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ASIET NetNews Number 29 - August 3-9, 1998
East TimorPRD demands release of political prisoners
Political/economic crisisHorta welcomes progress on East Timor Local leaders say East Timor pact wrong Rebel leader vows to fight on
Human rights/lawRice imports raised to avert food crisis Debt body not enough for Indonesian firms Life after the meltdown School turnout dives Certain parties accused of stirring discord Inflation rises, imports down
News & issuesMilitary violated human rights in Aceh Military involved in disappearances in Irian NGO uncovers 800 cases of atrocities Parliament wants troops out of Aceh Dismay at Honour Council procedure More on atrocities and mass graves in Aceh Acehnese women testify to commission Mass graves point to killings under Suharto Bodies discovered in Sunda Straits island
Arms/armed forcesMuslim students demand inquiry Tanjung Priok Protestors block Rais' planned visit to Java Jakarta riots suspect Threats against unauthorised demos Sri Bintang plans to contest elections Front formed to push for democracy Massive deposits may be Suharto's
Army says 8 suspects in Irian shooting DOM lifted in Aceh, troops to be withdrawn Troops to leave Aceh Untouchable general faces military trial
| Democratic struggle |
Jakarta -- Around one hundred people from the People's Democratic Party (PRD), Papuan People's and the East Timore People's jointly demonstrated in front of the offices of the Minister of Justice on Thursday, July 31. They demanded that the government immediately release all political prisoners without conditions.
The action which began at around 10.30am ran smoothly but they failed to meet with Justice Minister Muladi because he was in Bali. However this did not diminish their spirits. They still made speeches, sang songs of struggle and hold up banners reading "People's Democratic Party" and "Free All Political Prisoners Without Conditions".
They were eventually received by Suyanto, an official from the Director Generals office in the Department of Justice and the Secretary General of the Department in the office grounds. During the action they read a statement from the PRD and one from the political prisoners in Cipinang jail.
In the statement the PRD said that the fourth wave of the release of political prisoners was wrong. This was because it did not reflect a genuine desire by the Habibie government to carry out total reform as proven by its failure to give amnesty to the other 200 political prisoners.
"This means that the Habibie government is placing the political enemy's of the Suharto regime as their political enemy's also", said the statement, which as signed by PRD chairperson Budiman Sudjatmiko PRD General Secretary Petrus Haryanto.
The PRD strongly criticised the Habibie government for still maintaining conditions on the release of political prisoners -- that it did not included G30S/PKI* prisoners, those who tried to change the state ideology [of Pancasila] and those involved in criminal acts and armed rebellion.
Four PRD members were included in the list of political prisoners which were released in the fourth wave along with 46 others. They are Wilson bin Nurtias, Ken Budha Kusumandaru (both from the Cipinang prison), Coen Husein Pontoh and Mohamad Soleh (Kalisosok prison, Surabaya).
While the chairperson of the PRD, Budiman Sudjatmiko, PRD secretary Petrus Haryanto, Suroso, Pranowo, I Gusti Agung Anom Astika (who are being held in Cipinang), Garda Sembiring (Tangerang prison) and the chairperson of Indonesian Centre for Labour struggle, Dita Sari (Tangerang Women's prison), have not received amnesty from the Habibie government.
"Their release has no meaning at all for the four or the PRD generally. Because all of the PRD members who have been jailed are the victims of the manipulation of the Suharto regime which was unable to prove its case against them in court", said the statement.
They consider that the release of the four PRD members is only "lip-service" so that the Habibie government will be seen to have freed the PRD. But according to the government, in truth the PRD are still considered to be in the wrong because their members are still in jail, and the PRD is still a banned organisations which may not engage in political activity.
"We demand that the government free all of the political prisoners with out it becoming a trade-off for foreign aid", said Budiman in the statement.
* G30S/PKI: Gerakan 30 September/Partai Komunis Indonesia, the September 30 Movement/Indonesian Communist Party. An acronym referring to the alleged coup attempt in 1965 which the New Order regime blamed on the PKI. G30S was a grouping of middle ranking officers lead by Lieutenant Colonel Untung, who kidnaped and killed six generals whom they accused of being members of a "Council of Generals" allegedly organising a coup against president Sukarno.
[Translated by James Balowski. On August 7, the state news agency, Antara, reported that the Minister of Justice, Muladi, has announced that the government will soon release more political prisoners. No figure was mentioned but he said that the Xanana Gusmao would not be included in the list. He did say that PRD prisoners would be considered and that some elderly (1965) prisoners would be included.]
| East Timor |
Alcina Monteiro, Lisbon -- East Timor resistance leader Jose Ramos-Horta on Wednesday welcomed a deal between Portugal and Indonesia to open talks on autonomy for the Indonesian-occupied territory, but he cautioned that any final accord would need to be put to a referendum.
"It is what I have been defending for years... a dialogue with no preconditions," the Nobel peace laureate told Reuters at the Lisbon Expo 98 world fair where East Timor has an exhibit.
Portuguese Foreign Minister Jaime Gama and his Indonesian counterpart, Ali Alatas, agreed in New York to discuss in detail an Indonesian plan for wide-ranging autonomy for East Timor.
The two countries, which have no diplomatic ties, will also open special interests sections in each others capitals by the end of the year as a move to ease tension. The accord to discuss the autonomy plan came after both set aside demands which had blocked progress for years.
Indonesia had previously sought recognition of its sovereignty, while Portugal had insisted on a prior commitment to consult the impoverished territory of 800,000 people through a referendum. Jakarta rejects a popular vote saying that its troops were welcomed by the East Timorese because of the chaos in which the territory had been left by the Portuguese withdrawal. Wednesdays communique said that the talks on autonomy, which will be held initially at senior official level, would be "without prejudice to their basic positions of principle."
But Ramos-Horta, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 jointly with the Roman Catholic bishop of Dili, Carlos Belo, said that Indonesia should now quickly free resistance leader Xanana Gusmao. He noted that Gusmao, who has been jailed in Jakarta since 1992, had not set his freedom as a condition for any moves towards improving relations between Indonesia and Portugal, notably through the opening of special interests sections.
However, the resistance leader needed to be brought quickly into the talks on the future of the territory, Ramos-Horta said. "We are beginning to believe that we cannot allow negotiations to advance very far without Xanana being free," he said.
Once the talking was over, there could be no question about the final say on the future of the territory lying with the people of East Timor. "It (any accord) can only be accepted if it is accepted by the people," he said.
The need for an eventual referendum was echoed by Bishop Belo, who is in Lisbon to receive Portugals Order of Liberty, one of the countrys highest decorations, at a ceremony set for Thursday. "In the last few months and weeks, there has been a growing tendency to reject the autonomy offered by the Indonesian government," the bishop told journalists. "The people want a referendum... and I go along with what the people choose," he added.
Jenny Grant, Jakarta -- Local leaders yesterday rejected a breakthrough agreement to discuss autonomy for their province which they said sidestepped demands for a referendum and the release of jailed resistance leader Xanana Gusmao.
Businessman and former parliamentarian Manuel Viegas Carrascalao said the accord, reached at UN-brokered talks between Indonesian and Portuguese foreign ministers, was a "wrong step". "It is fruitless. We want a referendum first," said Mr Carrascalao.
A member of the Students' Solidarity Council, Felisberto de Araujo Duarte, said that although the new plan was a "breakthrough", it fell short of student demands for a referendum. "I'm disappointed that Xanana [Gusmao] will not be released as part of the deal and East Timorese were not included in the talks," he said from Dili.
Nobel peace laureate and East Timorese independence leader Jose Ramos-Horta, while welcoming the talks, ruled out taking part until Indonesia frees Gusmao. "Xanana is the only political leader with real acceptance and credibility among the people of East Timor," he said from Lisbon.
Portugal and the resistance had said Gusmao's release should be a precondition of any settlement. Lisbon put aside the demand for the sake of progress at the New York talks, but people in Dili said they felt betrayed.
Mr Gusmao's sister, Armandina dos Santos, said East Timorese had been coerced into accepting autonomy, despite large street protests demanding self- determination. "I can't accept this new agreement because we have the right to choose our future too. If we don't have that chance we will live in conflict for good," said Ms dos Santos. She said forced autonomy would create further friction and mistrust among the 800,000 East Timorese.
Local legislator for the Indonesian Democracy Party Maria Olandina said: "What is the autonomy they are now discussing? It's the autonomy that Indonesia wants to finally close the East Timor case," she said. A Western diplomat said East Timorese activists fear if they give ground on the talks they will lose the international spotlight.
Jakarta -- Rebels struggling for independence for East Timor say they will continue to fight Indonesian troops despite fresh diplomatic efforts to bring peace to the troubled territory.
"We've never lost hope. We will stand firm. We'll fight on until the independence of East Timor is won," said guerrilla commander Taur Matan Ruak in an interview released by Associated Press Television on Monday.
Ruak took command of rebel forces earlier this year in Timor's mountainous interior where several hundred rebels have waged a hit-and-run war since Indonesian troops invaded in 1975. However, the Indonesian military says there have been no clashes in more than two months and estimate the number of rebels at about 200.
Ruak's words of defiance come ahead of talks between the foreign ministers of Indonesia and Portugal, East Timor's former colonial master, to be held at the United Nations in New York on Tuesday and Wednesday.
