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ASIET NetNews Number 36 - September 21-27, 1998
East TimorTroops block protest Land protest spread Students, farmers stage protests
Political/economic crisisNephew of dead rebel claims he is alive Xanana: autonomy is the first step
Labour issuesGovernor arms staff after mass protests Medan farmers to march for land reforms Recovery closer after debt deal Confidence in government on the wane Megawati warns of violence
Human rights/lawNike shareholders reject wage proposal
News & issuesInvestigation team confirms rapes Father Sandyawan's refuge attacked Ratna Sarumpaet ignores police summons
Environment/healthWorld Bank must face the corruption music Suharto wanted to finish Amien Rais off Soeharto threatens as inquiry closes in Suharto's wealth may all be legal
Arms/armed forcesHalf of Indonesia short of food Malnutrition stunts growth of generation
Experts advise separating police from ABRI Prabowo's replacement announced
| Democratic struggle |
Irwan Firdaus, Jakarta -- Students protesting the policies of Indonesia's government demonstrated in three cities today, defying troops sent to put down discontent in the Southeast Asian nation.
Demonstrators clashed with riot police outside the provincial governor's office in Palu, on Sulawesi island, 930 miles northeast of Jakarta, the official Antara news agency reported. At least ten people were injured.
In Indonesia's second-most populous city, Medan, as many as 700 students, workers and farmers protested hardships caused by the country's worst economic crisis in 30 years. Shops in the city, on the island of Sumatra, 870 miles northwest of Jakarta, were closed, although rumors that the protests could turn violent proved unfounded.
Students in the capital, Jakarta, marched along a toll road in front the Parliament today, after troops stopped buses that aimed to take them to the legislature. The action created a huge traffic jam.
At first, some of the 700 students climbed on top of the buses, chanting slogans and waving banners and flags. Later, police relented and students and the buses passed the Parliament and headed toward a nearby university.
The demonstrations were the latest protests against President B.J. Habibie and his government. Most of the protests have been in response to soaring prices and mass unemployment, which have brought misery to millions of Indonesians.
Bogor -- Hundreds of farmers took to the streets yesterday in this West Javanese hill town and in Jakarta to protest against the taking of their land by real estate and golf course developers, witnesses said.
"Give the land back to the people," read posters carried by some 200 members of the Indonesian Farmer's Solidarity (STI) in Bogor, who also accused former President Suharto of kicking them off their land to build a cattle ranch. The group picketted the sub- district governor's office in drizzling rain.
The protesters claimed that in 1974, former President Suharto had forced farmers off their land with little compensation to build the sprawling "Tapos" cattle ranch near Bogor.
In Jakarta, about 60 policemen and 30 soldiers watched in the rain as 300 farmers danced and sang to the beat of traditional drums in front of the Parliament complex. It was the second consecutive day of farmers' protests. On Wednesday, similar protests were staged in Sumatra and Bali.
Jakarta - Students and farmers staged street rallies in several Indonesian cities on Wednesday despite the massive presence of security forces, witnesses said.
Hundreds of security forces Wednesday prevented busloads of students from approaching the national parliament building to demand that prices be lowered and that President B.J. Habibie hand over power to a transitional body. At least 300 riot police, armed military police and soldiers formed a thick cordon inside and outside the entrance of the parliament complex here, while some 500 students crowding six buses were immobilized at a nearby tollway. They were later joined by other protestors swelling the ranks of demonstrators to around 1,000 by mid afternoon.
In Padang, the capital of the province of West Sumatra, two separate demonstrations took place peacefully as hundreds of policemen watched, a witness said. Some 200 members of the Farmers' Forum of West Sumatra for Land justice, protested at the land affairs' office demanding that the government quickly resolve disputes between farmers and private companies in the province. About 100 members of the Student Alliance for Reform also protested in Padang, to demand the resignation of mayor Zuiyen Rais over allegations of corruption, the witness added.
In the North Sumatran city of Medan, still recovering from a mass strike by thousands of public transport drivers and owners last week, thousands of farmers and students demonstrated at the governor's office, a resident said. The farmers demanded the return of land grabbed by private companies with the backing of the autorities in the past, the resident said. "The North Sumatra governor's office is still occupied by the protestors," a police officer at the city's station who identified himself only as Situmorang told AFP, adding more than 200 police were deployed there. In Jakarta, security authorities blocked the main avenue and a tollway in front of the parliament and prevented buses carrying the students from leaving the tollway to approach the main gate. The students, from the Forum Kota that gathers 39 universities in Jakarta and its surroundings, demonstrated on the tollway, waving the national flag and distributing leaflets with their demand: "Lower down prices and form the Indonesian People's Committee."
"Only with the committee or a form of presidium or a coalition government can the crisis of the transition period be overcome," the leaflets said. "Investigate thoroughly cases of abduction, shooting and rapes," one poster said Another read: "Habibie plus (military chief) Wiranto equals Suharto," and "Return ABRI (the armed forces)'s role as soldiers of the people."
Two truckloads disgorged some 100 marines to reinforce the guard in front of the parliament, witnesses said. General Wiranto threatened firm action against protests last week but the warning has been ignored, with students continuing their almost daily action, including in front of the parliament.
Earlier Wednesday, some 150 alumni of the state-owned University Indonesia gathered at their Central Jakarta campus, demanding the government rid itself immediately of corruption.
Sri Edi Swasono, an economist and former government official, said the direction of Indonesia's reform has become unclear since the fall of ex-president Suharto on May 21 amid mounting public pressure for him to step down. "Reform has become deformed," he said over the loudspeaker in the university courtyard. He said Habibie's cabinet had lost track and "are confused themselves."
| East Timor |
Dili -- The nephew of an independence rebel leader has charged the Indonesian military were holding the former Fretelin commander and demanded his release, a copy of a statement said here Sunday.
The nephew of David Alex, claimed he was not shot dead and buried as claimed by the Indonesian armed forces in March, 1997, according to a letter dated Thursday and addressed to Indonesian armed forces chief General Wiranto. "In such an era of reform, the military should be brave and come forward and release David Alex ...if not they should show us his dead body," said the letter, a copy of which was sent to the Voices of East Timor (STT) newspaper.
The suspicion Alex was still alive was aired only after the resignation of president Suharto on May 21 who passed the presidency to his then deputy B.J. Habibie.
