• Jakarta raises minimum wage - Straits Times
• Migrant workers demand legal protection - Detik
• Workers face dismissal for establishing union - Detik

• Wahid's government faces trying and decisive times ahead - Agence France-Presse
• 'Dark forces' behind latest bomb blast - South China Morning Post
• More changes in Gus Dur line-up? - Straits Times

• Duri tense after Laskar Jihad attack, police shooting - Detik
• Maluku church sends Christmas SOS to Kofi Annan - Agence France-Presse
• Military orchestrating holy war, says church - Sydney Morning Herald

• Clash of the civilisations - Straits Times
• Irian Jaya independence leaders not interested in early release - Agence France-Presse
• Show of force - Far Eastern Economic Review
• Fear and dispair return to Aceh - Reuters
• Soldier mobbed to death in Irian Jaya - Jakarta Post
• Don't declare war, freedom fighter warns - South China Morning Post
• Gus Dur's Aceh trip didn't achieve much - Straits Times
• Hardliners unimpressed by peaceful approach - South China Morning Post
• Wahid vows to press on with talks with Aceh rebels - Reuters
• Indonesia's Wahid turns on charm for Acehnese - Reuters
• Police return valuables seized from students: report - Agence France-Presse
• No end in sight to Aceh atrocities - South China Morning Post

• Gus Dur has not upheld the law: LBH - Detik
• Wahid overshadowed by old regime - South China Morning Post
• Justice on trial in Indonesia and East Timor - Tapol Bulletin
• Pram says no reconciliation possible - Kyodo News
• Suharto's daughter found guilty on firearms charge - Associated Press

• Suharto son's passport canceled - Associated Press
• Police accused of allowing nightspot raids and vigilantism - Agence France-Presse
• Israel and US flags torched in six cities - Agence France-Presse
• Jakarta cafes hire guards for New Year - Jakarta Post
• Government will dissolve Kamra despite threat of protest - Jakarta Post

• Under the gun, Indonesians pin hopes on Bush - Sydney Morning Herald

• Market needs strong government policies next year - Agence France-Presse
• Bank battles - Far Eastern Economic Review
• IMF waiting for amendment of central bank law - Jakarta Post
• A comedy of errors - Asiaweek

Indonesia postpones registration of Timorese refugees

Jakarta -- The Indonesian government has postponed the registration of some 100,000 East Timorese refugees still langishing in squalid camps in Indonesian West Timor, the state Antara news agency said Saturday.

"The government has to discuss the registration of the refugees with the UN so that all parties would accept the result of the registration process," East Nusa Tenggara province Vice Governor Johanis Pake Pani was quoted as saying.

The registration -- designed to determine which refugees want to return and which want to stay in Indonesia -- had been scheduled to be completed this month.

Pani said the provincial administration had asked Jakarta to urge UN agencies, whose personnel fled West Timor in the wake of the militia killing of three aid workers in September, to return to the province.

The vice governor said he hoped the registration would be completed by January 2001 at the latest so that the government could begin working on resettlement of those who wanted to stay in Indonesia.

Some 300,000 East Timorese fled or were pushed out of East Timor in September of last year when Indonesian military-trained militia went on a rampage in the wake of the territory's vote for independence from Indonesia.

The militia followed the refugees into West Timor when an international force arrived to halt the rampage, and aid workers say they now hold many of the refugees virtual hostage.

Despite the intimidation, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday that almost 50,000 East Timorese refugees have returned home this year, bringing to 174,000 the number who have gone back since October last year.

UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said in Geneva that about 3,200 returned home in the last four months under their own steam after aid workers withdrew from West Timor when the three UNHCR staff were murdered.

Redmond said 350 refugee representatives had arrived in East Timor Friday from Kupang, the capital of West Timor, on a three- week visit to see if it is safe enough for others to return home. The trip has been organised by the UN administration in East Timor with help from UNHCR.

The visits are expected to help boost the numbers going back to East Timor, Redmond said, adding UNHCR has also stepped up efforts to counter misinformation circulating in West Timor refugee camps about conditions in East Timor.

This year, most East Timorese have something to celebrate

Mark Dodd, Dili -- Christmas brings out the best in the East Timorese. Last year, despite the misery and destruction inflicted by the militia and their Indonesian army backers, even the poorest shanty town dwellers could scrounge enough material to build a nativity scene.

Some were made of grass and cardboard scraps; others were more elaborate, with long-hoarded decorations. At night the candle-lit roadside shrines testified to the people's faith.

Throughout Dili, youngsters and adults are again building nativity scenes. But this year they have a lot more to be happy about.

There have been notable achievements by the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), UN sister agencies and the dozens of non-government organisations that are helping rebuild the shattered nation.

Most of the estimated 750,000 people will have a roof over their heads by the onset of the rains. For town dwellers, electricity has been restored and, despite a monthly fuel bill of $US600,000, power is still free. Rural people, however, will be relying on kerosene and candles for years to come.

The World Food Program reports few instances of food shortages, with most farmers having been able to plant their crops this year.

The public water supply in Dili is being renovated, and throughout East Timor millions of dollars are being spent on roadworks in preparation for the monsoon.

Despite complaints about corrupt recruitment procedures for teachers and delays in salary payment, schools are reopening and students are filling classrooms as quickly as UN contractors can build them.

Basic public health services are also being slowly restored, with construction about to start on a $US1.4 million medical stores warehouse in Dili.

Dressed in smart blue uniforms, the first East Timorese police graduates are working alongside their UN counterparts, restoring a level of national pride in a service once known for corruption and rights abuses.

Meanwhile, in Aileu, the long-forgotten veterans of the independence struggle -- 1,000 armed Falintil fighters -- are being offered the choice of joining the new East Timor Defence Force or taking a World Bank-funded voluntary redundancy package. Australia will help train the new defence force.

Despite a shortage of skilled administrators, an East Timorese public service is being recruited and trained, while a multi- million-dollar building program is under way to restore public offices torched and looted by the retreating Indonesians.

Across East Timor, the security situation is for the most part stable. Pro-Jakarta militia violence is falling due to tough new rules of engagement for the 7,700 UN peacekeepers. Better co- ordination and tactics by Australian and New Zealand peacekeepers who supervise border security have also helped keep the peace, although two blue berets have been killed in actions involving the militia.

Thousands of East Timorese refugees have returned to rebuild their lives, although 80,000 to 100,000 will be spending another Christmas in squalid militia-controlled camps in Indonesian West Timor.

Those responsible for last year's violence can take little satisfaction. A UN-administered court in Dili in January will hear the first war crimes charges against 11 militia, including nine in UN detention. The courts need to get a move on. A visit by a high-ranking UN Security Council delegation last month was critical of UNTAET's slow pace in getting trials started. The UN's chief administrator in East Timor, Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, said someone forgot to organise a budget for the courts.

The delivery of justice is a controversial subject. The independence leader, Mr Xanana Gusmao, believes in a more traditional form of community-based reconciliation. Harsh prison sentences for militia leaders will only make it more difficult to bring back the remaining refugees, he said last week.

The former guerilla commander has been fighting on two fronts recently. He is upset with the level of consultation between UNTAET and the East Timorese Transitional Cabinet on a timetable for independence, particularly UNTAET's insistence that pro- autonomy parties be included in next year's election.

At the same time he has faced growing internal dissent. The recent antics of a breakaway political party, RDTL (Democratic Republic of East Timor), has spilt over into violent clashes with Fretilin, the party of which he is a former founding member. Mr Gusmao has questioned the political credentials of RDTL leaders, saying they are funded by pro-autonomy groups.

The invasion by hundreds of expatriates, most on lucrative short-term UN contracts, has led to a parallel economy and growing resentment of foreigners, a situation exacerbated by widespread youth unemployment. Bars, restaurants and supermarkets are sprouting in Dili, but most customers wear blue UN caps.

While relations between Dili and Jakarta remain frayed over Indonesia's stance on refugees and its refusal to extradite militia leaders, relations with Canberra are also coming under strain over a renegotiated Timor Gap treaty.

At issue is ownership of the oil-and gas-rich Timor Sea between the two countries. Talks are continuing to put a new treaty in place by independence day to replace a highly contentious 1989 agreement signed with Indonesia after Canberra's accepted the 1975 invasion of East Timor.

UNTAET wants the current 50-50 share increased to about 90-10 in East Timor's favour. UNTAET's political chief, Mr Peter Galbraith, estimates East Timor could be earning $US150 million a year in five years, based on current oil prices, if Canberra agrees to terms.

The negotiations are seen as a test of Canberra's support for the fledgling nation, because a good outcome would mean near economic self-sufficiency. What a lovely Christmas present.

Timor's ex-militia leaders head home to assess 'safety'

Jakarta -- Former pro-Indonesia militia leaders from East Timor's Baucau district are preparing for a one-day visit to their homeland to see whether it's safe enough to bring 6,000 refugees home, their leader said Wednesday.

"Fourteen Baucau leaders now living in West Timor will fly to Batugade on the border tonight, then on to Baucau for one day on Thursday," Baucau's former militia head, Joanico Cesario, told AFP. Cesario said the visit was to determine how East Timorese in Baucau were responding to efforts at reconciliation between pro- integration and pro-independence supporters.

Baucau, 115 kilometers east of the capital Dili, was one of the cities least damaged during a rampage of destruction, looting, rape and killing by anti-independence militias following the half-island territory's vote for independence last year.

Cesario said the delegation of 14 -- made up of village heads, Indonesian police force members and civil servants -- would hold discussions with Baucau residents and assess conditions there. They would also invite local independence leaders to visit refugee camps in West Timor.

"We also want to guarantee the safety of any students who wish to come and study in West Timor," Cesario said by phone from West Timor's capital Kupang. "We want an end to rumours that if pro- independence East Timorese come to West Timor they will be killed. That's not true."

Cesario, viewed as a moderate among anti-independence militia leaders, commanded the PPI (Pro-Integration Forces) in Baucau, during the run-up to a ballot on autonomy in August 1999.

East Timorese voted overwhelmingly in the ballot to end 24 years of Indonesian rule, with 78.5 percent rejecting the option of autonomy under Indonesia.

Cesario said he would bring home 6,000 former Baucau residents living in refugee camps in West Timor only if it could be guaranteed that they would not be attacked.

"I am always ready to bring them home, but we have to see first and discuss reconciliation. Their safety needs to be really guaranteed first," he said.

"What they are all worried about is their safety." "We're still searching for the best path, the best solution. The final decision is in the hands of the refugees themselves."

Another pro-Indonesia leader, Joao Corbafu from the enclave of Oecussi, vowed on Monday to encourage refugees under his control to return home, a UN spokesman in East Timor said.

After a week-long "come and see" visit to Dili, Corbafu told chief UN administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello that he rated East Timor "safe and secure" and would persuade refugees in West Timor to return. Corbafu stated that some 10,000 refugees from Oecussi would be willing to come back to their homes, given assurances of their safety.

The visits by Corbafu and the ex-Baucau leaders are taking place against a backdrop of high-level reconciliation talks in Bali between chief independence and integration leaders, and Indonesian Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab.

Some 250,000 East Timorese fled or were forced over the border into West Timor during the post-ballot violence. Tens of thousands remain there in squalid camps, with estimates ranging from 60,000 to almost 130,000. The UN's refugee agency has been unable to conduct an official count.

Australia denies UN its secret files of Timor terror

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta -- Australia has with held from United Nations prosecutors hundreds of hours of secret communication intercepts, which implicate dozens of people, including former armed forces chief General Wiranto, in last year's violence in East Timor.

Evidence collected by Australian and United States spy agencies include photographs of massacre sites and those involved, according to a Canberra-based defence intelligence specialist, Professor Desmond Ball.

Professor Ball says the Howard Government has a wealth of information documenting atrocities in East Timor, including unreported mass killings of Timorese students whose bodies were dumped at sea in the days after the UN-sponsored ballot. "The Australian intelligence agencies were able to provide the Government with a ringside seat at the mass killings and forced deportations that began when the result of the ballot was announced on September 4," Professor Ball says.

But Professor Ball, of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre of the Australian National University, says that Australia has handed over only a "minuscule" amount of the evidence.

In a paper to be published next year in the London-based Pacific Review, Professor Ball says that despite sensitivities about releasing secretly gathered material "ensuring that evidence concerning gross violations of human rights will be brought to bear against war criminals not only serves justice but may also deter future violations".

Indonesian military officers are refusing to co-operate with UN investigators and Indonesian prosecutors, pursuing separate investigations, have failed to name General Wiranto.

Professor Ball says secret briefing papers prepared for the Government last year cited intelligence material revealing that General Wiranto's chain of command remained intact during the military-sponsored violence, with officers loyal to him in operational control. But Australian Government ministers insisted that they believed "rogue elements" within the armed forces were behind the violence.

A September 9 report by the Defence Intelligence Organisation obtained by Professor Ball said that the Indonesian military had used East Timor as a vehicle for its broader aspirations.

The report said that while the military's immediate aim was to retain East Timor as part of Indonesia "its broader and longer- term aim was to strengthen the position of the TNI [military] and Wiranto in the Indonesian political system."

It said the military was to employ all necessary force but with maximum deniability. "Wiranto has destabilised Indonesia by reintroducing violent confrontation and repression as a means of doing business."

The report said the military had embarked on a "co-ordinated process of revenge, destruction of infrastructure and records, killing of key pro-independence leaders and both short and longer-term destabilisation of East Timor".

Throughout the violence many Indonesian communications were intercepted then decrypted by Defence Signal Directorate's station at Shoal Bay, near Darwin. Professor Ball says the United States provided additional intelligence.

At different times the US realigned one of its satellites controlled from Pine Gap, near Alice Springs. Among the dozens of Indonesians implicated by the evidence, Professor Ball says, is Major General Syafrie Syamsuddin, who prepared the plans for the military and militia operations.

Eurico trial set for January 2

Jakarta -- East Timor militia leader Eurico Guterres will open the new year unlike any other as he faces court proceedings against him on January 2. He is charged with involvement in the seizure of weapons from an Atambua police station in East Nusa Tenggara in September.

Attorney General's Office spokesman, Muljohardjo, said on Monday that the North Jakarta District Court, the venue for the hearings, had established a panel of judges for the trial. The court is set to hear testimony from 14 witnesses, including an expert witness.

"The decision was made last Thursday, the same day the North Jakarta Prosecutor's Office filed the dossiers," he told journalists without disclosing the names of the three judges or the public prosecutors.

Eurico, who is currently being detained in Salemba prison, Central Jakarta, is charged with violating Article 160 of the Criminal Code for instigating a crime against the government, and Article 214 for forceful and belligerent action. He is also charged with Article 55 (1) 2 of Emergency Law No. 12/1951 for illegally possessing weapons.

Eurico allegedly ordered his followers to take back weapons they had handed over to the police on the day Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri visited the province.

Call for East Timor reconciliation

Mark Dodd -- East Timor independence leader Jose "Xanana" Gusmao has called for international support for a South African-style truth and reconciliation commission as the best means of achieving peace for his country.

