TIME and its reporters were banned in Indonesia in 1961, and President Sukarno has never been secretive about his opinion of our coverage, which sharply delineated the country's downward slide under his capricious rule. The situation drastically changed last September when an attempted Communist takeover was put down by the army, and the generals began to maneuver Sukarno into the background.

The new military regime lifted the ban on TIME. Bangkok Bureau Chief Louis Kraar flew into Djakarta to witness the mopping-up operations of Lieut. General Suharto's troops and the radical political changes that the military were setting in motion. After two weeks, the door closed again and Kraar had to leave. In the sub sequent tense weeks of struggle between Sukarno and the army, we found other ways of keeping informed. This week's cover is the 23rd story that we have run on Indonesia since the attempted coup.

When Sukarno was finally forced to pass on his powers to the new regime in March, the TIME ban was again lifted, and Kraar was in the first group of American reporters to return. Sukarno spotted him and exploded. "I'm so angry," he sputtered, "I don't want to talk to you."

Key men in the new power structure, as well as Sukarno's pretty Japanese wife, were willing to talk to Kraar as they were to talk with Senior Editor Edward Hughes when he toured Indonesia last April. Kraar, who has spent eleven weeks in Indonesia since September, was joined by Frank McCulloch, chief of the Hong Kong bureau, and Singapore-based Stringer Dan Coggin. In a six-week, 6,000-mile swing, Coggin covered Java, Bali, Sumatra and Sulawesi. The correspondents' massive reports furnished the material for Writer John Blashill's story.

As Sukarno's political powers waned, so it seemed did his chronophobia. At a palace reception, as he was boasting how he had banned Beatle music and Beatle haircuts, McCulloch's gleaming pate caught his eye. "Haw," beamed the Bung, "this TIME and LIFE fellow doesn't have to worry about Beatle haircuts, does he?" Then he leaned close to McCulloch and, as though imparting a state secret, whispered: "But do not worry, my friend. Grass never grows on a busy street."

LAST week the American Bar Association announced its Gavel Awards, and once again TIME (with Look) won the honors in the magazine category. TIME also received a 1959 Gavel for its May 5, 1958 cover story on the rule of law.

The Gavel Awards are given for "distinguished service" in communicating to the public "the basic values of our legal and judicial systems." TIME was cited for its regular coverage of these systems in the Law section -- which is written by Robert Shnayerson and edited by Richard Seamon -- plus a specific citation for the July 16, 1965 Essay, "The Revolution in Criminal Justice."

In a letter to Editor-in-Chief Hedley Donovan, A.B.A. President Edward W. Kuhn said: "The competition for awards this year attracted the second largest number of entries in the nine-year history of this competition, so you have every right to be proud." We are indeed.

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