Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Human rights activists have accused the House of Representatives of making political deals during the selection of members of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

The selections have raised fresh fears that only the perpetrators of human rights violations will be protected.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) could split apart following parliament's decision not to investigate House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tanjung's role in a multimillion dollar scandal.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia's food-production targets could be hit this year because unscrupulous officials have allegedly been exporting fertiliser and reaping huge profits – at the expense of farmers here, who desperately need the commodity for their own crops.

Jakarta – A senior Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) legislator has resigned in apparent disgust at the party's decision not to establish a team to investigate the Rp 40 billion (US$4.5 million) scandal at the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

Edith Hartanto and Yogita Tahilramani, Surabaya – Still shy but a bit surprised, university lecturer Abdul Mukti emerged as champion on Wednesday when he was elected leader of Muhammadiyah Youth, replacing outgoing leader Imam Addaruqutni.

Max Lane, Jakarta – On June 25, the Jakarta Media Centre was packed to overflowing. Former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) and Dita Sari, the most prominent labour movement figure in Indonesia, were going to speak on the same platform.

Jakarta – While Indonesia's economy has been making significant improvement in a number of key areas, progress remains relatively fragile, the chief representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) office in Jakarta says.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Every Monday and Thursday at 5 pm, office clerk Danial Erwin makes his most important calls of the week – to his bookie, to check winning numbers.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – As the death toll from Sunday night's grisly fire in a South Sumatra karaoke club climbs, building experts admit that many karaoke bars, entertainment centres, hotels and even office buildings are fire disasters just waiting to happen.

Debbie A. Lubis, Jakarta – People living with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia are having difficulty gaining access to imported live-saving antiretroviral drugs because of the exorbitant price of patented drugs and a limited supply of the generic version.

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has denied a report that claims it was in cahoots with Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terrorist network.

A spokesman for GAM's exiled leaders in Sweden, Zaini Abdullah, on Wednesday told Japan's Kyodo News the source of the report presumably came from the Indonesian government, which wants to discredit the separatist group.

Jim Lobe – If Indonesia declares martial law in oil-rich Aceh province, as suggested last weekend by top military officials, the government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri may find it more difficult to resume military-to-military ties with the United States, according to analysts in Washington.

Lely T. Djuhari, Jakarta – Former dictator Suharto's son is accused of murdering a judge who ordered him jailed for graft, the head of the Central Bank has been convicted of misusing $80 million in bank funds, and the speaker of Indonesia's Parliament is on trial for corruption.

Wahyu Dhyatmika, Jakarta – People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Amien Rais has guaranteed that this August's MPR Annual Session would not become a special session to topple President Megawati Soekarnoputri as there's no agenda to request an accountability report from the president.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Political observers with the National Institute of Sciences (LIPI) urged the House of Representatives (DPR) on Tuesday to give the public a chance to critique and give inputs to the bills on elections and political parties which they say have many flaws.

Jakarta – A choking and dangerous haze that has been blanketing the Indonesian city of Pontianak in the early morning has caused delays in flight arrivals and departures, officials said yesterday.

An airport official at the city in West Kalimantan, said one landing was delayed yesterday and about six flights were delayed over the weekend.

The Indonesian government has raised the import duty on sugar by up to 30 per cent to protect local sugar cane farmers from cheaper imports.

The rise follows widespread violent protests by sugar cane farmers against cheaper imports.

Indonesia in 2000 imported 1.2 million tonnes of sugar, mainly from Thailand.

Jakarta – The post of Indonesian ambassador to Australia remains unfilled because of a political struggle in Jakarta over who appoints the country's diplomats.

Indonesia's Department of Foreign Affairs has refrained from nominating a new ambassador after the outgoing envoy, Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat, was last month recalled early to be promoted in Jakarta.

Maria Ressa, Manila – Intelligence officials tell CNN that Osama bin Laden wanted to move the base of operations for his al Qaeda terrorist network from Afghanistan to Southeast Asia in 2000.

The plan, according to these officials' intelligence report, was to move the base to Aceh in Indonesia, where members of the Free Aceh movement (or GAM) were working with al Qaeda.

Renewed clashes in the troubled Indonesian province over the past few days have also claimed the lives of three civilians in a grenade blast, and three more rebels, officials said.

Indonesia's Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is visiting the northern province to decide whether to institute tougher measures to end the 26-year-long separatist insurgency.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri yesterday defended her party's decision not to seek a parliamentary inquiry into alleged graft by the Speaker, saying legislators have more important things to do.

Nana Rukmana, Cirebon – Hundreds of street vendors and becak (pedicab) drivers occupied the municipal office here on Monday, in protest over their forced eviction from areas around shopping malls.

The protesters demanded the local government allow them to operate in the areas around the shopping malls.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Every 30 minutes, one Indonesian woman dies while giving birth and out of 100 babies born here, six won't reach the age of five – statistics that show the sorry state of the country's health-care system.

Jakarta – With the new academic year drawing near, some 13,000 junior high school graduates across South Kalimantan are facing the possibility of having to give up their formal education due to a limited number of places in senior high schools, an official said.

