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ASIET Net News 17 – April 21-27, 1997
Kompas - 25 April, 1997
Jakarta – The accused in the subversion case Wilson carried out
a walk out action. He objected when the testimony of the witness
Didit Sutopo and Dita Indah Sari from their Preliminary
Investigation Reports (BAP) were read. He continued to ask that
those involved be presented. However, judge Arbani Soeprapto
accepted the prosecutions grounds that both of them were unable
to attend.
In the trial of the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD), Thursday
(24/4) in the South Jakarta state court, the accused were no
longer accompanied by defence lawyers. The had already withdrawn
legal authority from Tim Pembela Hukum dan Keadilan Indonesia
(TPHKI, Indonesian Legal and Justice Defence Team) on April 21.
However TPHKI were still seen monitoring the course of the trial.
In the BAP read by the prosecutor Dedi Pridasa, Didit Sutopo a
SMID (Student Solidarity for Indonesian Democracy) activist in
Solo and secretary of the Solo Branch related a number of SMID
and PRD activities they were involved in. Didit admitted to
meeting Wilson when they were involved in the action at the Dutch
Embassy, in December 1995. After that Dita, a SMID activist and
chair of PPBI (Indonesian Center for Labour Struggle) stated she
met Wilson because they were students together at the University
of Indonesia and his activities in PPBI.
Meanwhile in the trial of Anom Astika lead by IBN Somya evidence
was heard from three witnesses from the Parliamentary secretary
general, Usman Bustami, Joko Prihandono and Haposan Hutabarat.
The stated they saw the accused in an action at the parliament on
June 18, 1996.
Usman who is assigned to security stated, on 18 June a group of
striking workers from PT Indoshoes and PT Kingstone along with
the PRD arrived. The witness say banners with writings of the PRD
and heard singing and chants demanding an increase in workers
wages shouted in the parliaments lobby. The strike action
participants met with the PDI fraction. The witness did not join
in with the meeting with parliamentary members.
[Unabridged translation from Kompas - James Balowski]
SiaR - April 22, 1997
Jakarta – A free speech action was held by PRD supporters in the
grounds of the Central Jakarta State Court, Monday (21/4). Scores
of PRD supporters who had early packed the court room of the
accused Budiman Sudjatmiko unfurled red and white banners reading
"Democracy or Death". Scores of posters were also put up reading:
"Boycott the Elections, Free the PRD Political Prisoners,
Withdraw the Packed of 5 Political Laws, Reject the Show Trials"
and "A Referendum for the Maubere People".
Yakobus Eko Kurniawan or Iwan was able to appear in the free
speech forum. Wearing a tie, red head band reading "Boycott the
Elections" and a PRD bandanna, Iwan presented a fiery speech
before the prison guards realised that the one who was speaking
was one of those on trial. Iwan was "taken" from the free speech
forum to the holding cells at the rear of the court building.
The free speech forum speakers, two of which were women, full of
spirit condemned the anti-democratic practices of the New Order
regime which are making the Indonesian people suffer.
The speakers also condemned the [coming] general elections which
were considered to be a tool to continue the tyrannical authority
of General Suharto. The free speech forum participants also sung
the PRD hymn. The also sang songs of struggle and election songs
which were changed. An election song lyrics which continuously
echo on the radio, television and public places such as markets
and supermarkets were changed to "The General Elections have
already tricked us/all the civil servants answer happily/under
the laws of the authorities/we go forward to the public
deception".
Security forces only stood guard during the free speech forum.
Although they then seized posters and banners when the
demonstrators wanted to move off towards the Sawah Besar train
station.
In the main streets they chanted Boycott the Elections casing a
traffic jam in Jalan Gajah Mada. With a police escort they
marched to the Sawah Besar train station. There were no incidents
during the action and no one was arrested.
[Full translation from SiaR - James Balowski]
East Timor
May 29 elections
Social unrest
Labour issues
Democratic struggle
Wilson "walks out"
Iwan leads PRD action
ICFTU complaint to ILO about Dita's sentence
Tapol - April 25, 1997
The General Secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Union, Bill Jordan, has written to the Director-General of the International Labour Organisation, Michel Hansenne, complaining about the heavy sentences of 6 and 4 year passed down respectively on trade union activists, Dita Indah Sari and Coen Hussein Pontoh in Surabaya last week, and calling on him to raise the ICFTU's compalin with the ILO's Committee on Freedom of Association.
The four-page letter sets out in some detail the charges brought against the two activists, particularly with regard to their activities as leaders of the workers organisation, the PPBI, and the peasants organisation, the STN.
The concluding paragraphs of the letter read as follows:
It may be noted that the prosecution had asked for 8 and 6 year terms to be inflicted to Sari and Pontoh, respectively. However, the ICFTU would reject any notion that the Court has expressed clemency by imposing slightly lesser sentences than those sought by the state prosecutors. Firstly, in our view, leaders of independent workers organisations should not be detained at all, let alone prosecuted and sentenced, for any legitimate acts of a trade union nature. Secondly, in the context of very strong indications of manipulation and lack of impartiality manifested by the judge in Pakpahan's trial, the ICFTU believes that the Government of Indonesia has once more demonstrated in Sari's, Pontoh's and Sholeh's cases that the country's judiciary is not independent from it. In the ICFTU's opinion, the outcome of Sari et al trials was never in doubt; they were obviously found guilty before the trial.
