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ASIET Net News 20 – May 12-19, 1997
Canada NewsWire - May 8, 1997
Montreal – While trade ministers arrived in Montreal to talk
about APEC, Warren Allmand, Bob White and other Canadian labour
leaders, and Amnesty International also arrived to deliver a very
different message.
They carried thousands of postcards demanding the release of
Indonesian labour leader Muchtar Pakpahan to the Sheraton Hotel
where APEC ministerial meetings started today.
The postcards were carried by Warren Allmand of the International
Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development; Roger Clark
of Amnesty International Canada; Clement Godbout of the
Federation des travailleurs/euses du Quebec; Pierre Paquette of
the Confederation des syndicats nationaux; Darrell Tingley of the
Canadian Union of Postal Workers; Bob White, of the Canadian
Labour Congress; and Hassan Yussuff and Luc Desnoyers of the
Canadian Auto Workers.
They wanted to give the postcards directly to Indonesian Trade
Minister Tunky Ariwibowo, who is in Montreal for the APEC
meetings, but the Minister, his aides, and Indonesian Ambassador
Parwoto all said they did not have time to meet and discuss human
rights. Organizers said they will bring the cards to the Ottawa
Embassy next week.
"We're not surprised that the Indonesian government wouldn't meet
with labour leaders and human rights activists", said Bob White.
"This is a dictatorship after all. If I were in Indonesia, I'd
likely be in prison with Pakpahan." Roger Clark of the Canadian
Section of Amnesty International says "the treatment of Pakpahan
is an affront to everyone supporting international standards for
human rights."
Together they called on Canadian Trade Minister Art Eggleton to
use the APEC meetings as an opportunity to publicly pressure the
Indonesian government to release Pakpahan, and other Indonesian
pro-democracy activists recently tried for subversion. Last week,
twelve Indonesian trade unionists and activists aged from 20 to
30 years were sentenced to up to 13 years in prison just for
criticizing the Indonesian government. "The Indonesian government
is using Pakpahan as an example, to warn Indonesians about the
consequence of exercising their human rights" said Warren
Allmand. "But he is really an example of how freedom of
association is violated around the world, and a forum like APEC
should not discuss international trade and ignore these issues."
Jakarta Post - May 8, 1997
Surabaya – After scores of AirLangga University (Unair)
student held a Golput [White Movement, election boycott] action
some time ago, yesterday it was the turn of around 100 17 August
University (Untag) Surabaya students to hold a rally. They called
themselves the Kelompok Aliansi Mahasiswa Untag untuk Keadilan
(Untag Student Alliance Group for Justice, AMUK).
They began their action at around 9.30pm. Initially, 60 students
began gathering in front of the Untag Graha Wiyata. They just
sat. Then Sesaar, one of the students appeared at the front to
coordinate his other friends.
Previously the crowd of students had only sat, then they began to
unfurl a number of banners. Two large banners had written on them
"Golput Student Movement" and "Not Choosing is a Choice".
Aside from this, there were a number of posters with Golput
themes including: "Golput is Right and Needed", "Make the
Elections a Success by Golputing", "Until the Packet of 5
Political Laws are Abolished, It's better to Golput" and many
others.
After around 15 minutes, a number of other students arrived. The
crowd of students which at the start was only 60, grew to around
100 people. One of them came forward to lead their friends. With
enthusiasm the crowd began chanting "Viva Golput", "Viva
Students", "Return Sovereignty to the Hands of the People" and
"Viva Democracy".
Around 10am, a number of the students began distributing
political statements to other students, academics and people
around the campus. After this, the crowd gathered again and
speeches began. In terns, around 10 students came forward to
present their orations.
After this, the crowd began to grow again. Without a command,
those gathered became silent. "Yeah, we have already agreed to be
silent", said the AMUK coordinator, Indra Agus P.
Although they were silent, the banners and posters were still
displayed. Several moments afterwards, one of the rectors staff
approached them. In the name of the rector, they were asked to
break up the rally.
Apparently the crowd did not want to heed the request. In the end
an argument occurred between them.
At exactly 11am, the action was closed with a political statement
which included AMUK stating itself as Golput in the 1997
elections and stating its protest against the assessment that
those who Golput are hampering the elections.
[Translated by James Balowski]
May 29 elections
East Timor
Economy and investment
International relations
Labour issues
Democratic struggle
Appeal made at APEC meetings for jailed labour leader
100 17 August University students hold Golput action
Second election boycott graffiti and poster action
Peoples Democratic Party - May 9, 1997
Today on May 9, the national leadership of the PRD in coordination with the city leadership of the PRD in eight major cities (Lampung, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Solo, Semarang, Surabaya, Palu and Manado) again carried out a graffiti and poster campaign calling on the Indonesian people to boycott the 1997 elections, which are unconstitutional, corrupt and do not promise change towards the advancement of democracy.
