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ASIET Net News – 5 - February 1-7, 1999
| East Timor |
By John McBeth in Jakarta and Dan Murphy in Dili -- Antonio da Silva lost his left ear to pro-independence Fretilin fighters. He doesn't intend to lose anything else. That's why he's outside the office of Indonesia's military commander in East Timor, waiting his turn to ask for weapons.
"We'll take guns from the army and fight to protect what is ours," says the 38-year-old leader of Young Guard to Protect Integration, a self-styled paramilitary group which is among the minority of Timorese opposing independence. "I promise you civil war if Indonesia pulls out."
Tension has soared in East Timor since January 27, when Indonesian President B.J. Habibie raised the prospect of giving the territory independence -- as early as July next year. Although the vast majority of the 830,000 Timorese want to go it alone, Indonesian settlers and Timorese like da Silva fear they will be targeted for reprisals if the Indonesian army pulls out.
The tensions raise questions of whether East Timor will ever have the social and political cohesion to survive as an independent entity. What's more, does it have the basis for a viable economy? Who will nurse the country through transition towards independence?
For now, it's not even clear if matters will reach that stage. Popular opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri has threatened to scrap the independence offer if she wins Indonesia's June elections. Meanwhile, in United Nations-brokered talks, Indonesian and Portuguese negotiators are still hammering out a wide-ranging plan to give autonomy -- rather than independence -- to the former Portuguese colony.
The autonomy plan will be finalized by April, then presented to the Timorese. If they reject it, the process of cutting East Timor loose will be taken over by next October's session of the People's Consultative Assembly, Indonesia's highest legislative body, to be formed after the elections in June. The assembly will decide whether to revoke the 1978 resolution that made East Timor an Indonesian province, opening the way for an Indonesian withdrawal from East Timor by July next year.
Most Timorese, however, say they want a period of autonomy under Indonesian rule to build institutions and disarm the populace before independence. Jailed Fretilin resistance leader Xanana Gusmao has advocated five to 10 years of autonomy followed by a referendum. All but the most radical Timorese worry deeply that if the Indonesians leave abruptly, history could repeat itself: The Portuguese left behind a civil war when they withdrew in 1975.
Habibie's offer thus confronts the East Timorese with a stark choice: broad autonomy with no hope of independence, or independence next year. Many Timorese are convinced that Habibie's proposal was designed to fail. They see it as a ploy to show that East Timor -- ruled by Indonesia since 1975 -- cannot govern itself. "We've been offered two choices, and neither of them is the right one -- which makes me doubt the government is dealing in good faith," says Arlindo Maia, the former rector of the University of East Timor.
But in Jakarta, a different motivation emerges. Habibie appears to have been the driving force behind the policy shift. Analysts say that Habibie and his supporters from the Indonesian Association of Muslim Intellectuals have not been kindly disposed towards throwing money at the Catholic-dominated province, where Muslim settlers were being mistreated and resistance has continued unabated. (Government spending accounts for half of East Timor's $113 million annual GDP.) Academics, new-generation military officers and a growing number of officials had also long been pondering the prospect of a change in policy.
"This is not a fit of pique," says Dewi Fortuna Anwar, the president's adviser on foreign affairs. "It's a realistic solution. We see East Timor as an appendix giving a fever to the rest of the country." Former President Suharto refused to acknowledge that, she says, but the current political transition "means there is a whole new prism through which we see the issue."
The new outlook became official policy when Habibie decided to announce it to the cabinet late last month. His sudden decision was triggered by a letter from Australian Prime Minister John Howard a few days before Christmas, saying that Canberra would change its policy and join the chorus urging self-determination for East Timor. "Why don't we just let East Timor go," Habibie told his aides. "Haven't we suffered enough character assassination as a nation because of this?"
Habibie circulated the letter and a memo prepared by his foreign-policy advisers to seven ministers with political and security portfolios. He asked them to study a recommendation which Suharto and the military would have dismissed out of hand eight months ago. Then at a cabinet meeting on January 27, it became official: In an emotional 20-minute presentation, Habibie declared that if the East Timorese truly didn't want to belong to Indonesia, then it was only fair and democratic to give them the option of choosing independence as soon as possible.
Remarkably, applause broke out around the table -- an expression of the relief many Indonesians feel at finally getting to grips with a problem that has blackened Indonesia's name internationally. "This has been more than a pebble in our shoe," says one Indonesian diplomat, repeating Foreign Minister Ali Alatas's often-quoted complaint. "It's been a millstone around our neck."
Alatas will be meeting his Portuguese counterpart, Jaime Gama, and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York this month. Since Indonesia has ruled out a referendum, the negotiators will have to find a way to assess whether the Timorese favour the autonomy plan -- or immediate independence. "It could be intra-Timorese talks, but there will be a mechanism to find out what the views are of an overwhelming number of the East Timorese," Alatas told the Review. He says that if autonomy is not accepted, then Indonesia "will part ways in an honourable, peaceful and orderly way -- we're not just going to pack up and leave and say goodbye."
Still, Western diplomats and Timorese leaders question the take- it-or-leave-it nature of Indonesia's decision. They say that without a referendum, pro- and anti-independence forces will turn the province into a battleground. The potential for conflict between Gusmao's separatist guerrillas and newly armed pro- integration groups is growing.
Trouble is already brewing on the ground. On January 29, members of an anti-independence paramilitary group were inside Dili's Mahkota hotel, meeting the local Indonesian military commander, Col. Tono Suratman. When pro-independence demonstrators shouted abuse, a handful of the paramilitaries came charging out, firing M-16s in the air.
"The tension is so high that all it would take is a spark right now," says Francisco Gueterres, law and politics professor at the University of East Timor, who is trying to act as broker between local Fretilin and integrationist commanders. "We need to find a way to avoid bloodshed."
Fomenting the tension, the Indonesian army has supplied hundreds of weapons in the past month or so to previously unarmed loyalists in eight of East Timor's 13 districts. "This is very irresponsible," says Roque Rodrigues, head of the Lisbon office of the National Council for Timorese Resistance.
Defence Minister and armed-forces chief Gen. Wiranto denies that the army is providing new arms to anyone. Indeed, Wiranto has called the policy change on East Timor "most appropriate."
If independence comes, former East Timor Governor Mario Viegas Carrascalau believes a strong UN transition authority would be needed for at least two years, backed by peacekeeping troops from Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and possibly Indonesia. "It would be important for Indonesia to play some sort of role to ensure it doesn't sabotage the process and to show its good faith," says Carrascalau. "Everything has to have the blessing of the Indonesians, otherwise it is useless."
But Habibie's ministers insist that in scrapping the resolution annexing East Timor, the People's Consultative Assembly should not describe the action as a mistake. "Geopolitical needs at the time necessitated its annexation," says Dewi, Habibie's adviser on foreign affairs. "Despite all the money and sacrifices, Indonesia failed to win the hearts and minds of the Timorese, in much the same way as the United States failed to win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese."
Jakarta - Amid escalating tension in East Timor, the Armed Forces (ABRI) has denied supplying ammunition to the province to terrorize pro-referendum East Timorese and to protect pro- integration forces. Instead it has accused separatist "disturbance groups" of being behind the recent killings and terror.
"We have never armed pro-integration East Timorese terror groups opposed to a referendum," ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto told reporters after receiving three officers recently promoted to four-star general at his office here on Wednesday
The three promoted officers were Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Widodo A.S., Air Force Chief of Staff Marshal Hanifie Asnan, and National Police Chief Gen. Roesmanhadi.
Wiranto, also the Minister of Defense and Security acknowledged that the military had long ago set up an armed militia known as Wanra, to help it maintain security in East Timor.
"The civilian resistance groups whose members are given a monthly stipend have long been established, and they have been stationed in military districts to maintain security and fight against the local separatist movement," he said.
He added that it was impossible for these "resistance groups" to abuse their weapons and terrorize people because their activities were supervised by the local military and closely watched by local religious and social leaders.
Armed Forces spokesman Maj.Gen. Syamsul Ma'arif said last week that the arming of civilians had been a "temporary" measure to protect them from troublemakers.
Wiranto accused local "disturbance groups" of having intensified their resistance to the military and pro-integration groups following the government's recent announcement that East Timor could be given independence if ongoing negotiations on its offers of wide ranging autonomy should fail.
"The separatist groups should be blamed for the ongoing riots and terror and the recent killings. And they should be held responsible for the escalating political tension," he said.
Former East Timor governor Mario Viegas Carrascalao and other figures have blamed the military for the escalating tension, recent killings, and terror campaigns launched by armed civilians against East Timorese supporting the proreferendum group.
Meanwhile Abdurrahman Wahid, chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), visited jailed East Timorese independence fighter Jose Alexandre
"Xanana" Gusmao at Cipinang penitentiary in East Jakarta on Tuesday and held a hour-long discussion on the latest developments in the province. Abdurrahman requested that Xanana provide guarantees of safety for pro-integration groups in East Timor, to which Xanana assented.
"We are working on steps to restore peace in East Timor and Xanana agreed on this. I was the one who initiated this visit," Abdurrahman, popularly known as Gus Dur, informed reporters after the meeting.
Abdurrahman said after the session which was organized by Solidamor, a non-governmental organization advocating a peaceful solution to the East Timor issue, that he had reiterated to Xanana that he was in favor of the province being part of Indonesia.
Xanana told Abdurrahman that Indonesia should disarm pro- Indonesian civilians in East Timor in order to avert bloodshed. Abdurrahman declined to say whether he was also making the same demand of the government.
Xanana's lawyer Johnson Panjaitan said the biggest problem in East Timor was The arming of about 20,000 civilians by the Indonesian military, who he said paid the recruits Rp 250,000 to 300,000 a month.
"If we want to initiate peace in the province, one prerequisite is for the military to disarm such civilian militias. The distribution of weapons must be stopped," he said.
Xanana is waiting to be moved to a house owned by the Indonesian justice ministry on Jl. Cipinang No. 5, East Jakarta, adjacent to the East Jakarta Immigration office.
Also Wednesday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas met Anna Gomes, the first Portuguese diplomat to be based in Jakarta. She will head a diplomatic post called an interest section to start normalizing relations between the two countries as UN-sponsored talks on East Timor are underway.
Separately East Timor Governor Abilio Jose Osoario Soares called on all civil servants including teachers in the province to continue to serve the public and help defuse tension.
Dili -- In November 1998, 11 East Timorese were killed and 831 displaced in the sub-regency of Alas, Manufahi regency, due to acts of terror, intimidation, detainment, torture, and arson perpetrated by the Indonesian military (ABRI). Not yet recovered from these traumatic events, the people of East Timor must again face a series of violent acts which have occurred in many areas in East Timor since the beginning of 1999.
Based on human rights monitoring and complaints filed by victims in the last two months (December 1998 - January 1999) alone, Yayasan HAK has verified 21 deaths from extra-judicial executions, 17 detained and tortured, and 6 forced disappearances. 7,608 refugees have been forced to leave their homes to seek safety from terror, intimidation, destruction and arson.
Looking at these latest developments, HAK must conclude that human rights violations are on the rise in East Timor. Reformation in Jakarta has led to widespread demands for referendum, driving those upholding the status quo to desperate measures. Pro-autonomy/pro-integration factions have used unfair means, namely violence against innocent villagers and supporters of referendum, to protect their political interests.
Based on data gathered by HAK, perpetrators of human rights violations are not only the military (ABRI), but increasingly civilians armed by ABRI. In Ainaro, the actors of violence are a civilian group called MAHIDIN (Mati Hidup Demi Integrasi; literally, "life or death for integration"), under the command of one Cancio Carvalho. This group was responsible for the shooting of a number of young men in Ainaro, on January 21, 1999; they were also main actors in the detainment, torture, arson of people's homes in villages in the sub-regency of Hatudo, regency of Ainarao, and sub-regency of Zumalai, regency of Covalima, on January 25, 1999. In this last incident, a pregnant woman was brutally murdered. In Maubara, Liquica regency, a group of armed young men, assisted by soldiers from BTT 143, attacked a number of villages. There has been a concerted effort to engineer the Timorization of this war. Evidence clearly points to the fact that ABRI have armed civilian groups in East Timor. In short, providing a license for East Timorese to kill each other which will inevitably lead to the victimization of the innocent.
