Indonesia/East Timor News Digest No 45

Maryadi/BI & GB, Pontianak -- Three university students have been injured after Mobile Brigade officers stormed the University of Tanjungpura campus in Pontianak, West Kalimantan. The incident occurred after the students refused to release three police officers taken hostage in the hope of ensuring the release of fellow students detained by police.

The whole incident began when up to a hundred students under the auspices of the West Kalimantan Students Joint Action group demonstrated at the West Kalimantan Governor's office demanding that Governor, Aspar Aswin step down Thursday. The number of protestors increased two fold after they were joined by crowds of anti-Asparists apparently protesting at the West Kalimantan Provincial Legislative Council.

The real story behind who started the violence is not yet clear. According to the students, the protest turned into a physical confrontation after officials and security gaurds came out and threatened them with wooden sticks. However, the officials and gaurds said that the students were aggravating them by vandalising nearby lamp posts.

Both sides then began throwing rocks at each other until police arrived much later. It was reported that two building officials received head injuries at the time.

When the police did arrive, they started to chase the already retreating students. Three students identified as Sutarmidi, Raymond, and Michael from Universitas Panca Bakti were nabbed by the police. Realising that three of their fellow students had been caught, the group then began to throw rocks again. But this time they aimed at the police. The police hurriedly left the scene with the three students.

The protesting group retreated to a roundabout near the Tanjungpura University. Still furious that three of their comrades were captured, the students then began "sweeping" through the streets for policemen. The students stopped cars, including the vehicle of an officer named Samaran Hadi who happened to pass the students' barricade.

The students then torched the car and another two officers on a motor bike were also detained as they were trying to pass the crowds. The three policemen held by the students are the head of the legal office from the West Kalimantan Police, Superintendent Samaran Hadi, as well as 2nd Inspector M Wahyudi and 2nd Inspector Antoni.

Around one hundred members from the West Kalimantan Mobile Brigade Unit arrived at the blockade location and started to chase the students who were retreating inside the nearby Tanjungpura University compound. Warning shots were fired but the students continued to retreat with the three police officers. In order to curb the action, police cordoned off the university and its surrounding area.

A negotiation between student representatives and Pontianak police chief Senior Superintendent Suprojo WS was organised by the university chancellor Prof. Dr Syarif Ibrahim. However, it was a fruitless exercise as both sides refused to release those detained.

At approximately 4.30pm local time, the Mobile Brigade Unit was called in to assist to free the policeman held captive inside the university campus. The police used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the students but they retaliated by throwing stones.

Three students were reported injured, but the injuries may increase as tension is still high around the university grounds. Two of the injured have been identified as Ansurullah and Taufik. They are being treated at Soedarso public hospital for serious injuries.

The police also reportedly damaged a vehicle parked in the university grounds and 50 motorbikes belonging to students. Several officers were seen beating students. Journalists covering the incident were also ordered to leave the area.

Masterminds of oil-well attacks arrested

Indonesian Observer - November 8, 2000 (abridged)

Jakarta -- Police in Riau province yesterday arrested five local residents suspected of masterminding arson attacks on five oil- wells operated by PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia (CPI).

The arson took place on Monday afternoon in Tanah Putih subdistrict, Rokan Hilir district, when a mob claiming to belong to the Tani Sawit Permai oil palm farmers group torched the wells.

Riau Police spokesman Superintendent S. Pandiangan said the five alleged provocateurs of the incident are Opu Taruli Panjaitan (60), Evi Boru Manurung (26), Jitu Panjaitan (28), Tambelan Surbakti (40) and Erwan Surbakti (35). They are being held at Bengkalis Police station for questioning, he said.

The police spokesman said the oil wells were set ablaze at about 2pm. The oil companys fire brigade worked hard for two hours to get the blazes under control.

Villagers set fire to four Caltex oil wells in Riau

Straits Times - November 8, 2000

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- Local villagers set fire to four oil wells belonging to the country's largest oil producer in Riau province in Sumatra, causing as much as US$240,000 damage.

The villagers started the fires late on Monday as their latest protest against PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia in a dispute over land compensation. The fires burnt for two hours on Monday, damaging the oil well pumps but failing to create flaming infernos of burning oil. An environmental disaster was avoided by the rapid police response and by the shutdown of the oil wells, said Caltex general manager Gary Fitzgerald.

Mr Fitzgerald said the villagers, who live near the oil fields in Batang, had arrived at the wells on Monday afternoon and piled up wood around the four wells before setting the wood alight. "Two separate farmer groups are involved. One has been compensated for their land and the other was supposed to be compensated by the other group. So perhaps it was a form of revenge," he said.

The wells will be shut for at least a week, causing a 500-barrel-a-day shortfall in production.

Riau has seen many protests by villagers demanding land compensation and jobs, as well as claims that Caltex has been polluting the surroundings over the past few weeks. Last month, villagers in Duri, demanding positions with Caltex, blockaded access roads and burnt vehicles, putting production on hold for over a week.

Periodic disruptions in Caltex's Riau operations this year have cost it about 15,000 to 30,000 barrels per day in lost production out of the company's target of 740,000. Such protests in the impoverished province, which has one of the lowest standards of living in Indonesia, have been staged with increasing frequency since the downfall of former president Suharto.

PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia is the local unit of Singapore-based Caltex Corp, a joint venture between Chevron Corp and Texaco Inc.

500 palm oil farmers stage demonstration

Detik - November 6, 2000

Chaidir Anwar Tanjung/Hendra & PT, Pekanbaru -- Around 500 transmigrants of the Tapung village, Tapung Sub-district, regent of Kampar, South Sumatra, have staged a demonstration in front of the governor of Riau's office. The protestors, who are palm oil farmers, are demanding the governor approach the government, and increase the price of palm oil stems.

Hundreds of the protestors arrived by truck to the front of the governor of Riau's office, which is located on Jl Sudirman, Pekanbaru, Monday at around 12.30pm local time.

The demonstrators brought posters and red and white flags, which although was held in front of the main door did not cause problems for those entering the building.

Written on the posters was, "The Government, Please Hike The Price of Our Palm Oil," as well as "Don't Sacrifice the Farmers For Official's Wealth." They demanded to directly meet with the governor, who as yet was not forthcoming.

According to one of the demonstrators, Supandi (34), the price of oil palm stem was now around the Rp 2,50 per kilo. "This price is considered to be very low. At this that price, we are having difficulty in paying credit to the PT Buana Wira Lestari in the capacity of a foster-father," complained Supandi.

Another problem the farmers are facing is the difficulties in getting fertilizers because the price has increased. "We are demanding that the government through the governor, increase the price of palm oil to at least at Rp 400 per kilo," demanded Supandi.

Residents protest forced eviction at Jakarta Parliament

Detik - November 6, 2000

A Dipta Anindita/GB, Jakarta -- Around 500 protesters from 13 urban communities in Jakarta staged a rowdy demonstration at the Provincial Legislative Council on Monday. They claimed their land had been illegally seized by police backed by hired thugs to make way for a new railway line.

By mid-afternoon, representatives of the demonstrators and the Urban Poor Consortium were in meetings with several councilors. Other demonstrators moved into the lobby of the Council chambers to wait patiently.

The demonstrators originate from urban villages or "kampungs" along the rail lines between Jakarta, Bogor and Bekasi such as: Kampung Karanganyar, Teluk Gong, Kampung Sawah Semper Timur, Kebon Indah, Kebon Pisang, Kampung Rawa, Kebon Sayur, Cipinang Cempedak, Kampung Luwuk, Pedurenan and Pulo Gebang.

Slamet, a resident of Karanganyar, told Detik that they were devastated by the seizure of their land and destruction of their property carried out by the provincial government on behalf of the state-owned railway enterprise PT Kereta Api Indonesia.

He said the seizure began three days ago. "First, nine trucks full of fully armed Mobile Brigade officers, Fighters of the Front for the Defense of Islam (Laskar FPI) and other people paid off by them came. Based on the negotiations, only the residents who received their compensation had their lands marked," Slamet said.

According to the authorities, 48 receipts have been received by the residents to the value of Rp 1-7 million. However, according to Slamet, only five of the kampung's residents have signed the receipts.

"The rest were signed falsely noting the names of residents so that they could immediately move into our land," he said. That afternoon, he continued, they moved in and marked off all the land in Karanganyer.

"Yesterday they dug up the land to make the permanent places for the rails. All the land of the residents has been bulldozed," he said sadly. "When they evicted us we only read the work order, they would not even give us a copy," he added.

At the moment, 337 families or around 1225 people have lost their homes and most of their possessions. Residents from the other kampungs now await their fate.

According to Wardah Hafidz, head of the Urban Poor Consortium who accompanied the demonstrators, the eviction in Karanganyar is the first recorded incident of forced evictions carried out since the downfall of the New Order regime of disgraced former dictator Suharto.

"If this kind of thing continues, it means we've regressed to the New Order. This is clearly a test case for the provincial government. If we just keep quiet, this problem will go on and on," Wardah said.

The demonstrators, many of them now homeless, were determined to stay at the Council chambers until the matter is resolved and their demands met. "We want a place to live for all of us or compensation for our land and family possessions which were destroyed," cried one of the demonstrators.

East Timor

Indonesian soldiers lead homeward-bound refugees to East Timor

Agence France-Presse - November 11, 2000 (abridged)

Dili -- Indonesian soldiers helped 85 East Timorese refugees cross the border back into their homeland under heavy rain Saturday, a United Nations refugee official said.

The military-assisted repatriation came on the eve of a six-day visit by a United Nations Security Council delegation to the region to check on Jakarta's handling of refugees and militia based on the Indonesian half of Timor island.

"The TNI [Indonesian military] helped them cross in a heavy rainstorm north-west of Suai," UN High Commissioner for Refugees' spokesman Peter Kessler told AFP. "The TNI prepared this group a few days ago and let us know in advance, and they've also informed us that they'll be bringing another group to bring across at the same place on Monday," Kessler said.

Monday is when the Security Council delegation is due to visit Suai, a southern border town 110 kilometers south-west of the capital Dili. Another 18 refugees crossed back over the border on their own at Maliana on Saturday, Kessler said.

A total of 556 refugees have returned home this month, bringing the total of returnees since aid workers fled West Timor on September 7 and 8 in the wake of the killings of three UN staff there, to 1,729, according to UNHCR data.

Kessler said Saturday was not the first time the Indonesian military had helped refugees return, but they did not do so frequently. "We definitely would like to see the TNI help to organise similar returns on a larger scale more frequently," Kessler said.

Refugees cleared to return

Sydney Morning Herald - November 11, 2000

Mark Todd, Dili -- Indonesia says a large number of East Timor refugees will be repatriated soon from squalid militia-controlled camps in West Timor, but the timing of the announcement comes days before a visit to the violence-prone border region by a high-level mission from the United Nations Security Council.

Mr Peter Kessler, the Dili-based spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said yesterday that Indonesian authorities had informed the UN refugee agency this week that 130 refugees had been cleared to return home on Monday. In addition, an unspecified large number of refugees would also be allowed to repatriate in the near future, Mr Kessler said.

Diplomats and analysts in Dili said the Indonesian assurances to the UNHCR raised disturbing questions about who is controlling the refugees, long thought to be virtual hostages of militia gangs.

"They [Indonesians] are shooting for 130 refugees on Monday," Mr Kessler said. "We expect 75 on Saturday. Clearly the Indonesians have been organising people to come back in bigger groups, coincidentally at the same time the Security Council is in the country." The UNHCR estimates at least 125,000 East Timorese refugees are living in West Timor.

A 21-strong UN mission arrives in Dili today for a week-long visit to report on Indonesian compliance with an agreement to disarm militia groups based in West Timor, and on efforts by Jakarta to arrest those responsible for the September 6 murders of three UNHCR staff. The UN group comprises ambassadors from seven countries, including the United States and Britain.

Indonesia colluded with Timor militia terror: Gusmao wife

Agence France-Presse - November 9, 2000

Sydney -- Indonesian authorities conspired with East Timorese militiamen to permit the systematic rape of women and the keeping of sex slaves, the Australian wife of independence leader Xanana Gusmao said Thursday.

Kirsty Sword-Gusmao met her husband only once during a five-year courtship while he sat in a Jakarta prison cell serving a 20-year sentence for his leadership of an East Timorese pro-independence guerilla force.

She gave birth to the couple's first child, Alexandre, six weeks ago. Sword-Gusmao said the rape of East Timorese women by Indonesian troops and their local henchman had been a brutal fact of life for the 25 years Jakarta ruled the territory, but that it had escalated dramatically following last year's independence referendum on August 30.

After the results were announced, revealing that more than three-quarters of East Timorese voters favoured secession from Indonesia, pro-Jakarta militias armed by the Indonesian military embarked upon a bloody rampage.

Sword-Gusmao cited the case of Juliana Dos Santos, who on September 6 last year was kidnapped from her church and raped after watching her captor murder her brother. Dos Santos, aged 14 at the time, is still being held hostage as a sex slave, Sword- Gusmao said.

She said it was impossible to know how many women had been raped or were being held as sex slaves because humanitarian agencies had limited access to women living in militia-run refugee camps in Indonesian-controlled West Timor. There was also a deep social stigma associated with being raped, she said.

Sword-Gusmao added she was sure that if Indonesian authorities had not lent their support to militiamen the number of rapes would have been significantly lower. "It's very clear that there is a degree of collusion between the Indonesian authorities and the militias responsible for holding these women," she said.

"Otherwise these militias would have been arrested and brought to justice long ago because they're committing gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity and they wouldn't be able to get away with that unless they have the blessing of the Indonesian authorities."

"The needs in East Timor across the board are just so great that there are so many competing priorities that maybe this one has just faded into the background a little," she said. Sword-Gusmao will unveil a memorial in Sydney in honour of East Timorese rape victims Friday.

Eurico Guterres gets 'red-and-white award'

Jakarta Post - November 9, 2000

Jakarta -- Notorious Eurico Guterres, former commander of pro- Indonesia Aitarak East Timorese militia, has been awarded a "red-and-white award" by the State Defense Movement for his struggle to defend Indonesian rule in East Timor.

The movement's secretary, Rudy D. Johannes, presented the award to Eurico in the latter's cell in Salemba Penitentiary on Wednesday, two days before the National Hero Day.

"We chose Eurico Guterres because he is a young man with high spirit and nationalism that could be used as a model for our young generation," Rudy said.

When receiving the award, Eurico said he would not back down in his fight to defend Indonesia's right to rule in East Timor despite legal moves against his actions by the Indonesian government.

"I'm still defending the red and white until now, and will do so forever as a son of this nation. Whoever wants to tear the read and white is my enemy," he said, referring to Indonesia's red-and-white flag.

He added that what happened in East Timor and to the East Timorese was the result of foreign intervention in Indonesia's internal affairs. "I feel I'm a victim. But I don't mind being a victim as long as it is for Indonesia," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

East Timor: Whose future is it anyway

Far Eastern Economic Review - November 9, 2000

[In these two articles we look at the problems of building a new East Timor, where many locals feel the United Nations is leaving them out of decisions on their future, and where past violence casts a long shadow on the next generation]

John McBeth, Jakarta -- It's been more than a year since the United Nations descended on the ruins of East Timor in a brave pioneering effort to rebuild a country from ground zero. By general agreement, the UN has achieved a lot, restoring the former Portuguese colony to life in the face of continuing violence and against a backdrop of years of neglect.

But among East Timorese, there has been frustration over the failure of the UN Transitional Authority in East Timor, or Untaet, to involve more local people in drawing up a comprehensive blueprint of what they want their new nation to be.

"We are not interested in inheriting an economic rationale that leaves out the social and political complexity of East Timorese reality," said independence leader Xanana Gusmao -- East Timor's probable future president -- in a rare broadside in early October. "Nor do we wish to inherit the heavy decision-making and project-implementation mechanisms in which the role of the East Timorese is to give their consent as observers rather than the active players we should start to be."

Other East Timorese agree. "The first thing the UN did wrong was to run the country by itself," says Joao Carruscalao, minister of infrastructure. He's a member of the eight-member cabinet formed six months ago in response to mounting calls from the National Council of Timorese Resistance, or CNRT, for more direct involvement in the nitty-gritty of governance.

Outsiders, too, are worried about the East Timorese being left out. "There's no economic model, in fact there's no modelling of the country at all in the way the East Timorese want it," says one independent Western consultant, who has spent most of the past 12 months in Dili, the territory's still-devastated capital. "If the East Timorese don't participate, then they don't own the future." Still, he admits, it isn't always easy to tie down East Timor's leaders on what they want done. "CNRT policies are like clothes on the line -- they're just hanging loosely with nothing to bring them together."

Most of the criticism of the UN arises from the culture of the organization itself and the institutional necessity of involving so many different nationalities in its operations -- the 840 UN civilians represent 114 countries. "Ideally, the UN would have been better off landing with 100 good men, who would have been forced to use East Timorese and whose jobs would have been on the line if they goofed up," says the consultant. "Right now, there are no consequences for failure."

One area of criticism is -- perhaps not surprisingly -- money and how it's being spent. Donor nations have pledged as much as $545 million for East Timor's recovery, which includes $187 million for bilateral projects and $166 million for a trust fund administered by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank for community development and infrastructure improvement. So far, however, the trust fund has disbursed only $10.6 million. Says one UN official: "It takes time for a big structure like this to spend money -- but even then this is the fastest it has ever been spent."

The bubble economy created by the UN's presence is also a point of continuing resentment, given that much of the $592 million earmarked for Untaet's 2000-2001 budget will flow right out again into offshore bank accounts, either in the form of repatriated salaries or as profits from foreign-run businesses catering to UN workers. About $230 million of that is earmarked for military personnel, leaving $230 million for civilian administration and salaries and the remaining $130 million for operating costs.

