Jakarta's declaration of the end of emergency rule for Acheh seems a cruel joke to most Achehnese here in Acheh.
Some weeks ago, the Indonesian government promised Achehnese that the TNI would cease offensive military operations. But since that promise they've only escalated their war.
The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) today said that the reported agreement between Australia and Timor-Leste on the division of resources in the Timor Sea "cheats" the new nation. It urged the two governments to transparently conduct negotiations based on fundamental international legal principles.
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Two former military operations chiefs in Aceh received strategic posts in the latest military reshuffle, which affected several other high-ranking officers overseeing security in other provinces.
Jakarta – The draft revision of the Criminal Code has sparked new concerns about gender questions, specifically with regard to female and morality issues, a scholar said.
Bob Burton, Canberra – After eighteen months of often tense discussions, officials from the governments of Australia and East Timor reached an agreement last week on the division of revenues from oil and gas deposits in the mineral-rich waters between the two countries.
Ambon, Jakarta – Seven people, including five police officers, died during a predawn attack by unidentified gunmen in troubled Maluku province on Monday.
Bandar Lampung – Hundreds of journalists and activists rallied here on Monday to protest the use of Criminal Code to imprison two local tabloid editors for defamation recently.
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – General Elections Commission (KPU) chief Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin was once again dealt a body blow on Monday that should make it harder for him to prove his innocence as another senior KPU official corroborated his role in alleged massive graft at the commission.
Shawn Donnan in Jakarta and Lachlan Colquhon in Sydney – East Timor's prime minister, Mari Alkatiri, warned on Tuesday that key details remained unresolved in the tiny nation's negotiations with neighbouring Australia over how to split billions in oil and gas revenues.
Jakarta – A splinter group of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) filed a police report against party leader Megawati Soekarnoputri on Monday for her dismissal of 12 PDI-P members opposed to her leadership.
Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Fewer labor strikes were recorded during the first quarter of this year, indicating that businesspeople and workers might be beginning to better understand their obligations under labor regulations, a report said.
Jakarta – The reduction of Aceh's status from a state of civil emergency to one of a civil authority must be seized as an opportunity to further increase the involvement of civil society.
Agus Supriyanto, Jakarta – Non-government organisations from the Aceh Working Group (AWG) have welcomed the reduction of the state of civil emergency in Aceh to one of a civil authority that will begin on May 18.
Suherdjoko and Nethy Dharma Somba, Semarang/Jayapura – Discontent with disciplinary actions taken against police officers involved in the violent handling of protesters in Papua, dozens of Papuan students demanded on Monday the dismissal of the provincial police chief.
HT Lee – The weekend media faithfully reported the foreign minister's announcement on Friday that last week's Timor Sea talks in Sydney with East Timor had finished successfully. But Alexander Downer's proclamation might be premature.
John Roberts – The Australian and East Timorese governments agreed on April 29 to a new arrangement on the division of royalties from oil and gas projects in the Timor Sea.
Tim Boreham and Karen Brown – East Timor will have to wait at least a decade to see any economic benefit from the Greater Sunrise gas field, with the $5 billion project slipping down the list of operator Woodside Petroleum's priorities.
Tiarma Siboro and Hera Diani, Jakarta – A group of human rights activists and victims have published a book aimed at remembering the victims and recalling the terror that stalked Jakarta during the 1998 May riots, one of the most traumatic of the long list of events that have colored Indonesia's history since independence.
Jakarta – What could be more ironic than being opposed by fellow women when one intends to defend women's rights in matrimony?
Normalcy is a luxury for most Acehnese. Their province has practically been in a perpetual state of war for as long as most people can remember. War after war has been waged and fought between the Indonesian Military and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), with the civilian population caught squarely in the middle.
Endy M. Bayuni, Jakarta – The ongoing corruption investigation into the General Election Commission (KPU) centers more on who among its members got how much money. Naturally, the focus is on the men and women on the commission because they were picked for their clean reputation and track records.
Merle Ricklefs – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has just announced a new Coordinating Team for Corruption Eradication consisting of 51 prosecutors, police and financial officers.
Indonesia's high court has upheld a 2 1/2 year prison sentence for accused terror chief Abu Bakar Bashir for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, a court official said.
Jakarta – While many Indonesian businessmen wanted for graft find refuge in Singapore, the city state is a place of grief for some Indonesian migrant workers, a study says.
Jakarta – Dubbed a country undergoing the transition to democracy, Indonesia still appears unable to make a clean break with the old perceptions that consider the ruler and symbols of the state sacrosanct.
Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Getting massive amounts of aid money into the right hands in tsunami-hit Aceh and keeping it out of the wrong pockets is one of the biggest challenges facing the rebuilding team.
'All the donor groups, whether bilateral, multilateral or private sector, want to feel safe about their money,' said reconstruction agency head Kuntoro Mangkusubroto.
