• Where is Wahid going?
• ICMI strives to survive
• Moves to undermine axis force denied
• Wahid vows to use repression
• Resign or face trial: Wahid
• Wiranto king in land of blind

• Protesters refuse to shun flag
• TNI backs claim on non-existence of DOM
• Why TNI will come down hard on Aceh
• Aceh, Jakarta on collision course
• Hundreds rally at shooting site
• Terror stalks rebel province
• Rebels hold low-key anniversary
• Aceh plans own referendum
• Shoot order on national flag
• Independence option in poll a must
• Protests off as TNI fumes
• Troops fire on Irian Jaya protesters
• 80,000 attend Papua anniversary
• Military says rebels control Aceh
• TNI: `just carrying out duties'

• Texmaco and 19 firms got special loans

• In Jakarta, army still wields power
• Generals under fire

• People's inquiry builds momentum

• Economic post for Wahid
• Most of budget earmarked to repay debt

UN ends inquiry into Timor atrocities

Dili -- A five member UN mission Friday wound up nine days of investigation into allegations of atrocities in East Timor but it declined to say whether an international tribunal to try those responsible would be necessary.

"We have tried our very best to see, hear and understand what has happened in East Timor," said Costa Rican jurist Sonia Picado, who led the team, shortly before leaving for Darwin in northern Australia.

Picado said the commission had listened to more than 160 witnesses and met with NGOs, as well as various East Timorese leaders, and those of the UN mission here during their nine days in East Timor. Militias, supported by Indonesian security forces, waged a campaign of murder, arson and forced deportation after the East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia on August 30.

The task of the UN commission of inquiry is to substantiate claims of atrocities made by refugees to special UN rapporteurs who visited the territory last month.

Many have maintained the Indonesian army orchestrated the militia rampage, including an official independent Indonesian inquiry which has said the military had plotted the systematic destruction of the territory.

During their stay, the team travelled to Los Palos, Maliana, Suai and Liquisa, places "where we had information of gross human rights violations."

She said that what had happened to East Timor in the week following the announcement of the ballot was "a human tragedy." "At this point, I do not think anybody can say in a responsible way how many people died or how many are missing in East Timor."

She said every day new evidence were turning up as "people are just returning," refering to the hundreds of thousands who had fled or been forced to flee the violence to neighbouring West Timor.

But Picado declined to specifically say whether an international war crime tribunal would be necessary to judge those responsible for the violence they have investigated.

"That would be a decision of the UN Secretary General (Kofi Annan)," she said. But she added vaguely that "certainly we feel there should be a follow up ... the more we look into things, the more we feel the things in East Timor needs a follow up."

The team is expected to submit its recommendation to Annan by December 31 on whether the United Nations should set up an international war crimes tribunal. They will then report to the UN General Assembly, which has the authority to set up a tribunal.

"We will accept whatever is the recommendation of the international commission of investigation. If they recommend the establishment of a war crime tribunal, then it is a welcome recommendation," said Nobel laureate and independence campaigner Jose Ramos Horta separately.

But he also said justice could be served if Indonesia took the proper actions, such as bringing guilty soldiers to court itself. "If Indonesia does that, then it would be an honor for Indonesia.

Indonesia wouldnt have to be subjected to the humiliation of its officers being brought to a war crime tribunal," Ramos Horta said.

Picado said the team would leave Darwin for Jakarta on Sunday for discussions with the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights that has set its own commission of inquiry for East Timor, and with the authorities until Wednesday.

She said the team had been granted visas for Indonesia late on Thursday. And she expressed hopes the team would be allowed to visit West Timor to see the refugees there. "It is very important for us to go to West Timor," she said.

A fistful of useless cash

Mark Dodd, Dili -- As East Timor struggles to rebuild, a United Nations decision to introduce the Portuguese escudo into the fragile economy has caused mass confusion among an impoverished population now faced with a choice of four currencies, none of them freely convertible.

One kilogram of freshly harvested potatoes will cost 20,000 rupiah at Dili's Mercado Municipal (central market). The UN shop in the UNTAET headquarters office charges $A5.20 for one 100 gram jar of instant coffee, while guests at the Turismo Hotel in Dili pay Alex the manager in US dollars.

Neither premises accept alternative currencies. Now add the following. Portugal's overseas bank, Banco Nacional Ultramarino, which began trading here this week, pays out to ex-public servants of the former Portuguese colony crisply minted escudo notes. The bank also buys Australian and US dollars, but sells only escudos.

Unlike the Australian dollar and the Indonesian rupiah, the Portuguese currency is as good as useless in this one-bank territory because it cannot be converted.

Stallholders won't touch it, neither will the UN shop, nor Alex the hotel manager. The driver of one foreign mission who gets paid in escudos is unable to spend them because there is no foreign exchange. How does he buy food for his family?"What can you do with the escudo if you cannot spend it at the market?" said one diplomat.

The saga of the escudo can be traced to one senior UN officer in Dili, Mr David Harland, a New Zealander, and the Acting Deputy Special Representative for the Secretary-General (DSRSG).

According to a senior UN official familiar with East Timor's currency quagmire, following meetings in New York between the UN, Australia and Portugal about procedures for paying former East Timorese public servants their pensions, Mr Harland signed an agreement allowing Banco Nacional Ultramarino to open business.

The move has its supporters, including several senior leaders of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT) -- among them Mr Jose Ramos Horta, the CNRT's ambassador at large.

According to diplomats, Portugal's generous offer to underwrite East Timor's balance of payments for five years, amounting to about $US100 million a year, may be one incentive for an appreciative UN to adopt the escudo as the local currency.

The former head of the UN Mission in East Timor, Mr Ian Martin, raised concerns about the establishment of a Portuguese bank paying escudos to public servants. "It should be done through the UN and should be fully integrated," he said.

Diplomatic sources in Dili told the Herald that Mr Harland was anxious not to upset the Portuguese. At any rate, he undid weeks of discussion in New York that aimed to have Portugal's contributions paid through the UN Trust Fund for East Timor.

The International Monetary Fund is keen to see a foreign exchange service established in East Timor.

Australian diplomats told the Herald that Australian banks were cool about setting up in East Timor, although Westpac is considering providing banking services for the UN operation.

Wahid to release Timorese prisoners

Jakarta -- President Abdurrahman Wahid said on Tuesday that he would order next week the release of 18 East Timorese political prisoners still in Indonesian jails.

He made the pledge at a meeting with East Timor independence leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, who received a red carpet welcome befitting a head of state, at Merdeka Palace.

Gus Dur, as the President is popularly called, said he would sign their release after his return from a four-day visit to China beginning on Wednesday.

The two leaders got off to a good start as the promise came hours after Xanana appealed, during a media briefing, for the release of East Timorese freedom fighters who, like himself, were jailed for fighting against Indonesian rule.

The man who is widely tipped to be East Timor's first president earlier returned to the Cipinang penitentiary, as a free man, to meet with his former fellow inmates. Xanana served time in Cipinang for leading an armed rebellion against Jakarta and was released in September after the East Timor self-determination ballot.

During a joint media conference, Gus Dur and Xanana said they had agreed to put the past behind them and to concentrate on building mutually beneficial relations between the two countries.

"We are committed to doing our best to create a cooperative, friendly and good relationship between the two countries," Xanana said, adding that he had also asked for assistance in repatriating 130,000 East Timorese refugees currently in camps in East Nusa Tenggara.

The two leaders held a private meeting before aides joined them. The President was accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab, Coordinating Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry Kwik Kian Gie and outgoing Army chief of staff Gen. Subagyo H.S. Xanana was flanked by Ramos Horta, Marie Alkatiri and his deputy military commander Taur Matan Ruak.

Xanana also met with Gen. Wiranto, the coordinating minister for political affairs and security and until last month the Indonesian Military (TNI) commander. Neither men talked to the press after their meeting.

Earlier, during a media conference at the Regent Hotel, Xanana said he had come back to forge close ties with a new Indonesia which valued democracy, human rights, justice and truth.

"Our presence here is to prove that the people of Timor Lorosae are ready, with the people of Indonesia, to create a new climate, a new future where they will have friendly and cooperative relations, with mutual respect and help.

"That's why we're here. We're not here to ask for retribution or for compensation. We're here to tell the Indonesian people that the two peoples can coexist, work hand in hand toward a brighter future," he said. He described everything that happened in East Timor during Indonesia's 24-year occupation as a "historical mistake".

While offering an olive branch, Xanana underlined the need for TNI to denounce any links with pro-Indonesia militias, whom he said could cause instability from their bases in East Nusa Tenggara.

He warned that failure to control the militias would put a heavy burden on the Indonesian government and would harm Indonesia's international reputation.

"We have a message for the [Indonesian] generals. We did not destroy Indonesia's image. The East Timorese people have suffered a lot. Now, they are facing hunger and disease, they have no homes and their belongings have been looted or burned.

"We ask TNI, especially the Kopassus generals to stop giving support because it could become a source of embarrassment for the Indonesian people," he said. Kopassus is the Army's elite Special Force, blamed for much of the human rights abuses in East Timor and elsewhere in Indonesia.

When asked whether he was prepared to call off an ongoing UN inquiry into possible war crimes by TNI, Xanana said he did not have such an authority.

While welcoming Indonesians to come to East Timor and assist in the development of the country, he said ownership of many of the Indonesian assets would be settled through negotiations involving the United Nations.

"After all that has happened, after all the suffering that the East Timorese have endured, it would appear strange that Indonesia should want to calculate and repossess those assets. "But that's my personal view," he said.

Xanana said he would propose the establishment of an East Timor representative office in Jakarta. It would not have to be called an office of the CNRT," he said of his Revolutionary Council for an Independent East Timor.

The Indonesian Military said a CNRT office would not be acceptable since the group did not represent all the East Timorese people. President Abdurrahman however has overruled the objection and said that the decision was his to make.

Xanana explained about reconciliatory measures being taken to try to bring all East Timorese together to rebuild their country. He had met with senior pro-Indonesia East Timorese politicians to discuss the plan to establish a national council "involving representatives of CNRT, `them' and the church."

The United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET) has agreed that no decision would be made without the consent of the council, he added.

Inquiry blames military for violence

Jakarta -- A government-sanctioned inquiry said on Wednesday that the Indonesian Military (TNI) was directly or indirectly involved in extra-judicial executions in the ravaged territory of East Timor after the August 30 self-determination ballot.

The Commission for the Investigation of Human Rights Abuses in East Timor said in an interim report that it had found evidence suggesting that the extra-judicial killings in East Timor were perpetrated by prointegration militias and military personnel.

The commission said it had found documents pointing to Jakarta's role in the campaign of terror and destruction. It said that it had also collected reports that 10 women were raped in the East Timor capital of Dili and 50 more outside of Dili following the UN-sponsored ballot.

Following the ballot, which resulted in an overwhelming vote against Jakarta's offer for wider autonomy, armed pro-Indonesia thugs went on the rampage, killing people, forcing mass evacuations and destroying and setting fire to buildings throughout East Timor.

The commission was set up by then president B.J. Habibie in September after his government rejected international calls for a UN inquiry into the September violence which could lead to war crime tribunals for Indonesian Military leaders. The team has until this month to complete its report.

The UN inquiry team began its work in Dili last week but its members said they have had difficulties obtaining Indonesian visas to come to Jakarta.

Chairman of the commission Albert Hasibuan said the Indonesian Military was involved in an attack on Nossa Senhora de Fatima Church in Suai on Sept. 6 which killed at least 26 people, including three Catholic priests.

"Witnesses said that Indonesian security personnel were seen shooting at refugees seeking shelter in the church," Albert, who returned from East Timor last week, told a news conference.

On Thursday, the commission dug out 26 bodies, believed to be the victims of the attack, from three mass graves at Oeluli beach in East Nusa Tenggara, some 20 kilometers southwest of Suai or three kilometers from the East Timor border.

Albert said the commission had also found the remains and skulls of other victims around the church. "With regard to the massacre in Suai, the commission has found evidence that TNI was directly involved in the shootings, and we also found evidence that TNI and the police were involved in concealing the evidence of the killings," Albert said.

The military has also allegedly been involved in the attack on a group of nuns and civilians in the eastern town of Los Palos on Sept. 25, which killed at least nine people including an Indonesian journalist, Agus Mulyawan, he said.

"The attack was perpetrated by Team Alfa militia which was led by Joni Marques. One of the perpetrators has told the commission that Team Alfa militia was set up, trained and armed by a TNI unit," Albert said.

TNI leaders have rejected allegations that it had supported or armed the pro-Indonesia militia in the scorched-earth campaign.

The commission said, however, based on the facts on the ground and testimony from witnesses, non-governmental organizations and staff of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), it was difficult to deny links between the militias and TNI.

"The commission has received reports from various sources that TNI and National Police officers were present in a series of meetings between militia leaders to discuss plans to attack proindependence supporters.

"Reports from non-governmental organizations, UN civilian police and UNAMET staff showed that in almost every militia attack, security forces were not doing enough to prevent the attacks from continuing," Albert said. Albert said the commission would summon a number of military officers, including Gen. Wiranto, who was the TNI commander and defense minister when the ballot was held in East Timor, to question them on the outbreak of violence in the territory.

Wiranto is now coordinating minister for political affairs and security. Albert said Wiranto would be summoned in mid-December. "The commission has subpoena power, so if the military generals refuse to appear before the commission, we will ask the police to force them to come," Albert said.

Asmara Nababan, the commission's secretary who was present at the briefing on Tuesday, said that the commission would also meet with the International Commission of Inquiries on East Timor in Jakarta on Monday.

TNI fails to keep refugee promise

Dili -- The number of East Timorese refugees returning from Indonesia has dropped despite Indonesian promises to help speed up their passage, the UN refugee said on Wednesday.

"We are very shocked," said Ariane Quentier of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). "If you look at the figures, they have even got worse."

Quentier told reporters that between 1,000 and 2,000 refugees were returning to East Timor daily now, compared to about 4,000 a day two weeks ago and a peak of 7,000 on November 22.

