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ASIET NetNews Number 38, October 5-11, 1998
East TimorHundreds protest political role of military Protests demand ABRI quit politics Peace rally in Jakarta, protests in Timor
Political/economic crisisJakarta says won't budge on referendum Little ground given in Timor talks Students take refuge after ninjas assults Army says no clash with rebels in Timor Thousands rally demanding governor quit Timor's fear of Jakarta troops
Human rights/lawEconomy shrinks; inflation tops 80 percent Thousands loot and destroy plantation Economic turmoil worsens plight of poor
News & issuesPolice arrest alleged separatist leader Humanitarian workers speak of terror Tempo hits the streets after four-year freeze Atrocities also occurred in Central Aceh
Environment/healthStudent plan to topple Habibie condemned Hundreds protest over savings dispute Canada `didn't offer favours' Thousands loot shrimp ponds Democracy's Mega-star raises Bali high Suharto's brother-in-law forgery suspect
Arms/armed forcesIn recycling, health exchanged for wealth
InternationalWiranto promises new ABRI style Police say army involved in murder spree ABRI concedes it was tool of Suharto
Economy and investmentIndonesian embassy in Philippines picketed
Rupiah vaults 10,000 Pertamina renegotiating Suharto deals
| Democratic struggle |
Jakarta -- Hundreds of students and civilians on Monday staged two separate street protests here to demand that the Indonesian military end its law-accorded involvement in the country's politics, witnesses said Some 300 students from various universities converged on the parliament in central Jakarta to demand that the military's "dual function" be revoked.
The dual function concept refers to the role of the military in the country's socio-political life in addition to its more traditional role in the defence of the country. "Reject Militarism," said one large red banner carried by the protestors. "People Unite, Revoke ABRI's Dual Function," and "Civilian postings are for civilians, not for ABRI," others read. "Just go back to your barracks," another poster carried by the group which called itself the People's Coalition for Anti-Dual Function Strategy, whose acronym, Kostrad, is also the name of the army's elite command. Some of the demonstrators who had been blocked by soldiers and police some 300 metres before the parliament's entrance, scuffled with security forces before they were finally allowed to proceed towards the parliament's front entrance.
Meanwhile, a separate group of some 40 protestors from the Executives for Reform groups staged their own protest against the military's dual function at a busy roundabout in central Jakarta. "The barracks are more honorable that the political stage," said one of the posters, while others read: "Clean ABRI from the state security," "Best for the people, Best for ABRI," and "Let us get away from Dual-function."
A huge banner some five metres (yards) long read "Happy birthday ABRI -- Stop your domination." The protestors, some with their faces painted in bright red and white squares, also carried papier-mache skulls at the tip of sticks as they marched along a busy avenue towards the armed forces headquarters about two kilometres (a mile) north. Some 150 armed soldiers and scores of stick-wielding policemen were deployed at the roundabout and followed the demonstrators as they began their march. The demonstrators were then turned back towards the roundabout, an AFP reporter said, adding that no clashes occurred.
The military, which Monday celebrated its anniversary with a low scale commemoration at the ABRI headquarters, has said it is reviewing its controversial role in the country's political life. The political role has translated into the prevalence of active and retired military officers in key government posts, the legislature and the judiciary as well as in mass organisations and in business.
Jakarta -- Thousands of students across Java greeted the Armed Forces' (ABRI) 53rd anniversary on Monday with street demonstrations to demand the military quit the country's political stage. They insisted ABRI do away with its dwifungsi (dual role) doctrine "right away", referring t the military's 40-year-old concept that justifies its involvement in socio-political affairs along with its national defense role.
The protests in Jakarta Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Semarang and Bogor all proceeded smoothly. No clashes or arrests were reported, although the rallies were closely watched by security forces. In Jakarta, some 300 students from various universities converged at the front gate of the House of Representatives on Jl. Gatot Subroto, Central Jakarta. They carried banners, posters and staged anti- military speeches. Over 100 police officers and soldiers observed the rally but did not intervene. Some were even seen joking with students who, in return, offered bottled water to the officers.
Messages against ABRI" dual role were harsh despite the seemingly good relations with the security personnel on hand. "Reject Militarism", said one large red banner. Others read: "People Unite Revoke ABRI's Dual Function" and "Civilian postings are for civilians, not for ABRI".
A poster reading "Go Back to Your Barracks" was carried by a group calling itself the People's Coalition for Anti-Dual Function Strategy, whose acronym, Kostrad, is also that of the Army's crack Strategic Reserves Command.
Pande Trimayuni, a fourth-year political science student of the University of Indonesia said the demonstration included East Timorese youth activists of the Timor Leste group Another protest in Jakarta by some 60 young executives an artists was held near the city' busy traffic circle in front o Hotel Indonesia in Centra Jakarta. Passersby stopped to watch the protester's street theater production depicting a figure dressed in an Army uniform surrounded by skull-like forms. The group's posters and banners read: "The barracks are more honorable than the political stage", "Best for the People Best for ABRI" and "Let Us Leave Behind Dwifungsi". A huge banner spanning five meters wide read "Happy Birthday ABRI-- Stop Your Domination." The protesters dispersed after staging a series of poetry readings and orations.
In Bogor, some 50 Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) students raised similar demands. They named their group the People's Anti-Militarism Coalition, or Koramil, which is also the acronym for the military's lowest command unit. "Revoke ABRI's Dual Role", "Lower Basic Essential Prices" and "People Unite, Scrap ABRI's Dwifungsi" were among messages on their posters carried in the march from their campus in Baranangsiang to the city's legislature. Scores of security personnel closely watched the rally.
Yogyakarta and Surabaya were the scenes of the day's largest protests. In Yogyakarta, a town famed for its student population, at least seven university campuses were the sites of separate demonstrations. As many as 1,000 students gathered near Gadjah Mada University's traffic circle. In Surabaya, 1,000 students of 19 universities also cried out similar demands in a joint street protest. In Semarang, some 70 students grouped in the Semarang Youth Group staged a protest in front of the Semarang Military Command.
Jakarta -- Thousands of people prayed for peace Sunday at a rally in Indonesia's capital and called on the country to avoid violence as it struggles through an economic crisis.
Meanwhile, in the territory of East Timor, pro-independence protesters drove dozens of cars and motorcycles toward the governor's compound to demand he step down. They were turned away by police, and no violence was reported.
At the Jakarta rally, Muhammad Iqbal Assegaf, a student leader of the nation's largest Muslim group, urged rebels in East Timor not to split Indonesia apart, and said rival political parties shouldn't resort to bloodshed.
In May, widespread rioting broke out in this Southeast Asian nation of 202 million people, leaving about 1,200 dead, and forcing longtime President Suharto to quit. Suharto's successor and longtime ally, President B.J. Habibie, also has been targeted by protests. The crowd of between 5,000 and 10,000 cheered and danced during speeches and musical performances, but when military chief Gen. Wiranto -- one of the few well-known public figures to attend the rally -- spoke, the crowd chanted, "We need more food!"
In Dili, the capital of East Timor, protesters jumped aboard more than 60 cars and motorcycles after celebrating Mass. The protesters carried posters of jailed East Timor rebel leader Jose Alexandre Xanana Gusmao, and yelled, "We want independence!" When security forces blocked the main entrance to the governor's compound, the protesters retreated, vowing to return Monday to stage another demonstration.
| East Timor |
Jakarta -- Indonesia said on Tuesday it would not allow a referendum on independence for East Timor, and a dispute over the restive province would remain deadlocked unless Portugal accepted Indonesia's proposals to settle the issue. Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said Indonesia's proposals on granting East Timor wider autonomy were the best hope for resolving the dispute over the former Portuguese colony. "Indonesia will not accept a referendum in East Timor. A referendum would create potential conflict and tension between East Timorese," Alatas said.
He was speaking to President B.J. Habibie's advisory council ahead of talks in New York between Indonesian and Portuguese officials. "Portugal has not agreed to accept the compromise proposal by Indonesia as a final solution. They just agreed to discuss the proposal," he said. "If they do not accept wider autonomy as a final solution of the East Timor issue there will be deadlock." Indonesian and Portuguese officials were due to begin in-depth talks on Tuesday to discuss Indonesia's proposals to give East Timor more autonomy. The United Nations said the talks were expected to last five days under the mediation of UN special envoy Jamsheed Marker.