Mr Gusmao said that after 24 years of violence, his country was divided on the question of justice, but he did not believe reconciliation could be fostered only through stiff penalties handed down by the courts for those responsible for last year's violence.

"I don't deny the need of justice. People sometimes say if you don't punish these people you will allow a political party to do the same because everyone now knows there is no justice. I, myself, don't believe in this process," Mr Gusmao said. His views clash with Dili's Nobel laureate Bishop Carlos Belo, whose sermons advocate stiff penalties for gross human rights violations.

More than 1000 East Timorese were killed in political violence after the referendum on independence from Indonesia on August 30, 1999. About 80 per cent of the country's infrastructure was destroyed and more than a quarter of a million people were deported to the West.

UN-administered courts are now preparing to hear the first war crimes cases against Indonesian army-backed militia leaders accused of organising the violence.

But Mr Gusmao warned these proceedings might jeopardise sensitive talks aimed at securing the return of thousands of East Timorese refugees still living in militia-controlled camps in West Timor.

"Nobody in the world said to [Nelson] Mandela `your commission of truth and reconciliation is unacceptable', everybody applauded it," he said. "To us [East Timor], it seems there are demands. How can we dream of being a model of justice in the world. My problem is if you try the militia, one or two immediately, the others will not come."

He said he supported community-based reconciliation in which the leaders of pro-autonomy political parties and organisers of the violence returned to the scene of their crimes and asked for forgiveness.

In August during the national congress of the pro-independence National Council of Timorese Resistance, Mr Gusmao said community leaders demanded such an apology.

"They said, `We demand that the political parties that caused suffering to the people go to the people, talk to the people and ask for forgiveness and promise not to do it again'," he said.

"I'm thinking of a process of reconciliation here that can avoid instability in the future and one that people can accept. I will not say no justice, but in a process maybe like South Africa," he said. He believed reconciliation from the heart was more effective than legal justice.

Mr Gusmao said he would keep pressuring the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor for a date for full independence and a transfer of sovereignty.
 

Labour struggle

Jakarta raises minimum wage

Jakarta -- The Indonesian government has officially announced an average hike of 33.5 per cent in the monthly minimum wage in 24 provinces which is expected to become effective on January 1. The 24 provinces mentioned include the eight provinces where minimum wage increases were already announced last month.

The highest increase of minimum wage is North Sulawesi with 100 per cent hike -- from the present 186,000 rupiah (S$37) to 372,000 rupiah -- while the lowest percentage increase was in West Java where it rose just 7 per cent from 230,000 rupiah to 245,000 rupiah.

Migrant workers demand legal protection

Hestiana Dharmastuti/BI & GB, Jakarta -- Around 50 female activists under the auspices of Indonesian Women's Solidarity (SPI) staged a rally at the famous Hotel Indonesia roundabout in the heart of Jakarta to commemorate International Migrant Workers' Day. They not only protested human rights violations but demanded the Indonesian government immediately legislate to protect migrant workers.

Despite the small number, the protesters carried many colourful posters and banners, proclaiming "Stop Wage Pillaging", "Stop Fraudulent Agents" and "End The Death Penalty and 'Stop Torture".

The rally, held on Monday, also included speeches in which activists urged the government to ratify the 1990 UN convention to protect migrant workers and their families. "The UN convention in valid if ratified by at least 20 countries. Thus far, only 11 countries, including Sri Lanka and the Philippines have signed," said rally organiser Salma Safitri.

Salma said the SPI rally was intended to remind the government to immediately formulate legal protection for migrant workers, the majority of whom are female working mainly as maids in domestic employment.

"We want migrant workers to have a proper increase in their living standards because they have been exploited by Indonesian migrant workers agencies (PJTKI), private agents, employers, immigration officials as well as the Department of Human Resources in their search for a place to work right up till they are due back home," said Salma.

The government, added Salma, must provide legal assistance and translating services for migrant workers who have been accused of criminal activities abroad.

Workers face dismissal for establishing union

MMI Ahyani/BI & GB, Bandung -- Rather than receive the end of the year bonus enjoyed by millions of others, workers from the PT Warna Indah Samajaya (WIS) textile factory have been threatened with dismissal, apparently for forming a union. In protest, the workers arrived at the West Java Provincial Legislative Council Monday.

Most factory workers have shown their solidarity by protesting against their employer. They were recently informed that they may not be needed in future. PT WIS has cited efficiency as the reason to dismiss workers.

However, the workers believe that the real reason behind the threat is their attempt to form a branch of the Independent Workers' Union Federation (FBSI) within the company. "Out of 300 workers, 190 have shown their willingness to form a Workers' Union," said FBSI Executive President, Ajang Wahyudin.

However, much to their disappointment, the management of PT WIS has opposed the move. As a result, the newly established FBSI has had to use a member's house as its office.

PT WIS argued that the All Indonesia Workers' Unions (SPSI) currently in place is sufficient to represent workers' interests. The SPSI was the only workers' union allowed under the former dictatorial regime of disgraced former president Suharto and continues to exist after his downfall.

In a bid to further demoralise the workers, three workers who were appointed to the FBSI branch board were sacked by the company. It is believed that the dismissal of FPSI General Chairman Jhoni Jauhari, Deputy Chairman Eden Iman and secretary Mahdar were at the official request of the Department of Human Resources in the provincial capital Bandung.

Another fifty workers' future is also hanging I the balance after they voiced their objections to the dismissals. "Their [PT WIS] reason for our dismissal is efficiency. However, the company are in need of workers. It's impossible for one person to keep an eye on two or three machines. There is a rumor that at the end of the Islamic celebrations, they will bring in new employees," said one of the women at the protest.

The workers have taken their complaints to Commission E of the West Java Provincial Legislative Council. However, representatives have yet to be received by Council members.
 

Government/politics

Wahid's government faces trying and decisive times ahead

Jakarta -- Indonesia's first democratically-elected president, under flak for failing to lead the nation out of its crippling problems, faces a decisive year ahead as pressure grows for his ouster.

"If we see this past year, the performance [of the government] has been far from the hopes of the society," said Pande Raja Silalahi, a senior economist at the private think tank, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

Silalahi said the political and security fields were marked by instability and threats of disintegration, the judicial field remained stagnant and although economic growth had been recorded, it remained limited.

Secession was tugging at both ends of the archipelago, in Aceh and in Irian Jaya, and Wahid's detractors have blamed it on the government's lack of firm handling of separatism there.

On economic growth, Silalahi said "those involved and who enjoy it are still the same, the upper classes," and in agriculture which involves some 43 percent of the workforce, growth had been negative.

Economic growth from April to December this year was estimated to reach 4.1 percent, compared to 0.3 percent in 1999 and around five percent for 2001.

But the rupiah, which opened the year at 6,935 to the dollar was now trading around 9,335. The Jakarta stock market index also plunged from 636,43 on January 7 to 418,78 on Tuesday.

"The diseases are all still old diseases. There is no firmness in vision, policies or actions, and this is a recipe for disaster," Silalahi said.

Rights lawyer Abdulhakim Garuda Nusantara blamed the lack of firmness on Wahid's penchant for dialogue and compromise. "Whatever criteria we use, we can firmly say that this government had failed to govern as the people had hoped for," political analyst Afan Gaffar from the state Gajah Mada university in Yogyakarta, Central Java, said.

Gaffar, told a private seminar here Tuesday, that the government had failed to deliver its promises of security and prosperity, a stable political system and strong foundations for an economic recovery.

Wahid, he said, must shape up next year if he wanted to stay at the helm of the world's fourth largest nation. He cited a priority on economic recovery, getting rid of his personal attitudes and problems and laying down clear directions for his government.

Azyumardi Azra, chancellor of the state Institute of Islamic Studies, said that Wahid himself had continuously undermined his own legitimacy, authority and credibility as head of state. He said Wahid's controversial statements, actions and policies have widely ruffled feathers, including in his own government, the legislature and the military.

During his 14 months in power, Wahid has had several head-on clashes with the legislature, and in the coming months he must also face the Herculean and turbulent task of devolution of power, and the surrender of resources, to the country's fractious provinces.

A government rubber stamp for decades, the parliament is now basking in its new found power and has been seeking to oust Wahid by initiating motions that would lead to a special session of the general assembly to depose him.

"We cannot just dump all mistakes on Gus Dur [Wahid's nickname], everyone else is just as guilty. The legislature also doesn't know what it is doing ... the Judiciary has also failed to produce any achievement," Silalahi said.

Despite popular pressure, the government has yet to bring former president Suharto to court. Suharto's youngest son has yet to serve a jail sentence for corruption after he disappeared last month. Economist and pro-democracy proponent H.S. Dillon said that when the people elected Wahid, "everybody knew that Gus Dur marches to a different drummer.

"It is also the fault of all of us. We put him there, in a presidency that is not cut out for a handicapped person." Dillon said Wahid's good point was in promoting free speech and freedom of organization.

Muslim intellectual Nurcholis Majid told the Kompas daily that the government had been directionless, "with no leadership," but cautioned that replacing Wahid before his term ends in 2004 would only set a bad precedent and cause more problems.

The silver lining, he said, would be that "people would be forced to work for themselves and not entirely depend on the government" as they had under Suharto.

'Dark forces' behind latest bomb blast

Vaudine England, Jakarta -- Indonesian police are investigating a bomb found in a hospital bathroom in Yogyakarta, central Java, which the royal capital's reigning sultan blamed on provocateurs.

One security guard was injured when his proddings of a suspicious object at the state-run Dr Sardjito General Hospital on Tuesday triggered an explosion. The discovery comes after two other bombs were found last week on a road and in a bus in Yogyakarta -- the country's most popular tourist destination after Bali.

According to experts and local leaders, the planting of bombs follows the pattern of efforts to provoke unrest in other parts of the country, with the key difference this time being the targeting of the heartland of Javanese culture. Some analysts are already linking the bombs to the raids in October on hotels in the area by groups claiming to be militant Muslims upset about the Middle East, local sin and the presence of foreigners.

Sultan Hamengku Buwono X said yesterday he had been told two weeks ago while visiting Jakarta that three suspicious characters might have arrived in Yogyakarta from the East Java town of Banyuwangi, the site of brutal unrest during the fall of former president Suharto. Ten more provocateurs were thought to be coming from Jakarta. "It is intended that Yogyakarta's image as a safe region becomes an unsafe one," the sultan said.

Such theories about mysterious "dark forces" usually focus on the alleged desire of rogue military officers and Suharto supporters to discredit the country's fragile democratic experiment and encourage calls for a return to military-backed rule. Radical Islamic groups are accused of being willing, paid tools of such groups in an unholy alliance to gain power.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Culture and Tourism, I. Gede Ardika, has concluded that a year of mob violence has taken its toll on the country's tourism industry, even though arrival figures for January to October this year are about 5 million, up 6.8 per cent on last year.

"We are still suffering from the consequences of these radical mob actions. For instance, many reservations to annual tourism and sports events as well as cruise stopovers have been cancelled," Mr Ardika said.

The world used to think the country was just going through a rough democratic transition, he said. "But once those groups started to take action directly against foreigners, they confirmed the image that Indonesia was no longer a secure place for tourists. Actually, our country is safe and we have lots of places worth visiting."

More changes in Gus Dur line-up?

Susan Sim, Jakarta -- The first Cabinet of President Abdurrahman Wahid had been in place barely one week before he began telling aides he wanted to sack some of them.

His second, hand-picked Cabinet is enjoying, it would appear, a longer lifespan: Talk of its reshuffle only began in earnest last week, some 15 weeks after it was sworn in.

And then only because some ministers were said to be planning to resign, chief among them the two men who helped design this second Cabinet, Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security Susilo Bambang Yudhuyuno and Administrative Reform Minister Ryaas Rasyid.

Yet, curiously, the ministers said to be vulnerable now are not these men, but others the political elite here judge to have been ineffective in performing their duties.

These include Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab, Attornery-General Marzuki Darusman, Research and Technology Minister A.S. Hikam, Manpower Minister Al Hilal, Interior Minister Surjadi Sudirdja and Defence Minister Mahfud.

They all have personal connections of some sort with the President and have no independent power base of their own, including Mr Marzuki, a Golkar deputy chief. Despite the high- profile legal fiascos involving the Suhartos, the A-G is, however, described by his colleagues as enjoying a special relationship with the President.

Mr Marzuki, shrugging off rumours that Golkar chief Akbar Tanjung had made a deal with the President to dismiss him, told The Straits Times that some "fine-tuning was to be expected" given the current stand-off between the President and Vice-President's political parties, and both parties against all others. And a mini-reshuffle would be inevitable if rumours of ministerial resignations do come true.

At least three ministers, Mr Bambang, Mr Ryaas and Justice Minister Yusril Mahendra, had been so disappointed by the president's choice of colleagues in August, they considered declining their appointments. But they did not, in large part because Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri asked them to stay. And now, for one of them at least, it would appear he can take no more.

The local media have been making much this past week of plans by Mr Ryaas to resign in January, citing his unhappiness with the President for vetoing some of his ideas for reforming and strengthening the bureaucracy ahead of regional decentralisation in January. Tempo magazine this week even gave a date for his resignation letter -- January 4.

The minister told The Straits Times recently that if he did resign, he would choose a "quiet day", when most people were still away on holiday so no one would "over-dramatise" his departure. "I would look to make a peaceful exit," he said, unwilling to allow critics of the President to make political capital of his departure.

It is understood that he is also seeking the approval of the Vice-President before putting in his papers. She has reportedly asked him to stay on.

The President meanwhile, the minister said, had not made any attempt to discuss the resignation rumours with any of the three ministers, changing the subject when Mr Yudhuyuno attempted to clarify the situation during a meeting last week.

Confidantes say, however, that the chief security minister is unlikely to step down now. Said one: "Bambang is in a dilemma. He is aware of the situation that will entrap the President. He understands the political complications ahead. But he wants to project the image of loyalty to the President because he knows he is not secure because of the July 27 incident." The aide was referring to the attack on Ms Megawati's PDI-P headquarters in 1996 allegedly ordered by former President Suharto and carried out by Jakarta-based soldiers.

Then chief of staff of the Jakarta regional command, Mr Bambang can hardly claim ignorance of the attack even though he did not then have operational command over troops. Indeed, Mr Bambang may not be alone in his dilemma.

Given that many of today's officials grew up in a system which forced them to play along or be killed off, politically and literally, many would have skeletons that might not bear disinterring. Sticking with the President might be their best protection for now.
 

Regional/communal conflicts

Duri tense after Laskar Jihad attack, police shooting

Haidir Anwar Tanjung/BI & GB, Pekan Baru -- When the `Laskar Jihad', or Jihad Warriors, of Riau on Sumatra island burned down 100 properties belonging to people they claimed were involved in prostitution during the holy fasting month, little did they know it would unleash a wave of violence in the broader community.

