Jakarta – Choking, thick haze that has sporadically hit mainland Riau and Kalimantan has spread and reached other islands, raising health concerns.

Lhokseumawe – An Indonesian military court on Monday found three soldiers guilty of beating civilians in war-torn Aceh and sentenced them to four months and 20 days in jail – about half what prosecutors had demanded.

Jakarta – International and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have demanded that the martial law administrator in Aceh to give the media the greatest possible access and lift any restrictions on journalists reporting on the conflict in the province.

Jakarta – Tarmidi Suhardjo, former chairman of the Jakarta chapter of the ruling party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), has officially thrown in his lot with the Pioneer Party (Partai Pelopor).

Jakarta – The sale of counterfeit medicines not only threatens consumers but also the pharmaceutical industry as the distribution of such drugs is now out of control. Moreover, the country's inadequate legal infrastructure and weak law enforcement have allowed such counterfeit drugs to flood the market.

Jakarta – The annual choking haze has reached alert levels on mainland Riau, including the provincial capital of Pekanbaru, with authorities warning residents to stay indoors as much as possible.

Fitrian A. and Israr Ardiansyah, Jakarta – Indonesian forests constitute one of the world's megacenters of biological diversity. However, these forests – 10 percent of the world's remaining tropical forests, second largest to Brazil – are being increasingly degraded, leaving ever fewer natural resources and causing significant ecological damage.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Extortion and blackmail are commonplace in the police here against a backdrop of poor law enforcement and flourishing corruption, an independent police watchdog says.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – "Because I'm brown, that's why I want to be white." Westerners might still like the bronzed look, but in Indonesia women such as Yusniar are demanding soaps and lotions, creams and even injections that promise to make their brown skins a few shades lighter.

Abdurrahman Wahid was president of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001. With his pluralistic style and attempts to implement frameworks to eliminate corruption, he perhaps came to the helm in Indonesia before the country or even his own administration was ready for his personal brand of reform.

Jakarta – British attempts to convince the Indonesian Air Force to abandon its use of the HS-Hawk warplane in the war in Aceh have been shot down in flames.

Air Force spokesman Eddy Hardjoko said Thursday that the British-made Hawks would remain part of its arsenal, saying the warplanes had only been used to provide air cover for soldiers, not combat.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – For many Jakartans, being choked by highly polluted air while sitting in a seemingly endless traffic jam is daily occurrence and irritant.

And things are going to get worse, with air pollution set to increase in the future rather than improve mainly due to the growth in the number of motor vehicles.

Jakarta – Some 5,000 people from the group, "Society Concerned with National Education" staged a rally in front of the House of Representatives here on Thursday, rejecting a House plan to approve the bill on education.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Following an attack on the office of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) by the Pemuda Panca Marga (PPM) group last week, about 20 of the group's members paid a visit to the Tempo news magazine office on Wednesday to protest the way the weekly described the nationalistic group.

International environmental organisation Greenpeace says Indonesia has the world's highest rate of forest loss and may see much of its lowland forest disappear by 2010.

In a new report, 'Partners in Crime', Greenpeace has investigated the links between Britain and Indonesia's timber barons. The report says the findings are alarming.

Moch. N. Kurniawan and Apriadi Gunawan, Jakarta/Medan – More provinces in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi islands are showing hot spots, a strong indication of forest fires, with haze already shrouding some areas of these provinces.

Sari P. Setiogi, Jakarta – Indonesia is rated the world's third worst country in its commitment against and law enforcement on women and child trafficking, with an estimated population of 230,000 women and child sex workers trafficked throughout Indonesia.

Jakarta – Still smarting from the loss of Sipadan and Ligitan islands, the government plans to resettle people from densely populated areas to 88 uninhabited islands on borders with neighbouring countries.

With incentives such as subsidies to start fishing and palm oil businesses, Jakarta hopes to persuade 300,000 people over a period of five years to make the move.

Fitri Wulandari, Jakarta – State-owned electricity company PT PLN said that power reserves on Java and Bali had been depleted, but stopped short of saying there could be more blackouts in the future.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Countrywide risk factors, legal risk, a weak banking sector and weak capital markets, community violence and the like, affect sentiment over doing business in Indonesia, but there are few factors more important on would-be investor's score cards than a regular and reliable supply of electrical power at an affordable price.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and A'an Suryana, Jakarta – A visiting British minister warned on Wednesday that the use of HS-Hawk warplanes in the current military offensive against rebels in Aceh could damage military cooperation between the two countries.

Indonesia's Golkar Party which was used by former President Suharto to impose decades of authoritarian rule, is undergoing a makeover. The party is even considering appointing one of Indonesia's most respected Islamic scholars, a man who played a central role in Suharto's overthrow, as its presidential candidate.

Presenter/Interviewer: Tricia Fitzgerald

Jakarta – Sony Electronics Indonesia Ltd has ended its Indonesian operations and is offering severance pay to its 884 workers.