All that compares starkly with the East Timor's first consolidated budget: just $59 million, including $15 million for modest capital projects. Future budgets are likely to remain conservative. UN officials want to maintain a self-sustaining budget that drives home the importance of fiscal discipline at a time when revenues are limited; significant receipts from Timor Gap oil, for example, will only begin to enter Dili's coffers after 2005.

Waiting for work

For some in East Timor, the contrast in resources is illustrated by the spectacle of highly paid UN staffers tooling around in luxury four-wheel vehicles and sipping cafe lattes in tree-shaded cafes. "We are not interested in a legacy of cars and laws," Gusmao declared in his October broadside. "Nor are we interested in a legacy of development plans designed by people other than East Timorese."

Only 1,800 Timorese are employed by the UN, including 25 district court judges who recently went on strike over poor wages and even poorer facilities. Overall, though, the East Timorese have been "extraordinarily tolerant," says veteran diplomat James Dunn, an Australian consul in Dili in the 1960s who has acted as unpaid adviser to the UN.

Despite the disappointments, Gusmao and other East Timorese leaders have been appreciative of much of what the UN has done to get the country back on its feet. "East Timor is not Namibia, where the UN found the country totally intact. It is not Zimbabwe in the 1970s," says CNRT vice-president and Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta. "Just the fact that they had to bring desks and chairs tells you of the magnitude of the task the UN faced. If you take this into account, they have done a wonderful job."

Much of the credit for what the UN has achieved goes to the Australians for providing the professional military backbone for the 7,800-man, 26-nation UN peacekeeping force. But the UN and other agencies also acted with admirable urgency and cooperation early in the crisis, spending $157 million on emergency food and shelter for tens of thousands of people made homeless in last year's militia rampage; supplies of seeds and pesticides from world bodies have ensured a quick return to productive rice- fields, with some officials predicting a return to pre- independence crop levels by the end of the year.

Then there's the role of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Brazilian who gets high marks from almost everyone for his leadership of Untaet, midwife for the world's newest nation. On top of his enthusiasm and diplomatic skills, officials say de Mello's big advantage is that he speaks Portuguese -- important in putting the Portuguese-speaking Gusmao at ease in the early days.

De Mello acknowledges that the Timorese should have been brought into the process much earlier, and that it wasn't enough to rely on the the National Consultative Council -- effectively the local counterpart of Untaet. "It took me as a Brazilian, with an affinity for East Timor and 30 years of experience in things of this kind, until April to decide that working through the National Consultative Council wasn't enough -- they were feeling patronized and that we were imposing an international superstructure on them," he says. "I had to get them off the fence where they were sniping at us and get them involved." Hence the creation of the eight-man cabinet earlier this year, although it hasn't solved all the Timorese complaints.

For Dunn, the retired diplomat, the lesson once again for the UN is that it desperately needs to put a permanent structure in place capable of quickly sending a "well-oiled team" into places facing similar crises. Few are likely to be as challenging as East Timor, which on top of everything else marked the first time the UN has taken over a country without a public service to rely on. "It's been slow," says de Mello, "but when you think of what there was I don't think we could have moved faster."

Australian companies plunder oil

Green Left Weekly - November 8, 2000

Jon Land -- Companies operating in the oil and natural gas rich Timor Gap include some of the largest multinational and Australian-based energy corporations. Anglo-Dutch giant Shell, US-based Phillips Petroleum and Australian players such as Woodside Energy and Santos stand to make huge profits from oil and gas reserves that rightfully belong to the long-suffering people of East Timor.

As negotiations continue between the Australian government and the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) over the future of the contentious Timor Gap Treaty, these corporations are playing a significant role in shaping Australian foreign policy towards East Timor.

One of the main motives behind successive Australian governments' support for the Indonesian occupation of East Timor was the knowledge that huge reserves of oil and gas existed beneath the Timor Sea, much of it in the area known as the Timor Gap.

Prior to the Indonesian military's invasion of East Timor in 1975, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's Labor federal government adopted the view that it could strike a better deal for Australian-based companies with the Suharto dictatorship rather than with an independent state of East Timor. Now, as then, mining and exploration corporations are pressuring the federal government to safeguard their investments and developments.

In addition, there is the anticipated revenue from downstream projects reliant on Timor oil and gas (revenues potentially much greater than that derived from exploration itself). At present, there is a rapid privatisation of the energy industry in Australia, with the gas sector set to play an important part in this process.

As a "reward" for maintaining "investor confidence" in this way, the Australian government hopes to protect its share of royalties generated from oil and gas production in the Timor Gap.

Revenue for Australia

Timor Gap reserves are considered crucial in meeting increased Australian energy needs and supplement Australia's energy exports. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics forecasts that natural gas consumption will grow from 20% to 28% of Australia's primary energy consumption over the next 15 years. Liquid natural gas was Australia's third largest energy export in 1998-99.

Some estimates by industry analysts in early 1999 when the price of oil was considerably lower than it is today forecast that during the production life of the Timor Gap fields, the total gross un-discounted revenues would be at least US$11 billion.

Other than the key factor of the price of oil, the terms of a renegotiated Timor Gap Treaty could affect how much profit can be made. It is not an unlikely scenario, for example, that an independent East Timor will be pressured to lower company taxes and other charges on exploration in its territorial waters.

If, during the transition period, UNTAET negotiators and the East Timorese leadership are successful in having the maritime boundary redrawn along the half-way line between East Timor and Australia (currently delineated by the southern boundary of Area A in the zone of cooperation) it would result in the transfer of a huge amount of resources and territory to East Timor.

This will mean East Timor would be the sole recipient of royalties from developments north of the half-way line, which under the present terms of the Timor Gap Treaty are split 50-50 with the Australian government. Again, estimates vary on how much these royalties will amount to, though UN and World Bank officials have recently stated that it is in the order of US$100-150 million per year for a period of 20 years or longer.

The most significant known reserves of oil and gas in the Timor Sea are located within Area A, or very close to it. Changes to the maritime boundary could mean that oil and gas fields currently in Australian territory, such as those close to or on the eastern and western boundaries of the Timor Gap, would come under East Timor's sovereignty. Indonesia may also push for new border arrangements for areas either side of the gap, given that it felt duped after maritime border negotiations with Australia in 1971 (and hence the 10-year cycle of talks before the signing of the Timor Gap Treaty in 1989).

The largest reserve located solely within the Timor Gap is the Bayu-Undan field, with recoverable reserves in excess of 96 billion cubic metres of gas and 400 million barrels of liquid petroleum gas and condensate. The gas recycling project will cost around $2.7 billion dollars, with the first phase of production expected to take place by 2003.

Partners in crime

Phillips Petroleum, the major shareholder in this project, is one of the largest petrochemical companies in the US, with some US$22 billion in assets. In 1999, Phillips generated around US$14 billion in revenue from its worldwide operations. Phillips bought out BHP's interests in the Timor Gap in April 1999 for between $200 million and $320 million.

To develop the Bayu-Undan field, Phillips has been joined by partners Santos (Australia's largest onshore gas developer), Inpex (a Japan-based company with extensive interests throughout Indonesia), Kerr-McGee (another US-based petrochemical corporation), British Borneo (taken over in March by the big Italian-based energy corporation Eni, which ranks second in Europe for domestic gas sales) and Petroz (a smaller Australian- based company).

The only commercially operating project in the Timor Gap at the moment is the Elang/Kakatua field. Though a small field, the size of the reserves have recently been revised upwards and it is a tidy earner for the companies involved (Phillips, Santos, Inpex and Petroz).

Around 30 kilometres from the western boundary of Area A is the lucrative Laminaria/Corralina field, operated by Woodside (with Shell and BHP), which produces up to 150,000 barrels of oil a day. Woodside posted record profits this year, largely due to the high price of oil and the success of the Laminaria project.

Straddling the eastern boundary of Area A is the Greater Sunrise field, which holds a massive 259 billion cubic metres of gas more than twice that of Bayu-Undan. It is being developed by Phillips and the Northern Australian Gas Venture (NAGV is a joint venture between Shell and Woodside). According to the Northern Territory government's Office of Resource Development, the development of Greater Sunrise and associated infrastructure will involve a capital cost of $10 billion, the largest ever capital investment in the NT.

It is envisaged that gas from Greater Sunrise will supply a synthetic gas plant to be built near Darwin by the Canadian fuel corporation Methanex, the world's largest producer and marketer of methanol. In June, the federal government afforded the Greater Sunrise and Methanex development "major project" status, ensuring that it is fast-tracked and faces less-stringent environmental and native title requirements (the area earmarked for the Methanex plant is located on land administered by the Northern Land Council).

Both Phillips and NAGV initiated feasibility studies in 1999 on the supply of gas from the Timor Sea to markets in Australian eastern seaboard and southern Australia. NAGV linked up with the large US conglomerate, Duke Energy (10th largest energy company in the world) while Phillips teamed up with Australia's largest pipeline specialists, Epic Energy (which owns $3.5 billion worth of pipeline assets).

Campaign

Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) has called on all supporters of East Timor to campaign against the Howard government's refusal to return the territory and royalties it has gained illegally through the Timor Gap Treaty. ASIET committees are planning pickets and actions on December 11, the date on which foreign ministers Gareth Evans and Ali Alatas signed the treaty in 1989.

ASIET will also propose to affiliates at the coming conference of the Asia-Pacific Coalition for East Timor that a region-wide campaign be launched in support of UNTAET's and East Timor's call for a new maritime boundary and an increased share of royalties.

New taxes to fund defence force, UN says

South China Morning Post - November 7, 2000

Associated Press in Dili -- For the first time since East Timor broke free from Indonesian occupation last year, wage earners in the territory will have to pay income tax, according to a draft law introduced on Tuesday.

Officials said that part of the extra funds will be used to set up an East Timor Defence Service and to recruit 600 regular soldiers -- mainly former freedom fighters -- into the fledgeling army.

A bill to introduce the income tax and increase excise rates on luxury goods was being discussed on Tuesday by the National Council, the territory's UN-run government which is administering East Timor during its transition to full independence.

UN finance adviser Michael Francino predicted that the new taxes system would generate an extra US$3 million in the current fiscal year. Some of the revenue raised would be directly injected into East Timor's US$59.4 million 2000-2001 budget.

According to the proposal, the basic income tax rate would start at 10 per cent for those who earned between US$100 and US$650 per month and would rise to 30 per cent above US$650.

The UN estimates more than 75 per cent of East Timorese of working age remain unemployed after retreating Indonesian soldiers and their auxiliaries devastated the territory last year.

The bill would also increase taxes on luxury goods. Alcohol and cars would be the hardest hit items. East Timor's main export crop, coffee, would also be slammed with a five per cent export tax.

Labour struggle

Workers demonstration to reject proposal

Detik - November 10, 2000

Muchus BR/Hendra & PT, Jakarta -- 75 Workers in Solo, Central Java have staged a peaceful but rowdy rally at the Solo Municipality Building. The crowds are demanding that they are allowed to see the Solo Mayor. Knowing that the mayor has attended a Hero's Day commemoration at Kusumabakti state cemetery, the protesters then attempted to intercept at the entrance gate of the municipal building.

The laborers calling themselves Solidarity Forum for Surakarta Workers (FSBS) arrived at the Solo Municipal Building on Jl Sudirman, Solo, Friday at around 9.30am local time after conducting a march from the north town square. During the protest, FSBS demanded an increase on the minimum daily pay (UMR) and a holiday allowance which usually given out at the end of Ramadhan (the fasting month).

FSBS also rejected a regulation's blue print on Laborers' Protection Act to become a law as well as the rejection of Industrial Dispute Solution Regulation. FSBS also demanded the removal of Regulation no 25/1997 as well as Laborer Union Regulation no 21/2000, which the group believed has been deviating from the International Laborer Organization Convention clause 87 and 98.

The group claimed that the propose Act is detrimental to workers' welfare. Under this act they claimed that workers right to protest and strike would be removed In addition to that, the act is also providing additional privileges for enterprises' owners to use their power to dismiss workers without any severance pay.

The group's spokesperson, Lina W said that they would remain at the municipality building's entrance gate, until their request to meet Solo mayor is fulfilled.

As previously reported, President Wahid asked Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Al-Hilal Hamdi to review the ministerial decree on the much higher and staggered system of severance pay and other benefits for dismissed or resigning workers. The previous Minister of Manpower, Bomer Pasaribu issued the decree, on June 20, 2000.

According to the Coordinator of Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), Teten Masduki, he believes that President Wahid's demand to review the ministerial decree on severance pay for workers is because it inhibits foreign investment and does not make sense. For him, investors were more concerned with the `hidden costs' of paying off Indonesia's export `Mafia'.

Teten added that if the "hidden costs" were done away with, workers pay could be twice as much as current levels. This should be the main concern of the Ministry of Manpower, not reviewing a work agreement, which would spark protests and further endanger workers' livelihoods.

PT Mepoly workers demonstrate at Surabaya parliament

Detik - November 6, 2000

Budi Sugiharto/Hendra & GB, Surabaya -- Around 250 demonstrators from the Solidarity Front for PT Mepoly Labourers staged a demonstration at the East Java Legislative Council (DPRD). They accused the company of hiring the thugs who threatened them and stabbed a colleague at a demonstration at the factory on November 1.

On Monday, the demonstrators gathered and protested by sitting, eating, drinking and chatting at the East Java Legislative Council in the provincial capital of Surabaya. Roadways were blocked and public access disturbed. Orations were also held.

The Solidarity Front for PT Mepoly Labourers is associated to numerous organisations concerned with labour issues including the People's Democratic Party (PRD), the Association of Catholic Students (PMKRI), National Front for Indonesian Labour Struggle (FNPBI), National Democratic Students' League (LMND).

At the Council on Monday, they demanded the police release nine workers and activists from the Solidarity Front and the PRD detained at the North Surabaya Police Headquarters. The nine were taken in when the police confiscated several molotov cocktails brought by demonstrators to a strike protest on November 1.

During the November 1 demonstration for better working conditions and pay, the workers claimed they were brutalised by thugs hired by the owner of PT Mepoly Industry Corps, Frank Panji.

Violence broke out between the protesters and the thugs and police and one PRD activist, Sutrisno, was stabbed repeatedly in the stomach by the thugs bearing small blades.

The demonstrators demanded the police arrest Panji for hiring the thugs and accused them of being one-sided because their colleagues were arrested for possessing molotov cocktails while the ones who almost disemboweled Sutrisno escaped.

Government/politics

Targeting America: It's a strategy that can backfire badly

Asiaweek - November 9, 2000

Warren Caragata, Jakarta -- It was not the sort of message Indonesia would want to send the world. About 100 young men wearing military-style uniforms and identifying themselves as members of a Muslim militia fanned out across the tourist hangout of Solo in central Java. They barged into several hotels and insisted that any American guests be expelled. In the end, the militants left peacefully enough, but not before leaving behind leaflets demanding that all Americans in the country, including US ambassador Robert Gelbard, get out or "face the consequences."

Last week's Solo incident comes as strong anti-American sentiment is sweeping Indonesia. Though street protests have now faded, until very recently Muslims screaming slogans against Washington were a common sight in front of the US embassy in Jakarta. Last week the embassy was closed for fear of what it called a "credible" terrorist attack. Gelbard is under heavy guard because of death threats, and the State Department has warned Americans to keep a low profile while traveling in Indonesia. Like their brethren elsewhere, many Indonesian Muslims are incensed over Israel's crackdown on Palestinians in Jerusalem, which they blame on the US, Israel's biggest ally. Their fury has to do, too, with what they perceive to be high-handed interference by Washington in Indonesia's internal affairs.

The US and Indonesia have traditionally been pals. Washington backed military strongman Suharto as a bulwark against Asian communist advances during the Cold War and viewed Indonesia, with its wealth of natural resources, as a good place to do business. While relations with President Abdurrahman Wahid are not as established, the US acknowledges him as a moderate Muslim with democratic instincts who is leading Indonesia when radical Islam is spreading fast as a political force.

But in recent weeks top US officials have been sharply critical of Jakarta, largely because of the September murder of three UN workers in West Timor by local militias. Defense Secretary William Cohen even threatened sanctions if the thugs were not disarmed. In addition, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, often seen in Jakarta as Washington's proxies, have deplored the slow pace of reform in the country, and donor governments have indicated they may withhold much-needed aid if Jakarta does not deliver on its pledge to defang the West Timor gangs.

Then there is ambassador Gelbard. The 55-year-old Harvard- educated (master's in economics) New Yorker is a rare career diplomat, who speaks plainly -- and bluntly. Named to the Jakarta job last year after serving as US President Bill Clinton's special envoy in the Balkans, Gelbard has been articulating Washington's activist policy toward Indonesia. Even before the West Timor murders, Gelbard charged that the military was supporting the militias: "We were told all the militias had been disarmed. Yet suddenly and magically they come up with arms. There is military involvement." Says another Western ambassador: "Gelbard has spoken the truth, but the problem in this country is that people don't like hearing the truth in a blunt fashion."

This being Indonesia, little can be taken at just face value. Many Indonesians are genuinely upset by what they feel is Washington's arrogance. At the same time, standing up to a superpower like the US has its political uses. By telling Cohen to butt out and by calling for Gelbard to be kicked out, Wahid's enemies -- like the powerful speaker of the upper house, Amien Rais -- are exploiting the anti-Americanism to embarrass the president. Also, targeting the US is a surefire way to divert attention from the failure of Indonesian politicians to build any momentum for reform and economic re-construction. "This is more to do with the crisis in Indonesia," says Hans Vriens of Apco Indonesia, a consultancy that advises foreign companies on investing in the country. "The US and the ambassador have been caught in the middle." In recent days, Wahid and Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab have tried to set things right with the Americans by publicly repudiating the inflammatory calls to kick Gelbard out. The stakes are high for Indonesia. Its international image is already taking a beating from the unceasing violence and the perception that Wahid and his government are unstable and could fall at any time.

