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ASIET NetNews Number 46 - November 30-December 6, 1998
| Democratic struggle |
Liz Sly, Jakarta -- Indonesia's angry students are more likely these days to shout "Down with Suharto," referring to the autocrat who was forced from office last May as the economy collapsed and unrest surged, than "Down with Habibie," an allusion to the functionary who succeeded him.
The oversight reflects no sudden fondness for President B.J. Habibie on the part of the student demonstrators who brought down Suharto, but rather a growing conviction that it is Suharto who continues to wield the real power.
In recent weeks, the focus of the demonstrations has shifted back to Suharto. The rallying cry for the students now is that Suharto should be held to account for the massive fortune he allegedly accumulated through corrupt practices in the 32 years of his rule.
But the resurgence of anti-Suharto anger goes deeper than a simple desire to see justice done. Six months after he stepped down, Suharto is seen increasingly as the biggest obstacle to genuine democratic reform, while Habibie, six months into his presidency, has failed to convince Indonesians he is his own man.
Thousands of students rallied Wednesday, staging noisy demonstrations at several locations, including the presidential palace and a park near Suharto's home, where the retired president is living a secluded life surrounded by several thousand troops.
Some students, waving crude caricatures of Suharto and carrying banners calling for him to be hanged, some students appeared to have forgotten they already had brought Suharto down.
"The only solution to the problems of Indonesia is the fall of the Suharto regime," said student activist Guspar, 24. "I mean," he added, correcting his mistake, "the puppet Habibie regime, which is backed by Suharto."
As his choice of words underscored, the students who forced Suharto from office last May never accepted Habibie as a credible alternative, which is why they have continue to demand a complete political overhaul. When army troops opened fire on student demonstrators last month, killing 14 people, it seemed only to confirm what they suspected all along: that Habibie shares the same autocratic tendencies as the man he succeeded.
"People had been so relieved that Suharto was gone that they were willing to give Habibie some time," said political analyst Wimar Witoelar. "Not anymore. The honeymoon is over."
But it is Habibie's failure to investigate Suharto's allegedly fabulous wealth that stands out as evidence of Suharto's continued hold over him in the eyes of many ordinary Indonesians.
These days, Suharto is being blamed for most of what is wrong in Indonesia, especially the mounting violence that threatens to erupt into open communal warfare. There is a widespread belief that Suharto is orchestrating the strife, using loyalists within the military, to prevent the emergence of a strong, popularly elected government that might aggressively pursue him in the courts.
"Instability means no one is strong enough to treat Suharto like the presidents of South Korea" who received long sentences for corrupt practices after democracy was established, said military analyst Salim Said. "This isn't a battle he has to win. The fact that a battle is going on means he is already winning."
Whether or not the suspicions are true, Suharto still holds some cards, as he pointedly reminded Habibie in a letter last weekend that was written by his lawyer.
"If Suharto does go to court, it could drag down the government, bringing senior incumbent and former officials -- as well as all the cronies suspected of accruing ill-gotten wealth -- into messy litigation," warned the letter.
Indonesians interpreted the letter as proof of what they long had believed. "This was to let Indonesians know that Suharto still holds the key to power in the country and that you can't mess with him," said Wilson Nababan, director of Cisi Raya Utama, a business consulting firm that has investigated Suharto's wealth.
As the letter also implied, it would be difficult for Habibie to probe too deeply into Suharto's finances, even if he wanted to. It is believed the corruption of the Suharto era was so pervasive that it touched virtually every ministry and bureaucracy, and most of those now holding office are holdovers from the old regime.
"Suharto is like a loose thread on a sweater," said a Western diplomat "Everyone can see he's a problem, but if you started to pull on the thread, the whole sweater would unravel until eventually the entire country would be naked."
That is one reason that Habibie's pledges so far to investigate Suharto's finances have been met with skepticism. A promised independent commission of inquiry has failed to get off the ground because no one of independent status who has been approached has accepted the request to serve.
The Indonesian Corruption Watch, an independent group, this week criticized the proposed commission as a "cheap political commodity," warning that it could be used for "the money laundering of Suharto's wealth ... ending in his freedom from the threat of the courts."
Jakarta -- The majority of the Indonesian people do not believe the government's claim that the student movement has lost its purity, or that it had begun to represent the interests of a small group of people bent on bringing down the government of President B.J. Habibie, according to a recent poll.
Some 73.5 percent of the people questioned believe that the students have continued with their demonstrations because their demands have not been met, while 28.5 percent said the continued demonstrations were a reflection of growing public discontent. Around 18 percent of the respondents believe the protests reflected ongoing power struggle among the nation's political elites.
The poll, with 1,168 respondents picked randomly in Jakarta, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Padang and Medan, was jointly commissioned by The Jakarta Post and D&R, a weekly newsmagazine, and conducted by the Resource Productivity Center. The responses to the polls exceed 100 percent in several cases because respondents were allowed to give more than one answer.
The students' street protests may have inconvenienced many road users in Jakarta, but that seems to be the least concern of the respondents. More than half of the respondents said their greatest fear about the continuing demonstrations is that they could get out of control and lead to massive unrest, as happened during the Nov. 13 Black Friday tragedy and the unrest the following day.
Around 31 percent of the respondents fear that the protests would drive business investors away, and 22.3 percent say the protests could sow the seeds of national disintegration. Only 4.4 percent of respondents say the protests are disrupting their daily activities.
The polls indicate wide approval for the students' demands. For example, around 42 percent of the respondents believe that the students have been more effective than the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in pressing the government to launch an investigation into the wealth of former president Soeharto. Around 25 percent say that the movement has been more effective than the MPR in pressing for an end to ABRI's institutionalized sociopolitical role.
The government says that 13 people were killed in separate clashes between students and security forces on Nov. 12 and Nov. 13. The students, joined by ordinary people, were marching toward the MPR building where a special session was underway to endorse Habibie's reform agenda. The conflict reached its climax on the night of Nov. 13 when security forces opened fire on unarmed students.
In the aftermath of the incident, the ABRI leadership claimed that the students were instigated by a group of government critics who had issued a statement calling for the establishment of a transitional government and assembly. These critics are now under investigation on charges of treason.
The military has also claimed that agent provocateurs agitated the mob into the clashes, and has denied that live bullets taken from dead students belonged to any of its units deployed during the conflict.
The Black Friday tragedy was seen live by many people throughout the country, courtesy of aggressive private TV stations. Horrifying as it may be, this rare privilege afforded viewers the opportunity to form their own opinions in the face of massive propaganda by both the government and its critics in the aftermath of the tragedy.
The poll shows that a clear majority of the respondents, 62 percent, dismiss the government's claim that the students were manipulated. Only 36 percent believe the government's claim, with 1.7 percent undecided. Of those who reject the government's claim of manipulation, 45 percent say the students are not that ignorant or easily manipulated, and 31 percent say that the student movement has retained its purity as a moral voice.
When asked who they think was most responsible for the tragedy, more than 65 percent of the respondents point their fingers at Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto, and nearly 24 percent say Habibie should take the blame. Nearly 15 percent say the two field commanders at the time, the Jakarta Police chief and the Jakarta Military commander, were responsible. Only 5.9 percent of the respondents believe the students were to blame, and even fewer respondents, 3.8 percent, blame the tragedy on antigovernment critics now being investigated for treason.
On the question of what triggered the Black Friday tragedy, 49 percent say both the security forces and students lost control, but nearly 33 percent blame the low discipline of ABRI members. Table: 1.
1. Why do you think the student movement has continued to this day?:
Jakarta -- Thousands of Indonesian students took to the streets here again Wednesday, and managed for the first time to breach presidential palace security and directly demand that fallen strongman Suharto be brought to trial.
The breakthrough came when some 1,000 students, who had earlier protested at the attorney general's office to demand Suharto be punished for his alleged plunder of the country, caught the outer ring of the palace security apparently unaware.
The students, from the elite Trisakti University, in a convoy of some 16 buses, came unexpectedly from a side street and forced a thin cordon of soldiers to give way. The troops moved armored trucks and barbed wire barricades blocking the road to the Merdeka palace.
Suharto's successor and protege, President B.J. Habibie, who only hours earlier had appealed to the students to quit the streets, was inside the presidential office adjoining the stately white- columned Merdeka palace at the time, witnesses said.
He did not appear, or offer to meet with the students. But palace security allowed 17 student representatives to meet for 90 minutes with a team of his aides in the office of military secretary Vice Marshal Budhy Santoso.
At the meeting with three senior palace officials -- the deputy cabinet secretary, the commander of the presidential guard, and Santoso -- the students demanded Suharto be taken to court within three days, palace sources and the state Antara news agency said.
The students also demanded armed forces chief General Wiranto be held accountable for recent military violence against students and that probes be conducted into a recent series of riots.
Meanwhile, another convoy of 23 banner-festooned buses carrying some 1,000 students came within 200 metres (yards) of the national parliament.
A law on the public expression of opinion passed by parliament in October banned demonstrations within a radius of 500 metres (1,670 feet) from several "strategic buildings," including both the palace and parliament. The convoy travelled against a one-way sign to close in but was blocked by a thin line of police and soldiers, whose numbers were rapidly reinforced to some 300. The students scuffled briefly with the troops and a rain of stones and sticks were thrown at the soldiers, who only managed to push them back a few metres.
"Reject the 1998 special session of the MPR (the People's Consultative Assembly)," read a large banner carried by the protestors, referring to a legislative assembly they regard as a hang-over of the Suharto era. They continued to press for Habibie to hand over power to a transitional authority.
Another group of some 120 students, also riding on buses, protested briefly at a heavily guarded park in central Jakarta, a short distance from Suharto's residence, before joining the group near parliament.
A separate group of hundreds rallied at a busy downtown roundabout watched by some 200 police and soldiers and cheered by onlookers and passing car drivers. "Habibie is a coward. Keep it up or Suharto will never really be gone," yelled one passing taxi driver.
Earlier Wednesday, at the office of Attorney General Andi Ghalib, the Trisakti students carried posters reading: "Drag Suharto to court," "Hang Suharto," and "Prove you are not a chicken, Ghalib!"
Ghalib was presented with a chicken last week by the Trisakti students, who along with hundreds of others from different universities had managed to occupy the attorney general's office for more than 12 hours.
The attorney general's office has so far found 21 billion rupiah (2.6 million dollars) of Suharto's money in 72 local banks. The investigation into any accounts abroad, which the former president says are non-existent, is still underway.
The attorney general heads a government team tasked to probe the wealth of Suharto and his officials, but critics accuse him of deliberately stalling the investigation, and Habibie of protecting his former mentor.
Documents on millions of hectares (acres) of rainforests, timber concessions, plantations and mines owned by Suharto and his family have been reported by the National Land Agency and officials in provinces across the country, but no legal action against the ousted leader has been taken.
