Jakarta – The Plantation and Forestry Department is set to bring a score of timber tycoons to the arbitration court for failure to repay Rp 96.9 billion in loans taken from the department's reforestation funds (DR).

Jay Solomon, Jakarta – The US is taking an increasingly hard line toward President Abdurrahman Wahid's government as Washington tries to promote democracy and accountability in Southeast Asia's largest country.

Shoeb Kagda, Jakarta – A major turf battle for control of Indonesia's state-owned enterprises is unfolding between chief economics minister Rizal Ramli and the junior minister for national economic restructuring, Cacuk Sudarijanto, who is also chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (Ibra).

Jakarta – Around 300 demonstrators from various non-governmental organizations and other group of society staged protests near Hotel Indonesia, Central Jakarta, yesterday urging all parties to stop committing violence throughout the country.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Hunting for an apartment in Jakarta is a walk in the park, unless the objective is to land the priciest of the available bunch.

Jakarta – Corrupt village heads in Indonesia's Riau province are reportedly making a fortune selling falsified marriage certificates to men who wish to take second wives. Although the country's 1975 marriage law permits Muslim men to take up to four wives, polygamy is generally not common.

Jakarta – Some 100 stock traders and executives staged a demonstration in front of the bomb-hit Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) building yesterday, demanding that the government step up security at crucial economic institutions, witnesses said.

Jakarta – State Minister of the Environment Sonny Keraf announced mining firm PT Freeport Indonesia misled the public in recent advertisements by not revealing the full results of its environmental audit.

Jakarta – Some 150 youths protested at the US consulate in the second city of Surabaya against Washington's criticism over the killings of UN aid workers in West Timor, news reports said Saturday. The protestors pulled down the consulate flag and burned it, and threw stones at the building during the Friday protest in the capital of East Java, the reports said.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The announcement of an arrest order for Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra by an embattled President Abdurrahman Wahid may have redrawn the political map, at least for a day.

Robert Go, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid was greeted with cheers yesterday when he disclosed the order to arrest a member of the Suharto clan in connection with Wednesday's bomb blast at the Jakarta Stock Exchange building. The response underscores the distrust and hatred many Indonesians harbour towards the former First Family.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The Indonesian police said yesterday they were having difficulties finding proof to link the series of bomb attacks in the capital in the past three months to groups that some government officials suggest are related to the army.

Vaudine England – On the surface, Indonesia appears to be spiralling out of control, with the killing of United Nations workers in West Timor 10 days ago, a bomb in central Jakarta three days ago and a presidency assailed by critics both at home and abroad.

Khairul Ikhwan D/Fitri & GB, Medan – Efendy Panjaitan, North Sumatra Executive Director of the Indonesian Forum on Environment, known as Walhi, said they, environmental activists and the local community continued to oppose the reopening of the infamous PT Inti Indorayon Utama (PT IIU) pulp and paper factory.

Jakarta – Despite its waning political influence, the military – especially the Army – retains several "political resources" which could enable it to come back in the future, an international policy research group warned in a recent report.

MMI Ahyani/Swastika & GB, Bandung – Around 2,000 factory workers in West Java staged a rally at the Governor's office demanding a pay rise and the establishment of a National Workers Council.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – As strategies go, there is a certain sick brilliance in the targeting choices of whoever is behind the bombing campaign being waged here.

Vaudine England – Whoever is behind the killings and bomb attacks in the country, brought dramatically to the centre of economic life in Jakarta, has succeeded brilliantly – if such was their plan – in weakening President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Jakarta – The government pledged on Thursday to get to the bottom of a series of bomb attacks here and was cautiously suggesting that remnants of the New Order regime or wayward military personnel might be behind the senseless acts.

Tim Dodd, Jakarta – Indonesia's former armed forces commander, General Wiranto, ordered the printing of counterfeit money to fund East Timorese militia groups before last year's referendum, according to evidence given to an Indonesian court.

Rizal Maslan/Hendra, Jakarta – The People's Democratic Party (PRD) staged a rally following the second hearing of former president Suharto today, not far from the trial venue. Calling themselves the "Anti-New Order" people, they accused of Suharto of being responsible for economic, political and humanitarian crimes, and demanded that he be put on trial.

Jakarta – Led members of the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), a non-governmental organization, a group of some 400 people claiming to be becak (pedicab) drivers in the East Jakarta area attacked the local mayoralty office on Wednesday morning.

Jakarta – Indonesian police fired tear gas cannisters here Thursday to try to block hundreds of anti-Suharto student protestors from marching on the residence of the former strongman, witnesses said. No one was injured in the barrage of cannisters, an AFP reporter on the scene said.

Jakarta – Labor unions are allowed to be involved in practical politics in their efforts to fight for workers' political and economic interests, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Al-Hilal Hamdi said on Tuesday.

Yogi Arief Nugraha/BI & GB, Jakarta – Sixteen years after the massacre of Muslim protesters in the Tanjung Priok port area of Jakarta, families of the victims and their supporters continue to be highly critical of efforts to bring the military perpetrators to justice.

