Indonesia/East Timor News Digest No 29

Jakarta -- Office buildings of the former ruling party Golkar in the capital city and in a number of Java's major cities were guarded yesterday, as hundreds of protesters of anti-New Order government of former president Soeharto turned, attacking the Jakarta office of Soeharto's former political machine.

Thousands marched through the capital in protests against Soeharto, as his lawyers said he was too brain-damaged to stand trial over graft.

The protests were organized by a coalition of political and student bodies to demand tougher action against Soeharto, and to mark the fourth anniversary of a bloody police raid on the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters of Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is now vice-president.

About 100 students from various groupings started their protests in front of building of the Golkar Jakarta Chapter by making speeches. Then followed burning of the yellow Golkar flag and bottle and stone throwing at the office located in Jl.Pegangsaan, in Menteng, Central Jakarta. Golkar cadres who guarded the building tried to retaliate by chasing the students.

In Surabaya, the country's second largest city, an alliance of a number of students organizations, stormed the East Java Golkar office building while in Semarang, the capital of Central Java, some 300 students calling themselves progressive groups burned the Golkar flag.

Chairman of the Golkar Jakarta Chapter Tadjus Sobirin said yesterday that the party had nothing to do with the July 27, 1996 attacks aimed to oust PDI Chairperson Megawati Soekarno-puteri.

A large group of protesters, some carrying mock coffins, marched from Soeharto's residence where the ailing 79-year-old has been under house arrest for almost two months, through the city to join another group carrying an effigy of Soeharto depicted as a devil.

Since Soeharto's downfall following social and economic chaos in 1998, violent protests have regularly demanded he be put on trial for corruption and human rights abuses. The Attorney-General's Office said on Wednesday former ruler Soeharto would be charged with corruption over the misuse of Rp1.4 trillion (US$155 million) from seven charities during his army-backed rule.

Chairman of the Semarang-based State Islamic Institute Abdul Gani said that the burning of the Golkar flag did not amount to a demand for dissolution of the party, but was a protest against Golkar's past behavior as well as the latest maneuvers by Golkar Chairman Akbar Tandjung.

Tandjung, who is also the parliament speaker, launched a fierce attack recently on reformist President Abdurrahman Wahid, saying Wahid had failed to grasp the meaning of the Broad Guidelines of State Policy (GBHN), as well as take advantage of the opportunity to revive the ailing economy.

Demonstrators burnt golkar flag

Detik - July 27, 2000

R Maslan/SWA & AH, Jakarta -- Today, exactly four years after the attack on the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) office, hundreds of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) demonstrators occupied Jl. Diponegoro, burning incense and Golkar Flags in commemoration the 27 July incident. Former militia leader, Eurico Guterres, was seen at this "commemoration ceremony".

"Suharto and Golkar are the mastermind of the 27 July attack. Suharto and Golkar have to be responsible for what they have done," yelled one of the participants occupying the then PDI office. People gathered on that street clapped and cheered when the Golkar flag was burnt. Soon the national anthem was heard.

Wearing a bright red T-shirt (PDIP's color) and a black vest, Aitarak Eurico Guterres, the former pro-integration East Timor militia leader, passed through Jl. Diponegoro in his jeep and waved to the demonstrators who responded merrily.

Meanwhile, many people packed the former PDI office to examine pictures, evidence and articles about the incident that took place four years ago. A painting exhibition was held in the left wing of the office entitled "Art Exhibition of Cool Reformation Action".

The remembrance started earlier today when hundreds of PDIP participants held a ceremony and sprinkled flowers on their headquarters, located on 58 Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta. They displayed banners and posters demanding a comprehensive and thorough investigation on the bloody 27 July incident.

Guarded by around 50 personnel of the PDIP task force, the commemoration ceremony was led by PDIP Jakarta Regional Leader Roy BB Janis and was attended by representatives of the Jakarta Board of Leaders.

Long march to commemorate the brutality of New Order

Detik - July 27, 2000

Rizal Maslan/BS & AH, Jakarta -- A march to commemorate the brutal occupation of Megawati's political offices (the Indonesian Democratic Party, PDI) on 27 July 1996, has been organized by People's Democratic Party (PRD) on Thursday. The march will start from the Salemba Campus of Universitas Indonesia to Jl. Diponegoro, where the PDI office stood at that time. Along the way, march participants will cast flowers, and from the original PDI offices, will continue their march to Cendana area, where former president Suharto currently resides. The march will end at Golkar's offices in Cikini.

The Secretary General for PRD, Petrus Ariyanto, said "[we have chosen] the area of Cikini and Cendana because these two areas are the pillars of all political crimes. They [Suharto and Golkar] have to bear the responsibility [of the occupation]. And the other [guilty] party is the military."

"We also like to remind the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), lead by Megawati, not to align themselves with Golkar to achieve their goals. Remember that today's Golkar is the same Golkar of 32 years ago," he added.

Also present at the march is the Chairman of PRD, Budiman Sudjatmiko, who has been giving speeches to inspire his comrades courage. Banners displaying messages such as "Arrest and put Suharto and all new order and human right criminals in court", can be seen, along with an oversized replica of Suharto's head, with message saying "Suharto New Order Criminal".

The march action is not only attended by PRD members. Also present are the members for Student for Democracy National League (LNMD). So far up the march of up to 500 participants has progressed along Salemba Road and has caused a traffic jam on that road.

Protesters demand a speedy trial of Suharto

South China Morning Post - July 28, 2000

Chris McCall, Jakarta -- Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Jakarta yesterday to demand a speedy trial for former president Suharto as the Government finished a corruption probe and prepared for prosecution.

State prosecutor Antasari Azhar said Mr Suharto could face life imprisonment and a 30 million rupiah (HK$27,000) fine. He is to be charged not as a former head of state but as head of seven charities he formerly controlled. Mr Suharto, 79, ill and under house arrest, is accused of misusing funds of at least 1,400 billion rupiah (HK$1.2 billion).

Crowds of protesters carried an effigy of Mr Suharto along with several black makeshift coffins to his house in central Jakarta. Dozens of riot police armed with batons and shields blocked the entrance to Cendana Street, for decades the unofficial seat of power in Indonesia.

"Try Suharto," yelled protesters through megaphones. "The people will judge Suharto through a people's court," declared a banner.

The protest was to mark the fourth anniversary of bloody riots in Jakarta in 1996 after government security forces stormed the headquarters of the then opposition Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI). At least five people were killed in the violence with several others still missing, in what quickly became a legend of Indonesia's struggle for democracy.

Megawati Sukarnoputri, the former PDI leader who was ousted by a Suharto-backed faction, has gone on to become an elected vice- president. Her Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) started as a splinter group but now dwarfs its parent.

Police appealed to protesters for calm as they formed a human chain near Mr Suharto's house. They included Ms Megawati's supporters and others from the left-wing People's Democratic Party, which Mr Suharto banned.

Officials at the Attorney-General's office said they would meet an August 10 deadline to present Mr Suharto's case in court. It would probably be at the South Jakarta District Court, where most of the witnesses were and Mr Suharto would be expected to attend himself.

"Investigations have finished. According to Indonesian law now it has to go the Public Prosecutors Office for them to look at it. I think this will happen before the end of the month," said Mr Azhar. "It is going to court in the month of August. A prosecution will begin after there is a decision from the court. He has to attend."

Lawyers for Mr Suharto have argued that he is too ill to stand trial after a stroke last year. They say this has affected his mental health.

Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman, meanwhile, is under pressure to get his investigation to court. Mr Marzuki, however, is also under pressure from his own Golkar party. For decades, the political pillar of Mr Suharto's "New Order" regime, Golkar remains a force in parliament with several former Suharto ministers among its top ranks.

Many in Golkar are nervous about trying their old master. One Indonesian legal expert and rights activist said he was worried Mr Marzuki was seeking a way to cave in to their wishes to drop the probe without being seen as responsible in the public eye.

Bambang Widjoyanto, chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute, said Mr Suharto's lawyers may be trying to present him as more ill than he was. If they prove he is not of sound mind then under Indonesian law he would not be able to stand trial.

"The defence strategy is to use the argument of health -- permanent brain damage. They want to say he is already crazy. That would mean he cannot take responsibility," said Mr Widjoyanto. "What I fear is that this is an escape gate that has been made by a politician who has become Attorney-General."

Rallies held to mark anniversary of attack on PDI HQs

Jakarta Post - July 28, 2000

Jakarta -- One overriding theme, namely the bringing of former president Soeharto to justice, marked the fourth anniversary of the July 27 violent takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters nationwide on Thursday.

In Jakarta, some 600 people joined a rally from the abandoned Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro to Jl. Teuku Umar and then on to the Jakarta office of Golkar Party near the Cikini railway station, all in Central Jakarta.

"Arrest and bring the masterminds of the July 27 tragedy to court ... rehabilitate the victims," an activist of the Communication Forum for Relatives of the July 27, 1996 Victims yelled.

Initially, the rally participants laid a wreath in front of the PDI headquarters before they headed to Jl. Cendana, where former president Soeharto resides. They, however, were blocked by a cordon of police personnel and were directed to nearby Jl. Teuku Umar. Speeches and banners marked the rally on Thursday. The rally also saw a street play on former president Soeharto's 32- year reign, poetry reading and dance performances.

The July 1996 attack on PDI headquarters triggered mass unrest throughout the Central Jakarta area on the same day, leaving at least five people dead and 149 injured. Twenty-three others are reportedly still missing.

The police's investigation has named 11 civilians as suspects in the 1996 attack, including former PDI chairman Soerjadi and former secretary-general Buttu R. Hutapea. Meanwhile, the military investigation into several Indonesian Military (TNI) generals' alleged involvement in the attack is ongoing.

In Yogyakarta, around 100 activists of the Committee for the People's Struggle for Democracy (Koperdam), staged similar protests along popular street Jl. Malioboro. They were attacked by unidentified people while staging their protest, leaving at least 11 of the protesters injured.

The protesters were on their way to Yogyakarta City Hall, when suddenly a group of armed men riding on a jeep and four motorbikes attacked them from behind. "We were terrified as the group suddenly set upon us with wooden sticks and iron bars," said a protester who asked not to be named, while adding that some of the attackers were seen talking to police officers shortly before the assault. "I wonder why the police did nothing to prevent the armed group from attacking us," he said.

The group identified the attackers' vehicle as a white Jeep Willis with registration number AB 7819 HA. The motives behind the attack were still unclear, and the protesters eventually dispersed soon after the attack.

The group said in their statement that they demanded the government prioritize the handling of human rights' abuse cases and the liquidation of the Golkar Party. Before the attack, the protesters also burned Golkar flags.

In Semarang, about 500 PDI Perjuangan supporters, grouped in the Anti-New Order People's Alliance (Arab), marched along main streets in the city, including Jl. Tentara Pelajar, Jl. Mataram, Jl. Ahmad Yani and the Simpang Lima traffic circle before they ended up in the grounds fronting the Central Java Provincial Legislature and the Central Java Police Headquarters building on Jl. Pahlawan.

In front of the police headquarters, about 50 PDI Perjuangan cadres presented an oration demanding that the authorities uncover the perpetrators of the 1996 hostile take over. "We also demand that the government rehabilitate the status and reputations of the victims in the July 27 incident," Gin Dahono, the group coordinator, said.

In Makassar, South Sulawesi, 100 students from various universities here marked the day by staging protests in front of the Council Building, demanding that former president Soeharto be held responsible for his past wrongdoings and blatant human right violations.

"Soeharto was the pivot around which all kinds of abuses revolved during the New Order era. It is lamentable that President Abdurrahman's administration has failed to bring the real culprits in the July 27 incident to trial," Heince Ivan, the group leader, said.

Students demand: abolish Golkar!

Detik - July 26, 2000

BK & LH/BI & LM, Jakarta -- Hundreds of students gathered together in the Indonesian Youth Struggle Front (FPPI) have staged protests today in Yogyakarta and Jakarta against the Golkar party. They claim Golkar is responsible for massive human rights abuses, the current instability in Indonesia and is maneuvering itself into a dangerous position as a so-called 'opposition' party against the government of President Abdurrahman Wahid. Their demand: abolish Golkar.

The Golkar party dominated national politics together with the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) under the New Order regime of disgraced former President Suharto. Nevertheless, through its extensive networks and ample financial resources, Golkar emerged as the second largest vote getter in the 1999 elections and a major force in the country's current political arena.

It is this newfound 'democratic' image that the pioneers of the reform movement, students, find most offensive and counterproductive. Today around 70 university students from the Indonesian Youth Struggle Front (FPPI) held a protest in front of the Governor's office complex in Yogyakarta.

With happening art performers depicting Golkar and Suharto as the oppressors of the people, they demanded Golkar be abolished and be held responsible for their political crimes during the 32 year reign of the Suharto regime. They also demanded the government to return disputed lands to peasants and to comprehensively reform the agrarian laws.

The protest in Yogyakarta startled members of the Women's Association (Dharma Wanita), affiliated to the Golkar party during the New Order regime, who were conducting a meeting inside the governor's office complex.

When the protesters started to move towards the office complex, demanding to meet the governor, they were stopped by the office security police who managed to shut the front gates. The students then continued their protest outside the office complex which seemed to frighten the Women's Association members. The shaken women hurriedly ended their meeting and left the complex via the rear exit. The meeting was attended by the governor's wife who, fearing for her safety, also left the complex via rear exit.

Meanwhile in Jakarta, the Indonesian Youth Struggle Front (FPPI) also protested at the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) building. Muhaji, FPPI secretary general and his deputy Syafiq Alielha, lead the demonstration. They claimed Golkar lay at the heart of every wickedness currently afflicting the people.

The interpellation motion recently brought to bear on the President by Golkar and others was described as means to create a crisis of confidence in the President for no other reason than to promote their narrow self interests. The notion of suggesting Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri to replace President Wahid would create a 'killing ground'.

On the topic of recent rumours that Golkar was planning to withdraw from the cabinet to become an opposition party, the students expressed distrust and a cynical attitude. "We would like to know what kind of opposition Golkar will become." Student opposition to Golkar has been growing in recent weeks as the party appears to be maneuvering into a confrontation with President Wahid and numerous party figures have been linked to a plethora of plots to destabilise the security situation in places such as Ambon. Last week, during the party's annual conference, hundreds of Golkar banners and flags decorating one of Jakarta's main roads were torn down by angry students and set on fire in front of the meeting hall.

Batak community again demands Indorayon closure

Detik - July 26, 2000

A Andri/FW & LM, Jakarta -- For the umpteenth time, hundreds of representatives of the Batak Toba tribe went to the North Sumatra Provincial Legislative Council demanding the closure of PT. Indorayon Utama Wednesday. As a symbol of the Batak community's resistance to the factory and their connection to the land, they handed over traditional knives and cloths to representatives of the North Sumatra government.

Chairman of the North Sumatra Provincial Legislative Council, Yunus Harahap, was presented with a Pisau Halasan or a Halasan knife by Batak Toba representatives wearing traditional clothing who arrived at the Legislative Council office around 10.30am. They also danced and played traditional music to express their protest in the office's yard.

According to Prof. Dr. Bungaran Antonius Simanjuntak, a sociologist from Medan State University, the Batak Toba tribe is fed up with the presence of the PT IIU pulp and paper factory and the knife symbolises their resistance.

After handing over the knife, the tribespeople went to the offices of the Governor of North Sumatra, T. Rizal Nurdin. Upon arriving, they presented the Governor with traditional Batak cloth known as ulos. Ulos, which represents guardianship, symbolised their hope that the Governor would protect the community which has been harmed by PT IIU.

Speaking after the ceremony, Governor Rizal Nurdin said that the presence of PT IIU was not profitable for the area. "Apart from that, since its establishment, PT IIU has violated the traditions and customs of the Batak Toba tribe as well as damaged the environment," he said.

Rizal admitted that PT IIU has a bad track record and has too many unfinished problems since its establishment in 1986. However, Rizal appealed to the community not to be emotional over the case because that would incite conflict within the community.

The Batak Toba people live primarily in the Toba Samosir municipality, near Porsea, where the PT IIU paper and pulp factory is located. PT IIU's presence in the area has long been protested by locals because it has polluted the river which eventually impacted on their health and livelihood. Backed by Indonesia's largest environmental forum, Walhi, the local residents have fought for its closure for many years.

PT IIU was actually closed in 1997 after relentless protests. However, PT IIU was soon after reopened amid claims of favoritism by the government because the plant had yet to conduct a comprehensive environmental impact study.

Conflict between the Batak Toba tribe and PT IIU escalated last month when a highschool student was shot dead by police during a rally by local people on 21 July. The bloody conflict was triggered when 13 people from the Porsea area were kidnapped by a group of unidentified 'ninjas'. The kidnappings angered local residents of Porsea who later tried to attack others they believed had sided with PT IIU.

In the following days, Porsea community leaders and Walhi urged the government to immediately close down PT IIU to curb further violence. So far, the conflict has claimed 1 life while the whereabouts of some 40 people remains unknown.

Activists demand an end to corruption

Green Left Weekly - July 26, 2000

Max Lane -- On July 20, huge banners, which dwarfed the activists who daringly scaled the walls of Indonesia's parliament building in Jakarta to hang them, announced the demands of the People's Democratic Party (PRD).

Two giant banners listed the most infamous cases of corruption that have been exposed, or have occurred, during the government of Abdurrahman Wahid (also known as Gus Dur) and Megawati Sukarnoputri, and huge sums of money involved. The banners also listed all those involved in these cases: officials of Suharto's Golkar party; Suharto and B.J. Habibie cronies and other high- level bureaucrats. The slogan, "These are the cases that the Gus Dur-Megawati government must solve now!", was emblazoned across the banners.

The giant banners were part of a PRD campaign to increase pressure on the government to eliminate the influence and role of the Suharto-era political forces in Indonesian politics. The PRD has also launched legal action against Suharto-era ministers and officials in relation to the suppression of the PRD in 1996 and is demanding that the National Human Rights Commission begin a public investigation into the fate of 14 activists kidnapped during 1997 and 1998 and still unaccounted for.

The Wahid-Megawati government has so far shown itself to lack the political will to act firmly against Suharto-era elements involved in corruption and oppression.

On July 18, PRD chairperson Budiman Sujatmiko met with the head of the parliamentary fraction of Wahid's National Awakening Party (PKB), Abdul Matori Jalil. The PKB has sought joint action with the PRD against Suharto-era forces, who are currently angling for increased influence in the Wahid government.

In the meeting with Matori, Sujatmiko stressed that Wahid and the PKB could only be regarded as true defenders of democracy if they are willing to resolve all major corruption cases that took place during the regime of Suharto. According to the Jakarta Indonesian Observer, Sujatmiko said the main problem is that Wahid is yet to show his commitment by launching serious legal investigations into the previous regime's corruption and nepotism.

Sujatmiko called on Wahid to not only to take action against Suharto in relation to corruption, but also the gross human rights violations committed throughout the Suharto era. The PRD leader cited the 1965-66 period, when more than 500,000 leftists were slaughtered, the 1984 Tanjung Priok massacre of an estimated 400 protesters; the 1989 massacre of Muslim protesters in Lampung, and the 1993 rape and murder of labour activist Marsinah.

Police launch deadly attack on peasant protest

Green Left Weekly - July 26, 2000

At least one protester was killed, more than 100 were injured and 57 were arrested when Indonesian security forces attacked an 800-strong protest in South Sumatra on July 20. The detainees were beaten in jail.

The action was organised by the National Peasants Union (STN) in support of peasants in Benakat, Ujanmas and Penanggiran who are struggling for the return of their land.

The peasants were protesting outside the Muara Enim district administration offices, near Palembang, to demand the return to them of 22,000 hectares of land that have been seized since 1988 by Citra Futura Ltd (CIFU) and National Plantation Ltd.

Throughout their long struggle, the peasants have had to fight the Indonesian government and its bureaucracy. They have suffered military intervention and been terrorised by hoodlums (some drawn from the pro-Indonesia East Timorese militias) paid by CIFU.

The land robberies took place during the Suharto dictatorship. The peasants were thrown off their land and turned into highly exploited casual labourers for the plantations. On July 21, wives of the arrested demonstrators protested against the detentions. More than 800 people occupied the Muara Enim police station.

