Three days after mobs torched some 100 houses in the town of Selat Panjang in Riau, the village is now a ghost town as most of the 6,000-odd ethnic Indonesian Chinese have fled north to Pekan Baru and elsewhere to seek refuge.
Most of the women and children fled on Tuesday, said a Singaporean whose Indonesian-born wife and family hail from the town.
Surabaya – The situation in Sampang regency, Madura Island, has become increasingly tense as opposing forces of elected regent Fadhilah Budiono on Wednesday look set for a showdown.
Vaudine England, Jakarta – Prosecutors yesterday began questioning the eldest daughter of former dictator Suharto over corruption allegations involving Indonesia's state oil and gas company.
Separately, Mr Suharto's half brother, Probosutedjo, was named as being involved in corrupt reforestation projects.
Max Lane – The Indonesian political elite is becoming increasingly fearful of a radicalisation of the country's masses, which is being provoked by a right-wing campaign to destabilise President Abdurrahman Wahid's government. It's turning to trusted methods: like threatening to repress the left-wing People's Democratic Party, the PRD.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Dozens of Indonesian maids working in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia have fled their jobs due to sexual harassment or violence at the hands of their employers, a non-governmental organisation says.
Jakarta – Indonesia said yesterday that a number of mining companies have suspended exploration due to uncertainty over new regional autonomy laws and warned that this could hit the economy.
Indonesia's top economics minister left yesterday for crucial talks with the International Monetary Fund, after an advisory panel warned that the country's fragile economy would not recover unless key reforms were made.
Jakarta – The civil servant who set off a national corruption scandal when he released 3.9 million dollars of state funds a year ago was convinced he was acting on the orders of Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, a court heard Tuesday.
Jakarta – Indonesia's economy grew 4.77 percent last year but is likely to slow to around four percent this year, the government said Tuesday.
The full year growth in gross domestic product (GDP) last year was despite a 0.72 percent quarter-on-quarter contraction in the last three months of 2000.
Jakarta – After days of rallies – some of them violent, the capital enjoyed an arts performance on Sunday aimed at easing the political tension. No less than 500 people took part in the celebration, which ranged from a parade to a music festival that lasted into the evening.
Jakarta – Police have increased the number of personnel guarding offices of the Golkar Party following an attack by hundreds of students on the party's branch office on Jl. Cikini, Central Jakarta on Friday.
Djoko Tjiptono/Hendra & GB, Jakarta – Students grouped in the Golkar Disbursement Alliance (ABG) wanted to take over the Jakarta offices of the Golkar Party but apparently have not been successful.
Around 100 security officers from the Jakarta city police are on alert at the site. Head of the Jakarta city police, Inspector General Mulyono Sulaiman, is there too.
Jakarta – Chairman of the executive board of the Corps of Indonesian Muslim Students Alumni (KAHMI), Fuad Bawazier, warns of resurgent communism.
Jakarta – Pro-reform organizations across Java and Sumatra yesterday stepped up their demands for the former ruling Golkar Party to be dissolved and investigated over its involvement in corruption and human rights abuses.
Jakarta – Eighteen syndicates of illegal loggers operating from Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan cost the state an annual Rp1.2 trillion (US$125 million) in lost revenue. All 18 gangs in the logging mafia have special connections with police and local governments.
Yogyakarta – Twelve students were arrested by Yogyakarta Police on Saturday following a protest against the political elite to mark the visit of Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri to the Gedung Agung on Jl. Ahmad Yani here in the afternoon.
Derwin Pereira, Karta – Prominent international economic advisers yesterday called on Indonesia not to sever ties with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), even if pressure for reform is upsetting Jakarta.
Tual – Humanitarian activists slammed on Saturday the Social Welfare Agency in Southeast Maluku for allegedly swindling approximately Rp 698 million (US$73,500) in meal allowances which were supposed to have been distributed to refugees in the strife-torn regency.
Jakarta – Some 500 students from various groups attacked Golkar Party's city chapter office on Jl. Cikini, Central Jakarta on Friday evening, throwing at least five molotov cocktails at the office.
Jakarta – The country could see another round of political probes into financial scandals if the National Awakening Party (PKB) has its way by setting up a special committee to investigate financial improprieties involving the Golkar Party.
Yogyakarta – After eulogizing about the long road to democracy which Indonesia must travel, President Abdurrahman Wahid found out later on Friday that not all roads are open to him after students blocked streets preventing his visit to the Gadjah Mada University (UGM) campus.
Jakarta – Thousands of students took to the streets of three Indonesian cities Friday, calling on President Abdurrahman Wahid to resign, police and witnesses said.
Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – It was a poignant moment, full of irony. Megawati Sukarnoputri dons army fatigues and beret and climbs aboard a Scorpion tank.
The Vice-President has plenty of reason to despise Indonesia's armed forces, which have been accused of widespread repression and plunder during the 32-year Suharto dictatorship.
Jakarta – Minister of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy Surjadi Soedirdja installed Tursandi Alwi on Friday as acting Governor of Gorontalo and inaugurated the region as the country's 32nd province.
Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office named former president Soeharto's daughter Siti Hardiyanti "Tutut" Rukmana on Friday as a suspect in a corruption case over a US$306 million project involving state oil and gas company Pertamina.