Last Thursday, members of the United Riau Melayu Laskar Jihad (LJMRB) set off in over 10 trucks to a location in Duri city, Riau province, they claimed harbored illicit activities. They razed to the ground around 100 buildings and targeted houses they claimed belonged to brothel owners.

The attack struck fear into the residents of Duri who have deserted the streets despite the imminent onset of the Christmas, Lebaran and New Year's holidays. The attack also unleashed such anger that possibly hundreds of residents set up a blockade of the Pekanbaru-Medan route, from Riau's capital of Pekanbaru to the capital of neighbouring North Sumatra province, Medan.

The blockade caused a traffic jam stretching many kilometers in both directions as people attempted to join their families for the coming celebrations.

Local police were forced to deal with the situation and on Saturday the blockaders and security forces clashed. Two people were reportedly shot dead by police on the Pekanbaru-Medan route.

When contacted by Detik for confirmation, Riau Police Spokesperson Superintendent S Pandiangan SH said that only one had died. "Only one person from Nias was killed after being hit by a rubber bullet right in the throat," he said.

He added that the police had followed normal procedures in attempting to disburse the blockaders. The Mobile Brigade had asked them to go home. "Only, the people rushed the police and swords, spears and molotov cocktails were launched. Because of the situation, the police fired warning shots but it wasn't heeded. Because of that, they fired with rubber bullets," said Pandiangan.

By Saturday, one company of Mobile Brigade, one company of soldiers from the 132 battalion, one platoon of Riau police, one unit of Riau Police intelligence and one unit of Bengkalis traffic police have been deployed to watch over the situation in Duri. Although the traffic has started to flow after the shooting incident, public buses are not plying the Pekanbaru- Medan route.

The police's main concern now is containing the heated emotions of the people of Duri in the aftermath of the attack on the brothel area and police shooting. Pandiangan fears inter-ethnic tensions may explode. Detikwolrd has also noted that various communities in Duri have formed ad hoc guard teams to secure their districts.

Pandiangan has appealed to the people of Duri not to be provoked by recent events. "From the results of a meeting of the security forces with religious and community leaders, it has been decided that all Duri residents should return to their homes," he said.

Meanwhile, the Riau government are preparing to take responsibility for the burning of the properties last Thursday. "At present, the security forces and various government agencies are evacuating several of the burnt houses. From the results of this, the provincial government will give money to the value of houses before [the incident]. However, clearly the government will only be reimbursing them for their houses not for the brothels," said Pandiangan.

He did not say if the government would be taking action against the Laskar Jihad who have been acting with seeming impunity since the onset of the fasting month on November 27 in many major cities across Indonesia.

Maluku church sends Christmas SOS to Kofi Annan

Jakarta -- The Catholic church in Indonesia's embattled Maluku islands has appealed to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for foreign troops to help contain the bloody two-year conflict between Muslims and Christians there.

With some 5,000 dead, half a million refugees and no end in sight to the fighting since it broke out in January of 1999, the bishop of Ambon, Monseigneur Mandagi called on Annan for help.

"The most urgent actual need, which should have priority, is: the presence of international security forces, international and independent survey and investigation teams to restore law and respect for human rights," said the appeal, a copy of which was received by AFP in Jakarta on Saturday.

"Most of the victims are just simple people, who are poor and defenseless, innocent and blameless," the bishop said in the Christmas "SOS", adding that torture, rape, persecution and destruction of property was widespread.

"Only recently became widely known the fact of immense and dramatic Islamisation of Christians, both by brutal force and by leaving them no choice," he said. "These people urgently need to be freed and evacuated."

The bishop listed several islands in the Malukus -- including Kasui, Teor, Buru and Ceram -- in which the alleged forced conversions of both Protestants and Catholics had taken place and put the figure at more than 600.

Last week the governor of the Malukus, Saleh Latuconsina, admitted after receiving reports from a joint Muslim-Christian investigating team, that the forced conversions had taken place, but gave no figures.

The claims have been denied by the extremist Muslim Laskar Jihad (Holy War warriors) which has sent thousands of fighters from other Indonesian islands to the Malukus to strengthen the Muslim side of the conflict.

Saying the Indonesian government had proved itself incapable of stopping the bloodshed, the bishop said: "In all sincerity we appeal to the international community to assist the Indonesian Government in ending the conflict in the Moluccas." Earlier this week the International Consultative Group (ICG) issued a report saying that although it felt the conflict would worsen in the coming year, foreign military intervention would not help end it.

The ICG predicted higher death tolls in coming months, and called the conflict a "campaign of religious cleansing" in which the Indonesian government was ineffective.

But the organization, which describes itself as a private, multinational research organisation producing regular analytical reports aimed at key international decision takers, said foreign military intervention would be counter-productive, and "could easily lead to further destabilisation in Indonesia, and should not be sought."

However it recommended the placement of foreign observers, preferably from Indonesia's neighbours, in the islands and said foreign governments should impose or continue arms embargoes on Indonesia. Observers could be helpful in "creating confidence in Indonesian military and police neutrality," the report stated.

Lying to the north-east of Java, the island provinces of Maluku and North Maluku were once famed as the Spice Islands, for the nutmeg and cloves which attracted traders from across the world, including early European explorers. Some of the islands' cities, including the capital Ambon, are now in virtual ruins and dotted with segregated refugee camps.

Military orchestrating holy war, says church

Louise Williams and agencies -- The forced conversion of Christians to Islam in the violence-racked province of Maluku is part of a wider effort by the Indonesian military to discredit President Abdurrahman Wahid, the Uniting Church in Australia says.

The Governor of Maluku has admitted that forced Islamisation, in which nine people were killed, took place on two of its islands, according to a document by the Catholic Diocese of Ambon reported by Agence France-Presse.

Governor Saleh Latuconsina, who named the two islands as Kesui and Teor, acknowledged the forced conversions to a joint team investigating a recent clash between Muslims and Christians on Kesui island, the report said.

This month, a lawyer with the Maranatha Christian centre in Ambon, the provincial capital, Mr Sammy Waileruni, said refugee reports indicated Muslims on Kesui, backed by the militant Jihad (Holy War) Force Islamic group, had slaughtered 93 Christians since late November for refusing to convert. But the diocese report quoted Mr Latuconsina as saying that "only nine people" were killed on Kesui.

The Rev John Barr, secretary for Indonesia and East Timor at the Uniting Church, said the conversions to Islam were the work of "jihad" groups from outside the province that were provoking and manipulating the violence. Local Muslim communities had not taken such aggressive action against their Christian neighbours, he said.

"The 'jihad' is being set up and armed in the same way the militia were in East Timor; elements of the military are causing the trouble to discredit Wahid. The same pattern is also emerging in West Papua [Irian Jaya]," he said.

The British-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide said last month that Muslim militant forces, many from outside the Malukus, had threatened that "there will be no church bells ringing in Ambon by Christmas".

The Jakarta Post also quoted Mr Latuconsina as saying that the joint investigation team had evacuated 172 residents from Kesui and Teor. "Sixty-three were from Kesui island and 109 from the island of Teor. There are still some 800 people who need to be transported off the islands, 700 of whom are Kesui islanders," the paper quoted the Governor as saying in Ambon.

Sectarian violence in the Malukus, formerly known as the Spice Islands, has resulted in more than 5,000 deaths in the past two years.

Allegedly sparked by a dispute between a Christian public transport driver and a Muslim in Ambon city in January 1999, fighting between Muslims and Christians quickly spread through the islands. Analysts have blamed the conflict partly on an influx of settlers from other regions in Indonesia, mostly Muslims, and the alleged sidelining of Christians in the provincial government and public service.

In June, after about half a million refugees had fled the islands, Jakarta imposed a state of civil emergency in the Malukus and the North Malukus but it has so far failed to rein in the violence.
 

Aceh/West Papua

Clash of the civilisations

Marianne Kearney, Wamena -- Mr Yesaya Oagai, sitting cross-legged before a group of men from nearby villages in the lush Baliem valley, wins a chorus of agreement when he holds forth on Indonesia's motivation for developing its most backward province -- Irian Jaya, also known as West Papua.

"They make proposals to the outside world to get money for helping people, but then they do nothing. They are smart in this way," he says, warming to his topic.

And like an increasing number of Papuans, he is increasingly cynical about whether Indonesia's plans to develop the region will ever help him and his village.

"They give us family planning until we don't have any children. They want to finish off the black skins here." Mr Yesaya, who is in his fifties, may not have had the benefits of an Indonesian education and has no access to the latest debates and news on television. But like most of his contemporaries in the village, he is surprisingly articulate about his views.

In another village not far away, where men over 30 years of age still don the traditional penis gourd and some of the women still wear straw skirts, talk of independence centres on how communities such as theirs might be developed.

"Lots of us want to go to school. A few have enrolled but then stopped because they have to buy school uniforms and all the extra things," says Mr Paulus Mabel, who notes that the Indonesian school system is too expensive, so most children try to go to mission-run schools instead.

"In fact, we don't know the real meaning of independence or autonomy," he admits, but he suspects it might give Papuans more control over their culture and their life. "They don't feel happy with our culture, they want it to disappear. Whereas Papua Merdeka wants to preserve the culture," he adds.

Tradition amid modernisation

Their culture, which has remained virtually untouched and unchanged for thousands of years, has survived largely intact despite Indonesia's attempts to modernise them and bring them into the new world. Rituals such as marriage and cremation ceremonies are still carried on, sometimes only metres away from the intrusions of the modern world -- in this case a bitumen road.

Along this road, dozens of betel-nut chewing women make a pilgrimage to a surprisingly modern brick house. Behind the house lies the village compound where several villages have arrived, their gifts of pigs having been laid out for cooking.

The men, clad in penis gourds, arm bracelets, and feathered headbands, hunch over the pigs, slicing and separating the organs with huge knives. Women at the other end of the compound sit wailing outside the round hut of a woman who died. As each new villager arrives, he or she perform a ritual crying in front of the village elders.

Surrounded by traditional round grass huts, concessions to the modern world appear to be mostly superficial. Younger men and all except the older women, have some kind of modern clothes.

Missionaries have also left their mark -- the village claims to be Catholic, so before cremating the dead woman, the local priest makes a sign of the cross, welcomes God with the Dani words of welcome, and launches into Dani prayers. Many of them see little advantage in following a modern Indonesian lifestyle.

They might not understand the modern world, but they do know that their unique culture is one of their few tradable assets. They even blame the Indonesians for their sudden drop in tourism.

"Tell the world this village is quiet. The Indonesians say it is chaotic here but it is not. We want more tourists," says the village head, desperate for some hard cash.

Dr Benny Giay, an anthropologist originally from the Baliem valley but educated in Jayapura, remembers Indonesia's first attempts at "civilising" the Papuans.

Under "Operasi Koteka", started in 1972, Jakarta tried to persuade the Papuans to abandon their primitive dress. As a semi-naked high school student at the time, Dr Giay was one of their first targets of modernisation.

"They thought that if they gave us just two pieces of clothing, then overnight we could join the modern world," he laughs.

"But they didn't tell us you had to wash the clothing or give us any soap. In six months, many people's clothes, without washing, just fell apart and they went back to their traditional clothing. The Indonesians say we are backward but how stupid is 'Operasi Koteka' if they don't even think about how to replace the clothing?"

'Development' breeds dependency

The limited success of "Operasi Koteka" can be seen in Wamena's main streets. Dani tribesmen, naked except for their penis gourds, some decorative armbands or neck bands and perhaps a Bob Marley-style cap, walk about freely, with no hint of self- consciousness.

"It is the Indonesians who have the problem with the koteka, not us. I felt very comfortable wearing my koteka but when I started wearing clothes I felt as if I was naked," says Dr Benny.

Preserving highland culture is not just a simple matter of allowing men to continue to don their distinctive penis gourds.

The "wipe out the koteka" approach to development means that instead of making the most of the native people's farming skills and developing Irian Jaya's market, which could then be expanded to export elsewhere, the authorities in Jakarta focus on short- term and sporadic aid projects which do not reduce the highlands' dependency on outside markets.

The Indonesian development of Irian Jaya gives a new twist to the term "cargo culture" -- a term to describe Papuans' messianic belief that the gods would return and deliver them the "cargo", or the white man's modern goods -- say local critics.

The economy of the highlands is made dependent on Indonesia's "cargo drops", and Jakarta's ninsistance on developing projects without consulting the locals means that Papuans lose their sense of initiative and wait for the largely non-Papuan civil service to come up with solutions.

Autonomy in name only

The development of Wamena, the small town at the centre of the Baliem valley, is a prime example, critics say. The Baliem valley is one of the most fertile places in the region. It is also one of the wettest places on earth and its rivers are teeming with marine life.

Yet over 30 years after Indonesia took control of Irian Jaya, the town still has to import drinking water and much of its food, except fruit and vegetables, from Sulawesi or Java. Ironically, the people producing goods locally rather than those importing them are struggling to eke out an existence.

The Dani and other local tribes live on the margins of Wamena's cash economy because their fruit and vegetables sell very cheaply in the town's over-saturated market, while the cost of goods that come in from outside -- from places such as provincial capital Jayapura -- is two to three times the standard price. Every single knife and fork, plastic chair, paper napkin and item of modern clothing is flown into Wamena.

The whole town has been built around the airport, and its economy is virtually dependent on the salaries of civil servants and security personnel.

The province is timber-rich but the logging industry has been developed solely to service the rest of Indonesia, says Mr Augustinus Rumansara, a community development manager with the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Most of the timber cut from Irian's vast forests is sent to Java to be turned into furniture, plywood or paper, which then is re- imported back to its source. Thus Irian pays a high price for re-importing its own timber and the profits stay elsewhere.

"The government has a colonial approach to development. Irian is seen only as the source of raw materials for industries elsewhere in Indonesia, but they never think about creating opportunities for local markets," says Mr Augustinus.

In the 1970s, he was one of the few people to introduce the highlanders to coffee-growing, hoping that this cash crop would provide the farmers with a much needed source of income. However 20 years later, only a trickle of the high-quality arabica beans ever reach Jayapura, while most of Jayapura's coffee is imported from Sulawesi.

Even with high costs of flying the beans into Jayapura, farmers could still turn a profit if they had a co-operative or marketing board to sell their beans, but lacking this kind of long-term funding, Mr Augustinus has not been able to develop the industry. Meanwhile, government plans to develop the arabica business have been on the drawing board for the last 10 years.

Papuans are constantly told that they are not as clever as Indonesians, says one Papuan forestry official. In the civil service, this bias and the lower education levels of the tribesmen means that few of them are in positions to control how their province is developed.

It is little wonder that most Papuans usually greet the question of the proposed autonomy, due to be implemented next year, with a cynical laugh. "In 1996 we already had autonomy, but it was autonomy only in name," said one civilian militia member.

The constant racist reminders that Papuans are not as good as their Indonesians neighbours has also united the province's dozens of different tribes, helping to forge their identity as one race that is very different from that of Indonesia's. Says Mr Edie Waromi, an independence supporter: "Our heart, our culture is Melanesian, not Indonesian."

