Jakarta – A port workers' strike entered its fourth day yesterday in Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city and gateway to East Java province, causing losses of millions of rupiah, according to port officials.

Keith B. Richburg, Jakarta – In the five decades since Indonesia achieved independence following a bloody anti-colonial war, the Indonesian Armed Forces, or ABRI, have played the pivotal role in the country's politics and society.

Jakarta – Indonesian military chief General Wiranto on Thursday warned of national disintegration and issued orders to the armed forces to act firmly to safeguard public order and national safety.

Jakarta – Indonesians are tearing up their useless credit cards, withdrawing everything from their bank accounts and learning to live in a creditless economy, said analysts and banks here.

As the rupiah spirals downwards to beyond 16,000 to the US dollar compared to 2,400 a year ago, and as banks fold and letters of credit dry up, people are turning to cash and barter.

Louise Williams, Dili – The battered Indonesian rupiah suffered another sharp fall yesterday, fuelling fears of widespread food shortages and more factory closures as the nation struggles to import even basic commodities such as rice and raw materials for production.

Don Greenlees, Dili – Chanting, singing hymns and waving banners calling for an end to Indonesian rule, 2000 East Timorese paraded through the streets of Dili yesterday in an emotional outpouring over the killing of a 21-year-old local man by a soldier [Other reports have put the number of demonstrators as high as 10,000 - JB].

Lisbon – Hundreds of detentions, "missing" and deaths continued to occur in Indonesia and East Timor in 1997, according to the annual report by Amnesty International (AI).

John Aglionby, Jakarta – Released from the shackles of dictatorship, Indonesians are seizing their new political freedom with enthusiasm.

Jakarta – The former Indonesian president, Mr Soeharto, had denied accusations that he amassed billions of dollars while in power, only holding savings from his salary and pensions, his lawyer said on Monday.

Jakarta – Prominent legal practitioners and observers expressed a degree of suspicion yesterday over the sudden dismissal of the attorney general and questioned the motive for making a military officer the country's top prosecutor.

Jakarta – Poor Indonesian farmers have sabotaged a luxury golf course in West Java, planting crops on greens and carving the word "reform" on the fairway.

The farmers were taking revenge on the Cimacan Golf Club for the meagre compensation they received nine years ago when the land was taken from them, the Kompas newspaper reported yesterday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's army chief said on Tuesday that East Timor's integration into Indonesia is supported by the territory's people, countering open calls for a referendum on self determination for the territory.

Jakarta – Thousands of people have rioted in three towns in Indonesia, damaging shops, houses, vehicles and churches, reports said Tuesday.

In Tegal, Central Java, a mob Monday set fire to two cars, including a police car, and two motorcycles, as well as damaging scores of shops and houses, two banks, a gas station and two churches, the Kompas daily said.

Louise Williams, Dili – East Timor's provincial Parliament met protesting pro-independence students yesterday for the first time and formally accepted their demands, including a call for United Nations peacekeepers to supervise a ceasefire in the contested province.

Jakarta – Some 300 employees of PT Aerowisata Catering Service (ACS), a subsidiary of flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, staged a demonstration at the Garuda building here Tuesday to press several demands, including full payment of old-age allowance to company pensioners.

David Liebhold, Jakarta – If Suharto had hoped that by stepping down he could assuage the anger of the Indonesian people, he is likely to be disappointed. After 32 years of allowing family and friends to squander the public wealth, it's payback time. Jakarta street vendors are selling photocopied lists of companies the Suharto family owns, complete with mug shots of his children.

Jakarta – Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said on Monday a referendum on East Timor's future would only trigger a divide among the territory's people. "It will only invite dissension between anti-and pro-integrationists," Alatas was quoted as telling reporters by the official Antara news agency.

Jim Della-Giacoma, Jakarta – Indonesian troops fired in the air to disperse rowdy protesters in Central Java on Monday after they stoned shops, residents said.

They said the protest began as a peaceful demonstration to demand that the local mayor resign.

Asmara Nababan, member of the National Human Rights Commission, Komnas HAM, speaking to the press at Jayapura airport shortly before returning to Jakarta on 15 June, confirmed that human rights abuses as documented in a report submitted to the Commission last month by three church leaders in the region of Timika had indeed occurred].

Jakarta – An Indonesian military court on Monday agreed not to link two police officers with the fatal shooting of four university students during an anti-government demonstration last month.

But First Lieutenant Agus Tri Heryanto, 29, and Second Lieutenant Paryo, 38, will still face trial for wilfully disobeying or exceeding orders, the tribunal ruled.

Darren Mcdermott, Singapore – The Indonesian rupiah's renewed plunge is undermining a week-old debt-restructuring agreement that already was struggling to win support.

Louise Williams, Dili – The East Timorese Bishop Carlos Belo says a "transitional solution" to the protracted Timor conflict must include the immediate granting of special status to the contested province and the release of the jailed independence fighter Xanana Gusmao.

Thirty East Timorese visited Komnas HAM, the National Commission on Human Rights today to complain about the brutal attack on their peaceful demonstration last Friday.

Jakarta – President B. J. Habibie's government has begun a probe into the alleged use of the reforestation funds to finance businesses owned by former President Suharto's family and associates.

Jakarta – Fresh violence has broken out in a small town in the Indonesian province of Central Java, with rioters damaging scores of shops and offices, reports received here said Saturday.

