Interview by Greg Sheridan – The Indonesian political system does not reflect the wishes of the people and this has led to much of the recent violence in the country, according to Marzuki Darusman, vice-chairman of the Indonesian Commission on Human Rights.

[The following is a translation of a statement sent to Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) by the underground Peoples Democratic Party (PRD)]

Jakarta – The Indonesian airforce is considering fighter planes from France, Sweden and Russia as possible alternatives for the US F-16 fighting Falcons that Jakarta has refused to buy, a report said Friday.

Surabaya – Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) activists Coen Husein Pontoh and Mohammad Soleh, suffered injuries as a result of torture after the riot by inmates at the Medaeng prison, Didoarjo, Surabaya, on June 11. The reason was that they were accused of being be brains and the leaders of the riot.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – One of Indonesia's most influential economists has criticised the slowdown in deregulation and warned the Soeharto Government that it must address "collusion" in business to boost the competitiveness of Indonesia's exports.

On June 16, 1997, the Indonesian Government will introduce the Manpower Bill to parliament and force its passage into law, thereby consolidating its repression of the labour movement.

Richard Lloyd Parry – Weeks after it announced a new "ethical dimension" to foreign policy, and Robin Cook the Foreign Secretary promised to "put human rights at the heart of foreign policy", the Government has invited three senior officers of the notorious Indonesian Armed Forces (Abri) to a sales exhibition of British arms equipment.

Jakarta – An Indonesian journalist has died in hospital, two days after being admitted following a severe beating which left him in a coma.

Mohammad Sayuti, 43, worked for the Pos Makasar newspaper based in Ujungpandang, the capital of southern Sulawesi.

He was found unconscious and bleeding from the mouth on Monday in Palopo, the daily's editor, Harun Rasyid, said.

Ed Aspinall – General elections during the 30 years of President Suharto's New Order government were never times to make important decisions about the nation's future. After all, Golkar victories are never in doubt.

The Indonesian government has cancelled a controversial plan to hold a seminar to reassess the role of founding president, Sukarno, in a failed coup in 1965.

The Youth and Sports Minister, Haryono Isman, said that after hearing the views of various leaders it was proposed to President Suharto that there was no need to hold the seminar.

Indonesia has formally annouced the results of last month's general election, with the ruling Golkar party winning 325 seats in the 500-member parliament.

The National Election Institute says the Muslim-based United Development Party or P-P-P, won 89 seats, while the Christian-Nationalist Indonesian Democratic Party or P-D-I, won eleven.

Keith Loveard, Jakarta – Indonesia's ruling group, Golkar, has always been in a no-lose situation. Under the country's electoral system, only three political parties are allowed to contest parliamentary polls, and all candidates must be vetted by the authorities. Golkar is the oldest and best-organized, and the one with most government support.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – Opposition leader Megawati Soekarnoputri marks the first anniversary of her ouster by a government-backed faction today, cheered by reports that she has been nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

An official of the opposition Indonesia Democracy Party or P-D-I has accused the government of tampering with election results.

In a press statement, an M-P of the P-D-I, Sukowaluyo Mintoraharjo, says the people at the National Election Institute who have tampered with the votes have committed a political crime.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Religious Affairs Minister Tarmizi Taher faced further criticism yesterday for having said it was halal (permissible under Islamic law) to take the lives of rioters.

Message to the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan

Your Excellence,

Jakarta – Indonesia's President Suharto has ordered officials to negotiate the purchase of Russian fighter jets and other military hardware, a minister said here Friday.

Jakarta – Indonesia said on Friday it was considering buying air defence systems and fighter planes from Russia.

Jakarta – Fifteen Indonesian youths burned an American flag in front of the US Embassy today and demanded that Americans be expelled from the Muslim country.

Margot Cohen, Jakarta – Forget Batman, Spiderman, and even Rambo. Indonesia's new celluloid superhero bears the name Fatahillah, and he's bringing a Muslim Holy War to Theaters Near You – thanks to the enthusiastic backing of the Indonesian government, bent on reviving the nation's moribund movie industry.

A new trend of "South-South colonialism" has emerged, where Southern companies are making heavy investments in the forestry sector of more backward Thirld World countries. In Denis Gray's article, "How Asia's logging companies are stripping the world's forests" (Sydney Morning Herald, August 31, 1996), several examples of this new trend was mentioned.

John McBeth, Jakarta – There are two things President Suharto detests more than anything: critics questioning his administration's legitimacy and outsiders interfering in Indonesia's internal affairs. The Australians had a taste of Suharto's ire in the mid-1980s. The Dutch discovered it five years ago. Now the United States is getting the message too.

Greg Earl, Jakarta – The World Bank has warned that Indonesia is failing to make use of a period of high foreign investment and economic growth to resolve economic challenges that threaten its long-term performance.

Louise Williams, Bali – A retired Indonesian naval officer stunned a diplomatic and business audience today by announcing that the geopolitical balance of power in the region meant Indonesia did not need Australia.

The Indonesian government says it's planning to try to place tight controls on what enters the country on the Internet.

Launching a new Internet service in Jakarta, the Minister for Telecommunications, Joop Ave, said it was a basic human right to have access to information.

A World Bank report says Indonesia does not need nuclear power. The report says Indonesia has the capacity to greatly increase its electricity generation by conventional means.

