Geneva – The 1996 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureates, East Timorese Bishop D. Ximenes Belo and activist José Ramos Horta, have been invited for a joint news conference during the annual meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) scheduled for March in Geneva.

Ramos Horta has already confirmed his presence in the initiative by the non-governmental organization "Geneve-Libertés" while D. Ximenes Belo said that his trip to Switzerland would depend on a visa being granted by the Indonesian authorities.

The news conference is scheduled for March 20 as the UNHRC holds its annual meeting in the Swiss city.

Ramos Horta and Belo were jointly awarded the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize for their role in seeking a peaceful solution for the East Timor conflict.

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1996 and annexed it one year later but the United Nations still regards Portugal as the territorys administering power. Lusa/Fim

105 released, at least four still detained (names unknown)

Amnesty International - ASA 21/07/97, 19 February 1997

Of those arrested in the Viqueque district of East Timor in relation to disturbances between 7 and 11 February, 105 have now been released, leaving at least four still in detention. According to reports, many of those that have been released were tortured or ill-treated while in custody.

According to East Timor police chief, Colonel Yusuf Muharram four people "who engaged in destruction [are] being interrogated and are suspected of causing the incident". No information was given about their names or whereabouts. In view of the reports of torture and ill-treatment of the 105 who have been released, Amnesty International is seriously concerned for the safety of those still in detention.

East Timor: Why did the Portuguese leave East Timor?

Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs

What is described as a "process of decolonization" by Portugal is in fact a record of failure and ineptitude. In July 1975, the Portuguese government ordered formation of a transitional government for East Timor to prepare for the election in October 1976 of a Popular Assembly that was to take responsibility for determining the future status of the territory. Under this plan, sovereignty was to have been granted to East Timor by Portugal as of October 1978. Prior to this plan, Indonesian President Soeharto said that his government had no territorial ambitions in East Timor or anywhere else, was opposed to colonialism and would accept Portuguese Timor's integration with Indonesia only if that was in line with the wishes of the people.

In August 1975, however, the colonial authorities in Dili simply packed up and left East Timor, after allowing the situation in the territory to deteriorate to the point of civil war. Worse, Portugal was guilty of practically instigating civil war by secretly turning over its arms and ammunition to one minority group, FRETILIN. The resulting civil war was the culmination of centuries of colonial neglect and a completely bungled and irresponsible decolonization process. By failing in its responsibility, Portugal has forfeited any right to still be considered the "administering power" of East Timor.

In the face of this, the East Timorese rightly assumed their inherent right to decolonize themselves, considering themselves no longer bound to any decolonization covenant with the erswhile colonial power. They did this by choosing independence through integration with Indonesia in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 1514 (V) and Principles VI, VIII and IX of General Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV) and as further confirmed by the relevant provisions of General Assembly Resolution 2625 (XXV).

Why did Indonesia become involved?

In the wake of Portugal's abdiction of responsibility, Indonesia was confronted with a situation that threatened to disrupt its national development and security. In much of 1975, Indonesia was not involved in the events unfolding in East Timor, although it had to bear the consequences of turmoil in the form of 40,000 refugees fleeing across its border into Indonesian West Timor.

On September 7, 1974, during this period of turmoil, the four major political parties existing in East Timor submitted a petition to the Indonesian government to integrate with the Republic of Indonesia. The implementation of this process took place on May 31, 1976, when the People's Assembly of East Timor decided to formally request that the Indonesian government accept the integration of the territory with Indonesia. It should be noted that the entire process was conducted in accordance with the traditional democratic principals of the East Timorese people, and in compliance with the relevant United Nations General Assembly resolutions. It was witnessed at every stage by scores of foreign diplomats and international media representatives, and culminated in the formal promulgation into law of the Statute of Integra- tion by the president of Indonesia on July 17, 1976.

Indonesia's involvement in East Timor was determined by a chain of events that occured more than 20 years ago. When the dictatorial Caetano regime in Portugal was overthrown in April 1974, and the new Portuguese government proclaime its intention to decolonize all its overseas provinces, Indonesia welcomed that decision, having over the years supported the bid of the East Timorese to exercise their right to self-determination. On that occasion, Indonesia reiterated its oft-stated position that, in having no territorial claim to East Timor, it would abide by any decision by the East Timorese regarding their political future through a proper and fair process of decolonization.

Prior to Portugal's abandonment of East Timor, Indonesia had scrupulously maintained that its territory comprised only the former Nederlands East Indies. This, in spite of the fact that East Timor is half and island situated in the middle of Indonesia's archipelago. If Indonesia had ever coveted that territory, as Portugal has alleged, would it not have been easier to move when Portugal under the Salazar/Caetano regime was so universally unpopular that there would have been little risk of international critisism, as in the case of Goa in 1964?

Indonesia's involvement rather, reflected a humanitarian response to a legitimate request for assistance made by an East Timorese majority, being violated by a violent minority who had been well-armed by the desserting Portuguese.

Indonesia from the outset supported the efforts of the new government of Portugal to decolonize East Timor and repeatedly reaffirmed its readiness to cooperate with Portugal in the peaceful and orderly implementation of the process of decolonization. Indeed, at the request of Portugal, Indonesia extended its active cooperation to the process as inter alia evidenced by the series of meetings held between high-level representatives of the two sides in New York, September 1974; Lisbon, October 1974; London, March 1975; Jakarta, August and September 1975; and Rome, November 1975.

In fact, as late as November 1975, three months after Portugal's abandonment of East Timor, at a meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries in Rome, Indonesia urged Portugal to return to East Timor to complete the decolonization process in a just and orderly manner. Portugal, however, again failed to make good on its promise.

Indonesia's subsequent involvement was conducted as correctly and in a restrained manner as possible in response to the chaotic and tragic circumstances surrounding the decolonization process in East Timor. Thus, charges of "disrupting the decolonization process" or "annexing, invading or illegally occupying" another independent state are spurious. Indonesia's involvement in East Timor, on the contrary, contributed to the process of decolonization, inter alia, by helping to ensure that the democratically expressed will of the majority of the people was not overruled by the armed terror and unilateral imposition of a ruthless minority.

How has Indonesia aided East Timor?

Every part of the archipelago that is the Republic of Indonesia has been an integral and self-determining part of this strong and unified nation. It has been and remains a goal of Indonesia to ensure that the benefits of the development reach every part of our vast country, proportionate to the needs. Indeed, that is the single reason why East Timor receives the largest amount of development funds on a per capita basis, an investment that has produced thousands of miles of asphalt roads, hospitals, clinics, major housing projects for those displaced by civil war, and hundreds of schools, few to none of which existed under Portuguese rule.

What about the "population discrepancy?"

Of all the myths about East Timor developed and disseminated by Indonesia's detractors, none is more malicious and misleading than the allegation of the number of lives lost in East Timor during and after the process of integration. These critics charged that East Timor's population decreased by 200,000 or more, implying that about one-third of the population either perished or disappeared and that Indonesia should be held responsible.

It is a sad fact that the tragedy, created and prolonged by Portugal's missteps, that engulfed the East Timorese people after 1974 did exact a regrettable toll in human lives. It should be borne in mind, however, that two key factors contributed to any real change in East Timor's population:

First, the civil war that raged in East Timor in 1975-1976 claimed many lives directly and indirectly. Not only did many East Timorese die as a result of the FRETILIN reign of terror, but many also delayed plans for marriage and childbearing, and many families were separated. As a result, the 1980 census showed that children younger than five years of age accounted for only 14.15 percent of the total population, well below the percentage in other provinces. The hunger and disease caused by the disruption of civil war were joined by acts of FRETILIN aggression as major direct causes of loss of life. As might be expected in a violent and chaotic security situation, an abnormally low birthrate was an indirect result of the ongoing civil war. Second, thousands of refugees flooded across the border to West Timor during and immediately after the war. They settled either in West Timor or immigrated to other parts of Indonesia or other countries. A large number of East Timorese and Portuguese nationals have also emigrated to other countries or returned to Portugal under repatriation and family reunion program initiated in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The most recent census of East Timor, taken in 1990 by the Government of Indonesia, estimated the population at 748,000, and a December 1995 official estimate places the number at 843,100. In contrast, an internationally accepted census taken in 1980- by the government then showed a total population of 555,350, marking a decline of some 69,000 from the 1973 colonial estimate of 624,564. The true difference will never be known: colonial authorities themselves acknowledged that their figures for 1973 and earlier were estimates based on reports by "liurais" (village headmen), whose counts were never verified by the Portuguese government.

These figures and the apparent shortfall in population have been eagerly seized upon by Indonesia's critics. Through a process of mutual citation, they have not only been constantly repeated but gradually exaggerated to reach what has now become the fabricated and completely unsubstantiated claim of 200,000 lives lost.

This juggling of numbers represents a shameless distortion af the tragic facts surrounding Portugal's mishandled decolonization of East Timor. Moreover, it also demonstrates a complete and often deliberate misleading of the process of population surveying and census-taking performed prior to and following the departure of the colonial government.

Careful examination of the facts by several observers, including respected Western journalists, suggests that war-related deaths numbered around 5,000 with another 25,000 victims of malnutrition and disease brought about by a war-ravaged economy and a gross lack of health care services. That people have died is tragic enough, but the deliberate manipulation of the number of victims is highly irresponsible and dishonest. It is hoped, therefore, that this unsavory numbers game can finally be put to an end.

How are the cultural, social and religious traditions of the East Timorese protected?

Indonesia is a land of diversity, comprising 300 ethnic groups, which have as many local languages and dialects, each withits own culktural identity and beliefs. The people of West Timor and the surrounding island of eastern Indonesia have the same Melanesian ancestry, culture, language base and customs as the people of East Timor.

Indonesia's adherence to basic human rights and fundamental freedom is clear and unequivocal and flows from our national philosopy, Pancasila. Fundamental to those freedoms is the protection and preservation of the many cultural differences that exist within our different ethnic groups. The rich Hindu culture of the fabled island of Bali is but one example of a unique culture that has not only been preserved but allowed to flourish as part of Indonesia.

Since East Timor was integrated into the Republic of Indonesia, the government has worked carefully to ensure that cultural traditions are maintained, local languages are preserved and religious practices respected. This has included support for cultural institutions and organizations, expansion of economic opportunities for those involved in the commercialization of traditional handicrafts, and financial support for the construction and rehabilitation of facilities of worship an all of the major faiths represented in the province.

East Timor, like the rest of Indonesia, is a province of extraordinary ethnic, religious and cultural diversity - a piece of the mosaic that is the pride of Indonesia. And in this diversity, no one group is dominant. Respect and tolerance for different cultural and religious traditions is at the heart of Pancasila.

The increase in conversions of East Timorese to Catholicism in the past 20 years, from 29 percent under Portuguese rule to 92 percent today, is yet another signal of Indonesia's commitment to religious freedom. Indeed, in a 1989 visit to East Timor, Pope John Paul II said that Indonesia's record of religious tolerance was an example to countries throughout the world.

The protection of the cultural and social traditions of the people of East Timor cannot be denied.

What were the actions taken in connection with the November 12, 1991, incident in Dili?

The events of November 12, 1991, were tragic. They represent the antithesis of Indonesia's policies, its philosophy and its constitution, which is why the Indonesian government reacted swifftly and comprehensively to identify and prosecute those responsible and to implement measures to ensure that such incidents do not occur again. Following the event, Presiden Soeharto expressed on several accasions his regrets to the families of those killed or injured, and quickly estabilished a National Commission of Inquiry to investigate the cause and to recommend actions to be taken. The army chief of staff also estabilished a Military Honor Council to evaluate the conduct and actions of military officers and to ensure that such an incident does not happen again. The findings of the reports of both the Commission and the Council were made public.

What is the status of the missing persons from the incident in Dili?

On June 25, 1993, the Indonesian armed forces commander submitted a progress report to President Soeharto on the results of Indonesia's continuing search for the persons allegedly unaccounted for the following the November 1991 tragedy in Dili.

This report followed an earlier report submitted in July 1992, when the alleged number of those missing was 66 individuals. Since that time, the government has undertaken an exhaustive search involving a number of official agencies as well as civic and social institutions, community leaders and the general public. The names of those reported missing have been widely circulated.

The search has also included assistance from those earlier reported missing and who have since returned to their homes. These actions have reduced the list to 54 individuals allegedly missing. The search continues. In this connection, it is pertinent to note that the Indonesian minister of foreign affairs is personally communicating the results of the search to the United Nations Secretary-General in his continuing efforts to find a just, comprehensive and internationally acceptable solution to the question East Timor.

What is Indonesia's position on human rights?

As a conscientious member of the United Nations and, since 1991, a member of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, Indonesia accepts and recognizes the universal validity of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms. But, as the United Nations rightly enjoins us to do, the promotion and observation of human rights should be put within the context of international cooperation. And, international cooperation presupposes, as a basic condition, respect for the sovereignty of states and the national identity of peoples.

Human rights values are essentially ethical and moral in nature. Hence, any approach to human rights issues with different intentions or ulterior motivations, in other words, politically motivated intentions, should be eschewed.

Human rights are vital and important by and for themselves. Indonesia, therefore, cannot accept linking questions of human rights to other issues, such as economic and development cooperation, or worse, making them into political conditions to such cooperation, as such linkages will detract from the value of both.

As is well known, there are various categories of human rights: civil and political rights, economic and social rights, the rights of the individual human being and the rights of the community, the society and the nation. It is universally accepted that these categories of rights are indivisible and inter-related, and that there should be balance in the appreciation and promotion af all rights of in their integral whole. Undue emphasis on one category of countries and of developing countries in particular, the international community should, therefore, take into account the situation in relation to all categories of human rights.

This is consistent with the basic principles contained in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948. Article 29 of that declaration addresses two aspects that balance each other: On the one hand, there are principles that respect the fundamental rights and freedom of the individual; on the other, there are stipulations regarding the obligations of the individual to society and the state.

It is clear, therefore, that implementation of human rights implies the existence of a balanced relationship between individual human rights and the obligations of individuals to their community. Without such a balance, the rights of the community as a whole can be denied, which can lead to instability and anarchy, especially in developing countries.

While human rights are indeed universal in character, it is generally acknowledged that their expression and implementation in the national context should remain the competence and responsibility of each government while taking into account the complex variety of problems, of different economic, social and cultural realities, and of different value systems prevailing in each country. This national competence not only derives from the principle of sovereignty of states, but is also a logical consequence of the principle of self-determination.

In Indonesia, as in many other developing countries, the rights of the individual are balanced by the rights of the community, in other words, balanced by the obligation to respect the rights of of others, the rights of the society and the rights of the nation. This not only conforms to the cultural traditions and customs prevalent in most developing countries where, often, the interest and the rights of the community prevail over those of the ondividual, but is also fully in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Moreover, in the application of human rights in developing countries, including our own, it should be borne in mind that in most of these countries there are other fundamental rights and concerns besides certain civil ang political freedoms to which equally urgent attention should be given, such as the right of the vast majority of the people to be free from want, from hunger, from ignorance, from disease and from poverty. Attention must also be given to the right to development and the right to be free from external political and economic coercion in pursuit of development in an atmosphere of peace and national stability. Precisely because human rights are indivisible no singular emphasis should be put on certain aspects of those rights.

Indonesia is of the firm view that in evaluating the application and implementation of human rights in individual countries, the characteristic problems of developing countries in general, as well as the specific problems of individual societies, should be taken fully into account. Similarly, there should be a balanced approach toward respect for the fundamental rights of the individual and the rights and interest of society and of the nation as a whole.

Finally, the primary objective of actions in the field of human rights is not to accuse nor to assume the role of judge and jury over other countries. Rather we aim to work together to develop a common consciousness in the international community and to encourage improvement in the observance of these fundamental rights and freedoms. We should not try to remake the world in our own image, but we can and should try to make the world a more humane, peaceful and equitably prosperous place for all.

For its part, the Indonesian government has consistently endeavored to adhere to the humanitarian precepts and basic human rights and freedoms embodied in its state philosophy, Pancasila, its 1945 constitution, and its national laws and regulations. Indeed, these precepts, rights and freedoms, as embodied in the constitutional and legal system, derive from age-old traditions, customs and the philosophy of life of the Indonesian people.

The philosopical basis of Indonesia, Pancasila, which translates to Five Pillars or Five Principles, embraces humanitarian precepts that are mutually interlinked and inseparable. These five principles are:

- Belief in one, supreme God - Just and civilized humanity - The unity of Indonesia - Democracy, led by the inner wisdom of consensus arising out of deliberations among representatives - Social justice for the whole of the Indonesian people

The 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, which is based on Pancasila, also contains humanitarian precepts and basic principles of human rights. These principles have been incorporated into a number of national laws and regulations. It is also important to note that the 1945 constitution has many principles that are similar to those contained in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

As in many developing countries, Indonesia's culture and its ancient and well developed customs have traditionally put high priority on the rights and interest of the community. This means that the interests of the majority often prevail over individual or group interests without, however, in any way harming the rights and interests of those individuals and groups. Indvidual and group rights are always fully taken into account, based on the principle of "musyawarah-mufakat," which translates to deliberations to attain consensus and which is firmly embedded in the nation's socio-political system and unique form of democracy.

Indonesia is commited to the promotion and protection of human rights in all its provinces. As a result, it has, following the seminar on the promotion of human rights in Jakarta in 1989 and the symposium held in 1990, estabilished a National Commission of Human Rights, the efforts of which have been praised by numerous countries.

Is Indonesia willing to resolve the dispute with Portugal?

Although at the time of the last voting on the East Timor issue at the U.N. General Assembly in 1982 Portugal was hardly in a position of strength, Indonesia agreed to the appeal by the United Nations Secretary-General, Javier Perez de Cuellar, to start a dialogue with Portugal under his auspices. The purpose was to reach a just, comprehensive and internationally acceptable solution, under the general mandate of the Secretary General, through continuing strerile debate in the General Assembly.

Since 1984, we have been engaged in such a tripartite dialogue among Indonesia, Portugal and the U.N. Secretary-General, under the general mandate as referred to above and not on the basis of, or pursuant to, any specific General Assembly resolution. This dialogue has been, on the whole, constructive and has contributed to removing many earlier misunderstandings and to resolving many outstanding humanitarian issues.

In 1993, resumed discussion between the foreign ministers of Indonesia and Portugal, under the auspices of United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, focused on the development of confidence-building measures as a means of fostering an atmosphere propitious to resolving the dispute. The spirit of those measures has inspired some personalities in Indonesia and Portugal to enhance personal contact between the people of the two countries through the establishment of the Portugal-Indonesia Friendship Association (PIFA). Established in Portugal on October 21, 1993, the association promotes mutual understanding between the peoples of Portugal and Indonesia through cultural and economic channels. This organization is a private initiative of leading Portuguese citizens and is a clear indication that some in Portugal recognize that the misinformation campaign being waged in their country is not based on fact.

At the lattest meeting, held in Geneva in June 1996, besides having discussed in greater detail the substantive issues, the ministers also considered the proposal of tthe All Inclusive Intra-East Timorese Dialogue held in March 1996, in Burg Schlaining Schloss, Austria, and agreed to proceed with consultations on the establishment of an East Timorese cultural center in Dili and the continued development of human resources in East Timor. These efforts stand as clear testimony that Indonesia has consistently sought to find a just, comprehensive and internationally acceptable solution to the question.

How does the Government of Indonesia respond to allegations of human rights groups about human rights violations in East Timor?

The Government of Indonesia is well aware of the concern of some international organizations regarding human rights in East Timor. While we believe much of the concern is without foundation, we do accept that there have been incidents that run contrary to our commitment to the universal validity of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms. When we have been made aware of such incidents, such as the well publicized tragedy in Dili in November 1991, we have acted swiftly to correct them and to bring to justice those individuals, be they civilians or military officials, who are responsible for the incident.

We are especially pleased to see that our efforts are also acknowledged by various personalities including elected officials from many foreign countries and a number of journalists.

We are also proud of the fact that in 1993, a National Commission on Human Rights was established in Indonesia and only on July 9, 1996, a branch was opened in Dili, East Timor. This branch office serves not only to monitor and report all events concerning human rights violations, but most of all, to implement the National Action Plan. In this regard, the organization is commited to conducting its duties with impartiality and objectivity.

It is our belief that many of the unsubstantiated charges regarding human rights abuses in East Timor are being disseminated by representatives of the government of Portugal or by organizations receiving the support of that government. Portugal's motivation in this regard stems from its profound sense of guilt in abandoning a colony for which it did nothing for hundreds of years.

It is hypocritical for a former colonial power to support the condemnation of a country that has brought peace and stability to a region that was neglected for centuries. The government of Portugal relinquished its responsibilities for the administration of East Timor in 1975 when its accredited representatives abandoned the territory and left a vacuum (and weapons and ammunition) that fueled a civil war that has been the source of a great deal of death and destruction.

If the discussions that have taken place under the auspices of the Secretary-General are to be succesful, we feel it is imperative that Portugal stop its efforts to discredit Indonesia through the dissemination of baseless accusations and its support for activities that serve only to hinder the process of development in East Timor.

History will show that the very foundation of Indonesia was built on a search for freedom and justice and that commitment of the government to ensuring rights for all has brought these basic human rights to all of the country's approximately 200 million people. This is something the people of East Timor did not have under Portuguese colonial rule and gained only as peace and stability replaced civil war, following integration with Indonesia.

The above materials taken from the book EAST TIMOR : Building for the Future; Issues and Perspectives; second edition. Published by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Indonesia; October 1996.

Statement of the East Timorese people on the Nobel Peace Prize

Indonesian South African Friendship Society Newsletter - January 1997

We the members of the East Timor House of Representatives, on behalf of our constituents of the people of East Timor, wish to express our grave disappointment that your prestigious Nobel Peace Prize has been used to reopen wounds that we have been trying to heal since our integration with Indonesia brought an end to a bloody civil war and a beginning to a process of development never witnessed during more than 450 years of Portuegese colonial rule.

If we were convinced that your award was truly meant to honour a man of peace like Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and reward him for his commitment to the betterment of our society, our concern would be abated. Unfortunately, the sharing of his prize with Mr Ramos Horta an individual who has been a party to the extermination of his political opponents, does a great disservice to all East Timorese who value the peace for which so many have sacrificed.

In your statement, you emphasized that you are honouring efforts to bring about peace in East Timor. Mr Ramos Horta has never worked for peace and if he did bring anything to East Timor, it was strife and suffering. If there is a prize for atrocity, Mr Ramos Horta certainly deserves it. The bloodiest crimes in the sad history of East Timor were committed in 1975 by Mr Ramos Horta and his political party. Mr Ramos Horta was in fact one of the leaders of the FRETILIN who planned the mass killing in Aileu, Maubessi, and Same. Many leaders of the UDT and the APODETI, the rival political parties of FRETILIN, such as 75 years old Hermegildo Martins, Jose Fernando Osorio Soares, Casimiro de Araujo, DomiNGOs Pinto, and some 200 others were seized, tortured and killed by FRETILIN. In 1975, the chief of the Timor Portuegese Red Cross, Victor Santa, who was in Dili on a mission of mercy to alleviate the suffering of civil war victims in East Timor, was arrested and killed by the FRETILIN. A Portuegese police officer, Maegolo Gouveia, in spite of the fact that he presented the white flag of surrender when the FRETILIN came upon him, was never- theless killed in cold blood. Many of the witnesses to these atrocities are still alive and it saddens us that what they have to say about Mr Ramos Horta and what the overwhelming majority of East Timorese think of him were not taken into account when you awarded the Peace Prize to him. The award is therefore an affront not only to Mr Ramos Horta's victims and their bereaved families but also to all the people of East Timor.

The award has one unfortunate implication as if the East Timorese society has only one point of view, that which coincides with Mr Ramos Horta's. The fact is that we East Timorese have always had a diversity of political beliefs. East Timorese from across the politi- cal spectrum , therefore resent the support provided by a foreign organisation, such as the Nobel Peace Prize Selection Committee to a minority view espused by Mr Ramos Horta. In fact, this minority view has been one of the principal causes of the problems and sufferings of the East Timorese people. For Mr Ramos Horta's FRETILIN at every opportunity raised obstacles to the referendum that would be the chief instrumentality of the democratic decolonization process in East Timor which Portugal was supposed to undertake in 1974. When the other political parties UDT, APODETI, KOTA and TRABALHISTA readily agreed to attend a conference an Macao convened by the Portuegese Government in June 1975 to discuss the referendum and the decolonization process, the FRETILIN refused to attend. Later another conference was convened in Bangkok; again the FRETILIN refused to attend. Finally the FRETILIN shattered the decolonization process by unilaterally declaring independence and seizing power through armed force with armes provided by the Portuguese colonial authorities.

Of this we are certain: if Mr Ramos Horta and his party, the FRETILIN, had been more cooperative and if they did not disrupt the decolonization process, there would have been peace in East Timor instead of civil war. But they never gave peace a chance. For this and for his part in a massacre Mr Ramos Horta gets the Noble Prize for Peace?

Mr Ramos Horta has no right to prescribe his ideas for East Timorese society. For when it was obvious that the FRETILIN could not win the bloody conflict as its political cause was utterly rejected by the overwhelming majority of East Timorese people, Mr Ramos Horta simply took flight to Australia. Today he has made it a profession to sow further turmoil in East Timor from the safety of foreign bases of operation, using foreign resources.

Neither will we accept the pontificates of a distant foreign committee, however well intentioned. Only those who have lived through the violence of the civil war and the attendant hunger, disease and other deprivation, and have remained contributing members of our community, can speak on the validity of our decision to integrate with Indonesia instead of languishing under oppression and neglect.

You claim that your award will now focus attention on East Timor. We welcome any attention that will assist us in our efforts to pursue the social economic and political development of East Timor. We need ideas and resources to help us improve the quality of life of our people. But please spare us from ill-advised gestures by those who will use us as pawns for their own political interests.

Chairman of the East Timor House of Representative Signed, Antonio Freitas Parada Dili, 12 November 1996.

Report of extra-judicial execution

East Timor Human Rights Centre - 20 February, 1997

The East Timor Human Rights Centre has received a report from reliable East Timorese sources relating to the suspected extra-judicial execution of four East Timorese men in October 1996. The report states that the four men, who were from the villages of Batara and Cribas in the Manatuto district, were killed on 29 October 1996 by members of the Indonesian military from the Rajawali and Morok battalions.

The four victims have been identified as:

1. Maumesak, 17, from the village of Batara, sub-district of Laclubar, Manatuto district; 2. Filomeno Ailos, 30, from the village of Batara; 3. Antonio Malae, 40, from the village of Cribas, sub-district and district of Manatuto; and 4. Norberto, 40, from the village of Cribas.

It is believed the four were killed while walking to a burial site located in Ailete where they were going to bury the remains of some of the first victims of the 1975 invasion of East Timor by Indonesia. Villagers from Cribas and Batara, who had gathered to collect the remains, were approached by members of the Rajawali and Morok battalions, who were participating in a military drill in the area. The soldeirs threatened twelve of the villagers with death if any of them tried to run away. One youth called Maumesak was shot when he attempted to escape and is believed to have died as a result of the injuries sustained.

Members of the Rajawali and Morok battalions decided to blame Filomeno Ailos for the death of Maumesak and tied him, Antonio Malae and Norberto up against trees and killed them with spears. Another East Timorese man was then taken by members of the Rajawali battalion to the village of Cribas, where he was ordered to inform the local population that Filomeno Ailos, who they alleged was a member of the armed Resistance, was responsible for the killings.

Antara, the Indonesian News Agency reported the official Indonesian military version of the deaths on 4 November. According to the report, the four men were killed by members of the East Timorese armed Resistance.

The ETHRC calls on the Indonesian authorities to conduct a full and impartial investigation into the executions and prosecute those found responsible to the fullest extent of the law.

Australia stands firm in its policy towards East Timor, says activist

Lusa – February 17, 1997

Adelaide – Australia has said that it will stand firm in its policy of recognizing East Timor's annexation by Indonesia while backing United Nations-sponsored talks to find a solution for the former Portuguese colony, East Timorese activist Jose Ramos Horta has said.

Ramos Horta told Lusa on Friday after meeting Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer that the talks "did not bring any progress" in Canberra's policy towards Indonesia and East Timor.

The activist said however that Downer had stressed that Australia would continue to mention East Timor human rights record during private talks with Indonesian officials as well as supporting Lisbon-Jakarta talks on the territory under the auspices of the UN.

Australia is one of the main western allies of Indonesia and is also one of the major aid donor to East Timor with US$3.16 million given last year.

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and annexed it one year later but the United Nations still regards Portugal as the territory's administering power. Copied from the Lusa News Agency at http://www.lusa.pt/lusanews/ Posted by Pedro T. Coelho at ptc9288@is.nyu.edu No editing made unless expressly noted with []

United Nations report of human rights violations

East Timor Human Rights Centre - 17 February 1997

Manuel de Oliveira, Mateus Goncalves, Renato dos Santos, Antonio (no surname), Manuel Alves , Berta (no surname)

The East Timor Human Rights Centre has received a report about intensive military operations which took place in December 1996 in the village of Leo Rema, located on the border between the districts of Ermera and Liquica.

