Jakarta – The head of the Jakarta Police, Hamani Nata said that if Megawati and her husband, Taufiq Kiemas, are called twice and do not fulfill the order, both of them can be brought forcibly by the police.

Indonesian stocks rose to a record as investors continued to warm to Indonesia's improving economic picture and the outlook for faster profit growth in the coming year.

Canberra – The family of Indonesian President Suharto jumped to ninth on an annual ranking of Asia's richest people published yesterday – up from 93rd last year – with a combined wealth estimated at US$6.3 billion (S$8.9 billion).

Han Jei, Moluccan archipelago, Indonesia – "Blast" and poison fishing and the growing use of dragnets are threatening traditionally abundant fisheries in Indonesia's Moluccas islands.

The practices are not simply indiscriminately killing fish but are also depleting coral reefs and the rest of the underwater ecosystem.

Jakarta – The presiding judge of Central Jakarta State Court trying the case of Budiman Sujatmiko, the chair of the PRD, Sjoffinan Sumantri has asked the public prosecutor to have Bambang Widjojanto appear as a witness.

Jakarta – Prosecutors have demanded that an Indonesian court ignore an appeal by defence lawyers and continue the trial of three Moslem radicals charged with sowing hatred against the government, a report said Friday.

Jakarta – The Indonesian minister for women's affairs, Mien Sugandhi, will visit Saudi Arabia to investigate reports of Indonesian women working as prostitutes in the country, political sources said Thursday.

Mien will also go to Malaysia to inspect the working conditions of Indonesian women there, the sources said.

Bandung – Legal action has been taken against those involved in a riot at PT [Company Limited] Kahatek. "Police have arrested 17 persons," Police Major General Nana Permana, West Java Provincial Police chief, said after a rally by members of the Indonesian Association of Children of Retired Military Personnel.

Pontianak – Tension was running high Thursday in a flashpoint district of this Indonesian provincial capital amid mounting fears of a fresh outbreak of ethnic violence.

Groups of indigenous Dayak people were seen Wednesday night patrolling the city's northern Siantan district where many of them live.

Security forces were conducting random checks of identity papers.

Jakarta – Indonesian authorities suspect four men of inciting a violent riot in the West Java town of Tasikmalaya last December which left four people dead, a report said Thursday.

Organizations Participating in the Election (OPP) stated their disagreement with the election rules regulated by decrees issued by the minister of internal affairs and the minister of information. In addition to damaging the OPPs, especially the political parties, regulation by those two decrees will also reduce the independence and autonomy of the OPPs themselves.

Andreas Harsono, Jakarta – The talk about A takeover began to emerge among Jakarta journalists in September, after businessman Peter Gontha signed an agreement that let him take control of The Indonesian Observer and reportedly approached veteran journalists to edit the English-language newspaper.

Amidst the gloom of Indonesia's authoritarian political system, a ray of light. A government bill to pave the way for the construction of an unpopular nuclear plant in Java was not approved by parliament last December. Instead of being passed into law on 12 December as planned, a deadlock in the committee stage caused it to be held over till this year.

Jakarta, Kompas - the Suara Independen (Independent Voice) trial began at the South Jakarta State Court on Thursday, February 5. Andi Syahputra (31) is accused of insulting the president in October 1996.

John McBeth, Jakarta – When Golkar painted the town yellow, Indonesia's opposition finally saw red. It happened in early January in the historic Central Java city of Surakata, where overzealous loyalists from Indonesia's dominant political party splashed large tracts of the city in Golkar's trademark canary yellow.

Indonesia, with a population of 200 million in 1997, has been struggling to reduce income inequalities and social disparities among its diverse ethnic groups inhabiting the country's 13,000 islands. Chronic poverty is the worst kind of social unrest and political instability are not to disturb national development.

Jakarta – A private company set up last year by Indonesian President Suharto to finance the country's first passenger jet project plans to go public Feb. 17 and is looking for a clear and simple way to offer its shares, the state-run news agency Antara said Thursday.

PT Dua Satu Tiga Puluh (DSTP) which will fund the engineering development and construction planning of the jet aircraft N-2130, produced by PT Industri Pesawat Terbang Nasional (IPTN) will reach the breakeven point when 326 aircraft units are produced in the year 2013.

Jakarta – Indonesian pro-democracy leader Megawati Sukarnoputri on Thursday rejected a police summons for questioning over a celebration held by supporters at her residence.

Authorities said the Jan. 10 celebration was an 'illegal political gathering.'

S N Vasuki – Indonesia reported higher inflation and a sharply lower trade surplus yesterday in line with the expectations of most economists.

But economists cautioned that the continued fall in non-oil exports was a worrying sign of an erosion in the country's competitiveness.

Jakarta – An Indonesian activist caught with copies of a banned magazine of an independent journalists' group faces six years in jail for defaming the president, a report said Thursday.

S N Vasuki – Indonesia's Lippo Group has positioned itself as a major player in the retail sector with last week's acquisition of a 50.1 per cent stake in PT Matahari Putra Prima which runs the country's largest department store chain.

Veronica Smith, Washington – US and international labor union leaders will demonstrate Wednesday in front of Indonesia's embassy here to protest the imprisonment of an Indonesian labor leader, organizers said.

Violations of indigenous peoples basic rights are rife in the operations areas of PT Kelian Equatorial Mining in East Kalimantan and PT Freeport Indonesia in Irian Jaya, according to an influential non-governmental organization.

Jay Solomon, Jakarta – Indonesia recorded another healthy trade surplus in November, though analysts expressed some concern about future trends in the country's exports.

Data released Wednesday also showed inflation firmly in check, with a surprisingly modest 5.5% rise reported for January's consumer price index (CPI).

