An open letter to Indonesian President Joko Widodo

Mr Joko Widodo
President of the Republic of Indonesia
Jl. Veteran No. 16
Jakarta Pusat Indonesia

Jayapura, Jubi – Youth, Student and Papuan People Movement (GempaR) urged the Indonesian Government to open the democratic space and immediately open the access for foreign journalists in Papua.

Bob Dietz – With more than 50 years of restricted media access, one of the least covered armed conflicts in the world is the long-simmering struggle between Indonesia's military and the secessionis

Fadli, Batam – The perception of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo as a media darling took a battering on Monday, as senior press figures slammed the President during the official commemoration of Nat

Fadli, Batam – Press Council chairman Bagir Manan warned that the Indonesian press was currently facing problems rooted in partisanship, media owners' involvement in politics and phony media.

Fadli, Batam – The Newspaper Publishers Union (SPS) has admitted that 20 percent of its 500 members, as well as a huge number of media companies not affiliated with the union, pay their journalists

Hans Nicholas Jong – Violence against journalists is on the rise thanks to the way the police handle journalists in the country, a year-end report from the Alliance of Independent Journ

Armandina Moniz, Dili (Notisias Online/Pacific Media Watch) – Timor-Leste's Court of Appeal has once again delivered a judgment declaring the controversial Media Act unconstitutional.

Rofiqi Hasan, Denpasar – The International Partnership Mission to Indonesia, an international and regional organization working in the freedom of expression, urged the government of Ind

Auckland (Pacific Media Watch) – The editor of the independent West Papua Media news service monitoring the two Indonesian-ruled provinces has called for more vigilance and better train

Andi Hajramurni and Ainur Rohmah, Makassar and Semarang – Journalists and other circles in Makassar, South Sulawesi, have condemned police brutality against students and journalists whe

Jakarta – The South Sulawesi Police will form a joint team to investigate the assault of several journalists who were allegedly beaten by police personnel during a raid at Makassar Stat

Paris (Reporters sans Frontieres/Pacific Media Watch) – French journalists Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat have returned to France after being detained for 11 weeks in the Indonesi

Amy McQuire – In spite of the outcome, free press advocates are warning the charges laid against a pair of French journalists could make it even harder to report from the province.

Reporters Without Borders welcomes the imminent release of Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat, two French journalists who have been held for the past 11 weeks in Indonesia's eastern p

Michael Bachelard, Jakarta – Two French journalists have been sentenced to two months and 15 days imprisonment in an Indonesian jail for reporting in the West Papua province while on a

Jayapura – Two French journalists were on Friday handed short jail terms for illegally reporting in Papua, sparking calls for the new Indonesian government to lift long-standing restric

Phelim Kine – Indonesia's media freedom sustained a worrying blow on Friday when a court in Jayapura, on the country's easternmost island of Papua, convicted French journalists Thomas D

Media Release on behalf of West Papua Action Auckland, EPMU Print and Media Council and the NZ Media Freedom Network.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Jayapura District Court resumed on Tuesday a trial of two French journalists, Thomas Charles Dandois and Marie Valentine Bourrat, hearing from three w

Efforts by Indonesia's new President to solve political, social and economic issues in Papua region may be restricted by a lack of support from national parliamentarians.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Jayapura District Court in Papua commenced a trial on Monday involving two French television journalists, Thomas Charles Dandois and Marie Valentine L

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – A Golkar Party legislator has criticized President Joko Widodo for saying "Merdeka," or "Freedom," during his inauguration speech, suggesting it was

Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – The fate of two French journalists detained for reporting on an outlawed independence movement in Papua without the correct visa will be decided this week.

Two French journalists who were detained by the Indonesian authorities on 6 August are to face trial on Monday (20 October) for "abusive use of entry visas".

Held since early August, Valentine Bourrat and Thomas Dandois are to go on trial next week

Paulina Quintao – Timor-Leste will create a new institution to regulate media.

Agus Sigit, Yogya – The Papua Student Alliance (AMP) held an action at the zero kilometre point in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta on the afternoon of Monday October 13.

Masrul Fajrin – The Papua Student Alliance (AMP) in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya held a protest action in front of the Surabaya Grahadi building (governor's office) dema

Hamish Fitzsimmons – Lateline has been told postgraduate students are providing information to Indonesian intelligence about Australian citizens and has obtained photos that are claimed

Michael Bachelard – The Abbott government has risked insulting Indonesia again by calling explicitly for more openness in its most sensitive province, West Papua.

Edo Rusyanto, Jakarta – The Blacksteel Group, a property developer, is developing three malls in Sorong regent, West Papua, at a total investment of Rp 600 billion ($50 million), the co

The Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club is calling on the incoming administration of Joko Widodo to immediately lift all restrictions on foreign journalists travelling to the Papua regi

Auckland (Pacific Media Watch/The Fiji Times) – The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU) has called on Prime Minister John Key to pressure Indonesian President Joko Widodo to rel

A Green Party MP has urged the returning government in New Zealand to make good on the recently passed parliament resolution to press for media freedom in West Papua.

Alison Bevege – A face frowned through the glass at a bright banner waving on a fishing rod below the consulate window.

Jakarta, Indonesia – Theo Hesegem was carrying a foreigner on his motorbike when a pair of police intelligence officers pulled up behind him and ordered him to stop.

Harry Pearl & Banjir Ambarita, Jakarta – An alliance of non-governmental organizations from Indonesia and abroad has addressed the UN Human Rights Council to demand the Indonesian g

Michael Bachelard, Jakarta – The families of two French journalists imprisoned indefinitely for reporting in West Papua without a visa have spoken out for the first time to beg the Indo

I.S., Dili – Ever since gaining independence in 2002, Timor-Leste has boasted one of Asia's freest presses.

Jayapura, Papua – The immigration office in Jayapura, Papua, is continuing to work on the legal process for two French journalists who have been detained for abusing their tourist visas

Jakarta – The Press Council urged the government to deport French journalists Thomas Charles Dandois and Louise Marie Valentine Burrot to their home country.

Amy McQuire – An alliance of South East Asian journalists have called on the Indonesian government to release two French journalists jailed in the province of Papua, claiming that their

Asian media organisations have urged the Indonesian government to immediately release two French journalists who have spent a month in jail in Papua.

Papua – Two French tourists detained at the Jayapura Immigration Office claim they were simply carrying out their journalistic duties while in Papua.

Sydney (International Federation of Journalists/Pacific Media Watch) – The Sydney-based Asia-Pacific office of the International Federation of Journalists has launched a global petition

Lasse Underbjerg – Media freedom campaigners, civil rights activists and journalists in Timor-Leste are gearing up for a renewed struggle to try to block a controversial law that has be

Paulina Quintao – The Timorese government, through the State Secretariat for Social Communication (SEKOMS) will establish a national news agency in 2015 to contribute to the nation's de

Ted McDonnell – Timor-Leste's controversial media law has been declared unconstitutional by the country's Court of Appeal.

Ashlee Betteridge – Timor-Leste tends to largely stay out of the international spotlight these days, much to the relief of those who have seen it in the headlines for the wrong reasons