Politics

DJOHAN EFFENDI explores the paradox of young progressives in Indonesia's most traditional Islamic organisation.

Many private banks set up by Indonesia's super-wealthy in the 1980s are reeling under the weight of mismanagement. But connections sometimes allow them to evade the laws of financial gravity, as SUARA INDEPENDEN shows in these two reports.

ANDREAS HARSONO visits Burma and is intrigued by the respect its military show for the Indonesian model.

'I write the truth and if I have to die for it, well so be it' wrote Udin shortly before he died. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL investigates.

To Jakarta, he is an enigma. To the Madurese, he holds out hope for a better society. GERRY VAN KLINKEN goes to the grass-roots.

The riot that engulfed Jakarta on 27 July 1996 started after army-backed gangsters invaded Megawati's PDI headquarters. JESSE RANDALL traces the strange relationship between government and criminality.

When this teacher tries to explain the electoral system, he ends up in knots. SUGENG PERMANA listens in.

Abri officers are becoming more Islamic, but many do not want their Islam to become a political tool for the administration, according to MARCUS MIETZNER.

Senior ABRI intentions may be obscure now, says BOB LOWRY, but no one should assume they will remain that way.

DAMIEN KINGSBURY puts his money on five military winners in the presidential stakes. Indonesians call them the five Pendawa.

It's lonely in the Forestry Minister's office, says GERRY VAN KLINKEN.

Facing a sceptical public, Abri has to talk harder to justify its political role. JUN HONNA listens in.

HERTJE SURIPATTY tells how developers used soldiers and thugs to try to force her out.

VEDI HADIZ sent this eyewitness account from South Sulawesi.

PETER CRONAU and MATTHEW BROWN find that Cold War methods live on in Indonesian consulates around Australia.

The currency crisis is making Thailand more democratic, but not Indonesia, says PRIYAMBUDI.

DAVID BOURCHIER looks at the new generation of military leaders, after a big shakeup between July and October 1997.

The World Bank has joined the IMF in a huge rescue package. Indonesian non-government organisations (NGOs) presented this memo to World Bank president James Wolfensohn in Jakarta.

Indonesian fishermen whose traditional fishing grounds are in Australian waters may have a Mabo-style claim, says CAMPBELL WATSON.