Jakarta – Making an unannounced visit to a village in Bogor, West Java, on Sunday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was surprised by what he found: gasoline sold in bottles and a frayed national flag.
Indonesia & East Timor Digest
Displaying 69351-69400 of 94390 Documents
May 21, 2007
Jakarta – Despite heated debate over funding sources in the 2004 election, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will not order a thorough investigation into an alleged illegal inflow of funds into his Democratic Party, a close aide said Saturday.
Pius Nimaepa inhaled his clove cigarette smoke deeply when Tempo visited him at the end of March. The 60-year-old Ayuka tribal chief sat cross-legged on a wooden chair under a tree in front of his house in Ayuka village, Mimika Timur Jauh district, Mimika regency, Papua.
Yudha Setiawan – As many as 53 new political parties have registered with the Department of Justice and Human Rights. "The total number of parties will continue to grow", said Syamsudin Manan Sinaga, the director general for public legal administration yesterday.
Dara, Banda Aceh – A number of women's activists that are concerned about the fate of women have declared a new local political party that has been given the name the Acehnese People's Alliance Party for Women's Concern (Partai Aliansi Rakyat Aceh Peduli Perempuan, PARAPP).
Melly Febrida, Jakarta – The distribution of 2004 curriculum history books for junior and senior high schools have been banned and the Attorney General hopes that the recall of these books will be completed by this year.
["Understanding the Venezuela Revolution, a Discussion Between Hugo Chavez and Martha Harnecker. Published by Progressive Youth Alliance (AMP) and the Institute for Global Justice (IGJ), February 2007. Reviewed by Zely Ariane.]
[The following is a compilation of abridged translations taken from Detik.com on demonstrations commemorating nine years since the fall of former President Suharto on May 21, 1998.]
'Get ready for an increase in traffic jams'
May 20, 2007
Jakarta – More than a thousand people have fled inland along Indonesia's coastline after tidal waves destroyed houses and fishing boats this week, officials said Saturday.
Residents have taken refuge in schools and other government buildings after high waves pounded coastlines from northern Sumatra island to the southern tourist resort island of Bali, officials said.
Rafiqa Qurrata A, Jakarta – The Central Leadership Board of the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) intends to meet with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to report the numerous forms of terror and intimidation they have been experiencing.
Rafiqa Qurrata A, Jakarta – The central leadership board of the National Liberation Party of Unity suspects there is a political plot to destroy them. This is taking a number forms such as terror and intimidation.
Tito Belo, Dili – Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, East Timor's newly elected president, took the oath of office at a simple ceremony in Dili on Sunday, succeeding Xanana Gusmao as leader of the young nation.
May 19, 2007
Reporter: Anne Barker
Elizabeth Jackson: A special ceremony will be held in East Timor today to swear in the country's second president, Jose Ramos Horta, who replaces Xanana Gusmao.
Under the Constitution the new president must take office on the anniversary of independence. It's five years today since East Timor became an independent nation.
Markus Mannheim – A senior diplomat who refused to break the law by lying about Australia's aid program was later denied an extension to his overseas posting in apparent retribution.
Dili – Estanislau Aleixo da Silva was sworn in Saturday as East Timor's interim prime minister, succeeding Jose Ramos Horta, who was elected president of the tiny state in a landslide earlier this month.
May 18, 2007
A Sydney court has heard the foreign affairs minister in 1975 was pressured not to tell the families of the Balibo five that the men had been killed on the grounds of national security.
Geoff Briot was the foreign affairs minister's chief of staff when five Australian journalists were killed at Balibo in East Timor 32 years ago.
Purwokerto, Central Java – Banyumas Police have recorded 30 suicides since January in its jurisdiction, which encompasses Banyumas, Cilacap, Banjarnegara and Purbalingga regencies.
Apriadi Gunawan and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Medan/Jakarta – Activists and analysts have criticized political parties which had withdrawn political support for an amendment of the 1945 Constitution to empower the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) and said parties could not claim a monopoly over the Constitution.
Jakarta – Experts have criticized a bill on civic education saying it will be counterproductive as it focuses more on the state's interests than those of the people.
Speaking at a seminar on the bill, Azyumardi Azra, director of the postgraduate school at the Jakarta State Islamic University, said the bill overemphasized the obligation to defend the state.
Jakarta – Indonesia's military tribunal should be reformed because it allows notorious officers with abduction convictions against their names to be awarded with promotion, said the human rights monitor group Imparsial on Wednesday.
Jakarta – Activists have criticized former Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh for allegedly intervening in the Attorney General's anticorruption campaign by asking incumbent Hendarman Supandji not to continue investigations into former president Soeharto's corruption cases.
May 17, 2007
There have been further developments concerning the death of prominent human rights lawyer Munir Said Thalib on board a flight of Indonesia's national carrier on September 7, 2004. Munir died of arsenic poisoning aboard a Garuda Indonesia Airways flight destined for Amsterdam.
Hamish McDonald – The top foreign affairs official under the Whitlam government today slammed its policies on East Timor as "chilling".
Alan Renouf, 84, who had been head of the Department of Foreign Affairs selected by former prime minister Gough Whitlam, told a Sydney coroner of his conflicts over Mr Whitlam's policies towards Indonesia, which invaded East Timor in 1975.
Phillip Winn – After decades of dominance, Fretilin's star appears on the wane.