In a gesture of goodwill, Indonesia withdrew about 400 of its 12,000 troops from the territory last week. Another 600 are scheduled to leave this month. However, Ruak, described the partial pullout as "possibly just a publicity stunt." "Until now, Indonesians have never shown good faith when it comes to withdrawing their troops," he said. Instead he called for UN supervision of troop withdrawals.
| Political/economic crisis |
Jakarta -- Indonesia's armed forces are readying to step in to protect the country's businesses from looters and thieves as reports mount of people driven to pillage through desperation.
"ABRI (the armed forces) will address security problems that disturb the government's efforts to improve the economy," the state-run Antara News Agency quoted armed forces Chief General Wiranto as saying.
Wiranto, who is also defence minister, was speaking after a coordinating meeting on security, financial and industrial affairs late Thursday. "Violations of the law, both those purely criminal or those instigated by intellectual actors (saboteurs with other motives)... will certainly be punished," Wiranto said, according to the Suara Karya daily. "The steps to be taken will be gradual, from warning shots to shots aimed at immobilising but not at killing," Wiranto said.
Criminal acts had intensified and the armed forces was needed to help fight them, Wiranto said, as reports reached Jakarta that systematic looting of scrap iron by thousands of people at the state-owned PT Krakatau Steel in Cilegon, West Java had gone unchecked for 10 straight days. Security guards said the swarms of looters daily ignored warning shorts, and Kompas daily quoted local police as saying they had not taken action as they considered them "scavengers of scrap."
Information Minister Yunus Yosfiah, speaking after the same meeting, told journalists Wiranto had promised to take "concrete security measures," and launch intelligence operations to probe the possibility of "intellectual actors" behind the lootings.
The minister was quoted by the Media Indonesia daily as saying that while most looting initially targetted essential foodstuffs, it now included other commodities. Yosfiah detailed reports of unauthorized felling of more than 27,000 valuable teak wood trees worth at least 866 million rupiah (69,280 dollars) in three separate places in East Java. He said Plantations and Forestry Minister Muslimin Nasution had already sought armed forces assistance because the looters seemed "no longer afraid of local authorities."
The ministers of agriculture and fisheries also reported looting of fish farms and crops, while Transmigration Minister Hendropriyono said settlers were receiving threats from the local populations in Irian Jaya and East Timor.
Indonesia's transmigration program, aimed at resettling poor farmers from overcrowded Java and Bali in the outer more sparsely-populated provinces, has in some areas roused resentment among the local inhabitants. Hendropriyono was quoted by Antara as saying the state must protect the property of the transmigrants in outlying areas.
Under the pressure of soaring prices and unemployment amid the severe economic crisis that hit Indonesia last year, the poor have also resorted to taking over idle plots of government and private land to grow food. Jakarta's governor Sutiyoso has given the city's poor the go-ahead to use idle government land to grow food, but urged them to get permission first instead of just grabbing it.
Throughout Indonesia in the past two months, security forces have been powerless to stop scores in incidents of people digging up golf courses and parks to plant vegetables, banana trees and fast-growing tubers. A showcase cattle ranch owned by ex- president Suharto on the hills overlooking Jakarta was invaded by some 300 villagers last month.
Flying police motocycle patrols set up in the Jakarta last month to prevent theft and looting as the economic crisis bites the poor, have failed to stop the land grabs.
Joyce Teo, Singapore -- To stave off severe food shortages in Indonesia during the coming months, the country is importing ever-increasing amounts of rice, mostly with the help of foreign countries, agricultural analysts and industry sources told Dow Jones Newswires.
At the same time, it is planning to increase rice planted areas outside Java and is planting an additional rice crop in Java to make up for the shortfall in its 1998 rice output, said Mahyuddin Syam. Based in Bogor, Java, Syam is a liaison scientist with the Manila-based International Rice Research Institute.
This, coupled with rice imports to date and shipments to come, should ensure Indonesia won't suffer acute food shortages, the industry sources said. They added, however, that this is provided the rice gets to the people.
Many Indonesians now face food shortages because they can't afford to buy essential commodities. Poor distribution channels, rising prices and unemployment mostly get in their way, said an agricultural analyst in Jakarta, who asked not to be named. Otherwise, Indonesia has and will have enough rice to feed its people, Syam said.
"It's not as bad as some people think. Under normal situations in the past, the rice we have is enough to feed the country. But now, I think some people are panicking and are storing rice in their homes or elsewhere," he said. "Some are storing 3-4 months rice supply. Farmers are also storing rice."
He said Indonesia's second crop rice harvest is expected to meet expectations, but added this idea excludes the impact of the La Nina weather pattern. La Nina follows the El Nino weather pattern and occurs when sea temperatures rise in Indonesia and the western Pacific, producing heavier-than-normal rain throughout Southeast Asia and Australia. Should La Nina hit Indonesia severely before the end of the year, some of those rice crops planted during the current unusually wet dry season will be damaged, he said.
But even without the threat of La Nina, other analysts are less optimistic about Indonesia's second rice crop. "The current rice crop is in a very difficult situation now. In West Java, three major pests are attacking the crop, but farmers can't afford to buy pesticides. They also don't apply fertilizers so the crop's yield will be affected," said IRRI's Syam.
The battered rupiah has largely put the price of pesticides and fertilizers out of farmers' reach. Because of pests and diseases, rice output in Indonesia's top three rice-producing areas of West, Central and East Java is expected to fall 10%-15% from the previous year, he said.
Java accounts for 50%-60% of Indonesia's rice output. The UN's World Food Program also said Indonesia's second crop rice will likely be smaller than expected. The WFP will be re-assessing the second rice crop and food situation late August.
However, Indonesia, which typically produces two rice crops a year, has already made plans to plant a third crop in the irrigated lowlands of Java. Farmers have started planting this third crop on an area of some 125,000 hectares, out of some 321,000 hectares targeted for the crop, said IRRI's Syam. He added that an expected yield of 4 tons per hectare should see Indonesia harvesting a 500,000-ton crop in four months' time.
The Indonesian government has estimated its 1998 unhusked rice or paddy output at 46.3 million tons, down 6.25% from a year earlier. As of end-July, its national rice stock held by Bulog, the National Logistics Agency, stood at less than 10% of the 1.9 million tons recorded in the same period the previous year.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, in its latest Rice Market Monitor, released Aug. 4, revised up its forecast of Indonesian 1998 rice imports to 4.5 million tons, from 3.5 million tons.
A rice industry source said Indonesia's Ministry of Agriculture is prepared to bring in 3-4 million tons of rice in the 1998 fiscal year ending March 31, 1999, though the government still says it will import 3.1 million tons in the same fiscal year, compared to about 750,000 tons a year ago.
A July report from the US agricultural attache in Jakarta said Indonesia has imported some 3.3 million tons of rice in the first half of 1998 and is set to receive another 2.4 million tons contracted under commercial contracts or through various assistance programs.
Indonesia recently said it is negotiating to import 500,000 tons of rice from China and 300,000 tons of rice with the help of the Islamic Development Bank, based in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Islamic Development Bank announced July 20 it will assist Indonesia with an aid loan of $380 million, of which $280 million may be used to import rice, cooking oil, sugar, infant foods and medicine while the remaining $100 million may be used to finance development programs. Indonesia will also get 208,000 tons of rice grants from the WFP, which launched an emergency food operation for the country in April.
According to a WFP emergency report released July 15, Australia, Japan, US and Norway have confirmed donations for 113,000 tons out of the rice requirement of 208,000 tons. Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter, has sent Indonesia a rice grant of 5,000 tons. At a meeting in Bangkok Friday, it is due to finalize the terms of the sale of 500,000 tons of rice to Indonesia. All 500,000 tons will be Thai 25% broken super rice, priced on a free-on-board basis.
The price is expected to be around $285 a ton, Indonesian Food and Horticulture Minister A.M. Saefuddin said Thursday. Saefuddin was speaking to Dow Jones Newswires following his meetings with Surin Pitsuwan, Thailand's Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Supachai Panatchpakdi, the Thai Deputy Prime Minister Commerce Minister, in Bangkok.
Other foreign countries have already pledged substantial amounts of rice for Indonesia. Vietnam, the world's second-largest rice exporter, will send Indonesia 110,000 tons of rice between August and October. The 100,000 tons will be on one-year interest-free deferred payment terms while the remaining 10,000 tons will be given free-of-charge. Taiwan has agreed to loan Indonesia 200,000 tons, which is repayable over ten years.
Japan's Food Agency at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries agreed to lend Indonesia 500,000 tons, of which 300,000 tons will come from Japanese rice stocks and 200,000 tons from Japan's minimum access volume rice imports.
Indonesia will receive the 500,000 tons between August and January and is to return the same amount of rice over a 10-year period. Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also arranged to give 50,000 tons of rice free-of-charge.
The US has pledged a total of 92,500 tons of rice, according to the US agricultural attache in Jakarta. Singapore will provide Indonesia with a $12 million humanitarian aid package that will consist of rice and medicines. Included in its first dispatch is 10,000 tons of rice. A Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman said the ministry won't reveal the total amount of rice to be sent to Indonesia. Late July, Germany pledged about 15,000 tons of rice, most of which will be handled by the World Food Program.
Indonesia's crippled companies can draw little comfort from this week's launch of an agency to help restructure their crushing foreign debts, analysts say -- they need hefty debt write-offs, not just rescheduling, to save them.
The Indonesian Debt Restructuring Agency (Indra), born out of a deal struck in Frankfurt in June with overseas creditors to restructure the country's US$84 billion in private-sector foreign debt, officially started operating on Monday. But no companies have yet signed up for the voluntary scheme, and analysts believe Indra is a mere sideshow to the main issue -- negotiations between individual firms and creditors on comprehensive debt forgiveness.