Twelve STN activists, including two organisers, remain in detention. They have been tortured by the police.

The injured detainees have been denied medical treatment. Local authorities have ordered the arrest of all STN members, as well as anybody wearing red and anybody with a university student ID card.

Students protest at UGM and PT Pagilaran

Detik - July 24, 2000

Bagus Kurniawan/BI & LM, Jakarta -- Approximately 80 students from Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta under the auspices of Student's Solidarity for Pagilaran Peasants (SMUPP) have staged a protest against their own University. The group has demanded the University resolve the prolonged land dispute between local peasants and PT Pagilaran and that it deal with human rights abuses and intimidation towards the peasants during the dispute.

SMUPP believe the University, which is the commissioner for PT Pagilaran, is directly involved with the case which involves land now used for tea production. The students marched from the University grounds to the PT Pagilaran offices today carrying large banners reading: "Give Back Peasant's Stolen Rights", "Provide Proper Compensation", "Stop Military Involvement", Stop Violence" and more.

The protests organised around the issue so far have lead to the arrest of 19 people who are being held at the local Batang police station. The charges against them range from damage to property and mass provocation. Family members of the jailed peasants are afraid to return to their homes and anticipate intimidation.

The marching students demanded those detained be set free, claiming the charges were bogus. They further demanded that military involvement in the dispute be ended and that the University & PT Pagalaran give the peasants appropriate compensation.

Yogyakarta land dispute continues

Detik - July 24, 2000

Bagus Kurniawan/BI & LM, Yogyakarta -- A spokesman for PT Pagilaran, embroiled in a land dispute with the University of Gadjah Mada and local peasants, has denied illegally seizing the peasant's land, stating that the peasants have illegally occupied the company's land and damaged crops.

Ir. Hari Saksono, Director of the company, met with Detik at his office in Yogyakarta today. According to Hari, the disputed land in Batang, Central Java, is part of 1,131 hectares given to Gajah Mada University by the Indonesian government.

He said the company accepted the land from the government in 1957 and that it was not, as the peasants have claimed, taken illegally by PT Pagilaran after the 30 September 1965 coup. He added that the land itself was owned by a Dutch company, P & T Lands (NV Maatschappij ter Exploitie der Pamanoekan en Tjiasem Landen), which was later nationalized by the newly born Republic.

Hari continued to explain that PT Pagilaran had received the permit to run a tea plantation from the Ministry of Agriculture on 8 February 1964. The permit was then renewed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs on 28 June 1983 and allowed PT Pagilaran to fully manage and control the 1,131 hectares of land until 31 December 2008. Since the size of the land has not changed since 1964, Hari believed the company has done nothing wrong. The size of the venture means that it has come into contact with several villages, including Keteleng/Pagilaran, Bismo, Kalisari, Bawang and Godang Batang.

Hari explained that, so far, only 700 hectares of the land has been used in the plantation project while the remainder has yet to be cultivated. He said the uncultivated land was occupied by the peasants who regarded it as their own. "So it is false to accuse us of snatching their land, because they haven't got any substantial evidence," he added.

Hari continued to defend his company saying that they never ordered the Police to arrest the 19 peasants currently detained in Batang. He said the company has never reverted to violence in the dispute." It was the peasants who were damaging the land, they have been claiming land and planting different crops in between the tea and coffee plantations," he stated.

A meeting between Sinarhadi, Field Manager of PT Pagilaran, representatives of the five villages and the Chief of Police from the Batang township was not successful. Representatives of the villages are insisting the disputed land is theirs and that PT Pagilaran only has the right to control the 700 hectares currently in use.

"We have suffered a great deal due to this land dispute. The looting of tea leaves from the plantations has cost a lot and the peasants have damaged the land. They are also destroying 85% of our polyclone plants which are important to our research and it requires 4-5 years for the plants to recover," said Hari.

As reported earlier by Detik, the issue has been taken up by students of the University of Gadjah Mada who formed the Student's Solidarity for Pagilaran Peasants (SMUPP) and staged a longmarch today demanding the university resolve the case and put an end to the intimidation of peasants and deal with human rights abuses.

East Timor

Rebels 'put a price' on Anzac heads

Sydney Morning Herald - July 28, 2000

Mark Dodd in Suai and David Lague in Bangkok -- A price has been put on the heads of Australian and New Zealand peacekeepers in East Timor, with the ears of the young Kiwi soldier killed on Monday cut off as a bounty trophy, senior military sources said yesterday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, senior United Nations officers told the Herald that a bounty of between 1.5 and 2 million rupiah ($280 and $380) was likely to have been paid to members of the Laksaur militia believed responsible for the death of 24-year-old Private Leonard Manning. "It was a bounty. Payment was involved," said one senior officer.

Militia sources in Indonesian West Timor had provided information on the bounty, the officers said. The reward money was probably being offered by senior pro-integration officials, many of them wealthy from their years of holding political and military favour in East Timor when it was under Indonesian control. The bounty was an incentive to keep the integrationist cause alive, and held great propaganda value for the pro-Jakarta movement.

Australia announced yesterday it will reinforce its peacekeeping force in East Timor with four Black Hawk helicopters and about 100 extra troops. The move to support the 1,500 Australian soldiers already serving there follows Monday's border gun battle between a New Zealand patrol and what are believed to have been professionally trained militia raiders from Indonesian territory.

A range of Indonesian military equipment has been found near the attack site, close to the hamlet of Nana, north-west of Suai. This find includes standard-issue Indonesian camouflage fatigues, including a shirt bearing the special forces Kopassus patch, a jungle knife, a photocopied map of the border, belt kit, nylon rope, clove cigarettes and washing powder. Empty shell casings also collected were consistent with rifles used by militia and the Indonesian military.

Australia's decision to return the Black Hawks shows there are fears that better trained and armed militia groups, with backing from elements in the Indonesian military, now pose a serious threat to security in East Timor.

It will increase pressure on Australia's stretched military helicopter force because the Army's 36 Black Hawks are crucial to Sydney Olympics security, Bougainville peace monitoring and potential deployments to South Pacific trouble spots.

Army sources said all Black Hawks sent to East Timor with the Australian-led Interfet force last year were withdrawn when the UN took over in February because the helicopters were needed for the Olympics.

The Olympic security plan includes about 25 of the troop-carrying Black Hawks. "They are now faced with a pretty delicate balancing act," an Army aviation expert said last night. But a spokesman for the Minister for Defence, Mr Moore, said that sending four helicopters back to East Timor would have "no significant impact" on security for the Olympic Games in September.

Brigadier Duncan Lewis, the Australian commander of the 2,000- strong force of New Zealand, Australian, Fijian, Irish and Nepalese peacekeepers based along the border, spoke yesterday for the first time of the possibility of rogue Indonesian military elements in West Timor.

Indonesia's President Wahid has said that rogue military loyal to the ousted president Soeharto were responsible for recent violence in the Malukus, Aceh and East Timor. "There could be [rogue elements]," Brigadier Lewis said. "If there are elements who hold a different view to the central government then it's quite a concern and very dangerous if that situation exists."

He expected more militia attacks directed at the Australian and New Zealand positions involving militia with a high level of military expertise. Two previous grenade attacks on Australian peacekeepers around Maliana on May 28 and June 21 also involved highly trained militia, he said.

Brigadier Lewis has compiled a list of eight integration militia identified as being involved in Monday's attack and has asked the Indonesian military to act on the information.

Mr Moore and the Foreign Minister, Mr Downer, both denied yesterday that the Black Hawks were being sent in response to Private Manning's death. Mr Moore said the Chief of the Defence Force, Admiral Chris Barrie, had advised the Federal Government to send helicopters to East Timor after a visit to the peacekeepers in June.

Australian field commanders have been complaining for months that the withdrawal of all of the armed, night-flying helicopters had been a blow to ground troops operating over an extended area in rugged country with few roads.

Indonesia court frees notorious militia leader

Associated Press - July 27, 2000 (abridged)

Jakarta -- Just hours after the UN Security Council called on Jakarta to crack down on anti-independence gangs conducting raids in East Timor, an Indonesian court Wednesday threw out criminal charges against a prominent militia leader.

The official Antara news agency said the district court in Kupang, in Indonesian West Timor, freed Eurico Guterres after dismissing charges that he had illegally carried weapons.

Presiding Judge Adelbert Tobing said the charges filed by Indonesian police against Guterres had been "vague." He said it wasn't clear whether Guterres, who is among hundreds of other militiamen sheltering in West Timor, was a civilian or a part of Indonesian military.

Guterres, head of the pro-Indonesian Aitarak militia, was arrested in Kupang in April. Possession of automatic weapons is a felony in Indonesia and can carry a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.

The militia groups have been accused of murdering hundreds of people in East Timor before and after a UN-supervised ballot on August 30 in which the territory's people voted for independence from Indonesian rule. Guterres' Aitarak militia was based in Dili, East Timor's capital, and is blamed for much of the bloody mayhem.

Killing pushes UN to drop plan for early withdrawal

Sydney Morning Herald - July 26, 2000

Mark Riley, New York -- The United Nations had begun closed-door discussions with key diplomats to bring forward the withdrawal of peacekeepers from East Timor before the death of a New Zealand soldier in a gun battle on Monday.

Those plans, which diplomats say would have seen a gradual withdrawal begin before the end of the year, were immediately shelved when news of the killing came through.

Diplomatic sources said an early withdrawal was now politically impossible, and the UN would instead beef up its presence in areas along the West Timor border, where armed militia are known to be hiding.

One Western diplomat involved in the private discussions said meetings had begun after a recent visit to the UN's New York headquarters by the head of the UN Administration in East Timor, Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello.

He told senior members of the UN secretariat that the security situation in the territory was now stable and that planning should begin to bring forward the mission's withdrawal. It is understood Mr Vieira de Mello has been lobbying to move to another high-placed UN position, possibly in Geneva.

The diplomat said the discussions involved representatives of several Security Council member states, including the United States. "There is no doubt that the plan has been dropped for the present," the diplomat said. "It would be absolutely unacceptable to begin talking publicly about winding back the peacekeeping effort when soldiers are being killed."

A spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, confirmed that the assessed security threat across East Timor had been downgraded to low in many areas before Monday's shooting.

The head of the UN peacekeeping department, Mr Bernard Miyet, is due to deliver an updated report on East Timor to the Security Council tomorrow. The UN spokesman said it had been intended for the report to reveal an improving security situation. It was being rewritten yesterday to show a vastly different story.

The Security Council has issued a mandate for peacekeepers to remain in East Timor until at least the end of January, and has indicated the mission could be extended in a reduced form for up to a year after that. The timetable suggested after Mr Vieira De Mello's recent New York visit would have brought that plan forward significantly.

Diplomatic sources said the plan for an expedited withdrawal had been immediately embraced by the UN's peacekeeping department, which is facing an international manning crisis. The department has suffered deep staffing and funding cuts under a restructuring of the UN administration.

Killing further damages Australian ties with Indonesia

Sydney Morning Herald - July 26, 2000

The killing and mutilation of a New Zealand peacekeeper in East Timor threatens further damage to Australia's fragile ties with Indonesia after the Howard Government yesterday demanded that Jakarta stop militia raids from West Timor.

The Prime Minister, Mr Howard, said yesterday that Jakarta had a "responsibility" to tighten control over the border between East Timor and Indonesian West Timor.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Downer, said last night that he would raise the cross-border raids with his Indonesian counterpart, Dr Alwi Shihab, at the ASEAN Regional Forum security talks which begin in Bangkok today. "Ultimately, the only people who can bring the militias in West Timor under control are the Indonesians," he said. Dr Shihab condemned the killing and promised an investigation.

East Timorese independence leader Mr Xanana Gusmao and the United Nations administrator in Dili, Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, condemned the killing, and warned that the backing of violence in East Timor and other parts of the archipelago by factions of the Indonesian military appeared to be an attempt to destabilise the Government of President Abdurrahman Wahid.

The New Zealand soldier, Private Leonard Manning, 24, was shot dead in a clash with up to 15 militia on Monday near the East Timorese town of Suai, close to the where the New Zealand peacekeepers are based. His body was then mutilated and stripped of his rifle and ammunition.

He was the first peacekeeper killed in action in East Timor, and the first New Zealander killed on active service since the Vietnam War, which prompted an angry protest from New Zealand's Foreign Minister, Mr Phil Goff.

In a sign that the Indonesian military was behind Monday's clash, the Australian commander of peacekeepers on the border, Brigadier Duncan Lewis, said the militia fighters appeared to be professionally trained.

"They exhibited a level of military training which we haven't seen at this stage," he told ABC Radio. "They appear to have received a good deal of military training. They acted in an aggressive and a competent manner, from a military point of view."

There are fears the fall of the Wahid Government, leading to renewed power for the Indonesian military in Jakarta, could bring more militia violence to East Timor, where 1,500 Australian troops are deployed in some of the most dangerous areas near the border.

Mr Gusmao said in Bangkok that clandestine support for anti- independence militiamen was continuing in East Timor, and that similar tactics were being pursued on the eastern Indonesian island of Ambon, which has been racked by religious violence.

He said Private Manning's death was the work of people opposed to reconciliation. "That is why I hope the international community and the United Nations will send a clear message to Indonesia, to the Indonesian military, to dismantle the militias," he said.

Mr Vieira de Mello, also in Bangkok, expressed anger that more had not been done to contain militia activity. "We've been saying for months that the border should have been sealed long ago," he said. "These extremists, these thugs, these killers should have been disarmed, demobilised and removed from refugee camps, removed from the vicinity of the border."

Mr Howard said the soldier's death was a reminder that East Timor was still dangerous for Australian troops there. The Minister for Defence, Mr Moore, urged Jakarta to "stamp out" military activity in West Timor.

[Reporters: David Lague in Canberra, Craig Skehan in Bangkok and Mark Dodd in Dili.]

Unanswered questions on transition

Green Left Weekly - July 26, 2000

Jon Land -- As East Timor moves towards full independence under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), the obligations and conduct of the UN, international aid organisations and foreign governments continue to come under scrutiny.

In late June, UNTAET head Sergio de Mello informed the UN Security Council that he expects elections for an East Timorese constituent assembly to take place between August and December next year.

For several months after the establishment of UNTAET last October, a major criticism from East Timorese political and community organisations was the lack of consultation by UNTAET and the large international aid organisations.

The recent "Timorisation" of UNTAET through the creation of the National Council, an expansion of the existing National Consultative Council, and the Transitional Cabinet give the East Timorese greater participation in the administration of East Timor during the transition period. It is envisaged that the National Council and the cabinet will be involved in establishing an East Timorese civil administration and in discussions about what type of government and constitution East Timor will adopt (detailed discussion on the constitution is unlikely to begin until after the National Council for Timorese Resistance conference scheduled for late August).

Since April, UNTAET officials have been stating that East Timor is passing from the "emergency phase" to the "reconstruction and development" phase. But the conditions throughout many parts of East Timor indicate that there are many problems left over from the emergency phase yet to be resolved. The insufficient infrastructure development and inadequate health, education, housing and employment programs are fuelling social tensions.

Non-development

A recent UNTAET report that evaluates the humanitarian aid process from September to May detailed some of its achievements and failures. An appraisal of the UNTAET report by the Dili-based La'o Hamutuk (the East Timor Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis) on July 17 noted that "the report fails to link its various findings. The Phase I report, for example, states that 98 per cent of primary school children are back in school. It later notes, however, that in many areas of the territory, most school buildings still lack roofing. But it never asks how the lack of roofing would serve to undermine the validity of its earlier claim."

La'o Hamutuk adds that the UNTAET report "says nothing about actual means of transportation. In many areas of the country, there is still an almost total lack of local public transportation. Such a lack is not only a reflection of the East Timor's difficult state, but also contributes to it as it inhibits economic recovery."

According to La'o Hamutuk, "One of the most significant issues raised was the lack of sufficient communication between the United Nations system, international aid agencies and the East Timorese people. Unrealised promises made by some of the humanitarian agencies only served to aggravate the resulting tensions. It is for this reason, among others, that the report calls upon UNTAET `to monitor intensely every activity of humanitarian assistance.

"Amazingly, according to the report, UNTAET did not monitor aid distribution at all (although there were coordination efforts through the Humanitarian Pillar).

This contributed to duplication of aid delivery in some areas, while other areas were left lacking."

The La'o Hamutuk article highlights, "Neither the Humanitarian Assistance and Emergency Relief nor the Government and Political Administration `pillars' of UNTAET, the report states, `have assumed responsibility over an overall transition plan from relief to development'. Similarly, the assessment contends that most United Nations agencies have no exit or transition strategy."

Unless these and other issues are addressed -- such as the slow pace with the release of funds from the Trust Fund for East Timor administered by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank -- the new East Timor administration will inherit political and social crises which have their roots in the current transitional phase.

Official briefs from UNTAET reveal worrying statistics. The UNTAET Humanitarian Pillar Situation Report for June 30-July 5 revealed that:

the World Health Organisation reported that there were 1000 cases of malaria each week, and one death from dengue haemorrhagic fever, indicating an estimated unseen caseload of 200;

Oxfam, a British non-government organisation, will hand over its urban water and sanitation support activities to the transitional administration at the end of September. Oxfam is concerned that, as a result, water and sanitation staff will be reduced from 40 to five for each district (almost all water sanitation and irrigation projects have been handled by NGOs); and

Dili-based NGOs are gravely concerned about the public health risk emanating from the vast quantity of rubble in Dili contaminated with deadly asbestos. NGOs are calling for a halt to the clean-up programs until a public information campaign is launched and the internationally ratified practice for the safe handling and removing of asbestos is adhered to.

Re-engagement

The UN peacekeeping force in East Timor has begun downsizing. This will affect its capacity to support reconstruction programs. The departure of the force's logistics support group will affect the peacekeeping force's ability to support UN agencies and NGOs with transport and material handling by an estimated 80%. The additional expense will be borne by aid organisations.

While the security situation throughout East Timor is stable, the pillar report noted that "the border [with West Timor] is still tense with more sporadic activity expected. Humanitarian agencies have been advised not to travel after dark."

The push for the reduction in the peacekeeping force has been led by the US and Australian governments. They claim it is necessary to reduce the expense of maintaining forces in East Timor and that security is no longer a problem.

Their true motive is to enable Washington and Canberra to "re- engage" with the Indonesian military. Similarly, both governments remain reluctant to place real pressure on the Indonesian government and military over the crisis facing 120,000 refugees in West Timor and the activities of the pro-Jakarta militia who operate in West Timor with impunity.

The meaning of reconciliation

Green Left Weekly - July 26, 2000

Vanja Tanaja, Dili -- On July 19, an Indonesian investigation team arrived here to interview witnesses to the worst atrocities that took place from April to September last year. These include the Liquica massacre in April, the massacre of refugees and two priests at the Suai Catholic Church, the invasion and burning of Bishop Carlos Belo's residence, the murder of refugees in resistance leader Manuel Carrascalao's Dili house and the murder of Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes in September in Dili's Becora area.

The interviews are related to the cases being prosecuted by the attorney-general's office in Jakarta against sections of the Indonesian military.

The Liquica area, an hour's drive west of Dili, used to be a popular tourist spot.

In April, Liquica made headlines around the world after the slaughter of refugees sheltering in Father Rafael's house by the Besi Merah Putih militia. The bodies were disposed of in Lagua, a lagoon in Maubara, half an hour's drive west of Liquica.

There is a lot of talk in East Timor about reconciliation. But places like Liquica, Lagua and the cavernous ruins in Dili and other towns are stark reminders of what was allowed to occur here.

Before the August referendum, there was no shortage of media coverage of the militia's threats to carry out a scorched earth policy in East Timor. Yet the May 5 agreement signed in New York left security in the hands of the Indonesian security forces, despite evidence of its cooperation with the pro-integration militias.

The capitalist powers who control the United Nations did nothing until a mass movement around the world made it an unsustainable position. The posters distributed by the UN, pledging to stay after the ballot, proved to be lies. Its officials were evacuated to Australia.

