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ASIET Net News 16 – April 14-20, 1997
Media Indonesia (abridged) - April 16, 1997
Some five thousand pro-Megawati members of the PDI filled the
street in front of the DPR/MPR building on Tuesday, 15 April,
causing extensive traffic jams. They wanted to meet the chairman
of Parliament, Wahono to ask Parliament and the upper chamber,
the MPR, to press the government to restore the political rights
of PDI members and restore Megawati as chair of the PDI, in
conformity with the decision of the 1993 PDI special conference.
Barricades set up by seven hundred security force personnel from
the Jakarta Police, the Jakarta military command, Brimob and the
military police, along with anti-riot units, were on hand to
prevent physical conflict between the security forces and the
mass of people.
Hundreds more personnel blocked the road to the DPR building.
Even so thousands of people filled the street in front of the
building, causing traffic congestion which lasted several hours.
Heavy security surrounded the DPR building and a number of
heavily armoured anti-riot vehicles (panser) blocked the rear
entrance of the building. Ten police and army helicopters circled
overhead. The security forces were conducting a security
exercise, in preparation for the forthcoming elections.
Hundreds of PDI supporters began to gather outside the DPR
building from 7.30 in the morning while PDI masses entered the
capital, arriving from Bogot, Sukabumi, Bali and Surabaya.
Several major thoroughfares leading into the capital were blocked
with traffic because of the large crowds.
Deputy chair of the pro-Mega PDI, Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno had a
heated exchange with DPR security forces, asking them to open up
the gate to led the crowd in but they refused to do so.
In the end, members of the PDI fraction of Parliament came out
and met the crowds, after which Soetardjo asked the people to
disperse.
The delegation led by Soetardjo read out an appeal to the MPR,
the upper chamber calling on it to remind the government to
respect the people's sovereignty and restore the political rights
of the PDI members and the Megawati leadership, and urging the
government to conduct the elections honestly. Among those signing
the statement were twenty PDI functionaries who are still members
of Parliament.
Thousands of people had rallied in response to a leaflet
circulating widely, with a message from Megawati Sukarnoputri
calling on tens of thousands of people to turn out in defence of
people's sovereignty.
Straits Times - April 16. 1997
Susan Sim, Jakarta – Supporters of ousted opposition leader
Megawati Soekarnoputri yesterday broke down the gates leading to
Parliament House as they faced police in a five-hour stand-off.
Riot troops armed with tear-gas launchers, rattan canes and
machine guns prevented the 5,000 demonstrators from entering the
Parliament complex, located on a major road leading to the
airport.
Chanting "Mega will win", the protesters, mostly youth dressed in
the trademark red and black of the Indonesian Democratic Party
(PDI) and sporting pictures of the ousted leader on their shirts,
demanded that she be allowed to stand in next month's general
election.
They also asked to meet the Speaker of the House, but were
refused.
A statement signed by 20 legislators loyal to Ms Megawati,
including her husband Taufik Kiemas and brother Guruh
Soekarnoputra, was later distributed to the press.
"We demand that the People's Consultative Assembly remind the
government to return the political rights of the PDI people and
the leadership of the PDI that was forcibly taken over
unlawfully," it said, adding:
"We are always ready to participate in the 1997 general election
as long as it is a free and honest election."
Ms Megawati was deposed by rival Soerjadi following a
government-backed congress in Medan last June.
She and her supporters were subsequently dropped from the party's
officially-recognised nomination list for the May 29 polls and
were barred from submitting a separate one.
In the wake of her ouster, pro-Megawati supporters held daily
protests in the capital, culminating in the worst riots here in
the last 20 years when rival supporters, backed by army troops,
stormed the party headquarters and seized it on July 27 last
year.
Yesterday's demonstration followed two big ones last February
when Ms Megawati was summoned by police to explain why she held a
party at her home to commemorate the PDI's 24th anniversary
without a permit.
No incidents were reported during yesterday's protest which began
at about nine in the morning and dispersed at two in the
afternoon.
As more protesters were bussed in, they unfurled red banners
saying "Mega or nothing" and hung another on a nearby overhead
bridge which said "Without PDI's Mega, the elections are not
valid".
"We are the victims of July 27 and we will persist in bringing
Soerjadi to justice," another banner pledged.
About 10 army helicopters made several passes as the crowd waved
and jeered at them.
The choppers appeared to be empty, and sources said they were
probably returning from a riot-control exercise at Pondok Indah
shopping mall south of the city, where shoppers were startled to
see troops rappel from hovering helicopters.
Inside the sprawling Parliament complex, however, staff appeared
oblivious of the noisy protests outside and the five armoured
vehicles parked behind Parliament House as they prepared for a
reception and smartly dressed women shopped at a North Sulawesi
art and craft fair.
East Timor
May 29 elections
Social urest
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Labour issues
Politics
Democratic Struggle
Thousands of Megwati supporters go to Parliament
5,000 Megawati supporters in stand-off with riot police
Pro-Mega rally in Jakarta
ASIET - April 17, 1997
Between 10000 and 15000 PDI supporters massed on the streets of Jakarta on April 15 demanding that the elected leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), Megawati Sukarnoputri, be allowed to participate in the May 29 general elections.
