Jakarta – The discovery of a headless corpse and the torching of houses have heightened tension in a district of Indonesia's Borneo island where at least 500 people were killed in over six weeks of ethnic violence, police said Monday.

Jakarta – Indonesian corruption fighters on Monday slammed the Supreme Court's dissolution of an anti-graft team as an attempt by judges to protect themselves and a setback to efforts to clean-up Indonesia's judiciary.

Jakarta – Legal experts have called on the government to take strict measures against judges whose verdicts spark controversy, instead of just giving them administrative sanctions.

Jakrarta – Hoodlums, locally known as preman, have established themselves in every corner of the capital, "guarding" almost every public place, including bus terminals, traditional markets, shopping centers and even road junctions.

Linda Silaen, Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund has warned the Indonesian government of the possibility of a higher-than-expected deficit in the state budget this year due to a delay in the implementation of a tax regulation and only a limited fuel price increase, Finance Minister Prijadi Praptosuhardjo said Monday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's finance minister on Monday warned the 2001 budget deficit could be wider than expected, hit by a weak rupiah, high interest rates and low oil prices.

I Made Sentana, Jakarta – Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina (P.PTM) oil and gas company has raised fuel prices for industrial users to between 50% and 100% of international market prices, effective Sunday, in a bid to reduce government fuel subsidies.

Jakarta – More than 600 people signed up on Monday to join a death squad aimed at preventing beleagured Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid from being ousted, a group leader said.

Arifin Asydhad/Heather, Jakarta – The National Front for Indonesian Labour Struggle (FNPBI) is planning a demonstration for workers from PT Kadera-Ar. They demand justice for the attack by hoodlums which killed one worker and injured others.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Questions over President Abdurrahman Wahid's health swept through Jakarta yesterday as two separate medical teams issued contradictory opinions on his fitness to remain at Indonesia's helm.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesian Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung has called on President Abdurrahman Wahid to transfer substantial powers to his deputy to defuse a ticking political time-bomb.

Jakarta – Former President Suharto remains unfit to stand trial despite some improvement in his health, said the chief prosecutor in the graft case against the former ruler.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesia will face mass violence "worse than the riots in 1998" if President Abdurrahman Wahid is impeached, Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung has warned.

On the move by the lawmakers to oust him, he said: "They want him out at all cost. But I have asked them to reconsider because it is very risky to force him out even if we do it by the book.

Yogyakarta – Some 30 students representing 12 universities in Yogyakarta marched to the provincial legislative council on Thursday to warn the country's political elite that the country was in danger of disintegrating.

Jakarta – Around 1,000 angry residents of Inderagiri Hilir, Riau, Thursday night ransacked and burned down the local police precinct building. No casualties were reported in the incident which was triggered by a fight between two locals on Sunday, Antara reported.

Jakarta – Hundreds of workers of car upholstery producer PT Kadera AR Indonesia in Pulogadung industrial estate were attacked while on strike in the early hours of Thursday, leaving one dead and 11 injured.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said Friday he had ordered prosecutors to arrest a former mines and energy minister implicated in a graft scandal linked to a son of former dictator Suharto.

Jakarta – Former Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto said on Thursday that he was not responsible for the shooting incident at the Trisakti University on May 12, 1998.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesia's biggest political party yesterday fired the first salvo against President Abdurrahman Wahid by pressing ahead with a potentially fatal second censure motion against the embattled leader.

Banjarmasin – In order to prevent the spread of ethnic clashes between local Dayaks and Madurese migrants, a Dayak and a Madurese representing their respective communities inked a peace deal here on Wednesday.

Reuters in Jakarta – Senior politicians yesterday warned President Abdurrahman Wahid that discontent with his erratic 17-month rule was so intense he had little chance of surviving much longer in office. Mr Wahid, fighting for his political life, on Wednesday answered Parliament's February 1 censure of him over two financial scandals involving more than US$6 million.

Jakarta – About 30 women activists held rally at the US Embassy on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan here today. They asked President Bush not to support the Indonesian military (TNI) in any form, including supporting education program for TNI officers in the US.

Jakarta – Residents in Kaloran village, Temanggung regency, East Java, Wednesday put up a roadblock to their village following a plan to bury the remains of 21 ex-communists there.

Jakarta – To everyone's surprise, the capital was free from huge rallies which had been expected to mark a plenary session at the House of Representatives to hear President Abdurrahman Wahid's reply to its first memorandum of censure on Wednesday.

Jakarta – "Unsatisfactory" and "rhetorical" were some of the unfavorable responses from legislators to President Abdurrahman Wahid's reply to the House of Representatives' memorandum of censure.

Dean Yates, Jakarta – Indonesian newspapers on Thursday warned more upheaval would follow President Abdurrahman Wahid's rejection of a parliamentary censure, and one leading critic said the Muslim cleric was on borrowed time.

Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta – Indonesia's president, defiant before a hostile parliament, denied corruption charges Wednesday and questioned the constitutionality of efforts to remove him from office.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid's reply to a censure motion today could trigger a last-ditch round of corrupt deal-making to try to ensure his political survival, according to analysts.

More than 1,000 Wahid supporters demonstrated in Jakarta yesterday and police were on high alert in anticipation of unrest ahead of the parliamentary session.

Jakarta – Ethnic violence in Indonesian Borneo claimed another five lives, police and the military said Wednesday, a month after similar bloody clashes there left at least 500 dead.

Jakarta – Fire raged in Kuala Kapuas, the capital of Kapuas regency in Central Kalimantan, turning the town into a sea of fire all day long Tuesday.

Vaudine England – The timber tycoon and golfing buddy of former Indonesian president Suharto, Mohammad "Bob" Hasan, has been moved to a high-security island jail following fears he might escape his central Jakarta cell.

John Gauci, Sydney – The large turnout of 230 people for a March 17 dinner and public meeting here on issue "Free Aceh, Referendum now!" is an indication of growing interest in the struggle in Aceh among the Australian public.

The event was organised jointly by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) and the Sydney-based Aceh Australia Association (AAA).

Former workers of the Shangri-La hotel, Jakarta, have clashed with baton-wielding Indonesian police, after threatening to enter the hotel, which re-opened yesterday.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid has sacked a minister from one of the political parties trying to oust him in an apparent bid to remove disloyal aides from his Cabinet.

Jakarta – Jakarta municipal authorities are complaining that the daily anti- and pro-government protests in the Indonesian capital are causing a strain – on their garbage collectors.

The thousands of protesters who staged daily sit-ins at the Indonesian parliament complex this week left behind some 60 cubic metres of garbage a day, the Kompas daily said.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – Thirteen. That was the number of ministers and top generals President Abdurrahman Wahid had fired up until Thursday.

Number 14 was Forestry Minister Nurmahmudi Ismail, a former palace favourite whose regular night visits with Mr Abdurrahman in the early days of the administration led critics to dub them the Night Cabinet sessions.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid was publicly snubbed by his deputy on Saturday, adding to growing signs of a politically explosive rift at the top of the troubled administration.

Terry Frie, Malang – Indonesia's leading Muslim group and fanatic supporters of embattled President Abdurrahman Wahid threatened to call millions on to the streets of the capital to defend him.

Jakarta – Indonesia's central bank said on Friday it expects to keep raising interest rates to help ease inflationary pressures stemming from the battered rupiah, but hoped the rise would not be too high.

Chris McCall and Reuters in Jakarta – Beleaguered President Abdurrahman Wahid won a much-needed boost yesterday when two cabinet ministers opted to stay in his Government and leave the party of his most ferocious political enemy.

Surabaya – More than 5,000 supporters of President Abdurrahman Wahid, armed with sickles, machetes and bamboo spears, blocked Ketapang Port in Banyuwangi, some 290 kilometers east of Surabaya, on Thursday, demanding that the House of Representatives (DPR) withdraw the memorandum it issued on February 1, censuring President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Jakarta – Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto dismissed on Thursday speculation that there would soon be a major reshuffle in the Indonesian Military (TNI).

Ambon – There is still gunfire every night in Ambon, the capital of the Moluccas, and sometimes a shattering bomb blast. Once a thriving commercial city, it is now a deadly maze of Christian "red" areas and Muslim "white" ones, a pattern of demarcation that has spread to the neighbouring islands.

[The following is an article based on a conference paper by sociologist George J. Aditjondro, a lecturer at Australia's Newcastle University. It was originally published in two parts with the second appearing on March 17.]

Newcastle – Recently, the move to push Megawati Soekarnoputri into the presidential seat has become stronger.

Jakarta – Lawyers for the Indonesian timber tycoon Mohamad "Bob" Hasan, a close associate of former president Soeharto, say they will appeal after Hasan was sentenced to six years' jail for corruption.

Marianne Kearney, Madura – There seems to be no safe haven for the thousands of Madurese refugees who are fleeing the brutal ethnic violence in Central Kalimantan.

Those who have returned to rural Madura in the hope of finding solace and refuge with their kinsmen face increasing problems of overcrowding and poverty.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The presidential office yesterday denied that the US$300,000 sent to President Abdurrahman Wahid while he was on an overseas trip in Saudi Arabia was obtained improperly, saying it had come from its own coffers.

Jakarta – Indonesian vice president Megawati Sukarnoputri no longer supported President Abdurrahman Wahid and was ready to replace him, despite mistrusting her new allies, according to a senior official of her party.

Jakarta – Police stormed a top-security prison here early yesterday, killing one inmate and injuring three others as they quelled a riot over plans to transfer 50 prisoners to other jails, police said.

Chris McCall and agencies in Jakarta – Indonesians are bracing for more economic misery as their currency crumbles, sparking fears of a repeat of its 1997 collapse.

Supporters of President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday staged their own demonstration outside the presidential palace, where thousands on Monday called for him to resign.