• New results re-open Marsinah rape-murder case - Jakarta Post
• Laborers still denied their rights: Pakpahan - Jakarta Post

• Fresh killing erupts in Aceh - South China Morning Post
• Tribute to a proud Acehnese - Inside Indonesia
• At least six killed, eight injured in Aceh violence - Agence France-Presse
• Trial of Aceh activist expected to begin during new truce - South China Morning Post
• Aceh fears onslaught despite truce - South China Morning Post
• Aceh students urge ceasefire between troops and rebels - Agence France-Presse
• Appalling violence with no mercy in jail cells of Irian Jaya - Sydney Morning Herald
• Irianese detained for weapons - Jakarta Post

• Government controlled by IMF: Amien Rais - Jakarta Post
• Megawati scolds wayward PDI-P legislators - Jakarta Post
• Chaos rebuffed - Far Eastern Economic Review
• A chaotic launch of regional autonomy - The Guardian
• Political elite told not to mobilize masses - Jakarta Post
• A survivor but not a leader - Australian Financial Review
• Government, IMF to review new autonomy policy - Jakarta Post
• 41 new decrees on tax and regional autonomy issued - Jakarta Post
• Army Chief: Security comes before politics and economy - Jakarta Post
• Wahid says his government faces no immediate danger - Agence France-Presse
• Power to the people? - Straits Times

• Detention of FKM chief protested - Jakarta Post
• Strangers in our own land - Far Eastern Economic Review
• Three dead in Malaku clashes - Associated Press
• Dozens ransack church in Kalasan - Jakarta Post

• Mass protests in Jakarta likely to fizzle out - Straits Times
• Looking back to move forward - Inside Indonesia
• Police detect bunker under Tommy's home - Straits Times
• KPKPN begins massive audit of state officials - Jakarta Post
• Socialists found committee in Java - Jakarta Post
• Wreckage of missing plane located, all aboard killed - Jakarta Post
• Police trace bomb clues through Jakarta mosque, Singapore, Malaysia - Agence France-Presse

• Kalimantan's peatland disaster - Inside Indonesia
• Suharto's fires - Inside Indoneisa

• Extremists' visit intimidates paper - South China Morning Post
• Pork extract: Islamic body knew long ago - Straits Times

• Asean 'cornerstone' of Jakarta's foreign policy - Straits Times

• Riady scandal won't scare off US investors - South China Morning Post

Murder trial of UNHCR staff begins

Jakarta -- The South Jakarta District Court began on Thursday the trial of six pro-integration East Timorese for the murder of three United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) staff in Atambua, East Nusa Tenggara in September last year.

The panel of judges, presided over by Anak Agung Gde Dalam, divided the defendants in two separate hearings according to their charges.

In the first hearing, Xisto Pareira, Seratin Ximenes and Joao Martin were accused of violating Article 170 of the Criminal Code on violence that results in death, the lawyer for the six defendants Suhardi Somomoelyono told the Jakarta Post. The article carries a maximum sentence of 12 years in jail.

Suhardi said prosecutor Pardan Rachim accused his clients of violent conduct that resulted in the death of the three humanitarian workers, namely, Fero Simundza, Carlos de Seros and Samson Aregafoe, on September 6 last year. The prosecutor said the defendants also burned the bodies of the UNHCR staff.

Pardan also accused the defendants of damaging the UN office located on Jl. Gatot Subroto in Atambua (near the border of East Timor) by throwing stones at the building.

In the second hearing, prosecutor Widodo accused Julius Naesama, Jose Fransisco and Joao Alfred Dacos of violating Article 338 of the Criminal Code by causing the deaths of the three UNHCR staff. The article carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail.

According to Widodo, on September 6, thousands of pro-integration East Timorese while carrying the body of their compatriot Olivio Menduza Moruk to the Belu district council compound in East Nusa Tenggara, decided to head instead to the UNHCR office. Widodo said defendant Julius Naesama rushed into the office and killed two UNHCR' staff, while the other third staff was killed by the other two defendants.

Dozens of East Timorese people living in the capital packed the district court to hear the session on Thursday and they dispersed peacefully after the hearings. Suhardi said he would prepare defenses for his clients as soon as possible. The hearings are adjourned until Tuesday.

Militia leader draws odd crowd

Catharine Munro, Jakarta -- An unlikely gathering of Indonesian rock stars, criminals and retired soldiers yesterday converged on a Jakarta courtroom in support of East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres.

Dressed in his signature military fatigues and the national colors of red and white, Mr Guterres appeared in North Jakarta State Court for the second hearing of his trial amid hundreds of avid supporters.

Mr Guterres, 27, is facing charges of inciting his followers to snatch back weapons immediately after they had been handed over to police during a ceremony in September that was attended by Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Underlining his status as a hero, he was flanked by members of the Young Bulls of Indonesia, the youth wing of Mrs Megawati's highly popular nationalist party.

A coalition called the Front for a Unified Indonesian People, including six nationalist groups with names such as Concerned Artists for East Timor and Children of the Warriors of East Timor, chanted slogans in support of Mr Guterres' release.

"The trial is only lip service, merely to fulfil the target of imprisoning Eurico Guterres, the son of integration," the group declared in a flyer. "This case is political and has no legal or criminal basis."

Well-known female rock singer Renny Djajoesman and the notorious Jakarta criminal who goes by the name of Hercules led the crowd in chants of "Viva Guterres", "Free Guterres".

Inside the court, Mr Guterres' lawyer, Suhardi Somomoeljono, called on the judges to drop all charges against his client. "The charge of the prosecutor is not clear and not accurate," Mr Suhardi told the court.

Militia chief scorns 'sellout' Gusmao

Chris McCall, Jakarta -- Sitting in jail waiting to hear his fate, feared East Timor militia chief Eurico Guterres is accusing his nemesis Xanana Gusmao of selling out his people.

Sarcastically, he accuses the independence hero of trying to turn the former Portuguese colony to his own personal profit, to create "Xanana Oil", a reference to the future nation's main economic asset -- the undersea oilfields in the Timor Sea.

"Xanana's aim for independence is only for personal interests," Guterres said in an interview from Jakarta's Salemba jail. "Now East Timor is wrecked. But he runs angrily to Australia because he has an Australian wife," said Guterres.

"How is that for a national leader? He leaves his legal wife just like that and his children, who are as big as me, and remarries an Australian," he said.

"I think the future of East Timor will be like the second Aborigines, like in Australia. And it has already started to happen. East Timor, if I can say so, will later be like hell on earth. For Xanana, eating rocks doesn't matter, as long as there is independence."

This is a far cry from Mr Gusmao's conciliatory tone. Not long ago, he offered to make Guterres defence minister in a post-UN government, which Mr Gusmao is expected to lead as president. The much younger Guterres, just 26, spurned the offer.

Things have moved on since then. Now Guterres is on trial in Indonesia on incitement charges and faces up to six years in jail if convicted. Ironically, just behind Salemba jail is a small house where Mr Gusmao was once held under house arrest.

In 1999, Guterres was the voice of the integration camp. He was the deputy commander of pro-integration forces and his own Aitarak militia is widely accused of carrying out much of the destruction of Dili in September that year.

Ahead of UN-sanctioned military intervention to stop a wave of violence, he fled with his family to West Timor, where they are still based. Next month he faces questioning by Indonesian investigators on those events. Many people would like to see him tried as a war criminal.

But Guterres is charged with something totally different -- inciting his supporters not to hand in weapons during a disarmament ceremony in West Timor last September, attended by Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri. It is the second criminal case he has faced since fleeing East Timor. An earlier charge of illegal possession of a firearm was thrown out.

Yet Guterres suggests his militia days are about over. Although he has appeared in military fatigues in court, he says he really just wants to get back to his wife and three children. If acquitted, he wants to go back to college and finish his studies in economics and management. Later he might start a business, he says.

"Because of this case of mine, I must be far from my family, especially my wife and children, and to date their fate is not clear. This makes me sad," he said.

"If I as an Indonesian citizen am in the wrong according to the law, I am prepared to be tried and sentenced. Even if it is 100 years I want to do it. Not even that, I want to be hanged, to be killed at once -- if indeed I am proven guilty. But if I am proven not guilty I have to be freed. I will try to find food to feed my family. I have children and a wife who need a future."

Although he expresses mixed feelings about the judges who will decide his fate, he trusts in God. For all that his predicament has not totally cramped his style. With his trademark long locks, rippling biceps and a black vest and trousers, prison life does not seem to be treating Guterres too badly. He still has a mobile phone. He also has his own cell. The prison guards looked relaxed with him, patting him on the back and fondly calling him "commander".

For many Indonesians, Guterres is a hero who risked all to keep East Timor within their country. But he denies he gets any special privileges in jail. "Everyone is the same. The facilities are the same and the service is the same. There is nothing special," he said. "I am fine with them. Although I am East Timorese I must struggle to Indonesianise myself.

"At least they understand me and I understand them. There is a family feeling among us. We watch out for each other."

Racist, cynical, wasteful: how UN workers 'help' Timor

Denis Dragovic, Dili -- For several months I have been watching the United Nations "rescuing" East Timor. The half-term report is not promising.

The UN's overzealous moves into missions where it lacks the experience, internal structural systems, or competent personnel will inevitably and regrettably lead to continuing failure -- and eventual extinction.

The UN mission in East Timor, for example, is fraught with a debilitating patronage system, of personal self-interest, of ignorance and intolerance.

All in all, this makes it a less-than-perfect tool to implement the will of the world's nations and give the Timorese dignity and a future.

The other night I found myself dining with three Dili district administration officers. Soon the all-too-frequent conversational contest began -- who can denigrate the East Timorese people the most.

The comments echoed what I imagine dinner table conversation might have sounded like 100 years ago in Australia: "They have an IQ of a dog -- well, at least I can train my dog", "they don't need electricity because they don't read or wash".

It's no wonder the process of handing over the reins to the Timorese has stalled, considering the attitudes rampant among UN staff. Take the directive requiring "counterparts" for all district administration positions in the hope of transferring decision-making to East Timorese.

Six months after the directive and a year after the international community entered East Timor, there were still no East Timorese in the top district jobs. Only now are a few appearing.

That such attitudes are not the exception but the rule among these "ruling class" elites makes me wonder if the people of East Timor -- or Kosovo and whichever impoverished, war-stricken people look towards the UN next -- deserve better. It's all too often forgotten in the development industry that how you do your job counts just as much as, if not more than, what you do.

My colleagues and I sometimes wonder as we drive by places such as the PX store (tax-free store for UN personnel who, in general, earn 30 times more than their taxpaying East Timorese colleagues) how different it would have been had the money simply been given to the CNRT (National Council of Timorese Resistance). Sure, there might be some misuse of funds, but at least we would be rid of the legitimised corruption we see today.

For every dollar spent by the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) on direct assistance to the East Timorese, 10 more are spent on running its own overheads, a situation that Sergio de Mello, the transitional administrator, described as "frankly absurd".

Even though the funds covering UNTAET's overheads are disproportionately large, its departments and other UN agencies are not paying electrical bills. This has meant a debilitating load on the system, causing blackouts on a regular basis and a backlog of East Timorese residents waiting to have electricity -- but I guess "they don't need electricity because they don't read or wash".

The UN's work throughout the world is critical in determining what sort of world we will live in.

Those who, like myself, aspire to a future where we live as a community of nations, must not fearfully accept the devil we know. We need to question over and over again any failings or shortcomings of the UN. Otherwise the UN will prove its own worst enemy.

[Denis Dragovic is a Dili-based aid worker.]
 

Labour struggle

New results re-open Marsinah rape-murder case

Jakarta -- An Australian-based laboratory has jump-started the 1993 rape-murder case of female labor activist Marsinah as it had found out that the DNA in the blood found at the residence of a former primary defendant in the case matched that of the activist's.

