Jakarta – The World Bank's exposure to Indonesia is approaching its limit of 13.5 bln usd for a single large borrower, reducing the scope for additional lending in the next few years, the bank said in an interim assistance strategy document.

Jakarta – Thousands of Indonesian students greeted President Suharto's re-appointment as president with jhoisy but peaceful demonstrations across the country.

Tight security was in force at many of the campuses, but troops and riot police did not intervene as the authorities maintained their tolerance of demonstrations within university grounds.

150 students on work experience from Syiahkuala University, Banda Aceh, who have been placed in North Aceh protested against Mobil Oil Indonesia on Monday 8/3.

The students protested with banners and by making speeches demanding that Mobil Oil take full responsibility for the environment, work force, community development. The protest took place between 10.00 and 15.00.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – Two churches and a Christian school were destroyed partially in the West Java city of Bandung on Sunday by mobs angry over the illegal use of several shophouses for Christian services.

Jakarta – The chairperson of the People's Democratic Party (PRD), Budiman Sudjatmiko has said that they [the PRD] have never recommended to anyone to present [a request] for clemency by the President. "We have never felt we have done wrong or carried out political crimes during the period of the New Order regime", wrote Budiman and Petrus H.

Jakarta – A military prosecutor on Tuesday asked for jail sentences of between 15 to 26 months for eleven soldiers on trial for abducting pro-democracy activists in the last months of the Suharto regime.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Every weekend across Indonesia, convoys of buses, crammed with supposedly enthusiastic supporters of the 48 political parties approved to contest the June 7 elections, pull up at sports stadiums and parks.

Jay Solomon, Jakarta – Indonesian presidential candidate Amien Rais said he couldn't rule out a possible coalition between his National Mandate Party, or PAN, and the ruling Golkar party following June 7 parliamentary elections.

Jakarta – Renewed Moslem-Christian clashes in the riot-torn Indonesian city of Ambon reportedly claimed five more lives Monday as an attack was reported on Christian places of worship and a school on Java island.

Jakarta – Indonesian police arrested more than 200 protestors in separate demonstrations marking International Women's Day on Monday, witnesses said,

In the first sweep policemen and policewomen rounded up 59 women protesting against violence against women and other human rights abuses outside the local office of the United Nations, witnesses said.

Jakarta – The Indonesian armed forces on Sunday sent a team of 19 high-ranking military officers to riot-torn Ambon in a bid to halt ongoing Moslem-Christian violence which has left more than 160 people dead.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – In the movie Forrest Gump, a simpleton character wanders blithely into scenes that are later regarded as historic. A variation of that happened here recently.

Jakarta – An estimated 200,000 people packed a Jakarta sports stadium Sunday in a mass show of support for Golkar, the party which kept president Suharto in power for 32 years, witnesses said.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) and the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) condemned Friday security personnel's brutal treatment of student demonstrators and journalists.

PBHI said in a statement that it would sue the Jakarta military commander and the city police chief for the security personnel's alleged brutality.

Jakarta – Attorney General Lt. Gen. A.M. Ghalib on Friday again expressed his doubts about the authenticity of the recently leaked bugged conversation he allegedly had with President B.J. Habibie. At the same time he blasted the press for exaggerating the issue.

Jakarta – The Attorney General, Muladi, has said that he will recommend clemency for jailed People's Democratic Party (PRD) activists, including the chairperson of the PRD, Budiman Sudjatmiko, who is presently interned at Cipinang Prison and Dita Indah Sari, who is in the Tangerang Women's Prison.

On March 4, the Minister of Home Affairs and "traditional enemy" of People's Democratic Party (PRD), General Syarwan Hamid, signed a statement saying that the government had approved the PRD's registration to participate in the June 7 election after considering the recommendations of a report from the Team of Eleven.

Jakarta – At least two people have been killed and several injured in a fresh outbreak of violence on the strife-torn Indonesian island of Ambon, witnesses said on Saturday.

One man was gunned down when the occupants of a car opened fire on residents manning a civilian roadblock at Silo church about 2.00am on Saturday.

Sander Thoenes, Jakarta – Madeleine Albright, US secretary of state, is expected today to offer a resumption of US military aid to Indonesia if the armed forces halt human rights abuses in East Timor and other parts of the archipelago, diplomats said.

Jakarta – Indonesia's military had the mandate to take power during the turbulent days of Suharto's downfall last May, but didn't, armed forces chief general Wiranto was quoted Friday as saying.

Jonathan Wright, Jakarta – Indonesian President B.J. Habibie has accepted the need for international monitors for the June 7 parliamentary election, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Friday.

33 students from several universities are still being held at police headquarters in Jakarta after taking part in a demonstration outside the ABA-ABI (Indonesian and foreign languages colleges) campus in East Jakarta.

A journalist from Pos Kota, Totok Irianto, 36, was injured when he was struck by a hard object. He is still under treatment in hospital.

Jakarta – Indonesia has threatened to deport foreign nationals here to monitor the run-up to the country's June 7 elections if they do not have proper visas or are not registered with Jakarta's United Nations office, reports said Friday.

Jonathan Wright, Jakarta – Indonesia told the United States on Thursday it was arming and training local militias but had no interest in inciting conflict in East Timor between supporters and opponents of independence.

Jakarta – The Commission on Elections (P3KPU), popularly known as the Team of Eleven, announced on Thursday that it is recommending 48 political parties to contest in the June 7 general election.

