ASIET Net News 23 - June 2-8, 1997

Mirah Mardika: I don't agree with those that say that the boycott actions were a total failure. From the beginning, our view was that the measure of success for the boycott campaign would be how it was able to mobilise masses. It is true that on election day and immediately afterwards there were no actions. But the opportunities for mass actions has rather opened up now, after the elections. Actions rejecting the election results and the coming Special Session of the Peoples Consultative Assembly. The opportunities for actions around these issues is growing larger given the disappointment among the PPP and PDI, because the elections were indeed full of fraud.

This is the coming together of three issues: the Mega-Star-People issue which enlarged the opposition party; the KIPP issue which keeps pressure of GOLKAR to limit its unbridled theft of other parties votes; and the Election Boycott as a direct rejection of the elections. Prior to voting day, these three tactics may have seemed contradictory. But now they all come together in the call to reject the election results.

Liberation: How will the masses be gathered together now after the elections?

Mirah MARDIKA: The opportunities for mass actions are greater now. But we must realise too that the mood of the masses has experienced an anti-climax. This is a product of the "floating mass" system where the people are only mobilised at election time and after that the people are kept away from politics.

In the PRD's view, it is now the task of the pro-democracy movement to raise the mood for the masses again. One way is to initiate actions to reject the election results and demand that the elections be held again nationally. The actions by the Movement in Support of Megawati and the Padjadjaran University students are good examples and should be followed by other groups. This way it can snowball, as actions did when Megawati was under attack from the government.

We need to unite all the pro-democracy groups, especially the PPP and Megawati supporters. We will continue our support for the Mega-Star-People coalition so that it grows. The unity of the pro-democratic forces is the key to more people on the streets.

Liberation: What if the PPP Central Committee accepts the election results. Then you would have a situation where the aggrieved party had accepted the results but outsiders continued to whinge?

Mirah Mardika: That is not a concern! We have to prove to the people which is the correct choice: accept the results, perhaps with some noted qualifications, or reject them. Our task is to explain to the people that the election results should not be accepted, because they have been corrupted. If we accept corrupted elections, it means we support corrupt practices. And such corrupt elections can only hurt the people. And we can be clear as to why the elections can be so easily corrupted: because of the Dual Function of the military.

Liberation: When might the galvanising of mass support climax again?

MM: With the rejection of Suharto's renomination as President [in March 1998] and the demand that he be held accountable for 31 years of oppression of the Indonesian people.

Liberation: There are many commentators, such as Daniel Lev, that say that Suharto will now make som concessions to the pro- democracy movement in order to save himself. This hypothesis seems to be strengthened by General Syarwan Hamid's offer of a dialogue with the pro-democracy groups.

MM: Dialogue or political concessions with changes to the political system, such as the end of the political role of the military or without the repeal of the 5 political laws, would be just deceiving the people. The PRD is not opposed to dialogue, but neither are we into political deal making. Concessions which don't help cure our country's sickness will just deceive the people. It will be just some political figures that will get the concessions, put crudely bribes, but will it mean for the peoples' sovereignty.

The issue is clear. It is the dual role of the Armed Forces [i.e. its role in politics] and the five political laws that is the cause of the rottenness of our political system. There is no way that these two pillars of dictatorship will be overthrown just with dialogue. What strength will the pro-democracy groups have to bring pressure to bear on the regime in this dialogue? None! Our strength comes from the people, and our weapon is mass action. I hope that the pro-democractic groups do not develop any illusions in this dialogue.

Liberation: Perhaps such a dialogue could hold back the victims on both sides, for example by preventing more riots?

Mirah Mardika: Even if there is an Armed Forces – Pro- democracy dialogue,the unrest will continue to erupt while the peoples aspirations are suffocated and they continue to be politically and economically oppressed. Especially if this dialogue is with figures who have no mass base, what will it mean for stopping the unrest erupting?

Even Gus Dur, head of the Nahdatul Ulama, who is very influential among his masses, was unable to prevent the masses from rioting. Over and over again he called on his mass base not to become involved in the rioting. But what happened? Rioting continued in all the mass bases of the NU.

What does all this mean? It means the people are angry and looking for a way to express their anger.

If the existing mass organisations, political parties and pro- democracy figures are unable to respond, then the effect will be anarchism. So don't be surprised if so many secular street heavies end up participating in PPP campaigns or religious unrest. Because these PPP campaigns or religious, or ethnic rioting are only arenas, places where the people express their anger.

The real sources of the problem is what I have mentioned earlier: social inequality and the suffocating of peoples aspirations.

Notes

1. Mega-Star-the People: a slogan popualrised during the election campaign calling on the forces of Megawati, the moslem United Development Party and bropader popular forces to unit in a mass movement to replace Suharto.

2. Nahdatul Ulama, a large tradition bound moslem organisation. Its head, Abdurrahman Wahid supported Tutut SUharto during the recent election campaign and also called on megawati supporters not to follow her example and boycott the election.

3. General Syarwan Hamid is Political and Social Affairs spokesperson for Armed Forces headquarters.

4. KIPP - an independent election monitoring committee in which the PRD played a major role until the PRD was forced underground.

[Translated by Max Lane]

Budiman Sujatmiko to be moved to "Devils island" prison?

ASIET - June 6, 1997

ASIET has received information, still to be confirmed, that there are plans to move Budiman Sujatmiko, President of the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD), to Nusakambangan prison.

Budiman was recently sentenced to 13 years prison for leading the PRD in its struggle against the Suharto dictatorship.

Nusakambangan prison is notorious for its bad conditions. It is on Nusakambangan island off the south coast of Java. It is generally inaccessible to the press and visitors.

No political prisoners have been located there for many years.

If it is confirmed that Budiman is to be moved to Nusakambangan, ASIET will be calling on all support groups, progressives and democrats to launch a campaign to stop this move, or if he is moved quickly to get him back to Jakarta – and then freed, with all other political prisoners!

Nusakambangan cannot be considered safe.

May 29 elections

50 youths reject the election results and demand elections re-run

Info Pembebasan (Liberation) - June 4, 1997

On Tuesday June 3, around 50 youths from the Megawati Supporters Group (Gerakan Pendukung Megawati, GPM) held an action at the national headquarters of the United Development Party (PPP). The banners reading "Mega prevented from winning, PPP cheated, the people deceived, reject the 1997 election results" invited the PPP leadership to reject the results of the 1997 elections and demand a re-run on a national level.

