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ASIET Net News 22 – May 31-June 6, 1999
| East Timor |
Dili -- The United Nations officially raised its flag in East Timor on Thursday, provoking loud cheers from a crowd of independence supporters and raising hopes of peace in the troubled territory.
"We have waited 24 years for this moment. This is a historic day, and some people say it is the beginning of peace in East Timor," said student Francisco Dionosio Fernandes.
More than two decades after Indonesia invaded East Timor, the United Nations is organising an August 8 vote which will ask East Timorese to choose between independence and greater autonomy within Indonesia.
"Now they have come. It is good for us," David Ximenes, a prominent pro-independence leader who came out of hiding for the flag-raising ceremony, told Reuters.
Some 3,500 independence supporters, some wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the outlawed East Timor flag, shouted their approval as the UN flag rose up the staff, and then broke into protest songs and chants of "Viva Timor Leste" ("Long live East Timor"). A car carrying prominent pro-Jakarta figures was kicked and thumped as it arrived at the ceremony.
The crowd -- the biggest pro-independence gathering in East Timor in more than a year -- dispersed peacefully after requests from Ian Martin, the recently arrived head of the United Nations mission to East Timor. Martin, a human rights expert, is a former secretary-general of Amnesty International.
Witnesses said two people were arrested after the demonstration. UN spokesman David Wimhurst said they had contacted the police. "I understand that two students were chased and picked up by the militia. We have contacted the police to find out what has happed to these people and find them," Wimhurst said.
UN head Martin stressed that the United Nations would play a neutral role in the vote. "The United Nations will work with all parties impartially and will be objective in its assessments," he told representatives of the Indonesian authorities, the former colonial power Portugal, the church and pro-independence groups.
At a news conference after the ceremony, Martin rejected accusations from Indonesian government minister Faisal Tanjung that the United Nations was favouring independence groups.
Tanjung accused the United Nations of insisting on the disarmament of the pro-Jakarta militias, but not the pro- independence Falintil guerrilla group as set out in an agreement signed by Indonesia and Portugal.
"The question of laying down of the arms was dealt with in the agreement ... On paper that includes Falintil, and I hope that soon in reality it will include Falintil, as well as the Indoneisian security forces and all political groups," Martin said.
The Indonesian authorities recently gave official status to one of the most notorious pro-Jakarta militia leaders, putting him in charge of coordinating civilian security in the East Timorese capital Dili.
Eurico Guterres, leader of the Aitarak (Thorn) militia which rampaged through Dili in mid-April, and more than a thousand Aitarak members were appointed in a letter signed by the government administrator of Dili district.
Before the Aitarak militamen went on the war path on April 17, killing as many as 30 people, Guterres commanded them to "conduct a cleansing of all those who betrayed integration (with Indonesia). Capture and kill if you need," he told his men.
The United Nations declined to comment on Guterres' appointment, saying that they had not heard of it.
Lindsay Murdoch, Dili -- Fresh allegations of killings and kidnappings by pro-Jakarta militia in East Timor emerged yesterday as a diplomatic war of words broke out between Indonesia and the United Nations.
Foreign journalists who visited the southern town of Viqueque said UN officials, who were planning to rent buildings to be used as ballot registration centres, had inspected an old school building, where locals claim 10 independence supporters were killed in the past two months.
The ABC quoted sources in the isolated town as saying that a pro-Jakarta militia known as Team 59-79, which had the backing of troops from Indonesia's elite Kopassus unit, used the school as a torture and killing base.
The ABC said it had been shown a list of the names of some of the militia's victims, whose bodies had been buried in a nearby village. Police in Viqueque, which is heavily fortified by Indonesian soldiers, denied any killings.
The UN Assistance Mission in East Timor also is investigating new claims of intimidation in Liquica, 40 kilometres west of Dili, where pro-Jakarta militia killed up to 60 people in a Catholic church in April.
According to local representatives of the main independence group, the National Council for Timorese Resistance, 10 women and 20 children were kidnapped on May 18 and are still being held by the local paramilitary group called Red and White Iron.
The militiamen are demanding that the women's husbands, who had fled into the mountains, return to Liquica and surrender, otherwise the women and children would be killed tomorrow. The claim could not be verified independently.
The UN's spokesman in Dili, Mr David Wimhurst, hit back yesterday at Indonesian Government criticisms of the UN's stand against violence in East Timor.
Indonesia's Ambassador to the UN, Mr Makarim Wibisono, had earlier described as "misleading" and "imbalanced" a report last week by the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, which accused pro-Jakarta militia of intimidation and violence.
Wall of military blocks doctors
Sydney Morning Herald - June 3, 1999
Lindsay Murdoch, Dili -- Indonesian authorities have blocked an Australian medical team working in Dili as scores of sick or wounded East Timorese are unable to receive treatment.
It is embarrassing for Australia's Prime Minister, Mr Howard, who personally negotiated with Indonesia's President, Dr B.J. Habibie, for the fully equipped team of two doctors and a nurse to go to East Timor to ease an unfolding humanitarian disaster. One of the few foreign doctors working in East Timor, American Dr Dan Murphy, appealed yesterday for the Australian team to be allowed to start work. As he treated a man shot by pro-Jakarta militia, and as more than 100 patients waited outside the small church clinic he runs in Dili, Dr Murphy threw his hands in the air: "Where are these Australians? People are dying here."A spokesman for AusAid, the Australian Government aid agency, told the Herald the team arrived in Dili on May 15 but had trouble starting duties due to initial restrictions imposed by Indonesian authorities.
The team also had a problem with a significant military presence in the main Indonesian-run hospital in Dili where they were supposed to work. Most East Timorese refuse to take wounded or sick family members to the hospital because of the soldiers, police and intelligence agents. Indonesian security forces maintain a 24-hour guard post outside the hospital and security officials regularly tour wards.
Instead of going to the hospital, most East Timorese either swamp the few small private clinics run by the Catholic Church, where facilities are primitive and medicine scarce, or go without any medical care.
The Australian doctors are now in Bali, while the nurse carries out training, counselling and other work at the Dili hospital.
The AusAid spokesman said the International Committee of the Red Cross was negotiating with Indonesia for the team to take up its initial assignment.
Asked why the doctors and nurse could not work at a non- government clinic while the red-tape was sorted out, the spokesman said: "Don't know." The team was to work under the auspices of the Red Cross, one of the few international agencies the Indonesian Government has allowed to operate in East Timor. The spokesman said the Red Cross was uncomfortable with the number of soldiers at the hospital.
More than 100 people have been killed and many more wounded since January when Dr Habibie announced he would give 800,000 East Timorese the right to decide their future at a UN-supervised ballot scheduled for August. Paramilitary groups backed by the Indonesian armed forces have been responsible for most of the violence. Mr Howard had appealed for the medical team to be allowed into East Timor when he met Dr Habibie in Bali in April. more than 40 Indonesian doctors have left the territory since Dr Habibie announced the ballot.
Peter Cole-Adams reports from Canberra: The Defence Minister, Mr Moore, said yesterday that the Government expected, and would agree to, a UN request to contribute to an international team of military liaison officers in East Timor. Indonesia's armed forces chief, General Wiranto, has called for about 45 unarmed foreign military officers to monitor Indonesian security forces ahead of the vote. Three Australian officials are due in Dili today to establish the new Australian consulate.
Too many vested interests mean the chances of East Timor separating peacefully from Indonesia are slim, Asia Editor David Jenkins writes.
On a recent Saturday afternoon, President B.J. Habibie sat in his office and talked about East Timor.
"Why the hell is East Timor with us?" the President recalled asking himself when he took over last year from President Soeharto, the man who sent the Indonesian army into Portuguese Timor in 1975. "It doesn't belong to our declared territory as of independence. Because of that, it becomes a problem in the United Nations."
That kind of thinking is not just a red rag to presidential front-runner Megawati Sukarnoputri, who would like East Timor to stay within the republic. It is anathema to powerful groups in the Indonesian Defence Force (TNI), or ABRI as it is still commonly known.
ABRI has lost between 4,000 and 5,000 men killed in East Timor, with many thousands wounded. It has no wish to pull out now.
"Habibie's attitude is short-sighted," says a member of a Jakarta think tank that advised the former Soeharto government on its East Timor strategy in the mid-1970s.
"He is not a statesman. He is a businessman and a very naive and narrow-minded one. He considers Indonesia as an enterprise. If one part of production is losing money, then why don't you sell it?"
In short, the battle over East Timor's future is being waged not just in the fear-filled streets of Dili but at the centre of power in Jakarta.
When Habibie was sworn in a year ago, he was widely seen as a man who would run a caretaker government.
Now, say the critics, the interim leader has had the nerve to make a decision about chopping off part of the country, without any mandate.
The policy debate over East Timor was bound to be reopened following the forced resignation of Soeharto, a development which gave a shot in the arm to the East Timorese independence movement.
And it began to hot up in January, not long after Australia's Prime Minister sent Habibie a letter suggesting that the East Timorese be given a greater say in their future.
Habibie rejected the basic premises of John Howard's letter. But according to a well-placed Indonesian source, the Howard letter had a major impact on the President.
"If Australia, which recognises the integration of East Timor, says that," the President is reported to have told his staff, "it means Australia is not happy with the autonomy option."
On January 21, Habibie invited key ministers to consider the idea of letting East Timor go, a policy option which enjoyed the support of advisers who had served with the President in the influential Indonesian Association of Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI).
Members of the so-called "ICMI crowd" saw East Timor as an issue that had caused Indonesia too much grief. They objected to the idea of spending large sums of money on what was, in their view, an essentially mendicant and ungrateful Christian outpost.
One of those often said to be closely associated with the idea was Dr Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a political scientist who is sometimes portrayed as a de facto foreign minister in Habibie's Government. Another was Dr Adi Sasono, the ambitious and sometimes combative Minister for Co-operatives. A third, some Indonesians believe, was Lieutenant-General Zen Maulani, Habibie's hand-picked head of Bakin, the civilian intelligence body. Yet another was Jimly Asshidiqui, a welfare policy adviser.
When the Habibie Cabinet met on January 27, according to an Indonesian source, the mood was, "Let's get something moving which will lead eventually to the separation of East Timor". Habibie, in particular, had felt this way, the source said.
"The international dimension was rather small," source said. "An underlying theme at that meeting was, "To hell with international opinion, including Australian opinion".
Perhaps even more curiously, ABRI went along with the plan, which was to lead eventually to the agreement for an August 8 poll in which the East Timorese would be given a choice between autonomy and independence.
When Habibie asked the Defence Minister, General Wiranto, for his views, the general reportedly said that ABRI would be prepared to accept the separation of East Timor provided three things were made clear.
One condition was that the 1975-76 invasion and annexation of East Timor was not acknowledged as a mistake of state policy; it had to be borne in mind, Wiranto said, that Indonesia had intervened to accommodate a desire for integration.
A second was that Indonesian military operations in the territory should not be seen as a mistake. There could be no suggestion that Indonesian soldiers had died in vain in East Timor.
Finally, it would be necessary to emphasise that East Timor had not been part of the Netherlands East Indies, the original basis of the Indonesian state, a point long made by those who support East Timor's independence.
