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ASIET NetNews Number 17 - May 11-17, 1998
East TimorStudents take over radio station People's Council formed Bloody clashes despite Jakarta vow
Political/economic crisisTimorese executed by security personnel Timorese in hopital after being tortured Rais calls for referendum for East Timor
Environment/land disputesMilitary: Nearly 500 died in Indonesia riots Indonesia at flashpoint Confusion obscured the view that killed Police open fire at protests, killing several Flight of ethnic Chinese adds to disruption Politicians and generals urge Suharto to go
Labour issuesVillagers face food crisis as wildfires rage Fire damage losses rise to Rp 8.27 trillion
Human rights/lawWorkers wary Nike reforms will fit Workers want union leaders to step down
PoliticsMy abductors tortured me Kopassus involvement in abductions Arrested in Indonesia's heart of darkness
Arms/armed forcesBorn-again reformer carries heavy weight
International relationsMilitary seen as key to Indonesia's fate
The world is watching you says G8 US backs loans but cancels exercises
| Democratic struggle |
Jakarta -- Thousands of students and other demonstrators occupied the state Radio Republik Indonesia station at Semarang in Central Java and forced their demands to be broadcast, a report said yesterday.
An announcer read out the five demands on Friday and the broadcast was repeated an hour later, the official Antara news agency said.
The demands included immediate comprehensive reforms, the lowering of prices, the convening of a special meeting of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and a call for the military not to use force.
The thousands of demonstrators had earlier marched through Semarang. Shops and businesses closed in anticipation of unrest.
The demonstrators forced offices and houses along their route to fly the national flag at half mast to honour the six students who died in a peaceful protest in Jakarta on Tuesday after security forces opened fire on them.
Another group of demonstrators protested at the governor's office in Semarang.
In Bandung, West Java, tens of thousands of students and others converged on the Parliament complex and held a free speech forum there, the Bandung-based Pikiran Rakyat daily said.
The protesters demanded a convening of a special session of the MPR and said President Soeharto should not delay his resignation.
A group of senior politicians and critics of the Government earlier this week called on the MPR to revoke its March decision to appoint Mr Soeharto as President for a seventh consecutive five-year term.
The names of some fifty members of the People's Council set up in Jakarta yesterday have been announced. The Council is known by its Indonesian acronym MAR which stands for Majelis Amanat Rakyat.
Members of the Council had their first meeting at a cafe in Jakarta yesterday and agreed to put forward three immediate demands:
To call on President Suharto to resign in the interest of reform and to ensure that the process towards democracy can proceed smoothly and peacefully.
To call on the security forces not to use force against the people so as to ensure that the situation does not deteriorate even further.
To call on students, the younger generation and the Indonesian people to work for change in the situation that can ensure the restoration of civil life.
The following is a list of those already listed as members of the Council:
Amien Rais, Goenawan Muhamad, former editor of TEMPO: Sumitro Djajohadikusumo, emeritus economics professor and father of Lt- General Prabowo, who is married to Suharto's daughter Titik; Toety Heraty, academic; Karlina Leksono, woman astronaut and member of SIP, Voice of Concerned Mothers; Gadis Arivia, academic and member of SIP; Emha Ainun Nadjib, Muslim writer and commentator; Ali Sadikin, former governor of Jakarta, retired commander of the Marine Corps and a long-time dissident from the Petition of 50; Trimoelya Soerjadi, human rights lawyer; Dawam Rahardjo, Muslim academic; Syamsudin Haris; Ichlasul Amal; Arbi Sanit, professor of politics and frequent commentator; Husein Umar; Mohamad Sadli, emeritus professor of economics; Faisal Bakri, economics professor Arifin Panigoro, top-level oil magnate and member of the MPR; Fikri Jufri, journalist; Mudji Sutrisno; Laksamana Sukardi, an adviser of PDI leader Megawati Sukarnoputri; Heri Achmadi, student leader from 1978; Adnan Buyung Nasution, human rights lawyer; Ong Hok Kam, etnic Chinese historian; Bambang Sidjojanto, human rights lawyer; Tjuk Sukiadi; Rizal Panggabean; Wimar Witoelar, TV presenter and wit; Sujana Sapiie; K.H. Mustofo Bisri; Emil Salim, former minister of the environment who was nominated for the vice-presidency in 1998; Frans Magnis Suseno, German-born Catholic theologian; Albert Hasibuan, lawyer and member of Komnas HAM; Siswono Judohusodo, until March this year, Miniter for transmigration; Haryono Titrosoebono, lawyer; Frans Seda, economist and cabinet minister for economic affairs under Sukarno, also member of the Justice and Peace Commission in the Vatican; Adi Andoyo, former Supreme Court judge and dean of the Law Faculty at Trisakti University; Adi Sasono, General Secretary of ICMI, the Association of Muslim Intellectuals; Mochtar Masoed; Daniel Sparringga, lecturer in politics at Airlangga University, Surabaya; A. Syarfii Maarif; Ratna Sarumpaet, actress and playwright, currently in police custody and facing charges for engaging in anti-govt political activities; (Ms) Saparinah Sadli, professor of psychiatry; TH. Sumartana; Bambang Sudibyo; A Hakim Garuda Nusantara, human rights lawyer; Rizal Ramli, economist; Arif Arryman; Hendardi, director of PBHI, Indonesian Human Rights and Legal Aid Association; Ulil Abshar Abdalla, from the youth organisation of Nahdlatul Ulama; Dede Oetomo Sayuti; Horman M Siahaan; Moedrick Sangidu, member of the officially recognised PPP based in Solo, Central Java; Meilono Suwondo, businessman; Zoemrotin.
Amien Rais said that membership of the Council is open and others wishing to join would be welcome.
With regard to Megawati and Abdulrahman Wahid, he said that an Indonesian Working Council (Forum Kerja Indonesia) would be set up which would include these two figures. The Forum and MAR would work together, 'running on two parallel lines' he said.
[The term "Amanat" does not have an exact equivalent in English and can be translated as "trusteeship", "mandate", "instruction" and "commission", or in its verbal form, to "entrust", or "commit" - James Balowski.]
Jakarta -- Scores of students were injured in clashes in central Java yesterday as campus demonstrations continued across Indonesia.
The trouble came despite the military's pledge to speed reforms and its call for the protests to end.
Armed Forces chief General Wiranto said on Thursday that after nearly three months of protests students had got their message across and reforms were now on the national agenda.
But there was no immediate sign he had stemmed the tide of protest against the economic crisis as about 2,000 students clashed with police yesterday in front of the 11 March University in the city of Solo.
Sixty were injured, four seriously, when police responded to a hail of stones with tear-gas and rubber bullets. Another clash in Jakarta left 15 injured.
In Ujungpandang, in southern Sulawesi, about 1,000 students drove through the town protesting against fuel price rises. Reports said five protesters were shot in the city on Thursday, at least one with a live bullet.
Students in Yogyakarta, where 15,000 rallied on Tuesday, were told anyone protesting after 2 pm should expect to face rubber- coated bullets and, if necessary, live ammunition.
As the largest university in Medan reopened, students marched on campus calling President Suharto "the son of Satan" and carrying a sign saying "Suharto must be fired and prosecuted". At Jakarta's Teaching and Education Institute, 300 students staged a mock trial of the 76-year-old President. A "people's prosecutor" pronounced him guilty of "murder, robbery, corruption and collusion" and sentenced him to death.
Police arrested 200 Islamic students who sat in front of Parliament as legislators inside heard the Government explain this week's fuel price rises, mandated under the International Monetary Fund's bailout plan.
Chinese in Medan said at least 10 people were killed in riots and arson attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday. Reports put the toll at seven. General Wiranto denied anyone had died.
Travel agent Miramar Express announced last night it was cancelling package tours to Indonesia until further notice. Those who had booked could switch tours or receive a full refund.
| East Timor |
The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) has received information from reliable sources that an East Timorese man, Costodio da Silva Nunes, was extra-judicially executed by Indonesian security personnel on 7 May, 1998. It is believed Nunes was shot dead by members of KORAMIL (sub-district military command) at Lissalara hamlet, located in the village of Gugleur, Maubara sub-district, Liquica.
ETHRC sources reported that Nunes was walking through his village when he was spotted by members of Battalion 621, who ordered him to stop. Fearing for his safety, Nunes is believed to have ignored the order and run away. Battalion 621 personnel then reported the incident to members of KORAMIL (sub-district military command) who were nearby and it is believed the KORAMIL personnel caught up with Nunes and shot him dead. It is believed they then buried him at Gugleur village, near the Telecom office. His family and friends were not permitted to attend the burial.
Custodio da Silva Nunes, a former public servant, was married to Elvira Madeira Goncalves and was the father of two children. He was from the village of Baviquinia, Maubara sub-district, Liquica. Prior to his death, it is believed he had been persecuted by the Indonesian military as he was suspected of involvement in the East Timorese clandestine resistance.
The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) has received further information in relation to Sabino Barbosa Ximenes who was detained in Dili on 11 September, 1997, by members of SGI (Special Intelligence Unit).
ETHRC sources have confirmed that Ximenes is currently in hospital receiving treatment for injuries he sustained when he was subjected to torture and ill-treatment following his arrest.
The ETHRC reported that on the day of his arrest Ximenes was taken to a torture centre in Colmera, Dili (probably SGI headquarters), where it is believed he was subjected to electric shock, burnt with cigarettes, cut with razor blades and had his fingernails pulled out. He was then transferred to SGI headquarters in Baucau and subjected to intensive interrogation and further torture.
Indonesian authorities have accused Ximenes of being involved in the East Timorese clandestine resistance and having links with Falintil (East Timorese Armed Resistance). Prior to being hospitalised he was in detention at the Baucau Prison, awaiting his trial which is due to commence on 18 May. His trial may now be delayed while he receives medical treatment.
A prominent Muslim leader in Indonesia, also seen as the emerging leader of a People's Power movement against President Suharto, today, called for the right of self-determination of the East Timorese people to be respected. He also admitted that Indonesia's rule of the troubled territory is a severe drain on Jakarta's coffers.
Amien Rais, the leader of the 25 million-strong Muhammadiyah group, said a referendum in the troubled territory needs to be held as soon as possible under the auspices of the United Nations and the international community.