It may be the outcome of these lengthy and difficult talks, rather than the success of Indra, that governs the survival of debt-ridden firms. "Companies simply cannot pay, even under the terms agreed in Frankfurt. Creditors must realise they have no option but to write off a lot of their loans, try to come to an agreement with companies that can be salvaged, and get back what they can," said a senior analyst at a foreign investment bank in Jakarta.
The foreign debt of Indonesian companies has rocketed since July last year due to the more than 80 per cent fall in the value of the rupiah against the US dollar. A solution to the private-debt crisis is of critical importance for the country's eventual economic recovery. In its latest report on Indonesia, the World Bank said: "Central to a resolution of this crisis will be a mechanism to reduce this debt burden and restore Indonesia's corporate capital stock to productive use."
Under the Frankfurt deal, firms registering with Indra can reschedule their foreign debt over eight years with a three-year grace period when only interest needs to be paid. Indra also takes the burden of foreign-exchange risk.
The agency said on Monday that the base exchange rate for debt conversion would be 13,233 rupiah (about HK$7.62) to the dollar. But firms joining the scheme in the registration period to June 30, next year can choose the most favourable exchange rate from the previous 20 days, if this is more advantageous than the base exchange rate. This means indebted companies can benefit from a strengthening rupiah, but will be protected if the currency falls.
Analysts believe the selected base exchange rate offers little incentive for companies to join Indra, as they can get an equally favourable rate from the market. Only if the rupiah declines will it become tempting to join.
But details of the Indra scheme are irrelevant to many firms because most cannot afford to pay interest on their debt, analysts believe. "Indra doesn't offer an awful lot to debtors. All it is offering is a fixed exchange rate and a not particularly meaningful interest rate," said Tom Inglis, head of research at ING Baring Securities in Jakarta.
The central bank has said it hopes for a participation rate of 60 per cent in Indra, but analysts are doubtful. "The Indonesian firms in dire financial straits, businesses aimed at domestic consumers for example, are in such trouble that repayment at the moment is hardly an option," Mr Inglis said, adding that bigger firms that can afford to pay under existing terms would not go into Indra.
He said Indra's main value was as a "starting framework" for talks between creditors and debtors. A bankruptcy law due to be introduced this month would also help get talks going, as it would force recalcitrant debtors to negotiate, he said. Analysts believe international creditors are increasingly coming to realise that write-offs will be needed.
The International Monetary Fund's latest deal with Indonesia, agreed in June, contained an explicit recognition that write-offs would have to be part of an overall debt settlement.
Analysts also question another benefit claimed for Indra -- that by putting off the repayment of the $34 billion of private, foreign debt maturing this year, the agency will reduce dollar demand and boost the beleaguered rupiah. "Have the dynamics changed? No," Mr Inglis said. "It's not as if firms were paying their debts yesterday and will stop paying them now as they join Indra. They were not paying in the first place."
[On August 6 Dow Jones Newswires said that an IMF legal consultant, Jeff Hoff, has expressed doubts over the effectiveness of the Indra plan. He cited the lack of grace period for interest payment as one hurdle saying that even with the three-year grace period on the principal, because it does not included the interest portion, at current exchange rates most corporations aren't even able to service interest payments - James Balowski.]
Shoeb Kagda, Surabaya -- On the road leading into the town centre from the airport, Surabaya's economic decline is starkly visible. On both sides of the road, rows and rows of small shops are shuttered and closed two months after bloody riots and looting brought the city to its knees.
Everything from car repair shops to sundry provision shops to tailors to accountants' firms are closed. These businesses formed the backbone of the city and the region's economy before the economic crisis. Owned mainly by ethnic Chinese who have either fled the city or have chosen to shut down their businesses, this state of affairs represents the wider economic meltdown of East Java.
A region rich in natural resources, East Java stands alongside West and Central Java as one of the economic powerhouses of the Indonesian economy and its growth was a key element behind the country's impressive average of 7 percent growth over the past two decades. East Java contributed 14.5 per cent to Indonesia's total gross domestic product (GDP) and 15.7 per cent of the country's non-oil and gas GDP in 1996, placing the province third behind West Java and Jakarta in its share of Indonesia's output.
More significantly, the region's economy has undergone significant changes over recent years as agriculture, once a mainstay of the economy, has taken a backseat, falling from 32.5 per cent of the region's total economy in 1983 to 16.6 per cent in 1996. Industrial output, however, surged from as low as 16 per cent to 29.2 per cent over the same period.
But the situation has reversed dramatically in the past 12 months. According to local estimates, business activity has declined by some 50 per cent over the past eight months as many companies have been hit by the dramatic fall in the value of the rupiah and by rising social unrest.
Retail trade has been devastated. Businesses ranging from car dealers, provision shops, upmarket clothing and accessories stores to restaurants have been forced to close because of lack of customers. Surabaya's oldest department store, the Nam Department Store, closed its doors permanently last month.
Five-star hotels such as the Hyatt, Sheraton and Westin are reporting occupancy rates of about 35 to 40 per cent as both tourists and business travellers have stopped coming. However, according to a Sheraton spokesperson, business is starting to pick up again and tourists, especially from Taiwan, are returning.
Mega infrastructure projects such as the US$1 billion (S$1.7 billion) oil refinery in Propolinggo have been shelved, while work on another plant in Situbondo -- owned by Hongkong-Indonesia joint venture company PT Asia Pacific Petroleum Refinery, in which former president Suharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo had a stake -- has halted, even though the plant is only 50-per cent completed.
"There has been a dramatic slowing down of the economy over the past one year and nearly every sector is affected," said one foreign banker. "Most of our customers are now very weak and our priority has shifted from lending to focusing on debt collecting."
Just last month, one of the largest shoe factories in the area, employing 1,500 workers, was forced to close. According to a Surabaya lawyer who does a great deal of corporate work, many of her clients are facing a similar predicament. "If the rupiah does not strengthen within three months and if the government cannot protect the businessmen from further attacks, a lot more companies will close," she noted.
Anton Prijatno, rector at the University of Surabaya, said unemployment has already reached 1.5 million, and is rising, as many industrial estates have closed over the past few months in this city of four million inhabitants.
Even companies in export-oriented businesses, such as furniture manufacturing, have been affected. While orders are booming, the scarcity of containers in which to ship products is putting a lid on their production levels as many shipping agencies are unwilling to bear the cost of bringing empty ships and containers into Surabaya as imports have virtually dried up.
One ethnic-Chinese businessman who has seen a rise in orders from Europe and the United States for his bicycles told BT that finding containers was now a major problem for many companies in the province. "I can make up to 1.2 million bicycles a year, but with domestic demand now very low and with the difficulty in shipping our products overseas, we are only operating at about 60 per cent of our capacity," he said.
With the economy contracting at a much faster pace than the nationally-expected 20 per cent this year, this once proud economic powerhouse province is finding it difficult to cope with rising inflation and shrinking incomes.
Food is in such short supply that people in the Bondowoso region are eating even the husk of unprocessed rice. According to Ramlan Surbakti, a professor of political science at Airlangga University in Surabaya, many remote areas such as Pacitan, Trangallek, Jember, Tuban and Bajunoggoro have been severely affected by food shortages. While local churches and branches of the Nahdlatul Ulama in the region have been distributing food, Prof Surbakti noted that not enough people were receiving food.
Even students at the campus located in downtown Surabaya have started to distribute free food to people who can no longer afford to buy rice and other basic necessities. "Javanese villagers have been more affected by the economic crisis and the prolonged drought because of the industrialisation and urbanisation of the island over the past 20 years," he noted. "In Sulawesi, for example, people have not been as severely affected because most of them still plant their own food and because agricultural products are fetching high prices."
As economic conditions worsen, the dual problem of unemployment and rising prices is expected to lead to further social tension, said Prof Surbakti. "East Java has always been the barometer for the political mood in the rest of the country. What happens here will flow to the other parts of Indonesia," he noted.
Andrew Marshall, Jakarta -- Nearly half of Indonesias children have failed to enrol for the new school year as deepening poverty forces more parents to put their children to work, the countrys education minister said on Wednesday.
Education and Culture Minister Juwono Sudarsono told Reuters the number of children enrolled in the current school year had plunged to 54 percent of those eligible from 78 percent last year. He said the registration period for pupils had been extended, and the government had launched a rescue programme with help from international donors, in a bid to staunch the mounting drop-out rate.
"The school year started on July 20 and the final figures are not yet in. I have extended school registration until the second week of September, to give more time to parents who cannot afford the fees to maintain their children in school," Juwono said. "Help is coming, with the aid of the government, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and UNICEF, as well as bilateral support, both for scholarships and for school block grants."
Parents are finding it increasingly difficult to pay for school fees, books and uniforms, and growing numbers of children are being taken out of school so they can contribute to household income, Juwono said.
"Over the past six months there were reports that parents have asked their younger boys and girls to leave school not simply because they cannot afford the fees, but (because) the children are asked to help make ends meet," he said. "Some have become hawkers, shoe-shiners, some are working in the informal sector, in sweatshops." There had also been a rise in "social problems" such as prostitution, Juwono said.
He said the government had drawn up a plan to cope with the effects of the crisis on education, providing scholarships and grants to persuade families to keep their children in school. "For a three-year period, which we expect to be the longevity of the crisis, we have established a programme," he said.