Indonesia in August proposed granting East Timor "special status based on a wide-ranging autonomy" after two days of talks at the United Nations between Alatas and his Portuguese counterpart Jaime Gama. The two countries said they hoped agreement could be reached by the end of the year. The offer followed years of deadlock during the rule of former President Suharto, who resigned in May after 32 years in power amid a deepening economic crisis, mass protests against his rule and an explosion of rioting in Jakarta that left 1,200 dead. But Indonesia has resisted demands to allow a referendum and says jailed resistance leader Xanana Gusmao will only be released if a final solution to the dispute is agreed.
Alatas said there were signs Portugal was waiting for the installation of a new government in Indonesia before agreeing to any settlement on the province. Indonesia has scheduled parliamentary elections for May next year and is due to elect a new president and vice-president in December 1999. "However, I told them that it is better to put the framework in place now for a peaceful solution and then a new government (in Indonesia) could easily continue it," Alatas said.
United Nations -- Portugal and Indonesia reviewed proposals for autonomy for the disputed territory of East Timor but came to no decision during three days of talks ending on Thursday, a UN official said. The two sides will meet again in New York from November 19-21 after another round of expanded talks with East Timorese leaders in Krumbach, Austria, from October 31 to November 3.
Mr Jamsheed Marker of Pakistan, the special UN representative for East Timor, said two foreign ministry negotiators, Mr Nugroho Wisnumurti of Indonesia and Mr Fernando Nevis of Portugal, had discussed new UN proposals for autonomy. He did not disclose details. "The basic position of both sides remains," he said, adding that the proposals would be reviewed by government leaders in both countries over the next three weeks.
Mr Marker said his proposals on autonomy were not identical to those Indonesia had put forward several months ago. He said there had been progress but "we have a great deal to do as yet and a long way to go".
Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in December 1975 and annexed it the following year. This action has never been recognised by the international community, and UN-sponsored talks have been held sporadically since 1983, seeking an acceptable solution.
Jakarta -- Some 400 East Timorese students studying in neighboring Indonesian West Timor have returned home after being terrorized by men dressed in black "ninja" suits, the Kompas daily reported Saturday.
It said the students packed up and fled back to East Timor in seven buses Friday from the Widya Mandira Catholic University in the provincial capital of Kupang. "Our families asked us to return to East Timor," Kompas quoted East Timor Students Association (Imaptim) chairman Joao Morere as saying.
Morere said four East Timorese students had been attacked by a group of men in ninja suits, and others had received death threats from unidentified men who came to their dormitories. He said one of his colleagues, Tino Atinus, who was attacked Thursday in front of the Laguna Hotel, was still in intensive care in Kupang general hospital. He was stabbed in the stomach and chest. Earlier on Wednesday a second student was beaten up in front of the Widya Mandira campus. "The series of assaults and terror have created great fear among us," Morere said.
"Ninja" (or Nanggala) was the name given in East Timor to gangs of thugs trained by the special forces to terrorize opponents of Indonesian rule. The army says they are resistance members trying to blacken the name of the armed forces.
Jakarta -- The Indonesian military denied reports it had launched attacks against separatist rebels in the troubled territory, the official Antara news agency reported on Sunday.
"There were no assaults or armed clashes," East Timor military commander Colonel Tono Suratman was quoted as telling reporters in the territory's capital of Dili on Saturday.
Suratman said he had read reports on the Internet saying the Indonesian military had launched attacks on separatist rebels fighting Jakarta's rule in the territory of 800,000 people. "That information is all made-up and wrong," he said, referring to the information circulated by the Fretilin guerrilla movement operating in the territory's jungle.
Suratman said the military was only conducting patrols in several areas in East Timor. Antara gave no further details.
Residents and church sources said last month the military had increased its presence in the eastern part of East Timor in an apparent attempt to quell the guerrillas, estimated to number little more than 200.
Jakarta -- Thousands of protestors rallied in the troubled East Timorese capital of Dili Sunday demanding the replacement of the Indonesian government-appointed governor of the territory, a resident source said.
The crowds, mostly youths, filled the main avenues of Dili travelling in convoys from the governor's office to his home and around the city to other locations calling for Governor Abilio Jose Soares to step down. "Thousands of people on bikes, motorcycles and cars rallied all around town ...one of the demands was that Governor Abilio to step down," a resident who identified himself only as Germano said.
Soares earlier this week had made a threat to fire the civil servants in the province if they did not endorse an Indonesian proposal of autonomy for the former Portuguese colony, sources there said.
A police mobile brigade force (Brimob) was seen guarding the governor's office but made no move to stop the demonstrators. "The Brimob was standing-by at the governor's office but people did not care and continued demonstrating," Germano said.
The rally came a day after a silent protest in Dili led by civil servants striking until Soares revokes an ultimatum delivered on October 5 that some 15,000 East Timorese working as civil servants should support Jakarta's autonomy offer, or leave their jobs at once.
Richard Lloyd Parry, Jakarta -- The Indonesian government is covertly sending thousands of combat troops into the occupied territory of East Timor in what looks alarmingly like a preparation for a military offensive, according to Western diplomats in Jakarta.
Western observers in East Timor believe that they have confirmed what activists there have been claiming for more than a week: that, contrary to claims that it is reducing its military presence in the territory, Jakarta has actually been dispatching more troops, including members of the notorious special forces, Kopassus.
One Western official said: "They are moving in more numbers than they have withdrawn." He said that in the past few days there had been at least one military clash between Indonesian occupying forces and members of the East Timorese resistance in the territory's capital, Dili.
Diplomats are puzzled by the timing of the alleged troop movements which come at a moment of cautious optimism about prospects for a settlement in East Timor, annexed by Indonesia in 1976. The Indonesian foreign minister, Ali Alatas, has spoken of a plan for East Timorese "autonomy".
Last night the British Foreign Office minister, Derek Fatchett, left Jakarta after a flying visit during which heraised the reports of a military build-up with President BJ Habibie and Mr Alatas. "They said to me that there had not been an increase in troop numbers," Mr Fatchett told The Independent yesterday. "President Habibie talks about it as a change from aggressive troops to 'territorials'."
British diplomats in Jakarta said that they had been unable to confirm the reports independently, but were monitoring the situation.
| Political/economic crisis |
Jakarta -- The Indonesian economy slumped 17.4% in the third quarter of this year proving the sprawling country's downturn hasn't bottomed out yet. But analysts noted that gross domestic product and inflation data released Monday show the speed of Indonesia's economic slump has slowed markedly from earlier this year. "The broadly positive spin is that the real contractions are still occuring but are slowing," said David Fernandez, Association of Southeast Asian Nations economist at JP Morgan in Singapore. "Inflation is still incredibly high, but not as high as a couple of months ago."
At the same time, many market watchers continue to view government forecasts -- which predict inflation hitting 80% this year and a 13.7% economic downturn -- as erring far too much on the side of optimism. In all, the economy contracted by 13.6% in the first nine months of 1998, compared with the same time a year ago, the Indonesian central statistics bureau said.
Inflation, as measured by consumer prices, grew by 3.75% in September compared with a rise of 6.3% in August, led by continued increases in the price of basic foods. Annual inflation for September was up 82.4% compared with 77.7% the previous month. Inflation so far this year is up 75.47%. Statistics bureau Chairman Sugito said the economy would likely shrink by 13.7% over the full year "based on the year until September."
The Indonesian economy slumped 16.5% in the second quarter of the year, during which the country was rocked by a wave of rioting and political instability. Mr. Sugito said the picture for the fourth quarter wasn't any prettier. He said the economy would shrink in the last three months of the year by more than it did in the third quarter.
Mr. Sugito said the government would find it difficult to cap inflation at 80% this year, noting that inflation for the first nine months is already close to that level. Mr. Fernandez, at J.P. Morgan, concurs, predicting inflation for the full year will be closer to 100%. "They're not in super nightmare scenario now in month-to-month inflation but there's no way they can [cap it at 80%]," he said.
Mr. Fernandez also doubts the government's forecast for economic contraction this year, noting that this would require a marked pickup in the last quarter of the year, something the statistics bureau isn't expecting.
The fact that Indonesia's economy is plummeting is well known and Monday's figures give an idea of the extent of the country's woes. The International Monetary Fund -- which is leading a bailout fund for the country -- has predicted the economy will contract by 15% this year, after registering growth of 5.7% in 1997. The government -- and IMF -- have forecast inflation would be capped at 80% this year, as it takes steps to arrest the rise in food prices.
