Mark Riley, New York – Indonesia is believed to have gutted the proposed statute of autonomy for East Timor, removing many of the major components and increasing the likelihood of continued clashes in the strife-torn region.

ABRI commander General Wiranto said that East Timor is still part of Indonesia and that any violations of the law by either side are intolerable. Asked about the entry of UN forces, he said this would happen at the appropriate time, ie when a decision has been taken regarding the option that is being offered.

[The following report was received today from Fortilos and posted on the conferences in Bahasa Indonesia: Translated by Tapol.]

Some 150 paramilitaries who were trained by ABRI in East Timor to attack pro-independence activists arrived in Jakarta by ship on Friday 16 April.

Tommy Ardiansyah, Dili – Indonesia's military Sunday rejected the blame for bloody violence that killed dozens of people in the disputed territory of East Timor, accusing pro-independence groups instead.

Dili – They lay hugging the floor, screaming and weeping in terror as the shots and rocks blasted through the windows at the front of the house, trapped and unarmed.

Fires burning in central Sumatra have once again blanketed Singapore in a haze that has pushed up pollution levels in the city-state famed for its "clean and green" image. Parts of Malaysia have also been affected.

Jakarta – The Nobel laureate Roman Catholic Bishop of Dili, Carlos Ximenes Felipe Belo, said Saturday he was scrapping a planned peace mass Sunday in the wake of a deadly rampage by pro-Indonesian militia in the East Timorese capital on Saturday.

Diarmid O'Sullivan, Dili – Tensions are rising in the East Timorese capital, Dili, as thousands of pro-Indonesian militiamen pour in for a show of force today. At dusk yesterday the streets were empty as people hurried home to avoid militia patrols, some escorted by Indonesian soldiers.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – A confidential Australian embassy report on the killing of East Timorese civilians in the town of Liquica concludes that allegations of a massacre are plausible and accuses the Indonesian military of colluding with militia forces in the lead-up to the incident.

"The Indonesian Government and Armed Forces (ABRI) are failing to protect East Timorese pro-independence supporters despite warnings of attacks by paramilitaries in East Timor, this weekend", Amnesty International said.

Peter Cole-Adams – No strategy is less flattering to a government than playing a waiting game. The appearance of impotence is unbecoming and, if the wait ends in failure, downright humiliating.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – The Portuguese colonialists who ruled East Timor for more than 400 years are fondly remembered for introducing Timorese to the art of the siesta.

[The following summarises a report from Yayasan HAK which was circulated in Bahasa by Fortilos.]

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – The United Nations is planning a military-style operation to support its supervision of a scheduled July vote in violence-racked East Timor that includes the use of helicopters, aircraft, field hospitals and 70 four-wheel drive vehicles.

Dili – Armed pro-Indonesian militias are enforcing a reign of fear in the East Timorese capital Dili where terrified residents increasingly feel abandoned to their fate.

Christine Tjandraningsih, Jakarta – Indonesian military officials rejected claims Friday troops are planning to initiate violence in East Timor to scuttle a scheduled autonomy plebiscite for the territory and upcoming ministerial talks in New York.

Dili – A clash between Indonesian soldiers and pro-independence guerrillas today left three people dead, including the brother of one of Indonesia's top diplomats and a key negotiator in East Timor's conflict, the military said.

Ambon – Sixty-four more bodies of those killed in recent riots in eastern Indonesian islands have been found, bringing the death toll to at least 177 in the clashes that started March 31, an official said Thursday.

Philip Bowring, Jakarta – The communal horrors of East Timor, Ambon and West Kalimantan are real enough. But they no more describe Indonesia than Kashmir, Bihar and Assam describe India.

Jakarta – Comments by ex-president Suharto expressing doubt about whether Indonesia's June 7 elections will be free and fair show he does not believe in democracy, the deputy chairman of the election commission said Thursday.

"His political concept is based on authoritarianism. He does not believe in democracy," Adnan Buyung Nasution said on television.

Jakarta – Bitter ethnic clashes between Madurese settlers and local Malays and Dayaks erupted for the fifth consecutive day Thursday in Indonesia's West Kalimantan province, police said. Rival mobs fought with homemade guns and torched each others' homes in the province's Sungairaya sub-district.

Lhokseumawe – Thousands of school students went on the rampage Thursday in three towns in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province to demand a referendum on self-determination, witnesses said.

The junior and high school students ripped national flags and state emblems off government offices in Lhoksukon, Baktya and Syamtalira Arun.

Sigli – The security authorities in Pidie District continued with an operation Wednesday to pull down referendum banners which have been hung across the main provincial highway from Banda Aceh to Medan and along district roads in Pidie. According to witnesses, the banners were removed very early in the day.

Jakarta – Indonesian has scrapped its draconian subversion law but introduced similar articles against sabotage and the spread of Marxism and Leninism to the criminal code, reports said Thursday.

The House of Representatves axed the anti-subversion law on Wednesday and brought six new articles into the criminal code, the Jakarta Post daily said.

Gerry van Klinken – For all his sometimes clownish mannerisms, President Habibie has in many ways been Indonesia's Gorbachev. He rode the crest of a wave of political creativity generated by the massive protests of last year. But now that wave has spent much of its force.

