An Indonesian minister has warned regions not to go ahead with a threat to blockade oil and gasfields in their areas following dissatisfaction about the revenue split with the central government.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesia's capital is still reeling from the effects of severe flooding three months ago with some areas submerged in water, major roads damaged by huge potholes and some residents without proper housing.

Mark Drajem, Washington – The Bush administration is calling on Indonesia to rein in the military's financial empire, saying profit-making ventures have allowed the armed forces to become unaccountable to the central government.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – The City Council approved on Monday a regulation in the gubernatorial election that limits the public's participation in monitoring the election process, including the possibility of money politics.

Bogor – Hundreds of workers of bicycle tire maker PT Banteng Pratama, staged a rally on Monday at publicly listed tire maker PT Goodyear Indonesia's office to call for a continuation of the contract between the two companies.

The workers asked Goodyear's management not to break the contract with Banteng as it could result in the loss of jobs for over 1,500 workers.

A former chief of Indonesia's intelligence agency has dismissed US allegations of Islamic terrorist bases in Indonesia and said it was unsupported by evidence.

"The entire statement is based on an analysis, not based on evidence," retired general Maulani told journalists in Solo, Central Java, on Saturday according to the Detikcom online news service.

Jesse J. Holland, Washington – Congress is moving toward sending money to Indonesia to help train its police but has yet to warm up to the White House's call for increased relations with the country's military forces.

The House on Friday agreed to provide $8 million to help train Indonesia's police forces in anti-terrorism as part of the $29 billion anti-terrorism bill.

Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Friday that "building trust and confidence" were the keys to restoring Indonesian-Australia military ties, according to a report.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Thousands of poultry farmers declined to pay a special poultry tax to the West Java provincial administration because of their losses in the fierce competition with the chicken cartel.

Jakarta – The European Parliament has issued a resolution calling on Indonesia to formulate an immediate peaceful solution to the conflicts in Maluku, Aceh and Papua, while affirming its recognition on Indonesia's integrity, a report said.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Promising to boost professionalism in the Indonesian armed forces (TNI), army chief Endriartono Sutarto appeared before a parliamentary commission hearing yesterday to stake his claim to the coveted military commander's post.

Denpasar – About 150 students staged a peaceful rally on Tuesday at the Bali legislative council building to protest what they called continuing state-sponsored violence against civil society.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – The police admitted on Wednesday that some officers were out of control when they beat and kicked students during Tuesday's demonstration to mark the fall of former authoritarian president Soeharto.

Berni K. Moestafa, Jakarta – A major increase in construction, overexploitation of groundwater and unstable soil are causing parts of Jakarta to subside by up to eight centimeters a year, making the capital prone to more flooding, a surveyor company's report said.

Jakarta – At least 100 Gaspermindo taxi drivers thronged the City Council building on Wednesday, complaining about a lack of transparency in the taxi company's management.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Bandung Police are questioning more than 40 crews of container trucks after a rally they held to protest widespread levies and demand a whole day of access to Padalarang toll road ended in violence on Tuesday.

Jakarta – At least 40 protesters were detained at Jakarta Police headquarters following clashes that broke out separately in Megaria and Jl. Cendana in Central Jakarta on Tuesday, reports said.

Jakarta – Hundreds of students staged rallies in at least six cities throughout the country on Tuesday to mark the downfall of former president Soeharto and to remind the government under President Megawati Soekartoputri to meet the pledge for reforms.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Surabaya businessman Lukman Hartono knows he is a marked man in the eyes of predatory immigration officials in Indonesia.

As an ethnic Chinese, it is: Pay up and get paperwork "expedited". Refuse to pay, and face probing questions and hassle.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Due to a greatly increased amount of construction and over-exploitation of groundwater, the city's land has subsided up to 91 centimeters in recent years, a city official said on Tuesday.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – About a dozen children, each with a piece of paper and a pen in hand, gathered together and were engaged in a serious discussion.

They may look like ordinary children but they have experiences that many people could never imagine. They are abused street children.

Jakarta – The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced seven defendants on Tuesday to two months and 15 days each for the March attack on the offices of the Commission for Mission Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

Bandung – Hundreds of people from the Forum of Struggle for the Disabled (Forpadi) marked National Awakening Day with a rally here on Monday.

Denpasar – Some 150 students from various groups staged a peaceful demonstration here on Tuesday at the Bali Legislative Council, protested what they called the continuing state-sponsored violence against civil society.

Jakarta – Hundreds of students of various universities from Jakarta, Bogor and Bekasi on Tuesday threatened to stage huge rallies if the government was unable to improve the condition of the nation within one month.

The students claimed the rallies they would stage would be similar to the ones which lead to the downfall of then president Soeharto in 1998.

Jakarta – Unlike other historical days, the fourth year of the reform movement was observed in a bitter mood on Tuesday, with students nationwide taking to the streets to vent their disappointment with the political elite's failure to comply with the reform agenda.