The people of East Timor are now being preached to by religious and political leaders to forgive those who participated in the attacks upon them and to reconcile with them. They are advised by highly paid trainers and consultants on how to "manage" anger and recognise the signs of trauma in themselves.

The destruction of East Timor was immense. Some political leaders, even from the radical spectrum of politics here, argue that it would be unrealistic to put those responsible for war crimes on trial, because Australia, the US and other countries which supported Indonesia would also have to be put on trial.

In early July, a team arrived from Indonesia to list Indonesian assets left behind, such as the airport and the Hotel Mahkota (now a burnt out shell). The people's response to the team's visit, reported in the Timor Post, was hostile.

To ask a people to forgive and forget after such immense destruction is to ask a great deal. Yet, visits by militia leaders, notably Eurico Guterres, are hosted by the UN transitional administration and suspected murderers involved in the violence last September still have not been tried in the East Timorese justice system.

Violent beatings and other attacks upon returning pro-autonomy supporters show the anger and resentment of a people whose lives have been tragically altered by last September's events. A man and his son, accused of being pro-autonomy supporters, were hospitalised last month in Same after a severe beating. A returning militia member was seriously injured in April when a crowd wielding machetes attacked him in the Pantai Kelapa area of western Dili.

This sort of rough justice will continue if the East Timorese people's anger is not channelled into a politically organised campaign to demand an international trial of Indonesian generals and the top echelons of the militias.

There is an Indonesian troop build-up in West Papua and the creation of militias similar to those in East Timor, and there is evidence of Indonesian military involvement in attacks on Christians in Ambon. In this light, the regional and international impact of campaign to try the Indonesian war criminals and their backers can help prevent the experience of East Timor being repeated.

Chilly welcome for Indonesian investigators

Sydney Morning Herald - July 24, 2000

Mark Dodd, Dili -- An Indonesian judicial team in East Timor to investigate violence by Jakarta's military and its local allies last year faced a hostile reception at the weekend.

Many ordinary Timorese believe that Indonesia, with no tradition of an impartial judiciary, is incapable of providing justice. "There seems to be cynicism by the people of East Timor concerning 'Black September'. It seems there is a game being played between the TNI [Indonesian military] and the Attorney- General's department," a journalist from The Timor Post said.

The Indonesians are gathering evidence on five incidents of murder and mass murder around the August 30 vote on self- determination. However, they said they had yet to question Eurico Guterres, one of East Timor's most notorious militia commanders, about the massacre of 12 people at the Carrascalao house in Dili.

Several East Timorese witnesses say they feel so strongly they are prepared to travel to Jakarta to testify -- a dangerous offer given that most of the militia leaders and military officers behind the bloodshed live freely in Indonesia.

UN officials in Dili say as many as 1,500 independence supporters were killed in two weeks of unchecked mayhem after East Timor voted to end 24 years of Indonesian occupation.

It has also emerged that some in the UN mission in East Timor fear that pursuing militia leaders would harm attempts to heal relations between the two countries.

The independence leader Jose Xanana Gusmao, who is expected to be East Timor's first democratically elected president, has also raised privately the possibility of blanket pardons for militia leaders. By contrast, Bishop Carlos Belo has been a staunch advocate of legal proceedings.

Political analysts said that highly publicised arrests and trials of militia and military leaders would be likely to jeopardise attempts to secure the return of some 120,000 East Timorese still in Indonesian military-controlled camps in West Timor. With an eye on elections within two years, they say 120,000 is also a lot of votes.

UNHCR withdraws from Betun camp in West Timor

Lusa - July 24, 2000

East Timor -- The United Nations High Commission for Refugees announced Friday that it has withdrawn its personnel from the Betun refugee camp in Indonesian West Timor. UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told media in Geneva that the decision followed violent incidents carried out by armed militias opposed to the repatriation of East Timorese refugees.

In one recent case, militiamen beat one refugee from East Timor and robbed several others, he said. A 70-strong Indonesian military detachment witnessed the incident but did not intervene.

The UNHCR's repatriation and assistance program for the 125,000 East Timorese refugees still in West Timor has thus been suspended. The UN agency had on Thursday threatened to withdraw from the Indonesian half of Timor island if the Jakarta government does not put an end to the militia violence.

Legal activist fears safety of Timorese witnesses

Indonesian Observer - July 24, 2000

Jakarta -- A respected legal aid activist says the government must guarantee the security of witnesses who are scheduled to testify later this year on atrocities conducted by pro-Jakarta militias and the Indonesian Defense Forces in East Timor last year.

A joint team of police and military officials and staff from the Attorney General's Office is currently in East Timor to question those who witnessed the carnage which erupted before and after the territory on August 30, 1999, voted overwhelmingly to secede from Indonesia.

Reports issued in January by the United Nations and an Indonesian investigation team said several high-ranking TNI officials were responsible for much of the unrest.

Human rights lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis yesterday expressed concern that witnesses of the destruction and murders may be threatened if they testify at a trial of the officers, which is tentatively scheduled to take place in Indonesia at a date yet to be determined.

He said the joint team may find it difficult to persuade the East Timorese witnesses to come to Jakarta. "The problem is whether the team will be able to present all of the witnesses in Indonesia to testify at the trial. At this point, I suggest the government should make it a policy to ensure their safety, so they will be free from fear and can return to East Timor soon after testifying."

Lubis was speaking at a seminar entitled 'Following Up the Investigation of the Crimes Against Humanity in East Timor'. He said the government should instruct police to guarantee the safety of witnesses.

Lubis was a member of the Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Abuses in East Timor (KPP HAM), which was formed by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) last year to investigate the post-ballot violence.

The lawyer said it would be understandable if the wheels of justice take a long time to roll forward, as the government is still facing a lot of problems in various regions, such as the sectarian clashes in the Malukus, and separatism in Aceh and West Papua.

The joint team following up KPP HAM's report is led by M.A. Rachman, who is head of the general crimes department at the Attorney General's Office.

Members of the team arrived in the East Timor capital of Dili on Wednesday to seek evidence and witnesses. They were welcomed and heavily guarded by staff from the United Nations Temporary Administration in East Timor.

The team will spend a week investigating five major cases that featured prominently in KPP HAM's report. They are: the April 6 massacre at a church in Liquisa, the April 17 attack on Manuel Carrascalao's residence, the September 5 attack on the Dili diocese, the September 6 massacre at Suai Church, and the September 25 murder of Dutch reporter Sanders Thoenes.

Lubis said the trials of the errant military officials and militia thugs don't necessarily have to be held in special human rights courts. Some activists have expressed concern that when Indonesia establishes special human rights courts later this year, they will not be able to examine cases of the past.

But Lubis said the defendants can be put on trial anywhere. "It's easy. The trials could even be conducted in a regular Indonesian court. We don't need to defend the principle of past cases when considering how to sentence those who committed human rights abuses. We already have our own Criminal Code which can be applied to sentence them."

Lubis expressed concern that the joint team may be biased in favor of the rogue generals. He said the team must investigate evidence that military officials committed crimes, rather than just concentrate on reports that some officials were guilty of failing to put a stop to the unrest.

"The question is whether the joint team is willing to study and investigate the violations that were categorized as criminal actions, rather than criminal negligence. That's what the investigation is supposed to do."

Lubis said the team has been making very sluggish progress because it contains police and military officials. "I have serious doubts concerning the team's independent stance as long as there are TNI and police members in it. If they still go forward with that composition, it will be impossible to avoid bias."

IMF official outlines pitfalls in East Timor aid effort

Dow Jones Newswires - July 24, 2000

Damian Milverton, Washington -- The international effort to repair the devastation in East Timor is meeting with some success but at the same time is exposing many of the pitfalls in development economics.

For Luis Valdivieso, mission chief for the International Monetary Fund, the relief effort is helping, but he shares the frustration felt by many in former Portuguese and Indonesian colony.

Much of that frustration seems to stem from the fact that for more than six months, East Timor was administered from the UN headquarters in New York.

The UN, the World Bank, the IMF and a host of humanitarian agencies sought to offer hope to a newly independent nation that was conceived amid bloody reprisals by Indonesia-backed militias.

"Everybody was trying to be helpful but, in the process, a number of things were omitted, a number of shortcuts were taken, and there weren't structures of government and social participation," Valdivieso said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires.

"Everything was being done on an urgent basis, but there was no difference between important and urgent," he said. "So there was some over-reaction, but compared with other post-conflict cases ... we are a step ahead."

UN hands fiscal responsibility to Timorese

Valdivieso and his IMF team have completed a report to be presented in coming weeks to the donor nations supporting the relief effort in East Timor that outlines how their money has been spent, and what impact this aid has had. He estimated that around 80% of the $150 million in aid pledged to East Timor has been delivered, with the rest to be paid out before the end of the year.

This money has helped restore some basic services -- electricity, water, sanitation and health care -- and underwritten the formation of new fiscal and monetary policy agencies, the precursors to an East Timorese finance ministry and central bank respectively. The new Central Fiscal Authority has assumed responsibility for directing the funds earmarked for East Timor, a development Valdivieso believes will be crucial to removing the delays in delivering more effectively the aid promised by donor nations.

But there is as yet no semblance of a functioning government in East Timor and the humanitarian phase of the UN mission will continue until the end of the year, six months longer than originally expected.

A key factor in the delays in rebuilding East Timor, Valdivieso's assessment will show, has been that around $30 million in reconstruction financing has flowed at a trickle, constricted by UN authorization procedures. Spending decisions, he said, were until this month routed through UN headquarters, which managed a trust fund of donor's contributions.

Red tape choked spending, marred dollar's debut

The approval procedures were "typical of a UN mission, but not typical of a government of a country," Valdivieso said. By slowing the flow of official spending in East Timor, the UN unwittingly hampered efforts to win support for East Timor's new official currency, the US dollar.

Valdivieso and UN officials remain convinced the dollar will become more widely accepted in East Timor once the UN and the East Timorese administration pump more official funds into the economy.

Even so, a new problem is already apparent as the UN and transitional East Timorese administration finally begin the process of rebuilding public services on a permanent basis.

Oddly for a nation where unemployment is estimated at a staggering 80% of the working-age population, too many people have jobs. The well-intentioned enthusiasm of humanitarian agencies -- including the UN and the Red Cross -- has seen some 5,000 teachers, for example, placed on stipends paid for by the aid agencies and nongovernmental organizations.

Under the budget put forward for the fiscal year that began July 1, it is simply impossible to employ all the teachers and health care workers receiving stipends from these agencies. "So, it's not expected that they will be hiring all of the people who have been receiving stipends," Valdivieso said. "The wage was also much higher than had envisaged," he added.

Too many paid too much while revenue falls short

Valdivieso and the IMF have estimated that the stipends and early wage payments to teachers are up to 50% more than the average teacher in Indonesia receives on a monthly basis. Additionally, East Timorese are yet to begin paying for public utilities or pay much in the way of taxes.

Accordingly, the IMF's early attempts at overseeing an orderly budget process have been thwarted. "We were expecting $4 million-$5 million in revenues in the first half of the year. It is likely that only $2 million will materialize in the first six months," Valdivieso said.

"Why? Because not all the taxes that were recommended were adopted. Second, there was a delay in introducing user fees for public utilities.

They're still not in place," he said. "The service tax, which was supposed to produce quite a bit of money in the sense that it affects hotels, restaurants -- mostly used by foreigners -- was only approved June 30. So it will take a few weeks still to start collecting it," the IMF official explained.

Progress is being made, however, Valdivieso pointed to the outline of a cabinet with eight portfolios. Initially, four of these departments will be managed by the UN, the other four by the East Timorese.

Additionally, Valdivieso and the IMF have drawn up comprehensive budgets for this fiscal year and the next two periods.

Accordingly, Valdivieso believes the international effort to aid East Timor should be viewed as a success. "The first six months had all sorts of little problems here and there. We cannot say it was a complete disaster but it could have better," Valdivieso acknowledged.

Government/politics

Pro-Wahid rally falls flat

Associated Press - July 30, 2000

Daniel Cooney, Jakarta -- A rally meant to bolster flagging fortunes of Indonesia's beleaguered head of state fell flat Saturday when his vice president failed to show up.

Billed as a show of unity between President Abdurrahman Wahid and his deputy, Megawati Sukarnoputri, the lackluster gathering drew a far smaller crowd than predicted.

Megawati's absence fueled speculation of a rift within Wahid's 10-month-old coalition ahead of a crucial meeting of the nation's highest legislative body, the People's Consultative Assembly, which can dismiss the president.

The assembly elected Wahid over Megawati last October after he promised to institute sweeping reforms to fix deep problems across the sprawling Southeast Asian nation that include separatist and religious violence.

Political analyst Dede Oetomo said it was clear Megawati was moving away from Wahid. "There is definitely a rift," he said. "It's going to make it very difficult for Wahid to lead effectively without her support."

Jakarta's main sports stadium, the site for Saturday's rally, was less than one-third full. Flyers handed out on the capital's streets days before had called on members of Wahid's massive Nahdlatul Ulama Muslim organization and supporters of Megawati's powerful Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle to attend. Fewer than 20,000 turned up.

Rally organizers said the vice president was attending another meeting in the western Javanese city of Bandung. Hours before the rally, the Indonesian Observer newspaper quoted Megawati, the daughter of Indonesia's founding President Sukarno, as saying national leaders should not "involve the masses in politics."

While Wahid has reined in the once powerful military, the crisis-ridden economy remains stalled and bloody separatist and sectarian conflicts rage in several provinces. Wahid's maverick style of administration and his habit of making contradictory statements have fueled discontent within the political elite.

Megawati's party has been angered by Wahid's decision to fire one of its top officials from the Cabinet and his refusal to tell the parliament why. Disgruntled senior lawmakers have promised not to launch impeachment proceedings against Wahid during the assembly's annual session, which starts on August 7.

Wahid made a brief speech Saturday laced with details of Indonesia's struggle against Dutch colonial rule half a century ago. He urged the nation to come together again. "I am confident that we will prove as soon as possible our national unity with the end of violence in Aceh, Maluku and Irian Jaya," he said in reference to Indonesia's main troublespots.

Some legislators are worried about Wahid's state of health. The 59-year-old leader has suffered a series of strokes in recent years and is almost blind. During the nationally televised gathering, Wahid repeatedly fell asleep as Muslim clerics prayed for peace.

Collision course

Far Eastern Economic Review - August 3, 2000

John McBeth, Jakarta -- The sight of an elected president defying members of parliament who helped put him in office is hardly an advertisement for democracy. By refusing to answer MPs' questions as to why he fired two cabinet members, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has thrown down a gauntlet to MPs ahead of a crucial session next month of the People's Consultative Assembly, or MPR.

While Wahid is expected to survive that session, there are other threats to his presidency that could bring him down by the end of the year unless he dramatically improves his relations with parliament.

Despite the current anger among MPs, the MPR session at which Wahid will appear in mid-August does not currently have the power to censure him. But a decree being prepared by the assembly's working committee could change that, making it possible for the MPR to convene a special session that could move against the president. Wahid could also be threatened by lower-house moves to investigate alleged financial irregularities involving the presidential palace. Should Wahid remain defensive, the hearings could trigger formal proceedings to hold him accountable, again at a special session of the 700-strong MPR.

The danger for Wahid is that a special session would compel him to deliver an accountability speech, the rejection of which would amount to a vote of no-confidence from the assembly and make his presidency virtually untenable. It was just such a vote that forced Wahid's predecessor, B.J. Habibie, to withdraw his candidacy in last October's presidential race.

The numbers are already stacked against Wahid. A majority of the 500-strong House of Representatives, parliament's lower house, supported calls that he explain his abrupt dismissal in April of State Enterprise Minister Laksamana Sukardi and Trade and Industry Minister Jusuf Kalla.

In his July 20 appearance before the house, Wahid called the removals a "political decision." But he refused to explain them, and instead challenged the constitutionality of the proceedings. Wahid later apologized for this brush-off and offered to say more in a closed session with MPs. But a further majority rejected his explanation, sustaining the mood of confrontation ahead of the August 7-18 MPR session, where Wahid will be required to make a progress report on his 10 months in office.

Similar moves could attend the lower-house inquiry into the diversion of 35 billion rupiah ($3.9 million) from Bulog, the national food-logistics agency, and the palace's handling of a $2 million donation from the sultan of Brunei, ostensibly for Aceh relief operations. If the house decides the president has violated state guidelines on eradicating corruption, it can issue him with a warning, followed three months later by a second one if the first is not heeded. A month after that, the house can convene a special MPR session.

Political leaders insist they are not out for Wahid's blood -- at least not yet. At a recent meeting of his party's central executive board, MPR chairman and National Mandate Party leader Amien Rais, one of Wahid's bitterest rivals, noted that public opinion still didn't favour sacking the president. Although no- one will say so publicly, there are fears that if Wahid is forced to quit, members of Nahdlatul Ulama, the 35-million-strong Muslim organization that he headed for 15 years, will revolt and cause unrest in Java.

Politicians say this is Wahid's last chance. "The message is,'You'd better watch out,'" says Bara Hasibuan, deputy secretary-general of the National Mandate Party. "All we want," adds house Vice-Speaker Tosari Widjaj, "is for the president to get back on track. But if he can't, then the nation is paying too high a price."

If Wahid were ultimately toppled, Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri would probably assume the presidency, with Akbar Tanjung, the colourless but politically shrewd house speaker and Golkar Party leader, taking over as vice-president. That's the line-up most analysts had expected from last October's election, before the political engineers got together and decided the near-blind Wahid would make a more acceptable president.

What a difference nine months makes. Wahid was chosen because Muslims weren't comfortable with Megawati, whose Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle, or PDI-P, won the highest number of votes in last year's elections. Now, according to senior PDI-P parliamentary official Herry Achmadi, even some of the more radical Muslim leaders have become so exasperated with Wahid that they are telling the PDI-P they can live with Megawati after all.

Wahid's removal of the two ministers and the more recent detention of central-bank governor Syahril Sabirin are seen as nakedly political acts aimed at paving the way for the president's own appointees. Indeed, his sacking of the principled Sukardi, a close aide of Megawati, has led to Wahid's estrangement from his vice-president.

Then there's the alleged misuse of Bulog funds, the Brunei "donation" -- which Acehnese officials say they have never seen -- and more-recent published reports hinting at a shady sugar deal involving some of Wahid's closest associates. Politicians say parliament also has documents pointing to irregularities in the spending of the president's discretionary fund, a pool of money earmarked exclusively for rural projects.

Wahid has been in increasing trouble as well for unguarded remarks. In a statement he later sought to deny, he told a forum in Bali in early July that he had approved the arrest of several unidentified legislators who he claimed had been stirring religious strife in the Moluccas. Days earlier he had informed a group of visiting American editors that "thousands" of his political foes would be arrested in Jakarta on July 15 for inciting unrest.

For a man who just months ago was seen as a champion of democratic rule, Wahid appears increasingly at risk of suffering the fate of his predecessor, Habibie, though his attorney- general, Marzuki Darusman, says that "if he goes down, then it will be because of the economy, not politics. Darusman feels the president is still in search of a formula by which to govern. Indeed, Wahid has told friends he knows he's doing things wrongly. But as his July 20 appearance in parliament showed, tempering his idiosyncratic behaviour may be a daunting task.

Adds a veteran politician, now trying to coach the president in better ways of governance: "He's like a cork in a bottle -- he's not intrinsically valuable, but the environment demands that he be there."

Amien gives Wahid three months to buck up

Straits Times - July 29, 2000

Jakarta -- People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais has given President Abdurrahman Wahid up to three months after the August session to beef up the performance of his administration.

"The Indonesian population of 210 million cannot be held hostage by one person named Abdurrahman Wahid. Whether or not he will continue as President will totally depend on the 700-member MPR, as it is stipulated in the democratic process," he told visiting students from various universities at his office.

The students aired their concern that Mr Abdurrahman was causing economic, investment, security and political uncertainties which they feared would lead to the disintegration of the country.

Dr Amien reiterated on Tuesday that the August session of the MPR would not be used to unseat the President. "He should be given a chance for two to three months after August and if he fails to improve himself and the country's economy, the people's mandate entrusted to Mr Abdurrahman should be returned," he told the students. "It's up to the people. In the session, I will only bang my gavel for the democratic processes of the 700 MPR members," he added.

