archive

Govt fails to reform agencies, laws to protect human rights (21 May 2010)
The Jakarta Post - After 12 years of reform following the fall of Soeharto in 1998, Indonesia still faces many barriers in its efforts to uphold human rights, observers say. Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) director Agung Putri said Thursday that the government's efforts to reform its law and human rights enforcement agencies had stagnated due to the poor rollout of human rights-related programs.

Releasing Papua Political Prisoners ‘Not the Answer’ (20 May 2010)
Jakarta Globe - Freeing political prisoners in Papua is a good gesture but would not address the key problems in the restive region, Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch said on Thursday. He said gestures such as this and last weekend’s granting of Indonesian citizenship to former Free Papua Movement (OPM) leader Nicholas Jouwe, who had been living in exile in the Netherlands since 1960, were not enough and more action was needed to solve the problem.

Pages from Indonesia's history - past abuses remain unresolved (19 May 2010)
Asian Human Rights Commission - The violence on 13, 14 and 15 May 1998 followed as a culmination of a series of violence that occurred in Indonesia before the fall of President Suharto, who had been in power for 32 years. Two major events led to this violence on 13-15 May, namely the kidnappings and disappearances in the period 1997-1998 and the shootings that killed four students of Trisakti university. These incidents are part of the dark period in Indonesia 12 years ago. The economic crisis that hit Indonesia in this period led to people looting stores and malls in Jakarta and other big cities. During these incidents many people died or were injured. In addition, sexual violence was committed against ethnic groups, which has left the female victims still deeply traumatized. The damage that victims have suffered because of these incident is great, both in a material and in an immaterial sense.

Students condemn anti-Papua taunts (19 May 2010)
The Jakarta Post - A hundred students staged a rally in front of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) campus on Jl. Ganesha on Tuesday in support of Papuan students who had been subject to racist online taunts by an ITB student.

New UK PM becomes West Papuan hero (19 May 2010)
BBC News - A province of Indonesia watched the outcome of the UK general election with great interest. Since David Cameron became the UK's prime minister, the tribespeople of West Papua have been celebrating. They hope Mr Cameron will help them in their bid to gain independence from Indonesia.