On March 8 there was a swing back in Cabinet's mood. The Foreign Minister, Ali Alatas, came to the new meeting with an elaborate autonomy package based on UN experience in various parts of the world.
"It accommodated so many elements of UN interventionism that Habibie stopped him in the midst of his presentation and told him to revise it and come up with a new package," the Jakarta source said.
As a result, a "more unilateral nationalist package" was put to Cabinet on April 6. This was accepted by Cabinet and subsequently signed at the UN.
According to a member of the Habibie Cabinet, religious and economic factors lay behind the change in Indonesian policy on East Timor. "I would say it would be about 60 per cent religious and 40 per cent economic," he said. (The territory costs Jakarta about $150 million a year.)
That view is disputed by an adviser to the President. He claims that international considerations were dominant. Everywhere Indonesian diplomats and officials went, the official said, they were badgered about East Timor.
Although Wiranto had not opposed the new policy in Cabinet, it was not long before the Indonesian generals began drawing up plans to ensure that the pro-integration side carried the day in the August 8 vote.
In February, pro-Jakarta militias began appearing on the streets of Dili and other towns, cranking up a campaign of terror against those who favoured independence.
In the early stages of this process, the Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, put forward the thesis that the growing unrest in East Timor was the work of "rogue elements" in the Indonesian army, not army policy.
No-one in Jakarta believes that. "He's right," said a Western diplomat, his voice laden with sarcasm. "It's rogue elements. But Wiranto is the chief rogue."
That view is endorsed by a wide range of Indonesian and foreign sources. "It's not just rogue elements," says another diplomat. "It is deliberate policy to try to hold on to Timor, by fair means or foul."
Why did Wiranto support -- and then undermine -- government policy? According to a source close to the palace, it wasn't immediately clear, even to the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, what Habibie had in mind. Nor did Wiranto want to openly oppose the President.
An Indonesian with close army ties puts it slightly differently. ABRI, he said, suffered from "weak leadership at the top" and had not wanted to risk "an open conflict with the Government in this uncertain time".
But military men had felt confident about "sabotaging" Habibie's planned referendum "because they know that after the general elections they will get the upper hand from [political leaders] like Megawati and even [the conservative Muslim leader] Abdurrahman Wahid."
The army has two main concerns, one emotional, the other strategic.
First, a lot of Indonesian army pride and prestige has been invested in East Timor and a lot of army blood spilt there. An Indonesian withdrawal would be seen by many as an unbearable loss of face, a loss which would be compounded in some quarters by a loss of business opportunities and a loss of access to government subventions.
Second, army leaders have genuine and quite understandable concerns about the flow-on effects of an independence vote in East Timor. Already there have been calls for similar polls to be held in Aceh and in Irian Jaya, restless provinces at either end of the archipelago.
It is also true that some army officers are concerned about those East Timorese who favour continued association with Indonesia. East Timor has 13 districts, these officers point out, and there are significant kinship and cultural ties with Indonesian West Timor in the five districts closest to the border.
How is the Timor vote likely to go? "My guess," says a senior Western diplomat, "is the independence people will win. But it could be by quite a narrow margin, possibly 60-40 or 55-45, partly because of the stake some people have in the status quo in terms of jobs and so on, partly because of the intimidation. It's going to be as messy as hell."
An Indonesian who was closely associated with Jakarta's clandestine 1974-75 program to subvert and disrupt Portuguese Timor endorses that view. He warns of major problems if East Timor's five western districts are "forced" to join an independent Timor.
"If that happens," he says, "then subversion will always be there. If the process of getting independence is bitter and sour, then there will always be undermining factors, if not clandestine fighters, from the Indonesian side."
If ABRI is forced to walk out of East Timor, says this source, "I think they will leave some clandestines, the militia, behind. And it will become an Angolan situation [with each side supported by foreign backers]".
John Zubrzycki, Dili -- Pro-Indonesian militia were planning a military-style sweep on Dili tonight conducting house-to-house searches to check whether voters had registered for the June 7 general election, church sources revealed yesterday.
A source said the names of anybody found without voter registration cards or identity papers would be identified. "If they don't have their papers they will be killed in their next attack," the source said.
Leandro Isaac, a senior independence leader who returned home after spending six weeks under police protection, said the weekend checks were part of an intimidation campaign to get more people to vote in the Indonesian election.
"The militia are investigating all those who don't have registration cards," Mr Isaac said. "They are detaining people and indoctrinating them until they declare their loyalty."
Mr Isaac, 44, sought refuge at police headquarters in Dili on April 18 -- a day after the militia killed 21 people in a rampage in the capital.
Independent reports from Ermera, Maliana, Bobonaro and Alieu in the western part of the territory also indicated pro-Indonesia militia had been carrying out voter registration checks there for the past week.
"The situation in the towns is very tense but we expect there to be a lull in violence ... so that people do not feel intimidated to vote," said a source in Dili, requesting anonymity.
A spokesman for the Forum for Unity, Democracy and Justice, which has close links with the militia, denied the reports, but said militia leaders who were campaigning for the ruling Golkar party had been attending rallies and stressing the importance of voting.
Three militia leaders, Eurico Guterres and Jose da Silva Tavares from Dili and Manuel de Sousa from Liquica, are running for Golkar in the Provincial Assembly.
The election is being seen as a litmus test for the UN- sponsored August 8 ballot that will decide the future of the former Portuguese colony. A large voter turnout would be seen as a victory for pro-Indonesian forces. A low turnout would indicate the people of East Timor are more interested in independence than in voting for a short-lived administration that would be replaced by a UN-transitional authority if the autonomy option were rejected.
A spokesman for the UN Assistance Mission in East Timor said he hoped Mr Isaac's release from police protection would enable leaders of the National Council of the East Timor Resistance to come out of hiding.
David Wimhurst said it was important the CNRT be free to participate in the Peace and Stability Commission designed to promote an end to the violence between pro-integration and pro- independence groups.
Mr Isaac described as "a
small victory" the UNAMET-brokered deal that allowed him to leave police
headquarters with 44 other pro-independence activists. His house, attacked
by militia on April 17 and still riddled with bullet holes, is under 24-hour
police guard.
| June 7 election |
Hugh Bronstein, New York -- Wall Street wants a clear victory for the opposition in Indonesia's general elections on Monday, though a messy government coalition is the more likely outcome, New York-based financial analysts said.
A win by the ruling Golkar party could spark riots by those opposed to the party that ruled Indonesia with an iron hand under former President Suharto, analysts said. Rioting would likely sour interest among investors who crave stability.
"The best result would be a majority vote for the opposition, not because I think the Golkar party would be bad, but because there is already too much hope in the population for an end to this 44-year old regime," said Martin Anidjar, an Asian debt analyst at J.P. Morgan.
A coalition of opposition parties is led by Megawati Sukarnoputri. If the opposition wins but Megawati is not decisively the top vote getter within the coalition, the formation of a new government could be troublesome, Anidjar said.
"The larger her vote, the more negotiating power she'll have as she tries to form a coalition government," Anidjar said.
Devi Aurora, Asia analyst at Standard & Poor's DRI, agreed the most reassuring outcome would be for a clear winner to emerge from the opposition.
"But there will probably be a distribution of votes among several opposition parties and none will be in a position to form a majority government," she said. "So it will probably be some time before we know what this government will look like."
Megawati's party, the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), is expected to win one of the biggest blocks of seats in the new 500-member parliament.
Monday's ballot will be followed in November with the election of a new president. Megawati and leading Moslem figure and academic Amien Rais are viewed as the strongest candidates to succeed the unpopular incumbent, B.J. Habibie.
Although opinion polling in Indonesia is unreliable, Megawati seems to have solid popular support.
Anidjar said his feeling was that Megawati would win on Monday. "But my impression, like that of everybody else, is based on pictures of political rallies on the news and the fact she was able to become the leader of the opposition coalition," Anidjar said.
Indonesia's 7-3/4 percent bonds due 2006 were at a price of 73-1/2 Thursday. Last summer, during riots associated with the ousting of former President Suharto, the yield on bonds widened to about 1,800 basis points over US Treasuries. In recent months, as the market gained confidence that the election will be orderly, the bonds have tightened to about 800 basis points, or 8 percentage points, over yields on comparable Treasuries, Anidjar said. Tighter spreads reflect the perception of less risk.
Political uncertainty and economic crisis have slowed the pace of reform in Indonesia, Wall Street analysts said. The country's overall growth prospects in 1999 are more guarded than those in most other Asian emerging markets, such as Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, they said.
There is consensus among the major political parties that the country's economic policies should continue to follow the goals outlined by the International Monetary Fund. Indonesia has a stabilization program running with the IMF, but must abide by IMF economic targets in order to continue receiving disbursements.
So the market simply wants to see a popularly supported government that does not significantly change the country's economic direction, said Thomas Trebat, managing director for emerging markets research at Salomon Smith Barney.
"This is a suit of clothes that could be worn by any of the major party candidates. Megawati would come into office with more of a populist reputation, but could well become a pragmatist once she is in office," Trebat said.
Trebat pointed to Philippine President Joseph Estrada and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez as examples of politicians who ran as populists and then adapted to the global market economy once they started governing.
Patrick Walters, Jakarta -- The Megawati bandwagon took over central Jakarta yesterday as an estimated million-strong crowd joined in the biggest political rally yet seen during Indonesia's 17-day election campaign.
Tens of thousands of red-flag-waving supporters of Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P) jammed the roundabout surrounding the city's freedom monument, as traffic in downturn Jakarta came to a standstill.
As giant-sized angry bulls, the PDI-P's emblem, were towed around the city, red-clad youths danced deliriously to drum-beats on top of buses and trucks in the party's final day of campaigning in the capital.
The freedom monument was draped in long, blood-red PDI-P banners while cloth slogans on the nearby Hotel Indonesia urged the huge but good-humoured throng not to resort to violence.
The party headed by Ms Megawati, the eldest daughter of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno, remains favoured to win most seats in the June 7 elections with Ms Megawati given a strong chance of becoming Indonesia's fourth president.
In her final Jakarta campaign rally, held at Kemayoran in North Jakarta, she urged her supporters not to be bought by other political parties, telling them PDI-P was within striking distance of victory.
"We have been oppressed for many, many years. We have been pushed aside for many, many years but now we can win. Do not sell your vote! United we are strong. Divided we fall," she said.
"If the election is fair Megawati will be president," said Dody, a hotel employee observing yesterday's rally. "But Golkar (the ruling government-backed party) can stop PDI-P from winning. Golkar is still a very dangerous party."
PDI-P strategists remain optimistic. "We think realistically we can win at least 40 per cent of the 462 parliamentary seats to be contested next week," Laksamana Sukardi, one of Ms Megawati's closest advisers, told The Australian yesterday.
This would mean the PDI-P would have at least 180 seats in the People's Representative Assembly and allow it to govern with the support of just one other coalition partner, such as Abdurrahman Wahid's National Awakening Party, as well as the military who control a block of 38 uncontested seats in the 500-seat assembly.
Golkar, which will enjoy a final day of campaigning today, has attracted only muted support in Jakarta, conducting no big street rallies. But party spokesmen claim they will win up to 40 per cent of the vote.