The report states that on 10 December, 1996, ten Indonesian soldiers from the "Linud 700" battalion, wearing civilian clothes, and six INTEL agents (four of them women), travelled by minibus from Ermera to the hamlets of Fatuneri, Urluli, Ergoa and Hatubolu in the village of Leo Rema. It is reported that they intimidated villagers in the area and that seven unidentified villagers were beaten until they bled from their noses and mouths.

On the following day, an assault took place on the chapel of Leo Rema. It is alleged that two East Timorese women working for the Indonesian military opened fire, injuring many people. Many villagers are believed to have disappeared following the assault and others, fearing for their safety, are believed to have abandoned their homes.

Manuel de Oliveira, Mateus Goncalves, Renato dos Santos, Manuel Alves, Antonio (no surname) and Berta (no surname), all from the hamlet of Urluli, were arrested and tortured. It is not known where the six were taken or if they are still in detention. The East Timor Human Rights Centre believes that the six people may have been arbitrarily arrested by Indonesian authorities and may be at risk of further torture and ill-treatment if still in detention.

United Nations report of human rights violations

East Timor Human Rights Centre - 17 February, 1997

The East Timor Human Rights Centre has received a further report about the repercussions which followed violent incidents on 24 December 1996 in Dili. The violence broke out when large crowds gathered to welcome Bishop Belo home after he received the Nobel Peace prize in Oslo.

On 27 November 1996, an East Timorese youth, Marito da Costa, aged 20, was seriously injured when he was shot in the right upper torso by members of the NANGALAS (Special Armed Forces) posted in the Baucau region. He was then arrested by the NANGALAS and detained at police headquarters in Quelicai, where it is believed he was subjected to intensive interrogation and torture.

It is alleged Marito da Costa is a member of a Clandestine network supporting Bishop Belo and that he sold statements made by the Bishop to journalists on 25 November 1996.

It is not known whether Marito da Costa is still in detention, however, grave fears are held for his safety if he is still in detention as he may be in urgent need of medical assistance. He is believed to be at heightened risk of further torture and ill-treatment if he is denied access to lawyers of his own choice and to members of his family.

Marito da Costa is the son of Mateus da Costa and Celestina Cabral and resides at the village of Lai Loro Lai de Cima.

Government faces legal challenge over licences for arms to Indonesia

TAPOL Press Release - 13 February 1997

One year on from the Scott Report, three organisations are threatening to take the Government to court for arming one of the world's most repressive .regimes, Indonesia. They have obtained unique photographic evidence which proves that the Government is breaching its own policies on arms exports and human rights. They have given the Government the deadIine of 21 February before they seek leave for a judicial review.

TAPOL - the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign, Campaign Against Arms Trade and the World Development Movement - maintain that the Government has continued to sign licences for more arms, despite publicly admitting that UK-made arms are being used for repressive purposes in Indonesia.

In a letter to lan Lang MP, President of the Board of Trade, they state: 'Much of this evidence was available to you when you decided to grant these licences....In the circumstances, the granting of these licences is irrational and unlawful.' Editors Footnote 1

* The Government admitted that on 24 April 1996, UK-made armoured vehicles were used in Ujungpandang against students involved in a peaceful demonstration, resulting in three deaths and many injuries

* 1n June 1996 UK-made water cannon were photographed when they were used against peacefu1 demonstrators commemorating the deaths in Ujungpandang.

* Photographic evidence also exists of UK equipment being used repressively in Jakarta to stop peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations.

The organisations are calling on the Government to cancel export licences signed by the President of the Board of Trade, for weapons to Indonesia, including AIvis armoured vehicles and Tactica Water cannon. (Editors Footnote 2). If the Government fails to cancel the licences by 21 February, the three organisations will seek a judicial review.

Carmel Budiardjo on behalf of the three organisations said: 'A year on from the Scott Report the Government's arms export controls remain unchanged. The Government is blatantly breaking its own arms export and human rights policies by arming Indonesia. We are determined to seek justice in the courts if the Government does not cancel the current licences for arms to Indonesia.'

Notes for editors:

1. On 9 December 1996 the DT! issued export licences to Coventry-based Alvis for an =A380 million contract for 50 Scorpion armoured vehicles, plus associated equipment. Licences were also signed for the export by Procurement Services International Ltd of a variety of police vehicles including seven Tactica water canon. It was later revealed (23.1.97) that the latter licence covered over 300 armoured vehicles made by Southampton-based Glover Webb.

2. Letter to Ian Lang, President of the Board of Trade - available on request. Stephen Grosz, from the international human rights solicitors, Bindman and Partners will be acting on behalf of the organisations. Bindman and Partners acted for the WorId Development Movement on the successful Pergau Dam court case in 1994.

3. Photographs are available upon request.

137 East Timorese people arrested

East Timor Human Rights Centre Urgent Action - 14 February 1997

Names: Acacio, 20; Adelino, 27; Agostinho Orlandor, 19; Agostinho, 19; Agustinho da Silva, 19; Alberto, 16; Aleixo da Carvalho, 24; Armando, 25; Armindo Soares, 30; Celestino Jerronimo; DomiNGOs Pinto, 22; Eduardo Amaral, 20; Egas, 20; Evangel Menezes, 22; Fransisco Jesus, 18; Fransisco Rangal, 23; Fransisco Ximenes, 28; Gaspar Pinto, 19; Gaspar, 18; Gaspar, 18; Joaquim, 25; Luis Gama, 20; Luis Pinto, 16; Luis, 20; Luis, 26; Luis, 27; Mateus, 23; Mau-Meta, 15; Moises, 19; Napoleon Amaral, 27; Paulo Alves, 28; Paulo Soares, 27; Paulo, 20; Paulo, 28; Raimundo, 23; Tomas Caiware, 35

Many East Timorese people are believed to have been arbitrarily arrested, and up to four people shot, following days of unrest in the Uatulari sub-district in Viqueque. The arrests and shootings are believed to be related to civil disturbances in the area between 7 and 11 February.

A reliable source has reported to the East Timor Human Rights Centre that 137 East Timorese people have been arrested. The detainees are reported to be extremely frightened and hold grave fears for their own safety. It is believed that the detainees are at grave risk of torture and ill-treatment.

Amnesty International has already released the names of 33 East Timorese arrested in the Viqueque district who are believed to be currently in military custody. Amnesty is concerned for the safety of all of those held in military custody.

The ETHRC has received confirmation of the 33 detainees named by Amnesty. Tomas Caiware and Armindo Soares were arrested on 7 February in Darabai, Uatulari sub-district. They are now believed to be held at a military post at Darabai. During the next two days, a further 30 people were arrested in Macadique, Uatulari, and it is believed they are being detained at the KODIM (District Military Command) post in Viqueque. Luis, aged 26, was shot on 10 February by members of the Rajawali battalion then arrested, however, it is not known whether he is receiving medical treatment or where he is being held.

Francisco Rangal, 23, was shot 3 times by members of the Rajawali batallion. His whereabouts is unknown but it is believed that he may have died as a result of his injuries. It is believed Joaquim, 25, was shot on 8 February by the Indonesian military and is currently receiving medical treatment. Aleixo de Carvahlo, 24, is also believed to have been shot by the Indonesian military. He managed to escape and his whereabouts is unknown.

The names of the other 101 detainees are not yet available, however, the ETHRC is continuing to investigate the situation in Viqueque.

Background information

One media report (AAP, Jakarta, 13 February) says that the Indonesian authorities have detained around 100 people following the unrest in Viqueque. The report quotes a local source who said that the unrest started when East Timorese youths recruited by the Indonesian military provoked the local community by pelting homes. The source is quoted as saying that "mass fighting broke out in the area" while other youths are quoted as saying that "military personnel were also involved in the unrest."

East Timorese activist meets Australia's Foreign Minister

ABC - 14 February, 1997

East Timorese activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Jose Ramos Horta, has had talks in Adelaide with Australia's Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer.

The one-hour meeting was the first between Mr Ramos Horta and the Howard Government.

Mr Ramos Horta says he heard no change to government policy about the Indonesian occupation of East Timor.

But, he says he told Mr Downer of his satisfaction with Australia's efforts to raise human rights issues with the Indonesian government, and of his gratitude for Australia sheltering refugees.

"In this connection we appeal to the minister to use his best influence, to consider granting a five year residence for instance to the one-thousand- three-hundred East Timorese who are right now in Australia and in a limbo without knowing what's going to happen to them, whether they are going to be deported or go to Portugal, and that has caused them enormous emotional problems."

Economy and investment

Indonesia moves to aid exports in 6 new sectors

AP-Dow Jones News Service - February 14, 1997

Jakarta – The Indonesian government announced Friday deregulation measures that extend export facilities to six new sectors in a bid to bolster the country's non-oil-and gas export competitiveness.

Minister of Industry and Trade Tunky Ariwibowo told reporters Friday these export facilities will be focused on resource-based sectors, which have high locally-based content.

The six sectors included pulp and paper; processed rubber; processed food, such as canned fish and vegetables, sorbitol, glutamic acid, monosodium glutamate (MSG), biscuits, instant noodles, and dessicated coconut; vegetable oil products, such as palm oil, olein, and margarine; toys; and frozen fish and shrimps.

The companies, which are eligible for these facilities, will receive, for example, their value-added tax reimbursements within 10 days to aid their efforts, Tunky said.

They also will be allowed to submit export declaration documents directly to port officials without going through foreign exchange banks, allowing their documents to be processed quicker.

And Bank Indonesia, the nation's central bank, also will offer a lower discount rate - which is pegged at the Singapore Interbank Offered Rate (SIBOR) - to the 'bankers' acceptance' notes if these exporting companies sell the notes to Bank Indonesia, Tunky said.

These banker's acceptance notes, received by exporters from importing counterparts, can be sold to banks in order to receive cash earlier than the cash-in date stated in the notes.

The government granted last year such facilities to four other sectors: textile and textile products; electronics; finished wooden furniture; and finished leather goods.

'We expanded the facilities to ten groups of commodities as the growth of our non-oil-and gas exports in the last two to three years was less than satisfactory,' Tunky stated.

Indonesia's non-oil-and gas exports increased 10.2% in the first eleven months of 1996 to $34.6 billion from $31.4 billion in the same period in 1995.

Non-oil exports, however, have shown an unsettling sign of deteriorating growth, analysts note. They grew by 15% in 1995, which slowed to 13% over the first half of 1996 and further slowed to around 4.3% year-on-year in November.

The ten sectors combined generated 50% of Indonesia's foreign exchange earnings in the non-oil-and gas sector in 1996, Tunky said.

Bre-X STK DN on reported pact, reaction could be premature

Dow Jones Business News – February 14, 1997

Ben Dummett, Toronto – Bre-X Minerals Ltd.'s (BXMNF) stock is under selling pressure, indicating that investors are disappointed with the Calgary firm's reported deal for the development of its huge Busang gold prospect in Indonesia's East Kalimantan province.

However, analysts said the activity might be premature, because a Dow Jones report Friday about the deal still lacks crucial information.

The news report out of Asia quoted unnamed sources as saying that Bre-X had signed a memorandum of understanding with Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) of Louisiana to develop Bre-X's Busang project. The story said Bre-X will retain a 45% stake in the deposit, Indonesian partners will hold 40% and Freeport will hold 15% and be operator of the mine.

As part of the reported deal, Freeport will pay $400 million toward the cost of developing the mine and has secured a bank commitment of $1.2 billion to cover the remaining development costs.

Analysts said investors are extrapolating from the reported payment of $400 million and Freeport-McMoran's 15% interest in the deposit that the Busang mine carries a total value of around $2.67 billion, which translates into about C$16 per Bre-X share.

Currently, Bre-X Minerals is trading at 23.55, down 1.10, in Toronto, on volume of 4.0 million shares.

Analysts stressed it's premature to assess the reported deal's impact on Bre-X shares until more information from the companies involved is known. For example, the press reports don't indicate whether Freeport will need to pay for its stake in the deposit, said David Thomas, mining analyst at Griffiths McBurney & Partners in Toronto. Press reports only refer to Freeport-McMoRan making a contribution to the development of the mine, Thomas said.

Investors don't know if Bre-X will receive any money from its Indonesia partners in exchange for their stake, analysts added.

If the reports are accurate, Canadian mining firms Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) and Placer Dome Inc. (PDG), which both had been pursuing a deal with Bre-X, have lost out in being part of the huge gold project.

A Placer Dome spokesman said his company hasn't heard anything from the Indonesian government or Bre-X indicating that Placer Dome is out of the running for Busang.

Busang: Fighting over the pot of gold

Down To Earth 32 - February 1997

When Bre-X Gold, a small Canadian exploration company discovered a huge gold deposit at Busang in East Kalimantan last year, big companies and powerful business players lined up to grab a piece of the action. Since then, Suharto's children, international tycoons and company executives have been fighting over the rights to profit from what may become the biggest gold mine in the world.

No attention has been paid to the impact of this mine on local communities, whether royalties will be paid to traditional landowners, for example. Once again the bulldozers look set to start tearing up the land, as company executives trust that local communities' capacity to object will be too weak to make a difference.

The Busang saga started early last year when Bre-X announced that it had struck gold in a big way, upping estimates from 15 million to 40 million ounces of gold reserves. (Current figures given by the company are at least 57 million ounces of gold, with some estimates as high as 100 million.)

Scores of other Canadian companies signed up for contracts in Kalimantan's 'gold belt' hoping to make similar finds, as Bre-X shares skyrocketed on the Toronto stock exchange.

Among those expressing a strong interest in developing the deposit was Vancouver-based Placer Dome, second biggest gold producer in North America.

But the real soap opera began in October. First, Bre-X shares plummeted amid rumours that the Indonesian government was going to disqualify the company from involvement in the mine's development. Bre-X fought back and strengthened its bargaining position against take-over attempts by bigger companies by making an alliance with Suharto's eldest son Sigit Harjojudanto. Sigit's influence is reported to have cost Bre-X dearly: a 10% stake in the mine and a consultation fee of US$1 million a month for 40 months. Some analysts were later to say Bre-X chose the wrong Suharto child, when another Suharto offspring entered the story.

Tutut (Siti Hardianti Rukmana), the President's eldest daughter who some consider more influential, allied herself with Barrick Gold, North America's biggest gold producer. The government, predictably, then instructed Bre-X and Barrick Gold to forge a partnership and to settle all outstanding ownership disputes with local partners. It also demanded a ten percent stake in the mine. An agreement in which Barrick gains 67.5% stake, Bre-X 22.5 % and 10% as requested for the government, was finally hammered out and submitted in December last year.

In early January it looked as though the Barrick deal would finally be accepted by the government when, at the last minute, an other strategic alliance was formed, this time by timber tycoon Bob Hasan and Placer Dome, who had never given up on exploiting Busang and had protested when Barrick was selected by Jakarta with no tendering process. First Bob Hasan gained himself a stake in the mine by buying up most of PT Askatindo Karya Minerals, one of Bre-X's local partners which holds a ten percent stake in Busang. Then it was revealed that he had entered into discussions with Placer. (It is not known what fee he will charge for his services.)

Bob Hasan used an investment company he heads, PT Nusantara Ampera Bakti (Nusamba), to enter Askatindo. Interestingly, this company is 10% owned by Hasan, 10% by Sigit and 80% by foundations chaired by the President.

Placer Dome has tried to make its bid more attractive than Barrick's by offering up to 40% of the mine to Indonesian partners.

When DtE 32 went to press, the question of who will exploit Busang remained undecided, with a deadline of February.

The whole episode has thrown Indonesia's reputation for doing mining business into disrepute, since it means that companies coming to Indonesia find anything but a level playing field, especially when a huge pot of gold is up for grabs. There is bureaucratic nuisance too, as all other mining business with foreign companies, including the renewal of some 100 contracts of work has been delayed pending the Busang deal – providing another gripe for international investors.

For those whose lives will be most affected by such massive-scale ecological destruction, it will probably make little difference who wins the contract. The environmental standards of most major international mining companies tend to deteriorate once they are off their home territory and the record for social and environmental responsibility of local tycoons such as Bob Hasan and Tutut leave much, if not everything, to be desired.

The Busang deposit lies in Kutai district of East Kalimantan province, about 200 km north-east of the provincial capital, Samarinda. It is not certain whether the site is located in pristine rainforest or logged over timber concessions. According to the head of a mining company operating nearby, "Busang is... hilly, in dense jungle without any infrastructure.." As far as local population goes, the location is described as "thinly populated". This does not necessarily mean that the area does not fall under the traditional rights of local communities, of course, although these rights would be denied under Indonesian law, where 'development' takes precedence over local rights.

There is a 33 km logging road to Bre-X's base camp but, according to one report, most of the terrain is only accessible by helicopter.

Infrastructure development is estimated at Rp 3 trillion (US$1.27 billion). According to Kutai district head, HM Sulaiman, this amount will cover environmental management near the mine. The mine development is also expected to help speed up the construction of a road connecting East Kalimantan with Central Kalimantan.

Sources: Financial Times 13/1/97, Jakarta Post 13/1/97, The Globe and Mail 30/11/96, Vancouver Sun 5/10/96, Tempo 21/1/97, Straits Times 18/1/97, Asia Wall Street Journal 15/1/97, Drillbits and Tailings 7/1/97, 22/11/96

(NB: it has now emerged that Freeport, not Barrick or Placer Dome will operate the Busang mine)

Canadian gold rush continues!

Down To Earth 29/30 - August 1996

In our last issue we described how Indonesia, and especially Kalimantan's gold belt has become a honeypot for Canadian companies. They are hoping to strike gold in a big way, like Bre-X Minerals Ltd, which has discovered a massive deposit now estimated to contain some 40 million ounces of gold. Busang ranks alongside other mega-mines like Freeport/RTZ's Grasberg world-beating deposit which has proven reserves of 50 million ounces. It throws RTZ's nearby Kelian mine of 5 million ounces into the shade. According to the Far Eastern Economic Review, the mine at Busang is likely to be a low-cost, open-pit operation with a tributary of the Mahakam River and existing logging roads serving as supply lines. The area comprises three concession lying over logged over foothills, it reports.

The previous gold rush in Kalimantan was dominated by Australian companies, (an Australian company Montague Gold actually explored Busang in the mid-1980s) but this time, as the list below shows, it is the Canadians who are hoping to divide between them the spoils to be found beneath Kalimantan's forests. (Far Eastern Economic Review 21/3/96)

State-owned companies go for gold

Joining in the gold rush are two of Indonesia's state-owned mining companies, PT Tambang Timah and PT Aneka Tambang. In February they announced a cooperation agreement to explore for gold and diamonds in Aneka Tambang's concessions. Tambang Timah, one of the world's largest tin miners will provide finance and manpower. It has been granted exploration rights for gold in Natal, North Sumatra and is conducting preliminary surveys in three areas of Kalimantan. (Jakarta Post 12/2/96)

Canada: big pals with Indonesia

When Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien visited Jakarta in January, yet more business deals were clinched with Indonesia, underlining his country's growing involvement in the Indonesian economy. Canadian mining companies like Inco, Ingold and Placer Dome have long been active in Indonesia, and Kalimantan's latest gold rush has brought in a flurry of new investors from Canada.

Indonesia is already Canada's most important export market in Southeast Asia, with two-way trade exceeding C$1.1 billion in 1995.

New deals clinched in January this year include an C$ 800 million investment in gas by Asamera Overseas Ltd. and five-year wheat contract between Canada's Wheat Board and Indofood, a large Jakarta food-processor. (Southam News 25/1/96)

Canada is also hoping to win the contract to build Indonesia's first nuclear power plant.

Island to be mined to oblivion?

Despite protests from 22 NGOs, the head of Kotabaru district, South Kalimantan is standing by his decision to allow mining on the island of Sebuku. Sebuku lies next to the far bigger Laut Island which houses a recently-constructed coal export terminal. According to the NGOs, grouped under the local chapter of the Indonesian Environmental Forum, WALHI, the 27,000-hectare island will disappear from the map in ten years' time if it is mined continuously. The island, which has a population of 4,320, will end up below sea level, according to a month-long study conducted by the organisations. The NGOs have written to the ministers for mines, forestry, environment and public works as well as the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) urging them not to issue a licence to the company. The island is part of the Teluk Kelumpang nature reserve. Currently the company involved, PT Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku, only holds an exploration licence.

District head MBA Bektam dismisses the NGOs' fears, saying mining will be done at the centre of the island, not on coastal areas. He says plans have already been drawn up to rehabilitate mined areas, by converting them into irrigated rice-fields for the local people who currently make their living by fishing. (Jawa Pos 29/1/96)

Coal damage

The neglect of mined areas and the damaging of roads by heavy coal trucks is disadvantaging the local community in coal mining areas of Banjar and Tapin, South Kalimantan. The vice-governor of the province, Bachtiar Murad has called on the Director General of Mines to come and see for himself the damage that has been done. He has also threatened to resign if nothing is done to improve the situation. He accused state-owned company PT Bukit Asam of totally ignoring mining regulations. PT Bukit Asam has a cooperation agreement with Taiwanese company Chung Hua in this region.

In the past year 84 people have been killed in mining truck accidents. (Jawa Pos 29/1/96)

Coal expansion

It is not surprising that the negative impacts of coal mining are causing concern, given the massive expansion of the industry in recent years. Coal production has almost tripled in the nineties, from 10.6 million tonnes in 1990 to around 32 Mt in 1994. Most of it comes from the east coast of Kalimantan and several areas in Sumatra. The largest producer is PT Kaltim Prima, owned by CRA (50%) and BP (50%), exporting to Europe, Japan and Hawaii. Indonesia is now the world's third largest producer after Australia and South Africa, and has enough deposits to meet domestic needs for the next 100-200 years. This fact is used by some in the argument against the need for nuclear power.

Coal's use in Indonesia is currently far less widespread than oil, however, which accounts for more than half the country's energy consumption. Natural gas accounts for a quarter, while coal accounts for only 8.8% of energy consumed (1994 figures). The government's energy diversification policy aims to increase coal consumption to 50% of domestic demand and to reduce oil to 30%, thereby saving more for export.

On top of PT Bukit Asam's operations, there are nine contractors operating large mines in Indonesia:

PT Kaltim Prima: (BP, CRA) E. Kalimantan
PT Arutmin: BHP-Utah) S. Kalimantan
PT Adaro: (Spanish govt, New Hope Corp.) S. Kalimantan
PT Kideco Jaya Agung: (Korea Indonesia Development Company) E. Kalimantan
PT Multi Harapan: (New Hope Corp.) East Kalimantan
PT Tanito Harum: (domestic) E.Kalimantan
PT Allied Indo: (Allied Indonesia Coalfields)
PT Kendilo Coal: BHP-Utah, E. Kalimantan, Mitsui Corp.
PT Berau Coal: (Nissho Iwai Corp.) East Kalimantan

Coal production by Indonesian companies is likely to increase in the future. In August 1994, 19 domestic coal contractors signed cooperation contracts with the government. (Mining Magazine, July 1995)

Indonesia: Exploration honey pot for Canadians

Down To Earth 28 - February 1997

As Jakarta opens the doors wider for foreign investment in mining, Canadian mining promoters are getting excited about the prospects for striking gold. At the centre of the action is the world's most notorious mining investor, Canada's Robert Friedland.

Robert Friedland's private Singapore-based company, Indochina Goldfields Ltd. has secured mining leases covering three million hectares in Indonesia, including a concession located about 40kms north of the promising Busang gold project, Kalimantan, which is held by another Canadian company, Bre-X Minerals Ltd.

Bre-X's share price has soared amid speculation that Busang is shaping up to become a so-called 'world-class' gold deposit with reserves that could reach 10 to 15 million ounces. As a result, Bre-X's success has served as a catalyst for dozens of exploration firms, including Friedland's company, which hope to achieve similar success.

Indochina Goldfields has raised about US $18 million to finance exploration on Kalimantan as well as on Java, where the company has many as 18 other projects.

Another Friedland company, privately-owned Ivanhoe Capital Corp, has made a deal with yet another Canadian company, Birch Mountain Resources Ltd. which will explore a concession in western Kalimantan. Indochina retains the right to earn interest on the property. Other Canadian companies involved in exploration in Indonesia include Pacific Amber Wildcat Resources Corp, Gothic Resources Inc, Condor International Resources Ltd and Brett Resources Ltd. Skyline Gold Corp, Goldstake Exploration Inc., amd Scorpion Minerals Inc.

"The brokerage industry smells a big financing wave coming for Indonesian plays," says John Kaiser, a US-based investment letter writer. "Right now there is a lot of manoeuvering going on to get hold of exploration projects in Indonesia..." (Globe and Mail (Toronto) 8/12/95)

What does this mean for the peoples and environment of Kalimantan? Indigenous lands and resources will have been parcelled out by the government in Jakarta, without their knowledge, let alone their consent. Where hopes for striking gold are high, neither the Jakarta-based officials, nor the incoming prospectors are likely to consider the consequences for the people on the ground, or the potential damage to the environment. Friedland's track record in the United States and Guyana, makes him bad news indeed for Indonesia (see box).

Changing the course of the Kelian

Where exploration has proceeded to mining, the story does not improve. The development of the Kelian gold mine in the East Kalimantan interior, for example, has been punctuated by conflict with local communities over issues such including rights, compensation and river pollution. (For more information on this see the DTE/PARTiZANS publication "We only eat dust" Eye witness in Kelian, September 1994)

Last year, RTZ/CRA, who operate the mine, was given the go-ahead to switch the course of the Kelian River in order to exploit new gold deposits. Environment Minister Sarwono said he approved the switch of 1.2 kilometres provided it did not adversely affect the environment. The measure will allow PT Kelian Equatorial Mining (PT KEM) to gain access to gold deposits estimated at 34.5 tons under the river bed. Environmental organisation WALHI has urged the government to make a "serious study of the environmental impact of the project." WALHI said the company had not made its environmental impact statement transparent to the local community and accused the company of reneging on a promise it made in 1990 to allocate management of the Kelian River to the local community.

According to the company, the project will extend the life of the mine by two years and will earn Indonesia US $72 million. (Indonesian Observer 24/7/95)

PT KEM, which started commercial production in 1992, is majority owned by Australian-based CRA which is in turn controlled by British mining giant RTZ. RTZ, which also works with Robert Friedland, is Freeport's new partner in its massive West Papua copper/gold/silver mining operation.

Down to Earth - International Campaign for Ecological Justice in Indonesia, Carolyn Marr (dte@gn.apc.org)

Ties to Indonesian rulers secure mother lode of gold deals

New York Times - February 18, 1997

Anthony Depalma, Toronto – A century after the Klondike gold rush, a modern-day stampede marked by political intrigue and fast deals is about to result in an American mining company staking claim in Indonesia to part of one of the richest gold strikes in history.

The Indonesian government must still formally bless the deal, but a small Canadian exploration company, Bre-X Minerals of Calgary, Alberta, announced on Monday that it had formed a partnership to mine the gold with Freeport-McMoran Copper and Gold of New Orleans, which has a long history in Indonesia and a cozy relationship with its powerful political and business leaders.

Freeport beat out several corporate rivals to become sole operator of the Busang mine, situated in the Indonesian portion of Borneo. It is committed to putting as much as $1.6 billion into the project. In exchange it will receive a 15 percent stake in a joint-venture company that will be co-owned by Bre-X (with a 45 percent stake), two Indonesian companies and the Indonesian state.

The government is to formally announce the arrangement in Jakarta on Tuesday.

That will bring to a close several months of bidding among some of the world's leading mining companies. Analysts say there may be more gold deep in South African mines, but what makes the Indonesian find fabulous is that no strike has ever gone from bare dirt to an estimated 100 million ounces of gold reserves as quickly as Busang.

By comparison, South Africa, long the world's leading gold producer, mines about 18 million ounces of gold a year, and its biggest mine has produced about half what the Busang mine is expected to yield.

Bre-X struck the mother lode late in 1995, after several other exploration companies had walked away from the area.

The allure of so much gold, within such easy reach, impelled the competing companies to use whatever means they could to close a deal. This included tapping the Indonesian government's inclination to make deals based on personal alliances, and playing up to various members of the family of President Suharto, the nation's chief since 1965. In the end, success went to the company with the closest contacts with the president and his advisers, and the longest experience in playing by Indonesia's rules.

"It's no coincidence that Freeport got it," said Pierre Vaillancourt, a gold analyst with HSBC James Capel Canada, alluding to Freeport McMoran's links with the ruling family, and adding, "These are the relationships that get you the deal at the end of the day."

Like the miners of 1897 who frantically searched the Klondike River in Canada for gold, the companies that competed for Busang make up a diverse list of characters, united only by their single-minded quest.

Bre-X Minerals, the upstart exploration company, watched its shares skyrocket from 30 cents (Canadian) in 1993 to more than $23 (Canadian) on the NASDAQ market after the gold discovery and a 10-for-1 split. After making the big find, Bre-X failed to get immediate legal control. When others came around, it tried to protect its stake by allying with Suharto's son, Sigit Harjojudanto. In November, the government told Bre-X that it should have a partner.

