•  Critics round on lacklustre Habibie

•  All flights suspended to Ambon

•  Troops kill civilian for pulling down flag
•  Press, readers, deal with free information
•  Rifts open in legacy of Suharto 

•  Indonesia holiday marred by violence
•  Quiet day in Dili, busy day in Jakarta
•  Suharto well enough to go home
•  The most influential Asians of the century
•  Indonesia: Old habits die hard

•  Environmentalists take Habibie to court

• Wiranto snipes back at military's critics

Election won't feature breakdown of voters

United Nations -- In an effort to prevent retaliation against voters, the results of East Timor's upcoming ballot won't contain a geographic breakdown of independence supporters and opponents, a senior UN official said Tuesday.

Not even UN electoral counters will know where the ballots are coming from when they arrive at a central warehouse in the capital Dili to be tallied, said Carina Perelli, director of the electoral division in the UN department of political affairs.

The August 30 ballot is to allow East Timor's 800,000 people to decide whether they want to remain a part of Indonesia or be put on the path towards independence. Indonesia occupied the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and East Timor has been wracked by guerrilla warfare and human rights abuses since.

"It's one of the advantages that we have in this sort of consultation," Perelli told a news conference. "Because it is a single district sort of vote, there is no technical or political reason that would ... justify any sort of breakdown because there is no territorial representation involved."

The prospect of an independent East Timor has already polarized the Timorese, and a geographic breakdown of independence supporters and opponents could further divide the half-island territory.

Anti-independence militias, allegedly formed with the support of Indonesia's military, are blamed for a wave of violence in recent months that has killed dozens of civilians and uprooted tens of thousands.

Perelli said that despite incidents of violence, the UN was "extremely encouraged." Voter registration and campaigning, which began Saturday, have been progressing "in a manner that lets us expect that there's not going to be any major upheaval during the consultation itself," she said.

To ensure the fairest of votes and the minimum of retaliation, ballot boxes will be taken to the Dili warehouse under the supervision of UN civilian police and observers, she said.

Once the boxes are registered, all identifying marks will be stripped so that the boxes look identical by the time they reach the vote counters, she said.

Perelli acknowledged that it would be easier to catch evidence of fraud and ballot-stuffing if the votes were counted at regional ballot centers, but said the UN had built in sufficient measures to ensure that no such fraud occurs.

Ballots from overseas Timorese will be counted at those overseas polling stations and the results relayed to the UN on a secure phone line in code, she said.

Indonesia defies UN, International Community

The first half of 1999 has seen an alarming escalation of human rights violations in East Timor. The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) today launched a new report detailing this serious rise in violations between January to June 1999. The report also provides a critical assessment of the current security situation in East Timor in the lead up to the August 30 consultation ballot on autonomy and analyses where the Indonesian government has failed and continues to fail to meet with its international obligations.

Ana Noronha, Executive Director of the ETHRC said, "The increase in violations came after two major political developments concerning East Timor's future was delivered. The period following President Habibie's January 27 commitment to allow the East Timorese people to vote on an autonomy package, and the signing of the UN Accords on May 5 for the UN to conduct a popular consultation has been marked with serious violations, mostly committed at the hands of pro-Indonesian militia groups which are supported by the Indonesian army".

One of the most alarming atrocities documented by the ETHRC during the first six months of 1999 was the early April Liquica massacre where at least 46 civilians were extra-judicially executed and 56 people were seriously injured. The ETHRC is also concerned with the alarming trend of the increase in the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP's) living in life- threatening conditions.

"Thus far, Indonesia has failed in its obligations to protect civilians. It has also failed to protect humanitarian relief workers and UN personnel from attacks by the Indonesian army backed militias. This pervasive climate of intimidation and human rights violations diminishes the opportunity for civilians in East Timor to exercise their right to register and vote which was guaranteed by Indonesia under the UN Accords", said Ms. Noronha.

While the work of the United Nations Assistance Mission to East Timor (UNAMET) has been positive in maintaining a semblance of peace in some places of East Timor, the Indonesian army and other perpetrators of human rights violations in East Timor are still acting with impunity. Thus far, Indonesia has defied the UN and the international community. The ETHRC calls for more international pressure to be exerted on the Indonesian government to comply with its international obligations. "Only when the people of East Timor legitimately exercise their right to self- determination through a free and fair election, can there be any real peaceful solution to this long running conflict", stated Ms. Noronha.

Downer lashes critics as wilfully ignorant

Stephen Spencer, Canberra -- Foreign Minister Alexander Downer today lashed out at critics of Australia's East Timor policy in an extraordinarily bitter speech that also branded his opposition counterpart Laurie Brereton loopy.

He also warned that military intervention in East Timor, demanded by some to end violence by pro-Indonesian militias, was a ludicrous suggestion that would lead to a catastrophic loss of life.

Mr Downer said critics had overlooked the crucial fact that despite all the grandstanding, the people of East Timor would be deciding their own fate in less than a fortnight.

"The historic significance of that vote cannot be overstated, because less than a year ago such a ballot ... would have been unthinkable," he told the Asia Society in Perth.

"That we have gone from pipe dream to reality in under a year is a remarkable achievement. And it is also due in no small part to the sustained efforts of Australia, a matter which some people in this country wilfully choose to ignore."

Mr Downer used his speech to claim credit not only for persuading Indonesia to change policy and hold the ballot, but for putting together an international coalition to support the decision and the United Nations operation now underway in East Timor.

"Our government is proud of what we have been able to achieve in those few short months," he said. "The success of international action is judged on results -- and on East Timor the results are plain to see."

But Mr Downer reserved his strongest criticism for Mr Brereton, whom he labelled one of the "loopiest" of his critics, and other supporters of a military presence in East Timor in the lead-up to the ballot.

Mr Downer has recently been embarrassed by the leaking of documents contradicting his claim that the United States had never raised with Australia a plan to assemble a peacekeeping force for East Timor.

Mr Downer has since been forced to admit the plan was raised but insists it was never official US policy and would have led to catastrophe if ever adopted.

"It is completely ludicrous to suggest that the United Nations, or Australia, or the United States, or any other country could have used military force to impose a settlement in East Timor," he said.

"Not only would that have involved an invasion of Indonesian territory, it would have led to loss of life on a scale that would have dwarfed any of the tragedies we have seen this year on the island."

East Timorese mark Falintil anniversary

Dili -- The 24th anniversary of East Timor's main armed separatist group, Falintil, was marked Friday with flag raisings, weddings and baptism across the territory.

In the capital, Dili, 800 civilians watched as a dozen East Timorese youths in traditional dress hoisted the flag of the pro-independence movement, the National Resistance Council of East Timor (CNRT), in front of a CNRT office in the Audian neighbourhood.

The blue, white and green flag was hoisted in front of the same CNRT office which had been attacked by pro-Indonesian militias earlier this week. A bullet hole in one window pane on the second floor of the building remained a testimony of the attack, sandwiched between two pro-indepependence posters.

The crowd then celebrated with music and dancing after the usual speech by local CNRT leaders. "I think up to 20,000 people will celebrate this day in the four Falintil cantonments across East Timor," said Father Filomeno Jacob from the margin of the festivities in Dili. Under an agreement between the CNRT and the pro-Indonesian camp, Falintil has agreed to canton their men in specified locations during the campaign and ballot day in an effort to curb violence.

Jacob said he believed the largest celebration would be at the Waimori cantonment in central East Timor, where he said 8,000 to 9,000 people were expected to take part.

Waimori is the cantonment of the troops under Falintil deputy commander Taur Matan Ruak. Besides the festivities,"we will also have [church] masses, baptism even weddings," Jacob said.

He said that when the CNRT flag went up, he was thinking "of the memory of all the people who have given their lives for this moment." He added that such an event also raised a feeling of "a conjunction of the past, present and future."

Jakarta's East Timor tightrope

Sidney Jones, Hong Kong -- On August 30, barring further delays, the people of East Timor will vote on whether they wish to remain part of Indonesia as an autonomous region or form an independent state. Virtually all eligible voters, almost 450,000, have now registered, despite violence and intimidation from Indonesian army-backed groups to prevent them from doing so. But there are worrying signs that violence could yet mar the election and its aftermath.

The government of President B.J. Habibie is putting international goodwill at risk by using proxy militias and other methods to try to rig the ballot in favor of autonomy. Indonesia's donors, including the Japan, Australia, the US and Europe, should make clear that any attempt to derail the election by Indonesian forces will jeopardize international assistance earmarked for Indonesia's democratization and economic recovery process.

There are several ways the government can derail the election. One is to cause violence during the campaign period, now scheduled to end on August 27. Another is to step up militia violence on the day of the vote itself. A third is to have the losers, almost certainly the pro-autonomy side, contest the vote in a way that delays official endorsement of the results by Indonesia's highest legislative body, the People's Consultative Assembly. Finally, the army may try to spark civil war or create a movement for partition, with a few districts in the west rejecting incorporation into the new state.

