Jakarta – Indonesian police routinely torture, rape and kill with impunity in Indonesia's easternmost Papua and risk fanning separatism there, an international rights group said in a report released Thursday.
Indonesia & East Timor Digest
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July 5, 2007
Indra Shalihin, Jakarta – Wearing traditional woven bamboo hats, housewives, farmers and student went to the Constitutional Court on Thursday July 5 to demand that Law No. 25/2007 on Capital Investment be revoked.
Jakarta – More than 25 witnesses are set to testify in a civil suit against ailing former Indonesian dictator Suharto to be lodged next week, an official from the attorney-general's office said Thursday.
Niniek Karmini, Jakarta – Indonesian security forces killed and beat unarmed civilians and on two occasions raped women during recent operations against separatists in Papua province, Human Rights Watch alleged in a report released Thursday.
Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – With little public fanfare, the Jakarta administration issued a regulation in April requiring all parties to obtain a license at least two weeks before conducting a survey or poll in the city.
Jakarta – Human rights activists demanded Wednesday that parties responsible for excessive violence in Talangsari, Lampung, in 1989 be held accountable through the ongoing investigation into the tragedy.
The banning of US American Samoan Congressman Eni Faleomavaega, from visiting West Papua, strengthens the suspicions of the international community that Indonesia has something to hide in its territory of West Papua.
Government should open Central Highlands to independent observers
Jakarta – In the Central Highlands of remote Papua province, a region closed to outside observers, police appear to be routinely committing serious abuses, such as extrajudicial executions, torture and rape, with impunity, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
How influential is a US congressman that he could disrupt security in Papua or, in an extreme case, lead the province to break away from the republic?
The fear of this, however, seems so prevalent among our top policy makers that the government barred Democratic congressman Eni Faleomavaega from Papua.
July 4, 2007
Bagus Kurniawan, Yogyakarta – Accompanied by the beat of drums, West Papuan students danced and sang following a protest in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta on Wednesday July 4 in which they rejected special autonomy saying it had failed.
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Visiting US Congressman Eni Faleomavaega met Tuesday with leading Papuan figures in Jakarta after the government failed to grant him permission to enter the province.
Nadhifa Putri, Jakarta – Around 50 people from the Urban Poor Union (SRMK) descended on the Jakarta city hall en masse today. They were representing poor people from 17 sub-districts and 23 village administrative districts that have been unable register as poor households (RTM) and become eligible to receive a welfare card for poor families (Gakin).
Benjamin Terrall – Although Indonesia's government has committed to reforming the Indonesian military (TNI) territorial command structure, which allows the armed forces to maintain units down to the village level throughout the country, this apparatus has actually been reinforced in the name of "counterterrorism."
Peter Boyle – East Timor is holding parliamentary elections on June 30. Many commentators predict former president Xanana Gusmao's new party, the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT), will form government, ousting the current ruling Fretilin party.
Vote counting from East Timor's parliamentary election neared completion Wednesday, showing no political party will be able to clinch an absolute majority needed to govern in its own right, making a coalition government most likely.
Damien Kingsbury – When the people of East Timor went to the polls for the third time this year, they completed a political cycle that has been remarkable in part because of its relative success, but in part because it has happened at all. Yet a little over a year ago, many people thought that East Timor's fledgling democracy had failed.
July 3, 2007
With about half the vote counted in East Timor's parliamentary elections, the crucial role of the minor parties has become more clear – and the head of the small Democrat Party is emerging as the potential key to Xanana Gusmao's future.
Dili – For the third time in as many months, East Timor's people lined up and voted in high numbers. But the show of democracy could not mask mounting challenges facing Asia's newest nation five years after it proclaimed independence.
Karen Michelmore, Dili – East Timor's Court of Appeal has been asked to decide if a controversial new law which grants widespread amnesties for most crimes committed in the past year violates the tiny country's constitution.
Muklis Ali, Jakarta – Indonesia has barred a US congressman who has been a critic of Jakarta's policies in Papua from visiting the area, but has denied the move is to cover up alleged human rights abuses in the remote region.
The decision, announced yesterday, by the Indonesian government to prevent US Congressman Eni Faleomavaega from travelling to West Papua, will undermine efforts to promote human rights and democracy in the territory says TAPOL, the UK-based human rights organisation.
M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – Hundreds of banners appealing to the Jakartan pubic not to be easily enticed by the promises by made by candidate governors and deputy governors have been put up across the city. The banners, which were put up by the Had it with Promises Social Forum (FMKJ), also called on candidates to respect the values of fair play.
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – US Congressman Eni Faleomavaega is expected to arrive in Jakarta on Tuesday but the Indonesian government said Monday it would not allow him to visit Papua because his presence in the province could encourage violence.
Debnath Guharoy, Consultant – Whichever way you look at it, not many people in Indonesia have real disposable incomes. Census data from the BPS will tell you that only 3 percent of all wage earners make over Rp 2 million per month.
