East Timor's Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, has warned that the United Nations peacekeepers stationed in the new nation are not managing to control border raids into East Timor by pro-Indonesian militia, and that the Australian Government and the United Nations have been slow to take the threat seriously.
Transcript:
Pip Hinman – When Indonesian judge Asril Marwan on December 30 sentenced Joy-Lee Sadler to four months' jail and Lesley McCulloch to five months, he declared that McCulloch should have received a harsher sentence because her actions "could have threatened national security and the territorial integrity of the Republic of Indonesia".
In Indonesia's Papua Province, human rights groups have warned the presence of American investigators will do little to bring the perpetrators of last year's Freeport mine killings to justice. The US FBI has sent a high-level team to help determine who launched the attack at the mine last August, when two Americans and an Indonesian were killed.
Max Lane, Jakarta – On the evening of January 15, senior Indonesian cabinet ministers announced the postponement of a proposed 22% increase in telephone charges and the postponement and review of proposed increases to electricity and petrol prices.
Joanne Collins, Bali – Indonesia would not need to "beg" for money from the international community if it tackled the corruption costing the cash-strapped country some $28.4 billion a year, an outspoken minister said.
The former head of Indonesia's national human rights commission says the agency's independence is under threat because of recent legislative changes. Asmara Nababan was a founding member of the commission and served as its General Secretary from 1999 until last year.
Alan Sipress, Banda Aceh – On New Year's Eve, city streets once emptied by fear swelled with revelers, despite persistent drizzle.
Jill Jolliffe, Atsabe – The hamlet of Tiarlelo is only a few kilometres from Atsabe, itself 25 kilometres from the border with West Timor, but the rough jungle track that leads to it emphasises its isolation.
Joanne Collins, Bali – Indonesia's government said on Tuesday it wanted an end to IMF funding this year, seeking to break a financial lifeline in place since the Asian financial crisis savaged the country five years ago.
Bali – Indonesia's moves to reduce earlier announced rises in fuel prices were very understandable and would not compromise its goals of keeping its budget deficit under control, an IMF official said on Tuesday.
A World Bank official said separately he thought there was an understanding spirit among donors at the Consultative Group on Indonesia meeting here.
Matthew Moore – In a nation where conspiracy theories and rice are two of life's staples, Indonesians appear to be changing their habits. You can still get rice with your Kentucky Fried, but conspiracy theories are suddenly harder to find, at least as far as the Bali bombing is concerned.
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta Former Dili police chief Lt. Col. Hulman Gultom was sentenced to three years in prison on Monday by a human rights court for crimes against humanity in East Timor in 1999.
However, like previous convicts, he remained free pending an appeal with the High Court.
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta The top security minister warned on Monday that Indonesia could withdraw from the peace agreement with the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) if the international monitoring team failed to take "serious action" to stop violence in the restive province.
Students, workers and employers vowed on Monday to continue their street rallies to force the government to make radical changes to economic policies aimed at bailing the country out of its multidimensional crisis.
Mathew Moore, Jakarta – Despite certain criticism from its international financial backers, Indonesia's Government is set to abandon a series of fuel price rises introduced on January 1 as small but persistent protests around the country enter their third week.
Jakarta – Three male bodies have been unearthedfrom one grave in Aceh province despite the ceasefire in the separatist war, AFP reported.
The bodies were dug up Monday at a palm oil plantation at Kuta Makmur in North Aceh district, said a witness.
Sri Wahyuni, Yogyakarta – Police fired warning shots and beat hundreds of anti-CGI protesters with batons, while representatives of Indonesia's traditional foreign donor countries and institutions held a closed-door meeting with government officials here on Sunday.
Nana Rukmana and Kurniawan Hari, Cirebon/Jakarta – The move to clip House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung's wings has taken a new turn following a Jakarta High Court verdict against him with at least 75 legislators demanding his suspension.
Berni K. Moestafa, Jakarta – Corruption charges against politicians and state officials abound, but analysts say they probably have more to do with attacking political foes rather than with eradicating corruption.
Jakarta – Indonesian activists vowed yesterday to hold more protests against recent price rises despite government promises to delay some increases and review others.
The protests, which erupted this month and have sometimes been violent, may worry donors and investors and affect fund flows to the world's fourth most populous nation.
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang As the sun sets, some factory workers rush to their boarding houses to refresh themselves. They take off their uniforms and replace them with miniskirts. Heavy makeup is smeared on their faces.
Those young women are not going to a party. They work at nightspots in the Lippo Pinangsia office complex in Karawaci.
Joanne Collins, Jakarta – Happy with Indonesia's fight against terror and its efforts for peace in Aceh, international donors look set this week to pledge the $2.8 billion in aid that the country is seeking.
Leo Wahyudi S – Drug abuse is one of the serious problems facing the country, especially big cities like Jakarta. Under the antidrug laws which allow the death penalty for drug traffickers, 21 people have been sentenced to death. But none have been executed. The Jakarta Post talked to several people about the government's efforts to deal with drug problems.
