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.

Jakarta – Shoot-on-sight orders were issued to police as the death toll in fresh violence between two ethnic groups in the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan rose to five when a mob attacked a police post, reports and police said Wednesday.

Bandung – Student leaders agreed on Sunday after a three-day meeting to support the upcoming general election, which they have deemed unfair for being based on defective political laws, as they said to call off the election would lead to more trouble.

Jonathan Head, Ambon – One man has been killed and seven injured on the Indonesian island of Ambon after the security forces opened fire during renewed inter-religious fighting.

The clash broke out after two Muslim-owned houses were burnt down in the city of Ambon.

Jeremy Wagstaff, Legok – The inhabitants of this flyblown hamlet are angry. They are angry about rising prices, the lack of jobs, and lingering government corruption, says village headman Effendi bin Musa. They are even annoyed with the ineffectiveness of Mr. Effendi himself, he concedes. But what really made the feathers fly was the price of chickens.

Jakarta – A son of former President Suharto has been charged with corruption, along with a former senior official and another businessman, an Indonesian official said Monday.

Jakarta – A mass fight between two neighbouring villages in West Java left one man dead, eight others injured and more than 100 houses damaged, a report said here Monday.

The fight between people from Danamulya and Kedungsana villages in the Cirebon district on the northern coast of West Java erupted on Friday, the Suara Karya daily said.

Ujungpandang – Regional police chiefs in Indonesia will be sacked if they defy an order from Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) Commander General Wiranto to shoot rioters and criminals on the spot, says an official.

National Police Chief General Roesmanhadi yesterday said all military personnel must obey all instructions issued by their superiors.

Jakarta – Politicians, public figures and university rectors in Central Java have recommended that parties be permitted to campaign on campuses in the run-up to the June 7 general election.

The agreement was reached in a discussion at Amanda Hotel in Bandungan city over the weekend. It was attended by representatives of 112 universities in the province.

Jakarta – Scores of Indonesian students held a vigil at a university here Sunday to mark 100 days after the violent shooting of student demonstrators late last year.

Jakarta – Underscoring its high-profile role in the country, the Indonesian military has warned it would not tolerate any attempt to disrupt upcoming elections and told workers that instead of staging protests, they should help maintain security and order.

The fact that many Indonesians look in quite a jovial mood these days does not mean that the devastating economic crisis has ended. They simply say they have a jocular topic in their daily conversation: the leakage of a telephone conversation between President B.J. Habibie and Attorney General Andi M.

Jakarta – After more than two weeks of investigation directly following the unrest, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has concluded that the January 19- 23 Ambon riots were, as widely suspected, engineered.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Parliament passed a law aimed at stamping out monopolies, cartels and other restrictive competitive practices.

The antimonopoly law, which must be ratified by President B.J. Habibie before it comes into force, will regulate mergers and acquisitions, and limit the amount of market share one company can attain.

Andrew Marshall, Jakarta – Indonesia is in the grip of an economic paralysis that cannot be broken until its debt-ridden, capital-starved companies can escape the straitjacket of their ruinous foreign liabilities.

Jakarta – The basic minimum wage in Indonesia's 27 provinces is to be raised an average 16.1 percent from April 1, reports said Friday.

However, companies that could not afford the raise should apply for a postponment, the director general for industrial relations and labour supervision, Syaufii Syamsuddin, was quoted by the Kompas daily as saying.

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – A transcript of an alleged telephone conversation between President Bacharuddin Habibie and Attorney-General Andi Ghalib published yesterday suggests the graft investigation focusing on ex-president Suharto is a farce.

Jakarta – Opposition presidential hopeful Amien Rais has called on several Indonesian parties, mostly Moslem, to unite to prevent the return of current President Habibie to power later this year, newspapers reported Thursday.

Jakarta – An Indonesian soldier Thursday told a military court here that more than nine activists had been kidnapped by troops in the last months of the Suharto regime.

Surabaya – More than 10,000 workers gathered outside a large electronics and plastics factory in Surabaya, East Java, Thursday as their campaign for better working conditions entered its sixth day.

Surabaya – After days of mass protests by workers demanding better working conditions, the owners and management of a giant electronic and household gods factory in Indonesia Thursday announced it was willing to meet the demand of employees.

Jakarta – Dozens of students protested at the Indonesian military headquarters and the National Strategic Planning Board Thursday over the military's role in politics and alleged corruption in the use of foreign loans.

Jakarta – Panicked Indonesian security forces shot a nun in the neck on Thursday as they tried to disperse a crowd in the eastern spice islands after a bomb blast, police and witnesses said.

Jakarta – About 500 people rallied outside the attorney general's office Wednesday in a protest against a corruption investigation of former President Suharto.

The protesters said Suharto, who quit last May amid riots and protests against his authoritarian rule, was innocent and had been framed by his opponents. Suharto, 77, has denied any wrongdoing.

Jakarta – The Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) has decided to participate in the 1999 elections. The Chairperson of the Central Leadership Council of the Peoples Democratic Party (KPP-PRD), Faizol Reza, announced this at a press conference held in the offices of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) on Tuesday afternoon, February 16.

Jakarta – Four junior Indonesian army officers undergoing a court martial for a series of kidnappings admitted on Tuesday abducting political activists in the last months of the Suharto regime.

Jakarta – The Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security, Faisal Tanjung, said that it was not inconceivable that civil emergency law would be instituted if rioting was to continue. Even so, according to Tanjung, President Habibie still refused to decide on initiating emergency law despite a number of his ministers supporting the idea.

Jakarta – President BJ Habibie yesterday revealed, for the first time, military movements launched by Lieut.-Gen. [ret] Prabowo Subianto on May 22 last year following the downfall of former President Soeharto, Prabowo's father-in-law.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – Institutional discrimination is still visible in Indonesia because the government has not removed its legal basis, human rights activists said as they took issue with President B. J. Habibie's recent statement that he has abolished all discriminatory policies here.

Jakarta – An Indonesian church group has accused police of opening fire on unarmed villagers during the latest outbreak of Moslem-Christian violence to hit the eastern province of Maluku.

The accusation was made as President B.J. Habibie said Monday that the recent religious clashes in the country had their roots in economic problems.

Jakarta – Indonesia's military police have failed to identify any soldiers who opened fire during a student protest in Jakarta three months ago in which 13 people were killed, an official said Monday.

"Up till now the military police have not been able to find the shooters in the Semanggi incident," military police chief Major General Djasri Missin told a press conference.

Jakarta – The ruling Golkar party will nominate incumbent President B.J. Habibie as its candidate for Indonesia's upcoming presidential election, a party official said Monday.

Jakarta – More than 100,000 supporters of Indonesian opposition politician Megawati Sukarnoputri crowded into a south Jakarta stadium Sunday to endorse her candidacy for the presidency.

Jakarta – At least 13 people were killed and 43 injured when troops and police opened fire to quell fresh Moslem-Christian clashes in Indonesia's troubled eastern province of Maluku on Sunday morning, residents and reports said.

Jose Manuel Tesoro, Jakarta – In the Indonesian political equation, the elements – Islamic groups, student fronts, opposition parties, military factions – are legion and ever-changing. Possible permutations – a coalition, a new government, martial law, absolute chaos – multiply daily. But in everyone's political calculus is one shadowy constant: Suharto.