Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) for the period 2009-2014 has been deliberating a packet of three political laws, namely Law Number 22/2007 on Election Organisers, Law Number 2/2008 on Political Parties and Law Number 10/2008 on the Election of Members of the DPR, DPD and DPRD.

M Hernowo and Anita Yossihara – The Joint Secretariat (Setgab) of political parties supporting the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. This was one of the important political “breakthroughs” in 2010, and the controversy surrounding it has continued to this day.

Man: A monarchy? No way!

Kid: How right you are lord

Man: It’s not in accordance with the constitution!

Kid: It’s truly so your majesty

Man: It’s not in line with democracy!

Kid: Blessed be my lord

Government: It’s impossible to have a monarchy system

Man: What’s this, another ‘eruption’

Jakarta – The mechanism of checks and balances that should be carried out by the House of Representatives (DPR) over the government is progressively disappearing.

Kid: So you’ll be made the boss for the sake of politics... power... the political parties... or for the sake of... the piggy banks! (the suspiciously large bank accounts held by 15 police generals)

Pradopo: For the sake of the people, nation and country fool!

Jakarta – It is as though state has no presence any more. Thus was an assessment by Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mahfud MD in depicting the endless cases of violence in this country. Law enforcers, which it would be hoped are the means to resolve social conflicts, instead generate injustice.

Jakarta – Concerns that if the parliamentary threshold is increased it will impact on the number of valid votes that are wasted may be excessive because it will actually reduce the number of valid votes lost.

Man: His conscious is in there... (arm band reads candidate regional head)

With the cost of campaign spending for regional elections reaching into the millions of dollars, candidate regional heads see running for public office as financial investment rather than a chance to serve the public.

Toto Suryaningtyas – Efforts by certain politicians to pull the military back into the political arena has tended to receive little public agreement. This disagreement however has in fact been expressed at time when the public’s sense of satisfaction with the performance of the Indonesian military (TNI) has improved.

Ever the opportunist, at its national congress on June 16-20 the Islamic based Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) – known for its anti-US stance – announced it was seeking stronger links with the US to counter its exclusive image and broaden its political base.

Jakarta – The widespread use of political image projection, including in the recent elections of regional heads, is further driving up the cost of competing in elections. Political costs are being sapped to pay for survey institute services and political consultants. This is the “big harvest” for political consultants.

M Zaid Wahyudi – The growing number of ordinary people’s votes that are needlessly lost is a direct consequence of the application of an increasingly higher parliamentary threshold.

Israel’s attack on a convey of six ships transporting humanitarian assistance for Gaza, the Freedom Flotilla, in international waters, resulted in the death and injury of civilians

Observers say that without the vote pulling appeal if its patron President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono – who is not be eligible to run for the presidency again – the Democrat Party vehicle will find itself in the political doldrums come the 2014 general elections.

Suits: Political parties, funny companies, tax mafia

Marsinah was a woman worker who was militant and courageous.

Vivi W – Commemorating May Day, 5,000 workers from the Workers Challenge Alliance (ABM) held a protest action in Jakarta today against the pro-capitalist administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Boediono (SBY-Boediono), which have consistently brought suffering to the Indonesian working class.

Women are not just housewives. They are not second class citizens.

The following is a compilation of abridged translations of the January 28 protest actions held around the country to commemorate the first 100 days of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's second administration. The reports are ordered alphabetically by city.