On November 22, generals from the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) and the UN-sanctioned International Forces for East Timor (Interfet) signed a written border agreement to speed up the emptying of the refugee camps in Indonesian West Timor.

About 260,000 people were either deported to West Timor or fled there to escape the militia violence which erupted after the East Timorese voted for independence in an August 30 ballot.

Most are still stuck in camps there, many of them too frightened to return or intimidated into remaining.

Indonesian police and the TNI have not done much to change the situation despite the border accord, Quentier said. "Our access to the camps has not changed much," she charged. "That is the only country in the world where we access the camp with fully armed protection."

But even an Indonesian army escort makes no difference. On Monday, the UNHCR was only able to get 19 people out of a camp where 7,000 East Timorese are staying in Kupang, the main town in West Timor, she said.

"What we want is to get access to the camps without having the militias preventing us, and prevent the militias from running the camps," Quentier said.

By signing the November 22 accord, Indonesian Major General Adam Damiri and Brigadier General Sudrajat agreed to "facilitate the efficient and safe flow of returning refugees."

The agreement said the militias would be disarmed and detained, and guaranteed the army would ensure that refugees were not subjected to intimidation or threats, including from the militias in refugee camps.

"Furthermore TNI shall ensure the safe and secure passage of refugees as they depart for East Timor," said the agreement, also signed by Interfet Commander Major General Peter Cosgrove.

Damiri, who is being transfered from his position as regional Indonesian commander, was named by an Indonesian rights inquiry as a likely suspect in the human rights abuses which took place here in September.

Earlier Wednesday visiting Australian opposition leader Kim Beazley said: "The international community makes a judgment about their relationship with Indonesia on the basis of the handling of those who have yet to return home." Beazley told journalists he thought the Indonesian leadership understood that.

Militia leader implicates generals

Lindsay Murdoch -- A pro-Jakarta militia leader has told investigators he helped murder an Indonesian journalist, two priests, two nuns and three other people in East Timor on the orders of a general in Jakarta.

The admission by John Marquez that unarmed civilians were killed on orders from Jakarta after the East Timor ballot on August 30 is the first to directly implicate the Indonesian military's top command in the atrocities.

An inquiry by Indonesia's Human Rights Commission has also taken evidence from an Indonesian policeman that he was ordered by a high-ranking Indonesian military officer to remove bodies from a church in the seaside town of Suai on September 6 and bury them 20 kilometres away across the border in Indonesian-ruled West Timor.

The bodies of 26 people, including three priests, were found in three graves and dug up early this week.

Mr Marquez was the leader of a militia group called Alfa which took part in killings after Indonesian Army officers gave him and other militiamen pills that made them violent, according to testimony obtained by investigators from the Jakarta-funded Human Rights Commission.

Church and human rights groups say they had heard that the Indonesian military gave drugs to militias to make them turn violent, but had no evidence.

Mr Marquez has told investigators the pills he and other militia received were to treat rabies, according to the Indonesian newspaper Kompas.

Investigators say Mr Marquez alleges that Indonesian soldiers pressured him to kill the journalist, Agus Mulyawan, who worked for a Japanese media company.

The killings happened near the town of Los Palos on September 25 when militia stopped a vehicle carrying Mr Mulyawan, the priests and nuns and three others five days after troops from the Australian-led Interfet landed in East Timor. At the time, the troops had not secured areas outside the capital, Dili.

Mr Marquez, who has been interrogated by Interfet troops and is in custody, did not name the general whom he said gave the kill order, investigators said.

All the people in the car were shot dead from close range. Commission investigators also revealed that another witness had testified that East Timor's former police chief, Colonel Timbul Silaen, ordered Indonesian police in the territory to take part in killings and destruction.

He has been promoted to Brigadier-General and now oversees corruption in Jakarta. He told the Herald last month that he was "doing the best for his country to uphold the law".

The Jakarta-based magazine Tempo names the former military chief of East Timor, then Colonel Tono Suratman, as one of the targets of the inquiry set up by Indonesia's former president Dr B.J. Habibie amid international outrage over the East Timor violence.

Tempo says the now Major-General Suratman's desk at military headquarters in Jakarta is full of files because he is "seriously preparing a defence". "Right now he's in a dangerous position," the magazine said. Appointed deputy armed forces spokesman, Major-General Suratman has refused repeated requests by the Herald to interview him.

Tempo also names the former military chief, General Wiranto, the former chief of the Bali-based Udayana command, Major-General Adam Damiri, former intelligence chief Major-General Zacky Anwar Makarim and Major-General Syafrie Syamsuddin as being among commissioned suspects in East Timor atrocities.

Major-General Syafrie and Major-General Zacky have key jobs at military headquarters reporting to the recently appointed military chief, Admiral Widodo.

Major-General Syafrie has denied allegations that he was present when militia attacked the Dili home of Bishop Carlos Belo, the head of the Catholic Church in East Timor.

The chief armed forces spokesman, Major-General Sudrajat, is quoted in Tempo denying that the named officers were guilty of any offence, claiming the commission's investigations were based on biased witnesses. "They are from the pro-independence side," he said.

But the commission secretary, Mr Albert Hasibuan, said the commission always gathered information from more than one witness.

Mr Hasibuan said if the commission's evidence showed Indonesian officers failed to order militia to stop the killing, "it's enough to take them to court". Since the ballot, Major- General Damiri has been promoted to operational assistant to the army's chief of staff. General Wiranto resigned as armed forces chief and was appointed Co-ordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security in Indonesia's new Cabinet.

The United Nations has appointed its own five-member team to investigate atrocities in East Timor, expected to make its initial findings known within days.

Horta gets rousing welcome home

Dili -- Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta Wednesday returned to East Timor after 24 years in exile to a rousing welcome honoring his tireless efforts to end Indonesia's occupation of his homeland.

In a speech given in three languages -- the local Tetum, English and Portuguese -- to a crowd of some 4,000 people gathered in front of the seafront former governor's office, Ramos Horta, 49, paid tribute to those who had stayed behind and fought for independence. But he also sought forgiveness for those East Timorese who had opposed independence.

Ramos Horta was back in Dili for the first time since he left the territory just a few days before Indonesian troops invaded on December 7, 1975.

"I did not come today after 24 years with my colleagues from abroad to teach lessons to anyone because the true heros are those who stayed behind," Horta told the crowd, speaking from the steps of the old governor's office.

He said those who stayed behind had been those who suffered and had to endure torture or rape or were killed. "With humility we bow to their courage, the courage of our brothers and sisters.

"But with the same courage that we fought for independence, for freedom, we must also forgive. Forgiveness requires courage, there can no longer be enemies within the East Timorese family. Too many lives have been lost," he said.

He also paid tribute to the church, which he said had stood on the side of the people "in the darkest hours of our history." Ramos Horta, who was welcomed at Dili's Comoro airport by the deputy commander of the Falintil resistance fighters, Taur Matan Ruak and a welcoming committee of about 37 independence fighters and activists, was taken on a slow convoy to the centre of the town.

He was accompanied on the UN flight by the head of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), Sergio Vieira de Mello, and top executive of the umbrella National Resistance Council of East Timor (CRNT), David Ximenes.

While there were only small groups of people lining the road to downtown Dili, hundreds suddenly surrounded his car when he briefly stopped at Colmera, the city's commercial district, which has been mostly razed to the ground.

The crowd repeatedly shouted "Viva" and a band of bugles and marching drums suddenly came and played several East Timorese songs to greet him.

Dulci Araujo, a woman carrying her young child in her arm, pointed at Ramos Horta telling her boy, "he is a son of East Timor."

His arrival at the governor's office, now used by the UNTAET, was greeted by resounding applause and he had to walk the last few meters to the building as the mob blocked the car.

Ramos Horta was due to meet with co-Nobel laureate Bishop Carlos Ximenes Felipe Belo before attending a dinner hosted by East Timor independence leader Xanana Gusmao, the man widely believed will head the future free state of East Timor.

Ramos Horta, Gusmao and Ruak on Tuesday held historic talks with Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid during which the two sides agreed to open a new era of ties and turn the page on the enmity of the past.

East Timor voted overwhelmingly to sever ties with Indonesia in a UN-organised ballot on August 30. But the results unleashed a campaign of terror by military-backed pro-Jakarta militias who went on a rampage of murder, arson and deportations.

Ramos Horta fled East Timor three days before the Indonesian invasion in 1975 and became the territory's most vocal freedom crusader. He was also appointed representative to the United Nations for the Fretilin political arm of the resistance.

CNRT spokeswoman Ines Almeida said Ramos Horta was "staying indefinitely" and would spend his first night back with his niece and her family. His own house is believed to have been half- destroyed.

Ramos Horta returned to Indonesia for the first time in July when he met Gusmao to attend a meeting between the pro- and anti- independence sides in Jakarta. But he backed down on his threat to travel back home whether or not Jakarta gave him permission.

Horta: Time to bury the past

Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta has returned to East Timor after almost 24 years in exile. He writes of the task of rebuilding a nation.

I left East Timor on December 4, 1975, three days before the Indonesian invasion. A private plane took me from Dili to Darwin. I have been abroad ever since, representing the cause of East Timorese independence.

Yesterday, I returned home for the first time since the occupation -- one of four survivors from the 1975 generation of East Timor's independence leaders.

We, the fortunate ones who have been out of the country, are united in our deep respect and loyalty for Xanana Gusmao and the other East Timorese who continued our common struggle from inside our country.

The true heroes are those who stayed behind and endured 24 years of great hardship, facing danger and, all too often, torture, imprisonment and death.

East Timor is now under United Nations administration preparing for independence within three years. Our dream of freedom is realised, but at enormous cost.

From 1975 to 1978 at least 200,000 East Timorese, perhaps one- third of the population, lost their lives, mainly from the famine and illness that followed the invasion.

Almost every family has been shattered. I lost three brothers and a sister. The scale of killing and destruction under the Indonesian occupation ranks among the worst crimes against humanity in this century. The world did not witness much of what happened.

Its eyes were opened in September by the carnage and forced displacement of the population by the military and its militia proxies after an overwhelming majority of East Timorese defied a campaign of intimidation and violence to vote against Jakarta's offer of autonomy for independence.

Indonesian forces are the primary culprits for East Timor's suffering in the past 24 years, but many in the West share the responsibility -- for their silence, indifference and even active complicity with the illegal Indonesian occupation.

But despite the anger they feel, the East Timorese who fought so bravely for freedom must now summon their best humanity and bury the past, forgive their worst enemies and build a new nation that deserves the sacrifice of so many.

I was asked recently whether I thought independence was worth so much sacrifice. It is a difficult question to answer. I care deeply about human life. The answer should wait a few years.

We aim to make East Timor truly democratic, tolerant and inclusive, corruption-free and a model of transparency and accountability.

We want to banish abject poverty, malaria and the high rate of tuberculosis. We want to ensure that most East Timorese can read and write and have access to clean water and basic health care.

If we can achieve these things, then the East Timorese who died in the cause of independence would say: "We have not been betrayed, because those who came after us built a beautiful country."

The next couple of years of UN administration will pave the road for our independence. The future depends on the UN's ability to exercise its power with competence, integrity and compassion.

The UN administrator, Sergio Vieira de Mello, is one of the most talented and respected international civil servants. His appointment was applauded by all of us.

I believe that a great partnership will be forged between the UN and the East Timorese leadership and people.

The East Timorese are represented by an umbrella group, the National Council of Timorese Resistance, an all-encompassing organisation that truly reflects the will of the vast majority of the population.

But we also remain totally open to accommodate those who favoured integration with Indonesia. In fact, some well-known collaborators occupy key positions in the council, including Mario Carrascalao, who served for 10 years as the Indonesian- appointed governor of East Timor.

I recently spent two days in Singapore in cordial talks with some of the most prominent pro-Jakarta leaders, among them Francisco Lopes da Cruz, Florentino Sarmento and Salvador Soares. We planned their future return to East Timor and their active participation in the building of the nation.

My message to them was that there are no losers -- all East Timorese have won. All are now needed for the task of building a new nation. I have urged Vieira de Mello to incorporate these brothers of ours in the UN administration.

The greatest challenge facing the East Timorese leadership will be in the process of healing and national reconciliation. This is critical for peace, stability and economic prosperity.

Building a strong civil society, the rule of law and promoting a culture of peace, tolerance and human rights must be among our priorities.

In addition, we want good relations with Indonesia. The visit by Xanana Gusmao and me to Jakarta this week at the invitation of President Abdurrahman Wahid is a first step in building relations with the new Indonesia. We had met Wahid before. He is an extraordinary human being.

Indonesians are blessed to have him as their leader in these critical times, when their country is harvesting the seeds of 30 years of misrule by former president Soeharto, backed by the military.

If anyone can save Indonesia from plunging into civil war and disintegration, it is President Wahid. For what is needed most is a person of great moral authority at the helm.

The issues of common concern between Jakarta and Dili requiring sustained dialogue and careful management are numerous.

They include security along the border with Indonesian West Timor, the repatriation of all East Timorese from West Timor and other parts of Indonesia who wish to return, and punishment of those Indonesian military leaders who planned and executed the killings and destruction in East Timor. These are pressing issues that must be addressed immediately.

Economic and trade relations, sea and air transport and communication links between East Timor and Indonesia are on our list. So, too, is a solution to the question of the savings of East Timorese in Indonesian banks.

Many thousands of Indonesian military are buried in East Timor. Access to their graves for their relatives is a sensitive matter for Indonesia. On our side, we will be totally open to facilitate such access.

I have urged multilateral bodies and foreign governments to lift all existing sanctions against Indonesia. The government of President Wahid deserves the full support of the international community.

East Timor is ready to build relations with the wider Asian region as well as with the new Indonesia. In the last few weeks I have met with many Asian leaders, including President Kim Dae- jung of South Korea and the foreign ministers of Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines.

East Timorese representatives will soon go to Japan and China. In the first three months of next year, Xanana Gusmao will be visiting most of the members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations.

[Jose Ramos Horta contributed this article to the International Herald Tribune.]

