Jakarta – Too many activists in the list of hopefuls for the new National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) leadership was the reason only a few made it through, a lawmaker said Friday.
Trimedya Panjaitan chairs the House of Representatives Commission III responsible for legal and human rights issues and he had just concluded screening the new 11 Komnas HAM members.
Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – More than 6,000 families that fell victim to the tsunami in Aceh are living still in temporary shelters because many newly built houses were not yet equipped with proper facilities, including sanitation.
Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The door has officially been shut on voters not registered for August's gubernatorial election, with hundreds left off the rolls.
Jakarta – Nan Main knows that she is a registered voter, but doesn't know who she'll be voting for in August.
"For sure I'm going to vote; I got a letter yesterday saying I'm eligible and I have a kartu keluarga," the Betawi native said referring to the family registration card.
Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – From feet to bicycles, from trams to buses and automobiles, Jakarta has decided after nearly half a millennium to take the next baby step toward an integrated mass rapid transportation system.
The US House of Representatives today signaled continued congressional concern for human rights, accountability, and military reform in Indonesia and justice for East Timor. Several provisions in the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill (H.R.
Jakarta – Regional administrations have failed to pay proper attention to environmental issues, a national meeting of green organizations said Thursday.
The problems have been inadequately addressed because there are few environmental offices in regions as the tasks and responsibilities of such offices had been attached to the local offices of ministries, it said.
Jakarta – HIV/AIDS activists have called on secondary schools to focus more on sex education to help prevent the spread of the virus.
Jakarta – Indonesian hardline cleric Abu Bakar Bashir never headed the Islamic militant network Jemaah Islamiyah, a spokesman for his organisation said on Friday.
Jakarta – The commission overseeing legal and human rights issues at the House of Representatives selected Wednesday 11 applicants for membership of the National Commission for Human Rights from among 43 candidates.
The selections were made after a series of hearings with House Commission III chairman Trimedya Panjaitan, who announced the individuals to serve until 2012.
Jakarta – Results from a recent survey indicate that the majority of Indonesian Muslims are tolerant toward other religions and reject the imposition of religious bylaws but believe that bombings will continue to be a threat in the future.
Tony Hotland, Jakarta – A likely alliance between Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in the 2009 presidential election is projected to be short-lived, if not a failure, observers said Thursday.
Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Around 1.2 million of Jakarta's eligible voters have not been registered for the August gubernatorial election, two national institutions announced Thursday.
Twenty per cent of East Timor's people need food aid after severe droughts and locust plagues battered crops in the troubled young nation, two UN food agencies say.
A parliamentary committee has criticised the Howard Government for rushing the controversial treaty on exploiting natural gas in the Timor Sea.
The Government invoked the rarely used national interest exemption to bring the treaty into force in February without giving the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties an opportunity to scrutinise it.
Tito Belo, Dili – East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta on Friday urged the winner of next week's parliamentary elections to form a unity government in a bid to heal divisions in the tiny state.
Bangkok – Having lost 30 per cent of its crops this year to drought, plagues and locusts, East Timor will need 15,000 tons of emergency food assistance during the upcoming "lean season," the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday.
Jakarta – Indonesia's judicial system is still reluctant to reform itself and is neglecting calls for greater transparency in its court verdicts, a legal expert says.
Jakarta – Opposition continues to mount over the government's plan to build a nuclear power plant near Mount Muria in the northern part of Central Java.
The government expects to hold a tender for the project next year, before construction commences in 2010. The 4,000 megawatt plant is expected to supply two percent of the country's total energy demand by 2017.
(Bangkok) FORUM-ASIA, writes to Jose Ramos-Horta, the new president of Timor Leste, to remind him of the pending issues of impunity on violations of human rights that have occurred in the country also known as East Timor. Swift and immediate resolution of this matter is urged.
p>The Honorable Jose Ramos-Horta
President of Republic Democratic of Timor Leste
Palacio Das Cinzas,
Dili, Timor Leste
Email: presidente-tl@easttimor.minihub.org
Your Excellency,
M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The majority of the country's population has suffered depression of some form in the last year, says the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI).
IDI chairman Fachmi Idris said Wednesday that the latest survey put out by the country's psychiatrist association showed that 94 percent of the country was suffering from some form of depression.
Jakarta – Experts demanded Wednesday the immediate enactment of the anti-corruption court bill to empower the court to achieve more accountable verdicts and encourage public participation in the process.
Jakarta – The active role played by civil society has helped reveal corruption in many local administrations, and to progressively reduce the number of such cases, according to a study conducted by the World Bank's Justice for the Poor Program.
Jakarta – Indonesian activists on Thursday submitted a complaint against judges who presided over the pollution trial of US mining giant Newmont, alleging they had dozed off during proceedings.
Jakarta – An Indonesian member of the Islamic extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah said in an interview broadcast Thursday that its members were in disarray after the arrests of two of its top leaders this month, but warned they may have become more dangerous.
Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Planned laws on state secrecy and intelligence should include multiple oversight mechanisms and limitations on their scope to maintain the country's commitment to its hard-earned democracy, observers said Wednesday.
