A Dutch filmmaker shares the painful story of his family, whose brother was adopted from Indonesia in the 1970s.
Huibert van Wijk, a filmmaker, examines the difficulties of international adoption from the perspective of his own family. Due to conflict surrounding Tim’s adoption, his adopted brother, Tim, and their father, Lex, have been separated for years.
Tim was left with significant psychological scars after Lex accepted her as a good deed. Both men feel regret as they reflect on their past as the Netherlands decides to phase out international adoption.
In a major concession to those who take part in anti-government protests that have resulted in the deaths of at least five people, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto claims political parties have agreed to revoke a number of benefits and privileges for parliamentarians.
After one person was killed by a police officer at a protest site, protests began on Monday and turned into riots on Thursday over what the demonstrators have criticized as excessive pay and housing allowances for parliamentarians.
As a result of protests that erupted in major cities in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, rioters burned or set up some of the political party’s leaders’ homes or set on fire some of their own.
At a press conference held by the leaders of the various political parties, Prabowo said, “Leaders in parliament have stated that they will revoke a number of parliament policies, including the size of the allowances for members of parliament and a moratorium on overseas work trips.”
The president argued that the state must intervene if protests are peaceful and that “the state must protect its citizens” if people loot private homes or destroy public facilities. He claimed that he had mandated strict measures against rioters and looters on behalf of the military and police.
“Respectful and protected should be the right to peaceful assembly. But “we cannot ignore the signs of acts committed against the law, even those that lean toward treason and terrorism,” he said.
Widespread protests
After a video of a motorcycle taxi driver being run over by a police vehicle at a rally against perks for lawmakers went viral, the protests spread throughout Indonesia, including Jakarta, the country’s capital.
Affan Kurniawan’s death was the subject of an investigation, and the president promised to assist his family. For investigation, seven officers were taken into custody in the armored van.
Numerous protesters’ grievances are raised, but this week’s rallies focused on the revelation that Jakarta’s lawmakers were receiving a housing allowance nearly ten times the minimum wage.
Other cities, including Yogyakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya in Java and Medan in North Sumatra, saw demonstrations in other cities.
In the eastern city of Makassar, protesters set fire to a council building on Saturday, killing at least three people.
As part of an international maritime initiative aimed at distributing humanitarian aid to Gaza’s starving population, a global fleet of boats is gearing up to sail for the region.
The first convoy, which will arrive in Tunisia on September 4 and consists of dozens of small civilian vessels carrying activists, doctors, nurses, seafarers, and humanitarian supplies, is scheduled to leave from Spanish ports on August 31.
More than 50 ships and delegations from at least 44 nations are gathered together for the Global Sumud Flotilla, according to organizers, making it the largest maritime mission to Gaza.
Which nations are participating?
As part of the largest maritime mission to end Israel’s illegal siege, delegations from 44 nations have already agreed to sail to Gaza, according to the Global Sumud Flotilla.
The flotilla will include nations like Australia, Brazil, South Africa, and numerous other European nations from six different continents.
Participants don’t belong to any political party or government, according to the group.
Who are the participating groups?
Four significant coalitions, including those who have previously participated in land and sea missions to Gaza, are organizing this mission:
Global Movement to Gaza (GMTG): A grassroots movement organizing global solidarity marches to end the siege of Gaza.
Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC): With 15 years of experience operating ships, including ships like the Madleen and Handala, FFC provides practical guidance, hands-on advice, guidance, and operational support for the ongoing efforts to break the Gaza blockade.
The Maghreb Sumud Flotilla, formerly known as the Sumud Convoy, is a North African-based initiative that sends solidarity missions to Palestinian communities.
Sumud Nusantara, a people-led convoy from Malaysia and eight other nations, aims to end the blockade in Gaza and foster global South solidarity.
They will collectively form the largest civilian flotilla ever to be coordinated.
Who are the involved parties?
The coalition, which includes organisers, humanitarians, doctors, artists, clergy, lawyers, and sailors, is made up of people who share the same belief as the Global Sumud Flotilla website and who also share a common belief: the siege and genocide must end.
Greta Thunberg, a historian in Sweden, Kleoniki Alexopoulou, a socioscientist and lawyer, Karen Moynihan, a social scientist and activist, Saif Abukeshek, Muhammad Nadir al-Nuri, activist Marouan Ben Guettaia, activist Wael Nawar, activist Hayfa Mansouri, activist and social researcher, and activist Torkia Chaibi are just a few members of the steering committee.
