Jakarta – Indonesian Home Affairs Minister Syarwan Hamid Tuesday proposed an alliance between incumbent President B.J. Habibie and Megawati Sukarnoputri, the opposition presidential frontrunner from the June 7 elections.

"They can form a positive synergy to bear the heavy burdens of this country," Hamid said, adding that a combined force was "worth much consideration."

Sidoarjo – About 2,000 workers of the nation's largest clove cigarette maker PT Gudang Garam, backed by hundreds of student activists, protested in East Java yesterday to demand higher wages.

Seth Mydans, Jakarta – Indonesians have remained remarkably patient as they wait out the slow, confused counting of the parliamentary votes they cast two weeks ago. But it seems that whatever the outcome, the will of the people may in large part be denied.

Jakarta – Indonesian police Tuesday arrested about 100 students protestors calling for fresh elections and the scrapping of the military's political role, a witness said.

Police rounded up members of the Student and People's Committee for Democracy before they reached the national Elections Committee (KPU) building in Central Jakarta.

Jakarta – Hundreds of workers at an underwear factory in Depok who have been on strike since last Tuesday, are receiving plenty of support from locals in the area.

The striking workers have been living at the compound of the factory owned by PT Arista Latinindo Industrial since June 15, demanding that nine people recently sacked by the company be rehired.

Jakarta – Indonesia's election commission Monday postponed the start of the national count of the results of landmark elections, because the tallies in many provinces were either disputed or incomplete.

Jakarta – The government yesterday released several members of the long defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) from Tangerang Women's Penitentiary, prompting a group of youths to stage a protest.

Jakarta – The number of city residents purchasing rice via the city-run inexpensive rice program increased by nearly 70 percent to 118,417 families in May from 69,998 families in March, a city official said on Saturday.

Jakarta – Up to eight people may have been killed and dozens others injured in fresh violence in the southeast of the troubled Indonesian province of Maluku, a report said Monday.

Jakarta – The National Elections Committee (PPI) has pledged to investigate the incidence of invalid ballots, which reached 2.7 million as of late Friday. Committee deputy chairman Hasbalah M. Saad said on Saturday it would establish whether the ballots were found before or after the June 7 polls.

Tangerang – Youths chased and forcibly dispersed labor activists grouped in the National Front of the Indonesian Labor Struggle (FNPBI) during a protest outside Tangerang's Women Penitentiary here on Sunday.

Tangerang – Police Sunday arrested about 100 protesters calling for the release of Indonesia's lone female political prisoner after they clashed with another group.

Workers and students gathered outside the Tangerang Women's Prison west of Jakarta demanding that Dita Indah Sari, a labor activist arrested for subversion after organizing a major protest in 1997, be freed.

Jakarta – Riot police dispersed a student street rally at the Semanggi cloverleaf in the heart of the capital on Friday morning, arresting 32 protesters, mostly female students.

Jakarta – A students' poll watchdog has said its network of 105,000 observers had found Indonesia's June 7 elections to be free and fair despite instances of irregularities in several areas,

Jakarta – President B.J. Habibie on Friday appointed a caretaker attorney general in place of Andi Ghalib who is under an investigation for bribe-taking, the state Antara news agency said.

Deputy attorney general Ismudjoko was named interim attorney general through a presidential decree conveyed by Justice Minister Muladi to the attorney general's office, Antara said.

Kevin O'Rourke – The absence of violence on the June 7th – and in the three-week campaign period leading up to it – has been viewed as a major positive signal for the country's outlook. The stock market has rallied, the currency has soared, and interest rates have plummeted.

John McBeth, Jakarta – When Indonesia's top generals gathered at the Command and Staff College in Bandung in September 1998 to consider the future of the armed forces, they were finally forced to admit that under former President Suharto's New Order regime, the military had stretched dwifungsi – its "dual function" roles of a political as well as security force – far beyond what was

Margot Cohen in Medan, North Sumatra and Tangerang – Nearly four dozen soldiers patrol the 142 factories inside the Medan Industrial Park, on guard against any election-related violence. But that's not enough to soothe the nerves of the park's director, Papo Hermawan.

Jakarta – City police apprehended over 500 people, most of whom claimed to be workers of the publicly listed candy and biscuit producer PT Mayora Indah, along with at least four NGO activists during a protest early Wednesday morning. Staged in front of the Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) office in Central Jakarta, the activists were forced into police trucks.

Shoeb Kagda, Jakarta – Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) and the ruling Golkar will be locked in a dead heat in terms of seats won by them and their likely coalition partners, a BT projection of the final seat tallies in the just-concluded Indonesian elections shows.

Jakarta – In a move likely to infuriate right-wing groups, Indonesian Muslim leader Amien Rais openly threw his support behind Megawati Sukarnoputri to become Indonesia's next president.

Amien reiterated his stance at a packed press conference yesterday in Jakarta, saying that the Koran does not have any verse that discriminates women from men.

Richard Borsuk, Jakarta – A top aide to Megawati Sukarnoputri, saying it is currently impossible to use a fixed rupiah exchange rate, reaffirmed that an Indonesian government led by her would stick to the International Monetary Fund's rescue program.

London – Serious human rights violations occurred in Indonesia in 1998 including hundreds of arrests, dozens of killings, torture and disappearances, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

Jakarta – An influential Muslim group warned Tuesday that overwhelmingly Islamic Indonesia risks falling under the control of non-Muslims in the wake of its first democratic election in 44 years.

Jakarta – Indonesian military MPs will vote in presidential elections slated for November despite calls for them to abstain, armed forces chief General Wiranto was Tuesday quoted as saying.