Irian Jaya independence leaders not interested in early release

Jakarta -- Independence leaders jailed on subversion charges in Indonesia's remote Irian Jaya province have vowed to reject any attempt by President Abdurrahman Wahid or police to release them from prison early, a lawyer for the detainees said Thursday.

"All five have made a commitment to stay in jail until the legal process is complete. They want to keep following the legal procedures," Anum Siregar, a member of the defence team, told AFP by phone from the capital Jayapura.

The detainees, all key figures on the 31-member pro-independence Papua Presidium, have been charged with subversion for advocating secession from Indonesia.

Presidium chairman Theys Eluay, secretary-general Thaha Al Hamid, and members Don Flassy and John Mambor, were arrested in the two days preceding the December 1 anniversary of an unrecognised declaration of independence. A fifth member, Reverend Herman Awom, was arrested on December 4.

Wahid, who will visit Irian Jaya on Christmas Day, has twice said he wants Eluay and colleagues released, according to two Irian Jaya community leaders who have met separately with him.

Police were also considering releasing the presidium members on humanitarian grounds in time for Christmas, national police spokesman Brigadier General Saleh Saaf said Wednesday.

Siregar however said the five would reject any release order based on either humanitarian or political reasons. "Firstly, they will not accept humanitarian-motivated release, nor will they accept release as a political move by Gus Dur," she said, using Wahid's nickname.

Siregar said it was expected that the president would again push for their release during his Christmas visit. "But they don't want to get out of jail as a result of political moves, even if it's from Gus Dur."

State prosecutors earlier this week extended the presidium leaders' detention by another 40 days, rejecting dossiers compiled by police detectives on the detainees, branding them incomplete and demanding more thorough investigation.

Thaha Al Hamid said the prosecutors deemed the evidence police had handed to them "unusable." "It is utterly clear that until today the police have come up with no acceptable evidence," he told AFP by mobile phone from his police cell.

Independence supporters in Irian Jaya, known locally as West Papua, maintain they were robbed of their sovereignty, declared on December 1 1961, after Indonesian troops began entering in 1962.

Indonesian sovereignty was formalised in 1969 through a limited UN-held vote, which separatists dispute as flawed and unrepresentative.

Show of force

Sadanand Dhume, Jakarta -- Sitting in a corner of a crowded South Jakarta cafi in jeans and a T-shirt, Nazaruddin Abdul Ghani is surprisingly calm for a 22-year-old who's fleeing for his life.

On December 6, Nazaruddin says, he witnessed the execution of three fellow human-rights workers in his native Aceh province -- either by soldiers in plain clothes or by militia members working with the army. Before the killings, he says, the workers were abducted and driven to a military barracks. "They accused us of being members of GAM," says Nazaruddin, referring to the violent separatist Free Aceh Movement. Managing to escape, Nazaruddin fled to Jakarta en route to a safe haven, probably Denmark.

President Abdurrahman Wahid, visiting the provincial capital of Banda Aceh on December 19 for the first time since he took power, admitted that Indonesia has mishandled the separatist crisis. "We have all made mistakes, including myself as president," he told religious leaders and diplomats. "I let this happen ... I have demanded that the military treat the Acehnese people not as enemies but as friends." But the 400 killings (by both sides) that have occurred in Aceh since a temporary ceasefire was signed six months ago illustrate how reality is increasingly out of step with Wahid's rhetoric.

Discredited by his freewheeling approach to governance and growing separatist challenges, Wahid is being forced to cede decision-making authority over Aceh and Irian Jaya -- another trouble spot -- to an increasingly assertive army. Military reform, say Western observers, has stalled. And though nobody expects soldiers to return to running the country, their actions could harm Indonesia's international standing, block the flow of aid to troubled provinces and further undermine the president's power.

"The civilian government just doesn't have any control over the military," says Harold Crouch, Indonesia project director for the International Crisis Group, a watchdog body. "President Wahid is unhappy, but there's little he can do about it."

Observers say that since September soldiers have restarted "sweeping operations" in Aceh, where entire villages suspected of supporting GAM often face retribution for attacks on security forces. But Aceh isn't the only place in Indonesia where Wahid's words have little weight. On November 29, police in Irian Jaya arrested Theys Eluay, the moderate head of the Papua Praesidium -- the territory's main pro-independence body. Despite public pleas from Wahid, police have refused to release Eluay or other leaders. Meanwhile, the army has blocked United Nations efforts to investigate and punish the killers of three foreign UN staff in West Timor in September.

Wahid is increasingly isolated in his own cabinet, say observers. Military hardliners have found an ally in Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who's widely believed to share their fear of a break-up of Indonesia. Wahid is "pushing buttons and nobody is responding," says a Western diplomat. "People are doing whatever they want to do."

Biggest threat may be to Wahid

Meanwhile, military reform is at a standstill. Crouch of the ICG says that while the government has gone a long way toward getting the military out of politics, it has yet to assert civilian control over security affairs. Indeed, given its national presence, discipline and isprit de corps, it's no surprise that the army sees itself as the ultimate guarantor of national unity. According to Lt.-Gen. Agus Widjojo, army head of territorial affairs, the military is also under pressure "from within political elites, because they are convinced that this is moving in the direction of a probable national disintegration."

Widjojo says there's no evidence that the military is fighting a dirty war in Aceh. But Western diplomats and human-rights groups dispute this and say the consequences of more violence could be dire.

Indonesia's image has already been tarnished. On November 1, the US State Department warned Americans against travelling to Indonesia. Meanwhile, Western aid workers are pulling out of Aceh.

But the biggest threat may be to Wahid. "We're not sure how much longer Wahid's going to last," says a Western diplomat. "The authority of the central government is so weakened that we're going to see a lot of local politics and provincial power plays. The military has positioned itself to have little warlords. In the long term, I don't think the country will fall apart, but it may just implode."

Fear and dispair return to Aceh

Tomi Soetjipto, Banda Aceh -- Fear and despair have returned to haunt Indonesia's rebellious province of Aceh.

With a military crackdown looming, the chilling prospect is more bloodshed, a hardening of hatred towards Jakarta and growing calls for independence that will severly undermine President Abdurrahman Wahid's efforts to bring peace to his giant country.

In a clear sign the government's policies have failed and mistrust has deepened, the streets of the provincial capital Banda Aceh are virtually deserted at night for fear of snipers.

Motorcycle muggers roam the city, residents speak furtively about impending political terror while bodies are regularly found in far-flung villages bearing signs of torture.

The military and rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) blame each other for an upsurge in violence that has killed hundreds of people in recent months. A ceasefire that took effect last June has become a laughing stock.

Many Acehnese want independence, but most just long for peace and an accounting of past wrongs carried out during decades of brutal military operations under the iron rule of former President Suharto, who stepped down in disgrace in 1998.

"Some people want independence and some people want to stay, but what the Acehnese really want is peace," said Saifuddin Bantasyam, a political analyst at Syah Kuala University in Banda Aceh, 1,700 km northwest of Jakarta.

When Muslim cleric Wahid took power 14 months ago, he signalled his intention to try to heal wounds from years of military abuses that killed thousands of people, partly using his religious stature to reach out to Acehnese.

The rebels have not been angels either, drawing criticism from many Acehnese for heavy-handed ways and arbitrary taxes.

But that window of peace has slammed shut. Now, the government has promised to renew military operations in Aceh, a fiercely Islamic province on the tip of Sumatra island, if peace talks with separatists fail. Ominously, Defence Minister Mahfud M.D. on Wednesday said the ceasefire would not be extended when it expires on January 15.

To many Acehnese, such a policy is folly. Suharto failed to bring the rebels to heel, making it hard to believe Wahid's weak government might have more success.

Wahid, at heart a democrat, made a fleeting visit to Aceh this week that appeared to please no one. He is struggling to keep his grip on national policymaking.

Analysts say hardline elements in the military and the elite have used his erratic rule to toughen policy on Aceh and remote Irian Jaya province, Indonesia's other main separatist headache in the country's far east.

Empty promises

To Aceh's four million people, Jakarta has made many empty promises and failed to win hearts with a pledge to extend autonomy by May so Acehnese have more control over their affairs. The issue of Islamic sharia law has also been fumbled.

Then there is the accounting for human rights abuses. Some two dozen soldiers were sentenced last May to up to 10 years in jail in a rare trial after being convicted of murdering 57 people at an Islamic boarding school.

But the officer who issued the order has never been found. "The key is quite simple, the government has to treat the Acehnese with respect and give them a sense of justice. The government has so far failed to deliver on this," Bantasyam said.

Meanwhile, life in Aceh remains wedded to violence. Taufik, a two-year-old boy was recently shot in the thigh by a sniper in broad daylight as his father chatted to a soldier in a village in the south of the province.

A vendor was killed with 15 gunshots to his chest as he slept in his street stall near Banda Aceh ahead of Wahid's visit to the provincial capital earlier this week.

Both sides trade accusations

Not even Ramadan, the Muslim holy month when believers fast and which has fallen in December, has stemmed the bloodshed that neither side wants to accept responsibility for.

"The military is getting more brutal, they don't want to see a calm situation," Abu Marwan, a GAM spokesman in North Aceh's district of Bieuren, a rebel stronghold, told Reuters. Adds Colonel Syarifuddin Tippe, an Aceh military commander: "GAM is gaining the upper hand. We never attack civilians."

It is little wonder people are tired of the independence debate and accusations about who is behind the violence. Ask most residents what they want and the first answer is usually "ketenangan," or calmness.

In Lam Beigeik, a sleepy farming village to the east of Banda Aceh, most residents also say they want independence, prompted by deep-rooted hatred of the security forces. "We want them out of here," said one Moslem cleric.

A short drive to a neighbouring village, residents said they did not mind remaining part of Indonesia. Quietly, one resident complains about "donation fees" collected by GAM.

Tengku Husaini, a Moslem cleric from the influential association of Islamic boarding schools known as HUDA, said the government should hold a referendum on independence. "Let the Acehnese decide what they want, but how can there be one [a referendum] when there is no peace," Husaini told Reuters.

Soldier mobbed to death in Irian Jaya

Jakarta -- A soldier was mobbed to death in the remote town of Tiom, Irian Jaya, some 80 kilometers south of Wamena, following a dispute between officers and locals over the pulling down of the Morning Star separatist flag, an official said on Wednesday.

"The incident took place four days ago [Friday] in Tiom. Pvt. Saharuddin was mobbed to death by locals, allegedly from the Dani tribe, after he and three other soldiers patrolling the area spotted a Morning Star flag flying," the chief of Irian Jaya Police Operation and Control Sr. Supt. Kusnadi told The Jakarta Post from Jayapura.

"The soldiers asked the locals to lower the flag but after nobody responded for sometime, the soldiers tore it down. That was when the mob attacked the soldiers," Kusnadi said. The body of Pvt. Saharuddin was sent home to Manado, North Sulawesi, the officer said.

"The other three soldiers managed to escape the tribesmen, who were brandishing arrows, machetes and other sharp weapons," Kusnadi said. "They suffered minor injuries."

John Rumbiak of the Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy (ELSHAM), however, claimed that the soldiers had shot four locals dead. "Sources at the Baptist Church in Tiom told us that the locals were singing, dancing and going wild over the flag they'd just raised when soldiers arrived and shot them without warning," John told AFP.

John said local Dani tribespeople had hoisted the flag in Tiom the day before. After negotiations with soldiers they lowered it, but on Friday the locals hoisted the flag at another location.

Officer Kusnadi said that on Saturday and Sunday security forces beefed up troops' numbers in Tiom, sending five truckloads of police and soldiers and two military helicopters to the area. "The government policy is clear. No separatist movement is allowed. We try to be persuasive but we also have to stay alert as the separatist movement is now changing from the previous proindependence task force Satgas Papua to a liberation front army," Kusnadi said.

Police and military sources stated that there were about 200 members of the army liberation front in Irian Jaya. The route to Tiom is difficult as many of its connecting roads have been either blown away or damaged by the separatists, Kusnadi said.

The incident has brought the death toll of continuous violence in Irian Jaya to at least 50 this year. In Wamena alone, at least 35 were killed and 45 others injured -- mostly migrant settlers -- as thousands of proindependence Papuan militias ran amok on Oct. 6, following the pulling down of Morning Star flags by the police.

Wamena, located about 290 kilometers southwest of the provincial capital of Jayapura, is also known as the base of proindependence militia.

Don't declare war, freedom fighter warns

Chris McCall, Jakarta -- Detained independence activist Muhammad Nazar has a simple message for Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid: turn up the heat on Aceh and you may stir up a war you cannot win.

Speaking haltingly by telephone from his cell hours after President Wahid visited Banda Aceh on Tuesday, Nazar said he was suffering from a fever, had no window in his cell, was often forced to urinate within it, and had at times received death threats from members of the security forces.

Nazar's lawyer made a request for the President to come to his cell during Mr Wahid's lightning visit to the strife-torn northern province. Police refused to convey the request.

Nazar explained what he would have told him: "Don't make any declaration of war. Jakarta must give an opportunity for Aceh to struggle peacefully, not play around with ideas like military or civil emergency. That will make Acehnese people angry and they will fight."

Acehnese had fought Dutch invaders for decades and were never defeated by them, he said. "Wahid himself should appreciate the aspiration of Acehnese to determine their own fate. And he should watch his inferiors, make sure they do not act brutally."

For more than a decade, Aceh has been rocked by fighting between security forces and the separatist Free Aceh Movement. From 1989 to 1998, it was a "military operations area". During that time thousands of Acehnese were tortured, maimed, raped or killed by Indonesian troops.

Recent demands for a new state of emergency have provoked unease in Aceh, where a faltering truce is due to run out on January 15. In an ominous turn yesterday, Defence Minister Mahfud Mahmodin said direct peace talks with the rebels would end then. Not that talks have delivered even a semblance of peace: nine people were killed in a spate of shootings across the province yesterday. Sounding near to tears, Nazar said his experience since his arrest on November 20 had reconfirmed his view that Indonesia was a neo-colonialist power.

Nazar is no guerilla. He heads a civilian mass movement seeking a peaceful referendum on independence. He has been detained under anti-subversion laws not invoked since the days of former president Suharto. The former despot often used them to jail his political opponents.

Many say the present Government is doing the same with Nazar. After a series of summonses, he finally went to Banda Aceh's city police headquarters to answer questions concerning activities of the Information Centre for Aceh Referendum (Sira), which he heads. This body, led by students and recent graduates, has campaigned for nearly two years for an East Timor-style referendum on independence.

After a day's questioning, he was suddenly arrested and transferred to provincial police headquarters. He has been interrogated three times. The questions have included why he used phrases such as "the Aceh nation" and "neo-colonialism".

He also was asked about opinion polls conducted by Sira. The polls showed an overwhelming majority of Acehnese wanted a referendum -- something Jakarta has firmly rejected -- and would vote for independence.

Nazar has been allowed a small radio and some books and newspapers. He has to ask a sentry to take him to the toilet and is allowed regular visits from only his family and lawyer.