Lindsay Murdoch and Mark Dodd, Jakarta – Pro-Indonesian forces vowed yesterday to stage an "invade Dili" rally in the East Timorese capital on Saturday after Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao refused to back away from a call for his supporters to take up arms to defend themselves.

Jakarta – At least nine students were injured and 62 arrested in a number of rallies held across Java on Tuesday to oppose the June 7 general election. The arrests were made following a clash between students grouped in the Indonesian University Big Family (KBUI) and riot police who were attempting to disperse the protesters on Jl. M.T. Haryono in East Jakarta.

John Haseman, Jakarta – The recent outbreak of serious ethnic violence in Indonesia's Borneo province of West Kalimantan has underscored the difficulties Indonesia's armed forces face in trying to maintain domestic stability in a period of unprecedented political change and economic crisis.

Jakarta – A presidential advisory group and students on Tuesday called on Indonesian President B.J. Habibie to fullfill his promises to the people of troubled Aceh province, including dragging past human rights violators there to court.

Jakarta – The Indonesian military will court-martial a colonel who allegedly promised a Suharto-linked foundation a huge sum if he were reelected as a local government official, a report said Wednesday.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Jakarta's legal community is unimpressed by the charging of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.

Jakarta – Hundreds of Indonesian students shouting "revolution," massed outside parliament here Tuesday to protest June 7 polls and demand the government of President B.J. Habibie step down.

Hundreds of others, who marched towards the parliament without notifying the police, were disbanded by force four kilometres before reaching their destination.

Jakarta – Indonesian police forced hundreds of anti-government and anti-military protesters away from a state-run radio station on Tuesday. At least five students were seriously injured, witnesses said.

Nurul Hidayati, Jakarta - The hunger strike by Budiman Sudjatmiko and his friends has finally ended. On the advice of the doctor who is treating them, the chairperson of the People's Democratic Party (PRD) and his other colleges, ended their action on Tuesday, April 13.

Jakarta – Indonesians will be able to study and write about communism for the first time in more than three decades, but promoting Marxism-Leninism will still land them in jail, reports said Tuesday.

Jakarta – In the first case of its kind in Indonesia, people in the oil-rich province of Riau have sued President B.J. Habibie for 22.5 billion dollars in compensation for lost oil revenues, reports said Tuesday.

The first hearing in the class action suit was held Monday in a court in the Riau city of Pakenbaru, the Kompas daily said.

Jakarta – Three jailed Indonesian politicians were in a critical condition in a police hospital Tuesday after staging a week-long hunger strike, their lawyer said.

"Until late last night, the condition of Budiman [Sujatmiko] was very bad ... he is being fed intravenously in hospital," lawyer Johnson Panjaitan of the Indonesian Legal Aid Council said.

Jakarta – Ethnic clashes between Madurese settlers and ethnic Malays and Dayaks flared up again Tuesday in Indonesian Borneo, which has been rocked by months of savage unrest, a military source said.

John Aglionby, Dili – East Timorese paramilitaries loyal to the Indonesian government took their campaign of fear into the centre of the capital, Dili, for the first time yesterday as the civilian governor admitted that anarchy was "erupting everywhere" across the territory.

Jakarta – The corruption probe into former Indonesian President Suharto could drag down his successor President B.J. Habibie, the Indonesian Observer newspaper on Monday quoted one of Suharto's lawyers as saying.

Jakarta – Entering the sixth day of a hunger strike at the Cipinang prison, five leaders of the People's Democratic Party (PRD) are in a critical condition. Two of them had to be rushed to hospital.

Emma Tinkler, Sydney – Provocateurs from within the ranks of the Indonesian military had incited violence in the nation's troubled provinces, Australian missionaries said today.

Jakarta – At least three people were killed and 100 houses torched in pockets of Indonesian violence reported Saturday.

On the island province of Maluku two people were killed and three injured when a mob of Christians attacked a Moslem settlement, Sergeant Major Yuleini told AFP by phone.

Jakarta – Indonesia's ethnic Chinese on Saturday formally established a mass organisation to promote awareness of their rights and obligations as Indonesians. The Chinese Indonesian Association (INTI) described itself as nationalist in character.

Jakarta – To pass the clean governance bill without giving substantial authority to an independent body to implement the power controls would be a pointless and abortive attempt to uproot corruption according to the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW).

Dili – At least one person was killed and another seriously injured after a clash between hundreds of members of pro-independence and anti-independence groups in East Timor, police and local residents said Saturday.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Reports of the Liquica massacre in East Timor are beginning to overshadow resistance leader Xanana Gusmao's controversial statements earlier this week – which is just as well for the resistance leader's diplomatic standing.

United Nations - A senior UN official warned Friday amid escalating violence in East Timor that peace in the former Portuguese colony was a "prerequisite" for a UN-organized ballot.

Ambon – An angry mob beheaded two people as the death toll mounted in Indonesia's far eastern Moluccas, residents and officials said on Friday.

The two were attacked on Thursday after they had disembarked from a ship at Tual, the main town on Kai Besar island, a local journalist who saw the bodies said.

Bangkok – Indonesia is suffering severe food shortages and growing malnutrition brought on by rising social unrest and a deep economic crisis, the United Nations said in a report.

In a new report issued here, a UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Food Program (WFP) mission called for more international food aid despite predicting a good rice harvest.