ICJ inquiry being `hampered'

Karen Fredericks, Brisbane -- The spokesperson for the Brisbane East Timorese community has hit out at the refusal by federal immigration minister Philip Ruddock to grant the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) access to refugees in safe haven facilities. Joe Teixeira says that he feared that the apologists for Indonesia in Canberra would raise their heads when they felt the tide had turned, and that Ruddock's actions are clear evidence of this.

Although refugees are permitted to leave the safe havens, Ruddock will not allow the ICJ entry to them, making its task more difficult.

The ICJ has been asked by UN human rights commissioner Mary Robinson to gather statements from East Timorese refugees who witnessed atrocities and abuses of human rights by Indonesian- backed militias and the Indonesian military.

The ICJ's inquiries are vital to Robinson's efforts to establish a war crimes tribunal, which is already being hampered by some Asian and South American countries. The Human Rights Commission has given the ICJ until November 30 to provide statements to assist in its determination of whether to establish the tribunal.

The UN commission itself has been given only until the end of the year to report its findings to the Security Council, which will then decide whether a tribunal should be established. There are many governments that do not want this to happen.

"Ruddock has clearly decided that he will be a part of this campaign to destabilise and hamper the UN human rights commissioner's efforts", Teixeira told Green Left Weekly.

"Some family members, with whom I have spoken, have very clearly and unequivocally linked the Indonesian military hierarchy with the militias' reign of terror. We were lucky in Brisbane, because these people were family members who trusted me more than they trusted the Immigration Department, and so they willingly and unreservedly gave their testimony to the ICJ. Thankfully, the authorities were unable to lock the ICJ out", Teixeira explained.

Earlier, federal attorney general Daryl Williams attempted to stop members of the ICJ travelling to East Timor to gather evidence.

"The federal government are back-pedalling at a hundred miles an hour when it comes to human rights and East Timor", Teixeira alleged.

He called on Australians to reject Ruddock's action and to lobby the federal government and all federal politicians to ensure that it does not further hamper the ICJ's evidence-gathering.

"Many of those in the safe havens have already gone back to East Timor without the opportunity of being interviewed by the ICJ", Teixeira told Green Left Weekly. "Ruddock has already been successful to a great extent in hampering the international effort to bring the war criminals to justice."

UN sets up Timor administration

Max Lane -- A formal administration of East Timor by the United Nations was established on November 27 when the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) issued its first regulation.

The regulation claimed "all legislative and executive authority ... including the administration of the judiciary", vested the "transitional administrator" -- Sergio Viera de Mello, the special representative of the UN secretary-general.

The regulation also claims UNTAET authority over all property or bank accounts held in the name of the Republic of Indonesia in East Timor before August 30, and all property abandoned after August 30.

The transitional administrator will have full power to hire and fire for any position in the civil administration, including the judiciary.

The regulation states, "The Transitional Administrator shall consult and cooperate closely with representatives of the East Timorese people". The regulation itself makes no mention of any mechanism for consultation.

AFP news agency reported that at the ceremony promulgating the regulation, de Mello said he will head a 15-member National Consultative Committee, which will include representatives from the church and the pro-independence umbrella organisation, the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), headed by Xanana Gusmao.

Comparing the committee to a cabinet, de Mello expressed hope that the committee could be formed soon and hold its first meeting next week. Gusmao, who attended the ceremony, pledged that CNRT would work together with UNTAET.

The body will look at policies and legislative proposals, debate and agree on the texts, which de Mello will then promulgate. "But we will avoid voting; I think we should reach decisions by consensus", de Mello said. He added that the committee will be assisted by several subcommittees in areas such as health and transportation.

Generals unlikely to be punished

Pip Hinman -- Following a fact-finding tour to East Timor, Indonesia's National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has announced it will subpoena senior Indonesian generals, including General Wiranto, minister-coordinator for political and security affairs, to explain their involvement in the violence and human rights abuses in East Timor since January.

While they may face trial, it is unlikely that these high-ranking officers will punished.

Investigations undertaken in Dili and Suai November 9-14 by a nine-member Komnas HAM commission led by Albert Hasibuan collected information incriminating the Indonesian army (TNI) and militias in the scorched earth policy unleashed in East Timor after the September 4 announcement of the ballot result.

The commission, which met with Bishop Belo, Interfet commander Major General Peter Cosgrove, NGOs, East Timorese leaders and many eyewitnesses, has been given three months to produce its findings. So far Interfet has found 135 bodies, but it estimates that as many 2000 people could have been killed in the post- ballot violence.

On November 22, Hasibuan said that he said he found "many indications" of ties between the Indonesian military and the militias. "After our latest visit to West Timor, we found many indications of a close association between the Indonesian military and militias in the mass destruction and murder in East Timor", Hasibuan was quoted as saying in the November 22 Jakarta Post.

"Almost all office buildings and 60-70% of houses were destroyed. It is only fair that Wiranto, as the highest military commander at the time, would be held responsible, at least for his apparent inaction to try to stop the bloodshed in East Timor, especially in Dili", said Hasibuan. In Suai, the mission interviewed a militia commander, Johnny Marques, who was being held in custody by Interfet. Marques was quoted as saying he had been threatened by several TNI personnel to carry out the destruction in Los Palos.

Apart from Wiranto, the commission has summonsed Major General Adam Damiri and Major General Zacky Makarim. Damiri was trained as a Kopassus (special forces) commander, and until recently was Udayana military commander (which covers eastern Indonesia, including Bali), overseeing much of the logistics, financial support and weaponry for the militia operating in East Timor.

Zacky Makarim, as head of the military intelligence agency BAIS (formerly known as BIA), was the most senior military intelligence officer in East Timor, serving there 1983-89 and then again from January this year. Initially operating under cover, Zacky Makarim was later given official status by Wiranto as the TNI's liaison officer with UNAMET.

"The mission looked into at least five cases of violence, resulting in hundreds of victims, perpetrated by militias with the help of the military", said Hasibuan.

These cases included the April attacks at the Liquica church and the home of Manuel Carrascalao in Dili. Another case being investigated was the September 6 attack by TNI and militias in Suai, when at least 200 people, including three priests, were killed. Hasibuan said that witnesses reported seeing TNI trucks remove bodies, while others were burned on the spot.

Witnesses told the commission that a TNI member wearing an Aitarak T-shirt was present when militias attacked Bishop Belo's house. "An eyewitness claims to have seen Major General Syafrie Syamsuddin present during this incident", said Hasibuan.

An experienced Kopassus combat and intelligence general, Syamsuddin first went to East Timor in 1976 and was a member of nanggala teams, the Kopassus counterinsurgency units renowned for their violence and terrorism.

Syamsuddin attended a special intelligence course in the US in 1977 and in 1986 received anti-terrorist training there. He was head of Kopassus intelligence in East Timor when the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre took place.

Hasibuan said the best mechanism for putting militia leaders and military personnel on trial would be for a human rights court to be established under legislation before parliament, rather than military tribunals or civilian courts.

The new Indonesian government is under national and international pressure to bring the generals responsible to justice. The November 23 Jakarta Post editorial commented: "This is an inquiry upon which Indonesia's reputation, and especially that of the government, is at stake."

But the commission and Komnas HAM lack teeth. All previous reports of systematic human right violations in East Timor, Aceh and West Papua have been ignored.

The new minister for law and legislation, Yusril Ihza Mahenmdra, said on November 23 that while the government would establish a human rights court, it would not have the power to bring alleged perpetrators of past atrocities to justice. "The human rights court cannot be intended to try past cases, but only violations occurring after the court comes into existence."

The military still plays an influential role in Indonesian politics, and there are no immediate plans by the new government to end the TNI's "dual function". Five ministers in the new cabinet have military backgrounds, and Wiranto's successor as commander in chief of the armed forces, Admiral Widodo, has cabinet status.

Widodo told the parliament on November 23 that the Komnas HAM commission's findings needed to be "clarified" . He claimed that the TNI was being treated unfairly because the eyewitnesses were all pro-independence.

"To get balanced results, we have to hear from witnesses from the other side", he said, ignoring the fact that nearly 80% of East Timorese voted for independence.

A five-member UN team to investigate the post-ballot violence arrived in East Timor on November 25, some three months after the fact. The lack of a specialised forensic and pathology team collecting evidence has meant that a considerable amount of evidence has already been lost.

Led by Costa Rican jurist Sonia Picardo, the team was met by some 200 women marching through Dili demanding that those TNI figures responsible for violence against women be brought to justice. The UN team is expected to report to the UN secretary-general by December 31 and then to the UN General Assembly on whether it should set up an international war crimes tribunal.
 

Government/politics

Where is Wahid going?

Tim Healy and Tom Mccawley, Jakarta -- He must have known it couldn't last. Abdurrahman Wahid has been metaphorically bobbing and weaving through his first weeks as Indonesia's President. Consider the moves: filling his cabinet with a hodge-podge of politically motivated appointees, novices and academics. Promising Aceh a referendum. Pledging national stability. Encouraging global investors to take a chance on the new Indonesia. Assuring local interests that they won't be forgotten. He has been, as he asks to be called, just plain Gus Dur -- everyman's president.

But with a fresh scandal breaking over the $1.36 billion loan from Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) to a subsidiary of well- connected Texmaco Group dating back to 1997, the fence-straddling days may soon end. According to testimony this week before Parliament by Laksamana Sukardi, the new minister of investment and state enterprises, the loan violated banking regulations but was pushed through by former president Suharto. Texmaco denies any irregularities in connection with the BNI loan. No Indonesian bank is permitted to lend more than 20% of its capital to a single conglomerate; the Texmaco loan by the central bank far exceeded that limitation. Wahid must decide how aggressively to pursue wrongdoing. Is this the time to take on what promises to be a divisive prosecution?

Indonesians and foreigners alike will be anxious to find out. The new President faces a daunting collection of economic and political challenges, and some will require choices that make enemies no matter what. So far, Wahid has done little to suggest he has an agenda other than survival. That could change as the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) gears up to auction collateral and packages of bad loans from banks. The President will need to balance the demands of domestic interests, who want to make sure the nation isn't selling out to offshore buyers, against foreign investors who would be happy to see disposal at almost any reasonable price. In Aceh, the President faces a hostile indigenous populace that contributed about one-sixth of the nation's nearly $12 billion in oil and gas export earnings in 1997.

Evidence of a clear economic direction, at least up to now, is scant. Some cabinet appointments on the economics side are intriguing.

Laksamana is a former Citibank executive and a former director of Lippo Bank. He is an associate of vice president Megawati Sukarnoputri, as is Kwik Kian Gie, the new minister of Economics, Finance and Industry. Kwik, once Megawati's economics guru, is an outspoken critic of corruption. Finance minister Bambang Sudibyo is an ally of People's Consultative Assembly chairman Amien Rais, who helped maneuver Wahid into the presidency. Bambang Sudibyo is a respected academic but an unknown administrator.

Wahid's first overseas trip as President, to eight ASEAN nations in four days, revealed little. In Kuala Lumpur, he said upon hearing Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad make the case for an East Asian Monetary Fund that Indonesia favored anything that benefited the region. Vintage Wahid. This week he travels to China.

The visit is key to improving Indonesia's image among Chinese throughout Asia, including Chinese-Indonesians who took what might total billions of dollars with them when they fled the riots in May last year.

The President is out to entice foreign investment from everywhere.

Last week he finished a three-nation tour of the Middle East to talk about oil and religion in Kuwait, Qatar and Jordan. Indonesia is Southeast Asia's only member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (and is home to the world's largest population of Muslims). "The Kuwait government as well as its private business circle have pledged a huge gradual investment in Indonesia," said Wahid during the trip. He returned to Jakarta just in time to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Obuchi Keizo, who said Japan will "spare no effort" to support continued reform in Indonesia. This was actually the second meeting in 10 days between the two leaders; the first was in Tokyo on Nov. 16.

Convincing overseas money men that Indonesia is becoming a fair, transparent economy will be critical to attracting foreign investment.

The furor over allegations that the central bank loaned $1.36 billion to a Suharto crony doesn't help, especially on top of the Bank Bali scandal, in which funds owed to the institution ended up with a businessman linked to the ruling party. In early November, Wahid ordered the release of an independent Bank Bali investigation by PricewaterhouseCoopers, a U.S. accounting firm, in an effort to appear transparent. The move was rewarded when the International Monetary Fund resumed lending parts of the $43 billion it pledged to Indonesia two years ago. But one step forward is followed by at least one back. Protests ensued by Bank Bali employees over the management policies of London-based Standard Chartered. The foreign bank, which bought 20% of Bank Bali, was supposed to teach Indonesian institutions how to operate properly, but, as one Standard Chartered official said as employees blocked access to the headquarters, that isn't easy when you can't get to work. ABN-Amro expects foreign investors to return to the Jakarta stock exchange only slowly, but the bank sees falling interest rates encouraging domestic investors to turn from bank accounts to equities.

Once Wahid focuses on his backyard, he will find a nearly insolvent banking system. Though the overall economy shows signs of a turnaround, they are shallow. In mid-November, the government reported the economy grew 0.5% in the third quarter versus a year earlier. It was actually the second consecutive quarter of positive year-on-year growth, but the effort was not convincing. "There were some nice numbers," says Budi Hikmat, an economist with Bahana Securities in Jakarta. "But the collapse was too big. Therefore, I see zero [growth] for 1999." Nevertheless, he is upbeat: "Consumers are spending again." Adds Joshua Tanja of Paribas Asia Equity: "New growth could be spectacular." However, before that is likely to happen, the nation's banking system must be fixed. Getting banks in the mood -- and financial health -- to lend again is critical to capital- starved companies. The first step is going forward with a recapitalization plan estimated to cost upwards of $70 billion, more than one-third of Indonesia's entire 1998 GDP.

Bank Mandiri, the government-created bank that was supposed to be a prototype for a newly professional, profitable Indonesian institution, just reported losses of nearly $1 billion in only its first two months of operations. It opened its doors in August. Much of the failed banking system now rests in the hands of IBRA. The agency has amassed a huge inventory from the country's technically bankrupt corporations, which gave up collateral after loans went bad.