Jakarta -- Birds and flowers featured in demonstrations on Wednesday as women took to the streets in several cities to mark the United Nations Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Students also urged an end to the "politics of violence," but 54 were hurt in rallies in Semarang.
Thousands of women condemned rape, sexual harassment, trafficking in women, domestic violence and violence by the state apparatus, including the shooting of students at the Semanggi Cloverleaf junction on Friday 13. They mingled with students continuing their rallies from previous days.
The United Nations Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women was born in commemoration of a shooting spree in Montreal, Canada, on Nov. 25, 1989, in which 14 female students lost their lives. Activists say the motive for the shooting was "gender jealousy" by a man angry with women encroaching on male-dominated studies.
From Semarang, Antara reported that 54 were injured during a an anti-military protest at the gate of the Diponegoro Regional Military Headquarters. The protest of 2,000 students included those grouped in the Semarang Students' Action Front (Kamus). The agency reported that during negotiations with security officers some students forced an empty truck to pass through the barricade five meters in front of them. The driver identified as Wiyono was forced to step on the gas and drive towards the barricade.
Angry officers then chased students and beat some of them including three volunteers of the Red Cross of the Semarang University. Military commander Lt. Col. CZI Sugeng Suryanto regretted the incident and said a demonstrator called Roberts, 23, was being questioned.
Earlier, 200 women and students handed out flowers to passersby. Grouped in Semarang Women's Solidarity for Reform, the women protested outside the Central Java council building in which they issued the same demands as their sisters in Jakarta.
In Jakarta, 500 women released pigeons at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout to symbolize peace. The demonstrators, who belonged to Solidaritas Perempuan (Women's Solidarity), Suara Ibu Peduli (Voice of Concerned Mothers) and a number of other groups, also distributed tuberoses Polianthus tuberosus, known locally sedap malam, to passersby.
Clothed in white, they paraded a large blue banner decorated with orchids and bearing the names of victims of violence around the country -- particularly those form provinces designated as military operations zones.
Activist Debra Yatim, said: "I believe that it is not only women who feel sick about the level of violence here. Debra said the action in Jakarta coincided with simultaneous demonstrations in Surabaya in East Java, Lampung, East Timor, Ruteng in Flores, Mataram in Lombok, Denpasar in Bali and Samarinda in East Kalimantan.
In a statement, Solidaritas Perempuan condemned "militarism, violence, stigmatizing, discrimination and sexual terror as a way to maintain power. In Dili, the Timor Loro Sae Women's Movement Against Violence (Gertak) met with two women detained in connection with an incident at a military command in Alas, East Timor. The women being held in custody are Etelvina Maria Dias, 22 and Visentina Fernandes, 20.
A group of rebels allegedly attacked a military post in the area on Nov. 9. Three soldiers were killed and 13 more taken hostage. Eleven of the soldiers have since been freed or escaped. Gertak chairwoman Maria Olandina Alves and members Olsa Lemos, Teresina Cardoso and Nona Cormelita attended the meeting, with approval of East Timor Police chief Col. G.M. Timbul Silaen.
During a rally later in the day, Maria said the detainees appeared to have been treated well. "They talked without fear and asked us to tell their parents that they had not been abused," Maria said. The detainees deny involvement in the attack on the military post. Gertak members also distributed flowers and leaflets bearing the message: "A life without violence is the right of all. In Yogyakarta 15 women activists distributed flowers and leaflets at the entrance to Gadjah Mada University.
Meanwhile, six students from Sunan Kalijaga Islamic Studies Institute who had been on hunger strike since Monday received hospital treatment for severe dehydration on Wednesday. They were protesting the Armed Forces' (ABRI) dual function.
In Lampung, Antara reported that 20 students were camped out in the grounds of the legislature to demand that former president Soeharto face trial for corruption and human rights abuses.
In Bandung, hundreds of students protested at the city's main railway station in Kebonkawung. They demanded that Minister of Defense and Security/ABRI Chief Gen. Wiranto be held responsible for the shooting of students on Nov. 13.
Jakarta -- A challenge laid down by the youngest son of former president Soeharto calling for people to prove the wrongdoings of his father and family has galvanized the student movement in the capital.
Thousands of students, including students from other cities, took to the streets of Jakarta on Thursday, saying they had been electrified by the challenge laid down by Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.
"Who said we cannot prove Soeharto's sins? Once a thief always a thief," Jakarta Front's Handriyadi N. Pali said in a speech in front of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) office on Jl. Imam Bonjol in Central Jakarta.
"He looked so arrogant on television. He's a crook himself. Everybody knows he pulled strings to get his business privileges," Andry from the Bandung Students Association said.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Tommy urged those who have repeatedly defamed his father to provide evidence to support their accusations. "Don't just talk, don't just stage demonstrations or voice demands. Prove it. We'll prove that father is not guilty," Tommy said.
His statement, which received widespread coverage in the media, incurred the wrath of students who have been attempting to march to Soeharto's house on Jl. Cendana in Central Jakarta in recent days.
"Tommy can say whatever he wants, but we'll keep on fighting for Soeharto to be brought to trial," Rista, another student, said. Banners and placards carried by the protesters included those which read: "Where are You Harto?" and "Hang Harto Up and Down". Some placards depicted the once feared former president in degrading caricatures. Thousands of students staged a rally in Suropati Park near Soeharto's residence.
Among groups with the largest representation on the streets on Thursday were the West Java Peasant Union, Rawamangun Students Forum, Jakarta Front, Gempur, Trisakti Students Action Group and students from Gunadarma University. Smaller groups included activists from the Indonesian Students Forum and Women's Solidarity.
As in previous rallies, student protesters again called for the immediate trial of Soeharto; termination of the Armed Forces' (ABRI's) dual function; and for President B.J. Habibie and Minister of Security and Defense/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto to take responsibility for a number of recent violent incidents in the capital.
Other groups of students were seen drifting toward the state TVRI television station in Central Jakarta and the Attorney General's Office in South Jakarta. The rallies passed off peacefully and no clashes were reported. One demonstration took on the look of a carnival, with students from Bandung singing and dancing in front of tired-looked members of the security forces.
Most of the protesting groups met in the late morning at Atma Jaya Catholic University, from where they set off to their respective destinations by bus. They drove the crammed buses by themselves, with some protesters electing to travel on the roofs rather than inside. "Gosh! This is crazy. Who will be responsible if students fall from the tops of the buses?" wondered one police officer.
Knowing that the students would remain peaceful, some police officers gave each other haircuts in a post near Suropati Park. "We want to look handsome and neat," said Private Agus after receiving a short back and sides.
At about 5:30 p.m. the crowd dispersed peacefully of their own accord. Some shouted: "We'll be right back! Bye bye... Hang Wiranto at Taman Lawang." Taman Lawang is a city park which is a popular meeting place for transvestites after dark. The soldiers sang patriotic songs in response.
| East Timor |
According to a report received today from the Peace and Justice Commission in Dili, a religious teacher named Francisco Carvalho was shot dead by two unidentified men as he was teaching at a school in Uatolari, Viqueque.
The two men entered the school and threatened a Nun and several members of the teaching staff. As one of the men approached Carvalho, they yelled, 'You will die today'. He opened fire and wounded the man in the stomach, chest and head. He died almost immediately.
Seven empty cartridges were later found at the scene of the crime, six of which have been handed over to the police. The priest still has one of the cartridges in his possession.
The shooting occured at 8am on 2 December but it was not until three hours later, at 11am, that soldiers from the local Koramil started to hunt for the assassins.
The Commission also reports that two members of the SAKA para- military team delivered threats against a group of people in Baguia Baucau district, who were involved in a cock-fight at a local market. They fired shots in the air, shouting, 'You are all GPK (terrorists)and should be killed'.
Later the same day, 2 December, members of the SAKA team drove in a truck in the direction of Baguia warning that people would be killed. In both cases, the weapons used were M-16s.
Meanwhile, members of SAKA carried out moves in Quelicai sub- district intimidating the local community for several consecutive nights. All these activities have spread fear among the local population who reported their anxieties of the Baucau branch of the Peace and Justice Commission.
The Commission has called for the men responsible for the murder and the other acts of intimidation to be brought to justice in accordance with the laws in force. It also called on the Indonesian armed forces and on FALINTIL to exercise restraint to prevent the situation in Alas recently from occurring in other parts of East Timor.
Tapol adds that reports from East Timor suggest that many more para-militaries have been armed in the recent period, according to one report, as many as 800 men. The forces of occupation appear to be whipping up tensions in East Timor by using the para-militaries to kill and intimidate the population.
A team of students which planned to visit Alas to conduct investigations into the human rights violations there was forced to return to Dili after being subjected to intimidatory actions by troops in Same to the north west of Alas. A separate team composed of members of Kontras, the Commission for the Missing and Victims of Violence, was also turned back in Same after being refused permission to continue their journey to Alas.
The students travelled to Same on 1 December together with representatives from the CNRT office in Dili, following an agreement reached last week with the authorities in Dili allowing them to form a joint team to investigate conditions in Alas. On the way to Same, the group was repeatedly subjected to security checks. After reaching Same, troops in the vicinity started shooting in the air, making it clear that their presence was not welcome. In a press release issued in Dili on 3 December, the students said they deeply regretted that their plan to send a mission to Alas had failed. They were now seeking an explanation from the governor in Dili who had originally given approval for the mission to go ahead.
It appears that the only agency being allowed access to areas in which abuses have been reported is the International Red Cross. As is widely recognised, the ICRC is always very cautious about reporting its findings which are rarely made public anyway, for fear of upsetting the authorities.
In the meanwhile, TAPOL has been informed from Dili that a similar situation to that which has prevailed in Alas has now developed in Cailaco, a sub-district in Maliana district. The area has been sealed off by the military following the death of two Indonesian soldiers in the area last week. Kontras made a request to be allowed to visit Cailaco but was refused permission.
A group of forty people, mostly youths, have fled from Cailaco to Dili, fearing for their safety and are now under the protection of Kontras.
From the same source, TAPOL has been informed that a catechist was shot dead on 2 December in Uatolari, near Viqueque, while he was giving instructions. Efforts are being made to obtain information about the man's identity.
The general situation throughout the territory is described as being extremely tense with local troops apparently free to do what they like with the population.
| Political/economic crisis |
Gde Anugrah Arka, Jakarta -- Indonesia's ailing rupiah is out of intensive care and in the recovery ward -- but anxious eyes are on the chart for any sign of a relapse.
The political turmoil and bloody unrest sweeping Indonesia has failed to dampen a steady rally that could see the rupiah breach the 7,000 barrier this month for the first time since January.
It is a long way from the dark days of mid-year, when it peaked above 15,000 against the U.S. dollar in local trade amid bloody unrest that killed more than 1,200. But the central bank is bullish, with Bank Indonesia governor Sjahril Sabirin talking up the currency at home and abroad. "There's room for it to strengthen a bit further, to a level a little bit below 7,000 or 6,500," he said in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
The currency, shrugging off political, ethnic and religious violence that has killed 30 people and disrupted business this month, is trading about 7,500 in Jakarta.