M. Taufiqurrahman and M. Azis Tunny, Jakarta/Ambon – While Jakarta attempted to put an end to the controversy surrounding the recent waving of a separatist flag in front of the President, protests denouncing the incident and displays of the flag grew Monday.
Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The number of poor people has declined slightly due to better economic conditions of late and the government's poverty-alleviation programs, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) says.
Jakarta – The National Police celebrated its 61st anniversary Monday in the midst of calls from third parties for law enforcers to improve their performance despite having recently captured several wanted terrorists.
Indra Shalihin, Jakarta – Stinging criticism by activists from the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) who accused Forestry Minister MS Kaban of being the architect behind the destruction of Indonesia's forests has infuriated the minister. The microphone being used by the demonstrators even became the object of a fight.
Jakarta – The House of Representatives is gearing up to deliberate the draft law on political parties, which addresses the lack of female political representation in the country.
Indra Shalihin, Jakarta – Because environmental destruction, humanity is becoming muddy and angry. Scores of these 'mud people', formed up in a circle pounding their feet on the ground as they danced and shouted.
July 2, 2007
Andi Haswidi – The upcoming Negative Investment List has infuriated some foreign investors, who fear they may lose some of their shares and have fewer options for further investment.
Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Malang – It's no longer acceptable for the country's leaders to cry or talk their way out of the nation's many problems, former president Megawati Soekarnoputri has said.
A study by Indonesia's National Narcotics Agency has sparked a squabble in the world's largest Muslim nation, after it suggested the drug might be useful in the alternative fuel or agriculture industries, and the government should consider legalising its use.
Indonesia's vice president Jusuf Kalla has also suggested it is acceptable to use cannabis for cooking.
"Literary history must be won back. Culture as a priority for the people must be won back.
Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Minor parties have called for the electoral law to be changed to allow them the run in coalitions in the 2009 legislative election.
Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – The Jakarta Elections Commission on Saturday announced there were 5.7 million registered voters for August's gubernatorial election, or about 75 percent of the city's total population.
Jakarta – Police should remain neutral at all times in disputes between employers and workers, a coalition of workers' associations has demanded.
"We feel the police often take the side of employers in disputes between employers and their workers," coordinator of the coalition, Anwar Sastro, told reporters during a rally last week.
Nancy-Amelia Collins, Dili – East Timor is suffering from food shortages caused by floods and plagues of locusts that cut the harvest of the country's most important crop, corn, by 30 percent this year.
Rice, cassava, and other cereal crops have also been hard hit. Aid officials fear the situation will worsen as heavy rains continue to cause floods in parts of the country.
July 1, 2007
Karen Michelmore and Jill Jolliffe, Dili – Almost 30 years on, Zulira and Adelino Coelho are still waiting desperately for news on their son.
Like thousands of East Timorese, whose family members were killed or disappeared during the nation's turbulent past, they are also still waiting for justice.
Submitted by:
- Office for Justice and Peace of Jayapura
- Imparsial - Jakarta
- Progressio - Timor Leste
- The Synod of the Christian Evangelical Church in Papua
- Franciscans International
With an annex on the situation of human rights in Timor Leste
List of Contents
June 30, 2007
[In the final of our series on East Timor politics, Fabio Scarpello speaks to Bishop Alberto Ricardo da Silva.]
As East Timorese vote for a new parliament and pundits predict a close race between the country's historic leaders, the outspoken Bishop of Dili slams the old guard and calls for a generational change at the top of the political echelon.
Jakarta – Urban groups and non-governmental organizations are calling on gubernatorial candidates to accommodate the diverse needs of the city's inhabitants and uphold human rights in developing and managing the city.
Mark Forbes Herald, Jakarta – Indonesia's Government is on a collision course with political and religious leaders who are taking multiple wives in the name of Islam.
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Labor activists have harshly criticized Manpower and Transmigration Minister Erman Suparno, alleging he deceived the public on Indonesia's acceptance of an international convention on fisheries.
M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The government gave its assurance on Friday that the deliberation of the new package of political bills would be wrapped up by the end of this year, allowing more time for preparation for the upcoming general election.
With just over one month to go until the historic direct election for Jakarta governor, voter registration remains a major cause for concern – and conflict.
Jakarta – An alliance of trade unions held a rally Thursday in front of the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta to demand police stay neutral in disputes between workers and employers.
"We feel that the police often side with employers in the middle of heated discussions between employers and their workers," the alliance's coordinator Anwar Sastro said.
Jakarta – The Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Institute (YLBHI) told the government Friday to issue a decree for the immediate compensation of Sidoarjo mudflow victims from state coffers, with the funds to be repaid by PT Lapindo Brantas.
June 29, 2007
Jakarta – Legal activists suggested Thursday that court verdicts be made accessible to the public in a bid to curb the "court mafia" they say exists in the country's judicial system.