The letter, signed by Alex's nephew, Manuel Mira, said there were inconsistencies in the acccounts of the "death" of his uncle, and the family's suspicions rose because of the lack of involvement of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the burial. Copies of the letter were also sent to Amnesty International, the ICRC and to the Roman Catholic church in East Timor.
East Timor military regional commander Colonel Suhartono Suratman on Saturday denied the charges Alex was still alive and being kept in a military jail.
Jakarta -- East Timor can use Indonesia's offer of autonomy to the former Portuguese colony to create a "climate of tolerance" to prepare for self-determination, says resistance leader Xanana Gusmao.
In an interview with AFP -- the answers were smuggled out of Jakarta's Cipinang jail where he is serving a 20 year sentence -- Xanana said East Timorese want an immediate referendum but that conditions are not yet ripe. "Our people have already suffered too much over the past 23 years," he said in his replies, written in Portuguese and dated September 16 and delivered to AFP late Friday.
"We accept autonomy as a run-up to a referendum. A period of transition will create a climate of political tolerance and wipe out the last vestiges of the legacy of vengeance and hatred," said Xanana, the president of the Timorese National Council of Resistance.
According to Xanana, Indonesia's decision to enter into detailed discussions with Portugal on autonomy for the territory annexed by Jakarta in 1976 signifies "no concession" on the part of Indonesian authorities. "Jakarta is just firing its last rounds of ammunition ...but we will always hold to our right to self determination and national independence. And the last word belongs to our people," Xanana said.
The resistance leader believes that "you cannot expect anything rational or constructive" from Indonesia's current President B.J. Habibie and his "so called reform's government". "Jakarta creates ridiculous situations for itself. For example on the one hand I have not been freed because I am classified as a common criminal, and on the other hand my freedom depends on an overall solution," to the East Timor problem.
"But while Jakarta cannot stop me recieving visitors who come to talk with me on the East Timor problem," he said, refering to visits he has received in prison from UN representatives and South African President Nelson Mandela, "Habibie would not be very comfortable if one day he had to enter talks with a prisoner."
Xanana said he felt the presence of the UN in the territory when Timorese were drawn into negotiations on their future would be "vital." "The Indonesian government lies and no one trusts it. The propaganda of a troop withdrawal from East Timor is the latest deception that Jakarta tried to pull on the world."
In fact, according to Xanana, it was "a routine troop rotation which allowed the Indonesians to bring into the territory" 7,000 more troops. In addition "two thousand of them crossed the border, and launched an operation from Maliana and Balibo in the direction of Hatulia, Ermera and Atsabe and continued on to Aileu, Ainaro and Same towards the heart of the territory.
"At the same time 5,000 men who entered through Kou and Los Palos, pushed out to the east passing through Lore, Iliomar, Baguai and Watu Karbau and went on through Vikeke and Ossu also towards the center."
"This shows that the UN must deploy peace keepers (like the New Zealand troops in Bougainville), and also a police force including Timorese." The disarming of repressive paramilitary forces and the situation of the resistance forces will depend on the presence of UN troops, he said. "They (the UN) could also monitor the situation on the border to prevent ABRI (the Indonesian armed forces) from incursions to try to destabilize the territory," he said.
"Other UN organizations such as UNICEF and UNESCO, the FAO and the UNHCR should also be represented in the territory "to help the people rebuild" their country, he said.
| Political/economic crisis |
Jenny Grant -- Faced with increasing demonstrations, the Governor of North Sumatra has armed hundreds of his staff with rattan sticks.
Governor Rizal Nurdin ordered 600 of his 1,124 employees to be issued with rattan and wooden sticks to protect their colleagues and offices. "This is done in self-defence, to defend the Governor's office and to guard our self-respect," said Rida Amran Siregar, of the Governor's office.
Mr Siregar said half of the workers would be issued with 1.5 metre-long sticks. The others were free to bring weapons from home, he said. "The important thing is it [the weapon] cannot be made from metal or be a sharp article," he said in the daily Kompas newspaper.
The Governor's office has, in recent weeks, been deluged by thousands of students, farmers and drivers protesting against corruption and the rising prices of food and spare parts.
Yesterday, thousands of farmers protested peacefully in the heavily secured capital, Medan, urging the Government to return land that was taken from them. Last week a strike by 2,000 minibus drivers near the Governor's office in Medan led to the looting of shopping centres.
Civil servants around the country have been targeted in violence since former president Suharto fell from power in May. Crowds destroyed five local government vehicles in the town of Sumenep, on Madura island, on Monday after their applications for housing credit were ignored.
In other recent cases, hundreds of villagers in Bekasi, near Jakarta, destroyed the local regent's office in protest against an unfair election. Last month, residents on the holiday island of Lombok pelted the regional council offices with stones after alleged corruption at the ballot box.
Shoeb Kagda, Medan -- Indonesia's third largest city is bracing itself for further social unrest as between 2,000 and 3,000 farmers are expected to march to the provincial governor's office today demanding land reforms. The farmers are asking the state government to return to them about 100,000 hectares of land currently owned by state plantation company PTPN 2 and appropriated under the New Order government of former president Suharto.
The demonstration, said the director of the Institute of Legal Aid, Kusbianto, is planned to coincide with National Agricultural Day tomorrow. "We are optimistic that the government will return the land because the farmers form a powerful lobby group and especially since the land was acquired through collusion."
Coming a week after more than 10,000 transport workers demonstrated for a reduction in the price of auto spare parts and food, which led to rioting in the city centre, residents of Medan expressed concern over the escalating social unrest. "Medan is a hot spot for social discontent and the events which led to the downfall of Suharto began here," said Fauzie Yusuf Hasibuan, head of the local chapter of the Indonesian Bar Association. "But while we want the demonstrations to be peaceful, many other elements are inciting social unrest."
He said that in addition to food, the major issue in North Sumatra amongst the local populace was widespread corruption and the illegal appropriation of land. Many North Sumatrans, he noted, are unhappy about the strict control of the province's resources exercised by the central government in Jakarta.
Much of North Sumatra is controlled by large plantation companies which grow palm oil, rubber and cocoa. These companies have benefited from the 80 per cent fall in the value of the rupiah against the greenback as their export earnings have soared.
But little of this money has found its way back to the local farmers who continue to eke out a living growing vegetables on small plots or working for the plantation companies. Average daily wage in the province is about 6,000 rupiah (S$0.94), lower than the 10,000 rupiah in Jakarta.
