Beijing – Both China and the United States yesterday urged the Indonesian government to pursue follow-up investigations as proposed in a fact-finding team's report on the May riots.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – More than 10,000 Muslims yesterday gathered here to rally in support of next week's special session of Indonesia's highest legislative body which will set a date for the general election.

Jakarta – Thousands of people stormed an Indonesian police station in a West Java town where officers refused to hand over four suspected "ninja" killers, press reports said yesterday. Twelve policemen were injured in Kuningan as they fought off attackers with tear gas and rubber bullets in the disturbances on Wednesday.

Steven Greenhouse – The A.F.L.-C.I.O. and a large union of department store workers announced Thursday that they were rejecting an agreement that a group of apparel manufacturers and human rights groups had reached to curtail sweatshops.

Jose Manuel Tesoro, Jakarta – As the sun sets in the towns and villages of East Java, men hurry home quicker than usual from their evening prayers. In some areas, a bell tolls to empty the streets of women and children. Windows will be shut and doors bolted till the next morning. In the darkness, wary men with swords or sickles patrol deserted roads.

Jakarta – Students in several Indonesian cities held protests to reject an upcoming special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and its plan to assure parliamentary seats for the military, reports said Friday.

Jakarta – The Armed Forces (ABRI) has threatened to take stern action against anyone attempting to disrupt the Nov. 10 through Nov. 13 Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) as it believes the event is the "only gateway" to a democratic Indonesia.

Jakarta – A group of 50 retired military officials, former prosecutors and businessmen yesterday joined the popular faction of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) led by Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – Indonesia's military may reject the findings of an official investigation into May's devastating riots, which has found that some officers provoked violence so the then Soeharto government could activate extraordinary security powers to maintain political control.

Andreas Harsono – While Indonesians await the People's Consultative Assembly convention next month, State Secretary Akbar Tanjung is maneuvering within the ruling party. Andreas Harsono writes.

Jeremy Wagstaff and Puspa Madani, Jakarta – A government-appointed team of generals, activists and officials has concluded its three-month investigation into riots that swept Indonesia in May, saying more than 60 women were raped and suggesting the unrest was stoked by a power struggle within the government.

Jakarta – The government line is that the Banyuwangi killing spree in East Java, which began in August and has since spread to Central and West Java, is a purely criminal case.

Bandung – Army Chief of Staff Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo vigorously defended on Monday the Armed Forces' business ventures, contending that all profits went to improve military personnel's welfare.

[The following is a translation of press release issued on October 10, 1998, by a number of Indonesian NGOS with regard to Mobil oil's activities in Aceh. For reasons of space, the full list of signatories was not included - James Balowski.]

Jakarta – Villagers in the Indonesian island of Madura have lynched three policemen to death believing them to be part of a wave of "ninja" murders in East Java, a press report said Monday.

Jakarta – Indonesian inflation surged to almost 80 percent in October from a year ago, but dipped slightly from the previous month, official data showed Monday.

Jakarta – In a sudden about-face, Indonesia's ruling Golkar party Monday proposed that students and opposition politicians be included in a controversial parliamentary session next week, the first since the fall of Suharto.

Mobil Oil Indonesia, the country's biggest producer of natural gas, has been linked to serious human rights violations in the war-torn north Sumatran region of Aceh.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Fifty organisations not represented in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) are planning to stage massive protests here during the assembly's special plenary session next week.

The protests in the weeks immediately surrounding the fall of Suharto were largely mounted by urban-based students, workers and professional groups. Land reform – if mentioned – came at the end of lists of demands for the removal of the president, moves against corruption and reduced food prices. Since then, local communities have taken action into their own hands.

A World Bank report on the government's project to convert a million hectares of peat swamp forests into rice-lands reveals how appalling the situation on the ground is.

The government has produced a new document on transmigration which describes the "achievements" of the past twenty five years and outlines the priorities for the future programme.

Jakarta – Residents from seven villages in Lampung province destroyed part of a sugarcane plantation owned by Indonesia's largest business establishment, the Salim Group, after the company failed to settle a land dispute, a newspaper said Saturday.

Has Australia got the Indonesia relationship right and is it getting it right for the future? We have steered a prudent course but there are times when we must make our voice more clearly heard... especially in military matters. David Jenkins reports.

Louise Williams – Indonesian and Australian military officials say joint special-forces exercises have been deferred for "technical reasons", but Australian defences sources say Canberra has concerns over the human-rights record of Indonesia's elite troops.

Jakarta – Hundreds of Moslems staged an angry demonstration here Friday to counter demands on the resort island of Bali that a minister step down for insulting Hindus.

