Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The youngest of Sukarno's children from his third wife Fatmawati, Guruh Soekarnoputra, expressed his pain over the open rift between her three sisters, especially between incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Rachmawati Soekarnoputri.

Luhur Hertanto, Jakarta – If there is money, the parties are popular. If they only have T-shirts they are ignored.

Jakarta, Kompas – Accusations of human rights violations have not affected retired Lieutenant General Prabowo Subianto's plan to advance towards the presidency. The former head of Kopassus who is believed to be linked to the abductions of a number of students(1) continues to move forward in Golkar's presidential candidate selection process.

P.C. Naommy and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) revealed on Monday that it planned to send a fact-finding mission to investigate the shooting by police officers of demonstrating farmers in Manggarai, Flores, last week.

Jakarta – Five alleged members of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah group have been jailed on terror charges by an Indonesian court, the presiding judge who sentenced them said on Tuesday.

I Nyoman Sumanada, head of the Palu district court, said the five were sentenced on Monday to terms ranging from three to six years.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government Tuesday issued Rp 2 trillion ($1=IDR8,457) of bonds with a weighted average yield of 11.57%, the finance ministry said.

The weighted average yield was in line with market expectations and lower than the 11.82% weighted average yield for the bonds it issued last month.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Monopolistic practices and a lack of concern toward public complaints were continuing to perpetuate a culture of poor public service in the country, the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) lamented on Monday.

Jakarta – Idealists and officials have spoken for years of the benefits of "dialog campaigns" rather than rowdy rallies and convoys, but on the fifth day of campaigning, political parties were still struggling to get people interested in any attempt at dialog.

Geneva – A leading environmental group on Tuesday warned that the exotic Sumatran tiger was bound for extinction if the government of Indonesia did not crack down on illegal trading in the endangered species.

The WWF said only 400-500 tigers remained on the island of Sumatra as hunters continue to kill the animal commercially and for sport.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Islamic-leaning political parties contesting this year's general elections have selected more non-Muslim candidates, a move to pluralism that has been welcomed by political commentators.

Jakarta – Two family members of former dictator Suharto have launched separate campaigns for the coming Indonesian elections.

His eldest daughter Siti Hardiyanti "Tutut" Rukmana, clearly aware of the popular longing for a return to the rapid economic development of the Suharto era, has promised to bring the people back to the good old days.

Jakarta – Almost all of the 24 political parties contesting this year's elections had committed 100 violations as of Monday, according to the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu).

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – It began with a bang. Just six days ago, party faithful thronged the streets of Indonesia in carnival mood to mark the start of the country's election campaigning.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – The Indonesian general election campaign started with a bang last week, but it will end with a whimper. Never have 24 parties given people so little reason to celebrate.

Jakarta – A coalition of Indonesian groups has released a list of names of 61 candidates in the upcoming parliamentary election who it alleges are "crooked politicians", the Jakarta Post reported yesterday.

Former Indonesian security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who quit after a row with Presidenti Megawati Surkanoputri, has confirmed that he will stand in July's presidential elections.

Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Fabiola Desy Unandjaja, Gianyar/Jakarta – Megawati Soekarnoputri and her presidential challengers strived to make the most of their "comparative advantages" in their election campaign debuts on Friday.

Ruslan Sangadji, Palu – The situation in Donggala, Central Sulawesi, remained tense on Friday following a bloody attack on a predominantly Christian village in the regency a day before.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – A group of environmental non-governmental organizations (NGO) lashed out on Friday at the government for permitting 13 mining companies to resume activities in protected forests through the issuance of a regulation in lieu of law, or perpu.

Robert Go, Jakarta – With just 23 days to go, Indonesia faces critical hurdles that could impede a smooth parliamentary election next month, officials and observers said.

Any last-minute rush to complete poll preparations, they warned, could increase the possibility of honest errors occurring, or even the chances for manipulation of results.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – In a land where the school system is rotting and health care is worse, where millions drink from dying rivers while the rich pay cash for Mercedes, it seems only natural that Indonesians have such a deep interest in their looming elections.

Jakarta – Although the 22-day election campaign period just commenced on Thursday, minor political parties scheduled for Friday's first round of campaigns across the country had already begun showing signs that their funding was running out.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – The man behind the first efforts to privatize Indonesia's state-owned enterprises, and a staunch critic of the slow pace of the program, has been brought back into the fold to bring state-owned PT Telkom, the country's largest company, back into line after chronic audit problems and market uncertainty.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – An alliance of 23 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) joined force on Friday to call on the National Commission of Human Rights to carry out an independent and thorough investigation into the Manggarai shooting that left five dead and 28 others wounded.