With the economic crisis deepening, causing the prices of basic necessities to rise significantly, mass looting of warehouses, shops and businesses owned by the ethnic Chinese minority has been reported. "Most Chinese are very worried but are staying put for the moment," said one Medan-based Chinese businessman. He added that many local Chinese families were also experiencing economic hardship and could not afford to leave every time there was unrest. "We are preparing for the worst but hoping for the best," he said. "But if there is mass rioting and women are raped again, many of us will leave Medan and the country for good."
Like most of Indonesia's urban centres, ethnic Chinese dominate the economy and form the backbone of the distribution system. Many of them supply machinery and spare parts to the bigger agricultural companies, as well as run medium-sized retail outlets dealing in goods ranging from steel pipes, electronic items, jewellery, foodstuff and garments.
A local banker with an international bank told BT that many of his Chinese customers have transferred their capital overseas and are reducing their business exposure. "Most Chinese businessmen want to concentrate on growing their business but with so many rumours of social unrest, their main preoccupation is the safety of their families, especially their wives and daughters."
He said there has also been a dramatic slowdown in the amount of foreign investment flowing into the region as most investors have adopted a conservative approach.
Paris -- Indonesia took another step on its long road to recovery on Wednesday when it agreed to reschedule $4.2 billion in foreign debt and received a new endorsement of its economic reforms from the IMF. The debt deal agreed with the Paris Club, part of an International Monetary Fund backed bailout programme, should relieve pressure on Indonesia's battered rupiah by boosting the government's finances in the short term.
Creditors agreed to reschedule $4.2 billion in payments due up to March 2000 under the deal, the Paris Club said. Indonesia's economy is still a wreck, with output expected to fall about 15 percent this year, but officials in Paris said on Wednesday there was some light on the horizon.
"Output is falling, inflation is high, the exchange rate is over-depreciated, unemployment is high, IMF director for the Asia-Pacific region Hubert Neiss said. "However the policies the government has agreed to put in place are making progress and the (IMF) programme, which is monitored monthly, is fully on track," he said.
This meant the IMF would be able to pay on time the next $1 billion tranche, due shortly, in the IMF bail-out, bringing total payments to $7 billion.
Analysts said the rescheduling deal with the Paris Club would help the world's perception of Indonesia and could lead to a return of foreign capital in the medium term. "This is probably just another factor that is going to put us back on the road to recovery further down the line," Standard Chartered Economist Mitul Kotecha told Reuters Television.
Since its crisis started in mid-1997, Indonesia has imposed a tight monetary policy matched with an expansionary budget, a policy mix meant to curb inflation while subsidising basic needs and preparing the way for an economic recovery.
But that rebound is only partly in Jakarta's hands. "We expect a recovery next year. How pronounced the turnaround becomes depends on factors outside of Indonesia's control such as the economic situation in neighbouring countries and how strong Japan's recovery is," he said.
Indonesia's top economics minister Ginandjar Kartasasmita said he expected the economy to improve next year but that growth would not return until 2000. "In 1999 the situation will improve. If we can get zero growth, we will be making substantial progress from the current 15 percent negative growth," he said. Ginandjar said the Indonesian currency was gaining strength as predicted. The Indonesian budget assumes a rupiah/dollar exchange rate of 10,000 by the end of the year. "We are well on the way, and we hope we can break through the 10,000 mark," he said. The rupiah was at 10,950 per dollar on Wednesday.
Paris Club chairman Francis Mayer said this week's debt relief deal would help Indonesia return to economic growth. The Paris Club deal rescheduled payments due until March 2000 on a total $52 billion debt owed by the Indonesian government and state companies to official creditors.
Export credits were rescheduled for 11 years with three years' grace, while soft loans were rescheduled over 20 years with five years' grace. For legal reasons, Japan opted to provide some $2 billion in new money instead of following the traditional rescheduling process. It will receive the debt repayments on time, but match these with new money offered on the same terms.
Ginandjar also said Jakarta would soon start talks on the rescheduling of official debt owed to commercial banks. The deal will cover payments totalling $263 million due up to March 2000, on Indonesian government and public sector debt to commercial banks of $1.8 billion. These deals however leave unresolved the treatment of a further $80 billion owed by private sector companies. Indonesia's total external debt, owed by public and private bodies to official and private creditors is $134 billion.
Jakarta -- Deeper instability is threatening Indonesia as confidence in the four-month-old government of President B.J. Habibie wanes, analysts say.
The brief initial euphoria which greeted the fall of veteran leader Suharto who held this nation together in an iron grip for 32 years has now turned to disillusionment and anger as the country sinks deeper into economic turmoil and hopes for a fast move towards democracy recede.
Despite firm warnings from the military, Indonesia has in the past month seen a resurgence of almost daily street protests against the government and its policies, the armed forces' role in politics and soaring prices. And economic pressures have led to widespread looting and pillaging of businesses, plantations and rice warehouses, as well as violent rioting in towns with no past history of unrest.
"Either Habibie has to drastically reshuffle his cabinet, or he will go under because of the uncontrollable unrest," political observer and leading columnist Mochtar Buchori said.
Hendardi, the executive director of the Indonesian Association for Legal Aid and Human Rights was even more blunt. "The only hope is for the current government to be replaced," he said. "These are all signs of a crisis of authority for the government. The government no longer inspires authority, but instead has managed only to show its incompetence," Buchori said.
Besides lacking legitimacy in the eyes of much of the population, its own dilly-dallying in handling various aspects of promised economic and political reforms has further weakened its position. "No one trusts this government any more," Buchori said. How could people put their confidence in a government which has repeatedly gone back on its own words, with officials contradicting each other publicly, he said.
Hendardi said the government will continue to be plagued by doubts about its legitimacy in the coming months. "This is a government that was the result of a 'passing of the baton' of power and not the product of democratic succession," Hendardi said
Habibie, as then vice-president was handed power by the resigning Suharto on May 21, without a convention of the nation's highest legislative body, the People's Consultative Assembly, as the constitution stipulates.
The argument prevailing in the early days of Habibie's presidency -- that the new government be allowed to prove itself first -- was no longer valid, Hendardi said. He said that escalating protests and unrest was only to be expected. "This is a manifestation of the people's dissatisfaction that after more than three decades of structural injustice (under Suharto) the government has been unable to rapidly respond to remedy it," he said. "The people have no guarantee, or even the prospect of a guarantee that there will be an improvement in the economic and political situation," he added.
