Jakarta – While the ethnic-related tension in Pontianak, West Kalimantan has gradually ceased, fresh conflict flared up in the West Kotawaringin district of Kumai in Central Kalimantan late on Saturday, leaving at least two people dead.

Jakarta – A total of 740 people died at the hands of the national police during the past one year due to human rights abuses, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said.

According to the commission's record, the police allegedly committed 224 human rights violations in 10 provinces from June 2000 to June this year, resulting in 740 deaths.

Chris McCall, Mamboro, Central Sulawesi – God told him the riots were about to happen. "Allah sent me a vision," Muhammad Herlambang Badja says at the psychiatric hospital where he is being treated.

Jakarta – Madurese settlers in Indonesia's West Kalimantan province have asked the local government to give them two weeks to persuade thousands of Madurese refugees to leave their camps in Pontianak, an official said yesterday.

Jakarta – Corruption, collusion and nepotism are rampant in state enterprises, a top government official admits, confirming what many have long suspected.

Hamish McDonald – Senior United States and Australian officials yesterday joined in an unusually direct warning to Jakarta against trying to suppress secessionists in Aceh and Irian Jaya by force.

Peter Kerr, Jakarta – Soon after giving birth earlier this year in a major central Jakarta hospital, nursing staff gave Indra a pack containing infant milk formula, a measuring cup and other gifts provided by a big international baby-food company. Three months later, when she felt she was having difficulty breastfeeding, she started giving her baby the milk formula.

Reuters in Manila – President Abdurrahman Wahid, threatened with impeachment by a hostile Parliament, offered yesterday to reconcile differences with opponents in the legislature and the military.

Jakarta – While the fate of embattled President Abdurrahman Wahid is still far from sealed, the United Development Party (PPP) and the Crescent Star Party (PBB) are already preparing to forward vice presidential candidates to partner Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Jakarta – Court officials said yesterday that they had not lost the documentation of a Supreme Court decision ordering a fugitive son of former Indonesian President Suharto to pay nearly US$300 million in back taxes, as had been alleged by a minister. 'We sent the document back to the Jakarta state administrative court in April.

Jakarta – Indonesian Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri on Thursday warned President Abdurrahman Wahid that declaring a state of emergency, as he has threatened, would be unconstitutional.

Jakarta – National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro had reportedly cut short his minor haj pilgrimage and returned to the capital on Tuesday, after receiving news that there had been a near clash among his middle-ranking officers.

Jakarta – Hundreds of becak (pedicab) drivers held a march on Wednesday to demand that the poor be given the right to earn a living in the capital.

Poso, Central Sulawesi – Eight armed men were detained on Wednesday as they were allegedly about to attack residents working on a cacao plantation in Batugincu village, Poso, Central Sulawesi, an official said.

Brendan Pearson – The Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, and Indonesia's President, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, have pledged to repair a diplomatic relationship marked by discord and bitterness since the East Timor independence vote in 1999.

Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta – Indonesian Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri's expected rise to power is likely to be clouded by the same opportunistic politicking that has plagued her hapless boss.

Nick Everett & Rebecca Meckelburg, Bandung – Police have arrested six members of the radical People's Democratic Party (PRD) in West Java, in an attempt to repress the largest strike the Indonesian province has seen since the coming to power of Suharto in 1965-66.

Jakarta – Amid the topsy-turvy of preparations for the upcoming special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), a total of 13 members of the House of Representatives (DPR) and the MPR finally submitted forms on their wealth to the Civil Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN).

Peter Boyle – Indonesian non-government organisations believe the June 8 raid by police on the Asia-Pacific Solidarity Conference, during which 32 foreigners were detained, was "a threat not only for [conference organiser] INCREASE but for all other pro-democracy NGOs". They have launched a lawsuit against the police.

Max Lane – On June 15 the Indonesian police kidnapped eight members of the People's Democratic Party (PRD) and occupied and ransacked the PRD's West Java office. The PRD activists remain in police custody in Bandung and so far have been denied access to lawyers. In Jakarta, the police have also been arresting student activists.

Jakarta – Activists from the Anti-Torture Network visited on Tuesday the headquarters of the city police and the West, North and East Jakarta police, and reported that their detention cells were seriously overcrowded.

Jakarta – After weeks of nationwide, sometimes riotous agitation, Indonesia's labor unions scored a major victory last week when the Wahid government decided to delay implementation of two new decrees criticized for undermining workers' interests.

Jakarta – More than 250 Mayasari Bhakti bus drivers went on strike on Monday, and hundreds of others are rumored to join on Tuesday to demand a bus fare increase to compensate their dwindling income from the fuel price hike.

Hamish McDonald – Within an hour of arriving in Canberra from a gruelling journey from Jakarta, Abdurrahman Wahid was plunged into a succession of discussions and engagements last night.

Bandung – Tens of youths from various youth groups under the umbrella of the former ruling Golkar Party occupied the West Java branch office of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) here on Monday.

Yogyakarta – Revolutionary groups which attack gambling houses and nightspots in the name of religious beliefs are mushrooming here, causing residents to be increasingly fearful.