The PRD membership, which now active underground, wrote on walls, bus stops and stick posters up in strategic locations. The posters and graffiti read:
1. Save your yellow card, collect them for the Megawati-PDI as a sign that we boycotted the corrupt 1997 elections
2. Boycott the elections until the dual function of the military is abolished
3. It is not right to continue the elections, BOYCOTT!
4. Boycott the elections until the packet of 5 political laws are abolished
5. Without Mega's PDI, boycott the elections
6. Megawati should boycott the elections!
This graffiti and poster actions is the second action carried out by the PRD. The first action was carried out on April 3. The aim of the second action is to again clarify for the people that in a the most repressive situation where the military are endeavoring to make the elections a success, the PRD continues to endeavor to cause the elections to fail. It is not right for the 1997 elections to be made a success, because these elections are legally flawed and unconstitutional, because the do not include one of the legal political parties, that is the pro-Megawati PRD, but certainly do included the political party which is unconstitutional, that is Suryadi's PDI. The 1997 elections are also corrupt, because the regulations, and its implementation have never been honest and fair, but has been manipulated only in order to ensure a Golkar victory. Therefore, the only meaning of the 1997 elections is as a tool to maintain the status quo. The 1997 elections will not bring the smallest change in the advance of democratisation, which is the best road towards an improvement in the peoples fortunes.
For the Jakarta-Bogor-Tangerang-Bekasi (Jabotabek) region, PRD members carried out actions in the following locations:
Central Jakarta
South Jakarta
Tangerang
There were 22 locations, including the length of Jl. Ciledug Raya, and on factory walls.
North Jakarta
A. Grafity actions:
B. Pastups:
Information on other locations will follow as it becomes available.
[Translated by James Balowski]
PRD - May 9, 1997
In accordance with instructions of the KPP-PRD, today on May 9 between 2am and 3am West Indonesian Time (WIB), there was a graffiti action across Semarang.
What follows is a chronology:
02.00-02.15 WIB: Team I formed by Norman and Andri left and quickly headed for the target of the beginning of the action, the Milo intersection and traffic lights between Jl. Dr. Cipto and Jl. Ahmad Yani. Right on the intersection they wrote "Boycott the 1997 Elections".
02.20: Team I went all around the Diponegoro University campus. The length of Jalan Hayamwuruk, writing: "Abolish the dual function of the Military", "Withdraw the packet of 5 political laws", "Boycott the 1997 Elections" and "Hang Suharto!".
02.30: Arriving at the third location, the length of Jalan Dr. Wahidin, a road which is passed waves of intercity buses from Solo and Yogyakarta. There were three "sub- locations" which were written on across the length of this street. The graffiti read: "Abolish the dual function of the Military", "Boycott the 1997 Elections" and "Punch Me (Golkar)" which was written with "Withdraw the packet of 5 political laws".
02.40: Arriving at the last location, the Kagok market, PRD members wrote "Boycott the 1997 Elections".
In accordance with plans, this action was divided into two teams. The first covered West Semarang and the other the region of South Semarang. However, team II entrusted to Stevanus, did not appear as planed. At the time this chronology was written, it cannot be determined why the team did not arrive and carry out their task as agreed on.
[Translated by James Balowski]
The Sunday Age - May 11, 1997
Jakarta – A former prominent legislator whose book on President Soeharto's government was banned early this year has been charged with insulting the Indonesian leader, his lawyer said today.
Police plan to interrogate Subadio Sastrosatomo on Monday, said Hendardi of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association. His aide already has been arrested on charges of distributing the book.
Insulting the President is punishable by up to six years in prison.
Subadio, 78, was a national legislator during Indonesia's period of parliamentary democracy in the 1950s and 1960's, which ended when Soeharto took power from President Sukarno in 1966.
Subadio, popularly known as Badio, was questioned twice in March about his book, "New Era - New Leader: Badio Rejects the Scheme of the New Order Regime." It is believed to criticise Soeharto for allowing corruption and nepotism and for using the military to stiffle democracy in Indonesia.
"While the country is now dealing with the "festival of democracy", a concrete fact shows the use of a non-democratic way through a legal process against those having different political opinions", said a statement by Hendardi.
| May 29 elections |
Asia Times - May 12, 1997
Ong Hock Chuan, Jakarta – As the campaign for the Indonesian general elections on May 27 gathers steam, it has become evident that some of the followers of Megawati Sukarnoputri, who was ousted as leader of one of the country's two opposition parties, are throwing their support behind the other opposition party.
Over the past week, that support has gained momentum and is prompting political pundits to consider whether a merger could be possible between Megawati's faction of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and the United Development Party (PPP). If such a merger were to take place, it would be the most significant development so far in what has been a lackluster campaign.
While such an alliance is not expected to wrest victory from the ruling Golkar party, it could nevertheless reduce the number of votes for Golkar and even cause it to lose parliamentary seats in Jakarta and other major cities in the Javanese heartland, such as Yogyakarta and Solo. If that were to happen, the government would likely take steps to break up the alliance, hampering further the development of an opposition in Indonesia.
Frustration is partly the reason why the supporters of Megawati, daughter of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno, and the PPP are aligning together.