So angering a nation that ranks in your top ten foreign investor list, is your biggest customer for non-petroleum products and which carries substantial weight within multilateral agencies pouring billions of dollars into your country is an unwise strategy. "If the anti-Americanism continues," says Noke Kiroyan, president of the mining giant Rio Tinto Indonesia, "it will be bad for business." Adds Vriens: "It will make big investors think even harder about investing in the country." That's the message the world is sending Indonesia.

More to oil fires than meets the eye

Straits Times - November 9, 2000

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- It appears that unemployed villagers are not the only ones who stand to gain from the series of disruptions to Indonesia's richest oil fields in Riau province.

On Monday, angry villagers set fire to oil wells of PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia to demand for land compensation. Local authorities and Caltex staff stepped in quickly and eventually managed to contain the fires before they could take hold.

Last month, Caltex's production was halted in several places as nearby residents set up road blocks, burned cars and demanded positions with the oil giant or one of its contractors.

While having legitimate grievances, some villagers appeared to be backed by other shadowy groups whose aims ranged from creating political disturbances to possibly scaring off their business opponents.

Mr Syaparuddin, one of the organisers of the Caltex protests, claims he is helping unemployed locals to gain employment with the company. But his wide array of connections and friendships raises doubts that these demonstrations are fuelled purely by altruistic motives.

Supported by 3,000 young men who have been trained in the art of demonstrating, he recently organised a protest against a Caltex contractor, which included burning 20 cars. He works with a local Islamic group, the United Riau Indonesia Forum (Urif), which launches raids on discos or entertainment spots or suspected red-light venues in Riau's capitol Pekanbaru.

He claims to also have friends in the radical Islamic group, Laskar Jihad, which is responsible for a wave of killings in Maluku. And his boss, Mr Rusli Hamid who is the head of Urif, has links with the potential business competitors of Caltex, such as Mr Jody Enoch.

Next year, when a contract for one of the oil fields currently drilled by Caltex is re-negotiated, companies such as Mr Jody's could benefit. Up for grabs is the right to exploit 25 oil wells which produce 25,000 barrels a day, for at least the next 15 years, says Caltex.

This business opportunity, says a source in state-owned oil giant Pertamina who has worked closely with Mr Jody, is one of the factors behind the recent rise in demonstrations.

According to Mr Jody, his small contracting company only extracts oil for Caltex and is not a business competitor. Both Mr Jody and Mr Syaparuddin claim there are no financial connections, just moral support for Mr Rusli Hamid's campaign to gain more employment for natives of Riau.

Local journalists are not sure if the demonstrations are supported by local political interests, Jakarta-based interests or just by the desire to make some money from local businesses.

Industry watchers say they are concerned the recent rise in demonstrations in the resource-rich province will only increase as control over mining and oil contracts becomes murkier with decentralisation next year.

"A lot of officials at district and provincial level look at the decentralisation as an opportunity to dip their hand into the cookie jar," said an analyst from an international business consultancy.

Political rifts over Gus Dur's record continue

Jakarta Post - November 9, 2000

Jakarta -- Political rifts over the performance of President Abdurrahman, also known as Gus Dur, continued on Wednesday as staunch supporters of the President and his critics demonstrated separately in Makassar, Jakarta and Surabaya.

In the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar, hundreds of members of the Association of Islamic Students (HMI) took to the street demanding that the President step down. The students also criticized the President's followers for their "barbaric" action of attacking the HMI secretariat HMI in Surabaya, and intimidating members in Malang in East Java and Bandung.

The demonstration started at about 11am at the HMI secretariat with students pouring water over a bier bearing the words "Gus Dur must step down". Embang Syasyadin, the chairman of HMI Makassar, said the President should have asked his grassroots- level supporters to avoid any rebellious actions against those who have a different political vision from Nahdlatul Ulama.

Another student, Muzakkar, said in his oration that the President's supporters should take (political) differences as God's mercy. "The President should have explained this to his supporters." The demonstrators also urged the police to take legal action against those attacking the HMI secretariat in Surabaya.

In Jakarta the central board of HMI strongly denied an allegation from the President's supporters that its activists had harassed Abdurrahman during a demonstration in front of the presidential palace last week.

"The parody was not meant to humiliate the President. It was just the youths' way of criticizing the government, and had nothing to do with politics. HMI officially refuses to apologize to the President as demanded by his supporters," Fakhruddin, the chairman of HMI central board, told a news conference at HMI headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro on Wednesday.

During the demonstration, HMI activists performed a satirical act criticizing Abdurrahman's poor performance. Fakhruddin referred to what he called "terror" conducted by a group of youths named Garda Bangsa on HMI activists in Cipatat, Bandung, for "improper" acts by HMI activists during the protest in Jakarta.

He also criticized Garda Bangsa's intimidation in Surabaya, when its members occupied HMI's secretariat in Surabaya last Thursday. "Abdurrahman has failed to promote democracy as his supporters have intimidated and terrorized other groups who disagree with his policy." Separately, the secretary-general of the National Awakening Party (PKB), Muhaimmin Iskandar, said HMI's refusal to apologize to the President was provoking a negative reaction from his supporters.

Abdurrahman is the founding father of PKB. "I see their actions were politically motivated to undermine the government," Muhaimmin said.

In Surabaya, more than 500 supporters of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) from the nearby towns of Pasuruan and Probolinggo, two of NU's strongholds in East Java, staged demonstrations against Amien Rais and Akbar Tandjung.

They demanded that Amien and Akbar quit their posts as speakers of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the House of Representatives (DPR). The protesters also forced a Muhammadiyah official to sign an announcement opposing Amien Rais.

Abdurrahman Wahid had chaired NU for 15 years before he was elected President last year.

The dispute between the "Islamic groups" started after Abdurrahman's followers were upset by criticism launched by People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais, who was a chairman of another large Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah.

Like the Makassar students, the Surabaya protesters carried three biers, each bearing the name of Amien Rais, Akbar Tandjung and Fuad Bawazier, an alleged crony of former president Soeharto, who is now an official in AmienRais' National Mandate Party (PAN).

The demonstrators carried the three biers in a solemn manner as if they were proceeding to the cemetery. Other protesters waved large banners reading Innalillahi wainna illahiraji'un (an Islamic expression of condolence), Telah Berpulang ke Rahmatullah (Rest in Peace) Amien Rais, Akbar Tandjung and Fuad Bawazier.

Parliament committee `offered bribe to stop probe'

Straits Times - November 8, 2000

Devi Asmarni, Jakarta -- About 50 billion rupiah (S$10 million) was allegedly offered to put a stop to a Parliament investigation into the illegal siphoning of 35 billion rupiah from a state agency.

This was the finding of a parliamentary panel, probing the scandal at the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) -- dubbed Bulogate -- that allegedly implicated President Abdurrahman Wahid.

The committee is set to conclude that Mr Abdurrahman has abused his power, despite a lack of evidence of his involvement and despite its failure to get some of the witnesses to testify.

It also plans to summon the President for questioning next Wednesday, when he is slated to be abroad on a visit to Qatar and Brunei.

"From what we have now, we can already conclude that the President is involved in abuse of power in the Bulog scam," a member of the special team, who requested anonymity, told The Straits Times.

The conclusion is based on testimony of some of the witnesses, who confirmed the President's link to one of the case's main suspects, his jailed former masseur Suwondo, the source said.

The masseur, who was arrested last month after having disappeared in April, allegedly asked Bulog's former deputy, Sapuan, for 35 billion rupiah on behalf of the President.

Sapuan, who is on trial for embezzlement, claimed he disbursed the money because he believed the President had requested it to fund Aceh's rehabilitation programme.

Mr Abdurrahman has repeatedly denied knowledge of the scam. Police have also cleared him of the allegations, focusing its investigation instead on Suwondo for "fraud and for plotting with Sapuan".

The committee has been having problems getting some of the witnesses to testify because they asked to be accompanied by their lawyers. Team member Alvin Lie said that, due to the confidential nature of the questioning sessions, no lawyers should be allowed. "It is guaranteed that their testimonies will not be used against them in a court of law so they really don't need to have their lawyers with them," he told The Straits Times.

The investigating committee has also been rocked by attempted bribery and threats. Mr Alvin admitted that at least two of its members had recently refused a 25-billion-rupiah offer by a tycoon close to the President. He said he had also received threats and blackmail threats by unidentified people.

But other lawmakers are sceptical of the motives of the 50-member strong committee. Although consisting of representatives of all factions in the House, the committee is spearheaded by the same outspoken young lawmakers who have made Mr Abdurrahman's presidency suffer this year.

Legislator Arifin Junaidi of the Nation Awakening Party, referring to Mr Abdurrahman by his nickname, said: "It is part of a conspiracy to undermine Gus Dur." He dismissed the investigation as "irrelevant and insubstantial" and as "nothing to be concerned about".

In addition to Bulogate, the 50-member strong Parliament's team is also investigating another case, centering on a US$2 billion "personal donation" to the President from the Sultan of Brunei.

Mr Alvin said that, within two weeks, the team would able to recommend that Parliament issue a memorandum on Mr Abdurrahman, to which he would be given three months to reply. If his answer was not satisfactory, the Parliament could issue a second memorandum.

Most want Wahid out, poll finds

South China Morning Post - November 7, 2000

Vaudine England, Jakarta -- In the latest sign of rising disappointment in President Abdurrahman Wahid -- a year after he swept to power -- a poll has shown that most Indonesians want him sacked.

Since the near-blind Muslim cleric was made president with high hopes for political and economic recovery, the mood has become sombre and cynical as revelations about corruption and incompetence multiply.

The random poll, published in the respected Tempo news weekly, found that 65 per cent of respondents want the top legislature to hold a special session to dump the President.

Only 35 per cent said he should be given more time. Of those who want Mr Wahid to go, 40 per cent said he had failed to carry out his reform agenda and 30 per cent said he was not competent to run the country. The poll also showed the general ambivalence about who should take his place.

If Mr Wahid was toppled, the survey asked if he should be replaced by Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, with Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung as her deputy. Fifty per cent said no, 49 per cent said yes, while one per cent said they did not know.

The findings support the beliefs of a range of political commentators who fear, 2.5 years after the fall of former president Suharto, that the promise of the "Reformasi" movement to democratise and clean up Indonesia has evaporated. Sympathetic critics of Mr Wahid say his task is formidable and that he has not been helped by the quality of advice from his inner circle.

But the more impatient observers point to Mr Wahid's inability to demonstrate he can govern. He failed to enforce his choice of senior generals in a recent military reshuffle, is facing the vital relationship with the United States being jeopardised because of an unruly Defence Minister, and has failed to imprison any member of the Suharto family.

The appearance of weakness is made worse by the now well established belief that members of Mr Wahid's family and inner circle are benefitting personally from their elevation to the presidential palace.

Mr Wahid has spoken of a need to delay prosecutions against key tycoons, and has appointed loyalists to control the economic levers of government. His family is reputed to enjoy the perks of lavish gifts and the paying of bills by businessmen, in a clear reminder of the Suharto regime.

Mr Wahid's chief spokesman on Friday said the sickly 60-year-old was incompetent and uncontrollable. But Mr Wahid has a good heart and is still the best choice to save the battered country, Wimar Witoelar said.

"For this presidential office, the things that one hears outside basically are all true -- you know, how disorganised it is ... an uncontrollable President," said Mr Witoelar. "I can say with all the honesty I can convey here that this man is a good guy. I can also say that my man does not have the competence to govern."

Constitutional efforts to unseat Mr Wahid, however, remain stalled by a lack of witness testimony to support corruption claims against the President, now being investigated by parliament. So long as Mr Wahid retains the support of his Vice- President he can feel relatively safe. "He may only be keeping his job because it suits all his opponents to keep it that way, for now," a political scholar said.

The dangers of kowtowing to Indonesia

Sydney Morning Herald - November 5, 2000

Brian Toohey -- Indonesia is playing an ugly and dangerous game. Once again, Australian policy makers are only encouraging even worse behaviour further down the track by falling over themselves to make excuses for the Indonesians.

In the past month, Indonesian patrol boats have challenged a US destroyer delivering aid to East Timor; mobs have tried to force American guests from hotels in Solo; the Foreign Minister has made light of death threats against the US ambassador; senior politicians have hailed a murderous militia thug as a hero and the Governor of Bali has made it plain that Australian tourists are not welcome.

In what can only be interpreted as a calculated snub, the Indonesian Government also cancelled at the last minute the visit of a top-level ministerial delegation to Canberra. At the same time, it expected Australia to stop last week's South Pacific Forum in Kiribati from even mentioning the brutal behaviour of the Indonesian military in West Papua. A couple of weeks earlier it successfully demanded Australian support for more than $9 billion in aid from the international community.

The response has echoes of the shambolic Sukarno era in the 1950s and early 60s when accusations about "Western imperialism" were used to distract attention from domestic chaos. Already, badly needed tourist and investment dollars are at risk.

Ultimately, the invective could generate a dangerous campaign of military harassment against neighbouring countries such as Papua New Guinea and Australia, as well as East Timor. The US ambassador Robert Gelbard has come under fire for speaking out on issues such as continuing corruption and the failure to disarm the militia in West Timor.

Although regarded as lacking in finesse, Gelbard has every right to object to recent Indonesian conduct. Why, for example, should he mutely accept the Indonesian Navy's claims that it challenged the destroyer, USS O'Brien, two weeks ago because it believed it was delivering arms to the troubled island of Ambon?

Unless Indonesian naval authorities are completely deluded they must realise the claim is palpable nonsense. If anyone is delivering arms to stir up religious violence on Ambon, it is groups associated with the Indonesian military -- as President Wahid has complained.

Gelbard is not the only observer who can be excused for wondering what message Jakarta's governing elite is really trying to convey after it heaped praise on vicious militia leader Eurico Guterres.

Following a UN demand for Guterres to be extradited on charges relating to crimes against humanity in East Timor, Indonesian police arrested him on minor weapons charges last month. He was promptly visited in a Jakarta jail by six members of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee. Committee chairman Yasril Ananta Baharuddin said the parliamentarians regarded Guterres as a "brave patriot" and a "hero".

The influential chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly, Amien Rais, also lent his support while a spokesman for national police chief General Suroyo Bimantoro said Guterres had "rendered a service for the State".

The comments suggest many members of Indonesia's ruling elite (with the commendable exception of President Wahid) refuse to accept that their country did anything wrong in East Timor. The disturbing message is that the Indonesian elite is happy to condone paramilitary efforts to undermine East Timor's independence.

While support for violent repression prevails, there would seem little prospect of a peaceful accommodation with secessionists in provinces such as Aceh and West Papua. (Although one Australian commentator last week berated the Defence Department for "mistakenly" referring to the province as West Papua rather than Irian Jaya, President Wahid agreed to the name change in January).

Prime Minister John Howard came under strong pressure from Jakarta -- and its usual apologists within Australia -- to prevent last week's meeting of South Pacific Forum leaders from even mentioning Indonesian repression in West Papua. Just how he was supposed to bully other forum leaders into shutting up is not clear. But he did repeat publicly that Australia regarded West Papua as part of Indonesia.

How long this position can be maintained largely depends on whether the Indonesians abandon violence as the solution to dissent. Indonesia took over West Papua from the Dutch colonialists in the early 1960s without allowing a proper act of self-determination.

Rather than try to get the Melanesian population onside, Indonesia has opted for a policy of brutal repression. Until this changes, international support for a genuine act of free choice in West Papua will only grow.

At this stage, Indonesia looks like responding to justified criticism with increased belligerence. The Australian reaction will require a great deal of forbearance for the sake of good long-term relations with a neighbour. But there is no need to be trampled over. While little would have been gained, for example, by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer publicly saying he was tired of being jerked around, there was no need for him to have been so effusive in expressing his understanding of why the Indonesian ministerial delegation abruptly cancelled last month's visit to Australia.

Compared with how the situation could deteriorate, this particular snub is a minor issue. But nothing should be done to encourage the Indonesian elite to believe it pays to blame foreigners for its own shortcomings. Nor should we seek the elite's approval by expressing vigorous opposition to the break- up of Indonesia.

The disintegration of the empire may be the best thing for the people of the archipelago. As Queensland University historian Robert Cribb has argued, the Javanese could be the big winners from letting go of other unhappy islands inherited from the Dutch.

Australia has little to gain from trying to curry favour in Jakarta by insisting that the Javanese empire should last forever. The Russian empire -- the Soviet Union -- has disappeared with few regrets. The same thing could easily happen to Indonesia, leaving a generation of Australian policy makers high and dry.

Indonesian politicians exploiting Australia relationship: Downer

Agence France-Presse - November 5, 2000

Sydney -- Australia's strained ties with Jakarta continued to be hampered by Indonesian politicians exploiting the troubled relationship for domestic political advantage, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Sunday. He said some parlimentarians seemed determined to criticise Canberra no matter what efforts were made to improve the situation.

"There are one or two people in the Indonesian parliament who have their radar on to pick up any scrap of information they could use against Australia," he told the Ten television network. "It really wouldn't matter what we did. They would find a way of using that to criticise us. That is the mindset."

