Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – Last week, Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri marked her second anniversary in her father's old job. This week, she failed to mark another anniversary, a failure that reveals the reticent Megawati's vision for her administration. For Indonesia's poor and for foreign investors, it's not a pretty picture.

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has launched an investigation into an incident in which police shot and killed up to five protesters in Bulukumba regency, South Sulawesi, on July 21.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia's new copyright laws promise a tough bite. They give law enforcers the right to crack down on pirated contraband and may improve Jakarta's standing with the United States and other source countries of software and entertainment products.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Chinese-Indonesian businesspeople in North Sumatra have alleged that political party activists are extorting money from them ahead of the 2004 elections. The businesspeople said they were intimidated by the activists into giving them money.

Tiarma Siboro and A'an Suryana, Jakarta – Respected Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid announced his withdrawal on Wednesday night from the Golkar Party convention to select presidential candidates after party chairman Akbar Tandjung moved to participate in the race.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – For the second time, villagers from Bogor regency rallied at City Hall and the City Council building against plans to build a garbage treatment facility in Bojong village.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives Committee on Thursday urged the government to delay the purchase of Russian jet fighters as the deal had violated the current state budget guidelines.

The US State Department has insisted it had made no decision on whether to send training aid to Indonesia's military, despite reports that it wants to release 400,000 dollars to armed forces tainted by human rights concerns.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – The Tangerang Prosecutor's Office will investigate a Rp 12.5 billion (US$1.47 million) corruption case in which 45 city councillors have been implicated. The plan to investigate the councillors is based on a report filed by non-governmental organization Independent Institute for State Apparatus Monitoring (Lipan).

Jakarta – With an eye to the 2004 general election, the National Mandate Party (PAN) has launched a biweekly tabloid called Media Amanat Rakyat (MAR) to become a vehicle of presidential hopeful and party chairman Amien Rais.

Jakarta/Yogyakarta – Four out of 30 provinces gave a thumbs-down to Akbar Tandjung, one of the dozens of influential figures who have been nominated to take part in the party's electoral convention, during which the Golkar party's presidential candidate will be selected.

Reports from Indonesia say the government is set to drastically scale down its five year link with the International Monetary Fund. Jakarta will leave the IMF umbrella, but retain a partial relationship with the international lender with what's called post-programme monitoring. The partial relationship means Indonesia could pay off IMF loans over the rest of the decade.

Faiza Mardzoeki, Jakarta – July 25, 2003, marked a setback in the Indonesian women's movement. On that date an Indonesian businessman, Puspo Wardoyo, the owner of the restoran Wong Solo franchise, organized an awards ceremony for males who had married more than one wife.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – In her capacity as chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), President Megawati Soekarnoputri has admonished her supporters at a national meeting for their disobedience.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Attempts to unravel the May riots in 1998 suffered a severe blow on Monday when the Central Jakarta District Court rejected the request by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to subpoena dozens of retired and active military and police officers.

Tony Sitathan, Jakarta – Just as they have in the developed world, big-box hypermarkets, which are taking over the top end of the retail trade, are causing severe dislocations in the rest of Indonesia's food chain, from smaller supermarkets down to wet markets to the warungs where housewives sell cigarettes and candy out of their living room windows.

Tangerang – Hundreds of workers from aluminum melting factory PT Teguh Makmur Sentosa in Benda district rallied at the mayoralty office on Monday, demanding that the administration cancel plans to close the factory for damaging the environment.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The upcoming Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) has already lost its relevance and is nothing but a waste of state money, a political analyst says.

Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday welcomed Indonesia's decision to end its five billion dollar IMF assistance program and to enter into post-program monitoring next year.

"We also welcome the intention to sustain reform efforts. We will continue to conduct dialogue," IMF country representative David Nellor told AFX-Asia in an interview.

Jakarta – Scores of mass organisations, workers, farmers and pro-reformasi students have formed the People's United Opposition Party (Partai Persatuan Oposisi Rakyat, Popor). The driving force behind the party, labour activist Dita Indah Sari, launched [the party] in Jakarta on Sunday afternoon (27/7) saying that they are ready to participate in the 2004 general elections.

Jakarta – The Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle (FNPBI), the National Student League for Democracy (LMND), the National Farmers Union (STN) and 53 other mass organisation have established a new party, the People's United Opposition Party (Partai Persatuan Oposisi Rakyat, Popor), which was launched in Jakarta on Sunday (27/7).

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Kalimantan loses at least 1,000 truck loads of illegal logs every week or about 10,000 cubic meters in the last two months, says a forest ministry official.

Although formally, the regulations and institutions for upholding human rights in Indonesian have made progress, in practice this is still far from the expectations of society. The legal impasse in handling cases of gross human rights violations which involve security personnel has become a measure which the public uses in assessing the progress made in upholding human rights.

