Daniel Cooney, Jakarta – A rally meant to bolster flagging fortunes of Indonesia's beleaguered head of state fell flat Saturday when his vice president failed to show up.

Billed as a show of unity between President Abdurrahman Wahid and his deputy, Megawati Sukarnoputri, the lackluster gathering drew a far smaller crowd than predicted.

Jakarta – The Association of Labor Exporting Companies (Apjati) and 18 labor unions signed on Friday an unprecedented memorandum of understanding (MOU) to provide protection and improve the bargaining position of Indonesian workers overseas.

Vaudine England, Jayapura – A protest in the Irian Jayan port city of Sorong yesterday left six people dead, highlighting the spread of problems from the tortured Maluku Islands as thousands flee the communal conflict.

At least 4,000 people have perished in the Malukus, also known as the Spice Islands, as a result of fighting between Christians and Muslims.

Jakarta – People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais has given President Abdurrahman Wahid up to three months after the August session to beef up the performance of his administration.

Jakarta – Almost 20.1-million ha, or about half the 40-million ha of forests in Indonesia, have been damaged by fires and farming, Forestry and Plantations Minister Nur Mahmudi Ismail has said.

Jakarta – The government's announcement that it is ready to file corruption charges against former president Soeharto was greeted on Thursday with skepticism, with most observers saying that the indictment was not tough enough.

Yogyakarta – First Lady Sinta Nuriyah Abdurrahman Wahid bemoaned on Thursday the continuing violence against women, saying that no religion condones oppression or duress against women.

Susan Sim and Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid is taking a leaf from former President Suharto's manual for regime maintenance and cementing his iron grip on the Nation Awakening Party (PKB), the fourth-biggest winner in last year's election.

Jakarta – One overriding theme, namely the bringing of former president Soeharto to justice, marked the fourth anniversary of the July 27 violent takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters nationwide on Thursday.

Chris McCall, Jakarta – Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Jakarta yesterday to demand a speedy trial for former president Suharto as the Government finished a corruption probe and prepared for prosecution.

Jakarta – Office buildings of the former ruling party Golkar in the capital city and in a number of Java's major cities were guarded yesterday, as hundreds of protesters of anti-New Order government of former president Soeharto turned, attacking the Jakarta office of Soeharto's former political machine.

Muchus Budi Rahayu/BI, Surakarta – Four hundreds supporters of Muslim Youth Front (FPI-S), from Surakarta, Central Java, staged a protest, Friday, to demand the abolishment of National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Jakarta Chief of Police to step down.

Marianne Kearney, Pekanbaru – Indonesian police, forestry employees and plantation companies are failing to fight the fires which have been burning on dozens of plantations over the last two weeks in the central Sumatran province of Riau.

Aulia Andri/FM & AH, Medan – The Indonesian Forum For the Environment (WALHI) is scornful of a plan from PT Inti Indorayon Utama (IIU) pulp and paper factory to give 1% of its production costs to the residents living in the factory's vicinity.

Jakarta – The United States could seize Indonesian assets if Jakarta fails to settle a US$290-million claim by the US government's Overseas Private Investment Corp (OPIC), US Ambassador Robert Gelbard said.

R Maslan/SWA & AH, Jakarta – Today, exactly four years after the attack on the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) office, hundreds of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) demonstrators occupied Jl. Diponegoro, burning incense and Golkar Flags in commemoration the 27 July incident. Former militia leader, Eurico Guterres, was seen at this "commemoration ceremony".

Rizal Maslan/BS & AH, Jakarta – A march to commemorate the brutal occupation of Megawati's political offices (the Indonesian Democratic Party, PDI) on 27 July 1996, has been organized by People's Democratic Party (PRD) on Thursday. The march will start from the Salemba Campus of Universitas Indonesia to Jl. Diponegoro, where the PDI office stood at that time.

Jakarta – Coal mining company PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) might lose some of its customers following the closure of its coal mine in the Sanggata regency, East Kalimantan, a company executive said on Wednesday.

Jakarta – More than 30 companies are under investigation for their alleged roles in the recent forest fires in Riau, a provincial administration official said on Wednesday.

James Balowski – Four years ago on July 27, television images of the Indonesian military bashing and kicking helpless protesters exposed the world to the brutality of the Suharto dictatorship. The Australian government's and the Jakarta lobby's carefully cultivated image of the regime was shattered.

Pip Hinman – As two of its warships docked in the east Javanese port of Surabaya on July 20, the administration of US President Bill Clinton made official its re-establishment of military ties with Indonesia, after a temporary suspension during last year's carnage in East Timor.

Slobodan Lekic, Asem Bagus – Dozens of elderly villagers wearing checkered sarongs wait patiently on cots while a US Navy corpsman prepares them for eye surgery. Nearby, US Marines and Indonesian servicemen, their uniforms drenched with sweat, help each other refurbish a dilapidated school.

BK & LH/BI & LM, Jakarta – Hundreds of students gathered together in the Indonesian Youth Struggle Front (FPPI) have staged protests today in Yogyakarta and Jakarta against the Golkar party.

A Andri/FW & LM, Jakarta – For the umpteenth time, hundreds of representatives of the Batak Toba tribe went to the North Sumatra Provincial Legislative Council demanding the closure of PT. Indorayon Utama Wednesday.