This has had some measure of success, evident in the slowdown in climbing consumer prices in September, compared with August when prices of basic foods -- particularly rice -- rose sharply. This, analysts say, should lead to a drop off in inflation -- or even deflation -- in October. "In my view this should be the last big increase in monthly inflation figures." said Alex Wreksoremboko, head of Indonesian research at Merrill Lynch in Jakarta. "Even by now if you look at retail prices, they have fallen compared with early September.
Next month, when we get October figures -- if the rupiah stays where it is now -- we will see mild deflation." The statistics bureau said prices of basic commodities rose 8.61% in September compared with 9.1% in August. Cigarette and tobacco prices rose 11.6% and housing by 1.6%, health by 3.3%, education and recreation 1.24% and transportation and communication by 2.1%. Rice prices rose by 1.5% compared with 1.1% in August. Mr. Sugito noted that prices of goods and services in September were, in general, relatively high but there were signs of easing toward the end of the month.
While the country's contraction figures -- by far the highest in Asia's troubled economies -- are alarming, Mr. Fernandez notes that on a seasonally-adjusted annual basis, the actual downturn from quarter to quarter is slowing. Compared with the second quarter, for instance, the economy shrunk by 10%, markedly different from the 30% slump between the first and second quarters and between the first quarter and the fourth quarter of last year.
Most analysts say the Indonesian economy will shrink by at least 15% this year, with some saying the downturn will be closer to 20%. Indonesia has been harder hit than most by Asia's financial meltdown. A dramatic plunge in the value of the rupiah has resulted in skyrocketing price hikes, mass unemployment and corporate insolvency. Food shortages in some areas has triggered sporadic looting and rioting.
Jakarta -- Thousands of villagers went on a rampage at a pineapple plantation in southern Sumatra in Lampung province, looting and burning warehouses and other facilities, sources and press reports said Thursday. Angry mobs from 10 villages in Padangratu district, Lampung province, began looting the plantation shortly after midnight Tuesday. Eleven trucks, a van, four tractors, five motorcycles, a dormitory and warehouses containing spare parts, fuel, medicine and fertilizers were burned, the Media Indonesia daily reported.
"Reports we received from Lampung say the crowds came all at once in different locations and started the attack. It seemed very well-organized," said Andi Chandra, manager of the plantation firm, Tris Delta Agrindo.
All 4,667 hectares (11,527 acres) of pineapple fields had been staked out into small holdings by 2,733 heads of families, who up until Thursday had refused to leave, he added. "Some people pulled up the pineapples, some of which had been ready to harvest, and began planting cassava and palm oil trees," Chandra told AFP, adding that the angry mobs had also threatened to burn down the cannery. "Production has been temporarily halted since the incident," Chandra said. Tris Delta Agrindo is a Taiwanese- Indonesian joint venture company that employs some 2,000 people, most of whom are transmigrants from Java. The company, whose products are targetted wholly for export, was established in 1988 in cooperation with the Indonesian department of transmigration, which has a 10 percent stake in the company. "The locals are claiming that the government seized their lands unfairly," Chandra said.
Jennifer Lin, Bantar Gebang -- Nine-year-old Wasmin beamed with pride when he came home from school one recent day lugging a big bag of rice, cooking oil, and an armful of secondhand clothes.
The boy knew his family was hungry. Wasmin and his family lived in the middle of Jakarta's biggest dump, and even though his father earned money selling noodles, they never had enough to eat. So Wasmin did what he could to help: He traded his blood for food.
His skinny right arm had a bandage covering the spot where the needle had pricked him. He gave a small vial of blood, getting enough rice to feed the family for a few days. "If I knew, I wouldn't have allowed it," his father, Udin, said, lowering his eyes.
These are hard times for Indonesia's shrinking middle class, and desperate times for Indonesia's poor. The collapse of the "Asian Miracle" has mushroomed into a frightening human disaster. The currency, the rupiah, has lost almost 80 percent of its value against the dollar; workers are losing their jobs; and inflation is making rice, oil and flour unaffordable. Across East Asia, more than 100 million people are so strapped for money that they do not eat enough to get them through the day, according to the International Labor Organization.
Indonesia, the world's fourth-most-populous nation, is the worst case. A year ago, the Indonesian government could boast that it was winning the war against poverty. But the gains have evaporated, and for the first time in years, the government is warning of famine.
The UN labor agency has estimated that 132 million people -- 66 percent of Indonesia's population -- will be living in poverty by next year, unable to buy the 2,100 calories worth of food a day needed for a minimum Asian diet. In Java, the most populous island, more than half the children younger than 2 suffer from malnutrition, the UN Children's Fund recently reported.
Fathers are leaving home in search of work. Children are dropping out of school or turning to the streets to fend for themselves. Indonesian educators have warned that the dropout rate could nearly triple this year because families cannot afford school fees. "Now because of the crisis, children are seen as an obstacle, a burden," said Adi Dananto, director of an outreach program for street children in Yogyakarta, a college town on Java. "Parents are selling the daughters into prostitution. Mothers are renting out their babies for begging. Parents are sending their kids to work as laborers. It's always been there, but the numbers are increasing."
Wasmin's family, at least, is holding together. A year ago, his father moved everyone to the Jakarta dump site because he no longer could earn a living as a farmhand. The family's old home was in a village three hours away. Not far from the ocean, it was set against green rice paddies and coconut trees. The air was cool and clean. Now the family lives in Bantar Gebang, an outlying suburb of the Indonesian capital that has attracted much of the city's new middle class to big, new developments. Wasmin's new home sits atop a garbage heap.
The dump is a village for trash pickers, who slowly crawl over mounds of rubbish, hauling straw baskets on their backs and using metal picks to poke for empty cans, glass jars or plastic containers. All the scavengers, from skinny-legged children to weak, old women, cover their mouths and noses with cloths, vainly trying to block the sickening stench. On a road that winds through the dump, what look like grains of rice spilled all over the pavement are white maggots.
Entire families live amid the trash. Wasmin shares a shack with his parents, younger sister and older brother. The house was cobbled together with scraps of wood and built on makeshift flooring of discarded rubber sandals gathered from the trash. Water is stored in buckets outside; a gas stove serves as a kitchen.
A bare lightbulb, incongruously painted with a happy face, hangs from a low roof. The only signs that children live here are sketches of tigers that Wasmin's older brother tacked to the wall. The family has a black-and-white television but no toys. Neighborhood children use old cans to play soccer.
"It's better to live here," said Wasmin's mother, Taringkem, 35, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name. She did not flinch as flies buzzed around her head and swarmed over the naked body of her 7-year-old daughter, who rested in her arms. "We didn't have any work in our village," she explained. "At least here we can work as garbage pickers. I wanted to be here. When I lived in the village, I had nothing."
Wasmin looks forward to school each morning. It is his escape from the dump. He gets up at dawn, puts on his maroon shorts, white shirt, and black knee socks with holes, and heads for a morning of classes.
His eyes are big, black saucers with long, curly eyelashes that a woman would envy. His arms are reed-thin, his belt is cinched tight. He said he heard about the blood drive for food from a teacher at school. More than 100 children showed up to donate blood. With a smile, Wasmin said he was afraid at first, but the reward was too great to ignore. He said he missed his grandmother, who lives in the family's old village, but he does not mind living in a dump. "It's the same," Wasmin said with a shrug.
Wasmin's father sells noodles from a wooden cart to the garbage pickers who tend to the "fields," as the smoldering garbage hills are called. From his noodle cart, Udin can make the equivalent of $1 a day, double what he earned as a hired hand in his former village.
But he needs more than that to feed his family a simple diet of rice and vegetables. Both his sons go to school from 7:30 until noon but have to earn money the rest of the day working as garbage pickers. That money helps fill the gaps, but every day is tight. Their mother worries about being able to keep up with monthly school fees, which are less than $1 for both. "I'm afraid for Wasmin," she said, sitting in front of the family shack before her son took off for school. "I didn't go to school; I cannot read. I don't want my kids to grow up ignorant like their parents."
| Human rights/law |
Surabaya -- East Java Police chief Maj. Gen. M. Dayat has said he suspected a mysterious murder spree in several East Java towns was the result of "organized crime". As many as 100 Islamic teachers and others accused of practicing "black magic" have been killed to date. "It's probably an organized movement, but it's still under investigation," Dayat was quoted by Antara as saying here on Monday.