In conclusion, the ICFTU considers, firstly, that Dita Sari's and Coen Pontoh's sentences to respectively 6 and 4 years on 22 April 1997 blatantly violate internationally-recognised standards on trade union rights. It is clear that they were both arrested in connection with a wave of workers' protests, with which they were associated to a significant extent. Secondly, Dita Sari is a senior official of an independent workers' organisation, the PPBI. This independent labour group was dedicated to improving working and living conditions of Indonesian workers, in particular its own members. This is amply demonstrated by the nature and contents of the slogans used in the 27 March and 8 asnd 9 June 1996 workers protests in Surabaya and Tangerang. As such, the ICFTU considers the arrest of Dita Sari to be in severe breach of the principles of freedom of association, binding on Indonesia.
Thirdly, the case reveals the Government's true reasons for suddenly aggravating charges against Dita Sari and Coen Pontoh after the 27 July events, to which they could not possibly be associated, as both were already detained for three weeks at the time these took place. It once more appears fully clear that the Government of Indonesia is intent, not only on suppressing any independent labour protests, movements and especially, large- scale industrial action, but also on preventing at all costs the country's workers joining other segments of society struggling for the introduction of democracy and the rule of law. That these sentences should come weeks before a national election is yet another sign of the authorities' determined commitment to silence any form of opposition in the face of serious political challenge.
I would very much appreciate it, Mr Director-General, if you could kindly forward this communication to the Committee on Freedom of Association, as additional information to our complaint against the Government of Indonesia,
Yours sincerely, Bill Jordan, General Secretary
Kompas - April 24, 1997 (from Tapol)
PRD activist and student leader, Mohamad Sholeh, 23, who is a member of the PRD's student solidarity organisation SMID, in Surabaya has been sentenced to four years. The court declared that Sholeh, a fourth year student at a private university, had been found guilty of engaging in subversion by trying to undermine the state ideology.
The defendant and his lawyers immediately announced that they would appeal against the verdict. The prosecutor had asked for a five-year sentence. The court said that he, along with PRD leader Budiman Sudjatmiko had organised demonstrations with workers, students and peasants in Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi and Surabaya.
After the court hearing, as Sholeh was about to get into the vehicle to be driven back to prison, he was assaulted by a member of the public who had attended the trial and hit in the face. The security officials who were accompanying him did nothing to protect him or arrest his assailant.
One of Sholeh's lawyers, Indro Sugianto immediately submitted a complaint to the police who were responsible for security in the courtroom.
Another of his lawyers, Trimoelya Soerjadi, said he deeply regretted this incident and said he would be filing a complaint to the East Java military commander and chief of police because the security forces in charge did nothing at all to protect his client.
Agence France Presse - April 22, 1997 (Abridged, from Tapol)
A court in East Java Tuesday handed down six and four year jail sentences for two pro-democracy activists accused of subversion, their lawyer said.
The court handed the sentences to Dita Indah Sari and Coen Pontoh for the PRD for inciting labour riots (sic) in the province.
'The two were very calm, even smiling, when the sentences were read out since they knew that they would be found guilty as this trial has been so politicised,' one of their lawyers, Nurbadia told AFP by phone.
She said the judge found Dita, 24, and Coen Pntoh, 27, guilty of inciting riots and also of being members of the unrecognised PRD. Both are appealing their sentences, she added.
'I'm not surprised. This was a political trial and the judges were not free,' said Trimulya Suryadi, another laywer of the pair.
Nurbadia said the court session was attended by hundreds of ppeople and heavily secured by police who checked the identities of all the court attendees.
Dita's sentence was longer because the court found her guilty of inciting more labour riots (sic) than Coen, Nurbadia said. The prosecutor had earlier asked for eight years for Dita Sari and six years for Coen.
The two were detained shortly after a mass labour strike nearby Surabaya in early July last year. The police violently broke up the march of some four thousand workers from ten factories in the industrial areas of Tandes, Ssurabaya, as two workers' groups were trying to join forces and walk to another factory. The demonstrators were demanding a 75 per cent increase in their daily wag from 4,000 to 7,000 rupiah ($1.70 to $3.00) a day.
[Additional note: Their colleague M, Sholeh who was tried separately is expected to be sentenced soon.]
ASIET - April 24, 1997
On April 22 in Surabaya, the kangaroo court handling the case of Dita Sari handed down a sentence of six years. The prosecution had demanded nine years. Dita's co- defendants, Coen Hussein Pontoh and Mohammed Soleh were sentenced four years each. Dita and her lawyers immediately denounced the court as a farce and swore to continue the struggles.
Hundreds of people, many wearing the symbol of the Megawati PDI, had assembled at the courtroom in the morning. According to a statement issue by the Democracy Struggle Committee (KPD), there was a larger security presence than normal. There were trucks of soldiers, two antipersonnel armoured cars, one platoon of East Java territorial command troops, as well as mobile brigade troops, as well as score of plain clothes intelligence agents.There were also numbers of paid thugs used by the local branch of the state party, GOLKAR.
When Dita and Coen arrived the military formed a cordon to prevent supporters from shaking hands or otherwise greeting them. They both wore red bandannas with the slogan "Democracy or Death!". The crowd followed them inside the courtroom shouting "Long live the people! Long live democracy! Long live the PRD and PDI! Long live DIta, Coen!". DIta and Coen replied with cries of Long live Megawati! The elections are illegitimate! Without Megawati boycott the elections!