Nazar expects to face trial but does not know when. He is accused of subversion over a boycott on Indonesia's independence day celebrations on August 17.

Gus Dur's Aceh trip didn't achieve much

Devi Asmarani, Banda Aceh -- Were there a rating system for a presidential mission to a conflict-torn area, President Abdurrahman Wahid's visit to Aceh on Tuesday would probably have got a borderline pass. It was not a complete failure, but was far from a great success.

His conciliatory address to about 500 people invited to the Baiturrahman mosque here to commemorate the Quran revelation day reflected his peace-making intent for the restive province.

His promise of a more sensible security approach to rebels in the area was aimed at appeasing those who were dreading the return of another military crackdown on separatism.

But his tense two-hour visit, marked by an edgy 30-minute drive to and from the airport on a road notorious for rebel ambushes, gave conflicting signals.

Wearing a bullet-proof vest under his batik shirt, President Gus Dur went straight back to the airport after the ceremony, cancelling a planned prayer session at the mosque.

Many of the Acehnese sneered at the overwhelming apprehension over his security. The local political tabloid Kontras carried a report headlined "Gus Dur lost out in the psy-war", referring to sniper threats and escalating attacks on military and police posts that had foreshadowed the visit.

Furthermore, his brief presence in Aceh, accompanied by several ministers and 11 ambassadors from Muslim countries, did nothing to resolve the problems. "It was a political joke," said Mr Faisal Ridha of the Aceh Referendum Information Centre (Sira).

Worse, many of the Acehnese were vexed at the consequence of the visit: there are now more police and soldiers on the streets, after some 2,000 were redeployed to secure the city. Intensified security measures led to numerous roadblocks in the city.

On the eve of Gus Dur's visit, the city's streets were largely deserted in the early evening as its residents feared to provoke the fully-armed troops patrolling the streets. On the day of his arrival, stores were closed and public transportation ceased to run for fear of any conflict.

Many stayed at home to watch his address broadcast live on state-owned TVRI television channel. But the address was hardly watched by the victims of violence still sheltering in refugee camps as they had no access to televisions.

And some who followed the speech remained puzzled about his real intention. "We are not really clear about the purpose of his visit and the point of his speech," said Ms Saiyah of the Action for Tortured Victims in Aceh.

The lack of a dialogue and a meeting with local influential personalities was another sore point. A palace-issued programme of the trip shows that he was scheduled to meet representatives of Sira before he departed for Jakarta.

Governor Abdullah Puteh later said that Sira representatives cancelled the meeting. But when contacted by The Straits Times, Sira said it never scheduled any meeting with the President. In fact, it was not even invited to the ceremony, it said.

Some viewed the President's visit as a political gimmick. "I think he was only reacting to the challenge People's Assembly Speaker Amien Rais made recently that he should visit Aceh," said Mr Tarmizi, a local human rights activist.

Hardliners unimpressed by peaceful approach

Vaudine England, Jakarta -- President Abdurrahman Wahid's comments in Aceh belie how wide the gulf is between him and much of his Government and how little room he has to manoeuvre.

While he offers his apologies and sharia law, his leading generals and ministers, especially Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, are acting as if he was not there. A crackdown on the rebels was announced last week and Mr Wahid has little choice but to go along with it if he means to keep his job.

"It indicates that Gus Dur [Mr Wahid] is losing control of his leadership," said Saifuddin Bantasyam, of the Care Human Rights Forum in Aceh.

President Wahid's background in the democracy movement and his tolerant Islamic theology suggest he probably means it when he wishes Acehnese separatism could be solved through peaceful dialogue. But from his senior security minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, down the ranks to Aceh chief Colonel Tippe, the mood is harder than ever. Repeating the threat to crush the rebels when a nominal ceasefire expires on January 15, Defence Minister Mahfud Mahmoddin blamed a failure of peace talks on the Free Aceh Movement rebels.

"If all else fails, then a military operation is the choice," said Mr Mahfud. Signs of the army champing at the bit were seen in the recent execution of three local aid workers and the arrest of student activist Muhammad Nazar. Rights groups say an effort is under way to eliminate the middle ground of moderates to clear the way for the kind of battle that might restore military prestige among nationalist Indonesians.

Leading the way is the increasingly militaristic Ms Megawati. She regularly enjoys military ceremonies at which she exhorts the men not to lose heart but do what is needed to save the nation. This has also infected policy towards Irian Jaya.

The upshot is that while Mr Wahid may mean well, he is not being given the time or space by his own administration to succeed. He promises Aceh special autonomy, due from Parliament by May. But the hardliners in the ruling elite know they need only stymie that legislation, too, to further weaken a president they dislike.

Wahid vows to press on with talks with Aceh rebels

Banda Aceh -- Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid visited the troubled province of Aceh on Tuesday and pledged to continue talks with separatist rebels after a truce expires next month.

But Wahid, speaking during a flying three-and-a-half-hour visit to the violence-torn province, said Jakarta would not extend the truce with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) when it expires on January 15.

"We will end the humanitarian pause, but we'll continue to hold dialogue until Aceh is completely free [from violence] in the framework of the Republic of Indonesia," he said.

Wahid also described GAM rebels, who have been fighting for an independent Aceh sultanate since the mid-1970s, as "our brothers," and cautioned government troops against harshness.

"I ask the government apparatus not to treat people as their enemies, treat them as friends," the president said during a ceremony marking the first revelation of the Muslim holy book, the Koran, at Banda Aceh's Baiturrahman grand mosque.

At the end of his speech, three members of the student-based organisation SIRA, which is campaigning for a referendum on independence for the province, asked to meet Wahid to demand the release of their leader Muhammad Nazar. Nazar, SIRA chairman, was arrested last month by police for organizing pro-independence protests.

One of the students, Effendi Hasan, who met Wahid privately before the president left the mosque, said the Indonesian leader had promised to relay the demand to the authorities.

Residents expressed disappointment at having no chance to have a dialogue with the president. "Why can't we talk to the president?" a man in the mosque yelled out as soon as the ceremony ended with a prayer.

Wahid arrived in the rain-soaked provincial capital of Banda Aceh amid tight security after a bomb had detonated 300 meters from the grand mosque. The rain forced organizers to abandon a planned helicopter ride into the city, and the president travelled by road.

Accompanying him were senior security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, military chief Admiral Widodo Adisucipto, national police chief General Suroyo Bimantoro and 16 ambassadors from Islamic countries.

The streets of the city were quiet but tense in the wake of the bomb explosion at the home of Aceh's military police chief. The blast caused minor damage but no casualties, police spokesman senior superintendent Kusbini Imbar told AFP.

A plan to declare the imposition of Sharia Islamic law during the visit, part of efforts by the Wahid government to pacify the clamour for independence in the devoutly Islamic province, was cancelled due to popular criticism. Acehnese leaders said Islam has been deeply ingrained in Aceh for centuries, and the delaration of Sharia was redundant.

At least 11 attacks were launched on police posts in Banda Aceh on Monday night ahead of the visit, Imbar said. But a source at the Aceh police, who requested anonymity, blamed the attacks on hard-line elements in the Indonesian military who wanted to see Jakarta impose emergency status on Aceh.

Five new deaths were reported Monday, including those of four people whose bodies were found in separate places in Bireun district. The wife of a policeman was found dead with stab wounds at her home in Mankawan village in North Aceh. North Aceh police chief Superintendent Wanto Sumardi blamed GAM rebels for her killing.

Also on Monday shots were fired by Indonesian troops -- described by police as "stressed out" after a long posting in Aceh -- at an aircraft chartered by the ExxonMobil oil company. There were no casualties.

Despite the shaky truce in place since June between Jakarta and GAM, the violence has continued and more than 800 people have been killed there this year. Jakarta has flatly ruled out independence for Aceh but pledged to introduce broad autonomy.

Indonesia's Wahid turns on charm for Acehnese

Tomi Soetjipto, Banda Aceh -- Wearing a bullet-proof vest, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid visited the bloodied province of Aceh on Tuesday and urged separatists to join in developing the country.

In a frank and at times humorous speech to religious leaders and diplomats at the Grand Mosque in the provincial capital Banda Aceh, Wahid expressed his frustration at his failure to bring peace to Aceh.

"As the president, I feel the most bitter because I could not change this. If I was not a Muslim, I would have committed suicide because of the bitterness," he said, drawing giggles.

Thousands have died in decades of pro-independence rebellion, but there are fears independence through an East Timor-style ballot could trigger Indonesia's disintegration by setting off a domino effect in other separatist areas.

Wahid adopted an overall conciliatory tone during his four-hour visit, blaming security forces for creating enemies among Acehnese with operations that treated the innocent as foes.

The Muslim cleric also turned on his trademark humour, frequently sending ripples of laughter through the cavernous and elaborate mosque during a 30-minute speech that few expect will make much headway in healing the territory's festering wounds.

But the reaction was sceptical, with residents saying they would not believe the government until they saw action. "Acehnese do not care about the promises anymore. Just wait and see how it looks on the ground," one local man said. Another man, Nazar, said: "Before the government gives any statements, the people of Aceh want to see action. Personally, I don't care [about Wahid's speech]."

Underscoring the woes facing Wahid in Aceh, 1,700 km northwest of Jakarta, two small explosions shook the local capital before he arrived for the brief trip. Wahid said police ordered him to wear the bullet-proof vest.

Just before Wahid left for Jakarta, there were rumours rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) might meet him at the local airport. No meeting took place, officials said. Rebels last week warned Wahid his Jakarta opponents might try to assassinate him during the visit, then seek to blame GAM.

"We have been treating GAM as enemies. That's wrong. They are our brothers. We should build our nation together," he said. "The Acehnese do not defend the government because ... of fears of past and current military operations. I ask all state apparatus to stop treating people as foes. Treat them as friends," Wahid said at a religious ceremony in the mosque.

The deaths of thousands of mainly civilians in military operations during the 1990s under the harsh rule of former President Suharto have combined with economic exploitation of the province to leave much bitterness.

Wahid's key plank for soothing tensions revolves around greater autonomy for the province's four million people, expected to be implemented next May. He has ruled out independence.

The well-armed rebels, believed to number in the thousands, insist on independence, raising the spectre of more bloodshed.

GAM fighters have regularly clashed with security forces in recent months, casting a pall over a ceasefire that took effect in June and which expires on January 15.

Indonesia has threatened a crackdown if a new round of peace talks, delayed since November, failed to take place by then, although Wahid left open the possibility of more talks whether the ceasefire is extended or not.

"We will keep on talking [with GAM] so Aceh can be peaceful and free in the framework of the Republic of Indonesia," Wahid said, in vague remarks that run counter to tough warnings being issued by government and military officials in Jakarta.

It also contradicts Wahid's increasingly hardline stance on separatism, which is just one of the many nightmares confronting the mercurial Muslim cleric who has struggled to bring order to the world's fourth most populous country.

About 2,500 troops and police imposed tight security for Wahid's visit to the resource-rich province on the northwestern tip of Sumatra island. Indeed, Wahid chided police for making it difficult for people to enter the Grand Mosque, a well-known landmark. The mosque was relatively empty.

In fresh violence, four bodies with bullet wounds were found on Monday in North Aceh's district of Bireuen, a hospital worker said. At least 10 people were also killed over the weekend. No one has claimed responsibility for the killings.

There was little tension in Banda Aceh, with many residents choosing to stay home because of the restrictions on movement. Wahid's trip to Banda Aceh was his first since becoming president 14 months ago. He visited Aceh's key port last January.

Police return valuables seized from students: report

Jakarta -- Indonesian police have returned cash and valuables taken from students during raids in the wake of a separatist attack in the eastern province of Irian Jaya, a rights advocate said Monday.

"Last night and today some police officers have been turning up at the dormitories and giving back certificates, money and belongings that were taken during the raids," John Rumbiak, program supervisor at the Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy (ELSHAM), told AFP.

The return of the goods follows a report released by ELSHAM last week outlining police treatment of the students. The report highlighted raids which followed a December 7 attack on a police station and market on the fringes of the capital Jayapura.

"We said in our report that the police had taken money and belongings, based on what the students told us," Rumbiak said. "This seems to have upset the police the most. They are more focused on the thefts as insults, than on the torture and deaths in custody we mentioned."

ELSHAM's report also accused police of summary executions and torture of students in retribution for the pre-dawn attack at Abepura, in which two policemen and a security guard were killed by men armed with primitive tribal weapons and home-made rifles.

After releasing the report last week, ELSHAM's director Johannes Bonai was interrogated for 24 hours. "I was questioned as a suspect for violating libel laws," Bonai told AFP by phone from Jayapura. "They told me the case was ongoing and that I would be summonsed again."

Officers said they planned to further question Rumbiak on Monday, but as of 8.30pm he had received no summons or formal notification. "Police just want to ask him about several statements he's made in the press and to the public about people dying in detention," Irian Jaya police chief Brigadier-General Sylvanus Wenas told AFP by phone from Jayapura."

ELSHAM on Thursday urged the National Commission on Human Rights to investigate the violence.

Jayapura police chief Daud Sihombing told AFP on December 7 that police had killed three people they were pursuing after the attack. He added that police had taken the three corpses to the Jayapura Public Hospital and requested autopsies.

No end in sight to Aceh atrocities

John Martinkus, Banda Aceh -- Handing out gruesome photographs of Acehnese shot point-blank in the head in recent violence, Free Aceh Movement (GAM) representative Zulfani saw nothing positive in the visit today of Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid to Aceh. He said Mr Wahid's visit, to implement Islamic sharia law in the separatist province, would do nothing to stem the violence in the province.

The photographs show victims of a security force operation last month which, according to GAM, led to the deaths of at least 72 people, the wounding of 109 and the torture and beating of 562 people in an attempt to prevent Acehnese attending a rally for independence in the capital, Banda Aceh.

Other photographs show the bodies of three humanitarian workers shot dead on December 6. The three, who worked for a Danish- funded organisation, were killed as they tried to assist victims of the violence. A fourth worker escaped and is now in the care of the Danish Embassy in Jakarta, from where he identified those responsible for the killing as military personnel.

After initially denying involvement in the killing, the Aceh police chief, Brigadier-General Rasjudi, announced on Friday that three security personnel and one civilian had been detained in connection with the deaths. Two more civilians were held on Sunday in connection with the case.

Local human rights activists do not hold much hope for justice in the current environment, where security personnel out of uniform routinely carry out killings and blame GAM rebels.

The latest report by non-government organisation Kontras describes a pattern of similar death-squad style killings. On Monday last week in East Aceh, Bari Bin Bahkri answered the door of his home to two plain-clothes men: they shot him in the face and he died immediately. In North Aceh two days earlier, Iskander Hamden was grabbed by four men and taken away. The next day his body was found nearby, with gunshot wounds to the head.

In other incidents, uniformed police are directly involved. Feisal Hamdi, of the Coalition for Human Rights, described how police in South Aceh responded last Tuesday to a grenade attack on their post. "They called for back-up and then surrounded a house. They start shooting and they arrest a man and beat him after dragging him out. They grab the other two in the house and beat them. They deny they are members of GAM. After half an hour of beating they don't confess and the police shoot them dead."