Jakarta – Britain has offered its help to convince the United States to restore military relations with Indonesia, the Indonesian defense minister said Wednesday.

In trying to rein in Jakarta, Australia put its special relationship with the Indonesian army on the line, write Don Greenlees and Robert Garran in the third of four exclusive extracts from their book Deliverance.

Tangerang – Some 75 artists from the Tangerang Arts Council staged a rally at the municipal administration office on Monday to demand the administration provide them a space to put on exhibitions and performances.

Ian Timberlake, Jakarta – Four years after restrictions on free speech ended with the fall of strongman Suharto, Indonesian reporters fear a recent government crackdown could signal a return to this nation's repressive past.

I Wayan Juniartha and Agus Maryono, Denpasar/Purwokerto – President Megawati Soekarnoputri said the unabated crisis the country was facing had been exacerbated by the yawning gap between the political classes and the masses.

Jakarta – Severe economic hardship and political instability have undermined efforts to eradicate child labor in the country, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said on Monday.

Semarang – A demonstration held by the Democratic Front for Poverty Eradication (FDPRM) turned violent on Monday when the group was attacked by dozens of people claiming to be members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) Two demonstrators, a plainclothes police officer and a local photojournalist were injured in the violence.

Jakarta – Students, activists and members of non-government organizations held various protests and rallies to commemorate National Awakening Day on Monday, reports said.

Jakarta – Former president B.J. Habibie's written testimony in the Rp 40 billion Bulog scandal read during a hearing on Monday has solidified the case against his former minister/cabinet secretary Akbar Tandjung.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The US Congress will evaluate the embargo imposed on the Indonesian Military (TNI) in July, pending the completion of the ongoing Human Rights Tribunal in the country against military and civilian officials accused of committing gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999, an official said on Saturday.

Ambon – Muslims in the riot-hit Indonesian province of Maluku yesterday surrendered hundreds of weapons and explosives to the security authorities.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Human rights activists have set an early deadline for the government to open an ad hoc court to try military and police officers for alleged gross human rights violations in May 1998.

Robert Go, Jakarta – When Mr Haryanto, who runs a hardware store in West Jakarta, takes a payment from a customer these days he quickly scans the rupiah bills under a blue-light device designed to spot fakes.

"Some of the fakes are very difficult to tell apart from the genuine bills," he said.

Jakarta – Assembly Speaker Amien Rais said on Monday that the nation must accept the fact that its former province of East Timor had become the world's newest country, reports said.

Oyos Saroso, Bandar Lampung – Fishermen in Lampung have accused a sugar cane plantation company of polluting waters off the province's Pelabuhan Panjang, killing thousands of tons of fish.

The Lampung Fishermen's Association (SNL) urged that PT Gunung Madu Plantation (GMP) be taken to court and be ordered to pay damages of more than Rp 1 billion.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Catholic society declared on Saturday the establishment of the Democratic Solidarity of Indonesian Catholics, a social organization which will serve asan alternative medium to channel people's concerns on current social and political issues.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung is staring at the end of an illustrious 30-year political career with more incriminating evidence being gathered against him in a graft trial and as members of his Golkar party plot to overthrow him.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Spurred on by recent problems between President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her deputy, national assembly chairman Amien Rais is fast moving in to consolidate his links with moderate Muslim groups to strengthen his position with an eye on the 2004 polls.

Jakarta – Seventy military personnel in East Java will be court-martialled for various violations, a senior officer said on Friday.

Brawijaya East Java Military Police chief Col. Soejono revealed that the military personnel, who come from all the three forces in the Indonesian Military (TNI), face charges ranging from desertion to ordinary crimes.

Jakarta – About 100 members of the Association of Jakarta Becak (pedicab) Drivers staged a protest at the Ministry of Home Affairs, on Jl. Merdeka Utara, Central Jakarta, demanding the revocation of the city bylaw on public order, which bans them from operating in the capital.

Tangerang – Some 1,000 kindergarten, elementary and high school teachers grouped in the Tangerang branch of the Indonesian Teachers' Union (PGRI) staged a rally at the local municipal offices on Thursday to protest against what they claimed was the discriminative treatment they had been subjected to for so long.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Opposition continued to grow on Thursday against the new broadcasting bill, which many critics see as an attempt by the government to once again curb freedom of the press.

If passed into law, they said, the bill will reestablish "repressive" governmental control of radio and television.

Leo Wahyudi S., Jakarta – Although city buses are not really supermarkets, passengers may buy a variety of goods on them at low prices.

It is very common nowadays to see hawkers getting in and out of buses, not only at bus stops but also at traffic lights in the city. Sometimes even along toll roads during traffic jams.

Jakarta/Ambon – Human rights watchdog, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) blamed the escalating tension in Maluku on the lack of law enforcement and poor coordination between the security and civilian authorities.