Why would Indonesia risk its international standing and relations with aid donors to keep East Timor? Three main reasons are often cited in Jakarta:

• The Indonesian army is worried that if East Timor becomes independent, separatist movements in Indonesia proper will step up their struggles. A long-simmering insurgency in resource-rich Aceh on the island of Sumatra has spiraled out of control in the last six months, with guerrillas in control of more territory and commanding more popular support than ever before. It is true that in both Aceh and Irian Jaya armed and unarmed independence movements have been encouraged by developments in East Timor to think that a referendum might be possible for them as well.
• But it is a fundamental misreading of the dynamics of both movements to think, as the Indonesian government seems to, that if East Timor votes to remain within Indonesia, popular grievances that have been fueling political violence in Aceh and Irian Jaya will evaporate. People there harbor deep grievances against Jakarta, from failure to prosecute massive human rights abuses to systematic stripping of natural resources. The army is wrong to think that separatist movements elsewhere will go away if it rigs the vote in East Timor.
• The Indonesian army and parts of the bureaucracy may also be trying to wreck the ballot because the United Nations presence represents a major national humiliation. It is proof that a 24- year effort at integration has failed. When Indonesian Foreign Ministry officials signed the agreement with Portugal and the United Nations on May 5 authorizing the ballot and the creation of the UN Assistance Mission in East Timor, they may not have realized how galling the presence of close to 1,000 foreigners in East Timor would be to the army, particularly to the officers in direct control of operations there. This may be one reason that Unamet offices and staff have become the target of militia attacks.
• Many senior Indonesian officials outside the military claim that there is substantial pro-Indonesian sentiment in East Timor and that it is the pro-independence forces, not army-backed militias, that are causing the bulk of the intimidation and harassment. They say the primary conflict is not between the Indonesian government and the people of East Timor, but between warring groups of East Timorese. They argue that the pro- independence forces have an unfair advantage in support from the West, the Catholic Church, and now the United Nations. It is therefore incumbent upon Jakarta to establish a level playing field by helping the East Timorese who want to stay in the fold.

Likewise, the charge that pro-independence groups are responsible for widespread intimidation and terror against pro-Indonesia civilians is simply not supported by evidence. It is true that such intimidation was common in late 1998, when a wave of attacks on non-Timorese migrants took place, and there have been sporadic attacks on suspected militia members since. But the vast majority of people displaced by violence -- at least 40,000 at last count -- fled pro-integration militia attacks, not terror from the pro-independence guerrilla army or its civilian supporters.

Moreover, whereas Indonesian officials have shown no hesitation in arresting suspected perpetrators of violence from the pro- independence camp, not a single militia member was arrested from January to July, despite well-documented attacks with identifiable perpetrators that caused hundreds of deaths. It was only after international outrage at a militia attack on a humanitarian convoy on July 4 that seven suspects, all in their teens or 20s, were arrested, and they are now on trial in Dili charged with illegal possession of weapons. Militia commanders remain immune from prosecution, and army and police as of early August were continuing to stand by or actively participate in militia attacks.

Despite the surprising success of the registration process, there are strong indications that the army and its proxies will pull out all stops to sabotage the ballot. Indonesia's major donors need to send a strong message to the government that any such action would cause irreparable harm to their relationships. The heads of state of Japan, Australia, Germany, Britain and the US should communicate directly not only to President Habibie, but also to opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri and General Wiranto, that a record $5.9 billion pledged to Indonesia in a donor consortium meeting last month in Paris is at stake if state-supported violence continues. So would be all military-to- military links, already damaged in many cases by Indonesian army behavior in East Timor and elsewhere. Indonesia badly needs some political and economic breathing room to get its own house in order. It only hurts itself if the military continues its current course in East Timor.

[Sydney Jones is the executive director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch]

Amnesty again decries abuses in East Timor

Washington -- Indonesia is failing to protect voters in East Timor against widespread harassment ahead of an August 30 referendum on the disputed territory's future, Amnesty International asserted Wednesday.

The human rights organization cited "unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests and disappearances," including a new outbreak of violence earlier Wednesday.

The referendum will give the people of East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, a choice between remaining part of Indonesia as an autonomous region or gaining full independence.

"At this crucial time, we want the Indonesian police to stand up and enforce the laws equally," T. Kumar, the group's advocacy director for Asia, told a news conference. He also called on Indonesian President B.J. Habibie and military leaders to act more aggressively to protect the population and to guarantee a fair referendum.

The majority of the violence has been carried out by anti- independence militia groups "which continue to enjoy the support or acquiescence of the Indonesian military and police," Amnesty said in a report earlier Wednesday. "There is an extremely clear link between the Indonesian military and the militia who are attacking civilians," Kumar said.

An Indonesian Embassy official disputed the allegations and called Amnesty's report "one sided", "There is no evidence of support by the Indonesian military for these [militia] groups," said Mahendra Siregar, first secretary for press and information.

Thousands of villagers have fled their homes after attacks by anti-independence militia groups. Dozens have been killed or maimed.

Kumar said Amnesty is not taking a position on the independence issue, but wants the 430,000 East Timorese who have registered to vote to be able to do so without harassment. "We have solid evidence that people have disappeared, that torture is taking place," he said.

Security situation continues to deteriorate

The popular consultation moved into a new phase this week, with the end of the registration process and the beginning of the political campaign period, which is scheduled to run through August 27. As the campaign period begins, The Carter Center notes no significant improvements in the security situation in East Timor or fulfillment by the Government of Indonesia (GOI) of its security obligations under the May 5 New York agreements. Indonesian Army, police, and civil officials have failed to intervene against or have actively participated in attacks on pro-independence supporters' activities.

The Carter Center does note the recently announced change in military command in Dili. Further, the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Envoy Jamsheed Marker has issued a statement concerning Indonesian military support for pro-integration militias, assuring that measures are being taken to correct the situation.

Nevertheless, of particular concern to The Carter Center observers during the past week were the following developments:

• Intimidation, including explicit death threats, of UNAMET personnel, which has continued in several districts. In one location, UNAMET CIVPOLs officials were assaulted while attempting to protect students who were being attacked by pro- integration militia.
• Harassment of pro-independence elements, particularly students and National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT) political party workers, which has increased sharply in some locations.
• A substantial increase in the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), with thousands of new IDPs in Viqueque, where an Aug. 11 attack resulted in two deaths, and a worsening of conditions of IDPs in Suai and Same.

New evidence also shows a strengthening of existing militias and a spread across East Timor of more aggressive pro-integration militias. GOI officials continue to actively campaign for the integration option, and to provide food, other resources, and support to pro-integration groups. Carter Center observers also have seen an unevenly balanced distribution of campaign opportunities in some districts.

Meanwhile, there has been no perceptible movement toward the concentration of TNI troops into district centers, nor has there been any reduction in TNI troops in East Timor. In fact, according to one authoritative report, troop strength is being reinforced.

To date, we have seen little demonstration of GOI behavior designed to create the necessary conditions for a free, open, and democratic consultation in East Timor. There remains widespread concern that continued insecurity could jeopardize the consultation process.

Militia gang pretends to disarm

Don Greenlees -- Several hundred East Timorese militiamen handed over a motley collection of homemade pistols and rifles at a military-style parade in Dili yesterday in a symbolic gesture of compliance with agreements to disarm ahead of the August 30 ballot.

In the late afternoon sun at a football field, men wearing black T-shirts bearing the name of the Aitarak militia laid their weapons on the ground in front of officials from the UN, Indonesian military and a reconciliation commission.

But the weapons surrender appeared a token gesture: nearly all of the 230 guns were single-shot, made of wood and metal pipe. Indonesian police collected only five M-16s and five bolt-action, 1970s-era Mauser rifles. Dressed in a red-beret and combat fatigues, Aitarak commander Eurico Guterres said the handover was the "fulfilment" of the June 18 agreement between pro-Indonesia and pro-independence supporters to disavow violence and disarm.

"It is a sign of our respect and obedience with the agreement," he said. "I hope that we are able to create an atmosphere of peace and responsibility so there can be lasting peace in East Timor."

To cheers from the militia ranks, he called on the UN Assistance Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) and Indonesian authorities to ensure the pro-independence Falintil guerillas also laid down their arms. The weapons handed over yesterday were to be placed in a warehouse under the supervision of Indonesian police.

UN officials acknowledge the surrendered weapons represent only a tiny proportion of the firepower on both sides in East Timor. But they maintain such ceremonies -- yesterday's was the fourth -- can increase the pressure on police to arrest anyone displaying a weapon in public.

Militia attack people outside church

Dili -- Armed pro-Indonesian militia attacked a crowd of people outside a church compound in the East Timor town of Suai, leaving several injured, a rights group said here.

The Foundation for Human Rights and Justice (YHAK) said the militia launched the early morning attack in Suai, some 110 kilometers west of here, as the people were gathering outside the church to attend a rally in nearby Zumalai.

When the crowd was ready to leave, the militia began throwing stones. YHAK said reports from the scene indicated the militia fired five shots, but it was unclear if they fired in the air or took aim at the independentists.

They said the people fought back, and it was unclear which side the injured came from. When unarmed UN civilian police tried to reach the scene, the militia stopped them with a hail of stones that damaged their cars.