M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Novi had to rush to her factory because she was afraid of being late for her night shift and it never occurred to her that something awful was going to happen at work.
The main border crossings between the Indonesian province of Papua and PNG have been shut down because of an Indonesian military operation against Papuan separatist rebels. Thousands of Indonesian troups have been moved into the border area to flush out the OPM, which is the Free West Papua guerilla army.
Matthew Moore, Jakarta – The Indonesian military has pledged full co-operation with a new FBI investigation into the fatal shootings of two American school teachers at the Freeport mine in Papua last year.
Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Widespread illegal logging costs US$609 million annually in environmental destruction throughout the country, an expert has said.
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Residents of Kelapa Gading district, North Jakarta, lost on Thursday their class-action suit against Governor Sutiyoso at the Jakarta State Administrative Court.
Bogor – Eight people, including a man in military uniform, ran amok at a cafe in the district of Kemang in Bogor early Thursday morning, damaging the establishment and injuring the cafe owner and his father, as well as two employees.
Jakarta – The National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) demanded on Thursday the Attorney General's Office charge former president Soeharto and his generals suspects with crimes against humanity committed in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta 19 years ago.
Jakarta – Speaker of the House of Representatives Akbar Tandjung insisted that he would retain his position despite the fact that he has been convicted twice by two different courts for graft.
Jakarta – Intelligence information has uncovered a plot to use the current protests against fuel and utility price hikes to overthrow the government, Indonesia's top security minister said yesterday.
Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Millions of Indonesians face poverty as investors continue to desert the country largely because of rampant corruption and collapsing infrastructure, a new report says.
La Remmy, Palu – Police here said on Thursday they had arrested at least 30 people suspected of involvement in an attack on the headquarters of President Megawati Soekarnoputri's party in Palu, Central Sulawesi.
Bill Guerin – The Indonesian government raised fuel prices, electricity rates, and telephone charges at the start of the year in an effort to slash expensive subsidies and help ailing state-owned utilities.
East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao said yesterday that it may be necessary to extend the mandate of the 5,000-soldier UN peacekeeping force in East Timor beyond June 2004, its scheduled end, in light of continued instability on the island.
Mark Dodd, Darwin – Southeast Asia's poorest country, East Timor, could get its first royalty payments from the oil- and gas-rich Timor Sea by 2004, money which experts say will mean the difference between aid dependency and economic self-sufficiency for the troubled half-island nation.
Dili – Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri is studying a possible restructuring of East Timor's government ministries to improve their functioning and the performance of ministers, official sources said Thursday.
Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Some of the 28,000 East Timorese who remain in West Timor after fleeing the carnage that followed East Timor's 1999 vote for independence will soon be leaving the island altogether.
An Indonesian soldier has been killed by rebels in the province of Aceh, putting a five-week old ceasefire to the test. The Indonesian government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement signed a cessation of hostilities agreement in Geneva on December 9. Twenty one people have been killed in Aceh since the deal was struck.
Jakarta – Nationwide protests against increases in utility prices entered their second week on Tuesday, turning more militant in some provinces as protesters blocked roads and occupied government offices.
The Human Rights Watch annual report has singled out the government of Indonesia for failing to address human rights abuses by the military. It says human rights workers have faced increased persecution especially when they sought to investigate abuses in regions like Aceh and Papua.
Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Indonesian managers, and professionals such as doctors and lawyers could find themselves competing with their foreign peers for jobs here in the near future if the government surrenders to pressure to open the country's labor market.
Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) has said that people would have difficulty in obtaining water if the government went ahead with its plan to privatize the natural resource.
It said water shortages might become a major disaster this year as droughts, floods, forest fires and landslides are expected to continue.
Kurniawan Hari and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) moved to save face in the price hike controversy on Tuesday, urging President Megawati Soekarnoputri to take into serious consideration the protests against the recent utility and fuel price increases.
Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputricanceled a trip to Central Sulawesi on Tuesday following the latest wave of protests around the country over higher fuel and utility prices, AP reported.
Tim Shorrock, Washington – The US Congress may vote as early as this week to restore a military training program for Indonesia despite uncertainties about the Indonesian military's human-rights record, according to House and Senate aides and observers of US-Indonesian relations.
Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – On New Year's Eve, I pulled into my local Pertamina station. While waiting for my tank to fill, I asked the attendant about gasoline prices for January; for the past year, the Indonesian government has adjusted the cost of fuel on a monthly basis and usually announces the new prices a few days in advance. "Belum tahu," he replied; he didn't know yet.
Bogor – Some 2,000 workers in Bogor regency, West Java, staged a protest on Tuesday demanding minimum wages the same as for workers in the nearby regions of Jakarta, Bekasi and Tangerang, at the regent's office.
Jakarta – The recent protest involving only about 3,000 workers in Jakarta, instead of the threatened 25,000 people, is further proof of how weak the labor movement in Indonesia is, and of its failure so far to harness its potentially powerful political leverage, say labor experts.