East Timor

Concerns over East Timorese students still in custody

East Timor Human Rights Centre - 27 November, 1997

Concerns are still held for the safety of Bernandino Simao, Domingos da Silva, Francisco de Deus, Juvinal dos Santos and Silverio Baptista who remain in custody at POLDA (the local police station) in Dili, following their arrest on 14 November. The five students were among a group of East Timorese arrested at the University of East Timor (UNTIM) during a confrontation with Indonesian security forces (see UA 26/97 & UA 26/97PR for details). It is believed all five men are facing charges in relation to the UNTIM incident. Recent reports have suggested that six students remain in detention, however, the ETHRC has just confirmed that Vicente da Cruz has now been released.

It is believed a total of sixteen students were arrested immediately following the confrontation. Eight have now been released but another three have disappeared. Abrao Benjamin, Domingos dos Santos and Duarte Fernandes de Araujo were reported missing by the University of East Timor following their arrest during the confrontation. Internal steps taken to locate them have so far been unsuccessful and their whereabouts is still unknown.

It is believed the following students have now been released and appeals on their behalf should cease: Joaquim Matetai, Albano Barreto, Adolfo da Costa, Abrao do Nascimento, Antonio Viegas, Natalina Duarte de Araujo, Orlando (no surname) and Marito de Almeida

The ETHRC welcomes the release of these students as it is believed they were being arbitrarily detained. However, grave fears are held for the remaining detainees as detainees in East Timor are routinely subjected to torture and ill-treatment, especially if they are denied access to independent legal advice.

In its investigation into the UNTIM incident, the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission (KomnasHAM) concluded that no one was killed but that excessive force was used by the Indonesian security forces and human rights violations committed. During a news conference in Dili, Mr Marzuki Darusman, deputy chairman of KomnasHAM stated: "Based on information from official and reliable sources, acts of violence, which were a violation of human rights, were found. For example, students suffered from gunshot wounds, were beaten up, and had their teeth broken, faces swollen, and legs injured and bruised due to being hit with solid objects".

The ETHRC calls on the Indonesian government to act on the findings of the Indonesian Human Rights Commission by bringing charges against any members of the armed forces who committed human rights violations during the 14 November incident. The ETHRC also urges the Indonesian authorities to lift restrictions on access into East Timor for independent human rights monitors.

Six students on trial accused of violent acts in university incident

Lusa - November 27, 1997

Jakarta – Six East Timorese will be on trial accused of committing violent acts during recent incidents between students and security forces at the University of Dili on 14 November.

The chief police of Dili, Colonel Rismanto told an Indonesian newspaper that after an interrogation of 13 students involved in attacks against the security forces, six of them had been incriminated and would go to court.

The Indonesian National Commission for Human Rights sent four members to East Timor to investigate the incident, and found evidence of human rights violations, but has still to issue its report.

Indonesian authorities arrest Timorese accused of murdering policeman

Lusa - November 26, 1997

Jakarta – The Indonesian authorities arrested on Tuesday a Timorese who they accused of murdering a policeman in Dili on 24 December 1996.

According to the authorities, Bobby Xavier, 27, allegedly attacked and killed policeman Alfredo Siga on the day Bishop D. Ximenes Belo returned to Dili after receiving the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize.

Last Sunday, the police arrested other three Timorese accused of being accomplices of Xavier.

They were identified only as Salvador, Alfredo and Rosa.

Human rights body confirms "use of force" in handling of Dili riot

Kompas - November 24, 1997

Dili – Marzuki Darusman, deputy chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, who is leading a team investigating an incident in the University of East Timor on 14th November, has said there were no casualties during the incident and no members of the security disturbance movement (GPK) had infiltrated into the campus as reported by various mass media outlets.

Speaking during a news conference at Hotel Turismo, Dili, East Timor on Sunday (23rd November), Darusman underscored the fact that the security apparatus continued to use force in handling cases in East Timor. "There is nothing else in handling cases in East Timor other than the use of force," Darusman said. He is accompanied by B.N. Marbun, Clementino dos Reis Amaral, and Sugiri during the investigation.

"Based on information from official and reliable sources, acts of violence, which were a violation of human rights, were found. For example, students suffered from gunshot wounds, were beaten up, and had their teeth broken, faces swollen, and legs injured and bruised due to being hit with solid objects. In addition, the glass windows of the University of East Timor were damaged, while blackboards and announcement boards were riddled with bullets," Darusman said.

He said the National Human Rights Commission team concluded that there had been no encouraging developments as far as security and the implementation of human rights in East Timor were concerned. Every case had always been handled through the use of force which has created a deep psychological trauma. The trauma has made students unsympathetic to, and less respectful of, the security apparatus.

Material damage at the University of East Timor campus can be repaired in the near future, but it will take a long time to heal the psychological wounds and erase the negative views held by students and the general public of the provincial administration and the security apparatus. Negative views and hatred have existed since violent incidents and major riots in East Timor.