A call earlier this week by the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (Muslim elders) for Muslims to vote for Islamic parties has been firmly rejected by the major political parties.
Amien Rais, the leader of Partai Amanat Nasional, said such a call could jeopardise the country's future.
"If the polarisation crystallises all elements of society into two opposing forces -- the Islamic power on one side and the nationalist-secular camp on the other -- it could be very dangerous," Mr Rais said.
"There are only two choices. One is to leave Suharto and all remnants of his regime behind, and the second is to move towards a more democratic Indonesia."
Jakarta -- As Indonesians worried about possible fraud and manipulation in Monday's historic election, more than 500 international monitors moved into action Friday to make sure voting takes place fairly.
Former US President Jimmy Carter will join the observer mission on Saturday, part of a mammoth effort to ensure the sprawling archipelago's freest elections since 1955 are not tainted.
European Union election monitor Barbara Smith has spent the last three weeks visiting dozens of local offices in North and West Jakarta, inspecting poll conditions for 1.3 million voters. She checks that ballots are in order and will be carefully protected.
In the Penjanngan district, a dozen closely guarded workers faced a midnight deadline as they made last-minute preparations and waited for tallying forms. Six carpenters frantically repaired broken boxes.
International observers will join more than 617,000 local monitors, blanketing almost every polling station in the sprawling country of 210 million people.
Smita Notosusanto, a political science professor and executive director of domestic monitoring group UNFREL, said people only will trust an outcome certified by Indonesian monitors. Ninety- five percent of her group's members are students.
"You have to put yourself in the context of a country that has never learned to conduct a free election," she said. "The domestic observers have a crucial, unprecedented role. We should make the first evaulation, not the foreign monitors. You tell that to Mr. Jimmy Carter."
Carter plans to announce the US monitors' preliminary assessment of the election two days after the polls close.
Because Indonesia is spread out over so many islands, the logistics of distributing and counting votes is daunting.
"This will probably amount to the largest deployment of domestic monitors for an election that we've ever seen in the world," said Charles Costello, director of democracy programs at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
Yindee Lertcharoenchok, Jakarta -- As speculation runs high of political wooing of military support, Indonesia's Armed Forces Chief Gen Wiranto yesterday did not rule out his nomination as the country's next president or vice president, saying political parties have the right to do so.
"All citizens of Indonesia regardless of religion, ethnicity and who are civilian or military have the duty to devote and dedicate their lives to the country, so if there are a number of political parties which decide to nominate me to be the upcoming president or vice president I would consider it as quite normal," Wiranto said.
"And of course this is their right to nominate me as the upcoming president or vice president," Wiranto said in response to a question raised during his meeting with representatives of the Asia Network for Free Elections (Anfrel), which is in the country to help monitor the general election scheduled for Monday.
Wiranto, also defence minister under the current transitional government of President B J Habibie, has been nominated by some small Islamic political parties for vice president, but the five key parties including the military-backed Golkar Party, which had backed former president Suharto's rule for 32 years, has not officially named its vice presidential choice.
Golkar, which had last month officially nominated Habibie as its presidential candidate, has had second thoughts and said it might reconsider its choice.
In an interview yesterday, a senior Indonesian journalist of a leading daily newspaper here said if there was "a political deadlock" in the MPR presidential election in November, chances were that Wiranto could become a choice for either the presidency or vice presidency.
During the meeting with Anfrel, Wiranto also played down concern over the possibility of a military coup or intervention in politics, a practice which has taken place in many new emerging democracies including Thailand, saying every country has its own characteristics and culture.
"Thailand and Indonesia are, of course, different countries and we have different concepts of implementing state politics which should not be, of course, similar," he said when asked if the Indonesian military would opt for similar measures taken by its Thai counterpart.
The Indonesian journalist, who asked not to be named, said he believed Wiranto, who has retained strong ties with the United States, would not attempt a "traditional" coup like in the case of Thailand. But the Indonesian military will not tolerate any attempt by small Islamic political parties forming an alliance with Islamic groups to create an Islamic state.
"Right from day one, the military has made clear that it will not tolerate religious domination [to create a sectarian state]. If that is the case, there would be a legitimate cause for military intervention to prevent the country heading in that direction," he said.
Wiranto said the general election across the Indonesian archipelago, except for a few hot-spots of violence in the westernmost Aceh province, will go ahead as scheduled on Monday.
Jakarta -- Anti-riot troops fired shots at a crowd ripping up flags of Indonesia's ruling Golkar party in Jakarta Friday, an AFP photographer said. The state Radio Republic Indonesia said five people had been injured, but two hospitals contacted by AFP said they had not received any casualties.
Some 200 anti-riot troops opened fire in the air in front of a crowd of less than 1,000 people who had been ripping up party symbols along the roadside. When the crowd started throwing rocks at the troops, they then fired towards the group, the AFP photographer said.
Police said one motorcycle was burned by the crowd, but declined to give further details. A witness said another motorcyle and a car were damaged by mobs.
The shooting came on the last day of the largely-peaceful 17- day campaign period before general elections Monday, the first since the fall of former president Suharto in May of last year amid widespread rioting.
Suharto was the patron of Golkar, whose members voted him back into power for seven consecutive terms. Golkar was one of only three official parties allowed under Suharto.
The incident occurred as a convoy of Golkar supporters was heading for a rally to be addressed by party chief and former state secretary Akbar Tanjung in northern Sunter, and had to pass by the Senen commercial area, the radio said.
Crowds on the street in Senen began pelting the convoy with rocks and tore up the flags and symbols flying from the cars.
A witness said after the shooting the area was heavily patrolled by troops, and crowds were still milling about on the streets. Jakarta police Major General Nugroho Jayusman was on site trying to calm the crowd and calling for them to disperse.
In another incident in central Jakarta outside the Sahid Jaya Hotel, supporters of Golkar and the Indonesian United Democracy Party scuffled, a hotel staff member said. But it was unknown who started the trouble. One PUDI supporter was slightly injured on his hand and taken to the hotel medical centre for treatment.
In a third incident in the Bendungan Hilir area, south of the hotel, people pelted another passing Golkar convoy, but security forces stepped in swiftly to quell any trouble.
Vaudine England, Bandung -- The leafy avenues of West Java's capital are host to the green, white, yellow and red flags of the forthcoming multiparty elections.
But, as elsewhere, street rallies are dominated by the red and black colours of Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-Perjuangan).
Herein may lie the root of unrest as soon as Monday's election results unfold, according to bright, dedicated student volunteers at the Independent Committee for Election Monitoring (KIPP) office in Bandung.
"The main problem is if PDI-Perjuangan does not get the result it expects," said Ahmad. "Big rallies do not necessarily mean big votes."
"We're afraid riots will come after the election; more conflict, violence and fighting between parties, if people cannot accept the results as free and fair," added his colleague, A. Airino Thamrin, at KIPP's office.
PDI-Perjuangan rallies have created the majority of problems in Bandung -- aside from the money politics of the ruling Golkar party -- as they have usually ended in attacks on Golkar offices and property.
One child, Anum Sidik, 13, is still missing a week after he was persuaded to join a PDI-Perjuangan rally as he stood on a main street in Bandung. His parents are now posting reports in the local newspaper, Pikiran Rakyat, having been told by PDI- Perjuangan staff that they cannot be held responsible for the child's "spontaneity".
"Until now, there has been no significant response from PDI- Perjuangan about the missing boy," said Mr Ahmad. "Such things show the party's lack of control over supporters."
Recent surveys conducted in West Java -- the largest province in terms of electoral potential -- show that it is still a "pro- status quo" area.
One recent survey concluded that Golkar would win 22 per cent of the West Java vote, PDI-Perjuangan 19 per cent, and the PPP (United Development Party) about 14 per cent.
Such a result would contradict the street atmosphere of pro- Megawati mass hysteria. But observers point out that many of those taking part in rallies are too young to vote or are simply hired crowds provided by enterprising local entrepreneurs.
Bandung is a university town still scattered with delightful Dutch-era art deco architecture. It is also West Java's military command centre and home to two elite military training colleges.
"There is still intimidation from the bureaucracy here," said Mr Ahmad at KIPP. "Many staff feel they have to follow their bosses and still vote Golkar. And many people think reformasi [reform] would be counter-productive for them."
KIPP volunteers and members of the Rector's Forum (the university-based monitoring network) are ready to provide detailed monitoring of voting and vote-counting at most polling booths in the province, including the special booths provided for blind voters.
Tomorrow, they will be joined by a group of European poll monitors led by John Gwyn Morgan. "We will monitor at the kelurahan [sub-district] level," said Mr Ahmad. "Maybe we don't have enough volunteers to cover each polling station, but we have built a system of cross-checks."
[The following is a report and commentary on the election campaign posted by Joyo Indonesian News by a highly regarded political analyst who prefers to remain anonymous.]
Golkar
As the election draws near, a number of things are becoming evident. First Golkar is fragmenting and self-destructing at an accelerating pace. The decision to make Habibie the sole presidential candidate signaled to everyone inside and outside the party that any hope of claiming this was the "New Golkar," as banners and billboards blare, is now dashed. It was the political equivalent of kicking the ball into their own goal.
There is still some talk of the role money politics will play. But with the massive support being shown for the opposition parties, and with Golkar's inability to campaign effectively (their cars and speakers are pelted with plastic bottles and top speakers have had to flee angry crowds), the view that money politics has a significant chance of being effective is waning.
Money politics at election time always turned on the fact that Golkar was the only game in town. Village heads and Muslim clerics under pressure to deliver their constituencies for Golkar understood that doing so would not only guarantee a handsome payoff in cash or kind, but also would carry a clear punishment if he failed. The payoff side of the equation is still functional. But because Golkar is very much not the only game in town, because virtually no one expects Golkar to win, and because the punishment equation works in the opposite direction (the penalties could come from above and below), crucial elements of the money politics formula are impaired or absent.
Money politics can also enter through the MPR door. Here the argument goes that Golkar will save its resources and deploy them in overwhelming force within the MPR, buying enough votes to pull off a victory. The problem with this scenario is that again one has to think about the context in which this particular MPR meeting is going to be conducted, as well as the consequences each "bought off" MPR member will need to consider for willingly playing the role of political prostitute (even if only for a day).
Unlike past MPR meetings, where at most the people were kept behind barricades of soldiers, this MPR meeting will be much more infused with participation of the people. It will not be a hermetically sealed event. If representatives sell themselves off one by one to the hated and discredited Golkar, how are they to leave the MPR building except by helicopter?
East Timor and PDI-Mega
The chartered plane carrying Megawati's entourage from Jakarta to Dili gathered at Halim airport at around 4 am for the 5 am departure. The plane held 70 and was fully booked with PDI leaders (Megawati, Laksamana Sukardi, Dimyati, Theo Sjafei, Arifin Panigoro, among others).
It was my first trip to East Timor, and I was interested not only in the political climate in Timor, but especially how Megawati was received. Her position on autonomy and independence has evolved considerably over the months since Habibie made his snap announcement promising an almost immediate referendum, but it was still mostly murky with clear leanings toward trying to keep East Timor as part of Indonesia (not because of Timor itself, but because centrifugal forces in the archipelago have increased dramatically since Suharto's fall and she and others fear that the precedent of Timor's independence could set in motion a domino effect that would balkanize the country). Thus Megawati's visit to East Timor had a great deal of significance both for gauging how well the people of the region accept her, but also for how the visit might refine her stance.