Max Lane – On July 20, huge banners, which dwarfed the activists who daringly scaled the walls of Indonesia's parliament building in Jakarta to hang them, announced the demands of the People's Democratic Party (PRD).

At least one protester was killed, more than 100 were injured and 57 were arrested when Indonesian security forces attacked an 800-strong protest in South Sumatra on July 20. The detainees were beaten in jail.

Jakarta – Environmentalists on Wednesday slammed the Indonesian government for its failure to stop illegal logging at a national park in central Borneo, which has shrunk the local endangered orangutan population.

D.S Buana/SWA & LM, Jakarta – The appearance of a "confidential" document outlining a plot to topple President Abdurrahman Wahid has met denials all round from those allegedly involved in its production.

I Triono/ SWA & LM, Jakarta – Fabianus Tibo (55), leader of the "Red" group as well as the alleged mastermind of massacres which claimed hundreds of lives in Poso, Central Sulawesi, has been arrested. In his confession, Tibo admits killing 40 people and to receiving assistance from the security forces.

Jakarta – A trial witness has implicated Indonesia's defence ministry in a forgery ring which churned out 2.1 million dollars worth of fake local currency notes, a report said Wednesday.

Pip Hinman – A group of unions has demanded President Abdurrahman Wahid disallow a new labour rights bill, which was unanimously passed by the House of Representatives on July 10 but needs the president's approval to become law.

Chaidir Anwar Tanjung/BI & LM, Pekanbaru – A public transport strike in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province, northwest Sumatra, has clogged main roads and left passengers stranded.

Bangkok – Asean foreign ministers yesterday backed Indonesia against its rebellious provinces of Aceh and Irian Jaya, saying that the country's unity was crucial to regional peace.

Dharmastuti/SWA & LM, Jakarta – The thick palls of smoke choking North Sumatra and Riau Provinces has compelled the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations to announce that it plans to sanction as many as 12 business people.

Jakarta – Indonesia's parliament has approved income tax cuts that halve the burden on low income earners, as well as a radical new amendment that will provide regional administrations with 20 percent of income tax receipts, reports said Tuesday.

Mark Riley, New York – A United Nations Security Council member has rejected claims by the Indonesian President, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, that the council is pressing for a peacekeeping mission to the Maluku islands.

Tangerang – Thousands of members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) burned and destroyed 82 kiosks on the Tahang riverbank in Salembaran Jati village of Kosambi district here on Monday, accusing the owners of running vice activities on their premises.

Jakarta – An Indonesian mob rounded up three men and beat them to death after accusing one of them of murdering his wife with black magic. Kompas newspaper reported that the woman died earlier this month in Kedungsari village on the island of Sumatra.

Jakarta – Indonesian security forces seized more than 1,000 sticks of explosives from an inter-island ferry as it arrived in the riot-torn North Maluku island of Ternate. The explosives were found in the state-owned KM Ciremai ferry which arrived from Bitung in north Sulawesi on Saturday, said the Antara news agency.

Bagus Kurniawan/BI & LM, Jakarta – Approximately 80 students from Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta under the auspices of Student's Solidarity for Pagilaran Peasants (SMUPP) have staged a protest against their own University.

Bagus Kurniawan/BI & LM, Yogyakarta – A spokesman for PT Pagilaran, embroiled in a land dispute with the University of Gadjah Mada and local peasants, has denied illegally seizing the peasant's land, stating that the peasants have illegally occupied the company's land and damaged crops.

D. Sangga Buana/FW & AH, Jakarta – Nearly 1500 laborers staged a rally at the Jakarta Special Province Local Administration Office today to demand the increase in minimum regional wages, previously promised by Jakarta Governor, Sutiyoso.

Jose Ramos-Horta, Bangkok – Who is behind the wave of sectarian violence in Ambon and other parts of the Moluccan Islands that has cost hundreds of lives in the past 18 months? Who is responsible for the upsurge in separatist sentiment in Aceh and Irian Jaya, two of the richest provinces of Indonesia?

Jakarta – Indonesian prosecutors plan to bring four of the country's most controversial figures to court next month, including former president Suharto, in a bid to dispel doubts over the government's reform agenda.

Jakarta – Call it hubris, denial or sheer pragmatism. But among President Abdurrahman Wahid's inner circles, the burning question of the moment is not how long he can survive, but if he will sack Cabinet Secretary Marsilam Simanjuntak.

On July 20, 800 farm workers from villages in South Sumatra demonstrated outside the District Administration Offices in the area of Muara Enim, near Palembang in South Sumatra.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Some of those politicians who angrily rebuked President Abdurrahman Wahid in parliament this week represent Golkar, the party that for years propped up the corrupt and brutal Soeharto dictatorship.

Jakarta – Minister of Mines and Energy Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has blamed the involvement of an "international movement" on growing protests against Indonesian mining operations.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Golkar party said it would be ready to be in the opposition and hinted that there would be a shake-up of its executive board ahead of the next general election in 2004.

Jakarta – The Indonesian press yesterday slammed President Abdurrahman Wahid's refusal to explain to parliament his decision to fire two ministers, and warned that he was courting a political disaster of his own making.