The students rallied at the House complex to demand that the Assembly initiate a vote of no-confidence against the President in the upcoming session. They said the MPR should press Mr Abdurrahman to step down because he and his administration had failed to make any progress in their efforts to cope with the political instability and defuse the economic crisis.

Responding to the demand, Dr Amien said the majority of the MPR members remained critical of the government and that they had the final say on whether the President would continue to stay in power.

But he asserted the MPR has no plans to unseat Mr Abdurrahman from the presidency at the upcoming session. "The Assembly should stick to the rules of the game on how the General Session should be organised and it should respect the Constitution, which stipulates a five-year term in office for the President," he said.

Meanwhile, Irzan Tandjung, an economics professor at the University of Indonesia, warned that the situation in the country would worsen if Mr Abdurrahman was forced to step down in the Assembly session. "There is no guarantee that the political situation will get better if the current government is replaced.

According to intellectuals across the country, the situation will get worse if we have a new government, he said. "My point is that replacing the government will not solve the national crisis," Mr Irzan added.

Gus Dur tightens grip on his party

Straits Times - July 28, 2000

Susan Sim and Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- President Abdurrahman Wahid is taking a leaf from former President Suharto's manual for regime maintenance and cementing his iron grip on the Nation Awakening Party (PKB), the fourth-biggest winner in last year's election.

In a move already criticised as reminiscent of the way Mr Suharto ensured the total loyalty of the Golkar party, Mr Abdurrahman took over as chief of the PKB's advisory council in an uncontested election at the close of the party congress in Surabaya late on Wednesday.

His first job was to pick the party's titular chairman, which he did by ruling out challengers to the incumbent, Mr Matori Abdul Djalil. Mr Matori, who had been in danger of losing his post because of a perceived independent streak, was warned not to pack the executive board with his own supporters and to minimise graft by separating personal funds from party finances.

His continued leadership of the party, which won 51 seats in parliamentary elections last year, would appear to augur well for Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, for he was one of her main supporters during last year's presidential election.

His retention by Mr Abdurrahman, who used to head the almost 40- million strong Nahdlatul Ulama movement from which PKB emerged, is also seen as another of the president's efforts to patch up ties with an increasingly more disapproving Ms Megawati.

Mr Matori had said earlier in the week that he would maintain the party's coalition with her Indonesian Democratic Party -- Struggle (PDI-P) and the military, rather than joining the loose coalition of Islamic parties, the Axis Force, which helped Mr Abdurrahman to victory last year. His purpose in "befriending Ms Megawati" was to consolidate power so that the party could defend the President until his term ended in 2004, he added. But analysts here noted that he had also talked about the Vice- president not being ready to assume the top post yet rather than rule her out completely.

By contrast, President Abdurrahman, popularly known as Gus Dur, also signaled that his faith and trust in Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab had waned considerably when he told the PKB's powerful East Java chapter to drop its endorsement of Mr Alwi's candidacy for party chairman.

The minister, once lauded by Gus Dur as the new, intellectual face of NU, had been tipped to take over as PKB chairman months ago. But now other presidential confidantes speak disdainfully of brewing graft scandals.

Although told by Mr Abdurrahman that he could not contest the post because he was needed in the Cabinet, Mr Alwi still left the Asean ministerial meeting in Bangkok on Wednesday morning to attend the Surabaya congress.

Despite the fact that Gus Dur did obtain considerable mass support, especially from Java, to pick the party chairman himself rather than leave it to an internal election he could have controlled as easily, the comparisons with Mr Suharto are still there.

As chairman of Golkar's advisory board, Mr Suharto too handpicked the party's top bosses. That board was promptly dissolved two years ago and among the top six parties, Golkar, ironically, now has perhaps the most open process for electing its chairman.

Despite Gus Dur's failure to use the Surabaya congress to showcase PKB as a model democratic party rather than one run in a somewhat feudalistic manner, it is also clear that he does require an official political vehicle now should he want to defend his seat in 2004 or be in a position to choose his own successor.

Feds probe Clinton's ties to Riady

Associated Press - July 25, 3000

Sonya Ross, Washington -- Federal investigators looking into alleged fund-raising abuses by Democrats questioned President Clinton extensively about his ties to Indonesian businessman James Riady, dating back to his 1992 White House campaign.

In testimony released Monday, Clinton said he did not remember a 1992 limousine ride in which Riady purportedly pledged to funnel $1 million in donations to his campaign. "I don't have a specific recollection of what the conversation was, or this fact of the car ride," the president said. He said he only remembered seeing Riady "sometime in '92 after I became the nominee," and that Riady pledged to help his campaign.

When pressed as to whether he could specifically recall Riady's $1 million promise, Clinton replied: "I don't. I don't. And I don't know whether he ever gave that much money. ... If he said a million, I'm surprised I don't remember it." A 155-page transcript of Clinton's four-hour testimony, taken April 21, was released late Monday by the White House without comment.

A Justice Department task force is looking into whether Riady, as a foreign national, worked illegally to funnel campaign contributions to Clinton's presidential campaign.

According to an FBI summary released last year, Democratic fund- raiser John Huang, a Riady employee, said Riady "rode in a limousine with ... Clinton," telling the then-Arkansas governor "that he would like to raise $1 million." "Riady ... told Huang that President Clinton's reaction was one of surprise when J. Riady said he would like to raise $1 million," the summary added.

Huang said that in the following weeks, Riady employees donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Democratic Party. He said he assumed the donors had been reimbursed by Riady, as he had been.

In the testimony, Clinton flatly denied taking Riady into the White House Situation Room in 1993, on the day that federal agents raided the Branch Davidians compound near Waco, Texas. According to investigators, Riady used such anecdotes to give government ministers in Indonesia the impression that his family "had a direct pipeline to the Oval Office." "I don't think I've ever taken anybody to the Situation Room," the president said. "I think that's highly unlikely." But Clinton also said he did not remember anything that happened that day. "I did my best to go through the day to do my job, do what I was supposed to do," he said.

Clinton and Vice President Al Gore were questioned by investigators as part of the government's investigation into alleged fund-raising abuses by Democrats. In his testimony, released last month, Gore wrestled with the definition of "fund- raiser," insisted there was no price tag placed on White House coffees and denied knowing that the event he attended at a Buddhist temple in California was actually a fund-raiser. The questioning focused on the 1996 campaign.

Clinton, however, was interrogated about his 1992 and 1996 campaigns, his first encounters with Riady and Riady's father, Mochtar, and his process of deciding whom to tap for administration jobs and commission posts.

When investigators asked about the size of Riady's pledged donation -- and the fact that Clinton seems to have forgotten such a large contribution -- the president said such activities are commonplace.

"Sometimes people give that much money. I know in an election or two ago that one of the Republicans got that much money from one source," Clinton said. "So, it happens from time to time and it's not unlawful. But I, I just don't remember." Clinton's testimony contained scant references to Gore, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee this year, and dealt mainly with whether he agreed that the coffees were his idea, not Gore's. "If he said that, I wouldn't disagree with that," the president said.

He defended the coffees as innocent activity, saying he saw nothing wrong with them because he also was holding issues- oriented coffees at that time. "And I still do some of them, but mostly in the late afternoon, unrelated to the" Democratic National Committee, Clinton said. "I liked them and they were easy on me." The task force also questioned the president about a vacation he and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton took at Camp David, Md., during the July 4th holiday in 1993, approximately a week after aide Webster Hubbell purportedly accepted $100,000 from a Riady entity. Clinton denied that Hubbell mentioned anything about working for Riady.

"The only thing I remember about that vacation was that I took a long walk with him [Hubbell] and I asked him if he was in trouble," Clinton said. "And he said no, he was having a billing dispute with a law firm and he would resolve it. That's the searing memory I have about that." Clinton hotly denied telling Riady of concerns about payments to Hubbell because Hubbell might end up as a witness in an investigation. Such a conversation "would have made Mr. [independent counsel Kenneth] Starr happy," he said.

"Webb Hubbell was persistently persecuted by the independent counsel because he would not lie about me or Hillary," Clinton said. "I never worried about what Webb Hubbell would say. If he wanted to say something bad about me, he'd have to make it up."

'Confidential' document outlines plot to topple Wahid

Detik - July 26, 2000

D.S Buana/SWA & LM, Jakarta -- The appearance of a "confidential" document outlining a plot to topple President Abdurrahman Wahid has met denials all round from those allegedly involved in its production.

Stamped "confidential", this document outlines the results of a meeting allegedly held on 27 June to discuss ousting President Wahid and replacing him with Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri during the annual parliamentary session to be held between 7-18 August. The 9-page document has been circulating since June 19 around the House and at the Golkar Leader's annual meeting which wound up.

The opening page is a letter written by Priyo Budi Santoso, a member of the House from the Golkar Faction, dated 3 July and addressed to Akbar Tandjung, the Speaker of the House and Chairman of Golkar. Under the heading "Confidential" this letter describes a meeting held at the residence of Arifin Panigoro, a business magnate and head of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's faction in the House and Assembly, on swanky Jl. Brawijaya, East Jakarta. His party, known as the PDI-P, is headed by Megawati.

Amongst those in attendance were former Minister of Finance in the Habibie cabinet, Fuad Bawazier, former Coordinating Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry, Ginandjar Kartasasmita, National Police Chief, Gen. Rusdiharjo, Intelligence Unit Assistant, Major Gen. Pol. Guntur, Association of Islamic Students (HMI) Chairman, Fakhrudin, and Arifin Panigoro himself.

In the document, Priyo alleged said that he had also invited Gen. Wiranto, Djaja Suparman, Adi Sasono and Dawam Rahardjo but they could not attend. While Eggi Sudjana refused to come after being contacted. Priyo himself were suggested by Arifin not to attend the meeting.

Interestingly, Bawazier, Kartasamita, Panigoro, Wiranto, Dawam Rahardjo, Adi Sasono, Eggi Sudjana and Akbar Tanjung and Suparman were all listed as agitators seeking to destabilise the country as a means to topple Wahid in an article published in Gatra magazine (No 34. Thn IV 8 Juli 2000).

According to the document, the group discussed the possibility of toppling President Wahid through mobilising the masses during the annual parliamentary session which runs from 7-18 August and elevating Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri to the top job.

One of the central themes was President Wahid's weakening position due to a polarisation within the community and parliament of those for and against him. This was seen to aid their efforts to topple him.

The document also remarked that the recent furor over the interpellation motion initiated by Arifin Panigoro had broken the so-called Central Axis-Golkar-Gus Dur coalition which had elected Wahid, also known as Gus Dur, to the presidency. The Central Axis is a grouping of two Islamic parties headed by Speaker of the Assembly Amien Rais. This grouping had worked against the election of the PDI-P's leader Megawati. It also said the balance had shifted to Central Axis-Golkar-PDI against Gus Dur.

The other pages dealt with a scenario to replace Wahid and four candidates were mentioned: Amien Rais, Akbar Tandjung, Megawati and Nurcholish Madjid.

Akbar Tandjung was not considered suitable because he is perceived as still well connected to the old Golkar during the Suharto era. Amien Rais was considered risky after the Central Axis sidelined Megawati in the presidential elections of October 1999. Cak Nur (as Nurcholish Madjid is affectionately known) was deemed more suitable but an unlikely party to the plot and politically inexperienced. These considerations left Megawati as the only choice.

Not surprisingly, those mentioned in the document have categorically denied any knowledge of the meeting. When asked for confirmation, Priyo denied that he wrote the opening letter. Today, National Police Chief Gen. Rusdiharjo is but the latest to deny his involvement.

"That thing was made by a half crazy person. How could I be in two places at the same time, at once in Lampung and simultaneously in Jakarta? So that is total nonsense," Rusdiharjo told the press before a cabinet meeting at the Bina Graha presidential office here in Jakarta today. Rusdiharjo said that he was attending the induction ceremony of the new Lampung City Police Chief in Bandar Lampung, South Sumatra, when the meeting took place.

The bulk of the document does not bear any signature or clear identification of the writer and is inherently unreliable. It is undoubtedly an attempt to prompt further speculation on the rift between the parliament and the president but for whose benefit? The idea that Megawati would replace the President should a substantial movement in the parliament and evident support from civil society develop is nothing new, afterall.

After Gus Dur's apology, what next

Straits Times - July 24, 2000

Jakarta -- Call it hubris, denial or sheer pragmatism. But among President Abdurrahman Wahid's inner circles, the burning question of the moment is not how long he can survive, but if he will sack Cabinet Secretary Marsilam Simanjuntak.

The perceptive also want to know: Will he name Mines Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyuno as his Prime Minister in a Cabinet reshuffle after next month's session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)?

For it was the straight-talking Mr Marsilam, hitherto one of his most trusted aides, who drafted his disastrous speech to Parliament last Thursday. And the cautious Lt-General Bambang who lobbied others to help persuade the President to issue an apology the next evening.

If nothing else, last week's sorry mess should have impressed upon the leader the paramount importance of having good, politically savvy advisers and a chief of staff who can keep everyone in line as well as maintain good ties with the other organs of state. Lesson Two: If you have betrayed every deal you made with the politicians consistently, then do not expect them to hold true to their word either.

For all his disdain of the legislators, Mr Abdurrahman took their summons to account for his April sacking of two ministers so personally that he did not involve any of his ministers in the drafting process, not even his official constitutional advisers, Law Minister Yusril Mahendra and Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman.

They, after all, belong to the political parties which voted to hold Thursday's grilling by Parliament. So Mr Marsilam obtained no political input on an issue which required some nifty political spinning more than it did the refuge of a patchy Constitution.

At the same time, the President was so confident he had a deal with Parliament Speaker Akbar Tandjung that he told Cabinet on Wednesday that he would be able to waltz out immediately after Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri read out his speech.

Concerned by his cavalier attitude, five ministers buttonholed Mr Marsilam to grill him on the content. Only one was from the President's Nation Awakening Party (PKB) -- the little-known and little-heard-about Tourism Minister Hidayat Jaelani. The other four were non-party members but well-liked heavy-hitters, including Mr Bambang and Interior Minister Suryadi Sudirdja.

Appalled to learn that the President intended to hide behind the Constitution, they sought to persuade the Cabinet Secretary to drop that defence, only to be told, "It's too late, the speech has been submitted to Parliament". Not surprisingly, Ms Megawati, who had then not yet seen the speech, too declined to read it on the President's behalf. When Mr Suryadi also refused, the task fell on State Secretary Djohan Effendi.

Yet when Mr Akbar allowed angry legislators to attack the President, turning what should have been a short ceremony into four hours of haranguing, Ms Megawati rallied round. In a discussion with Mr Bambang and another minister, she agreed they should persuade the leader, known popularly as Gus Dur, to change his tune.

And so the lobbying began, culminating in Friday's apology. Ironically, Mr Bambang might have scored brownie points with Mr Abdurrahman at Ms Megawati's expense. For some weeks now, the President has been toying with the idea of appointing a First Minister, or Premier, to run his government while he continues to play visionary.

He has even named two possibilities in meetings with American envoy to Jakarta, Mr Robert Gelbard, sources said. Mr Gelbard has lost no time in making known he thinks current Indonesian Ambassador to Washington Dorojatun Kuntjorojakti, would be a better choice. The latter is, afterall, an economist with contacts in Washington while Mr Bambang cannot escape the fact he is a general, even if he is due to retire in October.

Whoever is chosen assumes the post at the expense of Ms Megawati, who will not only not get the experience she needs, but might even find her duties as ceremonial proxy eclipsed. And here again, Mr Abdurrahman shows that while he might suffer temporary setbacks, he will always stay true to his strategy -- which is to deny his opponents a better substitute for himself.

Regional conflicts

Red group leader arrested in Poso

Detik - July 26, 2000

I Triono/ SWA & LM, Jakarta -- Fabianus Tibo (55), leader of the "Red" group as well as the alleged mastermind of massacres which claimed hundreds of lives in Poso, Central Sulawesi, has been arrested. In his confession, Tibo admits killing 40 people and to receiving assistance from the security forces.

The turmoil in Poso erupted in early June in the Ampana Sub District, which has a Moslem majority, when Moslems were attacked by the "Red" group (kelompok merah), a kind of local sect who's identity is still unclear. Traditionally, 'Red' symbolises Christian and/or nationalist groups while 'white' or green is the colour adopted by Moslem groups.

An Ampana resident, Bambang Sarijo, told journalists that 27 members of his family have been slaughtered. Some of them were thrown into the local river but he was too afraid to collect their bodies for a proper funeral.

As quoted by the national Antara newsagency, Leader of the Cinta Damai (Love of Peace) task force, Captain Inf. Agus Firman Yusmono, and Commander of the Information Team from the 132 Tadulako local military command, Lieutenant Inf. Agus Salim, confirmed the arrest of the "Red" group leader.

Capt. Firman Yuswono explained that the detention of Fabianus Tibo -- and not Cornelis Tibo as widely rumoured lately -- began with a report filed by 17 undercover intelligence officers. Fabianus Tibo had been under surveillance since 23 July. After secretly watching Tibo's residence in the village of Jamur Jaya, Lembo subprecinct, Morowali municipality, members of the Cinta Damai task force entered his house while he was asleep and arrested him.

As they were escorting Tibo to Poso on Wednesday, the officers met two trucks full of "Red" group members but a shootout was avoided. Tibo is currently secured at the 132 Tadulako local military command headquarters in Palu, the capital city of Central Sulawesi.

The temporary investigation report at the headquarters revealed that Tibo himself admitted slaughtering 40 people from three villages, namely Sepe Silanca, Moengko and Sayo, all located within the Poso area.

"It is true that I slaughtered 40 Poso people from those three villages when the riots took place," Tibo was quoted saying. Besides commander Tibo, ten other field commanders of the "Red" group were also involved. Amongst them were Rimus and Agustisasal from Poso and Dominggus Soares from Flores.

Tibo also mentioned the involvement of security officers who supported their bloody rampage in the field when the riots took place. After the investigation at the 132 Tadulako local military command headquarters, Tibo will be brought to Central Sulawesi Police.

The reasons for the Poso riots remains largely unclear although it fed on conflict between "Red" and "White" groups in Poso. By the time the trouble died down several weeks ago, at least 4000 houses and public buildings had been destroyed and hundreds of people killed. Those who survived chose to flee from the troubled area and at least 5000 people sought refugee in East Java and safer areas on the island of Sulawesi.

Asean backs Indonesia against provinces

Agence France-Presse - July 26, 2000

Bangkok -- Asean foreign ministers yesterday backed Indonesia against its rebellious provinces of Aceh and Irian Jaya, saying that the country's unity was crucial to regional peace.

"The foreign ministers reiterated their continuing support for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and national unity of Indonesia, which includes the provinces of Aceh and Irian Jaya," the communique said.

The ministers also commended measures taken by Jakarta to restore law and order in these provinces, where pro-independence elements have been operating. "The foreign ministers reaffirmed that the stability and prosperity of Indonesia would positively contribute to the peace, stability and prosperity of the Asian region as a whole," it added.

Reference to the bloody conflict in the Maluku islands -- contained in earlier drafts -- was deleted. Diplomatic sources said Indonesia had asked that the portion be removed because Jakarta deems it an internal problem.

Earlier yesterday, Indonesia rejected foreign mediation to end the sectarian strife in the Malukus which has left at least 4,000 people dead and displaced half a million people. Indonesian Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab thanked his counterparts for their support. "I think this only reaffirms what the Asean countries have stated before. We are grateful for that," he said.

UN denies pressuring Wahid on Malukus

Sydney Morning Herald - July 25, 2000

Mark Riley, New York -- A United Nations Security Council member has rejected claims by the Indonesian President, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, that the council is pressing for a peacekeeping mission to the Maluku islands.

Mr Wahid told a rally in Surabaya at the weekend that he had rebuffed "the strongest pressure yet" for peacekeepers to go to the troubled area. He said he learned of the pressure through a weekend telephone call from the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan.

However, a Security Council member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mr Wahid's version of the telephone call was "an over-interpretation of the facts". The council member said Mr Annan had offered Mr Wahid the assistance of some "low-level UN officers" in devising strategies to end the sectarian violence that has ravaged the area for more than a year.

