Jakarta – Lawyers for hardline Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir on Wednesday filed a class action suit demanding the disbanding of the police's anti-terror unit, accusing it of rights violations.

Tony Hotland and Imanuddin Razak, Jakarta – A fragile coalition between Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is facing another challenge – this time from the outside.

Tito Belo, Dili – A number of people were hurt in clashes between rival political supporters in East Timor on Wednesday as campaigning ended ahead of parliamentary elections in three days time, police and a politician said.

The media was vilified at rallies and one journalist was beaten during elections in East Timor this year, according to a report by observers from New Zealand that calls for criminal prosecutions of those attacking journalists.

Flaky-skinned Jenny is two weeks old. She was born in an East Timor refugee camp, adjacent to Dili's airport, that 6,000 people have been crammed into since the unrest of April and May last year. The violence prompted the return of international troops and the UN, only a few years after they had left the fledgling Southeast Asian nation.

Jakarta – Atul Khare, special envoy of the UN secretary general for East Timor, urged Jakarta and Dili on Tuesday to enhance the efficiency and credibility of a truth commission tasked with probing the bloodshed that marred East Timor's independence vote in 1999.

Jakarta – East Timor's top UN official warned Tuesday that it would take months to resolve the refugee crisis in the troubled nation, where an estimated 10 percent of the population remain in camps.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Political games and low wages have prevented the Indonesian Military (TNI) from achieving full reform, the head of the TNI's information division, Col. Ahmad Yani Basuki, said Monday.

Telly Nathalia, Jakarta – Indonesian Muslim hardliners demanded on Tuesday the government disband an American trained special anti-terror unit, saying it was a tool of the United States to fight Islam.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Lawmakers have blamed mediocre coordination between the labor and foreign ministries for the increasing number of poorly protected Indonesians working abroad who suffer abuse from their employers.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – The Javanese saying "you will learn to love someone if you see them every day" has been lost on Jakarta voters. Despite massive publicity campaigns by the two governor hopefuls, most residents are still weighing-up their choices for the August poll.

Syaipul Bakhori, Jakarta – The oil and gas exploration activities carried out by a Malaysian company, Petronas, in Jambi's east coastal waters, is worrying fishermen in West Tanjungjabung Regency area, Jambi Province.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Thirteen rivers flowing north to Jakarta Bay bring at least 14,000 cubic meters of mostly household garbage each day, or about half of the total of 28,435 cu m of garbage that pollutes the sea.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Indonesia is taking steps to ramp up its Islamic banking sector, which some financial analysts believe has the potential of creating the largest sharia finance area in the world.

An Australian Parliamentary committee has recommended ratification of an broad security treaty with Indonesia – but emphasised what it calls "widespread concerns" about human rights in Indonesia.

Indonesia has pulled nine small airlines from service as it intensifies safety efforts following a string of crashes.

Transport Department Directorate General for Aviation Budhi Muliawan Suyitno said the government had revoked the licences of four airlines, and suspended a further five from operation until they meet basic safety standards.

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono shed tears and became angry Sunday as he listened to the stories of people displaced by the mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java.

The meeting with 20 representatives of displaced residents took place at Yudhoyono's private residence in Cikeas, Bogor, south of Jakarta.

Iqbal Fadil, Jakarta - The construction of the Muria nuclear power plant (PLTN) in Central Java continues to attract criticism from various circles who say the construction as bring a new catastrophe to the Indonesian ecology and a disaster to the environmental sustainability.

Jakarta – To address the core problems facing the educational system, the government must look beyond the national examination and address the root causes of the system's failures, an expert says.

United Nations Special Representative for Human Rights Affairs, Hina Jilani, listened intently to the comments of the speakers who converged at Goethe Haus in Jakarta on Thursday, two weeks ago. Filling the auditorium were scores of activists, both foreign and Indonesian.

A Statement on the Occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

The DPR's Legal Affairs Commission begins selection of candidates for members of the National Human Rights Commission.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – More than 6,000 families that fell victim to the tsunami in Aceh are living still in temporary shelters because many newly built houses were not yet equipped with proper facilities, including sanitation.

Jakarta – Too many activists in the list of hopefuls for the new National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) leadership was the reason only a few made it through, a lawmaker said Friday.

Trimedya Panjaitan chairs the House of Representatives Commission III responsible for legal and human rights issues and he had just concluded screening the new 11 Komnas HAM members.

Jakarta – Nan Main knows that she is a registered voter, but doesn't know who she'll be voting for in August.

"For sure I'm going to vote; I got a letter yesterday saying I'm eligible and I have a kartu keluarga," the Betawi native said referring to the family registration card.

Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – From feet to bicycles, from trams to buses and automobiles, Jakarta has decided after nearly half a millennium to take the next baby step toward an integrated mass rapid transportation system.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The door has officially been shut on voters not registered for August's gubernatorial election, with hundreds left off the rolls.

Jakarta – The commission overseeing legal and human rights issues at the House of Representatives selected Wednesday 11 applicants for membership of the National Commission for Human Rights from among 43 candidates.

The selections were made after a series of hearings with House Commission III chairman Trimedya Panjaitan, who announced the individuals to serve until 2012.

Jakarta – Indonesian hardline cleric Abu Bakar Bashir never headed the Islamic militant network Jemaah Islamiyah, a spokesman for his organisation said on Friday.

Jakarta – HIV/AIDS activists have called on secondary schools to focus more on sex education to help prevent the spread of the virus.

Jakarta – Results from a recent survey indicate that the majority of Indonesian Muslims are tolerant toward other religions and reject the imposition of religious bylaws but believe that bombings will continue to be a threat in the future.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – A likely alliance between Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in the 2009 presidential election is projected to be short-lived, if not a failure, observers said Thursday.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Around 1.2 million of Jakarta's eligible voters have not been registered for the August gubernatorial election, two national institutions announced Thursday.

Jakarta – Regional administrations have failed to pay proper attention to environmental issues, a national meeting of green organizations said Thursday.

The problems have been inadequately addressed because there are few environmental offices in regions as the tasks and responsibilities of such offices had been attached to the local offices of ministries, it said.

The US House of Representatives today signaled continued congressional concern for human rights, accountability, and military reform in Indonesia and justice for East Timor. Several provisions in the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill (H.R.

Tito Belo, Dili – East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta on Friday urged the winner of next week's parliamentary elections to form a unity government in a bid to heal divisions in the tiny state.

Twenty per cent of East Timor's people need food aid after severe droughts and locust plagues battered crops in the troubled young nation, two UN food agencies say.

A parliamentary committee has criticised the Howard Government for rushing the controversial treaty on exploiting natural gas in the Timor Sea.

The Government invoked the rarely used national interest exemption to bring the treaty into force in February without giving the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties an opportunity to scrutinise it.

Bangkok – Having lost 30 per cent of its crops this year to drought, plagues and locusts, East Timor will need 15,000 tons of emergency food assistance during the upcoming "lean season," the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday.

Jakarta – Opposition continues to mount over the government's plan to build a nuclear power plant near Mount Muria in the northern part of Central Java.

The government expects to hold a tender for the project next year, before construction commences in 2010. The 4,000 megawatt plant is expected to supply two percent of the country's total energy demand by 2017.

Jakarta – Indonesia's judicial system is still reluctant to reform itself and is neglecting calls for greater transparency in its court verdicts, a legal expert says.

p>The Honorable Jose Ramos-Horta
President of Republic Democratic of Timor Leste
Palacio Das Cinzas,
Dili, Timor Leste
Email: presidente-tl@easttimor.minihub.org

Your Excellency,

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The majority of the country's population has suffered depression of some form in the last year, says the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI).

IDI chairman Fachmi Idris said Wednesday that the latest survey put out by the country's psychiatrist association showed that 94 percent of the country was suffering from some form of depression.

Jakarta – Experts demanded Wednesday the immediate enactment of the anti-corruption court bill to empower the court to achieve more accountable verdicts and encourage public participation in the process.

Jakarta – The active role played by civil society has helped reveal corruption in many local administrations, and to progressively reduce the number of such cases, according to a study conducted by the World Bank's Justice for the Poor Program.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Planned laws on state secrecy and intelligence should include multiple oversight mechanisms and limitations on their scope to maintain the country's commitment to its hard-earned democracy, observers said Wednesday.

Jakarta – Indonesian activists on Thursday submitted a complaint against judges who presided over the pollution trial of US mining giant Newmont, alleging they had dozed off during proceedings.

Jakarta – An Indonesian member of the Islamic extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah said in an interview broadcast Thursday that its members were in disarray after the arrests of two of its top leaders this month, but warned they may have become more dangerous.

Imran, North Aceh – Residents of the Mee village in the sub-district of Syamtalira Aron, North Aceh, have discovered the remains of what they believe to be part of a skeleton of a person killed during the period of conflict. The bones were found in the area of the Surplus Control Project of the Supply Chain Department at Exxon Mobil Indonesia Cluster I on Wednesday June 20.

(Bangkok) FORUM-ASIA, writes to Jose Ramos-Horta, the new president of Timor Leste, to remind him of the pending issues of impunity on violations of human rights that have occurred in the country also known as East Timor. Swift and immediate resolution of this matter is urged.