Robert Go, Nusa Dua – Something unexpected happened while Mr Iin Arifin Tahyan was speaking about the need for Indonesia to get more energy-sector investments during a high-profile conference in Bali on Friday.

Dan Eaton, Jakarta – Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, issued some of its harshest criticism of Washington's Iraq policy on Monday, saying the US occupation had not met objectives and was becoming a debacle.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – City police efforts throughout the year to restore their tarnished image were largely ineffective given the increase in cases committed by defiant personnel from 206 cases last year to 234 this year.

Jakarta – The return of Soeharto's eldest daughter to the political stage may backfire if the issue of the former president's ability to speak, and to face the law for charges of corruption, comes into question, an analyst says.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – People's support for President Megawati Soekarnoputri has continued to drop ahead of the elections but she remains the strongest candidate among existing presidential aspirants, a survey indicates.

Tiarma Siboro and Mochammad N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – The General Elections Commission (KPU) announced on Sunday 24 political parties eligible to contest the 2004 polls, with analysts expressing concern of the possible revival of the New Order.

Larry Johnson – Indonesia is facing criticism at home and abroad over recent developments involving two men linked to human rights abuses in the former Indonesian province of East Timor in 1999.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Indonesia's defense white paper puts terrorism behind separatism as the main security threat to the country, a policy that prompts the need of maintaining the military's territorial function, an official said.

Robert Go, Jakarta – The police and armed forces are preparing "for the worst" as the Christmas holiday approaches and as Indonesia heads into nationwide elections next year, the country's top security minister has said.

Richard Norton-Taylor – The government is selling arms and security equipment to countries whose human rights record it has strongly criticised, according to lists of weapons cleared for export that have been seen by the Guardian.

Jakarta – State officials and politicians welcomed on Thursday former president Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana's plans to run for the presidency in next year's elections, stressing that democracy allowed anyone to join the presidential election.

Jakarta – The government will allocate Rp 11.7 trillion to build and repair infrastructure across the country in 2004.

"The budget will mainly be used to repair damaged infrastructure, build new infrastructure and meet public demand for housing," Minister for Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure Soenarnosaid.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Foreign donors make this a merry season for the cash-strapped Indonesian government.

The World Bank has said Indonesia needs to show only "incremental reforms" to deserve fresh aid worth US$450-US$850 million annually for the next four years.

Andi Hajramurni and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Makassar/Jakarta – A soldier and a policeman were wounded on Thursday in shoot-outs between troops and police in the town of Palopo, Luwu regency, South Sulawesi, officials and residents said.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – The Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) announced some big names among the 36 candidates that qualified for the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) for next year's general election.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – While the news this week that the European Union, the US and Canada are to end the current textile quota system to meet a World Trade Organization ruling is a severe blow to Indonesia's textile industry, it also has the potential to clear up a distorted production system that has led to a flourishing and shady trade in the quotas themselves.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – The World Bank has announced an ambitious new lending program for Indonesia where money will go to organisations or local governments that can show they have taken steps to wipe out corruption.

Jakarta – The 2004 general election are expected to become an arena for the restoration or recycling of the old powers from the New Order [regime of former President Suharto] who are getting ready to win the 2004 elections. The 2004 elections will not bring any kind of alternative because the system has been engineered not to produce the slightest change.

The World Bank announced plans to boost lending to Indonesia to help lift millions out of poverty but said much of the extra aid depends on greater efforts to fight rampant corruption and improve governance.

Dewi Santoso, Jakarta – With HIV/AIDS emerging as an increasingly ominous threat, the government appears to lack concrete plans to fight the virus, non-governmental organization activists and a legislator have said.

Indonesia's dilapidated infrastructure poses a greater threat to human life than terrorism and will hamper long-term growth unless there is urgent new investment, the World Bank says.

Jakarta – As the globe commemorates World AIDS Day on December 1, Indonesia's response continues to remain dangerously slow while millions of its people continue to obliviously engage in high risk behavior.

Sandy Darmosumarto, Jakarta – The lack of financial institutions in the eastern part of Indonesia is the main reason for the state-owned pawnshop company Perum Pegadaian to further expand operations in the region, where Islamic-based pawnshop activities have been on the rise.

Evi Mariani, Jakarta – Hundreds of evicted fishermen and their families living along the banks of the Muara Angke river in North Jakarta will again be forced to move, as the Jakarta administration started widening the river over the weekend to ease flooding.

Irvan NR, Palu – Four people were killed in two separate attacks on a single village in the Central Sulawesi town of Poso over the weekend, apparently targeting Balinese migrants. A bomb also exploded at a traditional market, but no casualties were reported.

Robert Go, Jakarta – The latest Indonesian banking scandal, in which hundreds of millions of dollars disappeared into thin air, may seem like a run-of-the-mill bank-fraud case, but besides worrying potential investors, it could also affect the outcome of next year's election.

Ian Timberlake, Jakarta – On paper Indonesia doesn't have much of a problem with HIV and AIDS. But the huge country's relatively low adult HIV infection rate belies a rapidly escalating level of infection among prostitutes, their customers, injection drug users and prisoners, an AIDS worker said.