"We have to see the living reality as it is. If the majority of the East Timorese are restless, do not trust the central authorities, and want to be free, then they should be free," he told the East Timor International Support Center in a telephone interview.
"There needs to be a referendum under the supervision of the UN and other international bodies and the final decision has to be respected by all parties concerned," he said.
"If the majority want to be independent, we have to respect that. On the contrary if the majority want to be integrated with the Republic of Indonesia, the international community, too, has to respect that. But the fact of the matter is that a referendum must be held," added Mr Rais.
Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese enclave of East Timor in 1975 and annexed it as its 27th province a year later. In the years following the invasion over 200,000, or a third of the population, died either fighting the Indonesians or from disease and starvation. The United Nations has not recognised the annexation and still considers Portugal as the territory's administrator.
Mr Rais said East Timor was a "thorn in my flesh" and added that Indonesia's resources were being wasted in keeping the troubled territory in the Indonesian republic. "There must be a solution [ to East Timor] and any post-Suharto regime that emerges has to respect the wishes of the East Timorese people," he said in the interview.
On the question of jailed East Timor resistance leader Xanana Gusmao and other East Timorese political prisoners, Mr Rais said their release would depend on the outcome of the referendum.
"If the East Timorese, in the referendum, indicate they want to be independent then, of course, all political prisoners will be freed," he said. Mr Rais reiterated that he was willing to lead a "People's Power" movement against the Suharto regime.
"If the current leaders of the pro-democracy movement do not have the moral courage to lead the people, then I am more than willing to do the job," he said.
"I repeat, as what I had told the Australian press yesterday, the Suharto government is the most corrupt regime in the universe."
[According to a May 12 East Timor Action Network (ETAN) posting on the Congressional Human Rights Caucus Hearing on Indonesia and East Timor, held on April 30, Rais's comments on the question of East Timor are close to those quoted by ETHRC. ETAN noted that his remarks differ sharply from a May 2 Jakarta Post article which suggested he was "forced" to address the topic and was "reluctant to answer". Below are excerpts from the hearing posted by ETAN - James Balowski.]
Rais: Thank you. To be very honest, I did not know that I came to this building to join the testimony before the Congress about East Timor. This is very honest. I was a bit surprised, but it is ok because I have a strong opinion, position, on this problem.
Let me tell you very brief. About two or three ago, I made a clear statement that the best way to solve the East Timorese problem is giving the referendum for the whole people of East Timor to make the choice. If the result of the referendum indicates that the vast majority of the East Timor want to join Indonesia and stay like this you know. Then that's it. But if the result of the referendum indicates that the majority of the people want to have separation to build their own state even, then let them go. However, I made the condition that the Indonesian government must be given two or three more years to quote-unquote convince the East Timorese people to stick to the present structure. Meaning that East Timor becomes one of the provinces of Indonesia, but if after three years of hard working, of maximal effort and then the East Timorese people still want to have referendum, then the best way is to give them a referendum under the supervision of the United Nations bodies. Then that's it. This very clear and I don't change my opinion up to this day.
Kennedy: So basically, you are talking about the self- determination. The people of East Timor having an opportunity to demonstrate for themselves that they can govern themselves.
Rais: Right.
Kennedy: Thank you Dr. Rais. That was very important testimony.
| Political/economic crisis |
Jim Della-Giacoma, Jakarta -- Indonesia said Saturday almost 500 people had died in the devastating riots which swept its capital this week as President Suharto moved to restore his shaken authority over the battered nation.
Military spokesman Brigadier-General Wahab Mokodongan told a news conference the death toll in four days of riots in Jakarta had reached 499 -- many of them youngsters and women trapped in burning shopping malls while on a looting spree.
He said the military had restored peace in the city, but thousands of frightened residents and foreigners thought otherwise and thronged the airport to flee the country.
"ABRI (the military) apologizes to all sections of the nation and to the Indonesian people for the conditions which exist at the moment," Mokodongan said in a written statement.
"ABRI...will continue to work hard and is ready to risk all its credibility for the return of security and peace," he said.
"The situation in Jakarta and nearby areas at this time has already been controlled. For the international community, ABRI guarantees your security and hopes that you will continue to be calm," the spokesman added.
But the city's airport was jammed with expatriates and ethnic Chinese desperate for a flight to anywhere as more and more countries told their citizens to get out of Indonesia despite two days of relative calm in the capital.
Columns of armor cruised the streets and troops used loudspeakers to warn off rioters and encourage people cowering at home to resume normal life.
Expatriates at the airport said they feared that worse was to come and the houses of the rich would be the next target of the impoverished who rose up this week to loot and pillage and demand Suharto quit after three decades in power.
"We all live in big glitzy houses and the mobs were getting closer every day," said a British woman bound for Singapore with her husband. "They have burned half of the city already and sooner or later they are going to go for the places the rich live in." The death toll was expected to rise further as rescue workers inched their way into the charred and fragile ruins of the scores of buildings torched during four days of near anarchy.
More than 100 charred corpses were pulled out of one shopping mall in western Jakarta Saturday, 18 from another and 11 from a third, adding to the 100 already taken from the ruins of a fourth Friday.
The United States and Canada airlifted out some 800 of their nationals, mostly women, children and the elderly, escorted to a military airport in convoys of buses in the small hours.
The exercise was due to repeated Saturday night.
Japanese airlines laid on a dozen extra flights for those of an estimated 20,000 Japanese in Indonesia eager to get out.
Australia, which reckons it has around the same number in the country, said it would send chartered aircraft. Three extra planes from Singapore Airlines -- which has seven scheduled flights a day from Jakarta -- took out more than 1,100 people.
Malaysia sent two military planes and other countries announced extra flights or bigger planes to help the exodus.
Major cities were mostly quiet Saturday after riots which grew out of Tuesday's shooting by security forces of six student protesters demanding political reform.
Since the riots forced Suharto to cut short a visit to Egypt and rush back to his shattered capital, the 76-year-old president has let it be known he is back in charge.
He has made no public appearances or comments, but moved swiftly to dispel one cause of anger behind the riots -- fuel price rises of up to 70 percent to slash subsidies.
That had been demanded by the International Monetary Fund in return for $40 billion to help Indonesia out of its worst economic crisis in decades.
Hours after Suharto's return Friday, the government cut them back by around 20 percent.
Saturday, Suharto was quoted as saying he would make a rare reshuffle of his cabinet, just two months after appointing it, and would pursue political reforms.
"In carrying out the heavy task of national development, a strong cabinet is needed and because of that the president will soon reshuffle the cabinet," Parliamentary Speaker Harmoko told reporters after meeting Suharto at his residence.
"The president will also take steps to protect the rights of citizens in accordance with his authority and reforms will go ahead."
It was far from clear how or even if this might address widespread demands for democratic reform.
Suharto has bowed only fractionally to months of student demands for his departure from office, saying reforms could be discussed but most could not be implemented constitutionally until the end of his seventh five-year term in 2003.
Asman Budisantoso, head of the University of Indonesia, a center of student protests for three months, told reporters he had met Suharto and broached the question of the succession.
"He replied very sweetly. He said the head of state was carrying out his responsibilities," Santoso said.
Louise Williams, Jakarta -- Rioting spread to new areas of Jakarta last night after Indonesian special forces troops, dropped by helicopter, sealed a major toll road to the airport, which had earlier been cut off by students protesting at the death of six of their colleagues.
A witness said at least one person was dead after police earlier in the day fired warning shots and tear gas when angry crowds set fire to trucks and a petrol station at a Jakarta intersection.
It was not yet clear whether rubber bullets or live rounds were being used, and the man's death was unconfirmed.
President Soeharto decided last night to cut short an official visit to Egypt to fly back to the riot-torn capital.
Egyptian officials said he would meet President Hosni Mubarak today before flying back to Jakarta, arriving on Friday.
According to another unconfirmed report, three demonstrators were crushed to death by a military truck they were attempting to turn over.
The protests moved to other parts of the city as students were allowed to leave the Trisakti University.
Students from Atmijaya Catholic University, in Jakarta's centre, also took to the streets.
Forty cars were reported to have been set on fire and the main road through the central banking district was blocked.
The killings have brought the United States, until now a strong supporter of the Soeharto Government, closer to backing calls for political reform.
The US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, deplored the killings and called on students and security forces to take steps to "break the cycle of violence which appears to be emerging".
Australia has not yet moved to call for political reform, with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Downer, urging restraint by both security forces and protesters.
In Jakarta, the Australian Ambassador, Mr John McCarthy, said: "From the information available it appears that the troops who fired on the students were not acting in self-defence."
The crisis helped send the Australian dollar plunging to its lowest level in 12 years yesterday, as international investors deserted the region. Last night it was trading around US62.93c, more than half a cent lower than Tuesday's close.
Analysts said the Indonesian crisis, and a 21-month low in Australia's home loan approvals, overwhelmed much of the positive sentiment from Tuesday's Federal Budget.
In Jakarta, students and relatives mourned the dead students. Four bodies were laid out at the Sumber Waras Hospital morgue under white sheets, each identified with a name tag.
Doctors at the university clinic were operating on four students, including a 14-year-old boy, who had been shot with both live and rubber bullets.
Doctors said one of the victims had been shot with live bullets and eight had been injured with rubber bullets.
Even as hundreds of troopreinforcements arrived, crowds of grieving students attempted to march along the blockaded tollway carrying flowers and wreaths towards the Trisakti University where the six students died yesterday.
A Western diplomat said: "The events of yesterday and the danger of the situation, as well as the apparent stand-off today, are a further worrying development.
"A rapid and credible inquiry into how live ammunition was used [against the unarmed students] must be held."
During the day shares related to the family of President Soeharto slid sharply on the sharemarket following the fresh violence.
The rupiah tumbled as much as 13 per cent to 10,650 to the American dollar.
At Trisakti University, opposition figurehead Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri and influential Muslim leader Mr Amien Rais addressed a cheering crowd.
"The President must change his attitude or the people will force him to change," yelled Mr Rais, who heads the 28 million- strong Muhaddiyah organisation.
Ms Megawati said: "I cannot justify any form of violence", and urged security forces not to treat the people as their enemies.
Five kilometres from the university, rioters in a mixed residential and commercial district pulled Timor cars, produced by a company owned by Mr Soeharto's youngest son, from a showroom, overturned them and tried to set them on fire.
