Tomi Soetjipto, Banda Aceh – Fear and despair have returned to haunt Indonesia's rebellious province of Aceh.
With a military crackdown looming, the chilling prospect is more bloodshed, a hardening of hatred towards Jakarta and growing calls for independence that will severly undermine President Abdurrahman Wahid's efforts to bring peace to his giant country.
Jakarta – Independence leaders jailed on subversion charges in Indonesia's remote Irian Jaya province have vowed to reject any attempt by President Abdurrahman Wahid or police to release them from prison early, a lawyer for the detainees said Thursday.
Jakarta – A soldier was mobbed to death in the remote town of Tiom, Irian Jaya, some 80 kilometers south of Wamena, following a dispute between officers and locals over the pulling down of the Morning Star separatist flag, an official said on Wednesday.
Chris McCall, Jakarta – Detained independence activist Muhammad Nazar has a simple message for Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid: turn up the heat on Aceh and you may stir up a war you cannot win.
Jakarta – Muslim youth leaders on Friday joined a plea by lawyers and rights advocates for police to stop allowing violent vigilante raids on Indonesian nightspots in the name of Islam go unpunished.
"Violence, in any name, is nothing but intentional destruction," Imam Addaruqudni, head of the 30-million strong Muhammadiyah youth wing, told a joint media conference here.
Sadanand Dhume, Jakarta – Whoever thinks central banks are dull and stodgy probably hasn't been to Indonesia recently. Take, for instance, the latest drama to be enacted in Jakarta's corridors of power. On December 6, Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin strode back into his office after nearly six months of house arrest on unproven corruption charges.
Devi Asmarani, Banda Aceh – Were there a rating system for a presidential mission to a conflict-torn area, President Abdurrahman Wahid's visit to Aceh on Tuesday would probably have got a borderline pass. It was not a complete failure, but was far from a great success.
Vaudine England, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid's comments in Aceh belie how wide the gulf is between him and much of his Government and how little room he has to manoeuvre.
Susan Sim, Jakarta – The first Cabinet of President Abdurrahman Wahid had been in place barely one week before he began telling aides he wanted to sack some of them.
His second, hand-picked Cabinet is enjoying, it would appear, a longer lifespan: Talk of its reshuffle only began in earnest last week, some 15 weeks after it was sworn in.
Jakarta – Former pro-Indonesia militia leaders from East Timor's Baucau district are preparing for a one-day visit to their homeland to see whether it's safe enough to bring 6,000 refugees home, their leader said Wednesday.
Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will disburse its next loan tranche to Indonesia only after the House of Representatives completes a crucial amendment of the central bank law, Minister of Finance Prijadi Praptosuhardjo said on Tuesday.
Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Australia has with held from United Nations prosecutors hundreds of hours of secret communication intercepts, which implicate dozens of people, including former armed forces chief General Wiranto, in last year's violence in East Timor.
Jakarta – Despite facing threats of violent protest, the government will continue with its plan to dissolve the civilian guards of the People's Security (Kamra) on Wednesday. "Due to the National Police's tight agenda for its year-end activities, Kamra will officially be dissolved tomorrow (Wednesday)," spokesman for the Ministry of Defense for foreign cooperation Commodore A.F.M.
Jakarta – East Timor militia leader Eurico Guterres will open the new year unlike any other as he faces court proceedings against him on January 2. He is charged with involvement in the seizure of weapons from an Atambua police station in East Nusa Tenggara in September.
Hamish McDonald – The Indonesian Government is hoping the new administration of George W. Bush will quickly end the American arms embargo that threatens to cripple its armed forces.
It also hopes for an end to the public criticism of its approach to militia violence in Timor and other human rights questions by the United States ambassador in Jakarta, Mr Robert Gelbard.
Jakarta – The youngest daughter of former Indonesian leader Suharto was sentenced yesterday to a 10-day suspended jail term for failing to report the loss of a pistol.
Christine T. Tjandraningsih, Jakarta – Despite offers of reconciliation from Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer, who spent 14 years in prison under the repressive Suharto regime for "communist activities," said Tuesday reconciliation is impossible.
Hestiana Dharmastuti/BI & GB, Jakarta – Around 50 female activists under the auspices of Indonesian Women's Solidarity (SPI) staged a rally at the famous Hotel Indonesia roundabout in the heart of Jakarta to commemorate International Migrant Workers' Day.
John Martinkus, Banda Aceh – Handing out gruesome photographs of Acehnese shot point-blank in the head in recent violence, Free Aceh Movement (GAM) representative Zulfani saw nothing positive in the visit today of Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid to Aceh.
Tomi Soetjipto, Banda Aceh – Wearing a bullet-proof vest, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid visited the bloodied province of Aceh on Tuesday and urged separatists to join in developing the country.
Banda Aceh – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid visited the troubled province of Aceh on Tuesday and pledged to continue talks with separatist rebels after a truce expires next month.
Mark Dodd – East Timor independence leader Jose "Xanana" Gusmao has called for international support for a South African-style truth and reconciliation commission as the best means of achieving peace for his country.
MMI Ahyani/BI & GB, Bandung – Rather than receive the end of the year bonus enjoyed by millions of others, workers from the PT Warna Indah Samajaya (WIS) textile factory have been threatened with dismissal, apparently for forming a union. In protest, the workers arrived at the West Java Provincial Legislative Council Monday.
