From an opinion piece in the Jakarta daily Kompas by Ikrar Nusa Bhakti on the first year of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s second term in office titled Before the Catastrophe.

Jakarta – The administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and Vice President Boediono is already facing a heavy challenge as it approaches the first year of its second term in office on October 20.

Jakarta – The mechanism of checks and balances that should be carried out by the House of Representatives (DPR) over the government is progressively disappearing.

M. Hernowo – On September 28, 2009, a House of Representatives (DPR) plenary session decided to accept the recommendations of the Special Committee on Missing Persons on the results of an investigation into the forced disappearances of activists in 1997-1998.

Siti Ruqoyah, Jakarta – Thirty or more people from the Indonesian Association of the Families of Missing Persons (Ikohi) and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) who were arrested and taken to the Central Jakarta municipal police station yesterday evening are still being questioned.

The attacks by the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) against the two-week International Q! Film Festival which opened in Jakarta on September 24 is a violation of basic human rights and threatens democracy in Indonesia.

Willy Widianto, Jakarta – Thirty or more demonstrators from the Indonesian Association of the Families of Missing Persons (Ikohi) were arrested by police this afternoon for exceeding the agreed limit allowed for a demonstration at the State Palace.

Mojokerto, East Java – Scores of young people from a variety of organisations held a peaceful action on Jl. Gajah Mada, directly in front of the Mojokerto municipal government office complex in East Java on Sunday evening September 19.

Bibin Bintariadi, Malang – The government is not serious about resolving the death of human rights activist Munir. This has been proven by it simply instructing the Attorney General’s Office and other related parties to fully investigate Munir’s murder without taking the case seriously.

Jakarta – Hundreds of people from various groups including as human rights activists, victims of human rights violations and students demonstrated in front of the State Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday September 7.

Rosalina, Jakarta – A number of organisations that are part of the group Friends of Munir held a protest action in Jakarta on September 7 demanding a full resolution to the death of human rights activist Munir.

Alie Usman, Jakarta – Scores of social and non-government organisations that are part of the Friends of Munir movement gathered today to commemorate six years since Munir’s death, a human rights activists killed mysteriously on his way to continue studies in the Netherlands six years ago.

Iwan, Jakarta – The evil conspiracy to increase the basic electricity rate (TDL) will impact on the price of basic commodities, particularly food, further burdening the lives of the poor.

Yogyakarta – Scores of Papuans from the group Solidarity for Papua (SUP) held a protest action at the Yogyakarta monument in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta on Monday June 21.

Yogyakarta – Activists from the Student Struggle Centre for National Liberation (Pembebasan, formerly LMND-PRD) opposing planned increases to the basic electricity rate (TDL) next July held an action in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta on Wednesday June 16.

M Zaid Wahyudi – The growing number of ordinary people’s votes that are needlessly lost is a direct consequence of the application of an increasingly higher parliamentary threshold.

Israel’s attack on a convey of six ships transporting humanitarian assistance for Gaza, the Freedom Flotilla, in international waters, resulted in the death and injury of civil

Observers say that without the vote pulling appeal if its patron President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono – who is not be eligible to run for the presidency again – the Democrat Party vehicle will find itself in the political doldrums come the 2014 general elections.

Yogyakarta – Activists from the United People’s Movement (GRB) in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta held a protest action by placing flowers on a grave at the zero kilometer point near the Yogyakarta central post office on Friday May 21.

Let us unite to overthrow the pro-imperialist government of SBY-Boediono and the rotten political elite. Replace them with a United Government of the Poor!