• Border attacks embarrass Wahid - Sydney Morning Herald
• Life in a Timorese village after independence - Green Left Weekly
• East Timor people's `indefatigable spirit' - Green Left Weekly
• Disinformation campaign targets West Timor refugees - Lusa
• Militia suspect held after gun battle - Sydney Morning Herald
• Open for business, but a while before good times roll - Sydney Morning Herald
• Timor: the Portuguese connection
• TNI signature on border raids - Sydney Morning Herald
• Wahid reportedly suggests future integration - Lusa

• Gus Dur meets Suharto: 'no political overtones' - Straits Times
• Govt abolishes Bakorstanas, 'litsus' system - Jakarta Post

• Halmahera tense after riots - Jakarta Post

• Aceh issue the litmus test - Straits Times
• Separatist conflict claims another four lives - Straits Times
• Rights activists 'driven away' - Sydney Morning Herald

• Indonesia ratifies ILO convention on child workers - Antara
• May Day plans under way in Indonesia - Green Left Weekly
• `Parliament won't solve workers' problems' - Green Left Weekly

• Reform of the legal system top challenge: minister - Agence France-Presse
• Rights commission sets up team to probe 1984 shooting - Agence France-Presse

• Wahid to pardon Suharto if court finds him guilty - Agence France-Presse
• Gang held 'tycoon' for five years in tiny room - South China Morning Post
• World Bank questions acquital of Bank Bali suspect - Agence France-Presse
• US official Roth rules out a military coup - Straits Times
• Fears of 'cowboy culture' as crime soars - Straits Times
• Radio station forced off the air - Jakarta Post
• Conflicts between locals and timber companies to grow - Jakarta Post
• Court rejects suit linked to Bank Bali graft case - Agence France-Presse
• Unflinching eye on wasted generation - Sydney Morning Herald
• Soeharto foundation assets to be taken over - Jakarta Post
• Attack on Matori 'politically motivated' - Jakarta Post

• Riau fires: Culprits found, but action unlikely - Straits Times
• Haze turns day into night in Sumatra - Jakarta Post
• Tracking down fire starters ... one by one - Straits Times
• Land-clearing again main cause of fires - South China Morining Post
• Number of abortions performed last year 'astonishing' - Jakarta Post
• Who should fight the 137 fires in Riau province? - Straits Times

• Reshuffle jolts military - Straits Times

• Suharto-era deals will be honoured, says minister - Reuters
• Jakarta backs down, willing to talk to US - Straits Times

Students oppose military

Marina Carman -- One hundred and fifty students staged a protest outside the office of the regional legislative assembly in Surabaya, Indonesia, on February 22. The students were angry at the Indonesian military's repression and domination of political life in the country.

Rally organisers from the National Student League for Democracy (LMND) demanded that those military generals responsible for human rights violations be put on trial and that the "dual function" of the military be revoked, so that it can no longer intervene in politics. They also demanded the disbanding of the armed forces' territorial and intelligence structure, which allows it to monitor life at every level of society, down to the smallest village.

The action also protested the effects of neo-liberal policies enforced by the IMF and World Bank in return for loans. Such policies, now being put into practice by President Abdurrahman Wahid, include cuts to price subsidies on basic needs, such as electricity and fuel, and cuts to education funding.

Mohammad Sofyan, the chairperson of LMND, said on February 28, "This policy will result in a higher cost for education. A large number of students will not be able to pay. This policy shows that the government sides with international capital against its own people. We have to invite the people to refuse this and other neo-liberal policies.

"We think that other students around the world also have similar problems. So we want to build solidarity to support each other in struggling for a just and democratic world."
 

East Timor

Border attacks embarrass Wahid

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta -- Indonesia's President, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, responded quickly yesterday to protests from Australia and the United Nations, ordering his armed forces to disarm militia launching cross-border attacks in East Timor. He also ordered the closing of refugee camps in West Timor near the border with East Timor which militia groups use as their bases.

The Foreign Minister, Mr Alwi Shihab, said Mr Wahid was "very concerned and unhappy" about the militia attacks in East Timor in the past few days and had ordered the Minister for Defence, Mr Juwono Sudarsono, and the Armed Forces Chief, Admiral Widodo, to take whatever action was necessary to stop them.

"We can no longer tolerate these incidents and the perpetrators should not only be given a stern warning but receive what we call legal sanctions," said Mr Shihab, one of Mr Wahid's closest political associates.

A United Nations delegation, led by the head of the UN peacekeeping force in East Timor, Lieutenant-General Jaime de los Santos, had earlier told Indonesian ministers and senior officials in Jakarta that the international community would not tolerate the cross-border raids.

Mr Shihab said after hearing the protests from General de los Santos and other UN officials he had "immediately called the defence minister to take actions to, if necessary, disarm the militia and to make more efforts and be firmer because this has harmed Indonesia's reputation."

Government officials said Mr Wahid was particularly embarrassed because the attacks escalated after he made a goodwill visit to East Timor on February 29.

Life in a Timorese village after independence

Vanya Tanaja, Dili -- Whilst independence from Indonesian rule has been won, some things in East Timor have changed little. After the militia violence of September, many Timorese are worse off than ever and help is a long time coming.

Lisa Dila is a village in Liquica district, two hours' journey west of Dili. The drive from Dili to Liquica is breathtaking, with ocean views most of the way, and we passed a number of gleaming United Nations' and non-government organisations' vehicles on the road.

But the road to Lisa Dila is almost deserted, except for villagers on foot grateful for lifts from the few passing vehicles. The road is dusty and in poor condition, impassable to anyone without a four-wheel drive. On either side grow corn and eucalypt trees.

One hundred families live in and farm the country around Lisa Dila and the neighbouring village, Kissue. Conditions are rudimentary. The villagers enjoyed electricity for three years, until the Besi Merah Putih militia cut the cable last September.

The pipes from a government clean water project have broken down and no bureaucrat has bothered to get them fixed, so water must be carried from a river some distance away.

There are lots of non-government health care organisations in Dili, but none have been seen here. Illness is rife, diarrhoea and malaria the most common ailments.

We came to the village to pay our respects to the family of someone who had died from malaria only the week before. The village nurse told me that while he could offer medical advice, there was no medicine to be had.

Some 60 families here, members of the Socialist Party of Timor (PST), are trying to farm their land communally and to share the products of their cultivation. They rely heavily on the one tractor, salvaged from the September violence when a villager hid it in the mountains.

Now the tractor is the focus of a custody battle, a skirmish in a much larger political dispute.

UN civilian police called into the village on March 2 in response to accusations that PST members were stoning houses and stopping villagers from attending school and going to the market to sell their produce. UN representatives held a meeting with PST members, including general secretary Avelino da Silva, in the party's rudimentary office.

Da Silva rejected the claims that PST members were involved in terrorising villagers. He pointed out that the party was involved in setting up the school that it was now accused of preventing students from attending. The school is the first initiative to restart children's education in the area. Da Silva blamed rivalry between political groups for the dispute, an outcome of which may yet be the seizure of the tractor. Representatives of East Timor's main political group, the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), had argued that the tractor was a "state resource", although they never made it clear who the tractor would be allocated to.

The anger of the village's PST members was evident. They believe the issue is being used to prevent the locals from organising collectively and the party from operating freely.

One thing is certain. Whilst the aid agencies are busy conducting "assessment missions", villages like Lisa Dila are being forgotten and the villagers' initiatives to improve their lives are being thwarted.

A struggle is brewing for the hearts and minds of the East Timorese people.

East Timor people's `indefatigable spirit'

Peter Johnston, Dili -- On arriving in East Timor, one is struck by how little has been repaired in the months since the militia destruction. Very few buildings were not damaged in the post- referendum, Jakarta-sponsored orgy of violence and looting. Most remain in ruins.

Whole families are living in shelters that are no more than a few sheets of rusty and twisted corrugated iron, leaning on flimsy wooden frames.

Some accommodation is just a few sheets of tarpaulin stretched over pieces of timber.

In and beyond Dili, a scattering of UN-stamped tarpaulins and tents are virtually the only tangible evidence of international aid. A few buildings have been carefully repaired or rebuilt, but these are occupied either by one of the many non-governmental organisations, the United Nations Transitional Authority (UNTAET) or by wealthy East Timorese.

A large and spirited market has been re-established in Dili, where there is a variety of fresh produce available and a range of goods imported from Indonesia. But according to an Indonesian companion, the imported goods are priced at two to four times what they would sell for in Indonesia.

Due to the lack of transportation and housing, at night the market becomes a tarpaulin-covered ghetto -- without sewerage, water, or electricity -- where stall-holders live and sleep.

A number of cafes and restaurants have opened, but it is rare to see East Timorese eating there. A meal in one of them typically costs more than the daily wage paid to the few East Timorese lucky enough to work.

Much of the population remains without access to safe drinking water, and electricity has not been restored in many parts of the country. A UN Security Council report issued in January estimates that 80% of the population is "without visible means of support".

Employment

The few with jobs are grateful for it, but there is increasing disquiet over the very low wages paid to East Timorese workers. In contrast, foreigners are paid First World wages, often with a bonuses -- and tax free.

Of the $522 million pledged to East Timor by the World Bank and the UN at a meeting in Tokyo in December, much has not materialised. The UN report contains an abundance of statements about what will be done, but in terms of what has actually been done to rebuild East Timor after almost half a year, the report is evasive and non-specific. The report does note, however, that if conditions do not to improve soon, social unrest is likely.

The graffiti that covers the walls of Dili is both a history of the turbulent recent past, and as the voice of a people largely deprived of any means to express themselves. Pro-independence graffiti predominates, and a sense of humour pervades some of the slogans. Some graffiti thanked Interfet for helping East Timor. The demand for "Otonomi" is visible in some places, and I saw a couple of messages threatening Xanana Gusmao with death if he returned.

I spoke with a group of 30 men employed by UNTAET to cut grass and to clear rubbish from along the road by Dili harbour. The only tools they had were an odd variety of knives, some just had kitchen knives -- the pro-Jakarta militia destroyed all of Dili's lawnmowers! They worked on their hands and knees all day long. For this, the workers were being paid about $3.50 a day. However, they expressed considerable pride at being a part of the rebuilding of their country.

From the different workers I spoke to, it appears that wages range from $2 to $5 a day. Some security guards at the Red Cross Hospital complained that they were paid $5 a day, while the guards working for UNTAET received $10.

The Red Cross security guards were also angry that they were not entitled to sick pay. At a meeting of workers with Red Cross managers, the management refused to concede ground to the workers. The Red Cross workers knew of the International Labour Organisation and were aware of the need for trade unions. They were also aware that their six-day work week, with rotating nine-hour day shifts and 10-hour night shifts (with no extra pay for night work) was in breach of international labour conventions.

Despite complaints, the guards were pleased just to have a job, and to see their country on the path to recovery, albeit a slow one. However, their patience will not last indefinitely. The workers were aware of the recent strike by workers at the floating Hotel Olympia, but were afraid that similar action would result in losing their jobs.

Grotesque contrast

The opulent conditions for the highly paid foreigners staying in the Hotel Olympia stand in grotesque contrast with the destitution and squalor faced by most East Timorese.

The Hotel Olympia, Dubai-based and UK-owned, has contracted out all catering, housekeeping and laundry work to a Brisbane- and Singapore-based company called Eurest. The Eurest employees staged a sit-in to protest against low wages and poor conditions. The sit-in developed into a strike and the Institute for Maubere Cooperation and Equity and the Timorese Socialist Party (PST) became involved on the side of the workers.

Martin Hardie is working as a legal advisor to Avelino da Silva, secretary-general of the PST. He assisted da Silva to draft a legal agreement between the workers and management that resulted in a pay rise from $5 a day to $9, and a reduction of in the working day from 12 hours to eight.

Hardie told Green Left Weekly that, even with unemployment amongst East Timorese running at 80%, had Hotel Olympia management attempted to sack the striking workers and replace them, there would have immediately been protests of 10,000 or more outside the hotel.

"Racist and patronising" was how the Red Cross workers described the payment for the mostly white foreign workers, which is 40 to 100 times higher than for Timorese workers. They said they hoped that when the country is back under East Timorese control, that pay and conditions will be more fair.

According to Hardie, many foreign workers receive a "travel allowance" of up to $300 a day, which more than covers the $180 a day charged for meals and accommodation at the Hotel Olympia. Consequently, most foreign workers do not even need to spend their salary.

An Australian doctor said that the already short supply of medicines and medical supplies was worsened at Christmas time because the available freight space was monopolised by bulky equipment brought to Dili for the big Christmas concert for Interfet troops and other foreigners. According to the same doctor, there is still a general shortage of doctors and medical supplies, due to problems of transport rather than availability.

I was disgusted at the huge expense and effort that has gone into making the foreign "aid" workers comfortable. In contrast, apart from emergency food aid (which UNTAET is already saying the Timorese need to be weaned from), insufficient medical aid and the distribution of seed, I saw no evidence of housing reconstruction, the construction of proper water or sewerage systems.

I saw Portuguese troops laying new telephone lines, but it is quite obvious this is not primarily for the local population because it makes no sense to have a telephone when your house (if you have one) is still trashed.

UNTAET appears to be in a big hurry to reestablish many of the pillars of the state as fast as possible -- police, courts, media -- rather than rebuild houses.