Louise Williams, Jakarta -- From the top of a pedestrian overpass that straddles the chaos raging across the 12-lane highway in central Jakarta, there is a clear view to a kill.
In the confusion of the fighting between students and police on Tuesday night, which cut this main artery to the airport, there was only the terrifying crack of gunfire -- rubber bullets indistinguishable from live rounds.
But yesterday morning -- as thousands of students and bystanders poured across the same bridge, the traffic held back by black-clad riot troops, the air spinning with tear gas, a petrol station and vehicles alight -- the source of the fatal shots that killed five student protesters seemed clearer.
On the campus and in the streets around the elite Trisakti University, where the five young men died on Tuesday, lay the spent cartridges of live, "sharp" bullets which appeared to have been fired into the university from the bridge.
In no assessment of the deadly face-off between security forces and students that has been raging in Jakarta is it possible to interpret this action as part of the rules of engagement of the Indonesian police or soldiers.
Said one diplomat yesterday: "Sharp rounds are for self- defence only, to be used if a fellow officer is in danger or if a crowd invades a military installation.
"The campus is a safe area; the military has already said that students are permitted to protest inside."
But it appears that the five young, unarmed students were shot dead as they fled, attempting to seek sanctuary inside their university.
Scores more were injured, and by yesterday afternoon a new battle was raging between those who had come to mourn and those who would not let the funeral parade pass.
Yesterday, as thousands cheered and clapped speakers condemning the action of the Indonesian security forces, hundreds of trucks and buses from other universities poured in bringing young people carrying black banners and wreaths.
But soon it all went wrong. The riot troops again closed the main road and the confusion of another street battle erupted - trucks set on fire, a petrol station alight and thousands fleeing as the air cracked with the sound of gunfire and tear gas canisters.
The official version of Tuesday's events, as told to Western embassies, was that the harsh crackdown against the unarmed students was undertaken because students had attacked and beaten a military intelligence officer.
But I know that is not true, because I was standing only metres away from the confronting forces when the military attacked.
First, the ranks of the riot troops parted and a black tear- gas cannon mounted on a tank moved forward and the students fled.
But no tear gas was fired; instead the riot troops chased the students with guns.
It is not clear when the rubber bullets were substituted with live rounds, but it is abundantly clear that either tear gas or a water cannon could have easily cleared the crowd and prevented the deaths and injuries among the students.
Mark Landler, Jakarta, Indonesia -- Security forces killed at least four students and injured more than 20 others when they opened fire on a demonstration that had spilled from a college campus onto a major highway here.
According to several witnesses, the violence started after a peaceful day of demonstrating by the students, who sang songs and called for the resignation of President Suharto. But when they refused to return to campus, police clubbed them with truncheons and shot into the crowd.
Tuesday's unrest was the most serious in Indonesia in three months of almost daily student protests. And it erases any presumption that the anti-government movement is limited to politically radical campuses in the hinterlands. These clashes occurred at the University of Trisakti, an elite private college in the shadow of Jakarta's gleaming financial district, where many senior government and military officials send their children.
"We were running when we heard shots," said a 22-year-old management student, who declined to give his name. "I saw my friend get shot in the neck. I also saw a girl fall down in front of me and get kicked in the head."
Riot police swarmed outside the campus gates on Tuesday night, while inside, hundreds of students gathered in darkened courtyards, warning that police snipers were lurking on the rooftops. An administration building was converted into a makeshift first-aid center, with bloodied gauze and bandages littering the floor.
In a sign of how organized the demonstrators have become, they had compiled a list of dead and injured students within an hour of the attack. Still, as the students milled around in the stifling night air, heavy with the fumes of tear gas, most seemed dazed by the sudden eruption of violence.
"They shot onto my campus," said a student named Awing, in a disbelieving tone. He, like many others, insisted that the protesters had not provoked the police before they opened fire. But one student said that just before the shooting, the riot troops cocked their rifles, prompting a hail of taunts from the students.
On the highway next to the campus, which had been occupied earlier in the day by cheering students, traffic inched over rocks and other debris and past a long line of troop transports and armored vehicles with water cannon. The road is one of Jakarta's most heavily-traveled, connecting the city center to the airport. Jakarta was not the only place where student protests turned violent on Tuesday. In Bandung, a college town 75 miles southeast of Jakarta, police clashed with 600 students, firing shots into the air and clubbing several with truncheons. And in Kupang, a city in Timor 1,150 miles east of the capital, police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of 300 student demonstrators.
The protests have been gathering force since early last week, when the Suharto government announced that it would raise the price of fuel and electricity by as much as 70 percent. Although the price increases fulfill Indonesia's agreement with the International Monetary Fund, students have decried them as unjust.
Suharto has been out of the country since Saturday, attending a summit meeting of 15 developing nations in Cairo. On Monday, Suharto said Asia's deepening economic crisis "could trigger a series of social problems, including the further spread of poverty, a rise in crime, and political instability."
Before his departure, Suharto warned in televised remarks that the police and military would crack down on anyone who threatened Indonesia's "national stability." People here said that Suharto's decision to leave the country during the growing turmoil underscored his confidence in his position.
But political experts have also said that the student movement would reach a flash point if security forces fired on the students, or if the violence spread to the capital. A growing number of nonstudents have already joined demonstrations, and witnesses said outsiders threw rocks at the police in Tuesday's protest.
Jay Solomon and I Made Sentana, Medan -- All is quiet again in Indonesia's third-largest city -- much too quiet.
After last week's rioting and looting left scores of people injured and caused massive property damage, residents are suddenly coping with a new problem: life without ethnic Chinese.
Terrified by last week's race-baiting mobs of indigenous Indonesians, most of the ethnic-Chinese businesspeople who run the local economy -- as they do the economy of most of Indonesia -- have shuttered their businesses and fled or gone into hiding. Though the military has restored order, that means supplies of everything from food to paintbrushes are growing scarce.
Significant impact
Equally important, because Medan's ethnic-Chinese merchants also handle most of this area's huge trade in such locally produced commodities as palm oil, coffee and rubber, last week's upheaval has ramifications far beyond this remote city on the island of Sumatra.
"None of our containers are going to port; we just don't want to take the risk," says Maria Garrunthia, an ethnic-Chinese coffee trader in Medan who says she supplies, among other customers, Starbucks Corp. in the US "We're all so scared. Hopefully things will return to normal this week."
The stakes here are huge, not only for Indonesia but for global commodity supplies. Indonesia's exports of oil, minerals and many types of agricultural goods earn the country critically needed foreign currency. In 1997, Indonesia was Asia's largest exporter of natural gas, the world's second-largest producer of crude palm oil, and among the top five producers of coffee. It also is a major exporter of gold, tin, copper, cocoa, and vanilla.
Major export center
The city of Medan and its ethnic-Chinese traders play a vital role in the country's commodity trade. The nearby port of Belawan accounts for about 7% of all Indonesian exports, including up to 35% of Indonesia's crude palm-oil shipments, estimates one Jakarta securities house. Other major commodities produced and traded in the area include rubber, coffee, tobacco and plywood.
Situated on the strategic Straits of Malacca, the Belawan port is the regional entreport for northern Sumatra. The port remained open last week as riots triggered by sharp increases in the price of fuel swept the city. But freight came to a near standstill for several days, because burning cars and debris -- and also fear -- kept truckers from plying the area's main roads. The resulting logjam underscored how vulnerable Indonesia's bare-bones transportation system is to disruption from civil unrest.
Earlier this month, the London-based War Risks Rating Committee, an arm of the international insurance industry, placed Indonesia on a list of countries that are deemed to have higher risks of war and labor strife. The only other nation in Southeast Asia on the list is Cambodia. Shipping companies must pay insurance surcharges to call at countries on the list.
Disturbances upsetting
"More than these (surcharges), it's the civil disturbances that are most troubling," says a European shipping executive who ships petroleum products out of Indonesia. Another commodities dealer in Indonesia agrees: "This is the worst situation we've seen in some time."
Even now, with a heavy contingent of troops around Belawan to ensure order at the port, business has slowed significantly in the wake of the riots, says shipping operator W.U. Sirait, standing at the wharf. Among the main reasons, he and other business people say, is the flight of ethnic Chinese.
As elsewhere in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, ethnic conflict is nothing new in Medan. The city was the scene of a big riot -- stemming from a labor dispute -- in 1994. However, in most earlier conflicts, tempers generally abated in weeks or months, people here say, with life returning to normal.
Bigger economic problems
This time, however, fears are exacerbated by the deterioration of the Indonesian economy and growing frustration with the government -- with no end in sight to either problem. That means economic hardship could continue to fuel unrest, and resentment against society's perceived "haves." Many ethnic Chinese have fled by air to Singapore, Jakarta and Australia, or by sea across the straits to Malaysia. Those who have remained are staying in hotels -- and some even in police headquarters. Few people harbor much hope of business returning to normal until the Chinese return.
At Belawan's ferry terminal, ethnic-Chinese families lined up this weekend for boats to the Malaysian island of Penang. One businessman embarking with his family, exhausted from four days and nights guarding his property during the riots, says he hopes to return in two weeks, but is waiting to get a reading of the situation. "Hopefully things will be fine by that time," he says.
For the indigenous Indonesians, finding food and other basic goods in Medan has grown difficult as many merchants flee. Susanto, who owns a small store, says he has eaten nothing but dried, instant noodles for the past four days, because fresh food has disappeared from the city's deserted markets. A taxi driver complains he can't drive his normal cab, because the Chinese auto-parts supplier who normally sells a part he needs has gone. Business May Worsen
"Without the Chinese around, business has just shut down," says the shipping executive, Mr. Sirait. "The stores are all empty." Sofyan Tan, an ethnic-Chinese educator who runs a foundation in Medan geared toward bridging the city's ethnic divide, says the gulf is becoming unbridgable. "This time, a lot of people in the area have lost their jobs, while prices have gone up sharply," he says. "The Chinese know this, and they won't come back while they think the situation is still explosive. And if they're not back, business will get worse."
For many pribumis, or indigenous Indonesians, the damage done by the riots is significant. Yet, some express satisfaction at having vented their anger. Striking out violently, some say, is the only way to get through to the government.
