Jakarta – A coalition of non-government organisations (NGOs) have expressed their opposition to the appointment of Lieutenant General Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin as Deputy Minister of Defense saying that he was involved in many cases of gross human rights crimes when he was an active member of the Indonesian military (TNI).

Wisdom cannot be measured by how long one has lived...

Marcellus Hernowo – As well as celebrities and family members of core political party leaders, the provisional list of legislative candidates that will take part in the 2009 general elections also contains a number of 1998 student movement activists.

The battle drum of the Indonesian people’s resistance to the planned fuel price increases has been sounded – students, the urban poor, workers, farmers and women in every corner of the country are daily holding actions that are growing and uniting day by day.

Arfi Bambani Amri, Jakarta – The investigation into the assassination of human rights defender Munir has reached a dead end even though former Garuda Airlines pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto has been convicted for the murder.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – Disappointment. This was how human rights organisations greeted an extension to the mandate of the Truth and Friendship Commission (KKP) by the governments of Indonesia and East Timor. They also called for the KKP to be disbanded because they say its mandate is unclear.

Jakarta – A number of non-government organisations from the Aceh Working Group (AWG) are urging the Aceh Rehabilitation Agency (BRA) to give greater focus to its task and initial role as mandated in Section 3.2 of the Helsinki Memorandum of Understanding on the stages of the reintegration process.

Rilis, Jakarta – Twenty five activist organisations have issued a statement supporting peace negotiations between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). The statement which was contained in letter addressed to the president of the Republic of Indonesia and the GAM leadership in exile was dated June 24.

Jakarta – Human rights activists who’s names have been proposed by a number of non-government organisations (NGOs) to sit on the Commission of Truth and Reconciliation are concerned about the selection process at the People’s Representative Assembly (DPR).

Jakarta – Indonesian non-government human rights organizations have asked the government to cooperate with the United Nations’ Commission of Experts.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – The Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) is calling on the government to provide protection and legal certainty against threats which have been received by human rights defenders, and to punish the perpetrators.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – Following the death of renowned human rights activist Munir on September 7, non-government organisations have been urging the government to sign the United Nations 1998 Declaration on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.

Jakarta – A number of non-government organisations (NGOs) who are concerned with issues of human rights are supporting the Indonesian government’s nomination as the head of the United Nations Human Rights Commission on the condition that the government must first resolve cases of human rights violations which have occurred in the country.

Jakarta – The structure and makeup of the Indonesian United Cabinet of newly inaugurated President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will not effect any substantial changes because its members are lacking in professionalism, integrity and ability.

Hundreds of civilians have died, hundreds of thousands have been displaced, hundreds of school buildings have been burnt to the ground, journalist Ersa Siregar has been killed, the tabloid Beudoh was threaten and forced to cease publishing, scores of people have become hostages of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) or victims of arrests and a

Astrid Felicia Lim, Jakarta – Non-government organisation (NGO) activists from the Committee for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the Institute for Public Research and Advocacy (Elsam), the Indonesian Legal Aid Association (PBHI) and the Association of Families of Missing Persons (Ikatan Keluarga Orang Hilang, Ikohi) are again

Hestiana Dharmastuti, Jakarta – Around 2500 people from Aceh Papua Solidarity (Solidaritas Aceh Papua, SAP) will hold a demonstration rejecting the extension of the military emergency in Aceh.

The greatest obstacle to upholding the law in Indonesia is located in the capacity and resoluteness of law enforcement agencies in the enforcement of legislation, rather than the need to compliment or clarify existing legal instruments.

The resolution of the political conflict in Aceh and West Papua by military means, whether it be through a legally sanctioned military operation or illegally, has failed to comprehens