Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Indonesia has seen positive human rights developments in the last year but a lack of political will has prevented accountability for rights abuses in the past, a US report has concluded.

Indonesia welcomed Wednesday a report by Hina Jilani, the special representative of the UN secretary general on the situation of human rights defenders, and said the government was strengthening the network of rights defenders as part of the national blueprint on human rights.

Timika, Papua – Four Australian military attaches arrived at the Mimika district town of Timika on Wednesday for a two-day working visit in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua.

Jakarta, – The National Commission on Human Rights says acts of violence involving National Police remain frequent, despite the law enforcement agency's agreement to promote and protect human rights.

Other state institutions like the military and public order officers trailed far behind.

Jayapura – The controversial issues of using separatist symbols such as the morning star flag on any accessories has become one of Governor Suebu's concerns. According to the governor, the handling of the people's use of the separatist's symbols should be dealt persuasively and not repressively.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Most forest and land rehabilitation programs launched by the central government have failed to reduce deforestation because locals refuse to become involved, officials and activists said.

Jakarta – A number of regional governments have cut their HIV/AIDS budget allocation, despite a national commitment to raise more funds to fight the virus.

Recent reports of a mother and her two children who died of hunger in the South Sulawesi capital Makassar and of five people who died of malnutrition-caused illnesses in the East Nusa Tenggara town of Ndao shed some light on a tragedy of humanity facing the country.

Nana Rukmana, Cirebon – Skyrocketing cooking oil prices have threatened the traditional food industry in Indramayu regency, West Java, putting many cracker producers at risk of going out of business.

Zakki Hakim, Jakarta – Indonesia's Human Rights Commission has opened inquiries into mass killings and widespread rights abuses during the 32-year Suharto dictatorship, in an attempt to finally bring the perpetrators to justice.

Ambon – A district court in Ambon, the capital of Indonesia's Maluku province, has sentenced two members of the pro-independence group RMS to 15 and 17 years in prison for "plotting against the state".

Iqbal Fadil, Jakarta – Those of you planning activities in the capital today should be on guard for traffic jams. Nine locations in the city will be enlivened by protest actions by a number of different groups. Where exactly? According to the Metro Jaya regional police Traffic Management Centre (TMC) the following locations will be hit by protests:

Vidhyandika Perkasa, Jakarta – No significant progress has eventuated in Papua as far as sociocultural, political and economic dimensions are concerned.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta was almost killed by a banned soft-nosed bullet that expands when it hits, inflicting a large jagged wound. The "dum-dum" bullet is banned by the Geneva Convention.

Mr Ramos Horta suffered three holes in the right side of his back and another huge wound in the area of his ribs.

Jakarta – Prosecutors demanded Tuesday that late former president Soeharto's heirs pay a total of Rp 13.9 trillion (US$1.5 billion) in damages to the state for misusing scholarship funds managed by his Supersemar foundation.

What an unfortunate year for Indonesia's tourism industry. Less than one month after the government declared 2008 Visit Indonesia Year, flooding crippled Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, the main gateway to the country, early last month.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – An American freelance journalist believed to be linked with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has been deported from Aceh after attempting to enter the province on Feb. 8.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – Cases of human rights violations committed by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in the 1960s are still being neglected. Hundreds of people from anti-communist groups went to the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) today urging the commission not be used by the PKI, which they said was rising up again(1).

Nurni Sulaiman, Balikpapan – Security forces said they were boosting border security around Berau and Nunukan, East Kalimantan, in anticipation of an expected 300 Jamaah Islamiyah members returning from combat training in the Philippines.

Paul Toohey – President Jose Ramos Horta is struggling to comprehend the betrayal involved in an attempt by former members of the Timorese military to kill him and the country's Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao.

Although he is recovering well from bullet wounds in a Darwin hospital, Mr Ramos Horta was said yesterday to have been hurt in ways surgery could not mend.

Muhammad Nur Rochmi, Jakarta – Three protest actions will be held in Jakarta on Tuesday March 11. Based on information from the Metro Jaya regional police Traffic Management Centre, the three separated actions will involve a total of around 500 people. The demonstrations are expected to create traffic jams.

Jakarta – Al-Qiyadah, an Islamic sect that rose under the leadership of Ahmad Mussadeq, emerged in response to changing times and Islam's international reputation, the South Jakarta District Court heard Monday.

Batam, Riau Islands – The manggrove forest along Nongsa Beach in Batam is reportedly being threatened by fuel waste dumped from foreign-flagged tankers in the Strait of Malacca.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – The number of lepers has nearly doubled and the disease has spread to almost every regency and city in West Java over the past year, due to poor sanitation, a health official said Monday.

Jakarta – For squatters of Kampung Bayam in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, life goes on as usual, despite the city administration's plan to eject them and restore the area to its original use as a green zone.

