A court in East Java Tuesday handed down six and four year jail sentences for two pro-democracy activists accused of subversion, their lawyer said.
The court handed the sentences to Dita Indah Sari and Coen Pontoh for the PRD for inciting labour riots (sic) in the province.
Jenny Grant, Jakarta – Two of the nation's largest Christian organisations have made statements backing the right of their congregations to vote freely in the May 29 general elections.
As members of the PRD, we have decided no longer to attend the court sessions that will decide our fate.
Seth Mydans, Jakarta – Parliamentary elections will not be held in Indonesia until the end of May, but the governing party has already announced its winning total: 70.02 percent of the vote.
Speaking to a thousand Golkar activists in Padang, West Sumatra, the party chairman, Harmoko (who is also Information Minister) said that anyone who calls on members of the public to boycott the elections is acting unconstitutionally. He called on GOLKAR members to report people making such calls to the security authorities so that measures can be taken against them.
S N Vasuki – Indonesian opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri yesterday issued a manifesto, ahead of next month's parliamentary elections, warning that a "restoration of democracy" was the only solution to the country's economic and political problems.
Jakarta – Hit by poor sales, Indonesia's national distributor has offered to sell "Timor" cars to government officials in various provinces, it was reported yesterday.
Between 10000 and 15000 PDI supporters massed on the streets of Jakarta on April 15 demanding that the elected leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), Megawati Sukarnoputri, be allowed to participate in the May 29 general elections.
The East Timor Human Rights Centre still holds grave fears for the safety of Ildefonso de Deus dos Santos (also known as "Maudino"), a 17 year old student who disappeared on 14 July in Gleno in the Ermera district of East Timor. Maudino disappeared during house to house raids conducted by Indonesian soldiers following a fire at the Gleno market.
For the second day running, 350 workers of PT Farmindo, a wood processing company, stopped work. The company is situated in Tangerang, part of the industrial belt of Jakarta. On the second day the workers showed their anger and started to attack some of the factory buildings.
Louise Williams, Jakarta – Tens of thousands of Muslim migrant workers will be repatriated from West Kalimantan following months of ethnic clashes, in a blow to Indonesia's ambitious program of moving millions of people away from the overpopulated centre and onto its remote outlying islands.
Susan Sim, Jakarta – Supporters of ousted opposition leader Megawati Soekarnoputri yesterday broke down the gates leading to Parliament House as they faced police in a five-hour stand-off.
Some five thousand pro-Megawati members of the PDI filled the street in front of the DPR/MPR building on Tuesday, 15 April, causing extensive traffic jams.
The prosecutors in the nine cases against PRD activists in two district courts in Jakarta presented their summing up to the court on Monday 14 April.
Bandung – Thousands of workers have gone on strike in the industrial belts of Purwakarta and Tangerang, demanding that their employers immediately start paying them the new minimum wage of Rp 172,500 (about =A350) a month.
Tangerang – Around 4,000 workers from four factories in Tangerang yesterday held a strike demanding they be given the new minimum regional wage (UMR) and well as increases in other conditions.
Jakarta – Although the People's Democratic Party (PRD) activists refused to appear in court, the public prosecutor announced the sentence it has requested for punishment of those involved in the subversion case. The event took place on Monday (14/4) at the National Court in Central Jakarta and South Jakarta.
Jakarta – Sixty people have been interrogated by police inconnection with the destruction of a building housing the office ofthe South Jakarta sub-chapter of the Indonesian Democracy Party (PDI) here Sunday, police said.
London – The London newspaper, Sunday Business, yesterday (April 13th) broached the heretical possibility that US mining giant Freeport McMoran may be deliberately under-estimating the grade of the Busang gold deposit in Indonesian Kalimantan.
Geneva – The European Union (EU) resolution proposal introduced to the 53 annual meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission being held in Geneva has expressed "profound concern" over the continued human rights violations in East Timor.
These are busy days for Indonesia's courts. The youthful leaders of a leftist – and therefore illegal – group are on trial for subversion. Soon, sacked parliamentarian Sri Bintang Pamungkas, a self-proclaimed presidential nominee, will face a judge.
Comrades in struggle!!, in the framework of giving support to the struggle of Mega, let's go to the parliament in Senayan [South-Central Jakarta] on Tuesday, April 15, to join in carrying out a demonstration, strongly protesting the Final PDI Nomination Lists, and prepared to face and resist all obstacles carried out by any party.
Jakarta – Indonesian President Suharto yesterday warned the country to guard against rumours which could spark unrest following a wave of mass violence ahead of general election here.
His warning came after reports that more than a dozen pro-Golkar Muslim preachers were in hiding after riots in Central Java.
The Australian Greens party is calling on people to join an organisation which is offering to hide asylum seekers from East Timor if the Federal Government tries to deport them.
The Greens say the Government will send thousands of asylum seekers back if it wins a case currently before the Federal Court.
Susan Berfield and Keith Loveard, Jakarta – Siti Hardyanti Rukmana is a woman of considerable means. She is Indonesia's foremost businesswoman – her diversified conglomerate PT Citra Lamtoro Gung Persada is worth an estimated $1 billion. She is a top official in the ruling party Golkar and, of course, the eldest of President Suharto's six children.
