Washington – The International Monetary Fund has suspended discussions with Indonesia on its economic program, a fund spokesman said Friday.
"IMF management continues to keep under close review ongoing developments in Indonesia and discussions for the next program review are on hold," said the IMF spokesman, who asked not to be identified.
Martin Woollacott – When the Seaforth Highlanders set off for Jakarta docks in November, 1946, after months of coping with the Indonesian liberation movement on behalf of the absent Dutch, they passed contingents of troops just in from Holland. With one accord, the British soldiers raised clenched fists and shouted "Merdeka!" ("Freedom!").
Elizabeth Becker and Philip Shenon, Washington – The United States is resisting direct threats of economic or military sanctions against Indonesia over the chaos in East Timor in hopes of preserving its relationship with that vast archipelago nation, even as the Clinton administration protests the chaos that has left hundreds of Timorese dead, senior officials said.
John McBeth and Margot Cohen, Jakarta – On a late-August evening, senior officials of Golkar, Indonesia's ruling party, filed out into the dark after a five-hour conclave at the home of President B.J. Habibie. The official word was that the beleaguered and embattled party now stood united. In truth, its members were deeply split.
Jakarta – The rupiah breached on Monday the 8,000 level against the US dollar as international pressure increased over Indonesia's handling of the East Timor issue.
Currency dealers said investors dumped their Indonesian currency over concerns that the growing pressure would prompt donors to suspend loans to Indonesia.
Jakarta – Consumer prices in Indonesia fell 0.93 percent in August from July, the sixth consective monthly fall this year, Central Bureau of Statistics chief Sugito Suwito said Friday.
Exports in July were worth 3.971 billion dollars, up from 3.559 billion dollars in June, he added, while imports in the month totalled 1.964 billion dollars against 1.895 billion in June.
Jakarta – At least three people were killed and 14 others wounded Friday when Indonesian security forces opened fire to quell a new outbreak of Moslem-Christian in the strife-torn Ambon city, a report said.
Jakarta – Indonesian forest and ground fires in Sumatra and Borneo island are on the rise again after dissipating in recent rains, satellite images produced by the Indonesia Space Agency showed Friday.
Jakarta – The Indonesian Elections Committee (PPI) on Wednesday finally agreed seat allocations for the national parliament elected on June 7.
Ambon – Fresh outbreaks of violence between Moslems and Christian Wednesday killed eight people and injured six others in two separate islands in the riot-torn Maluku province, police said.
London – The British government was forced Tuesday to defend a decision to invite Indonesia to Britain's biggest arms fair, after it emerged that British-made jets were used to intimidate people in East Timor.
Jakarta – An Indonesian group Tuesday slammed world bodies including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for failing to sound the alarm over an 80-million-dollar bank scam, despite closely monitoring the Indonesian economy.
Craig Skehan – Jostled by a media frenzy and a crowd of supporters, Mr Xanana Gusmao, the nationalist fighter almost certain to lead an independent East Timor, received a hero's welcome as he voted here yesterday.
The 53-year-old – imprisoned in 1992 for his guerilla action, but transferred to house arrest earlier this year – is expected to be freed in about a fortnight.
Eric Ellis, Singapore – Every time Christovita Wiloto sits down at his computer, the 30-year-old banker is reminded of how tough his job is. His screensaver depicts hungry sharks circling their prey – a wry metaphor for the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency.
Born June 6, 1901 in Surabaya; 1927 - Founds movement for independence from the Dutch; 1945 - After Japanese surrender, declares independence and is elected President; 1963 - Names himself President for Life; 1965 - Overthrown by military takeover and later replaced by Suharto; 1970 - Dies June 21 in Jakarta after two years of house arrest.
Jakarta – It is a murky tale which strikes deep at the even murkier heart of Indonesian banking, and heavyweights of international finance warn it could spell ruin for Southeast Asia's shakiest economy.
Jakarta – Fires which have resumed in Indonesia's Sumatra and Kalimantan regions have ravaged at least 5,561 hectares of forest and scrub in the past month, a report said Saturday.
Jakarta – The savage riots that swept Indonesia in mid-May before the fall of ex-president Suharto were organized by professional agitators, Jakarta's governor was Friday quoted as saying. "They were organized," Governor Sutiyoso was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying in a two-hour hearing at the Justice Ministry with a government-sponsored fact-finding team.
Jakarta – Logging and forest fires are destroying rainforests and the wildlife they support, government authorities and environmentalists warned yesterday.
Jakarta – Fresh Moslem-Christian clashes in Indonesia's spice Moluccas islands have left up to 12 people dead, scores injured and several churches torched, sources and reports said Tuesday.
Jakarta – Indonesian security personnel in the capital on Monday arrested at least nine students who had attempted to protest at the palace against clinging Suharto-era politicians and political and economic practices.
Jakarta – Some 2,000 Indonesian Moslems held a mass prayer here Sunday calling for an end to mounting violence in two of the country's major trouble spots – Ambon and the western province of Aceh.
Jakarta – Former President Soeharto left hospital yesterday after five days of treatment for intestinal bleeding as his lawyer brushed aside rumors his client is seeking treatment abroad.
John McBeth – These are uncertain times for Indonesia's 4 million bureaucrats as they struggle to adjust to a new political environment in which public scrutiny is putting old practices at risk. Many civil servants have found themselves the target of public wrath for past or present infractions.
Jakarta – A leading Indonesian environmental watchdog said Thursday it had filed suit against President B.J. Habibie over a failed government project to develop one-million hectares (370,000 acres) of peat bog in Borneo.