Jakarta – Jakarta Governor Surjadi Soedirja Tuesday called on his citizents to participate more actively in efforts to fight hoodlums arguing that Indonesia's national capital must be cleared of thugs.

"Hoodlums have to be totally eradicated and that is a job for all of us," he said when visiting Jakarta's Tanjung Priok harbor.

Veronica Smith, Washington – US and international labor union chiefs led a raucous demonstration outside Indonesia's embassy Wednesday, demanding the release of a jailed Indonesian labor leader charged with subversion.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – The Indonesian Government has banned all social and political meetings involving large crowds until after the May national elections, and Malaysia has moved to close its land border with Indonesia in the face of continuing social unrest.

Pontianak – An Indonesian provincial capital, where there has been unrest since the start of the year, remained tense Wednesday with reports of new violence in other towns.

"The situation is very tense with sporadic violence in the last week," a resident of Pontianak, capital of West Kalimantan, told AFP.

The authorities have tried to impose a curfew in Pontianak.

Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia will only reopen its border post into Indonesia's Kalimantan province once the ethnic violence has calmed down on the Indonesian side, officials said Wednesday. "We are still monitoring the situation in Kalimantan.

Jakarta – Indonesia's foreign minister said Wednesday that Jakarta hoped Malaysia's closure of part of its border on Borneo due to ethnic violence on the Indonesian side would be quickly lifted.

Jakarta – The Indonesian province of West Kalimantan hit by fresh ethnic unrest since last week is now calm and under control, an Indonesian army spokesman said according to reports Wednesday.

"Everything is now secure and under control," armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Amir Syarifuddin was quoted by the official Antara news agency as saying.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government has ordered a ban on public gatherings which could incite social unrest prior to the May general election, officials said yesterday.

[Introductory note by 'Kofi Tubruk': A tribal war has been going on in Banti - which a short distance from Freeport mining operations - since 25 January this year. According to Thomas Wanmang, secretary of LEMASA Council, who was contacted by phone, the war is taking place in an area where there are many security posts.

Jakarta – Moh. Yogie S. M., minister of internal affairs and chairman of the LPU [Election Institute], issued Directive Number 7 of 1997 on 30 January 1997 concerning Election Campaign Rules as a follow-up to Government Regulation 74/1996 concerning Election Laws and Presidential Decree 99/1996 concerning Election Campaigns.

By letter dated 26 April 1996, the Special Rapporteur, in a joint initiative with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, conveyed information to the Government concerning a confrontation between university students protesting a rise in transport fares and military personnel which had reportedly

Michael Richardson, Jakarta – The Mentawai Islands along the southern coast of Sumatra in Indonesia are a picture of tropical paradise: countless remote atolls fringed by white sand beaches and coconut palms.

But below the surface of the crystal-clear azure waters, on the coral reefs that skirt the islands, it is another story.

Kupang – Soerjadi [the government installed head of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) - JB.] has begged PDI members not to read newspapers if they have reports on the PDI. On February 3 he said that reports in the mass media tend to "corner" the party and do not give a true picture, "as far as articles concerning the PDI, it is better not to read them" he added.

On February 4, A group of East Timorese students from a number of Indonesian cities held an action at the Surabaya State Court. Their arrival cased a "hubbub".

Jakarta – Jakarta's ethnic Chinese community was asked yesterday not to make any overt displays to celebrate the Lunar New Year following a series of attacks on Chinese and Christian properties by Muslim rioters.

Jakarta – Indonesian authorities are to start building a US$2.4 billion (S$3.4 billion) triple-deck road and railway project in July to overcome Jakarta's transport problems, a report said yesterday.

The project includes a 23.55-km elevated train built above a surface road but under a tollway, the Antara news agency said.

Jakarta – Mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia was the top corporate tax payer in Indonesia in 1995 and Salim Group founder Liem Sioe Liong the top individual tax payer, a senior tax official said at the weekend.

Two of President Suharto's sons were listed the 10th and 13th highest taxpayers in figures released by the director-general of taxation, Fuad Bawazier, on Sunday.

Kuching (Sarawak, West Malaysia) – Local bus companies which ply between here and Pontianak in Kalimantan, Indonesia, have suspended operations out of concern for the safety of their employees and passengers following rumours of more riots there.

The latest annual report on human rights surveys by the U.S. State Department does not look too kindly on Indonesia's record for the past year. But the report does not differ all that much from those by some of our own respected human rights groups.

Louise Williams – Security forces made further arrests at the weekend following last Thursday's Muslim riots west of Jakarta, and new tensions flared in the city of Bandung, where leaflets were dropped calling on Muslims to attack Christian and Catholic targets.

Jakarta – PT Freeport Indonesia is the biggest corporate taxpayer while conglomerate Soedono Salim pays the most taxes as an individual, an official says here.

Elko – Barrick Gold Corporation, the gold mine company from Canada, affirmed not to change the offer of 10 percent of shares in the Busang gold mine for the Indonesian government, although its competitor, Placer Dome Inc - which associates with entrepreneur Mohamad (Bob) Hasan and plans a merger with Bre-X - offers 40 percent shares for Indonesia.

Gordon Feeney, Jakarta – Australia's ambassador-designate to Indonesia, John McCarthy, has arrived in Jakarta, bringing to a close 18 months of diplomatic tiffs between the two countries.

Mr McCarthy, 54, former envoy to the United States, arrived at the weekend and was due to present his credentials to President Suharto in the near future, an embassy spokesman said.

Jakarta – A report published by the U.S. State Department has got strong reactions here.

Political scientist Amien Rais said, "As a sovereign country Indonesia should have self confidence about what we are convinced of and we do not need to be affected by other people's comments."

Jakarta – Five Indonesian students will be tried for allegedly distributing stickers advocating a boycott of upcoming parliamentary elections, a report said Saturday.