Jakarta – A violent battle between rival Jakarta neighborhood gangs ended with a huge fire in the early hours of Sunday.

A fact-finding team issued a report last week confirming that gang rapes did occur during the May riots in Jakarta and that the upheaval could be linked to senior military figures.

The investigation had to overcome cultural taboos, official denials and silence from its victims. Indonesia Correspondent Susan Sim, who spoke to two rape victims, reports.

Jakarta – Thousands of students here and in several other cities staged peaceful rallies on Friday to demand the upcoming Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) arrange for the prosecution of Soeharto, expel the military from politics and prepare for a fair and honest general election.

Jakarta – The number of abortions in Indonesia had reached an estimated one million cases a year, most of them carried out on teenagers, an expert told a medical meeting yesterday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's highest legislative body, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), will hold a special session on November 10-13 to decide Indonesia's election timetable and ratify new, more democratic political laws.

Jakarta – The rupiah rose again to 8,450 against the US dollar on Friday and local stock prices inched down 0.4 percent on profit taking, currency dealers and stockbrokers said.

Appointed secretary of the fact-finding team in July, she now says, following the publication of its report last week, that there is not enough evidence to conclude that the rapes were organised.

As terrorised villagers turn to murder, the May riot findings have fuelled fears that disgraced Indonesian special forces are running death squads, reports Louise Williams.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – More than 10,000 Muslims yesterday gathered here to rally in support of next week's special session of Indonesia's highest legislative body which will set a date for the general election.

Jakarta – Students in several Indonesian cities held protests to reject an upcoming special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and its plan to assure parliamentary seats for the military, reports said Friday.

Beijing – Both China and the United States yesterday urged the Indonesian government to pursue follow-up investigations as proposed in a fact-finding team's report on the May riots.

Jose Manuel Tesoro, Jakarta – As the sun sets in the towns and villages of East Java, men hurry home quicker than usual from their evening prayers. In some areas, a bell tolls to empty the streets of women and children. Windows will be shut and doors bolted till the next morning. In the darkness, wary men with swords or sickles patrol deserted roads.

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – The revelation that a member of the fact-finding team probing the May riots attended a controversial meeting in the middle of the crisis undermined the team's report, it was claimed yesterday.

Jakarta – Thousands of people stormed an Indonesian police station in a West Java town where officers refused to hand over four suspected "ninja" killers, press reports said yesterday. Twelve policemen were injured in Kuningan as they fought off attackers with tear gas and rubber bullets in the disturbances on Wednesday.

Steven Greenhouse – The A.F.L.-C.I.O. and a large union of department store workers announced Thursday that they were rejecting an agreement that a group of apparel manufacturers and human rights groups had reached to curtail sweatshops.

Jakarta – More than a third of Indonesia's key electronics, machinery, chemical and metal-based industries have been forced into temporary closure by the economic crisis, a report said here Friday.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – Indonesia's military may reject the findings of an official investigation into May's devastating riots, which has found that some officers provoked violence so the then Soeharto government could activate extraordinary security powers to maintain political control.

Jakarta – A group of 50 retired military officials, former prosecutors and businessmen yesterday joined the popular faction of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) led by Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Jakarta – The Armed Forces (ABRI) has threatened to take stern action against anyone attempting to disrupt the Nov. 10 through Nov. 13 Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) as it believes the event is the "only gateway" to a democratic Indonesia.

Jakarta – The government line is that the Banyuwangi killing spree in East Java, which began in August and has since spread to Central and West Java, is a purely criminal case.

Jeremy Wagstaff and Puspa Madani, Jakarta – A government-appointed team of generals, activists and officials has concluded its three-month investigation into riots that swept Indonesia in May, saying more than 60 women were raped and suggesting the unrest was stoked by a power struggle within the government.

Andreas Harsono – While Indonesians await the People's Consultative Assembly convention next month, State Secretary Akbar Tanjung is maneuvering within the ruling party. Andreas Harsono writes.

Agencies in Dili and Jakarta – East Timorese resistance leader Jose Ramos Horta claims Indonesian troops have launched a major offensive against separatist rebels in the province.

[The following is a translation of press release issued on October 10, 1998, by a number of Indonesian NGOS with regard to Mobil oil's activities in Aceh. For reasons of space, the full list of signatories was not included - James Balowski.]

Bandung – Army Chief of Staff Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo vigorously defended on Monday the Armed Forces' business ventures, contending that all profits went to improve military personnel's welfare.

