Jakarta – The US military chief for the Pacific Tuesday said the Indonesian armed forces should account for the 1999 violence in East Timor before they can resume full military cooperation with Washington.

Jakarta – Indonesia's forestry minister Tuesday promised a clampdown on illegal logging, which he called a "crime organized by many parties."

Jakarta – The Indonesian government expects the country's current account surplus to fall significantly this year mainly due to lower oil prices, and to narrow further in 2002 with exports likely to remain weak, a document showed Monday.

Annastashya Emmanuelle, Jakarta – To some, the thought of everyday life without the assistance of domestic helpers is unbearable. The fact that human labor is inexpensive, and, at times, taken for granted, means that the services of domestic helpers are accessible to most households in the city. It also enables the latter to live increasingly self-indulgent lifestyles.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – The House of Representatives is playing for time and lacks seriousness in its plan to investigate the alleged involvement of its speaker, Akbar Tandjung, in a Rp 40 billion (US$4 million) corruption case, analysts say.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Once the Permuda Pancasila comprised the strong arm of the ruling Golkar party. Its members ran everything from karaoke clubs to gambling and prostitution rackets. They inspired fear and loathing across the archipelago ruling not just the back alleys of Jakarta, but also ensuring that none of the government's opponents got out of line.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Home Affairs Minister Hari Sabarno on Monday urged local authorities to revoke dozens of regional regulations deemed to hinder the flow of goods and capital.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Life could not be harder for minimum wage earners in the capital. They are forced to struggle to make both ends meet with the current minimum monthly wage of Rp 426,250 (about US$40).

One might wonder how they could survive earning such a low amount of money while the prices of goods keep on increasing.

Dean Yates, Jakarta – Indonesia's tolerant brand of Islam has passed the test of US attacks on Afghanistan largely intact despite images of burning American flags, proving the nation will not become a breeding ground for Muslim extremism.

Geneva – The United Nations Committee against Torture said on Friday that it was concerned about a "climate of impunity" for torture committed by security forces in Indonesia.

Pip Hinman, Sydney – The November 10 assassination in Jayapura of West Papuan leader Theys Eluay drew condemnation from a wide range of public figures at a press conference in the NSW Parliament House here on November 15.

Dita Sari, chairperson of the Indonesian National Front or Labour Struggles (FNPBI) was released from police custody on the evening of November 9. She had been arrested, along with 30 workers, earlier in the day when police violently dispersed a 1000-strong rally in Jakarta by striking department store workers.

Ainur R. Sophiaan, Surabaya – The chairman of the East Java chapter of the People's Democratic Party (PRD), Eusebius Purwadi, denied charges that he had circulated antigovernment pamphlets and incited local people to reject President Megawati Soekarnoputri's government.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – The country's highest electoral authority said on Thursday it would soon submit a new bill to the House of Representatives that would impose tighter requirements for those of the country's more than 300 political parties wishing to contest the general election in 2004.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Dozens of minibus crews at the Blok M bus terminal remained on strike for a third consecutive day on Thursday protesting the new bus routes designated by the City Land Transportation Agency, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded.

Jakarta – Some 150 "jihad" fighters from Indonesia are still with the Taliban in Afghanistan while others have fled to neighboring Pakistan or are stranded on the border, their recruiter said Friday.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The National Awakening Party (PKB), under the leadership of Alwi Shihab, officially dismissed Matori Abdul Djalil on Thursday from the party for disloyalty.

Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Friday insisted that the recently exercised regional autonomy was not a blank check for provinces to do as they please.

John Zarocostas, Geneva – A UN panel Friday criticized Indonesia for human-rights abuses, including sexual abuse, in its troubled provinces.

Jakarta – Five Indonesian state firms suffered losses or potential losses of four billion dollars due to inefficiency over in 1995-1999, according to independent international auditors. The audit results were reported in Friday's Jakarta Post and by the state Antara news agency.

Jakarta – Around 35,000 families here would be left homeless if the Jakarta administration continued with the controversial demolition of slum areas across the capital, including those along the city's riverbanks, an activist said on Wednesday.

Makassar – The authority of central government was challenged afresh as the South Sulawesi House of Representatives (DPRD) issued a statement rejecting a plan to sell PT Semen Tonasa, a local subsidiary of publicly listed, state-owned cement producer PT Semen Gresik Tbk., to Mexican cement company Cemex S.A. under a put option (shareholder's contractual right to sell).

Jakarta – Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated nation, is bracing for the seasonal price rises, curbs on night-time entertainment and mass treks homeward that come with the holy fasting month, Ramadan.

Muslims, who account for more than 80 percent of the 210 million people here, will start Ramadan on Friday or Saturday depending on the sighting of the new moon.

Panca Nugraha, Mataram – In observance of the International Day of the Eradication of Violence against Women, which will fall on November 25, more than 200 women held a demonstration against violence in the city on Wednesday, demanding the government introduce laws to protect Indonesian women both at home and overseas.

