Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri called on all government officials and civil servants to carry out all her decisions and not to hamper the implementation of government policies, a senior government minister said on Monday.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim country with 210 million people, is labeled as one of the most corrupt countries. In theory, Islam as well as other religions prohibit their followers from bribing and stealing, but in practice, many are involved in corruption. Why?

Fitri Wulandari, Jakarta – Long criticized for a lack of attention to the widespread abuse of women and children – perhaps the nation's most precious resource – the government promised on Monday to correct this appalling situation.

A leading Indonesian rights group joined the fray in the public debate about President Megawati Sukarnoputri's plan to drop graft charges against former dictator Suharto, saying it will sound the death toll on justice in the country.

Ati Nurbaiti – In a country where the first ever woman president stands proud, along with a few other women within the central and local governments, awareness has been raised of the issue of "sexual terrorism."

The alarming term was raised on December 11 by the National Commission for Violence Against Women during a press conference on its annual review.

Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta – Indonesia breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday as Christians flocked to churches across the world's most populous Muslim nation for Christmas celebrations free of violence, although security remained heavy.

The health of former Indonesian dictator Suharto improved slightly as a plan by Indonesian president Megawati Sukarnoputri to withdraw multimillion-dollar graft charges against him sparked intense media debate.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – National Assembly chairman Amien Rais, one of the fiercest critics of former president Suharto, said yesterday that parliament was likely to support a presidential motion to drop charges against the ailing 80-year-old.

Jakarta – Indonesia is witnessing a growing number of child abuse cases but does not yet have adequate legislation to cope with the problem, according to the National Commission for Child Protection.

The most common forms of abuse were rape, prostitution and forced labour. School dropouts were also a serious problem, the commission said in its year-end report.

Jakarta – Public order officers demolished on Saturday evening dozens of tents, stalls and kiosks erected by sidewalk vendors along busy roads in Kampung Melayu and Jatinegara in East Jakarta.

The demolitions were designed to bring some sense of order to the capital, where vendors operate in an uncontrolled manner.

Jakarta – Indonesia will not follow Argentina and halt its payment on the nation's public debt, top economic minister Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti said Monday.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government acknowledges it is simply running out of ideas to create employment for the three million new job seekers each year and the nation's pool of 40 million unemployed. Only 1.6 million jobs were becoming available each year, said Manpower and Transmigration Minister Jacob Nuwa Wea.

Jakarta – The city administration's plan to conduct random identity card checks in a campaign to discourage unskilled outsiders from thronging the capital in search of work has sparked criticism and confusion.

Berni K. Moestafa, Jakarta – Argentina teetering into economic chaos right under the nose of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) hammers home some lessons for Indonesia on how it should work with the fund, experts said.

Hundreds of street vendors from around the Gambir Railway station attacked city public order officers on Thursday after the officers confiscated the vendors' possessions just days after Idul Fitri celebrations.

The officers transported six truck loads of belongings confiscated from the vendors around the station in Central Jakarta to a warehouse in Cakung, North Jakarta.

Ainur R. Sophiaan, Surabaya – On Thursday, following a two-month deadlock between employers and workers, the governor of East Java moved to set the monthly minimum wages in 36 regencies and mayoralties in the province for the 2002 fiscal year.

Makassar (South Sulawesi) – For the fifth – but hopefully the last – time, delegates of the two warring factions in strife-torn Poso, Central Sulawesi, have agreed to end the three-year conflict that has claimed more than 2,000 lives.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Cash-strapped Indonesia is considering a proposal to sell more than 500 houses alloted as perks to MPs and Cabinet ministers as a means of saving money, said the head of parliament's budget committee.

The Indonesia Human Rights Network (IHRN) and East Timor Action Network (ETAN) today strongly condemned a provision in the Defense Department Appropriations bill (HR 3388) aimed at funding US training of the Indonesian military (TNI).

Jakarta – An Indonesian court sentenced a grandson of former President Suharto to two months and 22 days in jail on Thursday for illegal firearms possession, but he could be freed within a week because of time already spent in detention.

Indonesian police have questioned former East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres in connection with criminal charges against former president Suharto's youngest son Tommy.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The government is currently reviewing around 50 regulations deemed discriminative against ethnic and religious minorities in the country, Cabinet deputy secretary Erman Rajagukguk said here on Wednesday.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Public anger is growing in Indonesia over the "soft" treatment that the country's most notorious suspect, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, has received since police investigators nabbed him three weeks ago.

Jakarta – Some 200 people vandalized a police station in Indonesia's West Java, after police rejected their demand to hand over a murder suspect, police said Wednesday.

The mob attacked parts of the Cianjur district police on Monday evening, pelting stones after police refused to hand over the man suspected of having killed a motortaxi driver, First Sergeant Suhendi said.

Ambon – Gunmen shot dead nine Christians travelling in a boat in the riot-torn eastern Indonesian city of Ambon, residents and hospital sources said Wednesday. Six women and three men were killed Tuesday, a nurse at the Halong navy hospital told AFP.