At the Dili airport, the evidence of tight security was immediately visible. She was swept immediately into a lounge where she sat with the governor, the commander for Timor (Tono), and the commander of the police. Pleasantries were exchanged and the local officials assured Megawati that all preparations had been made to ensure the visit would be secure and without incident.
After everyone loaded into vehicles, the ride to the stadium was underway. There was quite a long parade of cars and trucks, all waving the red symbols of the PDI-P. The supporters were vocal, though sedate by ordinary standards of a Megawati campaign visit. Most telling were the people along the route to the stadium. They came to their doors and windows to observe the passing of the trucks and all the fanfare. But very few came out to the side of the road to join in the festivities. There was very little cheering, waving, or flag showing. Although not hostile to Mega's visit (one could see smiles and signs of that excitement that attends the glimpsing of popular figures like Megawati), there was a clear reticence. It is likely that the recent waves of violence at the hands of the militia has made the Timorese very reluctant to venture forth. And Megawati's unwillingness to proclaim her support for independence for East Timor must surely be part of the equation also.
Before Mega arrived there were only about two or three hundred people in the stadium. But a somewhat larger crowd of maybe 2 or 3 thousand assembled by the time Megawati took her seat and the speeches began.
The singing of Indonesia's national anthem, "Indonesia Raya," was particularly awkward. As the announcer blared the song into the microphone, only a tiny core group of PDI-P supporters join in weakly. But hardly a mouth on the field or in the grandstands moved. Later I asked Megawati if she noticed this, and she said it was hard not to notice. When Mega herself spoke, she was received with applause and some yells of support. But even among the assembled members of the PDI-P in Dili, one could sense the contradictions of the moment.
I approached a group of about five young men pressed against a rail straining to catch a glimpse of Megawati and the whole show. "Are you pro-integration?" One made a "V" sign down around waist-level and said "independence." Then why are you here cheering on Megawati, I asked. "We're here to show our respect. But we want independence." The others nodded in agreement.
The entourage loaded back into the vehicles and the parade moved on to Bishop Belo's residence. The Bishop stood on his front steps to greet Megawati as she approached. It was a warm welcome. Inside the sitting area Megawati opened with "The people of East Timor must be given a chance to choose." Bishop Belo responded, "I agree fully."
Outside, a small group of young men painted in PDI-P's red peered through Bishop Belo's iron gate surrounding his compound.
"Are you PDI supporters?" "Yes," they responded. "Are you pro-integration?" "No, we want independence." "But Megawati has not spoken out in favor of independence. So why are you here supporting her?" "We're here to let her know how we feel and what we want."
The meeting with Bishop Belo finished after about 20 minutes and the busses and cars headed back to the airport. There was a brief period again in the VIP room where people milled about. I was approached by Prof. Dimyati, who has made several hardline statements on East Timor -- statements which have been amended or rejected by others inside the PDI-P, and to an extent by Megawati herself.
"What's your impression?" he asked. I said that the reticence was palpable and that everyone I spoke to on the sidelines of the rally stated a firm determination to be independent.
"That's just one or two people," he said, adding he and others thought the split was 50-50 on integration. I responded that it was my impression that he was the one talking to only one or two people.
On the plane to Ambon Megawati spoke about East Timor. It was her most detailed description of her position on the situation to date. She began by emphasizing that the issue is not whether the Timorese should be given an opportunity for self determination, but rather the manner in which it is done, the timing, the schedule, and the context. Thanks to the sudden announcement by "Mr. Habibie," as she referred to him, everything in East Timor had been thrown into chaos. The climate was one of violence, mistrust, fear. In short, Habibie managed, together with the armed forces, to poison the situation.
"The point of a referendum is to express the wishes of the people of East Timor. Under the current circumstances, which are not normal and far from ideal, a referendum is ill-advised. The timetable has gone from being one of creating a favorable climate for self determination, spanning years, starting with a cessation of violence, demilitarization, and proper preparation, to being one of a vote without preparation, marred by violence and intimidation, and rushed. This matter is too important to be handled this way. And the people on the Indonesian side handling it are themselves a transitional government that is not even constitutional."
"We are going to have national elections on June 7th. And before we can even form a new MPR to determine the shape of the new government, there is going to be a referendum on August 7th in East Timor. A president that has no mandate and no legitimacy has set this process in motion. It is hard to imagine a worse way of doing this."
"In a spirit of good will, and involving all the parties to this issue, especially the recognized leaders of the Timorese themselves and the UN, I would urge that the referendum be postponed until after we have a new MPR and a new government in place. At that point, a new schedule should be set that starts with creating a favorable climate for an act of self determination. I say this not because I want to block the people of East Timor from having their chance to vote, but rather because I want the outcome to have a chance of reflecting their genuine views."
"If in the end, after a proper interval and with proper preparation, the people of East Timor choose independence, can you accept that choice?" she was asked.
"The hope in my heart is that under a different Indonesian government, under conditions where they are not living in violence and fear, the people of East Timor will want to remain part of Indonesia. But if, ultimately, they choose a different path and future, the will of the people in East Timor must be respected. It is the only way."
Megawati commented also on the relationship between East Timor's possible independence and pressures in other parts of the archipelago for independence or autonomy. She said that a more deliberate timetable on East Timor would simultaneously allow Jakarta to forge a new relationship with the regions that, she felt, would go a long way toward addressing their concerns and greatly reduce calls for separation. Thus a slower pace on an East Timor referendum would allow a delinking of East Timor's future from the current concerns of a domino effect around the archipelago.
Jeremy Wagstaff, Jakarta -- Indonesia's election commission, formed to break the national tradition of stage-managed votes, has been riven by infighting, indecision and allegations of corruption. It has resulted in an election system that, while much better than the old one, is a patchwork structure that falls short of the hoped-for overhaul.
Problems faced by the 53-member National Election Commission, or KPU, have ranged from the serious to the absurd: It canceled an audit of political-party spending after some commission members objected to it -- on behalf of their parties. Commission funds have been disbursed so slowly that some local election boards have been forced to accept donations to operate. And as recently as Tuesday, election officials said they must retest some of the "indelible" ink used to mark voters, following reports that it can be washed off with water.
The idea was for the KPU "to be a neutral body, like everywhere else," says Miriam Budiardjo, a veteran political scientist and member of the government's election monitoring committee. "But instead it's become a vehicle for political parties."
Limited time, big task
This isn't to say that Indonesia's election can't take place on time or fairly. Armed forces chief Gen. Wiranto said Tuesday that polling would be delayed in only "a few districts," and that because of unrest. Indeed, the campaign has been relatively smooth, considering some of the dire predictions for wide-scale violence or bloodshed. That in itself is remarkable -- the commission, formed in March, had less than three months to organize Indonesia's freest election in nearly half a century. The commission was a keystone in President B.J. Habibie's goal of persuading Indonesians and the world he is serious about democratic reform. He selected respected academics to draw up fresh election laws, and designed a commission to implement them that was meant to be independent and responsive. A centerpiece was the fact that every political party would have a seat on the commission -- the goal being that any election fine-tuning would be smooth and accepted by everyone.
Political tool
What the designers didn't account for was self-interest. Instead of appointing deputies to sit on the KPU, at least a third of the 48 party leaders appointed themselves, turning it into more of a mini-parliament than a technical body. The result: a slew of rulings that have benefited parties at the expense of a transparent and straightforward election. "They sometimes behave like a supreme body," says Andi Mallarangeng, who helped draft some of the election laws and now sits on the commission as a government appointee.
But for some smaller parties, the commission has been a boon. It has allowed KPU member and politician Agus Miftach to forge deals with other parties and ensure nothing is decided that may harm his tiny Indonesian People's Party. For instance, on Monday the commission decided to delay by five days a deadline for announcing vote-swapping accords, a move that would allow smaller parties to pool votes but may not give them enough time to explain their arrangements to voters and election officials.
"This is a political opportunity," Mr. Miftach says in his Jakarta party headquarters. "Politics is not black and white. Politics is high flexibility."
Such issues have left a backlog of other matters, such as funding the election. Some volunteer officials at the subdistrict level say they haven't received funds from the commission to organize voter registration. In the Jakarta suburb of Menteng, for example, officials say they have only been able to complete their work with a 10-million-rupiah ($1.2 million) donation from the governor's office.
"We've received no money from the KPU so far," says election official Saudi. "We suspect that someone somewhere is earning some nice deposit rate on the funds right now."
Suspicion is rife
Suspicion is rife, too, within the KPU itself. Members openly accuse each other of wanting to derail the election; politician members accuse government appointees to the commission of favoring one party over another. And KPU members say they are suspicious of the commission's predecessor, the LPU, which they say awarded contracts that don't stand up to scrutiny.
As a result, a lot of the work that the LPU did ahead of time has been reviewed, some of it within days of the election. Mr. Miftach, a member of a subcommittee responsible for procurement, says he has personally reviewed several contracts that suggested possible corruption. "I don't have any proof yet," he says, but adds, "If I can, I will certainly take action."
The KPU itself has become the target of similar allegations. Some of the 18 companies that won contracts to print the more than 400 million ballot papers, for example, say they have been required to pay between 20% and 60% of the value of the contract in bribes, company executives say.
One executive of a printing company says he has received payment for only 20% of the 50 million ballot papers he printed. "The actual amount I do end up receiving and the amount they keep is negotiable," he said, asking that his company not be identified. Mr. Miftach denies such allegations. "Not one rupiah has gone to a KPU member," he says.
Corruption was a feature of the Indonesian government under former President Suharto, who stepped down under pressure a year ago, and few Indonesians are surprised that there are similar allegations now. But given the KPU's high profile and the government's desire for probity, the talk is a blow to those members who hoped to show a clean break with the past.
Hasballah M. Saad, a member of the National Mandate Party and a KPU member, says he has heard of the allegations, but can't do much about it. "This could be the last time for us to get it right," he says. "Otherwise people might never believe in us again."
Jakarta -- Peace held out Tuesday during rallies in the Maluku and East Timor, where hundreds died in recent conflicts, during a round of barnstorming by Megawati Soekarnoputri, but violence marred campaigning in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi.
In Ujungpandang, at least 11 were injured and 16 homes of Golkar supporters were destroyed during a clash involving supporters of the National Mandate Party (PAN), Golkar, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and students of the Indonesian Muslim University (UMI).
The unrest, which until the evening, erupted following the last round of campaigning of PDI Perjuangan. Party supporters told The Jakarta Post that the clash between supporters of PAN and PDI Perjuangan with Golkar was revenge for the latter's earlier attacks on their party offices. Last week Golkar supporters also used the reason of revenge for justifying attacks on the offices.
Tuesday's clash between students and PDI Perjuangan supporters was triggered by messages on banners erected in front of the UMI campus on Jl. Urip Sumoharjo which read: "Those who choose a woman for their leader will not be blessed," and "Do not defy the Koran and Hadis [Prophet Muhammad's sayings] only for the choice of a woman as president."
PDI Perjuangan believes the issue of gender is being used to belittle the presidential aspirations of its chairwoman Megawati.