What is inspiring, though, is the indefatigable spirit of the East Timorese. Everywhere I went, the people were endlessly friendly and battling on despite their appalling conditions. There is a huge collective relief that at last they are safe. After nearly 500 years of colonial occupation, the East Timorese believe they may soon be able to shape their own destiny.

Just how much the West, UNTAET, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund will try to interfere in East Timor, and how successfully the East Timorese can stand up to such pressure, remains to be seen.

Disinformation campaign targets West Timor refugees

Dili -- The UN Transition Administration of East Timor (UNTAET) has denounced the "disinformation campaign" waged by militia groups in Indonesian West Timor, whose aim is to make East Timorese refugees afraid to return to their homeland.

UNTAET spokesman Manoel Almeida e Silva told Lusa Monday that the campaign was promoted by the West Timor bulletin A Luta (The Struggle), published in Bahasa (the language of Indonesia) by the self-proclaimed United Timorese Heroes (UNTAS).

The issues of A Luta distributed among East Timorese refugees in West Timor urge them not to return to East Timor. A copy of the first edition, obtained by Lusa, outlines what it terms Portugal's "neo-colonialist" designs on East Timor and describes the difficulties faced by residents of Dili, the East Timor capital, due to "rising crime and increased despotism". The publication also claims that East Timor's August 30 vote for independence was "fraudulent and manipulated".

Almeida e Silva said UNTAS, which was first noted in January, had been set up to join under one banner East Timorese groups against independence and for integration into Indonesia. "This situation worries the United Nations" he said, adding that the matter had been discussed by UNTAET administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Indonesian president, during Abdurrahman Wahid's recent visit to the territory.

Militia suspect held after gun battle

Mark Dodd -- United Nations peacekeepers have captured a suspected pro-Jakarta militiaman after a gun battle in highland country deep inside East Timor.

The gunfight on Monday is the third violent incident within 24 hours involving militia infiltrators operating deep inside East Timor. It raises concerns about the UN's ability to maintain security. UN military officials believe the incidents involved separate teams of infiltrators who appeared to be well-armed and well-trained.

The latest confrontation occurred in Atsabe, a coffee-growing town about 60 kilometres south-east of Dili. It involved Portuguese and Kenyan peacekeepers. Four militia escaped after firing 15 rounds at the UN forces, who had been travelling to Maliana to investigate a militia attack on Sunday afternoon. The peacekeepers fired 40 rounds.

An automatic weapon was later recovered with 350 rounds of ammunition and two black T-shirts, an official said. The suspected militia member was taken to Dili for interrogation by UN military intelligence.

In a separate incident on Sunday, formerly unreported by the UN, a farmer was shot dead, another was wounded and a third escaped injury after a five-man militia commando team opened fire on rural workers near Maliana.

In a similar incident on Sunday in the Maliana area, a five-man militia squad killed one villager. A second villager was wounded and a third man abducted but later escaped.

The latest attacks inside the border have caught the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) off guard. They pose a serious challenge to UNTAET's authority and its pledge to the East Timorese to maintain peace and security.

Tasmanian civil road engineers who have been working on a UN- funded contract in the Atsabe area expressed alarm at the security breakdown and said civilian police were "crawling all over the area" yesterday.

One engineer, who asked to be known only as Adam, said he had seen an apparent militia member before the most recent confrontation. "He was dressed in a khaki shirt, wearing camouflage pants and carrying a machine-gun slung across his back."

Open for business, but a while before good times roll

Mark Dodd, Dili -- In the local Tetum language it is known as Uma Mutuk, or Burnt House, restaurant. It is arguably Dili's most popular eatery, and, like the mythical phoenix, its proud owners say their flourishing business has risen from the ashes.

Libania Borges, 38, and her sister, Manuela da Silva, 40, are the owners of the Uma Mutuk, enclosed in the fire-blackened remains of a once stately Dili mansion which was torched by the militias in last year's post-referendum mayhem.

As children, the two sisters were evacuated to Darwin after the 1975 Indonesian. After a 25-year absence they returned to visit their aunt late last year.

During what had been intended as a one-week stay they decided to pool their savings and go into business -- a bold decision given that both women were working mothers from a humble background. In Darwin, Ms Borges was a Woolworths sales assistant and Ms da Silva a cashier in a delicatessen.

Their aunt provided the property in Balide district, and the sisters went to work removing truckloads of rubbish, hiring local workers to re-roof and to re-wire the old house. Walls were deliberately left bare, still scorched from fire and complete with militia graffiti.

The addition of flickering oil lamps has helped create a cosy and surreal ambience, and customers have been flocking to the restaurant since it opened on January 3.

Diners have included the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, who popped in during his visit to East Timor last month, the independence leader Mr Xanana Gusmao, the Nobel laureate Mr Jose Ramos Horta and the UN chief in East Timor, Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello.

"It's mostly UN and diplomats," Ms Borges said. "All the big people who come to Dili eat here. We can seat 70 people, and I am very sorry when we have to turn people away, which is most nights."

However, Uma Mutuk is a rare success. For most East Timorese, it is a daily struggle just to survive. Unemployment is at least 80 per cent, and formal start-up capital for small businesses is non-existent because there are no banking services. The signing last week of a $A2.3 billion petroleum project for the Timor Sea promises revenue and jobs for the fledgling nation.

But what about now? Every day more than 100 people, mostly young men, gather outside the headquarters of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) hoping to get work. Most are turned away, and they are becoming increasingly angry and resentful.

Some of that is directed against new businesses, especially those of ethnic Chinese, who have opened groceries stocked with goods from Australia and Indonesia. The owner of one Chinese business, Mr Peter Yeend, said the key to a trouble-free operation was to look after the workers.

Mr Yeend, 32, formerly of Darwin, is co-partner in Dili Bakery, so far the only breadmaker here. His investment is worth more than $140,000 and he employs eight staff, but said he expected to take on another 20 soon. "We've only been open one week but it's gone really well. We're baking 200 loaves per day and six or seven hundred rolls. We've earned a good name with the locals. It's a big investment but we believe we'll be able to make something of it. We are not here for the short term. You have to have a long-term view. You cannot come here to East Timor expecting to make a million dollars in a year."

By the end of last month, applications for a UN certificate of business registration exceeded 2,000, said UNTAET's head of trade and commerce, Mr Bertrand de Gramont. About 1,600 were from East Timorese, many of whom include vegetable, fish or beer vendors operating from two-square-metre spaces at the central market.

The rest include 157 applications from foreigners, 106 being Australian, who comprise about 70 per cent of all foreign business applicants, with the balance made up of Hong Kong-based Chinese, many with links to Sino-Timorese, and a handful of Portuguese companies, mostly selling services.

The most visible Portuguese commercial presence is Banco Nacional Ultramarino, which resumed trading in Dili after a 24-year absence. BNU's return to East Timor raises the issue of property formerly owned by Portugal, including once lucrative coffee estates. Before 1975, BNU was the main underwriter of large coffee plantations either wholly or partly owned by the Portuguese government and its nationals.

After the recent historic visit by Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid at least one Indonesian construction company previously based in Dili has inquired about returning.

East Timor's widespread destruction has provided a bonanza for many Australian companies, leading to charges of price-gouging and profiteering. Many East Timorese complain about excessive charges for the services of tradesmen such as electricians and plumbers. A Darwin-based charter company, Air North, which has been running a monopoly on the Dili-Darwin route, has been criticised for its over-the-counter fare of $A700 for a return ticket. However, the company does offer a 21-day advance purchase ticket for $A400.

Among the Australian contractors and service providers here are some big names, such as Perth-based Multiplex, Telstra and Westpac. But smaller outfits are here too, especially those already operating only 600 kilometres away in Darwin: North Australian Radio, Perkins Shipping, Rooneys Shipping, Northern Territory Construction Group, East Timor Logistics and Thrifty Car Rentals.

The militia firestorm caused an acute shortage of accommodation in Dili. With added pressure from the incoming hordes of UN officials, police and military, the hotel industry has become the liveliest sector. Among the private sector, it is also one of the biggest employers of semi-skilled workers.

Before the August ballot, Dili had four tourist hotels: the Mahkota, the Risende, the Turismo and the Dili. The gutted multi-storey Mahkota, home to most of the international media in the lead-up to voting day, is now the town's most visible ruin.

The Risende is a UN billet, and the Turismo, under renovation, serves as accommodation for UN civilian police and the dwindling band of foreign media. The first to get up and running and charging about double its pre-ballot tariff was the Dili, run by Mr Gino Favaro, the son of the owner, Mr Frank Favaro, who first moved to Dili in 1970 and fled just before the Indonesian invasion in 1975.

The 100-room Timor Lodge, a $A2 million investment led by Mr Wayne Thomas, and whose shareholders include the former Northern Territory chief minister Mr Shane Stone, ran into a barrage of controversy over its links with the independence activist Mr Manuel Carrascalao, who claimed a former Indonesian Army barracks as the site for the venture.

Disputing Mr Carrascalao's claim to the land, the UN ordered the premises closed, but under pressure from the pro-independence CNRT, concerned about political fallout from retrenching 150 people, that order has now been rescinded.

Like Timor Lodge, Dili Palms is another joint venture with Australian and East Timorese partners. The 40-room hotel, comprising prefabricated air-conditioned container accommodation, is a tie-up between the former Labor Federal minister Mr Gerry Hand and three East Timorese businessmen, Mr Ahmad Alkatiri, Mr Francisco Kalbuadi and Mr Oscar Lima.

The latest prefabricated hotel to open its doors is Paximus Lodge, a $A1.2 million joint venture led by the Queensland-based Curtain Brothers.

Logistical problems aside, firms doing business in East Timor face a tangle of obstacles, including a low skills base, a mish- mash of several currencies in circulation, four languages in common use, and no investment law or provisions guaranteeing security of tenure, a key requirement for any big foreign investment. East Timor may well be open for business, but it will be a long wait before the good times roll.

Timor: the Portuguese connection

Eric Wright, Dili -- The former colonial power of East Timor, Portugal, is creeping back through an open door, more than 25 years after fleeing ignominiously from the mainland. The Timorese, in dire need of cash and assistance to build their new country, are willing to accept the Portuguese gifts. While the United Nations and World Bank crawl towards the point where they can begin major reconstruction, the Portuguese have offered hundreds of people and aid worth millions of dollars.

The recent visit of Portugal's president, Jorge Sampaio, served to highlight the hold which the Iberians continue to exercise over the furthest-flung part of their former empire.

The streets of Dili were lined with welcoming rows of palm leaves planted in banana stumps for Sampaio's arrival on Saturday 12 February; and the Timorese staff of the United Nations deserted their offices en masse to witness Sampaio's speech at the governor's palace, soon to be occupied by the UN's Transitional Administration in East Timor. Sampaio later attended an evening mass given by Bishop Belo, who shared the 1996 Nobel peace prize with Jose Ramos-Horta, East Timor's foreign minister in exile during the Indonesian occupation.

Sampaio's visit was preceded by a charm offensive which resulted in the announcement on Friday 10 February by Xanana Gusmao that Portuguese should be the official language of East Timor. This decision has not yet been endorsed by other Timorese leaders, or by the UN administration which officially runs the territory.

Many Timorese, especially the younger generation which has grown up learning Bahasa Indonesian at school and absorbing the Indonesian idea of history, do not fully accept the Portuguese or their president. "Teaching Portuguese is crazy," says Joao Ximenes, playing volley-ball on the beach on Sunday. "It's like we are walking backwards."

Although more than 130,000 people have returned from West Timor and other parts, there are still about 100,000 people in more than 100 camps scattered throughout the western part of the island, and an unknown number dispersed to other parts of Indonesia.

The issue of which language East Timor will use has become the most explosive national question since the decision in January that the US dollar would become the official currency. However, the currency decision was taken by the full National Consultative Council, the UN-Timorese body which is supposed to agree on all such matters of national policy, whereas Xanana's announcement on the eve of Sampaio's visit effectively short-circuited the territory's highest decision-making agency. The NCC brings together different factions of the CNRT, or National Council for Timorese Resistance, a political umbrella which has covered the different East Timorese factions since 1997, and UNTAET, the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor, established in October last year and expected to run the territory for at least two years.

Sergio de Mello, the head of the UN administration and the chair of the NCC, dodged the question of which language should be the official tongue of East Timor, claiming that as a Portuguese- speaker himself, he could not comment objectively on the issue.

Although many words of Tetum, the main language of East Timor, are descended from Portuguese, less than 10% of Timorese speak Portuguese with confidence. This compares with more than half who are fluent in Bahasa Indonesian. Young Timorese, especially, are more familiar with Bahasa. The UN estimates that more than 80% of Timorese under the age of 25 speak Bahasa.

The distribution of Portuguese text-books to primary schools in Dili has upset teachers, most of whom do not understand Portuguese to any useful degree. "We have 11 teachers," commented Mario Soares, the head-master of Primary School 10 in Dili, who had been given the books. "Only four of them understand Portuguese, and not very well. How can we teach from these books when we can't read them?"

However, Bahasa is not politically acceptable to many of the Timorese who spent 24 years resisting the Indonesians, despite attempts to relabel the language Bahasa Malaiu, or Malay.