Due process of law has been subordinated by political interest to uphold the status quo. The shooting in Ainaro on January 3, 1999, can be traced to a brawl which occurred in October 1998 which was not adequately processed by agents of the law. Furthermore, the arming of civilian groups is clearly against the law (Emergency Law no 12/1951). Those carrying arms have not been sanctioned, in fact acts of violence and human rights violations by these groups have been tolerated. The lack of legal sanction is in contempt of Indonesian law in East Timor. This situation gives rise to suspicion on who are behind these acts of provocation. The statement of East Timor governor, Abilio Jose Osorio Soares (Suara Timor Timur, 25 January 1999), which recommended the use of customary law (adat) to mediate the conflict, protects the assailants and undermines due process of law.
East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmao has pressed the Indonesian govt to disband the para-militaries in East Timor. He said their presence could trigger armed conflict, putting the lives of the people in danger.
One primary focus in East Timor after it becomes independent will be avoiding armed conflict. "We must do everything possible to protect the lives of the pro-integration East Timorese", he said, as quoted by his lawyer, Hendardi to the press in Cipinang Prison.
The statement was made to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions when it visited the prison. As he had said on previous occasions, Xanana stressed the importance of safeguarding the lives of all Timorese, at this moment following the change in the Indonesian government's position.
In his discussion with the Working Group, Xanana said that the abuses in Timor were not just confined to arrests and detentions but to danger of armed conflict which represents a threat to the entire population.
The head of the Working Group, Louis Joinet, said the Group was investigating all arbitrary detentions, including the PRD prisoners and the elderly PKI prisoners. Hendardi told the press that the Group was particularly concerned about the elderly men now serving life sentences.
The Working Group regards Xanana's detention as being arbitrary because he is the leader of the Timorese people who are engaged in strugging for their independence. Joinet said that differences of opinion should not be the reason for any government to arrest and detain someone. Xanana also urged the UN Working Group to place UN officials in East Timor to monitor the human rights situation.
The Working Group's visit, said Hendardi, had come as the result of a decision of the UN Human Rights Commission in Genenva last year and its findings will be present to the Commission at its next meeting. If it finds that there are many human rights abuses, it is possible that the Commission will adopt another resolution criticising Indonesia for this.
[The following is a transcription from a recording of a live report by Jonathan Head in East Timor.]
JH: The army strongly denies charges that it is helping the militia, but the leader of East Timor's most notorious paramilitary group, Mahidi says otherwise. Conceicao Lopez is a fanatical opponent of independence and he gets his weapons directly from the Indonesian Army.
CL: (Speaking in Bahasa) We got 20 Sks (?) from the local military. That was on 30 December. I remember because it was on the 17 of that month that I formed the Mahidi. So we used the SKs together with three M-16s we had for the attack.
JH: The attack Conceicao is referring to tooK place on 26 January, less than four weeks after he was given the weapons. He describes how he opened fire on a hut which he believes was occupied by pro-independence rebels.
CL: We arrived at around 10pm and started firing. They fired first and we responded, shooting into the hut hidden by a fence inside a garden.
JH: Six people died in the attack including a 15-year old schoolboy and a pregnant woman. Conceicao admits to killing four other people two days earlier. [This incident is also recorded in an article in last Sunday's Observer.] The militia who support integration with Indonesia justify their actions by saying that they're no worse than the anti-Indonesian rebels in the jungle. But that's a view disputed by Bishop Belo, 1996 Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has long campaigned for a peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor.
BB: We never have this from the people in the jungle. They (the paras) entered the village, and from their action, six thousand people are seeking refuge from a parish It's never happened before. Just now, just now, for the first time ... 6,132 people from Jumalai, they left their village and ran away to seek refuge in the parish.
JH: There are confusing signals coming out of Jakarta. Indonesia says it wants to leave East Timor but it's arming those who want to keep it there. Former rebel leader Mau Hunu, who fought against Indonesia for 18 years has little faith in Indonesia's intentions.
MH: What we see on the ground is the fact that people, civilian people, the paramilitaries who support integration into Indonesia -- they have ... weapons. So what kind of solution do they want for East Timor? I think there is no sign that they want a peaceful solution.
JH: The thousands of people now displaced by the escalating violence in East Timor can only pray for peace and pray that the men with guns will listen to pleas for restraint from community leaders like Bishop Belo.
BB: For me its better to fight with diplomacy, with intelligence, with dispassion, rather than with guns and bullets. We're not in the middle ages, to fight with guns. If the Indonesians think its better for them, then its better for them to return to their places.
JH: In the capital Dili students can campaign openly for an independent state. It's a freedom they've enjoyed only since the fall of Suharto last year. For the first time, peaceful protest is possible in the towns but in the countryside, all the talks is of a civil war fuelled by Indonesian weapons.
[The presenter in London then interviewed a spokesman for the armed forces in Jakarta, General Sujarat (probably Sudradjat).}
BBC: Could you confirm that guns were provided to pro-Indonesian groups in East Timor? General S: (Speaking in English) Yes, that's right.
BBC: What do you say when it emerges that the weapons have been used to kill other civilians in East Timor?
General S: They are not supposed to use those weapons to kill civilians.
BBC: They may not be supposed to but it appears from what Mr Lopez is telling our correspondent that that is what has happened.
General S: Well I don't [short gap in recording]
BBC: ... any control from the army? Are they answerable to the army?
General S: Yes, we control them and we only lend the guns to them. After they are finished with doing the job, they have to return the weapons to us.
BBC: If they are under the control of the army and if they murder unarmed civilians, what is the army going to do about it?
General S: We have to take a measure.
BBC: Has the army taken any measures?
General S: We dont have any precedents so far.
BBC: What seems to be happening, whether you want it or not is that the weapons which are being provided to these groups are being used to kill civilians. Now, that's obviously a risk when you give weapons out to people.
General S: That's why we only give the weapons to those we trust. But if that is going to happen, it means there's something wrong with the group and we have to take strong measures. If that is happening, we should apologise for it. It's very unfortunate when it is going to happen like that because these people supposed not to kill civilians, they are supposed to protect the civilians against Fretilin guerrillas.
BBC: So what do you say, general, to those who have been suggesting that what's actually happening in East Timor is that the Indonesian army is very deliberately arming these people who are in favour of continued links, in order to increase the amount of violence while East Timor discusses its future?
General S: I dont think it increases the violence, but it is our system. You know, since 1961, we've been trying to fight against the Muslim guerrillas. We used the same method.
BBC: What you seem to be saying, general, is, yes, indeed, the army does provide guns to groups of people in East Timor who it believes may be at risk from pro-separatist forces, you do not intend these guns to be used against civilians and if they have been, you think the army should apologise and go and get the guns back.
General S: Yes. We're not giving the weapons. We are lending them to be used to help us protect the people.
BBC: Has anyone actually given the weapons back to you?
General S: Oh always. We always ask them back. Because we lend them to them every day and after they finish, they should put the weapons back under our possession.
A pro-independence demo in Dili called on people to remain calm in welcoming the Indonesian govt's announcement about independence for Timor. It was organised by the Timor Socialist Party (PST - known also by its Portuguese initials as AST), the Democratic Republic Party of E Timor PRD (the similarity in initials with the Indonesian PRD is probably not accidental), and Activists for an Independent East Timor APKT.
The demonstrators called for calm and said Timorese should continue with their normal activities, and do nothing to disrupt security. After listening to speakers at the Santa Cruz cemetery, the participants marched round the city.
Before dispersing, a statement was read out by Matias Duarte which said that the Indonesian govt's announcement was to be welcomed and was in accord with Indonesia's 1945 Constitution and the political struggle of the Maubere people. It said the 23-year struggle of the Timorese people had not been for autonomy or a referendum but for independence. It also said that people from outside the country did not need to rush to leave Timor. Their safety will be guaranteed by pro-independence groups as long as they did not allow themselves to be used by other forces.
Unfortunately, the demonstrators were not received by the CNRT and other related groups such as the Students Solidarity Council, the youth organisation Ojetil, Forsarepetil (of govt employees and intellectuals) all of which have branches in all the 13 districts of the country.
The day before, the CNRT distributed a leaflet calling on people not to demonstrate. A CNRT leader said the demonstration had been conducted by frustrated people who did not follow the line of the CNRT leader, Xanana Gusmao. He said that in the present circumstances, there was no point any more in holding demonstrations.
A spokesperson for one of the (most notorious) militia, Gadapaksi, Antonio, said his group will not hold a counter demonstration. "This doesnt mean that we support independence. We stand firmly in support of integration with Indonesia forever. We say to the pro-independence groups that they should not engage in brutal activities which disrupt the pro-integration forces and the people from outside. If they ignore this warning, we will respond with weapons," he said.
Dr Basilio de Araujo, who chairs the Forum for Unity, Democracy and Justice which supports integration said that the pro- integration groups have about 10,000 weapons, at least five hundred in each of the districts. He said these weapons were from the former Portuguese army so its not correct to say that they were given out by ABRI. We have these weapons, he said, only for purposes of self-defence.
Second Dare Dialogue A second Dare Dialogue is being planned in the very near future, to be sponsored by the two bishops, Carlos Belo and Basilio Nascimento. This follows on the First Dare Dialogue last September which produced an 11-point declaration, bringing together all diverse groups in the country. Governor Abilio Soares said he would contact the two bishops urging them to convene this second Dare Dialogue to bring together the different perceptions held by differeign groups. He said he hoped the dialogue would be convened as soon as possible.
Suara Pembaruan - February 3, 1999
Members of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, led by Louis Joinet, met Xanana Gusmao in Cipinang Prison yesterday. The WGAD wanted to learn about the prison conditions and the plans to move Xanana to another place of detention. (They also met with other political prisoners in Cipinang Prison.)
Meanwhile Lt-General Sugiono, ABRI General Chief-of Staff welcomed the statement by Xanana that he was willing for his followers to laid down their arms, because ABRI does not want any more chaos or loss of life. "We want to do the same thing," he said. "The Commander in chief has also said that we would like to lay down our weapons. There are weapons in all the Kodims, but we withdrew our weapons and then what happened? We were heavily attacked in Alas."
He's not the only one who wants an end to armed conflict, said Sugiono of Xanana. "That's been our intention for ages but because the GPD (ie Falintil) are armed and our men were kidnapped and disarmed, we have no alternative to retain our weapons," he said.
In Dili There were no further demonstrations, though crowds of youths were gathered near the cemetery, sitting on the walls.
The CNRT gave a press conference last night in which it rejected any form of demonstration, in keeping with the wishes of its leader Xanana Gusmao who is only in favour of dialogue and reconciliation.
David Ximenes, chair of the CNRT Political Committee, who was accompanied by Manuel Carrascalao, said it could not endorse the actions of groups unfurling the banners of their parties because this could be seen as a form of pressure on groups that are in favour of integration and autonomy.
The CNRT called on all youth groups not to demonstrate because this would not solve anything. The CNRT will in the very near future hold discussions with pro-integration and pro-autonomy groups to find the best way to create an atmosphere of harmony.
A Falintil leader in the bush broadcast a statement on the Diocese Radio calling on the Indoneian army to speedily withdraw all weapons that have been given out to civlians in Timor because this could lead to conflict.
The message, read out in Tetum by deputy commander Faluk, said that if ABRI failed to disarm these groups, Falintil would take large-scale military action because they could not stand by and see the Timorese people suffer. But if ABRI disarms these groups, Falintil will lay down its arms and enter into dialogue to create a peaceful situation.
The deputy commander of Korem Wira Dharma, Col Mujiono said in a meeting with district chiefs that weapons had been given out not for the purpose of killing people or taking actions outside the procedures but for self-defence. Some members of society felt that they were being targetted by their rivals and had come (to the military) asking for weapons. He said that other groups had also come to Korem asking for weapons but they had been refused.
Paul Daley, Canberra -- Indonesia's military intelligence has offered a proposal to the East Timor resistance whereby it would swiftly remove Indonesian troops from the troubled province if former collaborators were protected.
It is believed that Australia became aware of the proposal late last week through its own intelligence sources, after discussions between senior resistance figures and Indonesian military intelligence officers.
