Following is an unofficial translation of Indonesian President Suharto's resignation speech.

My fellow countrymen. I have been following closely the recent developments in the national situation, especially the aspirations of the people for reforms in all aspects of the nation's life.

Hundreds of thousands of Indonesians marched against President Suharto across the nation Wednesday, while political leaders jockeyed for his ouster and the military took control of Jakarta.

On May 15, emergency pickets were held in many Australian cities to demand that the government cut all ties with the Suharto dictatorship and the Indonesian military, and to show solidarity with the Indonesian democracy movement. The protests were organised by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET).

[The following statement is being circulated by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) for endorsement.]

Harold Crouch, Canberra – President Suharto's three-decade rule seems about to end, but the succession is still far from clear.

John Hamilton, Jakarta - Jakarta is a city of fear ringed by steel as Indonesia hovers on the brink of rebellion and anarchy.

Yesterday I drove through the tense central city area where office buildings were locked and stores shuttered and barred.

Habibie's position fell to him as a result of intra-elite manoeuvreing. It was hardly a victory for people's power. Consequently, his cabinet is by no means revolutionary or even strongly reformist in policy terms. It remains a New Order creation. None of the most prominent among the opposition figures of recent months are included in it.

Jim Della-Giacoma, Jakarta – Indonesia said Saturday almost 500 people had died in the devastating riots which swept its capital this week as President Suharto moved to restore his shaken authority over the battered nation.

Jakarta – Thousands of students and other demonstrators occupied the state Radio Republik Indonesia station at Semarang in Central Java and forced their demands to be broadcast, a report said yesterday.

An announcer read out the five demands on Friday and the broadcast was repeated an hour later, the official Antara news agency said.

Armed forces commander in chief General Wiranto has confirmed that the six students who were killed during protests at Trisakti University, Grogol, Jakarta, had been hit by live bullets aimed from above.

The names of some fifty members of the People's Council set up in Jakarta yesterday have been announced. The Council is known by its Indonesian acronym MAR which stands for Majelis Amanat Rakyat.

Members of the Council had their first meeting at a cafe in Jakarta yesterday and agreed to put forward three immediate demands:

Richard Read, Tangerang – Shoe factory worker Dominguez Pirida strained Wednesday to comprehend workplace improvements pledged by Nike Chairman Phil Knight, a man whom he'd vaguely heard of half a world away. Better air quality inside plants sounded good. Improved independent monitoring of Nike's contract factories seemed fine.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – Rioting spread to new areas of Jakarta last night after Indonesian special forces troops, dropped by helicopter, sealed a major toll road to the airport, which had earlier been cut off by students protesting at the death of six of their colleagues.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – From the top of a pedestrian overpass that straddles the chaos raging across the 12-lane highway in central Jakarta, there is a clear view to a kill.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – A third political activist has confirmed the existence of an interrogation centre near Jakarta, where torture allegedly is being used against kidnapped opponents of the Soeharto regime.

Mark Landler, Jakarta, Indonesia – Security forces killed at least four students and injured more than 20 others when they opened fire on a demonstration that had spilled from a college campus onto a major highway here.

Jakarta – There are strong indications that the Kopassus, under the command of Major General (Army) Prabowo Subianto (now Lieut. Gen. and Commander of Army Reserve - Ed), is responsible for the abduction of activists. The intensive operation to kidnap activists began during the time of the General Assembly session in March l998.

David Watts, Solo – The absent President Suharto of Indonesia suffered a double political blow yesterday when an important Muslim leader and a group of retired generals came out against his continuation in office.

Raphael Pura, Jakarta – As Indonesia teeters on the edge of economic disaster, most eyes are on President Suharto, its stubborn, aging leader. But the brunt of the burden of saving Indonesia's economy rests on the shoulders of another man: Ginandjar Kartasasmita, an ardent nationalist and born-again reformer.

Jay Solomon and I Made Sentana, Medan – All is quiet again in Indonesia's third-largest city – much too quiet.

After last week's rioting and looting left scores of people injured and caused massive property damage, residents are suddenly coping with a new problem: life without ethnic Chinese.

Award-winning Toronto Star foreign correspondent Paul Watson, who was arrested by Indonesian police after taking pictures of a riot in Medan, was deported to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, yesterday. Watson, The Star's Asian bureau chief, filed this story before being flown out of the country.

Keith B. Richburg, Jakarta – Indonesia's economic hardship worsening, social unrest spreading and anti-government protests showing no sign of abating, the key question on almost everyone's mind here is: What will the military do?

Jakarta – As many as 80,000 villagers face starvation because of raging wildfires that have destroyed a vast forest area in the East Kalimantan province.

The newspaper Bisnis Indonesia reported Saturday that Juwono Sudarsono, minister for environment, said he will visit the region next Wednesday as part of the government's efforts to address the threat.

Jakarta – Scores of students were injured in clashes in central Java yesterday as campus demonstrations continued across Indonesia.

The trouble came despite the military's pledge to speed reforms and its call for the protests to end.

David E. Sanger, Washington – The United States today gave Indonesia $1 billion in loan guarantees, free of any conditions concerning human rights abuses surrounding the protests against President Suharto's rule. Almost simultaneously the Pentagon, citing the unrest, canceled a joint training exercise with the Indonesian military.

