Jakarta – The Indonesian government will pay out 495.8 billion rupiah (S$112 million) in subsidies for the poor and public transport operators to offset planned fuel price hikes.
A total of 164.8 billion rupiah had been earmarked for subsidies to the poor to buy kerosene, the deputy chairman of the National Development Planning Board, Muhammad Abduh, said.
Jakarta – A close friend of former president Suharto was detained yesterday by the Attorney-General's office in connection with an investigation into the alleged misuse of funds involving an Indonesian government contract.
Semarang – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said yesterday that his government will propose that the country's next president and vice-president be elected directly by the people in 2004.
Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has proposed breaking his country's reliance on the United States for military equipment. He proposed that instead the domestic defense industry expand along with a network of international suppliers. Wahid appears to be seeking leverage for an upcoming visit to Washington.
Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid said Indonesia must develop its own military industries, diversify its weapons- sourcing and move away from dependence on the United States.
Michael Richardson, Jakarta – After sidelining the military and consolidating democracy in Indonesia, a country long used to authoritarian rule, the government of President Abdurrahman Wahid is under increasing pressure to speed economic reform efforts or risk losing the fragile gains in stability it has achieved.
Paul Daley, Canberra – Indonesian military figures associated with the discredited Suharto regime are deliberately smearing Australia with unsubstantiated allegations of unauthorised RAAF spy flights over the archipelago, senior Australian defence and intelligence figures claim.
Jakarta – Three generals, allegedly involved in quashing a 1984 riot in Jakarta when scores of Muslim militants died, have been identified by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas Ham) and will be summoned for questioning.
Jakarta – The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) – a watchdog body that monitors abuses involving corruption, collusion, and nepotism (KKN) – commented that President Wahid has not yet significantly combatted corruption in Indonesia.
Jakarta – Police found the remains of at least 34 foetuses yesterday at a burial site on the southern outskirts of Jakarta.
Police forensic expert Mun-Iem Idris said the foetuses, between three and seven months old, were believed to have been buried not far below ground-level in the past few months by a team of illegal abortionists working in the area.
Jakarta – Indonesia's General Elections Commission (KPU), plagued by allegations of corruption, has elected a presidium to replace its chairman, retired General Rudini, who resigned recently for health reasons.
Makassar – President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday said he supported a plan for the construction of three new naval bases – in Sorong, Sumatra and Java – to better assure security in this archipelago nation.
Jakarta – Thirty years after the military dealt with a communist threat, the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) – the country's highest authority on Islam – is pressing the government to maintain the 34-year-old ban on the ideology and its teachings.
Jose Manuel Tesoro, Jakarta – "Indonesian politics these days is like a Chinese movie," says a disgruntled Indonesian former civil servant. If one imagines vengeful Chinese martial artists in combat, each threatening retribution on the other's descendants, one does indeed approach the petty vindictiveness and vicious skirmishes that now dominate Jakarta's elite politics.
Melbourne – Prime Minister John Howard today responded to overtures from Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid by praising Mr Wahid's leadership and democratic principles.
"I admire the courage that he's displayed in the time that he's been the president," Mr Howard said, after Mr Wahid reportedly spoke of a desire "not to leave him [Mr Howard] out in the cold".
Tim Dodd, Jakarta – In a stunning reversal, Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid has praised the Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, for his "strength" in sticking to his controversial views on Asia and offered to build a new relationship with Australia.
Jakarta – Ex-president Soeharto's children were under siege yesterday as son Bambang Trihatmodjo was questioned by state prosecutors while a company controlled by daughter Siti 'Tutut' Hardiyanti Rukmana faced a lawsuit filed by state toll road operator PT Jasa Marga.
Jakarta – Calls for President Abdurrahman Wahid not to ratify the controversial state security bill continued on Thursday with the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) officially sending a letter requesting a review of the bill.
Jakarta – Indonesian share prices, which fell 1.6 percent this week, are expected to remain flat next week due to a lack of positive sentiment and the market's disappointment with the announcement of the winner of PT Astra International's bid, analysts said Friday.
Karen Polglaze, Jakarta – A team to be set up to pursue the investigation of massive human rights violations in East Timor last year has already drawn criticism over its composition and focus.
Jakarta – The Indonesian government said it would investigate the alleged embezzlement of some 117 billion rupiah (S$23.4 million) by the General Elections Commission (KPU) during last year's polls.
Associated Press in Jakarta – Fresh violence broke out between Christians and Muslims in North Maluku killing five people and injuring dozens more, news reports said on Wednesday.
May Sari, Surabaya – One thousand five hundred workers at PT Surabaya Meka Box in East Java, Indonesia, began a strike on February 21 to protest against the dismissal of three colleagues who were representing workers in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement.
Pip Hinman – Roger Smith, an Australian who works for the American Centre for International Labor Solidarity, which is funded by the US government and the AFL-CIO, has been threatened with deportation from Indonesia. His "crime" was to liaise with and report labour movement activities there.