Sources said the Indonesian intelligence officers told the resistance that senior military (ABRI) figures were willing to "immediately" withdraw from East Timor on two conditions. The Indonesian officers initiated the discussions.
"The first condition was that they wanted to save some face, having been in Timor for so long, in any withdrawal. There must not be a suggestion that the resistance had beaten them," a source said.
"Secondly, the military intelligence men spoke of their requirement for `assistance' to be given to their `friends' in East Timor in such an event.
"What they were saying was that, for want of a better term, they wanted protection to be given to pro-Indonesian sympathisers, people who helped them through the civil service, or intelligence and military circles."
It is understood that the East Timor resistance gave no guarantees to the Indonesian intelligence officers. But the resistance made it clear that a swift ABRI withdrawal was unacceptable if the Indonesian military continued to heavily arm pro-government citizen militias, before their departure.
Australia's knowledge of the Indonesian military's informal proposal contributes to a rapidly developing view in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade that Indonesia intends to quickly grant independence to East Timor, without a sustained period of autonomy or an act of self-determination.
While Australia was last week quick to praise Indonesia's "new flexibility" in relation to its East Timor policy, it is believed that the Department of Foreign Affairs views rapid independence as potentially disastrous.
The department also believes that such a path to independence -- which would almost certainly spark a civil war between pro and anti-independence factions -- would require a massive peace- keeping contribution by Australia.
Meanwhile, Indonesian and Portuguese diplomats arrived in Lisbon and Jakarta yesterday to establish the first diplomatic ties between the two countries since Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor.
Two diplomats from each country are setting up interest sections under the auspices of embassies of friendly nations, the Thai embassy in Lisbon and the Dutch embassy in Jakarta.
Indonesia's Rzlan Ishar Jenie said on his arrival at Lisbon airport that Jakarta was determined to seek a "peaceful and lasting" solution to East Timor. In Jakarta, the head of the Portuguese interests section said she hoped to visit Jose "Xanana" Gusmao at the first opportunity.
Dili -- The capital of the troubled territory of East Timor remained tense on Monday in the week after Indonesia's surprise announcement that it might allow independence.
With both supporters and opponents of the idea consolidating their plans, about 200 youths staged a rally to press for independence, crisscrossing the streets of capital Dili on trucks yelling slogans.
At the stately governor's office, facing the Bay of Timor, the administrative and military heads of the territory's 13 districts met Jakarta-appointed Governor Jose Osorio Abilio Soares.
"The meeting is to obtain explanation from the governor on the government's announcement so that they can provide the correct information to their people in their respective districts," a source at the governor's office said.
However, the source said that during the meeting, the governor "underlined that the stress should be laid on the government's expanded autonomy scheme."
Jakarta on Wednesday said it may propose that East Timor, annexed by Indonesia 23 years ago, be allowed to secede should a current proposal for a wide-ranging autonomy be rejected by the Timorese people.
Foreign Minister Ali Alatas has said independence for East Timor was only "the last option" and that Jakarta would flesh out the autonomy scheme in talks with Portugal held under the auspices of the UN secretary general.
Lieutenant Colonel Supadi, who heads the East Timor military command's general staff affairs department, said the possibility of independence was preoccupying the people in Dili.
"Both camps, those for the autonomy and those demanding independence, are now busy preparing their own proposals, plans and positions. They are all consolidating their forces," Supadi told AFP.
The protestors, some wearing headbands with "total independence" in Portuguese inscribed on them, went to the local parliament to make calls for a free East Timor, then held a free-speech forum at the Santa Cruz cemetery.
Santa Cruz was the scene of the November 12, 1991 "Dili Massacre" when Indonesian soldiers fired into a crowd of peaceful demonstrators, killing at least 50 according to official tolls. Other tolls, including from witnesses, spoke of more than 100 deaths.
The protestors then boarded trucks and paraded around Dili in the absence of security forces. A lone military helicopter circled above. The demonstration came after a separatist group, the National Front for the Defenders of Independence of the Timor Leste Nation, called in leaflets circulating in Dili, for mass rallies in support of full independence.
Meanwhile, the head of the East Timor education and culture office, Andry Sutardi, said his office will soon ask its employees, including school teachers in the territory, whether they wanted to leave or stay should East Timor secede.
Officials have said some 250 migrant teachers in East Timor were seeking transfers to other regions saying they feared for their lives in the territory, citing cited terror, intimidation, physical attack and threats.
Major General Adam Damiri, head of the Bali-based Udayana regional military command that oversees security in East Timor, confirmed there had been instances of terror and intimidation against teachers and doctors, Antara said.
On January 26, the Dili state hospital closed down, allowing a skeleton staff to man the hospital, following attacks on two doctors.
Florentino Sarmento of the National Commission on Human Rights in Dili told AFP that attacks on Indonesian staff at the state hospital had been going on since June.
Indonesia annexed East Timor in 1976 but the move was never recognized by the United Nations. A pro-independence movement has been active since.
Indonesia wants to resolve the East Timor problem rapidly because it had proved costly both economically and politically, Finance Minister Ginandjar Kartasasmita said at the weekend.
His comments came as two prominent Indonesian opposition leaders declared they were opposed to independence for the disputed territory and coincided with the arrival of the first Portuguese diplomat in Jakarta since Indonesia unilaterally annexed East Timor 23 years ago.
Last week in a surprising policy reversal, Indonesia said it might grant independence to the troubled territory, ending two decades of quasi-military rule if a majority of the people there reject the autonomy offer.
East Timor was "very, very expensive not only in terms of money and materials" but also politically because it has meant Indonesia has been "harassed, patronised morally" in the international community, Mr Ginandjar said at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
Indonesia's wish to resolve the problem, he said, was that "we want to turn a new leaf, it is part of the reforms. We are really serious when we say we are on our way to becoming the third- largest democracy in the world".
Indonesian Democratic Party leader Megawati Sukarnoputri said President B.J. Habibie had no authority to make a decision on East Timor because his Government was not democratically elected.
"East Timor's integration into Indonesia is constitutionally and politically legal because it was a manifestation of the wish of the East Timorese accommodated by the (Indonesian) House of Representatives," she said. Ms Megawati said she feared that relinquishing East Timor could result in war and disputes among the East Timorese.
Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, the chairman of the 40-million strong Nahdlatul Ulama Muslim organisation and strong backer of the popular and newly founded National Awakening Party, said Indonesia had decided to include the troubled territory as part of the nation. "That (decision) must be respected," Mr Wahid was quoted by Kompas as saying. "In my opinion, East Timor should remain part of Indonesia."
Mr Ginandjar acknowledged at the economic meeting that the political situation in Indonesia was hampering the restoration of international investor confidence in the country, but said the June election would address that problem and after that "I am quite sure we are going to restore confidence".
Indonesia would see negative growth this year, but should return to positive growth in the second half, providing elections go well and this should lead to stronger growth next year, Mr Ginandjar said. But for 1999 as a whole he expected nothing better than zero growth.
Greg Earl, Dili 00 It's about 500 metres from the squat Indonesian government architecture of the Dili port to the old Portuguese-style Motael church on the city's waterfront. For Dili's residents pondering the future of East Timor at the weekend, the contrast between the port and the church underlined the division in the city.
As people left the church after a Catholic Mass in the native Tetum language early yesterday morning, they talked optimistically of transitional autonomy towards the long-sought goal of independence.
In a striking display of new-found bravado, one young man sported a distinctive blue T-shirt proclaiming in Portuguese: "Resist and win. Referendum for East Timor."
But on Saturday night the Bugis traders, who have flooded into the disputed province from Sulawesi under Indonesian rule, were voting with their feet at the wharf.
An inter-island transport ship, the Multi Sejahtera, was packed for repatriation: a dozen new cars and trucks filled with goods, 1,100 local cattle and a few dozen Bugis heading back to safety. "There are no more projects," said one migrant construction worker, blaming a slowdown in central government spending in the potentially independent nation.
One man lamely claimed he was bored, but conceded that he had already sent his family back to the city of Ujung Pandang in the first wave of evacuation by an ethnic group renowned for its aggressive pioneering of new trade routes.
Transitional autonomy might sound good to the long downtrodden East Timorese, but it's the end of the road for the Bugis because the Indonesian Government has now rejected the idea of a long and phased path to independence.
Earlier on Saturday in the town of Balibo, just across the border from West Timor, a group of villagers showed how fast the news of Indonesia's new policy had travelled with their unexpected grasp of the intricacies of independence politics.
They also backed transitional autonomy, saying that the latest fighting between pro- and anti-independence groups showed East Timor wasn't ready to go it alone right now.
One man said the Catholic Church was the best institution to call community leaders together to reach an agreement. "It could take one year, one month or one week," he said of the proposed community discussion.
But the time for discussion might be quickly disappearing. Pro- integration supporters staged a brazen display of force outside Dili's Mahkota Hotel on Friday by firing their newly acquired guns in the air.
As the local military commander Colonel Tono Suratman met pro-Indonesian Timorese inside the hotel, the integrationist militia members opened fire without any casualties to stop a demonstration by independence supporters.
Photographs of young men holding automatic rifles and guarding cars were run on the front page of East Timor's main newspaper on Saturday, reinforcing the message that militias are now taking over the public security role from the Indonesian army.
Human-rights groups last week warned that Indonesia's decision to allow the arming of local militias could disrupt any peaceful transition to autonomy by triggering serious violence before any talks could be held.
That now already appears to have been the case, with more than 4,000 people seeking refuge in a church in the south-coast town of Suai at the weekend after alleged attacks by newly armed pro- integrationists. Six people have reportedly been killed in the area.
But prominent human-rights activist Mr Florentino Sarmento said 30 pro-Indonesian Timorese had now been killed by independence supporters who had burnt integrationists' homes. Integrationists were using their new guns to defend themselves but were also misusing the weapons to attack independence supporters.
Hopeful talk at the Motael
Church of transitional autonomy might be quickly eroded by the emergence
of old rivalries. In Balibo, a villager warned of dark organisations that
had sprung up to create fear in villages to the south.
| Political/economic crisis |
Michael Richardson, Jakarta -- An Indonesian proposal to consider independence for East Timor if the disputed territory refuses to accept autonomy is a high-risk strategy that could encourage other restive parts of Indonesia -- the world's largest island- nation -- to break away or loosen the bonds holding it together, in the view of some analysts and officials in neighboring countries.
Adding to such concerns, the governor of Aceh Province on the island of Sumarta was quoted Friday by the news agency Antara as saying he believed that the best way of ensuring Indonesia's unity was to make it a federal state. Along with East Timor and Irian Jaya Province, which occupies the western half of New Guinea, Aceh has become a hotbed of separatist agitation since student- led demonstrations in May forced President Suharto to resign.
His departure ended 32 years of highly centralized authoritarian rule, leaving a weak government and discredited military to cope with a rising tide of political violence, sectarian killings and lawlessness exacerbated by the worst recession in a generation.
In the latest such clash, the police opened fire as they tried to disperse a crowd that had gathered to listen to a separatist speech by members of the Free Aceh Movement in Idi Cut, 1,530 kilometers (930 miles) northwest of Jakarta.
Village search parties pulled five bodies from a river on Friday, raising the known death toll in the clash to 18, a human-rights group said.
Regional unrest in staunchly Muslim Aceh is rooted in centuries- old resistance to central rule. The governor, Syamsuddin Mahmud, reportedly said that replacing Indonesia's unitary state with a federal structure would give the provinces more power to protect their culture and control their resources.
In recent years, Aceh and some of the 26 other provinces have voiced increasingly bitter complaints as they watched the central government exploit their oil, gas, minerals and timber but give relatively little back in return.
In an effort to calm these simmering resentments, the government of President B.J. Habibie is planning to give provinces more power over their affairs and more control of their wealth.
Ryass Rasyid, the Home Affairs Ministry's director-general for regional autonomy, said this week that a draft law on decentralization would be submitted to Mr. Habibie soon.
"This law is to democratize local governments, to give them more authority to make decisions in the interest of their community," he said. "We want the local governments to be powerful enough to make decisions on investments and other issues, except in monetary, defense, foreign and judicial policies."
Mr. Rasyid said the draft law would, at the least, double the budget of every province as Jakarta reduced its share of revenues from the regions. "For the resource-rich provinces of Aceh, Irian Jaya, East Kalimantan, South Sumatra and Riau, they will get more, maybe a 150 percent increase," he said.