"Rioting is good; it lets the world know that we don't want to be pushed down forever," says Parlutan Hutapea, a messenger. "It's not like we're stupid, and we don't know the law. We know the law, but there's no place for us to go if we want to have our rights respected."
David Watts, Solo -- The absent President Suharto of Indonesia suffered a double political blow yesterday when an important Muslim leader and a group of retired generals came out against his continuation in office.
Amien Rais, whom many see as a potential leader of the country, called on the army to end its support for the President. His public declaration is an important departure because he has been in close touch with the army leadership about the country's political future over the past few months.
His particular contact has been President Suharto's son-in- law, General Prabowo, who commands the key strategic troops. Privately General Prabowo has been urging the moderate leader of the 28 million Muslims who make up the Muhammadiyah movement to allow time for the"father of the nation" to reachhis own conclusions about whether or when he should leave office.
Clearly he believes the time has come for all parties to take a stand to prevent a collapse of national order.
It was not clear from yesterday's statement whether Mr Rais had coordinated his announcement with the army leadership, but senior officers, although they are handpicked by the President, will be aware that the army's reputation will suffer grievously if violent deaths continue at the present rate.
Mr Rais told cheering supporters in Jakarta that the Suharto regime was the most corrupt in the universe. Thousands of his members then chanted "People power, people power." Taking their cue from the newly active People's Assembly, 39 retired generals and politicians said that the body should repudiate the President's rubberstamp election that took place in March. The protest was led by Ali Sadikin, a retired three-star general, who was prominent in the Suharto Government in the 1970s. Issuing a statement, with a petition signed by the 39 leading figures, he said that for too long the Government had been using state money for personal interests.
Speaking in Cairo, where he is attending the Group of 15 economic summit, President Suharto said that his people must accept painful sacrifices to help to contain the fallout from the Asian financial crisis. He warned other leaders that the crisis could spill over into other parts of the world: "We are convinced there is a dire need to intensify international cooperation if the Asian crisis is to be overcome and if its impact is to be mitigated."
In Solo, central Java, where at least four people died last Friday, tensions are high. The area has been a centre of radicalism ever since the Indonesian independence movement began in the early 1920s. The Suharto family roots and the grave of the President's wife, Tien, are close by. The human price of the unrest is apparent at the central hospital. Up to 400 people were injured in the violence at one of the city's largest universities. Many of them are still in hospital.
Between wards packed with the injured, two students have laid out mats in the spotless, white-tiled corridor where they keep a 24-hour vigil: the army still has a reputation for removing evidence from the scenes of its clashes with the public. A young Catholic boy said: "The place is crawling with intelligence agents. We are here to make sure that they do not kidnap any of the wounded."
Inside a ward one young man stares mindlessly at the ceiling, his pupils dilated while bandages hide a severe head wound. He squeezes a pillow between his knees for comfort, but it is not clear whether he is registering anything else.
Diagonally across from him a young farmer sits bolt upright on his bed, a bandage across his left eye, which he will most likely lose after it was struck by a plastic bullet. At each bedside is a rush mat for family members who, like the students, keep watch over their loved ones. But they also have to worry about the cost of care. The Government gives no financial assistance to the already-poor families.
Nobody is sure how many were killed last Friday, but it is clear that many of the victims were innocent passers-by, peasants returning home from work in the nearby fields. Witnesses said that they saw troops shoot two students who were lying on the ground, but because the army removes bodies promptly from the scene of such actions, that is impossible to confirm.
Although the army is supposed to give warning, calling on protesters to disperse before using force, Mohamed Taufik, a local member of parliament for the opposition United Development Party, said that there was no warning and the soldiers provoked the students by firing teargas at them.
"The soldiers were drunk... Mr Taufik said. "They were red in the face and they were acting crazy. After the students fell down, they were kicking them and shouting 'you must die, you must die'.,"
| Environment/land disputes |
Jakarta -- As many as 80,000 villagers face starvation because of raging wildfires that have destroyed a vast forest area in the East Kalimantan province.
The newspaper Bisnis Indonesia reported Saturday that Juwono Sudarsono, minister for environment, said he will visit the region next Wednesday as part of the government's efforts to address the threat.
'The data we received revealed that between 60,000 and 80,000 resident in East Kalimantan are being threatened by starvation,' Sudarsono was quoted as saying.
Seasonal rains have come to the province, on the island of Borneo, but have not totally extinguished wildfires. A monitoring post at the local military said Saturday that 518,257 hectares of crops and forests have been blackened so far.
Besides crops, animals that the local people hunt have also perished in the fires.
Meteorologists say El Nino, an abnormal weather pattern over the Pacific Ocean, has triggered the worst drought in half a century and has delayed monsoon rains.
Jakarta -- The amount of East Kalimantan ravaged by fires this year has increased to 442,800 hectares while timber revenue losses have reached Rp 8.27 trillion (US$1.06 billion), a news report said Saturday.
Quoting latest data from the provincial fire-fighting command post in Samarinda, Antara said the total area destroyed could increase further as fires were still raging despite some respite brought by intermittent rains.
The vegetation dryness index in the province with a total of about 21 million hectares of forest remains at 2,000, or 500 points above normal. This means the forests burn easily and the province is given the status of "very vulnerable to fires," the news agency said.
The still-burning fires are forest concessions, former forest concessions, Kutai National Park and timber estates.
More than 253,000 hectares of forest concessions alone have been ravaged, causing losses of Rp 5.078 billion in timber rev- enues, the news agency said.
Murdiansyah, of the fire-fighting command post, said his office was still making an inventory of companies which owned the affected concessions and timber estates.
The latest estimate of finan-cial losses incurred in this year's fires in East Kalimantan is almost higher than last year's fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan put together, namely US$1.3 billion.
Government officials and experts have said that losses incurred to East Kalimantan's forest biodiversity are immea- surable and that it will take more than a hundred years for the forest to regenerate to its earlier state. Financial losses related to increasing health costs, lost tourist revenue and canceled or delayed flights have yet to be calculated.
Antara said there were 13 hot spots, signifying fires, in the province, as detected by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite imaging.
The small number, compared to more than 500 the previous week, did not by any means signify a decrease in the number of fires as many hot spots might have escaped satellite detection due to hazy and cloudy weather, according to the German-Indonesia cooperating body Integrated Forest Fires Management.
To extinguish the fires and address the aftermath of the disaster, State Minister of Environment Juwono Sudarsono has estimated that some two billion dollars would be needed over five years.
Yesterday, Antara also reported that forest fires had forced many orangutans (Pongo Pygmaeus) to seek safer habitats in settlements near the Kutai National Park.
Husein Akrna, an official from the provincial chapter of the Kaltim Prima Coal mining company, said employees had saved dozens of orangutans either injured in the fires or found starving since fleeing the fires.
Fires have so far ravaged up to 73,000 hectares of forest in the conservation area.
Many of the approximately 2,000 orangutans in East Kalimantan are currently wandering around areas of human settlement. Dozens have reportedly been given shelter by residents.
"We give them food and treat them if they are sick and later release them again," Akma added.
| Labour issues |
Richard Read, Tangerang -- Shoe factory worker Dominguez Pirida strained Wednesday to comprehend workplace improvements pledged by Nike Chairman Phil Knight, a man whom he'd vaguely heard of half a world away. Better air quality inside plants sounded good. Improved independent monitoring of Nike's contract factories seemed fine. But high school classes, small-business loans, university research and increased minimum ages of workers seemed hardly relevant to Pirida's main desires: better pay, honest supervisors and decent restrooms.
"What can you expect from something grand like this from Nike?" Pirida said. "Factory managers lie so often, I don't think I can trust it." Master marketer Nike Inc. faces a tough sales job for its factory-improvement program, judging by skeptical reactions Wednesday from Indonesian workers who make sneakers for the Beaverton company.
Workers in Tangerang, a gritty factory town outside Jakarta, are traumatized by massive layoffs, skyrocketing prices and protests, riots and killings sweeping Indonesia. The Southeast Asian nation, which until recently enjoyed rapid economic growth, is the worst victim of the Asian monetary crisis that began last summer. Soldiers and police shot to death six people Tuesday amid demonstrations calling for the resignation of President Suharto, a 76-year-old dictator whose family members control much of the economy through lucrative monopolies.
Knight's promises, made Tuesday at a National Press Club luncheon in Washington, D.C., strike many Indonesians as far- fetched and remote as this nation veers toward insolvency and revolution. The lukewarm reception also points up wide cultural gaps between East and West and the extent to which even the most well-meaning attempts to help can fall flat in translation.
"I don't really know what to think of Phil Knight," said Pirida, a seven-year factory veteran who supports a wife and child. "Even during Nike's heyday, the wage increases were meager."
Nike, the world's largest athletic footwear and apparel company, posted $9.1 billion in sales last year. But demand has slowed for its products, and stock prices have dropped, resulting in layoffs of 1,600 Nike employees. That does not include the workers who have lost their jobs at factories operated by contractors.
Nike has been dogged by continued reports of abusive conditions in the independently owned Asian factories where many of its products are made. Critics have protested low wages, long hours and working conditions they say are inhumane.
Workers at P.T. Hasi, a sprawling South Korean-Indonesian footwear plant that until recently employed 12,000 people in Tangerang, say they're tired of strikes, wage disputes and uncertainty about what they see as a declining industry. Many are ready to quit the factory, which is running at less than 70 percent of capacity with 8,500 workers. To Indonesian labor activists, Knight's initiatives appear convenient for Nike as its work force shrinks worldwide. They say the package seems crafted to appeal more to Westerners than to workers.
Activists react cautiously
Activists in Jakarta reacted cautiously compared with longtime Nike critics in the United States, who praised Knight's programs. "Saying and doing are two different things, so we will wait for the realization of these plans," said Indera Nababan, who heads Urban Community Mission, an Indonesian labor activist group.
Some lack of enthusiasm in Indonesia might result from the inability of many workers to grasp the full meaning of Knight's plan. Nike launched an elaborate factory training program to explain its Code of Conduct, a set of standards governing working conditions and compensation. Knight's new initiatives also will need full explanation before workers and managers can understand their implications.
Yet some workers welcome Nike's package. Despite deep distrust of factory managers, they said they were ready to give the sneaker giant the benefit of the doubt. "It sounds great, but it still depends whether the factory will really implement it," said Yunianti, a 24-year-old woman who has worked at Hasi for five years.
