Suwardiman – After nine years, support by various elements of society for special autonomy (otsus) is weakening. The problematic nature of the application of special autonomy is closely linked with the failure to implement Law Number 21/2001 on Special Autonomy for Papua along with mistrust between the central government and the Papuan people.

The Solidarity for Peace in Diversity (Solidaritas) on Thursday launched a website titled Nusantara Online, aimed at providing complete and constantly updated legal data on the country's pluralism, or lack of it.

Solidaritas' Yeni Rosa Damayanti said the website was set up in response to the perceived legal threats to Indonesia's pluralism.

Jakarta – The government should be aware that there is more than just one source of carbohydrate in the diet of Indonesians, activists said Wednesday.

The report about Bahtiar Angkotasan, 47, who tied up his mentally disabled daughter in bed at their home in Bekasi, West Java, before he left for work every day, is yet another of the tragedies that affect so many of our children.

The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) today urged the Obama administration not to offer military assistance to Indonesia.

"US military assistance harms reform and sets back human rights accountability in Indonesia," said John M. Miller, National Coordinator of ETAN.

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on US President Barack Obama to press Indonesia over rights progress, military reform and religious freedom during his visit to Jakarta next month.

The New York-based rights watchdog sent an 11-page letter to President Obama on Thursday.

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Malang, East Java – Their salaries might be too small to suffice daily needs, but loyal cigarette workers are ready to extend a helping hand as their employers face bankruptcy.

Nani Afrida, Jakarta – The ministry of energy and mineral resources has proposed that the government postpone the implementation of the 2009 law on environment for two year on fears it will severely hit oil and gas production.

Edith M. Lederer – The Security Council voted unanimously Friday to extend the UN peacekeeping mission in East Timor for a year and backed plans to reduce its police contingent ahead of a possible pullout.

Nivell Rayda – Human Rights Watch on Friday called on US President Barack Obama to make human rights a key issue for discussion during his visit to Indonesia next month.

Nurdin Hasan & Farouk Arnaz – Terrorism expert Sidney Jones said on Friday that four suspects arrested during recent police operations in the Jalin Jantho region of Aceh Besar may be linked to the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and not regional terror organization Jemaah Islamiyah.

Ilya Gridneff, Port Moresby – The suspicious death of an Australian journalist filming Papuan guerrillas fighting Indonesia's hardline military rule must be revisited with an investigation, friends and colleagues say.

Nivell Rayda – A task force assigned to crack down on corrupt middlemen in the Indonesia's legal system vowed this week to conduct more surprise inspections and take legal action against rogue officials.

The presidentially appointed Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force outlined eight strategies to combat so-called case brokering on Thursday.

Eko Widianto, Jakarta – Mining company under the politically-connected Bakrie Brothers group, Lapindo Brantas, sent on Thursday (25/2) another proxy to run for the seat of Sidoarjo Regent, to lead the region partly hit by the mud flood disaster caused by Lapindo operation.

Tom Allard, Jakarta – Indonesian police have launched a manhunt for up to 50 members of a suspected terrorist group in Aceh amid reports that an Afghan national is among those who fled a raid on a training camp on Monday night.

Indonesia is reviewing its 1965 Blasphemy Law, a law brought in by then-President Sukarno, who, activists say, used the law to repress minority religions.

A prominent West Papuan human rights lawyer is using a speaking tour of Australia to promote the need for a peaceful solution to problems in Indonesia's troubled Papua region.

Christopel Paino, Gorontalo – After the hard work of preservation, a mangrove area of 20 hectares in Popayato, Pohuwato Regency, Gorontalo, will be transformed into an embankment.

Febriamy Hutapea – Claiming that it is not about to allow stinging recommendations to break the ruling coalition apart, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party vowed on Wednesday that it would fight to solidify the coalition of parties it led, and win the argument over the Rp 6.7 trillion ($710 million) bailout of Bank Century.

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should use his visit to Papua New Guinea next month to discuss ways to work with Pacific nations to solve the issue of Papuan separatism, say experts.

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring said Wednesday he would press ahead with a planned bill to monitor Internet content, despite claims it would violate freedom of expression.

The minister, however, said he would only resume the public deliberation of the bill once the protests surrounding it had subsided.

Nani Afrida, Jakarta – PT Freeport Indonesia has bowed to government pressure on alleged violation of regulations concerning operating in protected forests, saying the company would apply for the necessary permits to remain operating in existing mining areas.

Jakarta – The findings made by a parliamentary inquiry into the Bank Century bailout may be scathing of the Vice President and the finance minister, but Wednesday was business as usual for the two.

Jakarta – While the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) was pointing its finger at Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and at previous central bank governor Boediono in the Bank Century case, the party's chief patron Taufik Kiemas was telling a different tale.

Dear President Obama,

Nani Afrida, Jakarta – The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry fears implementation of a new environmental law may lead to problems that could seriously hit production and investment in oil and gas.