So far, the questioning of dozens of suspects already detained by the Banyuwangi Police indicate that the killings were motivated by either personal feuds or financial rewards. "People bearing grudges against certain individuals then hired killers to commit the murders. So far, that's all we know about the motives for the killings, " he said, adding the suspects were not only from Banyuwangi but also from neighboring Jember, Pasuruan and Probolinggo.
The police and the military are currently sheltering 277 people who fear they may be targets. Many of the victims were also ulemas from Indonesia's largest Moslem organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). Brawijaya Regional Military Commander Maj. Gen. Djoko Subroto separately denied public accusations the military had been slow in handling the killings.
He said the murders of people suspected of dabbling in black magic had started in January and had become rampant in August and September. "Security personnel are now taking measures which are showing results. We have sent troops to support the police (in safeguarding the towns)," he said. "It's not true that we're late in handling the situation."
Police have reported that knife-wielding killers, wearing ninja-like black dress and masks, had been attacking victims at night over the past two months in Banyuwangi regency, about 200 kilometers east of here. Some of the bodies were reportedly mutilated, their throats slashed. Several were reportedly tossed into mosques or hung from trees.
Separately, Col. Budi Utomo, the police chief of Besuki -- whose jurisdiction covers Banyuwangi -- had ordered his men to shoot the killers on the spot. Police source said 45 suspected killers had been arrested, along with 7 others suspected to have paid for the murders. So far, 87 crime scenes had been found but some of the detained suspects only admitted to have committed killings in II places. Meanwhile, it was reported that Banyuwangi turned into a ghost town as residents stayed home.
Locks were reinforced with wood planks and doors were barricaded with barb wires following a report that on Sunday four more bodies were found hanging on two trees in Seruni village in Kabat district. Moslem scholar Nurcholish Madjid separately said he suspected that revenge was behind the gruesome murders. "This is really strange. I suspect there's a factor of revenge (behind them) just like in 1965," he said as quoted Antara. He was referring to the blood-bath that took place following an aborted coup attempt in 1965 blamed on the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).
Thousands of people were killed in the murder frenzy following the political tension. Pointing at the "order" with which the killings were committed, Nurcholish speculated that a kind of "collective revenge" was actually behind the spree. "I am afraid there's a kind of collective memory or group animosity at work. It's really strange that the Islamic teachers became the victims," he said. "Communism as an ideology may have collapsed, but the group sentiment still exists and people should be aware of it, " he was quoted by Antara as saying.
Nahdlatul Ulama chairman Abdurrahman Wahid had earlier been reported to demand that the military move quickly to halt the series of murders. Ma'wah Masykur, a NU leader in South Kalimantan, was quoted by Antara as saying in the capital city, Banjarmasin, that he deplored the fact that the National Commission on Human Rights had been silent over the killings.
Jakarta -- Police in the remote Indonesian province of Irian Jaya Tuesday arrested an alleged separatist leader, the Antara news agency said. The police in Jayapura, the main town of Irian Jaya, arrested Theys H. Eluay at his home in the Sentani area around 6am Antara said.
Irian Jaya Police Chief Brigadier General Hotman Siagian told Antara Eluay, a former local parliamentarian who now heads the Irian Jaya Institute for Traditional Deliberations, was under police questioning. The arrest warrant said Eluay was suspected of unspecified crimes against the security of the state.
Antara said Eluay had said a few days before his arrest he intended to surrender to the authorities but would only do so after hosting a feast at his home on Wednesday "How come I as a leader continue to live happily while my underlings have to stay in police custody," Eluay was quoted by Antara as having said. He was refering to five men who have been arrested last week for separatist activities.
Police arrested a man identified as Sem Yaru on September 28 for calling on people to join a mass pro-independence rally in Jayapura planned for October 2. Yaru's name had been on leaflets calling for a peaceful rally in favour of setting up an independent Western Papua state at the Mandala open sports stadium in Jayapura.
On September 30, police also arrested Don Flassy, secretary of the Irian Jaya provincial development planning board, a priest named Ansanay, Lauren Mahuwe, a member of the Jayapura district administration staff, and a fourth man identified only as Barnabas Yufuwai. Local police officers have said the four were suspected of planning to hold a meeting of the Independent Western Papua Committee.
Jakarta -- Indonesian humanitarian workers Tuesday spoke of terror and pressure against them to stop their efforts in investigating violence during the May riots. "Terror against humanitarian workers have become rampant since the May riots," Ita Nadia from the Volunteers of Humanity told reporters at a joint press conference here with several human rights groups.
Nadia said pro-democracy organizations have since been subjected to various forms of terror and harrassment, ranging from phone calls and kidnap threats to receiving a grenade in the mail. "Workers in our division on violence against women have received obscene phone calls, insults and repeated threats that their daughters will be raped," Nadia said.
Volunteers for Humanity was the first rights group to claim that mass rapes occured during riots here and other cities in May, which claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people. The group, led by Catholic priest Sandyawan Sumardi, also claimed that 168 rapes occured and that 20 of the rape victims, women and young girls, died from their wounds, murdered by their assailants or committed suicide.
"One month ago our open house for the homeless was attacked and the street kids there were beaten by the mobs," Sandyawan said. "The terror is part of the process of regimentation that has turned into state violence."
"The indication is clear that the terror is related to those behind the May riots," Sandyawan said. Nadia said that a grenade had also been sent through the mail to Sandyawan's office in June. The government has since set a team to investigate violence during the May riot.
The team, set up on June 23, comprises representatives from non-governmental organisations, including Sadyawan, officials, the military, the police and the attorney general's office. It is due to announce the result of its three month investigation on October 23. Meanwhile Munir, lawyer from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, said statements from government officials saying no evidence of rape exists and that the Volunteers of Humanity should be the one investigated, are part of "the efforts to hide a very big political scandal."
Jakarta -- Tempo, Indonesia's leading weekly news magazine banned by the government of former president Suharto in 1994, hit the streets Tuesday with the issue of rapes during the May riots as its cover story. "There are so many stories and not too many facts about the rapes.
But this does not mean that people can easily downplay reports of the brutality against ethnic Chinese during the riots in May as empty screams which makes us uncomfortable," an opinion published in the new Tempo issue. In its cover story, Tempo carried the testimony of at least three individuals who have met with victims of the gang rapes.
The first issue was published two days after military chief General Wiranto reiterated for a second time that the government and authorities had not yet been able to find victims of rape or concrete evidence that rapes had taken place. Anton Indracaya, an ethnic Chinese Moslem who is a talkshow host with a private television channel, told Tempo that he had met and spoke to eight victims of the May rapes and another victim who was raped after the riots.
It also carried the story of an ethnic Chinese women who witnessed the gang rape of one girl, and later helped the victim and her family to move to Australia. Tempo also quoted Estern Indahyani Jusuf, who heads the Homeland and Nation Solidarity, as saying a medical doctor has told her that he and several colleagues had treated 50 victims of rapes during the riots. The doctor, however, later refused to openly testify on the case without citing any reason.
The first edition also carried other reports, including on the plan by Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesia's popular politician, to hold a party congress in Bali later this week. Tempo had a circulation of some 180,000 copies when the Suharto government closed it down on June 21, 1994, citing vague "substantive" editorial reasons.
Tempo's chief editor Gunawan Mohamad has said the precise reason for the 1994 ban remained unknown, but he suspected the final blow might have been a report critical of the purchase by the government of 39 old East German navy vessels. The ships were ordered by Suharto's handpicked successor, President B.J. Habibie, whose government has allowed Tempo to reopen.
Two other major weekly publications were also closed down at the same time as Tempo but with the government citing "administrative" reasons.
Jakarta -- Rights activists alleged on Tuesday that military atrocities occurred in Central Aceh regency--in addition to those found recently in the regencies of Pidie, East and North Aceh -- when the province was a military operation zone from 1989 to 1998.
The Aceh NGOs Forum told a media conference here that at least 52 cases of military violence had recently been reported by victims, family members friends, and residents of the local community. Three people died and 16 others went missing from Central Aceh during the period, it added. The atrocities reportedly took place in the villages of the regency's subdistricts of Kota, Bandar and Buket.
Afrizal Tjoetra, the group's secretary-general, termed the reports from Central Aceh "shocking". He was accompanied by Catholic scholar Mudji Sutrisno and several activists from the Jakarta-based Yapikka and Apik non-governmental organizations.