Analysts say the rally is being sustained by three key points -- falling inflation, a safety net of international reserves and a steady stream of International Monetary Fund (IMF) aid money being changed from dollars into rupiah on the small local market. And all three supports look steady in the short to medium term, they said.
"The amount of aid dollars pledged by the IMF and other donors amounted to more than $43 billion -- more than half of which has not been disbursed," said the Sigma Batara brokerage's research head, Fajar Sutandi.
"Because only around $1 billion is being disbursed monthly, the loans are still there to be disbursed next year, so the rupiah has the resources to breach 7,000 or even 6,500 provided it is achieved gradually to prevent excessive speculation."
Bank dealers say the central bank converting only $10 million a day carries substantial weight in what has become a very thin market in the wake of Indonesia's economic meltdown. Daily volume has slipped to $100 million from $2 billion before the economic crisis erupted in mid-1997.
While the dollar supply is likely to remain steady, demand will slide further as companies restructure their $80 billion worth of foreign debts and the government seeks to slow imports.
"Rising supply and falling demand for the dollar amid a very thin market are likely to help the currency strengthen further," said head of research at Panin Sekuritas Anton Karlam.
Analysts said the central bank was likely gradually to continue easing rupiah liquidity by lowering interest rates from a high of 70 percent in mid-August and 45 percent currently and expected the move to have little negative impact on the rupiah.
"In a few months ... if things stay at their current path, we should be able to reach 20, 30 percent or maybe lower than that," central bank's Sabirin said this week. Said Panin's Karlam: "Trillions of rupiah are not being absorbed by the the recent weekly auctions of one-month SBI paper."
Bankers would prefer put their funds in the next auctions despite lower rates rather than in the interbank money market. "This would help push rates lower at the next auctions."
Analysts said speculative dollar buying on the back of an easing in rupiah liquidity and a slow reform pace in the country's troubled banking sector was likely to be limited.
"They were already hit by the surprising rebound in the rupiah as a large number of them were believed to be long on dollar when it was still very high," said Karlam. "They are likely to be reluctant to repeat the mistake."
Andreas Harsono, Jakarta -- Indonesian Muslim and Christian leaders asked the public Tuesday to refrain from seeking reprisal against one another over attacks on more than 20 churches in Jakarta last month and the burning of several mosques in a predominantly Christian area on Monday.
Abdurrahman Wahid, the chairman of the 30-million strong Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Muslim group, said late Monday that unnamed parties are exploiting religious sensitivities to stir up unrest in Indonesia but declined to name the suspects.
"I don't think the people were from the town," Wahid said, referring to fresh unrest which broke out in Kupang on the island of Timor on Monday in which thousands of Christian protesters burned down three mosques, an Islamic school and other Muslim- owned buildings.
The Christian protesters initially staged a rally in that provincial capital "to mourn" the attack on around 20 churches in Jakarta two weeks earlier. But the rally turned violent and a wild mob targeted the Nurus-Saadah mosque, the biggest mosque in Kupang, before burning the smaller Al-Taqwa and Al-Fattah mosques.
Indonesian media reported that the arson was obviously in retaliation for the burning of churches in the Ketapang area in Jakarta on Nov. 22, when three churches and one Catholic school were burned down and 20 other Protestant and Catholic churches were vandalized.
Frans Seda, a former finance minister and a respected Catholic figure who comes from the Timor area, also condemned the burning, saying that burning any house of worship cannot be justified, "The action is totally a blunder and does not show the civilized manner of the Indonesian people," he said.
Seda also said that the church burning in Jakarta should be understood "proportionately" and "one should not emotionally blame others [Muslims]." He asked the police to arrest the arsonists.
Almost 90 percent of Indonesia's 210 million population are Muslims. The Christians live mostly in the eastern part of Indonesia, which include the island of Timor. The eastern part of the island is the internationally-disputed East Timor, whose population is mostly Catholic.
Many observers and foreign diplomats feared that the ongoing economic crisis -- in which 20 million people have lost their jobs and nearly 50 million are encountering difficulty in getting sufficient food -- are going to increase tensions between various ethnic and religious groups in this world's fourth most populous country.
A Muslim leader once said that Indonesia may become Asia's Bosnia-Herzegovina if its leaders do not quickly solve the economic and political crisis hitting the country. Thosuands have doied and tens of thousands displaced by ethnic and religious violence in the former Yugoslavia.
Christian organizations said that more than 500 churches have been attacked and burned down over the last three years. But Monday's attack is very likely to increase tension between Muslims and Christians.
Hartono Mardjono, the deputy chairman of the Dewan Dakwah Islamiyah Indonesia, a right-wing Muslim group, also deplored the burning and blamed "certain parties" who want to pit the Muslims against the Christians.
"They want to provoke the Muslims and the Christians with the intention to divide various religious groups here," Hartono said, calling on Muslims to restrain themselves and asking Muslim preachers to help cool down the heated confrontation between the two faiths.
According to the Kupang-based "Kupang Pos" daily, a coalition of four Christian youth groups organized Monday's rally, which includes the Movement of Indonesian Christian Students (GMKI), the Association of the Catholic Students of Republic Indonesia (PMKRI), the Catholic Youths and the Movement of Indonesian Young Christians (GAMKI). Meanwhile, Jakarta bishop Julius Cardinal Darmaatmadja SJ and Kupang bishop Petrus Turang Pr. asked Indonesian Catholics to help rebuild the burned mosques. "I will organize fund raising to reconstruct those houses of worship," said Darmaatmadja.
Governor Piet A. Tallo, whose administration also covers Kupang, also said Monday that the government will help Muslims rebuild the burned mosques, adding that he found it difficult to prevent the riots due to the large number of the protesters.
Jakarta -- A district court in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province was set ablaze when unidentified men threw petrol bombs into the building, press reports here said Tuesday. Several rooms, including the courtroom, were burned in the early hours of Monday forcing an indefinite postponement of court sessions, the Kompas daily reported.
A security guard and his wife who lived in the court building managed to put out the fires without help from the fire department. The guard said the bombers broke into the Lhoksemauwe district court building through the windows and poured kerosene on the floor before throwing the fuel bombs from outside.
North Aceh police chief Lieutenant Colonel Iskandar Hasan said police had found some evidence, but had yet to name a suspect. Employees and court officials said nothing appeared to have been stolen. The court's presiding judge, M. Islam, was reported by Antara state news agency as saying the motive behind the bombing was being investigated.
But Islam said he suspected the transfer of a murder case to Aceh's Weh island could be related to the bombing because the suspect had once threatened to burn down the Lhoksemauwe district court.
Terry Mccarthy, Jakarta -- When Jimmy Siahae hit the ground, that was the end. The Muslim mob never let him up again. Their weapons were dull -- bamboo staves, kitchen knives, metal spikes -- but their hatred was sharp. Siahae was 45, a Christian from the eastern Indonesian island of Ambon, suspected of attacking their mosque. As the terrible retribution began, Siahae didn't have a prayer. They started on his head, beating and kicking. One man hacked at his left hand, nearly severing it at the wrist. Knives plunged into his flesh. They had stripped him to the waist so they could see the wounds they were inflicting. They were in no hurry to kill him. At one point a youth -- he could not have been 18 -- leaned over and quite deliberately stuck an ice pick between two ribs deep into Siahae's right lung. He pulled it out again and looked at the blood on the steel with satisfaction. Siahae was face down on the concrete now, heaving for breath, too battered to cry out, barely conscious. His back was scored with stab wounds. The youth was smiling.
The mob turned its victim over and stomped on his face. It was already beaten beyond recognition. One eyeball was out of its socket. Another of his tormentors sliced his ear with a blade. "Let him die slowly," someone said, and the mob laughed.
The head of the local mosque, Hakim Hasbulla, 48, tried to hold the mob back, and a Time correspondent attempted to plead for the man, but the two dozen attackers were beyond reason. Everyone wanted to get in a kick or a cut; it was a badge of pride to have taken part. "I don't agree with this," said Hasbulla immediately afterward, still shaking.
Within earshot of Siahae's killing, another Christian, Tahan Manahan Simatupang, 22, was being interrogated by his Muslim captors. He stood on the porch of a house belonging to a community leader of the subdivision called Pembangunan I, in northern Jakarta. Tahan's hands were tied behind his back. Blood dripped from his beaten face. He said he was one of 150 Christian security guards who had been paid $5 and trucked in to the area the previous night "to stir up the masses" after a minor dispute over an illegal gambling center. He was not sure who was in ultimate command of the security guards. When they broke a window of the local mosque, the Muslim neighborhood armed itself and began hunting down Christians.
Tahan was taunted by the crowd as the afternoon stretched into evening. When asked whether he would be handed over to the police, the crowd replied loudly that he would not. "We don't trust the police," shouted one man. "We're going to make him into grilled meat," said another. Though several hundred soldiers and policemen were deployed on a road barely 90 m away, they said they had no orders to intervene. Tahan was stabbed to death at about 6pm.
There was no stopping the Muslims of Pembangunan I on Sunday Nov. 22. By the end of the day, six Christians had been hunted down, and the alleyways of the subdivision were spattered with blood. Jimmy Siahae had a fractured skull, lungs punctured in three places and more than 30 open wounds on his body in what Dr. Zulhasmar Syamsul, who did the autopsy, described as a "vicious and sadistic attack."
Indonesia is sliding into darkness. The Nov. 22 killings were a first for Jakarta, but in the past few months there have been more than 250 lynchings across the archipelago. The killings seem to be a product of fear, economic frustration and a breakdown of law and order as security forces are withdrawn from the provinces to cover demonstrations in the cities. In Sumatra recently a man was beaten and burned alive because he couldn't tell suspicious residents the precise address of a relative he was visiting. "The reality principle is breaking down," says Professor Sarlito Wirawan Sarwono of the University of Indonesia. "The more people see that they can murder without facing any consequences, the more it becomes part of the culture."
It is a culture for which Suharto, Indonesia's dictator of 32 years, bears much responsibility. Six months ago Suharto was ousted, leaving behind a weak successor as President -- B.J. Habibie -- a paralyzed economy, a military discredited for killing student demonstrators and a nation struggling to find some vision of its future. As the lynchings increase, many suspect that some in the military and political establishment are promoting a politics of chaos to turn the clock back, away from the students' demands for greater democracy and a reduction in the power of the army. There is a precedent, and it is horrific: General Suharto came to power in 1966 as a man who reasserted order -- but only after 18 months of anarchy and slaughter that left 500,000 Indonesians dead.
