The Australian Defence Force (ADF) chief says Australia's defence relationship with Indonesia is as good as it has ever been.
Relations between the two neighbours suffered a major setback when Australian troops were sent into East Timor in 1999. They were sent there to stem the violence after East Timor's vote for independence from Indonesia.
Australia's new Defence Force Chief has made it clear he wants Australia to have strong defence ties with Indonesia. It hasn't impressed human rights groups in Indonesia who say abuses by the military are continuing and Australia should be placing more conditions on cooperation between the defence forces of the two countries.
Jakarta – The House of Representatives has agreed to ratify the international covenant on civil and political rights with an adjustment that will ensure its enactment will not justify any separatist movements.
Tony Hotland and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Over Rp 38.8 billion (US$3.85 million) worth of profits from assets of the Indonesian Military (TNI), which were used by third parties, have not been accounted for, according to a Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) report on the central government.
Jakarta – A team set up by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to probe into the abductions of prodemocracy activists during the regime of former dictator Soeharto has come to conclusion that all the victims had died.
Jakarta – Thousands of people took to the streets to protest the government's plan to raise fuel prices on Oct. 1 to ease the state's burden of paying for a mushrooming fuel subsidy due to higher global oil prices.
For children of mixed marriages: Children automatically take the fathers' citizenship. However, based on the 1984 Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which has been ratified by Indonesia, the distinction between father and mother to determine children's citizenship should be eliminated.
Simon Pitchforth – Indonesian policemen, noble upholders of the law, with their voluminous peaked caps and their epaulets the size of telephone directories. Love them or loathe them, you are bound to run into the medium-length arm of Indonesian law enforcement sooner or later.
Tiarma Siboro and Hera Diani, Jakarta – The House of Representatives has set up a special commission to draft a revision of Law No. 62/1958 on citizenship, but few people expect a quick revision after some legislators warned of the negative implications of giving "privileges" to mixed marriage couples.
Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Legislators and activists lashed out at the Attorney General's Office (AGO) for not being serious in its efforts to recover over Rp 6.66 trillion (some US$660 million) in fines and restitution monies from those convicted of corruption.
Tony Hotland, Jakarta – A Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) report on the House of Representatives has revealed that legislators left hundreds of millions of rupiah worth of unpaid electric and telephone bills, and it has forced the House to use re-allocated budget money to pay them off.
Padang – An environmental group has issued a statement in protest over West Sumatra Governor Gamawan Fauzi's decision to issue a letter of recommendation to the central government to grant 49,440 hectares of forest concession to a plantation company.
ID Nugroho, Probolinggo – Seven former counselors at a drug and cancer rehabilitation center in Probolinggo were sentenced on Thursday to jail terms of between three and five years for the crime of insulting Islam, a clear sign that the East Java judiciary is clamping down on alternative Islamic thought despite the religious freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.
Canberra – A US defence commander said on Friday that Indonesia must show it had taken steps to reform its military for resumption of aid and arms sales, held back because of concerns of human rights abuse by troops.
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Actor Anjasmara and model Isabella were reported to the Jakarta Police on Thursday by an extreme right wing Islamic group for allegedly posing nude in a photograph displayed since Sept. 17 at the Bank Indonesia Museum in Central Jakarta.
Jakarta – Following the selling of the Kartika Eka Paksi foundation's 11-percent in PT Bank Artha Graha for not depositing the requested capital, the working group within Indonesian Military (TNI) headquarters (HQ) is still discussing the grouping of the corporation's legal base and military business capital.
The Supreme Audit Agency, for the fourth consecutive year, placed a disclaimer on the government's financial statement for the 2004 fiscal year, due mainly to inadequate internal controls, noncompliance with financial accounting rules and discrepancies in current accounts.
Shanty, Jakarta – On Thursday September 22, the Munir Solidarity Committee (Komite Solidaritas Untuk Munir, Kasum) went to the police headquarters' criminal investigation bureau to ask about developments in the investigation of the Munir murder case. Kasum took this step because they believe that the police investigation team has been totally inept in its investigation.
Veronika Kusuma Wijayanti, Jakarta – The ineptness of the investigation into the murder of human rights activist Munir is being questioned. The reason being that up until now police have yet to arrest the masterminded behind the murder and or to name any new suspects aside from Pollycapus Budihari Priyanto.
[The following is a compilation abridged translations on demonstrations between September 16-25 against the government's plan to increase fuel prices by as much as 60 per cent on October 1.]
Malang students oppose fuel price increases
Detik.com - September 16, 2005
Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Eleven months after taking over the presidency, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's pledges to curb corruption within government agencies, particularly the tax and customs services, have not being realized, according to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
Representatives of 48 human rights, faith-based, arms control and peace groups wrote members of the US Congress this week to urge continued restriction of military assistance to Indonesia.
Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has again put a disclaimer note on the government's financial report of the state budget, despite the implementation since last year of what was hailed as a "new and improved" state accounting system.
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Former Garuda Indonesia president director Indra Setiawan had given a special assignment to pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, who is charged with murdering noted human rights activist Munir last year, two executives of the company testified on Friday.
Bill Guerin, Jakarta – A senior judge in the world's most populous Islamic country, declaring that "killing is a big thing in the eyes of God, blood must be paid with blood", sentenced a Muslim militant to death by firing squad this month.
Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Hundreds of people in West Java vandalized on Monday night houses, mosques and cars belonging to members of the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI), a Muslim group whose teachings differ from the central tenets of Islam.
No casualties nor injuries were reported in the attack.
Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Driven by their frustration over the sluggish investigation into corruption cases, dozens of anticorruption activists took high-ranking prosecutors hostage in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara on Tuesday.
Sri Wahyuni, Yogyakarta – The much-vaunted reform movement has helped Indonesia build a democratic infrastructure but the country has yet to develop democratic practices, a noted political analyst says.
Miedy Pakasi, Manado – Newmont Mining Corp. and one of its top executives must stand trial on charges of dumping mercury and arsenic-laced pollutants into an Indonesian bay, a court said Tuesday, rejecting the gold mining giant's request to drop the case.
Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The fact that one in five Indonesians still lives on less than US$1 a day is made even gloomier by the fact that every person in the country – including those extremely poor and even newborn babies – already has nearly Rp 6 million (US$600) in debt to shoulder.
Luh Putu Trisna Wahyuni and Eva C. Komandjaja, Mataram/Jakarta – Police said on Monday they have questioned at least 11 people as witnesses in connection with a bloody clash a day earlier between police and farmers in Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.
Dean Yates, Jakarta – Joining a group of young Indonesian intellectuals who hold liberal Islamic views was once just a ticket to controversy. Now, it could be life-threatening.
Jakarta – Suspected bird flu patients can be forced into hospital under "extraordinary" measures welcomed by the World Health Organization to counter a widening outbreak of the virus in Indonesia, officials said.
Ruslan Sangadji, Poso – The peace was again shattered in the Central Sulawesi city of Poso on Saturday night when a homemade bomb exploded injuring four people.
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Anticipating protests about increased fuel prices in October, the Jakarta Police are tightening security around government buildings and public areas and are promising to get tough on people stockpiling fuel.
Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandar Lampung – Yuswandi, 40, a shrimp farm worker, seems bewildered. He and his colleagues have been traveling back and forth between South Lampung and Bandarlampung for the past week expressing their grievances to Lampung legislators. They have not worked for the past month because their employer has had to stop operations due to the shortage of diesel fuel.
Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Padang – Police have declared nine people suspects in Saturday's rioting that followed a protest over the inauguration of Pesisir Selatan Regent Nasrul Abit and his deputy Syafrizal. West Sumatra Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. M. Akmil said on Sunday that local police had questioned 20 people involved in the protest, including several high school students.
Jakarta – Dozens of people, including two policemen, were injured as farmers and police clashed on Sunday over a dispute in connection with land earmarked for the construction of an airport in Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).
Firebrand Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir and more than a dozen Bali bombers may get further automatic jail remissions within weeks despite pressure from Australia.
Also it emerged that Bashir was allowed out of prison for one day last week for hospital treatment for a bad back and might have to have further outside medical attention.
Kornelius Purba, New York – Less than two weeks before completing his first year in office, foreign businesspeople reminded President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono about the danger of the rising fuel subsidy and that time is running out for him to deliver the economic promises to those who voted him into office last year.
Jakarta – Pressure continued on Friday for the House of Representatives to open their meetings on the state budget to ensure transparency, in the wake of allegations of state funds being "traded" between legislators and local officials.
A recent study of 75 large export-oriented companies at four of Indonesia's largest seaports concluded that logistics services accounted for an average of 14 percent of total production costs.
Jakarta – The cafe looks no different from any other eatery, except that it serves as a meeting place for emerging artists and intellectuals.
Founder of Tempo magazine Goenawan Mohamad, writer Ayu Utami, poet Sitok Srengenge and progressive Muslim scholar Ulil Abshar Abdala are among some of those who patronize the place.
Bagus Kurniawan, Yogyakarta – Around 700 members of the Islamic mass organisation Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) in Yogyakarta, Central Java, held an action opposing the legalisation of abortion though amendments to Law Number 23/1992 on Healthcare.
This week's decision by Indonesia's Supreme Court not to reverse the acquittal of a police officer charged with gross human rights abuses in East Timor is the latest confirmation that impunity is still alive and well in Indonesia, says TAPOL the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign.
Activists and legislators questioned on Thursday the government's commitment to boosting transparency in the public sector after a minister rejected calls for the immediate deliberation of the bill on information.
Jakarta – If you can't beat them, join them. If you can't get rid of them, recruit them. That seems to be the motto of the city administration in dealing with thugs in the capital.
While the city police has tried to tame thugs by force – arresting and sending them to jail, the city administration prefers to recruit them as security guards.
Ati Nurbaiti, Jakarta – Millions of teenagers are sexually active in the country but official ignorance or a head-in-the-sand attitude is leading to a continuing neglect of their needs, an expert on public health says.
Jakarta – The government will give authority to existing interfaith forums to issue permits for the establishment of places of worship, a move that is expected to help end conflict in the setting up of houses of worship. The interfaith forum is an independent grouping of leaders from various faiths set up at a regional level with a mission to settle religion-related disputes.
Tony Hotland, Jakarta – More documents detailing the practice of selling disaster aid budgets have been discovered by the House of Representatives disciplinary body after it questioned more legislators on Wednesday.