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ASIET NetNews Number 14 - April 20-26, 1998
East TimorStudents shrug off warnings Students submit Meruya declaration Indonesian protesters demand reforms Preacher demands Suharto step down Impact of student demonstrations Indonesia students call for reform in talks Housewives join protests They rallied outside their campus Intellectuals support students demand Andi Arief, disappeared in the mist of crisis
Environment/land disputesUN drops resolution on East Timor
Human rights/lawFive firms to go on trial for starting fires Loss of insects in fires hits regrowth Update on fires/drought in Indonesia
PoliticsAustralia adds to lack of response Legal Aid Institutes feels terrorized Police clarification will be asked Andi Arief in police custody Kidnapped activist turns up
Arms/armed forcesJakarta ministers meet students
Economy and investmentPawns in their game? ABRI can use 'repressive measures'
MiscellaneousVultures set to swoop on Indonesia
Dengue fever kills at least 422 in Indonesia
| Democratic struggle |
Jakarta -- Thousands of Indonesian students have shrugged off repeated warnings from the authorities to keep up protest rallies across the country as 13 more people were hurt in a clash in Java, reports said yesterday.
Their ranks are being swelled by others demanding urgent economic and political reforms since the rallies started in February.
On Tuesday, students clashed with security forces, leaving seven students and six security staff injured in fighting outside Bandung Islamic University in West Java as the authorities tried to stop students from marching in the streets, the reports said.
The clash in Bandung followed a gathering of up to 1,000 students from various universities at the Islamic University, the Kompas daily said.
About 2,000 students also gathered at the Bandung Institute of Technology for an anti-violence demonstration.
In the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya, about 1,000 women were allowed, after much haggling, to march briefly in the streets from the Airlangga University, Kompas said. The group, which included students, lecturers as well as Catholic nuns, nurses, housewives, factory workers and even a number of prostitutes, demanded urgent reforms and lower prices of essential goods, the Jakarta Post said.
Thousands of students in the capital also gathered at Mercu Buana University, owned by President Suharto's half-brother Probosutedjo, at Sahid University and at the Jayabaya University.
Fifteen students, frustrated by Home Affairs Minister Hartono's refusal to give them a straight answer during a government- sponsored meeting with students here on Tuesday, walked out.
"We want you, sir, to give direct and concrete answers," the Media Indonesia daily quoted a student as saying. "It is better that you hear my explanations out first. Do not just interrupt," said the minister.
Thousands of students from dozens of universities have rejected state-sponsored talks, the first of which were held with 15 Cabinet ministers last weekend.
Jakarta -- Twenty-six students of the Universitas Mercu Buana, West Jakarta, on Friday (24/4) around 10.00 local time, came to the State Secretariat Building on Jalan Majapahit, Jakarta. Wearing red jackets, they wanted to deliver a letter and orchids for President Soeharto through the State Secretariat.
The students who called themselves the Students Study Forum of Universitas Mercu Buana came to the State Secretariat using a small bus. After some discussion with the gate security, two students were allowed inside. They were received by the State Secretariat Administration Bureau head, Shodiq, and handed over the letter and flowers.
Shodig said he would pass on both according to administrative procedure. The students named the letter they had delivered the "Meruya Declaration". It contained, among other things, a demand that the prices of commodities should be lowered as these were moving increasingly out of reach of the purchasing power of the public.
Afterwards the student group visited the office of the National Commission for Human Rights. To members of the commission they lodged a complaint that they had been treated harshly by the security at the State Secretariat.
Medan still heated
The wave of student actions of concern in Medan in which thousands of students participated, again continued on various campuses, namely at the Universitas Islam Sumatra Utara (UISU), Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara (UMSU), Universitas Katholik (Unika) Santo Thomas and the Institut Teknologi Medan (ITM).
At the ITM, in a continuation of their action of concern, students rained stones on security personnel who intended to block them at the Gedung Arca road. One police agent suffered injuries on the face. The situation only calmed down after the ITM head Ir Syahrum Razali MSc negotiated with the Medan City police chief and the military district commander. Concerning ITM student Ronalson Siahaan who suffered a shot wound (Kompas, 24/4), the city police chief said the matter was under investigation, whether the student had been hit by a bullet or shot at. The regional police information head confirmed there had been a shooting. The person who did the shooting is under investigation. He said that shooting by police when handling student demonstrations was not allowed. That has been affirmed by the State Police Chief.
In Yogyakarta, historian Prof Dr Syafii Maarif, was persuaded to speak before a crowd of about 20,000 people at the Grand Meeting of Indonesian Students and People, which had been staged by the KAMMI (the Indonesian Moslem Students Action Unit), after Friday prayers. He said among other things that it was incorrect to call the demonstrations practical politics. He hoped that in particular the minister of education and culture would not look at the phenomenon from a microscopic, narrow point of view.
The mass demonstration was participated in by students, high school pupils, street musicians and about 700 jilbab-wearing female students and women with children. They were wearing head- bands on which was written KAMMI.
In Solo, the Solidarity Group of Students Care for the People (SMPR) again staged a demonstration of concern on the Universitas Sebelas Maret boulevard. The action held by some 500 persons lasted five hours without incident.
In Ujunggpandang, thousands of students from various higher education institutes went on the streets to commemorate the Amarah Incident. They visited the graves of two of the three students of the Universitas Muslim Indonesia who died in the demonstration protesting the public transportation tariffs hike in 1996.
The commander of Military Region VII/Wirabuana, Maj. Gen. Agum Gumelar evaluated that the students action commemorating that incident was reasonable.
In Surabaya, about 100 persons consisting of students, workers, tricycle drivers, street-vendors, public transportation drivers - organized in the Surabaya Citizens For Reformation - held a demonstration in front of the East Java Regional Parliament, and read out their demand sovereignty to be returned to the people.
In Jakarta, some 100 students of Universitas Nasional staged an action of concern outside their Pasar Minggu campus.
In Bandung, a student of the Universitas Pasundan was arrested on suspicion of maltreatment of a security member who was guarding a free forum demanding reformation. Bandung top police officials confirmed that the student had been arrested on suspicion of having broken the law, namely maltreating a member of the state apparatus on duty.
Jakarta -- Thousands of university students held peaceful protests against the government Friday, a day after a dozen students were injured in a clash with police on the tourist island of Bali.
In Jakarta, several dozen students took a bus to the presidential palace complex to drop off a statement urging President Suharto to lower prices and use restraint while handling student protests.
The biggest demonstration Friday was in the Java island city of Yogyakarta, where several thousand students rallied at the state-run Gadjah Mada University. They were joined by activists from Muhammadiyah, a Muslim social group.
In the statement, organizers urged the government to apologize for its handling of Indonesia's worst economic crisis since the 1960s.
"The government has to be responsible for the crisis," said Haryo Setyoko, secretary-general of the student senate. "It has to carry out total and immediate reforms in all fields. If not, it has to resign."
Indonesia is implementing economic reforms under a bailout plan set up by the International Monetary Fund. But students also want democratic reform of the tightly controlled political system.
Thousands of students held protests Friday at all seven colleges in Ujung Pandang, the capital of South Sulawesi province.
The protests in Ujung Pandang coincided with the second anniversary of what students call "Bloody April", a protest over higher transportation fares that left at least five people dead.
The official Antara news agency said some students marched into the streets, but there were no reports of violence. The military has ordered protesters to stay on campus, but students have sometimes flouted the order. In Solo, about 1,000 students staged a rally at March Eleven University. In Jakarta, about 500 students shouted anti-government slogans at National University. About 300 protesters also rallied at an Islamic university in Bandung.
In a demonstration Friday in the Indonesian city of Solo, a respected muslim preacher -- Mohammad Komar -- demanded that president Suharto step down. Jenny Grant reports from solo that demonstrators there are becoming increasingly militant.
A crowd of one thousand students hurled rocks at anti-riot police at the 11th March University, as the students tried to push their protest off campus.
The university has been the site of the most violent demonstrations over the last month, with dozens of students injured during clashes with security forces.
Police brought in an armored personnel carrier and a water cannon to keep the students on campus. there were no direct clashes, and the police withdrew after a three hour stand off. the military has banned students from leaving their campuses, in an effort to prevent the daily demonstrations from affecting the wider community. but indonesian workers, the unemployed and even the middle class feel strong sympathy for the students demands.
Food prices have soared here following the rapid depreciation of the rupiah against the dollar. Rati, who owns a canteen opposite the university gates, says she agrees with the student demands to bring down food prices, Oust Mr. Suharto and clean up corruption. Her husband, Wibowo, nailed sheets of corrugated iron onto the front of their shop to protect it from the shower of rocks.
Muslim preacher Mohammad Komar -- who led Friday prayers with the students -- publicly demanded that Mr. Suharto resign. he says the Muslim community in Indonesia wants a new government and an end to corruption.
Daily student protests against Indonesia's government have rocked campuses across the country for the last two months. Jenny Grant, in Jakarta, looks at what impact the demonstrations might have on a country in the midst of an economic crisis.
