Five people shot dead by police
Five people were shot dead by police who were attempting to fend off an attack on a police station in the East Java town of Bondowoso. The Jakarta Post said that, according to police, some 600 people carrying Molotov cocktails, sickles and other weapons attacked and tried to burn down the station in the early hours of September 28.
Police claim the attack was in protest at the release of a murder suspect and that they "went through all existing procedures, from using rubber bullets to live ones".
However, the regional chief of the Nahdlatul Ulama Muslim organisation, Ali Maschan Moesa, claimed that the unrest was sparked by people's anger over the involvement of the Bondowoso police chief, Marwoto Suto, in a gambling ring.
He said that even the authorities admit Marwoto was "slow" in tackling the problem "but the people of Bondowoso feel that he is not only slow but actually behind the gambling".
"The police chief has promised that he will be replaced ... I have told people the news, and that's why the situation has calmed down" Moesa added.
Students protest fuel price hike
Some 200 students demonstrated in Jakarta on September 24 against fuel price increases, due to come into effect on October 1. According the Jakarta Post, students burned car tyres and gave speeches saying the policy would "kill the people with low incomes" before marching to the parliament.
A spokesperson for the students said it was hard to accept the official reasons for the increase. "The people have yet to recover from the economic crisis. The government takes people's real condition for granted."
Thousands descend on West Java parliament
On September 26, thousands of peasants descended on the provincial parliament in Bandung, West Java, joining hundreds of textile workers already occupying the building.
The Detik news service said the protesters were protesting against government corruption and demanding that the parliament be dissolved. They also called for their minimum wage levels to be increased to match the higher level of Jakarta workers.
Ari Wahab, head of the West Java Peasants' Union, said that the government did not care about the fate of poor people and that there have been increasing incidents of land being seized and turned over to industry without consultation with the owners.
The peasants also accused the State Logistics Agency, which handles the purchase and distribution of rice, of protecting the interests of the government as it had done under former President Suharto.
They also said the agency collaborated with the National Development Planning Agency and the World Bank to import low quality rice, causing the price of rice produced by Indonesian farmers to fall. They demanded the government raise tariffs on imported rice to 150%.
Farmers flood streets of Surabaya
Thousands of farmers from all over East Java flooded the streets of the provincial capital, Surabaya, on September 26, demanding that the government pay more attention to their declining standard of living.
Led by the East Java Farmer Organisation Union, the demonstration was joined by farmers from Gresik, Bondowoso, Lumajang, Situbondo, Pasuruan and Madura. Representatives from other provinces also attended.
Detik said that the rally began in the centre of the city then marched to the parliament some five kilometres away. Upon arriving they occupied the building's square and lobby. A number of university students also joined the action with street theatre depicting the suffering of farmers.
The demonstrators called for reforms to agrarian legislation saying that current laws favoured large landowners. They also demanded that the government stop using violence and intimidation to settle land disputes which they said was a trade mark of the Suharto period.
[For more information about political developments in Indonesia and West Papua, visit the web site of Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor at <http://www.asiet.org.au>.]