Jakarta – Ailing former Indonesian President Suharto has been found well enough to return home, but it was uncertain whether he would leave soon or later in the week, the head of his team of doctors said.
Ambon – Authorities have suspended all civilian flights to this riot-torn Indonesian city because of escalating Moslem-Christian violence and handed the airport over to the military, sources said Thursday.
A duty officer at the military information office said the suspension affected all commercial flights to and from Pattimura civilian airport, across a bay from the city.
As violence flared on the eve of the nation's 54th Independence Day, leaders of the main political parties launched a scathing attack on President Bacharuddin Habibie's state of the nation speech, saying it showed he lacked the will to weed out corruption.
Jakarta – Independence Day was quiet in Dili, the capital of East Timor, where people preferred to attend the anniversary of the separatist group Falintil. Merriment, however, was still seen among pro-Indonesia groups rallying the city in various vehicles in the campaign ahead of the August 30 self-determination vote.
Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta – Indonesia's independence day was marred today by clashes between pro-democracy protesters and riot police in Jakarta, the strafing of East Timor's separatist movement's headquarters and reports that five people were killed in strife-torn Aceh province.
Jakarta – Gen. Wiranto launched a verbal offensive on Saturday against attacks on the human rights record of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and its perceived apathy toward reform.
Keith B.
Jakarta – Former Indonesian President Suharto on Saturday returned the Pertamina hospital where he had been treated for a mild stroke last month, a hospital spokeswoman said.
"He came in at 10am and that is about the only thing I can say," spokeswoman Susilowati said. "It is only normal for someone who has been treated for a stroke, there are controls to be done.,
New York – The International Monetary Fund Friday issued a blunt warning to the Indonesian government to quickly get to the bottom of a scandal involving PT Bank Bali and a senior official of the ruling Golkar party.
Hong Kong – The Review has obtained a confidential report prepared for the central bank by consulting firm McKinsey & Co. that shows Bank Indonesia bent its own rules to save seven institutions earlier this year. The most prominent is Bank Nusa Nasional, owned by the family of influential businessman Aburizal Bakrie, a member of Habibie's board of economic advisers.
Ambon – Indonesian soldiers opened fire on a church in the ravaged island of Ambon killing 24 people, the priest who buried most of the dead told Reuters Thursday.
Ambon – Muslim and Christian mobs fought street battles in eastern Indonesia, killing at least 18 people and injuring about 120, police and hospital workers said today. Riot police shot and killed some people, witnesses said. Mobs stabbed or beat others.
Jakarta – A group of around 200 students rallied outside the General Elections Commission (KPU) on Monday, demanding the disbandment of its Team of 15, whose members have been suspected of abusing their authority in the selection of interest group representatives for the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).
Jakarta – Amien Rais praised Abdurrahman Wahid for the latter's willingness to be presidential candidate of the new political alliance that Amien forged, called "the axis force," and said the assent was a boost to democratization.
Jakarta – Hundreds of Confucians gave orchids to Indonesian riot police, burnt incense and chanted prayers on Monday to demand the government officially recognise their religion.
The 200 ethnic Chinese protesters gathered outside the office of Indonesia's General Election Commission to demand parliamentary seats to represent their community.
Jakarta – At least 10 hot spots, spread across five regencies, have been pinpointed in South Kalimantan since the end of July.
Madjedi, the head of the Environment Impact Management Body in South Kalimantan, told Antara on Sunday the sites were in Banjar Barat in Banjarmasin, Sungai Pinang in Banjar regency, Tabukan and Kuripan districts in Barito Kuala regency.
Jakarta – About 3,000 civilians have been roped in to help put out forest fires in the Indonesian province of Riau which have caused pollution to hit hazardous levels and the authorities to close kindergartens and put clinics on 24-hour standby.
Jakarta – Indonesian police on Saturday baton-charged hundreds of students protesting during President B.J. Habibie's visit to West Java and injured seven, witnesses said.
Jakarta – An Indonesian rights watchdog group has said 82 people were killed, four were missing and 141 injured in recent days of Moslem-Christian violence in riot-torn Ambon, a report said Saturday.
Jakarta – Some 42,300 troops and 11,000 civilian auxiliaries will be deployed to guard the first session of Indonesia's new national assembly in October, reports said Thursday.
The new People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the country's highest lawmaking body, reconstituted by the June 7 elections, will meet on October 1 and then elect a president in November.
Jakarta – The government says an estimated 470,000 refugees are now sheltering in the South Sulawesi capital of Ujungpandang after fleeing unrest in the troubled provinces of Maluku, East Timor, Aceh and Irian Jaya.
Amy Chew, Jakarta – Indonesia's two main opposition parties have agreed to join forces in local-level politics, cementing an alliance that opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri hopes will carry her to the presidency in November.
Jakarta – The Indonesian government needs to act soon to stop forest fires spiralling out of control in a repeat of the widespread disaster in 1997, the country's leading environmental watchdog WALHI warned Wednesday.
Washington – The United States on Tuesday called for the quick selection of a new Indonesian president following the validation of last month's election results which show the opposition party of Megawati Sukarnoputri beating the ruling party of current President B.J. Habibie.
Vaudine England, Jakarta – Comments by armed forces chief and Defence Minister General Wiranto since opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri's dramatic political speech suggest he is a vital kingmaker in the months of politicking ahead – but one whose loyalty remains to the armed forces.