Both pointed to contradictory government moves, in politics and the economy. They cited the pledge to release political prisoners and the slow pace and selective nature of its implementation, and the announcement of a plan to probe Suharto's wealth that was quickly followed by a ministerial statement stressing the probe would be a mere "clarification."
They also cited a lack of transparency in dealing with the supply and provision of essentials, including rice, which has been blamed for aggravating shortages and soaring prices. "No competence, no direction, result in no authority. With no authority, how can the government try to impose order?," Hendardi said.
The armed forces, traditionally a strong binding force for the nation, have also increasingly come under attack for past abuses, and their political role is now subject to mounting opposition. "The military is now too busy redefining themselves, don't expect much," Buchori said.
Armed forces chief General Wiranto said there were "certain sides" taking advantage of the current reform drive to do everything without regard for legal constraints and the national interest, the Pelita daily said Saturday. He said this disturbed the government's program for overcoming the crisis. "Therefore, let us join forces with the people and all components of the society to overcome the problems faced by the nation," Wiranto said.
Bombay -- Indonesian opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri said the country could break out into a fresh bout of violence if the government dithered on its plan to hold elections or tried to keep her out of the polls.
"What I am struggling (to achieve) and also my people is that we are trying to have our rights without violence," said Megawati, who political analysts say has a good chance of being elected president. "...many people are trying to create anger, so some violence can happen and this will destroy everything that we built for so many years," she told Reuters in an interview late on Saturday. She is in Bombay to receive an award for outstanding contribution to international understanding given by the Priyadarshni Academy, a social service organisation.
"I have supporters -- more than 20 million so you can imagine if the government is still very stubborn and not give us a chance in the general elections," she said. Megawati said her supporters, especially students, would occupy parliament if the government failed to recognise her faction before November 10, 1998, when the MPR, the highest constitutional body, is due to hold a special session to fix a date for elections.
"The next three months will be very critical in Indonesia, especially as we approach the People's Assembly," she said. Megawati could launch a new party but is worried that if she revealed her hand first, Habibie could draft rules that keep her out of the polls.
Habibie has said new laws governing political parties and general elections would be ready in August. The Jakarta Post said this weekend the drafts would be submitted to parliament on Wednesday.
Megawati said she would decide on her course of action after meeting with her supporters on the resort island of Bali next month. "That's where (we will ask members) what next we (should) do. We still have our own party or we go through a new party, especially because we have no standard regulations," she said.
The official wing of the PDI elected its new leader last month at its annual congress which had to be cut short because of clashes with pro-Megawati supporters. Megawati is still fighting a court case trying to prove she was unlawfully ousted as head of PDI, with government collusion.
Megawati said she supported moves to investigate corruption in Indonesia, including the probe against the Suharto family whose wealth is estimated by some to be as much as $40 billion.
Indonesia was going through a very critical phase now because a combination of political and economic problems had enraged people, she said. The near collapse of the country's economy, which had led to massive unemployment and impoverished thousands, was causing severe unrest in her country of 200 million people, she said. "The people have a hunger that is now increasing."
| Labour issues |
William Mccall -- Nike shareholders on Wednesday rejected a proposal to tie executive compensation more closely to the wages that are paid at the company's contract factories in Asia.
Chairman Phil Knight, who made $1.7 million in salary alone last year, promised more improvements and independent monitoring of conditions at its Asian factories, where some workers make $20 month. "I think what is happening is that Nike has been made the poster boy of the global economy," Knight told shareholders at the company's annual meeting in Memphis, Tenn.
Earlier at the meeting, a shareholder today asked Nike to boost its wages in Asia to improve the shoe giant's image and maintain its stock value. "Across the United States these days there are a lot of children who are not looking on Nike in a favorable fashion," John Harrington, a California investment manager, said at the shareholder's meeting.
Harrington introduced the proposal on behalf of Jeanne Henry, a Portland, Ore., shareholder, who last year told Nike Chairman Phil Knight that her 12-year-old daughter was boycotting the company because of its labor practices at contractor factories in southeast Asia.
Nike has been repeatedly criticized for the low wages and working conditions in its Asian factories, which the company has taken steps to improve.
Harrington said that Knight earned 5,273 times the annual pay of the average worker in Nike shoe factories last year. Average executive pay in Japan is about 16 times the average worker's, and in Germany it's about 21 times as large, he said. Harrington cited a survey that indicated the survival wage in Indonesia for a single female workers is $35 per month. The average Nike worker is paid 80 cents a day, or $20 per month.
The shareholder proposal calls for Nike to more closely link executive pay to financial performance. It notes that the company already links pay to performance, and that Nike has constantly improved labor practices.
| Human rights/law |
Jakarta -- The government-sponsored fact-finding team investigating the May riots asserted on Monday that, despite some officials' denials, sexual assaults and rapes did take place in the unrest in Jakarta and other cities which also left 1,200 people dead and led to the downfall of former president Soeharto.
"We confirmed to the government that sexual assaults including rapes occurred during the May riots," team chairman Marzuki Darusman told reporters after meeting Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces (ABRI) Commander Gen. Wiranto, Minister of Justice Muladi and State Minister of Women's Affairs Tutty Alawiyah at the Ministry of Justice.
Wiranto, Muladi and Tutty were among the six officials who signed the decree on the team's establishment on July 23rd. The other three officials were Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid, Attorney General Andi Muhammad Ghalib and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas.
When asked to elaborate on the basis of the team's statement Marzuki said the 19-member team had "access" to sources of information about the sexual assaults during the riots. He also admitted that a number of team members had met with victims of the sexual assaults and rapes. "We will convey the complete report (of sexual assaults and rapes during the riots) when we announce our final report in October. "The important thing is we want to assure that these things have happened and this is accepted by the government," added Marzuki.
The team met the ministers on Monday to deliver an interim report of its investigation into the May riots, during which security was allegedly nonexistent. Activists, including those in the Volunteers for Humanity led by Catholic priest Sandyawan Sumardi, have said that 168 women and children were raped or sexually assaulted during the riots, 2 0 of whom died or committed suicide. Sandyawan is one of the team members.
Officials, including National Police chief Lt. Gen. Roesmanhadi, have since said they had not found any evidence to substantiate the alleged figures.
Wiranto said last week that ABRI had found no evidence to substantiate such claims either. On Monday, however Wiranto declined to elaborate on why he made such a statement. "There has not been any conclusion ...just wait for another month as the investigation is still being conducted," Wiranto said after attending the two-hour meeting.