According to Media Indonesia daily, Deputy chair of the pro-Mega PDI, Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno had a heated exchange with DPR security forces, asking them to open up the gate to led the crowd in but they refused to do so. In the end, members of the PDI fraction of Parliament came out and met the crowds.
The delegation led by Soetardjo read out an appeal to the MPR, the upper chamber calling on it to remind the government to respect the people's sovereignty and restore the political rights of the PDI members and the Megawati leadership, and urging the government to conduct the elections honestly. Among those signing the statement were twenty PDI functionaries who are still members of Parliament.
The Indonesian media reported the crowd to be around 5,000 while the Jakarta military commander, Major-General Sutiyoso, stated the crowd was 2000.
Eyewitness report
A Jakarta underground leader who was a part of the action told Green Left Weekly over the telephone:
I saw about 5000 people at 10.00am at parliament house. But by 12 noon there were more than 10,000. The masses filled all the left side of the Gatot Subroto toll road, from the cross over bridge to the parliament right down to the Mandala Wanabhakti building. So the masses were packed in about 70 meters by 3 meters deep. The toll had to be closed because it was packed with people. People had come from all around the country.
The military appeared "groggy" in the face of such a large crowd. There were six water cannon, several platoons of troops and nine helicopters in operation.
Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) comrades also participated in the action, starting up an open forum and raising the issue of the election boycott. The boycott issue received a very positive response from the masses. While some of the PDI leaders were nervous about the issue being raised, they did not ban election boycott chants. Indeed several banners from PDI chapters carried the slogan "elections without Megawati are not legitimate".
After the action, the East Jakarta PDI carried out a march and rally along the Gatot Subroto toll road causing a total traffic jam. The crowd kept up "Boycott the election" chants. The military wasn't able to do anything because any attack on the masses would have surely led to an anarchistic response by thousands of people..
The masses had already clashed once with the security foerces when they had been blocked from enetering the parliamentary compiund. They tore down the metal gates and passed them up onto to the toll raod and used them to block the road. The barbed wire fence along the toll road was also torn down.
The PDI officials issued a statement declaring that the elections were legally flawed, politically flawed, morally flawed and violated human rights. The indicated there would be more legal challenges. I think these legal challenges are also being used as arenas for mass mobilisations.
YS124 - April 14, 1997
Comrades in struggle!!, in the framework of giving support to the struggle of Mega, let's go to the parliament in Senayan [South- Central Jakarta] on Tuesday, April 15, to join in carrying out a demonstration, strongly protesting the Final PDI Nomination Lists, and prepared to face and resist all obstacles carried out by any party.
In planning this movement on April 15, Ibu Mega a meeting in her house, has already instructed all of us that this will be carried out by mobilising 50,000 people, made up of PDI members who are loyal to Ibu Megawati, workers, students, PRD members and other solidarity organisations.
Ibu Mega's instructions to us include:
1. The planned action dated April 15, will a large scale demonstration to the parliament and carried out in a "harsh" manner;
2. Demonstrators must be ready to fight with anyone who blocks/the security forces, although this will create a riot;
3. The spearhead of the masses are Yayasan 124 (124 Foundation) and Tim Pembela Demokrasi Indonesia (Indonesian Democracy Defence Team);
4. PDI members approach the target (parliament) in a partial manner, workers depart from their place of work, students, the PRD and other solidarity organisations depart individually;
5. Indonesian and international journalists (CNN, Reuter and so on) who cover [the demonstration], be conditioned so that if there is oppression by the security forces, with the aim to quickly broadcast the brutality of the security forces;
6. When the demonstration occurs, Ibu Mega will not be on the ground, she will be carrying other activities in order to avoid being legally charged; Let us carry out Ibu Megawati's instructions without hesitation!!
Good struggle, in hope that our struggle succeeds!!
Freedom!!, Viva Ibu Mega!! Viva PDI!! Viva Marhaenisme!!!
[Notes on the translation: The term "Ibu" literally means "Mother" but is used in this context to donate respect. Megawati is also often refered to as "Mbak Mega", meaning "big sister Mega", also implying respect. The 124 Foundation refers to 124 pro-Megawati PDI members tried after the July 27 attack on the PDI offices. "Marhaenisme" or "Marhaenism" refers to a Sukarnoist doctrine which idealised the typical Indonesian "little man", a peasant called Marhaen who Sukarno is reputed to have met in the Priangan highlands near Bogor, West Java, a "little person" (ie petty bourgeois) who owned their own means of production but did not become an evil capitalist - James Balowski]
Antara - April 15, 1997
Jakarta – Sixty people have been interrogated by police inconnection with the destruction of a building housing the office ofthe South Jakarta sub-chapter of the Indonesian Democracy Party (PDI) here Sunday, police said.
Jakarta police chief Major General Hamami Nata Monday confirmed earlier reports about the incident saying" we are still investigating the case and some people have been interrogated." The Jakarta police spokesman, Lt Col Aritonang, said 60 people have been questioned but "no one has been arrested." Tens of people demonstrated in front of the PDI branch office on Jalan Jagakarsa at around 10.00 a.m. questioning Soeryadi's leadership.
Soeryadi became the party chairman after ousting Megawati Soekarnoputri.
Aritonang said the demonstrators vanished soon after security officers came.