As long-term readers of this column will have realised, Pierpont is unfashionable. He is white, Anglo-Saxon, Anglican, heterosexual, married and monarchist.

Derwin Pereiradevi Asmarani – Indonesian security czar Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono quit his Cabinet post yesterday after falling out with the President.

His resignation – the first by a minister in the current administration – is the clearest signal yet that he is gunning for the presidency, a move that could pit him against incumbent Megawati Sukarnoputri in the July polls.

Jakarta – Following mass rioting at the Manggarai district police station in Ruteng, East Nusa Tenggara, which resulted in the death of four farmers last Wednesday, the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has been asked to immediately go to the location to gather facts.

Robert Go, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri will not sack her top Security Minister despite an increasingly public rift between the two, a senior official yesterday.

Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Thursday he has resigned following a rift with President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

"I have submitted a resignation letter [to Megawati]," he told a press conference.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Medan Police chief Sr. Comr. Bagus Kurniawan said on Wednesday that the police were focusing their investigations into the discovery of five live bombs in a Medan mall on two distinct groups.

Jakarta – As the General Elections Commission (KPU) disclosed on Wednesday that only 20 percent of the 660 million ballot papers needed for the elections had been produced, on the same day, President Megawati Soekarnoputri instructed the Indonesian Military, the National Police and the Ministry of Transportation to assist in the distribution of ballot papers nationwide.

Jakarta – Public support for incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri has dropped significantly during the past few months while those who backed Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono increased, according to a survey on Wednesday.

Shinta Shinaga, Jakarta – Although indistinct and only in the background, [former President] Suharto is appearing in a television advertisement by the National Functional Party of Concern (PKPB).

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Tarnishing their much-vaunted label as educational institutions, schools are widely prone to corruption practices through unclear school budgets and the lack of supervision by parents, a study by Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) says.

Fedhly Averouss Bey, Jakarta – The names of six popular presidential candidates have been included in a list of rotten politicians by the University (UI) of Indonesia Student Executive Council (BEM).

Jakarta – Indonesia on Thursday blasted the double standards applied by the United States and Australia in criticizing a supreme court decision earlier this week to reduce the jail sentence of militant Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir and a similar court decision in Germany.

Haidir Anwar Tanjung, Pekanbaru – Some 1,000 civil servants, teachers and community leaders staged a protest on Wednesday in front of the teacher's council building in Kampar regency, to demand that the central government endorse the dismissal of Kampar regent Jefri Noer.

Theresia Sufa, Bogor – "From the beginning I didn't want my husband to become a gurandil, because I know how risky it is digging for gold in Pongkor Mountain. But kang Eman insisted, he said he wanted to get some money for a ceremonial meal to celebrate my seventh month of pregnancy.

Jakarta – Indonesia's dengue fever outbreak has killed more than 400 people this year and the number of cases could keep rising, health officials said on Wednesday.

A spokesman for the Health Ministry said the death toll from dengue since the start of the year was 408 people, with 29,643 cases across the archipelago.

Indonesia will only go ahead with plans to build a nuclear power plant on Java island if the public accepts the project, Research and Technology Minister Hatta Radjasa said Wednesday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Security Minister said yesterday that he wanted President Megawati Sukarnoputri to clarify his duties, following media reports that she had frozen him out of Cabinet meetings after he decided to run for the presidency.

Jakarta – Indonesian policemen shot at a mob and killed three people on one of the country's far eastern islands on Wednesday after protesters besieged a police office demanding the release of seven detained farmers.

At least four people have reportedly been killed and 27 others injured after police allegedly fired on protesting coffee growers in Indonesia's eastern island of Flores.

The AFP newsagency quotes a doctor at a hospital in Ruteng as saying the victims were brought in after staging a protest outside a police station in the town.

Jakarta – Four people were killed and 27 injured when police opened fire Wednesday morning on protesting coffee growers in the island of Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, a doctor said.

The victims were brought to hospital at Ruteng after staging a protest outside a police station in the town, hospital doctor Dupe Nababan told AFP by phone.

Indonesia's most celebrated literary figure Pramoedya Ananta Toer, now suffering declining health, is pessimistic about Indonesia's future due to the country's "lack of good leaders".

"After [founding president] Sukarno there have only been clowns who had no capability to lead a country," he was quoted as saying Monday by state news agency Antara.

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – Banking reform in the country is still far from complete despite the closure of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), according to a new survey.