The issue of peacekeepers had never been raised, either formally or informally, among the 15 members of the Security Council, and there were no plans for it to be added to the council's agenda, the member said.

"The situation in Ambon is not recognised as a matter of international peace and security," the council member said. "The only way the Security Council would most likely consider the issue of peacekeepers would be if Indonesia asked it to do so." Mr Annan also had powers under the UN charter to direct the Security Council to formally consider the issue, but had shown no indication of doing so.

Mr Wahid may have had political reasons for suggesting he was resisting UN pressure to intervene in the Malukus, the council member said. "No leader wants to give the impression that he cannot deal with security issues in his own country -- it can be seen as a sign of weakness."

Time to punish the usual suspects in Indonesia

International Herald Tribune - July 24, 2000

Jose Ramos-Horta, Bangkok -- Who is behind the wave of sectarian violence in Ambon and other parts of the Moluccan Islands that has cost hundreds of lives in the past 18 months? Who is responsible for the upsurge in separatist sentiment in Aceh and Irian Jaya, two of the richest provinces of Indonesia?

There is mounting evidence that the same conservative, hard-line nationalist forces (and even some of the same senior Indonesian military officers) who helped alienate East Timorese with their abuses are fomenting unrest in the Moluccas, Aceh and Irian Jaya. Senior members of the civilian government of President Abdurrahman Wahid have said as much in recent days.

In an attempt to terrorize East Timorese into voting for autonomy instead of independence in the plebiscite in August organized by the United Nations, the Indonesian army's special forces and intelligence network mobilized militia gangs and gave them training, arms and directives.

Large numbers of these militiamen were recruited not in East Timor but in neighboring West Timor, in Ambon and from the main Indonesian island of Java. Indonesian police and army personnel in disguise led some of the militia units in East Timor.

What we are seeing in the troubled parts of Indonesia now is a well orchestrated campaign by a faction in the Indonesian army that has strong connections to the family of former President Suharto, former Defense Minister Wiranto, wealthy businessmen and prominent members of the Golkar party that Mr. Suharto used, along with the military, to keep himself and his supporters in power for 32 years.

This group fears the anti-corruption drive and investigations into past abuses of power launched by Mr. Wahid's government. It wants to discredit his attempts to establish the rule of law in Indonesia.

In Ambon, rogue elements in the military and police have taken sides in the fighting. In Irian Jaya, "pro-Jakarta" militias are being recruited, trained and funded just as they were in East Timor. In Aceh, despite a cease-fire agreement negotiated by Mr. Wahid's government, the army and police continue to launch sweeps in the countryside, terrorizing villagers.

As a result, Indonesia's fledgling but vibrant democracy is in grave danger. The hard-liners hope that the Indonesian people, disappointed with the inability of the civilian government to improve the economy and resolve the conflicts, will sooner or later support a Pakistan-style coup.

But as the foreign ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations and their major trading partners, including the United States, the European Union and Japan, hold their annual meetings in Bangkok this week, they can take action to help prevent Indonesia from sliding into civil war and military takeover.

The international community must intensify its support for Mr. Wahid's government. It should increase economic and financial assistance to the Indonesian economy, write off government debt and channel the money to credit programs to help the poor, as well as small and medium-size businesses, become self-sufficient.

Foreign governments should identify the good elements in the Indonesian armed forces, the pro-reform group, and offer them serious support.

The United States and the European Union should lead efforts to have the foreign assets of the Suharto family frozen. Indonesian military officers known to have been involved in the violence in East Timor, Aceh, the Moluccas and Irian Jaya should be blacklisted and denied entry visas. Their names should be publicized and circulated via Interpol for immediate arrest abroad. Their overseas assets should be seized.

After all, it is the wealth that these anti-reform groups have accumulated that is being used to pay for the current campaign to destroy democracy in the world's fourth most populous nation.

[The writer, an East Timorese Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, contributed this comment to the International Herald Tribune.]

Explosives seized

Agence France-Presse - July 24, 2000

Jakarta -- Indonesian security forces seized more than 1,000 sticks of explosives from an inter-island ferry as it arrived in the riot-torn North Maluku island of Ternate. The explosives were found in the state-owned KM Ciremai ferry which arrived from Bitung in north Sulawesi on Saturday, said the Antara news agency.

North Maluku head commander Lt-Colonel Sukarwo said security forces also found 14 standard-issue army bullets as well as 660 machetes and knives. The find came after Thursday's discovery in the Mangga Dua neighbourhood of Ternate city of 318 arrows, 17 homemade bazookas, and 43 machetes and knives, he said.

Security forces would conduct a house-to-house search for more weapons. Lt-Col Sukarwo urged the local people to immediately hand over any weapons and firearms in their possession.

A state of emergency in North Maluku and Maluku province was declared last month in a bid to halt more than 18 months of sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians.

Aceh/West Papua

Will Aceh's hungry kids one day take up arms

Jakarta Post - July 30, 2000

Ibnu Matnoor, Banda Aceh -- He is only nine years old and he does not want to be a beggar. Yet there is no other way to put food on his family's table.

"I have to beg in order to buy rice for my mother and brother," said Muhammad Ridha at a rice store in Matang Geulumpung Dua, Bireuen regency, in strife-torn Aceh last week.

He said he was born in Ulee Gle village, Samalanga subdistrict. "My father's name was Abdullah. He died five years ago." Muhammad Ridha said he was told his father was shot dead by a member of the military when the province was a military operation area (DOM). When he was six, his mother took him and his infant brother to Mbang in North Aceh, 24 kilometers south of Lhokseumawe. They lived in a resettlement area for people uprooted from their homes for the Lhokseumawe industrial zone in the 1970s. "I had the opportunity to go to school until the second grade of elementary school. When we moved to Lhokseumawe one year ago, I quit school," he said.

In Lhokseumawe his mother, Kak Ti, rented a room for Rp 40,000 per month. She and her children beg to pay the rent and cover their daily needs. While other children Muhammad Rhida's age are brought to school by their parents in the morning, he is in filthy clothes and on his way to Matang Geulumpang Dua. "The bus fare for a little kid like me is only Rp 1,000." He said he earned from Rp 5,000 to Rp 10,000 per day from begging. "It's with that money that my mother buys rice," he said.

Rhida said he wanted to go to school but his only option was to beg. "If someone wants to send me to school, I will go. But if I have to stay with that person, I am afraid nobody will give my mother money to buy rice," he said with a faraway look in his eyes.

There are believed to be tens of thousands of children left fatherless from violence during the military operation from 1989 to 1998. The Forum of Human Rights Care (FPHAM) in Aceh said at least 16,375 children were orphaned.

The data were for the four regencies of Pidie, Bireuen, North Aceh and East Aceh. "The issue is that it was in the four regencies that the violations of human rights were heaviest during the period," said FPHAM Aceh's executive director Saifuddin Bantasyum.

Anak Bangsa Foundation (YAB) in Banda Aceh revealed last week during a charity even for children its latest findings that there were 54,000 children under 18 years old classified as neglected. Executive director of Banda Aceh YAB Kamal J. Farza said the children did not have access to education and lived in absolute poverty. "Five hundred of them have received legal advice and companionship from us." Date from Aceh's provincial education office said most of the province's 4.5 million people were under 18. About 250,000 are between six years and 12 years; there are 212,000 children enrolled in elementary schools in Aceh.

Office head Syahbuddin AR said that apart from the dropouts there were 64,000 children "threatened" with losing their schooling. This is due to the destruction of a number of schools, their equipment and facilities by fire, most of them deliberately set.

A total of 142 schools -- 142 elementary schools, 52 junior highs and 22 high schools -- were set on fire through April 2000. Not all of the damage has been repaired. "If it is not done soon, 63,000 students due to start studying on July 17 are threatened with dropping out of school," he said.

Observers worry that the lack of adequate attention to children is what leads to them becoming disaffected and eventually joining forces with the rebels. Investigations by The Jakarta Post found that most young people recruited to the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) after the signing of a peace agreement in Switzerland on May 12 were those whose parents were killed, missing or tortured during the military operation. Many were dropouts.

Most of the young male recruits are undergoing training for combat. Some are being trained in intelligence, or given light tasks as informers in their villages. Most of the young women recruited to GAM's women special troops are assigned as informers and for intelligence activities.

They have only one goal in life -- to liberate Aceh from "Indonesia Jawa" (Javanese Indonesia), their derisive term for Indonesia. Since most youngsters are elementary school dropouts, it's difficult to have a rational dialog with them on the advantages and disadvantages of using violence in their bid for freedom.

"Now, there is only one remedy that can cure our children's heartache, namely independence," said Darmawati, a widow from Pidie. Her two sons were still young when their father and eldest brother were killed by soldiers. Now grown up, the young men have joined GAM.

The 45-year-old former elementary school teacher said the soldiers sadistically killed her husband and son because they accused her of being an informer for the rebels.

Military Operations Area (DOM) victims (1989-1998)

Killed: 1,321 persons
Missing: 1,958
Tortured: 3,430
Raped: 128
Harassed: 81
Fatherless: 16,375

Source: The Forum of Human Rights Care, Aceh Post-DOM Victims (August 1998 to 30 April 2000)

Dead/Missing: 5,533 persons
Tortured: 1,201
Raped: 164
Sexually harassed: 96
Buildings burned: 1,621 units
Shops burned: 360
Shop-houses burned: 115
Motorbikes burned: 396
Cars burned: 86
Elementary schools burned: 183
Secondary schools burned: 71
High schools burned: 52

Source: Yadesa Foundation, Banda Aceh

Aceh moves to adopt Islamic Syariah laws

Agence France-Presse - July 29, 2000 (abridged)

Banda Aceh -- Authorities in the strongly Muslim Indonesian province of Aceh have officially agreed to move towards the imposition of the Islamic Syariah law there, a local MP said Saturday.

Aceh House Speaker Muhammad Yus said that a regulation passed by the provincial parliament here on Thursday decreed that the province will adopt Syariah law and that preparatory work should begin.

Aceh, an oil and gas rich province on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, has seen mounting calls for independence, especially since 1998 at the end of three decades of iron-fist rule by former president Suharto.

The government has ruled out allowing Aceh to secede but has promised it greater autonomy, including in religious affairs. "With this provincial ruling, we will lay the foundations, promote the fundamentals and formulate the laws and and customary laws that are oriented to the demands of Islamic teachings," Yus said.

He said local authorities will work to gradually arrange all sectors of life in Aceh in line with the laws of Islam, but gave no details of the schedule. "Islam as a universal teaching, contains the essence and particular laws that will organise every dimension of the life of the people of Aceh," Yus said.

He called on all civic and religious leaders, as well as academics, to begin to jointly discuss and study Islam and come out with a set of laws for Aceh. "What is most urgent is to formulate legal arrangements to govern the society with all its sectors, fields and activities," Yus said.

The Aceh provincial parliament has also passed two other provincial decrees, one concerning education and the other regulating customary or tribal laws. The government of Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has said that Jakarta will allow Aceh the freedom to have its own education and religious system, and will recognize its particular customary laws.

Two killed in Irian Jaya for raising flag

Agence France-Presse - July 29, 2000

Jakarta -- Two men attempting to hoist a separatist flag in Irian Jaya were shot dead by Indonesian police yesterday, hospital staff said.

The two men were killed during a raid on residents who had raised the "Morning Star" rebel flag in the coastal city of Sorong, hospital worker Ari Dimara said in a telephone interview.

"This morning we received the bodies of two wen who died from a flag-raising incident in the city's eastern sub-district. There was a skirmish with police, they broke the flag poles and pulled the flags down," he said. "The situation has calmed down after the morning incident but people are still afraid."

For years raising the Morning Star flag was outlawed in Irian Jaya, now officially known as West Papua. But under an agreement earlier this year Jakarta and the local authorities said the flag could be raised if it were not higher than the Indonesian national flag. It was not immediately clear why police opened fire on the flag-raisers yesterday.

In a separate incident on Thursday police wounded six members of the civilian Papua Task Force (Satgas) who had attempted to prevent a boat carrying refugees from the strife-torn city of Ambon from berthing at Sorong port. The boat left Ambon on Wednesday with some 3,000 refugees on board fleeing fierce Muslim-Christian battles in the region, the Antara news agency reported.

Second Sergeant Kaimuddin said from Sorong that the clash took place late on Thursday afternoon when police tried to disperse the group blocking the ship from docking. "Rubber bullets were fired against the Satgas group, they were massing the port trying to stop the ship from entering the dock, although it was still some 300 metres from the port," he said. "Refugees aboard the ship numbered about 3,000 people, but the Dobonsolo never made it to the port, and was sent away."

Police also detained some 30 men from the Satgas group, Mr Kaimuddin said, adding the Sorong regional administration has rejected the refugees.

Six die as Maluku conflict spreads

South China Morning Post - July 29, 2000

Vaudine England, Jayapura -- A protest in the Irian Jayan port city of Sorong yesterday left six people dead, highlighting the spread of problems from the tortured Maluku Islands as thousands flee the communal conflict.

At least 4,000 people have perished in the Malukus, also known as the Spice Islands, as a result of fighting between Christians and Muslims.

On Wednesday, a ship from the Maluku capital of Ambon carrying 2,000 refugees arrived at Sorong, but didn't dock immediately because of an angry crowd which had gathered on the shore. Mostly Christian, the displaced people are seeking shelter with friends or relatives living in Irian Jaya amid a continuing absence of government help or concern.

The boat eventually docked, but violence broke out shortly after between police and men believed to be militias. It is understood the militias were trying to stop the boat from unloading, but there was also a dispute over tickets.

Reports from the area remain confused as to whether the fatalities were caused by uniformed police from the Mobile Brigade, or by unidentified men in plain clothes. If it is the latter, human rights sources say the incident supports growing fears that the diaspora from the Maluku Islands is being used by rogue military men to spread conflict further across Indonesia's troubled periphery.

The vessel is due to sail for Ambon on Monday, but port officials in Sorong decided yesterday it would be unsafe to disembark passengers at Ambon.

The latest arrival brings the total number of such "refugees" in Irian to about 18,000, reinforcing fears that the destabilisation, which has reduced Ambon and other Maluku cities to rubble, could soon infect Irian Jaya. "I am worried that if more refugees are coming here, then the same problems will come too," said Chris Mailoa, head of the recently-formed Association for Maluku People in Irian Jaya. "We are very scared about it. You know how easy it is for some provocateurs to be among those refugees, and who knows where it will stop?" he said from his home in Abepura, near Jayapura, which is becoming a headquarters for relief work for the refugees.

Recent calls from local and foreign church groups for international intervention in the Malukus are echoed by anyone associated with the crisis. Mr Mailoa believes such help is needed not only for people still in the islands, but to forestall the export of the trouble elsewhere in Indonesia. "We need international help," said Mr Mailoa. "We need donations of food and money. We need troops from abroad to separate the fighters. We need it now."

Indonesia University sociologist, Dr Imam B. Prasodjo, agrees that as the Malukan conflict snowballs, it could trigger a domino effect in other islands. "The domino effect may start with the refugees. They could consolidate during evacuation, then go home to pick up a fight again," he told the Indonesian newspaper Kompas. "If this conflict spreads to West Papua [Irian Jaya] then [non-Papuan] settlers would evacuate. But, they might nourish a grudge since they have been there for generations.

"Because the majority of the population [in Irian Jaya] are mainly Christians and settlers are mainly Muslims, another sectarian conflict might be in the making," he said. Initial reports from Sorong had described the disturbance as an attempt by Papuans to raise their Morning Star independence flag, which apparently caused policemen to shoot two men dead.

Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has verbally assured Papuans they may raise their flag until later in August, but local police have frequently been unwilling to follow this policy. Human rights researchers say that although such incidents have occurred recently, causing deaths and injuries in several locations around Irian Jaya, the latest trouble in Sorong has more complex beginnings and is indicative of the tinderbox of troubles now afflicting Indonesia's easternmost province.

Stranded settlers sleep under `enemy' watch

South China Morning Post - July 28, 2000

Vaudine England in Jayapura -- About 200 Indonesian transmigrants took shelter under the Papuan independence flag in Jayapura this week, following the failure of the central Government to care for them.

Sent by Jakarta some years ago to settle on land near the Irian Jaya capital under the transmigration programme, the Javanese settlers had had enough of their new life. Hungry and homeless, the settlers bunked down in what has become known as the headquarters of the Papuan independence movement.

The Javanese had walked for two days to reach Jayapura to ask the Government to help them return to Java. Since becoming transmigrants, 22 of the group have died. Many of the survivors are ill and complain that the Government has not provided schools, health centres or other facilities for them.

Last week, the latest death from illness prompted a seven-hour long demonstration, complete with a corpse, in front of the regional government office. The local representative of the Transmigration Department, Budi Singulinga, was punched in the face at the tense stand-off. At a meeting with the Governor on Monday, they were told they were free to go home, but had to find the money for the sea passage themselves.

It was a perfect opportunity for Satgas Papua -- a pro- independence paramilitary organisation. Dressed in combat fatigues adorned with the Papuan independence flag and pictures of Jesus Christ, these men made available their office in the main street of Jayapura.

It is named the Irian Cultural Centre and features two flag-poles on its roof. The slightly taller pole carries the Indonesian flag, with the second pole flaunting the Papuan flag. After a couple of nights sleeping on the street after the shops and night market had closed, the Javanese appeared happy to have a night under shelter, and under the benign guard of Satgas Papua.

"The transmigrants had problems with the police and the Government, so we offered them shelter, food and help," said Benny Sawai, a Satgas Papua member. "The Government brought them here [to Irian Jaya] but then gave them no money or facilities to live."

Only after the Javanese accepted Papuan protection did the Government move to help them. On Tuesday, staff of the Department of Social Welfare arrived to take the Javanese to a new settlement area near Sentani, 45 minutes' drive from Jayapura. Although the Department of Social Welfare has found a building to house the displaced people, they have yet to provide any food, forcing the group to rely on handouts.

155 million US for Aceh humanitarian pause

Jakarta Post - July 25, 2000

Banda Aceh -- The government has allocated Rp 1.4 trillion (US$155 million) to finance the implementation of the Joint Understanding on Humanitarian Pause in Aceh, Acting Governor Ramli Ridwan said on Monday. "The fund would be disbursed in August," Ramli said.

The "pause" was an agreement signed by the Indonesian government and the armed Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and took effect in June. While it is not an official call for a cease-fire, the agreement requires both sides to the conflict to permit humanitarian aid to reach refugees.

The central government in Jakarta will provide Rp 600 billion while the remaining Rp 800 billion will come from the provincial administration's budget, Ramli said.

The fund will be spent mainly on rehabilitating public facilities that have been damaged during the unrest. "I also hope that the fund will be used to improve the people's social and economic lives, such as pushing for agricultural development in West Aceh," he said. Ramli also warned of attempts by third parties to disturb the peace during the three-month humanitarian pause.

Muhammad Yus, chairman of the Aceh legislative council, protested at the decision by the local administration to finance most of the programs during the humanitarian pause. "Why can't the administration look for other sources? The decision will disrupt ongoing projects in Aceh," Yus said.

Meanwhile, in another sign of violations of the "humanitarian pause", two men were killed in the latest armed clashes between GAM and the police in Beutong district in West Aceh on Saturday.

Police identified the two victims as 20-year-old Muslim and 24- year-old Ali Akbar. GAM spokesman Abu Hananan in West Aceh, however, said the two victims were civilians and that "there no exchange of fire took place".

In Banda Aceh, police arrested two of the five gunmen who tried to extort money from public works officials on Monday. "We have identified three others who fled the scene. The two culprits, Zaini Bakri, 25 and Surya, 22, claimed themselves to be members of GAM in Meurohom Daya in West Aceh," Supt. Sayed Hoesaini of Aceh Besar Police said.

At least 69 people have died since the signing of the peace accord between Jakarta and GAM on May 12 in Geneva. Of these, 37 were killed since the pause came into force on July 1.

Papuan separatists look for foreign support

Jakarta Post - July 24, 2000

The Papuan People's Congress held in Jayapura, Irian Jaya, from May 29 to June 4 declared that the Irianese want to separate from Indonesia. Agus Alue Alua, the congress chairman and deputy secretary of the Papuan Presidium formed to follow up the congress, shares developments with The Jakarta Post's correspondent Neles Tebay. The following is an excerpt of an interview in Jakarta.