David Wimhurst, the spokesman for the UN Mission in East Timorsaid that UNAMET officers in Suai learned of the attack mid-morning. "There were rocks thrown and some shots fired," he quoted a radio contact with UNAMET in Dili as saying.

He added that a UNAMET vehicle carrying electoral officers was damaged by a rock, but there were no injuries and all staff had returned to the UNAMET compound for safety.

[On August 20, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Indonesia was furious over the computer threat calling it "terrorism against democracy". It quoted a senior official of the Foreign Ministry as saying Indonesia regarded the threat as "extremely serious" and "is not conducive to his stature as a Nobel laureate" - James Balowski.]

UN lists military officers involved in violence

Mark Dodd -- With 10 days remaining before East Timor votes on self-determination, the head of the United Nations mission in Dili, Mr Ian Martin, has called for the removal of Indonesian Army personnel involved in deadly pro-Jakarta militia violence.

The entire staff of a major UN provincial office were evacuated on Wednesday after armed militia took over the streets of this south-west town in an embarrassing protest that coincided with a visit by Mr Martin and senior Indonesian Government officials.

Just 15 kilometres from Balibo, where five Australian-based newsmen were shot dead by Indonesian forces and their militia allies in 1975, UN personnel are now under threat by some of those same pro-integration veterans.

Mr Martin said several senior Indonesian military officials went to Maliana yesterday to investigate Wednesday's violence, which militia and UN police sources said left two people dead.

The UN now expected to see strong action taken, he said. "Two forms of action which I think would be the clearest indication Jakarta's policy is being applied on the ground would be that the [Indonesian] police arrest anybody found with weapons outside designated cantonment areas.

"The second form of action which would be an indication of their seriousness would be the removal of members of the TNI [Indonesian military] who have been most closely and obviously associated with militia activities in these districts."

A list of names of serving military personnel linked to militia violence which seeks to sabotage a free poll had been handed to Indonesian authorities. Mr Martin said UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan's mandate to allow political campaigning by both sides was not being carried out in the district of Bobanaro and several others, including Viqueque and Suai.

He did not believe the Maliana violence was deliberately organised to coincide with the UN/Indonesian Task Force visit. However, he said he would continue to press for action against local government and security officials who were involved in militia rabble rousing.

Indonesian officials, including the head of the Task Force on East Timor, Mr Agus Tamidzi, were visibly shaken by the brazen protest in Maliana, which involved several hundred militiamen carrying illegal weapons in full view of local police and army personnel charged with keeping security. "We were in the cars ready to evacuate. We'd have been sitting ducks if we'd remained in here," said one UN civilian policeman gesturing towards the high-walled UNAMET compound.

But a senior Indonesian official in Dili, Mr Dino Djalal, blamed pro-independence supporters for provoking the violence. A group of the supporters blocked pro-Jakarta rivals from campaigning in the town and had started throwing stones, he said.

East Timor group pledges not to hold rallies

Marianne Kearney, Dili -- Despite a huge turnout at an independence rally in Dili on Saturday, leaders of East Timor's independence movement (CNRT) announced they would not stage campaign rallies, due to fear of attacks by pro-autonomy groups.

Mr Leandro Isaac, a CNRT co-ordinator, said the movement would avoid staging rallies in the lead-up to the ballot on Aug 30. "We don't want any more victims," he said. He said CNRT would not campaign in hotspots such as Liquisa.

Pro-independence supporters were killed there in clashes with pro-integration militia in April and an aid convoy, which included members of the UN Mission in East Timor (Unamet), was attacked there in June.

Mr Mario Carascalao, whose son was killed when militia attacked his house in April and who returned from Australia only on Friday, said he was, "still frightened to be here".

"If Unamet and Polri provide security it's fine, but not if TNI provide the security because I don't trust them."

Polri is the Indonesian police, while TNI refers to the Indonesian Armed Forces.

Mr Carascalao said CNRT was scared to organise an event any larger than Saturday's 5,000-strong rally because it feared pro- integration supporters or members of the army would infiltrate the crowd and provoke an incident.

Mr Agio Perreira, a member of CNRT's National Political Commission, said political rallies would not be part of the movement's strategy as "CNRT doesn't need to campaign because people know what they want ... We just have to tell them about how to vote," he said.

He said that, instead of organising rallies, the movement would inform people about the voting process via CNRT's radio broadcast every night and through its Tetum language newspaper, Vox Populi, which was launched on Friday.

The opening of the CNRT office in Dili was not meant to be a campaign rally. However, it became one quickly as the huge crowds, spilling down the street and onto the beachfront park, cheered CNRT's second-in-command David Ximenes when he spoke about an independent East Timor.

Young men in Che Guevara-style berets and Falantil T-shirts flocked to the opening, while huge posters of jailed resistance leader and head of the CNRT Xanana Gusmao were everywhere.

Thousands greet their future

Mark Dodd, Dili -- More than 4,000 exuberant East Timorese crammed around a small waterfront office in Dili yesterday, watching as the independence flag was raised for the first time in 23 years, marking the beginning of the Falintil party's referendum campaign.

"Now is the time for East Timorese to determine their own future," said the independence leader Xanana Gusmao in a pre- recorded speech. "For the past 23 years Falintil has been fighting, not people with different views but people with weapons -- a fight against Kopassus [Indonesian special forces] and the generals."

Mr Gusmao, revered as a symbol of the territory's struggle for independence, is under house arrest in Jakarta following his release from jail earlier this year after being sentenced to 20 years for incitement.

A hush fell as the crowd listened to their leader appeal for peace and calm through the political campaign in the lead-up to the August 30 vote. Falintil youth especially needed to maintain discipline, he said.

The launch of the political campaign also coincided with the opening of a new office for the National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT), the political wing of the pro-independence faction.

By comparison, the CNRT's opening ceremony dwarfed the pro- autonomy rally which opened on Saturday on a dusty, wind-blown football oval, attracting a mostly rent-a-crowd of not more than 800 supporters. Many pro-autonomy "supporters" said that they had been ordered to attend the rally whether they wanted to or not.

Among the guests at the CNRT rally was the independence activist Mr Manuel Carrascalao, whose 18-year-old son, Manuelito, was murdered on April 17 by supporters of thepro-Indonesian Aitarak (Thorn) militia led by Eurico Guterres.

Looking haggard, Mr Carrascalao said he hoped to meet the deputy commander of Falintil (armed pro-independence wing) this week and expected to stay in Dili during the campaign.

"I'm happy to return although I still feel pain. I hear there is still terror and intimidation but these acts are only humiliating for Indonesia," he said.

Striking a conciliatory note on Saturday, a senior pro-autonomy official said there was agreement between the leaders of both sides on the need for a peaceful and strife-free political campaign.

"We feel at a leadership level with both sides we have no problems -- the problems which have occurred are at a grass roots level," said Salvador Ximenes, of the United Front for East Timor Autonomy (BRTT).

The UN's senior electoral official in East Timor, Mr Geoff Fischer, wished the CNRT well and assured voters their ballot would be secure and secret.

Around the compound people craned for a view, climbing a huge old fig tree, perching on walls and car roofs. Two youths clung perilously to a steel electric power pole.

Despite the festival-like atmosphere, security was tight. A news agency interpreter was asked to leave after being identified as an Indonesian intelligence agent.

"We've seen the Indonesians try and crush the will of the people," said a man who identified himself as Chris, a 30-year- old contractor from Dili. "I've come here on my own free will. I am confident we will win.

Seven jailed for attack on Timor aid covoy

Dili -- Seven men accused of taking part in a militia attack on a humanitarian aid convoy in East Timor have been jailed for four months, a UN spokesman said Sunday.

The accused were ordered to serve their sentences "with no time off," David Wimhurst, spokesman for the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), told AFP. He did not elaborate on when the sentences were handed down.

Two UNAMET military liaison officers and other UN staff were accompanying an aid convoy back to Dili on July 4 when it was attacked in the town of Liquisa by militiamen with guns and machetes. One driver for an East Timorese aid organization was seriously wounded.

Two homemade guns and a homemade handgun, were offered as evidence, in front of the three judges during the trial that featured testimony by one of the UNAMET officers.

Police from UNAMET, which has been pressing for militia involved in violence ahead of a self-determination vote, to be brought to justice, advised Indonesian police who investigated the case.

The 20-day campaign for the August 30 ballot, in which East Timorese will vote to accept or reject an Indonesian offer of autonomy, started Saturday.

Ramos-Horta: A last chance for fair play

There will be fierce retaliation if Jakarta thwarts East Timor's independence ballot, writes Jose Ramos Horta.

The ballot to determine East Timor's future could turn into the biggest electoral fraud of modern times. Intimidation and violence remain widespread ahead of the August 30 referendum, despite the repeated promises by Indonesian authorities to end the terror.

An overwhelming majority of East Timorese would vote for independence -- if they were free to. But conditions remain far from appropriate for a democratic ballot.

Many East Timorese imprisoned for peaceful protest against Indonesia's illegal occupation of their homeland are still to be released. Yet not one leader of the militias nor any member of the security forces responsible for the murder of innocent women and children has been brought to justice. Campaigning for the referendum has officially begun, but Xanana Gusmao and other exiled leaders, like myself, are not allowed to return to East Timor even though this is contrary to the May 5 accords between Portugal, Indonesia and the UN. Xanana is in detention and allowed to campaign only through TV and radio. He says there is no point trying to campaign through East Timorese media largely controlled by Indonesia.