But Downer welcomed news that President Abdurrahman Wahid appeared likely to visit later this month. "His visit has been opposed by some members of the Indonesian parliament for one reason or another," he said. "To some extent they have used relations with Australia for domestic purposes, not necessarily because of the intrinsic value or otherwise of that bilateral relationship."

Wahid has already repeatedly postponed several planned trips this year following opposition from Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri and legislators, still smarting over Australia's perceived support for East Timor's independence.

Ties between the two countries nosedived because of what Jakarta saw as Canberra's "unneighbourly" attitude over East Timor which Indonesia invaded in 1975. Australia was one of the few countries which had recognized Indonesia's sovereignty over the former Portuguese colony.

But it was at the forefront of efforts to get a UN peacekeeping force deployed in East Timor after violence erupted following the UN-held ballot on self-determination there in August 1999. Australia was later appointed to head the first UN-sanctioned multilateral force in East Timor, further antagonizing Jakarta.

Only last month parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee vetoed any visits to Australia by Wahid.

Downer said Jakarta needed Canberra as much as Canberra needed Jakarta and Australian officials had gone out of their way to explain Australia's defence issues to Indonesia -- considered a vital component of a successful relationship.

Aceh/West Papua

Aceh capital calm, but violence elsewhere leaves four dead

Agence France-Presse - November 12, 2000

Banda Aceh -- Banda Aceh, the provincial capital of Indonesia's restive Aceh province, was calm early Sunday as the death toll linked to two days of pro-independence rallies reached 35. "So far, it appears to be calm this morning, but yesterday there were talks of continuing the street rallies today," a local journalists said.

An estimated 400,000 people had gathered in the capital since Wednesday to join a two-day rally in support of a referendum on independence. Last year a similar protest drew up to one million people. Rally organizers have blamed the lower turnout this year on violence used by police to prevent people from reaching the city.

Meanwhile, four more bodies have been found in east Aceh. The bodies of three men were found wrapped in a single black plastic sheet late on Friday night. A fourth body, a woman, was found on Saturday, according to Sibran Malasi, head of the Idi Rayeuk sub-district polyclinics where the bodies were sent to.

None of the bodies had bullet wounds although all showed traces of violence, Malasi said. The four deaths brought to 35, the number of people who have died since Wednesday, when crowds started to throng Banda Aceh for the protests.

Security forces shot at two passing cars in Lampineung, near here late on Saturday, leaving two people injured, one of them critically, residents said. Iswar Yusuf, an employee at the local governor's office, who was travelling in one of the cars, said that his wife Husnarida, 40, had been shot in four places -- in both her thighs, in her waist and in her stomach.

He said that he was driving his wife and two children home from a vist to his parents when he was stopped by security forces. "My car stopped, but a bit farther than was ordered, and suddenly, from the front, the sides and from behind the car was shot at, with at least eight bullets shot into the car," Yusuf said.

The shooting stopped when one of his children screamed. Husnarida was still in critical conditions at the Zainul Abdidin general hospital, he said.

Another car carrying five people was also shot at by security forces manning a roadcheck, leaving one of the passengers, a woman, injured by a gunshot wound to the thigh.

A motorcycle driver and his passenger were also admitted to the emergency ward of the general hospital here after they were beaten up by security personnel at another roadcheck.

The rally has received a mixed response from Jakarta, with President Abdurrahman saying police should not resort to violence while the top security and political affairs minister, Susilo Bambang Yudoyono issued a stern warning that such large gathering could easily turn into a riot.

Human Rights Watch, in a statement sent to AFP, has warned that the deteriorating situation in Aceh was rapidly becoming a test of President Wahid's authority and of civilian control over the military.

It said that police and military units have been raiding NGO offices, arresting those involved in preparations for the mass rally, blocking transport, searching all vehicles headed for the capital, and shooting at rally participants trying to reach Banda Aceh.

"The Indonesian armed forces seem to be reverting to the worst days of the Soharto era," said Sidney Jones, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, refering to the three decades of iron-fist rule by the country's second president, Suharto. "In the misguided notion that the push for a referendum is led by GAM [rebel movement], the army and police are turning their guns on civilians."

The Aceh Merdeka separatist movement (GAM), which has been fighting for independence from Indonesian for the past 20 years, signed a truce with Jakarta in May that came into effect in June. It has since failed to halt the violence.

Jakarta, still smarting over the loss of East Timor in a UN- supervised ballot last year, has ruled out independence for Aceh yet promised broad autonomy instead.

Indonesia: Separatists a rising drumbeat

Far Eastern Economic Review - November 16, 2000

Ben Dolven, Jayapura, Wamena and Timika -- No matter where you go in Irian Jaya, it's hard to avoid the signs that this remote province is desperate to break free of Indonesia. Street vendors hawk flags and T-shirts reading "Ballot Yes, Bullet No" in the main square of the capital, Jayapura. Further afield, separatist groups man checkpoints along trekking routes in the central highlands, collecting contributions from hikers. (The men are polite, but you would be foolish not to make a donation.) Graffiti abounds, like the red-painted "Ready or not, Papua is coming" that adorns a building in the mining town of Timika.

For travellers, Irian Jaya is a largely untrammelled marvel: beautiful treks through traditional villages in the highlands, pristine beaches near the main cities and some of the most diverse ecological turf on the planet. But today, it gives visitors a peek at something else as well -- a separatist movement trying to find its feet.

Irian Jaya is the furthest-flung piece of Indonesia's restless archipelago, closer to the Solomon Islands than to Jakarta, and distinct -- ethnically, religiously, linguistically and culturally -- from the rest of the country.

Butting up against Papua New Guinea, it is blessed with huge mineral deposits, enormous timber stocks and offshore natural-gas deposits; yet it remains Indonesia's poorest area. But emboldened by East Timor's breakaway and support from Australia and some Pacific island nations, locals are pressing their grievances. December 1 marks the anniversary of Irian Jaya's 1961 declaration of independence from the Dutch colonial power -- beginning a period of autonomy that lasted until Indonesia took over in 1963. Listen to conversations throughout Irian Jaya, and you get the sense that December will be a hot month.

Even in the relatively wealthy air-conditioned oases of Jayapura, the talk is of politics and a probable escalation of the fight against Indonesia. The Prima Garden CafZ, for instance, is straight out of a middle-American postcard. But if it looks like Peoria, it isn't.

On a steaming hot day in September, a retired tour guide, who worked under the colonial Dutch government in the 1950s and early 1960s, bought me a coffee and spoke quietly about the independence bid. He, like many, pointed to two dates -- the December 1 independence day, and also December 15, when many claim Indonesia's leaders promised their province independence back in the early 1960s.

Do people really expect Indonesia to give up control over the province and its resources? "They must," the guide said, without a trace of doubt. And if they don't? He paused and shook his head. There'll be problems, he said, "closer to December." Then, a beefy pair of Indonesian military officers wandered in, edged into our conversation, and spoke about an incident in early September when a soldier was killed in the province's west and his weapons were seized.

With the movement swirling, Irian Jaya is a tricky place in which to travel, but not an impossible one. I spent two weeks trekking in its highlands and visiting the towns of Jayapura (a lovely city nestled in a narrow coastal valley, close to white-sand beaches) and Timika (an unlovely mining town where the size of the population has exploded over the past decade). There were occasional signs of trouble -- in Jayapura, students blocked the road to the airport for around three hours -- and reports continually trickled in about flare-ups between the military and locals.

Concerns over safety have sent the number of visitors plummeting in the past two years. There are few commercial flights operating to Wamena, the main base for highland trekkers. The trickle of visitors -- sometimes two a day, guides told me, sometimes none -- travel by cargo plane or on flights operated by missionaries. The Papuan explanation for the tourist drought speaks volumes about attitudes toward Jakarta: The problem, locals said, was that Indonesians were telling the world that Irian Jaya was dangerous.

The Baliem Valley, in which Wamena nestles, is the province's most visited tourist destination. Surrounded by deep mountain gorges amid peaks of up to 4,000 metres, and dotted with traditional sweet-potato farming villages, the valley was reached by Western explorers only about 50 years ago. Missionaries have been active since then, but the valley's villages remain traditional: Men wear penis sheaths and little else; women carry sweet potatoes in straw bags tied around their heads. Visitors hike from village to village, staying in local houses, either thatched in straw or covered by rickety roofs. The hiking is arduous: The valley's fertile soil allows villagers to grow their crops on steep hillsides of up to 60 degrees, and trails meander through most of the fields.

These are lives lived in the raw: In our journeying, we stumbled into several traditional rites, including a human cremation and a ritual pig slaughter. We saw the male population of one village tramping happily, with bows, arrows and Morning Star flags -- the separatist banner -- to an independence festival. We saw another group jogging urgently down a trail with bows, arrows and eight pigs slung on stakes. These, according to our guide, were gifts to another village -- an apology for an extramarital affair between members of the two towns.

Important stuff: Two other villages had failed to patch up a similar difficulty and had been feuding for two years. Several people had been killed.

The Baliem Valley is one of the hotbeds of the independence movement, and Wamena -- where security forces still have some degree of control -- has seen some terrible clashes. On October 6, 31 people died when police clashed with a pro-independence militia known as Task Force Papua over the raising of the Morning Star. Indeed, much of the violence in Irian Jaya in recent months has started with the raising of the flag. The rule, controversially set out by President Abdurrahman Wahid, is that the Morning Star may be flown, but only if it's below the Indonesian flag. Many see Wahid's decision as a dangerous miscalculation, pointing to the violence that often ensues when the military try to enforce it.

Outside Wamena, the order to fly the Morning Star only alongside the Indonesian flag is scarcely an issue -- there aren't any Indonesian flags to fly. Instead, there are periodic way-stations operated by the pro-independence Satgas Papua, a loosely organized paramilitary force that rarely carries arms publicly. Tour guides march up to straw-thatched huts flying the independence flag, salute smartly and ask the travellers they're leading to contribute about 5,000 rupiah (60 cents) to the militia members. Guides take other precautions as well: Mine told me he had hired two members of Organisasi Papua Merdeka, a long- feared independence group, as porters for our group. He explained that it's a good idea to be politically correct when among independence forces.

Not everyone was sanguine about where this was heading. One migrant who had worked for more than a decade in Timika's local government admitted he was worried about the future and intended to go home to Sulawesi within the next year. An American aid worker was worried that campaigns against Aids and sexually transmitted diseases were being held back because locals wouldn't listen to the Indonesian volunteers. (Aids rates are still relatively low, though many venereal diseases are rampant.)

But the calls for independence don't come at the same volume everywhere. I stopped in the mining town of Timika, near the province's biggest source of wealth -- the giant copper and gold mine operated by Freeport Indonesia amid rugged and soaring mountain ranges. It's the world's third-largest copper mine and the largest known deposit of gold. It's also a huge environmental and political hot potato: Local activists say Freeport doesn't hire enough of them, environmentalists point to damage caused by mining to forests, and newspapers elsewhere in the province carry anti-Freeport headlines as part of their calls for independence.

The perfect spot for the independence movement? Not quite. In the town market, an older Papuan man approached me and, thinking I was a Freeport employee, hesitated ... and then asked me for a job. For just a moment, commerce trumped politics.

Police, separatists disagree over flag compromise

Agence France-Presse - November 10, 2000 (abridged)

Jakarta -- Police and separatist leaders in Indonesia's Irian Jaya province on Friday appeared set for further conflict over a banned separatist flag, just one day after a landmark compromise agreement was reached.

The agreement stated that on December 1 all "Morning Star" flags would be pulled down by native Papuans, except for those flying in front of traditional tribal organisation centers in five districts. "We are very happy with the agreement," Papua Presidium chief Theys Eluay told AFP by phone, "because it means the Morning Star will still fly."

Eluay and fellow Presidium members, however, said the Morning Star flag would be raised in all 14 districts of Irian Jaya after December 1. "Why limit it to five districts? Papua has 14 districts and each district has the same right," Eluay said. "After December 1 we will ask the government to increase the number of districts where it can be raised."

But police chief Brigadier General Sylvanus Wenas said the flag would only be tolerated in the districts of Jayapura, Serui, Merauke, Manokwari and Puncak Jaya, the only areas where the flag is currently flying.

"Lots of Morning Star flags are raised there. But there are none in the other nine districts," he said. "Theys Eluay read and signed the agreement, he should know," Wenas told AFP by phone from the main city Jayapura.

Eluay said independence supporters -- including thousands of civilian guards grouped under the Papua Taskforce -- accepted the agreement, understanding that at least one flag would still fly in each district. Pro-independence civilian guards known as the Papua Taskforce had vowed to defend the flag till death, saying they were ready to become martyrs.

Anthropologists say the Morning Star symbol originated in the 19th century and signified the imminent arrival of a saviour figure to lift Papuans out of poverty and misery. Separatist leaders and the Indonesian government say it is now a symbol of independence.

Wenas said the police would not be responsible for removing the flags on the December 1 deadline. "That is for the Papuan people to do themselves," he said.

In an effort to rein in the Papua Taskforce, police have ordered them to vacate by December 1 a government cultural center in Jayapura which they have appropriated as their de-facto headquarters. Eluay said they would move out to his home at Sentani, just outside the provincial capital, the only place in Jayapura where the Morning Star would fly legally beyond December 1. Police on Tuesday arrested the taskforce's deputy chief along with two members on charges of extortion from shops and traders in Jayapura.

That declaration will be commemorated on December 1. "We shall commemorate our aspirations to our own sovereignty," Eluay said. "We have the right to our own sovereignty."

Wahid criticizes bloodshed at rally

Associated Press - November 11, 2000 (Abridged)

Banda Aceh -- President Abdurrahman Wahid blamed the army and police Friday for the escalating violence in Aceh province and the deaths of at least 19 civilians before a separatist rally.

Wahid said he would summon military chief Adm. Widodo Adisutjipto, Army Commander Gen. Endriarto Sutarto and national police Chief Gen. Bimantoro to explain the use of violence against pro-independence activists.

"Acehnese people are my religious brothers," Wahid said after attending religious services in Madura, an island off the northern coast of East Java. "I want to ask [them], 'since when are guns used in negotiations?'" Wahid was quoted saying by the Tempo news service. "If you are using guns, then please retire."

Wahid's unprecedented criticism of the security forces came a day before a scheduled rally in the province's capital, Banda Aceh, about 1,100 miles northwest of Jakarta. Rally organizers are demanding a plebiscite for the region of 4.1 million people on the northern tip of Sumatra island.

Indonesia's government announced Thursday that it will meet in Switzerland next week with the rebel group, the Free Aceh Movement. Government and rebel representatives signed an unprecedented truce in Geneva on June 2. Despite that, fighting in the province has left about 221 dead since then.

The separatists -- who claim wide public support -- have been fighting for independence for their oil- and gas-rich homeland since 1975. At least 5,500 people have been killed there in the past decade.

Clashes on Thursday and Friday between pro-independence residents and security forces claimed six lives. Security forces shot and killed three civilians on Thursday in the east of the province, human rights worker Mohammed Yusuf Puteh said.

Local police chief Lt. Col. Arief Sumarman said a security patrol shot dead two rebels in west Aceh. Local residents said the two were civilians. On Friday, a dead body was found on the banks of a river in the center of Banda Aceh, a doctor at a local hospital said.

Deaths fail to halt Aceh independence rally

Sydney Morning Herald - November 11, 2000 (abridged)

John Aglionby, Jakarta -- Hundreds of thousands of people gathered yesterday in and around the capital of Aceh province for a huge two-day independence rally, despite scores of killings by security forces trying to frighten off demonstrators.

As more than 300,000 protesters gathered, President Abdurrahman Wahid warned his military not to use violence to try to stop the rally. "I will not let Acehnese ... be shot," the official Antara news agency quoted him as saying. "I'm in charge of the military and police. Do they think I'm afraid to fire them?"

Mr Wahid said any further violence could ruin the truce between the Government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement that took effect in June and has been extended until January.

Human rights groups said at least 21 people had been killed by Indonesian troops over the past two days, many at roadblocks as they tried to travel to the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.

A co-ordinator of human rights groups in Aceh, Mr Faisal Hadi, said another 101 people had been injured in incidents in the province, on Sumatra's northern tip. "It is clear the police and army were prepared to do anything to stop people reaching Banda Aceh for the rally."

Some of the deaths happened when convoys of trucks and cars refused to turn round at police roadblocks, he said. Others were shot when they tried to reach the city by boat. "Police opened fire into the crowds while they were at sea and also trying to dock. There was no way they could miss."

Police admitted shooting 13 people dead, "in self-defence", but human rights organisations monitoring events said the final death toll could be more than 40 once their staff had checked reports from remote areas.

Thousands assemble for Aceh independence rally

South China Morning Post - November 11, 2000

Chris McCall, Jakarta and Agencies in Banda Aceh -- Almost 400,000 people converged on Banda Aceh, capital of Indonesia's Aceh province, for a two-day independence rally after President Abdurrahman Wahid urged troops to let it go ahead following the deaths of 26 people.

By late afternoon, 10,000 had assembled at the Baiturrahman mosque in the capital, the focal point of the rally marking the first anniversary of a popular call for a vote on self-rule for the region.

They shouted "freedom" as a woman, whose husband was killed by Indonesian soldiers, gave a fiery speech at the start of the rally. "It is time that Aceh got its independence. Our suffering is almost unbearable," Nurmasitah Ali told the crowd.

But the mood yesterday was tense and low-key, with no placards or separatist flags and hardly any banners. Many of those massing in and around the city were apparently waiting until today to stage a show of strength, encouraged by the President's message.

Aceh police spokesman Senior Superintendent Kusbini Imbar said an estimated 390,000 people had converged on Banda Aceh and surrounding areas. Last year's demonstration was attended by nearly a million people.

