Lee Siew Hua, Washington – US President George W. Bush's administration is seeking congressional support to restore a modest level of contact with the Indonesian military, as part of its overall policy review of a nation important to Asian stability.

The proposals are "quite modest", Mr Tim Rieser, foreign-policy aide to Senator Patrick Leahy told The Straits Times.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – A meeting between political leaders and Abdurrahman Wahid set for today will probably fail, making the embattled President appear weaker than ever. But the business of reaching a compromise is going on regardless – behind closed doors.

Bandung – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) has asked its supporters across the country to revive community posts in the lead-up to the special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in August.

Maryadi/HD, Jakarta – In rejection to Trisakti-Semanggi House special committee's recommendation to bring the case into military's court not into Human Rights court, around 100 students are attacking the parliament complex this Monday.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Mini-marts selling everything from cold drinks and milk to bread and snacks in colourful packages are changing the way Indonesian consumers shop for their daily needs.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky said "there is no subject so old that something new cannot be said about it". The long-running, serialized saga of Indonesia's "Baligate" scandal, however, leaves little new to be said.

Jakarta – American congressman Tony P. Hall said on Saturday that he fully endorsed US humanitarian programs in Indonesia, in spite of Jakarta's failure to punish the perpetrators of violence in East Timor two years ago.

Robert Go, Jakarta – While the KPPU anti-monopoly commission is concerned that mini-mart chains such as Indomaret are driving out smaller retailers, the views expressed by individual shopkeepers tell a different story.

Jakarta – Embattled President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid received a rare show of support from those who were jailed and persecuted during the New Order era.

Author Pramoedya Ananta Toer, who was imprisoned for years for his writings, which the New Order government considered communistic, said on Saturday the President should not step down.

Jakarta – The government called on Friday for more international aid to fulfill the need for free distribution of contraceptives to 8.25 million poor and needy couples next year.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Finance Minister Rizal Ramli advised the IMF yesterday to stop micromanaging Indonesia's economy and refrain from setting deadlines for restructuring agency Ibra's asset-sale programme.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has stepped up pressure on national police chief General Bimantoro, demanding he relinquish all remaining commands of power, the Jakarta Post reported on Saturday.

Jakarta – Embattled Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid Friday again threatened to declare a state of emergency if a hostile parliament tries to impeach him in three weeks time.

Poso, Central Sulawesi – At least five people attacking the police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) troops in the village of Toyado in Lage district, Poso regency, were shot dead on Thursday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's parliament has sent a written warning to President Abdurrahman Wahid over his sacking of the national police chief and demanded he seek the house's approval for the move, local media reported Friday.

Jakarta – In a move against money politics, Indonesia's largest political party has proposed an open vote on the political fate of President Abdurrahman Wahid during next month's impeachment session against him.

Edward Gargan, Bangsri – The last of central Java's great teakwood forests ends up in places like this, a place filled with the whine of buzz-saws and the burr of electric sanders, a place like Abdul Jambari's garden-furniture workshop.

Jakarta – The Supreme Court continued hearing on Thursday a lawsuit demanding the dissolution of the Golkar Party following allegations of graft and violations of the law on political parties and general elections.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid's decision yesterday to avail himself again of the services of a savvy politician from Golkar – the party he is trying to dissolve – might be his one lucid move in the flurry of hit-and-run acts that have characterised his attempts to stay in power.

Achmad Sukarsono, Kediri – Juniarsih has been hand-rolling tobacco for the last 17 years at a big factory run by Gudang Garam, Indonesia's largest cigarette maker, but with little hope things will change.

Jakarta – More than 1000 students and activists grouped under the Greater Jakarta Students Movement (Gema Jaya) and the Committee for Oppressed People (Karat) rallied at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout and the State Palace on Wednesday.

The United Nations war crimes tribunal against former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic has begun. How will this affect many unsettled cases of human rights violations in Indonesia? Renowned lawyer and executive director of the Jakarta-based Center for Human Rights Studies (Yapusham) Todung Mulya Lubis shares his views.

Robert Go, Jakarta – If Indonesian police chief General Suroyo Bimantoro makes it into the history books, it will be because of how parliament has turned him into yet another thorn in President Abdurrahman Wahid's side.

Vaudine England – The sudden death of Attorney-General Baharuddin Lopa has deprived President Abdurrahman Wahid of not just a close friend but also one of his chief weapons against attempts to impeach him.

Purwokerto – President Abdurrahman Wahid officially opened the 2001 National Boy Scout Jamboree at the Baturraden tourist resort by reciting Al Fatihah verses together with the audience in memory of Attorney General Baharuddin Lopa, who died in Riyadh on Tuesday.

Jakarta – Leaders of major youth organizations warned supporters of President Abdurrahman Wahid not to engage in any anarchic activity as they would be ready to take counter actions during the special session of the People's Consultative Assembly on August 1.

Jakarta – More than 1,000 members of the Indonesian military and national police in riot-torn Poso, Central Sulawesi, are in dire straits, subsisting on a packet of instant noodles each a day because of a shortage of funds.

Kerryn williams, Jakarta – "It's become much worse since the economic crisis. There are more homeless people, more street singers, and more street sellers", Onie told me, before turning back to his battered guitar and filling the tiny office of the Popular Youth Movement with songs of love and struggle.

Jakarta – Thirteen mutilated bodies have been found in the village of Buyung Katedo, some 16 kilometers south of Poso, Central Sulawesi, following a Tuesday dawn massacre by masked men in black, local police officers and residents said.

Jakarta – Indonesia's caretaker attorney-general has vowed to carry on the work of the country's top corruption fighter, who died from a heart-related illness in a Saudi Arabian hospital, local media reported on Wednesday.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia's Finance Minister said yesterday the government would demand more payments from indebted conglomerates following news that assets currently managed by the country's restructuring agency were worth only 167.7 trillion rupiah now, or a quarter of their value in 1999.

It's a big cake and it's ready for the cutting, or so they think. The cake is called Megawati Sukarnoputri's presidency. It has to be shared out very carefully, each piece exactly the right size. If not the whole cake could just break up and fall apart in a big mess.

New York – Indonesian envoys are among the worst parking offenders here. Diplomats at the Indonesian Consulate and at Jakarta's Permanent Mission to the United Nations committed 8,966 parking violations between 1997 and last year.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Board or alight wherever and whenever they like. In the middle of the road, or, if there's no room, at the roadside. At the entrance of the inner city toll road, on a roundabout, in a road junction when the lights are green, and so on. This freedom costs Jakarta bus users dearly in more ways than one.

Wens Manggut and Levi Silalahi – It is an honor to be elected a member of the House of Representatives and the salary is also considered very good. What is a House member's exact remuneration?

Impeachment is not here yet. President Abdurrahman Wahid is not yet absolutely certain to fall. Megawati Sukarnoputri for now remains vice president. But that has not stopped the cross-party caucus pushing their candidates for the vice presidency under 'President Megawati'. Who are the candidates and what are their chances?

Akbar Tandjung

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Jakarta's long-running power struggle reached new heights of confusion yesterday as President Abdurrahm ppens – and it is certain to because there is an act of treason – then ... the special session will topple the President and our country will break apart," he said.

Jakarta – Six people went missing Thursday after the Kijang van they rode in was attacked on the road linking Poso and Tentena in Central Sulawesi.

"The car was found on Thursday afternoon between the Watuawu-Pandiri villages. It was burned down and the six passengers were missing," spokesman of the Tadulako military resort, First Lt. Abdul Haris, told Antara Friday.

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.