Barrick Gold Corp. of Toronto, the world's second-largest gold producer, was selected by the Indonesian government as Bre-X's partner. Barrick's president, Peter Munk, counts former President George Bush and the former Canadian prime minister, Brian Mulroney, as friends and company directors. It built its Indonesian alliance with Suharto's oldest daughter, Siti Hardijanti Rukmana, or Tutut. In December, Barrick appeared to have closed a deal giving it 67.5 percent of the gold, while Bre-X got 22.5 percent and the Indonesian government, the remaining 10 percent.

Freeport-McMoran, a company with revenue last year of $1.9 billion, was no stranger to the international scene. It had once operated a nickel mine in Cuba, and started mining copper and gold in Indonesia 30 years ago. Now it is the largest American investor in Indonesia.

Environmental groups have accused it of releasing toxic waste from its mine, Grasberg in Irian Jaya, but the company denies that.

A key participant in the deal was Mohamad (Bob) Hasan, an insider, trusted friend and twice-a-week golfing partner of Suharto. Hasan manages the investments of Suharto's charitable foundations, and has business interests in timber, banking and automobile production. Recently he also acquired a piece of Freeport's existing Indonesian mine.

Early in December, according to published reports, Suharto called a few friends to his ranch outside Jakarta to discuss who would help exploit the Busang discovery. Those present included Hasan and James Moffett, known as Jim Bob, the chairman of Freeport-McMoran, who urged the president to consider opening the process to bidding.

Most of the serious contenders for a piece of Busang were Canadian companies with easiest access to the vast amounts of money required, said David Davidson, a gold analyst at CIBC Wood Gundy in Toronto. Freeport-McMoran, however, had financial backing as well as the right connections.

Several weeks later, Hasan confirmed that one of his companies – Nusantra Ampera Bakti, which is 80-percent-owned by three foundations headed by Suharto – had purchased half of Askatindo Karya Mineral, a company with a 10 percent stake in a part of Busang.

Last week, Barrick made what it said was its final offer to Bre-X.

On Monday, it was clear that Barrick had lost the race, and that Hasan had helped close the deal for Freeport.

"I want to congratulate Mr. Mohamad 'Bob' Hasan for his diligence and guidance during these lengthy negotiations," said David Walsh, the president of Bre-X, in a statement released on Monday. "There is no doubt that he was instrumental in bringing this project to fruition."

Although Bre-X did not identify the two Indonesian companies that would jointly control 30 percent of the venture announced on Monday, it is assumed that they include one headed by Hasan.

Bre-X may have managed to protect its stake in Busang's gold, but analysts still expect it to be taken over by a larger, better established mining company. Placer Dome Inc. of Vancouver, which had made a pitch for Bre-X last month, said on Monday that its merger offer still stood, but would have to be re-evaluated.

Fallout feared from jostling over gold deal

Asia Times – 18 February 1997

Ong Hock Chuan, Jakarta – Monday's announcement that Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold won the rush to mine what may be the world's largest gold reserves has sparked widespread concern about the implications of the deal for foreign investment in Indonesia.

Canada-based Bre-X Minerals said on Monday that the United States mining giant would join it and its Indonesian partners - Askatindo Karya Mineral and Amsya Lyna - in a joint venture to develop the Busang gold mine.

"The joint venture will be 45 percent owned by Bre-X, 30 percent by two Indonesian companies and their partners, 10 percent by the Republic of Indonesia and 15 percent by Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold," the company said.

The announcement brings to an end months of speculation, intrigue and power plays as multinationals and their Indonesian political affiliates zeroed in on Bre-X's find in remote East Kalimantan province in Borneo, a gold deposit touted as potentially the largest in the world.

But analysts warned that even though the deal had worked out to be relatively fair for Bre-X, a small and fairly unknown company, the handling of the issue over the past few months would leave a negative impression of the country.

"Whoever succeeds in business in Indonesia does so not through rule of law but rule of power," said one observer.

Scholar Arbi Sanit said that while the Busang controversy appeared solved in the short term, it did little to improve the long-term image of the country overseas.

Freeport, through its subsidiary Freeport Indonesia, runs one of the world's biggest copper and gold mines in Indonesia's Irian Jaya province.

"With Freeport in the deal, the joint venture would have more credibility because Bre-X was a relative unknown. Freeport, on the other hand, is well-known and has extensive experience mining in Indonesia," said political columnist Christianto Wibisono.

Developments over the past few months raised eyebrows when another Canadian mining company, Barrick, appeared to be muscling in on Bre-X's find by co-opting the help of President Suharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana.

Bre-X tried to counter the move by enlisting the help of Suharto's oldest son, Sigit Harjojudanto, but was asked by the Indonesian government to give Barrick a large share of the mining concession.

While Bre-X and Barrick were locked in a stalemate timber tycoon Mohamad "Bob" Hassan emerged as a player after acquiring stakes in an Indonesian partner of Bre-X and in Freeport Indonesia. One of the acquisitions was done through Nusamba, an investment company 80 percent owned by three foundations headed by Suharto. Hassan, a close golfing mate of Suharto, is regarded by some to be the front man for Suharto in many matters.

"In analyzing this deal it is important to take note that Hassan often acts as a surrogate for Suharto," said Christianto.

Despite the controversy surrounding the deal, some analysts did not foresee a lag in interest from foreign investors.

"It's no secret that you have to deal with a large measure of corruption and naked power plays if you want to do business in Indonesia," said one analyst. "But so long as the potential for profits are there foreign investors will not be able to stay away."

Freeport will provide about US$400 million, or 25 percent, of the estimated cost of constructing the mining complex, which encompasses the Busang II and Busang III gold fields, according to the Bre-X statement.

"Freeport will also provide up to US$1.2 billion in additional funding for the venture through a commitment from a major financial institution," the statement said. New York's Chase Manhattan is widely believed in Indonesia to be that institution.

"The financial strength will allow for the joint venture to proceed without any further dilution to shareholders," it said, adding that Freeport Indonesia would be the sole operator of the Busang mine.

Bre-X also announced separately that the company had increased its estimate of the gold reserves at Busang by 13.6 million ounces to 70.95 million ounces, currently worth more than US$24 billion. It also said the average overall grade had increased.

"This is a great day for both Bre-X shareholders and for the people of Indonesia," Bre-X chief executive officer David Walsh said in the statement announcing the deal.

Walsh congratulated Hassan "for his diligence and guidance during these lengthy negotiations". "There is no doubt he was instrumental in bringing this project to fruition," the Bre-X chief said.

Hassan was quoted in the statement as saying: "The Busang project is critically important to Indonesia's economic future and the social advancement of its people. I believe that the [Busang project] is the best solution for my country, its people and Bre-X, the company responsible for finding this incredible deposit."

IPTN to join Australian international air show

Antara News - February 17, 1997

Canberra – The state-owned aircraft manufacturing company IPTN will join the Australian International Air Show and Aerospace Expo in Avalon Airport, Geelong, Victoria, on February 18 to 23.

Soleh Affandi, head of IPTN public relations office, told ANTARA here Sunday that the Indonesian aircraft manufacturing company will exhibit its N-250 Krincingwesi and CN235-330 Phoenix products.

"The exhibition of the new N-250 type of aircraft will be the first abroad," he said, adding that the CN-235-330 – the military version of CN-235 commuter aircraft – will be used by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) to replace its DHC-4 Caribou.

He noted that RAAF has ordered from IPTN at least 15 units of the CN-235-330.

"Australia is a potential market for IPTN products," said Affandi.

During the expo, IPTN will also show its CN-235-220 and introduce the N-2130 program which will primarily manufacture passenger jet aircrafts.

IPTN's participation in the Australian Air Show will be its second after 1995.

Bob Hassan emerges as arbiter of the Suharto families business

Far Eastern Economic Review - 20 February 1997

John McBeth and Jay Solomon in Jakarta – It's hard to get any closer to the top. Timber tycoon Mohamad "Bob" Hasan and Indonesian President Suharto have been friends for more than 30 years and they play golf together twice weekly.

It has been a fruitful match-up. Not just for their golf games, though Suharto has a handicap of 10 and Hasan's is even lower. Hasan also manages the investments of the president's huge charitable foundations, and Suharto regularly turns to him for advice.

But now, Hasan's role has grown larger than ever. In the past few months, he has embarked on a string of corporate acquisitions that have put him at the crossroads of Indonesia's biggest business developments. These include stakes in car maker Astra International and in the giant Freeport Indonesia copper and gold mine. Most importantly, he has emerged as arbiter of the hottest question in the world of mining: Who will get the rights to develop the giant gold deposit in Busang, East Kalimantan?

Hasan has become the man in the middle of Indonesia's economy, and analysts believe that's just where Suharto wants him to be.

Following the death last April of the president's wife, Siti Hartinah, Hasan seems to have assumed another unofficial role: arbiter for the Suharto family business interests the person who can keep the Suharto children in line at a time when they have a finger in just about every pie.

"He's come in due to the combination of squabbling within the family and the need to placate public pressure," says Rizal Ramli, managing director of the Econit advisory group in Indonesia. "If something becomes controversial, Suharto now goes to Bob. If the children are squabbling he now goes to Bob. Hasan is the fix it man. He represents what Suharto has in mind. He is the one who sets out to find a win win situation."

What's more, Hasan's recent investment efforts, which have often involved funds from Suharto's foundations, could be read as securing his and Suharto's financial position. Some analysts wonder whether these moves could challenge the conventional wisdom that Suharto will stay in office for life.

Certainly, Hasan is the one Suharto would turn to in challenging times. Born The Kian Seng, the son of an ethnic-Chinese wholesaler, his links with Suharto began when he was made the godson of the late Gen. Gatot Subroto, one of the founders of the Indonesian armed forces. It was through Subroto that Hasan came into contact with a number of young officers serving in Central Java in the mid-1950s. The then Col. Suharto was one of them.

Recounts Soyfan Wanandi, head of the Gamala group and the spokesman for Indonesia's ethnic-Chinese business community: "Hasan had the power to get Suharto into the good graces of the general and eventually helped him secure his position at the Army Strategic Command (Kostrad)." It was that position which provided him with his springboard to power in the mid-1960s. Unlike Suharto's other long-time friend, Salim group founder Liem Sioe Liong, Hasan is a Muslim whose interests remain within Indonesia and extend beyond business into sports and active social work.

Under Suharto's New Order government, the largely self taught Hasan has parlayed his father's business as a supplier of food and clothing to the military into an empire that ranges from timber (he controls the Indonesian Wood Panel Association, the plywood monopoly known as Apkindo), banking and general contracting to oilfield engineering, bottle-making and transportation. Although he projects a laid-back persona, he is feared by business competitors as a financial hard man but a man who will stick with a deal once it's made.

Nowhere has Hasan's recent growth in influence been more evident than with the Busang affair. Of all the unseemly scrambles to snatch part of Indonesia's riches natural or otherwise the recent battle for East Kalimantan's Busang gold deposit, one of the world's largest, needs a steady hand. "Hasan fits that role that's why he's involved in Busang," says Indonesian business consultant Christianto Wibisono.

The Mines and Energy Ministry struggled for months to enforce a settlement over who would be able to exploit the reserves. Moreover, Suharto became annoyed at the way the controversy spun out of control. With the president's backing Hasan has effectively taken over the ministry's role.

As the clock ticks down towards the latest government-imposed deadline over which players will get a share, Hasan will almost certainly determine which of the two rival Canadian mining giants, Barrick Gold or Placer Dome, gets to develop perhaps the biggest motherlode on Earth.

At the heart of the affair is Bre-X Minerals, a small Canadian company that discovered the deposit. Mining giants Barrick and Placer Dome are bidding to be the majority partner with Bre-X and local companies to exploit the find. Hasan has played a key role as an intermediary, and his team of advisers appears to have developed a new ownership formula for Busang that will give the Indonesians 20%-30% more control.

Bre X President David Walsh makes no secret of his relief that Hasan had taken over, leaving the ministry in what amounts to a supporting role. "I think Mr. Hasan's interest in the project going forward is going to be of great benefit to the partners," he says. "We're very pleased with his involvement."

Embattled Mines and Energy Minister I.B. Sudjana is circumspect about Hasan's place in the scheme of things, but left no doubt over who is calling the shots. Asked in late January whether a bidding process was now possible to select a major operator for the project, he replied: "The president will decide." The minister also acknowledged that Placer Dome sent its recent offer for the mine directly to the palace.

In the months before that, Mines and Energy Secretary General Umar Said and Sudjana's personal adviser, Adnan Ganto, had both openly supported Barrick's bid along with foreign heavyweights like former United States President George Bush and former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. After one parliamentary hearing in December, Ganto contemptuously called Bre X a "$2 company."

The battle for Busang had become political long before Hasan's intervention. It began when Barrick Chairman Peter Munk formed a partnership with Suharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardijanti Rukmana, or Tutut, in an effort to force Bre X into what Walsh and his shareholders considered an unfavourable deal. As the pressure built, Bre X finally took a lesson from the same corporate playbook and brought in Tutut's brother, Sigit Harjojudanto, for protection, raising the prospect of an ugly intra family squabble.

With Sudjana under fire for his handling of the issue, most notably in the Hasan-owned Gatra weekly, an angry Suharto initially turned to Coordinating Minister for Production and Distribution Hartarto to sort out the mess and head off any sort of controversy that could envelop the family. But after devising an ownership formula in which Barrick got 75% of the deposit and Bre X 25%, with both companies contributing to a 10% government stake, Hartarto just as quickly dropped out of the picture possibly because his son, Airlangga, was representing Barrick and Tutut.

By intervening, Hasan was essentially arbitrating between the Suharto children a role that he, as an outsider may be able to play better than Suharto himself. "The children are more likely to come to an uncle because they can't discredit each other in front of their father," says business consultant Wibisono. He has also steered the dispute towards open bidding, a step applauded by most foreign investors.

Hasan's role became apparent in early December when he and another presidential acquaintance, James "Jim Bob" Moffett, chairman of the Louisiana based Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold, met with Suharto at his Tapos cattle ranch outside Jakarta. With the president listening attentively, both men expressed their concern at the effect the issue could have on foreign investment in Indonesia and urged him to consider a more open bidding process.

The affair dragged on for more than a month, however, before Hasan finally disclosed that investment company Nusantara Ampera Bakti, or Nusamba, of which he is chairman, had purchased 50% of Askatindo Karya Mineral. That company has a 10% stake in the so called Southeast Zone, or Busang II, where proven and probable gold reserves now stand at 57 million ounces. That move propelled the president's confidant into a commanding position, similar in many respects to the way he entered Astra.

Also significant was that Hasan's entry drew the media's attention, keeping the spotlight well away from the First Family's business activities.

Shortly after the December meeting at Tapos, Hasan met for the first time with Placer Dome President John Willson. Willson was angry. He had been in serious negotiations with Bre X for a $5 billion merger when the government suddenly pulled the plug and announced that Barrick had been chosen as the majority partner.

Both Willson and Freeport's Moffett have a healthy distaste for Barrick's methods, the latter because of a dispute over a confidentiality agreement covering an Irian Jaya concession.

But whether this will influence Hasan is open to question.

Hasan's investment in Busang was just the latest in a string of acquisitions that he has made with Nusamba, an investment vehicle formed in 1982. At that time, three charitable foundations headed by Suharto controlled 80% and Hasan and the president's eldest son, Sigit Harjojudanto, owned 10% each. (The secrecy surrounding Nusamba often makes it difficult to assess who now owns what. The company's most recent articles of association, in August 1996, actually have Hasan in possession of all but one of the 3 million shares. That leaves open the question of why Suharto is no longer directly investing in Nusamba.)

Another key move was Nusamba's acquisition in October of a 10% stake in Astra formerly held by Indonesian state banks and pension funds. It effectively headed off a takeover bid late last year by cigarette magnate Putera Sampoerna. It leaves Hasan as head of a consortium of Suharto allies which now controls nearly 51% of a company whose products, Toyotas and Isuzus, still maintain a tight grip on the local car market.

Among the other shareholders in the newly revamped ownership formula are Liem's Salim group with 7.37%, banking group Danamon with 7.33%, Barito Pacific's Prajogo Pangestu with 10.86% and finally Putera with a personal 15% interest. On February 19, several months after his intervention, a meeting of the management board should finally appoint Hasan as chairman of Astra in what is expected to herald a major restructuring of Indonesia's largest vehicle assembler.

It has subsequently been disclosed that Salim's under utilized Indomobil will help in assembling knocked down kits of the Timor national car, an exclusive joint venture between Kia Motors of South Korea and the president's son, Tommy Suharto. But analysts are still waiting to see whether Hasan and the new board of commissioners will also add some of Astra's car making assets to the controversial programme.

Hasan declined to talk to the REVIEW about the recent flurry of business activity, saying he didn't give interviews during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. That rule apparently didn't apply in the United States, where he played in the recent Pro Am Bob Hope Golf Classic competition in Indian Wells, California. Questioned by Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper, he said he had only begun his investment spree because Suharto wanted to generate more capital and protect the charitable foundations under his control from inflation.

Gamala group's Wanandi says it's important not to underestimate the bond between Suharto and Hasan: "Everything Hasan does is by the design of Suharto. He has been chosen (to act for the president) because he has the best ability to squeeze the most out of foreign companies."

Hasan's choice of safe parking places for his latest investments has even led some in Indonesia to wonder whether Suharto is thinking of stepping down. The sheer weight of business reorganization in Indonesia recently could be a preparatory step for a handover. Other anecdotal threads can be made to fit the same scenario not least the frenzied business activity of the Suharto children. After all, if anyone is likely to know what is about to happen, it's Hasan and the president's children. "What we may be seeing," says one well connected Jakarta businessman, "is the last hurrah."

Former Mines and Energy Minister Mohammad Sadli thinks there may be a simpler answer. "He is out to get the best deal for himself and for Indonesia," he says. "It is clear that behind Hasan is Number One [Suharto]. Together they are hunting for the shares. They did it with Astra, and now they have done it with Freeport and Busang. They are looking for the best yields they can get." After all, that's what good friends are for.

Lining up for the pot of gold

Asia Times – 17 February 1997

Ong Hock Chuan and agencies, Jakarta – International bidding for the rights to operate one of the world's largest gold mines may have to start again if two of the main contenders do not settle a shareholding dispute by Monday.

Speculation and rumors have again begun to heat up as the deadline imposed by the Indonesian government nears for Canadian mining firms Bre-X Minerals and Barrick Gold to resolve their dispute over a gold mine in Busang, Kalimantan.

At stake is not only potentially the world's largest gold mine but foreign investors' perceptions of business practices in Indonesia. The only certainty is Monday's deadline, which has been pushed back once already because the parties involved could not reach an agreement.

The government is expected to make some sort of announcement on the matter on Monday.

"The situation at present is terribly complicated, with several reports on who would get what. At the same time the government hasn't said what the successful parties would have to pay in the investment to exploit Busang," said an observer.

On Friday Minister of Mines I B Sudjana met President Suharto and later said that the government might put the rights to the Busang site up for international tender if the two companies failed to arrive at an agreement with their local partners.

He said the international tender was only an option but did not say if there were other options. Observers said neither Canadian companies are expected to reach agreements with their local partners.

Rumors later spread that Bre-X, the company which originally discovered the gold deposit in Busang, had struck a deal with United States' mining giant Freeport McMoRan, which already operates a huge copper mine in Irian Jaya.

The Jakarta Post quoted reports as saying that under the deal Bre-X would own 45 percent of the venture while Indonesian shareholders and the government would hold 40 percent. The remaining stake would be held by Freeport. The paper also said the rumors could not be verified.

Analysts said Bre-X does not want to team up with Barrick and has been forced into talks by Jakarta. Industry sources said Freeport McMoRan would be a front runner in a new tender. "If there was an interest shown in Freeport's involvement we would probably respond to it," said Ed Pressman, public affairs manager for Freeport Indonesia. Pressman said there were "some things going on" but he would not comment on them until an expected government announcement on Monday.

"There are so many names thrown into the pot and there has been so much speculation over the last three months, we really need an announcement to clear up the mess," said James Bryson, an analyst at BZW. Insiders say negotiations have been "frantic and competitive" with high-level meetings in Jakarta hotel rooms and corporate boardrooms in Toronto.

Ron Stewart, country manager for Placer Emas, the local operating company of Placer Dome, said he believed Placer Dome, the second largest gold producer in North America, still had "a good chance" to join the deal. Placer Dome has offered a 40 percent share to the Indonesian partners, which beats Barrick's offer of 10 percent to local partners.

Monday's announcement could be complicated by legal action by Westralian Antan Minerals, an Indonesian company which had a contract to exploit the Busang area before Bre-X. A lawyer for Westralian, Petrus Selestinus, said he planned to file a lawsuit against Bre-X if his company was not announced as one of the winning companies on Monday.

A deal between Bre-X and Freeport would be a surprising outcome of a saga which has elements of intrigue and power plays involving multinationals and Indonesian political and business figures worthy of a racy novel.

The saga began last year after Bre-X found gold in Busang, a find analysts said could yield up to 57 million ounces, worth more than US$21 billion. Yet it then faced bureaucratic difficulties in securing a contract of work, and also faced aggressive moves by Canadian mining giant Barrick which wanted a piece of the action.

In October Bre-X signed up President Suharto's eldest son Sigit Harjojudanto for consulting work for a reported fee of US$40 million. Observers interpreted the move as Bre-X getting a heavyweight on board to secure the contract. Barrick, in the meantime, recruited the services of the Citra Lamtoro Gung group, which is controlled by Suharto's influential daughter Tutut Siti Hardiyati Rukmana.

What happened next was a surprise: The government advised it to agree to a deal in which Bre-X would control 25 percent of the concession. Barrick was to get 75 percent while the government indicated it would like 10 percent. It did not say where this 10 percent was to come from. In the meantime, a cooperative headed by Suharto's close associate, Bob Hassan, acquired a stake in Askatindo, a company which owns about 10 percent of the Busang concession. Hassan also owns a minority stake in Freeport Indonesia.

Elections

British-made tanks to be deployed in Jakarta in run-up to elections

TAPOL Press Relese - 21 February 1997

British-made Scorpion tanks were among the army equipment inspected in Jakarta on Thursday 20 February by top generals of the Indonesian military dictatorship, checking security preparations for the Indonesian elections scheduled for 29 May this year, [Republika Daily, 21.2.1997]

The appearance of British Scorpions, made by the Coventry-based ALVIS, on the streets of Jakarta in readiness for the 'elections' is further evidence of British-made equipment being deployed in an internal security role.

Carmel Budiardjo on behalf of the three organisations said: 'This further demonstrates the need for a change in policy by the UK Government. The Indonesian regime shouldn't be allowed to threaten voters or people protesting against the farcical elections, and British-made weapons absolutely must not be once more party to international repression in Indonesia.'

This report comes on the day of the official deadline, issued by TAPOL, CAAT and WDM for a Government response to a legal challenge over their licensing of the sales of Alvis armoured personnel carriers and Tactica water cannon to Indonesia.

Today the Government responded by asking for an extra two weeks whilst they considered the evidence.

Jakarta to deploy 10,000 soldiers, tanks for elections

Agence France Presse - 21 February, 1997

Jakarta – Indonesian security authorities will deploy 10,000 policemen and soldiers backed by tanks in the capital to safeguard general elections with campaigning getting under way in April, a report said Friday.

Military chief General Feisal Tanjung inspected the 10,000 troops at the huge open parking lot of the Senayan sports complex, the Republika daily said.

The troops, supporters by scores of armoured vehicles and British-made Scorpion tanks, helicopters, motorcycles and other vehicles, will assure security and order during the elections in the Greater Jakarta area which includes the capital and the surrounding towns of Tangerang and Bekasi.

Indonesians are scheduled to go to the polls on 29 May, after a 27-day campaign period which ends five days before the elections.

The ruling GOLKAR, the Muslim-led United Development Party and the small, conflict-plagued Indonesian Democracy Party will vie for the 425 parliamentary seats. Another 75 seats are filled by presidential appointees from the ranks of the military, who do not vote in elections.

Campaign rules announced

Antara - 4 February, 1997

Jakarta – Moh. Yogie S. M., minister of internal affairs and chairman of the LPU [Election Institute], issued Directive Number 7 of 1997 on 30 January 1997 concerning Election Campaign Rules as a follow-up to Government Regulation 74/1996 concerning Election Laws and Presidential Decree 99/1996 concerning Election Campaigns.

"These campaign rules are the first ones in the five times that we have had elections. Their goal is to prevent the election from leading to unnecessary excesses so that the campaign will run in a safe, orderly and smooth way," Walujo, LPU deputy general secretary, told reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday when he was explaining directive Number 7 of 1997 issued by the minister of the interior and chairman of the LPU.

The directive issued by the minister of the interior and chairman of the LPU also regulates campaign forms, themes and materials as well as their regions, timetables, levels, procedures, law and order and rest periods, as does Presidential Decree 99.

The election campaign will run from 27 April to 23 May 1997 and will take four forms: public assemblies, public meetings and radio and TV broadcasts. Then, there will be circulation to the public and/or placement in public places of posters, placards, circulars, slides, films, audio cassettes and recordings, video cassettes and recordings, banners, brochures, writings, drawings and the use of the print media and distribution by other means.

"Campaigns in the form of advertisements in the print and electronic mass media are forbidden," quoted Walujo from the Directive.

There will be six campaign regions: region one, Sumatra; region two, Java; region three, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara and East Timor; region four, Kalimantan; region five, Sulawesi; and region six, Maluku and Irian Jaya.

Each Organization Participating in the Election (OPP) may campaign in at most two different campaign regions on the same day.

The campaign and regional division timetables and turn-taking will be determined jointly by an election organizer and executive board and by the OPP Central Executive Committee at a meeting of the Indonesian Election Committee (PPI).

"If agreement is not reached, the chairman of the PPI will determine campaign timetables and regions. Campaign timetables and regions will be set up 20 days before the campaign begins," read Walujo.

Public assemblies and public meetings in campaign regions will take place at no higher level than the regency or municipality second-level districts and no lower than the RW [ward]. The campaign will take place at facilities in the second-level districts determined jointly by the head of the second-level districts and the local head of police in that second-level district.

Campaign notification mentioned [sic], the OPP Executive Boards will campaign in accordance with their campaign level and will draw up integrated plans for the campaign, and the head of police will be notified in accordance with his level of authority; this notification will include the form, level, time and place of campaigns taking the form of public assemblies, public meetings, and circulation of material to the public with copies to the agencies concerned.

Notification of public assemblies or public meetings will be made no later than seven days before they are held, and the head of police, in accordance with his level of authority, will issue official identification papers for the OPP Executive Board's notification no later than three days before the public assembly or public meeting is held. Each OPP will campaign in accordance with the integrated plans conveyed to the election organizer and executive board and to the head of the local regional government, including the second-level district police.

Each OPP, in accordance with its level, will be responsible for law and order and safety during the campaign from the time the public assembles, heads toward, arrives at, carries out their activities and returns from the campaign.

Public assemblies and public meetings will be held between 9 am and 6 pm local time and they can take the form of a dialogue or a monologue.

Walujo added that the Head of the National Police Force has also issued Police Regulation Number 01/I/1997 dated 31 January 1997 concerning campaign identification papers and law and order.

OPPs campaigning via the RRI [Indonesian Radio] and TVRI [Indonesian Television] will provide copies of their scripts to the PPI and to the minister of information with a copy to the RRI and the TVRI. Campaign scripts for the RRI and the TVRI will be examined before broadcast by the Election Campaign Script Examination Committee of the PPI.

In response to questions about whether examining manuscripts means prior censorship, Walujo explained, "There isn't any censorship. The scripts are examined to see whether the contents are oriented toward the program, do not make problems for PANCASILA [Five Principles of the Nation], do not vilify officials and do not offend the other OPPs. Criticism must be constructive." When asked who would be on the script examination committee, Walujo said that it would include officials from the LPU, the Department of Internal Affairs, the Department of Information and other agencies concerned.

"That means they're all GOLKAR [Functional Groups Party]; can they be objective?" asked a reporter. "What is certain is that they're all intelligent people; they can be objective," he said.

He also mentioned that the dialogue and monologue campaign broadcast schedules of each OPP on the RRI and the TVRI would be regulated and determined by the chairman of the PPI together with the heads of the RRI and the TVRI. "Dialogues are limited to 30 participants and the names of the participants must be provided.

Each OPP will have seven dialogues and two monologues broadcast over RRI and TVRI. Further regulations about campaigning over RRI and TVRI will be made by the minister of information," added Walujo.

Further regulations for campaigning by posting and mounting posters and the like will be made at the lowest level by sub-regents/heads of sub-regencies in their respective areas who will determine the public places made available by the government and will regulate the procedures.

