Man: Are you evacuating too Mr?

Legislator: A comparative study!

Iwan, Jakarta – The evil conspiracy to increase the basic electricity rate (TDL) will impact on the price of basic commodities, particularly food, further burdening the lives of the poor.

Jakarta – The Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) along with several legal institutions have submitted a request for a judicial review with the Constitutional Court against Law Number 4/PNPS/1963 dated April 23, 1963, on the securing of printed materials whose contents could disturb public order.

The North Sumatra Pro-Democracy Movement says that the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and Vice President Boediono, as well as the rotten political elite, have failed to implement the mandate to end the Indonesian people’s suffering.

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).

Jakarta – Like previous years, 2008 was marked by a variety of actions by students who took to the streets opposing government policies that they believe harm the people.

Only, in concert the approach of the 2009 legislative and presidential elections, so too has the tendency for these student actions to end in clashes and violence.

Wisnu Aji Dewabrata, Palembang – A International Labour Day demonstration in Palembang, South Sumatra on Friday May 1 took place without the presence of workers.

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.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – There are steps being taken by the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) that are damaging the interests of the state and even benefiting the interests of other parties.

Jakarta – The murder of human rights activists Munir will be one of the cases taken up in the annual report on human rights in Indonesia, which will be presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva in April. This is being done as a means to accelerate a resolution of the case.

Jakarta – Non-government organisations are pessimistic and concerned about the prospects for upholding human rights and solving past human rights violation. They say they hold little hope that there will be any improvements or progress in 2008.

Nusa Dua, Bali – Activists from the Civil Society Forum or CSF are calling for a fairer world in order to overcome the impact of climate change. Without resolving global injustices first, climate change will only increase the burden on billions of poor around the world.

Jakarta – Although efforts to develop the Indonesian military or TNI and civil supremacy are continuing, the process of reform is seen as being too slow. The obstacle being encountered is that civil institutions such as the Department of Defense and the political parties are not yet prepared to implement reform within the TNI.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – Jreng... jreng.... Dung... dung... dung... Buskers and street children strumming guitars and pounding drums. The buskers in front of the office of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) were not there to protest the commission, but to call for the bylaw on public order to be revoked.

Iqbal Fadil, Jakarta – The construction of the Muria nuclear power plant (PLTN) in Central Java continues to attract criticism from various circles who say the construction as bring a new catastrophe to the Indonesian ecology and a disaster to the environmental sustainability.

Iqbal Fadil, Jakarta – The raid on Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso’s room at the Shangri-La Hotel in Sydney, Australia, is related to his past when as a officer of the Indonesian military (TNI) he served in East Timor. The Commander in Chief of the TNI even sees the incident as an effort to slander the TNI.

Anwar Khumaini, Jakarta – Non-government organisations from Indonesia’s NGO Coalition for International Human Rights Advocacy (Koalisi LSM) say that Jakarta governor Sutiyoso should have been arrested because he refused a court order.

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.

Jakarta – A number of Islamic social organisations from the Islamic Community Forum (FUI) have visited the offices of the Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs to ask that the government be on guard against foreign intervention that could divide the nation.

Chazizah Gusnita, Jakarta – At lease six non-government organisations (NGOs) have declared their full support for 259 PT Securicor Indonesia employees who’s future’s are now uncertain. This support is necessary because the employees are confronting a large foreign owned company.