According to Darusman, political activities have taken place in almost every university. Nevertheless, the apparatus has always resorted to the use of force in handling political activities in the University of East Timor. Mutual distrust and mutual vigilance between the students and the security apparatus run so deep that unrest can easily erupt. The [14th November] case at the University of East Timor was very minor, but a large number of personnel from various units of the security apparatus were suddenly mobilized to deal with it. The use of force in handling every case has tended to violate human rights and create trauma and hatred among the students. Students who cannot stand such methods have been labelled as GPK members.

The students have turned to a third party because no one else listens to them. A third party has exploited the situation by using the University of East Timor as a ground to serve its own interests. Nevertheless, not all circles have viewed cases in the University of East Timor within this context.

The incident at the University of East Timor erupted due to something and resulted in consequences. Regarding who started or caused the incident, the background of the incident should be studied. Why were members of the security apparatus beaten up when they entered the University of East Timor campus? There was nothing but excessive hatred against the security apparatus. "Of course, we cannot but believe that the use of force in handling past incidents has created distrust, hatred, and brawls," he added.

No casualties

"There were no deaths, but there were near deaths. Therefore, foreign reports that dozens and even hundreds of students had died during the incident were totally untrue. Similarly, investigators found no evidence that GPK members had infiltrated into and hidden themselves on the University of East Timor campus. Only students were on the campus. Two residents, who were passing by when shots were fired, went on the campus. The two residents have returned home," Darusman said.

According to Darusman, political channels in East Timor have not yet worked or have deliberately been rendered unworkable. The University of East Timor case, which is indicative of this, was a simple matter that degenerated into a major issue within a short period of time.

Meanwhile, Amaral, secretary of the Field Observation Subcommission of the National Commission on Human Rights, recommended that the University of East Timor campus be relocated as it is next to the camp of Infantry Battalion 744. The close proximity has further increased mutual distrust, and academic activities on the campus cannot, thus, become free.

Suharto blocks East Timorese asylum seekers

Green Left Weekly - November 26, 1997

Jon Land – The Indonesian government is refusing to allow six East Timorese sheltering for more than three months in the Austrian embassy in Jakarta to leave for Portugal. Indonesian authorities allege that two of the East Timorese have been involved in the manufacture of homemade bombs and are members of a "terrorist group".

Foreign minister Ali Alatas and Suharto's daughter Tutut have urged Austria to hand over the two for questioning. It is claimed that they are linked with 13 East Timorese arrested on September 13 and 15, following the discovery of homemade bombs in Semarang and Dili.

The six, including a family of four, sought refuge in the embassy on September 19, fearing detention and torture by the Indonesian military.

Army spokesperson Brigadier General Abdul Wahab Mokodongan claimed on October 22 that Avelino Maria Coelho da Silva and Nuno Vincente Pereira were part of a special terrorist unit called the Brigada Negra which had carried out "terrorism, sabotage and murder in Indonesian regions, aimed at creating instability in the country".

General Wahab also claimed that Nobel Peace Prize recipient Jose Ramos Horta had close links with the group.

Horta rejected the claims, stating, "These asylum seekers are not terrorists". He added, "Jakarta cannot document any murder of Indonesian civilians by the East Timorese resistance in the 22 years of the Indonesian occupation".

Imprisoned resistance leader Xanana Gusmao was quoted by the November 19 Jakarta Post as saying: "The bombs were made to strengthen our resistance towards the [Indonesian] armed forces and I will take full responsibility for their activities".

Meanwhile, there are grave concerns for eight seriously wounded students who have been detained at the military hospital in Dili following skirmishes at the University of East Timor on November 14.

Indonesian troops fired on hundreds of students protesting against security personnel on campus. Red Cross workers were prevented from assisting the wounded (one student who was shot in the neck was dragged from a Red Cross vehicle by the military and taken away).

Bishop Belo condemned the attack as "incredible brutality". The university was closed on November 17.

Campaigning for a free East Timor

Green Left Weekly - November 26, 1997

Stuart Munckton and Arun Pradhan, Perth – On November 12, East Timorese and their supporters attended a protest at Parliament House to commemorate the 1991 Dili massacre. Amidst crosses bearing the names of those killed, and under the attentive gaze of the local Counter Terrorist Intelligence Unit, Green Left Weekly's ARUN PRADHAN spoke to DOMINGO OLIVERIA, secretary general of the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT).

Along with the National Council of Maubere Resistance and Fretilin, UDT is one of the major political groupings within and outside of East Timor. It formed in May 1974, favouring a federated relationship with the colonial power, Portugal. Since Indonesia's occupation in 1975, the UDT has united with a range of East Timorese and other groups to fight for East Timor's independence.

Oliveria noted that it has been an eventful year for the struggle. "East Timor is receiving greater support from people and governments internationally", he said. "Nelson Mandela made an appeal to free Xanana Gusmao [the East Timorese resistance leader jailed for 20 years]. Several British ministers have supported our cause. Bill Clinton and the US government wrote a letter to the Indonesian government calling on them to reach a peaceful solution in East Timor."