President Habibie has further inflamed matters by courting Muslim extremists in an attempt to boost his power for the elections promised for next June. Muslims make up 87% of Indonesia's population of 210 million. Kept in check under Suharto's rule, a number of Muslim groups have now emerged to lay claim to political and economic power. Early last month Muslim youth vigilantes armed with sharpened bamboo spears were positioned around Jakarta to harass pro-democracy student demonstrators. Last week pictures of the former Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatullah Khomeini began to appear in street demonstrations. Though there have always been attacks against Indonesia's small but powerful Chinese community, the new attacks are taking on a dangerous religious character. "It's the most dangerous thing -- the abuse of religion for political ends," says Enoch Markum, president of the Indonesian Psychologists Association. "Once people have moved into this irrational territory, it is difficult to bring them back to rationality."
It may have already gone too far. In the bloody alleyways of Pembangunan I, the way back to rationality seemed all but lost.
Jeremy Wagstaff, Jakarta -- Mobs in mainly Christian eastern Indonesia went on the rampage Monday, burning mosques and attacking Muslim shops, schools and a university. It was one of the worst attacks on the country's majority religion in years and is certain to fan divisions in a nation already gripped by political and social unrest.
Witnesses and residents said at least six mosques in the West Timor city of Kupang were attacked -- and some destroyed -- when violence erupted at what local students and church leaders had planned as a peaceful commemoration of church burnings in Jakarta on Nov. 22. Residents reported truckloads of youths arriving in the town center, throwing stones at Muslim shops, stalls and mosques. "Nobody knew how it started but suddenly the main mosque was on fire," said one witness. A car, several businesses and a Muslim dormitory were also burned.
The unrest, which continued late into Monday evening, couldn't come at a worse time for President B.J. Habibie. Since troops and police shot more than a dozen demonstrators on the streets of Jakarta's business district two weeks ago, his administration has been trying to quell public outrage and growing lawlessness. A senior official said ministers, trying to restore public confidence, had agreed Monday to boost the police force from 220,000 to 260,000 in the next three months. "There's a general recognition the security apparatus is overstretched," he said.
Broader link?
Beyond the breakdown in law and order is another problem that many Indonesians believe lies at the heart of recent unrest: the possibility that the disturbances are being orchestrated. While Monday's incident easily taps into existing communal tensions, officials in Jakarta, academics -- and witnesses to the violence itself -- suspect such events may be part of a wider turf war between local or national elites.
One element of the factional jockeying in Jakarta is pressure on Mr. Habibie to investigate his predecessor and mentor Suharto. Mr. Suharto's lawyer was quoted by Indonesian newspapers Monday as warning Mr. Habibie that any attempt to bring his client to court could drag down the government. "Indonesians are being played against each other. It's typical of the New Order regime" of Mr. Suharto, said Muhamad Sobary, a political analyst at Indonesia's Institute of Sciences. Whatever the roots of the violence, Monday's commemoration had been intended by its organizers as moderate and peaceful, culminating in a mass Tuesday on the grounds of Kupang Stadium. Planned by students and church leaders for the past week, the event had even been supported by the local government to allow people to reflect on the burning of five churches in Jakarta eight days earlier. In that incident, Muslim mobs in a Jakarta neighborhood took revenge for an apparent attack by mainly Christian vigilantes on a community mosque by burning an entertainment center and several nearby churches. Several people were killed, either burned to death or lynched.
What began in Kupang as an almost carnival-like atmosphere quickly degenerated into a religious clash of its own as young people rampaged through the city. Residents said they were surprised by the low level of security provided by the military. "They have to come past our house to get to the town and we counted only two trucks all day," said Pastor Itja Frans, adding, "It did not seem much considering the situation."
By late evening, said residents, three mosques had been burned in Kupang itself and three outside the town. They said communities had sealed off streets and residents were asked to stay inside, in part for fear that young men from outside the area would seek to foment unrest in the neighborhoods. "Our people were not taught to do this. This is a new phenomenon," said Mr. Frans.
Rising tensions
Still, others said the explosion of violence wasn't altogether surprising. Residents said an influx of Muslim immigrants from overcrowded pockets of Indonesia into the eastern islands has raised communal tensions with the Protestant and Catholic majority, sparking unrest such as that in 1995, when Christian mobs ran riot in Maumere on the island of Flores. "The whole place is primed for that because of the influx of outsiders," said a consultant who regularly visits eastern Indonesia.
More worrying though, is a possible backlash in Jakarta and elsewhere on Java -- home to 70% of Indonesia's 206 million people, 90% of them Muslim. News of the riots in Kupang wasn't widely broadcast Monday, but religious leaders said they feared it would inflame already simmering passions.
"The Kupang case will surely escalate into something that may be beyond our control," said Salahuddin Wahid of the Muslim-based Kebangkitan Umat political party. Others, such as Eggy Sudjana of the usually vocal Islamic Labor Brotherhood, said he would "try to cool" tempers in his workers' group. "I'm worried Muslims will take more revenge for this," he said.
[On December 1, AFP reported that around 100 people attacked the Bethel church in Banjarsari, West Java, in retaliation for the attacks in Kupang. Sergeant Major Ude of the sub-district police told AFP by telephone that the attack began at about 1am and lasted for around an hour but that "There was no casualties and the church did not suffer heavy damage". Meanwhile on December 3 the state news agence Antara reported that a mosque was burned down and two vandalised in Ngabang, near the West Kalimantan capital of Pontianak. It did not say when the attacks took place but quoted local security officials as saying that a man, a newcomer to the area and believed to be mentally disturbed, had been arrested - James Balowski.]
John McBeth, Bireuen -- Mention Indonesia's financial crisis to betel-nut farmer Abdullah Ali and the bony face under the floppy hat cracks into a delighted grin. "I'm very happy," says the father of seven at his modest home in the foothills near Bireuen. "Krismon" -- a colloquial term for the crisis -- "has been very good to me."
Down on the Aceh coast, Mohamad Yahya sits on his brocade sofa surrounded by the comforts of a healthy income and ticks off his profits. The one-time trader in car parts switched to shrimp ponds and now declares himself to be "proud of krismon."
Ali and Yahya are among the many rural entrepreneurs who won riches after the economic downturn, according to Teuku Mahmud, an agronomist at Syiah Kuala University. "The farmers have been asking me why the crisis has come so late," jokes the US-trained academic.
From the fabled spice islands in the Banda Sea to the rich agricultural lands of South Sulawesi and Sumatra, many rural folk -- the people who usually get the thin end of the wedge when times are hard -- have been revelling in the combined effect of Indonesia's economic meltdown and a bumper harvest. For a long while after May, when the rupiah hit record lows against the US dollar, farmers selling crops for export were on a roll: From nutmeg and cloves to palm oil, cacao (the source of cocoa) and shrimps, their goods earned local-currency profits of a sort most growers could previously only have dreamed of.
That's a completely different world from populous Java. Jakarta and the island's other cities grew spectacularly during the boom years as new factories sprung up -- but they have been hit hardest by the economic crisis. "It stands to reason," says a Western researcher. "In rural areas you can grow most of your food and you can also gain from the price increases in commodities. In urban areas, they've had to bear the brunt of the increased costs."
True, there are signs that, with the rupiah's recent strengthening and inflation at 58%, the windfall profits earned by some farmers are fading. But there's little doubt there have been large pockets of prosperity -- just how large, nobody seems to know -- while the national economy has contracted more than 15% this year. Some analysts, for example, have taken to studying power consumption as a rule-of-thumb guide. On Java, industrial demand has gone from a modest 8% increase in 1997 to a 13% decline this year -- a swing of 21 percentage points. But on the other main islands of Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Sumatra, which also make money from export crops, consumption has remained steady through much of the bad times.
The World Bank's Indonesia director, Denis de Tray, recently pronounced the crisis to be an urban-Java phenomenon. He says spending in middle-class rural households actually rose by more than 10% in the year to August 1998. In urban areas, spending fell by 10%.
In rural Sulawesi and Sumatra, says de Tray, "things are actually booming." Certainly, the farmers there can't believe their good fortune. As the crisis began to bite in May, shrimps rose from 17,000 rupiah ($1.6) to 150,000 rupiah a kilogram. Patchouli oil, an ingredient for perfumes and medicines, went from 50,000 rupiah to 1.2 million rupiah a kilogram. Pinang (betel-nut) jumped from 800 to 16,000 rupiah and cacao rose from 1,200 to 17,000 rupiah. And Central Aceh farmers, who produce 95% of Indonesia's aribica coffee, saw prices nearly triple from 10,000 to 28,000 rupiah a kilogram.
Soaring prices mean spending power, which is good news for Kasmon Affifudin and his motorcycle showroom in Aceh's road-junction town of Bireuen. When commodity prices were at their peak between May and September, sales tripled, with previously down-at-heel coffee and shrimp farmers lining up to buy new motorcycles for cash. "We sold so many," he recalls, that his company "sent people up from Jakarta to see it with their own eyes. They couldn't believe it."
On Aceh's picturesque western coast, 70-year-old Ali Makam cheerfully admits he's never heard of krismon and hasn't a clue what patchouli oil is used for once it is extracted from the leafy nilam plant. But he knows a good thing when he sees it. When nilam prices rocketed, he switched from growing peanuts and pepper, the two crops he has grown most of his life. His first harvest several months ago made a good profit, earning him a total of 4 million rupiah -- even though the price had dropped by then from 1.2 million to 400,000 rupiah.
Near Bireuen, in Central Aceh's rolling foothills, Abdullah Ali diversified from cacao into betel-nut about six years ago. He now has 3,000 trees spread over the three hectares he leases from a local landowner. Ali has benefited from dramatic price increases for both products, but he says that with a wife and seven children to feed he still can't afford to splurge on house improvements or a motorcycle -- the two priorities for most Acehnese farmers with new-found wealth.
About 40,000 Aceh farmers now produce more than 18,000 tonnes of the mildly narcotic betel-nut a year. Most of it goes to India and Pakistan, where it is either chewed or processed for paint and cosmetics. Like the coconut, the pinang tree requires little attention.
In northern Aceh, shrimp farmer Ridwan Syah Mahmud realized 136 million rupiah in income from the two shrimp ponds he harvested between May and September -- almost double what he would have expected in normal times and clearly the best windfall he has had since he started shrimp farming in the late 1980s. Around him, even local rice farmers have been abandoning their fields and going into shrimps. Who can blame them? Rice fetches only 3 million rupiah a hectare at the local rice mill. Shrimps fetch 30 million rupiah or more.
The story has been the same almost everywhere. But with the rupiah strengthening in recent weeks, reality is only now beginning to bite. Although he may have a healthy bank balance, 36-year-old Ridwan points to a hefty rise in shrimp feed. A 25- kilogram bag of feed, which contains a high percentage of imported protein, is now priced at 300,000 rupiah, a six-fold increase. With shrimp prices sliding back from 150,000 to 60,000 rupiah a kilogram and costs for feed and other inputs remaining high, his once-healthy profit margins are being whittled down.
