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ASIET Net News 26 – June 23-29, 1997
SiaR - June 26, 1997
Surabaya – Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) activists Coen Husein
Pontoh and Mohammad Soleh, suffered injuries as a result of
torture after the riot by inmates at the Medaeng prison,
Didoarjo, Surabaya, on June 11. The reason was that they were
accused of being be brains and the leaders of the riot.
This riot was the second at the prison in the last two months.
During a smaller riot which occurred on May 25, PRD activists
were also accused of being the masterminds. The exact cause of
riot on the night of June 11 is still unknown. Inmates totaling
more than 500 succeeded in taking control of the prison. They
turned off all the lights and set fire to anything which would
burn.
The riot began in Block-F in the cell occupied by Coen and
Pontoh. From this block a wall was broken through and caused
rioting in other blocks. A SiaR source in the Medaeng prison said
that the riot was triggered by a incident of sexual harassment by
a prison driver against the wife of one of the inmates in the
begin of last May.
Just after this followed the May 25 riot. Then, only the prison
office windows were smashed by the inmates. However another
sources said that the inmates rioted because the prison officers
treated the prisoners harshly. Finally the authorities were able
to take control of the situation.
However, Coen and Soleh were treated differently. A SiaR source
said that both activists were taken to a military office,
interrogated and tortured. As a result of the torture Coen's nose
was broken. The torture of the two PRD activists was protested by
the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan
Hukum Indonesia, YLBHI) who also demanded that the officers who
tortured the two be proses in accordance with existing laws.
According to YLBHI, the acts of violence and terror by the
security forces violate human rights, in particular the right of
freedom from torture, terror and harsh and inhuman treatment.
Translators note:
Where the word "riot" appears in this translation, the original
SiaR Indonesian language report actually used the term
"pemberontakan" (rather than the more commonly used word
"kerusuhan", riot). "Pembrontakan" is closer in meaning to
"rebellion", "revolt", "uprising" or "mutiny".
[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski]
John Roosa - June 8, 1997
We are inside Jakarta's fortress-like Cipinang prison for a
Sunday afternoon potluck lunch. The families and friends of the
political prisoners have brought specially prepared home-cooked
dishes for the day's celebration. Anom Astika, arrested last year
along with the entire leadership of the People's Democratic Party
(PRD), has just turned 26 and his sister has recently married.
All of Soeharto's jailed foes, from 17 to 70 years old, from all
different political tendencies, are gathered for the occasion.
The some 100 people here have been through painful times recently
but one would not know by looking at them now. There isn't a
serious face around and the laughter is as abundant as the food.
In a country ruled by a dictatorship that brooks no dissent, it
is only natural to find the best and brightest locked up in
prison. Looking around the hall, at the diverse enemies of the
state, we realize that we are in one of the country's most
important political centers. There are five other PRD prisoners
apart from Anom, three elderly men arrested back in 1965 – among
Suharto's first victims in his capture of power, several East
Timorese who fought with the guerrillas, one man who joined an
Islamic resistance organization, and one youth sentenced to five
years for "defaming the president."
The ex-engineering professor and ex-member of parliament, Sri
Bintang, is here. In retaliation for his public criticisms, the
regime has had him expelled from the Muslim party, the PPP, fired
from his job and tied down in court on bogus charges. He is
currently being charged with subversion for sending out greeting
cards for the Muslim holiday Id with the slogans "Boycott the
elections. Reject the re-election of President Suharto in 1998.
Prepare a new government for the post-Suharto period." The most
recent additions to this collection of dissidents, are several
Megawati supporters of the PDI, one of the three legal parties
along with the PPP. They were hauled in just a few weeks ago for
various election campaign offenses, such as tearing down the
banners of Soerjadi, the man who deposed Megawati as PDI
president by chicanery and violence. Wearing bright red vests,
the PDI's color, with the party's logo of the horned bull's head
on the back, the Megawati group look like they are dressed for
the festival in Pamplona.
Wilson bin Nurtiyas, who is serving as the informal master of
ceremonies, has everyone shaking with laughter with his opening
remarks. As the PRD's point man on East Timor, Wilson headed up
the organization, Indonesian People's Solidarity Struggle with
the Maubere People, known by the acronym SPRIM (Solidaritas
Perjuangan Rakyat Indonesia Untuk Rakyat Maubere). The PRD was
the only organization in Indonesia to openly proclaim an alliance
with the struggle for independence in East Timor one reason the
Indonesian government was so determined to crush the PRD. It is
understandable, yet still incredible, that so few Indonesians
have protested their government's killings in East Timor. After
31 years of a horrific war of occupation, Wilson has the
distinction of being the first Indonesian with the courage to
lead an organization in solidarity with the supposed enemy. The
PRD understood that what the government does in East Timor the
killings, the tortures, the rapes, the arbitrary arrests – is
just a much more intensified version of what it does in the rest
of the country. As SPRIM stated once: "The terrible conditions
experienced by the people of East Timor, caused by the Suharto
regime are not very different from the conditions faced by the
people of Indonesia."
Wilson is nothing if not gutsy. He helped organize a joint action
between East Timorese students and SPRIM activists on December 7,
1995, to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Indonesia's
invasion. About 50 of them jumped over the fence of the Dutch
embassy and another 50 jumped the fences of the Russian embassy.
The logistics for bringing that many people to one spot while
avoiding detection were highly sophisticated. Theirs was the
largest action in a whole spate of embassy occupations that began
several months prior: the French embassy was hit, the Japanese,
the Polish, the Australian, and others. On December 7, SPRIM and
the East Timorese students made a statement denouncing the
continued occupation and called on other nations to support the
East Timorese in their struggle for self-determination. They
voluntarily left the two embassies the next day. The police
arrested them, tortured Wilson and some others, and then put them
on a bus to an uncertain location. The ever resourceful Wilson
jumped out of the bus and proved fleeter of foot than the
security guards.
Sharp and quick-witted, with an unstoppable metabolism, Wilson
has as much talent for mass organizing as for scholarly writing.
At age 28, he has published an impressive number of articles on
Indonesian history and delivered lectures at international labor
conferences in India, Hong Kong and Australia. During the years
prior to his work in SPRIM, he was a labor organizer in the
factories of Java. His underground work of organizing strikes and
worker communities honed a crucial skill not taught at the
universities: how to evade the police. He learned how to
disappear when the police were riled up after a strike and how to
reemerge when they had moved on to other cases. Prior to last
December, he never had to resort to crude methods such as
footraces with the police. He and Anom were underground for a
month after the crackdown and were the last PRD to be captured.
Most of the mothers of the PRD prisoners are here, including
Wilson's. Their good humor and determination is remarkable. Last
year, the state proclaimed the PRD to be public enemy number one
and sent out the military and police to harass the families of
PRD members. Suharto himself appeared on TV to denounce this
party of twenty year olds as the mastermind of the July 27 riots
in Jakarta. The PRD was called the reincarnation of the
Indonesian Communist Party which, in the lexicon of Suharto's New
Order state, meant it was a satanic force bent on violence and
mayhem. The Cold War was six years dead but Indonesia's rulers,
trapped in a tropical time warp, were still ready to raise an
alarm about the communist threat. Outdoing itself for absurdity,
the regime claimed that the riots were the cover for the PRD's
coup attempt. The PRD, mind you, had no weapons and no connection
to any faction in the military.
In face of the full wrath of the country's military, the mothers
have not been intimidated a bit. Not one has blamed her son for
being involved in left politics. Wilson's mother, who spent hours
making a delicious beef curry for the lunch, tells me, "They
fight for the poor. There is no shame in that." She has withstood
eight sessions of police questionings and repeated visits of
intelligence agents to her house. She has nursed her husband who
is partially paralyzed after a stroke last year and whose
condition sharply worsened because of the police harassment.
Somehow she has eked out a living while both her son and husband
have been unable to work. Once she stated to journalists: "No, I
will not allow anybody, any power, to rob the life that God
entrusted to my womb. My blood and my soul are in my son's flesh
and life. If any authority, especially of a despot, is going to
rob my son's life, I will stand in front of him and defy him."
Wilson responded from prison by saying: "I'm very surprised. I've
known my mother for 28 years. She's a very gentle person who
didn't even dare to pinch me. I've never heard such a strong
statement coming out of her mouth before. How is it possible for
my gentle mother to intimidate the military which is supported by
capital, the law and the bureaucracy? Physically speaking, this
is an unequal fight: the New Order vs. my mother."
She and the other parents feel vindicated by the fact that the
charge of masterminding the July 27 riots was dropped by the
prosecution when it came time to try the 14 PRD defendants. After
making such a hue and cry about the PRD attempting to stage a
coup d'itat and spreading communism, the regime did not come up
with a shred of evidence to back up the charges. The regime
wasn't even able to manufacture the evidence. Ultimately, the PRD
was charged with "contradicting the state ideology," in other
words, with ambiguously defined thought crimes.
Sitting nearby is the father of Budiman Sudjatmiko, the PRD's
president. He is easy to recognize since he looks remarkably like
his son whose face has appeared on magazine covers throughout the
country. He tells us that he distributed a statement of Budiman's
at his place of work, Goodyear Tire, headquartered just south of
Jakarta, that refuted the military's allegations that the PRD was
a communist force behind the riots. For handing it out to some of
his fellow workers, Goodyear management informed him that the
company might get into some trouble if he didn't keep quiet. He
decided to take an early retirement. He has no complaints against
Goodyear and his pension has not been affected. What continues to
aggrieve both him and his wife is that General Syarwan Hamid, the
military's "social and political affairs minister," has neither
retracted nor apologized for his public remarks about them last
year. At the start of the crackdown, when the lies were flying
thick and fast, Hamid claimed that they were communists. The
press quickly discovered that Budiman's parents never had any
connection to the PKI yet Hamid has refused to apologize for his
slanderous error. Being a general means never having to say you
are sorry.
Budiman isn't here in Cipinang. He is being kept with four other
PRD members in Salemba prison across town. We visited them a
couple days earlier. Budiman was, as I recalled from our first
meeting several years ago, an excellent conversationalist and
quick to laughter. He didn't betray a trace of worry over the
fact that he had just been sentenced to thirteen years in jail.
By the tone of the conversation, one would have thought we were
in a pleasant cafe, not sitting on the concrete floor of a drab
prison hall. Budiman has been in prison for ten months. Since he
is a voracious reader, the isolation of prison life have not been
as hard on him as some of the others. He still looks healthy
thanks to the food the PRD relatives and friends bring. We hand
him the medicine we brought and ask what else he needs: "Could
you bring me tapes of Inti-Illimani and Victor Jara? Also, please
bring some literature on the Worker's Party in Brazil. We are
very curious about it."
Budiman was arrested along with 33 other PRD members back in
August. How the police decided to release some and keep 11 others
for trial is as mysterious as the rest of the regime's actions.