Jakarta – A group of Indonesian women Thursday campaigned against state-condoned violence by distributing flowers, pamphlets and black ribbons in a Jakarta main street.

Jakarta – Some 300 Moslem students protested in front of parliament Thursday demanding the military ends its political role and calling for an investigation into the wealth of former president Suharto.

Jakarta – About 100 workers demonstrated Thursday for the release of a jailed labor activist convicted of organizing a strike while former President Suharto was in power.

The rally came one day after 8,000 students demonstrated outside Indonesia's parliament in the biggest protest to hit the capital since violent unrest forced Suharto's resignation in May.

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – A report on the May riots has been delayed twice because military and government members on the inquiry team are opposed to the findings, sources said yesterday.

Indonesia is struggling to find competent entrepreneurs to fill the vacuum left by ethnic Chinese who fled during the May riots. David Jenkins, Asia Editor, reports.

Jakarta – More than 3,000 students rallied near parliament Wednesday to demand Indonesian President B.J. Habibie resign and hand over power to a transitional government free from Suharto-era officials.

The lid has been lifted on Indonesian politics – with 80 parties contesting the first free elections in 43 years. David Jenkins reports.

Jay Solomon, Jakarta – President B.J. Habibie's plan to quickly sell off up to $15 billion in assets that debt-hit business groups must transfer to the government to repay loans has alarmed the International Monetary Fund, which has privately warned Jakarta the plan could damage the economy.

To the outside world, Indonesia looks like a disaster waiting to happen. Even inside the country, there are fears that the upheavals of May which led to the overthrow of President Soeharto will be nothing compared with what lies ahead if the new government of President B.J.

Jakarta – A group of some 80 people Monday protested at the gates of the parliament, demanding that political parties be freed from the obligation to adhere to the state ideology "Pancasila".

Don Greenlees – Indonesia's promised national elections could be postponed by up to two months because of delays in putting draft electoral laws to parliament and the likelihood of a drawn-out debate over the country's new political system.

Surabaya – Hundreds of people, angered when police refused to hand over to them a suspected killer, went on the rampage in the East Java town of Pasuruan, reports reaching here said Monday.

Jakarta – Amid a massive show of force, the military warned it will not tolerate disruption of a crucial parliament session which will draw up the political parameters of post-Suharto Indonesia.

Louise Williams – It is almost a pathetic image. Once they were the most powerful family in the land, accustomed to trotting the globe in their private aircraft and slicing up the national economy in their opulent living rooms, squabbling over contracts like children sharing out cake.

Jakarta – The World Bank said Friday that a recent investigation conducted by the bank and the Indonesian Ministry of Education uncovered deficiencies and irregularities in the construction of World Bank-financed schools recently completed in East Java and West Sumatra.

Jakarta – At least five workers were injured and 35 others were being interrogated after a clash Friday between police and protesting workers in northern Sumatra, a Indonesia's human right group said Friday.

Jakarta – Indonesian President B.J. Habibie said he would not step down before 2000, as surveys published Thursday indicated the nation had mixed feelings on whether he should hang on or go now.

Jakarta – The government stood its ground during the deliberation of its three political bills on Wednesday insisting that next year's general election use a combination of district and proportional representation systems. Represented by Minister of Home Affairs Lt. Gen.

Jakarta – The Indonesian parliament Thursday passed a new bill that controls demonstrations and protests in the country, which is being plagued by violence and protests.

Andrew Marshall, Jakarta, – Crisis-ridden Indonesia is not short of worries on the economic front, but policy makers are now grappling with an unexpected new concern – is the beleaguered rupiah bouncing back too strongly?

Surabaya – Following threats made to Moslem preachers by unidentified people here, journalists have been warned that they will be among the next victims in the killing spree which has so far claimed more than 150 lives in East Java. The threats were printed on flyers and circulated widely among the public in the provincial town of Jember.

Jakarta – Indonesia's legal mechanism is incapable of prosecuting ousted president Suharto, alleged to have amassed wealth during his 32 years in power, an Indonesian group fighting corruption said Wednesday.

Andrew Marshall, Jakarta – The rejuvenated Indonesian rupiah broke through the 7,000 level against the dollar on Wednesday for the first time in more than eight months, providing a ray of hope for an economy crushed by crippling debt and interest rates.

Shoeb Kagda, Jakarta – The ongoing controversy between one of Indonesia's largest foreign investors and the country's legislators is threatening to undermine the country's standing among foreign investors, and could disrupt its long-term economic revival.