The Indonesian government is facing massive student demonstrations for the first time since students erupted off their university campuses in the 1970s.
Unlike the student demands of 20 years ago, against foreign investment by countries like Japan and the United States, the students are now shouting against the failures of their own government.
For the first time, president Suharto appears deeply troubled by the student rallies, and his new cabinet is confused about what approach to take.
Rallies calling for lower food prices, a clean (honest) cabinet and an end to corruption, are splashed across the newspapers and appear on every evening news bulletin.
A political scientist at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Dewi Anwar Fortuna, says if the student movement escalates it could threaten the government and deter already cautious foreign investors. "The students will keep the heat on the government. it can also become a distraction if the students... if the student movement gets out of hand, that will divide the government and they will have to concentrate more on the security aspect."
The military is a key factor in controlling the demonstrations and ensuring they do not become violent. Military chiefs say they are concerned the students could join up with a wider group -- poor citizens and low-paid workers -- in a peoples' power movement that would shake national stability. Housewives in the East Java city of Surabaya joined a protest last week by 10- thousand students demanding the government lower food prices.
The head of the University of Indonesia Senate, Rama Pratama, says students are trying to warn the government there could be a social meltdown if they do not reform the political and economic system. "Just wait, the people will get angry and the country will blow up. and we don't want that, but we tell the government it will happen if they are not serious. it is not only us who can blow up the situation, but also hungry people, unemployed people will be angry and because we don't want that to happen, we tell the government to get serious."
President Suharto has urged the students to return to their studies and end their protests. but he has also sanctioned the use of repressive military force against the youths.
Military analyst salim said says it may not be long before there is bloodshed. "I don't rule out the possibility (of bloodshed). it could happen because a third party has engineered that to make things worse. it could also happen because the military is getting tired and their span of control weakens." Mr Said, who has been moderating talks this weekend between students and the military in Jakarta, says students have played an active role in changing Indonesian history. "They played a crucial role in ousting the country's first president, Sukarno, and supporting Mr Suharto's rise to power in 1965."
The 76-year-old president, re-appointed last month to his seventh consecutive term in office, can no longer afford to ignore the students' calls for reform.
Lewa Pardomuan, Jakarta -- Indonesian students launched a full- blown attack on the government during a rare dialogue with cabinet ministers on Saturday, accusing President Suharto of failing to respect the people's desires.
Some 250 students and scholars from various universities sat face to face with cabinet ministers and armed forces officials during the dialogue, called by the military in an effort to ease weeks of anti-government student protests.
Sixteen ministers, including Suharto's daughter Social Affairs Minister Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, chief economic minister Ginandjar Kartasasmita and Trade and Industry Minister Mohamad "Bob" Hasan, attended the dialogue.
"We are here to struggle for reform. We have seen how arrogant power is. The government has never even said sorry for the (currency) crisis which has strangled the people," said Ja'far Amirudin, a student from the state-run Surabaya Institute of Technology in Surabaya, East Java.
Eka Darma, a student from the state-run Udayana University in Denpasar, Bali said: "If the president and cabinet ministers are unable to lead the country, then they should have the guts to step down."
The government appeared to receive the criticism with good grace. "I ask for your willingness to give them time," said military chief and Defence Minister General Wiranto. "We are ready to be criticised," said Rukmana, Suharto's daughter.
Students from various universities across the archipelago have staged a series of anti-government protests because of the currency crisis, in which the rupiah currency has fallen more than 70 percent against the U.S. dollar.
In the Central Java city of Solo, police burst 12 tear gas shells to break up a protest by about 2,000 students calling for Suharto's resignation on Friday.
Protests have also been held in a dozen other citieis, including the capital Jakarta. Rising prices of essentials have also triggered riots in several cities.
"The protests stem from the fact that the students strongly reject the figure of Suharto as president," said Daniel Sparingga, political scientist from the state-run Airlangga university.
"If you (ministers) can assure the students there will be a solution coming from the president, I think there will be something promising," he said.
"To ask the students to stop the protests without trying to find a solution, I think it is only an illusion. The students have rejected the idea of resorting to violence. Please understand, the students are calling for reform through peaceful means," said Sparingga.
Economist Rizal Ramli, who attended the dialogue, said the government had to prove that it was really committed to solve the crisis and answer charges of nepotism.
"I am sorry to say this Sister Tutut (social minister Rukmana), there is talk out there that the cabinet consists of friends of President Suharto's children."
The new cabinet was formed last month after Suharto was re- elected for a seventh five-year term by the docile People's Consultative Assembly.
The students, many of whom received invitations for the talks on Friday, generally welcomed the event while hoping the government would come up with a follow-up to the dialogue.
Wiranto said the military was not against reform, provided that it was done in a gradual manner.
"The armed forces support reform. Radical reform won't be constitutional and we don't agree with that," he said.
He also asked students not to take to the streets for fear the protests would be exploited by vested interests and that the demonstrations could lead to destruction and anarchy.
Suharto last week issued his sternest warning yet to protesting students by giving security forces the green light to use "repressive measures" if persuasion failed, newspapers reported. "Security forces can apply repressive measures...in critical and emergency situations," Friday's Jakarta Post quoted him as saying in a written address for the 46th anniversary celebrations of the Army's special forces (Kopassus) on Thursday.
But he also warned officials not to break the law while containing the students and reminded them that repressive measures should be immediately followed up with acts to restore the situation, the Jakarta Post reported.
Jakarta -- Huge numbers of students in many cities were kept up their fervent protests for lower prices and sweeping reforms yesterday with housewives in one city helping to boost the rallies.
In Surabaya, the capital of East Java, around 10,000 students from 16 local universities assembled at the Sepuluh November Institute of Technology demanding economic and political reform, new national leadership and an end to nepotism, collusion and corruption.
The students also marched three kilometers through kampongs, where residents, especially housewives, joined in yelling for affordable prices of basic essentials. Motorists also stopped and joined the crowd.
Agung Febriyadi, one of the student protesters, said: "This proves that masses of people are suffering. The people and the students must unite to stand up against the corrupt."
Hundreds of security personnel kept watch on the proceedings but kept their distance. The crowd dispersed peacefully after several hours.
In Ujungpandang, the capital of South Sulawesi, some 16,000 students held three separate simultaneous demonstrations at Hasanuddin University, the Indonesian Muslim University and the Islamic Studies Institute. Protesters wearing their varsity jackets sat in yards under the sun listening to fiery speeches from student leaders demanding an end to corruption and collusion.
At Hasanuddin University students demanded that Minister of Education and Culture Wiranto Arismunandar resign for allegedly curtailing academic freedom. A speaker also used the platform to lash out at local officials who lived in luxury while most people were suffering from the economic crisis.
"There are officials here who have more cars than family members," said one student.
Some of the students tried to march off the campus but were effectively blocked by security personnel. At all three universities school administrators were seen mingling with the students.
Job security
In Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, thousands of students and alumni of the Medan Teachers Training Institute held a noisy rally demanding not only lower prices and economic and political reform but also job security. In a free-speech forum, the students decried a report that the Ministry of Education and Culture would not recruit new teachers this year. "What are we going to do after we graduate?" one speaker said.
A spokesman of the teachers college expressed concern over the reported plan, pointing out that only last week the college graduated 1,226 new teachers.
In Jakarta, activists from the Association of Moslem Students and students of Yarsi University, and their counterparts at the Islamic medical school held separate demonstrations. They also marched down some streets under the watchful eyes of the military.
In Surakarta, Central Java, some 1,500 Sebelas Maret University students held a demonstration after Friday prayers and were involved in a scuffle with hundreds of security personnel. Five students were injured in the stone throwing started by the students. Police fired volleys of tear gas to disperse the crowd.
In Yogyakarta, around 100 students of the Indonesian Islamic University held a demonstration on their campus. Student leaders gave speeches critical of the government's development policies.
"The crisis that is affecting Indonesia now is the fruit of 30 years of development that neglected the people," one student said.
The students also demanded a succession of the national leadership and the formation of a new cabinet which was more accommodating of people's aspirations. The demonstration concluded peacefully.
In Jakarta, the military, City Police and rectors and their assistants from several universities agreed to limit student rallies on campuses for security reasons.
The agreement was reached after a meeting between Jakarta Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata, Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, and administrators of, among others the University of Indonesia and the Jakarta Teachers Training Institute.
In a media briefing following the meeting, Hamami said students who continued to rally on the streets would be charged under Article 510 of the Criminal Code for conducting street rallies without the necessary police permit. The maximum penalty is two weeks in detention.
The rally could disturb public order and create traffic jams, he said, referring to student rallies which had spilled over onto the streets over the past few days.
Sjafrie warned certain groups against pushing their own agendas by exploiting the student rallies. He identified the groups only as "Indonesia's opposition movement network."
"This network is trying to take advantage of all elements in society who are prejudiced against the current situation," he said, adding that the military was currently investigating the organization.
The theme and the scope of the students rally extended. The Minister of Education and Culture was criticized and demonstration is beginning to stray out of campus peripherals.