"They (the reports) have introduced a new agenda for the handling of Aceh case, given how (similar) cases in the regencies of North and East Aceh and Pidie have yet to be resolved to date." Afrizal added: "The team also received a report that there is a mass grave in the Uyeem Popogoteun hill in Ruseb village of Bandar subdistrict (about 75 kilometers from the regency capital of Takengon)." Takengon is about 250 kilometers southeast of the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.
Armed Forces (ABRI) spokesman Maj. Gen. Syamsul Ma'arif was not available for comment on Tuesday night. The group's report of the mass grave has added to the list of 14 mass burial sites it compiled earlier together with the Lhokseumawe-based Iskandar Muda Legal Aid Institute and the Aceh Human Rights Forum. The previous list was limited to East and North Aceh and Pidie.
A team from the National Commission on Human Rights had exhumed several mass graves and confirmed that at least 781 people were killed during the nine-year ABRI military operation in the westernmost province.
The Aceh NGOs Forum's estimate of casualties suspected to be buried in the listed locations ranged from 1,165 to 1,800.
Commenting on the revelation, Mudji Sutrisno -- who said he was participating in the conference to give the group "moral support" -- asserted that the rampant rights violations should serve as an example why there should never be military operation zones in the future. "The politics of violence against human beings, regardless of their religions, must be stopped in the name of human rights."
Meanwhile, Antara news agency also reported from Lhokseumawe the latest update on the number of cases of violence in North Aceh. It said a local fact-finding team set up to probe rights abuses in Aceh had found 155 new cases, allegedly committed by the military and separatist groups. This latest data brings to 1,810 the total number of human rights abuses found in North Aceh by the team since it began investigations last month, team leaders Yacob Hamzah and TS Sani said on Tuesday.
The team found 140 cases in the eastern part of North Aceh: 130 were allegedly committed by the military, seven by members of the separatists who were also called the Security Disturbance Groups and perpetrators of the remaining three were not known. In the western part of the regency, the team found 15 cases, the offenders were unknown in all the cases.
The team's latest finding included 16 deaths, 20 cases of missing people and 110 people tortured. Scores of wives and children were widowed and left fatherless, and their property seized. Based on its investigation from Sept. 11 to Oct. 5, the team recorded 628 widows and 2,033 fatherless children in North Aceh, they said.
The team also recorded that total material losses reached Rp 470.42 million. It said 242 houses were burned down and 1,866 grams of gold went missing. The team interviewed the families of the victims as well as witnesses. It will continue gathering data until Oct. 11.
| News & issues |
Jakarta -- Politicians, religious leaders and observers expressed alarm at the weekend over the stated support of the National Front -- an association of retired generals, officials and ex-Golkar leaders -- for Student activists' 40-day campaign to force President B.J. Habibie to resign.
At least three Islamic organizations, including the outspoken Indonesian Committee for World Moslem Solidarity (KISDI), have threatened to counter the planned daily student demonstrations (due to start on Monday Oct. 5) against Habibie with demonstrations of their own.
The second Islamic organization, the Indonesian United Ummah Party (PKUI), said it will mobilize its supporters "to intercept the masses supported by the National Front."
The third organization was the Institute for Truth and Justice, which called for all forces in the nation to counter the threat. It called the front a group of impatient people. "If they succeed, do they think they won't be toppled by yet another group? When are we going to work together and lift ourselves out of the crisis?" chairman Adang Safaat said.
Amien Rais, the chairman of the National Mandate Party, was quoted by Antara as saying: "I condemn the threat of the National Front to (launch a campaign for) 40 days to subvert the legal government. "Addressing a gathering of he Muhammadiyah Moslem youth wing on Sunday, Amien questioned the Nationail Front whose members were missing when the campaign for reform started. Now, all of a sudden, they became reformers seeking to topple Habibie's administration."
He pointed out that Habibie's was a transitional government anyway, and its term would expire after it held the general election, and that a new, legitimate government would be established. "The threat may lead to anarchy, especially if other parties then counter it with a similar use of the masses," he said.
The National Front established on Aug. 6, is led by prominent figures such as Lt. Gen. (ret) Kemal Idris, and has, since its inception, declared itself to be a moral force and in opposition to Habibie. Kemal said last week that the front was ready to support student activists grouped in the All Java Reform Movement, who said after their meeting in the West Java capital of Bandung on Friday they would mobilize people in demonstrations to force Habibie to step down because of his failure to end the crisis.
Moslem leader Jusuf Hasyim from Nahdlatul Ulama called on Kemal ldris and his colleagues not to "incite" the students. "As an elder and a retired (serviceman), please be wise in handling this situation, don't fan the flames that are the students," he was quoted by Antara as saying. He said what Kemal ldris and colleagues were doing was of dry straw field."
"The (planned) mass movements are a (campaign) to take over the legitimate power by force," he said, adding that no antigovernment movement could succeed in developing countries unless it had the support of both the people and the military. Political observer Mochtar Pabottingi of the National Institute of Sciences said he stage massive protests to topple Habibie, saying they could create more problems. Antara quoted Mochtar as saying that it would be better to give the government and the House of Representatives a chance to produce solid political laws.
Political observer Asma Affan of the Medan-based Sumatra Utara University was quoted by the news agency as saying: "the National Front's open support for (the planned demonstrations) is against the students' objective of moral and peaceful reform." Asma said everybody was allowed to express their aspirations or political views. "But such aspirations or views must be channeled through a constructive and effective means which would not endanger the whole nation and worsen the people's crisis-hit lives," she said.
Jakarta -- Hundreds of people protested in a town in South Sulawesi Tuesday after failing to get their money out of a financially troubled local savings agency.
Police said no one was injured or arrested in the protest in Pinrang, a coastal town about 1,370 kilometers (856 miles) northeast of Jakarta. Local deputy police commander Maj. John To'longan, said some demonstrators threw stones at local government buildings.
He said the mob, numbering up to 500, also tried to attack the home of a senior local government official. However, they were blocked by police and later dispersed.
Allan Thompson, Vancouver -- A government lawyer has denied that Canada offered favours to an Indonesian dictator or that demonstrators were dealt with improperly at last year's Asia- Pacific summit.
Ivan Whitehall was speaking yesterday during the first day of hearings by the RCMP Public Complaints Commission into the treatment of protesters at last November's summit. Papers leaked
Documents apparently supporting the theory that Prime Minister Jean Chritien offered former Indonesian president Suharto favours have been leaked out of context, Whitehall said. The RCMP attempted to ensure that the summit would take place and that security arrangements were appropriate, he said.
"In other words, what this was all about was ensuring that the demonstrations take place on one side of the street, but not the other side of the street and it had absolutely nothing to do with Indonesia or any other particular country. "It was simply the way major international events are run," he said.
The meeting of 18 Pacific Rim leaders was marred by clashes between protesters and RCMP when the group met at the University of British Columbia, west of downtown Vancouver. More than 40 people have filed complaints with the commission about police treatment. The Prime Minister could be called to testify because of allegations he promised Suharto he wouldn't be confronted by demonstrators in Vancouver and that he ordered the RCMP to stifle protest.
A paper trail of documents apparently links Chritien to the pledge to Suharto that he wouldn't face embarrassment, and also ties the Prime Minister's office to RCMP action in cracking down on protesters and tearing down signs. Dozens of student activists who were pepper-sprayed, arrested, strip-searched and detained without charge contend that their constitutional rights to free speech and expression were infringed because Chritien wanted to shield a dictator from embarrassment.
On the first day of proceedings, Gerald Morin, head of the three-member panel, made it clear the commission will go as far up the ladder as it takes to get to the truth. "We must necessarily hear evidence as to not only what took place, but also why. Hence, we will go where the evidence from witnesses leads us," Morin said. "These are grave matters which strike at the heart of us, at who we are as Canadians," Morin said. In the hearing room, students representing themselves were seated at the back, while three tables full of lawyers representing the government and RCMP occupied the front. In all, there were some two dozen lawyers in the hearing room. The inquiry didn't hear from any witnesses yesterday because it was almost immediately bogged down in procedural wrangling. Funding issue
It heard arguments over its right to probe the Prime Minister's conduct, legal standing for various parties, funding for student protesters to pay lawyers and the disclosure of documents.
Commission counsel Chris Considine said he intends to call as many as 130 witnesses. Proceedings could take six months. Considine made it clear he will probe allegations the Canadian government gave assurances to Suharto that he wouldn't be embarrassed by demonstrators in Canada.
