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.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Only eight of 286 cases of trafficking of women reported to the police during the last two years have gone to court, according to North Sumatra's Kaukus Perempuan, a coalition of non-governmental organizations dealing with women's concerns.

Jakarta – More than one thousand protesters from various non governmental organizations (NGOs), grouped into the newly-formed organization the Anti-Debt Coalition (KAU), staged on Wednesday an anti-foreign debt rally, urging the government to stop talks with the creditor nations of the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI).

Jakarta – Jakarta will maintain the status quo on a local government's unilateral takeover of a major cement firm's affiliate, Home Minister Hari Sabarno said Thursday.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The South Jakarta District Court sentenced two student activists to five months in jail each on Wednesday for defying police officers during a demonstration against a fuel price hike in June.

Joanne Collins and Soraya Permatasari, Jakarta – International donors threw crisis-hit Indonesia a generous lifeline of $3.73 billion in aid on Thursday after one senior official bemoaned the need to "beg" for funds he said might be pilfered.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Some 100,000 textile workers may lose their jobs next year due to a combination of the global economic slump and unfavorable domestic conditions, according to a top industry executive.

Jakarta – Indonesian police said on Wednesday they had arrested an Egyptian suspected of being the chief smuggler responsible for organising a refugee boat for illegal migrants which sank last month killing more than 350 people.

Bagja Hidayat, Jakarta – About a thousand farmers staged a rally at the legislature complex today, demanding the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Ad Hoc Committee, particularly MPR's Commission C1 discussing the Bill of Agrarian and Natural Resources Reform, to orient the bill with the interests of farmers at its core.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – The Ministry of Agriculture has accounted for Rp 125 million following its settlement of 35 financial-related irregularities valued at Rp 14.99 billion discovered by the State Audit Agency (BPK) in its 1999 and 2000 reports.

Jakarta – Activists criticized on Tuesday the city administration's policy on the eviction of poor urban people, including those living along riverbanks here.

Tubagus H. Karbyanto, spokesman of the Antieviction Society Alliance, said the eviction policy showed that the administration had never regarded the poor as city residents.

Jake Lloyd-Smith – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri yesterday fired a parting shot as the Asean summit wound up, saying the US-led military action in Afghanistan should be suspended.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Dr Amien Rais, house speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), chastised legislators for skipping parts of their annual meeting and spending their days watching television in their posh hotel rooms.