PDI, PPP questioning certain campaign rules

Suara Pembaruan - 6 February 1997

Organizations Participating in the Election (OPP) stated their disagreement with the election rules regulated by decrees issued by the minister of internal affairs and the minister of information. In addition to damaging the OPPs, especially the political parties, regulation by those two decrees will also reduce the independence and autonomy of the OPPs themselves. Budi Hardjono, SH [Master of Laws], chairman of the PDI's [Indonesian Democracy Party] DPP [Central Executive Committee], asserted that campaign rules spelling out Government Regulation No. 74/1996 and Presidential Decree No. 99/1996 will reduce the autonomy and independence of the Organizations Participating in the Election (OPP) even further.

Speaking with PEMBARUAN on Thursday morning about the campaign rules regulated by minister of internal affairs decree Number 07/1997 and minister of information decree 012/1997, Budi stated that the OPPs are a component of the people's sovereignty which sets an agreement which the government must carry out, and in this case the government should actually be a component of the people's sovereignty. "The role of the government is no more important the that of the OPPs as a component of the people's sovereignty," he said.

Censorship

Budi said that government censorship of OPP campaign speech scripts in the electronic media is contrary to article 28 of the 1945 Constitution. Censorship reduces the sovereignty and autonomy of the OPPs. He said that there are no grounds for censoring OPP campaign materials since the OPPs are constitutionally legal organizations, their programs are clear, their leadership is clear and their membership and offices are clear.

If there are any OPP campaigns which deviate from this, all you have to do is issue a warning or take them to court.

As for an appointment of a moderator for campaign dialogues by the election committee, Budi stated that was the right of the OPPs since the OPPs will certainly not take just any moderator. "The OPPs will look for the best moderator," he said.

PPP [United Development Party]

Meanwhile, when he was contacted separately on Thursday morning, Zain Badjeber, chairman of the PPP's DPP, stated that the quality of the 1997 election, as mandated by the 1993 GBHN [Broad Outlines of the Nation's Direction], must be improved by giving the OPPs a greater role in it. However, all campaign regulations issued thus far indicate that the government still considers the OPPs unready for this.

"This can be seen in the great number of regulations the gist of which is government interference in OPP affairs," he said. He stated that the developmental stage of the OPPs is past and now is the time to strengthen their independence. In fact, the 1993 GBHN mandated that the quality of elections should be improved by giving the OPPs a greater role.

This election is giving the government too much authority to interfere in OPP affairs with the result that OPP viewpoints are always wrong, he said.

He stated that requiring a campaign moderator for dialogues, as indicated by the government, would most certainly make the atmosphere of the dialogues awkward so that in the end it would turn into a monologue and not a dialogue or a question and answer period. "In previous discussions with all the OPPs and all the elements and parties of the Defense and Security Board we have been in agreement: A moderator should not be appointed by the election committee but that turned out not to be the case in the rules," said Zain.

Zain was also confused about censorship of campaign speech scripts for the electronic media since if the government is consistent about censoring campaign materials, how will they censor the dialogues and monologues in the field? The OPPs should be responsible for their own campaign materials, and if the government feels that something is inappropriate they can be taken to court.

Land disputes/environment

Finding a voice

Down To Earth - 29/30 August 1997

Indigenous peoples in Indonesia are sick of being treated as second class citizens. Their voice is being heard more and more frequently as communities from Kalimantan to West Papua oppose the forces that marginalise them.

A rare opportunity for indigenous people to gather together and air their views in public was provided in March this year by a two-day public hearing organised by the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development.

Two indigenous representatives from West Papua were among the most outspoken participants. Josepha, an Amungme woman, spoke about the struggle for land against mining Freeport/RTZ. "What did we get for our demand? I and some other native people were tortured and kept for weeks in a container," she said.1 "We have lost a lot of our natural resources. We have lost our land inherited by our ancestors," said Bartolomeus Magal, another West Papuan participant.

The hearing also involved participants representing timber companies, government and non-governmental organisations. (Jakarta Post 4/3/96, 5/3/96, 9/3/96)

On another occasion, in April, government development programmes in Kalimantan were criticised by Dayak anthropologist Stephanus Djuweng. "Development projects are occupying the Dayak Ancestral land, cutting their commercial rubber plantations..their collective forests, [and] polluting their rivers...". He accused government officials of forcing Dayaks to change their culture and replace traditional longhouses with other houses, the construction of which benefitted the officials.

Djuweng also said the World Bank, which has helped finance Indonesia's development should also be held responsible for the environmental damage in Indonesia.

He was speaking at the launch in Jakarta of a book published by the Bank Information Centre, a Washington based NGO, entitled A Citizen's Guide to the Multilateral Development Banks and indigenous People. The book is designed to help indigenous people find their way around the procedures of MDBs including the World Bank.

A Bank official, Benjamin Fisher, defended the Bank saying that it had improved its development policy by encouraging indigenous people, like Dayaks, to participate in development programmes.

Unfortunately Bank procedures, however progressive and acceptable to indigenous peoples, are useless if the host government's policies conflict with them, as do those of the Indonesian government. This "policy gap" is a problem the Bank and other aid agencies have yet to address.

Figures and targets

There are officially around 1.5 million people classified by the government as "isolated tribes." They are divided into three categories: nomadic, semi-nomadic and settled.

Officials of the Social Affairs Department, which is responsible for 'developing' them, typically divide indigenous peoples into those that have been dibina or guided by the government (i.e the object of government programmes) and those who have not. Such development schemes resettle indigenous families on small plots, where they are expected to grow commercial crops (typically in unsuitable conditions), live in regulation housing and wear modern clothes, while abandoning traditional practices and the customary ways of living.

The system of fulfilling targets, means that quantity rather than quality is emphasised. It is not surprising then that there are frequent reports of failure: once government assistance runs out, resettled indigenous communities return to their former homes and lifestyle.

At the same time, indigenous peoples enjoy practically no rights of their own. Lands must be yielded to the government in the interests of national development (this is a catch-all including logging, mining, plantations and other forest conversion projects.) Indigenous people are also supposed to convert to one of the major world religions recognised under Pancasila, the government's guiding philosophy.

The prevailing, ingrained attitude among government officials is still based on the belief that indigenous peoples are 'backward' and need to progress to catch up with the rest of society.

According to provincial Social Affairs official for East Kalimantan Dr Wiyono, isolated communities in his area who have not been yet reached by his office number around 4,000 families. "These isolated communities, in the nomadic and semi-nomadic categories, generally still live backwardly in several ways, socially, culturally, economically, and in their religion and education," he said. (Suara Pembaruan 28/5/96)

Impacts of industrial forestry in Kalimantan

Kalimantan has been especially hard hit by logging and, more recently, the development of timber estates for the pulp and wood industries. Dayak communities are fighting the appropriation of their lands and destruction of their villages.

Several major disputes have erupted in Kalimantan within the past few years over such projects. One of them is the dispute between the Bentian Dayaks of Jelmu Sibak village in East Kalimantan and PT Hutan Mahligai which is developing a timber estate transmigration project on their traditional lands (see DTE 28 for background).

The latest development in the dispute was the visit in May of a Bentian representative, Nyeloi Adi to Jakarta. His purpose was to lodge complaints with the Forestry and Transmigration Ministries over the illegal occupation of Bentian lands by the contractor. The Jelmu Sibak villagers have already presented their case to local authorities, Ministers in Jakarta and the National Human Rights Commission.

According to Nyeloi Adi, as many as thirty government delegations have visited his village to investigate the dispute. These visits all failed to gain an objective perspective, partly because they never even met with the villagers! (Republika 25/5/96)

Torture

A long-running dispute over traditional land in another East Kalimantan village led to the torture of fourteen local people, by members of the security forces. Three representatives of the residents of Menamang village in Kutai district travelled to Jakarta in January to present their case to the National Human Rights Commission. One of the three, Awang Ateh, described how he had been beaten and burned with a cigarette after refusing to accept compensation for land taken by a timber plantation company. The dispute began in 1992 when the company, Surya Hutani Jaya, took over 1,663 hectares of traditional lands belonging to the 294 villagers. Crops, fruit trees and rattan cultivated by the villagers were destroyed.

The company, which is a joint venture of PT Surya Raya Wahana, PT Sumalindo Lestari Jaya and the state-owned forestry company Inhutani I, plans to develop a 198,000 hectare timber plantation on the site. Promises of compensation never materialised, while forged documents were used to claim that villagers had accepted and received compensation. Finally, after a new investigation by Kutai district authorities found that compensation claims were justified, some villagers decided to accept the compensation. Those who refused, were then subjected to torture. (Indonesia Media Network 3/2/96) In appropriate circumstances, Forestry Minister Djamaludin has been known to show sympathy for indigenous concerns, "We believe sustainable forest management will be more successful if the natives' involvement is intensified..." he said when opening the World Commission on Forestry and Sustainable Development hearing. But he is powerless to change the balance of power in their favour without a sea change in the thinking of Suharto himself (or a change in the leadership of the country).

The President, who is ever watchful of safeguarding national unity at all costs, is unlikely to start allowing indigenous peoples all kinds of rights which challenge the centralised control he enforces.

Central Kalimantan Dayaks call for rights body

Down To Earth 32 - February 1997

Dayak leaders meeting in the Central Kalimantan provincial capital Palangkaraya have called on the government to establish an institution to protect the rights of indigenous people. (AFP 17/1/97)

The need to protect the rights of Dayak communities of Central Kalimantan has become urgent as the million hectare mega-project proceeds.

BENTIAN appeal to Human Rights Commission

Down To Earth - 28 February 1996

The long-running dispute between the Bentian people of East Kalimantan and the logging company PT Kahold Utama remains unresolved. The dispute reached a new stage when indigenous villagers from Jelmu Sibak, in Kutai district, accompanied by NGO representatives travelled to Jakarta to meet members of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM).

They appealed to the Commission to investigate their dispute which centres on the violation of traditional (adat) rights over a 1,600 hectare area of land belonging to 72 families. The crops, forest resources, including honey trees and rattan stands cultivated for generations by the Bentian have been destroyed by the company, which has been licensed to develop a timber plantation and transmigration site on the land.

Ancestral graves have also been destroyed and local water courses disrupted by the company's activities. To date, the many protests lodged by the indigenous land-owners with the authorities have met with no success. Instead, a number of protesters have been repeatedly hauled before the police for interrogation on trumped-up forgery charges. Meanwhile the logging of community forests and the destruction of precious forest resources continues.

This is the second time the Bentian have approached the Human Rights Commission. The first deputation, in January 1995, persuaded the Commission to try and get the Kalimantan Governor to intervene on behalf of the Bentian, but this achieved nothing concrete. This time Commission members said they would send a mission to Jelmu Sibak to investigate and promised that the case would be a priority.

Unfortunately, the Commission's powers to help the Bentian will be limited by the fact that the company they are up against is owned by Indonesia's timber boss, Bob Hasan, who is a close associate of the President. The Commission will be free to call for action to help the Bentian if its sympathies lie with the villagers, but whether those calls would have any impact remains to be seen. (For a brief outline of the Commission and its powers see DTE 27).

Despite all the intimidation they have suffered and despite the attempts to bribe them to stop protesting, the villagers' demands remain forthright. They want their land to be recognised and returned to them; they demand that the company be made to pay fines according to customary procedures and brought to book according to the law, that the project be moved off their land and that their adat land rights no longer be disturbed.

(Sources: Republika 15/11/95, Informasi peremapsan dan penghancuran tanah adat masyarakat Jelmu Sibak, Bentianbesar, Kutai, Kalimantan Timur, Secretariat Promotion for Community based Forest System Management. 29/11/95) (For more background to the dispute see DTE 24 and 26)

West Kalimantan villagers attack pulp project

In West Kalimantan too, indigenous people are struggling to defend their customary land against commercial interests. Early in 1995 a company called PT Nityasa Idola started clearing land for a pulpwood plantation on a 120-hectare area belonging to Dayak families in Belimbing village, Sambas district.

The land had been signed over by the government-approved Village Head and a few others the previous month. This agreement stipulated that the company should respect the local customs, respect the local people's rights and efforts, prioritise local people for employment on the project and pay attention to village needs. A ceremony, led by the Village Head, was then arranged in which ten villagers received Rp 500,000 (US $250). The traditional [adat] leader and other villagers were not involved. Soon after, the villagers were told rudely that they could no longer work on their fields as the land had been bought by PT Nityasa Idola. The Village Head threatened to send to jail villagers who trespassed.

Since then, repeated attempts by the villagers to resolve the dispute through official channels have failed. In November 1995, their anger reached flashpoint and they burnt down the company's seedling camp.

According to Lembaga Bela Banua Talino (LBBT), an NGO based in the West Kalimantan provincial capital, Pontianak, this was the third such attack against timber estate developers in the area in the past couple of years.

All logged out!

Down To Earth 32 - February 1997

Further evidence of the crisis in Indonesia's forestry industry is emerging as Ministry of Forestry, Djamaludin Suryohadikusomo, confirmed in October that 60 of the 90 private forest concessions to end in 1996 would not be renewed due to poor management. The 60 concessions will be handed over to the state owned forestry companies Inhutani I-V.

Given the appalling state of the forests left in the care of concessionaires, it is not surprising that the Inhutanis are taking over these concessions with reluctance. The private logging companies have stripped the most profitable virgin forests and ignored their reforestation obligations, despite forestry regulations requiring them to implement Indonesia's selective cutting and replanting policy (TPTI).

In Central Kalimantan, for example, PT Inhutani III is to develop 2.2 million hectares of timber estates in areas formerly (mis)managed by nineteen concessionaires. The companies, which will form joint ventures with Inhutani, include two of the best known logging concerns in Indonesia, Jayanti and Barito. The others include Tanjung Raya, Dwima, Antang Group and Bumi Indah Raya.

Of Inhutani III's new concessions, 7.6% are virgin forests; 75% are logged-over and 17.4% are grassland and scrub. Only 5.7% of the area handed over to Inhutani V was virgin forest. "If forests were managed in a sustainable manner, at least 43% should have been virgin forest", said its President.

According to Inhutani III's production director, the company will spend US$5.9 million to replant the forests this year, which will be taken from the reforestation funds, or from profits. "If the reforestation fund is difficult to tap, we'll use 20% of our profit," he said. Clearly, the reforestation fund, which consists of fees collected from timber concessionaires, is not easy to get hold of, despite its huge size – it reached Rp 880.7 billion last year up from Rp 806.6 billion in 1995. Perhaps this is because large amounts of the fund is being used for purposes other than reforestation - like the destruction of hundreds of thousands of hectares of swamp forest, also in Central Kalimantan, for the million-hectare rice fields project (see DtE 29/30 and 30).

Forestry analysts have questioned whether the state-owned companies will be able to manage the forests any better, especially as two of them have less than six years experience.

The Forestry Minister stated that 20 million hectares of Indonesia's forests were in a critical state and warned that the proportion could increase rapidly. However, he put most of the blame on shifting cultivators. At a conference on sustainable tropical forestry management, Forestry Department expert, Dr IGM Tantra, warned that Indonesia's natural forests could be completely logged out by 2030 unless the TPTI system was properly practised. [Source: Kompas 23/10/96; Jakarta Post 11/10/96 Jakarta Post 7/12/96, 13/1/97.]

Indonesia gets $42 million forestry grant from EU

Indonesia has received a 33 million ECU (US$ 42.3 million) grant from the European Union to start a programme in South and Central Kalimantan and to establish a Forest Liaison Bureau.

The grant was presented to Forestry Minister Djamaludin in December by EU Ambassador in Jakarta Klaus-Peter Schmallenbach, Swedish Ambassador Mikael Lindstrom and Finnish Ambassador Hannu Himanen.

The programme is supposed to help the government develop sustainable forest management and optimal utilisation of forest products. It is also supposed to involve local communities in South and Central Kalimantan, as well as local governments and the private sector.

Unfortunately, this community involvement seems to mean imposing changes on their agricultural practices. According to Schmallenbach, it is important to guide local communities in carrying out more productive planting techniques which take up less land and "less temptation for logging". "It is also important to educate the local communities to regard to forests as the most important asset not only for themselves but for their children and their children's children." This last statement would perhaps be more appropriately targeted at the government-approved timber concessionaires, for the devastation they cause in the forests and their total disregard for the welfare of future generations.

The current EU-Indonesia forest programme consists of five major projects, including a fire prevention and control project and the controversial Leuser National Park Development Programme. (Jakarta Post 14/12/96)

IFC funds trans-PIR project

Down To Earth 32 - February 1997

The International Finance Corporation, private sector arm of the World Bank, has agreed to provide US $41 million in equity and loans to an Indonesian company to develop oil palm estates and refineries in West Kalimantan.

The IFC has also helped the company, PT Kalimantan Sanggar Pusaka, raise a $10 million loan from the German Development Bank.

Kalimantan Sanggar is a subsidiary of the forest-based Satya Djaya Raya Group, popularly known as Lyman Group.

The company will use part of the loan to develop 34,000 hectares of oil palm plantations under the nucleus estate/smallholder scheme which uses transmigrant families, as well as local farmers. Corporate secretary Indradi Kusuma said the project will help raise the living standards of more than 17,000 rural families. He quoted IFC's director for agribusiness development Karl Voltaire as saying " we are pleased to be associated with a project that has a high development impact." (Jakarta Post 22/11/96)

Unfortunately, the project probably will have a high development impact, the negative kind, that leads to explosions of social tension like the recent events in Sambas.

The tales of two bad concessionaires

Down To Earth - 29/30 August 1997

The Dayak Besar Group controls forest concessions of around 200,000 hectares and a number of timber mills in East Kalimantan. Poor management prompted the government to ban two of its subsidiaries, PT Dayak Besar Vincent Timber Co. and PT Gelora Dayak Besar, from transporting logs and sawn timber from their forest concessions in East Kalimantan to their wood-based industries.

Dayak Besar's concessions ended in 1992, but the forestry ministry issued a temporary extension on condition that the Group establish a joint-venture with the state-owned forestry firm. The agreement was cancelled, however, when Dayak Besar closed down its office.

The group was declared bankrupt in 1995 with debts amounting to Rp350 billion (US$152 million) of which the majority was owed to state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia. It also owes a large amount of money, including unpaid reforestation fees to the government.

Business tycoon Probosutedjo (a half-brother of President Suharto) agreed to take over the debt-ridden companies of the Dayak Besar group last year, but in March announced his decision to back out of the deal. His comments give a hint of the havoc caused by the logging company:

"...it turns out I have to pay those huge debts with nothing left of the forests to manage. Where would I get the money?" (Jakarta post 4/3/96)

Djajanti Group – soft punishment In February this year the government announced that it had decided to revoke the licences of three Djajanti Group concessionaires after finding proof that its downstream subsidiary PT Nusantara Plywood was involved in using illegal timber. Nusantara Plywood, based in Gresik, East Java, has also been fined Rp 1.3 billion (US$567,685). The concessions are in Central Kalimantan and cover around 300,000 hectares.

Djajanti, owned by Burhan Uray, is one of Indonesia's biggest timber groups. It currently holds 25 concessions which cover 2.8 million hectares of forests in Kalimantan, Maluku and West Papua (Irian Jaya). The West Papua concessions provide logs for a massive plywood mill in Maluku.

Revoking concessions, however, is not as bad for the company as it sounds, however. The company will continue operating the concessions under a two-year cooperation agreement with state-owned PT Inhutani III. This is to prevent mass lay-offs of workers and to ensure log supplies to the Nusantara mill. Under the arrangement, PT Inhutani III will take over management of the concessions while logging and other field activities will be carried out by the Djajanti workforce. After the two-year period, the two companies may decide to set up a joint venture. Logs produced under the joint cooperation will supply the Nusantara Plywood plant.

Two other concessions (but not those in West Papua) due to expire this year will not be renewed, according to Djamaludin. (Jakarta Post 14/2/96, Republika 14/2/96)

[This was part of a larger report on the state of the forests in Indonesia. Copies of this available on request.]

Kiani Kertas start-up soon

Down To Earth 32 - February 1997

Timber tycoon Bob Hasan will soon start pulp production at his PT Kiani Kertas project in Berau district, East Kalimantan.

According to company president Machnan R. Kamaluddin, the new plant, which will initially produce around half a million tons of pulp a year, expects to start production in April this year. Construction started in September last year and is expected to be finished in March.

The plant is costing US$1.1 billion and occupies a 3,400 hectare site. The production is almost all destined for export markets, including Japan, the United States, South Korea, Australia and European countries.

The pulp plant is projected to earn between US$350 million to $400 million in foreign exchange per year and employ around 4,000 people. PT Kiani Kertas plans to float its shares on the US Nasdaq Stock Exchange in 1998.

Pulping the rainforest

Raw materials to feed the plant will eventually be supplied by a timber estate to be developed by a joint venture between another Hasan company, PT Tanjung Redeb Hutani, and state forestry company, PT Inhtuani I. The 180,000 hectare estate, planted with Acacia Mangium will be 35% financed by PT Tanjung, and 65% by government reforestation funds.

However, as is typically the case in Indonesia's burgeoning pulp industry, the pulp plant will be ready for start-up long before the first plantations trees will be ready for felling (or even before they have been planted). The PT Tanjung plantation will not be ready until 2001 and so mixed tropical hardwoods (timber from natural forests) will be used until then. (Jakarta Post 8/1/97, Suara Pembaruan 13/1/97, ANTARA 15/1/97)

East Kalimantan: paper and pulp production centre

The Kiani Kertas plant is but one of four major projects expected to start production in East Kalimantan this year. According to provincial forestry head, Heru Basuki, the four could produce a total of two million tons of paper a year.

The other plants are PT Adindo in Bulungan district (also owned by Bob Hasan); PT Sumalindo Lestari Jaya in Sanga-Sanga, and ICTI. They are also developing pulpwood plantations of 140,00 - 200,00- hectares.

New projects mean more stress on natural forests

Down To Earth 29/30 August 1996

The rapid development of Indonesia's pulp and paper industry will put yet more pressure on the country's already severely depleted forests.

At least sixteen new pulp mills are due to start operating in the next seven years, with a total capacity of 5.45 million tons – more than doubling current capacity. This means more felling of natural forests since the development of industrial timber plantations has not been rapid and successful enough to cope with the pulp industry's demand.

All the 65 mills now operating in Indonesia still cut trees from natural forests. The earliest harvest of plantation wood will be next year. After that, the proportion of wood from plantations is supposed to increase year by year, relieving the pressure on natural forests. But natural forests are already in deep crisis and many will not survive the continued depletion required before plantations come into full production.

According to Hendro Prastowo, deputy executive chairman of APHI, the Association of Indonesian Forest Concessionaires, there is no need to worry about a raw material shortage because pulp producers are committed to developing plantations. But official statistics already show that plantation development is way below target. Less than 20% of the 4.05 million hectare area targeted for plantations has been actually planted. Moreover, according to Finnish company Enso – a partner in developing the Indonesian pulp industry – statistics refer to the area planted rather than the area effectively established. A report by the company cites an example in Java where an area of 1.4 million hectares was reported in 1988. A recent inventory had found only 0.85 million hectares, or around 59% of the reported areas fit for keeping under the planned regime. (Jakarta Post 15/5/96)

The sixteen new pulp projects are listed below. They include investments by well-known timber barons such as Bob Hasan (Kiani Kertas), and Pangestu Prayogo (Tanjung Enim Lestari, Nityasa Prima).

Name | Location | Start | capacity/year

PT Adindo Pulp & Paper E.Kalimantan 2003 300,000 t
PT Aspex Paper E.Kalimantan 1998 250,000 t
PT Dharma Trieka Sejahtera E.Kalimantan 2003 300,000 t
Djajanti Group Irian Jaya 2003 300,000 t
PT Fajar Surya Swadaya E.Kalimantan 1998 300,000 t
PT Guhara Lestary Cellulosa Sulawesi 2003 300,000 t
PT Intan Prima Cellulosa Utama Jambi 1998 200,000 t
PT Intim Nusapersada Jambi 1998 150,000 t
PT International Timber Corp. E.Kalimantan 2003 500,000 t
PT Kiani Kertas E.Kalimantan 1997 450,000 t
PT Mayangkara Tanaman Industri E.Kalimantan 2003 300,000 t
PT Nityasa Prima E.Kalimantan 2003 500,000 t
PT Perawang Sukses Perkasa Ind. Riau 2003 350,000 t
PT Sumatera Sinar Plywood Ind. N.Sumatra 2003 500,000 t
PT Takengon Pulp and Paper Aceh 2003 300,000 t
PT Tanjung Enim Lestari P&P S.Sumatra 1997 450,000 t

(Source: Green News ICEL, 31/5/96)

Finnish project in West Kalimantan

Another new project not listed above is one involving Finnish company Enso Gutzeit (30%), PT Gudang Garam 30% (owned by Probosutedjo, Suharto's half-brother) and state-owned forestry company, PT Inhutani III (40%). The project agreement was signed in June 1996 and the joint venture company is called PT Finnantara Intiga. A 100,000 hectare pulp timber estate is being developed in West Kalimantan at a cost of US$140 million. 35% of the funds have been raised from PT Finnantara's own sources. Trials have been underway since 1994 and thus far 2,000 hectares in Sanggau and Sintang districts have been planted with acacia mangium. Construction of a US $1 billion mill (the location is as yet undecided), with an annual capacity of 500,000 m3 is to start in 1998. (Jakarta Post 15/6/96)

[This project involves the acquisition of lands owned by indigenous Dayak communities.]

West Kalimantan villagers attack pulp project

Down To Earth 28 - February 1996

In West Kalimantan too, indigenous people are struggling to defend their customary land against commercial interests.

Early in 1995 a company called PT Nityasa Idola started clearing land for a pulpwood plantation on a 120-hectare area belonging to Dayak families in Belimbing village, Sambas district. The land had been signed over by the government-approved Village Head and a few others the previous month.

This agreement stipulated that the company should respect the local customs, respect the local people's rights and efforts, prioritise local people for employment on the project and pay attention to village needs.

A ceremony, led by the Village Head, was then arranged in which ten villagers received Rp 500,000 (US $250). The traditional [adat] leader and other villagers were not involved. Soon after, the villagers were told rudely that they could no longer work on their fields as the land had been bought by PT Nityasa Idola. The Village Head threatened to send to jail villagers who trespassed.

PT Adindo Hutani Lestari, a timber company partly owned by Suharto's daughter Siti Hediati Prabowo, is developing a timber estate and pulp plant with a total investment US $893 million in Bulungan, East Kalimantan, reports the Jakarta Post. Adindo, said a company statement has so far planted 550 hectares with such fast-growing tree species as acacia and eucalyptus. The company, started operations early 1995. (Jakarta Post 24/11/95)

The President's eldest daughter, Tutut, is involved in the huge Tanjung Enim Lestari Pulp & Paper project in South Sumatra along with timber baron Prayogo Pangestu and private and government Japanese investment. NGOs are fighting the project on environmental grounds and have accused the project of forcibly appropriating land from local communities (see DTE 27 for a full report).

In October the Ministry of Forestry licensed the establishment of a 150,000 hectare timber estate for the pulp industry in Sanggau, West Kalimantan. The $ 964.9 million project is be a joint venture between the Bumi Raya Group and state-owned PT Inhutani II. It is the first to be licensed since the government reopened the timber estate sector to investors. A decision to close the sector for 'environmental reasons' was reversed after paper prices soared, in a bid to boost pulp production and bring down prices. (Jakarta Post 19/10/95)

Mega-project spells doom for Kalimantan peat forests

Down To Earth 29/30, August 1996

Hundreds of thousands of hectares of pristine tropical peat forests in Central Kalimantan are about to be destroyed for a huge rice development project which experts say cannot work.

The million hectare scheme, fully sanctioned by President Suharto, aims to convert virgin and logged forests, as well as absorbing existing agricultural sites, into a vast area of irrigated rice-fields, horticulture and plantations. Over the next three years, it will destroy a huge swathe of forest rich in biodiversity and deprive indigenous Dayak communities of their livelihoods. Billed as a means to save Indonesia's rice self-sufficiency, the project is a political ploy to boost the President's popularity. As such, it has not been properly planned and the grave consequences for the environment and the local populations not duly considered. Despite this serious lack of preparation, work on the project has already started. In January this year diggers started work on the main canals which will drain the peat swamps.

The project is also a huge exercise in social engineering. Between 200,000 and 250,000 transmigrant families will be brought in to work on the rice-fields and plantations. This means anything from 800,000 to one and a quarter million people (depending on what is taken to be the average family size). The transmigrants will at least equal and very probably outnumber the local population, making them a minority in their own land. A sure-fire failure

The project cannot be successful, according to scientists with intimate knowledge of the area. This is because a large part of the project land consists of highly acidic deep peat, which is impossible to cultivate. Areas of shallow peat (less than 3 metres deep), which are mainly along rivers and coastal areas, have been converted to agriculture with some success, but only with large amounts of fertiliser. This is no basis for assuming that deep peat areas can be similarly cultivated, however. Indeed when tried before in other countries, only two or three crops have been possible before acidification (acid sulphate), toxification and micronutrient deficiency make further cultivation impossible.(1) The soil then becomes a black acidic wasteland.

