Shoeb Kagda, Jakarta – Whichever way one looks at the issue, Indonesia's new leadership is in no-man's land when trying to deal with the massive energy and gas contracts endorsed by the former Suharto government.

Jakarta – Some 600 students grouped in the Indonesian Muslim Student Action Union (KAMMI) protested outside the vice presidential palace on Wednesday, demanding Megawati Soekarnoputri be held responsible for the prolonged sectarian unrest in Maluku.

They accused the Vice President of being sluggish in her attempts to solve the strife which began a year ago.

Tim Dodd, Jakarta – How long can the general stay on top? From the Soeharto era, which ended in May 1998, through to the beginning of the Wahid presidency, General Wiranto is the only one of Indonesia's political players to continuously maintain a senior role in the Indonesian Government.

Agencies in Jakarta and Ambon – Muslim students yesterday threatened a holy war against Christians unless the Government stems sectarian clashes in the eastern Maluku islands that have left more than 700 dead in two weeks.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid installed on Wednesday two veteran government critics, who are also close associates of his, as top aides, amid mounting criticism of the effectiveness of his government.

Abdurrahman installed Marsilam Simajuntak as Cabinet secretary and Bondan Gunawan as secretary of government supervision in a brief ceremony at the State Palace.

Jakarta – The country's property sector is predicted to show a healthy growth in 2001 if the economy continues to be on the right track to recovery.

Property observer Panangian Simanjutak said the property sector would grow 4.5% this year and 7% in 2001. Last year the sector still suffer a contraction of 10%.

Jakarta – A local Muslim group has accused an Australian gold mining company of involvement in the Muslim-Christian bloodshed in eastern Indonesia's North Maluku islands, the state Antara news agency said Thursday.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Government's internal auditor has accused former President Soeharto and other government officials of receiving bribes from a consortium run by United States and Japanese companies to allow the construction of a power plant at an inflated cost.

Singapore – A noted Southeast Asian political scientist warned Thursday that Indonesia's military may overthrow the democratically-elected government of President Abdurrahman Wahid if he stumbled on the future of strife-torn Aceh province.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) top brass tend to blame lower-ranking officers for the mayhem in the ravaged territory of East Timor after the August 30 self-determination ballot, a member of the government-sanctioned inquiry team said on Sunday.

David Lamb – After more than 50 years of unchecked power and widespread human rights abuse, the Indonesian military suddenly finds itself humiliated and on the defensive, besieged by a wrathful public demanding accountability for past misdeeds.

Jakarta – The military in Indonesia's Maluku islands, where more than 300 people have died in the past two weeks, has begun seizing weapons and arresting suspects in a fresh bid to pacify warring Muslims and Christians.

"The operation to seize weapons is continuing," Second Private Abidin of the Maluku military command told AFP on Monday from the main city of Ambon.

Jakarta – A year of bloody conflict between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia's Maluku islands has left 1,134 killed, and over 2,300 injured, according to security forces.

Jakarta – At least 265 people have been killed in clashes between Christians and Muslims on Halmahera island in North Maluku over the last three days.

The number of casualties brought the death toll in sporadic communal clashes across the spice islands of Maluku to nearly 330 since the new wave of violence broke out on Sunday, just after a peaceful Christmas.

Jakarta – Just two months after taking over the reins of national leadership, observers and opinion polls are already heaping doubt on the leadership of Abdurrahman Wahid.

Surabaya – A 65-year-old woman became the latest victim of the two-week-old killing spree in the Malang area, which has so far claimed nine lives. Alimah Saniwar was found dead in the wee hours of Wednesday morning at her home in Sumber Runcing village, Pagak district, Malang, some 90 kilometers south of Surabaya.

Makassar – Some 100 protesting students intercepted visiting President Abdurrahman Wahid's entourage on Thursday to demand the government promptly resolve the violence in Ambon.

Jakarta – Indonesia's central bank, Bank Indonesia, said early Saturday that it passed the year date change – Y2K – without any computer glitches.

"We have tested connections with all of our branches all over the country and there wasn't any problem," said Brenda Sutrisno, an official with Bank Indonesia.

Jakarta – Share prices on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) ended the year with a 70% gain, making the bourse one of the world's best performing markets.

According to data compiled by the Indonesian Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam), the JSX ranked third among the world's best performing markets in 1999 after South Korea's Seoul and Singapore stock exchanges.

Jakarta – Indonesia's trade surplus in November slid 7.8% to $2.35 billion from $2.55 billion in October, raising concerns that it may take some time to revive non-oil exports despite the improved domestic political climate after the October presidential election.

I Made Sentana, Jakarta – Indonesia's inflation rate of 2.01% in December was higher than analyst expectations of a 1.62% rate.

However, the December figure isn't raising concerns that price growth will get out of hand again next year like in 1998 when it soared as high as 77.63%.

Jakarta – Indonesia's economy is predicted to grow by between three and four percent in 2000 in a new expansion phase following two years of political, economic and financial turmoil, an official said Friday.

"Economic growth will reach three to four percent in the year 2000," said the head of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), Suwito Sugito.

Jakarta – Muslim-Christian violence raged for the third day running in the eastern Indonesian city of Ambon on Tuesday, after claiming at least 33 lives the previous day, residents said.

The sound of gunfire and explosions from grenades and home-made bombs has echoed around the city since dawn, the sources said, adding that a number of buildings were in flames.

Jakarta – Jakarta-based thugs are offering large rewards to hunt down and kill suspected black magic warlocks leading to eight horrific deaths so far, security officials alleged in a report Tuesday.