It says that given the environmental risks, Indonesia should fully exploit this capacity rather than resort to nuclear power.

Indonesia's new Information Minister, General Hartono, says there will be no relaxation in a law which allows the government to ban newspapers and magazines.

Speaking after a meeting with President Suharto, the general said the law was needed in case there were publications which could NOT be tolerated.

[This information was passed along to Campaign for Labor Rights by the East Timor Action Network (ETAN), in North America, which received it from East Timor Independence, in New Zealand. This report also is based on information provided by Jeff Ballinger, of Press for Change, and Max Surjadinata, in New York.]

Background

Jay Solomon, Jakarta – American Embassy officials here have grown increasingly somber over the past month, listening to the war of words between Indonesia and the US But help is nowhere in sight.

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – Supporters of ousted opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri maintained pressure on the Government yesterday, demanding election results be cancelled and rival Indonesian Democracy Party (PDI) leader Suryadi be sacked.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas made it clear what he thought of objections in the US Congress over the sale of nine F-16 fighter planes to Indonesia when the issue came up early this year.

Jakarta – The head of the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) department of education and propaganda, I Gusti Agung Anom Astika, was sentenced to four years minus the time he had already spent in jail.

In common letters to Indonesia's National Human Rights Commission, KOMNAS HAM, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, and the German Minister of Foreign Affairs seven Indonesian and German organizations urged on the necessity to send another independent fact finding mission to the City of Banjarmasin, the capital of the Indonesian South Kalimant

Susan Sim, Jakarta – The pressure from the human rights lobby in developed countries is getting stronger and developing countries should band together to counter it, President Suharto said yesterday.

Jakarta – Officials say communists were to blame for recent riots in East Java, and troops have been ordered to shoot troublemakers on sight, the official Antara news agency said today.

The vulgar and blatant election fraud by the government, election administrators and the military to ensure a victory for the Golkar's sole majority is no longer being tolerated by the people.

An Indonesian court has jailed two activists from the banned People's Democratic Party or P-R-D after they were found guilty of subversion.

The two men who were convicted of undermining the state ideology, criticizing the armed forces and attempting to topple the government.

Police have arrested 15 people after weekend riots on the Indonesian island of Madura in which a Muslim crowd burned shops, a Protestant church and a Buddhist temple.

East Java police spokesman Colonel Sofwat Hadi says police are still investigating the cause of the disturbance.

At least one police officer was injured during the riot.

The Muslim-led United Development Party (PPP) has announced last Friday, June 12, that it would accept the results of last month's election. This means, that the PPP leadership has yielded to the authorities' pressure, and not to their own constituency, who had demanded that the party should reject the results of the election.

Jakarta – Hundreds of people rampaged through a conservative Muslim-dominated town on the East Javan island of Madura, torching shops and a cinema as well as a church and a Buddhist temple.

"I do not know the reason behind it, but hundreds of people disrupted a ceremony at the central square of Bangkalan on Saturday night," an official said.

Earlier this week, the Australian Democrats called on the Australian government to take a public stand against continuing human rights abuses in East Timor following the US Congressional Amendment on East Timor initiated by Senator Patrick Kennedy and resulting also in the cancellation with Indonesia of the IMET defense program.

David E.

Keith Loveard, Jakarta – The outcome of an Indonesian election is supposed to be predictable and, in that regard, the May 29 parliamentary polls did not disappoint. Golkar, the long-ruling party backed by President Suharto, the military and big business, always wins. Only the margin of its victory varies a bit.

Jakarta – A Pos Makasar journalist Mohamad Sayuti known as Sandrego, died as a result of a severe beating in the sub-offices of the regency of Palopo, South Sulawasi, on Thursday June 12. The incident occurred after the journalist was confirming information about deforestation in the region.

Jakarta – France will not set any political condition if Indonesia wishes to purchase its warplanes, the French Embassy's military attache, Col M Jean Roucher, said here Wednesday.

Roucher was commenting on the departure of an Indonesian group to attend an air show in Le Bourget, France.

Indonesian authorities are reported to have moved hundreds of inmates from a jail in East Java, to other prisons in the region after rioting prisoners set part of the jail on fire.

The Indonesian daily, Kompas, said inmates of the high-security Medaeng prison in Sidoarjo, south of Surabaya, rioted on Wednesday, setting fire to the prison's office and breaking down walls.

The Indonesian president creates a comfort zone with the appointment of a new army chief, writes The Nation's Abu Rahman from Jakarta.

Indonesian President Suharto finally replaced army chief Gen R Hartono, one of the most powerful figures in Indonesian politics, after months of rumours and speculation.

Andrew Macintyre – Uncertainty hangs over Indonesia's political future. After roughly two decades of relatively smooth sailing, there are now some doubts about the stability and direction of the national political leadership.

On June 12, the private television station SCTV reported that a riot had occurred at the Medaeng prison, Surabaya (East Java). Dita Indah Sari, chair of the Center for Labour Struggle which is affiliated with the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) was imprisoned there.

Margot Cohen, Malang – A s village secretary, he knew every trick in the book. Presiding over previous vote counts, he would puncture ballots with a swift flick of a thumbnail, and spoil others with a rusty nail lodged under the table. He cast his own vote as many as six times at different polling stations.