Jakarta – full list of members of the new Indonesian cabinet as announced by Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri and President Abdurrahman Wahid on Tuesday:
Coordinating Ministers:
Jakarta – full list of members of the new Indonesian cabinet as announced by Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri and President Abdurrahman Wahid on Tuesday:
Coordinating Ministers:
Jakarta – Indonesians are confident that new President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri can overcome the country's major problems, a poll published Tuesday revealed.
The poll, which canvassed 919 people in Jakarta and the surrounding area on October 22 and 23, was carried out for the Kompas daily.
Jay Solomon – Indonesia's prospects of a rapid economic recovery have been dashed by the confluence of political uncertainty, financial scandal and the bloodletting in East Timor. Hopes of reversing the trend rest largely on a stable government asserting itself in the wake of the country's most democratic elections in decades.
Michael Shari, Singapore – For a while, Megawati Sukarnoputri had the edge in the race for Indonesia's presidency. Her party had won the highest percentage of the popular vote in the June elections, and she enjoyed the apparent backing of the military. So the betting was that when legislators voted for a President on October 20, Megawati would walk away with the crown.
Dili – Civilian and military police have discovered another mass grave holding up to 10 bodies at a site on the outskirts of Dili, officials said Monday, as the Australian-led multi-national peacekeeping force spread into more devastated territory in the East Timorese enclave of Oecussi.
According to recent reports, the UN mission in East Timor has been able to account for just over 150,000 people out of an estimated population of 850,000.
Keith B. Richburg, Jakarta – Some of the first well-wishers to call on Indonesia's new leader, Abdurrahman Wahid, were struck by the casual air he has brought to Indonesia's stately presidential palace.
He chatted amiably, he insisted on being called by his nickname, Gus Dur, and he sometimes propped a bare foot up on the sofa.
Tony Jenkins – Abdurrahman Wahid, better known in his own country as Gus Dur, spoke to the Expresso in the lobby of the Hotel Mandarin at the start of the Popular Consultative Assembly (MPR), the body that has just elected him President of Indonesia.
Expresso: If you were elected President, would you respect East Timor's independence?
Agencies in Dili – Multinational forces stormed into the Oecussi enclave by sea yesterday securing the last slice of East Timor just days before an expected assault by militia groups.
"This morning Interfet established a lodgement in the enclave," Interfet commander Major-General Peter Cosgrove said, adding that Jakarta had not been informed of the planned action.
Dili – International investigators excavating a well near Liquisa in East Timor have abandoned the site after unearthing 11 bodies, an Interfet spokesman said Saturday.
Other badly decomposed remains could be seen but the investigation was called off when the site became too dangerous, Interfet officers said.
Lhokseumawe – Several thousand people in Indonesia's restive province of Aceh on Saturday staged a protest demanding President Abdurrahman Wahid allow a referendum on its future status, police said.
The protest took place in East Aceh district, one of the areas where support for the separatist Free Aceh rebels is strongest. Police said the protest was generally peaceful.
Jakarta – Thousands of students rallied in Makassar, the capital of Indonesia's South Sulawesi province, on Friday to demand an independent state of Sulawesi, police and television reports said.
Jakarta – Five people have been killed and five injured in two days of fresh Muslim-Christian violence in Indonesia's Maluku islands, a report said Friday.
Most victims in the clashes on Saparua island in the central Malukus on Wednesday and Thursday suffered gunshot wounds, the Republika daily quoted local residents as saying. It was not clear who fired the shots.
Jakarta – The quiet surroundings of Jakarta Hospital on Jl. Sudirman suddenly turned into a war zone on Wednesday midnight when some 50 frustrated military officers ran amok searching for suspected militant students hiding on the premises.
Prangtip Daorueng, Seoul, Oct 22 (IPS) – Unable to cope with soaring food costs, many women workers in Indonesia are giving up work to breast feed their babies, cutting back on their own meals – or skipping altogether.
Jakarta – Some 3,000 residents in the remote Indonesian province of Irian Jaya went on the rampage Friday, demanding the recovery of the bodies of some 300 victims of a boat tragedy, police said.
Jakarta – Violence across Indonesia subsided Friday after popular opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri was sworn in as vice president and the world's newest and third largest democracy took shape.
Darwin – East Timor resistance leaders plan to use the Portuguese escudo as their currency for at least the territory's transitional period under UN administration.
Vaudine England, Jakarta – Megawati Sukarnoputri's victory in yesterday's vice-presidential race illustrated both the risks of upsetting her supporters any further and the continuing strength of an Islamic alliance inside the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).
Yang Razali Kassim, Jakarta – It was clearly not something which Indonesians have seen before. The tension and high drama began last Thursday when then President BJ Habibie presented his account of his leadership – the so-called "accountability speech".
Dili – East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao returned to a tumultuous and emotional welcome in his devastated homeland Friday, and told his people: "We are independent now and forever."
Raphael Pura, Jakarta – Megawati Sukarnoputri's election as Indonesian vice president is likely to defuse an angry backlash against her defeat in Wednesday's presidential vote. But it could also make President Abdurrahman Wahid's new government more unwieldy.
Jakarta – Indonesian cities were hit by riots and protests Wednesday after the national assembly elected Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid as president, enraging followers of his popular rival Megawati Sukarnoputri.
Joanna Jolly, Jakarta – The mood was excited and boisterous inside the assembly hall as legislators were called forward to cast their votes.
Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Suai – Scores of 7.62mm shell casings litter Father Francisco's bedroom floor. At least 60 bullet holes pockmark the bamboo-scaffolded facade of Ave Maria Cathedral. A thick coating of dried blood stretches across the entrance to a church schoolroom. A pile of underwear sits at the foot of a staircase.
Jakarta – Indonesia's national assembly early on Wednesday ratified the results of East Timor's independence vote, clearing the way for the territory's freedom from the country that invaded it in 1975.
[Colonel Haseman retired from the US Army in 1995, after 16 years of experience in defense liaison work – 13 in Indonesia and three in Burma. During this time, which included five years as US defense attachi to Indonesia, Colonel Haseman naturally became one of the premier US experts on the Indonesian military.
David Jenkins – Defence Minister General Wiranto, once portrayed as a possible kingmaker in Indonesian politics, appears to be an increasingly isolated figure, a man who may soon be out of a job and defending himself against charges that he oversaw his army's carefully laid plans to turn East Timor into a wasteland after the August 30 referendum.
Megawati Sukarnoputri has lost the Indonesian presidential ballot to Abdurrahman Wahid, a revered and moderate Islam leader. The Indonesian Assembly backed Wahid over Sukarnoputri, the popular daughter of Indonesia's founding president, Sukarno.
Jakarta – Anti-riot troops fired tear gas Wednesday at thousands of angry supporters of Megawati Sukarnoputri who were marching on parliament after she lost the presidential election,
Vaudine England, Jakarta – The eastern island of Flores is the new front line in the battle over East Timor and between civilians and Indonesia's military, after the arrival there of thousands of troops withdrawn from East Timor, say residents and Jakarta-based analysts.
David Boey – International relief teams sent to help displaced East Timor residents in the town of Suai have learned of alleged atrocities committed by roving gangs of militiamen working with Indonesian Army troops.
One incident was said to have involved the slaughter of about 200 Suai residents, who had sought refuge in the Church of Fatimah on Sept 6.
New York – US athletic apparel company Reebok on Monday released a report showing lax health and security conditions at two Indonesian factories producing its brand of athletic shoes.
Jakarta – Thousands of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) supporters staged simultaneous protests in major cities on Java on Sunday, encouraging Megawati Soekarnoputri to continue her struggle for presidency.
Jakarta – Supporters of opposition presidential hopeful Megawati Sukarnoputri returned to the streets on Saturday to press the national assembly to pick her as the new head of state.
Jakarta – Respected Indonesian academic Nurcholis Majid, considered by many as a dark horse presidential candidate, is recieving growing support from the country's Muslim parties to compete with the three declared nominees, a party official said Saturday.
Vaudine England, Jakarta – A growing sense of unreality has taken root in Indonesia's presidential contest in the wake of President Bacharuddin Habibie's speech.
Jakarta – The Indonesian military has issued a "full alert" security status in Jayapura, the capital of Indonesia's remote eastern Irian Jaya province, as it enters third day Saturday of massive protests over the government's decision to split the province in three.
Jakarta – A policeman and at least two, and up to nine, civilians were killed in renewed sectarian clashes in Ambon, the capital of the troubled eastern Indonesian province of Maluku, police and a report said Saturday.
Dili – Peacekeepers battled with anti-independence attackers on East Timor for more than an hour Saturday, killing three of the militiamen and wounding three others, peacekeeping officials said.
Suai – Indonesian soldiers and pro-Jakarta militia slaughtered as many as 200 people in a church compound in this town in southwestern East Timor in September, an eyewitness claimed Saturday.
Lenore Taylor – A photo album of the past 30 years of Australian/Indonesian relations would contain some memorable snaps. Look closely and a lot of them would show the same faces. Here's Prime Minister Keating and President Soeharto in the Presidential Palace, beaming as their foreign ministers, Gareth Evans and Ali Alatas, sign a security treaty in 1995.
Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesian police and armed forces last night fired tear gas and rubber bullets in clashes with thousands of people protesting against President B.J. Habibie after a speech defending his 16-month rule failed to appease opposition parties.
Agencies in Jakarta – President Bacharuddin Habibie's election bid appeared to falter yesterday as demonstrators launched another day of violent protest and opposition lawmakers condemned a speech that defended his troubled 16-month tenure.
Did ASIS (Australian Secret Intelligence Service) supply the bullets that killed the Balibo five? Brian Woodley investigates.
Leafing through the old man's passport with the Indonesian visas and clangingly pertinent dates, it dawned on Matthew Coffey that he was at last looking at evidence supporting his father's tales of clandestine involvement in Timor.
Dili – The head of the multinational force in East Timor, Major General Peter Cosgrove said Thursday that Indonesia had admitted its forces fired the first shots in a border clash last weekend.
Jakarta – A court yesterday found the youngest son of former president Suharto innocent of two corruption charges involving a shady land deal after a six-month trial.
Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, 37, was the first member of Indonesia's former first family to be prosecuted for graft.
Andrew Marshall, Dili – Hundreds of anti-independence militiamen are still active in East Timor and the border is not yet secure against more entering, the head of the UN-mandated multinational force said on Friday.
Jakarta – Indonesian President B.J. Habibie came under scathing criticism at the national assembly Friday as his bid for a new mandate triggered a second day of violent protests in the capital.
Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia's opposition leader, Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri, has struck a secret deal to secure the presidency that would split the Golkar party of the floundering incumbent, Dr B.J. Habibie.