Dessy Sagita – Around 10,000 workers descended on Jalan Rasuna Said and Jalan Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta on Thursday to stage protests against outsourcing and low wages.

Jakarta – The leadership of the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party has rebutted suggestions that it has fallen out of favor with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) over the presidential nomination of the former's chief patron Prabowo Subianto.

Mariel Grazella, Jakarta – The billionaires club in Indonesia is set to welcome new members. In its latest "Wealth Report: Asia", Julius Baer, a prominent Swiss private banking group, has identified Indonesia, alongside China and India, as the frontrunners of wealth creation in Asia.

Jakarta – The Retired Army Association (PPAD) is warning the government and society at large over the influx of foreign ideologies that threaten the values of Pancasila among Indonesian youths.

Ronna Nirmala – Solo Mayor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo was officially declared the winner of the Jakarta gubernatorial election on Friday, securing nearly 54 percent votes and beating out incumbent Governor Fauzi Bowo.

Firdha Novialita, Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Pitan Daslani – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono needs to protect minority groups from violence inside his own country before telling others to embrace religious tolerance, activists and lawmakers say.

Jakarta – Judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court have sentenced Miranda Goeltom to three years' imprisonment for bribing lawmakers to elect her as Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor in 2004.

Miranda, according to presiding judge Gusrizal, violated the 1999 Corruption Law's Article 5 (1) on bribery.

Deputy chairman of the House of Representatives' Commission II on regional autonomy, Ganjar Pranowo, said that lawmakers would support a proposal for the formation of a new province in the southern part of Papua.

SP/Imron Rosyid & Tunggadewa Mattangkilang, Solo/West Kutai – Forest fires have razed thousands of hectares of land in Central Java and East Kalimantan as an unusually intense and protracted dry spell drags on, officials reported on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Following two recent school brawls that have resulted in the deaths of two students, Religious Affairs minister Suryadharma Ali put the blame on a lack of religious discussion in schools.

Madiun, East Java – Four Indonesian soldiers on Thursday were sentenced to between five and six years in prison for helping to smuggle illegal migrants to Australia.

Vento Saudale, Bogor – The Bogor administration's plan to relocate the GKI Yasmin Church to Jalan Semeru in Kotaparis, Bogor, has been met with rejection from local residents.

Residents in the area slated for the relocation of the long-troubled church argued that relocation will not solve the problem.

Fadli, Batam – The Riau Islands governor has appointed a former graft convict, Azirwan, as head of the provincial maritime resources and fishery office, which has drawn the ire of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Timika, Papua – Police in Papua's Mimika district will use CCTV recordings to help identify members of a 300-strong mob that attacked a Freeport Indonesia office on Friday.

Mimika Police still have not named any suspects in the vandalism of the Freeport office in Kuala Kencana and the arson of dozens of vehicles.

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Another stumbling block has been placed in the path of Prabowo Subianto's presidential ambitions by rival political parties, with their factions at the House of Representatives agreeing to maintain a law that already places a high threshold for the presidential nomination.

Jonathan Vit – New Zealand's public pension fund pulled more than $1 million in investment from Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold over allegations of human rights offenses committed by security forces around the company's controversial Grasberg mine in Papua.

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The future of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) is uncertain as the House of Representatives stalls the election of new commissioners.

Following House feet dragging in the selection process, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last month extended the terms for outgoing Komnas HAM commissioners for three months.

Fatulmau, East Timor – Filomena Mendonca gave birth to all five of her children at home in the village of Fatulmau, high up in the mountains of East Timor, without registering their births.

"The hospital is very far away. I didn't feel there was a problem so I just stayed at home," said the 30-year-old mother.

On 24 September, trade unions belonging to the recently formed Majelis Pekerja Buruh Indonesia (Indonesian Worker Employees Assembly - MPBI) have called for a national strike for October 3. They are expecting 2 million workers to join the strike in at least 21 towns with large manufacturing sectors.

James Balowski, Jakarta – A suicide in Indonesia's northernmost province of Aceh by a teenager who was publicly humiliated by the province's abusive sharia police has again put the spotlight on laws that discriminate against women.

Ezra Sihite – Less than a week after the duo of Joko Widodo and Basuki Tjahaja Purnama won the gubernatorial election in Jakarta, the political parties backing them are already bickering with each other.

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Although the presidential election is 17 months away, prospects dimmed for Prabowo Subianto after members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) downplayed their alliance with the retired general's Great Indonesian Movement (Gerindra) Party.

Jayapura – Buchtar Tabuni, 32, human rights activist and leader of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), was sentenced to eight months in prison for vandalism at the Jayapura Prison in December 2010.

IHRC is delighted that the NZ Superannuation Fund has decided to pull its investments from the Freeport McMoran mining giant. (NZ Superannuation Fund Media Release 26 September, 2012)

Palembang – Residents of the Sidodadi subdistrict in Palembang, South Sumatra, staged a demonstration on Monday in front of the subdistrict office to protest the intimidation tactics employed by the Air Force in its acquisition of land near the air base.