There is a fundamental lack of knowledge about the ecology of peat swamp forests in government circles, with few people quite realising the impossibility of developing deep peat areas for agriculture. Worse, those who do realise that the project cannot succeed and are in a good position to communicate the problems, are unwilling or unable to face the task of telling the President he is wrong – and suffer the consequences.

Peat facts Indonesia possesses the largest area of peat in the tropics. Estimates vary from 17 million to 27 million hectares, the higher placing Indonesia fourth in the world league table of peatland by area, behind the Former Soviet Union, Canada and the USA.

According to one 1988 study, the largest area of peat is in Kalimantan, followed by Irian Jaya (West Papua), then Sumatra. Another two surveys (RePPProt 1988 and 1990) found that Sumatra had the largest area, followed by Kalimantan, Irian Jaya, Sulawesi, then Halmahera and Seram in the Moluccas.

Just over half a million hectares of peatlands have been used for transmigration sites and by local inhabitants.

About 1.9 million hectares of peat swamp forest has been gazetted as conservation areas including Berbak National Park (Sumatra), Danau Sentarum Wildlife Reserve (Kalimantan) and the Lorenz National Park (Irian Jaya). Much larger protected areas are needed to maintain a viable peat forest since much of the best, undisturbed peat swamp forest is not included in these reserves. (See E. Maltby, C.P. Immirzi and R.J. Safford, Tropical Lowland Peatlands of Southeast Asia, IUCN Wetlands Programme 1996.)

No international funding, no EIA

An indication of this project's feasibility is given by the fact that no international funding organisation will touch it.(2) One reason is that no environmental impact assessment is being done before the project starts. Although large projects are required to conduct an EIA before going ahead, this project has been given such priority, and the planned time-scale of three years is so short, that the law is being flouted. Instead, the environmental impact assessment will be done as the project proceeds, defeating the whole purpose of conducting an EIA.

And this is a project that needs an EIA more than most. Environment Minister Sarwono has admitted that "our knowledge of the environmental risks...is still minimal..." (Media Indonesia 1/4/96)

One major concern is that the peat types in the target area have never been properly mapped, meaning that the project is being developed on unknown terrain. Project decisions have been made using maps based on aerial photos under the British ODA-financed RePPProT mapping scheme. These maps do not correctly indicate the land types in the peat swamp forests, however, and their use has major implications for the feasibility of the project.

Scientists taking part in an international symposium on tropical peatlands held in Kalimantan last year warned about the consequences of inappropriate peat development:

It is recognized that to secure food production, more tropical peatland may be developed for agriculture. It is, however, imperative that only the most appropriate peatland be selected for development in order to ensure long term success. Inappropriate conversion of peatlands can lead to both economic failure and environmental degradation.

They stress the need for sustainable development of peatlands adopting an ecosystem approach and point to guidelines for the integrated management of tropical peatlands being formulated by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). (Source: Statement prepared by delegates to the International Symposium on the Biodoversity, Environmental Importance and Sustainability of Tropical Peat and Peatlands, 4-8th September, Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan)

Who is involved?

It seems that Indonesian companies are also reluctant to get involved in the project. The land drainage is being carried out by the Salim Group, allegedly under pressure from the President. The Group, Indonesia biggest conglomerate run by Liem Sioe Liong, has been given to understand it will not get other lucrative government contracts if it refuses this one. There was no tendering process for this contract.

Meanwhile, the consultants will be the Dutch Government Agency for Land Drainage and Conservation, Wageningen. The agency, which should know better, has gone into the project with the familiar limp excuse: "if we don't do it, someone else less qualified will."

"Deforestation" fund

The costs of such a huge development will be enormous. Draining the peatland will call for an estimated 27,000 kilometres of drainage and irrigation canals. Along with other infrastructure to be provided by the government, the plan could cost between US$2 billion and $3 billion.

Since international donors seem to have shied away from this project, the funds will be drawn from various national sources, including the Presidential Fund (BanPres) and from the state budget.

One of the major sources of funding is none other than the Reforestation Fund. According to Forestry Minister Djamaludin, the Fund's contribution will amount to Rp 500 billion (around US$218 million). In the past this has been used to fund projects totally unrelated to reforestation, such as the state-owned aircraft industry. This year, as last, it is being used to help balance the state budget. But never before has the fund been used so blatantly to do the very opposite of what it is meant for. Instead of rehabilitating forests, it will destroy them.

Impacts

The potential environmental and social impacts of this mega-project are proportionately large in scale. The peat swamps have a very special and relatively little-studied ecosystem. Potentially, many new species have yet to be discovered. In the deepest peat areas of the interior, furthest away from the rivers, the richness of fauna and flora is greatest. These forests are home to at least five species of primates, including orang utans - the highest concentration are now living in peat forests (probably because their other tropical forest habitats have been destroyed). More than 140 bird species have been recorded; six are in the Red Data Book of endangered and rare species.

The so-called "blackwater" rivers found in the peat swamps have very unusual ecology with several endemic species.

In the rainy season a large part of the forest floor is under water – literally a swamp. When the forest floor is flooded, the swamps become river fish breeding grounds in the same way as mangroves are breeding grounds for ocean fish.

In the past, Indonesia has recognised the value of conserving this unique forest environment with a Presidential decree to protect deep peat areas (over 3 metres deep) from exploitation. This clearly conflicts with the decree which sanctions the rice-lands project and is being ignored in the rush to develop the project.

Indigenous communities

The indigenous Dayak communities who live in the area are dependent on fish for food. They live mainly along the rivers, as the forests are uninhabitable for much of the year. But they do make use of the forests in the dry season when they go further into the interior to collect forest products and hunt animals for food.

These communities will be severely affected by the loss of traditional fishing and foraging resources as well as by the influx of transmigrants of different culture to their own. In one newspaper article, the former Central Kalimantan Deputy Governor, HJ Andries, asked project contractors to go carefully when dealing with local communities, their customs and sacred sites. (Kompas 8/12/95) But without the recognition of their customary ownership rights, such words have little meaning.

Fertilisers

The tropical peatlands are highly acidic and in the shallow peat areas alone, will require huge amounts of nutrients to make the soil fit for growing crops. The use of such large quantities of fertilisers is bound to take its toll on the environment, on the river systems which provide fish and drinking water for communities living in the project area, for downstream populations as well as the coastal areas near the river deltas. These include areas of mangrove swamps and may affect several existing and proposed conservation areas on the coast. The population of the South Kalimantan provincial capital of Banjarmasin, where one of the region's main rivers, the Barito, reaches the sea, is likely to suffer the effects of increased water pollution. Flooding

The peat swamp forests also act as a natural buffer against flooding in downstream areas. They do this by slowing down the drainage of rainfall (which is extremely heavy) into the rivers, like a natural water regulator. Without their regulatory effect, the rivers will be much more prone to flash flooding, putting downstream towns, villages, and agricultural land at a much greater risk of inundation.

The climate

Huge amounts of carbon – one of the main greenhouse gases responsible for global warming – will be released by the project. Both forests and peatlands have the ability to remove or "sequester" carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide. Their value as so-called carbon sinks has been recognised for some years by climatologists. According to Friends of the Earth, on a global scale, peatlands may well form a greater carbon sink than rainforests, although they cover little more than half the area of rainforests:

Because peatbogs continue to sequester carbon over long periods of time they have become remarkable terrestrial carbon pools. Peatlands may well contain between 329 and 528 billion tonnes of carbon. This is three and half times the size of the carbon pool of tropical rainforests. (Peatbogs and Climate Change, Friends of the Earth Briefing Sheet, September 1992)

The Indonesian government's Kalimantan peatland conversion project will add to carbon levels in the atmosphere in four ways. First, the forests will be felled thereby destroying their function as a carbon sink. Then, when the peat is drained, a whole lot more carbon will be released. At the same time, the drainage will mean the loss of those parts of the peatlands which are still actively absorbing carbon. Finally, the rice paddies will release enormous quantities of methane, a powerful global warming gas.

Motivations: food and log security

So why is the government determined to take such huge risks and go ahead with a project doomed to failure? Why not first set up a pilot project on deep peatland that has already been cleared (and there are some areas like this) for, say, a small-scale ten-year trial? The reasons are both political and economic. The loss of rice-lands on Java is causing public concern as a decade of national rice-self-sufficiency draws to a close. Since this has happened largely as a result of rapid industrialisation on Java – much of which has directly benefited companies belonging to members of the Suharto family – the President must be seen to be doing something about it. The creation of rice-lands – a million hectares in Kalimantan to replace the million hectares lost on Java – is therefore an attempt to quell fears about food self-sufficiency. This tidy calculation does not stand up to the least scrutiny however. In practice, even in the unlikely event that the full million hectares were successfully converted to rice-fields, the yield per hectare would be far lower than it is on Java. Rice production on Java is equal to the highest anywhere in the world at 6 tonnes per hectare. The far lower yield on peat (if possible at all) of 1-2 tonnes/ha would mean that to replace a million hectares in Java, 3-6 million hectares of peatland would be required.

The project will also serve to cover up the crisis in the Indonesian forestry industry. A shortage of logs from Indonesia's production forests has been hitting some of the downstream processing industries which sell plywood and other timber products on the lucrative international markets. Late in 1995 there was talk of importing logs to make up shortfall. (See article on p.6). In January the President put an end to those ideas, however, saying that the supply of logs would be boosted by the Kalimantan project. The felling of the forests is expected to produce some 6 million m3 of timber over the next few years. (The timber-based industries have an estimated capacity of 44.5 million cubic metres each year). By preventing the need to import logs, the project therefore protects the nation (or rather President) from the accusation that it needs to import because it has destroyed its own forests. It is a tragedy that the log crisis should be covered up by sacrificing yet more natural forests.

Current peat forest logging

Until now, logging in the peat forests has mainly been done by hand, along the major rivers and has not penetrated very far into the interior. Some of the forest near the rivers has been clear-felled but in the interior the logging has left canopy gaps which could, in theory at least, regenerate.

One factor which has thus far prevented large-scale logging is the much lower density of large-diameter, commercially valuable trees in the forest which lie between the forest types nearest the river and the interior forests which contain the greatest number of commercial tree species, including the genera Agathis, Dipterocarpus, Palaquium and Shorea. At the same time, the swampy terrain makes access to the interior more difficult.

The forests also provide other commercial products like latex, rattan, medicinal plants, edible fungi, and gemur bark used in oil surfactants and anti-malarial products.

According to one source, the peat swamp forests could have a high potential for environmentally sustainable management under a suitable timber extraction regime. But changing the land use to either agriculture or intensive logging, both of which are non-sustainable in the medium to long term, threatens the peat resource and its natural functioning. Once converted to another land use, peat swamps have little if any buffering capacity against further change since deforestation, drainage and agriculture conversion bring about irreversible degradation. The real motivation?

The fact that a huge area of pristine forest is being targeted for the project (rather than degraded land already available) is perhaps the key to the true motivation behind this project: the fortune to be made from logging the forests. It remains to be seen which companies will be given the task of clearing the forests and where the money they make ends up. One thing is certain: it will not be used to help the transmigrants stranded on infertile lands, nor the Dayaks whose forest resources will have been wiped out.

Notes

(1) Toxification through aluminium and manganese, micronutrient deficiency in copper and zinc.

(2) Foreign investment has been mentioned in one press report, but no further details have been given.

(Additional sources: personal communications and press: Kompas 8/12/95, 25/3/96 Media Indonesia 1/4/96, GATRA 13/1/96, Jakarta Post 29/11/95, Far Eastern Economic Review 7/9/95)

Problems at Kalimantan peat project

Down To Earth 31, November 1996

The folly of pushing ahead with a huge rice conversion project in Central Kalimantan without any environmental impact assessment, is becoming evident. Problems are arising in all aspects of the million hectare project, which was announced by Presidential decree last year and launched in February 1996.

The project will devastate huge areas of peat swamp forests, whose rich biodiversity may now never be fully discovered. Money from the national reforestation fund is being used to clear these forests, home to indigenous Dayak communities, in an over-ambitious attempt to create rice-fields, which scientists say is bound to fail. (See DTE 29/30 for more background)

Because the project was ordered by President Suharto, initially, there was little public opposition. But as the massive scale of the impending disaster becomes clear, critics, including leading figures in the Indonesian scientific community, are beginning to voice their reservations.

In September a seminar on peatland development held at the University of Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta provided an opportunity for scientists, some of them involved in the project, to issue warnings about its possible impact. Among them were well-known academic Otto Soemarwoto, who listed impoverishment of biodiversity, land and hydrological degradation and increased greenhouse gas levels as potential impacts. Among the points specifically mentioned by various scientists at the meeting were the following: The main contractor, the Sambu Group, plans to build a dam at the river-mouth. This will prevent the flow of sea-water into the peat area, thereby depriving it of minerals and changing its ecology, and also increasing the likelihood of flooding.

It will be extremely difficult technically, and prohibitively expensive to control and manage the behaviour of water in the project area, given the unpredictable behavour of peat and the extremely high rainfall. The risk of failure is high.

The large amounts of pesticides needed (about 2.4 million litres a month), will pollute the water used for drinking, washing and cooking by people living downstream.

To minimise the risk of environmental degradation, through pests or disease, the areas to be cultivated should be in small sections, divided by green belts. This means a total of only 350,000 ha, not 633,500, should be allocated for rice-cultivation. (TIRAS, 10/10/96)

WALHI calls for a rethink

In August Jakarta-based environmental NGO, WALHI, condemned the project as off-target and environmentally degrading. WALHI suggested that the government reconsider its whole approach to the question of food production, given the current practice of converting fertile areas in Java into industrial, housing and tourist (including golf course) development areas. "No less than 30,000 hectares of agricultural land in Java are turned into industrial and housing areas every year," said WALHI spokesperson Lili Hasanuddin. The NGO also warned of the impact on the peat forests' fauna and flora, which include orang utans and proboscis monkeys. (Jakarta Post 9/7/96)

Despite the increasingly public criticism, the government has shown no sign of having any second thoughts. On the contrary, its profile remains high as the saviour of rice self-sufficiency, a matter of national pride as Jakarta sees it. No less than five ministers have been sent to the site and most recently, it was announced that large incentives (about US $2,174) would be awarded for each voluntary transmigrant family joining the project. Indigenous peoples' rights ignored

The customary rights over forests, rivers and resources of the original Dayak inhabitants of the project area, have not been taken into consideration. These communities live mainly along the river banks. They use the forests for hunting and gathering forest products, and fish in the rivers.

These people have not been consulted as to whether they agree or not to the project. Their lands have not been demarcated, neither has the project's impact on their communities been taken into account, since there has been no kind of environmental or social impact study before the start of the project.

The government has tried to play down the possibility of land conflict. One local official even said the case could not be compared with the Kedung Ombo case (the notorious World Bank-financed dam project in Java) since not much land owned by local people was affected and those people would have the opportunity to get rice fields in the project area. What about those who don't want to participate?

One report, in the daily Kompas, quotes the public relations officer of PT Sumatra Timor Indonesia, a subsidiary of the main contractor, the Sambu Group, describing how traditionally owned (adat) land is appropriated for the drainage canals. First he points out that it is not the company's job to deal with such matters as this has to be sorted out by the local government. He goes on: "There is already a high level of understanding of the importance of the project so that they release their land without compensation.." (Kompas 20/6/96)

Indigenous insult

The social affairs department says there are around 17,150 "isolated peoples" (the official term to describe indigenous communities) or 3,515 families living in Central Kalimantan province. According to William Sendok Rabu, provincial head of social affairs, isolation, ignorance and lack of skills causes poverty and backwardness among these people. Thus far, around 1,017 families have been "guided" by social affairs through resettlement schemes.

Governor Warsito Rasman said recently that isolated peoples' backwardness meant that as a human resource they could not yet be used efficiently in development. (BPost 14/10/96, 24/10/96)

This negative attitude towards indigenous peoples is typical of government officials in Indonesia, and in line with the official policy of bringing indigenous groups into the mainstream of national life. No acknowledgement of indigenous knowledge or skills is made, let alone the suggestion that outsiders may have something to learn from them.

Local Transmigration

As with many large-scale development projects affecting indigenous lands, it is assumed that the people will join the project as local transmigrants, along with families brought in from Java. Altogether, 316,000 families are to be sent to the project, according to Transmigration Minister Siswono Yudohusodo, speaking in October.

Minister Siswono says that 60% of the 3,000 families due to be settled on the project by the end of March 1997, will be drawn from the local population. "We will make sure that natives benefit from the project before outsiders are brought in", says National Planning Minister Ginandjar Kartasasmita. (Jakarta Post 5/10/96) This, presumably, is supposed to make indigenous communities who will lose land and livelihoods and probably their own sense of identity, feel better about the prospect.

Wildlife

The swamp forests are one of the last natural habitats of orang utans and proboscis monkeys and house a immense range of animal and plant life. (see DTE 29/30 for more details on wildlife).

In September, Forestry minister Djamaludin said that ideally there should be areas within the million hectare area set aside to conserve biodiversity. Even if the full million were converted to agriculture, the fauna and flora [?] would be moved to a new habitat, he said.

According to one September news report which refers to a Presidential instruction, areas of peat more than 3 metres deep would be set aside as water catchment and biodiversity protection areas. (This would immediately exclude a large percentage of the project area from cultivation. The following month, the same newspaper reported that there was "the possibility" that peat of more than two metres deep would be set aside. (Banjarmasin Post 5/10/96, 17/9/96)

Whether any conservation areas will materialise and whether they will be big enough to sustain wildlife is another matter. As pointed out by one MP from Central Kalimantan, unless there is legal back-up, it is all just talk. (Banjarmasin Post 17/9/96)

But at least there is talk. It is a sorry state of affairs that more official concern should be expressed over the fate of the wildlife of the peat forests than that of the indigenous communities who live there.

Technical problems

Technical problems have meant that project development in the field has got off to a slow start. Lack of heavy machinery and the hilly topography are two reasons cited by officials. By June 1st only 33km of the targeted 585 km of primary channels had been dug. Less than a quarter of the 570 pieces of heavy machinery targeted were in operation. (Kompas 29/7/96)

The demand for timber

One of the benefits of the project, as declared by President Suharto, is the timber produced by clearing the forests. This addition to the national supply is designed to ease the log supply crisis in the plywood and other processing industries (see DTE 29/30). According to the President, the clearance of forests will free up some 6 million cubic metres of timber – over a quarter of the amount that is supposed to be cut in one year from all timber concessions in the country.

However, it has since been pointed out that by using the timber to ease the national plywood crisis, the government will only be creating a timber supply crisis at the local level. As calculated by members of the Centre for Environmental Research at the University of Palangkaraya, local timber needs of transmigrants alone will amount to 1.75 million cubic metres of timber allowing for housing and boat-building needs. This doesn't even take into account the needs of indigenous people who build almost everything, including their traditional longhouses, boats and jetties, out of timber. (Kompas 24/6/96)

In October, the head of the local forestry office in Kapuas announced that half a million cubic metres above 30cm in diameter would be allocated for building transmigrant homes. This is less than a third of what will be required according to the calculations of the Centre for Environmental Research. The needs of indigenous communities also requiring timber are not mentioned. (Banjarmassin Post 4/10/96)

One huge experiment...

The project has been criticised because of the complete absence of preparation in the form of environmental and other impact studies. Although these are usually only a way of rubber-stamping project proposals, one would hope that any half-serious study would find grounds for at least delaying the project until pilot projects had been undertaken. But in one sense, the project is itself one huge pilot project. According to head of the Indonesian Peat Association, Bambang Setiadi, if successful, the Kalimantan project could open the door to the conversion of 27 million hectares of peatlands in Sumatra, Irian Jaya and other islands. (Kompas 6/8/96)

Let us hope that this experiment will be stopped before the costs become too great and before too many forests, communities, wildlife and a whole region's natural flood control system are sacrificed.

House to pass nuclear bill by the end of this month

Jakarta Post - February 12, 1997

Jakarta – The House of Representatives will pass the controversial bill on nuclear power in its plenary meeting scheduled assage omittefor Feb. 26, a legislator said yesterday. Muhammad Buang of the United Development Party faction, who was involved in the deliberations of the bill introduced in January last year, said that House approval of the bill "would hopefully allay public concerns over the possibility of a nuclear accident.

"The law won't be able to eliminate all risks, but I am sure that if the law is properly implemented, the possibility of accidents will be minimized," he said. Buang did not elaborate on how the House members managed to break the deadlock in the deliberations caused by some legislators' refusal to comply with a Dec. 12 deadline imposed on them by the government.

He did not explain, either, how the legislators settled differences over several crucial issues, including the establishment of a body to monitor the operation of the planned nuclear plant. Buang, however, said that the legislators had managed to add several articles on plant safety to the bill. These cover, among other things, the questions of the transportation of nuclear waste and of manpower, which Buang said were crucial.

The bill, should it come into effect, will require any plan to establish a nuclear power plant to go through four stages of supervision and control. If a state agency wishes to construct a plant, the plan should first be subjected to scrutiny from a supervisory body that will have to be established by the government.

The public will also be able to control the performance of the supervisory body through an independent advisory body, to be called the "Nuclear Power Supervisory Council" and consisting of experts and community leaders. "The Council will function in ways similar to the National Commission on Human Rights. It will be founded through a presidential decree," Buang said.

Next, any plan for a nuclear plant would also have to be approved by the House of Representatives. Buang said the bill has placed safety as the utmost consideration.

"The question of safety should be above any political or economic interests," he said. He also said the House would have to be consulted when the government discussed the question of "sustainable storage" for the nuclear waste.

Finally, the bill strives to regulate that any decisions made on nuclear power plants should be in accordance with the international conventions on nuclear plants that the country has ratified, he said. The document also prohibits dumping of foreign nuclear waste in Indonesia. "We need to state this clearly. Otherwise, we don't know, there could be countries wishing to do so," he said. Reaction

An environmental organization demanded yesterday that the House recant its approval of the bill. Angela Hindiarti of the Indonesian Forum of Environment (Walhi) said the House should first allow the public to contribute ideas for the document.

"From the outset the public has been excluded from deliberation on the bill, especially people living near the site where the government proposes to build a nuclear plant," she said. The government has already conducted feasibility studies to build a nuclear power plant on the Muria Peninsula in Central Java.

Walhi is against the bill on the grounds it was a retrospective act, drafted merely to provide a legal basis for the Muria plant. "A new document on nuclear energy should be drafted, one which includes people's aspirations," she said.

Late last month, 25 environmental organizations made the same appeal to the House of Representatives, charging that the bill was concocted only to legitimize the planned plant. Besides Walhi, the other signatories included the Indonesian Antinuclear Society, the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute and the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development. (08)

Labour issues

Workers demonstration paralyses Tangerang

Media Indonesia 18 February, 1997 (Abridged)

About seven hundred workers from Citra Raphael Indonesia factory in Tangerang marched seven Kms to the local legislative assembly building, bringing commercial activity in the area to a halt. Shops along the route closed their shutters, fearing that riots might occur. The factory produces jeans.

The workers were demanding payment of three months back pay and the payment of allowances for workers who have been fired.

The workers had been told that the company was bankrupt, that the business was being bought up and that during the transition, workers would be laid off.

After the change of ownership, only four hundred workers were taken back, while the other three hundred were fired with severance pay fixed by the company.

Tempers flared among the workers when they heard that four hundred other workers had been taken on to replace those fired. Workers started throwing rocks at factory buildings after the management ignored their demands, and they decided to take their grievance to the local assembly.

Problems arose when members of the assembly asked the workers to appoint representatives. Another problem was that no one from the side of management was present to join in the talks.

The dispute has not yet been solved.

Indonesia's latest uprising

The Economist - 15 February, 1997

Driving inland from the west coast of Kalimantan, the Indonesian-controlled part of the island of Borneo, is like entering a war zone.

The road stretches ahead to the forested hills in the distance without a car in sight. The only visible movement is from the heavily-armed troops patrolling the road, or speeding past in trucks or on motorbikes. All the houses have been boarded up, the ethnic identities of their occupants scribbled hastily on the walls in an attempt to keep them out of Indonesia's latest outbreak of ethnic unrest.

A makeshift barrier of oil drums and wooden boards bars the way into the town of Anjungan. There are no obvious signs of any recent fighting, but a family sitting outside their house says there has been shooting nearby. They say they were too frightened to try to find out what happened.

In fact the Indonesian army seems to be embroiled in a full-scale ethnic war in Kalimantan which, by its own account, has claimed hundreds of lives over the past six weeks. Thousands of people have been displaced, some staying with relatives and others in refugee camps run by the army.

Journalists trying to enter the conflict area are being detained by the army and thrown out, but other sources have pieced together the story. Clashes between the Dayaks, the indigenous people of the area, and Muslim settlers from the island of Madura, broke out at the end of December. The situation had begun to calm down when a Catholic school attended by Dayak pupils in the provincial capital, Pontianak, was attacked and set on fire on January 28th, sparking off revenge attacks by Dayak youths on Madurese communities.

In one incident early last week a large group of Dayaks armed with spears and machetes approached the roadblock in Anjungan, which was manned by soldiers from an elite commando unit. When they tried to break through the roadblock, the troops opened fire. One soldier was hacked to death and between 15 and 20 Dayaks were killed.

There is a long history of conflict between the Dayaks and the Madurese. The Madurese first arrived in West Kalimantan in the 1930s, but their numbers increased sharply during the 1970s under the impact of the government's transmigration programme, which encourages people to leave crowded islands such as lava and Madura for the more remote areas of the republic. Kalimantan, with its low population density and rich natural resources, was a natural target of the programme.

Little consideration was given to the indigenous Dayaks, once famed as the headhunters of the Borneo rainforest. But as the rainforest was cut down, and replaced by palm oil and coconut plantations, the Dayaks found themselves at the bottom of a complex hierarchy of different ethnic groups, unable to continue their traditional patterns of agriculture and slow to adapt to new forms of employment. The mainly Christian, pig-raising Dayaks now share the lowest rung of the economic ladder with the fiercely Islamic Madurese, and often share the same neighbourhoods too. The authorities are discovering that their dream of mixing Indonesia's diverse peoples together can backfire.

In violent outbreaks that have shaken urban Indonesia over the past six months, soldiers have been seen standing by doing nothing. This policy of restraint appears to have ended in Kalimantan, with potentially disastrous consequences for the army's relations with the local population.

Police detain 17 for 31 Jan textile factory riot

Republika - 6 February, 1997

Bandung – Legal action has been taken against those involved in a riot at PT [Company Limited] Kahatek. "Police have arrested 17 persons," Police Major General Nana Permana, West Java Provincial Police chief, said after a rally by members of the Indonesian Association of Children of Retired Military Personnel.

According to Permana, they are being prosecuted for acts of destruction at PT Kahatek. "Only Article 170 of the Penal Code, which deals with acts of destruction, has been slapped against them," Permana confirmed. Permana said the 17 arrested persons are treated as suspects.

According to Permana, most of the suspects are PT Kahatek workers, but some are not. "Some of them are no longer working for PT Kahatek," he said. Nevertheless, Permana believes that the riot was caused mainly by the factory's internal affairs.

"It is ridiculous. The nonworkers confessed that they committed acts of destruction due to their dissatisfaction with PT Kahatek. They even took BK pills [a kind of amphetamine] before committing the acts," Permana stressed. Thus, Permana attributed the riot to cumulative problems in the factory. "There have been no indications that anyone "exploited" the riot. Anyway, let's wait for the prosecution," he said. [passage omitted]

Brussels-based group accuses Jakarta of suppressing union

Reuters - 17 February, 1997

The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) yesterday said it had called on the United Nations human rights investigator to investigate the trial of an Indonesian independent labour union leader charged with subversion.

The Brussels-based trades union group said in a statement it had sent a letter to the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Param Cumaraswamy, asking him to look into the trial of Muchtar Pakpahan, head of the unrecognised Indonesian Labour Welfare Union.

"The ICFTU accuses the Indonesian government of using the courts to suppress the country's only independent trade union organisation," it said in a statement.

"The unprecedented move to call on the UN Rapporteur to observe the trial and report this to the March session in Geneva of the UN Commission of Human Rights, is in response to the 'exceptional nature and scope of irregularities surrounding the case'," said the statement.

Pakpahan, accused along with several others on a charge that carries the death penalty, was arrested in connection with riots in Jakarta on July 27. At least five people died in the riots, the worst in more than 20 years, which erupted after a police-backed takeover of the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party to evict supporters of ousted PDI leader Megawati Sukarnoputri.

The ICFTU said it criticised what it called the "partial and hostile attitude" towards defence lawyers of presiding judge Jasuli Sudibyo.

"Judge Sudibyo does most of the questioning of the witnesses himself (and) often leads with questioning aimed at incriminating Pakpahan," said the statement.

"It is worth noting that the prosecutors have referred very little in court to the July 27 riots since they apparently cannot link Pakpahan to the violence," it added. The statement also said: "All the evidence at our disposal suggests that Pakpahan's legal problems are only linked to his trade union activities and that the authorities are determined to keep him in detention at all costs."