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Many cite law enforcement as the key to structuring a better way of life in Indonesia. But Indonesia's judicial system, one of the backbones of law enforcement, has yet to show any signs of change. Too often people claim that money, not the law, is the determining factor in legal decisions.
Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid has ordered a shake-up of the country's official news agency, Antara, removing its editor-in-chief and demanding it be more independent.
Andrew Marshall, Jakarta – Indonesia's plans to give regions more control over their finances are at the heart of the country's efforts to hold its disparate provinces together. But wrongly handled, they could blow its economy apart.
Pip Hinman – Since his election five months ago, the new president of Indonesia, Abdurrahman Wahid, has managed to create the impression that his is a people-friendly government. But how true is this?
Jakarta – Finance minister Bambang Sudibyo said on Monday that 120 state-owned companies suffered combined financial losses of Rp 47.65 trillion (US$6.39 billion) last year.
Tim Dodd, Jakarta – The chairman of Indonesia's National Business Development Council, Mr Sofyan Wanandi, has the task of harnessing business to invest in Indonesia, but concedes that conditions are not yet ideal.
Jakarta – Some 100 airport employees went on strike at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Monday demanding national flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia restore their status as government employees within the airline.
The move did not disrupt Garuda's flight schedules. The strike began at 4am, the beginning of the company's first working shift of the day.
Susan Sim, Jakarta – The crew of a Dutch-owned vessel with links to the Habibie family is expected to go on trial in Batam today for allegedly smuggling sand out of the Indonesian island for a multi-million-dollar reclamation project in Singapore.
Jakarta – The government has scrapped the controversial retroactive clause from the human rights bill and proposed that past human rights violations be tried in an ad hoc tribunal.
Vaudine England – History is becoming one of the hottest topics in Indonesia, with President Abdurrahman Wahid paying visits to former presidents, dissidents and alleged communists while the national human rights body opens inquiries into a range of recent traumas.
Jakarta – Political observers here are speculating that rogue elements inside the military are behind the recent wave of "political terror" launched against the nation's legislators.
Jakarta – Several foreign investors and buyers may pull out of contracts with Indonesian plywood producers over escalating conflicts between timber companies and local people in Kalimantan, a report said yesterday.
Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid attended joint prayers held at the residence of former President Suharto to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the death of Mr Suharto's wife, a report said on Thursday.
Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid's approval of attempts to reopen the case of the 1965 abortive coup and its bloody aftermath has caused some controversy.
Marianne Kearney – One of the major problems in the haze crisis is the weak enforcement of flawed, existing laws. Companies flout the law because there is no one agency that monitors whether they abide by it.
In the past, good proposals to deter companies and farmers from starting the fires were made. Years later, they still exist – as drafts.
James Balowski – Indonesia has moved toward a more pluralistic democracy but human rights abuses remained rife in 1999, according to a US State Department report released on February 25.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesia's economic growth will exceed previous conservative estimates of between 3 and 4 percent, but the International Monetary Fund's new representative here, Mr John Dodsworth, has warned that the growth will slow down if the government does not quickly restructure the banking, corporate and legal systems.
May Sari, Jakarta – Three hundred women and men marched from the Kapuk industrial area to Indonesia's parliament building on International Women's Day, March 8. IWD was not celebrated in Indonesia before 1999.
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Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia's President, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, said yesterday that some senior military officers were plotting to overthrow him but any attempt would fail because he had the public's support.
Jakarta – Hundreds of students the North Sumatra legislative assembly yesterday to demand the final closure of a factory operated by pulp and rayon fiber producer PT Inti Indorayon Utama.
Jakarta – The National Business Development Council has urged the government to immediately deal with security disturbances against the business sector, saying that in 1999 alone, the business sector suffered losses of around Rp5 trillion [US$714 million].
Simon Montlake, Jakarta – Indonesia must tread cautiously in cutting fuel subsidies and should seek to lessen the impact on kerosene prices as this directly hits poorer households, International Monetary Fund representative to Indonesia, John Dodsworth said Tuesday.
Jakarta – A glass window in a hallway in Indonesia's parliament building was pierced yesterday by what seemed to be a bullet, just minutes after former president Suharto's youngest son passed it on his way to give testimony, witnesses said.
Simon Montlake, Jakarta – The Indonesian government is under pressure to consider increasing protection for domestic rice producers, after protests by farmers over low prices paid for unhusked rice, local newspapers said Tuesday.
Jakarta – Thousands of people are fleeing to safer areas as fresh fighting between religious groups in the Maluku islands left many dead and more than 100 houses burnt or damaged.
Mr Muhammad Albar, a Muslim activist, said the bodies of 11 Muslims were found in Galela, a town on Halmahera in North Maluku, the biggest island in the region, AP reported.