Yunianti, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, prepares Nike outsoles for attachment to midsoles. She earns about $24 a month at current exchange rates. Since Indonesia's rupiah has lost much of its value against the dollar recently because of Asia's economic turmoil, wages at the shoe factories have fallen in dollar terms. More important to workers, prices have surged, reducing their buying power.
Yunianti said most workers at Hasi had completed secondary school and were older than 18, meaning that high school equivalency classes and an increased minimum age would mean little. Fumes haven't bothered her since the factory provided proper masks two months ago, so improved air-quality standards don't strike her as important.
Worker dreams of moving on
Yunianti dreams of quitting the factory, marrying and living in a house, instead of the leaky 10-foot-square room she shares with two other workers. But she doubts she could pay back a loan of the sort Nike plans to offer women who start small businesses. "I would like the company to provide drinks in the factory and also bathrooms with running water," Yunianti said. "There's always a long line for the bathroom."
Knight didn't mention restrooms in his Press Club talk. But another worker, Amin Chaerudin, 23, also listed toilets far above air quality and hazardous solvents as concerns to address.
Other workers have a simple request for Knight, one he might have particular trouble fulfilling as demand slows for Nike shoes. "Tell him we don't need rules and regulations, we need as many orders as possible for shoes," said Endang, 22, a three-year Hasi worker. She misses the overtime pay she earned during Nike's boom times. Hasi joined other Nike contract factories in boosting wages April 1, adding an emergency increase of about $3 to monthly pay in response to Indonesia's recent price boosts. But prices are rising so fast in the country -- fuel just jumped 70 percent -- that they dwarf the pay increase.
Pirida, the seven-year worker, doesn't plan to wait around for Nike's improvements. With a 4-year-old daughter, the middle- school dropout figures it's too late for free classes and other programs. Factory work wasn't Pirida's idea in the first place. A foundation sponsored by Suharto's eldest daughter, Tutut, lured him from East Timor to Tangerang with the promise of a university education, only to place him in Hasi.
Pirida's wife, Maria Yasinta, glued midsoles in the plant until four years ago, when she fell ill for three months after fumes made her dizzy. He pressed molds until squashing his left thumb. He now loads trucks at the plant.
The couple plan soon to leave their 9-by-12-foot apartment, take their daughter, Kristina, and travel three days and three nights to East Timor. There they will settle in Balibo, the remote village of less then 4,000 people that Pirida hasn't seen for seven years. Pirida hopes to use his severance pay to start a business shipping traditional textiles to Jakarta. It's an ambitious undertaking in this shattered economy. "Everything," Pirida said, "has come too late."
[Note that Dominguez Pirida quoted in the beginning was lured from East Timor to Indonesia by a foundation linked to Suharto's daughter Tutut, with a false promise of higher education - Charles Scheiner, ETAN.]
Jakarta -- More than 200 workers and labor activists staged a protest at the head quarters of the All-Indonesia Workers Union Federation (FSPSI), demanding an increase in the minimum wage, the resignation of the federation's leaders and lower prices for basic commodities.
The protesters, representing 13 labor unions under the federation umbrella, called for a 20 percent increase in the minimum monthly wage.
They also insisted that FSPSI chairman Datuk Bagindo and secretary-general Andi Hisbuldin step down following the union's failure to channel workers' aspirations.
"Both (Datuk and Andi) should resign from their posts before workers come here to force them (to step down)," Aleksander Sinaga, who is chairman of FSPSI's Jakarta branch office, said.
"Both do not deserve to occupy their current jobs because they have betrayed us."
The workers blamed the two for initially endorsing the government's decision early last month not to raise the minimum monthly wage across the board.
FSPSI recently revoked its endorsement of the government's decision and demanded a hike in the minimum wage by at least 20 percent.
Minister of Manpower Theo L. Sambuaga issued Decree No. 49 in March stipulating the minimum wage in the 1998/1999 fiscal year would remain the same as the previous year.
The last wage increase was announced in January 1997 and took effect on April 1, 1997, with the government raising wages in all 27 provinces by an average of 10.07 percent.
The minimum monthly wage for a worker in Greater Jakarta currently stands at Rp 172,000 (US$21.50).
The industrial zone of Batam, including the islands under the Batam Development Authority, has the highest minimum wage of Rp 235,000, while Yogyakarta has the lowest at Rp 106,500.
Unfair Ali Samioen, chairman of the tourist industry union, lambasted the decree, saying that the government had been unfair in its treatment of workers. "Why has the government raised civil servants' wages by 15 percent while the minimum monthly wage is not increased," he said.
"How will workers survive the economic crisis on the current wages while the prices of basic commodities are expected to rise because of the government's plan to raise oil prices and electricity rates?"
Hartono, chairman of the plantation and agriculture sector union, urged FSPSI not to attend the International Labor Organization (ILO) meeting, scheduled to be held in Geneva in June 4, 1998, in order to attract international attention to the worsening labor conditions in the country.
He claimed that at previous ILO meetings, federation delegates were often compelled to temper their statements on the labor situation here as their participation in the meeting was sponsored by the government.
Djufni Ashari, chairman of the pharmaceutical and health sector union, warned that workers would join students to demand lower prices of basic commodities and reform if the government refused to raise the minimum monthly wage.
"The government should take this warning into consideration because workers have the potential to disrupt public order and stability in urban areas, especially in the capital Jakarta," he warned.
FSPSI deputy chairman Wilhelmus Bokha hailed the workers' efforts to seek an increase in the minimum wage and to ostracize those who had no commitment to fight for workers' welfare.
"Workers have no one to fight for them because the government has been on the side of employers," he said. "And those who have no commitment to improving workers' welfare should leave this labor organization."
| Human rights/law |
Louise Williams, Jakarta -- A third political activist has confirmed the existence of an interrogation centre near Jakarta, where torture allegedly is being used against kidnapped opponents of the Soeharto regime.
Mr Desmond Mahesa, a human rights lawyer, told a news conference yesterday he had been threatened with death if he revealed details of his experience in the two months he was missing from February this year.
Nevertheless, he said he was tortured with electric shocks and beatings. Mr Mahesa said at least four other activists were imprisoned in the windowless cells while he was there, including Mr Pius Lustrilangang, who has fled Indonesia since exposing the existence of the centre.
"I'm scared," Mr Mahesa said. "We'll see now how good is the promise of the Government to guarantee my safety. I was kidnapped by people who are well organised. When I was released, I was given a pager and told I had to report my location every day and I would be killed if I told the truth."
He released the pager's number to scores of journalists.
Jakarta -- There are strong indications that the Kopassus, under the command of Major General (Army) Prabowo Subianto (now Lieut. Gen. and Commander of Army Reserve - Ed), is responsible for the abduction of activists. The intensive operation to kidnap activists began during the time of the General Assembly session in March l998. Thus the conclusions of a number of people who have attempted to analyze the testimony of the former victims, as narrated to SiaR.
"We can trace this [Kopassus involvement-trans.] from the testimony of Andi Arief," said a member of the Commission for the Disappeareds and Victims of Violence (Kontras) to SiaR.
Some time ago, Andi Arief, who was detained by the Police was able to smuggle out paper with his handwriting. "In chatting with the people who detained me, some information has been revealed. Three people who do not have long hair turn out to have been sent to East Timor. One of them, only a few weeks ago, returned from training in England. We don't know what type of education he received there," writes Andi.
SiaR's efforts to trace a number of sources in England has reached the conclusion that if Andi's information is valid, then the person he mentions can only be a member of Kopassus. "They participate in a year-long training course in Security Studies at Hull University. Graduates are at the S-2 level, with the degree of Master of Arts. Seven of the ten soldiers from Indonesia taking this course are members of Kopassus," said a SiaR source in the British Foreign Ministry.
Furthermore, the SiaR source also said that the presence of Indonesian soldiers in the course is based on personal status rather than membership in an army unit. "It would appear that their participation is due to co-operation between the British government and a well-known "family" in Indonesia," said the SiaR source. The courses at Hull, according to the source, is a replacement for the military course at King College, which had previously received bad press.
The names of Indonesian participants in the military courses in Great Britain who have recently returned are: Aang Shuarlan, Imran Mohamed, Eko Margiyono, Wahyu Wibowo Raharto, Budi Pramono, Mulyo Aji, Abd Aziz MD Nor, Imam Santosa, Farid Makruf and Ignatius Yogo Triono.
Other names also mentioned are, Major General (Army) Sjafrie Sjamsuddin, Greater Jakarta Military Commander. He has been mentioned by a number of witnesses as taking part as an interrogator. "He was recognized by the victims of the abductions by his voice," said a SiaR source.
Award-winning Toronto Star foreign correspondent Paul Watson, who was arrested by Indonesian police after taking pictures of a riot in Medan, was deported to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, yesterday. Watson, The Star's Asian bureau chief, filed this story before being flown out of the country.
Paul Watson, Medan -- The police did not care that dozens of looters were stripping bare a shop owned by an ethnic Chinese, even tearing the wires from the burned shell of his car.
On a day when at least six people died as rampaging mobs stoned and torched shops, two police detectives stood just a few metres away from one, watching thieves haul off every last scrap.
The Indonesian officers' only concern was the foreign journalist taking pictures.
They were intelligence officers in plainclothes: Captain Jhony Serayang and his partner, Top Sergeant James Sidabutar, who later bragged to me that he had a black belt in judo and used to like roughing up prisoners.
They didn't identify themselves at first, but were easily marked as cops. One had a home video camera. He asked me who I was and where I was staying.
While four looters dragged a generator out of the gutted auto parts shop, I gave the officer my business card, told him the name of my hotel and excused myself to go back to work.
About 10 minutes later, as I walked away from the mob that was still finding things to steal, the police stopped me at a taxi and put me under arrest.
What happened over the next nine hours is barely a hint of what this country's corrupt, and often brutal, police and military do to Indonesians each day.
My time in detention left me in no doubt that democracy activists who complain of arbitrary arrest, torture and disappearances are not the liars in Indonesia.
In one of the most recent cases, opposition activist Pius Lustrilanang risked his life to tell reporters in Jakarta how he was abducted and tortured for more than two months.
