Tiarma Siboro and Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Claiming that the number of military personnel remains far from enough to guard the country's vast territory, the Ministry of Defense is drafting a bill that would require youths to perform military service.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The Golkar Party's political campaign has fixed its guns on President Megawati Soekarnoputri, stepping up on rhetoric that blames her for the nation's many ailments.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) could use the recent civilian lawsuit, involving an alleged bribery attempt by Golkar leader Akbar Tandjung, to file for judicial review with the Supreme Court, but a legal expert doubted on Saturday that the office would dare to do it.

Laurel Teo – Decked out in the party colour of blood red, tens of thousands of PDI-P supporters surged into the main arteries of Jakarta yesterday. They clogged up the city's traffic and forced the traffic police to close off some roads in the capital.

Surabaya – The Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) cannot be placed under the authority of the civilian government. The TNI must be involved in politics because the TNI is not a tool of the government.

This issue was taken up by retired General Try Sutrisno when presenting a public lecture at the Surabaya Juang Building in East Java on Saturday March 27.

Dan Eaton, Jakarta – Slumped on a couch and clutching his walking cane, Indonesian presidential hopeful Abdurrahman Wahid, one of the country's most revered Islamic figures, is clearly annoyed.

Campaign time is ticking away as April 5 legislative elections approach and he is facing a barrage of what he considers irrelevant questions from a foreign journalist.

Haidir Anwar Tanjung, Pekanbaru – Work at the Kampar district administration in Riau returned to normal on Friday after three days of paralysis caused by protests against its much-derided regent.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Most voters know how to properly perforate their ballot papers, but they remain so indifferent to the candidates that many of them are likely to vote for anybody, a survey reveals.

Charlotte Denny – Mohammed Soeharto, Ferdinand Marcos and Mobutu Sese Seko ripped off up to $US50 billion from the people of Indonesia, the Philippines and Zaire, equivalent to the West's entire annual aid budget, anti-bribery campaigners say.

Sian Powell, Jakarta – Two Supreme Court judges have risked high-level political opprobrium by criticising Indonesian armed forces' crimes in East Timor in 1999.

In only the court's third dissenting opinion, the two judges ruled against Indonesia's ad hoc tribunal on East Timor, finding five senior army and police officers guilty of gross human rights abuses.

Suherdjoko and Rusman, Semarang/Samarinda – The number of tuberculosis sufferers increased to 36,820, with 12,000 fatalities, in Central Java province this year and that number is expected to go higher due partly to poverty, a local health official said on Friday.

Robert Go, Jakarta – A former government prosecutor has accused presidential candidate Akbar Tandjung of reneging on promises to make under-the-table payments in exchange for inside information about the Golkar leader's graft trial.

Jakarta – Indonesian Muslims reacted angrily to the assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin by Israel, with rallies held in several major cities on Java island on Friday in a show of solidarity with the Palestinians. Most of the rallies turned into verbal attacks on the United States, Israel's long-standing ally.

The Straits Times Indonesia bureau chief Derwin Pereira spoke to Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri yesterday on her administration's successes and her plans, if re-elected. Here are excerpts from the interview.

Q: What are the successes of your administration?

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Though now defunct, the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) remains prominent in the current two-month changeover period to a new way of managing debt restructuring and asset sales.

Jakarta – Most of the 24 political parties contesting the upcoming elections are not concerned with public demands, the Forum of People's Concern for the House says.

As Indonesians prepare for general elections next month, there are allegations that as election fever heats up, political parties have resorted to taking over the media to control it.

Presenter/Interviewer: Adelaine Ng

Laurel Teo – In a country where two in three watch television almost every day, the goggle box has turned into a fierce battle- ground for Indonesian politicians.

Devi Asmarani, Makassar – Indonesia's most consummate politician, Mr Akbar Tandjung, was clearly in his element.

Standing before more than 10,000 yellow-clad party supporters in the town square of Takalar, a 1 1/2-hour drive from Makassar, the Golkar chairman showed a side normally obscured by his soft voice and composure.

Nurul Hidayati, Jakarta – Arbi Sanit, a political observer from the University of Indonesia, is of the view that the a report by Transparency International (TI) which says that former President Suharto is the richest corrupter in the world, will indeed benefit the Cendana [Suharto's Central Jakarta neighborhood, the relatives of of the Suharto clan] clique's political party, the Nat

Suwarjono, Jakarta – The results of a survey by the Institute of Research, Education and Information of Social and Economic Affairs (LP3ES), show that the Golkar Party has the largest amount of public support.

Jakarta – Indonesia's government said yesterday it would pay its civil servants a special bonus in June but the finance minister has denied the move is linked to the presidential election the following month.

A Finance Ministry spokesman, Mr Syamsul, said the one-month bonus would help civil servants pay school fees at the start of the education year.

Jakarta – Indonesian police have enough evidence to bring new charges against jailed militant cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who is scheduled to be released from prison next month, a senior intelligence official said on Friday.

Steven Gutkin, Jakarta – Indonesian police have obtained a letter that allegedly identifies jailed militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir as the leader of the al Qaida-linked terror network Jemaah Islamiyah, a senior intelligence official said Friday.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The National Police have sent another team to further investigate the recent shooting incident in Manggarai regency on the eastern island of Flores, which killed five people and injured 28 others.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – For many young people in Jakarta's kampongs, the 22-day official campaign period this month is manna from heaven – free T-shirts and money.