PDI Perjuangan supporters returning from a rally at Mattoanging stadium began to tear up the banners before students chased them away. Students then blocked the road and checked passing vehicles for PDI Perjuangan supporters.
"This is a deep insult to us," a sobbing student said. Students also pulled down and burned PDI Perjuangan flags. Hundreds of the party's supporters subsequently tried to enter the campus after their street rallies, but were blocked by security personnel.
Three Golkar supporters, three PDI Perjuangan supporters and two residents were rushed to two local hospitals, mostly for wounds from stones and spears. Two vehicles were destroyed.
Wirabuana Military Commander Maj.Gen. Suaidi Marasabessy said all sides should keep themselves in check and that the official Supervisory Election Committee should act firmly against all political parties involved in violating election rules.
PAN and PDI Perjuangan supporters destroyed 16 homes and vandalizing Golkar posts, witnesses said. The official residence of the legislative speaker here, Amin Syam, who also is Golkar provincial chairman, was attacked and Golkar's office was surrounded.
In contrast, calm persisted in Dili as Megawati arrived shortly before 9:30am to a welcome from 5,000 supporters. She took a bus to the Municipal Stadium which was crammed with 10,000 supporters garbed in the party's color of red.
Flanked by an entourage including former Udayana military commander Theo Syafei, Megawati spoke for about 10 minutes. She said the East Timorese "should have a big heart in participating in the direct ballot [to determine East Timor's future] peacefully".
The statement was a shift from her initial outright rejection of the possibility of East Timor's separation from Indonesia though she asked people to "develop with Indonesia." Locals praised Megawati for her concern for the "small people" and her close ties to Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo.
Security measures in East Timor were indicated by the occupation of prointegration faction posts by police since Monday. Party supporters from regions were free to travel to Dili.
Megawati met the bishop for 10 minutes during which Belo said they discussed locals' participation in the June 7 polls and in the direct ballot. "We asked that PDI Perjuangan help to enforce the law in East Timor," he said.
Later in Ambon, Megawati addressed about 25,000 people for only three minutes. Her delegated time was used up by the four- hour trip from Pattimura Airport 40 kilometers away after her convoy was made to stop at every village. Residents had demanded that she travel by road instead of helicopter as planned. Residents in Muslim-dominated areas also greeted her. The party locally is associated with Christians.
However, party supporters disrupted a meeting of Golkar, considered their main rival in the area. Supporters of Muslim parties, who are migrants, have fled in the thousands after at least 300 were killed in religious clashes since January.
In Purwokerto, Central Java, a campaign of the National Awakening Party (PKB) saw some 100,000 supporters flocking the town from various areas. Congestion continued from morning to late afternoon but rallies were peaceful. Dangdut star Mega Mustika was among the attractions.
In Surabaya, Golkar finally saw a lively campaign after three quiet rounds. Some 1,000 supporters packed the Youth Hall. But a group of young people with Golkar flags came in a pick-up bringing a bouquet expressing "condolences for the death of the Golkar Party." It was placed at a nearby intersection. Attendants were mostly high school students who are on holiday. A few said they were paid Rp 20,000 to Rp 50,000 each.
In Jakarta, National Awakening Party (PKB) secretary-general Muhaimin Iskandar told at least 15,000 supporters not to choose the United Development Party (PPP), the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) led by Budi Harjono, saying the parties were founded by the New Order regime.
Whole villages no longer have to back the dominant party, writes Sander Thoenes Across the heartland of Java, home to more than half of Indonesia's 210m people, villagers almost unanimously admit they have no clue about the policies of the 48 parties competing for parliament in the June 7 vote.
But villagers interviewed had caught the drift of a series of slick television commercials, financed by the US Agency for International Development. Shot by the country's leading movie director, they show everyday Indonesians across the archipelago stressing the fact that they, for the first time in 44 years, are free to vote as they please.
"This time, we make our own choice," said Udi, a middle-aged farmer in Blanakan, northern Java. "We don't follow anyone's lead. When the village head tells me to choose one party or another, I just say no."
Only the vote count will tell how strong this sentiment is, but the times when government officials could cajole whole villages into voting for the dominant Golkar party are clearly past.
Volunteer election observers have accused Golkar of abusing government property for the campaign, but opposition leaders have been indifferent because they feel confident such tricks will not sway the voters.
Villagers interviewed proved remarkably aware that their village head, their teachers and other civil servants were banned from openly pushing any party. Most said the local bureaucrats had not even tried.
"In the past, the village was afraid of the village chief," said Matori Abdul Djalil, chairman of the National Awakening party (PKB), at the start of a campaign tour of central Java. "Now the village chief is afraid of the village. That's why most of them are neutral this time."
It does not follow that every Indonesian is able to make an informed choice, given the lack of substantive campaigning and limits of political awareness among the poor.
The forced neutrality of civil servants does not apply to thousands of kiai, Islamic teachers who run religious schools in even the smallest village and are asked for advice on everyday matters.
Long loyal Golkar supporters, they have switched en masse to Mr Matori's party because it is the official mouthpiece of Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Moslem organisation.
"Now we choose for ourselves but we are poorly educated," said Imron, a rice farmer in Slijeg, northern Java. "We look to our leader for guidance. Our leader is the kiai."
Assuming this logic, Mr Matori confidently predicted that his party would win 30 per cent of the vote, adding that he expected a coalition with the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDIP), of Megawati Sukarnoputri, to obtain a majority in parliament.
Further south, the hold of Nahdlatul Ulama is not nearly as strong, and the kiai operate in villages which for centuries observed a more nominal form of Islam that includes Hindu and Buddhist beliefs.
As in the last free elections, in 1955, many of these villagers intend to vote for the party most associated with the former president Sukarno, who held these beliefs high.
Luckily for Mr Matori's coalition plans, Ms Megawati is Mr Sukarno's daughter. Her party seems set to sweep Java's countryside, with PKB second and Golkar fourth, or, in many villages, not in the running at all.
That sweep may prove greater than shown by the polls because, when in doubt, Java's villagers go with the flow. "In our village, we pick whoever brings out the biggest crowds," said Suharyo, a trader in the hamlet of Gebus-Wetan. "In the past, that was Golkar. Now it's PDIP."
Jakarta -- Indonesia votes on Monday in its first democratic election since 1955 to elect a new parliament. A few months later a new president will be elected. The following are details of the voting system under which the election will be held.
Voting system: Proportional representation, on a provincial basis
Total number of voters: 127.6 million
Voting age: 17 years, or younger if married
Seats being contested: 462. Another 38 are reserved for appointees from the military
Distribution of voters/seats: 232 seats will go to the island of Java, where more than 60 percent of the voters live. Another 103 go to the island of Sumatra, the second most populous island.
Number of parties taking part: 48
Type of vote: Three elections are being conducted simultaneously. One is the national election. The second is a provincial election for regional parliaments. In many areas there are also local elections.
Governing body: The General Election Commission (KPU) runs the vote. It has 53 members, five from the government and one from each of the 48 parties taking part.
Monitors: The Central Supervisory Committee is the official monitor. Other monitoring bodies have been invited to observe. There will be around 350 foreign observers, including contingents from the European Union, the U.S.-based Carter Center and the Australian Electoral Commission.
Campaign: The official campaign ends on Friday after which there are two rest days. The day of the vote itself has been declared a public holiday.
Voting times: Polls open at 8am and close at 2pm. Indonesia has three time zones. They will open first in the remote eastern provinces of Irian Jaya and the Moluccas at 2300 GMT on June 6.
Method of voting: Registered voters must bring some identification with them. Their index finger is dipped in indelible ink before they go into the voting booth. As in past Indonesian elections they vote for a party, not a candidate.
Voters put a hole through the relevant party symbol on a sheet containing symbols for all parties taking part. Expatriate Indonesians can vote at their embassies but their votes count in Jakarta, not their home district.
Counting: Votes are counted in the communities where they are cast. The count has to be finished by sunset in order to minimise the chances of cheating. Party representatives and other monitors are allowed to watch the process and all party representatives must sign the piece of paper containing the results, indicating that they accept it, before it is passed on. The results are declared locally before being sent to district level.
Votes are tabulated at a district counting centre. At this stage the results are sent by fax, telephone or radio to a special counting centre in Jakarta's Hotel Aryaduta, where provisional results are expected within 48 to 72 hours.
The official result is conveyed manually to regency, provincial, then national levels and may take up to three weeks.
Distribution of seats: Despite the proportional representation system, parties still have to name candidates for specific districts. Parties choose before the election whether their seats will be distributed according to where they won the highest number of votes or where they won the highest percentage of votes. The first system is simpler but tends to favour cities over rural areas.
Changes from previous elections: The KPU's predecessor was entirely made up of ministers and had authority over the official monitoring body, which is now autonomous.
The election day is a holiday, preventing people from being pressured to vote a certain way by employers before they go to the polls, as frequently happened in the past. Party officials can watch the counting process. Previous elections were limited to three parties.
After the election: The old parliament continues to sit during and after the election period.
The new parliament is expected to be convened some time in July, although it will be formally sworn in in August at a meeting of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), Indonesia's highest legislative body. Some parties are pressing for the new parliament to be convened sooner than planned.
The MPR consists of parliament plus 200 appointees. Of the total, 135 will be regional representatives -- each of the 27 provinces assigns five representatives from regional parliaments.
The other 65 are from so-called functional groups, representing specific sectors of society such as ethnic and religious minorities, academics and artists. Previously, appointees to the MPR were chosen by Suharto. In November, the MPR will elect a new president.
The Election Law adopted
in February includes a clause that the electoral system is to be reviewed
within three years. Many analysts believe this system is unwieldy and should
be replaced with one based on constituencies. This was proposed but rejected
when the current election law was under consideration.
| Aceh/West Papua |
Marianne Kearney, Lhokseumawe -- Amid an escalation of violence in the northern Sumatran province of Aceh and increasing demands for a referendum, Acehnese separatist rebels say they are ready for war.
A spokesman for the Aceh Merdeka rebel group said they are being forced to launch a war against the Indonesian army because of increasing troop numbers sent to Aceh and the scores of civilians killed in an incident earlier this month.
"They want us to kill them because they're looking at us very hard. Before they shoot us we must shoot them, before they find us we must kill them," spokesman Ismail Sahaputra said.
He said that in the last month, Aceh Merdeka has killed over 150 soldiers -- including two successful attacks last week in which at least 35 soldiers were killed.
Since early May, scores of soldiers have been killed by pro- independence rebels, several buildings have been burnt, and over 50 civilians killed. Thousands of Acehnese have fled their homes.
Earlier this month, the army sent two battalions of crack riot troops, or about 450 soldiers, in response to increasing disturbances and demands for a referendum.
"If the situation is disturbing our people, of course we have to defend ourselves. We won't wait for another massacre," said an Aceh Merdeka guerilla referring to the massacre four weeks ago at Krueng Geukueh where troops opened fire on unarmed civilians, killing more than 50 people.
"Now, the situation here is worse than the first military operation from 1989 to 1998. Before, the army didn't kill people on the streets in broad daylight."
According to Mr Ismail, the rebels see their fight against the overwhelmingly stronger army as similar to the struggle of the Vietnamese against the American army.