He said noone died or was injured during the incident but the glass windows of the office had been pelted and broken and a party flag destroyed.
The deputy chairman of the South Jakarta party chapter, Paulus Londo, confirmed the destruction saying it had been done by eight people. "They did not wear clear attributes or even PDI attributes so it was not impossible that they were those who were not satisfied withthe result of the congress," he said.
Kompas - April 15, 1997
Jakarta – Although the People's Democratic Party (PRD) activists refused to appear in court, the public prosecutor announced the sentence it has requested for punishment of those involved in the subversion case. The event took place on Monday (14/4) at the National Court in Central Jakarta and South Jakarta. The defendants were on the court premises but refused to sit in their designated area.
Budiman Sudjatmiko, Garda Sembiring, Jakobus Eko Kurniawan, Ignatius Pranowo and Suroso were tried at the National Court in Central Jakarta. Four other defendants were tried at the National Court in South Jakarta, they are: Petrus Hariyanto, Ken Budha Kusumandaru, Victor da Costa and Ignatius Putut Arintoko. The two remaining defendants, Wilson and Anom Astika have yet to be tried given that witnesses have yet to be obtained.
Having refused to attend the court session, the accused requested that a letter be read in court. The letter, which was handed to the judges, stated that their rights as defendants had not been respected throughout the prosecution. For instance, the evidence was not shown to the accused and they felt that witnesses had been interrogated fairly.
After it was confirmed that the accused would not attending the court as their sentence was read, the judge decided to go ahead anyway and announce the court's ruling. In face of the judges' determination, the defence attorneys for Budiman Sudjatmiko also refused to attend the ruling. Ken Budha's lawyers did the same. Only those representing Jakobus Eko Kurniawan and Garda Sembiring remained in court.
Proof of accusations
The public prosecutor in charge of Budiman Sudjatmiko, M. Salim, declared that sufficient evidence had been mustered to demonstrate that the defendant had engaged in subversive behaviour aiming at destabilizing the New Order. These actions, in which several members of the PRD took place, had been part of a program decided at the time of the PRD's emergency congress.
The goal of this action plan was to overthrow the New Order's leadership and replace it by a popular democratic coalition. "The accused, especially the PRD's Chairman Sudjatmiko, had been acting consistently with the aim of discrediting the New Order government under President Soeharto's leadership without acknowledging its numerous achievements in matters of political development, economic growth, and national stability," said the prosecutor. There was not a single reference to the events of 27 July in the course of the ruling.
According to the judges' panel, the defendants had trans- gressed several articles of Indonesia's criminal legislation. Given that evidence had proved the guilt of the defendants on several charges, there was no longer need to gather evidence on the remaining charges.
Meanwhile, the trial of the two remaining defendants, Wilson and Anom Astika, has been rescheduled in order to allow additional time for the legal teams to find witnesses.
Kompas - April 15, 1997 (Abridged from Tapol)
The prosecutors in the nine cases against PRD activists in two district courts in Jakarta presented their summing up to the court on Monday 14 April.
The accused all refused to attend the hearings in the two Jakarta courts, protesting at the treatment of witnesses and evidence during earlier hearings. Some of the defence lawyers also walked out of the courts after the judge decided to allow the prosecutor to read out the summing-up even though the accused were not present in court.
The following are the sentence demands made by the prosecutors:
Meanwhile in courts in Surabaya, the prosecutors have asked for the following sentences:
Asiaweek - April 14, 1997
These are busy days for Indonesia's courts. The youthful leaders of a leftist – and therefore illegal – group are on trial for subversion. Soon, sacked parliamentarian Sri Bintang Pamungkas, a self-proclaimed presidential nominee, will face a judge. Labor chieftain Muchtar Pakpahan's case – he too is accused of subversion – is delayed only because the 43-year-old activist is in the hospital with a lung tumor. And just last week the printer of an anti-establishment magazine was jailed for 30 months.
With a general election due at the end of May, and social and ethnic unrest persisting, the government is ridding the political scene of potential irritants. It's doing so by the book – going through the courts – but few doubt the outcome. Bintang, who heads an unrecognized political party, Pakpahan, already under a four-year sentence for inciting rioting, and the leftists all expect to be found guilty even though the evidence presented so far in the trials has failed to impress observers such as the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the International Bar Association. "The system supports Suharto, who clearly wants us jailed," Bintang told Asiaweek before being taken into custody. Though seldom imposed, the maximum penalty for subversion is death.
Defending such cases is virtually impossible. Prominent lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution heads Pakpahan's defense team. He has never won a subversion case. He keeps trying, he says, because his constant failures "will hopefully heighten public awareness about changing the system." But the odds are stacked against him.
Bintang, a wiry 52-year-old intellectual, has already been convicted of insulting President Suharto. Now he and two other leaders of his party are in trouble for sending out greeting cards calling for a boycott of the election and for Suharto to step aside during next year's nominations for president.
Before the card incident, Bintang and his associates began drafting changes to the Constitution and criticizing the government in their speeches. Those actions heightened official anger. Pakpahan is accused of spreading ideas at odds with the official state ideology Pancasila. The leftists, originally suspected of inciting the Jakarta riots of July 27, now face similar accusations, partly because of the Marxist terminology in their manifesto. For his part, Pakpahan, short and stocky, is clearly a man of the people despite his degree in constitutional law. Before his health problems, he spiced his days in court with broad grins and laughter. At one of his last court appearances he told Asiaweek that he was no revolutionary. Said he: "My goal is to achieve the acceptance that workers have rights."