The Constitutional Court, established on the basis of the decision of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), is currently engaged in reviewing the legal contradictions that are affecting the province of Papua.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung is facing a fresh court case after a self-confessed middleman filed a lawsuit against the speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) at the South Jakarta District Court on Thursday.

Haidir Anwar Tanjung and Tiarma Siboro, Pekanbaru/Jakarta – Joyful celebrations erupted in Kampar regency, Riau province, on Thursday, shortly after Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno finally bowed to the people's adamant demand to dismiss the district chief and his deputy.

The smiling daughter of Indonesia's former dictator Suharto is waging a high-profile electoral campaign – less than six years after her father was forced to resign amid massive civil unrest.

Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, known as Tutut, is campaigning for a party led by a retired general who proudly calls himself a Suharto lackey.

Jakarta – The leaders of Indonesia's Islamic parties have reluctantly accepted the defeat of political Islam by Malaysia's dominant secular political grouping in the recent elections, but said it was far from being final.

Suwarjono, Jakarta – On Thursday March 25, scores of activists from the People's Lawyers Union (Serikat Pengacara Rakyat, SPR) and the Popular Youth Movement (Gerakan Pemuda Kerakyatan, GPK) went to the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) offices in Central Jakarta.

Jakarta – Indonesia's bird flu outbreak, which has killed up to 6.2 million chickens across the archipelago, is showing signs of abating, a top agriculture ministry official said on Thursday.

Jakarta – A lawyer for former Indonesian military chief Wiranto accused East Timor prosecutors on Wednesday of trying to sabotage the general's bid for the Indonesian presidency by seeking his arrest.

Tony Sitathan, Jakarta – A new Islamic fad is sweeping across Indonesia. But this time the divine message is reinforced by an amplifier and a speaker box chanting Islamic musical notes taken from the Koran, Islam's holy book, and sprinkled with modern-day pop culture that appeals even to the MTV generation in Indonesia.

Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta – Despite the nationwide policy of providing free medical treatment to poor dengue fever patients, some hospitals continue to charge poor patients, according to an investigation by the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC).

Devi Asmarani, Makassar – For them to graduate, primary school students in Bulukumba regency, about a three-hour drive from here, must take proficiency tests in Quran reading.

Alcoholic beverages are banned in several towns, and in one regency, women public officials must cover their hair with headscarves at work.

Jakarta's governor has urged residents to be on guard against terror attacks as Indonesia heads towards next month's elections.

The warning came as police continued to question a group of Muslim radicals arrested after they accidently caused an explosion in their house in a Jakarta suburb during a bomb-making class.

Dewi Santoso, Jakarta – Eight months after authorities began enforcing Law No. 19/2002 on copyrights, the government will begin using licensed software once it finishes taking inventory and negotiating prices, an official said.

Ahmad Fikri, Bandung – A former senior economics lecturer from the University of Indonesia, Professor Sarbini, has warned that the forces of the New Order regime [of former President Suharto] are trying as hard as possible to buy votes in the 2004 general elections. The available funds to buy these votes are estimated at 5 trillion rupiah.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Major political parties are fine-tuning their campaign strategies in order to bounce back from disastrous early indoor campaigning, party sources say. President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is working to improve its television spots.

Just nine days remain to the 22-day campaign period, after which there is a three-day cooling-off period before people cast their votes for legislative candidates on April 5. It will be the first of two direct elections the people of this country have ever participated, the second being the presidential election in July.

Mafoot Simon – The indoor stadium turned into a sea of white. Some 10,000 supporters of the Islamic-based Justice Party (PKS) crowded into an area no longer than six basketball courts. Outside, many more jostled to get in to hear party leader Hidayat Nurwahid deliver a broadside against corruption in Indonesia.

Muchus Budi R., Solo – After failing to form a new political party, in the 2004 general elections ex-members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) will channel their hopes through the National Awakening Party (PKB) and support Gus Dur [former President Abdurrahman Wahid] to win the presidency.

Robert Go, Jakarta – National Mandate Party (PAN) chief Amien Rais hops from one destination to another across Indonesia on a jet chartered at US$2,000 per hour.

Sometimes, helicopters rented at an hourly rate of US$450 deliver him in style to fields where adoring supporters wait for his appearance and a dose of his fiery speeches.

Jakarta/Medan – Desperate to win people's hearts and minds, political parties have openly employed dubious tactics to draw indifferent voters to largely deserted campaign sites.

Matthew Moore, Surabaya – One-time Indonesian strongman Wiranto couldn't quite decide whether to take the Mercedes or the becak, one of the tiny, three-wheeled, cycle-powered rickshaws that transport the county's poor.

Jakarta – The troubles surrounding the preparations for the general elections has led the Indonesian Military to put itself on high alert, Chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said.

Moch. N. Kurniawan and Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The Institute for the Studies on Free Flow of Information (ISAI) reported on Thursday to the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) 39 violations allegedly committed by political parties in broadcast media advertisements between March 11 and March 15.

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – While most political parties are united in condemning the government for failing to set out an economic program that can get the nation out of crisis, most of them have failed to offer any alternative.