Jakarta – The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) yesterday said it had called on the United Nations human rights investigator to investigate the trial of an Indonesian independent labour union leader charged with subversion.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government has issued a warning to Japanese media correspondents here about their coverage of recent ethnic unrest in West Kalimantan province.

"We are very worried that these mass media are being used by certain groups which do not want to see Indonesia progress," said a letter to the journalists, dated Friday and obtained Monday.

Jakarta – Indonesia warned all Japanese media Monday against what it calls bias in their recent coverage of riots in Indonesia.

The Information Ministry sent warning letters to all Japanese media affiliates based in Jakarta.

Pontianak – The Tanjungpura Regional Military Commander, MayGen Namuri Anoem, said that he had no intention to withdraw around 3,000 personnel of the Armed Forces (ABRI) already deployed to the riot-stricken West Kalimantan.

Jakarta – PT Indofood Sukses Makmur, the largest instant noodle maker in Indonesia, is buying control of six affiliated companies for 1.75 trillion rupiah (S$1.05 billion), or about 15 times their projected 1996 profit.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL) attacked the government Saturday for allowing a coal mining firm to control 100,000 hectares of a Kalimantan national park.

Jakarta – The Secretary General of the Central Directing Board of the Functional Group, Ary Mardjono, affirmed that the Functional Group can accept the three regulations regarding the implementation guidance for the 1997 general elections, including those issued by the Minister of Home Affairs, the Minister of Information, as well as the State Police Headquarters.

Canberra – The state-owned aircraft manufacturing company IPTN will join the Australian International Air Show and Aerospace Expo in Avalon Airport, Geelong, Victoria, on February 18 to 23.

Jakarta – Representatives from the clashing ethnic groups in West Kalimantan are drafting a peace agreement to end the conflict that has rocked the Indonesian province since December, reports said.

It is being drawn up by members of the indigenous Dayak community and migrants from Madura, an island off East Java, the Indonesian Observer reported yesterday.

Richard Borsuk, Jakarta, Indonesia – A dramatic saga over who will develop the giant Busang gold deposit on the island of Borneo is set for a surprise ending.

A mob is reported to have attacked supporters of the Indonesian opposition leader, Megawati Sukarnoputri, in a town south of Jakarta.

The secretary general of the Megawati faction of the Indonesian Democracy Party, Alex Litaay, said about 50 people attacked a group of its supporters in the town of Kopo, about 70 kilometres south of the capital.

Jakarta – Police arrested two men who they believed had planned a grenade attack on a Muslim gathering attended by President Suharto last weekend, the state Antara news agency reported yesterday. Chief of the City Police Detectives, Colonel Paimin Aboemr, said on Friday that police had been tipped off about the plot.

Jakarta – The Secretary General of the Central Leading Board of the United Development Party (DPP PPP) Tosari Widjaya clarified, that the DPP PPP sees the possibility of a setback in the implementation of the General Elections (Pemilu) of 1997. This is caused by ever increasing restrictions which briddle freedom, particularly in implementing Pemilu campaigns.

Jakarta – Army Chief of Staff General R Hartono said that the security stability situation and condition in West Kalimantan, up to last week has been amenable to control. Although victims had fallen and considerable material loss suffered, there had been no loss of life of Armed Forces members.

Driving inland from the west coast of Kalimantan, the Indonesian-controlled part of the island of Borneo, is like entering a war zone.

Jakarta – Police questioned Andrianto, leader of non-governmental organisation Humanika on Thursday, about the slander charges he has filed against Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman Abdurrahman Wahid.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – Indonesian military sources have confirmed that indigenous Dayak tribespeople in the troubled province of West Kalimantan have reverted to head-hunting in their ethnic conflict with Muslim migrant settlers.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Parliament will pass a controversial Bill on nuclear power at its plenary meeting on February 26, legislator Muhammad Buang, who has been involved in deliberations, told The Jakarta Post.

On February 5, the ABRI (Armed Forces) Social and Political Chief of Staff, Syarwan Hamid called in 83 social and political organisations to discuss how to overcome SOB (situation of national crisis) [Javanese acronym - JB]

Ben Dummett, Toronto – Bre-X Minerals Ltd.'s (BXMNF) stock is under selling pressure, indicating that investors are disappointed with the Calgary firm's reported deal for the development of its huge Busang gold prospect in Indonesia's East Kalimantan province.

Temanggung – Over 2.5 hours security forces with help from social figures tried to calm down a riot in the Kledung village in Parakan on Wednesday and Thursday. Three people were wounded, a car set ablaze and a police post destroyed. Traffic between Temanggung and Wonosobo was halted by the authorities for 3.5 hours.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government announced Friday deregulation measures that extend export facilities to six new sectors in a bid to bolster the country's non-oil-and gas export competitiveness.

Minister of Industry and Trade Tunky Ariwibowo told reporters Friday these export facilities will be focused on resource-based sectors, which have high locally-based content.

Jakarta – Militant Muslim leaders in Indonesia have attacked as insufficient a planned government decree which will limit sales of alcoholic drinks, a newspaper said Thursday.

Following reports confirmed yesterday of the killing of at least seventeen Dayaks earlier this month at a military roadblock east of Pontianak, the capital of the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan (Borneo), TAPOL has asked the British Government to take the lead, in the European Union, in calling for an international investigation into the disturbances.

Jakarta – President Soeharto on Wednesday expressed concern over some Indonesian journalists' way of using the framework of the foreign press in reporting the country's events.

"I call for a deeper re-examination of the values inherent to the foreign press' way of reporting events in Indonesia, "Soeharto said in his address commemorating the National Press Day.