"Even though America was so strong and had superior technology they lost in Vietnam. We can use hit-and-run tactics and with only three men kill many because we know our land and we know where to go," he said.
He added that from the group's intelligence, 7,000 troops had arrived in the past month, many of whom were not police, but members of the elite Kopassus force renowned for their brutality during the last military operation.
The north Aceh military commander had previously announced that only 450 riot police were being sent to the province.
Mr Ismail said an attack on two military trucks in west Aceh last week, which killed somewhere between nine to 15 soldiers, was part of their anti-military strategy.
"If all the troops are located in the north then we will attack in the west to make them very busy, so they won't know where to expect us," he said.
He warned that Aceh Merdeka would escalate such attacks in the coming weeks and contradicted military claims that only two soldiers were killed in the attack on the trucks, which were heading to the village of Peudada last Tuesday.
"More than 20 soldiers were killed there because we attacked two trucks full of soldiers," he said, adding that rebels also killed 108 soldiers in their most major attack -- on a missile storage facility and military barracks outside Lhokseumawe on May 10.
Aceh Merdeka has begun pressuring transmigrants to leave their villages prior to the escalation of fighting.
Villagers outside Peudada received a letter from the group asking the "ethnic Javanese to return to their fatherland" and accusing them of co-operating with the military by giving information about rebel movements to army intelligence units.
Jakarta -- Indonesia's Armed Forces will take every step to stop the troubled region of Aceh from seceding from the country, a senior military official was quoted as saying yesterday. But the security situation in Aceh was being discussed to see if it was likely to deteriorate, Lieutenant-General Sugiono, head of the Armed Forces general affairs staff, was quoted as saying by the state Antara news agency.
"Whatever the risks involved, we will prevent Aceh from ever leaving the fold of the republic of Indonesia," said Lt-Gen Sugiono, although he ruled out re-imposing an anti-rebel military operation, which was only halted last year.
Although restarting the operation was an option, it was not one the army high command was currently planning to pursue, he said. Meanwhile, the Jakarta Post, citing Information Minister Yunus Yosfiah, said more troops would be sent to Aceh because of increased rebel attacks. Mr Yosfiah was quoting comments made by Armed Forces chief General Wiranto during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Stockholm -- The Aceh Sumatra National Liberation Front (ASNLF) has already decided not to take part in the June 7 parliamentary elections this year. ASNLF believes that the Indonesian elections is nothing but jus a democratic farce, and that will not bring any good for the people of Aceh. Whatever political party wins and whoever leads Indonesia afterward, Aceh will remain exploited and the Acehnese remain an oppressed people.
The international community should understand that Indonesia is a continent or a geographic expression ruled by a bunch of technocrats, generals and their cronies that are closely connected with multinational companies. This group of people not only control the big companies but also possess the lands of the indigenous peoples in this huge archipelago. The ruling party, Golkar, along with the Armed Forces which has ruled Indonesia since the heyday of its creation is still in the very same system as in the old dictator regime of Suharto. Despite the much publicised promises of reforms by the Habibie regime, nothing significant has ever changed since Suharto was forced to step down in May last year.
Certainly, the elections will not change the current situation faced by the Acehnese, since we have no interest in that feast of democracy `la Indonesia. The people have decided to boycott the elections, and they have right to do so. As they have right to vote, they have also every right not to vote. Now, even the most optimistic anthusiats for holding elections in Aceh have started to realise that it is impossible to do it . So let the Acehnese alone!
If we look back into the situations before the introduction of Operation Wibawa by the new regime early this year, the Armed Forces Commander, General Wiranto, had come to Aceh to apologise to the Acehnese for the excesses perpetrated by his soldiers during eight years DOM (Military Operational District) between 1990-1998, and to withdraw all military units from Aceh. And since then, tragedy after tragedy have taken place and a great number of innocent people have become victims of military brutalities, such as the massacres of Idi Cut and Dewantara -- to name a few. Even President Habibie himself has recently come to Aceh and promised the Acehnese to bring to justice those accountable for the atrocities committed in the name of "security" and "restoring order".
And now, instead of fulfilling his promises, Habibie and Wiranto have dispatched thousands of troops to "secure" the coming elections, meaning threatening people to vote. The troops have now been dropped in the villages to see that everyone, under gun-points, be registered for balloting. As a matter of fact, the villagers who are still not yet recovered from the trauma caused by the eight years military operations are so scared to see the soldiers enter their villages, interrogate and intimidate them as well. As a result, for example, thousands of villagers, especially from Pidie and North Aceh provinces, have left their homes and become refugees in their own country. They are afraid to go back to their villages without any written guarantee from local governments. Many of them now, particularly the elderly, children and women, are getting weak and sick because of sleeping on the cement floor, of lack of medicine, shortage of food etc.
ASNLF appeals to all human rights organizations all over the world and even the UN bodies relating to refugee protection for a helping hand to help linger the terrible situation suffered by Acehnese civilians.
Lhokseumawe -- Aceh provincial government has imposed an overnight curfew in the oil-rich but riot-torn district of North Aceh.
A statement issued Thursday in Lhokseumawe, the capital, bars people from leaving their homes between midnight and 4:30am.
"A curfew is being imposed in North Aceh because the security situation ... is getting worse as certain irresponsible gunmen are conducting unlawful actions," said the statement, signed by regent Tarmizi Karim and the local military and police chiefs.
Rebels from the Free Aceh Movement have been intensifying a campaign to set up a Muslim state in Indonesia's northwesternmost province by urging residents to boycott Monday's national parliamentary election.
Unidentified gunmen opened fire Thursday on a truck carrying ballot boxes in South Aceh, killing Abdul Gafar, a member of the local election supervisory council, and wounding the driver of a nearby bus.
A day earlier, an unidentified group burned down seven school buildings and a local government office in Lhoksukon, a town in North Aceh. The government has indicated the balloting could be delayed in the predominantly Muslim province.
Aceh, about 1,750 kilometers northwest of Jakarta, is one of three Indonesian provinces where separatist rebels are fighting for independence.
The others are the former Portuguese colony of East Timor and Irian Jaya, a former Dutch colony on the western part of New Guinea.
"We will wait to see the security situation over the next two days," Rudini, chairman of the General Election Commission, said Friday after meeting with President B.J. Habibie. He said a decision would be announced Sunday.
In the Aceh capital of Banda Aceh, five nongovernment groups, including two independent election-monitoring agencies, urged the government to cancel the election in Aceh.
"The election in Aceh would obviously trigger human rights violations against civilians," they said in a statement that claimed there are no security guarantees for voters or volunteer election monitors.
Jakarta -- Indonesian authorities have suspended a mining exploration contract awarded to a subsidiary of US miner Freeport McRoran Gold and Copper Inc. in Irian Jaya, citing political and security concerns, an official said Friday.
PT Freeport Indonesia's exploration contract has been suspended from May 15 to August 15, said Rozik Sutjipto, director general of mining at the mines and energy ministry.
He said political and security reasons were behind the suspension. Two other mining companies were served similar suspension orders. The announcement came ahead of national elections on Monday.
Nine additional companies had their exploration contracts suspended for periods ranging from December 1 last year to February next year, Sutjipto said. Further details on the suspension orders were not immediately available.
Sutjipto said the suspensions of some of the contracts were due to suggestions by the security forces to hold out until after the June 7 election or because the companies themselves felt unsafe.
"The security forces, such as those in Irian Jaya, suggested that during the election it would be better to suspend exploration."
For the other cases, particularly those involving extended periods, the suspensions were imposed because of budgetary problems, Sutjipto said.
State mining company PT Tambang Timah recently announced it would be voluntarily suspending its exploration in certain areas citing the uncertain political climate. Freeport officials were not immediatley available for comment.
Andrew Kilvert, Jayapura -- A group of Indonesian settlers held hostage by self-proclaimed Irian Jaya rebels were returned home yesterday after a 27-day ordeal in the remote Bewani valley across the Papua New Guinea border.
The 11 hostages, seven women and four men, were released by PNG army and police units on Sunday, after a three-day operation.
An alleged Free Papua Organisation (OPM) group led by Hans Bomey seized the settlers at Arso on May 5, in a raid which left four dead from machete wounds, and marched them across the border into PNG. The captors demanded 20,000 kina ($13,160) and automatic weapons from the PNG Government for their release.
But many supporters of independence for Irian Jaya, or West Papua as they call it, wonder if Bomey is a genuine rebel.
Moses Weror, an OPM spokesman in Madang, PNG, accused the group of being "Fake OPM", a charge also made in Monday's edition of the Jayapura newspaper Tafa Irian. Others say Mr Bomey's group is supplied and armed by a Kopassus (Indonesian Army special forces) detachment stationed at Arso. "These rebels are seen driving around Arso with Kopassus," one Arso resident said.
A human rights researcher in the Irian Jaya provincial capital, Jayapura, who visited the hostages, also accused the Indonesian military of supplying weapons to the rebels. Other sources in the border region say the transfer of supplies from the military to the Hans Bomey rebels is a monthly event. A spokesman for Mr Bomey's group, Mr Augustus Runtomboi, admitted during an interview in Vanimo on Saturday to having links with military officials in Jayapura, including the regional commander, Major-General Amir Sembiring.
Jakarta -- Minister of Defense and Security/Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Wiranto told a plenary Cabinet meeting on Wednesday he would send more troops to Aceh because of increased rebel attacks against security officers and civilians, a minister said.
Minister of Information Lt. Gen. Muhammad Yunus said the additional troops would be dispatched to protect people because of terror and intimidation by members of the Free Aceh movement. Yunus did not disclose the number of troops.
"The remnants of Hasan Tiro's security troublemakers are stepping up their activities by attacking and destroying government offices, ambushing and killing security forces, dismaying, intimidating and killing people," Yunus quoted Wiranto as reporting during the six-hour Cabinet meeting at Bina Graha presidential office.
Hasan Tiro has been named by the government as the leader of the Free Aceh movement, which has fought for an Islamic state since the mid-1970s.
According to Yunus, the rebels killed 59 people from early May to June 3 this year alone. He did not divulge the number of people killed by TNI personnel during its operations.
Yunus also said 550 of the estimated 1,000 rebels were trained in Libya. They are armed with 800 AK-47s and M-16s, he added. They have expanded their armed operations to West Aceh and South Aceh from the traditional unrest zones of North Aceh and East Aceh.
"This is actually armed rebellion. This is not only feelings of dissatisfaction," Yunus said, in apparent reference to the demands of some for an independent state.
On Tuesday, Wiranto told reporters in Jakarta that TNI and police personnel would take tough measures against Hasan Tiro's rebels. He said the group attacked law enforcers, damaged state and public facilities and was attempting to disrupt next Monday's polls in the province.
Wiranto was insistent that no single area of Indonesia held the right to remove itself from the republic because the nation was committed to remaining unified.
Separately, an unidentified number of combat troops from the North Sumatra capital of Medan arrived in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, on Tuesday evening. The military said the troops were assigned to help restore order and security in troubled regencies before the elections.
Maj. Gen. Affan Gaffar, chief of the Bukit Barisan Military Command overseeing security in Aceh and North Sumatra, told The Jakarta Post the military would continue to send more soldiers to Aceh until calm returned.
