Louise Williams, Jakarta – For fifteen days Pak Waska has been ready: waiting under the vast, concrete highway overpass, his work bag packed, his shirt neat and clean, the thick fumes o

Louise Williams, Jakarta – Indonesia announced last night that it had reached agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a rescue package for its ailing economy.

S N Vasuki, Jakarta – Private power firms, which are investing billions of dollars in new projects in Indonesia, are desperately trying to stall a government move to renegotiate power t

On 7 August, the District Council bestowed the title of Honorary Citizen of Brasilia on the Timorese Resistance leader, Xanana Gusmao. The Ambassador of East Timor in Angola, Dr.

For the first time, clandestine East Timorese fighters are building bombs.

The national car

Chris Lydgate in Singapore and Louise Williams in Jakarta – The Indonesian President's comments that the Singapore Government had agreed to offer a $US10 billion ($14.2 billion) aid pac

When President Soeharto built himself a modern office block in the late 1960s, it was known for a time as the KISS building, an abbreviation of words borrowed from English – koordinasi,

Tony Wright, Jakarta – The Prime Minister has told Indonesia's President Soeharto that Australia, in the spirit of "regional mateship", stands ready to dig deep as part of a major inter

Bernice Han, Singapore – Indonesia's National Logistics Agency (Bulog), the state-owned food price regulator, is seen targeted by the International Monetary Fund for reform, a senior ag

Jakarta – The government is necessary to stop isolating ethnic Chinese from political life, an expert said.

Semarang – Fifteen East Timor students from the East Timor Students' Association (IMAPTI) of Semarang had met members of Commission A (dealing with defense and security issues) of the C

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) is concerned for the safety of up to eight East Timorese men still in detention in Semarang and Dili, for their alleged involvement in the man

Jakarta – Police and soldiers used sticks to break up anti-government protests by hundreds of students today in two cities.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund's rescue package for Indonesia is expected to be delayed until later this week after private talks reportedly stalled over pol

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – Two East Timorese men could face the death penalty if found guilty of trying to topple the Government through terrorism.

K.T.

Michael Shari in Jakarta, with Joyce Barnathan in Hong Kong – The 60 Indonesian blue-chip company executives summoned to Bank Indonesia, the country's central bank, on Oct.

Seth Mydans, Kuala Lumpur – Tigers and elephants are fleeing the burning jungles. Birds are falling from the murky skies. Schoolchildren are fainting at their desks.

Jakarta – The number of cities covered by the thick haze from rampant forest and bush fires nearly doubled yesterday, amid uncertainty over when the annual monsoon rains would arrive.

Jakarta – The worst drought in half a century has devastated crop harvests by as much as 40 percent, the government said Friday.

Jakarta – Outspoken Muslim scholar Amien Rais has suggested a national poll be held to determine whether the majority of Indonesians want President Suharto re-elected next year for a re

Chris Johnson, Singapore – Choking yellow-grey smog over Southeast Asia has already closed factories, cancelled flights and lengthened queues in doctors' waiting-rooms.

Lewa Pardomuan, Jakarta – Thick smog from rampant forest and bush fires spread to more cities in Indonesia on Sunday while uncertainties over the start of the annual monsoon rains linge

Stephen Spencer, Canberra – The federal ALP has moved to dramatically recast major areas of its foreign policy, in what it frankly admits is a recognition that some areas, in particular

John McBeth with Fanny Lioe in Jakarta – On October 10, two days after Indonesia announced it was going to seek the International Monetary Fund's help in salvaging its economy, Jakarta

Lewa Pardomuan, Jakarta – Indonesia's state-owned aircraft manufacturer Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN) said on Thursday it had found counter-trade deals beneficial and denied

Louise Williams, Jakarta – The Indonesian Government has warned that forest fires and smoke haze are getting worse, and monsoon rains are expected to be further delayed, while another f

Louise Williams, Jakarta – In a new effort to arrest the slide of the rupiah, Indonesia's Central Bank has announced that commercial banks may lend hundreds of millions of US dollars fr

Karen Polglaze, Jakarta – Indonesia's military has tried to link Nobel Peace Prize co-recipient Jose Ramos Horta with an alleged terrorist group.

Karen Polglaze, Jakarta – East Timorese independence advocate and Nobel Peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta today rejected accusations by the Indonesian military that he was linked to a cla

Canberra – Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta Tuesday accused the Australian government of covering up Indonesia's involvement in the deaths of five Australian journalists in East Ti

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) is concerned for the safety of Manuel Afonso and Lino Xavier Nunes who are currently in detention at POLRES (Regional Police Headquarters) in

Trevor Royle – Traditionally Britain's foreign interests have been dominated by a mixture of strategic initiatives to protect national interests and direct action, as the Foreign Office

Lewa Pardomuan, Jakarta – Military helicopters flew rice and noodles to famine-stricken areas in Indonesia's remote Irian Jaya province on Monday as government officials said food short

Sydney – The president of the Timorese Democratic Party (UDT) said here Sunday he was asked by the Indonesian military to kill Australian journalist Hamish McDonald in 1975.

Don Greenlees – The Federal Government is facing a political contest over human rights after a decision by the ALP to call for the first time for a "right of self-determination" for Eas

Jacqui Birchall, East Timor – The path of most despair - Site of death and oppression since 1975, East Timor had little to offer one intrepid traveller – except perhaps the satisfying k

A report into the death of five Australia-based journalists at Balibo in East Timor 22 years ago will be examined today at a seminar at the University of NSW Law School.

With Indonesia's President Soeharto nominated by his Golkar party this week for a seventh five-year term, his unopposed re-election by a largely hand-picked assembly seems certain, barr

Jim Della-Giacoma, Jakarta – Indonesia's ruling Golkar party has predictably nominated ageing President Suharto to lead the country into the next century, but the question of who will s

Jakarta – President Soeharto denied press reports yesterday that a food shortage has forced people in Lampung and Java to eat cassava for their daily meals.

Jakarta – Another 17 people have died in drought stricken Irian Jaya, taking the toll to 462, a report says.

Sydney – The Indonesian army has arrested in the last days dozens of youths, in several raids to villages aimed at discredit the armed rebel movement, a resistance leader told Lusa on T

President Suharto has earned plaudits for deregulating various aspects of Indonesia's economy. But he can't complete the job without challenging some powerful vested interests.

There will be many redundancies in the industrial sector if businesses are forced to close down because of the present tight money policy, said Adi Putra Tahir, who heads the Organisati

James Dunn – Timor watchers would have detected a touch of irony in a news item from Jakarta earlier this week.

Jakarta – At least 416 people in Indonesia's remote Irian Jaya province have died of famine and disease and nearly 90,000 face serious food shortages because of a severe drought, relief

Sydney – Five Australian journalists killed in East Timor were deliberately targeted by Indonesian troops and not caught in crossfire as had been thought, a report said on the 22nd anni

Sander Thoenes and Quentin Peel, Jakarta – Indonesia may walk out of talks with Portugal over the status of East Timor unless progress is made soon, Ali Alatas, Indonesia's foreign mini