Yogyakarta – Hundreds of demonstrators from the Papua Student Alliance (AMP) in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta held a peaceful action and free speech forum today, Monday July 15.

Manokwari – Thousands of Papuan civilians in Manokwari, West Papua, took to the streets on Tuesday August 2 to demand a referendum. The participants at the action are convinced that a referendum is the middle road to resolve the political status of West Papua.

Aprizal Rahmatullah, Jakarta – Starting off the second week of August the capital city will be besieged with protest actions, with at least 15 demonstrations enlivening Jakarta today. Beware of traffic jams.

E Mei Amelia R, Jakarta – The Attorney General’s Office is again being urged to immediately submit a judicial review over the Supreme Court’s verdict to release Muchdi Purwoprandjono.

Marcellus Hernowo – As well as celebrities and family members of core political party leaders, the provisional list of legislative candidates that will take part in the 2009 general elections also contains a number of 1998 student movement activists.

Bagus Kurniawan, Yogyakarta – Activists in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta commemorated three years since Munir’s death by demanding that the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) be disbanded.

[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

Jakarta – The Workers Challenge Alliance (ABM) is threatening to hold a national strike if the government fails to increase the national wage and abolish systems of contract labour and outsourcing.

Gunawan Mashar, Makassar – Students from two different groups in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar held demonstrations, one group was calling for corruption cases in the South Sulawesi provincial parliament to be investigated and the other was rejecting the draft law on the TNI (armed forces).

Gunawan Mashar, Makassar – Students in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar have again held demonstrations rejecting the draft law on the TNI (armed forces) at the local parliament on Jalan Urip Sumohardjo on Monday August 16.

Jakarta – Human rights violations perpetrated in 2003 cannot be separated from military control, particularly the army. The government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri has not worked as hard as its predecessors, like [former presidents] B.J. Habibie and Abdurrahman Wahid to control the TNI [Indonesian armed forces].

Based on Law Number 31/2002 on Political Parties, no less than 209 political parties in the country – including those who already had the status of a legal body and those who did not – have had their status annulled. As a result, there are now 50 recorded political parties in the country.

Jakarta, Kompas -- The Indonesian government has cited the armed separatist movement in Papua as one of three threats against the perpetuation of the nation’s existence within the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI).

[The following statement was issued by the National Executive of the National Student League for Democracy (Liga Mahasiswa Nasional untuk Demokrasi, LMND) and the Central Leadership Committee of Student Solidarity for the People (Solidaritas Mahasiswa Untuk Rakyat, SMUR) on August 23. Translated by James Balowski.]

[The following is a translation of a statement issued by the Solidarity Movement for the People of Aceh (Solidaritas Gerakan untuk Rakyat Aceh, SEGERA) which was read out a demonstration in front of the national parliament on August 7, to coincide with the last day of the annual session of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) which start