The Indonesians will go to any lengths to increase their stranglehold on East Timor even if it means breaching international agreements.

While pro-independence leaders are excluded, Abilio Araujo has been allowed back to East Timor to campaign for "autonomy" within Indonesia. Araujo, who has lived in Lisbon since 1972, was a leader of Fretilin, a Marxist and a Maoist ideologue, and the man most responsible for the sectarian divisions that have racked East Timor.

At the start of the decade, this Marxist-turned-businessman began to court the Soeharto family, changed sides, and was expelled from Fretilin. That a renegade Marxist hardliner is able to return while Xanana is not says a lot about the farce that the UN-sponsored referendum is becoming.

In a scathing report last week, the Atlanta-based Carter Centre documented Indonesian military actively supporting and directing pro-integration militias which were creating a climate of fear and intimidation. Recruited from as far as Java, where unemployment and criminality are very high, the militias have unleashed an unprecedented campaign of violence that has cost the lives of more than 1,000 innocent villagers, razed entire villages and uprooted more than 80,000.

The May 5 pact entrusts the Indonesian police force with responsibility for security even though it is notoriously corrupt and violent. Hundreds of the much-hated special forces unit, the Kopassus, have been sent to East Timor disguised as police.

The Indonesian army has not withdrawn a single combat battalion from the territory. Leaked confidential military documents identify well over 18,000 Indonesian troops in East Timor. Along with the 8,000 police already there and the hundreds of Kopassus troops disguised as members of the police corps, plus the thousands in armed gangs, they make East Timor one of the most militarised territories in the world.

All this makes for an extremely dangerous situation. Full-scale violence before or after the ballot is now almost certain.

The Indonesian army hierarchy still clings to the illusion that it will secure a pro-integration vote through terror and fraud. It fails to realise that if the ballot is not free, conflict will continue. And this time our mild manners will be cast aside.

The next phase of resistance will be much more desperate and ferocious and will not be contained to East Timor.

To start with, no Portuguese government would ever recognise the result of a fraudulent ballot. Domestic opinion would force it to secure a mandatory arms embargo and economic sanctions against Indonesia by its European and NATO partners.

The UN Secretary-General would be pressed to seek an ad hoc war crimes tribunal on East Timor to indict Indonesian military officers (past and present) and militia leaders. The World Bank, already severely criticised for fuelling corruption during the Soeharto era, would be under extreme pressure from many quarters to freeze new funds for Jakarta. The US Congress would vote against allocating funds to a country whose elected authorities were unable or unwilling to rein in their army.

And how could Australia stand by and just watch? It would lose all credibility and Australians would be the laughing stock of the region.

Indonesian diplomatic and trade representatives in Australia and Europe would be targeted by demonstrations, picketing and sit- ins. Indonesian peace-keepers sent to other areas of conflict would be in danger and ostracised.

East Timorese groups have set aside a "war budget" of several million dollars to wage a sustained public relations campaign against Indonesia's tourism industry. Travel agencies around the world would be urged not to process bookings for Indonesia. A world-wide "boycott Bali" campaign would be launched. The Indonesian national carrier Garuda would have to suspend its operations.

More than 100 computer wizards -- mostly teenagers -- in Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Brazil, the US and Canada are preparing a plan targeting the computer network of the Indonesian government, army, banking and finance institutions to create chaos. A dozen special viruses are being designed to infect the Indonesian electronic communications system, including aviation.

One computer wizard recently told me: "We will terminate their banking system. We will invade their sites and destroy them. People will be scared to travel to Indonesia when they know that we are also infecting their air communications. We will cause them to lose hundreds of millions of dollars".

My concluding message to the Indonesians is: Back off before Indonesia is plunged into a new round of an even more costly war.

Militia fires at independence headquarters

Mark Dodd -- Indonesia marked its independence anniversary in East Timor yesterday in a gala ceremony that may be its last in the troubled territory, which is less than a fortnight away from the United Nations-organised ballot on self-determination.

Hours before the start of the ceremony, autonomy supporters drove through central Dili on a shooting spree, firing at two pro- independence offices and outside the residence of Mr David Wimhurst, the spokesman for the UN Assistance Mission in East Timor (UNAMET).

"We heard the very loud shots outside our house. They loosed off a burst on automatic," Mr Wimhurst said. He had radioed the report to UN security shortly after 5am and Indonesian police were notified.

Mr David Ximenes, one of the leaders of the pro-independence National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT), blamed Indonesian Kopassus special forces for the attack. "I'm sure he was Kopassus. One of our people saw him. He had long hair and was dressed in black," Mr Ximenes said.

Inside the central Dili office of the CNRT, located on Jalan October 15 (October 15 Street), Mr Ximenes pointed to a bullet hole in the first-floor window. The bullet had continued through a plywood office partition but caused no injury.

Mr Ximenes produced two 5.56-millimetre brass shell casings, collected outside the building, of a type fired from an Indonesian-made SS1 or M-16A1 assault rifle commonly used by the military.

At midday, a convoy of motorcycles and trucks carrying pro- autonomy Aitarak militia drove past the CNRT office, provoking jeers from both sides.

Several militia members could be seen to have pistols under their shirts. Mr Ximenes appealed for his supporters not to provoke any violence during the tense stand-off.

By 12.30pm, some seven hours after the shots were fired, 20 Indonesian police arrived outside the CNRT office to begin their investigation.

At a second CNRT office on the Dili waterfront, security staff were busy chattering into walkie-talkies calling for more staff to reinforce the office.

"It was Aitarak with TNI [military] pushing from behind. We have received information Aitarak want to attack this office and tear down our flag," a CNRT security officer said. "We are taking extra security precautions but we are unarmed so all we can do is call you journalists or the UN." Asked why he did not call the police, the CNRT official replied: "Polri [police] never show up and sometimes they only come and watch."

UNAMET has repeatedly called on the rival independence and autonomy parties to respect each other's views and ensure the 14-day political campaign period that began last Saturday is peaceful.

Meanwhile, red and white flags flew outside most shops and homes in central Dili yesterday as a mark of respect for Indonesia's Independence Day holiday.

In the morning, Governor Abilio Soares reviewed a colourful Independence Day parade which may be the last ever to be held in East Timor. Asked if he thought he would witness another Independence Day parade, Governor Soares said he was confident of there being celebrations in future.

The Indonesian Government task force spokesman, Mr Dino Djalal, said: "If it's autonomy, we will have this again, of course, because East Timor will be part of Indonesia."

Major-General Adam Damiri, the commander of Indonesia's Eastern Zone, said security was improving in the lead-up to voting day. "The situation is getting better and more conducive. Falintil [independence guerillas] are in cantonment and have disarmed," he said. "The pro-integration forces are doing the same."

Gusmao's warning to militias: disarm or die!

Yenny Zannuba, Jakarta -- Detained East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao has warned that his forces will track down and kill Indonesian soldiers caught supplying weapons to rival pro-Jakarta militias.

Only two weeks before a United Nations ballot to decide the future of East Timor, Mr Gusmao accused Indonesia's military, or TNI, of planning to provoke a new wave of violence if the ballot favours independence.

He said he did not believe the promise of the armed forces chief, General Wiranto, that his men would stay neutral before and after the August 30 ballot giving East Timorese a choice between autonomy or independence. His comments are likely to increase tensions in East Timor as rival parties campaign around the territory, which was invaded by Indonesia in 1975.

Under a United Nations- brokered agreement, about 8,000 Indonesian police and 14,000 regular and territorial soldiers are responsible for maintaining law and order ahead of the ballot. Mr Gusmao's attack on the armed forces comes amid reports that pro- Jakarta militia groups in the disputed territory have gathered hundreds of modern weapons, particularly near the border with West Timor.

"We can't trust the military, 20 years of experience taught us that," Mr Gusmao said in Jakarta, where he is under house arrest.

He feared the military planned to distribute weapons to pro- Jakarta militias, which are backed and trained by the armed forces.

"The guns will re-emerge, we know it will happen," he said. "In the eyes of the world they [the military] want to be seen as saints, but behind our backs they will use one East Timorese to kill one another.

"If Falintil ever get hold of one single gun given out to the militias, we will track TNI down and kill them. Because they are the ones who make East Timorese kill other East Timorese."

The UN has been urging pro- independence and pro-Jakarta groups to lay down their weapons ahead of the ballot, but few have been handed over by pro-Jakarta militias.

Mr Gusmao's guerillas have pledged to take their weapons to designated areas and stay there during the campaign under the supervision of the UN.

Mr Gusmao said the military's refusal to redeploy troops in the troubled province was a sign it was planning to make trouble and sabotage a win for independence. "They will not accept the result and there will be riots provoked by the military," he said.

"They want the East Timorese to look as if they can't conciliate and solve their own problems." Mr Gusmao is convinced East Timorese will vote for independence in a landslide, but ruled out being president in a new independent government, preferring to stay outside so he could keep a check on the new government. "If I'm outside I would have a bigger moral authority," he said.