Mr Hamdi said the perpetrators of such violence "cannot be identified because they don't wear uniforms and often wear face masks -- but the villagers note their dialects, from Java or north Sumatra. The people know no GAM activists are Javanese."

In June a "humanitarian pause" was negotiated to try to stop the violence in Aceh. A committee including representatives from GAM, the Indonesian security forces and aid groups was formed and a timeframe of six months was put in place to deliver aid and stop the violence.

The head of the Indonesian security committee, Police Colonel Ridhwan Karim, is pessimistic about the future of negotiations. "There is no longer any trust," he said. "There are so many violations committed by GAM." He accuses GAM of using the civilian population as a shield to operate behind, and of using the humanitarian pause to strengthen their position.

Colonel Ridhwan believes that after the January 15 expiry of the humanitarian pause, GAM should be disarmed and excluded from further talks. "If they still want independence it has to be solved by military force," he said.

Mr Zulfani, the GAM representative to the security committee, surrounded by the photographs of the military victims, says the military and the police are actively hunting their people and killing civilians in the process.

"There are clashes and the military and police burn down shops and houses and every time the military moves they frighten the civilians and they run. The police say they are GAM and open fire. But in reality they are just afraid of the police."

He says an offensive in January to seize GAM's weapons would fail, just as the decade-long military operation to wipe out GAM failed in the 1980s and early 1990s, adding: "GAM will attack only if the TNI [Indonesian military] attack, but if they have an operation there will be violence."
 

Human rights/law

Gus Dur has not upheld the law: LBH

Hestiana Dharmastuti/Fitri & BI, Jakarta -- President Abdurrahman Wahid's end year report card is apparently full of bad marks. The Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation has slammed Gus Dur -- as the president is known -- for unsuccessful leadership throughout the year 2000 and for manipulating the law to protect the powerful under former regimes.

The Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta), in its end of year report underscored the President's inability to uphold the law. In their estimation, the President had further developed the `subjective' aspects of the law and concluded that the law would be further manipulated and misused, if applied at all, throughout 2001.

LBH Jakarta's Year End Report was presented to journalists by Director Irianto Subiakto SH at his office on Jl. Diponegoro, Jakarta, Friday. "It could be said that legal affairs throughout 2000 faced death," said Irianto.

LBH underscored that this situation was inextricably tied to the political tug of war currently underway between the President and government and their rivals within the political elite.

The House of Representatives and People's Consultative Assembly tended to prioritise strengthening their position instead of initiating positive and constitutional changes, he said.

LBH also lamented that Gus Dur's administration had not brought about the significant changes many had initially hoped for in the aftermath of the fall of former dictator Suharto. The President, they said, had not been able to exert control over the pillars of Suharto's New Order regime, the economy and security forces, and claimed they were still largely in the hands of the old regime.

On the issue of the law being developed to represent subjective interests, LBH also said the President was aping the ways of the New Order regime. "Unfortunately, Gus Dur's government is joining New Order politics," said Irianto.

This could be seen from legislation produced during Gus Dur's term in office, such as legislation on human rights trials, anti corruption measures or controversial People's Consultative Assembly Decree which maintains a military presence in the House and Assembly.

These pieces of legislation were deeply flawed and actually functioned to protect those implicated in crimes against humanity and the state.

The LBH Jakarta also pointed out that the Attorney General was largely to blame for the poor state of the law in Indonesia because, when prosecutions were attempted, they had failed in almost all instances, such as the prosecution of Suharto and his youngest son `Tommy' for corruption and numerous human rights cases.

The selection of a new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court had also been politicised to the point where the President refused to appoint one of the two candidates proposed by the House because of the candidates' links to the New Order regime.

Predictions for 2001

LBH predicts that upholding the law and promoting human rights, democracy and reconciliation will suffer further setbacks in the new year, particularly if the government continues to use a repressive approach to maintaining security, law and order.

"Democracy will also be obstructed if citizen's rights are not protected by law," said Irianto. As for the economic recovery, LBH advises the government not comply with guidelines proscribed by the IMF and World Bank which only sacrifice the already impoverished workers, farmers and destitute.

Therefore, LBH has urged the government and House to ratify the international convention on economy, culture, and social rights. In addition, the government needs to ratify UN General Assembly resolution No. 2200 dated 16 December 1966 and international convention on civil rights and politics as a stipulation of positive law.

Throughout 2000 alone, LBH Jakarta has taken in 20,252 clients from 1026 cases: there are 371 labour cases, 232 civil and political cases, 186 urban poor cases and 237 special cases. Special cases include gender and 11 childrens' rights cases. In comparison to 1999, cases handled by LBH throughout 2000 have actually decreased.

Wahid overshadowed by old regime

Vaudine England, Jakarta -- President Abdurrahman Wahid has failed to fulfil his promise to protect human rights and re mains hobbled by a reactionary old guard left over from the disgraced Suharto regime. The criticism comes in a year-end report by the Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy (Elsham), which awarded Mr Wahid low marks for his efforts.

The President has shown disappointing leadership, especially on human rights issues, and remains hobbled by a politicised military and the rich, reactionary old guard left in place by former president Suharto, said Elsham director Ifdhal Kasim.

"The performance of the Government and legislature in regards to human rights in the year 2000 has been disappointing," Mr Kasim said. "Therefore, we urge the Government to draw a clear distinction with the old regime.

"It's as if the current Government has become the captive of the old regime because they are forced to continually compromise with the forces of the old regime." He said these forces included the second most powerful party in parliament, Golkar, and the military elite.

Instead of being addressed, human rights violations were being used as tools in political negotiations between Indonesia and the outside world, in the case of East Timor, and between Jakarta and secessionist movements in Aceh and Irian Jaya.

Mr Wahid's helplessness, whatever his intentions, is shown by his repeated calls this week to free five independence leaders jailed in the Irian Jaya capital of Jayapura. The security forces are ignoring his orders, dimming hopes of a release before Christmas in the largely Christian province.

The bitterness of the struggle between old and new is even more obvious in the wrangles over who should lead the country's Supreme Court, which, like every court in Indonesia, has long rated badly on honesty and justice.

After months of hearings and so-called "fit and proper" tests, Parliament pared down a list of candidates for Chief Justice to two men, Muladi and Bagir Manan. Mr Muladi was justice minister under Suharto and his chosen successor, Bacharuddin Habibie, while Mr Bagir was an official and administrator with Suharto's political vehicle, Golkar.

Not surprisingly, the President is putting a decision off for as long as possible, although he pointedly installed a deputy chief justice this week. He cannot choose his own man for the top job, but is asking Parliament to give him more choices. "The President is unable to make that decision by himself, but he will make it with the Vice-President," said presidential spokesman Wimar Witoelar.

Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri's party, the largest in Parliament, stormed out of hearings that chose the two men in disgust at the result. But Golkar chief and parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung, who like Mr Muladi was a loyal cabinet minister under Suharto, cannot see the problem.

"I can't understand why Gus Dur [Mr Wahid's nickname] finds it difficult to appoint a Supreme Court chief. If the appointment of the deputy chief of the Supreme Court is not difficult, it should also be easy to appoint the chief justice," he said.

On the broader political scale, Mr Wahid's Government has been forced to compromise with the past by amending the constitution to provide immunity for human rights crimes committed before relevant laws were in place.

Corruption continues to rule the administration of justice, courts continue to throw out cases against the well-connected, and even if sentences are delivered -- such as on Suharto's son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra -- the wrongdoers remain on the loose.

The Muhammadiyah University's Centre of Legal Aid in Yogyakarta has reached the same conclusion, announcing this week that legal reform had yet to be achieved. Its secretary, Iwan Satriawan, said the "court mafia" had made people sceptical about justice in Indonesia.

Dr Timothy Lindsey, of the University of Melbourne law faculty, says Indonesia is one of the worst nations in terms of rule of law. "In fact Indonesia hasn't had rule of law since 1957."

Justice on trial in Indonesia and East Timor

The Indonesian justice system is in crisis as former President Suharto's son, Tommy, is on the run from an 18-month jail term for corruption and notorious militia leader, Eurico Guterres, implicated in crimes against humanity in East Timor, is feted as a national hero. A new law on human rights courts has been passed, but may not be effective in dealing with past crimes. Meanwhile, there is growing concern about the UN's lack of commitment to criminal prosecutions in East Timor.

The new law on human rights courts was passed by the House of Representatives (DPR) on 6 November, just a few days ahead of a UN Security Council mission to Indonesia and East Timor. It was evidently pushed through in an attempt to persuade the international community that Indonesia is capable of handling human rights cases and to undermine demands for an international tribunal on East Timor.

Prosecuting past crimes

Much attention was focused on whether the new law would allow for the trial of those implicated in past rights abuses, particularly those associated with last year's violence in East Timor. A recent constitutional amendment -- Article 28(I) -- granted an amnesty to past abusers by introducing the principle of 'non- retroactivity' into Indonesian law without exception.

Nevertheless, Article 43 of the new law gives the President the power, on the recommendation of the DPR, to set up ad hoc courts to try cases involving past crimes, in apparent contravention of the amendment. Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, insisted that Article 43 would be effective despite the amendment though the reason for his confidence is not immediately clear from the legislation.

An explanatory note appended to the new law argues that because ad hoc courts are for the protection of human rights, the restrictions imposed by the 'non-retroactivity' principle must be waived. In support of this argument, it cites another constitutional amendment -- Article 28(J)(2) -- which reads: 'In executing the rights and freedoms of every person it is necessary to waive any restrictions set forth in law for the sole purpose of guaranteeing the recognition and upholding the rights and freedoms of another person, in the interests of justice and in consideration of moral and religious values, security and public order in a democratic society.'

However, this amendment appears to be capable of waiving restrictions only in ordinary laws, which are subordinate to the Constitution. It is difficult to see how it can restrict another constitutional provision which is absolute in its terms. Article 28(I) reads: 'The right not to be charged on the basis of retroactivity is a basic human right that may not be breached under any circumstances.'

Lawyers acting for military officers accused of crimes in East Timor have already said they will use the non-retroactivity principle to save their clients from prosecution. A further amendment to the Constitution is likely to be needed if past cases are to be successfully prosecuted.

In any event, the highly politicised nature of the process is likely to protect senior officers from prosecution. The Attorney General, Marzuki Darusman, has announced that 22 military and police officers, government officials and militia members accused of human rights violations in East Timor will go on trial in January, but that remains unlikely so long as the military faction and its political allies in Parliament are involved in the decision to set up ad hoc courts, as provided for under the new law. TAPOL has already argued that this should be a judicial process and that decisions on whether to pursue past abusers should not be taken by politicians. The same applies to the appointment of personnel involved in the inquiry, investigation and prosecutions phases, which is also open to political interference under the new law.

It has been suggested by Asmara Nababan, the Secretary-General of the National Commission on Human Right (Komnas HAM), in response to a request for an inquiry into the 1965/66 killings, that Komnas HAM will not in future be able to set up inquiry teams to investigate past atrocities without a request by the DPR to the Government (Kompas, 21 November 2000).

TAPOL would question whether the new law goes this far. There appears to be nothing in the new law which requires the DPR to request an inquiry. The DPR has to recommend the setting up of an ad hoc court to hear a case of gross violations, but Komnas HAM is responsible for carrying out the initial inquiry. The law specifically states that the purpose of an inquiry is 'to identify the existence or otherwise of an incident suspected to constitute a gross violation of human rights...' (Article 1(5)). Unless an incident has been identifiedas a gross violation by a Komnas HAM inquiry, the DPR has no apparent authority to intervene.

In any event, it is difficult to see how the DPR could make an objective and properly-informed decision on whether to set up an ad hoc court without the findings of prior inquiry by Komnas HAM (and a subsequent investigation by the Attorney General as required by the law). It would be extremely regrettable if the DPR were to assume an effective veto over any inquiry into past violations.

Improvements don't go far enough

Otherwise, the DPR appears to have taken account of comments on the draft law made by TAPOL and other NGOs. Some welcome improvements have been made, but the law retains several defects. In particular, the DPR has taken the extremely regressive step of adding the death penalty as a possible sentence for certain crimes. It goes without saying that the death penalty must have no place in human rights legislation.

The new law includes an improved definition of 'gross violations of human rights'. There is now a requirement that crimes against humanity must be committed as part of a 'broad or systematic, direct attack on civilians'. In the explanatory notes to the law, a 'direct attack on civilians' is defined as 'an action taken against civilians in follow up of a policy of an authority or policy related to an organisation'. In theory, this should lessen the danger of crimes being passed off as ordinary crimes committed by soldiers and junior officers and increase the likelihood of investigations exposing the responsibility of senior officers and officials for rights violations. The definition of crimes against humanity now broadly follows that in the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court ('the Rome Statute'), as does the definition of command responsibility. The fact that the DPR has followed international standards set out in the Rome Statute is encouraging.

The law includes new provisions on arrest and detention. These would appear to allow for a maximum period of 120 days (90 days for the investigation phase and 30 days for the prosecution phase) before a detainee is brought before a judge. In its 1999 report on Indonesia, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions noted that such delays were inconsistent with the right to a fair trial. However, another impediment to a fair trial, which would have allowed courts to conduct a trial in the absence of the accused, has been removed.

Despite these technical changes to the law, the process of bringing perpetrators of past human rights violations to justice is still dependent on a deeply flawed judicial system.

A complete overhaul will be required to ensure that professional, independent and impartial legal personnel are available to carry investigations, prosecutions and trials.

An example of the problems inherent in the current system is revealed in a report presented to the UN Security Council mission by a group of NGOs in West Timor. They allege that those arrested by the Indonesian police for the murder of three UNHCR workers in Atambua [see TAPOL Bulletin, No. 159, Aug/Sept 2000, p. 16] are 'stand-ins' and that the police have failed to interview a key witness who could provide evidence as to the identity of the real perpetrators.

The necessary changes to the justice system will take many years to complete. In the meantime, the arguments in favour of an international tribunal for East Timor remain irrefutable notwithstanding the passing of the new law.

UNTAET fails to fulfil its justice mandate

The demand for an international tribunal was repeated by the East Timor NGO Forum during its meeting in Dili with the Security Council mission on 13 November. The NGO Forum is alarmed that the prosecutor for serious crimes recently announced he has had to abandon plans to investigate the ten most serious crimes last year and confine his attention to just four cases due to a lack of resources. Without an international tribunal, there is little prospect that the chief perpetrators will face trial, the Forum says.

It cites the April 2000 memorandum of understanding between UNTAET and Indonesia regarding co- operation in legal, judicial and human rights-related matters, and points out that no transfer of suspects between jurisdictions have taken place as allowed for under the memorandum and none is expected.

The continuing delays in conducting exhumations and investigations are likely to result in evidence being lost, destroyed, damaged or becoming unreliable with the result that successful prosecutions will be impossible. Already UNTAET has been forced to release suspects who have confessed to murder and rape because of a lack of resources to pursue investigations.

