Indra Subagja, Jakarta – The University of Indonesia (UI) will not be giving permission for a concert event titled “Tribute to Munir” at its Depok campus in West Jakarta on February 20. Not surprisingly this has given rise to protests by the wife of the late Munir, Suciwati.

I respectfully bow my head
To all of you the victims
Because to you alone I shall bow my head
[But] to the oppressors
Never will I bow in submission
I shall always stand erect

Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – In order to discover the truth behind the murder of human rights activist Munir, the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has formed a public examination team.

Jakarta – The slow pace of development in Papua 12 years after the implementation of special autonomy has lead observers to believe that a reevaluation of the special autonomy law is needed. They believe that the stipulations enacted in the 2001 law have lost their spirit, namely bringing prosperity to the Papuan people.

Indra Subagja, Jakarta – The United Nations will continue to monitor the case involving the murder of human rights activist Munir. UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Margaret Sekaggya has also conveyed her feelings of concern about the acquittal of Munir murder defendant Muchdi Purwoprandjono.

Indra Subagja, Jakarta – The public prosecutor handing the case of murdered human rights activists Munir has submitted a judicial review to the Supreme Court via the South Jakarta District Court. The Solidarity Committee for Munir (Kasum) hopes that the Supreme Court will allow the hearings to be open to the public.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – “The courts are simply an extension of the perpetrators of human rights violations”. Thus spoke the late human rights activist Munir during a speech at a demonstration at the Supreme Court in 2004. Likewise is the human rights situation at the start of 2009, including the investigation into his murder.

Ari Saputra, Jakarta – Feeling boxed into a corner by many circles, former National Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy chief retired Major General Muchdi Purwopranjono ‘has poured out his heart out’ to the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM).

Jakarta – Although admitting that they may contains some truth, statements by a number of public officials on human rights violations during the National Human Rights and State Defense Seminar at the Department of Defence on Thursday December 18 are believed to be incomplete have the potential to mislead the public.

Jakarta – Some 2,000 public complaints lodged with the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) in 2008 have still not been settled. This year, the commission received around 7,000 complaints of rights violations. Around 75 percent were rights violations in the economic, social and cultural fields.

Yogyakarta – Hundreds of students and non-government organisation activists in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta took to the streets on December 10 to commemorate Human Rights Day.

Oppose the 2009 elections of the political elite – an election of the human rights violators, capitalists, corruptors and opportunist!

[The following is a statement from (the temporary) National Collective of National Student League For Democracy-The Politics of The Poor (Liga Mahasiswa Nasional untuk Demokrasi-Politik Rakyat Miskin, LMND-PRM), Indonesia, about the capitalist crisis now and the solutions being taken by our government, the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono-Jusuf Kalla re

Taufiqqurrahman, Jakarta – Demonstrations are again set to enliven Jakarta and the nearby satellite city of Tangerang today. Not being half-hearted, nine separate protest actions will open the first working day of the week with traffic congestion along roads being used by residents to travel to work being a real possibility.

Jakarta – Around 100 people held a protest action in front of the United States Embassy in Central Jakarta on November 15 demanding that a G20 ministerial level meeting in Washington be dissolved. The protesters, who came from the People’s Struggle Front (FPR), said that the meeting would not solve the problems facing ordinary people.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – The state, through President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), should issue an immediate apology and rehabilitate the names of the pro-democracy activists and the families of the victims of the forced abduction in 1997-1998. This is necessary in order to solve the impasse in the legal proceedings into the case.

E. Mei Amelia R, Jakarta – Five protest actins will be held today in various parts of Central and South Jakarta. Those passing through these areas should be on guard for traffic jams.

Kompas – The families of missing activists hope that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will not take conventional measures in completing the investigation of the forced disappearance of activists that occurred in 1997-98. Particularly given that 13 of those who disappeared have to this day still not returned.

Novia Chandra Dewi, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) believes that plan to summon former generals by the House of Representatives’ (DPR) Special Committing for Missing Persons is ridden with political motivations.

Jakarta – In the lead up to the 2009 general elections, the House of Representatives (DPR) Special Committee on the 1997/1998 Abduction of Activists has been revived again.