The mood for change in East Timor has been tangible and leaders of the ruling Fretilin Party have sensed it.
Alyssa Braithwaite, Sydney – The Australian government was forewarned that Indonesian soldiers disguised as civilians or anti-Fretilin troops planned to invade East Timor on October 16, 1975, an inquest has been told.
Five Australia-based newsmen were killed in an attack by Indonesian special forces troops in the Timorese border town of Balibo on October 16, 1975.
May 16, 2007
Dili – Timor Leste President Xanana Gusmao expressed the gratitude of the nation s authorities and people Tuesday, for Cuba s medical and educational cooperation.
Political clashes and street fights between machete-wielding rival gangs in East Timor have left one person dead and injured more than 20 people less than a week after a presidential run-off, officials said on Wednesday.
[Max Lane spoke to Avelino Coelho, general secretary of the Socialist Party of Timor (PST) about East Timor's presidential election, the second round of which was held on May 9.]
Tony Iltis – The second round of East Timor's presidential elections, held on May 9, resulted in the victory of Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta. Ramos Horta, running as an independent, had won 73% of the vote with 90% of ballots counted. He won a majority in 10 out of 13 districts.
The planned plenary session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to amend the 1945 Constitution is under threat after the Golkar Party withdrew its support for the amendment, decreasing the number of amendment proponents to well below the required threshold.
Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The transparency of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) remains a source of hot debate in the deliberation of the freedom to access public information bill at the House of Representatives.
Indonesia is vying for re-election to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC). The General Assembly (GA) meets on May 17, 2007, to elect 14 of the Council's 47 seats, four of which are from the Asian region. Bahrain, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines are coming to the end of their one-year terms on the Council.
Jakarta – The Defense Ministry is synchronizing key issues for the implementation of the recently-signed defense treaties between Indonesia and Singapore as part of efforts to persuade the House of Representatives to ratify the documents.
First to the Indonesian province of Papua, where police armed with water canon and M16 rifles are occupying a Jayapura church at the centre of a dispute over the synod's independence.
Indonesian Police are maintaining control of the Kingmi Synod Church office in the capital of Papua province, Jayapura. Earlier today police arrested dozens of Papuans who were among up to five hundred Kingmi Church members protesting in front of the office.
Jakarta – Politicians have never been regarded as the most popular of people, and a recent leadership survey by the Islamic and Societal Research Center (PPIM) would seem to suggest that nothing has changed.
Vannessa Hearman, Solo – On April 29, the Indonesian National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) again suffered intimidation and disruption of a planned meeting in Sukoharjo, on the outskirts of Solo in Central Java. Members of the Islamic Community Militia prevented the meeting from going ahead by blockading surrounding roads and occupying the venue of the meeting.
May 14, 2007
The key witness in the Munir murder case is now under police protection. Upon arriving from Holland, he became the subject of a fight between the police and state intelligence.
[The following is an open letter issued by the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) following the March 13 attack on Papernas's regional office in the Central Sulawesi provincial capital of Palu. Translated by James Balowski.]
An open letter to the leaders of the nation and higher state institutions:
Palu – The regional office of the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) in the Central Sulawesi provincial capital of Palu was attacked by members of the Indonesian military (TNI) on Sunday May 13 at around 1am local time. Three party activists were beaten and suffered serious injuries.
Arfi Bambani Amri, Jakarta – One of the perpetrators of an attack on the offices of the Central Sulawesi branch of the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) is known to be a rogue member of the Indonesian military (TNI). Papernas is urging the TNI to provide an explanation for and to investigate the incident.
Palu, Tito Sianipar – The secretariat offices of the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) in the Central Sulawesi provincial capital of Palu was attacked by a large group of people on Sunday night.
Really encouraging news from East Timor is hard to come by, but the election of Jose Ramos Horta as its new president should be widely welcomed, and not only by his own citizens, some 70 per cent of whom voted for him in the second round run-off, but in the region and the wider community of nations.
Fugitive army rebel Alfredo Reinado says he is ready to give himself up to East Timor authorities after deciding he could get a fair trial.
Last August, Reinado and 50 other inmates escaped from a prison where he was being held on charges of involvement in a wave of violence that killed 37 people and drove 150,000 from their homes last year.
Dili – Incoming East Timor president Jose Ramos-Horta's chances of achieving major reform in the troubled tiny state hinge on the outcome of next month's parliamentary elections, according to analysts.
May 13, 2007
Arfi Bambani Amri, Palu – Yet again the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) has been physically attacked. This time it was the turn of the Central Sulawesi regional branch of Papernas.
The attack by around 50 unidentified assailants took place at the Papernas offices on Jl. Jl Raja Moili in the Central Sulawesi provincial capital of Palu, on Sunday May 13.
May 12, 2007
Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – An alliance of activists and human rights abuse victims in Aceh have completed a draft on the formation of a truth and reconciliation commission, which they plan to propose to the government.
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Despite maintaining good ties with most of his supporting parties, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will nonetheless face major political hurdles in seeking reelection in 2009, a political analyst says.
Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said Friday the Attorney General's Office (AGO) would coordinate with the National Police to re-investigate the criminal elements surrounding the 2004 murder of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib.
Andi Haswidi and Hendarsyah Tarmizi, Jakarta – It is still unclear whether the mistake was the finance minister's or the media's, but the recent remarks by Sri Mulyani appear to have put the chief economics minister and central bank governor into a serious spin.