The following is abridged from a statement by MUHAMMAD NAZAR, chairperson of the presidium board of the Aceh Referendum Information Centre (SIRA), to Indonesia's President Abdurrahman W

May Sari, Surabaya – One thousand five hundred workers at PT Surabaya Meka Box in East Java, Indonesia, began a strike on February 21 to protest against the dismissal of three colleague

Pip Hinman – Roger Smith, an Australian who works for the American Centre for International Labor Solidarity, which is funded by the US government and the AFL-CIO, has been threatened w

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Many cite law enforcement as the key to structuring a better way of life in Indonesia.

Pip Hinman – Since his election five months ago, the new president of Indonesia, Abdurrahman Wahid, has managed to create the impression that his is a people-friendly government.

Andrew Marshall, Jakarta – Indonesia's plans to give regions more control over their finances are at the heart of the country's efforts to hold its disparate provinces together.

Vaudine England – President Abdurrahman Wahid's latest salvo in his battle to keep rebellious Aceh as part of Indonesia is a pledge to investigate the alleged beating of 20 villagers la

Associated Press in Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid said on Tuesday that fighters of the separatist Free Aceh Movement group (GAM) could join the Indonesian military following a p

Jakarta – Finance minister Bambang Sudibyo said on Monday that 120 state-owned companies suffered combined financial losses of Rp 47.65 trillion (US$6.39 billion) last year.

Tim Dodd, Jakarta – The chairman of Indonesia's National Business Development Council, Mr Sofyan Wanandi, has the task of harnessing business to invest in Indonesia, but concedes that c

Susan Sim, Jakarta – The crew of a Dutch-owned vessel with links to the Habibie family is expected to go on trial in Batam today for allegedly smuggling sand out of the Indonesian islan

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Dili – UN peacekeepers have concluded that the Indonesian military has been involved in a recent spate of attacks by paramilitary units across the increasingly ten

Mark Dodd – Five ex-militiamen who crossed into East Timor from Indonesia have been arrested by New Zealand United Nations peacekeepers and face murder charges related to last year's po

Lincoln Wright – The United States freighted state-of-the-art intelligence equipment directly to Canberra during the East Timor crisis, providing Australia with vital information about

Jakarta – Some 100 airport employees went on strike at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Monday demanding national flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia restore their status as governm

Jakarta – Some 10,000 East Timorese repatriated by international agencies have returned to refugee camps in Indonesia because of uncertainties at home, including food shortages, a minis

Jakarta – Political observers here are speculating that rogue elements inside the military are behind the recent wave of "political terror" launched against the nation's legislators.

Vaudine England – History is becoming one of the hottest topics in Indonesia, with President Abdurrahman Wahid paying visits to former presidents, dissidents and alleged communists whil

Jakarta – The government has scrapped the controversial retroactive clause from the human rights bill and proposed that past human rights violations be tried in an ad hoc tribunal.

Xanana Gusmmo, East Timor's de facto leader, discusses the past and looks to the future. John Stanmeyer/Saba for Time.

Terry McCarthy, Dili – The woman in black is waiting for him. Xanana Gusmao, East Timor's poet-revolutionary and de facto leader, is working his way through a crowd of admirers.

Jakarta – Several foreign investors and buyers may pull out of contracts with Indonesian plywood producers over escalating conflicts between timber companies and local people in Kaliman

Agencies in Banda Aceh – Indonesian troops yesterday raided four villages in troubled Aceh province searching for rebels, a day after a landmark meeting there between an Indonesian envo

Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid attended joint prayers held at the residence of former President Suharto to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the death of Mr Suhart

Jayapura – Local police have officially named nine leading Irianese figures here as suspects for allegedly plotting against the state. Irian Jaya Police chief of detectives Col.

Marianne Kearney – One of the major problems in the haze crisis is the weak enforcement of flawed, existing laws.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid's approval of attempts to reopen the case of the 1965 abortive coup and its bloody aftermath has caused some controversy.

Anastasia Vrachnos, Ailieu – In the mountains south of Dili, men with long hair and guns stand in the pre-dawn mist. They introduce themselves to a visitor with noms de guerre.

Joanna Jolly, Jakarta – The respect of East Timorese for the United Nations transitional administration's work is waning and it is in danger of being compared to the previous Indonesian

Mark Abberton – Five hundred people participated in a four-day congress beginning February 23 in Sentani, in Indonesian- controlled West Papua, to discuss efforts to build a unified lea

Vannessa Hearman, Dili – Activities to mark International Women's Day on March 8 here included performance art and a public forum on the place of women in the rebuilding process in East

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia's President, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, said yesterday that some senior military officers were plotting to overthrow him but any attempt would fail becau

George J.

Jakarta – Despite claims by Indonesia's President that the situation in Aceh province is improving, the Red Cross said yesterday that the violence was as bad as ever, with torture and m

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has asked the Indonesian Government to investigate findings that its armed forces lured villagers to their

Scott Burchill – Indonesia would not have been able to illegally occupy and terrorise East Timor for a quarter of a century without the support it received from the West, particularly A

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesia's economic growth will exceed previous conservative estimates of between 3 and 4 percent, but the International Monetary Fund's new representative

May Sari, Jakarta – Three hundred women and men marched from the Kapuk industrial area to Indonesia's parliament building on International Women's Day, March 8.

James Balowski – Indonesia has moved toward a more pluralistic democracy but human rights abuses remained rife in 1999, according to a US State Department report released on February 25

Dili – Elements of the Indonesian military are providing direct support for armed pro-Jakarta militiamen infiltrating into East Timor, a senior US diplomat said Tuesday.

Jakarta – A glass window in a hallway in Indonesia's parliament building was pierced yesterday by what seemed to be a bullet, just minutes after former president Suharto's youngest son

Simon Montlake, Jakarta – Indonesia must tread cautiously in cutting fuel subsidies and should seek to lessen the impact on kerosene prices as this directly hits poorer households, Inte

Jakarta – The National Business Development Council has urged the government to immediately deal with security disturbances against the business sector, saying that in 1999 alone, the b

Jakarta – Thousands of people are fleeing to safer areas as fresh fighting between religious groups in the Maluku islands left many dead and more than 100 houses burnt or damaged.

Jakarta – Hundreds of students the North Sumatra legislative assembly yesterday to demand the final closure of a factory operated by pulp and rayon fiber producer PT Inti Indorayon Utam

Jakarta – Two student protesters participating in a hunger strike at the Attorney General's Office in South Jakarta for the past week were admitted to St.

Simon Montlake, Jakarta – The Indonesian government is under pressure to consider increasing protection for domestic rice producers, after protests by farmers over low prices paid for u

Dili – The United Nations peacekeeping force in East Timor has confiscated a number of weapons smuggled by ship from Indonesia's West Timor and detained at least five people, a UN spoke

Dili – The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) Thursday established East Timor's first customs and tax system to provide the territory with much-needed rev

Jakarta – A group of human rights lawyers on Monday protested as unecessary and flawed a draft bill being prepared by the government to pave the way for the creation of a human rights c