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.

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

Mark Dodd, Dili – Eurico Guterres, one of East Timor's most hardline pro-Jakarta militia leaders, today strongly defended a reorganisation of his force into what he said was a legal civ

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 t

Dili – East Timorese voted in a steady stream Monday in this troubled Indonesian territory, but interest in the elections was low, taking a back seat to a UN-sponsored ballot on self-de

Ida Indawati Khouw, Jakarta – Every day electronic and print media have been running commercials urging women to choose parties "which pay attention to women".

Jakarta – Supporters of popular Indonesian opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri are up in arms over a weekend smear campaign painting her as anti-Moslem, newspapers said Monday.

Jakarta – Jailed Indonesian People's Democracy Party leader Budiman Sudjatmiko was barred from voting Monday, under rules prohibiting convicts serving more than five years from casting

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 – A prominent member of the House of Representatives from the United Development Party (PPP) on Sunday expressed his opposition to President B.J.

Mark Dodd, Dili – The pro-Jakarta government in East Timor has ordered between 10 and 20 per cent of its budget to be set aside for propaganda and training to promote the integration ca

Gin Kurniawan, Surabaya – As night arrives, Kembang Kuning graveyard comes alive. This is the place where many men satisfy their sexual drives.

[The following is an opinion piece from Monday's Asian Wall Street Journal.

Around 300 students staged a sit-in protest at central Jakarta's prominent Welcome Monument yesterday, accusing political parties of failing to push harder for democratic reforms.

Jakarta – Refugees from the Christian-Moslem clashes in the Indonesian island of Ambon are living in poor conditions lacking proper food and medical care, and prey to illnesses which ha

Yindee Lertcharoenchok, Jakarta – As speculation runs high of political wooing of military support, Indonesia's Armed Forces Chief Gen Wiranto yesterday did not rule out his nomination

Marianne Kearney, Lhokseumawe – Amid an escalation of violence in the northern Sumatran province of Aceh and increasing demands for a referendum, Acehnese separatist rebels say they are

Jakarta – Indonesia's Armed Forces will take every step to stop the troubled region of Aceh from seceding from the country, a senior military official was quoted as saying yesterday.

Stockholm – The Aceh Sumatra National Liberation Front (ASNLF) has already decided not to take part in the June 7 parliamentary elections this year.

Lhokseumawe – Aceh provincial government has imposed an overnight curfew in the oil-rich but riot-torn district of North Aceh.

Jakarta – Attorney General Andi M. Ghalib, a three-star military general, got an unpleasant gift for his 53rd birthday on Thursday from the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW).

Lisbon – Reported reprisals against East Timorese for an attack by resistance fighters on Indonesian troops threaten upcoming talks on the future of the territory, resistance leader Jos

Jakarta – Indonesian authorities have suspended a mining exploration contract awarded to a subsidiary of US miner Freeport McRoran Gold and Copper Inc.

[The following is a report posted by Joyo Indonesia News by a noted political analyst, who prefers to remain anonymous.]

Vaudine England, Bandung – The leafy avenues of West Java's capital are host to the green, white, yellow and red flags of the forthcoming multiparty elections.

Jakarta – Anti-riot troops fired shots at a crowd ripping up flags of Indonesia's ruling Golkar party in Jakarta Friday, an AFP photographer said.

Jakarta – As Indonesians worried about possible fraud and manipulation in Monday's historic election, more than 500 international monitors moved into action Friday to make sure voting t

Patrick Walters, Jakarta – The Megawati bandwagon took over central Jakarta yesterday as an estimated million-strong crowd joined in the biggest political rally yet seen during Indonesi

Andrew Kilvert, Jayapura – A group of Indonesian settlers held hostage by self-proclaimed Irian Jaya rebels were returned home yesterday after a 27-day ordeal in the remote Bewani valle

Hugh Bronstein, New York – Wall Street wants a clear victory for the opposition in Indonesia's general elections on Monday, though a messy government coalition is the more likely outcom

Jakarta – Time magazine insisted Thursday it was standing by its story that former president Suharto and his family amassed a 15-billion dollar fortune during his three decades in power

Is Jakarta serious about probing Suharto's alleged billions? No, says BBC correspondent in Jakarta Jonathan Head, in the radio station's East Asia Today programme.

Dili – The United Nations officially raised its flag in East Timor on Thursday, provoking loud cheers from a crowd of independence supporters and raising hopes of peace in the troubled

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Fresh allegations of killings and kidnappings by pro-Jakarta militia in East Timor emerged yesterday as a diplomatic war of words broke out between Indonesia and

Jakarta – Gunmen killed two soldiers in Indonesia's Aceh province in the latest violence to hit the troubled region where more than 50 people have been killed in the past month, the mil

Jakarta – Minister of Defense and Security/Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen.

Luciano Alvarez, Dili – For 3 days, Publico accompanied a UN mission on a journey that took them over 500 kms of the disputed territory's terrain: Dili, Baucau, Lospalos, Viqueque and b

Jakarta – Indonesia votes on Monday in its first democratic election since 1955 to elect a new parliament. A few months later a new president will be elected.

Whole villages no longer have to back the dominant party, writes Sander Thoenes Across the heartland of Java, home to more than half of Indonesia's 210m people, villagers almost unanimo

Jakarta – Peace held out Tuesday during rallies in the Maluku and East Timor, where hundreds died in recent conflicts, during a round of barnstorming by Megawati Soekarnoputri, but viol

Jeremy Wagstaff, Jakarta – Indonesia's election commission, formed to break the national tradition of stage-managed votes, has been riven by infighting, indecision and allegations of co

Too many vested interests mean the chances of East Timor separating peacefully from Indonesia are slim, Asia Editor David Jenkins writes.

[The following is a report and commentary on the election campaign posted by Joyo Indonesian News by a highly regarded political analyst who prefers to remain anonymous.]

Jakarta – Forensic ballistic experts in Canada have revealed that two bullets taken from the bodies of two students and another found outside a Trisakti University building were fired f

Jakarta – The Indonesian military, in a major reform move, announced Tuesday that it had told thousands of officers holding positions in the civil service and legislatures either to lea

Following the ouster of Indonesia's President Suharto last year, the new government agreed to give the people of East Timor – which was illegally seized by Indonesia a quarter-century a

John Zubrzycki, Dili – Pro-Indonesian militia were planning a military-style sweep on Dili tonight conducting house-to-house searches to check whether voters had registered for the June

[The following is a posting by Tapol described as a reliable eye-witness report of an incident apparently set up by the military to discredit GAM separatists.]

Banda Aceh – Hundreds of Indonesian troops were deployed Sunday searching for rebels who allegedly killed nine police officers and soldiers in an ambush, the military said.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – United Nations officials arriving in East Timor yesterday complained of a hostile reception from pro-Jakarta supporters as fresh violence erupted in the territor