Danang Sangga Buwana, Jakarta – The deputy chairperson of the leadership board of the National Awakening Party (PKB), Mahfud M.D., has sought to clarify a statement by Gus Dur [PKB chairperson and former President Abdurrahman Wahid] stressing that Gus Dur is not anti-military.

Jakarta – Senjata Kartini (Sekar), a women’s non-government organisation, is opposed to presidential candidates from military circles.

Alisa P, Bireun – An Aceh Ulama (Islamic religious leader), Teuku Haji Aldelani, the son-in-law of the most outspoken Ulama in Aceh, T.H. Abu Tuming, has been arrested by the emergency military command (PDMD) for leading a delegation of Aceh Ulamas to meet with the coordinating minister of politics and security in Jakarta a short time ago.

Miswar, Banda Aceh – The tabloid Beudoh, which was closed by the Aceh emergency military command (PDMD) because it ran an lead article titled “Acehnese People Don’t Need Elections Under Martial Law”, the result of which being that Beudoh’s editor was ordered to report to the PDMD [

Jakarta, Kompas – The Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) is of the view that law enforcement in Aceh since a state of martial law was declared is not working.

Jakarta, Kompas – General elections in Aceh will be held under a state of marshal law and hundreds of foreign observers will monitor the elections in Aceh.

Jakarta – There is concern that the general elections in Aceh will not be democratic if the province is still under a state of marshal law.

[The following is a translation of a press release by the Lingke Association of University and High-School Students (Mahasiswa dan Pelajar Lingke, IMPEL) which was issued on February 26 in response to the arrest of a number of IMPEL humanitarian workers in Aceh on February 23.]

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

Jayapura – The plan by the People’s Consultative Assembly Commission I urging the government and related partners to conduct a military operation in Papua for the sake of safeguarding the general elections has been opposed by a number of parties.

Jakarta – Human rights violations perpetrated in 2003 cannot be separated from military control, particularly the army. The government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri has not worked as hard as its predecessors, like [former presidents] B.J. Habibie and Abdurrahman Wahid to control the TNI [Indonesian armed forces].

Banda Aceh – The involvement of civil society in efforts to fight the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) are becoming increasingly enthusiastic in a number of regencies in Aceh.

Fedhly Averouss Bey, Jakarta – The Centre for Electoral Reform (Cetro) and Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) have stated that they reject holding the 2004 general elections in Aceh while it is under the status of a military emergency.

Jakarta – TNI (armed forces) chief General Endriartono Sutarto has asserted that the TNI are not soldiers for hire. Therefore if there are companies which need security services, the companies concerned do not have a contract with the TNI, but with the government.

Compared to three months ago, the public’s assessment of the performance of President Megawati Sukarnoputri’s government in the ninth quarter of the government’s term is showing signs of a decline.

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

Jakarta – In a press statement issued by the Indonesian Human Rights Monitor (Imparsial), which was presented by Imparsial program director Rachland Nashidik on Friday September 13, [the organisation warned that] legalising the permanent role and powers of the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) in Law Number 15/2003 on the Elimination of Criminal Act

Jakarta – The Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has explained that the government would not be reducing TNI [Indonesian military] and national police levels in Aceh.

[The following statement was issued by the National Executive of the National Student League for Democracy (Liga Mahasiswa Nasional untuk Demokrasi, LMND) and the Central Leadership Committee of Student Solidarity for the People (Solidaritas Mahasiswa Untuk Rakyat, SMUR) on August 23. Translated by James Balowski.]