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Indonesia & East Timor Digest

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May 5, 2007

Radio Australia - May 5, 2007

East Timor's ruling party Fretilin has accused the favourite in next week's presidential elections, Jose Ramos Horta, of buying votes.

Campaigning for the second round of the poll is becoming increasingly acrimonious. And as SBS correspondent Brian Thomson reports, the Australian-led International Security Force is in Fretilin's sights.

Reuters - May 5, 2007

Ahmad Pathoni, Jakarta – Charges that Indonesian troops committed gross rights violation during East Timor's 1999 vote for independence were "senseless and crazy", the country's military chief at the time told a truth commission on Saturday.

Jakarta Post - May 5, 2007

Jakarta – National AIDS Commission secretary Nafsiah Mboi expressed concern Friday over the increasing number of housewives being infected with HIV/AIDS.

"We currently are finding more housewives infected with HIV/AIDS as compared to sex workers," Nafsiah told a media briefing on the upcoming National Interfaith War Against HIV/AIDS Meeting to be held here Monday.

Jakarta Post - May 5, 2007

Jakarta – Ending its two-year term Wednesday, the future of the Interdepartmental Anti-Corruption Team is now in the hands of the government.

Jakarta Post - May 5, 2007

Jakarta – A report from the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) says it is unlikely that terror network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) is plotting another major terrorist attack on par with the Bali bombings in 2002 and 2005.

May 4, 2007

Jakarta Post - May 4, 2007

Jakarta – The nation's younger generations will be offered a new perspective on the abortive 1965 coup allegedly committed by the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in a recently-launched book.

Committee to Protect Journalists - May 4, 2007

New York – The Indonesian government should do everything in its power to compel former military commander and minister of information Yunus Yosfiah to testify in an Australian inquest into the 1975 deaths of five Australian television journalists, The Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Associated Press - May 4, 2007

Robin McDowell, Jakarta – The controversy surrounding World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz spotlights a lack of ethics that was apparent two decades ago when he was US ambassador to Indonesia, say critics who recall how he failed to speak out against corruption and rights abuses.

Reporters without Borders - May 4, 2007

Reporters Without Borders today hailed the resumption this week of an inquest into the murders of cameraman Brian Peters and four other journalists 32 years ago in East Timor, saying it hoped every aspect of their deaths would be clarified and insisting that it was not too late for those responsible to be punished.

Jakarta Post - May 4, 2007

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Indonesia is set to enter the Guinness Book of World Records, but it is not an achievement the country will want to brag about.

Guinness has agreed to a proposal by Greenpeace to cite Indonesia in its 2008 issue, to be published in September, for the fastest pace of deforestation in the world between 2000 and 2005.

Jakarta Post - May 4, 2007

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Regional police across Sumatra have been puzzled by the release of many illegal logging suspects by panels of judges during trial sessions in court, a high-ranking police officer said Thursday.

May 3, 2007

Agence France Presse - May 3, 2007

Jakarta – An Indonesian court found national carrier Garuda guilty of negligence Thursday over the death of a leading rights activist on one of its flights, in a case filed by the campaigner's widow.

Jakarta Post - May 3, 2007

Jakarta – The International Labor Organization (ILO) asked the government Wednesday to take the initiative and establish bilateral agreements with destination countries to protect the rights of migrant domestic workers.

Jakarta Post - May 3, 2007

Bekasi – Public minivan drivers in Bekasi went on strike Wednesday, leaving hundreds of commuters stranded.

Agence France Presse - May 3, 2007

Jakarta – Southeast Asian extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah has more than 900 members and remains a major security threat despite extensive police efforts to close it down, a report said Thursday.

Jakarta Post Editorial - May 3, 2007

Journalists in Indonesia have every right to rejoice today on World Press Freedom Day. After nine years of political reform, Indonesia has one of the most liberal laws in Asia when it comes to dealing with the press. Granted it's not perfect. Generally speaking, observance of the press law is largely still left wanting.

Jakarta Post - May 3, 2007

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – An observer with the Asian Network for Free and Fair Elections (Anfrel), which monitored the East Timor independence vote in 1999, testified Wednesday that the referendum was "fair".

