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ASIET Net News 18 – May 3-9, 1999
| Democratic struggle |
Jakarta -- Student groups from several universities disclosed on Tuesday that they plan to mobilize thousands of students on May 12 to join a mammoth rally for the first anniversary of the Trisakti University shooting incident in which four students died.
Adian from the City Forum -- a loose alliance of 30 university student groups throughout Jakarta -- said the group expected to mobilize 4,000 to 5,000 students, but refused to reveal details of the route and site of the rally. "We will discuss the details in a meeting soon," he said.
Representatives of other groups, including the Students Front for Reform and Democracy (Famred), Communication Forum for Jakarta Student Senates (FKSMJ) and Trisakti Student Family (Kamtri), said separately that their groups would also join the rally.
However, details of their participation were still being discussed among their groups' board members, they said.
Forum Besar, another major student association, is apparently the most well prepared group to conduct street rallies regarding commemoration of the tragedy.
The group expects to mobilize another 6,000 students from various universities here, said Anton, an activist of the group.
He said the group would start the rally by bus from the ABA-ABI College campus on Jl. Matraman Raya in East Jakarta and end at either House of Representatives/People's Consultative Assembly (DPR/MPR) building or outside state run television station TVRI. "About 80 percent of the group executives have agreed to the plan," he said.
The Trisakti tragedy erupted on May 12 last year when four Trisakti students were shot dead, allegedly by Armed Forces members. The shooting incident sparked major riots which forced president Soeharto, who had been in power for 32 years, to quit on May 21.
Meanwhile, the presidium of Trisakti students said on Tuesday that they would not join the street rally, but would instead hold campus activities within the university complex in Grogol, West Jakarta.
The student group expects to present, among other things, a free-speech forum and mass prayers, said Sarwinda Pitantri, an activist of the student group.
"We do not plan to hold a street rally since we worry about causing possible unrest," she said, adding that many provocateurs were on the streets these days to stir up unrest.
Meanwhile, city police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis announced that the police warmly welcomed the student rally as long as it did not breach prevailing laws. "The students have to obey Law No.9/1998 on freedom of speech before they conduct the rally," said
He also warned the students to be vigilant against the possibility of the rally being exploited by irresponsible parties. "Be careful of certain parties intending to foil the general election on June 7," he said.
Jakarta -- Hundreds of labourers and university students held a protest here Saturday demanding the release of jailed labour defender Dita Sari as well as of other political prisoners, a witness said.
The call was made by more than 400 labourers and students who turned up at the state University of Indonesia to hold free speeches on Labour Day.
"Labourers unite against oppression," read a large poster, while another called "Release Dita Sari and other political prisoners." Dita Sari is serving time in a Jakarta women's jail since last year after she was moved from a jail in Surabaya, East Java, where she had been convicted for being an active member of an outlawed party and for inciting labour protests there.
Dita is a member of the People's Democratic Party (PRD) which was outlawed by the government of former president Suharto in 1997.
The government of President Habibie, who replaced Suharto, has since lifted the ban. The party is also officially registered as one of the 48 political parties to take part in the upcoming June 7 elections. But the leaders of the PRD and Dita have not been released.
The protesters were members of the Labourers for Reform Actions (Kobar), the Student Committee for a Democratic Society (Komrad), and Students for Reform Forum (Formasi), all of whom read headbans with "May Day" inscribed on them.
May Day was traditionally not celebrated during the 32 year rule of the staunchly anti-communist Suharto, who resigned from office in May last year.
[On May 1, 1995, Dita, who was then the chairperson of the PRD affiliated Centre for Labour Struggle, lead the first May Day commemoration Suharto seized power and was detained for 24 hours - James Balowski.]
Jakarta -- A protest by hundreds of farmers claiming rights to land developed by a state plantation company in West Java left thousands of tree crops and several buildings burned and 120 protestors arrested, a report said here Sunday
Some 1,500 farmers Saturday attacked the PT Perkebunan Nusantara VIII in Agrabinta, Cianjur district, setting fire to thousands of coconut, rubber and chocolate trees as well as a copra processing plant and four houses, the Sinar Pagi daily said.
Police have arrested 120 people, including student supporters of the farmers, the daily said. Nine were arrested on suspicion of inciting the farmers to violence, the daily added.
The farmers claim they had been working on the land for decades before the state company appropriated the land for its plantations.
Land disputes between local farmers and state enterprises have increasingly broken out following the fall of former president Suharto who had ruled the country with an iron fist for more than three decades.
Suharto resigned as head
of state in May 1998 amidst mounting public pressure and widespread violent
mass unrest.
| East Timor |
Jakarta -- Indonesian Justice Minister Muladi said Monday he believed jailed East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao should be released so he can make a greater contribution to peace efforts in the troubled territory.
"I have not received any instruction ... but I myself, agree [that Gusmao be freed] so that Xanana can be even more active," Muladi told journalists before attending a cabinet meeting on politics and security at the Bina Graha presidential office.
"The remaining problem is whether he can assure his own security outside [the jail] or not," Muladi added.
He said that the release of Gusmao, currently serving a 20-year prison term for plotting against the state and possession of illegal weapons, could be done either under an amnesty or a presidential pardon. "But I think an amnesty would be better," he added.
He also said that the question was not scheduled to be discussed in the cabinet meeting he was going to attend.
Gusmao was moved to house detention in Central Jakarta from the city's Cipinang jail in February following a demand by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
New York -- The two main East Timor opposition parties, FRETILIN and the UDT (Timorese Democratic Union), want the UN to guarantee that their leaders resident abroad will be allowed to return to the territory before the August 8 plebiscite on autonomy or statehood.
"If we are not allowed to return, then we will question the entire process", FRETILIN's main overseas representative, Mari Alkatiri, declared Tuesday in New York. Alkatiri said he would discuss the matter with Jamsheed Marker, the UN secretary- general's special envoy for East Timor.
UDT president Joao Carrascalao is also in New York to accompany the 15th round of UN-sponsored negotiations on East Timor between Portugal and Indonesia. The talks are expected to culminate Wednesday with the signing of the accord on the August plebiscite.
"It's hypocrisy on the part of the negotiators if we're not allowed back", Carrascalao said. He added that if the pro- independence resistance leaders are permitted to return from exile, then the UN mission overseeing the plebiscite will have to guarantee their safety.
[FORTILOS received the following information today from Yayasan HAK, Dili, Timor Lorosae.]
Yayasan HAK reported that joint operations have been launched by a number of ABRI units (Kopassus, SGI, territorial units in Ailiu and the Ailiu military command), the Rajawali Team (one of the earlier militias) and the AHI (I Live for Integration) militia in Aileu, about 30 kms south of Dili.
At 7am today, these joint forces launched a campaign of violence and terror in the district of Aileu. Early in the day, Yayasan HAK monitors in Aileu were able to report that the troops were firing their weapons from time to time in the vicinity of the town, but later, contact with the monitors was lost. An investigation team was sent to Aileu but was unable to enter the town as all roads were blockaded.
Our monitors are looking into the possibility that some inhabitants in the town may have managed to escape. It is feared that the civilians will suffer a variety of abuses such as terror, arrests, torture and murder.
To go by what has happened in the districts of Ermera and Bobonaro, this campaign of terror is likely to be followed by a proclamation dissolving the CNRT in the district. [Note that according to Kompas on 3 May, the CNRT branch in Ambeno was "dissolved" there.]
All solidarity organisations are requested to do everything in their power to prevent victims from falling in Aileu.
New York -- The people of East Timor will be asked to to choose between two questions in the territory's August 8 plebiscite.
The accord signed Wednesday in New York stipulates that plebiscite ballots contain two questions: "Do you accept the proposal that East Timor have special autonomy within the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia?" or "Do you reject the special autonomy proposal for East Timor, the consequence being that East Timor will separate from Indonesia?" Each question will be printed in Bahasa (the language of Indonesia), Tetun (the main language of East Timor) and Portuguese.
Ballots will also be marked with symbols clearly indicating the choice of one or the other option.
Those eligible to vote must be at least 17 years old and born in the territory. If born outside the territory they must have at least one parent from East Timor. Spouses of those meeting the above requirements are also eligible.
The electoral campaign will begin on July 20 and end on August 5, though the latter date is subject to change under terms of the accord.
Voter registration will be carried out by United Nations personnel between June 13 and July 17 at 200 posts located throughout the territory. Registration centers will also be set up in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Denpasar and Ujung Pandang; in the Australian cities of Sydney, Darwin, Perth and Melbourne; in Lisbon, Portugal; in Maputo, Mozambique; and in Macau and New York. Other registration centers may be set up if deemed necessary.
For twenty-three years, the people of East Timor have awaited this agreement which acknowledges their right to self- determination.
The agreement signed on May 5th in New York attests to the fact that the immeasurable sacrifices of the East Timorese people throughout this long period of oppression have not been in vain.
Realistically speaking, the value of the agreement as a historic document lies in the fact that it will permit the people of East Timor to exercise their legitimate right to decide on their future. For this very reason, the worth of the agreement in practical terms can only be verified through its implementation, in other words, when the United Nations ensures that the conditions for successful implementation exist.
I wish to draw attention to the fact that our people have long awaited this agreement, never ceasing to believe in the importance of its signing.
There is no doubt that there will be difficulties on the ground and that numerous obstacles will continue to be placed in the path of the preparation of a fair, democratic and transparent consultation.
All, however, will depend on the Indonesian government's compliance with the terms of the agreement relating to its responsibility for creating a climate of peace and tranquillity for the population.
While the agreement is no cause for euphoria, nor is it a guarantee of a resolution via democratic and peaceful processes, we must not view it with excessive pessimism, nor lose sight of the urgent need for a frank and serious dialogue capable of giving rise to new spirits and hopes.
I take this opportunity to express to UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, our profound appreciation for the on-going commitment he has demonstrated to the question of East Timor, which has made possible this first step in the direction of a new future for the East Timorese people. Our thanks also go to Ambassador Jamsheed Marker and his staff for their tireless dedication.
We express our sincere gratitude to the Portuguese government for its attentive and skilful handling of the question. To the Indonesian government, goes our appreciation for the commitment it has undertaken to guaranty the implementation of a democratic, transparent and fair consultation.
Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao, President of CNRT
Dili -- Hundreds of East Timorese students in Dili demonstrated peacefully Thursday, for the third day in a row, waving banners and chanting slogans in favor of an independent East Timor.
The early morning rally was the first reaction in the East Timor capital to news that the UN-brokered East Timor plebiscite accord had been signed in New York by Portugal and Indonesia.
Various students told Lusa that they remained apprehensive about the security situation in the territory. The demonstration was a reminder that "we are not free yet" and that "we are living in a climate of fear and tension", they said.
The pro-independence rallies should continue at least until the weekend, they added.
Security forces were initially absent from the rally site near the Dili university campus. About 20 riot police arrived mid- morning but kept their distance, taking up a passive stance and removing their helmets.
Anthony Goodman, United Nations -- The UN Security Council unanimously endorsed Friday agreements that will enable the people of East Timor, a former Portuguese colony that Indonesia annexed in 1976, to decide their own future in an Aug. 8 vote.
The accords were signed at the United Nations Wednesday by Foreign Minister Ali Alatas of Indonesia and his Portuguese counterpart, Jaime Gama.
They provide for a UN-organized vote to determine whether the East Timorese want wide-ranging autonomy under continuing Indonesia rule or would prefer to move toward independence.
Indonesia's 1975 invasion and subsequent annexation of the territory as its 27th province were not recognized by the international community.
Some 200,000 Timorese died in fighting or as a result of hunger and disease following Indonesia's occupation of the territory that Portugal abandoned after its 1974 anti-fascist revolution.
The Security Council resolution, sponsored by Britain, stressed the responsibility of the Indonesian government "to maintain peace and security in East Timor" to ensure the voting is carried out "in a fair and peaceful way and in an atmosphere free of intimidation, violence or interference from any side."
Scores of people have been killed, mainly by anti-independence militias, since Indonesian President B.J. Habibie announced in January his government's willingness to reverse the annexation if the East Timorese reject autonomy.
The resolution welcomed the accords and the intention of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to establish as soon as practicable "a United Nations presence" in East Timor to assist in conducting a "popular consultation" of the wishes of the East Timorese.
It also welcomed his plan to make available "a number of civilian police officers to act as advisers to the Indonesian police" and to supervise the escort of ballot papers and boxes to and from the polling sites.
The United Nations is expected to send about 600 civilians and an unspecified number of police advisers to East Timor but no numbers were spelled out in the accords.
They also do not provide for the dispatch of UN peacekeeping troops, as had been called for by pro-independence groups distrustful of the Indonesian army and police.
The issue of security was stressed by Annan in a report to the council Thursday containing the texts of the accords.
He said he had emphasized to the parties what would be needed "in order to enable me to determine that the necessary security conditions exist for the start of the operational phases of the consultation process."
These included "the bringing of armed civilian groups under strict control and the prompt arrest and prosecution of those who incite or threaten to use violence."
The Security Council resolution asked Annan to keep the council closely informed of the situation in East Timor and to provide a report by May 24 with details of the voting process and recommendations about the mandate, size and structure of the UN mission.
Annan was also asked to provide reports every 14 days thereafter, suggesting the council intends keeping a close watch on the situation.
He was requested to inform the council before the start of voter registration, due to begin June 13, whether "the necessary security situation exists for the peaceful implementation of the consultation process."
The resolution welcomed Annan's establishment of a trust fund to enable UN members to make voluntary contributions to support the UN mission in East Timor and urged all members able to do so to contribute without delay.
Portuguese Foreign Minister Gama said Wednesday the operation was expected to cost between $30 million and $45 million and handed over a $10 million check from his government. Australia has given $7 million and pledged the same amount in equipment and other items for the UN mission.
Dili -- The United Nations' top police officer arrived in troubled East Timor Saturday, saying he had little time to set up crucial security arrangements for an Aug. 8 ballot on the future of the crisis-wracked territory.
The start of his weeklong assessment mission coincided with a big show of force by militia groups opposed to independence and blamed for the deaths of dozens of civilians in recent weeks.
"Although the timeframe is short, we will manage ... we are moving fast," said Om Rathor, the chief police adviser to the world body.
He is the first UN security official to come to Dili, the territorial capital, since Indonesia and Portugal, East Timor's former colonial master, signed an agreement last week authorizing the United Nations to hold the ballot.
The poll will allow the territory's people to choose whether their homeland should become an autonomous region within Indonesia or totally independent.
Under the agreement, the UN will deploy civilian police advisers from several countries to help Indonesian police maintain law and order. A key function will be the disarmament of rival factions that are either for or against independence.
Rathor said the size of the UN police force had not been determined, "but it most probably would be between 250 to 300."
He said "senior and competent police from several nations" would make up the contingent. It had not been decided whether officers would be armed. Nor had it been decided when the officers would arrive in East Timor, he said. Hundreds of UN poll monitors and other officials will also be sent in to supervise voting.
Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and annexed it a year later. Since then it has endured guerrilla war and widespread human rights abuses by Indonesia's military.
In a surprise policy reversal last January, Indonesia said it would consider letting go of East Timor if most of its people rejected the offer of autonomy.
Violence has escalated across East Timor in recent months with the rise of anti-independence militia groups who are accused of killing dozens of civilians.
Independence activists claim a small contingent of police advisers will not be enough to guarantee security and have called for the deployment of UN peacekeeping troops.
Rathor is expected to hold talks with Indonesian military and police officers as well as local political figures next week before returning to New York to report to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Annan is expected to recommend the size and mandate of the UN presence in East Timor to the UN Security Council on May 24.
Rathor said the Indonesian government "has entered into an agreement to provide complete protection and security" for the UN ballot. "We will assess the situation," he said.
Meanwhile about 4,000 villagers attended a peaceful anti- independence rally in Liqicia, about 40 kilometers east of Dili, Saturday.
Organizers said the majority of people in the region around the town wanted to stay part of Indonesia. However, several people in the crowd told reporters they had been coerced into attending.
During Saturday's ceremony, several militia leaders handed over some weapons to local police and called on pro-independence guerrillas to do the same.
The Governments of Indonesia and Portugal,
Recalling General Assembly resolutions 1514 (XV), 1541(XV), 2625(XXV) and the relevant resolutions and decisions adopted by the Security Council and the General Assembly on the question of East Timor;
Bearing in mind the sustained efforts of the Governments of Indonesia and Portugal since July 1983, through the good offices of the Secretary-General, to find a just, comprehensive and internationally acceptable solution to the question of East Timor;
Recalling the agreement of 5 August 1998 to undertake, under the auspices of the Secretary-General, negotiations on a special status based on a wide-ranging autonomy for East Timor without prejudice to the positions of principle of the respective Governments on the final status of East Timor;
Having discussed a constitutional framework for an autonomy for East Timor on the basis of a draft presented by the United Nations, as amended by the Indonesian Government;
Noting the position of the Government of Indonesia that the proposed special autonomy should be implemented only as an end solution to the question of East Timor with full recognition of Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor;
Noting the position of the Government of Portugal that an autonomy regime should be transitional, not requiring recognition of Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor or the removal of East Timor from the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories of the General Assembly, pending a final decision on the status of East Timor by the East Timorese people through an act of self- determination under United Notions auspices;
Taking into account that although the Governments of Indonesia and Portugal each have their positions of principle on the prepared proposal for special autonomy, both agree that it is essential to move the peace process forward, and that therefore, the Governments of Indonesia and Portugal agree that the Secretary-General should consult the East Timorese people on the constitutional framework for autonomy attached hereto as an annex;
Bearing in mind that the Governments of Indonesia and Portugal requested the Secretary-General to devise the method and procedures for the popular consultation through a direct, secret and universal ballot; Agree as follows:
Article 1
Request the Secretary-General to put the attached proposed constitutional framework providing for a special autonomy for East Timor within the unitary Republic of Indonesia to the East Timorese people, both inside and outside East Timor, for their consideration and acceptance or rejection through a popular consultation on the basis of a direct, secret and universal ballot.