Clearly, a stronger rupiah -- it has strengthened 28% since mid- September -- doesn't explain some of the wild price drops. Acehnese farmers and officials alike accuse traders in the North Sumatra capital of Medan of manipulating prices and other acts of skulduggery. One of the biggest sore points is coffee, much of it grown in the cooler climes of the Central Aceh highlands. "Traders mix our coffee with inferior-quality coffee from Java and by the time it gets to Medan some of it is only 60% of what it was," complains agronomist Mahmud.
A spokesman for the Medan Coffee Exporters' Association rejects such allegations. "There's never any mixing of the beans," he says. "Maybe these farmers are trying to make trouble." Nonetheless, the American Coffee Traders Association recently sent a letter to growers complaining about the consistency of Aceh's prized, organically grown, aribica coffee, which makes up just 7% of a national output dominated by robusta varieties.
The traders are also blamed for doctoring Acehnese patchouli with sticky, inferior oil from the kruueng tree to boost profits. Mulyono, an official at essential-oil distiller and exporter Djasulawangi, admits the practice is widespread. "This mixing and cutting is a huge problem for the industry and it's hurt our international reputation," he says. His own company monitored the oil carefully, but "there's not much you can do about all the small traders in Medan. There are also bad farmers that are doing this."
Whoever is to blame, the drop in quality has resulted in fewer customers for the traders and prices falling even further from a summer wholesale price of 1.2 million to 130,000 rupiah. And that means the farmer gets less for his produce. "What can we do?" asks Ali Makan and other farmers gathered around their homemade patchouli refinery near the West Aceh town of Lhokkruet. "We don't know anything, we can't do anything." Shrimp farmer Mohamad Yahya voices similar anger over the recent slump in prices. "The traders claim it's because of overproduction, but I think they're playing their own game," he says.
| Labour issues |
Jakarta -- Workers of shoe producer PT Emperor Footwear Indonesia complained on Thursday of being tortured while staging a protest early this week at the factory's site in Bantar Gebang, Bekasi.
Thirteen representatives of the workers went to the National Commission on Human Rights, saying that at least five of their colleagues suffered injuries when scores of hoodlums hired by the firm dispersed the rally of hundreds of workers.
Also on Thursday, some 400 of the remaining 700 employees of Emperor Footwear Indonesia continued their strike to protest the dismissal of 11 workers' leaders, the representatives' spokesman Kusnadi said.
According to Kusnadi, Monday's demonstration was sparked by the same issue. "The 11 workers, who led the firm's union, were dismissed earlier this month because -- according to the company -- of the declining number of shoe orders," he said. "Actually, the firm's reason was not really true because most of us now often work overtime," Kusnadi said. In October the firm, which makes various brands of shoes for export, dismissed 800 of its 1,500 employees for the same reason, he added.
Kusnadi said the company had no justification to hire the hoodlums to break up the rally. "The firm has enough security guards and we held our rally in a peaceful way. So, why did they (the employers) have to hire the hoodlums to fight us?" Kusnaedi said. The firm's management could not be reached for comment on Thursday. Commission member B.N. Marbun promised to send a letter to the company soon asking for an explanation of the matter.
| Human rights/law |
[The following is a translation of press release issued on October 10, 1998, by a number of Indonesian NGOS with regard to Mobil oil's activities in Aceh. For reasons of space, the full list of signatories was not included - James Balowski.]
Mobil Oil Indonesia is a joint venture between Mobil Oil Incorporation (USA) and Pertamina (Indonesian state oil company). The contract was signed on 6.12.65 and the company's operational area is in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, in the Province of Aceh (Daerah Istimewa Aceh).
Mobil Oil carries out exploration and exploitation of gas and oil which is later channelled to PT Arun for production. Mobil Oil also owns shares in PT Arun, though only a small percentage.
Mobil Oil and PT Arun operations have long been disputed, both by the local people as well as by environmental activists. Mobil Oil has been taken to court by local people, although the local people lost the case.
Mobil Oil's activities in Lhokseumawe have been disputed by the local people both because of the pollution of the environment and the negligible contribution that the company has made to the local economy. The company's activities, which lead to the production of LNG, Condensate, Gas, LPG/Propane, LPG/Butane, benefit itself and central government much more than the local economy. Moreover, the Mobil grounds were once the property of local people, who were forced off their land with only minimal compensation.
Also, a number of incidents have occurred to the detriment of the local people, such as in 1983 when Mobil Oil's Cluster 1 discharge flooded and contaminated local padi fields and shrimp farms. Similar incidents have occurred on a number of occasions, but the local people have had no means by which to seek redress. At one point, the people of Pu'uk village whose land was contaminated in 1992 took the company to court in Lhok Sukan, but they lost their case.
In another incident in 1990, a leak from GIW 12, known as OBS III polluted the padi, orchards and other land in the village of Tanjung Krueng Pase.
Another incident which was of concern to the local people was the explosion of an oil well in 1979, which was located in Cluster II. AS a result of the explosion, the inhabitants of Nibong Baroh village who lived next to the well had to move to another area for a period of six months.
Such incidents were never addressed by Mobil Oil, and moreover the impression given by the company is that they just ignore problems until the local people give up.
The fact that local have for some time been somewhat reticent in raising issues concerning Mobil Oil and its activities is directly related to the strength of the military's support of the company. Moreover, two military barracks in the area were built for the military by Mobil and Arun. These are known as Post 13 and Camp Rancong.
The recent revelation of the numerous human rights abuses in Aceh have encouraged local people to come forwards and given voice to their suffering. The data has now begun to be collated and up until 25.8.98, the Indonesian Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) had already gathered evidence of the death of 781 people at the hands of the military, 163 disappearances, 368 cases of torture and have come across at least 3,000 cases of women widowed because their husbands have been killed or disappeared. The number of children orphaned as a direct result of military activity has been estimated by them as being between 15,00 to 20,000.
The data given above continues to increase, as well as the numerous harrowing accounts.
Of all the victims of human rights violations in Aceh, the largest number have been perpetrated in North Aceh, and very many victims or witnesses have stated that these human rights violations have been perpetrated by Kopassus units (Indonesian special forces) which were based at Camp Rancong which is owned by PT Arun. There are also some who have said that they had been interrogated in Post 13, which is facilitated by Mobil Oil. Based on the above, NGOs in Sumatra together with WALHI (Indonesian Friends of the Earth) issue the following press release:
Mobil and Arun are the largest oil and gas companies in Indonesia and should therefore be of benefit to the people of Aceh local to their area of operation. However, it is in fact the case that these companies have brought misfortune to the people of Aceh, not only because the detrimental impact of their presence has never been seriously addressed, but moreover because of their implication in human rights abuses which have caused the suffering of the people of Aceh.
The implication of these two companies
in human rights violations is in the form of their involvement with military
operations in Aceh. These can be documented as follows:
Jakarta -- The management of an American-based oil company denied on Tuesday that it should share the blame for human rights abuses in Aceh, the country's northern-most province.
Chief executive officer of Mobil Oil Corp., L.A. Noto, was responding to allegations by a coalition of 11 non-governmental organisations in Sumatra that military members interrogated and tortured people at some of the firm's facilities in Aceh...
Although it regretted the abuses, Noto argued that the management did not know for what purposes its facilities were used. "From time to time, both state authorities and military authorities have asked us to use some construction equipment, for roads and things like that," Noto said after meeting President B.J. Habibie at the State Palace.
"And generally speaking, we have tried to accommodate these requests.
"Beyond that, frankly, we do not have other knowledge. And ... if anything happened because somebody used the equipment in a wrong way, I am very sorry for that, but (there is) no control over that."... Noto said he had no knowledge of missing employees.
Jakarta -- The country's largest Moslem organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) may bring the case of the ninja killings which have taken place across Java over the past few months to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Antara reported on Monday.
Choirul Anam of the East Java NU chapter said President B.J. Habibie's government has failed to show a serious effort to solve the killings before the Nov. 30 deadline set by NU. Many of the victims were NU members. NU has also raised the possibility that its own members are involved in the killings, given that the areas where the murders occurred in East Java are NU bases. "We'll report all results of our investigation to NU headquarters (PBNU in Jakarta), so it will be the headquarters that will submit the results to the ICJ," said Anam, who heads the team investigating the killings, in Surabaya.
He said 253 people have been killed by well-trained assassins clad in black ninja outfits. The killings occurred in the East Java towns of Banyuwangi, Jember, Situbondo, Bondowoso, Sampang, Pamekasan and Pasuruan. The agency did not say whether the death toll included the dozens killed by mobs because they were thought to be "ninjas".
Anam dismissed suggestions that the killings are purely criminal. "How come there were so many casualties in three months within widely scattered areas, and most victims were NU members," he said.
Anam, who also heads the East Java-chapter of NU's People's Awakening Party (PKB), said the organized killings initially targeted 500 people. He said the investigating team's findings were partly based on recorded testimony from individuals questioned by NU who ordered the killings and trained the killers.
Anam revealed that the weapons used in the killings were special daggers inscribed with the likeness of a dragon. He also discussed a controversial radio message sent out by Banyuwangi Regent Turjono Purnomo Sidik on a list of 500 "black magic practitioners" that the regent said needed protection from vigilantes. Anam said the message was sent in February, not in September as claimed by the regent. "So the list of black magic practitioners and Koran teachers became the operational targets of the perpetrators," he said.
The "scenario" of the assassinations, according to Anam, had been planned five months before the killings peaked between August through September. Seventy percent of the casualties were NU members, he said, warning the government that it would leave a "time bomb" if it did not solve the matter.
Separately, in Jakarta, PBNU Secretary-General Ahmad Bagdja said the headquarters would announce its stance on the matter after a meeting with NU scholars from across Java on Dec. 8 through Dec. 10 in Jakarta. "We'll evaluate the seriousness of the state apparatus in handling this issue," he said.
Bagdja charged that the government's present efforts, such as dragging several suspected killers into court, do not indicate a serious effort to get to the root of the problem. Bagda also warned that the violence could be repeated if left unsettled. He cited several instances of what he said were repetitions of violence in Jakarta, such as the fatal shootings at Semanggi of protesting students by the Army and police on Nov. 13 and the Ketapang riots that claimed 14 lives on Nov. 22.
Bagdja, however, did not say whether the incidents were related. Some parties have said that a power struggle among political elites in Jakarta might be behind the massacres.
He said that if the killings were intended to pit members of society against each other, or to prevent people from supporting NU's popular political party -- the PKB -- then "they have succeeded".
He added that people have become easily suspicious of strangers, and that people have also removed PKB stickers from their houses. "We truly want the people behind these killings revealed," he said.
Jakarta -- The parents of six students who were shot dead in the clashes between students and security forces on Nov. 13 demanded on Monday the Armed Forces (ABRI) leaders are held responsible for the incident.
The parents, who have appointed the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) to represent them, said that the shootings should be thoroughly investigated. "We want justice from the government ... they should not only express apologies and condolences to the families," one of the parents, Asih Widodo, 46, told a media conference at the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation's (LBH) Office in Central Jakarta.