Organisers blamed the low turnout on security forces' violent attempts to stop residents joining the rally. A human rights activist said the security force operation was "shock therapy" to intimidate Aceh's four million people into keeping their mouths shut and accepting the province will remain part of Indonesia.

In one incident, a 14-year-old boy was killed when soldiers fired at a mosque packed with thousands of residents in the Tualang Cut area of East Aceh on Thursday, a witness said. Scores of others were wounded, the witness said. The residents were sheltering in the mosque after police barred them from heading to the rally in Banda Aceh, he added. Mr Imbar denied security forces had raided the mosque and shot randomly: "It is impossible that they have committed such an act because they are also religious people."

In a separate incident in East Aceh on Thursday, security forces shot dead two people who tried to resist their attempts to prevent them from going to the rally, a local journalist said. In Bireun district, four people were killed and dozens more injured by troops in a similar incident, and in Banda Aceh a body was found near the Baiturrahman mosque, residents said. On Tuesday and Wednesday, 16 people were killed province-wide.

Hundreds of people have been killed this year in violence involving separatist rebels and government forces in the resource-rich region. Military brutality and perceived exploitation of Aceh's oil and gas reserves by Jakarta has fed separatist sentiment.

Mr Wahid on Thursday night warned security forces against using violence in Aceh, saying it could wreck a truce between the Government and the Free Aceh Movement. "I will not let Acehnese ... be shot," Mr Wahid was quoted as saying. "I'm in charge of the military and police. Do they think I'm afraid to fire them?"

Chief rally organiser Muhammad Nazar has assured authorities the two-day gathering will be peaceful and criticised security forces for trying to stop people attending.

[According to a report by Agence France-Presse, on November 10 some 300 Acehnese, some brandishing separatist flags, rallied outside the Dutch embassy to press demands for UN intervention to end the violence in Aceh - James Balowski.]

Thousands gather for Aceh rally as 16 die in violence

Agence France-Presse - November 9, 2000

Pidie -- Hundreds of thousands tried to beat tight security Thursday to reach the capital of Indonesia's troubled Aceh province for a pro-independence rally, as police and residents said 16 people had died in two days of violence.

Security forces killed 12 people in separate incidents on Wednesday as they sought to bar them from reaching the provincial capital of Banda Aceh for the two-day rally on Friday and Saturday.

A 13th person died Thursday and five others were in a critical condition after they were gunned down by security forces in the Ulee Gle area of Pidie district, some 75 kilometers from Banda Aceh, a local journalist said. They had resisted attempts by troops to block them from joining the rally, he added.

Three bodies were also found on Thursday in two areas in Pidie. The bodies all bore the marks of gunshot wounds. The deaths brought to 16 the number of people killed in the past two days in Aceh, a staunchly Muslim province on the northern tip of Sumatra island.

Aceh police operations spokesman, Senior Superintendent Kusbini Imbar, estimated about 10,000 people had entered Banda Aceh in the past few days. "It is rather difficult to get a more precise estimate of their number because they are all over the city, sleeping in vacant lots or open spaces," Imbar told AFP from Banda Aceh, denying police were preventing them from reaching the city. "We are only checking their identities and the papers of their vehicles," Imbar said.

But Muhammad Saleh, an activist from the organizing committee, told AFP 20,000 people were already packing one area of the city. "There are more than 20,000 Acehnese now spending the night at a field in the Darussalam University," Saleh said.

"We are estimating that about two and a half million residents of Aceh will be able to arrive here by tomorrow ... although more than 30 points of disembarkation across the province are being blocked by security troops."

The rally will mark the first anniversary of a public call for a referendum on self-rule in Aceh. The planned two-day mass gathering will take place at Banda Aceh's Baiturrahman grand mosque, where almost one million people gathered peacefully on November 8 last year to demand a vote on self-rule.

Hundreds of people have been killed this year in violence involving separatist rebels and government security forces in the resource-rich region on the northern tip of Sumatra island.

The government and rebel forces have extended a three-month truce -- known as a humanitarian pause -- until January. But it has failed to stem the violence. Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said in Jakarta that a joint forum discussion will be held in Geneva on November 16 and 17.

Jakarta, which has ruled out independence for Aceh, will put on the table at the Geneva meeting "a concrete proposal," he said. "The proposal in essence offers special autonomy and an accelerated development for Aceh," he said.

A decade of military brutality to quell the rebellion and the perceived exploitation of Aceh's oil and gas reserves by Jakarta has fed the sentiment of separatists in the staunchly Muslim province.

Chief rally organizer, Muhammad Nazar, has assured authorities the two-day gathering will be peaceful, and criticized security forces for trying to block people from attending the rally. Nazar said he feared the "public will put up resistance" if troops try to prevent them from entering Banda Aceh.

The government of President Abdurrahman Wahid has ruled out independence for Aceh offering instead wide-ranging autonomy, which was promised by the previous administration but never given.

2,000 rally in Jakarta to demand UN intervention in Aceh

Agence France-Presse - November 8, 2000

Jakarta -- Some 2,000 pro-independence Acehnese staged a huge rally in front of the UN office in the Indonesian capital Wednesday demanding international intervention to end the fighting in the rebellious state.

The protestors waved the Acehnese flag, a symbol of independence for the resource-rich province on the tip of Sumatra island, and tied five of them to the fence of the UN building in the city center.

Police stood by, most of them trying to divert traffic snarled for hours on a main traffic artery by the huge crowd of protestors, who also carried UN, US and British national flags, an AFP reporter said. One huge banner read: "United Nations, please solve the Aceh conflict by your intervention."

The rally marked the first anniversary of a mass rally by some one million Acehnese in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh on November 8 last year demanding a referendum on self- determnination. A similar mass gathering organized by the Information Center for Aceh Referendum (SIRA) is scheduled to be held on Friday and Saturday in Banda Aceh, residents there have said.

A SIRA leaflet distributed at Wednesday's Jakarta rally called the Indonesian government "neo-colonialist" and said it could not be expected to come up with a solution to the continuing violence between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and government troops.

"The kind of ... crimes against humanity conducted by the government of Indonesia have destroyed the culture and economy of Aceh," the statement said. "Abitrary military operations conducted by the government of Indonesia are obvious violations of the general understanding for the humanitarian pause between the state of Aceh and the colonialist government," it said.

"Humanitarian pause" is the name given to a flawed truce signed in May between GAM's exile government and Jakarta which is still in effect but has failed to end the violence.

The statement made three demands -- that the United Nations and the international community intervene to seek a peaceful end to the conflict, that Aceh's historical right to independence be recognized, and that UN members pressure Indonesia to halt the violence in the province. After some two hours the ralliers, shouting "Freedom" and "God is great," marched in a huge column towards the nearby US embassy.

Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, who authorized the brokering of the truce, has ruled out independence for Aceh, but promised it broad autonomy instead.

Six shot dead ahead of massive rally in Aceh capital

Agence France-Presse - November 8, 2000 (abridged)

Banda Aceh -- Indonesian troops killed at least six people Wednesday as thousands streamed toward the capital of the province of Aceh for a massive two-day pro-independence rally, residents said.

Efforts to join the rally -- which starts on Friday, the first anniversary of a public call for a referendum on self- determination for Aceh -- were blocked in some places by security forces.

At least six people were shot dead in two separate incidents as troops tried to block traffic heading for the rally from the districts of East Aceh and Pidie.

In the Blang Pidie subdistrict in South Aceh, troops opened fire on a convoy of buses loaded with hundreds of residents trying to reach Banda Aceh, killing five men, a local journalist said.

The five were killed after they jumped out of their truck because they were terrified when the troops first fired warning shots to the air, he said. At least four other men were wounded in the shooting.

Another man was shot dead earlier in the day by policeman manning a street barricade after he and several others attempted to push the barbed wire aside. Razali, the victim, had been among hundreds of people whose convoy of more than 10 trucks were blocked by road barricades in Idie Rayeuk in East Aceh. They were heading for Banda Aceh, a local journalist said.

In another incident, a policeman on routine patrol, was shot and injured by unknown gunmen in downtown Banda Aceh.

Hundreds of police from the mobile brigade, a mass control unit, were standing guard along the coast of Banda Aceh and the surrounding Aceh Besar district to prevent people from coming in by boat from other regions.

Meanwhile, hundreds of buses and trucks carrying residents from East Aceh had managed to enter the capital, joining protesters from northern Aceh who arrived here Tuesday.

The two-day rally is set to take place on Friday and Saturday at Banda Aceh's Baiturrahman grand mosque. Almost one million people gathered there peacefully on November 8 last year to demand a vote on self-rule.

The chief rally organizer, Muhammad Nazar of the Information Center for Aceh Referendum (SIRA), criticized the security forces' action and said the rally would be peaceful. "The fact is, last year, we were able to hold a rally like this peacefully ... without a single incident. Why are they trying to prevent peaceful and unarmed citizens from attending the rally?" Nazar said he feared the "public will put up resistance" if troops try to prevent them from entering Banda Aceh.

Aceh defies Jakarta by electing governor

Straits Times - November 8, 2000

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- Aceh, one of the proudest and most defiant of Indonesia's provinces, has become the first province in the reform era to elect its own Governor, defying Jakarta's calls to wait until security improves.

President Abdurrahman Wahid, through Home Affairs Minister Surjadi Sudirdja, asked the local Parliament on Friday to postpone the vote until January -- when the provinces are officially due to become autonomous. However, undeterred, the assembly on Saturday elected Mr Abdullah Puteh, by an overwhelming majority, replacing the previous Jakarta-appointed Governor Bustari Mansyur.

Legislators and commentators hope that Mr Abdullah, a native of Aceh, will present a united face to Jakarta in trying to solve the violent conflict which has escalated in recent weeks between security forces, the independence rebels (GAM) and the disgruntled Acehnese.

Fellow parliamentarian Teuku Pribadi said: "We think he'll build a new Aceh that is peaceful and safe and will implement the Islamic law. He is experienced enough, but with enough energy to go full speed."

Mr Abdullah has vowed to solve the security problem in Aceh, to build Aceh's economy and to develop the community, although has only given vague details about how he plans to achieve this.

But as local human-rights worker Saifuddin Bantasyan points out: "Whoever is elected needs to have friendly relations with the police and the military and to try and maintain order while appreciating people's rights."

This could be a tall order, given the rise in abuses by both the military and the independence rebels and given Mr Abdullah's reputed ties to the military faction.

In the latest violence, three policemen and a soldier were wounded when their convoy was attacked by suspected GAM guerillas in the Bungeung area of North Aceh on Monday, according to the local police chief. At the weekend, at least four people were killed in what police claim was a rebel ambush of security forces.

Mutual mistrust between the security forces and locals is high as human-rights and referendum campaigners say they have become a target for intimidation.

Police accuse the locals of harbouring independence rebels. "Police think all Acehnese are rebels and that is not fair. They must respect our rights," said Saifuddin Bantasyan.

The Acehnese Parliament's determination to push on with the election, with or without Jakarta's approval, shows that it has grasped the freedom provincial governments have been granted much better than the Home Affairs Minister.

Yet, the fact that the new Governor is a long-standing Golkar executive is cause for concern, say non-government groups. In fact, the Governor has been elected largely by a Parliament, which, local activists claim, is not representative and is little changed from the last election. The reason for this is that only 30 per cent of Aceh's population opted to vote during last year's tension-ridden election.

Mr Otto Syamsuddin, a sociologist and member of last year's election committee, predicts the Governor will have problems trying to gain support for his initiatives because, as a Jakarta politician, he will be distrusted.

However, others argue that all Aceh needs at the moment is a strong leader, who will pursue the interests of the Acehnese, regardless of their party. And that means pushing through a controversial Syariah law, still not approved by Jakarta.

In addition, the local Parliament is pushing for regional autonomy, which demands that 80 per cent of profits from Aceh's natural resources be controlled by Aceh and not Jakarta.

Self-determination for West Papua now!

ASIET - November 8, 2000

Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) supports the West Papuan people's demand for a free act of national self-determination. Since the UN-supervised referendum in East Timor in August 1999, in which the overwhelming majority supported independence from Indonesia, the West Papuan people's campaign for the same opportunity to decide their future has intensified.

When the Dutch relinquished colonial rule over Indonesia between 1945-1949, West Papua remained under its control. Under United Nations auspices, West Papua's future was to be renegotiated in 1950, but no such consultation took place with the West Papuan people.

In 1961 the Dutch began a defence build-up, while on December 1 that year some West Papuan leaders declared independence. In January 1962, the Sukarno government sent in a special force to "liberate" the territory, but that failed. In August, as part of the New York Agreement, an interim United Nations administration took over from the Dutch. But on May 1, 1963, under US and Australian government pressure, the UN gave Indonesia the task of administering the territory and organising an act of self- determination within six years.

The UN, backed by the West, acceded to Indonesia's demand that West Papua be "returned". This take-over was "ratified" by 1,025 local chiefs selected by the Indonesian military to take part in the so-called Act of Free Choice in 1969. This sham was recognised by the UN as a legitimate act of self-determination. In 1973, following years of a transmigration program, Indonesia renamed West Papua Irian Jaya or the Victorious Irian.

Secret documents released in 1999 by the Department of Foreign Affairs reveal that Australia's security organisation, ASIO, played an active role in preventing West Papuan leaders from presenting their case for independence to the UN, just weeks before the fake vote. The Australian military collected evidence of Indonesian atrocities in West Papua, but still Australia played a key role in the campaign to ensure the Act of Free Choice was accepted without debate at the UN General Assembly in November 1969.

Since the early 1960s, resistance to Indonesia's brutal rule in West Papua has been growing. In 1965 the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (Organisation for Papua's Independence -- OPM) was formed to coordinate the struggle for self-determination. Indonesia responded with military action, arbitrary arrests, disappearances, and the murder of those suspected to be OPM supporters.

Following the massive demonstrations early this year to mark the 38th anniversary of the 1961 declaration of independence in which some 80,000 people took part and the OPM's flag was raised all over the country, President Abdurrahman Wahid was forced to make some conciliatory gestures. He agreed to a name change, back to West Papua, and apologised for years of repression and human rights violations.

However Wahid, backed by local imperialist bully Australia, has ruled out a referendum on self-determination.

West Papua is home to Freeport, one of the richest copper and gold mines in the world. Located at Grasberg mountain, the mine is owned by the New Orleans-based Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold company and is run by Freeport Indonesia with the help of the Indonesian military. The local Amungme and Koworo people were never consulted and have been harassed and massacred for their opposition to the mine.

After smelting, the gold and copper are estimated to be worth US$2 billion a year. Freeport Indonesia, a privately owned company, has a 20% stake.

For now, the political elites in Indonesia and the Western powers believe West Papua's massive mineral and forestry resources are more easily exploited under Indonesian rule. However, growing international support for the West Papuan people's right to self-determination may make this untenable. The week-long Papuan People's Congress in June, attended by some 2700 participants from 14 districts with 501 elected delegates, declared that Indonesia's incorporation of West Papua was invalid and that the province became independent from the Dutch in December 1, 1961.

These events and the recent Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Kiribati where delegates discussed the deteriorating human rights situation in West Papua represents a significant step forward in the struggle for self-determination.

On December 1, the West Papuans will raise the independence flag in a bid to push forward their struggle for independence. Wahid has ordered a ban on flag raising ceremonies and some a number of people have recently been murdered for such acts of civil disobedience. Some 100,000 West Papuans have been killed since the early 1960s and the terror is intensifying as between 5000- 10,000 Jakarta-funded pro-integration militias continue their campaign of terror and brutality.

The Australian Coalition government and Labor opposition must be forced to reverse their policy and support the West Papuan people's right of self-determination.

ASIET calls on supporters of the right to self-determination to demand the Howard government:

Cut all military aid to Indonesia;
Pressure Jakarta into withdrawing its military from West Papua;
Add its weight to calls for a UN inquiry into human rights violations in West Papua and;
Support a UN-supervised act of self-determination to allow the West Papuan people to decide on their future.

West Papua: ALP, Liberals oppose independence

Green Left Weekly - November 8, 2000

Pip Hinman -- The efforts by the West Papuan people to garner international support for self-determination have taken a number of leaps forward recently. But despite growing international concern at Indonesia's repressive policies in West Papua including a ban on raising the Morning Star flag of independence the two major parties in Australia are primarily concerned about ameliorating relations with Jakarta.

At the October 27-30 Pacific Islands Forum in Kiribati, despite the best efforts of Prime Minister John Howard, the forum leaders expressed "deep concern" over the violence and killings associated with the raising of the Morning Star flag.

Because the forum operates on an undemocratic consensus method, Howard managed to insert a cause in the statement of concern reaffirming Indonesian sovereignty over West Papua. Afterwards he said there were "no reasonable grounds" for Jakarta to be upset.

The West Papuan representatives who attended the forum as members of the Nauru delegation were quoted in the October 30 Financial Review as saying they had expected much less. "I was concerned that West Papua was going to be kept off the agenda", said Franzalbert Joko, a former PNG newspaper editor and chief-of- staff to former PNG prime minister Julius Chan.

While the Biketawa Declaration innocuously calls on the Indonesian government and West Papuan independence groups to resolve their differences through dialogue, the fact that the final communique did include mention of the conflict in West Papua indicates that international pressure on Indonesia is growing.

At a June people's congress, 2700 West Papuans rejected Indonesian rule, and on December 1, the pro-independence Papuan Presidium council is expected to report back on the struggle for world recognition of the sovereignty of the West Papuan people.

Sycophantic policy

No-one is really surprised by the Australian government's position, but the Labor Party's decision to echo it has obviously angered some within the party especially after having been so badly exposed by Labor's sycophantic policy on East Timor.

