Manatuto – The UN mission in East Timoris checking allegations of an illegal voter registration drive ahead of an August ballot on autonomy or independence in this Indonesian-ruled territory.

Local government representatives have visited villages here to find out whether residents supported autonomy under Indonesia or independence, a source in this town said.

Sydney – Rebel leader Jose Alexandre Gusmao should be released from Indonesian custody and allowed to take part in the ballot on East Timor 's future, United Nations special envoy Jamsheed Marker said Friday.

In the 50s and 60s, Hasyim Rachman was the publisher and editor of the anti-imperialist daily newspaper, Bintang Timur, one of Indonesia's highest selling newspapers. Bintang Timur was banned by the Suharto regime in 1965. Hasyim Rahman was gaoled for 14 years, including 10 years on Buru Island. He was never charged or put on trial.

Jose Manuel Tesoro, Blitar – The answer to what Indonesia would look like under Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle might best be found not in the buzzing capital, Jakarta, but in the modest East Java town of Blitar four hours' drive south of Surabaya.

Dili – The UN mission in East Timor (UNAMET) has withdrawn seven staff from its unarmed outpost in the town of Viqueque after the second incident of harrassment by pro-Indonesian militia in a week, a UNAMET spokesman said Thursday.

[The following is an eyewitness report by Jill Hickson and Sam King, two ASIET members who are currently in Jakarta and were at the demonstration.]

A rally by the People's Democratic Party (PRD) that mobilised 2000 people in Jakarta was attacked by police and military. The protesters were beaten and shot, injuring more than 100, two are in critical condition.

Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta – At least three people were wounded on Thursday when Indonesian police fired on protesters demanding that the ruling Golkar party be disqualified from last month's historic parliamentary election, witnesses said.

[The following is a summary of four reports by Detikcom compiled and translated by ASIET on the shooting of as many as 14 People's Democratic Party (PRD) activists during a demonstration in front of the National Election Committee (KPU) building in central Jakarta on the afternoon of July 1 - James Balowski.]

Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Wiranto denied on Tuesday the presence of security troops in Aceh was causing residents to flee the volatile province.

Jakarta – Deserters from the Army's elite Special Forces (Kopassus) have been accused of involvement in widespread violence in restive Aceh province, where hundreds of people, mostly civilians, have been killed recently.

Tantyo Bangun and Jonathan Sprague – The west wind shakes the jermal – a fishing platform perched precariously on log stilts in the shallow seas off north Sumatra. It is some hours after midnight. "Wake up! Your turn to pull the net!" shouts the foreman, shaking Dian and four other boys. They head out into the pre-dawn dark.

Dili – Hundreds of pro-independence fighters in East Timor have descended from the hills to sign a truce with the pro-Indonesian militia holding the town of Suai, a witness said Thursday.

About 400 soldiers of the Falintil, the armed wing of the pro-independence Council for East Timorese Resistance, signed the peace agreement brokered by a local priest, she said.

Ben Bohane, Irian Jaya – From the air, the Fly River looks like a vast brown intestinal tract, twisting its way through the tangled jungles of southern New Guinea. In the last century, European explorers navigated the river to see if it led to the heart of the island (it did).

Jakarta – Indonesia will not allow Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos-Horta to visit his native East Timor, a government minister said on Wednesday.

Ramos-Horta arrived in Jakarta last week, for the first time since Indonesia invaded his homeland and forced him into exile in 1975.

First to East Timor, where Indonesian police sources have confirmed that at least two serving Indonesian soldiers and three retired military personnel were involved in yesterday's attack on a United Nation's post in the town of Maliana.

Jakarta – East Timor peace and reconciliation talks ended Wednesday in the Indonesian capital with no major agreement signed and pro-and anti-independence factions manifesting "profound divisions" despite a willingness to continue dialogue.

Jakarta – Hundreds of activists and professionals are vigorously defending the right of women to become president, branding as violations of human rights and unconstitutional the flurry of recent statements that women are unfit to lead the country.

Jakarta – Activists and professionals have stepped up protests against statements that a woman should not lead the world's largest Moslem-populated nation, reports said here Tuesday.

Ambon – Thousands of people marched through a city in eastern Indonesia on Tuesday demanding the north of the troubled Moluccas become a separate province, witnesses said.

The student-backed movement brought the town to a halt in Ternate, some 2,400 km northeast of Jakarta. Witnesses put the number at more than 5,000.

Tim Johnston, Dili, East Timor – Militiamen attacked a UN compound set up to prepare an independence ballot in East Timor on Tuesday wounding six people, the United Nations and hospital sources said.

Jakarta – Security concerns led the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the government to cancel the elections in the Pidie and North Aceh regencies of Aceh.

KPU chairman Rudini said here on Monday the decision was made after taking into account escalating tension in the regencies and the possible risks if elections went ahead there.

Jakarta – Indonesia said an attack on United Nations offices in East Timor on Tuesday was the result of a brawl between supporters and opponents of Jakarta's rule and denied any deliberate attack on the UN.

Jakarta – Indonesian presidential hopeful Megawati Sukarnoputri intends to go after not just ousted leader Suharto but other officials who have abused their positions, a report said Tuesday.

Dili – A 100-strong mob of pro-Indonesian militiamen attacked an unarmed UN outpost in East Timor Tuesday, injuring a woman electoral officer and several East Timorese, a UN official said.

Jakarta – Pro-Jakarta militia leader Eurico Guterres declared Tuesday that a stoning attack against a United Nations post in the East Timor town of Maliana was a "spontaneous" public reaction against an alleged pro-independence bias by the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET).

Jakarta – The leader of Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation said yesterday that he still supported the presidential aspirations of his ally Megawati Sukarnoputri but cautioned that the Islamic community may not accept a woman President.

