Following Wednesday’s violent government crackdown on a peaceful pro-independence rally in Jayapura, some pro-Indonesian Papuan activists are saying the rally’s true purpose was a cynical push by its organizers for personal political gain.

“The Papuan Congress has sacrificed a lot of Papuan people, therefore, I am asking the people of Papua not to let themselves be provoked by the referendum [independence] issue,” said Heemskercke Bonay, an activist from West Papua in Jakarta.

“The referendum issue declared in the congress was pushed by elites [in the Papuan Customary Council] who claimed that it was on behalf of the people,” Heemskercke said.

He was referring to the reading of a Papuan declaration of independence at Wednesday’s gathering. That act, along with the raising of the separatist Morning Star flag, prompted police and military forces to attempt to disperse the large gathering by firing shots and beating and arresting dozens of people.

Six people have been confirmed killed in the aftermath of the rally. Military and police spokesmen have denied responsibility for the deaths.

Ramses Ohee, the Papuan chairman of the pro-Indonesia Red and White Troops (BMP), said his organization rejected the calls for a separate Papuan state.

“We firmly refuse the calls for an independent Papua declared during the congress,” he said.

Ramses admitted that there were many problems that the central government needed to address in the province, especially regarding development and local politics, but that separation from Indonesia was not the answer.

More than 500 students marched to the National Monument, near the State Palace, on Thursday to denounce the leadership of the president and vice president.

The students, protesting under the banner of the Alliance of Indonesian University Student Councils, said Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his deputy, Boediono, had failed the country.

Muhammad Sayyidi, president of the student council at Padjadjaran University in Bandung, said they wanted the administration to live up to its promises to improve the life of the nation.

“After two years of the Yudhoyono-Boediono government, we rate its performance as poor,” he said. “It has failed to improve prosperity or uphold the law.”

He also said students were angry that education standards had not been improved.

The “nine-year compulsory study” program had proven unsuccessful, he said, and students were waiting for the government’s next move.

The student demonstration, which began early in the day, included theatrical twists such as pocong (ghosts), caskets and headstones marked “education,” “health” and “law enforcement.”

Students said the symbols were intended to suggest that Indonesia was in mourning for the failed Yudhoyono-Boediono government.

The students also said the government was dragging its feet on providing social security. Elisabeth Oktofani

Arientha Primanita, Ismira Lutfia, Rizky Amelia & Elisabeth Oktofani

The government says it will ensure mobile phone network operators reconfirm consumers’ subscriptions to premium SMS services and Ring Back Tones as police push ahead investigating allegations of phone credit theft.

“Services such as premium SMS and RBT will have to be reconfirmed to check whether customers wish to continue their subscriptions or not,” said Gatot Dewa Broto, a spokesman for the Communications and Information Technology Ministry.

The deadline for reconfirmation is today at midnight.

Some providers allow people to set music as an RBT. The government will not halt the services, Gatot said.

“This is certainly not going to disadvantage musicians. In fact, it will protect them,” he added.

Frustration over telephone credit theft gained public exposure when Feri Kuntoro, a man from East Jakarta, reported Telkomsel to the police two weeks ago for letting a content provider siphon off his credit.

Sr. Comr. Baharudin Djafar, a spokesman for the Jakarta Police, has reassured consumers that police were taking the phone credit theft allegations seriously.

Baharudin said digital forensics techniques would help tell whether a complainant had attempted to cancel a disputed subscription or not. “The important thing is that we explore first whether or not there is a criminal aspect to each case,” he said.

Baharudin added that police had only received three reports of alleged crimes from the public: those of Feri Kuntoro, Hendri Kurniawan and Daniel Kumendong. Those cases were being probed by the Jakarta Police’s cyber-crime unit, he said.

Feri presented further evidence to police on Monday, Baharudin said, handing over physical evidence to support his initial report made on Oct. 4.

The police have also taken the initiative to consult experts in the case, he said.

“We’ve contacted language experts, consumer experts, IT experts and even the Social Affairs Ministry — for cases where there’s a prize on offer, to check whether the competition is registered or not,” Baharudin said.

Network operator Telkomsel will be questioned this week in connection with Feri’s report, the spokesman said.

Feri’s attorney, David Tobing said public-interest lawyers were ready to report network providers that ignored a letter of instruction issued on Friday by the Indonesian Telecommunication Regulatory Body (BRTI).