"Dozens of Air Force personnel come to the site everyday to drive residents away," said resident Budi Hermawan.

Pitan Daslani – Joko Widodo and deputy Basuki Tjahaja Purnama's victory in Jakarta gubernatorial election has prompted an open-ended question regarding the Muslim majority's degree of acceptance toward non-Muslim executive leaders.

Ezra Sihite & Farouk Arnaz – The Corruption Eradication Commission has been assured it will have full control over the detention facility it is currently borrowing from the military.

Farouk Arnaz – A human rights group on Tuesday expressed support for the National Police and its anti-terror unit in the ongoing fight against extremism, but also called on it to be legally accountable.

Jakarta – After several weeks, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has resumed investigation of graft in the construction of the Rp 2.5 trillion (US$265 million) Hambalang sports complex in Bogor, West Java.

Jakarta – Activists have criticized the government and House of Representatives for failing to provide protection to migrant workers employed overseas in the proposed amendments to the 2004 law on migrant workers.

Fadli, Batam – More Singaporeans and Malaysians have been spending their weekends in Batam, Riau Islands, over the last few months after the reemergence of gambling-related recreation and gaming centers on the island.

Apriadi Gunawan and Oyos Saroso, Medan/Bandar Lampung – Dozens were hospitalized after hundreds of farmers clashed with riot police at the governor's office in Medan, North Sumatra, on Monday, after they failed to meet with acting Governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho.

Bayu Marhaenjati – The Islamic Defenders Front says it will persist with a campaign to close down all convenience stores that sell alcoholic beverages, after a bid to shut down a 7-Eleven outlet in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, was blocked by police on Saturday.

The hard-line group known as the FPI defended its move, proclaiming that the convenience store was selling booze.

Firdha Novialita – A human rights group on Tuesday criticized President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's plan to propose an international protocol against religious defamation at a United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York on Tuesday.

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi has said that the government is drawing up a regulation that would make it possible for local governments to interpret the universal values of human rights in accordance with local conditions.

Bagus BT Saragih and Margareth S. Aritonang, New York/Jakarta – As President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono prepared to take the podium at the 67th session of the UN General Assembly to call for the adoption of an international protocol banning blasphemy, critics said that Indonesia had little moral authority to campaign on the issue.

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Activists and rights campaigners have called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to use his visit to Papua next month to initiate a dialogue with all members of the Papuan community to find a lasting solution to tension in the country's easternmost province.

Madiun, East Java – A sergeant on Monday became the first Indonesian soldier to be convicted of people-smuggling as Jakarta tries to stem the flow of asylum seekers traveling via the country to Australia.

Dozens of Christians staged a protest on Sunday to denounce the anti-Islam film, Innocence of Muslims, saying that free speech should not be used as an argument to insult a faith held by others.

Rahmat, Makassar – Students protesting against the film "Innocence of Muslims" on Monday targeted several outlets of American fast food franchises in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar, such as KFC, McDonald's and Pizza Hut.

Presi Mandari – At 72, Sri Sulistyawati still remembers the day when two Indonesian soldiers placed a wooden plank across her belly and used her body as a see-saw, before she fainted from the pain.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Thousands of farmers in North Sumatra, Lampung, West and East Java are slated to take to the streets in observance of National Farmers Day and demand the government settle agrarian conflicts fairly.

Jakarta – In the midst of allegations surrounding a high-profile graft case centered on the driving simulators procurement project, human rights activist Usman Hamid says that a petition demanding the case be taken over by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has collected thousands of signatures supporting the KPK to fully handle the case.

National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo has been implicated in the driving simulator graft case that recently sparked off a fresh feud between the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the police.

Rizky Amelia & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam on Monday gave the Corruption Eradication Commission the recording of a 2008 meeting at the Presidential Palace allegedly convened to discuss the bailout of Bank Century, angering some lawmakers who felt they too should be privy to the tape's contents.

Jakarta – Workers from the Joint Labour Secretariat (Sekber Buruh) have agreed to hold a national strike on October 3. They are demanding the abolition of outsourcing and contract labour systems, which they insist harms the working class.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Lenny Tristia Tambun – While several analysts say that Joko Widodo's victory in the Jakarta gubernatorial election is boosting Prabowo Subianto's chance of winning the presidency in 2014, others believe that he may have created a challenger that he cannot defeat.

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi said on Monday that his ministry was working with the Law and Human Rights Ministry to draft a joint ministerial decree to define "human rights" – a definition that will be used as benchmark in drafting bylaws.

Jakarta – Rights groups have blasted the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for doing very little to solve past human rights violations, despite being in power for almost eight years.

UA: 273/12 Index: ASA 21/039/2012

Papuan human rights lawyer Olga Hamadi has been threatened after investigating allegations of police torture and ill-treatment in Wamena, Papua province, Indonesia. There are concerns for her safety and she is at risk of further intimidation and attacks.