Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Observers and legislators agreed the changing of the Indonesian Military (TNI) commander and chiefs of staff would not affect the military's independence and neutrality ahead of the 2009 general elections.

Ruslan Sangadji, Palu – The Central Sulawesi Police Headquarters said on Tuesday it will tone down security measures in Poso considering the gradual improvement of conditions in the regency.

Central Sulawesi Police Chief Brig. Gen. Badrodin Hait launched an operation called Siwagilemba following the conclusion of the Lantodago operation in Poso on Dec. 31, 2007.

Jakarta – Landslides and floods that struck Indonesia's main island of Java last week killed 107 people and left 12 missing, a health ministry official said Wednesday, as waters receded in the worst hit areas.

Indra Harsaputra and Stevie Emilia, Sidoarjo/Jakarta – It has been nearly two years since the mud started gushing out of a gas exploration drilling site in Sidoarjo regency, East Java, erasing a number of villages from the face of the map. Since then, there is only one thing for certain – the disaster is unstoppable.

John Roosa – Taciturn, reserved, reclusive, emotionless, Suharto ruled Indonesia for 32 years as a mystery man, a dictator who presented himself as a faceless, replaceable figure in an apolitical administration. His speeches were dull, forgettable affairs filled with mind-numbing bureaucratese, worn clichis, and pious homilies.

[The following article was originally published in late 2007 in response to the split in the People's Democratic Party (PRD)-National Liberation Party of Struggle (Papernas). It was later republished as an editorial in the first issue the Political Committee of the Poor's (KPRM) monthly newspaper Pembebasan (Liberation) dated January 2008.]

Contents

Jakarta – Despite the surge in oil prices and lower government spending, the Indonesian economy has managed to make a soft landing this year, with an improvement in most of the country's economic indicators.

Jakarta – The new Air Force chief Vice Marshal Subandrio revealed Saturday his short-term target of achieving a 60-percent weaponry capability, a slight increase from the current less-than 50 percent.

As the curtains open on the new year we will note down 2007 as the year of a greatly bullish stock market with a rise of over 50 percent in the composite index, making it among the best performers in Asia. The economy was robust with an estimated growth of 6.3 percent, the highest over the past decade.

Ruslan Sangadji, Palu – Three Tadulako University students in Palu, Central Sulawesi, have been banned from attending graduation day, allegedly because they took part in a series of rallies over a corruption case in which the rector was a suspect.

Slamet Susanto, Surakarta – Flooding caused by an overflowing Bengawan Solo River paralyzed business activity along the Central Java-East Java border Saturday, with transportation routes blocked and shops forced to close.

Jakarta – Experts at the Center for Anticorruption Studies (Pukat) of Gadjah Mada University's Law Department concluded Friday in a year-end analysis that 2007 was the gloomiest year ever for corruption eradication, but that this might change in the following year.

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – Thousands of supporters of South Sulawesi's governor-elect have pledged to continue protesting the Supreme Court's decision of holding repeat elections in four regencies in the province.

The protesters staged a rally at the legislative council Thursday.

Dozens of people from the Poor People's Alliance, comprising various large organizations and foundations, staged a rally Friday at the Home Affairs Ministry, demanding the annulment of the new public order bylaw.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) says a rising tide of violence against members of the news media threatens the freedom of the press in Indonesia.

AJI chairman Heru Hendratmoko said Friday that there were 75 cases of harassment of journalists nationwide this year, up from 53 last year.

Jakarta – The National Commission for Child Protection has predicted the number of cases of violence against children will increase next year in line with mounting socio-economic pressure aggravated by traditional misperceptions about child rearing.

Slamet Susanto and Blontank Poer, Surakarta – Flooding in Surakarta in Central Java and its surrounding areas worsened due to heavy rain Friday as rescuers intensified efforts to search for people still believed to be buried by Wednesday's landslide in Tawangmangu in the adjacent city of Karanganyar.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – The West Java chapter of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has been criticized by several Muslim organizations for describing as halal two planned "royal" game centers in Bandung.

Representatives from the organizations criticized the MUI's stance on the matter at a meeting with Bandung Police chief Sr. Comr. Bambang Suparsono on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Reports of human rights violations have doubled this year, with more than 20,000 people claiming to be victims, a legal aid foundation said Thursday.

Crowds razed a house which functioned as an Islamic boarding school on Thursday, some 25 kilometers east of Malang in East Java.

A witness, Tawi, said residents of Jabung district were agitated by the activities of the owner, Miftahul Huda, who they suspected was propagating the "heretical" beliefs of his group Jamaah Safaatus Shalawat.

Sylvia Yazid, Melbourne – It has been more than three decades since the first wave of Indonesians left the country to work overseas. The labor migration system has grown to be far more complex than it was in 1970s.

Alfian, Jakarta – The neoliberal economic policies embraced by the government have created severe structural poverty in the country, an economist said Thursday.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – A court here Thursday has rejected a lawsuit filed by a leading environmental group accusing Lapindo Brantas of causing the devastating mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java.