Lustrilanang, 30, said armed men kidnapped him on Feb. 4 and then held him with about six other activists in different jail cells, where the abductors applied electric shocks to his hand and feet.
They wore hoods, or blindfolded their prisoner, and kept asking him about his political activities. Before letting him go they warned him to keep his mouth shut or they would kill him.
Lustrilanang boarded a plane to exile in Amsterdam minutes after his news conference on April 27. He said his torturers worked like professionals and a national human rights group blamed Suharto's government.
Complaints ignored
Indonesia's ethnic Chinese minority has complained for years that Indonesia's police and military do little to protect them and a lot to make their lives difficult.
Many are convinced the police and army let looters single out Chinese shops, both to keep the wealthier Chinese minority in its place and to let angry people blow off steam.
The Indonesian government's failure to protect the ethnic Chinese, whether by accident or design, has left them terrified of what might happen, any day.
They have good reason to be scared. Long before Bosnia or Rwanda, there was Indonesia.
Suharto rose to power in 1965 when as many as 500,000 people were massacred in an anti-communist purge, many of them ethnic Chinese merchants deeply resented for their money.
Throughout each night last week in Medan, groups of ethnic Chinese men stood guarding their shops with axes and clubs.
When the plainclothes police officers sat me down in an interrogation room and played back the video of me photographing wildly happy thieves, I asked them why they hadn't tried to protect the Chinese shop.
International bailout
"That's none of your business," one snapped. "You are not from here."
I told him it was every bit my business, especially with millions of Canadian tax dollars aiding Indonesia's government each year with still more pouring into a $43 billion (US) international bailout.
By now, there were half a dozen police in the room and I asked the question again. Why were they not trying to stop the theft of private property?
"They are poor people," replied the officer who had told me it was not my concern.
The walls of the interrogation room were streaked with dirt, a ceiling fan whirled overhead while Commander Arkian Lubis and Sergeant Zulfan Azmi searched through the phone book trying to find the immigration office's number.
Lubis was in uniform and Azmi wore a designer T-shirt. He offered me a soft drink, which he paid for, and then informed me that I was under arrest for working as a journalist illegally.
An immigration officer at Jakarta's airport stamped a two- month visa in my passport after I declared my profession as writer, and put a tick beside business as my purpose.
It was the third time I had entered Indonesia to report on its worst economic crisis in 30 years, and each time the immigration officers read my declaration cards and promptly stamped my passport.
Many foreign journalists enter Indonesia the same way, especially during emergencies like last week's riots in Medan, where authorities are doing all they can to stop foreign media coverage.
Student protests
As an immigration officer told me Friday, before confirming my deportation: "You came at the wrong time. We are all tired of this." And he motioned to the street outside.
After months of unprecedented student protests demanding Suharto step down, Indonesian authorities are losing their patience.
The police commander insisted I had sneaked in as a tourist, without a proper letter of introduction from the ministry of information, or a travel pass from the police in Jakarta.
Following a call to external affairs' emergency line in Ottawa, Kym Poole, a diplomat at Canada's embassy in Jakarta, was on the phone trying to persuade the commander to release me.
While she spoke, the police brought in another Canadian photographer with a Reuters wire service identity card, whom they also accused of working illegally as a journalist.
He was at least the fourth journalist hauled in by Medan police in two days. Another was with a foreign TV crew.
In another incident on Wednesday, a Reuters TV cameraman was attacked by a military intelligence officer after filming a mob looting a Chinese-owned motorcycle store while soldiers simply watched.
As the cameraman fled, the officer grabbed him, levelled a pistol at his temple and then fired three shots just above his head before slamming him against a wall.
He fell into a ditch full of sewage, breaking the camera and ruining the videotape. Reuters, a global news service, filed a formal protest with the Indonesian government.
The Cable News Network reported Thursday from Medan that the military had tried to prevent its accredited camera crew from filming the riots.
Some of the looters attacking a Chinese-owned food warehouse said they knew military intelligence officers were watching them, but thought they had permission to steal, CNN also reported.
The rioting in Medan was largely quelled by army reinforcements. Yesterday, soldiers sold rice to long lines of people running short of staples after many of the Chinese - traditional scapegoats in times of hardship -- closed their shops.
Indonesia calls itself a democracy, and clearing up confusion over a bona fide journalist's visa would seem simple enough. Sometimes it is. But, as Sergeant Azmi said, Medan "is a different situation."
I would have to be deported, his commander insisted. The order was carried out yesterday after another six hours in police detention Friday.
An immigration officer escorted me to a flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which was full of ethnic-Chinese Indonesians fleeing the country in fear for their lives.
After Tuesday's interrogation, my passport was seized and the commander said I could return to my hotel -- if I surrendered the film in my two cameras.
Film has nothing to do with visa problems, I told him. Sergeant Azmi warned the Canadian diplomat the police would use force if I didn't give it up.
They backed off after The Star's foreign editor Bob Hepburn complained about the threat to Indonesian diplomats in Canada, and I handed over two rolls of film just before midnight.
While I waited to be released, I chatted with my guard, who was eager to work on his broken English.
He asked about my family, whether I had a wife or kids, or a personal computer. As often happens in Indonesia, the conversation turned to Suharto and dictatorship.
"In Canada, revolution?" he asked and we both laughed. "In Indonesia, government terrible."
`Suharto no good'
I told him Canadians don't go for uprisings much, but I had to agree with his assessment of Indonesia's rulers.
"In Indonesia, president for 32 years," he said after adding up the years Suharto has been in control of Indonesia. "In America, only two years."
Actually, the law gives American presidents at least four years, and Bill Clinton is going for eight, I told my guard. I said I got his point anyway.
"Suharto no good," he scowled back, and then he gave me the thumbs up, and smiled. "Democracy good," he said.
[The Committee to Protect Journalists, based in New York, has written to Suharto protesting Watson's detention and subsequent deportation. Watson has said that at least three other journalists had been detained briefly in Medan in the course of covering the riot - James Balowski.]
| Politics |
Raphael Pura, Jakarta -- As Indonesia teeters on the edge of economic disaster, most eyes are on President Suharto, its stubborn, aging leader. But the brunt of the burden of saving Indonesia's economy rests on the shoulders of another man: Ginandjar Kartasasmita, an ardent nationalist and born-again reformer.
If Mr. Ginandjar fails in his current job, as the nation's senior economic minister, it will be bad news not only for Indonesia and its neighbors, but also for the International Monetary Fund. Mr. Ginandjar -- a lanky 57-year-old former air force officer -- is the IMF's last, best hope to make one of the agency's biggest, most controversial bailouts succeed. A blown bailout would likely trigger a fresh storm of criticism over the fund's handling of Asia's financial crisis, and could hammer other Asian economies anew.
But the articulate, impeccably tailored Mr. Ginandjar is no timid bureaucrat or fuzzy theoretician. Working up to 20 hours a day, Mr. Ginandjar has kept the $43 billion IMF plan on the rails, become Indonesia's most credible public spokesman and soothed the edginess that characterized the IMF's earlier attempts to deal with Jakarta.
Indonesian acquaintances reckon Mr. Ginandjar quietly relishes the challenge of his high-risk post because success could boost his prospects for an even bigger job. Indonesia-watchers for years have pegged Mr. Ginandjar as a possible Suharto successor, a perception that adds another perilous dimension to the maze he must navigate.
Mr. Ginandjar dismisses such ambitions. "Instead of eyeing a higher office, I'm still thinking whether I can really do this job," Mr. Ginandjar says. "If I fail, I'll fail the whole country."
The IMF is counting heavily on him to ensure that doesn't happen, says Stanley Fischer, the fund's deputy managing director. "We are under no illusions everything will be smooth sailing from now on," Mr. Fischer says.
In March, when Mr. Suharto gave Mr. Ginandjar his current, cumbersome title of coordinating minister for economy, finance and industry, he also gave him a sweeping mandate: Make economic policy, and renegotiate the IMF rescue package -- after two earlier agreements unraveled.
Mr. Ginandjar might appear to have been made captain of a sinking ship. Frustrated over soaring prices, lost jobs and Mr. Suharto's authoritarian rule, many Indonesians are clamoring for change in increasingly violent protests.
Still, Mr. Ginandjar's nearly 30-year-long government career has been a preparation for just such a role. "Ginandjar is in absolutely the most powerful position possible," says a Jakarta- based foreign economist. "He's clearly the dominant minister in the cabinet."
Mr. Ginandjar is known in Indonesia as a proud economic nationalist, as well as a populist. He champions state support for indigenous Indonesians, and often criticizes the large ethnic-Chinese owned conglomerates that dominate the country's private sector. "They are paper tigers, more image than substance," he says.
But many acquaintances portray him as a pragmatic, politically astute survivor, not an ideologue. A Japan-trained chemical engineer and self-tutored economist, he evinces the image of a studious intellectual in tortoise-shell spectacles. But his hobbies -- martial arts, tennis and scuba diving -- reveal a taste for action. "He's a handful, he's quick-witted," says a US-based economic consultant who has dealt with him extensively. "He likes to mix it up."
As Indonesia's economic point man, Mr. Ginandjar will need those skills. He must walk a tightrope between enforcing the painful IMF reforms and pleasing his embattled 76-year-old boss, Mr. Suharto, who expects personal loyalty and obedience above all.
Any sign that Mr. Suharto is again wavering from IMF commitments will put Mr. Ginandjar in a dilemma. If Indonesia's economy implodes, a political backlash could sweep Mr. Suharto from power and taint all those who served him. But there's a political upside for Mr. Ginandjar if he can steer Indonesia toward recovery and be seen as a reformer.
"He is a politician -- not a technocrat, but a 'techno-pol,'" says Faisal Basri, a University of Indonesia economist and proreform activist. His goal "is to maintain his reputation and his image, because I think he's one of the potential candidates as next leader, and he realizes that."
It would be a long, hazard-strewn leap to higher office. Constitutionally, only Indonesia's compliant legislative upper house, the People's Consultative Assembly, can select the president and vice president. And Mr. Suharto and Vice President B.J. Habibie were just installed for a term that doesn't expire until 2003.
But Indonesia isn't facing ordinary times, and popular support for Mr. Suharto is at its lowest ebb since he came to power in 1966. Student protesters and other critics are calling for Mr. Suharto to open the political system to greater participation, or step down.