Megawati's supporters were upset when the government, together with the armed forces, engineered a political coup that toppled Megawati as the PDI leader earlier this year. Shut out of the political process, Megawati's followers, composed of young urban residents disenchanted with the government, have taken to disrupting the electoral campaign of the new PDI leadership and supporting the PPP. Their tactics have been so disruptive that the PDI has not been able to mount an effective campaign.
By contrast, the PPP has been putting on a spectacular show, with thousands of young supporters flooding onto the streets in convoys of trucks, cars and motorcycles.
Even so, the PPP leadership is disgruntled by what it has called restrictive government regulations on electoral campaigning, and at one stage the Yogyakarta branch of the PPP threatened to boycott the elections altogether.
These frustrations are driving the two political parties together, even though they are supposed to be ideological rivals: The PDI is Christian-nationalist while the PPP is Muslim-based.
Last Tuesday, a significant move was taken when the PPP sent its outspoken Surakarta branch chief Mudrick Sangidoe to meet Megawati in the latter's south Jakarta residence. Mudrick said afterward that he had asked Megawati to give her blessing to the many Megawati loyalists wanting to join the PPP. He said there were about 100,000 Megawati supporters in Solo alone who would join his party if Megawati gave her approval.
Megawati has not commented on the meeting or on the possibility of an alliance. But one of her faction's leaders was quoted in the domestic press as saying that there was a "give and take" relationship between the two and that Mudrick's visit to Megawati was carried out with the approval of PPP leader Ismail Hasan Metareum.
Ismail has said that the party was confident of capturing 96 seats in the 500-seat House of Representatives with the support of Megawati's faction of the PDI. Seventy-five of the House's seats are appointed by the armed forces, the remainder are directly elected. Throughout the archipelago, supporters of both parties have began carrying red and green flags - red being the PDI's color and green representing the PPP. Others have been carrying posters and wearing T-shirts bearing a portrait of Megawati and a lone star, the symbol of the PPP.
But it remains to be seen how much of an electoral impact such an alliance would have. In the previous election in 1992, the PPP polled 17 percent of total votes cast and the PDI 15 percent while Golkar took nearly 68 percent.
Political analysts have said the votes of the Megawati loyalists, conservatively estimated to be at least half of the PDI voters, could go to the PPP, thereby improving its political stature at the expense of the PDI. It could also reduce the number of spoiled votes - many observers have been expecting more people than usual to intentionally spoil their ballots in this election as a sign of protest.
Other political pundits, however, are skeptical that this alliance could coalesce into a strong force or that it could actually draw in the ballots.
"What is driving the two sides together is a push rather than pull factor. They are getting together because of frustration," said one analyst. "This is hardly the grounds of a good marriage. They might flirt for some time, but sooner or later the realities will set in such as if there is a marriage of sorts. Who would be boss?"
The other factor contributing to the skepticism is what some observers regard as the inherent entertainment value of the opposition during an electoral campaign.
"During election campaigns, ruling parties are generally boring because they cannot criticize and berate the government," said one analyst, noting that criticism was what made for entertaining speeches. "So opposition campaigns draw a large following, but these rarely translate into votes. In the final analysis, it is the bread-and-butter issues that matter." Yet another factor, as one observer pointed out, was the age group of the majority of followers in the Megawati-PPP camp.
Most of the supporters campaigning in the streets on motorbikes and trucks are teenagers ranging in age from 10 to 20. Most are in their young teens, making them ineligible to vote.
The government has so far been nonchalant about the possibility of a Megawati-PPP tie-up. Home Affairs Minister Yogie Suardi Memet said it was better for Megawati loyalists to join the PPP than to boycott the elections. But the armed forces, which see themselves as the guardian of Indonesian political stability, is concerned. Its commander, General Feisal Tanjung, said the military was watching the latest development and would intervene if it became disruptive of the election. Analysts see this as tantamount to a warning that the army would intervene if the alliance threatened to become another political power center - as the PDI threatened to become under Megawati earlier this year.
Straits Times - May 13, 1997
Jakarta – Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse supporters of a Muslim- based minority party in two Indonesian towns, as tension rose ahead of the May 29 general election, residents and newspapers said yesterday. In all, clashes were reported in four towns in central Java on Sunday, all involving campaigning supporters of the United Development Party (PPP), they said. At least 25 people were hurt.
Residents in the coastal town of Pekalongan said troops were called out after seven people were injured and two houses were damaged following a clash between police and PPP supporters.
Police in Pekalongan, a PPP stronghold and the scene of previous clashes between supporters of the opposition party and the ruling Golkar party, declined comment.
"The clash happened after thousands of people removed Golkar flags from the city. They were on their way home after attending a PPP rally," said a resident.
Witnesses said anti-riot police fired tear gas when the mob tried to attack a petrol station, adding that four PPP supporters and three passers-by were hurt while fleeing.
In nearby Temanggung, which was rocked by riots between PPP and Golkar supporters last month, police fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters who had tried to breach a police barricade on a main road, the Republika newspaper said.