Tens of thousands of people have signed up to take part in the initiative, despite the fact that hundreds will sail from the organized fleet.
On June 1, 2025, in Catania, Italy, Greta Thunberg, center, and Thiago Avila, right, speak to journalists.
How long will it take the ships to arrive in Gaza and when?
Saif Abukeshek stated in a press briefing from Barcelona’s Placa del Rei that the precise number would be later and that security concerns had prevented the specific ports and ships from being disclosed.
The fleet’s estimated 3, 000 km (1, 620 nautical miles) journey to Gaza will take between seven and eight days, according to the group.
Why do people need to send aid by sea, and what is a flotilla?
A flotilla is a group of ships or boats tasked with delivering essential supplies, including food, medicine, and other goods, to areas in need. When traditional supply routes, such as air and land corridors, are blocked or inaccessible, they are typically organized.
Israel has tight control over Gaza’s airspace and territorial waters since 2007 and has since slowed down movement of people and goods. After Israel bombed and destroyed the Yasser Arafat International Airport in 2001, just three years after it opened, Gaza had no functioning airports.
Humanitarian and grassroots flotillas are typically governed by naval laws and are protected by international organizations.
The Sumud flotilla aims to confront Israel’s blockade head-on and send the message that the siege must end by providing aid by sea.
What happened to earlier flotillas?
The blockade of Gaza has been broken by a number of Freedom Flotilla vessels.
The Free Gaza Movement’s first naval blockade breach was completed in 2008 when two boats successfully reached Gaza. Between 2008 and 2016, the movement, which was started by activists during Israel’s occupation of Lebanon, launched 31 boats, five of which reached Gaza despite severe Israeli restrictions.
Israeli flotillas trying to break the Gaza Strip have been intercepted or attacked in international waters since 2010.
Gaza Freedom Flotilla in 2010
The Mavi Marmara was attacked in international waters by Israeli commandos in 2010. Hundreds of people were hurt in the assault, which caused a total outcry. More than 600 passengers and humanitarian aid were on board the ship.
Freedom Flotilla II in 2011
Following the mission’s completion in 2010, Freedom Flotilla II was launched in 2011. It was a coalition of international activists and NGOs’s intended use of Gaza as a humanitarian aid delivery point.
Freedom Flotilla III in 2015
In 2015, international activists made their third major attempt to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. The FFC-managed mission involved a number of vessels, with Marianne of Gothenburg, Sweden’s Marianne, leading the charge.
Activists board the ship Thales of Miletus, a ship from the Third Gaza Freedom Flotilla that was forced to leave Ashdod by Israeli forces, to return to Greece.
2018: Palestine’s Just Future
The FFC has been working to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. The Just Future for Palestine Flotilla, also known as the 2018 Gaza Freedom Flotilla, is a part of this effort.
Break the Siege of “Conscience” in 2025.
Just 14 nautical miles (25 kilometers) off the Malta coast, the Conscience was struck twice by armed drones as it prepared to sail to Gaza on May 2. The 30 Turkish and Azeri activists on board were forced to work so hard to save the ship from the fire that caused a significant breach in the hull.
The Israeli military intercepted 2025-Madleen, which was launched by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) on June 9 and is located about 185 kilometers (100 nautical miles) offshore Gaza.
On June 9, 2025, activists on the Gaza-bound aid boat Madleen are seen holding their hands in the air as they are being illegally boarded by Israeli soldiers [Sosyal Medya/Anadolu] in an image taken from footage released by the FFC.
In Indonesia, violent clashes between riot police and protesters have erupted, with low-paid residents reportedly receiving low wages from the general public.
After a video of a delivery rider being allegedly run over by an armored police vehicle at a rally last week went viral, causing outrage in several of Southeast Asia’s biggest cities, tensions erupted on Sunday.
At least three people were killed in a fire started by protesters at a council building in eastern Indonesia on Saturday, according to a local official.
Less than a year into his rule, the protests are the largest and most violent of Prabowo Subianto’s presidency, which is a crucial test for the ex-general.
Over the weekend, protesters gathered again in various locations throughout Indonesia’s vast archipelago. In front of Bali, Indonesia’s most well-known tourist hotspot, hundreds of students and “ojek” motorcycle taxi drivers staged a protest.
As social media app TikTok announced it had temporarily suspended its live feature for “a few days” in Indonesia, where it has more than 100 million users, hundreds of students in Surabaya also staged a demonstration outside the East Java police headquarters.