Imran, North Aceh – Residents of the Mee village in the sub-district of Syamtalira Aron, North Aceh, have discovered the remains of what they believe to be part of a skeleton of a person killed during the period of conflict. The bones were found in the area of the Surplus Control Project of the Supply Chain Department at Exxon Mobil Indonesia Cluster I on Wednesday June 20.
Apriadi Gunawan and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Medan – The Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) held their first joint public gathering here Tuesday, paving the way for the country's two largest political parties to form a strategic coalition to contest local elections and the 2009 presidential election.
Jakarta – All ten factions in the House of Representatives agreed during a plenary session Tuesday to enact a new Taxation Arrangements and Procedures Law, with the government and lawmakers expressing the hope that it will place taxpayers and the tax service on a more equal footing.
The shooting of the villagers in Pasuruan
Rajawali Nusantara Corporation (RNC), having links with the Indonesian Naval Forces - Navy's Eastern Fleet in Surabaya, cultivated a disputed land in Alas Tlogo Village, Lekok, Pasuruan, East Java. The villagers had been claiming the traditional ownership of the land for sometime.
Jakarta – Both the government and non-governmental organizations acknowledged Tuesday the need for a new Truth and Reconciliation Commission law that would be focused on the pursuit of justice for victims.
Green Left Weekly's Vannessa Hearman spoke to Agus Jabo, chairperson of the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas), in Jakarta about the new party's campaign plans and its defence against ongoing attacks from right-wing organisations.
What are your hopes for the 2009 presidential and general elections?
Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Thousands of people gathered at Dharmaloka heroes cemetery in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, on Tuesday to pay their last respects to Abilio Jose Osorio Soares, the last governor of East Timor before it declared independence through a UN-organized referendum in 1999.
Dili – East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta ordered security forces on Tuesday to stop hunting for an army renegade accused of involvement in last year's wave of violence.
ID Nugroho, Sidoarjo – Police officers were forced come between two groups of mudflow victims in Sidoarjo, East Java after the groups accused one another of providing false information in efforts to receive compensation.
Police officers invited representatives from each group to a reconciliation meeting beside the main thoroughfares of Sidoarjo.
Jakarta – Vice President Jusuf Kalla has reiterated his wariness toward the application of Western-style democracy in Indonesia.
Speaking before a visiting delegation from the Netherlands-based Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) on Monday, Kalla said the application of Western democracy in Indonesia would create injustice and inequality.
Jayapura – The governor of Papua, fresh off a tour of remote villages, said past development efforts have failed to lift the majority of rural Papuans out of poverty.
Governor Barnabas Suebu, who visited villages in Supiori, Biak Numfor and Waropen regencies during his two-week tour, said more than 80 percent of people in rural areas were living in absolute poverty.
Fabio Scarpello, Denpasar – After a military-civilian clash over disputed land in East Java turned deadly last month, outraged locals are urging Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to act decisively in taming trigger-happy soldiers and reigniting the stalled reform of the Indonesian armed forces.
Indonesian militant Abu Dujana plans to sue the police, alleging he was shot in the thigh by members of an elite anti-terrorist unit after surrendering, one of his lawyers says.
Dujana, who is believed to head a military wing of the South-East Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), was captured on June 9 during a police raid in Central Java.
Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – Heartless speculators, a corrupt judicial system, an incomplete and untrustworthy land ownership database and greedy politicians.
Add them all together and you have a country covered in land disputes – only a few of which make good reading.
Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – Land disputes seem to be a dime a dozen in Indonesia right now. In the last four weeks alone the country has seen arguments and wars arise over car park lots, residential and commercial properties and farming fields alongside Navy developments.
Jakarta – Members of the House of Representatives are currently deliberating the bill on Military Tribunal but are at odds with a well-known human rights organization over whether soldiers convicted of crimes should serve time in civilian prisons.
Prodita Sabarini, Jakarta – A non-governmental group is urging residents to play an active role in monitoring the performance of the city's next governor and deputy governor, who will be elected in an August poll.
Palu, Central Sulawesi – Human rights groups in Palu, Central Sulawesi, urged the police Friday to investigate attacks on student activists allegedly by hired thugs.
Activists from the Anti-Corruption Students Coalition (KMAK) staged a peaceful rally at the Palu District Court on Thursday, demanding Tadulako University rector Sahabuddin Mustapa be convicted for corruption.
Jakarta – Hundreds of laborers with the Force Labor Alliance staged a rally at the Cakung Bonded Zone, North Jakarta, to demand the government scrap the current outsourcing and working-under-contract system.
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Indonesia's plan to diversify its purchase of military equipment may be realized with British defense companies eyeing Indonesia as a promising market for their products and a potential production base.
Jakarta – Nearly half the residents of Indonesia's remote Papua province have never heard of HIV/AIDS despite the virus' prevalence there being 15 times the national average, a new internationally funded research report shows.
Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) admitted on Sunday that senior members had offered to support several generals as candidates for deputy governor in return for money.
The Territory coroner has ruled out investigating the suspected murder of a Darwin journalist by the Indonesian military.
Roger East is suspected of being killed by invading Indonesian forces at Dili's wharf on December 8, 1975, after travelling to East Timor to investigate what happened to five colleagues who were killed two months earlier. He was 29.