Reuters in Meunasah Mesjid – Nestled between steep, forested hills and a white sandy beach, Meunasah Mesjid is one of Aceh's new bachelor villages after the December 26 tsunami, which killed a disproportionate number of women and children.
Jakarta – State Minister for State-Owned Enterprises Sugiharto said that Indonesian government has planned to increase its budget for Indonesian Military (TNI).
Doubts have been raised over whether Australia and East Timor have reached an agreement to carve up multi-billion dollar oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.
Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Thirty-four-year-old Maisarah Muharram M. Noer can still remember when she was brought to a psychiatrist several weeks after the tsunami, screaming her lungs out with an intravenous drip in her arm. "Everything was instantaneous. I thought I had gone insane," she told The Jakarta Post.
Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Critics questioned on Friday the government's failure to order the withdrawal of military troops from Aceh despite lifting the state of civil emergency, a decision they deemed a compromise.
Medan – Punishment in the form of public floggings (hukum cambuk) for Muslims who violate Islamic law in Aceh will soon be implemented.
Nethy Dharma Somba and Suherdjoko, Jayapura/Semarang – Under mounting public pressure, Papua provincial police replaced on Friday another senior policeman held responsible for the shoddy handling of a violent protest in Jayapura on Tuesday.
Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Padang – A coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGO) has supported the Mentawai regent's decision to revoke 17 licenses for the right to undertake and profit from logging in forests on the Mentawai islands, West Sumatra.
Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Noting a staggering Rp 8.82 trillion (US$929.32 million) missing from the 2003 state budget, the House of Representatives is likely to order the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) to carry out an investigative audit in hopes of clarifying the use of the funds.
Jayapura – A number of political parties in Papua have established a tariff for anyone wishing to nominate themselves as a regent, deputy-regent, mayor or deputy-mayor. The provision is an internal party matter so the amount of the tariff will vary, as there are no precise regulations on the illegal collection of money by political parties.
Seth Mydans – Withdrawing in humiliation in 1999 from the land they had occupied for 24 years, Indonesian soldiers scrawled angry graffiti that warned of poverty and hunger ahead. One of them: "A free East Timor will eat stones."
As they departed, they and the local militias they controlled did everything they could to make their words come true.
The Timor Sea Justice Campaign today accused the Australian Government of trying to force East Timor into another shabby deal that fell well short of East Timor's legal entitlements, amid reports that in principal agreement had been reached at this week's bilateral negotiations.
Bill Guerin, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is facing demands to step up security in Indonesia's eastern island chain, the Malukus, or the "Spice Islands" to romantics, amid concerns that a nationwide terror operation may be in place.
Environmental agencies say the government crackdown on illegal logging in Indonesia's Papua province has failed to catch those behind the lucrative trade.
In a press statement, the Environmental Investigation Agency and its local anti-logging partner, Telapak, say while the crackdown has cut shipments to China and arrested 173 suspects, none were influential figures.
Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – As the Jakarta administration completes construction of two new busway corridors this year, a non-governmental organization is warning about flaws that could undermine the operation of the corridors, including the failure to integrate the Senen railway station into the system.
Australia and East Timor completed the latest, and possibly last, round of talks between officials on the split of royalties from oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea.
Sebastien Blanc, Jakarta – The United Nations started distributing rice seeds and farm tools Friday in Indonesia's tsunami-hit Aceh province, hoping to restart agriculture amid the salty sludge that now covers 37,500 hectares.
Bill Tarrant, Lampuuk – Juwaria hammers away at cement rubble, extracting iron rods she will sell to buy food, oblivious that her tsunami-flattened village is benefiting from an aid windfall.
Jakarta – Confronting the fact that illiteracy in women is two times higher than that in men, the Office of the State Minister for Women's Empowerment, the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Home Affairs signed on Thursday a joint decree spelling out their commitment to halving the rate by 2009.
Kornelius Purba – My hands were clasped at waist level in a submissive, defensive posture, as one of Soeharto's most feared aides told me in a hotel in Cairo that Soeharto was very angry with me for misquoting the then-president in saying that he was ready to end his 32-year tenure. "It's not my fault Pak," I said desperately, trembling.
John McBeth, Jakarta – Indonesia's newly-fashioned strategic relationships with China and Australia stem from its political and economic weakness, says Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono.
Jakarta – Rigid labor contracts are needed to protect up to 3.7 million Indonesian domestic workers, including some two million employed overseas, who are locked up, or exposed, to forced labor, a seminar has concluded.
Carmel Budiardjo, London – Despite being chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights and affirming its commitment to human rights, including self-determination, at the recent Asian-African summit in Jakarta, the Indonesian government has once again demonstrated its instinctive mistrust of fundamental freedoms by its response to an international meeting on West Papua.
Neles Tebay, Rome – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to visit the United States, the European Union (EU), and Japan.