It is no dream team, but can President Abdurrahman Wahid's new Cabinet save his presidency from an early death? Many of the Jakarta elite do not think so, judging by yesterday's negative coverage in the Indonesian media. Devi Asmarani and Marianne Kearney of The Straits Times Indonesia Bureau highlight the good and the bad.

Jakarta – Pro-Soeharto protesters threatened yesterday to bring around 25,000 people to the Agriculture Ministry building in Ragunan, South Jakarta, the planned site of the former president's trial slated for August 31.

Jakarta – In a slum of West Java's Kiaracondong district, hundreds of families live on the border of death. With their shacks just an arm's length from the railroad tracks, husbands, wives and children are at risk each time a train rumbles through.

United Nations – A recent amendment to the Indonesian Constitution might force the United Nations to hold an international inquiry into human rights abuses in East Timor, a spokesman said.

Barry Wain – The way most reports had it, the Indonesian military ambushed unarmed politicians in the final hours of People's Consultative Assembly deliberations in Jakarta last week. They somehow persuaded or coerced the civilians into agreeing that officers be allowed to sit in the assembly until 2009, instead of 2004.

Jeremy Wagstaff, Manado – One day in December 1998, a hearse pulled into the graveled courtyard of the Saint Joseph Catholic church in this port city on the island of Sulawesi. Two men slid a white coffin out of the back of the car and hauled it up the steps to the church door.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday appointed a retired army general and an economist to key posts in a streamlined Cabinet he hopes will pull Indonesia out of nearly three years of economic, civil and political turmoil.

H Dharmastuti/Swastika & AH, Jakarta – The Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) and the National Police (Polri) are said to be the worst violators of the Humanitarian Pause in Aceh. Unknown armed groups are second on the list, with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) ranked last.

Jakarta – A leading human rights watchdog says four missing activists from the Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA) may have been abducted by hired thugs or assassins.

Jakarta – US Ambassador Robert S. Gelbard and National Police Chief General Rusdihardjo yesterday signed an agreement to provide training, technical assistance and equipment to enhance the professional capacity of the police force.

Michael Backman – Three years ago, Ari Sigit was on the cover of Indonesian magazines trumpeted as Indonesia's business whiz kid. Today, Mr Ari's name tends to be linked more to drugs, sex scandals and cancelled contracts than to alleged business prowess. What happened in the intervening period? His grandfather, Mr Suharto, resigned as president.

Mia Trinephi, Hong Kong – While Indonesia's debt has reached unsustainable levels, the government's immediate options to restructure its debt remain limited, analysts say.

Shoeb Kagda – President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday unveiled a new Cabinet tilted strongly in his favour, catching many observers and market analysts off guard. They had expected some concessions towards Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who, in recent days, had become more strident in pushing her claim to power as well as having a say in the running of the country.

Many hope to see the new team last the full term, but early signs are discouraging, says Yang Razali Kassim

What a way to start off a new Cabinet. President Abdurrahman Wahid has been insisting that he and his vice-president remain the best of friends; it's the media that's been making things up, he charged.

Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid unveiled a new slimmer Cabinet to tackle myriad problems, ranging from separatist unrest to economic woes and corruption.

It has two coordinating ministers, 16 ministers, five state ministers without ministries and three junior ministers

Jakarta – The new Cabinet has been criticized as having ministers lacking in competence and being poorly supported by major political parties.

People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais gave a thumbs-down on Wednesday to President Abdurrahman Wahid's new team, saying it was even worse than the old one in terms of the quality of its personnel.

The annual two-week session of Indonesia's Peoples Consultative Assembly (MPR) from August 7 to 18 witnessed growing collaboration between Golkar, the political machine of the former Suharto military dictatorship, and the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), led by Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Max Lane – The current session of Indonesia's parliament, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), began with much criticism of President Abdurrahman Wahid by politicians and threats that he would be deposed, forced to appoint a prime minister or made to surrender significant power to vice-president Megawati Sukarnoputri. None of it happened.

Makkasar – Fresh sectarian violence hit Luwu regency, South Sulawesi. Masses clashed sporadically between Monday, August 21, until today, August 23. Gunfire volleys were heard in Luwu, located 600 kilometers north of Makassar. Two other settlements were burned.

Dan Murphy, Yogyakarta – At a humble mosque on the gentle slopes below one of Indonesia's largest volcanoes, Ja'far Umar Thalib, commander of a Muslim militia accused of terrorizing the Maluku islands, explains what jihad means to him.

Daniel Nelson, Dili – Economic and social rights are as important as traditionally defined human rights, UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson emphasised on her recent visit to East Timor. But many people in what will soon become the world's newest independent country made it clear they had a more pressing priority: justice for past wrongs.

Jakarta – Three people were killed and seven others injured yesterday when police clashed with a crowd defending a separatist flag hoisted in the Indonesian province of Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya.

Police said the clash broke out after about 500 people hoisted the separatist Morning Star flag outside a church in the coastal oil town of Sorong.

Jakarta – The number of unemployment in Indonesia has reached 37 million, a senior official said.

The existing program for jobless eradication was inadequate, Coordinating Minister for Social Welfare and Poverty Eradication Basri Hasanuddin was quoted Wednesday by the Jakarta Post daily as saying.

Jakarta – Lawyers defending Indonesian military officers accused of human rights violations in East Timor have vowed to use a controversial constitutional amendment to save them from prosecution.

Vanja Tanaja, Dili – Speaking at a meeting of the just weeks-old East Timor Press Club on August 12, Jose Ramos Horta, vice-president of the National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT) said that the CNRT would cease to exist "in six to 12 months' time".

