Indonesian troops have shot dead seven suspected separatist militants in Aceh province, the military said Monday.
Troops killed two men during clashes with guerrillas of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Bireuen and South Aceh districts on Sunday, said provincial military spokesman Asep Sapari.
Jakarta – Two human rights workers detained in Indonesia's Aceh province have reportedly been beaten up by security forces while in custody and may face further torture or ill treatment, Amnesty International said.
Slamet Susanto and Teuku Agam Muzakir, Yogyakarta/Lhokseumawe – Eighty-nine convicted Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members arrived in Yogyakarta on Sunday from their home province in the second such transfer to prisons on the country's main island of Java.
Matthew Moore, Jakarta – The most detailed count of wild orang-utans in the past decade has found 50,000-60,000 of the great apes left on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo – twice as many as thought.
Irvan NR, Palu – At least two persons were killed, eight suffered stab wounds and 39 homes werethat erupted in Banggai regency, Central Sulawesi, following the alleged theft of a chicken, police and witnesses said on Sunday.
Hundreds of local residents fled their homes to the nearby jungle and other places of safety following the disturbances on Saturday.
Yogyakarta – The government said it has no plan to raise a civil emergency status on Papua, despite constant security problems in the country's easternmost province.
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Saturday that any plan to declare civil emergency status for Papua needed to be considered thoroughly.
Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Hundreds of flood victims in Bahorok claimed on Saturday that the disbursement of aid from the government had been marked by irregularities.
Indra Hasyim, 41, one of the victims of the flash flood that swept through the area last year, said that the irregularities were first noticed in the list of people entitled to receive aid.
Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – All workers, whether in the formal or informal sectors, will receive a monthly pension upon retirement, according to the national social security system (NSSS) bill, provided that they have been participating in the national social security program for at least 15 years.
Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri has signed Law No. 2/2004 on the settlement of labor disputes, which replaces Law. No. 22/1957.
Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said the President signed the law on Thursday, but that it would only take effect in January 2005.
Rais Hidayat, Jakarta – The Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) is special because it is the only party representing the Protestant and Catholic minorities, which passed the selection by the General Election Commission (KPU).
Atambua – The people living in border areas shared by Indonesia's province of East Nusa Tenggara and East Timor did not care about the UN Peacekeeping Force (UNPKF)'s plan to withdraw its troops from East Timor in May.
Defying common sense, the South Jakarta District Court chose to denominate the damages in US currency rather than rupiah in its verdict on Tuesday.
Ruslan Sangadji, Palu – Sectarian fighting erupted in Donggala regency, Central Sulawesi, leaving one person dead, two others seriously injured and four houses burned.
Djoko Tjiptono, Jakarta – The 2004 general elections will not be able to provide a solution to the various problems which are being faced by the Indonesian people. This is because in terms of the political parties' programs, the majority are rotten.
Yogyakarta – Muslim scholar and presidential hopeful Nurcholish Madjid held a closed-door meeting with Sultan Hamengkubuwono X late on Tuesday night.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting that lasted for almost five hours until early Wednesday, Nurcholish, or Cak Nur, as he is popularly known, said that there were a lot of ideas discussed during the meeting.
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Indonesia Military (TNI) pledged on Thursday to maintain its neutrality in this year's elections in accordance with its professed intention to get out of politics for good.
Jakarta – The Jakarta Police began a two-day training program on Wednesday for 90,000 city-employed community unit guards on how to handle possible disturbances at polling booths leading up to the general elections.
Jill Jolliffe, Bobonaro – There is a palpable fear in the town of Bobonaro, which sits on the Timorese side of the border with Indonesia.
It is not apprehension at the possibility of invasion, but rather a brewing conflict between the Timorese authorities and a band of locals set on creating their own field of influence.
ID Nugroho and Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Tuesday's devastating fire at a petrochemical plant in Gresik, East Java, in which two people were killed and more than 50 others injured, also appears to have caused serious environmental damage to neighboring areas.
Rais Hidayat, Jakarta – If there is something new in Indonesia's current political outlook, it is the persistent growth in influence of a new party that has virtually no roots in the country's political history: The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
Frans H. Winarta, Jakarta – Indonesians, and especially those of Chinese descent, have just celebrated Chinese New Year. Chinese-Indonesians who, for over 30 years during the New Order regime, were forced to celebrate this event behind closed doors, are now free once again to celebrate it publicly.
Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) vowed on Friday to report to police any political parties displaying logos or election numbers during public gatherings, saying that any violation of the election campaign regulations should be dealt with firmly.
M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Everywhere they go, leaders of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) find themselves repeatedly having to convince people of their friendly ideals for the country.
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) says it has found preliminary evidence of human rights violations by former president Soeharto during his 32-years of iron-fisted leadership, but has yet to decide whether or not to recommend prosecution.
Banda Aceh – A German freelance journalist was arrested for illegally entering and reporting in war-torn Aceh province, a military spokesman said Saturday.
Cradow Cascha, 35 – who claimed he was working for the International Press Association – was detained late Friday while traveling on a public minivan in Central Aceh, said Lt. Col. Asep Sapari.
Brooklyn, New York – The US Congress on Thursday restored a ban on International Military Education and Training (IMET) for Indonesia, just months after President George W Bush cited a "changed attitude" among legislators that would permit further military cooperation.
