Jakarta – Former military commander Feisal Tanjung gave the order for the deadly 1996 attack on the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), a former intelligence official implied yesterday.

Former military intelligence chief Lieutenant General Moetojib said the attack of July 27, 1996, was ordered by the commander of the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI).

Yogyakarta – Representatives of 50 student groups and non-governmental organizations here urged Governor Hamengkubuwono X on Monday to take stern measures against members of a Muslim group who raided an AIDS discussion on Saturday night.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Since the economic crisis began, they have become a common sight at almost every major intersection in Indonesia's large cities – singing and dancing and beggar children and teenagers who make a bee-line for the most expensive cars or taxis.

Tom Wright, Jakarta – Indonesian Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab's premature response to an apparent Bush victory in the US presidential election last week showed how much Jakarta wants to see a Republican in the White House.

Jakarta – Rush-hour traffic in downtown Jakarta ground to a halt yesterday as protesters blocked streets, demanding that former President B.J. Habibie and his security chief be prosecuted for the deaths of 10 students two years ago.

Jakarta – Thousands of angry protesters demanding President Abdurrahman Wahid's resignation trashed part of Indonesia's Parliament yesterday.

The demonstrators, some wearing white headbands, smashed lamps and chairs in the lobby of the parliamentary complex. Outnumbered police stood by and the violence only stopped when protest leaders brought the situation under control.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesia's embattled leader has suffered another attack on his presidency when lawmakers called on Mr Abdurrahman Wahid to resign, blaming him for the country's economic woes, and the separatist and ethnic violence rocking the country.

A Dipta Anindita/Hendra & GB, Jakarta – The Socialist Democratic Faction (FDS) of the People's Democratic Party (PRD) led by Budiman Sudjatmiko has formally separated from the PRD after a long-running difference of opinion. FDS members have established a new struggle organisation named the Socialist Democratic Association (PDS).

Jakarta – Former state minister of cooperatives and small and medium enterprises Adi Sasono was elected chairman of the Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals Association (ICMI) at the end of the association's four-day congress on Sunday. He replaces former president B.J. Habibie, who had held the post since the association was established in Malang, East Java, in 1990.

Ingo W – The latest military reshuffle continues the trend to shift former Kostrad officers to the center of power of the Indonesian army (TNI-AD).

Jakarta – More than 10,000 Indonesian students converged at a main flyover in South Jakarta on Monday to commemorate the shooting of seven students there two years ago, causing massive traffic jams along the city's main thoroughfare.

Jakarta – An explosion near a Christian meeting hall in the capital of Indonesia's North Sumatra, Medan, killed one person and seriously injured at least two others, hospital staff said yesterday.

Robert Go, Jakarta – As the government steps up efforts to enforce tax regulations and collect taxes, some citizens grumble privately that more of their hard-earned rupiah might go to the state's coffers in the future.

Jakarta – The government has given the former owners of ailing banks taken over by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) until Wednesday to agree to surrender more assets to ensure they settle their debts or face legal sanctions, reports said.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia is planning to crack down on major tax evaders in an attempt to raise state revenues and reduce corruption, a move that could pose serious problems for the family of former President Suharto and his associates who may have benefited from the sloppy enforcement of regulations and patronage during his 32-year rule.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesian police yesterday scoured exclusive watering holes and five-star hotels in the capital in a massive hunt for the country's best-known fugitive. Meanwhile, regional police went through the Suharto family's estates throughout the country in search of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.

Muchus BR/Hendra & PT, Jakarta – 75 Workers in Solo, Central Java have staged a peaceful but rowdy rally at the Solo Municipality Building. The crowds are demanding that they are allowed to see the Solo Mayor.

Jakarta – Disaster and unrest have increased the number of internally displaced people in the country to a staggering 1,050,000, officials said on Thursday.

The secretary-general of the National Board of Social Welfare (BKSN), Ferry Johannes, said the refugees made up 240,333 families sheltering in 18 provinces, most in the Maluku islands.

Jakarta – Former Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) chief Gen. (ret) Feisal Tanjung testified on Thursday that former president Soeharto implicitly ordered the halt of a free speech forum at the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters in July 1996.

Warren Caragata, Jakarta – It was not the sort of message Indonesia would want to send the world. About 100 young men wearing military-style uniforms and identifying themselves as members of a Muslim militia fanned out across the tourist hangout of Solo in central Java. They barged into several hotels and insisted that any American guests be expelled.

Jakarta – Regional governments in Indonesia have been barred by Jakarta from making deals with foreign countries.

Jakarta – Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro called on local oil and mining companies on Wednesday to improve community development in a bid to curb the escalation of hostilities against their operations.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Organisers of Jakarta's International Film Festival were kept waiting until the last minute for permission to screen the film banned by former president Suharto, The Year of Living Dangerously.

John McBeth, Jakarta – When Lt.-Gen. Agus Wirahadikusumah threw a party on his recent forty-ninth birthday, guests weren't sure whether the flowers delivered to his house were for a celebration or a wake. Certainly, it's no military secret why most of the general's brother officers failed to show up for the affair.