The NGO Forum concludes that UNTAET, by not providing sufficient resources for investigations, is failing to carry out its mandate to bring to justice those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The problem appears to be not a lack of money, but the way in which UN money is allocated. The special crimes unit is run by the shadow East Timor government known as the East Timor Transitional Administration (ETTA) which is under-funded and under-staffed, lacking basic necessities, such as interpreters, transport and computers. Meanwhile the resources available for reconciliation and a possible truth and reconciliation commission, which come under the general UNTAET budget, are much greater.

A British police officer said: 'The majority of staff came here on the understanding that they would be investigating serious crimes to prosecute those responsible for attacks last year. While we accept that there is always going to be competing interests for resources, we are surprised that we have been here for six months and still, on a daily basis, we are fighting for basic equipment in order to function...we've had to beg steal and borrow anything we can do to ensure we finish the work.' [South China Morning Post, 14 November 2000]

While the NGO Forum also seeks reconciliation, it argues that bringing the perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity to justice is an essential element of reconciliation. It calls on the Security Council to instruct UNTAET to reallocate substantial resources to criminal investigations. TAPOL fully supports the NGO Forum in this demand.

Pram says no reconciliation possible

Christine T. Tjandraningsih, Jakarta -- Despite offers of reconciliation from Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer, who spent 14 years in prison under the repressive Suharto regime for "communist activities," said Tuesday reconciliation is impossible.

"I don't know what kind of reconciliation it could be, because everyone [accused as communist] in 1965 was slaughtered," Pramoedya said. "How do you reconcile with already-slaughtered people?" he asked.

The writer made the remarks during a press conference to mark the launch of his book "Tales from Djakarta," a collection of 13 short stories he wrote between 1948 and 1956.

"For those, who were not murdered, like me, [the government] took away our rights of freedom," Pramoedya said. "All of my belongings -- my manuscripts, my books, my works -- were taken from me and have never been returned. Even, the ban on my books has never been revoked by the three last presidents."

Pramoedya's books were banned by Suharto, whose regime believed him to be involved with the People's Cultural Institution (Lekra), a pro-communist group of writers and literary critics who launched a campaign in the 1960s against those whose views did not conform with theirs.

According to Pramoedya, based on the historical process he has pursued, the authorities have never changed, spreading rot throughout the country. "The source of that is bureaucracy ... that is clearly described in my book," he said.

Pramoedya said people continue to ask him why the short stories he wrote all have a minor tone. "When I was writing those stories, I didn't realize [my pessimism], but now history tells me why," he said.

"During the national revolution [in the early 1940s], nobody thought to put social life back into order. It leaves the power continually in the hands of aristocratic families who are the products of a marriage between colonialism and feudalism," he said.

Ordinary people, he added, remain under the exploitation of the aristocratic families who were created by the Dutch colonialists and as has been going on for so long it is difficult to end it.

During the press conference, Pramoedya also said he has decided to stop writing because of health problems. "My memory is getting weak and there is no medicine for these problems ... maybe because I've become very old," the 75-year-old novelist said.

But when asked if he will keep his leftist ideology, he answered, "I was educated by a leftist family, meaning a family that is on the side of little people. It is a matter of politics, not a matter of ideology, but of education."

Pramoedya was arrested in 1965 and held at the Salemba detention center in Central Jakarta and interned at a penal camp on Buru Island in eastern Indonesia for 10 years following an abortive coup blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party the same year.

The recipient of the Grand Prize at the 11th Fukuoka Asian Culture Prizes 2000 was released in 1979, but many of his works were banned in Indonesia because of what the government saw as a tolerance of communism and Marxism.

Indonesians have only been able to read them since B.J. Habibie took over from Suharto in May 1998. The books have become available even though Habibie did not officially revoke the ban.

The eldest of nine children of a teacher in Blora, a town on the northern coast of Central Java, Pramoedya fled for Jakarta when Japanese troops marched into the town in World War II.

When the nationalists declared independence in 1945, he joined the People's Militia to fight the Dutch but was caught in a police sweep and spent most of the next two years in Bukit Duri, a Dutch prison camp in East Jakarta.

It was during this first prison stint that he wrote his early novel "Perburuan" (The Fugitive), the story of 24 hours in the life of a guerrilla fighting the Japanese.

His other books include "Keluarga Gerilya" (Guerrilla Family), "Gadis Pantai" (The Girl from the Coast) and "Bumi Manusia"(This Earth of Mankind).

"Tales from Djakarta" was first published in 1963 in Indonesian and in 1999 as a scholarly journal by Cornell University. The Tuesday launch is the first time the stories are made generally available in English.

Suharto's daughter found guilty on firearms charge

Jakarta -- The youngest daughter of former Indonesian leader Suharto was sentenced yesterday to a 10-day suspended jail term for failing to report the loss of a pistol.

Siti Hutami Endang Adiningsih, 35, admitted the weapon had gone missing in October, said Mr Juan Felix Tampubolon, the Suharto family's chief lawyer. The verdict further dents the already- battered image of the family.

Adiningsih, commonly known as Mamiek, is the third member of the clan to be convicted of a criminal offence in recent months. Her brother, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, has been on the run for over six weeks, evading an 18-month prison sentence for corruption. Mr Suharto's granddaughter-in-law, Maya, is also serving an eight-month jail term for possessing narcotics.

The former strongman himself is accused of stealing at least US$583 million (S$1 billion) of state funds. A graft trial against him in September was abandoned , but an appeals court has ordered the resumption of the trial.
 

News & issues

Suharto son's passport canceled

Jakarta -- Authorities have canceled the passport of the fugitive son of former President Suharto to prevent him from fleeing Indonesia, officials said Friday.

Moelyohardjo, a spokesman for the state prosecutor's office, said the attorney general ordered the action against Hutomo Mandala Putro, also known as Tommy Suharto. He has been on the run for nearly two months, evading an 18-month prison sentence for corruption.

Suharto ruled the country for three decades until his ouster in 1998. Suharto -- who like many Indonesians uses one name -- is himself accused of stealing millions of dollars in government money to bankroll businesses controlled by his allies and children.

Earlier this year, a court abandoned his corruption trial after doctors said he was too sick to face prosecution. An appeals court has ordered the trial resumed in the new year.

Police accused of allowing nightspot raids and vigilantism

Jakarta -- Muslim youth leaders on Friday joined a plea by lawyers and rights advocates for police to stop allowing violent vigilante raids on Indonesian nightspots in the name of Islam go unpunished.

"Violence, in any name, is nothing but intentional destruction," Imam Addaruqudni, head of the 30-million strong Muhammadiyah youth wing, told a joint media conference here.

The heads of Ansor, the youth section of the 40-million-member Nahdlatul Ulama organisation and the Indonesian Islamic Students Union joined Addaruqudni and the head of Muhammadiyah's Adolescent Corps in condemning the groups' actions.

Since early this year, gangs of young Muslim men, some from the Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI), have been raiding nightclubs and bars in and around Jakarta, beating up patrons, smashing beer signs, and attacking women they accuse of prostitution.

In recent months the attacks have spread to other towns in Java, including the sleepy city of Solo, and included robbery of patrons' wallets and mobile phones.

"These actions can in no way be tolerated and amount to criminal deeds, even though they are camouflaged with religious attributes and symbols," the Muslim youth leaders said in a joint statement with lawyers and rights advocates.

Police have taken little action, apart from reportedly shooting at the wheels of a truck carrying FPI members, and a public condmnation issued last week by the national police spokesman, Brigadier General Saleh Saaf.

"The police have not taken any firm action," Hendardi, a leading human rights lawyer, said. "This is resulting in suspicion among the people that maybe police and the military are behind it and directing it."

Hendardi said the national chief of police should be sacked if officers could not carry out their law-enforcement functions. He said the raids, which he described as vandalism, had been going unpunished all year long. "If police keep allowing vandalism, it's just the same as allowing human rights violations."

Imam Addaruqudni said the attacks, even in the name of religion, were "a violation of property rights, and amount to personal attacks."

In their joint statement, the Muslim leaders, Hendardi and other lawyers warned that allowing the vandalism would lead to wider conflicts. "Police must make serious efforts to prevent all possibilities which could lead to inter-communal conflict," the statement read. It's important to remember that the deadly Muslim-Christian conflict in Indonesia's Maluku islands had resulted from, among other factors, the failure of police to deal with provocative actions."

Israel and US flags torched in six cities

Jakarta -- Hundreds of Muslims burned Israeli and US flags in a spate of pro-Palestinian protests in six Indonesian cities including the capital yesterday, witnesses and the state Antara news agency said.

In Jakarta, some 200 Muslim students staged running protests outside the US embassy and at the United Nations headquarters here, burning flags at both places. They urged Indonesian Muslims to boycott all things American -- including Coca Cola, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Ford cars, Levi's jeans and Marlboro cigarettes.

In Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, 300 demonstrators carried posters denouncing what they called 'American double standards' and Israeli 'brutality' against Palestinians, Antara said.

Jakarta cafes hire guards for New Year

Jakarta -- Managers and owners of major cafes and entertainment venues in the Indonesian capital have hired guards to safeguard their businesses on New Year's Eve in anticipation of possible attacks by Muslim groups.

Police have promised to provide extra protection for planned New Year's Eve parties by most of Jakarta's major cafes and nightspots, deploying 4,000 more officers than usual.

But owners still do not feel secure. The owner of one well-known night club, who preferred not to be named, said: "I'm mobilising all the usual neighbourhood boys. If they come round, we'll be ready," he added, referring to Muslim extremists, thugs and extortionists.

As Christmas, the Muslim Eid-Al-Fitr and New Year all fall in close succession during the next 10 days, police said they were taking no chances, with officers prepared to "shoot troublemakers on sight".

Jakarta police spokesman Superintendent Anton Bachrul Alam said: "We have prepared a special operation to secure traffic and public safety for both Christmas and Eid, deploying 14,949 men across Jakarta and its three suburbs."

Meanwhile, bar owners have promised nothing would be allowed to spoil the fun on December 31, when Jakarta's residents usually take to the streets in their thousands, hailing the New Year with car horns, drums and anything else that makes a deafening noise.

Several cafe managers also said they would inform residents living in their neighbourhoods about their parties. A public- relations officer for one cafe said: "We have to ask for permission from the locals as we have always done. It's important and only polite to let everybody know what we are organising."

This month, members of the militant Islamic Defenders Front and extortionist thugs launched scores of late-night raids on local discotheques, bars, cafes and games arcades in and around the capital.

They attacked staff, smashed windows and destroyed liquor, causing losses of hundreds of millions of rupiah. In one case they beat to death a youth who was trying to protect three alleged prostitutes from having their heads shaved.

Government will dissolve Kamra despite threat of protest

Jakarta -- Despite facing threats of violent protest, the government will continue with its plan to dissolve the civilian guards of the People's Security (Kamra) on Wednesday. "Due to the National Police's tight agenda for its year-end activities, Kamra will officially be dissolved tomorrow (Wednesday)," spokesman for the Ministry of Defense for foreign cooperation Commodore A.F.M. Kamto Soetirto told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

"By the end of this year, the police are supposed to concentrate only on securing the two religious holidays, Christmas and Idul Fitri," he said.

Kamto said the ceremony to dissolve Kamra will be held at each city police or police precinct and will be presided over by each city police chief and the police precinct chief, respectively.

"During the ceremony, we [government] will give them [Kamra members] certificates of service and compensation," he said. He, however, declined to mention the amount of the compensation. The government had earlier promised to give compensation to about 36,000 Kamra, which is equivalent to a Kamra member's four months salary.

Each Kamra member was paid Rp 200,000 (US$21) per month last year. Their salary was increased to Rp 250,000 per month this year.

Kamra was established in 1998 based on the Law No. 56/1998 for civilian militia. The government initially recruited 41,000 Kamra members, but the number has decreased due to desertion, dismissal and various other reasons.

The 1998 Law stipulates that Kamra members will serve for one year, with maximum extension period of one year. Their service will end on December 31, 2000.

The Jakarta administration, which houses a total 12,000 Kamra members, has announced that it had found jobs for 8,000 Kamra members, some 2,500 of whom will be employed by the administration as city public order officials and the remaining 5,500 by private companies, such as PT Astra Motors, with positions as security guards. Meanwhile, the fate of the remaining 4,000 Kamra members in the capital remains uncertain.

Kamto suggested that any Kamra members seeking positions in the Indonesian Military (TNI) or the National Police, should wait until June or July next year. "TNI has a fixed recruitment period, between June and July each year. If only TNI was to recruit Kamra members, then probably only 10 of them would meet the requirements," he said.

Earlier on Monday, the Kamra members threatened to run amok if the government does not give assurances about their future in the next three days.

Chief of Kamra's Surakarta, Central Java, detachment P.D. Prihanto, who led about 1,000 Kamra in a rally from the Jakarta Police Headquarters to the House of Representatives (DPR) building on Tuesday, separately said that Kamra members were demanding assurances that their future would be secure.

"We do not care about the certificates, or anything else. We only ask the government to keep its promise and gain entry for us into the National Police, the TNI, or government offices," Prihanto said.

He accused the government of talking nonsense when it said that it had jobs for the Kamra members. "PT Astra has set requirements which are higher than the ones needed to join the Military Academy (Akabri), while none of our members from Jakarta have been employed by the Jakarta administration," Prihanto said.

Most of the Kamra members are only elementary school graduates. They were trained for only 11 days prior to being recruited to help the police maintain nationwide order and security.

Prihanto also noted that Kamra members did not sign a working contract with the government when they joined to help the police force.
 

International relations

Under the gun, Indonesians pin hopes on Bush

Hamish McDonald -- The Indonesian Government is hoping the new administration of George W. Bush will quickly end the American arms embargo that threatens to cripple its armed forces.

It also hopes for an end to the public criticism of its approach to militia violence in Timor and other human rights questions by the United States ambassador in Jakarta, Mr Robert Gelbard.

In fact, some senior Indonesian leaders say they hope Mr Bush will put an early finish to Mr Gelbard's term as Ambassador. "We would ask for Ambassador Gelbard to be pulled out," said the chairman of the Indonesian parliament's foreign affairs committee, Mr Yasril Ananta Baharuddin.

Mr Gelbard, a Clinton appointee whose previous postings had him dealing with the Balkan nations and illicit drug-producing countries in Latin America, has not made subtlety a hallmark of his diplomacy.

After the mob murder of three United Nations workers in Atambua, West Timor, in September, he had an open slanging match with the Indonesian Defence Minister, Mr Mohamad Mahfud, who had accused the US of interference.

Since the Timor crisis last year, the Clinton Administration has refused clearance for military exports to Indonesia, threatening to ground the largely US-equipped Indonesian air force within months.

Since Mr Bush's victory was confirmed last week, Indonesian ministers and key parliamentary leaders have expressed the hope that a change of personalities will sweep aside these problems.

"Basically Indonesia and the US have a good relationship," Mr Mahfud said. "Problems that arise are merely caused by the attitude of officials."