Camelia Pasandaran – Residents of the Dewata tea plantation in Tenjolaya village, Bandung, had just started the day on Tuesday when they heard an unusual noise.

Made Arya Kencana, Denpasar – Activists continued the recent trend of using animals as protesters when they rallied against UN environment meetings in Bali on Wednesday.

Members of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) and the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) brought two pigs in a rattan cage.

Clinton Fernandes – Australia conducted two military interventions in East Timor during the 20th century and both have been falsely reconstructed into myths that vary sharply from the historical record.

Makassar – Efforts to evict residents from a disputed 4,900-square-meter land parcel failed Tuesday after squatters, laying claim to the land, fought back against 470 police personnel.

Febriamy Hutapea & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – With two factions from the ruling coalition officially naming Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati as responsible for the "illegal" bailout of Bank Century at the conclusion of the House of Representatives special committee investigation, political analysts predicted an even bumpier road ahead for the pr

Heru Andriyanto & Nurdin Hasan – Aceh offers many advantages as a safe haven for Jemaah Islamiyah to regroup, experts and sources said on Wednesday, following the arrests of four suspected members of the shadowy terror group in the province.

Adianto P. Simamora – Legislators have urged the government to take action against 11 mining companies that have been operating in areas of protected forest without permits.

They are among the 13 firms allowed by the government to resume activities in protected areas as stipulated in a 2004 presidential decree issued by former president Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Hans David Tampobolon, Jakarta – Two ruling coalition parties have demanded that Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati face due legal process for the policy to bail out Bank Century.

This was despite last-ditch efforts to change the course of the parliamentary inquiry into the bailout.

Febriamy Hutapea – The People's Consultative Assembly has scheduled a plenary session for Monday to endorse detailed impeachment procedures, just a day after some political parties named the officials they thought responsible for the controversial bailout of PT Bank Century.

Markus Makur, Timika – PT Freeport Indonesia has not helped develop human resources in Papua, particularly in the Amungme and Kamoro tribes, a member of the Regional Representatives' Council (DPD) says.

Nivell Rayda, Nurfika Osman & Heru Andriyanto – The Corruption Eradication Commission and the National Police said on Wednesday they would not limit their investigations of the PT Bank Century bailout to officials named by the House special committee investigating the controversial case.

The death toll has risen to seven and more than 60 people are still missing after a landslide struck a remote part of West Java's Bandung district on Tuesday.

David Weber – The oil leak from a wellhead platform in the Timor Sea late last year appears to have spread into Indonesian waters.

A test sample from the Montara well, owned by the Thailand-based company PTTEP Australasia, confirms that during the 10 weeks the crude oil flowed it did spread beyond Australian waters.

Ref: IOR 40/2009.177
AI Index: ASA 57/002/2010
H.E. the Permanent Representative

23 February 2010

Open letter to all members of the Security Council: the situation of justice in Timor-Leste

Dear Ambassador,

Heru Andriyanto – The militant group led by the late Noordin M Top had allegedly sought funding from Saudi Arabia to launch the biggest attacks after those on US cities on Sept. 11, 2001, according to the prosecution document against a suspect in the Jakarta hotel bombings, which was read on Tuesday at South Jakarta District Court.

AHRC-STM-032-2010

US President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Indonesia, the place of his childhood, in March. It is important that the President does not waste this opportunity and uses his good relations with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to raise the issue of religious tolerance in Indonesia.

Bagus Budi Tama Saragih, Jakarta – More than a 1,000 village heads and their subordinates staged a rally in front of the House of Representatives' building Monday demanding lawmakers immediately pass the village development bill into law. They said it was filed a decade ago.

Glenda Kwek, Jakarta – It has been the economic heartbeat of the world's fourth most populous country for almost 500 years, but Jakarta's days as Indonesia's capital could be numbered.

Camelia Pasandaran – Constitutional Court chief Mahfud MD on Tuesday refused to accept a petition against annulling a blasphemy law because the petition's organizers – several Islamic boarding schools and a forum of Muslim leaders from Madura – had not followed proper procedures.

The Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) had rejected a plan to use full body scanners in Indonesian airports, claiming it would be a violation of Sharia law and human rights.

Sri Wahyuni, Yogyakarta – A majority of Muslim students in state-run senior high schools in Yogyakarta province have medium to high levels of religious tolerance according to a survey.

The survey was released Monday by the Institute for Islamic and Social Studies (LKiS) Foundation.

Camelia Pasandaran – The Constitutional Court chief suggested on Tuesday that vanity was the driving force behind many of the laws produced by ministers, and that this was the reason for the often confusing and overlapping regulations in the country.

The demonstration which took place yesterday outside the Papua Legislative Assembly building consisted of several groups who had come from different parts of the city. They called on the Papuan people to struggle for the rights of the Papuan people which continue to be violated.

Dili – East Timor's first anti-corruption commissioner was sworn in Monday during a parliamentary ceremony that was broadcast live around the tiny nation.

But on his first day in the job former human rights lawyer Aderito Soares was obliged to play down concerns that Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's government is not fully behind him.