Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – The hunt for Alfredo Reinado has been officially called off in East Timor's central mountains and the rebel military leader and his heavily armed men are being given safe conduct passes.
The decision brings to a humiliating end a five-month operation by Australian troops that included elite Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers.
Banda Aceh – Victims of the Aceh conflict being assisted by the group Fraternal Solidarity for Victims of Human Rights Violations (SPKP HAM) will hold their second congress in Saree in the Lembah Seulawah sub-district of Greater Aceh on July 20-23.
Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – Rampant torture in Indonesian prisons could be minimized if the government ratified the Optional Protocol of the United Nations Convention against Torture, several NGOs said.
Under the protocol, the country's prisons would be open to independent external monitoring.
Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – Law and rights activists have labeled the Constitutional Court's revocation of Criminal Code articles concerning defamation against the government as a glorious achievement for human rights enforcement.
Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – The trial of an illegal logging suspect was delayed Wednesday after a group of people disrupted court proceedings at Medan District Court in North Sumatra.
Tensions over Adelin Lis' hearing led presiding judge Arwan Byrin to postpone the trial until July 23. The trial was scheduled to examine five witnesses Wednesday but heard from just one.
Muhammad Wildan, Singapore – The spread of radical Islamism in Indonesia has led many people to assume that it has to do mostly with the incorrect interpretation of Islam. Although this assumption may not be totally incorrect, this judgment is misleading. For some people, this could lead to theological accusations of Islam.
Welcome back to New Perspectives (Perspektif Baru), I'm Jaleswari Pramodhawardani and I'm here with Zely Ariane, an activist from the Perempuan Mahardhika National Network. Today we will be speaking about an issue that is of concern to us all, the urban poor.
Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – It was business as usual Wednesday a PT Naga Parama Shoes Industry (NASA) and PT Hardaya Aneka Shoes Industry (HASI), manufacturers for American athletic apparel company Nike, despite fears of a massive staff dismissal.
Hikmahanto Juwana, Jakarta – This newspaper has published various opinions from writers discussing legal conditions in Indonesia. The articles seem to identify the sources of weaknesses in law enforcement here.
Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has a few tough decisions ahead of him in the wake of a recent spate of land disputes involving the Indonesian Military (TNI) and civilians.
"The president, as the head of state, must decide who will have the land," Isono Sadoko from the Akatiga Foundation told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Release prisoners held under unconstitutional laws
New York – The ruling by Indonesia's constitutional court to declare unconstitutional a set of laws that criminalize free expression is a bold and welcome decision, Human Rights Watch said today. All prisoners currently serving sentences under these laws should be immediately released.
James Balowski, Jakarta – Indonesian police routinely torture, rape and kill with impunity in West Papua and risk fanning separatism there, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on July 5.
The presence in West Papua of Col. Burhanuddin Siagian, a senior Indonesian army officer indicted for crimes against humanity charges in East Timor (now called Timor-Leste) endangers human rights defenders and political activists. Recently Col. Siagian threatened to "destroy" peaceful dissidents in the contested region.
Jakarta – The government has made no significant progress toward implementing the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) 23 years after its ratification, women's rights advocates say.
Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court struck down on Tuesday articles in the Criminal Code banning speeches and writing expressing hostility toward or inciting hatred of the government, calling the centuries-old rulings detrimental to democracy.
The Asia Pacific Solidarity Coalition (APSOC), a regional solidarity organization that campaigns on issues affecting the peoples of the region, expresses its gravest concern over the continued presence of Col. Burhanuddin Siagian as commander of the Jayapura sub-regional military command (Korem 172) in West Papua.
Iwan Gunawan, Jakarta – The administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono seemed to be irritated by independence aspirations reflected in the display of separatist flag in Ambon and Papua.
Such aspirations have been visible in Aceh, with former rebels proposing a local party which chooses their old flag as the party's symbol.
Jakarta – The House of Representatives has enacted a new Energy Law that is aimed at securing sustainable energy supplies, and promoting energy conservation and the use of renewable energy resources.
Hambali Batubara, Medan – Student and social organisations in the North Sumatra provincial capital of Medan demonstrated at the Japanese Consulate and the representative offices of PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (PT Inalum) on Wednesday July 18.
Sohirin/Jems de Fortuna, Semarang – A leak at the Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) nuclear-powered electric generator plant has made the residents around Gunung Muria (Jepara, Pati and Kudus, Central Java) grow stronger as regards resisting the government's plan to build a nuclear plant in their area.
James Balowski, Jakarta – Coinciding with the release of a report by Human Rights Watch exposing endemic human rights abuses in West Papua and the refusal to allow a member of the US Congress to visit the province, protests featuring the Morning Star flag were held.
Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – The government must improve the qualitative aspects, not quantitative aspects, of political parties through the package of political bills currently under deliberation at the House of Representatives, political observers said Tuesday.
Jon Lamb – The June 30 election has resulted in neither of the two main contenders – the ruling party Fretilin and the recently formed CNRT (National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction) – gaining an outright majority for a new parliament. Fretilin secured 29% of the vote, followed by CNRT with 24%.
Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston has defended his support for Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso over a Sydney coroner's bid to question him about the 1975 killings of five newsmen, despite fresh evidence accusing the governor of torture.
East Timor's ruling party Fretilin and an alliance led by ex-president Xanana Gusmao have agreed to form a unity government after last month's legislative elections, the country's president said yesterday.
Oecussi – Sika and Siska were not born prematurely and yet between them the twins weigh a little over four kilograms (nine pounds), a testament to food shortages gripping impoverished East Timor.
Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta Post – Observers welcomed the dismissal of Maluku's provincial police chief following the recent flag-waving incident by a separatist group in Ambon.
They said it was an appropriate measure but called also for the removal of security officials responsible for the incident.
Aguswandi, Banda Aceh – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) establishing itself as a political party is the last thing Jakarta needs to worry about right now. In fact it should be celebrated as another step in Aceh's peace process. It is a success of the reintegration – political reintegration – of former combatants fully into the society.
Ciamis – As a fisherman wife, Saring lives a simple life. But the 53-year-old never imagined she would have to camp in a make-shift tent for more than a year.
Aboeprijadi Santoso, Jakarta – Few issues have shaken the nation as the conflicts in East Timor and Aceh. Both have been resolved, yet their impact on our nationhood lingers on.
Jakarta Post – Thousands of workers from two shoe manufacturers rallied Monday at the Jakarta Stock Exchange building to demand Nike, an American athletic apparel company, restore contracts with the companies.
Jakarta Post – Commission I for defense and information at the House of Representatives and the government have agreed to delay the discussion of an article on military operations in the public information bill to find a better formulation for the paragraph.
Jakarta Post – Eight religious-based political parties are demanding the government lower the electoral threshold from three percent to two percent in the new legislative election bill to allow the existence of small parties in the forthcoming election.
Jakarta Post – Legal experts are recommending the government use the anti-corruption law, not forestry laws, to try illegal logging suspects.
Lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution said Monday matters pertaining to illegal logging were extremely complicated, and the use of the anti-corruption law would be the best way to fight the crime.
Jakarta – Indonesian authorities have removed the military chief of Maluku province following a surprise separatist protest in front of the president there last month, a military spokesman said Tuesday.
Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – The Democratic Party (PD) faction in the House of Representatives has recommended House leadership be determined according the number of votes obtained by each political party in the general election, instead of through political bargaining among factions.
Jakarta – The Justice and Human Rights Ministry will verify the validity of political parties running in the 2009 general election only after a new law on parties is enacted, to minimize spending on administrative tasks, an official said.
Jakarta – Females must make up at least 30 percent of a political party's candidate pool for the 2009 general elections and parties that do not adhere to this policy should be financially punished and removed from the election race, sociologists and researchers said.
The House of Representatives recently selected 11 new members of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM). The Commission has yet to appoint a chairman, as it will be installed in September. One of the member-elects, M. Ridha Saleh, talked with The Jakarta Post's Tony Hotland about the commission's 2007-2012 vision and target.
Last week United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour paid a five-day visit here, during which she met President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Indonesian Military Commander Air Chief Marshal Djoko Suyanto, as well as NGO communities and other officials. The Jakarta Post's M.
Few newspapers gave space for the enactment last week of the Energy Law by the House of Representatives, as its 34 articles only provide a broad outline of national energy policies.
Iqbal Fadil, Jakarta – Mondays are usually the starting point of each persons activities for the week. Likewise also for demonstrations in the capital. Six points across the city will see the arrival of protesters from various groups with different types of demands.
Jakarta – Giving the House of Representatives more power and money to deliberate laws could curb the flow of illegal funds from ministries to lawmakers, analysts say.
Dili – East Timor's president said Monday he was pushing political parties deadlocked since elections last month into forming a unity government but they were disputing who would be prime minister.
Rafiqa Qurrata A, Jakarta – Dissatisfied with the process of reform that they believe has failed, 1998 activists are threatening to make a comeback. One of the ways will be through taking part in the 2009 legislative and presidential elections.
M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said she expects the Indonesian government to quickly get to the bottom of the murder of prominent rights campaigner Munir Said Thalib.
Bandung/Makassar/Jakarta – A series of fatal land and sea accidents since last Saturday has claimed dozens of lives and further tarnished the country's public transportation reputation.
On Friday alone, at least 11 people died in a traffic accident on the Nagrek Highway between Badung and Garut in West Java.
Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Despite major improvements over the past few years, the country's banking sector has yet to fully recover from its worst crisis in living memory 10 years ago, the central bank's governor says.
Simon Roughneen, Dili – After spending two years in prison on terror-related charges, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, widely regarded as Indonesia's most radical Islamic cleric, is plotting his next career move: into mainstream politics.
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Australian troops have surrounded East Timorese military rebel Alfredo Reinado in an attempt to head off deadly clashes with disgruntled supporters of the former ruling Fretilin party.