"The DNA in the blood is identical to the DNA extracted from the late Marsinah. That in itself, reopens the case in full force," National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf told reporters on Wednesday. Saleh declined to mention the name of the laboratory, saying that it would be made public should the case reach the courts.

"The laboratory results came in December last year. Accordingly, the police will take the necessary steps, which will most likely include the questioning of the former primary suspect," Saleh said.

Saleh was referring to Judi Susanto, director of an East Java-based watch-making factory and the alleged mastermind of the murder. Judi was released in November 1994 after the East Java High Court overturned his conviction. He had been sentenced to 17 years, the stiffest jail term handed down in the case.

Marsinah was murdered after leading a strike at PT Catur Putra Surya, a watch-making factory in Sidoarjo, East Java. Her badly mutilated body was found on May 9, 1993, in an abandoned shack near Nganjuk, East Java.

A secretary at the company, Mutiari, who was sentenced to seven months in prison by Sidoarjo District Court for allegedly being an accessory to the murder, was also exonerated by the court. She was released from the Medaeng Prison in August 1994 after serving six months.

The other seven defendants, who were released by a Supreme Court ruling in May 1995, were also employees of the company: Yudi Astono (sentenced to four years in jail prior to being exonerated), Bambang Wuryantoyo (12 years), Widayat (12 years), A.S. Prayogi (12 years), Karyono Wongso (13 years), Soewono (12 years) and Soeprapto (12 years). The nine suspects were freed not because they were innocent, but because the prosecution had been wrong from the beginning, then National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Erald Dotulong had said.

"The investigation of the entire case was never held inside a police station, and the case was always handled under the threat of violence from a certain party," Erald said earlier.

Erald said the investigation has, from the beginning, flouted the standard procedures required by Indonesian law, leading to the release of the nine suspects. The East Java Police and the National Police have repeatedly set up special teams to investigate the killing, but to no avail.

Former National Police Chief Gen. Rusdihardjo also faulted the police early last year for not saving Marsinah, who he said was clinging to life when she was found.

"Marsinah shouldn't have died ... Some truck drivers saw her at night in the woods after she had been beaten," Rusdihardjo said in early January, last year. "The truck drivers ran away, frightened by a 'ghost'. One officer contacted the Madiun Police. Precinct officers came ... took one look at her and thought she was mentally ill. They should have helped her.

"She was still alive.They threw her in the back of a Kijang van, driving her through remote areas to the Jombang police precinct. She died there, most likely of excessive blood loss." Rusdihardjo earlier acknowledged that he was one of the investigating officers in the Marsinah case. He personally checked on the Porong Military District Command, which some have speculated was the site of Marsinah's rape and murder.

"There was too much blood everywhere. We were shocked. There was also an operational minivan. It was a box van. There was also blood on the seats." East Java Military Commander Maj. Gen. Sudi Silalahi earlier affirmed that the military would not protect any of its members who were involved in the brutal 1993 murder.

"If we discover any military officers were involved in the murder, we'll summon and question them. We will not obstruct the investigation," Sudi had said.

Laborers still denied their rights: Pakpahan

Jakarta -- Chairman of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI) Muchtar Pakpahan said on Saturday that Indonesian laborers are still unable to freely express their opinions due to the continuing repression of security apparatuses.

"Indonesian laborers are still apprehensive [to take labor action], although the country has been one year under President Abdurrahman Wahid's leadership.

"We can still see security apparatuses' repressive approach when they handle laborers who join strikes. Police always use Article 160 of the Criminal Code, on expressing opinions to the public, as a weapon to halt labor activists' protests," he said in a media conference evaluating labor affairs in the year 2000. He said that, during the year 2000, many businessmen banned or even fired laborers who planned to establish labor unions. "Such an action is certainly against Law No. 21/2000 on Manpower," he said.

Pakpahan said that, based on SBSI's investigations, there were 135 cases of intimidation and violations against labor unions, which involved thugs, members of the political party security task forces and police officers. He suggested that the government intensify probes on human rights violations by security apparatuses, especially in matters concerning workers' rights.

He suggested that the President remove Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Al Hilal Hamdi from the cabinet for his poor understanding of laborers' problems. "It has been five months since Al Hilal was appointed as minister but it seems that he still does not understand the laborers' problems," Pakpahan said as quoted by Antara.

However, he said SBSI would give Al Hilal several more months to comprehend manpower problems and produce wise policies. "We understand that Minister Al Hilal has only been in the position for five months. Therefore, we give him more time to study the manpower problems," he said.

Pakpahan also reported that from January until December 2000, 75 percent of the laborers' issues of action were related to their employers' decision to prohibit the establishment of labor unions, as well as their refusal to grant wage rises, overtime allowances and menstruation leave. He said the other 25 percent regarded demands for company directors to resign, or pension funds.

The labor activist said that SBSI will always support laborers' actions aimed at bettering their conditions. "If their demands are not about prosperity issues, we'll ask all parties to sit down and discuss them together.

"But, if the laborers' demands will just make the companies go bankrupt, SBSI will suggest that such demands be halted or delayed," he said.

"In 1998, SBSI even asked companies to lower the laborers' wages so that they could maintain their operation," he added, while citing that the laborers agreed because they understood the companies' real condition.

When asked about PT Ajinomoto, whose product monosodium glutamate (MSG) is being withdrawn from the market because pig enzymes were used in a production process, Pakpahan asked the company not to suspend its workers.

"Just consider the product withdrawal as a debt. Such a debt could be paid off in several years. And during its debt repayment term, it could delay increasing its workers' wages. I think if the management let its workers see its bookkeeping, they will be willing to accept company policy," he said.
 

Aceh/West Papua

Fresh killing erupts in Aceh

Reuters in Jakarta -- Three people have been killed and four wounded in a fresh bout of violence in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, showing the futility of a recently agreed ceasefire extension.

Police say a total of eight people have been killed since the truce was announced on Wednesday while rebel leaders put the figure as high as 30.

The latest clash occured on Friday at a Mobil Oil Indonesia complex -- a subsidiary of Exxon-Mobil -- in Lhokseumawe in the province's north. "Two soldiers were killed, and a 40-year-old woman also died in the incident," Aceh police spokesman Kusbini Imbar said on Saturday.

But a Free Aceh Movement (GAM) spokesman said 19 people were killed in the clash which flared because of intense police patrols in the area. "We heard about the sweeping patrols beforehand and warned the military and the Henry Dunant [Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue] about a possible clash," spokesman Amni Marzuki said.

The Henry Dunant centre is a Swiss advocacy group which hosted this week's peace talks between the government and Gam in Geneva.

The clash occured at the guard post leading to the natural gas complex and police said it did not affect the plant's operations.

Indonesian security forces and rebels have clashed in numerous incidents across the bloodied province this week, making a mockery of the ceasefire extension and efforts to reach a political settlement over the decades-long conflict.

The current six-month ceasefire expires on Monday but government representatives and GAM leaders agreed to extend the truce by one month. While both sides deemed the talks constructive, and a further meeting has been planned for February, it has not translated to peace on the ground.

The ceasefire first took effect on June 2 and has largely been ignored by both sides, heightening despair among Aceh's four million people.

Jakarta has firmly ruled out independence for the resource-rich and staunchly-Islamic province on the tip of Sumatra island but has instead offered special autonomy, due to take affect in May.

The announcement to extend the ceasefire came as a surprise, as both sides had expressed pessimism that much headway could be made.

Tribute to a proud Acehnese

Sidney Jones -- Many knew Jafar as a political science student at New School University, New York. Others knew him as a leader of the very close Acehnese community in Woodside, Queens, where he'd lived since 1996. Some New Yorkers may have known him as one of the least aggressive taxi drivers this city has ever produced.

Many of us knew him as a dedicated human rights defender, a lawyer who came to the aid of victims who didn't dare speak out for themselves. His was a voice for dialogue and moderation in a conflict that is now spiralling out of control. And he was a son, a brother, a husband, and a friend. Jafar would have been thirty-five in about two weeks. He was a slight, gentle, self- effacing man, very bright, a little absent-minded, with a lovely sense of humour. He wasn't a rabble-rouser, he wasn't a fiery speaker, he wasn't a mobiliser of large crowds, and he certainly wasn't a guerrilla. What he was, first and foremost, was an Acehnese and intensely proud of it. He wanted the world to know and appreciate Aceh's past, and he was determined that the Acehnese should have a say in their future. Jafar was particularly angry over the long period beginning in 1990 -- the year he became a human rights lawyer -- when the Indonesian army declared Aceh an area of special military operations and began conducting a brutal counter-insurgency campaign against what was then a tiny group of guerrillas of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Jafar risked his life then to get the word out about the atrocities that were taking place. He helped Jakarta-based human rights organisations and foreign journalists get in to Aceh to find out for themselves. When Suharto was forced to resign in May 1998, Jafar didn't want revenge, but he did want justice. I think he also came to the conclusion that it was not going to be possible to protect human rights in the absence of major political change in the relationship with Jakarta.

Some months after Suharto's fall Jafar helped found the International Forum on Aceh. Its first conference was held at New York University in December 1998. It was the first ever international gathering to discuss the political dynamics of modern-day Aceh. By the time of the second IFA conference in the spring of last year, a nonviolent movement for a referendum on Aceh's political status, led by students, NGOs, and Muslim scholars, was well underway. The second conference was attended by an even wider range of well-known Acehnese, from members of parliament in Jakarta to rival factions of the guerrilla movement.

Again, all viewpoints were represented, everyone had a chance to speak, and I remember Indonesian students in the audience pleading with pro-independence Acehnese to give them a second chance, now that Suharto was gone.

Jafar was not a member of GAM, and didn't try to idealise the guerrillas or their leadership. He was in contact with individuals in the movement, just as he was in contact with Acehnese members of the political establishment in Jakarta.

Indonesian authorities, however, made no distinction between IFA and GAM.

When Jafar disappeared on August 5, I didn't believe it at first. He went from a meeting in broad daylight on a busy street in the country's third largest city and was never seen alive again. His body was found three weeks later with four others about 83 km away. Those four have not been identified to this day, and the police in Medan purport to have no leads to Jafar's killer. Shortly after Jafar disappeared, another activist received a call saying, 'We took care of Jafar, now it's your turn.' The caller complained that the activist never raised GAM abuses but only those of the TNI. That's not an excuse for threats, let alone murder. Circumstantial evidence and the pattern of killing points to military involvement in Jafar's death, but there is no hard evidence, and we may never know exactly what happened.

Jafar's main flaw was that he trusted everyone. He couldn't believe that other people could be operating in bad faith when he himself was so open about his intentions. We know he had been threatened before his disappearance; we know he was worried enough to call home at regular intervals to check in. We also know that he didn't let fear deter him from pursuing a political settlement in Aceh.

The best tribute we can all pay Jafar is to do the following: 1. Keep up the pressure to find and prosecute his killers; 2. Continue to seek justice for victims of human rights violations and their families; 3. Raise the profile of Aceh so that more and more people across the world appreciate the culture and history of this complex place; 4. Press ahead with efforts to end the conflict through unrestricted dialogue; 5. Continue symposia like this one. We all want Jafar back, but this kind of gathering may be the most fitting memorial.

[Sidney Jones is the Asia Director of Human Rights Watch.]

At least six killed, eight injured in Aceh violence

Banda Aceh -- At least six people, including a soldier on guard at an Exxon-Mobil oil company complex were killed, and eight others injured in renewed violence in Indonesia's Aceh province, police and hospitals said Friday.

The killings Thursday and Friday brought the death toll related to violence between government and rebel forces to 35 since the start of the year, despite ongoing peace talks between the two sides in Geneva.

The soldier was killed late Friday in an attack on a military unit guarding the Exxon-Mobil natural gas complex at Lhokseumawe in North Aceh, senior police operations commissioner Kusbini Imbar told AFP.

