In his test of wills with the Indonesian military, President Abdurrahman Wahid has received much foreign support, particularly from Washington. On January 31 at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, he met with Stanley Roth, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific. Roth then spoke with Asiaweek Editor Ann M.

Jakarta – Indonesian police have detained an Australian labor consultant for questioning over his alleged participation in street protests here, the Jakarta Post said Friday.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) unveiled on Thursday a plan to enhance its arsenal and manpower reserves in a bid to address the escalating threats of security disturbances and social unrest in the country.

Seth Mydans, Jakarta – Perhaps the most telling insult to Indonesia's armed forces, people here say, is that mothers no longer encourage their daughters to marry a military man.

Dan Murphy, Jakarta – Car maker Astra International has long been among Indonesia's best-regarded companies, one that the son of its founder calls a "cash machine." Its lock on the domestic car industry has allowed it to weather three devaluations of the rupiah, attacks on its showrooms by angry mobs and acrimonious takeover battles.

General Wiranto wanted to explain to the people of Singapore what the real situation was in Indonesia, he told The Straits Times' Indonesia Correspondent Susan Sim.

Tim Dodd – The management of one of Indonesia's largest and most promising companies was ousted yesterday at an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders in Jakarta.

May Sari, Jakarta – Thousands protested against the meeting of the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) – which includes 30 donor countries and is chaired by the World Bank – on February 1. The meeting considered the Indonesian government's progress in imposing austerity, the condition for granting Jakarta's requests for further loans and "donations".

Seth Mydans, Ambon – The most frightening sound is the wild banging of stones on metal light poles, a ringing crescendo of panic that begins nobody-knows-where and spreads in moments around this violent, broken seaside town.

While world attention is focused on the crimes committed by Indonesia's military in East Timor last year, former Indonesian president Suharto is living in peace and comfort, still not charged for the countless crimes against humanity he ordered during his 33-year dictatorship.

Jakarta – The continuing conflict in Maluku falls into line with the Army's struggle to protect its political and economic interests following the end of the New Order regime, a member of reconciliatory team in the territory says.

John Martinkus, Kupang – Exiled pro-Indonesian East Timorese militiamen are making ends meet by selling their military-supplied weapons to embattled Christians from the riot-torn island of Ambon.

Jakarta – Former Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. (ret.) Feisal Tanjung on Monday vehemently denied being part of an alleged plan to "eliminate" President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Jakarta – The number of known hard drug addicts in Jakarta has soared by at least 400 percent in the past three years, and the real increase could be much larger, a newspaper report said on Tuesday.

Soraya Permatasari, Jakarta – The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) on Tuesday won its battle to oust the head of auto conglomerate Astra International, moving a step closer to the crucial sale of its 45 percent stake in the firm.

Andrew McNaughtan – The truth is out – officially. A year ago, when the Indonesian military's covert campaign to hold East Timor through coercion was taking shape, it was almost unimaginable that an Indonesian inquiry would ever have the power and the will to publish its damning report about what happened in East Timor.

Jakarta – The ethnic-Chinese community on the Indonesian island of Bali was urged to remain calm on Sunday after their homes were marked by unknown people trying to destabilise the tourist paradise, police and a report said.

Singgir Kartana, Surakarta – Surakarta, better known as Solo, is famous for its beautiful women, a phenomenon that inspired the late Ismail Marzuki to compose Putri Solo (Girl from Solo).

Washington – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) threw Indonesia a new financial lifeline on Friday, approving a new three-year loan worth $5 billion to help seal a tentative economic recovery.

Emmy Fitri, Jakarta – Although he is facing imminent retirement, cabinet suspension and censure for alleged human rights abuse, no one doubts that Gen. Wiranto will fight back. The question is what kind of counterattack the four-star general will launch.

Yogyakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) is now in worse shape than at any point in its history, chairman of the Reform Faction at the House of Representatives (DPR) Hatta Rajasa said.

Geoff Spencer, Jakarta – They have been terrorized, their houses and businesses wrecked and burned in wave after wave of riots and political upheaval.

But as the Year of the Golden Dragon begins, Indonesia's Chinese minority is feeling uncharacteristically optimistic.

Jakarta – The discourse on whether Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Gen. Wiranto should resign over the East Timor debacle snowballed on Thursday, amid fears about a further plunge of the rupiah resulting from the political tension.

Jakarta – Criticism against President Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid has been relentless since he took office three months ago, but for the first time a political party unabashedly called on him to resign due to his "ailing health."

Ambon – The Indonesian military's support of Muslim extremists in Maluku province appears to be growing, partly because of the failure of authorities to identify and prosecute rogue officers, a senior United States diplomat said yesterday.

Nayan Chanda, John McBeth and Dan Murphy, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid likes a good pun. So when General Electric's vice-president and senior counsel, Michael Gadbaw, led a US business delegation to Jakarta's colonial-era presidential palace the other day, he found Indonesia's leader ready with a corny crack.

Jakarta – Twelve Muslim-based parties which collected only 3 percent of votes among them in last year's general election announced on Tuesday their plan to merge for the next polls in 2004.

Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Gen. Wiranto dismissed on Tuesday calls for his resignation over the East Timor mayhem, saying he was determined to defend himself against charges of wrongdoing.

Scott Burchill – The Indonesian Government doesn't have an impressive record of investigating its own crimes in East Timor. And the Australian Government has been equally suspect in its reactions to Jakarta's inquiries.

On January 31, the investigation by the Indonesian National Commission for Human Rights into atrocities and human rights abuses in East Timor will release its report.

Jakarta – The second Riau People's Congress in the provincial capital Pekanbaru concluded on Tuesday with a poll that resulted in a majority vote for independence.

Of 623 ballots cast, 270 were in favor of independence, 199 for autonomy, 146 for the federal option and the remaining eight were abstentions.

Jakarta – Indonesia's main aid donors on Wednesday pledged up to 4.7 billion dollars in loans to support the country's 2000 budget but deferred a decision on rescheduling 2.2 billion dollars in debt.

Sydney – Indonesia should be left by the international community to pursue allegations of human rights abuses against its military in East Timor, Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Tuesday.

Indonesia lurched further toward democracy during the year, but serious regional conflicts, a weak legal system, and delicate civil-military relations posed ongoing obstacles to the protection of human rights.

Transport Minister Agum Gumelar, an active three-star general, is one of the Indonesian military's leading intellectuals and a strong candidate for the post of armed forces chief.

He spoke with Time correspondent David Liebhold and reporter Zamira Loebis in his Jakarta office January 19. The following is an expanded excerpt from the interview:

Budi Sugiharto/Hendra & GB, Surabaya – Around 2,000 thousand demonstrators calling themselves "The Association of Sampang People" from the island of Madura, East Java province, rallied at the military court/military attorney's office located in the provincial capital, Surabaya. They demanded the elected Sampang governor immediately face trial and be sentenced to death.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Food shortages are cutting into daily life in the Maluku Islands, as fighting between communities and religious groups continues in the north.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said shortages were growing serious for displaced people in North Maluku.

Jakarta – The violence and political uncertainty enveloping Indonesia pose serious risks for the economy and investment, but those willing to take their chances could reap huge rewards.

Analysts say there is still plenty of room for stocks prices to move up, even after the index gained 70 percent through 1999, making it Asia's third strongest performer.

Reuters in Tokyo – Indonesia's parliament may revise the nation's constitution to abolish a clause under which the vice-president automatically becomes president if the nation's leader is incapacitated, Speaker Amien Rais was quoted as saying.

Lo Pui-Kwan – Indonesian domestic helpers yesterday formed their own union – the first in Asia – to fight abuse they say they suffer during their work.

Organisers of the union said Indonesians were the second-largest group of foreign domestic helpers in the territory, after Filipinos.

Ambon – Indonesian's top general in the embattled Muluku islands said today that four soldiers were involved in the massacre of 24 Christian civilians on the island of Haruku last week.

Jakarta – Indonesian police Sunday fired warning shots to disperse groups of Muslims who pelted churches in the central Java city of Yogyakarta after attending a mass rally to protest violence against Muslims in the Malukus, police and the military said.

Linawati Sidarto, Amsterdam – Another New Order taboo crumbled last week: Indonesian political exiles could now opt to regain their lost citizenship.

At the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague on January 17, Minister of Law and Legislation Yusril Ihza Mahendra met with over 100 Indonesians who have lived in exile since the country's political turmoil in September 1965.

Jakarta – The World Bank today gave its seal of approval to the new government of Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid for its handling of economic affairs during its first 100 days in power.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – A leading activist says the plethora of human rights inquiries under way across Indonesia constitute a form of "human rights tourism" and they can still fall prey to clever military propaganda.

Tim Dodd, Jakarta – Indonesia's tropical forests are responsible for one of the country's largest export sectors – wood, pulp and paper products worth $7.5 billion in 1998.

But the abundant forests which produce this money-spinner are fast disappearing under pressure from illegal clearing and short-sighted resource management.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government faces an uphill task to stay on the road to recovery this year and will need loans of between 4.2 billion dollars and 4.7 billion dollars from its main donors to finance the 2000 budget, the World Bank said Friday.

Sangwon Suh and Dewi Loveard, Jakarta – Would the person who is really in charge of Indonesia please stand up? With rumors of a military coup swirling around in Jakarta, Muslim-Christian violence exploding in the outer regions and Islamists calling for a holy war, a casual observer might be forgiven for thinking that the situation in Indonesia is spinning out of control.

Jakarta – Hundreds of students staged a noisy protest outside the office of the Caltex oil company in Riau, one of the country's richest provinces, the company said on Thursday.

PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia spokesman Poedyo Oetomo said that protesters were demanding a three-day suspension of oil production and urging Caltex employees to stage a walkout.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid has found a way to secure the retirement from the military of generals he appointed to his cabinet.

But critics say General Wiranto, now Co-ordinating Minister for Politics and Security, may yet evade prosecution over allegations of human rights abuses while he was armed forces chief.