Jakarta – Indonesian police questioned the local franchise holder of fast-food chain McDonald's for seven hours on Monday over a suspected graft scandal involving millions of dollars.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – The city administration have turned a deaf ear to the warnings of experts that future floods could be worse if they fail to maintain or even expand the number of green areas in the city.

Catharine Munro – To walk into the world of Yunus Makasau is to enter a wonderland of exotic creatures stolen from across the – vast and sprawling Indonesian archipelago.

Mr Makasau is engaged in the risky work of confiscating endangered animals from Indonesia's rich and powerful and returning them to the wilderness.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Cities around Indonesia are increasingly drowning under a sea of rubbish as local governments struggle to cope with the mountains of garbage produced every day.

But in Yogyakarta, residents have found an unusual way of processing their city's rubbish by using mobile and natural recyclers – cows.

Bernie K. Moestafa, Jakarta – With a United Nations fact-finding mission yet to set foot on Indonesian soil, legal experts said it would likely find here a judiciary far from being independent, and hostage to money and politics.

Patricia Nunan, Bangkok – Indonesia's Supreme Court has overturned a controversial bankruptcy ruling against the Jakarta branch of a Canadian insurance company. The case against Manulife-Indonesia had raised serious questions about the independence of Indonesia's judiciary and alarmed foreign investors.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Around 300 foreign vessels believed to be from Thailand are looting fish stocks in North Sumatran waters and robbing local fishermen of their livelihoods, according to Governor T. Rizal Nurdin.

Jakarta – Traditional food supplements for children are selling well in Indonesia's capital city with parents convinced of their benefits despite many containing ingredients not suitable for children's consumption.

Jakarta – At least 1,800 hot spots have emerged in fire-prone areas of Sumatra and Kalimantan this year with the dry weather, satellite images revealed.

Rendi A. Witular and Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The increasing number of incidents of labor unrest here has not only affected the flow of foreign direct investment but has also hit the country's export sector, Minister of Industry and Trade Rini MS Soewandi warned.

The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) yesterday transferred six trainer aircraft to its Indonesian counterpart, and will deliver another 13 more by the end of the year, Singapore's Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

Nana Rukmana, Cirebon – Thousands of sugarcane growers and workers at sugar plants in Cirebon, West Java, rallied on Friday to demand the government reduce sugar imports blamed for the steep fall in sugar prices.

Manila – The authorities in the Philippines said yesterday that they had received reliable reports that an Indonesian detained since March was involved in deadly bomb blasts in Manila and Jakarta.

Justice Under-Secretary Jose Calida said the reports, relayed by undisclosed international contacts, implicated Agus Dwikarna, a suspected Islamic militant, in the two bombings.

Robert Go, Jakarta – The Indonesian government will dig out 900 billion rupiah from its cash-strapped coffers to counter El Nino-induced droughts that could devastate this year's harvests and spark haze-forming fires.

The Indonesian government has asked parliament to approve "emergency" funds of more than 111 million dollars to help the military and police operate in areas of conflict like Aceh.

Jakarta – Indonesian air force officials have revealed that more than half their front-line aircraft have been grounded and a third of their radar stations are inoperable due to a lack of funding, days after the navy made similar admissions.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Workers from dozens of hospitals in the capital organized a media conference on Thursday to protest their employers' move to halt their plan to establish workers' unions as an instrument for promoting their aspirations and welfare.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri is riding roughshod over her party and sidelining many of her allies as she veers towards the military and the corruption-tainted Golkar party in order to shore up her position ahead of the 2004 presidential elections.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – The government said on Thursday that doors were open for a United Nations legal expert who has been assigned to assess Indonesia's legal system later this month.

Jakarta – Over a hundred young supporters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) united on Thursday to reject the nomination of City Governor Sutiyoso in the upcoming gubernatorial election.

Apriadi Gunawan, Jakarta – Approximately 20 percent of the forest in Mount Leuser National Park in North Sumatra had been illegally felled by the year 2000, local officials have announced, adding foreign investors might have been involved.

Debbie A. Lubis, Jakarta – Indonesia is edging closer to a HIV/AIDS crisis of epidemic proportion as infection rates of the deadly HIV virus increase rapidly, especially among injecting drug users.

An HIV/AIDS study group said more than 30 people in Indonesia are infected with HIV/AIDS every month, especially through shared needles.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Maj. Gen. Achmad Yahya has a daunting task ahead him in safeguarding Jakarta when he takes up his new post as military commander in the capital city on Thursday.

Jakarta has witnessed a fragile peace over the past few months, although there have been a number of small explosions.

Thousands of endangered birds from Maluku and Papua provinces are caught and transported by the Indonesian military for sale at illegal markets, animal activists and officials allege.

Amy Chew, Jakarta – Indonesia's once mighty military – which saw its powers reduced by democratic reforms following the ousting of former President Suharto – is expected to regain lost ground under its new armed forces chief General Endriartono Sutarto.

Police are awaiting a court's approval to question Tommy Suharto in prison over his claims that members of the security forces protected him while he was a fugitive last year.

"We are now waiting for permission from the Central Jakarta district court," said Commissioner Arismunandar on television Thursday.