Dita received strong applause, when on arrival in the courtroom, she asked permission to distribute flowers to people and to hand out leaflets calling for a boycott of the May 29 elections. Immediately intelligence agents snatched the leaflets away from her.
Soon after the chief judge read out the sentences which were greeted by shouts of "The court is rigged" from the crowd. Dita immediately stood up and led the crowd in singing "Hymn of struggle."
Dita and Coen were then lead out of the courtroom to a waiting van. Coen was able to speak to the crowd from the back of the van calling for a boycott of the elections. The security forces started to disperse the crowd, resulting in one activist being beaten up.
Later in the day a local alliance of militant pro-democracy forces issued a statement condemning the sentence. The coalition, called the Struggle Alliance for Human Rights and Democracy, consisted of Christian Community Action for Huan Rights, Megawati Support Team, Democracy Struggle Committee and the Communication Forum for Peace in East Timor. The statement also called for the recognition of the Megawati leadership of the PDI and stated that without Megawati's participation the elections were null and void; the freeing of all PRD political prisoners; the repeal of repressive political laws; the end of the military's role in politics; the repeal of the Anti-Subversion Law; and a self- determination referendum for East Timor.
ASIET - April 23, 1997
Press reports have stated that the Surabaya court has handed down a sentence of six years for Dita Sari, President, Indonesian Centre for Labour Struggles (PPBI) and four years for Coen Husein Pontoh, from the National Peasants Union (STN).
The prosecution had demanded nine years.
ASIET is now preparing statements, pickets and other actions to protest these sentences as well as the sentences on other PRD priosners, expectedc next Monday.
The sentence of six years reflects a retreat by the dictatorship under pressure from campaigns by the PRD and its supporters in Indonesia as well as international campaigns. The sentence stands in stark contrast to the rabid attacks by General Hamid and others on the PRD for being the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) incarnate.
South China Morning Post - April 22, 1997
Jenny Grant, Jakarta – An activist on trial for the capital crime of subversion yesterday lambasted President Suharto, the Government and court system and challenged Indonesians to boycott next month's elections.
"We refuse to go on with this trial... We will take all responsibility, we don't care how many years we will be in jail. Even the death sentence," said Budiman Sujatmiko, leader of the People's Democratic Party (PRD), in Central Jakarta District Court.
Sujatmiko, 27, and nine of his PRD colleagues were arrested after the July 27 riots in Jakarta last year and charged with subversion.
The Government has accused the PRD of being a communist organisation that helped mastermind the riots.
Sujatmiko and his colleagues have denied any involvement in the unrest that left at least five people dead and 124 injured.
Wearing a red bandana and scarf bearing the Russian-style star of the PRD, Mr Sujatmiko began his three-hour speech by sacking his team of six lawyers. He said they could not help him and his friends find justice in such a corrupt legal system.
"This is something I have to do alone now," Sujatmiko said, embracing his lawyers as they filed out of the packed courtroom to cheers from the crowd.
About 50 riot police secured the courtroom and court building.
The young activist, now a folk hero in Indonesia revered by radical students and activists across the country, said the PRD would continue to support embattled opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri.
Ms Megawati led the Indonesian Democracy Party until she was ousted at a rebel faction congress last June, at the Government's and military's behest.
Speaking in court, Sujatmiko ridiculed his trial as "worthless", citing what he claimed were numerous procedural violations.
Tapol - April 20, 1997
As members of the PRD, we have decided no longer to attend the court sessions that will decide our fate.
We value the hard work of those who have worked for these sessions. We also do not want to detract from our sympathetic feelings for the prosecutor, the judge and the other court officials. However, we know that that they are only an instrument of power that, by whatever means, intends to punish us. Regardless of whether we have done wrong or not. Our sentence was decided even before the process in court is finished, by means of the arbitrary Subversion Law and because we have already been widely condemned.
We were arrested because we were held responsible for the 27 July Event. However, when the interrogation results did not support that accusation, we were tried on other matters. At first we did not want to make things more difficult for the prosecutors and judges, who are after all only doing their jobs. However we at last decided to put a stop to this charade.
In Indonesia, under the New Order government, so many court cases have punished those fighting for freedom of association and freedom of speech, and those demanding justice because they have been robbed of a place to live. Those who criticize arbitrariness, corruption, collusion and misuse of power have also been punished. In latter times people who do not want to serve the interests of the powerholder and help them win the election and thus make their position even more unasailable have also been shoved aside. This has made the 1997 election look even more like the pretence it really is.
In short, so many have already become the victims of the powerholder's legal games, especially the weak and those unable to buy 'justice'. The people already know about this reality, and it has to be continually made known to them.
That is why we are broadcasting this decision of ours, and also as part of our accountability. This is part of our struggle to build social justice and to uphold democracy.
We thank the lawyers who defended us with all sincerity and completely without remuneration.
We hope this action will lighten the workload of the judges and prosecutors, even if it will not make it easier for them to give a moral accounting to their own consciences.
Jakarta, 21 April 1997.
People's Democratic Party, Budiman Sujatmiko (Chairman), Petrus Hariyanto (Secretary-General)
| East Timor |
Parool - April 23, 1997
Henk Bouwmans (Original in Dutch, translation by TAPOL), The Hague – The Dutch Parliament is furious about a letter from the Indonesian embassy about the East Timorese human rights activist and Nobel Laureate Jose Ramos Horta. In the letter Ramos Horta is accused of acting purely for personal ambitions by setting up a government in exile. His efforts are merely directed to achieve the image as 'champion of human rights' for the East Timorese people.
