Geneva – Human rights watchdog Amnesty International (AI) has said that the human rights situation in East Timor is "extremely serious".

[Editorial page (unsigned editorials from the Times), full text.]

Jakarta – Recent religious and ethnic riots in Indonesia, political uncertainty and the country's questionable economic regulations will not have a great impact on US business interests here, representatives of a 100-strong delegation of US business figures said here.

Jakarta – Because the police were not informed, a one-day seminar with the theme of Direct, general, free, secret, honest and fair general elections, failed to materialize. The organizing committee itself disbanded the program, which was taking place in the PMKRI Students Building on Thursday (13/3), at the request of the Central Jakarta Metro Police.

Keith Loveard, Jakarta – President Suharto is not a man to be crossed, or to be taken for granted. Those who do so invariably put their careers at risk, as two prominent Indonesians recently learned the hard way.

Melbourne – Three East Timorese were killed during intense Indonesian military operations in the territory, a report by an Australian human rights watchdog has said.

Jakarta – President Suharto said there was no room for political dissent in Indonesia and that critics of his government did not understand the country's political system, The Jakarta Post reported yesterday. "There are people who analyse our 1945 Constitution using a foreign frame of mind," he told a meeting of senior government officials on Tuesday.

Jakarta – Five Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) activists who are witnesses in the trial of Garda Sembiring in the Central Jakarta State Court on Wednesday (12/3), jointly withdrew their statements in their Preliminary Investigation Reports (BAP). The grounds were that they were in the same position as Garda, that is accused in the same case.

Margot Cohen, Cirebon, West Java – Rohiman used to make a decent living selling eggs and cooking oil, but those entrepreneurial days are long gone. Now he spends his days sweating behind the handlebars of a pedicab, hauling people and goods through the streets of his hometown of Cirebon, West Java.

Names: Hassan Hamid, 40; Mohammad Daud Abubakar; Ismail Syahputra; Raman Palu; Nijar Kandang; Tengku Affan; Inur Marlia (f).

[Re posting re Ausaid to East Timor in the form of working with the Indonesian government to aid East Timor, specifically in the area of agriculture.]

The Dayaks have lived peacefully with all the incoming ethnic groups, except the migrants from Madura. There had been clashes since the 1950s, but the recent violence is the worst. Dayaks who are mostly Catholics had destroyed property belonging to Muslim Madurese in the villages. Both the Dayaks and Madurese are marginalised, poor and compete for the same jobs.

Jakarta – Indonesia and Australia, whose relations have been rocky at times, take a step forward tomorrow when they sign a treaty delineating for the first time the maritime boundaries between the two countries.

Situbondo, Kompas – Six people tried in connection with the October 10 Sitibundo riots have been sentenced to 6-14 months by the Situbondo state court (11/3). They were proven to have destroyed and burnt a court house, files, state documents and office equipment.

Jakarta – Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) activist, Garda Sembiring at the Central Jakarta Court on Tuesday (11/3), withdrew all of this "testimony" [quotes added - JB] on Budiman Sudjatmiko in his Preliminary Investigation Report (BAP). He also refused to become a witness against Budiman.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – Lawyers for Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri have challenged the Supreme Court to show that its judges were not ordered by the Soeharto Government to rule against the Indonesian democracy leader.

Semarang, Central Java – Commander of the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI), Gen Feisal Tanjung, warned here Monday that there will be no compromise for those who disrupt national stability.

Pontianak – The ethnic conflict between Madurans and Dayaks in Kalbar has calmed down. However there are still no definite figures on the number of victims. The government has yet to release any official figures. Army chief Maj-Gen Zacky Makarim gave a figure of 300 dead, half Dayaks and half Madurans. This figure was supported by Commander Tanjung-pura Mayjen Namoeri Anoem.

Three young student activists, arrested by police in Jakarta on 6 March 1997 and currently believed to be in South Jakarta Police Resort, are feared to be at risk of torture or ill-treatment in custody. There is no information about whether they have access to independent lawyers or family members. Torture and ill-treatment of political detainees is common in Indonesia.

Surabaya – After HJC Princen, Prof Dr. Mudji Sutrisno and Prof Dr. JE Sahetapy, S.H., giliran Dr. Afan Gaffar, political experts from the Gajah Mada University (UGM) were witnesses in the trials of Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) members Dita Indah Sari (25), Coen Husein Pontoh (28), and M. Sholeh in the Surabaya State Court.

Jakarta – The Indonesian army held manoeuvres in central Jakarta yesterday, dropping crack special intervention forces from helicopters in full combat gear.

The unannounced exercise was carried out without a hitch but under the intense scrutiny of passers-by and motorists in Selamat Datang Place, the capital's business centre.

Rahul Jacob – At a press conference late last month following his takeover as chairman of carmaker Astra International, one of Indonesia's bluest of blue-chips, Mohamad "Bob" Hasan seemed completely in his element. By turns combative and charming, he even grabbed a camera from the crush of photographers and took a picture of the press.

Brussels – Indonesia's detained labour leader, Muchtar Pakpahan has been admitted to a private hospital in Jakarta yesterday where he is being treated for vertigo. The admission comes after weeks of battles in and out of court to have him admitted to a private hospital and exmanied by his own doctor rather than government doctors at the Jakarta police hospital.

Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights and labor activists have joined forces to pressure legislators into overhauling a new bill that aims to give the government sweeping control of labor affairs. The commission and representatives of 11 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) said yesterday there could be violations of workers' basic rights if the bill became law.

Jakarta – President Soeharto denied foreign allegation here Friday that the Indonesian government was allowing children to work as child laborers.