Oliveria refuted the idea that there is a time limit on East Timor gaining its independence because of Indonesia's genocidal and transmigration policies. "The Indonesian government has put effort into `persuading' East Timorese to accept its rule and it has systematically moved people into our country. But I have reliable information, particularly from church organisations in East Timor, that the bulk of the population is still determined to fight."

Oliveria is very sceptical about potential compromise plans that propose limited autonomy for Indonesia. "The Indonesian government is very corrupt and it is likely that any such deal would be unreal and not improve our position. Our main demand is and must be for independence and self determination."

The UDT is holding a four-day internal conference in Perth, December 3-7. The conference takes place every four years and involves up to 100 UDT members from around the world. As well as electing a new leadership for the organisation, Oliveria hopes it will help set some strategic goals to increase pressure on the Indonesian government.

Oliveria also explained that one of UDT's ongoing aims was to work closely with Fretilin and other East Timorese organisations. "We have different ideologies, but common aims: the goal to free our people." According to Oliveria there have been ongoing discussions to increase the coordination between groups. "I hope there will be a joint conference some time next year where we can launch an official East Timorese umbrella group."

Oliveria also acknowledged the allies of the East Timorese. "We have welcomed the growth of the democracy movement in Indonesia and thank the Indonesian people and organisations that are helping us with our goals. I would also like to thank the Australian people for their support."

Labour issues

Canada sends doctors to help Indonesian labor leader

Reuters - November 23, 1997

Vancouver – The Indonesian government has agreed to let Canada send doctors to assess the condition of jailed labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan, Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy said Sunday.

"Mr. Pakpahan's health is of concern to human rights activists both in Indonesia and abroad," Axworthy said. "We hope that this humanitarian mission will provide an accurate diagnosis of Mr.Pakpahan's condition."

Canada will send doctors and special diagnostic equipment.

Pakpahan has been in detention for more than a year charged with subversion, which carries a maximum penalty of death.

His trial was postponed last August after he fell ill. Doctors said he suffered from vertigo, a clot in the brain and an unidentified lung ailment.

Axworthy told reporters he had asked Indonesia last summer if Canada could provide medical help for the labor leader, after Indonesia brushed off Ottawa's request to release him.

Axworthy said that after discussions with Indonesia's attorney general earlier this week Canada was finally given the go-ahead to send medical help. Indonesia has rejected requests from the United States and European trade unions for Pakpahan to be sent overseas for treatment.

"We're pleased that we're able to have that kind of relationship with the Indonesian government," Axworthy said. "It demonstrates that through this kind of engagement, you can get constructive results."

Axworthy said that when he has asked Indonesia about releasing Pakpahan, Jakarta said the legal process was still under way.

Axworthy and his government have been harshly criticized for aggressively pursuing trade opportunities with China and Indonesia despite their records on human rights.

Anti-Chinese and Indonesian protesters have demonstrated in Vancouver as ministers and leaders from the 18-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum held their annual meetings here.

In the biggest protest so far, up to 2,500 people from a variety of groups demonstrated outside the APEC conference center Sunday, calling for the summit to put human rights higher on the agenda and for greater freedom in China, Indonesia, Tibet, Sri Lanka and Burma.

Human rights campaigners expressed outrage Friday at a warning by Jakarta's foreign minister that his government would act against Indonesian nationals who demonstrated against President Suharto during the APEC summit.

Human rights/law

Dita Sari hospitalised with typhoid

Green Left Weekly - November 26, 1997

James Balowski – On November 18, the Javanese daily Surya reported that the chair of the Centre for Labour Struggles (PPBI), Dita Indah Sari, had been admitted to the Syaiful Anwar hospital in Malang, East Java, suffering typhoid. PPBI is affiliated with the banned People's Democratic Party (PRD).

Dita was sentenced to five years' jail for "subversion" on April 22. She was previously jailed in the Medaeng prison in Surabaya, East Java. Following the largest prison riots in Indonesian history in June - which left the prison uninhabitable - Dita was moved to the isolated Kebon Waru prison in Malang.

Dita is the only political prisoner in Kebon Waru, and visits by friends and family have been restricted. She has been isolated from other prisoners and prevented from reading newspapers or magazines or watching television. Her family and lawyers have complained to the National Human Rights Commission but have received no response.

According to the underground magazine SiaR, Dita was admitted to hospital on November 15. She is delirious and very weak and being fed intravenously. Security around her room is extremely tight, police and prison guards maintaining a 24-hour watch. Journalists who tried to visit were turned away.

The of the prison, Sri Hartati, refused to answer journalists when asked how Dita might have contracted the disease. Typhoid is usually associated with unsanitary water or food.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian official radio station RRI last week reported that the jailed chair of the PRD, Budiman Sujatmiko, had escaped.