IBRA remains under the chairmanship of Glenn Yusuf, a favorite of Western financiers and one of the few holdovers from the Habibie administration. However, given that IBRA was implicated in the Bank Bali scandal and that it could wield much power in coming months as it auctions assets, many analysts doubt that Wahid will retain Yusuf. They note that Wahid recently appointed his own man, Cacuk Sudarijanto, former president of PT Telekommunikasi Indonesia, to a new position just below the chairman.

Given Wahid's political acumen, Yusuf can expect to stay in office long enough to take the heat for what promises to be a disappointing fire sale of IBRA assets. The restructuring agency announced recently that it expects to recover only 27% of the more than $100 billion in assets it controls. Then again, maybe Wahid should concentrate less on survival politics and more on simple survival -- at least the economic kind. After all, the first isn't worth much without the second.

Wahid's economic agenda:

• Entice back some of the capital removed by Chinese-Indonesians who pulled out during the violence-filled final days of Suharto's presidency last year.
• Assure foreign investors that Indonesia will be a clean, transparent place in which to put their money.
• Rehabilitate banks -- at an estimated total cost of $70 billion -- so they can resume lending to capital-starved companies
• Auction assets and bad-loan packages acquired by IBRA without being seen as selling out to foreigners or being too quick to strike a deal.
• Prevent the Balkanization of Indonesia -- not least by retaining Aceh and the $2 billion in oil and gas export-royalties it provides annually to national coffers.
• Juggle a cabinet of largely inexperienced economic and finance-sector ministers from diverse political, religious and ideological backgrounds.

ICMI strives to survive

Jakarta -- Senior executives of the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI) are shrugging off predictions of the organization's demise despite the descent of its chief patron, B.J. Habibie, from the presidency.

ICMI secretary-general Adi Sasono expressed on Friday confidence that the association would survive in the current political climate. "We have a strong organizational structure and ideology," said Adi, who was minister of cooperatives and small enterprises during Habibie's 512-day term.

Speaking to journalists, Adi claimed that the association remained strong and trusted, evident by the inclusion of ICMI cadres in strategic positions in the government, including as ministers in President Abdurrahman Wahid's Cabinet.

He maintained that newly installed Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and Poverty Eradication Basri Hasanuddin as well as Minister of Education Yahya Muhaimin and State Minister of Human Rights Affairs Hasballah M. Saad were ICMI cadres.

Another ICMI executive, Muslimin Nasution, challenged those who believed that the end of Habibie's presidency would spell the end of the association. "Our relationship is not the common patron- client relationship where if the patron falls then the client is also affected," Muslimin, also former minister of forestry and plantations during Habibie's tenure, said.

Founded in Malang, East Java, nine years ago, ICMI slowly developed into a force to be reckoned with in the political arena with Habibie at its helm.

Many critics have said that the association was used merely as a vehicle by Soeharto and then Habibie to gain political support, particularly from Muslims in the middle class.

Abdurrahman Wahid, from ICMI's inception, at the time bucked the trend of his fellow contemporaries and refused to be affiliated with the association.

In fact before being elected president, Abdurrahman along with fellow political observer A.S. Hikam, was known as a strong ICMI critic. Many said that Habibie's fall and the rise of Abdurrahman would spell the end of ICMI.

Adi seemed aloof when asked how the ascendancy of ICMI critics to high government seats would affect the association. "We are neither against nor do we support the government, we will be critical of the government," Adi remarked.

ICMI will hold a four-day national congress starting on Saturday. People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais, who is head of the association's expert council, is scheduled to address the opening of the congress.

Moves to undermine axis force denied

Jakarta -- The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) rejected on Friday accusations that it was behind a plan to methodically undermine the "axis force".

Senior PDI Perjuangan executive Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno said the accusations were intentionally made by a "third party" in attempt to damage relations between PDI Perjuangan and the axis force.

"It's not true. We have good relations with members of the axis force," said Soetardjo, who is also deputy speaker at the House of Representatives. PDI Perjuangan's faction chairman in the House, Sutjipto, also denied allegations that his party was taking revenge against the axis force.

The axis force is a loose coalition of Islamic political parties with the National Mandate Party (PAN), which helped thwart PDI Perjuangan chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri's bid for the presidency. "We're not doing anything against them. They (the axis force) are just overly audacious," Sutjipto said.

The political feud began surfacing when President Abdurrahman Wahid announced he had accepted the resignation of United Development Party (PPP) chairman Hamzah Haz from the Cabinet, despite later allegations that Hamzah had not submitted a formal resignation request.

PPP and axis force members have also expressed disappointment that Abdurrahman chose a non-axis force member to replace Hamzah as coordinating minister for people's welfare and poverty eradication.

Several axis force members have alleged that the move was part of a conspiracy to weaken the axis force. Without accusing any single party, Assembly Speaker Amien Rais threatened on Thursday to take action against parties which tried to undermine the axis force's strength.

PPP deputy chairman Tosari Wijaya also alleged that there was a "grand conspiracy" to destroy the axis force. He said attempts by PDI Perjuangan legislators to censure Amien Rais over his federalism remarks were part of the conspiracy.

Tosari also accused PDI Perjuangan of spreading graft rumors related to Hamzah Haz and Crescent Star Party (PBB) chairman Yusril Ihza Mahendra.

The head of the PBB faction chairman in the House, Ahmad Sumargono, said he did not believe there was a conspiracy by the PDI Perjuangan board to taint the axis force. However, he did not deny that individual members might be carrying out such moves on their own initiative. "I suspect that it is conducted by several PDI Perjuangan members," Sumargono said on Friday. Unwise move

Meanwhile in Bandung, West Java, PAN chairman Amien Rais said on Friday the axis force would not take drastic action in the wake of PPP's departure from the Cabinet.

"The world will not end because we lost one seat in the Cabinet," Amien said after opening a Muhammadiyah Tanwir leadership meeting here.

Nevertheless, he appeared to be continuing with a bid for the axis force to be given a seat in government, albeit not a Cabinet post.

"There are still a lot of state agencies or other institutions such as the National Logistics Agency (Bulog) or Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) that can be filled," said Amien, who is also the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker.

Amien said that despite various rumors, the axis force was solid. "The axis force is not fractured as some people suggest ... on the contrary, the other [group] is breaking up," he said.

Amien again refused to elaborate on the subject, emphasizing that the President needed to act more wisely when taking such decisions. "Even [former president] Soeharto, who was called authoritarian, always requested evaluations before replacing his ministers," Amien said.

In Semarang, Central Java, the PPP provincial chapter's secretary Masruhan Syamsur said on Friday that his chapter would fight any attempt to depose party deputy leader Zarkasih Nur from his post as state minister of cooperatives, small and medium enterprises.

"We will continue to support Zarkasih and will discuss the whole issue further at the next party leadership meeting," Masruhan said. "If Zarkasih also quits, then PPP and the axis force would suffer a double loss. So let's not be too emotional and not call on him [Zarkasih] to give up the post out of solidarity," he said.

PPP's central board is slated to hold a two-day leadership meeting from Sunday and the meeting will ask the President to clarify rumors that Hamzah was being investigated for graft.

"In the meeting we'll also further elaborate on the PPP role as an opposition party. It's important to keep the party's unity and to stop efforts to undermine each other," Masruhan said.

Wahid vows to use repression

Beijing -- On the eve of expected demonstrations for independence in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, Indonesian President Adurrahman Wahid vowed Friday to use "repressive force" to keep the country from splitting apart.

Wahid's comment, at a news conference in Beijing, was his most explicit public commitment to support forceful measures by the Indonesian military and police in Aceh should it become necessary. But he indicated that peaceful demonstrations for independence shouldn't be seen as warranting force.

"We will use repressive forces if we are challenged," Wahid told reporters. "If there is no challenge, just an expression of their wishes, then it's OK. Why not? But if they challenge that, then we will do the repression."

"It will depend on the right of the president, the privilege of the president to do whatever necessary to defend the territorial integrity of the nation," Wahid said.

Pressure has been mounting on Wahid from the armed forces to approve emergency measures to deal with Acehnese rebels who have been emboldened since East Timor voted to secede from Indonesia in August. Since taking office in October, Wahid has backed away from allowing Aceh to hold a referendum on independence.

The force spearheading the independence drive, the Free Aceh Movement, plans to hold large celebrations in the province Saturday to mark the group's founding. Movement leaders have said the demonstrations will be peaceful, but fear the Indonesian military may try to provoke confrontations.

At the Beijing news conference, Wahid said he was considering an offer by Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong to arrange a meeting with Free Aceh Movement leaders, but it depended on the terms. Wahid said group demands for an Islamic kingdom in Aceh were "unacceptable to me."

Resign or face trial: Wahid

Jakarta -- Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said he would ask three ministers suspected of involvement in corruption to resign or face trial, reports said Sunday. "As soon as I get the information from Marzuki [Darusman], the attorney general, I will summon them [and ask them]: 'Will you resign or not? I have the evidence,'" Wahid was quoted by the Media Indonesia newspaper as saying.

The president said the three, whom he did not name, should quit if they did not wish to be brought to trial. "It's easy to find an excuse [for resigning]," he said.

Wahid had earlier said three ministers were being investigated over their alleged involvement in corruption.

On November 26 Wahid announced the resignation of Minister for People's Welfare Hamzah Haz amid allegations he was involved in a 13 billion rupiah (1.8 million dollars) corruption scandal.

But the president denied the move was related to the accusations of corruption against Haz, saying he had resigned to devote himself to being the chairman of his United Development Party.

Haz, who held the investment portfolio under former president B.J. Habibie, has been accused of receiving the money from Habibie to fund his party's campaign in June elections.

Wahid has also said Law and Legislation Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra was not among the three, despite newspaper allegations his Crescent Star Party had received campaign funding of 1.5 billion rupiah (214,285 dollars) from Habibie.

Under election rules individuals can only donate up to 15 million rupiah to a party campaign. Furthermore, there have been suspicions the money might have come from the state coffers.

Haz has denied the charges, saying they were intended to undermine his party, which came in fourth in the elections but holds the third largest number of seats in the 500-seat parliament.

Wahid has said he will suspend ministers under investigation over corruption and sack them if they were found guilty.

Clean government has been a key reformist demand by Indonesians sickened by three decades of corrupt and nepotistic rule under former president Suharto. Suharto was forced to resign in May 1998 amid widespread riots and a crippling economic crisis.

Wiranto king in land of blind

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta -- Jakarta's political elite are starting to wonder who is running Indonesia.

Amid growing criticism that Mr Abdurrahman Wahid has spent too much time overseas since being elected president on October 20, the former armed forces chief, General Wiranto, has emerged as the country's strongman.

Now the minister for political affairs and security, General Wiranto has taken charge of Cabinet meetings and set the agenda, according to government sources.

While Mr Wahid, who is near-blind, has flown around the world visiting 16 countries, little has been heard of the vice president, Mrs Megawati Sukarnoputri, who has been put in charge of trying to defuse escalating crises in Irian Jaya and Ambon. She remains aloof and regal, mostly seen at the airport either saying goodbye or welcome to Mr Wahid.

General Wiranto might be tainted by atrocities committed by troops under his command in East Timor but he shows no sign of contrition or wanting to fade into the background. It appears he also thinks it his job to issue presidential orders.

As Mr Wahid was in China meeting President Jiang Zemin yesterday, General Wiranto's office issued a press statement attributed to President "Abdurrachman" Wahid ordering law enforcement agencies to "take every measure and action to enforce the law against anyone who violates the constitution and law".

Coming amid calls from top military officers for the introduction of martial law in Aceh, the statement appealed to "people to be on alert against the possibility of security disturbances and threats aimed at fostering social conflict and behaviour that could lead toward the disintegration of the people and the nation".

No-one in the State Secretariat at the Palace where Mr Wahid lives when he is in Jakarta could explain the misspelling of the president's first name or confirm the unsigned statement. Officials travelling with the president also had no explanation, according to the Jakarta Post.

A spokesman in General Wiranto's office said Mr Wahid gave the statement to General Wiranto before he flew to China. But, curiously, it was not printed on State Secretariat stationery, as was Mr Wahid's first and only confirmed presidential press statement clearing a minister of corruption.
 

Aceh/West Papua

Protesters refuse to shun flag

Andrew Kilvert, Timika -- Tensions remained high in this isolated mining town on the Irian Jaya south coast yesterday, a day after Indonesian troops opened fire on unarmed pro-independence protesters, injuring 55 people.

The protesters yesterday re-established their burnt tent embassy in the Catholic church grounds where the shooting took place.

Protesters continued to flaunt the banned Morning Star independence flag on T-shirts and hats, under the gaze of hundreds of armed troops.

The poorly equipped hospitals in the tiny town, carved into swamps and lowland jungles, were treating indigenous Papuans, a number of whom suffered severe injuries in the violence.

Most of those in hospital suffered gunshot wounds in the initial military attack on the church compound as troops sought to remove a rebel flag early on Thursday.

Human rights monitors from the local human rights group ELSHAM were also attacked by troops and had a vehicle and other equipment destroyed.

The military ordered Australian and American workers at the vast Freeport copper mine in the mountains nearby to stay out of town.

One woman who witnessed the shooting said: "The people ran and the soldiers just started shooting wildly. There was no reason. The people weren't carrying sticks or bows and arrows but the soldiers just shot them."

Witnesses said there was no provocation by the protesters, apart from their refusal to remove the Morning Star flag.

Timika's deputy chief of police, Colonel Edi Pramudio, insisted the people sustained the injuries as they tripped over firewood when they were fleeing the soldiers who fired into the air. Other Indonesian officials denied that shots were fired.

However, local people produced bullets extracted from the wounds of the injured as evidence the shooting occurred. "They are liars," said one woman who witnessed the shooting. "They tell the outside world lies".

On the other side of Irian Jaya, tensions were mounting in the town of Nabire in the north-west. Locals seeking independence from Indonesia, some carrying bows and arrows, continued to fly the Morning Star flag in defiance of the authorities.

