According to latest reports from West Papua, more than a dozen Papuans have been arrested for taking part in peacefully unfurling their flag, the Morning Star (Kejora), some or all of whom are likely to be charged for rebellion (makar).

Indonesian police have sought assistance from New Zealand police to implement improved community policing in the Papua region. They are also looking to recruit about 1,500 more Papuans into their ranks as part of the initiative.

Belinda Tasker – Britain could launch legal action against two surviving former Indonesian military chiefs linked to the deaths of the Balibo Five if Australia fails to pursue the men.

Dili – A month after the attacks in Timor-Leste that left rebel leader Alfredo Reinado dead and President Jose Ramos Horta wounded, some of the 30,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) living in camps throughout Dili, the capital, are returning home.

Tom McCawley, Jakarta – Indonesia, one of Asia's largest fuel exporters, now faces dire power shortages, threatening to hold back an economic recovery which at 6.3 % reached its fastest pace in a decade last year.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Despite a compulsory basic education program launched by the government in 1994, enrollment figures remain disappointing in many regions.

In a survey of a quarter of the country's 440 regencies and municipalities, officials said Tuesday almost half of children between ages 13 and 15 were being denied the benefits of a secondary education.

The bird flu situation is "critical" in Indonesia, where the virus could mutate and cause a human pandemic, the UN food agency warned yesterday.

"The prevalence of avian influenza in Indonesia remains serious despite (national and international) containment efforts," the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation said in a statement.

Jakarta – A group of non-governmental organizations has asked Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono to revise a statement telling retired military generals not to attend questioning sessions by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) over rights abuse investigations.

A group of Papuan leaders have written to a British newspaper outlining a list of grievances with the operations of British Petroleum at the Tangguh gasfield in their part of Indonesia.

The Guardian reports that the Papuan leaders requested anonymity in their claim that BP has reneged on its agreements over the 7-billion US dollar natural gas plant project at Bintuni Bay.

Ramadhian Fadillah, Jakarta – A number of protest actions will enliven Jakarta today, from with a solidarity action for Tibet, a protest by factory workers and a student demonstration. Various stretches of road across the capital will be jammed with protesters. These are the location that will be targeted.

London – The Indonesian government should order the immediate release of nine Papua activists arrested for displaying the Papuan Morning Star flag, Human Rights Watch said today. All charges against them should be dropped.

Gagah Wijoseno, Jakarta – The European Union Parliament has issued a declaration calling on the Indonesian government to fully investigate the murder of human rights activist Munir. If Indonesia ignores the declaration, there is a possibility that EU countries will extend the ban on Indonesian airlines flying to Europe.

When BP set out to build a £3.5 billion natural gas plant in remote West Papua, local villagers hoped for a bright future. But all is not well.

Novia D. Rulistia, Jakarta – The financial troubles of PT Adam Skyconnection Airlines (Adam Air) climaxed Tuesday with airline regulators revoking the company's operating certificate as of Wednesday.

Paul Toohey – A large amount of cash was allegedly found on the body of rebel soldier Alfredo Reinado after he was shot dead in President Jose Ramos Horta's compound in East Timor last month.

"It was not $29,000. It was not $31,000. It was exactly $30,000, in $US100 notes," said a senior East Timorese government source.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Experts, activists and teachers said they would consider filing a request for the Constitutional Court to revoke its recent decision ordering the inclusion of teachers' salaries into the education budget.

Teachers' salaries have to-date been allocated via civil servant expenditures rather than the education budget.

The New Zealand-based Indonesia Human Rights Committee says it continues to be deeply concerned about the human rights situation in West Papua.

It has written to the New Zealand foreign minister, Winston Peters, asking the government to suspend all defence training ties with Indonesia.

Jakarta – Indonesia's attorney general has removed two of his top officials in the wake of the arrest of a top prosecutor for allegedly accepting bribes, an official said Tuesday.

Ken Yunita, Jakarta – Three protest actions will enliven the House of Representatives (DPR) in Senayan, Jakarta, on Monday March 18. Each of the three protests will be taking up different demands.

[The following statement was issued by Kontras, the Commission for the Disappeared and the Victims of Violence, together with eight other human rights NGOs, on 18 March 2008. Translated by TAPOL.]

Rt Hon Winston Peters,
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Parliament Buildings,

Wellington 18 March, 2008

Dear Winston Peters,

The Indonesia Human Rights Committee continues to be deeply concerned about the human rights situation in West Papua.

Novia D. Rulistia, Jakarta – Expansion in the business sector is likely to slow down in the first quarter of 2008, emulating a similar trend in the previous quarter, a Bank Indonesia survey says.

Neles Tebay, Abepura, Papua – The Indigenous Papuans have begun calling for referendum to decide the future political status of Papua province. The call was raised by the Papuan youth. I do think that the same call will be raised in days and months to come.

There are two major factors that trigger the Papuans to call for refendum.

Excellencies:

1. The President of the RDTL National Parliament
2. The President of Commission A of the National Parliament
3. The President of the Republic RDTL
4. The Prime Minister of RDTL
5. The President of the RDTL Supreme Court

Your Excellencies Members of Parliament,

The Hon Stephen Smith MP
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Parliament House
Canberra
ACT 2600

17 March 2007

Dear Mr Smith,

I am writing to you concerning the dangerously deteriorating situation in West Papua.