In August, the ALP National Conference adopted a feel-good policy on West Papua which reads, in part: "Labor hopes that current discussions and negotiations between the Indonesian government and West Papuan leaders will achieve a mutually satisfactory resolution on the status of the Province and thereby reduce the risk of further conflict and violence".

Recently, Laurie Brereton, Labor's foreign affairs spokesperson, vigorously reaffirmed his party's position in response to an initiative from the Australia-West Papua Association and several Victorian union leaders, including ACTU leader Greg Sword, to support a United Nations-sponsored referendum for West Papua.

The memorandum of understanding calls on the United Nations to: investigate the killings in West Papua, review Indonesia's illegitimate claim over the territory; implement a referendum "in order that West Papuans can illustrate their desire to be independent, or to remain an autonomous province of the Indonesian Republic"; and expresses concern that West Papuans are being excluded from the benefits generated by the American-owned Freeport McMoran gold and copper mine. It was signed by the Reverend Dr Martin Luther Wanma and Dr Jacob Rumbiak, along with Leigh Hubbard (Victorian Trades Hall council), Yorrick Piper (Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union), Greg Sword (National Union of Workers), Len Cooper (Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union), Ingrid Stitt (Australian Services Union), Julius Roe (Australian Manufacturing Workers Union), Jill Iliffe (Australian Nurses Federation), Michelle O'Neil (Textiles, Clothing and Footwear Union) and Ann Taylor (Australian Education Union).

Instigator of the memorandum, Louise Burns from the Australia- West Papua Association, told Green Left Weekly she was hoping to contact more unions but ran out of time before the official launch on October 24 in Melbourne.

The next day, Brereton attacked Sword and others for expressing views on West Papua which are "inconsistent with Labor Party policy". He said Sword had not consulted the party and was not speaking in his capacity as ALP president. "However well- intentioned Mr Sword's advocacy of a UN-sponsored referendum, it has not been well thought through and is unlikely to contribute to any lessening of tension in West Papua", he said.

Brereton continued: "Simplistic comparisons between East Timor and West Papua will not assist the resolution of conflict in West Papua. Ill-considered initiatives such as this have the potential to damage Australia's relations with Indonesia under democratically elected President Abdurrahman Wahid."

Judgement call

Brereton's advisor Philip Dorling also told Green Left Weekly that "simple analogies" between East Timor and West Papua "were not helpful". While he admitted that the situation in West Papua was difficult, even "grim", he added, "We're working in the real world". He refused to comment on the difference of opinion within the ALP, saying only that conference delegates had unanimously adopted the new policy.

Dorling admitted that the UN-supervised referendum in 1969, in which around 1000 hand-picked chiefs were allowed to vote, was problematic. But, he said, the way to handle the West Papua issue is "a judgement call".

On the one hand, Labor "supports the right of the people of West Papua to develop their own distinctive culture and institutions". But on the other, Dorling believes that Australia's primary concern has to be about not jeopardising its already extremely strained relations with Indonesia.

There is a large number of transmigrants in West Papua, Dorling said, which means that the situation could be "explosive" and that a pro-independence position would not necessarily get up in any referendum. Foreign minister Alexander Downer warned last week that any attempt by West Papua to separate from Indonesian would provoke a "blood bath". ASIET national chairperson and Democratic Socialist Party spokesperson on foreign affairs Max Lane told Green Left that the Wahid regime and Indonesian army could respond with a blood-bath only if there was international acquiescence to repression of the self-determination movement in West Papua.

"The Australian government should be strongly criticising the restrictions on freedom of speech in West Papua that are embodied in the ban on raising the Morning Star flag. The Australian government should also be seeking a UN review of the 1969 Act of Self-Determination, which the Dutch government is already pursuing", Lane said. "Australia should also push the UN towards a referendum on self-determination. This was what was demanded by the mass assembly of West Papuans at the people's congress earlier this year", he added.

Melbourne Anglican Bishop Hilton Deakin and Pastor Luther Wanma from West Papua on October 20 called for an East Timor-style referendum to stop the violence. According to Deakin: "There will eventually need to be a referendum because a referendum is the normal, universally accepted vehicle for a people expressing their will". Wanma said that offers of autonomy or federation would be refused.

Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown's motion on October 12 supporting the West Papuan's right to raise their flag was blocked by the government and opposition, which argued that the matter "isn't urgent". That week, in one incident, some 30 people were killed by Indonesian police firing on a crowd attempting to raise the flag.

Aceh gets new governor as violence leaves at least 7 dead

Agence France-Presse - November 5, 2000 (slightly abridged)

Banda Aceh -- The provincial parliament in Indonesia's troubled province of Aceh has elected a new governor as violence between government forces and separatist rebels killed at least seven people, reports and police said Sunday.

A plenary session of the Aceh People's Representatives Council (DPR) on Saturday elected Abdullah Puteh, 52, as the new governor of the province to replace outgoing Bustari Mansyur, the state Antara news agency said. Azwar Abubakar, was also elected as the new vice governor, Antara said.

Puteh was a student activist in the 1960s in the runup to the fall of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno and in the early years of the government of former president Suharto. He is also an executive of Suharto's then ruling Golkar party.

Meanwhile, seven people, including a policeman, were killed or found dead on the weekend in various parts of Aceh. Five rebels were shot dead during an armed clash with a joint police and military patrol in Bireum Bayeun, East Aceh on Saturday, Aceh police spokesman Senior Superintendent Kusbini Imbar told journalists here. He said the five were killed after some 20 rebels ambushed the patrol.

But residents said only four people were killed and that they were all civilians with no links to the separatist Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh) movement. Residents said the four men were arrested alive at a roadside food stall in Bireum Bayeun on Saturday, taken aboard a truck to the police post but were later taken to the state hospital in Langsa already dead.

A policeman was slashed and stabbed to death by two unidentified men at his home in Uteun Geulinggang, North Aceh late on Friday night, the district's police chief Senior Superintendent Abadan Bangko said.

In Cot Matahe, also in North Aceh, three rebels ambushed a convoy of security personnel passing the area after dusk on Saturday but there were no casualties, Bangko said. The local rebel deputy commander, Abu Sofyan Daud, confirmed to AFP that his men had ambushed the convoy of four trucks and one minibus carrying troops returning from an anti-rebel operation. Daud claimed more than 10 soldiers were killed in the attack but Bangko denied it.

In Tapaktuan, the main town in the district of South Aceh, villagers found the body of a badly maimed man on Saturday, a local journalist said, adding that the motive for the killing was unknown.

Three independence activists shot dead in Irian Jaya

Agence France-Presse - November 5, 2000 (slightly abridged)

Jakarta -- Three members of the pro-independence civilian guard in Indonesia's troubled Irian Jaya province have been shot dead and at least 18 other people injured, including a policeman, a report and residents said Sunday.

Police shot dead three members of the Papua Taskforce and injured 17 other members on Saturday as they attempted to escape a police post in the province's main Merauke district, the district chief Benyamin Simatupang told the state news agency Antara.

One policeman was stabbed in the violence and flown to hospital in Jayapura, the province's main city. The 17 injured taskforce members were treated at the general hospital in Merauke town, on the southern part of Irian Jaya near the border with neighbouring Papua New Guinea.

Some 25 members of the Papua taskforce had been detained at the police post since Friday following violence at the main market in Merauke. They attempted to flee on Saturday and were shot after warning shots were fired, the head of the Irian Jaya police operation control, Senior Superintendent Kusnadi told Antara.

A Protestant Church official in Merauke, who requested he not be named, told AFP he had received reports that three local youths had been shot dead and four others wounded by police. He said the violence at the market was sparked after members of the taskforce beat up a policeman in a jealous incident over a girl from the local Marin tribe, and policemen returned in force. The church source said the area was calm on Sunday, although police were heavily guarding most government offices and the market.

Human rights/law

Cops bungle on purpose, some say

Straits Times - November 10, 2000

Robert Go, Jakarta -- Indonesian police yesterday scoured exclusive watering holes and five-star hotels in the capital in a massive hunt for the country's best-known fugitive. Meanwhile, regional police went through the Suharto family's estates throughout the country in search of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.

South Jakarta prosecutor Antasari Azhar announced earlier that the government was offering a financial reward -- the amount is unspecified as yet -- to citizens who can provide information leading to Hutomo's arrest. Jakarta's chief detective Senior Superintendent Harry Montolalu invited Indonesians to make a citizen's arrest if they saw him.

However, it seems that the government's searches and offers amount to looking under the bed but failing to force open locked bedside drawers. Looking for Hutomo in his known hangouts or in his family's hideouts will most probably yield little more than scared house-staff and empty chambers.

The Suharto family can also out-pay any government bounty and their private army can certainly stop attempts at citizen's arrests. The police failed to do the obvious: keep Hutomo under surveillance in the weeks before the issue of his arrest warrants. A growing suspicion is that such incompetence can only have come about by design.

Feisal Tanjung points at Soeharto

Jakarta Post - November 10, 2000

Jakarta -- Former Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) chief Gen. (ret) Feisal Tanjung testified on Thursday that former president Soeharto implicitly ordered the halt of a free speech forum at the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters in July 1996.

The fact was aired by Feisal's lawyer, Col. A.B. Setiawan, after his client had been questioned as a witness by a joint Military Police/National Police investigation team at the National Police Headquarters over the violent takeover of the party headquarters on July 27, 1996.

"The former president asked 'Will you really allow the free speech forum to continue?'," Setiawan told reporters.

Feisal's testimony echoed the statement of former chief of the Jakarta Military Command and now Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, after being questioned over the case in September.

Sutiyoso said that the former president gave an implicit order to stop the forum during a meeting with several military officers at the latter's residence on Jl. Cendana in the Menteng area, Central Jakarta, on July 19, 1996.

Feisal, however, declined to give any comments to reporters. When he arrived at the National Police Headquarters in the morning, the retired four-star general reportedly even punched a photographer from Media Indonesia daily. In a press statement made available to the press, the daily's executive director Imam Anshori Saleh urged the punched photographer to sue Feisal.

Setiawan said that a special ministerial coordination meeting on political and security affairs had been held following Soeharto's order. The meeting eventually recommended that the forum be stopped because it had disturbed public order. "But the meeting only recommended that the forum be persuasively stopped and according to the law," Setiawan said.

Setiawan said that the meeting was attended by then minister/state secretary Moerdiono, then minister of education and culture Wardiman Djojodiningrat, then minister of defense and security Edi Sudradjat, then attorney general Singgih, the late coordinating minister for political and security affairs Soesilo Soedarman, and then State Intelligence Coordination Body (BAKIN) chief Moetojib. Moerdiono and Edi have also been questioned by the joint team over the case.

A free speech forum was held at the PDI headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro inCentral Jakarta by supporters of the party's ousted chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri. Most speakers of the forum condemned the Soeharto regime. The forum stopped when a mob, backed by elements of ABRI, violently attacked the headquarters.

The move, which involved supporters of a PDI splinter group, led by Soerjadi, left at least five dead and 23 others reportedly still missing. The attack triggered mass unrest in Central Jakarta.

Tommy seeks life of luxury in jail

The Age - November 9, 2000

Lindsay Murdoch -- The hunt for Tommy Suharto, the fugitive son of Indonesia's disgraced former president, has turned into high farce. Tommy is demanding that jail authorities build him a special suite inside Jakarta's high-security Cipinang jail.

And officials have apparently agreed to build the facilities as long as 38-year-old Tommy first gives himself up and starts serving an 18-month sentence over a corrupt land deal.

Lawyer Nudirman Munir, who on Wednesday quit Tommy's legal team, said Tommy, a one-time womaniser estimated to control a $US800 million fortune, was seeking special treatment because he believes that he is a victim of a legal conspiracy and his conviction was unjust. He has been on the run since last Friday.

Tommy had earlier demanded that bodyguards be allowed to accompany him in jail, saying he feared he would be killed by other prisoners.

But Tempo magazine has reported that the Suharto family long ago made arrangements to protect Tommy in Cipinang, entrusting the job to the jail's godfather or boss, a convicted murderer named Agiono. "If someone disturbs him [Tommy], if there is someone who offends him, I will hit that person," the magazine quoted Agiono as saying.

The jail is notorious for giving special privileges to prisoners who have money to pay. Former and serving prisoners say that mobile telephones, restaurant food and outside "holidays" are common. Jail officials have set aside a 12-metre-square cell for Tommy which has a cement platform as a bed and a squat toilet. It is in a block secure from most other prisoners.

The head of one of Indonesia's biggest conglomerates, which he is accused of building through special favors while his father was in power, Tommy can officially bring to the jail a thin mattress, a small television set, a fan, a radio cassette and reading material. While the jail food is porridge with a boiled egg or salted fish, there are stalls and canteens that sell food to prisoners.

`Tommy' drags Indonesia's image further through the mud

Agence France-Presse - November 8, 2000

Jakarta -- The Indonesian government's inability to drag a son of former strongman Suharto to jail is further damaging its authority and the country's already weak law enforcement record, analysts said here Wednesday.

More than 36 hours after an official deadline elapsed for Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, Suharto's youngest and favorite son, to turn himself in to serve a 18-month jail sentence for corruption, his alloted cell at Jakarta's high- security Cipinang jail remained empty.

"Public confidence in our judiciary system is already so low and this Tommy case is bringing no good to the image of our judiciary system or to the government's ability to uphold the law," said Asmara Nababan, the secretary general of the National Commission on Human Rights.

"If we fail to arrest and jail Tommy, it would be the end of our existence as a state of law. The state of law that our founding fathers aspired to, will only remain a dream," added rights lawyer Frans Winata.

MP Aberson Sihaloho of the election-winning Indonesian Democracy Party-Struggle (PDIP) called the Tommy case "a test for the state". "Is it true that the supremacy of law can be upheld for everyone regardless of their race, status or position? This is now the test," Sihaloho said. Failing the test would mean that "the state will be left with no authority at all," he added.

Tommy's lawyers have used every trick in the book to delay the jailing of their client, first citing lack of legal documents and later claims that Tommy had been issued a death threat if he enters jail.

They said a photocopy of the decree rejecting Tommy's plea for a pardon from President Abdurrahman Wahid was legally unacceptable. "I must admit that I am not suprised at the turn of events," Nababan said. "It is the logical consequence of the reality that both the regulations and laws, and the law maker and enforcers, are mostly part of an heritage of the New Order," Nababan said. The New Order refers to the three decades of government under Suharto which were marked by rampant corruption.

Winata also echoed Nababan, saying: "There are so many cases of corruption, collusion and nepotism in our judiciary system." He pointed to the court decision last month to halt the corruption trial of the former dictator Suharto long before the charges were read out against him.

A developing country, Indonesia's judicial system was full of loopholes, and anyone unscrupulous enough could use them to their advantage, Winata said. "It is also a question of morality and a lack of sense of responsibility both towards the development of democracy in Indonesia as well as the recovery of the economy," Winata said.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Rizal Ramli said the inability of the authorities to jail Tommy would further undermine investors' confidence in the rule of law here. "I ask for an arrest as soon as possible, so as to prevent rising legal uncertainties because this will have an effect on the economy," Ramli said according to the Detikcom online news service.

Tommy, 38, was declared a fugitive on Tuesday after he failed to surrender to authorities by midnight Monday to serve an 18-month jail sentence handed down by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court overturned acquittals by two lower courts on September 22 and found Tommy and his business partner Richard Gelael guilty of causing the state 10.7 million dollars in losses through a land swap scam. While Gelael turned himself in on Friday, Tommy, a wealthy business magnate and a keen car racer, has remained free.

Tommy saga a big farce

Straits Times - November 9, 2000

Robert Go, Jakarta -- The government's inability to force the son of long-time ruler Suharto into jail makes a farce out of Indonesia's law enforcement, observers and analysts here said.

Ahead of fresh orders from President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday to arrest Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, police teams raided homes belonging to the fugitive businessman and other members of the Suharto family. But, as many observers expected, investigators did not find Hutomo, who was convicted of graft six weeks ago and was declared a fugitive officially on Monday.

His lawyers, meanwhile, continued what the authorities regarded as legal stalling tactics. They filed a judicial review, which in essence requested the Supreme Court to re-evaluate its own decision. "The defence lawyers' motions should be seen as an obstruction of justice," said human-rights lawyer Frans Winarta.

But, in what is seen as a more serious problem, law-enforcement officials have seemed willing to tolerate the motions, as well as other demands made by Hutomo's lawyers.

Mr Frans and other legal and political analysts here pointed out that prosecutors should have incarcerated Hutomo immediately after the Sept 22 conviction over a land scam in which the government lost nearly US$11 million.

Short of arresting him, police could have placed him under tight surveillance as lawyers for both sides engaged in lengthy negotiations over how and when the convict would surrender. But officials took none of these precautionary steps and demonstrated, as Mr Frans put it, "their inefficiency and incompetence".

The case, along with the government action against Mr Suharto, has long been seen as a test of the government's resolve. Indonesia ranks consistently as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

But as Chief Economics Minister Rizal Ramli warned recently, Hutomo's arrest will have an immediate impact on Indonesian domestic political and economic developments. "The perception that legal uncertainty is the norm in Indonesia will further undermine investors' confidence and hurt the government's ability to project stability," he said.

Presidential spokesman Wimar Witular similarly admitted that the continuing saga over Hutomo raises questions about the government's level of control in Indonesia. "We are doing everything we can and more importantly, we are doing it by the book. But the President is very disappointed and angry with the apparatus for failing to execute the arrest orders," he said.

According to Mr Wimar, another of the President's worries involves allegations circulating in some local media and among Jakarta's political elite that Mr Abdurrahman had struck some sort of deal to protect the Suharto family.