Yogyakarta – The Yogyakarta Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) condemned the violence committed against activists and the office of the university student magazine "Arena", Dema, Sena, and the Islamic Religious Endeavor Corps (Kordiska) of Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic Institute (IAIN).

MMI Ahyani/BI & AH, Bandung – Hundreds supporters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) have staged a protest in Bandung. Calling themselves the West Java Community Movement Against Phony Reformists, they demand the dismissal of the PDIP faction leader at the House of Representatives, Arifin Panigoro.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Government ministers admit they were caught off guard by a constitutional amendment which appears to provide legal protection to the generals and other military officers behind last year's violent rampage through East Timor.

Prosecutors say they will name all those officers being held responsible tomorrow, with the view to an eventual trial.

Jakarta – Suspected militiamen attacked a UNHCR mission in Indonesia bringing aid to a refugee camp in West Timor on Tuesday, badly beating up three of its members, a UN official there said.

"It was totally without explanation," UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) officer Adelmno Risi told AFP by phone from the West Timor capital of Kupang.

Kafil Yamin, Jakarta – Indonesia's still floundering economy has thrown many families across the country into throes of despair and wreaked havoc on relations between husbands and wives.

Jakarta – Hundreds of members of the Riau Farmers Association (SPR) yesterday demonstrated outside the main branch of Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) in Pekanbaru city, demanding the disbursement of Rp6.7 billion (US$805,000) in rural assistance loans. The farmers marched to the BRI building after rallying at the provincial legislative assembly.

Seth Mydans, Jakarta – Top military commanders have won a skirmish in Parliament to slow their retreat from political influence. At the same time, they seem to be losing control of many of their troops in the field.

Medan – Some 10,000 public transportation drivers paralyzed the North Sumatra capital on Monday with a city-wide strike. The strikers, who were demanding cheaper spare parts, subsidized fuel and an end to illegal fees, brought business and social activities to a virtual standstill.

Vaudine England – The Independent Commission on Aceh, which has helped bring soldiers and officers to trial over human rights abuses in the strife-torn province, said in its final report that the Government's current deal with separatist rebels was a failure, and that a threatened crackdown risked an East Timor-like crisis.

Jakarta – A three-month truce in Indonesia's restive Aceh province enabled rebels to set up a "shadow government" across almost two-thirds of the province, a government commander based there said, arguing the truce must not be extended.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Almost a year since voting to end Indonesian rule, East Timor is about to launch into open politicking about the shape of its independent state once the United Nations interim administration ends.

The UN is to draft legislation allowing political campaigning for the first democratic parliamentary elections next year.

Anthony Spaeth – If you stand at the harbor of Surabaya, Indonesia's famed port and second-largest city, you can see the island of Madura only 4 km across the water. For a decade, there was a plan to connect the city and the island with a bridge, but financing never came through and the only progress was a few premature concrete pillars that now stand forlornly in the sea.

Jason Tedjasukmana, Pekanbaru – Syaparudin, a former logger, stands next to the Caltex oil pipeline that stretches for 900 km across the central Sumatra province of Riau. Locals call it the "giant snake," and many of them – including Syaparudin – would like to kill it.

Hestiana Dharmastuti/Hendra & LM, Jakarta – The blame for the disappearance of four activists from the parliament grounds is being laid in many quarters.

Scott Burchill – In his first lecture on Indonesian soil after being banished for 26 years, Professor Benedict Anderson spoke about the bewildered expression on the faces of his Indonesian students over the years at Cornell University whenever he asked them "who in Indonesia today do you admire and look up to?"

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The upsurge in fighting on the border between East and West Timor is the latest sign that the Indonesian military's special forces remain outside the control of the Government, Jakarta-based diplomats say.

Mark Dodd, Aileu – Fighters from the former guerilla resistance force Falintil, in their first move out of forced cantonment since the United Nations entered East Timor, will join UN peacekeepers in hunting down pro-Indonesian militia launching cross-border raids.

Jakarta – Indonesia yesterday demanded that separatists drop demands for independence for Aceh, and warned that it was losing patience in the search for peace for the troubled province.

Jakarta – An average of 1.6 million ha of Indonesia's forests are being destroyed every year, mostly by illegal loggers with powerful connections here and abroad, a report said yesterday.

Forestry Ministry secretary-general Suripto said illegal loggers formed mafia-like international networks and that their operations were hard to track down.

Jakarta – Indonesian Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab on Saturday said some soldiers might have encouraged the pro-Jakarta militias in the border area of East Timor.

"It is possible that certain individual [soldiers] have encouraged the militias' operations, but as an institution it is obvious that the military doesn't want the incidents to happen," Shihab told journalists.

Jakarta – Concluding its Annual Session on Friday, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) endorsed nine decrees, two of which certified the military's presence at the Assembly until 2009 and the new tasks for Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Devi Asmarani and Robert Go, Jakarta – No fire on the streets and smaller fireworks than expected in Indonesia's parliament complex. The first annual session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) ended with an anti-climax yesterday with the last tap of Speaker Amien Rais' gavel.

Banda Aceh – A commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels in restive North Aceh regency Abu Sofyan Daud conceded that the movement has special links with officers in the Indonesian Military (TNI).

Jakarta – Employees of coal mining firm PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) in Sangata regency, East Kalimantan, ended their strike on Friday after assurances were made that the company would not fire them.

Jakarta – Human Rights Watch on Saturday slammed Indonesia's MPs for passing a law that could let former president Suharto and senior military officers escape punishment for gross human rights abuses, including those in East Timor.