Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – The inflow of smuggled goods to the country surged during the first quarter of this year, according to an internal report from the Directorate General of Customs and Excise.

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – A police disciplinary committee dismissed here on Monday three high-ranking officers in South Sulawesi from their posts for their roles in a recent brutal attack on the Indonesian Muslim University (UMI), Makassar.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Rusman, Jayapura/Samarinda Illegal logging continues unchecked in East Kalimantan province and Papua, Indonesia's westernmost province, sparking fears among government officials and environmentalists that pristine forests in the two provinces will soon disappear.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) on Monday opened the debates of the bill on the truth and reconciliation commission with the Military/Police faction rejecting it outright before deliberations began.

Spokesman for the Military/Police faction Maj. Gen. Djasri Marin said the faction wanted the removal of the word "truth" from the bill's title.

Leony Aurora, Jakarta – "Do you know how it feels to work hard but not see any results?" asked midwife Ni Luh Sutini of Cakung public health center, East Jakarta, located near the Cakung industrial area. A tone of sadness rang through the morning air.

Dian Intannia, Jakarta – If before they were being criticised, now scores of demonstrators have gone to the Indonesian police headquarters to support them. The demonstrators are of the view that the condemnations against police are a rotten conspiracy to sow discord in the nation.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Kotaagung, Lampung – Some 30,270 hectares of forest out of a total of 360,000 hectares in the South Bukit Barisan National Park (TNBBS) have been devastated by illegal logging.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Poll watchdogs have urged presidential candidates to allocate a big chunk of their budgets to deploy witnesses to polling stations, and during ballot counting, to prevent vote-rigging in the July 5 election.

Jakarta – The Golkar Party at its central executive board meeting has declared an associate chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Solahuddin Wahid, as vice presidential candidate to accompany the party's front-runner Wiranto.

Robert Go, Jakarta – The race for Indonesia's top job heated up yesterday with former president Abdurrahman Wahid, barred from the July 5 election for health reasons, declaring he would still run after talks with leading Muslim clerics.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – "I see a great degree of promiscuity in Indonesian politics. Anyone can get married to anybody." That is how Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a former adviser to Indonesia's third president, B J Habibie, describes the drive by candidates in the July presidential election to form "unholy alliances of secular and religious parties".

Woro Swasti, Jakarta – Next Wednesday, May 12, thousands of students from 23 campuses across Greater Jakarta plan to hold simultaneous actions rejecting presidential candidates from the military. The actions will start at their respective campuses at 11am after which they will move off to the national parliament (DPR) on Jalan Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta.

Two big pictures of Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her new running mate Hasyim Muzadi fell to the ground as she approached the podium last week to announce their partnership.

Omen or not, analysts say Muzadi is unlikely to be of much help to the embattled Megawati in Indonesia's first direct presidential election on July 5.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has concluded that the dissolved Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) performed its duty of restructuring the majority of troubled banks, but refused to judge its performance.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia could experience more security problems and political instability ahead of its first direct presidential election on July 5, a top Cabinet minister said yesterday.

Businessmen, however, maintained an upbeat perspective and said the trouble brewing in spots faraway from Jakarta would not dampen investors' interest here just yet.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The Kupang District Court sentenced nine civilian defendants on Friday to one year in prison each for their involvement in last year's attack on a court building and prosecutor's office on Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – The Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) has threatened to delist 35 firms, including bluechip state-owned telecommunications company PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), from the stock market if they fail to submit their 2003 audited financial reports by mid-June.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri teamed up with the head of Indonesia's largest Islamic organisation in an attempt to re-energise her flagging campaign for a second term.

Megawati announced that Hasyim Muzadi, head of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) which claims 40 million followers, would be her vice-presidential running-mate for the July 5 election.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, facing an uphill battle for a second term in July's election, yesterday criticised politicians who had promised free education.

"Those statements are not only against reality but also misleading," she said, speaking at a ceremony to mark National Education Day.

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – The central bank announced on Wednesday a decline in the banking sector's non-performing loans (NPLs) in March, but warned of a rise in months to come.

Bank Indonesia deputy governor Maman Sumantri said in March, the NPL level (gross) stood at 7.8 percent compared to February's 8.2 percent.

Budi Hartadi, Surabaya – A wave of demonstrations hit the East Java city of Surabaya on Thursday May 6.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – Religious-inspired violence is old news in Indonesia. Muslim extremists were behind the Bali bombings of October 2002 and, allegedly, the Marriott Hotel blast last August. The secessionist movement in resource-rich Aceh cloaks itself in strict Islamic clothing.

Abdul Khalik and Andi Hajramurni, Jakarta/Makassar – One high-ranking and eight low-ranking police officers will stand trial while over 30 others will face the police disciplinary committee for their involvement in Saturday's attack on university students in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi.

ID Nugroho, Surabaya – Child trafficking and violence against children remain a cause for concern in East Java, particularly in Surabaya and Malang, the two biggest cities in the province.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – A purge has taken place in the top ranks of the Indonesian police force after a bloody clash last week between students and security forces in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Hundreds of local residents have cut down mangrove forests in 2,800 hectares of coastal land in Sungai Burung, Seputih subdistrict, Central Lampung regency, which belonged to aquaculture firm PT Central Pertiwi Bahari (CPB).

At least 833 residents occupied the land and constructed their own shrimp ponds there.