It was logical to keep the five executive committee members but
the rest of the detainees were of the same or lesser rank as
those released. The three PRD members in Surabaya who had been
arrested a month before for organizing a 10,000 strong workers
demonstration had their charges changed after the July 27
incident. Detained for a month on the charge of disturbing the
public, the charge was then switched to subversion. Changing the
charge after the arrest is illegal according to Indonesian law
but that hardly mattered to the pusillanimous judges who could
have hardly have been true to the law without incurring the wrath
of Suharto.
The regime decided to begin the trials on December 12, two days
after Human Rights Day. At first, the PRD patiently mounted a
carefully constructed defense though they could scarcely
determine the precise charge from the prosecutors' incoherent,
300 page charge sheet. It was a mish-mash of quasi-legal jargon
that boiled down to one basic idea: the PRD doesn't like the
Suharto regime. The code phrase for this type of crime is
"deviating from the state ideology of Pancasila." For good
measure, the prosecutors added the charge of "spreading hatred,"
a catch-all charge invented by the Dutch colonial state for use
against the nationalist movement.
Knowing full well what the verdict would be, the PRD nonetheless
tried to present a reasonable and convincing defense. Over thirty
lawyers volunteered their time to help them. The defendants
wished to prove that their statements and actions were not
against the "state ideology of Pancasila." The five points of
Pancasila, taken by themselves, are actually unobjectionable –
democracy, social justice, etc. – and it was not a problem to
show the PRD's adherence to them. The problem was that the regime
has its own uncodified interpretation of these principles. For
Suharto, the five points of Pancasila add up to just one point:
raison d'itat. A careful semiotic analysis of the meaning of
Pancasila for the New Order government would reveal that it is an
empty signifier, invoked as a justification for any government
action.
Once it was clear that the judges would not conduct the trials
according to proper procedure and were determined to make up
arbitrary rules to stifle their defense, the PRD began boycotting
the court sessions. In deliciously Kafkaesque scenes, the
prosecution continued the case for weeks while the table for the
defendants and their lawyers stood empty. In the final session,
in late April, the PRD dismissed their team of lawyers and
announced their refusal to recognize the court. Arriving in court
with fists held high, wearing red T-shirts and bandannas
emblazoned with the slogans "Boycott the elections" and
"Democracy is Dead," the activists addressed the public and
declared their indifference to the proceedings. Budiman read out
a three hour long critique of the New Order regime to hearty
applause.
In their verdicts, the judges confirmed the prosecution's claim
that organizing workers and students, demanding higher wages,
holding demonstrations and calling for a genuine multi-party
democracy are criminal acts punishable under the Law of
Subversion. Indeed, the PRD committed a crime when, in its
manifesto, it "did not admit the success of the development
conducted by the New Order government." Failing to complement the
government for raising the GNP (largely by selling off all the
country's resources to multinational corporations) is a crime in
Indonesia. Since the court decided to criminalize what should be
matters of legitimate debate, the judges' verdicts read like
propaganda material for the Suharto regime. The judges
desperately tried to show that the regime is in fact democratic
and just. The first sentence of the PRD manifesto read: "There is
no democracy in Indonesia." Since Indonesia is in fact
democratic, according the judges, the PRD lied to the public for
what must have been insidious purposes. As Anom and Wilson told
the court, the judges' criminalization of political opinion only
proved the truth of the manifesto's first sentence.
The defendants greeted their sentences, ranging from 1.5 to 13
years, with a defiance that shocked the judges and exhilarated
the hundreds of people in the audience. None of the PRD activists
had knuckled under during their tortuous interrogations nine
months earlier, none had recanted, and none had shown any hint of
the remorse expected by the judges. Budiman yelled at his heavy-
jowled prosecutors and judges: "I don't care if you hang me!" On
the way out of the courthouse, he managed to elude his guards,
jump on top the waiting police van and deliver a rousing speech,
fist in the air. Because of the PRD's example, the raised fist
has now become a popular gesture of defiance throughout the
country. I have seen groups of small children in slums playfully
raise their fists in imitation of what they have seen.
In the visitor's hall here in Cipinang, one sees the other side
of the PRD. Going by the pictures in the media, one would think
that their arms were perpetually locked in a raised position.
Pleasantly conversing with relatives and friends, they are
sitting on the reed mats which cover the concrete floor. A light
breeze enters from the two open sides of the hall and relieves
the 95 degree heat. Technically, one could call this space a
porch but the word's homely connotations are unsuited to the
institutional architecture and ugly metal fence surrounding its
open sides. The openness of this visitor's arena facilitates both
ventilation and surveillance. A gaggle of intelligence agents
stand opposite and watch. The prisoners say that a camera is
hidden behind a second floor window of the facing building. No
one seems to care in the slightest and the party continues. There
is little talk of the elections which were held just 10 days
prior. Many of the prisoners here are the victims of Suharto's
pre-election preparations and see the vote as nothing but a
farce. The PRD, Sri Bintang and the Megawati supporters were
targeted as troublemakers to be locked up so that the elections
could proceed, according to a government mantra, "smoothly,
peacefully and orderly." The government's own party, Golkar, was
free to intimidate and bribe the electorate, as it has done in
every past election, without hindrance. It uses a classic carrot
and stick method. Government officials threaten to cut off funds
to any district that does not vote for Golkar and then they hand
out sacks of rice to the voters. This year, Golkar received an
extra four percentage points over its predicted 70% of the vote.
"Suharto is happy," the top headlines read, and the election was
proclaimed a "sukses." What everyone here knows is that the
peacefulness of the May 29 elections was built on the terror of
last year's July 27 massacre.
For the PRD here in prison, everything follows from July 27.
Suharto, fearful of Megawati's rising popularity and worried that
her PDI would win far more than its allotted 15% of the vote,
engineered her removal as party president through a fake party
conference in June 1996. Megawati's followers resisted by
occupying all the party offices and holding hugely attended
open-mike forums at their headquarters in central Jakarta. In the
early morning of July 27, soldiers and hired thugs attacked these
supporters at the PDI headquarters. Knifing and bludgeoning
anyone who happened to be in and around the building, they killed
an estimated 50 people and injured scores more. As rumors spread
throughout the city, crowds gathered in the streets around the
headquarters. Soldiers, deployed on every adjacent street,
blocked their access. The stately Menteng neighborhood, with its
old colonial architecture and tree lined avenues, looked like a
battlefield. Later, in the afternoon, with the crowds becoming
larger and larger, the soldiers went on the offensive and chased
the people through the streets, beating and arresting anyone they
managed to grab. In the mayhem, dozens of buildings were set
ablaze.
The citywide riots in the afternoon were, of course, due to the
military's own assault on the crowds. But Suharto needed someone
to blame. Enter the scapegoat: the PRD. For two years, the regime
had been itching to attack the activists behind the PRD. It was
not a massive organization but in the depoliticized environment
of Indonesia it was one of the most militant and tightly
organized forces within the diffuse "pro-democracy movement."
Prior to last July, the PRD had been the backbone of KIPP, a
newly formed organization to monitor the elections. Not being one
of the three parties permitted to contest the elections, the
party also joined a coalition of 30 groups that declared its
support to Megawati. For the diversity in its composition, it was
called the "rainbow coalition" in conscious imitation of the
coalition that formed around Jesse Jackson's campaign for
presidency in the US.
The PRD activists were doing everything at once: organizing
workers, students and artists, working on the elections, taking
up part time jobs to earn money – all the while dodging the
intelligence agencies (who, as the trials revealed, were
thankfully inept and missed much of the PRD's work). No wonder
then that they were perpetually wired on caffeine and nicotine.
Now in prison, they actually look much healthier than the last
time I saw them, two years ago.
Returning with seconds on noodles, I sit on the floor with Romo
Sandyawan, a young Catholic priest who bravely sheltered some of
the PRD leaders while they were hiding from the military after
July 27. He is now a visitor to Cipinang but he may well become a
resident soon. Charged with harboring fugitives, he faces a court
trial in nine months. As two little boys play around us, he tells
me about his work with scavenger communities and street children
in Jakarta. He works in the parishes of the poor, as Aristide
calls them. He runs daytime schools for the children, two of whom
he brought with him today, and evening classes for the adults. By
habit, he speaks quietly and haltingly, as if preferring to
listen rather than speak. It is hard to believe he is the same
person with the loud, rhythmic and fluid voice I heard last week
speak before a large group in a church. The sunglasses he wears
even here in the shade of the visitor's hall are a necessity, not
a stylish affectation. His right eye needs an operation but he is
forbidden, because of the case against him, from leaving the
country to receive proper medical care.
Romo Sandy, as he is called, put the group of five PRD leaders at
his brother's house in a poor neighborhood. Technically, it was
legal for him and his brother to harbor them since an official
arrest warrant had not been issued. It was the intelligence
agency, BIA, that was hunting for the PRD though it has no
authorization under the criminal code to make arrests – again, a
insignificant technicality for a lawless regime. In that
neighborhood, the PRD fugitives probably could have remained
indefinitely without being betrayed by the people. When they were
captured two weeks later it was because their courier had been
caught and forced, with a gun against his head, to reveal their
location. Romo Sandy was vilified in the press, his office was
raided and he was interrogated at length. His brother was also
interrogated and detained for two weeks. Romo Sandy remained
unruffled throughout the furor and now, when he thinks about
upcoming trial at all, it is with complete equanimity. He is
confident in the rightness of his acts.
Once the PRD found itself in jail and found Megawati out of the
PDI, there wasn't much point in advocating election monitoring.
The events of July 27 had thoroughly delegitimated the elections.
The PRD's slogan changed to "Boycott the elections" and KIPP
waned into insignificance. KIPP's leadership, consisting of an
older generation of disaffected elites who lacked any skill in
mass organizing, could neither inspire nor direct the remaining
volunteers. KIPP's cadre were further demoralized and confused by
the selfishness of the president who spent the campaign period in
the United States on personal business of no urgency. After doing
nothing for the organization, he returned to Indonesia only to
resign from KIPP and criticize its inactivity, as though that was
entirely the fault of others. Such is the leadership quality of
the older elite who, after collaborating with the New Order for
so many years, only know how to be businessmen and bureaucrats.
I ask Anom, who has already been regaled with the Indonesian
version of "Happy Birthday to You," about PRD's next steps now
that the elections have come to their boringly predictable
conclusion. "Well, our demand now is that the election results
should not be recognized and the parliament should not elect
Soeharto president next year." Like the earlier demand of
boycotting the election, this demand is more of a statement of
principle rather than one the PRD expects to be fulfilled. The
two sidekick parties to the government's own party, the PPP and
the PDI (now under Soerjadi), will of course ratify the election
results as they have in every election. And, of course, the
parliament of these yes-men will vote for Suharto, the only
candidate, next year. Instead of pointing to a concrete,
realizable program, the PRD's demands are meant to provoke the
public into recognizing the illegitimacy of this political
system. Forbidden from political work, the PRD prisoners are now
using their public platform to show the politicians as so many
ducks, following single file behind the leader.
The PRD does have a program, indeed, their manifesto was a
landmark for the Indonesian left. No opposition organization in
the entire post-1965 period has advanced such a clearly
formulated and radical critique of Suharto's New Order regime.
That is not a matter of judgment; it is an incontrovertible fact.