Asih is the father of Sigit Prasetyo, 18, a student of YAI college, who was shot in the chest at the Semanggi cloverleaf on Nov. 13. Asih, a construction worker, said that Sigit was his only child.
Kontras coordinator Munir said that at least 19 people, including six students were killed during a series of clashes between students and security forces on Nov. 13 and Nov. 14.
He said that 11 of them died from bullet wounds. The Jakarta Post has confirmed that 16 were killed during clashes of Nov. 12 to Nov. 13, six of whom died of bullet wounds including five of the six students. Munir also said that at least six students are reported still missing. ABRI announced on Nov. 22 that about 163 soldiers were to be punished for the shootings and violent acts against student protesters in the run-up to and during the recent Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly which ended Nov. 13.
Munir, however, said that those soldiers have been made scapegoats. "Kontras believes that officials at the decision- making level within ABRI should also be held responsible for the shootings," Munir said.
Students nationwide have been calling for the ouster of Minister of Defense and Security/ABRI Chief Gen. Wiranto following the shootings near the Atma Jaya University on Jl. Jen. Sudirman.
Wiranto, who has repeatedly said that none of the security officers deployed at the Semanggi cloverleaf on Nov. 13 had used live bullets, told the House of Representatives on Nov. 24 that the 5.56millimeter live bullet found in a victim's body did not belong to the armory of any ABRI troop unit.
ABRI spokesman Maj. Gen. Syamsul Ma'arif said earlier that the bullet had exploded into three pieces inside the victim's body.
Answering questions from the foreign press on the shootings, Minister of Education and Culture Juwono Sudarsono said on Nov. 20 that "there are rogue elements within the military who are interested in further discrediting the current defense minister Gen. Wiranto".
Juwono, who had just received students at his office at the time, however, did not elaborate further on who "the rogue elements within the military" were. He only said that attempts to discredit Wiranto were part of "the power struggle up in the top echelons of the government".
"Faced with this ... along with criticism from the students and other dissidents ... the defense minister is in a very difficult position," Juwono had said.
Munir said Monday that the Nov. 13 shootings should not end up like the fatal shooting of four Trisakti University students in May which remains a mystery. "There is a strong tradition of the government to evade accountability in cases which could lead to the correction of ABRI's dual function," Munir said.
The National Commission on Human Rights set up their own team to investigate the Nov. 13 shootings last week. Deputy chairman of the rights body, Marzuki Darusman, said that the team will complement the government's explanation of the shootings pointing out that more information is required to establish who was responsible for the tragedy.
| News & issues |
Jakarta -- The United Development Party (PPP) wound up its fourth congress on Wednesday by appointing new chairman Hamzah Haz and secretary-general Ali Marwan Hanan to lead it in the daunting task of facing stiffer political competition.
The outcome of the chairmanship for the term 1998 to 2003 was predicted since early Wednesday morning when the board of seven "formatters" was finally decided. Given a free hand to form the new leadership lineup, the board was dominated by Hamzah and four of his supporters.
His main rival for the chairmanship, A.M. Saefuddin, was also a member along with one of his backers.
Deciding the leadership lineup from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. was relatively smooth, board member Muchsin Bafadal said. The resulting combination of old and new members was designed to guarantee the party's continuity.
"I've been with (outgoing chairman) Buya (Ismail Hasan Metareum) way back since 1971 and I never dreamed I would replace him as chairman," Hamzah said in victory.
Saefuddin, appointed one of 15 deputies, was gracious in defeat, saying he was "increasingly proud" that the party was more unified than ever.
Asked about possible presidential aspirations, Hamzah said: "Not now. We are prioritizing the party's consolidation first.
"God willing, we will maintain and even increase our support in next year's election."
Denying claims the PPP was effectively rendered an also-ran with the many new parties declaring Islamic platforms, Hamzah said the thousands of supporters during its opening last Sunday proved its wide support.
Ismail appealed to the new leadership to "increase its speed" in steering the party although it should be done with "careful calculation". He warned of increase competition for votes with the about 100 new parties. "Your burden will also be heavy amid new paradigms." Delegates from the country's 27 provinces at the congress site in East Jakarta had handed in names of the formatters since Tuesday afternoon. A majority of 255 had chosen Hamzah.
Hamzah, now the state minister of investment, hails from one of the party's original components, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Moslem organization. NU members' political affiliations have become increasingly scattered, with some joining the ruling Golkar grouping, others signing up with the new crop of parties and some keeping neutral.
Hamzah's election raised hopes he would draw NU members back to PPP. PPP was formed from the fusion of four Islamic political parties and organizations in 1973. They were NU, Muslimin Indonesia (MI), Perti and Syarikat Islam (SI).
The new 28-strong executive board is dominated by NU with at least 13 members. The chairman s 15 deputies include former secretary-general Tosari Widjaja, Faisal Baasir, the head of 'the party faction at the People's Consultative Assembly, Rusjdi Hamka, head of Jakarta's PPP branch.
Ali Marwan Hanan from MI has nine deputies. The treasurer is Mahfudlol Ali Ubaid and former chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum remains head of the party's advisory board. His 12 deputies include a former chairmanship candidate, Jusuf Sjakir.
The party's new council of 11 experts boasts a number of distinguished figures -- chairman Baharuddin Lopa, secretary- general of the National Commission on Human Rights, a new party member along with Bismar Siregar, a former chief justice; former Armed Forces members Adm. (ret.) Asnawi Hassan and Brig. Gen. (ret) Soewarno. Aisyah Girindra is the head of drug and food supervision of the Indonesian Ulemas Council, which issues the required halal certification for all food products. Baharuddin's deputy is former Jakarta deputy governor Bunyamin Ramto.
Jakarta -- A Moslem mob Friday attacked and set on fire a Catholic church in South Sulawesi in the latest incident of religious strife to hit Indonesia in the past two weeks, residents said.
The mob burned the Kare Catholic Church on the road to the airport, some 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Ujungpandang, a resident said. The incident took place after the Friday Moslem prayers.
Soldiers and policemen were deployed to guard the city's main Catholic cathedral in downtown Ujungpandang after the attack, another resident said.
The burning of the church appeared to be in retaliation for the burning and vandalism of several mosques and Moslem institutions in Kupang, the capital of the predominantly Christian province of East Nusa Tenggara. The stoning of mosques and looting of Moslem-owned shops in Kupang was followed by a similar incident in nearby Rote island.
The attacks on the mosques followed the burning or ransacking of 22 churches in central Jakarta during anti-Christian riots here on November 22 which also left 13 Christians dead.
A military officer in Ujungpandang confirmed that the church had been burned but made no further comment. A journalist in the city said the fire had been put out and the road to the airport was open.
Jakarta -- Only eight out of more than 100 new political parties are currently eligible to contest parliamentary elections in Indonesia June 7, a news report said Friday.
Dozens of parties have mushroomed following last May's resignation of authoritarian President Suharto, who previously controlled political activity.
Under Suharto, only three parties could contest elections and their policies and candidates were strictly vetted. Suharto's successor and erstwhile protege, President B.J. Habibie, has promised greater democracy, but he has maintained that new parties must adhere to basic principles.
The proposed electoral law says membership of parties must be open to all ethnic and religious groups. They also need to operate branches in at least half of Indonesia's 27 provinces or be able to collect 1 million signatures of support.
The Indonesian Observer newspaper quoted a government official as saying only a handful of parties currently meet these and other requirements that are contained in a proposed electoral law now before the Parliament. Home Affairs Ministry official Ryaas Rasyid, who helped draft the proposed law, said only eight parties conformed to the bill's requirements, including the three parties that operated during the Suharto era.
After the election, Indonesia's highest legislative grouping, the People's Consultative Assembly, will convene Aug. 29 to select a new head of state. Habibie and several others have indicated they will stand for the presidency.
Habibie is the target of a rising tide of protests by students. They are demanding he bring Suharto to trial and are critical of the pace of reform.
Jakarta -- Former-vice president Try Sutrisno and former defense minister Edi Sudradjat, both retired Army generals, signed their names to a declaration on Tuesday to form a new political party along with nearly 100 other discontented members of Golkar.
The as-yet unnamed political party immediately announced its intention to contest the general election scheduled for June next year.
Hayono Isman, the former youth affairs and sports minister, told reporters that the new party was intended to accommodate the aspirations of Golkar members who are not happy with the policies being pursued by the current leadership.
The name of the new party and the line up of its leadership will be announced at the party's inauguration, which is planned for Dec. 15.
The presence of Try and Edi, both widely respected figures in the Armed Forces and Golkar, has lent credence to the new party. Other signatories include Hayono himself, former environment minister Sarwono Kusumaatmadja and former Golkar legislators Bambang Warih Koesoema, Indra Bambang Utoyo, Mubha Kahar Muang and Tatto S. Pradjamanggala.
The petition to form the new party came at the end of a two-day seminar to discuss Golkar's chances in a multiparty political system. Golkar has dominated the political scene for the last 32 years, winning every election in the three-party system handcrafted by former president Soeharto.
"We have not reached an agreement on what to call the party, but several names have been proposed by our colleagues and participants at the seminar," Hayono said. Suggested names include Partai Merah Putih (the Red and White Party), Partai Keadilan dan Persatuan (the Justice and Unity Party) and Partai Persatuan Bangsa (the National Unity Party).
While admitting differences in vision, Hayono said the new party would welcome current Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung, if he wished to join. "After all, we still have a lot of similarities in our political aspirations," he said. Edi lost the race for the Golkar chairmanship to Akbar at the party's extraordinary congress in July.
Hayono said he had no illusions about the party's chances in next year's election. "Five percent (of the votes) will be fine."
"Insya Allah (God willing), we'll get more support in five to 10 years," he added.
Insiders said the new party had already established 16 regional chapters and was also counting on the support of several discontented provincial chapters of Golkar.
Separately, Akbar, who is also the Minister/State Secretary, played down the significance of the declaration, saying on Tuesday that he had no right to prevent Golkar members from leaving if they were dissatisfied with his leadership.
Akbar considered the establishment of a new party a challenge to Golkar to further improve its performance and secure victory at next year's election. "Let the voters decide if they prefer this new political party or Golkar," he said. He dismissed speculation that the new party would poach Golkar's traditional supporters.
Bambang Warih Koesoema, who was among those who drew up plans for the new party, said two organizations would be established: one a political party and the other a joint secretariat which would function as a moral movement.
Jakarta -- Indonesia will hold parliamentary elections on June 7 and elect a new president on Aug. 29, speaker of the house of parliament Harmoko said Thursday.
His statement follows a meeting between President B.J. Habibie, senior Cabinet ministers and legislative leaders at Parliament to discuss plans for the elections next year. Originally, presidential elections had been set for December 1999, and parliamentary elections for next May. The announcement of the election dates came amid widespread suspicion among student protesters that Mr. Habibie would delay the elections and stall other democratic reforms.