Residents and newspapers said at least 18 people were injured in the nearby town of Demak after a clash between PPP supporters and Golkar loyalists. In the coastal city of Jepara, an angry crowd attacked a police station after a PPP supporter died in a road accident involving a car driven by a policeman, Kompas newspaper reported. – Reuter.
Sydney Morning Herald - May 17, 1997
Louise Williams, Jakarta – An elaborate scheme to grant Government employees two votes each in the coming national elections has raised fears that the Soeharto Government plans to cheat to maintain its majority in the face of growing opposition.
The scheme, set out in an official memo circulated within the Department of Information, instructs public service employees to obtain extra voting cards for use in Jakarta's city centre in the May 29 polls.
The memo says staff must also vote near their suburban homes "to ensure victory for Golkar", the Soeharto regime's ruling political movement.
"Considering the urgency of the cause and the unforeseen nature of the circumstances, we expect your support to cover the cost," the memo said, referring to a charge of about $3 for each extra voting card.
All Government employees and their families are obliged to vote for Golkar, a regulation which guarantees tens of millions of votes for the Soeharto Government and which has drawn bitter criticism from the opposition.
But massive opposition rallies over the past three weeks have indicated that the Government is increasingly unpopular and may be unable to attain its 70 per cent vote target, despite tight curbs on opposition campaigning.
Details of the memo published in the national daily Kompas outline an agreement between the governors of West Java and Jakarta to permit public employees living in the suburbs to be issued with an extra identity card to vote in the cities. West Java is a major residential area for Jakarta workers.
The director-general of the Department of Information, Mr Subrata, said he had not received the circular but an official from the opposition United Development Party warned that if the plan went ahead, his party would not accept the election results.
"Once I receive it, I'll check its contents," Mr Subrata said.
The Soeharto Government has cancelled an invitation to foreign observers to come to the elections and has barred a local poll watchdog from the voting booths and counting rooms.
Straits Times - May 17, 1997
Jakarta – Renewed outbursts of campaign violence in several Indonesian towns, including the capital, left scores of people injured, reports said yesterday. In Jakarta, scuffles involving supporters of the ruling Golkar party and backers of the two opposition parties, broke out in at least three places, the Kompas daily said.
Hundreds of construction workers in an apartment project were involved in a stone- pelting match with a passing convoy of Golkar supporters, leaving at least one injured and five cars damaged.
Similar stone-throwing incidents broke out between members of Golkar convoys and roadside spectators at two separate places in East Jakarta. A university student was stabbed in one of the incidents.
In Yogyakarta, at least three incidents of violence between Golkar supporters and those of the Muslim-led United Development Party (PPP), broke out on Thursday, leaving scores of houses and motorcycles damaged, said the Media Indonesia daily.
One man was injured seriously in a stabbing and another was hit in the head by a brick after a Golkar convoy clashed with residents in Rejoso, near the town of Pasuruan in East Java on Thursday.
In Kudus, in the northern part of Central Java, police said they arrested 27 PPP supporters following violence which left four policemen injured, the Antara news agency said. The clash took place after security officers tried to block a convoy of thousands of PPP supporters from entering the town.
The three official parties – the PPP, the ruling Golkar party and the Indonesian Democracy Party (PDI) – are contesting the election in which President Suharto's Golkar is the hot favourite.
Radio Australia - 17 May, 1997
Indonesian military authorities say at least 73 people have been killed in clashes and traffic accidents associated with the campaign ahead of the country's general election.
Brigadier General Slamet Supriadi says despite the tensions and ongoing violence, military authorities guarantee Indonesia's security in the lead up to the May 29 general elections
Brigadier General Supriadi says 914 people had been arrested for campaign violence.
He says 17 percent of the violations were committed by persons who do not support any of the three political parties.
The political groups allowed to participate in the campaign are the ruling Golkar party, the Moslem-oriented United Development Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party.
Sydney Morning Herald - May 14, 1997
Louise Williams, Jakarta – Indonesian security forces have announced a crackdown on supporters of the democracy leader Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri after her backers and the main Muslim party moved to forge an opposition alliance for the coming national elections.
Ms Megawati, ousted leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), is banned from taking part in the election campaign, leaving the Muslim-led United Development Party (PPP) as the only real alternative to the ruling Golkar movement in the May 29 elections.
Hundreds of thousands of PPP supporters rallied across Java at the weekend, and the appearance of posters, T-shirts and banners linking Ms Megawati to the PPP fueled speculation her supporters had found a way into politics through an unofficial alliance with the PPP.
But with another PPP rally due to be held today, the Indonesian military has announced that all symbols of Ms Megawati or the alliance will be seized.
"I call on them not to display the outlawed banners in the next rally," a military spokesman said. The General Election Committee also issued a warning that people "are not to use those banners". "Every banner has to have police clearance and the "Mega-Bintang (PPP)' banner is not in the regulations," it said.
The PPP and the Soeharto Government-backed faction of the PDI are battling Golkar for 425 elected seats in the 500-member parliament. The rest of the seats are allocated to the military, whose members are not allowed to vote.