Gianyar – Scores of pro-Megawati PDI supporters in Gianyar besieged the pro-Soerjadi Secretariat during a protest on Friday (11/4). Wearing religious attire they drove around the offices on motorbikes and protested, refusing to accept the existence of [Soerjadi's] version of the congress.
Jenny Grant, Jakarta – Students at one of the most prestigious state-run universities are expected to join the swelling ranks of protest voters at the May 29 election, according to a recent poll.
Palembang – The 24 anniversary held on the grounds of the headquarters of the South Sumatra PDI offices on Wednesday (9/4), became a physical confrontation between pro-Megawati and pro-Soerjadi cadre.
Agencies in Dili – Independence leader Jose Ramos Horta said he had evidence troops killed four students who clashed with police in the East Timor capital of Dili last month as they tried to get a petition to a UN special envoy.
Jakarta – When thousands of people gathered in Dili on Christmas eve last year to welcome home East Timor Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo from Oslo, where he had been awarded the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, posters of Xanana Gusmao fluttered from all sections of the crowd.
Geneva – 378 people were reported missed from November 1995 to the same month last year in East Timor, according to a report by the United Nations (UN) chief, Kofi Annan.
Jakarta – Three of the accused in Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) subversion case, Budiman Sudjatmiko, Garda Sembiring and Ignatius Pranowo, who are being tried separately, carried out a walk out, before being question by the Central Jakarta State Court on Thursday (10/4).
[As reported in an earlier posting, the students were calling for a boycott of the elections. This is not mentioned in the Republika report. TAPOL]
According to reports today from AFP (in Jakarta) and Reuter (in Dili), the resistance has killed six and wounded five others in two ambushes in East Timor. The exiled CNRM confirmed the attacks and said the death toll was probably higher, but sources in the Indonesian-occupied territory doubted whether the resistance was involved.
On April 7 members of the Struggle Alliance for Democracy and Human Rights (APDHAM) entered the courtroom where Dita Sari and Coen Pontoh were being tried. It was the day on which they would read out their defence speeches. At 10.00am Dita and Coen arrived at the court where Dita handed out flowers to the judge, prosecutor and those in the gallery.
Parts of Central Java appear to be turning into a battleground between GOLKAR and the PPP. These clashes, now being fought out in several towns in the north of the province which are all regarded as PPP strongholds, are a portent of something far more damaging than the 'war of colours' that erupted between PPP supporters and local officials/GOLKAR in Solo and spread elsewhere.]
Jakarta – President Soeharto's health has been an issue in the foreign media all week. It was reported that Suharto (77) suffered a mild stroke on April 1. This report was denied by Foreign Minister Ali Alatas as nonsense.
Susan Sim, Semarang – Troops were called out to guard a housing estate in the coastal city of Pekalongan yesterday following fresh clashes between supporters of rival political parties.
An ethnic Chinese man has been jailed for 3.5 years for triggering a race riot in West Java. Tjio Kim Tjang, 55, was convicted of spreading hatred against a certain group in Rengasdengklok by submitting them to humiliating acts.
Jenny Grant and Agencies in Jakarta – Troops were called out in the town of Pekalongan yesterday as political violence flared again.
"Armed soldiers are stationed in the town. Many shops are closed today because the owners are afraid of fresh violence," said one resident.
Dili – Secessionist rebels ambushed a vehicle in East Timor, killing four members of a village defense force and two others in the deadliest rebel attack in more than a year, the military said Wednesday.
Keith Loveard – When armed men robbed a bank in the northern town of Lhokseumawe earlier this year, Indonesia's top brass noticed. Not because the men escaped with $172,000. Nor because they killed two people and wounded three military police. Rather, the generals suspected this was no ordinary heist but the work of Acehnese separatists.
Surabaya – A sticker calling for the failure of the 1997 general election has been distributed in Surabaya. Measuring 10x20 centimeters it was distributed in schools and stuck the walls of houses and offices.
Surabaya – The Jatim Indonesian Legal and Justice Defence Team (TPHKI) handling the defence of the subversion case against two Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) members Dita Indah Sari and Coen Husein Pontoh have asked that the judge free the two accused.
Surabaya – A strike by around 2,000 workers from PT Ria Star Indonesia (RSI) Surabaya [East Java] followed a confrontation with security forces. As a result, 11 people suffered serious wounds to the head, stomach and chest, legs and arms because they were beaten by security personnel.
According to reports in Monday's Republika and Media Indonesia, there were more disturbances in the northern Central Java city of Pekalangan. Around midnight Sunday, 6 April thousands of people ran riot on the streets, destroying motorbikes and vehicles. A tomato puree warehouse was destroyed as well as a batik dyes shop.
Andi Syahpputra, 31 years old, has been sentenced by a Jakarta court to thirty months in prison for printing the journal, Suara Independen, publication of the independent journalists' organisation, AJI.
Louise Williams, Jakarta – The central Javanese town of Pekalongan was under military control yesterday after further political riots over the weekend which left at least five people injured and more than 60 shops and homes damaged or destroyed.
34 people accused of being involved in the demonstration in Dili during the visit last month of Jamsheed Marker, the UN special envoy, are to go on trial very soon, according to a report in today's Kompas 7/IV., quoting Dili police chief, Lr ColBeno Kalipong. They will be charged with physical assault against members of the security forces.
Jakarta – Indonesia said on Monday that Nobel Peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta's claim that he had fresh evidence of widespread torture in East Timor was "a lot of nonsense."