Semarang – Because the price of tobacco has plummeted to only 5,000 rupiah per kilogram in the last period, the economic conditions for tobacco farmers in the central tobacco plantations in Central Java (Jateng) such as Wonosobo, Temanggung, Demak, and Kendal, is of increasing concern.

Jakarta – The government is determined to scrap the visa-free facility accorded to nationals of 48 countries in an effort to prevent more of its misuse, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirajuda said on Monday.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – More than three decades after an abortive coup blamed on the communists, Indonesians are still unable to come to grips with this bit of their nation's history.

Sri Wahyuni, Yogyakarta – Golkar Party cadres from the party's founding organizations piled more pressure on party chairman Akbar Tandjung on Saturday to quit his post to rid the party of its bad image in the run-up to the 2004 general election.

As global stock markets slide and a lack of leadership on international reform colored the annual meetings last week of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank annual meetings, analysts predict mixed results for Indonesia, which has long asked international creditors to be more understanding if conditions attached to fresh loans are not met on schedule.

Matthew Moore, Yogyakarta – A new regional group intended to strengthen Indonesia's brittle relations with its neighbours held its inaugural meeting at the weekend, and Australia's Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, stressed Canberra's strong opposition to Indonesia's secessionist movements.

Jose Ramos Horta knows a thing or two about Indonesia, about suppression, and about independence. So when he recently advised the Melanesians of Papua, and the Acehnese, to take Jakarta's offer of autonomy at face value, and give it a try, his voice demanded a hearing.

Jakarta – Indonesia will prosecute eight of 13 members of a radical Muslim group arrested for raiding nightspots in the capital as the police chief warned people against taking the law into their own hands.

Matthew Moore – Indonesia's President Megawati Soekarnoputri made headlines last week by not turning up at the site of a disused well in east Jakarta for an annual ceremony.

Jakarta – Indonesian police arrested seven members of a Muslim group yesterday over recent vigilante-style raids on nightspots in Jakarta.

Officers arrested the men at the headquarters of the Islamic Defenders Front organisation, a Jakarta police spokesman, Colonel Bahrul Alam, said.

Many were shocked but few surprised to learn last week that the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) had paid "protection money" to members of the military to secure IBRA property assets.

Jakarta – Around 500 members of the Islamic Defenders Front militant group attacked several nightspots in the Indonesian capital yesterday, damaging three cars but causing no serious injuries.

The group, one of several hardline Islamic organisations in the nation, occasionally vandalises entertainment spots in Jakarta.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia lacks strong, respected leaders who can guide it out of the current political and economic crises, according to the findings of a recent survey.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Kornelius Purba, Yogyakarta – Indonesia, as the host, opened a two-day meeting of the Southwest Pacific Dialogue Forum here on Friday to seek reconfirmation of support for its territorial integrity from the six-member forum.

Padang, West Java – Thousands of workers and students trying to get to Padang, the capital of West Sumatra, were left stranded on Thursday when public transportation drivers went on strike.

The drivers called the strike to protest the mushrooming number of unofficial terminals on the city's outskirts.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The Indonesian government should probe reports that a Singaporean extremist helped fund a plot to assassinate President Megawati Sukarnoputri, said lawmakers and Muslim leaders while remaining sceptical of the revelations.

Denise Leith – On 31 August, 2002 fourteen employees of the Freeport mining company were shot on the road leading to the company town of Tembagapura high in the mountainous interior of West Papua.

Kendari – The People's Consultative Assembly has urged the government to stop its cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as early as late 2003 on the grounds that the Fund cannot do much to overcome the country's economic crisis.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri is said to be considering replacing Indonesian Attorney-General M.A. Rachman after auditors questioned him for allegedly concealing assets worth billions of rupiah.

He has also been under fire since early this year for his poor record in following up on corruption cases.

A Muslim radical from Singapore allegedly helped finance a plot to assassinate Indonesian leader Megawati Sukarnoputri before she became president.

John McBeth, Jakarta – Black markings along its flanks, a large grey fish glides across the aquarium at the far end of Eddie Widiono's tasteful, wood-panelled office in south Jakarta. The Sumatran belida is said to have mystical qualities, but there's nothing mystical about the way it strikes out and swallows one of the dozens of tiny red carp trying to stay out of its way.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The brutal five-hour siege of a police station in North Sumatra by about 200 soldiers reveals the lack of discipline in the Indonesian armed forces.

Just as important, Monday's bloody battle in the town of Binjai also illustrates the soldiers' desperation to make extra money to supplement their meagre income.

Tangerang – Some 300 workers of two companies located on Jl. Raya Serang, Cikupa district of Tangerang staged a rally at the Tangerang regency office in Tigaraksa on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Around 500 workers of PT Doson Indonesia, a subcontract firm of the shoe giant Nike, held a demonstration on Wednesday in front of the BRI building, which houses the US firm PT Nike.

But unlike their previous demonstration, they could not enter the building as security guards blocked the area and installed barbed wire in front of the building.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – The Lampung chapter of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) has urged Governor Oemarsono to step in and resolve a land dispute between thousands of villagers in the regency of Tulangbawang and sugar firm PT Indo Lampung Perkasa (ILP).