Expressing a hope that the arms embargo would be lifted, Mr Mahfud said: "I hope that the US Government can see that we are seriously handling the problems in Atambua, Maluku and other places. Therefore I wish the embargo to be stopped."

The Foreign Minister, Mr Alwi Shihab, said President Abdurrahman Wahid's Government hoped Mr Bush would help Indonesia move faster with democratic reform "but more subtlety than the Democrats".

The parliament's Speaker, Mr Akbar Tandjung, said the Republicans were more oriented towards economic development and less inclined to meddle in other countries' internal affairs. The Indonesian establishment draws hope from the return to office of what one Jakarta analyst called the Republican "securocrats".

Mr Yasril said the mooted appointment as US defence secretary of Mr Paul Wolfowitz, who was Ambassador in Jakarta during the Soeharto years, raised hope of an end to the embargo.

But Dr Kusnanto Anggoro, a researcher with Jakarta's Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said the Bush presidency would present Jakarta with some new strictures as well as easing political pressures.

"The White House may be more tolerant of a slower pace of political, bureaucratic and economic reform," he wrote in the Jakarta Post, "but more hostile towards such nationalist ideas as forging closer security and/or defence co-operations with China and India."
 

Economy & investment

Market needs strong government policies next year

Jakarta -- Indonesian shares, which dropped 1.7 percent in value in the last trading week of the year and around 35 percent for the year, will need a strong breakthrough and sound government economic policies to attract players next year, analysts said Friday. "For the first half of next year, the market in general is not going to get better," Vickers Ballas Tamara analyst Mar Sangap told AFP.

"We need a breakthrough as well a sound and real economic policy from the government." For the first three trading months of 2001, the market would probably still be "strongly influenced by political issues," Sangap said.

"We have problems of separatist movements in Aceh and Irian Jaya, not to mention assurances whether or not President Abdurrahman Wahid is still capable of leading the country," he added. The market did not expect "much positive news" for 2001, Sangap said, though there "might still be an upside."

"We've heard that the United States is planning to lower their interest rate to maintain economic growth. This might have a positive impact for Southeast Asia's exports and also for Indonesia, even if we're not a major player to the US," he said.

The Jakarta Stock Exchange composite index lost 7.363 points over the week to close at 416.321 on Friday. Daily turnover averaged 293.28 million shares at an average value of 17.82 million dollars, compared with the previous week's average of 368.7 million shares worth 37.03 million dollars. The rupiah closed the week at around 9,340-9,360 to the dollar, up marginally from its previous week's rate of 9,370-9,375.

A dealer at a local brokerage said sentiment in the stock market was basically weak on the last trading day of the year, Friday -- the market reopens on January 2 -- even though the index closed marginally higher.

"This may be the worst ever last day of trading [for the year] I have seen. Nobody wants to support their stock," he said. "If you look at the large stocks index [the LQ-45] ... it closed lower but the [composite] index was higher, mainly driven by Telkom," he said.

Telkom dropped 75 rupiah over the week to close at 2,050 while Indosat lost 200 to close at 9,000 rupiah. Cigarette maker Sampoerna lost 700 to end the week at 14,900 while rival Gudang Garam also lost 950 to close at 13,000.

Bank battles

Sadanand Dhume, Jakarta -- Whoever thinks central banks are dull and stodgy probably hasn't been to Indonesia recently. Take, for instance, the latest drama to be enacted in Jakarta's corridors of power. On December 6, Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin strode back into his office after nearly six months of house arrest on unproven corruption charges. His purpose: to retake control of the country's most important financial institution.

Meanwhile, President Abdurrahman Wahid has virtually declared war on Sabirin and is pushing for new legislation that will make it easier to fire him. A law passed during the presidency of Wahid's predecessor, B.J. Habibie, has protected the governor because it guarantees the central bank's independence. It allows for his dismissal only on conviction of a crime or for proven incompetence. However, critics of the law say it was pushed through in haste and has made the bank unaccountable for its actions.

Not wanting to be left behind, Indonesia's political parties are jostling for the spoils, which could include the governorship, deputy-governorship and seats on the bank's board. Parliament's 10 different factions, debating the government bill by committee, want to make the bank more accountable -- to them. Their proposals include requiring the bank to report before parliament on an annual or monthly basis.

The political reasons for wanting to control Bank Indonesia are obvious. In a country where tens of millions are poor, the ability to control inflation can have direct political consequences. Plus, the bank's supervisory role makes it a powerful source of patronage.

Commentators say parties are starved of funds and the ill health of the private sector makes public institutions such as Bank Indonesia and the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency important as sources of party war chests.

Making the bank accountable

In some ways, the tussle over the future of Bank Indonesia represents a familiar puzzle: how to make a central bank accountable to elected officials, yet independent enough to make its decisions for economic rather than political reasons. But it also highlights some of the problems Indonesia faces as it attempts to revive an economy still reeling from the effects of 1997's meltdown -- public institutions in disarray, policies routinely attacked by political-conspiracy theorists and falling overseas confidence in Wahid's young government.

"The right answer for Indonesia would be a central bank with a board made up of strictly independent professionals who are honest, dedicated people," says a Jakarta-based international banker. "That probably won't happen. It will be a combination of the good people and people tainted by corruption and politics." Ironically, Bank Indonesia was considered one of the better-run institutions during the long tenure of President Suharto. Though it took orders from the president, the bank was conservatively run. From the late 1970s until the mid-1990s it helped keep inflation low, real interest rates stable and the money supply in check, notes Umar Juoro, head of Jakarta's Centre for Information and Development Studies.

The problems at Bank Indonesia started during the mid-1990s as it relaxed supervision standards amid the country's financial liberalization. The bank began to act as a virtual ATM machine for the politically well-connected, including Suharto's children. Last year, Indonesia's Supreme Audit Agency discovered the misuse of about 85 trillion rupiah, part of the staggering 144.5 trillion rupiah ($15 billion) in emergency relief provided by Bank Indonesia to banks between 1997 and early 1999.

So far, it appears that Indonesia's major parties are behind the bid to tighten the legislature's grip on Bank Indonesia. Golkar Party member Daryatmo Mardiyanto says the new law will ensure that the House of Representatives "controls the bank -- not to change independence, but to make it accountable for the public."

But Juoro, the economist, isn't so sanguine. He says the parties have one eye on raising cash for elections in 2004. He likens this consensus to the back-room brokering that elevated Wahid to the presidency. "Underlying this support for a new law is that, 'We support the legislature's influence, as long as we also get a share,'" he says. "But economically speaking, who pays the costs? They go to the public as always."

IMF waiting for amendment of central bank law

Jakarta -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will disburse its next loan tranche to Indonesia only after the House of Representatives completes a crucial amendment of the central bank law, Minister of Finance Prijadi Praptosuhardjo said on Tuesday.

Prijadi said a credible central bank law was crucial to maintain investor and market confidence in the economy. "They [the IMF] want to see the amendment completed first," he said on the sidelines of a gathering to mark the breaking of the fast with journalists at his house. Prijadi added that the IMF was ready to provide its expertise and knowledge about central bank legislation if the House wanted some input.

The IMF was supposed to disburse a US$400 million loan to the country at the end of this month, but it decided last week to delay it until February or March next year. There was no explanation from the fund.

The fund promised in January this year to provide a $5 billion loan to the administration of President Abdurrahman Wahid to help finance the country's three-year economic reform program.

The House is deliberating government-proposed amendments to the central bank law. Critics have said the amendments were aimed mainly at making it easier for the government to meddle with Bank Indonesia, including replacing its board of governors, especially incumbent governor Sjahril Sabirin, who has fallen out of President Abdurrahman's favor. Abdurrahman has been calling on Sjahril to resign since February.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Rizal Ramli has, however, repeatedly argued that the delay in the IMF loan disbursement had nothing to do with the government's performance regarding its reform measures. Rizal instead blamed the delay on technical matters related to a "scheduling" problem or the itineraries of the IMF executive board in Washington.

Rizal pointed out that discussions between the government and the IMF review team on the economic reform program could not be implemented as scheduled due to year-end holidays. The IMF normally disburses its loan once it has completed a review of the government economic reform program. Reports have said the delay in the IMF loan was linked to the government's failure in implementing key economic programs.

The IMF has been irked by the recent delay in the key sale of government ownership in Bank Central Asia and Bank Niaga. The government was supposed to sell the two banks late this year but it decided to delay until the first quarter of next year.

The IMF has also expressed concern over the risk in the implementation of the regional autonomy and fiscal decentralization policy in January 2001.

The IMF has demanded the government to issue a special ruling to ensure that provinces and regencies do not jump into a borrowing spree once the autonomy policy is implemented.

Prijadi said the delay in the IMF loan would not seriously affect the economy because it was basically a second line of defense for its international reserves and the delay would only be for a couple of months. Prijadi stressed the government remained committed to implementing the various economic reform programs agreed with the IMF.

He said he had promised the IMF that the government would accelerate the disposal of various banking assets under the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) and the privatization of state companies.

Prijadi said eight state-owned enterprises were in the pipeline for privatization next year to raise Rp 6.5 trillion for the state budget. He added that the companies to be privatized included pharmaceutical companies PT Indo Farma, PT Kimia Farma, surveyor company firm PT Sucofindo, airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II and several plantation firms.

A comedy of errors

Warren Caragata, Jakarta -- Syahril Sabirin is back at work after six months away, and there's something of a celebration on. Jacket tossed over his shoulder, Indonesia's mild-mannered banking chief wades through a crowd of central bank employees welcoming him back like some dear uncle. The odd thing is, he's just spent half a year under house arrest, on charges of corruption. But Sabirin is among supporters now. He speaks of the need to rebuild staff morale and clear his name. The government still aims to bring Sabirin to court over a scandal involving $80 million in commissions paid by Bank Bali to a firm linked to Golkar, the former ruling party. Allegedly in exchange for the money, funds were released to Bank Bali with central bank approval. "It's a soap opera," sniffs a senior state official, shocked by Sabirin's return. "A farce," adds another.

It would all be funny -- if it weren't for real. In fact, Bank Indonesia has joined the hated military, the bungling police and a government adrift in the gallery of faltering national entities. "This is just one more example of the institutional vacuum," says Robert Broadfoot, managing director of the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy. Sabirin's woes are not the central bank's only problem by a longshot. Recently, all but two central bank governors resigned after the Supreme Audit Agency reported that during the financial crisis, nearly $9 billion in emergency loans to private-sector banks, many controlled by Suharto cronies, were diverted to unauthorized spending and lending (see table below). Little of the money is likely to ever be recovered.

Can Indonesia's currency and economy survive the foibles at the central bank? So far, the rupiah isn't collapsing, though it's down 25% from its 2000 high.

Analysts blame political troubles and the yearend rush for dollars to pay foreign loans. Bank Indonesia has been raising interest rates to prop up the currency, with success. But Rebecca Patterson, vice-president for emerging-market currencies at J.P. Morgan in Singapore, warns that central bank problems could eventually undermine the rupiah. "It adds up," she says.

"Stability in central banks is something investors like to see." Sri Mulyani, former deputy head of the now-defunct economic advisory council, says if problems are not solved in a month, "I am very, very nervous."

Bank Indonesia staffers insist business is normal despite the crisis. The impact on operations is "minimal," contends deputy governor Miranda Goeltom. Really? Many officials are in fact reluctant to make major decisions. At least one issue will soon demand action: a growing cash problem at Bank Mandiri, the state-owned behemoth cobbled together from four government lenders. Aditya Wardhana, a bank analyst at Trimegah Securities, explains that state pension funds and insurance companies complied with limits on deposits in any one bank by dividing the money among several. But with the merger of the four state lenders, those deposits have been combined into Bank Mandiri -- and now exceed the ceiling for a single institution.

The government can't do much to clean up the central bank because of a law passed last year that grants the institution independence. Parliament now plans to trim that independence, and bank employees are protesting the move.

Many of the 6,000 staff see Sabirin as a hero seeking to preserve its freedom from political meddling. "Everybody believes he is a man of integrity," claims Goeltom. Adds a central bank employee: "He is like a prophet to us." Even independent economist Mulyani agrees that the principle of central bank independence is important: she argues that Sabirin should hang tough for at least the next few months and fight to keep the bank independent. Appointed in the final days of Suharto's rule in 1998, US- educated Sabirin has always denied involvement in the Bank Bali anomaly. He sees it instead as a government plot to replace him with someone less assertive.

But Bank Indonesia's bosses also have lots to explain, particularly the loans to troubled banks. At today's exchange rates, they total $17.2 billion. The Supreme Audit Agency estimates that as much as 95% of the money may never be repaid. It blames Bank Indonesia for failing to track it. Much of the money went to banks controlled by Suharto cronies, and 59% was misspent, says the agency. The government and the central bank have been trying to push the deficit onto each other's books. If they were all charged to the bank, it would go bankrupt.

Last month, Bank Indonesia agreed to absorb some liabilities, and the government pledged fresh capital. Then the five governors quit, including acting chairman Anwar Nasution, to clear the way for new leadership and thorough house cleaning. But changes to banking legislation and the naming of a new board have been delayed. The amendment process may now take until February. While the resigned governors are holding the fort until replacements arrive, they have little incentive to do much more than keep their seats warm. "There are no people in charge, even though they are in their offices," says analyst Aditya.

Meanwhile, outsiders are angling for central-bank clout. Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the largest force in Parliament, wants to nominate two of its high-profile legislators, former Wahid ministers Laksamana Sukardi and Kwik Kian Gee, as governors. With their financial experience, they are likely to push for more transparency and accountability. Jakarta has also proposed that cabinet ministers be able to observe meetings of the bank board. IMF country manager John Dodsworth wants to see Bank Indonesia maintain its independence. Most people, though, would be relieved if the central bank just maintained its balance.

Expensive diversions

Highlights of Supreme Audit Agency's report on emergency loans to troubled commercial banks during the financial crisis

• Total loans: $17.2 billion
• Loans to private-sector banks: $15.1 billion
• Allegedly diverted: $8.9 billion

• Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia: Controlled by agribusinessman and tiremaker Syamsul Nursalim Total loans: $3.87 billion Allegedly misused: $2.56 billion Main uses for diverted funds: Derivatives ($967m.), new loans ($898m.), money market ($469m.)
• Bank Central Asia: Controlled by food and cement king Liem Sioe Liong Total loans: $2.78 billion Allegedly misused: $1.66 billion Main uses for diverted funds: Loan repayment to related firms ($1.1b.), new loans ($270m.), derivatives ($167m.)
• Bank Umum Nasional: Controlled by timber tycoon Mohamed Bob Hasan Total loans: $1.26 billion Allegedly misused: $533 million Main uses for diverted funds: Miscellaneous purposes ($330m.), money market ($146m.)
• Bank Danamon: Controlled by financier and developer Usman Admadjaja Total loans: $2.41 billion Allegedly misused: $1.44 billion Main uses for diverted funds: Derivatives ($980m.), new loans($195m.), money market ($155m.)