Andra Jackson – An anglican minister from Victoria witnessed a confrontation in West Papua between protesters and Indonesian police, who fired rifles and tear gas into the air before charging into a demonstration that turned into a deadly riot.

Nancy-Amelia Collins, Jakarta – East Timorese police have arrested seven people two days after rioters rampaged through Dili, the capital of the world's youngest nation. Many of those involved in the violence were recently fired soldiers.

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Malang – Muati, 60, seems to enjoy preparing the tobacco, which she blends with other ingredients and puts inside a roll of cigarette paper.

Greg Roberts, Kiunga, Papua New Guinea – Muslim extremists from The Philippines and elsewhere are claimed to be setting up bases in Papua with the blessing of elements of the Indonesian military.

Papua New Guinean Catholic bishop Giles Cote said the extremists were entering Papua to fight supporters of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM).

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – North Sulawesi has formally expressed its opposition to the pornography bill and at least three other provinces are expected to follow suit, lawmakers said over the weekend.

Tony Blair MP
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London SW1A 2AA

26 March 2006

Dear Prime Minister,

Your visit to Indonesia: Concerns about West Papua

Dili – East Timor's Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri today called for calm a day after sacked soldiers rampaged through the capital looting shops and pelting opponents with stones.

Tom Hyland – It's unlikely that Alexander Downer believes what he says about the new row that has erupted between Australia and Indonesia over 42 Papuan asylum seekers.

Despite Indonesian protests over Australia's decision to grant protection visas to the Papuans, Downer says "things will settle down after a short period of time".

Carmel Egan – Relying on nothing more than the word of a good friend and their faith in God, the West Papuan 43 turned their dugout canoe south and made for Australia. It was January 13 and the five families of 37 adults and six children were heading, literally and politically, into a storm.

Jakarta – Although disillusioned and even threatened with losing its relevance, the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) remains the best available channel to address grievances in the province and thus must be engaged more actively in dialog with the government, a report from an international analysis group said.

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Malang – Over 32,000 contract teachers in East Java might have to let go of their dream of becoming civil servants.

Head of the East Java Education Office, Rasiyo, said after a meeting in Malang that based on a 2005 government regulation on the appointment of contract employees as civil servants, the contract teachers might not qualify.

Ati Nurbaiti, Jakarta – Black T-shirts with feminist slogans were selling fast on Thursday to women wanting to express blunt objection to the pornography bill.

Sydney – The Australian government must take the issue of Papua's right to self-determination to the United Nations, the Greens say.

Greens Senator Bob Brown accused the Howard government of hypocrisy over the issue, and called on Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to stand by Australia's international human rights obligations.

When 43 Papuan separatists washed up on Cape York last January in a 25m outrigger canoe and demanded asylum, they opened up the biggest rift in Australia-Indonesian relations since East Timor – one that has led to the recall of Indonesia's ambassador to Jakarta for "consultations".

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Indonesia's bountiful natural resources are generating massive corporate deals, a signal that one of the region's sickest post-Asian-financial-crisis economies is finally reviving. In the process, so too are some of the business families that ruled the roost under former president Suharto's New Order regime.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – While poor sanitation, inadequate housing and a lack of decent infrastructure all help infectious diseases spread throughout the country, environmentalists say global warming is beginning to play an increasing role in causing human illness.

Jakarta – Health officials, lawmakers and activists are working together to reduce Indonesia's maternal, infant and child mortality rates, which are among the highest in Southeast Asia.

Sian Powell, Jakarta – Indonesian security forces continued to hunt for students in hiding in Papua's jungles yesterday.

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said a singer invited to the State Palace failed to perform because she was dismissed for showing her belly button. "I was disturbed. I told the singer to home," he said, describing himself as "conservative".

Sian Powell, Jakarta – Hiding in a tattered hut in West Papua's dense jungle and existing on food brought by sympathetic villagers, university student Everistus Kayep is confused by the maelstrom that has engulfed his life.

Two weeks ago he was studying maths and management at Cendrawasih University, on the outskirts of West Papua's provincial capital of Jayapura.

Greg Sheridan – Is there another boat on the way? This is the question now in Australia-Indonesia relations after the granting of temporary protection visas to 42 West Papuans. The West Papuans came here by boat and claimed they were being persecuted in the troublesome province of Indonesia. This is a big, big, big story.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Christian leaders and members of the Ahmadiyah group presented a united stand Friday in opposing the revised decree on places of worship, and threatened to ignore it unless it is changed to meet their demands.

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), meanwhile, is also dismayed by what it considers the disproportional accommodation of other religions.

Jakarta – The Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI) has responded angrily to a government official's allegation that churches have been used as a medium to spread anti-government propaganda by Papua separatists.

Surakarta – A group of Muslims representing several Islamic boarding schools in Surakarta staged a rally at the Gladag traffic circle here Friday over the takeover of the Cepu oil block by ExxonMobil.

They asserted that the United States and other foreign forces were engaging in a new form of colonization through the domination of economic assets.