Ambon – The Military Joint-Intelligence Task Force (SGI) stationed in Ambon seized on Friday hundreds of weaponry during an afternoon raid at a house in Tanah Lapang Kecil area, Nusaniwe district, Ambon.
Jakarta – Pressure over a housing scam allegedly involving Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung is growing with National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf on Thursday suggesting that Akbar could be questioned pending the emergence of further evidence.
Aulia Andri/GB, Jakarta – If the Golkar Party pointed the finger at the 'communist bogeyman' and specifically the People's Democratic Party (PRD) for the arson attack on their East Java headquarters, others are maintaining there was another third party involved.
Vaudine England, Jakarta – Anti-corruption activists are backing government calls for the former ruling party, Golkar, to be investigated for alleged misuse of state funds in the 1999 election.
The allegation against Golkar came first from Defence Minister Mahfud Mahmoddin and has been repeated by other ministers loyal to President Abdurrahman Wahid.
Ian Timberlake – A telephone rings somewhere inside Eggi Sudjana's denim jacket. He pulls out two tiny cell phones and talks briefly into one, but the 41-year-old corporate lawyer seems to be half asleep.
Warren Caragata – Before Indonesia can truly get back to the job of successfully running and economy, the nation needs a functioning financial system. It is only a dream.
Jakarta – Four local non-governmental organizations have threatened to call for a boycott by Indonesia's aid donors unless the government puts an immediate stop to illegal logging and the destruction of the country's forests.
Jakarta – Indonesia's chief economics minister Rizal Ramli lashed out at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Thursday over its dissatisfaction with Jakarta's restrictions on borrowing by regional governments. Ramli said the IMF had criticised the restrictions, announced last week, as too weak.
Max Lane – During 2000, only the People's Democratic Party (PRD) championed the political slogan: "Smash the remnants of the New Order, leave behind the fake reformers".
Kerryn Williams – On January 30 more than 500 high school students and 300 urban poor youth, with the help of 15 buses, mobilised in Jakarta for the "Anti-New Order Tour". Organised by the Popular Youth Movement (GPK) and Jabotabek High School Students Front (FPJ), the tour targeted Suharto and his supporters, the Golkar party, and the Indonesian armed forces (TNI).
Jakarta – Around 1,000 high school students on Wednesday defied a ban on protests to call on President Abdurrahman Wahid to step down and denounce attacks on schools by his supporters in East Java.
Vaudine England, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid's aides were trying to put together a deal yesterday to fend off pressure for him to resign, as demonstrations continued across Java for his removal from office.
Jakarta – The wave of support for President Abdurrahman Wahid continued in Central Java on Tuesday with demands that the President remain in office until 2004 and that the Golkar Party be dissolved.
Max Lane – Golkar chairperson Akbar Tanjung has accused the People's Democratic Party and two student activist organisations, Forkot and Jarkot, of being behind the burning down of its offices throughout East Java.
Jakarta's main daily, Kompas, reported Tanjung as telling journalists on February 8: "If not them, who? The members of the Nahdlatul Ulama don't like violence".
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – One of President Abdurrahman Wahid's brothers has called on him to step down and hand power over to Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri in the best interest of the nation, as thousands of the President's supporters rallied in several cities across Java.
Susan Sim – Senior cadres of the top Indonesian political parties, who have been meeting secretly for the past two months, are close to signing an agreement to back Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri as president until 2004.
Jakarta – Finance Minister Prijadi Praptosuhardjo insisted on Monday that fuel prices must be increased by 20 percent in April to meet urgent budget needs, indirectly disputing a remark made earlier by Coordinating Minister for the Economy Rizal Ramli.
Jakarta – A top crony of former Indonesian president Suharto, Muhammad "Bob" Hasan, was sent back to jail Tuesday after a successful appeal against a court ruling that he could serve a corruption sentence under house arrest, officials said.
Khairul Ihwan/GB, Medan – After a fellow student was slashed yesterday, Monday, 2,000 students of the Medan State University (UniMed) today attacked the local offices of the notorious 'hired hands' of the New Order regime- Pemuda Pancasila.
Lukmanul Hakim/Hendra & GB, Jakarta – Representatives of 40 mass organisations which took part in the massive demonstration at the Surabaya, East Java, provincial parliament on 7 February went to the National Police headquarters today to clarify their version of events.
Aulia Andri/Fitri & GB, Jakarta – An unlikely group joined the calls for President Abdurrahman Wahid to stand down. Around 40 Muslim clerics of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation Wahid led for 15 years before becoming president, went to the House of Representatives, demanding Gus Dur – as the president is popularly addressed – stand down.
Jakarta – Public opinion surveys published here Monday suggest a majority of Indonesians support parliament's censure of President Abdurrahman Wahid, but were less eager for him to resign or be impeached.
Lukmanul Hakim/Fitri & GB, Jakarta – National Police Chief General S. Bimantoro has backed-up claims made by national leaders last week that People's Democratic Party (PRD) members were involved in creating anarchy at a rally of pro-President Abdurrahman Wahid supporters in East Java last week.
Makassar – Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung urged the government on Sunday to reassess the existence of the Democratic People's Party (PRD) following allegations of its involvement in vandalism of Golkar offices in East Java.
Surabaya – Accusations that left-wing groups were behind last week's attacks on opposition offices in President Abdurrahman Wahid's home province were misguided attempts to turn his supporters against them, analysts said here.