The Dutch Parliament calls the letter, which was sent on the eve of a talk between Horta and the parliament, as an 'inappropriate' way of interfering in the policy of inviting guests to the Dutch parliament. Early next week Horta will be hosted in the Hague.
"The letter is the latest sign of the enormous irritation from the Indonesian side about the way we think about East Timor. Once again it shows a total ignorance on the part of the Indonesians about Horta as a public figure and the global view about the illegality of the occupation of East Timor", said member of parliament Van den Bos from the Liberal Party D 66. "It is a scandalous form of interference" said Dijksma MP for PvdA, the Dutch Labour Party (Both parties are government parties, TAPOL).
In the letter, Ramos Horta is described as the 'so-called leader' of the national resistance of East Timor. The fact that Ramos Horta has called for a shadow government is characterised as 'a cheap political joke'. The reporting in the press just show 'the tendency of Jose Ramos Horta to make sensational statements about East Timor to boost his personal interest and reputation'.
According to the report by the Indonesian roving ambassador F. Lopes da Cruz, which is included with the letter from the Indonesian embassy, Ramos Horta has lost his self confidence because he failed in his attempts to meet several heads of governments. According to F. Lopes da Cruz, this is the reason why Ramos Horta has set up a government-in-exile which merely serves to satisfy the position and personal ambition of Ramos Horta.
The cooperation between Ramos Horta and the Catholic Church has, according to the Indonesians, nothing to do with defending the interests of the East Timorese. Ramos Horta has promoted the relationship with the church just to create the image of being 'the champion of human rights of the East Timorese people'.
Ramos Horta will be received on Monday by Foreign Minister Van Mierlo and the next day he will be the guest of the parliament. The East Timorese human rights activist was very complimentary yesterday on the role of the Dutch goverbnment in the adopted the UN resolution about the occupation and violation of human rights in East Timor.
East Timor Human Rights Centre - 17 April, 1997
The East Timor Human Rights Centre still holds grave fears for the safety of Ildefonso de Deus dos Santos (also known as "Maudino"), a 17 year old student who disappeared on 14 July in Gleno in the Ermera district of East Timor. Maudino disappeared during house to house raids conducted by Indonesian soldiers following a fire at the Gleno market. It is believed he has either been arbitrarily detained or killed. According to his family, Maudino is completely innocent and was not involved either in the fire or any clandestine activities. The ETHRC has just received confirmation that Maudino has not been seen since he disappeared in July 1996 and that he is still missing. In November 1996, the Indonesian authorities claimed that Ildefonso de Deus dos Santos was not detained but that he was "free, fit and well". * It is believed that local authorities in Ermera have not responded to his family's regular appeals for help.
*in a communication with Amnesty International
Reuters - April 22, 1997
Jakarta – Fifteen East Timorese will face trial in the territory this week for their alleged involvement in the killing of a soldier on Christmas eve, Indonesia's official Antara news agency reported on Tuesday.
Antara quoted officials at the prosecutor's office in East Timor capital of Dili as saying on Monday that dossiers on the suspects had been submitted to the local district court and that the hearing would begin on Saturday.
It gave no details of the charges, but said nine prosecutors had been assigned to handle the case.
A group of youths beat to death Corporal Alfredo Dos Santos near Dili's cathedral on December 24. The military said the soldier, who was in civilian clothes, was off-duty and visiting the cathedral as a worshipper on his own accord.
On the same day, several other police and soldiers were attacked by members of the crowd welcoming home Nobel Peace laureate Bishop Carlos Belo from an overseas trip.
Belo has publicly apologised for the death of the soldier, a native of East Timor and father of seven.
Indonesia invaded East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, in December 1975 and made it the country's 27th province the following year in a move not recognised by the United Nations, which regards Lisbon as the territory's administering power.
Police said last month they had charged 24 East Timorese for showing hatred against the Indonesian government after they staged a protest during a visit by U.N. envoy for East Timor, Jamsheed Marker.
The detainees have been accused of damaging property, possessing sharp weapons and resisting arrest. No date has been set for the trial.
Amnesty International - April 25, 1997
Eighteen people believed to have been detained in East Timor on suspicion of links with the armed resistance in East Timor, Falintil, are feared to be at risk of torture or ill- treatment in custody.
On 30 March 1997, four men, Felisberto Maria dos Santos, Domingos Larangguira, Jose Sobral and Marcelino de Fatima dos Santos, were arrested as they were travelling on motorbikes in the town of Liquisa. Felisberto Maria dos Santos was allegedly arrested on suspicion of being a member of Falintil while the three with him are thought to have been arrested on suspicion of their involvement with the unarmed underground resistance movement in East Timor. One report stated that the four were taken into military intelligence custody but it is not clear precisely where they are being held. It is believed they are being held incommunicado detention.
On 8 April, another 14 people whose names are not yet known are believed to have been arrested in Lautem, in Los Palos, in connection with the earlier killing of an Indonesian Armed Forces soldier. It is not clear where the 14 are being held but it is also believed that they too are being held incommunicado.
Amnesty International is concerned that all 18 risk torture or ill- treatment while in military custody, particularly if they are being denied access to their families and to independent lawyers.