The students rally has moved out across the campus fences. After the Friday sholat last week, no less than 20.000 masses from various universities all over Java gathered in a mass meeting at the green yard of Great Mosque of Al-Azhar, Jakarta. Beside the students, the rally themed "Mass Meeting of Indonesian Students and People" was also attended by the people who just attended the Friday sholat.
The various colored almamater jackets representing their campuses mixed with many posters held upward. Some of them came from University of Gadjah Mada (Yogyakarta), University of Brawijaya (Malang), Institute of National Islam Religion Syarif Hidayatullah (Jakarta), Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), University of Indonesia, University of Airlangga (Surabaya), and etc. They have their own banner representing the Indonesian Moslem Student Action Unit (KAMMI), the organization established last March 29, in Malang, East Java, by representatives of Campus Propagating Institution (LDK) from 60 colleges.
Each student representative -- most of them member of the board of student senate -- of each university made their speeches, and demanding reforms. Among those walking up the podium such as Rama Pratama, Chairman of Student Senate of University of Indonesia (SMUI), and Febri Nurhidayat from ITB. The rally indicated that the newly established KAMMI is starting to show their power.
In general, their demands was specified in the form of seven- point statement of KAMMI stance. "The government should be responsible for all of this crisis. The first responsibility is asking to be apologized by the people of Indonesia, then repent and ask God forgiveness and willing to make total reforms in the immediate future," one item of the statement as read by Fahri Hamzah, the student of UI Postgraduate, the Chairman of KAMMI.
The content of other stataments are not much different from the early demands made by the students for wiping out of corruption, collusion, and nepotism, and reducing of prices of the nine basic commodities. Of course, they also criticized the "theme" forwarded by the Minister of Education and Culture, Wiranto Arismunandar, regarding the restriction to carry out practical politics at campus.
In various recent student demonstrations, Wiranto Arismunandar has became the target man. The fact is, that during a get- together among the rectors of universities throughout Indonesia on April 3 and 4 held in Jakarta, Wiranto instructed the rectors to stop rallies conducted within campus. The mass media also reported that Wiranto restricts any practical politic in campus. The restriction was also further confirmed on April 8, when the Minister of Education and Culture conducted a meeting with rector assistanec III -- handling the student activities -- from 30 universities and head of three Private School Institution (Kopertis) Coordinators.
In the meeting, Wiranto issued a kind of guidance regarding the role and function of tertiary educational institution. Among others, restriction in conducting practical politics activities in campus. Political practices here means any activity from individuals or groups participating in conducting or influencing directly or indirectly any political making decision. Based on this definition, according to Wiranto, the recent student rallies are already regarded as practical politic undertaking.
Unavoidably the idea proposed by Wiranto was heatedly responded to by the students. At the students of University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) rally on April 9 last, Wiranto was strongly criticized. "The Minister of Education and Culture seems yet to learn the meaning of politic," said Ridaya La Ode Ngkowe. Chairman of UGM Student Senate. At other governments universities such as ITB, IPB and UI, Wiranto became the target for critics. The universitys board of management such as Bambang Kartika (Assistant Rector III of UI), was among those who strongly differed with Wirantos opinion. "The recent concerned rallies by the students cant be categorized as political practices," Bambang Kartika told the press last week.
Head of private tertiary educational institutions would not to be left behind. For instance, from Trisakti University Jakarta, the campus who during the January 15, 1974 became the place where the students of various universities initiated the rally challenging the Japanese economic domination. Julianto Hendro Cahyono, Chairman of Student Senate of Trisakti University, announced his campus stance to the various mass media. "We hope the Minister of Education and Culture would review his statement and give his support to the student activities in channeling out their rights and aspirations," was among the statement of campus stance. University of Jayabaya, University of Atma Jaya, University of 17 August and a number of private colleges in Jakarta signed a joint-statement demanding Wiranto to revoke his guidance.
In the meantime, the Indonesian Military Commander General Wiranto who has offered a dialog with the students but was rejected, again invited the campus community to have a mutual discussion. He offered an invitation during a meeting with 19 youth organizations at the Ministry of Youth and Sport Affairs, Jakarta, Saturday last week. "The government asked its best young people, including youths from campus and anyone who can offer solution, assisting the government in coping with the monetary crisis and the fluctuating economy," Wiranto said during the meeting.
By Priyono B.Sumbogo, Sapto Waluyo and Khoiri Akhmadi.
Jakarta -- Intellectuals are calling on students to continue with their struggle for political and economic reforms, lending greater weight to a youth movement that has grown into a formidable force over recent months.
Selo Soemardjan, a professor of sociology at the University of Indonesia (UI), and political observer Arbi Sanit encouraged 500 students attending a discussion on Saturday at the UI campus in Depok. West Java, to continue giving voice to people's aspirations. "I tremble at your use of the word 'struggle', but continue, continue your struggle. I was once young, I understand your aspirations," Selo told the students. All students present rejected the parallel, much publicized government-sponsored dialog involving 16 cabinet ministers, military leaders and 50 student representatives which was held at Jakarta Fair Ground in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta on Saturday.
A mere 30 kilometers from Depok, 3,000 students and lecturers from various universities assembled for a discussion at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB). Students said they all had a common vision and shared the same goal namely bringing about change.
Colleges represented at the Bogor meeting included University of Indonesia, Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University (UGM), Surabaya's Airlangga University, Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java, the Bandung Institute of Technology, Jakarta Teacher Training Institute and the private Ibnu Chaldun University in Bogor.
Student bodies from these colleges have rejected the Kemayoran dialog, which was held to also discuss economic and political reform and ways of fighting corruption, collusion and nepotism.
At the Depok meeting, Selo warned the government that students could no longer tolerate the deterioration in national political ethics. He said "the situation had forced them to take action since the House of Representatives had shown itself to be incapable of fulfilling its duty and acting as the mechanism for controlling the government."
The professor blamed the legislative body's ineptitude on the concentration of power in the hands of a few members of the country's political executive branch.
Trend
Arbi said the trend to use particular causes and gesture politics to further interests was one of the main ways in which the country's political ethics had deteriorated. "It's natural that people use one another," he said. "But the practice of taking political advantage of other people is unfair. The parties used gain nothing."
Arbi cited reports on the distribution of coupons for free meals at food stalls. "What does a few free meals mean for a person who has lost his job?"
Despite its trivial nature, he argued the government gained a lot from the gesture and boosted its image as a caring and considerate administration.
Other indications of the erosion of political ethics, he said, included the increase of political violence and of people "lying without feeling remorse, and even with a feeling that one is right."
The Bogor meeting was opened by Pallawarukka, an assistant to IPB rector Soleh Solahuddin, who underlined in his written speech the importance of the meeting. The rector also said such a meeting was needed in order to help design the agenda for political and economic reforms.
"With discussions, students will come to understand the problems facing the nation and will strive to seek solutions to them," he told the unprecedented gathering of university student activists, academics and administrators.
"As of now, we students are no longer seeking to unify our views, because we already share the same vision, namely change," said Cahyo Pamungkas, a student leader from Gadjah Mada University.
"To keep silent means treason, and silence means (we will continue to be) oppressed," Cahyo said, adding that students sought a "peaceful revolution."
Meanwhile, the Association of Alumni of University of Indonesia (ILUNI-UI) issued a statement here yesterday hailing the recent call by the Nadhlatul Ulama (NU) Moslem organization for the Armed Forces (ABRI) to protect students and join their movement for reform.
The association said ABRI should stand by those fighting for reforms, democracy, good governance, and against collusion, corruption and nepotism.
"The association reminds ABRI that they are part of the people, not the tool of those who hold power," the alumni said. "With this in mind, it is hoped that violence directed at students and academics staging demonstrations will end."
The association also criticized the Kemayoran dialog, which was organized by the Armed Forces Headquarters, because among the recommendations it issued was another warning against students holding protests, even peaceful ones.
"You only live once and must take a stand". This was Andi Arief's motto, an activist who was reported to have "disappeared" several months ago. In his daily life, as a political science graduate from the Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Central Java, he always took a stand. He didn't just speak at forums, or discussions, he never stopped organising demonstrations, most of all for people who have been marginalised [by society].
Andi believed -- as he wrote in his faculty graduation booklet [in which each graduating student makes a contribution] -- millions of people are suffering in this country, workers are being exploited, the farmers plots of land are getting smaller and smaller and the urban and rural poor [are suffering]. "They have been forgotten by history" he said.
He also said that only a small section [of Indonesian society such as students], had benefited from history. "We can gather freely, understand each other, love each other. We can learn a lot about reality, we can learn how to make a contribute to the world", Andi explained.
It is not surprising that he frequently criticised his friends who had no concerned about what was happening and were only engrossed in their studies. But in reality their studies could not be separated from the suffering of the marginalised people.
Andi was born in Lampung, South Sumatra, on November 20, 1970. He believed that if history has benefited a person, they must repay this at some time. "History demands that we share with and defend the marginalised people", he sad. Because of this he hated arrogance and conceit.
