Geraldine Yeo and Yeoh En-lai – Bustling Batam became a ghost-town yesterday as residents stayed indoors and shops stayed shut after at least nine people died in ethnic clashes that sta

Tim Johnston, Dili – Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Friday the opposing factions in East Timor should share power after the August 30 ballot on independence.

Singapore – Singapore was enveloped Thursday by haze from raging plantation fires largely in the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the meteorological service department said.

Andreas Harsono, Jakarta – Indonesian presidential front-runner Megawati Sukarnoputri broke her long silence after winning the parliamentary elections here and spoke for 80 minutes Thur

Dili – The arrest of a gun-toting militia member at a United Nations registration post Thursday was the latest in a series of violent incidents in this Indonesian-ruled territory this w

Vaudine England, Jakarta - Efforts by the Muslim-based political parties to offer a new presidential candidate are gathering steam, partly to avoid having a woman in the top job and par

Rebellion is seriously brewing in Aceh province.

Paris – Jakarta secured a pledge of $5.9 billion in foreign aid on Wednesday, despite demands from human rights groups that cash be held off pending a vote on self rule for the East Tim

Ambon – Clashes between Christians and Muslims in Indonesia's troubled Ambon island killed 24 people, hospital sources said Wednesday.

More than 100 military personnel from (TNI-AD; Indonesian Armed Forces) commanded by BKO (Operational Unit) of Korem 011/Liliwangsa, composed of Yonif 131 and 133 and backed by one plat

Jacinto Alves spent seven years in prison for organising a peaceful demonstration at the funeral of a separatist sympathiser in Dili in 1991.

Craig Skehan, Singapore – Australia is urging Indonesia and the United Nations to consider upgrading security in East Timor in case violence worsens after next month's planned self-dete

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Indonesia is strongly resisting United Nations pressure to further delay a ballot to decide the future of East Timor after boosting the number of police in the t

Mark Dodd, Dili – An attack against the United Nations office in the East Timorese town of Maliana last month was organised by a shadowy network of militia and army officers, according

Sigit Widodo and Andrea, Jakarta – Around two thousand people demonstrated at the National Election Commission (KPU) offices bringing the traffic on Jalan Imam Bonjol to a complete stop

Jeremy Wagstaff and Puspa Madani, Jakarta – More than half of Indonesia's political parties – all but one of them without a seat – have refused to ratify last month's election, citing a

Army chief Wiranto has brokered a deal to end the impasse. It means Megawati's in, Habibie's out – and Wiranto is in charge

Michael Shari, Jakarta – Eko S.

Ati Nurbaiti and Santi W.E.

Yindee Lertcharoenchok – After the first ever face-to-face talks, representatives of the Free Aceh movement and a government-sanctioned Acehnese delegation yesterday expressed hope that

Marianne Kearney, Dili – Armed militiamen in Maubisse, 70 km south of here, are patrolling the streets and threatening villagers with death if they vote for independence.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri has launched a scathing attack on President B.J.

Semarang – The long standing economic crisis in Indonesia since July 1997 has affected the lives of children nation wide, evidenced by the fact that around 10 million of them are suffer

Jakarta – An Indonesian stringer for the US magazine Time on Friday answered a police summons in connection with a Time article which alleged the family of former Indonesian president S

Jakarta – Experts are concerned by the increasing number of child prostitutes to be found on almost all major streets of Surabaya, the country's second largest city.

Mike Head – The United States and the World Bank have both threatened Indonesia with diplomatic and financial retaliation if the Jakarta regime continues to support militia attacks on p

Jakarta – Minister of Justice/State Secretary Muladi ruled out on Thursday the possibility of holding a dialog with the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), saying it was not a legal or

Jakarta – The Independent Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) joined other observers on Thursday in denouncing the newly submitted bill on state security, w

Jakarta – Abdurrahman Wahid came up on Wednesday with yet another surprising move when he praised President B.J.

Jakarta – The Indonesian military, hit by rising losses in Aceh province, has dispatched a battalion of marines to reinforce units battling separatist rebels, the official Antara news a

Jakarta – An aunt of a man injured in the Semanggi incident, a relative of a missing person and a friend of a Trisakti University student who was shot dead have established a group for

Jakarta – Around 2,000 workers staged a demonstration at the Manpower Ministry, demanding the government revoke its labor regulations deemed detrimental to them.

Jakarta – Speculation was rife on Tuesday over the health of former president Soeharto after he was rushed to the Pertamina Hospital in South Jakarta.

Jakarta – The World Bank said on Wednesday international donors to Indonesia would be closely watching the situation in disputed East Timor and could change their stance if a UN-supervi

Jakarta – A group of separatist rebels shot five anti-riot troop personnel dead and injured a score of others on Monday in a dawn ambush in Reng Krueng village in Pidie regency, 170 kil

Jakarta – Separatist movements which have simmered in Aceh and Irian Jaya for years could force the government to declare martial law in the two provinces, a minister said on Monday.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – Indonesia's top generals are laughing off a report in an international magazine which alleged that they had cut a deal to support opposition leader Megawati Soekarn

Sydney – Indonesia is preparing for a massive post-ballot slaughter in East Timor – exacting retribution in blood on East Timorese for refusing to bow to the reign of terror and vote fo

Dili – The intimidation of voters is rampant in East Timor and there has been no significant improvement in security, the independent Carter Center poll monitoring organization said Tue

Chris McCall, Tual – Nearly 40 people displaced by communal violence in Indonesia's remote Kai islands have died of malnutrition or disease in crude refugee camps that dot the once idyl

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – A reshuffle of top officers in Indonesia's armed forces has prompted speculation that General Wiranto, the Defence Minister and armed forces chief, sees himse

Dili – A confidential Indonesian government report predicts social chaos in East Timor as Indonesians flee following an expected vote in favour of independence in August.

Jakarta – Malnutrition? Intellectual confinement?

Yudha Kartohadiprodjo, Jakarta – At a quick glance, Budiman Soedjatmiko, 29 years old, could be mistaken for a compliant yuppie waiting for the next business deal or a young university

Sugianto Tandra, Balibo – A leader of a pro-Indonesia East Timor militia unit said Saturday he has been ordered to make guns in case East Timorese reject autonomy within Indonesia in a

Sugianto Tandra, Balibo – The UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) is facing its first protest over voter registration for an August ballot on the territory's future as pro-Indonesia figur

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Human rights and community groups are accusing the Indonesian military of provoking violence in Indonesia's northern Aceh province, where more than 80,000 peo

Jakarta – Some 2,250 East Timorese living elsewhere in Indonesia are expected to register for August's vote on the territory's future, an independent East Timorese youth group said here

Keith B.

Liquisa – Hundreds of people braved pro-Indonesia militia intimidation in this traumatized district to register Friday for a vote on East Timor's future.