Cameron Ward, a lawyer for some student protesters, asked the commission to declare clearly that it has the jurisdiction to investigate the conduct of Chritien and his staff and to make recommendations on potential political interference with the RCMP. "If it is proved in some form that the Prime Minister told the RCMP to act in a way which violated my clients' constitutional rights... then we have to question whether this society has taken a step toward becoming a police state, like say, Indonesia under general Suharto," Ward said.
On the funding issue, Morin agreed with lawyer Joseph Arvay, who represents student Craig Jones, that the commission should urge the government to pay for lawyers for the student protesters. "The only reason the government would say no is if they don't want you to get to the truth," Arvay said.
Jakarta -- Thousands of villagers looted state owned shrimp ponds on the Indonesian island of Nusakambangan, a report said Wednesday. Around 2,000 people from southern Central Java crossed the narrow strait to Nusakambangan late Saturday and looted the local state cooperative shrimp ponds, the Republika daily said.
The ponds were within a restricted zone of a high-security correctional facility but people continued to arrive and loot the ponds despite warning shots fired by a joint police, navy and army security team, the daily said. Rubber coated bullets were also fired, the daily said, but there were no reports of casualties.
Banyumas district police chief Colonel Isnandar believed the looting had been sparked by the beating of a man by a jail warden as he was attempting to collect shrimps in a ponds already harvested by the cooperative. Indonesia, currently battling a major economic crisis, has seen widespread looting of businesses, plantations, wood estate as well as fish and shrimp ponds in recent months.
Louise Williams, Sanur -- Tens of thousands of people descended on a dusty field in the tourist island of Bali yesterday as Indonesia's pro-democracy figurehead, Megawati Soekarnoputri, launched her bid for the presidency from a makeshift stage.
The Indonesian election campaign is still months away but Bali's tourist strip of Sanur was a sea of red, the colour of Megawati's Partai Demokrasi Indonesia (PDI), as thousands more supporters lined the streets, closed in honour of her arrival.
Some had travelled for four days and nights, sleeping on boats and in buses, to show their support for the daughter of Indonesia's founding president, Soekarno, who is herself fast becoming a personality cult in the harsh, hungry times of Indonesia's economic collapse. "Mega-mania", "Mega for President", "Mega-Trend", "Mega-Fanatic", read the banners which have adorned cars, shops, taxis and even Bali's fishing boats in the lead-up to the rally. "We have been repressed politically for more than 30 years -- this is the beginning of the awakening," said one supporter of the political restrictions of former president Soeharto's 32 years in power.
Tourist resorts along Sanur beach, near the rally site, barricaded their driveways and advised foreigners to avoid rowdy crowds. A handful of tourists, caught out by the road closures, were seen lugging bags and surfboards along the roads with thousands of energetic, cheering "Mega" supporters. Two years ago, Megawati was banned from politics by the Government of the then President Soeharto, the man who had toppled her father three decades earlier.
Technically, her PDI is not recognised by the Habibie Government and military officials had tried to force her to change the venue, fearing the massive crowds could trigger violence on Indonesia's premier tourist island. A special session of Parliament next month will redraft Indonesia's political rules to make way for democratic elections next year, but Megawati chose not to wait for the formal restoration of her party's political rights to open its national Congress in Sanur yesterday.
"Mega is already too big for the Government to stop her," shouted one of the hundreds of PDI security officers controlling the crowds. "If anyone tries to block us, we will fight."
"If anyone tries to create anarchy, make sure it is not PDI supporters," Megawati announced, as a human barricade, dressed in traditional Balinese sarongs and jackets, held back the sea of supporters. Her voice faltered with emotion as she addressed the crowd, twice coming close to tears as she spoke of the poverty which has gripped Indonesia since the economic crisis began more than a year ago. "I ask the [Habibie] Government to tell the people what the real condition of the economy is, what is the real food situation for the poor, and who is responsible for this crisis," she said, as the crowd roared "Soeharto, Soeharto".
Megawati did not mention Soeharto by name, but said former officials of his government should be held accountable for the excesses of Soeharto's rule. "If the people give us their trust to form a government following the next election, then whoever had broken the law will be prosecuted, no matter who they are," she said. Megawati is particularly popular in Bali, where resentment was fuelled by the prominent role of the Soeharto children and his cronies in the development of tourist resorts. Many tourist developments forced rural communities off their land, and alienated Bali's predominantly Hindu people from some of their sacred religious sites, such as the famous temple at Tanah Lot.
Megawati told the crowd not to fear foreign investment, in an apparent signal to the scores of foreign diplomats in the audience that a PDI-led government would not turn back to her father's ruinous policies of nationalism and economic isolation, but maintain a open market economy.
Jakarta -- The National Police are to send officers to the United States to investigate the alleged forgery of promissory notes worth about US$3 billion by Ibnu Hartomo, former president Soeharto's brother-in-law.
Ibnu was officially named a suspect by the police on Friday for falsifying 500 promissory notes which were sold to a Syrian, identified as Hasan Zubaidi, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Togar M. Sianipar said on Friday. Togar said the dispatching of the officers to the US was intended mainly to obtain information from witnesses, including two American citizens in Arizona and New York.
Ibnu's alleged wrongdoing was first probed by the Attorney General in lg85, but the case was transferred to the National Police last month after being categorized as a "general crime", Togar said. "We just received the transfer of the case from the Attorney General's Office last month." Togar, however, was guarded in his comments on the reason for the long delay in investigating the case. "If you ask why the police are slow in investigating the case, it's because we have not had enough funds to fly our officers to America. But I don't think I dare to comment on why the Attorney General's Office was slow at the time (in 1985)," he said.
Ibnu, the younger brother of Soeharto's wife, allegedly committed the forgery during his tenure as deputy of the National Council of Defense and Security (Wanhankamnas) in 1985. The police investigation was being conducted in response to recent reports from the two Americans, Togar said without giving exact dates of the reports. "They were among the people who fell victim to the crime which was committed by Syrian Hasan Zubaidi and Ibnu Hartomo."
The person in Arizona had bought seven notes worth US$175 million, while the one in New York had bought two notes worth US$25 million, Togar said. The two Americans had also showed the police the fake notes bought from Hasan, Togar said.
Togar said, however, the police had yet to set a date to summon Ibnu, who is reportedly undergoing medical treatment abroad. If there is sufficient evidence, Ibnu could be charged under Article 264 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum sentence of eight years imprisonment. According to Togar, there is a possibility of investigating other government officials who held the same post as Ibnu as the case is still open.
| Environment/health |
Kafil Yamin, Bandung -- The small, filthy and foul- smelling canal in Cikuya village in West Java is the community's ticket to earning a livelihood. Soon after daybreak everyday, women, men and children troop to the waste-contaminated canal and wash load upon load of used plastic bags, then sell them to traders who in turn reap profits from selling them to reprocessing factories.
This is supposed to be a success story of people making a living out of recycling waste, but this green tale has a dark twist to it. While aiding plastic reprocessing, the people of Cikuya in many ways literally live on waste. Here in the "village of waste", the same contaminated canal water that residents use to wash plastic is also the public toilet.
They drink the same contaminated water. The horizons of their world are drawn in the curves of compressed plastic waste. In almost every open space of the Cikuya neighbourhood lie piles of used plastic bags, waiting to be brought by residents to the nearby canal for washing. To some families, layers of used plastics are their beds.
Activity by the canal, situated just by the border of the "kampung" or village, begins each morning with girls sorting out the waste plastic bags to make washing easier and faster. Villagers say they use the dirty canal water because it would be a waste to use clean water. "What kind of water do you expect us to use for washing this garbage? Clean water? That's crazy," said 42-year-old Rahmi, a mother of two children. Her children earn income from the same trade, like many other youngsters in Cikuya. "Most of them are dropouts.
Their parents cannot afford to keep them at schools," said Maman, the Cikuya village head. The waste washers work for one or two bosses and are paid 500 rupiah (5 US cents) for every kilogram of plastic they wash. Ujang, 12-year-old boy, washes 15 kilos of plastic bags a day after five hours of working barefoot by the canal, the average working capacity of the village's army of washers.
For such efforts, Ujang gets a daily income of 7,500 rupiah (70 cents). The traders purchase used plastic from the collectors, many of whom are children, who wander from garbage pile to garbage pile in search of plastic bags. The traders pay 200 rupiah (2 cents) for each kilo of this waste. This gives them a wide profit margin, because they resell the already-washed plastics to processing factories at 1,200 rupiah per kilo (11 cents), residents say.