The few opposition groups that have existed have either been too
superficial in their analysis (focusing only on Suharto, for
instance) or too compromised with the regime's own principles.
(Compare, as one instance, the Petition of 50, the locus
classicus of disaffected elite sentiment.) The PRD stated its
demands to be: 1) The repeal of the "Five Political Laws of 1985"
which guide this whole rigged election process; 2) The end of the
military's "dual-function", allowing the military to dominate
civilian affairs inside the country; 3) The removal of all
restrictions on the freedom to form political parties and unions;
4) The end of press censorship and book banning; 5) A referendum
on independence in East Timor.
The composition of the party is also unprecedented: it has many
women activists – after all, organizing factory workers in
Indonesia primarily means organizing women. Dita Sari, the head
of the PRD's affiliated trade union, is being held in a prison in
Surabaya on a 6 year sentence. (Later, her sentence was reduced
to five on appeal and she was shifted to a prison in Malang after
a prison riot in Surabaya. The riot was not begun by the three
PRD prisoners but they were, of course, blamed for it.) Thirteen
of the fourteen PRD prisoners are men but that doesn't reflect
the ratio of men to women in the organization as a whole. It
probably reflects more the incorrect assumption by the state that
the men are more dangerous than the women. The party has also
attracted people from all religious backgrounds, Catholics,
Muslims, Balinese Hindus. Though most of the people in the party
are agnostic, neither advocates nor detractors of religion, some
of them are practicing believers. The party, in good Indonesian
fashion, is entirely ecumenical when it comes to religion.
Anom, who is half-Catholic and half-Hindu by parentage, explains
to me that the PRD is still active in underground work. Many key
organizers were never found by the intelligence agencies. One of
the party's most beloved members, the one-eyed poet Wiji Thukal,
is still at large. The military intelligence officers blinded one
of his eyes two years ago during a torture session. As a worker,
a kind of folk hero in poor communities, he attracts a particular
kind of hatred from the military. If they catch him this time,
everyone assumes that he will be killed. Some party members fled
to remote locations in Kalimantan, Sumatra and the eastern
islands for several months. Thankfully, Indonesia is a big
country with a government that, whatever its dictatorial
structure, still has an inefficient, non-computerized Third World
administration.
Living in lightly policed worker communities, frequently shifting
residence, the PRD underground remain involved in organizing
actions behind the scenes. Anom says, "They take actions and we
do the talking." If one goes by the military's press conferences,
every disturbance and riot in the country since last July has
been engineered by the PRD. Once this regime has a scapegoat, it
never lets it go. The truth is that the PRD only organized
peaceful strikes and demonstrations prior to the crackdown the
prosecutors never presented any evidence to the contrary and the
underground is still committed to peaceful mobilizations. As we
know from fact-finding investigations, all of the election-
related violence was the work of youth gangs, Golkar and the
military.
Despite the tendency to exaggerate and lie, the government has
been the PRD's best publicist from the start of the crackdown.
Blaming it for the sensational July 27 riots and ranting about
the revival of communism, the regime could not have done more to
put the PRD in media headlines. The PRD activists were never
mentioned in the press before July 27 but afterwards they
received daily coverage. Now the acronym PRD is a household term.
The more the public read about the PRD and its program the more
they came to respect it. The PRD activists were clearly not the
sinister villains portrayed by the government. Except for
Soeharto's cronies and sycophants, nearly every one admires them
by now as fighters for the poor. Even some of the guards at the
prison and the courthouse respect them and consider the
government's case to be shameful. As one guard said, "We read the
papers too, you know."
The guards, who have been enjoying themselves on this visiting
day, are politely telling us that our time is up. Before leaving,
I have a final chat with Colonel Latief who has spent the last 31
years in prison. In the army, he was a close friend of Suharto's
and, he claims, a fellow collaborator in plotting the capture of
six generals in the early morning of September 30, 1965.
According to Latief, Suharto was in on the kidnapping plot,
allowed it to take place, and then, being the only general left
untouched, betrayed it and used it as a pretext for catapulting
himself to power. He had all the colonels involved in the plot
except Latief shot and killed before they could appear in public.
Thus, apart from Suharto himself, Latief knows more of the
secrets behind the initial events of the New Order regime than
anyone else. Precisely because he was present at creation,
Suharto had him locked up in an isolation cell for 11 years to
ensure his silence. It is remarkable that Latief is still alive,
having neither been executed nor having succumbed to illness. He
limps on his left leg which became crippled during those years in
the isolation cell. Due to a stroke last year, he speaks with
some difficulty. He is visibly irritated by the inability of his
facial muscles to keep pace with his thoughts. We talk about the
possibility of an acupuncturist coming inside the prison to treat
his heart condition.
Latief has no problem in understanding the events of July 27 and
the crackdown on the PRD: they were just the method of 1965 in
miniature. Back in 1965, Suharto accused the PKI, which was
peripheral to all the conspiracies inside the military, as the
mastermind of the September 30 kidnappings and subsequent
killings of the generals. He then directed countrywide massacres
arrests of PKI members, sympathizers – anyone who had any
connection to the party – over the following six months.
Hundreds of thousands of corpses were scattered in the streets
and canals or buried in anonymous mass graves. Every Indonesian
today who lived through 1965 can recall at least one murdered
relative, friend or neighbor. Hundreds of thousands more were
arrested and imprisoned without charge in an anti-communist
witchhunt. In both 1965 and 1996, Suharto eliminated a leftist
organization that had long been an irritant to the military by
blaming it for what was, in actuality, an inter-elite conflict.
I turn to Pak Asep who was a member of the PKI captured in 1971
and sentenced to death in 1975. By some strange fate, he has been
spared the sentence all these years although Suharto, on a whim,
can order his execution at any time. During the 1980s, many of
his fellow political prisoners on death row here in Cipinang were
arbitrarily taken out and shot by firing squad. Since the PKI is,
in New Order mythology, the embodiment of Satan, the military has
had no scruples in concentrating the worst of its sadistic
practices upon ex-PKI members like Pak Asep. Somehow he has
retained his sanity and he converses with a good-natured humor
and a precise intellect. Last year, the regime threatened to
execute his fellow prisoner Sergeant Major Bungkus who was
sentenced twenty five years ago. For unknown reasons, the threat
was withdrawn. Bungkus stands nearby shaking hands with the
departing visitors. Pak Asep tells us that he has been feeling
much better since the PRD prisoners arrived; their animated and
intelligent conversation has revived his spirits.
If the suppression of the PKI marked the beginning of Suharto's
New Order, the suppression of the PRD promises to mark the
beginning of its end. The PRD is wholly composed of youth born
after 1965. All they have known is the New Order. The sight of a
regime destroying its own offspring has disturbed even middle
class people who are increasingly chafing under the corruption
and brutality of the military-controlled bureaucracy. The PRD,
like the PKI after 1965, might not survive the current repression
as a functioning party but, in some sense, it has already
accomplished a major upheaval of the political scene. Indonesians
have witnessed a group of well educated, principled and
articulate youth condemn Suharto's dictatorship and confront it
without fear. There is a new sense of militancy and a new
standard of critical thinking. In an old phrase of the Indonesian
nationalists, the people are in motion (bergerak) and even this
regime, with its 17 intelligence agencies and permanent martial
law, has no idea where they are going.
May 29 elections
East Timor
Labour issues
Social unrest
Arms/armed forces
International relations
Miscellaneous
Democratic struggle
PRD activists tortured and accused of masterminding riot
The View from Cipinang
Megawati nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
Straits Times - June 22, 1997
Susan Sim, Jakarta – Opposition leader Megawati Soekarnoputri marks the first anniversary of her ouster by a government-backed faction today, cheered by reports that she has been nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
Aides of the former Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) chief told The Sunday Times yesterday that they had been informed by reliable sources of her nomination.
Spokesman Subagio Anam said that her backers included President Bill Clinton, the United States Congress and human-rights groups abroad.
The Norwegian Ambassador to Indonesia, Mr J.W. Hegg, whose country has been awarding the Nobel prizes in various fields of endeavour since the beginning of the century, said he was aware of the reports.
However, he told The Sunday Times that he had no information on the procedures of the Oslo-based Nobel Committee as it was non- governmental and its deliberations were closed.
Mr Subagio told The Sunday Times yesterday that Ms Megawati, daughter of founding President Sukarno, was "of course very glad" to hear of her nomination. "She said it's not unexpected because President Clinton had known her for a long time," he added, noting that they had met in the late 80s when the President was still governor of Arkansas.
While Megawati detractors have said that her real worth to the pro-democracy movement here was symbolic rather than substantial since she did not appear to have a national agenda or vision for the country, she has been shrewd in portraying a more dynamic image abroad, especially in the US.
In April, at the request of a congressional committee, she issued in her name a manifesto titled Restoring Democracy, Justice And Order In Indonesia: An Agenda For Reform.
The 20-page document, available only in English, called, among other things, for the government to stop its practice of approving all leadership appointments in all political organisations, and to reform electoral laws that require government clearance of all those eligible to stand for parliamentary elections.
Ms Megawati herself had been deposed as PDI leader by a military-backed congress last June when she beat incumbent Soerjadi in party elections over government objections.
A stand-off mounted by her supporters in Jakarta subsequently climaxed in the July 27 riots which claimed at least four lives.
Although she has always maintained that she is the lawful leader, she was subsequently barred from contesting last month's polls.
Analysts said yesterday that if the reports of Ms Megawati's nomination were true, the authorities here would be very upset.
The government had reacted with shock and anger last year when two East Timorese critics of its rule of the former Portuguese colony, Dili Bishop Carlos Belo and pro-independence leader in exile Jose Ramos-Horta were declared joint Nobel Peace Prize winners.
| May 29 elections |
Inside Indonesia - June 24, 1997
Ed Aspinall – General elections during the 30 years of President Suharto's New Order government were never times to make important decisions about the nation's future. After all, Golkar victories are never in doubt. Instead, they often seem to be little more than curious political rituals designed to mask, albeit poorly, the military and bureaucratic foundations of the regime's power.
However, elections always did serve important legitimating functions. Not that the public viewed the repeated, crushing Golkar victories as genuine popular endorsements of the government. Many clearly did not view them in this way, but in any case, this was a secondary matter. Rather, elections functioned as visible demonstrations of the government's ability to assert its will over the population.
The mobilisation of overwhelming financial and administrative resources, the humiliation wreaked on the parties, even the openness of the pressure brought to bear on voters: all seemed designed to parade the New Order's invincibility. The orderly and ritualistic character of campaigning communicated the essential message that even when the population was handed an opportunity to challenge, the government could remain aloof, impervious, triumphant.
Shifting public mood
However, long before this year's May poll, it was clear it would be difficult to recreate once again the ritualistic air of previous elections. In the five years since the last poll, the government has faced unprecedented opposition and spreading public discontent. Especially since the crude ouster of Megawati Sukarnoputri as leader of the Partai Demokrasi Indonesia (PDI) in June 1996, there has been an almost palpable shift in the public mood, in part demonstrated by a series of bloody riots in the last six months.
