Jakarta – Rights activists alleged on Tuesday that military atrocities occurred in Central Aceh regency--in addition to those found recently in the regencies of Pidie, East and North Aceh – when the province was a military operation zone from 1989 to 1998.

Jakarta – Thousands of villagers looted state owned shrimp ponds on the Indonesian island of Nusakambangan, a report said Wednesday. Around 2,000 people from southern Central Java crossed the narrow strait to Nusakambangan late Saturday and looted the local state cooperative shrimp ponds, the Republika daily said.

Jennifer Lin, Bantar Gebang – Nine-year-old Wasmin beamed with pride when he came home from school one recent day lugging a big bag of rice, cooking oil, and an armful of secondhand clothes.

Jakarta – Indonesia's beleaguered rupiah broke through the key target of 10,000 to the dollar on Wednesday, reaching its strongest levels since former President Suharto resigned in May amid economic turmoil and mass unrest.

Banyuwangi – Police in Indonesia's East Java said on Wednesday there was mounting evidence that members of the military were involved in a mysterious murder spree that has claimed more than 100 lives.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI), in its first-ever public acknowledgement, has conceded that it was used as a political tool by former President Suharto to further his political and other interests when he was in power.

Jakarta – Police in the remote Indonesian province of Irian Jaya Tuesday arrested an alleged separatist leader, the Antara news agency said. The police in Jayapura, the main town of Irian Jaya, arrested Theys H. Eluay at his home in the Sentani area around 6am Antara said.

Jakarta – Indonesian humanitarian workers Tuesday spoke of terror and pressure against them to stop their efforts in investigating violence during the May riots. "Terror against humanitarian workers have become rampant since the May riots," Ita Nadia from the Volunteers of Humanity told reporters at a joint press conference here with several human rights groups.

Jakarta – Tempo, Indonesia's leading weekly news magazine banned by the government of former president Suharto in 1994, hit the streets Tuesday with the issue of rapes during the May riots as its cover story. "There are so many stories and not too many facts about the rapes.

Jakarta – Politicians, religious leaders and observers expressed alarm at the weekend over the stated support of the National Front – an association of retired generals, officials and ex-Golkar leaders – for Student activists' 40-day campaign to force President B.J. Habibie to resign.

Jakarta – Hundreds of people protested in a town in South Sulawesi Tuesday after failing to get their money out of a financially troubled local savings agency.

Allan Thompson, Vancouver – A government lawyer has denied that Canada offered favours to an Indonesian dictator or that demonstrators were dealt with improperly at last year's Asia-Pacific summit.

Jakarta – The Indonesian economy slumped 17.4% in the third quarter of this year proving the sprawling country's downturn hasn't bottomed out yet. But analysts noted that gross domestic product and inflation data released Monday show the speed of Indonesia's economic slump has slowed markedly from earlier this year.

Jakarta – Thousands of students across Java greeted the Armed Forces' (ABRI) 53rd anniversary on Monday with street demonstrations to demand the military quit the country's political stage.

Jakarta – Hundreds of students and civilians on Monday staged two separate street protests here to demand that the Indonesian military end its law-accorded involvement in the country's politics, witnesses said Some 300 students from various universities converged on the parliament in central Jakarta to demand that the military's "dual function" be revoked.

Jakarta – The Armed Forces (ABRI) celebrates its 53rd anniversary on Monday by taking a hard look at its image, pledging solutions to some rights violations, and pleading against being seen as "cruel murderers and destroyers" who inflicted suffering on people.

Kafil Yamin, Bandung – The small, filthy and foul-smelling canal in Cikuya village in West Java is the community's ticket to earning a livelihood. Soon after daybreak everyday, women, men and children troop to the waste-contaminated canal and wash load upon load of used plastic bags, then sell them to traders who in turn reap profits from selling them to reprocessing factories.

Manila – Some 300 leftist activists and ethnic Chinese picketed the Indonesian embassy in the Philippines Monday, to protest alleged abuses against the ethnic Chinese minority in Indonesia. Waving banners saying "Justice for the rape victims" and assailing Indonesian President B.J.

Jakarta – Staff at Tempo, Indonesia's leading weekly news magazine when it was banned by the government of former president Suharto in 1994, announced Sunday they would return the publication to the newsstands this week.

Jakarta – Two people were injured as thousands of farmers in the Indonesian province of West Sumatra protested against a palm oil plantation firm which they said had polluted a local river, sources there said Sunday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's armed forces mark their 53rd anniversary on Monday amid one of their toughest battles to date – the fight to restore their honour as a defender and not oppressor of the people.

Jakarta – The conflicting political pressures of post-Suharto Indonesia have left President B.J. Habibie teetering on a tightrope – too much reform could topple his precarious government, but so could too little.

Jakarta – Indonesian Home Minister Syarwan Hamid on Saturday installed the head of an ancient local royal family as the governor of Yogyakarta, the first governor in the country to be spontaneously elected, newspaper reports said.

Jakarta – The owner of a private Indonesian radio station has closed down a popular pro-reform radio talk show and fired the six staff operating the program, a human rights lawyer said Thursday.