Alan Wheatley, London – Leading industrial nations bluntly told Indonesian President Suharto on Saturday they expected him to enact sweeping political reforms to head off social unrest triggered by the country's economic crisis.

Jakarta – Indonesian financial markets were edgy on Friday on renewed student protests and on continued unrest and looting in cities in north Sumatra.

Students ignored a call from the Indonesia's powerful military chief to halt their protests and staged a mock trial of President Suharto in Jakarta on Friday, condemned him to death and burned him in effigy.

Andrew Marshall. jakarta – Church leaders representing more than 10 million Indonesian Protestants have added their voice to the growing chorus of demands for reform of the country's political system and pledged support for student protesters.

Geoffrey Barker – Australia moved to distance itself from Indonesia's rulers yesterday as a prominent Australian expert warned that continuing economic and ethnic crisis could turn Indonesians towards ruthless, demagogic leadership.

The wave of student actions across the country on Thursday led to a number of clashes with the security forces. There were casualties on both sides; the number of student injured was higher than on previous days, many caused by truncheons, rubber bullets, stone throwing and beatings.

Defiant Indonesian students called for the execution of President Suharto Friday as police and soldiers cracked down on the escalating nationwide protests with baton charges and hails of rubber bullets.

Jim Mannion, Washington – The United States called off a military training exercise with Indonesia and is reviewing all other scheduled joint military activities because of concern over political unrest there, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – Indonesian police shot and wounded at least two people during riots in Medan yesterday, as the North Sumatran capital was hit by a third consecutive day of mob violence sparked by steep increases in fuel and transport prices.

Jakarta – Thousands of workers across Indonesians went on strike demanding wage increase after hikes in fuel, electricity and staple food prices, reports said on Thursday. About 4,000 workrs staged a rally in front of two ceramics factories in the greater Jakarta area town of Tangerang, demanding higher improved benefits and more transparent hiring policies.

Margot Cohen with John McBeth, Jakarta – The offer was on the table: silence or death. A petrified Pius Lustrilanang did not hesitate. He promised to keep his mouth shut about his two months in captivity in a detention centre outside Jakarta, and his kidnappers rewarded him with a plane ticket home to south Sumatra.

The influential Association of Indonesia Muslim Intellectuals. ICMI, has called for sweeping political reforms in the wake of escalating violent protests, reports said Thursday.

President Suharto's latest reform proposals were "vague, too litte and too late", the ICMI statement saidm in a statement called for a cabinet reshuffle.

Jakarta – Former cabinet minister Siswono Yudohusodo stressed the necessity of immediate political and economic reforms yesterday, indicating that a cabinet reshuffIe may be needed to help defuse the national crisis.

Medan – Rioting spread to nearby towns yesterday as parts of the North Sumatran capital remained tense.

East Medan's Tebung commercial area was littered with glass and debris yesterday evening after scores of shops had earlier been looted and set on fire by hundreds of rioters.

By Robyn Dixon in Melbourne and Jennifer Hewett in Washington

The IMF's managing director, Mr Michel Camdessus, has expressed "deep concern" over the rioting in Indonesia, but said the real cause of unrest was not price rises, but the deeper economic management problems which had led to the crisis in the first place.

Ian MacKenzie, Jakarta – Riots in the North Sumatran capital of Medan shook Indonesia for a third consecutive day on Wednesday, with local reporters saying at least six people were killed in blazing buildings or by gunfire from security forces.

Jakarta – Alumni from 48 leading universities and institutions have thrown their weight behind student rallies for reform and vowed to establish a special network to aid families whose relatives "disappear".

Jakarta – More than 200 workers and labor activists staged a protest at the head quarters of the All-Indonesia Workers Union Federation (FSPSI), demanding an increase in the minimum wage, the resignation of the federation's leaders and lower prices for basic commodities.

Jakarta – Female workers have become the prime target of lay-offs and dismissals in Greater Jakarta, a women's organization said.

The Indonesian Women's Association for Justice (APIK), which has been monitoring labor relations in Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi, said over the weekend that pregnant workers were the number one target of dismissals.

Christopher Torchia, Jakarta – Thousands of rioters burned cars and looted stores in an Indonesian city today and police battled rock-throwing students in the capital as sharp hikes in the cost of fuel and transport kicked in.

K. Baranee Krishnaan, Kuala Lumpur – US ambassador to Malaysia John Malott said on Tuesday he would not tolerate another violent entry into his embassy by asylum seekers after eight Indonesians broke in last month and fought with embassy staff.

Jakarta – The South Jakarta District Court has sentenced 11 activists to nearly two months in jail for taking part in a street protest here in February, the Jakarta Post daily said.

Four activists who were arrested on 9 March while taking part in a small demonstration in Jakarta went on trial at the Central Jakarta district court, charged with carrying out political activities.

Jakarta – Clashes between students demanding political reform and security forces in three towns at the weekend left 77 policemen and at least 60 students injured, six by rubber-coated bullets, reports said yesterday.

Andreas Harsono, Jakarta – One of Indonesian President Suharto's favorite pasttimes is to have a talk in front of farmers, small traders and villagers, known locally as "temu wicara," a phrase which translates as a "gathering to talk."

Christine T. Tjandraningsih, Jakarta – The Indonesian government Monday announced an increase in public transportation fares, only a few hours after it announced price hikes for fuel and electricity in accordance with an International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommendation to reduce government subsidies for the two commodities.