Palu, Central Sulawesi – The coordinator for the Poso refugees, Yus Mangun, said on Wednesday 3,000 packages of food aid from the Kuwaiti government had gone to waste.
Yus, who is an official in the local administration, said the packages passed their expiration date before they could be distributed.
Jakarta – East Timor's economy has rebounded strongly after violence destroyed the tiny half-island territory nearly two years ago, with 15 percent growth forecast for 2001 and 2002, the Asian Development Bank said on Thursday.
But the Bank cautioned the growth was from an extremely low base and the fledgling economy was still dependent on external financial support.
Jakarta – Efforts to settle problems in the strife-torn province of Aceh took a new turn when the government revealed on Wednesday a plan to invite the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to the meeting table for talks.
Jakarta – Indonesian Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her husband have a net worth of around US$6 million, the country's Examination Commission for Government Officials' Wealth (KPKPN) said yesterday.
This is almost 20 times more than the net worth of President Abdurrahman Wahid, based on his submission to the commission.
Marianne Kearney, Banyuwangi – Leaders of Indonesia's largest Muslim group are distancing themselves from a suicide squad heading for Jakarta – but it has become apparent that their own militia outfit has been training the 50,000-strong outfit.
Robert Go, Jakarta – The detention order issued against tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim of the Gadjah Tunggal Group over longstanding money-swindling charges has raised concerns in the business community that the move is yet another attempt by the administration to prevent their defection to the political opposition.
Craig Skehan – East Timor is set to receive a much larger slice of income from the rich oil reserves it shares with Australia.
Federal Government sources said yesterday Australia was willing to give the incoming independent Government in Dili 80 per cent or more of the income from a joint production zone where the split was previously 50/50.
Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The scene spoke for itself. In February, Indonesian generals lined up behind legislators to charge President Abdurrahman Wahid with involvement in two damning financial scandals.
Dr. Jose Ramos Horta, one of the political leaders of East Timor, thinks that reconciliation among the people of East Timor must be carried out in two areas i.e., political reconciliation and criminal reconciliation.
Soe, Indonesia – Around 70 per cent of the tens of thousands of East Timorese refugees languishing in squalid camps in Indonesia want to return home, an Indonesian military official said on Wednesday.
Farida Husna, Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund told the Indonesian parliament Wednesday that a new letter of intent will only be signed after the current state budget is revised, legislator Kwik Kian Gie said.
Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked the government to shelve several large projects this year in a bid to rescue the troubled state budget, according to a source.
Geraldine Goh, Jakarta – A boycott on the payment of city taxes has been called by a local group fighting for the rights of the urban poor.
The Coalition for Financial Transparency (CFT) also mobilised about 3,000 people, including 1,000 trishaw operators, who took to the streets on Sunday to protest against corruption.
Jakarta – Indonesian officials fear the government might not meet its 6.5 trillion rupiah privatisation target this year amid weak markets.
Jakarta – UN officials believe East Timorese refugees they met during a visit last week to camps in West Timor were instructed to challenge the results of the 1999 independence ballot, a UN spokesman said Tuesday.
UNTAET's Timorization process is not clearly visible within the Transitional administration. Also, the transitional administration does not have a definite target for achieving it. This was stated by the vice-president of CNRT/CN Mario Carrascalao in an interview with Radio UNTAET last week.
An ex-militia leader yesterday appealed for a general amnesty for those who committed human rights crimes in Timor Lorosae.
Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta – Tens of thousands of Indonesian suicide warriors have flooded Jakarta ready to defend embattled President Abdurrahman Wahid, the commander of the squads said on Tuesday.
Nuril Arifin also claimed a similar number of other Wahid supporters had also come to the capital ahead of a showdown between Wahid and an angry parliament on April 30.
Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid has endorsed the 11 names recommended by the House of Representatives Commission II for home and legal affairs as members of the General Election Committee (KPU), an official said on Monday.
Jakarta – The Army's Special Force (Kopassus) officially announced on Monday the reorganization of its structure from five operational groups to three, with two supporting units. Kopassus chief Maj. Gen. Amirul Isnaeni, however, said the new structure would be under trial for one year before being reviewed for further implementation.
Jakarta – The World Bank canceled the second US$300 million tranche of its $600 million social safety net adjustment loan on request from the Indonesian government, a Cabinet minister revealed Monday.
Yogyakarta – Many critics condemning a reversal of the burden of proof for corruption cases were those who had participated in construction of the web of corruption during the New Order regime, Minister of Defense Mahfud MD said here on Saturday.
Jakarta – With two weeks to go before legislators meet to censure President Abdurrahman Wahid yet again over two graft scandals, leaders of his power base, the Nahdlatul Ulama Islamic movement (NU), are taking away his strongest trumpcard – NU zealots will not be allowed to declare war on his political opponents.
Bagus Kurniawan/HD & HY, Yogyakarta – Eleven people from the Yogyakarta branch of the Anti Communist Piety Society Forum (Format) have declared war on Communism. They staged a demonstration at the Yogyakarta police headquarters (Mapoltabes).
Yogyakarta – More than 7,000 supporters of the United Development Party (PPP) attended on Saturday a mass prayer in Ngaglik, Sleman, some 12 kilometers north of here, with ulema KH Zaenuddin MZ from Jakarta as the key speaker.