City Council secretary Moerdiman revealed on Wednesday that the ceremony inaugurating Sutiyoso as city governor could be moved from the council building to some other place if there was a threat of demonstrators occupying the building.

Tangerang – Dozens of workers from PT Shinta Woosung, a textile producer in Cikupa district, Tangerang, staged a rally at the Tangerang regency legislative council office on Tuesday.

They went to the office to protest the police arrest of a worker, Burhan, accused of stealing a discarded iron plate from the company.

Jakarta – A group of 22 youths from the Democratic Socialist Coalition staged a sit down protest outside the US embassy here on Tuesday to begin a one-day hunger strike against possible US military action on Iraq.

AFP reported they sat behind a strip of concrete erected recently as a security measure to block traffic from the lanes closest to the embassy.

Jakarta – A day after disclosing that Jakarta would work with Washington to probe into Al-Qaeda's alleged links here, security czar Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono backtracked in an apparent move to appease Muslim groups.

Max Lane, Jakarta – As the Indonesian economy sinks into even deeper crisis, a major social and political crisis has begun to unfold. This crisis began with the September 11 re-election by the Jakarta provincial parliament of retired general Sutiyoso as Jakarta governor.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Going along with Washington's anti-terror campaign – including pushing the government to enact its own anti-terror law – brings Indonesia's armed forces (TNI) one step closer towards re-establishing full military ties with the US.

Tim Dodd – Now let us see if we can follow this logic through. According to Defence Minister Robert Hill, in the new uncertain international environment Australians may have to rely on the Indonesian army to protect them from terrorists.

[Paradise Betrayed: West Papua's Struggle for Independence. By John Martinkus Quarterly Essay, issue 7 Black Inc Order at ]

The United States and Indonesia have agreed to reschedule nearly 500 million US dollars in debt owed by Indonesia and due to mature shortly. Indonesia is also expected to sign a similar agreement with Germany worth over 101 million dollars.

Papua has the highest number of HIV/AIDS cases in Indonesia. Latest official figures put the number of cases in the province at 1,1,25 but experts say the real figure is much higher.

Papua deputy governor Constan Karma on Tuesday expressed concern over the ongoing spread of the incurable disease, saying about 80 new cases are being recorded every month.

Brigham Goldenm, Jakarta – A hail of gunfire burst from the mist-shrouded jungle in Indonesia's remote Papua Province, strafing a convoy of cars belonging to the American mining corporation Freeport McMoRan.

[The Indonesian military has discharged 20 soldiers accused of involvement in a bloody gun battle between the army and police in North Sumatra. Army Chief General Ryamizard Ryacudu personally tore off the rank insignias of the men, at the headquarters of the regional command in Medan.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – When the Indonesian Government hived the police force away from the military two years ago, it hoped it would be another step on Indonesia's road towards democracy, with police looking after law and order and the military focusing on national security.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Analysts blamed the deadly gunfight between police and soldiers in Binjai, North Sumatra, on the reluctance of the Indonesian Military (TNI) to focus on the national defense and relinquish its involvement in internal security matters to the police.

Medan – Indonesia's army chief dishonourably discharged 20 soldiers from a crack airborne unit on Wednesday, saying they had behaved like thugs by killing at least seven people in recent attacks on two police posts.

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri broke with tradition when she failed to attend the anniversary of the victory over the 1965 foiled communist coup which led to the rise of former president Suharto.

Muhammad Nafik and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Demands have resurfaced for the government to reveal the truth behind the abortive September 30, 1965, coup as a perquisite for reconciliation between the victims and those involved in one of the world's worst tragedies, the seeds of which have been blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – At least 100 soldiers armed with grenades, bazookas and rifles attacked a police station in North Sumatra on Sunday night, killing four policemen and leaving 27 injured.

The provocation was apparently the arrest of a soldier by the police for alleged drug use.

"This would never have been possible in the Suharto era," mused one member of the audience at a showing of the film Shadow Play in Jakarta Monday. "As soon as this film started screening, you would have had police walking in and arresting us all."

Max Lane – In the last years of the New Order and since the fall of Gen. Soeharto, discussion opened up within Indonesian society about the real nature of what happened on September 30, 1965. A consensus had developed among a large section of the country's intelligentsia, NGO community and democratic activist movement that September 30 was a great human tragedy.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Legal experts and human rights activists have warned of extensive human rights abuses and political suppression should a new bill on terrorism being drafted by the government be passed into law as it will give security forces the authority to arrest suspected terrorists arbitrarily.

Simon Elegant, Jakarta – George W. Bush told the nations of the world after September 11 last year that they were either with the US in the war on terror or against the US At the time, the choice for most frontline governments was stark: join up or face the wrath of the world's military and economic superpower.

Middlemen, smugglers, exorbitant tariffs in foreign countries and a dire need for agricultural reform are all leading Indonesian farmers to take drastic action to protect their livelihood, as highlighted by last week's mass demonstrations by sugar industry workers to mark National Farmers' Day.

Sian Powell – Turf wars over extortion rackets often trigger armed clashes between the Indonesian military and the nation's police force, a conference on the weekend was told.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – At least four people were injured, including two police officers, when dozens of Army soldiers attacked the Langkat Police station in Binjai regency, North Sumatra, on Sunday morning.