Mr Gusmao said an independent East Timor would use Portuguese as its national language, but Indonesian and English would be retained for "international and commercial purposes". He doubted the promise of Indonesia's President, Dr B.J. Habibie, to release him the day after the ballot. Mr Gusmao was sentenced to 20 years' jail for rebellion in 1992 but since early this year has been allowed to stay in a government-owned house and receive visitors.

Mark Dodd reports from Dili: Mr Gusmao's deputy, Taur Matan Ruak, has appealed to Falintil supporters to ensure the political campaign for the UN-supervised referendum passes peacefully. "I propose to the East Timorese youth not to become radical during the campaign and ballot. You must obey Falintil commander Xanana Gusmao's order to proceed hand in hand," he told the Suara Timor Timur (Voice of East Timor) newspaper. He appealed for his supporters to respect the views of their political opponents and avoid intimidation.

"Let the pro-integration militias do that if they want to. Let the Indonesian Government do that if they want to so they are the ones who are guilty."
 

Presidential succession

Critics round on lacklustre Habibie

As violence flared on the eve of the nation's 54th Independence Day, leaders of the main political parties launched a scathing attack on President Bacharuddin Habibie's state of the nation speech, saying it showed he lacked the will to weed out corruption.

The President's own ruling Golkar party seemed to be hedging its bets, with chairman Akbar Tanjung quoted as saying the party could reverse a decision to nominate him for a new term if potential allies rejected him.

"There is still a possibility for Golkar to review its presidential candidate if political parties eager to form a coalition reject Habibie's bid," he said.

Referring to the violence plaguing the nation, Mr Habibie pledged yesterday that whatever the outcome of the August 30 vote for self-determination in East Timor, the unity of the Indonesian Republic would be preserved.

He blamed escalating violence in Aceh on separatist rebels and demanded that they lay down their arms before troops could be pulled out of the province.

"The atmosphere of conflict, such as in Aceh for example ... has recently been worsened by an escalation of [activities of] armed security-disturbing movements," he said.

As he spoke there were reports that dozens of houses had been torched in two north Aceh villages and that a man pulling down an Indonesian flag was shot and wounded by a soldier.

In the eastern city of Ambon, in Maluku province, 10 people suffered gunshot wounds and several houses and a church were burned when security forces opened fire near the airport.

A mob of villagers attacked and burned to the ground a resort near Padang, West Sumatra province, over long-standing grievances against unmarried couples staying there, local residents said.

Mr Habibie's speech also addressed the need for a continued economic recovery, but he failed to mention a specific agenda to handle the ailing bank sector and the weakening of the rupiah, critics said.

"There is a major scandal with banking recapitalisation," Ekky Syachrudin, another Golkar leader, said.

"He mentioned ... only that there will be stern action, but what?" he asked. Mr Habibie briefly mentioned that external factors and problems in the bank restructuring programme accounted for the weakening of the rupiah but declined to give specific policies to deal with the country's economic woes.

"Therefore, the Government is committed to resolving various problems that hindered bank restructuring ... we hope the rupiah will recover soon," Mr Habibie said.

The speech was widely seen as his first major reply to popular opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri, who effectively launched her presidential campaign last month.

Ms Megawati's campaign received a boost from a leading group yesterday when the moderate Muslim National Awakening Party expressed its support for her presidential campaign.
 

Political/economic crisis

All flights suspended to Ambon

Ambon -- Authorities have suspended all civilian flights to this riot-torn Indonesian city because of escalating Moslem-Christian violence and handed the airport over to the military, sources said Thursday.

A duty officer at the military information office said the suspension affected all commercial flights to and from Pattimura civilian airport, across a bay from the city.

"All civilian flights had been temporarily suspended. There really isn't anything wrong there or in the area, but people just feel cautious after all that's happened," Captain Sutarno, of the information office, told AFP by phone. "A [military] Hercules flight however managed to get out and return to Jakarta yesterday," he said.

Air base commander Lieutenant Colonel Iskandar has taken over control of the airport following the evacuation of scores of airport employees on Wednesday by military transport plane to Jakarta, 2,400 kilometers to the west.

Ambon's Pattimura airport lies across the bay from the city center, and earlier this week, the privately-owned Mandala airlines, one of only two carriers serving Ambon, announced that it was cancelling flights there.

Mandala cited threats to its staff from Moslem-Christian clashes in Laha village near the airport perimeter, and the acting head of the local office of the communications ministry, J.A. Hallatu said on Tuesday an airport staff dormitory in Laha had come under attack.

The staff of Merpati Nusantara airlines, the last airline to serve the city, had been evacuated along with the aiport personnel, Hallatu told the Jakarta Post newspapert.

Meanwhile, eight doctors and a team of medics arrived here on Thursday and met with Ambon's deputy governor before heading out to their assigned hospitals to help deal with the flood of wounded from the clashes.

Downtown Ambon has been reported mainly quiet in the past two days, with only sporadic clashes, though some 34,000 people remain in makeshift refugee centers in military barracks, mosques and churches.

Maluku police chief Colonel Bugis Saman on Thursday said some 117 people have been killed and 394 others injured since renewed religious clashes started on July 27. At least 18 of the dead, and possibly as many as 25, were herded into a locked church and shot.
 

Aceh/West Papua

Troops kill civilian for pulling down flag

Aceh -- Troops shot a man to death as he ripped down an Indonesian flag in Aceh province Sunday, police and residents said Monday.

North Aceh police chief Syafei Aksal said soldiers killed the civilian in Lhoksukon district, near the city of Lhokseumawe, about 1,750 kilometers northwest of Jakarta.

Angry villagers have been tearing down red and white Indonesian flags put up ahead of national independence celebrations Tuesday. They have replaced them with red separatist flags that carry Islam's crescent and star symbol.

Residents in Bate Ilik village, also near Lhokseumawe, ripped up thousands of Indonesian flags and burned them in a massive pile over the weekend. In retaliation, soldiers have been busy tearing down separatist flags.

Press, readers, deal with free information

Ati Nurbaiti, Lhokseumawe -- National Police chief Gen. Roesmanhadi was in Lhokseumawe, the capital of North Aceh regency, last month. He was told there had just been contact between security personnel and armed groups, and that two police officers had been shot.

He was escorted to a hospital to visit the wounded, and private TV station RCTI cameraman M. Ali Raban was among journalists who pounced on the moment. But he was struck without warning. He found that a soldier had dealt the blow, but managed to protect the camera, which was about to be damaged.

Insults were exchanged and Ali learned that the soldier, a sergeant, was trying to protect his injured colleague's wife, who the soldier said was three months pregnant.

"The soldier was afraid his friend's wife would be traumatized if she saw her husband's condition on television," Ali was told later by an apologetic officer. "He could have just told me," Ali, based in Lhokseumawe, told The Jakarta Post, reciting the incident.

Lilawangsa Military Commander Col. Syafnil Armen, whose jurisdiction covers the most volatile regions here, said the soldier had acted in panic out of solidarity with his friend, and pointed out that reasoning with the press was not the first thing to enter his mind.

The above was one incident among Ali's many experiences. Many other journalists based in Aceh have similar tales to tell. RCTI's green Kijang van here still bears the dents inflicted by the rifle butts of emotional soldiers while the TV crew covered the shooting of a civilian.

A Reuters journalist here said last week he was forced by gun point to give up his film to a soldier, who destroyed it. Such threats, local journalists say, are daily fare for them, while visiting reporters can depart for safe ground once an assignment is over.

The August 10 explosion of a Molotov cocktail at the Banda Aceh home of Sjamsul Kahar, chief editor of the leading Serambi Indonesia daily, is suspected to be linked to the daily's increasingly bold reports on violence in the province. Sjamsul, who was at his office when the explosion took place at 2am, also heads the Kompas bureau in Aceh, and the terror is also believed to be linked to the Jakarta-based daily's reports on suspected intelligence operations in the province.

Years of silence shrouded the experiences of people here under the military operations of 1989 to 1998. The winds of reformasi that swept across the country meant the rush of long-suppressed information on what was going on in Aceh, egged on by visits by fact-finding teams investigating rights abuses.

Family

People in towns and villages suddenly spoke up, and the media needed only to report this, which was backed up by much information that for a long time had been off the record. At last people turned their attention to Aceh.

Acehnese themselves were shocked -- stories of horror were not even much discussed at family gatherings. A district employee in Pidie regency told the Post that in the years of the military operations, "you didn't know who you could trust," even among relatives. One reporter in Lhokseumawe said of the years, "You just chose not to report [abuse and killings], rather than being picked up."

In the absence of an overseas network, as in the case of East Timor, and the terror felt by both residents and the media, what did leak out was not easy to check.

Media organizations pressed by resource shortages would not send journalists to cover a dangerous area that had little chance of being aired or printed. Aceh, therefore, remained in the dark while human rights groups, armed with leaked reports of abuse, yelled alone for the military operations to stop.

A young driver growing up in Banda Aceh said, "Even if I'm not an Aceh native, I felt very sad. We heard of things but there was nothing in the newspapers."