“I, personally, along with NGOs, will monitor the implementation of the instruction. If there are any [network operators] that breach it, we’ll report them to police,” David said on Monday.

The BRTI’s letter of instruction was directed at 10 mobile network operators, requiring them to take various steps to protect consumers.

These include a ban until further notice on broadcast text messages, pop-up screens and broadcast voice messages. Information must also be prepared for consumers and any unfairly deducted credit be returned.

The Indonesian Cellular Phone Association (ATSI) has indicated its preparedness to comply with the instructions, its chief Sarwoto Atmosutarno told a news conference on Monday.

Sarwoto is also the president director of Telkomsel.

Konfirmasi ulang harus dilaksanakan paling lambat pada 18 Oktober.

Pemerintah menegaskan operator telepon seluler diwajibkan mengkonfirmasi ulang layanan Ring Back Tone (RBT) kepada para pelanggan.

“Layanan SMS Premium seperti RBT akan dikonfirmasi ulang kepada para pelanggannya apakah mereka masih akan melanjutkan langganan tersebut atau tidak,” kata Gatot S Dewa Broto, Kepala Humas dan Pusat Informasi di Kementerian Komunikasi dan Informatika, kepada beritasatu.com, Jakarta, hari ini.

Gatot menambahkan yang dihentikan bukanlah jasa layanan SMS Premium seperti RBT yang dihentikan, melainkan SMS Broadcast berupa promosi hingga batas waktu yang akan disampaikan nanti.

Dijelaskannya, konfirmasi ulang tersebut harus dilaksanakan paling lambat pada tanggal 18 Oktober tengah pukul 00.00 WIB. “Yang jelas penataan ulang SMS Premium ini tidak akan merugikan musisi namun justru melindungi mereka,” tandas dia.

Consumers battling the automatic deduction of cellphone credits for unsolicited content have notched up a major victory with a government moratorium on operators offering such content.

The Indonesia Telecommunications Regulatory Body (BRTI) announced over the weekend that it had issued a letter to the 10 cellphone operators in the country to stop them offering the paid content via text message, pop-up screens or voice broadcasts for an indefinite period.

Gatot Dewa Broto, a spokesman for the Communications and Information Technology Ministry, said on Sunday that the move was the government’s response to reports of premium content bilking consumers of phone credit and recommendations by the House of Representatives to crack down on unscrupulous content providers.

“The operators have also been instructed to de-register all customers from these premium message services by midnight on Monday at the latest,” he said.

“They will then have to notify their customers about the de-registration and instruct them on how to register again if they choose to do so, without incurring extra charges.”

In another step toward greater consumer protection, the BRTI has also required the 10 operators to tabulate and submit a list of the amount of credit deducted from each customer for these services since registering.

“This is concrete proof of the government’s response to consumer concerns about the stealing of phone credits,” Gatot said.

The issue of unsolicited deductions came to the public attention when Jakarta resident Feri Kuntoro reported Telkomsel, the country’s biggest mobile operator, to the police earlier this month for letting a content provider siphon his phone credit.

Feri was himself later reported to the police for defamation by Colibri Network, the content provider in question, though he insisted he had not leveled any accusations against them.

Last week, Feri told the Jakarta Globe that he was being harassed after lodging the report and that he had appealed to the Victim and Witness Protection Agency (LPSK) for help.

Renowned consumer rights advocate David Tobing, who is representing Feri in his lawsuit, said the BRTI’s order was less than satisfactory because it did not actually oblige the operators to de-register their customers from the premium services.

“So what the operators have done is give their customers the option of de-registering, and not actively done it themselves,” he said on Sunday.

He cited the case of Telkomsel, which has sent out text messages instructing customers with active premium message subscriptions on how they can de-register.

“That kind of message giving customers the option to de-register won’t necessarily be acted on by all customers,” David said.

Activists tried to get people to switch off their cellphones for two hours on Saturday to protest the unsolicited deductions, but it was unclear how many heeded the call to hang up o n their cellular companies.

Saputra Harja, the organizer o f the No Handphone Movement, said he was trying to confirm the number of people who joined in.

“I am optimistic that many people participated by turning off their phones for two hours,” Saputra said. “But we still have to see how this affected mobile phone traffic.”

The group blames providers for failing to crack down on unscrupulous content companies that steal phone credits from unsuspecting consumers.