Is it mere symbolism for the Wahid visit that John Howard has had an apparent change of heart on Asia, asks Gerard Henderson?

Craig Skehan – Australia and New Zealand will press Indonesia's visiting President Wahid to prosecute members of his country's military, and militiamen, over atrocities in East Timor. But the Prime Minister yesterday also pledged support for Indonesia's "territorial integrity" in the face of secessionist conflicts.

Australia and Indonesia had agreed to put behind them the strained relationship which arose over East Timor and move on, Prime Minister John Howard said today, while Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid promised to pursue the perpetrators of human rights atrocities in East Timor.

Jakarta – The IMF said on Tuesday it would resume a vital $5 billion loan programme with Indonesia if the government agreed to delay a debate on controversial central bank law revisions.

MMI Ahyani/HD, Jakarta – Around 1,000 thousands people from various organisations which are Golkar Party's underbouw came to West Java legislative on Jl Diponegoro, Bandung, Monday. They demand West Java legislative to urge the government disbanding organisations suggest a new communist movement.

Jakarta – The death of a woman migrant worker upon her arrival at the Soekarno Hatta International Airport on Thursday has prompted calls for the government to close the special gate at Terminal III for migrant workers.

Jakarta – Dozens of armed men attacked a residential area in the town of Poso, Central Sulawesi, in the early hours of Sunday morning, killing two people and injuring three others. The unidentified men stormed houses and fired randomly during the predawn attack which caused panic among residents. Security personnel combing the area after the attack found two bodies.

Gde Anugrah Arka, Jakarta – Indonesia's floundering president has sacked the widely respected head of the bank restructuring agency (IBRA), in yet another shakeup at one of the troubled country's most vital institutions.

MMI Ahyani/HD, Bandung – National Democratic Students Student League (LMND) is scheduled to file a lawsuit to West Java Police over an arrest of LMND's seven and Democratic People's Party (PRD) for West Java activists. Next week, a pre-trial be submitted since an arrest of those seven activists believed as fabricated.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Eddie, a former waterside thug, is not too worried about a local council's recently declared intention of clearing the city of illegal businesses such as his – a street stall where he sells fake branded bags.

Vaudine England, Denpasar – Bali is supposed to be a powerhouse of support for Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, but interviews with activists and members of the local elite suggest such support can no longer be assumed.

Lindsay Murdoch – There will be a banquet in Parliament's Great Hall hosted by the Prime Minister, a Governor-General's dinner, red carpet, effusive speeches, toasts and an exchange of carefully chosen gifts.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government wants to collect 3.2 trillion rupiah in unpaid taxes from the fugitive youngest son of former president Suharto but has lost the paperwork. "He has not paid 3.2 trillion rupiah but he is very clever... not only is he missing, even the documents of the supreme court ruling have disappeared," Finance Minister Rizal Ramli said yesterday.

Louise Williams – As the torturous "death watch" over the presidency of Abdurrahman Wahid draws to a close his raucous political opponents will be able to claim only the most hollow of short-term victories.

Agence France Presse in Jakarta – Indonesia's MPs came under fire yesterday after it emerged each is entitled to a 5.8 million rupiah allowance to buy washing machines as part of a package of generous perks.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia would gain an additional 60 trillion rupiah (S$10.8 billion) a year if citizens paid their proper taxes, according to an aide to new Finance Minister Rizal Ramli.

Indonesians were notorious for dodging their taxes by bribing collectors and under-reporting their incomes, said Mr Anggito Abimanyu.

Jakarta – The chairman of Indonesia's Upper House of Parliament Amien Rais yesterday ruled out bringing forward a special assembly session, that could impeach President Abdurrahman Wahid, from its scheduled date of August 1.

jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid warned on Friday he could call early elections and take other measures if the top legislature insisted on making him account for his rule at an August impeachment hearing.

Jakarta – The international workshop on crimes against humanity ended on Thursday in controversy over the need to adopt human rights principles in the military.

Robert Go, Jakarta – It is getting harder to hide the extent of one's wealth in Indonesia these days. Tax collectors, under pressure from their bosses at the Finance Ministry, are stepping up on-the-spot audits. They are directing their activities towards rich neighbourhoods whose inhabitants are likely to display their high-class consumption.

Poso, Central Sulawesi – A band of armed men wearing ninja outfits wounded two villagers during their assault on a minivan in the village of Pinedapa as tension continued to escalate here on Wednesday. A retaliatory strike followed later in the afternoon, seriously wounding two locals.

Agencies in Jakarta – The army chief has weighed into a politicised controversy over what constitutes insubordination in the forces, saying soldiers have the right to disobey unlawful orders. "In certain cases, disobeying an order is justified," said General Endriartono Sutarto in an article published yesterday.

Reuters in Jakarta – Popular Indonesian Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri will skip another cabinet meeting on Thursday in her latest snub to the besieged president.

Dean Yates, Jakarta – Indonesia's military said on Thursday it saw little sign of a political compromise that might save President Abdurrahman Wahid's floundering rule and warned it would not tolerate any violence linked to his fate.