TNI backs claim on non-existence of DOM

Jakarta -- Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) Spokesman Major General Sudrajat has confirmed former vice president Try Sutrisno's controversial statement that Aceh province was never classified as a Military Operation Zone (DOM).

Until Sutrisno's statement made earlier this week, conventional wisdom had it that Aceh was classified as a DOM region following a resurgence in separatist rebellions in 1989. Over the following nine-years, an estimated 2,000 people were killed by the military, which also used rape and torture in a bid to quash the pro-independence movement.

The DOM status was lifted in 1998 by then-TNI commander General Wiranto, who apologized for the military's actions. But Sudrajat, speaking at a military ceremony in Jakarta yesterday, denied the DOM status was ever imposed on Aceh.

He said Wiranto withdrew the DOM status last year because the people Aceh and most other Indonesians believed it had been imposed.

"Pak Wiranto declared it withdrawn because there was a perception among the public that [the government] had imposed a military operation in Aceh," Sudrajat said.

Sutrisno, who was also present at yesterday's ceremony, again insisted there had never been a special military operation in Aceh to crush the separatists. "They just fought against us and we attacked them. Those are the normal risks in any clash," he said.

Told by reporters that TNI should be brought to justice for the high number of civilian casualties in Aceh, Sutrisno curtly responded that if the military is in the wrong, such a charge must be proved in court. Many of Indonesia's courts are notorious for having poorly paid judges who can be bought.

"A special court to examine violations of human rights may be created over the next few years, but an interim court can be established, for the trial of military personnel who cooperated with civilians in relation to human rights violations. And the alleged violations must be proven before the court. Only then can you say we are in the wrong," he said.

Why TNI will come down hard on Aceh

Derwin Pereira, Pidie -- Indonesia's generals are once again losing sleep over the country's westernmost province. Their concern: that Aceh is headed for East Timor-style separatism.

The signs are ominous. Up to a million people took to the streets in the capital Banda Aceh last month to call for a referendum on independence.

Soldiers are being killed and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) is gaining in strength as its message of merdeka (independence) finds fertile ground among the common folk. But the military (TNI) is opposed to letting Aceh break away and is prepared to come down hard on separatists and their sympathisers.

Newly-appointed Chief of Territorial Affairs, Lieutenant- General Agus Widjoyo, said a vote for independence was not stipulated in the Indonesian Constitution and would only set an "unhealthy precedent" for its 28 other provinces. He said: "Legally, there is nothing in our Constitution that makes their claims to separate legitimate. It is not just for them to decide but for all of Indonesia. "Indonesia is a unitary republic and any attempt by the Acehnese to break away by force is the equivalent of an armed rebellion."

The military's thinking is influenced significantly by Aceh's leading role in the war of resistance against the Dutch. Unlike East Timor, which as a Portuguese enclave never participated in Indonesia's nationalist struggle, Aceh is an integral part of the independent nation-state that emerged after the Second World War.

For senior military officers, resource-rich Aceh is important not just in economic terms; it is also an important symbol of the ethnic diversity of the country.

The TNI's refusal for a true referendum springs from its estimation that nearly 90 percent of the Acehnese will vote for independence, and from the political ramifications of that result for other Indonesian provinces.

"It is now fertile ground for those who hate Indonesia," said Colonel Syarifuddin Tippe, one of two army commanders in Aceh. "We face a very dangerous situation. If we let Aceh go, other territories will also want to become independent."

The immediate threat was a civil war in Aceh, and an armed rebellion by the separatists, warned Col Syarifuddin. The military elite perceives GAM as much more dangerous than the poorly armed independence fighters of Irian Jaya and East Timor. With growing popular support and financial backing, they believe that GAM's 3,000 members would be a force to reckon with.

The TNI's solution has been to respond with threats of imposing martial law in several areas of the province. Brigadier-General Simanungkalit, who spent a week in Aceh to make an assessment of the ground situation on the orders of the national police chief, told The Straits Times that another round of military intervention was "becoming inevitable".

There is even greater urgency now, as close to 90 military personnel have been killed since August last year when the TNI withdrew combat troops from the area.

"There is very little respect for state institutions," he said. "Acehnese are not the only ones being killed. Soldiers and policemen are being killed. Some of their bodies have been badly mutilated and cut up.

"These are also people with families. The separatists are testing our patience. We will wipe them out if the killings continue. Any other state will do the same thing."

The great risk here is that a military solution to eliminating GAM will make it harder to resolve peacefully the question of greater autonomy for Aceh, and is likely to turn the four million Acehnese even more anti-Indonesia and vengeful. Already, the Acehnese are resentful over the atrocities carried out by members of military during its nearly decade-long period of martial law.

Col Syarifuddin conceded that several soldiers took part in killings and rapes in Aceh during the "holocaust period", and that little was being done to bring those responsible to justice. "The central government has not been responsive enough to the feelings on the ground," he said.

Not many other senior officers, however, share Col Syarifuddin's sentiments. Indeed, they argue that President Abdurrahman Wahid's civilian administration is on a "campaign" to discredit the TNI with attempts to accuse it of "war crimes" in the territory.

An independent inquiry into the violence in Aceh has called on Jakarta to question all the TNI top brass involved in formulating military policy in Aceh since 1989.

The commission said that most of the violence was committed by members of the Special Forces (Kopassus), although it also named other army units responsible for the violence.

"The perpetrators were conducting war crimes on the orders of their superiors," it said, naming all the military chiefs in the last decade to have their hands bloodied.

The list included General Edy Sudradjat, Gen Try Sutrisno, Gen Feisal Tandjung and Gen Wiranto. All except Gen Wiranto, who is now Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, have retired from active service.

Analysts warn that with the military being pushed into a corner with its pride wounded, there is great danger that it might hit back in Aceh and the Jakarta political arena without calculating the costs involved.

That explains Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono's recent warning, reflecting sentiments of several officers, that the military would launch a coup d'etat if the civilians were not capable of running the country. It also explains the military clamour for martial law in Aceh.

Pointing to a split in the military, an intelligence operative disclosed that TNI elements were also sponsoring "a campaign of violence" in Aceh outside the chain of command to "take revenge" for the killings of soldiers there and to flex the military muscle vis-a-vis the civilians in Jakarta.

The military has beefed up its intelligence surveillance by deploying a 15-men team in Banda Aceh and Lhokeseumawe to monitor the activities of GAM and their sympathisers. This is in addition to the existing joint intelligence agency (SGI), the "brains" behind much of Aceh's decade of violence.

It all sounds very much like what happened in East Timor in the months prior to and immediately after the referendum on independence. The TNI's institutional policy of non-intervention was eventually subverted by the covert aims of a few generals.

But unlike East Timor, the fault lines between the different military factions in dealing with the Aceh problem appears to have been blurred as a result of the challenge -- albeit a rather uneven one -- from the civilian leadership. The balance of power within the TNI is in favour of the conservatives.

The immediate aim, however, is to support government proposals for a referendum that stops short of offering independence. Political observers believe that only if this does not work would the military resort to the security option and move in to snuff out the separatists. It would give them a pretext to move in to defend the Constitution.

If history is any guide, trying to pacify the proud and fiercely independent Acehnese would be just too hard and costly. Military repression during operations in Aceh fuelled rather than quashed discontent in the province.

But as one army general explained: "We will be attacked for human rights abuses all over again. We have little choice, however, if we want to keep Indonesia united."

Aceh, Jakarta on collision course

Calls for independence for Aceh are growing by the day, raising fears of a dismemberment of the republic. Part I of a two-part special report looks at forces propelling the demands for self- rule in the province

The horror stays locked in Ms Norlailah's mind. Her eyes are dark-ringed holes in a pinched and exhausted face, bearing years of pain and hate against Indonesia.

The 22-year-old university dropout, who came to the refugee camp at the Tungku Daud Beureueh mosque two months ago, has not been able to escape the memories of what took place one night in 1990.

Back then, she stood next to her weeping mother, too terrified to cry out, as she watched people in military uniforms and "cueks" or collaborators drag her father out of bed, beat and kick him until he was unconscious.

Then they took him away. His family learned about his fate only a day later. He was found dead with three shots -- in the head and chest -- just outside a torture camp in Lhok Kala in Pidie.

Now, whenever Ms Norlailah sees a soldier, the memories of that night come flooding back, accompanied with a mix of emotions: fear, pain, anger, and a thirst for vengeance.

When soldiers carried out a security sweep through her neighbourhood this year, she and her 54-year-old mother escaped with other villagers to the mosque.

"We were traumatised," she said. "They said my father was GAM but they had no proof. We lived in fear for so long. What's to stop them coming after me and my mother."

Many of the 12,000 refugees in the mosque managed by the separatist Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM) or Free Aceh movement tell a similar story. It is always about losing a loved one or being tortured at some point during military operations in the area since 1989.

The Acehnese, in particular in Pidie, East and North Aceh which went through the martial law period, are mentally preparing to go back to the barricades to fight Jakarta for merdeka or independence to end their pain. But what merdeka means remains very much in the eye of the beholder.

Ms Norlailah and many others in Pidie are blinded by their hate for the central government and the military. For them, independence means casting off the yoke of repression.

Others in areas that did not experience military atrocities are less emotional. But they too want to break away, to pursue dreams of their province becoming another Brunei or Kuwait, given what they believe are its rich natural resources.

Mr Idham, 29, is a farmer in Indrapuri, about 50 km away from the capital, Banda Aceh. He has pre-university technical education but has had no success in getting a job in the city or Lhokeseumawe, where Mobil and other firms are into gas exploration.

"The best jobs are only given to the Javanese," he lamented. "Why should they? This is the land of the Acehnese. We should be the first choice."

He makes about 250,000 rupiah a month from the harvest of a padi field given to him by his father-in-law. But he hopes to make five times as much if Aceh gains independence and takes over control of its resources.

In a province where the per-capita income is only US$100 when it should be US$500 if one includes the oil and gas revenues that Jakarta siphons off, such grievances have existed for decades. In the last decade, they have been exacerbated by the military's atrocities.

Up until only a few months ago, one could argue that political discourse was dominated by calls for greater autonomy and economic justice although a referendum canvassing independence was a strong sub-theme.

That has all changed now with demands for a referendum and separation intensifying to what a senior military intelligence official has described as "a point of no return".

The momentum is building, largely due to Jakarta's mismanagement of the problem. As one drives down the main road in the capital of Banda Aceh, there is a huge banner that sums up the Acehnese experience of hope and betrayal, a central theme in the centuries of Acehnese history.

The sign says that President Abdurrahman Wahid pledged a referendum on self-determination when he visited the city in May before he became President. But it adds, rather pointedly, that he reneged on it after becoming Indonesia's leader.

Mr Abdurrahman's promise was taken by most Acehnese to mean that Jakarta was going to give them a choice between staying in the republic or seeking a new future as an independent state.

Mr Muhammad Yus, the head of Aceh's Parliament, said: "The hopes were raised to a point where nothing less than referendum with independence as an option was expected. Now, the central government is rejecting any deals that would involve the possibility of independence. "Of course, many Acehnese doubt the sincerity of the government."

This, he said, was reflected when nearly a million people from all over Aceh flooded Banda Aceh to register their demands for a referendum. "The problem now is that referendum equals independence. Jakarta cannot afford to give the Acehnese anything less," he said.

It was a case of Jakarta responding too late to the problem, he added, pointing out that if it had come up with wide-ranging autonomy proposals last year and implemented them, it would not be facing the rage of the Acehnese today.

"People are not thinking rationally. They are caught up by emotions. Jakarta always promises but never delivers. What a lot of Acehnese want now is separation without any sense of the costs and the benefits of an independent state."

Like Mr Muhammad, Professor Dayan Dawood, rector of the Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh, is among the minority in Aceh who believes the province is not ready for independence.

It would take at least three years for Aceh to build up a proper state infrastructure, defence and establish its own currency, he said. It would also be difficult to attract foreign businessmen given that independence and troop withdrawal would not guarantee a climate conducive to large-scale investments. "It will be a disaster if we got independence now," he warned. "We are just not ready for it."

Tell that to the university students, non-governmental organisations (NGO) and students from Islamic boarding schools who want nothing short of a referendum with the option of breaking away from Indonesia.

Mr Muhammad Najar, leader of the Central Information Centre for Referendum (SIRA) in Aceh, an NGO of students and activists that organised the demonstration earlier this month, said that going to the ballot box was one of the "most democratic ways to meet the people's aspirations".

"A referendum will break the stagnation in politics in Aceh," he argued, adding that it would be the "midway solution" to finding a meeting point between pro-referendum forces, GAM and the government. But GAM is against a referendum for independence because this would to some extent make it irrelevant.

The military commander of the Free Aceh Movement, Tengku Abdullah Syafiie, told The Straits Times at a secret hideout in Pidie that the separatists would never negotiate with the central government on the matter because a referendum would not guarantee independence.

"Indonesia does not exist in our eyes," he said. "It is just another name for the Dutch East Indies with new rulers who are Javanese instead of Dutch.

"We don't want to deal with the Javanese who are all liars and cheaters. Gus Dur lied, Sukarno lied, Suharto lied and Habibie lied to us. We also don't trust Megawati ... We don't trust anyone in Java. If the Acehnese are not given their freedom, there are two choices for us: to live and fight or die."

The separatists have been riding high on the bandwagon of increasing resentment against Jakarta and attempting to fill the void of leadership in Aceh.

Aceh Merdeka was practically decapitated within the first 18 months of military operations that began in 1990. But reports suggest that it is making a comeback after the fall of Mr Suharto last year and the return of activists from exile in Malaysia.

The separatists have now taken the battle to the Indonesian military and police. Engaging in guerilla warfare tactics, intelligence sources say GAM has killed at least 88 soldiers in the territory since August last year.

Aided by the Pattani United Liberation Organisation, a separatist Muslim group in Thailand, AK-47s and grenade launchers have been siphoned in through the Thai-Malaysia border area to points along the North Sumatra coast.

GAM has also mobilised nearly 140,000 people from around the province gathered in more than 100 refugee camps.