After a free speech forum they held discussions with PPP staff. The PPP responded positively to the youths.

According to GPM, the results of the elections cannot be accepted because they are full of fraudulence. They were of the view that the ousting of Megawati Sukarnoputri from her official position as the chair of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) was one part of Golkar's fraud in winning the elections. Golkar also carried out a number of other fraudulent acts, especially with regard to the PPP. The banning of [the slogan] "Mega- Star- People" in the campaign was part of this. Because the unity of Megawati supporters within PPP during the elections truly threatened Golkar's ambition for a "sole majority".

The demand for an election re-run by GPM is not just partial, in the region where elections could not be held because of rioting by large numbers of people. But must be national, because it was not just a failure of the count, but fraud.

A national election re-run, if fulfilled would certainly have significant consequences for Golkar. Because the re-run must be done on the condition that the elections are honest and fair, without cheating. This means there can be no banning of the "Mega-Star- People" coalition. If there is still fraudulence, the results of the election re-run must again be rejected and re-run again. If this is applied, according to estimates, Golkar will loose in Java and Jakarta. Because Golkar's basis to date has come from the outer regions [small/isolated villages], which do not get sufficient information.

Certainly the government, Golkar and the armed forces will not want to re-run the election. Because their aim has already been achieved, that is to legitimise the authorities. But PPP still has a great opportunity to exert pressure so that their demands are fulfilled. PPP's weapon is the support of the people, so the PPP – officially or not – must carry out protest actions which involve mass support, or carry out mass actions. Let the people themselves see, how bit the peoples' support is for demands that the elections be re-run.

It is rather difficult for the official PPP leaders to hold a mass actions. Because, for the official leaders of the party they are caught [lit. snared] by a bureaucratic network. It would be best for the PPP, with regard to mass action, to learn from the pro-Megawati PDI. The pro-Megawati PDI [leadership] never organised a mass action. The mass actions were held by Megawati support committees, of so many different names and types in each region. This is to avoid repression. When the regime carries out repression it has never been able to repress the main organisations, it only able to repress these committees. In the same way if they take the leaders to trial, the regime is only able to try the committee leaders, certainly not all of them, because they total so many, and others will take their place. The official leaders of the party cannot be tried, because they are not involved. So in this case, the job of the party leaders is to make statements of support for these actions though the mass media. Thus when the PPP cadres truly want to seize their rights, their victory which was corrupted by Golkar, they must quickly form support committees for the PPP leadership. It is these committees which will carry out protest actions and demand a national election re-run.

The PPP cadre do not need to be afraid of threads by the authorities. Because the authorities who are evil and have stolen the peoples' voice. It was proved, that the evil actions of the authorities against Megawati became a weapon against themselves. After the authorities expelled Mega, the number of sympathisers grew even more. If the authorities act the same towards the PPP, certainly it will be the same. But if the PPP continues to be silent, while in reality the PPP and the people know that the elections were full of fraudulence, the result will be that the sympathy of the people toward the PPP will decrease. They are afraid of the risks in just struggling for their rights, furthermore struggling for the rights of the majority of people has a heavier risk, that is their logic.

[Translated by James Balowski]

Indonesians stay away from re-vote in Madura

Straits Times - June 5, 1997

Sampang – Indonesia held an unprecedented re-vote on Madura island yesterday following violence in last week's general election, but many in the area appeared to have stayed away from the polls.

The re-vote of more than 40,000 voters was held in Sampang district on the island off East Java yesterday amid tight security.

It was ordered after supporters of the Muslim-backed United Development Party (PPP) went on a rampage after the May 29 election and burned ballot boxes on reports that the ruling Golkar party was sweeping the polls.

At the number six booth in Rongtengah, an area of Sampang with a number of Islamic schools, the head of the booth, Mr Fattah, said there were 531 registered voters, of whom 506 voted last week.

But yesterday, the only voters were the eight officials manning the booth.

"I don't know why they didn't come. The eight votes were only those of the polling station officials and witnesses," he told Reuters. Other polling stations had more voters, but the overall turnout appeared to be down sharply. The official results were to be released in Surabaya today. Golkar, in power for most of President Suharto's rule, swept last week's poll with more than 74 per cent of the vote. The PPP took just under 23 per cent and the fragmented Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), the only other party entitled to contest the polls, won 3 per cent.

The government imposed tight military and police security on Madura to prevent a recurrence of last week's rioting, in which offices, homes, shops and a church were burned or damaged and polling boxes from Sampang destroyed.

East Java military commander Major-General Imam Utomo had issued a shoot-on- the-spot order in case of further violence, Antara reported.

In Jakarta, the PPP and the PDI said they had witnessed a number of irregularities in the election in which nearly 90 per cent of the 125 million eligible voters cast their ballots.

The 27-day campaign also saw the worst political violence in three decades, primarily between supporters of the PPP and Golkar. Financial markets were carefully monitoring the actions of the PPP, which was due to meet today to decide whether to accept the result, for fear of further violence.

Sampang, a sleepy coastal town of about 100,000 people, was quiet yesterday 12under heavy security. The central market and many shops were closed as shopkeepers said they feared more violence.

Officials originally said the re-vote, unprecedented in Indonesia's history, would be held at 86 polling stations. But the head of the Sampang regency, Mr Fadhilah Budiono, said 21 of the vote boxes believed destroyed had been found.

The PPP had said it would not supply witnesses for yesterday's re-vote, but stopped short of calling for an illegal boycott.

It appeared that polling booth officers were hauling in passers- by to act as witnesses to make up the numbers.

Puppet PDI disappointed with government

SiaR - June 3, 1997

Jakarta – The alliance between the puppet Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) lead by Soerjadi and those who have so far supported them, the government, has already split. This is indicated by the possibility that the PDI will withdraw all of its legislators from the parliament for the period 1997-2002 because they are deeply disappointed. The puppet PDI is also considering the possibility of not endorsing the results of the 1997 elections.