Known as a activists with Student Solidarity for Indonesian Democracy (SMID), he disliked arrogance and conceit, this was reflected in his daily life. "Toward older people, Andi always showed respect and was well mannered", said a journalist who knew him well.
At university, Andi was known as good speaker and orator at demonstrations. "He was very smart and insightful" said Aried, a university fried. Although he was a person who was always critical.
That Andi was known as being insightful, cannot be separated from his hobby; reading and discussion. At his lodgings while he was at university, in the Klebengan Kampung, he had a mini library. All kinds of books were in his collection, biographies of political figures, Alfin Toffler's Third Wave and John Naisbit's Mega Trend.
Such was his political skills, that his opponents on campus addressed him as "Andi Chokin" [Chokin, a derogatory slang word for a person of Chinese descent, who they claimed he resembled]. He often missed closes. When he was doing his field studies, he received a warning because he left the area without permission to join in a campus demonstration.
He proved however, that an activist is also able to successfully finish their studies. Most of the time he received As or Bs and only occasionally received Cs. In one course, which was held by a lecturer who was known to give low marks, Andi go an A. Meanwhile, most of the other students got a C or D.
It is not surprising that had to repeat a state indoctrination course. He considered that as the worst part of his studies. After studying for five years, Andi graduated with a grade above three [equivalent to B+]. His thesis, under the guidance of Dr Afan Gaffar got an A.
Translator's note: Because of the style and language used in the original article, some sections of the text could not be translated literally and different wording was chosen in order to make the writer's intent clear.
[Translated by James Balowski]
| East Timor |
Indonesia has succeeded in getting the United Nations Human Rights Commission to drop a resolution condemning its human rights record in East Timor. Lisa Schlein reports from the commission meeting in Geneva that a deal was worked out whereby Indonesia received a milder form of rebuke.
Human Rights activists had hoped for a strong resolution condemning Indonesia for human rights violations in East Timor, a former Portuguese territory which Indonesia invaded in 1975. Instead, the UN Human Rights Commission settled for a milder rebuke in what's known as a "chairman's statement."
The consensus statement emerged after Indonesia worked out a deal with the European Union, which had sponsored the resolution on human rights in East Timor. in exchange for dropping the resolution, Indonesia agreed to several concessions.
The statement, which was read by the chairman of the commission, Jacob Selebi, noted that Indonesia had promised to allow greater access to East Timor by the international media and international humanitarian organizations.
"The commission welcomes the intention of the government of Indonesia to continue to cooperate with the Commission on Human Rights and its mechanisms, and in particular, the government's decision to invite the working group on arbitrary detention to visit East Timor in advance of the 55th (eds: the next) session of the commission."
Diplomats here see this as a major concession from Indonesia. they note that the working group on arbitrary detentions is one of the UN's key investigative bodies. Last year, two members of the working group went on a fact-finding mission to China and Tibet. This was the first time UN investigators were allowed to visit Chinese and Tibetan detention centers.
In reading the statement, Mr. Selebi said the commission was, however, deeply concerned about reports of violations of human rights in East Timor. he said the Indonesian government had promised to promote human rights in East Timor at previous commission sessions, but failed to follow through.
"The commission stresses the need for their implementation, including concrete steps on the early trial and release of East Timorese detained or convicted, and for those in custody to be treated humanely."
| Environment/land disputes |
Jakarta -- Five Indonesian companies will go on trial next month for starting forest fires, the authorities announced yesterday, as a mounting haze and drought alert was sounded across South- east Asia.
The companies will be the first tried for starting fires in East Kalimantan province where nearly 400,000 hectares of forests have been destroyed in recent months.
Environment Minister Yuwono Sudarsono said the trial would start in East Kalimantan on May 8, the Republika Daily reported.
The forestry ministry said last year that 180 firms could have business permits revoked for starting fires in East Kalimantan and in Sumatra. The ministry had also said there was enough evidence to bring 23 of the 180 companies to court.
Jakarta -- Forest fires raging in Indonesia's East Kalimantan province have killed substantial insect life, posing a problem to forest rehabilitation, the official Antara news agency reported on Sunday.
"The disappearance of insects poses a problem to the rehabilitation of burnt forests," the agency said quoting a study by Abubakar Lahji of Mulawarman University.
He conducted the study at the Bukit Suharto National Park in Samarinda, East Kalimantan and said the insect index had dropped from 30 to 5 since the fires started in January.
Animals had also fled from the conservation area due to damaged habitat and food shortages.
"It is difficult to see wild boars now because tubers which are their main food have been destroyed by the fires," he said.
The conservation area is home to a variety of endangered animals including orang-utans, bears, deer, monkeys and porcupines.
Latest estimates from the government put the devastated land area at 280,000 hectares.
On Friday, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said the scale of destruction by the forest fires was pushing orang-utans to extinction.
Huge areas of East Kalimantan have gone up in flames this year. This part of the island of Borneo was not badly affected by the fires last year. But, while there has been heavy rainfall in other parts of Kalimantan and in Sumatra earlier this year, the weather in East Kalimantan has been dry since early January. By mid-January the German aid funded forest fire monitoring programme (IFFM/GTZ) issued fire danger warnings. NOAA satellite pictures showed the number of fires ("hotspots") increased sharply towards the end of January. The dry season usually lasts from March to July.
Despite the early warnings, the authorities did not enforce preventative measures against timber and plantation companies which continued to clear land by burning. In tinder dry conditions the fires soon got out of control. Local people tried to protect their forests, rattan plantations and other crops using brooms, beaters and water in pesticide sprayers. We have no news about what the timber and plantation companies have been doing to prevent or put out fires. Heavy equipment has been used to clear fire barriers in some places. Fires continue to burn underground in coal deposits and peat soils. In East Kalimantan there was a shortage of water to fight the fires. Due to the year-long drought, rivers have dropped to low levels and some lakes have dried up.
Reports from local newspapers and the IFFM/GTZ centre show how rapidly the fires spread, fanned by strong winds. The fires were worst in the central part of East Kalimantan province, including Kutai National Park, an area of 198,000 ha which is surrounded by logging, plantation and mining concessions.
The total area of East Kalimantan is 21,144,000 ha and around 75% of it was covered with forest. Last year's forest fires only affected about 40,000 ha in the province. Local people continue to burn land to clear their fields for planting as they face severe food shortages and an economic crisis.
Government officials in Jakarta were more concerned with the severe economic crisis, political unrest in major cities and the Presidential Election in March. Given the massive devaluation of the Indonesian rupiah and the country's enormous foreign debt, the authorities were unwilling to spend money on fire fighting. It was a month after the fires flared up before the central government joined ASEAN in asking for international assistance. The focus has been on high-tech solutions such as waterbombing and cloud seeding. These have proved unsuccessful. Given the growing unemployment and rising food prices in Indonesia, a labour intensive approach to fire fighting on the ground might have been a more cost-effective measure. The 1998/9 budget allocation of Rp 18 billion for fire fighting only comes into effect from April 1st.
There have also been fires in Sumatra, but there has been very little information from there. The EU-funded fire monitoring and prevention programme in Palembang does not seem to adopt such a high profile as the IFFM/GTZ centre in Samarinda - for example it has no web site.
Donations should be sent to TABANASBRI, BRI Samarinda branch Account No 33-03-5487-5 in the name of Tekla Tirah Lirah or send by post to Lembaga Bina Benua Puti Jaji, Jl Argamulya Dalam Gg IV/34 RT IX Samarinda 75123, E. Kalimantan, Indonesia tel/fax +62 541 35787 email benua@smd.mega.net.id 21st February - Worst haze in Sumatra is in Riau. Nearby Singapore is affected. Government is concealing extend of fires in E. Kalimantan. Samarinda's airport has been closed 17 days this month. (Guardian)
21st February - Meteorological Service in Singapore shows 900 hotspots in E. Kalimantan, compared with 600 the previous week. Rains dousing fires in Sumatra (ST)
22nd February - Authorities in Brunei were forced to move the sultanate's National Day celebrations from an outdoor parade ground to an indoor stadium because of the smoke. (Reuters)
23rd February - Pollution Standard Index (PSI) in Samarinda has been peaking around 450 every morning for the last month with a 24-hour average of almost 200. A 24 level above 100 is unhealthy according to environmental standards in Singapore (ST).
24th February - Air quality worsening in Singapore. Dense haze feared by April. Vice-governor of E. Kalimantan summoned 100 timber and oil palm company owners to discuss the crisis and remind them of their responsibility to put out fires on their own lands for the second time in a week (SCMP)..