Minister of Justice Muladi said on Monday that statements doubting the reports of sexual assaults and rapes during the riots were because of enormous public pressure on the government. "Those are individuals' statements because they felt that they had been cornered by the international community and the Indonesian public. "We, both the government and the team, now realize that we must be careful in making statements " Muladi added. The National Commission on Human Rights said in July that it was convinced the rapes and sexual assaults during the riots were perpetrated systematically by unidentified groups of people.
The violence sparked an international outcry and ethnic Chinese communities in several countries have held protests at Indonesian missions to demand a thorough inquiry and trial of those responsible.
The government-established team that includes representatives from ABRI, government agencies, the rights body and non- governmental organizations is investigating allegations that the riots were masterminded. The team is expected to complete its task by Oct. 23.
It was the Volunteers for Humanity that first reported that the May 13 to May 15 rioting was incited by people who appeared to have been well organized. Data from the group said 1,190 people died after being trapped and burned during fires and 27 died from gunshot wounds. Thirty-one people are classified as missing and 91 were wounded.
On Wednesday, 16 September a centre where street children are given refuge under the care of Father Sandyawan Sumardi was attacked for two hours in the middle of the night by a gang calling themselves the Mosque Youth. They started kicking and beating the children as they were still sleeping, alleging that one of them had stolen a spy-mirror from a car and demanding that Father Sandyawan replace the "stolen property" by paying five million rupiahs.
They also accused Sandyawan and his Volunteer Team of spreading lies about the raping of Chinese women in May this year and accused the priest of being the rapist and of deliberately spreading false information in order to incriminate others.
Father (Romo) Sandyawan has faced threats and intimidation for some time and is having to sleep away from home for his own safety. The Team and Romo Sandyawan himself have been under extremely heavy pressure from the government and from other circles who are desperate to discredit the exposure of the rapes that took place in May. The situation has been further aggravated by a report published by Sidney Jones of the New York-based Human Rights Watch which cast doubt on the findings of the Team investigating the rapes.
She insists on checking on the rape victims herself without realising that the Team had given a strict undertaking not to expose the victims to further investigation and without accepting the need for a holistic approach to the victims. Romo Sandyawan and his Team need our prayers and support to tide them through these difficult times.
[Translated and summarised by Tapol]
Ratna Sarumpaet ignored a police summons which ordered her to appear for questioning today. But the Jakarta police are insisting that she should appear so the director of the Satu Merah Theatre Group received a second summons today ordering her to appear on Monday, 21 September.
The summons relates to a meeting of the National Dialogue for Democracy held from 15-17 August at Hotel Indonesia. Initially the event was to have been held at Manggala Wana Bhakti but this was not permitted as it clashed with President Habibie's speech to Parliament on 16 August, so the venue was switched to Hotel Indonesia.
The National Dialogue drew up a statement which referred to B.J. Habibie as someone not suitable to be president. This remark is now deemed to be offensive to the head of state and Ratna as the person responsible for the meeting was summoned by the police to be questioned as a witness.
But Ratna is unwilling to respond to the summons. 'Wait a minute,' she said. The summons refers to her as a witness but she thinks that this is just a ruse to put her in gaol.
| News & issues |
Jeffrey A. Winters, Chicago, Illinois -- At the end of July 1997, the World Bank's country director, Dennis de Tray, and the vice president for East Asia and the Pacific region, Jean-Michel Severino, issued an angry press release denying that a large portion of the bank's loan funds routinely leaked into the hands of corrupt officials in the Indonesian government.
They were responding directly to a media conference in Jakarta which revealed that several World Bank officials estimated in interviews that roughly a third of the money provided by the bank was stolen. In his zeal to defend the World Bank and his own role as Indonesian country director, de Tray characterized the media conference as dishonest, saying it had "misrepresented" the bank's work on behalf of the Indonesian people. Severino said the bank had checked the accusations and had "found nothing to support such an estimate". This in itself was odd because it was the bank's officials themselves who did the estimates.
The denial from these two top World Bank officials was a calculated effort to mislead the public about the bank's collusive relationship with the Soeharto government. It was full of claims that were not only false, but carefully worded to deflect criticism and accountability away from the bank.
The bank's press release said it was "demonstrably untrue" that so much money was being stolen and bank staff "know exactly" where loan money went. The truth is that the bank could not "demonstrate" anything because its staff never bothered, in their decades of work in the country, to collect the sort of information that would be needed to show exactly where the money was going. It was part of a global pattern of "don't ask, don't tell" of the bank.
The release also made the following false claim: "We do not tolerate corruption in our programs. On this principle there is no compromise." The fact is precisely the opposite, which is why Wolfensohn has felt pressured to hire a team of forensic accountants to find out how much corruption has been tolerated in the past.
In the release, Severino was so eager to silence any criticism of the bank's role in facilitating corruption by doing nothing about it that he even praised the Soeharto government as a model partner in development. "We have had a small number of projects rated unsatisfactory," he allowed, "but Indonesia retains one of the best records of successful project implementation of any of our client countries across the developing world."
The release from these two high-ranking bank officials was like a giant squid squirting ink into the water. They felt there was danger, and they did not want anyone to be able to see clearly.
Slightly more than a year has passed since these misleading statements were made, and it is no longer possible for de Tray and Severino to credibly spout such empty praise. Thanks to a secret document leaked by a conscientious staff member of the bank, we now know the accusations in the 1997 media conference did not "misrepresent" the bank's operations in Indonesia. As top officials of the bank in Washington, D.C. and Jakarta were issuing false denials in their media releases and public statements, others inside the system were drafting confidential memoranda supporting the estimates of staggering corruption of bank funds.
Most recently in the pages of The Jakarta Post, de Tray and Severino spoke up again on the topic of corruption. But this time the tone was different. Instead of outrage over accusations that bank funds were being stolen, they sheepishly said the whole issue of corruption raised "awkward questions". These included how could so much bank money disappear into private pockets? According to Severino and de Tray, finding this out is not "what really matters", but instead everyone should focus on what a big problem corruption is in Indonesia and start working to solve it.
