Indonesia's West Kalimantan province has lost an estimated 300,000 hectares to illegal logging over the past two years and will become a desert by 2040, reports said today.
Research recently compiled by the University of Tanjungpura, in West Kalimantan, shows that the province has lost 165,631 hectares of forest per year in 2000 and 2001, said The Jakarta Post.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Defying President Megawati's instructions, some 500 Papuans gathered outside the residence of former Papuan Presidium Council (PDP) chairman Theys Hiyo Eluay on Sunday to commemorate what they called the independence day of the country's easternmost province.
Jill Jolliffe, Dili – Thousands of people packed Dili Cathedral yesterday to hear Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo's reasons for quitting as head of the East Timorese church and leaving the territory.
The special service followed his unexpected announcement last week that Pope John Paul had accepted his resignation on grounds of physical and psychological ill health.
An explosion shook a government building in the main town of Indonesia's restive Poso district on Sulawesi island, but police say no one was hurt.
Local police say the blast, believed to have been caused by a home-made bomb, slightly damaged the office of a state social welfare group in Poso town.
They say the blast shattered several windows and part of the ceiling.
Robert Go, Jakarta – After the private bank that Ms Sri Astuti worked for folded in 1998, she sought a clerical job at other offices. When no suitable offer came after three months, the mother of two used most of her savings to open a warung, or foodstall, near her home.
Joco Boavida – The riot of 4 December 2002 took residents of Dili and news listeners and watchers worldwide by surprise for the extent of anger and violence that suddenly erupted and vanished in so short a time.
Indonesia's sham prosecutions, the need to strengthen the trial process in East Timor, and the imperative of UN
Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Pressure is mounting on the police to release 16 people arrested for protesting against the planned reopening of the PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL) pulp mill in Porsea, North Sumatra, as the Sweden-based NGO, Jij Vecht Tegen Onrecht, protested the arrests on Friday.
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Indonesia has expressed optimism over the possibility of the United States Congress allowing Indonesian Military (TNI) officers to rejoin the US International Military Education and Training (IMET) program.
Hamish McDonald – Reality seems to have dawned this week on Eurico Guterres, the long-haired young firebrand who led one of the most violent pro-Jakarta militia groups in the campaign to deter the people of East Timor from voting for independence just over three years ago.
Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Indonesia's Human Rights Court acquitted three army and police officers yesterday over charges of human rights crimes in East Timor – maintaining its unbroken record of refusing to convict senior security force personnel.
Jakarta – Thousands of poor people in Banggai and Banggai Islands in Central Sulawesi are reportedly facing famine, following the sharp decrease in theLuwuk logistics sub-depot's rice stocks, Antara reported.
Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The House of Representatives endorsed on Thursday a bill on political parties despite the protest of a number of legislators demanding the adoption of specific rulings to ensure gender equality in politics.
State agencies responsible for managing and protecting the environment have come out in favor of a proposal to establish an integrated agency to deal with environmental crimes, but the affected industries remain entrenched within complex business, government and criminal networks left over from the corrupt regime of former president Suharto.
Integrated agency
Jill Jolliffe, Dili – President Xanana Gusmao has attacked East Timor's politicians, condemning the inefficiency and corruption of the Fretilin-dominated government and demanding that the Internal Affairs Minister, Rogerio Lobato, be sacked.
Berlin – East Timor's foreign minister, Jose Ramos Horta, reacted angrily Friday to the latest round of acquittals by the Indonesian court trying human rights abuses committed in East Timor in 1999, describing one of them as "scandalous".
The international community is the only hope East Timorese have of winning retribution for the crimes committed by Indonesia during its 24 years of occupation. Until this happens, justice will remain a mirage for the tens of thousands of people who lost relatives and property.
Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesia's plans to beef up its intelligence network by reviving its regional intelligence posts throughout the country, has led to some questioning about whether the body was becoming too powerful.
Japanese technology company Sony Corporation will close its audio equipment manufacturing plant in Indonesia due to labour and tax problems.
Japan's industry and trade minister, Rini Suwandi, has been quoted as saying Sony had been facing labour problems since early this year.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The 10-year jail term given to notorious militia leader Eurico Guterres for instigating attacks on pro-independence leaders during East Timor's bloody referendum in August 1999 is the toughest sentence yet to be handed out by Jakarta's human rights courts.
Jakarta – The House of Representatives passed on Thursday a controversial broadcasting bill despite protests it will curtail press freedom.
"The bill was endorsed by all but one faction," legislator Slamet Effendy Yusuf told AFP, referring to the small Unity and Nationhood faction who wanted the passage to be delayed to allow a further review, he said.
[In Indonesia, one strand in the complex hunt for the Bali bombers has taken police to the troubled Maluku islands. Amrozi, one of the confessed conspirators in the Bali terrorist attacks, says he also helped to make bombs that were sent to the eastern island of Ambon in 2000.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Jakarta's East Timor trials were supposed to be the place where Indonesia would prove that its military had reformed and could no longer escape punishment for human rights abuses.
Kafil Yamin, Jakarta – It took Indonesia's House of Representatives more than two years of often-heated debate to pass a controversial broadcasting bill on Thursday, but critics here say the law is a return to the repressive measures of the Suharto regime.
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto welcomed on Wednesday the planned Tokyo meeting on Aceh, but warned that any foreign assistance for Aceh should have no conditions attached.
Nethy Dharma Somba and Fabiola Desy Undjaja, Jayapura/Jakarta – Police in Manokwari, Papua, arrested on Wednesday 13 people who raised the Morning Star flag to mark the fifth anniversary of Papuan independence.