The Asian Development Bank is providing around $300 million over three years to help fund the scheme, while the World Bank would donate $90 million and bilateral country donors were providing $8-10 million, he said. Indonesia would contribute 1.2 trillion rupiah ($92 million).
The scheme will offer annual scholarships of 120,000 rupiah -- less than $10 -- to selected primary school pupils, 240,000 rupiah to junior secondary high school pupils and 380,000 rupiah to senior high school students.
"We are trying to apply the scholarship schemes to the poorest of the poor -- the lowest 20 percent income group, for parents who cannot afford the fees. We will offer a reduction in the fees for those who are more well off," Juwono said. "Weve also rescinded the obligation to wear school uniforms for those who cannot afford it, particularly in rural areas."
Juwono said schools were also being offered block grants to help with maintenance and purchases of books and equipment. Help would be targeted at pupils between the ages of 13 and 15, as they are recognised as crucial to Indonesias economic recovery. "The target is the junior high schools, school-leaving age, because this will be the most important sector," he said.
"If the economy picks up within the next two or three years, then that particular age group will be important for the labour force, for the manufacturing industries which contribute 40 percent of our non-oil exports abroad."
Jakarta -- City Military commander Maj. Gen. Djadja Suparman has warned Jakartans of the existence of certain parties who have been attempting to spread rumors and terror in the capital to create social unrest.
Addressing a crowd of Betawi (native Jakartans) people Saturday at the Padepokan Pencak Silat center in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, East Jakarta, Djadja said the parties are trying to sow discord among the people and the Armed Forces (ABRI).
"This situation is almost similar with that in 1965," he said referring to the year when the people and ABRI faced a difficult time with the presence of the banned Indonesian Communist Party.
Djadja added: "ABRI has noticed that the parties are trying to keep us from the people and to separate the people from certain social classes." "If it continues, our country will fall, " he said.
One of the rumors spread by the irresponsible pal ties was that women should avoid using taxis unless they wanted to be sexually harassed or raped, Djadja said. The group, he said, has also circulated leaflets concerning a planned mass riot to happen a few days before the country celebrate Independence Day on Aug. 17. "We have to be cautious over such rumors. But the Betawi people should not have to be scared," the two-star general said.
He admitted that security personnel could not stop people from creating and spreading rumors. But, he said, he has deployed his personnel to track down the parties. "We haven't yet tracked down these people because it's very difficult to get the leaflets. I ask you to share information on that," Djadja said.
He also called on the Betawi people to join hands with ABRI and other groups in society to secure the capital. "We have to unite to safeguard Jakarta. Don't let us distance ourselves by setting up groups based on our ethnic backgrounds, such as Sumatra or Sulawesi," he said.
Djadja also appealed to the crowd to stay vigilant over certain parties who were trying to detach themselves from the united country and were demanding to establish their own states. "There are parties who have tried to separate themselves from Indonesia, such as those who want a free Irian or Aceh. We have to be aware of them," he said. "We have to be able to decide what we should accept or reject, and what is the priority for this nation," he said.
Also present at the ceremony were chairman of the Betawi Forum, Lt. Gen. (ret) Edy Marzuki Nalapraya, and deputy governor for people's welfare M. Djailani. After the speech, Djadja handed over two tons of rice to the forum to be distributed among needy people.
[On August 5 the Jakarta Post said that Habibie had denouncing irresponsible people bent on splintering the nation through spreading vicious rumors adding that many had been influenced by information obtained from the Internet - James Balowski.]
Mantik Kusjanto, Jakarta -- Indonesia in July posted its second highest monthly inflation rate this year with prices jumping 68.72 percent on a year-on-year basis as latest figures showed a further slowdown in trade.
"The economy is still declining judging from import figures. I don't believe the economy has bottomed out," said Vincent Low, fixed-income strategist with Merrill Lynch. "I think Indonesia is also in for a period of very high inflation."
Central Statistics Bureau chief Sugito Suwito said month-on-month inflation in July was 8.56 percent against 4.64 percent in June, raising the year-on-year inflation to 68.72 percent last month. "This was the second highest inflation in seven months after 12.67 percent last February," Suwito said. "But we still have time to push prices down in the remaining five months," he said. Rises in food prices were mainly responsible for the sharp increase, he added.
Suwito said imports in the first five months fell 38 percent from the same period last year to $11.06 billion, with non-oil imports down 39.6 percent and oil falling 22 percent. "We can't import because of rising dollars," he said.
Indonesia is struggling through its worst economic crisis in decades, with the rupiah currency down more than 80 percent in value against the dollar since July last year. It was trading at around 13,100 in Jakarta on Monday. The Jakarta Stock Exchange composite index was down 1.34 percent on the day to end at 475.26 points on falls in most regional markets and a weakening yen, brokers said.
Exports in the January-May period totalled $20.11 billion, a drop of 4.9 percent from the same 1997 period, with non-oil exports amounting to $16.67 billion. Suwito said non-oil exports rose 4.3 percent while oil- and gas-exports fell 33.4 percent in the five-month comparison.
Following the agency's monthly statistics, food and processed food contributed to more than half the 8.56 percent increase in the July inflation rate. Suwito said the agency was sticking to its initial inflation forecast of 80 percent for this calendar year because the country had just secured $14 billion of fresh funds from international institutions and donor countries.
"We are still using the 80 percent target after (Chief Economics Minister) Ginandjar Kartasasmita secured a $14 billion loan for this fiscal year (ending March)," he said. "It's a sufficient amount to revive the economy." Low said the forecast of 80 percent remained realistic.
Analysts have been cautious over Indonesia's recovery potential despite the infusion of fresh capital because of the damage to investor confidence by riots in May which helped topple former president Suharto after 32 years in power. The World Bank has estimated it would take at least until 2005 for per capita income to recover to its pre-crisis level.
| Human rights/law |
Jenny Grant, Jakarta -- The armed forces have systematically violated human rights in the province of Aceh and should be brought to justice, a member of a fact-finding team said yesterday.
Parliamentarian Ghazali Abbas Adan said the military was involved in illegal kidnappings, torture, extrajudicial killings and rapes in the North Sumatran province. "We are naive if we think they are just procedural violations," said Mr Adan, just returned from a five-day visit to Aceh.
The local parliament has listed 1,679 people who have disappeared in the resource-rich region. The Ummat Muslim weekly magazine reported yesterday that between 1,000 and 1,420 bodies were buried in mass graves at 10 locations in Aceh. A local farmer, Ismail, told a human rights forum in Aceh last week he saw masked men dump 17 naked bodies into a river at Bukit Tengkorak in North Aceh in 1990. Ummat said between 250 and 315 skeletons were dumped at the site, known as Skeleton Hill. However, Colonel Dasiri Musnar, military commander of Lilawangsa region in Aceh, said: "There is no forensic evidence that the killing fields exist."
The Banda Aceh Legal Aid Foundation reports 625 women were raped and tortured in Aceh between 1990 and 1996. A woman from Ujong Leubat village, identified as C. S., told the fact-finding team she was raped by three soldiers in 1992. "After I was raped I fainted. In the morning I was kicked out and pushed to a river. I was asked to swim," said C. S., whose husband was suspected of supporting the Free Aceh Movement. Her husband, Yunus, was arrested at the same time and disappeared. Sources told C. S. her husband was executed in public by the military.
Amnesty International says up to 2,000 civilians and members of the Free Aceh Merdeka movement were killed between 1989 and 1993.
Jakarta -- A rights organization Friday said it suspected Indonesian military involvement in the disappearance of five people after a bloody pro-independence demonstration early last month which left one dead in the remote province of Irian Jaya.
Munir, head of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), charged the military was involved in the disappearance of the five after the protest in Biak, some 3,250 kilometers east of here. Kontras, in response to the violent suppression of several pro-independence rallies in Irian Jaya between July 1-6, on Wednesday set up a secretariate in the capital of Jayapura.
During their investigation they learned of the five disappearances -- those of a taxi driver, a student, a former male nurse and two white collar workers, one of whom was a woman. The taxi driver had been seen by witnesses being dragged away by three military men and put in a car with no licence plate, indicating the disappearances were kidnappings with "close links" to the military, he said.
"In fact the forms of security violence cannot be separated from the fact that it is a Military Operation Status (DOM) area... violence is very closely linked to areas designated as having DOM," Munir told a press conference at the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation here. "The violence in the forms of disappearances, abuse and even murder, have become the greatest threats to the livelihood of the people in Irian," he added.
Irian Jaya, the predominantly Melanesian Christian-populated former Dutch colony of Western Papua, became part of Indonesia in 1963. But since its integration it has seen running guerrilla activities by the Free Papua Movement, which is demanding independence.
Ten members of the Youth Committee for the Rights of Peoples of Papua were present at the press conference to seek support from Kontras in carrying out a more intensive investigation over the military abuses "We are here to ask for Kontras' support to feel our pain and defend the rights of their brothers in Irian Jaya," Jimmy Demianus Ijie, the Committee's secretary, said.
Ijie also questioned whether some of the 33 bodies identified as victims of the tidal wave in neighbouring Papua New Guinea had not been victims of the military action against the demonstrators in Biak, who had raised the Free Papua flag. "It was physically impossible for them to be washed ashore in Biak," he said.