The government had to balance the demands of increasing revenue for resource-rich provinces with the policy of subsidizing poor regions, Mr. Rasyid added.
Protection of religion has also become an issue in parts of Indonesia. Mr. Syamsuddin said the fact that Aceh was home to devout Muslims raised a possibility of Islamic law being applied if such powers were devolved to the provinces in a federation -- something that is not permitted under Indonesia's existing secular state.
With more than 300 ethnic groups and many different religions spread across more than 17,000 islands, some neighboring countries fear that Indonesia may be confronting a risk of disintegration, a variation of "balkanization."
In an interview on Friday, the Indonesian foreign minister, Ali Alatas, sought to calm such unease. He emphasized that Jakarta's strongly preferred option for East Timor was for wide-ranging autonomy, not independence.
He said that even if the East Timorese rejected autonomy, he did not think that the offer of independence would set off a chain reaction in other parts of Indonesia. "The situation of East Timor is entirely different, historically, politically, and also on the ground, from Aceh or Irian Jaya and so on," he said.
Indonesia invaded East Timor, then a Portuguese colony, in 1975 and annexed it the following year, a move that was not recognized by most countries or the United Nations. The other parts of Indonesia were inherited from the Dutch East Indies colonial empire.
"Whatever differences and complaints people in Aceh and Irian Jaya have, there is a very proud, strong sense that we have fought the same battles for independence," Mr. Alatas said. "We are bound together by being under the same colonial yoke for 300 years. There is this sense of being a nation, which is perhaps less so with the East Timorese because they were under a different colonial power for 400 years."
While the independence offer to East Timor might embolden some hotheads in Aceh or Irian Jaya, they are only a small minority, Mr. Alatas said, adding: "The bulk of the population of Indonesia is not attracted to separatism."
Jakarta -- In the latest incidents of mass violence to hit Indonesia, separate mobs attacked a police post in Sumatra and burned the parliament house in West Kalimantan province, press reports said Saturday.
In the Sumatran town of Tanjungbintang, hundreds of people attacked the police post Thursday after they failed to obtain the release of three villagers detained on suspicion of theft from a rubber plantation and the murder of a guard there, the Media Indonesia daily said.
Two of the attackers were wounded by bullets and the head of the police post, Second Lieutenant Ersan, was hit by stones and sustained head injuries, the daily said.
The attackers, from two villages near the plantation, damaged the police station and also torched two cars and four motorcycles. Seventeen of the attackers were arrested but the three suspected thieves managed to escape.
In Mempawah, northwest of the West Kalimantan provincial capital of Pontianak, hundreds of people attacked the local district parliament Friday, pelting it with stones before setting the main building on fire.
The Media Indonesia said the attackers left as suddenly as they arrived and the fire was quickly extinguished. The attack prompted businesses and shops there to close and police and troops were deployed.
The violence was believed to have been caused by the failure of a local politician to be selected as a government-recognised candidate eligible for local elections for district head, the daily said.
Jakarta -- The death toll in fighting between Moslem and Christian communities in Ambon in eastern Indonesia's Maluku province that began last month has risen to 95, a report said here Wednesday.
Maluku province police spokesman Major Philips Jekriel said 94 bodies had been found between January 19 when the unrest broke out and February 1, the official Antara news agency said.
Antara also quoted Maluku Police Chief Colonel Karyono as saying another man was killed during fresh violence that broke out in Ambon city Tuesday. Two others were severly injured, he added.
Jekriel said "hundreds" were injured between January 19 and Feburary 1, Antara said. The previous official toll issued by the military last month was 65.
Jekriel did not specify whether the 29 additional deaths were the result of recent violence or were bodies only just discovered, Antara reported. Other estimates have spoken of higher death tolls. The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said its members in Ambon had counted 149 dead.
Antara quoted Karyono as saying hundreds of people had been arrested. Of those arrested, 80 are to be tried for criminal acts, while five others would be charged with inciting people to violence, he said.
Unrest in Ambon city and several other places in Maluku began with a dispute between a Moslem migrant and a local public transport driver. It quickly degenerated into communal violence between Moslems and Christians, the worst clashes in Indonesia this year.
Jakarta -- Hundreds of hoodlums from Indonesia's capital Jakarta arrived on the eastern island of Ambon days before it was hit by bloody riots that killed at least 65 people, a newspaper reported Monday.
The Media Indonesia daily quoted a report by Muslim groups in Ambon, capital of Indonesia's spice islands, as saying that last month at least 862 hoodlums arrived in Ambon in two ships and had helped mastermind the unrest.
The chairman of the Al-Fatah group, Abdullah Solissa, was quoted as saying the hoodlums had arrived ready to instigate riots. The Muslim-Christian violence started on January 19, the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr celebration, and continued for several days.
Media Indonesia said 47 people had been arrested by local police in connection with the riots.
Indonesia has been hit by waves of religious, ethnic and political violence over the past year during the country's worst economic crisis in decades. The Ambon violence was the worst since savage riots hit Jakarta last May, killing almost 1,200 people. Human rights groups and opposition leaders have regularly blamed provocateurs for inciting unrest in the troubled country.
Last week, opposition leaders
urged the army to expose the masterminds behind recent violence. Abdurrahman
Wahid, head of Indonesia's largest Muslim group, said the provocateurs
could be members of the military or followers of former President Suharto,
who was forced from power in May.
| Aceh/West Papua |
Banda Aceh -- The Court Martial which sat in Banda Aceh on Saturday 30/1 sentenced Major Bayu Najib to six years' imprisonment for having viciously beaten up a number of detainees in the KNPI building in Lhokseumawe this January.
Aside from the six years in prison, the tribunal which was headed by Colonel Sri Umi Sularsih, SH, also ordered Major Bayu to be discharged from the army and to pay Rp 7.500,-.
"The court finds that the defendant is not either a good soldier or leader who is responsible. Such a soldier cannot be allowed to maintain life as a soldier," said Sri Umi Sularsih.
According to the court, the defendant was proven to have attacked and beaten a number of detainees who had been held during the Wibawa 99 operations in the KNPI builidng in Lhokseumawe. He was found guilty of having violated 170 (1) and (2) of the criminal code, that is the use of violence resulting in injuries.
The courts stated that the defendant had committed these acts of torture because of emotion, revenge and anger at the murder of seven of his soldiers, of which only six bodies have been found.
Moreover said the judge, the defendant had not only failed to prevent soldiers from beating up the detainees, but had joined in himself.
The military court acknowledged that Major Najib had acted out of revenge, that his actions came at a time when the military was attempting to carry out human rights and legal reforms, that as an officer he should have set a better example to his subordinates and that he should have been more aware of how his actions would have been perceived by them.
"Thus, the sentence reflects the aim to educate in order that others may be aware and return to better ways and become good citizens in accordance with the Pancasila," said the judge.
The Legal Head of I/BB Regional Command, Colonel Tarang Mastur, SH, told reporters that the sentence was heavier than the two years demanded by the auditor, because an officer should be concerned with security, not creating unrest.
Because his actions were not in accordance with the orders of ABRI leadership, he has been given the maximum sentence.
Sorry
Major Bayu Najib told reporters that he apologised to the people of Aceh. "I regret what happened because I only intended to obtain information concerning seven of my soldiers who were killed," he said.
He added that his sentence was too heavy, but that the case is in the hands of his lawyers, who may appeal or ask for clemency from the President.
23 Other to Court
At least 23 other privates are to be tried in connection with the incident in Lhokseumawe. Including the four who have already been taken to court, that makes a total of 27 soldiers.
The four who have already been taken to court are Amsir, 29, Manuhun Harahap, 31, Manolam Sitomorang, 29 and Effendi, 35, which was submitted on 16 January. They were sentenced to seven years imprisonment each as well as being discharged from the armed forces.
The four were charged under 170 (1) and (2) together with 35 (1) and 55 (1) of the criminal code, with a maximum sentence of 12 years.
Jakarta -- The governor of Indonesia's troubled Aceh province has called for the country to change from a republic to a federation to cope with growing separatist pressures.
The governor, Syamsuddin Mahmud, made the landmark call as new deaths were reported from clashes in the northern Sumatran province where Moslem rebels have been fighting for an Islamic state.
Politicians and experts have also called for a review of Indonesia's constitution since the fall of Suharto as president last year, but Mahmud is the first government official to make such a radical call.
The governor, who is an economist, said it was becoming increasingly urgent for Indonesia to become a federal state to be able to accomodate its various specific cultures, the official Antara news agency reported.
"Based on my observation of the country's situation in general, I personally think the solution, which would ensure that Indonesia remains as it has been, is a federal state," Mahmud said Thursday in Aceh.
He said the province's strong Islamic nature should be reflected and accommodated if it joined such a federal state in place of the current unitary republic.
Lhokseumawe -- Thousands of people coming from all parts of East Aceh made their way Thursday to Arakundo bridge to search the river for bodies of relatives missing following a clash between thousands of people and the security forces on Wednesday, 3 February.
They pulled out four bodies who were identified as Irwansyah, 22, from Kapai Baro village Idi Cut, Hasbi Saleh, 35, Seuneubok Tuha, Jallani Mahmud 22, and Irwan bin Matsyah, 25, both from the village of Jambo Bale Julok.
According to provisional findings of investigations conducted by an NGO on Thursday, the number of casualties in Wednesday's incident are as follows: 53 dead, 97 missing and 150 wounded. These figures were given to Mimbar by Mohd Yacob Hamzah, chair of the Iskandar Muda Legal Aid Institute, last night.
Yacob said that a number of eye witnesses had seen the clashes that took place late at night on Wednesday. They saw a truckload full of bodies of people who had been shot dead being driven to Arakundo bridge from where they were thrown into the river. Blood stains were still evident on the bridge yesterday. The Legal Aid Institute has so far identified ten more people who were killed. [The names and places of origin are given in the article.]
As reported earlier, a crowd of about 3,000 people coming from all parts of East Aceh attended a religious rally (rapat akbar) in Matang Ulim Village, Idi Cut, at which a number of speeches were made. After the meeting dispersed, there was a clash between them and the security forces.
The local government coordinating body, Muspika, had prohibited the meeting which was to be attended by thousands of people. The speakers at the meeting condemned the armed forces and shouted, 'Long Live Aceh Merdeka'.
After the meeting dispersed, the crowds left and started to make their way home. As one vehicle full of people passed the Idi Cut Koramil (local military command), stones were thrown at it by unidentified people, triggering the clash between the crowds and the security forces.
Besides the large number of casualties, six vehicles which had been used to take the people from the meeting were seriously damaged by firing. Fifty-one people who are suspected of starting the incident have been taken into custody, and the road communication between Medan and Lhokseumawe was cut for a number of hours.
In view of all the bloodshed in Aceh during the past few months, the chair of the Iskandar Muda Legal Aid Institute has called on the United Nations to dispatch an investigation team to monitor the human rights situation in the province of Aceh.
John Aglionby, Jakarta -- Indonesian soldiers and police fired into a crowd of thousands of people returning from an Islamic prayer meeting in the north Sumatran province of Aceh, killing dozens and injuring more than 100, human rights activists said yesterday.
Some of those arrested during the incident on Wednesday morning at Idi Cut, about 950 miles north-west of Jakarta, were reportedly thrown over a bridge 15 miles away into a raging river.
The local army commander, Colonel Johnny Wahab, dismissed the claims as "idle rumours". He said the death toll was "two, possibly three" and that the 5,000 people who had gathered in Idi Cut were sympathisers of the Aceh Independence Movement.
Yacob Hamzah, director of the legal aid office in Lhokseumawe, 50 miles west of Idi Cut, said the number of casualties was still unclear. "People in the area are saying that at least 50 people were killed, dozens are missing and dozens more were injured."
One man said the religious service finished without incident at about midnight and then people started walking home quietly. "As they went past the local army base the soldiers started throwing stones. No one responded because they were too afraid to do anything.
"The soldiers then opened fire at the street lights, plunging everything into darkness. They then turned on the crowd. It all lasted about 10 minutes," he said. He claimed that soldiers had raped several women in the aftermath of the shooting.
