Jakarta – Some 50,000 people Tuesday attended the burial of a 25-year-old man shot dead during an incident between pro-independence and pro-Indonesian youths in the East Timorese capital of Dili, a report said.

Jakarta – An Indonesian church group has accused police of opening fire on unarmed villagers during the latest outbreak of Moslem-Christian violence to hit the eastern province of Maluku.

The accusation was made as President B.J. Habibie said Monday that the recent religious clashes in the country had their roots in economic problems.

Jakarta – The ruling Golkar party will nominate incumbent President B.J. Habibie as its candidate for Indonesia's upcoming presidential election, a party official said Monday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's military police have failed to identify any soldiers who opened fire during a student protest in Jakarta three months ago in which 13 people were killed, an official said Monday.

"Up till now the military police have not been able to find the shooters in the Semanggi incident," military police chief Major General Djasri Missin told a press conference.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – Institutional discrimination is still visible in Indonesia because the government has not removed its legal basis, human rights activists said as they took issue with President B. J. Habibie's recent statement that he has abolished all discriminatory policies here.

Jakarta – The newly-launched Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) lashed out at President B.J. Habibie for calling East Timor "a burden" and called on the nation to let go of the troubled territory.

Jakarta – At least 13 people were killed and 43 injured when troops and police opened fire to quell fresh Moslem-Christian clashes in Indonesia's troubled eastern province of Maluku on Sunday morning, residents and reports said.

Jakarta – More than 100,000 supporters of Indonesian opposition politician Megawati Sukarnoputri crowded into a south Jakarta stadium Sunday to endorse her candidacy for the presidency.

Jakarta – Indonesian police opened fire on thousands of workers staging a protest in East Java, wounding four people while another was injured by a rifle butt, a report said Friday.

Some 3,000 workers at PT Sinar Indo Megantara in Surabaya held a protest on Thursday to demand the personnel manager resigns, the Republika daily said.

Jakarta – The newly formed National Awakening Party (PKB) has nominated popular Moslem leader Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid as its candidate for the presidency at the upcoming elections, a newspaper said Friday.

"This is serious. The PKB is nominating Gus Dur," PKB executive Muhaimin Iskandar was quoted by the Jakarta Post daily as saying.

Jakarta – Influential Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid has warned that a social revolution in Indonesia could claim up to three million lives and all parties should therefore work to prevent the possibility of such a national disaster, the Indonesian Observer newspaper reported yesterday.

Patrisia Prakarsa, Jakarta – East Timorese rebel leader Xanana Gusmao said Friday dialogue was needed among all groups involved in East Timor to prevent the troubled territory descending into civil war.

Jakarta – The speed of Indonesia's change of heart over the future of East Timor, which could now become independent within months, has worried diplomats watching the troubled territory.

Officially other governments have welcomed President B.J. Habibie's statement Thursday that the former Portuguese colony of less than one million people could be independent by Janaury 1.

Jose Manuel Tesoro, Jakarta – In the Indonesian political equation, the elements – Islamic groups, student fronts, opposition parties, military factions – are legion and ever-changing. Possible permutations – a coalition, a new government, martial law, absolute chaos – multiply daily. But in everyone's political calculus is one shadowy constant: Suharto.

Karen Polglaze, Jakarta – Indonesia would be solely responsible should civil war break out in East Timor, a member of Indonesian President BJ Habibie's supreme advisory council said here today.

Former East Timor governor Mario Viegas Carrascalao also scorned criticisms that East Timor would be a burden on its neighbours, including Australia, should it become independent.

Don Greenlees – Indonesian Justice Minister Muladi yesterday signalled that a ban on Nobel peace prize winner Jose Ramos Horta from entering the country could be revoked to enable him to join in talks on the future status of East Timor.

Jakarta – Under the watchful eyes of some 300 supporters of the defendants, the Central Jakarta District Court on Wednesday conducted a speedy trial for all 55 student protesters arrested for holding an illegal rally on Tuesday.

By John McBeth in Jakarta and Dan Murphy in Dili – Antonio da Silva lost his left ear to pro-independence Fretilin fighters. He doesn't intend to lose anything else. That's why he's outside the office of Indonesia's military commander in East Timor, waiting his turn to ask for weapons.

Jakarta – Three out of 11 Indonesian soldiers being court martialled for a series of kidnappings Thursday admitted to abducting some political activists, a witness said.

Three junior officers from the elite army Kopassus special force described how they were involved in kidnapping eight pro-democracy activists.

Keith B.

Jakarta – In a highly critical self-assessment the World Bank has admitted it may have overlooked warning signs as the "Indonesian miracle" faded because of a desire not to upset Jakarta.

Terry Friel, Jakarta – Nestled in a leafy Jakarta suburb, number 47 Jalan Percetakan Negara VII is an unlikely place to decide the fate of a nation.

The armed forces (ABRI) includes the army, navy, air force and police. All are involved in repression in East Timor, but the army is the most important. Note that the lack of a civilian police force has been blamed as the cause of human rights problems by various UN rapporteurs on East Timor.

McCarthy, Jakarta – Indonesian elections and the prospect of a new government this year probably won't derail the country's major economic reform program, the International Monetary Fund's top official in Asia, Hubert Neiss, said Wednesday.

Andreas Harsono, Jakarta – In a move which surprised both supporters and opponents, Indonesian opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri declared late last month that she cannot accept a new Indonesian proposal to give independence to the internationally-disputed East Timor.

Jakarta – Forty-nine new political parties have registered at the Justice Ministry to contest the June general election, but only 17 have met administrative requirements, officials said yesterday.