The government responded to challenges with a rigidity which only compounded its problems. In stark contrast to the optimistic atmosphere of the early 1990s, when there was much talk of 'openness' and 'democratisation', the twelve months leading up to the May elections saw a concerted crackdown on civilian dissent. As well as the moves against Megawati, a wide range of extra- parliamentary opposition groups were repressed.
The most extreme case was the targeting of the young radicals of the People's Democratic Party (PRD), whose leader Budiman Sudjatmiko was given a thirteen year prison sentence on April 28. At the same time, government forces prepared for the elections with such crude techniques that they almost seemed designed to inflame popular resentment. Most notable among them was the program of 'yellowisation' (kuningisasi) in which trees, walls, bus stops, even private houses in many parts of the nation were painted Golkar yellow.
Megawati
Another important function played by previous New Order elections was to ensure that an array of mass-based political forces maintained a stake, no matter how tenuous, in the New Order project. By holding out the promise of parliamentary representation for both Islamic and nationalist political groups – provided they did not criticise too explicitly – the government successfully ensnared otherwise unpredictable groups within a system which in fact offered them little room to move.
The government's rigidity in dealing with public discontent over the last year – in particular its handling of Megawati – meant that the elections were not going to have this effect this time around. Instead of coopting potential opposition, they simply dramatised the exclusion of a significant part of the population – Megawati's following – from the formal system.
Much interest in the months leading to the election focussed on what position Megawati would take. She and her supporters at first maintained the fiction that their PDI, rather than the rump now run by government appointee Soerjadi, was still part of the formal system. Party branches followed each stage of the election process: submitting lists of candidates, flooding the Election Institute with objections to the candidature of Soerjadi loyalists, and so on. Unheeded at every turn, at the outset of the official campaign Megawati instructed her followers to take no part in activities organised by Soerjadi.
Deserted
The vast majority of PDI supporters obeyed this instruction to the letter. In stark contrast to the massive rallies of 1992, PDI campaign activities were virtually deserted. Even state television news crews had difficulty finding camera angles to disguise the thinness of the crowds. Many campaign functions degenerated into farce as Megawati supporters made their views known.
At the beginning of the first PDI rally in Surabaya, for example, one of those dancing to dangdut music on the stage seized the microphone and shouted Hidup Megawati (Long live Megawati!), and most of the 4,000 in attendance joined in. At a similar rally in Kediri, East Java, venomous snakes were thrown onto the platform where Soerjadi was speaking.
In many towns, Soerjadi-PDI candidates took to campaigning from the backs of trucks, in case speedy exit was called for. In some places campaign functions were held in private houses. Elsewhere they were cancelled altogether.
No boycott
But Megawati and her leadership, maintaining their legalist approach, did not promote an active boycott campaign. In her final statement a week before the poll, Megawati said she would not use her vote, but instructed her supporters to follow their own consciences. Although the message was clear enough, she stopped short of explicitly encouraging others to boycott, an illegal act.
Certainly this time around sentiment for a boycott was far greater than in previous years. Numerous opinion polls conducted by university students or commissioned by the press indicated this. Leaders of Catholic and Protestant churches, as well as several important Islamic organisations (although not the largest) more or less endorsed a boycott.
Pro-boycott demonstrations were organised by students in many towns. Often Megawati's PDI supporters also openly proclaimed their intention not to vote. Soerjadi's PDI suffered the greatest loss as a result. Its share of the vote declined from 15% in 1992 to approximately 3%, by far its lowest ever.
However, given Megawati's reluctance to promote it, the boycott campaign failed to generate the momentum activists had hoped for. Instead, it was the campaign of the Muslim-based PPP (Partai Persatuan Pembangunan, United Development Party) which most visibly tapped public frustration.
PPP campaign
The PPP is run by a leadership of the 'old' New Order variety. Its chairperson, Ismail Hasan Metareum, achieved government 'blessing' for his appointment. He has always complied with government wishes on important matters. In the last elections the PPP was the first party (beating even Golkar) to nominate Suharto as its presidential candidate.
This time around, the PPP campaign was more spirited. A central theme was the condemnation of 'nepotism' and 'corruption'. But this was only in general terms. Party spokespeople avoided sensitive issues like the presidential succession.
Nevertheless, PPP campaigns attracted massive crowds. On the days allotted the PPP in Jakarta, hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets wearing the party's distinctive green and waving flags bearing its star symbol (bintang).
In the absence of a clear directive from Megawati, PPP rallies also drew many disenfranchised PDI supporters. Many carried her picture, or waved banners mixing green with the PDI's red. The 'Mega-Bintang' phenomenon, as it became known, was such a cause for concern that the government declared it illegal.
Violence
The most striking characteristic of the campaign was the violence which accompanied it. Well over 300 people were killed. Many died in vehicle accidents during election rallies, but there were some particularly violent incidents. By far the worst was a huge riot in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, on May 23. Officials said some 123 'looters' perished in a shopping centre fire. Other observers feared a much higher toll, including deaths by shooting at the hands of soldiers.
In Jakarta too, there was virtually uncontrollable rioting for the final week of the campaign. Several poor kampungs became the sites of a virtual intifada as local youths battled it out with security forces. Tear gas was used, shots were fired and at least one young PPP supporter was shot dead.
Highlighting the government's inability to maintain 'politics as normal', the final day of election campaigning was cancelled in the capital. On voting day, some 26,000 troops patrolled the city.
Clashes were often sparked by the actions of Golkar-affiliated toughs – petty criminals organised through groups like Pemuda Pancasila, or the teenage children of military officers and officials. Time and again, beatings of PPP supporters – while security forces stood idly by – led to stone-throwing and looting.
At other times, violence was sparked by perceived slights to Islam. The Banjarmasin riot was triggered when Golkar security guards tried to force their motorcycles through crowds attending Friday prayer. Warnings
Campaign violence was the more remarkable because it happened despite months of preparation by security forces. In the weeks leading to the campaign, all the most senior military officers warned that no disruptions would be tolerated. Repeated parades of military might in the major cities saw black garbed commandoes dropping from helicopters for the benefit of the press.
The outbreaks occurred without formal opposition leadership. Core PPP leaders disavowed all violence, agreed to cancel rallies when disorder threatened, and even attempted to disassociate themselves from the Mega-Bintang phenomenon.
This is the irony of Indonesia today. The regime – like many run by ageing strongmen – is determined to prevent the development of institutionalised opposition, no matter how moderate (and Megawati is very moderate indeed). This policy has had the unintended consequence of inflaming mass sentiment while simultaneously depriving the disaffected poor of moderate leadership with an institutional stake in the system.
The result is a restive urban population, liable to outbursts of violence against the security forces, against symbols of wealth and privilege, and against ethnic Chinese.
Golkar victory
Yet in many places the campaign did proceed with the familiar ritual. Golkar rallies attracted large crowds, mobilised by the traditional means of obligatory attendance for civil servants and financial inducement for others.
Golkar scored an important victory with the apparent change of heart on the part of Abdurrahman Wahid, the leader of the massive Islamic organisation, NU. During a series of meetings with NU religious leaders and congregations, he effectively endorsed support for Golkar. Most remarkably, he threw his weight behind the vice-presidential candidacy of Mbak Tutut, the president's eldest daughter.
An overwhelming Golkar victory was never in doubt. Throughout the country, the military and the bureaucracy are synonymous with Golkar. They possess a virtual monopoly on local political power.
Despite the efforts of the electoral watchdog KIPP, the vast majority of election booths around the country were untouched by independent scrutiny. Of the approximately 300,000, KIPP had a presence at 600. In such circumstances, it is unsurprising that Golkar achieved another landslide. As Inside Indonesia goes to press, this appears to be about 74%. Fraud
But if anything underscores the air of unreality in official politics, it is this result. After a campaign which witnessed repeated and bloody breakdowns of control, under a government obviously growing unpopular, Golkar achieved its highest ever vote. Little wonder that there has been unprecedented public discussion of electoral fraud. Combined with the boycott campaign, the alienation of Megawati's supporters, and the campaign violence, the discussion indicates that this election will in the long run prove to be a very bad one for the government.
[Ed Aspinall teaches Indonesian studies at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.]
The election: what is at stake
The elections were for 425 seats in the People's Representative Assembly (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, DPR). This is Indonesia's parliament, the body responsible for making laws. The DPR also contains 75 appointed Armed Forces (Abri) representatives. Abri members do not vote in the election.
Indonesia's super-parliament, the People's Deliberative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawarahan Rakyat, MPR) consists of the 500 members of the DPR, together with another 500 representatives of regional, party and 'functional group' representatives, who are effectively appointed by the president. This body is Indonesia's supreme law-making institution. It meets briefly once every five years. Its two chief functions are to elect a president and vice-president, and to enact the Broad Outlines of State Policy (Garis Besar Haluan Negara, GBHN). The MPR will next meet in March 1998.
The elections were also for members of regional parliaments at the provincial and regency levels (DPRD I and DPRD II).
The participants
Golkar (Golongan Karya, or 'Functional Groups') is the government's electoral vehicle. Its institutional backbone is the bureaucracy (especially the Department of Internal Affairs) and the military. Its origins go back to an army-devised competitor to the communist party in the 1960s. It was revised as an electoral machine for the 1971 elections, when it devastated the other parties, capturing almost 63% of the vote.
PPP (Partai Persatuan Pembangunan, United Development Party) was the product of a fusion forced on the four surviving Islamic parties in 1973. In subsequent years, the party was forced to sever all symbolic attachments to Islam, although it clearly retains an Islamic base.
PDI (Partai Demokrasi Indonesia, Indonesian Democracy Party) was also formed in 1973 as a result of a fusion of five secular nationalist and Christian parties. By far the most important of these was the old Sukarnoist Partai Nasional Indonesia. In late 1993, Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of the first president, was elected to head the party, but she was ousted at a government-backed congress in June 1996.
The electorate
Approximately 125 million of Indonesia's 200 million people are qualified to vote. Minimum voting age is 17, younger for those who are married. Voters choose between party lists in province- wide electorates. Voting is non-preferential and seats are awarded on a proportional basis.
The rules
On top of routine but unofficial government intervention in the affairs of the two minority parties PPP and PDI, all parliamentary candidates must first undergo intensive screening by military intelligence agencies. It is forbidden to attack the state ideology, Pancasila, or the government as part of election campaigning. All campaign speeches and leaflets must first be vetted by the General Election Committee. Motor vehicle parades and the use of portraits are illegal in the campaign. The General Election Institute (Lembaga Pemilihan Umum, LPU) is charged with running the campaign and counting the votes. It is chaired by Golkar candidate and Minister of Internal Affairs, Yogie S. Memet.
Radio Australia - June 23, 1997
Indonesia has formally annouced the results of last month's general election, with the ruling Golkar party winning 325 seats in the 500-member parliament.
The National Election Institute says the Muslim-based United Development Party or P-P-P, won 89 seats, while the Christian- Nationalist Indonesian Democratic Party or P-D-I, won eleven.
75 seats in the assembly are reserved for the military.
The official results give the P-D-I the minimum number of seats required under parliamentary regulations.