"They are rich. And there some newcomers who become rich soon after they get into this business," said Dita, a resident who says that only the businessmen and traders get a windfall from this waste trade. Collectors and washers never get a raise when prices of used plastics rise, she adds.
The used-plastic traders, meanwhile, dismiss reports of astronomical profits as exaggeration. They say that the washing cost is two times more than the price of used plastic they purchase. One tonne costs 50 dollars for washing plus 10 dollars for transport. This does not include decreases in the piles of washed plastic that do not meet the factories' standard for cleaned waste.
"Factory men are very selective. They set aside ineligible ones (plastic). In fact, we earn only 250 dollars or so for every tonne (sold to them)," said Agus, a used-plastic businessman. "Even if they found small dirt on a piece of plastic," Agus said, the factory turns down the washed plastic. "You can imagine. I have spent a lot of money for washing. They just don't buy it." It is no surprise that "cleaning" used plastic with dirty water yields less than satisfactory results.
As Cikuya resident Dita put it: "They wash them (plastics) with waste water from textile factories. The water they use is dirt." Many Cikuya residents know full well that the canal carries dirty water. But the washers do not seem bothered by streams of human waste that float down the dark and heavily- polluted water while they are washing plastic bags. "Why should we be disgusted? Here, inside our own stomach, we have that kind of thing," Ujang told IPS while brushing plastic bags.
Though Cikuya residents are in the waste-washing business to earn a living, the trade has picked up recently in the wake of the Indonesian economic crunch that has made reprocessing plastic more popular than relying on new, costly imports of plastic material.
Indonesia is heavily dependent on imported plastics to meet domestic demand for bags, utensils, household equipment and industrial needs. But the slide of the rupiah has jacked up prices of petrochemicals, including ethanol, the chief material for plastics. The sole producer of plastic materials in Indonesia is the petrochemical plant Chandra Asri.
When President Suharto was in power, this company, owned by his son Bambang Trihatmojo and his cronies, had been protected through a monopoly on importation of chemical materials. The protection remains until now. In their effort to use local materials, plastics producers have been turning to reprocessing used plastic, thus giving the recycling process a boost. They are able to make good sales from the plastic bags they reprocess.
"They are now well aware of the benefit from being friendly to environment. If they did not go through this economic crisis, they (plastic producers) would have not been willing to recycle waste," said Maemunah, an NGO activist here. That is well and good. But it does not solve the dilemma that faces Cikuya's residents, who make money from waste but in effect trade in their health and long-term well-being in the process.
| Arms/armed forces |
Jakarta -- The Armed Forces (ABRI) celebrates its 53rd anniversary on Monday by taking a hard look at its image, pledging solutions to some rights violations, and pleading against being seen as "cruel murderers and destroyers" who inflicted suffering on people.
Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto said in a media briefing on Sunday that "history has placed ABRI at a strategic turning point... ABRI is aware that it should do some introspection, to obtain an image of what is its best function and role." Wiranto conceded ABRI now believed that its "security approach" was no longer relevant, and that it should now have a new paradigm as a part of the national system. ABRI has come under increasing public criticism this year following the disappearance of dozens of activists, its. handling of the violent mass rioting in May and the shooting of students during a peaceful protest that precipitated the unrest. Wiranto spoke about all three subjects in his briefing. He started with a delineation of the military's effort to under-take changes including "redefining, repositioning and renewing" its role in the nation's life.
Wiranto said the military was not closing its eyes to soldiers' past "violations of discipline and actions that have exceeded acceptable levels." But, he added, "It is unfair and really disproportionate if actions by security personnel which were at the time legal... are now attacked and labeled as wrong, in the current era of reform."
In his address, which Antara said he called a political statement, Wiranto said ABRI had decided to separate the police from the military. However, a decision had yet to be made whether the police will be under the auspices of the defense ministry or the home ministry.
"ABRI has decided to reposition or separate the National Police from ABRI," said Wiranto, who is also minister of defense and security. "ABRI has set up a gradual agenda to reposition the National Police. Starting in April of 1999, the training and operation of the national police will be apart from ABRI and placed under, or more precisely returned to, the defense ministry," Wiranto said. However, he said a decision had yet to be made on which government department the 177,000-strong police force would ultimately be directly responsible to.
Wiranto reiterated ABRI had so far failed to find proof of mass rapes of ethnic-Chinese women that many people alleged took place during the May riots here. "The government and ABRI have made various efforts to find the victims of the rapes reported to have taken place during the May 13 to May 15 unrest," Wiranto said. "These efforts have not yielded results. ABRI has also not obtained concrete and convincing replies, data or proof from parties that have claimed to possess important information," he added. Wiranto made a similar statement in September, much to the consternation of human rights groups. Wiranto said the police checked 20 hospitals in Jakarta and several others in Singapore and Perth, Australia, where rape victims were reported to have sought treatment following their ordeals but found no evidence to confirm the reports.
Wiranto also called on the nation to ponder whether it was true that during its years of service, ABRI had only shown itself as cruel murderers and destroyers. "No bragging intended, history has recorded that ABRI has fought with the nation... we can't estimate how many thousands of ABRI's best children... sacrificed their lives for the truth and the nation?" "Will those sacrifices be forgotten just like that for the sake of certain groups' political interests?" he said, without mentioning any names.
He further asked the people to ponder the lives of many service personnel who became crippled, mothers who lost children, wives who lost husbands and children who lost fathers in their commitment to duties. "Do they ever protest and take revenge against the nation or are they wrong to feel it is enough to receive service medals, which are put on the walls to replace of their dead parents," he said. Later in the day, Wiranto spoke to all ABRI members in a televised di urnal command calling on them not to allow "a deconstruction of the nation" to take place. "Don't just sit back and let deconstruction occur and destroy the whole order and structure of the nation," he said. "No tasks are too heavy in our effort to handle the crisis, to walk together in this reform movement..."
Banyuwangi -- Police in Indonesia's East Java said on Wednesday there was mounting evidence that members of the military were involved in a mysterious murder spree that has claimed more than 100 lives.
But Indonesia's police chief said in Jakarta he believed the killings in the area around the town of Banyuwangi could have been masterminded by members of the banned communist party. "The indications are that the main instigators of the killings are members of the PKI (Indonesian Communist Party)," Lieutenant- General Roesmanhadi told reporters. "They are operating in groups and in an organised manner."
Black-clad killers have gone on the rampage in recent months around Banyuwangi, the main departure point for ferries to the holiday island of Bali. Many of the victims -- mostly Moslem clerics or alleged practitioners of black magic -- were chopped into pieces. The bodies of some victims were tied into bundles and dangled from trees, while others were thrown into mosques.
The Kompas newspaper on Wednesday said the death toll had reached 122, quoting local Moslem leaders. Local police put the number of deaths so far at 104. Banyuwangi police chief Ucu Kuspriadi said four members of the military were being questioned on suspicion of involvement in the wave of murders.
The town remained tense on Wednesday, with locals armed with knives and sickles patrolling roads into the area. Hundreds of supporters of opposition figurehead Megawati Sukarnoputri were arriving in the town on their way to a congress of her breakaway faction of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) that begins in Bali on Thursday. Most stayed in their cars and drove straight to the port.
Communists have frequently been used as bogey-men by Indonesia's ruling regime, with the government and military often accusing communists of being behind criticism or unrest. On Tuesday, Indonesian armed forces chief General Wiranto ordered police to take firm action to halt the killings. "I have ordered the police to stop the murders. We will go to the core of the problem, assessing whether these are purely criminal acts or whether there is some other motive involved," Wiranto told reporters in Jakarta.
No clear motive has emerged for the killings, although one senior military source has suggested they were a deliberate attempt to create tension between the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia's largest Moslem organisation, and supporters of Megawati.
Many of the dead have been NU members, and a senior NU official told Indonesia's private SCTV television he believed the killings had a political motive. "The killers are perpetrating criminal acts, but why do they attack NU members only? Therefore, I believe the killings have been driven by a political motive," Musthafa Zuhad Mughni said. An elite battalion of troops was sent to Banyuwangi at the weekend to try to halt the violence.
Derwin Pereira, Jakarta -- The Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI), in its first-ever public acknowledgement, has conceded that it was used as a political tool by former President Suharto to further his political and other interests when he was in power.