Jakarta – The Japanese-born wife of Indonesia's first president Sukarno has accused former president Suharto of having prior knowledge of the 1965 coup attempt and doing nothing to prevent it, a report said Thursday

Jakarta – Police in the remote Indonesian province of Irian Jaya arrested five men including two officials and a priest for suspected separatism, including calling for a pro-independence rally, a report said Thursday.

Jakarta – In its sternest warning yet, the Indonesian government said Wednesday that protesters who threaten its existence could be sentenced to life imprisonment under a harsh anti-subversion law enacted by ex-President Suharto.

Jakarta – Indonesian authorities have approved in principle an opposition party congress held by popular politician Megawati Sukarnoputri in Bali next week, police chief Lieutenant General Rusmanhadi said Wednesday.

Jakarta – Thousands of Indonesians rallied on Wednesday, the 33rd anniversary of an attempted communist coup, warning that communism was still alive and responsible for riots and looting plaguing the country.

Jakarta – Over 2,000 Indonesian Moslems gathered at Jakarta's main Istiqlal Mosque here on Wednesday in what they said was a show of support for President B.J. Habibie and his reform programs.

Jakarta – After a recent storm of public condemnation over past alleged human rights violations, the Armed Forces (ABRI) took another blow on Monday when an independent survey found its public image wanting.

Jakarta – Police clashed with troops after an exchange of insults on the island of Borneo Tuesday, leaving four people dead and 12 others injured, police and a news report said. A police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said two police officers and two soldiers had died from gunshot wounds.

Beijing – Vice Premier Qian Qichen on Tuesday repeated China's calls to Indonesia to take action over the violence directed against ethnic Chinese during Jakarta's May riots.

Jakarta – Indonesia's first real attempt at a bankrupcty case in 95 years came unstuck on Tuesday and analysts warned it would make investors even less comfortable with the country's cloudy legal system.

Jakarta – Indonesia Tuesday announced a bank recapitalisation program to restore the ailing banking sector back to health.

"The aim of the recapitalisation is to retain (banks) which has a prospect of surviving and develop, and also primarily to accelerate economic restoration through a restructurisation of their ownership", Bank Indonesia Governor Syahril Sabirin said.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government Tuesday abandoned a proposed law to control protests and demonstrations that critics had said would curb newfound freedom of expression following the end of the authoritarian Suharto regime.

Jakarta – Some 100 Indonesian workers Tuesday held a rally to mark the launch of their Digging and Construction Labor Union (IKAPERGABIN).

"Stop perpetuating poverty. Use conglomerates money to better our fate. Stop slavery and opression," said some posters carried by the workers who gathered at a park.

Jakarta – Separate groups of farmers and workers demonstrated in the western Indonesian city of Medan on Tuesday over land appropriation and wages, the Suara Pembaruan evening daily said.

Jakarta – Thousands of soldiers and police remained on alert in the capital and other cities Tuesday as Indonesia prepared to mark the anniversary of what the government says was a failed communist coup 33 years ago. The military has warned that anti-government groups might use Wednesday's anniversary as an excuse to stage protests.

Sydney – Indonesian opposition leader Amien Rais said Monday he could form a coalition government if elected to power but still insisted on major reforms, including a reduced political role for the army. Rais, leader of the National Mandate Party, told a student audience here he was confident President B.J. Habibie would stay in office long enough to call polls.

Jakarta – A prominent critic of former leader Suharto Monday urged the government of President B.J. Habibie to call on friendly foreign states to freeze all Suharto-linked assets in their countries.

Bogor – An expert has expressed concern that the rood crisis and malnutrition affecting an untold number of babies in various Indonesian areas will lead to the birth of stupid generations in the future.

Jakarta – Indonesian forestry companies grouped under Masyarakat Perhutanan Indonesia will launch an investigation of an estimated $2.04 billion which former President Suharto's golfing partner Mohamad "Bob" Hasan collected between 1991 and 1997. Bob Hasan served as the chairman of MPI from 1991 until March this year.

Jakarta – About 15,000 Moslem youths packed the Senayan Sports Hall on Sunday for the launching of the Jakarta chapter of the Justice Party, declaring readiness to contest the planned general election in May next year.

Jakarta – A group in the remote Indonesian province of Irian Jaya has called for a mass rally in support of independence from Indonesia, the official Antara news agency said Monday.

Jakarta – A long-time critic of former president Suharto was allowed to return to Indonesia Sunday but the euphoria was overshadowed by fears of a new clampdown on dissent after police tried to break up a human rights seminar.

Bogor – Hundreds of farmers took to the streets yesterday in this West Javanese hill town and in Jakarta to protest against the taking of their land by real estate and golf course developers, witnesses said.

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – Experts have advised separating the police from the armed forces and redefining the President's control over military affairs as part of moves to democratise the law-and-order system.

Jenny Grant – Faced with increasing demonstrations, the Governor of North Sumatra has armed hundreds of his staff with rattan sticks.

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – The mental and physical growth of a generation of children is under threat as Indonesia's economic crisis worsens. More than half the children under two years old in Java, the most populous island, were suffering from malnutrition, Unicef, the UN Children's Fund, said yesterday.