Col Wahab admitted that the police, whom he said had been reinforced by more than 100 soldiers, opened fire. "But it was only after the people had thrown stones at the police station. The police were provoked and thought they were going to be attacked by thousands of separatists," he said.
Maimal Fidar, co-ordinator of the Forum of Aceh Non-Governmental Organisations, said there was firm evidence that some of the dozens of people arrested were thrown off a bridge near the village of Arakundo.
"People there have told me that about half an hour after they news reached them of the incident at Idi Cut they heard lots of screaming," he said. "They went outside and saw several army trucks on the bridge. They were unable to get close because soldiers blocked their way.
"When it was light the villagers found fresh human blood in five different places on the bridge. There is no way we will know how many people were thrown off the bridge because it is at least 100 metres wide and the river flows very fast."
A Western diplomat in Jakarta who is investigating the incident said he was unsure about the number of deaths. "But if you've got dozens of soldiers shooting into a crowd of thousands you are not going to have only two deaths," he said.
A separatist movement has existed in Aceh since the early 1950s, when it became apparent that the then Indonesian president, Sukarno, was not going to keep promise made in 1948 to grant the Acehnese wide-ranging autonomy.
In 1989 President Suharto ordered the army to crush the separatist movement. For nine years the province was effectively sealed off as the army waged a terror campaign. Thousands were killed, hundreds of women raped and dozens of villages burnt.
The military operations came to an end with the fall of President Suharto last May and some troops were withdrawn. But last month the army renewed its offensive as demands grew for a referendum on whether Aceh should remain in Indonesia.
Rufriadi, a lawyer in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, said that the military was trying to provoke trouble to justify its continued presence in the province, which is rich in oil and natural gas.
"The army has a huge stake in the province's economy, particularly in the oil and gas, so it can't afford to leave." He added that Idi Cut would not be an isolated incident "because the military's mindset is stuck in the past and it only has one approach to dealing with the demands for a referendum".
More than 100 students and NGO activists concluded a three-day congress yesterday in Banda Aceh at which they promised to intensify the peaceful campaign for a referendum. In one poll carried out in the city during the congress, 85 per cent of respondents favoured a referendum.
Jakarta -- Irianese leaders, rebuking President B.J. Habibie for supporting the expansion plan of mining company PT Freeport Indonesia, demanded on Friday their people have a say in the process of licensing the development.
"The government is crazy. Officials in Jakarta have so easily allowed Freeport to increase its production without considering the devastating impact the expansion will have on us living around the mining field," Tom Beanal, a leader of the Amungme tribe living near Freeport's Orasberg mine in Irian Jaya, told The Jakarta Post.
The Amungme, most of whom are poor, claim the mining site is on their ancestral land. Tom described "hellish" living conditions in the area due to pollution from the operation. "The expansion would unleash a more devastating impact on the local environment," he said by telephone from the Irian Jaya capital of Jayapura.
Tom was dismayed Habibie and his ministers never consulted with the Irianese about Freeport's expansion. He feared the government would meet any opposition to the plan with violence.
"People in Jakarta have never asked for our opinion. The government has never allowed the Irianese people to think. If we protest their decision, they will send troops to kill us."
Habibie has instructed several ministers, including Minister of Mines and Energy Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, to assist Freeport in realizing its plan to increase ore output to 300,000 metric tons per day (tpd) from 160,000 tpd. Habibie gave the instruction despite Kuntoro's demand for further assessment of the plan.
Freeport is currently producing about 240,000 tpd as part of trial operation to achieve the 300,000 tpd goal. The company has reportedly invested US$1 billion to expand production facilities for increased output.
Tom said Freeport amassed great wealth from the mining of copper and gold in Grasbeig and nearby areas for two and a half decades, even as living conditions of the local people worsened.
He also queried the probe by the Attorney General's Offiice into collusion charges leveled last year by American scholar Jeffrey Winters against Freeport and Coordinating Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry Ginandjar Kartasasmita.
Winters charged Freeport with dubious deals to enable Ginandjar's associate Aburizal Bakrie to own a stake in the company as a reward for the smooth renewal of its contract of work (COW) for Grasberg.
The Attorney General's Office has investigated officials and businessmen implicated in Winters' allegation, but has not released findings to the public. A miffed Ginanjar vehemently denied the charges.
"I see many lies. While the investigation into KKN (the local acronym for corruption, collusion and nepotism) charges has never been concluded, now the President has allowed the company to increase its output," Tom said.
Consult
Meanwhile, the vice chairman of the House of Representatives' Commission V overseeing mines and energy, Antonius Rahail, who is Irianese, urged the government to consult with the provincial administration before making a decision on Freeport's plan. "The President may make his own decision. However, the decision can't work if there is no support from the local people," Rahail, an Indonesian Democratic Party legislator, told the Post.
Meanwhile, Kuntoro said on Friday in Bandung, West Java, his ministry would only allow the firm's expansion if Freeport was willing to increase its royalty payments to the government and could prove it possessed the technical ability to prevent the expansion from causing environmental damage.
Many parties, including the Indonesian Forum for Environment (WALHI), have expressed doubts about Freeport's ability to protect the environment around the mining field.
According to Director General of Mining Rozik B. Soetjipto, who accompanied the minister, the mines ministry is negotiating with Freeport to double its royalties to the government.
Currently, the government receives royalties of between 1.5 percent and 3.5 percent of Freeport's copper sales revenues and I percent of its gold and silver sales revenues.
Freeport is 81.28 percent owned by New Orleans-based Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold, with the Indonesian government and PT Indocopper Investama Corporation each owning 9.36 percent.
Indocopper is 50.48 percent
owned by Nusamba Mineral Industries, linked to former president Soeharto,
49 percent by Freeport McMoRan and 0.52 percent by the investing public.
| Human rights |
Jakarta -- A military tribunal trying 11 alleged abductors of political activists revealed on Thursday the involvement of higher-ranking officers who have yet to be processed legally.
A witness, First Lieutenant Pandit Purnawa of the National Police Detective unit, testified that his superior Col. Jhon Lalo instructed him to prepare a cell for activist Andi Arief on April 16 last year as Arief would be handed over to the police by an unidentified group of men later that night. "Andi, who was handcuffed and wearing shorts and a white T-shirt, was brought in by Col. Jhon Lalo, Lt. Col. Kamaludin Lubis and four men I did not recognize," said Pandit, who also testified that he did not recognize any of the 11 defendants.
Andi, an activist of the Indonesian Student Solidarity for Democracy (SMID), an affiliate of the outlawed People's Democratic Party (PRD), was abducted by unidentified men in Bandar Lampung on March 28.
Military prosecutor Harom Wijaya said after the court session that Jhon could be summoned to shed more light on the abductions while Kamaludin was already among 17 people to testify before the court.
Another witness, Sucipto, a neighborhood chief in a low-cost apartment block in Klender, East Jakarta, told the court that kidnappers visited his house before they seized activists Nezar Patria and Aan Rusdianto on March 13 last year. Activist Mugianto was arrested separately half an hour later.
He told the Jakarta Military Court trying the 11 Army Special Forces (Kopassus) soldiers charged with kidnapping political activists that two men claiming to be personnel from the Jakarta Regional Military Command came over to his apartment on March 13 last year. "Don't be afraid, we are security personnel and we suspect that a number of your people here were involved in the blast in Tanah Tinggi in January 1998," Sucipto quoted one of them as saying.
Sucipto, who lives on the third floor, said the men told him the "suspects" lived on the second floor. They demanded that Sucipto escort them there. "I instructed my secretary to go down to check, and she found that those people were not home," Sucipto said.
He said the two "security personnel" waited in his apartment, one of them using a cellular phone to contact his "commander" using code words. We sat together for about one hour until my secretary told me the activists were home," Sucipto said. He added that he then was told to accompany the two unidentified men down to the second floor and to knock on the suspects' door.
"When someone opened the door, he was quickly grabbed and handcuffed by these men and another was also handcuffed while a gun was pointed at his neck before they were taken away. "A number of other people also went in and took away a set of computers, documents and other things ... they did this in only about 15 minutes," Sucipto said.
Just like Pandit, Sucipto said he did not recognize any of the defendants.
Aan, Nezar, Mugianto and Andi had been among 23 activists who were abducted by unidentified men since April 1997. Nine of the activists have resurfaced after weeks of absence and spoke of abductions and torture, one of them was found dead and 13 others are still listed as missing. The court adjourned before noon and was set to resume next Tuesday.
Human rights groups have said the trial of the 11 Kopassus soldiers was a "farce" staged only to protect senior military officers and former president Soeharto. The groups also questioned why the charges did not mention torture. Military prosecutors have insisted the defendants had acted on their own initiative and the charges only related to the nine activists who have reappeared. At the time of the abductions, the defendants were under the command of Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto, who is Soeharto's son-in-law. Prabowo was honorarily discharged from the military in August for his involvement in the abductions.
Rights activists have been
demanding that Prabowo, now in Jordan, must be put on trial as he had admitted
before the Officer's Honor Council in August that he was involved in the
abductions.
| News & issues |
Jakarta -- The new law on political parties has cut the traditional sources of funding for the ruling party Golkar: contributions from civil servants and state companies and government contractors.
While Golkar could, under the law, still solicit money from individuals and corporations, their contributions arc not automatic as they used to be.
Feisal Tamin, secretary general of the Ministry of Home Affairs, said the government would curb Golkar's past practices of "extorting" from civil servants and private and state corporations.
"With the new regulation, civil servants are no longer automatically Golkar members. They are not obliged to pay monthly and annual dues to any political organization," Feisal said.
President B.J. Habibie issued a regulation last week -- to complement the new law on political parties--barring civil servants from joining political parties unless they had the consent of their immediate superiors.
In the past civil servants automatically became Golkar members, and their membership dues were deducted from their salaries. Feisal said the government would bar state companies and private companies which have received contracts from the government from making financial contributions to Golkar
"The government will be strict on this in order to ensure companies keep an equal distance from all political parties," he said.
In the past state companies made large contributions to Golkar's election campaign and private companies which won government contracts were obliged to contribute as much as five percent of a contract's value. "There was an unwritten agreement between the contractors and regional administrations, " he said.
Besides state companies and government contractors, many conglomerates also made generous donations to Golkar's coffers in the past. But this may also be drying up now with many conglomerates no longer bound to the ruling party.
But even if Golkar was deprived of these traditional sources of funding, it could still count on the huge volume of funds it had accumulated in past years, putting it at a major advantage over all the other parties vying to contest the election in June.
The new political laws which became effective on Feb. 1 limit the amount of financial contributions an individual and a corporation can make to a political party to Rp 15 million and Rp 150 million respectively a year The party's finances must also be audited by public accountants.
Feisal, who also chairs the Civil Servants Corps (Korpri) reiterated that with Habibie's ruling on civil servants' neutrality, Korpri has severed all links with Golkar. "Ours is now an independent organization. It will keep an equal distance from all political parties," he said.
He confirmed that President Habibie had amended an earlier regulation on the political rights of civil servants in accordance with the wishes of the factions in the House of Representatives deliberating the political bills.
Under the new regulation civil servants who are still members of political parties when the regulation comes into effect would automatically lose their party membership. Those who want to retain their party membership must seek the permission of their immediate superiors within three months.
Those who intend to join political parties must take leave of absence from their government jobs but they would still be entitled to receive their basic salary for up to one year.
They could return to their government jobs within one year, but if they wanted to continue their political career they would have to resign from the civil service.
While the ruling appeared to have satisfied the political parties, there were concerns expressed in the regions that some civil servants might be lured by the prospect of paid leave and simply join political parties.
Nurdin Manggu, chief of the Southeast Sulawesi Office of the Ministry of Education and Culture, said in Kendari that there ought to be special guidelines for state teachers assigned to remote areas.
"Many teachers in remote areas across the country would be lured by the offer and this would be detrimental to the national education program," Antara quoted Nurdin as saying on Thursday.
He said that there were around 1,000 teachers in remote areas in Southeast Sulawesi who could potentially demand that they be relieved of their posts in order to pursue a political career.