At the moment, teachers use whatever language they feel most comfortable with, and which they think their students understand. In schools which have received the Portuguese text-books, the system of primary education has been cut back from six years to four years. East Timor already has gaping holes in the upper levels of its education system, since most teachers at secondary and higher levels were Indonesian or loyal to the Indonesian administration, and a growing problem with youth gangs. Eliminating two years from primary school, the only level of education which is currently functioning across the country, is not likely to improve the situation. "Four years of schooling is not enough," said Pawan Kucita, who is in charge of UNICEF's education programme in East Timor. "If you go to school for four years, you can forget everything you learned after a couple of years out of school. You lose your literacy."

The efforts of the Portuguese and the national CNRT, mostly expatriates who have recently returned to East Timor, to impose a language unwanted by the mass of the populace, has also undermined the efforts of UNTAET and other agencies trying to re-establish the education system in East Timor. UNTAET has ordered Indonesian textbooks to cover the rest of the school year.

"The Portuguese have not been cooperating with any of the other groups involved in education," one UN staff member complained. "They never show up at our weekly meetings. We didn't even know these text-books had been distributed until we went to a school and found the teachers wondering what to do with them."

The Portuguese aim to overcome the language handicap by bringing in several hundred people to conduct intensive language classes for teachers. They have even offered to send staff to conduct trauma counselling for children, ignoring the fact that almost none of the traumatised children in East Timor can communicate in Portuguese.

TNI signature on border raids

Mark Dodd, Dili -- Heavily armed intruders from across the Indonesian border are believed responsible for a weekend attack in which one person was killed, another injured and a third person taken hostage.

A United Nations spokesman has said pro-Indonesian militias were involved, but other UN officials privately suggest this and other recent attacks could have been made by Indonesian special forces, Kopassus, known to be based across the border.

Local villagers are insistent the raiders come from the Indonesian military, or TNI. "There are no militia along the border. They are in Atambua. The TNI have the weapons," said Mr Augusto Soares, 34, a resident of Memo, a small village seven kilometres north-west of Maliana and right on the Indonesian border.

The latest attack was made on Sunday afternoon near a hamlet 15 kilometres north-east of the district capital Maliana, in an area guarded by Australian UN troops. It came only two days after the UN ordered its border troops to go on high alert following four shooting incidents last week linked to militia -- the worst violence seen along the border since October.

"Over the past week there have been several reports of militia movements in the Sector West Area [Maliana] and the [UN] Peacekeeping Force says the possibility of further harassment and killing of innocent locals could very well take place," said the UN military spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Brynjar Nymo.

The attackers in Maliana took a local person with them, according to reports. The captive later managed to escape and walk a long way to Maliana, where he alerted UN civilian police. Colonel Nymo said the militia appeared to be well equipped with automatic weapons and grenades.

The spokesman put forward two possible motives for the attacks: either harassment and intimidation to test the UN response, or an attempt by the militias to increase their "political stature".

Another senior UN official, who asked not to be named, said he was concerned about recent reports of modern military weapons being given to pro-Jakarta militias, in breach of assurances from Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid that the militias would be disarmed.

The frontier near Maliana is secured by troops from 5/7 Royal Australian Regiment, a mechanised infantry battalion (supported with armoured vehicles) who have been serving in East Timor since October. It is understood troopers from the elite Special Air Service Regiment are also based along the border in a surveillance role.

The ability of the five alleged militia to breach the border in daylight and travel deep inside East Timor raises questions about the real identity of the attackers.

Wahid reportedly suggests future integration

Dili -- A vice president of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), Jose Ramos Horta, said Friday he was "amazed" by a news report that Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid had suggested East Timor could yet opt for integration in Indonesia.

Describing the comment attributed to Wahid by the newspaper "Bali Post" as "counterproductive", Ramos Horta told Lusa in Dili that it could be a "distortation [sic] by the Indonesian media". "I'm amazed that someone like Wahid, who has his hands so full with domestic problems, would bother himself with external issues", Ramos Horta said.

The Bali Post reported that Wahid, who visited East Timor last week, had told refugees in West Timor they should return home "to continue struggling for an Indonesian presence in the territory" by "peaceful means". Speaking in Kupang, capital of Indonesian West Timor, Wahid reportedly said that East Timor possibly "could return to us in the future through a general election".

The East Timorese voted by nearly 80 percent for independence in a UN-sponsored plebiscite on Aug. 30, a vote that led to a scorched-earth rampage by Indonesian proxy militias, with the complicity of Jakarta's military.
 

Government/politics

Gus Dur meets Suharto: 'no political overtones'

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta -- Past and present came together yesterday when President Abdurrahman Wahid met former Indonesian leader Suharto for the first time since taking office four months ago.

Accompanied by wife Sinta Nuriyah and Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab, the 59-year-old president was welcomed by Mr Suharto, who was making his first public appearance in months, and his eldest daughter Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana, at the porch of their house in the posh Menteng district.

The deposed leader, who for 30 years maintained a tight hold on Indonesia before his fall in May 1998, smiled and waved at the huge gathering of reporters outside the house before going in to have lunch with his long-time critic.

After the meeting, Mr Abdurrahman stood with Mr Suharto, held his hands and pleaded with journalists not to read any political overtones into the meeting. He said: "Please don't misunderstand my visit here. I have come to represent no one. I have had for a long time wanted to see Pak Harto, but I could not because of his health. I got that chance today. Please don't misunderstand my visit here. It is a courtesy call by someone paying his respects to his elder." Describing the selection of Javanese delicacies he had for lunch as "delicious", he said that the two families also got to celebrate his wife's birthday yesterday.

Mrs Rukmana told reporters later that the lunch was a "light- hearted" affair, with palace sources adding that the President was "cracking jokes and Pak Harto laughing" throughout the hour- long meeting. "I am very grateful that the President has met Bapak," said Mrs Rukmana. "Bapak is so happy to have met him."

She added that Mr Suharto, who is under official investigation for corruption and recently failed to make several appearances to the Attorney-General's Office saying he was too ill, was in good health. Political analysts believe that Mr Abdurrahman's meeting with the former strongman, together with his visits last week to ousted General Wiranto and former President B.J. Habibie, were all aimed at "reconciliation". Said a palace source: "He wants to get support from these people to minimise the possibility of them causing problems for his government."

Mr Abdurrahman used to be one of Mr Suharto's strongest critics during the New Order regime. But despite this, he managed to maintain a good relationship with Mr Suharto.

Govt abolishes Bakorstanas, 'litsus' system

Jakarta -- In another move aimed at promoting a civil society and human rights principles, President Abdurrahman Wahid decided on Wednesday to disband the military-controlled Agency for the Coordination of Support for National Stability Development (Bakorstanas).

Cabinet Secretary Marsilam Simanjuntak said the President also decided for the same reasons to revoke a special screening process, locally known as litsus, which was applied in the recruitment and promotion of state officials and civil servants.

"The President considers Bakorstanas has caused trouble rather than solved problems. The agency also created disorder both at the central and regional levels," Marsilam said in a media briefing that followed a Cabinet meeting at Bina Graha presidential office.

Minister of Law and Legislation Yusril Ihza Mahendra and chief of the State Intelligence Coordinating Board (Bakin) Lt. Gen. Arie Kumaat also spoke at the briefing.

Through Presidential Decree No. 29, dated September 5, 1988, then president Soeharto established Bakorstanas to replace the notorious Restoration of Security and Public Order Command (Kopkamtib), which he set up in 1974. Gen. Benny Moerdani was the last military chief to hold the top Kopkamtib post.

According to the 1988 presidential decree, the nonstructural agency is assigned to coordinate ministries and other government institutions to develop national stability, and to collect information on the possibility of the emergence of obstacles and challenges to national stability.

The armed forces chief is the ex-officio chairman of the agency, assisted by permanent members from ministries, Army, Navy, the Air Force, National Police, the attorney general and Bakin. Then military chief Gen. Try Sutrisno was the first head of the agency.

At the regional level, regional military command (Kodam) chiefs head the agency's provincial divisions. Bakorstanas was long regarded by many as an oppressive military agency which did not differ from Kopkamtib. Yusril said the President ordered the Indonesian Military (TNI) chief to disband Bakorstanas within one month.

Arie expressed confidence that Bakin and other intelligence agencies would be capable of anticipating and guarding against threats to the country. "We must make more comprehensive observations both inside and outside the country before declaring someone to be the enemy of the state. We cannot merely brand someone with different opinions than us as our enemy," Arie said.

Yusril said the abolition of Presidential Decree No. 22, dated April 17, 1990, meant that civil servants, politicians and state officials were no longer subject to the screening procedure before assuming their new posts. Job seekers also are no longer obliged to produce documents attesting to their good conduct.

The minister said the screening was traumatic for society and often victimized innocent people, including politicians and soldiers, because there were no clear standards and procedures governing the process.

The screening was essentially aimed at checking whether someone was a member of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) or other illegal organizations, or was linked to them through their kin or by association.

The examination was conducted by relevant government agencies, including ministries, state agencies and the military. Legislative candidates, journalists and others holding politically sensitive positions were also subject to screening. "We must return to the principles of law, that everyone is assumed innocent until he/she is proven guilty," said Yusril.

The Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (KAP T/N) hailed the government's decision as a significant step toward democratization. In a statement signed by its coordinator, Gustaf Dupe, the committee asked the government to rehabilitate victims of the two old decrees and amend all laws that were deemed to be against democratic principles.
 

Regional conflicts

Halmahera tense after riots

Ambon -- Tension prevailed on Friday in Halmahera in North Maluku following a series of communal clashes earlier in the week that left at least 30 people dead and dozens injured.

Chief of Pattimura Military Command overseeing Maluku Brig. Gen. Max Tamaela said sporadic clashes erupted on Wednesday and Thursday in the districts of Gane Timur, Gane Barat and Galela on the eastern part of the island.

The violence on Wednesday pitted residents of the neighboring villages of Fidda and Maffa, claiming three lives. The following day, 27 people were killed in a clash involving residents of Matuting, Akelamo and Batoman villages. At least 146 buildings, including two places of worship, were burned during the unrest.

Tamaela said the number of casualties would have been lower if the people did not resort to direct confrontations. "Our security forces were trapped in the middle during the clashes. We lack personnel in the remote areas," Tamaela said, adding that the troops could not avoid shooting at the crowds who were already out of control.

Tamaela said he did not know the motive behind the conflict, but speculated the unrest was partly because local community leaders were not active enough in calling on people to exercise restraint.

Fresh violence was also reported in Bula, East Seram, since Thursday, but no reports of casualties were available, he said. Several houses were burned but details remained sketchy.

Tamaela said violence in East Halmahera since January involved Christian villagers against predominantly Muslim migrants, similar to the first phase of the unrest in Ambon.

The Gane violence followed the pullout of troops, who were redeployed to Morotai island in North Halmahera to quell sectarian clashes.

Maluku has been relatively calm after year-long communal conflicts since January last year. More than 2,000 people have been killed.
 

Aceh/West Papua

Aceh issue the litmus test

Given the background of testy relations between Indonesia and Malaysia, Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad's visit here has proved remarkably successful for both sides. In politics -- and economics -- the two countries gained something each.

For President Abdurrahman Wahid, he set back the independence movement in the restive province, by getting the Malaysian Prime Minister to support an Aceh that would remain part of Indonesia. It is one step along a long, arduous path for Indonesia to neutralise the Aceh threat.

Malaysia, which is arguably the foreign country most involved in Aceh by virtue of geographical proximity and political linkages built over the last few decades, has effectively signalled to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) that it should not look to the country as a safe haven anymore.

Notwithstanding what some critics of Dr Mahathir might suggest as "empty promises", it is symbolically important for the Malaysian leader to have made that pledge not to help the rebels on Indonesian soil.

Domestically, Mr Abdurrahman has created some confidence that the Aceh threat can be neutralised even if the path ahead is arduous. It consolidates further his grip on the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) and other detractors who might want to use the Aceh problem, among others, to destabilise the new regime. In Malaysia's case, there was perhaps less to be gained. There were some useful outcomes in terms of economic cooperation with proposals for greater investment and more landing rights for its national airline in Indonesia.

Both sides also discussed the possibility of setting up a joint financial centre to be based in Brunei "to facilitate financial affairs" of the three countries. In concrete terms, eight MOUs were signed, including deals between both national banks and a code-sharing agreement between Malaysian Airlines and Garuda.

Dr Mahathir also moved Indonesia a bit closer to Malaysia's pet international themes, with undertones of hostility towards the West, admonishing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and pursuing an independent path in economic policies. Mr Abdurrahman's praise for Malaysia's New Economic Policy (NEP) plays well back in the KL political gallery.

The real challenge for Malaysia is to start building links with a new administration in Jakarta, and one devoid to the core given the absence of the Umno-Golkar links that held both countries for more than a decade. Geography is a permanent fact of international life.

Malaysia will not want to leave a gap in their ties with neighbouring Indonesia which took a dip last year after sympathies were expressed by some Indonesian leaders for the plight of Dr Mahathir's jailed former deputy Anwar Ibrahim.

The economic platform and the presence of a huge delegation of government officials, businessmen, and youth leaders from Malaysia is really aimed at starting the process of building links at all levels with the new power brokers.

