United Nations – Despite objections from Indonesia and nine other countries, the UN Economic and Social Council on Monday endorsed the call for an international commission to gather information on possible human rights violations in East Timor.

Jakarta – At least 1,000 students from various universities gathered at the Atma Jaya University campus on Jl. Sudirman in Central Jakarta on Saturday, commemorating the November 13 shooting incident at the nearby Semanggi cloverleaf, which killed 14 people including eight university students.

Jakarta – The Indonesian army's legal chief said rape and killing should not be classified as human rights violations and is calling for soldiers accused of rights abuses to be tried in military courts, according to reports here Saturday.

Cameron W. Barr – Members of an Indonesian military unit known as Battalion 745 are the leading suspects in the execution-style murder of Monitor contributor Sander Thoenes, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

Jakarta – A fresh demand was aired on Saturday for Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) to cut its traditional affiliation with the National Awakening Party (PKB) when the country's largest Muslim organization holds its congress later this month.

Nisid Hajari – Abdurrahman Wahid doesn't call himself a holy man, but the new Indonesian President seemed to pull off a miracle last week. On Tuesday, Wahid met the challenge of picking a cabinet that reflects the diversity of the country and the 11th-hour coalition that voted him into power, while cleansing the slate of those associated with the worst excesses of previous regimes.

Jakarta – Eight people have been killed and some 100 homes burned down in the latest outbreak of Muslim-Christian violence in Indonesian's province of North Maluku, reports said Friday.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) unveiled a major reshuffle on Thursday morning following the official handover of the force's command from Gen. Wiranto to Adm. Widodo A.S.

Despite current depressed prices and rental values, Chan Fookkheong sees opportunities for capital gains for cash-rich investors

Shoeb Kagda, Jakarta – In a major shift in economic direction, Indonesia's newly-elected President Abdurrahman Wahid has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to focus more on agriculture under its US$49 billion (S$81.5 billion) rescue plan for the country.

Jakarta – Hundreds of Indonesian students lowered the national flag outside the Riau provincial governor's office in protest after President Abdurrahman Wahid warned separatist activists would be arrested, a report said Wednesday.

Jakarta – Some 100 former political prisoners jailed by the authoritarian govenrment of ousted president Suharto on Wednesday urged the new government to restore their good names.

Jakarta – George Aditjondro has just ended a three-month trip to 10 countries – the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia – doing what he has always done: tracing the wealth of Indonesia's autocrat Soeharto and his cronies.

Jakarta – A mob of some 200 Muslims armed with crude weapons set fire to a church in a town south of Jakarta early Tuesday, residents said.

Some 30 police who rushed to the burning Jemaat Salom church in the Depok township were helpless as they were outnumbered by the arsonists, armed with machetes and other home made weapons.

Jay Solomon, Jakarta – The $123.5 million secretly transferred out of Bank Bali went into the bank accounts of some of former Indonesian president B.J. Habibie's senior aides, as well as his own political party, and entailed a massive money-laundering effort aimed at hiding numerous beneficiaries, according to a report by auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Jakarta – Dozens of Indonesian soldiers ran amok and destroyed a traditional market in the capital, seriously injuring two market workers, reports said Tuesday.

The Suara Karya daily said the soldiers were angered after four of their colleagues were reprimanded by the market's security guard for creating noise and drinking at a bar there on Sunday night.

Jakarta – Indonesia's senior economy minister, Kwik Kian Gie, on Tuesday handed a copy of an audit into the murky Bank Bali scandal to the IMF, paving the way for a resumption of multilateral aid to Jakarta.

Jeremy Wagstaff, Jakarta – It's 2am on October 20, and Indonesia's parliament has delivered a stunning rebuke to President B.J. Habibie. It has just rejected his "accountability speech" – the equivalent of a no-confidence vote. In the expansive parlor of the presidential mansion, Mr.

Malang – Mass unrest and riots on Friday and Saturday (29th-30th October) followed the looting of coffee and cocoa belonging to the Sumbermanggis Plantations in Jogomulyo village, Tirtoyudo subdistrict, south of Malang.

Jakarta – Indonesia's consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.06% in October from September, and was up 1.58% from a year earlier, the Central Bureau of Statistics said Monday. Bureau head Sugito Suwito said he saw the inflation rate for the whole of 1999 at no higher than 2.5% despite an anticipated rise in the index in December.

David Liebhold – The Asian financial crisis of 1997 helped bring down Suharto, so President Abdurrahman Wahid had better pay attention to economics if he wants to hold onto power – and hold Indonesia together. Democracy may have triumphed, but the economy is a mess.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – A group of high-ranking officers in Indonesia's armed forces have made unprecedented public criticism of the military's powers, including its role in civilian affairs.

Jakarta – Indonesia's new President faced his first security scare from irate protesters yesterday after delivering a tough anti-corruption warning as his cabinet was sworn in.

The cabinet that was announced on Tuesday eliminated the information and social affairs ministries, sparking protests on Thursday and yesterday by civil servants fearful for their jobs.

Jakarta – Students in Makassar, the capital of Indonesia's South Sulawesi province set fire to a bus after a minister described their demand for an independent state as "half-hearted," reports said Saturday.

Barry Porter – President Abdurrahman Wahid's reformist cabinet ministers have begun the huge task of resolving Indonesia's economic mess and restoring investor confidence.

Jakarta – The so-called National Unity Cabinet, announced on Tuesday, lives up to its name as it groups people from different sociocultural backgrounds, professions and political affiliations.