By creating a refugee crisis it hopes to gain international sympathy for its cause. The movement has been busy recruiting sympathisers from brutalised rural populations in Pidie, North and East Aceh. It is also enjoying some success in other parts of the province, most notably the south, which has never experienced wide-scale military operations.

Much of its success can be attributed to the pied piper role of the ulamas or Islamic clerics, whose sermons on the need for justice and freedom are potently influential.

Sidelined during the Suharto era, the traditional Islamic leadership in Aceh today provides GAM's most able allies and commanders.

They have shifted the balance of power and initiative to the separatists with their indirect support and rejection of the government's political overtures.

But Free Aceh has been less successful with the urban masses in Banda Aceh. If anything, people in the capital find GAM's idea of seeking independence in order to establish a medieval sultanate laughable.

Neither does GAM founder Hasan Tiro have widespread support in the city. Said Prof Dayan: "East Timor had Xanana Gusmao as a leader. But Aceh does not have anyone now. Who is Hasan Tiro? Not many people know about him except GAM."

The separatists also have to contend with internal tensions. Earlier this year, Dr Tiro's deputy in exile in Malaysia, Mr Husaini, "split" from mainstream GAM and its support for armed struggle to advocate peaceful independence for Aceh.

Jakarta did not lose any time exploiting such cracks in the organisation. It sought to strike a deal with one of the GAM factions, albeit the weaker one, to bring a solution to Aceh.

The Indonesian President had sought secret talks with the exiled leaders in Malaysia during his visit to Kuala Lumpur earlier this month as part of his whirlwind tour of Asean countries.

But the meeting fell through because Mr Husaini could not attend it without Dr Tiro's permission. The government, however, will need to do more than just take advantage of intra-GAM factionalism.

To his credit, Mr Abdurrahman has given personal attention to the matter, much more perhaps than the Suharto or Habibie administrations did.

Besides seeking to hold talks with the separatists, he has ordered an inquiry into human-rights atrocities there and imposed a seven-month deadline for a referendum of whatever shape to take place. He has also turned to the United States to help resolve the imbroglio.

While seeking with a measure of success to gain international support for a united Indonesia, he has failed domestically to articulate a clear and coherent Aceh policy, reflecting a split between the government and the military.

Statements by him and other government officials have been imprecise and inconsistent, pledging referendum with an independence option, and then backtracking days later.

Different ideas have been sprouted but it is yet unclear what kind of self-rule it will offer Aceh and whether this would differ from the autonomy options being considered in the other provinces. The danger for the government is that a failure to give people in Aceh a true referendum could lead to a convergence of various social forces in the province to fight a common enemy. Aceh and Jakarta are on a collision course.

Hundreds rally at shooting site

Jayapura -- A day after dozens of people were injured in a clash between police and demonstrators, hundreds of protesters demanding independence for Irian Jaya rallied Friday at the site of the violence.

The official Antara news agency said several hundred people had gathered at a church in Timika, a town near the US-owned Grasberg mine in the western half of New Guinea island.

But John Rumbiak, spokesman for the Institute for Human Rights and Advocacy in the provincial capital Jayapura, put the number at 3,000. He said protesters were refusing to leave until the Indonesian government acknowledged their claims to independence. "The people are shocked, angry and want change," Rumbiak said.

Human rights activists said 56 people were injured Thursday when police opened fire to disperse about 2,000 demonstrators who were preventing them from lowering a rebel flag flying in the church courtyard.

Police have acknowledged they fired shots into the air but said nobody was hit. Instead, police said, dozens of people were trampled when the crowd panicked and fled from the compound.

Terror stalks rebel province

John Aglionby, Takengon -- The last thing Suprianto heard before he passed out was his wife shrieking as she burned to death, locked inside their home by five masked gunmen. "It was horrible, her screams will live with me for ever," said the coffee farmer from Takengon. Mr Suprianto could do nothing to help; the attackers had sprayed bullets into his feet. He is now confined to a hospital bed.

The attack on November 24 took the whole community by surprise. The district in the central highlands of Aceh, the Indonesian province on the northern tip of Sumatra, had managed to avoid the separatist struggle and the brutal efforts to quell it which have wracked the resource-rich region for the past decade.

"It appears there is now a concerted effort to drag the whole province into the conflict," said Humam Hamid, a human rights activist. But no one seems to know who is responsible for the majority of the attacks over the past eight weeks.

The military blames the Free Aceh Movement (Gam), claiming that the guerrillas are taking advantage of the security vacuum left by the army's withdrawal to barracks, which was ordered to dissipate the fear the soldiers' presence created.

"Gam is terrorising the population into supporting them," said Colonel Syarifudin Tippe, the military commander in provincial capital, Banda Aceh.

But the separatists say they only use their arsenal of rocket launchers, automatic rifles and explosives in self-defence or in retaliation against the authorities. "Why would we attack the people, our natural constituency of support?" asked Ayah Sopian, a Gam spokesman in Banda Aceh.

He says the perpetrators are elements of the military trying to exacerbate the violence to such an extent that the generals can justify reimposing martial law.

"They know Aceh is slipping away from them and that it will have huge implications for the rest of the country," he said. "This is the only way out they have left."

It is difficult to disagree. Since East Timor won independence in August, separatism has become Jakarta's No 1 concern. It is universally accepted that if any other provinces follow East Timor down the road to freedom then national disintegration will be all but inevitable.

The new president, Abdurrahman Wahid, known as Gus Dur, said after taking office that if East Timor could have a referendum, Aceh should have one too. But he did not appreciate how the Acehnese's feelings have changed in the past three months.

In August many people said they would be content with autonomy and the withdrawal of the Indonesian soldiers based in the province. But in September it became clear that the then president, BJ Habibie, was not going to grant autonomy.

"So now we have lost all faith in Jakarta," said Sabirin, an Islamic youth leader in the central highlands. "Even though Gus Dur is a devout Muslim we cannot trust him either. He is still a Javanese colonialist. We want nothing more to do with Jakarta. What everyone wants is independence."

Once Mr Wahid realised this he backtracked rapidly. But his statement that any referendum would offer only a choice between autonomy and the status quo did not go down well in Aceh.

Hundreds of thousands of people descended on Banda Aceh on November 8 for the province's biggest referendum rally. To loud acclaim the organisers said they would not be content with anything less than independence.

The consequences have been electrifying. "We are now in a state of anarchy," said Col Tippe. "In most areas the government cannot function at all, the police are too afraid of the people to impose law and order and we are not allowed out of our barracks because the government wants a political solution."

The chances of finding a lasting, peaceful solution are fading by the day. "Gus Dur said in November he would solve the Aceh crisis in seven months," Mr Sabirin said. "If we have not got what we want by then I can see thousands of people taking up arms with Gam. We will move from peace to war and it will then become very bloody indeed."

Rebels hold low-key anniversary

Pandrah Kandeh, Indonesia -- Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province held peaceful flag-raising ceremonies Saturday in their jungle bases to mark their 23rd anniverary, which was marred only by an incident which left seven injured.

Earlier fears of widespread violence which sent thousands fleeing the country's westernmost province proved unfounded, as residents heeded separatist calls to keep all ceremonies low-key and violence-free.

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) ordered people not to raise their red and black flag in public in order not to enrage the military, and to mark the day with prayers sessions in mosques.

The province's major cities including the capital Banda Aceh where last month a million people rallied to call for a referendum on self-determination were mostly deserted for most of Saturday, with stores closed, and few soldiers out on the streets.

Flags put up outside houses along the the Banda Aceh to Medan road in North Aceh were taken down by security forces Saturday, but in Pidie, the separatist flags were left undisturbed.

But flag-raising ceremonies went ahead untroubled at various jungle rebel bases including the Tiro rebel command base in this isolated North Aceh village.

About 1,000 rebels in uniforms, including some 135 veiled women, and 1,500 civilians watched as the separatist flag was raised to the accompaniment of Islamic prayers.

Across the province, mosques were buzzing with prayers and recitals of holy Koranic verses. Tens of thousands had held all- night prayer sessions across the province.

In Sigli, in Pidie district, a shooting at a military post left three people wounded by bullets and four others hurt after they fell off a truck when scuffles broke as soldiers tried to halt a celebratory convoy of cars and motorcycles, Antara said.

"The injured victims are under intensive care in Sigli hospital," a hospital source told the agency. "But the local leaders have appeased the crowd and so far there has been no other reports of incidents," Pidie district chief I.S. Djaffar told AFP.

Exiled GAM leader Tengku Hasan di Tiro seized the occasion to call on the Acehnese to be ready to fight for freedom. "I remind you all, do not ever be caught unprepared by the political tricks and the military threat against us," di Tiro said in a brief statement read out at ceremonies.

"I call on all citizens of Aceh, men and women, old and young, to get ready to fight the enemy if they attack us. We will turn each inch of our homeland into a war zone," said di Tiro, who has lived in exile in Sweden since the 1970s.

The Tiro Command Post is the seat of GAM commander Abdullah Syafeii, who has led armed resistance to the Indonesian military since the birth of the movement on December 4, 1976.

Syafeii, addressing the crowd here, said GAM aimed to set "the sons and grandsons of our ancestors free, noble and sovereign in our own sacred homeland."

Rebels had given the government until Saturday to make a decision on holding a ballot, warning it must include the option of independence.

Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has so far ruled out a referendum on independence and has warned Jakarta would take repressive actions against any efforts in Aceh to break away from the country.

But he remained confident the territory would never secede from Indonesia. "The Free Aceh Movement may celebrate its 23rd anniversary but the special region of Aceh will remain part of Indonesia," Wahid told journalists as he flew home after a state visit to China.

Aceh plans own referendum

Amy Chew, Banda Aceh -- The group which mobilised last month's huge pro-independence rally in the restive province of Aceh warned it would hold a referendum on ending Indonesian rule if Jakarta refuses one of its own.

President Abdurrahman Wahid is under growing pressure to calm the resource-rich province at the northern tip of Sumatra island where ever louder demands for freedom threaten to ignite rebellion in much of the rest of the Indonesian archipelago.

"We will hold our own referendum if Gus Dur does not include the option of independence in his referendum," Muhammad Nazar, coordinator of Solidarity for the Integrity of the People of Aceh (SIRA), told Reuters on Thursday.

Wahid, popularly known as Gus Dur, has promised Aceh a referendum next year but only on whether to implement Moslem shariah law, firmly ruling out the option of independence.

SIRA mobilised more than half a million people -- over one million by some counts, or a quarter of Aceh's population -- on the streets of the local capital Banda Aceh on November 8 to demand a referendum in the largest separatist protest in the country's history.

The influence of SIRA, made up of more than 100 private organisations, student groups and religious schools, has grown since the huge success of the protest.

Nazar said he was optimistic SIRA's referendum offering a choice between greater autonomy or a complete break from Indonesia would be backed by all Acehnese and the international community.

But last week at a summit in Manila, Southeast Asian leaders said they had no desire to see any change in Indonesia's borders, clearly worried by the instability that would follow any disintigration of the huge archipelago. Nazar predicted that his organisations' referendum would show most people favoured independence.

Senior ministers, leading Indonesian and Acehnese figures have said that past injustices have to be addressed if the country did not want to lose Aceh.

But Nazar was sceptical about the government's efforts so far. "From our experience of the past 54 years, when the government of Indonesia is weak, they make all kinds of promises to the people of Aceh. But when they are strong, they revoke them," he said.

[On December 2, Dow Jones Newswires reported that Mobil Oil Indonesia Inc., the largest foreign investor in Aceh, has suspended its gas exploration activities in Aceh, citing growing tension ahead of expected pro-independence demonstrations - James Balowski.]

Shoot order on national flag

Agencies in Jakarta and Banda Aceh -- Troops in Aceh will shoot on sight anyone found lowering the national flag tomorrow, the 23rd anniversary of the region's separatist movement, the province's military chief was quoted as saying yesterday.

Thousands have fled the province in northern Sumatra anticipating violence on the anniversary of the Islamic Aceh Merdeka or Free Aceh movement, which has recently stepped up its demands for independence.

Jakarta's Kompas daily quoted Aceh military chief Colonel Syarifuddin Tippe as saying he had ordered his troops "to shoot anyone found lowering the red-and-white [Indonesian] flag".

Provincial police chief Brigadier-General Kasman Bahrumsyah said Aceh Merdeka could hoist their flags but also warned of "stern measures" if they forced residents to do so.

Military spokesman Major-General Sudradjat renewed a call for the Government to declare martial law. "Facing the rebels, we will be careful unless they provoke us to act violently," he said.

Free Aceh Movement supporters are planning large celebrations to mark the anniversary. The group has said the rallies will be peaceful.

Movement commander Teuku Abdullah Syafei had appealed to residents not to raise the flag tomorrow, the Serambi daily said. It also said 26 people trying to trigger unrest, including five military officers, had been caught.

In the latest violence, a battle between troops and rebels in the village of Peuriba left a soldier and two civilians dead yesterday, said Lieutenant-Colonel Widhagdo, the head of the local military.

But witnesses said the two civilians were killed when soldiers opened fire on a crowded market after one of their officers was killed in a rebel ambush. Four civilians were wounded, they said. In a separate incident, the bodies of two civilians were found in east Aceh, police said.

Human rights groups claim more than 5,000 people in Aceh have been killed or have disappeared at the hands of the security forces since 1989.

A car carrying two foreign journalists was caught in crossfire between troops and rebels in Lammo, west Aceh, on Tuesday, Kompas reported yesterday. The journalists, a Japanese and an American, were not injured, it said.

Independence option in poll a must

Banda Aceh -- A leading rights activist warned Friday that including the option of independence in any referendum on the future of the volatile province of Aceh was non-negotiable.

"The only thing that can cure the wounds of the people of Aceh ... will be an offer from the government for a referendum with two options -- independence or federation," Abdul Gani Nurdin, told AFP on the eve of a key anniversary in the province.

The warning came as a parliamentary committee on Aceh was reported to have come down in favour of a ballot while failing to resolve whether it should include the possibility of independence.

