Jakarta – Two student protesters participating in a hunger strike at the Attorney General's Office in South Jakarta for the past week were admitted to St. Carolus Hospital on Monday because of dehydration. Six other students are continuing the hunger strike.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesia's government is getting ready to crack the whip on recalcitrant debtors by giving the Attorney-General's Office powers to sue companies that fail to pay their debts – a development that can have significant implications for the country's economic growth.

Jakarta – The complete works of Indonesia's best known author, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, banned in his own country for four decades, are to be published in their entirety for the first time. "Starting next month we will republish everything," the author told AFP.

Jakarta – A group of human rights lawyers on Monday protested as unecessary and flawed a draft bill being prepared by the government to pave the way for the creation of a human rights court in Indonesia.

Jakarta – Here's a riddle: A plane carrying 20 professors suddenly develops engine trouble. The passengers discuss among themselves ways out of their dilemma. Does anyone know the answer? Answer: If 20 professors don't have the answer, what chance do the rest of us have? That essentially caps the problem facing dozens of state universities across the country.

Jakarta – About 500 fruit, candy and cigarettes vendors pelted and broke the windows of six intercity buses at the Pulogadung bus terminal, East Jakarta, in a protest against City Public Land Transportation Agency (DLLAJ) officials' rough actions for the past week.

Jakarta – Indonesia appeared to back down yesterday from a multi-million dollar fight with the United States after Washington threatened to seize Indonesian assets abroad.

David Barber, Wellington – An ethnic-Chinese Indonesian businessman freed by former New Zealand SAS troops was allegedly held captive for five years in a tiny room in a Javanese village, it was reported yesterday.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesian authorities have identified at least 10 companies responsible for starting fires in the Riau province but are facing problems prosecuting them.

Mr Setyo Winarso, an official of the environmental monitoring agency, Bapadal, said existing laws were difficult to enforce despite the government's readiness to penalise plantation owners.

Jakarta – Thick haze from forest fires shrouded several towns in Sumatra on Friday, keeping Pekanbaru, Riau, mostly in the dark during daylight hours.

Ambon – Tension prevailed on Friday in Halmahera in North Maluku following a series of communal clashes earlier in the week that left at least 30 people dead and dozens injured.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Investment Minister Laksamana Sukardi has pleaded for time to reform the country's graft-ridden legal system and promised to honour contracts agreed with past regimes.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said Friday he will pardon former president Suharto if a court finds him guilty of corruption and abuse of power during his 32 years in power.

Jakarta – In another move aimed at promoting a civil society and human rights principles, President Abdurrahman Wahid decided on Wednesday to disband the military-controlled Agency for the Coordination of Support for National Stability Development (Bakorstanas).

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Past and present came together yesterday when President Abdurrahman Wahid met former Indonesian leader Suharto for the first time since taking office four months ago.

Jakarta – The main challenge facing the Indonesian government is the reform of the legal system, a senior minister said Thursday.

"Our major challenge is to overhaul the court process," State Minister for Investment and State Enterprises Development Laksamana Sukardi told a luncheon organised by the French-Indonesian Chamber of Commerce.

John McBeth, Jakarta – For both admirers and critics of Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, the picture is disturbing: At the presidential palace in Jakarta there are signs of a new "royal court" in the making.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Crime is shooting up and guns are the rage in Jakarta these days. Media reports here suggest that the increase is due to the increasing availability in Indonesia of firearms and other weapons for personal defence, such as tear-gas canisters.

Jakarta – Indonesia's military now acknowledges the legitimacy of the country's new government and realises that a coup attempt would trigger a bloodbath, a senior US official said yesterday.

Yogyakarta – Surakarta-based radio station PTPN Rasitania was silent on Wednesday after it was forced to suspend broadcasting after airing a talk show that some accused of being blasphemous.

Jakarta – Conflicts between local communities and timber companies will likely increase in the future because the people are now more aware of their rights, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

Indonesia's environmental monitoring agency, Bapadal, has been trying to get hard evidence to nail those responsible for the dangerous levels of haze that has covered the Riau province over the past week. Straits Times Correspondent Marianne Kearney, while in Pekan Baru, followed one attempt to catch the fire starters

Jakarta – The World Bank has questioned the decision by a Jakarta court to acquit the director of a politically linked company accused of involvement in Indonesia's multi-million dollar Bank Bali fraud scandal, reports said Wednesday.

May Sari – Attended by 50 of its leading members, the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle (FNPBI) held its national council meeting in Cisarua, West Java, on February 13-15.

Jakarta – President Abdurrachman Wahid has signed a law ratifying a convention of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on immediate prevention of abuse of child workers.

Wahid described the convention as important for Indonesia where, he said, there were still many cases of child workers "inhumanly" abused against the convention of the United Nations.