Journalists attempting to confirm the story were prevented from entering the prison where Budiman is being held. The underground PRD has yet to confirm or deny the story, but activists are concerned that it may have been concocted to cover up a "disappearance" designed to intimidate other pro-democracy activists.

West Papua: Indonesia's brutal colonialism

Green Left Weekly - November 26, 1997

Sean Moysey – Life in "Irian Jaya" – the name the Indonesian government gives to West Papua – is akin to the colonies of Spain in Latin America, or Europe in Africa. The land and its fruits are plundered by Indonesia. Against the immense military power of Indonesian authority stands an army of indigenous people, the Free Papua Movement (OPM).

West Papua is relatively unknown to most Australians, mainly due to Indonesia's tight control of information. West Papua is closer to Darwin than Sydney is to Perth by almost 900 kilometres.

More than 19,000 kilometres away, in Surrey, England, lives one of the world's most knowledgable people on West Papua, Carmel Budiardjo.

A British citizen, Budiardjo is the founder of the human rights organisation, Tapol, and winner of the 1995 Right Livelihood Award for her work documenting Indonesia's human rights abuses.

Budiardjo was a political prisoner of the Suharto regime from 1968 to 1971. Now 72, she has campaigned over the last 26 years for human rights in the Indonesian archipelago. She is a joint author of West Papua: The Obliteration of a People.

"West Papua is grossly and gravely neglected", Budiardjo told Green Left Weekly. "It is a colony of the Indonesian republic. It is in the unfortunate position, compared with East Timor, of having its annexation actually endorsed by the UN, in a quite scandalous decision taken in 1962."

West Papua was a Dutch colony, but not part of the territory known as the Dutch East Indies. When Indonesia asserted itself as a nation, between 1945 and 1949, it laid claim to West Papua. At the time, the Indonesian nationalists called the land West Irian.

"West Papua was excluded from the territory that was transferred to Indonesia in 1949 by the Dutch, and was put aside by the United Nations for a special arrangement because it had not been part of the Dutch East Indies. In the process of Indonesia's demand for the `return' of West Papua, the people of West Papua were never consulted, which was a gross violation of their right to self-determination", said Budiardjo.

In 1962, a UN committee on West Papua, chaired by United States diplomat Elsworth Bunker, involved only Indonesia, Holland and the UN in negotiating the future of the land. The negotiations resulted in the New York Agreement, which resolved that Indonesia should administer West Papua.

"The New York Agreement had absolutely nothing to do with the wishes of the West Papuan people", Budiardjo said. The "agreement did make provision though for what the was called an Act of Free Choice that was to take place within six years.

"The UN handed over the territory to Indonesia lock, stock and barrel. The Indonesian army took charge of the territory [on May 1, 1963] and instituted a reign of terror, not recognising the right of anybody to speak against the annexation."

The Act of Free Choice, which was intended as a forum for West Papuans to voice their opinions, took place on August 2, 1969.

"This so-called Act of Free Choice", said Budiardjo, "was in fact an act of no choice. It was not universal suffrage, which is the only way an act of self-determination can be conducted.

"It consisted only of just over 1000 so-called tribal chieftains who were selected by the Indonesians, with guns held to their , and forced to state their unanimous agreement that West Papua should become part of Indonesia. The UN scandalously accepted the result, and from then on West Papua was swept under the carpet."

Abuse

In September, a young West Papuan, Yapenes Imingkawak-Magai, was beaten and tortured by Indonesian soldiers and security guards from the Freeport mining company town, Tembagapura. Yapenes' murder joins the long list of human rights abuses documented over the last three decades by independent observers.

Throughout the 1970s, Catholic and Protestant missionaries reported Indonesian army patrols destroying villages, raping women and killing livestock.

According to OPM spokesperson Rex Rumakiek, there are at least 140 political prisoners held by the Indonesian administration in West Papua.

In April 1984, Arnold Ap, a respected anthropologist and curator of the Cendrawasih University Museum, died in custody from severe bullet wounds. Ap had spent five months imprisoned without trial.

The Tribunal on Human Rights in West Papua held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, in May 1981 documented severe human rights abuses carried out by the Indonesian military against West Papuans. Eliezer Bonay, Indonesia's first governor of West Papua, testified to the tribunal that approximately 30,000 West Papuans were murdered between 1963 and August 1969.

Together with military suppression of the population, Indonesia also relocates thousands of poor Indonesians, through "transmigration", to West Papua. This population shift increases the weight of Indonesian might against West Papuans and relieves a little of the mounting dissent in Indonesian society.

Small farmers in Indonesia are being forced from their land by industry at a breakneck pace. Many of the recent forest fires, for example, were lit by property developers to clear forest for new land development.

Indonesia's cities are inundated with people leaving rural life in the hope of finding a job. Transmigration is aimed at solving a political problem at home for the Suharto administration and in the countries Indonesia is forcibly integrating.

Plunder

West Papua is a tropical paradise, rich with rainforest, gold, copper, oil and the culture of its people. Due to the wealth of raw materials, the territory is overrun with mining and forestry companies from around the world, including Australia. These companies support Indonesia's dictatorial regime in exchange for favourable access to the bounty of West Papua.

