Jakarta – The Coordinating Minister for the Economy Rizal Ramli said on Monday that the government would continue to discuss with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ways to improve the implementation of the new regional autonomy law.

John Aglionby, Jakarta – The Indonesian government has devolved a number of government powers from Jakarta to the provinces and districts. The aim is to detangle the heavily centralized central government and give the country's outer fringes some control over their fate. But for the moment, chaos – not control – appears to be the only dividend.

Jakarta – Chairman of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI) Muchtar Pakpahan said on Saturday that Indonesian laborers are still unable to freely express their opinions due to the continuing repression of security apparatuses.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid on Sunday said that despite mounting criticism of his rule, he and his government faced no immediate political danger and called on his supporters not to resort to mobilizing masses in his defence.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid revealed on Saturday that there were four major groups trying to unseat him from his presidential chair, citing that systematic attempts have been launched by the groups starting from January 2000.

Jakarta – The National Awakening Party (PKB) says it can't ban thousands of East Java Muslims from coming to Jakarta to stage rallies in support of embattled President Abdurrahman Gus Dur Wahid.

Shefali Rekhi – Indonesia is lurching towards another crisis given the vulnerability of the economy and differences among the political elite, the head of a prominent Indonesian think-tank warned yesterday.

Jakarta – Mining and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said yesterday that a presidential decree will soon be issued to delay handover of mining autonomy to the provincial administrations across the country for up to five years.

Jakarta – Question: What is the going rate for elected local office in most of Indonesia today? Answer: At least 1 billion rupiah (S$180,000).

Jakarta – Indonesia's central bank has refused an order to freeze the bank accounts of a fugitive son of former president Suharto, saying it has no authority to do so, the state Antara news agency said Saturday.

Tim Dodd – Which Asian political leader is blind, overweight and in delicate health, but likens himself to the celebrated Italian football star, Paolo Rossi? The answer? President Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia.

Jakarta – A senior police detective revealed on Friday that one of four suspects in the Christmas Eve bombing case has confessed to having received explosives training in Afghanistan.

Jakarta – Millions of Indonesian civil servants are pressing for new regional autonomy laws to be changed, fearing they will lose their salary ratings and promotion system, a report said Friday.

Jakarta – Rival villagers fought with guns and machetes in clashes that killed nine people on a resort island packed with tourists, police said Thursday.

Jakarta – Police in the Indonesian capital have warned the public against a burgeoning blackmail racket in Jakarta run by groups posing as journalists who prey on government officials and businessmen.

Jakarta – Per-capita income in Indonesia in the year 2000 stood at between 600 and 700 dollars, almost no improvement over 1999, according to a senior government economist.

Peter Symonds – A series of bomb blasts at churches in Jakarta and other cities across Indonesia on Christmas Eve underscores the country's political fragility and the tenuous character of President Abdurrahman Wahid's grip on power.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – When district administrators in the Indonesian province of Kalimantan, on Borneo, were asked to launch pilot projects for autonomy, they spent most of the money on luxury offices and official residences.

Calvin Sims – Cianjur – In this verdant farm belt of West Java, where sorcery and superstition have deep roots, few were surprised last September when an angry mob decapitated a 70-year-old woman accused of casting spells that made people ill.

Jakarta – The National Police will remain a nationwide institution despite the implementation of regional autonomy, which started on Monday.

Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan – Brandishing sharp weapons, dozens of native Dayak tribesmen in the Tangkiling subdistrict here took to the Trans-Kalimantan highway on Monday following rumors of an impending attack by migrants.

Jakarta – Two months after former President Suharto's youngest son was ordered arrested, the ease with which he has evaded capture is causing increasing embarrassment to the country's beleaguered President.

Jakarta – Jakarta Police admit that the simple methods used by the Christmas eve bombers have baffled investigators in their quest to uncover more evidence.

Uli Schmetzer, Jakarta – Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra loved fast cars and fast women, and at the peak of his playboy days he bought his own racetrack and a stake in Italian automaker Lamborghini.

Jakarta – Indonesia on Monday began an unprecedented devolution of power to its regions in a momentous move aimed at keeping the vast archipelago – already fraying at the edges – together.

Mary S. Zurbuchen – Even seasoned observers had trouble predicting how difficult the 'post-Suharto era' would be. Yet, despite economic woes, social conflict and vacillating leadership, many Indonesians feel they have indeed embarked on a journey leading toward a more democratic society.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – As the architect of the regional autonomy laws that take effect throughout Indonesia today, Professor Ryaas Rasyid used to tell district officials that if he believed Jakarta was not serious about devolving its powers to them, he would resign his Cabinet post. He is about to do so.

Vaudine England – The Government will keep control of foreign, defence, monetary, judicial and religious policy but devolve many other powers to legislatures at the district level under a law that comes into effect today.