Jakarta – The bloody tragedy that killed at least five supporters of Megawati Soekarnoputri on July 27, 1996 was commemorated in a low-key ceremony here on Sunday by victims of the attack on her Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters.

In the early hours of July 27, 1996, several hundred people belonging to a splinter faction of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), allegedly backed by the military, attacked the PDI headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta, brutally assaulting supporters of the legitimate leader of the party, Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Russell Feingold – Last month this newspaper printed a powerful article by Dana Priest relating the story of an ambush last summer in Indonesia that left three dead, including two American schoolteachers.

Jakarta – Tens of university students staged a rally in front of the trade and industry ministry here Monday to protest the government's decision to purchase Russian Sukhoi aircraft and helicopters.

A'an Suryana and La Remmy, Jakarta/Central Sulawesi – The pressure was turned up another notch on Golkar Party Chairman Akbar Tandjung to quit his presidential candidacy as a former Golkar leader said it would just hurt the party.

Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) is defending its stance in ignoring a subpoena by an inquiry of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) into the deadly 1998 May riots, arguing that the investigation has no legal basis.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The central message of a recent seminar here on Islamic extremism was clear and pointed: that moderate Muslims in Indonesia should stand up against radicalism.

There is nothing new in the message. The United States and other countries have periodically urged Indonesia's often-silent majority to take a stronger line against militant groups.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Having a side job is nothing new for members of the military. Just like other professionals, military personnel moonlight to contribute to their basic incomes in an attempt to cope with the soaring price of basic needs, particularly since the financial crisis of 1997.

Imanuddin Razak, Jakarta – The July 19, 2003 shooting spree in a North Jakarta, in which a computer businessman and his military bodyguard were murdered, promptly made headlines in national media, although the motive for the murders seems to have been nothing new.

Jakarta – The rupiah rebounded slightly on Friday amid market talks that Bank Indonesia had sent inspectors to foreign banks that were aggressively selling the local unit. Bank Indonesia confirmed that it had dispatched officials to some banks earlier in the day.

While reports from the battle for the governor's position in Central Java naturally tended to focus on the "split" in the ranks of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), a more interesting struggle was submerged as the losers burned portraits of the President and party leader in the streets of Semarang.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – The forced sale of one of the world's biggest coal mines appears set once again to damage Indonesia's reputation severely as a destination for mining investment and is likely to leave investors with the knowledge that vested interests, manipulation and harsh government disputes leave them devoid of legal certainty when it comes to doing business.

David J. Green – In many circles in Indonesia there is a sense of confidence that has not been present in years. True, the economy is hardly booming at 3 percent-4 percent growth each year and unemployment is unlikely to go down.

Jakarta – A senior member of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's party said yesterday that he and three other top leaders have been targeted by suspected Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorists.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Most children across the country would probably have nothing to cheer about when Indonesia commemorates National Children's Day on July 23, as their plight seems to be worsening over time.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia will not seek more loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in a decision that should signal clearly that the country is finally out of its crisis, say senior economic officials in the government.

Suherdjoko, Semarang – With the general election drawing near, the cracks within the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) are spreading following the dismissal of the party's Central Java chief Mardijo .

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – The government has taken steps toward banning certain jobs for children in order to protect them from health and moral hazards and to ensure their safety, a senior government official said.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – The labor union at PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PT DI) said on Monday it would sue the state-owned aircraft company's president director, Edwin Soedarmo, for has been called a "unilateral decision" to suspend more than 9,000 workers .

Jakarta (Agencies) – About 1,000 people protested Tuesday at the office of the national food agency Bulog over a deal which would see its funds used to buy Russian fighter aircraft.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesian Trade and Industry Minister Rini Suwandi will answer legislators' summons next Tuesday and face parliamentary grilling over her involvement in Sukhoigate, a scandal involving Jakarta's purchase of combat aircraft and helicopters from Russia in April.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri is fighting a battle on two fronts as elections loom.

One is with an all-powerful Parliament that was nothing but a rubber-stamp body during the New Order regime – and the other, ironically, is with members of her own Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P).

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government warned on Monday that the US Congress decision to withhold military aid to Indonesia – reportedly because of a failure to bring the perpetrators of last year's killing of two US teachers to justice – could jeopardize bilateral ties.

Dan Murphy, Washington – The Bush administration has decided to release to the Indonesian military money that was held up after a preliminary US investigation pointed toward Indonesian soldiers as the likely perpetrators of an ambush that left two Americans dead and eight wounded last August.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said on Monday that it would give 102 mining firms the chance to operate in protected forests, bringing the total number to 124 firms.

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – At least one person was killed and 25 others injured as police fired shots at more than 1,000 villagers in Makassar, South Sulawesi, who rioted on Monday in a protest against the alleged occupation of their land by a rubber plantation company.

Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has asked a court to order several serving or former generals to answer questions about the bloody May 1998 riots, a commission member said Tuesday.