Patrick Walters, Jakarta – Abdurrahman Wahid, the leader of Indonesia's biggest Muslim organisation, predicted yesterday that Megawati Sukarnoputri would face an uphill battle to be Indonesia's next president.

Andrew Marshall, Jakarta – Indonesia's next government has yet to emerge from the murk of drawn-out vote counting and political horsetrading, but one crucial member of its economic policy-making team is already known – the IMF.

Jakarta – Reports of irregularities and violations in the June 7 general election have continued to hold back the already slow tallying of votes by the General Elections Commission.

In Asahan, North Sumatra, members of the local election committee refused to verify sign the results because of reports of violations.

Jakarta – Reports of widespread vote-rigging have been flowing in to Jakarta faster than the notoriously slow returns from the June 7 general election, with the Golkar Party saddled with most of the flak.

Most common violations of the electoral rules include vote buying, government officials favoring Golkar, misuse of state facilities and intimidation.

Michael Richardson, Jakarta – The Indonesian armed forces, for many years a bastion of political support for the authoritarian government of former President Suharto, declared that they were neutral in parliamentary elections held last week, helping to make the polls a genuine contest for the first time since 1955.

Jeremy Wagstaff and Puspa Madani, Jakarta – Succumbing to public pressure, Indonesian Attorney General Andi Ghalib stepped down amid a corruption scandal that offers a glimpse of simmering tensions among the country's elites as they await the results of this month's elections.

[The following is a report written exclusively for Joyo Indonesian News by a prominent Indonesia specialist who prefers to remain anonymous.]

Jakarta – A shadowy group has been threatening independent election monitors in Southeast Sulawesi, as more information emerges from there of the ruling Golkar Party having used money and intimidation to win support.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – The Indonesian government yesterday woke up to a confidential internal report which showed the ruling Golkar in for a crushing defeat as the Megawati Sukarnoputri-Abdurrahman Wahid juggernaut grabbed half of the 41 million ballots counted.

Bandung – Attorney General Andi M. Ghalib, who has recently been accused of abusing his power to enrich himself, can expect to come under further scrutiny after the disclosure by the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) of money, allegedly bribes, transferred to his bank accounts.

Peter Symonds – As of Friday morning, official figures in the counting of votes for the Indonesian elections showed a clear vote against the ruling Golkar Party and in favour of opposition parties headed by Megawati Sukarnoputri, Abdurrahman Wahid and Amien Rais, which are part of a loose alliance.

Nicole Gaouette, Jakarta – The drumbeat of complaint is growing louder as Indonesia continues its plodding count of votes cast in the June 7 parliamentary election. The risk is that it could drown out all other voices. Three days after the polls closed, the Election Commission has tallied only 8 percent of the ballots.

Richard Lloyd Parry, Jakarta – Eighteen months ago, in the bad old days, the idea that Indonesia could be governed by anyone other than the Golkar Party seemed a far-off dream. Then, in May last year, came the student demonstrations, the Jakarta riots and the resignation of President Suharto.

Grainne Mccarthy, Jakarta – Market euphoria that Indonesia's historic elections passed peacefully has turned to a nervous waiting game as the snail's pace of the vote feeds anxiety about ballot-rigging.

Jakarta – Indonesia's elections were free and democratic apart from in the troubled territory of East Timor and Aceh province, an Asian poll watchdog said Thursday.

The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) also expressed concern over the slow pace of vote counting, saying it "must be hastened to avert any suspicion and other unnecessary speculation."

Jakarta – The Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) has discovered 19,504 violations during Monday's balloting across Indonesian provinces outside East Timor and Aceh, according to chairman Mulyana W. Kusumah on Wednesday.

Jay Solomon, Jakarta – Investors are registering a major vote of confidence in Indonesia's freest election in nearly a half century.

The stock market rose 12% Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund approved $450 million in aid, and local businessmen talked optimistically of restructuring debt-laden companies in a more-stable political environment.

Jakarta – Indonesian police and troops arrested at least 100 workers and student activists after a four-day sit-in at the headquarters of the workers' former employer, a snack food producer.

Sonny Warsito, a lawyer for the workers, said his clients want wage increases and rejected their dismissal from the Mayora Indah Lt. Corp.

Jakarta – Indonesian press and human rights groups Wednesday lashed out at Attorney General Andi Ghalib for banning three journalists from reporting on his activities.

Indonesian opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri, chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle, gave her first post-election interview, four hours after polls closed on June 7, to Business Week Singapore Bureau Chief Michael Shari at her home in South Jakarta.

Jakarta – An Indonesian corruption watchdog said Tuesday a break-in had failed to destroy evidence backing claims that the chief investigator probing allegations over Suharto's fortune was himself corrupt.

John Gittings in Jakarta and John Aglionby in Ambon – Indonesians flocked to the polls with enthusiasm yesterday for the country's first free elections in more than 40 years.

More than 90% of those eligible had registered to vote and turnout was high except in the strife-torn areas of Ambon, East Timor and Aceh.

Jakarta – Indonesia's military do not vote, but unlike most of the 48 parties contesting Indonesia's elections they are already assured of a solid block of seats in parliament.

Jakarta – Intruders ransacked the office of an Indonesian lawyer working for the US weekly magazine Time on Monday, days after former president Suharto filed a defamation suit against the magazine.

Security officers of the Bank Dharmala building in Central Jakarta discovered lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis's office ransacked at 4:30am. Monday morning.

Jakarta – A prominent member of the House of Representatives from the United Development Party (PPP) on Sunday expressed his opposition to President B.J. Habibie's plan to give a "token of gratitude", worth Rp 150 million (US$18,750), to each of the 500 House members.