25th February - Repeated water-bombing by aircraft and the dropping of fire retardant chemicals had limited the scale of the problem in some of the worst hit areas of E. Kalimantan, a fire- fighting official said. But Ludwig Schnidler of the IFFP/GTZ stated: "The fires have escalated to the extent that makes it impossible or economically impossible to put them out. The only thing that could help now is rain" (AFP)
25th February - The cost of the damage caused by the "haze" from the 1997 fires in Indonesia to the people of South East Asia is estimated at well over US$1 billion according to a WWF study
26th February - Environment ministers from the ASEAN nations appealed for international aid to tackle the smoke problem. Canada, France, Germany and the USA had offered aid, but more was needed (IHT) 28th February - Samarinda ran out of running water 3 days ago. River levels have dropped so far that seawater has intruded 60km upstream, polluting public water supplies. Water sellers sell 25l plastic containers of water for Rp500 (SCMP)
1st March - At least 8,000 people in the villages of Ritam Baru, Long Lees, Long Pejeng and Long Nyelong in Kutai district, East Kalimantan are threatened with hunger after crop failure due to the drought. Water levels in the R. Mahakam are so low basic supplies cannot be brought in by boat. (Surya)
2nd March - Environment minister Sarwono says plantation companies must accept responsibility since over 50% of fires in East Kalimantan occurred on their concessions (Kompas) 3rd March - Dr Alikodra, lecturer in forest conservation and Assistant Minister at the Environment Ministry says burnt forest will take 50 years to recover (Kompas).
3rd March - Officials in Riau say neighbouring Malaysia is getting worried about forest fires as over two hundred of "hotspots" are reported in the province (Media).
3rd March - Indonesia is set to import around 5 million tonnes of rice this year - the most since Independence. Drought has cut output, triggering imports from Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan. (Reuters)
4th March - Pekanbaru airport in South Sumatra closed by smoke for several hours. Officials are concerned that fires in coastal peat swamps in Riau province will threaten Singapore and Malaysia when the winds change direction in a few weeks. (Reuters)
5th March - 60 hotspots reported in East Aceh. Fire is spreading towards Gunung Leuser National Park. The authorities blamed shifting cultivators and illegal loggers (Kompas).
5th March - Fish and shrimp farmers in East Kalimantan have suffered badly in the drought over the last year. Over 5,000 ha of shrimp ponds have dried up since last July with losses of Rp47 billion. Numbers of local fisherpeople have halved to 13,000 (Kompas).
5th March - 20 orang utans have been saved from forest fires in East Kalimantan by conservation officials and rehabilitation centre staff at Wanariset (Kompas)
6th March - 40 tonnes of rice have been brought in for 1,500 transmigrant families suffering food shortages in East Kalimantan. Local government officials say another 3,500 families on 3 transmigration sites will be threatened with hunger if rains do not come by the end of the month (Kompas).
9th March - In East Kalimantan, 25 of Kutai's 38 sub-districts along the R. Mahakam are suffering food shortages. The situation in ten of these is serious (Kompas Online).
9th March - Fires are raging in the Bukit Suharto Forest Park - a reforestation area along the Balikpapan-Samarinda road; the orang utan rehabilitation centre at Wanariset Samboja; the watershed protection forest of the Wein River; and the heart of the Kutai National Park. (Kompas Online).
9th March - Malaysian authorities have been quick to fine 17 companies for defying Malaysia's zero burning policy. Pollution levels in Miri shot up to 400 last month. Fire damage was limited to 200 hectares due to a specially trained air-borne team. (Asiaweek)
10th March - Water bombing will be resumed in attempts to put out fires raging in Kutai National Park. The operation will be run from PT Kaltim Prima Coal's airstrip. An earlier cloud seeding mission was not successful in generating rain. (Kompas)
12th March - The Indonesian Forestry Society (MPI) and timber companies donated 167 tonnes of rice plus other basic supplies to villages in the Kutai district of East Kalimantan which are suffering most from food shortages. A community elder said "This was the first time since the Japanese occupation they had had food shortages due to forest fires. In other drought years we have still been able to eat sago and fruits from the forest". (Kompas Online)
12th March - Airports in Central Kalimantan opened for the first time in a week after two days of heavy rain cleared the smoke from the fires. Visibility increased to 1000m from 100m, allowing pilgrims to depart for Mecca. (Kompas Online)
14th March - More than 2,000 residents of E. Kalimantan cities Balikpapan and Samarinda have been suffering from respiratory problems due to smoke from the fires (JP)
17th March - A major palm oil company, PT London Sumatra was convicted of large-scale illegal burning around the Jempang Lakes area (IFFM).
17th March - A 1,000 fire fighting force of local people, soldiers and students will start work soon in E. Kalimantan. Costs of wages and a food allowance totalling Rp7,000 per person per day will be met by the Environment Ministry and UNDP. Water bombing of fires in Kutai National Park resumed (Kompas).
17th March - Hungry farmers are selling their land to oil palm companies to buy rice. Even where they are available, rice and other basic foodstuffs are too expensive for people to buy. Some villages are having to buy in drinking water. NGOs in East Kalimantan appeal for donations. (see p1)
18th March - Indonesia's forest fires could cost S.E Asia US$5-6 billion in short-term health-care plus losses in industrial production, tourism, timber and plantations, said D. Glover, Director of the Economy and Environment Program for South East Asia (Jakarta Post).
21st March - Visibility down to 50m in Samarinda - the provincial capital of East Kalimantan (IFFM). 23rd March - Fires in East Kalimantan have affected an area double that of Greater Jakarta. Losses are estimated at Rp2.1 trillion (Rp10,000 = US$1) (Kompas)
25th March - "Thick haze has been blanketing vast areas of East Kalimantan for weeks. Reports have come in about extreme levels of pollution in the interior. (IFFM)
30th March - Forest fires in E. Kalimantan have affected nearly 150,000 ha. The authorities have only distributed 20,000 masks. A helicopter company demonstrated the use of a 1 ton water bucket provided by Canadian aid. Local officials hoped central government would soon supply 2 Canada Air planes for fire fighting. (Manuntung)
31st March - The new Minister of Forestry and Plantations, Sumahadi, is due to visit E. Kalimantan. A local official said fires during the first three months of 1998 had caused as much damage as the total losses from sporadic forest fires in the province over the last 15 years. - The main airport in neighbouring C. Kalimantan has been closed for several days due to smoke (Jakarta Post).
| Human rights/law |
The United National Commission on Human Rights (UNHRC), the world's annual human rights meeting, has falied to deliver an effective response to the deteriorating situation of human rights in Indonesia, Amnesty International said today.
"Although East Timor remains a critical human rights situation, the political and economic crisis in Indonesia has given rise to 'disappearance' squads in Jakarta, incommunicado detention and torture, and the arrests of at least 371 peaceful activists this year alone," Tony O'Connor, Amnesty International's spokesman on Indonesia said.
"Governments participating at the Commission this year have abdicated their responsibility to provide an effective response to the human rights crisis in Indonesia. This crisis requires urgent and independent investigation and monitoring by the UN," O'Connor said.
On East Timor, the Commission last night sacrificed a detailed and critical resolution for a consensus statement that the Indonesian government says it will accept. The Australian delegation played a very active role here and is particularly pleased that the Indonesian government says it will invite the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to East Timor before March 1999. Amnesty International hopes that the visit will occur but it notes that the Indonesian government has already failed to act on reports by UN experts on torture and political killings and also its own Human Rights Commission. The Indonesian army still tortures and detains East Timorese for peaceful actions and it has ignored seven UN requests for the early release of East Timorese imprisoned after the Santa Cruz massacre.
"Unfortunately this consensus statement and the proposed visit are no guarantee the Indonesian government intends to do anything at all to really make sure that its soldiers and police respect human rights in East Timor. Muted diplomatic criticism cuts little ice in the prisons cells of Dili," O'Connor said.
Jakarta - During the last ten days, employees organized under the Indonesian Legal Aid Institutes Foundation (YLBHI) have experienced terror actions. Already four persons aiding YLBHI work have been terrorized, and one among them was even almost abducted. One incident of physical terrorization has been officially reported to the Menteng Sector Police.
This was disclosed by LBH Jakarta director Apong Herlina and YLBHI deputy chairman Munir to journalists on Friday (24/4) in Jakarta. The terrorization case reported was the most recent one, namely experienced by Ester Indahyani Jusuf, a lawyer who has handled many political cases at the LBH Jakarta. Other cases not involving physical suffering have not been reported.
Hit by thrown object
Ester explained that on Tuesday (21/4) after buying fried bananas some 100 meters distant from the LBH Jakarta office, somebody threw an object which hit her in the back. She did not know what the object was, but she was bruised and the spot where she was hit became swollen.
She was not certain who did it. Just that afterwards a motorcycle passed her with two black-jacketed persons on it. The Diponegoro road where it happened at the time was practically deserted, so she is fairly certain those people did it. She added that the incident would not deter her, but rather spur her on.
Munir refused to disclose the identities of the other victims, for their safety. But he stressed that they were not YLBHI lawyers, but people assisting in investigations. The form of terrorization they suffered was, among other things, being knocked unconscious from behind while walking to the YLBHI office, being almost hit by motorcycles although traffic was very light, so they were convinced of purposefulness. Another person when on the point of being abducted, turned out not to be the intended target.
He said that terror by telephone happened too often to keep track of, particularly in connection with missing persons. They realized that the terrorization was intended so the workers in this profession would not work at maximum. But they wanted to state that the task of the security apparatus is to safeguard the security of every citizen.
