Cameron Stewart – The size of the planned UN observer force to East Timor next month may need to be increased because of unstable security in the territory, senior officials say.

UN planners will hold meetings in New York later this week to discuss the size and composition of the world body's presence in East Timor, which is expected to include up to 100 Australians.

Democratisation in Indonesia has forced president Suharto to end his 32 years of rule. International pressure, specifically by donor countries, have forced the Indonesian government to take steps which reflect its commitment to democracy. This concession to international pressure included an opening of democratic space in East Timor.

Jay Solomon, Pekanbaru – One of Indonesia's richest provinces is slowly prying control of its natural wealth from the central government, posing a major challenge to Jakarta and some big multinationals at a time when foreign investors are already wary of the archipelago.

[The following statement drafted by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor is being circulated for endorsement. To add your name to the statement, please contact ASIET (details below).]

On Monday, 26 April, FOKUPERS received news from a resident of Liquisa that ABRI has threatened people living in the countryside, in places remote from the town of Liquisa, to move into the town. Those who remain behind are warned that they will be killed.

Nusa Dua – Indonesian President B.J. Habibie said on Tuesday he fully accepted a UN-brokered autonomy package for troubled East Timor and that his government would sign it on May 5.

Peter Hartcher – John Howard's emergency summit today with the President of Indonesia is not the high-risk event as advertised - both men want the same thing.

Tual – Police fired shots Tuesday to disperse battling mobs of Muslims and Christians in a region of eastern Indonesia that has been plagued by religious violence this year. At least four people were killed.

Rioters with knives and bows and arrows set nine houses afire in the village of Cansas on Kei Island, 2,800 kilometers northeast of Jakarta, the Indonesian capital.

Jakarta – Politicians from four of Indonesia's 48 political parties planning to contest in the June 7 general election Tuesday took part in the first ever open public debate among presidential hopefuls.

Lhokseumawe – A crowd of thousands held a Free Aceh gathering and feast at the village of Cot Plieng, Blang Mangat sub-district, North Aceh on Sunday night (25th-26th April). At the same time, a crowd burned two buses belonging to Mobil Oil Indonesia at Alue Liem in the same area.

Ujungpandang – Electoral Commission (KPU) Chairman Rudini said that there was now a distinct possibility that the 1999 general election could be postponed, following the government's suggestion to administratively divide the provinces of Maluku and Irian Jaya before the election.

Jakarta – At least 10 people were injured when security forces opened fire Saturday to quell rioting mobs in Indonesia's riot-torn Maluku islands, residents and reports said Sunday.

Mark Riley – It was promoted as a historic event, an agreement on self-determination for East Timor after 24 years of hostile occupation and the loss of more than 200,000 lives.

But there was no fanfare, no celebration at the United Nations on Friday. Just trepidation, suspicion and questions – lots of questions.

Susan Sim, Ujung Pandang – More than two thirds of the 131 million Indonesians eligible to vote in June have registered to do so in the country's first voluntary voter-registration drive, electoral planners said.

And this high sign-up rate, despite a shaky start three weeks ago, could augur well for the major opposition parties, some of their leaders predicted.

Jakarta – An Indonesian human rights group has claimed that more than 50 people have been murdered in a wave of mysterious serial killings this year, news reports said Saturday.

Jakarta – Chairman of the Jakarta Provincial Elections Committee (PPD I) Djafar Badjeber announced on Friday that campaign activities in the city for the June 7 general election were scheduled to start on May 19.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) is seriously concerned about the further acts of violence and the deaths of civilians in Dili, the capital city of East Timor, on Saturday, April 17. This most recent spate of acts of violence and killings occurred after a rally for pro-autonomy sympathisers had been organised by the Dili based Aitarak, led by Eurico Guterres.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Deposed president Soeharto, accused of massive corruption and cronyism during his 32-year rule of Indonesia, yesterday attacked the ruling Golkar party he created, saying it has been ruined by vested interests.

Dili – At least eight people and possibly as many as 100 have died in attacks by pro-Jakarta militias on pro-independence supporters in East Timor, a local priest told Reuters Friday.

Tual – Police fired shots Friday to disperse battling mobs of Christians and Muslims in eastern Indonesia, witnesses said. At least seven people were killed.

The rioting in Tual city was the latest outburst of religious unrest in Maluku province, where more than 300 people have died in fighting this year. Dozens of churches and mosques have been burned.

Jenny Grant, Yogyakarta – The scene would have been impossible at the last elections. At a high-level meeting in a university campus, a long-haired activist told the city's Attorney-General that his monitoring group had found irregularities in the voter registration process.

Jakarta – Preliminary police investigations showed that the Monday bombing of the Istiqlal Mosque here was linked to a group calling itself the Mujahidin Islam Nunsantara Movement, police said yesterday.

Jakarta – A series of mass murders have thus far killed more than 100 people in Ciamis, West Java, and some of the victims were those who had discredited Suharto or were against his rule. The murders were carried out by two groups led by two men with the initials S and SU.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Parliament passed an anti corruption law Thursday that requires government officials to declare all their assets to a supervise commission set up by the president.