Nani Farida and Suherdjoko, Banda Aceh/Semarang – Under a tight security escort 54 convicted Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members were transferred from Aceh on Thursday to prisons across Central Java to serve their sentences.
The group is the first batch of 143 prisoners who will do their jail time in exile across Java.
Yogyakarta – A senior minister said here on Saturday the General Elections Commission (KPU) had the authority to decide regarding indications of legislative candidates' involvement in the former Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).
Jayapura – The plan by the People's Consultative Assembly Commission I urging the government and related partners to conduct a military operation in Papua for the sake of safeguarding the general elections has been opposed by a number of parties.
Tom Benedetti – A storm is quietly but rapidly gaining force in an overlooked corner of the world. Papua (formerly West Papua or Irian Jaya) is being ravaged in an escalating program of repression by the Indonesian military.
Jayapura – The Papua Police are preparing two-third of its personnel to guard the upcoming elections, a senior officer at the police headquarters said on Wednesday.
Charles Foster – It was predictable and depressing. Every year on December 1, West Papuan tribesmen, wearing penis gourds and cowrie necklaces, try to raise the Morning Star flag that signifies their independence from Indonesia. And every year the Indonesian police and army, commanded by men who won their spurs in East Timor, beat them and shoot them.
Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta – A large percentage of firms in large cities across the country are denying women their legal rights in the workplace, a survey by the Women's Journal Foundation (YJP) has found.
ID Nugroho and Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Hundreds of workers are taking indefinite vacations after fire destroyed a petrochemical plant in Gresik, East Java, while police continued to probe the cause of the accident.
Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Thousands of fishermen from Tanjung Balai regency, North Sumatra, have gone on strike for five days in a protest against abductions by unidentified gunmen operating in waters off the eastern coast of Asahan.
They said on Friday that they would continue striking indefinitely until they felt it was safe to go fishing again.
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The United States had confidence this year's elections in Indonesia would run as safely, freely and fairly as the previous polls in 1999, Ambassador Ralph L. Boyce said this week.
Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri joked about her age as she celebrated her birthday on Friday with hundreds of workers at the Jababeka industrial zone in Bekasi, West Java, some 40 kilometers east of Jakarta, as well as local university students and residents. "I have yet to turn 57. I am only 27 plus," she quipped.
Leony Aurora, Jakarta – The country's commercial banks are expected to see slower growth in time deposits and savings this year due to continuing declines in interest rates and other factors, according to a senior official of the central bank.
Shawn Donnan, Jakarta – Indonesia is planning to hire 1 million new civil servants over the next three years despite concerns expressed by foreign investors, donors and institutions such as the World Bank that it already has a bloated government bureaucracy.
Alan Sipress, Jakarta – An Indonesian court has handed down a record libel judgment against one of the country's most prominent newspapers, ordering Koran Tempo on Tuesday to pay $1 million in damages to an Indonesian businessman for reporting last year that he had planned to open a casino despite laws banning gambling.The case is one of a series of libel suits by businessmen, polit
Banjarmasin – President Megawati Soekarnoputri has warned all the governors not to slash the fund allocated for the forest and land rehabilitation program (RHL) in an attempt to prevent dry and parched land in Indonesia from expanding.
Makassar – The South Sulawesi High Prosecutor's Office said on Tuesday it had completed the case files of two police officers charged with human rights abuses in Papua province a month ago.
Prosecutors could not present the dossiers to an ad hoc court in Makassar, South Sulawesi, because the National Police had yet to hand over the two suspects to them for trial.
Jakarta – A senior Indonesian army officer denied Wednesday that Jakarta had any "concrete plans" to station security forces on an islet disputed with East Timor, but reaffirmed Indonesia's claim to it.
Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta – Indonesian generals, on the defensive since the ouster of the dictatorship they supported for 32 years, are becoming kingmakers again as the campaign for presidential and parliamentary elections heats up.
Congress today restored a ban on International Military Education and Training (IMET) for Indonesia, just months after President Bush cited a "changed attitude" among legislators that would permit further military cooperation.
Jakarta – East Timor's top prosecutor says he will ask an appeals court for help in securing arrest warrants for Indonesian presidential candidate Wiranto and five other senior Indonesian army officers indicted for crimes against humanity.
Pip Hinman – On January 14, the Aceh high court upheld the verdict of a lower court which last year convicted five Free Aceh Movement (GAM) negotiators of treason and terrorism and sentenced them to long prison terms. The maximum penalty is death.
Jakarta – Indonesia's General Elections Commission (KPU) will open registration on Wednesday for international observers wishing to monitor the implementation of the general elections this year, the commission's deputy chief said.
Ramlan Surbakti said the KPU had already sent an invitation to all foreign embassies that wished to send observers.
Indonesian police say they have found almost 30 bombs plus guns and ammunition in a district where Muslims and Christians have battled in recent years.
The bombs and weapons were found on cocoa plantations in the Poso district of Central Sulawesi on Monday, said Police Sergeant Major Pangeran.
The East Timor Action Network (ETAN) today urged the United Nations and United States to strongly condemn Indonesia's use of military force in a territorial dispute with East Timor. ETAN called on Indonesia to negotiate claims through normal diplomatic channels according to international law. Indonesia recently bombed a small contested island to establish its claim.