Yet many students are unlikely to be satisfied with the election timetable. They have demanded the immediate resignation of Mr. Habibie, who took office from Mr. Suharto in May after riots and protests against his 32-year authoritarian rule. Protesters say Mr. Habibie, who has urged students to halt their near-daily street rallies, is a stooge of his former mentor.
The nation's highest legislative body will elect a new president on Aug. 29, Mr. Harmoko said. However, the 1,000-member People's Consultative Assembly is beset with controversy. It is full of holdovers from the Suharto era and critics say it doesn't have the credibility to choose a new leader for the nation of 202 million people.
The assembly, which consists of all 500 members of Parliament as well as presidential appointees, met last month to plan the election and approve other political reforms. "The president will consistently and effectively implement the decrees of the recent (assembly) meeting," Mr. Harmoko said.
Paul Lashmar and Jamese Oliver -- In autumn 1965, Norman Reddaway, a lean and erudite rising star of the Foreign Office, was briefed for a special mission. The British Ambassador to Indonesia, Sir Andrew Gilchrist, had just visited London for discussions with the head of the Foreign Office, Joe Garner. Covert operations to under-mine Sukarno, the troublesome and independently minded President of Indonesia, were not going well. Garner was persuaded to send Reddaway, the FO's propaganda expert, to Indonesia. His task: to take on anti-Sukarno propaganda operations run by the Foreign Office and M16. Garner gave Reddaway #100,000 in cash "to do anything I could do to get rid of Sukarno", he says.
Reddaway thus joined the loose amalgam of groups from the Foreign Office, M16, the State Department and the CIA in the Far East, all striving to depose Sukarno in diffuse and devious ways. For the next six months he and his colleagues chipped away at Sukarno's regime, undermining his reputation and assisting his enemies in the army. By March 1966 Sukarno's power base was in tatters and he was forced to hand over his presidential authority to General Suharto, the head of the army, who was already running a campaign of mass murder against alleged communists. According to Reddaway, the overthrow of Sukarno was one of the Foreign Office's "most successful" coups, which they have kept a secret until now. The British intervention in Indonesia, alongside complimentary CIA operations, shows how far the Foreign Office was prepared to go in intervening in other countries' affairs during the Cold War. Indonesia was important both economically and strategically. In 1952 the US noted that if Indonesia fell out of Western influence, neighbours such as Malaya might follow, resulting in the loss of the "principle world source of natural rubber and tin and a producer of petroleum other strategically important commodities".
The Japanese occupation during the Second World War, which to the Indonesians amounted to another period of colonial rule, had revitalised the nationalist movement which after the war, declared independence and assumed power. Ahmed Sukarno became Indonesia's first president. Western concern regarding Sukarno's regime grew owing to the strength of the Indonesian communist party, the PKI, which at its peak had a membership of over 10 million, the largest communist party in the non-communist world. Concerns were not allayed by Sukarno's internal and external policies, including nationalising Western assets and a governmental role for the PKI.
By the early Sixties Sukarno had become a major thorn in the side of both the British and the Americans. They believed there was a real danger that Indonesia would fall to the communists. To balance the army's growing power, Sukarno aligned himself closer the PKI.
The first indication of British interest in removing Sukarno appears in a CIA memorandum of 1962. Prime Minister Macmillan and President Kennedy agreed to "liquidate President Sukarno, depending on the situation and available opportunities".
Hostility to Sukarno was intensified by Indonesian objections to the Malaysian Federation. Sukarno complained the project was "a neo-colonial plot, pointing out that the Federation was a project for Malayan expansionism and continuing British influence in the region.
In 1963 his objections crystallised in his policy of Konfrontasi, a breaking off of all relations with Malaysia, soon coupled with low-level military intervention. A protracted border war began along the 700 milelong front in Borneo.
According to Foreign Office sources the decision to get rid of Sukarno had been taken by Macmillan's Conservative government and carried through during Wilson's 1964 Labour government. The Foreign Office had worked in conjunction with their American counterparts on a plan to oust the turbulent Sukarno. A covert operation and psychological warfare strategy was instigated, based at Phoenix Park in Singapore, the British headquarters in the region. The M16 team kept close links with key elements in the Indonesian army through the British Embassy. One of these was Ali Murtopo, later General Suharto's intelligence chief, and M16 officers constantly travelled back and forth between Singapore and Jakarta.
The Foreign Office's Information Research Department (IRD) also worked out of Phoenix Park reinforcing the work of Mi6 and the military psychological warfare experts.
IRD had been established by the Labour government in 1948 to conduct an anti-communist propaganda war against the Soviets, but had swiftly become enlisted in various anti-independence movement operations in the declining British Empire. By the Sixties, IRD had a staff of around 400 in London and in-formation officers around the world influencing media coverage in areas of British interest.
According to Roland Challis, the BBC correspondent at the time in Singapore, journalists were open to manipulation by IRD, owing, ironically, to Sukarno's own policies: "In a curious way, by keeping correspondents out of the country Sukarno made them the victims of official channels, because almost the only information you could get was from the British ambassador in Jakarta." The opportunity to isolate Sukarno and the PKI came in October 1965 when an alleged PKI coup attempt was the pretext for the army to sideline Sukarno and eradicate the PKI. Who exactly instigated the coup and for what purposes remains a matter of speculation. However, within days the coup had been crushed and the army was firmly in control. Suharto accused the PKI of being behind the coup and set about suppressing them.
Following the attempted coup Britain set about exploiting the situation. On 5 October, Alec Adams, political adviser to the Commander-in-Chief, Far East, advised the Foreign Office: "We should have no hesitation in doing what we can surreptitiously to blacken the PKI in the eyes of the army and the people of Indonesia." The Foreign Office agreed and suggested "suitable propaganda themes" such as PKI atrocities and Chinese intervention.
One of the main themes pursued by IRD was the threat posed by the PKI and "Chinese communists". Newspaper reports continually emphasised the danger of the PKI. Drawing upon their experience in Malaya in the Fifties, the British emphasised the Chinese nature of the communist threat. Roland Challis said: "One of the more successful things which the West wished on to the non- communist politicians in Indonesia was to transfer the whole idea of communism onto the Chinese minority in Indonesia. It turned it into an ethnic thing. It is a terrible thing to have done to incite the Indonesians to rise and slaughter the Chinese."
But it was the involvement of Sukarno with the PKI in the bloody months following the coup that was to be the British trump card. According to Reddaway: "The communist leader, Aidit, went on the run and Sukarno, being a great politician, went to the front of the palace and said that the communist leader Aidit must be hunted down and brought to justice. From the side door of the palace, he was dealing with him every day by courier."
This information was revealed by the signal intelligence of Britain's GCHQ. The Indonesians didn't have a clue about radio silence and this double-dealing was picked up by GCHQ; the British had its main eavesdropping base in Hong Kong tuned into events in Indonesia.
The discrediting of Sukarno was of fundamental importance. Sukarno remained a respected and popular leader against whom Suharto could not move openly until the conditions were right. The constant barrage of bad international coverage and Sukarno's plummeting political position fatally undermined him. On 10 March (sic - 11 March) 1966, Sukarno was forced to sign over his powers to General Suharto. Now perceived as closely associated with the attempted coup and the PKI, Sukarno had been discredited to the point where the army felt able to act. The PKI was eliminated as a significant force and a pro-Western military dictatorship firmly established.
It was not long before Suharto quietly ended the inactive policy of Konfrontasi resulting in a swift improvement in Anglo- Indonesian relations, which continue to be close to this day.
From: 'Britain's Secret Propaganda War 1948-77', by Paul Lashmar and James Oliver, to be published by Sutton on 7 December.
Jakarta -- The Indonesian government had found nine million hectares of forest concessions linked to former president Suharto, his family and close associates, a report said Tuesday.
"We found strong indications that those properties were acquired by the Suharto family and their cronies through (corruption, collusion and nepotism)," said Forestry and Plantations Minister Muslimin Nasution, as quoted by the Jakarta Post daily.
Muslimin said the concessions were controlled by the family of Suharto through shares held in various companies, including PT Barito Pacific Timber (P.BPT), controlled by Prajogo Pangestu, and Mohamad "Bob" Hasan's Kalimanis Group.
Barito Pacific holds the rights to 3.5 million hectares of forest in seven provinces, while Hasan's Kalimanis Group has the rights to 1.63 million hectares, according to the daily.
The minister said his office will continue to investigate forestry concessions linked to Suharto to see if there has been any transfer of shares, the report said.
The government is currently investigating the former president's wealth amid mounting calls for him to stand trial for corruption allegations.
Suharto has denied any wrongdoing and has stated that he will cooperate with any investigation into his affairs. He has also denied that he has squirreled away a fortune in foreign banks.
Jakarta -- An independent commission to probe the wealth accumulated by veteran leader Suharto during his 32-year rule will be only advisory and leave any decisions to the new president, State Secretary Akbar Tanjung said Monday.
The commission "will be authorized to do analysis on the findings as well as to gather inputs from the public," Tanjung said after meeting President B.J. Habibie at the Bina Graha presidential office. "The conclusion will be conveyed to the president in the form the commission hopes and expects, and then the president will decide on the follow-up," Tanjung added.
Habibie promised to set up the commission on November 21 and it had been expected to be formed Monday, with the signing of a presidential decree. But Tanjung said the government was still awaiting the "official acceptance" from some 30 public figures, and it could be set up "in one or two days."
The presidential decree is to follow an earlier decree passed by the People's Consultative Assembly, which named Suharto as one of those to be investigated in the country's drive against corruption. Reports have said some of those contacted by the government had refused to be part of the commission, citing a variety of reasons including "being unfit for the job."
Attorney General Andi Ghalib had earlier pledged the commission would be independent, not include government officials and manned only by those trusted by the people. But Akbar said Monday some ex-government officials were among those asked to be commission members. He said it would be given a three-month working period.
Suharto's legal advisor on Saturday said Suharto was ready to face trial on corruption charges, but he lashed out out Habibie's decision to set up the commission as "totally impossible."
The legal advisor, Yohannes Yacob, also warned the Habibie government that should the ousted leader be brought to court, it too would suffer. "We need to point out that the probe (if) taken to court will also drag down government officials, ex-officials and all the cronies who are also suspected of improper gains through corruption, collusion and nepotism," Yacob warned.
"We need to remind the Habibie government that the demands of several public groups to bring Suharto to court, is not their only political agenda.
"It must be borne in mind that their next agenda is to abolish the dual function (of the armed forces) and sack the pro-status quo group," Yacob said in a statement.
The Suharto family fortune was estimated at four billion dollars in a June article by Forbes Magazine. Suharto has continually denied allegations since being forced to step down on May 21 that he amassed a fortune while in office.