This new maneuver by the puppet PDI has surprised many and was taken up by leaders who felt disappointed with the votes the PDI obtained in the elections. The votes obtained by the puppet PDI since the mass campaign continue to be upset by activists and supporters of the pro-Megawati PDI, is obviously are not in accord with what had already been promised by the government to the puppet PDI who succeeded in ousting Megawati through the Medan congress. Apparently, Major General Syarwan Hamid promised to secure seats in the parliament for the PDI. It is said that Soerjadi held Syarwan's promise as vow of blood/death (janji mati).

Speculation of the withdrawal of the PDI from the ranks of the parliament are linked with the emergence of disappointment in the ranks of the PDI central leadership that clearly, what was prioritised by Soerjadi, the promise of seats was not certain. Another source said that the puppet PDI felt offended by the statement by the Golkar leader Agung Laksono who said "...we are prepared to give a part of our votes to the PDI". Agung's statement has apparently angered the puppet PDI figures, including Buttu Hutapea [who played a major role in engineering the Medan congress and the ousting of Megawati Sukarnoputri – JB]. There is also speculation that the step to withdrawal the PDI from the parliament is a new maneuver by the puppet PDI to regain sympathy from society. Especially after the government no longer gave support and 100% protection to Soerjadi's leadership.

A SiaR source said that the Minister of Home Affairs, Yogi S Mamet was able to profit from the speculation which was spread by the media today. A "government team" has now been delegated to lobby the puppet PDI group which is sulking. The results are not known. What is clear, is that the experience of the puppet PDI split has resulted in many people who have already given service [to Soerjadi's PDI] but will not get a new seat [in parliament] will determine their official position on Tuesday (3/6) this afternoon. At the time this report went to print, SiaR has not yet heard any news.

From the results of vote counting by LPU up until June 2, the puppet PDI had only obtained 10 seats in parliament representing eight provinces. The minimal vote obtained, according to a number of parties, will have an impact on the parliament. All groupings are proposing that the government carry out a reevaluation of the PDI. On the other hand, there are those who propose that it is best if the PDI just dissolves itself. "Aside from not representing the broader aspirations of Indonesian society it also only confuses the system of state regulations which we adhere to" said a legal expert on state regulations from the University of Indonesia.

[Translated by James Balowski]

Golput greater than puppet PDI votes

SiaR - June 3, 1997

Jakarta – All of the predictions and results of research said that the Golput figure would increase in the 1997 elections, now it has come true. Prior to this, the results of polling of Indonesian University students and KNPI research in Malang [which indicated large percentages of students would Golput - JB] was completely rejected by the authorities. But this was revealed from the counting of votes entered into the General Elections Body (LPU) up until Friday (30/5) midnight. In the end, the number of votes reached 107,613,616 or around 87.27% of the total votes in the 1997 elections.

In Jakarta the size of Golput was quite surprising. The figure reached 31.08% of 7,453,416 voters. This figure is far greater than that received by the puppet Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) lead by Soerjadi which only obtained 1.94% of the vote or only 99,414 votes. While in Surabaya a similar phenomena was shown. In the heart of the region of Governor Basofi Sudirman which stands furthest forward as an opponent of the Megawati leadership, the Golput figure reached 21.3%. This figure is still far higher compared to the vote obtained by the puppet PDI, that is only 4.7%.

Golput figures were also high in areas known by people as "often disappointed by the New Order". For example Lampung where it reached 30.68% and Irian Jaya as high as 21.79%.

Golput actions in elections this time were carried out by members of society who were aware that their choice would not result in any kind of change, by loudly refusing to go to the polling stations, although they already had C cards. Others voted but by marking all three party symbols and invalidating their own vote. This group is often dubbed "Goltus", that is "The group that marks them all" (Golongan Tusuk Semua). The most extreme are those who Golputed by refusing to be registered as voters although they had the right.

Many groups believe that if it had not been for the cheating which was carried out by Golkar and the government in the election administration, the Golput vote would be far greater. It is well known, based on the reports given to the United Development Party (PPP) monitoring posts and the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP), that there were many civil servants and Golkar cadre who voted twice. Once at their local polling station then again at their office polling station. "This doesn't yet [include] blank ballot papers with the Golput symbol already marked which were prepared before hand to exchange with invalid and PPP votes", said a student activist which helped at a PPP complaint post.

LPU itself has stated officially that there are 124 million from 200,008,778 million who had the right to vote in the 1997 elections.

[Translated by James Balowski]

11 Sampang PPP cadres shot by military

Siar - June 1, 1997

Sampang – At least 11 United Development Party (PPP) supporters were wounded when shot by the military during a riot which occurred in the villages of Sampang and Pemekasan, Madura. The masses emotions rose because they were prevented from voting last May 29. Polling station officials refused thousands of fanatic PPP supporters on the grounds that they did not have a C card which functions as an invitation [to vote]. The thousands of people who arrived were soon angered because they already held official yellow cards voting cards.

Dissatisfied with being rejected, thousands of people at a number of villages went to the offices of the local village heads. The village offices said that it had been determined by the ward offices (Camat). They then went to the ward offices to ask why they had not been given a C card. However government officials could not give an answer. The masses armed with sickles, knives and clubs destroyed the government offices.

Because it was already afternoon and they had still not been able to vote, thousands of people went to the city centre heading for the Sampang Regent's offices. Thousands of PPP supporters easily controlled the city, damaging and burning government offices, the Kedungdung police headquarters and the Sampang Golkar offices. They also destroyed houses of local Golkar supporters and sized ballot boxes.

By that night, thousands of people were in control of the city and roads leading to Pendopo. The Sampang Regent, H Fadhilah Budiono and his family were evacuated to the Sampang police headquarters. It was not until almost midnight, that with the help of East Java troops, that the situation in Sampang was restored.

Although the city was under control, the masses were still able to destroy a bridge joining Kedungdung and Tambelangan.

At the same time in Omben the masses were about to move off to Sampang because they had heard news that the child of a Kiai (Islamic Teacher), Alawy Mohammad, a Nahdlatul Ulama (Association of Muslim Scholars, NU) figure, a PPP leader and guardian of the Attaroqi Pesantren (Islamic School), had been shot dead by the military. The masses delayed moving off because they were prevented by Kiai Alawy.