The Soeharto-backed PDI faction appears to be doing badly in the campaign and may be routed in the polls, political analysts say. A PPP official said the PPP-Megawati alliance banners had grown spontaneously in rallies last week after Ms Megawati's supporters from one central Javanese town were granted permission to vote with the PPP against Golkar. Their only alternative is to boycott the polls.
Voice of America - May 11, 1997
Jenny Grant, Pekalongan - The Muslim-backed United Development Party - or P-P-P rallied in this Central Java town of Pekalongan on Sunday as Jenny Grant reports from the riot-struck town, the local Chinese community feels it is under attack during the parliamentary election campaign.
Thousands of youths attended two big rallies in Pekalongan on Sunday, decked out in the green color of the Muslim Party, the P-P-P. They rode around the town in convoys of motorbikes, chanting Islamic slogans and making their party's sign. Chinese shop owners closed their doors, saying they feared there could be fresh attacks on their businesses.
For the past two months, Pekalongan has been the site of the worst election campaign violence in Indonesia. At least four separate clashes have broken out between the supporters of the ruling Golkar Party and the Mulslim Party.
The clashes twice deteriorated into anti-Chinese rioting. Dozens of Muslim youths have been jailed for between three days and three months for their part in the unrest.
Local Chinese residents say most of the 60 shops that were ransacked and burnt have been rebuilt, but some shops are still visibly damaged.
Tensions in this batik-producing town stem from the economic disparity between local Indonesians and ethnic Chinese. The locals say they have been locked out of the development offered by the Indonesian government. Many batik manufacturing workshops are owned by Chinese, with local Indonesian employees who spend hours painting intricate designs onto cloth.
Makmoud Maskour, the head of the P-P-P in Pekalongan, rejected the suggestion that his party played to anti-Chinese feelings in the community. He said third parties have been making threatening phone calls to Chinese shop owners in an effort to discredit the P-P-P. The Muslim Party won a 12 percent swing from Golkar in Central Java at the last election, in 1992. It has a strong chance of increasing that at the May 29 elections after the government ousted the popular leader of the other minority party, Megawati Sukarnoputri (of the Indonesian Democracy Party, or P-D-I).
| East Timor |
Amnesty International - May 14, 1997
Thirty-three of those arrested during a demonstration on 23 March 1997 at the Mahkota Hotel in Dili, East Timor during a visit to the territory by the United Nations Secretary-General's Personal Representative, Mr Jamsheed Marker, are detained in custody awaiting trial. It was previously believed that only 24 remained in custody.
Sixteen people are facing charges of assault under Article 354 of Indonesia's Criminal Code. They are: Olga Amaral (f), Celina Pires da Costa (f), Anino da Silva, Agusto Raimundo Matos, Jose Gabriel, Domingos Sarmento, Joao Henrique (alias Elias), Rafael de Almeida, Constancio G Leite, Abel Ximenes, Jose Sarmento Boavida (alias Jose), Zito Borges, Mateus da Costa Inacio, Alecio da Silva Ximenes, Bendito Amaral Alves, Anacleto da Silva.
Three people, Marito Brafas Soares, Cancio A Henrique Guterres and Alberto da Costa (alias Bareto), are facing trial under Article 154 of the Criminal Code, one of the so- called "Hate- sowing" Articles which punish expressing "hatred" towards the government or government bodies. Under Article 154 the "public expression of feelings of hostility, hatred or contempt toward the government" is punishable by up to seven years' imprisonment.
A further 14 people are facing a primary charge under Article 154 and a subsidiary charge under Article 155 which prohibits the expression of feelings of hostility, hatred or contempt towards the government through the public media, with a maximum penalty of four and a half years' imprisonment. The 14 are: Luis de Fatima Pereira, Dominggos da Costa, Nelson Pereira, Amaro Pereira, Miguel Alves, Ronaldo Brazil Januario, Carlos Gusmao, Celestino Manuel Pereira, Mateus da Costa Belo, Mariano da Silva, Moises Feliciano Soares, Alipio Soares, Hermenegildo da Costa and Thomas Augusto Correiro.
All 33 are being detained at Dili's Becora Prison. A schedule for the trials has not yet been set but it is believed that they will begin after Indonesia's parliamentary elections on 29 May 1997.
The 33 were arrested as the security forces attempted to break up the peaceful demonstration at the hotel. Sources claimed that the demonstrators were prevented from leaving the hotel when the doors were locked after the arrival of the security forces. Some demonstrators received cuts as they attempted to leave through broken windows. Others were beaten by the security forces upon arrest. Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights has criticised the security forces for the violent manner in which they broke up the demonstration. On 29 March, Clementino Dos Reis Amaral, a member of the Commission, was quoted as saying "police attacked the protestors with sticks and also kicked and punched them". Eleven of those wounded were treated in hospital, but at least four of these are now on trial, including two women and one man who are facing charges of assault.