Imbar was unable to give further details of the attack, saying he was still receiving reports from the field, but residents contacted by AFP said the shooting appeared to be the result of a clash between two government security units.

Exxon-Mobil, which produces liquefied natural gas from the giant Arun field in Aceh, has been warned by the rebels to stop production "until we gain our independence."

Imbar said there had been a spate of rebel ambushes in North Aceh district on Friday, but that casualty reports from the field had yet to be received. "In the last two days the GAM [Free Aceh Movement] has raised the level of violence, resulting in some 18 incidents of shooting and clashes province-wide," he said.

He said the bodies of four men were found on Thursday in East Aceh, the victims of unknown assassins, while government troops shot dead one suspected GAM member in North Aceh who had tried to hide a homemade weapon. In the Nisam subdistrict of North Aceh, soldiers sweeping the area after being ambushed twice by GAM troops on Friday, shot and seriously wounded a six-year-old boy and a 16-year-old youth, residents and hospital officials said.

GAM forces also staged two ambushes on government troops in the Muara Dua subdistrict of North Aceh, Imbar said.

After a fifth ambush, in North Aceh's Blang Mangat subdistrict, troops swept through the area and beat up 15 civilians, six of whom had to be hospitalized, a source at the Tjut Meutia hospital in Lhokseumawe told AFP.

GAM East Aceh spokesman Ishak Daud told AFP more than 10 soldiers were killed during clashes in East Aceh on Thursday.

Imbar denied his claim. "If there were even one solder killed, there would be flags flying at half mast in front of military offices," Imbar said. Daud also said the soldiers had burned about 29 houses in East Aceh.

Trial of Aceh activist expected to begin during new truce

Chris McCall, Banda Aceh -- The controversial trial of Aceh's top civilian independence activist is expected to start in the course of a new one-month truce with separatist rebels, his colleagues say.

Dossiers against Muhammad Nazar, co-ordinator of the student-led lobby group Sira, were handed over to state prosecutors this week. Nazar, 27, has been moved from police custody to Banda Aceh's Keudah prison. In the Indonesian legal system, the moves are normal preliminaries to a court appearance.

Nazar was charged with subversion after a banner calling for Indonesian troops to leave the province was put up in Bandah Aceh on August 16, a day before Indonesia's 55th independence day. He was arrested after questioning by police in November and has been in detention for nearly two months.

"According to information from the prosecutors, the trial will be held as soon as possible. There must be a certainty. He cannot be detained for a year," said Sira presidium member Ridwan. The trial was likely to take place "this month, maybe next week", Mr Ridwan said.

On Wednesday, Indonesian representatives signed a one-month "moratorium on violence" with the Free Aceh rebels, who are fighting for an independent state in the oil-rich northern province. Police had threatened a massive crackdown if the earlier truce was not renewed in some form.

The new truce is due to run from Monday until February 15, but has already been widely criticised for being equally as flawed as the "humanitarian pause" it replaces. Police reported that on Thursday alone there were five attacks, three ambushes, two shootings, two bomb discoveries and one massive police swoop on a rebel position.

A Free Aceh commander said rebels wounded dozens of military and police in an attack on a security post on Thursday night. But police denied the attack took place.

Unlike the rebels, Sira espouses non-violence. It has campaigned for a peaceful referendum on independence and called for disarmament on both sides. However, it has turned into a mass movement capable of mobilising hundreds of thousands of Acehnese and is seen by Jakarta as a major threat to its hold on the Sumatran province.

Nazar's case is particularly controversial as it is based on three sections in the Indonesian criminal code widely used by former president Suharto to jail his political opponents. Until Nazar was arrested, the sections in question had not been invoked since Suharto's fall in May 1998. Nazar's supporters say he is a political prisoner.

A further nine Sira members, including its chief spokesman, Faisal Ridha, have also been sent summonses for questioning as witnesses in the case, which they have ignored on the grounds they are legally flawed. Since those summonses were sent nearly two months ago, they have received no further summons.

"It is political. They are all from the [group's] presidium. There are indications that those that are called are going to be declared suspects," said Mr Ridwan.

Aceh fears onslaught despite truce

Chris McCall, Banda Aceh -- Behind Banda Aceh's landmark Baiturrahman mosque, a street vendor was scratching a living as he does every day, mashing up sugar cane for drinks.

"Is there a new agreement? We don't know about politics," he said when told of a one-month "moratorium on violence" signed on Wednesday by Acehnese rebels and the Indonesian Government in Switzerland.

Indonesian Defence Minister Mahfud Mahmoddin may have enthused about a deal he had so often predicted would not happen -- but there appeared little excitement yesterday among ordinary Acehnese about it. After all, the province's once-sleepy capital is getting used to being a war zone.

Truckloads of police and military routinely patrol the streets, assault rifles at the ready. People keep their noses clean and their names to themselves.

"I heard on the news that after the 15th, the violence will go down for one month. They say there should be no violence," said an old man sitting talking to friends near the mosque. A passer- by was more blunt. "There is no proof to believe that."

At the end of make-or-break talks, Jakarta's envoys and the Free Aceh Movement agreed on the further month's pause in hostilities and arranged to hold additional talks. Mr Mahfud had promised all-out war if the failed "humanitarian pause" already in place, but which runs out on Monday, was not renewed in some form. If carried out, his threat could drag out the conflict in the oil- rich, staunchly Muslim province for years.

The rebels in turn had issued a veiled threat to foreign firms operating in Aceh, calling on them to close down because their security could not be guaranteed.

Like the street vendor at the mosque, many ordinary people did not even know about the deal yesterday. Those who did suggested it had just delayed the feared military onslaught by a month, although they were relieved to have this much respite and hoped for the best.

The leading daily Serambi Indonesia ran a long editorial headed, "Don't Panic and Don't Cause Panic", urging the citizens not to give up hope for peace after Monday, when the ceasefire was to have expired. Many people have been fearing the launch of mass raids and arrests from that day.

Now the "humanitarian pause" is going to be replaced with something else promising to be equally pointless. The key issue of whether or not Aceh can leave Indonesia is unanswered.

Banda Aceh was once a pleasant city where backpackers stopped off en route to the beaches of Weh Island to the north. Now everyone jumps when a tyre bursts in the street, thinking it might be a bomb.

At the modest headquarters of the Information Centre for Aceh Referendum (SIRA), a student said she did not dare return to her home in Aceh's second city, Lhokseumawe, because of violence in the area. Jakarta's line is increasingly hard.

SIRA's leader Muhammad Nazar, who has campaigned for an East Timor-style referendum as a solution to the Aceh problem, is awaiting trial for subversion. He has not advocated violence.

Despite more than seven months of semi-truce, killings are occurring almost daily, especially in the northern and eastern areas where support for the rebels is strongest and military and police operations are most intense.

Back at the mosque, there is one sign no one has yet dared to take down. In a prominent position alongside a busy road and signed "By SIRA", it blares out to the world in huge letters: "The Aceh people want a referendum -- stay with or break away from the Republic of Indonesia."

Aceh students urge ceasefire between troops and rebels

Banda Aceh -- Student groups in Indonesia's Aceh province Tuesday called for a full ceasefire between the government and separatist rebels as violence in the region claimed another life.

They said a truce between Jakarta and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) that took effect in June and is due to expire on January 15 has failed to reduce violence in the province.

"A ceasefire is what the majority of Acehnese want to stop the violence," student leader Muhammad Taufik Abda said, reading from a statement signed by leaders 31 student groups in Aceh.

"The absence of sanctions for the violators is considered as the main culprit in the failure of the humanitarian pause [the name given to the truce]," Abda said.

The students also urged the government to fire outspoken Defense Minister Mohammad Mahfud and Aceh police chief Brigadier General Chaerul Rasyidi saying their statements on Aceh had aggravated the conflict.

Mahfud has warned that massive military operations will be launched against rebels if GAM, which has been fighting for an independent Muslim sultante of Aceh for 25 years, insisted on seeking independence.

A new round of peace talks between the government and GAM began at a secret near the Swiss city of Geneva on Monday amid a media blackout. But many have expressed pessimism about the outcome of the negotiations, and even as the two sides met, violence continued on the ground.

A GAM spokesman, Ishak Daud, said a 36-year-old woman, Khadijah binti Latief, was killed and a man wounded on Monday afternoon by Indonesian security forces, who were launching an operation to hunt down rebels in the Glumpang Payong area of East Aceh.

"In addition to killing a civilian, the military and police also set fire to homes and shops belonging to the residents," Daud told AFP. Police spokesman Yatim Suyatno said he had no knowledge of the death and denied security forces had torched the houses.

Appalling violence with no mercy in jail cells of Irian Jaya

Arrested by Indonesian police in Irian Jaya for reporting while on a tourist visa, Swiss journalist Oswald Iten spent 11 days in jail before being deported. This is what he saw from his cell.

When the door to the cell slammed shut behind me, the first thing I noticed was the stench of urine and other human excreta. Then I saw, through the dim, humidly hot air, bodies lying packed on the filthy concrete floor. It was one o'clock in the morning. Someone in the lineup of bodies handed me a cardboard box, so that I'd at least have something clean to lay my head on.

The police had taken me into custody the previous day and grilled me for nine hours, because on December 1 I had taken "political photos" of pro-independence ceremonies, ostensibly not permitted by my tourist visa.

So there I was, in a cell with about 40 other prisoners. Among them were 26 members of the Satgas Papua, a militia of the independence movement which had established posts throughout Irian Jaya, also known as West Papua, and was responsible for guarding the Morning Star freedom flag.

Among the prisoners was the militia chief Boy Eluay, son of Theys Eluay, the head of the Papuan presidium (a body of selected leaders advocating independence), and Alex Baransano, the city commander of the Satgas in Port Numbay, as the West Papuans now call Jayapura.

The members of the Satgas Papua were unharmed. But at 4.30am on Thursday, December 7, noise from the guardroom penetrated the stuffing I'd put in my ears to help me sleep. At first I thought the guards were doing some rhythmic gymnastics, but it also sounded like blows landing on a body. My fellow prisoners were wide awake, and they tried to hold me back when I went to the entrance of our cell block. The upper part of the door was merely barred, so I had a view of the guardroom.

And what I saw there was unspeakably shocking. About half a dozen policemen were swinging their clubs at bodies that were lying on the floor and, oddly enough, did not cry out; at most, only soft groans issued from them. After a few long seconds, a guard saw me looking and struck his club against the bars of the cellblock door.

I quickly went back to my usual spot, from where I could still see the clubs, staffs and split bamboo whips at their work. Their ends were smeared with blood, and blood sprayed the walls all the way up to the ceiling.

Sometimes I saw the policemen hopping up on benches, continuing to strike blows from there or jumping back down onto the bodies below (which I could not see from my cell).

By about 5.15am, things quietened down and I heard the sound of water from a hose. But then the orgy of torture resumed, apparently with a new load of prisoners. My fellow inmates told me that a police post had been attacked during the night.

At one point, a guard came into our cell and indicated to me that what was going on outside was to be understood as the normal retribution for the death of policemen. The attack had taken place at 1.30am in the suburb of Abepura, and two policemen and a private guard had been killed.

At 7.30am the torturers went outside for morning muster, things quietened down and I looked over into the guardroom: the floor was covered with blood, as in a slaughterhouse. Some of my fellow prisoners were ordered out to clean the place up. Shortly before 10 o'clock, noise broke out again.

The cell block door was opened, and with the ends of their staffs the guards drove about three dozen new prisoners in, whose hair had been marked with white from a spray can, like sheep earmarked for shearing. The newcomers were jammed into a single cell. Then the cell block door was opened again and one body after another was tossed into our already crowded cell, some of them more dead than alive.