The military said Wednesday it had identified eight soldiers suspected of involvement in the killing of law student Steven Suripaty during a pro-independence demonstration at Jayapura's Cendrawasih University early in July. A female high school student near the rally was also injured by shots fired after the students allegedly attacked a police intelligence officer who had been in their midst during a free speech forum.
A representative of the Forum of Concern for Human Rights in Aceh, in a three-day visit to Pidie, North and East Aceh had brought to light 800 cases of atrocities which took place during the period of the military operational designation of the region, including thirty which are particularly gruesome. Abdul Gani of the Forum was accompanied on the visit by a member of the Indonesian Parliament.
One man's throat was slit and he was decapitated, the severed head was taken back to his village and put on display. Another was run over by a military vehicle and shot dead in the mouth, another ordered to say his prayers whilst stripped naked.
A widow named Saodah Aleh, 41, told the team that her husband M, Djalil was panning for gold when he was discovered by security forces. He was accused of being involved in the Aceh Freedom Movement, so he was decapitated, his head taken back to the village and the rest of his body left at the site of the crime.
She said that many villagers had witnessed the security forces bringing back the head and coming to her home with it. Then her house was razed to the ground. "They also maltreated me," she told the team.
Another victim was Syech Asnawi Yahya, 32, an academic, who was a local leader, (keuchik) and who tried to prevent the security forces from persecuting his villagers. As he was arguing strongly with the military, they seized him and took him to a bridge nearby, tied a noose around his neck and ordered villagers to push him off the bridge. As this was happening, the military shot him dead. This happened in 1991.
Abdul Gani said there were still numerous cases to be monitored and reckoned that he had details of only about 6 per cent. "We plan to carry out door to door visits to discover more," he told journalists.
He said that President Habibie should take up the question of atrocities in Aceh seriously and not leave it to people abroad to do this. Why is it that when a few people in Jakarta or East Timor are abducted, there's a huge fuss, while people simply turn their backs on what has been happening in Aceh, he asked.
Others spoke out against the continued designation of Aceh as a military operational district (DOM). This had brought thousands of troops to the area, including the elite corps Kopassus, Bandung Kujang troops, troops from the East Java division, and the Mobile Brigade from Medan. Now, thousands of people are coming forward with complaints about what happened during DOM.
Jakarta -- Indonesian legislators have urged the government and the armed forces to end military operations in Aceh and withdraw combat troops from the province in northern Sumatra, news reports said on Wednesday.
"Military operations in Aceh should be terminated because there have been a number of cases of cruel treatment, looting and killing," the Republika newspaper quoted Teuku Syahrul, head of a parliamentary fact-finding team on Aceh, as saying.
A long-running insurgency against Indonesian rule in Aceh, which has about 170,000 people, reached a peak in the early 1990s before the army suppressed it with strong-arm tactics and dispersed its leaders.
Syahrul, who is also deputy secretary of the ruling Golkar party in parliament, told reporters after a parliamentary meeting he had received many reports of human rights abuses in Aceh, such as rape, torture and mass killings. He did not give details. There was no immediate reaction from the military.
The official Antara news agency reported last Saturday that Aceh governor Syamsuddin Mahmud had written to President B.J. Habibie seeking an end to military operations and also asking for the withdrawal of troops not from Aceh itself.
Several leading human rights activists have expressed their dismay with the decision of the armed forces commander in chief, General Wiranto, to set up a military Honour Council, DKP, to investigate Lieutenant-General Prabowo and two other top-ranking officers, all connected with the army's elite force, Kopassus, in connection with the abduction of activists.
Their concerns are reported in Suara Pembaruan on 4 August. The common thread is their dissatisfaction that such a procedure will not reveal the political motivation behind the abductions. All army officers suspected in connection with the abductions should be tried before a military court, they stress.
Munir, director of Kontras, Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence, said that the DKP would be taking over the role of the courts which are the only mechanism to get to the bottom of the abduction affair. Handing the matter over to the DKP was discriminatory in that it allowed top-ranking officers suspected of crimes to be heard in more 'congenial' circumstances.
Asmara Nababan, member of the National Human Rights Commission, said that although he disagreed with the formation of a DKP to hear these officers, he hoped that this would be the first step towards investigating the officers' involvement before taking them to a military court. He also hoped that these investigations would be the opening shot in an investigation of the Jakarta riots in May. He was of the opinion that the abductions were part of a series of activities undertaken by those who organised the riots.
Unlike Nababan, Munir as well as Hendardi, director of PBHI, the Institute for Legal Aid and Human Rights, reject the DKP procedure altogether for a number of reasons, not least because the hearings will not be held in public.
Hendardi said that what the President should do is set up a fact-finding commission including representatives of the armed forces, NGOs and the United Nations. Wiranto's announcement setting up the DKP suggested that only Kopassus was involved whereas investigations by human rights NGOs pointed to the involvement of other units.
Munir said that the DKP investigations lessen the chances of investigating officers from other units. From its own investigations, Kontras had come to the conclusion that officers from the Jakarta military command and the armed forces intelligence agency, BIA, were also involved.
Professor of Law, Dr JE Sahepaty was concerned that by leaving the matter to the Honour Council, top-ranking officers would be absolved from having to confront the law. 'Frankly speaking, I don't agree with this Council because the armed forces have been responsible for many abuses in East Timor, Aceh and irian Jaya,' he said.
He was also worried that a number of lower-ranking Kopassus officers would be brought to court before the whereabouts of the fourteen missing persons had been established. He said that as things now stood, the men would only face charges of abduction. But things would be quite different if it was later discovered that some of the missing men were dead. In such a case, would it be possible to take the same men to court on charges of murder? There is a clear difference in law between abduction and murder.
Retired officer Bambang Triatoro expressed the view that the Council would fulfil its task even though the chairman, General Subagyo, chief of staff of the army, was known to have been a close associate of Prabowo. He suggested that people should not be sceptical of the outcome because of this.
[By raising this, Bambang is in fact drawing attention to a basic flaw in the Council. Indeed, up until the last minute, there were doubts about Subagyo's position, amid rumours that he might be replaced because he is known to be a Prabowo man. With a close associate as chair, many observers feel, Prabowo can expect to make a soft landing - Tapol.]
North Sumatra -- Members of the parliamentary (DPR) fact-finding team in Aceh held a meeting at the office of the NGO, WALHI, in Bandar Aceh to receive testimony from victims of violations in Aceh. They were moved to tears from some of the testimony they heard.
A 70-year-old man named Tengku Abdurrachman Ali, the father of seven children, said he had been tortured for three days and nights at the Kopassus command post in Gedong Aron, Guelumpung Tiga sub-district, Pidie district. He was arrested early in 1998 on charges of concealing arms in his home.
He was stripped naked, given electric shocks and his tormentors try to bury him alive. He was immersed in soil but a heavy rock shifted, dispersing the soil and setting him free. When he was lifted out and found to be alive he was shut up in a toilet for two hours with his hands and feet bound and was again given electric shocks.
He told the team he had seen women being tortured and given electric shocks on their sex organs. He also said he had seen seven corpses being loaded onto a vehicle from the Kopassus command post, but did not know where they had been taken.
Another victim of Kopassus atrocities to testify was Ibrahim, 32 years old from North Aceh. Besides the usual tortures, an attempt was made to strangle him. The soldiers though he was dead but when they realised he was still alive, he was taken to Jalan Takengon and thrown into a ditch. Wearing only his pants and covered in blood, he managed to drag himself out of the ditch and started walking the long distance to Bireum. He was picked up on the way by a motor-cyclist and taken to hospital where he was treated for thirty days.
Seven widows also testified, saying that their husbands had disappeared without trace. Several had been taken into custody and subjected to inhuman treatment.
Speaking for the Aceh NGO Forum, Maimun Fidar said that they estimated that no fewer than 39,000 people had disappeared in Aceh since 1989. The NGOs and a journalist from the publication GATRA had undertaken the investigations.
Maimun also said they were able to identify nine places where mass graves were located. He gave the locations and mentioned the number of persons believed to have been buried in each of these mass graves. The numbers ranged between 30 and 300. He said that most of the disappearances occurred in 1991 and 1992. Hari Sabarno, a lieutenant-general member of Parliament said he would seek assurances from the local military commander that those who had given evidence would be protected from reprisals.
Suara Pembaruan - 30 July 1998
Jakarta -- Dozens of students who are members of Student Solidarity for Aceh visited the UN office in Jakarta on 30 July to urge the UN to take up the Aceh case and press the Indonesian government to take action on the violence which had occurred during the time since the region had become a "military operational region" (DOM).
In a statement the organisation said the sufferings of the Acehnese people had started in 1989 when DOM was introduced. There was no legal security and numerous arrests have taken place without respect for the procedures and with no one being tried. All this had been done in the name of crushing the Aceh Freedom Movement, GAM, although there was little evidence that the Movement was in fact active. The group urged the UN to send a fact-finding mission to Aceh and called on it to help secure the release of political prisoners in the region.
The organisation has also called on the Supreme Commander (Habibie) to withdraw all troops from the region because they have caused such sufferings for the people. The group's other demand was for the government to grant amnesty to the many Acehnese who had fled abroad in face of intimidation and the threat of arrest.
"The government should take action to change the perception around the world that the people of Aceh are involved in a militant Muslim separatist movement," said FAjrain Zain on behalf of the student group. The group was hoping to meet the deputy representative of the UNDP later the same day.
[On August 6, Reuters reported that several dozen Acehnese youths demonstrated in front of parliament in Jakarta calling for an objective report from the fact-finding team on what they had seen and heard in Aceh - James Balowski.]