Budiardjo said that once Indonesia took control in 1963, it treated West Papua as its own property. "In 1967 the Indonesian regime signed a contract of work with US-based company Freeport, to allow it to exploit the mineral resources of the Ertsburg and subsequently the Grafsburg mountains.

"The mines started operations in the 1970s without the consent and understanding of the local people. The local people also suffer from the enormous pollution caused by tailings spewed out by this horrific mine, which has turned a once beautiful mountain into a huge crater."

Budiardjo said that the mining company and the Indonesian forces work together to keep West Papuans from reclaiming their land. The greatest concentration of Indonesian forces throughout the archipelago is stationed around the Freeport mine in the area called Timika.

Opposition

Rex Rumakiek is currently based in Sydney, from where he travels throughout Australia, Asia and the Pacific to raise awareness of West Papua's situation and the goals of the OPM.

Rumakiek spoke at conference on Asia-Pacific politics held in Sydney in August about the OPM's prospects.

The OPM was formed in 1965 during the height of Indonesian military operations against West Papuan resistance to occupation. Both Rumakiek and Budiardjo agree that West Papuans, in the main, identify as members of the OPM or support its aims. Despite the isolation of populations and no right to free association, Rumakiek said that West Papuans firmly adhere to their desire for independence.

Budiardjo said that while the OPM was active in seven different geographical regions, operating independently, it has "a ground swell of support. The OPM forces are based in the jungle and have rather infrequent contact with the Indonesian armed forces, but their presence is a serious drain on Indonesian forces in their occupation of West Papua."

A strong culture of civil disobedience also exists amongst West Papuans working within the Indonesian administration, said Budiardjo. These West Papuan administrators and officials reveal evidence of violence against their people and become obstacles to Indonesia's rule by force.

Budiardjo and Rumakiek emphasise that raising international awareness of the colonisation of West Papua is essential.

"The problem with West Papua", said Budiardjo, "is that so few people know about it, so it is left to anthropologists and photograph journalists who have done interesting studies of West Papua.

"But apart from these academic studies, it is only the activist organisations who bother to go there, who bother to write anything down and try to produce pamphlets or books. Part of the international neglect about West Papua is the fact that there is so little written about it."

Rumakiek said that the plight of West Papua is "not a simple issue of human rights; West Papuan people want their independence. It is a colonial situation, but the difference is that the colonisation is happening in this century", not the last.

Social unrest

At least 13 people held after days of brawls at Jakarta market

Agence France Presse - November 23, 1997

Jakarta – Police in the Indonesian capital have arrested at least 13 people after two days of fighting between a local mafia and residents at a Jakarta market that left two dead, reports said Sunday.

The 13 people were arrested in two waves, late Thursday and late Friday, Jakarta Police Chief Hamami Nata told the Antara news agency.

On Thursday residents around the Tanah Abang central market attacked several members of the local mafia which is mainly consisted of migrants from East Timor, leaving two people dead.

Despite police mediation and an agreement between the two sides to stop fighting on Friday morning, trouble erupted again later in the evening and went on until the early hours of Saturday, the Kompas daily said.

Thousands of residents armed with machetes, swords and steel pipes attacked an area near a railway track in Tanah Abang where the local mafia usually operates, leaving another person dead.

The fighting was halted after 300 policemen intervened and fired warning shots in the air.

"We will assure security in the location around the Tanah Abang rail trace and rid the area from thugs," Nata told Antara.

The initial cause of the violence is being investigated, he added.

The two dead have not been identified and their bodies have been sent to the morgue of the Ciptomangunkusumo state hospital.

Residents have complained of low-class prostitution at the railtrack area organized and protected by the mafia and of extortion of small vendors and businesses in the Tanah Abang area, press reports have said.

The Tanah Abang area near the central market and the railtrack remained heavily guarded Saturday, the Kompas daily said.

The area has this year already seen several incidents of mass violence, involving rival mafia groups and between residents and members of the mafia.

International relations

Police arrest protesters at campus site of APEC leaders' meeting

Associated Press - November 25, 1997

George Tibbits, Vancouver – Police clashed with protesters Tuesday at the University of British Columbia, squirting pepper spray at them and arresting about three dozen while Pacific Rim leaders met at the school's heavily guarded anthropology museum.

Two of those arrested were members of Indonesia's security staff, Vancouver police said. The two, arrested for breach of the peace while officers were trying to keep a roadway clear, wore ski masks and earphones and carried two-way radios, Canadian Press reported.

A police spokesman said they appeared to be observing protesters shouting anti-Indonesian slogans. He said the two were released and taken to the airport to fly back to Jakarta.

"The matter is being handled internally (by the Indonesians)," he said.