"We will continue to crush the separatist movement in the province. We have lost many personnel over the last three months," he said by telephone from Padang, West Sumatra, on Tuesday.
Last week, at least 15 security personnel, transmigrants and health workers were killed by rebels in two separate ambushes in West Aceh and Pidie regencies.
On Wednesday, thousands of refugees reportedly packed two intercity bus terminals in Lhokseumawe in North Aceh as they tried to flee the violence.
"There are thousands here, more than usual, even more than Idul Fitri celebration," an employee at PM Toh bus terminal in Lhokseumawe was quoted by AFP as saying.
Rights workers said hundreds of employees of megaprojects in Lhokseumawe, such as Mobil Oil, PT Arun natural gas plant, fertilizer firms PT Pupuk Iskandar and PT Asean Fertilizer, as well as the paper and pulp firm PT Kertas Kraft Aceh, in and around the area also joined the exodus.
One witness said the exodus, expected to reach about 20,0000 people, left Lhokseumawe resembling a "ghost town" after sundown. Some bus companies have laid on additional buses to fulfill the sudden demand for outbound transport since the exodus started early Monday.
"Only some people who are migrants sleep overnight here if they cannot get on board a bus, but others just come back the next day," the bus terminal employee said.
Some shopowners opened their shops briefly during the day but their doors remained half shut, ready to close at the slightest sign of violence. "The streets are empty, even during the day, but it really is like a ghost town here at night," a resident said.
North Aceh is one of four districts in the province where violence has intensified between soldiers and Free Aceh separatist guerrillas in the past few weeks.
In the wee hours of Tuesday, two high schools buildings in North Aceh were set ablaze by an unidentified group following rumors that the schools would be occupied by military personnel.
Almost at the same time, about 50 shop-houses belonging to residents of Teunom subdistrict in West Aceh regency were razed, leaving 325 people homeless.
From Medan, local police said they arrested two rebel members who were on their way home together with 19 other Acehnese who were working as illegal immigrants in Malaysia.
North Sumatra police spokesman Lt. Col. Amrin Karim said on Wednesday that Fauzi Ibrahim, alias Mounzir, 33, and Jauhari, 30, were caught "in Indonesian waters" on May 7.
During preliminary questioning, the two admitted that they had been ordered by the Free Aceh movement's "minister of information" to secure and distribute the group's documents to the people of Aceh because their maneuvers in Malaysia were under investigation by the local police.
Jakarta -- Gunmen killed two soldiers in Indonesia's Aceh province in the latest violence to hit the troubled region where more than 50 people have been killed in the past month, the military said Thursday.
"All I can confirm is that we have received a report that two or our soldiers were killed in Pidie [district] on Tuesday," said a staff member at the Aceh military command in Lhokseumawe, the main town of the North Aceh district. The official, who identified himself as Ismail, said he was not authorized to give further information.
Pidie district military chief, Lieutenant Colonel Iskandar, was quoted by the Suara Karya daily as saying the soldiers were killed late on Tuesday night.
Iskandar said the victims were in a group of four soldiers heading to Sigli, Pidie's main town, after warning a police post in the Sakti subdistrict, 18 kilometers south of a rumored attack by separatist rebels. At least four armed men fired on the soldiers, killing the two. The other two escaped unharmed, Iskandar added.
A search for the gunmen was immediately launched, but it was called off without result the following morning to prevent panic among the local population, he added.
Military operations to track down groups who attacked troops in the districts of North and West Aceh earlier this month, sparked an exodus of up to 20,000 people, reports have said.
The violence in Aceh, mostly involving attacks on government, public and military installations as well as on soldiers and police, have left at least 59 people killed since May 2, the military chief has said. Soldiers shot into a crowd of civilian protestors on May 3, killing 41 civilians.
In Lhokseumawe, Ismail said military authorities were preparing the departure of migrant settlers who had fled their rural settlements fearing violence in the aftermath of the shooting of soldiers.
Ismail could not give the number of migrants involved but said they were being sheltered at two separate locations in Lhokseumawe.
Since Monday, the city's intercity bus terminals have been flooded by thousands of refugees, including migrants, trying to flee the violence.
Aceh is home to the Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh) movement which has been fighting for an Islamic state since the mid 1970s. Resentment against the central government and the military is strong in several districts of Aceh following the harsh decade of anti-rebel military operation in the province that was only halted last year.
[The following is a posting by Tapol described as a reliable eye-witness report of an incident apparently set up by the military to discredit GAM separatists.]
Around the time coming up to the call to prayer for Isya (around 20.00), a Taft GT jeep drove at high speed down Jalan Merdeka in Lhokseumawe. As it approached the Hira Square, in front of the BCA Bank, two gunshots were heard eminating from the jeep, which was continuing in the direction away from the town centre. The other people who were using the road began to panic, because all of a sudden and without warning, the road was blocked in all directions by the military. Shortly after, volleys of gunfire were heard from a number of different directions and place, but was aimed into the air. People run to their homes, and those in their vehicles got out and run to the side of the road where they lay face down.
The incident has been described by the authorities as an armed clash between AGAM and the military, and the gunfire continued until 21.07, whereafter shots were only heard from time to time.
Because the shootings took place in a number of different areas in the centre of Lhokseumawe, in the areas of Keude Aceh, Simpang Kuta Blang, Pasar Inpres and in front of Banda Sakti Police Station, many people saw what really took place. Eye witnesses say that they saw soldiers running in the road, shooting into the air, whilst other soldiers were in vehicles, also shooting into the air. A number of houses which lined the road in Kp Keuramat and Keude Aceh had the windows on the second floor shot out by the bullets. Other witnesses say that it did not sound like people shooting at each other, just a release of gunfire.
After the first two shots were heard, all of a sudden the street lights went out, athough the lights in shops and housing complexes were still on. However, at 19.00, the electircity of the whole of Lhokseumawe went off for around 15 minutes. By this time the military had already blocked a number of the main roads in Lhokseumawe. Since that point, Lhokseumawe became very quiet and tense.
Whilst the soldiers were still releasing volleys of gunfire into the air, the loudspeaker from the Teumpok Teungoh Mosque announced to all the inhabitants that they should leave their homes and gather in front of the Mosque. It is not clear who made the announcement nor who ordered it to be made. There are no reports of casualties, though an ambulance roared with its siren on through the town towards the hospital.
Analysis on the ground concludes that this is an incident set up by the military to make it appear that GAM are attacking them. The incident is perceived as being part of a longer-term military strategy. It was pointed out that the initial two shot 'signal' was also used in the massacres at Simpang KKA Krueng Geukueh, Idi Cut, Pusong and Kandang.
[On May 30, an unofficial translation of a press release by the Human Rights NGO Coalition (Koalisi NGO Ham) said that it was not clear whether the recent spate of attacks in West Aceh were actually being carried out by the Free Aceh Movement or "impostors". The statement noted that the incidents occurred in areas not currently under a DOM (Military Operational Zone) status and suggested that if incidents of this kind began occurring in many different parts of the province it would provide an excuse for the military to reinstate DOM for the whole of Aceh - James Balowski.]
Banda Aceh -- Hundreds of Indonesian troops were deployed Sunday searching for rebels who allegedly killed nine police officers and soldiers in an ambush, the military said.
The attack Saturday was the latest outbreak of violence in troubled Aceh province in north Sumatra, where separatist guerrillas are fighting for an independent Islamic state. They have called for a boycott of June 7 national parliamentary elections.
The rebels ambushed a convoy of army trucks near Sawang, a village 60 miles west of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, regional military commander Col. Syarifuddin Tippe.
Security personnel returned fire but no rebels were killed or wounded, Tippe said. Two police officers and seven soldiers died. "We have sent troops in to find the rebels," he said.
The military accused rebels of killing four security personnel and a doctor and nurse in two separate incidents last week in Aceh, 1,100 miles northwest of Jakarta, the Indonesian capital.
A small group of rebels has been fighting for independence since the 1970s. Independence activists claim the military has committed widespread human rights abuses while clamping down on the rebels.
Tensions have risen in Aceh
ahead of the June 7 ballot. Separatists demand a referendum on independence
instead of the parliamentary vote. Officials have said the vote might be
postponed in Aceh if violence escalates.
| News & issues |
Jakarta -- Attorney General Andi M. Ghalib, a three-star military general, got an unpleasant gift for his 53rd birthday on Thursday from the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW).
According to the Jakarta-based independent body, Rp 1.8 billion (US$225,000) was transferred to the bank accounts of Ghalib and his wife Andi Murniati at a national private bank in Jakarta from different parties, including two prominent local businessman: Prajogo Pangestu and The Nin King.
The alleged transfers in rupiah and US dollars was believed to have been carried out in 11 transactions, ICW executive Teten Masduki told a press conference after submitting copies of the documents to the National Military Police headquarters for further investigation.
ICW, he said, received the documents on May 27 via a courier service firm from an unknown party. "[But] we've checked the [validity of the] documents and found that they're all legitimate," Teten said but refused to show the copies to the press.
The documents appeared to show that the transfers occurred between Feb. 12 to May 6 of this year to the accounts of Andi M. Ghalib with the address of Jl. SMP 222 No. 2, Ceger Raya, Cipayung, East Jakarta.
According to Teten, the documents appeared to show that local businessmen Prajogo transferred funds worth Rp 250 million to Ghalib's account on April 27, and Nin King transferred money totaling Rp 200 million four days earlier.
"The fact that the two people were investigated by Ghalib for their suspected financial misdeeds, these transfers to the Attorney General's account could stir public curiosity as a possible bribery," he said.
An ICW statement cited that Prajogo was summoned for questioning by the Attorney General Office in mid-September last year for the alleged misuse of credit funds at the businessman's Bank Andromeda.
Early this year, the office questioned Nin King for a Rp 581 billion bad debt of his company, Argo Manunggal Group, ICW said. ICW therefore hoped that the Military Police, which has the legal authority to probe misdeeds committed by active military and police personnel, would further cross-examine the documents on Ghalib's alleged offense.
According to Teten, the copies of the documents were handed over earlier in the day to Col. Hendardji, director of counseling and investigation of the National Military Police.
"After receiving the reports, Col. Hendardji told us [ICW] that the alleged bribery may not be true. The money may be merely a donation he said," Bambang explained.
Late Thursday, Hendardji told The Jakarta Post by phone that his office would not carry out the investigation unless ICW would provide witnesses and show strong evidence.
The Military Police, he said, could not even ask Bank Indonesia, the central bank, to freeze the bank accounts of Ghalib and his wife unless there was strong evidence on the alleged bribe.
While Nin King could not be reached for comment, Prajogo, once called one of the few timber barons in Indonesia, declined to comment on the ICW report.
Prajogo remained tightlipped over the case after being questioned by reporters after a meeting with Minister of Forestry and Plantation Muslimin Nasution on Thursday.
Ghalib is still in Europe to trace the alleged wealth of the Soehartos as reported by Time. But his office spokesman in Jakarta, Soehandoyo, called ICW's finding as a "cruel political maneuver".
"The findings of the transfers to Pak Andi Ghalib's account is a cruel political maneuver to ruin the name of the Attorney General as well as the corps," he said. He estimated that the documents were issued by certain parties which intended to reach their targets in an illegitimate way.