Chris McCall, Jakarta – Church investigators have detailed a catalogue of horrors perpetrated on Christians by Islamic militias in the Maluku Islands.

Hundreds of circumcisions were carried out with a single razor blade, they said, causing heavy bleeding and infection. Some women were subject to genital mutilation. Victims were sent into the sea for "disinfection".

Susan Sim, Jakarta – A son-in-law of former President Suharto, retired Lt-General Prabowo Subianto, has made legal history in the United States as the first person to be denied entry under the provisions of the United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Vaudine England – Near Jember, deep in East Java, is the Meru Betiri National Park, home to near-extinct panthers and one of the last great rainforests. But this park could be wiped out as a result of the new regional autonomy law.

Jack Rieley – Southeast Asia contains seventy percent of the world's total tropical peatland, mostly in Indonesia and Malaysia. But these vast peatland landscapes are under great pressure from years of resource exploitation and land development.

George J. Aditjondro – Widespread forest fires, covering significant proportions of Sumatra and Kalimantan, with its smoke and haze drifting to Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia, have become an almost annual occurrence in archipelagic Southeast Asia. Yet, the Indonesian government has not taken drastic steps to prevent their recurrence. Why?

Jakarta – Defense Minister Mahfud MD yesterday brushed off suggestions he would step down, which came from local legislator and ex Finance Minister, Fuad Bawazier, "Unless it is requested by the President or the cabinet is dissolved,"

Chris McCall, Jakarta – A new separatist front in Indonesia's troubled Spice Islands is demanding that Jakarta "restore" the sovereignty of the Christian-dominated south.

Bandung – Wawan Wahidin bin Engkos, whom police have described as a key witness in the wave of Christmas eve bombings, died here on Friday morning, raising the death toll in the bloody Sunday assault on nine cities to 17.

Jake Lloyd-Smith – The Defence Minister has accused supporters of former president Suharto over the wave of church bombings that hit the country on Christmas Eve killing 16 people.

Jake Lloyd-Smith and Reuters in Jakarta – The fugitive son of ex-president Suharto was caught by police after two months on the run – but escaped custody by jumping out of a window, President Abdurrahman Wahid said yesterday.

Jakarta – The government plans to restructure the national intelligence system, the Jakarta Post reported, quoting defence Minister Muhammad Mahfud.

Indonesia commemorated Women's Day on December 22. The plight of women during the crisis of the past few years was among the highlights of a recent conference in Leiden on Indonesian women. Linawati Sidarto, a Leiden-based journalist, shares insights from the four-day talks.

Jake Lloyd-Smith, Jakarta – Indonesia's main intelligence agency is warning that the country is set for a tumultuous year ahead with a rise in separatist pressures and civil disturbances.

Bandar Lampung – Indonesia's human development index has continued to decline over the past two years to reach 109 out of 180 countries.

Speaking on the occasion of Id Fitri prayers here on Wednesday, administrative coordinator of the Health Ministry office in Lampung Drs Zamaksari Shahli MKM said that in 1998, Indonesia still ranked 105th on the human development index.

Louise Williams – Four years ago, the then Islamic leader Abdurrahman Wahid publicly begged for forgiveness on behalf of Muslim mobs who had burned every church to the ground in the east Javanese town of Situbondo. He then defiantly opened the doors of his Jakarta home to the nation's Christian leaders.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Senior Indonesian military officials yesterday blamed Muslim fundamentalists for the murderous wave of explosions across the archipelago on Christmas Eve.

Tim Dodd, Jakarta – It would seem that Indonesia 's economy is now far from the intensive-care ward where it spent the whole of 1998 on economic life support.

Vaudine England – It is well-known that the armed forces of Indonesia have played a murky and repressive role at each vital moment in the country's modern history.

And it is also well-known that Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri is a reformist and popular leader, who grew into politics through her opposition to the military-backed regime of former president Suharto.

Jakarta – Hundreds of workers of the five-star Shangri-La Hotel continued their strike for the third day yesterday, forcing the management to temporarily close their business activities and evacuate guests.

The situation has led the hotel to cancel all its year-end celebrations for Idul Fitri, Christmas, New Year's Eve and the New Year.

Jakarta – At least 15 people were killed and dozens others injured when bombs exploded almost simultaneously in or outside churches in various towns on Sunday night, as Indonesia's minority Christian community was preparing to celebrate Christmas.

The casualties include:

Vaudine England – Christians in Jakarta have come to know December as a time when their faith, commitment and tolerance will be tested.

Christmas this year came at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when predominantly Muslim Indonesia changes its business and social hours to cater to religion. It can be a trying time for those not of the Islamic faith.

Vaudine England – The bombing of more than a dozen Christian churches across Indonesia on Christmas Eve was known about in advance by military intelligence, but politics precluded any prevention.

Police, human rights activists and President Abdurrahman Wahid believe the campaign was organised, well-funded and timed to inflict maximum terror.