Journalists did try. A reporter from state-run TVRI said, "We reported things like: 'The local administration channeled aid to Bukit Janda, the Hill of Widows.' And this would lead the audience to question, why is the place named after widows?"

The hill in Pidie regency is one of many places where all menfolk were abducted and killed for being suspected of links to the Free Aceh Movement. Continual violence even after the military operations status of the province was lifted became the material of major daily reports. Front page stories of the leading Serambi Indonesia daily on one day in August included at least three separate mysterious murders and abductions of civilians and police officers, with updates of other cases inside.

Some cases are the same as before, journalists here said, the only difference being that it is now reported. They say this is an unpleasant new experience for perpetrators of violence who have grown so used to the silence.

To guarantee they can continue to operate, the media still avoids extremely blunt reporting when it can. One newspaper did not report details of the wounds on a dead man suspected of being a Free Aceh member while the reporter had seen the three gunshots on the body. "It's all right for you reporters from Jakarta," one reporter in Pidie said. "We live here."

Another journalist working for a Medan-based newspaper in Pidie said he prefers his family to live in the North Sumatra capital, given continuous threats.

Resentment

The recent murder of a Medan Post journalist in North Aceh remains a mystery, with his editor only hinting that his death might have been linked to his frequent reports on local corruption. Following the finding of his body on August 5, the Association of Indonesian Journalists (PWI) demanded security personnel to protect the media.

Lack of professionalism is cited by reporters here as one factor that may incite anger among the public. Just like in other areas in the country, there are also many extortionists among the press here, journalists say. Now when reporters hope they can do their job much better, they face a public resentful of their silence so far.

It is a tense situation, in which the public now demands reporting of their grievances, while not trusting their journalists. "The local press is pro-government," a resident in Lhokseumawe said. Some journalists go about their work here as unobtrusively as possible, with their notebooks deep in their pockets, while the foreign press are greeted with an enthusiastic "Hey Mister!" In East Timor, to join a crowd of foreign journalists was to seek trouble before the United Nations arrived, but in Aceh they are useful shields. "We'll only go with foreign press," drivers say in really risky times.

The tension for everyone living in these parts is due to the fact that over the past year it has been unclear who the perpetrators of the violence are. One watches out for unknown armed groups, several categories of "Free Aceh" rebels, and security personnel members who might be in a temper or are feeling like a display of power.

Journalists are cautious, nervous, and "leaving everything to fate", one said. Some use a number of names but know quite well that they are easy to find in the small town. Fairly large organizations can afford to replace stressed-out employees with new ones from Banda Aceh, while others are stuck.

A senior reporter from the state-run Antara news agency shared one tip when Jakarta colleagues were assigned to cover Independence Day here on August 17.

"Hurry, clear out," he said in a low tone after a police patrol in civilian clothes left a street where residents had been ordered to raise the country's red and white flag. "When security personnel leave an [unfamiliar] area, you leave too," he said. "You cannot tell who the residents are."

Rifts open in legacy of Suharto

John Aglionby, Jakarta -- The company of Indonesian soldiers was clearly very frightened. Two of their colleagues and one civilian were dead, three other soldiers and half-a-dozen civilians were badly injured; the ground was littered with spent cartridges.

The commander at the scene on the trans-Sumatran highway in Aceh said it was an ambush by separatist guerrillas. Civilian witnesses said there had been no assault -- one army truck had ploughed into the back of another, and the soldiers, who had thought they were under attack, opened fire in panic, shooting randomly for several minutes.

The second version was by far the more credible. But the soldiers' fear is understandable. Poorly trained and underpaid -- and therefore poorly disciplined -- they are fighting their own side as well as the Aceh separatists.

Local newspapers are full of reports about "mysterious unidentified forces" perpetrating escalating brutality that threatens to become a major uprising. The generals deny such covert operations, but few believe them.

"I have no doubt there's a group using the current trouble in Aceh to create more chaos," says respected military analyst Salim Said. "There are many people who have a keen interest in keeping Aceh destabilised."

The reasons for this go back to the early 1990s, when the former dictator General Suharto gave the military carte blanche to crush the Aceh separatists. Those responsible include at least four current Cabinet Ministers. "They are afraid that the human rights problem will hound them if Aceh is allowed to become peaceful," says Said.

Aceh is only one problem among many facing the army in post- Suharto Indonesia. Since the strongman was forced from office in May 1998, the country's social fabric has begun to unravel, and the military -- for 32 years the most powerful force in the country -- does not know how to keep the country intact.

"For the past 32 years we effectively lived under martial law and the army only had to know the language of force," says Rizal Sukma, of Jakarta's Centre for Strategic and International Studies. "Soldiers did not have to be trained in any alternative methods of conflict resolution because they could do what they wanted and get away with it."

The consequences of this are apparent. The army is proving incapable of finding solutions to growing ethnic unrest. More than 100 people died last week alone on the eastern island of Ambon, and the death toll nationally this year is nearing 1,500. Under the military regime civil society was repressed, so there are now no civilian institutions sufficiently competent to handle the crisis. "People were kept stupid," says Munir, a human rights activist. "They were educated enough to follow orders but not to think for themselves."

Indonesia is now in a dangerous vicious circle. Generals admit past methods of repression do not work but do not want to cede political control. However, the military's continuing political presence -- it still has 38 seats in the 500-member parliament -- "is part of the problem not part of the solution," Sukma says.

Brigadier-General Rudy Supriata, a senior member of the military faction in parliament, denies that there is a problem. "We have been asked to be there by the people. There is a job to be done and the military is considered capable of doing it. We will leave when the time is right."

But most believe that following the referendum on East Timor -- seen as a massive defeat for the Indonesian military -- and with presidential elections due in November, military self-interest is winning out over altruism.

The military's involvement in the economy is another significant problem. "The Indonesian military is the most underfunded in the region," says Said. As a result, generals have gone into business. The military owns hundreds of businesses and its officers hundreds more.

Sukma says: "If we really want the military to be more professional we have to get them out of politics and out of business. This means the government needs to massively increase spending on military welfare. But that would be unpopular and is unlikely to happen until we have a strong government. However, we won't have a strong government until the military is out of politics. So we are stuck in a situation that will probably take generations to change."
 

News & issues

Indonesia holiday marred by violence

Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta -- Indonesia's independence day was marred today by clashes between pro-democracy protesters and riot police in Jakarta, the strafing of East Timor's separatist movement's headquarters and reports that five people were killed in strife-torn Aceh province.

The bodies of four civilians were found Monday in Jamoaye district in North Aceh, 1,100 miles northwest of Jakarta. All had their throats slit, Jacob Hamzah, leader of a local human rights group, said today. Hamzah said the four men had been abducted early Monday by about 30 armed men in military uniforms in Ulee Gle village.

Meanwhile, in nearby South Aceh, an unidentified gunman shot a soldier to death early today, witnesses said. Later in the day, secessionists fired on a military post in North Aceh, wounding at least seven marines, the official Antara news agency reported.

The violence came as Indonesia celebrated its 54th independence anniversary. The archipelago nation declared independence from Dutch colonial rule August 17, 1945.

In East Timor, unidentified gunmen opened fire on the offices of the region's main pro-independence group at dawn today, just hours before die-hard loyalists gathered for what could be the last Indonesian national day celebration in the territory.

No injuries were reported in the attacks on two buildings housing the offices of the National Council for Timorese Resistance. The group blamed anti-independence militiaman for the attack.

One office, located in the city's waterfront area, was the site of Sunday's rally by thousands of pro-independence supporters that kicked off their campaign for the Aug. 30 ballot on whether East Timor should become independent or remain part of Indonesia.

Though many predict the former Portuguese colony, which Indonesia invaded in 1975, will opt for independence, Gov. Abilio Jose Osario Soares disagreed. "This will not be the last independence ceremony," he told some 1,000 members of the military, police and civil guards.

Indonesia celebrated its anniversary by granting remissions to hundreds of prisoners across the country. Among them was imprisoned East Timor guerrilla commander Jose Alexandre 'Xanana' Gusmao, whose 20-year sentence was slashed by five months. The gesture was symbolic as Indonesia has promised to release Gusmao from house arrest in Jakarta after the independence ballot.

The festivities in Jakarta included a military pageant at the presidential palace. However, hundreds of students blocked a busy road after police stopped them from marching on parliament. Many lay down on the pavement and refused to disperse. Other students were injured in a scuffle with police outside the national electoral office.

Quiet day in Dili, busy day in Jakarta

Jakarta -- Independence Day was quiet in Dili, the capital of East Timor, where people preferred to attend the anniversary of the separatist group Falintil. Merriment, however, was still seen among pro-Indonesia groups rallying the city in various vehicles in the campaign ahead of the August 30 self-determination vote.

Student demonstrations marked the 54th anniversary of Indonesia's Independence Day in Jakarta, as well as several other major cities, such as Semarang and Ujungpandang. Also in Jakarta, thousands of invites and dignitaries joined the celebration led by President B.J. Habibie on the grounds of Merdeka Palace.