Dili – In a ceremony presided over by the interim president of the Republic of Timor-Leste, Fernando Lasama de Araujo, and Deputy Prime Minister Jose L.

See: Comments on the US Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2007 - East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) and the West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT). March 31, 2008

Section 1 - Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:

Tifa Asrianti, Bekasi – Five churches in North Bekasi held Sunday services from Permata Jijau Permai housing estate despite a rumor members of the Cooperating Bureau of Mosques and Praying Rooms (Musholla) would stage large protests against their efforts.

Ken Yunita, Jakarta – Three protest actions will take place in Jakarta and neighboring Bekasi on Monday March 10. One of the demonstrations will be held at the Singapore Embassy on Jl. HR Rasuna Said in South Jakarta.

The demonstration the embassy is being organised by students from the Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front (KAMMI) and will start at 2pm.

Jakarta – The Golkar Party has drawn criticism for proposing only political groups winning at least 30 percent of national votes in the 2009 legislative election should be allowed to nominate presidential candidates.

The National Awakening Party (PKB) patron and former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid was positive about his prospects in the upcoming 2009 presidential elections, after his recent nomination.

A month on from the shooting of East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta, the BBC's Lucy Williamson reports on the government's handling of the crisis.

The camp holding the rebel soldiers is being run with military precision The road into the camp looks like any other – a wide, dusty road dotted with scrub.

Bribery issues filled public spaces last week, following the dramatic arrest of a top prosecutor by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). The media made it headlines, the people incessantly talked about it, and it should now lead to something bigger: reform in our law enforcement agencies.

Jakarta – A lack of knowledge about Saudi Arabia's legal system and culture is partly to blame for the imprisonment of many Indonesians working in the Islamic state, a non-governmental organization says.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A women's alliance has called the campaign against HIV/AIDS infection in Papua ineffective, citing the steep rise in cases in the last several years.

A number of Papuan women of the Women's Challenge Alliance held a demonstration to observe World Women's Day in Abepura on Saturday.

Washington, D.C.

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – Hanifah, 23, carried her two-year-old daughter to join a crowd at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle here Saturday, as part of activities marking International Women's Day.

Jakarta – The commemoration of International Women's Day (IWD) was marked by the accumulation of bitter gifts in the form of the soaring price of basic commodities and soybean, the bacteria infection of powdered milk products and the high cost of education and healthcare. All of which has been added to the long list of violations against women in Indonesia.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Growing demands for a self-determination referendum show the Papuan people are fed up with corruption caused by the province's "special autonomy" status, an academic and informal leader said.

Tifa Asrianti, Jakarta – The clock reads 10:15 p.m. as Evi, a shop attendant at a perfume store, walks out of Plaza Senayan in South Jakarta. The 30-year-old woman is not alone, as hundreds of other female employees exit behind her.

[Sukarno and the Indonesian Coup: The Untold Story by Helen-Louise Hunter. Praeger Security International (May 30, 2007). ISBN-10: 0275974383. Price US$75, 216 pages. Reviewed by Andrew Symon.]

Rizal Harahap, Pekanbaru – The National Commission of Human Rights has found human rights abuses in the prolonged land dispute between the Sakai tribe and forestry company PT Arara Abadi in Riau, Sumatra.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – At least five people, including three aged under five, died recently from malnutrition in Rote Ndao, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), following government "financial difficulties".

Head of the Rote Ndao health office Jonathan Lenggu said the victims suffered from complications such as diarrhea, tuberculosis and high fever that led to their deaths.

Agustina Wayansari, Jakarta – Five Indonesian businessmen, including pulp and paper tycoon Sukanto Tanoto, are among the 1,125 wealthiest people in the world, according to Forbes magazine.

Djoko Tjiptono, Jakarta – Cloudy weather and the threat of rain will not be enough to deter protesters, with at least four protest actions planned for capital city today.

Jakarta – Violence against women has steadily increased after nearly a decade of political reform, with state institutions both in central and regional governments among the main perpetrators through their discriminatory regulations, the National Commission for Women's Protection says.

Tifa Asrianti, Jakarta – Despite rises in the number of female workers, legal protection of their rights remains weak, female activists say.

Ari Sunarijati, director of the women and children bureau at the Indonesian Labor Federation-Reform, said many businessmen only employed single females.

Jakarta – The National Awakening Party (PKB) is gathering public support in its ambitious goal of winning 65 percent of the vote in the 2009 legislative elections.

"We must be optimistic about winning 65 percent of the vote in the legislative elections," PKB leader Muhaimin Iskandar told a seminar jointly organized by the Constitutional Court on Friday.

[The full text of this report is available at http://www.usindo.org/publications/briefs/2008/Rembering_Suharto_03-07-2008.pdf.]