Background information
East Timorese alleged to be connected with the East Timorese resistance who are taken into military and police custody continue to be at risk of torture and ill-treatment, particularly during interrogation. Safeguards against the use of torture and other violations of detainees' rights, provided for under Indonesia's Code of Criminal Procedures, are often ignored by the military and police. Detainees are denied access to legal counsel and their families, placing them at risk of torture and ill- treatment.
| May 29 elections |
Kompas - 24 April, 1997
Jakarta – Megawati Soekarnoputri in her daily message, Wednesday (23/4), said, the entire membership and supporters of the Megawati Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) throughout the country will not take part in campaign activities in the name of the PDI during the campaign period of the 1997 General Elections.
She therefore requested that the party and Megawati PDI supporters continue to struggle together to create an elections which are democratic and constitutional as mandated in the 1993 Broad Outlines of State Policy (GBHN) which has the spirit of the 1945 Constitution, particularly during the campaign period.
This step by the Megawati PDI will be taken to avoid the possibility of violent acts which may be caused by intentional provocation launched by a particular party, which could be directed to discredit the party membership and PDI supporters.
[Unabridged translation from Kompas - James Balowski]
South China Morning Post - April 22, 1997
Fresh violence between supporters of rival political parties erupted in four towns in Java province at the weekend injuring at least 20 people.
In Solo, United Development Party (PPP) supporters clashed with security officials on Saturday, leaving at least 20 people injured.
On Sunday there were three further incidents. In Klaten, a Golkar party convoy was pelted with stones by pro-PPP villagers, the Media Indonesia daily said. In Temanggung district, southeast of Pekalongan town, a convoy of PPP supporters clashed with members of two youth groups affiliated with Golkar, while in Pekalongan a mob damaged a government office.
South China Morning Post - April 21, 1997
Jenny Grant, Jakarta – Two of the nation's largest Christian organisations have made statements backing the right of their congregations to vote freely in the May 29 general elections.
The Indonesian Communion of Churches, representing 10 million Protestants and 70 churches, has released a 29-page document which states that voters have total freedom to choose which of the three parties to vote for. The ruling Golkar, the Indonesian Democracy Party and the Muslim-backed United Development Party will compete for 425 seats.
"The public, as keeper of the country's sovereignty, needs to understand that voters must use their voting rights with all their heart and all their responsibility," says the document, circulated on March 27.
It does not endorse blank voting, but neither does it rule out the practice - which the Government is desperately trying to stamp out.
Talk of a poll boycott is gaining popularity among students and pro-democracy activists.
Golkar's chairman, Information Minister Harmoko, condemned a boycott as "cowardly and irresponsible".
Blank voting is not illegal in Indonesia - but urging others to blank vote is against the law.
"We encourage our congregation to go to the general elections and exercise their right to choose," said Reverend Joseph Marcus Pattiasina, the secretary-general of the Protestant group. "But how they vote depends on them."
Mr Pattiasina said Protestants would keep a strict eye on campaigning and voting procedures. But he said this was not an official monitoring role.
"We will check if there is any pressure [on voters]. I have written to all churches to collect data on these incidents and if there are violations we will report them."
In February, Indonesia's top Catholic body, the Bishop's Council of Indonesia, distributed an election statement to all parishes.
The statement, signed by council chairman Cardinal Julius Darmaatmaja, said it was not a sin for Catholics to choose not to vote if they could not find a suitable candidate. Catholics make up around 3.5 per cent of Indonesia's 200 million people.
Most Muslim leaders have urged their followers not to join the growing calls for a boycott.
But the anti-Golkar themes in the sermons of some local preachers in Central Java are said to have stirred up rioting between followers of the United Development Party and Golkar. Around 90 per cent of the population follows Islam. Meanwhile, the leader of the 30 million-member Islamic organisation Nahdlatul Ulama, Abdurrahman Wahid, has formed an alliance with Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, the deputy chairman of Golkar and the eldest daughter of President Suharto.
New York Times - April 20, 1997
Seth Mydans, Jakarta – Parliamentary elections will not be held in Indonesia until the end of May, but the governing party has already announced its winning total: 70.02 percent of the vote.
In what will probably be the last election to endorse the long leadership of President Suharto, nothing is being left to chance. An outbreak of religion-based riots over recent months has dramatized an undercurrent of discontent in Indonesia and heightened the determination of the authorities to control every aspect of political life.
Opposition parties have been put under pressure. Lists of candidates have been vetted. Stringent new campaign rules have severely restricted the sites and the content of rallies and speeches. And after the worst riot in decades in Jakarta last July, a series of arrests, interrogations and trials has sought to neutralize the most outspoken dissidents.
(On Tuesday as many as 5,000 supporters of the opposition politician Megawati Sukarnoputri staged a noisy six-hour rally outside the Parliament building, where they tore down a large iron gate, The Associated Press reported. Helicopters hovered overhead and hundreds of soldiers and police officers kept the demonstrators from entering the building, but both sides held back from a confrontation and the rally ended peacefully.)
The national temperature has risen in advance of the election, in the world's fourth- most-populous country, as a host of grievances rise to the surface. Though Suharto, 75, seems determined to stay on for another term, his thorough planning for the campaign has not been matched by plans for the long-term future. No system for an orderly transition of power has been put in place.