Aside from Sampang, riots also occurred in Pamekasan. The Pegantenan and Pamekasan police headquarters were destroyed and set afire by the masses. In a number of places thousands of determined masses ran away with ballot boxes. In many places the people were angry because at a number of polling stations where thousands of fanatic PPP supporters had voted, when the votes were counted Golkar swept to victory. Furthermore, there were a number of civil servants who while taking ballot boxes to the ward offices [for counting]`stopped of at their homes. In a number of places, the people were able to catch civil servants read handed as they swapped PPP votes with Golkar votes. The were people who found destroyed ballot papers in civil servants houses, those who should have been safeguarding the elections.

In East Java, the Selomukti village polling station, in the Mlandingan ward, Situbondo, was burnt down by the masses. The masses who totaled around a thousand people then set fire to the house of the Selomukti village head. On Friday (30/5) or the day after voting, Surabaya was shaken by news of a bomb and attacks on public places. Because of this panzers and thousands of troops were deployed. Similar news shook Medan, North Sumatra several days before the elections.

In Ciputat, Jakarta, a petrol bomb was thrown at a polling station by an unknown person riding a car on the night before the elections. The polling booth's awning was burnt and police were deployed around the area but did not pursue the culprit.

On the election day, a Bank Rakyat Indonesia building in Kota (North Jakarta) was burnt. The fire destroyed the third floor and four buildings are not being used as of today. According to a SiaR source, the building was intentionally burnt to give the impression that there was an extremist group who were trying to disrupt the elections by means of terror and violence. The aim was to attract peoples attention so that they would be sympathetic to the government. The SiaR source said that the floor which was burnt was already empty and [its contents/function] moved to a new building.

Riots also occurred at the same time in East Timor. In Lautem, Baucau and Ermera, Fretilin guerrillas attacked polling stations and killed a number of soldiers and civilians. Two Dili mobile patrol officers were also killed in an attack on the mobile brigade headquarters in Bairopote, Dili. 13 Temorese died in these incidents shot dead by the military.

[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski]

Golkar won because of fraud, manipulation and coercion

SiaR - June 2, 1997

Jakarta – The votes obtained by Golkar skyrocketed leaving the United Development Party (PPP) trailing behind at the end of vote counting. In Jakarta, a region PPP expected to mark a victory, Golkar achieved almost one million votes.

This result is not believed by the PPP headquarters. Indications of fraud were encountered by one of the PPP leaders Tosari Wijaya, in a number of regions in Indonesia. The PPP Secretary General has requested a recount. Although certainly it is not possible to directly access the vote counting in the General Election Institution who's personnel are all made up of government people.

According to a PPP meeting, in a number of areas votes were not counted at poling stations but taken directly to the ward level [for counting]. In Sumenep, 1,119 ballot boxes were not counted at the stations. Similarly, with 3,715 ballot boxes in Central Sulawasi. Similar cases were found by PPP in West Sumatra and Pelembang.

Aside from this fraud PPP also found "vote buying". In Jakarta, according to PPP, government institutions gave between 60 and 100 thousand Rupiah and furthermore there were those given one months wages to choose Golkar. It is not clear from were these funds were obtained. It is possibe that the money for "vote buying" were taken from state funds.

Civil servants who voted twice were also found by PPP. Muhammad Buang, a PPP national office functionary caught a village secretary voting twice in the Kepulauan Riau regency. Fraud also occurred in Central Java in Batang and Demak. In Bandar Lampung, people have demanded a recount because of indications of manipulation.

According to Tosari Wijaya, PPP is in the middle of considering what legal steps to take through the Association of Indonesian Advocates and the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute.

According to SiaR's monitoring, the counting of votes on May 29 was certainly coloured by much fraudulence and pressure against voters. For example, the Bakrie Brothers holding company owned by the Bakrie family, which is near the palace directed all of its employees to choose Golkar. They were promised they would be given a bonus of one months wages and their wage would be increased if Golkar won 100% at Bakrie Brothers. However if there was a single voter who did not choose Golkar, the wage rises and promises would be canceled. In Kuningan, Bakrie was the first to vote. Before placing his ballot in the box, Bakrie waved his hands at the employees while holding up to fingers saying "We are deeply indebted with this".

Employees of the Bank Internasional Indonesia throughout Jakarta were also promised one months wages if they voted Golkar. Similarly companies owned by the palace's family [Suharto family] gave out money to their employees and workers to vote Golkar.

In Jakarta, civil servants and [employees] of state owned companies were given 40 thousand Rupiah transport money so they could vote Golkar in two places. Rumors that there was a "Dawn Operation (Operasi Fajar) as voting approached have become fact. In the regions of East Jakarta and Depok [South of Jakarta], local people were asked to vote Golkar in exchange for a voucher which could be exchanged for 30 kg of rice and a variety of other foods. At the Tanah Abang market members of Golkar youth also gave out 20 thousand Rupiah to street vendors, of course, while asking them to vote Golkar.

Coercion of this kind also occurred in Indonesian senior high schools [student in their last year of high school are eligible to vote - JB]. Teachers threaded students that if they wanted to pass their exams they must vote Golkar. Senior high school students in Jakarta told SiaR they were threatened by the teachers to get them to vote Golkar. In Jakarta, the Department of Education and Culture threatened heads of senior high schools to achieve a victory for Golkar in each of their schools. Senior high school students in Indonesia must vote at their schools in order to make it easier to control those who do not [wish] vote Golkar.

A private senior high school head in Jakarta told a SiaR source that at their school would be placed on a Department of Education and Culture black list if Golkar did not win 100% at their school. "Rather than have our schools accreditation dropped Golkar had to win at our school" he said.

[Unabridged translation by James Balowski]

Vote-rigging row and riots mar election

South China Morning Post - May 31, 1997

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – Riots and protests at alleged vote- rigging yesterday greeted the ruling Golkar party's triumph in the legislative election.

The Muslim-backed United Development Party (PPP) demanded a new poll in areas where election counting was done secretly, while a poll watchdog blasted election violations.

Golkar had 78,746,173 of the 106,398,721 valid votes at the latest count, according to the National Elections Institute. President Suharto's party was on course to beat its target of 70 per cent of the vote, up from 68 per cent in the 1992 election. A party spokesman called the margin of victory "surprising".