Two carefully orchestrated protests produced the bulk of the arrests, but students later staged impromptu demonstrations near entrances to the meeting site. Police and heavy fencing kept them well away from the 18 leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

More than a thousand people joined a march down the university's mall, decrying Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Indonesian President Suharto and "corporate greed." Several demonstrators tried to push through a security fence several blocks from the museum. The fence fell, but police quickly put it back up.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Vancouver bicycle police confronted the demonstrators, using pepper spray and wrestling the more persistent protesters to the ground, securing them with plastic handcuffs. One heavily sprayed protester had to be treated by paramedics, but some bicycle officers volunteered their water bottles to rinse out students' stinging eyes.

Sgt. Hugh Stewart said those arrested would be charged with breach of the peace and released.

After talking with the students, police allowed 15 "symbolic arrests." Demonstrators marched in groups of three or four to the police cordon, paused, then were ushered through to be handcuffed.

But officers declined to arrest any more, which resulted in a bizarre standoff of nearly an hour as protesters tried unsuccessfully to cajole police into taking them in.

"Peaceful students want peaceful arrests!" one demonstrator yelled before the protest broke up.

Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien deflected a reporter's question on how he would have felt if police had used pepper spray on him.

"This technique did not exist in those days," said Chretien. "For me, pepper – I put it on my plate."

Chretien said people have a right to protest – "I did that myself, too, when I was a student."

At an earlier demonstration, protesters chanted, "Shame, shame, shame" as they pushed into police lines, trying to make a citizen's arrest of Suharto for alleged human rights abuses in East Timor.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said protesters "have a rich imagination and are quite free to undertake whatever type of demonstrations they would like to do."

Alatas conceded there were problems in East Timor, but complained that critics of Indonesia often indulged in misrepresentation and distortion.

Indonesia fires back at critics

Vancouver Sun - November 26, 1997

Edward Alden – Indonesia has been under fire since the APEC summit opened in Vancouver six days ago – charged with illegally occupying East Timor, torturing opponents and jailing labour activists. Tuesday, Indonesia fired back.

In a scathing denunciation of his country's critics, Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas accused human rights activists of fabricating torture photographs, and charged the media with distorting his country's record.

"We have been facing a barrage, an anti-Indonesian campaign that is characterized by gross misrepresentation and exaggeration," he told a news conference.

The message in the Western media, he said, is that "the Indonesians are so uncivilized they've barely come out of the trees, and therefore they like to kill babies and so on. There is a limit to the ludicrousness of all these accusations."

The photographs released last week by Canadian East Timorese activist Bella Galitos, which purport to show tortured young women in East Timor, are "misrepresentation, distortion and complete fabrication," Alatas said.

"If you were someone or belonged in a group engaged in torture, would you announce it throughout the world by taking photographs?" he asked [see notes - JB].

"Who takes photographs of so-called torture? It is truly ridiculous." Such photos, he added, "are clearly manipulated."

Alatas said torture does happen "occasionally" in Indonesia and "in many countries." But torture is not Indonesian government policy, he said. The problem is more like the police brutality that takes place in the U.S. or Canada, he said.

Indonesia has been the target of much of the anger in Vancouver over human rights atrocities in some Asian countries. Jose Ramos-Horta, an East Timorese exile and long-time critic of Indonesian President Suharto, was the keynote speaker at last week's People's Summit and met with Premier Glen Clark.

According to the U.S. state department, Indonesia in 1996 "continued to commit serious human rights abuses. . . Security forces continued to torture and mistreat detainees, particularly in regions such as Irian Jaya and East Timor."

Those two areas are part of the 17,000 islands that make up the Indonesian archipelago.

Suharto, a former general in the Indonesian military, has kept an extremely low profile on his visit to Vancouver, where he has been ensconced in the Hotel Vancouver under heavy guard.

While he met with Prime Minister Jean Chretien and U.S. President Bill Clinton, he made no public speeches and generally tried to dodge protesters.

But Alatas attacked Indonesia's critics head on. In addition to his comments on East Timor, he said his widely reported threats against Indonesian nationals who take part in demonstrations in Vancouver were also a serious misrepresentation.

He said he told Indonesian journalists that some measures might be taken against demonstrators and "this was blown up and made into screaming headlines." The comment, he said, referred only to violent demonstrators.

Alatas also stuck to Indonesia's position that human rights should not become part of the agenda in the APEC forum.

He said there is clearly a link between human rights and economic development. Successful development, he said, will strengthen human rights, and protection of human rights will improve development.

But Alatas strongly rejected Western threats to reduce economic cooperation if human rights are not respected. "We are not saying human rights are unimportant. It's very important. But so is development. And each has their own forums and should be pursued with equal vigour and not mixed up."

Notes:

Despite Alitas' statement that "Who takes photographs of so- called torture? It is truly ridiculous", photographs of victims being tortured are in fact routinely taken by the interrogators themselves and then sold. As for torture not being Indonesian government policy, the following item, taken from section 13 of a Udayana (which covers East Timor) regional command manual titled "Established Procedures for the Interrogation of Prisoners. PROTAP/01-B/VII/1982", suggests otherwise. The manual was one of a number of secret documents which provide conclusive evidence that violence and torture are officially sanctioned as a means of obtaining information. When Amnesty international publicised its existence on July 20, 1983, it caused Jakarta considerable embarrassment, responding with denials and accusations that it was a forgery - James Balowski.