Such sentiment generates support among some senior officials. Sharing the spotlight with Pakpahan is Adi Andojo Sutjipto, the Supreme Court judge who headed the panel that set the unionist free in September last year after nine months' imprisonment. Andojo's independent thinking was not rewarded. His decision was eventually overturned, Pakpahan was sent back to jail, while Andojo is barely hanging on to his job. He continues to insist that his ruling should have stood.
The authorities also have to contend with some critics too difficult to silence. Subadio Sastrosatomo, a veteran of the Independence struggle, has been questioned, but not arrested, over a 23-page booklet attacking the government's record. Officials realize that throwing a man of his stature in jail would likely be counterproductive. His private secretary has been arrested, however. Photocopies of Subadio's book, immediately banned, are being passed around the country.
Suppressing dissent carries its own risks. "If there is no opportunity for these people to participate in politics," says Buyung Nasution, "they will become more radical." No one, not least the government, benefits from that.
Republika - April 11, 1997
[As reported in an earlier posting, the students were calling for a boycott of the elections. This is not mentioned in the Republika report. TAPOL]
Three students from three different universities in Bandarlampung are in police custody on charges of violating Article 160 of the Criminal Code because of incitements and the use of violence against the government apparatus. They are Putra Budi Ansori, an Economics Faculty student at Bandarlampung University, Habibburachman from the Law Faculty of Lampung University and Rustam Nawawi, a student at the Accountancy Academy, Lampung.
They were arrested after taking part in demonstrations in Lampung, involving some two hundred students and pupils last Tuesday, 8/4. At the time fourteen people were taken into custody. Eleven have since been released but the other three are now in police custody according to Abi Hasan Mu'an, director of the local legal aid institute, LBH, in a statement to the press. The police have issued arrest warrants which have also been sent to the parents of the detainees.
According to Republika the protests they were involved in began at the Law Faculty of the University of Lampung at 9.30 am and involved about thirty students from various universities who sang songs of struggle and shouted 'Long live the people, long live democracy'.
They then left the Faculty campus and as they walked in the direction of the local assembly building, their numbers increased to about two hundred people.
They then joined forces with supporters of the PDI who were waiting outside the Lampung Museum. The large crowd then walked about two kilometres, in the direction of the town centre but on the way they were blocked by security forces.
The security forces tried to grab their banners, said lawyer, Abi Hasan. As the situation became more tense, many of students fled from the area and were chased by members of the security forces.
| East Timor |
Radio Australia - April 13, 1997
The Australian Greens party is calling on people to join an organisation which is offering to hide asylum seekers from East Timor if the Federal Government tries to deport them.
The Greens say the Government will send thousands of asylum seekers back if it wins a case currently before the Federal Court.
Daniel Cass, representing Greens Victoria says the Sanctuary Movement is the only hope for the East Timorese.
"The Sanctuary Movement is an Australia-wide network of people who are offering their homes, and where possible their work places as safe houses for Timorese political refugees who the Government is quite alarmingly attempting to deport by claiming they are actually Portuguese citizens."
Lusa - April 11, 1997
Geneva – 378 people were reported missed from November 1995 to the same month last year in East Timor, according to a report by the United Nations (UN) chief, Kofi Annan.
The report released on Thursday, citing documents provided by UN envoys to the territory, human rights watchdogs, US State Department and other personalities visiting the territory, said also that 12 East Timorese had been tortured in 1996.
Portuguese and Indonesian documents are also included in the report.
Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and annexed it oNe year later but the UN still regards Portugal as the territory's administering power.
Jakarta has been accused by several human rights organisations of a poor human rights record in East Timor.
Associated Press - April 9, 1997
Dili – Secessionist rebels ambushed a vehicle in East Timor, killing four members of a village defense force and two others in the deadliest rebel attack in more than a year, the military said Wednesday.
Three others were also wounded in Monday's ambush near Viqueque, 110 miles east of the East Timorese capital, said Lt. Col. Sukotjo, deputy chief of the Indonesian military in Dili.
Rebels have been fighting for independence since Indonesian troops invaded the former Portuguese colony in late 1975. The territory is the only predominantly Roman Catholic area in Indonesia, 90 percent of whose 200 million residents are Muslim.
Sukotjo said the group was driving from the town of Watulari to Viqueque, a district capital, when they were attacked outside Viqueque.
It was the second rebel raid in a week. On Friday, a soldier was killed and two were wounded near Darulete, a village 35 miles west of Dili.
Monday's attack was the deadliest in East Timor since January 1996, when rebels killed six people near Viqueque.
Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Belo of East Timor was a co- recipient of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize for his campaign for a peaceful settlement to the 22-year-old conflict.
Lusa - April 14, 1997
Geneva – The European Union (EU) resolution proposal introduced to the 53 annual meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission being held in Geneva has expressed "profound concern" over the continued human rights violations in East Timor.