Amnesty International is concerned that 17 of the group, having been charged under the "Hate-sowing" Articles, are being tried for the peaceful expression of their beliefs.
| Economy and investment |
Australian Financial Review - May 12, 1997
Greg Earl – If there was a silver lining to be found in the large Busang cloud that descended on Indonesia this week, Bob Hasan was probably always one of the most likely people to find it.
President Soeharto's chief business fixer adopted a relaxed air on Monday night as he announced he was withdrawing from what had just officially become the world's biggest mining fraud, saying: "That's business. Sometimes you make money sometimes you don't."
And then with a disarming frankness Hasan noted that the company he manages for Soeharto, Nusantara Ampera Bhakti, hadn't lost anything on the project (in which it was given a 20 percent stake once valued at $1 billion) because it hadn't spent anything.
It was an illustrative comment on the low risk of doing business in Indonesia for some people at a time when the much higher risks for foreign companies of policy changes and arbitrary meddling in ownership is receiving more attention than ever before.
The Indonesian Government can quite rightly point to Canadian financial regulators and analysts for allowing a carefully planned financial scam to continue for so long, but Soeharto's Government will inevitably be blamed around the world for fuelling the fire by allowing a highly public fight over the once fabled Busang spoils.
The Busang scandal comes immediately after the struggle over the controversial national car has entered a new stage, with Japan pushing ahead with its World Trade Organisation challenge and US car manufacturers reiterating their halt on new investment in Indonesia.
The byzantine car policy has taken its latest unpredictable twist this week with a Government request for banks to provide finance and a proposal that the Timor car controlled by Soeharto's son could be merged with another car being developed by the Research and Technology Minister, B. J. Habibie.
While Indonesian ministers angrily reject regular international finger pointing at the country over corruption, many long- standing business observers believe it has become much worse in recent times. This caused widespread concern about the Government decision last month to put the once notoriously corrupt customs service fully back in charge of import inspection.
Most observers attribute the increased use of the so-called "other road" to process business transactions to the demonstration effect of the Soeharto family involvement in deals like Busang and the looming end of the five-yearly political cycle next year, which will see major changes in the Cabinet and senior Government ranks.
But while some companies like Ford have voted with their feet against the Indonesian way of doing business, the overwhelming weight of foreign investor interest in Indonesia remains strong as companies look to long-term prospects of a country with more than 200 million people.
From a purely macro-economic management perspective some economists even argue that a slowdown in investiment would have advantages, with capital inflow running at double that needed to finance the country's current account deficit last year.
The speed and strong flow of capital during a period of unpredictable economic policy decisions like the national car and Busang has, in the short term at least, been more of an economic management problem for Indonesia than those flowing from the more notorious policy decisions. Efforts to rein-in the strong rupiah have created excess liquidity and there is concern the central bank could move back to old fashioned credit controls to restrain the lending caused by the lowering of interest rates.
Long time Indonesia watcher Ross McLeod puts the recent business decisions in context in the latest "Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies", in which he argues that the conduct of micro- economic policy is less encouraging than the much more positive macro- economic picture suggests.
"There is still a stubborn tendency to override markets and to rely on state, rather than private, enterprise; and economic nationalism is often more influential than rational economic analysis," he says.
"But these complaints are nothing new, and the individual points of concern collectively have a small enough detrimental impact that a high level of macro-economic performance has been able to be sustained for many years."
While mining industry sources say that the Busang saga has already persuaded some foreign investors to turn away from Indonesia just as Detroit may be doing in the car industry, there is plenty of evidence of an ongoing struggle to maintain coherent economic policies.
The move to change the ownership arrangements for the Newmont mine prompted a very strong attack on the Government from the respected former mines minister, Mohamad Sadli, this week - which was tougher than his previous comments during the Busang debate.
And the Government may already be back-pedalling on its unprecedented bid to overturn the ownership of the mine while at the same time introducing some clarity into the push to increase Indonesian ownership of mining projects.
Economic policy appears to be moving ahead in its traditional pattern of two steps forward and one step back, but foreign investors unnerved by the Busang scandal could usefully direct some greater attention to the national election, which is also under way.
There amid a morass of regulations that would put an old fashioned Indonesian customs officer to shame, the Government appears intent on ensuring that the country's political evolution makes considerably less progress forward. (dated 5.5.97)
| International relations |
Straits Times - May 9, 1997
Washington – Key members of the US government supported military assistance and training to Indonesia as the best tool to advance democracy there, despite recent calls to sanction it for human- rights violations.
Mr Doug Bereuter, chairman of the House sub-committee on the Asia-Pacific, said at a special hearing on US policy towards Indonesia, on Wednesday:
"Continued military-to-military interaction and training under the Extended Imet programme, and the sale of appropriately limited military equipment will advance US security interests as well as the cause of democracy and human rights, if we pay attention to this relationship and if we make wise policy choices."
Imet is the International Military Education and Training programme of the US.
It ended after the Dili massacre of 1991, but was re-instated in 1995 for fiscal year 1996, in a more limited form known as Extended Imet.