Article 2 Request the Secretary-General to establish, immediately after the signing of this Agreement, an appropriate United Nations mission in East Timor to enable him to effectively carry out the popular consultation.
Article 3
The Government of Indonesia will be responsible for maintaining peace and security in East Timor in order to ensure that the popular consultation is carried out in a fair and peaceful way in an atmosphere free of intimidation, violence or interference from any side.
Article 4
Request the Secretary-General to report the result of the popular consultation to the Security Council and the General Assembly, as well as to inform the Governments of Indonesia and Portugal and the East Timorese people.
Article 5
If the Secretary-General determines, on the basis of the result of the popular consultation and in accordance with this Agreement, that, the proposed constitutional framework for special autonomy is acceptable to the East Timorese people, the Government of Indonesia shall initiate the constitutional measures necessary for the implementation of the constitutional framework, and the Government of Portugal shall initiate within the United Nations the procedures necessary for the removal of East Timor from the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories of the General Assembly and the deletion of the question of East Timor from the agendas of the Security Council and the General Assembly.
Article 6
If the Secretary-General determines, on the basis of the result of the popular consultation and in accordance with this Agreement, that the proposed constitutional framework for special autonomy is not acceptable to the East Timorese people, the Government of Indonesia shall take the constitutional steps necessary to terminate its links with East Timor thus restoring under Indonesian law the status East Timor held prior to 17 July 1976, and the Governments of Indonesia and Portugal and the Secretary-General shall agree on arrangements for a peaceful and orderly transfer of authority in East Timor to the United Nations. The Secretary-General shall, subject to the appropriate legislative mandate, initiate the procedure enabling East Timor to begin a process of transition towards independence.
Article 7
During the interim period between the conclusion of the popular consultation and the start of the implementation of either option, the parties request the Secretary-General to maintain an adequate United Nations presence in East Timor.
Done in New York on this 5th day of May, 1999.
Last Wednesday, 5 May, the autonomy proposal of Indonesia for East Timor was signed in Jakarta and Lissabon. In three months time, the East Timorese will cast their votes in a UN-supervised 'direct ballot' whether to accept or reject that proposal. A rejection, will automatically return control over the territory to Portugal, to continue the decolonisation process aborted by the Indonesian invasion, more than 23 years ago.
Unfortunately, thousands of Indonesian troops and Indonesian- armed militia forces are currently roaming the streets in the towns and villages of East Timor, to force the people to accept that autonomy proposal, after killing hundreds of villagers and refugees in Alas, Liquica, Dili, and other places during the last six months, and injuring hundreds others.
During the Bali summit with Acting President, B.J. Habibie, Prime Minister John Howard failed to emphasise to his counterpart the urgency to disarm those thugs and to withdraw the Indonesian troops, to create the necessary conditions for the UN-supervised ballot. Or, for that matter, to guarantee the safety of the UN personnel on the ground, which will include at least fifty Australian police agents.
On the subject of these militias, our media tend to provide an image, as if the presence of these military-backed militias, simply reflect some splits within the ranks of the Indonesian government. Namely, between the good-willing Indonesian civilian president, Dr. B.J. Habibie, and the difficult-to-read Indonesian armed forces commander, General Wiranto. Or, deriving from Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's famous comment, divisions between "rogue elements" among the Indonesian army in East Timor, and General Wiranto who seems to be 100% behind the transitional president.
This image is, I believe, very inaccurate. It completely overlooks the economic interests of the Jakarta oligarchy on the island of Timor, which cause this closely knit clique of former and active army generals and their families to abuse the fears of a handful of East Timorese leaders, who themselves have stuffed their pockets during their more than two decades of collaboration with Jakarta. Let me now briefly outline those business interests.
First of all, East Timor is the Indonesian "province" with the second largest landholdings under control of the Soeharto family, namely 564,867 hectares. CNRT, the umbrella organisation of the East Timorese resistance, has made it clear, last March, that they plan to seize the millions of dollars worth of these properties, after independence has been obtained (Sydney Morning Herald, 30 March).
These landholdings stretch from the Western border to the Eastern tip of East Timor, consisting of a 50,000 hectares timber plantation allocated to Bob Hasan, one of the Soeharto family's business operators, to tens of thousands of hectares of sugarcane plantations awarded to the kids on the Southern coast, stretching from Suai to Viqueque and to Los Palos in the district of Lautem. In addition, the best marble deposits in Manatuto, has been awarded to Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, Soeharto's eldest daughter, who also has a monopoly over coffee production and export from East Timor, through a company of hers in Dili.
These Soeharto interests are closely intertwined with the business interests of other generals who had served under Soeharto, both during the Seroja Operation to invade and annex East Timor, as well as in other military operations. Batara Indra, an Indonesian conglomerate backed by Ret. Generals Benny Moerdani and Dading Kalbuadi, the mastermind behind the killings of Australian-based journalists in Balibo and Dili, controls the sandalwood forests of East Timor, and the production of sandalwood oil for export to produce sandalwood perfumed soap in France and sandalwood powder for incense sticks for export to East Asia. Batara Indra also exports Buddhist statues to Taiwan and Catholic statues to Italy, made from East Timorese sandalwood and marble.
Most of the hotels and the only cinema in Dili, are owned by Batara Indra, while all the large construction firms in Dili, which are involved in all the large infrastructure projects, including building the irrigation canals and ditches for Indonesian "transmigrants", either belong to Benny Moerdani's Batara Indra Group, or to the Anak Liambau Group of the Jakarta- appointed governor, Jose Abilio Osorio-Soares.
Supply of cement is now problem to all those contractors. Because two companies close to the Soehartos are their main suppliers: the Djajanti Group cement factory on the island of Seram, north of Timor, which is headed by a son of Ret. General Try Sutrisno, Soeharto's former vice president, and the cement factory near Kupang on West Timor, which is owned by Ret. General Arnold Baramuli, whose son co-owns the alcohol sticker company of Soeharto's grand-son, Ari Haryo Wibowo.
The governor's family is also closely intertwined with the Soeharto family's businesses. Gil Alves, a brother-in-law of Governor Abilio, operates the alcohol sticker monopoly of Ari Haryo Wibowo, also known as Ari Sigit. In addition, as the chairperson of Yayasan Hati, a charity of former East Timorese collaborators during the Seroja Operation, Gil Alves is also involved in a drinking water company, Aquamor, and a textile company, PT Dilitex, which are closely linked with Siti Hediati Haryadi, Soeharto's middle daughter who is married to the sacked General Prabowo Subianto.
Now, looking at the who-is-who of the pro-integration militia and their leaders in East Timor, it is not difficult to find their links to the Soeharto family, or, to their own land-grabbing practices in East Timor.
On top of the list is certainly Governor Abilio Osorio-Soares himself, formerly a protegee of General Prabowo Subianto, when the latter was still the top person in the Indonesian army's special forces, Kopassus. Then you have Basilio Araujo, the spokeperson of the pro-integration forces, who graduated from the U.K. and is the deputy head of the provincial investment board (BKPMD), the body which makes the decision on who is allowed to invest in what field and where in East Timor.
Next follows to former district heads in the border area, Joao Tavares, who had been involved in the border raids under then Colonel Dading Kalbuadi, and who as bupati (district head) of Maliana, took over many landholdings vacated by East Timorese who fled to Australia and Portugal. On the same level is Rui Lopes, the former district head of Covalima, whose hobby, apart from collecting landholdings, is also to collect horses and cattle. On a visit of Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana to Suai, the capital of Covalima, Rui Lopes took Mrs. Rukmana to see the old oil wells in Suai Loro, south of the capital, near the coast and near one of Rui Lopes' horse stables.
Even the current army commander of East Timor, Colonel Tono Suratman (born in 1952), smacks of Soeharto connections. His family are the co-owners of a pearling company, PT Kima Surya Lestari Mutiara, with General Prabowo Subianto's wife. This company has pearl diving operations offshore Flores and Lombok, west of Timor. Due to its high-level connections, this Suratman- Prabowo joint venture was allowed to operate within the boundaries of the Komodo national park, without even paying any royalties to the Nusa Tenggara Timur province.
Lest we forget, Francisco Lopes da Cruz, the head of the new "Timor Lorosae Front" is also not free from Soeharto family connections. Two years ago, together with another East Timorese collaborator, the Lissabon-based former Fretilin leader, Abilio Araujo, he has been promised to become a shareholder of a new cement factory to be built in Los Palos, using the electricity from a new hydropower plant to be built in the vicinities. The Indonesian counterpart of this cement factory is Budi Prakoso, whose brother, Setiawan Djody, was involved in Tommy Suharto's Lamborghini deal. The patron of this proposed cement factory is Mrs. Rukmana herself, Soeharto's former de facto foreign minister.
