Prima Gumilang, Jakarta – As many as 44 members of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) and several other organisations were arrested on Wednesday April 4 and are now being detained at the Jayapura municipal police headquarters (Mapolres).

Ternate – The Sula Islands regency government in North Maluku has banned the leftist Student Struggle Centre for National Liberation (Pembebasan) from conducting organisational activities in any form whatsoever within the legal jurisdiction of Sula regency.

Political observer Faisal Basri has criticised the use of state foreign debt which according to the government narrative is being used to spur infrastructure development.

Yet according to the data he has gathered, most of the government’s foreign debt is being spent on the civil service.

Dinda Purnamasari – On April 2, the website muslimbersatu.info published an article titled Polling Google: 86% don’t agree with Jokowi for 2nd term.

Marlinda Oktavia Erwanti, Jakarta – Indo Barometer Executive Director M Qodari says that Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) chairperson Prabowo Subianto is pursuing the same electoral strategy as Donald Trump used in the US presidential election.

Lalu Rahadian – Only days are left before simultaneous regional elections begin. The candidates taking part in the competition are using a variety of means to attract public attention in the hope of being chosen at the ballot box.

Dwi Andayani, Jakarta – The Indonesian Workers Trade Union Confederation (KSPI) will announce its choice for presidential candidate (capres) on May Day. A number of names such as President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) chairperson Prabowo Subianto are still being considered.

Tsarina Maharani, Jakarta – The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) has ordered the withdrawal of several brands of canned mackerel because they contain tapeworms.

Health Minister Nila F Moeloek however says that the tapeworms are not a big problem for the human body as long as they are cooked properly.

Tony Firman – Calls for West Papuan self-determination were prominent during a demonstration in front of the offices of PT Freeport Indonesia in the Kuningan area of South Jakarta on Thursday March 29.

Nur Hadi, Surabaya – Scores of police were deployed to secure a discussion and screening of the film The First Grader organised by the Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) in Surabaya.

Wahyu Amuk, Padang – If Indonesia does not properly address the era of globalisation and modernisation there will be negative impacts with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) lifestyles, drugs and free sex running rampant, which will destroy the nation’s younger generation.

Around 80 students from the Alliance of Student Executive Councils (ABEM) in the Central Java provincial capital of Semarang held an action at the Jl. Pemuda traffic circle on the afternoon of Thursday March 22.

Hundreds of students and local residents in Sukoharjo, Central Java, held a protest action in front of the Sukoharjo regional police headquarters (Mapolres) on Thursday March 22.

Bagus Prihantoro Nugroho, Jakarta – The author of the novel Ghost Fleet, Peter Warren Singer, has uploaded a photo of Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) chairperson Prabowo Subianto on his Twitter account.

The Timber and Forestry Trade Union (SPKahut) is demonstrating at the House of Representatives (DPR) demanding the payment of back wages and severance pay from a pulp and paper company owned by Prabowo Subianto.

Datuk Haris Maulana, Aceh – Since the armed conflict broke out up until a peace agreement was reached, to this day Aceh still does not have any cinemas. People from Tanah Rencong – as Aceh is known – who want to watch the latest films have to leave Aceh or wait until they are released on movie websites.

Jakarta (Antara) – A protest action against the execution of migrant worker Muhammad Zaini Misrin was held at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Jakarta on Tuesday March 20.

Saifuddin Hafid – The Student Struggle Centre for National Liberation (Pembebasan) held a protest action at the offices of PT. Huddleston on Jl. Jenderal Sudirman in South Jakarta on Monday March 19 calling for an end to the criminalisation of environmental activists.

Ihsan Dalimunthe & Dika Dania Kardi, Jakarta – The Indonesian Ulama Council’s (MUI) Religious Outreach Commission chairperson, Cholil Nafis, agrees with a plan to apply beheadings (hukum pancung, qisas) for murderers whihh is currently being considered by the Aceh Islamic Law Office.

Agus Setyadi, ace – The Aceh Islam Law Office (DSI) is debating the application of Qisas – retributive justice – for perpetrators of crimes such as murder in order to push down crime rates which have been rising of late.