Jose Manuel Tesoro, Jakarta -- In the Indonesian political equation, the elements -- Islamic groups, student fronts, opposition parties, military factions -- are legion and ever- changing. Possible permutations -- a coalition, a new government, martial law, absolute chaos -- multiply daily. But in everyone's political calculus is one shadowy constant: Suharto. The president resigned in May last year, but many Indonesians believe he has yet to relinquish the power accumulated over 32 years of carefully dispensed patronage and liberally applied terror. No one acquires that much authority and then docilely retires to the caprice of retribution, goes the thinking. In the "post-Suharto" era, the 77-year-old retired general remains a powerful but little-understood player.
He is being blamed for the latest wave of unrest to rock the nation, which included six days of rioting in the eastern province of Maluku and two days in Karawang, West Java. Two days after a Jan. 24 meeting between armed forces chief Wiranto and top oppositionists, Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid visited Suharto at his home in the central Jakarta district of Menteng. He conveyed a message from Wiranto to his former boss: Rein in your "loyal and terrifying" followers. "Only Suharto is able to restrain them," Wahid quoted the chief of the armed forces. "Others cannot and do not have the influence."
Does the former president retain that much power? Not directly. The fact is, Suharto is merely shorthand for a variety of people and forces who have a stake in maintaining the status quo in Indonesia. The aged leader himself has kept a low, almost vulnerable, profile, fending off attempts by government to investigate his riches. In June, he prayed at a mosque at military headquarters. Not long after, he hired a team of lawyers to defend him. In September, he explained on his daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana's television channel that he had no ill-gotten wealth. He went to the High Court to fill out a form saying he only had a few million dollars' worth of bank accounts and property. He has been questioned about his money once by the attorney- general.
But in Indonesia, much occurs beneath the surface. That the Suharto family and their friends amassed wealth during the 32 years of the New Order is undisputed; only the amount is in question. And despite at least the veneer of investigation, that yet-unquantified economic strength remains largely untouched by the government of his successor, President B.J. Habibie. In November, Suharto turned over to Jakarta the funds of the seven largest foundations he headed. These "charitable" entities, fueled by required donations from corporations and civil servants, funded some legitimate causes, but also paid for activities favorable to the government, such as rallies for ruling party Golkar. But they are barely the tip of the iceberg. "Does the money in the foundations reflect all the wealth of Suharto?" asks sociologist Cornelius Lay, who wrote a book on the Suharto foundations. The answer: not even a fraction. Self- appointed Suharto wealth-hunter George Aditjondro lists over a hundred foundations linked to Suharto, his family and his cronies, most with complicated connections to public and private companies, the military, and ministries.
Lay explains that during the New Order, money was used to reward and to punish. Government-granted monopolies and privileges cemented loyalty to Suharto and undermined opponents. A stable transition following Suharto's departure might have allowed a committed government to root out widespread rot in the system. But it hasn't happened. Habibie is instead faced with a country in turmoil. The connection here is critical: Suharto supported so many people -- from former ministers to generals, businessmen to religious leaders -- that any of them could see unrest as helping their interests. Suharto need not come back as long as the benefits he and his associates accrued during the New Order are not imperiled. "They don't care about the means, the end is so important," says longtime Indonesian observer Arief Budiman. "This is their survival. Their survival and their power are the same thing."
That might explain why underground political activities, including provocations, have not ceased with Suharto's removal. Jakarta's Legal Aid Institute last year compiled a 46-page document reviewing 1998's arc of unrest -- from anti-Chinese riots from January through May, to the killings of suspected sorcerers in East Java that surfaced in October, to the late-1998 spate of religious-related riots in Jakarta and eastern Indonesia. Its conclusion: There is a clear pattern of small, highly trained groups stirring up trouble. Workers at the Institute report incursions by intelligence agents and infiltrators at their offices. The same goes for the student movement. "It is even worse than it was under Suharto," says Suyanto, a student activist.
One Suharto-era semi-underground organization now under scrutiny is the Pancasila Youth, which has been blamed for participating in the rioting that surrounded the government siege of opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri's party headquarters in 1996. Recently, political activist Ibrahim claims some 160 Ambonese members of the group were shipped to Ambon days before the riots there, which left nearly 100 people dead. The result of the rioting shocked him. "People are having to take drugs to calm their emotions," he says.
The Pancasila Youth's leader, Yorries Raweyai, was present at one of Wahid's early meetings with Suharto -- evidence, Wahid later said, that bringing Suharto to account is not yet possible because of the support he commands. The chief of the Pancasila Youth's presidium, Yapto Suryosumarno, claims the group is reformist. "Show us some proof that our people are involved in all these things," he told Asiaweek. "Then we will take action against them ourselves." But the attention paid to the Pancasila Youth and its close connections to Suharto ignores how easy it is for instigators to find troublemakers. A few thousand rupiah will buy provocateurs from the growing population of the poor and unemployed.
The two people responsible for dismantling the old patronage and political terror networks, Wiranto and Habibie, owe much to Suharto. Unsurprisingly, what the former boss built remains intact. Wiranto was a former adjutant; Habibie was Suharto's favorite minister -- meetings between them often lasted for hours. Every approach to Suharto's private home in Menteng remains heavily guarded on Wiranto's orders. When his first attorney-general started looking seriously at the Suharto wealth, Habibie promptly replaced him with a retired general, Andi Ghalib. Ghalib has summoned Suharto and family members for questioning, but, eight months after Suharto's resignation, no charges have been filed. "I only need two of the documents that the attorney-general has," frets former National Commission on Human Rights secretary-general Baharuddin Lopa, "and I would be able to drag Suharto into court."
Beyond the loyalty he still commands, Suharto has also not lost his ability to strike fear in the hearts of Indonesians. In their most recent meeting, says a well-placed source, Suharto asked Wahid if it was true that the Muslim leader publicly blamed the former president for the unrest. No, Wahid corrected him, I blamed your followers. When armed forces chief Wiranto heard about the exchange, he marveled at Wahid's bravery.
But Wiranto is not altogether cowed by his former boss. His overtures to oppositionists like Wahid indicate a desire to seek alternative support. At the same time, the general is being tugged by his own institution's interests. The military's dominant political position (a feature of the New Order) is under attack. For example, the military was forced to settle for a slashed number of seats in parliament, and it endures constant criticism for its economic and political presence.
Like the Suharto cronies who have a stake in continued turmoil, peace might hasten the decline of the military's power. Only when there is instability can security forces step forward as the antidote. "The riots create a climate of fear in which people start wishing they had the stability of the Suharto era again," says political scientist Indria Samego. In an environment of growing chaos, even bit players like middle-level businessmen, according to human-rights activists, can provide cash to, in one case, pay school kids to lob stones at police during a student demonstration.
Speculation about organized agitation is especially worrisome in towns that are fearful of future trouble. Police in North Sulawesi's capital of Manado say that to alert residents, the province's governor has told them that 300 provocateurs have been identified as active in the city. The Sultan of Jogjakarta also believes agents are already present in his area. Other nervous centers include Ujung Pandang in South Sulawesi and Pontianak, West Kalimantan. The public want Suharto, his family and his followers finished. But cornering the former president neither benefits the elite that survived him nor comforts oppositionists who must weigh whether an attack would further endanger an already fragile transition. As long as the country is in turmoil -- and old networks and institutions intact -- any sustained assault on the old New Order is nearly impossible. Which suits too many people just fine. The "smiling general" seeks a quiet retirement. He is winning it.
Peter Symonds -- After months of debate and haggling, the Indonesian parliament last week passed a series of amended political laws, which establish the framework for national elections on June 7. The legislation sets out in detail the new composition of the parliamentary bodies, the rules governing the election and the functioning of political parties.
A great deal is riding on these elections for the ruling class in Indonesia and internationally. The economic collapse over the last year in Indonesia has produced deepening poverty and unemployment and heightened political tensions and social unrest. B.J. Habibie replaced Suharto as president last May but his government has faced continuing protests and demonstrations calling for his resignation and broader democratic reform.
The widespread distrust of Habibie is a major factor hampering the implementation of measures demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF): the dismantling of price subsidies, the slashing of government spending and the removal of barriers to international investors. The election is widely perceived in the international press and in ruling circles as a means of legitimising the next government by drawing in opposition leaders such as Megawati Sukarnoputri and Amien Rais.
Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer summed up the agenda when he stated at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland: "This is a fundamentally important period for Indonesia. Its election has to be a success. It should be a safety valve to ease internal tensions. But if they fail to conduct a credible election process the potential for instability will be very great indeed and would raise questions about the integrity of the country."
Any examination of the new legislation, however, reveals that the next national elections will be just as stage-managed as those that took place under the previous Suharto regime. The Australian government, along with the other major powers, backed Suharto for decades and accepted his electoral charades. Downer is now concerned that unless "the international community" provides the necessary "support and encouragement" the elections will be widely viewed as undemocratic and illegitimate.
The elections will take place within the overall framework of the 1945 Constitution which provides for two parliamentary bodies -- the House of Representatives (DPR) and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) which includes the DPR. The president, who has broad powers to rule by decree and appoint and dismiss ministers, is not subject to direct election but is appointed at a special session of the MPR.
Under Suharto, the parliamentary bodies operated as rump organisations, stacked with handpicked appointees including a substantial number of military top brass. These bodies had little say in the day-to-day running of the government and rarely exercised any legislative powers. The MPR, which unanimously rubberstamped Suharto for seven consecutive terms as president, consisted of the 500 members of the DPR, only 400 of whom were elected, and another 500 appointees.
Only three officially sanctioned and controlled parties -- the ruling Golkar party, the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and the United Development Party (PPP) -- were permitted to field candidates. The state apparatus vetted all candidates and electioneering material, including speeches, rallies and meetings. Golkar was ensured a majority of 70 percent to 80 percent of the vote, as it was the only party permitted to organise in rural areas. In addition, millions of government employees including the members of the military, had to join Golkar and so vote for it.
Just one year ago, the MPR voted without opposition to elect Suharto for another five-year term as president. Last May, less than four months later, he was forced to resign. Yet these same parliamentary bodies deliberated on the new electoral framework, provoking huge anti-government protests last November during the special session of the MPR called to discuss the election. Organised by student leaders, the demonstrations in Jakarta and other major cities drew tens of thousands of workers and sections of the middle class. The Habibie regime responded by unleashing the police and troops, who shot point blank into crowds, killing and injuring demonstrators.
The new electoral laws
The changes to the electoral laws vindicate the concerns expressed by the protesters that any framework decided by the existing parliament bodies would be completely undemocratic. The major features are as follows:
The entire charade would have been impossible without the support of key opposition leaders -- Megawati, Rais, Abdurrahman Wahid and Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengku Buwono X. Last November when hundreds of thousands were taking part in protests, the four leaders held an emergency meeting and issued a declaration legitimising the process and supporting the continued political role of the military. Rais, in particular, warned of "anarchy" if Habibie was forced to resign and the electoral process was decided by other means than the parliamentary bodies stacked with Suharto's nominees.
These bourgeois opposition figures have been groomed and promoted in the international media as instruments for implementing the demands of international finance capital and at the same time suppressing any popular opposition. It is no accident therefore that they continue to back the active involvement of the armed forces in Indonesian politics and maintain the closest ties with sections of the military.
The rudimentary opinion polls available in Indonesia do indicate a considerable political crisis and a deep scepticism among voters. A University of Indonesia survey conducted last month of 4,925 voters in nine cities found that 44 percent of people did not know which party they would vote for in June and another 4 percent said they would not vote at all. Megawati had the highest support with just 15.8 percent and the rest trailed far behind -- 5.1 percent for Golkar, 4.3 percent for Rais and 1.5 percent for Wahid. Another survey in the Tempo magazine found that 76 percent of people did not support Habibie for president.
Throughout the entire history of Indonesia since it received formal independence from the Dutch colonialists in 1949, the bourgeoisie has been unable to rule except through the most anti-democratic methods. Soon after the first and only national elections in 1955, Suharto's predecessor Sukarno abolished the parliament, as well as a constituent assembly elected to draw up a permanent constitution. He reverted to the 1945 Constitution that granted him virtually unlimited powers, and established a system of so-called Guided Democracy, which the military junta under Suharto took over virtually untouched.
The inability of the capitalist class to meet the social needs and democratic aspirations of the working people in Indonesia signifies that these tasks fall to the working class. It is the only social force capable of leading the masses on the road to genuine democracy and social equality, which can be achieved only through the socialist reorganisation of society.