In a document titled ABRI In The 21st Century, released on the occasion of its 53rd anniversary on Monday, the military said it had "exceeded its dual-function role" during the 32 years when Mr Suharto was leader of the nation.
It has now vowed to play a smaller role in daily politics, but underlined that it had no plans to give up its "dwifungsi" or dual-function doctrine, which was made into law in 1982 and under which the military has both a security and socio-political role. "During President Suharto's era, ABRI was allowed to play an unfettered role because Suharto's political format was to use ABRI's socio-political role for his own interests," the document said. The military added that it had been difficult for ABRI to remain above the state's interests because it was directly under Mr Suharto who, as President, was also its Supreme Commander.
ABRI's socio-political role, in particular, enabled it to appoint unelected representatives to Parliament and to top jobs in the bureaucracy. It also allowed the military to exert control over government agencies and other instruments of state. The army, by means of its territorial structure, is represented today at every level of society -- even down to the villages -- in all of Indonesia's 27 provinces. Many civilian intellectuals have long resented this, arguing that it gave the military a "free hand" to conduct numerous excesses by interfering in politics at the President's behest.
ABRI has used force to put down opponents of former President Suharto and his government. There have been revelations of human-rights abuses -- such as kidnapping of student activists and atrocities in Aceh, East Timor and Irian Jaya. But the 28- page document, signed by ABRI chief General Wiranto, said the military had no plans to give up "dwifungsi". "ABRI cannot be cut off from politics," it said. "There are no armed forces in the world that do not play a political role. All of them play a political role in different forms, even in liberal democratic countries."
In arguing that ABRI had a continued role to play, it said that in all developing countries, the military was "an agent of development and an agent of modernisation". But ABRI did concede that it would now play a smaller role in politics, particularly in the appointment of senior officers to the bureaucracy and ministries. Gen Wiranto said over the weekend that the process for holding such jobs would now be more "open and transparent" and that the military would discard the old security-driven paradigm it often resorted to, in the use of force, to achieve goals.
President B. J. Habibie told military leaders on Monday that they should not be transfixed by "past traumas" and should move ahead to reform ABRI.
| International |
Manila -- Some 300 leftist activists and ethnic Chinese picketed the Indonesian embassy in the Philippines Monday, to protest alleged abuses against the ethnic Chinese minority in Indonesia. Waving banners saying "Justice for the rape victims" and assailing Indonesian President B.J. Habibie and his predecessor Suharto, the protestors lit dozens of candles on the pavement and said prayers for the victims.
About a dozen policemen redirected traffic away from the protest. The protesters called for a worldwide boycott of Indonesia until there was an end to violence targetting the Chinese minority. They also blamed the Indonesian government for instigating the riots in May. They later dispersed peacefully.
| Economy and investment |
Jakarta -- Indonesia's beleaguered rupiah broke through the key target of 10,000 to the dollar on Wednesday, reaching its strongest levels since former President Suharto resigned in May amid economic turmoil and mass unrest.
A recovery to 10,000 in the fourth quarter of 1998 was a crucial assumption of reform plans agreed with the International Monetary Fund in June in return for a multi-billion-dollar bailout of Indonesia's stricken economy.
Many analysts scoffed at the time, but buoyed by hefty infusions of foreign aid and loans, talk of the imposition of Malaysia-style currency controls and glimmers of hope that inflation might be slowing, the currency has proved them wrong. Dealers said it traded as high as 9,700 to the dollar on Wednesday, gathering steam after breaking the resistance levels of 10,600 to the dollar on Tuesday and 10,000 on Wednesday. "It gained very quickly once it broke through the psychological barriers of 10,600 yesterday and 10,000 today," said a dealer at a foreign bank. "It is also being helped by regional currencies gaining against the dollar. I can see it making more gains."
Indonesia's IMF-approved budget and reform programme assume an average rupiah rate of 10,600 in the fiscal year to end-March. The currency has sunk as low as 17,000 amid the political, economic and social chaos of recent months. Tuesday's highs were the rupiah's firmest levels since May 13 -- the day riots exploded in Jakarta after four student protesters were shot dead. The rioting left almost 1,200 people dead and added to the pressure that toppled Suharto, who quit on May 21.
Dealers said the rupiah could see some profit taking at present levels but it still had room to make further gains. "At the range of 9,700 to 9,800 some people are likely to be buying dollars again," said a dealer at a European bank in Jakarta. "But the trend is still there, a close of 9,500 or 9,600 today is still in the picture." In spite of its recent strength, the rupiah is still down 75 percent from its pre-crisis levels of July 1997 of around 2,450 to the dollar and is not yet strong enough to solve the crushing debt burden that has crippled the corporate sector.
Mohammad Syahrial, head of research at Jakarta's Pentasena Securities, said that even at a rupiah rate of 8,000 to the dollar, 260 of the 282 firms on Jakarta's stock market would still be technically bankrupt. The rupiah has staged a gradual recovery since July, fuelled by billions of dollars in loans and aid pledged by international donors to keep the economy afloat. As Indonesia converts the dollars into rupiah, the local currency has steadily risen.
Some analysts have cautioned that the boost to the rupiah provided by foreign aid is temporary, and that if the aid dries up, the rupiah will weaken once more. But dealers say other factors were also lifting the rupiah, including favourable inflation figures for September and fresh talk the country will introduce Malaysia-style currency controls. An article in Tuesday's Bisnis Indonesia daily quoted an unnamed banking industry source as saying the government might stop overseas trade in the rupiah.
The article moved the market, despite the government's repeated denials in recent weeks that it planned to restrict trade in the currency. Dealers also said the rupiah was benefiting from signs social unrest was on the wane -- although this could quickly be reversed if violence flared again, particularly if it affected Jakarta. The rupiah's recovery slowed last month because of an upsurge in unrest and anti-government protests, fuelled by the spiralling costs of food, particularly rice. "The political situation is not looking so bleak as it was a few weeks ago," a dealer said. "But it is extremely fragile. The problem we still face is that all the progress we have made could still be reversed in a matter of hours."
Muklis Ali, Jakarta -- Indonesia said on Friday it had found evidence of corruption in deals between state oil firm Pertamina and 159 companies -- most linked to the family and friends of former President Suharto -- and may renegotiate them.
The Mines and Energy Ministry said stamping out corruption in Pertamina would save the company $64.7 million in dollar expenses and 313.3 billion rupiah ($34.8 million) in rupiah costs.
"Pertamina has evaluated which projects indicate corruption, collusion and nepotism. The results of the evaluation have been reported to the minister of mines and energy and there are 159 companies that fall into this category," Djoko Darmono, the ministry's secretary-general, told reporters. The suspect projects and contracts included deals in oil exploration, gas purchasing, gasoline additives and the procurement of catalysts for Pertamina refineries, the ministry said.
Pertamina exploration director Priyambodo Mulyosudirdjo said the firm had appealed to foreign oil companies operating in Indonesia to take over shares owned by the Suharto family in joint projects. "We appeal to foreign oil companies to take over the shares owned by the family because of the smell of collusion," he said. "We will renegotiate contracts with those companies which won privileges or got contracts through malpractice."
Mulyosudirdjo said Pertamina had in the past been forced to give production sharing contracts (PSCs) and technical assistance contracts (TACs) in the exploration sector to Suharto associates without putting them to tender. "We will abolish the privileges and will bring back the standard procedures and rules, that is through tender," he said. "Pertamina will open tenders for contracts, including in exploration and procurement for refineries or exploration equipment," Mulyosudirdjo said.
According to the ministry, eight PSCs and six TACs were categorised as suspect. One of the PSCs involved the onshore and offshore Kangean block in East Java which is operated by ARCO of the US in a joint venture with PT Bimantara, controlled by Suharto's second son Bambang Trihatmodjo.
Pertamina was also renegotiating the tariffs for chartering tankers from Humpuss, controlled by Suharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the ministry said. It said Pertamina had cancelled plans to co-operate with companies controlled by Suharto's family and associates in the proposed construction of private refineries. PT Asia Pasific Petroleum, controlled by Trihatmodjo, and PT Buana Ganda Perkasa, controlled by Suharto's half-brother Probosutedjo, had both planned plan to build 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) refineries in East Java in co-operation with Pertamina.
Pertamina said the government audit body was investigating Indonesia's eighth liquefied natural gas plant project in Bontang, East Kalimantan. The plant is currently under construction by contractor PT Inti Karya Persada, controlled by Bob Hasan, a close associate of Suharto.