East Timor Governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares, who presided over the ceremony in Dili, appeared annoyed when a journalist reminded him this year's celebration might be the last as proindependence groups might win the direct ballot. "It is possible for you but not for me," he retorted in an emotional tone.

Afterward, hundreds of prointegration youths went around the city shouting "mate ka moris, simu otonomi!" (alive or dead, vote for autonomy). At about the same time, some 4,000 proindependence supporters left the city on buses, trucks and cars to attend the first celebration of Falintil's anniversary at four locations in the province.

At Merdeka Palace, the one-hour ceremony started at 10am, four minutes before founding fathers, then president Sukarno and vice president Muhammad Hatta, proclaimed Indonesian independence in 1945.

Col. Syaiful Rizal commanded the ceremony, which opened with a siren and 17 salvos. House Speaker Harmoko read out the proclamation, which was followed by one minute of silence to remember the nation's heroes.

This was followed by the hoisting of the national flag by a group of selected senior high school students from across the country. Guests, however, were distracted when an Air Force soldier, a member of the honor guard, fainted.

Unlike Independence Day celebrations under Soeharto's administration, guests this year did not receive a small bag containing a soft drink and cake, compliments of the presidential household.

As a result, many left to look for refreshment nearby when 2,000 students started belting out heroic songs. Coca-cola stands were the most sought after. Other guests approached a stand which provided free beer and soft drinks.

Conspicuously absent from the assembled dignitaries was former president Soeharto, who was admitted to Pertamina hospital on Saturday for the second time in a month. None of his family was present either.

First president Sukarno's family was represented by Rachmawati Soekarnoputri, Guruh Soekarnoputra and Bayu Soekarnoputra. Their sister, Megawati Soekarnoputri, led her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) at the Jakarta chapter office in West Jakarta.

A number of ministers and senior military officers were obvious in attempts to avoid journalists. Coordinating Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry Ginandjar Kartasasmita, whose name has been linked to the Bank Bali interbank debt scandal, walked away quickly and pretended not to see the journalists.

Habibie will officially close the 1999 celebration on Wednesday by hosting a party at the State Palace. Popular comedian group Bagito, who often use Habibie in their jokes, is expected to entertain guests.

A dozen students from the Forum of Aceh Students in Bandung staged a protest near Gasibu Square, where West Java Governor R. Nuriana led an Independence Day ceremony. "Stop military brutality in Aceh," the students shouted.

In restive Ambon, Maluku, hundreds of people witnessed from a distance the celebration led by Maluku Governor Saleh Latuconsina at his office, Antara reported.

Christians rang church bells and Muslims beat mosque drums when the clock struck 9.30am. The province has been racked by prolonged conflicts between the followers of the two religions which so far have killed more than 400 people, injured thousands and forced an estimated 100,000 people to flee. "This year's celebration was not as jovial as in previous years," a resident said.

In Semarang, the capital of Central Java, Diponegoro Military Commander Maj. Gen. Bibit Waluyo deplored student protesters whom he described as trying to taint the nobility of the celebration.

"It was not easy to gain independence, it needed sacrifice. Do you think people would like it if the ceremony was marred by a demonstration?" Bibit said.

In Ujungpandang, hundreds of students took to the streets. They demanded the government end violence in Aceh and Maluku.

Suharto well enough to go home

Jakarta -- Ailing former Indonesian President Suharto has been found well enough to return home, but it was uncertain whether he would leave soon or later in the week, the head of his team of doctors said.

"There is no certainty on Pak Harto's return. It hasn't been decided whether he's returning today or tomorrow, but he could ... It's up to the family. His condition is good," Ibrahim Ginting, the team chief, told reporters at Pertamina Hospital.

Suharto, 78, was rushed back to Pertamina Hospital on Saturday with intestinal bleeding, less than a month after being admitted there for 10 days treatment after suffering a mild stroke.

The stroke, which affected his right side and left him with slightly slurred speech, was unrelated to the bleeding, Ginting had said earlier.

Doctors ran gamma and beta-ray tests on the former strongman on Tuesday to check his digestive system. Ginting said the scan showed the bleeding had stopped.

Suharto has lived quietly in his heavily-guarded Jakarta home since he stepped down last year following riots and calls for reform.

Reformists have clamored for him to be brought to court for allegedly amassing a fortune during his 32 years in office, charges he denies.

The most influential Asians of the century

Born June 6, 1901 in Surabaya; 1927 - Founds movement for independence from the Dutch; 1945 - After Japanese surrender, declares independence and is elected President; 1963 - Names himself President for Life; 1965 - Overthrown by military takeover and later replaced by Suharto; 1970 - Dies June 21 in Jakarta after two years of house arrest. He gave unity to Indonesia, dignity to the downtrodden and anxiety to the powerful, who finally brought him down.

Pramoedya Ananta Toer -- He united his country and set it free. He liberated his people from a sense of inferiority and made them feel proud to be Indonesian -- no small achievement, coming after 350 years of Dutch colonial rule and three-and-a-half years of Japanese occupation. What Sukarno did on Aug. 17, 1945 was no different from what Thomas Jefferson had done for Americans on July 4, 1776. Perhaps even more: Sukarno was the only Asian leader of the modern era able to unify people of such differing ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds without shedding a drop of blood. Compare his record with that of Suharto, his successor, who killed or imprisoned hundreds of thousands of people to establish his New Order regime.

Equally stunning is that some people seem not to appreciate Sukarno's story. Bung (Brother) Karno, as Indonesians liked to call him, was born in the first year of the new century, on June 6, 1901, the son of a minor Javanese aristocrat and his Balinese wife. Talented in both athletics and academics, he became one of the few Indonesians admitted to Dutch-language schools; it was when his father sent him to Surabaya to attend one such secondary school that he met and boarded with the country's preeminent nationalist, Tjokroaminoto. Through him Sukarno would be inducted into the freedom struggle. With his captivating oratorical skills, however, the younger man would go on to outshine his mentor.

In 1929, two years after helping found the organization that would become the Partai Nasional Indonesia, Sukarno was put on trial by the Dutch. His self-defense, which lasted two days, was a rhetorical masterpiece, and when he was released in 1931 huge crowds turned out to greet their new hero. In years to come Sukarno would use that gift to instill in Indonesians a sense of themselves as a unified people -- not Javanese and Balinese and Acehnese and Sumatrans. He put his career, even his life, on the line for the unity and peace of his nation. This is his great heritage, even if today the country is threatened with disintegration as a result of Suharto's policies.

But history has not been kind to Sukarno. These days many in the West remember the glamorous revolutionary as a debauch and a demagogue -- the man who told Western countries to go to hell with their aid and pulled Indonesia out of the United Nations. Yet when he and Mohammad Hatta proclaimed independence in 1945, many Western politicians and intellectuals saw Sukarno as a new light shining among the backward countries. Their admiration faded only after a new Satan was found roaming the world: communism.

Sukarno called this the "century of the awakening of the colored peoples," as they threw off the shackles of Western colonialism. He played a leading role in the process, initiating the historic Asia-Africa Conference at Bandung in 1955, after which the Non- Aligned Movement spread to Latin America. Sukarno also called this the "century of intervention," a time when the great powers could interfere at will in the affairs of smaller countries. Often, this intervention was the work of the intelligence community -- a power within a power, a state within a state, entrusted with the task of eliminating communism from the face of the earth. In Asia, Africa and Latin America, the strategy was to back military governments as bulwarks against the Red Menace. Repressive regimes like Mobutu's in Africa or Suharto's in Asia received the West's blessing as long as the repression was carried out in the name of democracy and the suppression of communism.

In this climate, Sukarno was no longer seen as another Thomas Jefferson, but instead as someone who might allow communism to expand its influence. The campaign against him began from the slander that he had been a Japanese collaborator during the war. This was followed by the accusation that, in his final years in power, he had become a dictator.

Are these accusations true? Was Sukarno a Japanese collaborator? Even when he was in a Dutch jail in the 1930s, Sukarno wrote to the colonial administration suggesting, in vain, that the Dutch cooperate with Indonesian nationalists to guard against Japanese fascism. Instead, when Japan invaded Indonesia, the Dutch surrendered the country and its people, including Sukarno in his prison.

That he then cooperated with the occupiers is undisputed. But he did so with the backing of fellow nationalist leader Hatta, and he used his influence to the advantage of his country. As he himself admitted, Sukarno did recruit thousands of manual laborers for the Japanese Army, most of whom perished during the war. Yet he also used the Japanese radio network to nurture a sense of nationalism throughout the archipelago. What honest observer can fault Sukarno for taking the opportunity to awaken the consciousness of the people to the struggle for freedom? Under the noses of the occupiers, he used his oratorical skills to arouse people who had been asleep for centuries and to prepare them to fight for independence when the moment arrived. It was thus that the world witnessed the heroism of Indonesian youth when they fought the Allied armies that landed in Surabaya to retake Indonesia for the Dutch on Nov. 10, 1945.

Was Sukarno a dictator? He did not have the character of a dictator. He was motivated and inspired by the ideas of the West, especially democracy, the French Revolution and the Enlightenment.