Nurdin, who heads the Forum for Human Rights Concerns in Aceh, a rights watchdog in the western province, said the wounds inflicted by military atrocities in the past decade were too deep to be easily cured.

An overwhelming 90 percent of the people of Aceh wanted a referendum on self-determination, he said. The other 10 percent were mostly Acehnese working within the current bureaucracy, he added.

Nurdin also said the government's intention to hold talks with Aceh leaders would be pointless unless the independence option was on the table.

"Any dialogue should be to strengthen the independence option ... if it is this, then we will accept to hold a dialogue anytime," Nurdin said.

They have given the government until Saturday -- GAM's 23rd anniversary -- to decide whether to hold a ballot. Indonesian leaders have so far ruled out a referendum on self-rule in Aceh but have promised the province wider autonomy.

The Jakarta Post reported Friday that a special committee of parliament had recommended holding a referendum but sidestepped the question of whether to include the option of independence.

Proposals for a referendum are among 10 recommendations which will be made by the committee to parliamentary leaders on Monday, the daily said.

Other recommendations include a special autonomy status, a non- military court to try those accused of human rights abuses, a rejection of martial law and talks between the government and the Acehnese, committee chairman Ali Yahya told the Post.

In the latest violence a soldier and two civilians were killed Thursday in Meulaboh, West Aceh in a clash between the armed forces and GAM. The bodies of two men were also found in two separate places in East Aceh Thursday. Both had had their hands tied behind their backs, the Post reported.

Protests off as TNI fumes

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta -- Activists in Aceh have called off anti-Jakarta protests planned for Saturday because they fear Indonesia's armed forces will use flag-raising rallies as an excuse for a brutal crackdown.

But top Indonesian army officers in the province are intensifying a push for the introduction of martial law, claiming that separatist rebels are already in control.

Colonel Syafnil Armen said an order by President Abdurrhman Wahid for troops to remain in their barracks "made the military feel mad and stressed". "How can we do our job if there is an order like that?" Reuters quoted him as saying.

More than 11,000 police have been sent to the staunchly Islamic province at the northern tip of Sumatra as the outlawed Free Aceh Movement (GAM) approaches its fourth anniversary.

Mr Mohammad Nazar, the co-ordinator of the Information Centre for Aceh's Referendum, said in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, that supporters would gather only for prayers on the December 4 anniversary. The umbrella group, which represents 104 organisations, brought together more than 750,000 people on November 8 to rally for an East Timor-style referendum in one of the biggest anti-Jakarta gatherings ever held in Indonesia.

"Basically we are not preparing anything because GAM has sent letters to the people not to raise GAM's flag," Mr Nazar said. "So I think the military will be deceived."

Indonesian police and military chiefs brushed aside accusations of past human rights abuses and warned they would crush any separatist movements.

The military's chief spokesman, Major-General Sudrajat, said: "For those who obviously want to break away from Indonesia or take up arms to revolt, there's no other choice for the TNI [the military] but to crush them.

"We should not be deceived by human rights issues and accusations which are based on perception and certain political agendas."

Earlier the National Police Chief, General Roesmanhadi, said 11,000 policemen had been deployed in Aceh because of the possibility of a mobilisation of masses, the lowering of the Indonesian flag and attacks on military and police posts and state-owned companies.

Colonel Armen, one of two military commanders based in Aceh, said the situation in the province was not safe as rebels "are present in every corner". "This is their way to show the Government what they want, as they demand a referendum to be independent."

In the latest of a series of ambiguous statements about Aceh's future, Mr Wahid said his Government would formulate a new policy on the province by the end of December, but any referendum would not include an option for independence.

Troops fire on Irian Jaya protesters

Associated Press in Jayapura -- Dozens were injured on Thursday when Indonesian security forces at a remote mining town fired on about 2,000 demonstrators who demanded independence for Irian Jaya province in West New Guinea, human rights activists said.

They said the shootings took place when troops tried to lower a rebel flag flying outside a church.

"This morning the police carried out an operation in Timika to lower the independence flag," said John Rumbiak, head of the local branch of Indonesia's Institute for Human Rights Studies and Advocacy.

"We have been informed that 28 people were injured in the action," he said. "Police shot at the crowd. At least 10 people were arrested."

But police in Timika, a town near the southern coast of the half-island province, denied that they had clashed with demonstrators. Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Feisal said officers had only lowered the "Morning Star" independence flag and that there were no reports of shootings.

The incident came a day after thousands of people staged peaceful rallies in Indonesia's easternmost province to press demands for independence.

[On December 4 the SCMP said that Irian Jaya police chief Brigadier-General S. Y. Wenas had sent a team to Timika to investigate the shootings. He had earlier denied anyone had been shot but later said the shootings should not have happened, apologised and pledged to bring before a military court officers found to have opened fire - James Balowski.]

80,000 attend Papua anniversary

Jakarta -- Hundreds of thousands of pro-independence supporters Wednesday joined peaceful demonstrations across Irian Jaya on the anniversary of the separatist movement as activists defied military warnings and hoisted their flag.

An estimated 800,000 people celebrated the 38th anniversary of the Papuan proclamation of independence in Indonesia's remote easternmost province, John Rumbiak, the chief of the Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy in the provincial capital Jayapura, told AFP.

The figures included those who turned up at ceremonies at which the separatist Morning Star flag was flown side by side with the Indonesian flag as well as those who packed into churches for special prayers, he said.

"It is phenomenal how the struggle for independence is fought peacefully despite 37 years of oppression by Indonesia," Rumbiak said. "December 1 is a special day for the Papuans. It's the day when the people proclaimed independence from the Dutch."

He said his group deployed more than 100 volunteers to monitor the anniversaryin different towns and there were no reports of violence in the province which has a population of two million. However, Usman, a staff member at the local legal aid institute in Jayapura said an estimated 11,000 supporters of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), attended the ceremony in the central Inbi square, presided over by leader Theys Eluay. The official Antara news agency put the figure at 5,000.

The military had warned it would tear down the flag and replace it with the Indonesian flag, but under an agreement between Theys and the military all the separatist flags were lowered again at around dusk.

Irian Jaya police chief Brigadier General Sylvanus Yulian Wenas told state television that raising the separatist flag was illegal and some people could be prosecuted.

Peter El, a pro-independence activist, said the demonstrators issued a communique demanding the United Nations cancel the result of a 1964 ballot on whether Irian Jaya, then a Dutch colony, should become part of Indonesia.

"The Pepera [ballot] was rigged and it did not represent the view of the majority of Irianese," El said, adding only 1,000 people were consulted. There have been persistent allegations that those who voted were bribed and intimidated into voting to join Indonesia.

A priest at the Roman Catholic church in Jayapura, Theo Bruder, said the people's demand for secession had a solid basis but warned the path to freedom would not be easy.

"It will take a long time before the powers that be can see the sufferings of the Papuans which have triggered the demands for separation," he said.

A Free Papua state was declared by Irian Jaya leaders in Jayapura while the territory was still under Dutch occupation on December 1, 1961.

But Indonesia claimed Dutch New Guinea as its 26th province in 1963 and after the ballot, the UN recognised Indonesia's sovereignty in 1969.

There have been claims that human rights abuses by the military left hundreds dead in the province when it was under tight central control, and closed off to most outsiders.

Rich in minerals, timber and forestry products, Irian Jaya is home to the world's largest open gold and copper mines, operated by the US-based company Freeport. But Papuans say they have not had a fair share in the resources and have been excluded from employment in the mines and the local administration with jobs going to migrants from elsewhere in Indonesia.

"The people want to free themselves from Indonesian oppression. For more than 38 years the Indonesian military has committed gross human rights violations," Rumbiak said.

"Not only that, the government's development policies such as in the mining sector, the resettlement and family planning programs, have marginalized and impoverished the Papuans owing to the domination of migrant settlers."

On Saturday the troubled province of Aceh also plans to hold demonstrations to mark the founding of the separatist movement there in 1976.

Military says rebels control Aceh

Astrid Amalia, Jakarta -- A top army official in Indonesia's troubled Aceh said on Wednesday that separatists were in control of the province amid intense pressure from the military for martial law.

"The situation in Aceh now is not safe as the rebels have already taken control of Aceh," Colonel Syafnil Armen told Reuters by telephone.

"They are present in every corner in Aceh. This is their way to show the government what they want, as they demand a referendum to be independent," said Armen, one of two military commanders in the province.

Military chiefs have been lobbying hard for martial law in Aceh, ahead of Saturday's anniversary of the rebel Free Aceh Movement's founding. Many people expect it to turn violent.

President Abdurrahman Wahid, who alone as supreme military chief has the power to declare martial law, has firmly ruled it out.

Hundreds have been killed this year in violence in the province. One policeman was killed on Tuesday in West Aceh district, said a military spokesman. He blamed the attack on rebels.

Aceh's military commanders complain that curbs on military activities to reduce tension and prevent human rights abuses are playing into the rebels' hands.

Thousands of people were killed, tortured or raped during a nine-year military crackdown in Aceh, the northern tip of Sumatra, where the military is now hated.

But Armen said the military would resist any attempts to fly the banned Free Aceh flag on Saturday, and would permit only Indonesia's red-and-white flag to be raised.

"The military will take down other flags than the red-and-white flag in peace. But if the rebels attack the military, we will attack back," said Armen.

Calls for a referendum on independence in Aceh have grown this year, and have reached fever pitch since a similar ballot in East Timor led to its separation from Indonesia.

Wahid has suggested a referendum on the application of Islamic Sharia law in the staunchly Muslim region, but has ruled out the option of independence.

Armen, based in Aceh's second city Lhokseumawe, accused the rebels of intimidation, taking people's money and forcing them to buy the rebel flag. He also said many Acehnese feared the rebels.

"The rebels' actions have weakened the situation and all sectors in Aceh as they do not want to operate in a peaceful way and they keep using terror to frighten the community. And as you see, the Acehnese people are afraid of the rebels," said Armen.

"Being forbidden to counter-attack the rebels from the government made the military feel mad and stressed. How can we do our job best if there's an order like that?" he added.

TNI: `just carrying out duties'

Jakarta -- Military and civilian leaders, several allegedly behind large-scale human rights abuses in Aceh over the past decade, have defended their policies before parliamentary deputies, saying that tough measures were needed to maintain law and order.

They presented the defence on Monday before a special committee of the House of Representatives that began unprecedented questioning of the military leaders on human rights violations in Aceh. The questioning continued until nearly midnight.

"What happened [in Aceh] was that the Indonesian Armed Forces carried out its duties to safeguard the national defence and security ... to protect the nation from internal and external threats has become our main priority," former armed forces commander General Try Sutrisno told the committee. "We, the Indonesian Armed Forces, have never been proud of conducting military operations against our own brothers," General Try added.

The committee is questioning six generals and a former Aceh governor. The military leaders were all in command of Aceh operations at some time during the past decade when the military tried to crush rebels of the Free Aceh Movement.

Former Aceh governor Ibrahim Hasan is the only civilian so far called before the 50 members of the committee.

The military operation was halted last year, but human rights violations in Aceh still continue, many allege. Thousands are believed to have died during the crackdown.

General Try and Mr Ibrahim said the separatists had been conducting "rebellious actions against the legitimate Government, kidnapping and killing security members", and had "intimidated the people, destroyed vital projects and disturbed law and order". According to Mr Ibrahim, former president Suharto ordered him to make a "cultural approach" to the Acehnese rebels first, adding that "a security approach will be the second choice".

But the cultural approaches through ulemas (religious leaders and schools) and students failed, Mr Ibrahim said, prompting him to ask Jakarta to send troops to Aceh. However, General Try said there "were no military policies to kill, to rape or to kidnap Acehnese people".

The questioning is taking place ahead of the Saturday deadline set by the Acehnese for the Indonesian Government to decide a timetable for a referendum on independence. The Free Aceh Movement, which wants to create an independent Islamic state, celebrates its 23rd anniversary that day. A general strike in the province is expected and many people have vowed to raise the movement's flag. The military has warned it will answer those who raise the rebel flag with bullets.

Even as the questioning of the military and civilian leaders continued in Jakarta, the first example of Islamic law, planned to be fully implemented in Aceh, was given when a young couple was sentenced on Monday to be caned 100 times each for "conducting extra-marital affairs".

Meanwhile, three people were shot dead yesterday in the latest outbreak of violence, police reported. Two men were killed in central Aceh while another was shot in Teunom district, west Aceh.

Also in Samatiga district, west Aceh, dozens of soldiers were reported to have gone on a rampage after the death of a colleague. Students in the district said the soldiers destroyed about 60 houses and six vehicles. Reports from Aceh yesterday also said 30 civilians had been tortured by alleged soldiers on Monday in West Aceh.
 

News & issues

Texmaco and 19 firms got special loans

Jakarta -- Bank Indonesia's deputy governor Ahjar Iljas said on Friday that Texmaco was among 20 exporting companies which received a preshipment rediscount facility from the central bank through state commercial banks in November 1997.

Iljas confirmed to Antara that some of the companies obtained the preshipment financing facility based on memos from then president Soeharto. The head of the central bank's department of international economic cooperation and trade, Hendy Sulistyowati, confirmed that the facility was specially created in late 1997 to help exporting companies to increase export earnings in order to replenish foreign exchange reserves.

The central bank's executives were commenting on the allegations that Texmaco's chairman M. Sinivasan obtained US$754 million and Rp 1.9 trillion in preshipment facilities from Bank Indonesia through Bank Negara Indonesia and Bank Rakyat Indonesia between November 1997 and February 1998 through intervention by Soeharto, who resigned in May 1998.

State Minister of State Enterprises and Investment Laksamana Sukardi revealed what he considered a loan scandal at a hearing with the House of Representatives on Monday, and submitted documents on the loans to Attorney General Marzuki Darusman for further investigation on Thursday. Marzuki declared Sinivasan a suspect soon after receiving the documents.

Separately, Sinivasan's lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution criticized on Friday Marzuki's decision as too hasty and imprudent because it was made without first questioning Sinivasan.

