Jakarta – The United People’s Labour Movement (Gebrak) plans to hold a demonstration during the annual session of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) at the parliamentary complex in Jakarta on Friday August 16.

Jakarta – The creation of NKRI bersyariah – the Unitary Islamic State of the Republic of Indonesia – one of the recommendations of the 4th Ijtimak Ulama or assembly of Islamic clerics has attracted controversy and opposition.

From an oped piece titled Questions on the Electricity Problem

A massive power failure hit the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and surrounding cities on Sunday affecting millions of people.

Fakhrizal Fakhri, Jakarta – The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) opposes the Draft Presidential Regulation (Perpres) on the Indonesian Military’s (TNI) role in Overcoming Terrorism which will soon be signed by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

Jakarta – Raids on leftist books discussing communism and the banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) have started again.

Zunita Putri, Bogor – The Ijtimak Ulama IV or the 4th Assembly of Islamic Clerics has issued a number of recommendations on the current situation in Indonesia. The assembly has also invited the Islamic community to create a Unitary Islamic State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI Bersyariah) based on Pancasila.

Haris Prabowo – A book raid by a group of people calling themselves the Indonesian Muslim Brigade (BMI) in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar has caused an uproar on social media. The group confiscated books which they claim contain “communist and leftist ideas”.

Jakarta – Nduga Regent Yairus Gwijangge has asked for help from House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Bambang Soesatyo to covey to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo that he wants the immediate withdrawal of all TNI (Indonesian military) and Polri (Indonesian police) personnel that have been conducting military operations in Papua since ea

Muhammad Taufiqqurahman, Makassar – A group calling itself the Indonesian Muslim Brigade (BMI) has seized books they say smack of communism from a Gramedia bookstore in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar, including books by Franz Magnis-Suseno.

M Rosseno Aji, Jakarta – The Jakarta Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) says that there has been 26 cases of alleged violence against journalists reported to police in 2019 but not one has been investigated as a crime let alone taken to trial.

Deti Mega Purnamasari, Jakarta – Democracy in Indonesia has declined for the first time since the beginning of the reformasi era – the political reform process that began in 1998. The cause of the decline in democracy is of high levels of discrimination against minorities.

Felix Nathaniel – Social media has been abuzz after the TNI’s (Indonesian military) official Twitter account carried a cartoon about Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) practices. The following day, the police (Polri) also spoke out on the issue saying that LGBT is a disease that requires early prevention.

Ade Tri – The presidential and legislative elections are over and the noise of the strident sound of the “festival of democracy” is no longer to be heard.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) says that the deployment of the TNI (Indonesian military) and Polri (Indonesian police) personnel to help extinguish forest and land fires (Karhutla) fails to address the root cause of the problem.

Jakarta – The TNI’s (Indonesian military) information centre has verified that @Puspen_TNI uploaded a comic strip on its Twitter account explaining the risks of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) practices.

From an oped piece titled Risks of a Fat Coalition

Concern has been expressed in both the Indonesian and foreign mainstream media that President Joko Widodo’s ruling coalition – which now holds around 60 percent of the seats in parliament – has become too “fat”.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) says that eighty percent of the land destroyed by forest fires in Indonesia this year will be converted into plantations, pointing the blame for the fires at unsustainable practices in the country’s agriculture industry.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) says that 2,087 out of 4,258 hotspots recroded between January and July were located on concession land. Concession land is land for which the government has given land use rights or permits to companies or other agencies.

Danu Damarjati, Jakarta – TNI (Indonesian military) commander Air Martial Hadi Tjahjanto conveyed his hope for closer military ties with Australia at the annual 2019 Australia-Indonesia High Level Committee (Ausindo HLC) forum in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta.

Writing on T-shirts reads: “Save Nduga”, “I Love NKRI”.

According to the aid group Humanity Volunteer Team of Nduga – which has been helping communities displaced by armed conflict in Papua’s Nduga regency with food, health and education needs in Wamena – 182 civilians have died fleeing violence in the highlands.