Mr. Ginandjar disclaims political ambitions, saying the next president should come from a younger generation. "If I can survive this task and I can lead or guide the economic recovery, I'll be most happy," he says in an interview. "I'll probably be at the peak of my career as a public man. I don't see myself in any other position."
Still, he faces political pitfalls. His selection as economic chief is a textbook demonstration of Mr. Suharto's savvy at playing his strongest deputies off one another, some analysts say. It checks the ambitions of Mr. Suharto's new vice president, Mr. Habibie, a Ginandjar rival. At the same time, Mr. Suharto decisively replaced the team of veteran economic technocrats led by long-serving adviser Widjojo Nitisastro, with whom he had grown disenchanted.
Mr. Ginandjar wasn't involved with the two earlier rounds of IMF talks, in October and January, since he was then chief of Indonesia's National Development Planning Board, or Bappenas. The IMF's unhappiness with Indonesia's failure to comply with the second agreement led it in early March to delay disbursement of $3 billion in assistance.
Once elevated to his new post, Mr. Ginandjar led Jakarta in three weeks of new negotiations, ending with an agreement last month. Those involved credit him with keeping the talks moving, in sessions that often ran from dawn to midnight.
The meetings sometimes grew heated over sensitive issues such as how to cut food and fuel subsidies. Says Mr. Ginandjar of the IMF and World Bank negotiators: "They were insisting on changing habits that have been with us a long time, and they wanted to do it overnight."
Mr. Ginandjar contends the talks finally succeeded because the Jakarta reached a "consensus" with the IMF on the need to maintain a "social safety net" in the reform program, aimed at pre-empting a popular backlash. In addition, he says, the fund acknowledged that Indonesia's $68 billion in private foreign debt had to be addressed more directly by Jakarta. "The most important [concern] is the recognition that the corporate-debt problem is a cause of the crisis," he says.
"It was a very impressive show," says World Bank Indonesia country director Dennis de Tray of the negotiations. "In a relatively short time period, he won the respect of his own team members and the IMF."
An Indonesian colleague involved in the rescue plan says "he's a real manager, what Indonesia didn't have before. Ginandjar set out specific tasks and timetables -- you do this, you do that -- and kept things moving."
But the tough part is just beginning. Mr. Ginandjar must now ensure Indonesia sticks by its reform pledges, including new and unpopular fuel-price increases of 25% to 71% -- one of the key issues sparking the most recent riots. In addition, he must cope with a potentially unruly array of cabinet colleagues, many of whom are united only in their loyalty to Mr. Suharto and his family. Among them: Industry and Trade Minister Mohamad "Bob" Hasan, one of Mr. Suharto's oldest and most trusted confidants; and the president's eldest daughter, Social Welfare Minister Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana.
In recent weeks, the outspoken Mr. Hasan and other Suharto loyalists have made controversial remarks on aspects of the IMF program, shaking confidence in Jakarta's reform commitments. Mr. Ginandjar, who was forced to tidy up after the remarks, insists the cabinet is now working smoothly, and that he has Mr. Suharto's confidence.
Others aren't so sure how long it might last. "If Suharto wanders [on reforms], Ginandjar will wander with him," says a Jakarta-based foreign economist. "He can't afford to alienate him."
What sets Mr. Ginandjar apart from his predecessors, who tended to be economic theorists and technocrats, are some of his deep-seated social and political sensibilities. The son of an aristocratic ethnic Sundanese family from West Java, who were staunch backers of former President Sukarno's Parti Nationalis Indonesia, Mr. Ginandjar enjoyed a privileged upbringing. But he absorbed the ideals of nationalism and populism that characterized the Sukarno era.
After studying at Indonesia's premier engineering school, the Bandung Institute of Technology, he won an air force scholarship to the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, where he also learned Japanese. On his return, he left active air force duty in the early 1970s to hone his bureaucratic skills in the powerful State Secretariat.
By 1985, he headed the country's Investment Board, and from there moved to minister of mines and energy, presiding over the disposition of Indonesia's vast mineral resources. He became chief of the Bappenas, the planning board, in 1993.
Mr. Ginandjar built a reputation as an economic nationalist and a patron of Indonesia's indigenous citizens, or pribumis, who make up the majority of the population but who are economically weak. This has won him an enthusiastic following among some young Indonesian intellectuals and pribumi entrepreneurs.
Some Indonesian and foreign economists worry that Mr. Ginandjar's nationalist sentiments could color his commitment to market-driven policies. As planning chief, he favored poverty- fighting programs, such as small-business loans and village education, over pursuit of all-out economic growth led by foreign investment and Indonesia's mainly ethnic Chinese big-business groups.
"Ginandjar's track record shows that his gut instinct is not market-friendly," contends Sjahrir, an economist and managing director of the Institute for Economic and Financial Research in Jakarta. "Zhu Rongji he's not."
Detractors are critical of some elements of Mr. Ginandjar's campaign to promote pribumi entrepreneurship. In earlier jobs, Mr. Ginandjar had wide power to award state contracts and point foreign investors toward local partners. In the early 1990s, for example, as mining minister, he provided an opportunity for Bakrie Group's chairman, Aburizal Bakrie, to acquire a stake in a huge Indonesian copper mine, controlled by US-based Freeport- McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. The result: Mr. Aburizal eventually sold half his investment for about the same price as his entire original purchase. Mr. Aburizal didn't respond to written requests for an interview.
Mr. Ginandjar rejects suggestions of favoritism or cronyism. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in December 1996, he characterized Mr. Aburizal and other pribumi executives as "a group of people who have shown their ability. I helped them to become big, and I hope they will help others." He declared that "I have no interest in their businesses, I have no relations with them."
Still, critics contend Mr. Ginandjar is flawed by the political culture of privilege and patronage for which Mr. Suharto is under attack. While Mr. Ginandjar lacks deep personal or business links to the president, he and his relatives -- like many in Indonesia's ruling establishment -- try to maintain good relations with the first family, according to Ginandjar acquaintances.
Consider that just last October, after the government halted many huge infrastructure projects, Mr. Ginandjar's planning board recommended that 15 be reinstituted -- including one backed by Mr. Suharto's daughter, Mrs. Rukmana. At the time, Mr. Ginandjar declined to respond to requests for comment; ultimately, the projects didn't proceed.
Some Indonesian analysts find it ironic that Mr. Ginandjar has now become the government's strongest advocate of the market- oriented reforms prescribed by the IMF. But his defenders think Mr. Ginandjar's views are changing with the times. Mr. Faisal, the University of Indonesia economist, says, "It's a different Ginandjar compared with the one of five or 10 years ago.... He's more pragmatic and realistic," he says. "Ginandjar is becoming a pro-market advocate."
Mr. Ginandjar himself sees no contradiction in his past and present ideas. "Eventually the market will prevail, there's no way you can subvert it," he says. "It's like water running from the mountains to the sea, you can try to stop it, it may meander here and there, but eventually it will reach the sea."
[Richard Borsuk in Jakarta and Bob Davis in Washington contributed to this article.]
| Arms/armed forces |
Keith B. Richburg, Jakarta -- Indonesia's economic hardship worsening, social unrest spreading and anti-government protests showing no sign of abating, the key question on almost everyone's mind here is: What will the military do?
While the country's university students have been at the forefront of the growing demands for political reform, most here say true change will come only through the armed forces.
Abri, the acronym by which the military is commonly known, has been the principal pillar of President Suharto's government for 32 years. And in a country where most political activity has been systematically suppressed, the 400,000-strong armed forces is the only cohesive national organization represented in virtually every city, town and village.
But now, with Suharto facing the gravest challenge to his grip on power, one unanswered question is: Will the military allow itself to be used as a tool of repression, as happened with the People's Liberation Army in China during the Tiananmen Square student protests of 1989? Or will it instead become Indonesia's instrument for reform, perhaps adopting the students' demands for change as its own?
"My own view of the military is that they are very worried about getting ordered to crack down," said a diplomat here. "They don't want to do it. It is the ideology of the military that they are a people's army. They don't use the term, but it's part of their ethos. But the military also does not favor instability. So they are conflicted. Are they loyal to the president? At the moment, they are."
Indonesia's turmoil began last summer with the collapse of the currency, the rupiah, which precipitated an economic crisis and widespread hardship as the country adjusts to austerity measures mandated by the International Monetary Fund as part of a $43 billion bailout.
Student demands and protests against the government have escalated, and this week deaths were reported in the city of Medan after police fired at demonstrators. A death also was reported in Yogyakarta, about 250 miles east of Jakarta, where police battled students yesterday at an Islamic institute. Indonesia's Legal Aid Society said a businessman, 41, was clubbed to death by police during a melee Friday. Police said the circumstances of his death were unclear.
"If [the armed forces] are told to restore order, they will," said Harold Crouch, an Australian academic who has studied the Indonesian military.
The students seem to suspect the troops might come down on their side. At the University of Indonesia's medical school, a 23-year-old student wearing glasses and a bright green T-shirt said: "Judging from the statements made by the military, I believe whether or not they support us depends on our methods... [But] I believe eventually they'll reach the point where Abri will stand behind the people."
The soldiers and police generally have exercised restraint as long as the students confine their protests to the campuses, and the armed forces commander, Gen. Wiranto, repeatedly has warned the students not to let their movement become "infiltrated" or soiled by outside groups. So far the military has refrained from entering the campuses to put down the unrest, many students and sympathizers note.
Even those openly expressing hope that the last two months of sustained student protests can blossom into the kind of "People Power" movement that toppled longtime Philippine dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos recall one sobering note: The Philippine movement succeeded only when two key military figures -- then- armed forces chief of staff Fidel V. Ramos, and then-defense minister Juan Ponce Enrile -- broke ranks with Marcos and sided with opposition leader Corazon Aquino.
"Even in the Philippines, People Power only succeeded with a major split in the military," Crouch said. "It's hard to see that developing" here.
For three decades the Indonesian military has shown unswerving loyalty to Suharto, a former general still held in some awe by the rank and file for his role in the country's war of independence against the Dutch and later in restoring stability after an unsuccessful communist coup and the turbulence of the Sukarno years. "They admire him, respect him and think he's done a great job for Indonesia," Crouch said.