Darlis Muhammad, Palu – This year alone it has been recorded that attacks and violence have affected 61 villages in Poso Regency, Central Sulawesi. The turmoil comprises 124 incidents that have claimed 141 lives, 90 injuries, 27 missing people and 102 cases of abuse. Furthermore, 2438 cases of arsen and other physical attacks upon houses have been recorded.

Grace Nirang, Jakarta – Gunmen shot dead nine Christians in Indonesia's eastern Ambon city on Wednesday and police said they could not rule out the possibility of unrest erupting elsewhere during next week's Christmas celebrations.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Human rights abuses involving the state remain rife as the economic crisis continues to batter Indonesia, a local human rights watchdog says.

Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta), an affiliation of the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI), predicts that the situation will not improve next year.

Jakarta – Indonesian MPs are planning an all-expenses paid jaunt around Asia to carry out a study of the perks accorded to their peers, the Jakarta Post reported Wednesday.

MPs from the national assembly's In-House Affairs Body will undertake a "comparitive studies" trip to compare their salaries, benefits and office facilities with legislators elsewhere in the region.

Bandung – Hundreds of prisoners at the Kebon Waru Penitentiary in Bandung, West Java, were involved in an extremely intense riot on Thursday, damaging the warden's office and smashing windows and other property inside the prison.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Government intervention in political parties' internal affairs, commonplace during the authoritarian New Order era, is making a comeback, analysts say.

They said on Saturday that the practice would disrupt the process of democratization and the new found freedoms that began to emerge following president Soeharto's fall in 1998.

Jakarta – Indonesia signed a new letter of intent with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday, paving the way for the disbursement of a long-delayed US$400 million (S$732 million) loan.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – National Intelligence Agency chief A.M. Hendropriyono backtracked on Thursday from comments he made one day earlier that an international terrorist group in Poso were exacerbating the Christian-Muslim conflict there.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Legislators rejected on Thursday some articles in the government-sponsored antiterrorism bill which, it was widely feared, would justify human rights abuses.

[On November 21 President Megawati Soekarnoputri signed off on a new anti-corruption law. Teten Masduki, chairman of Indonesia Corruption Watch, in an interview with The Jakarta Post contributor Christiani Tumelap, criticizes the definition of corruption adopted in the new law on the grounds that it only covers activities that cause a financial loss to the state.]

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung's days are numbered as parliamentary speaker and party leader as foes within and outside Golkar conspire to establish a special commission to probe his involvement in a damning financial scandal.

Jakarta – Former president Suharto could not be tried because of illness but it was up to prosecutors whether or not to take him to court again, the Supreme Court said yesterday.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – The City administration is hastily implementing stopgap measures to prevent an outbreak of disease threatened by the mounting piles of trash throughout Jakarta, neglected as a result of the dispute over the Bantar Gebang dump site.

Jakarta – Employees of state-owned cement maker PT Semen Gresik will strike on Friday, with support from its president, if the government does not drop plans to sell a 51 percent of the company to Mexico's cement giant Cemex SA de CV, a union leadersays.

Jakarta – United Development Party (PPP) chairman Hamzah Haz dismissed on Wednesday media reports claiming that his party had received money from the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) and then president B.J. Habibie in 1999.

Jakarta – Indonesia has proposed raising domestic phone charges by an average of 15 percent starting next year in a move which will help state phone monopoly PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) boost its revenues and reach its fixed line growth target.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) passed a bill mandating the creation of a council to help the President develop a policy on national defense into law Monday.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra's lawyer, Elza Syarif, played down on Monday the allegation that there was a deliberate ploy between her client and the police over recent cases released by Tommy's lawyers, which were believed to be aimed at distracting public attention.

Ambon – The situation in Ambon, the provincial capital of Maluku, was tense on Tuesday morning following an explosion onboard the California passenger boat, which was in Ambon Bay sailing from Benteng seaport to Galala ferry port.

Annastashya Emmanuelle, Jakarta – Jakarta may sink under a mountain of rotting garbage within a matter of days unless the city administration finds new appropriate dump sites for the 25,000 cubic meters of household trash that the city produces daily.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Legal experts strongly criticized on Monday the antiterrorism bill currently being formulated at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, saying that the bill has condoned violence in its articles.

Chris McCAll, Poso – Osama bin Laden's photo adorns sentry posts along the road into Poso, with the words "jihad post" scrawled on the wooden walls. Above them fly flags bearing Arabic calligraphy and sometimes the image of a sword.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – In an unprecedented alliance, the environment and forestry ministries and the navy have launched a get-tough policy against illegal loggers and timber smuggling.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) Spokesman Rear Marshall Graito Usodo admitted on Monday that the Air Force charged US$4,500 (approximately Rp 45 million) an hour for air transport, but denied such "a fee" had delayed police deployment to conflict-torn places.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives approved on Monday the controversial National Police bill, which critics claimed was overly militaristic and was possibly open to abuse by the president's office.Only a few changes had been made to the bill which was passed despite severe public criticism.