Jakarta – Some 2,000 Indonesian students on Friday converged on the national parliament to protest against a draft security law and demand a trial of former president Suharto.
Some 1,500 students marched towards the parliament from the Jayabaya private university in in South Jakarta about one kilometre southeast of the legislative complex.
Jakarta – Opposition to the state security bill continued on Thursday, with the National Mandate Party (PAN) and National Awakening Party (PKB) demanding the House of Representatives drop the government-sponsored draft law.
Don Greenlees and Robert Garran – Australia's battered relations with Indonesia suffered a new blow yesterday when Jakarta terminated the bilateral security treaty.
Surabaya – Hundreds of Indonesian students protested in the country's second largest city on Thursday against a controversial draft security bill which they say would increase the power of the military.
Some 600 demonstrators gathered in front of two local government offices in the commercial city of Surabaya, 700 km east of Jakarta.
Jakarta – Protests erupted here Wednesday as the UN approved sending troops to East Timor, with security forces opening fire outside the UN building at students protesting Indonesian military atrocities.
Compere: East Timor's anti-independence militia have now been seen on the streets of Jakarta, threatening pro-independence East Timorese and foreign journalists. There were scenes which seemed quite out of place in the Indonesian capital, as Geoff Thompson reports from Jakarta.
Susan Sim, Jakarta – Indonesia's powerful defence forces (TNI) chief General Wiranto will likely step down next month to prepare for his presidential campaign as a parliamentary investigation into a banking scandal looks certain to implicate close friends of Dr B.J. Habibie and kill off his chances.
London – British ministers were under fire Wednesday after it emerged that millions of pounds of public money had been used to help Indonesia buy jets and secure industrial contracts, newspapers reported.
Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – President B.J. Habibie's decision to allow foreign troops into trouble-torn East Timor sparked an upsurge of nationalist sentiments especially in the government and local media, with many resentful of international pressure on Indonesia.
Jay Solomon, Jakarta – An investigation into a politically charged banking scandal here has uncovered "numerous" indications of fraud, as well as the transfer of millions of dollars to senior Indonesian officials and politically connected individuals, an audit by the US accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers says.
Ordinary Australians took to the streets in their thousands today demanding urgent government action over the slaughter in East Timor.
Protesters stormed Prime Minister John Howard's Sydney office, blockaded airline terminals and maintained vigils as nation-wide anger continued to mount over the genocide in the violence-wracked region.
Jakarta – After a week of chaos and terror in East Timor, Indonesia's powerful military boss sang "Feelings" on Sunday to show why he can't walk away from the independence-minded province.
In another day of nationwide demonstrations more than 25,000 protesters packed the centre of Melbourne yesterday to hear East Timor independence leader Xanana Gusmao appeal to his Australian "brothers and sisters" to pressure the Howard Government to send peace enforcers into East Timor.
Peter Cole-Adams and Mark Metherell – The Federal Government yesterday cancelled three joint Australia-Indonesia training exercises and announced a review of all aspects of the defence relationship.
Jakarta – The rising wave of nationalistic fever brought on by a fervor of anti-American and Australian sentiment continued on Friday as major Indonesian cities became witnesses to flag burning demonstrations.
Washington – The International Monetary Fund has suspended discussions with Indonesia on its economic program, a fund spokesman said Friday.
"IMF management continues to keep under close review ongoing developments in Indonesia and discussions for the next program review are on hold," said the IMF spokesman, who asked not to be identified.
Martin Woollacott – When the Seaforth Highlanders set off for Jakarta docks in November, 1946, after months of coping with the Indonesian liberation movement on behalf of the absent Dutch, they passed contingents of troops just in from Holland. With one accord, the British soldiers raised clenched fists and shouted "Merdeka!" ("Freedom!").
The men in uniform usually get their own way, David Jenkins writes from Jakarta. Indonesia's military leaders are accustomed to getting their own way. And when it looked yesterday as if President Habibie might be tempted to give the green light to the early arrival of foreign peacekeepers in East Timor the generals decided enough was enough.
Elizabeth Becker and Philip Shenon, Washington – The United States is resisting direct threats of economic or military sanctions against Indonesia over the chaos in East Timor in hopes of preserving its relationship with that vast archipelago nation, even as the Clinton administration protests the chaos that has left hundreds of Timorese dead, senior officials said.
John McBeth and Margot Cohen, Jakarta – On a late-August evening, senior officials of Golkar, Indonesia's ruling party, filed out into the dark after a five-hour conclave at the home of President B.J. Habibie. The official word was that the beleaguered and embattled party now stood united. In truth, its members were deeply split.
Jakarta – The rupiah breached on Monday the 8,000 level against the US dollar as international pressure increased over Indonesia's handling of the East Timor issue.
Currency dealers said investors dumped their Indonesian currency over concerns that the growing pressure would prompt donors to suspend loans to Indonesia.
Jakarta – Indonesian forest and ground fires in Sumatra and Borneo island are on the rise again after dissipating in recent rains, satellite images produced by the Indonesia Space Agency showed Friday.
Jakarta – At least three people were killed and 14 others wounded Friday when Indonesian security forces opened fire to quell a new outbreak of Moslem-Christian in the strife-torn Ambon city, a report said.
Jakarta – Consumer prices in Indonesia fell 0.93 percent in August from July, the sixth consective monthly fall this year, Central Bureau of Statistics chief Sugito Suwito said Friday.