Jakarta -- University rectors across the country are to recruit 450,000 students to monitor voting at 75 percent of the estimated 600,000 polling booths, even as experts warned of possible unrest marring the event planned for June 7.
Antara quoted Sidik Priadana of the Independent Committee for the Elections and Democratization, an organization set up by the Indonesian Rectors Forum, as saying in Bandung on Tuesday that faculty members would also be deployed to "make the polls a success."
He said the second national congress of the rectors forum in Bali on Feb. 14 would launch the committee and its units, including the student poll monitors. The committee was established to help ensure "the nation's survival through, among other things, fair and just elections."
"If the election results were to be rejected by the people, bigger tragedies would await us," he said, adding the United States, Japan and Australia have expressed readiness to provide the committee with equipment and other facilities to train the poll watchdogs. In addition, the UNDP was extending US$10,000 for the training.
Meanwhile, political observers Riswandha lmawan and Franz Magnus Suseno separately spoke of dangers lurking in the runup to the general election . Antara quoted Suseno as saying in Semarang, Central Java, on Tuesday that in order to avert such a fearful situation, the Armed Forces (ABRI) should first take the deterrent step of arresting the alleged masterminds of recent riots even if they were government officials.
"The rioting ... must be ended to prevent disruptions of The poll ," he said. "If the election should fail it will be the people who bear the adverse consequences." He also warned against plotting to hold a rival general election, which some people have spoken of, as this would be in violation of the law.
Riswandha, who is a lecturer at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said the Center Election Agency's Failure to schedule a "cooling off period' after the planned campaigning weeks "could result in sociopolitical instability that could the conduct of the elections.
"In the highly-charged political situation, why follow the long campaign period (May 18 - June 6) directly with polling?" he asked as quoted by Antara. In the 1997 elections, hundreds were killed in campaign related unrest.
He suggested the campaign period be shortened to give room for a cooling off week prior to the polling day. "If the schedule is not revised, I would be suspicious of attempted engineering by some determined to foil the election who would The n reinstitute a repressive government ," he said.
Separately, 10 political parties came to an agreement to focus exclusively on making the election a success, saying that only after passing this milestone would they begin to address other issues.
The parties were the People's Awakening Party (PKB), Golkar the Crescent Star Party (PBB), the United Development Party (PPP), both camps of the splintered Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), the New Masyumi Party, the People's Party (PARI), the Women's Party and the Justice Party (PK).
"... we've got to define our problems now. Let's target a successful general election first," PPP deputy secretary-general Bachtiar Chamsyah said in the discussion.
At least 200 new parties have recently been established, all clamoring to contest the elections but the government has estimated only 30 would qualify.
Meanwhile, Antara reported the Ministry of Justice has witnessed increasing visits by representatives of new political parties wanting to register their organizations although the newly endorsed political bills have yet to be signed into law.
"We have not opened registration, but they're coming anyway and bringing the required documents," according to Oka Mahendra of the ministry. A three-day registration period was planned to begin on Feb. 4, but it would likely be delayed because the laws have not been enacted.
He conceded that problems abound, because there were parties bearing the same names and logos, a situation which would violate the new political bills. There were, for instance, four registrations for the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI) being made respectively by four different delegations led by Mrs. Supeni, Bachtiar Osa, Irawan Sunaryo and former president Soeharto's half brother Probosutedjo. Supeni said, "The government could just call us PNI 1, PNI 2, and so forth."
John Colmey and David Liebhold, Jakarta - In the financial world they call it the poison pill, a labyrinth of cross-vested interests designed to protect a company from hostile takeover. In Indonesia, it was known as the New Order, or sometimes Suharto Inc. The principal ingredients: a military deeply enmeshed in politics and business, the rigorous indoctrination of schoolchildren to trust in the wisdom of the state, and a political structure based on enforced "consensus," designed to look democratic but to serve and approve the actions of a single leader. Backed by terror and a patronage system that guaranteed a lifetime of riches for every compliant minister, general and tycoon, the New Order ensured former President Suharto 32 years of uninterrupted power. The system made the most complicated American multinational look like a mom-and-pop store.
So it should come as no surprise that eight months after Suharto stepped down -- or "stepped aside," as some local analysts prefer to call it -- the Smiling General is back and pulling some strings. The power of his chosen successor, B.J. Habibie, is rapidly draining away as he proves incapable of stopping a nationwide wave of bloodletting that increasingly bears the marks of an orchestrated campaign. The investigation into allegations that Suharto and his family systematically stole and stashed away billions of dollars has ground to a halt. The reform movement that pushed the 77-year-old Suharto from power is leaderless and in disarray, as more than 100 parties prepare to compete in a national election in June that has voters confused. Much now depends on General Wiranto, the head of the Armed Forces. Wiranto, a former aide-de-camp to Suharto, must decide between his pledge to protect his former commander-in-chief and his loyalty to the nation. But as chaos reigns, Suharto has seized the moment to try to reassert his power, whatever the cost to Indonesia. "He's acting like a Javanese king," says Muslim leader Amien Rais. "In ancient times, if the king collapsed, the people had to go along with him. So he thinks if he's going to collapse, he'll bring the whole country down too."
The first to publicly accommodate Suharto's reemergence in the political arena was a man who knows him well -- Abdurrahman Wahid, Indonesia's most influential Muslim leader and head of the 40-million-strong Nadhlatul Ulama Muslim organization. In December, Wahid shocked his followers when he suggested, following a meeting at Suharto's home, that the former President should be invited to join discussions over the nation's future, if only to stop him from intervening from behind the scenes. In the past two months, Wahid, whose National Awakening Party is expected to win 20% of the votes in June, has become a regular visitor to Suharto's home. While he says that, if elected, he would put the former strongman on trial, Wahid is now calling on Indonesia's students to stop their protests against Suharto and his family, whose Jakarta homes are guarded day and night by scores of troops. Wahid says the Suharto-bashing should be temporarily shelved, in the interest of national stability: "I'm trying to save them from the students for the sake of economic recovery."
Even before Wahid adopted his conciliatory stance, it was already evident that the investigation into the former President's alleged abuses of power was more show than substance. In June, during the early euphoria of reformasi (the student-led movement against nepotism and corruption), then Attorney General Soedjono Atmonegoro asked for full independence -- "just like in America" -- to conduct a probe of Suharto. He was fired on June 15, five hours after he submitted to Habibie his first report, which alleged that Suharto had misused billions of dollars amassed by charitable foundations. Habibie replaced Soedjono with three-star general Andi Ghalib, a Suharto loyalist. Despite a marathon 12-hour questioning of the ex-President's businessman son Hutomo Mandala Putra ("Tommy") last week, Ghalib has so far declined to lay charges against Suharto, or even name him as suspect. "The investigation is not going anywhere," says Soedjono. Like many others, his early faith in reformasi is waning. "I must have been dreaming," he now says.
The crucial event in Suharto's rehabilitation came on Jan. 4 in the reshuffle of some 100 top military officials. The day before the reorganization, General Wiranto held a lengthy consultation with his former commander-in-chief. The shakeup was lauded for purging radical Islamic allies of Suharto's son-in-law Prabowo Subianto (who now spends part of his time in self-imposed exile in Boston). At the same time, however, the move shored up Suharto's influence within the army.
Two of the military's most senior posts, including General Affairs Chief and Intelligence Chief, were filled by men who, like Wiranto, were former Suharto adjutants. "I don't trust Wiranto at all," says Muslim leader Rais, a leading presidential candidate. "He can't distinguish between his loyalty to Suharto and his loyalty to the people."
Meanwhile, the violence that has plagued most of Indonesia's 27 provinces has intensified this year, recently spreading to the historically tranquil island of Ambon, in eastern Indonesia, where more than 60 people died last month in clashes between Muslims and Christians. Although dire poverty and rising unemployment (already nearly a quarter of the workforce) has put the entire nation on edge, a disturbing pattern has emerged from the unrest, dating back at least to the Jakarta riots in May. The incidents typically begin with the arrival of strangers, followed by an argument with a shopowner or an ethnic or religious slur. Within hours whole towns are in flames. As with a string of other recent riots, from Jakarta (14 killed in Ketapang in November) to northern Sumatra (29 killed in Aceh since December), many locals in Ambon believe the violence was deliberately incited. Catholic priest Ansius Homenara says that, on the first day of the savagery, Jan. 19, two men on motorcycles rode through Ambon screaming, falsely, that churches had been burned. Many of those arrested told police that the unrest had been directed from Jakarta. Concludes the priest: "There were definitely provocateurs."
In densely populated East Java, a mysterious spate of gruesome "ninja-style" murders has gone on for more than six months, and the death toll now exceeds 200. Here again, nobody regards these as ordinary crimes, but the authorities have been unable -- or unwilling -- to identify the perpetrators. As Indonesians lose confidence in law enforcement, suspicion grows that Wiranto is allowing the unrest to spread -- at best, because he is afraid to move against the provocateurs; at worst, because the military itself may be involved. In an October survey conducted by the Jakarta Post and the D&R newsweekly, 92% of respondents said they believe the East Java violence was being orchestrated for political ends. The lack of high-level arrests is especially alarming given that the Armed Forces' intelligence service -- headed by another Suharto loyalist -- has operatives or paid informers in virtually every town and village across the country. While sources close to Wiranto say he is personally dedicated to free, fair and punctual elections, many are convinced that the military leader must know the truth about the East Java bloodbath. Says Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission and parliamentary chief of the ruling Golkar faction: "Wiranto knows everything."
Even more disturbing are reports that Suharto loyalists may be conspiring to prevent the June elections from being held. Highly placed sources tell Time of a detailed plot, believed to include the Suharto family, to incite large-scale rioting across Indonesia as a prelude to the imposition of martial law. The operation calls for the installation of a transitional military leader acceptable to both the international community (specifically, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank) and the Muslim lobby, followed by a full pardon for the Suhartos and a three-year transition to democracy. "They are afraid of legal proceedings," says one of the sources. "They think they'll have an easier time under martial law than under a legitimate [elected] government."
Even if the various conspiracy theories turn out to be far- fetched, Suharto and his family are well-positioned to influence the outcome of both the general elections and the presidential vote scheduled for October. With tens of millions of Indonesians struggling to feed themselves, vote-buying is a given, and the Suharto family is allegedly funding various parties. "There will be a lot of money politics," says Irma Hutabarat, member of Indonesian Corruption Watch, a recently established nongovernment organization. "And who has the money here? The Suharto clan."
In the small villages where most Indonesians live, three decades of authoritarianism have left many voters unable to comprehend the opportunity offered to them by the coming election. Unlike the government in neighboring Thailand, which has conducted extensive public education on the constitutional and democratic processes, the Habibie administration has so far failed to impart even basic information about the June poll, which will be the first free election in Indonesia since 1955. In the Pandeglang district of West Java, villagers are perplexed by the list of new and unfamiliar political parties that have sprung up over the past few months. "I don't understand what I must do," sighs Rasta, 40, a landless farmer. "I'll do whatever I'm told." But who's giving the orders?
Jenny Grant, Jakarta -- Indonesia's powerful former first family is funding 12 political parties in an attempt to influence the June elections, opposition and party sources said yesterday.
Mulyanah Kusumah, a member of the government team which will select which political parties qualify to compete in the June 7 polls, said the Suharto family was providing financial backing to 12 small parties.
"They want to maintain political influence and to make a political defence mechanism. They also want to create a political safety net by providing this kind of financial support," said Mr Kusumah, who is also the head of the independent election monitoring committee.
He said politicians from the 12 parties met each week at the East Jakarta home of Ibnu Hartomo, the younger brother of late first lady Ibu Tien Suharto. Mr Hartomo was unavailable for comment, but his staff said many new parties used his house for meetings.
A senior source in the National Mandate Party said Suharto family agents offered it 11 billion rupiah and asked for the bank account number of party chairman Amien Rais. "We rejected the money, but it is clear the money machine is already working," the party official said.
Mr Rais, who is likely to be a serious contender for the presidency later this year, launched the Jakarta branch of his party at the weekend.
The Suharto family also has a direct line into larger parties that stand a chance of forming alliances to get elected. Mr Suharto's half-brother, businessman Probosutedjo, was elected chairman of the Indonesian National Party on Sunday.