Buyung wondered how Marzuki could have declared Sinivasan a suspect only a few hours after he received documents on the loans from Laksamana. He expressed frustration at how Marzuki handled his client, saying Sinivasan deserved fair treatment.

Buyung also accused the mass media of "unbalanced coverage" of the Texmaco loan case, saying the publicity could hurt the giant company which employs hundreds of thousands of workers. "Once a court found Sinivasan not guilty, it might be too late to save his company," Buyung said.

Hendy said Bank Indonesia did not face risks in extending the preshipment facility because the loans were secured by the state commercial banks that made the disbursements.

"If the corporate borrowers failed to repay their loans, we simply recovered them by charging the loans against the state banks' deposits at Bank Indonesia," Hendy added.

She said the preshipment facility could be used only for working capital to finance exports. "State commercial banks were liable to penalties for any abuse of loans they disbursed to exporters." However, she did not disclose whether any of the corporate borrowers were found to have abused the facility.

According to Hendy, state banks were fully responsible for assessing the loan applications from exporting companies which intended to use the facility.

Separately, Soedradjad Djiwandono, who was the governor of the central bank when the preshipment facility was created, confirmed in a written interview with Kontan economic newsweekly that the facility was established after a series of discussions involving him, the finance minister, the trade and industry minister, private and state bankers and many senior officials from related ministries.

"The facility was created to help selected exporting companies boost their exports," added Soedradjad, who is now a development associate at the Harvard Institute for International Development in Cambridge, US.

The foreign exchange market was then very thin and the dollar supply was quite short, he said in referring to the situation between late 1997 and 1998 when the rupiah collapsed amid the financial contagion which began in Thailand in July 1997.

"The facility was not tailor-made to the Texmaco group but was designed to help exporters," Soedradjad said.

Soedradjad, however, said he was not sure as to whether he had asked Sinivasan to write Soeharto about the loan facility. "I don't have detailed records on the Texmaco loan case, how much were the loans and which state banks disbursed them," he said.
 

Arms/Armed forces

In Jakarta, army still wields power

Keith Richburg, Jakarta -- Juwono Sudarsono, a soft-spoken academic who has become Indonesia's new civilian defense minister, has acknowledged in an interview that the process of getting the army out of politics will be a gradual one and that the extent of his control over the military is not yet clear.

"I'm just the beginning of an eventual form of civilian control," Mr. Juwono said Wednesday, speaking candidly and at length about the complex power relationship between the government and the military. "It will take a few months, or years."

Five weeks ago, the choice of Mr. Juwono was heralded as a political eclipse for the powerful military as the country entered a new democratic era.

Indonesians had just chosen a popular new president, Abdurrahman Wahid, known as "Gus Dur," who, in spite of his physical frailty, began immediately to assert his authority with vigor. The armed forces commander, General Wiranto, was sidelined to a cabinet job, supposedly with little real power.

Mr. Juwono, as the first civilian defense chief in decades, was the most obvious sign of a break from the past and the beginning of civilian supremacy over the armed forces.

But for those who want to see a more immediate assertion of civilian control over the troops, he said simply, "Things are not as easy as they look."

One complicating factor is the continued dominance in the power game of General Wiranto, who has managed to survive Indonesia's transition to democracy -- and the loss of his job as armed forces commander -- with most of his power intact, even enhanced.

His new job, coordinating minister for political affairs and security, had previously been mainly a figurehead position with no real power. But the general has turned the job into something making him virtually a powerful chief of staff to the nearly blind Mr. Wahid.

In cabinet meetings, General Wiranto sits just to Mr. Wahid's right, chairing the sessions and deciding the agenda, Mr. Juwono said. He lays out the policy options. "Wiranto on occasion becomes effectively the president and the vice president at the same time," Mr. Juwono said. "It's a powerful role." Mr. Juwono said the meetings tended to be "rather structured, because there are limits to what Gus Dur can remember."

Mr. Juwono said Mr. Wiranto's new role had become even more important, given the president's impaired vision, which made it impossible for him to read documents. "At the moment, we are worried that his only source of information is what is whispered in his ear," Mr. Juwono said.

General Wiranto played a crucial role from the beginning, being one of five people who helped draw up the current cabinet -- the others being Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri; the Golkar party chairman, Akbar Tandjung; the speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly, Amien Rais, and Mr. Wahid. All of the other four recognized that General Wiranto "was a force to be reckoned with," Mr. Juwono said.

Mr. Juwono calls it "a paradox" that Mr. Wiranto's power has increased in the new democratic era, precisely as the military's record of abuse -- and General Wiranto's own stewardship of it -- has come under intense scrutiny from human rights investigators.

Mr. Wiranto made a power play early on, signing off on a new military promotion list while Mr. Wahid was out of the country, and without first clearing it through Mr. Juwono.

Another measure of General Wiranto's new clout is that he has moved into his new cabinet position as coordinating minister without first resigning from the active duty military. That leaves General Wiranto in a more powerful position within the armed forces, even though there is now a new commander, Admiral A.S. Widodo.

Mr. Juwono said that the refusal of General Wiranto and others to retire from the service was evidence of their continued clout in the new government.

Mr. Juwono said that for the immediate future, Indonesia's armed forces are unlikely to follow their counterparts in other parts of the region -- notably Thailand, South Korea, the Philippines and Taiwan.

There, democratic transitions have seen the soldiers pull back from politics in favor of more traditional military roles, like fighting insurgents and joining international peacekeeping efforts.

In Indonesia, civil society -- that network of independent unions, grass-roots organizations, trade associations, the media -- is not yet strong enough, meaning the armed forces will continue to play a dominant role, Mr. Juwono said.

"We also lack the tradition of a modern and efficient civil service and a political party tradition," Mr. Juwono said. "We don't have that here.

We're just beginning." He added, "Even with a civilian defense minister, the army is still the most effective political force in the country."

Generals under fire

Margot Cohen, Jakarta -- It was a stirring reformasi passion play. On the night of November 29, six of former President Suharto's top generals -- once untouchables -- faced the hot glare of TV lights and fended off scorching questions from legislators about the military's human-rights record in rebellious Aceh province.

The scorn unleashed by the parliamentary subcommittee would have been unthinkable under the old regime. One after another, the newly elected politicians launched into litanies of murder, rape and genital mutilation, citing allegations from human-rights groups. The generals' cool demeanour only fuelled the MPs' anger. "Was your conscience torn to shreds, watching your troops humiliate the Acehnese and destroy their dignity?" demanded Julius Usman, an Acehnese MP from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.

But the four-hour onslaught seemed to make nary a dent in the armour of retired generals Try Sutrisno, Feisal Tanjung, Benny Murdani and others. Try, who served as armed-forces commander during a peak period in the Aceh conflict in the late 1980s and early 1990s, struck a familiar nationalist note. He echoed the line of Gen.

Wiranto, now coordinating minister for politics and security, who was grilled by the same subcommittee on November 25, said "You have to understand that there are outside forces who are trying to destabilize us," he said.

The televised spectacle was only the latest evidence of growing civilian pressure on the military. As investigations of alleged human-rights abuses in Aceh and East Timor gather steam, government ministers are struggling to satisfy the political clamour for legal sanctions against the military. Rather than resort to court martials and risk light sentences, Attorney- General Marzuki Darusman is advocating judicial panels with civilian and military judges. Analysts say the escalating human- rights debate reflects a broader push to consolidate civilian rule in Indonesia.

"We are trying to control the extent of military power over national affairs," says Heri Akhmadi, a former student activist who is now an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle MP. "Everyone expects that within the next five years the military will no longer play a political role."

That's news to those in the armed forces who continue to view the military as a vital player in Indonesia's political future. While pledging their willingness to adjust to new civilian demands for transparency and accountability, some officers clearly resent the latest broadsides and unease is percolating within the ranks.

"This is all a political game," gripes an army colonel based in Jakarta. "If they succeed in shaking the strongest pillar of national unity, Indonesia is finished."

Both friends and foes of the armed forces are concerned the growing pressure could trigger a backlash. "They have their pride. You're talking about the credibility and the authority of the armed forces," says Yorrys Raweyai, head of Pancasila Youth, a nationwide group with strong ties to the military. "I'm worried that there will come a point where they could turn around and do whatever they want."

The same fears seem to be shadowing the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on East Timor, which began work in mid-November. The five-member commission is to submit a report on alleged human- rights abuses to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan by the end of the year, and will visit Jakarta on December 5-8 to meet high- level government officials. Meetings with military officials have yet to be confirmed.

"The government here is very fragile. If we push too hard, we'll ruin everything," frets one UN official. He says that if the commission identifies top military officials "the kinds of subsequent violations that would occur would make what happened in East Timor pale by comparison."

Behind the scenes commission members are passing information to the Indonesian human-rights commission pursuing its own East Timor investigation, hoping the evidence will aid swift prosecution. Given their distrust of Indonesians, many Timorese prefer to supply information to the UN commission.

So far, it appears the Indonesian commission is conducting a credible investigation -- surprising some observers who had feared a whitewash. In late November, the commission announced in its initial findings that the military organized the destruction that followed the vote in East Timor.

Commission members don't appear worried about a military backlash. "The reality is that officers who no longer have command positions can't do much to create trouble," says commission secretary Asmara Nababan. Still, when push comes to shove, some observers believe President Abdurrahman Wahid will seek to protect Wiranto and other officers for the sake of national stability. The true test of civilian pressure won't come until some generals find themselves in court. If that doesn't happen, the parliamentary hearings and investigators' announcements will add up to little more than a TV soap opera.
 

International solidarity

People's inquiry builds momentum

Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor's People's Inquiry into Australian governments' "special relationship" with Indonesia and complicity in the East Timor genocide is attracting a lot of interest in several cities.

From Wollongong, Stefan Skibicki reports that many locals have sponsored the inquiry, which will be held on December 11. Speakers there will include a doctor who has just returned from East Timor and Colin Hollis, the federal member for Throsby, who will be part of an ALP delegation to East Timor departing this week.

Retired diplomat James Dunn, former MP George Petersen, retired teacher Mairi Petersen, jazz musician Vince Jones, the Wollongong East Timor Coalition, Jim Bradley from the Teachers' Federation, Andrew Hall from the Democratic Socialist Party and Andy Gianniotis from Resistance have joined initial sponsors, retired trade unionist Fred Moore and peace activist Dr Margaret Perrott. Further endorsements and offers to speak are arriving each day.

From Brisbane, Mike Byrne reports that plans for that city's inquiry are well advanced. ASIET is opening the hearing on December 11 at 2pm at St Mary's Church, 20 Merivale Street, South Brisbane.

Speakers will include Joe Teixeira, the Brisbane representative of the National Council of Timorese Resistance, and Jason McLeod, from Faith and Resistance who has been active in the campaign against the training of Indonesian troops at the Canungra army base in south-east Queensland. Katrina Barben from ASIET will speak about the forced sterilisation of East Timorese women carried out by the occupying Indonesian forces.

An interactive media display, including videos and photographs from the independence struggle, is also planned.
 

Economy and investment

Economic post for Wahid

Ted Bardacke, Jakarta -- Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday formed an economic advisory council chaired by Emil Salim, a cabinet minister under former President Suharto.

Mr Salim was one of five former ministers named to the 13-member council, which will serve the president directly to give him a "second opinion" on economic matters. Sri Mulyani Indrawati, an independent economist from the University of Indonesia, will be secretary general of the council.

Mr Salim was one of the members of the "Berkeley mafia" of technocrats who guided the economic policies of the Suharto regime from the 70s through the early 90s before high-level corruption started to undermine government policy.

Mr Salim had a falling-out with Mr Suharto and against the former president's wishes tried to become vice-president after 1997 general elections.

Other former ministers on the council, whose formation has invited speculation that the authority of senior economics minister Kwik Kian Gie would be undermined, include former co- operatives minister Subiakto Tjakrawerdaya and Bambang Subianto, finance minister under former President B.J. Habibie.

Mr Tjakrawerdaya was considered especially close to Mr Suharto, while Mr Subianto has been linked to the Bank Bali scandal whereby funds from the nationalised bank were funnelled to Mr Habibie's failed re-election bid.

Most of budget earmarked to repay debt

Jakarta -- Around 75 percent of Indonesia's forthcoming state budget would be earmarked to repay domestic and foreign debts, an economic observer said.

"If efforts to reschedule debts through the "Paris Club" go smoothly, I predict that around 75% of the state budget will only be used to repay debts," Sri Adiningsih said in a discussion organised by Real Estate Indonesia here yesterday. Adiningsih is economics lecturer at the Gadjah Mada Univrsity in Yogyakarta, Central Java.

Around Rp60 trillion is to pay interest on domestic debts related to bank recapitalisation and 60% of next year's state budget will be used to pay instalments of overseas principal debts and interests.

The government will face difficulties in meeting routine obligations such as paying salaries for civil servants and the armed forces.

On economic predictions for the coming year, Adiningsih said that if security and political conditions remained stable, then in the year 2000 Indonesia would be able to emerge from the economic crisis.

"Indeed, the five percent or more growth will not be achieved like during the period before the crisis, but the economy will definitely grow. In order to reach the level of prior to the crisis, at least we need another two years," she said.

Siswono Yudohusodo, a former cabinet member, said that in 2003 the Indonesian economy would achieve economic growth as in 1994, but achieving top growth rates like those in 1996 would take a much longer time.

He hoped the government, through the Indonesian bank Restruxcturing Agency (IBRA), could accelerate efforts to settle debts of developers that had been kept at bay for too long.

Army spokesman Major Genral Sudrajat said the Indonesian economy would not recover unless there was security and political stability.

For this reason, he said, in relation to the tensions now prevailing in Aceh, the year 2000 would be the most crucial year in terms of security and political conditions in Indonesia.

"The key will be that in the year 2000, if there is no political decision by the government in relation to Aceh, then I will not know what will happen. Nonetheless, if the Aceh issue can be settled, then the cases of Ambon and Irian Jaya are much easier," he said.

He expressed hope that the government could as soon as possible take a political decision on the Aceh issue so that security and political conditions could be guaranteed.