Jakarta – Most of the soft drinks and snacks sold in Indonesia's elementary school canteens use textile dyes and are contaminated with the E.

Jakarta – City police have apprehended 10 people, including a Malaysian, for their alleged involvement in the blast at Plaza Atrium, a shopping mall in Senen, Central Jakarta, an office

Jakarta – In a gesture of reconciliation, East Timor's independence hero Xanana Gusmao welcomed home the families of former pro-Jakarta militiamen Friday as mass refugee returns resumed

Ian Timberlake, Dili – Police officers in smart blue uniforms confidently direct traffic.

Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta – Muslim leaders in Indonesia, the world's largest Islamic nation, have joined the international outrage over the terror attacks against the United States, but w

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – A battle is brewing in Parliament over a move to amend the constitution to enable Indonesians to directly vote for their President and Vice-President by the 200

Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday described Parliament's approval of the sale of a 51 per cent government stake in Indonesia's largest private retail bank as an

Jakarta – The agency tasked to audit the wealth of civil servants is apprehensive about looking into the wealth of top officials.

Dili – Opposition leaders in East Timor criticized the United Nations on Thursday for favoring one political party and not creating the framework for democracy in their fledgeling natio

[The following is the officially certified list of East Timorese who were elected to the Constituent Assembly on the August 30 ballot.

Jakarta – A senior East Timor official said on Wednesday that the country would not prosecute the alleged human rights violations by Indonesian Military (TNI) troops in the internationa

Max Lane – Despite protests by human rights groups and large sections of the legal profession, Indonesia's police are continuing their prosecution of more than 30 people for their polit

Maria Voukelatos – Ngadinah binti Abu Mawardi made Indonesian history on August 30 when she became one of the first workers to defend herself in a court of law and win.

Jakarta – The central government's pledge to fight the practice of nepotism seems to be ineffective as some officials of the city administration and the City Council have reportedly pla

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Two years ago, House of Representatives deputy speaker Muhaimin Iskandar could hardly pay for the room he was renting, his old friends say.

Vaudine England – The barefoot children were scrambling up the bougainvillea bushes to gather fresh clusters of the flowers – the only bright spot in the dry, dusty and still-devastated

Jon Land – Fretilin, the party which declared East Timor independent in 1975 and which was the largest single force in the long fight against occupation, has won 57% of the vote in the

Jana DK, Dili – In its first major mobilisation since the beginning of East Timor's election campaign, on August 25 some 5000 Timorese Socialist Party members and supporters gathered at

Jakarta – Activists intensified their demands on Tuesday for the Public Servant's Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN) to investigate the origin of retired and serving state officials suspec

Jill Hickson – "Where are our missing children? We have nothing – no land, no houses, nothing to do, no materials to work with to make an income.

Yemris Fointuna, Dili – The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) is planning to forge economic cooperation between the former Portuguese colony and Indonesi

Jakarta – The South Jakarta District Court rejected on Monday the lawsuit filed by eight middle-ranking police officers against National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro.

Jakarta – Rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province have released five Muslim leaders who police say were abducted after meeting President Megawati Sukarnoputri when she visited the province

Jakarta – The country's two largest parties reiterated their intention to reject inclusion of the Jakarta Charter in Article 29 of the 1945 Constitution, viewing the United Development

Associated Press in Banda Aceh – A day after President Megawati Sukarnoputri led a peace mission to troubled Aceh province, rebels vowed to maintain their secessionist war and activists

Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri publicly asked on Saturday for forgiveness from all Acehnese for past mistakes of the government.

Jakarta – Political analysts have hailed the increase in the defense budget in the 2002 draft state budget amid rising speculation that the 18 percent hike was to gain support from the

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Pressure is building on Indonesia to return 124 East Timorese children taken from their parents in West Timor refugee camps following East Timor's 1999 indepe

Tomi Soetjipto, Banda Aceh – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri made an emotional apology to the people of rebellious Aceh on Saturday over their suffering under past government

Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla said on Friday that the central government would assist certain regional administrations that were unable to pay teacher

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Combatants in Aceh's separatist war like to use visits by Jakarta dignitaries to make brutal political points – and President Megawati Sukarnoputri's trip to

Tomi Soetjipto, Banda Aceh – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri flew into rebellious Aceh on Saturday on a fleeting trip aimed at bringing peace to this war-torn province.

Jakarta – Legislators questioned on Friday President Megawati Soekarnoputri's policy for increasing the 2002 defense budget by 18 percent.

Mark Dodd, Dili – What's in a word? Quite a bit if you are considering running for president of East Timor.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – There is a palpable mood of relief in East Timor this week after the election in which the country voted overwhelmingly in favor of the leftist nationalist party F

Susan Long, Jakarta - You know surrealism is a way of life here when your mobile phone begins trilling as you peer into the smoky cauldron of the active volcano Bromo in East Java.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Australia has rejected an Indonesian plea to fast-track people assessed to be genuine refugees from Indonesia, despite pressuring the Government in Jakarta to

Train crashes, crumbling schools, power blackouts and children begging on crowded intersections – these are legacies of Indonesia's budget crunch in recent years.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Each week, as a Toyota landcruiser roams the streets of Jakarta consuming half a tank or 50 litres of petrol, the Indonesian government is subsiding its rela

Jakarta – Thousands of public-school teachers in several regions continued their strikes on Thursday as their demands for six-months' back pay got the cold shoulder from regional admini

Banda Aceh – State Syiah Kuala University rector Dayan Dawood, 54, was shot dead by unidentified people on his way home from campus here on Thursday, just two days ahead of President Me

Jakarta – An avalanche of red tape caused by Indonesia's attempts to devolve power to the local authorities has left business leaders fuming.

• Total Votes Cast: 384,248
• Total Valid Votes: 363,501
• Invalid Votes: 20,747

National Ballot

Joanne Collins, Jakarta – Indonesia's new government handed down its 2002 budget on Friday, walking a tightrope between fiscal prudence and stimulating growth in a bid to keep the debt-

Jakarta – Most factions in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) turned down on Thursday the proposal advanced by NGOs for the establishment of an independent constitutional commissi

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia is already hard-pressed to meet asset-sale targets of over 33.5 trillion rupiah (S$6.7 billion) this year, but President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Budget pr

Jakarta – A human rights worker was Friday found shot dead and eight alleged rebels were reported killed in Indonesia's troubled province of Aceh on the eve of a visit by President Mega

Jakarta – High expectations by the public of a thoroughgoing eradication of corruption have turned into strong criticism of the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN), due to

Mark Dodd, Dili – Fretilin, the party that led East Timor's 24-year struggle for independence from Indonesia, has won the fledgling nation's first democratic election.

Jakarta - The National Police are reviving investigation of several defamation cases against former president Abdurrahman Wahid.