Most of them remained motionless where they fell, either unconscious or utterly exhausted. One of the tortured men was virtually blind and had to be led in by the hand by another prisoner; I couldn't tell whether his eyes had been totally destroyed or were merely swollen shut. The last one to enter was a large man, who fell over the bodies on the floor and lay there groaning horribly. He tried repeatedly to straighten himself up, only to fall back down again.

Now and again the faces of guards appeared at the barred window, looking down impassively at the tangle of maltreated bodies. In the back of the big man's head, there appeared to be a coin-sized hole through which I believed to spot some brain tissue.

After nearly an hour and a half of groaning and spasmodic movement, his suffering visibly neared its end. About two metres from me, his powerful body raised itself again and his head struck the wall. A final laboured breath issued from him, then his head dropped down onto the cement floor. At last his agony was over. After a while, three lackeys came and dragged the body out.

Later I learned that the man who had been tortured to death was named Ori Dronggi. I saw a picture of his corpse in the newspaper Cenderawasih Pos. The dispatch said three dead Papuans had been brought to the morgue, and the police stated they had "died in the fighting".

I don't know how the other two men died; one of them may have been the second man I had seen with a hole in his head, who had wiped his blood away with the same rag my cellmates generally used in their attempts to keep the toilet clean.

I had no longer seen him among the prisoners the following day. (All the men who had been arrested after the attack on the police outpost were released after 36 hours.)

Ori Dronggi was one of 18 men from the highland town of Wamena, all of whom had been arrested in a dormitory near the university in Abepura immediately after the attack on the police post. The chances are he had had nothing to do with the attack; the same was true of the 35 other men who had been tortured (I had counted them the following day).

A rumour went around that the police post had been attacked because one of the men on duty there was the one who had torn the Morning Star flag down on October 6. About half a dozen Papuans had been killed back then and in the days after it -- and several times that many Indonesians, who fell victim to the Papuans' blind vengeance.

As a result of that chain of events, thousands of Indonesian settlers had fled from Wamena and the Baliem Valley.

The "negative" balance of casualties was seen as a disgrace for the police; their rage at the people of Wamena had already become legendary, so it was no surprise when, following the attack at Abepura, they took prisoners from that group.

Not a hair on my head was touched. In fact, the otherwise sadistic guards went out of their way to be nice to me. But the mistreatment of other prisoners continued.

On December 11 I again witnessed a horrible scene. About 2.45am, three new prisoners were brought in. Two of them were badly beaten outside my field of vision. The third Papuan fell right in front of my cell.

A booted guard kicked the man in the head; the prisoner's head banged loudly against my cell door, blood spurting from it onto my leg. The guard was apparently fascinated by the head going back and forth between his boot and the bars of my cell door, like some outsized ping-pong ball, so he kicked it a few more times. A second guard joined in with a swift kick to the middle of the prisoner's face, knocking him unconscious. But that still wasn't enough.

A third guard, who had been watching the scene with rifle in hand, now struck the butt of his weapon about five times into the senseless man's skull, which made a horrible sound. I could hardly believe it, but the victim was still alive the next day. He was taken away for interrogation.

After 12 days, Jakarta issued an order for my deportation. The fact that I was not harmed in the prison at Jayapura was due, among other things, to the swift arrival of a Swiss embassy official from Jakarta.

But several dozen less privileged prisoners remained back in the cell, with the Satgas militiamen still among them. Their life in prison will doubtless continue to be as I experienced it, marked by violence.

Each morning, while the police hold their muster, a loudspeaker broadcasts the Indonesian national anthem through the prison bars. At that point, the Papuans in their cells join in singing their independence anthem.

[Neue Zurcher Zeitung]

Irianese detained for weapons

Jayapura -- Eleven locals from Wamena were still being detained here on Sunday after after they were apprehended on Thursday for carrying sharp weapons.

They were part of a group of 61 people who left their hometown in Arso and Genyem areas of the town of Wamena, about 290 kilometers southwest of here, amid rumors of a clash between security forces and separatist rebels.

"The 11 men were caught bringing sharp weapons such as machetes, arrows and bows. They were among a group of 61 refugees seeking refuge at the border of Jayapura and Vanimo districts near Papua Nugini," head of Jayapura Police Precinct Adj. to Chief Comr. Daud Sihombing said.

"But shortly after their arrival in Jayapura, we managed to persuade them to go home. When we searched the group, 11 men were found carrying sharp weapons," officer Daud said.

"They said they heard rumors that a clash between security forces and separatists would break out. We told them it's not true," he asserted.

The 11 men are being detained at Jayapura Police Precinct, pending further investigation. They will likely be charged under State Emergency Law No. 60/1951 for illegal possession of weapons, police said.
 

Government/politics

Government controlled by IMF: Amien Rais

Jakarta -- The government is under the control of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and has to obtain IMF approval for every economic step taken, says chairman of the National Mandate Party [PAN] Amien Rais.

"(Indonesian's) economic sovereignty is in the hands of the IMF," Amien said in Surabaya Saturday. The government, he said, had to ask the IMF before it could raise fuel prices. Similarly, it had to ask first whether the IMF approve of a plan to protect Indonesian rice and sugar cane farmers, or whether it could fix the tax rates or the rate of the rupiah to stabilize the currency, Amien said in a speech at a ceremony to install executives of the East Java, Surabaya and Lamongan chapters of PAN in Go Skate building, Surabaya.

"...The IMF is an unavoidable crime we have to commit. We did not want it, but were forced to accept it. If there were no corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN), we could do without the IMF. The amount of IMF loan of between five and six million US dollars is equal to the amount of money embezzled at Pertamina, which is around US$5.5 million a year," Amien said as quoted by Antara.

Megawati scolds wayward PDI-P legislators

Jakarta -- Vice President and chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) Megawati Soekarnoputri scolded unscrupulous party legislators on Saturday for having tarnished the image of the party and of the parliament.

Speaking before more than 4,000 party legislators at the Senayan Sports Stadium, Megawati cited that in the past, numerous party cadres had breached party rules and were involved in internal bickering.

"But, since our victory in the 1999 general election, the 'disease' has infected party members in the legislative body and the provincial and regency legislative councils," she said.

Megawati said she had instructed the party's executive board to take strict action against such unscrupulous cadres, especially those in legislative bodies, calling such violations as no longer tolerable.

She did not elaborate the violations the party cadres had committed, but said that they had not only breached the party's internal rules, but also failed to fight for the party's interest in the legislature.

"Many are of the opinion that they are representing the public and not the party, while they have committed unpraiseworthy deeds. Upon listening to such reports, I have questioned some of them and wanted to slap their faces. They thought that they had gained their seats from the sky [not through the party]," she said in an emotional tone.

Megawati applauded programs held in connection with the party's 28th anniversary, saying that the programs are expected to improve the cadres' loyalty to the party. "We must learn from these cases, so that the party will have qualified legislators in 2004 [next general election]," she said.

She also called on party cadres to maintain public confidence in the party and to fight for the values of party supporters' and to work hard for victory in the next elections. "Party cadres should bear in mind that their main mission is to fight for people's aspirations and are obliged to maintain public confidence in the party in facing the next elections," she said.

Pramono Anung Wibowo, the party's deputy secretary-general, said Megawati was slated to announce the list of immoral cadres as well as the sanctions against them on Sunday.

"The 14 cadres who have been found guilty of committing major violations will be dismissed from the party, 28 others will be discharged from their current position in the party and dozens of others who have committed minor violations will be given warnings," Pramono said.

He conceded that many party legislators would be discharged for "selling" their votes in past elections of governors and regents. He cited the elections of regents and mayors in Medan, North Sumatra; North Lampung in Lampung; and Semarang, Klaten and Sragen, all in Central Java. Several party legislators at the Irian Java provincial legislative council were also allegedly involved in such practices during the recent gubernatorial election of the province.

Sabam Sirait, a senior party figure, conceded the presence of some party's unqualified legislators at provincial and regency legislative councils due to the hasty recruitment of legislative candidates in previous elections.

"We must accept the reality that some of the PDI Perjuangan legislators are not qualified, although they have a fighting spirit. Now, they must be given training to be more skillful in performing their duties as legislators, while the party must review its recruitment system in a bid to have qualified legislators in 2004," he said.

Outspoken PDI Perjuangan legislator, Aberson Marle Sihaloho, said many party legislators have become disoriented because of the party's unclear set of policies and principles. "The party must spell out the Constitution in a common platform, which should be taken by party legislators as guidance in fighting for people's aspirations," he said.

Chaos rebuffed

Sadanand Dhume, Jakarta -- With a shaky currency, the former president's son on the run from police and a series of recent bomb blasts in major cities, you would be forgiven for thinking that Indonesia has more than its share of troubles.

Still, on January 1, as if inviting further instability, the country began implementing two laws designed to give more power to 361 districts and cities nationwide.

Though the laws were drafted by idealists who see devolution of power as a panacea for Indonesia's problems, pragmatists favouring slower change seem to have taken over the implementation process.

Faced with the prospect of widespread chaos if inexperienced local politicians were to take over real power, Jakarta has tried to apply the brakes. In August, the regional-autonomy portfolio was taken away from Ryaas Rasyid, the academic-turned-politician widely regarded as the brains behind the laws, and given to the Ministry of Home Affairs. On January 2, Rasyid tendered his resignation as minister of state for administrative reforms, citing differences with President Abdurrahman Wahid over implementation of the laws.

Continued uncertainty over the final contours of the programme has raised concerns, notably among foreign investors, over the future distribution of power.

The two laws were passed in 1999 during the presidency of B.J. Habibie. Their intention: to blunt the edge of dissent against Jakarta's often heavy-handed rule and to encourage economic enterprise and better local services by giving hundreds of districts wide-ranging powers, including the ability to tax and to grant business licences.

But faced with serious doubts about the quality of district administrations, the danger of fiscal profligacy and fears of widespread corruption, Jakarta has decided to back-pedal. After scrapping the Ministry of Regional Autonomy in August, it refused to set up a special coordinating agency to speed up the process.

It has also slowed the transfer of civil servants from central to local control and moved to curb the ability of local governments to borrow indiscriminately for spending binges. And on January 5, Minister for Mines and Energy Purnomo Yusgiantoro said the mining industry would remain under Jakarta's control for up to five years.

Yet concerns remain about whether the central government can retain much of its authority without provoking a backlash from restive local governments eager for their promised slice of power. The prognosis, so far, is not encouraging.

"Regions have different expectations," says a senior World Bank official. "Central ministries have different expectations. It could be a real dog's breakfast."

It wasn't meant to be this way. Regional autonomy, says Rasyid, was supposed to bring government closer to the people, encourage healthy competition for investment, and minimize the risk of Indonesia disintegrating. But those rosy expectations aren't shared by many. Instead of business-friendly local governments competing to offer companies tax breaks and good infrastructure, foreign investors worry that they will face rapacious politicians who raise taxes arbitrarily and officials who lack the capacity to implement regulations.

"These are extremely politically immature governments," says a senior Jakarta-based employee of an American mining company. "The worst legacy of the Suharto regime was that it was like a banyan tree that would not allow any growth below. These might as well be student-body, high-school governments."

Unpleasant consequences

Even before the laws' implementation, multinationals, particularly in oil, gas and mining, have faced the unpleasant consequences of the breakdown of central authority, from violent attacks to seemingly random taxation.

A Western security consultant in Jakarta says decentralization only adds to worries about a breakdown of law and order. In the Suharto era, "when in trouble, you would pick up the phone and call Jakarta and there would be 300-400 troops there in a day," he says. "People are scared after May '98. You pick up the phone and ask for help and nobody's on the other end."

According to Andi Mallarangeng, a political scientist who worked on the original autonomy law, the Ministry of Home Affairs has effectively sabotaged regional autonomy. "That idealism has been lost," he says. "The Home Affairs people taking care of it are bureaucrats, not academics like us. We wrote that law. We had that vision."