He said many young children in the country were working to follow a tradition whereby children help parents earn a living.

Canberra – Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas has lauded the Australian government's objection to include human rights in the European Union trade pact, Australian Deputy Prime Minister/Trade Minister Tim Fischer said.

Minister of State Moerdiono said that the Indonesian Government will not allow a recommendation to go forward from the UN Commission on Human Rights for the UN Human Rights High Commissioner to open an office in Jakarta. This would be a violation of Indonesia's sovereignty, he said.

Jakarta – The arrest of three student activists, Ilhamsyah, Bimo Petrus and Herni Sualan, who are suspected of being involved in an action by the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) on March 5 is considered by the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) to have a number of irregularities in the process of their arrest and detention.

Indonesia Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) is deeply concern and protest the arrest of Dr. Ir. Sri Bintang Pamungkas, Julius Usman and Saleh Abdullah in the connection of PUDI affair and Iedul Fitri greeting card which stating PUDI's political agenda. PBHI expressed our point of view as follow:

Human Rights Watch/Asia today called for the immediate release of Indonesian opposition politician Sri Bintang Pamungkas who was arrested on the night of March 5 in Jakarta on charges of subversion and said his detention was further evidence of President Soeharto's increasingly harsh response to his critics.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government will break new ground in the May general election by allowing foreign observers free access to the polls.

"We will invite neighbouring and foreign countries to monitor the election," Home Affairs Minister Yogie Memet, also chairman of the National Election Institute, was quoted as saying in yesterday's editions of the Jakarta Post daily.

A verbal spat at a concert late last year unleashed a wave of riots in West Kalimantan that left about 200 people dead and two dozen settlements destroyed. In a recent special report, The Jakarta Post examines the causes of the riots that have pitted the native Dayaks against the Madurese community.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – President Soeharto has ordered the army reserve to prepare to mobilise to counter further civil unrest, warning political dissidents that anti-Government groups would not be tolerated.

Jakarta – At least six people had been killed as tribal clashes in the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya entered a second day yesterday, local sources said.

"War broke out again this morning, fiercer than yesterday, and three people have already been killed, shot by arrows," said Mr Tom Beanal, head of the Institute for the Amungme Society from Timika, in Irian Jaya.

The head of SBSI (Serikat Buruh Sejahtra Indonesia, Indonesian Trade Union for Prosperity) Muchtar Pakpahan refused to appear at the South Jakarta State Court on Thursday (6/3) because he was suffering from vertigo.

Witnesses from the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) Budiman Sudjatmiko and Garda Sembiring also did not appear in court.

Joe Leahy, Jakarta – President Suharto has warned his former military unit, the elite Strategic Reserve Command, to stay on alert to counter "anti-government" groups.

Jakarta – Human rights group Asia Watch called for the immediate release of noted dissident Sri Bintang Pamungkas, who was being arrested on charges of subversion.

The New York-based group described the detention of Pamungkas, a former outspoken legislator, as further evidence of President Suharto's increasingly harsh response to his critics.

[Statement for the International Women's Day March, 8, 1997.]

Dita Sari, Chairperson of Indonesian Centre for Labour Struggles and leader of the Peoples Democratic Party of Indonesia. Dita was a guest speaker at the 1995 Perth IWD march and rally.

Jakarta – Indonesia's National Election Committee yesterday approved a final list of 2,285 candidates from three political parties sanctioned to contest the parliamentary election in May.

Eight candidates from a provisional list of 2,293 approved by the committee in January were dropped for various reasons, including resignations and death.

The Indonesian Journalists Association is to sue Central Java security officials accused of roughing up a journalist.

The association's branch in Yogyakarta, central Java, says it will sue the local security authorities in the town of Bantul, ten kilometres south of Yogyakarta.

Jakarta – A Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) circular calling for an election boycott has also been distributed in Bogor, West Java. The circular was pasted up in all of the strategic places at around 3am last night in the name of KPP-PRD.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – A former member of Parliament and prominent pro-democracy activist, Sri Bintang Pamungkas, has been arrested on subversion charges carrying a maximum penalty of death, closing one of the last channels of political opposition ahead of the May national elections.

The Government today refused to cancel arms export licences to Indonesia triggering a legal challenge from three campaigning organisations. It will be the first ever legal challenge to the Government's arms export policy.

[This is our translation of two news reports on the tragic recent events in West Kalimantan sent via Kabar dari PIJAR on Wednesday, March 12, 1997 4:49 AM (Translation provided by Down-to-Earth).]

A chronology of the conflicts following the Sanggau Ledo events

Joe Leahy – Sri Bintang Pamungkas says the Government has played into his hands by detaining him and senior members of his outlawed Indonesian United Democratic Party.

Bintang, the party's founder and chairman, claims his detention is part of a nationwide sweep on dissidents before the national election on May 29.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government has rejected a plan by the United Nations to station a human rights commissioner in Jakarta to monitor the situation in East Timor, a newspaper said Friday.

Joe Leahy in Jakarta and Reuterss in Washington – A United States congressman who wants Washington to cut aid to Indonesia because of human rights violations in East Timor is being manipulated by separatist forces in the province, the Indonesian Government suggested yesterday.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – In an apparent effort to boost their international image, the Indonesian armed forces have asked three prestigious British universities to establish the country's first officers' training program to include human rights and international law.

A foreign ministry official has dismissed a report that the UN High Commission for Human Rights is to open an office in Jakarta to monitor the situation in East Timor, a report said Friday.

[This item was received on March 6. The original sender and posting are unknown. Grammatical and spelling errors have been left uncorrected intentionally - JB]

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