A recent case in which a hospital was accused of denying a family the right to take home and bury the body of their deceased newborn baby because the parents could not meet their medical bill has highlighted the fact that hospitals are still discriminating against poor families who are entitled to free medical treatment.

Yogyakarta – Scores of students from the Politics of the Poor-National Student League for Democracy (LMND-PRM) held a protest action at the University of Gajah Mada traffic circle on Tuesday November 17 urging the government to provide free education and review education policies that harm the people.

Left: Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari holding Health Law.

1st Man: Free schooling for all...

2nd Man: Free? Isn’t it getting more expensive?

1st Man: What’s free is the children, the parents still have to pay.

Parwito, Temanggung – Thousands of tobacco farmers throughout Central Java gathered at the Temanggung regency town square on Monday February 16 to hold a massive protest against the Indonesia Ulama Council (MUI) edict (fatwa) against smoking.

Andi Saputra, Jakarta – Hundreds of environmental activists from several different non-government organisations held an action at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in Central Jakarta on December 6 in which they painted a miniature globe on a 20 metre length of white cloth symbolising a bomb that is about to explode.

Denpasar – In the campaign to eradicate illiteracy, women need special priority because the illiteracy rate among women is more than twice as high as men.

Papers read: Virus research, bacterial research.

Sign above door: Posyandu – Integrated Health Service Post.

Ari Saputra, Jakarta – Rather than satisfying parents, the free downloading of school books from the internet appears instead to have resulted in around 50 housewives demonstrating at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in Central Jakarta on Thursday July 24. They were demanding the free distribution of school books.

Nurvita Indarini, Jakarta – Seventy percent of the earth’s surface is covered with water. Not all of it however is fit for consumption, because only around 2.5 percent is fresh water. Unfortunately the rest is salt water.