Ben Terrall – George W. Bush's late October visit to Indonesia was heavy on the superficial, upbeat sloganeering that characterizes his Administration's explanations of US foreign policy.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Contrary to the general fear that security issues could be the major threat to the success of the 2004 general elections in Papua, a local election official cited the province's geographical condition as the most serious electoral constraint.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Just when investors might have been thinking it was safe to look at Indonesia a little less skeptically, the biggest banking scandal to hit the country since the central bank liquidity scandal, this one involving Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and allegedly fraudulent letters of credit, has shattered confidence yet again.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri yesterday lashed out at members of her own party, calling them "thugs" who are out of touch with voters – an apparent attempt to rein in corrupt cadres seen as hindering her re-election next year.

Jakarta – Secular-nationalist parties in Indonesia will have the vote of Muslim voters in next year's election.

That is the result of a study carried out by the independent Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) which found the majority of respondents backed Golkar or President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle (PDI-P).

Jakarta – An influential politician who helped topple Indonesia's previous president explained Thursday why he believes current leader Megawati Soekarnoputri should also go.

Jakarta – The Army's special forces (Kopassus) chief must stand trial for crimes against humanity over a massacre which took place almost 20 years ago, the country's human rights court ruled Thursday.

Judges rejected defence claims that they have no right to put Maj. Gen. Sriyanto Muntarsan, who now heads the Kopassus special forces, on trial.

Jakarta – A plenary meeting of the House of Representatives endorsed on Thursday 13 bills on the creation of 24 new regencies in 13 provinces into law.

The 24 regencies approved include Kolaka Utara, Kolaka Utara, Bombana and Wakatobi in the province of Southeast Sulawesi, Sumbawa Barat (West Nusa Tenggara) and Lingga (Riau).

Indonesia could become a world-class mining country but new investors are steering clear because of legal uncertainty and red tape, according to an annual survey of the industry.

"Investment spending on exploration and new mines has now been very low for several years," said the report by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Indonesia's director general of taxation, Hadi Purnomo, under strong pressure to increase income tax receipts, has responded by using gijzeling – the Dutch term for detention without trial used in the Indonesian legal system – to jail foreigners, and his approach is sending a serious shudder through Jakarta's expatriate business community.

Jakarta – Approved foreign investment in Indonesia rose sharply in the first ten months of this year to US$9.31 billion from $6.81 billion a year earlier, the National Investment Coordinating Board said in a report seen Tuesday.

However, the 37 percent rise was largely due to a change in investment status of many projects rather than new projects, the board said.

Jakarta – The proposed resumption of marine sand exports to Malaysia and Singapore is part of a certain political party's scheme to raise funds for its 2004 general election campaign, a non-governmental organization claimed here recently.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Experts have expressed concern that a planned Truth and Reconciliation Commission will serve as a legal whitewash of past gross human rights abuses, allowing perpetrators to avoid prosecution.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Thousands of troops were deployed to Poso in Central Sulawesi yesterday as residents braced themselves for more violence following reports of murder and unrest over the shooting of a terror suspect.

About 2,300 troops have been deployed here from Jakarta and nearby provinces.

ID Nugroho, Malang – Chairman of the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) Teten Masduki proposed that both Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah issue election guides suggesting followers not to vote for legislative candidates and political parties with unclean track records.

ID Nugroho and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Surabaya/Jakarta – Nahdlatul Ulama chairman Hasyim Muzadi called for a moral movement to eradicate corruption because the law had proven toothless.

Jakarta – Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman Hasyim Muzadi criticized the country's security authorities for issuing repeated warnings of possible disturbances ahead of the 2004 elections, saying this would only succeed in causing anxiety.

Irvan NR, Palu – Poso Police headquarters was besieged on Sunday by thousands of people protesting the death of terrorist suspect Hamid Sudin, who was shot and killed by police attempting to arrest him in relation to the bloody attacks on three Christian villages in Central Sulawesi on October 12.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Indonesia's House of Representatives, now debating privatizing the country's water supply, should probably take a close look at the one place in the nation where water distribution is already in private hands – Jakarta, where a comedy of errors has produced skyrocketing costs and little else.

Sidney Jones (Dow Jones Newswires) – Indonesians are not happy with the war against terrorism, despite the success of their police in fighting it, primarily because they don't trust the United States government and don't want to be part of a US-led campaign.

Keith Andrew Bettinger, Washington – The unilateralism and anti-terror policies of the United States are increasingly damaging its relations with the largest Muslim nation in the world, Indonesia, where many view the "war on terror" as anti-Islam. Meanwhile, China is quietly moving closer to the archipelago.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Beleaguered by the unpopular policies that prompted many of its cadres to join other parties, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) has enlisted actors and actresses as its legislative candidates in the upcoming elections.

Otto Syamsuddin Ishak, Sociologist, Jakarta – The government has prioritized the extension of martial law over an evaluation of achievements made in the last six months. One could ask in jest: What party would most potentially be in a state of emergency after November 19, 2003?