Jakarta – The Australian government does not have the authority to stop its citizen from sailing out of Australian ports as long as it is legal. However Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr confirmed that the Indonesian government has the authority to deal with the matter if the ships enter Indonesia illegally.

Alsadad Rudi, Jakarta – The Cross-Factory Labour Forum (FBLP) disputes the claim that four South Korean companies have left Jakarta. The companies that were cited as having closed, PT Hansol 1, PT Hansai 5, PT Winner 3 and PT Olimpic, are still operating in the Nusantara Bonded Zone (KBN) in the Cakung industrial area of East Jakarta.

Jakarta – Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Rieke Diah Pitaloka has criticised President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s (SBY) state of the nation speech as being no different from a work of science fiction.

Bogor – The momentum in the lead up to Indonesia’s 68th Independence Day was used by scores of Papuan students to demand freedom and self-determination for the Papuan people. These demands were conveyed during a demonstration at the Tugu Kujang intersection on Jl. Padjajaran in Bogor, West Java, on Thursday August 15.

Arie Sunaryo – The Surakarta district police have seized two large banners depicting symbols of the Morning Star flag belonging to Papuan students that was to be used in a protest action at the Gladag traffic circle in the Central Java city of Solo on Thursday August 15.

Yogyakarta – “Self-determination, the Democratic Solution for the Papuan People”, shouted West Papuan students protesting the New York Agreement of August 15, 1962, and supporting the opening of a Free West Papua Campaign office in the Netherlands today, during an action coordinated by the Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) on Thursday August 15 in t

Shesar Andriawan/FMB, Jakarta – According to Budi Wardoyo, the national secretary of Politics of the People and the Joint Labour Secretariat (Sekber Buruh) working body, complaints [by employers] about the large number of public holidays that cause a drop in productivity are simply a red herring.

Jakarta – More than half of voters are confused about the current political situation. A survey by the Soegeng Sarjadi School of Government indicates that as many as 51.45 percent of respondents have yet to make their choice of political party. Yet the 2014 legislative and presidential elections are less that a year away.

Jakarta – Labour observer Professor Dr. Payaman Simanjuntak has warned that a number of trade unions in Indonesia are being provoked by international trade unions, primarily from European countries and the United States, to challenge employers and the government by means of strikes.

Yogyakarta – Hundreds of demonstrators from the Papua Student Alliance (AMP) in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta held a peaceful action and free speech forum today, Monday July 15.