Pakpahan's lawyer Lutfie Hakim said recently the authorities seemed to be preparing to expedite the proceedings and conclude the trial as soon as possible, before the general elections. Indonesia goes to the polls in May.

Pakpahan is being tried for statements he made in a book, speeches, news releases and a music cassette of workers' songs between mid-1995 and July last year.

A leading critic of Indonesia's President Suharto finds himself a victim

Time Magazine - February 10, 1997

Michael Shari, Jakarta – Indonesian labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan looks remarkably calm for a man who could soon face a long prison sentence or even the death penalty. He's on trial in Jakarta for insulting President Suharto – a capital crime – and no one has ever been acquitted on that charge.

The stocky, 43-year-old Sumatran seems lost in concentration as his white-haired, black-robed lawyer exhorts Judge Djazuli P. Sudibyo to let witnesses withdraw their testimony on grounds that prosecutors forced it out of them. Pakpahan doesn't blink when the judge responds by threatening to jail the witnesses for perjury and banish the defendant from the courtroom.

Pakpahan is not the only critic of Suharto to run afoul of a legal system that was designed for Dutch colonial rule but has also helped keep the President in power for 31 years. As the 75-year-old leader strives to prolong his rule, many who oppose him are paying a price. Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of Sukarno, Indonesia's first post-independence leader, is being questioned by police for holding an illegal "political meeting" at her house Jan. 10. Aberson Marle Sihaloho, parliament member from Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party, went on trial Jan. 29, charged with subversion for defaming Suharto and making "slanderous remarks" about the army. Student leader Budiman Sudjatmiko is on trial for allegedly conspiring to overthrow the government

The pattern of judicial pressure doesn't intimidate Pakpahan, who has long known hard times. Branded a communist as a boy because his father was suspected of participating in an ambush against army officers, Pakpahan had to work his way through the local law school pedaling a tricycle taxi. Since founding the Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union–known by the local acronym SBSI and deemed "illegal" by the government–in 1992 (it peaked two years later with 500,000 members), he has been tailed by secret police, detained in jail and seen his signature forged on leaflets calling for the mass murder of the country's ethnic Chinese minority. One night, an army officer knocked on his door and told his daughter: "If you love your father tell him not to organize labor anymore. You'll feel sad if he dies."

Indonesia had no labor movement to speak of before Pakpahan got involved. The government recognizes only the Federation of All-Indonesia Workers Union and appoints its leaders. Army officers mediate in labor negotiations, and in 1993 a captain was court-martialed in connection with the murder of Marsinah, a woman who had died of wounds sustained from rape with a drainpipe after leading a strike at a watch factory. Yatini Sulistyowati, a labor leader trained by SBSI, considers herself lucky to have lost merely her job at a Jakarta biscuit factory after leading 600 workers on a strike last year. Manpower Minister Abdul Latief has declined to comment on widespread reports of workers' rights abuses in Indonesia, insisting that his ministry is doing its best with limited resources to protect labor rights.

Pakpahan's union has succeeded in bringing international pressure to bear on the government, which has responded by lifting the minimum wage. This year began with a 10% raise to about $2.40 a day in Jakarta–which buys enough food to supply 95% of the calories needed for adequate nutrition, according to Latief. Pakpahan wants more, as he told TIME in 1994: "If we're only talking about calories, then there's no difference between being a human being and a dog or a horse." In late 1994 Pakpahan was sentenced to four years in prison for inciting factory riots in his hometown Medan (though he was seen in Java at the time). After serving nine months he was released after winning a Supreme Court appeal. His jailers were happy to see him go; his cell had become an underground training camp for Pakpahan proteges.

Last July, Pakpahan crossed the line again. He joined forces with Megawati and other opposition figures in open defiance of a ban on political rallies. Security forces stormed Megawati's campaign headquarters July 27, triggering riots for which the government had to place blame. Pakpahan and 10 student leaders were arrested on subversion charges for their alleged role.

Even before his trial began Pakpahan suffered a setback: the Supreme Court overturned their prior decision concerning the Medan sentencing. His remaining time for that conviction will be added to the long term his lawyers say he is certain to receive in the current case. A witness, Berar Fatia, testified that prosecutors interrogated her for 13 hours until she broke down and signed a statement quoting Pakpahan saying: "There's so much cheating by Suharto. Suharto must be put on trial." Defense attorney Adnan Buyung Nasution denies Pakpahan made the statements, contending prosecutors "added" them.

The government's apparent objective is to get Pakpahan out of the way until after presidential elections in March 1998, says Tohap Simanungkalit, acting leader of the SBSI. That would give Suharto time to choose a successor. But keeping Pakpahan behind bars could be costly. sbsi membership has slipped to 230,000, but Pakpahan is a martyr to millions of workers. "Muchtar is the only leader of Indonesia willing to take risks for the struggle of marginal people like laborers," says Sulistyowati, the biscuit-strike leader. "We will remember him for all our lives." If Suharto wins reelection, some expect his first act could well be to have Pakpahan released.

[This article suggests that SBSI was the first independent trade union formed under the New Order regime: "Indonesia had no labor movement to speak of before Pakpahan got involved". Quite aside from the fact that in the years 1979/1982 and 1989/90 there was a massive outbreak of strikes in Indonesia, SBSI was actually the second independent trade union to appear. Although it now seems to be "inactive", SBM or Serikat Buruh Merdeka (Free Trade Union Setiakawan) was formed in 1991. SBSI was formed in 1992 by "dissident" sections of the leadership of the government controlled "yellow" trade union SPSI (now "renamed" FSPSI - the "F" being for "Federation"), Serikat Pekerja Seluruh Indonesia (The All Indonesian Workers Trade Union) after they were denied positions in the union's leadership. Outside of Medan and North Sumatra, SBSI has little or no mass base and although its demands and campaigns have often been quite good, they have on the whole, been limited to "normative" (to borrow the Indonesian term) labour demands. This article is very much in line with current US policy of promoting Mochtar Pakpahan and SBSI as a "critical" but acceptable alternative to the more radical position and program of PPBI (Pusat Perjuangan Buruh Indonesia, Indonesian Center for Labour Struggle) and the PRD - JB]

International relations

Cambodia hopes Suharto visit will boost its bid to join ASEAN

Straits Times - February 18, 1997

Phnom Penh – Cambodia rolled out the red carpet yesterday for Indonesian President Suharto on his first state visit in almost 30 years, amid hopes that the trip would boost the country's bid to join Asean.

The Indonesian leader, accompanied by a 48-member official delegation including Foreign Minister Ali Alatas and State Secretary Moerdiono, will also travel to Laos and Myanmar – two other nations hoping to be accepted as full members at Asean's ministerial meeting in July.

Mr Suharto was received warmly at Phnom Penh's Pochentong International Airport by Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk and top government officials.

Neither the King nor Mr Suharto made any public comments.

Although officials from both sides said Cambodia's entry into Asean was not on the table for discussion, they admitted that Mr Suharto's visit could only boost the country's chances for entry.

Said Cambodian Foreign Minister Ung Huot: "Of course I think it will help the admission. Obviously good relations with Asean countries is a key to membership."

Indonesia's ambassador to Cambodia, Mr Hamid Alhadad, agreed.

"Certainly it will help, but the subject will not be dis- cussed at length," he told reporters.

Indonesia, which co-chaired the 1991 Paris peace talks and the resulting treaty that ended the civil war in Cambodia, has been a strong supporter of the nation's Asean application.

The grouping has said that Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar would be admitted at the same time, but has not said when that would be.

Asean is known to be concerned about the recent sharp rise in tension between the political parties of the first and second Prime Ministers, Prince Norodom Ranaridh and Mr Hun Sen.

The Indonesian delegation is scheduled to sign two bilateral agreements today – a trade pact to promote a 1994 accord on economic and technical co-operation, and a Memorandum of Understanding on oil and gas exploration and development.

Also on the agenda will be talks on reviving an aviation agreement signed during Mr Suharto's first visit in 1968 which lapsed when then-Prince Sihanouk was deposed in a coup two years later.

Mr Suharto is scheduled to depart tomorrow for Vientiane and Yangon. – AFP

Storm clouds: Indonesia-US relations are in for a difficult year

Far Eastern Economic Review - 20 February, 1997

Nigel Holloway in Washington and John McBeth in Jakarta – February 20, 1997At a United States Air Force base near Tucson, Arizona, 28 Lockheed Martin F-16 strike aircraft stand in pristine condition. They've never flown on a combat mission but they've been caught in a dogfight of a very different kind. First destined for Pakistan, their transfer was blocked in 1990, when President George Bush couldn't certify that Pakistan did not have a nuclear weapon.

Then, last April, President Bill Clinton promised former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto that he would find buyers for the F-16s, so that he could repay Pakistan from the proceeds of the sale. It took a lot of cajoling, but the U.S. finally found a purchaser for nine of them Indonesia.

Those nine aircraft have now become a symbol of what could be a year of difficulties for Indonesia U.S. relations difficulties which have taken on a much sharper edge since millionaire Indonesian businessman James Riady was alleged to have made campaign contributions to his old buddy Bill, whom he has known since the late 1970s.

That scandal, and the awarding of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize to East Timor Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximines Belo and exiled independence advocate Jose Ramos-Horta, have focused both Republican wrath and renewed international attention on Indonesia.

The Indonesian Foreign Ministry has been under fire at home for not doing enough to defend the country abroad, but as Foreign Minister Ali Alatas told a recent parliamentary hearing: "It doesn't matter what the ministry does, it only takes one bullet." Or one trial. While the military is showing greater reluctance to use deadly force in mob situations, the government is demonstrating no such flexibility in prosecuting its critics.

In the lead up to next month's annual meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, U.S. based human-rights groups have been stepping up pressure on Clinton and new UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to make human rights a higher priority.

Sighs one Indonesian diplomat: "It's going to be a challenging year. The main thrust will be human rights, but with a sub-text of East Timor, labour rights and democratization." Adds a prominent American businessman: "Timor, Riady, the F-16 sale, labour rights they're all going to create serious problems which could impact on trade and investment. Now that an accommodation has been made with China, Indonesia is going to be the whipping boy."

The F-16 transaction appeared to be going smoothly until last July, when Indonesian security forces cracked down on the opposition after the ouster of Indonesian Democratic Party leader Megawati Sukarnoputri led to riots in Jakarta. In the face of anti-Suharto rumblings in Congress, the Clinton administration decided to wait before formally notifying lawmakers of the jet sale.

In September, then Assistant Secretary of State Winston Lord said the notification would be submitted early this year. But on February 4, the State Department announced that "the administration has decided not to notify Congress at this time," while insisting it was still committed to the sale.

Why the change of heart? "Regional, bilateral and domestic political factors" are at stake, says a State Department official. Translation: With Senate hearings on campaign finance around the corner, the administration doesn't see much chance of getting the sale through.

Since October, Clinton has been dogged by Republican charges that he and his party raised millions of dollars, some of it illegally, from Asian sources on both sides of the Pacific. Some of that money, in amounts considered small by campaign standards, came either from or through Riady's associates at his Lippo business group.

Republicans want to know what Clinton may have given Riady, and possibly Indonesia, in return. Clinton admits that wrongdoing has occurred, but he has denied that the contributions affected his administration's policy towards Indonesia.

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives will be putting this assertion to the test in hearings.

One of the policy changes that lawmakers are expected to scrutinize is a decision by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to suspend a review of Indonesia's trading status. When Clinton came into office in 1993, he ordered the USTR to examine Indonesian workers' rights and their ability to form independent trade unions.

If Clinton judged them to be suppressed, he could revoke Indonesia's right to export to the U.S. under the Generalized System of Preferences. This would have a significant impact on Indonesia: 20% of its total exports of $7.4 billion to the U.S. in 1995 entered duty free under the GSP. Instead, the Clinton administration suspended the review in February 1994, having decided that Indonesia was moving in the desired direction on workers' rights, albeit slowly.

This year's State Department report on human rights treads carefully on the issue. It cites the large number of plant level unions in Indonesia, but quotes non-governmental organizations that argue they are merely "yellow unions" formed by company managers, not workers. Now, the administration appears to be revisiting the issue. In early February, the USTR's new Indonesia desk officer travelled to Jakarta, apparently to see whether another review may be in order.

This is where domestic politics begin to intrude. Formally, the administration is merely answering a petition from some congressmen and the AFL CIO, America's union federation, to reopen the inquiry into Indonesia's labour rights. But analysts in Washington wonder whether Clinton will heed their call because he can't afford to appear soft on Indonesia particularly at a time when Muchtar Pakpahan, leader of the unofficial Indonesian Workers' Welfare Union, is being tried on subversion charges.

Lawmakers in Washington have limited means to show their displeasure at events in Indonesia. Congress could cut off Indonesia's already limited participation in the U.S. International Military Education and Training programme, but no one thinks that's a good idea given the way it can influence how Indonesian officers approach their jobs. Consider Col. P.L. Sihombing, a 1987 IMET graduate. He's the author of a widely acclaimed human-rights handbook for soldiers operating it Irian Jaya that may soon be adopted for units all over Indonesia.

The administration is already reviewing arms exports to Indonesia. On top of postponing the F-16 sale and suspending a shipment of mortar propellants, it recently prevented U.S. manufacturers from bidding for an Indonesian contract for 70 armoured personnel carriers. It has also blocked the sale of riot-control equipment to deal with an upsurge in social and ethnic unrest. Given what the alternative could be, that's probably the most puzzling decision of all.

Megawati/PDI

Megawati questioned for five hours

Suara Pembaruan - 21 February, 1997 (Abridged)

Megawati Sukarnoputri, accompanied by a team of sixty lawyers, responded to a police summons Thursday, two days after her husband Taufik Kiemas had been questioned by the police.

Hundreds of supporters wearing red tee-shirts had been waiting for two hours before her arrival. The courthouse was heavily guarded by security forces. While the questioning was under way, supporters outside yelled slogans of support and sang nationalist songs.

A lawyer who was with Megawati during the interrogation said she was presented with 52 questions to answer, all connected with the gathering held at her home on 10 January, the 24th anniversary of the PDI. The head of her team of lawyers, RO Tambunan, said the interrogation focused on two matters, the (lack of a) permit for meeting and the contents of the speech she delivered on the occasion. The lawyer said that under the law, the gathering was not unlawful.

A police official later said that the interrogation would continue on 3 March.

Taufik Kiemas goes to police with 20 lawyers

Jawa Pos - 19 February, 1997 (Abridged)

Taufik Kiemas, the husband of Megawati Sukarnoputri, complied with a summons from the Jakarta police and was accompanied by twenty lawyers and hundreds of Megawati supporters. He was interrogated for seven hours. During the questioning, he was accompanied by four lawyers.

Several hundred Megawati supporters had gathered outside the police station several hours before he arrived and their numbers increased during the day.

Taufik had been summoned as a 'witness' regarding a 'political meeting' held in his home, without the necessary permit on 10 January.

After Taufik came out, he was surrounded by dozens of Indonesian and foreign journalists but he did not answered any questions. One lawyer told the waiting journalists he had been asked 29 questions about the meeting, the permit and who was responsible for the event.

The lawyer said that in the second police summons, mention was made of who the 'suspect' in the case might be, Haryanto Taslam who chaired the committee in charge of the meeting.

Taufik told the police that as the host, he was not involved in the arrangements, only as the host of a gathering which was a 'breaking-the-fast' get-together. He said he knew nothing about any application for a permit because everything was left to the organising committee. The lawyer said the police questioning would continue next Tuesday.

It was announced that Megawati herself would be questioned by the police on Thursday, 20 February.

Megawati supporter alleged 'suspect' in illegal meeting

Agence France Presse - 12 February, 1997

Jakarta – A supporter of Indonesia's ousted opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri has been named as a suspect for allegedly organizing an illegal meeting at her home, a daily reported here Wednesday.

Haryanto Taslam, deputy secretary general of the Indonesian Democracy Party (PDI), was fingered in the affair which erupted after a January 10 gathering at Megawati's home. South Jakarta police authorities have already summoned Megawati and her husband Taufik Kiemas for questioning about the event, held to celebrate the PDI's 24th anniversary. The Indonesian attorney general's office said last month that the gathering violated a law requiring political activities to be authorised by officials.

Megawati's chief lawyer Robert Tambunan said Taslam had been named as a suspect for organizing the event, attended by hundreds of people including some Western diplomats. "I think it is the police's prerogative to name Haryanto as a suspect," Tambunan said Tuesday in Denpasar, Bali, as quoted by the Merdeka daily.

Taslam told AFP Wednesday by telephone from Denpasar that he had not yet received official notification that he had become a suspect in the affair, but was ready to answer any summons.

"We have done nothing wrong by celebrating our anniversary," Taslam said.

South Jakarta police declined to comment on Wednesday. Megawati and her husband have so far ignored the police summons saying there was no suspect in the case.

Armed forces chief General Feisal Tanjung, who attended the official PDI celebration staged by new leader Suryadi in Central Sulawesi, warned the authorities would "take action" against Megawati if she staged any PDI anniversary event. Megawati was ousted as PDI leader in June 1996 by a government-backed party faction which then installed Suryadi as leader.

A violent take over the PDI headquarters in Jakarta by Suryadi's rebel party faction backed by the military sparked riots on July 27 which left five dead and 149 injured. Megawati was questioned three times last year – twice by police and once by the attorney general's office – as a witness in subversion cases brought against a union leader and a pro-democracy activist arrested shortly after the riots. Indonesian authorities have brought 124 Megawati supporters to trial for the July violence and in November sentenced most to just over four months in jail for disobeying police orders to disperse.

However, none of Suryadi's supporters, who attacked the party headquarters, have faced criminal charges, drawing local and international criticism.

Head of Jakarta police: Megawati to be question next Thursday

Kompas - February 19, 1997

Jakarta – The head of the Jakarta Police, Maj-Gen Hamami Nata has said Megawati Sukarnoputri will be questioned as a witness by police this Thursday (February 20).

"If she doesn't appear for this second request, she will be called in a third time. If she doesn't turn up, she will be `met' by police" he said on February 18.

"We have already asked for help from the parliament (DPR/MPR) saying that the law is a product of the DPR and must be respected by members of the DPR.

Yesterday, Taufik Kiemas [Megawati's husband who was also summoned ] finally arrived after being summoned a second time and was questioned for 7 hours with a one hour break.

Both are being questioned with regard to a meeting held at Megawati's house last January 10 to celebrate the PDI's 24th anniversary which according to police was a "political meeting" adding that there were "political speeches".

Taufik was accompanied by 20 lawyers from the Indonesian Democracy Defense Team (Tim Pembela Demokrasi Indonesia, TPDI) and during the questioning by four of them: Kaspudin Noor, Didi Suprianto, Try Medya Panjaitan, and Max Lamuda. He answered 27 questions. Before his arrival, scores of Megawati supporters with banners gathered in front of the police station.

According to Try Medya Panjaitan SH, the interrogation was not completed on the Tuesday saying "in total there are 50 questions but he has only answered 27. Taufik will be question again on February 27".

Supporters of Indonesian opposition leader attacked by mob

ABC - 16 February, 1997

A mob is reported to have attacked supporters of the Indonesian opposition leader, Megawati Sukarnoputri, in a town south of Jakarta.

The secretary general of the Megawati faction of the Indonesian Democracy Party, Alex Litaay, said about 50 people attacked a group of its supporters in the town of Kopo, about 70 kilometres south of the capital.

Mr Litaay did not say who might have organised the attack, but said the mob used sticks and stones in the assault.

He said his party members had gathered to protest against a national party meeting of the government-backed faction led by Suryadi, who deposed Ms Megawati at a party congress last year.

4 PDI members arrested by police

Kabar dari Pijar – February 1997

Jakarta – Four pro-Megawati PDI members were arrested by the Purbalingga police after removing banners and a PDI flag erected by Suryadi supporters on Wednesday February 12. The arrest are Soetarno (65), Suwito (34), Soedarpo (35), and Sudiyo (27).

Similar actions also took place in Kebumen in Central Java by pro-Megawati supporters returning home from a court hearing trying a case against Suryadi. The protesters were met by officers from Kodim (Komando Dearah Militer, District Military Command) but were only asked to hand the banners and flags over to them. There were no arrests.

[Abridged translation from Kabar dari Pijar - JB]

Riots, social unrest

War of the jungle: Blood savagery or a heroic fightback?

Sydney Morning Herald - February 22, 1997

[Herald Correspondent Louise Williams goes behind the lines in the fighting in Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo.]

Sei Duri, West Kalimantan: Two nights ago the tribal war party came - boys just out of childhood, the black mark of battle upon their foreheads, the feathers of swiftness tied to their heads, the torches and knives of destruction firmly in their grasp.

They came, the survivors say, like the spirits of the dead called up by the Dayak tribes to wage war against the people of the Madura, Muslim migrants to the tropical rainforests of Kalimantan which for millennia belonged to the indigenous tribes.

One minute they were there, then they were gone.

The patches of charred wood and twisted metal were still smouldering, the odd corpse of a goat or cow tossed aside, where the homes of the Madurans once stood. Hundreds of men, women and children ran screaming into the town, but the shop owners closed their doors against their fear. So they kept on running to the mosque. Many, many died, the locals say.

This is the most terrifying of conflicts: a war fought hand to hand, and a war in which there can be no compromise. This is a war of traditional weapons, of magic and superstitions and absolute destruction.

Once the Dayaks, the headhunters of Borneo, have declared war they cannot turn back: they must drive the Madurans from their land and burn their houses to the ground, they say.

Yesterday, the shops remained barricaded, the refugees already gone, taken by the military to a safe camp about 30 kilometres further north along the narrow coastal road which cuts through the damp mangrove flats. Along this highway there are many burnt-out houses and many twisted tales of revenge. The army is now in control but a few hundred metres inland the road blocks begin, gangs of jumpy youths patrolling the deserted ruins.

"May we pass, may we pass," we ask over and over again, handing cigarettes through the window. "Do not get down, do not take photos," our Dayak guide says. We do not know who these people are. We do not know if they are angry. Outside the remaining homes sit offerings of yellow rice and chicken blood to protect the survivors from harm. Lolong, our driver, says he has prayed and gathered up yellow rice for his pockets to keep us safe.

These young men on the road say they are "Melayu", not Madurans. They are not targets, but they are scared. They have painted "Melayu" across their homes. Some are damaged, but none burnt down.

Many migrant groups, both Christian and Muslim, Chinese and Malay, have come to the forest of Kalimantan to trade, to mine gold and to work on the plantations and roads. But it is the indigenous Dayaks and the Madurans, from eastern Indonesia, who have reached this bloody impasse.

In minutes of snatched conversation the young men tell us that the war party came with boys to do the burning, some as young as 12, armed with traditional knives and bows and arrows, their foreheads marked with soot. They do not want us to stop. Some say the attackers were spirits, raised from the dead. Other talk of magic Dayaks who would not die, their blood unable to be shed with the blow of a curved knife.

The war is, says a Dayak priest, a matter of culture. The Madurans, he says, are hot-tempered, frequently armed, and believe a crime must be avenged with blood. The Dayaks, he says, believe that an offence against an individual is a crime against the tribe and must be "paid back". So overwhelming are the blood debts of the three months of fighting that it is difficult to imagine how the war can be stopped.

"For the Dayaks, killing is something unusual," says a Government official of Dayak descent. "If you go into a Dayak's house you must leave your weapon outside, but if you insist on bringing it in you must be punished under their laws.

"What I really worry about is the Dayaks believe that they must destroy everything of their enemy - their people, their homes and even their trees. It has to be total destruction, there is no compromise.

"The Dayaks have a motto: You pay blood with blood, you pay life with life."

This may be true. But it is also a matter of politics and policy.

This is a scene the Indonesian Government does not want us to see. Journalists have been ordered not to travel here and local newspapers have been directed not to publish pictures and descriptions of the carnage. There is no official death toll, just a range of wild guesses mounting into the thousands.

Rapid economic development and Government programs to relocate millions of Muslim farmers from densely populated islands like Madura and Java to the remote forests of the indigenous tribes have created explosive rifts in many of the outer islands.

Economic policies at a national level have had little regard for the impact on people's lives of crop monopolies, forced evictions for development programs, entrenched corruption and a lack of Government accountability.

Kalimantan is rich in gold, coal and palm oil, rubber and timber plantations, most of which are owned by outsiders and run by migrant workers. Only one regional head in the whole of West Kalimantan is Dayak, and in some majority Dayak towns the Madurans are in control.

"I warned the Government that something like this would happen," says an official.

"I believe we need to adjust development policy. In reality policies don't support the Dayaks. The Government says they should go to school but a school in a Dayak area might have only two teachers for six classes. This is because the teachers are Muslims and don't like living near the Dayaks, who eat pork and keep dogs.

"So the effect is the Dayaks' human resources are very low and they don't have the qualifications to compete."

It is then, he says, that the Dayaks revert to their own laws: harsh, bloody and uncompromising.

Feisal Tanjung blames pro-democracy groups for riots

Tapol – February 1997

Without producing a shred of evidence and seemingly desparate to find a way of explaining the widespread unrest in Indonesia, armed forces commander in chief, General Feisal Tanjung is now accusing opposition groups for the unrest. The following is a summary of an item in Kompas today, 22 February:

Armed forces commander General Feisal Tanjung believes that certain opposition groups, namely the People's Democracy Party, PRD, the United Democracy Party of Indonesia, PUDI, and the Indonesian People's Alliance, MARI tend to get involved in practical politics and so, their activities cannot be separated from the riots that have occurred recently.

"The activities of these groups are linked with the recent unrest and they certainly use this in their efforts to distort the facts," he said.

Speaking to the press after addressing officers at a course on social and political affairs in Bandung, the general accused these opposition groups of trying to expose negative aspects of development, by wrapping it up in talk about disparities. He saw this as an endeavour to stir up public opinion against the New Order government. "They are persistently calling for the repeal of the five political laws (of 1985) without paying attention to the actual situation in society, he said.

He told reporters that the situation in the country is secure and stable and people need not worry about anything. He urged the press to sift out reports that might arouse passions in people. He gave as an example the situation in West Kalimantan where, he said, nothing is happening. The same is true about Bandung.

"There were indeed problems in West Kalimantan but now that all the parties have been brought together, the matter has been resolved." In Bandung, it was just some groups having a fight.

He called on the Indonesian press to refute reports in the foreign press which are spreading negative issues about Indonesia. He also asked the national press to take a look at the way the press behaves in neighbouring countries like Singapore and Malaysia where journalists are very concerned to defend the national interests.

Hundreds killed as ethnic violence flares in Indonesia

Far East Economic Review - February 20, 1997

Jakarta – Three weeks of ethnic violence in an Indonesian province in Borneo have left hundreds of people dead and community leaders at a loss as to how to resolve the conflict.

In the only official comment on casualties, General Radin Hartono, the army Chief of Staff, said fewer than 300 people had died. Other sources say the toll could be in the thousands. Munawir Sjadzali, chairman of the national human rights commission, would only say "it is still far too premature to release casualty figures" after meeting government ministers.

The unrest in West Kalimantan is between the indigenous Dayaks and migrants from Madura, an island off the northeast coast of Java. It began on January 29 after a band of 40 masked men, believed to be from Madura, attacked a foundation that manages local Roman Catholic schools in Siantan Tengah, a district 40 miles outside the provincial capital, Pontianak. Two women were sexually assaulted.

Dayaks said that this unprovoked action broke a peace agreement the two communities signed after a week of violence at the turn of the year in which at least five people died. The extent of the Dayak revenge and the military's involvement is unclear. Henri Ofmcap, a Dutch pastor, said that Dayaks killed and beheaded up to 300 Madurese migrants in his three parishes alone. There have also been reports of widespread cannibalism by Dayak warriors, as they re-enacted centuries-old customs of butchering and eating their enemies.

At least 3,000 extra troops were flown to the area to contain the unrest. They prevented people leaving their neighbourhoods by setting up dozens of roadblocks. Witnesses claim that ten days ago troops shot at least 17 Dayaks who refused to disperse at a roadblock. Their bodies were buried in a mass grave in a nearby paddyfield.

Malaysia became so concerned that it closed its 12 border posts between West Kalimantan and its state of Sarawak for a week.

Edi Sudradjat, Indonesia's Minister of Defence and Security, has refused to comment on allegations of army brutality. On Monday he said the armed forces would continue to take stern measures against any troublemakers.

Dayaks have also set up their own roadblocks to prevent Madurese migrants fleeing to the safety of military bases.

One Dayak man, Ve Kader, said: "The Dayak people are saying to the Government that we are not prepared to accept the presence of Madura people in Kalimantan, particularly West Kalimantan. We are not going to rest until we have driven them all out of our rightful homeland."

The Madurese moved to West Kalimantan as part of the Government's transmigration programme, designed to relieve pressure on the densely populated islands of Java, Madura and Bali. They now make up the majority of the province's four million population.

Many people believe those who have fled are unlikely to return. Mr Ofmcap said: "Their homes have been looted and destroyed and their land taken by Dayaks. There is nothing for them, even if they did want to return. It is little short of 'ethnic cleansing'."