Thousands of people rioted on the streets of Sampang, the main city on the East Java island of Madura, after the vote count showed Golkar in the lead.

Police said prolonged disturbances lasted into yesterday morning. Mobs attacked government offices, shops and vehicles. Police arrested 24 people.

Madura, off the coast of East Java province, is a Muslim stronghold and has a large concentration of PPP supporters.

Six people were reportedly killed in the unrest.

Hundreds of people attacked an election official in the South Sumatran capital of Lampung, demanding a recount after he announced a massive provisional lead for Golkar. One man was knifed in the attack.

Residents in the industrial region of Tangerang near Jakarta beat up a group of 60 voters from outside the area who said they were paid to vote for Golkar. The rioters burned of ballot boxes, Media Indonesia reported.

In the troubled province of East Timor, the death toll from election eve violence rose to 18 people, according to East Timor police.

Residents said calm had returned to the capital Dili.

PPP secretary-general Tosari Widjaya said the party was asking for a new poll "in all areas where the ballots were not counted openly".

"This is a most serious problem," he said. Mr Widjaya said scores of ballot boxes were not counted in the polling booths, but were taken to sub-district government offices to be counted behind closed doors in more than 10 provinces. The areas included Madura, South Sumatra, West Java and Riau.

"If the Government does not respond to our charges, we may consider not signing the election results," said PPP chairman Jusuf Syakir.

An election official said last night voting would be re-run "soon" at 13 polling boths on Madura.

The Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) cited multiple voting and intimidation of party monitors. "There is an indication that there were systematic violations and fraud," said KIPP chairman Goenawan Mohammad.

The group said that, in the 609 polling stations it monitored in 13 cities, there was evidence of double voting in 15 per cent of the places and violent incidents in six per cent of polling areas.

"In 21 per cent of the polling stations we have evidence that puts the results into question," said KIPP Secretary General Mulyana Kusumah. Party monitors were forced to leave 7.7 per cent of the polling stations and votes were not counted openly in seven per cent of the areas where KIPP's 8,000 volunteers were.

In 21 per cent of the polling stations we have evidence that puts the results into question

East Timor

12 dead, 200 held' in army backlash

South China Morning Post - June 5, 1997

Darwin – Twelve people have been killed and more than 200 arrested in the town of Baucau in the past two days, East Timorese activists said yesterday.

More deaths and arrests were suspected in the capital Dili, as well as in Los Palos.

Students and primary school teachers were among those arrested following rebel attacks against Indonesian forces.

"There is strong evidence to indicate that close to 2,000 East Timorese might be rounded up all over the territory in the security sweep," the Darwin-based East Timor International Support Centre added in a statement.

The claims came the day after a significant increase in police and troop movements – including roadblocks – was observed in Dili.

On Tuesday, the military announced that no foreign journalists would be permitted to work in East Timor, and a correspondent from Australian Associated Press was ordered to leave.

On Saturday rebels killed 16 police and a soldier in a grenade attack on a truck near Baucau – the worst violence in East Timor since 1991.

Rebels also opened fire on security forces sent to the region for Indonesia's elections last Thursday, injuring 11.

The support centre called on the international community to intervene to protect innocent East Timorese and appealed to the Indonesian forces "not to look for scapegoats".

East Timor: Guerrilla attacks

Human Rights Watch/Asia - June 4, 1997

A series of attacks between May 27 and May 31 by resistance forces in East Timor, leading to the deaths of at least nine civilians and more than twenty military and police, has led to widespread arrests of suspected resistance supporters throughout the territory. Human Rights Watch/Asia condemns any targeting of civilians or other non- combatants by East Timorese guerrillas as being in clear violation of international humanitarian law. But it is also concerned about reports of manhunts by the military in the aftermath of the violence and widespread arrests in Dili, Baucau, Ermera and Los Palos under circumstances in which torture is likely. The International Committee of the Red Cross was expected to have access to the detainees on Monday, by which time some of those detained would have been in custody for over a week. Human Rights Watch/Asia calls on both sides of the conflict to respect international human rights and humanitarian principles and urges the Indonesian government to allow unhindered access to all parts of East Timor by human rights organizations, both domestic and international. An immediate visit to East Timor by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture would be a particularly useful precautionary measure.

The attacks over the last week appeared to be a coordinated effort by the resistance to disrupt the May 29 polling in East Timor to elect members to the Indonesian parliament. According to reports received by Human Rights Watch but not independently confirmed, the two attacks involving civilians took place in Baucau, East Timor's second largest town, and Los Palos, further east. The victims in Los Palos included an East Timorese man named Castelho, locally known as a supporter of East Timor's integration with Indonesia and therefore opposed to independence. About 8:00 p.m. on May 28, Castelho and his family, together with some schoolteachers from eastern Indonesia, were at his home watching television when guerrillas vandalized the satellite dish outside. When the group went out to see what had caused the television reception to suddenly go bad, they were confronted by guerrillas who asked why he had signed documents formalizing East Timor's integration and who then opened fire on Castelho and three of his children. Theteachers started running toward the district military command, but because all the alleyways were controlled by the guerrillas, they had no way out and were also shot and killed. Castelho was the younger brother of the head of the district parliament in Los Palos. According to this report, the guerrillas had come to Castelho's house on a motorcycle they had taken from a transmigration center in Muapitini after killing two soldiers and a transmigrant from Bali. According to a different report, the guerrillas went to the transmigration site and took a Balinese family hostage – also in clear contravention of international humanitarian law. They eventually released the wife and child but shot and killed the man; there was no mention in the second report of soldiers having been killed.

On the same day in Baucau, guerrillas shot and killed Miguel Baptismo da Silva, aged fifty-four, and his wife. Miguel had been the head of the district parliament from 1987 to 1992. One report said they were attacked at their home; a second report said they were in their car at the time they were shot.

The protection of civilians and non-combatants in situations of internal armed conflict has become a key principle of customary law and is formally set forth in Article 3, common to the Geneva Conventions, often known as the "rules of war." Common Article 3 prohibits, among other things, any "violence to life and person" of those taking no active part in hostilities. The attacks on the Castelho family, the Balinese migrant, and the couple in Baucau, if reports are accurate, appear to be in clear violation of that principle.