Banda Aceh – At least six people were killed in renewed violence in the Indonesian province of Aceh at the weekend, police and residents said.
A policeman was killed and three others were injured afer a truck carrying them was ambushed by separatist rebels on Saturday, North Aceh district police Adjunct Senior Commissioner Wanto Sumardi said.
Jakarta – The situation in Poso, Central Sulawesi, has heated up over the past several days, with a number of mosques and churches being set ablaze, Antara reported on Saturday.
Aras Napal – The European explorers who penetrated deepest Sumatra in the 18th century recoiled in awe at the beauty of the "dark and savage" forest that covered the Indonesian island. Today, there is hardly any of it left.
Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – A wayang kulit, or shadow puppet, called Kumbakarna sits behind President Abdurrahman Wahid's desk in his Jakarta palace.
Jakarta – A suspect has reportedly confessed to having received Rp 27 million (US$2,700) in return for orchestrating the recent attack on striking workers of car upholstery producer PT Kadera AR Indonesia (KAI).
Jakarta – Referring to the ILO convention on freedom of association, the government called on labor unions on Friday to operate independently and promote harmony between workers and employers to help repair the political and economic climate.
Sinjai, South Sulawesi – Two people were killed on Wednesday night when armed thugs clashed with members of Forbes, a public-initiated group combating crime, in Biroro village, East Sinjai district, Sinjai regency, South Sulawesi.
Jakarta – The city administration will launch an open-ended operation against some 1,300 hoodlums, locally known as preman, in the city's five mayoralties starting from Monday, Governor Sutiyoso said on Thursday.
"We have identified the hoodlums, including the places where they hang out," Sutiyoso told reporters after a coordinating meeting at City Hall.
Jakarta – The Jakarta Police announced on Thursday they would take proactive measures to prevent violence in the streets when the House of Representatives meets on April 30 to discuss a second memorandum of censure against President Abdurrahman Wahid.
Jenny Denton – At 11 o'clock on a Thursday morning, a handful of people are standing around outside the Anarchist Bookshop in Newtown, Sydney, waiting to load a truck with food and goods donated for East Timor.
Jakarta – Black market activities over the past three years have contributed to the worsening of the economic crisis, former manpower minister Bomer Pasaribu said.
Bomer urged all parties to pay serious attention as the black market has grown robustly over the last three years.
Jakarta – The World Bank has warned that Indonesia's richest natural habitats could be completely obliterated by 2010 if significant measures are not taken to deal with the widespread degradation of the country's natural resources.
The World Bank has cancelled a three-hundred million dollar loan to help Indonesia's poor. The bank said the Indonesian authorities had failed to meet all the conditions for the loan, which included carrying out public consultations to decide how the money should be spent.
Warren Caragata and Amy Chew,Jakarta – Kasmiran is a motorcyle taxi driver from Gresik, an industrial town in East Java – Gus Dur country. Recently, he made the 650 km journey to Jakarta to show his support for his compatriot, otherwise known as President Abdurrahman Wahid.
Jakarta – The US government, under President Bush has shown a renewed willingness to open the access for military equipment and military training to Indonesia as long as the Indonesian government commits to setting up and executing the trials in a professional manner, for those officers and leaders involved in murder, rape, torture, arson and gross human rights abuses in East Timor.
Jakarta – Students from the Front for Anti Violence (Fomapak) staged a rally in front of the US Embassy located on Jl. Merdeka Selatan here today.
Jakarta – Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Wednesday that soldiers currently stationed at the ExxonMobil gas field in Aceh would be redeployed to perimeter duty to encourage the US-based firm to resume operations. Purnomo claimed that the removal of the soldiers was at the request of ExxonMobil.
Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – The United Nations will face renewed pressure to set up an East Timor war crimes tribunal after receiving a report alleging a conspiracy among Indonesian generals was behind 1999's wave of killings and destruction.
Ilene R. Prusher, Jakarta – When aides would go on tour with Indonesian Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri, they used to try to get her to act like a politician – or at least, a celebrity.
Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Fears are growing of violent clashes between Indonesia's two big Muslim organisations as tens of thousands of supporters of President Abdurrahman Wahid prepare to fight to defend him.
Jakarta – Indonesia's government is delaying setting up a human rights court to try crimes committed in East Timor in 1999 because of military pressure and corruption cases taking precedence, rights activists have charged.
John McBeth, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid and the Indonesian military are engaged in a renewed contest of wills, this time over the rapidly deteriorating security situation in westernmost Aceh province, which could put another nail in the president's political coffin.
Jakarta – Indonesia is unlikely to reach its targeted 4.5 percent to 5 percent economic growth rate in 2001 on account of lower-than-expected economic activity and investment, deputy governor of Bank Indonesia Achjar Iljas predicted here Wednesday.
Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) director for the Asia-Pacific, Anoop Singh, is optimistic that the Fund's meeting with the Indonesian government to discuss the Letter of Intent (LOI) will run smoothly. "We have conducted good meetings," he told the press yesterday.
Jakarta – At about 10.20am this morning, the Director of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) in Medan, Irham Buana Nasution, was shot with an arrow while he was parking his car in the backyard of his office. The arrow was a 15 cm piece of iron, which stuck five cm into his leg.