De Tray and Severino offer the same old World Bank response -- solve it through yet another structural adjustment loan. When I showed this to a former World Bank official who spent most of his career witnessing systematic corruption in the bank's projects, his response was to call the move "pathetic". "It's evident we still have a way to go", he added, in getting World Bank officials to confront corruption seriously and honestly. A structural adjustment loan to Indonesia from the bank gives the false impression that the problem of corruption lies with Indonesia and with other client countries. In fact, the problem is also inside the bank itself, in its procedures, culture, arrogance and unwillingness to take responsibility for protecting the money it lends, especially in places where the population receiving the debt has virtually no hope of protecting it from military-backed dictators. The bank can try to structurally adjust Indonesia, but who is going to structurally adjust the bank?
It is irresponsible and disingenuous of the bank's officials to cover up past practices by urging everyone to be forward-looking and solution-oriented. For the ordinary citizens of Indonesia who will have to pay back the country's debt for decades to come, it is understandable if they might want to slow down and determine first whether the amount stolen was 20 percent, or 30 percent, or even higher. As the ones who must repay the debt from the sweat of their labor, the Indonesian people have a right to know how much the bank's staff knew about leakage into the bureaucracy and how long they knew it.
Total World Bank loans to Indonesia as of the fall of Soeharto in May were nearly $30 billion. If one-third of this money did not go to Indonesian projects but was instead diverted into private pockets and private bank accounts, and if World Bank officials knew this was occurring, then the Indonesian people should have their debt burden reduced by almost $10 billion.
Put another way, if the World Bank allowed corrupt officials to steal roughly $10 billion in sovereign loan funds and even praised the country as a model client, then it should be up to the World Bank to track down and recover the corrupted funds. The bank let them take the money, so it should be the bank's responsibility and burden to get it back. If the Indonesian people only received 70 percent of each development dollar from the World Bank, then why should they have to pay back 100 percent plus interest? Who had the power to stop the stealing and corruption? Citizens who criticized government officials faced intimidation or worse, and thus their silence and inaction was understandable. But what excuse does the World Bank have for its silence and inaction?
It is time for the bank's officials in Jakarta and Washington, D.C. to stop grandstanding, issuing misleading statements and trying to change the subject to avoid culpability. The fight against corruption should start at home for the bank, and it means recognizing that for decades the leadership at the World Bank actively cooperated with the Soeharto regime even though they knew a significant portion of the money delivered for development was being stolen. The initiative to forgive $10 billion in World Bank debt for Indonesia should come from the bank itself. But if the bank tries to shirk its responsibilities and does not take the lead, then the Indonesian people would be completely justified if they refused to honor the $10 billion in debt they never received.
[The writer is a professor in political economy at Northwestern University in Chicago.]
Jakarta -- It has now been revealed that in his final days as president, Suharto ordered armed forces commander General Wiranto to finish off the reform leader, Amien Rais, along with thousands of students who had planned to march to the presidential palace to call for his resignation. This was revealed by a member of his personal staff, Prof Dr. Yusril Ihza Mahendra, speaking at a seminar in Jakarta recently.
On 20 March, the day before he resigned, Suharto ordered Wiranto to instruct the 1,500 troops guarding the streets leading to the palace to replace their rubber bullets with live ammunition. If Amien Rais and the students persisted in trying to get through, live ammunition should be used against them.
Fortunately, Amien Rais decided not to go ahead even though the students were pressing him to continue with the plans. "I know for sure that 1,500 troops were ready for action. Suharto issued an order to Wiranto to instruct the troops to replace their rubber bullets with live ammunition. If Amien Rais had persisted in the plans to march from the National Monument (in central Jakarta) to the State Palace, the troops would have opened fire. This would have been a massacre far worse than what happened in Tiananmien," he said.
Yusril, who was at the time a speech writer for Suharto, told the seminar that, under the circumstances and to prevent terrible bloodshed, he decided to take the path of persuading Suharto to resign. He said that he was the one who wrote Suharto's resignation speech.
Louise Williams, Jakarta -- Indonesia's former president has threatened to sue those claiming he abused his power to amass a personal fortune during his 32-year rule. Mr Soeharto issued the warning after his first meeting with the two senior officials charged with investigating his wealth.
The Attorney-General, Mr Andi Ghalid, announced yesterday that he and the Minister for Administrative Reform, Mr Hartarto Sastrosoenarto, had visited Mr Soeharto at his home on Monday night to clear up issues under investigation.
Mr Ghalid said the former president had repeated his denial that he held any bank accounts, other money or assets outside the country, and promised to submit a register of his personal wealth within Indonesia to the Habibie Government. "If there is any evidence from anybody that he has an account outside the country, the name of the bank should be declared," Mr Ghalid said.
He said Mr Soeharto had promised to sign a power of attorney to allow a full investigation of all his accounts. Mr Soeharto told Mr Ghalid that if any money was found deposited under his name it did not belong to him, and the persons who deposited the funds should be charged. "Until now we still have no evidence that would make Soeharto a suspect in this investigation," Mr Ghalid told reporters. "If the reports about his wealth are not proved then he will take legal action against those who have made the claims, he will sue them."
The growing calls for an investigation into the Soeharto family's wealth are a major headache for the Government. The President, Dr B.J. Habibie, was one of Mr Soeharto's closest friends and has been widely criticised for enjoying business advantages under his rule.
Analysts fear the investigation will fail to trace the fortunes of the former president and his six wealthy children because too many members of the Habibie administration benefited from what is known as KKN -- an acronym of local terms for corruption, collusion and nepotism.
"It will be very difficult to prove anything and everyone's hands are dirty, so Habibie is moving very, very slowly," said a Jakarta-based diplomat. "He has to show he means business, but I think Soeharto is throwing out a challenge to Habibie -- if he pushes him too hard, Soeharto will come up with evidence Habibie also benefited." Some estimates put the wealth of the Soeharto family as high as $66 billion but other say it is only about $6.5 billion.
Michael Richardson and Philip Segal, Singapore -- As official Indonesian investigators prepare to question former President Suharto for the first time this week about his wealth, experts are cautioning that any criminal wrongdoing will be hard to prove and that the tracing and recovery of money and assets will be equally difficult, especially if they are outside Indonesia.
Weaknesses and loopholes in the country's legal system and the fact that Mr. Suharto in effect ruled by decree for much of his 32 years in power -- with a compliant legislature to rubber-stamp his actions -- mean that all his actions are likely to be technically legal, lawyers and other specialists say.
"Before international accountants and investigators can do their work, they need clear proof that laws were broken," said Jeffrey Winters, a political scientist at Northwestern University in Chicago and a specialist on Indonesia. "No wonder Suharto, his family members, and other cronies have the confidence to declare that they have done nothing wrong as they enriched themselves."