Mark McDonald, Jinjiem – The soldiers came for Mira Rasyid on a warm March evening and hauled her off to an interrogation center built into a thick grove of bamboo. Throughout that night in 1998, and every night for the next five months, she says, they tortured and raped her.

Jakarta – Two school teachers were found dead in northwestern Indonesia after being led away by unidentified gunmen that police suspect are separatist rebels, a report said Monday.

The victims, Ubit Pakek, 58, and Tgk. Hasballah, 54, were teachers in separate primary schools in Pidie regency, the official Antara news agency said.

Seth Mydans, Jakarta – It was not a threat, said Wardah Hafidz, one of Indonesia's toughest social activists; it was a simple statement of the country's new balance of power.

"You can meet with 40 of us in your office," she told officials of a government agency she was publicly accusing of misuse of funds, "or you can have 4,000 of us in the street outside."

With The Mute's Soliloquy, an account of suffering under Suharto's oppression, Pramoedya Ananta Toer has been hailed as Indonesia's Solzhenitsyn. Zuraidah Ibrahim reports

The Soviet Union under Stalin had its gulags. Closer home, Indonesia under Mr Suharto had its string of penal colony islands.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Set back from a junction of tree-lined avenues in the West Java capital of Bandung stands a white Dutch-era mansion. It is the headquarters of Kodam III – the Siliwangi provincial Military Command.

Jakarta – Abdurrahman Wahid, Amien Rais, Nur Mahmudi Ismail and Hamzah Haz agreed on Saturday that Islam bars women from becoming heads of state, delivering the heaviest blow yet to Megawati Soekarnoputri's presidential bid.

Jakarta – Unidentified men shot dead two soldiers in two separate attacks in the troubled Indonesian province of Aceh, reports said here Saturday.

Jean Pierre Catry – UN Secy Gen Kofi Annan and the Portuguese government have done all they can to facilitate the referendum that will decide the future of East Timor on 8 August. Mr Annan will decide if the referendum can go ahead on schedule or must be delayed.

Jakarta – Exiled East Timorese activist and Nobel laureate Jose Ramos Horta returned to Indonesia after 23 years Saturday, saying he would travel to his homeland even if could not campaign there for independence.

Jakarta – Defense Minister/Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) Commander General Wiranto yesterday warned political parties against mobilizing the masses or conducting shows of force as the campaign period is long over.

Dan Murphy – Ask the average Indonesian who he'd like as his next president and he'll tell you Megawati Sukarnoputri. Ask him why, and he'll cite her pedigree as daughter of Sukarno – father of the nation and champion of the poor. Now, ask what her policies are. "She's for the little people," says Nahuruddin, a street-side food vendor in central Jakarta.

Dili – The UN Mission in East Timor said Thursday it is checking reports of false identity cards being issued to people not qualified to vote in the territory's ballot on self determination.

Jakarta – Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said Wednesday he did not believe it was necessary for the United Nations to delay a self-determination plebiscite in East Timor for two weeks.

Alatas said he was awaiting an official announcement of the postponement from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan but that if it was true, the reasons should be clearly spelled out.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Relations between the United Nations mission in East Timor (Unamet) and Indonesian Government representatives in the territory have plummeted, with the UN branding claims that its personnel ransacked villagers' homes "nonsense and lies".

Lhokseumawe – Thousands of people have fled their homes and taken refuge in and around US oil company Mobil Corp. (MOB) complex in troubled Aceh province after soldiers were deployed in their villages, officials and witnesses said Wednesday.

Jakarta – A human rights group said on Tuesday the military released misleading information about recent unrest in Aceh, including that separatists terrorized residents into fleeing their homes.

Jakarta – Calls were made Wednesday for two members of Indonesia's Election Commission (KPU) to stand down because of statements they made on small political parties.

Most of the 53 members of the commission walked out of a plenary session demanding Adnan Buyung Nasution, the KPU deputy chairman, and commission member Andi Malarangeng, be dismissed, witnesses said.

Nicole Gaouette, Banda Aceh – Ayub Abas calls his work a legacy. "Our parents fought for freedom against Dutch colonizers," he says, stocky in crisp fatigues, an AK-47 slung over his shoulder. "This is the same struggle, just a different enemy."

Seth Mydans, Jakarta – Indonesians have remained remarkably patient as they wait out the slow, confused counting of the parliamentary votes they cast two weeks ago. But it seems that whatever the outcome, the will of the people may in large part be denied.

Jakarta – A group of students arrested for staging a "happening art performance" against ex-president Soeharto in South Jakarta last week, yesterday made a mockery out of their trial, by wearing Soeharto masks and cracking jokes throughout proceedings.

Jakarta – Indonesian Home Affairs Minister Syarwan Hamid Tuesday proposed an alliance between incumbent President B.J. Habibie and Megawati Sukarnoputri, the opposition presidential frontrunner from the June 7 elections.

"They can form a positive synergy to bear the heavy burdens of this country," Hamid said, adding that a combined force was "worth much consideration."

Despite international expectations and preparations for chaos to break out in Indonesia during the election period, instead there has been relative calm. Many Asian nations had prepared contingency plans to extract expatriates from Indonesia and to prepare for waves of immigrants fleeing the country, and had warned against unnecessary visits to Indonesia during the election period.

Sidoarjo – About 2,000 workers of the nation's largest clove cigarette maker PT Gudang Garam, backed by hundreds of student activists, protested in East Java yesterday to demand higher wages.

Jakarta – Indonesian police Tuesday arrested about 100 students protestors calling for fresh elections and the scrapping of the military's political role, a witness said.

Police rounded up members of the Student and People's Committee for Democracy before they reached the national Elections Committee (KPU) building in Central Jakarta.