Government does not need to acknowledge 1965 crimes: NU youth wing

Kompas.com - August 15, 2012

GP Anshor: Pemerintah Tidak Perlu Akui Kejahatan 1965-1966 - Kompas.com. Rabu, 15 Agustus 2012

Aditya Revianur, Jakarta -- The chairperson of the Anshor Youth Movement (the youth wing of the Islamic mass organisation Nahdlatul Ulama), Nusron Wahid, says that the government does not need to acknowledge past gross human rights violations, particularly the humanitarian tragedy in 1965-1966.

NU, retired army officers reject apology to victims of 1965 killings

Kompas.com - August 15, 2012

PBNU Tolak Permintaan Maaf kepada Korban Tragedi 65 - Kompas.com - Rabu, 15 Agustus 2012

Aditya Revianur, Jakarta -- The Nahdlatul Ulama's Central Board (PBNU) with the support of retired army officers and mass organisations is strongly opposed any form of apology by the government or the Indonesian president for the 1965-1966 tragedy.

Independence Day commemoration celebrates sexual and cultural diversity

Our Voice - August 17, 2012

LGBT Yogya rayakan kemerdekan RI dengan upacara bersama - Ourvoice.or.id. 17 Augustus, 2012

Yatna Pelangi -- Marking Indonesia's 67th anniversary of independence, members of the transsexual, gay and lesbian community held an Independence Day commemoration in Ndalem Notoprajan in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta.

Starting with a reflection on the struggle for liberation and a sense of nationalism, the Yogyakarta Network for Human Rights and Diversity (Jamgaman) held a flag rising ceremony. Scores of Jamgaman activists, including members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LBGT) community, along with church leaders could be seen underneath the sun's intense heat singing and honoring the raising of the flag.

Who are benefited from Indonesia growth?

Strong economic growth not accompanied by rising living standards

 

Jakarta– In the midst of a global crisis, Indonesia's economic growth recorded a positive result. Economic growth for the second quarter of this year reached 6.4 percent compared with the same period last year.

Economic growth continued to be centred in Java Island contributing 57.5 percent. In cumulative terms, economic growth for the first semester of 2012 was an improvement on first semester economic growth for 2011, which was 6.3 percent.

Indonesian commission urges trials of military rights abusers

Two men await certain death – October 1965

By James Balowski, in Jakarta

After a three-year investigation and testimonies from 349 witnesses, Indonesia’s National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has declared that the systematic prosecution of alleged members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) when former president Suharto and the military seized power in 1965 constituted gross human rights violations. It urged that the military officers involved be brought to trial.

Speaking at a press conference on July 23, Nur Kholis, the head of the investigative team into what is officially described as a coup attempt by the PKI, said that state officials under the Operational Command for the Restoration of Security and Order (Kopkamtib) who served from 1965 to 1967 and between 1977 and 1978 should be tried for crimes including murder, extermination, slavery, eviction or forced eviction, deprivation of freedom, torture and mass rape. Kholis said that his team had handed over the 850-page report to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and “hoped that the AGO would follow up the report”.

Militarist party positioning itself in Indonesia

By Jalalludin Ngoko

The political party Greater Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) recently announced its 314-strong leadership structure. Gerindra is headed by Suharto era general and son-in-law Prabowo Subianto. Subianto was forced out of the army in 1999 after he was accused of masterminding the kidnapping and disappearance of student activists in 1997 and 1998. At that time, he was head of the Strategic Army Command and was endeavouring to save the Suharto dictatorship as it came up against increasing resistance from a student-led mass protest movement.

 East Timorese human rights and solidarity activists have also accused Subianto of being responsible for massacres and torture in East Timor during the Indonesian occupation. Information from the East Timor Alter Network (ETAN) connects him with the 1983 Kraras and 1991 Santa Cruz massacres.

Corruptors, generals and activists prominent in new Gerindra leadership

Prabowo Subianto (middle) at the 4th Gerindra party anniversary

Berita Satu - July 12, 2012

Pengurus Baru Gerindra: 314 Pengurus, Puluhan Jenderal dan Aktivis - Beritasatu.com. Kamis, 12 Juli 2012

Ezra Sihite/Rizky Amelia/Ulin Yusron -- It's not just Ahok that has been brought into the central leadership board, but scores of retired generals have also joined the ranks of the Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra Party) elite. In addition to this, there are family members and activists.

Gerindra is very happy at the moment. The candidates they backed along with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in the Jakarta gubernatorial election -- Joko Widodo as governor and Basuki Tjahaja Purnama alias Ahok as deputy governor -- have won the first round of the election.

National police anniversary smeared in the blood of the Papuan people

Papuan National Solidarity Statement (NAPAS) - July 2, 2012


It has been 43 years since Papua was annexed into Indonesia through the so-call "Act of Free" choice, which was legally flawed and engineered in contravention of the New York Agreement of "One Man One Vote". Despite this engineered annexation, the Papuan people have suffered a calamity. A calamity that has not only resulted in their natural wealth being exploited, but the people have been raped, abused, slaughtered, stigmatised and murdered, all which has been directed towards the annihilation of the Papuan people.

Solidarity action in Jakarta slams police brutality in West Papua

Suara Papua - July 3, 2012

NAPAS: HUT Polri Berlumuran Darah Rakyat Papua - Suara Papua. 03 July 2012

Oktovianus Pogau, Jakarta -- Scores of youths and students from the group Papuan National Solidarity (NAPAS) held a peaceful action in front of the Indonesian national police headquarters and the State Palace in Jakarta on the afternoon of Monday July 2 in protest against the spate of recent shootings in West Papua.

Finding ecological justice for women

As Indonesia’s rural poor are increasingly threatened by dispossession, is it time to adopt a more radical agenda for women and the environment?

Rebecca Elmhirst, Inside Indonesia

Fisherwomen are hard-hit by environmental degradation in West Sumatra.  Rebecca Elmhirst

During International Women’s Day this year, women representing four of Indonesia’s leading environmental and agrarian NGOs called for women across the archipelago to unite and demand a more just and environmentally sustainable economic order. In a joint statement, representatives from WALHI (the Indonesian Forum for the Environment), the Indonesian Peasants Union (SPI), Indonesian Green Union (SHI) and People's Coalition for Fisheries Justice (KIARA) argued that as women bear the brunt of environmental problems, it is women who should take the lead in preventing or solving them.

While women’s NGOs have tended to focus on issues such as health, economic empowerment and domestic violence, this statement is indicative of a new effort to link women with environmental and social justice agendas. This new alliance is inspired by the radical values of ecofeminism, according to which the exploitation of women and the environment is inextricably linked to the capitalist economic system. But at the same time this is just one of an array of competing agendas currently being promoted in Indonesia which attempt to connect women with the environment in a variety of ways.