Even though they amassed fortunes worth billions of dollars, he said, "The sad truth is that Indonesian laws might be so weak that legally speaking, their claims of innocence could be true."
In proclaiming her father's innocence, the eldest daughter of Mr. Suharto was quoted as saying in the Indonesian daily newspaper Kompas on Saturday that as president he had always given an account of his actions at the end of each of his terms in office, as required by the constitution. "So if he is to be questioned, what aspect does the government plan to look at?" asked the daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana.
Like Mr. Suharto's five other children, Mrs. Rukmana used her connections to the government to develop her business interests during Mr. Suharto's rule. So did many others in Indonesia's elite circle of power, patronage and influence, including high- ranking civilian and military officials who are still in the administration and armed forces. Mrs. Rukmana heads the Citra Marga conglomerate, which controls toll roads in Indonesia and several other Asian countries.
Analysts say that the wealth of Mr. Suharto's family runs into billions of dollars. Some estimates go as high as $40 billion, approaching the amount that the International Monetary Fund, drawing on loans from foreign governments and financial institutions, is pumping into the world's fourth-most-populous country to try to keep its economy from collapsing. Critics say that as president, Mr. Suharto issued at least 57 decrees and regulations favoring the businesses of his children, grandchildren and friends.
Public pressure on the government of President B.J. Habibie to bring Mr. Suharto, his family and business associates to account has been growing since his resignation on May 21 amid mass protests against his rule and an explosion of rioting in Jakarta that left almost 1,200 dead.
But some Indonesian and foreign critics express concern that the investigation could turn out to be little more than a whitewash to clear the former president, his family and associates of wrongdoing so that other officials will not be subject to investigation on similar grounds.
The investigation into the Suharto family's wealth is being led by Attorney General Muhammad Ghalib, who said this month that he believed Mr. Suharto's recent denial on television that he had any money hidden abroad. "Suharto is a former president, so he would not lie," Mr. Ghalib said.
Indonesian critics said that if the government was serious, it should immediately set up an independent commission of inquiry on corruption with the power to investigate wrongdoing by all officials from the president down -- something that several associates of Mr. Habibie have recently promised will happen.
Yet critics remain skeptical because most members of the current cabinet served under Mr. Suharto. Mr. Habibie was his vice president and protigi before he took over as president in May. "The whole government is one handpicked by Suharto, so there is not much credibility in its political will to really go to the roots of the matter here," said Wimar Witoelar, a prominent Indonesian commentator.
Mr. Suharto has kept a low profile since his downfall. But as demands by students and other protesters for an investigation into the wealth of the Suharto clan intensified, he made a rare appearance on Sept. 6 at a television station partly owned by Mrs. Rukmana.
The former president said that "I don't have one cent of savings abroad, don't have accounts at foreign banks, don't have deposits abroad, and don't even have any shares in foreign firms, much less hundreds of billions of dollars."
The Jakarta Post responded by saying that investigators should compare Mr. Suharto's current assets against those he owned before he took officeand ask him to explain how he acquired them. "In the public's mind, the case against the Suharto clan is clear enough, given the past display of opulence indulged in by the first family," the newspaper added.
Most analysts agree that the sprawling business empires in Indonesia linked to Mr. Suharto's relatives, along with more than 100 shadowy "charitable foundations" connected to the former president, are still worth at least several billion dollars even though they were hit hard by the recession and the sharp fall in the value of the rupiah, Indonesian's currency.
An official Indonesian audit of charitable foundations headed by the former president is already under way. The government says preliminary findings show that there may have been some irregularities at the foundations, which are free of tax under Indonesia law and are not normally subject to outside audit.
Numerous state concerns have canceled contracts with companies linked to the former first family. Many of Mr. Suharto's children have resigned from executive positions but continue to retain large holdings in their companies.
Roderick Brazier, director of publications at the Castle Group, a Jakarta-based business consultancy that recently published a study of the Suharto family's wealth, said that the former president's children were likely to have assets worth $4 billion to $5 billion, with the foundations adding $2 billion
Some analysts believe that the Suharto family may have much more than this hidden in overseas bank accounts. David Hale, chief economist, based in Chicago, for Zurich Insurance, a Swiss group, told Barron's magazine he estimated that $8 billion had been moved from Indonesia to Austria on Mr. Suharto's instructions before his fall.
But at the annual meeting last week in Kuala Lumpur of Transparency International, the global organization founded to fight corruption, experts on cross-border asset recovery said that it could be very tough to recover any money controlled by Mr. Suharto. Overall, "the record of recovery is appalling," said David Chaikin, an Australian lawyer working to salvage some of the billions of dollars thought to have been sent out of the Philippines by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Of those billions reportedly taken from the Philippines, Mr. Chaikin ruefully noted, just $570 million had been identified and returned even though Mr. Marcos fled his country 12 years ago.
Experts said it could be even tougher to recover any money controlled by Mr. Suharto. For example, Switzerland and many other jurisdictions will not surrender funds unless it can be proven there that the funds deposited were the proceeds of crime. In the case of Indonesia, experts said, Mr. Suharto wielded such power that it is likely that all of his money-making activity during his time in office folowed the letter of Indonesian law.
Experts stressed that hunting down overseas assets through the use of documents and bank transfer records alone is all but impossible because real ownership can be masked by nominees. Any successful recovery at some point involves a tip from an insider, who gives investigators a clue to where they should look.
"You need to have someone to open the cupboard," said Jeremy Carver, an asset recovery attorney with the law firm of Clifford Chance in London. Even with a tipoff, however, recovery of assets was still painstaking and expensive, he said.
An additional problem is that a substantial chunk of the Suharto family fortune inside Indonesia was tied up in publicly listed companies officially controlled by some of the Suharto children. Many of these firms are reported to be heavily in debt to local and foreign banks and to be worth much less than they were a year ago, before the start of the financial crisis. It caused the Indonesian currency to lose more than 60 percent of its value against the dollar.
| Environment/health |
Jakarta -- Indonesia yesterday said that half of the country has been hit by food shortages. Food Minister A. M. Saefuddin told Parliament that 150 out of 308 regencies were facing a food shortfall, and 53 of the 150 were facing a severe shortage. The shortfalls were in 25 of Indonesia's 27 provinces.
Mr Saefuddin said the government was taking several steps to combat the problem, including increasing rice imports.