Julia May, London – A former head of defence intelligence in East Timor has criticised the British and Australian governments for failing to extradite two former Indonesian military leaders named over the killings of five newsmen in 1975.

"Papuans still are subject to torture, ill-treatment, arbitrary arrests and unfair trials by the Indonesian authorities," said the World Council of Churches (WCC) programme executive for human rights, Christina Papazoglou in a 14 March oral intervention before the United Nations Human Rights Council, which is currently holding its seventh session in Geneva.

Steven Sengstock – A month has passed since the death of Alfredo Reinado in a fire-fight at the home of East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta. There has been no backlash from his supporters and in the past week many rebel soldiers have surrendered peacefully.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates visited Indonesia in late February. He met with senior Indonesian officials, including the president and defense minister, and he offered increased military assistance, including weapons and training. This is a US NGO response to his visit.

Iqbal Fadil, Jakarta – As many as five protest actions will enliven Jakarta for the start of the new week. One protest in particular will have the potential to cause traffic congestion because it will involve as many as 500 participants.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Former president Megawati Sukarnoputri on Saturday said a PDI-P win in the upcoming gubernatorial election in West Java would pave the way for the party to win the 2009 general election.

Lilian Budianto and Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – The House of Representatives is still split over simultaneous legislative and presidential elections, one of the main issues in ongoing deliberations over the presidential election bill.

When we amended the 1945 Constitution in 2000-2002, we decided power must no longer be concentrated in the hands of a single person as it was when Soeharto ruled the country unopposed for more than three decades.

Former Indonesian president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid says he intends to run in next year's presidential elections.

"I am making myself available to run as a presidential candidate to once again lead this Indonesian state and nation," he told a rally of his National Awakening Party (PKB) in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, according to the state Antara news agency.

Jayapura – It appears that the police will show not tolerance to those who unfurled the Morning Star flag during a demonstration on grounds of the Manokwari Regional House of Representatives on Thursday March 13. The evidence, nine out of the 12 demonstrators arrested earlier by police are to be charged with rebellion.

Lindsay Murdoch and Tom Hyland – One of East Timor's most influential politicians has called for the inquiry into the recent attacks on the nation's leaders to be widened to include the possible role of a notorious Jakarta gangster.

Erwinda Maulia, Jakarta – Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari has accused the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States of conspiracy in the collection of bird flu virus samples and the production of vaccines.

Jakarta – About 500 Indonesian Muslims took to the streets of the capital to demand the government bring down food prices after media reports of cases of starvation.

The protesters, from the Muslim group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, marched through Jakarta's main streets to the presidential palace, chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great).

Jakarta – People living in refugee tents, with nothing more than the clothes on their back after disaster struck their families and homes, was something Muhammad Amin thought he would only ever see on TV.

Abdul Khalik and Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono may find it difficult to run for another term should the House of Representatives approve a tighter requirement for parties to name presidential candidates.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The United Nations Human Rights Council will review the protection of human rights in Indonesia next month, as part of the council's first-ever Universal Periodic Review, Foreign Ministry spokesman Kristiarto Soeryo Legowo said Friday.

Stephanie March, Dili – East Timor's police and military have been accused of beating and torturing citizens since a state of emergency began following the February 11 attacks that left President Jose Ramos Horta wounded and rebel leader Alfredo Reinado dead.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Indonesia has said the film Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders plans to release about the Koran could derail interfaith dialog and harm efforts toward global stability and peace.

The film, called Fitna (Slander), is said to depict Islam's holy text as a "fascist book" that "should be banned".

[Resistance: A Childhood Fighting for East Timor By Naldo Rei University of Queensland Press, 338pp, $34.95. Review by Sian Powell.]

Naldo Rei was nine or 10 when he crept into the hills on his first clandestine mission for the East Timorese guerillas. His father had just been killed by the Indonesian military and the boy was furious and despairing.

Human rights groups are worried. The controversial Indonesia-East Timor "truth" commission into the violence surrounding East Timor's historic 1999 vote for independence will hand down its final report within weeks.

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – The House unanimously refused on Thursday to endorse a bill that would see Indonesia ratify an ASEAN agreement to eradicate transboudary fire haze and smoke pollution.

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – A group of 55 lawmakers filed an official petition Thursday for the House of Representatives to investigate the government's failure to recover trillions of rupiah from state debtors.

Katia Siberia Garcia, Havana – Cuban doctors who fulfilled an internationalist mission in Timor-Leste arrived in Cuba on Thursday night, March 13, after two years in that South East Asian island nation. They were welcomed at Jose Martm International Airport by Jose Ramsn Balaguer, member of the Political Bureau and minister of public health.

Indonesian police have arrested 11 people in Papua for raising the Morning Star flag.

Police broke up a rally in the west of the province when demonstrators held the banned flag aloft and called for a referendum on Papua's future.

The demonstrators could be charged with promoting separatism. Police have rejected claims that they beat several of the demonstrators.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – A score of protesters gathered at the offices of the Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) here Tuesday to demand money to rebuild their homes.