An Indonesian minister and business tycoon has been elected the new chairman of the Golkar Party, once the most powerful political force in the country, paving the way for an alliance with the President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration.

Aburizal Bakrie, minister of people's welfare, was elected the new Golkar chairman at the party's national congress that ended early Thursday in Pekanbaru, the provincial capital of Riau, eastern Sumatra.

A group of 62 Indonesians who sailed to Australia have been repatriated after being declared economic migrants rather than genuine refugees, news reports said Saturday.

"Someone who is seeking better economic opportunities doesn't meet the criteria for a protection visa," Immigration Minister Chris Evans said.

The men were flown home Friday from Christmas Island, where they had been detained since their boat was intercepted off the west coast of Australia two weeks ago.

Evans said the men had "requested removal" when told they did not qualify for protection.

An Indonesian freighter captain and one crew member drowned when a small boat capsized while ferrying them to shore in Vietnam, local police confirmed Wednesday.

Police found the men's bodies 700 metres from the freighter's anchor site, the Thanh Nien newspaper said.

Torture and other forms of ill-treatment carried out by Indonesian police remain rampant despite the government's efforts to reform the police force, human rights group Amnesty International said in a report released Wednesday.

Rescue workers resumed search efforts Wednesday for at least 23 people trapped in a 150-metre mine shaft, after an explosion collapsed a coal mine in Indonesia's West Sumatra province, officials said.

A helicopter belonging to the Indonesian Air Force crashed Friday afternoon in West Java province, killing two people and injuring five others, officials and media reports said.

The Puma SA-330 chopper with seven people on board - a pilot, co-pilot and five technicians - came down just south of Jakarta, the state-run Antara news agency reported.

Indonesia's economy is likely to grow 3 to 4 per cent this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Friday, praising the way the country has dealt with the global financial crisis.

Scientists have discovered a giant undersea volcano off Indonesia's Sumatra island, the state-run Antara news agency said Friday.

The volcano spans 50 kilometres at its base with a height of 4,600 metres, said Yusuf Surachman, a director at the state-run Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology.