Blontank Poer, Jakarta – Some people may have taken Shakespeare's "What's in a name?" to heart and decided they needed more weight to their names, yearning for the prestige of a royal title.
About 600 people, including prominent politicians, have reportedly submitted requests to be granted royal titles from the Hadiningrat Kraton of Surakarta in Central Java.
Mark Forbes, Canberra – Despite the Bali and Marriott Hotel bombings and rising anti-Western sentiment in the world's most populous Muslim nation, Indonesian leaders are still not prepared to tackle Islamic terrorism, according to Indonesia experts.
Robert Go, Jakarta – Several Jemaah Islamiah members detained by Indonesian police said an extremist splinter faction of the group is responsible for conducting terror attacks in the country.
Malaysian Nasir Abbas said yesterday during a broadcast by El Shinta radio station that JI has broken up into at least three distinct parts.
Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has set up a team to investigate a string of evictions in the city, which many claim have violated people's basic rights, a commission member said on Friday.
Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Akbar Tandjung blamed fellow lawmakers on Friday for the legislative body's failure to finish the deliberation of various bills on time.
Akbar said the lawmakers' full attendance was necessary to help speed up the deliberation of the bills.
Luh Putu, Trisna Wahyuni and Damar Harsanto – Mataram/Jakarta Three police officers have been detained in connection with the death of a student that led to a riot on Thursday in Sumbawa Besar regency, West Nusa Tenggara, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Friday.
Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – The General Elections Commission (KPU) has allocated more than 12 seats in provincial and regency/municipality legislative councils in 37 electoral districts, which is in breach of the law.
"The KPU has no choice but to violate the law," its deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said on Friday.
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Golkar Party would take advantage of widespread disappointment with the so-called reform parties to woo support from the public, particularly from first-time voters, to win the election next year, a survey shows.
Zakki Hakim and Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has found 58 cases of irregularities in six Jakarta agencies amounting to Rp 70.41 billion (approximately US$8.38 million) in the 2002 fiscal year and the first semester in 2003.
Jakarta – East Timor prosecutors have indicted 18 people for crimes against humanity, including two Indonesian military officers, in connection with violence surrounding its 1999 vote for independence.
The tiny country's serious crimes unit said on Friday the 18 were indicted for crimes ranging from murder to torture and persecution.
Jakarta – Supporters and opponents of the creation of Central Irian Jaya province barbecued two pigs in a traditional ceremony on Thursday in the town of Timika, Papua province, to mark a peace agreement among them.
Marian Wilkinson, Washington – Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri has called on the West to re-examine its strategy in the war on terrorism in a tough address to the United Nations that sets her at odds with both Washington and Canberra.
Malang – During its presence in Indonesia, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) formed a "mafia" intent on choking and ruining the nation economcially, a cabinet member said.
Max Lane, Jakarta – There was little doubt about what feelings dwell in the heart of Negro Alpius Kogoyo, head of the Lani tribe of Mimika and commander of the Peoples Opposed to the Division of Papua.
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, New York – President Megawati Soekarnoputri says foreigners have been helping rebels in troubled provinces Papua and Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam to fight for independence from Jakarta.
Nick Ferrett – It may be that Australia fails in its bid to obtain chairmanship of the United Nations Human Rights Committee. That would make Greg Barns happy, apparently. It would also make the serial and serious abusers of human rights among the members of the committee happy.
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto claimed on Friday that government troops deployed in war-ravaged Aceh had significantly sapped the strength of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the four-month-old operation.
Ainur R. Sophiaan and ID Nugroho, Surabaya – Hundreds of students and religious activists staged separate rallies in the nation's second largest city of Surabaya as well as in Yogyakarta on Friday to protest the United States' stance regarding Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Bambang Nurbianto and Zakki Hakim, Jakarta – Most of the evicted people who had been living on disputed land at Kampung Baru, Cengkareng Timur, in West Jakarta, insisted that they would stay on the land and demand compensation for the destruction of their homes.
Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Experts and human rights activists have expressed doubts over the effectiveness of the planned Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR) to resolve past human rights abuses, saying it would merely expose some facts but would not result in true justice.
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government has played down the Human Rights Watch's accusation of gross human rights abuses in the ongoing military operation in Aceh, saying that such an accusation is groundless.
Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – A team from the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said here on Friday it had verified reports of human rights abuses by police during protests in Bulukumba regency, South Sulawesi, last July in which two people died.
Jakarta – Indonesian police are hunting down a group of suspected terrorists who are prepared at "any time" to use car bombs and suicide attacks, the police chief warned yesterday.
Sutarto urged politicians on Friday not to invite the military back into politics and suggested that the institution stay neutral in the 2004 general elections.
Robert Go, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri's complaint this week that the job of running Indonesia gives her headaches has made political rivals, as well as a member of her own party, suggest a cure: That she resign.
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The martial law administration in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam will immediately court-martial 12 soldiers on charges of torturing dozens of villagers in a move that seems calculated to show the international community the military's strong commitment to protecting Acehnese people's human rights.
Jakarta – The national intelligence agency admitted on Thursday that it had supplied information and other important data for the police in the recent arrest of 15 Muslim terror suspects who have allegedly been linked to a spate of recent terrorist attacks.
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – National Intelligence Agency (BIN) director A.M. Hendropriyono demanded on Thursday that the deliberation of the much-criticized bill on state intelligence be speeded up, saying the country urgently needed it to be passed into law so as to prevent terrorism.
A'an Suryana, Jakarta – Anyone planning or persuading other people to commit acts of terrorism will in future be classified as a terrorist and thus could be arrested, a government official said on Thursday.
Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The 15 people arrested in the past month for allegedly plotting fresh terror attacks in Indonesia attended meetings led by the supposed heir of Abu Bakar Bashir.
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Despite considerable public opposition, the House of Representatives began on Thursday to review the controversial bill on water resources but early indications appear as if there is little commitment to make significant changes into the bill.
Jakarta – Dozens of evicted local people who had been living on disputed land at Kampung Baru, Cengkareng Timur in West Jakarta, filed a complaint on Thursday with the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) following their violent eviction on Wednesday.
A'an Suryana, Jakarta – Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said on Thursday the change in the visa policy was prompted by the gross misuse of the visitor's stay permit that undermined the country's territorial integrity.
Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – Muslim extremists have been convicted of the bombings that left 202 dead in Bali last October and which devastated Indonesia's tourism industry. Now, they're making another assault that's legal but potentially more damaging.
Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – First it was militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. Now, the head of the country's largest Islamic organisation is saying it too: There is no such thing as the Jemaah Islamiah.
Jakarta – A labor observer warned the government of an emerging crisis from after some sort of tacit permission was granted to three unauthorized private companies to run an insurance scheme for workers employed overseas.
So far, the three companies have collected Rp 3.4 billion (US$400,000) from at least 21,000 workers who paid Rp 160,000 each in premiums.
Scott B MacDonald – In early August, the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta was bombed. The bomber was an Islamic radical who drove a van into the front of the hotel, killing 12 people and wounding more than a hundred others. Most of those killed or injured were Indonesian.
The division between Islamic and secular laws will be put to the test in the Indonesian province of Aceh, as the treason trial of five pro-separatist negotiators continues next week. The lawyer representing the men says his clients will claim that, as Acehnese nationalists, they only recognise provincial Islamic laws, and not those of the Indonesian state.
Jakarta – The United Nations must pressure Indonesia into allowing relief aid into its war-torn province of Aceh in order to prevent a full-blown humanitarian crisis from developing in the region of 4.2 million people, Human Rights Watch warned.
Jakarta – Indonesia's military claimed partial success on Friday in a four-month campaign to crush rebels in Aceh province but said it needed more time to end the insurgency.
["The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua, 1962-1969: The anatomy of betrayal" by John Saltford. Review by Julian Evans.]
Heru Margianto, Jakarta – A number of political and economic figures launched a new political organisation at the Hotel Aryaduta, Jakarta, on Thursday September 18. The new organisation which is named the Preparation Committee for Movement Indonesia (Komite Persiapan Pergerakan Indonesia, KPPI) is headed by economist Faisal Basri.
Jill Jolliffe, Dili – East Timor's chief prosecutor, Longuinhos Monteiro, has warned that the country could face internal problems if it drops cases against Indonesian human rights violators to further relations with Jakarta.
Paulo Gorjao – East Timor is seen at the United Nations headquarters as one of its state-building success stories in the past few years. Even though the UN had no prior experience in state-building, it administered and exercised all legislative and executive authority in the territory until its independence from Indonesia.
Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – The ongoing military operation in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) appears to now be directly involving the participation of civilians, with around 1,000 villagers from Leupung district in Aceh Besar regency being drafted in to join troops in hunting down Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels hiding in the nearby forest.
East Timor's Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri is today travelling to China, an old ally from his years in exile. The Prime Minister's critics say he's too close to the Chinese and too wary of foreign investment from Western sources. They're part of the growing list of criticisms levelled at the man who took over Timor's top job in 2001.
Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – State Minister for State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi erupted in anger on Tuesday during a hearing with House of Representatives legislators, blaming them as the main culprits behind the government's failure to meet the privatization target and schedule.
Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesia yesterday amended a money-laundering law to curb illegal flow of funds and get the country off an international blacklist.
The much-awaited amendment to the 2002 Law on Money Laundering includes the tightening of procedures on financial transfers to comply with international standards.
Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – A number of organizations criticized on Tuesday the General Elections Commission (KPU) for its failure to consult the public in many of its roles.