterjet shooters.

Jay Solomon &150; The playful smile on President Suharto's face as he gave the new "national motorcycle" a spin around his palace late last month could give the impression that all is well in Indonesia.

David Jenkins &150; President Soeharto's decision to call in the IMF and the World Bank, his second attempt in as many weeks to staunch a hemorhaging rupiah, has sent what should be a convincing message to the financial markets.

Jim Della-Giacoma, Jakarta &150; Two died in fighting at an East Timor mountain shrine including a man who tried to erect a banner bearing the guerrilla movement Fretilin's flag, military sources said on Wednesday.

Michael Shari &150; For years, environmentalists have pleaded with governments in Southeast Asia to save the region's vast rain forests. Officials responded that if wealthy western nations were so concerned, they should foot the cleanup bill. They also downplayed the damage loggers and planters caused by lighting fires every dry season to clear land on Sumatra and Borneo.

Buyung Rachmad Buchori Nasution, private secretary of the writer and politician Soebadio Sastrosatomo, who is on trial in the South Jakarta district court, has for a second time refused to attend a court hearing because the judge is still refusing to accede to his request that the injured party [ie, Suharto] in the case be ordered to attend.

Louise Williams, Jakarta &150; The Soeharto Government was facing an unprecedented crisis last night as a wave of public criticism over its handling of the fire emergency coincided with a dramatic fall in the rupiah and warnings of serious economic problems ahead.

Jakarta &150; Father Sandyawan Sumardi SJ, 38, said, after a hearing of the trial in which he and his brother Benny are the accused, that their trial is a test for the Indonesian government and for the rule of law.

Lisbon &150; Jose Ramos-Horta, 1996 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate, emphatically denounced the recently reported murder, in East Timor, of one elementary school teacher, Jacinto da Trindade. His colleague, Jzlio Pereira, was seriously injured in the assault and was taken to the military hospital in Dili. Mr.

Jakarta – One hundred construction workers have died in work-related accidents in the city [of Jakarta] already this year. Last year 101 workers died.

Amidst the fires furore, spare a thought for Forestry Minister Jamaludin Suryohadikusumo. As official custodian of Indonesia's vast but shrinking forests, he has both to maximise state revenue from the forests, as well as maintain them for the future. This makes him both partner and policeman to well-connected timber tycoons like Bob Hasan, Prayogo Pangestu and Eka Tjipta Widjaya.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – Air-particle pollution levels in Jakarta were nine times above the safe limit yesterday and meteorologists issued a warning to ships and aircraft as changing wind patterns pushed the smoke haze into the Indonesian capital. It was the first time air pollution levels for Jakarta were published.

Jakarta – Indonesia's currency crashed to a new low today when it hit 3,725 rupiahs against the U.S. dollar before recovering slightly.

The plunge carried over into the Jakarta Stock Exchange, where the main index dropped 4 percent, or 21.447 points, to 515.477 points.

Robin Cook, the foreign secretary, has been told by the prime minister to moderate his policy of blocking arms sale to countries accused of serious human rights violations.

Adjidar Ascha, the father of imprisoned trade union activist, Diti Indah Sari, has lodged a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission regarding the treatment of his daughter who is jailed in Malang Prison, East Java.

Margot Cohen in Jakarta and Murray Hiebert in Kuala Lumpur – President Suharto's unprecedented apology for the forest fires that are spewing smoke over neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore has drawn praise as a sign of Indonesia's readiness to tackle the annual "haze." In his September 16 speech to an Asean meeting, however, Suharto cited "obstacles that are not easy to overcome," pa

Catherine Shepherd – Blue skies? Sunshine? Millions of people in Malaysia and Indonesia have a hard time remembering what that looks like. After months of persistent smog, the hospitals are full of patients with breathing problems, productivity is down and tourists are turning away in droves.

On 29 September, the Indonesian Ministry of the Interior announced that the PRD, the People's Democratic Party, and all its associated organisations, have been banned. This includes the PPBI, the Indonesian Workers Struggle Centre, and the STN, the Indonesian Peasants Association.

Friends of the Earth International today called for immediate and effective action by the Indonesian government to combat the continuing forest fire crisis.(1)

Kevin Dunion, Chair of Friends of the Earth International, said:

Jakarta – The government's decision to ban the Peoples' Democratic Party and all its affiliates will not affect the activities of the organisations. They will continue with their actions until their aims have been achieved, the PRD chairman, Budiman Sudjatmiko told Siar in Salemba Prison, Jakarta.

[The original source of this posting (other that the individual's e-mail address and period that the report covers) was not specified - JB]

George J. Aditjondro &150; The haze enveloping our northern neighbours should not be allowed to obscure a lesson for their ruling elites, who are largely to blame for the disaster.

[Based on reports in Kompas and Republika, 30 September 1997]

The government has at last (!) banned the People's Democratic Party (PRD) and all the organisations associated with it.

Jakarta – Indonesia's new national parliament, its members including 10 relatives of President Suharto and a number of his business associates, was sworn in for a new five-year term on Wednesday.

Jakarta – The government has officially banned the Peoples' Democratic Party (PRD) along with its affiliated organisations according to Department of Home Affairs decision No 210-221, dated September 29, 1997.

Bekasi – The trial of Romo Sandyawan Sumardi SJ and his older brother, Benny Sumardi, started yesterday (29/9) at the Bekasi State Court. Romo Sandy, as he is usually known, and Benny, are being tried for hiding the fugitives Budiman Sujatmiko, chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (PRD) and Petrus Haryanto, the Secretary General of the PRD.

David Miller, Sumatra – Malaysian firefighters eager to get on with the job of fighting the forest and peat fires here have been forced to play a waiting game.

The Straits Times, which followed one team of firefighters over the weekend, found that it has only handled a handful of peat fires.

Derwin Pereira, Indonesia – has rejected blame for the haze blanketing large areas of South-east Asia, saying that one of the culprits is the El Nino climatic phenomenon that no one could have prevented.