Agencies in Banda Aceh – Indonesian troops yesterday raided four villages in troubled Aceh province searching for rebels, a day after a landmark meeting there between an Indonesian envoy and a rebel leader, residents said.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid's approval of attempts to reopen the case of the 1965 abortive coup and its bloody aftermath has caused some controversy.

Jayapura – Local police have officially named nine leading Irianese figures here as suspects for allegedly plotting against the state. Irian Jaya Police chief of detectives Col. Tukarno said on Wednesday that the nine were named suspects for their alleged involvement in a series of proindependence rallies since late last year.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid attended joint prayers held at the residence of former President Suharto to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the death of Mr Suharto's wife, a report said on Thursday.

Anastasia Vrachnos, Ailieu – In the mountains south of Dili, men with long hair and guns stand in the pre-dawn mist. They introduce themselves to a visitor with noms de guerre.

Marianne Kearney – One of the major problems in the haze crisis is the weak enforcement of flawed, existing laws. Companies flout the law because there is no one agency that monitors whether they abide by it.

In the past, good proposals to deter companies and farmers from starting the fires were made. Years later, they still exist – as drafts.

Joanna Jolly, Jakarta – The respect of East Timorese for the United Nations transitional administration's work is waning and it is in danger of being compared to the previous Indonesian colonial regime, observers said yesterday.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia's President, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, said yesterday that some senior military officers were plotting to overthrow him but any attempt would fail because he had the public's support.

George J.

James Balowski – Indonesia has moved toward a more pluralistic democracy but human rights abuses remained rife in 1999, according to a US State Department report released on February 25.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesia's economic growth will exceed previous conservative estimates of between 3 and 4 percent, but the International Monetary Fund's new representative here, Mr John Dodsworth, has warned that the growth will slow down if the government does not quickly restructure the banking, corporate and legal systems.

May Sari, Jakarta – Three hundred women and men marched from the Kapuk industrial area to Indonesia's parliament building on International Women's Day, March 8. IWD was not celebrated in Indonesia before 1999.

Scott Burchill – Indonesia would not have been able to illegally occupy and terrorise East Timor for a quarter of a century without the support it received from the West, particularly Australia.

The tactics employed by pro-integrationists in Australia to ensure Canberra's diplomatic collaboration with Jakarta were often crude, but they were remarkably effective.

Vannessa Hearman, Dili – Activities to mark International Women's Day on March 8 here included performance art and a public forum on the place of women in the rebuilding process in East Timor. Held in a large indoor stadium, the events were organised by Fokupers, a local women's rights organisation.

Mark Abberton – Five hundred people participated in a four-day congress beginning February 23 in Sentani, in Indonesian- controlled West Papua, to discuss efforts to build a unified leadership for independence. About 1000 security personnel stood outside but did not intervene.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has asked the Indonesian Government to investigate findings that its armed forces lured villagers to their deaths by using a helicopter disguised to look like a Red Cross transport.

Jakarta – Despite claims by Indonesia's President that the situation in Aceh province is improving, the Red Cross said yesterday that the violence was as bad as ever, with torture and murder a common occurrence.

Mr Paul Grossrieder, director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said the situation in Aceh was "very critical".

Dili – Elements of the Indonesian military are providing direct support for armed pro-Jakarta militiamen infiltrating into East Timor, a senior US diplomat said Tuesday.

Dili – The United Nations peacekeeping force in East Timor has confiscated a number of weapons smuggled by ship from Indonesia's West Timor and detained at least five people, a UN spokesman said Friday.

Dili – The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) Thursday established East Timor's first customs and tax system to provide the territory with much-needed revenue.

Simon Montlake, Jakarta – The Indonesian government is under pressure to consider increasing protection for domestic rice producers, after protests by farmers over low prices paid for unhusked rice, local newspapers said Tuesday.

Simon Montlake, Jakarta – Indonesia must tread cautiously in cutting fuel subsidies and should seek to lessen the impact on kerosene prices as this directly hits poorer households, International Monetary Fund representative to Indonesia, John Dodsworth said Tuesday.

Jakarta – The National Business Development Council has urged the government to immediately deal with security disturbances against the business sector, saying that in 1999 alone, the business sector suffered losses of around Rp5 trillion [US$714 million].

Jakarta – Two student protesters participating in a hunger strike at the Attorney General's Office in South Jakarta for the past week were admitted to St. Carolus Hospital on Monday because of dehydration. Six other students are continuing the hunger strike.

Jakarta – Thousands of people are fleeing to safer areas as fresh fighting between religious groups in the Maluku islands left many dead and more than 100 houses burnt or damaged.

Mr Muhammad Albar, a Muslim activist, said the bodies of 11 Muslims were found in Galela, a town on Halmahera in North Maluku, the biggest island in the region, AP reported.