In other words, the entire top brass of the Indonesian army and civilian bureaucracy in East Timor are closely interlinked with the former inner circle of Soeharto, which has in turn be taken over by his successor, Habibie. Even Wiranto is not free from Soeharto connections, since all the army charities which are now under his patronage, are co-shareholders of many of the Soeharto family's timber concessions and telecommunication companies.
One may ask, though, isn't East Timor such a small piece of the economic pie, compared with all the other Indonesian provinces? The answer is yes, because the Soeharto family still control nine million hectares of landholdings all over Indonesia, as large as the island of Java. The bottom-line is, that the landholdings in East Timor overlap with the three known oil wells from the Portuguese time, namely Suai Loro in Covalima, Aliambata in Viqueque, and Pualaca in Manatuto. And between those three wells lie vast untapped oil reserves as well.
The Soeharto family had also made their preparations to venture into the Timor Sea reserves. Last year, a new oil company was set up in Perth, called Genindo Western Petroleum Pty. Ltd., which is partly owned but directed by Bambang Trihatmodjo, Soeharto's middle son. Bambang and his younger brother Tommy also own two Singapore-based oil and gas tanker fleets, who are plying the seas between Indonesia and Northeast Asia, and who would eagerly be involved in a similar trade between the Timor Gap and those rich Asian customers. In addition, Bambang is also co-owner of PT Elnusa, which is involved in building a base camp for the oil companies and related petro-chemical industries on either West or East Timor.
Tommy, in addition to his tanker fleet, has his own aircharter company which has been waiting to chip into the Timor Gap wealth, where three wells -- Elang, Kakatua, and Kakatua North -- have already been producing 33,000 barrels of oil per day since July, last year. And many of the Soeharto clan business partners in Indonesia's oil and gas fields, such as Mobil Oil, are also active in the Timor Sea, which could lead them into further joint ventures in this part of the world.
This is why the Jakarta oligarchy -- with the strong support from their East Timorese collaborators -- are so keen in undermining a free and fair vote to determine East Timor's future political status.
After signing the autonomy package, the Habibie-Wiranto government has received a further boost to support the militias, in a more official way. Under the pretext of "socialising the autonomy package", the Jakarta-appointed governor has already allocated six billion Rupiah (roughly AUS $3,000) for each district. Now, the Interior, Foreign Affairs, and Defense Departments have received a further blessing from Habibie to allocate funds to the pro-integration factions in East Timor, and turn a blind-eye in how they are going to "socialise" that autonomy package.
Learning probably from Milosevic's stubborn tactic to partition Kosovo, I believe that behind the militia tactics in East Timor there seems to hide a strategy to partition East Timor into a western half which support continued links with Indonesia and an eastern part that would be allowed to become independent. A partition, that would roughly follow the lines of the "oil-rich" and "oil-poor" parts of East Timor.
Or, a strategy that would allow the entire territory to obtain its political independence, as long as the landholdings of the Soeharto family and their East Timorese collaborators would be respected by an independent East Timor state, and not be seized by the new government or by those properties rightful, traditional landowners.
So, without a strong UN peace keeping force, and without the disarming of pro-Jakarta militias and the complete withdrawal of Indonesian troops, I am afraid that one of those scenarios may be materialised.
[This article will be reprinte in the Age newspaper.]
Mark Dodd, Dili -- Pro-Indonesian paramilitary groups formed and in some cases armed by the Indonesian military are continuing their campaign of violence and intimidation only days away from the signing of a United Nations-brokered agreement for a ballot on self-determination for East Timor.
Medical staff at the Catholic Motael clinic in Dili were forced to move two patients into a safe house on Saturday night, fearing an attack on the small unguarded surgery following telephone threats by paramilitaries.
The two patients, who are independence activists, were the victims of a militia rampage through the streets of the capital on April 17 which left up to 30 people dead.
There were also unconfirmed reports that two people had been killed and several houses burnt on Saturday at Hera, 12 kilometres west of Dili, the scene of previous violence by pro- Indonesia groups.
Portuguese and Indonesian diplomats will sign an agreement on Wednesday paving the way for the deployment of a small UN monitoring force to supervise the August 8 ballot on self- determination for East Timor. Australia is one of several countries which will contribute at least 50 civilian police to help supervise polling procedures and report on security.
Spiralling violence in East Timor by pro-Indonesian paramilitary groups has claimed more than 100 lives since January's promise by Indonesia's President B.J. Habibie offering the 800,000 people who live there a say in their future.
Human rights workers warned yesterday that Aitarak (Thorn) militia had gathered outside the home of Mr Aniceto Guterres, chairman of Dili's Foundation for Legal and Human Rights. About 30 Aitarak militiamen have set up a guard post next to the Guterres home, in a poor area of town close to the municipal market. Several gang members had been drinking heavily and the arrival of four journalists was not welcomed.
The driver of this correspondent's car had his life threatened and his door kicked, and a Reuters television cameraman and news photographer were ordered to leave.
A Melbourne Age photographer, Jason South, and this correspondent were also ordered to get back in the car and to leave after a militia member fired a warning shot from a homemade pistol. Other gang members displayed knives and clubs hidden under their jackets. No police were in the area.
Human rights officials later telephoned to say Mr Guterres had evaded the militiamen to attend Sunday mass but remained concerned for the safety of his family after nightfall. He has been the target of militia threats following reports linking the Aitarak and other paramilitary groups to a series of bloody attacks on supporters of pro-independence groups in recent months.
A senior police officer said six people had been arrested in the coffee-growing town of Gleno, in the Ermera highlands, on Saturday over the abduction and murder of 11 men, the victims allegedly supporters of pro-Indonesian militias.
The police commander of the Ermera district, Lieutenant-Colonel Erry Gultom, said the six suspects were local youths and members of the pro-independence umbrella group the National Council for Timorese Resistance and an armed wing, Falintil. "During interrogation these people said that the victims were from Besi Merah Putih [Red and White Iron] or Mahidi [Life or Death Integration] -- at least in principle they were pro-integration," Lieutenant Gultom said.
"During this incident [allegedly on February 28] the victims were bound and beaten and then taken to the place where they were killed. So far we have arrested six people. We are still investigating their status and position -- in this case whether they are actually the killers or accomplices."
But the pro-independence guerilla commander Ular has denied Falintil responsibility for the deaths. Ular admitted his men had captured the 11 men in December following a student-led free speech forum, but said they had been released in February, when they were killed by pro-integration militias and the Indonesian military. "It is not our responsibility, we did not kill them," Ular said.
Dili-based human rights groups said they had been told of the arrests and would investigate the killings -- a rare case in which the victims are said to be autonomy supporters.
Jakarta -- Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) Marzuki Darusman has said the defiance of East Timor's pro-integration militias against any United Nations (UN) presence in the territory signifies the armed forces (TNI)'s determination not to let East Timor achieve independence. "If East Timor was let go, it would discredit the whole armed forces completely," he said.
Darusman who is also a chairman of the ruling Golkar party, however, also said it was virtually impossible to prove that the military was directly supporting and encouraging the violence unleashed by the pro-integration camp in East Timor. But, he said, there is no sense in denying it.
"Of course TNI could stop the militias", he was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong daily over the weekend. "So if the militias are against a UN presence, then TNI is against the UN," he added.
Indonesia and Portugal, under the auspices of the UN Secretary General, have talked and agreed to offer an autonomy package to the East Timorese. A direct vote to determine whether or not the East Timorese accept the package is scheduled for August 8, 1999. President BJ Habibie has repeatedly said if the package is rejected, he will let the former Portuguese colony go.
While Habibie's move was praised internationally, critics said, it also sparked violence between those for and against East Timor's integration with Indonesia.
The military is often described as the one strongly opposing the idea of an independent East Timor. "TNI is fighting for political survival in this country," said Darusman, referring to the popular demand that the military be excluded from politics once and for all. "If East Timor was let go, it would open up a chain of reactions. Then you could easily shunt TNI aside from politics. It's countdown time for them," he said.
Meanwhile, in Canberra Australia PM John Howard who recently held a meeting with Habibie over the future of East Timor said although the militias are still threatening to wreck the August 8 ballot through murder and intimidation, thing are better now than it was a few weeks ago.
"There is a far stronger, more prominent, public commitment from the Indonesians for the ballot," he said.
Howard told the Nine Network's Today program on Monday, the Indonesian government had failed to disarm the militia as promised, but denied he should have taken a stronger stand at his talks with Habibie.
"You have to deal with the possible here," he said. "What are they saying we should do? Invade the place? That's ridiculous. If we walk away and wash our hands of it, that's not going to influence the Indonesians to behave in a different way," he said.