Jakarta – Politicians, activists and experts have expressed doubt about the commitment shown by national leaders in combating corruption.

But some of them said addressing graft would require regime change within the executive branch of government while others held out hope that the legislative body and civil society could make a difference.

Jill Joliffe – Families of victims of the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre in East Timor have found Christmas hope with a project to locate mass graves of youths who disappeared without trace.

Hendarsyah Tarmizi – This year's results indicate that the government has been able lay down more solid foundations on which the economy can grow further. But, for many people, this achievement will not be enough.

Some politicians and economic observers say that the government has failed to solve the growing unemployment and poverty problem.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – All's well on the banking front this year, with lending back on track and registering ever stronger growth on the back of Indonesia's fast growing economy.

Jakarta – Economists, legislators and students say the government's performance in bringing prosperity to Indonesians has been far from satisfactory.

Former coordinating minister for the economy Rizal Ramli said Wednesday that Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's presidency had failed to bring prosperity to the majority of the Indonesian people.

Jakarta – A group of economists has criticized the government for failing to implement an effective and pro-poor economic policy despite improving the country's macro economic situation.

Blontank Poer and Suherdjoko, Semarang – At least 71 people were killed in a landslide early Wednesday morning affecting seven districts in Karanganyar regency, Central Java, while floods inundated farms and rice fields as well as cutting off a number of transportation links.

Hendarsyah Tarmizi, Jakarta – Despite much criticism over its inability to cope with growing unemployment and poverty, the government has in general managed to get the economic wheels back on the right track this year.

The government's success in achieving the economic targets set out in the 2007 budget can be seen from the improvements in most economic indicators.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Banda Aceh – A new Aceh government has already been formed, security has improved and the Aceh Monitoring Mission which was tasked to watch over the implementation of the peace agreement has concluded its tasks. But human rights abuses have yet to be resolved and many former combatants are still without adequate skills to feed their families.

Agnes Winarti, Jakarta – These days it is not uncommon to see loose social groups, often ethnically bassed, taking the law into their own hands in the concrete jungle of Jakarta.

They regard violence as a means to an end, while the police are slow to show their teeth in enforcing the law. Several street clashes have been reported this year.

Calang – Hundreds of Indonesians prayed at mass graves in Aceh province on Wednesday to remember relatives who died in the Indian Ocean tsunami three years ago.

On December 26, 2004, giant waves triggered by one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded pulverized villages along Indian Ocean shores, killing or leaving missing about 230,000 people.

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – The first day of 2007 was marked by a jetliner going missing, in what some later saw as a sign of things to come: It was the first in what was to be a long line of accidents.

The Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR), which was given the task of helping to rebuild communities in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami of late 2004, is set to end its mission in April 2009.

Jakarta – The government needs to place more focus on the development of labor-intensive manufacturing industries, and the agricultural and mining sectors in order to maintain sustainable growth and reduce the country's high unemployment, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry says.

At first, they attacked churches and prevented Christians from attending Sunday prayers – and the police largely turned a blind eye. Then they attacked mosques that didn't comply with their version of the truth, but once again, the police did nothing to stop these acts of violence by people claiming to represent Islam.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The 1945 Constitution identifies the House of Representatives as a honorable state institution with legislative and budgetary rights as well as a control function. But, in reality, its performance is not as good and popular as its name.

Jakarta – With several communities concerned about the potential for violence, police officers across the country patrolled churches on Christmas Day to ensure the safety of the congregations.

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – Indonesia seems to face an endless road corruption – an issue that remains at the center of public attention.

The cases emerging from state institutions and enterprises include a range of corruption allegations, including fund misappropriation to manipulation of procurement processes.

Wawan Irawan, Tawangmangu – Floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rains left close to 100 people dead or missing on the main Indonesian island of Java on Wednesday, officials said.

Imanuddin Razak, Jakarta – The year 2007 ended with the appointment of Army chief of staff Gen. Djoko Santoso to head of the Indonesian Military (TNI), replacing the retiring Air Force Marshall Djoko Suyanto and initiating a reshuffle within the three military forces.

Novia D. Rulistia, Jakarta – Twenty-three years after Indonesia ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the country is still moving slowly toward fully enforcing women's rights.

Jakarta – A newly-established political party based on the Hindu principle of good deeds expressed its optimism Saturday that it would run in the 2009 general elections.

Nana Rukmana, Majalengka – A leading ulema in West Java, where yet another attack on an Islamic sect took place Saturday, has demanded that Jakarta intervene in what he said was "unacceptable" violence.

Jakarta – Eight-year-old Thira, whose younger brother Rama died a day after being born in September, commemorated Mother's Day on Friday by taking to the street to call the government's attention to maternal and child health.

Jakarta – Chairman of the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) Gen. (ret) Wiranto insisted the poverty rate published in the party's ads was the official figure issued by the World Bank.