Moreover, Suharto has ensured loyalty by his constant shifting of commanders, making sure that only those he trusts are in the most strategic positions. Most of the senior generals have served as Suharto's aide.
But those looking for a precedent recall the tumult of 1966 and the circumstances surrounding Suharto's rise from relative obscurity. Then, as now, Indonesia was wracked by student-led protests, and eventually it was Suharto who informed President Sukarno that the time had come to relinquish power.
Could such a scenario happen again? "It all depends on the circumstances," Crouch said. "I don't think they'll have a coup against him, but one of the scenarios is that they go to him and say, [your] 'time is up.' "
An economist and longtime resident put it this way: "You've got to see the economy deteriorate to the point where somebody in the military says, 'enough is enough.' " So far, most agree, the country has not yet reached that stage.
The most-watched figure is Wiranto, newly appointed as armed forces commander and defense minister. Diplomats and others have described him as "a thinking general." He has served as the president's aide and is considered loyal to Suharto. But his public statements, though open to interpretation, suggest he is sympathetic to calls for democratization and a liberalization of the closed political system.
On Thursday, Wiranto told journalists that the government had heard the students' demands for reform and that patience is needed because "there are certain channels and rules to follow."
"Abri is prepared to discuss reforms and implement them," Wiranto was quoted in Friday's papers as saying. "But this has to be done gradually and in line with the constitution." He also said, "We will discuss further these reforms and hope that in the not too distant future, we will have put together some principal thoughts on reforms."
His comments seemed likely to reinforce the widespread impression that Wiranto could become an agent for change within the system. Aside from any genuine concern about societal liberalization, Wiranto also could be acting in the interests of institutional self-preservation; soldiers, like every other sector of Indonesian society, are suffering from the economic free fall.
Wiranto's ally in the armed forces, Lt. Gen. Bambang Yudhoyono, the director of sociopolitical affairs, is known to have held talks with one of the most outspoken critics of the government, Muslim leader Amien Rais. Wiranto said Thursday that Yudhoyono is heading a special team within the military looking into the question of political reforms.
One major unresolved problem is that the armed forces are considered deeply divided by the competing ambitions of key commanders. Even if a military consensus emerged to ask Suharto to step down, the analysts said, there would be little agreement on which general should replace him.
Wiranto's main rival is thought to be Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto, Suharto's son-in-law and commander of the 27,000-strong Army Strategic Reserve Command, or Kostrad. Kostrad, equipped with tanks and armored vehicles, is considered "the army of the army," and with the bulk of its troops stationed here in the capital, it could block any action against the presidential palace.
Also unsettled is whether Prabowo has his own agenda. Since he is married to Suharto's daughter, one assumption has been that he would remain a loyal defender of the government to the end. However, other military watchers say Prabowo may harbor presidential ambitions, and that if military action comes, it could be Prabowo who leads it.
For the moment, a more serious problem for the armed forces might well be their ability to contain the unrest. With 400,000 troops -- including about 150,000 police -- the military is considered relatively small for the populous and sprawling Indonesian archipelago.
| International relations |
Alan Wheatley, London -- Leading industrial nations bluntly told Indonesian President Suharto on Saturday they expected him to enact sweeping political reforms to head off social unrest triggered by the country's economic crisis.
The warning was issued by finance and foreign ministers of the Group of Eight industrial nations, who spent much of a two-day meeting discussing the fall- out of financial turbulence in Asia, particularly Indonesia.
"The world is now watching Indonesia, and it is in my view important that we have a government that recognises the social problems that exist in their country," British finance minister Gordon Brown told a closing news conference.
The G8 has looked on with growing anxiety as protests have spread in the country of 200 million that Suharto has ruled for 32 years.
"The situation is very severe," Japanese Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi said. "We are very concerned."
Violence flared this week after sharp rises in fuel and transport prices, part of a belt-tightening programme agreed with the International Monetary Fund, added further misery to the lot of ordinary Indonesians facing a wage freeze, rising unemployment and higher food prices.
Japanese Finance Minister Hikaru Matsunaga said the riots would not deter Tokyo from helping Jakarta to implement what would inevitably be painful reforms.
"We should not halt financial assistance just because of the riots," Matsunaga said.
The ministers were preparing the ground for next weekend's G8 summit in Birmingham, which French Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn hoped would yield a "firm resolution" on Indonesia.
The economic crisis has given impetus to the reform movement in a country where public politics are essentially banned in the interval between five- yearly general elections.
Repeating what he said he told Suharto in Jakarta earlier this week, Brown added: "The economic reform which is necessary to advance the interests of the poor and the unemployed in Indonesia will have to be matched by political reform that respects individual rights and by social measures that protect the most disadvantaged in the community." Suharto, 76, reelected to a seventh five-year term in March, said last week that he favoured political reform and that some changes could be expected in time for the next poll in 2002.
British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, Brown's co-host for the talks, said the G8 concluded that those countries in Asia with good, open governance had coped better with the financial turbulence that had swept their markets.
Alluding to Indonesia, Cook said: "There is a clear lesson here, which is that open financial markets require an open political system and that getting on top of the financial turbulence also requires progress on social reform and political development.
"That is a lesson that is applicable across the region," Cook said.
Suharto arrived in Cairo on Saturday for a state visit and to attend a summit of developing countries.
Before he left Jakarta, he appealed for stability. "If we do not pay attention to stability, both political and from the security point of view, it will be more difficult for us to restore confidence and overcome the crisis," he said.
David E. Sanger, Washington -- The United States today gave Indonesia $1 billion in loan guarantees, free of any conditions concerning human rights abuses surrounding the protests against President Suharto's rule. Almost simultaneously the Pentagon, citing the unrest, canceled a joint training exercise with the Indonesian military.
The two actions underlined how the Administration has been sending seemingly conflicting signals to Mr. Suharto's Government all week. While the State Department has warned Indonesia several times about the dangers of further repression and the kidnapping of dissidents, it has declined to link those warnings to the aid being sent to ease the country's economic crisis.
Both the new loan program and the Pentagon decision were discussed at the White House this morning, in a meeting to review the rising opposition to President Suharto and the sharp price increases for fuel and other necessities mandated by the International Monetary Fund.
Today the students burned an effigy of Mr. Suharto in the streets of Jakarta. But in Medan, where troops were sent in to back up the police in putting down protests that turned violent earlier this week, demonstrations were peaceful.
The billion-dollar loan package put together by the Export- Import Bank of the United States, an independent Government agency that promotes American exports, was signed here today with Indonesia's Finance Minister, Fuad Bawazier. The president of the Ex-Im Bank, James Harmon, said that by helping Indonesia obtain the raw materials it needs to get its factories running again, "we hope to contribute to stability to calm the social situation."
Earlier this week, the Administration backed down from earlier warnings that it might cut off aid and voted for the resumption of loans to Indonesia by the International Monetary Fund.
It argued that Mr. Suharto had finally begun to meet virtually all the economic commitments it made in return for the loans. But in Jakarta there is abundant evidence that most of the major cartels controlled by Mr. Suharto's family and friends, which are supposed to be broken up under the I.M.F.'s reform program, have resurfaced in different forms.
Major investors have been unwilling to put money back into Indonesia until it is clear that a peaceful transfer of power will take place after the the 76-year old Mr. Suharto dies or leaves office. That is one reason the rioting this week sent the Indonesia currency plummeting.
Today, however, Mr. Bawazier said he did not believe that succession was an issue. "We have a system, and everything is quite clear," he said.
The Ex-Im Bank's chief role is to insure that American companies can sell their goods in countries that find it hard to get financing from banks and other private lenders. Typically, the Ex-Im Bank would offer a guarantee to a private bank that the overseas buyer of the American goods will indeed pay back any financing for the purchase, making the lender willing to make the loan.
The American program went ahead only after Indonesia agreed to a second guarantee, that Jakarta would repay Washington in case of any defaults on the loans. But that accord was divorced from the State Department's request earlier this week that Indonesian forces "show restraint" in putting down demonstrations that seem driven as much by anger at the Suharto family as by rage at rising fuel and food prices.
Mr. Harmon said today that he had discussed the loan program with various Administration officials, but received no special guidance.
The Pentagon, clearly worried about its association with the Indonesian military when its troops are suppressing riots and demonstrations, said it was calling off a military training exercise now under way with Indonesia.
Moreover, it is reviewing its entire program of joint command exercises and training with Indonesia, a Defense Department spokesman said. The Pentagon made no formal announcement of the decision. No official would speak on the record.
A White House official argued today that there was no inconsistency in providing further economic aid while pulling back involvement with the military. The American strategy, the official said, is to prevent worsening instability that is triggered by the huge run-up in prices on basic commodities. The prices are increasing for two reasons: the dramatic drop of Indonesia's currency, the rupiah, which makes imports expensive, and the Government's gradual withdrawal of subsidies, which it can no longer afford.
"Our national interest is in seeing the economic reforms go forward," the White House official said. "There is no inherent contradiction between that goal and postponing military exercises until the return of stability."
But senior Administration officials have conceded in recent days that it is a risky strategy. "The bottom line is that there is no way to stabilize the economy without appearing to bolster Suharto," the official said.
Similarly, the military exercises help the United States better understand the Indonesian military -- the most powerful institution in the country -- while appearing to put the Pentagon on the same side as Mr. Suharto's protectors.
United States forces have held 41 training exercises with the Indonesia military since 1993, including courses in counterinsurgency techniques, psychological warfare and military operations in urban areas.
The existence of these exercises came to light in March, surprising and angering some members of Congress who thought they had banned such activities by cutting off funds under an international training and education program in 1992. However, training continued under a separate program; that program was suspended yesterday.
The first ban was imposed after the Indonesian military massacred more than 270 citizens on East Timor in November 1991.
Many of these training missions involve Indonesia's elite Kopassus forces, the arm of the military suspected of the most serious human rights abuses. The Kopassus troops have been deployed in recent months against protesters in Jakarta.
A Pentagon spokesman who asked not to be named said that a month-long training mission that began May 1 was canceled today "because of the current circumstances prevailing in Indonesia." But they may resume in time for two more exercises scheduled later this year.
"There is no permanent suspension of military activities in Indonesia," he said. " Based upon the current situation, there will be a policy-level review, on a case-by-case basis, of future exercises."