Jakarta – More than 200 Indonesian protestors picketed an empty parliament building here for the second consecutive day yesterday to demand that the government scrap a planned rise in fuel prices.

"A mere postponement means nothing. The people will continue to suffer," one demonstrator yelled at a free speech forum set up at the main entrance to the parliamentary complex.

Jakarta – The National Defence Forces (TNI) will make a "comprehensive and meticulous" assessment of President Abdurrrahman Wahid's proposal to revoke a 1966 Provisional People's Consultative Assembly (MPRS) resolution banning the dissemination of communism, Leninism and Marxism, TNI Commander Admiral Widodo said here Monday.

Banda Aceh – A joint team of policemen and military personnel found eight human skeletons – some dressed in military uniforms – during search operations in Aceh Besar, North and West Aceh on Saturday, a military source said.

Jakarta – Jakarta Police Chief Major General Nurfaizi has appealed to warring gangs in East Jakarta, who were still fighting yesterday, to stop their continual clashes.

The Berlan gang and Palmeriam gang, separated by Jalan Matraman Raya, frequently clash and end up damaging shops, restaurants, stalls and houses along the road.

Jakarta – Violence marred protests against the controversial fuel price hike and former president Soeharto on Saturday.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – In a manner some here see as reminiscent of Golkar's elections during the rule of former President Suharto, Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri was unanimously re-elected to lead the country's largest party until the next elections in 2004.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Taking his case directly to the people after Friday prayers in Jakarta, President Abdurrahman Wahid made his strongest appeal yet for a review of 1966 parliamentary decrees banning the communist ideology in Indonesia. "The spirit of this regulation infringes on someone's basic rights without clear justifications," he said.

Jakarta – Indonesia faces a race against time to fulfil pledges made to the International Monetary Fund if it is to persuade creditors to reschedule its debt and the IMF to release its next loan instalment, officials said yesterday.

Jakarta – After more than two years of waiting as a result of unclear stories, Diah Sujirah, the wife of a young poet and member of the People's Democratic Party (PRD), have finally reported the disappearance of Wiji Thukul to the Committee of the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (Kontras)

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The Indonesian government yesterday delayed a fuel hike to avert threats of mass demonstrations in the country.

Jakarta – Two aircraft passengers were wounded when separatist rebels in Aceh province yesterday attacked the police posted at an airport run by an Indonesian subsidiary of Mobil Oil Inc, a rebel spokesman said.

Marianne Kearney, Semarang – Charismatic Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri is still hugely popular with ordinary Indonesians. But her popularity may not last until the next elections if her party does not reform itself, say party critics.

Joanna Jolly, Tuapukan – The song is the most popular in the camp. "UNAMET go home, you only came for a few months, but many people died," the refugees sing to an upbeat tune. "You came to be in the middle, but in fact you were not. Because of UNAMET, we have left our children and gone away from our families."

Michael Richardson, Singapore – The United States is moving toward restoring full military ties with Indonesia that were cut in September when hard-liners in the Indonesian Army were accused of supporting a campaign of killing, destruction and forced movement of people by militia gangs after East Timor voted for independence.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – After taking part in or helping to loot almost everything of value in East Timor last year, Indonesian soldiers are claiming compensation for losing their belongings in a hasty withdrawal from the territory.

Heather Paterson, Dili – East Timor may be heading for renewed political turmoil as its former independence movement – now relieved of the common enemy that once united it – begins to crumble, party leaders warn.

Indonesia has consulted the International Monetary Fund on its delay in raising fuel prices, said Economics Minister Kwik Kian Gie. He added that the IMF gave no reaction and Mr Kwik said this means no objection.

Jakarta – The government collected Rp 95.57 trillion (US$12.74 billion) in income, sales, value-added and property taxes in the fiscal year which ended on Friday, about 3 percent above the Rp 92.14 trillion target.

Jakarta – Jakarta Police chief Maj. Gen. Nurfaizi said on Friday the capital would be on high alert from Saturday through until the end of April.

Jakarta – The Indonesian capital, put on top security alert in anticipation of planned massive demonstrations against fuel price hikes, was essentially quiet Saturday except for a brief clash involving students calling for former president Suharto to be tried for corruption.

Jakarta – Although on Friday the government delayed the price increase of fuel, thousands of high school, university students and workers went ahead with a demonstration on Saturday. They were protesting the government policy on fuel, electricity the regional minimum wage and [high-ranking civil service] wage increases.

Esther Permatasari, Jakarta – Around 2000 students from the National Student League for Democracy (LMND) and 5000 workers under the banner of the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle (FNPBI) are presently preparing to pack out the national parliament building.

Jakarta – Seven student and labor organizations have vowed to bring some 10,000 people to the streets on Saturday to protest the government's plan to raise fuel prices the same day.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Noelbaki refugee camp – Sitting on a rickety wooden bed frame in a cramped corner of her barracks, with only a sheet to provide privacy from her neighbors, Augustina Said spends her days hoping she and her family can return to the life they had in East Timor. To their freshly painted house. To their television, refrigerator and comfortable furniture.

Joanna Jolly – An organised campaign of misinformation regarding the situation in East Timor is preventing many refugees from returning home, say international aid workers in the Indonesian province of West Timor.