Sigli, Aceh -- Several women testified to a parliamentary fact- finding mission on a visit to Sigli about their experiences at the hands of the security forces. The testimony was given at a meeting attended by about one thousand people, most of them widows and orphans.
One 42-year old woman known only as CS told the fact-finding team that she had been taken into custody by the security forces in 1992 together with her husband, M. Yunus. They were placed in separate rooms so he probably never knew what had happened to her. She said she had been raped by three members of the armed forces after which she fainted. The next morning, she was kicked, then taken to a nearby river and told to wash herself. She said this had happened at the Jim Jim Sattis (military post -- the abbreviation probably stands for Tactical Unit or Kesatuan Taktis).
CS who comes from Ujong Leubat, Bandar Baru, said that before being released she was tortured. Since her release, she has not seen her husband. She was told by others that he was shot dead in public, with his hands tied. The execution allegedly took place in Cibrek Village, Kembang Tanjong.
Another woman by the name of Ramlah from Simpang Jurong, Geurnpang, said she had been taken into custody when the security forces came to her home looking for her husband and children. She told the team she had been stripped naked, tortured, bitten and burnt, and one of her hands had been broken and was permanently misformed. After her husband and four children -- two sons and two daughters -- were found by the army, she herself was released but they were all killed and buried in a mass grave in Geunpang.
Khatijah from Cot Baroh, Giumpang Tiga told the mission that she was taken into custody in February 1998 after returning home from Malaysia where she had visited one of her children. She was beaten, tortured, stripped naked and subjected to other atrocities for fifteen days. In April she was again taken into custody after troops came to her house looking for weapons. They turned her home upside down but found nothing. She was eventually released in June this year. On both occasions she was held in Rumoh Geudong but later taken to Rancong (a notorious interrogation centre run by the elite forces, Kopassus.).
Two other women asked the mission to investigate the whereabouts of their husbands who had been taken away in March this year. The head of the mission, Hari Subarno, asked the witnesses repeatedly to explain how they knew that the perpetrators of these atrocities were from the elite corps (ie, Kopassus), to which they all replied -- victims as well as witnesses -- that they knew very well who the people responsible were. In most cases the atrocities had occured at the nearest "Sattis" (an abbreviation for the military command post) or at Rumoh Geudong.
Another victim named Umar Abubakar, from Jim Jim Village said that he had been shot in the thigh by a member of the armed forces in 1995. Fortunately for him, the soldier then relented and took him to hospital. He later had to have his leg amputated. He now walks on crutches and is unable to earn a living.
When a spokesperson for the local NGO, Forum of Concern for Human Rights, asked whether the team could given assurances to those who had testified that they would not suffer reprisals for doing so, a representative of the local military commander who was present at the meeting said he would give such assurances.
When Hari Subarno asked those present whether they felt under threat from the Aceh Freedom Movement (GAM) and whether it was still active, they all shouted, "No, not at all." One woman was even heard to say. "We are not afraid of the Aceh Freedom Movement, we're afraid of the army." When the member of Parliament asked what should happen if members of GAM appeared, they shouted, "Prosecute them!"
At the end of the meeting, the Pidie local legislative assembly, in whose building the meeting had taken place, gave the team the provisional findings of their own investigations and declared, with the enthusiastic support of all those present, that the military operations (DOM) in Aceh must be ended. The Pidie assembly has compiled a list of 440 cases of violence including people who have gone missing, killings, torture and the burning down of people's homes.
Sander Thoenes, Jakarta -- Indonesian parliamentarians have found seven mass graves in the province of Aceh, according to a report on Friday in a prominent newspaper. The graves are the most dramatic discovery following recent revelations of human rights abuses allegedly committed by the government of former president Suharto.
Suara Karya, the mouthpiece of Golkar, the government party, quoted a parliamentary fact-finding team as saying it had seen "thousands" of skeletons in mass graves throughout Aceh, the northern part of Sumatra, and suspected that "more than 5,000" people were missing.
Diplomats said these findings appeared credible and would confirm earlier reports by Amnesty International and the US government. These estimated that more than 2,000 people, including women and children, were killed by the military in a crackdown on a separatist rebel movement between 1989 and 1993.
The new government of President B. J. Habibie, eager to gain popular support, has allowed a series of human rights investigations into allegations of abuses in Aceh, Irian Jaya, East Timor and the main island of Java itself. Mr Habibie recently set up a committee to investigate the perpetrators behind riots in Jakarta and other cities in May, the kidnappings of dozens of activists, and the rape of more than 100 women of ethnic Chinese descent.
The fact-finding teams were set up in response to media reports of abuse by military and intelligence agencies throughout Mr Suharto's 32-year rule. The reports have shocked Indonesians who had been kept in the dark because of tight controls on the media. The team in Aceh also found a detention camp in the town of Pidie. The newspaper quoted its commander as saying rebels had been tortured and executed there.
These and other investigations reflect badly upon the military. The army has been keen to show a more tolerant stance in recent months but since Mr Suharto stepped down it has fired at pro- independence protesters in Irian Jaya and instilled fear in parts of East Timor. Military spokesmen declined to comment, saying only that the military had yet to receive any reports on the Aceh investigation.
Many of the witness reports point the finger at Kopassus, the special forces commanded until earlier this year by the son-in- law of President Suharto, Prabowo Subianto. Gen Prabowo has denied organising the May riots and insisted he had merely been following the president's orders. Indonesian newspapers have started to question whether Mr Suharto instigated the mayhem to provide an excuse for a military crackdown on protesting students who were demanding his resignation.
Many Indonesians believe his quiet departure from office, and the removal of Gen Prabowo and several leading generals close to him, could be part of a deal with Mr Habibie and the chief military commander, General Wiranto, in exchange for protection against prosecution. This would explain why a military investigation into the riots has failed to clarify what was behind the May violence or find 13 activists who are still missing. One turned up safe in the Philippines yesterday but most are believed dead.
The findings in Aceh, where Mobil is leading Indonesia's largest natural gas production project, indicate that military excesses there have been at least as severe as in East Timor, which has received much more international attention.
Malaysia deported more than 500 illegal Acehnese migrants in March after riots in detention camps there, despite warnings from international human rights organisations that they could face torture at home.
[On August 6, Reuters reported that according to an official with the Legal Aid Foundation, Abdurrahman Yacob, people in Aceh fear military retaliation if they dig up the grave sites. "Exhuming the bodies is a very big risk. The military will be angry, so people who dig up the graves may become victims themselves", he said - James Balowski.]
According to an Antara report published in Waspada on 2 August, fourteen bodies have been discovered in a mass grave on Sanglang Island in the Sunda Strait. News of the discovery of these bodies has spread to people in the districts of Serang and Cilegon, West Java. It is thought that they may be the bodies of the fourteen activists still believed to be missing.
Waspada reported that the local marine police, after hearing this news, made investigations but claim to have found nothing. The Cilegon police have also said they could find no evidence, nor could the office of the Anyer sub-district chief.
[We have heard independently that Munir, the lawyer who heads Kontras, the Commission for the Disappeared and Against Violence, is seeking clarifications about the discovery - Tapol.]
| News & issues |
Jakarta -- A group of Muslim students staged a protest at the defense ministry Friday, demanding new investigations into a riot that left more than a dozen Muslims dead in the Indonesian capital 14 years ago. Waving banners and posters, about 100 students accused ex-President Suharto, former Vice President Try Sutrisno and former Armed Forces Commander Benny Murdani of being responsible for the killings. All three are retired army generals.
On Sept. 12, 1984, soldiers opened fire on protesters demanding the release of several Muslims arrested following a series of anti-government sermons at mosques in northern Jakarta.
Some reports say the clash in Jakarta's impoverished port area of Tanjung Priok left scores dead and hundreds missing. Murdani, then armed forces commander, said 18 people were killed and nobody was missing. Sutrisno was then chief of Jakarta Military Command.
The students of the Islamic Preacher Institute, said an immediate probe into the case would serve as proof that the current government under President B.J. Habibie was not a continuation of the authoritarian Suharto regime. Demands for independent investigations of alleged human rights violations, including killings by the military, have flared up since Habibie came to power.
Surabaya -- Thousands of people in East Java armed with knives, sticks and metal chains blocked a planned visit yesterday by Muslim leader Amien Rais to a town near Indonesia's second city of Surabaya, residents said.
Mr Rais, leader of the country's second largest Muslim group who said on Monday he was prepared to run for the presidency, had been invited by one of the local Muslim schools to give a public address.
Residents said thousands of people, many carrying knives, sticks and other weapons, blocked roads in Pasuruan, about 70km south of Surabaya. "We are ready to kill Amien Rais if he dares to enter Pasuruan. We need food, not politics," said Abubakar, a student leader from a Muslim religious school in the town.
East Java, with a number of industries concentrated in the Surabaya area, has been hard hit by Indonesia's current economic crisis, with frequent demonstrations against rising prices and unemployment and attacks on the local ethnic Chinese business community. Mr Rais has condemned attacks on the Chinese community, a frequent target during hard times in Indonesia. On Monday, he told a meeting in Jakarta the Chinese were "an integral part and parcel of the whole nation" and should not be discriminated against.
Demonstrators yesterday called Mr Rais' Islamic Muhammadiyah organisation, which claims a membership of 28 million, a sectarian group. They also accused him of colluding with US President Bill Clinton to foment separatist movements in East Timor and Irian Jaya.
