The following is a statement by the Yogyakarta International Women’s Day (IWD) Committee on the University of North Sumatra’s (USU) censoring of the Suara USU (Voice of USU) student press.

Medan, Sumut News – Students from the group Student Solidarity Speaking Out (Somber) from the North Sumatra University (USU) held a protest action in front of the USU rectorate on Thursday March 28.

Medan – The North Sumatra Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) says it regrets a decision by the University of North Sumatra’s (USU) rector to revoke the Voice of USU’s (Suara USU) editorial board’s Student Press accreditation.

Surabaya – A grouping of civil society organisations calling themselves the “Surabaya Solidarity Society Against Remission for the Murderer of Journalist AA Gde Bagus Narendra Prabangsa” have sent a letter to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

Reza Gunadha – Many academics, intellectuals and Indonesian youth can speak fluently on the historical ideas of ancient Greece and modern Europe.

Muhammad Genantan Saputra – Indonesian military (TNI) chief General Gatot Nurmantyo has ordered all TNI members to watch the film Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI (Betrayal of the September 30 Movement/Indonesian Communist Party).

Selfy Momongan (Magang), Jakarta – The recent raids against Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) related paraphernalia and books have attracted the special attention of the National Library (Perpusnas) with acting Perpusnas head Dedi Junaedi supporting the censorship of books containing leftist ideas.

Parliza Hendrawan, Palembang – The bad old practices of the New Order dictatorship of former President Suharto are still being applied in some government agencies in Indonesia.

K, Muh.

The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) regrets and condemns recent incidents around the country in which film screenings of the film Senyap (The Look of Silence) have been closed down by certain mass organisations.

Wicak Hidayat, Jakarta – The Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), an organisation banned in Indonesia, has again resurfaced. This time on Facebook.

Ramadhian Fadillah, Jakarta – The Indonesian military (TNI) is cited as the party that murdered five Australian journalists in the film “Balibo”. The TNI however does not plan to make a rival film to straighten out what actually happened.

Irwan Nugroho, Jakarta – The Indonesian Film Society (MFI) believes that the banning of a film about the deaths of five Australian journalists in East Timor or the Balibo Five makes no sense, saying it was surprised over why the government is so afraid of the film being seen by the Indonesian public.

[The following petition was initiated by SEGERA, the Solidarity Movement with the People of Aceh and is being circulated among progressive and democratic organisations in Indonesia. This translation has been abridged and edited for readability. Copies of the original petition in Bahasa Indonesia are available on request.]