Michael Thurston, Austria – UN-sponsored talks between East Timorese leaders broke down Tuesday without agreement on their demands for the future of the former Portuguese colony, delegates said.

Sonny Inbaraj, Darwin – The disclosure of Indonesian army documents revealing higher than stated troop levels in East Timor grossly undermines Jakarta's credibility, amid sensitive talks over the territory's future.

Jakarta – Villagers in the Indonesian island of Madura have lynched three policemen to death believing them to be part of a wave of "ninja" murders in East Java, a press report said Monday.

Jakarta – In a sudden about-face, Indonesia's ruling Golkar party Monday proposed that students and opposition politicians be included in a controversial parliamentary session next week, the first since the fall of Suharto.

Jakarta – Indonesian inflation surged to almost 80 percent in October from a year ago, but dipped slightly from the previous month, official data showed Monday.

The protests in the weeks immediately surrounding the fall of Suharto were largely mounted by urban-based students, workers and professional groups. Land reform – if mentioned – came at the end of lists of demands for the removal of the president, moves against corruption and reduced food prices. Since then, local communities have taken action into their own hands.

Mobil Oil Indonesia, the country's biggest producer of natural gas, has been linked to serious human rights violations in the war-torn north Sumatran region of Aceh.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Fifty organisations not represented in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) are planning to stage massive protests here during the assembly's special plenary session next week.

The government has produced a new document on transmigration which describes the "achievements" of the past twenty five years and outlines the priorities for the future programme.

A World Bank report on the government's project to convert a million hectares of peat swamp forests into rice-lands reveals how appalling the situation on the ground is.

Dili – Masked assassins killed an Indonesian policeman in the former Portuguese colony of East Timor Saturday a day after the stabbing murders of three other officials, reports said Sunday. Second Sergeant Josep Florindo Pereira was shot dead by five men believed to be pro-independence fighters at his home, the Antara state news agency and witnesses reported.

Don Greenlees and Robert Garran, Jakarta/Canberra – The leak of confidential Indonesian army documents on troop numbers in East Timor yesterday appeared to throw the armed forces headquarters in Dili into confusion.

David Brearley – Australia's Timorese community was celebrating a victory last night it hopes will open the nation's doors to 1500 asylum seekers and free them from legal limbo.

Jakarta – Residents from seven villages in Lampung province destroyed part of a sugarcane plantation owned by Indonesia's largest business establishment, the Salim Group, after the company failed to settle a land dispute, a newspaper said Saturday.

Has Australia got the Indonesia relationship right and is it getting it right for the future? We have steered a prudent course but there are times when we must make our voice more clearly heard... especially in military matters. David Jenkins reports.

Jakarta – Hundreds of Moslems staged an angry demonstration here Friday to counter demands on the resort island of Bali that a minister step down for insulting Hindus.

Louise Williams – Indonesian and Australian military officials say joint special-forces exercises have been deferred for "technical reasons", but Australian defences sources say Canberra has concerns over the human-rights record of Indonesia's elite troops.

Karen Polglaze and Buni Yani, Jakarta – Indonesia admitted for the first time today that as many as 18,000 troops may be deployed in East Timor.

Don Greenlees – Confidential Indonesian army documents show the number of combat troops in East Timor has remained steady in recent months, in an embarrassing rebuttal of Jakarta's claims to have started troop withdrawals.

A former Australian diplomat says Australia's Foreign Affairs Department has maintained sensitive files on East Timor. The diplomat says the files showed Australia had prior knowledge of – and agreed with – Indonesia's invasion of East Timor, and, that Foreign Affairs knew years ago that Indonesian soldiers had killed 5 Australian-based journalists.

Jakarta – About 100 workers demonstrated Thursday for the release of a jailed labor activist convicted of organizing a strike while former President Suharto was in power.

The rally came one day after 8,000 students demonstrated outside Indonesia's parliament in the biggest protest to hit the capital since violent unrest forced Suharto's resignation in May.

Jakarta – Some 300 Moslem students protested in front of parliament Thursday demanding the military ends its political role and calling for an investigation into the wealth of former president Suharto.

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – A report on the May riots has been delayed twice because military and government members on the inquiry team are opposed to the findings, sources said yesterday.

Jakarta – A group of Indonesian women Thursday campaigned against state-condoned violence by distributing flowers, pamphlets and black ribbons in a Jakarta main street.

Jakarta – More than 3,000 students rallied near parliament Wednesday to demand Indonesian President B.J. Habibie resign and hand over power to a transitional government free from Suharto-era officials.