Also on Wednesday, President Megawati Soekarnoputri issued a decree banning of all ceremonies celebrating Papuan independence.
The conviction yesterday of former East Timor militia leader Eurico Guterres for crimes against humanity and his sentence to ten years in prison has done nothing to dispel the widespread belief that Indonesia is not committed to providing meaningful justice for the victims of human rights atrocities in East Timor, says Tapol the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign.
[In East Timor a tribunal has passed judgement on one of the most notorious militia leaders involved in the violence in the fledgling country three years ago. Eurico Guterres got a ten year jail sentence for crimes against humanity but all along the process has been widely condemned as flawed.]
Transcript:
Bill Guerin – Indonesia's once-mighty footwear industry is in danger of collapse if urgent measures are not taken to enable it to reassert itself in a market long dominated by China. Buyers are increasingly moving to Vietnam as Indonesian shoemakers lose their competitive edge.
Jakarta – Due to personal commitments, a South Jakarta District Court judge postponed on Wednesday for the second time the hearing into a criminal case involving a student accused of insulting President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
Jill Jolliffe, Dili – In Dili, widespread shock and disbelief met Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo's announcement of his resignation.
Bishop Belo, a Nobel peace laureate, said he was resigning because of "physical and psychological exhaustion, requiring a long period of rest". The Pope had accepted his resignation, he said.
For the second time in their continuing nationwide hunt for the Bali bombers, the police uncovered a cache of arms and ammunition in a house rented by the allegedly principal planner of the bombing, Imam Samudra.
The arms, found at Sukohardjo in Central Java, included eight American-made M-16 magazines and Russian 4 AK-47 magazines.
Anthony L. Smith – Two Americans and one Indonesian were killed on August 31 at the hands of an unknown assailant near the Freeport mining operation in Timika, Papua.
[Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has returned to East Timor for the first time since the signing of the Timor Sea Treaty in May. The visit highlights the importance of the so-called Greater Sunrise Field, a sticking point between the two countries that was the subject of today's negotiations with the East Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkitiri.]
Jon Land – Pressure is mounting against the federal government's moves to deport 1600-1800 East Timorese asylum seekers, some of whom have been seeking refugee status for up to 10 years. At least 84 may be forced to leave by the end of December.
East Timor's Nobel peace prize-winning Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, a symbol of resistance during the years of Indonesian occupation, said he was resigning as bishop.
John Pilger – "What passing bells for these who die as cattle?", asked the great WWI poet Wilfred Owen. His famous line might have been written for those who perish in today's secret wars and terrorist outrages.
Debbie A. Lubis, Jakarta – Virtually unknown just a decade ago, drug use through injection is now a major source of HIV infection in Indonesia, which now affects 43,000 people, 9,000 of whom are women, the latest report on the AIDS epidemic revealed on Tuesday.
[For several decades there have been allegations that a referendum held by the United Nations on the handover of Papua from Dutch to Indonesian control in 1969 was not free and fair. The small group of Papuans who were allowed to vote on their country's future in that poll, have since claimed they were intimidated into voting in favour of an Indonesian takeover.
[East Timor's spiritual leader and joint nobel peace prize winner Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo has announced that he'll step down as the Bishop of Dili, due to ill health. The Vatican announced yesterday that the Pope had accepted Bishop Belo's resignation after 19 years in the job.]
Presenter/Interviewer: Peter Mares
Anthony L. Smith – Two Americans and one Indonesian were killed on August 31 at the hands of an unknown assailant near the Freeport mining operation in Timika, Papua.
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Some 23 countries are planning to hold a meeting in Tokyo on December 3 to discuss possible financial aid for rehabilitation and reconstruction in Aceh, but no representatives of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) have been invited to the talks.
Ruth Ratcliffe, Darwin – "I'm here because I don't like injustice, and I don't like being ashamed of my country", declared Jack, one of the 250 people who attended a public meeting in support of the East Timorese asylum seekers on November 17. The meeting was the biggest event ever organised by the Refugee Action Network.
A terminally-ill American nurse whose trial on immigration charges resumed here said she fears the process will drag on for weeks.
Joy Ernestine Sadler has been in custody for more than two months since she was arrested along with British academic Lesley McCulloch for visa violations and now fears she will not be home for Christmas.
Jakarta – The United Nations mission in East Timor said on Wednesday it had launched an investigation into the death of an East Timorese man hit by gunfire during a rally in front of a police station two days ago.
Banda Aceh – A lawyer of two foreign women on trial for visa violations in Indonesia's restive Aceh province said on Wednesday their clients have to face long trials and the prosecution was moving too slowly.
Debbie A. Lubis, Jakarta – Among the most vulnerable to acts of violence, women in Indonesia have nowhere to turn for protection because weak laws and a culture of impunity that often allows violations to go unpunished, activists said on Monday.
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri warned on Monday against excessive democracy, saying that it would endanger the ongoing reform movement in the country.
Jakarta – A labor activist vowed on Monday to continue the struggle for the rights of former Shangri-La hotel employees by regularly staging demonstrations at the hotel until the case was settled.
"We will not retreat back because we feel that we are not guilty," Odie Hudiyanto, secretary of the Independent Labor Union Federation (FSPM), told The Jakarta Post.
Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – The situation in the North Sumatra town of Porsea is still tense with hundreds of local people taking refuge following the week-long riot in which 17 locals, including two church ministers, were arrested.