Muslim hard-liners in Indonesia continued their protests against the Miss World pageant that is scheduled to take place this weekend on the resort island of Bali. About 1,000 members of the Islamic group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia rallied outside the building housing the local organizer of the contest on Thursday. While chanting “Allah Akbar,” or God Read more
Indonesia’s religious affairs minister has called for the Miss World beauty pageant to be cancelled, as opposition in the Muslim-majority country mounts the week before the contest opens in Bali. Suryadharma Ali said that the organisers should follow the advice of the nation’s top Islamic clerical body, which last week called for the contest to Read more
Credible and disturbing reports are continuing to emerge from Tingginambut, Puncak Jaya, in the West Papuan highlands, detailing evidence of another violent rampage by the Indonesian army special forces (Kopassus) against civilians throughout May, allegedly by Kopassus officers stationed in the district which has been suffering war conditions since February. Continue reading Continue Reading Radio Read more
Human rights groups in Indonesia’s Papua province, and the Baptist Church in Jayapura say Melanesian children are still being removed from their families, and sent to Islamic schools in Jakarta. According to a six-month Good Weekend investigation children, possibly in their thousands, have been enticed away over the past decade or more with the promise of a free education.In Read more
Indonesian police and army units have conducted heavily armed security sweeps across Jayapura ahead of planned mass demonstrations by civil society organizations, including the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Indonesia’s annexation of West Papua. The raids began at 3am local time on April 30, after the new Papuan Governor Lukas Read more
Brothers and Sisters of one nation and one country of West Papua, who are now moving between and under trees, in the deep and wide forests of Papua, on the coastal areas, down the valleys and on the swampy areas, who are now fighting for our rights openly or in a clandestine manner, even to Read more
Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully would not meet West Papuan freedom fighter Benny Wenda when he was in New Zealand last month even though the New Zealand Embassy in Jakarta had recommended a meeting take place if Mr Wenda requested it. There have been numerous reports from West Papua about the voilent behaviour of the Indonesian military and Read more
To avoid the threat of closure, six Catholic schools in Indonesia have agreed to teach Islam to their Muslim students. A local ordinance in Blitar city, East Java, requires all Muslim students, wherever they might be educated, to be able to read and write verses from the Koran. A representative of the Islamic Anti-Discrimination Network Read more
The visit of Frederika Korain has opened up prospects for the further development of relationships between New Zealand and the Papuan people of Indonesian-governed West Papua. Frederika is a former staff member of the SKP (Justice and Peace) office of the Diocese of Jayapura, now studying in Australian National University in Canberra. She has been Read more
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has spoken out against the Indonesian government’s continued persecution of religious minorities. Navanethem Pillay urged the world’s largest Muslim nation to translate universal human rights obligations into domestic law. Continue reading