Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – A large area of mangrove forests in Lampung, which acts as a buffer for coastal residents from tidal waves, has been depleted rapidly over the past year, especially in South Lampung, East Lampung and Tanggamus regencies, where only 25 percent of the original forests remain.

Camelia Pasandaran – The smiles, firm handshakes and backslaps that marked Friday's farewell party for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's outgoing cabinet betrayed the fact that despite some commendable achievements, true government reform has failed to materialize.

Anita Rachman – Four districts and a municipality in West Java have submitted reports estimating the total damage caused by the Sept. 30 West Sumatra earthquake at Rp 6 trillion.

The areas do not include the provincial capital, which alone is estimated to have caused damage totalling as much as Rp 6.5 trillion ($694 million).

Fidelis E. Satriastanti – The State Ministry for the Environment on Thursday released its annual list of ratings of 627 companies based on compliance with environmental regulations, and many state-owned enterprises were among the worst.

Sunanda Creagh, Jakarta – Indonesia's tough new environment law, passed last month and aimed at any firm with an effect on the environment, may take as long as two years to implement, a senior government official said on Friday.

The law allows the government to revoke polluters' business licences, which environmentalists said could lead to more effective enforcement.

Jakarta – Indonesia has indefinitely suspended the traffic of domestic helpers to Kuwait due to concern over widespread abuse and exploitation by their employers, the labour ministry said Thursday.

Purbalingga – Half of all workers in Purbalingga regency in Central Java are not registered with the state social security company, PT Jamsostek, an executive said Wednesday.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The effects of climate change could threaten national security as thousands of outermost and small islands serving as baselines for territorial borders are at risk from being swallowed up by rising sea levels.

Jakarta – The much-awaited presidential regulation on the takeover of military businesses drew criticism due to the lack of detailed information, raising concerns on whether the transfer process would be transparent and accountable.

Aditya Suharmoko and Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – Economic ministers held their last meeting Wednesday and left plenty of homework for their successors, with unresolved problems ranging from boosting infrastructure, reform of the bureaucracy, to revitalizing the real sector.

Jakarta – Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri now faces a bigger task than merely to determine her party's political stance, since her decision could mean she has to face her own husband, Taufik Kiemas.

Jakarta – A series of attacks on followers of the Ahmadiyah religious sect has once again drawn criticism, with an expert in religion and democracy urging the government to exercise its authority when there are violations of human rights.

The Indonesian embassy in Papua New Guinea has denied that West Papuan refugees who are repatriated to Indonesia will be in danger at the hands of the security forces when they return.

Indonesia's government is planning a mass repatriation of about 400 Moresby-based refugees next month, having offered to fund any West Papuans who want to return by the end of the year.

A recent survey conducted on two islands in the Thousand Islands regency painted a bleak picture of poverty and neglect.

"The problem of malnutrition and anemia cases in these areas requires urgent action," Adi Sasongko from the Kusuma Buana foundation (YKB), an NGO that focuses on health and community building, said Tuesday.

Nurfika Osman & Antara – A Central Java court on Tuesday threw out child abuse charges against self-proclaimed Islamic cleric Sheikh Puji over his marriage to a 12-year-old girl.

Japanese porn star Maria Ozawa, better known as Miyabi, will not be arriving in Indonesia.

The decision to cancel her arrival was the result of a meeting between the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Maxima Productions in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Sidoarjo – About 100 mud flow victims from Besuki Timur village, Jabon district, Sidoarjo, East Java, staged a rally on Tuesday, blocking one of the alternative roads connecting Kalitengah village and the damaged toll road.

The victims demanded the Sidoarjo administration provide public facilities like schools, mosques, sport centers and cemeteries.

Luh De Suriyani – Thousands of people took part Monday evening in the Gema Perdamaian (Echo of Peace) at the Bajra Sandhi Monument in Renon, south Denpasar.

Jakarta – Activists have accused the National Police of intentionally burying major cases, particularly graft-related, under chief detective Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, saying they have criminalized graft fighters instead.

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Although not counting out the possibility of an independent team to probe the National Police chief of detectives, Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, the National Police Commission said Tuesday it needed to consult first with the police chief on what option to take on the case.

Anticorruption groups have asserted that the naming of two activists as suspects in a defamation case against the Attorney General's Office is simply a step to distract the public's attention from the rift between the nation's antigraft agency and the National Police.

Jakarta Police's Traffic Management Center has warned drivers that there may be traffic snarls in Jakarta on Wednesday due to several planned protests.

Luthfiana Mahmudah, Jember – Every month at the Jember administration-owned RSUD Dr. Soebandi Hospital, at least four children under five years old are treated for malnutrition, a health official said Tuesday.

Public relations officer Judi Nugroho said, as of the first week of this month, the hospital had treated at least 40 children suffering from malnutrition.

Jakarta – Some 200 Indonesian workers gathered peacefully in front of the worker's quarters of the YP Plantation Holdings in Rompin, Malaysia, on Wednesday to protest against attempts by certain groups to create tension between Malaysia and Indonesia, Antara has reported.