Mr Abdurrahman himself might have given weight to such speculation after holding several meetings with members of the Suharto family -- including Hutomo and elder sister Siti Hariyanti Rukmana. At these meetings, he reportedly made attempts to recover unspecified amounts of money allegedly stolen from the state during Mr Suharto's 32-year rule. Mr Wimar rejected such allegations, saying: "We have not made a deal and we will not make a deal."

The quickest, and some say the only way for Mr Abdurrahman to show that his government has not been compromised is to quickly jail Hutomo and to not allow the fugitive's lawyers room to stall the process. But the only thing anyone here can be sure of is that Hutomo is not yet in jail.

House approves law on human rights tribunal

Jakarta Post - November 7, 2000

Jakarta -- The House of Representatives passed on Monday a law on human rights tribunals which makes it possible to try past abuses. In a plenary session led by House Deputy Speaker Soetardjo Soerjoguritno, all 10 factions at the House endorsed the law.

The law may be key in trying those suspected of rights abuses during last year's violence in East Timor, and overcoming the controversy over a recentconstitutional amendment which supports the principle of nonretroactivity. According to Article 43 of the new law, past rights abuses can be brought to an ad hoc tribunal after receiving approval from the House and the president.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction hailed the law, but urged fairness in using the law to hear cases of past human rights abuses. "Let the House decide what crimes in the past can be brought to the tribunal," faction spokesman Don Herdono said during the session.

Don remarked the application of the law's retroactive principle could be used in conjunction with the planned rights and reconciliation commission.

He said PDI Perjuangan also agreed with the inclusion of "omission" in Article 42 of the law, which makes it possible for superiors in military and civilian institutions to be held responsible for human rights abuses committed by their subordinates. "There will be no more trials where only lower ranking soldiers are prosecuted while their superiors go free," Don remarked.

The Golkar Party faction also said it supported the law, which caries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison for gross human rights violations, including genocide and crimes against humanity. "It's a breakthrough for our Criminal Code, but it's normal since genocide and crimes against humanity should be punished with heavy sentences," Golkar faction spokesman M. Akil Mochtar said.

The Criminal Code currently carries a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison, though certain crimes such as drug trafficking can be punished witha life sentence or death.

Akil said Golkar also agreed with the law's assertion that the National Commission on Human Rights has the right to investigate rights abuses. "The commission has the experience and professionalism, and is expected play an important role in processing human rights abuses," he contended.

The National Awakening Party (PKB) faction hailed the law for allowing for the prosecution of incidents taking place outside Indonesian territory, as stipulated in Article 5.

"The tribunal can try human rights abuses committed by Indonesians outside Indonesian territory," faction spokesman Achmad Syatibi said, apparently referring to alleged rights abuses in East Timor. Most factions agreed that the possibility of trying past rights abuses should remain open despite the constitutional amendment.

Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said the passing of the new law should assuage fears that past human rights abuses would go unpunished.

Yusril even quipped that with the law, as long as there was approval from the House, an ad hoc tribunal could be established to investigate alleged rights abuses dating back to Adam and Eve. Yusril also suggested cases involving foreigners be investigated, noting some former Dutch residents accused Japanese soldiers of torture during the Japanese occupation in the 1940s.

Tommy Suharto `frightened for his life'

South China Morning Post - November 7, 2000

Associated Press In Jakarta -- The fugitive son of former dictator Suharto remained in hiding on Tuesday as his lawyers claimed that inmates at a Jakarta penitentiary had made death threats against him.

Frustrated prosecutors said they had called on the police to launch a manhunt and arrest "Tommy" Mandala Putra forcibly. "We are ready to move against Tommy," Jakarta police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Nur Usman said.

Attorneys for Tommy said he was too frightened to start an 18- month sentence for corruption. "Tommy has received threats and is afraid for his life," Mudirman Munir said. Tommy is believed to be in Jakarta though his lawyers claim they do not know exactly where.

Mr Munir said negotiations with state prosecutors over Tommy's arrest were deadlocked. The defence team is waiting permission from prosecutors to check security arrangements at Jakarta's Cipinang Prison, he said.

Prosecutors have tried since Friday to take Tommy, 38, into custody, but have been frustrated firstly by his disappearance and later by legal stalling tactics by his defence team. "From now on we will use force," said senior prosecutor Antasari Azhar after early morning talks with Tommy's defence team.

On Monday, lawyers used the difference between a photocopy of a presidential decree and the original to justify their client's absence, despite their frequent promises of his imminent surrender to serve his 18-month sentence.

The Supreme Court convicted Tommy on September 22 of being involved in a land scam that cost the government US$11 million. Tommy has denied any wrongdoing and has filed an appeal against the verdict, which overturned his acquittal in a lower court several months earlier.

He is to serve time at a facility where his father's authoritarian regime once locked up political prisoners. He is the first member of Suharto's super-rich clan convicted for graft -- and his imprisonment is regarded as vital to a campaign by President Abdurrahman Wahid to clean up endemic corruption that flourished during three decades of Suharto's dictatorship.

"We are still waiting for the presidential decree. When we have that in hand we will wait for a summoning letter from the South Jakarta District Attorney's office, then Tommy will comply with the summons," lawyer Nudirman Munir said. "I'm not going to surrender my client because what has been given to us is only the photocopy ... we want the original one."

News & issues

Over one million people displaced nationwide: Government

Jakarta Post - November 10, 2000

Jakarta -- Disaster and unrest have increased the number of internally displaced people in the country to a staggering 1,050,000, officials said on Thursday.

The secretary-general of the National Board of Social Welfare (BKSN), Ferry Johannes, said the refugees made up 240,333 families sheltering in 18 provinces, most in the Maluku islands.

"Maluku and North Maluku are home to some 220,000 refugees as the situation there never really improved," Ferry said on the sidelines of a hearing with House Commission VII for population and welfare.

He said the number of displaced people nationwide excluded refugees seeking safety from natural disasters in Luwuk Banggai, Bengkulu, Cilacap, Ciamis and Tasikmalaya.

He said a whopping 200,000 East Timor refugees were now scattered across several provinces, namely East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, Bali and South Sulawesi.

Other territories where refugees were sheltering are Sambas in West Kalimantan with some 65,000 people, Aceh with about 44,000 people and IrianJaya with about 18,000 fleeing the Maluku riots, Ferry said. He added Jambi hosts the smallest number of displaced people, with some 1,300 people fleeing riot-torn Aceh.

Minister of Health and Social Welfare Ahmad Suyudi, who also attended the hearing, said his ministry was handling the refugees with related agencies. He said the ministry had proposed Rp 4.11 trillion of budget for the next fiscal year. The figure equals 56.2 percent of the current budget.

"Our budget is quite limited, especially with the extra job of handling refugees. Fortunately, other state institutions which have integrated into our ministry brought with them their funds," Ahmad said. He was referring to the state minister of social welfare office which was dissolved in August and BKSN, which will follow suit on Tuesday. BKSN's incorporation with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare will add two directorates dealing with rehabilitation and social aid and development of social welfare.

Ferry said BKSN was facing difficulties, especially in food and aid distribution to many remote refugee camps. The board also has to ask for funds from the Ministry of Finance every month, he added.

Each refugee is entitled to 400 grams of rice and a Rp 1,500 meal allowance per day. "So imagine how much money we have to spend to help these people survive. Most have lost hope and have no future," he said.

"East Timor refugees are actually willing to be repatriated but they are facing difficulties in reclaiming their property." A joint board from several related ministries will be established to helppeople claim their assets in East Timor.

Ahmad further revealed that the ministry is having problems locating doctors as well as part-time medical employees, as many refused to serve in remote or restive areas.

"Some 40 percent of 7,500 community health centers (Puskesmas) in the country have no doctors. That is why we really need to deploy part-time employees, who are mostly midwives and paramedics, to fill the posts for public service. But we cannot force them to do so," Achmad said, adding that there are 2,000 new doctors and some 5,000 midwives every year.

Film censors still struggling with years of living cautiously

South China Morning Post - November 9, 2000

Vaudine England, Jakarta -- Organisers of Jakarta's International Film Festival were kept waiting until the last minute for permission to screen the film banned by former president Suharto, The Year of Living Dangerously.

It is not yet clear whether the delay on the part of Jakarta's censorship authorities shows a failure of reformist conviction on the part of the current Government, or simply its more obvious side effect -- bureaucratic chaos. But clearance from the censor board came only hours before the screening at 7pm last night.

The film is a romanticised version of the renowned book of the same name, by Christopher Koch. It is still the only film about the alleged communist coup and subsequent massacres of Indonesians by Indonesians that brought Suharto to power in 1965.

It traces the travails of an Australian journalist, played by Mel Gibson, who is new to the obscurities of Indonesian politics and attempting to make his name. He attempts this at the same time as trying to date a Western diplomat, played by Sigourney Weaver. But the meat of the story lies in the role of a male Indonesian- Chinese dwarf cameraman, in an award-winning portrayal by actress Linda Hunt. This character shows intense compassion for Indonesia's starving masses, at the same time as trying to inform the foreigners about the murky and mysterious world of Jakarta in brilliantly shot scenes of Jakartan slums and high life. The dwarf is torn between the desires for justice and stability, highlighting the ambivalence felt by Indonesians today. But the real reason the film was banned was the film's messages about corruption and violence, and its depiction of how Suharto came to power on the backs of hundreds of thousands of corpses.

When the film schedule was first announced, it seemed unsurprising that the film could now be screened in Jakarta. After all, Suharto is out of power, and years of street rhetoric has insisted on a fresh appraisal of history and a reform of politics under the leadership of the more tolerant President Abdurrahman Wahid.

But there may be others in Jakarta's ruling circles who would have rather done without the dramatic imagery of The Year of Living Dangerously.

In one of the film's more poignant moments, the dwarf has given up on the state of his country and hangs a banner out of a hotel window, imploring Bung Karno. The words are a message to then president Sukarno, father of current Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, to "Feed your people".

Hostilities toward oil, mining firms growing: Minister

Jakarta Post - November 9, 2000

Jakarta -- Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro called on local oil and mining companies on Wednesday to improve community development in a bid to curb the escalation of hostilities against their operations.

Purnomo said that in addition to the improvement of law enforcement, promoting good relations with surrounding communities was needed to preventfurther acts of hostility.

"We are cooperating with the police to prevent the problem from getting worse," Purnomo said during a break in a hearing with the House of Representative's Commission VIII for environmental, science and technological affairs here.

The minister acknowledged that acts of hostilities against oil and mining companies were escalating and could cripple the country's mining sector. "If it [the outbursts of hostility] keeps escalating, these small incidents could accumulate to cause even bigger problems, which is what we have to look out for and prevent," he said referring to the recent burning of PT Caltex Pasific Indonesia's oil wells in Duri, Riau.

Protesting farmers burned the area around the oil and gas company's five oil wells located at Caltex's Duri oil field in the Bengkalis regency late on Monday, not in Rokan Hilir as reported in The Jakarta Post Wednesday. The farmers were disappointed by Caltex's unwillingness to pay higher compensation for the land acquired by the company during the Soeharto era.

Purnomo said the five wells were not actually set on fire, but that the areas surrounding the wells were stacked with wood and burned. The burnings had caused three of the wells to be temporarily shut down on Tuesday, with one well needing minor repairs due to the heat from the fires, an official at Pertamina's managing and development body of production sharing partners (BPPKA) said. "We've now repaired the damages and all five wells are now fully operational," he told the Post.

Such acts of violence were not the first to have been directed at Caltex. As the country's largest oil producer, Caltex has recurrently been the subject of public discontent.

In a normal day, the affiliate of US oil companies Chevron Corp. and Texaco Inc. produces 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) or about 80 percent of the country's total crude oil production. Only last month the oil giant had to deal with blockades of its water treatment plant and its drilling rigs from villagers demanding jobs from the company and its contractors.

Recently villagers also blockaded East Kalimantan-based oil company PT Unocal Indonesia, demanding compensation for alleged pollution to the villagers' farmland.

Several other mining companies such as gold producer PT Newmont Minahasa Raya in North Sulawesi, coal producer PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) have become the subjects of resentment from local communities.

Newmont was forced to close down its mining sites after a group of angry villagers demanding higher compensation payment for their land took over the company's mining equipment.

KPC had also been compelled to shut down its mining operations when striking workers demanding higher pay took control of its production facilities.

Other mining giants such as Freeport Indonesia have also been the target of criticism from environmental activists for allegedly causing environmental damage.

Gunshots hit rights group

Indonesian Observer - November 8, 2000

Jakarta -- Unidentified men fired shots at the headquarters of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) last night but there were no reports of injuries, witnesses said.

They said three bullets shattered the windows of a car parked outside the Central Jakarta building when the shooting took place at about 7.25pm. The owner of the Daihatsu Zebra vehicle was identified as Deddy, director of the Legal Aid Institute's chapter in Surabaya, East Java.

Prominent human rights lawyer Munir, who is deputy head of YLBHI and founder of the respected Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), was inside the building, which also houses the Kontras office, when the shooting occurred.

He had returned from a meeting with Attorney General Marzuki Darusman a few hours before the gunfire. He was told by witnesses that the shots were fired from an open-backed utility truck believed to be driven by a policeman. Munir said that according to witnesses, the truck was carrying about 10 policemen and the shots were deliberate.

He denied the shooting was related to the conviction of former president Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, who is under a police manhunt, having disappeared to avoid an 18-month jail term for corruption. Munir said the incident could be linked to the human rights activities of Deddy. He did not elaborate further.

Police arrived at the scene five minutes after the shooting. Jakarta Police spokesman Superintendent Nur Usman said investigators had not yet found evidence that the shots came from the passing police truck. He said the bullets fired at the parked car had not been identified.

Bali protesters attack WWF offices

Australian Associated Press - November 7, 2000

Jakarta -- An angry mob on the Indonesian island of Bali has attacked the offices of international conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), demanding a recent ban on trading green turtles be lifted.

They were among more than 100 protesters who marched on the WWF office in Bali's capital Denpasar yesterday, the group's program director Tim Jessup said today.

Armed with bamboo sticks and threatening to burn the building, members of the crowd stormed inside and smashed a whiteboard where the group's plans for turtle conservation were written in Indonesian, Jessup said.

As chaos reigned outside, police had to escort the WWF's campaign leader, Ketut Sarjana Putra, into the building to talk with the traders. "They spray-painted graffiti outside saying 'this is the headquarters of friends of the turtles'," Jessup said.

Turtle is a popular food on the tropical tourist island of Bali and it is also used sparingly in ceremonies for the island's Hindu religion. Hunting turtles was banned nationally last year by Jakarta but trade in turtles on Bali continued this year until the provincial government banned their import in July.

"It takes time to disseminate the new regulations to fishermen," said Herranto Effendi, an official from the Natural Resource Conservation unit in Bali's Forestry Department.

But a crackdown is underway. A jail sentence of two months has already been handed down for the capture of two turtles, while a case involving around 100 animals is pending, according to Herranto. He said authorities were also targeting the restaurants in Bali that served turtle meat.

Meanwhile, the office of Bali's governor is negotiating with turtle traders to allow a small quota of turtles to be killed for religious purposes.

WWF estimates that until recently, tens of thousands of turtles a year were being traded in the market. Adult green turtles, worth Rp 300,000 ($A67) could still be bought in the market, the group said.

Intensive harvests using modern fishing techniques could be affecting populations beyond the immediate waters of Bali, Jessup said. "We believe that some of those turtles caught in Indonesian waters spend some of their life in Australian waters," Jessup said. "It gives some indication of the need to manage conservation on a very wide scale."

Indonesian street girls coming out of the dark

Agence France-Presse - November 5, 2000

Yogyakarta -- Yulianti Safitri, 19, moved from one street to another across Sumatra and Java for six years until she ended up in this Indonesian royal city.

Her parents died when she was eight years old and her uncle, who was supposed to take care of the girl, raped her when she was 10, forcing her to leave the home in Padang, West Sumatra, and take to the streets. But she said that on the street she was subject to yet more sexual assaults.

It was a policeman who found her last year in Yogyakarta's famed Malioboro street and took her to a shelter for girl street children in Sleman, which is managed by the now-defunct social ministry.

"Someone poisoned my father and shocked by his death, my mother suddenly died of a heart attack," the weeping Safitri told AFP. "I moved from one place to another. At one time I also worked as a housemaid," she said. "I'm happy now here. I have people I can call parents, who take care of and educate me," she added.

Yulianti is one of 500 female street children in Yogyakarta who will benefit from one million US dollars in assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which on Wednesday launched the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction. If successful, the Yogyakarta pilot project under the Japan Fund, which has resources of 90 million dollars and is financed by the Japanese government, will be replicated in other cities.

The project, the first to address Indonesia's female street children, is aimed at helping victims of sexual abuse and child prostitution in Yogyakarta by providing rehabilitation and medical services.

The number of street children here has doubled since the Asian financial crisis hit Indonesia in mid-1997, which was marked by the plunge of the rupiah. The ADB said a 1999 survey of 12 cities in Indonesia found that girls make up 20 percent of the country's estimated 170,000 street children. The survey also found that the average age of female street children is between 4 and 18 years old. They are all at risk of sexual abuse.

"We will provide prenatal and postnatal care for pregnant girls and young mothers," said Kur Hardjanti, ADB's task manager for the project. "We will also treat girls with sexually-transmitted infections. In addition, we will train social workers to deal with female street children and organize public information campaigns against child prostitution," Hardjanti added.

However Yogyakarta governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono, while expressing his support for the project, said he feared that the scheme would attract even more street children to the tiny province.