Jakarta – Indonesian police have returned cash and valuables taken from students during raids in the wake of a separatist attack in the eastern province of Irian Jaya, a rights advocate said Monday.
Jakarta – The Financial Sector Policy Committee (FSPC) has issued a new ruling that will provide a legal basis for creditors to accelerate debt restructuring procedures for their debtors.
Auckland – Australia does not want Indonesia to break up and is strongly opposed to its various separatist movements, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said here Saturday.
Downer and his New Zealand counterpart Phil Goff completed a day of talks here which included discussions on the worsening situation in the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya.
Jakarta – Indonesian police have warned hard-line Muslim gangs raiding and smashing bars, discos and red-light areas in and around the capital, that they had gone too far.
Kereng Pangi – Unrest broke out in Kereng Pangi, Katingan Hilir district, Kotawaringin Timur regency, Central Kalimantan on Saturday, leaving two migrants in critical condition.
Antara reported that some 100 Dayak ethnics attacked the houses of migrants at Kereng Pangi, some 100 kilometers from the Central Kalimantan capital of Palangkaraya, early Saturday morning.
Agence France Presse in Jakarta – A human rights worker in the troubled Irian Jaya province was arrested yesterday for discrediting police by publicising the killing of three students by police, a fellow activist said.
Jakarta – The Army Chief General Endriartono Sutarto yesterday said police have not been able to fight a separatist movement in Aceh. Speaking in the Central Java capital of Semarang, he said an immediate military operation could be the only way to end the bloodshed in the troubled province.
Banda Aceh – Armed men on Saturday attacked army troops securing the capital of Indonesia's troubled Aceh province ahead of next week's presidential visit, police said. A skirmish broke out between a team of military and police and rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
Susan Sim, Jakarta – As an article of faith, the logic is sound: Once the economy picks up, the government will be strong again and happy hours will be over for the opposition parties.
Jakarta – More than 2,000 troops have been deployed to the troubled Aceh province amid rising violence and assassination threats against President Abdurrahman Wahid, who is to visit there next week.
Jakarta – A businessman offered a bribe to a special parliamentary committee to stop investigating a financial scandal that allegedly involves Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, a committee member has said.
Bangkok – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said Friday that individual wrongdoers, not institution, must be punished in the crackdown against human rights violations by his country's military.
Jakarta – Eurico Guterres, a former pro-Jakarta East Timorese militia leader, has been charged in connection with the death of three foreign workers of the UN High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) in Indonesia-ruled West Timor in September, a leading Indonesian newspaper said Friday.
Banda Aceh – The situation in Aceh during the year of 2000 has not significantly improved, said Coordinator Deputy of Aceh Commission for Missing Persons & Victims of Violence (Kontras), Fouad Ismail. The government still commits violence, which adds the long list of human rights violation in Aceh.
Jakarta – Three bodies were found and some 40 people were missing and feared dead after an attack on a boat carrying Muslims from Indonesia's Ternate island to a port in northern Halmahera, a port official said Thursday.
Jakarta – Anger over an international probe into last year's atrocities in East Timor on Thursday prompted Indonesia's parliament to review its agreement with the United Nations. The move follows repeated threats by the army and MPs to reject the accord with the UN administration in East Timor (UNTAET).
Jakarta – A 22-year-old migrant student Achmad, who was allegedly kidnapped by the Free Papua Movement (OPM) last Saturday, was found dead and mutilated on Tuesday evening, Antara news agency reported.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Over the past week, Irian Jaya has witnessed two lightning attacks by unknown rebels. One last Thursday on a police station and a regional government office and another on Indonesian logging camps.
Sydney – Independence leaders from the Indonesian province of Papua issued a plea in Melbourne on Thursday for the United Nations to intervene in the escalating conflict between separatists and the Indonesian authorities.
Jakarta – Police in Indonesia's troubled Irian Jaya province have arrested five more separatist leaders on suspicion of subversion, their lawyer said yesterday.
The activists, all members of the pro-independence Papuan Presidium Council, are being questioned over a bloody riot in the remote town of Wamena in October, attorney Seth Waramori said.
Agencies in Jakarta – A human rights worker has given a chilling account of narrowly escaping a group execution in Aceh province in which four people were shot dead.
Jakarta – The British government is planning to provide scholarships and training for Indonesian Air Force personnel, including fighter pilots, as part of its aid to improve the quality of the Air force's human resources, Antara reported.
Dan Murphy – A United Nations prosecutor in East Timor indicted 11 men Monday for crimes against humanity in what promises to be a first step on a long and contentious road to justice.
Chris Brummitt, Jakarta – Posters plastered around Jakarta by the Islamic Defenders Front are clear enough: "Burn the nightspots that refuse to close for Ramadan," reads one. Another promises to destroy whoever "soils the holiness" of Islam's fasting month.
Richard C. Paddock, Jakarta – For Suharto, once the all-powerful ruler of Indonesia, life today is a tangle of medical tubes, criminal charges and political intrigue.
Now 79, the former military dictator who ruled for 32 years lives quietly in seclusion in his Jakarta home as family members struggle to save his reputation and their own vast fortunes.
Jakarta – At least eight people were killed when gunmen opened fire on a boat carrying Muslim refugees in Indonesia's troubled Maluku islands, witnesses were quoted as saying Wednesday.
An Australian soldier was injured in a suspected militia attack in East Timor overnight, the East Timor Australian National Command said today.