Wahyu Aji, Jakarta – It seems that not everybody has a negative assessment of Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi’s appeal to regional governments to foster closer ties with the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) as a partner in development.

Safari Sidakaton – International Women’s Day (IWD) was commemorated by a variety of different women’s communities and organisations that united under the International Women’s Day Action Committee (KAHPS), which presented a “Claim for Payment” to government institutions and agencies on Friday March 8.

Friends and comrades, all the people of Indonesia, are you aware of the escalating violence that has been taking place in West Papua over the last few days. Terror, violence and intimidation have become the daily face of life for the Papuan people.

Today, May 1, coinciding with the commemoration of International Labour Day, the Greater Jakarta Joint Labour Secretariat (Sekber Buruh) again took to the streets. This was done as a protest and as our responsibility to convince the majority of people that this beloved country is still living in misery.

Komhukum (Jakarta) – Thousands of workers are still demonstrating at the State Palace on Jl. Merdeka Barat in Central Jakarta demanding reforms to working conditions.

Jakarta – Earlier this month on May 3, mass media workers throughout the world commemorated World Press Freedom Day. Three Indonesian journalist organisations however, in a joint statement last week, said that press freedom in Indonesia is to this day still under threat.

Arif Ardiansyah, Jakarta – Journalists from the print and electronic media in the South Sumatra city of Palembang commemorated May Day on Saturday May 1 expressing concerns about union busting and low wages in the media industry.

Ahmad Fikri, Bandung – A number of labour and peasant organisations in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung commemorated May Day by holding a protest action in front of the governor’s office.

Ari Saputra, Jakarta – A giant orange-coloured ball was rolled around the Hotel Indonesia roundabout on May 1 adding to the congestion caused by thousands of workers commemorating May Day in Jakarta.

Jakarta – The people’s political movement should not just be directed towards taking power, but it would be preferable if the movement is also direct towards building the economy. In Indonesia such a measure is extremely important because from the start Indonesia has not had the power of capital.

Makassar – At least 50 journalists demonstrated at the South and West Sulawesi (Sulselbar) regional police headquarters in Makassar on November 13 over a case involving Upi, who has been declared a suspect in a case of defamation against Sulselbar police chief Sisno Adiwinoto.

Riky Ferdinanto, Jakarta – There have been many incidences of violence against journalists over the last year. “The perpetrators of violence have generally been [the participants of] mass actions”, said Eko Maryadi, the coordinator of the Alliance of Independent Journalist’s (AJI) advocacy division.

Several different locations in Central Jakarta were rocked by demonstrations on May 1 as tens of thousands of workers commemorated May Day or International Labour Day. Protest actions took place at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout, in front of the State Palace, the House of Representatives building and Proclamation Monument.

... Congratulations to our leaders
the people’s prosperity is ensured...

Ramdhan Muhaimin, Jakarta – Around 50 people from Humanist Solidarity for Myanmar (SKUM) held a demonstration in Bali on Sunday October 30 against the violence by the military junta in Myanmar.

[The following is a compilation of abridged translations taken from Detik.com on the May Day rallies held in Indonesia on May 1.]

State Palace 'attacked en masse' by thousand of workers

Arfi Bambani Amri, Jakarta – The investigation into the assassination of human rights defender Munir has reached a dead end even though former Garuda Airlines pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto has been convicted for the murder.

After holding a meeting with trade union representatives on April 8, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono declared that the Draft Revision to Law Number 13/2003 on Labour that has already been circulating among the pubic is no longer valid.

AJI/AT, Jakarta – The commemoration of international labour day (May Day) in Jakarta today involved thousands of workers and other social organisations such as students, the urban poor, farmers and women.

Jakarta, Kompas – A number of non-government organisations (NGOs) and students from the pro-democracy movement have rejected the planned deliberation of the draft law on the Indonesian National Armed Forces (RUU TNI) by the People’s Representative Assembly (DPR).