The Attorney General Office, Soehandoyo said, would soon investigate the case and possibly ask for clarification from ICW. "It's also possible for us to launch an intelligence operation," he told Antara.
Is Jakarta serious about probing Suharto's alleged billions? No, says BBC correspondent in Jakarta Jonathan Head, in the radio station's East Asia Today programme. Here are excerpts from the programme:
Q: Jonathan, how serious is President Habibie about getting to the bottom of former President Suharto's wealth?
A: I think he's very serious about being seen to be trying to get to the bottom of it at this very last stage in what may be the last few months of his administration.
I think Indonesians are very sceptical about this mission by the Justice Minister and the Attorney-General in Switzerland ... the Attorney-General and the Justice Minister are arriving in Switzerland and empty-handed, more or less going to the Swiss authorities and saying: "All we know is what is in the Time magazine" and the Swiss authorities aren't empowered to launch any kind of investigation without more details. One Indonesian magazine has described this rather appropriately as "Mission Impossible".
Q: So, is this being seen simply as a somewhat cynical ploy to appease voters before the election?
A: Entirely and nothing more I think. The credibility of the government with regard to investigating Mr Suharto is absolutely at rock bottom ... The fact that it's been shy of doing nothing at all, apart from politely summoning Mr Suharto's family and listening to what they have to say, has certainly aroused a great deal of anger and scepticism.
Q: Anger and scepticism, but how much attention are ordinary Indonesians giving the search for the Suharto billions?
A: A lot now. The Time magazine article has been widely circulated. In fact Time magazine sold out and there are photocopies of the articles going round ... It's become a very big issue indeed.
Indonesians as a whole tend to believe -- perhaps because it is the most sensational thing to believe -- that Mr Suharto became very rich indeed.
And whichever government takes power -- after these elections and the long process in choosing another President -- will have to address the issue as well although, invariably, they are not going to suffer the same taints and the same sort of scepticism that Mr Habibie, a very close friend of Mr Suharto, has suffered over the past year.
Jakarta -- Time magazine insisted Thursday it was standing by its story that former president Suharto and his family amassed a 15-billion dollar fortune during his three decades in power.
Time lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said the US publication would fight any action by Suharto as the former strongman's youngest daughter was quizzed by the attorney general's office over the accusations.
"Time sticks to its position to stand behind its May 24 report," the magazine's lawyer, Lubis said. Lubis denied reports that Time had offered to settle out of court with Suharto. The former Indonesian leader filed a criminal defamation suit against the magazine on Wednesday.
"There's been no offer for settlement and Time is ready to face the lawsuit filed by Suharto. That's the most important thing," Lubis told a press conference.
Suharto's youngest daughter, Siti Hutami "Mamiek" Endang Adiningsih, 34, was questioned at the attorney general's office over her family's wealth.
Mamiek was the fifth of Suharto's six children -- all of whom have vast business interests -- to be summoned for questioning since Time alleged the family was sitting on 15 billion dollars accumulated during Suharto's 32 years in power.
Time estimated Mamiek's fortune at 30 million dollars, with stakes in several of her siblings' companies and interests. She and her lawyers made no comment to the press as they entered the building.
Lubis questioned Suharto's motive in pressing charges, saying more than a dozen other foreign and domestic publications had run extensive stories on the wealth of the former first family.
He said Suharto had given no specific indications on which part of the report was untrue. Suharto's lawyer Juan Felix Tampubolon told AFP Wednesday however that the action would be over an allegation that the former strongman had stashed nine billion dollars in an overseas bank account.
Time alleged that Suharto had transfered nine billion dollars from a Swiss bank into an unidentified Austrian bank account shortly after his resignation in May last year.
Such nominee accounts, Lubis said, were often used to launder money, but it would be "practically impossible" to trace whether there was still money in the account.
"The issue at hand is whether there was a transfer. Time magazine stands by the fact that the transfer existed and had been carried out," he added.
Lubis said the onus on Time is to prove only that the transfer took place, not to show evidence of the destination account. "We will face this charge in court," Lubis said.
He also stressed that Indonesian press laws lay the responsibility for any reports on the chief editor of a publication, which he said raised questions on why the suit was not filed abroad.
According to the press laws the case should have been filed in Hong Kong, where the May 24 issue of Time Asia was published, or at the headquarters of Time International in New York, he said.
"Time Asia editor is Donald Morrison, and Time's editor-in- chief is Norman Pearlstine. These two people are the ones responsible for the report under Indonesian laws. So, I have to say that all these legal efforts are not serious."
Amien Rais, a leading presidential contender who heads the National Mandate Party, echoed Lubis, saying Suharto should have lodged the report in New York. "To report the matter in your own country, what does that achieve? The logic is twisted."
[Suharto filed the criminal defamation suit against Time on June 2 saying that "I deem that the report by the Time magazine is false, it is an action that runs against the law, an insult and a defamation in writing that can also possibly be categorized as slander... Therefore, there is no other way for me but to go through legal channels". Suharto also reiterated that he does not have any overseas accounts or shares - James Balowski.]
Jakarta -- Forensic ballistic experts in Canada have revealed that two bullets taken from the bodies of two students and another found outside a Trisakti University building were fired from SS-1 and Steyr AUG-P rifles.
The bullets were recovered not long after the May 12, 1998 fatal shooting in which four students were killed.
The result of the ballistic tests conducted by experts Mike Mclearn and Andy Boyle from Forensic Technologies WAI Inc. in Canada was disclosed at a media conference on Monday by members of a Trisakti fact-finding team.
Basically, the ballistic test result was not significantly different to the result of tests conducted earlier here by head of the Trisakti investigation team, said Col. Hendardji, then Jakarta military police chief.
About a month after the shooting, which claimed the lives of four students, Hendardji told The Jakarta Post that his team had identified the guns used in the shooting as SS-1 and Steyr AUGs.
The conclusion was based on ballistic tests here by forensic experts of, among other parties, the metallurgy laboratory of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) using a Scanning Electron Microscope to examine the rifling marks (pitch).
"Two of the bullets were found to be 5.56 mm caliber, so we identified which types of guns use this caliber," Hendardji said.
In the media conference at the university on Monday, M. Hafiz Lubis, one of the three student members of the team assigned to escort the three bullets to Canada for tests, said the Canadian forensic ballistic expert company utilized the Integrated Ballistic Identification System in its analysis which helped it recognize the specifications of the bullets and the guns they were fired from.
"The company revealed that the three bullets were fired from Steyr and SS-1 guns," Lubis said.
The first two bullets, he explained, were taken from the bodies of students Heri Hartanto and Hendriawan Sie, while the other was found outside Gedung M building on the university's campus in Grogol, West Jakarta.
Lubis and his two fellow Trisakti students left Jakarta for Canada on May 17 with four other team members from the Indonesian Police central forensics laboratory (Puslabfor), the Indonesia military police, ITB's metallurgy laboratory and state-owned Pindad military equipment-maker. The team oversaw the ballistic tests from May 18 to May 21.
The joint team also took along 46 other bullets of similar and different calibers for comparison in the tests.
According to Lubis, the result of the ballistic tests in Canada has to be first officially endorsed by local ballistic forensic experts.
"The company did not want to send two of its employees here, saying it did not want to interfere in Indonesia's internal matters," he added.
Forensic Technologies WAI Inc. explained that the Indonesian military police officers had full authorization to seek information from ballistic experts to help reveal the real shooters in the incident.
"The military police here are expected to announce the result of the ballistic tests (of the three bullets) by the end of June at the latest," said Pramudya Wardhana, another team member.
The examiners, he said, might involve experts from Puslabfor or ITB's metallurgy laboratory.
Last year, Hendardji said Puslabfor had agreed to reexamine 21 SS-1 and Steyr-1 AUG guns believed to have been used by troops at the scene. Last year's ballistics results had not been disclosed by the police.
According to student Lubis, the bullet found outside the building was identified by Canadian experts Mclearn and Andy Boyle as being fired from a SS1 rifle. The one taken from Hendriawan's body was specified as coming from a Steyr.
The bullet taken from Heri's corpse came from an SS-1 rifle, although McClearn in his first of two formal examinations said it came from a Steyr. It remains unknown why security authorities have been unable to solve the May 12, 1998 shooting even though the matching of bullets to guns is one of the simplest principles in forensic science.
So far, only two police officers have been sent to jail for the shootings. A military tribunal stated that the two officers ordered their men to open fire without following proper procedures.
The military's fatal shooting of students attending an anti- Soeharto rally sparked a massive three-day riot in the capital. Former president Soeharto quit his post nine days later.
According to the Trisakti University Students Presidium (PMUT), Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Wiranto should be "more serious" in solving the tragedy.
"Gen. Wiranto must be responsible
for finding the real shooters and the mastermind of these killings, by
staging a fair and honest trial of the case," said Gunawan, PMUT spokesman,
on Monday.
| Arms/Armed forces |
Jakarta -- The Indonesian military, in a major reform move, announced Tuesday that it had told thousands of officers holding positions in the civil service and legislatures either to leave the armed forces or leave their civilian posts.
Under the ruling, announced at a retirement ceremony here by Armed Forces chief General Wiranto, 110 officers including Information Minister Lieutenant General Yunus Yosfiah had opted for retirement.
Since the resignation of president Suharto, himself a former army general, amid mass protests and riots last year, reformists have been clamoring for the military to quit politics and return to barracks.
Wiranto said the military had already given 6,002 officers serving in civilian posts the option of retiring, changing their status to civil servants or quitting their civilian posts and returning to the military.
"As you have witnessed today, several high- and middle-ranking officers have opted to let go of their status as members of the military to devote themselves to functions outside security," Wiranto told reporters.
The 110 retirees were among the first group of 169 officers serving in the bureaucracy who have already been processed. Of them, 27 had chosen to change their status to civil servants and 32 chose to return to military duty.
He said the cases of only 3,016 officers had been processed as the 2,986 others were currently MPs in provincial and regional legislatures.
Of the 3,016 officers, only 520 chose to remain in the military, 593 chose to switch their status to civil servants, 1,393 officers opted for retirement, and 510 others have yet to make up their minds, he said.
"For the 510, they have up to three months to make a decision. But if up till then they still have not chosen, then the choice lies in the hands of the military," Wiranto added.
Wiranto said current Transmigration Minister, Lieutenant General Hendropriyono, an active general, has chosen to remain in the military. Attorney General, Lieutenant General Andi Ghalib, and Jakarta Governor, Lieutenant General Sutiyoso, have chosen to retire and keep their civilian posts.
Their cases however have yet to be processed, as Ghalib was currently abroad on an investigation into the wealth of Suharto. Hendropriyono's return to the military depends on the president's decision on when to let him go.
The effort to rejuvenate the officers corps was part of a bid by the military to distance itself from its extensive involvement in social and political affairs, which flourished during Suharto's 32-year rule.
"Following the rolling demands for reforms, the military has carried out several concrete steps for internal reforms," Wiranto said.
He listed some of the fourteen major reforms since last year as the separation of the police force from the military, the reduction of the number of military seats in the lower house to 38 from 75, and the decision to distance itself from the ruling Golkar party.