300 died in ethnic clashes, not 1,000, says ABRI

Agence France Presse - February 19, 1997

Jakarta – About 300 people have died as a result of recent ethnic clashes in West Kalimantan and four people are being investigated for allegedly sparking the unrest, military (Abri) officials are reported to have said yesterday. "It's not true that the number of victims killed reached more than 1,000 like it was quoted in an English-language newspaper in Jakarta. The number of people killed was about 300 people," Major-General Zacky Anwar Makarim was quoted as saying by the Media Indonesia daily.

The Indonesian Observer reported last week that thousands of people had died in the violence.

Until Maj-Gen Makarim's statement, military sources had only said that "hundreds" of people had died since late December in clashes between the indigenous Dayak people and migrants from Madura, a small island north of Java.

The Jakarta Post quoted Maj-Gen Makarim as saying four people were being investigated for allegedly circulating anonymous leaflets and pictures slandering a certain religious and ethnic group.

"We strongly suspect they were instigators of the latest wave of violence in Pontianak and the surrounding areas," he said.

He declined to identify the four people, saying only that the police had questioned but not arrested them as they were collecting more evidence.

Major-General Namuri Anum, head of security in West Kalimantan, said last week that 68 people had been detained on suspicion of criminal actions during the mass unrest.

Army chief General R. Hartono said over the weekend that the military had proof of individuals travelling from East Java province to incite unrest, but he did not elaborate.

A Pontianak resident told AFP yesterday that the situation was "a bit calmer here compared to the last few weeks, but there is still tension between the two communities". The source said there were fresh clashes between the warring groups as late as Sunday in Sungai Ambawang, a town less than 10 km east of Pontianak, but could not give further details.

The resident said that while the authorities had lifted the curfew in Pontianak, "the city is still pretty empty at night". Yesterday morning, a ceremony involving representatives from the Dayak and Madurese communities was held in front of the Pontianak mayoralty office building.

During the ceremony, attended by about 1,000 people, including the local government and military leaders, a declaration was read out in which the two sides pledged to work for peace and to settle their differences, a witness said by telephone. Provincial officials said a series of peace talks at district and provincial level were underway between the two ethnic groups.

Observers said they were sceptical about the outcome of the talks, saying they believed a peace accord would not relieve deep-seated tension between the two ethnic groups who have had at least eight major disputes over the past 20 years. In another development, the Indonesian-language Angkatan Bersenjata newspaper quoted Lieutenant-General Syarwan Hamid as saying that Abri would act in a sterner and more direct manner without compromise.

He said Abri would not allow any attempt to disrupt national stability and integrity.

Jakarta launches command centres to curb social unrest

Agence France Presse - February 19, 1997

Jakarta – The Jakarta Military Command has begun operating the National Alert Command Centre (PKN) which would be effective throughout the country.

"Through the command post, people can contribute information to the authority and related-agencies regarding the truth of rumours," Jakarta Military Chief Major-General Sutiyoso said here after officiating at the opening of the operation of the command post on Monday.

Following recent riots, President Suharto had asked for alert command centres aimed at ensuring peace to be set up at regional military commands.

Maj-Gen Sutiyoso said people were expected to contribute to the post because averting riots which may disrupt the process of national development was the responsibility of all Indonesians, Anatara news agency reported on Monday.

The National Alert Command Centre will involve a number of parties, including public figures, religious leaders, the military, policemen and local municipal officials.

The centre is set up to provide confirmation on rumours, including those about riots.

Asked about the possible overlapping of its task with the Coordinating Board of National Stability (Backorstanas), he ruled out the possibility, saying that "the post will become the spearhead of Backorstanas at the military district level".

"The most important thing is that we can get accurate and fast information in order that we can solve the problem immediately."

He said the post would provide a free telephone service through telephone number 122 for anyone who wanted to give or obtain information about certain issues.

He gave an assurance that the centre will respond to "any report from the people", adding that for those who wished to give information through the mail, they could send it to P.O. Box 122.

"The services were given the same number to help people to memorise it easily," he said. He expressed the hope that the officials of the centre would introduce the new agency to the people in order that they do not hesitate to give their contributions.

The task of the National Alert Command Centre is to anticipate and detect various potential problems which may lead to mass riots and disruption to the development process.

The centre should also give information to the people about incidents happening in their regions and analyse reports about unrest and formulate a proper action with a view to finding the best solution.

Book on riot banned

Tapol – February 1997

Semarang – The military has banned a book on the July 27 riots in Jakarta written by the unrecognized Alliance of Independent Journalists and Studi Arus Informasi.

Diponegoro Military Commander Maj. Gen. Subagyo H.S. said yesterday the book had been banned because it was "published by institutions that the government does not recognize." "If the institutions are banned, so are their products," Subagyo said.

The book tells of the riot that was triggered by the brutal takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party headquarters by government-supported party rebels last year. Five people were killed, dozens of buildings burned down and 22 people went missing, according to the National Commission on Human Rights.

The government has repeatedly denied allegations that it backed the raid on the party headquarters.

Dayak warriors sup from the red cup of war

Sydney Morning Herald - February 20, 1997

Louise Williams, Pontianak, West Kalimantan – Dayak tribal leaders have sent out the so-called "red cup" of war across Kalimantan and say a peace pact between the tribal "head-hunters" and migrant workers will not hold, according to a Dayak source.

A Government-sponsored peace ceremony held in the provincial capital, Pontianak, yesterday was marred by a new outbreak of violence 50 kilometres to the north. Reports reaching the city estimate at least 20 more people were killed overnight in the ongoing ethnic war.

The Indonesian armed forces have acknowledged an increase in the official death toll to 300 for the three months of fighting between the Dayaks - the indigenous tribes of Indonesian-controlled Kalimantan - and Muslim migrants from Madura Island in eastern Indonesia. However, Indonesia's National Human Rights Commission is investigating reports that large numbers of Madurans remain missing following attacks on their communities.

Local people say hundreds of Madurans have fled into the forest pursued by Dayak war parties armed with traditional weapons and practising the ceremonial severing of their victims' heads, cannibalism of the hearts and flesh and drinking of their blood.

The Dayak source said jungle couriers were passing the "red cup" of war from one tribal community to another and calling for support from across the four provinces of Kalimantan.

The cup is actually white but is filled with blood to symbolise war. Matches, symbolising light, a feather to help the warrior fly like a bird and a palm frond to symbolise shelter from the tropical rain are then dipped in the cup of blood.

"The reconciliation of the two ethnic groups is only at the top level, it never touches the people at the grassroots," the Dayak source said.

The peace ceremony in Pontianak yesterday brought together leaders of the Maduran and Dayak communities, who pledged to refer future disputes to the police.

However, most local people believe the ceremony can do little to end the horrifying wave of ethnic cleansing in the isolated villages and remote forests beyond the capital.

The source said the 1 million or so Dayaks had good solidarity and would continue to attack anyone who tried to block their path, including the armed forces. Dayaks are believed to be in control of the key inland highway where they have established roadblocks to search for Madurans.

Despite reinforcements of 3,000 troops, local people say the armed forces are outnumbered in many trouble spots and can do little more than attempt to protect pockets of Maduran refugees. The military yesterday ordered Western journalists in West Kalimantan to remain within the provincial capital.

A convoy of troops was sent north overnight to the most recent trouble spot of Sungaikunyit, on the north coast, where a large party of Dayaks had gathered from surrounding villages.

The Dayak source said the bloody campaign was motivated by the tradition of "payback". He said Maduran migrants had taken over the Dayaks' land, had better access to political power, were treated favourably by police in disputes and were rarely punished for past attacks on Dayaks.

The Indonesian Government does not recognise the concept of land rights for its indigenous people, and large areas of territory formerly controlled by isolated tribes have been converted into timber, rubber and palm oil estates, or allocated to foreign mining companies.

The Dayaks were traditionally shifting cultivators who lived hidden from the rest of the world in the towering rainforests of Kalimantan. They believe in the spirits of the land and had little contact with the outside world prior to the building of roads into the interior about 20 years ago.

Development policies have had a devastating impact on their subsistence farming methods but they have been given no alternative skills to compensate for displacement from their land.

Indonesia to keep tough line on unrest

Straits Times - February 20, 1997

Jakarta – The Indonesian armed forces will not soften its tough stance in handling the recent unrest that has jolted the multi-ethnic country in the past few months, the Jakarta Post reported yesterday.

"The Abri approach remains the same. It is not being soft. What's important is that the approach is effective in ensuring stability, because stability is important," Defence and Security Minister Edi Sudradjat was quoted as saying.

Trouble began in West Kalimantan in late December in Sanggau Ledo, about 95 km north of the provincial capital Pontianak.

Native Dayak and migrants from Madura island off the main island of Java apparently fought over a girl.

The clashes lasted until early this month and the military had deployed about 3,000 troops in the province to contain unrest.

Mr Sudradjat, speaking after a parliamentary hearing, said the military had not taken a soft stance on troublemakers, and added that the violence in West Kalimantan was under investigation.

He said he was concerned about the unrest but was confident that the armed forces tactics would help the situation. The paper gave no further details.

On Monday, Media Indonesia newspaper quoted Major-General Zacky Anwar Makarim, the assistant to the army chief of staff for security affairs, as saying that about 300 people had been killed in the Kalimantan violence. But army chief General R. Hartono denied the figure.

"It's wrong. The death toll is not that high," he was quoted as saying by The Jakarta Post yesterday. He did not elaborate.

The military and local residents earlier said at least 12 people had died over the past six weeks.

The official Antara news agency said the leaders of 13 ethnic groups, including the Dayak and Madura migrants, signed a peace accord on Tuesday in Pontianak to end the violence.

It quoted the chief of the Tanjungpura Military Command, Major- General Namuri Anoem, as saying the military was still inves- tigating reports that the unrest was incited by outsiders from East Java, the province where the Madura island is located.

Pontianak Police Chief Erwin Achmad has said 68 people were arrested after the violence, and 13 of them might face trial.

Sporadic ethnic and religious rioting has struck other parts of mainly Muslim Indonesia since October, especially on the main island of Java.

At least 14 people died in those incidents.

Political analysts say the true death toll in West Kalimantan has been suppressed to stop the spread of the ethnic violence and to avoid international criticism.

Most Dayaks are Christian while the Madura migrants are Muslim. – AFP, Reuter.

Murder and mayhem: Ethnic animosity explodes in bloodshed

Far Eastern Economic Review - February 20, 1997

John McBeth and Margot Cohen in Jakarta – Days of savage blood-letting in West Kalimantan, which led to Malaysia closing part of its border with Indonesia, have served as a disquieting reminder of what can happen in an ethnically diverse country when extremists among two groups one indigenous, the other migrant harbour a Balkans like animosity that seems to defy solution.

The violence, which broke out in late December and erupted again in greater fury a month later, is the worst in a history of clashes going back to the 1950s between Dayak tribesmen and settlers from the island of Madura, east of Java.

The official death toll in the latest round of violence unreported by local media appears to be five killed and 21 missing. Community leaders claim as many as 200 people could have died.

Malaysia sealed off the frontier between Sarawak and West Kalimantan on February 2, possibly because of fears that Dayaks from the more war-like Bidayuh and Iban groups in the east Malaysian state would join the battle in West Kalimantan. Dayak sources say that the mangkok merah, a "red bowl" smeared with chicken blood, was passing from village to village, signifying war.

Indonesian troops were flown in from East Kalimantan to reinforce two infantry and artillery battalions which were unable to contain the killings. Witnesses reported seeing heads and other body parts being displayed along the 150-kilometre route between the provincial capital of Pontianak and the district town of Sanggau, where mostly Dayak gangs were dragging Madurese from passing vehicles and slaughtering them.

Some of the worst bloodshed appears to have taken place at Penyiraman, a Madurese housing complex 40 kilometres north of Pontianak. There, troops intervened on February 2 to save Dayaks from being killed and then were forced to open fire when they were attacked in turn. Regional commander Maj. Gen. Nomoeri Anoem is later known to have acknowledged that there was a heavy death toll of Madurese.

In three separate incidents, confirmed by a variety of sources, dozens of Dayaks died as troops defended Madurese against mobs armed with muskets, blowpipes, spears and knives. At Sanggau, five rioters were shot dead on January 31 after failing to heed warning shots from soldiers guarding a small army post where about 300 Madurese had taken shelter.

Several days later, the army stopped eight truck-loads of Dayaks near the small town of Ngarak as they headed for Pontianak to avenge the rumoured death of one of their leaders. When the tribal chief in question was flown in by helicopter to prove he was still alive, the situation cooled. But then two more truck-loads of Dayaks arrived and emotions flared anew, leading to an exchange of fire in which an unknown number of people died.

Then on February 5, hundreds of Dayaks attacked the 643rd battalion headquarters at Anjungan, 20 30 kilometres to the west of Ngarak, which had become the refuge for more than 500 terrified Madurese. Soldiers fired over the heads of the attackers and then lowered their aim when that didn't deter them. Most reports put the death toll at 17 with another 30 hurt.

Prior to the Anjungan attack, at least eight Madurese were murdered and sources familiar with the incident say in some cases their livers were taken a Dayak custom to ward off the spirits of their victims. Further to the east, in Pahauman, one witness reported seeing Madurese corpses hung up in front of the local police station. Elsewhere along the road, where his car was stopped 38 times by sword wielding Dayaks, the same witness saw many other bodies. "Some didn't have heads," he says. "Some didn't have stomachs."

It appears that none of the soldiers trying to quell the violence were equipped with rubber bullets or tear gas. Priority for riot-control equipment has so far gone to security forces in Indonesia's more populated areas, particularly on Java, where four serious riots in past months have underscored deep economic and religious differences.

West Kalimantan, however, is different. Dayaks and Malays each comprise 40% of the province's 3.5 million people, with ethnic Chinese making up 12% and the Madurese forming only part of the remaining 8%. Despite the difference in numbers, it is the Dayaks and the Madurese who are the most hostile of neighbours, the bad chemistry due largely to their different temperaments, say local observers and anthropologists.

The Madurese outnumber the Dayaks only in Pontianak, but they are aggressive settlers who often refuse to give back land "lent" to them by local tribesmen. The Dayaks, for their part, are badly divided and the few leaders in a position of power are removed from what one anthropologist calls "the feelings of their people."

Other local leaders were critical of how West Kalimantan authorities dealt with the crisis, complaining that the army spent more time trying to control the Dayaks than the Madurese, whose pre dawn attack on a Catholic foundation in Pontianak on January 29 triggered the latest violence. After that, Madurese living in rural areas became easy targets for the slaughter that followed.

Given the fact that both groups are relatively poor and marginalized, there is no ready explanation for the violence. "This is not a question of social jealousy, there's nothing to fight about except pride and dignity," says a community activist. Adds a Dayak schoolteacher: "From what I can see, we're all scared both the Dayaks and the Madurese."

86 held after latest W Kalimantan clashes

Agence France Presse - 21 February, 1997

Jakarta – The Indonesian military arrested 86 people following the latest ethnic clashes in West Kalimantan province, which remains tense after almost two months of unrest that has left hundreds dead, reports and sources said yesterday.

The latest clash erupted on Tuesday in Sungai Kunyit, some 60 km north-west of the provincial capital of Pontianak, between the indigenous Dayak people and migrants from Madura, an island north of Java.

The Merdeka daily reported the military arrested 86 people over the Sungai Kunyit unrest, in which 107 houses were torched, forcing more than 1,000 people to flee to other areas.

Security forces also confiscated 21 muskets and 96 bladed weapons, the daily said, adding that 12 of those detained were being questioned by the military while the rest were in police detention.

Sources in the area on Wednesday said dozens of people may have died in the Sungai Kunyit incident, with most of the casualties Madurese.

Maj-Gen Namuri Anum, who heads security in West Kalimantan, said he was 'deeply concerned" about Tuesday's clash, the Merdeka reported from Pontianak.

He said the clashes were "only sporadic", adding that the attackers had come from inland areas outside the town.

He said a call for peace signed by community elders from both camps had been spread around the region to prevent further unrest but had failed to reach the attackers in Sungai Kunyit in time.

Fight to the death for tribal rights

Asia Times – 20 February, 1997

Dini Djalal, Bangkok – Some of them are no older than 12 and not much bigger than the guns and spears they carry. But in their war paint and tribal headdresses, these junior warriors stand tall next to their equally imposing elders at the Dayak checkpoints now scattered throughout the northwest of Indonesia's West Kalimantan, near the border with the Malaysian province of Sarawak.

"This is war," declared a Dayak youth as he prepared to go on a hunt for Madurese believed to be hiding in the jungle. Hours later, the youths returned and announced the death of their latest victim.

Graffiti declaring "Madurese go home" all over the towns do not indicate fully the extent of the Dayaks' rage. At a roadblock the next day - during a 300km journey my companion and I encountered 32 roadblocks - an old Dayak man with a rifle asked: "Are you Madurese? I want to drink some Madurese blood." It's been two generations since the last reports of headhunting by the Dayak, once the most feared tribe in Southeast Asia. Now one of Indonesia's oldest societies is running amok and returning to its brutal traditions.

The Madurese, a migrant ethnic group from the island of Madura, east of Java, are bearing the brunt of the Dayaks' anger, fueled not only by cultural conflicts but by political and economic discontent. Following several clashes between the two groups, Madurese have watched dozens of their settlements northeast of Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan, burn to the ground.

The burnings and killings continue. Despite repeated government announcements that the area is safe, the Dayak and Indonesian army roadblocks still stand. There is widespread fear that violence, even in Pontianak, can break out anytime.

"This is a time bomb. It can explode at any minute," said one Dayak.

The tension has slowed economic activity in the restricted areas. "All the ethnic groups are suffering. The economy is at a halt, and all our development efforts hang in the balance. We have regressed 30 years," said M H Hambali, a Madurese member of parliament in Pontianak.

The government claims that the clashes, which began in late December and broke out again in late January, have taken 300 lives. But local Christian church leaders calculate, by counting the number of Madurese missing from their villages and witnessing the actual massacres, that the total of Madurese dead is in the thousands. They say Dayak casualties, most of them shot by troops, are less than 200.

Both parties agree, however, that this is the worst ethnic violence in living memory. "Of course we're scared and we are on patrol all the time [against Dayak attacks]," said Haji Abdul Syukur, a Madurese religious teacher in Pontianak. "But we are not leaving."

In Menjalin parish, Pastor Yeremis estimated that 1,000 Madurese were killed around the area of Pontianak, one of the three regions where the killings occurred. During the peak of the violence on February 6 and 7, Pastor Yeremis' Catholic dormitory received 5,000 Dayak refugees from adjoining villages.

The refugees were mostly women and children scared of Madurese attacks, but also scared of running foul of Dayak warriors, many of whom are not from the immediate area but from the vast forest hinterland. These interior Dayak have come downstream by the thousands to help their ethnic kin take revenge against the Madurese, whom they claim have taken their land and whose culture of carrying knives the Dayak disdain. To the Dayaks, carrying a knife inside a person's home is a grave insult.

But cultural conflict is only the surface cause of the unrest. More important are Dayak demands for greater land rights and representation in government. Analysts see the burning of three plantations in recent years as evidence of the Dayaks' growing resentment of the government's appropriation of traditional land, and the forced selling of Dayak land at below market price.

"This is the accumulation of many conflicts. Yes, there's the cultural gap with the Madurese but there's also a dissatisfaction with how Dayak land has been taken away illegally," said Laurentius Kadir, a Dayak and head of the province's Directorate for Village Development.

"There should be policy reform. Even if there's peace with the Madurese, but the government does not respect traditional land rights, the conflicts will continue," said Stefanus Jueng of the Institute of Dayakology.

Above all, the Dayaks want their voices heard. "We are tired of being marginalized. The government only wants to work with us for tourism purposes but not in government," said Yosep, a Dayak who said he was afraid of retaliation from the government for his outspoken views.

Yosep, like many of the people in his community, wants peace for the sake of his family. But sharing the frustration of other marginalized Dayaks, he doesn't know how to get it or if he wants it just yet. "We want to prove, after so many years of being under other people's thumbs, that we are the indigenous people of this land. We want to show that we were once great warriors," Yosep said.

Yosep's father Ve Kader is one such warrior. Reading out a "declaration of war", the 67-year-old traditional leader angrily declared: "The government did not deal with the Madurese problem as we asked. So now we are seeking justice by ourselves." Three hundred Madurese have been killed in his village of Pahauman. When asked where the bodies were, Ve Kader said coldly: "They are there where they died. But some have been thrown away and some have been burned."

Ve Kader's openness shows that despite the strong military presence now in the region, the Dayaks clearly control the interior. Beyond the military checkpoint at Tobo, 40km north of Pontianak, all the way to Bengkayang, 160km north of Pontianak, armed Dayaks patrol the roads and jungles hunting for Madurese survivors. The army does not intervene or try to disarm them.

On Monday in Karangan, we saw six trucks and buses carrying hundreds of Dayaks, some of them sitting on its roof brandishing spears and guns. They were headed south toward Toho, with the intent of killing Madurese at a remote village called Suap. When asked why they were continuing with the carnage, the warriors answered: "The Madurese will attack us if we don't attack them. We have to protect ourselves."

At a military checkpoint, one bus-load was stopped but after brief questioning was allowed to proceed. On Monday evening, the military reported that 3,000 armed Dayaks had congregated in Toho and were about to make their way to Suap through the jungle. On Tuesday morning the Dayaks attacked. The death toll is now reportedly at 15, with five severely injured and 98 houses set ablaze. Later that day the military sent four truckloads of soldiers from Pontianak to secure the situation in Suap.

That same Tuesday morning a peace ceremony was held in Pontianak, gathering members of all the ethnic communities, including Madurese, Chinese, Malay and Javanese. A few Dayaks were found in the crowd, although there was only one Dayak representative, a government official. In front of the national media, the crowd agreed to end fighting. Yet only the night before Chinese houses across the river in Siantan were burned and looted by angry Madurese.

Some community leaders said that without grass-roots support and recognition of the economic and political disparity behind the ethnic enmity, the peace proposals were futile.

"The peace agreements won't be effective if only the elite sign them and in a formal fashion without adat [peace ritual] ceremonies in the villages and involvement of the masses on the ground. They may say peace in the city but the people fighting in the villages don't know," said Laurentius Kadir. Some Dayaks acknowledge the danger of a backlash from the government but they are not laying down arms. "How can the government find a scapegoat? How will they find a mastermind? This is a mass movement," Yosep said.

Death toll in Indonesia's ethnic unrest disputed

Agence France Presse - - 12 February, 1997

Jakarta – Ethnic unrest in a troubled Indonesian province has left dozens of people dead since the start of the year, a military source told AFP Wednesday, as unconfirmed independent figures put casualties in the hundreds. "Dozens of people have died since the start of the unrest," said a source in the military information office here, who declined to be identified.

The source did not give exact details on the dead, but it was the first official statement on casualties since violence erupted in Indonesia's West Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo which is shared with Malaysia. Indigenous Dayak tribesmen and migrants from Madura, an island off East Java, have been fighting since the start of the year.

Western observers who asked to remain anonymous said that 300 to 500 people had lost their lives in the ethnic unrest.

A source from the military information office told reporters earlier Wednesday that "hundreds" of people have died in the clashes, but later insisted to AFP that casualties were in the dozens.

The observers said that intervention in the unrest by the Indonesian army had triggered an exodus of more than 25,000 people fleeing the violence. These people were now living in dangerous conditions, they said.

Some 5,000 Madurese have been evacuated back to their home island in Java by the army, while Dayaks fleeing the violence have taken refuge in the regional capital of Pontianak or in remote jungle villages, they said. The unrest in West Kalimantan is the latest of a series of several separate outbreaks of ethnic and religious unrest to hit Indonesia since last October. Malaysia temporarily closed its border with province because of the troubles.

Violence broke out on New Year's eve following a brawl over a woman at pop concert in Sanggau Ledo, near the West Kalimantan capital of Pontianak. Some 5,000 Dayak men went on a rampage, attacking Madurese and their property in the region. Diplomatic sources said this week a harsh military crackdown in the area to quell the unrest had left scores of civilians dead. They added that around 1,000 troops were flown in from outside the territory.

The military information office source denied, however, that troops had injured or killed civilians in securing the area.

"It is very possible that in order to secure the situation, warning shots were fired to disperse the masses. But nobody got injured because of it," the source said. Before Wednesday [12 February], the authorities have declined to give out the number of casualties, saying only that 21 people were missing.

Residents reported mass clashes between the Dayaks and Madurese up to last Friday in the Sambas and Sanggau districts north of Pontianak.

In one of the largest clashes, 130 Dayaks were shot dead and 31 others injured in Sanggau during a military operation to quell the unrest, the western observers said. Witnesses in towns north of Pontianak, spoke of having heard arms being fired.

Thousands of people have sought shelter in military compounds and relatives' homes around Pontianak since the new violence erupted.

Pontianak residents told AFP on Wednesday the situation remains tense, and that the authorities late Tuesday tried to enforce a curfew from 8:00 p.m., one hour earlier than the curfew which called for by city authorities since late January.

The sources said people wanting to return to Pontianak from towns north of the city were still discouraged "because the safety situation was still uncertain." would only be temporary.

Malaysian border officials said Tuesday they have allowed several hundred Indonesians to cross the border "at their own risk."

Meanwhile, President Suharto complained Wednesday, which has been declared National Press Day, that Indonesian journalists' use of foreign values in reporting the domestic troubles contributed to social unrest.

The media has frontpaged reports of the unrest, including those in West Kalimantan.

"With the use of those unsuitable spectacles, it can be understood why many of our people have become nervous and restless in facing the development of changes," he said.

Killings in West Kalimantan - Indonesia

Down to Earth Action alert – February 1997

Hundreds of people have been killed following recent ethnic unrest in West Kalimantan, according to reports from Indonesia. Bloody clashes between the indigenous Dayak people, migrants from Madura and the military have been going on since early January, but little news has reached the outside world as the whole area has been sealed off by the Indonesian military. The present violence is merely a symptom of discontent which has built up over many years. Land rights issues are at the heart of this issue. Dayak communities have become dispossessed as their traditional forest lands are appropriated by outsiders in government-supported resettlement, development and large-scale commercial enterprise schemes.

ACTION As the UK-based NGO which campaigns for ecological justice in Indonesia, Down to Earth asks for your support to put pressure on the Indonesian authorities to allow Indonesian journalists, the international press and international human rights monitors to carry out independent investigations and report openly on the recent events in West Kalimantan. Of equal importance is that the Indonesian government should address the underlying long-term causes of the tension between the indigenous people and settlers, rather than deploying a knee-jerk military response to what it portrays as an isolated conflict along religious or ethnic lines.

Background

There has been long-standing hostility between the indigenous Dayak peoples and migrants. Many landless peasants from Java and the island of Madura (SE of Java) moved to West Kalimantan as part of a government resettlement programme which offers free land, housing and food aid. Open conflict between the indigenous people and settlers first broke out in early January. An incident in Sanggau Ledo some 100 kilometres northeast of Pontianak triggered four days of riots. Five thousand Dayaks rampaged through the town and attacked the villages of Merabu, Kampung Jawa and Jirak plus four transmigration sites. In Bengkayang, three men were shot when a crowd of Dayaks surrounded a local military post where transmigrants were sheltering. Around six thousand people fled to the provincial capitals of Singkawang and Pontianak several hundred kilometers away on the west coast. Many were airlifted to a temporary refugee camp by the airforce. Meanwhile the minority Dayak communities in the two cities sought protection as settlers sought revenge. Over a thousand troops were moved in and a curfew imposed. The military reported on January 6th that all was quiet and people were returning home. The clashes caused six deaths, an estimated 8.4 million US dollars damage and the destruction of nearly one thousand homes.

However, by the end of January the land border between Kalimantan and Malaysia remained closed and the province was on military alert. Security was tightened in early February as the end of the Muslim fasting month coincided with the Chinese New Year. The provincial capital of Pontianak remained cut off from the interior by roadblocks and under night curfew. The Sydey Morning Herald (6th Feb) reported that a Catholic school and several Christian foundations linked to the Dayaks were destroyed. This may be the same incident reported by the Indonesian news group Pijar (10th Feb) when masked men armed with knives attacked and burned a Catholic dormitory in the West Kalimantan capital housing Dayak regugees who had fled violence in their areas, and a nearby boarding house. Two Dayak women were injured while residents said that another person was killed but the death has not been confirmed. Military reinforcements landed overnight in West Kalimantan on 5th February. The Indonesian military and civil authorities were still saying the situation in West Kalimantan was calm and "under control", although the Pijar report mentioned that fighting had broken out again in other towns at that time.