Question: What are the duties of the Papuan Presidium after the Papuan People's Congress?

Answer: The Papuan Presidium is to carry out the mandate of the congress which gave us full support to hold activities in struggling for West Papua's (local name for Irian Jaya) independence. The presidium will use peaceful ways, such as dialog and negotiations with all parties involved.

What has the presidium done, and what does it plan to do? Firstly, we determined our working guidelines ... Secondly, the presidium met with President Abdurrahman Wahid in Jakarta in the first week of July. We reported what had been discussed in the congress and submitted a written report of the results.

What was the response of the President?

We got a positive response. He welcomed the decision to settle the West Papua case by holding dialog. The President is to form an ad hoc team ... to study the results of the congress. They will also visit West Papua to verify the contents of our report. They will then report to the President, and their task ends there.

After that, the President will invite the presidium to a discussion. Another team will possibly be established to work out the terms of reference for a national dialog on West Papua.

If the terms of reference are agreed on by the government and the presidium, a political dialog on the Papuans' aspiration could be held based on openness ... equality and respect for human rights. What has been the response of the presidium to the planned ad hoc team?

We fully appreciate and welcome the idea. We will be supporting the team in the task. We think the team will be very helpful in moving toward a national dialog.

Is the presidium also seeking the possibility of an international dialog on Irian Jaya by involving the United Nations and some countries, such as the Netherlands and the United States?

So far, we have no plan for an international dialog; we're just focusing on the necessity of a national dialog.

Which other parties have received the congress results?

They include the speakers of the People's Consultative Assembly and the House of Representatives, the Indonesian Military Commander, the Indonesian Police chief, some ministers, non- governmental organizations and some ambassadors in Jakarta.

Was the distribution of the congress results to ambassadors aimed at gaining attention and support for Irian Jaya's independence? We deliberately submitted the congress report to them so that they can also understand the things going on in Indonesia, including in Papua ... they would then be able to explain it to their respective leaders.

Is the presidium also planning to introduce the congress results in foreign countries?

The congress has entrusted the presidium to report and submit the results to the United Nations, the Netherlands and the United States, for instance. However we lack the funds to do so. We are grateful to the government for helping us to distribute and announce the congress results to Indonesians, the international community and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The government has sought international support for Indonesia's territorial integrity. How can you say the government helped introduce the congress results?

We heard that when the Papuans declared their desire to separate from Indonesia, Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab rushed to meet with ambassadors in Jakarta ... The President also met with leaders of the countries he visited and even with Kofi Annan.

We suppose they had surely informed these parties of the congress results before asking for their support. Alwi announced that foreign countries support Indonesia's territorial integrity, including that of Irian Jaya, and that they do not support Irian Jaya's independence.

The foreign minister was expressing either facts or his personal hope.

If the foreign leaders indeed said that, it is their right to do so ... But support from a country's leader is not always identical to that of their parliament. We have yet to be informed that there are no countries supporting West Papua's freedom.

We think a change toward political support could happen any time, as in the case of East Timor. Papuans have yet to lobby any foreign parliament or government.

What has the presidium done in Irian Jaya?

The presidium will explain the results of the congress and of the meeting with the President in each (of 13 regencies) beginning on July 14 (five regencies were visited as of last week - Ed). The presidium will call on Papuans to maintain peace and order in respective regencies while we conduct dialogs. Papuans must be aware that the Papuan movement for independence is a nonviolent movement.

What is your personal impression of the President in his response to the congress results?

President Abdurrahman has shown himself to be a democratic man who fully respects human rights, who lets people express themselves and who prioritizes dialog and peaceful ways in resolving matters. All these reveal that he is not only a leader of a country, but a man with a big soul and noble heart.

Labour struggle

Local labor unions to help protect overseas workers

Jakarta Post - July 29, 2000

Jakarta -- The Association of Labor Exporting Companies (Apjati) and 18 labor unions signed on Friday an unprecedented memorandum of understanding (MOU) to provide protection and improve the bargaining position of Indonesian workers overseas.

Apjati chairman, Abdullah Umar, said that with the agreement the labor unions would be allowed to represent workers and prospective Indonesian migrant workers in negotiations with labor exporters and employers overseas.

"This agreement benefits not only workers but also labor contractors who have been blamed in problematic cases involving workers," he said after the signing ceremony here on Friday. He added that labor unions should also be given responsibility for providing training programs for workers.

The unions include the Federation of All Indonesian Workers Unions (SPSI), the Reformed SPSI, the Indonesian Muslim Labor Union (Sarbumusi), Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI), Indonesian Moslem Workers Union (SPMII) and the Confederation of Indonesian Labor Unions (Gaspermindo).

Muchtar Pakpahan, a labor activist and SBSI chairman, said that the SBSI was planning to assign four labor activists to Saudi Arabia to handle cases involving Indonesian workers in Middle Eastern countries.

"We have forged cooperation with the Confederation of Mideast Labor Unions to provide protection for Indonesian migrant workers under the ILO convention. And we have reached an agreement that allows our workers in that region to be associate members of the confederation," he said.

Muhammad Rodjak, Reformed SPSI chairman, said his labor union would collaborate with the Ministry of Manpower and Apjati to provide protection for workers from the time of their departure until their arrival back home. "We will fight against labor brokers who have frequently extorted money from prospective Indonesian overseas workers and make sure that labor exporters stick to official procedures," he said.

Rodjak added that numerous workers were in trouble or involved in disputes with their employers because they lacked the necessary information and skills prior to their departure.

Asked to comment on the number of labor unions involved, Rodjak said this was expected to create better competition in attracting prospective workers as members and providing services to them. "To me, it is better for all migrant workers from Indonesia to set up their own union overseas to improve their bargaining position," he said.

KPC risks losing buyers following mine closure

Jakarta Post - July 27, 2000

Jakarta -- Coal mining company PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) might lose some of its customers following the closure of its coal mine in the Sanggata regency, East Kalimantan, a company executive said on Wednesday.

KPC representative for Jakarta Bambang Susanto said that several buyers began to question KPC's reliability due to the suspension of the coal supply. "Our buyer from South Korea has already canceled one shipment," Bambang told The Jakarta Post without elaborating on the details of the shipment.

Although the cancellation was only temporary, he said, KPC risked losing South Korea if it could not assure the country of its reliability. "Buyers from the United States and Japan have also expressed their worries," he added.

Bambang said that Japan, South Korea and Taiwan were the company's largest buyers. However, he could not tell what proportion of KPC's sales were made up by these customers.

He said that although the US represented a minor market, it was nonetheless an important one as it was difficult to penetrate.

KPC had to shut its operation twice in five weeks because of faltering negotiations with the striking workers. The workers demanded among other things a 15 percent salary increase and the reinstallment of daily allowances.

Although only 150 workers of around 2,600 workers were on strike, the striking workers occupied important mining production facilities that prevented KPC from operating. KPC has said that during the nearly five-week blockade, the company lost around US$1.4 million a day, or the equivalent of 50,000 tons of coal.

With its operation suspended and its coal stockpile running out, the company was unable to load ships with coal and was forced to declare force majeure last month. But KPC lifted its force majeure status earlier this month on signs of resumed negotiations. At present the company is operating again as workers agreed on Saturday to end the strike and lift the blockade.

Bambang said that KPC's customers wanted assurance that such incidents would not happen again. Customers, he said, were worried of the uncertainty of KPC's operation that had become apparent with the strike.

"We cannot provide any guarantees, we are just a company and such incidents are often beyond our control," he said. According to him, the government should help KPC regain the confidence of its customers.

KPC has signed contracts to sell its coal to major power plants such as the Taiwan Power Company, Japan's Hokuriku, Chubu and Tohoku power plants, Malaysia's Tenaga Nasional Berhad and AES in Hawaii.

Aside from coal fired power plants, KPC supplies steel mills such as Japan's Nippon steel, Nisshin, NKK, Kobe and Kawasaki. Other steel mills include Posco in South Korea, Hoogovens in the Netherlands and CSN in Brazil.

In addition the company also supplies coal to customers in Japan, Chinese Taiwan, Philippines, India, the US, Germany, Italy and Portugal under different contract arrangements. Throughout 1999 KPC has shipped 14 million tons of coal to 29 customers worldwide.

President of KPC's parent company PT Rio Tinto Indonesia Noke Kiroyan confirmed that buyers might retreat because of KPC's lacking reliability. "Using business logic, the possibility is there," he told reporters on the sideline of a conference on good corporate governance.

He said that buyers might divert their coal supply to other countries, as coal mining companies here offered different qualities of coal. "If we're looking abroad, it's clearly Australia that buyers will turn to," he said.

Noke further said that KPC's dispute with its workers might also affect the divestment process of Rio Tinto's stake in that mining company. Under its contract, KPC must gradually divest its shares up to 51 percent.

KPC is a joint venture between Anglo-Australian mining firm Rio Tinto and British-American oil and gas company Beyond Petroleum (BP), formerly known as BP Amoco. Noke said that a joint team appointed by Rio Tinto and BP would negotiate with a government appointed team on the value of KPC's shares to be divested.

Mini-buss drivers strike against police extortion

Detik - July 26, 2000

Chaidir Anwar Tanjung/BI & LM, Pekanbaru -- A public transport strike in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province, northwest Sumatra, has clogged main roads and left passengers stranded. Hundreds of angkot (minibus) drivers parked their vehicles around and in front of the Provincial Legislative Council building and demanded the government put an end to an extortion racket comprised of local policemen and a group of thugs.

Unable to bear the burden of paying off the police and thugs any longer, hundreds of striking angkot drivers gathered at the Provincial Legislative Council from around 1pm Wednesday.

One angkot driver, Slamet Riady (27), said members of the Serma Peri police station carried out the extortion. Slamet claimed that every morning the policemen gathered at a security post next to a market and demanded Rp 7500 (US$ 0.80) each time the angkot passed through the area.

"If we refused to pay they stopped us from collecting passengers. Also, we would be slapped with traffic tickets for all kinds of reasons. We just can't handle seeing the policemen's' behavior. That is why we have called a strike action and are protesting here" he told Detik on the sidelines of the demonstration.

The drivers also have to face local thugs operating around the Cempaka street intersection which the police have done nothing to stop. According to Selamat, the thugs demand money or force the drivers to buy drinks from them. "Just imagine, drinks at a stall cost about Rp 500 (US 5c). But these thugs are demanding Rp 1500 per drink. If we add it up, we have to pay Rp 15,000 everyday", he said.

New labour bill rejected by unions

Green Left Weekly - July 26, 2000

Pip Hinman -- A group of unions has demanded President Abdurrahman Wahid disallow a new labour rights bill, which was unanimously passed by the House of Representatives on July 10 but needs the president's approval to become law.

While the new bill gives workers more legal rights to form unions, it contains some significant omissions and loopholes which will legalise state interference, according to Romawaty Sinaga, an international officer of the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggles (FNPBI).

Seven other unions, grouped under the banner of Indonesian Solidarity Forum (FSUI), have joined with the FNPBI to reject the bill: the All-Indonesian Workers Union (SPSI), Indonesian Muslim Workers Association (Sarbumusi), Indonesian Muslim Workers Brotherhood (PPMI), Federation of Indonesian Finance and Banking Workers Organisations, Independent Journalists Association (AJI), Indonesian Free Workers Association and Workers Unions for Justice, Prosperity and Unity.

The bill, however, is being supported by the Indonesian Workers Prosperity Union (SBSI), which helped draft it. The SBSI is led by the high-profile Muchtar Pakpahan.

Labour minister Bomer Pasaribu is seeking to persuade unions to support the bill, on the basis that it awards more rights to workers than previous laws.

Under the regime of ousted President Suharto, workers were forced to join government-run "unions". Independent unions which did set up, such as the Indonesian Centre for Labour Struggles (PPBI), were forced to work underground or were smashed by the regime.

The new law states that the deregistration of the union can be ordered by workers, the company or the courts. According to the bill, a court can deregister the union if it endangered "security", as defined by the criminal code.

The new law guarantees public servants the right to belong to a public service union. It also guarantees freedom for those who do not want to join a union.

Sinaga told the July 11 Jakarta Post that only a union's members should have the right to dissolve the organisation. She also criticised the bill for not entrenching the right to strike. The bill also forces unions to report all overseas funding to the department of labour.

Australian unionists will be able to hear more about the new labour bill and workers' concerns when a representative of the FNPBI tours the east coast of Australia from late August. The tour is being sponsored by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) and speakers will address seminars organised by Unionists Against Corporate Tyranny (UACT). The union's representative will also be able to report on the campaigns decided upon by the FNPBI's second congress from July 23-26. Having only formed a year ago, the FNPBI has extended its coverage of workers from the food and beverage, garment and textile, chemical, mining and transportation sectors to now cover timber and forestry, metal (including the automotive section), maritime (mainly dock workers), tourism and plantation workers. The union has taken a strong position against the government's neo-liberal austerity "reforms" arguing that they have been the cause of low wages, rising prices and the privatisation of services.

The growing popularity of the FNPBI's anti-austerity position was reflected in its successful May Day 2000 action, which drew 5000 workers in Jakarta and tens of thousands in other regions.

Workers demand promised minimum wage increase

Detik - July 24, 2000

D. Sangga Buana/FW & AH, Jakarta -- Nearly 1500 laborers staged a rally at the Jakarta Special Province Local Administration Office today to demand the increase in minimum regional wages, previously promised by Jakarta Governor, Sutiyoso. The workers, who arrived at 9am local time, represent various companies such as Indo Panca, Dian Raya Percetakan, Tunas Sukses, Big Star dan Wonderfull.

The coordinator of the All-Indonesia Workers Union for the Pulo Gadung Industrial Complex, Mustakin, stated that the workers are demanding that the Jakarta Governor to revise the promised minimum regional wage. "We are only asking for Rp 500,000 minimum wage per month (US$ 56). It is badly needed because the price of basic commodities is increasing," said Mustakin.

The demonstrators staged their rally in an orderly manner, shouting slogans and holding up posters. Nonetheless, their actions caused a severe traffic jam after they spread a 15 meter banner across the road between Medan Merdeka square and the Jakarta Special Province Local Administration Office. The banner contained the workers demands and complaints such as, "Basic commodities too expensive -- we can't afford them", "Not a high minimum wage, only Rp 500.000" and "Our lives have been miserable, don't make it worse".

Security forces did not appear concerned, with only about 20 security personnel seen at the closed gate of the office. Employees also appeared apparently undisturbed by the action, continuing work as usual. At the time of going to press, representatives from three companies were still attempting to hold talks with Jakarta Local Administration Office. No information was available on the Office's response.

Human rights/law

Skepticism greets plan for Soeharto trial

Jakarta Post - July 28, 2000

Jakarta -- The government's announcement that it is ready to file corruption charges against former president Soeharto was greeted on Thursday with skepticism, with most observers saying that the indictment was not tough enough.

Lawyer Frans Hendra Winarta regretted the government's decision not to prosecute Soeharto as a former president but rather as the chairman of seven tax-free charitable foundations. "If he [Soeharto] were not the president, it would have been impossible for him to amass such a considerable amount of money," Frans told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview.

Attorney General Marzuki Darusman announced on Wednesday that his office had completed its corruption investigation against Soeharto for directing Rp 1.4 trillion (US$155 million) of state funds to the foundations.

The office revised the figure on Thursday, adding another US$416 million to the dossier, with the vague explanation that the additional money was based on the findings of an audit conduced by the Development and Financial Comptroller (BPKP).

The amount falls short of what has been estimated by many, and it is only a fraction of the US$45 billion that President Abdurrahman Wahid mentioned in Cairo last month as the net worth of Soeharto and his family.

The announcement on Wednesday raised the perennial question about Marzuki's creditability in handling the Soeharto case. Frans said he doubted whether Marzuki, who is also a deputy chairman of Golkar, had the political will to prosecute "a former patron of his own party".

Soeharto, who has been under house arrest since May, was Golkar's chief patron for decades and one of his foundations, the Dakab Foundation, was specifically set up to finance the party's campaigns and activities.

Echoing Frans' opinion, Hendardi of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) said the charges were "too vague". "If Soeharto is only mentioned in the charges as the founder of the foundations, then I am afraid this is a ruse or scenario to let him walk free because in this case, it is the executives of the foundations who should be held responsible," he said.

Respected lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said the charges were a "half-hearted" measure, as they stopped short of naming Soeharto in his capacity as former president.

The 3,500 page dossier, the result of a seven-month investigation dogged by controversies, is now in the hands of the Jakarta high prosecutor's office. The case is expected to be filed with the South Jakarta District Court on August 2.

Ten prosecutors have been assigned to study the charges and it will take them three days before formally filing the case with the court, Andi Syarifuddin, an official at the prosecutor's office, said. The prosecutors plan to bring more than 140 witnesses to testify against Soeharto in the trial, he said.

Lawyers for the former president still insisted on Thursday that their client was not well enough to appear before a court. Soeharto suffered a stroke last year and was also hospitalized for another ailment.

"The first obstacle the court has to face is Soeharto's health," lawyer Muhamad Assegaf was quoted as saying by Reuters. "Soeharto still is suffering from brain damage which makes him unable to communicate." Assegaf accused the government of timing its announcement to deflect attention from Abdurrahman's appearance before the People's Consultative Assembly next month, where he is expected to face a tough time as he accounts for his stormy first year in power.

"They're just trying to give a long list of accomplishments to support ... [the President's] report," he said. Former judge Adi Andojo Soetjipto said, however, that the court "will not simply accept" that he is too ill to stand trial as has repeatedly been claimed by Soeharto's lawyers.

"I believe that there will be an examination [on Soeharto's health] first and then the judges will decide whether Soeharto is fit to stand trial or not," Adi told the Post. Adi also called on the government to appoint judges "from outside Jakarta" to try the Soeharto case because they were relatively clean from corrupt practices.

Violence against women regretted

Jakarta Post - July 28, 2000

Yogyakarta -- First Lady Sinta Nuriyah Abdurrahman Wahid bemoaned on Thursday the continuing violence against women, saying that no religion condones oppression or duress against women.

Speaking at the opening of a seminar on religion and violence against women at the Century Hotel here on Thursday, Nuriyah said that religious teachings -- as most teachers have interpreted them from the various holy scriptures -- in patriarchal societies tend to benefit men.

The seminar was organized by the Center for Women's Studies of the state-run Sunan Kalijaga Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN).

Citing the 34th verse of the An-Nisa in the Koran, the First Lady said Islam recognizes men's predominance over women. She said, however, that this a verse was, sociologically speaking, a contextual one which requires very careful and prudent interpretation.

"The 34th verse of the An-Nisa was conveyed [by Allah to the Prophet Muhammad] at a time and in a society where no single woman was responsible for making ends meet. However, nowadays, many people tend to ignore the context when interpreting the verse," she said.

She added that [Indonesian] female workers now outnumber male workers. "Therefore, there is no reason for anybody to interpret the verse in a rigid way." A former activist, the First Lady has been demonstrating her concern over oppression against women.

On Wednesday, speaking at the launch of a book on trafficking in women and children in Jakarta, Nuriyah deplored the export of female workers. "This is a modern form of slavery and thus must be stopped," she said.

"Exporting workers has become an important source of state income, but has occasioned numerous disasters to the workers concerned." "Using the argument of national development program imperatives, women's slavery found justification and was developed into a sophisticated new form through the export of female contract workers," Nuriyah remarked.

She said a national commitment was needed to stop exporting female workers due to the continuing violence being perpetrated against them.

There have been around two million Indonesian female contract workers sent abroad over the last five years, with the 239,000 of them who work in Saudi Arabia managing to raise around US$1.12 billion in income for the state.

PRD seeks justice for 1996 attack

Green Left Weekly - July 26, 2000

James Balowski -- Four years ago on July 27, television images of the Indonesian military bashing and kicking helpless protesters exposed the world to the brutality of the Suharto dictatorship. The Australian government's and the Jakarta lobby's carefully cultivated image of the regime was shattered. It marked the beginning of the end for Suharto, who was forced to resign in May 1998 in the face of militant, student-led demonstrations.