May 2, 2007

Sydney Morning Herald - May 2, 2007

Hamish McDonald – They have been conspicuously absent so far, but two of Indonesia's generals yesterday spoke to the Sydney inquest into the deaths of five Australian-based newsmen at Balibo in 1975. Unfortunately, it was far from a live appearance.

Agence France Presse - May 2, 2007

Jakarta – A former East Timor police chief cried as he told a commission on Wednesday that he was powerless to prevent deadly violence from raging in the country during its 1999 vote for independence.

The Advertiser (Australia) - May 2, 2007

Belinda Tasker, Sydney – The Balibo Five were shot by Indonesian military chiefs after trying to surrender, and had their blood smeared on a painting of an Australian flag, a coronial inquest has heard.

Agence France Presse - May 2, 2007

Dili – Foreign troops securing East Timor found a gun, other weapons and cash in a convoy of cars carrying ruling Fretilin party officials Wednesday, presidential candidate Jose Ramos-Horta claimed.

Agencia Cubana de Noticias (AIN) - May 2, 2007

Havana – Cuban doctors serving in East Timor have already made more than one million patient consultations, reported Dr. Alberto Rignak Vaz, coordinator of Cuba's international medical brigade in East Timor. Dr. Rignak noted that the Cuban physicians have carried out 1,720 operations, have assisted some 8,100 women during childbirth and have rehabilitated nearly 6,300 patients.

Australian Associated Press - May 2, 2007

Sydney – A former telephone operator has told an inquest she overheard details about the fatal shooting of five Australian-based newsmen in East Timor in 1975.

Vicky Burchill-Hunt told the inquest into the death of Brian Peters, one of the five men killed at Balibo, that she listened in to a phone call from Dili to a reporter in Melbourne 32 years ago.

Jakarta Post Editorial - May 2, 2007

If citizens really had a choice, they would likely send their children to schools that do not follow the national curriculum. This would protect their children from exposure to what experts have referred to as a large waste of time, culminating in the recently concluded absurdity that are the national exams.

Jakarta Post - May 2, 2007

Jakarta – The Constitutional Court on Tuesday ruled for the third time in favor of the educational sector by insisting 20 percent of the total national budget should be allocated to the country's education fund – yet the government continues to cry poor.

Radio New Zealand - May 2, 2007

A series of demonstrations in Indonesia's Papua province in the past week have called for an end to Special Autonomy, saying it hasn't worked.

Thousands of Papuan students attended two peaceful demonstrations, outside the provincial parliament capital Jayapura last Thursday, and then Tuesday at Manokwari, the second administrative centre in Papua.

Jakarta Post - May 2, 2007

Jakarta – Experts on peace, women and religious affairs said Tuesday that women's roles in peace negotiations, and even in day-to-day activities, are still not recognized, especially for women living in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province.

Asia Times - May 2, 2007

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Indonesia and Singapore last Friday sealed a bilateral extradition pact, opening the way for Jakarta to apprehend and try the many wayward business people and bankers who allegedly stole untold billions of dollars' worth of assets from the country and parked them in Singapore in the wake of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.

Jakarta Post - May 2, 2007

Jakarta – Faculty member of the Institute of Public Administration Inu Kencana Syafei, activist Munir (deceased) and SCTV TV station received the 2007 Poncke Princen Human Rights Prize for advancing human rights conditions in Indonesia.

Sinar Harapan - May 2, 2007

Bekasi – Dozens of members of the Bekasi Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) demonstrated at the mayor's offices and the Bekasi Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) on Monday April 30.

Jakarta Post - May 2, 2007

Jakarta – Tens of thousands of workers staged noisy rallies in major cities throughout Indonesia on Tuesday to mark International Labor Day and to voice a number of demands around welfare improvement and work safety.

May 1, 2007

Jakarta Post Editorial - May 1, 2007

Workers and trade unions in Indonesia have nothing to celebrate on Labor Day today. Job prospects have become gloomier and gloomier as more companies have turned to less labor-intensive operations and new investors prefer to wait on the sidelines because of what they regard as to rigid labor regulations.