Jakarta – Indonesia recorded year-on-year growth of 3.47 percent in the third quarter and full-year growth is likely to at least match this, the Central Bureau of Statistics said Thursday.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – After firing five warning shots, the police successfully broke up a rally on Wednesday and arrested eight workers of PT Koinus Jaya Garment who had been demonstrating, along with some 250 others, to demand severance payment from the company.

Nana Rukmana, Indramayu – Illegal logging in the regency of Indramayu, West Java, has reached such alarming levels that stern police actions are needed to stop it, according to a coalition of non-governmental organizations (KLI) in Indramayu.

Agus Maryono, Banjarnegara – Eighty percent of 10,190 junior high school graduates in the Central Java regency of Banjarnegara did not continue their studies at senior high school this year because of economic problems, says a local official.

Jupriadi, Makassar – Thousands of local people and employees of state-owned cement company PT Semen Tonasa staged a demonstration at the South Sulawesi provincial legislative council compound in the city on Tuesday, demanding the government to spin off the cement factory from parent PT Semen Gresik.

Berni K. Moestafa and Tantri Yuliandini, Jakarta – Defying signs of a revenue shortfall in this year's state budget, the government denied it had begun planning spending cuts in the budget, arguing that other options existed to avoid this move.

Approximately 100 students from Atma Jaya University asked the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) on Tuesday to continue investigating the fatal shootings of Trisakti and Semanggi, which killed 30 people, mostly students.

Annastashya Emmanuelle, Jakarta – Pollutants emanating from onshore are the largest contributors to the pollution of Jakarta Bay while there has been as yet no significant effort made by government agencies and the community to manage waste effectively, the head of Jakarta's Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedalda) said on Tuesday.

Max Lane – Leaders of a militant union, including former political prisoner Dita Sari, have been arrested by Indonesian police during a crackdown on striking workers.

Jakarta – Thousands rallied Tuesday in an Indonesian province to demand the central government cancel the sale of a local cement plant in another blow to Jakarta's stalled privatisation programme.

Jakarta - Six people were injured when a group of Muslims tried to close down an entertainment area in a town in Indonesia's Sumatra island over the weekend, police said Monday.

Students and anti-vice activists tried to shut down the area in Pangkalan Kerinci near Langgam before the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, said a local police officer, Supardiansyah.

Jakarta – One of two men arrested Friday shortly after the blast of a home-made bomb rocked a Protestant church in the Indonesian capital had fought with Muslim rebels in the Malukus, a report said here Sunday.

Abu Hanifah, Jakarta – Police briefly detained two activists for handing out cotton buds to legislators that they said never listened to the common people. The cotton buds were slipped under the doors of rooms at Hotel Mulia near the Assembly premises, where most legislators taking part in the People's Consultative Assembly session stay.

Jakarta – The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) is the highest state body, so the text books say. Students all over the country should know that. But do they have any idea about the Annual Session? And what do the teachers say?

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The highest legislative body ends a remarkably peaceful annual session today, having achieved little more than deeper public disenchantment and an agreement to talk again.

Robert Go, Jakarta – There is no guarantee that fresh aid to Indonesia will not be diverted by corrupt officials, as graft has become a way of life, said one of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's senior aides yesterday.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Central Jakarta District Court began hearing a civil case on Thursday filed against Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, Jakarta Police Chief Gen. Ins. Sofjan Jacoeb and Jakarta Military Command Chief Lt. Gen. Bibit Waluyo, in relation to the crackdowns against becak (pedicab) drivers and street vendors.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Defying police warnings, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) maintained that it would raid nightspots violating city regulations governing the operation of entertainment centers during the holy month of Ramadhan.

Sydney – Australia should not seek to have constructive relations with Indonesia at any price, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has said amid new criticism from Jakarta.

Indonesia's Ambassador to Australia, Mr Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat, complained that both the Howard government and the Labor opposition had politicised the asylum-seekers issue to win votes.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Two new television stations have hit the Indonesian airwaves in the last fortnight, and another two will start broadcasting before the end of the year.

But these newcomers will face tough competition from the six existing private television stations to grab a share of the advertising market.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji, the first senior Chinese leader to visit Jakarta since diplomatic ties resumed in 1990, yesterday announced a 40-million-yuan (S$8.9-million) gift to aid Indonesia's infrastructure development.

Jakarta – The current People's Consultative Assembly Annual Session, costing 18 billion rupiah (US$1.6 million), is talking gibberish, which people from Irian Jaya, Sulawesi, Java and Sumatra say has nothing to do with their lives.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Firm in its first vote on the contentious issue of presidential elections on Wednesday, the Golkar faction at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Annual Session finally agreed to support the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).

Jakarta – A coalition of Indonesian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on Thursday called on the country's main donors meeting here to determine their new aid pledge, to allow the government to slow down its privatisation program.

Jakarta – Dadang Sukandar, chairman of the Raudlatul Jannah Foundation, on Wednesday revealed that he had accepted Rp 40 billion in non-budgetary funds from the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), but insisted that it had been properly spent on relief operations.

The admission to waiting reporters came following 10 hours of questioning at the Attorney General's Office.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Justice will remain elusive if the government's move to install 60 judges for human rights courts is not complemented by the appointment of prosecutors, rights lawyers asserted on Wednesday.