In March, Congressman Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island introduced a Bill to eliminate US$26 million (S$36.4 million) in annual military assistance, plus US$600,000 in military education and training funds, unless Indonesia overhauled its human-rights situation.
This Bill has just been overtaken by a less restrictive amendment put forward by Congressman Howard Berman.
This seeks to limit military assistance and arms transfer to Indonesia for one fiscal year, unless President Bill Clinton can certify to Congress that Indonesia is meeting requirements, like election monitoring and concerted attempts to resolve the East Timor conflict. The Berman amendment is expected to be sent to the House floor soon
A State Department senior official, Ms Aurelia Brazeal, testified that Imet was a valuable tool: "The record of Imet speaks for itself.
Indonesian officers trained in the United States have been among the strongest advocates for improved respect for human rights and the accountability of the armed forces in the performance of their duties." Mr Paul Wolfowitz, the US envoy to Indonesia from 1986 to 1989, said the cancellation of Imet had done nothing to improve human rights in East Timor.
"But it did diminish US influence with the Indonesian military," he said.
US research has shown that unilateral sanctions rarely work and can hurt US interests instead.
Any advice offered to the Indonesian government should be done with "humility", added Mr Wolfowitz, now Dean of the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
"We are not in a position to dictate," he said.
The US-Asean Business Council, meanwhile, said commercial engagement should proceed as it is linked with better human rights. The House sub-committee agreed that Indonesia had huge economic potential and was playing a constructive role in the region – though these trends were little understood by Americans who focused largely on its human rights situation.
Internal signs of progress were noted by the Congressmen and expert witnesses.
Ms Brazeal, the State Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said the Indonesian military was "increasingly responsible" and had shown "considerable restraint" in recent riots and ethnic conflicts.
Reuters - May 15, 1997
Strasbourg – The European Parliament on Thursday urged the European Union to speak out against the Indonesian government, which it accused of stepping up repression in the run-up to national elections on May 29.
``The European Parliament urges the (EU) to express their concern about the human rights situation in Indonesia in general and about the silencing of the opposition and the undemocratic way that elections are carried out in particular,'' the EU assembly said in a resolution.
The move comes only days after international human rights organisation Amnesty International called for the unconditional release from prison of members of Indonesia's opposition People's Democratic Party and insisted that the maintenance of public order ``should not be at the expense of basic freedoms.''
The EU parliament resolution, which is non-binding, urged the government of President Suharto to accept independent monitoring of the elections.
Euro-deputies insisted the 15-member EU bloc should raise human rights concerns in talks with the Association of South East Asian Nations, of which Indonesia is a leading member.
``Trade relations with ASEAN states should be subject to respect for human rights and...these two matters cannot be discussed separately,'' the resolution said.
The EU has a trade and aid agreement with ASEAN but talks on a more wide-ranging pact have been stalled by ASEAN reticence to accept the EU demand for the inclusion of a human rights clause.
The parliament reiterated its demands for the Jakarta authorities to ``end torture and executions'' both in Indonesia and the annexed territory of East Timor, and for the EU states to stop all military assistance and arms sales to Indonesia.
Last month, the parliament hosted a ceremony at which East Timorese Nobel peace prize laureate Ramos Horta presented two British women with a peace medal for disabling a British fighter plane destined for delivery to Jakarta.
Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony of East Timor in December 1975 and still maintains a heavy military presence there. It unilaterally annexed the territory in July 1976 in an act not recognised by the United Nations.
Tapol - May 12, 1997
Robin Cook, Britain's new Foreign Secretary, today issued his Mission Statement of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at a press conference, the first time any government has made public its intentions in the realm of foreign policy.
The Mission Statement says among other things:
'We shall work through international forums and bilateral relationships to spread the values of human rights, civil liberties and democracy which we demand for ourselves.'
In his statement at the press conference, Robin Cook elaborated further on the policy, saying:
'Our foreign policy must have an ethical dimension and must support the demands of other peoples for the democratic rights on which we insist for ourselves. The Labour Government will put human rights at the heart of our foreign policy and will publish an annual report on our work promoting human rights abroad.'
On arms exports, he said: 'The Labour Government will give a new momentum to arms control and disarmament.'
What is remarkable about the massive coverage today of Cook's initiative on television and radio is that in virtual every comment, discussion and interview, Indonesia has been mentioned as the concrete of example of where this new policy should apply, particularly with regard to halting arms sales, accompanied on TV by shots of the 1991 Dili massacre and Indonesian police forces bashing demonstrators in Jakarta. It does indeed appear that Indonesia is now regarded in Britain as the world's leading pariah state. The transparency in announcing the Cook agenda has put the Suharto regime on centre stage.
However, Cook has refused to be drawn on anything specific about which countries will be affected. Much stress has been placed on the need to seek international or EU agreement on arms controls against specific countries, avoiding a situation where other countries could step in and fill orders which the UK decides to reject. This could mean considerable delay in taking firm decisions with regard to specific deals already concluded. It will not be easy to win Helmut Kohl and Jacques Chirac over to a Europe- wide embargo or a decision to halt certain types of weapons to Indonesia.