And while he has engineered a sharp rise in living standards in this nation of 200 million people, he has not allowed a comparable evolution of Indonesia's institutions to accommodate the demands of an increasingly aware electorate.
Many analysts say the recent riots reflect the unresponsiveness of the police, the courts and the governing Golkar party to complaints about corruption, unemployment, government abuses and growing disparities in wealth.
"There are outlets for the grievances, but the fact is these outlets cannot be considered as truly representing the increasing awareness of rights," said Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a political scientist.
"Maybe the political system was adequate to deal with the country's problems from the mid-'60s to the mid-'80s," she said. "But development itself has brought new problems. There is a new middle class. People are more educated. With globalization there is the increasing intrusion of the outside world."
With the coming elections thoroughly choreographed, the government's main worry now is something called "golput," which means "white group," as opposed to the red, yellow and green of Indonesia's three officially sanctioned political parties. (The governing party's name, Golkar, is an abbreviation of Golongan Karya, or "Functional Group.")
"Golput" is the popular new name for a boycott – virtually the only way left for voters to register their frustration with the government – and Indonesia's leaders are taking it very seriously.
"To choose not to vote is their right, but if they urge others to follow suit, punitive measures await them," Suharto said.
The authorities have arrested Sri Bintang Pamungkas, a dissident former legislator who had sent out greeting cards calling for an election boycott. He was charged with subversion, a crime that carries the death penalty.
But the idea seems to be catching on. Newspaper headlines report the authorities' vigorous pursuit of underground activists who distribute pro-boycott leaflets. A recent poll suggested that large numbers of young people were prepared to "vote golput."
"Golput is like a fourth contesting party," wrote the newspaper Media Indonesia.
The spread of the idea of a boycott is a measure of the country's political restlessness, an Asian diplomat said.
"People want more openness," the diplomat said. "They want more room. They want the government to be more responsive to their needs."
On May 29, voters are to choose 425 legislators, who will join 75 military representatives and 500 others selected by the government in a People's Consultative Assembly that will elect the next president, in 1998.
The governing party's announcement that it will win 70.02 percent of the vote offered a figure two percentage points above its score five years ago.
"It's not a prediction based on nothing," said a party official, Abdullah Alatas Fahmi, "It's a scientific calculation."
Preparations have been under way for months make sure everything goes smoothly.
Last year, when Mrs. Megawati, leader of one of the three sanctioned parties, seemed to be growing too popular and assertive, the government engineered a change in her party's leadership.
Although Mrs. Megawati – the daughter of Indonesia's founder, Sukarno – had never said she sought to challenge Suharto, she developed a fiercely loyal following. Her party is now split and feuding to the point of impotence.
Indeed, most of the boycott sentiment probably comes from angry Megawati supporters who feel they have been disenfranchised, said Hari Tjan, a political scientist with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an independent research organization.
The party split was the catalyst for the rioting in Jakarta, which took at least five lives. The riot erupted when the military forcibly evicted Mrs. Megawati's supporters from the party headquarters in central Jakarta.
The government has kept Mrs. Megawati busy since then with a series of interrogations about the riot and her party's activities. In addition, some of the country's most outspoken critics, including labor leaders and student activists, have been arrested.
At the same time, the new election ground rules are the most stringent since Suharto took power in 1968.
During the 25-day campaign the large outdoor rallies and motorcades that made a festival of past elections will be banned. Lists of campaign speakers are to be submitted for government approval and texts of radio and television speeches are to be reviewed in advance.
Suharto explained the tight election controls in a speech in January. "What we have to avoid is an uncontrolled situation, clashes and animosity among ourselves," he said. "This certainly is unhealthy and even endangers our nation."
He acknowledged the social inequalities and discontent that have accompanied Indonesia's rapid growth, but said his critics could provoke conflict by "continuing to blow up the gaps and poverty without offering any realistic concept for solving them."
"A general election campaign that causes damage – both physical and to people's prosperity – must be avoided," he said.
Among the 2,285 candidates in the election will be seven of Suharto's relatives – all members of his Golkar party – including four of his six children, a daughter-in-law, a cousin and a half-brother, along with relatives of several ministers and high-ranking military officers.
But Mrs. Megawati – currently a member of Parliament – will not be running. After her ouster as party chief and the split in her party, neither she nor any members of her faction of the party were approved by the authorities as candidates.
Kompas - April 19, 1997 (from Tapol)
Speaking to a thousand Golkar activists in Padang, West Sumatra, the party chairman, Harmoko (who is also Information Minister) said that anyone who calls on members of the public to boycott the elections is acting unconstitutionally. He called on GOLKAR members to report people making such calls to the security authorities so that measures can be taken against them.
He said that although the Indonesian public is now much more politically aware and less likely to be influenced by such campaigns, people should beware of boycott campaigns. 'Although calls for a boycott had little effect in the past three elections,' he said, 'we need to be vigilant because a boycott would damage the legal structure and be a breach of the regulations.'
| Social unrest |
Chicago Tribune - April 23, 1997
Uli Schmetzer, Karawang – President Suharto has controlled this sprawling island archipelago for 30 years with a military fist tucked into the silky glove of progress.
Suharto's formula has been simple and effective: Give the people more goods, visions of a gilded future and information that promotes nationalism and glorifies the regime.
It worked–until satellite dishes arrived, mobile telephone towers went up in drowsy rice-growing towns such as Karawang, and computer shops brought access to the Internet.