The new bill, endorsed during a plenary session of House, will apply to all government officials including the president.

Robert Garran – Former Indonesian president Suharto is likely to emerge as one of the most prominent corporate players in Indonesia in coming years, thanks in part to political protection from President B.J. Habibie, a new book claims.

Dini Djalal in Ambon, Pontianak and Jakarta – It seemed like what passes for normal at an Indonesian checkpoint. The soldiers were more brusque than usual, but they were on a dangerous detail – frisking people for machetes in strife-torn Ambon, the eastern island racked by murderous sectarian strife.

Jakarta – The East Timor pro-independence movement on Thursday claimed that the Indonesian military had conducted attacks on bases of rebel forces in two districts, just a day after it committed itself to halt all violence in the troubled territory, a report said.

Kafil Yamin, Jakarta – The ruling Golkar party is among Indonesia's most unpopular organisations, and even the sight of its official yellow colour is enough to elicit violent reactions from many people.

But the chances of the party, which used to be headed by President Suharto, cannot be disregarded in the run-up to general elections in June.

Jakarta – More than 1,000 of Jakarta's urban poor staged a mass demonstration here Thursday accusing the government and the World Bank of abusing social safety net funds.

Jakarta – The parents of some 70 students who went missing after taking part in a major pro-independence rally in the troubled province of Aceh on Thursday went to the legislature for help, a rights activist said.

Paul Kelly – Indonesia's President B. J. Habibie yesterday gave his personal word of honour that he was prepared to give East Timor independence.

Dili – Leaders of warring factions in the troubled Indonesian territory of East Timor on Wednesday signed a peace pact witnessed by Indonesia's military chief and East Timor's two bishops.

In the document, signed at the residence of Dili Bishop Carlos Ximenes Felipe Belo, the groups pledged to "stop hatred, intimidation, and terror and try to help create peace."

Vaudine England – The "disappearance" of activists, whether temporary or permanent, is a political instrument common to past and present governments, a victim who was tortured said yesterday.

The decision by the Habibie regime in 1998 to offer "the widest possible autonomy", including a separate electoral system, flag, and so on, was a retreat by the Habibie regime from the position of Suharto who refused any kind of autonomy.

Jakarta – Indonesia's House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill which will grant greater autonomy to the governments of the country's 27 provinces and their sub-regencies, witnesses said.

Things are quiet in Dili. At a government rally in front of the governor's office, Dili Mayor Domingus Soares publicly announced that Eurico Guterres, the head of the Aitarak "death squad" and vice-commander of all Abri-sponsored death squads, will be in charge of security and stability in East Timor.

Hong Kong – The trial of 11 members of Indonesia's elite special force found guilty of kidnapping pro-democracy activists was a farce designed to protect high-ranking soldiers, one of the nine who was captured and tortured said here Tuesday.

Lhokseumawe – Two people were killed when police in the Indonesian province of Aceh opened fire Tuesday to disperse thousands of pro-separatist students, residents said.

Jakarta – Security forces fired warning shots when hundreds of students demanding a share of oil earnings stormed a Caltex Indonesia housing complex on Sumatra island Tuesday, wrecking cars and smashing office windows, sources said.

Jakarta – A mob attacked a Roman Catholic complex in the predominantly Moslem province of South Sulawesi, throwing fuel bombs that burned several buildings just hours after a blast at a main mosque in Jakarta, police said Tuesday.

Human Rights Watch charged that the government of President Habibie could have prevented the violence in East Timor on Saturday by acting earlier to disarm pro-Indonesia militias.

Hamish Mcdonald – Well-placed sources in Jakarta have supplied what could be the jigsaw pieces that make sense of the puzzling Indonesian policy on East Timor in recent months.

David Jenkins – As East Timor descends into a new round of violence and savagery the time has come for searching questions to be asked of President B. J. Habibie and his sometimes unfathomable Defence Minister, General Wiranto.

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – The People's Democratic Party has nominated three missing people to run as parliamentary candidates for the June general election.

Announcing the move yesterday, party chairman Budiman Sudjatmiko described the men – Petrus Bima Anugerah, Herman Hendrawan and Suyat – as three of its best cadres.

Jakarta – Although the official election campaign period is still a month away, political parties across the country have moved their electioneering activities into high gear.

Jakarta – Security forces mistakenedly opened fire on a crowd of ethnic Madurese migrants and local Malays in Indonesian Borneo killing four people and injuring three others, an official said Monday.

Jakarta – Indonesian Justice Minister Muladi and jailed East Timorese rebel leader Xanana Gusmao on Monday agreed there had been no call for war in the troubled territory against Jakarta.

Jenny Grant – The Indonesian military not only turned a blind eye to Saturday's militia attacks in Dili but had prior knowledge of the planned targets at the most senior level, diplomatic sources claimed yesterday.

Lhokseumawe – Residents Monday raised separatist flags over their homes in several villages of Indonesia's northern Aceh district, a day after the flag figured prominently in a mass rally here, a witness said.