In June 1996, fearful that Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) could out-poll the ruling party, Golkar, Suharto engineered her removal as PDI chairperson through a fake party conference that "elected" a new party chairperson, Suryadi.

Megawati's followers resisted by occupying the party's headquarters in central Jakarta and holding open air forums. As the days passed, huge crowds listened to speakers from a wide range of opposition groups who spoke in support of Megawati's leadership of the PDI, condemned Suharto and demanded he step down.

In the early hours of July 27, soldiers and hired thugs masquerading as pro-Suryadi PDI supporters, seized the offices. Knifing and bludgeoning anyone who was in or around the building, the thugs killed more than 50 people and injured scores more. Video footage later uncovered in an investigation into the incident showed government stooges leaving the PDI headquarters being handed money. In other scenes, bodies could be seen being rushed away and fire trucks used to wash away the blood. The government insisted only five people had died.

As rumours of the attack spread that day, crowds began to gather at the PDI headquarters. Soldiers, deployed on every adjacent street, blocked their access.

As the day wore on, the crowds grew larger and angrier. Protesters hurled rocks and petrol bombs. Sporadic clashes continued until the afternoon when soldiers went on the offensive, chasing people through the streets, beating and arresting people. Shopping centres, banks and other symbols of wealth were torched by the angry crowds. Although an investigation by the government's human rights commission found that the attack was organised and carried out by the military and that they were responsible for the riots that followed, Suharto needed a scapegoat.

The radical People's Democratic Party (PRD), which the regime had been itching to get rid of, was accused of "masterminding" the riots. At a press conference, head of military socio-political affairs General Syarwan Hamid announced that protesters would be "shot on sight" and ordered all PRD members to be hunted down and arrested. In all, 35 members were detained and 13 were later jailed for subversion, including PRD chairperson Budiman Sujatmiko and Indonesian Centre for Labour Struggle (PPBI) chairperson Dita Sari.

PRD repressed

The regime repressed the PRD because it feared the emergence of a well-organised, mass worker-based radical democratic movement. The PRD had been building a movement outside the formal system set up by the dictatorship. The PRD's campaigns directly defied the official policy of treating the population as an apolitical "floating mass".

Soon after the crackdown, a report by Human Rights Watch/Asia and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Centre for Human Rights said of the PRD: "In 1995 and 1996, as PRD, [and it's affiliated student and labour organisations] SMID and PPBI have emerged as prominent elements of the pro-democracy movement, street protests have become larger, more frequent, better organised, less focused exclusively on the grievances of specific groups of workers or peasants (although those grievances are still forcefully raised), and more explicit about demanding political change at the top."

This assessment was also reflected in some of the dictatorship's own comments.

Hamid's red-baiting of the PRD as "communist" was because the PRD prioritised organising the working class as the most important way to achieve a genuine democracy.

Commenting on the PRD's effectiveness in doing this, the army newspaper, Berita Yudah wrote: "[The PRD] operate in strategic areas, among students and workers, forming public opinion through leaflets and publications. Wherever there are leaflets and an action of over 1000 people, it's the PRD behind it. They are very clever and intelligent young people. They are not only very theoretically brilliant, rivalling any scholar, but also throw themselves into the field. They are not only brilliant orators casting a spell over the people, but also understand the people in great detail. That's the PRD."

In Surabaya, East Java, in early September, 1996, Major General Subagyo Hadisiswoyo, accompanied by several other high-ranking officers, informed the press it had captured PRD documents. He stated: "It is clear that the activities of the PRD group are not as simple as previously thought. It is obvious from its manifesto that the thinkers and planners of the PRD are very intelligent people who have a very great understanding of the course of Indonesian political developments."

The regime feared that Megawati's mass of supporters among Indonesia's urban poor might link up with, and be organised by, the PRD and its supporters among the students and workers. The only political figure arrested after July 27 who was not from the PRD or an affiliated organisation was Muchtar Pakpahan, an outspoken labour advocate and president of the moderate, US- supported trade union, SBSI. Pakpahan had also supported the free speech forums at the PDI headquarters.

The dictatorship systematically interrogated almost every political figure who had any level of co-operation with the PRD. As the PRD was at the forefront of initiatives such as Indonesian Solidarity for a Free Press, the Independent Election Monitoring Committee and the Indonesian Peoples Assembly -- established to support Megawati's struggle to defend her leadership of the PDI -- these interrogations were aimed at intimidating democratic activists from working with the PRD.

So effective was the campaign that, with the exception of a few principled individuals, almost all sections of the democratic movement distanced themselves from the PRD. Even Megawati, when she gave testimony at Sujatmiko's trial, claimed she had never met with him, even though, according to many PRD members, she had met with him often in the lead-up to the July 27 events.

Still seeking justice

Four years later, under the "reform" government of President Abdurrahman Wahid and vice-president Megawati, the PRD and the families of the victims of the attack on the PDI headquarters are still seeking justice.

Earlier this month, the PRD filed a 5.5 billion rupiah (US$617,000) lawsuit against Suharto for his role in the July 27 attack. The suit, filed in the Central Jakarta District Court on July 5, is one part of the party's campaign to pressure Wahid to investigate the 1996 assault.

Also named as defendants are former: armed forces chief General Feisal Tanjung, Jakarta military commander General Sutiyoso, police chief General Dibyo Widodo, army chief of staff General R. Hartono, East Java military commander General Imam Utomo, minister of home affairs General Yogie S.

Memet, armed forces intelligence service chief (BIA) General Syamsir Siregar, BIA director General Zacky Anwar Makarim, attorney general Singgih, justice minister Utoyo Usman, information minister Harmoko, and Syarwan Hamid.

Sujatmiko, who was released from jail on December 23 last year, told the Jakarta Post on July 6 that the regime "declared us masterminds of the July 27, 1996, violence. They chased us, tortured us, raided our PRD branches and seized important party documents. The Suharto regime slapped me with 13 years' imprisonment in 1997, based upon unsubstantiated evidence and ludicrous accusations."

Thirty-eight lawyers are to fight the party's case, including noted attorneys Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, Munir from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence and Apong Herlina from the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation.

Bumper month for Jakarta courts

Agence France-Presse - July 24, 2000

Jakarta -- Indonesian prosecutors plan to bring four of the country's most controversial figures to court next month, including former president Suharto, in a bid to dispel doubts over the government's reform agenda.

No date has been set for the trial of Suharto on charges which include corruption during his 32 years in office. But Attorney- General Marzuki Darusman has pledged to file the charges before August 10. The dates of the trials of central bank chief Syahril Sabirin, Suharto's former trade minister Mohammad "Bob" Hasan, and former national food agency chief Beddu Amang, have yet to be set.

"We will bring charges against those people by August but the date of their trials will be decided by judges, not by the Attorney-General's office," spokesman Yushar Yahya said on Saturday.

Lawyers for the former president say he is too ill to stand trial. He is charged with misusing funds from charitable foundations.

Central bank governor Syahril has been detained since June 21 over the Baligate scandal, which involved the payment last year of an US$80 million commission to a company linked to Suharto's former ruling Golkar Party for the recovery of loans owed by the government to the bank.

Hasan, Suharto's old business partner, is now being detained as a suspect in an alleged fraud that cost the state some US$87 million.

Beddu will stand trial for his role in an alleged fraudulent land deal with a company owned by Suharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the spokesman said.

News & issues

Muslim youths demonstrate in Central Java

Detik - July 28, 2000

Muchus Budi Rahayu/BI, Surakarta -- Four hundreds supporters of Muslim Youth Front (FPI-S), from Surakarta, Central Java, staged a protest, Friday, to demand the abolishment of National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Jakarta Chief of Police to step down. They consider the Commission and the Chief of Police unable to deal with the problems of Aceh, Ambon, and, primarily, Tanjung Priok, properly.

The protest began in the grounds of the Great Mosque in Surakarta, and was followed by a march to Surakarta Military Command Post. Along the way they shouted and yelled messages to oppose any external intervention in order to end the clashes and ethnic disputes in Ambon and Aceh.

FPI-S also demanded the government to immediately resolve the Tanjung Priok case. As the protestors had progressed to the Military Command Post along Slamet Riyadi street, the group had created a major traffic jam as this street is the major arterial route.

A leader from the group M. Taufig told Detik the protest action is the initial effort by the group to force the Commission and the Police Chief to properly deal with cases mentioned above.

"We will continue to oppose any foreign intervention, whether it's from the UN, United States or Australia to be involve with the problem in Aceh and Ambon. We are also demanding [the authority] to resolve the slaying case at Tanjung Priok and the shooting of Front for the Defense of Islam (FPI) members by the military. If they can't, then abolished the Commission and tell the Chief of Police to step down", countered Taufiq.

According to Taufiq, next Tuesday their representatives will leave for Jakarta to meet with official from the Commission, the Attorney General and the representatives to resolve the problem in Ambon and Aceh.

Defence ministry party to massive forgery: report

Agence France-Presse - July 26, 2000

Jakarta -- A trial witness has implicated Indonesia's defence ministry in a forgery ring which churned out 2.1 million dollars worth of fake local currency notes, a report said Wednesday.

A police witness in the forgery trial at the Central Jakarta District court testified that one of the defendants had told police questioners that the defence ministry had provided forgers with the serial numbers for the counterfeit bills, the Jakarta Post said.

The witness, senior police inspector Umar Faroq, also said that the same defendant also indicated the involvement of officials in the central bank and the state mint PT Peruri, the Post said.

Retired army Major Ismail Putra "told the detectives including myself that he got the numbers from the ministery of defence," the Post quoted Faroq as telling the court on Tuesday.

Ismail, one of nine defendants in the forgery case, was also alleged to have said the bank had provided him with six numbers -- FRM, LZN, LZO, RPM, TWR and YBD -- to be used on the notes.

Faroq also told the court that Ismail had told investigators in March that it was usual practice for the central bank to disclose the serial numbers to the ministry.

The inspector also said that during the arrest of another of the defendants, identified as Junie, at the printing company where the notes were made, he found records detailing the purchase of ink, paper and other supplies. "One entry also states that 10 million rupiah (1,111 dollars) was paid to the state-owned Perum Peruri since it provided the defendants with the [bank note] negatives," Faroq said.

The Post quoted a third defendant, Ardy Sukarman, as saying in a February 25 police report read to the court that Major Ismail had told him he was representing the defence ministry when he allegedly persuaded Sukarman to join the counterfeit project.

"Ismail told me that he was ordered by the central bank to carry out the project, and that as a representative of the ministry of defence, he was ordered to print money which would be used for the ministry's operational costs in Aceh," the Post quoted the Sukarman testimony as saying.

In earlier testimony Ismail had implicated Indonesian army chief of staff General Tyasno Sudarto in the forgery ring, and said the general had visited the printing press. Sudarto later denied the charges and said they were a part of a campaign to discredit the military.

"Mr. Darto [Sudarto] knew very well that this fake money production was for the interest of the Indonesian military and ... East Timor," Ismail told the court on July 11, according to trial reports carried by the Jakarta Post.

Sudarto was the chief of the Indonesian Military Intelligence Agency from January 1999 until he was appointed army chief of staff in November last year. "He sanctioned the process. The [former] BIA chief also visited Yustinus Kasminto's house in Palmerah, West Jakarta, where the printing was done," Ismail told the court then.

The fake money, worth 19.2 billion rupiah (2.1 million dollars) was produced by the defendants between July last year and February this year, the court was told. The counterfeit bills are in 50,000 rupiah denominations, the last notes in the country bearing the likeness of former president Suharto.

On Monday the government ordered the withdrawal of the "Suharto" notes. Bank Indonesia's announcement did not give a reason for the withdrawal of the notes, but newer versions of the same denominations have since been issued.

FPI destroys 82 kiosks used for vice activities

Jakarta Post - July 25, 2000

Tangerang -- Thousands of members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) burned and destroyed 82 kiosks on the Tahang riverbank in Salembaran Jati village of Kosambi district here on Monday, accusing the owners of running vice activities on their premises. "We come here to take action against prostitution practices provided by the kiosk's proprietors," Ibnu Usman of the FPI told reporters.

The action was supported by a number of housewives, who were afraid that their husbands and youths might have visited the location. "We're glad the places were burned down. We are concerned that they may be a bad influence to the youths," said housewife Minten.

Despite his support for the action, a community leader regretted the arson which could have claimed lives. "I fully support actions against vice activities launched by the FPI. But they should coordinate with local authorities to avoid any brawls which can claim fatalities," said Somad, pointing to the clash between FPI members and proprietors.

Proprietors and local hoodlums at the location fought back by brandishing sharp weapons when members of the FPI started their action. This, however, provoked the activists to act more violently and all the buildings were torn down in seconds. After all the kiosks were demolished, the angry owners tried to burn the trucks transporting FPI members, who managed to prevent this from taking place.

Kosambi district secretary, Mochammad Urif said that warning letters had been earlier sent to the kiosks' proprietors to stop their activities. "The buildings, which lack any permits, were standing on a 2-hectare plot of land belonging to the irrigation agency," he said. "Instead of stopping their activities, they staged a rally to protest the warning at the Kosambi district office," Urif added.

The proprietors asked the district administration not to close down their businesses. "This is the only way to support our families because we can't find other jobs," one proprietor was quoted as saying by Urif.

The FPI launched a similar action earlier in April by attacking Balemang Cafe in Kemang, South Jakarta. The organization was also responsible for several other attacks at night entertainment spots.

Three killed in Sumatra `black magic' incident

Associated Press - July 25, 2000

Jakarta -- An Indonesian mob rounded up three men and beat them to death after accusing one of them of murdering his wife with black magic. Kompas newspaper reported that the woman died earlier this month in Kedungsari village on the island of Sumatra.

Her husband said she had drunk poison accidentally. However, rumours spread that he and two accomplices had cast a deadly spell on her. The newspaper said about 100 people rounded up the three men on Saturday and killed them.

Indonesia has been hit by widespread civil unrest and lawlessness in recent years because of economic hardship, political turbulence and ethnic and religious tensions.

Environment/health

WALHI scorns at Indorayon proposal to Batak Toba people

Detik - July 28, 2000

Aulia Andri/FM & AH, Medan -- The Indonesian Forum For the Environment (WALHI) is scornful of a plan from PT Inti Indorayon Utama (IIU) pulp and paper factory to give 1% of its production costs to the residents living in the factory's vicinity. WALHI considers the offer from the company, operating in the Porsea subdistrict of Toba Samosir Municipality, as an effort to re-open the factory.

Backed by WALHI and other NGOs, the residents of Porsea managed to urge the government to withdraw IIU's license in 1998. However, this year, the government plans to reissue the license. The plan immediately enraged the residents who have been fighting the company for years, and lead to an armed clash on 21 June this year, leaving one person dead and the whereabouts of 40 people unknown.

"Even if IIU gave away 50% of its stock, they [the residents of Porsea] would not accept it, because the residents have rejected its presence," Director Executive of WALHI, Effendi Panjaitan, told Detik at Legal Aid Foundation, Friday.

According to Effendi, IIU has been unrelenting in its attempts to re-open the factory at Porsea. "Well, this is how they do it. They are trying to buy the residents," said Effendi. As of today, Effendi added, the government has yet to provide technical guidelines and prerequisites that should be fulfilled by IIU, before it re-opens the factory in July. "So, those prerequisites should be made clear if IIU wants to restart operations. But one thing is for sure, the residents have objected to it [IIU]," said Effendy.

In a press release yesterday, IIU said that it will set aside 1% of its production costs, and add contribution funds from investors to generate a development program for residents living around the factory. It is planned that the fund will be managed by a foundation formed by residents, investors of IIU and local administration. IIU has also promised to attain ecolabel standards for forestry management and ISO 14000 for industrial management.

The Batak Toba tribe from Porsea, Toba Samosir municipality, have staged a rally at the North Sumatra Provincial Legislative Council on Wednesday, to demand IIU remain closed. They claim that since its establishment in 1986, the IIU operation has irreparably damaged their environment.

Half of Indonesian forests destroyed

Straits Times - July 29, 2000

Jakarta -- Almost 20.1-million ha, or about half the 40-million ha of forests in Indonesia, have been damaged by fires and farming, Forestry and Plantations Minister Nur Mahmudi Ismail has said.

This includes 5.9-million ha of what is supposed to be protected forests, he said, adding that the damage was cause not just by logging firms and plantations, but by nomadic farmers as well, the Indonesian Observer newspaper reported yesterday.

Speaking during a visit to the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar on Thursday, he said that if damaged forests could not be rehabilitated, the affected areas should be converted into arable farming land. The government had, for example, allocated 10 billion rupiah (S$1.9 million) for the rehabilitation of arid land in South Sulawesi.

His comments came in the wake of a report by the World Resources Institute's report on Indonesia which said that forest fires will continue to occur here until the government makes drastic changes in its management of the remaining tropical forests.

Where in the world are the firefighters

Straits Times - July 28, 2000

Marianne Kearney, Pekanbaru -- Indonesian police, forestry employees and plantation companies are failing to fight the fires which have been burning on dozens of plantations over the last two weeks in the central Sumatran province of Riau.

Almost two hundred hotspots have been detected by satellite during this period. However, no Forestry Department fire fighters have been reported as controlling the fires and plantation owners also appear not to have tried to extinguish the blazes.

A special investigation team, consisting of forestry officials and police, have spent more than a week investigating the fires on one plantation but have not yet reported back to forestry headquarters in Pekanbaru. It is not known how many of the fires are still burning as many of them have been obscured by clouds and they are not showing up on satellite maps.

However, yesterday fires were discovered on at least four large plantations. At least 30 fires were seen from a helicopter survey on the palm-oil plantation of Jatim Jaya and at least 10 small fires were seen on the timber estate of Esa Indah, said Mr Amin Sudando, an official from Riau's Environmental Impact Agency. He said these fires did not appear to have been extinguished by the companies' fire services but an investigation team was being sent to check on them today.

On a visit to the timber estate of Arara Abadi, The Straits Times found a large fire that had been burning for a week. Villagers told The Straits Times that, although the fire had covered the area in a huge cloud of smoke several days ago, no company firefighters were controlling the blazes.

"No one fights the fires," said Mr Darus, whose village is situated in the middle of the timber estate. He challenged Arara Abadi's claims that it had 500 firefighters ready to fight any potential blazes.

Police and forestry officials claim they have neither the resources nor the correct information about the location of the fires. But experts from the satellite-monitoring centre in Palembang dispute their claims.

Mr Ivan Anderson from the Forest Fire Prevention and Control Centre said: "There's no shortage of information about detection of forest fires. "Bapedal, the state's environmental impact agency, and the Forestry Department have a considerable amount of information on where the fires are. It is the government systems and deciding who's responsible for the fires that is vague."

However, the local forestry office in northern Riau province, where at least 20 fires were detected last week, claimed not to know where they were. One official, who was in a town near dozens of detected hotspots, told The Straits Times that his duty was only to monitor security conditions for the timber companies and not to monitor fires. He declined to be named.

Officials with Riau's Environmental Impact Agency admit privately that they are very frustrated at the police's lack of willingness to investigate cases. One official said part of the problem was that the police often lacked funds.

Locating the fires, often a day's journey from the provincial capital of Pekanbaru and investigating who started them, can be expensive, he said. But another said that, even when the fires were located closer to police headquarters, the police were unwilling to investigate.

Environmentalists slam Jakarta over inaction

Agence France-Presse - July 26, 2000

Jakarta -- Environmentalists on Wednesday slammed the Indonesian government for its failure to stop illegal logging at a national park in central Borneo, which has shrunk the local endangered orangutan population.

Telapak Indonesia and the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said illegal logging was continuing unchecked in the Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan province, despite pledges by the government to stop the massive timber thefts.

"If the government cannot stop illegal logging in the Tanjung Puting National Park then it will not be able to deal with any forestry issues," EIA director Dave Currey told a press conference here.

A recent report, based on investigations by the two environmental watchdogs, said the population of orangutans in Tanjung Puting could now be as low as 500 compared to 2,000 in 1994 because their forest homes are being destroyed.