Padang – Tension gripped Pasaman regency, located some 150 kilometers southwest of here, on Monday following an overnight riot involving thousands of locals in the Airgadang Simpang plantation area. Thousands of locals stormed the plantation at 10am on Sunday, demanding a share of the land.

Jonathan Thatcher, Jakarta – It could be the pre-crisis boom days. Jakarta's marbled shopping malls are packed and the road to weekend villas in the mountains south of the capital is thick with the fumes of new cars.

Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Rizal Ramli said Indonesia's five-year National Development Programs plan will adopt a more strategic and selective approach to reflect the current changing environment.

Dan Murphy – The notion that Indonesia's civilian leaders do not really control their armed forces has swiftly evolved from frightening suspicion into undisputed fact.

Jakarta – Dozens of people calling themselves the Anti-Luxury Cars Movement (GAMM), staged a rally at the Jakarta Convention Center on Jl. Gatot Subroto, South Jakarta, on Monday demanding the government ban the import of luxury cars.

Jakarta – Governor Sutiyoso, a retired three-star Army general, admitted on Monday that military personnel were assigned to take over the PDI headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta, on July, 27, 1996 after then president Soeharto had implicitly ordered some senior military and police officers to stop the free speech forum which was being staged at the building.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – It had been a disastrous few days for Kiki Syahnakri, the Indonesian military officer in-charge of West Timor. He may even lose his job over last week's murder of United Nations staff in the border town of Atambua.

Yogi Arief Nugraha/Swastika & AP, Jakarta – After ransacking the Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) office in South Jakarta, thousands of taxi drivers from the Citra taxi company moved to the House of Representatives building on Jl. Gatot Subroto, today.

Jakarta – Claims by protestors that Maninjau Water Electric Power Plant (PLTA) in West Sumatra has polluted Lake Maninjau and damaged fishery cultivation at the lake, are groundless, say local officials. Protestors are seeking closure of the plant.

David Liebhold, Jakarta – Stephen Dowling is afraid to start his car these days. The director of AriaWest International has received death threats over a dispute between his company-35% owned by AT&T-and state-controlled Telkom Indonesia. As the quarrel heats up, Dowling, 44, is constantly watching his back.

Singapore – Former Indonesian president Suharto's children ignored advice to not abuse their position for financial and business gain, according to excerpts of Singapore Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew's memoirs published Sunday.

Jakarta – Military police in the West Kalimantan capital of Pontianak raided a factory that was manufacturing firearms illegally and confiscated several long-barrelled rifles, ammunition and machines.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Wednesday's killing of the three United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) workers in West Timor illustrates some disturbing trends in Indonesia.

Jakarta – Gold mining firm Newmont Minahasa Raya in Minahasa, North Sulawesi, resumed operations early on Friday after a blockade of the company's ore crusher by protesters ended.

Jakarta – The worker's union of one of the 11 Nike subcontractors in Indonesia on Friday denied the allegations aired by antiexploitation activists at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Bandung – Activists demanded on Friday that West Java Governor R. Nuriana be suspended to facilitate the legal process of the local high court relating to alleged corruption involving Rp 209 billion (US$25.2 million) within his administration.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia yesterday signed its latest set of reform pledges with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to obtain US$400 million in fresh funds. But this time, the country has more say in the programme and will tailor it to changing conditions.

Jose Manuel Tesoro and Dewi Loveard, Jakarta – Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri's sunny smiles at the August 26 induction of Indonesia's new cabinet made it seem as if the past three days had never happened.

Jakarta – General Abdul Haris Nasution, an Indonesian independence hero who narrowly escaped assassination in 1965, died yesterday at 81.

The retired five-star general, former army chief and Cabinet minister died in Jakarta's Gatot Subroto military hospital, Antara reported. The cause of death was not specified, but Gen Nasution went into a coma after a recent stroke.

Jakarta – State-owned PT Timah Tbk, the world's largest integrated tin maker, said protests at its main Bangka island plant had halted operations at two units, and warned the situation could be serious.

John McBeth, Jakarta – The day before Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid announced his new "All-the-President's-Men" cabinet, Golkar party Chairman and House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tanjung decided there was nothing to keep him in Jakarta and boarded a plane for the United States to attend to personal and business matters.

Budi Sugiharto/GB, Sampang – An angry mob has destroyed around 85% of the local legislature in Sampang on the island of Madura, East Java. Tensions have been mounting all week as protests rejecting the election of a new Regent have steadily grown larger and more confrontational.

Kuala Lumpur – A Malaysian businessman working in the North Sumatra capital of Medan has been kidnapped for ransom, reports said yesterday quoting his wife.

Marianne Kearney, Indonesia – In A bid to halt rampant illegal logging, Indonesia's Forestry Minister has announced a proposal to put a ban on all log exports from Indonesia until it can guarantee a sustainable logging industry.

Simon Montlake, Jakarta – The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency plans to restructure 70% of its major debt cases by the end of this month, Irwan Siregar, a senior IBRA executive, said Wednesday.

IBRA is managing loans with a nominal value of about IDR260 trillion, which it has taken over from the devastated banking sector.