The P-D-I was split after the government-backed removal of Megawati Sukarnoputri from the leadership last year.
In a statement yesterday a supporter of Ms Megawati claimed the Electoral Institute had tampered with figures in North Sumatra which resulted in the awarding of an extra seat to a candidate from the government-backed P-D-I faction.
Asiaweek - June 22, 1997
Keith Loveard, Jakarta – Indonesia's ruling group, Golkar, has always been in a no-lose situation. Under the country's electoral system, only three political parties are allowed to contest parliamentary polls, and all candidates must be vetted by the authorities. Golkar is the oldest and best-organized, and the one with most government support. But now, on the eve of final official results being declared for the May 29 ballot, critics say Golkar resorted to overkill in the form of cheating to win an election that was already secured.
Golkar has been accused of the same charge in previous ballots. Also, Indonesia is hardly alone in suffering from election fraud. It is endemic in the Philippines, for example, though that country at least boasts a vibrant opposition (see story, page 20). But this time, the other political parties and the new unofficial Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP by its Indonesian initials) are making a bigger deal of the issue than before – another sign of growing discontent with the staus quo. As they tell it, Golkar used various cheating permutations (see panel for 10 quick steps) to win 74% share of the vote. The violations, they say, began as early as just a year after the last election in 1992.
It was in 1993 that the then information minister, Harmoko, was named Golkar's chairman. He soon embarked on a series of tours wearing Golkar's yellow jacket. He said he was holding meetings with cadres. His opponents charged that he was campaigning. The difference might seem trifling to non-Indonesians – and not worth complaining about – except that the government strictly draws the line with the other groups. No campaigning means just that – in any form.
Whatever the semantics, Harmoko's "meetings" received full nationwide media coverage. State-owned Radio Republic Indonesia and Televisi Republic Indonesia continue to enjoy a monopoly on news broadcasts, which must be transmitted by all private stations. Only one TV station is bold enough to regularly drop such broadcasts – for live soccer from Europe. At the end of this year's official campaign period (April 27 to May 23), KIPP added up the television airtime for the three contending parties. Golkar got a total of 247 minutes on the two main evening news broadcasts. The United Development Party (PPP) scored 119 and the Indonesian Democratic Party 107.
During the actual polling, one way to cheat was to obstruct the activities of opposition observers. "Witnesses are crucial in ballot counting," says Alexander Irwan, co-author of a study of the last parliamentary election. "In the past, they often became the target of intimidation." The same was true this time round, if you asked the PPP, which came in a distant second with 22% of the vote. "Almost all the witnesses were hindered in their work," says party secretary-general Tosari Widjaja. "People have the right to be suspicious about the results."
At least one civil servant would agree. "The voting card they gave me had someone else's name and address whited out," he says. "It was so blatant." He was also encouraged to vote in his residential area on the outskirts of the capital, as well as at the Jakarta address on his I.D. card. Further helping the ruling party's cause: members of the civil service – including teachers and staff of state-run companies – must belong to their official association and are therefore considered members of Golkar's "big family."
Harmoko has been at pains to dismiss alleged poll violations as isolated incidents. If dirty tricks were committed, he says, they were done by individuals, not by Golkar as a whole. "People say Golkar is identical with corruption, but I reject that," he declares.
In the end, the PPP climbed down from its threat to refuse to acknowledge the vote, which would have been just a symbolic gesture anyway. So the tally will stand without contest. Right or wrong.
Rules of how to cheat
Radio Australia - June 22, 1997
An official of the opposition Indonesia Democracy Party or P-D-I has accused the government of tampering with election results.
In a press statement, an M-P of the P-D-I, Sukowaluyo Mintoraharjo, says the people at the National Election Institute who have tampered with the votes have committed a political crime.
Mr Mintoraharjo says results of the voting for North Sumatra released on June the 14th differ from results published nine days earlier which were claimed to be the final results.
He claims under there were an extra 60-thousand votes recorded in the second set of figures which resulted in a second seat being won by a candidate of a government-backed faction of the P-D-I.
Mr Mintoraharjo is a supporter of Megawati Sukarnoputri who was deposed for the leadership of the P-D-I in a government-backed move in July last year.
| East Timor |
Amnesty International - June 20, 1997
Military claims that East Timorese armed resistance leader, David Alex, died yesterday while in the custody of the Indonesian military again raises the immediate need for independent human rights monitors to have access to the country, Amnesty International said today.
Independent human rights monitors are essential to enable impartial investigations into human rights abuses by both the Indonesian Armed Forces and the East Timorese National Liberation Army, Falintil.
"East Timor remains closed to international human rights monitors and journalists at a time of mounting tensions,"Amnesty International said.
"The government claims that abuses have been committed by Falintil, but at the moment such claims and reported human rights violations committed by the Indonesian Security forces cannot be independently investigated."
David Alex, 44, the second-in-command of the East Timorese armed resistance, Falintil, had been accused by the military of planning recent attacks on military targets around the Baucau area. Since late May, an increase in attacks by Falintil against military and civilian targets has resulted in the deaths of at least 42 people, including civilians, members of the Armed Forces, the police force and Falintil.
In a statement made before the United Nations (UN) Decolonization Committee in New York on 17 June, Amnesty International condemned the attacks on civilians by Falintil and called on the armed resistance to abide by minimum international humanitarian standards.
In response to the Falintil attacks, there has been an increase in troop numbers in East Timor and scores of people have been taken into custody for questioning. Some are already facing charges. It is believed that at least 71 individuals remain in custody in Dili, but it is not known precisely how many people are detained in other areas of the territory.
Amnesty International is concerned that attempts by the Indonesian security forces to determine the identity of those responsible for the attacks and to hold them accountable may result in further human rights violations. Arrests may not be conducted according to international human rights standards and domestic legal procedures and ill-treatment may be used to extract information or confessions.
A lack of transparency also means that it will not be possible to fully and impartially investigate the allegations of human rights abuses by both the security forces and Falintil. Resistance sources have admitted to the killing of two civilians – Miguel Baptismo da Silva and his wife – in Baucau on 28 May 1997. The Indonesian Government claims that seven people killed in Los Palos on the same day were also killed by Falintil. But it is not possible to fully and independently investigate this allegation in the current atmosphere.
The military's claims of the death of David Alex also highlights the need for full and independent investigations. The Armed Forces have not yet provided full information about how David Alex died. East Timor's military Commander, Colonel Slamat Sidabutar, was quoted by Reuters as saying that David Alex was shot twice in the leg during a military confrontation and that he died on the night of 25 June as he was receiving treatment at a hospital in Dili. However, another military source quoted by Agence France Presse claimed that he died in a helicopter as he was being transported from Baucau to Dili.
Concern about the precise circumstances of David Alex's capture and death has been heightened by news that his body has already been buried by the military in Dili – less than 24 hours after his death. It is not clear whether an autopsy was conducted. It is believed that his family is currently attempting to negotiate with the military for the return of the body.
Amnesty International is calling on the Indonesian authorities to allow for an independent and impartial investigation into David Alex's death, including an autopsy conducted by independent medical experts, and for the results of such an investigation to be made public.
In April 1997, the UN Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution on East Timor which expressed concern at continuing reports of human rights violations and urged the Indonesian Government to provide access for UN experts and non-governmental human rights organizations.
"Such access is fundamental to ensure adequate safeguards against further human rights violations and for the truth to emerge about recent incidents," Amnesty International said.
East Timor Human Rights Centre - June 27, 1997
The ETHRC has received an urgent appeal from Baucau, East Timor, where 85 East Timorese people were arrested between 5 June and 16 June 1997. One ETHRC source has reported that the 85 are still in detention at Kodim headquarters in Baucau, however this is still unconfirmed and it is not known how many of the 85 are still detained. However, the ETHRC believes many of those arrested are still in detention and are at grave risk of torture and ill- treatment.
The East Timorese people were arrested during a military operation launched by the Indonesian military in response to the 31 May attack by Resistance guerrillas on an Indonesian Army truck. The military operation was launched by Battalion 312 and "Team Saka", a team of East Timorese people recruited into the Indonesian military. It is believed members of the military intimidated and arrested the 85 people in order to obtain information about members of Falintil (the East Timorese Resistance guerrillas) operating in the area.
An unknown number of the detainees are believed to have been subjected to lengthy interrogation and torture lasting all night. The detainees have also been subjected to ill-treatment as it is believed they were forced to remove their clothes and had the names of Falintil members written all over their bodies. They were forced to remain unclothed all night.
Background information
The situation in Baucau has been very tense since the May 29 Indonesian election, which was accompanied by an increase in fighting between the Indonesian military and the Resistance guerrillas. There is a heavy military presence in the area with three battalions (approximately 3,000 troops) currently stationed in the city of Baucau.
On 31 May, Resistance guerrillas attacked an Indonesian army truck, which was carrying 26 policemen and two soldiers, on the road in Quelicai, Baucau district. The guerrillas threw a grenade into the truck, killing thirteen Indonesians, while another four Indonesians were shot dead trying to escape.
The repercussions, including the arrest of the 85 East Timorese people, which have followed the 31 May attack are believed to be related to the recent arrest of Commander David Alex and three other East Timorese (see Urgent Action UA 16/97 dated 26 June 1997). Alex has been accused by the military of planning the 31 May attack and other recent Falintil attacks in and around Baucau.
East Timor Human Rights Centre - June 28, 1997
By Miranda Sissons, International Relations Program, Yale University. Summary of a forthcoming publication of the East Timor Human Rights Centre
This report examines human rights abuses perpetrated against women in East Timor in the implementation of the Indonesian national family planning program, Keluarga Berencana Nasional (KB). It investigates long-standing allegations that the Indonesian government has used both the KB program and the government health system to covertly sterilize East Timorese women. It also examines reports of coercive recruitment practices and the covert use of injectable hormonal contraceptives. In addition to its main focus, the report also examines other kinds of violations of women's sexual and reproductive rights in East Timor. The report is based upon evidence gathered from on-site fact-finding in East Timor, as well as research and interviews conducted in Indonesia, Australia, and the US
Findings
Set in a context of widescale repression and fear, the KB program in East Timor consistently violates internationally-recognized standards of family planning and reproductive health care as set out in Chapter 7 of the Report of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). The design and implementation of the KB program in East Timor have caused serious violations of women's human rights under both international and Indonesian domestic law.
Although complaints of human rights violations have been made against the KB program in other parts of Indonesia, those in East Timor differ in both nature and effect. These include breaches of such fundamental human rights as the right of security of person; the right to freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment; the right to marry and found a family; and the right to life.
