Tsarina Maharani, Jakarta – Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, convicted of the murder of renowned human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, has joined Tommy Suharto’s new Working Party.

Hendra Friana – “I was handcuffed and forced into a vehicle, and all before being shown an arrest warrant”.

22-year-old Muhammad Hisbun Payu related this story to Tirto by phone from the Central Java police headquarters (Mapolda) on Monday March 5.

Putri Puspita, Bandung – In welcoming International Women’s Day (IWD) which falls on March 8, a number of different communities in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung have taken part in the Women’s March action.

“If Jokowi and Prabowo go head to head in 2019, they almost definitely cannot, and should not, repeat the strategies they used in 2014”.

The Muhammadiyah Youth Greater Aceh regional board (PDPM) in cooperation with the Indonesian National Youth Committee (KNPI) held a seminar on the theme The Dangers of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) in Society on Saturday February 10 at the Aceh Library Archives auditorium.

Robertus Belarminus, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has expressed its appreciation to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein for raising human rights issues during his visit to Indonesia, including the issue of LGBT rights.

The North Aceh regional police recently arrested 12 transgender women (waria) and forced them to become normal men again.

Protesters from some 147 organisations (ormas) held a protest action at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in the Acehnese provincial capital of Banda Aceh on Friday February 2.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Indonesian military (TNI) and police on the involvement of the TNI in police duties such as confronting protests and strikes has been criticised as a step back for reformasi.

Bastian Tebai, Semarang – On Tuesday December 19, the Papua Student Alliance (AMP) and the Indonesian People’s Front for West Papua (FRI-WP) held simultaneous protest actions around the country against the Trikora declaration that was made on December 19, 1961, 56 years ago.

Ahmad Syarifudin, Yogya – Hundreds of students held a protest action at the Pal Putih Monument in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta on the afternoon of Sunday December 10 to commemorate International Human Rights Day.

David Sobolim, Jayapura – Scores of students from Solidarity Against Forgetting the Student Shootings Case in Paniai Regency have held a march from the Waena hosing estate to the Imbi Park in Jayapura, West Papua.

Rinaldy Sofwan, Jakarta – Philosopher and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Noam Chomsky and a group of international academics are calling on the Indonesian government to withdraw all troops from West Papua following allegations of human rights violations against civilians by security forces in the province.

Heyder Affan – A number of locations in the vicinity of Purwodadi, Central Java, have been confirmed as sites of mass grave, places where bodies were disposed of and sites where people accused of being members or sympathisers of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) were executed in the months after October 1965.

Bimo Wiwoho, Jakarta – The chairperson of the Institute for the Study of the 1965-1966 Massacres (YPKP 65), Bedjo Untung, claims that they have found 10 new mass grave sites containing the bodies of Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) sympathisers who were killed in 1965-1966.

Moh. Nadlir, Jakarta – The International People’s Tribunal on 1965 (IPT 65) says that the information revealed in 39 documents on the mass killings following the September 30 Movement (G30S) in 1965 held by the US is nothing new.

Abraham Utama – The Indonesian Military (TNI) says that it will not changes its policies or views on the September 30 Movement (G30S) in 1965 regardless of the release of 39 secret US documents that have been opened to the public and “reveal a number of new facts”.

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).

Arif Hulwan Muzayyin, Jakarta – Efforts by the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) and the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) to set history straight with regard to the alleged September 30 Movement-Indonesian Communist Party (G30S-PKI) coup in 1965 are being seen by some as resurgence of communist ideas and a violation of the law.

Dwi Andayani, Jakarta – The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) and the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) believe there is a link between yesterday evening’s attack on the their offices and President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo statement about “clobbering the PKI”. The remark is seen as prone to misuse.