Some of the new ministers are "nobodies" to the media, compared to their colleagues who often appear on television or in print.

Keith B. Richburg, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia on Tuesday unveiled a new-look cabinet for the country's democratic era, naming an entirely fresh economics team unsullied by corruption scandals and taking steps to bring the powerful armed forces under greater civilian control. With the new lineup, Mr.

Amy Chew, Jakarta – Indonesia's day-old government on Wednesday moved swiftly to bring disgraced former president Suharto to justice, highlighting its new clean image and meeting a key demand from reformists who put it in power.

David Jenkins – Indonesia's new Cabinet doesn't look too bad at first glance, with some impressive names in the list of ministers.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Alwi Shihab, is a sophisticated moderate who once taught at Harvard.

Jakarta – A group of Indonesian students Wednesday held their first street rally since President Abdurrahman Wahid took office to reaffirm their committment to act as a watchdog on the government.

Noel Fung, Jakarta – Uncertainty over the economic policies of the new cabinet and the fact that many of its ministers lack a track record is set to damp investor interest in Jakarta stocks in the short term, and wipe out the euphoria over the country's dawning democracy, analysts said Tuesday.

Jakarta – Indonesians are confident that new President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri can overcome the country's major problems, a poll published Tuesday revealed.

The poll, which canvassed 919 people in Jakarta and the surrounding area on October 22 and 23, was carried out for the Kompas daily.

Jakarta – Indonesia's new cabinet announced Tuesday by President Abdurrahman Wahid reflects the new leader's preoccupation with accommodating all factions in the country's politics rather than emphasizing professionalism, analysts said here.

Jakarta – full list of members of the new Indonesian cabinet as announced by Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri and President Abdurrahman Wahid on Tuesday:

Coordinating Ministers:

Michael Shari, Singapore – For a while, Megawati Sukarnoputri had the edge in the race for Indonesia's presidency. Her party had won the highest percentage of the popular vote in the June elections, and she enjoyed the apparent backing of the military. So the betting was that when legislators voted for a President on October 20, Megawati would walk away with the crown.

Jay Solomon – Indonesia's prospects of a rapid economic recovery have been dashed by the confluence of political uncertainty, financial scandal and the bloodletting in East Timor. Hopes of reversing the trend rest largely on a stable government asserting itself in the wake of the country's most democratic elections in decades.

Keith B. Richburg, Jakarta – Some of the first well-wishers to call on Indonesia's new leader, Abdurrahman Wahid, were struck by the casual air he has brought to Indonesia's stately presidential palace.

He chatted amiably, he insisted on being called by his nickname, Gus Dur, and he sometimes propped a bare foot up on the sofa.

Tony Jenkins – Abdurrahman Wahid, better known in his own country as Gus Dur, spoke to the Expresso in the lobby of the Hotel Mandarin at the start of the Popular Consultative Assembly (MPR), the body that has just elected him President of Indonesia.

Expresso: If you were elected President, would you respect East Timor's independence?

Yang Razali Kassim, Jakarta – It was clearly not something which Indonesians have seen before. The tension and high drama began last Thursday when then President BJ Habibie presented his account of his leadership – the so-called "accountability speech".

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Megawati Sukarnoputri's victory in yesterday's vice-presidential race illustrated both the risks of upsetting her supporters any further and the continuing strength of an Islamic alliance inside the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

Jakarta – Violence across Indonesia subsided Friday after popular opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri was sworn in as vice president and the world's newest and third largest democracy took shape.

Jakarta – Thousands of students rallied in Makassar, the capital of Indonesia's South Sulawesi province, on Friday to demand an independent state of Sulawesi, police and television reports said.

Jakarta – Five people have been killed and five injured in two days of fresh Muslim-Christian violence in Indonesia's Maluku islands, a report said Friday.

Most victims in the clashes on Saparua island in the central Malukus on Wednesday and Thursday suffered gunshot wounds, the Republika daily quoted local residents as saying. It was not clear who fired the shots.

Prangtip Daorueng, Seoul, Oct 22 (IPS) – Unable to cope with soaring food costs, many women workers in Indonesia are giving up work to breast feed their babies, cutting back on their own meals – or skipping altogether.

Jakarta – The quiet surroundings of Jakarta Hospital on Jl. Sudirman suddenly turned into a war zone on Wednesday midnight when some 50 frustrated military officers ran amok searching for suspected militant students hiding on the premises.

Raphael Pura, Jakarta – Megawati Sukarnoputri's election as Indonesian vice president is likely to defuse an angry backlash against her defeat in Wednesday's presidential vote. But it could also make President Abdurrahman Wahid's new government more unwieldy.

Jakarta – Indonesian cities were hit by riots and protests Wednesday after the national assembly elected Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid as president, enraging followers of his popular rival Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Joanna Jolly, Jakarta – The mood was excited and boisterous inside the assembly hall as legislators were called forward to cast their votes.

Megawati Sukarnoputri has lost the Indonesian presidential ballot to Abdurrahman Wahid, a revered and moderate Islam leader. The Indonesian Assembly backed Wahid over Sukarnoputri, the popular daughter of Indonesia's founding president, Sukarno.

[Colonel Haseman retired from the US Army in 1995, after 16 years of experience in defense liaison work – 13 in Indonesia and three in Burma. During this time, which included five years as US defense attachi to Indonesia, Colonel Haseman naturally became one of the premier US experts on the Indonesian military.