Wayne Arnold (New York Times) – Between separatist rebellions, corrupt courts, slumping tourism and rising youth unemployment, Indonesia has plenty to worry about.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Average incomes across Bali are down 40 per cent, one in five Balinese is out of work, and children are increasingly dropping out of school, according to the first surveys on the impact of last October's bombings on Bali and neighbouring East Java and Lombok.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Tourist arrivals in Bali have recovered only to a third of the level that tourism experts had said it would. The monthly visitor figures for the resort stand at 60,000.

Nick Everett, Jakarta – On May 19-21, more than 60 peace activists from 26 countries met at Hotel Wisata to assess the challenges faced by the global peace movement and to develop a plan of action. The conference coincided with the Indonesian government's resumption of its all-out war against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Something is not quite right with this picture: Key Cabinet ministers arriving in their chauffeur-driven Volvo sedans to a Cabinet meeting on Monday to consider which direction to take on the status of Indonesia's relations with Sweden. It is not terribly ironic in itself that they are driven around in Volvos – a fine Swedish automobile.

Relations between Indonesia and Sweden sink to a new low, over the fate of Aceh's rebel leaders. Some 50-exiled leaders of GAM or the Free Aceh Movement – live in and are citizens of Sweden, including GAM founder, Hasan di Tiro.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The British government has questioned the use of HS-Hawk warplanes by Indonesia during the military operation against rebels in Aceh, saying the pre-purchase deal restricted the planes from offensive missions.

Pip Hinman – Since Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri declared martial law in Aceh on May 19, defence minister Robert Hill and foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer have been repeating ad nauseum that it is in Australia's "national interest" to support the "territorial integrity" of Indonesia.

Jakarta – On June 3 a number of press and non-government organisations from the Coalition for Violence Against Journalists (Koalisi Antikekerasan terhadap Wartawan) declared their concern over the repressive situation facing the press and the safety of journalists during the military operation in Aceh.

Washington (Agencies) – The following is a summary of results for Indonesia from the 2003 Global Attitudes Survey by the Washington-based Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Darren Goodsir, Denpasar – Waving his arms and yelling at his lawyers to respond to his religious chants, Imam Samudra – the alleged brains behind the Bali bombings – strolled into court on the first day of his trial yesterday, displaying his now-familiar bravado.

R. William Liddle – How likely is it that Indonesia will once again be ruled by the Indonesian Military (TNI)?

Public demand for action to uncover the mystery behind the 1998 May riots that led to the downfall of the Suharto regime apparently still has a long way to go before it achieves success.

Sari P. Setiogi, Jakarta – The government is not postponing the new visa policy but is merely implementing a six-month transition period instead, spokesman Ade E. Dahlan for the Directorate General of Immigration at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights said on Monday.

[The following article will be published in the forthcoming issue of the Tapol Bulletin.]

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – Indonesia's traditional donors grouped under the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) have welcomed the country's macroeconomic improvements, but warn that slow progress in structural reform could impede economic growth.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Major donors, who pledge billions of dollars in loans to Indonesia on a yearly basis, called on the government yesterday to start making progress on its reform promises.

The Indonesia-headquartered Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) claims that members of the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) – which holds its interim meeting in Jakarta this week – are risking Indonesia's forests by not paying enough attention to the sale of forest assets to state-owned Bank Mandiri.

Indonesia summoned the Swedish ambassador to express disappointment at his country's response to a demand for action against exiled Acehnese rebel leaders.

Simon Montlake – As recently as 1999, Indonesia idled in the AIDS slow lane. At the time, health officials attempted to curb the spread of the disease by concentrating on the nation's premier high-risk group – sex workers and their clients.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – The National Awakening Party (PKB) concluded its three-day national meeting late on Thursday by naming its chief patron, Abdurrahman Wahid, its presidential candidate.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – People living in Jakarta will be jailed for up to three months without trial and fined during a massive city administration crackdown on illegal residents starting June 12.

An Indonesian group linked to the al-Qaeda network held a high-level meeting last month in Indonesia, possibly to identify new terrorist targets, The Australian newspaper reported.

Jakarta – Flora & Fauna International (FFI) and the Team for the Conservation of Sumatran Tigers (TPHS) have received reports on the unchecked poaching of Sumatran elephants and other protected species in Kerinci Seblat National Park (TNKS) in Jambi.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Two key suspects in the Bali bombings testified yesterday that Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir is the head of Jemaah Islamiah, the al-Qaeda linked terror organisation blamed for the attacks.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Public bus drivers are forced to pay, on average, up to Rp 40,000 for legal and illegal fees each day, a factor that has caused their services and safety to worsen, a survey reveals.

Arya Abhiseka, Jakarta – A noted abortion expert said on Wednesday the high number of maternal deaths from unsafe abortions was partly the fault of the media, which has failed to educate the public about the issue.