Howard said Australia could only continue to use its influence to keep up the pressure on Indonesia to keep its commitment to a fair ballot on East Timor.
"However, I can't guarantee
there will be no more violence, of course I can't. Because I don't control
East Timor -- East Timor is part of Indonesia whether we like it or not
and so we have to deal with that reality and respect it," Howard said.
| June 7 election |
Jakarta -- More than 60,000 police and troops will be deployed to safeguard the Indonesian capital when election campaigning starts this month, a report said here thursday.
Colonel Sunarko, head of the Jakarta police control and operations centre, said 62,532 police and troops will be deployed from when the campaign period opens on May 19 until after polling on June 7, the Suara Karya daily reported.
The force will be backed by 39,000 civilian militias while 16 companies of police and 100 companies of soldiers would be held in reserve. A company consists of around 100 men.
A total of 48 political parties will take part in the elections which have been touted by the government of President B.J. Habibie as the most democratic, fair and honest in decades.
Indonesia has had seven elections so far, six of them under the iron-fisted government of former president Suharto who stepped down in May last year. Only three parties were allowed to take part in elections during the Suharto era.
Jakarta, the capital of the Indonesian republic has a population of some 11 million people.
Jakarta -- The recent violence in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province may make it impossible for people there to take part in the June 7 elections, the head of the country's election commission was quoted Wednesday as saying.
Commission head Rudini said his men would visit Aceh on Thursday to determine if ballotting was possible, the Jakarta Post said.
"We will meet with community leaders, polling committees ... to discuss the deteriorating conditions there," Rudini said.
Voter registration has been sluggish in Aceh amid mounting calls for a referendum on self-determination, with commission figures showing only 39.6 percent out of 2.3 million eligible voters in the province have registered by this week.
The latest violence occurred Monday in the North Aceh town of Lhokseumawe when soldiers opened fire on some 2,000 demonstrators, killing at least 31 and injuring more than 100.
Residents in districts of Pidie and North Aceh who wish to register for the elections have reportedly been threatened with violence.
"If the security forces protect groups of people [who wish to vote], other groups [who are against the polls] may accuse them of being the traitors," Hasballah, an election commission member from the National Mandate Party was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying.
But Hasbullah expressed his confidence in the polls being held there. "As long as there are participants, no matter how few, we will have vote from Aceh," Hasballah said.
The Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh) movement has been fighting for an Islamic state in Aceh since the 1970s. Separatist sentiment has been strongest in districts where the military conducted heavy- handed operations against rebels for a decade until last year.
Human rights watchdogs and local leaders have accused the military of widespread human rights violations.
President B.J. Habibie in his first visit to the provincial capital Banda Aceh in March, promised an inquiry into human rights violations during the 10 years the province was under virtual military control.
He said civilian or military offenders would be taken to court, but brushed aside calls for a referendum on self-determination.
Jeremy Wagstaff, Soreang -- This country has endured wrenching change in the past year. Violence is so commonplace that killings of fewer than 50 people often go unreported. Thieves steal hubcaps from cars stopped at red lights. And ex-president Suharto may be about to lose his last prominent position: gazing out from the face of Indonesia's biggest banknote, the 50,000-rupiah ($6) bill.
But one thing hasn't changed much: the intricate political infrastructure that Mr. Suharto lovingly forged during his 32- year dictatorship. That system, which he dubbed the New Order, may have failed at its primary objective -- keeping him employed. But its machinery is largely intact as Indonesia prepares for its first free election in 44 years. It poses a direct threat to prospects for real change in June's vote, no matter who is elected.
The New Order, which borrowed alike from Japanese fascism and Javanese kingship, was a pragmatic policy designed to hold together a disparate nation under one autocratic ruler. Its heart was a patronage system reaching out to almost every one of Indonesia's 210 million citizens: from the ruling party, Golkar, to the official club for civil servants' wives; from athletes, to ham-radio enthusiasts, every activity had an organization, and membership was required.
Dismantling the system
Mr. Suharto may be gone, but in and around this small town of Soreang, nestled at the foot of a dormant volcano, the difficulties of dismantling that system are vividly on display.
In April, the village's political bigwigs gathered in the community hall to discuss voter registration. A government official opened the floor to discussion. "Now we're in a transparent democracy," he says. "Everyone can speak up." Yet only the Golkar functionary speaks. He's 56 years old, nearly twice the age of other party representatives. He's the only one here who has done this before: In fact, it's his seventh national election. The first issue on the meeting's agenda is voter registration -- is it better to register people door-to-door, or just let them register themselves. "Why don't we do a little of both," the Golkar man says. "That way everyone will benefit." Everyone nods, and the motion is passed.
It's just one decision, but the process is emblematic. Over the course of the two-hour meeting, the Golkar man dominates. Beneath posters exhorting citizens to respect authority and not to draw knives in public, he holds forth on locating polling places and compiling voter lists. The posters share wall space with a chart describing last year's quasi-compulsory campaign to promote contraception: 1,062 local women accepted contraception, the chart says; 328 refused.
Of course, reform has swept away a lot in the year since President Suharto stepped down. The press is free. Forty-eight political parties are contesting June's election; only three were legal under Mr. Suharto. The military has shrunk its traditional highly politicized role -- in a big step, it recently gave up its control of the police. And just last week, Parliament passed a bill granting provinces a greater say in government.
Still, there are deep roots that remain to be pulled up, as Dede Radiman knows well. In the village of Wanaraja, 30 kilometers from Soreang, he was one of the New Order's first victims.
On Oct. 28, 1965, Mr. Radiman, then a member of a leftist student group, was at home with his father when a soldier-led mob burst in and hauled them away with hundreds of others. "I had no idea what they wanted; I thought it was all a mistake," the gaunt 62- year-old recalls. His crimes: education, leftward leanings, and a presumed sympathy for Sukarno, the president whose power evaporated less than a month earlier after a coup attempt crushed by then-Gen. Suharto.
His father was released that night. But Mr. Radiman wasn't to see home again for 14 years.
Social control
When he did return, after internal exile for nine years on the remote, malarial island of Buru, he found himself in the harness of an impressive system of social control. Like more than one million other political prisoners, he was barred from government jobs and denied bank credit. He had to report to a military officer every time he left the village, and attend annual indoctrination classes. At election time he was told to vote for Golkar.
Mr. Radiman bore the full brunt of the New Order, but no Indonesian was unaffected by it. Every village was home to an alphabet soup of organizations and officials, including the army's Babinsa, an acronym that means "village guidance officer," whose duties included keeping the local military chief abreast of "unusual social conditions in the village," according to armed- forces instructions. The Babinsas worked with neighborhood associations, known as RTs and RWs, and civilian-defense personnel called Hansip, to keep tabs on everyone who entered or left their territory.
While the system smacks of Big Brother, it also helped to control crime and coordinate daily life in the village. As social commentator Y.B. Mangunwijaya wrote in 1994, it was nothing less than "an extraordinarily efficient instrument for controlling a whole society." The whole network was known as Ipoleksosbudhankamling, or ideological-political-economic-social-cultural-defense-security environment.
The Japanese, who occupied Indonesia (then the Dutch East Indies) from 1941 to 1945, introduced the system. It was adopted wholesale by President Sukarno after independence, making Indonesia the only country occupied by Japan to formally retain pieces of the Japanese wartime social system.
But it wasn't until Mr. Suharto effectively gained power in 1965 that the system became uniquely Indonesian. He wrapped the levers of social control in an ideological framework rich with the stiff formalities and rituals of the Javanese court and mysticism.
A masterful achievement
It was a masterful achievement. While playing up his own humble village roots, Mr. Suharto stressed his wife's family connections to Java's ancient royal elite. Together, they were quick to introduce to Jakarta society practices such as the lavish court wedding, where organizers wear matching batik clothes, and the women matching, bunlike hairdos.
Mr. Suharto regularly invoked Javanese maxims during public appearances. His autobiography contains a 10-page appendix explaining Javanese practices and concepts stressing the hierarchy and mysticism of Javanese culture, such as sungkem, or a way of showing respect by kneeling and pressing your face to another's knees.
The result: the New Order gained a patina of continuity that made Mr. Suharto's rule look less like overturning the past, and more like a continuation of the grand Javanese kingdoms. Indeed, such uniformity went beyond weddings: Most civil servants juggled between three outfits: safari suits from Monday to Friday, batik or hand-woven cloth on Saturday, and batik shirts with the Golkar motif on the 17th day of the month. While the Golkar motif may have gone, the practice continues: Even opposition parties today garb their paramilitary guards in camouflage clothing in party colors, with matching epaulettes.
Of course there has been change at the grassroots of the New Order. Angry residents have tossed out village heads by the hundreds. In Wanaraja, people gathered petitions to remove their own headman, whom they accused of corruption. "I heard the rumors, so I resigned first," says the former headman, Momon Kusnadi, a wisp of a man with a voice to match. He denies any wrongdoing.