A chaotic launch of regional autonomy

John Aglionby, Jakarta -- The Indonesian government has devolved a number of government powers from Jakarta to the provinces and districts. The aim is to detangle the heavily centralized central government and give the country's outer fringes some control over their fate. But for the moment, chaos -- not control -- appears to be the only dividend.

The new year was supposed to mark a new dawn in the lives of Indonesia's 200 million people. After decades of repression by the heavily centralized government in Jakarta, meaningful power in all areas except defense, monetary affairs and foreign policy was devolved to provincial and district level at a stroke on January 1. People living in the archipelago's outer fringes -- that is, most of the population -- would at last be able to shape their own futures according to their particular needs, making it much harder for the country to slip back into an autocracy. Or at least that was the theory. The reality is an incomplete and chaotic mess.

The local press is littered with quotes from local officials along the lines of: "We're a bit confused about the implementation of that regulation," and "We haven't got clear guidelines from Jakarta on that yet". Yet such shocking confessions are perfectly understandable considering that more than 150 of the 177 decrees governing regional autonomy have yet to be passed and almost 99% of the 2.6 million civil servants that were meant to be transferred from central to regional government posts have yet to pack their bags. More gloss came off the transition process on January 2 after the minister who designed the scheme, Ryaas Rasyid, tendered his resignation, citing irreconcilable differences with the president, Abdurrahman Wahid.

The consequence of this turmoil is inconsistency. To manage the muddle, local authorities are either making up their own rules -- which are likely to changed once formal regulations are in place -- or doing nothing until the mist has cleared in the capital. A good example, according to one foreign consultant advising the government, is comparing the health and education ministries. "In Jakarta health and education are going in very different directions while the finance ministry, which controls the purse strings, is pulling them in a third," he said. "This leaves provincial and district officials not knowing which way to turn."

In the mayhem, the delivery of government services is threatening to grind to a halt. "This is our biggest fear," said the foreign adviser. "Unless the fundamental problems are addressed rapidly, government will effectively stop, which is extremely dangerous in a country where so much is still nationalized." Other worries concern money. Some people worry about a growing imbalance in spending and revenue. This would stem not only from poor preparations but also arguments over the share of resources remaining in the regions. Currently, districts -- the level to which most power is being devolved -- will get about 15% of oil revenues, 30% of earnings from natural gas and 80% from mining and forestry. But many resource-rich areas are fighting to get a larger share.

Others worry that instead of having one corrupt government there will now be 350. And corruption is going to be much harder to contain, particularly as those in power have little direct accountability towards the people. District councilors are not directly elected and the administration chiefs will only be indirectly elected after the retirement of current incumbents. Certain industries, such as forestry (where illegal logging accounts for 80% of total production), are already suffering from widespread corruption and set to get worse.

There are a few glimmers of good news around. At the highest level of government there does at last seem to be a commitment to speedy and correct implementation of the plan. And at the grassroots level, civil society groups are starting to find their voice, thanks to the tens of millions of dollars in foreign aid that have been channeled into their development. This means a system of checks and balances could start to evolve once the initial transitional dust has settled.

There is no going back now, according to government expert Andi Mallarangeng, because "despite the chaos we've come too far already." But he fears that the authorities in Jakarta are losing sight of the whole raison d'etre of the devolution process. "One of the main aims of regional autonomy is for the government to recapture the trust of the people and the local administrations," he said. "But unless the government wakes up to the current reality they will quickly lose everyone's trust forever."

Political elite told not to mobilize masses

Jakarta -- Security authorities called on the country's political elite on Tuesday not to mobilize the masses to the streets, but to sit at the same table and seek solutions to their disputes.

"Political disputes cannot be solved by mobilizing the masses. Let the political elite sit down together and find the best solution for our country," Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said.

"Jakarta is the barometer of the country's security condition. If we cannot ensure the stability of the capital, how can we maintain the security of other regions?" Susilo said while addressing a meeting with youth leaders at his office.

The youth leaders, sponsored by the Indonesian National Youth Committee (KNPI), came to Susilo's office to air their concern over the planned rallies by both loyalists and opposers of President Abdurrahman Wahid on January 15.

Susilo said there should be a resolution to differences of ideas among the political elite. "We have the code of conduct, the Constitution and the gentlemen's agreement. There must be a way out for every political dispute," he said.

He said that he chaired a limited ministerial meeting on political and security affairs on Monday night, discussing efforts to prevent conflict between the two warring camps.

Susilo said the government would take stern action against any violent activities by the rally participants. "The Police will stand on the front lines and will be backed up by Indonesian Military (TNI) troops," he said. "The Police will remain non- partisan in handling the rallies. But, if they [participants] move to topple the legitimate government, it's subversion," he added.

Similarly, Chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Muslim organization Hasyim Muzadi called on all NU members nationwide to channel their support for Abdurrahman through local councillors, and not by swarming on the capital.

"It's better that all Banser members remain in their respective areas and secure them from all kinds of terror. Let the Kyais [ulemas] channel their support for Gus Dur," Hasyim said on Tuesday, while referring to the security task force of Ansor, the NU's youth wing.

After a four-hour meeting with the executives of all NU branches, Hasyim said NU had instructed all of its members to stay calm and not to be provoked by the anti-Abdurrahman movement. He admitted, however, that on January 15 some Ansor members will come to the capital, but to attend a post-Idul Fitri gathering with the Indonesian Muslim University Student Movement (PMII).

Meanwhile, Ansor chairman Saifullah Yusuf suggested that Banser members should think twice before coming to the capital on January 15. "It will be even better if they do not come at all," he said. Despite the calls for NU members to stay calm, NU members in East Java expressed their readiness to come the capital if the anti-Gus Dur rally tried to topple Abdurrahman.

"We are ready to defend Gus Dur who was democratically elected in 1999. We have a large number of people to defend Gus Dur," chairman of NU's East Java chapter Ali Maschan Moesa said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, National Police Spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf said the police would deploy 40,000 security officers on January 15. He said the National Police had ordered the Central Java Police and the East Java Police to persuade supporters of the President not to come to the capital.

"Meanwhile, anti-Gus Dur protesters in Jakarta and surrounding areas should not flock to the House of Representatives building either. Let the political conflict be settled by the elite without involving the supporters," he said.

Separately, Jakarta Police spokesman High Comr. Anton Bahrul Alam said on Tuesday that police and TNI troops would be deployed at riot-prone areas, such as the traffic circle in front of Hotel Indonesia and the parliament building, both in Central Jakarta, and places of worship around the capital.

Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen. Slamet Kirbiantoro said his troops would support police in maintaining security in the capital. "We cannot prevent people from coming to the capital. But, TNI is committed to helping maintain security in the capital," Kirbiantoro said.

A survivor but not a leader

Tim Dodd -- Which Asian political leader is blind, overweight and in delicate health, but likens himself to the celebrated Italian football star, Paolo Rossi? The answer? President Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia.

In an act of hubris to rival Paul Keating -- who famously compared his political skills to another Latin star, Placido Domingo -- Wahid thinks his political style has the same explosive, match-winning quality as Rossi's football skills.

"I take the front [player], Paolo Rossi's role. Once I receive the ball, I dribble it and score a goal," he gleefully told a public gathering last month. For the sake of his presidency he has to hope that he is right. But at the moment there is scant evidence of it. Wahid has little to show for his 14 months in office except that he has survived in the face of obstacles, which many cynics thought would bring him down.

And this year, things are set to become more challenging. Among the thorny issues he faces in January are a report from a special parliamentary committee investigating his alleged corruption and growing pressure to compromise his widely-recognised human rights credentials by launching a military offensive against rebels in the province of Aceh.

In one respect Wahid may be on track in comparing himself to Rossi, who was the mainstay of Italy's successful World Cup campaign in 1982. He makes plenty of sudden, unpredictable moves.

In November, Wahid astonished Indonesia's close and very significant neighbour Singapore, with a tirade in which he said the island State was only interested in profits and suggested that Malaysia and Indonesia could team up and deny Singapore its water supply.

After the bombing of the Jakarta Stock Exchange in September he announced that Tommy Soeharto, the son of the former president was a suspect and ordered him arrested. When the police refused, on the basis of lack of evidence, Wahid sacked the police chief.

But the big difference between Wahid and Paolo Rossi is that the president's sallies have, of late, rarely put the ball in the back of his opponents' net. Since last August, when he fended off a move in Indonesia's supreme parliament to impeach him, Wahid has more often scored own-goals.

His Government's efforts to convict former president Soeharto were thrown out in September by a Jakarta court which accepted the defence's submission that Soeharto was "gaga".

Days later, Wahid had a major win when the Supreme Court found Tommy guilty of corruption charges and sentenced him to 18 months jail. But the shine was soon wiped off when the police delayed arresting Tommy, allowing him to slip into hiding. He is still at large in spite of a two-month search.

Wahid's efforts to gloss over this failure are becoming more and more absurd. First, he publicly announced that he had ordered the tapping of Tommy's mobile phone so that his whereabouts would be revealed. If Tommy had not already changed phone numbers no doubt he did so quickly.

Then, two weeks ago, Wahid topped this by claiming that the police had already caught Tommy at a roadblock in East Java but let him slip through their fingers. The police deny it.

More damaging to Wahid is the fact that he had an unexplained meeting with Tommy before his Supreme Court conviction, which only fuels public suspicion that the President was prepared to let Tommy off if the Soehartos would pay.

So much for Wahid's efforts to bring the Soehartos to justice. On other key reform issues he has been equally unsuccessful. He has made no progress in stamping out corruption. Some foreign business people say that it is worse now than in the Soeharto era because then there were fixed rules which governed the palm- greasing process and a word in the right ear could stop the worst outrages.

Neither has Wahid succeeded in controlling the two-year-old civil war between the Muslim and Christian communities in the Maluku Islands in eastern Indonesia which has killed as many as 6,000 people. Indeed his Government failed to prevent hundreds of "Laskar Jihad" Muslim extremists travelling from Java to join the fighting, although they had declared their intention to do so months beforehand.

In the province of Aceh on the north-west tip of Sumatra, Wahid has not come close to striking a settlement which is acceptable to the overwhelming majority who want to separate from Indonesia.

Hundreds have died during the cease-fire with separatist guerillas which has been in place since June and Wahid is now under pressure, from his defence minister and key elements of the armed forces, to go on the offensive after the "humanitarian pause" in the fighting expires this month.

In the other rebellious province of Irian Jaya, Wahid's efforts to find a negotiated solution have also stalled. A year ago he made a concession by bowing to local feeling and announcing a name change for the province to Papua. He also permitted the display of the independence flag, the Morning Star. Now he has reversed both decisions and leaders of the Papuan independence movement are in detention, even though they advocate non- violence. They are Indonesia's new political prisoners and their incarceration makes a mockery of Wahid's release, a year ago, of the last political prisoners of the Soeharto era.

Part of the President's problem is his haphazard management style. His spokesman, Wimar Witoelar, candidly admitted last year that "for this presidential office, the things that one hears outside basically are all true: you know, how disorganised it is [with] an uncontrollable president".

One example of Wahid's managerial failings is that he failed to get the Government ready for regional autonomy, a decision made by the Parliament more than 18 months ago to devolve more powers to the local level from January 1, 2001.

His effectiveness is not helped by the fact that he is blind. He cannot read policy papers or speaking notes. Everything he says is off-the-cuff.

Wahid also suffers from powerlessness. This is partly because under Indonesia's new democratic system, the Parliament is now a strong competing force to the presidency. But it is also because his capricious approach to the job has withered his authority.

