The Malaysian government has again deported Indonesian illegal workers, which has added to the unemployment issues here.

Indonesia will investigate atrocities including the East Timor slaughter after agreeing on a truth and reconciliation commission.

Parliament agreed to set up the panel yesterday after a three-month row sparked by the military's objection to the inclusion of "truth" in its title.

Jon Afrizal, Jambi – The haze in Jambi and Central Kalimantan provinces worsened on Wednesday, prompting local authorities, particularly in Jambi province, to close several schools.

Tiarma Siboro and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Condolences poured in on Wednesday for the family and relatives of top human rights campaigner Munir who died on board a Garuda flight to Amsterdam, while the precise cause of his death remained a mystery.

Indramayu – Almost twenty-five percent of school buildings are damaged in Indramayu regency, West Java province, it was reported recently.

Almost 200 elementary school buildings, or some 25 percent of the total 869 school buildings in the regency, are on the brink of collapse due to old age and damage due to natural disasters, an official said on Wednesday.

Jakarta – General Andi Muhammad Jusuf, a former Indonesian army chief who played a pivotal role in the rise to power of former dictator Suharto nearly four decades ago, has died. He was 76.

Gen Andi, a retired four-star general, died late on Wednesday from kidney failure and other complications in the central city of Makassar, his doctor, Dr John Adam, said yesterday.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – In order to ensure fairness within the Indonesian Military (TNI) forces, several factions in the House of Representatives proposed on Wednesday that the TNI chief's position should be alternated regularly between the Army, Navy and Air Force.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Attempts to heal the wounds of those victimized by large scale human rights violations in the past should be the priority of the truth and reconciliation commission, which is due to be set up next year, activists said.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Six years after a banking bail-out that cost some US$60 billion (Rp555 trillion), Bank Permata, Indonesia's second-largest bank and the last of the nationalized banks taken over during the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, is up for grabs.

Munir's life and career exemplify that of a man who answers his calling to the end. The diminutive rights activist championed a great cause during an extremely difficult period in Indonesian history.

The death of Indonesia's most outstanding human rights activist, Munir, while still in the prime of life, is a profound loss to the NGO community, civil society and the people of Indonesia.

Irwan Firdaus, Jakarta – General Andi Muhammad Jusuf, a former Indonesian army chief who played a pivotal role in the rise to power of former dictator Suharto (news – web sites) nearly four decades ago, has died. He was 76.

Papang Hidayat and Usman Hamid, Jakarta – Amid the fanfare and bustle of this year's general elections, the trial of the gross human right violations in 1984's Tanjung Priok incident has gone almost unnoticed by the public. While the elections seem to promise a brighter future, the trial is a reminder of a dark past that few will remember with fondness.

Jane Perlez and Evelyn Rusli, Uyat Bay Beach – First the fish began to disappear. Then villagers began developing strange rashes and bumps. Finally in January, Masna Stirman, aided by a $1.50 wet nurse, gave birth to a tiny, shriveled girl with small lumps and wrinkled skin.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Defying criticism from human rights activists and victims of rights abuses, the House of Representatives unanimously endorsed the bill for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Tuesday.

Kiki Verico, Jakarta – On July 31, 2004 in Geneva, Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi successfully led the meeting of 147 WTO member governments to approve "the package of frameworks and other agreements" considered as vital in supporting the Doha round.

Jakarta – Thick haze from forest fires and farmland burnings blanketed the Indonesian province of Jambi, delayed flights to and from the eastern Sumatra region, officials said on Tuesday.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The government demanded on Monday that the Indonesian Military be granted the power to take preemptive measures against groups suspected of threatening national unity before they were capable of launching an armed rebellion.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Supporters of terror suspect Abu Bakar Ba'asyir fought a running battle with police officers and hurled shoes and other debris inside a courtroom, shortly after a judge dismissed on Monday the lawsuit against the arrest of the elderly cleric.

Samarinda – Hundreds of Mulawarman University students held a rally on Monday here, demanding that the local government allocate a greater budget for education.

The students said the provincial administration had allocated only Rp 2.6 billion of the Rp 3 trillion 2004 provincial budget toward education, or only 0.087 percent.

Together with journalists of other printed media, The Jakarta Post's Sri Wahyuni was recently invited to join an investigative team formed by the Yogyakarta-based Silvagama Foundation.

ID Nugroho and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Two weeks to go before the election runoff on September 20, both presidential candidates are availing of every opportunity they can to woo the voters.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) blamed on Monday flawed campaign regulations for "disguised campaigning" by the presidential candidates' election teams.

Jakarta – Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) clerics have issued conflicting statements to voters grouped in the country's largest Muslim organisation in the run-up to the September 20 presidential poll.

Jakarta – The Golkar Party has officially reprimanded all members who have defied the party's official decision to support Megawati Soekarnoputri in the presidential election runoff on September 20.

