Jakarta – For two years now, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) has ignored the House of Representatives’ (DPR) recommendations on the forced abduction and disappearance of 13 activists in 1997-1998. There were four recommendations issued by the DPR on September 30, 2009 in relation to the case.

Jakarta – The political elite in this country should use the holy fasting month of Ramadan as a moment for introspection and evaluation, to ask whether their policies side with the ordinary people or not.

Jakarta – The number of floating voters is tending to increase. This can be seen not just from the decline in participation levels in elections between 1999 and 2009, but the political parties in general would be unable to hold on to their constituents if an election was held today.

Jakarta – The tales of the New Order regime’s successes, which are being used as a selling point for the Golkar Party, are misleading.

M Hernowo – Case of human rights violations that took place around the time of the fall of the New Order regime have still not been fully resolved. Moreover President Suharto’s decision on May 21, 1998 to release his grip on the reigns power, which he held for 32 years, has been taken advantage of by some groups.

Yohan Wahyu – If we look at the still sidelined state of workers and employees, the need to unite and organise oneself should be a big one. The historical facts in Indonesia however show the reverse, with political parties claiming to be based among workers not in fact “selling well” in the eyes of the voting public.

Indra Subagja, Jakarta – The National Republic Party (Partai Nasrep) has registered itself with the Department of Justice and Human Rights (Kemenkum HAM).

Hendra A Setyawan, Jakarta – The discourse on the simplification of political parties such as by increasing the parliamentary threshold (the minimum number of votes required to obtain a seat in the national parliament) is the principle challenge facing new political parties seeking to get into the parliament through the 2014 general elections.

Medan – Protesters calling themselves the Women’s Liberation Progressive Committee (KP3), which is an alliance of the North Sumatra Islamic University (UISU) Islamic Students Association Commissariat (HMI-KOM) faculty of agriculture, the UISU HMI-KOM faculty of literature, Free Women (Perempuan Mahardhika), the Political Union of the Poor (PPRM)

Exhaust: Bank Century, Lapindo disaster, racial, religious & ethnic conflicts, judicial & tax mafia, migrant workers, Yogyakarta gudeg, tiwul food poisoning.

Adi Nugroho, Jakarta – The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has concluded that serious human rights violations were committed by the Indonesian military (TNI) against people in Puncak Jaya, Papua.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) for the period 2009-2014 has been deliberating a packet of three political laws, namely Law Number 22/2007 on Election Organisers, Law Number 2/2008 on Political Parties and Law Number 10/2008 on the Election of Members of the DPR, DPD and DPRD.

M Hernowo and Anita Yossihara – The Joint Secretariat (Setgab) of political parties supporting the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. This was one of the important political “breakthroughs” in 2010, and the controversy surrounding it has continued to this day.

Man: A monarchy? No way!

Kid: How right you are lord

Man: It’s not in accordance with the constitution!

Kid: It’s truly so your majesty

Man: It’s not in line with democracy!

Kid: Blessed be my lord

Government: It’s impossible to have a monarchy system

Man: What’s this, another ‘eruption’

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

Kid: So you’ll be made the boss for the sake of politics... power... the political parties... or for the sake of... the piggy banks! (the suspiciously large bank accounts held by 15 police generals)

Pradopo: For the sake of the people, nation and country fool!

Jakarta – It is as though state has no presence any more. Thus was an assessment by Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mahfud MD in depicting the endless cases of violence in this country. Law enforcers, which it would be hoped are the means to resolve social conflicts, instead generate injustice.

Jakarta – Concerns that if the parliamentary threshold is increased it will impact on the number of valid votes that are wasted may be excessive because it will actually reduce the number of valid votes lost.

Man: His conscious is in there... (arm band reads candidate regional head)

With the cost of campaign spending for regional elections reaching into the millions of dollars, candidate regional heads see running for public office as financial investment rather than a chance to serve the public.