Rasi Manopo, secretary of the ministry's registration committee, said 49 parties have applied to participate in the June 7 election since registrations commenced on February 5.

Jakarta – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ali Alatas, denied that an agreement between Indonesia and Portugal has been reached to settle the East Timor problem by means of a referendum.

"That is not true. Indonesia shall never agree in a referendum," the Minister told Kompas who spoke with him on a long distance line to New York, Monday evening (8/2).

Jakarta – The initial findings of an investigation by the attorney general's office and the foreign ministry have failed to find any wealth or assets belonging to former president Suharto abroad, a report said Tuesday.

Jakarta – Observers urged the Armed Forces (ABRI) on Monday to reconsider its shoot-on-sight order against rioters, saying that capturing the masterminds of recent unrest would do more to improve the military's image.

Idi Cut – Residents have found bullet cartridges produced by the Bandung-based State Munitions Industries [Pindad] scattered around the Idi Cut Military Sector Command post in Darul Aman Subdistrict, East Aceh, the day after shots were fired to disperse a crowd gathered there early on Wednesday morning (3rd February).

Olle Tornquist, Oslo – Almost every day, I am asked two questions. The first is terribly hard to answer in a manner both brief and academically considered: what's happening to democratization in Indonesia?

Jakarta – Indonesian security forces arrested scores of students Tuesday as they marched towards parliament in the first big anti-government demonstration this year, witnesses said.

They have no identity and are nameless. They are almost invisible, and, above all, certainly untouchable. Yet, they are so powerful as to have left a trail of untold deaths and massive destruction across the country in the space of only a few months.

John Colmey and David Liebhold, Jakarta - In the financial world they call it the poison pill, a labyrinth of cross-vested interests designed to protect a company from hostile takeover. In Indonesia, it was known as the New Order, or sometimes Suharto Inc.

Greg Earl, Jakarta – Indonesia has pushed ahead with its new quest for international assistance, as Japan confirmed it would provide $US2.4 billion before Indonesia holds general elections in June.

Jakarta The rush to prepare independent observers of the polls, slated to take place in barely five months, continues as the country's two largest Muslim organizations cooperate to prepare 123,600 volunteer poll observers.

Evelyn Leopold, United Nations – Indonesia apparently has agreed for the first time to a UN ballot in troubled East Timor as its foreign minister and his Portuguese counterpart mapped out steps that could lead to Jakarta's withdrawal from the territory by the end of the year, diplomats said.

Jakarta – Ex-president Suharto's brother-in-law, Ibnu Hartomo, has denied that he is seeking to protect Suharto by setting up a coalition of new parties.

Jakarta – Indonesia's official Human Rights Commission said on Monday religious rioting could easily break out again in the eastern island of Ambon, saying the death toll from clashes last month had passed 160.

Commissioner Albert Hasibuan criticised the military for being ineffective in preventing the unrest erupting and slow in putting it down.

Diarmid O'Sullivan, Dili – In the garden of a house in Dili, capital of East Timor, a hundred villagers are camping out in fear of their lives. They have fled from the district of Maubara, an hour's drive west along the coast, to escape a gang of young thugs, armed and encouraged by the Indonesian army.

Troubled Province's Release To enable RI To Concentrate on Development, Says President

Jakarta – If Timor is release from its fold, Indonesia will be able to concentrate on developing its remaining provinces toward the next millenium, President BJ Habibie said here Saturday.

Jakarta – The death toll from a clash between civilians and security forces in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province last week has risen to 21, a human rights group said on Sunday.

On Wednesday, police opened fire as they tried to disperse a crowd of around 5,000 people listening to a separatist speech in Idi Cut, east Aceh, 1,530 km northwest of Jakarta.

Jakarta – The Indonesian military has been given orders to shoot-on-sight in a bid to stamp out violence, Indonesian armed forces chief General Wiranto told reporters Saturday.

Jakarta – In the latest incidents of mass violence to hit Indonesia, separate mobs attacked a police post in Sumatra and burned the parliament house in West Kalimantan province, press reports said Saturday.

Michael Richardson, Jakarta – An Indonesian proposal to consider independence for East Timor if the disputed territory refuses to accept autonomy is a high-risk strategy that could encourage other restive parts of Indonesia – the world's largest island-nation – to break away or loosen the bonds holding it together, in the view of some analysts and officials in neighboring countries.

Jakarta – The new law on political parties has cut the traditional sources of funding for the ruling party Golkar: contributions from civil servants and state companies and government contractors.

While Golkar could, under the law, still solicit money from individuals and corporations, their contributions arc not automatic as they used to be.

John Aglionby, Jakarta – Indonesian soldiers and police fired into a crowd of thousands of people returning from an Islamic prayer meeting in the north Sumatran province of Aceh, killing dozens and injuring more than 100, human rights activists said yesterday.

Lhokseumawe – Thousands of people coming from all parts of East Aceh made their way Thursday to Arakundo bridge to search the river for bodies of relatives missing following a clash between thousands of people and the security forces on Wednesday, 3 February.

Jakarta – The governor of Indonesia's troubled Aceh province has called for the country to change from a republic to a federation to cope with growing separatist pressures.

The governor, Syamsuddin Mahmud, made the landmark call as new deaths were reported from clashes in the northern Sumatran province where Moslem rebels have been fighting for an Islamic state.

[The following is a translation by Down to Earth of a report from Musirawas (South Sumatra) by local journalist, Taufik Wijaya. It was dated 31st Dec 1998, but received via SiaR 5th Feb 1999. Some technical details need to be checked, as they differ from information previously provided by Indonesian and Australian colleagues (see below).