And what about Guided Democracy, the executive-dominated electoral system he instituted in 1959? Sukarno was President for two decades, but he wielded real power only in the last six years of his rule -- the period of Guided Democracy. Why did he create such a system? Perhaps because of his commitment to democracy. By this point, Indonesia had no fewer than 60 political parties and faced the prospect of a new government every few months. Sukarno reorganized the 60 parties into 11 -- all of which retained their independence. It was a political necessity, he said.

Sukarno's critics called it a dictatorship. Yet six years later, when he was removed following a shadowy coup (allegedly a communist uprising gone wrong), he was replaced by a true dictatorship -- that of Suharto. Sukarno died in 1970, a man whose dreams of a free and peaceful Indonesia had been hijacked by a violent and stifling military rule.

Lately, Sukarno's reputation has begun to be re-examined. Suharto was ousted in 1998, after three decades in power; earlier this year, Sukarno's daughter Megawati triumphed in the first truly free general election in 44 years. It was, in a way, Bung Karno's triumphant political comeback.

Yet the next months will be crucial for Indonesia. It is time to realize that continuing to rely on military power to "stabilize" the country will only be counter-productive. The solutions to almost all of Indonesia's current ethnic and separatist conflicts -- in Aceh, Ambon, Irian Jaya, East Timor -- as well as its economic crisis and general political instability all depend on soldiers being just that: soldiers. Indonesia needs no more soldier-politicians. It needs someone who can unite the people, as a charismatic young independence leader did a half-century ago.

Indonesia: Old habits die hard

John McBeth -- These are uncertain times for Indonesia's 4 million bureaucrats as they struggle to adjust to a new political environment in which public scrutiny is putting old practices at risk. Many civil servants have found themselves the target of public wrath for past or present infractions. Others are contemplating the prospect of forced transfers and fewer under- the-table payments.

Unlike President B.J. Habibie, Coordinating Minister for Economy and Finance Ginandjar Kartasasmita seems resigned to a new role in the opposition. He says bureaucrats will have to develop a "neutral mentality," throwing off their obsessive loyalty to the ruling Golkar party, of which he is a member, and learning to support whoever is in power. Under a reformist government, they will have little other choice.

Former ministers Emil Salim and Mohamad Sadli predict officials will find it hard to break out of the New Order government's cocoon of dependency and think for themselves. "You can make beautiful rules," says Sadli, "but old habits die hard."

Corruption is one example. With the state-run Pertamina oil company alone losing $6.1 billion to graft and inefficiency in the past two years, according to independent auditors, reformers say the corruption problem has to be tackled head-on. That has bureaucrats worried. "Quite a lot of people in government are now asking themselves how they will get paid if the system changes," says one government adviser. "Many of them just can't live on their basic salaries."

Yusuf Faishal, the architect of the National Awakening Party's economic platform, says only a hefty pay increase, a merit-based promotion system and tough penalties for offenders will reduce official corruption. The World Bank suggests that publicizing cases such as that at Pertamina would create pressure for change. But the culture of corruption is embedded in the civil service through patronage networks and personal loyalties, making it unlikely that real change will come quickly.

Despite the enactment of new local-autonomy laws that devolve power to the district level and provide resource-rich provinces with a greater share of their revenues, for example, many National Development Planning Agency officials in Jakarta still believe they will somehow continue to lord their former power over the regions. "This is about the control of projects -- and projects mean money," says one Western finance official. Although he says the agency should remain active in planning various aspects of development, he says its role should be trimmed in line with the new laws.

Anoop Singh, the International Monetary Fund's deputy-director for Asia and the Pacific, says decentralization is the "single most important issue" facing Indonesia -- more important than bank restructuring or corporate debt. When the local-autonomy laws were rushed through parliament in April, the IMF and the World Bank had serious misgivings. But now they seem ready to work with the new legislation.

Singh believes the two-year implementation period will give officials enough time to improve human-resource management and accountability procedures at the district level. He and other experts say it's also important for the regions to develop an income-tax base that brings in enough funds to cover their budgets. Development funds, they say, should be dispersed as rewards for sound local management.
 

Environment/Health

Environmentalists take Habibie to court

Jakarta -- A leading Indonesian environmental watchdog said Thursday it had filed suit against President B.J. Habibie over a failed government project to develop one-million hectares (370,000 acres) of peat bog in Borneo.

The legal program coordinator of the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi), Julia Kalmirah, said the case was filed to the central Jakarta district court on Monday. "The trial is expected to start early September," Kalmirah told AFP.

Named as co-defendants in the case were nine cabinet ministers in the Habibie government, six director generals of institutions involved in the project and Central Kalimantan governor Warsito Rasman. Kalimantan is an Indonesian province of Borneo, which also includes the tiny state of Brunie and two Malaysian states.

She said the suit did not specify the amount of conpensation demanded from the defendants. "We only demand that the government take measures to deal with it," she said.

Asked why Walhi had filed the suit against Habibie, when the project was started under the rule of former president Suharto, Kalmirah said: "We are suing the institution [of the presidency], because the project is implemented under a presidential decree."

Kalmirah was quoted by Indonesian Observer as saying the peat bog project in Central Kalimantan province, implemented under a 1996 presidential decree issued by Suharto, was ill-conceived. It also represented a significant abuse of power by Suharto, Habibie's predecessor and patron, who resigned in May last year.

The project, aimed at transforming unproductive peat land into rice fields and a housing complex, turned out to be one of the worst ecological disasters of the 20th century, she said.

It was carried out with no good planning, was rife with corruption and nepotism, and so far had wasted two trillion rupiah (260 million dollars), she said. "It is the most expensive project in the world, using from the national budget for the fiscal year 1996 up to 1999 plus forestry funds," Kalmirah added.

Walhi's coordinator for forest advocacy, Longgena Ginting, said the project was carried out before a study on environmental impact analysis was completed.

The project in Central Kalimantan province in the Indonesian part of Borneo island, Ginting said, has inflicted immense damage on the environment there that would be practically irreversible for decades. The destruction of water quality and damage to the hydrology system had turned 500,000 hectares of land into a near desert, he added.
 

Arms/Armed forces

Wiranto snipes back at military's critics

Jakarta -- Gen. Wiranto launched a verbal offensive on Saturday against attacks on the human rights record of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and its perceived apathy toward reform.

The TNI commander also defended its handling of the restive provinces of Aceh and Maluku, saying the military was committed to maintaining security and order throughout the country. He termed it "strange" that people blamed the military for the violence in the two provinces while allowing "certain groups" to further their interests by committing violence.

"It is very strange that the majority of the people join hands in pressing the military to pull its riot personnel from the two provinces," he said in a media conference after chairing a TNI leadership meeting at its headquarters in Cilangkap, East Java.

He said there were groups seeking to foster public opinion that the military was guilty of a litany of past offenses, that it was splintered, anti-reform and maneuvering to restore its grip on power. Among those attending the meeting were Military Deputy Commander Admiral Widodo A.S., Army chief Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo, Navy chief Vice Adm. Achmad Sutjipto, Air Force chief Hanafie Asnan, TNI General Affairs chief Lt. Gen. Sugiono and TNI Territorial Affairs chief Lt. Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Wiranto reiterated there would be no military pullout from Aceh and Maluku because it was TNI's duty to curb violence and defend national unity. He did, however, backtrack on an earlier stance against holding dialogs with separatist rebels, stating the military would talk to anyone seeking peaceful and comprehensive solutions to the violence in the two provinces.

"The key problem in Aceh is that people let the Free Aceh Movement separatists fight for independence from Indonesia." Commenting on the almost daily killings in Aceh over the past three months, he said people should consider why the military was forced to resort to using arms against the separatist group. We need to see the situation in a comprehensive manner," he said.

Aceh and Maluku are considered the most restive provinces in the country. East Timor and Irian Jaya also have experienced their share of unrest which has drawn international attention.

In the Irian Jaya capital of Jayapura, a group calling itself the "Indigenous People of West Papua" issued a statement on Saturday blasting the military for the suffering it inflicted on the people.

They demanded a stop to activities that constituted a military operation in the mineral-rich province, describing them as marked by "intimidation, torture, rape and even mass killings".

Wiranto also declared the military's neutrality ahead of the General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly and presidential election in November. "TNI will remain neutral in facing all groups in society," he said.

Wiranto sidestepped queries regarding widespread speculation that a reshuffle is imminent in the Indonesian Military. "You seem to be smarter [than I am]," he said to a journalist.

"Because even though I have not made any decisions, there are lists [of names of military officers said to be replaced] circulating. The [reshuffle] is an internal policy of TNI ... you will be told later on," he said as quoted by Antara.

The news agency quoted unidentified sources as saying that among those to be affected by the reported reshuffle was TNI spokesman Maj. Gen. Syamsul Maarif, who would be posted as governor of the Military Academy. He would be replaced by Brig. Gen. Sudrajat.

Antara also said former East Timor military commander Col. Tono Suratman would be promoted brigadier general and posted as deputy spokesman of TNI.

Detik.com reported Wiranto as denying speculation that he would replace Subagyo H.S. "There will be no replacement of the army chief," Wiranto reiterated. "If there is [a reshuffle], we'll announce it at the proper time," he added.