White House to release Mochtar Riady's letter WASHINGTON (Reuter): President Bill Clinton said on Monday the White House will release a 1993 letter to him from Indonesian businessman Mochtar Riady and suggested there was nothing wrong in Riady having given him policy advice. Riady is the founder of the Lippo Group, an Indonesian conglomerate that has been linked to a series of questionable contributions to Clinton's re-election campaign.

Bishop Belo reveals his Oslo travel plans to Alatas JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas yesterday revealed that Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo has sent a letter outlining his planned trip to Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize next week. "Bishop Belo has sent a letter to me as Foreign Minister on his planned trip to Oslo, Stockholm and the Vatican, including his planned meeting with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in Bonn," Alatas said yesterday.

Vietnam's sugar imports HANOI (AFP): Vietnam is to curb refined sugar imports from next year as domestic production is sufficient to satisfy demand, a senior Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development official said yesterday. "We have told the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Trade that imports of sugar will be suspended as of 1997," the official said. Sugar production is expected to reach 300,000 tons in 1997.

'Yen correction weakens ASEAN economies' TOKYO (AFP): The competitive position of Southeast Asian economies has been "somewhat weakened" by the recent correction of the yen against the dollar, a senior official from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said yesterday.

Capella Amadeus going from strength to strength By Gus Kairupan JAKARTA (JP): The program book for the most recent concert of the Capella Amadeus String Ensemble lists five instances of having appeared in Indonesia, but surely there have been more. The five were all commissioned events, mostly charity concerts, and performances in which it was asked to accompany foreign artists, like the time when it performed with two guitarists from Germany about two years ago.

Customs officers seize Ecstasy at a post office JAKARTA (JP): Customs and excise officers have found a package containing tens of thousands of Ecstasy pills at a post office, Director General of Customs and Excise Soehardjo Soebardi said yesterday. Soehardjo, however, declined to explain further, saying that the finding is still under investigation.

Indonesia beyond the headlines By Wimar Witoelar The following article is based on a paper presented at the annual meeting of Sinclair Knight Merz, a leading Australian engineering company, in Brisbane on Nov. 23, 1996. BRISBANE (JP): Things are happening in Indonesia, but not in the way you read about them in the headlines. It is still true, as the saying goes, that "business access in Indonesia is difficult, but the rewards are plentiful".

Govt programs benefit few disabled people JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Social Services Inten Soeweno said yesterday that less than 10 percent of Indonesia's six million disabled people benefit from government assistance. "The rest need a helping hand from other people," she said when addressing commemoration of the International Day for the Disabled in Bandung yesterday. Since only a few of the disabled are under government care, public assistance would lighten the state's burden, she said.

Night trains to start next month JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned railway company's (Perumka) greater Jakarta office will start operating night commuter trains on the Jakarta-Bogor route next month. The office's head, Eddy Sasongko, said these night commuter trains would cater to workers who started work in the evening and finished late at night. "I have often seen for myself the Jakarta-Depok-Bogor trains which depart the Kota station at 9.00 p.m. are always crowded with passengers.

Boy arrested for sexual assault JAKARTA (JP): Truck drivers could help contribute their ideas to combat AIDS by painting slogans on their trucks to remind themselves and others of the deadly virus, local AIDS Day organizers said yesterday. This has been going on since Nov. 16 in Bekasi as part of the International AIDS Day (Dec. 1) activities. They said this activity would run until Dec.13.