Papuans are reportedly forming their own assembly to counter the Papuan People's Council, or MRP, established by the Indonesian government to represent the province.
The 42-member MRP was set up last month despite strong public opposition to the election process.
P.J. Leo – As many Jakarta residents come to terms with the increasing prices of basic necessities following the Oct. 1 fuel price hikes, the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) has persisted with its protests of the government's policy.
Jakarta – The Indonesian army has set up anti-terror desks in its nationwide regional commands to liaise with police on counter-terrorism, a report said Sunday.
The move shifts the military towards closer involvement in operations to combat terrorism, which has so far been overseen largely by police alone.
Neil McMahon – The drug prosecution of Australian model Michelle Leslie has been rocked by allegations that she was with the son of a senior Indonesian minister when she was caught in Bali and that police have covered up the truth of her arrest to protect him.
Duncan Graham, Contributor/Surabaya – To stay healthy and to be responsible, Indonesian youth should have access to condoms and other contraceptives in places where they feel relaxed about obtaining them, says a report on sexual health based on local research.
Jakarta – A human rights group focusing on Indonesia praised the US Congress for keeping a ban on sales of military equipment to Indonesia, whose armed forces have been accused of widespread abuses.
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – While many Jakarta residents were looking for places to eat out on the first day of Idul Fitri on Thursday, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) forced restaurants and cafes in Kemang, South Jakarta, to close.
Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Beaming, Yudhi, in his 30s, a scavenger from Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, emerged from Governor Sutiyoso's official residence on Thursday holding a white envelope with a Rp 50,000 (some US$5) banknote inside it.
Ruslan Sangadji, Poso – A bomb blast jolted Ambon early on Thursday as Muslims prepared to celebrate Idul Fitri, and later in the afternoon, some hundreds of kilometers away, residents in Poso found a homemade bomb in what apparently was renewed efforts by terrorists to reignite sectarian conflict in the two religiously divided areas.
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Despite pro-labor legislation, workers had to bow down to employers' pressure in determining the hike in the 2006 monthly minimum wages in the wake of economic difficulties and the alarmingly high level of unemployment.
Jakarta – In an abrupt about-face, the government has decided not to grant convicted terrorist and Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir a sentence remission given to inmates in observance of Idul Fitri holiday.
Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Many still living in tents, the Acehnese celebrated their first Idul Fitri almost a year after the tsunami devastated Aceh and parts of North Sumatra.
The time was also a time for many to quietly remember the loved ones, relatives and friends not present at festivities this year.
I Wayan Juniartha, Denpasar – The Karangasem Police in Bali named on Friday 21 people as suspects in Wednesday's attack and burning of the Rendang Police station that left four people injured, including a police officer.
Bill Tarrant, Lampuuk – In a little shack they built on a rubble-strewn field where the tsunami travelled the farthest inland, a group of teenaged boys orphaned in the disaster have made themselves a family.
John Aglionby, Nusa – The community notice board in Nusa is conspicuously underemployed. There are no updates on reconstruction programmes and the only bulletin on livelihood is a dog-eared one from June. The only recent notice advertises monthly distribution of rice, cooking oil, noodles and sardines to those who lost their homes in December's tsunami.
The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) today praised congressional conferees for agreeing to maintain some restrictions on U.S. military assistance to Indonesia in the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2006. The Conference Report was filed yesterday.
By Richard Chauvel
[The following Aceh backgrounder was prepared by the Australian solidarity organisation Asia Pacific Solidarity Network (APSN) to provide an background to the three-decade conflict in Aceh and on recent developments in the peace process following the December 26 2004 tsunami and earthquake.]
Repression and resistance
Max Lane – It has been almost a month since the Indonesian government increased the retail price of petrol by 126% and of kerosene by 300%. The increases are a part of the Jakarta government's commitments made to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between 1997 and 2004.
Peter Fritsch, Banda Aceh – The tsunami story of fisherman Zamzami is sadly familiar: A black wave taller than the coastal coconut trees swallowed his home, his wife and five of his six children, none ever to be seen again.
Banda Aceh – The Indonesian Military (TNI) hailed on Tuesday the return of a top leader of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Bakhtiar Abdullah, to his homeland.
Jakarta – The average 126.6 percent fuel price hike last month has pushed inflation to a six-year high of 17.89 percent for the year to October, with unemployment also rising. Surging inflation has also prompted the central bank to increase its key interest rate sharply to 12.25 percent.
Jakarta – The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported on Tuesday that the country's exports showed continuous growth during the first nine months of the year, driven by higher demand for non-oil products.
Veronika Kusuma Wijayanti, Jakarta – Civil servants and journalists posted at the national police headquarters have been forced to enter via the back of the building. The reason being that the entrance that is usually used for police, staff or journalists entering on foot has been damaged.
Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – As an Idul Fitri 'gift' for low-paid workers in Jakarta, the Jakarta administration has increased the minimum wage to Rp 819,100 (about US$81) for 2006, an increase of 15 percent from the current Rp 711,843.
Charles Scheiner – East Timor hopes to use its offshore oil and gas deposits to enable the country to escape its position as the poorest nation in Asia. Managing those resources, however, will be a challenge for the inexperienced nation.
East Timor must avoid the "paradox of plenty" which has brought misery to people in oil-producing countries across the Third World.
Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Tension between Muslims and Christians at Jati Mulya housing complex in Bekasi, West Java, has come to a peaceful end, at least for the time being, with the latter agreeing to conduct their Sunday services at the nearby Social Affairs Agency office.
Jakarta/Palu – With the police still in the dark over the identities of the killers of three Christian schoolgirls in Poso, Central Sulawesi, on Saturday, the security authorities came in for harsh criticism on Monday for failing to secure the small town of about 6,000 residents.
Ruslan Sangadji, Palu – Lying helplessly in hospital, the stab wound on her face covered with antiseptics and gauze, the girl cries out in pain.
Noviana Malewa, 15, was one of four high school girls attacked by unidentified assailants on Saturday morning in Poso Sulawesi. The three other girls, who were also Noviana's cousins, were beheaded.
Hyginus Hardoyo, Jakarta – At the start of his presidential term a year ago, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised to put the agricultural sector on top of his government policy agenda with the aim of increasing rural household incomes from both farm and off-farm activities.
John M. Miller – Although many view Indonesia's new President, retired General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, known as SBY, as a reformer, he has yet to take steps toward greater accountability for human rights violations by Indonesia's security forces.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The newly elected members of the Papuan People's Council (MRP) took office on Monday in a ceremony that was notable for the heavy police presence.
Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – In another positive sign for the peace process in Aceh, a top leader of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) arrived in his homeland on Monday after 25 years in exile overseas after a peace deal succeeded in ending nearly three decades of conflict in the province.
Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias (BRR) has lashed out at the Ministry of Finance for lacking a sense of crisis in delaying without clear reason several critical enabling regulations that would allow reconstruction work to proceed.
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Ten months after the devastating tsunami that claimed more than 210,000 human lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of others last December, the public living in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam is still in trouble.
Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Observed by a crowd of hundreds, six convicted gamblers were caned on Monday in front of the Baitul Musyahadah Mosque here.
The public canings were the second such event in Banda Aceh and the seventh in the province, all of which were carried out as punishment for gambling. The first public canings took place in Bireuen regency in June this year.
For the first time in 25 years, an exiled leader of Aceh's separatist rebel movement has returned to the Indonesian province in a sentimental homecoming. Bachtiar Abdullah has lived in Sweden since 1980. His return to Aceh comes just three months after GAM signed a peace pact with Jakarta to end almost 30-years of insurgency.
Presenter/Interviewer: Linda LoPresti
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Consistent with their firm objection to the operation of a waste treatment plant in their area, hundreds of residents of Bojong in Klapanunggal district, Bogor, West Java, erected on Sunday a wall to block the only road into the plant.
Jakarta – The Riau Police confiscated on Saturday more than 1,600 cubic meters of illegally felled logs from Gaung River in Indragiri Hilir regency, during a raid against illegal logging in the province.
Veronika Kusuma Wijayanti, Jakarta – Rats. Student released the animals (which are often the symbol of corruption) into the Jakarta police headquarters at a demonstration on Monday October 31. Fifteen white rats that had been given this names of corrupt police officers even assailed the offices of national police chief General Sutanto.
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The killing of three schoolgirls in the Central Sulawesi town of Poso has raised concern among Christian and Muslim leaders, who called on their followers to remain calm so as to prevent a cycle of revenge from setting in.
Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) urged the National Commission of Human Rights to set up an independent team to investigate possible human rights violations that may have occurred during the recent deadly clash between police and the people of Selena village in Palu, Central Sulawesi.
John Roosa and Joseph Nevins – One of the worst mass murders of the twentieth century." That was how a CIA publication described the killings that began forty years ago this month in Indonesia. It was one of the few statements in the text that was correct.
Riwanto Tirtosudarmo, Jakarta – The intention of the Indonesian Military (TNI) Chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto to revive the territorial command is not a surprise at all. It is only a reflection of a long established self image of the military as the nation's sole protector against security threats.
Barbaric! No other word describes the anger and exasperation many of us feel at hearing the news of the killing and beheading of three teenage girls in the Central Sulawesi district of Poso on Saturday. No decent human being could have done such a sadistic thing. The perpetrators were evil. What motivated them to do such an heinous act is beyond reason and comprehension.
Senator Robert Hill
Minister for Defence
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
31 October 2005
Re: resumption of ties with the Indonesian military.
Dear Senator Hill,
I am writing to you with great concern about the resumption of ties between our special forces SAS, and the Indonesian special forces, Kopassus.
Yogyakarta – Today, Monday 31/10 One hundred Papuan Students who called themselves the Alliance of Papuan Students (AMP) Jogjakarta took part in a long march [in central Java] to protest against the inauguration of MRP members in Papua by the Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia.
Sian Powell in Tubu, West Timor – Yosep Palbeno gestures furiously as he tells the story of how he was threatened by five armed East Timorese police officers. Barefoot and grizzled, the market farmer has a garden high in the remote hills of West Timor, on the edge of the international border between Indonesia and the East Timorese enclave of Oecussi.
Alastair Thompson – Timor-Leste Foreign Minister & 1996 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Jose Ramos-Horta knows more than most about independence struggles against Indonesian control.
Scoop took the opportunity of Mr Ramos-Horta's attendance at the 36th Pacific Island Forum to discuss the struggle for recognition by the independence movement from West Papua.
In an effort to accommodate fundamental rights for natives, the Indonesian government set up a people's assembly in the easternmost province Papua on Monday even though protesters say the body will only act as a Jakarta puppet.