Banda Aceh – A joint team of policemen and military personnel found eight human skeletons – some dressed in military uniforms – during search operations in Aceh Besar, North and West Ac

Jakarta – After more than two years of waiting as a result of unclear stories, Diah Sujirah, the wife of a young poet and member of the People's Democratic Party (PRD), have finally rep

Jakarta – Three generals, allegedly involved in quashing a 1984 riot in Jakarta when scores of Muslim militants died, have been identified by the National Commission on Human Rights (Ko

Karen Polglaze, Jakarta – A team to be set up to pursue the investigation of massive human rights violations in East Timor last year has already drawn criticism over its composition and

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Many cite law enforcement as the key to structuring a better way of life in Indonesia.

Vaudine England – President Abdurrahman Wahid's latest salvo in his battle to keep rebellious Aceh as part of Indonesia is a pledge to investigate the alleged beating of 20 villagers la

Jakarta – The government has scrapped the controversial retroactive clause from the human rights bill and proposed that past human rights violations be tried in an ad hoc tribunal.

James Balowski – Indonesia has moved toward a more pluralistic democracy but human rights abuses remained rife in 1999, according to a US State Department report released on February 25

Jakarta – Despite claims by Indonesia's President that the situation in Aceh province is improving, the Red Cross said yesterday that the violence was as bad as ever, with torture and m

Jakarta – A group of human rights lawyers on Monday protested as unecessary and flawed a draft bill being prepared by the government to pave the way for the creation of a human rights c

Jakarta – The main challenge facing the Indonesian government is the reform of the legal system, a senior minister said Thursday.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia's armed forces are allegedly targeting human rights activists in the violence-hit province of Aceh as President Abdurrahman Wahid asks for Malaysia'

Jakarta – Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights on Tuesday set up a team to probe the 1984 shooting in Jakarta's northern port area that left scores dead.

Banda Aceh – Six more bodies have been found at separate locations in the troubled Indonesian province of Aceh, as a handgrenade exploded in the office of the North Aceh district chief,

Jakarta – Indonesia signed the protocol of the United Nations Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (UN-CEDAW) on Monday.

The last year of the twentieth century was a transition for both East Timor and Indonesia.

Washington – Indonesia has moved toward a more pluralistic democracy but human rights abuses remain rife, according to a US State Department human rights report released Friday.

Section 1: Respect for the Integrity of the Person

Mark Riley, New York – The United Nations Security Council has shelved plans for a UN human rights tribunal in East Timor, ignoring the recommendations of its own inquiry into the mayhe

Agence France Presse, Canberra – United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Australian Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday that the Indonesian judicial process should be give

Banda Aceh – Horror and tension again reigned here over the weekend when three suspected rebels were killed in a gunfight with police in North Aceh, while in Central Aceh the stench of

Bandung – The newly created Office of the State Minister of Human Rights Affairs has received some 3,000 reports of missing persons, most of them alleged abductions in Aceh, East Timor

Jakarta – UN Secretary General Kofi Annan wound up a protest-peppered, two-day visit to Indonesia Wednesday urging the government not to use force against separatist rebels and warning

Dili – The East Timor Human Rights Commission (ETHRC) was established on October 1 to conduct investigations and monitoring of human rights violations in East Timor, educate the East Ti

Jakarta – The planned trial of 20 men, 18 of them military personnel, accused of shooting down 56 Acehnese in cold blood last July has been postponed because a key witness has gone miss

Jakarta – An outspoken human rights group said Tuesday that it feared a key suspect in a case of mass murder in West Aceh may have been kidnapped to prevent an upcoming trial of the cas

[The following is a translation by the British based human rights organisation, Tapol, of the concluding paragraphs of Chapter IV of the Executive Summary entitled "Conclusions and R

On January 31, the investigation by the Indonesian National Commission for Human Rights into atrocities and human rights abuses in East Timor will release its report.

Mark Riley, New York – The head of the United Nations' human rights probe into East Timor has called for a South African-style truth and reconciliation commission to investigate claims

Scott Burchill – The Indonesian Government doesn't have an impressive record of investigating its own crimes in East Timor.

Jakarta – An Indonesian MP who had campaigned for the prosecution of military officers guilty of rights abuses in troubled Aceh province has been found dead, the official Antara news ag

Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has implicated former Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen.

Sydney – Indonesia should be left by the international community to pursue allegations of human rights abuses against its military in East Timor, Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander

Indonesia lurched further toward democracy during the year, but serious regional conflicts, a weak legal system, and delicate civil-military relations posed ongoing obstacles to the pro

[The following is the full text a secret report for the Indonesian Government which makes it clear that the TNI directed the militia violence against East Timor's independence vote and

United Nations – UN investigators have recommended that the United Nations establish an international human rights tribunal to prosecute those responsible for atrocities in East Timor,

Vaudine England, Jakarta – A leading activist says the plethora of human rights inquiries under way across Indonesia constitute a form of "human rights tourism" and they can still fall

The findings of both UN and Indonesian human rights investigations into the atrocities in East Timor are soon to be made public. Marian Wilkinson reports on the evidence so far.

Karen Polglaze, Jakarta – New Indonesian laws could prevent the trial of military officers accused of orchestrating violence in East Timor that left hundreds dead and whole towns razed,

Marian Wilkinson and Peter Cole-Adams – Australia would consider a request to hand over classified intelligence material to the Indonesian human rights inquiry investigating war crimes

Jonathan Thatcher, Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid on Wednesday backed his controversial former top general Wiranto, but said he would have to step down if found guilty

Jakarta – Indonesia on Monday urged the United Nations to give Jakarta the chance to complete its own inquiry into atrocities in East Timor before stepping up international action.

Banda Aceh – Representatives of 15 international non- government organizations concluded their two-day meeting here on Sunday putting more pressure on the Indonesian government to soon

Jakarta – In the wake of mounting criticism for its alleged indifference, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas Ham) set up on Friday a commission to investigate atrocities in

Jakarta – The government decision to start a fresh investigation into alleged widespread sexual abuse during the May 1998 riot received mixed reactions from female activists concerning

[Source: Sydney Morning Herald - January 2, 2000]

Table of contents

Introduction

Jonathan Manthorpe – The evidence is building that Indonesia 's new, reformist president, Abdurrahman Wahid, is prepared to shield the country's repressive military from its past misdee

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – An independent Indonesian commission, which has made surprising headway investigating human rights abuses committed during East Timor's post-ballot violence,

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The man who was a role model to Indonesia's new generation of human rights lawyers is now defending the country's top generals, adding to growing controversy