The crucial factor here is the personal ties between the 59-year-old Islamic cleric and one of Asia's longest serving leaders. Both have divergent political styles that have made relations prickly.

Mr Abdurrahman is known to have had expressed reservations against KL for the treatment of Anwar. But during his visit to Malaysia less than a month after taking office last October, he took pains to mend fences. He did not raise the Anwar issue with Dr Mahathir and left with substantial pledges of economic aid.

But that changed when Malaysia appeared to backtrack on its offer of assistance. Taking what some might consider to have been a swipe at KL, Mr Abdurrahman said that Indonesian Cabinet ministers should not be like their counterpart in Malaysia who spent most of their time in the golf course, much to the chagrin of Dr Mahathir and friends.

The rapprochement between both leaders since then has been very much a function of the President's aim to put an end to the Aceh problem.

Separatist conflict claims another four lives

Banda Aceh -- Four bodies, believed to be the latest victims of conflict between separatist rebels and Indonesian security forces, have been found in troubled Aceh province, residents and police said yesterday.

Villagers had stumbled on a body bound to a pillar of the Teupin Gapeuh bridge in Tanah Pasir sub-district, North Aceh, on Wednesday, said North Aceh police chief Lt-Colonel Syafei Aksal. The victim, whose identity was unknown, had his hands tied behind him. The body also showed traces of strangulation and had several slash wounds on the head.

Two other bodies were found on a roadside in Darul Makmur sub- district, West Aceh on Wednesday. Residents said they had heard the sound of a car in the area in the early hours of Wednesday and believed the two men were killed elsewhere and dumped there.

The fourth body was found in Paya Tumpi in the Bebesan sub- district of central Aceh, also on Wednesday. "It had no identification and was already decomposing," said an emergency ward employee at the state hospital in Takengon, the main town in central Aceh.

Since 1976 the Aceh Merdeka Movement has been fighting for a free Islamic state in Aceh, an oil-rich province on the western tip of Sumatra island.

Daily clashes between Indonesian troops and the separatists, as well as reprisals from both sides, have already left some 250 people killed so far this year.

Rights activists 'driven away'

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta -- Indonesia's armed forces are allegedly targeting human rights activists in the violence-hit province of Aceh as President Abdurrahman Wahid asks for Malaysia's help to broker peace talks with separatist rebels.

Mr Wahid's request for the help of Malaysia's Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is scheduled to visit Jakarta tomorrow and Friday, indicates that the fledgling Government in Jakarta intends to take a harsher approach to groups demanding Aceh's independence. Analysts say Dr Mahathir wants Mr Wahid's administration to worry less about Western rebuke over human rights abuses and deal more sternly with separatist insurgencies.

Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Mr Alwi Shihab, said a fortnight ago that "Indonesia looks upon Dr Mahathir's leadership as something to be emulated". Neighbouring Malaysia is used as a safe-haven for thousands of Acehnese, including some moderate leaders of the Free Aceh Movement.

Since taking office in October, Mr Wahid has refused repeated requests from the leaders of his armed forces to introduce martial law in Aceh but has ruled out the province breaking away from Indonesia.

The human rights group Amnesty International said yesterday that it had documented evidence that attacks against human rights activists in Aceh had increased in recent weeks with killings, disappearances, arbitrary detentions, harassment and intimidation.

"In a pattern seen in East Timor last year, anyone who reports on the human rights situation is being targeted and driven away to ensure that there are no witnesses to the excesses of the security forces," Amnesty said in its latest report from London.

"It is now virtually impossible for human rights defenders to carry out their work with any degree of security. These attacks on activists are creating an environment in which the security forces can torture and kill free from any kind of scrutiny, and ultimately, accountability."

Separatist leaders in the staunchly Muslim province claim that Indonesian forces have killed almost 200 Acehnese so far this year in counter-insurgency operations.

Amnesty said the Government must take immediate measures to protect civilians in Aceh against the excesses of its own security forces.

Associated Press reported that dozens of soldiers rampaged through villages in the Acehnese district of Senaga on Monday, claiming they were hunting separatist rebels. Last weekend two soldiers and two rebels were killed in firefights.

The Minister for Human Rights Affairs, Mr Hasballah Saad, admitted in Parliament on Monday that the trial of 20 army officers allegedly responsible for a massacre in West Aceh last year has been repeatedly delayed because of a lack of government funds to hold it and the disappearance of a key witness, Lieutenant-Colonel Sudjono.

Mr Wahid has promised that military officers responsible for atrocities in Aceh will be brought before the country's first joint military and civilian courts.
 

Labour struggle

Indonesia ratifies ILO convention on child workers

Jakarta -- President Abdurrachman Wahid has signed a law ratifying a convention of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on immediate prevention of abuse of child workers.

Wahid described the convention as important for Indonesia where, he said, there were still many cases of child workers "inhumanly" abused against the convention of the United Nations.

He said the convention was important for all nations committed to reducing child workers in the future. He said Indonesia was determined to support the ILO programme in seeking to protect child workers from abuse. "The ratification of the convention should mark the start of concrete steps to bring an end to problems besetting child workers," he said.

Karitapola, an ILO executive, said Indonesia was the first country in Asia and the sixth in the world to ratify all eight basic conventions of the ILO.

May Day plans under way in Indonesia

May Sari -- Attended by 50 of its leading members, the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle (FNPBI) held its national council meeting in Cisarua, West Java, on February 13-15.

The Palembang Workers' Centre of Struggle and the South Kalimantan Workers' Centre of Struggle were present as observers; these groups have just formed and have not yet affiliated to the FNPBI.

Three major reports were discussed: building the FNPBI's organisation, presented by general secretary Ilham Syah; the national situation, presented by president Dita Sari; and the international situation presented by head of international relations, Romawaty Sinaga.

Syah's report discussed the FNPBI's successes and failures since its formation in May last year.

Affiliated organisations have increased from seven to 11, with two in the process of joining. Many workers trust the FNPBI and more workers in struggle are approaching the union for support. The union has expanded from its initial implantation in the garment and textile, electrical and chemical industries, to the transportation, maritime, forestry and mining industries.

The union's failures were mostly due to a lack of resources, poor communication between organisers because of having poor access to e-mail, telephones and pagers, and a lack of funds which made publishing leaflets and the FNPBI newsletter, Serbu, difficult. The FNPBI also cannot afford to pay the salaries of new organisers.

In her presentation on the Indonesian political situation, Dita Sari warned that the current government of President Abdurrahman Wahid and vice president Megawati Sukarnoputri cannot be trusted. It is a reformist and populist regime that seeks to use the people's trust to be Western imperialism's tool in Indonesia. Sinaga told delegates: "Capitalism has been globalised, therefore the labour movement should be also `globalised'. It is important for all of us to have an international perspective and build solidarity as broad as possible. We also have to actively initiate actions against imperialism."

Following these discussions, there was one-day discussion about marking May Day in Indonesia.

The Indonesian labour movement has not celebrated May Day since the rise of the Suharto dictatorship in 1965. Instead, the regime sponsored activities on February 24, the anniversary of the formation of the official All Indonesian Trade Unions (SPSI).

After the fall of Suharto, May 1 was marked in 1999. At that time, only the Workers' Committee for Reform Action (KOBAR) and the Jakarta Workers' Union agreed to celebrate it.

"Those who truly fight for the workers' rights see that May Day is the big day for workers -- the symbol of workers' victory against all exploitation and repression", Agus told delegates in his history of May Day.

The FNPBI council agreed to produce and distribute a pamphlet on May Day so workers can understand its significance and history. The FNPBI will also produce and distribute leaflets and posters to publicise the FNPBI's big rally in Jakarta this year. It will involve other workers', women's and students' organisations. It is expected that many international guests will also attend.

The main demands will be for the first of May to be recognised as a national public holiday so all workers can celebrate, and for a 100% wage increase. The universal slogan, "Workers of the world unite!", will be raised again in Indonesia.

`Parliament won't solve workers' problems'

Twenty nine labour federations now operate in Indonesia. The National Front for Labour Struggle, which has 11 affiliated regional organisations, is one of the more important federations. Green Left Weekly's Jonathan Singer interviewed FNPBI president Dita Sari in January about the organisation's work and development.

The formation of new unions such as the FNPBI is a sign of a growing militancy amongst Indonesia's working class. Sari described a typical FNPBI action: demanding the reinstatement of workers sacked because of union activity.

In November, at a textile company in Jakarta, Sari said, "300 workers, almost the whole work force, went on strike for about three days".

Two hundred and fifty of the workers stayed overnight at the national parliament building. "We went to see Amien Rais [the speaker of the upper house, the MPR]," Sari said. The FNPBI then went to a labour court, which after several weeks ruled the company couldn't sack workers because they wanted to join a union.

"The important thing we wanted the workers to realise when we brought them to the parliament was that ... the new parliament can't solve the problems faced by the working class in general, because the labour law is still very much on the company's side."

Moreover, Sari said, the government of President Abdurrahman Wahid doesn't have "a new political orientation towards the working class." It has appointed as minister of labour the allegedly corrupt Bomer Basaribu, who under Suharto chaired the government-controlled union, the SPSI, and who in 1996 attacked the two independent workers' organisations, the PPBI and SBSI.

"We protested against this minister", Sari said. "Wahid said Akbar Tanjung, the head of the [lower house of] parliament guaranteed Barasibu. If true, the new government has no understanding ... and, especially, no clear program [to] build an economic and political policy for the working people."

The FNPBI is demanding changes to labour laws, Sari said, including an increase in the wage bonus for the Muslim holiday month from the current one month's pay to one month's pay for each year of employment, more union representation on the national committee determining minimum wages, and criminal sanctions for companies that abuse workers' rights.

Unemployment is a big problem for Indonesia's workers. Sari said, "We want to stop companies dismissing workers. We have launched a campaign for a 32-hour week.

"The working week is usually 40 hours. Then people work overtime as well because they want to earn more money. In the economic crisis, though, the companies say they cannot pay the workers more.

"We anticipated that and said it would be better if the workers work 32 hours -- four days -- a week, so the companies can cut other costs and won't overproduce. And the workers, during the other three days, can look for other income from the informal sector. "The 32-hour week would be on 40-hours pay. [Company] savings would be on the other costs."

Stopping the contract system is another important issue, Sari said. "The workers are hired for a certain job for a certain time. If work continues the workers can be rehired; if not, the companies just sack them. The companies don't have to pay compensation for sacking contract workers; if they were permanent, they would have to pay one month's wages."

Sari said there are four main union federations. The SPSI still exists and there is also the SPSI-Reform and the SBSI, led by Muchtar Pakpahan.

The SPSI-Reform "hardly ever show their strength, although SPSI- Reform joined in the action against Barasibu," Sari said. "We have joined in several demonstrations with the SBSI. Then there is the FNPBI."

The FNPBI was growing slowly, Sari said, among "dockworkers and other transport workers, and workers in manufacturing industries like textiles and also chemicals, metals, food and wood." The federation is also preparing to organise plantation workers, in cooperation with the peasant union, the STN.
 

Human rights/law

Reform of the legal system top challenge: minister

Jakarta -- The main challenge facing the Indonesian government is the reform of the legal system, a senior minister said Thursday.

"Our major challenge is to overhaul the court process," State Minister for Investment and State Enterprises Development Laksamana Sukardi told a luncheon organised by the French- Indonesian Chamber of Commerce.

Lasamana accused judges here of being "auctioneers not judges, selling to the highest bidder. "[But] we cannot fire all the judges at the same time," he said.

He was commenting after a Jakarta court acquitted the director of a politically linked company implicated in the 80-million-dollar Bank Bali fraud case on a technicality.

Djoko Tjandra, executive of PT Era Giat Prima (EGP), had been charged with corruption in "arranging and engaging in illegal transactions." But he walked free from South Jakarta district court on Monday after judges ruled his case should have been heard in a civil rather than criminal court, reports said.

The decision was lamented by the attorney general's office, and Lasamana said: "This is a decision of the court. We cannot interfere but we appeal. Legal reform is our top priority. We would like to see an independent judiciary system," he said, but added "the rule of law will not happen overnight."

International financial aid to Indonesia was suspended in August amid the authorities' footdragging on measures against those involved in the Bank Bali scandal which an audit report has said benefitted figures close to former president B.J. Habibie.

The aid, part of a 46-billion-dollar bailout plan agreed with the International Monetary Fund, only resumed at the beginning of the year after the new government of President Abdurrahman Wahid agreed to complete the legal processes.

Lasamana urged his audience, including European businessmen, to take into account the momentous changes happening in Indonesia. "Now Indonesia is different. It is a different Indonesia," he said, seeking to dispel lingering concerns after three decades of nepotistic and corrupt rule under former strongman Suharto who stepped down in May 1998.

Foreign and Indonesian investors were now treated on an equal footing, and measures were underway to wipe out corruption and draw up new laws to facilitate investments, he said.

Rights commission sets up team to probe 1984 shooting

Jakarta -- Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights on Tuesday set up a team to probe the 1984 shooting in Jakarta's northern port area that left scores dead.

The commission's Secretary General, Asmara Nababan, told journalists here that team, composed of nine members and headed by Joko Sugianto, will investigate the 12 September 1984 shooting in Tanjung Priok.