In another incident, Jakarta's governor Sutiyoso said yesterday that an unidentified person had thrown home-made bombs at his house late on Monday night. "Two petrol bombs were thrown," the governor's security officer said. "One exploded, but only set the floor of the guard post on fire."
Mr Sutiyoso, who was formerly the Jakarta military chief, said he had handed the matter over to the police to investigate. "Last night's bombing was just the work of one crazy person," Mr Sutiyoso was quoted as saying by the state-run Antara news agency.
Meanwhile, Jakarta police chief Major-General Nugroho Djayusman denied that the bombs thrown at the governor's house were molotov cocktails, as reported by the local press. "There was no report claiming it was molotov cocktails," Maj-Gen Djayusman said. The security officer said the governor was at home at the time but was unaware of the bombing until the next day.
[On August 4 the Straits Times reported that Rais has said the 170,000 figure for the number of Chinese who fled the country in the aftermath of the riots was exaggerated. On August 3, Rais told guests at luncheon in Jakarta "It is a blown-up figure, just like when the Israelis said that six million Jews had been killed in World War II". The report also said that his organisation planned to launch a political party on independence day, August 17 - James Balowski.]
Jay Solomon, Jakarta -- Indonesian police, amid growing pressure on authorities to get to the heart of May riots, believe they may have found one of the instigators: a retired crime lord turned Islamic preacher.
Anton Medan, however, swears he's innocent and claims the real masterminds "must be high-ranking (military) officers who can manage and control the unrest systematically and simultaneously." This is the same perception held by a number of the nongovernmental leaders chosen last week by the government to join an investigative team looking into the unrest.
What's the truth? Indonesians say it may never be known. But the debate is proving that the pursuit of justice in Indonesia is growing as murky as this preacher's past. "We continually see (Mr. Medan's) name popping up in reports, but nothing is, as yet, conclusive," says Marzuki Darusman, a member of the investigative team.
Mr. Medan is clearly not your usual Muslim cleric. Chain-smoking, ridden with six bullet wounds, and, surprisingly, ethnic Chinese in a nation where the majority of the Chinese are Christian, he readily admits to having been a major player in Jakarta 's underworld until the early 1990s. His career, he concedes, included armed robbery, racketeering and gambling; it resulted in him spending 18 of his 40 years behind bars.
His life could inspire a script for a Hong Kong gangster film. Born Tan Hok Liang in North Sumatra, Mr. Medan says he was kicked out of his home while still in elementary school. By age 13, he was convicted of killing a man and sent to juvenile jail; Mr. Medan says he caught the man pilfering his hard-earned cash. He animatedly displays how he cut the man with a perforated ice saw.
"This started my life of crime," he says in his cramped home in the heart of Jakarta's Chinatown. The place is the base of his spiritual center that focuses on teaching Islamic doctrines to convicted criminals. He proudly claims to have preached at more than 380 of Indonesia's 424 prisons.
Perhaps his whole life would have been dedicated to the "dark side," Mr. Medan says, if it weren't for two things: jail and a particularly bad month in Las Vegas. He received his spiritual awakening from fellow inmates, he says; the lesson was reinforced by a gambling binge that he says cost him $4.2 million, nine homes, and a villa outside Jakarta. A life of crime "never would have satisfied my family," Mr. Medan says, as he sits near a painting of his six children.
His religious and familial credentials have done little to impress Jakarta police. At least twice during the past two weeks he has been questioned on allegations he helped organize a number of the events that shook Jakarta in mid-May, including the shootings of four students, massive rioting in North Jakarta , and the razing of Chinese tycoon Liem Sioe Liong's home.
Mr. Medan was made a suspect based on early evidence of his involvement in the riots, according to city police spokesman Lt. Colonel Edward Aritonang, local newspapers reported. Others in Jakarta believe Mr. Medan continues to work as a preman, or hoodlum, and say his religous work is used to mask other activities. "Don't be fooled by his antics," says one ethnic- Chinese businessmen who has operations in the Chinatown area.
Mr. Medan says he can see why he would be chosen as a scapegoat. His job keeps him in close contact with scores of criminals; he lives near the worst areas of Jakarta and he has an unsavory past. "It makes perfect sense," he concedes. "But how can a person like me, with only an elementary education, mobilize so many people? Where could I get the money?"
He charges that former Jakarta military commanders are trying to frame him. Members of the government of President B.J. Habibie, who as then-vice president took office after the riots prompted President Suharto to resign, have promised to investigate those responsible for Jakarta 's security at the time of the riots.
Mr. Medan also says he has been accused by police investigators of accepting money from military officers to organize criminals to create havoc, an accusation he says is "totally untrue." The only contact he has had with officers, he says, was an invitation to preach at a military command headquarters -- an invitation he says he refused.
Rather then instigating riots, Mr. Medan says he tried to maintain peace during those fateful days in mid-May. Accompanied by more than 100 of his students and neighbors, he recalls fanning them out into Chinatown to protect Chinese homes and shops. Police counter that these same individuals were actually the culprits, but Mr. Medan says "there's no proof to support this." Responding to the allegation that he led the attack on Mr. Liem's home, Mr. Medan responds: "I don't even know where he lives."
Mr. Medan, in fact, says he remains confident he'll be exonerated. The police "have neither sufficient evidence nor eyewitnesses," he says. And rather than being preoccupied with the charges against him, he now says he's moving to solve another great mystery in Jakarta: reports that hundreds of Chinese women were raped.
But if Mr. Medan wasn't the mastermind behind May's unrest, who was? He says he is convinced that it was a high-ranking military officer, but he adds that his Islamic beliefs prohibit him from naming names. "Making allegations without hard proof is a sin," he says.
Indonesia's chief of police, Lt. General Roesmanhadi has announced that all expressions of opinion through demonstrations, rallies, public meetings and announcements in the mass media or through the Internet by persons or groups that fail to notify the police in advance will be dispersed and regarded as unlawful.
He promised to take "firm measures" on the basis of presidential decree No 2, 1998 recently enacted by President Habibie. The police chief denied that the decree reduced or restricted human rights. The decree had been enacted to improve Indonesia's image in the international community which sees disorderly actions as being unsettling.
Although the decree has provoke wide controversy and has not yet been ratified by parliament, he said that as long as it remains in force, it was the duty of the police to enforce it. He said that old ideas should be stamped out. There had recently been uncontrolled demonstrations which had resulted in destruction of property, looting and rapes that threatened to undermine national unity.
He said that Article 28 of the Constitution does not regulate the expression of opinion which is why the decree has been enacted on 24 July by the president.
Melbourne -- Former Indonesian political prisoner and democracy advocate Sri Bintang Pamungkas said on Thursday his party would contest general elections expected next year, questioning whether new President B.J. Habibie could break the legacy of the former Suharto regime. Sri Bintang said his United Democratic Party of Indonesia would push its platform of giving more power to the provinces, allowing troubled East Timor to vote on self-determination, and removing the military from politics. "We have serious doubts that the promise for political reform will be realised by Mr. Habibie," he told a seminar sponsored by the Australia-Indonesia Legal Defense Foundation.
But he urged international support for Habibies reform efforts and called on his countrys creditors to ease loan terms to help Indonesia through its crippling recession. "Indonesia should expect some leniency from donor countries," he said, calling for easier interest terms and some delayed repayments.
Sri Bintang, jailed last year by then president Suharto on charges of defaming him during a speech in Germany, was one of the first political prisoners released after Suharto resigned and Habibie took office last May. He also called for the president to be elected directly rather than by parliament.
But he added that Indonesias numerous opposition groups might have to link up to challenge the government successfully in an election. "It depends. We make some association among new parties with the same platform, saying, ok, we have to be in association to defend ourselves from [the ruling] Golkar [party] and the old regime coming back," Sri Bintang said.
[On August 2, Dow Jones Newswires reported that Sri Bintang as warning that despite the risk of a crackdown, frustration, anger and hunger would again drive people to protest. "If the government and the cabinet cannot solve the critical problem of the economy, especially the supply of basic needs and medicine, then probably people will be forced to go on the streets again", he said, adding that he doubted whether the government could solve those problems and that Habibie was out of touch with the grass roots - James Balowski.]
Jakarta -- A group of retired generals, former Cabinet ministers and senior politicians pledged Thursday to struggle for more democracy in Indonesia as a united front. The group, calling itself "Barisan Nasional," or national front, declared that a major aim would be to weaken the influence of the ruling Golkar party in the government.
"If the domination of Golkar could be decreased, then the sovereignty will practically be back to the people," said Kemal Idris, a retired army lieutenant general who chairs the front. He told reporters after a ceremony inaugurating the front that the government under new President B.J. Habibie was not much different than its predecessor.
Idris said the forum will monitor all actions of Habibie. "We will support all political parties fighting for total reform, and we insist not to support Golkar," Idris said, adding that the forum has no intention to turn into a political party.
Its secretary-general is Subroto, a former minister of mines and energy and former secretary-general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Also joining the forum was retired army general Edy Sudradjat, who lost the race for the Golkar chairmanship last month to State Secretary Akbar Tandjung. Besides more than 10 retired generals, the forum also was supported by two former Parliament speakers, a number of former Golkar executives and former Cabinet ministers under Suharto.
Vienna -- A massive inflow of foreign money early this year supports suggestions that former Indonesian President Suharto moved billions of dollars to Austrian banks shortly before his downfall, an Austrian business newspaper has said.