Now Suharto, 75, faces a dilemma as he considers ways to stem the flood of outside information his advisers believe is partly responsible for the wave of recent riots in central Java, the industrial hub of Indonesia.
How can his New Order regime, whose ideology is based on economic growth with rigid social stability, control the airwaves without closing access to vital commercial data and other necessary communications?
A similar dilemma haunts other autocratic regimes in Southeast Asia, from Rangoon to Hanoi and Beijing.
Leaders there also see their authority eroded by access to a global highway where the available information often contradicts official propaganda.
In an ominous speech last month, Suharto warned: "The free flow of global information brought people in all countries closer. But this enables people to receive foreign values that can erode their sense of nationalism. So extreme is the impact of foreign influences, some people no longer care about maintaining their nation's unity."
The question in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia, is how far Suharto will go if he feels his grip is threatened by the new technology.
Monitoring devices already are attached to local computer networks to weed out inflammatory material.
"He can't stop it technically unless he pulls the plug on everyone," said a computer expert in Jakarta. "It's too late. There are too many of us out there, and there are too many ways we can travel."
Ironically, one of the first to promote the Internet was Minister for Religion Tarmizi Taher.
He believed the Net would give the outside world "a rare occasion to learn about the rich cultural treasure of Indonesian Islam."
The minister may regret his enthusiasm now.
Muslimnet, a home page launched by students of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences in Bandung last year, began to look inward rather than outward.
The desired transfer of ideas through e-mail turned into a slugging match with Isnet, founded by overseas Indonesian students in 1989. Their e-mail from around the world was far more militant than the scholarly exchange of ideas Muslimnet had envisaged. Sunnis and Shiites trade insults over the interpretation of the Koran and the role of women.
In the end a monitoring device was added to Muslimnet to erase "inflammatory remarks." Moderate Muslim leaders like Mohammad Ridlo appealed for finding common ground, keeping the e-mail clean and concentrating on debates about education, poverty and economic welfare rather than dogma.
But while Muslimnet provides demure guidelines on food and beverages permitted under Muslim law–a list that infuriated Coca-Cola when the soft drink was left out–Isnet is soliciting funds to build new mosques and provide more scholarships for Indonesian students to go abroad.
Officially, 50,000 Indonesians cruise cyberspace out of a population of 200 million.
But tens of thousands more are piggy-backing on their access in a country where a new middle class can easily afford computers and Muslim institutes offer classes on how to use them.
Piggybacking also is popular among many TV viewers, who decorate rooftops with satellite dishes and capture dozens of international channels from Australia, Europe and the U.S.
Such global reception allows people in East Timor, the former Portuguese colony invaded by Indonesia, to watch Portuguese TV, which is highly sympathetic to the region's independence-seeking rebels.
In its own way the small town of Karawang, 30 miles east of Jakarta, is symptomatic of the information revolution.
The satellite dishes can pick up overseas news not mentioned in domestic news broadcasts. That was how local residents learned about bloody ethnic riots in West Kalimantan (Borneo) and the burning and looting of Chinese shops throughout Java.
The vivid images of burned villages had an effect that would not have displeased the president: The town festooned itself with the yellow flags of Golkar, the government party. Homeowners dabbed "Muslim" on their fences and outside walls. It had a different effect in Rengasdengklok, a little town a few miles up the road inhabited by people marginalized in the rush to make money, a town of unemployed and illiterate folks who seek solace in the mosques and follow the teaching of their local spiritual leader.
In an all-night rampage last month, a Muslim mob there trashed Chinese homes, torched a Protestant church and a Chinese temple and left the town bewildered and searching for an explanation.
"We never had any problem in this town before," said Ety Wisuda, an ethnic Chinese whose home was ransacked and stoned. "But a new telephone tower allows people now to talk on cellular phones to relatives in other towns, and some can now watch television.
"It was after they saw the riots in other Java towns on TV that the mob came out. I'm sure it was what they saw on TV that made them do it," she said.
| Labour issues |
Reuters - April 26, 1997
Jakarta – An Indonesian plant producing shoes for U.S. athletic- wear maker Nike Inc shut down for the weekend following protests over wages by thousands of workers, a plant official said on Saturday.
Local newspapers said workers on Friday had ransacked an office and damaged cars in a two-hour protest following the failure of PT Hardaya Aneka Shoes Industri to immediately implement a pay rise.
The company is under contract to Nike.
"Things have returned to normal here, but the plant is closed for today and Sunday. The workers will return to work on Monday because the problems have been settled," the plant official told Reuters.
The official, who declined to give his name, refused to give further details, but said Saturday was normally a working day at the plant at Tangerang on Jakarta's outskirts.
There were no reports of arrests and police declined to comment.
Media Indonesia newspaper said the two-hour protest on Friday was sparked by PT Hardaya Aneka Shoes' failure to implement a pay agreement reached after 10,000 workers staged a walk-out on Tuesday.
Newspapers had said the dispute began when the company, faced with a minimum wage increase, included an attendance allowance of 16,000 rupiah ($6.60) in the monthly minimum wage of 172,500 rupiah ($70.80), meaning the workers saw no actual wage increase.
The move prompted angry workers to march from the plant to the local district parliament in protest.
In January, the government raised the minimum wage in all 27 provinces by an average of 10.07 percent effective from April 1. The minimum wage varies across the country, with workers in Jakarta guaranteed a minimum of 172,500 rupiah ($70.80).