The National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) will shortly ask the State Police Headquarters to clarify the matter of "missing" people, following the discovery of a "missing" activist being detained at the State Police Headquarters. The Komnas HAM will also urge the apparatus to investigate fully the "abductors" of the activists, and take them to court.
The deputy chairman of the Komnas HAM, M Darusman, said that the issue would soon be questioned, if not today, then tomorrow. He was responding to the press after a seminar in Jakarta on Friday (24/4).
Meanwhile, when receiving the Volunteers For Humanity Team which was siding the relatives of "missing" students, Komnas HAM member A Hasibuan said that the increasing number of "missing" persons indicated an increase of strong-arm politics which does not center around law. This strong-arm politics is monologue in character and anti-dialogue. It must be ended, because it will promote a culture of fear.
Discrepancies
By mailed letter the police informed the family of Andi Arief in Lampung (received 23 April) that he had been detained since 29 March 1998. But until 22 April the State Police Chief, Gen. Dibyo Widodo stated as per several mass media that he only knew about three "missing" persons who had returned (Pius, Desmond, Haryanto -Ed.) Similarly the Armed Forces central information head, AW Mokodongan. Asked by journalists on 17 April last, he stated not knowing about that number of people missing (Kompas, 20/4).
The existence of that letter from the police was conveyed by Munir from the work body of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Harsh Actions, at the YLBHI office in Jakarta yesterday.
Besides that letter from the Police Detective Corps dated 18 April 1998, at the same time Andi Arief's family received a letter from the Attorney General's Office in Jakarta, dated 17 April, that his detention had been extended from 18 April to 27 May 1998. This letter was shown by Andi's father to journalists at the LBH office in Bandarlampung. With a happy face he said he would visit his son at the State Police Headquarters this Saturday (25/4).
Not true
Munir recounted that the statement in the police letter that Andi's family had already been informed on 29 March was not true, considering that when on 5 April his family sided by the LBH Lampung checked at the Lampung police and reported a person "missing", the police stated not to know anything about the person. So the notification letter of 29 March never happened.
Andi Arief also denies having received a letter of arrest, until Thursday (23/4) never having received any police document concerning detention.
The mother of Faisal Rozi fervently hopes her child will be returned and reunited with his family. Yani Afri's mother also hopes that her son, who has been missing for 10 months, can be found.
Meanwhile AB Nasution evaluates that the disappearance of a number of people, and the hesitance to comment by people who were missing but now have returned, reflects a deep atmosphere of fear in Indonesia. That is an international disgrace which needs to be settled soon.
The chairman of the Armed Forces fraction in parliament has asked the people who were "missing" and have returned to be willing to disclose what they have experienced. Because that matter concerns Human Rights, which can always influence the nation's credibility in the view of the outer world. The same matter was put forward by Functional Group fraction chairman Irsyad Sudiro.
To the CM Hospital
After the meeting with the Komnas HAM, the Volunteers Team group went to the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital to identify a corpse found on Thursday (23/4) on the side of the Prof Sedyatmo toll road in Cengkareng. That corpse of a male person was found in a bag with wounds thought to be caused by fire-arms and torture. Just the head is left, and identification will be difficult.
Jakarta -- The whereabouts of the activist Andi Arief (27) who since 28 March 1998 was reported as missing in Lampung is presently known. This Chairman of the Indonesian Students Solidarity for Democracy was since 17 April 1998 "returned" by his kidnappers to the HQ of the RI Police. He is now a detainee of the Police HQ suspected involved in the case of trhe bomb discovery at the Tanah Tinggi housing at Central Jakarta, last 18 January.
This was conveyed by Munir from the Commission's Executive Body for lost persons and victims of acts of violence (Kontras) , Thursday (23/4) in Jakarta after Thursday morning and afternoon having visitted Andi Arief at the RI Police HQ together with Andy Arief's bloodbrother, Edi Irawan.
While at the same day H Ma'ruf and Hj Ma'rufah, the natural parents of Faisol Riza and Sariamin Effendi, the uncle of Rahardjo Waluyo Djati, reported the disappearance of their children to the Military Police in Jakaerta which was received by Lieutenant Colonel Mahadi as sole investigator.
After the meeting the Head of the Central Military Police Lieutenant Colonel Muhadi said to the reporters that he would immediately take further steps on their report by writing to all military police of the Regional Military Command in whole Indonesia to look for those lost persons. Meanwhile to those who had returned, the Head of the Central Military Police also expected that they would immediatelym report to the Central Military Police to take further steps and identify whether there is an involvement of the ABRI institution or not.
Phoned by the HQ
Munir described, that on Wednesday (22/4) around 10.00 W Indonesia Time, his side got a phone from a person who alleged to be Lieutenant Colonel Lubis from the Police HQ, who informed that Andi Arief was at the HQ of the RI police. When checked to Andi's parents, it proved that the same call by the same person was also received by Andi's parents on Tuesday (21/4). Kontras then checked at the Police HQ and the name as well as content of the message was admitted.
Afterwards when Andi was met it was known that mentioned phone call from the police HQ to Kontras was based at the refusal of Andi to be investigated except when he was sided by a lawyer of his choice, namely lawyers from the Institute for Legal Aid in Indonesia.
"Today together with Andi Arief's older brother we went to the Police HQ, escorted by Captain Arismunandar from the Jakarta police, and at the HQ we were received by Lieutenant Colonel Lubis. At that meeting Lieutenant Colonel Lubis said in principle that Andi Arief was at the RI Police HQ but he refused to clarify since when Andi was in hands of the Police HQ,"Munir clarified.
Munir and Edi Irawan were then met with Andi Arief. Both stated that Andi Arief just looked healthy and that there were no signs of violence, Andi looked even whiter and thicker.
But he complained that his liver gave trouble again, and according to the police Andi was Monday (20/4) already brought by a doctor for his complaints and that he was clean, Andi told to his brother and Munir that he was kidnapped in Lampung at 28 March, and with closed eyes ws brought to a place which he could not identify. He was interrogated day and night at that place while hearing a private radio station from Jakarta day and night. But on the way back to Jakarta his eye bandages were opened, when he was on the ferry from the Bakauheni port to Merak.
"According to Andi only 17 April was he delivered to the police by his kidnappers. Until this day the Police HQ officially only admitted to hold Andi Arief and not the others," said Munir.
Munir said that the delivery by the kidnappers to the police was only obtained from Amir because the police did not want to clarify it. That day Arief was also investigated as witness of Agus Supriyono in the Tanah Tinggi case. The police also asked whether Andi knew Rahardjo Waluyo Djati, Faisol Riza and Herman Hendrawan.
[On April 28, Kompas also reported Munir as saying Arief knows the whereabouts of three other activists who have disappeared, Herman Hendrawan, Faisol Riza and Rahardjo Waluyo Djati, and is "eager" to help police to find them. Kompas said that police have made a statement saying that Arief was detained on March 29 (he was abducted on March 28) and that a letter of notification was sent to his family but never arrived. Munir said added that it appeared that the police were blaming an administrative error. Police are still to give a reason for his arrest - James Balowski.]
David Jenkins, Jakarta -- A prominent Indonesian political activist who disappeared from a Jakarta hotel in suspicious circumstances nearly six week ago has turned up In Surabaya, 670 kilometres east of the capital, in equally mysterious circumstances.
The activist, Mr Haryanto Taslam, an adviser to the opposition leader Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri, is apparently reluctant to say anything about his experience.
In a cryptic observation at the weekend, the secretary of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, Mr Munir, said he believed Mr Haryanto had been kidnapped by "certain people" because he was too outspoken.
"Haryanto, who lives in Jakarta, [was] released in Surabaya in an attempt to confuse his family and relatives," Mr Munir said.
Mr Munir told the Jakarta Post it was unlikely that Mr Haryanto would return to his home in Jakarta in the near future or "dare to reveal" where he had been since he went missing on March 9.
Mr Taslam is one of nearly a dozen Indonesian political activists and students who have disappeared in recent months. The spokesman for the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI), Brigadier-General Wahab Mokodongan, has denied any military involvement in the disappearances.
On Saturday, the Defence Minister, General Wiranto, 14 of his Cabinet colleagues and a phalanx of senior generals held what was billed as a "dialogue" with representatives of the nation's increasingly restive student movement.
However, the meeting was boycotted by students from two of the nations largest and most prestigious universities - the University of Indonesia in Jakarta and Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta - and drew only one student from the equally high- profile Bandung Institute of Technology.
Students at the meeting accused President Soeharto of failing to respect the will of the people. Ja'far Amirudin, from the State- run Surabaya Institute of Technology in Surabaya, said: "We are here to struggle for reform. We have seen how arrogant power is. The Government has never even said sorry for the [currency] crisis which has strangled the people."
Eka Darma, from the state-run Udayana University in Denpasar, Bali, said: "If the President and Cabinet ministers are unable to lead the country, then they should have the guts to step down."
General Wiranto, in what was seen by his associates as a conciliatory address, told the meeting there should be no doubt about the Soeharto Government's commitment to political reform.