Exports in July were worth 3.971 billion dollars, up from 3.559 billion dollars in June, he added, while imports in the month totalled 1.964 billion dollars against 1.895 billion in June.
Jakarta – The Indonesian Elections Committee (PPI) on Wednesday finally agreed seat allocations for the national parliament elected on June 7.
Ambon – Fresh outbreaks of violence between Moslems and Christian Wednesday killed eight people and injured six others in two separate islands in the riot-torn Maluku province, police said.
Craig Skehan – Jostled by a media frenzy and a crowd of supporters, Mr Xanana Gusmao, the nationalist fighter almost certain to lead an independent East Timor, received a hero's welcome as he voted here yesterday.
The 53-year-old – imprisoned in 1992 for his guerilla action, but transferred to house arrest earlier this year – is expected to be freed in about a fortnight.
Jakarta – An Indonesian group Tuesday slammed world bodies including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for failing to sound the alarm over an 80-million-dollar bank scam, despite closely monitoring the Indonesian economy.
London – The British government was forced Tuesday to defend a decision to invite Indonesia to Britain's biggest arms fair, after it emerged that British-made jets were used to intimidate people in East Timor.
Born June 6, 1901 in Surabaya; 1927 - Founds movement for independence from the Dutch; 1945 - After Japanese surrender, declares independence and is elected President; 1963 - Names himself President for Life; 1965 - Overthrown by military takeover and later replaced by Suharto; 1970 - Dies June 21 in Jakarta after two years of house arrest.
Eric Ellis, Singapore – Every time Christovita Wiloto sits down at his computer, the 30-year-old banker is reminded of how tough his job is. His screensaver depicts hungry sharks circling their prey – a wry metaphor for the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency.
Jakarta – It is a murky tale which strikes deep at the even murkier heart of Indonesian banking, and heavyweights of international finance warn it could spell ruin for Southeast Asia's shakiest economy.
Jakarta – The savage riots that swept Indonesia in mid-May before the fall of ex-president Suharto were organized by professional agitators, Jakarta's governor was Friday quoted as saying. "They were organized," Governor Sutiyoso was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying in a two-hour hearing at the Justice Ministry with a government-sponsored fact-finding team.
Jakarta – Fires which have resumed in Indonesia's Sumatra and Kalimantan regions have ravaged at least 5,561 hectares of forest and scrub in the past month, a report said Saturday.
Jakarta – Logging and forest fires are destroying rainforests and the wildlife they support, government authorities and environmentalists warned yesterday.
Jakarta – Fresh Moslem-Christian clashes in Indonesia's spice Moluccas islands have left up to 12 people dead, scores injured and several churches torched, sources and reports said Tuesday.
Jakarta – Indonesian security personnel in the capital on Monday arrested at least nine students who had attempted to protest at the palace against clinging Suharto-era politicians and political and economic practices.
Jakarta – Some 2,000 Indonesian Moslems held a mass prayer here Sunday calling for an end to mounting violence in two of the country's major trouble spots – Ambon and the western province of Aceh.
Jakarta – Former President Soeharto left hospital yesterday after five days of treatment for intestinal bleeding as his lawyer brushed aside rumors his client is seeking treatment abroad.
Jakarta – A leading Indonesian environmental watchdog said Thursday it had filed suit against President B.J. Habibie over a failed government project to develop one-million hectares (370,000 acres) of peat bog in Borneo.
John McBeth – These are uncertain times for Indonesia's 4 million bureaucrats as they struggle to adjust to a new political environment in which public scrutiny is putting old practices at risk. Many civil servants have found themselves the target of public wrath for past or present infractions.
Jakarta – Ailing former Indonesian President Suharto has been found well enough to return home, but it was uncertain whether he would leave soon or later in the week, the head of his team of doctors said.
Ambon – Authorities have suspended all civilian flights to this riot-torn Indonesian city because of escalating Moslem-Christian violence and handed the airport over to the military, sources said Thursday.
A duty officer at the military information office said the suspension affected all commercial flights to and from Pattimura civilian airport, across a bay from the city.
Jakarta – Independence Day was quiet in Dili, the capital of East Timor, where people preferred to attend the anniversary of the separatist group Falintil. Merriment, however, was still seen among pro-Indonesia groups rallying the city in various vehicles in the campaign ahead of the August 30 self-determination vote.
As violence flared on the eve of the nation's 54th Independence Day, leaders of the main political parties launched a scathing attack on President Bacharuddin Habibie's state of the nation speech, saying it showed he lacked the will to weed out corruption.
Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta – Indonesia's independence day was marred today by clashes between pro-democracy protesters and riot police in Jakarta, the strafing of East Timor's separatist movement's headquarters and reports that five people were killed in strife-torn Aceh province.
Jakarta – Gen. Wiranto launched a verbal offensive on Saturday against attacks on the human rights record of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and its perceived apathy toward reform.
Keith B.
Jakarta – Former Indonesian President Suharto on Saturday returned the Pertamina hospital where he had been treated for a mild stroke last month, a hospital spokeswoman said.
"He came in at 10am and that is about the only thing I can say," spokeswoman Susilowati said. "It is only normal for someone who has been treated for a stroke, there are controls to be done.,
New York – The International Monetary Fund Friday issued a blunt warning to the Indonesian government to quickly get to the bottom of a scandal involving PT Bank Bali and a senior official of the ruling Golkar party.