The proposal on Friday urged also the Indonesian government to respect the human rights situation, the basic freedoms of the people of East Timor, promote the release of all political prisioners and the free entrance of international humanitarian aid organisations in the territory.
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.
| May 29 elections |
Buisiness Times - April 18, 1997
S N Vasuki – Indonesian opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri yesterday issued a manifesto, ahead of next month's parliamentary elections, warning that a "restoration of democracy" was the only solution to the country's economic and political problems.
However, the manifesto only has symbolic value because Ms Megawati is not contesting the elections as the government does not recognise her faction of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
But in a sign that she has considerably sharpened her political skills, the opposition leader did not hold a formal meeting to release the manifesto. Such a move would have invited criticism from the government.
Instead her party faction appears to have discreetly circulated copies of the 20-page document in Bahasa Indonesia to key supporters who in turn released it to news organisations yesterday.
The manifesto reaffirms the PDI's commitment to capitalism and free markets as the best system for Indonesia.
Ms Megawati pointed out that the Indonesian economy is currently "distorted" by monopolistic practices.
In an indirect attack on the First Family, she said the economy is characterised by cartels and the granting of monopoly rights by the government to business cronies and relatives of government officials.
The manifesto lamented the fact that indicators of Indonesia's economic growth, such as per capita income, are considerably lower compared with those of other South-east Asian countries.
Ms Megawati painted a bleak picture of Indonesian politics and social stability. "We have to do something to ensure that Indonesia remains a nation living within the state of law," the manifesto said.
"There is a strong impression that Indonesia is disintegrating as a pluralistic society. I therefore consider restoration of democracy as the most important agenda."
The manifesto hinted that Ms Megawati is in favour of granting a semblance of autonomy, at least in the economic sphere, to Indonesia's diverse ethnic groups. "The mass riots and flare-ups that have occurred within various parts of Indonesia lately are, in my opinion, unavoidable consequences of the one-sided policy that we have been pursuing so far," she said.
The relatively harsh tone of the manifesto surprised political analysts who feel that the opposition leader did not pull her punches in criticising the government. A familiar complaint of Ms Megawati's supporters in the past was that she pursued a deliberately "safe" strategy in engaging the government.
"This time the gloves are off," said an Asian diplomat yesterday.
Although there was no immediate reaction from the government to the manifesto, senior officials warned Ms Megawati's faction that they would take "harsh action" if it organised any more demonstrations during the run-up to the elections.
On Tuesday, over 3,000 supporters of Ms Megawati marched to Parliament House, snarling traffic in south Jakarta. Home Affairs Minister Yogie Memet said yesterday that Tuesday's demonstrations should be the last of its kind, adding that it did not have an adverse impact on the government's preparations for next month's elections.
Armed Forces spokesman Slamet Supriyadi warned that the authorities would take "stern" action if Ms Megawati's supporters marched again. "They should not have come in such large numbers."
| Social urest |
Sydney Morning Herald - April 16, 1997
Louise Williams, Jakarta – Tens of thousands of Muslim migrant workers will be repatriated from West Kalimantan following months of ethnic clashes, in a blow to Indonesia's ambitious program of moving millions of people away from the overpopulated centre and onto its remote outlying islands.
Since last December the indigenous Dayaks of West Kalimantan have been fighting a bloody war with migrant settlers from the island of Madura, just off the coast of Java, which supports 120 million of Indonesia's 200 million people. Hundreds of people are believed to have died in the violence and local authorities say at least 2,500 homes were destroyed. The Minister for Transmigration, Mr Siwono Yoduhusodo, said at least 20,000 Madurans remained in refugee camps and were too traumatised by the violence to return to their homes. He said they would be resettled in another area under a government-funded program.
The Governor of West Kalimantan, Mr Aspar Aswin, said some regions would not welcome back the Madurans following their role in the conflict.
The Madurans were blamed for sparking the ethnic war following the rape of a Dayak woman in late December. Similar allegations of atrocities committed against Dayak tribespeople, including the murder of pregnant women, provoked a bloody "payback" in which the Dayaks returned to the ritual of head hunting for the first time in almost 100 years. The Dayaks believe that transmigration and mining and plantation development have robbed them of their spiritual lands, destroyed their practice of shifting cultivation and left them as second-class citizens on the edges of the towns. Mr Siwono said the conflict had destroyed only seven out of 264 transmigrations sites in West Kalimantan and maintained that in some areas Dayaks and Madurans continued to live harmoniously.
Straits Times - April 13, 1997
Jakarta – Indonesian President Suharto yesterday warned the country to guard against rumours which could spark unrest following a wave of mass violence ahead of general election here.
His warning came after reports that more than a dozen pro- Golkar Muslim preachers were in hiding after riots in Central Java.
Mr Suharto, speaking at a Hindu celebration in Lampung, southern Sumatra, called on the Indonesian "people and religious communities to control themselves when hearing rumours which could divide the unity of our nation".
The rumours, he said, had been "spread on purpose to incite suspicion amongst us", Antara news agency said.
Supporters of the Muslim-led United Development Party (PPP) and the ruling Golkar party have clashed in at least five towns in densely populated Central Java province over the last three weeks, leaving a trail of injured people and destruction.