The coercion and violence associated with the KB program constitutes physical and psychological violence against women. Because these abuses are suffered exclusively by women, the actions of the Indonesian government also violate the fundamental right to freedom from discrimination enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Social and Economic Rights (ICESCR) and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
Specific violations include:
- failure to provide KB users with basic follow-up care, violating international family planning standards set out in Chapter 7 of the Report of the International Conference on Population and Development and contained in Indonesian domestic law 10/1992;
Effects
These and other abuses have contributed to a strong belief on behalf of the local population that the KB program is used by the Indonesian government as a politically-motivated instrument to deliberately undermine the survival of the East Timorese as a national group, an activity expressly forbidden by Article II (d) of the Genocide Convention. Although there is insufficient evidence to judge that the KB program has been used with such intentions, widespread abuse of women's reproductive rights, poor communication, and insensitive administration – set against a background of intense political oppression – have undoubtedly contributed to this perception. The scale and severity of women's health problems in East Timor also indicate that the current prevalence of injectable contraceptives has strongly negative health consequences for users. Fear of the KB program has severely undermined the efficacy of the government health system in East Timor. According to statistics in the U.N. World Population Report (1996), the death rate in East Timor is double that in Indonesia and the worst in Southeast Asia. Infant mortality in East Timor outstrips even that of Rwanda and Iraq. Yet women are unwilling to turn to the government health system for fear of covert injection or sterilization, nor do they trust public health initiatives that rely on injections and tablets. These fears are compounded by linguistic difficulties and the attitudes of health care providers. High levels of distrust have created a situation in which the practical efficacy of a large part of the health system is open to doubt. Government indifference to this situation gives rise to serious questions regarding its commitment to fulfilling even the minimum content of the right to health in East Timor, a right enshrined in Article 12 of the International Convenant on Economic and Social Rights. Fear of covert injections through the medium of school vaccination programs has also had a negative impact upon women's access to schooling.
Recommendations
Conclusion
Human rights abuses in the KB program have affected a wide range of women's human rights in East Timor, including the right to security of person, the right to health, to education, and freedom from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Other violations of women's human rights in East Timor include rape, forced marriage, and and sexual servitude. Given that these violations and their repercussions are suffered almost exclusively by women, this report concludes that they constitute discrimination against women as defined by Article 1 of CEDAW. Indonesia is a party to CEDAW and has also signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It has also signed the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women and has incorporated international standards on reproductive issues and women's rights into domestic laws 7/1984 and 10/1992. These gestures towards international legitimacy will remain meaningless until the Indonesian government ceases to tolerate the widespread violations of women's human rights in East Timor.
Tapol - June 27, 1997
A Reuter report on 27 June quoted an army lieutenant as saying by phone from Dili: 'David Alex was buried in a public cemetery in Dili on Thursday afternoon and the burial was attended by his relatives.'
TAPOL has been in touch with first cousins of David Alex now living in the UK and Portugal. They refute this claim, saying that all the close relatives of David Alex on his father's and mother's side live at least six hours travelling distance from Dili, near Kelikai, and could not possibly have travelled to Dili in time to attend a funeral that took place so soon after his alleged death.
TAPOL has also been told that more distant relatives living in Dili have confirmed that they did not attend any funeral, they knew nothing about it and stress that the security situation in Dili is so tense that they would not have been able to leave their homes for such an event.
TAPOL wrote to the Foreign Office Thursday saying that the Indonesian authorities should provide clear evidence of the present whereabouts of David Alex. If he is indeed dead, the circumstances of his death should be investigated and the military authorities in Dili should be urged to hand his body over to members of his family so that an autopsy can be carried out.
TAPOL is convinced that the military authorities are weaving a web of lies about the fate of David Alex and call upon the international community to insist on establishing the truth about what happened and to act to protect the lives of the four men who were captured together with David Alex and who are now thought to be in custody at Kopassus headquarters in Baucau.
Amnesty International - June 19, 1997
Three men, Virgilio dos Santos Pinto, Cancio da Costa and Gil Fernandes, arrested on or around 14 June 1997, are believed to be in military custody in the town of Los Palos, East Timor, where they are at serious risk of torture or ill-treatment. Another seven men, Lorencio Monteiro, Sergio Paul Dias, Aurelio Mendes, Jose da Costa, Joao da Costa, Aurelio and Aleco Neves, are also reported to have been recently arrested in the region of Los Palos. There is no information on their whereabouts, raising fears that they too may be at risk of torture or ill-treatment.
Virgilio dos Santos Pinto, Cancio da Costa and Gil Fernandes were detained by members of the Special Forces, Kopassus, during house-to-house searches by the Indonesian security forces in the village of Soru, approximately five kilometres from Los Palos. The searches followed a series of attacks on military and civilian targets by Falintil - the armed opposition group fighting for East Timorese independence. The three men were taken to the Kopassus detention centre in Los Palos, known locally as Mess Gula. Amnesty International has received testimonies in the past from people who have been tortured or ill-treated in this detention centre and believes that it is likely that the three men arrested from Soru will be facing such treatment. They are not believed to have been permitted access to lawyers or to members of their families.
The precise reasons for the arrest of all ten men is unclear, but it is believed to be in relation to the attacks by Falintil.
Background information
In recent weeks there has been an increase in reported attacks by Falintil against military and government targets. Over 40 people, including civilians, members of the armed forces, the police force and of Falintil, have been killed during the attacks.
Amnesty International condemns the attacks on civilians by Falintil. However, the organization is concerned that retaliation by the Indonesian security forces may spread beyond those directly responsible for the killings and result in the arrest of people who have been involved only in peaceful activities in support of East Timorese independence.
Since the attacks the military authorities are believed to have arrested over 100 individuals, many of whom have been released after short periods in detention.
Torture or ill-treatment of political detainees in East Timor in both police or military custody is routine. The risk is particularly high during interrogation when detainees are commonly denied access to legal counsel and to their families. The risk is further exacerbated by the restrictions placed by the Indonesian authorities on access to East Timor for independent human rights monitors.
ETISC Australia - June 26, 1997
We are deeply concerned over the safety of five East Timorese arrested together with the Baucau commander of the East Timor armed Resistance, David Alex. Indonesian authorities refuse to disclose their whereabouts and our sources indicate they might be detained in the Rumah Merah Indonesian military torture installation in Baucau. At the present moment, there is a very heavy presence of troops in Baucau, 130km from the capital Dili.
There is a very strong likelihood that the five are currently being tortured. The use of torture is a common practice of Abri and the pictures posted on the InterNet at http://www.dayworld.net.au/~ekeberg/torture.html are clear evidence of the brutalities committed against the East Timorese people by Abri. We are also deeply disturbed that there are 46 East Timorese currently being detained by police.
"The death of David Alex, if true, is a great loss to the armed Resistance, Falintil", said Nobel Peace laureate Jose Ramos- Horta, speaking from Santiago, Chile.
"There is a David and Goliath nature to the war waged against the East Timorese people by the Indonesian armed forces. A further 15 battalions of Indonesian troops have been brought into East Timor to hunt down the armed Resistance. This is appalling. The culture of resistance will continue, as one generation of Timorese passes on the torch of national struggle to another," added Ramos-Horta.
"If David Alex is dead, there will be other East Timorese to take over his command. In 1978, the Indonesians failed to destroy Falintil with the killing of Nicolau Lobato – there was Xanana Gusmao to lead the armed Resistance. When Xanana was arrested in 1992, the armed struggle continued under the command of Konis Santana."
The Nobel Peace laureate also urged Western nations to stop selling arms to the Indonesia armed forces, to end the war in East Timor.
"Since 1975 Indonesia has been fighting a dirty war against the East Timorese military Resistance, and has simultaneously been exercising its troops in the use of arms against East Timorese civilians," said Ramos-Horta. "Indonesia buys weapons from the West with East Timor in mind, and the arms suppliers know very well they would also be used against East Timorese as well as in Indonesia."
"Once again," said Ramos-Horta, "the increased level of conflict in East Timor proves that no amount of force used will ever suffice to crush the spirit of the East Timor people. "Once again, after 22 years of the senseless and brutal war against the East Timorese, the Indonesians should realise that only through dialogue under UN auspices can there be a resolution of this conflict," added the Nobel Peace laureate.
ETISC Australia - June 26, 1997
We have good reason to believe that the Baucau commander of the East Timor armed Resistance, David Alex, is still alive contrary to claims by the Indonesian armed forces (Abri) that he was killed in a battle.
Based on an eyewitness report, Commander David Alex together with three others – Jose Antonio Belo, Manuel Loke Matan and Gil , all unarmed, were seeking medicine on Wednesday morning in Kaibada, near Baucau. The medicine was for David Alex himself, who was sick.
The four were intercepted by an Abri patrol, and shots were fired by the Indonesian troops. The Resistance fighters were soon captured, but the witness reported to us that none of them was injured.
The four were then driven in military vehicles to Baucau and on reaching the town, many East Timorese there saw them in custody of Abri.
According to the witness, later only three – Jose Antonio Belo, Manuel Loke Matan and Gil – were spotted in separate cells in the feared Red Berets' torture chamber, also known as the Rumah Merah. David Alex was nowhere to be seen.
There is a strong possibility that David Alex has been moved to a secret location and is currently undergoing severe torture.
We denounce the Indonesian armed forces claim that Commander David Alex has died as a result of wounds suffered in a firefight with an Abri patrol. Based on our experience, the announcement of David Alex's death is to forestall the anticipated outcome of the interrogation process under torture.
We strongly appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and the Special Rapporteur on Disappearances to investigate immediately into these heinous crimes committed by the Indonesian armed forces, in complete contravention of the Geneva Conventions and other human rights conventions. We also appeal to the international community to intervene immediately to prevent the three, currently in the Rumah Merah, from being tortured.
East Timor International Support Center, Darwin - June 23, 1997
There is currently a climate of fear in East Timor with the launch of a sweep-up operation, called Gerakan Tuntas (Annihilation Campaign) , by the Indonesian armed forces (Abri). We have received numerous phone calls, from the territory, with the callers telling us of heavy movements of Indonesian troops in the towns of Liquica and Baucau and the capital Dili. The desperate callers also urged the international community to intervene fast to prevent mass-arrests in East Timor.
This military operation against the East Timor civilian population is in retaliation against attacks by the armed East Timor resistance, Falintil, which killed 52 Indonesian police and soldiers when Indonesia staged mock legislative elections throughout the country and in East Timor, late last month.
Ten East Timorese in Liquica are currently being detained in military installations and have been denied access to their families. The 10 were arrested by the Indonesian authorities between 12-17 June and accused of being linked with the clandestine Res istance fighting the illegal occupation of East Timor by the Indonesians.
In the town of Baucau, 130 kilometres east of Dili, five East Timorese civilians were arrested between 17-18 June. They are currently being held in custody by the Indonesian Intelligence unit. Like the 10 in Liquica, they are denied access to family and friends.
Also, on the night of June 18, in Baucau, Abri fired shots in the air to force people to flee their homes in fright. Once they were outside their houses, the Indonesian troops aimed their rifles directly at them and fired. This incident occurred in the v icinity of Baucau airport. Our sources tell us that scores have been injured and there were a few shot dead. Their bodies could not be identified because the Indonesian troops immediately took them away.
In the capital Dili, two East Timorese were detained, on June 18, by Indonesian Intelligence units. Twelve hours later, however, they were released after being very badly beaten up by the army interrogators. In Dili, now, people seldom venture out of the ir houses after 6 pm for fear of being picked up for questioning by the numerous Indonesian troops and plainclothes intelligence officers patrolling the streets in their cars and motorcycles.
| Labour issues |
Tapol (Abridged) - June 26, 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' organising activities and reduce their collective bargaining power.