Fortunately for him, his numerous political enemies are not yet strong enough, or united enough, to tip him out. His opposition includes:

• The so-called "Young Turk" parliamentarians, a cross party reformist group who lament Wahid's lack of reformist zeal;
• The more hardline Muslim parties who see him as too centrist;
• The forces of the old regime, Soeharto's former political vehicle, the Golkar party, which is still strong and well- resourced;
• The armed forces which, although divided and with only a shadow of its former political clout, has powerful elements suspicious that Wahid will not fight hard enough to keep Indonesia intact.

Although she is the most popular political figure in the country she is also a political enigma who says very little. Although she and Wahid are often at odds, she has not yet taken the opportunity to bring him down.

In order to fend off pressure to resign last August, Wahid promised her day-to-day control of the Government. She got far less than that in practice but there is still no sign of her withdrawing support.

However Megawati is a hardline nationalist, very firm on preventing any more provinces leaving Indonesia, and Wahid will be increasingly forced to listen to her views. This could present Wahid with a major problem when the Aceh cease-fire ends in a week's time. If he gives in to pressure for a military operation, the civilian casualties will be large and Indonesia will come under intense pressure from human rights organisations.

Another problem is just as pressing. This month a parliamentary special committee will report on Wahid's alleged involvement in two scandals from last year. There is Buloggate, in which the president's Chinese masseur absconded with about $A7.5 million dollars from the government's rice distribution agency Bulog. Wahid denies any involvement. And there is Bruneigate, in which Wahid received a personal gift of nearly $A4 million from the Sultan of Brunei. He says it was for humanitarian work in Aceh.

It's a situation which calls for some very clever footwork from the Paolo Rossi of politics.

Government, IMF to review new autonomy policy

Jakarta -- The Coordinating Minister for the Economy Rizal Ramli said on Monday that the government would continue to discuss with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ways to improve the implementation of the new regional autonomy law.

Rizal said that the review was needed due to unanticipated problems and the dynamics of the economy. "We'll see. If it is positive [the input from the IMF], we'll listen and we'll improve it. That's our principle," he told reporters on the sidelines of a closed-door meeting with the House of Representatives over the amendment of the central bank law.

Rizal did not say what aspects would be discussed with the IMF and when it would be completed. The government launched the new autonomy policy early this year under which provinces and regencies will have greater power in managing their social and economic affairs including fiscal policy.

The IMF has expressed concerns over the hastily prepared new autonomy law, particularly about the prospect that the newly empowered regions would embark on a borrowing binge to finance their greater administrative roles. If this were to happen, it could jeopardize the recovery process of the overall economy. The Fund has demanded that the government issues a regulation to prohibit the regions from borrowing.

The IMF, which is providing a multibillion dollar bailout fund for the country, is currently in the process of reviewing the government economic reform program. If the Fund approves the economic program, it will disburse its next loan tranche.

The IMF was supposed to disburse another US$400 million loan last year but it was delayed until February or March of this year. But Rizal dismissed suggestion that the government had surrendered to pressure from the IMF. "This is because we have goodwill," he said.

He said that there had been no specific agreement earlier between the government and the IMF over how to implement the new autonomy and fiscal decentralization policy. Rizal also said that neither the IMF nor the government had fully anticipated the problems that might occur in the implementation of the regional autonomy law.

He said that one of the problems was the transfer of around 1.9 million government employees from the payroll of the central government to the payrolls of the local administrations. "It was not anticipated that there would be around 1.9 million government employees to be transferred," he said. Finance ministry officials have said that the central government had so far only managed to transfer around 900,000 government employees.

Meanwhile, Rizal said that the government had managed to complete nearly all of the key economic reform program targets set by the IMF. He pointed out that the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) had managed to raise more than its Rp 19.9 trillion cash target, and the Jakarta Initiative Task Force (JITF) had managed to help restructure between US$8-10 billion in corporate overseas debt in the 2000 fiscal year ending in December.

"Regarding the budget deficit, the government has been more conservative," he said, pointing out that the deficit in 2000 was only around 3.5 percent of gross domestic product compared to initial projection of 4.8 percent of GDP.

One key economic program failed to be completed by the government last year was the sale of the government's majority stakes in the publicly-listed Bank Central Asia (BCA) and Bank Niaga. The IMF has expressed disappointment over the delay in the sale of the two banks. The government now plans to sell the banks sometime in June this year.

41 new decrees on tax and regional autonomy issued

Jakarta -- The Finance Ministry said on Monday that it had issued 41 new decrees, including 38 new tax and excise decrees, in a bid to meet the government's 2001 state budget revenue targets and to support the decentralization program.

The statement, issued by the Finance Ministry, provided few specifics regarding the content of the new decrees. However, it did outline that the 37 new decrees concerned changes relating to new tax cuts, tax facilities, excise on alcoholic beverages and a luxury sales tax on cars.

The statement specified several decrees aimed at boosting investment activities. They concern the reduction of income taxes on bond revenues at stock exchanges, income taxes on construction services, and the provision of tax facilities to tax payers investing in certain businesses or regions.

Another decree requires the government to pay interest rates to tax payers on the excess of their obligatory tax payments if the directorate general of tax fails to return the excess amount or fails to issue notification of the excess amount on time. "The interest rate [for the excess tax amount] is set at 2 percent a month and will take into account tax debts first," the statement said.

Some of the decrees regulate the writing of financial reports in foreign languages and the use of currencies other than rupiah, the statement said.

Under the new decree on luxury taxes the government will include the imposition of a 75 percent luxury tax rate for cars with engine capacities of more than 4,000 cubic centimeters (cc), and a 50 percent luxury tax on cars with engine capacities of between 3,000 to 4,000 cc.

A new decree relating to the excise tax on alcoholic beverages outlines that the government will increase the levy in phases, the ministry said. For instance, excise taxes on locally made and imported beverages containing up to 1 percent of alcohol will be raised up to Rp 1,250 per liter. Excise taxes on locally-made and imported beverages, containing between 1 and 5 percent of alcohol, will be raised to Rp 2,050 and Rp 2,500 per liter respectively.

Among the new decrees are those concerning revenue sharing between the central and regional governments, as stipulated by the Intergovernmental Fiscal Balance Law No. 25/1999, which was implemented on January 1 this year as part the decentralization program.

The ministry, however, did not provide details of the decree. Under the Intergovernmental Fiscal Balance Law, the government has to give local governments a greater share in the revenue from the exploitation of natural resources in the regions.

With a shrinking revenue base, the government is facing a tough challenge to meet this year's tax revenue target of Rp 154.2 trillion (about US$16.2 billion). The government has already come under fire for issuing two regulations last month, hiking the tax rate on interest received from bank term deposits, as well as imposing value added taxes on agricultural and animal husbandry products.

Under the new tax policies the government increased tax rates on interest earned from bank term deposits to 20 percent from 15 percent, and imposed a 10 percent value added tax on agricultural and animal husbandry products. Both regulations have been in effect since January 1. It is unclear whether the two new regulations were part of the 41 decrees the Finance Ministry has issued.

Finance Minister Prijadi Praptosuhardjo said he would look into various public objections against the new tax policies before deciding whether to review them. "We don't know yet whether we must delay [the policy]. First we'll have to look at all the inputs," Prijadi told reporters after a post-Idul Fitri gathering on Monday.

Army Chief: Security comes before politics and economy

Bandung -- Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto asserted here on Monday that the Army is committed to solving security matters but asked other parties to seek the root of the problems plaguing the nation.

Endriartono deemed security fears over the past year were the result of political and economic problems. "In order to solve the security problem, we have to cope with the political and economy matters first. I urged the political elite to stop bickering among themselves," Endriartono said on the sideline of a ceremony which marked the start of an Army training program at the Infantry Training Center in Cipatat district.

Endriartono was responding to a statement by President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, who said his government was expecting security concerns to mount in 2001.

Gus Dur described four groups wishing to topple him, namely those afraid to lose power, those trying to evade trial, those linked to the past regime, and Muslim hard-liners.

The Army, Endriartono said, was prepared to defuse the security threats because it did not want a repeat of the May 1998 riots. Riots, arson attacks and looting swept the capital and its neighboring towns then, precipitating the resignation of long- time ruler Soeharto.

Endriartono said the Army would be able to shoulder the challenge although there were allegations that some of its members were involved in the Christmas eve bombings. "I cannot deny it [the involvement] because a military officer is just a human who could be persuaded to get involved," he said.

He promised to uphold the law and strengthen military discipline, instead of protecting Army personnel who have been proven to be involved in the bombings which killed 19 people.

Endriartono also admitted that there was a splinter group in the Indonesian Military (TNI) who is keeping up the pressure on the government through the groups identified by the President as the menaces to his administration.

Endriartono also expressed his concern over the continuing separatist movement in Aceh and Irian Jaya, accusing the rebels of seeking their own interests above the nation's.

"During this multidimensional crises, we should support each other. But there are some people who have the heart to take advantage of the crisis, regardless of the possibility that their actions might destroy this nation," Endriartono said.

Meanwhile, the United States Embassy denied reports which linked the country's intelligence agency CIA to four allegedly Afghanistan-trained Indonesians accused of assembling bombs that exploded on the Christmas eve.

"This [the report] is not true, since the US did not provide training in Afghanistan ... If this unconfirmed report is allowed to stand, it could be dangerous and harmful to US-Indonesian relations," a spokesperson for the embassy said in a statement.

The spokesperson added the US had never conducted training in Afghanistan, but Pakistan. "The US trained people to become soldiers. The US did not provide training in making car bombs."

Wahid says his government faces no immediate danger

Jakarta -- Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid on Sunday said that despite mounting criticism of his rule, he and his government faced no immediate political danger and called on his supporters not to resort to mobilizing masses in his defence.

"Just leave politics to me. Do not worry, I am still calm," Wahid told a meeting between Muslim leaders and police leaders in East Java in Tuban, East Java, the Satunet online news service said. "If I can no longer stand it, then I will run to see Kyais [Traditional Javanese Muslim leaders]," Wahid said.

East Java is the stronghold of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest Muslim organization, which Wahid headed until he became Indonesia's first democratically-elected president in October 1999.

NU Muslim leaders have warned that tens of thousands of NU supporters in East Java were ready to march on to Jakarta to defend Wahid against his political opponents should they mobilize masses to hold anti-Wahid protests in the capital. Rumors spoke of plans for mass anti-Wahid protests planned in Jakarta in mid- January.

"To those people who are striving to unseat me, please go ahead, I have the courage to march foward and I have no fear," Wahid said.

On Saturday, Wahid told visiting MPs from the NU-backed National Awareness Party (PKB) faction at the East Java provincial parliament at the Merdeka Palace here, not to worry about him.

"If the conditions become worrying, I will surely start to scream first. So, as long as i am not screaming, you do not need to worry," he told MPs, according to the Suara Pembaruan evening daily.

He also said that there were four groups currently bent on ousting him from power. He identified the groups as those with strong ambitions for power, those who are afraid of legal actions taken by the government, those who wanted to maintain the status quo, including supporters of former president Suharto and several generals, and those using religion to their own end. Wahid, however, did not mention any names.

He also said that opposition to his government was merely the work of only a few people. "At the most, 16 people at the central parliament," Wahid said, again mentioning no names. Several MPs at the 500-member lower house, the People's Representative Council (DPR), have been vociferous in their criticism of the president.

They have also spearheaded efforts of the DPR to form special commissions to investigates at least two financial scandals in which they believed Wahid was involved. Wahid on Saturday said he was innocent in both cases.

Wahid's opponents and critics have accused the president of having failed to take the country out of its current economic and political crisis and some of the DPR legislators have been calling for a special convention of the national assembly to depose Wahid.

Power to the people?

Jakarta -- Question: What is the going rate for elected local office in most of Indonesia today? Answer: At least 1 billion rupiah (S$180,000).