Central-bank figures showed the value of investments held by foreign depositors at Austrian banks rose by 93 billion schillings (S$11.9 billion) in the first quarter of this year, the daily Wirtschaftsblatt reported in its Friday edition.
"That was by far the biggest increase ever recorded by the statisticians," the paper said. It added that the figures gave weight to the conclusion of Mr David Hale, chief economist of Switzerland's Zurich Insurance, that Mr Suharto had moved about US$8 billion to Austria. "Apparently their ilk doesn't trust Swiss banks anymore, with the breaching of that country's bank- secrecy laws," he told US business magazine Barron's.
Austrian banks, however, have refused to comment, citing customer confidentiality, newspapers reported on Saturday. An Austrian Finance Ministry official also said on Saturday there was no evidence to suggest Mr Suharto or his family had deposited billions in the country.
Mr Suharto, who resigned in May amid an economic crisis and rioting, denied last month that he had foreign bank accounts and said that charities he set up during his presidency were open to auditors. Austrian banks are required by law to establish the identity of customers involved in transactions worth more than US$16,000.
| Arms/armed forces |
Jakarta -- Eight soldiers have been identified as suspects by an army investigation into the fatal shooting of a student at a pro-independence rally in Indonesias province of Irian Jaya, the official Antara news agency said on Wednesday.
"The eight troops used rifles with bullets that are identical to those found in the victims body," Colonel Hendra Giri, head of the military fact-finding team, was quoted as saying. "This could change depending upon the results of the ongoing investigation of the eight officers. It is possible that only four of them have fired the shots that killed Suripatty."
Law student Steven Suripatty, 22, was shot in the head at the rally at Cenderawasih University, near the provincial capital of Jayapura, on July 3. He died in hospital a few weeks later. Troops had fired into a crowd of separatist protesters that had attacked a plainclothes police officer. The police officer died of his wounds the following day. A high school student was also shot in the knee in the melee.
Several separatist demonstrations were reported in Irian Jaya last month. Non-governmental organisations have said at least seven people were killed in army crackdowns in addition to those who died after the Cenderawasih rally. The army says there were no further deaths.
A low-level separatist insurgency has been under way in Irian Jaya since 1969, when the vast mineral-rich province was incorporated into Indonesia. Separatist protests have mounted in the province since the resignation of former president Suharto on May 21 amid a crippling economic crisis and widespread unrest.
Following a flood of complaints from people in Aceh about years of unrestricted abuses by the security forces and reports of the discovery of nearly a dozen mass graves, the armed forces commander, General Wiranto, made an unscheduled 12-hour visit to Aceh on Friday to accounce the ending of special military operations in the region and the withdrawal of "non-organic" troops from the region within one month.
The ABRI commander was clearly compelled to take speedy action as gruesome reports of the abuses perpetrated in Aceh since the beginning of the decade had begun to appear in the national and international media. With the reputation of ABRI already severely discredited because of the abductions of human rights activists in Java and calls for investigations into the mid-May riots in Jakarta in which army units were clearly implicated, Wiranto was under pressure to respond to persistent calls in Aceh for the region's designation as a "military operations region" to be lifted.
His announcement came after he had joined hundreds of Acehnese in Friday prayers, attended by ulamas and informal leaders.
He said that the abuses were the work of "elements" in the army who had acted "excessively" and apologised to the people of Aceh for the sufferings they had had to endure. He said that security would now be in the hands of the ulama, local leaders, teachers, local government officials and army and police forces based in the region.
He said he had instructed the regional military commander to withdraw all troops brought in from outside within one month and said that he would propose that amnesty be granted to political prisoners who had been convicted or were being held for their alleged involvement with the Free Aceh Movement. This would apply to those who had served two-thirds of their sentences. In actual fact, under normal procedures, prisoners who have served two- thirds of their sentences are eligible for release on parole anyway.
To add to the "good news" packet, he said that Acehnese who had fled abroad could return home. He guaranteed that they would not face prosecution unless they had been involved in "criminal activities". He also said that the term "GPK" -- which stands for Gerakan Pengacau Keamanan or Security Disruptor Gangs -- would no longer be used but would be replaced by "GPL" for "Gerakan Pengacau Liar" or Wild Disruptor Gangs.
While many who were present at the announcement were enthusiastic, even highly emotional, it is far from clear that the move will bring a dramatic change in the situation. Acehnese refugees in Malaysia are unlikely to flood home on the basis of a promise not to prosecute those not involved in criminal activities. Changing the label of the Free Aceh Movement from GPK to GPL is not even a cosmetic change.
The NGOs in Aceh have yet to respond to the ABRI commander's panic move and there will have to be an accounting for the thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of Acehnese who have disappeared, and for the thousands of women who have been widowed, raped and otherwise maltreated.
Grievances in Aceh run deep because of the way in which the natural resources of the region have been exploited for the benefit of Java and the central government.
Wiranto may hope that by complying with the demands of the Acehnese, it will be possible to halt the exposures of the killings, disappearances and rapes that have gone on under the heel of the army. It remains to be seen whether the Acehnese will see things in this light.
Jakarta -- The armed forces promised Friday to begin removing troops from Aceh province, where the military has been accused of killing thousands of people suspected of being separatists in the last decade. The defense minister and armed forces commander, Gen. Wiranto, made a half- day visit to Aceh, the country's westernmost province, 1,000 miles from the capital, in an bid to calm public outrage over decades of military repression under the former government of President Suharto.
"I give one month at the latest for all troops that are not based in the region to be withdrawn and returned to their respective bases," Wiranto was quoted as saying on the state television from the town of Lhokseumawe on the northern coast. He did not say how many troops were stationed in the province of 170,000 people, on the northern tip of Sumatra, Indonesia's largest island.
Wiranto apologized on behalf of the military for the actions of any soldiers whose "excesses may have caused any harm to the people."
The military's special forces unit, Kopassus, has been implicated in many of the disappearances by widows and other relatives who have broken their silence since the resignation of Suharto on May 21. Three high-ranking Kopassus officers, including a Suharto son-in-law, Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto, were suspended this week and are being questioned about the disappearance of dozens of anti-Suharto activists in the capital, 14 of whom are still missing.
The head of the Committee for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, welcomed the military's apology but said it smacked of politics more than progress. "It's too fast to judge if this attitude is anything more than political," said Munir, the head of the group. "The troop withdrawal is important, but the status of the province as a military operational region has to be changed," added Munir, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. He plans to visit the province next week, ahead of plans by human rights groups to begin digging at the suspected burial sites.
Jenny Grant, Jakarta -- The once-untouchable Indonesian general and son-in-law of the former president Soeharto, Lieutenant- General Prabowo Subianto, will be called before a military inquiry for his alleged role in a series of kidnappings, the military announced yesterday.
The Defence Minister and armed forces chief, General Wiranto, said General Prabowo and two other senior officers would be tried before the closed-door Military Honour Council. The council's maximum penalty is dishonourable discharge. "They must be held responsible for their attitude and action which obviously violated the officer's code of honour and damaged the image of the armed forces," General Wiranto said.
General Prabowo, the former head of the Kopassus special forces, headed the army's Strategic Reserve Command when more than 20 activists were abducted and tortured before presidential elections in March. Fourteen political activists are still missing after being abducted by groups of unidentified men. At least four of those kidnapped have publicly accused military members of being involved in their abductions.
The two other senior officers to be brought before the seven- member council are Major-General Muchdi Purwopranjono, the former Kopassus commander, and Colonel Chairawan, who headed a Kopassus intelligence unit. General Wiranto said 10 other Kopassus soldiers being detained for the abductions would be brought before a military court open to the public.
The head of the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence, Mr Munir, rejected the idea of the matter being heard before the Honour Council. "The council symbolises an extra- judicial process," he said. "It is a political decision of the armed forces which is not legally accountable."
General Wiranto and Colonel Prabowo are old rivals. General Wiranto, although close to Mr Soeharto, represented a faction that wanted to see a cleaner, more professional military. Western military sources said General Wiranto decided to drag General Prabowo before the council to boost the military's credibility, preserve his own position and solidify his support.
General Wiranto relieved General Prabowo of his Strategic Reserve post a day after Mr Soeharto resigned on May 21. A Western army attachi said: "Wiranto won the battle then, and with this council he is just twisting the knife and crowning his victory." Other sources said General Wiranto was purging the military of Prabowo supporters.
A foreign military attachi said: "It is not clear whether Prabowo is the anti-Christ who orchestrated everything. There may be a tendency to use the council by senior figures to offload their own sins on him." General Wiranto denied there was a hidden agenda behind the council. "ABRI [the armed forces] wants to transparently and honestly solve several cases connected with the reform era such as the abduction cases, the Trisakti [student killing] cases and the May riots," he said.
The army chief, General Subagyo Hadisiswojo, who was close to General Prabowo in the Soeharto days, will head the Military Honour Council. Indonesian military sources said General Prabowo was being brought before a closed-door council because his evidence could incriminate other senior officers. The former armed forces chief and now Co-ordinating Minister for Politics and Security, General Feisal Tandjung, has denied he had any knowledge of the kidnappings.
[On August 5, the Straits Times reported that the military has leaked the news that Prabowo had been relieved of active duty. The paper said that it was a clear signal that punitive action was seriously being considered should a military-honour council implicate him in the abduction. According to an Antara report on August 4, Wiranto signed the order suspending Prabowo and his successor as Kopassus commander, Lt. General Muchdi, on July 31 - James Balowski.]