Slamet Susanto and Rusman, Yogyakarta/Samarinda – Hundreds of students staged protests in Yogyakarta and Samarinda, East Kalimantan, on Tuesday to demand the government pay more attention to education in the country.

Jakarta – Thousands of students across the country hit the streets on Tuesday to condemn a brutal police attack against university students over the weekend in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar.

Makassar, Kompas – On Tuesday May 5, massive demonstrations and rallies by thousands of students from almost all schools of higher education in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar brought activities in the city to a stand still for the entire day.

Khairul Ikhwan, Medan – Calls for President Megawati Sukarnoputri to sack Indonesian chief of police General Da'i Bachtiar have been raised again. [This time] the demands were made by two groups of demonstrators in an action held at the North Sumatra parliament on Jalan Imam Bonjol in the provincial capital of Medan on Wednesday May 5.

Fredolin Adhysa Pelupessy, Jakarta – On Wednesday May 5, demonstrators from a number of Islamic mass organisations went to the national parliament to demand the dismissal of Indonesian police chief Da'i Bachtiar.

The impact of Indonesia's election has been widely debated, but little attention has been paid to the movements for change in the country. Green Left Weekly's Vanessa Hearman spoke to Gigih Guntoro, the general secretary of the Indonesian National Students' League for Democracy (LMND), during his recent tour of Australia, about what is happening.

Bogor – More than 230 mostly female staff laid off from the PT Sahabat Unggul Internasional textile factory staged a protest at the Bogor City Council on Tuesday about their dismissal.

The workers said management had dismissed them after a dispute about about employee insurance payments and allowances on April 23.

Dean Yates, Jakarta – The United States is pleased Indonesian police have re-arrested militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir but Washington should not have to apologise for the controversy over its view of him, the US envoy to Jakarta said.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri has decided to team up with the leader of the country's largest Muslim organisation in a bid to boost her support base for the July presidential election.

The Golkar party of former dictator Suharto officially won Indonesia's parliamentary election but now faces a tougher battle for the presidency in July.

Golkar took 21.58 percent of the vote in the April 5 election compared to 18.53 for President Megawati Sukarnoputri's ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the national election commission announced.

The country's exports increased by 3.43 percent in March to US$5.07 billion from $4.90 billion in February, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported on Tuesday.

The agency said that the increase was driven by higher exports of oil and gas commodities and non-oil and gas products.

Robert Go, JaKarta – Mr Fektur claims he earns 20 million rupiah (about S$3,900) a month – a sum that firmly puts him in Indonesia's middle class.

All that the 24-year-old needs is a computer hooked up to the Internet for three to four hours a day so that he can collect information from chatrooms.

Fitri Wulandari, Jakarta – Foreign arrivals in the country hit a six-year high of 1.03 million in the first quarter of this year despite the introduction of a stricter immigration policy and security concerns due to the general election.

Jakarta – Twelve years after a law was passed forcing drivers to wear seat belts, police in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Wednesday began enforcing it.

"We are, starting today, enforcing the law that requires drivers and front-seat passengers to wear seat belts," said a national police spokesman, Zainuri Lubis.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Despite praise from the international community, the April 5 legislative election is unlikely to bring about significant political and social changes, a seminar concluded.

Budi Hartadi, Surabaya – Scores of activists from the Indonesian National Student Movement (Gerakan Mahasiswa Nasional Indonesia, GMNI) in Surabaya, East Java, held a demonstration [on May 5] rejecting presidential candidates with a military background. They also called on the people to be on their guard against ex-military officers becoming involved in politics.

Dian Intannia, Jakarta – Actions by police on the campus of the Indonesian Muslim University (UMI) in Makassar, South Sulawesi continue to attract protests.

Dadan Wijaksana, Singapore – Indonesia's pulp and paper industry still has plenty of room for improvement if it wants to be internationally competitive, according to a major player.

The police chief of Indonesia's Maluku province has been replaced following week-long Muslim-Christian battles in which 38 people died and hundreds of buildings were torched.

Brigadier General Bambang Sutrisno has been shifted to a new assignment at police headquarters in the capital Jakarta, national police spokesman Paiman announced on local radio.

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – Police investigators named nine police personnel as suspects on Monday, following a brutal police attack on Saturday at the Indonesia Muslim University (UMI) that seriously injured 65 students.

M. Azis Tunny, Ambon – A meeting of Christian and Muslim leaders and National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar ended in disarray here on Monday, after conflicting parties failed to reach an agreement to cease the renewed clashes in Ambon, Maluku.

Taufik Wijaya, Palembang – On Tuesday May 4, thousands of students from Palembang in South Sumatra held an action over the attack on the Indonesian Muslim University campus in the South Sumatra provincial capital of Makassar [in which scores of students were wounded by police on May 1]. They demanded that the Indonesian chief of police be sacked.

Ahmad Fikrij, Bandung – On Tuesday May 4, hundreds of students blockaded the intersection of Jalan Wastu Kencana and Jalan Taman Sari in Bandung, West Java. The demonstration was organised as a solidarity action over the violence against Indonesian Muslim University (UMI) students in Makassar, South Sulawesi, [when police stormed their campus on May 1.]

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – In marking World Press Freedom Day on Monday, a press organization noted that the press here is still regarded as "the enemy". Also, it noted that under martial law in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) was just as bad as the Indonesian Military (TNI) and police as regards intimidating the media.