Bung Wir, Bandung – Representatives of the Papuan people from the group National Papuan Solidarity (NAPAS) held a protest action at the Merdeka Building on Jl. Asia-Afrika in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung on Wednesday July 5.

Jakarta – Problems related to Papua are Indonesia’s internal affair. The United State has never considered the Papua problem in its cooperative defense relationship.

Jakarta – The US Central Intelligence Agency very much dominated the initial consolidation of the New Order regime of former President Suharto. US international relations historian from Princeton University, Bradley R Simpson, says that the succession of laws enacted by President Suharto was drafted with strong influence from the US.

Fitraya Ramadhanny, Jakarta – The United States government iused the social networking media in Indonesia, from blogs, Facebook to Twitter, to spread its influence. Additional funds requested by the US Embassy in Jakarta reached US$100,000 or 900 million rupiah.

Bakso seller: Mr President! Was it in the interests of Indonesian-American relations or for the sake of... bakso!

Against a backdrop of humanitarian disasters and anti-US protests, President Obama’s first visit to Indonesia was overshadowed by the ‘handshakegate’ affair after Communications Minister Tifatul Sembiring found himself at the centre of a media maelstrom for shaking hands with First Lady Michelle Obama after he swore he would not touch a woman to

Man: Rattan also needs image building, right?

Rattan producers say that the government needs to promote the rattan industry and lift a ban on the export of unprocessed fiber, which has resulted in a dramatic decline in the numbers of raw rattan producers and threatens a formerly a reliable source of income for many local communities.

Dini Mawuntyas, Surabaya – The head of the board of directors of the Tanjung Perak branch of the Land Transport Organisation in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya, Kodi Lomahayu, says that 6,000 transport workers at the port are threatened with dismissal.

Jakarta – The national banking industry appears to be controlled by foreign interests. The proportion of foreign ownership has steadily risen to almost half of the total capacity of the banking industry.

Jakarta – Human rights organisations the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) and Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) have called on the Indonesia-East Timor Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) to immediately hand over the results of its work and those that the institu