David Hencke – The Foreign Office is investigating allegations that the Indonesian government has broken its undertaking not to use British-made water cannon and armoured vehicles to crush peaceful dissent.

It has all the hallmarks of a great saga: members of Indonesia's most powerful political family vying for control of a spectacular treasure, with most of the international intrigue going on behind the scenes. LOUISE WILLIAMS reports on the battle to mine Busang, the world's richest gold deposit.

Kuching – The Sarawak-West Kalimantan border post at Tebedu, 100km from here, was reopened at noon yesterday, about 10 days after the gate was closed to control the movement of people following racial riots on the Indonesian side.

An Immigration Department official at the Tebedu checkpoint said the police instructed them to reopen it.

John Aglionby, Jakarta – Hundreds of people have been killed in two weeks of ethnic unrest in the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan in Borneo, a military source said yesterday.

Other reports said Indonesian soldiers had shot 17 people in quelling the violence between indigenous tribes and migrants from Madura, an island north-east of Java.

Jakarta – The Indonesian military has banned a book by two dissident groups about the July 27 riot in Jakarta that killed five people, the official news agency Antara said Thursday.

"The July 27 Incident," released in January, accused President Suharto's government of fueling a power struggle within an opposition party that led to the violence.

Jakarta – A supporter of Indonesia's ousted opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri has been named as a suspect for allegedly organizing an illegal meeting at her home, a daily reported here Wednesday.

Jakarta – Ethnic unrest in a troubled Indonesian province has left dozens of people dead since the start of the year, a military source told AFP Wednesday, as unconfirmed independent figures put casualties in the hundreds. "Dozens of people have died since the start of the unrest," said a source in the military information office here, who declined to be identified.

Mataram – Army Chief of Staff General R Hartono has called for continued efforts to "socialize" the presence of alert posts to balance the fact that certain quarters in the country were still questioning the legality of their formation.

Speaking to the press here on Sunday, Hartono said actually there was no fundamental problem in the presence of the alert posts.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives will pass the controversial bill on nuclear power in its plenary meeting scheduled assage omittefor Feb. 26, a legislator said yesterday.

The Australian government has approved a massive oil project in the Timor Sea, involving the world's biggest offshore floating oil production facility.

Federal Resources Minister, Warwick Parer, issued a production licence for the Laminaria and Corallina oil fields, which are believed to contain 200 million barrels of oil.

S N Vasuki – Indonesian banks are suffering a long-expected shakeout as higher capital requirements and increased competition force gut-wrenching change in the industry.

In recent weeks, several banks have announced merger plans while larger, listed entities are on a cash-raising binge to boost their capital levels.

Michael Shari, Jakarta – Indonesian labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan looks remarkably calm for a man who could soon face a long prison sentence or even the death penalty. He's on trial in Jakarta for insulting President Suharto – a capital crime – and no one has ever been acquitted on that charge.

Jakarta – The arrest and trial of an activist caught with copies of a banned magazine was Saturday branded by a human rights watch dog as the latest assault on freedom of expression in Indonesia.

Jakarta – The Jakarta High Court has returned the case file of Romo Sandyawan SJ and his brother Benny Sumardi to the Metro Jaya police on the grounds that it is not enough to present in court.

Jakarta – The Indonesian province of West Kalimantan remained tense Saturday following days of ethnic unrest, with the authorities barring street processions for the Moslem Idul Fitri celebrations Sunday.

"Pontianak (West Kalimantan's capital) is calm but still tense. We continue to have neighborhood patrols at night," a resident told AFP by telephone.

Jakarta – A prominent Indonesian Moslem leader known as a frequent government critic has made the surprising move of cooperating with President Suharto's oldest daughter, news reports said Saturday.

Bandung – At least three persons suspected of instigating the Tasikmalaya riot on December 26 have been questioned by the provincial attorney's office.

Deputy chief of the West Java attorney's office, Armin Aribowo, told ANTARA Wednesday that his office is still searching for MH(24), another suspect who went into hiding right after the riot.

Jakarta – Indonesia must be vigilant of maneuvers by the international communist network which wants to play one side off against the other with issues of tribe, religion, race and inter-group (SARA) along with human rights to split the nation, said the head of the Indonesian Islamic Scholars Association (ICMI), B.J. Habibie.

Pontianak – The large Chinese community in the troubled Indonesian province of West Kalimantan celebrated the Lunar New Year on Friday in solemn mood.

Pontianak – New unrest broke out in Indonesia's West Kalimantan province despite a security clampdown, sources said Friday.

The word is finally out. On Jan. 23, Indonesia's best-known Muslim leader (and anti-establishment figure) Abdurrahman Wahid announced that he was inviting Suharto's daughter Siti Hardyanti Rukmana ("Tutut"), a leading member of the ruling Golkar party, to appear with him at religious schools loyal to his 300-million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama organization.

Jakarta – Minister for Women's Affairs Mien Sugandhi will soon leave for Saudi Arabia to probe into an allegation that hundreds of Indonesian women are working as prostitutes in the Middle East country.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas had brushed off reports that a team from the U.S. is to come in Jakarta to inves tigate alleged illegal foreign campaign donations, saying it would be better to conduct an inquiry in America rather than come all the way to Indonesia.

Jakarta – Megawati Sukarnoputri, a member of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia, yesterday did not comply with a summons by the South Jakarta District Police to be interrogated over the holding of a political meeting at her residence on Kebagusan Road in South Jakarta on 10 January.

The recent ruling announced by Waluyo, the deputy secretary general of the General Elections Institute that all campaign television speeches broadcast in the run-up to the upcoming general elections must be screened by the government before they go on air, sounds familiar.