Indonesia's army chief warned that the political party whose supporters rioted in Wonosobo, Central Java, must take res- ponsibility for its members' actions, it was reported yesterday. Supporters of the Wonosobo branch of the PPP last Wednesday clashed with police when officers tried to block a PPP convoy from entering the neighbouring town of Banjarnegara. Police arrested 10 people following the unrest, which left at least 12 people injured.
PPP Secretary-General Tosari Wijaya on Friday accused outside elements of making use of his party to spark unrest in the volatile area, the Kompas daily said. The country's three official political parties – Golkar, PPP and the Indonesian Democracy Party – are vying for 425 parliamentary seats in the May 29 general election.
Central Java police last week questioned a popular ulema – or Muslim religious leader – Afifudin Musytari, who has been accused of inciting unrest in the province's town of Pekalongan.
Central Java's chief police detective, Colonel Ansyaad Mbai, said Musytari may be arrested on charges of inciting unrest and "insulting a certain segment of the society". Hundreds of people in Pekalongan tried last Thursday to attack a civil servants' housing complex but were quickly dispersed by the authorities.
Pekalongan was hit by two earlier disturbances. PPP supporters burned the open air stage set up for a Golkar concert on March 24 and went on to attack stores and shops for the following two days.
Golkar has been criticised widely for using government facilities and officials to gain support in general polls.
Central Java Golkar chief Alip Pandojo said that over a dozen pro-Golkar ulemas have taken refuge at government officials' homes after being threatened by members of an opposing party.
Pandojo, as quoted by the Jakarta Post daily, declined to say which party's supporters were responsible that it is commonly understood that PPP members were involved.
Police have banned mass gatherings in four towns in Indonesia's Central Java province, according to Antara news agency yesterday. It quoted a senior police officer as saying that no gatherings would be allowed in the four towns ahead of the start of the campaign for May 29 general polls. – AFP, Reuter.
| Economy and investment |
Straits Times - April 18, 1997
Jakarta – Hit by poor sales, Indonesia's national distributor has offered to sell "Timor" cars to government officials in various provinces, it was reported yesterday. An official of PT Timor Distributor National, the marketing arm of PT Timor Putra Nasional (TPN), confirmed that negotiations were under way with the central Java provincial administration on terms of sale of its cars to the province.
A similar offer was also being made to other provinces, the Indonesia Times daily newspaper reported.
President-director Sumitro Surachmad said that the company had imported 18,000 fully assembled Timor sedans last October, but because of poor sales, 5,000 remained unsold.
PT Timor officials said the company would deal with three government agencies on the proposed sale of the cars to the provincial governments.
In February last year, the government allowed TPN to produce a national car in co-operation with South Korea's Kia Motors Corp, and gave the company tax and tariff exemptions.
Last month, the company lowered its monthly sales target from 4,000 to between 2,500 and 3,000 units because of low domestic demand. – DPA.
Tapol - April 14, 1997
London – The London newspaper, Sunday Business, yesterday (April 13th) broached the heretical possibility that US mining giant Freeport McMoran may be deliberately under- estimating the grade of the Busang gold deposit in Indonesian Kalimantan.
Last December Freeport secured an option to 15% of Bre-X, the Canadian junior mining company which "discovered" the Busang deposit three years ago. Current plans are for Freeport to manage development of any future mine. However, the deal was conditional on Freeport carrying out its own assays (tests for quality). On March 26th, the US company announced it had discovered nothing out of the ordinary - and nothing approaching the vast resource of 71 million ounces of gold, boasted by Bre-X last year.
Bre-X's shares immediately went into free-fall and panic swept the Toronto stock exchange on which the company is registered. Ten billion dollars was wiped off the value of Bre-X, while trading was suspended in the company's shares. Mining and investment analysts queued up to predict that gold mining would never be the same again, and that the focus for new mine investment - which has for some years centred on Toronto - would now shift back to London.
In fact, the panic was almost certainly premature. Trading in Bre-X has now resumed, and there's little evidence that prices of the bigger mining stock will suffer longterm knocks. As Charles Kernot, mining analyst with Banque Paribas, told the Financial Times from Jakarta on March 2nd: "I am shocked and amazed by the howls of anguish that appear to be coming from other analysts about recent developments at Busang." Kernot pointed out that other major gold deposits in the region - such as Lihir in Papua New Guinea - have taken several years to fully evaluate, and several more years after that to bring into production.
The scandals surrounding Bre-X over the past year are well known. They include the corrupt involvement of the Suharto clan in Bre-X itself, the alleged "suicide" of Bre-X geologist, Michael de Guzman, on March 19th, just as he was flying to a meeting with Freeport to discuss the drilling results, then a mysterious fire which consumed most of de Guzman's papers and samples. But what hasn't been adequately explained, claims Sunday Business, is "the manner in which the Indonesian government brought Freeport to the party".
"So far," says Sunday Business journalist, Tony Hunt, "the small print on the deal has not been made public and throughout the industry there is a feeling that Freeport had much to gain in relation to how it was to pay for its stake in Bre-X, depending on the assay results. Low findings, low payout".
In other words, it may have been in Freeport's interests to under-value the Bre-X assays, cause panic on the markets, and secure its management stake in the project at a bargain basement price.