The Manpower Bill will repeal or amend six Ordinances and eight Acts as follows:
The ordinances and acts above are in fact better than the Manpower Bill and are still relevant to practice in Indonesia. On the other hand, the Manpower Bill is worse and cannot protect workers in an era of globalisation.
In this sense 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 industrialised and newly industrialising countries are being driven down by global competition to attract transnational capital, countries such as Indonesia are driving standards even lower by institutionalising 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 organise 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 and No.PER 03/MEN 1993) 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
(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 work ers, 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 characterised 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' organisations, trade unions and other labour organisations 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 progovernment union officials whose interests are aligned with foreign and domestic capital.
| Social unrest |
Straigts Times - June 22, 1997
Jakarta – Indonesia's Religious Affairs Minister Tarmizi Taher faced further criticism yesterday for having said it was halal (permissible under Islamic law) to take the lives of rioters.
"As a national religious leader, Tarmizi should have spoken using only true Islamic references," Said Agil Siraj of Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) was reported as saying by The Jakarta Post daily.
Five student organisations at the state-run Islamic Institute in Jogjakarta, Central Java, on Friday demanded the minister resign over his remarks.
He told religious leaders in Surabaya, East Java, last week that "the blood and lives of rioters are halal".
Mr Sutrisno Muchdam, deputy chairman of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second-largest Muslim organisation, said Mr Taher should have avoided remarks which could provoke the public.
Mr Taher has not made any further statement on his Surabaya remarks.
Sporadic riots have broken out in many parts of Indonesia, especially East Java, where hundreds took to the streets to protest perceived election violations and irregularities.
The ruling Golkar party scored a big victory in the May 29 general election with more than 74 per cent of the vote, while the Muslim-led United Development Party finished a distant second with just over 22 per cent.
| Arms/armed forces |
The Independent - June 25, 1997
Richard Lloyd Parry – Weeks after it announced a new "ethical dimension" to foreign policy, and Robin Cook the Foreign Secretary promised to "put human rights at the heart of foreign policy", the Government has invited three senior officers of the notorious Indonesian Armed Forces (Abri) to a sales exhibition of British arms equipment.
John Spellar, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, confirmed this week that General Feisal Tanjung, the Indonesian Commander in Chief, has been officially invited to the Royal Navy and British Army Equipment Exhibition at Farnborough in September. Included on the invitation are the chiefs of staff of the army and navy, General Wiranto and Admiral Kushariadi. The Indonesian embassy was unable to say yesterday whether they had decided to attend.
Apart from their physical role in suppressing internal dissent in Indonesia, Indonesia's armed forces wield huge political influence and have played a crucial part in supporting the regime of President Suharto, a former general who has held power for more than 30 years. They have been accused of human rights abuses that include torture and murder, especially in the occupied territory of East Timor. Under the Conservative government, the Indonesian armed forces were enthusiastic purchasers of British arms, from water cannons and armoured cars, to tanks and Hawk fighter jets. Since the election, there has been speculation that new Labour would take a tougher stand on Indonesia, particularly after a speech last month by Mr Cook, which promised to "put human rights at the heart of our foreign policy".
Yesterday, the Labour MP Ann Clwyd, whose parliamentary question revealed the invitation, said she would be raising the matter in Parliament. "It does seem to show a certain inconsistency," she said. "As I understand it, the arms trade with Indonesia is under review, but if you invite someone to an arms exhibition, clearly.you hope to sell them arms. These people will not be coming just for a cup of tea."
General Tanjung's wish to visit London was revealed by The Independent on Monday, but a Foreign Office spokesman denied all knowledge of it.
The Government suffered a similar embarrassment earlier this month when visas were issued to three senior Iraqi officials, including the country's oil minister, to visit London on official business. After behind the scenes objections from within his party, the visas were withdrawn at the last minute by the Foreign Office junior minister, Derek Fatchett.
Agence France Presse - June 20, 1997
Jakarta – Indonesia's President Suharto has ordered officials to negotiate the purchase of Russian fighter jets and other military hardware, a minister said here Friday.
"The President has instructed Bappenas (the National Development Planning Agency) to coordinate the possibility of buying military equipment from Russia, particularly to improve our air defence system," the state minister of National Development Planning, Ginanjar Kartasasmita said.
The order could include fighter planes, radars and guided missiles, Kartasasmita said after meeting Suharto.
Armed Forces Chief General Feisal Tanjung is scheduled to visit Moscow next month to "further negotiate the possible purchase," he said.
A team of senior Indonesian officials has conducted preliminary negotiations in Moscow about a possible deal "and has already informed us of its findings," he said without elaborating.
Indonesia earlier this month cancelled its planned purchase of nine US F-16 fighter planes citing "wholly unjustified criticisms" of Indonesia in the United States Congress.
Jakarta, which also withdrew from the US Expanded International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, said it objected to US criticism over its human rights record, particularly in East Timor.
Indonesia annexed the former Portuguese colony in 1976, a move never recognized by the United Nations. Since then the Indonesian military has frequently been accused of committing human rights violations in the territory.
Kartasasmita rejected speculation that the planned purchase from Russia was neccesitated by the cancelled F-16 deal, pointing out that a Russian delegation came to Jakarta in February to offer military equipment to Indonesia.
"Our defence equipment does not just come from the United States. We also have Hawk fighters from England, as well as tanks and armoured vehicles from England and France," he said.
Kartasasmita, a retired airforce marshall, said he had examined the capabilities of the Russian fighters "such as the Mig-29 and Sukhoi-28" at the Paris Air Show.
| International relations |
Compiled by Alicia Cullen - June 15, 1997
Earlier this week, the Australian Democrats called on the Australian government to take a public stand against continuing human rights abuses in East Timor following the US Congressional Amendment on East Timor initiated by Senator Patrick Kennedy and resulting also in the cancellation with Indonesia of the IMET defense program.
Downer and Howard are continuing to be quoted in the media as saying that with regard to human rights abuses, they would prefer to raise talks privately, that Australia's influence in these matters is minimal and that a public stand could be counter- productive.
They have suggested that this is the reason they have not backed the US on human rights issues in China and Burma.
Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, will not be joining US Secretary of State, Dr. Madeleine Albright and British PM, Mr. Tony Blair, in boycotting the swearing in on June 30 of the Hong Kong Provisional Legislature appointed by Beijing until elections are held. Instead, Downer will be joining 4,000 other invited guests in attending the ceremony.
US Ambassador to Australia, Genta Hawkins-Holmes, said in Sydney: "I think there will come times, perhaps more than in the past, in the future when we (The US & Australia) do differ on tactics. What I don't see is a divergence on our common objectives . . . and we accept that."
John Howard leaves for a two week visit to Britain and the US on Tuesday. In Britain, he is expected to meet with Mr. Blair, the Queen, and former PM's Margaret Thatcher and John Major. He will be meeting with President Clinton in the US
Academic Advisory Committee
Earlier this week however, Downer called for the formation of an advisory committee of academics to make recommendations to government on issues relevant to formation of foreign policy, stating that he was greatly impressed by what he had seen of this practice in the US
Perhaps co-incidentally, Rob Wesley-Smith of Australians for a Free East Timor, Darwin,stated last Saturday on a broadcast of ABC Radio, that John Howard had demonstrated his lack of knowledge on foreign issues on his last visit to the US when President Clinton had to correct him several times.
Trade conference in Jakarta & criticism of ABC
An incident which has gained a reasonable amount of media attention has centred around Rob Borbidge, Premier of Queensland, currently on a trade mission in Jakarta. It seems highly likely that Borbidge may be making the most of his trip to Jakarta to promote a separate agenda as well as developing trade. He is staunchly and publicly opposed to Aboriginal Land Rights, and because of actions he took to undermine John Howard' s 10 point Wik Plan, Borbidge stated about 2 weeks ago on television that he and the Prime Minister are virtually not speaking to each other at the present time.
Whilst some members of government have been attempting to ease some of the damage in foreign relations they perceive to have been caused by Pauline Hanson (One Nation Party), Borbidge, speaking from Jakarta, attacked the ABC stating that it's broadcasts on Aboriginal reconciliation and the stolen children had damaged Australia's standing in the region. He also singled out ABC programs such as "The 7.30 Report" and "Foreign Correspondent" for their coverage of human rights abuses in Indonesia, and a specifically, a recent item on the financial dealings of the Suharto family.
An article broadcast on Radio Australia which may have upset Borbidge was with regard to unconfirmed reports that the University of Central Queensland was using what some would consider unjustifiably competitive marketing techniques to lure high-fee-paying Malaysian and other Asian students to the university. Phil Honeywood, Victorian Minister for Education had responded with regard to this issue, that national standards of practice in marketing Australian education overseas should be adopted. (Readers may recall n article written for "The Australian", by George Aditdjondro, and posted on this network a few weeks ago with regard to statements made by Honeywood in Jakarta, calling for an investigation into the appointment of Arief Budiman to the Faculty of Asian Studies at Melbourne University. Honeywood had stated that he did not want to see the University of Melbourne become a "safe haven for Indonesian dissidents". Adidtjondro had pointed out that interference by the minister in either staff appointments or course curriculum was neither appropriate nor constitutional, and was an internal matter).
Despite support from Downer to save Radio Australia (at least up until this time - he had lobbied to save Radio Australia, pledging $1.5 million dollars from the Department of Foreign Affairs in funding ,virtually without any support from colleagues in his party), the organisation has lost an influential voice in it's battle to keep broadcasting to Asia when it's General Manager, Mr. Derek White left on Friday.
Immigration Department
A report in "The Australian" - "Refugee Tribunal Squeezed" stated that the head of the Refugee Review Tribunal, Mr. Shun Chetty, may have acted out of accordance with The Migration Act with relation to the Tribunal's consideration of East Timorese applications, that the government through strong pressure from Indonesia, may legislate to remove the supposed independence of the tribunal if a decision favourable to the Timorese is made by the Tribunal.
Later in the week, an announcement was made that special visa classes will be created for specified citizens from Sri Lanka, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, China and countries in the former Yugoslavia - but, perhaps not surprisingly, no mention of East Timor. About 8,000 will be eligible to apply to resolve the status of people living in Australia as long-term temporary residents for humanitarian reasons. There will be an option of permanent residency.
Boat people
On Friday, a steel-hulled boat carrying 138 people whose country of origin has not yet been made public (although some reports say they may be from China), was intercepted by Australian authorities off Thursday Island . Some reports have stated that 12 people jumped overboard, 2 of whom were captured by the authorities. The boat was escorted to Cairns, and the people on board taken to the Port Hedland Detention Centre in Western Australia. Australia was criticised by the U.N. earlier this year for it's treatment of Cambodian refugees in detention (some of whom had been kept in detention for up to 4 years - countries such as New Zealand had a maximum detention period of up to 28 days).