Officials have said that 30 people died when troops opened fire on an angry Muslim mob which had already set several shops on fire. Residents have however said the deathtoll was much higher and that scores remain missing.

Several people, including former Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin, have said that the death toll in the Tanjung Priok riot could have reached more than one hundred.

Only eight members of the team, all from the commission, have been appointed and the ninth member, a woman civilian, was still being sought, Nababan said.

Despite objections from activists and family members of those still missing from the Tanjung Priok incident, to the presence of military members in any probe team, Nababan said that two of the members were retired military officers.

"They will work along the lines determined by the Komnas Ham [the commission] and they will not venture off that track," Nababan said, trying to appease worries of partiality with the presence of the soldiers in the team. He said the team will start by studying all documents and reports linked to the accident that the commissions possessed.

Nababan also said that confirmation of facts would also be sought from various individuals, including generals and officers in charge of the capital's security at the time of the incident.

Former vice president Try Sutrisno was then head of the Jakarta military garrison and the military chief was then General Benny Murdani. Sutrisno said last month that he will decline to testify to any team regarding the Tanjung Priok incident, saying that it came about as a result of an institutional decision, that of the military, and was not the result of his decision as an individual.

Sugianto and Nababan, however, brushed aside the reasoning as not valid. "Any human rights trial is based on individuals and institutions cannot be brought to trial," Sugianto said.

Calls for probes into several past incidents involving shooting by the military, including the Tanjung Priok riot, have been repeatedly brushed aside under the government of president Suharto who resigned in 1998. The calls have since redoubled.
 

News & issues

Wahid to pardon Suharto if court finds him guilty

Jakarta -- Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said Friday he will pardon former president Suharto if a court finds him guilty of corruption and abuse of power during his 32 years in power.

"If Pak Harto (Suharto's popular name) is proven guilty by the court, then I will pardon him because he is a former head of state, a former leader of ours," Wahid told a congregation after Muslim prayers at a mosque in the palace grounds.

He said that every religion, including Islam, provided for punishment for those guilty of crimes and misdeeds, but that the specific punishments were seldom specified. "The punishment could be mental, can be physical," Wahid said, adding that it was the authorities' prerogative to choose what punishment is to be meted out.

In the past, Wahid has said that he would waive a guilty court verdict on Suharto if the former president returned at least part of the money he had allegedly embezzled. In Friday's statement, he made no such condition.

Wahid also said he held no personal grudges against anyone, including Suharto, who had during his rule attempted many times to push Wahid out from the leadership of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest Islamic organization. "I do not harbor hatred against anyone. The mistake of one person is the mistake of the whole nation," he said, explaining that the whole nation was at fault for keeping silent over Suharto's mistakes.

Indonesian authorities are seeking to question Suharto, now 78, on curruption allegations connected to his network of charity foundations. Parliamentarians also want to question him over misuse of state funds distributed by the central bank to ailing banks in the months before his fall in May, 1998.

But Suharto's lawyers have pleaded ill health in refusing to allow him to appear for questioning. Suharto was hospitalized twice last year -- once for intestinal problems and the second time for a mild stroke. The attorney general has sought to have independent doctors double check Suharto's health to determine if he is fit for questioning.

The former strongman, whose family wealth has been estimated by the US magazine Time at some 15 billion dollars, denies the charges. He has stayed out the public eye since his resignation, remaining mostly at his residence in an upmarket area in Jakarta.

Gang held 'tycoon' for five years in tiny room

David Barber, Wellington -- An ethnic-Chinese Indonesian businessman freed by former New Zealand SAS troops was allegedly held captive for five years in a tiny room in a Javanese village, it was reported yesterday.

Businessman Johnson Cornelius Lo was physically and psychological abused by his captors, a gang led by a corrupt police official, the New Zealand Herald reported. He was reportedly in an emaciated condition when freed in November by the squad of eight former SAS troops now working for an Auckland security firm.

The newspaper reported that Mr Lo had been issued with a New Zealand visitor's permit under an Indonesian name different from his Chinese family name and was now recovering in a secret hideaway in Auckland.

It said Mr Lo, who claims to be heir to a huge financial empire built on sugar and Tiger Balm, had been held in solitary confinement in the village about one hour's drive from Yogyakarta.

"Attempts to free up funds to meet a ransom demand are understood to have fallen through because of tight controls on his bank accounts in Indonesia and Hong Kong and prevarication by middlemen," the paper said.

It said executives of Onix International, a security company set up by former members of New Zealand's elite SAS, were guarded about discussing the operation but insisted no firearms were involved and nobody was hurt.

World Bank questions acquital of Bank Bali suspect

Jakarta -- The World Bank has questioned the decision by a Jakarta court to acquit the director of a politically linked company accused of involvement in Indonesia's multi-million dollar Bank Bali fraud scandal, reports said Wednesday.

"The World Bank's Jakarta representative called us this morning [Tuesday]. They want clarification and are asking about the legal procedure of the case," the Jakarta Post daily quoted the head of the legal division of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), Pandu Djajanto, as saying. Djajanto said the Bank was questioning the ability of Indonesia's court system to resolve the financial crime, the daily said.

The court's decision, announced on Monday, has already been deplored by the attorney general's office, which is seeking an appeal of an associated administrative court ruling.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), two of Indonesia's leading donors, have both demanded that Indonesia settle the Bank Bali scandal in a transparent and credible way. Sluggishness in the authorities' handling of the scandal last year prompted a temporary suspension of the flow of aid from the two international financial institutions.

The South Jakarta District Court on Monday acquitted Djoko Tjandra, director of PT Era Giat Prima (EGP), of corruption charges linked to the Bank Bali scandal. Tjandra was charged with "arranging and engaging in illegal transactions," but judges ruled his case should have been heard in a civil rather than criminal court, reports said.

Bank Bali had 904 billion rupiah (121 million dollars) in loans to three banks that were later closed down by the government. Under the terms of the closure, the government took over the banks' obligation and therefore owed Bank Bali the 904 billion rupiah.

Following repeated delays in recovering the debt, Bank Bali accepted an offer from EGP -- a company linked to a senior executive of the then ruling Golkar party -- to pay Bank Bali 358 billion rupiah (48.4 million dollars) for the right to reclaim the 904 billion rupiah from the government.

EGP later claimed the full 904 billion rupiah from the government, in a case that became politically explosive and drew the first warnings from the IMF that the matter must be speedily prosecuted.

The Bank Bali scandal came to light in June last year and has since deeply rocked the country's already ailing banking sector. A probe conducted by a parliamentary commission on the scandal cited the involvement of several senior government officials and businessmen, including Tjandra and fellow EGP executive and then Golkar treasurer, Setya Novanto. The scandal has undermined public confidence in the government's efforts towards establishing a clean government.

US official Roth rules out a military coup

Jakarta -- Indonesia's military now acknowledges the legitimacy of the country's new government and realises that a coup attempt would trigger a bloodbath, a senior US official said yesterday.

Mr Stanley Roth, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian affairs, discounted fears that the once all-powerful armed forces would move against the civilian administration of President Abdurrahman Wahid.

"They are acutely aware ... that this is a popularly-run and elected government and that any efforts to overthrow this government by force would bring the people out onto the streets and require the type of bloodbath that the military in Indonesia is simply not willing to do," he said.

During a tense standoff last month between Mr Abdurrahman and former armed forces chief General Wiranto, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Mr Richard Holbrooke, sparked fears that a coup was imminent when he publicly warned the military not to move against the President.

Speaking to reporters at Jakarta's Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Mr Roth accused the media of overstating Mr Holbrooke's remarks. But he warned that Indonesia was still in a "vulnerable stage" and that its stability was threatened by its ailing economy.

"Until the economy is growing at a significant rate ... it is very difficult to guarantee that there will be stability in the country. Unemployment is very high, the banking sector is still essentially not working and the corporate restructuring is making only minimal progress," he said.

Indonesia's economy collapsed in 1997, plunging the world's fourth-most populous nation into its worst economic crisis in a generation. Mr Abdurrahman has promised to reform the country's economy and boost investment.

Speaking at a seminar at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Indonesia's Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab reiterated the importance of reviving the economy. "If we fail to solve our economic problems, the rest of the region will have to suffer," he said.

Fears of 'cowboy culture' as crime soars

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta -- Crime is shooting up and guns are the rage in Jakarta these days. Media reports here suggest that the increase is due to the increasing availability in Indonesia of firearms and other weapons for personal defence, such as tear-gas canisters.

The consequences of this have been "alarming", The Jakarta Post said in an editorial yesterday. The English-language daily said that, in recent weeks, at least four robberies had taken place on highways linking the capital to the West Java hinterlands.

Also, armed robberies took place on the streets of the capital almost daily. "Nowadays, motorists stopping at red lights and railroad crossings pray nothing bad will happen to them while they are waiting for the light to turn green or the train to pass," it said.

The newspaper revealed the existence of an illegal arms-trading ring involving a number of military personnel selling weapons and ammunition to rebels in the restive province of Aceh. It added that it was reasonable to assume that a similar illicit inflow of firearms was keeping troublemakers in riot-torn Maluku supplied as well.

These factors were raising violence and tension in a country trying to recover from the riots of May 1998. The Post noted: "The wide availability of weapons of all sorts, plus the increasing proclivity towards violence among certain segments of the community due to the increasing tensions and pressures of life in our big cities, is contributing to the sharp rise of armed crime."

Even politicians were being assaulted, it said. In what appeared to be a failed assassination attempt, two men attacked the chief of the Nation Awakening Party on Sunday. This prompted the police to propose that MPs be allowed to carry arms for self-defence -- a move that generated strong criticism from politicians and human-rights activists.

On Monday, police chief, Lt-General Rusdihardjo, told a parliamentary hearing that legislators had only to apply to get a police permit to carry guns. But respected Islamic scholar Nurcholis Majid said that this would only lead to "a cowboy" culture, while one MP raised the possibility of legislators shooting each other.

Human-rights activist Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara said yesterday that the security of government officials and politicians was in the hands of the police and should stay that way. He warned that arming legislators "will only widen the risk of violence". Golkar party member Theo Sambuaga added: "What we are calling for is to step up security measures and not increase the number of firearms in circulation."

Other local media also took a swipe at any proposal that would allow civilians to carry guns in public. The Indonesian Observer wrote in a hard-hitting editorial: "In the United States, children often come into possession of firearms due to the negligence of their parents and we have seen how many of those children have caused unspeakable human tragedies because of the firearms they were able to acquire. "We must make sure that similar heart-breaking mishaps do not take place in this country."

Radio station forced off the air

Yogyakarta -- Surakarta-based radio station PTPN Rasitania was silent on Wednesday after it was forced to suspend broadcasting after airing a talk show that some accused of being blasphemous.

The radio station aired an interview with Priest Ahmad Wilson on February 24 who alleged that Prophet Muhammad was a Christian before becoming a Muslim prophet. He also said there were many similarities between the Koran and the Bible.

The interview provoked an outcry and a rowdy protest from the Surakarta Islamic Youth Front (FPIS) at the radio station. In a bid to ease the tension, police mediated in talks between the radio station and FPIS along with local Muslim figures. They agreed that the radio station would suspend all broadcasts for a week starting from March 4. The radio station also agreed to print a public apology in five local newspapers for five consecutive days from March 3.

Surakarta Police chief Lt. Col. Robby Kaligis said there was no formal ban stopping the radio station from broadcasting. "It was based on a mutual agreement made to avoid further tension in the community," he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He also said that Priest Ahmad Wilson was being detained by police for allegedly violating Article 156a of the Criminal Code on religious contempt. Rasitania's marketing director Ig. Hananto Sumarno said the suspension was losing the station some Rp 7.5 million a day.

Meanwhile the local chapter of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) sent a written statement to police on Wednesday protesting the suspension. "The radio station was forced to accept the 'agreement' in a bid to avoid the possibility of anarchic actions."

Conflicts between locals and timber companies to grow

Jakarta -- Conflicts between local communities and timber companies will likely increase in the future because the people are now more aware of their rights, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

Director general of production forestry management Soegeng Widodo said the government saw a growing tendency of land disputes between locals and timber companies, adding that it was believed these disputes were in large part driven by social disparity.

"We need to increase law enforcement and to push regional governments to prevent any destructive activities," Soegeng said during a break in a hearing with House of Representatives Commission III for agriculture and food affairs.

According to media reports, 50 forest concessionaires holding some 10 million hectares throughout the country have halted operations due to land disputes with local communities.

Although Soegeng was unaware of this recent development, he said the government would investigate the validity of the locals' demands and determine whether timber companies were illegally operating on the land. "We'll study whether the land they're claiming really belongs to them," he said.

He acknowledged that local communities were not solely responsible for the conflicts, saying timber companies might also be ignoring the needs of the local communities or using locals' farmland without offering fair compensation.

According to data from the government, the majority of the logging operations in the country are owned by relatives or associates of former president Soeharto. These people allegedly obtained their forest concessions through their close ties with the authorities.

These concessionaires often included farmers' land in their logging areas without compensating the owners of the land. The fall of Soeharto and the ensuing democratic changes in the country made local communities more aware of their rights.

The government has just begun to study why local communities are increasingly confronting timber companies over their forest concessions and engaging in illegally logging, he said.