The National Mandate Party official said: "It's a very big problem, money politics. Suharto wants to stop the election process and make a big mess."
Mr Kusumah said sources of funding might be one criterion for deciding whether parties could contest the polls. "I will recommend that the team should not only use legal criteria but also political criteria. We don't want pseudo-parties," he said.
Other party leaders say they were keen to be funded by the former first family. The head of the Indonesian People's Party, Agus Mitfah, said he would not reject money from the Suhartos: "As a new party I need funds from anywhere -- Suharto, Hong Kong, wherever."
Politicians have established 120 parties in Indonesia since political laws were relaxed last year. Parties wishing to compete at the polls must have branches in nine of the country's 27 provinces and at least half of the local regencies in those provinces. Funding that number of branches is difficult for poorer parties.
Margot Cohen -- Presidential hopeful Megawati Sukarnoputri is unquestionably the most prominent woman in Indonesian politics today. So what has she done for women lately?
Not much, critics grouse. Her speeches never include passionate advocacy of women's rights. Her own inner circle contains remarkably few women: Her political party's 17-member central board has only one other woman apart from Megawati, the chairman. The party has not gone out if its way to recruit new women leaders, nor sought to transform its macho image -- fuelled by young male supporters, their T-shirts emblazoned with the party sign of the bull, who roar through the streets in motorbike convoys.
That makes some observers less than bullish on prospects for women's advancement if the 52-year-old daughter of Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, succeeds in becoming the nation's fourth president. "If we cannot get away from this dynastic politics, it will be difficult for women to achieve real parity with men," argues presidential aide Dewi Fortuna Anwar. Noting the track record of Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto and India's Indira Gandhi, Dewi says: "These women leaders, who emerge because of a legacy, have not done much to improve participation of women as a whole. Because they themselves do not see their achievement as that of a woman," but as a dynastic successor.
Given that Megawati appears to take women's rights for granted, it's all the more ironic that the gender factor could prove a barrier to her ascendancy. In early November, a national Islamic congress in Jakarta recommended that women be barred from the presidency and the vice-presidency. Grounded in a particular interpretation of Koranic teachings, the recommendation emerged after lively debate among some 1,500 participants, including Muslim clerics with strong followings in the countryside.
However, many Indonesian Muslims -- especially women -- disagree. They argue that there is no prohibition in the Koran on women holding high office, and charge that politics, more than faith, motivated congress participants. Indeed, some of the clerics at the congress have been busy promoting their own political parties.
"They were aiming at Megawati, even though this was not expressed explicitly," grumbles Khofifah Indar Parawansa, who sits on the central board of the National Awakening Party, a potential coalition partner with Megawati's party, the PDI Perjuangan.
The controversy could intensify in the coming months, with the government-appointed Indonesian Ulamas' Council, a committee of Islamic scholars, expected to discuss a fatwa, a binding ruling, on the subject.
Under such circumstances, Megawati could use more women in her corner. Her supporters pledge that the party will start grooming more women for leadership positions. Noviantika Nasution, the only other woman on the party's central board, says it's time to liberate women from their traditional role of supplying food for party functions. "We have a great deal of homework ahead of us in terms of positioning women in the organization," she says.
Megawati, too, is distributing crumbs of encouragement. When party members gather at her south Jakarta home for a weekly dialogue, Megawati reportedly exhorts the housewives among them: "Ladies, as chairman I instruct you to read the newspapers after you finish cooking." Will male rivals cook up overwhelming opposition? A female presidency is certainly not an option National Mandate Party chairman Amien Rais savours, even though his own party platform supports women's rights. Sure, a woman can become president, he says -- as long as there's no competent man to do the job.
Vaudine England, Jakarta -- To the beat of drums and the sound of marching bands, opposition leader Amien Rais was yesterday acclaimed as his party's leader and presidential candidate by a cheering crowd of tens of thousands.
Mr Rais took the opportunity to insist on the need for free and fair elections, no matter who wins, and said the East Timorese people deserved a referendum on their future.
The rally, held in Senayan stadium in central Jakarta, was a well-organised series of performances designed to demonstrate the broad base of the Partai Amanat Indonesia (PAN) ahead of June's legislative polls.
Before Mr Rais made his appearance, a group of youths dramatically unfurled a banner large enough to cover the football pitch. The banner featured a picture of Mr Rais, a clenched fist, and the slogan tokoh reformasi (pro-reform).
A smartly dressed marching band was next, with the colour scheme expanded from blue to include red and white - the colours of the national flag.
Among the songs played were traditional tunes from Ambon, scene of recent communal clashes, then from Java, Bali and Menado. As the music played, a long line of decorated horses and carts rode past, in a direct appeal to the lower middle classes who use such transport in the countryside.
After the speeches, a Chinese lion dance emerged, garnering both curiosity and cheers -- such displays were banned for more than 30 years. Mr Rais' speech covered several key issues of political life, starting with the recent outbreaks of violence in various parts of the country which, he said, had to stop.
He called on ABRI, the armed forces, to stop pretending that they did not know who was behind the violence. This referred to the general belief that the outbreaks are a result of a wide-ranging plan to destabilise the country, provoked by those close to former president Suharto, who lives under the protection of the armed forces in central Jakarta.
Mr Rais went on to tell his supporters he was dissatisfied with the final drafts of election laws, in which the military is given 38 voting seats in future parliaments. But he said nothing more could be done and it was still best to hold the election without delay.
He expressed the hope that
the electoral manipulations of the Suharto regime would not be repeated.
It did not matter who won, he said, as long as the poll was fair and honest.
| Environment/health |
[The following is a translation by Down to Earth of a report from Musirawas (South Sumatra) by local journalist, Taufik Wijaya. It was dated 31st Dec 1998, but received via SiaR 5th Feb 1999. Some technical details need to be checked, as they differ from information previously provided by Indonesian and Australian colleagues (see below). But in general the account of the negative impacts this gold/silver mine is having on the local community is consistent with others received since 1997.]
The normally clear River Tiku turned dark brown on December 16th 1998 and hundreds of dead, rotting fish floated in it. "It's not just the fish! My child was killed by that water", said Sapri, a local resident.
Since 1996 PT Barisan Tropical Mining (PT BTM) has been exploring for gold and silver at Bukit Tambang, near Muara Rupit in the Musirawas district of South Sumatra, local farmers who live along the river have not been able to use the water. These are the Sukamenang and Muaratiku communities who live in the seven villages of Sungaijambu, Lubuk Pelubang, Sungaiberingin, Lubuk Pah, Napal Pejongot, Tanjungbengkuang and Tanjungharapan.
In addition to the pollution, the presence of PT BTM has made life worse for these 15,455 people by reducing local incomes. When the company bought their land, they lost their rubber plantations which generated a daily income of Rp30,000 per hectare (approx US$3). The productivity of their remaining plantations has fallen due to local temperature changes which (they believe) are a direct result of the mining operations.
The community has also lost its income from wild honey. The wild bees have deserted forests because of the lights of the mine at night. Also, trees which have been productive for years, like the durian, are failing to fruit normally: the buds or flowers are shaken off by dynamite explosions.
Since 1996, farmers who have traditionally panned for gold in the river can no longer do so -- according to Sapri -- because the water causes skin irritations and sores which do not easily heal.
Nurlela, Sapri's eldest daughter, died in August 1998 after bathing in the river. "Before she died, she said she itched all over and then her body turned blue", said Sapri who wants the mine closed down. Unfortunately, Sapri did not take his daughter to the doctors to prove whether it was really the polluted water that killed her.
On hearing about the child's death, local administrator Radjab Semendawai said his office would investigate. On the other hand, Dr Hilda Zulkifli, from Sriwijaya University in Palembang who heads the team which carried out quarterly environmental impact assessments for PT BTM, doubts that Nurlela's death was due to toxic wastes. "There should be an autopsy to prove the charge. The child's death must not be taken as proof that PT BTM has polluted the environment", she said when contacted on December 31st.
The mining operations have also caused erosion at Bukit Tembang. "Lots of trees along the banks of the R. Tiku have fallen down even though there was no wind or rain, said Sapri. Wildlife has fled the area. When operations started up, monkeys went crazy and attacked people and tigers been seen several times in the villages which is unheard of. The mine has upset normal life in these seven villages. "The children here don't dare to play in the river since my daughter died", added Sapri. The mining operation covering 11,709 hectares is run by Australian company Laverton Gold (1).
What have the local community got out of these mining operations? After protesting to the company, demonstrating several times at the local government office and forcing a PT BTM employee -- Gevin Lee (sic) -- to swallow some of the polluted water, the villagers have only received a well for each village and a few water storage vessels. "We still have to fetch water every day. The company has done nothing for us. The river PT BTM is polluting is worth far more than the seven wells it has constructed," said Pandit Jawalnehru from Sukamenang.
Through the village administration, the company offers work to local farmers, planting grass and trees to reclaim land. But the pay is far removed from what they earned as traditional rubber farmers: only Rp5,000 per day -- at least one sixth of their former income.
However, the administrator for Musirawas wants to open up more land for mining. "In order to support and increase living standards of local farmers -- apart from reclamation work -- we are in the process of opening up a new mining area so the farmers can share in the benefits," Mr Semendawai told the interviewer.
In 1983 one of Setiawan Djody's (2) subsidiaries in PT Setdco Ganesha joined up with expatriate staff from Australian mining company Rio Tinto (3) to form PT Barisan Tropical Mining in order to exploit Bukit Tembang. Without any consultation with the local community, they immediately moved in and started exploring and even small-scale exploitation. Later, the two companies worked with the local government to procure local farmers' land.
The farmers refused at first but, after the military intervened and spread the word that most of the land they farmed was state land, they realised opposition was pointless. The military are said to have used various types of threat. For example, if farmers did not sell their land to PT BTM, they would be imprisoned for obstructing development.
In 1996, the two companies sold PT BTM shares to two foreign investors who then set up the companies PT Rawas Limited Singapura and PT Jamtiku Limited Hong Kong with 40% holdings each. The remaining 20% was divided between Djody and his Australian colleagues Laverton Gold. Their investment was worth US$ 15 million (4).
Shortly after this they began the exploitation of the forests and land which lie close to Kerinci Seblat National Park and the ancestral lands of the Anak Dalam (Kubu) indigenous people. The target for the first 5 years (1996-2001) is 6.5 tonnes on gold and 74 tonnes of silver.
The damage to the local farmers' economy and the threat to their environment from mining waste does not seem to concern the company or local officials. Gevin (Gavin?) Lee, from PT BTM's environmental department, said the waste disposal system of using a tailings dam is right for Indonesia. "This system is appropriate for use in Indonesia because of the high rainfall, whereas in Australia depends on an evaporation system", he said when interviewed at the mine. The gold and silver mine is located on top of a hill and is only accessible via a 20km hilly road with two security checkpoints.
Lee explained that the mining wastes such as lime, cyanide, hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid, lead nitrate and borax would settle out in the tailings dam. The liquid waste discharged from there into the R.Tiku would no longer contain those materials and "is no longer dangerous," he said.
However, Lee admitted that the company had discharged mining waste straight into the river while they were constructing a new tailings dam in September 1998. "Since last October we have gone back to using the tailings dam," he said.
The local administrator, Semendawai, supported Lee's statement that PT BTM did not pollute the river. Semendawai was the focus of local protests about corruption, collusion and nepotism a while back. At a presentation on November 24th 1998 when he stocked the River Ripit with young carp, Semendawai told local farmers and community leaders that this proved the company was not polluting the river.
Some of his audience were amused by this statement since the R. Rupit is 60km from the tailings disposal site. "Let him try stocking our river," said Jawalnehru.
As for the dead fish the farmers found, Hilda announced that investigations had shown they were not killed by chemicals in the mining waste. "We found that some fish had died from potassium (cyanide?) poisoning at concentrations of 144.38mg. It is impossible that this came from the mine. Local people often use it for fishing," she said.
Whether or not the company's explanation is true, the Indonesian environmental organisation WALHI issued a statement on December 19th 1998, based on the negative impacts which the local community had suffered since the mining operations began. This included three demands that: the government should stop PT BTM's operating licence; the company should compensate the community for their losses and for the pollution; the company should reopen negotiations with the community if it wanted to resume operations (5).
Notes