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.

Jakarta – The government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are still at odds over the questions of when and how much to increase the price of fuel and electricity.

Tim Healy and Tom Mccawley, Jakarta – He must have known it couldn't last. Abdurrahman Wahid has been metaphorically bobbing and weaving through his first weeks as Indonesia's President. Consider the moves: filling his cabinet with a hodge-podge of politically motivated appointees, novices and academics. Promising Aceh a referendum. Pledging national stability.

Jakarta – Indonesia on Friday released 90 political prisoners, most of them East Timorese.

In a ceremony at Cipinang jail in East Jakarta, where many of of those released were held, Law and Legislation Minister Yusril Isra Mahendra officially freed them by reading out three presidential decrees containing the names.

Tjipta Lesmanaa, Jakarta – The current picture of Indonesian workers is not that encouraging. Of the 90 million-strong workforce Indonesia currently has, roughly 60 million are engaged in the formal sector as well as in the informal sector. Forty million of them earn only Rp 150,000 to Rp 200,000 per month, far below the poverty line set by the National Statistics Bureau.

Novan Iman Santosa, Karawang – Like many AIDS volunteers around the globe, Abdurrachman Saibun, 25, is busy at the end of the year preparing to commemorate World AIDS Day, which falls on December 1.

Jakarta – At least 3,400 stray dogs have been killed this year in the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan in a drive by the authorities to prevent the spread of rabies, the official Antara news agency said Thursday.

Munif Muchsinin, the head of the province's animal husbandry service, said the drive had been successful.

Sonny Inbaraj, Darwin – Australia's national broadcaster and a magazine have come under investigation by the country's spy agency for airing and publishing a series of highly-embarrassing stories based on alleged intelligence leaks on East Timor.

Jakarta – Foreign minister Alwi Shihab said on Tuesday Indonesia would not allow its generals to be tried overseas.

Responding to concerns from legislators that top military officers may be subject to international humiliation and trial abroad, Alwi said the government was doing its utmost to see that it would not happen.

Jakarta – A government-sanctioned inquiry said on Wednesday that Gen. Wiranto could be charged with "omission" for allowing violence and destruction to continue in the ravaged territory of East Timor after the August 30 self-determination ballot.

Ted Bardacke and Diarmid O'Sullivan – "We reiterate our full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Indonesia and support the efforts of President Wahid toward a peaceful settlement of the situation in Aceh."

Jakarta – After two years of antigovernment riots and economic turmoil, Indonesia's technology gurus thought it best to keep the public in the dark about possible widespread failures from the Y2K computer bug.

Vaudine England – The Indonesian Government, eager to prove its reformist credentials, said yesterday it had reopened the investigation into alleged corruption by Suharto, but prospects of retrieving his money or seeing the ailing former president in the dock remain unclear.

Jakarta – A mob of angry Jakarta residents on Wednesday set ablaze four cars and a gambling den in Jakarta's Chinatown on the eve of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, witnesses said.

An AFP photographer said a building believed to be a gambling den was on fire when she arrived at the scene. Police were quick to move in and bring the crowd under control.

Max Lane – Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor member Chris Latham was arrested in Jakarta on November 29. Latham, who is a student in Sydney, was participating in a demonstration of workers and students organised by the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggles.

Indonesia's rice market is nervously waiting for the government's final decision on an import tariff while players' reluctance to sell their stocks has triggered price hikes, traders said yesterday.

Jakarta – Indonesia will slow down foreign borrowings and focus more on the domestic bond market to fund government projects, Finance Minister Bambang Sudibyo said Wednesday.

Increasing reliance on domestic financing would improve the country's balance of payment position, Bambang said at a hearing of the parliament's budget committee.

James Balowski, Jakarta – Spending a day at the People's Democratic Party (PRD) headquarters in East Jakarta watching the stream of activists coming and going, it's easy to forget that just three years ago, the party was banned, its key leaders jailed and the remainder hunted by the military and forced underground.

Ambon – Calm returned to the riot-torn province on Monday following two consecutive days of communal clashes which claimed at least 31 lives. Businesses and schools reopened in Ambon as roadblocks were cleared.

The situation in nearby Seram Island was also calm on Monday after the authorities secured the area, according to Maluku Police spokesman Maj. Phillipus Jakriel.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid, recently back from China, has injected new insecurity into his cabinet by saying he hardly knows some of them and suggesting some should resign.

Edhi Pranasidhi, Jakarta – Indonesia's senior economic minister Kwik Kian Gie said the government plans to sell majority stakes in state-owned PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (TLK) and PT Indonesia Satellite Corp. (IIT) next year, a plan that surprised and impressed the market.

Raj Rajendran, Singapore – Indonesia will seal its next letter of intent with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in time to meet its budgetary obligations, Indonesia's chief economics minister Kwik Kian Gie said on Monday.

Jakarta – The Indonesian banking sector recorded a combined operating loss of 52.094 trillion rupiah (7.1 billion dollars) in the 10 months to October compared to a loss of 177.02 trillion rupiah for calendar 1998, Finance Minister Bambang Sudibyo said.

Margot Cohen, Jakarta – It was a stirring reformasi passion play. On the night of November 29, six of former President Suharto's top generals – once untouchables – faced the hot glare of TV lights and fended off scorching questions from legislators about the military's human-rights record in rebellious Aceh province.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said he would ask three ministers suspected of involvement in corruption to resign or face trial, reports said Sunday. "As soon as I get the information from Marzuki [Darusman], the attorney general, I will summon them [and ask them]: 'Will you resign or not?

Jakarta – Israel has quietly invested 200 million dollars in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated nation, via foreign companies, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has said.

"Israel does not extend the capital directly but through a third party, a Dutch or US company," he told members of his newly inaugurated National Economic Council Saturday.

Keith Richburg, Jakarta – Juwono Sudarsono, a soft-spoken academic who has become Indonesia's new civilian defense minister, has acknowledged in an interview that the process of getting the army out of politics will be a gradual one and that the extent of his control over the military is not yet clear.

Jakarta – Bank Indonesia's deputy governor Ahjar Iljas said on Friday that Texmaco was among 20 exporting companies which received a preshipment rediscount facility from the central bank through state commercial banks in November 1997.

Jakarta – Senior executives of the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI) are shrugging off predictions of the organization's demise despite the descent of its chief patron, B.J. Habibie, from the presidency.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) rejected on Friday accusations that it was behind a plan to methodically undermine the "axis force".

Senior PDI Perjuangan executive Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno said the accusations were intentionally made by a "third party" in attempt to damage relations between PDI Perjuangan and the axis force.

Beijing – On the eve of expected demonstrations for independence in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, Indonesian President Adurrahman Wahid vowed Friday to use "repressive force" to keep the country from splitting apart.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Jakarta's political elite are starting to wonder who is running Indonesia.

Amid growing criticism that Mr Abdurrahman Wahid has spent too much time overseas since being elected president on October 20, the former armed forces chief, General Wiranto, has emerged as the country's strongman.

Ted Bardacke, Jakarta – Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday formed an economic advisory council chaired by Emil Salim, a cabinet minister under former President Suharto.

Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor's People's Inquiry into Australian governments' "special relationship" with Indonesia and complicity in the East Timor genocide is attracting a lot of interest in several cities.

Jakarta – Around 75 percent of Indonesia's forthcoming state budget would be earmarked to repay domestic and foreign debts, an economic observer said.