Jakarta – A glass window in a hallway in Indonesia's parliament building was pierced yesterday by what seemed to be a bullet, just minutes after former president Suharto's youngest son passed it on his way to give testimony, witnesses said.

Jakarta – Hundreds of students the North Sumatra legislative assembly yesterday to demand the final closure of a factory operated by pulp and rayon fiber producer PT Inti Indorayon Utama.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Infighting involving senior United Nations staff is threatening East Timor's transition to independence, a senior official says.

The policy dispute has led to the resignation of the UN's head of district administration, who claims "Stalinist" and "colonialist" practises by several senior staff members are jeopardising the UN mission.

Diarmid O'Sullivan, Lhokseumawe – A brutal crackdown by the Indonesian security forces in the province of Aceh is smothering the separatist movement, local people and observers say. They believe it could compel the Acehnese to accept a compromise peace with Jakarta.

Jakarta – The complete works of Indonesia's best known author, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, banned in his own country for four decades, are to be published in their entirety for the first time. "Starting next month we will republish everything," the author told AFP.

Jakarta – A group of human rights lawyers on Monday protested as unecessary and flawed a draft bill being prepared by the government to pave the way for the creation of a human rights court in Indonesia.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesia's government is getting ready to crack the whip on recalcitrant debtors by giving the Attorney-General's Office powers to sue companies that fail to pay their debts – a development that can have significant implications for the country's economic growth.

Jakarta – Here's a riddle: A plane carrying 20 professors suddenly develops engine trouble. The passengers discuss among themselves ways out of their dilemma. Does anyone know the answer? Answer: If 20 professors don't have the answer, what chance do the rest of us have? That essentially caps the problem facing dozens of state universities across the country.

Banda Aceh – Separatist rebels ambushed an Indonesian military truck in the troubled province of Aceh, leaving a civilian killed by a stray bullet and a soldier wounded, police said Sunday.

Jakarta – About 500 fruit, candy and cigarettes vendors pelted and broke the windows of six intercity buses at the Pulogadung bus terminal, East Jakarta, in a protest against City Public Land Transportation Agency (DLLAJ) officials' rough actions for the past week.

Jakarta – Indonesia appeared to back down yesterday from a multi-million dollar fight with the United States after Washington threatened to seize Indonesian assets abroad.

Given the background of testy relations between Indonesia and Malaysia, Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad's visit here has proved remarkably successful for both sides. In politics – and economics – the two countries gained something each.

Ambon – Tension prevailed on Friday in Halmahera in North Maluku following a series of communal clashes earlier in the week that left at least 30 people dead and dozens injured.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesian authorities have identified at least 10 companies responsible for starting fires in the Riau province but are facing problems prosecuting them.

Mr Setyo Winarso, an official of the environmental monitoring agency, Bapadal, said existing laws were difficult to enforce despite the government's readiness to penalise plantation owners.

Jakarta – Thick haze from forest fires shrouded several towns in Sumatra on Friday, keeping Pekanbaru, Riau, mostly in the dark during daylight hours.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia's President, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, responded quickly yesterday to protests from Australia and the United Nations, ordering his armed forces to disarm militia launching cross-border attacks in East Timor. He also ordered the closing of refugee camps in West Timor near the border with East Timor which militia groups use as their bases.

David Barber, Wellington – An ethnic-Chinese Indonesian businessman freed by former New Zealand SAS troops was allegedly held captive for five years in a tiny room in a Javanese village, it was reported yesterday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Investment Minister Laksamana Sukardi has pleaded for time to reform the country's graft-ridden legal system and promised to honour contracts agreed with past regimes.

John Aglionby, Kembang Tanjung – When Mohammed Assegaf and his two friends finished describing how Indonesian soldiers had killed some people and terrorised dozens of others in their part of Aceh province during the past two months, they slipped out of the cafe's back door, across the paddy fields, and away.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said Friday he will pardon former president Suharto if a court finds him guilty of corruption and abuse of power during his 32 years in power.

Banda Aceh – Four bodies, believed to be the latest victims of conflict between separatist rebels and Indonesian security forces, have been found in troubled Aceh province, residents and police said yesterday.

Jakarta – The main challenge facing the Indonesian government is the reform of the legal system, a senior minister said Thursday.

"Our major challenge is to overhaul the court process," State Minister for Investment and State Enterprises Development Laksamana Sukardi told a luncheon organised by the French-Indonesian Chamber of Commerce.

Jakarta – Indonesia's military now acknowledges the legitimacy of the country's new government and realises that a coup attempt would trigger a bloodbath, a senior US official said yesterday.

Jakarta – In another move aimed at promoting a civil society and human rights principles, President Abdurrahman Wahid decided on Wednesday to disband the military-controlled Agency for the Coordination of Support for National Stability Development (Bakorstanas).

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Past and present came together yesterday when President Abdurrahman Wahid met former Indonesian leader Suharto for the first time since taking office four months ago.