December
27, 2006: The government is negotiating with India and Iran, hoping to get
good prices on military weapons and equipment. Both countries can provide
weapons even more cheaply than Russia, who is currently the major supplier.
India also has extensive experience maintaining Russian equipment, particularly
aircraft like the Su-30.
November
25, 2006: In East Timor, rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado, continues to
elude capture, and has declared that he deliberately withheld firearms from UN
peacekeepers (who were collecting illegal guns) because he and his men need the
weapons to "defend the people." Reinado's gang, comprise mostly
of several hundred men from eastern East Timor, are apparently laying low, until
most of the peacekeepers are gone.
November
24, 2006: The effort to introduce Shaira (Islamic) law in Aceh has been
stalled by resistance from many locals, and foreign aid organizations. The
restrictions on women (like not being able to go out after 8 PM without a male
relative as a chaperone) are particularly unpopular. Some aid organizations
have threatened to pull out of Aceh if the Islamic conservatives get more
Islamic laws enforced. Islamic conservatives are trying to get Sharia law
adopted by the entire country, but there is strong resistance to that.