On Friday, hundreds of people gathered outside the headquarters of the elite Mobile Brigade Corps (Brimob), the paramilitary police force they blamed for the death of motorcycle performer Affan Kurniawan the day before in Jakarta.
President Prabowo urged calm and mandated an investigation into the driver’s death, calling on the police to be held accountable.
The largest humanitarian crisis in history has resulted from the Sudanese armed forces’ (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) paramilitary.
Despite now entering its third year, estimates suggest that tens of thousands of people have lost their lives in combat and thousands more have lost their lives in the war.
This month saw a lot of significant military and political developments. The most significant updates are:
Military and combat control
The SAF, which it took from the RSF in March, is regaining control of Khartoum, the capital. In addition to Port Sudan, Sudan’s capital and eastern region, is located in the Red Sea.
The RSF is in charge of the Kordofan region and Darfur’s sprawling western region, which are both in the RSF’s hands.
El-Fasher, the SAF’s final Darfur garrison, is still under the RSF’s control as it continues to rule the country’s capital. The RSF will be in power over a portion of western Sudan, roughly the size of France, if El-Fasher is toppled.
El-Fasher and nearby displacement camps, including the Abu Shouk camp, where 190, 000 people from around Darfur have sought shelter, have seen more attacks from the RSF.
According to recent satellite imagery obtained by the Yale Humanitarian Research Hub, it has also constructed enormous sand berms from the north, west, and east around El-Fasher, effectively creating a “kill-box.”
By collaborating with a new ally, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, the RSF is attempting to expand its influence in Kordofan. In February, the two organizations forged a military alliance to combat the SAF.
The RSF maintains control of the majority of West and South Kordofan, giving them access to South Sudan cross-borderally with the SPLM-N.
El-Obeid, the most important city in North Kordofan, is under the control of SAF, which the RSF is occupying. El-Obeid must be kept by the SAF to prevent the RSF from threatening central Sudan.
[Interactive/Al Jazeera] A map of the areas that the RSF and SAF control in and around the strategic city of El-Obeid, North Kordofan.
Humanitarian crisis
According to UNICEF, the RSF has ejected 260, 000 civilians in El-Fasher, including 130, 000 children, making the area an “epicentre of child suffering.”
Even this is running out, but the majority of them are surviving on animal fodder known as ambaz, which is the leftover from pressed oil seeds like peanuts, sesame, and sunflowers, to grind into a paste.
According to figures released by Relief International and shared with Al Jazeera, about one-third of the children in Mellit, a city close to El-Fasher, are reportedly severely malnourished. That is more than twice the threshold for a malnutrition emergency according to the World Health Organization.
According to Adam Rojal, the spokesperson for internally displaced people in Darfur, a cholera outbreak is aggravated by the humanitarian crisis in the vast region of the country. He claimed on August 30 that the water-borne illness had claimed the lives of nine people that day and had infected 143 others, totaling 382 deaths since the epidemic first emerged in June 2025.
Due to road closures and bureaucratic obstacles, food convoys from the UN and other nongovernmental organizations rarely arrive in Darfur. Both sides are accused of using food as a weapon by human rights activists and local activists.
No food convoys have been dispatched to North Darfur in more than a year, despite the World Food Programme’s declaration to provide electronic cash assistance to the region’s vulnerable population.
A drone strike on a UN food convoy hit North Darfur on Friday, the second-aid convoy in three months. The attack was blamed on RSF and SAF, respectively.
Due to the RSF’s siege on Dilling and Kadugli, South Kordofan is experiencing a similar hunger emergency.
political and diplomatic developments
On August 31 in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo reportedly sworn in as the parallel “Peace government” president. A drone strike was carried out on the same day by SAF.
According to Sudanese experts and media outlets, SAF Commander-in-Chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and a US adviser reportedly met in Switzerland in mid-August to discuss a strategy to end the conflict. The talks have not been confirmed by the US.
A week after the secret meeting, al-Burhan retired a number of senior military personnel, some of whom reportedly belong to Sudan’s political Islamist movement, which had been in power for 30 years under former president Omar al-Bashir. According to experts, al-Burhan is being pressured by outside forces to lessen the influence of well-known figures in the al-Bashir government.
As protests against police brutality and economic inequality mount, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is ordered to rescind his trip to China. After police ran over and killed a ride-hailing driver on Thursday, violent anti-government demonstrations grew.