But those aspiring to be provincial governors, city mayors or bupatis (district chiefs) are advised to offer their electorates -- the local legislative chambers -- more since most members collect from all candidates and the highest bidder wins.

Be warned too that there are no refunds for unsuccessful bids, as one mayoral candidate for Surabaya discovered last year when his nomination was rejected on discovery of a previous criminal record.

"It's all about money now. We didn't think of this when we wrote the laws," laments former deputy minister for regional autonomy Afan Gaffar, a member of the Team Seven which wrote Indonesia's political and administrative decentralisation laws back in 1998- 99.

Professor Afan, a political scientist specialising in governance issues, can cite cases of bribery and manipulation of local elections in most of Indonesia's big cities in the months since the country's first free and relatively clean General Election in June 1999.

Even in Jakarta, where a vociferous civil society movement is supposed to make official graft a rarity, members of the district council allegedly demanded 100 million rupiah each from the city governor to approve his annual accountability speech last year, he says. They also claimed extra recompense upfront -- all- expenses-paid "study trips" abroad with no real defined objective but plenty of time in shopping malls.

The regional parliament in Prof Afan's hometown, Yogyakarta, also voted themselves extra holiday allowances last month. "And what did they give the local people? Nothing."

Beginning this year, these district and provincial legislators are supposed to be the main bulwark against the establishment of local fiefdoms.

They are to ensure that newly-empowered community administrators -- mayors and bupatis -- spend state monies and local taxes according to the perceived preferences and needs of their constituents, now that they are not governed by diktat of a bureaucrat sitting in faraway Jakarta with notions of some five- year development goals.

(Aceh and Irian Jaya, with their local separatist movements, will, however, have to wait for May for their Big Bang. The national parliament has till then to pass special autonomy laws for these resource-rich provinces at either end of the archipelago.)

Customer orientation, transparency and accountability are to be the new buzzwords of regional autonomy, not asal bapak senang (keeping the boss happy).

Yet anecdotal evidence suggests that in reality, korupsi pindah ke daerah (corruption moves to the regions), self-aggrandisement and maximising the benefits of officials will intensify instead.

Award-winning environment activist Emmy Halfid, who has much experience battling local officials, is pessimistic life for the little man will improve.

"Any improvement we will likely see for a while will be the dramatic increase of the bupati's income. Bupatis now have incredible power and the local government officials and parliament, instead of working to serve the public, will be too busy amassing wealth.

"Autonomy should give the public more say because the power of the state stops at the district level. Instead what we are seeing now is that autonomy belongs to the local government, giving the public very little power."

As they say, democracy benefits the powerful and the wealthy; the poor and voiceless simply get poorer.

Decentralisation inevitable

In theory, as a system of governance, the all-encompassing decentralisation exercise Indonesia has now embarked on -- in political, fiscal and administrative matters -- is a quantum leap into grassroots democracy.

In practice, decentralising key authorities and functions of government to the regions is inevitable in a nation as physically far-flung, diverse economically and ethnically, and disparate in terms of local historical experience and preferences as Indonesia is. The alternative to separatism was centralised military rule. And even Mr Suharto's version broke down after 32 years of refinement.

With the pendulum suddenly swinging in the opposite direction, the mandate-starved, populist-minded Habibie government rushed to put in place a legal framework allowing the people to play a bigger role in decision-making as a means to calm unrest, while keeping the nation intact. The problem is that Indonesia is trying to do at one go what most other countries took years to implement, stage by stage.

To be effective, decentralisation choices have to affect political accountability, fiscal soundness and administrative capacity to deliver services without increasing moral hazard or macro-economic instability and ultimately result in increased prosperity and public welfare of the citizens.

If this multi-layered system of arrangements is what one World Bank analyst calls the Souffle Theory, then Indonesia is trying to microwave a souffle before whipping its ingredients into sufficient sturdiness or ascertaining the capacity wattage of its machine.

And perhaps most trying, all this cooking is taking place in a bare kitchen, when the country is still trying to recover from its monetary crisis, the rule of law is almost non-existent and there has been a last-minute change of sous chefs with the removal of chief policy designer Ryaas Rasyid from the Regional Autonomy portfolio last August.

Now Administrative Reform Minister, Prof Ryaas tendered his resignation last week, citing the government's management of the decentralisation process as his main grievance.

No attention to details

The two laws which form the basis of the current autonomy exercise -- Law No. 22 of 1999 on regional governance and Law No. 25 of 1999 on the fiscal balance between centre and regions -- might have been drafted in haste and without consultations with regions or much policy consensus. "But the devil is in the details now and nobody is paying attention to them," he says.

As the newly-appointed Regional Autonomy Minister in January last year, he had noted that the two framework laws required a multitude of implementing regulations: eight other laws, 50 national government regulations and decrees, 1,600 regulations on the provincial level and the modification of several thousand local regulations.

Doing a count last month, he reckoned that up to 177 presidential decrees had still not been written, with ripple effects for local administrative guidelines.

These include the control and supervisory mechanisms stipulated by the International Monetary Fund at its last review in September: Auditing standards to keep local officials honest and spending guidelines, including how they can draw on central contingency funds for local projects, as well as minimum service delivery standards.

Officials speak vaguely of some 20 to 30 regulations having been issued in the last three weeks. But nobody in Jakarta seems to be very sure, and officials in the regions have certainly not received physical copies of the regulations.

"The weakest link is the propaganda machinery," notes an international consultant helping with the implementation process. "Interior and Regional Autonomy Minister Surjadi Soerdirdja has to get out there and start explaining what's going on instead of complaining about over-politicisation of the process. This is about politics too, not just budgets."

Chief economic czar Rizal Ramli did try to calm investor fears by issuing a press statement on January 4 asserting that preparatory steps already taken included training for regional officials as well as reviews of each region's readiness.

All pre-existing international agreements with foreign investors will continue to be honoured and regulations are in place to ensure regions cannot borrow internationally without the approval of Jakarta. "This will ensure the central government's ability to continue to safeguard Indonesia's overall fiscal management," he said.

But without citing chapter and verse to show proof of work done, it was ignored by most newspapers. Besides, what worry observers most is the checks and balances he cannot promise.

The autonomy experiment, when fully implemented, will see more than 40 per cent of total government expenditures or 81 trillion rupiah in the hands of regional managers. Because resource-rich districts will get to share oil, gas, mining, fishery and forestry royalties with Jakarta, some in Riau and East Kalimantan may end up with more money than they can reasonably spend in a year.

Prestige projects

The temptation will be to spend the windfall on prestige projects, as has been the trend in the past. The Kutai Induk district in East Kalimantan, for example, spent most of its discretionary income on government offices and convention halls instead of improving services to the poor.

But perhaps the most flawed element of the new fiscal arrangements, from the perspective of local accountability, is that regional governments will not be able to raise new taxes, retaining only the right to collect small taxes on water use and street lighting.

Experience elsewhere shows that local residents are more likely to hold their leaders accountable for their spending decisions when their tax revenues are spent locally.

The law notwithstanding, local parliaments are, however, less likely to have qualms imposing new taxes on "outside" companies operating in their districts. The Bima district in West Nusa Tenggara plans, for instance, to levy nine new taxes and user charges.

Decentralisation exercises are always fraught with risks. But more than fuzzy process design and confused concepts, the overarching problem is an inherent one in newly democratic Indonesia.

The paradox of decentralisation is that a strong central government is even more vital now to check abuses and generally provide a supportive environment where the rule of law becomes the norm.

The evidence so far of savvy district chiefs seizing the initiative is not salutary. The US Embassy gave these examples in a report last May: "The impression in mid-2000 was that regions had taken hold of Law 22 and were essentially implementing it in advance of the official schedule.

"Local authorities were dividing up forests for logging ... counting local mining revenues as already theirs, causing concern among US and other foreign investors whose regional operations some local governments regarded as additional revenue sources." It concluded: "Regions seemed eager to take on the 'profit centres' such as mines and forests, but reluctant to handle 'cost centres' such as hospitals and schools."

In response to such concerns, Jakarta is hanging on to its control of mining concessions for another five years. But can it stop local parliaments from unilaterally seizing the mines? Send in the troops? Can Jakarta even do anything if district chiefs decide to enrich themselves by setting up toll booths on national highways? Can a weak national government exercise moral suasion over local bosses, never mind taking them to court?

Already there are examples to show that local judges will tend to side with local district managers, as one in North Sulawesi did when the Newmont gold mine refused to pay the district chief extra taxes. He shut the mine down.

Foreign-aid agencies have poured more than US$3 billion into programmes to help Indonesia's local authorities build capacity and competency. But what of the more intractable issue of changing Indonesian political culture? The major political parties are personality-centred and a strong patronage system still exists.

Local elections still revolve around the people selected by party leaders in Jakarta. Whereas, in the past, Jakarta could override results of local decisions, now the only counteracting force to party leaders is money politics.

Where is the linkage that will bind local politicians to deliver on their promises and bear the costs of their decisions if their main constituent is some man or woman in Jakarta?

Will the autonomy experiment create sufficient incentives for people to rebel against this national political mindset? Will a cultural revolution take place, towed by the autonomy impetus? Or will change have to come first to make genuine decentralisation possible? Stay tuned.

New power structures: What they mean

• Two regional autonomy laws passed in 1999 open up windows to opportunistic politicians and conscientious officials alike to forge new power structures.

• The local-level district and city governments have broad autonomy, with responsibility for all government matters, except for foreign affairs, defence and security, justice, monetary and fiscal affairs and religion.
• Local governments are to be responsible for public works, health, education and culture, agriculture, transport, industry and trade, investment, environment, land matters, co-operatives and manpower.
• Responsibility for such matters include planning, financing, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and maintenance.
• Regions can re-transfer their functions to the provinces if they are not capable of handling them.
• Regions are to be given control over their finances, civil servants and organisational set-ups.
• At the village level, the communities elect a village council and a village head; such local institutions can be fashioned in accordance with local traditions and needs. These village councils will be part of district governments.
• All revenues and expenditures of local governments must be reflected in the local budget. Local governments can borrow from capital markets. Foreign borrowing requires prior approval by the central government.
• The central government can nullify regional decisions and regulations deemed unconstitutional, against national law or against public interest.
• It is expected that after full implementation of both laws, the regional share of general government spending will more than double to over 40 per cent, and that some 60 per cent of the development budget will be managed at sub-national levels.

Detention of FKM chief protested

Ambon -- One hundred people marched to the Maluku Police Headquarters in Batumeja on Friday to protest Thursday's arrest of Alex Manuputty, chief executive of the Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM).

Maluku Police chief Brig. Gen. Firman Gani received the demonstrators and explained why the police had detained Alex. According to Firman, FKM had positioned itself as a political organization separate from the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia.

"It has also falsified important documents. The police investigation has developed and indicates that Alex should be arrested as a key suspect," Firman said.

"The security personnel cannot condone any separatist actions. This is a national commitment, which has been agreed upon by both Muslims and Christians nationwide. That's final." There have apparently been indications that FKM has links to a separatist group which wants to proclaim the independence of the South Maluku Republic (RMS).

Firman said, however, that at a recent meeting between himself, Governor Saleh Latuconsina and Alex's lawyer it had been decided that Alex's detention would be delayed.

Local figure Noke Mailoa, who was among the demonstrators, said that the detention of Alex was a discriminative act by the police.

"There has been no legal evidence that Alex will commit rebellious actions. Yet another group which has made slanderous statements or taken action against President Abdurrahman Wahid has not been touched by the police. How far can the police and administrator of the civil state of emergency [the governor] see the human rights violations in other parts of the province, including Kesui and Teor islands?"

Responding to the criticism, Firman said that all cases were treated equally. "But there are times when the police cannot take prompt action due to legal obstacles. There are cases that are difficult to complete due to the absence of evidence and witnesses. Therefore, we cannot simply arrest people believed to be the suspects. The police are not discriminative."