Sunday Business is also one of the few media to point out British company RTZ-CRA's role in this messy affair. RTZ owns 12% of Freeport's stock and has two directors of its own on the US company's board. Perhaps most important, it operate Indonesia's biggest gold mine, on purloined Indigenous Dayak territory, along the Kelian river, in the same geophysical region which hosts te Busang deposit. "American analysts claim that the RTZ chairman Robert Wilson helped mining business Freeport clinch the deal to become Bre-X's partner," comments Sunday Business.
It is hard to accept that RTZ was not aware of the controversy surrounding Bre-X's drilling results, some time before Freeport made its offer to buy into Busang. It is also impossible to believe that the British mining company didn't have some of its own prospecting data for the region. The company's latest annual report boasts that RTZ "controls an extensive land position on the Kalimantan gold belt where there has been a substantial amount of activity following...the Busang discovery".
In the long run Wilson's advice to corporate partner Freeport will surely have been: "Stick with this one because, in the long run, it's bound to pay off". Even if the ore grade at Busang is considerably lower than Bre-X claimed, a working mine is likely at the end of the day. After all, RTZ is the world's leading exploiter of vast, low-grade deposits: its Brazilian mine at Morro do Ouru has the lowest grade of any gold mine in the world, and has defied early predictions that it couldn't be profitably exploited.
By calling into question the Busang project so dramatically and so soon, Freeport and RTZ must have known the chaos it would sow, not least among Indonesian investors themselves. With 10% of Busang controlled by the Suharto family, and another 30% in the hands of Suharto confidante, the tycoon "Bob" Hassan, the companies were clearly prepared to snap at the fingers of a regime which has uncritically fed their aspirations over many years.
One thing is certain: whoever now gets cold feet over further exploitation of Indonesia's vast mineral resources, it won't be Freeport. And it certainly won't be RTZ. Copyright: NOSTROMO Research, London (a project of Partizans). This article may be freely reproduced, with acknowledgment.
| Labour issues |
Bisnis Indonesia - April 15, 1997
Tangerang – Around 4,000 workers from four factories in Tangerang yesterday held a strike demanding they be given the new minimum regional wage (UMR) and well as increases in other conditions.
The strike was carried out by around 1,500 workers from the textile industry PT Tri Rempoa Solo (TRS) Ciputat, 900 workers from the PT Grand Kupa (GK) factory and 100 workers from the PT Farmindo Kencana (FK) factory. The three factories are located in the Tangerang industrial zone.
Meanwhile a different strike was carried out by around 1,500 workers from the garment factory PT Jabatex Garmindo (JG).
Since morning, strikers from PT GK and PT JG refused to continue production choosing to gather and sit in the area of the factory along posters full of criticisms of the company's polices. The strike at PT JG was triggered by information that the management would soon shift all of its workers to PT Alfindo Jaya Garmindo located in Cikupa. "We reject the plan to move because of concern that workers must accept the regulations at the new company which are very different", said one PT JG employee.
[Abridged translation from Bisnis - James Balowski]
Pikiran Rakyat - April 15, 1997 (Abridged from Tapol)
Bandung – Thousands of workers have gone on strike in the industrial belts of Purwakarta and Tangerang, demanding that their employers immediately start paying them the new minimum wage of Rp 172,500 (about =A350) a month.
In Purwakarta, a thousand workers of a South Korean-owned company went on strike complaining that the company wants to ignore the new minimum wage, as they did in April last year when the rate was raised to Rp 156.000
The 2,349 workers have presented their demands on a number of occasions recently but without success, which is why a thousand of them decided to strike on Monday this week.
In Tangerang, thousands of workers have demonstrated, demanding payment of the new minimum wage as well as payment of allowances to which they are entitled but which are not being paid. They included 1,500 workers from the textile factory, PT Ciputat, 900 workers at the Desa Telaga shoe factory and a hundred workers at a timber works, PT PK.
At least 1,500 workers at a garment factory. PT JG have also joined the action.
| Politics |
Asiaweek - April 13, 1997
Susan Berfield and Keith Loveard, Jakarta – Siti Hardyanti Rukmana is a woman of considerable means. She is Indonesia's foremost businesswoman – her diversified conglomerate PT Citra Lamtoro Gung Persada is worth an estimated $1 billion. She is a top official in the ruling party Golkar and, of course, the eldest of President Suharto's six children. She is a daughter of privilege and, like her brothers and sisters, is often criticized for trading on her name. Yet she has earned a reputation for diligence and deference. Tutut, as she is more commonly called, is willing to talk with just about any Indonesian. She is the most politically astute of the Suharto clan, and perhaps the most careful about her image. The 48-year- old mother of three heads the Indone-sian Red Crescent, and the national volleyball association. She is often shown on television doing good deeds – always smiling (like her father), always wearing a Muslim head scarf.
Tutut hardly needs any more exposure in Indonesia. If anything, her clout with her father seems to have increased since her mother's death a year ago. Her political standing, though, has not changed. Until now. This election season (go to the REAL rules of Indonesia's electoral system) heralds Tutut's coming out. She is contesting a seat in the legislature, the House of Representatives, once again. But that is not what the buzz is about. Since late last month she has been on center stage at massive rallies in Central and East Java with Abdurrahman Wahid, the wily leader of the nation's biggest Muslim group.