Don Greenlees – More than 250 prisoners in Dili's Becora jail refuse to return to their cells for the past nine days and have eaten little food as part of a protest calling for political reforms, human rights activists said yesterday.

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – Riot police yesterday violently broke up a Jakarta demonstration by about 1,500 East Timorese who were calling for a referendum on the future of the territory.

About 250 soldiers and police armed with guns, rattan sticks and riot shields dispersed the crowd of mainly students who had rallied in the grounds of the Foreign Ministry.

Lisbon – A former commander of the East Timorese separatist rebels, M'a Huno, was arrested late Friday in Dili and could be facing torture, a pro-independence East Timorese group warned Saturday.

In a statement sent to AFP in Lisbon, the Socialist Association of Timor said M'a Huno was arrested by Indonesian troops stationed in East Timor.

Jakarta – Some 1,000 East Timor students rallied Saturday against Indonesian rule in provincial capital Dili and called for a referendum on self-determination, following a day of similar protests here.

Mike Head – Some of the biggest American, European and Japanese transnational corporations have demanded – in no uncertain terms – that the regime headed by President B. J. Habibie protect their multi-billion-dollar investments in Indonesia that involve partnerships with Suharto family members.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – More than 2,000 student protesters gathered outside the Indonesian Parliament here yesterday demanding a special session to push forward political reforms in the country.

Robert Kroon - Muchtar Pakpahan, founder of Indonesia's first independent labor union, SBSI, in 1992, was imprisoned by the Suharto government for "subversive activities" in 1996. After Mr. Suharto stepped down on May 21, Mr. Pakpahan was one of the first political prisoners to be released.

Seven days of anti-government protest on the Indonesian resort island of Bali have led to all 46 members of the local legislature agreeing to resign.

The protests were directed against the President, Dr Jusuf Habibie, and Bali's former governor, Mr Ida Bagus Oka, who is now Population Minister, the Jakarta Post reported today.

The Alliance of Independent Journalists condemns Bob Hassan's action in closing the tabloid, ParOn, on 9 June 1998.

As the owner of the weekly tabloid, Hassan took the decision without any prior discussion with the journalists and workers.

Seth Mydans, Jakarta – Human rights and women's aid groups have begun to document what they say appears to have been an organized campaign of assaults, gang rapes and killings of ethnic Chinese women during three days of rioting in Jakarta last month.

Christopher Torchia, Dili – Rejecting a presidential promise of special status for their homeland within Indonesia, thousands of East Timorese demonstrated today for the right to vote for full independence.

More than 3,000 students and others gathered on the grounds of the state-funded University of East Timor.

As many as 10,000 striking workers scuffled with, and threw rocks at, anti-riot police when they staged a 10km march through the streets of Indonesia's second city, Surabaya, yesterday.

Police and witnesses said violence broke out when a line of police blocked the path of the marchers as they approached East Java's provincial parliament building.

Nicole Gaouette, Jakarta – They noticed the grenade after lunch. It lay just inside the courtyard, a tiny space crammed with boxes, cars, volunteers on break, and two warbling songbirds in cages.

Habibie does not have a firm grip on economic policy or political power. If the country does not return to stability soon, say Peter Montagnon and Sander Thoenes, it could be set back years

Semarang – Hundreds of leaders of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) have agreed to set up a political party – 14 years after Indonesia's largest Islamic organization shunned politics.

A report just received by ETISC from reliable sources in Dili, East Timor confirms that a very significant gathering took place there on Saturday 6 June.

Keith B. Richburg, Jakarta – Indonesia Elang Mulya Lesmana's parents first noticed changes in their son at the beginning of April. He started reading newspapers, asking questions about the country's economic decline, becoming more politically aware.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – In the final days of the Soeharto regime, the Government made one last desperate attempt to maintain control of way the crisis was reported by ordering all television stations to submit their broadcasts for clearance to a Government-controlled "TV pool" which would ensure a "positive spin".

Robert Garran and Maria Ceresa – Fears are growing among analysts in Indonesia and Australia that a poor rice harvest and sharp fall in government rice stockpiles will spark more riots in Jakarta and rural areas.

Cindy Shiner, Jakarta - From a noisy green tollbooth on the Winyoto highway, 26-year-old Yanto can pull in the equivalent of his daily salary in less than five minutes, collecting 30 cents a car. After half an hour, he has gathered an amount equal to a month's pay from the outstretched hands of the drivers.

Jakarta – More than 39,000 people have been killed in military operations against a separatist movement in the northern Indonesian province of Aceh in recent years, a rights group said.

Greg Earl, Jakarta – Indonesia has secured an agreement with international banks to roll over its $US80bn ($128.8bn) in private sector foreign debt – a development which may help stabilise the ailing rupiah.

Kontras, the Committee for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence, has urged the Military Police to investigate thoroughly and with all haste the kidnapping of a number of activists. Further delays will only make it more difficult for several key witnesses to furnish statements. Delays are also spreading greater fear among the kidnapped activists who have since returned home.

Jakarta – The National Commission or Human Rights will soon begin investigating reports that more than 39,000 Acehnese have died in various military operations over the past decade and that 1,000 (of) others are still in military detention in Indonesia's westernmost province.

Jakarta – Hundreds of striking bus drivers of the state-run PPD bus company gave a rousing welcome yesterday to released labor union chair-man Muchtar Pakpahan as he paid them an impromptu visit.