These attacks on civilians were part of a much broader wave of violence throughout East Timor. On May 27, a group of unidentified youths attacked a number of election officials in the village of Nunira, subdistrict Laga, Baucau, on the road to Baguia. Two election officials were reportedly killed, Police Sgt. Abdullah Syukur and Army Sgt. Sitepu. Four people were said to have been seriously wounded and evacuated to Dili while three others sustained less serious injuries.

On May 28, at about 8:30 p.m., Wednesday night, an estimated fourteen youths drove up in a red Kijang vehicle to a guard post of Company A of the police mobile brigade (Brimob) in Bairopite, West Dili, and said they were voters. They then opened fire. Five policemen were wounded, while three of the attackers were shot dead and two others died in the Wira Husada military hospital. A third, the driver of the vehicle, Adeliode Fatima, was detained. He and others arrested later are reportedly being held at Dili police headquarters.

On May 29, in the village of Seisal, Baucau, voting was delayed a day and could only take place on Friday May 30 because the polling place was attacked by an unidentified group. An election official named Abinau Salay, who was a member of a civilian militia group called Wanra (an acronym for Perlawanan Rakyat or People's Resistance) was hacked with a machete and wounded. Ten people were arrested, according to local officials, and are detained in district police headquarters in Baucau.

On the same day, in Assumano, Liquica, a soldier was wounded when a grenade was tossed into a voting booth. Two polling places and a village administrative office were reportedly burned down in Baucau and Ermera, according to the then military commander for East Timor, Col. Mahidin Simbolon, in a statement on May 30. One soldier was reported to have been killed in one of the attacks in Ermera, but his death has not been confirmed. On May 31, another major attack took place. According to press reports, twenty-six policemen and two soldiers were driving along the road in Quelicai, Baucau, in a Hino truck, when they were stopped by several men wearing Indonesian armed forces uniforms. The truck stopped to pick up the men, when the latter threw a grenade into the truck. An oil drum of gasoline in the back of the truck exploded, and in the resulting inferno, thirteen of the people in the truck were burned to death and four were shot as they tried to escape. The dead included sixteen policemen and one soldier. It was unclear if there were any casualties among the attackers. On the same day as the grenade attack, Col. Simbolon stepped down as military commander, but it was unclear whether there was a direct connection. His designated successor, Col.Slamat Sidabutur, was not yet in place.

In the aftermath of these attacks, East Timor has been effectively closed to journalists, and a massive round-up is reported to be taking place of suspected resistance supporters. According to the East Timor police chief, Col. Jusuf Muchtaram, thirteen rebels and nine of their civilian supporters were under arrest in Dili as of June 1. The army said thirty had been arrested, and more were being sought. Torture has been a common practice in East Timor as a way of extracting information about rebel movements. The comments of the division commander based in Bali, whose territorial jurisdiction includes East Timor, were not encouraging in this regard. "I hope they cooperate by telling us where their friends are hiding out and who their mastermind is," he told the Indonesian news agency, Antara. Those arrested included veteran activist and former political prisoner David Dias Ximenes who was arrested in Bairopite, Dili on May 30 and charged with armed rebellion in connection with the attack on the Company A guard post. The charge carries a maximum sentence of twenty years. Ximenes has been allowed to see a lawyer. Five others reported arrested in connection with the same attack include two men, Joao Angelo and Francisco Magno, both from Ainaro, as well as a man named Jose Acacio and his wife. Unconfirmed reports also suggest that reprisal operations were underway in Los Palos but no clear information was available.

As of June 4, the National Human Rights Commission, Komnas, had taken no action to investigate events in East Timor, as its Jakarta-based members were busy investigating election-related violence in Indonesia proper, and the Dili office did not appear to be functioning.

East Timor military commander replaced

Reuters - May 31, 1997

Jakarta – Indonesia on Saturday replaced its army commander in the heavily militarised province of East Timor, days after the deadliest wave of violence in the territory in recent years, the Antara news agency reported.

Antara said Colonel Mahidin Simbolon surrendered his command of the Wira Dharma military district in a ceremony in the East Timorese capital Dili after a two-year tour of duty.

Simbolon, a special forces officer appointed to the position in May 1995, came to prominence in 1992 for his key role in the capture of East Timorese rebel leader Xanana Gusmao, now serving a 20-year prison term in Jakarta.

Antara said he would be replaced soon by infantry Colonel Slamat Sidabutur, who was currently on an undisclosed training course.

Diplomatic analysts said it appeared to be a routine change of command.

The report made no reference to a series of clashes between security forces and armed rebels in East Timor on Wednesday and Thursday during bids by opponents of Indonesia's rule in the territory to disrupt Thursday's general election.

Police said at least 17 people were killed in poll-related violence in East Timor on Wednesday and Thursday, including four rebels and one soldier.

Diplomats said separatists had wanted to demonstrate their strength in East Timor and the result was the worst violence in the territory in years.

Indonesia occupied the former Portuguese territory in 1975 and annexed it the following year.

The United Nations still refuses to recognise Indonesia's sovereignty over East Timor, and Portugal said on Thursday it had protested to the world body over the elections.

The Indonesian military, which maintains a strong presence in East Timor, says about 80 poorly armed guerrillas remain in the rugged hills in the territory. Other sources suggest there are around 200.

Jakarta officially has five full battalions of troops as well as other units in East Timor numbering around 5,000 men, far higher than neighbouring provinces with much larger populations.

Labour issues

Oppose the manpower bill in Indonesia!

Asia Monitor Resource Centre (Abridged) - June 4, 1997

On June 16, 1997, the Indonesian Government will introduce the Manpower Bill to parliament and force its passage into law, thereby consolidating its repression of the labour movement. This proposed 'Law on Manpower' will give the Government extensive control over every aspect of industrial relations, with unlimited power to intervene in labour disputes, and direct control over trade unions in the workplace. The new law will severely restrict workers' organizing activities and reduce their collective bargaining power.