Just months ago Wahid was at odds with Suharto. Then, he was backing Megawati Sukarnoputri, that other famous daughter (of first president Sukarno). The government helped expel her as head of the Indonesian Democratic Party last year. Now the influential and ever-pragmatic Wahid is introducing Tutut to his followers as "a leader of the future." What intrigues and troubles many Indonesians is the suspicion that Wahid, known in the past for his outspoken pro-democracy views, could now be echoing Suharto's wishes. Maybe Tutut's very public debut is more than just ceremonial. Rather than just aim for a parliamentary seat, she may be headed for the best seat in the house – the vice president's.
And then, maybe not. Tutut is popular, but she would not necessarily be a welcome choice for vice president. Such obvious nepotism would anger many and frustrate hopes for more open political and economic systems. Which is exactly the point, says University of Indonesia political scientist Arbi Sanit: "Suharto has to be confident that his policies will be continued." And that his family and its vast business empire will be protected.
The 75-year-old Suharto is not retiring yet. He will certainly win a seventh five-year term next March, though some expect him to step down mid-way. Others worry his health could force him to relinquish power, or that he could die in office. In any case, the vice president would take over. Golkar (read: Suharto) has not yet announced a nominee for vice president, and Tutut is certainly not the only person mentioned. If the president put her name forward, though, "no one would oppose such a move," says a Golkar official.
Tutut has guarded her political ambitions as closely as she does her company finances. Old family friends recall her as something of a risk-taker. An early romance with a drummer did not meet her parents' approval, and the boy was shipped off to Europe. Marriage to Indra Rukmana, heir to his father's Coca-Cola bottling business, was more acceptable. Since then she has done little to unsettle the family. The daring attitude that friends remember may be something of the past.
She certainly seems cautious about her own political future, not broaching the subject at all during the rallies. The region is Golkar's toughest battlefield, and Wahid's stomping ground. East Java is a constituency with more voters than any other and perhaps more angry voters than any other. Support for the Muslim-based United Development Party (PPP) as well as for Megawati is strong. Still, no one doubts that Golkar will once again win the parliamentary polls. The challenge this time is to secure about 70% of the vote, and the 17 seats Golkar lost in 1992.
Tutut is supposed to be charming the 30 million members of Wahid's Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) – 10,000 at a time. Her message is compelling. At her first stop in Sidoarjo, a small town outside of Sura-baya, she said: "Areas that do not choose Golkar will still be helped [with development money], but those that do choose Golkar will certainly get more help." And her alliance with Wahid is obviously appealing. The nearly blind 56-year-old leader – Gus Dur to his followers – is revered in rural Java. Even so, her success at wooing voters is not guaranteed. Before one meeting in Pekalongan in Central Java, Golkar workers tried to replace PPP's green flags with their own yellow banners. Angry PPP members burned down the stage; Tutut and entourage had to sneak through town to a closely guarded site for a rally much smaller than planned. Clashes between the two parties continued for more than a week.
Even Wahid admits that his entente with Tutut, and Suharto, is controversial. Wahid is a religious man and a consummate politician whose Democracy Forum has always irritated government officials. Wahid refused to endorse Suharto's 1993 presidential nomination; the next year the government attempted to push him out of the NU leadership. That failed. Wahid stayed in power; Suharto refused to acknowledge his victory. Wahid had also been critical of Tutut and her military ally, army chief Gen. Raden Hartono, whom he believed had led the effort to oust him. It was not until last November that Wahid and Suharto reconciled with a now-famous handshake – which has seemingly led to an embrace. In doing so, Wahid may have been yielding to pressure from other NU leaders, who do not want to see their organization marginalized. Now even the general is welcomed on stage. One theory has Tutut blazing the trail for Hartono – to whom she is close – as the v.p. choice.
"New leaders, new thoughts, new political networks are emerging," Wahid explained to his followers. "Whether the NU is exploiting or being exploited does not matter. Everything in this world can be exploited by someone." Relations between the nation's most important Muslim group and the government have not been this relaxed in years. But if officials think Wahid will start keeping his criticisms to himself, they may be surprised. He has promised to speak out when necessary. He says he will continue to push such unpopular causes as better relations with Israel.
Make no mistake: Tutut and Wahid probably share few convictions. Their match was carefully calculated by Suharto to benefit both. "It is mutually advantageous," says Juwono Sudarsono, vice governor of the National Defense Institute and a prominent intellectual. "Tutut needs the support of the ulamas [Muslim teachers] for Golkar. Gus Dur wants to promote his vision of Islamic principles within government." In other words, Tutut secures the votes she needs to satisfy Dad. And Wahid reasserts his position as the spokesman for the Muslims. (Though Indonesia is technically 90% Muslim, true practitioners are considerably fewer.) The loser would be Wahid's rival B.J. Habibie, who heads the influential Indonesian Muslim Intellec-tuals Association. Habibie is also the research and technology minister, a vice presidential contender – and a diehard Suharto loyalist.
Would not the president protect his people? In Indonesian politics, nothing is that straightforward. One way Suharto, as master manipulator, stays in control is by making sure his courtiers are constantly agonizing over their jobs and their relationship with him. Even Tutut, who is family, needs to be ever aware of one overriding fact: Suharto rules.