News ›› Aceh ›› May Day
Aceh Kita - May 1, 2007

Dara, Banda Aceh – International Labour Day, which is known as May Day, was also commemorated in Aceh on May 1. Hundreds of representatives of labour organisations in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh held a peaceful rally on the grounds of the Acehnese Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) and at the Simpang Lima roundabout.

Jakarta Post - May 1, 2007

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The East Nusa Tenggara Prosecutor's Office on Monday confiscated hundreds of elementary and high school textbooks from bookstores in Kupang, as their contents were believed to have deviated from historical material on communist teachings.

There is concern that the books have been used as a guide for school history lessons.

Jakarta Post - May 1, 2007

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Authorities are being urged to reopen investigations into a 1989 incident in a Lampung village that claimed the lives of hundreds of people.

Agence France Presse - May 1, 2007

Jakarta – Tens of thousands of workers in Indonesia marked May Day by taking to the streets Tuesday to demand better wages and job security, amid a heavy police presence.

Several rallies were held in the capital, Jakarta, with some protesters waving trade union banners and posters denouncing foreign investment as several thousand police watched them closely.

Jakarta Post - May 1, 2007

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Labor activists on Monday accused the government of selling out Indonesian workers by signing free trade agreements with foreign countries.

Detik.com - May 1, 2007

[The following is a compilation of abridged translations taken from Detik.com on the May Day rallies held in Indonesia on May 1.]

State Palace 'attacked en masse' by thousand of workers

Riau Today - May 1-2, 2007

Pekanbaru – Around 1,000 people from the Central People's Movement (SEGERA) have cancelled a May 1 overnight occupation of the offices of the Riau governor because their demands for an investigation into the appropriation of local people's land by the company PT. Arara Abadi have been met.

Jakarta Post - May 1, 2007

Public auditors have asked the government to launch an investigation into the 2004 transfer of US$10 million belonging to Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, describing it as a "blatant abuse of government power".

Jakarta Post - May 1, 2007

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Widespread infection of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in prisons has resulted in the deaths of two young men incarcerated in Tangerang Youth Penitentiary.

Far Eastern Economic Review - May 2007

Jill Jolliffe – The high level of instability afflicting East Timor since independence in May 2002 has its international partners wondering whether the new nation is suffering more than post-independence growing pains. Perhaps, they speculate, it is time to declare it a basket case.

Jakarta Post - May 1, 2007

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Amsterdam – The horrendous crimes committed in East Timor in 1999 continue to haunt Indonesia.

April 30, 2007

Adnkronos International - April 30, 2007

Dili – East Timor interim premier Estanislau Da Silva has accused prime minister and presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta of having shown contempt for the country's institutions when he unilaterally called off the hunt for renegade general Alfredo Reinado.

The Australian - April 30, 2007

Mark Dodd – A damaging rift has opened between East Timor's two rival presidential candidates over the treatment of a group of army mutineers whose demands for military reform a year ago brought the country to the brink of civil war.

Agence France Presse - April 30, 2007

Dili – Timor Leste's President Xanana Gusmao was elected the chairman of a controversial new political party on Monday.

Gusmao was the sole candidate for the chairmanship of the new organisation, the National Congress of Reconstruction of Timor (CNRT), which has already drawn criticism from a rival party.

Liputan 6 - April 30, 2007

Sukoharjo – The National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) continues to come under pressure. Again and again the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) has attempted to break up Papernas events. This time it was a meeting to establish a regional leadership board in Sukoharjo, Central Java, on Sunday April 29.

Radar Solo - April 30, 2007

Sukoharjo – A tense situation developed at the declaration of the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) in Sukoharjo, Central Java, that was to be held yesterday afternoon. Even before Papernas members had begun the meeting, dozens of members of the Sukoharjo Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) had occupied the Gajah Tanjung Anom Building where the event was to be held.

Tempo Interactive - April 30, 2007

Imron Rosyid, Solo – Dozens of members of Surakarta Islamic Community Militia (LUIS) forcibly broke up a conference being held by the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) in the Central Java city of Sukoharjo on Sunday March 29. Islamic groups in Jakarta have taken similar actions against Papernas.

Jakarta Post - April 30, 2007

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – A grenade exploded at the residence of former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) spokesman Sofyan Dawood in Muara Dua district, Lhokseumawe, early Sunday morning.