The Manpower Bill embodies all of the anti-worker legislation which prompted mass protests and strikes recently in South Korea and Australia. As members of the APEC free trade regime, the Governments of these countries have imposed a neoliberal agenda which combines free trade and freedom for international capital with strong state intervention to repress workers' movements and systematically destroy workers' collective rights. While labour standards in industrialized and newly industrializing countries are being driven down by global competition to attract transnational capital, countries such as Indonesia are driving standards even lower by institutionalizing its repressive labour practices in a new law which supposedly clarifies workers' "rights". The proposed law only clarifies workers' rights to the extent that it's clear they don't have any.

If the Manpower Bill is passed by parliament it will impose severe restrictions on the right to organize and freedom of association, the right to bargain collectively and the right to strike. Without these fundamental rights the provisions in the Bill concerning wages and working hours cannot be monitored or enforced. The extent of this attack on workers' fundamental rights is demonstrated in the following aspects of the Manpower Bill:

(1) Restrictions on freedom of association and reinforcement of the system requiring unions to be registered with and approved by the Government (Article 34). This reinforces the Decree of the Minister of Manpower (No.PER01/MEN/1994) on the establishment of trade unions in workplaces, whereby all trade unions must register with the Ministry of Manpower and provide a list of names of trade union committee members. The Decree bans union pluralism in the workplace and states that trade unions must seek affiliation to the Government-controlled All Indonesia Workers' Union (SPSI). (2) Severe restrictions on the right to strike, with unlimited power of Government intervention to end disputes. These restrictions include the requirement that workers seek permission from the Government at least 72 hours before strike action, and that the names of strike leaders must be submitted to the Government (Article 85).

(3) Article 83 bans sympathy strikes and strikes which are not directly related to the company concerned.

(4) Article 84 further undermines workers' right to strike by stating that: "Workers shall have no rights to wages during a strike."

(5) Strike action is restricted to the company grounds and any strike action taken outside is illegal. This effectively prevents workers from participating in protest marches or public demonstrations. At the same time, Article 88 allows employers to expel workers from the company grounds: "All employers have the right to start a lockout."

(6) Collective bargaining rights are not guaranteed.

(7) Collective agreements only need to contain references to the "rights and obligations" of employers and workers, and company rules and regulations. Agreements do not need to contain specific provisions on wages, working hours, or working conditions. Also, employers can replace collective agreements with "company regulations" when a union "no longer exists" in the workplace.

(8) Collective agreements must be negotiated "without any pressure", which means workers cannot petition the management or threaten industrial action to enforce their demands. (9) There is inadequate protection against unfair dismissal. In addition, Article 78 fails to guarantee the right to compensation for dismissed workers by stating that dismissed workers should receive severance pay or service money or compensation, when in fact workers should be entitled to all of these.

(10) There is inadequate protection of the rights of women workers, child and youth labour, Indonesian workers for overseas employment, and foreigners. This problem also applies to the provisions on health and safety.

(11) Many of these "rights" open to arbitrary decisions by Ministry of Manpower officials. (12) Several articles in Bill contain the qualification that regardless of the "rights" granted to workers, the Government has (and also the employer in fact, because the workers' problem is lack of bargaining power) the unlimited (and unchecked) power to interpret and determine the application of these provisions, example for Overtime (Article 96) and Rest Times (Article 97)

Consolidating state repression

Throughout the Manpower Bill there are references to "Pancasila Industrial Relations", which subordinates all labour issues to the decisions of the Government over national interests, unity and order. Article 24 of the Manpower Bill reinforces authoritarian control over workers and trade unions by asserting that all activities must conform to "Pancasila Industrial Relations" which is "designed to promote harmonious, integrated and compatible industrial relations" whereby "all workers shall promote a sense of belonging to and awareness of maintaining and preserving the business." This aspect of the Manpower Bill will give the Government power to enforce an existing Decree issued by the Minister of Manpower in 1994 which states that: "The trade union at the enterprise level is characterized by the principles of Pancasila" and its role is "to ensure continued existence of the enterprise" and "increase the productivity of workers".

The Manpower Bill further diminishes workers' rights by expressly defining workers as a national resource and as goods to be used for national development, where "manpower development aims to regulate, supervise and control the activities pertaining to manpower." Whereas an employer is defined in the Manpower Bill as "a person", a worker is defined only as "manpower".

Finally, the Manpower Bill excludes workers' organizations, trade unions and other labour organizations not registered with and approved by the Ministry of Manpower from providing support to workers in strikes, labour disputes or collective bargaining negotiations. This will leave workers relatively powerless in the face of government officials and pro-government union officials whose interests are aligned with foreign and domestic capital.

Taking action

In response to the threat this Bill poses to workers' fundamental rights and to the labour movement, a coalition of Indonesian NGOs and genuine workers' organizations launched a campaign in March of this year to express their opposition to the Bill. Their public criticism of the Bill and demands for significant revisions to include fundamental workers' rights has gained widespread support among workers and local communities. In the lead-up to the June parliamentary hearing of the Manpower Bill, close to a million workers will petition the Government and the House of Representatives to significantly revise the bill before it becomes law.

As part of this campaign, workers' organizations and labour NGOs in Indonesia are calling for international support. The first step in the international campaign to stop the Manpower Bill will involve collecting the names of trade unions, labour support groups, human rights organizations, NGOs, and other concerned organizations to petition the Indonesian Government and the House of Representatives. A statement signed by organizations from around the world will be submitted to the Indonesian parliament along with the petition by Indonesian workers and workers' organizations. This petition will not only exert international pressure on the Indonesian Government, but will also raise international awareness of the threat posed by the manpower bill.

International relations

Documentary exposes British arms sales

The Scotsman - June 1, 1997

Rob Stokes – "Made in Britain - used in faraway places to kill dissidents". The government is being challenged to ban UK arms and related sales to Indonesia after the programme World in Action uncovered evidence that BAe, Rover and others are supplying the dictatorship there. While the exports are not illegal, Labour's response will be watched keenly by UK business because it will be the first significant test of Foreign Secretary Robin Cook's promise to introduce an "ethical dimension" to policy.