The use of violence and threats

Hopefully, interrogation accompanied by the use of violence will not take place except in certain circumstances when the person being interrogated is having difficultly telling the truth (is evasive).

If it proves necessary to use violence, make sure that there are no people around (members of TBO, Hansip, Ratih or other people) to see what is happening, so as not to arouse people's antipathy. The use of violence often results in the person under interrogation being forced to admit guilt because of fear, and therefore he/she will just comply with all of the wishes of the interrogator. Avoid taking photographs showing torture in progress (people being photographed at times when they are being subjected to electric current, when they have been stripped naked, etc). Remember not to have such photographic documentation developed outside, in Den Pasar, which could then be made available to the public by irresponsible elements.

Indonesian "agents" arrested at APEC summit protest

Agence France Presse - November 25, 1997

Howard Williams, Vancouver – Two Indonesian nationals suspected of being government agents were arrested here Tuesday during an anti-Jakarta protest on the sidelines of a Pacific Rim summit, security officials and sources said.

"It would seem they were members of the Indonesian delegation," a senior Canadian security official told AFP.

He was referring to two Indonesians who were among 16 demonstrators arrested hours earlier at a protest near the site of a summit of leaders from the 18-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

The arrests were made when demonstrators accused the two Indonesians of being "agents" of the Indonesian government, sent to infiltrate the protesters opposed to President Suharto.

Police said they would look into charges from other demonstrators that the two were special agents sent to infiltrate the protest.

Both were wearing ski masks, and Staff Sergeant Hugh Stewart of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said they would be held until authorities could confirm their identities.

Witnesses said one of the arrested Indonesians asked police to pull down his ski mask to hide his face as they escorted him away.

The two were also carrying walkie-talkies at the time of their arrest, Stewart said.

"I did not have time to question them before they were taken away," Stewart added when asked about assertions the two were working for the Indonesian government. "But this is undoubtedly something we are investigating now."

Another officer, who would not identify herself, said eight of the demonstrators taken into custody were apprehended as they tried to make a "citizen's arrest" of the two Indonesians.

She said police intervention was necessary to head off a major confrontation.

Some Indonesian activists have expressed fears of reprisals at home for involvement in protests here against the policies of Suharto.

Stewart said 16 of an estimated 150 demonstrators had been taken into custody after being arrested for failing to obey police orders to remain behind demarcation lines. Most would not be charged, he said.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas described as "nonsense" Monday claims by Indonesian activists that he had in Jakarta threatened action against Indonesian citizens who participated in protest activities on Canadian soil.

"I was just answering a question then in a very low key. There was no threat, nothing. I am surprised to see that I was quoted here as threatening them with arrest, which is nonsense," he said.

"It was completely exaggerated and distorted because my remarks were general in nature in response to a general questions. It was not related specifically to the people's summit," he added.

Alatas said demonstration alone was no reason for arresting anyone, but made it clear "there were certain provisions of course in Indonesia's penal code that could be reason for them to be held accountable."

An alternative "People's Summit" held on the sidelines of the APEC meeting filed a petition to Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy, asking Ottawa to seek a commitment from Jakarta that Indonesians attending protests here were not harassed, detained or prosecuted on their return home.

Alatas said the protests, spearheaded by the People's Summit that named Suharto as one of the worst violators of human rights within APEC, were a ploy to embarass Jakarta.

US opposes reprisals against Indonesian protesters at APEC summit

Vancouver - November 22, 1997

The United States served notice Saturday that it would oppose Indonesian reprisals against Indonesians protesting their country's human rights abuses during an APEC meeting here.

Commenting on press reports quoting Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas as threatening to "take measures against them," a senior US official said: "We are trying to track down exactly what he said."

"Our position is clear: we would oppose any threat against Indonesians or others who demonstrate peacefully," said the official, who asked not to be named.

"If what he said is as reported, we would urge him to reconsider."

Thursday, the Indonesian dissidents, largely human rights activists and opponents of Jakarta's continued occupation of East Timor, discussed the reported threat at an alternative summit on the sidelines of the APEC gathering.

Indonesian President Suharto was due here Sunday for the two-day summit of leaders from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (forum), which gets under way Monday.

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was to hold a bilateral meeting with Alatas Sunday as part of pre-summit consultations.

Suharto rocked in PR battle

South China Morning Post - November 24, 1997

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – It was a disastrous week for Indonesia in what has become a publicity war over East Timor.

Any benefit gained by President Suharto's "quiet diplomacy" trip to meet South African leader Nelson Mandela was offset by a student riot, pictures alleging torture and the interrogation of East Timor resistance leader Xanana Gusmao.

Hundreds of students ran amok at the University of East Timor last week, attacking military intelligence agents on the campus.