Still, it was hardly a revolution. The petition's organizers were mostly young village men with little education beyond grade school. Once Mr. Kusnadi was ousted, no one wanted the job.
And the village head doesn't really have that much power anyway. It's an unsalaried position, and the real authority rests with appointed officials, who are still in place. The result: One face changes, but not much more. "A new kind of nepotism," Mr. Kusnadi says.
Superficial changes?
And fear of the system lingers: Villagers circulating the petition say they didn't dare ask for the signature of Mr. Radiman, the former political prisoner, in case they were accused of being "communist" by association. (Communism remains a crime here.) "The change is only small and superficial. Underneath it's the same," Mr. Radiman says.
Back in Soreang, the same people are running the show. People like Rudy Subagio, a handsome 42-year-old who owns several boutiques selling everything from video disks to shampoo-and- sets. He's seen off two challengers for his post of village headman after Mr. Suharto's downfall.
In tone, he bridges the old and the new regimes. He's candid about his background -- he was a member of Pemuda Pancasila, a seven-million-plus youth group linked to Golkar and widely considered the New Order's thuggish enforcer under Mr. Suharto. As a government official, he was also a member of Golkar -- and still is -- but says much has changed. "People from Golkar still come to me to ask me for their support. But this time I should be neutral," he says.
Still, he knows how the system works. At a time when Indonesia's banking system is in near-ruins, he was able to obtain a 500-million-rupiah loan for a farmers' cooperative he set up. Those farmers, he says, will probably now vote for Golkar. The loan is "not directly related to Golkar, but for most peasants they see any government assistance as Golkar's," he says. "For them it's hard to distinguish."
Hard to distinguish, too, is how having a former Golkar member running the local election will foster a level playing field. As village head, Mr. Subagio is one of the officials responsible for ensuring the vote goes well. At the voter-registration meeting earlier this month, he opened the gathering with a few remarks, then retired discreetly to his office at the back of the community center.
After that meeting, seated in Mr. Subagio's plush office and beneath photographs of Mr. Suharto's last cabinet, representatives from other political parties fidget uncomfortably when asked about him. Most decline to comment, even though Mr. Subagio is well out of earshot. Finally one man, Djuli, from the National Mandate Party led by Amien Rais, speaks up. "A lot of people whisper about not being satisfied with him," he says. "But he's still there."
[Special correspondent Rin Hindryati in Jakarta contributed to this article.]
Jakarta -- Indonesia's president pleaded with his country's wealthy elite Saturday not to flee abroad ahead of a landmark June 7 parliamentary election, which many fear will result in widespread violence.
President B.J. Habibie made his call a day after five men were killed when hundreds of supporters of rival Muslim-based political parties clashed on Java, Indonesia's main island.
The official Antara news agency quoted Central Java Gov. Mardiyanto's confirmation of five dead and six injured in Friday's clash.
Central Java police commander Maj. Gen. Nurfaizi said members of the National Awakening Party and the United Development Party fought each other Friday at Jepara, 600 kilometers southeast of the capital, Jakarta.
He told the privately owned SCTV network that violence broke out after the two parties held separate rallies. Nurfaizi, like many Indonesians, uses only one name.
Nurfaizi did not say how the victims were killed. At least 14 vehicles and two houses were burned. He made no mention of injuries. The town was calm Saturday, he said.
Indonesia is bracing for an upsurge in violence in ahead of the ballot, the first since the resignation of authoritarian President Suharto a year ago.
During his 32-year reign, political activity was strictly controlled and only three officially sanctioned parties were permitted to take part in elections.
This time 48 parties are to contest the ballot for a new legislature, which will later help select a president.
Suharto's successor, Habibie, has said the election will be the freest held in Indonesia since 1955.
Many observers say violence is inevitable. Even during the Suharto era, campaigning was marred by violence. Supporters of various parties often take part in massive rallies that are later followed by noisy street parades sometimes infiltrated by rivals.
Several political rallies have resulted in clashes in recent weeks. Airlines have reported heavy bookings for flights out of Indonesia in the lead-up to the ballot.
While Habibie made no direct mention of the type of people leaving, many of those who have left or who are planning to leave are members of Indonesia's Chinese Christian and Buddhist minority, who are often targeted during times of civil unrest in overwhelmingly Muslim Indonesia.
Some Chinese play a major role in Indonesia's economy and their wealth is resented by sections of the mainly poor indigenous majority.
The newspaper Kompas quoted tourist authorities in Hong Kong and Singapore on Saturday as saying that large numbers of Indonesian Chinese had entered both cities in recent weeks.
Habibie said Indonesia needed all its citizens to stay and take part in the ballot, which he said should be conducted in a "peaceful and calm atmosphere.
"It is not necessary for people to skip overseas at election time," he said in a speech at a Muslim school in Ciamis, about 200 kilometers southeast of Jakarta.
"I appeal to all Indonesian
people to cast their votes at polling stations across the country. People
should cast their votes without any pressure from anyone."
| Aceh/West Papua |
Vaudine England, Banda Aceh -- Contrary to official claims yesterday that the death toll in Monday's massacre in the Aceh province town of Lhokseumawe was 31, human rights groups said the toll was at least 63 and could easily reach 100.
"The army reports are based on hospital sources," said Ahmad Humam Hamid, of the Forum Peduli Hak Asasi Manusia (Care Human Rights Forum) in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
"But many of those killed never reached the hospitals. Some bodies were taken by the families and some by the military."
On Monday, witnesses said soldiers opened fire on more than 2,000 protesters blocking a main junction in Krueng Geukueh. They were trying to march to a military headquarters in Lhokseumawe to protest at military violence in another village.
Officials argue rising violence is due to heightened agitation by the Free Aceh Movement, but observers say recent violence does not fit the pattern of separatist activity.
"Right now, the trouble is not only on the east coast, it has also started on the west," Mr Humam Hamid said. "Last night two local government offices were burned. And on Tuesday there was an armed robbery of a bank in Kota Fajar, South Aceh."
People on Aceh's east coast report that unidentified armed men have recently approached village heads, demanding millions of rupiah in "donations".
While some blame separatists, others note that the armed forces have often used this method of fund-raising in the past. "It is not impossible that the military wants to portray Aceh as a very stubborn province," said one academic in Banda Aceh.
The precise cause of soldiers opening fire on Monday remains unclear. Two soldiers discovered attending a meeting on Sunday were taken hostage by the crowd, but "there was already an agreement with the local Government for the two to be released", executive director of the forum Saifuddin Bantasyam said.
"By Sunday night, people heard that the army planned to take the soldiers back by force and the people could not accept this. So on Monday morning, they went to the military camp. Then there was shouting, then shooting."
Human rights officials agree that taking soldiers hostage is provocative, but say it was indicative of popular hatred of the military.
This is rooted in Aceh's decade-long experience as a Daerah Operasi Militer (DOM), or Area of Military Operation, as the armed forces aimed to wipe out alleged separatism.
This tragic past -- during which human rights groups say 7,900 cases of torture, rape and murder by the military occurred -- was supposed to end last August when President Bacharuddin Habibie lifted Aceh's DOM status. At first, Aceh enjoyed relative peace. But since the end of January, "villagers say it's worse than ever", Mr Humam Hamid said.
Another casualty of Monday's massacre is Mr Habibie's advisory team on Aceh matters. Just as the team was gaining local trust, its members are now in danger and can no longer go into the field.
Krueng Geukueh -- An army massacre of unarmed protesters in Indonesia's Aceh province may breathe new life into the restive territory's independence movement, diplomats and residents said on Thursday.
Three days after troops on Monday shot dead at least 34 anti- government protesters in Aceh, one of the province's main roads was lined by banners demanding a vote on self-rule.
The "Referendum" banners flank the 300 km road linking the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, to the industrial town of Lhokseumawe, near the scene of Monday's massacre.
"All it's done is reinforce attitudes [against Jakarta]," one Western diplomat said.
A few red flags carrying a star and crescent -- symbols of the separatist Free Aceh movement -- also stand by the roadside. As well, 'Referendum' is painted on roads across Aceh, in the northern tip of Sumatra island.
Indonesia's military set out to crush the Free Aceh movement during the 1990s in a brutal reign that only ended last year. Even now, troops repeatedly pull down the banners and flags, but at night Acehnese re-erect them.
Riot police were on Thursday ordered into Aceh, one of the Indonesian archipelago's most volatile hotspots. But separatist feeling shows no sign of abating, despite heavy security.
"These flags have been posted here since April," said a driver. "They get taken down, then they get put up again."
Students in Krueng Geukueh, where the troops opened fire on Monday, say the death toll from the attack is likely to rise with people still in critical condition in hospital.
Thousands of frightened locals have fled the small town, about 1,600 km northwest of Jakarta. On Thursday, many houses were abandoned and locked up. Paddy fields were untended.
"The people in the houses here have fled because they were traumatised by what happened on Monday. They are very frightened," one student activist told Reuters.