Jakarta – Six men were killed when police opened fire on hundreds of angry fishermen who stormed and burned 10 fish warehouses in the North Sumatra port of Belawan on Tuesday, reports reaching here said.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government will impose import duties of 30 percent on rice and 25 percent on sugar from January 1, reports said Friday.

Yogita Tahil Ramani, Jakarta – Violence in the capital has known no boundaries this year. With vicious murders, countless armed robberies, bomb blasts and gruesome street justice, the year 1999 can be safely declared a year of crime.

Jakarta – Around 8,000 workers at two Indonesian factories producing Nike shoes went on a violent rampage in protest at dragging negotiations over bonuses, a report said Thursday.

The workers from the PT Astra's Shoe Industry Division in Tanggerang, west of Jakarta, on Wednesday vandalized seven vehicles inside the factory compound and smashed factory windows with stones.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government Thursday released 105 political prisoners, the last still held in the country's jails, Minister of Law and Legislation Yusril Ihza Mahendra said.

"There are practically no more political prisoners and detainees," Mahendra told journalists at the presidential office after announcing the releases.

Reuters in Jakarta – At least 43 people have been killed in bloody gang battles between Christians and Muslims in Indonesia's troubled Spice Islands, ignoring presidential pleas for peace.

More than 170 homes, churches and other buildings had been torched during the bloodshed on Buru island and hundreds of villagers had fled to the police headquarters, officials said.

Jakarta – The Jakarta city administration has rounded up about 2,000 insane people from the streets over the past week and is now holding them at Panti Laras Asylum in Cipayung, East Jakarta.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Rahadi winds in and out of the buses pulling into Pulo Gading, one of Jakarta's main bus stations. As soon as the buses are emptied of passengers, he jumps on and starts sweeping and mopping the rubbish-strewn floor and seats.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The political elite is using religion to incite conflicts to suit its own ends, according to Indonesia's Religious Affairs Minister Tolchah Hasan.

He said incidents such as last week's burning of a Christian compound might be part of a wider pattern, loosely described as "bringing Ambon to Jakarta".

Jakarta – Teachers at elementary and junior high schools in remote areas of Central Sulawesi province say they are so badly paid they cannot afford staple foods amid these tough economic times.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – An independent Indonesian commission, which has made surprising headway investigating human rights abuses committed during East Timor's post-ballot violence, has come under fire from the high-ranking generals it has named as being connected with the violence.

Still, the Indonesian team of lawyers has vowed to press on with their investigation.

Jonathan Manthorpe – The evidence is building that Indonesia 's new, reformist president, Abdurrahman Wahid, is prepared to shield the country's repressive military from its past misdeeds and cater to its rampant nationalism in order to preserve the fledgling democracy.

Jakarta – The Central Kalimantan prosecutor's office said on Saturday it had enough evidence to name former public works minister Radinal Moochtar a suspect in a corruption case.

The case is linked to an unsuccessful government project to develop one million hectares of unproductive peat land into rice fields and a housing complex in 1996.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The man who was a role model to Indonesia's new generation of human rights lawyers is now defending the country's top generals, adding to growing controversy over investigations into the military's role in wiping out East Timor.

Jakarta – The offshore debt of the Indonesian government in the fiscal year ending next March is estimated to reach 71.9 billion dollars, a report said here Saturday.

Jakarta – Indonesia should post Gross Domestic Product growth of 1.8% in the year to March 2000, according to a draft of the government's latest letter of intent to the IMF, obtained Friday.

Daniel Cooney, Jakarta – State investigators demanded yesterday that army generals be tried for human rights abuses in East Timor after President Abdurrahman Wahid said he would not block their prosecutions by the Indonesian courts.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The armed forces are smarting under a welter of rights abuse allegations. They have warned that local and international efforts to call the generals to account will not only fail but could threaten the nation's state of relative calm.

Jakarta – Dozens of policemen in Central Java were injured in two days of protests by villagers trying to attack a rubber plantation, the official Antara news agency said Thursday.

Two police trucks were set ablaze on Wednesday along with a police post and a telecommunication center at the Ciseru-Cipari plantation in Cilacap, about 270 kilometers southeast of the capital.

Dan Murphy, Jakarta – Indonesia's economy is finally showing signs of life thanks to a peaceful presidential election, a new president who has proved acceptable to the majority of the Indonesian people, and black gold.

Paul Daley, Canberra – Continued European bans on arms sales will seriously hamper Indonesia's "internal repression" but could prompt Jakarta to forge new military relationships with China and Russia, a top-secret Australian intelligence paper reveals.

Asip Agus Hasani, Yogyakarta – One manifestation of the military's dwi fungsi or dual function are its territorial institutions which span from provincial to village level: Military regional commands (Kodam), military resort commands and district commands at the regional level (Kodim), district level commands (Koramil) and village guidance bodies (Babinsa), comprising noncommissione

Brian Toohey – Not so long ago, Major General Zacky Anwar Makarim had good reason to smile when he saw a member of the Australian embassy enter his Jakarta headquarters. He could be fairly confident the visitor was bearing gifts. Anwar had little to offer in return, but this did not diminish the Australians' determination to prove they were generous allies.

Kafil Yamin, Jakarta – Surya Sunjaya, who has been in the "entertainment business" for 23 years and is suspected to run a drug operation as well, is not afraid of police operations. He can face any bust by the police force, he says, because he knows he can "make a deal" with them.

Yasmin Ghahremani and Tom Mccawley, Bandung – The prosperous, tree-lined streets of Bandung hearken back to an era earlier this century when the city was known as the Paris of Java.

Dan Murphy, Jakarta – Indonesia's new government is facing a dilemma as restive provinces such as Aceh, Irian Jaya and Riau clamour for a bigger share of the revenues from their natural resources, such as oil and gas.