Soldiers were called in and fired warning shots.

While the military claimed only a few students were injured, student sources said two were killed in the clashes.

The National Human Rights Commission has taken the allegations seriously enough to send a team to Dili to investigate the incident. The day Mr Suharto arrived in South Africa to meet Mr Mandela, Indonesian police spent seven hours questioning jailed resistance leader Gusmao over his involvement in a bomb-making operation.

In July, Mr Suharto gave his blessing for a secret meeting between Gusmao and the visiting Mr Mandela at the state guesthouse.

Mr Mandela – a self-appointed mediator in the East Timor conflict – has called for the release of Gusmao, who is serving a 20-year jail term for insurrection.

Interrogating him while the two heads of state discussed his future was a stern message from Jakarta that Gusmao is nothing more than a "common criminal".

In another damaging development last week, the US Congress voted to block the sale of weapons to Indonesia that would be used in East Timor.

The law legislation requires that any contract to sell equipment to Indonesia "state that the United States expects the items will not be used in East Timor".

Perhaps most detrimental to Indonesia were the 100 explicit photographs released in Australia last week by the Australia East Timor Association.

The pictures purport to show Indonesian soldiers torturing, sexually abusing and killing five East Timorese women in December last year.

Jakarta condemned the pictures as "fabrications".

"It is foolish, childish and irrational to continue to conduct this sort of campaign just to discredit Indonesia," said Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Ghaffar Fadyl.

Mr Fadyl said the incidents were an annual pattern of unrest created by anti-integration groups commemorating the November 1991 Santa Cruz massacre. Between 50 and 200 people were killed by Indonesian troops in the massacre, according to accounts from Jakarta and human rights groups.

"This is the pattern they like to create especially when Suharto is on a visit abroad. They are trying to embarrass Indonesia, but it won't work," Mr Fadyl said.

Many believe the campaign is working and that Mr Suharto realises Indonesia has been discredited overseas on its occupation of East Timor.

His trip to South Africa may be part of the road to reconciliation, but the rest of the world is less than impressed.

Politics

Press release: Ramos-Horta issues statement on Megawati

Jose Ramos-Horta - November 25, 1997

The Indonesian Antara Newsagency claimed on 23 November that Indonesia's opposition political figure, Megawati Sukarnoputri said that East Timor is part of Indonesia. The report quotes Megawati as saying that "the integration of East Timor into Indonesia is the wish of the people there. So we have to defend the territory because it has something to do with our pride as a nation..."

It is hard to imagine that Megawati, the true leader of the opposition party PDI would make such a statement. As someone who has experienced the brutality of the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI), Megawati knows the plight of those who oppose the Indonesian regime. Many PDI members have been massacred in cold blood a little over one year ago, under conditions very similar to the ones experienced by so many East Timorese during these last 22 years of Indonesian occupation.

Antara often deliberately misconstrues the statement of personalities, making them appear to support the illegal and brutal Indonesian occupation of the former Portuguese territory. A few months back even the usually docile Australian Government was forced to strongly deny ANTARA claims that their ambassador was favourably impressed by the conditions in the territory at the end of a visit there. The opposite was the case. Last week, after visiting East Timor, the Portuguese Duke of Braganc,a had to issue a denial about Antara news alleging his support for the Indonesian presence in the territory.

As a leader of Indonesians struggling for democracy and an end to the corrupt and oppressive Suharto regime, Megawati knows full well that the integration of East Timor into Indonesia was never the wish of the people. She knows from her own experience, particularly from her removal as PDI head, how the regime manipulates and distorts the truth. Megawati knows very well how strongly the people of East Timor have resisted the brutal occupation they have been subjected to for the last 22 years.

If the aim of this latest disinformation by Antara is to drive a wedge in the increasingly strong relationship between the rapidly growing supporters of democracy in Indonesia and the people of East Timor, Antara has once again failed with its crude tactics. There is a growing alliance between the East Timorese and the increasing number of Indonesians fighting for democracy in their country. This was clearly visible at APEC in Vancouver in the last few days, where we saw the strong determination of young Indonesians to bring an end to the Suharto regime. They closely joined the activities by East Timorese protesting the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, even if doing so entailed high risks for their future security, given the strong threats from the authorities against Indonesian protesters. It would be hard to believe, as Antara seems to wants us to do, that Megawati Sukarnoputri is out of touch with these realities. If she were, her legitimacy as a democratic leader would be put in doubt. Is this what Antara is trying to achieve?

Megawati says East Timor is part of Indonesia

Lusa - November 24, 1997

Jakarta – The daughter of former Indonesian president Sukarno and a leading opposition personality, Megawarti [sic] Sukarnoputri, said on Saturday that East Timor was part of Indonesia.

Sukarnoputri, quoted by official news agency Antara, said during a university seminar that she supported the governmental position of regarding the territory of East Timor as the 27th province of the country.

She said also that the issue of East Timor was an internal affair of Indonesia.