Indonesia's capital Jakarta and five provinces have been placed under alert for a possible dengue epidemic following a growing number of fatalities and infections, officials said.

[The following open letter was sent by the UK base human rights organisation Tapol to British Foreign Office Minister, Douglas Alexander, on 9 February 2005.]

Douglas Alexander
Minister of State
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH

Dear Mr Alexander,

Human Rights Abuses in Aceh

Jon Lamb – A 30-second television advertisement screened on January 26 during the Australian Open tennis tournament has returned to the limelight the theft of East Timor's oil and gas resources by PM John Howard's Coalition government. At prime time and to a record number of viewers, the message was very clear: stop stealing East Timor's oil and gas wealth.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The government has set up a team tasked with reviewing Indonesia's membership of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) due to the country's falling crude oil production, which is bringing the country closer to becoming a net fuel importer.

John Mcbeth – Moulding tragedy into a political turning point in disaster-stricken Aceh presents both a glittering opportunity and a dangerous pitfall for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's three-month-old administration.

The measure of a nation's greatness lies in its ability to reconcile its diversity.

There continue to be many things wrong with this country. Every day, this and other newspapers report an endless stream of injustices that occur across the archipelago. Still, amid all that is wrong it is heartening to find some things so gloriously right.

Veronica Brooks – East Timor's bid to establish a viable oil and gas exploration industry has received robust early interest from multinational petroleum companies, according to the nation's top energy official.

Jay Solomon,Medan – Textile trader Shie Hok Lai lost everything when the tsunami destroyed his shop and home in Indonesia's Aceh province December 26., but the ethnic Chinese businessman is getting ready to start over again – in the same place.

Geneva – Donor countries are failing to provide enough funds for temporary housing and job creation for survivors of December's Indian Ocean tsunami, a senior United Nations official said on Monday.

Margareta Wahlstrom, the UN's special tsunami relief envoy, also urged governments to convert their aid pledges into cash as quickly as possible.

Banda Aceh – The United Nations on Tuesday pronounced the often chaotic relief effort to aid Indonesian tsunami victims a success but warned that the toughest part of the operation was still to come.

Indonesian soldiers prevented an Associated Press journalist from traveling in tsunami-wracked Aceh, a war-torn region that was off limits to foreigners before the disaster.

Jakarta – The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries has focused its efforts on sea supervision and the issuance of permits in an effort to stop illegal fishing during the first 100 days of the new administration.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Religious leaders have confessed that strict law enforcement and harsh punishments are more effective than religious teachings in combating corruption.

Nana Rukmana and Rusman, Indramayu/Samarinda – Central government needed to inject more funds into the Indramayu regency because the administration was short of money to run the local elections, the region's regent says.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – What's in a name? Lawmakers on Monday questioned the move by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to create a new Ministry of Communications and Information.

An Indonesian prosecutor sought an eight year jail sentence for hardline cleric Abu Bakar Bashir for allegedly engaging in terrorism acts linked to a series of deadly bombings in recent years.

Jim Lobe, Washington – As US President George W. Bush last week reiterated his strong support for spreading freedom abroad, his administration was preparing to remove a major obstacle to restoring full ties with Indonesia's armed forces (TNI), widely regarded as one of the world's most abusive militaries.

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono explained to UN General Secretary Kofi Annan last night, Friday February 4, that the Indonesian government will not be internationalising the handling of the conflict with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called for equal treatment before the law for Malaysian employers who failed to pay the salaries of their Indonesian workers.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was behind his deputy Yusuf Kalla's successful bid to take the leadership of the country's largest political party Golkar, a report said.

Samarinda – The state has suffered at least Rp 267.4 billion (US$29.6 million) in losses from 15 graft cases in East Kalimantan in recent months, in which 21 people have been named suspects by local prosecutors.

Rendi A. Witular and Zakki P. Hakim, Jakarta – While the business community is still facing chronic government red tape in running their businesses here, Vice President Jusuf Kalla is urging them not to use is as an excuse to collude with government officials.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – In what looks like a return to the New Order bullying of the press, the government's draft of the new Criminal Code contains numerous articles that could threaten press freedom.

Padang – Some 7,000 members of the Padang Market Traders Association (KPP) held a protest against the Padang municipality's plan to build a shopping mall on the site of the Goan Hoat bus terminal, located near Pasar Raya market.

The plan will likely have a serious impact on the traders, as it will block people's access to the market.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The government is altering the rules on how regional elections should be carried out in the resource-rich provinces of Aceh and Papua, a move which some say undermines the special autonomy status of the two regions and the independency of the election process.

Jambi – Pancakarya residents in Limun district have their own way of fighting illegal loggers, by declaring 400 hectares of forest area as the village's restricted forest.

"The people want to try and keep this forest free from the chainsaw's reach," said Akmal, one of the village's elders.

Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao
President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste

Your Excellency

Two human rights groups today called the US Department of State's plan to allow Indonesia to again participate in the full International Military Education and Training (IMET) program short-sighted, a betrayal of the numerous victims of human rights violations by the Indonesian military (TNI), and a serious setback for justice.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Residents of Sukabumi Selatan subdistrict in West Jakarta will likely win the battle against 51 illegal denim processing plants, which have been blamed for polluting the area.

The Indonesian government's plan in Aceh to register and relocate more than 100,000 people displaced by the tsunami to semi-permanent camps threatens their right to return home, Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First said today. The Indonesian government needs to ensure that any relocation program in the province fully respects the rights of the displaced people.

Matthew Moore, Lamno (Aceh) – Almost everyone is on a hopeless search, but one family breaks the circle of doom.

Tears of grief are still falling across Aceh's tsunami-devastated west coast, but Cutchairiah is one of the few people here with reason to cry tears of joy.

Diane Farsetta – "I hope that, as a result of our efforts, as a result of our helicopter pilots' being seen by the citizens of Indonesia helping them, that value system of ours will be reinforced," said Colin Powell, one week after the tsunami wrought havoc across South and Southeast Asia.

Kenji Hall, Jakarta – Human rights groups on Tuesday called on the United States not to ease restrictions on ties with Indonesia's military saying it continues to commit "brutal human rights violations."

Achmad Sukarsono, Banda Aceh – Aid groups, foreign armies and Indonesian officials have prevented disease and starvation from engulfing tsunami-hit Aceh province, but closer cooperation is needed to rebuild shattered livelihoods, government and aid officials said.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he was cautiously positive about reaching a deal with East Timor on how to share lucrative energy reserves beneath the Timor Sea.

Australia and East Timor have so far failed to reach agreement on how best to divide the estimated $A41 billion worth of oil and gas deposits lying beneath the sea between Australia and East Timor.

The public furor over the 8.14 percent increase in tap water rates charged by PAM Jaya could scare off investors intending to submit bids for 91 infrastructure projects over the next few months following the January 17 and January 18 Infrastructure Summit in Jakarta.

Tensions are rising between militant Islamic groups working in tsunami-struck Aceh and local residents as the outsiders seek to force hardline views on the traumatised local community.

The number of people believed killed in December's tsunami disaster rose to nearly 295,000, six weeks after the catastrophe, as Indonesia again increased its number of dead.

Indonesia was hardest-hit by the December 26 quake and tsunamis, with a total of 241,687 people listed as dead or missing, the health ministry said in its latest figures.

New York – The Indonesian government's plan in Aceh to register and relocate more than 100,000 people displaced by the tsunami to semi-permanent camps threatens their right to return home, Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First said today. The Indonesian government needs to ensure that any relocation program in the province fully respects the rights of the displaced people.

East Timor's new Catholic bishop has opposed a deal between Timorese and Indonesian leaders to drop trials over atrocities during the country's 1999 independence process, saying it lacks public support.

Evi Mariani, Jakarta – "I don't know what to say," novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer, overwhelmed by the moment, finally uttered at his 80th birthday party with family and friends on Sunday afternoon. After giving a brief thank you to all the people who came to his birthday, he sat down and wiped the tears from his eyes.

After years of much talk and effectively no action at all, Jakarta's administrators seem at long last to have arrived at the realization that the problem of pollution in the Indonesian capital has reached the point where any further delay of action is no longer possible.

Rendi A. Witular and Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta – The government has decided to drop its plan to set up a special authority for Aceh since the tsunami-stricken areas in the province already had functioning local governments, according to Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – A group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has condemned the central government for its failure to involve the public in drafting a master plan to rebuild Banda Aceh.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – After declaring that his declining popularity did not really matter to him, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono invited two chief editors to his office for talks on two separate occasions on Thursday evening and Friday morning.

Bagus Kurniawan, Yogyakarta – Opposing planned fuel (BBM) price increases by the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice-president Jusuf Kalla (SBY-JK), scores of demonstrators from the National Student League for Democracy (LMND) sealed off a petrol station (SPBU) and the offices of the state oil company Pertamina.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Armed Forces (Tentara Nasional Indonesia – TNI) is still failing to respect human rights enforcement. This is evident from the recent promotion of several officers who are still involved in cases of human rights abuses.

Rachland Nashidik, Executive Director of Imparsial, expressed this opinion at a press conference in Jakarta on Friday.

Theresia Sufa, Bogor – Three teachers for an entire elementary school could be considered a lot in Bogor, because many schools in the regency only have one teacher for over 200 students, said head of the administrative unit at the education agency, Bambang SP.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Watch out all you lovebirds out there – there is now a chance that lip-locking in public could send you to jail for 10 years and cost you as much as Rp 300 million (US$32,800) in fines.

Public kissing and cohabitation may become crimes in Indonesia in future as the world's largest Muslim nation seeks to overhaul its Dutch-inherited criminal laws, an official said.

The drafting of a new criminal code has finally been completed after 25 years and parliament will soon debate it, justice ministry official Abdul Gani Abdullah told AFP Saturday.