After meetings with union representatives and manpower department officials, the company said it had agreed it would pay the basic minimum monthly wage, excluding allowances for attendance, overtime, transport, holiday pay and meals.
Indonesia, with a population of 200 million, has long sold itself to foreign investors as a good place for labour-intensive industries because of its low wage costs. ($1 =2,435 rupiah)
Radio Australia - April 26, 1997
Scores of people have been injured in a riot near the Indonesian capital Jakarta by several thousand workers from a shoe factory who were demanding higher wages.
The Republika daily says after a rally for better pay, workers went on a rampage, throwing objects at the factory which produces Nike shoes, and damaging vehicles.
One news agency says there were ten thousand workers involved, while another puts the number at four thousand.
The riot was quelled by hundreds of anti-riot police and military troops who were deployed to secure the factory compound.
Following a peaceful protest last Tuesday the company agreed to a small wage increase for the workers, but Republika quotes one worker as saying the riot was triggered by workers unhappy with the wage offer.
Media Indonesia - 23 April, 1997
Jakarta – A strike wave since yesterday is continuing in Tangerang and Jakarta. The economic wheels of Tangerang city, Tuesday morning, were suddenly paralyzed.
Banks and offices were closed for three hours because 10,000 workers from the shoe factory PT Hasi held a rally from their place of work to the local parliament, around seven kilometers away.
They were demanding [do be paid] the new increase in the Regional Minimum Wage (UMR) and attendance bonuses. PT Hasi is one of the companies which has asked the Department of Labour to be excepted from the new UMR.
The closing of business activity particularly in the streets passed by the strikers was because of concern that workers would cause a riot. There fears certainly had good grounds. After waving scores of posters filled with their demands that their company pay the new UMR quickly, they blocked and disturbed the road users.
Fortunately, police and military personnel helped by and riot police kept control of the situation.
A day before, 2,000 employees (Media 22/4) of the shoe factory also held a strike, but only on the factory grounds. There demands were the same.
News of the strike had in fact been broadcast since Monday afternoon. The Tangerang major had requested that the issue be resolved in the factory, but it could not be stemmed. They started the rally at 7.30am with their procession reaching more than one kilometre. Because it was at the same time the morning rush hour, it caused the traffic in Tangerang to be totally blocked.
Two fire trucks were prepared although in the end they were not utilised. After negotiations which continued for two hours, one of the directors, Fredy Yulianto, agreed that the company would accept the employees demands, that is the new UMR of 172,500 Rupiah per month along with an attendance bonus of 4,000 Rupiah per week.
Yesterday, around 5,000 employees of four companies in West Java also carried out a strike. Workers from PT Winner Synthetic Textile (WST), PT Progres, and PT Sumber Bintang Rejeki (SBR) – three garment companies under the Winner Group – along with the garment company PT Mulia Knitting Factory (MKF), are continuing to strike because their demands have not been fulfilled by the company. In East Jakarta, hundreds of employees of the electronics company PT Samsung went on strike yesterday, demanding the new UMR. The workers were disappointed because other worker rights had been ignored by the company.
[Abridged translation from Media Indonesia - James Balowski]
Republika - April 23, 1997 (Abridged, from Tapol)
Angered by the failure of their employers to pay the increased minimum wage, at least 13,000 workers of the Hardaya Aneka Shoes Industry, Tangerang, who manufacture Nike footwear, marched ten kms to the local assembly building in Tangerang.
They started the march at 7 am and formed a line three kms long, bringing traffic to a complete halt
The workers, most of them women, singing, carried posters saying, 'We want to have a decent living' and 'Give us back our rights'.
A day earlier the workers had received advice from the local police chief, urging them not to be provoked by 'irresponsible' elements, but this did not dampen their enthusiasm to take action for their rights.
This action, the largest to take place in Tangerang, was patrolled by hundreds of security forces. The workers proceeded with the march in good order but when they passed shops, the owners shut the shops down.
Security forces, consisting of police anti-riot squads, military forces and the Tangerang police diverted the crowd to the Achmad Yani Square where they were watched over by dozens of anti-riot forces.
A member of the local assembly said the action had erupted because the employers had failed to listen to the workers demands.
At the end of the action, 24 workers entered into talks with the employers to settle the dispute.
Republika - April 16, 1997 (from Tapol)
For the second day running, 350 workers of PT Farmindo, a wood processing company, stopped work. The company is situated in Tangerang, part of the industrial belt of Jakarta. On the second day the workers showed their anger and started to attack some of the factory buildings. Their demand for a food allowance of Rp 650 had been won on the previous day but two of the strike leaders were sacked.
The workers slashed the tires of two company cars and started to break the windows of the company. The huge company sign in front of the company's building was also destroyed. The workers explained that the management had promised earlier not to sack anybody but suddenly two of their colleagues, Winawan and Sunarto, were dismissed by the management.
Another grievance for the workers was an announcement by the management pasted up in front of the main entrance. Every worker was compelled to read the announcement and then sign a statement accepting the rules of the management. Those who refused would be dealt with according to company regulations. One of the workers commented: "Why do we have to accept their rules if they refuse to listen to ideas presented by the workers".
The management called on troops from the local military command to calm down the situation.
Maryono Sumarto the general- manager of PT Farmindo claims that the two were sacked not because of their involvement in the actions but because of disloyalty towards the company.