M Isma & Saiful Bahri, Banda Aceh – Demonstrations “opposing” the Home Affairs Department’s revisions to the Draft Law on a Government for Aceh (RUU-PA) are continuing and spreading.

Pramono, Jakarta – General Ryamizard Ryacudu says that the TNI (Indonesian military) is being ruined and weakened. According to Ryacudu, the military has been estranged from the people while in fact the TNI is a people’s military that must unite with the people to build the strength [of the nation].

Nasir Gabra, Lhokseumawe – A demonstration launched by hundreds of Malikussaleh Lhokseumawe University (Unimal) students almost ended in a clash with police when they pushed and shoved each other as students tried to break through the gates of the North Aceh Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) on Thursday February 2.

Nur Raihan, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Aceh has asked the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) to follow up the finding of graves of victims of the conflict in Aceh.

Adi W and Radzie, Banda Aceh – Hundreds of students from the Acehnese Alliance of Private Collage Student Executive Councils (Aliansi BEM PTS Aceh) held a demonstration on Wednesday February 1 protesting the central government’s removal of a number of crucial articles in the Draft Law on a Government for Aceh (RUU-PA).

Nur Raihan, Banda Aceh – The Acehnese Alliance of Private College Student Executive Councils (BEM PTS) believes that the Draft Law on a Government for Aceh that was submitted to the to the House of Representatives by the Home Affairs Department has disappointed the Acehnese people.

Semarang – Thousands of farmers from the Central Java National Farmers Union (Serikat Tani Nasional, STN) went to the offices of the Central Java governor in Semarang on Wednesday January 25. The demonstrators gave speeches and put up posters and banners that opposed rice imports that they believe will severely damage farmers.

Luhur Hertanto, Jakarta – The government has finally completed compiling the Draft Law on a Government for Aceh and is ready to submit it to the House of Representatives (DPR). President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will today – Wednesday January 25 – study the final draft to prepare a Presidential Instruction (Ampres).

Emmy Kuswandari, Jakarta -- After a period of reducing the number of military personnel tasked with guarding vital installations such as ExxonMobil and Freeport, the TNI (Indonesian military) will again be increasing troops numbers assisting these companies.

Tedi Hikmah, Jakarta – A non-government organisation concerned with upholding human rights, Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial), believes the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has taken a selective approach and has not supported efforts to uphold human rights.

Tedi Hikmah, Jakarta – The non-government organisation Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) has again raised questions about the investigation of gross human rights violations that have taken place in Aceh.

Radzie, Banda Aceh – The earthquake and tsunami at the end of 2004 and the signing of the peace agreement between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in August 2005 has resulted in a drastic decline in the number of human rights violations in Aceh.

Banda Aceh – The commander of the Iskandar Muda Territorial Command, Major General Supiadin AS, says that there are no grounds to extend the presence of the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) in Aceh that is planned to end in March 2006.

Jakarta – It is expected that the provisions on resolving human rights violations in Aceh will again attract sharp debate in dissuasions on the Draft Law on the Organisation of a Government for Aceh.

Emmy F, Kupang – Feeling as if the government is treating him as a stepchild, former pro-Jakarta militia have reassembling their forces by forming the Ex-East Timor Forum for Struggle.

Radzie, Banda Aceh – The Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Hamid Awaluddin, says that the government has already released all members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) who were jailed in various correctional institutions in Java and Sumatra.

Ilyas, Langsa – Because the normative and other rights employees have not been accommodated by the leadership board of the Langsa City branch of the All Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI), scores of Langsa SPSI members held a demonstration and issued a motion of no confidence in the SPSI leadership.

Imran MA, Eastern Aceh – On Monday November 21, Muhammad Nurdin (43), a resident of the Buket Paka village who has been a member of the Rantau Peureulak sub-district Red White Militia (Laskar Merah Putih, LMP) in Eastern Aceh, surrendered a hand grenade to a former member of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for the Peureulak region.

Alisa P, Banda Aceh – The composition of the draft law on the organisation of a government for Aceh as mandated by the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) should not be a revision of the special autonomy law (Otsus) or Law Number 18/2001.

Adi Warsidi, Banda Aceh – The number of cases of human rights violations in Aceh following the signing of the Helsinki agreement between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has declined.