Outside the Parliament building, Indonesians protesting against high prices of essentials extorted motorists and disrupted traffic. No confrontation with security officers was reported during the protest which lasted for about five hours, and parliamentary hearings were not disrupted.
Food prices have shot up in Indonesia over the past year due to a severe drought, a crippling economic crisis that sparked a collapse in the rupiah, and alleged hoarding and smuggling of food. Rice now costs three times its price a year ago.
The food situation has been worsened by a fracturing of the distribution network due to the unrest in Indonesia in recent months.
The official Antara news agency said yesterday that some 62,000 islanders off Sumatra face starvation if ferry links between the island and the mainland are not restored soon.
Antara says links between the island of Simeulue and the province of Aceh have been cut since Sept 15. "Ferry services serving the route are damaged, causing the supply of basic commodities to stop a few days ago," Mr Raswan Mariadi, a Simeulue government official, was quoted as saying.
He said Simeulue needed 6,200 tonnes of rice a month but supply had dwindled drastically and could last only two or three more days. Meanwhile, billions of rupiah's worth of voluntary contributions, raised by the public after an appeal by the administration of former President Suharto, will be used to buy essential commodities for the poor.
The Finance Ministry said on Friday that the donations, in the form of money, gold and foreign exchange, will be returned to provincial administrations to provide basic needs for those living under poverty lines.
The Indonesian Observer on Friday said that until last month, the Ministry had channelled more than 17.5 billion rupiah (S$3.5 million) in both local and foreign currency through regional branches of Bank Indonesia, the central bank.
In a related report, Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Minister Adi Sasono said last Friday that Central Java is the poorest province, with 33 per cent of its people living below the poverty level.
Jenny Grant, Jakarta -- The mental and physical growth of a generation of children is under threat as Indonesia's economic crisis worsens. More than half the children under two years old in Java, the most populous island, were suffering from malnutrition, Unicef, the UN Children's Fund, said yesterday.
And the number of children under three in Java suffering severe malnutrition has risen from one in 12 two years ago to one in seven this year, according to a study by the charity Helen Keller International. The Government said malnutrition and other health problems had risen rapidly in line with rising food prices exacerbated by the plunge in the value of the rupiah. Inflation is running at 70 per cent.
The Keller study found anaemia in children below three years of age had risen by half in two years, and now affected 60 per cent of Java's children, while diarrhoea rates doubled in women and children in Central Java.
Stephen Woodhouse, Unicef's country representative in Indonesia, said malnutrition in early childhood was "particularly important" because that was when the brain developed. "No matter what you do after that age you cannot recoup that mental potential" if you have lost it through lack of nutrition, said Mr Woodhouse.
The high malnourishment and diarrhoea rates will push up rates of disease and child mortality. Diarrhoea already kills 60,000 five-year-olds in Indonesia annually. "Malnourishment contributes to diarrhoea and vice versa. If you're malnourished you may die," said Mr Woodhouse.
The study also found women and children in the eastern islands of Sulawesi and Kalimantan ate only half the amounts of protein-rich eggs and milk that they were eating two years ago.
Dr Dini Latief, head of community nutrition at the Department of Health, said: "We have malnutrition due to low purchasing power. "Mothers have no choice to buy food because their incomes are very low."
Dr Latief said eight million children under five suffered malnourishment ranging from mild to severe. "Their intake only meets 75 to 80 per cent of their daily energy requirement of 1,200 to 1,600 calories, " she said. "Sometimes kids look healthy, they go to school and run around, but when we weigh them they come in well below weight for their age," said the Government's top nutritionist.
Dr Latief warned the long-term effects would be stunted growth, wasting and slow learning. She said the Government had set up a crisis centre in Jakarta to respond rapidly to reports of acute malnourishment and was also trying to feed primary school children with high-protein biscuits in classrooms.
The Minister of Food, A. M. Saefuddin, last week said 17 million Indonesians were facing severe food shortages. He said in Central and East Java 4.4 million families could only afford one meal a day.
Speaking yesterday in the central Java village of Kuwaren, anthropologist Adriani Sumampouw said conditions in the villages where she does her research were severe. "There are no funds for education and hardly enough to eat. "They are just eating small amounts of rice with sauce, a dry biscuit or some cassava."
| Arms/armed forces |
Jenny Grant, Jakarta -- Experts have advised separating the police from the armed forces and redefining the President's control over military affairs as part of moves to democratise the law-and-order system.
Analyst Salim Said told a military conference that President Bacharuddin Habibie should use National Military Day on October 5 to separate the forces. "[Legislation] is needed to revert the function of the military as a freedom- fighting army and change the state police into a law-enforcement apparatus different from the army," said Mr Said. The police force was independent when established in 1945, but was later brought under the umbrella of the armed forces. In his National Day address last month, Mr Habibie suggested the police should be made into a strong and independent force.
A former national police chief, retired general Djamin Awaloeddin, said the police force should also reassess its ties with the President to become a more neutral body. "The state police should be under the head of government, while the military is under the head of state," said Mr Awaloeddin.
The head of the military's sociopolitical affairs department, Lieutenant- GeneralSusilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said the head of state's role had to be clearly defined. The 1945 constitution states that the president is the supreme commander of the armed forces in Indonesia. But former president Suharto used his position and military tours of duty to promote loyal officers.
Critics said his military interference had harmed the armed forces' professionalism and effectiveness. "It should be made clear when a president should function as the head of state, or the head of government or the head of the armed forces," said General Yudhoyono. He said the military should not be aligned with any political party.
Armed forces chief General Wiranto said this week the military was ready to reshape its dual function status, which gives it a legitimate political and social role.
Jakarta -- The Indonesian military has named a former commander of the troubled territory of East Timor to head the armed forces' command and staff school previously headed by a son-in law of ex-president Suharto, a report said Tuesday.
Major General Johnny Lumintang will head the command and staff school in Bandung, West Java, to replace Lieutenant General Prabowo Subianto, the Suara Pembaruan evening daily quoted Military Chief General Wiranto as saying in Bandung. Wiranto on August 25, announced that Subianto was discharged from the forces following the recommendation of a military council probing the involvement of three senior officers in the abduction and torture of activists earlier this year. Subianto, who is married to Suharto's second eldest daughter, had assumed the position on May 28.
He had been hurriedly replaced as head of the Indonesian army's strategic command a day after his father-in-law, Suharto, stepped down on May 21. Lumintang is currently assistant for operations to the head of staff at the military's general affairs department.