"My guess is that social jealously is also behind this trend," he said. He said locals who derived no economic benefits from the logging could easily be angered when outsiders came onto their land and took control of vast areas of their forests. The Indonesian Loggers Association reported last month some 77 loggers in East Kalimantan threatened to halt work in response to continued conflicts with the local community.

Soegeng admitted that mistakes could occur in granting forest concessions to timber companies. He also said illegal logging was on the rise. According to data from the World Bank, over 30 million cubic meters of timber were harvested illegally in Indonesia from 1997 to 1998. Soegeng said the forestry ministry had yet to calculate how large the illegal logging problem was and how much the state had lost as a result of the practice.

He said local communities did not view their logging as illegal because they felt it was their right to harvest from the surrounding forests. Furthermore, he said the demand for logs had outgrown the supply, causing a yearly shortage of 29.3 million cubic meters, which prompted an increase in illegal logging. Soegeng also said the self-assessment method used to supervise the transportation of timber encouraged loggers to manipulate the data.

To ease conflicts and illegal logging, the government has obliged forest concessionaires to employ locals and undertake community development projects, Seogeng said. He said forest concessionaires also were told to offer stock options to locals each time they renewed their concessions.

The government also will take action against those parties who damage the forest for profit, he said. He promised to step up the supervision of logging activities by establishing inspection posts along strategic transportation routes.

Court rejects suit linked to Bank Bali graft case

Jakarta -- The director of a politically linked company accused of involvement in Indonesia's multi-million dollar Bank Bali fraud scandal has been acquitted on a technicality, reports said Tuesday.

Djoko Tjandra, executive of PT Era Giat Prima (EGP), had been charged with corruption in "arranging and engaging in illegal transactions," the Jakarta Post daily said.

But he walked free from South Jakarta district court on Monday after judges ruled his case should have been heard in a civil rather than criminal court, reports said.

"It is a civil case, not a criminal one. Therefore, it is the authority of a team of judges in a civil case to rule whether the cessie contract was illegal or not," deputy presiding judge R. Sunarto told the court according to the Jakarta Post daily.

"It was also premature to declare the cessie agreement illegal, as a team of judges in a separate civil case has not yet ruled the cessie illegal and therefore the indictment must be dropped," Sunarto said. Cessie is a term for services provided by a third party in recovering debt by first buying up the debt at a reduced value from the donor.

Bank Bali had 904 billion rupiah in loans to three banks that were later closed down by the government. Under the terms of the closure, the government took over the banks' obligation and therefore owed Bank Bali the 904 billion rupiah.

Following repeated delays in recovering the debt, Bank Bali accepted an offer from EGP -- a company linked to a senior executive of the then ruling Golkar party -- to pay Bank Bali 358 billion rupiah (48.4 million dollars) for the right to reclaim the 904 billion rupiah from the government.

EGP later claimed the full 904 billion rupiah from the government, in a case that became politically explosive and drew warnings from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the matter must be speedily prosecuted.

The spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, Suhandoyo was Tuesday quoted by the Indonesian Observer as lamenting the court decision. "We see too many irregularities during the time the case was handled by the South jakarta state court and it is very unusual that the decision was made by the deputy presiding judge," Suhandoyo said. Suhandoyo also said when Sunarto handed down the verdict, he had not yet received the official written verdict and added that the cession case was only one of the facts included in the charges.

Tjandra is also accused of arranging for a meeting between Bank Bali and EGP executives and officials from the Central Bank and the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA).

The Bank Bali scandal, came to light in June last year and it has since deeply rocked the country's already ailing banking sector.

A probe conducted by a parliamentary commission on the Bank Bali scandal cited the involvement of several senior government officials and businessmen, including Tjandra and fellow EGP executive, the then Golkar treasurer, Setya Novanto.

The scandal has undermined public confidence on the government's efforts towards a clean government and it has also led to the suspension, for several months, of the flow of promised aid coordinated by the IMF to help the country overcome its dire economic crisis.

Unflinching eye on wasted generation

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta -- The baby sits in rags among the filth, a commodity for sale. A beggar pays a little money and buys a tragic bundle to cry when cars pull up at the traffic lights.

Agung, 16, who took the picture, knows the scam; he's also from the streets of Jakarta. Misery is everywhere here, seen through street kids' own eyes as part of a unique project, called A Child's Eye, to record what the United Nations Children's Fund warns could be the loss of an entire generation of children.

"About one-third of children under five years old, or almost eight million children, are malnourished," says Mr Stephen Woodhouse, the fund's representative in Jakarta, referring to the impact of the 1997 collapse of Indonesia's economy.

The number of people begging in Jakarta's streets has soared. Suffering the greatest setback of any country in South-East Asia, there are 20 million newly poor Indonesians -- those earning less than $1 a day.

In other photographs taken as part of the project, children scavenge for food in a mountain of garbage, their skin black, scarves barely concealing the stench. Sometimes bulldozers push more trash down the slope, burying those who are too slow. "We were at work and the bulldozers came. Not everyone managed to escape," reads a caption under a photograph taken by an 11-year- old girl, Tariah.

British photojournalist Jonathan Perugia, who launched the project when he handed out cameras to 30 street children, says about 150 photographs they produced were amazing. "They shot in a way no professional photographer could," he says. "They had the access. They saw people who were suffering the same as them."

The images are often intimate, sometimes shocking. Glue-sniffing boys lie stunned on pavements. "Still some left," reads a caption under one photograph taken by Andre, 16.

A deformed boy walks on his hands and knees through motorbikes, a cap askew on his head. "This is a crippled man with his imperfect body begging for money to buy one spoonful of rice," says the photographer Agung. "He has been abandoned by his family." Agung himself was abandoned by his parents when he was nine. Now he sings and plays the guitar at intersections, one of thousands of homeless children.

A tiny girl stares at passing vehicles under an expressway; maybe somebody will stop. She will then start to sing, hoping the driver will hand over a few rupiah.

These are images of life: mostly bad, but sometimes there is fun. Two girls in a children's shelter share a mirror and put on lipstick.

Winah, 12, snapped a skinny girl sitting on the shoulders of her blind squatting mother. Karmin, 13, snapped a child taking a bath in a polluted canal and another of two children among the rubbish, eating leftovers.

Ucil, 16, took a picture of a street transvestite, his best friend. "I like teasing her when she spots me on the street," he says. "She would immediately call me. We've got a lot in common ... we sing for money on the street."

Supri, 17, snapped two boys holding each other. "This picture shows friendship ... hugging is not only for a dating couple," he says. "These two kids were just hugging like brother. Together they always walk from one dark alley to another which is always full of rats running around. They are like people with no money or job."

Mr Perugia, 33, says through workshops supported by university, local photographer and non-government-organisation networks, street children were shown how to use simple pocket cameras.

"I told them this is your chance to tell your story," he says. "They took to the idea with extraordinary enthusiasm ... they were honest and forthright in what they saw."

Mr Perugia says the aim of the project was to raise the children's self-esteem, help them climb out of the poverty trap and heighten public awareness of the suffering.

A Child's Eye is a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting children's arts, education and welfare and was founded last year by Mr Guruh Sukarnoputra, the brother of Indonesia's Vice-President, Mrs Megawati Sukarnoputri and leading Jakarta charity worker, Ms Choki Rezia. Only one camera went missing. "I think even that was genuinely lost," Mr Perugia says.

The photographs have won wide praise after being put on display at the National Gallery in Jakarta and in Bali. Mr Perugia hopes to take them to Sydney to display during the Olympic Games. He also plans to copy the project in the East Timorese capital, Dili, where he has worked as a photographer and says he has seen growing suffering among children.

Mr Woodhouse says the street children are resilient. "But there are now more than six million Indonesian children who are not even completing junior school," he said. "We are seeing the emergence of a lost generation ... mal-nutrition in early childhood is robbing these children of mental and physical capacity to compete in the marketplace." Agung says that he is proud to be a street kid. "But one day I would like to be a photographer."

Soeharto foundation assets to be taken over

Jakarta -- A new presidential decree will be issued allowing the government to take over Rp 4 trillion (US$540 million) in assets from former president Soeharto's seven foundations.

The decree would allow the government, through the Coordinating Ministry for People's Welfare and Poverty Eradication, more than the mere "operational coordination" it currently has over the foundations' funds. "There will be a new presidential decree to utilize the funds from these foundations more effectively," Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and Poverty Eradication Basri Hasanuddin said on Monday.

Assistant to coordinating minister for people's welfare and poverty eradication Dharmadi told The Jakarta Post that the new decree would cede more power to control the total assets of the seven foundations -- Supersemar, Dharmais, Dakab, Amal Bakti Muslim Pancasila, Dana Sejahtera Mandiri, Gotong Royong and Trikora.

"It will go further than just the operational control of the foundations," he added. Dharmadi refused to elaborate any further, saying information about the decree should come from the presidential palace.

The question of Soeharto's foundations became an issue following the former president's resignation. After strong public criticism, Soeharto handed over the foundations in November 1998 with the understanding that its money could be used to help the government's poverty alleviation programs.

Then information minister Muhammad Yunus claimed Soeharto, in a letter dated November 22, 1998, had handed over the foundations to his successor B.J. Habibie. Habibie assigned then coordinating minister for people's welfare and poverty eradication Haryono Suyono to represent the government as "operational coordinator" of the foundations.

The controversy over the funds surrounds the method in which the money was collected as it was often a result of "official siphoning" of public funds through a presidential decree. These decrees were eventually revoked when Soeharto stepped down.

What has escaped the public's attention thus far is that while the government now functions as "operational coordinator" it has no direct authority to disburse the funds without the approval of certain former government officials who were top ranking state officials during the Soeharto era. In effect, the government was dependent upon their approval to disburse any amount of money.

Haryono Suyono, who is vice chairman of the Dana Sejahtera Mandiri Foundation, also serves as the interlocutor between the seven foundations and the government, despite no longer holding any official government post. Speaking to the Post on Monday, Haryono maintained that Soeharto had never legally gave up control of the foundations' assets to the government. "The government only has operational control, as stipulated by a presidential decree which appointed the coordinating minister as coordinator of the operational team," he contended.

Haryono underlined that the government can intervene in the programs of the foundation but extracts funds without approval. "The assets and the [composition of] board members of the foundations are our internal issues," he said.

When asked if the general public was duped into thinking that the control of the foundations was handed over to the government, Haryono merely replied: "I cannot comment on that. It happened in the past which I've already forgotten about and no longer look back on." Sources at the foundations told the Post that Soeharto had delegated the authority of the assets of the foundations personally to Haryono not as the then coordinating minister but to him personally.

Dana Sejahtera Mandiri Foundation, which was set up in 1996, owns the largest amount of money among the seven foundations with about Rp 1.1 trillion. The source also confirmed that up to now Soeharto still chairs the foundations while several former top ranking officials serve as vice chairmen of these foundations. Haryono said former vice president Sudharmono serves as vice chairman of the Dakab Foundation, which was set up in July 1985, mainly to finance Golkar's political activities.

Haryono claimed the Dakab Foundation now concentrates its activities on poverty eradication programs. When asked about allegations of corruption and misuse of presidential power to amass funds for the foundations, Haryono said if Soeharto is found guilty, he should be sentenced.

"But please, don't disrupt the good deeds these foundations have done," he said. When further pressed if he knew of any misuse, Haryono said: "I cannot tell you whether that's true or not. Maybe in the politically linked foundations it could happen, I don't know."

Attack on Matori 'politically motivated'

Jakarta -- Leading politicians and observers said on Monday the attack on National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Matori Abdul Djalil was politically motivated, speculating that it might be part of a larger conspiracy to destabilize the government.

House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung believed there was political intent behind the assault on Matori, who is also deputy speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly. "Matori might be disliked by certain people because of his firm political stance," said Akbar, who is also chairman of the Golkar Party. He speculated the attack was a preliminary attempt to disturb the government of President Abdurrahman Wahid, a founder of PKB.

PKB's faction chairman in the Assembly, Yusuf Muhammad, echoed Akbar's view. "PKB will set up a team to help police uncover the case," Yusuf said Neither Akbar nor Yusuf would elaborate on which groups they suspected of being behind the attack.

The PKB chairman is known for harsh criticism of the role of the Indonesian Military (TNI) in politics. He was also rumored to have been influential in last week's major reshuffle of the military's top brass.

National Police chief Lt. Gen. Roesdihardjo, while stressing the assault for the meantime remained a criminal case, did not rule out the possibility of political intent. "It could be [politically motivated]," Roesdihardjo said on the sidelines of a hearing with the House's Commission II for domestic and legal affairs.

Assembly Speaker Amien Rais asked police to quickly investigate the case to avoid the spread of rumors. "I don't dare say that a political motive was behind the attack," Amien, who is also chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN), said on Monday. He said the attack could also be a warning to the public that Jakarta was no longer a safe place.

Akbar urged police to improve security for state officials, including speakers and deputy speakers of the Assembly and the House. He noted a series of recent incidents, which included the murder of House member Tengku Nashiruddin Daud of the United Development Party (PPP), and a shot fired at a legislator's office.

Nashiruddin, who was Acehnese, was found dead in Sibolangit, Deli Serdang regency, North Sumatra, in January after he was reportedly abducted. The window of the office of PPP legislator Suryadharma Ali was damaged by a gunshot on February 8. The shooter remains unknown.

Meanwhile in Yogyakarta, political analyst Riswandha Imawan of Gadjah Mada University said on Monday the attack on Matori was part of the tradition of political terror conducted by the former regime. "I don't believe it if the attack was without political motive. It was an example of political terror which was done by professionals," he said.

"Their targets are key people and politicians who are now working on investigating corruption-related cases (KKN) of the past regime." He believed that interest groups within the military who felt threatened by the current drive for reform in TNI were among those behind the acts of terror.

He speculated there was a political conspiracy led by interest groups and the past regime's supporters who were opposed to the reform process. The political collaboration, he added, was also aimed at disrupting the process of political harmony between the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), representing nationalist groups, and PKB, representing moderate Islamic groups. Riswandha said he believed President Abdurrahman Wahid was the main target of the conspiracy.

Lt. Gen. (retired) Kemal Idris, chairman of the National Front (Barnas), said there was no doubt that politics was behind the attack. "I'm sure the possibility of a political motive behind the attack is very strong as Matori is a well known politician and he is believed to have political rivals who are against his statements and his outspokenness," Kemal said.

"There was no motive for robbery behind the incident," he added after attending the 39th anniversary celebration of the Army's Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) in Cilodong, Bogor, West Java on Monday.

Kemal, also a former Kostrad chief, said police should feel challenged in resolving the case. "This is a test case for the police to win the confidence of the people, especially Jakartans." Meanwhile Maj. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu, chief of the Jakarta Military, said he would investigate the possible involvement of soldiers in the attack.
 

Environment/health

Riau fires: Culprits found, but action unlikely

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- Indonesian authorities have identified at least 10 companies responsible for starting fires in the Riau province but are facing problems prosecuting them.

Mr Setyo Winarso, an official of the environmental monitoring agency, Bapadal, said existing laws were difficult to enforce despite the government's readiness to penalise plantation owners.

Despite having the names of 10 companies, government agencies have only been able to investigate one of them, because they had been slowed by the rough terrain and the distances between plantations.

Mr Setyo said existing laws made it extremely difficult to prosecute the company which was found burning a 10 hectare site this week. Under Indonesian law, it has to be proved that the company was responsible for starting the fires. "We have some evidence that the fires were deliberately started but we don't have the person who organised the burning," said Mr Setyo. Mr Setyo said that at the site of palm oil plantation, Pt Adei, the company blamed their contractors for starting the fire.

Despite the passing of a tougher forestry law last year, only one company has been successfully prosecuted out of the dozens of companies that had hotspots detected on their properties. Companies which have been suspected of starting fires often blamed the locals.

Mr Setyo said Bapadal was now hoping to use laws on environmental damage to prosecute all the plantation companies for the high levels of air pollution, rather than investigate each company.

Police spokesman Major Pandiangan said the police were hopeful their investigation into several fires at Pt Adei would uncover evidence that the fires were deliberately started. They have also found two eyewitnesses.

Major Pandiangan said police had yet to investigate another company, Pt Jatim Jaya, which also had several hotspots on its property. Yesterday, the Department of Forestry said it had sent a helicopter to survey the fires.

At another plantation, Pt Musimas plantation, south of Pekanbaru, the haze was so thick that it hampered investigations by officers on board a helicopter, said an official.

Haze levels in Riau are still high, said Mr Setyo, with air pollution index over 100, which is unhealthy. The number of detected hotspots has gone down from Wednesday's high of 564, to only 20 yesterday, probably undetected because of the thick haze.

Haze turns day into night in Sumatra

Jakarta -- Thick haze from forest fires shrouded several towns in Sumatra on Friday, keeping Pekanbaru, Riau, mostly in the dark during daylight hours.

By 9am most homes in the provincial capital were using lights and vehicles on the roads were forced to turn on their headlights. Antara reported that rain later in the evening did not wash away the dense smog, which has been declared a natural disaster by the government.

Volunteers and city employees handed out cotton surgical masks to commuters and pedestrians to reduce the potential of respiratory ailments.

According to the Haze Monitoring Center at the Meteorology and Geophysics Office, the thick haze spread over Padang, West Sumatra, and the regencies of Bengkalis, Indragiri Hilir and Indragiri Hulu in Riau.

There were also reports of it reaching towns in West Kalimantan. Many fear a repeat of the region-wide catastrophe brought on by haze from forest fires in 1997.

The Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal) said there were 515 hot spots in Riau, from a total of 711 on the island of Sumatra and 42 in Kalimantan. Despite the assistance of emergency fire-fighting teams, hundreds of hectares of national park and plantations in West Sumatra are up in smoke.

Although the haze has darkened parts of Sumatra since last week, hospitals have yet to report any major increase in health problems, particularly patients seeking treatment for respiratory disorders.

Meanwhile, the secretary-general of the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations, Soeripto, said in Pekanbaru that four forestry firms were to blame for the forest fires. Antara quoted him identifying the companies as PT Musi Mas, PT Inti Indosawit, PT ADEI and PT Jatim Jaya Perkasa. "Their permits can be revoked, if necessary," Soeripto said.

President Abdurrahman Wahid has promised to do everything possible to prevent another ecological disaster on the scale of three years ago, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab reiterated on Friday that the government would take stern measures against errant firms.

The haze is raising concern in neighboring Singapore and parts of Malaysia. In Bangkok, the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) lauded on Friday Indonesia's move to punish the companies. "The Indonesian government's intention to summon logging and plantation company owners and to review their licenses is the kind of tough measures needed to preempt another crisis," UNEP Asia-Pacific regional director Nirmal Andrews said in a statement as quoted by Reuters.

In its statement, UNEP said the authorities detected about 1,200 fires on Sumatra and Kalimantan, and that the haze from the fires had driven the pollution index on the islands above the 300 mark, a level considered unhealthy.

It was also reported that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said on Friday it put into operation its fire suppression mobilization measures in Riau to contain the spread of the fires and haze.

Environment ministers of the 10-member grouping intend to hold a meeting addressing the haze problem in Brunei on April 4. It is the latest in a series of informal talks among the ministers which began in 1998, when ASEAN launched a comprehensive action plan to tackle the haze problem.

The Meteorological Service Department of Singapore said its pollutants standards index was 41, a level where air quality is within a good range with no adverse health effects, despite some increase recorded in previous days. Meanwhile, a senior Malaysian official said on Friday the country was not yet directly affected. "The air quality is good, we are not affected by the fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan," environment ministry director- general Rosnani Ibrahim told AFP.

Tracking down fire starters ... one by one

Indonesia's environmental monitoring agency, Bapadal, has been trying to get hard evidence to nail those responsible for the dangerous levels of haze that has covered the Riau province over the past week. Straits Times Correspondent Marianne Kearney, while in Pekan Baru, followed one attempt to catch the fire starters

Armed with a global positioning system device and cameras, representatives from the Forestry Department, Estate Crops, the police and Bapadal, the environmental monitoring agency, launched a rare investigation into one of the worst offenders -- a 12,000-ha palm-oil plantation that has numerous hot spots showing up on the satellite map. From over 1,000 reported hot spots last year, only nine were thoroughly investigated, noted Bapadal.

When we arrived at the plantation, estate manager Gobi denied knowledge of all but one of the 10 hot spots listed on the satellite map. The one fire on his property, he said, had been started by nearby villagers and was reported to the police on Friday last week.

We then set off for one of the hot spots Mr Gobi said he did not know about. Although it is not so far away, getting there took time. Our vehicle struggled with the bumpy peat roads and the last kilometre was accessible only on foot. The hot spot is a series of sporadic fires on the edge of one of the peat canals, spewing strong smoke. Nobody is around to extinguish them.

Mr Gobi said these fires lay outside his boundary, so he was not obliged to extinguish them. But he had tried, he said. However, he added, with fires in peat swamps, "you think they've been extinguished and then they reappear later". He blamed the nearby villagers for starting these fires. According to him, they wanted to start their own palm-oil farms.

Bapadal investigator Setyo Winarso said he would check if this was community-owned or estate-owned land. According to the recently-passed environmental law, Mr Gobi, who possessed proper firefighting equipment, was obliged to help put out the fires.

The fire-investigation team then decided to head into the extremely hazy distance for the largest hot spot on its satellite map. The fires appeared to be quite large. Mr Gobi argued that they had been started by "villagers who are watching guard over our equipment".

In four hours, the team covered only three hot spots and a few kilometres of road with no hard evidence of the fires being started by the palm-oil plantation. However, night travelling on these roads was very difficult so the team decided to return the next morning with the one government-owned four-wheel vehicle that would allow access to the fires.

Mr Gobi insisted that he did not burn down the trees. He said he used a compression method to clear his land, pointing to the cut tree stumps stacked by the roadside. However, Mr Winarso said it was obvious that land cleared two years ago were not cleared only by felling.

First, the large trees were cleared, then the undergrowth was burnt -- a far cheaper and quicker method of clearing. If the undergrowth were compressed, the company would have to wait another year while it rotted before they could use the land.

But for this day's investigation, the police and Bapadal would have to return to question local villagers as to who had started the fires and why there were so many fires burning at night.

Officials have also pointed a finger at foreign-owned palm-oil plantations for starting the fires deliberately. Mr Ardi Yusuf of the environmental supervisory agency's forestry division in Sumatra said it had videotapes of fires in the plantations. It was the Bapadal, rather than the police and Forestry Department, which was keen on stopping the burning.

When asked how the Forestry Department and the police prevented companies from resorting to burning, Mr Darminto Sutano, head of Riau's Forestry Department said they had a process to check for fires in the region. But he did not know if the fires reported last week were being fought as he had not received a report from his local forestry offices in a week.

Land-clearing again main cause of fires

Vaudine England and Agencies, Pekanbaru -- The end of Indonesia's rainy season is once again revealing the chaos created by allowing plantation owners and farmers to clear land by setting fires.

The result is a resurgence in forest fires which have created a haze hazard in neighbouring Singapore and caused the diversion of some flights in and out of Pekanbaru in Riau province.

There are fears of a repeat of the 1997-98 haze and fires which burned more than 9.7 million hectares and cost Indonesia's forestry, agriculture, health, transport and tourism industries an estimated HK$73 billion.

But Indonesia is still a long way off finding a solution to the problem: silly laws, under-funded fire-fighters, lack of legal sanctions and the growing dissonance between the provinces and Jakarta mean there is a real likelihood authorities will again fail to respond adequately.

Visibility was down to a few hundred metres in Pekanbaru yesterday and government officials described the air quality over parts of the island as dangerous, as up to 500 brush fires raged out of control.

A dark grey cloud hung low over the city and many people stayed indoors. Teuku Alamsyah, a senior local government official, said: "It is hazardous and could cause lung infections and other health problems."

Khodijah Nurhadi of the Sumatra Environmental Supervising Body, said it had recommended a state of emergency be declared around Pekanbaru.

Mr Teuku said local firefighters were not equipped to deal with the problem and have requested assistance from the military. He said many of the firefighting teams only have one small water truck. These have to travel far to refill before being able to return to the blaze. Many of the fires were also inaccessible. Government officials were handing out face masks to people to protect them from the pollution.

Under Indonesian law the Department of Estate Crops fights a fire if it is on company land, and the Forestry Department the rest. But such fine distinctions create practical headaches. Little word has surfaced on the success of planned prosecutions of scores of private companies for illegally setting fires during the problems in 1997, so firms don't fear penalties if they are caught setting fires.

The Forestry Department believes the current rash of fires can be blamed on plantation owners, who see fires as the cheapest and quickest way to clear land. Indonesia can only expect more international pressure for it to find ways to halt environmental degradation.

Number of abortions performed last year 'astonishing'

Jakarta -- Abortion is strictly prohibited under both the Criminal Code and the Health Law. But despite the legislation, women continue to seek abortions.

The latest study by the Indonesian Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (POGI), the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health revealed there were an estimated 2.3 million abortions performed each year in Indonesia.

The study -- which was conducted from January to December last year and involved 579 respondents in North Sumatra, Jakarta, Yogyakarta and North Sulawesi -- estimated that out of the 2.3 million abortions, 600,000 were unwanted pregnancies due to contraceptive failure, 700,000 of the abortions were sought due to poor economic conditions and one million were spontaneous abortions (miscarriages).

"The number is astonishing since abortion is illegal here. But it does not mean we can just close our eyes that the problem of unwanted pregnancy exists," POGI president Biran Affandi told The Jakarta Post.

Of the 579 respondents surveyed, 93.3 percent accepted their pregnancies, while the remaining 6.7 percent considered their pregnancies unwanted.

The study revealed there were various reasons for seeking abortions to end unwanted pregnancies. Already having "enough" children topped the list, with 47.1 percent of respondents giving this answer. The desire to continue school was the second most common reason at 17.2 percent. It was followed by medical reasons (15.7 percent), work (6.8 percent), being on medication prior to the pregnancy (2.9 percent) and others (10 percent).

Some women facing unwanted pregnancies risk their lives trying to perform an abortion by themselves, either by taking certain herbs or drugs, having themselves massaged and consuming certain fruits which supposedly kill the fetus.

