From the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN), July 14:

ETAN Renews Call for Meaningful Justice for Victims of Indonesian Occupation
International Tribunal Needed in Wake of Commission of Truth and Friendship Report
The new report of the bi-lateral Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) does little to advance accountability for the many crimes against humanity committed by Indonesia in Timor-Leste, the U.S.-based East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) said today. The report, Per Memoriam Ad Spem (From Memory to Hope), is scheduled to be handed to the presidents of Indonesia and Timor-Leste in Bali on Tuesday.

The Ahmadiyyah Muslim community in Indonesia is planning to file a lawsuit against the government over a new decree banning activities by the sect, condemned as "deviant" by protesters. "We ask the silent majority of moderate Muslims in Indonesia to speak out because now we are being held hostage by a small group of hardliners who commit violence and who want to change the ideology of our state," said Siti Musdah Mulia of the National Alliance for Religious Freedom.

Three people were killed and 20 injured when a bomb exploded May 28 at the offices of USAID-supported programs housed at the Philippine military's Edwin Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga, Mindanao. The dead included family members of Philippine military personnel waiting for a cargo flight to Manila, and children were among the injured. Edwin Andrews housed US Special Forces advisors before they were transfered to the Western Mindanao Philippine military command center, two kilometers away.

The price of rice in Burma has jumped 50% since Cyclone Nargis devastated the country's most important croplands and destroyed several fully stocked grain warehouses. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that the cyclone may "sharply decrease national rice production and impair access to food." And the disaster comes as global rice prices are at an unprecedented high.

From Democratic Voice of Burma, May 10:

The Burmese military regime held its national referendum in most of the country today, despite criticism from those who said it should be prioritising assistance for the victims of Cyclone Nargis.

Burmese soldiers and riot police opened fire at Insein Prison in Rangoon, killing 36 and injuring 70, after 1,500 inmates there rioted the aftermath of the devastating cyclone Nargis, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPPB). The facility, which houses many political prisoners, is described by former inmates as "the darkest hell-hole in Burma." AAPPB reported: "Even though prisoners requested prison guards to open the doors and move them to safety, the authorities ignored their request. Some prisoners set fire to the prison hall and a riot ensued." KAAPPB's Bo Kyi said: "The authorities are to blame for this situation. As soon as the storm hit, they should have moved the prisoners to safety." (The Telegraph, May 7)

Two small blasts hit Burma's first city Rangoon April 20, damaging cars in the downtown area but causing no injuries. The blasts, the latest in a spate of similar incidents this year, come three weeks before a referendum on a proposed army-backed constitution—Burma's first public voting since 1990. The first explosion struck outside a bar a few streets away from Rangoon's City Hall. Just over an hour later, a second blast went off near a luxury hotel in the city center.

Chanting "Allahu Akbar" and "Disband Ahmadiyya," some 1,000 members of the Indonesian Muslim Forum (FUI) marched on the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta April 21 to demand President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issue a decree to ban the "deviant" Islamic sect. "We are pushing the president to immediately issue a presidential decree disbanding Ahmadiyya," FUI secretary general Muhammad Al Khaththath told Reuters. The FUI also demanded the government arrest Ahmadiyya leaders and seize all the organization's assets.