Information from the area is confused since journalists have not been permitted to leave Pontianak and a news blackout has been imposed on the city. However, local sources said further violence broke out on Tuesday, with troops opening fire on two trucks carrying Dayak tribespeople, killing many of the occupants. There are unconfirmed reports that at least 17 Dayaks were shot dead at a military road block in Anjungan on February 4/5th, possibly trying to get into Pontianak. One report claimed 75 Dayaks had died (KdP 13th Feb). Another source reported a massacre of 30 Dayaks by soldiers in retaliation for an attack on a military camp in which several soldiers died. There are also reports of clashes between local tribesmen and migrants from a town in Sambas district where at least seven houses in Tebas, north of Pontianak, had been burned by angry Dayaks. Dayak elders in northern Pontianak have confirmed that two Dayak men have been killed in recent days, including the victim whose return to Tebas sparked the new clashes. BBC correspondent Jonathon Head reported (11th Feb) from an area "that looked like a war zone" where soldiers, including Indonesia's elite combat regiment, were everywhere and houses were daubed with the ethnic origin of their owners in an attempt to prevent attack from Dayaks or settlers.

The Guardian (13th Feb) reports that hundreds have been killed in West Kalimantan in the past two weeks. Local people say the death toll is much higher than official figures admit and that local hospitals are full of casualities, although access to these is denied. Some Dayaks say this is to cover up killings by the military. The atmosphere in the province is now very tense as curfews are still in place in Potianak and other urban centres and there are military patrols on the streets. Army Chief of Staff General Hartono said on February 14th that the situation was secure and that hundreds of weapons had been confiscated from the public. Members of the National Human Rights Commission, Komnas HAM, are making their second visit to Pontianak in the past fortnight. Komnas HAM General Secretary Baharuddin Lopa refused to comment on reports that there had been 2000 deaths in the fighting since the New Year. Komnas HAM are also under pressure from the local governor and military to act as a mediator between the two communities. While community leaders are apparently prepared to discuss peace, the disturbances were apparently spreading eastwards (13th Feb) and there were rumours that tens of thousands of Dayaks throughout Kalimantan and across the border in Sarawak were preparing for confrontation (KdP 14th Feb).

Doubtless the Indonesian authorities will try to represent the violence in West Kalimantan as a conflict between two hot-headed ethnic groups in frontier country. It is normal for Madurese men (popularly believed to be quick to take offence) to carry knives, while anthropological accounts of Dayaks make much of their former reputation as headhunters. They will also play on religious differences between these communities: the settlers from Java and Madura are largely Muslim in contrast to the predominantly Christian Dayaks. The Indonesian press (which closely reflects government views for fear of closure) has reported the troubles as yet another example of the social unrest which has caused deaths, destruction of property and the burning of churches in several urban centres on Java. These are attributed to tensions between Muslims and the largely Christian ethnic Chinese business community. Local Muslim leaders in West Kalimantan issued a statement (13th Feb) denying religious factors were the driving force behind recent events.

These simplistic explanations ignore the history of ethnic conflict in this area and deliberately play down the transmigration angle. Waves of immigration over the centuries, have brought Chinese, Indians, and Malay peoples to the region attracted by the mineral wealth and trading opportunities. This and the government's programme to resettle people from densely populated Java and Bali to the outer islands has resulted in the Dayak community making up only 40% of the population in Kalimantan. Figures given by the World Bank in a 1988 report showed that Sambas district has by far the largest influx of transmigrants of the West Kalimantan districts. As long ago as 1980 over 90,000 people, or over 15% of the total population of around 600,000, were government sponsored transmigrants. This compared to a national average in receiving areas of 3.4%.

The underlying problems are those of the land rights of indigenous people and the destruction of tropical rainforests. The Dayaks' traditional lifestyle depends on the sustainable use of forests for food, medicines and other basic needs. The rainforest is the basis of their culture and, though nominally Christian, animist beliefs and practices are still important to many Dayaks. The Indonesian government includes the Dayaks, with all other indigenous tribal people in the archipelago, as `backward' and in need of `development'. As all Indonesian forests are regarded as state land, forest dwellers' customary rights to the land and forest resources are ignored because there is no documentation of legal ownership. With the loss of the forest, many Dayaks now make a living as subsistance farmers. At best, when new projects move in, token compensation is paid for crops destroyed in land clearance and indigenous families are expected to live with transmigrants on the sites.

All over Indonesia, indigenous people have been marginalised as the regime parcels out Indonesia's natural resources for exploitation. Transmigration, logging, mining and agribusiness projects serve powerful business and military interests close to Suharto's family rather than the needs of local communities. In West Kalimantan 75 forest concessions have been granted covering nearly three-quarters of the province. The cleared land is turned over to plantations for the paper pulp and palm-oil industries. At least three state-owned companies have set up huge plantations and 14 private companies have agri-business ventures in West Kalimantan. One of these is the massive Finnanatara Intiga paper pulp factory and timber plantation in Sanggau - a joint venture between the state-owned forestry company Inhutani III, leading tobacco manufacturer PT Gadang Garam and Finnish forestry giant the Enso Group.

The role of the military in recent events in West Kalimantan deserves further examination. It would appear that they did little to stop the initial unrest in January from getting out of hand. Similarly in the past two weeks attacks and reprisals by Dayaks and settlers on whichever community is in the minority in a particular locality have continued. It is unlikely that the authorities were genuinely unprepared. It is also unlikely that fear of public and international outcry over another case of military repression and brutality - particularly so close to the forthcoming elections in late May would have restrained their actions since West Kalimantan is such a long way from Jakarta and a virtual newsblackout had been imposed. It seems more likely that the military are seeking to exploit the unrest in order to strengthen their position within the Indonesian regime when they eventually `restore order to this lawless area'. If members of the ethnic Chinese community are intimidated and their businesses ruined in the conflict, as in the recent violence in other parts of Indonesia, this will pander to the anti-Chinese sentiment prevalent in many factions of the government.

Additional information: Tapol Bulletin No.139 February 1997 Down to Earth No. 32 February 1997 `Ethnic Clashes kill hundreds in Borneo', The Guardian, p15, 13th February 1997 The Economist this week should have an article Far East Economic Review 20th February ditto

[The "recomended action" section of this action alert have been edited out - JB]

Indonesia warns Japanese media over coverage of unrest in West Kalimantan

Agence France Presse - February 17, 1997

Jakarta – The Indonesian government has issued a warning to Japanese media correspondents here about their coverage of recent ethnic unrest in West Kalimantan province.

"We are very worried that these mass media are being used by certain groups which do not want to see Indonesia progress," said a letter to the journalists, dated Friday and obtained Monday.

The letter was sent by the information ministry's director of journalists' development, Akhmadsyah Naina.

"Therefore, we hope that you will be more careful in covering the recent situation in Indonesia," it added.

"Hopefully your coverage will not eliminate the trust and friendship that the Japanese society has for Indonesia."

The letter enclosed a clipping of a report in a Jakarta daily about an interview by the official Antara news agency with the deputy president of the Japan-Indonesia Friendship Organization, Shizuo Miyamoto.

Miyamoto accused major Japanese dailies of having "endlessly" reported on unrest in Indonesia in recent months and having "dramatized" the problems.

"The bad reports about Indonesia in the Japanese mass media are more or less spread by agents of the Japanese Communist Party," Miyamoto was quoted as saying.

Japanese media organizations Monday said they were weighing up the letter of warning. "This kind of matter may be handled first by the local association of Japanese correspondents," said an official at the Tokyo secretariat of the Japanese Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association.

"We might react if they were barred from covering news events or if their news-gathering activities were hindered. But at this stage, this matter should be handled by each company," the official said.

He added that the council grouping foreign editors of Japanese media organizations was not considering any action at this stage.

An editor at the foreign news desk of the Mainichi Shimbun said Japanese correspondents in Jakarta discussed the issue Monday and planned to make a joint reply to the ministry on Tuesday.

"The contents of the letter are contrary to the truth. They will make a reply to the information ministry tomorrow," he said.

All major Japanese news agencies and dailies have correspondents in Jakarta.

Local military authorities in West Kalimantan, meanwhile, have stopped five western correspondents from leaving the provincial capital of Pontianak to prevent them from travelling to the area of unrest.

The correspondents, who arrived in Pontianak at the end of last week, have been warned by military authorities not to leave the city "for their own security," one of them told AFP by telephone.

The journalists, who did not want to be identified, were trying to get to the northwest of the province where witnesses have reported the worst confrontations.

But they were stopped at one of several army road blocks and told to return to Pontianak and not to leave the city, unless they were returning to Jakarta.

Foreign press accredited in Indonesia are usually free to travel across the country, with the exception of two provinces – northern Aceh and eastern Irian Jaya – and the disputed territory of East Timor.

Indonesia has been hit by a string of religious and ethnic clashes in recent months, which have claimed scores of lives and left hundreds of buildings damaged.

The latest unrest in West Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo, saw violent conflicts between the indigenous Dayak population and migrants from Madura island, near Java.

The violence, which broke out in late December, has left hundreds dead and forced thousands to flee their homes, sources have said.

Army Chief of Staff: No armed forces member died in Pontianak riot

Kompas Online - 15 February, 1997

Jakarta – Army Chief of Staff General R Hartono said that the security stability situation and condition in West Kalimantan, up to last week has been amenable to control. Although victims had fallen and considerable material loss suffered, there had been no loss of life of Armed Forces members.

"Of the Armed Forces personnel on duty there, only two members are listed as slightly wounded, while one member was seriously wounded by an attack with a local traditional weapon," said the Army Chief of Staff, responding to journalists after a goodwill meeting of the Armed Forces Commander with the entire array of senior officers of the Armed Forces Headquarters on Friday (14/2) in Jakarta.

The Army Chief of Staff said that until this moment the security forces have succeeded in confiscating hundreds of local traditional weapons used in the riots and other acts of violence.

"The Armed Forces continue their efforts to approach all parties in dispute over there. We hope that shortly these efforts will bear fruit, so a harmonious situation can again be created in West Kalimantan," he said.

He added, "The heartening thing is that until this moment the people in West Kalimantan are voluntarily surrendering the weapons they own to our agents."

Responding to questions by the journalists whether the security forces had also found a number of persons considered responsible as the instigators of the riots, the Army Chief of Staff said that his side had not yet found indications pointing that way. "I am not saying that there are instigators. But up to this moment we have not yet found any indications that way," he said.

Peace charter

The Chairman of the National Committee for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) Munawir Sjadzali, who was sided by Secretary General Baharuddin Lopa, AA Baramuli and Clementino Dos Reis Amaral, based on agreement reached at the Komnas HAM coordination meeting last Thursday evening (13/2), according to plan will depart for Pontianak and witness the agreement, in the form of a mutual peace charter between the quarreling parties in the Sanggau Ledo Riot in Pontianak, West Kalimantan.

Asmara Nababan, one member of the Komnas HAM Fact-finding Team for the Sanggau Ledo Riot, disclosed this on Friday.

Separately, Komnas HAM Secretary General Baharuddin Lopa confirmed that the visit to Pontianak was to witness the Sanggau Ledo peace charter. "Departure for Pontianak is right but not this Saturday (15/2). Because last night (Thursday, 13/2 - Ed.), the commander of the VIth/Tanjungpura Military Region, Maj.Gen. Namuri Anoem send a message that the draft of the peace charter was not yet ready and still being improved," he disclosed.

According to Lopa, the Tanjungpura military commander in his talk further promised to the Komnas HAM that his side would quickly inform when the charter in question was ready for signing.

For the time being Lopa was of the opinion that the Komnas HAM perceived that differences in culture and lifestyle between the local community and newcomers, could be a point of reference for the Komnas HAM to study further the various riots which have taken place in the country.

To prevent similar riots, Lopa reminded the need for continual communication between community members and the respective traditional customs notables in perceiving various issues arising in the midst of the community. (*)

East Java migrants started riots in Kalimantan, says army chief

Straits Times - February 18 1997

Jakarta – Indonesia's army chief has blamed migrants from East Java for the outbreak of ethnic riots in West Kalimantan, the official Antara news agency reported yesterday.

"We have proof, there were bad people from East Java who came there to incite, so something happened which we did not want," General R. Hartono told reporters yesterday.

He said West Kalimantan was peaceful before the arrival of the outsiders from East Java.

"The people were harmonious. After the bad people came, they were restless again," he said, without giving further details.

Clashes broke out in late December between indigenous Dayaks and Madurese transmigrants in Sanggau Ledo, about 95 km north of Pontianak, the provincial capital. Fighting later spread to other parts of the province.

The military said at least 12 people were killed during the last six weeks but some residents and church sources said the figure could be higher.

Officials said traditional ceremonies and peace talks to ease tension have been held.

The Information Ministry has, meanwhile, warned Japanese media correspondents about their coverage of the unrest.

"We hope that you will be more careful in covering the recent situation. Hopefully your coverage will not eliminate the trust and friendship that the Japanese society has for Indonesia," said a letter on Friday signed by journalism-development director Akhmadsyah Naina.

The media organisations were yesterday weighing up the warning but did not appear to be considering any action at this stage. – Reuters, AFP.

Police hear main witness in slander charges against Gus Dur

Antara News - February 14, 1997

Jakarta – Police questioned Andrianto, leader of non-governmental organisation Humanika on Thursday, about the slander charges he has filed against Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman Abdurrahman Wahid.

Andrianto had earlier lodged a formal complaint against Wahid for allegedly slandering Humanika by a statement late last January depicting Humanika as the mastermind behind the Tasikmalaya (West Java) mass riot.

Two members of the Jakarta Police Department's detective unit, lieutenants B Marpaung and Ponadi, questioned Adrianto for nearly six hours as the main witness in the case.

Andrianto told the press after the questioning, the police asked him a total of 28 questions in relation to Humanika's complaint against Abdurrahman Wahid who is more popularly called Gus Dur.

"Humanika is disturbed by Gus Dur's statement. If we do not take him to court, I am afraid people may come to believe his statement that Humanika was behind the riot (in Tasikmalaya)," Andrianto said.

He said Gus Dur would have to prove his statement about Humanika in court.

"We really hope Gus Dur will disclose all the evidence he has to support his statement. He claimed he has a lot of evidence such as floppy discs and documents. He also said he could call on the military resort commander, the military district commander and the local police chief to testify," Andrianto added.

Apart from Andrianto, the police also questioned Asep Rahmman, former chairman of the Jakarta chapter of the Islamic Students Association, who allegedly attended the public discusssion at which Gus Dur made the statement about Humanika's involvement in the Tasikmalaya riot.

Tapol calls for international investigation in West Kalimantan

Tapol Press Release - 13 February, 1997

Following reports confirmed yesterday of the killing of at least seventeen Dayaks earlier this month at a military roadblock east of Pontianak, the capital of the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan (Borneo), TAPOL has asked the British Government to take the lead, in the European Union, in calling for an international investigation into the disturbances.

In a letter today to Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, Lord Avebury said:

"In December, the British Government issued yet more licences for the export of armoured personnel carriers and other military equipment to the Indonesian army and police. You are always saying that you have assurances that British military equipment supplied to Indonesia will not be used in East Timor but what about Indonesia, and Kalimantan in particular?'

Reports from contacts in the region suggest that scores of Dayaks been shot dead or seriously wounded in the area. There have also been a number of casualties among the Madurese community. Two weeks ago, the Malaysian Government closed the border between Sarawak and West Kalimantan to prevent the ethnic conflict from spilling over.

The disturbances began last December with clashes between Dayak youths and newcomers from the island of Madura. Tens of thousands of transmigrants have flooded the area in the past few years, occupying Dayak land and marginalising the native inhabitants. Forests have been cleared by concessionaires. Following the clashes in December, thousands of Madurese transmigrants fled to Pontianak, seeking army protection.

Soon after, Dayak communities in urban areas came under attack, with hostels and Catholic centres being attacked and torched. The army flew in special troops to reinforce local troops and have set up roadblocks in an attempt to prevent Dayaks from entering Pontianak and other towns. Curfews are in force in several towns and the army is attempting to prevent news from reaching the outside, with no one being allowed into or out of the worst affected areas. Local journalists believe that the military hospital is full of casualties but they have been denied access. One local journalist is in custody over his reporting.

TAPOL has also asked UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings, Mr Bacre Waly Ndiaye, to seek permission from the Indonesian government to visit the area.

For further information, ring Carmel Budiardjo on 0181 771.2904 (day and evening).

Troops to stay as peace deal sought

Kabar dari PIJAR – February 1997

Jakarta – Indonesian armed forces will not pull out from the riot-stricken province of West Kalimantan on Borneo island, according to a report on Sunday.

Ethnic groups at the centre of weeks of clashes were trying to hammer out a peace agreement as residents in the provincial capital of Pontianak said calm had returned to the town.

Regional military commander Major General Namuri Anum said he had no intention of withdrawing the 3,000 armed forces deployed to the province to deal with ethnic unrest.

``Even though the overall situation in many regencies is under control, we still hope that ethnic riots could be immediately settled,'' Maj-Gen Anum said.

Two months of violent clashes between ethnic groups have left hundreds dead and caused thousands to flee their villages in the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan.

Members of the ethnic Dayak and Madurese communities are drafting a peace agreement to end the conflict but it remains unclear whether a settlement would be reached.

But observers believe a peace accord will not relieve deep-seated tension between the two ethnic groups which have had at least eight major disputes over the last 20 years.

Security forces have arrested 68 people following the violent clashes in the past two months between the indigenous Dayaks and migrants from Madura, an island off East Java.

The Indonesian military in East Timor has denied reports that six people were killed during brawls between young Catholics and members of a military-backed group early this month.

It also denied reports that several Catholic priests had been beaten.

Church sources have said fights broke out after members of the military-backed Gada Paksi youth organisation attacked 10 Catholic youths, a priest and his driver on 7 February in Viqueque, about 100 kilometres east of Dili. - Agencies

West Kalimantan ethnic groups 'draft peace pact'

Straits Times - February 16, 1997

Jakarta – Representatives from the clashing ethnic groups in West Kalimantan are drafting a peace agreement to end the conflict that has rocked the Indonesian province since December, reports said.

It is being drawn up by members of the indigenous Dayak community and migrants from Madura, an island off East Java, the Indonesian Observer reported yesterday.

"The peace committee is still working on it, as certain cultural elements must be taken into consideration," said West Kalimantan Governor Aspar Aswin.

The reports of a possible peace pact came after nearly two months of violent clashes between ethnic groups which left hundreds dead and caused thousands to flee from the province, newspapers have said.

Security forces have arrested 68 people following the unrest between the Dayaks and Madurese that erupted last December.

A curfew in the provincial capital Pontianak, enforced since February 1, was ended on Thursday night.

Visiting members of the National Commission on Human Rights have been invited to witness what has been dubbed a "racial reconciliation" pact, the report said.

But many believe the agreement will not ease the deep- seated mistrust between the two ethnic groups which have had at least eight major disputes over the last 20 years.

"All previous peace agreements have been arranged by the government and they do not reflect the aspirations of the people," a former official was quoted as saying in the Observer.

A Dayak source in Pontianak told the AFP yesterday that the peace accord was initiated by "people who live in the urban areas" and he claimed it would have little impact in the rural areas where most of the conflict had occurred.

"But I hope this agreement succeeds because we are still afraid of the situation. We need security and a normal situation so people can move from place to place," he said.

A military spokesman in Pontianak yesterday said the city was returning to normal with "all shops open and traffic flowing in the centre of town". – AFP.

Political trials

Two of those accused of subversion present their objections

Kompas - February 18, 1997

Jakarta – Two of those accused of subversion from the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) presented their objections at the South Jakarta State Court, Tuesday 17 February. In essence, they questioned the relevance of continuing the trial in the midst of the lack of legal clarity and the "authorities" which has coloured the course of the trials.

In a his demurrer of 17 pages, Wilson stated that the accused in the PRD case have already been "judged" [lit: politically convicted - JB] by Soesilo Soedarman since July 29, 1996, who publicly announced that the PRD were the instigators of the July 27 riots in Jakarta.

Wilson also said that the press have also taken an active part in judging them, with "slander which was read daily without press ethics and morals, with a pre-judgement of guilt".

What is being struggled for by the PRD, added Wilson, is only an expression of the "contents of the peoples hearts". "We are a generation which was born during the golden bridge of the New Order regime, we know the abundance of wealth at the top of the golden bridg, but why is there nothing that pours forth to the space underneath? Although jail is what we will accept as the reward for what we have done so far, the trial has only added to the 'broken hearts of the people' who are already weighted down and do no know the way out. We did it all with conscious understanding so that it would be buried until it became a social sickness", said Wilson.

Violations of the penal code

In a separate court, the defense lawyer of the accused I Gusti Agung Anom Astika, Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara Cs, in his objections stated that violations of the criminal code had occurred in the in the preliminary investigations. The arrest warrants which had been provided only a day before the accused were arrested, violated paragraph 56 of the Indonesia Criminal Code (KUHAP). He also questioned the substance of accusations. The actions of the accused to organise discussion, help workers [lit: accompany - JB], establish organisations, arrange the concept of speeches and build an alternative press, for example, cannot be categorised as a criminal act. "Is a criminal act if a person states their opinion along with their thoughts, which are in fact guaranteed by the 1945 Constitution and [the state ideology] of Pancasila along with the 1948 declaration of Human rights"?

Meanwhile, Tohab Simanungkalit who appeared as a witness in the subversion case of Mochtar Pakpahan was questioned for four hours in the trial presided over by Judge Djazuli.

Simanungkalit explained, had had never heard Pakpahan say that had didn't want Suharto to be nominated as president in 1998 or that he demanded that Suharto be tried. Similarly with regard to the dual function of the Armed Forces, according to Simanungkalit he had never hear Pakpahan state his disagreement with this.

Judge sick

The trial which began at 10am ended at 2.30pm when one of the Judges said they were sick. simanungkalit was asked to reappear at the following session. Before this, Mochtar Pakpahan's request that he be given permission to be examined by a medical specialist in relation to health problems were rejected by Judge Djazuli, on the grounds that the court was not an institution to speak of health facilities. "By task is only to investigate the case" he said.

[Translation from Kompas - JB]

Lawyers dispute legality of Aberson trial

Tapol – February 1997

The team of lawyers defending member of Parliament Aberson Marle Sihalalo who has been charged with insulting the President asked the court Tuesday, 18 February to declare that it had no authority to try the accused.

In a 25-page demurrer, the four lawyers, who took turns reading the document in court, said that as a member of Parliament and the Supreme Legislative Assembly - DPR/MPR - the accused has a constitutional duty to discuss matters of state, including supervising the way in which government is conducted, a duty which gives him immunity under the law.

"What the defendant did was neither a crime nor a violation but was political discourse aimed at helping educate the general public politically. His statements cannot be said to have insulted the rulers of the country because what he said reflected the true situation in Indonesian society. Moreover, his remarks were directed at the system, not at a particular institution or individual," the lawyers said.

The lawyers also pointed out that the indictment did not say that the President or the MPR really did feel insulted by his remarks or lectures.

The indictment accuses Aberson of insulting the President and Vice-President and the DPR/MPR in lectures or speeches delivered at the democracy forum held on the premises of the PDI in Jakarta.

Two subversion suspects present their objections

Kompas - 18 February, 1997 (Abridged)

Two men from the People's Democratic Party, PRD, facing subversion charges, presented their objections Monday to the charges that were made against them at the first hearing in their trial last week.

In one courtroom, Wilson said in a seventeen page document that that the political verdict against his party had already been passed on 29 July last year by Minister-Coordinator Soesilo Soedarman when he announced that the PRD was behind the riots that occurred on 27 July in Jakarta. The press had also played a role in establishing their 'guilt' by spreading slanders that appeared daily in the media.

He told the court that his party only wanted to express the true feelings of the people. "We are the generation born on the golden bridge of the New Order and we know all about the abundance of wealth that has poured onto the bridge with nothing seeping down below. Although we will accept the prison sentences that will be passed against us as the consequence of what we have done, the verdicts will add to the sense of injustice felt by the people.'

Being tried on similar charges in a separate court was I Gusti Anom Astika whose lawyer told the court that many violations of the procedural code had been perpetrated during the pre-trial interrogations. Regarding the substance of the charges, Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara said that holding discussions, helping workers, setting up organisations, drafting speeches and publishing alternative publications cannot be categorised as crimes. 'It is a crime for someone to express his thoughts and opinions as guaranteed in the Constitution?' he asked.

Mmeanwhile, at the trial of Mochtar Pakpahan, also taking place on the same day, a witness, Tohab Simanungkalit denied saying that he had heard the defendant calling for Suharto to be put on trial. Nor had he ever heard Pakpahan expression opposition to the army's dual function.

The judge refused to act on a request from the defendant for special medical examination because he was still ailing. The judge said that this was not a matter for him. All he was responsible for was presiding over the court case.

'Suara Independen' trial: Publishers not responsible

Kompas - 19 February, 1997

Jakarta – The publishers of the magazine Suara Independen admitted that they felt that the magazine had a "harsh" tone and because of this they made a statement that the contents of the magazine was not the responsibility of the publishers.

This was revealed by witnesses in the Suara Independen trial on February 18 at the South Jakarta State Court: the owners of the publishing company Zaiyan Putra, Jasrul Zen, along with staff Zainuddin (production), Janimart (printing), Roni (paper cutter) and Indra Mulyadi. On trial are Andi Syahputra (31) who placed the printing order who was accompanied by a defense team including Irianto Subiakto, Esther Yusuf, and Ori Rachman from the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Jakarta).

According to Jasrul Zen, this was the first time they received a print order for Suara Independen from the accused. The order was for 1.3 million Rupiah to print 5,000 copies. Jasrul said that he had received an order from the producer, Zainuddin that there were a number of titles which were rather harsh [keras, ie critical of the regime- JB] so they wrote up the statement when the accused paid them 800,000 Rupiah for the job.

Some of the items which was considered "keras" included articles titled "Boss Cockroach", "Generals killed...". The witness said they did not cancel the order because they did not read the [full] contents. Only 3,000 copies were printed before the printing house was raided by police.

[Abridged translation from Kompas - JB]

Miscellaneous

Police foil plan to explode grenade at the National Monument

Pikiran Rakyat - 15 February, 1998 (abridged)

The Jakarta police force have foiled a plan to explode a grenade at the National Monument on Malam Takbir on 8 February, an event which was attended by President Suharto and Vice-President Try Sutrisno.

Two Korean-made grenades were seized and two suspects were arrested, identified only as Abd, 31, and Fa, 38.

According to police investigation chief, the police got wind of plans for individuals to enter the grounds with grenades. After an intelligence operation, the police arrested the suspects on 9 February, the day on which the Ramadhan Fasting Month ended.

They were discovered in separate hiding places, along with the grenades.

The police were not able to say where the grenades had been obtained but said the two men were now undergoing intense interrogation.

Grenades not targetted at gathering

Antara News - February 18, 1997

Jakarta – The chief of the Jakarta chapter of Bakorstanasda (the coordinating agency for promoting national stability), Mayor General Sutiyoso has said that the gathering on the eve of Id al Fitr in the National Monument (Monas) recently was not the target of attack by grenades seized by the police on February 9.

"The grenade was not targeted at the mass gathering in Monas on the eve of Id al Fitr on Saturday (February 8)," said Sutiyoso, who is also Jakarta's Regional Military Commander, here on Monday.

He admitted the grenades belonged to military personnel.

Sutiyoso stressed the Armed Forces would take measures against the military personnel who were resposnible for the grenades because of his recklessness in keeping the dangerous explosives.

The holders of the grenades have entrusted the grenades to his friend which, according to Sutiyoso, is an improper action of a military personnel.

"Be sure, the Armed Forces will process the case through the existing law. About the investigation procedure please ask the police," he said.

The Frag Delay K 75 grenades were seized on February 9 from two men identified as SA (37) and AA (31).

Head of Jakarta Police detective Unit Colonel Paimin said that the grenades are still active.

Police 'foiled plan to attack Suharto gathering'

Straits Times - February 16, 1997

Jakarta – Police arrested two men who they believed had planned a grenade attack on a Muslim gathering attended by President Suharto last weekend, the state Antara news agency reported yesterday. Chief of the City Police Detectives, Colonel Paimin Aboemr, said on Friday that police had been tipped off about the plot.

They raided the homes of Saleh Abdullah, 37, and Abdul Aziz Umar Madhie, 31, last Sunday, and found two South Korean-made hand grenades.

He said the duo had planned to use them at a gathering at the national monument in Central Jakarta.

Thousands of people, including Mr Suharto and Vice-President Try Sutrisno, had gathered there to celebrate the end of the Muslim fasting month.

Added Col Paimin: "We are disclosing the case only today because if we had done so on the day we discovered it, the general public would have been deeply disturbed." – AFP.

Portuguese hackers modify government home page

Unknown – February 1997

Last Monday (10), and again last Saturday (15) a group of Portuguese hackers (Portuguese Hackers Against Indonesia) modified the homepage of the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry (first goal of an "East Timor Campaign").

This altered homepage was online for 3 hours (from 19:00 until 22:00h - Portuguese time). Among other things, there was the title "Wellcome to the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Fascist Republic of Indonesia".

Differences between the two homepages can be seen in http://toxyn.pt.eu.org/timor/index.html

http://www.dfa-deplu.go.id (the real one)

http://toxyn.pt.eu.org/timor/atack.html Portuguese hackers version: