Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – A truck carrying a load of diesel fuel was trapped in traffic on Jl. Yos Sudarso in North Jakarta, when a teenager with a plastic bag in his hand crept toward it and slowly opened the fuel tap.

Jakarta – Street gangs in the Indonesian capital Jakarta are stealing fuel from tanker trucks which become stuck in heavy traffic, a newspaper reported Monday.

Oyos Saroso, Bandar Lampung – More than 300 temporarily employed doctors in Lampung would continue striking this week to push their demand for a clear status and better payment, strike leaders said on Saturday.

Police in the Indonesian capital have arrested seven people after men wielding machetes and sticks attacked rights protestors, wounding at least 15, reports said.

Nine people were questioned on Friday for their involvement in the attack on Thursday but two of them were released, Jakarta police detective chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri said in the Jakarta Post.

Jill Jolliffe – An Indonesian human rights lawyer has criticised a special court appointed by President Megawati Sukarnoputri to hear war crime charges on East Timor, accusing it of running "show trials".

Jakarta – Indonesia and the United States are to discuss a possible resumption of security cooperation, during a meeting here next month, foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said.

"We believe that talks on a possible resumption of military ties is one of the main items in the agenda of the meeting," Natalegawa told AFP.

Leo Wahyudi S, Jakarta – The United States and its allies should tread carefully in their recriminations of radical religious groups here, since over-emphasizing their potential threat may create unwarranted sympathy for these groups, a leading Islamic scholar warned.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Islamic boarding school staff in West Java are brainwashing students into supporting the fundamentalist group Indonesian Islamic State (NII), parents claim.

Yogita Tahilramani, Jakarta – The need for transparency in the use of State Logistics Agency (Bulog) funds has found a fresh cause as the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) disclosed on Wednesday an alleged misuse of over Rp 377 billion belonging to the institution between January 1998 and December 1999.

Jakarta – Indonesian Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tanjung will retain his post after all, despite his ongoing corruption trial.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, who is charged with murder, sat so lazily during the trial at the Central Jakarta District Court on Wednesday that the prosecutor asked the judge to order him to sit properly to respect the court.

Jakarta – Judges in Indonesia's first human rights court ruled Thursday that the trial of a former police chief in East Timor is legal and should go ahead, throwing out arguments by defence lawyers that the court breaches the constitution.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – While President Megawati Soekarnoputri was preaching to Chinese businessmen that there was no racial discrimination in Indonesia, experts and activists back home were demanding that her administration revoke over 60 rulings that discriminate against Indonesians of ethnic Chinese descent.

Tommy Suharto, youngest son of Indonesia's former dictator, said he was the victim of planted evidence as his trial resumed on murder and firearms charges which could result in the death penalty.

"Those things are not mine," Hutomo [Tommy] Mandala Putra told judges after a police officer testified that nine guns were found at a Jakarta apartment complex which he owned.

Oyos Saroso, Bandar Lampung – Three hundred and twenty nine temporarily-employed doctors went on strike in Bandar Lampung, protesting to late payment of salaries, demanding a rise in allowances and guaranteed full-time employment, on Tuesday.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government may raise between 7.2 and 9.25 trillion rupiah (750-963 million dollars) from its privatisation program this year, a minister said Wednesday.

Jakarta – Speculation is growing is some circles that the three Indonesians recently arrested in Manila were made scapegoats to ease international pressure on Jakarta to act against reported terrorist elements establishing roots in the country.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Buckling under increased international pressure, the Indonesian government said yesterday there was no grand design for a Suharto-like clampdown on the foreign media.

But it continued to evade questions about its recent decision to ban an Australian journalist from working in Indonesia.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – Amid allegations of the city administration bribing councillors, observers proposed on Monday the implementation of direct gubernatorial elections for the city's next governor to prevent "money politics".

Bogor – Around 200 workers from PT. SGI, a motorcycle painting business, staged a protest in front of Bogor's social and labor agency office on Monday.

The workers rejected the company's plan to lay off some workers who had joined the labor union at the company.

Jakarta – Hundreds of workers of Bank International Indonesia (BII) staged protest at the bank's headquarters on Jl. M.H. Thamrin in Central Jakarta on Tuesday, demanding a better salary and welfare, report said.

Bandung – Around 1,500 truck drivers and container workers went on strike in the West Java capital of Bandung on Monday to protest against new regulations limiting the traffic of trucks carrying containers on the city's highway.

Jakarta – Telecoms workers on Tuesday threatened to go on strike if the government went ahead with plans to sell its 65 percent stake in international call operator PT. Indonesia Satellite Corp (Indosat).

Jennifer Chen, Singapore – Ratings agency Standard & Poor's said on Tuesday Indonesia's long-term sovereign ratings are still at risk of a downgrade to "selective default" despite recent positive economic and political developments.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri wants army chief General Endriartono Sutarto to head the armed forces, replacing Admiral Widodo Adisucipto.

A legislator from her political party said yesterday that Ms Megawati will nominate Gen Sutarto for parliament's approval when it resumes its session in May after a two-month break.

Oyos Saroso, Bandar Lampung - Incensed by continued power blackouts in the Lampung capital of Bandarlampung, a mob of at least 50 people ransacked the city's Tanjungkarang branch office of state-owned electricity firm Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN).

Fears of a crackdown on Indonesia's domestic media were expressed at a seminar in Jakarta, with senior media figure Goenawan Mohamad saying that if this was so, many people were ready to fight such a move.

Jakarta – Indonesia's rubber production could fall by eight percent this year because of the El Nino weather phenomenon, a report said here Tuesday.

"The El Nino can reduce the Indonesian production by some eight percent," Chairman of the Indonesian Rubber Association (Gapkindo), Asril Sutan Amir said according to the Bisnis Indonesia daily.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – The landmark human rights trial for atrocities in East Timor more than two years ago has commenced, but disappointment persists as the Attorney General's Office fails to prosecute the top leaders implicated by the commission of inquiry into the crimes against humanity.

Thousands of Indonesian children in one district alone have been forced to drop out of school because of poverty.

Jakarta – Defence lawyers Monday slammed Indonesia's new human rights court as a tool of foreign powers as the trial resumed of five army and police officers accused of gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The city council is planning to spend US$1.4 million to install red and white lights and new pipes in the city's most famous fountain.

Beijing – China and Indonesia pledged to boost trade and cooperation in wide-ranging fields yesterday, as the two countries' largest oil companies agreed to form a partnership on the first day of Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri's visit.

China was her first stop on an Asian tour that will also take her to North and South Korea, and to India.

Jakarta – Indonesia's newest political party, the United Development Party for Reforms (PPP-R), Sunday announced its new leadership line-up.

Thousands of supporters and party activists gathered at the Senayan sport stadium as Chairman Zainuddin MZ swore in the new line-up.

Washington – Indonesia is about to find itself under mounting US scrutiny as the Bush administration presses home its campaign to rout out terror havens, and analysts say the attention could prompt hard choices in Jakarta.

A sister of one of the three Indonesians detained in the Philippines on suspicion of terrorism has described their arrest as a "weird drama."

Barani Krishnan, Kuala Lumpur – Jani Rahman shrugged when asked where his family, including his one-year-old daughter, had been spending its nights since a bulldozer flattened their home in the Malaysian capital's oldest Indonesian settlement.

Thick haze shrouded the capital of Indonesia's South Kalimantan province on Borneo island, reducing visibility to only 10 meters (yards), the Antara news agency said.

Gay Alcorn, Washington – The United States believes that dozens, possibly hundreds, of al-Qaeda fighters have slipped out of Afghanistan into Indonesia, increasingly seen as a crucial country in the war on terrorism.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Many people tell lies. They may lie to their boss, spouse, neighbors, and even to the police, or judges.

Mustafa Ali (Inter Press Service), Jakarta – For many, the presence of Indonesian top brass at the resumption of the East Timor trial on Tuesday brought a heavy air of intimidation into court.

Jakarta – Indonesia continues to fall further behind China and Thailand in the competition for Japanese investment, and it could be overtaken by Vietnam and India if it does not take immediate steps to improve its investment climate, a new survey of Japanese companies found.

Jakarta – At least 175,000 people die from tuberculosis (TB) in Indonesia each year, primarily due to ignorance and a reluctance to seek medical treatment, an official said on Thursday.

Jakarta – Hundreds of activists, skeptical about the government's effort to protect the people's rights, held a rally in Jakarta on Wednesday, expressing disappointment that the reform era failed to curb state violence against civilians.

Jakarta – The Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) troops are being groomed for peacekeeping duties in the event they are needed in Afghanistan, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said on Thursday.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The failure of the House of Representatives (DPR) to pass 24 bills into law during the current session deprives the public of legislation badly needed to overhaul the country's economic and political scenes.

Jakarta – Defence lawyers Thursday challenged Indonesia's new human rights court as illegal as East Timor's former governor and police chief appeared again over militia atrocities in the territory in 1999.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Central Jakarta District Court ruled in favor of dozens of becak (pedicab) drivers and street vendors on Thursday in their suit against the City Administration, Jakarta Police and the Jakarta Military Command for arbitrary evictions.

Jakarta – Indonesia had better stop sending its citizens to work as housemaids abroad because they are often treated like slaves, said a minister who claimed that the fate of these workers gave him a headache.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – A leading environmental watchdog based in North Sumatra blamed on Tuesday at least six plantation companies for the destruction of around 300,000 hectares of forest in Mandailing Natal regency.