Biran said the findings of the study, which were unveiled to the public during the 19th GOI/NGOs/donor agencies coordination meeting on Thursday, reflected the general picture of abortion in the country. "In the study, we're trying to explore the underlying factors and reasons of providers and women who perform induced abortion," he told the meeting's participants.

Other objectives of the study were to identify the socio- reproductive and demographic characteristics of women performing induced abortions, to examine various social and health implications of induced abortions and to assess the opinions and perceptions of various people. Unsafe abortions Unsafe abortions might result in serious infection, and is among various factors contributing to the maternal mortality rate.

Indonesia's maternal mortality rate of 375 per 100,000 births is the highest among member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). According to WHO representative to Indonesia Georg Petersen, the lifetime risk of maternal death is 40 times higher in developing countries.

"Looking at the reproductive health indicators in Indonesia, it is rated worse than other ASEAN countries. Although deaths among infants and children have significantly come down over the past 10 years, the maternal death rate shows slow progress in spite of the tremendous efforts made by the government of Indonesia to reduce maternal deaths. Obviously, this has been a great concern," Georg said.

He said there was no single explanation for the high rate of maternal deaths and there were numerous factors involved, including women's lack of ability to control sexual relations and contraceptive use, sexual coercion, incest or rape, contraceptive failure, inadequate access to family planning information and services and a lack of understanding of reproductive health.

WHO has said that globally, 75 million unwanted pregnancies occur each year, and approximately 45 million unwanted pregnancies are terminated. Twenty million of these abortions -- 55,000 each day -- are unsafe, resulting in the death of more than 200 women each day in developing countries.

Despite the lack of data on the extent of morbidity and mortality due to unsafe abortions in Indonesia, WHO estimates 13 percent to 15 percent of maternal mortalities are due to septic abortions.

"This [percentage] could be higher in reality. In some parts of the world, as many as one-third or more of all maternal deaths are associated with unsafe abortions. The fact that so many women risk death, injury, social or criminal consequences to terminate a pregnancy clearly shows how desperately these women wish to delay or avoid having children. The challenge is how to overcome the worst problem and what changes are needed to overcome these obstacles," Georg said.

The high number of abortions resulting from contraceptive failure also attracted serious attention at the meeting, titled Magnitude of Abortion- Related Problems and Their Impact on Maternal Mortality and Morbidity.

According to the Ministry of Health's director general of community health, Azrul Azwar, contraceptive failure is always possible because no contraceptive devices are 100 percent safe. "Family Planning now has around 23 million members and with only 1 percent [contraceptive] failure, we'll have many unwanted pregnancies.

If we can't prevent it from happening, what are we going to do about it? We cannot simply ignore it. That's why PKBI (the Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association) provides services for those who face contraceptive failure, so they can get good health services," Azrul told the Post. PKBI now has around 80 clinics across the country, with the oldest one, which was established in 1981, located in Semarang, Central Java.

The association's chairman in Central Java, Untung Praptohardjo, said at the meeting that out of 1,444 married couples and family planning members who sought abortion consultancy at the clinic, 1,142 of them had abortions. "The remaining (302) had second thoughts about having the procedure," he said.

Out of the 1,142 women who had an abortion, 369 of the women, or 32.3 percent, were between 36 and 40 years of age, and 41.8 percent of the women, or 477, already had two children. Prior to the abortions, 341 couples, or 29.9 percent, used pills as their contraceptive method, 221, or 19.4 percent, used condoms, and 189, or 16.5 percent, used injection. After the abortions, most of the couples were told to continue using contraceptives, and 555 of the couples, or 48.6 percent, opted to use implants.

"But it won't be easy to perform abortions since the couples have to meet many requirements," Untung said. Among the requirements are possession of identification cards, official marriage certificates, family planning member card and signed consent form. The couples also have to pass through the administrative process and undergo medical examinations and counseling.

These strict procedures are required because abortions are strictly prohibited. Article 346 of the Criminal Code states that a woman who deliberately aborts or terminates her pregnancy, or has another person do so, shall be subject to a maximum of four years in prison. Articles 347, 348 and 349 of the Criminal Code link abortion and the medical profession. All of these articles stipulate that the act of terminating a life [aborting a fetus] is prohibited.

Meanwhile, Article 15 of Health Law No. 23/1992 stipulates that a "certain medical act" can be performed under emergency circumstance in an effort to save the life of a pregnant woman and/or her fetus. This "medical act" must be approved by a team of health experts, performed by authorized professional personnel and conducted in medical facilities with the approval of the mother or her family.

Who should fight the 137 fires in Riau province?

Marianne Kearney, Riau -- Where there's smoke there is fire but in Riau province, central Sumatra, finding the source of the fire and who started it is not always easy.

While high technology satellite maps show the province had 137 hotspots on Friday, and show roughly where the bulk of the hotspots are located, they cannot pinpoint whether the fires are on plantation land, small farms or community-owned land.

And while environmental agencies and the Department of Forestry suspect fires are started by the plantation companies to clear new land, companies cannot be forced to fight the fires on their land if nobody can prove the fires are indeed on their land.

Because of the inaccuracy of the mapping system, which only indicates fire locations with a three kilometre degree of error, Riau's central Department of Forestry office and the environmental monitoring agency do not know exactly where these fires are burning or who caused them.

To pinpoint the fire locations requires a helicopter -- which is a 10-hour flight away in Jakarta and may not arrive until Tuesday, almost a week after the first batch of fires were detected. The Head of the Department of Forestry, Mr Darminto, said he was still waiting for confirmation from Jakarta that a helicopter would be sent on Tuesday.

It is also unclear as to who should be fighting the fires. Mr Aries Suwandi, from the Department of Forestry says it is the responsibility of the regional environmental agency to advise whether there are enough fires to warrant sending out a team of fire investigators and fighters. However, if the fires are located on company land it is the responsibility of the Department of Estate Crops, which however has no means of checking where and whether a company is responsible for the fires.

Mr Fauzi, the head of the Department of Estate Crops, said: "From the aerial hot spots we're not sure if the fires are on company land or on small farmers' land." Instead they rely on the honesty of the companies to promise they will extinguish the fires. "We met 45 companies on Saturday and we're asking them to check if the fires are on their property," said Mr Fauzi.

However both an environmental organisation and senior official from the environmental monitoring agency say that the region has too little manpower and equipment to extinguish fires when dozens of fires are burning at once.

Even the head of the Riau's environmental monitoring agency, Mr Said Abdullah Rachman, admitted that both the Department of Forestry's specialist fire police nor the local police are equipped to fight the fires. He said: "The forestry police just have to ask for help from the people." The Department of Forestry's inventory of trained fire fighters lists 100 boy scouts and 100 school students.

But if the fire fighters are available, they are often failed by their equipment, say environmental groups as a fire response this morning proved. Mr Mohamad Iksahn, a security guard on a paper and pulp plantation two hours out of Pekanbaru says he was asked to fight a fire on the plantation but couldn't as they didn't have a vehicle to travel to the fire scene, and the one water truck available didn't work. He says he is still not sure if the fire was extinguished.
 

Arms/armed forces

Reshuffle jolts military

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta -- More than 10 senior military officers, at least one of them holding a three-star rank, threatened to quit the Indonesian defence forces (TNI) last week after complaining of "repeated presidential intervention" in military affairs.

Army sources here told The Straits Times that the reshuffle jolted many officers given what they regarded as the political underpinnings of the changes that took place in the organisation.

"Some of the officers who were promoted and moved to key positions would not have got there without the President's blessing and political inclination of his advisers," said a general holding a key staff position in the TNI headquarters.

"That is unacceptable for a large number of officers. So the feeling of disappointment and distrust against the government is widespread." The source refused to name the generals who had raised objections to what they saw as interference by President Abdurrahman Wahid in last week's reshuffle, which saw 74 staff and command officers being rotated.

But The Straits Times understands that one of them was the outgoing chief of the army strategic reserve command (Kostrad), Lt-General Djadja Suparman. He was asked to give up his appointment in the 30,000-strong Kostrad to head TNI's Staff and Command College in Bandung, where he will not have any troops under his command. He was replaced by outspoken reformer Major- General Agus Wirahadikusumah, who is reportedly close to a key palace official.

Lt-Gen Djadja told The Straits Times in an interview over the weekend that politics and links to ousted General Wiranto, the former Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, had forced him and others out of their positions.

He also disclosed that the palace inner circle had conspired to weed him out by crafting an image of him as a "provocateur" and someone as having links to radical Islamic groups. Several army officers had over the past week expressed reservations that it was "improper" for the President to have dabbled in the process of military promotion.

Mr Kusnanto Anggoro, a military analyst at the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think-tank, said 12 senior officers had proposed seeking early retirement. "They are not familiar with the processes applied by the President," he said, adding that the steps taken by Mr Abdurrahman confused officers -- not just Wiranto loyalists.

"It was a case of culture shock for many. It has disturbed the culture in the military, which has always been predictable." But he maintained that the disappointment in the TNI's top echelons had not resulted in any moves that endanger the current civilian-led establishment. Their concerns were made individually, not as an institution. "If their concerns result in a simultaneous expression of confusion and disappointment, the story may be different," he said.
 

Economy & investment

Suharto-era deals will be honoured, says minister

Jakarta -- Indonesia's Investment Minister Laksamana Sukardi has pleaded for time to reform the country's graft-ridden legal system and promised to honour contracts agreed with past regimes.

Indonesia is battling growing disillusionment from foreign investors, disturbed by repeated signs the bad old ways remain as ingrained as ever despite the government's efforts at sweeping reform.

But some investors also worry that the corruption issue could be used as an excuse to undo agreements made years ago, an element of uncertainty not welcome by the business community.

"Bear in mind how far Indonesia has come ... we have more checks and balances in the system. We have been transforming ourselves," the minister told foreign businessmen on Thursday. "This is transition. Sooner than later it will settle down."

He said the new government had blocked what he saw as former President Suharto's attempts to build a "corrupt dynasty" for his family. In the Suharto era, when surging growth was matched by unchecked corruption, Mr Laksamana said it had been a hollow development boom, which for investors was like riding a roller- coaster without a seat-belt.

The new government of President Abdurrahman Wahid had introduced checks and balances and given legal reform top priority. "But it will never happen overnight ... it takes some time to overhaul our legal system," he said. During Suharto's long rule, judges turned into "auctioneers", handing down verdicts on behalf of the highest bidder, he said.

Indonesia's credibility took another blow earlier this week when two separate court rulings over a high-profile bank scandal dropped an indictment against one of the main suspects and allowed his company to keep a huge fee the government wanted back.

The case revolves around a US$70-million fee paid by Bank Bali to a then politically well-connected firm to collect a loan worth less than double that amount. The scandal, which ruined Dr B. J. Habibie's chances of re-election in last year's presidential vote, triggered a freeze on international aid. The government is appealing the case, but Mr Laksamana said it could not interfere in the court rulings.

There have also been growing concerns about whether the government might backtrack on contracts agreed during the Suharto-era and which are now seen as tainted by corruption.

Top among them are several deals with the state electricity firm to buy power from independent firms -- several with close links to Mr Suharto's family and associates -- at what became exorbitant prices after the country's economic collapse. "Our government's commitment is still to honour contracts by the previous government," Mr Laksamana said.

The government is working on new laws to axe barriers to foreign investors but they will be required to conduct business that is environmentally sound, promotes good worker relations and does not get involved in graft.

Jakarta backs down, willing to talk to US

Jakarta -- Indonesia appeared to back down yesterday from a multi-million dollar fight with the United States after Washington threatened to seize Indonesian assets abroad.

The US government is demanding that Indonesia pay it US$290 million (S$490 million) after the new reformist government refused to honour a contract with an American-owned power company concluded during the authoritarian regime of former President Suharto.

US ambassador to Indonesia Robert Gelbard said his government was "dismayed" at a statement by Indonesia's Finance Minister, Mr Bambang Sudibyo, earlier this week that Jakarta did not have enough money to pay its debt.

Mr Gelbard told Dow Jones Newswires the move may affect future investment in Indonesia by US companies just as President Abdurrahman Wahid struggles to pull the world's fourth most populous nation out of its worst economic crisis in a generation.

Yesterday, Mr Bambang backtracked on his earlier statement saying he was now ready to negotiate with the US. "Indonesia wants to solve this case by negotiation," he said.

The dispute began when Indonesia's state-owned power company PLN backed out of a contract with US-based CalEnergy International to pay for millions of dollars worth of electricity delivered from CalEnergy's geothermal power station in West Java. CalEnergy International is a subsidiary of Omaha-based MidAmerican.

The dispute was taken to an independent arbitration panel, which ordered PLN to pay CalEnergy US$572 million. The company refused. CalEnergy then sought and received remuneration from the US Overseas Private Investment Corp (Opic), an arm of the US government that insures the investments of many American companies in third-world countries. Opic has since threatened to seize Indonesian assets abroad if the government fails to settle the claim.

Mr Bambang said the contract, negotiated under the Suharto regime, was tainted by the endemic corruption that characterised the former strongman's administration. Mr Suharto was forced from power in a violent student uprising in May 1998.

Mr Bambang's initial statement unnerved foreign investors, particularly as Mr Abdurrahman and his senior Economic Minister Kwik Kian Gie have sought to stress a conciliatory approach to re-negotiating contracts made during the Suharto regime.