"The massive timber theft is threatening the future of the park and its dwindling orangutan population," Ambrosius Ruwindriyarto, the executive director of Telapak Indonesia, said.

He called Tanjung Puting a test case of Jakarta's willingness to address the issue of rampant illegal logging in Indonesia. "The main culprit is known. The logging is blatant. Firm action is needed now -- otherwise there will be little worth saving," Ruwindriyanto said.

Only three protected parks in Indonesia have orangutan populations with long-term viability -- Tanjung Puting, Gunung Lauser National Park in northern Sumatra and the Bentuang Karimun Park. The groups said all three were subject to illegal logging. Indonesia has the longest list of endangered species in the world, including orangutans, Sumatran tigers, Sumatran rhinos and Asian elephants.

The report detailed events in Tanjung Puting since the groups' launching of an anti-illegal logging campaign in August, including alledged assaults on EIA and Telapak activists.

The report claims the attacks were carried out by thugs hired by a company owned by local timber baron, Abdul Rasyid, an Indonesian national assembly member. "Despite the evidence there has been no real action by this government against him," Currey said.

Currey also said that President Abdurrahman Wahid had told the environmentalists during a meeting on Tuesday that the president wanted to see an end to illegal logging, and committed his government to the suspension of ramin [a type of tropical hard wood] timber exports.

"If the government holds to the president's promises then, at least we will see some action," Currey said. "We're not going away. We're waiting to see results."

At a meeting of the Consultative Group on Indonesia, the country's main donors, the Indonesian government promised to tackle the illegal logging of national parks as a priority.

"Yet Tanjung Puting and a host of protected areas around the country continue to be looted, often orchestrated by powerful timber barons with collusion of the local authorities," the groups said in a statement.

Currey said illegal logging in Indonesia had now reached a catastrophic level, with 70 percent of timber processed received from illegal sources. He said that at the current rate it was estimated that lowland forest areas in Sumatra and Kalimantan would disappear within a decade.

30 firms investigated over Riau forest fires

Jakarta Post - July 27, 2000

Jakarta -- More than 30 companies are under investigation for their alleged roles in the recent forest fires in Riau, a provincial administration official said on Wednesday.

Darminto Soetono, the head of the Riau office of the Ministry of Forestry and Plantation, said he had ordered the companies to halt all land-clearing activities and had given them 10 days to put out fires on their land.

Investigations into the causes of the fire would begin as soon as the fires were doused, Darminto said on the sidelines of a Sub Regional Fire Fighting Arrangements Working Group discussion.

The meeting, attended by officials from Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, came in the wake of another major breakout of forest fires this month that sent thick haze over parts of Malaysia and Singapore.

Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), helicopter surveys and satellite photographs supplied by Singapore show that 70 percent of the hotspots in Riau were located in concessions owned by more than 30 companies, Darminto said.

He declined to name the companies but said that they included plantations, holders of industrial forest estates (HTI) and forest concessionaires (HPH).

In North Sumatra, at least four companies are facing indictments for causing forest fires, according to Darori, the head of the North Sumatra office of the same ministry. The four companies are PT Rapala, PT Majuma, PT KASS and Grup Tobing, he said.

"Rapala alone has burned about 3,000 hectares of land, which have now been doused by the rain," Darori alleged. If found guilty, the companies' owners could face up to 15 years in jail and a fine of Rp 5 billion, he said. "We will also bring them to a civil court because they burned the land on purpose," Darori said.

Director-general for nature protection and conservation Harsono said that despite the implementation of a zero-burning policy, many companies were still using the old, and cheaper method of slash-and-burn.

"If the zero-burning policy was carried out there would be no more fires," he said. According to the latest data from the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations, the number of hotspots in Indonesia has been reduced to zero, Harsono said. Their number peaked on July 14 with 169 in North Sumatra and 340 in Riau, he said. Rain, combined with efforts of the government's fire containment team and local communities had helped reduce the number of hotspots, he said.

Forest fires burn while prosecution falters

Detik - July 25, 2000

Dharmastuti/SWA & LM, Jakarta -- The thick palls of smoke choking North Sumatra and Riau Provinces has compelled the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations to announce that it plans to sanction as many as 12 business people.

Unfortunately, the Ministry claims that imposing the sanctions may prove difficult and the government's track record of prosecuting such cases is not reassuring.

"We have the full authority to take actions by directly prosecuting offenders, because the slash and burn practices are the companies' responsibility," explained Secretary General of the Ministry of Forestry and Plantation, Suripto, during the Conflict Resolution Workshop at the National Resilience Institute, Jl. Kebon Sirih , Central Jakarta today. He added that administrative sanctions are to be imposed on those suspected of intentionally burning off forests.

Unfortunately, Suripto said that the Ministry is still having difficulties in imposing legal sanctions because the persons actually lighting the fires have yet to be located. "So who are we going to impose the sanction on? I once suggested imposing administrative sanctions, such as revoking their rights to use the land. But this requires coordination with banks and foreign investors," Suripto explained.

Suripto said the Ministry had prepared a helicopter on stand-by every day to monitor the fires and alert the Ministry of new ones. "We also granted Rp 100 million (US$ 11,300) to each affected province so that they can prepare reliable officers to be sent immediately to the hot spots," added Suripto.

As reported earlier, smoke from hundreds of fires has not only lead to hazardous levels of pollutants recorded across the islands of Kalimantan and Sumatra but has now reached into Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. The fires have been attributed to land clearing activities by businesses holding Forest Concession Rights (HPH), coconut palm oil plantations and small scale farmers all extending the boundaries of their land.

Although the Ministry is unwilling to release the names of those on the blacklist, Detik inteviewed Chairman of the Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal) for Region I of Sumatra, Drs Teuku Alamsyah, on Thursday from Pekanbaru who fingered several offenders. Alamsyah indicated that forest concessions owned by PT Mandau Abadi and PT. Arara Abadi and other areas owned by PT. Karyatama Bhakti Mulya, PT. Subur Arum Makmur and PT. Sawit Rokan Hulu are also burning off illegally in Kampar municipality. Elsewhere, In Rokan Hulu municipality, the hot spots are located in forestry concessions owned by PT. Kulim Coy and a coconut palm oil plantation owned by PT. Sawit Rokan Indah. Hot spots are located in plantation areas owned by PT. Inti Prima and PT. Sari Lembah Subur in the Pelelawan municipality.

Not a single offender has ever been punished in the province for illegal burning of forests. Several companies listed above were also guilty of illegal burning during 1997 when some 15,000 square kilometers of forest were destroyed and hazardous smoke drifted in Malaysia. In Riau, as many as 350 hotspots were recorded last week although the names of offending companies remain unclear.

Last Friday the Minister for the Environment appeared visibly frustrated and anxious when discussing the problem at a seminar in West Kalimantan. He called on the police and local governments and prosecutors to "drag slash and burners to court" and told those in attendence that Indonesia has only ever held five companies responsible for the practice before a court of law.

Arms/armed forces

US restarts ties with Indonesia military

Associated Press - July 26, 2000

Slobodan Lekic, Asem Bagus -- Dozens of elderly villagers wearing checkered sarongs wait patiently on cots while a US Navy corpsman prepares them for eye surgery. Nearby, US Marines and Indonesian servicemen, their uniforms drenched with sweat, help each other refurbish a dilapidated school.

"This is a great experience for us, working together with the Indonesians to help local people improve their quality of life," said Cpl. Charles Spencer, 20, of Saint Marys, W.Va., as he dug a trench for a water pipe.

Although US officers at this seaside village 530 miles east of Jakarta downplayed the joint American-Indonesian exercise Tuesday as just one of many good will missions worldwide, the 10-day project is anything but routine.

It is the first time the two armed forces have worked together since US military ties with Indonesia were cut following East Timor's devastation by Indonesian troops and militiamen last year.

The Cooperation Afloat and Readiness Training -- or CARAT -- mission is the result of a switch by US policy-makers alarmed by the prospect of Indonesia disintegrating under the weight of multiple religious and separatist conflicts.

Last week, Defense Secretary William Cohen said the Clinton administration would follow Australia, which led a successful international peacekeeping operation in East Timor, in formulating policy on a potential intervention in Indonesia's strife-torn Maluku islands.

The current exercise, involving more than 400 US and Indonesian marines, sailors and medical personnel, coincides with a sharp escalation in the Muslim-Christian war in that archipelago, which has killed over 4,000 people.

On Sunday, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had told him of growing appeals for peacekeepers to be sent to the region. Wahid said his government could end the conflict by itself.

But Wahid said Indonesia's overstretched military might need logistical aid from friendly countries. Foremost among these is the United States, whose transport capabilities are the best in the region.

Critics of US policy maintain American military training and cooperation enabled Indonesia's military to commit human rights abuses during President Suharto's regime. The United State has therefore chosen to focus exclusively on humanitarian operations as a first step to forging closer links with Indonesia's navy and air force.

The army, which underpinned Suharto's 32-year rule, has been excluded from the joint project. Instead, the navy and marines, neglected by Suharto's regime and now seen as backing Wahid's political and economic reforms, were selected as partners.

Washington is "considering a program of phased re-engagement with the Indonesian military in ways designed to promote further reform," the State Department said recently.

The navy and air force -- although seen as blame-free by human rights groups -- have both been hit hard by the US embargo on military sales. Numerous navy supply ships and at least half of the air force's fleet of 19 C-130 Hercules transports have been idled by a lack of spare parts.

Col. Marsetio, the local Indonesian naval commander, said the humanitarian operation "is a new step after a stagnation in cooperation between the Indonesian and US navies."

The operation features a US Navy medical unit performing surgery and making eyeglasses for villagers. An Indonesian military outpost has been converted into a makeshift hospital for cataract surgery.

"This gives us a chance to gain experience that we normally wouldn't get," said Capt. Karl Holzinger, the chief surgeon. "In the States it's virtually impossible to encounter cases of mature cataracts ... which completely block vision."

Down the road at the Sumberwaru elementary school, Cpl. Spencer and his fellow combat engineers contend with a group of rambunctious third-graders trying to "help" them dislodge a boulder. "Their smiles help, they just make the work much more enjoyable," Spencer said.

US resumes military ties

Green Left Weekly - July 26, 2000

Pip Hinman -- As two of its warships docked in the east Javanese port of Surabaya on July 20, the administration of US President Bill Clinton made official its re-establishment of military ties with Indonesia, after a temporary suspension during last year's carnage in East Timor.

CARAT 2000, the US government's Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training program to promote military cooperation between it and participating countries, began in June and ends in September. It involves Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.

During the Indonesian phase, the US will concentrate on "troop and asset evacuation under combat conditions". Some 650 Indonesian personnel, primarily marines, will be involved. The exercise will take place in East Java, off Situbondo, from July 20-30.

But while US Secretary of Defence William Cohen said the US would be seeking to "re-engage Indonesia on a military-to-military level", a move the Indonesians have been lobbying for, East Timor solidarity activists in the US say the State Department has been promoting training for Indonesian police under non-military programs.

The US has been involved in military training with Indonesia since the 1950s and it supplies some 70% of equipment and spare parts to Indonesia's army, navy and air force.

Indonesian defence minister Juwono Sudarsono has used the crisis in the Maluku islands to push for the re-establishment of equipment supplies, arguing that without this, relief efforts would be compromised. Australia too has been asked to help out.

Clinton suspended US military ties with Indonesia on September 9, in the face of widespread public anger at the scorched earth policy inflicted on East Timor.

Almost immediately, the Australian government suspended its training program with Indonesia's elite force, Kopassus. In a matter of days, a United Nations force had entered East Timor and the Indonesian military was forced to withdraw.

The decision to go ahead with CARAT has flouted a US law (the FY2000 Foreign Operations Appropriations Act) which prohibits the re-establishment of military ties, pending fulfilment of certain conditions.

Congress' conditions include the safe return of all East Timorese refugees in West Timor camps (there are still some 100,000- 120,000 afraid to return home), the bringing to account of military and militia members implicated in human rights atrocities, action by Indonesia to end militia incursions into East Timor and cooperation with the UN administration in the new country. None have been met.

CARAT 2000 involves the Indonesian navy, marines and coast guard training with their US counterparts, staging simulated invasions of Indonesian islands.

Previous CARATs, such as the one staged just before last year's ballot in East Timor, included live fire training, patrolling and raids. Some Indonesian officers went directly from last August's CARAT to East Timor.

Activist and journalist Allan Nairn, who was in East Timor during last year's violence, told a Congressional subcommittee on human rights in May that he had seen secret military documents, left behind in East Timor, which indicated that Kopassus personnel were trained in the "tactic and technique" of "terror" and "kidnapping".

One of the documents was signed by General Johnny Lumintang, a longtime US protigi touted by the State Department as a "moderate", and who was recently served with a crimes against humanity lawsuit.

Nairn said that the US Embassy in Jakarta, the CIA and other agencies are planning lethal training for the Indonesian police force, including their notorious Gegana and Brimob special units. "The police were an integral part of the Timor terror. They took the lead in the mass abductions. And they are at the forefront of the sweeps killing civilians in Aceh", he told the committee.

He said that Indonesian police documents indicated that the police have continued to receive training from the FBI and other US agencies in topics including "explosive incident and countermeasures".

The US says it will continue to exclude the army from joint exercises and focus on its navy, marines and air force. But as the US-based East Timor Action Network (ETAN) points out, all are implicated in decades of violence against the people of East Timor, Aceh, West Papua and other Indonesian provinces.

"A resumption of military engagement at any level will send a signal to the Indonesian armed forces that the US government believes they have been rehabilitated, legitimising the repression they continue to practice in the internal governance of Indonesia", a statement released by ETAN and other non- government organisations said.

"As long as the `dual function' structure of the military places troops and officers at every level of society in a policing capacity, it cannot be claimed that civilian control has been asserted over the armed forces. The military is still a systematically repressive force in Indonesia ... This is clearly not the time for US military re-engagement with the Indonesian military", said ETAN.

Nairn summed up the US position: "The Clinton administration is now, in effect, planning to train the terrorists in anti- terrorism. These are lethal skills that up to now have been applied not to defend civilians but rather to abduct and kill them if the police and military do not like their views."

Australian opposition party forges ties to TNI

Detik - July 21, 2000

D. Sangga Buwana/BI & LM, Jakarta -- A new initiative to send Indonesian Defense Force personnel to Australia for training in defense management was announced today by the Indonesian Defense Minister, Juwono Sudarsono. The Australian Labor Party, currently in opposition, has initiated the education program.

The announcement was made after Juwono accompanied Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid to a reception for Australian Shadow Minister for the Defense, Steven Martin, and Australian Ambassador in Indonesia, John McCarthy, at the Presidential Palace Jakarta, today.

Juwono explained that the Australian government had sent emissaries to Indonesia to discuss the proposal. The military cooperation concentrates on the education of junior officers in the Navy, Airforce and the Army. "The outcome of this exercise is to improve our managerial defense. Currently we are sending 12 junior officers to Australia," Juwono continued.

When questioned over the President's plans to visit Australia, Juwono said he is unable to predict the time. "I can't say the exact date, or if it is going to be before or after the Sydney 2000 Olympics."

The meeting between the President and the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, has been the focus of much speculation and has been sidelined on numerous occasions. The Australian Prime Minister has insisted President Wahid visit Australia before meeting together with East Timorese leaders, possibly in East Timor.

The initiative by the Australian Labour Party, now in opposition, is a clear attempt to develop relations with Indonesia in anticipation of future developments when they may form government.

Juwono also commented on the audit currently underway into the finances of the Indonesian Defense Force (TNI) and National Police. Juwono said that he had ordered the Ministry's general secretary and the inspector general to investigate all institutions and controlled by his ministry and their respective heads.

An internal audit revealed many irregularities in the five enterprises and two foundations owned by the ministry, particularly in PT Asabri and the Setya Bhakti Pertiwi foundation. The final results of the audit will be handed over to the Supreme Audit Agency. The Minister himself told the press last month that funds from the official state budget covered a mere 25% of the forces' costs.

These measures are in compliance with the last Letter of Intent (LoI) signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which has forced the Indonesian government to draw in non-budgetary incomes into the national budget. If it fails to satisfy the IMF, it may again halt the latest installment of the financial package brokered.

Juwono also stated today the US is also planning to indefinitely halt an arms embargo it introduced after the ballot for Independence in east Timor when the TNI was party to the destruction and mass murder of pro-independence supporters. While the arms ban stays in place, western governments -- or prospective governments in the case of the Australian Labour Party -- are clearly attempting to forge new links with the Indonesian military. Two US battleships are currently harbored in Surabaya and Indonesian military observers and some non-combat personnel are partaking in the latest multi-national 'CARAT' exercises currently underway in Indonesian territory.

Economy & investment

US presses Jakarta to pay $500 million claim

Straits Times - July 27, 2000

Jakarta -- The United States could seize Indonesian assets if Jakarta fails to settle a US$290-million claim by the US government's Overseas Private Investment Corp (OPIC), US Ambassador Robert Gelbard said.

The United States is putting pressure on Indonesia to pay US$290 million in compensation because its state energy company has failed to honour contracts with MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co.

According to Mr Gelbard, Washington was beginning to lose patience with the Indonesian government's reluctance to pay the OPIC claim. "There is always the possibility of declaring expropriation," he said. "If we were to do this, it would result in a dramatic deterioration of the rupiah and would hurt Indonesia very much," he said.

However, he said in a telephone interview with Dow Jones Newswires yesterday that "this is an issue between the government of Indonesia, which owes the debt, and the US". The ambassador declined to elaborate on what steps the US might take if Indonesia fails to pay.

OPIC's claim came after Indonesian state electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) failed to pay independent power producer MidAmerican Energy Holding, formerly known as CalEnergy, US$572 million as ordered by an independent arbitration panel.

The payment was for electricity produced from a MidAmerican geothermal power plant in Java and the suspension of another plant in West Java. MidAmerican filed arbitration proceedings against PLN in September 1998. PLN lost the arbitration proceedings last year and was ordered to pay MidAmerican the US$572 million.

But PLN refused to pay the claim, saying it had no money to do so in the midst of the country's financial crisis, forcing MidAmerican to call in its OPIC insurance. OPIC later paid US$290 million of the claim. "The result unfortunately was that OPIC -- an agency of the US government -- had to pay out the largest claim in its history to this company," Mr Gelbard said.

Indonesia cuts income taxes, shares receipts with regions

Agence France-Presse - July 25, 2000

Jakarta -- Indonesia's parliament has approved income tax cuts that halve the burden on low income earners, as well as a radical new amendment that will provide regional administrations with 20 percent of income tax receipts, reports said Tuesday.

Finance Minister Bambang Sudibyo said the amendments were designed to broaden the tax base, improve tax administration and ensure a fairer distribution of the tax burden, the Jakarta Post said. The amendments on five tax laws were approved by a plenary session of the parliament on Monday after more than a month of deliberation.

The new income tax law, one of the five tax laws amended, now splits individual taxpayers into five brackets from the previous three. Earners of below 25 million rupiah (2,800 dollars) now have to pay five percent in income tax, half of what they paid earlier.

Those earning between 25 and 50 million rupiah have to pay 10 percent, and those making between 50 and 100 million rupiah have to pay 15 percent. A 25 percent income tax would be levied on those earning between 100 million and 200 million rupiah while the top 35 percent tax will be paid by those earning over 200 million rupiah. Under the previous system, revenues of up to 25 million rupiah were taxed at 10 percent, up to 50 million rupiah 15 percent and those in excess of 50 million rupiah were taxable by 30 percent.

The income tax law will also extend the categories of corporate income tax payers to include non-profit social and political organizations as well as social-oriented foundations.

Until now regional administrations have simply been allotted budgets by the central government, with no reference to the amounts of taxes collected locally. The government's tax receipts account for only some 12 percent of gross domestic product.

Under amendments to the value added tax and luxury tax law, regional administrations can now raise luxury sales taxes to a maximum of 75 percent compared to the previous maximum of 50 percent.

Under the amendments to the law on general rules and procedures for taxation, individual and corporate taxpayers could now defer their tax payment by one year, if they are able to prove they are facing severe cash flow problems. The procedures for the refund of excess income tax and value added tax payments were also simplified.