Order of Australia award to Andrew Peacock
Andrew Peacock, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs (under Malcolm Fraser), and presently Australian Ambassador to the US received the highest award at this year's honours list when he was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia. It had previously been noted by long-time members of the Timor Solidarity Movement in Melbourne that Peacock had once claimed to be a strong supporter of the plight of people of East Timor, but appeared to no longer support this issue once he knew he had the numbers to win his seat and enter government.
Associated Press - June 18, 1997
Jay Solomon, Jakarta – American Embassy officials here have grown increasingly somber over the past month, listening to the war of words between Indonesia and the US But help is nowhere in sight.
Earlier this month, Indonesia canceled the purchase of nine F-16 fighter jets from the US and withdrew from participating in a US-led military-education program. Last week, the US took a procedural step toward joining the European Union and Japan in asking the World Trade Organization to rule that Indonesia discriminates against foreign auto makers. And in the background has been mounting criticism in Washington of Indonesia's human- rights record.
Yet the White House, still dogged by the controversy over President Clinton's links to Asian money – and Indonesian money in particular – has been ineffectual in tackling these and other bilateral problems, US diplomats say. Mr. Clinton, vulnerable to charges that he might be repaying political debts to Indonesian supporters, has left the Indonesian debate to Congress, the diplomats contend.
The situation "is the first tangible example of Clinton's scandal hurting our foreign relations," said one US diplomat in Jakarta. "Congress keeps bashing Indonesia, but our White House is powerless or unwilling to do anything to keep things on an even keel."
What is demoralizing to some diplomats in the field is that the canceled F-16 order and the military-training pullout might have been avoided in other years. Attacks on Indonesia for alleged human-rights abuses in East Timor and electoral irregularities aren't new. What is different is that the White House hasn't countered the debate to defend a key foreign-policy interest, the diplomats say.
"Our policy [toward East Asia] is fine, but it is extremely difficult for the administration to take the lead" in implementing it, said a State Department official who focuses on Asia.
According to Indonesia's foreign minister, Ali Alatas, President Suharto sent Mr. Clinton a letter early this month complaining of "wholly unjustified criticisms in the US Congress against Indonesia" for its human-rights record. That criticism, wrote the Indonesian president, was why he was canceling the F-16 order and pulling out of the military-education program. Mr. Alatas said that by removing those two issues from Congress's plate, the relationship could move forward "based on mutual respect, mutual benefit and noninterference in each other's affairs." On Monday, Mr. Suharto said industrialized countries use issues such as human rights as a pretext to protect their own economic and political interests. He blasted Congress, in particular, saying American lawmakers "manipulate human rights, democratization and labor problems for their own interests." Indonesia, he said, had to fight back by proving that it implements human rights "according to our understanding and concept of it."
Some US diplomats fear a further deterioration of relations. Of particular concern to Indonesian and US business executives is that Congress might try to focus on Indonesia's trade privileges with the US, which are valued at around $700 million a year.
If Congress, led by Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D., R.I.), attempts to restrict Indonesia's trade privileges, many US corporations could be hurt – and they may try to fill the vacuum created by the White House. Over the past two years, Jakarta has approved some $3.5 billion of new US investments. Big US energy companies, including Exxon Corp., Atlantic Richfield Co. and Caltex Petroleum Corp. (a joint venture between Texaco Inc. and Chevron Inc.), have major interests in Indonesia.
Associated Press - June 20, 1997
Jakarta – Fifteen Indonesian youths burned an American flag in front of the US Embassy today and demanded that Americans be expelled from the Muslim country.
The protesters said Indonesia should close its embassy in Washington and deport Americans because of a resolution in the US Congress condemning Indonesia's human rights abuses in the former Portuguese colony of East Timor.
"As ... members of the Muslim Youth Forum, we demand that the government of Indonesia sever diplomatic relations with the home of Satans, the United States," said a statement issued by the shouting protesters.
"Ten days after making this statement, we will openly threaten all American interests in the country," they added.
The demonstrators moved on to the Indonesian Foreign Office, where the group's leader, Faizal Assagaf, met with several officials.
Repeated criticism of Indonesia in Congress has led Jakarta to cancel a warplanes deal and pull out of a US-sponsored military training program.
The government said today it plans to buy warplanes from Russia.
| Miscellaneous |
AFP - June 24, 1997
Jakarta – An Indonesian journalist has died in hospital, two days after being admitted following a severe beating which left him in a coma.
Mohammad Sayuti, 43, worked for the Pos Makasar newspaper based in Ujungpandang, the capital of southern Sulawesi.
He was found unconscious and bleeding from the mouth on Monday in Palopo, the daily's editor, Harun Rasyid, said.
Mr Sayuti was rushed to hospital but died without regaining consciousness on Wednesday, a hospital employee in Palopo said.
Nicknamed "Sanrego", Mr Sayuti had been the daily's correspondent in Palopo for 15 years.
"His family and us, believe that there were strong indications that he was murdered," Mr Rasyid said.
Mr Sayuti was found unconscious, with a small wound behind his ear and blood coming from his mouth.
Police are investigating the case.
Mr Sayuti was known for his investigative stories into corruption and administrative abuse and sources said the beating may have been related to one of his stories.
"His stories in the past weeks have contained strong social control elements," Mr Rasyid said, adding that his most recent story was on forest destruction by individuals working with local administrations.
Another journalist, Syafruddin, who worked for the Berita Nasional newspaper in Central Java died last August after being attacked outside his house. His specialty had been corruption stories.
Syafruddin had been working on a story allegedly implicating senior district leaders in a financial scam.
Radio Australia - June 23, 1997
The Indonesian government has cancelled a controversial plan to hold a seminar to reassess the role of founding president, Sukarno, in a failed coup in 1965.
The Youth and Sports Minister, Haryono Isman, said that after hearing the views of various leaders it was proposed to President Suharto that there was no need to hold the seminar.
Mr Isman, speaking after a meeting with Mr Suharto, gave no reason for cancelling the seminar, which was to have been held next Saturday.
It was originally to have taken place in April, but was postponed until after the general elections last month.
The seminar, proposed by Mr Isman and initially approved by Mr Suharto, was to have focussed on Mr Sukarno's final public speech in 1966, known as Nawaksara.
In the speech Mr Sukarno denied any links to the abortive 1965 coup which was blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party.
The Wall Street Journal - June 20, 1997
Margot Cohen, Jakarta – Forget Batman, Spiderman, and even Rambo. Indonesia's new celluloid superhero bears the name Fatahillah, and he's bringing a Muslim Holy War to Theaters Near You–thanks to the enthusiastic backing of the Indonesian government, bent on reviving the nation's moribund movie industry.
Jakarta officials are urging citizens to rush to see "Fatahillah," which opens today in 23 cities across the archipelago. In August, the two-hour film will sweep Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. Even wider distribution beckons, judging from the letters of interest from the US-based Samuel Goldwyn Company, Star TV in Hong Kong, and Japan's Tokyo Broadcasting System. Indonesian television will also air "Fatahillah" as a 13-part miniseries during the Idul Fitri Muslim holiday next year.
But jihad and popcorn may not be a comforting combination for a country like Indonesia, where Muslim- Christian relations have grown decidedly strained in the wake of recent church burnings and desecration of mosques. Ironically, "Fatahillah" undermines Indonesia's own previous efforts to promote Islam as a gentle, tolerant faith.
"I won't recommend this film to my non-Muslim friends. I wouldn't want them to feel hurt," said one Indonesian Muslim journalist at the June 11 premiere. Although Vice President Try Sutrisno and other political heavyweights offered flowers and kudos, other observers quietly concluded that the film adds a militant edge to the Islamic revival now underway in Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim population.
The problem is that the movie's anti-colonial theme gets mixed up with an us-versus-them approach to religion. Set in the 16th century, "Fatahillah" tells the story of a charismatic, educated Muslim cleric who mobilizes soldiers from the islands of Java and Madura in order to defeat Portuguese invaders. The film climaxes with a chaotic battle scene at the port of Sunda Kelapa, entryway to the capital subsequently named "Jayakarta," or "City of Victory." Despite their superior firepower, the hapless Portuguese are sliced, battered, and roasted alive during a surprise attack.
"God is great," cries Fatahillah and his barefoot soldiers, as the screen flashes a quotation from the Koran advising war against "infidels and hypocrites."
On the long road to the battlefield, Fatahillah must contend with Javanese who have not yet converted to Islam and remain ambivalent or opposed to his holy war against the Portuguese. The script does offer some snippets of tolerance, such as a reminder that "God does not permit forcing others to embrace religion." Yet such lines are lost in a sea of suspicion toward those who are not Muslim.
It wasn't easy for Indonesian directors Imam Tantowi and Chaerul Umam to select an actor for the starring role. A familiar face would have been risky, given the sensual fare churned out by local producers. "If he played in a sex film after this, it could be very dangerous," says Mr. Tantowi.
Luckily, they convinced novice Igo Ilham to tear himself away from his studies in accounting to fill the role of 38-year-old Fatahillah. Well-versed in Arabic prayer, Mr. Ilham projects a humble grace that serves to anchor the confusing plot line. His dark eyes smolder at thoughts of the Portuguese, but they soften in approaching a teary wife opposed to his perilous mission. "Sometimes family matters can be more complicated than facing a dangerous enemy," murmurs a wise elder.
The production itself was a highly complicated undertaking, between managing a colossal cast of 2,500 people, creating 16th century costumes and sets, and filling in historical gaps in the superhero's biography. "We know virtually nothing about the man," says Adji Damais, director of the Jakarta History Museum. "We've been afflicted with the desire to make epic films, Hollywood- style, forgetting that Hollywood has some hard evidence about history."
Perhaps the greatest challenge was meeting political deadlines. Government patronage did not come without strings attached. The movie's 3 billion rupiah ($1.2 million) budget–the biggest in Indonesia's movie history–was largely financed with taxes on cinema tickets, and Jakarta governor Surjadi Soedirja was named as the film's producer. Mr. Soedirja was determined to see the film finished in time for Jakarta's 470th birthday on June 22.
That meant shooting during the December-to-February rainy season, which in turn caused many costly delays. One extra who played a Portuguese soldier was supposed to perish in two days. Instead, it took two weeks. "I just want to die and collect my salary," groaned Willy Bule, on location in Cirebon, West Java. A sudden storm destroyed one life-size replica of a Portuguese ship, and another ship disappeared altogether. Even the horses went a little stir crazy. Waiting for the rains to stop, the directors were forced to shoot much of the film in the middle of the night, leaving moviegoers to squint at shadowy figures on screen.
"Fatahillah" lacks the sense of humor that enlivened "Nada dan Dakwah," a Muslim musical released in 1992, and neither the dialogue nor the cinematography match the poetic power of the 1988 classic "Tjoet Nya Dhien," a portrait of an Acehnese Muslim heroine forced to succumb to Dutch colonizers.
But whatever the film's shortcomings, it has undoubtedly triggered fresh interest in combing the archives for cinematic inspiration. Heroic tales from West Sumatra, Riau and East Java are now in the works, with government support. State censors will likely have a hand in these patriotic projects, however. And if "Fatahillah" is any indication, the burden of political backing may deprive Indonesian movie-goers of the nuanced screen treatment their history deserves.