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – Muslim students demonstrated in Jakarta yesterday demanding a holy war against Christians in Ambon. About 2,000 students massed in a central square shouting "jihad" and accusing the military and Christians of ethnic cleansing in Ambon.

Louise Williams – In a city littered with the bodies of the dead and mutilated, where the markets have been burnt to the ground, where soldiers hire out their protection services for cash, and where Christians and Muslims live barricaded behind gangs of wild, armed young men, Donny Lufki no longer believes in the law.

Sander Thoenes, Jakarta – The leaders of the Justice Party put their money where their mouth is. The soft-drink cooler at party headquarters in Jakarta is unlocked, relying instead on a Koranic verse to admonish members to pay for what they take: "If you pay the exact amount you already did justice," a sign reads. "Do justice, since justice is closer to piety."

Jakarta – Troops and police fought pitched battles in the streets of Jakarta Thursday, after the security forces tried to block a march by some 2,000 students calling for Indonesian President B.J. Habibie to step down.

Jakarta – Two people were killed and a house torched in fresh violence between two ethnic groups in the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan, police said Tuesday.

"Two people were killed yesterday [Monday] in Pemangkat subdistrict 30 kilometers north of Sambas at three in the morning," Sergeant Major Pranoto of Singkawang district police in Sambas told AFP.

Ambon – The riot-torn Indonesian city of Ambon was gripped by tension Tuesday, with troops posted at key trouble spots amid rumours Moslems were gearing up for a protest and the discovery of the bodies of a man and a woman stabbed to death.

Jakarta – The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is to focus its assistance on three poll monitoring networks considered among the most prepared in their programs.

UNDP advisor Erna Witoelar identified them on Monday as the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP), the University Network for Free and Fair Elections (Unfrel) and the Rectors Forum.

Jakarta – The independent Team of Eleven revealed on Monday only around 60 of the 104 political parties it was examining were expected to pass screening to contest the June 7 general election.

Jakarta – Indonesia will send 1,000 more troops to Ambon and neighbouring islands in Maluku province where more than 150 people have died in Moslem-Christian violence since mid-January, reports said Monday.

"They will reach here in a short time," Colonel Karel Ralahalu, chief of the Pattimura military command overseeing Ambon, was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Post.

Jakarta – The leader of Indonesia's largest Moslem group Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) has ordered his followers to vote for the group's political party in the June election, local newspapers reported on Monday.

Jakarta – A mob of loyalists to popular Indonesian opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputi's beat up the chief of a rival state backed party which she used to lead, reports said Monday.

Christine T. Tjandraningsih, Jakarta – The Indonesian House of Representatives on Monday revoked a much-criticized law made by former President Suharto, that has been a barrier for more than a decade to amending the country's 1945 Constitution.

Jakarta – Police arrested some 35 students taking part in demonstrations here Monday to demand a faster investigation of former president Suharto.

In one demonstration outside the forestry ministry, next to the parliament building, 35 students from the Protesting People's Action Alliance (Alarm) called for Suharto to face trial.

Jakarta – Former Indonesian president Suharto is to sue popular reform politician Amien Rais and two other people for defamation, a report said Saturday

"Pak Harto (a popular appelation for Suharto) can no longer stand it, being insulted by those figures," Suharto lawyer Muhammad Assegaf was quoted by the Media Indonesia daily as saying.

Jakarta – The Indonesian authorities registered 141 Indonesian political parties in the first stage of filtering down numbers for the country's key June 7 national election, reports said Friday.

Jakarta – The political party founded by independent labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan yesterday announced it will nominate opposition figurehead Megawati Soekarnoputri for the presidency.

Ambon – About 700 people Friday held protests against security shootings on civilians here as Moslem-Christian violence that has so far claimed at least 18 lives entered its fourth day.

Ambon – Boats carrying hundreds of refugees left a riot-torn Indonesian town today after deadly fighting between Muslims and Christians. At least 24 people have died in unrest in the region this week, a newspaper reported.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Pressure is mounting on President B.J. Habibie to clarify the substance of an alleged telephone conversation with his Attorney-General over investigations into former leader Suharto's wealth, as a senior opposition figure called for a parliamentary probe which could lead to impeachment proceedings.

Jakarta – After a meeting between three [government] bodies on Wednesday afternoon (24/2), the State Intelligence Coordinating Body (Bakin), the Department of Justice Political Party Registration Council (Depkeh) and the Political General Directorate of the Department of Home Affairs (Depdagri), the People's Democratic Party (PRD), has been officially registered as a political party

Jakarta – More than 1,000 workers at an Indonesian household appliances company were laid off after staging a nine-day protest in the eastern city of Surabaya to demand pay rises, legal aid officers and press reports said Wednesday.

On 28 January 1999, Parliament adopted three laws to replace the five political laws promulgated in 1985. The laws are about the elections, political parties and the composition of the parliament, the people's consultative assembly and the regional assemblies.

Jakarta – It is truly difficult to differentiate the Suharto New Order with the Habibie "Reform" Order.

Jakarta – Minister of Defense/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto said on Tuesday he would summon Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto, former chief of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), to question' him about a meeting at Kostrad headquarters one day after violent rioting in the capital.

Jakarta – An Indonesian rights groups on Wednesday alleged that a military court martial of 11 officers was being rigged to avoid prosecuting a son-in-law of former president Suharto, a release said.