Children have not gone to school for days. "I am scared of being shot," said one eight-year-old boy. But there was no sign of the military.
"Killing in Aceh, it appears, is still the order of the day...," the Jakarta Post said in an editorial, belittling the military's excuse that its troops had fired in self-defence.
The massacre comes just two months after President B.J. Habibie visited the province to apologise for the military's past reign of terror and to promise that it would not happen again.
More than 2,000 Acehnese are estimated to have been killed during the nine-year military campaign in the resource-rich and staunchly Moslem province of 3.5 million people.
Aceh, whose oil and gas wealth has long been vital for the Indonesian economy, has long battled central rule, first by Dutch colonisers and since independence against the Jakarta government.
Separatist calls have grown louder in Aceh since Indonesia offered the rebellious province of East Timor independence. East Timorese are to decide their fate at a ballot in August.
Thousands have died in the violence that has spread throughout Indonesia in a year of political and economic chaos. The country is due to hold its first democratic poll in more than 40 years next month with a general election.
Many political analysts say the desire in Aceh to split from Jakarta is not that strong, though many want greater autonomy. But the Jakarta Post said the massacre could change things: "The killing has already given more ground for the separatists' cause.
"The government's failure to resolve this incident quickly and satisfactorily will make full independence with Indonesia an increasingly attractive option for many Acehnese," it said.
Lhokseumawe -- A regional military commander in troubled Aceh province has defended the army's shooting of protesters, as officials said Wednesday the death toll had risen to 31.
Colonel Johny Wahab was quoted by the Kompas daily Wednesday as saying the protestors action threatened the entire town of Lhokseumawe, the main town in the North Aceh district on Sumatra island.
Wahab, who was out of town when Monday's shooting took place, said the military headquarters the demonstrators were heading for housed several missiles which could have been used to blow up the town.
Lieutenant Colonel Nurdin Sulistyo of the military command based in Medan, in the neighbouring province of North Sumatra, said the protesters had to be stopped. "We deplore the incident but because people ... wanted to enter the headquarters of the military missile detachment, this had to be prevented because that place is dangerous, full of missiles," he said.
Soldiers opened fire on more than 2,000 protesters blocking a main junction 10 kilometres west of Lhokseumawe. The protesters encountered the soldiers as they tried to march to a military headquarters in Lhokseumawe from the village of Krueng Geukueh, 15 kilometres away, to protest against military violence at another village, a local journalist said.
T.S. Sani, from the North Aceh district authorities' fact-finding team, told AFP said that by midnight Tuesday "we had found a total of 31 bodies including that of one man nobody has been able to identify so far." There were 91 seriously injured in hospital and another 23 injured people had been taken home by relatives after treatment, Sani said.
A local Red Cross representative, Mauludi, said his death toll matched that of the fact-finding committee, but his records showed 100 seriously injured "all of gunshots" and 100 others were treated for light injuries.
"We have not yet completed registering those victims, dead or wounded, who have been taken away by their families," Sani said. "This will need time to process, so that we can obtain authentic and accountable data." Mauludi said all the dead had now been buried.
Indonesia's armed forces chief General Wiranto on Tuesday said he regretted the shooting and promised an investigation. The National Commission on Human Rights will send three people to Lhokseumawe on Monday, Commission member and former national police chief Kusparmono Irsan told AFP.
"We are currently gathering data from Jakarta in preparation for the fact finding visit to Aceh," Irsan said. The military has said the first shots were fired from the crowd and soldiers returned fire in self-defence.
But a local journalist said troops fired at the crowd after some of the protesters began to pelt them with stones. The crowd had intended to protest over violence by soldiers at nearby Cot Murung, during a house search by troops.
The soldiers were looking for a sergeant they said had gone missing after he was caught by villagers during a rally of the Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh) separatist movement on Saturday.
Villagers accused the soldier of infiltrating the rally while the military said he was visiting a relative. The Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh) has been fighting for an Islamic state in Aceh since the 1970s.
The paper published the names of the dead, including seven aged 18 or under. One of the dead is a six-year old boy. Ten of the dead were taken to PT Arun Hospital and thirteen were taken to Tjoet Metia Hospital, Lhokseumawe.
It says that the massacre occurred in Paloh Lada village, Dewantara Krueng Geukuh district, situated 18 kms west of Lhokseumawe.
The paper says that local residents say that as many as 61 people were killed and 200 wounded, but Waspada was unable to obtain the names of the casualties in hospitals other than the two mentioned above.
Local people have collected 105 spent live bullets and two Pindad unfired bullets, (Pindad is the Indonesian company which produces ammunitation for the Indonesia armed forces) as well as headware and jackets worn by the victims, which will be handed to the International Red Cross as evidence.
One of the wounded told the paper that he had been shot in the head even though he was lying on the ground. Another man, who was visiting a wounded relative said that the massacre must be reported to all the authorities and that all those who opened fire should be brought to justice.
[In an earlier report
from Tapol, based on a press release issued by the Aceh-Sumatra National
Liberation Front based in Sweden, said that on Sunday, May 2, troops entered
the area of Krueng Geukueh in an attempt to arrest an ASNLF activist believed
to be in the area, but the attempt was foiled by local people. The troops
returned the next day and began rounding up thousands of unarmed villagers.
When they tried to resist, troops opened fire at point-blank range, killing
44 and seriously injuring up to 150. The operation was reportedly conducted
by around one thousand troops including infantry battalion 115, units from
Kopassus, Brimob and the army's air-borne troops Arnud - James Balowski.]
| News & issues |
Brian Toohey -- An audience of two. That's all the Western Australian Liberal Senator, Sue Knowles, wanted when she rose to speak in Parliament on Wednesday about what she saw as an important development surrounding Paul Keating's business dealings with Indonesia while prime minister.
The two people who matter to Knowles are the Attorney-General, Daryl Williams, and the current Prime Minister, John Howard. Without their support, she can't get the inquiry she wants into Keating's behaviour.
Other senators have also mounted a case for an inquiry. Only Knowles has been cheeky enough to prod Howard along by noting that, while Opposition leader in 1995, he had demanded an inquiry into claims that Keating had done favours for his friend Warren Anderson over the building of the Northern Territory's new Parliament House.
Knowles's speech on Wednesday focused on a contract obtained from the Soeharto Government by the Soeryadjaya group which had bought Keating's half share in a piggery. Knowles told Parliament: "The unmistakable implication is that the Soeryadjayas bought out Keating's piggery share in return for influence peddling by the former prime minister with President Soeharto on their behalf."
Knowles reminded Parliament that Keating had said on the ABC's 7.30 Report in July 1998, "Mr Soeryadjaya was definitely not part of any crony structure with President Soeharto. He'd been on the outer, as anyone who knows about Indonesia knows". But Knowles said "he was not on the outer after he bought Keating's piggery interests".
Knowles said a new book, Asian Eclipse -- Exposing the Dark Side of Business in Asia, traced how the Soeryadjaya family fortunes had improved markedly following their purchase of Keating's share in the piggery. She quoted the author, Michael Backman, as saying: "The Soeryadjayas possibly hoped that their taking Keating's troublesome piggery investment off his hands would help im- prove their standing with Soeharto . . . There was no doubt a link with the Australian prime minister wouldn't do the family any harm."
Knowles said Backman told how a consortium headed by a Soeryadjaya company was subsequently awarded a fixed telephone line concession on part of Java. Backman noted that, "for the Soeryadjayas, it marked a return to big business".
Backman is a former member of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade who has worked in Indonesia. In his book, he says Keating used his influence with Soeharto in 1995 to pressure the Indonesian Government to accept Telstra as a partner in a 15-year concession to roll out and operate phone lines in central Java, and that another consortium headed by the Soeryadjayas' company, Artimas Kencana Murni, was awarded a similar concession.
He makes no claim that Keating also lobbied on behalf of the Soeryadjayas. (Although a central theme of Backman's book is that Asian leaders such as Soeharto should have stayed at arms length from the corporate sector, Keating can hardly be faulted for lobbying on Telstra's behalf.)
After Keating bought a half share of the Brown and Hatton piggery group for $430,000 in 1991, Coalition MPs subjected him to questions. Partly as a result of the distraction this caused, Keating disposed of his share after meeting the Soeryadjayas in Sydney in March 1994. According to a story in The Sydney Morning Herald last year, the Soeryadjayas agreed to pay $US6 million for Keating's share. Earlier this year, Keating told the paper he had received a little under $4 million. This figure has only whetted the appetite of Coalition politicians who obviously regard it as representing an intriguingly handsome capital gain on an asset whose debts had risen heavily.
Keating has said the Soeryadjayas were introduced to him by John Benson who has since retained him as a consultant on an aluminium project. Although Benson was a partner of Warren Anderson, Keating says he had not met him before the piggery sale. Knowles told Parliament the sale was not the first time Benson and Anderson had been involved in business moves involving Keating and Indonesian interests. In 1992 they had sought $130 million in Australian aid to supply cattle from Anderson stations to small farmers in Indonesia. The request was made to Keating's prime ministerial office from an Indonesian foundation, Yayasan Serangan Umum, to which Benson was a consultant.