But documents made available over the past two weeks have said he and his family own millions of hectares (acres) of land in most of the country's 27 provinces, and Ghalib has said his office has found some 2.8 million dollars in domestic bank accounts.
Jakarta -- A special committee of the House of Representatives agreed on Thursday to retain the old proportional representation (PR) system for next year's general election, but with major improvements to make it more democratic.
The government backed down on its original proposal for a district system in which people would vote for candidates rather than parties, after the three political parties currently represented in the House called for a retention of the PR system.
"The proper spirit is to fix the shortcomings of the past," Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid said during a deliberation of the government-drafted bill on elections with the special committee set up to consider this vital matter. Whatever system was adopted, it would have to be better than the past one Syarwan said.
On Monday, Golkar, the United Development Party (PPP) and the government-supported Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) were all united in demanding the retention of the PR system, stressing that there was not enough time to adopt a new system given that the election should be held in June. The Armed Forces (ABRI) faction, which is guaranteed some seats in the House without having to contest the election, is indifferent on the issue.
There was no immediate reaction to the decision from the new political parties which are not represented in the House. Their views are nevertheless important given that they will also be contesting the election for the first time next year.
The past system restricted the election to the three parties and was designed to give maximum advantage to Golkar which won all six elections held under former president Soeharto.
Syarwan underlined some of the things that the nation would miss out on by not adopting the district system. Legislators elected through a district system would be more accountable to their constituents than if they were elected through a PR system, he said. Election campaigning under the district system would be much more peaceful and localized. Under the PR system, the tendency was for parties to organize massive rallies, he said. He pointed out that given the current fragile political situation, there was a danger that such rallies might lead to unrest.
The four factions in the 87-strong special committee shared the government's security concerns and stressed that these should be addressed in the new election law.
Ryaas Rasyid, who heads the government team which drafted the bill, told the meeting that a government regulation on election campaigns would have to be drafted separately from the bill. "Basically, we agree that future elected legislators will be accountable to the people, " Ryaas said.
The special committee on Thursday also debated how the election should be administered and supervised. The Golkar, PPP and ABRI factions objected to the government proposal to include public figures in the national and local election committees.
They said a People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) decree on general election specified that the election committees consist of representatives of the government and the political parties. The inclusion of public figures, such as scholars or religious leaders like Dili Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, would strengthen the credibility of the committees Ryaas said. The government would not insist on their inclusion but the factions would be wise to heed the warning, he said. "If the people later find faults with the election law they would blame the political parties, and not the government," he added. PDI legislator Wiyanjono also warned of the possibility of political parties boycotting the elections.
The special committee endorsed the government's proposal for a single general election supervisory body, which should be independent and established by the Supreme Court.
The factions and the government agreed on allowing the public as well as foreigners to actively monitor the general election. They said foreign observers must first notify the government of their intention. The session was adjourned to Thursday.
| Arms/armed forces |
Sander Thoenes, Jakarta -- If there were fewer soldiers on the streets of Jakarta than might have been expected last week as Moslems and Christians clashed, buildings were torched and shops looted, it did not mean they were far away.
In fact, many were just around the corner -- not keeping the peace, but guarding the twin towers that house the Jakarta Stock Exchange and dozens of other office buildings owned by the military. Others were earning a fee for protecting more upmarket shopping malls from the looters.
Real estate and protection are two extremes of the Indonesian military's business operations, which span forestry plantations, mining and airlines and some say include piracy, smuggling and brothels.
Now the military's preoccupation with money-making, like the business empire of the Suharto family and their "cronies", is coming under attack, along with its leaders.
"The military should go back to the barracks and focus on what they're supposed to do," said Abdillah Toha, magazine editor and member of an opposition party. "Now they do more harm than good."
Critics of the army point to other cases that they said illustrated the security forces' neglect. This week residents of Kupang, a town on the island of Timor in eastern Indonesia, complained that far too few soldiers had shown up even though they knew Christians would stage a protest against the burning of churches by Moslems in Jakarta.
A peaceful march quickly turned into an attack on mosques and houses and schools owned by Moslems, sparking fears that Indonesia's Moslem majority would retaliate with a nationwide assault on Christians.
The military blame a shortage of staff, and most agree that 500,000 soldiers and police officers are not enough to control 17,000 islands. The police force is to be increased from 220,000 to 260,000.
But the Indonesian media have begun to detail the intricate network of businesses run by active and retired military who backed Mr Suharto's rule for 32 years.
"The whole army is involved, from the lowest commander on up," said Indria Samego, a political scientist who has just published a book on the topic. He said Mr Suharto set the trend as far back as the 1950s, when he was alleged to have helped set up a sugar smuggling ring. Later he bought loyalty by allowing generals to head state companies such as Pertamina, the oil and gas monopoly.
Like most industries in Indonesia, however, the military businesses are reeling from the economic crisis. Their airlines are grounded for lack of cash, their office buildings stand half empty and their factories cannot pay their debt. Many of their forestry concessions have long been cleared, leaving much of Kalimantan, Sumatra and Irian Jaya deforested.
"This is their cash cow," Mr Indria says. "When the cow does not provide any milk anymore, ABRI [the armed forces] must find another source of income -- like racketeering."
Mr Indria says that, despite the protests, the government is too weak to curb the military and its commander, General Wiranto, too ambitious to clean it up. "There are no strong political figures so they still rely on Abri for protection," he says. "Wiranto wants power. And that requires money."
Sri Mulyani Indrawati, a prominent economist, blames the government for the military's penchant for business. "We allow them to finance themselves," she said. "That means we allow for lawlessness, for distortions in the economy."
Ms Mulyani says a range of economic reforms agreed with the International Monetary Fund do nothing to address this problem. "We can meet all the IMF requests but it will mean nothing," she said. "The infrastructure, the people who run all this are underpaid and live in a system that is corrupted." SUBJECT: International
Bernard Lagan and Louise Williams -- The Government's links to Indonesia were under strong attack last night after Jakarta refused to allow an Australian Government-appointed investigator into East Timor to gather new evidence on military abuses.
And the Government's claim of success in getting agreement for an Australian defence attache to monitor military activity in Timor was also criticised as unlikely to clear up allegation of a recent massacre. An inconclusive result could be portrayed by Jakarta as an Australian all-clear.
Australia had wanted to send the former head of the National Crime Authority, Mr Tom Sherman, to East Timor to investigate fresh allegations that the Indonesian military had executed five Australian-based journalists in East Timor in 1975. The refusal was confirmed by the Minister for Defence, Mr Moore, who returned at the weekend from talks with the Indonesian President, Mr B.J. Habibie, and the head of the Indonesian armed forces (ABRI), General Wiranto.
The Indonesians agreed only to allow Australia's Jakarta-based defence attachi into East Timor tomorrow to investigate allegations of Indonesian troop build-ups and allegations of the further slaughter of civilians.
The Australian Embassy in Jakarta confirmed Mr Moore had raised the issue of access to East Timor for Mr Sherman, but Dr. B. J. Habibie had replied: "That would not be possible." Dr Habibie is understood to be unwilling to antagonise the powerful armed forces by attempting to re-open an inquiry into the killings.
The new information about the Balibo killings, aired on ABC-TV last month, implicated Indonesia's Minister for Information, Lieutenant-General Muhammad Yunus Yosfiah, who led a special forces unit during the incursion into East Timor in October 1975.
Last month, General Yosfiah denied he supervised the killings and, at the same time, the Habibie Government announced it would not re-open the investigation. Mr Sherman found in an earlier inquiry that the newsmen were probably killed accidentally in crossfire between pro- and anti-independence fighters. His conclusion was reached without an attempt to visit Indonesia or East Timor, because permission was considered unlikely under the former Soeharto government. Mr Moore claimed that Australia's defence attachi would be given unlimited access on East Timor this week.
Indonesia's refusal to allow Mr Sherman into East Timor and the inadequacy of an inquiry by the defence attachi were condemned last night by politicians, the International Commission of Jurists and by the East Timorese independence activist Mr Jose Ramos Horta.
Mr Ramos Horta condemned Mr Moore's show of support for General Wiranto, who is facing harsh criticism for the actions of his troops, including security forces who opened fire on thousands of unarmed students in Jakarta on November 13.
"Instead of supporting democracy -- and democracy means that the army must get out of politics in Indonesia -- [Australia] goes on embracing the same people that kept Soeharto in power for 32 years," Mr Ramos Horta said.
| Economy and investment |
Greg Earl, Jakarta -- Indonesia is moving quickly towards a policy of redistributing wealth through new Government policies with several key economic officials signalling support for affirmative action.
The Minister for State Enterprises, Mr Tanri Abeng, a former businessman, is understood to be backing the creation of a new agency to channel money to small enterprises and hold shares on behalf of pribumi (indigenous) Indonesians.
Sources familiar with the plan say the agency will be called the Lembaga Permodalan Nasional (National Capitalisation Agency) in a clear parallel with Malaysia's Permodalan Nasional Berhad, which was established 20 years ago as part of that country's New Economic Policy.
The sources say the agency is intended to create several hundred new pribumi business people each year with soft credit and share allocations from privatisations in an effort to rebalance wealth away from the heavily Chinese corporate community.
The supporters of the new agency say it will be the first concrete Government response to the direction by the People's Consultative Assembly two weeks ago to emphasise "economic democracy" in economic policy. Under Malaysia's policies to direct more wealth towards its bumiputera (native) population and away from ethnic Chinese citizens, the PNB holds equity in a wide range of companies on behalf of the bumiputera population.
A week ago the Finance Minister, Mr Bambang Subianto, and the head of the Indonesian Bank Reconstruction Agency, Mr Glenn Yusuf, surprised observers with their swift support for the new tilt towards redirecting wealth.
Mr Yusuf, who is charged with selling bank assets to recover liquidity credits from the central bank, said he hoped to enhance wealth distribution through the sale of bank assets.
He said the Government would like to see social benefits from the activities of IBRA in what appeared to be a concession to powerful political and business interests that want to see the mostly Chinese-owned bank assets distributed to co-operatives and pribumi-owned companies.
Mr Bambang said Indonesia was shifting its policies towards a "people's economy" that would emphasise the development of small enterprises and co-operatives.
Economist and long-serving Former Minister, Professor Mohamad Sadli, said on Friday he was concerned that some confusion was now emerging over distributional policies to deal with poverty and redistributional policies to help an emerging business class.
Apart from the IBRA sales, Mr Tanri is overseeing one of the biggest ownership changes in Indonesia with the planned privatisation of 12 government companies this year under the International Monetary Fund program.
The planned new capital agency is intended to channel some of the privatised equity into pribumi hands, but the privatisation program was substantially wound back this week with the announcement that six rather than 12 companies would be sold this financial year.
Only one privatisation has been carried out so far with the partial sale of a cement company after several setbacks. But the Government on Thursday announced it had received bids from six international companies -- including Australia's P&O Ports -- to buy half of Jakarta's ports.