Jakarta – The Army's Special Force (Kopassus) will be reorganized to meet the demands of security environment in the future, a senior military officer said on Thursday.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said the elite force would slim its organization and decrease the number of its personnel as well.
Jakarta – Separatist rebels in remote Irian Jaya have seized seven negotiators trying to win the release of 11 abducted plywood workers and now hold 18 people hostage, police said Friday.
Jakarta – In yet another desperate attempt to locate the fugitive Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, police announced plans on Thursday to drill and break into at least three other spots in his house.
Jakarta – The political history of bombings in Indonesia took a sharp turn after the 1998 May riots, in which all of the cases involving bomb explosions have never been solved, the Indonesian Forum for Peace (FID) secretary Munir said on Thursday.
Shefali Rekhi – The man behind the reforms and privatisation efforts of Indonesia's state-owned enterprises has criticised his government for the slow progress in its privatisation process.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) is demanding 30 million rupiah (S$5,700) for each firearm they give up. Defence Minister Muhammad Mahfud said this condition had stopped the process of disarmament.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The kidnapping of 12 hostages, including a South Korean businessman, in Indonesia's troubled Irian Jaya province, is suspected to be a "fake" one, staged to discredit the separatist rebels.
Vaudine England – President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday brushed off calls for his resignation from students and lawmakers, saying his opponents were the tools of "those who are hungry for power".
In an exclusive interview, Mr Wahid said the military leadership was behind him and he had never doubted his ability to win what he called the country's "political civil war".
Jakarta – The generals are back. With civilian leaders mired in political infighting and unable to tackle Indonesia's mounting crises, the army brass – on the defensive since the ouster of the dictatorship it backed for 32 years – is reasserting its dominance in the country's politics.
Sadanand Dhume, Jakarta – With a shaky currency, the former president's son on the run from police and a series of recent bomb blasts in major cities, you would be forgiven for thinking that Indonesia has more than its share of troubles.
Jakarta – While expressing support for a united territory of Indonesia, United States Ambassador to Indonesia Robert S. Gelbard offered on Wednesday to help ensure the agreement between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and Indonesian government a success.
Jakarta – South Aceh Police found a mass grave with 14 bodies, three of which were suspected to be those of the missing researchers from the Bandung-based Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), in Tebangan village, South Kluet district, an officer said on Wednesday.
Jakarta – Speaker of the House of Representatives Akbar Tandjung rejected calls by the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction for an investigation into an alleged financial leakage in the July 2000 House rehabilitation projects and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference last September.
Dini Djala, North Sulawesi and West Kalimantan – At a crowded refugee camp in Bitung, North Sulawesi, some 3,000 children pass their days jumping rope, throwing ball or playing a game they call "war." The girls pretend to be nurses, busily tending the wounded, while the boys take up fake guns to fight mock battles.
Makassar – The South Sulawesi Police sent 300 personnel from its Mobile Brigade (Brimob) unit to the restive regency of Poso in Central Sulawesi following an escalation in sectarian tension, South Sulawesi Police chief Insp. Gen. Sofyan Jacob said on Tuesday.
Jakarta – Police fired warning shots at stone throwing protesters outside a trial of three Christians accused of provoking bloody sectarian riots in central Indonesian, news reports said Thursday.
Jakarta – The Central Jakarta District Court commenced the trial of Bank Indonesia (Central Bank) governor Syahril Sabirin on Wednesday regarding his alleged involvement in the disbursement of Rp 904 billion (US$96.2 million) of Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) funds to Bank Bali.
Jakarta – Police on Wednesday fired volleys of teargas at 2,500 protestors who gathered outside parliament calling on Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid to answer corruption charges or step down.
There were no casualties, an AFP reporter said, and the demonstrators briefly fell back before regrouping on a road running past the main gate of the parliament complex.
Max Lane – The process of overthrowing the Suharto dictatorship did not go sufficiently deep enough to deliver a deathblow to the political ambitions of the old regime, of Suharto's former ruling party, Golkar, and the armed forces, the TNI. During 2000, they have steadily inched their way back into position and are readying themselves for an attempt to take back their power.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – While President Abdurrahman Wahid gave his backing for another ceasefire between Acehnese rebels and the government, analysts said the bloodshed over the past few days indicated that neither side was prepared to take the truce seriously.
Pip Hinman – Acehnese activist Kautsar has been struggling for his people's right to self-determination for some years. In 1998, he helped to form Student Solidarity with the People (SMUR), the main Acehenese student-led popular movement for independence.
Jakarta – An Indonesian court has dismissed a case against an author charged seven years ago with insulting former president Suharto by suggesting that the former dictator masterminded a 1965 coup blamed on the then-Communist Party of Indonesia.
Jakarta – A group representing the Chinese community in Indonesia yesterday met Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid to ask for help in removing discriminatory legislation against the ethnic group.
Kerryn Williams – "We see the potential energy among urban poor youth, whose power has been shown many times in Indonesian history. They are brave, energetic and not afraid of new ideas and changes.
Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesian police yesterday denied reports that they were investigating the involvement of former army generals in the Christmas Eve bombings, linking the fatal attacks that killed 19 people instead to the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
Jeremy Bowden, Singapore – East Timor is raising the stakes in talks on sharing offshore oil and natural gas revenues with Australia, according to Australian government sources.
Chris McCall, Banda Aceh – "Let our people go quickly or Indonesia will suffer the same fate as Yugoslavia." That was the dire warning from separatist rebels, as the Indonesian province of Aceh began a new truce yesterday.
Jakarta – Indonesian police in easternmost Irian Jaya province have questioned four people including a woman cleric over separatist activities, a report said here Tuesday.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesia's Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri has vowed to clean up her Indonesian Democratic Party-Perjuangan (PDI-P), amid allegations that corrupt MPs within its ranks sold their votes to rival parties in local polls across the country.
Maggie O'Kane – The discovery of the bodies of four women murdered with machetes in different parts of the country last summer passed almost unnoticed in East Timor. Yet the Indonesian occupying army, which killed an estimated 200,000 people in its 24 years there, has gone, driven out by the UN cavalry over a year ago.
Hamish McDonald, Dili – The Australian Government is retreating from its tough opening stance on the oil revenue split in a new seabed boundary treaty with independent East Timor, a senior Timorese negotiator reports.
Jakarta – Vice President and chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) Megawati Soekarnoputri scolded unscrupulous party legislators on Saturday for having tarnished the image of the party and of the parliament.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesian Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab has reassured Asean members that the South-east Asia grouping is still central to Indonesia's foreign policy.
"Asean is the cornerstone of our foreign policy and as a founding father, it is impossible for us to leave Asean," Mr Alwi told journalists on Friday.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Even though the police are taking extra precaution to secure the capital against mass demonstrations rumoured to begin tomorrow, commentators say the real political onslaught might be delayed for several weeks.
Jakarta – Indonesian Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri Sunday told 100,000 supporters of her Indonesian Democracy Party- Struggle (PDIP) that national unity was at stake and called on them to defend its integrity, but without violence.
Jakarta – The government is under the control of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and has to obtain IMF approval for every economic step taken, says chairman of the National Mandate Party [PAN] Amien Rais.
Reuters in Jakarta – Three people have been killed and four wounded in a fresh bout of violence in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, showing the futility of a recently agreed ceasefire extension.
Police say a total of eight people have been killed since the truce was announced on Wednesday while rebel leaders put the figure as high as 30.
Jakarta – Indonesian police have detected an underground bunker below the central Jakarta home of former president Suharto's fugitive son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.
Chris McCall, Banda Aceh – The controversial trial of Aceh's top civilian independence activist is expected to start in the course of a new one-month truce with separatist rebels, his colleagues say.
Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Banking magnate James Riady's conviction for illegal funding of US politicians will ruffle feathers in the US Congress and government but is unlikely to scare off American businessmen from Indonesia.
Jakarta – More than 150 East Timorese journalists, gathering at their inaugural congress in the East Timor capital of Dili, have agreed to build an independent, free press in their new country, a press statement issued Saturday by the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) said.
Ambon – One hundred people marched to the Maluku Police Headquarters in Batumeja on Friday to protest Thursday's arrest of Alex Manuputty, chief executive of the Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM).
Banda Aceh – At least six people, including a soldier on guard at an Exxon-Mobil oil company complex were killed, and eight others injured in renewed violence in Indonesia's Aceh province, police and hospitals said Friday.
Chris McCall, Banda Aceh – Behind Banda Aceh's landmark Baiturrahman mosque, a street vendor was scratching a living as he does every day, mashing up sugar cane for drinks.
"Is there a new agreement? We don't know about politics," he said when told of a one-month "moratorium on violence" signed on Wednesday by Acehnese rebels and the Indonesian Government in Switzerland.
Jakarta – The State Official Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN) functionaries and members were sworn in by President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid at the State Palace on Thursday.
Yogyakarta – Activists from various groups representing laborers, peasants, fishermen and youths have launched a new organization called the All-Jawa Socialist Movement Committee. The Committee was established following a two-day gathering which ended on Monday.
Jakarta – The South Jakarta District Court began on Thursday the trial of six pro-integration East Timorese for the murder of three United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) staff in Atambua, East Nusa Tenggara in September last year.
Wamena – The wreckage of the ill-fated Navy Cassa plane was located in a remote mountainous area of Jayawijaya regency on Wednesday with all people aboard found dead.
Jakarta – An Australian-based laboratory has jump-started the 1993 rape-murder case of female labor activist Marsinah as it had found out that the DNA in the blood found at the residence of a former primary defendant in the case matched that of the activist's.
Vaudine England, Jakarta – A busload of militant Muslims walked into the offices of the English-language Jakarta Post to "deliver a strong protest" over an editorial that described Indonesians who fought with the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan as mercenaries, the newspaper reported yesterday.