According to Knowles, the Yayasan was "recently exposed as one of those tax-exempt foundations with hidden wealth, run by Soeharto's military cronies, with Soeharto himself as a patron". She said: "The documentary evidence shows that for three years Keating and [Laurie] Brereton [his then parliamentary secretary] tried to secure Australian aid funding for an uneconomic project which would have benefited Anderson." The proposal was eventually rejected by AusAID but "by this stage Anderson had sold his interest in the cattle stations".
The previous Wednesday, Senator Bill O'Chee told Parliament he had a new document showing that the Commonwealth Bank had written off $4.9 million in piggery group debt in May 1994 while the bank was still majority owned by the Federal Government. O'Chee said the CBA, "as much as the Indonesians who purchased his piggery, made Keating into a multimillionaire".
O'Chee told Parliament that, apart from writing off debt without any recourse to its security, the CBA had done Keating an extraordinary favour by giving the Indonesians a six-year no- interest loan worth about $4 million. He also said Keating benefited from the CBA's decision to write off $11 million in personal debts owed by his former piggery partner, Al Constantinidis, "conditional on his silence on matters to do with the piggery and Paul Keating".
On the same day, in a detailed speech on the piggery sale, Senator Paul Calvert said "documents now on the record raise a clear prima facie case of capital tax gains fraud by Paul Keating".
Keating has not commented on these speeches. But he previously issued a blanket denial of any impropriety or illegality while he was prime minister. He has specifically denied approaching anyone other than normal CBA line officers about the piggery and stated that he has paid all taxes due.
Fortunately for Keating, Howard seems to have changed his mind since 1995. Now that he is prime minister, he apparently believes that any official inquiry into behaviour allegedly damaging the office of prime minister could only further damage the office of prime minister.
Dan Murphy, Jakarta -- Lucrative deals no longer flow to former President Suharto's children and some of his best-known cronies. But for most of Indonesia's elite, the tight links between business and politics remain intact.
Despite grassroots campaigning against corruption and legislative attempts to level the playing field, old ways are proving resilient, reports the latest edition of the Far Eastern Economic Review published Thursday.
It's no wonder. Suharto may be gone but most officials who worked under him remain, beginning with President B.J. Habibie, Suharto's protege and longest-serving minister. When he took Suharto's place amid massive demonstrations last year, Habibie vowed to "stamp out corruption." But that would require fundamental reforms such as putting government supply contracts out to tender, and eliminating reliance on middlemen -- who often have relatives in government. So far, only spotty attempts at such reforms have been made.
"The corrupt culture of governance hasn't changed and I would argue that in the present government, the hanky-panky has even gotten worse," says Rizal Ramli, director of the economic consulting service Econit and a long-time government critic. He claims the number of officials reaching for kickbacks has increased ahead of legislative polls due in June and the selection of a new president in November.
"We're now in this temporary time where the officials are afraid the next regime could clean them out, so they're grabbing what they can," agrees Teten Masduki, a lawyer and coordinator of Indonesian Corruption Watch, a non-government organization.
Meanwhile, the government is expanding its role in the economy exponentially as it nationalizes much of the banking industry and threatens to seize billions of dollars in assets from bad debtors. The intervention is needed to clean up the financial system, but it also increases the scope for corruption. "You certainly have to be worried, given the government's track record when it comes to allocating capital," says a bank regulator.
During his first weeks in office, Habibie appointed his brother, Junus Effendi, to run the Batam Island industrial development zone near Singapore -- a post that Habibie himself held for years. A public outcry followed and Junus resigned, saying he didn't want his brother to be dogged by nepotism charges. Other Habibie relatives have extensive business ties with government agencies: Brother Timmy's Timsco Group has built much of Batam's infrastructure.
In a quiet signal of no-confidence in the government's honesty, the World Bank in April postponed a $600 million loan to Indonesia's social-welfare program. Bank officials say privately that they feared the funds would be diverted to the campaign coffers of Golkar, the party of Suharto and Habibie.
Citizens far from indifferent
Ordinary Indonesians are far from indifferent to the price they pay for endemic corruption. Students have marched repeatedly on Suharto's lavish Jakarta home to demand an accounting of how he and his family obtained their wealth. Corruption-watch groups have sprung up across the nation, and newspapers feverishly report corruption allegations that would have been unprintable during the Suharto regime.
Aware of the public mood, the legislature has drafted several clean-government bills; one would require public officials to disclose their wealth upon entering and leaving public posts. However, it does not require disclosure of family members' wealth -- a major loophole.
Habibie appointed an anti-corruption team in November headed by Hartarto Sastrosunarto, a 31-year veteran of Suharto's government and now minister for development supervision. Hartarto promised to "fight nepotism." But his relatives own dozens of companies and in February one of them -- Mahaka Niaga Perdana, owned by son-in-law Muhammad Lutfi -- received a $110 million government contract to supply 400,000 tons of imported rice to the Bureau of Logistics, or Bulog.
Mohammad Ismet, an official in Bulog's stock and supply office, says the price was $277 per ton. That was 22% above the February spot price for rice, but, according to Mohammad, was 10% below what Bulog had agreed to pay another company in December; that company failed to deliver. (During preparation of this article, Hartarto was overseas and didn't respond to questions relayed by his secretary; attempts to reach Lutfi by telephoning his office were fruitless.)
Under pressure from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, Bulog briefly adopted an open-tender system last year. But Mohammad says open tendering is not required and was not used in this case. Other government offices also report a lack of standardized procedures: "Most of our outside contracts are done on an ad hoc basis. There is no special procedure required," says Mohamad Rosul, head of the Finance Ministry's planning bureau.
Habibie's government last year canceled hundreds of contracts that it said were unfairly awarded -- many by state oil company Pertamina (P.PTM) for middleman services from companies controlled by the Suharto family. But oil contractors say some of the companies simply renegotiated lower prices and resumed business. (Pertamina didn't respond to faxes and phone calls seeking comment.)
During Suharto's last months, as a condition for receiving IMF loans after the rupiah crashed, the government ended a host of import and distribution controls that fostered monopolies, such as those in wheat and cloves. The legislature has since passed a law that bars companies from holding more than a 50% market share in any industry. But lawyers say it falls short because it exempts state companies and focuses on market share while ignoring anti-competitive practices.
Ultimately, any battle against corruption must be joined in the courts. But judges are poorly paid and appointed by the executive branch. "The first step is to make the legal system independent," says Laksamana Sukardi, an adviser to presidential hopeful Megawati Sukarnoputri. "Nobody wants their cases taken to court because they know the judges are dishonest and can be bought."
Public hopes for thorough reforms have been pinned on the election of a new government. But doubts and cynicism are setting in as Golkar flexes its grassroots muscle. One change seems certain no matter who wins: Power -- and hence favors -- will be shared more widely than under Suharto. Suharto's family and friends built their business empires over his three decades of authoritarian rule. The next president's powers will be checked by a new array of opposition parties and demanding local governments. That won't ensure a clean business environment, but it may at least make cronyism more competitive.
Jakarta -- President B.J. Habibie is concerned over clashes involving Muslim sympathizers of political parties. "He is concerned over clashes between political parties, especially those involving Muslims," Najamuddin Ramly, general chairman of the Central Executive Board of the Muhammadiyah Indonesia's second largest Muslim mass organization Youth Movement, said at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta yesterday afternoon.
"Muslims massacred one another even before campaigning started," Najamuddin said. According to Najamuddin, his movement will immediately hold a get-together with all political parties to prevent further clashes involving Muslims.
Najamuddin added that youths belonging to different religions will hold a get-together on 15th May. A campaign on the socialization of religions and national harmony will be simultaneously inaugurated.
Najamuddin cited the head of state as revealing the existence of a movement which wants to disintegrate the nation. The president dubbed the movement as KOMAS, a group of communists, marhaenists Indonesian-styled socialists, and socialists.
"This movement employs all means and disregards ethics. They want to seize power by all means," Najamuddin quoted Habibie as saying. The head of state received Najamuddin and other members of the Interreligious National Youths Get-Together Organizing Committee.
According to Habibie, KOMAS has triggered riots and even committed bombing. "They have tried to introduce the so-called popular platform preceding word received in English but have disregarded ethics," Najamuddin quoted Habibie as saying. When asked whether KOMAS has become an organization, Habibie described KOMAS as a "strange movement." KOMAS wants to disrupt political, economic, and other changes," Najamuddin quoted Habibie as saying.
According to Najamuddin, the president suggested the establishment of a board similar to a council of university students during his meeting with the organizing committee. "A board similar to a council of university students could serve as a forum for university students to learn to become democratic and dynamic and develop their talents," he quoted Habibie as saying.