"Poor children from outside Yogyakarta may come here in the hope of getting shelter. This will create an impression that the program is a failure because people then will ask why there are more street children despite the project," he told reporters at his office after meeting ADB officials. The governor said he suspected a large organization might be behind the street children problem.

Ulun Nuha, a social worker at the Ghifari shelter for famale street children in Yogyakarta, said economic problems were not the only reason that children fled onto the streets. "Many left their homes because they have conflicts with their families, like one of the girls who is under our care. She refused to marry a man whom her parents had chosen for her," he told AFP.

He said most of the street children, many of whom make a living by busking, engaged in pre-marital sex, making them susceptible to sexually-transmitted deseases and pregnancy. "Yogyakarta is heaven for street kids because they consider it more friendly than other cities. Seventy percent of street kids here come from other areas in Indonesia," he said.

Nuha said one of his shelter's projects, in addition to providing vocational training and couselling, is to arrange marriages for those who have lived together with their partners, so they can lead a normal life. "The marriage bond is something we Indonesians cherish. By having legitimate relationships we hope that they will be accepted by the society," he said.

But Ghifari's efforts are not always successful. "It takes long and tedious effort to persuade them to go back to their families. Even if they are willing, many parents are still reluctant to accept them," he said.

Environment/health

West Papua: BHP considers ocean dumping

Green Left Weekly - November 8, 2000

Bob Burton -- While BHP's proclaims that "prevention is better than cure", the company is pressing ahead with investigations into dumping in the ocean wastes from the proposed Gag Island nickel project, 150 kilometres west of West Papua in Indonesia.

In 1996, BHP hired Natural Systems Research (NSR), a Melbourne- based environmental consultancy, to advise it on the Gag Island project. NSR has previously worked for BHP on its ill-fated attempt to defeat legal action by PNG landowners affected by tailings disposal from the Ok Tedi mine.

Gag Island is approximately 10 square kilometres and home to 450 people who are mostly reliant on fisheries and food gardens. BHP manager of environmental and community affairs, Ian Wood, told Mining Monitor that the southern two-thirds of the island is mineralised with nickel, while the northern end is used for food gardens by the local population.

A conventional tailings dam, Wood said, is one option for the northern section of the island, but would affect the food gardens. An alternative option is a temporary tailings dam in the north and then backfilling the pits. The third option is ocean disposal, which avoids impacts on the gardening areas and the costs of backfilling.

While BHP's managing director, Paul Anderson, has ruled out any new projects dumping tailings into rivers, the company is prepared to consider projects that discharge tailings into the ocean.

In order to proceed with a feasibility study on the $2.4 billion Gag Island nickel project, BHP announced it is hoping to team up with the second biggest nickel producer, Canadian-based Falconbridge. Falconbridge has tentatively confirmed it is at an advanced stage of negotiations to buy a 37.5% interest in the project for US$75 million, leaving BHP with an equivalent stake in the project.

NSR is recommending that BHP proceed with "deep seat tailings placement" (DSTP) of mine wastes. According to NSR (November 15, 1999), "The preferred options processing on Gag with DSTP are under intensive investigations".

"Environmental management proposals for the mining component of the project will based on the standard requirements placed on existing nickel operations by the New Caledonian authorities and the results of an NSR case study of the PT Aneka Tambang mine at nearby Gebe Island", NSR wrote.

Bengkulu forests under threat

Jakarta Post - November 7, 2000

Bengkulu -- Officials here said on Monday 48,000 of 251,000 hectares of conserved forest in the province have been damaged by illegal logging.

The head of the provincial forestry agency, Harjanto, told Antara the immediate reforestation of the damaged areas was necessary because the level of water absorption was declining, increasing the possibility of flooding and landslide.

Harjanto said his office would increase the number of employees from the current 130 to 200 to improve its monitoring activities and reduce illegal logging.

Arms/armed forces

Ex-Timor commander now army's No. 2

Straits Times - November 7, 2000

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- The former commander of the Indonesian Forces in East Timor, Major-General Kiki Syahnakri, has been promoted to the position of deputy army chief of staff, the Indonesian military announced yesterday.

Maj-Gen Kiki, who is now the regional military commander overseeing Bali and West Timor, will fill the position that has been left vacant since General Endriartono Sutarto became the army chief last month.

He is among the 93 other top officers from the army, navy and air force who were affected by yesterday's reshuffle within the military, known by the acronym TNI.

TNI spokesman Air Rear-Marshal Graito Usodo said Maj-Gen Kiki was the best choice for the post. "He is the best pick because of his experience, knowledge, rank and education and the TNI needs someone with his credibility and quality.

"He is also backed by other top army officers," Rear-Marshal Graito said, adding that acceptance within the army was a major consideration for promotion.

The general headed the TNI security operation in East Timor after last year's referendum there. Some legislators are surprised at his promotion because of his perceived failures in handling security issues on East Timor's border with Indonesia.

There had been rumours that he would be moved to the less prestigious position of chief of the Armed Forces Staff and Command School in Bandung, West Java.

Since he became the Udayana regional military commander last year, armed pro-Indonesia militiamen have continued to run free in West Timor. Foreign peacekeepers and relief workers have been attacked.

In the latest incident, a pro-Indonesia mob killed three United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees workers in Atambua, triggering worldwide criticism at the lax security in the area. Since the attack, a number of people have been arrested, while the government has stepped up efforts to disarm the militias.

Yesterday, Air Rear-Marshal Graito said the position of deputy army chief was strategically important. "It is common to assume that an army, air force or navy deputy will succeed his superior," he said.

Yesterday's reshuffle also affected officers such as Maj-Gen I Putu Sastra, the commander of the Presidential Security Guards, who will be moved to a desk position at TNI headquarters, and Irian Jaya military commander Maj-Gen Albert Inkiriwang, who will be moved to the Defence Ministry's headquarters.

Indonesian military wages battle of wills

Washington Post - November 5, 2000

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Jakarta -- When he assumed office in October 1999 as Indonesia's first democratically elected president in four decades, Abdurrahman Wahid sought to show the country's once-mighty military who was boss. He appointed the first civilian defense minister. He dismissed a general implicated in the destruction of East Timor. He replaced several regional army commanders and appointed reform-minded generals to senior posts.

But in recent months, top military commanders have dispatched a message of their own to the president. They have turned their back on reform efforts, delaying their retreat from politics and rejecting calls to open their budgets to public scrutiny. And in what some analysts call a significant erosion of civilian control, several generals threatened last month to quit if Wahid appointed an outspoken reformer as the army's chief of staff.

"It was a question of power," said Salim Said, a political scientist who studies the Indonesian armed forces. "The military showed that it can make a decision and force the president to accept it."

The relationship between military leaders and the soldiers who are spread across the sprawling archipelago is even more fractured. In the Moluccas, Aceh and other strife-torn provinces, the chain of command has almost broken down, with some soldiers mounting unauthorized operations and others taking sides in sectarian clashes, military analysts say.

The anarchy also has spread to the capital: Several rogue soldiers are suspected of participating in a car bombing in the parking garage of the Jakarta stock exchange in September that killed 15 people.

Controlling the military, from foot soldiers to four-star generals, is widely viewed as one of the most important -- and most intricate -- challenges facing Indonesia as it struggles to embrace democracy after more than three decades of authoritarian rule.

Although many analysts believe the armed forces are too weak and fragmented to mount a successful coup, they say that disorder in the ranks and the lack of clear civilian authority are severely hindering efforts to quell separatist and sectarian violence raging across the country.

"This is quite a dangerous situation," said Gareth Evans, a former Australian foreign minister who heads the International Crisis Group, a research organization that has been analyzing Indonesia's political transition. "Unless the civilian government very firmly takes the reins and embarks on a series of major institutional reforms ... you're going to have elements of the military continuing to cause problems."

During the 32-year rule of former dictator Suharto, there was little distinction between the government and the military. Believing that the military's contribution to the anti-colonial struggle in the 1940s afforded it special rights, Suharto, a one-time general, appointed officers as cabinet ministers, supreme court judges, governors and directors of state- owned companies.

Military officers were involved in every level of government, down to village administration. "The military has been politicized, not to serve the state and the people, but to serve the power-holders," a stern Wahid said at the armed forces' 55th anniversary celebrations last month. "The military has been used by individuals to further their own interests and this must stop."

In his first months in office, Wahid attempted to address his concerns, removing Suharto loyalists and other hard-liners from top posts, most notably firing the former armed forces commander, Gen. Wiranto, after he was found to be complicit in the devastation of East Timor by military-backed militia groups following its independence referendum last year. The president also ordered the appointment of reformist officers, including Lt. Gen. Agus Wirahadikusumah, one of Wiranto's most outspoken critics, to a key army command.

But in late July, senior generals who favor a far slower pace of reform lashed back, removing Wirahadikusumah on grounds he released the results of an internal audit that revealed widespread corruption by his predecessor and suggested that some military funds may have gone to fund Islamic vigilantes in the Moluccas.

Wahid attempted to return the fire by considering Wirahadikusumah to be the new army chief. But the outgoing chief, Gen. Tyasno Sudarto, would have nothing of it. He organized a meeting of generals and circulated a letter effectively opposing Wirahadikusumah's appointment that was signed by 45 of them. Several also reportedly threatened to quit if Wirahadikusumah got the job. Wahid backed down.

"One area where Gus Dur made significant inroads with reform was with the military, and now that is being completely reversed," said a senior Western diplomat in Jakarta, referring to Wahid by his nickname.

In Indonesian-controlled western Timor, the military has failed -- despite repeated orders from political leaders -- to disarm and disband the militia groups that were responsible for the mayhem in East Timor in the summer of 1999. In fact, rogue military units are suspected of doing just the opposite: Western intelligence officials believe they have secretly been arming and otherwise supplying militiamen so they can cross the border and attack the UN peacekeepers who are running the nascent state.

In August, the military brokered a deal with lawmakers to retain a block of seats in the country's top legislative body until 2009, five years longer than Wahid and other political leaders had wanted. Military officers also received an effective amnesty for many types of human rights abuses committed in the past.

Officers also have dug in their heels on another key goal of reformers: disclosing private business ventures that generate approximately 75 percent of the military's budget. Because there is no public accounting of those funds, critics say there is corruption and spending on programs that have not been approved by civilian leaders.

Military officials insist that they are committed to reform, but they contend the process must move gradually to generate support among the ranks. "These are big changes for the armed forces," said Lt. Gen. Agus Widjoyo, the army's chief of staff for territorial affairs. "We cannot be too hasty."

While foreign military analysts are highly critical of the army, they note that the Indonesian navy and air force, far smaller and less politically connected branches of the armed services, have been more committed to reform.

The United States, which cut military ties with Indonesia in the wake of the violence in East Timor, has attempted to promote changes within the navy and air force within the bounds of congressional restrictions on interaction with the Indonesian armed forces. This summer, US officials allowed Indonesian air force officers to observe a regional training operation in Thailand and sailors to participate in a joint humanitarian exercise with the US Navy.

Economy & investment

Indonesian minister cracks whip at delinquent bankers

Agence France-Presse - November 11, 2000

Jakarta -- The government has given the former owners of ailing banks taken over by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) until Wednesday to agree to surrender more assets to ensure they settle their debts or face legal sanctions, reports said.

"The deadline is until Wednesday at seven in the evening," the Jakarta Post quoted Coordinating Minister for the Economy Rizal Ramli as saying late Friday night. "If this is not met, the attorney general has confirmed that he would take necessary action," Rizal told a press conference following a meeting of the Financial Sector Policy Committee (FSPC).

He also said they would be required to give personal guarantees of debt settlement. The FSPC groups senior economics ministers, the attorney general and IBRA, and the committee approves major IBRA deals.

The former bank owners, who are also among the country's top business tycoons, owe hundreds of trillions of rupiah (billions of dollars) to the government in return for massive liquidity support. Many have been found to have violated legal lending limits by channelling the liquidity credits designed to keep them afloat to affiliated businesses instead.

Under an agreement known as the Master of Settlement and Acquisition Agreement (MSAA) signed with IBRA in 1999, they pledged their assets to the IBRA to repay their debts. "We have given them one month ... We will not give them more time because it's useless. They only use it to lobby government officials or legislators to avoid [surrendering more assets]," Rizal said. "They think there are government officials who can bought, but the current [economic] team won't accept bribes," he added.

The minister said the attorney general's office had conducted an investigation and found that the former bank owners still held assets here and overseas. "It turns out that they're not as poor as they had claimed," he said.

Rizal also said the former bank owners would be allowed to repurchase their assets from IBRA only after they have fulfilled their obligations to the government.

"They are welcome to buy back the assets if they have met their obligations," he said, adding that there were "strong indications" that the former bank owners were trying to sneak around the government and repurchase their assets via third parties. "If in the future they are proven to have repurchased their assets, IBRA will take them back," he said.

Jakarta plans swoop on major tax evaders

Straits Times - November 11, 2000

Robert Go, Jakarta -- Indonesia is planning to crack down on major tax evaders in an attempt to raise state revenues and reduce corruption, a move that could pose serious problems for the family of former President Suharto and his associates who may have benefited from the sloppy enforcement of regulations and patronage during his 32-year rule.

Chief Economics Minister Rizal Ramli, flanked by key tax and enforcement officials, announced on Thursday that the government had gathered evidence of tax crimes committed by 100 major institutions and 50 wealthy individuals. "The director-general of taxation will launch a massive investigation next week," he told reporters.

According to Dr Rizal, Indonesia has reasonable tax regulations, but inefficiency and graft by officials could account for the revenue losses amounting to trillions of rupiah each year. "From this point forward, we mean business," he said -- although he declined to publicise the names of those on the list of offenders.

But a Finance Ministry source said that the Suharto family and associates of the former President, including ex-government officials and some business tycoons, might figure prominently. "A small group of people grew very rich during the Suharto era. It makes sense that the government will investigate them for possible graft and tax fraud violations," the source said.

Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman did not rule out slapping of tax evasion charges against Mr Suharto and his family, but stressed that the government would continue to press on with existing indictments to bring them to justice. Mr Suharto is currently facing a resumed corruption trial while his youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, is a fugitive from justice.

Mr Marzuki said that each Indonesian citizen, regardless of his wealth or position, faced the possibility of being investigated over his past, present and future tax crimes. Under current tax evasion regulations, those convicted of tax fraud can be fined up to four times their original tax bill and/or sentenced to imprisonment.

Indonesia's state budget is under tremendous pressure because of the cost of rebuilding the country's weakened financial institutions. According to recent statistics, revenues expected this year from taxes amount to just over 11 per cent of the country's gross domestic product, a figure that the government wants to raise to 16 per cent by 2004.

Mr Machfud Sidiq, the administration's top taxman, complains frequently that of the country's 200 million people, only 1.3 million possess tax identification numbers and pay taxes regularly. The official has also said that even some of Indonesia's leading politicians and government officials do not have tax numbers and thus contributed to the country's prevailing tax woes.

Regions barred from foreign deals

Straits Times - November 9, 2000

Jakarta -- Regional governments in Indonesia have been barred by Jakarta from making deals with foreign countries.

With the law on regional autonomy coming into force in less than two months, Minister of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy Surjadi Sudirdja has made it clear that economic-cooperation agreements with foreign countries would remain under the central government's sovereignty.

Nor were regional provinces allowed to receive foreign loans without Jakarta's approval, he was quoted by the Indonesian Observer as saying after accompanying President Abdurrahman Wahid at a meeting with leaders of provincial legislative bodies.

The regulation came in response to the refusal of foreign countries to make deals with regional governments or to give loans without the guarantee of the central government, he said.

"The government will issue a regulation to deal with this problem prior to the implementation of the autonomy law by January 1, 2001," he told the Observer.

Indonesia promises IMF to accelerate economic reform

Agence France-Presse - November 7, 2000

Jakarta -- Indonesia promised IMF officials it will direct windfall oil profits towards its staggering debt, accelerate asset sales and move on the privatisation leg of its bank recovery program, officials said Tuesday.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team led by deputy Asia director, Anoop Singh, has been here for 11 days to assess progress in the current Letter of Intent (LoI) signed last September.

"We have just started the process of the third review," Singh said after the meeting, adding the third review of the IMF's loan package would not need to be completed until December. "We will continue and sign [the next LoI] next year," Singh said of the letter, a pre-requisite of the next tranche of IMF assistance to Indonesia. "The timetable gives us sufficient flexibility to do [the third review] during the fourth quarter of the year," he added.

Singh has met with Indonesia's economics chief Rizal Ramli and will meet with a team of key economic policy makers, including central bank governor Anwar Nasution and Attorney General Marzuki Darusman. Indonesia "shared the IMF view that current 'windfall gain' from high oil prices should be used prudently including reducing its external debt," an economic ministry statement said.

Indonesia and the IMF also agreed to accelerate asset sales of collapsed banks -- a goal pledged by newly- installed Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) chief Edwin Gerungan. The IMF has urged Indonesia to accelerate the sales even if returns are low, warning delays could stall economic recovery.

The IBRA manages more than 60 billion dollars in assets of closed or nationalized banks and is a keystone of the IMF program to dig Indonesia out of the shambles left by the 1997 financial crisis.

"Our goal is to promote a viable and global competitive banking system that will enable banks to play its intermediation role in our economy," the statement said. "In this connection bank privatisation, including opening our banks to strategic investors, is our goal."

The ministry said preparations were underway for divesting government ownership in Bank Central Asia (BCA) and Bank Niaga. Indonesia has been under fire from the IMF for delaying the BCA privatisation, once scheduled for completion by the end of this year.

This week's Indonesian/IMF meeting was the first since the Consultative Group on Indonesia decided in Tokyo last month to grant Indonesia 4.8 billion dollars to help fill a 3.7 percent budget shortfall.