Robert Go, Jakarta – The government's inability to force the son of long-time ruler Suharto into jail makes a farce out of Indonesia's law enforcement, observers and analysts here said.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – It appears that unemployed villagers are not the only ones who stand to gain from the series of disruptions to Indonesia's richest oil fields in Riau province.

Jakarta – Political rifts over the performance of President Abdurrahman, also known as Gus Dur, continued on Wednesday as staunch supporters of the President and his critics demonstrated separately in Makassar, Jakarta and Surabaya.

Lindsay Murdoch – The hunt for Tommy Suharto, the fugitive son of Indonesia's disgraced former president, has turned into high farce. Tommy is demanding that jail authorities build him a special suite inside Jakarta's high-security Cipinang jail.

Maryadi/BI & GB, Pontianak – Three university students have been injured after Mobile Brigade officers stormed the University of Tanjungpura campus in Pontianak, West Kalimantan. The incident occurred after the students refused to release three police officers taken hostage in the hope of ensuring the release of fellow students detained by police.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Local villagers set fire to four oil wells belonging to the country's largest oil producer in Riau province in Sumatra, causing as much as US$240,000 damage.

Devi Asmarni, Jakarta – About 50 billion rupiah (S$10 million) was allegedly offered to put a stop to a Parliament investigation into the illegal siphoning of 35 billion rupiah from a state agency.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government's inability to drag a son of former strongman Suharto to jail is further damaging its authority and the country's already weak law enforcement record, analysts said here Wednesday.

Jakarta – Unidentified men fired shots at the headquarters of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) last night but there were no reports of injuries, witnesses said.

Bob Burton – While BHP's proclaims that "prevention is better than cure", the company is pressing ahead with investigations into dumping in the ocean wastes from the proposed Gag Island nickel project, 150 kilometres west of West Papua in Indonesia.

Jakarta – Police in Riau province yesterday arrested five local residents suspected of masterminding arson attacks on five oil-wells operated by PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia (CPI).

The arson took place on Monday afternoon in Tanah Putih subdistrict, Rokan Hilir district, when a mob claiming to belong to the Tani Sawit Permai oil palm farmers group torched the wells.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The former commander of the Indonesian Forces in East Timor, Major-General Kiki Syahnakri, has been promoted to the position of deputy army chief of staff, the Indonesian military announced yesterday.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – In the latest sign of rising disappointment in President Abdurrahman Wahid – a year after he swept to power – a poll has shown that most Indonesians want him sacked.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives passed on Monday a law on human rights tribunals which makes it possible to try past abuses. In a plenary session led by House Deputy Speaker Soetardjo Soerjoguritno, all 10 factions at the House endorsed the law.

Associated Press In Jakarta – The fugitive son of former dictator Suharto remained in hiding on Tuesday as his lawyers claimed that inmates at a Jakarta penitentiary had made death threats against him.

Jakarta – An angry mob on the Indonesian island of Bali has attacked the offices of international conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), demanding a recent ban on trading green turtles be lifted.

They were among more than 100 protesters who marched on the WWF office in Bali's capital Denpasar yesterday, the group's program director Tim Jessup said today.

Bengkulu – Officials here said on Monday 48,000 of 251,000 hectares of conserved forest in the province have been damaged by illegal logging.

Jakarta – Indonesia promised IMF officials it will direct windfall oil profits towards its staggering debt, accelerate asset sales and move on the privatisation leg of its bank recovery program, officials said Tuesday.

Budi Sugiharto/Hendra & GB, Surabaya – Around 250 demonstrators from the Solidarity Front for PT Mepoly Labourers staged a demonstration at the East Java Legislative Council (DPRD). They accused the company of hiring the thugs who threatened them and stabbed a colleague at a demonstration at the factory on November 1.

A Dipta Anindita/GB, Jakarta – Around 500 protesters from 13 urban communities in Jakarta staged a rowdy demonstration at the Provincial Legislative Council on Monday. They claimed their land had been illegally seized by police backed by hired thugs to make way for a new railway line.

Chaidir Anwar Tanjung/Hendra & PT, Pekanbaru – Around 500 transmigrants of the Tapung village, Tapung Sub-district, regent of Kampar, South Sumatra, have staged a demonstration in front of the governor of Riau's office. The protestors, who are palm oil farmers, are demanding the governor approach the government, and increase the price of palm oil stems.

Yogyakarta – Yulianti Safitri, 19, moved from one street to another across Sumatra and Java for six years until she ended up in this Indonesian royal city.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Jakarta – When he assumed office in October 1999 as Indonesia's first democratically elected president in four decades, Abdurrahman Wahid sought to show the country's once-mighty military who was boss. He appointed the first civilian defense minister. He dismissed a general implicated in the destruction of East Timor.

Brian Toohey – Indonesia is playing an ugly and dangerous game. Once again, Australian policy makers are only encouraging even worse behaviour further down the track by falling over themselves to make excuses for the Indonesians.

Sydney – Australia's strained ties with Jakarta continued to be hampered by Indonesian politicians exploiting the troubled relationship for domestic political advantage, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Sunday. He said some parlimentarians seemed determined to criticise Canberra no matter what efforts were made to improve the situation.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Anti-American groups yesterday threatened to take 20,000 demonstrators to the streets of the central Javanese town of Solo today, calling for an end to US intervention.