Tom Fawthrop, Dili – Riot police and UN peacekeepers held back a mob of more than 800 angry East Timorese protesters outside the world body's headquarters in Dili yesterday. Many in the crowd had shown up for promised job interviews but the UN had earlier cancelled them without informing the applicants.

Don Greenlees, Kupang – Even in a military known for disregarding civil rights, Korem 164 is a notorious unit. Its men will be remembered either for standing by and watching the rape of East Timor or joining in the final rampage of arson, lootings and murder.

Jakarta – Indonesian police fired tear gas during clashes yesterday with protesters against a planned weekend increase in fuel and electricity prices.

The clashes occurred a short distance from the house of former President Suharto, who earlier in the day failed to turn up for questioning about alleged corruption.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid openly criticized his Cabinet – particularly the economic team – on Thursday, banning ministers from overseas travel until they are able to resolve a pressing problem with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta – Leaning forward in his armchair, Indonesia's founding father, President Sukarno, hands a sheaf of papers to a general seated on his right. Other generals, presidential aides and the first lady watch impassively.

Sidrap – Thousands of farmers in Sidrap regency, some 230 kilometers north of the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar, have threatened to stop growing rice if the price of unhusked rice does not improve before the next harvest in October.

Frustrated by the fact that they had not benefited from planting rice this harvest, the farmers claimed they would prefer to plant cacao.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government has shut down polluting pulp maker PT Inti Indorayon Utama (JSX: INRU) in Porsea, North Sumatra, pending a permanent settlement of its case by an arbitrator, an Indonesian environmental activist said.

Banda Aceh – Unidentified gunmen killed at least seven people, including three policemen, and injured two in a series of shootings in restive Aceh province, police and residents said Thursday.

Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that instability could occur if the government presses ahead with its plan to increase prices in the energy sector, at a time when economic recovery is still in a fragile state.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Only a day after attending a lavish reception in Jakarta for his grand-daughter's wedding, former president Soeharto has claimed he is not healthy enough to answer questions about corruption during his 32-year rule.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Dili – Louis Nkopipe spent last week in the sweltering Dili courthouse conducting a crash course on elementary legal principles. "Defendants are presumed innocent," intoned Nkopipe, a French lawyer, at the start of one lecture. "And they have the right not to incriminate themselves."

Paul Daley, Canberra – Paul Keating has launched another attack on John Howard's handling of the East Timor crisis, repeating his allegation that the Prime Minister is directly responsible for the bloodshed in the newly independent state.

Shoeb Kagda – Concern over the International Monetary Fund (IMF) delaying its next loan payment of US$400 million to Indonesia sent the rupiah skidding yesterday to its lowest level in over two months.

The Indonesian currency fell to as low as 7,630 against the US dollar in morning trade before recovering later to close at the 7,600-level.

Singapore – The chief of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) said Tuesday top Indonesian ministers have given "verbal" approval to issue bonds to bail out 48 companies indebted to IBRA.

Hundreds of Indonesian illegal immigrants rioted at a holding centre in Johor. Local newspaper reports quoted an Indonesian consulate official as saying that the riot began after a detainee was allegedly assaulted by a guard and sent to hospital.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government will pay out 495.8 billion rupiah (S$112 million) in subsidies for the poor and public transport operators to offset planned fuel price hikes.

A total of 164.8 billion rupiah had been earmarked for subsidies to the poor to buy kerosene, the deputy chairman of the National Development Planning Board, Muhammad Abduh, said.

Jakarta – A close friend of former president Suharto was detained yesterday by the Attorney-General's office in connection with an investigation into the alleged misuse of funds involving an Indonesian government contract.

Pip Hinman – Indonesian House of Representatives speaker and Golkar faction leader Akbar Tandjung wants the Abdurrahman Wahid government to ratify the draconian security law which was pushed through a depleted parliament during the last hours of the B.J. Habibie government on September 24.

Comment by Max Lane – Socialists and progressive people face an important challenge in the coming few years to match the "solidarity" the Australian ruling class is extending to the new government of Indonesia and to any new conservative elite who may emerge as rulers in East Timor.

Editorial and opinion – Competing agendas remain one hindrance to reform within the Indonesian Military, says Damien Kingsbury, the Executive Officer of Monash Asia Institute, who recently wrote Guns and Ballot Boxes: East Timor's vote for independence.

Medan – The provincial authorities have banned the Aceh Community Congress (Konggres Masyarakat Aceh), scheduled to begin on Monday and last through Friday, citing security reasons.

Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has proposed breaking his country's reliance on the United States for military equipment. He proposed that instead the domestic defense industry expand along with a network of international suppliers. Wahid appears to be seeking leverage for an upcoming visit to Washington.

Semarang – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said yesterday that his government will propose that the country's next president and vice-president be elected directly by the people in 2004.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid said Indonesia must develop its own military industries, diversify its weapons- sourcing and move away from dependence on the United States.

Paul Daley, Canberra – Indonesian military figures associated with the discredited Suharto regime are deliberately smearing Australia with unsubstantiated allegations of unauthorised RAAF spy flights over the archipelago, senior Australian defence and intelligence figures claim.