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Bank lending will grow at a slower pace than expected this year, but will accelerate next year as the economy recovers, says the central bank.

Lending may expand 17 percent next year, acting Bank Indonesia (BI) governor Darmin Nasution said Wednesday.

Indraswari, Kuala Lumpur – On Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck West Sumatra, leading to massive destruction in the provincial capital Padang and surrounding areas. More than 800 people are confirmed dead and thousands missing.

Sydney – About 260 Sri Lankan asylum-seekers detained in Indonesia have threatened to blow up their wooden boat if the navy forces them to disembark, an Australian report said on Wednesday.

A spokesman told The Australian newspaper that the group, which was stopped en route to Australia, would explode gas canisters and leap into the ocean to avoid being held in Indonesia.

Dili – East Timor's first joint military exercise with the United States began Wednesday with the arrival of the USS Bonhomme Richard assault ship.

Hundreds of people buried by landslides in Indonesia two weeks ago have been registered as dead, raising the death toll from last month's earthquake to 1,115.

Disaster Management Agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono said Wednesday that the search for 300 missing people has ended and that they have been declared dead.

Camelia Pasandaran – The government has allowed individuals and groups to exploit Indonesian migrant workers by failing to provide them the necessary legal protection, according to a nongovernmental organization.

Febriamy Hutapea & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The government and the House of Representatives were under strong pressure on Tuesday to investigate how a section in the newly enacted Health Law that identifies tobacco as an addictive substance had disappeared.

Michael H. Posner
Assistant Secretary
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
U.S. Department of State
2201 C St., N.W.
Washington, DC 20520

October 13, 2009

Dear Mr. Assistant Secretary:

The hardline Indonesian terrorist group founded by slain militant Noordin Mohammed Top has been left in complete turmoil by the killing of its new leader, analysts say.

Dion Bisara & Muhamad Al Azhari – Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati is expecting the country's annual growth to rebound in the third quarter, supported by global economic recovery.

"Our [annual] growth is likely to be in a range of 4.1 percent to 4.3 percent in the third quarter [of 2009]," Sri Mulyani said, as compared to 4 percent in the previous quarter.

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – Antigraft activists Emerson Yuntho and Ilian Deta Sari have been summoned for questioning by police in a libel case filed by the Attorney General's Office (AGO) earlier this year.

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-135-2009

Dear friends,

Dili – East Timor's opposition stayed on the offensive Tuesday after the government survived a no-confidence vote over its decision to free an Indonesian militia leader accused of crimes against humanity.

Dessy Sagita & Ulma Haryanto – About 16 million people are likely to lose their state health insurance, known as Jamkesmas, due to a reported decline in the number of people living below the poverty level, a senior minister said on Monday.

A new law mandating death by stoning for adulterers in Indonesia's deeply Islamic Aceh province advocates "torture" and should be overturned, US-based group Human Rights Watch said Monday.

"Stoning and flogging constitute torture in any circumstances," Human Rights Watch Asia head Elaine Pearson said in a statement.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The government's plan to place the management of the military's cooperatives and foundations under the Ministry of Defense was criticized on Tuesday for not getting to the root of the problem.

Ulma Haryanto – Although the state health insurance system has been widely criticized for its shortcomings, millions of poor people across the country still depend on it for much-needed medical care.

Students set fire to women's underwear on Monday during a protest at an Islamic university against Japanese porn star Maria Ozawa, or Miyabi, who is scheduled to arrive in Jakarta to star in a local film.

Camelia Pasandaran – Indonesia and East Timor are trying to work out disputes over their territory by agreeing on an exact border between the two nations, a government official said on Monday.

"We are now in the process of finalizing border lines between Indonesia and East Timor," said Saut Situmorang, a spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Jakarta – A group of Jakarta locals will form a group to defend Japanese porn movie star Maria Ozawa, or Miyabi, who will visit Indonesia to shoot a comedy film.

Moses Silalahi of Petukangan Utara subdistrict in South Jakarta said he and some of his friends would rally in support of the Japanese adult film star under a community group called the Miyabi Defenders' Front.

Nivell Rayda – Ali did not expect to be solicited for bribe money from the "religious" office that was supposed to take care of arrangements for his marriage, but that was exactly what happened.

Tom Allard, Jakarta – Counter-terrorism authorities in Indonesia and across South-East Asia will redouble efforts to find two men who have been at large since the first Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Jakarta – Indonesian villagers said on Monday they had rejected a request by the family of two terror suspects killed by police to bury the bodies in their village, saying they were unwelcome dead or alive.

Irvan Tisnabudi – The recently passed law on regional taxes should be welcomed by business because it sends regional governments a clear signal to stop levying unreasonable or illegal taxes, a legislator who drafted the measure said.

Candra Malik – Radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir said police committed murder when they killed suspected terrorists Muhammad Syahrir and Saefudin Jaelani during a raid in Ciputat, Tangerang on Friday.

Nurfika Osman – The People's Democratic Defense, a fringe nationalist group that had announced plans to invade Malaysia, may think its fighting for its country and compatriot workers overseas, but an embassy official in Kuala Lumpur said they're only worsening the situation.