INDONESIA A NEWS

Human rights activists and political experts have criticized retired military and police generals for protesting against attempts to question them in connection to past atrocities. Usman Hamid, coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, said Sunday the move only demonstrated their attempts to preserve impunity. He said the retired generals had violated the principle of equality before the law by calling on the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to stop the investigations and urging the government to replace Komnas HAM members for abuse of power. About 500 retired military and police generals gathered in Jakarta on Thursday. They said the rights commission had no authority to investigate the past atrocities, including the 1989 shootings in Talangsari, Lampung, because they occurred before the 1999 human rights law and 2000 human rights court law were enacted. A provision in the 1945 Constitution states no new law can be applied retroactively...

The Indonesian and Swedish government will increase cooperation on human rights activity. Representatives from both countries will attend the first dialog on human rights on April 23-24 in Jakarta. "Human rights is an important foundation politically, " said Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Nur Hassan Wirajuda when Swedish foreign affairs minister Carl Bildt visited his office yesterday. The human rights dialog, said Hassan, is proposed to formalize the informal dialog, as a forum to coordinate assistance and cooperation from both countries for the human rights issue. Human rights cooperation between Indonesia and Sweden was once accomplished through organizations like the Swedish International Development Agency and Raoul Wallenberg Institute. In the future, both countries expect to adjust their assistance and cooperation with Indonesian priorities and needs. "We will send Indonesians to Sweden to attend human rights training," said Hassan.The human rights dial...

THREE rebels involved in attacks on East Timor's top two political leaders have been arrested in Indonesian West Timor where they were staying at the invitation of Joao Tavares, a notorious former pro-Jakarta militia commander.Indonesian security forces traced the men to Mr Tavares, who was described by United Nations war crimes prosecutors as the supreme militia commander in East Timor in 1999 when 1500 people were killed and 70% of the country's infrastructure destroyed. The arrests came after Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told his East Timor counterpart, Jose Ramos Horta, on the phone last week that Jakarta would crack down on any support for the rebels coming from Indonesia.The investigation into the attacks is focusing on contacts rebel leader Alfredo Reinado - who led the attack on the two leaders and was killed during it - had with people in Indonesia, including a Timorese-born Jakarta gangster, Hercules Rozario Marcal. Reinado's mobile telephone...

Thousands gathered in Dili's streets to greet Mr Ramos-Horta on Thursday Indonesia has said it has arrested three men suspected of involvement in the shooting of East Timor's President, Jose Ramos-Horta, in February. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the suspects were all former Timorese soldiers who had crossed the border between the two countries illegally. Mr Yudhoyono said the states had worked together to find the men, but expressed surprise that it had been made public. Mr Ramos-Horta flew home on Thursday after receiving treatment in Australia. Thousands of supporters greeted him in the capital, Dili. Despite the attack, Mr Ramos-Horta said he was determined not to change his style and would continue to mix with ordinary people. 'Indonesian elements' Speaking to reporters in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, Mr Yudhoyono said police had arrested and detained three former members of the Timorese military on Friday morning "on arrest warrants issued by Ea...

It is official: no one was responsible for human rights abuses that occurred around the 1999 East Timor referendum in which more than 1,000 people reportedly died. In defeat in the referendum, Indonesia was a sore loser. For several weeks mobs rampaged through Dili, even attacking the residences of priests. The only person in jail for those crimes, Eurico Guterres, who has friends and supporters in high places in Jakarta, was released a few days ago from Cipinang prison. The Supreme Court overturned his sentence on appeal. He was met by a crowd of supporters to whom he clenched his fist and cried "Merdeka!" His release is just in time for next year's general elections. Seeing that he is a national hero of sorts and a party member, it might just be that when the next parliament is formed after elections, we will see him sitting among the lawmakers in Senayan as one of the House's celebrities. In the meantime, he might follow the trend of celebrity politicians turning t...

Several cities and regencies in West Java have become places for dispatch and transit of women and children trafficking. "This is very bad," said Ellin Rozana, director of the Women'a Institute in Bandung, Monday (07/04).According to Ellin, the official report from coordinating ministry for People's Welfare mentioned Sukabumi, Tangerang, Bekasi, Indramayu, Bandung, Karawang, Cianjur, and Kuningan as some of cities as dispatch areas. "Bandung and Losari in Cirebon are also identified as transit areas," she said.Some 43.5 percent of the victims are as young as 14 years old. "But mostly, the trafficking of children involved for those who are 17 years old," said Ellin.According to her, several factors worsen the situation, including poverty, employment issues, limited access to education, as well as social and cultural aspects. "Discriminative practices such as early marriage for women and women not needing higher education are also reasons for hu...

At least 18 people in Indonesia's Papua province are serving jail sentences for peacefully expressing political views, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says. The rights group said several Papuans had been jailed in recent years for their peaceful support for self-determination for the province. Opposition to Indonesian rule in Papua has simmered since Jakarta took over from Dutch colonial control in 1963. An official in Papua denied anyone had been jailed for peaceful protest. Jakarta has been fighting a low-level insurgency for decades, with small, armed groups carrying out sporadic attacks on economic and military targets in the province. But there has also been continued non-violent protest from a much wider section of society, the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Jakarta reports. 'Tool of repression' The Human Rights Watch report highlights the cases of 18 people the group describes as political prisoners. It includes the case of Filep Karma, a 45-year-old civil servant convicted o...