The UK exported 900m worth of goods to Indonesia last year, nearly 50% higher than in 1995, so it is a large and fast-growing export market which British exporters will not want to see jeopardised by a diplomatic row. Cook side-stepped the issue of arms to Indonesia when he unveiled his 'mission statement' last month. However, the television evidence places him on the spot. Moral pressure for a moratorium on arms sales to the Suharto regime, which was re- elected last week, has been increased by support from Nobel Peace Prizewinner Jose Ramos-Horta from East Timor, which is under brutal occupation by Indonesia. "The UK has become the single most important arms supplier to the regime," Ramos-Horta tells Making a Killing, the programme to be screened tomorrow night.

The World in Action documentary reveals that BAe's Heckler & Koch subsidiary in Nottingham has sold MP5 machine-guns, which fire 800 bullets a minute, to the regime. The guns are filmed being used by Kopassus, Indonesia's elite stormtroopers who are occupying East Timor, and who stand accused of leading the worst slaughter relative to population size since the Nazi extermination of Jews. Rover Group sells its Defender Land Rover direct to Kopassus, which favours the vehicle because it drives well in the rugged countryside of East Timor.

The Indonesians have armed their Defenders with heavy machine- guns and grenade launchers. More than 2,000 vehicles made by Rover Group at Solihull in the Midlands, have been sold to Indonesia with the UK government's approval.

The TV researchers also discovered that Nitor Group, a Surrey- based business headed by a former senior Royal Marine, has supplied Indonesia with computer simulation systems, called Ultima, to train snipers. The company gave reporters posing as businessmen a publicity video for Ultima which has been developed by Surrey police to help policemen shoot terrorists accurately. It can be used for more sinister purposes – to train marksmen to shoot unarmed demonstrators. Ramos-Horta is in no doubt how Ultima might be used in Indonesia: "This kind of training is designed to assassinate opponents of the regime when internal dissension becomes more serious."

Nitor group also confirms in the programme that it is negotiating with Indonesia to sell Close Quarter Battle Houses (CQBs). Known by some in the trade as 'killing houses', they are constructed to train special forces to storm buildings and kill opponents inside. The company has built them for the British Army and claims that in the Far East there is a big demand for CQBs based on shopping malls, discos, mock brothels and even places of worship. Indonesia is not mentioned in any of Nitor's promotional material.

"We are mindful, of course, of their human rights problem, and the work that we have done in the past has been through a third party so that our name doesn't necessarily become connected with Indonesia as such," Hitchcock, a former Royal Marine, told the undercover TV team. Said Ramos-Horta: "It is an outrage that they (Nitor) should provide this kind of infrastructure a that is going to be used to improve the killing capacity of the regime, not for external defence of the country, but against internal dissension."

He urged the UK government to freeze arms deliveries to Indonesia for the next five years "until the regime changes, until there is freedom in Indonesia, until East Timor can exercise its right to self-determination".

Indonesia goes to the polls every five years but Suharto's party, Golkar, has won six elections in a row since he came to power, and democracy activists claim that restrictions on opposition parties prevent a fair vote.

Six members of an independence group in East Timor were arrested last week.

Indonesia hits back at US Congress critics

Reuters - June 6, 1997

Ian MacKenzie, Jakarta – Indonesia struck back at U.S. congressional critics on Friday, dropping its participation in an American military training program and scrapping plans to buy nine U.S.-made F-16 warplanes.

Foreign Minister Ali Alatas told a news conference he hoped the move would ease friction with the United States to allow cooperation on "the many economic, political and security issues that have to be faced in the years to come."

"The government of Indonesia has decided to forego its participation in the Expanded International Military Education and Training (E-IMET) program offered by the United States government as well as its planned purchase of nine F-16 planes from the United States government," Alatas said in a statement.

He said President Suharto had conveyed the decision to President Clinton in a letter dated May 26 but only delivered on June 2 for technical reasons.

Alatas denied there was a link between the move and criticism from the U.S. State Department over the conduct of Indonesia's May 29 general elections, which the ruling Golkar party won with a sweeping majority.

Jakarta has come under fire from some U.S. senators and congressmen, particularly over its human rights record and East Timor, the former Portuguese colony that Indonesia occupied in 1975 and annexed the following year. "This has been brewing for a while. It is more the congressional criticism of Indonesia in general over East Timor, human rights and democracy issues," a senior Asian diplomat said.

In his letter, Suharto cited "wholly unjustified criticisms in the United States Congress against Indonesia that are linked to its participation in the (E-IMET) program and the planned purchase of the F-16 planes" as a factor.

The U.S. embassy said in a statement: "While we regret this decision, it is of course up to Indonesia to determine its own defence requirements.

"The United States and Indonesia have cooperated closely on a broad range of regional and global issues in the past, and we look forward to working closely with Indonesia in these areas in the future."

Over a period of years the United States has been the major arms supplier to Indonesia, military sources said.

A diplomatic source said the E-IMET courses "are generally considered professional military courses for senior military members as opposed to technical courses."

The United States barred Indonesia from participating in the program in 1992 after security forces fired into demonstrating mourners in the East Timor capital of Dili in 1991. Witnesses said up to 200 people died.

In late 1995, Washington reinstated Indonesia's participation in the program, which covers about 20 senior officers annually at a cost of $600,000.

The United States had initiated the sale of the F-16s to Indonesia after their original sale to Pakistan was blocked by Congress over Islamabad's nuclear policy, but Congress has also held up their release to Jakarta.

Diplomatic sources said the decision over the F-16s could adversely affect other U.S. military sales to Indonesia.

Anti-Indonesian activists in Britain have assailed the sale of Hawk jets by British Aerospace Plc to Jakarta, which currently has over 20 Hawks and 10 F-16s bought earlier.

Military analyst Salim Said told Reuters he believed Suharto had been angered over the congressional criticism. Alatas specifically named Congressman Patrick Kennedy, who visited East Timor last new year and is a strong critic of the country. "Suharto is angry, but he has not let his emotions take control. Suharto has many alternatives, because the U.S. is not the only country (that can supply aircraft)," he said.

Suharto's letter to Clinton said Indonesia wanted to "remove any possible stumbling block that could come in the way of efforts by both countries to expand and enhance their relationship or which could cause difficulties to the Clinton administration."

The U.S. administration also came under fire during last year's presidential election campaign over campaign donations from Asia, including Indonesia's Riady family.