The policy could flounder if the Labour Government declines to take the lead in these matters.
Arguments about the need to preserve jobs and maintain earnings from arms exports which is still one of this country's top foreign exchange earners have also been injected into the discussion.
It is clear that campaigning against arms exports to Indonesia will intensify in the coming months. The way has also been paved for pressure on the new government to take a firm position on violations of human rights in Indonesia and self-determination for East Timor, hopefully tipping the balance at the European Union in favour of a much stronger position as well.
One conclusion is that all the campaigning against arms sales, especially by Campaign Against Arms Trade and a variety of arms groups like 'Stop the Hawks' and the Ploughshares women, during the dark ages of Tory rule are now paying off.
| Labour issues |
Radio Australia - 14 May, 1997
In Jakarta, hundreds of workers at the troubled Busang gold mine in East Kalimantan province, have taken four people hostage to back up demands for severance pay. Two Indonesian executives of Canadian-firm Bre-X Minerals and two Filipino geologists are being held.
Since the Busang controversy erupted, 400-workers have been told they will be unemployed from tomorrow and many reportedly fear they will not be paid.
Claims by Bre-X that it had found reserves of up to 200-million ounces of gold at Busang were refuted by an independent geological survey service.
The Toronto Star - May 12, 1997
Naomi Klein – I'm sitting in a downtown Vancouver coffee shop with Cicih Sukaesih, an Indonesian woman who used to work for Nike. She is telling me, with the help of a translator, about the conditions under which she glued together the soles of big white running shoes.
From 1989 to 1993, Sukaesih worked in a factory of 6,500 workers, most of them teenaged girls. She was exposed to heavy fumes, with little protection and frequent accidents. "I didn't know it was dangerous. It was very common to be nauseated and fatigued."
She said workers stood all day, with no time for breaks. They were paid around a dollar a day, below the minimum wage of $1.25. "We were demanded to do overtime, it was not voluntary." After workers tried to unionize to combat these conditions, Sukaesih and 23 others were fired.
Since then, minimum wage has been raised to slightly more than two dollars a day - despite the fact that a sustenance income in the region is widely recognized to be twice that. Many Nike workers still live without running water, suffer malnutrition, and reports abound of sadistic management practices, as well as desperate wildcat strikes.
Vancouver was the first stop in Sukaesih's cross-Canada speaking tour, sponsored by the Canadian Auto Workers Union. She met with labor leaders - including Canadian Labor Congress head Bob White - and led a protest outside of the shiny downtown Nike Store, where she spoke with the manager about sneaker makers in Indonesia.
"I want people to think about what they buy and who made it and under what conditions it was made," Sukaesih told me. "I dream about a time when we network - the workers in the Third World and in Canada and the U.S., so that we all know what is happening. This is the first step and I'm very happy."
Today, she was to be in Toronto, accompanied by U.S. labor activists Trim Bissell and Jeff Ballinger. It is the fastidious research and education work of Ballinger and Bissell that is largely responsible for bringing the conditions in Nike's overseas factories to the world's attention.
Despite this growing awareness, however, many still react to news of Nike's labor practices as if they just found out about a shoddily made electrical appliance. "So don't buy Nikes," they say, casting the issue as a personal matter of conscience which we are all free to quietly act upon but, for god's sake, not in public.
Others immediately want to know what brands are okay to buy. When they find out that there are few big namebrands made without sweatshop labor, they throw up their hands and pronounce the entire exercise futile.
It seems we have become so self-identified as consumers that we expect everything to be solved through our shopping habits. The situation of workers like Sukaesih is not a matter between an individual and their mall, it's a human rights issue and a public policy matter for us to address not just as shoppers, but as citizens.
The limits of the narrow consumer activist model revealed themselves last month when U.S. President Bill Clinton's task force on sweatshops - of which Nike was a member - made its camera-friendly announcements. It turns out that all corporations will need to do to earn a "No Sweat" label on their garments is abide by each country's legal minimum wage - even when it is well below poverty levels. In other words, slap a feel- good tag on it and send it to the mall.
The desire for guilt-free shopping is far easier for the spin doctors at Nike to handle than a politicized public's demands for real justice. Which is why, if we truly object to corporations scouring the globe for the most exploitable work force, we shouldn't just switch brands. We should devote ourselves to opposing the further deregulation of world markets and attacking the Chretien government for abandoning human rights as a basis for foreign policy.
We should also bombard Nike CEO Philip Knight with postcards and petitions telling him that when minimum wage isn't enough to stave off malnutrition, paying minimum wage is a cause for shame -- not pride.
Most of all, we should do all of this so publicly that thinking people everywhere begin to push their Nike-logo-festooned T- shirts and caps to the backs of their closets like last year's bad idea.
Sukaesih is hopeful that the Nike PR department is underestimating the true depth of public concern. "I really believe that this tour will give Nike a lesson," she told the crowd in Vancouver, "and one of the lessons is that it's not only me looking for justice, it's all of you people all over the world who are still looking for justice."