Jakarta – Indonesia has recalled its ambassador to Australia amid a furore over Canberra's decision to grant temporary visas to 42 asylum seekers from restive Papua province.

Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin said its envoy would be called back to Jakarta for "consultations" with foreign ministry officials over the matter.

Around 10,000 workers from the National Workers Union in Bandung regency staged a protest Thursday to reject the revision of a manpower law outside the regental administration office.

In their protest, the workers said the revised articles, including those on wages and severance pay, were advantageous to business interests and not to workers.

Hera Diani and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The government is ready to publicize the revised ministerial decree on places of worship but Christian leaders still have reservations about the controversial law.

Religious Affairs Minister M. Maftuh Basyuni and Home Minister M. Ma'ruf signed the joint ministerial decree Tuesday, replacing the one issued in 1969.

His Excellency Kofi Annan Secretary-General
The United Nations
1 United Nations Plaza
New York, New York 10017-3515

March 24, 2006

Dear Mr. Secretary General,

Bekasi – Thousands of workers grouped in the National Labor Union (SPN) and the Federation of Democratic Workers took to the streets Wednesday to protest the revised 2003 Manpower Law.

Staging their protest outside the Bekasi Council building, the workers demanded the councillors protect their rights.

Jakarta – If the general election was today, how would you cast your vote? The answer would be the same as in 2004, when the three biggest parties – the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Democrat Party – took the lead, says a survey by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI).

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Police have arrested a businessman and an immigration officer at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport as part of a crackdown on a human trafficking ring.

Jayapura – Papuan community leaders, smarting at the refusal of a minister to meet with them last week, have accused the central government of arrogance and an "unwillingness" to address problems affecting their province.

Peter Cave – Up to 1,200 students are reported to be hiding in the hills around Jayapura, the capital of Indonesia's Papua province, fearful of revenge attacks by members of the Indonesian Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob).

The Uniting Church in Australia has called for dialogue and calm in the Indonesian province of Papua, in the wake of a violent demonstration which left four Indonesian security personnel dead.

Dili – The decision announced last week to dismiss nearly 600 East Timorese troops who went on strike over conditions and promotion rules was "unfair" and "wrong", President Xanana Gusmao said Thursday.

John McBeth, Jakarta – The pretext may have been demands for the closure of Freeport Indonesia's Grasberg copper and gold mine, 500 kilometers away across Papua's rugged central highlands.

Rob Taylor and Heru Rahadi, Jakarta – Australia's decision to grant temporary visas to 42 Papuan asylum seekers is an "unfriendly" act and Indonesia must protest, a senior Indonesian MP said today.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Truck drivers were back at work in Medan's Belawan port but only halfheartedly, saying they actually wanted to strike longer since the central government only promised to meet one of their many demands.

The giant Freeport gold and copper mine is carving a scar so vast and deep into the remote forests of Papua that it will soon be visible from space. Downstream, a swelling bruise of a billion tonnes of mine waste has rendered wetlands inhospitable for aquatic life. The stupendous profits generated by the world's largest copper and gold mine largely pass the indigenous Papuans by.

We strongly condemn the statement by Syamsir Siregar, the head of BIN (Badan Inteligen Negara - State Intelligence Bureau) and the Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono, alleging that local NGOs with the support of international NGOs were behind the riots in Abepura.

Loro Horta – On February 8, some 350 officers and soldiers from Timor Leste's small defence force abandoned their posts and marched to the presidential palace. The unarmed soldiers were protesting against ill treatment, discriminatory practices and poor conditions within the Timorese Defence Forces (FDTL).

Jakarta – Indonesia's government Thursday threatened legal action against US mining giant Freeport unless the company improved the environmental record of its massive gold mine in Papua province.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) in Aceh deplored the recent decision of the Forestry Ministry to grant forest utilization licenses to five companies in the province.

Rendi Akhmad Witular, Jakarta – Many legislators are not qualified for their jobs and continue to put their personal interests over national ones, Golkar Party leader Jusuf Kalla says.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Truck drivers went back to work at four major seaports in the country on Tuesday after a massive wildcat strike a day earlier.

While a few sought-after employees leapfrog from one company to another, reaping benefits along the way, many Indonesian workers are worried about holding on to the job they have right now.

Job cuts are often the first survival measure when market economies are flat or declining, and last year was no exception as the economy took a beating, a survey on employment found.

Rob Taylor, Jakarta – Indonesia's defence minister wants to blacklist Australian Greens Senator Kerry Nettle from travelling to Papua, saying her presence could stir more violence in the restive province.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Many workers are displeased by the government regulating a joint furlough scheme for certain national holidays, saying it is infringing on their right to more time off from the grind of work.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives passed two bills Tuesday, ratifying a United Nations convention on corruption and a bilateral agreement on transnational crimes with China.

During a plenary session led by House deputy speaker Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno, all 10 House factions agreed on the need to ratify the 2003 United Nations Convention Against Corruption.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan, Karanganyar – Hundreds of participants in the public service exam in North Sumatra and Central Java staged protests Tuesday over the decision by regional administrations to annul the announcement declaring that they had passed the exam.