Munir, one of Indonesia's most respected and courageous – yet also most humble – human rights activists, passed away Tuesday (7/9/04), apparently due to cirrhosis of the liver, while on a flight from Jakarta to the Netherlands, where he had planned to pursue a masters degree in law. He was 38.

Richel Langit, Jakarta – Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tanjung is not contesting the September 20 election, nor is he a member of either political party whose candidates advanced to the second round of the presidential election.

Maryadi, Jakarta – Hundreds of people from the Committee Against the Criminalisation of the Press (Komite Anti Kriminalisasi Terhadap Pers, Kakap) held a demonstration at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout on Sunday September 5 at 3pm.

Munir was in a class by himself. He had an electric intelligence and an encyclopedic memory. In meetings, he was able to draw on a kaleidoscope of detailed fact and sharp analytical insight to present a clear image of what needed to be done.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Hundreds of villagers in East Lampung blocked off a section of the Sumatra East Coast Highway that is under repair in protest of a company they accuse of failing to honor its promise to provide electricity for their villages.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – The government and the House of Representatives seems set not to learn from the debacles that have arisen under the existing bankruptcy legislation, as proposed amendments of the law still contain many loopholes that could allow creditors to easily bankrupt solvent companies.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The House of Representatives is expected to endorse the bill on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Tuesday, but a human rights campaigner doubts the effectiveness of the commission to fulfill its tasks.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Nearly 1,250 of 1,784 state schools in Tangerang regency are in need of renovation, but the regency administration has only allocated enough money, about Rp 60 billion (US$6.45 million), to renovate 75 of the schools.

Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Pekanbaru/Jambi/Samarinda – A senior official at the Office of the State Minister of the Environment said on Sunday that at least two-thirds of the over 1,000 forest fires that recently hit Kalimantan and Sumatra sprung up in areas owned by plantation companies.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – New shopping malls and lavish condominium buildings are sprouting up across the capital city and hypermarkets such as Carrefour are expanding fast, at the expense of smaller supermarkets and traditional grocers.

Cellphones sell like hot cakes and new motorcycles and cars abound. But these trends belie reality.

Jakarta – International and national pressure has intensified against settling disputes over media reports using criminal charges, saying the trend will sacrifice press freedom and curb the public's right to information.

Muhammad Uzair and Suherdjoko, Palembang/Semarang – In observance of Jilbab (Muslim headscarf) International Solidarity Day on Saturday, hundreds of Indonesian Muslim women staged separate protests in two cities against alleged discrimination against them.

[The Invisible Palace: The True Story of a Journalist's Murder in Java, Jose Manuel Tesoro, Equinox Press, August 2004, Rp 139,000.]

Bruce Emond, Jakarta – Some of us, most of us, perhaps, prefer to let painful matters slide, unconcerned about finding solace in the now hackneyed term of "closure".

Jakarta – State officials, particularly those in the regions, should be wary of people posing as Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) officials demanding money, the KPK warned on Friday.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – With the government's term nearing its end, the National Awakening Party (PKB) is giving the thumbs-down to law enforcers' efforts to eradicate corruption during the past five years.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Three days before the Central Jakarta District Court hands down its verdict on a case against Tempo chief editor Bambang Harymurti, who is on trial for defamation against businessman Tomy Winata, activists are scrambling to their feet in an attempt to rescue the country's press freedom.

Jakarta – The presidential election runoff will mark the end of the political career of the outgoing Vice President Hamzah Haz, who announced on Friday that he would retire from politics after September 20, the date of vote.

Phar Kim Beng – With the price of oil hovering around US$40 per barrel, it is easy to assume that the oil-producing countries are laughing all the way to the bank. After all, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)has affirmed that all its members can make do with $30 per barrel.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Soldiers involved in non-military crimes will be subject to trials in district courts in the near future, if the House of Representatives and the government agree on the amendment to Law No. 31/1997 on military tribunals.

Indonesian officials reacted with outrage after a man jailed for life for his key role in the deadly Bali bombing was treated to coffee in a Jakarta Starbucks by police, who say the outing was a "proper procedure".

Jakarta – Indonesian presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday told a pre-poll corruption check that he was worth 4.57 billion rupiah (S$848,000), a sum likely to be dwarfed by rival Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Frustrated by their inability to complete case files on the main suspects in the scam involving state bank BNI 46 and the resulting low recovery of state losses, police have decided to allow the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to take over the probe. National Police Chief Gen.

Jakarta – A rift in Indonesia's powerful Golkar party deepened yesterday, threatening to pull the rug from under President Megawati Sukarnoputri's carefully assembled coalition just weeks before she seeks a second term.

Jakarta (Agencies) – A number of executives from the Golkar Party defiantly set up a faction to support the candidacy of the Democratic Party's presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his running mate Jusuf Kalla.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Can President Megawati Soekarnoputri, and the country's governors, regents and legislators really claim to represent the people? This question is being raised increasingly amid general public loss of confidence in both the legislative and executive organs of government at both the central and local levels.