Vaudine England and Agencies, Pekanbaru – The end of Indonesia's rainy season is once again revealing the chaos created by allowing plantation owners and farmers to clear land by setting fires.

Jakarta – Abortion is strictly prohibited under both the Criminal Code and the Health Law. But despite the legislation, women continue to seek abortions.

Marina Carman – One hundred and fifty students staged a protest outside the office of the regional legislative assembly in Surabaya, Indonesia, on February 22. The students were angry at the Indonesian military's repression and domination of political life in the country.

Jakarta – The director of a politically linked company accused of involvement in Indonesia's multi-million dollar Bank Bali fraud scandal has been acquitted on a technicality, reports said Tuesday.

Djoko Tjandra, executive of PT Era Giat Prima (EGP), had been charged with corruption in "arranging and engaging in illegal transactions," the Jakarta Post daily said.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – The baby sits in rags among the filth, a commodity for sale. A beggar pays a little money and buys a tragic bundle to cry when cars pull up at the traffic lights.

Jakarta – A new presidential decree will be issued allowing the government to take over Rp 4 trillion (US$540 million) in assets from former president Soeharto's seven foundations.

Jakarta – Leading politicians and observers said on Monday the attack on National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Matori Abdul Djalil was politically motivated, speculating that it might be part of a larger conspiracy to destabilize the government.

Jakarta – Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights on Tuesday set up a team to probe the 1984 shooting in Jakarta's northern port area that left scores dead.

The commission's Secretary General, Asmara Nababan, told journalists here that team, composed of nine members and headed by Joko Sugianto, will investigate the 12 September 1984 shooting in Tanjung Priok.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – More than 10 senior military officers, at least one of them holding a three-star rank, threatened to quit the Indonesian defence forces (TNI) last week after complaining of "repeated presidential intervention" in military affairs.

Marianne Kearney, Riau – Where there's smoke there is fire but in Riau province, central Sumatra, finding the source of the fire and who started it is not always easy.

On February 28, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid appointed an unusual new advisor: former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) Commander Adm. Widodo approved a large-scale reshuffling of the military this week, shifting 74 officers and several top positions. In the most noteworthy transfer, he appointed an outspoken reformer, Lt. Gen. Agus Wirahadikusumah, as the head of the elite Army Strategic Reserve Command, known as Kostrad.

Jakarta – Suspended Cabinet minister General Wiranto has denied that Lt-General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the military's former chief of territorial affairs, proposed that he should seize power amid the political violence preceding the downfall of former President Suharto.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The Indonesian armed forces (TNI) plans to reduce the number of its extensive territorial commands in the country in a move that could diminish the military's political role further.

Jakarta – A loan scandal involving Indonesia's biggest textile magnate, Marimutu Sinivasan of the Texmaco Group, is turning into a major challenge for President Abdurrahman Wahid's four-month-old government.

Marianne Kearney, Pekanbaru – Just across the Malacca Strait from Singapore, was yesterday enveloped in a blanket of haze as over 100 fires blazed for the third day this week.

Riau province in central Sumatra, which last year had one of the highest recorded number of blazing hot spots, has again become a fire centre.

Jakarta – Indonesia's best-known writer, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, is a surprise critic of the country's new President, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid. Pramoedya dismisses the President as "part of the elite ... that implemented fascism and ran the country by terror ... everyone became afraid and those who wanted to live had to become a hypocrite".

Jakarta – The House Commission VIII in charge of mining and energy said it would ask the Mines and Energy Ministry to clarify the position with regard to higher fuel price and electricity tariff.

Singapore (AP) – Fires have broken out on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where land-clearing blazes caused severe pollution in much of Southeast Asia in 1997, officials in Singapore said Thursday.

Jakarta – People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais said on Wednesday Indonesia did not need foreign advisors, thus President Abdurrahman Wahid's appointment of several foreign dignitaries in that role was merely a symbolic gesture.

Jakarta – The government and the House of Representatives budget committee agreed on Wednesday to raise the basic salaries of President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri by 78 percent and 120 percent respectively.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Former military strongman Wiranto is finished politically and is unlikely to ever play a dominant role in politics here, Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono said in an interview.

In Indonesia, hundreds of drivers of the popular three-wheeled pedicabs took to the streets late last night.

According to reports by the official Antara News Agency, they were rallying against a local government decision banning them many of the streets in Jakarta.

Pip Hinman, Jakarta – Around 500 members of the People's Democratic Party (PRD) protested outside the Presidential Palace on February 21 to demand that the Indonesian government abandon its plans to cut fuel and electricity subsidies. PRD members travelled to Jakarta from all over the country.

May Sari, Jakarta – Having failed to gain satisfaction from their employer or the Indonesian government, thousands workers from PT Kong Tai Indonesia protested outside parliament here on February 21.