INDONESIA A NEWS

A SENIOR Indonesian official has confirmed Indonesia would object strongly to the Coalition's policy of forcing asylum boats back into Indonesian waters.  ''It's exactly like you going to someone else's house and throwing dirt there,'' the official said, on the condition of anonymity.  ''Why would we take something that is not our property?'' There are also practical problems with the turn-around policy, the official said. Unless the boats were to be abandoned on the high seas, or handed over to the Indonesian navy mid-ocean, they would need to be towed to land.  But there is no safe port on Java's southern shore because the seas are too high and dangerous. This would mean the Australian navy towing an asylum boat to Tanjung Priok, Jakarta's commercial and military port, which is many hours' sail away on Java's northern shore.  The source said the Australian navy would never be given permission for this kind of ...

As violence escalates in West Papua, one cannot help but recall East Timor and wonder how much worse it must get before Australia and the international community will act. Tensions are at breaking point in the easternmost province of Indonesia after the police shooting of independence activist Mako Tabuni. Human rights activists report Tabuni was unarmed when shot six times by the Australian-trained Detachment 88 forces. Tabuni was deputy chairman of the West Papua National Committee, an organisation advocating independence and the right to self-determination under international law. Tabuni had also been campaigning for an investigation into a recent spate of military killings. The shooting follows years of violence. At least 16 people have been killed in the past month, according to human rights groups, and hundreds of homes raided, with many burnt to the ground. Thousands are reported to be evacuating, seeking refuge in the forest or heading for refugee camps in Papua ...

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wishes to bring the attention of the Human Rights Council (HRC) to violations of the right to the freedom of expression and opinion that are being engendered through the use of Indonesia’s legal provisions prohibiting blasphemy. Religious blasphemy is prohibited in Indonesia under Law No. 1/PNPS/1965, with such provisions also being later adopted within the Penal Code (KUHP) under Article 156a. Paragraph (a) of this article uses vague language, which opens the door to abusive uses of this provision, to prohibit any acts and expression of views considered to be blasphemous, and carries a maximum punishment of five years imprisonment. A similar maximum punishment is also carried by paragraph (b) of the article, which prohibits any acts and expression of views calling for others to embrace atheism. Alexander Aan is an atheist currently undergoing a trial at the Muaro Sijunjung District Court, West Sumatra. According to his lawyers from ...

Some Indonesians opposed Lady Gaga's scheduled performance, accusing her of being a 'devil worshipper' [EPA] "Little monsters lost to big monsters", wrote an Indonesian television anchor on his Twitter account shortly after Lady Gaga cancelled her biggest concert in Asia, a sold-out event scheduled to take place in Jakarta on June 3.  The pop star's fans, which she affectionately calls her "little monsters", now have to accept that the woman they saw on Indonesian television, or discovered in DVD shops, cannot visit their country because of safety concerns. Although a small group of Islamic hardliners rejoiced over the news of Gaga's concert cancellation, many Indonesians started to wonder who really has gone gaga here. gguIn fact, this incident does not have much to do with the American singer. Instead, it illustrates a far deeper conflict that is dividing Indonesia. The Lady Gaga saga started a few weeks ago, after some Indonesia...

The Nobel laureate Jose Ramos-Horta declared that ''freedom is justice'' as he stepped down as East Timor's president during an emotional ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the country's independence. Dr Ramos-Horta told more than 100,000 Timorese who packed a beachside area on Dili's outskirts early yesterday that their greatest achievement was fighting for and achieving their freedom after hundreds of years of foreign occupation and war during which a quarter of the population were killed or died from starvation or disease. Among dozens of foreign dignitaries who witnessed the ceremony was Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Indonesian President, who earlier stood alongside East Timor's Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao, the former guerilla fighter who spent years in Indonesian jails, and spoke about Indonesia's enhanced co-operation and growing people-to-people ties with East Timor. Dr Yudhoyono said it was Indonesia's duty to...

The world’s largest producer of teak, an Indonesian state-owned company on the island of Java, has again been awarded sustainable forest management certification. But the company has a long and sometimes contentious relationship with forest communities in the area, and the forest rights of indigenous communities remain a potential cause of conflict.  “Land rights have long been a source of violence on Java,” Rhett Butler, a leading environmentalist and creator of a leading environmental news website told IRIN. Perhutani (Indonesian state forestry company) exploits 2.4 million hectares of forests in Java - 7 percent of the island area - with earnings of around US$400 million in 2011.  Although Perhutani agreed in 2011 to the voluntary process that promotes eco-friendly management in order to obtain certification, it controls a huge area of forest once used by indigenous communities, many of whom still depend on the forests for their livelihoods.  The company n...

As Hisyam Alizein, alias Umar Patek and a cadre of the Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiah (JI), rose to speak during his trial in the West Jakarta district court on March 7, few would have expected the 45-year old hardcore terrorist to apologize to the victims of the 2002 Bali bombings that claimed the lives of 202 people.  The JI had indeed surprised many by its rise and ability to organize repeated high profile symbolic attacks in the early 2000s. Patek, being one of last remnants of the outfit offered asurprise yet again - this time confirming the rapid decline of the outfit since the Indonesian authorities executed the Bali bombers in 2008 - both in terms of its existence and ideology. Nothing else could have been a more convincing statement on the decline of Islamist terror in the archipelagic nation, with larger implications on the entire Southeast Asia.  "I ask for forgiveness from all the victims and their families. Those who lost their lives and t...