Evi Mariani, Jakarta – Six middle-aged women stood on a stage while dozens watched them take turns in reciting a poem about their family members who died in riots a decade ago.
"Out of curiosity, my boy left our house to watch the rampage near Klender Plaza. He never returned," a woman said.
Over the last few days good news has come in on the formation of a new Left united front formation, called the National Liberation Front (FPN). The FPN will be organizing its first street action on the 10th Anniversary of the downfall of Suharto, May 21 around the issue of the current government's increases to fuel prices. This will be followed by another action on June 1.
Ken Yunita, Jakarta – Protest actions will again colour Jakarta today, Tuesday May 13. Aside from the State Palace, the House of Representatives (DPR) building, the Vice Presidential Palace and the National Police headquarters will also be targeted by demonstrators.
The battle drum of the Indonesian people's resistance to the planned fuel price increases has been sounded – students, the urban poor, workers, farmers and women in every corner of the country are daily holding actions that are growing and uniting day by day.
Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) questioned lawmakers Wowo Ibrahim of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Syarfi Hutauruk of the Golkar Party on Monday, both members of the House of Representatives' Commission IV overseeing forestry and agriculture.
The graft body also grilled South Sumatra Public Works Agency head Dharma Dahlan.
Jakarta – Around 2,000 students from universities across the country rallied in front of the State Palace on Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara, Central Jakarta, on Monday to commemorate the 10th year of the Trisakti shooting tragedy.
Jakarta – Thousands of students across the country took to the streets Monday in opposition to fight the government's plan to raise fuel prices.
Jakarta – Participants at a defamation seminar hosted by ARTICLE 19 and the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) in Yogyakarta are calling on countries in the region to abolish criminal defamation laws and to reform their civil defamation laws to bring them into line with international standards.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The controversial Morning Star flag has again created tension between the central government and Papuans, who are now at loggerheads over the province's proposed flag.
What a mess greeted air travelers to Jakarta last Thursday when for the third time in the past six months the toll road to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport became impassable because of tidal flooding.
Jakarta – Only 25 of 139 state enterprises managed to book profits last year, although overall profits had risen significantly from a year earlier, according to an NGO report released Sunday.
The family of the lover of rebel leader Alfredo Reinado has called on the Australian government to withhold aid to East Timor until she is "charged or exonerated".
Angelita Pires, 33, was the first person to be arrested over the February 11 attacks on President Jose Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.
High food and oil prices will put thousands in the Pacific at risk this year and could spark fresh violence in East Timor, an economist has found.
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Major political parties are throwing their support behind the government's unpopular plan to raise fuel prices early next month.
Presi Mandari, Jakarta – As Indonesians prepare to mark the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Suharto regime this month, the terrible first act of that historic drama is almost too shameful to recall.
It is the duty of the State security forces to anticipate any expression of any aspiration for independence or any rejection of special autonomy which has shown greater development now as the separatist movement has crystalised within the community leading to a demand to separate from the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.
Ika Krismantari, Jakarta – State oil and gas company PT Pertamina is struggling to control the distribution of subsidized fuels as panic buying has followed the government's announcement of a plan to raise fuel prices.
The buying was exacerbated by illegal hoardings which caused scarcity in fuel supply, said a Pertamina official.
The government's draft regulation on compensation, restitution and assistance will obstruct victims of human rights violations in their quest to gain compensation, observers have said.
Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Despite peaceful conditions, the reintegration of ex-combatants and victims of human rights abuses in the once-restive Aceh province has stalled on political and economic issues.
Kediri – Protest actions against the government's planned fuel price hikes continued in a number of cities around the country. Demonstrations by housewives, pedicab drivers, vegetable vendors, the urban poor and students took place in Makassar, Kediri, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Bandung and Sukabumi on Friday May 9.
Duncan Graham, Contributor, Malang – A campaign is underway in East Java to push the next provincial governor to ease the plight of the disabled.
Our founding fathers hit it on the nail when they declared that one of the goals for establishing the state of the republic of Indonesia was to "enlighten the life of the nation" (mencerdaskan kehidupan bangsa).
Jakarta – Ahmadiyah followers outside the office of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) in Central Jakarta on Thursday demanded the Islamic body annul its edicts branding them as heretics.
Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Forest conversion has reached an alarming level in Indonesia with more than 10 million hectares of protected forest converted for business use since the inception of regional autonomy in 2000, a study says.
The study, conducted by the Greenomics Indonesia environmental group, found most regional spatial plans do not aim to protect forests.
Dili – The government's attempt to hold on to power is dangerously depleting the country's reserve of rice and could lead to social disorder, claimed an analyst.
Loro Horta said prime minister Xanana Gusmao should immediately create a more effective food distribution system and change the way he is managing the emergency stock of rice.
Jakarta – Airport workers staged strikes at five airports Wednesday due to continued disagreements between state-owned PT Angkasa Pura I and its labor union over salaries, pensions and health insurance.
Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Conservationists say protected wild orangutans in Central Kalimantan may be extinct in three years unless the government acts to stop the expansion of oil palm plantations.
Center for Orangutan Protection (COP) research shows the orangutan population is falling fast as forests are cleared to make way for oil palm plantations.
Arnaldo Musa – East Timorese Foreign Minister Zacarias Albano da Costa met with Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque in Havana where he thanked the country for its continuous support of East Timor, "even under the most difficult circumstances."
[The following information was released by the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG)]
Adi Warsidi, Banda Aceh – Former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari has said that in general the peace process in Aceh is running well, however, the reintegration process is not yet maximized.
"There is still much to do as far as reintegration is concerned for all of us during the next few years," he said when visiting Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam yesterday.
Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – Four people were injured and six others detained for questioning after hundreds of university students staged a rally in South Sulawesi to protest the government's planned hike in fuel prices.
The rally turned violent when students of Alaudin State Islamic University hijacked an oil tank truck and later pelted stones at police.
Julia Suryakusuma, Jakarta – With everyone becoming more health-conscious there's a growing trend away from unhealthy and calorific food. In most Western countries huge industries produce masses of low-cal products: margarine lite, lite spread, lite milk, slimline yogurt, Lite Licks (ice cream made from soy), lite bread and lite beer and soft-drinks.
Aditya Suharmoko and Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – With the fuel prices hike imminent, the government should provide incentives to labor-intensive industries that will be the hardest hit by the policy, says the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin).
Jakarta – Hundreds of interfaith activists rallied here Tuesday demanding the government protect religious freedom and drop a plan to outlaw the Jamaah Ahmadiyah Islamic sect.
Fabio Scarpello, Denpasar – Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's already fragile government has been dealt a blow with the defection of a coalition partner to the opposition Fretilin, leaving it relying on independents.
Paul Toohey – Xanana Gusmao's Timorese Government is heading close to collapse as parties in his ruling Parliamentary Majority Alliance (AMP) coalition turn against him and leave the door open for Fretilin, the party with the biggest majority, to form its own coalition.
Jakarta – The split in the National Awakening Party (PKB) is now official, with each of the two opposing factions establishing its own central board.
One faction elected House of Representatives deputy speaker Muhaimin Iskandar and little-known cleric Aziz Mansyur as chairman and chief patron, respectively, at a three-day extraordinary meeting that concluded Sunday.
Jakarta – A survey conducted to commemorate a decade of Indonesia's reform movement has concluded an overall decline in the freedom of religion and speech but an increase in governance performance.
The survey, released Monday by democracy and human rights research center Demos, was conducted in 2007 among 900 social, political and democracy activists throughout the nation.
Olle Tvrnquist, Jakarta and Oslo – Ten years ago, Soeharto's New Order began to be replaced by the world's largest New Democracy. It is time for an evaluation. By 2003, Demos (The Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies), with the University of Oslo, developed and applied a framework for comprehensive democracy assessment by senior activists around the country.
Washington – A quarter of the countries vying for seats on the United Nations Human Rights Council have dismal human rights records that should disqualify them from membership, according to a new report from Freedom House and UN Watch.
[The following information was released by the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG)]
Aboeprijadi Santoso, Jakarta – Retired General Wiranto, backed by hundreds of his colleagues, has in effect begged for impunity for human rights violations by claiming that their mission was to maintain the unitary state of Indonesia.
It is urgent that Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid realize millions of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) followers have suffered and will continue to suffer unless he is able to control himself and his thirst for power. The danger is clear. But only Gus Dur can stop Gus Dur, because very few people can change his mind, not even family members.
Jakarta/Bandung/Mataram – The government is being urged to disband its interdepartmental board that recently recommended a ban on Jamaah Ahmadiyah, as protests have continued in support of the Islamic sect.
Jakarta – Hundreds of supporters of a minority Islamic sect dubbed heretical by a government panel rallied here Tuesday demanding that religious freedom is protected in the world's biggest Muslim country.
Hendarsyah Tarmizi, Jakarta – Many of us are unaware that besides receiving a government subsidy of about Rp 2,500 (27 US cents) for every liter of gasoline we buy, we also get another Rp 2,000 from state-owned Pertamina for every kilogram of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) we burn.
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The Golkar Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) have opened talks on forming a coalition for the 2009 presidential election, looking to pair Vice President Jusuf Kalla with People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Kidayat Nur Wahid.
Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – The economy grew at a lesser rate in the first quarter of 2008, compared to in last year's fourth quarter, on a slower growth in investment and consumption amid rising inflation and a global economic slowdown, Bank Indonesia (BI) said Monday.
Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Recent issues of domestic religious freedom have damaged Indonesia's global reputation as a nation of religious tolerance, experts say.
Jakarta – The split in the National Awakening Party (PKB) is now official, with each of the two opposing factions establishing its own central board.
One faction elected House of Representatives deputy speaker Muhaimin Iskandar and little-known cleric Aziz Mansyur as chairman and chief patron, respectively, at a three-day extraordinary meeting that concluded Sunday.