"In this era of globalisation we can't preserve the status quo," he said. "But what kind of reform are we speaking about? If it's radical, then it's unconstitutional. But if it's gradual and constitutional, then ABRI will be at the forefront of the reform movement."
Responding to claims that the dialogue was a manoeuvre to take the wind out of the student sails, General Wiranto said: "We have no intention of castrating or taming the students, not at all. We welcome criticism as long as it is positive. But if it threatens stability ABRI will oppose it."
One of four moderators at the meeting, Dr Salim Said, a military historian, said the dialogue should be viewed as a "cultural movement" and a chance for Indonesians to hear other people's opinions.
"For many years, during the New Order, we have only had a monologue in this country," he told the Herald.
"I hope we are going to begin a new political culture. This is our preparation for the post-Soeharto era. I don't expect any significant change during Soeharto's time."
| Politics |
Susan Sim, Jakarta -- More than a third of Indonesia's 36-member Cabinet turned up for the marathon talks, but a third of their main dialogue partners -- the student leaders who have been organising increasingly vociferous campus protests -- declined to come.
Yet, at the end of yesterday's seven-hour session, organiser ABRI -- Indonesia's powerful military -- declared itself satisfied with the mutual airing of views.
"Through dialogue, we develop vision, perception and various thoughts on national problems," it said.
ABRI was also not worried about the boycott led by student leaders from the campus hotbeds in Yogyakarta, Solo, Bandung and Jakarta, who have called for a session with President Suharto. Their demands for radical political changes did not reflect the views of the majority of students, nor were they speaking on behalf of the whole nation, ABRI chief of social-political affairs, Lieutenant-General Susilo Bambang Yudoyono, told The Straits Times. "But the key is that we have to listen, to understand their real aspirations and real demands, not the manipulated ones...not just the rhetoric, the posturing or the screaming."
ABRI also wanted to prevent the student protests, now almost into their third month, from escalating into violence, he said.
"We are really concerned about the riots, any kind of law- breaking by the students," he added.
Several clashes between troops and students have already occurred, largely in the campus towns, like Solo, where troops used tear gas to force stone-throwing students off the streets, the Antara national news agency reported yesterday.
About 100 students from the ABRI-affiliated Sebelas Maret University and 14 soldiers suffered minor injuries.
Their counterparts from 39 other universities and youth organisations across the nation decided instead to come to an exhibition hall in Jakarta's fairground to raise their demands directly with the 14 ministers and hear their explanations.
Jostling for airtime in three lively sessions, they and other critics attacked the government on all fronts -- the handling of the economic crisis, the "suffocating" political laws, moral decay, government arrogance, corruption and nepotism. One of their targets, Social Affairs Minister Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, Mr Suharto's eldest daughter, acknowledged that she had seen student posters telling her family to "go to hell".
It is not easy to change things, she told the 250 participants. Armed Forces Commander and Defence Minister Wiranto stressed that the government was interested in finding ways out of its crisis. But even before the session ended, one question was already being asked: What next?
| Arms/armed forces |
Terry McCarthy, Jakarta -- 1,000 students rallied against the government at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta last month, one rebel climbed up to a sign near the main gates: welcome to the campus of the struggle of the new order. As the crowd cheered, the student took out a can of spray paint and blacked out the words new order-President Suharto's term for his 32-year-old system of government. The message the student left behind, truncated and ambivalent, was perhaps more appropriate than even he realized at the time.
The struggle has indeed begun in Indonesia, and universities are fast becoming a principal battlefield. In the last four weeks campuses across the country have seen growing crowds of students demonstrating against rising prices and political corruption. But two weeks spent interviewing participants in Yogyakarta, Ujung Pandang, Surabaya and Jakarta reveals that the sudden awakening of a student movement is neither as simple nor as spontaneous as it appears on the surface. It is a murky and ill-defined struggle, apparently subject to covert maneuvering and arms' length manipulation by powerful interests in the military and the Islamic movement. Some of the students are well-informed, but many have only the vaguest idea of why they are demonstrating or how they would like to see the country change. There is a general sense that the New Order of Suharto is coming to an end, but there is little agreement on what should replace it. And among some students there is a growing suspicion about authorities' new-found tolerance of their right to protest.
The spray-painting incident was widely covered by newspapers in Jakarta, and no move was made to detain the student involved. "Even a few months ago that would have been unthinkable," says Hermawan Sulistyo, a researcher at lipi, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences in Jakarta. Until recently student political activity had been effectively ruled out by the Campus Normalization Law, passed in 1978 after a period of mounting student agitation against Suharto's rule. Sporadic student protests afterward had been quickly suppressed. So there was some surprise two weeks ago when, on the day after Suharto was re-appointed President, the commander of the armed forces (ABRI), Gen. Wiranto, seemed to express some support for the demonstrators. "Their demands are normal," he said. "ABRI will respect their demands as long as they are constructive."
Students have been quick to seize on their new-found freedom to organize rallies-in Yogyakarta some even went as far as burning an effigy of Suharto. But beneath the euphoria, some of their leaders have a nagging sense of unease. Students have seen how anti-Chinese riots suddenly materialized after the signing of a tough agreement with the International Monetary Fund in mid- January, and just as suddenly stopped in mid-February when Wiranto became the armed forces commander. A report from Human Rights Watch/Asia last month said that, while there was no evidence of direct government instigation of the riots, nonetheless "senior government and military officials have fueled anti-Chinese sentiment through veiled references to 'rats' and 'traitors.'" Some student leaders are asking themselves if they too are being subtly controlled by the authorities. "It's clear that we have been given the opportunity to demonstrate on the campuses," says Iwan Hidayat, editor of the Voice of Airlangga student newspaper at Surabaya's Airlangga University. "But we have remained separated from the people because we haven't been allowed to take to the streets."
Sulistyo, who supports the student protests, is one of a small group of intellectuals in Jakarta who have been holding secret meetings with senior members of the military in an effort to find out just how far the students will be allowed to go. "They want to know our prediction and analysis," he says. "We want to know their limits." Among his contacts he numbers two serving generals, though he declines to name them. There were meetings in December and January, he says, as well as communication by phone. "But even the generals don't like to talk by phone. They ask for a clean line."
Sulistyo is not alone in his concern for the students. Other analysts point to the way student protests were used by Suharto himself in 1965-66 to put pressure on Sukarno to relinquish power. "Although the students are being encouraged to a certain point by the army, they are right to be suspicious of where it will lead," says John Sidel, a lecturer in Southeast Asian politics at London's School of Oriental and African Studies. "They could think they were leading a movement, get crushed and only then realize they were being used all along." Sidel says students risk becoming pawns in a power struggle that is developing in the military between armed forces commander Wiranto and Suharto's son-in-law, Prabowo Subianto, who has just taken over as commander of the elite strategic command, Kostrad. A Wiranto-Prabowo split is widely rumored in Jakarta, with Wiranto seen as heading the "red and white" nationalist camp within ABRI, while Prabowo is regarded as closer to the Muslim networks and to Suharto himself.
In Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, 10,000 students gathered on March 11 at the Institute of Technology to protest Suharto's appointment that day to his seventh term as President. According to Herwan Febriyadi, head of a local student forum, fkms, the rally was peaceful until the students tried to push past police and soldiers blocking the gate. "When we made contact, they held us back with riot shields while a second row were hitting us with rattan sticks." At least 40 people received flesh wounds, according to Febriyadi, and four were hospitalized. "But no one was arrested," he says. "We don't know why. We were expecting that, and since then we have been waiting for someone to come around with a list-but so far nothing."
Is the military giving a green light to the students, as long as they keep their protests peaceful and within campus walls? Daniel Sparringa, a sociology lecturer at Airlangga University and a popular figure among students for encouraging the protests, believes so. At the end of January, Sparringa was contacted by Maj. Gen. Djadja Suparman, the local military commander, and asked to come for a meeting. "When I went there, he said: 'I can understand what the students want, too, but the best thing is if we can work together to control the situation.'" The general said it would be best if students stayed on campus, but when Sparringa told him they wanted to march to the local parliament building, Suparman offered to provide them transport.
The military is not the only institution keeping close tabs. Since campuses were "depoliticized" after 1978, much student activism has been channeled into Islamic groups, and today the Indonesian Muslim Students Association, or HMI, is both influential and well-organized. Amien Rais, who leads the 28- million-member Muhammadiyah Muslim organization, has been courting students with his talk of leading a "people power" movement. "HMI is about to turn against the government," predicts Hotman Siahaan, who also teaches sociology at Airlangga. "But so far the ideological substance is missing. In all the protests there are not any key leaders, and there is not yet a platform."
With politics off-limits for so long, the students are only slowly learning how to organize. But already campuses are linking up by Internet - -which the authorities cannot easily control -- and information is passing among groups around the country. Last week, for example, an article about the wealth of President Suharto's family that had originally been printed in a student newspaper in Yogyakarta turned up in the campus paper at Airlangga, 200 km away.
In Jakarta, students at the University of Indonesia have been printing a daily bulletin entitled Bergerak! (Move!) for the past two weeks with information on university demonstrations around Indonesia as well as times and locations of coming rallies. "Now we are optimistic because the succession is at hand," says Rama Pratama, chairman of the university's student senate. "This crisis has destroyed the pride of the New Order. Now we have to work on what comes next." Whether the students will be contributors to what comes next, or its victims, may not become clear for some time. The struggle has just begun.
[With reporting from David Liebhold/Surabaya]
Serang, West Java -- President Soeharto gave clear-cut guidelines yesterday for field security officials dealing with unruly student demonstrations, including the use of "repressive measures" in emergency situations.
In a written address for the 46th anniversary celebrations for the Army's special force (Kopassus), the President said the security apparatuses could use repressive measures if peaceful persuasion failed to calm boisterous students.
"Security forces can apply repressive measures only in crisis and emergency situations," Soeharto said in the address, which was read by Kopassus' Commandant-General Maj. Gen. Muchdi Purwopranjono.
But the President warned officials not to trespass the law while containing the students and reminded them that repressive measures should be immediately followed up with acts to restore the situation.
Nevertheless, it has been deemed unnecessary so far to deploy Kopassus troops to engage with the students.
"The government hopes that the people, local officials and police can maintain national security and order without Kopassus troops' involvement," Soeharto said in the speech.
In the address the President confirmed that the government was and would always be serious in its commitment to restore the country's economy, which was reeling from a prolonged monetary crisis.
"The government is completely aware that the longer the crisis goes, the worse the people will suffer."
He said the government was very grateful that a large part of the nation could understand the problems that the country now faced.
"Yet, there are some of us who are impatient and unable to control their emotions during the crisis."
In another speech read at the ceremony, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo reaffirmed Soeharto's view.
"They express their impatience and aspirations through student demonstrations and other on-campus activities in several towns," he said.
While praising Kopassus for its excellent track record against subversion, terrorism and other kinds of security disturbances, the Army chief however, reminded the troops not to become an "exclusive" corps and distance themselves from the people.
Subagyo said the Armed Forces (ABRI) must maintain its unity with the people.
"The people are not the enemy of the Armed Forces (ABRI) because ABRI is the people's soldiers."
He called on Kopassus members and their families to maintain their standing in the community in times of crisis.
"Kopassus members and their relatives must conform to a simple and disciplined life."
Dialog
Separately, Minister of Home Affairs R. Hartono told journalists in Jakarta yesterday that university students should come to him, instead of going to the education and culture minister to express their demands for reform.
"If they talk about politics, they should come to me" he told reporters at his office yesterday.
Constitutionally, the home affairs minister is the supervisor of Indonesia's domestic political affairs.
Golkar official Abdul Gafur indicated yesterday that the functional group would be ready to hold a dialog with students and were not adverse to the students' demands as long as they purely represented the interests of all people.
"We're ready for a dialog with the students," he told reporters after seeing Hartono at the latter's office. "We will support their actions if they represent the voice of the people."
Minister Hartono met with Gafur and, later, Armed Forces Chief of Sociopolitical Affairs Lt. Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to discuss the heightened level of student protests.
Gafur, who is also deputy speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR), encouraged students to formulate a tangible concept to help the country in its time of crisis before opening a dialog with senior officials.
"Golkar will be ready to meet them and challenge their concept with ours," he said. "If their's is good we'll channel their aspirations to the government."
| Economy and investment |
Leah Harrison, Jakarta -- Indonesia may be more deeply mired than any other country in Asia's debt and currency crisis, but it's not too early for vultures.
Investors are swooping down on the country of more than 13,700 islands strewn across the equator between Singapore and Australia to pluck bargains from the rubble.
U.S. investment banks, including Bear Stearns Cos., Bankers Trust New York Corp. and Merrill Lynch & Co., are circling, looking to buy distressed debt or piggy-back on other vulture funds. Foreign firms -- from the Hong Kong-based Jardine group's Dairy Farm International Holdings to the Netherlands' Royal Nutricia NV -- are buying up chunks of Indonesia's best companies, betting the world's fourth most-populous nation -- with more than 200 million people -- will eventually emerge from its financial crisis.
"It's a case of separating the quick from the dead," said Simon Neville, Dairy Farm's treasurer. "In the longer term the fundamentals of Indonesia will come good."
That's not so obvious right now, though. The rupiah has lost three quarters of its value -- about 8,000 to the dollar today from 2,400 a year ago -- leaving most companies on the Jakarta Stock Exchange technically insolvent. Companies have about $80 billion in foreign debt, and as repayment costs have surged four-fold, most have simply stopped paying.
Still, for the patient there could be big money to be made. "My benchmark exit is to make three times my money," said Ascanio Martinotti, managing director of private equity for Regent Pacific Group Ltd.
Earlier this year, Hong Kong-based Regent, which manages $2.5 billion, paid $7 million for 350 new, unoccupied apartments in central Jakarta, taking them off the hands of a cash-strapped developer. The flats, from middle-level to luxury properties, were bought at between $200 to $1,000 a square meter. Less than a year ago, comparable apartments sold for $1,000 to $3,000 a square meter, Martinotti said.
Risky business
Granted, investing in Indonesia is risky business. The financial meltdown has left the stock exchange in tatters -- the benchmark index has plunged 77 percent in dollar terms in a year, the world's worst performance. Its capitalization has shrunk to just $20 billion today from $95 billion a year ago.
Shares of many of the country's largest companies are trading at just a fraction of their pre-crisis levels. For example, PT Matahari Putra Prima, the country's biggest department store operator, now trades at 425 rupiah a share, less than one-quarter of its 52-week high of 1800. The company has about $200 million in debt.
The country's economy is not expected to turn around anytime soon. Inflation reached a 23-year high of 39 percent in March. An expected recession this year -- the first in almost three decades -- has triggered food riots, student protests and calls for the 32-year rule of President Suharto to end.
"The political risks in Indonesia are the highest of anywhere in Asia," said Bruce Gale, regional manager at Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, which gives advice to companies investing in Asia.
Still, the promise of a bargain and eventual high returns is attracting some brave investors. In January, a unit of Royal Nutricia, Europe's biggest baby food maker, offered to pay 328.9 billion rupiah ($41 million) for half of Indonesia's biggest baby food maker, PT Sari Husada. The prospect of a bargain price also lured food retailer Dairy Farm. On Feb. 17, Dairy Farm said it will pay $36.4 million for a 31.18 percent stake in PT Hero Supermarkets -- Indonesia's biggest food store operator.
Even bigger money may be moving in. General Electric Co. of the U.S. plans to invest $40 billion in Asia in the next four years, taking advantage of the region's financial crisis to pursue low- cost acquisitions and alliances
No weak knees
Regent has raised about $100 million for a series of Asian Opportunities Funds, and hopes to pull together a total of $500 million by the end of the year. It plans to invest 40 percent of that money in Indonesia, where Martinotti expects returns will be biggest in Asia because any recovery in the bombed-out currency will help boost results in U.S. dollar terms.
Some investors are looking to buy debt that banks want to unload. In the end, creditors may get just 30 to 60 cents on the dollar for the troubled debt, analysts and fund manager say. In other cases, financial investors are looking to buy debt and then swap it for equity. Regent's Martinotti says many Indonesian companies are so far in the hole, they may have no choice: "Your equity has been wiped out. I'll buy your debt, and I'm the owner."
Cash-rich companies from neighboring Singapore have been among the most aggressive buyers. Singapore Power Ltd., the island- state's electricity monopoly, said Jan. 6 it would pay $175 million for control of certain power assets of Asia Pulp and Paper Co. on the island of Java. The seller, Indonesia's biggest paper maker, is saddled with about $4 billion in debt.
For sale
There are plenty of assets to choose from. Many of Indonesia's biggest companies overreached in the bubble years of 7 percent annual economic growth, diversifying into far-flung businesses -- such as golf-course development -- which they now must shed.
PT Anwar Sierad, a chicken and feed producer which is trying to negotiate a rollover of its $275 million in debt, is looking for a buyer for its Wendy's Hamburgers franchises in Indonesia.
At least seven prime office blocks in central Jakarta worth $270 million are for sale by developers desperate for cash, the Bisnis Indonesia newspaper reported Feb. 3.
Many construction sites have simply been abandoned after interest rates surged to a 10-year high last year. Rates have been raised twice in the last month, with the benchmark 1-month government bill at a record 50 percent. That should keep Indonesia's troubled companies looking for buyers.
| Miscellaneous |
Jakarta -- Health workers in Indonesia's capital are running low on blood for transfusions in a dengue fever outbreak, blamed for at least 422 deaths nationwide this year.
Health Ministry officials fear the actual death toll may be much higher, The Indonesian Observer newspaper reported today. More than 16,000 people have been infected.
The mosquito-borne disease has killed 54 people in the capital alone. The Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Red Cross said it can't meet all the requests for blood for patients there.
Dengue fever is transmitted by a parasite contained in the saliva of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. There is no vaccine for the disease, which can cause fever, joint pains, chills and hemorrhaging.
Dengue fever hits Indonesia each year between the rainy and dry seasons.