After meeting with the protesters, Firman told reporters that Sanana Police chief First. Insp. Suganda, 35, had been found dead on a Thai fishing boat on Friday.

The boat was sailing toward Southeast Maluku waters when intercepted by water police, said Firman, adding that Suganda, along with two subordinates, was reported missing during patrol in North Maluku waters last week. "He had a gunshot wound in the chest, while the rest of the body was covered in bruises," Firman said.

He said he had instructed the North Maluku Police chief to arrest the crew of the boat. He did not say how many people were on the boat.

Meanwhile, Adj. Sr. Comr. Hasanudin, chief of Ambon and Lease Islands Police, said that two people reported missing on Thursday had yet to be found.

"The disappearance of Noce Wattimena and Yusuf Anakotapary began when a truck hit the two, who were on a motorcycle in front of a mosque in Batumerah. It was not a serious collision, but their relatives reported the two had been missing since then," Hasanudin said.

Strangers in our own land

Dini Djala, North Sulawesi and West Kalimantan -- At a crowded refugee camp in Bitung, North Sulawesi, some 3,000 children pass their days jumping rope, throwing ball or playing a game they call "war." The girls pretend to be nurses, busily tending the wounded, while the boys take up fake guns to fight mock battles.

"They love playing war," says Lengkana, an aid worker and psychologist working with the youngsters, who fled sectarian killing in nearby North Maluku: "When I ask the kids what they want to be when they grow up, they answer: 'We want to become soldiers, so we can kill Muslims.'"

Hardly the sort of response you would expect from children barely out of their teens. But in this squalid, fetid camp there is little to cheer about. And the hopelessness is repeated in dozens of similar camps across the country that house many of Indonesia's internal refugees.

According to government figures, more than 1 million Indonesians are currently classed as "internally displaced people," torn from their homes by years of ethnic violence or economic deprivation. The refugees face often dismal prospects.

Disease and alcoholism are rife in the camps, and thousands have already died from diarrhoea and respiratory illnesses. The most desperate are forced into lives of begging, prostitution and crime.

But it's not just individuals who are suffering. The displacement of so many people has worrying long-term implications for the fragile process of nation-building. "We are strangers in our own land," complains Hasan, 18, a Madurese refugee. Sociologist Imam Prasodjo of the University of Indonesia warns that if such sentiments spread, "our sense of togetherness as a nation will disappear. Our dream of the Indonesian nation may be gone."

Prasodjo blames the crisis on the government's "half-hearted" measures. Caring for the refugees has been costly; officials say more than 1 billion rupiah ($107,000) is spent every day to provide rice and 1,500 rupiah pocket money for each refugee. But Prasodjo says the aid is always late, and at least some of it is lost through corruption. Indeed, in many camps, the cash flow has stopped and the rice is delivered only haphazardly, say social workers.

Aid distribution also hasn't been helped by a bewildering series of administrative changes ordered by the government, which led to responsibility for the refugees being shifted between four separate ministries before ending up late last year with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the People's Mobility and Population Board -- an entirely new government body. Social workers say the reshuffles have brought confusion. But Emil Agustiono, chief of the Crisis Centre at the Health and Social Welfare Ministry, counters that the changes have only been at the top, while front-line officials have remained unchanged.

Increasingly, the uprooted Indonesians rely on foreign organizations for help. But, apart from the East Timorese, they are not regarded as true refugees as they have not fled their own country, which means the United Nations is unable to do much. Instead, it is increasingly being left up to independent organizations such as Midecins Sans Frontires (Doctors Without Borders) and the Red Cross to help deliver aid and medical care.

To improve aid distribution and monitoring of the refugees' plight, sociologist Prasodjo wants the government to establish a commission for the internally displaced. But the government has not heeded his proposal. Indeed, its policy on the refugees can be summed up in two words: Go home. "These camps can't exist forever," says the ministry's Agustiono. "We prefer a process of reconciliation, not relocation." Still, government officials admit that as of June last year, fewer than 30,000 refugees nationwide had been permanently resettled or returned home.

In areas to which refugees have fled, the response from local communities is frequently resentful, sometimes violently so. With an eye to the local population, provincial governments have also tended to offer refugees a cool reception.

In North Sulawesi, the local government is taking a tough stance towards its roughly 30,000 refugees, who come mostly from the Moluccas. Believing that locals are increasingly worried about the potential for ethnic and sectarian violence as a result of the refugees' presence, the provincial government's chief humanitarian relief official, Lona Lengkong, has a simple message for the refugees: "Don't create problems."

But the problems have already arrived. Lengkong says that when he visits the Bitung camp and catches the refugees drunk and gambling, he shouts and threatens to "first turn off the lights, then take away the food!" His warnings are serious: Amid complaints from locals that refugees were getting free government services for which locals had to pay, the local government removed doctors from the camps and refugees must now pay for their children's schooling. "We will no longer treat the refugees like first-class citizens," Lengkong declares.

First class, however, hardly describes most refugees' lives. Families often share at best about three square metres of dirt floor. Rice is generally plentiful -- for now -- but other foods are not. Nor is medical care.

Mutleben Tumada, 31, who fled Halmahera island in North Maluku and now lives in a camp in Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi, asked the local hospital to treat his arm after it was nearly hacked off during an attack on his village. The surgeons asked him for 3 million rupiah. Tumada's neighbour in the camp, Herkanus Dadasa, 43, who watched his mother and two daughters die in a bombing on Halmahera, snarls at the government's apparent lack of compassion. "Why don't they take care of their own people? Why are we victimized in our own country?"

The tensions are fuelling violence within the camps. "There are lots of fights now," says None Ayowaila, 51, a refugee at Mega Belia Camp in Bitung, North Sulawesi. The chief of the camp, Thadeus Leftungun, a 60-year-old former police officer who fled his home in Ternate, North Maluku, thinks the camp should be disbanded.

But he's worried about whether his family could survive outside, where he fears they would face discrimination from locals -- something he has already experienced: "Whenever there is misunderstanding, the locals never let us forget who we are," he says. Adds local legislator Bonny Sompie: "The refugees get blamed for any problems we now have, from traffic jams to higher crime and even increasing real estate prices."

In West Kalimantan's capital Pontianak, such finger-pointing can turn fatal. In October, six people died in fighting between the Malay and Madurese communities. Armed Malay gangs roamed the city, hunting down Madurese, while rocks and Molotov cocktails were thrown into the camps, where refugees cowered in fear.

But for all the problems they face, many refugees are resigned to calling the camps home. Masiah, an ethnic-Madurese was twice driven from her home in Sambas regency, West Kalimantan, in ethnic fighting.

Eventually, she and 20,000 other ethnic-Madurese boarded a ship to the small island of Madura, their ancestral home, but where most no longer had any land or family. Despite being given land by the local government, fewer than half the refugees stuck it out, and soon they were on their way back to West Kalimantan to live in camps in Pontianak, some distance from Sambas.

There, they are are making the most of what they have, using cash they earn from hard labour to build small shacks; the campgrounds -- previously sports stadiums and other public facilities -- now resemble shanty towns.

Today, Masiah is resigned to staying put. But she is aware that as refugees, they are outcasts, and exposed to exploitation -- her husband earns a little more than a dollar a day on construction sites. "Without our cheap labour," she says, "Pontianak could not prosper."

Still, officials in West Kalimantan keep trying to convince the refugees that it's safe to go home, and are cutting down on aid to encourage the refugees to do so.

But not many are willing to take the risk. "The few who have ventured back to their villages have wound up dead," says Madurese community leader Haji Sulaiman. He makes up for shortfalls in government aid with donations he corrals from the private sector.

In North Sulawesi, relief official Lengkong worries that withdrawing aid too fast, too soon, may be detrimental -- to the local population. If resettlement plans fail again, Lengkong says he will keep the camps open, because at least in the camps the refugees' hostilities can be contained, and not seep out into the streets.

His voice heavy with worry that North Sulawesi too may fall into sectarian and ethnic conflict, he says: "It is better for us to give than to receive, so later we will not become refugees too."

A restless people

With over 1 million "internally displaced people," Indonesia has more than a third of the region's total of 2.4 million IDPs. In Asia, only Afghanistan -- with an estimated 200,000 IDPs and a further 1.2 million refugees in neighbouring Pakistan -- has a more serious problem.

According to government figures, more than 400,000 refugees are scattered throughout the Moluccas, fleeing continuing violence in the islands that has claimed more than 4,000 lives. Thousands more have fled to nearby provinces such as North Sulawesi.

More than 60,000 Madurese have still not returned to their villages in Sambas regency, West Kalimantan, from where they were violently driven out in March 1999 by their ethnic-Malay and Dayak neighbours.

Many now live in refugee camps elsewhere in West Kalimantan, while some have gone to Madura, the poor island off Java from which their families originally came.

West Timor still shelters some 100,000 East Timorese who are awaiting repatriation in the face of protests from pro-Jakarta militia groups, which continue to resist the refugees' return home.

The refugee population of Aceh, where a separatist movement is seeking independence from the rest of Indonesia, fluctuates depending on the intensity of fighting, with many people leaving their homes for only short periods. In 1999, the number of refugees in Aceh mushroomed to more than 200,000, but most eventually returned home.

Three dead in Malaku clashes

Jakarta -- At least three people were killed in religious clashes on Thursday in Indonesia's Maluku province, as police arrested the leader of a Christian group seeking independence for the region.

Two men died when Muslims and Christian mobs battled in the streets following a traffic accident in the provincial capital of Ambon, said Mr John Tomasoa, a spokesman for the local government. Another was killed and 11 were injured in a shoot-out between boats in Ambon Bay, he added.

The fresh fighting broke out as local police arrested Alex Manuputty, an alleged leader of a Christian group that last month unilaterally declared an independent Maluku state. A police spokesman said police would also will take action against other members of the group.

Dozens ransack church in Kalasan

Kalasan, Sleman -- A group of people ransacked a Biblical Church in Taman Martani village, Kalasan, on Tuesday some 14 kilometers east of Yogyakarta when Sleman regency officials were discussing the church's operation.

There was nobody inside the church when the vandalism took place, and the church established in the last of the 1980s suffered only minor damage.

Witnesses said that the mob arrived at 12:30pm on motorbikes and in cars. "Some of them pelted the church with stones, while others smashed windows. They dispersed and fled toward the Yogyakarta-Solo highway," a local, who wanted to be anonymous, said. The highway is just 100 meters east of the church.

Kalasan Police sub-precinct chief First Insp. Heru Prasetyo confirmed the vandalism, saying that a local Muslim organization called Prambanan Muslim Front (FUI Prambanan) was against establishment of the church.

"FUI Prambanan has been complaining about the church's activities as they believed that the permit for the church had yet to be issued. They don't want the church in their neighborhood." In the late 1980s, Heru said, Rev. Paul Tabuni, established the 8x20 square meters church with some 50 members.

According to Heru, Paul has been seeking a Sleman regency permit for the church's activities, but the regency authorities have yet to approve the proposal. "The church was attacked when talks on the church's existence were underway between Sleman officials, the FUI and church representatives," Heru said.

Another emergency meeting sponsored by local police was held following the attack. Rev. Paul Tabuni represented the church and FUI Prambanan was represented by its coordinator Nurhadi Sucipto. Most of the participants suggested that the church seek another location.

Nurhadi admitted that FUI members could be behind the attack, "Most of my kids were apparently losing control," he said. Both Nurhadi and Paul agreed to calm down their "followers". "We will try to prevent our men from committing more violence, " Nurhadi said. Another meeting was scheduled to be held on January 18.
 

News & issues

Mass protests in Jakarta likely to fizzle out

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- Even though the police are taking extra precaution to secure the capital against mass demonstrations rumoured to begin tomorrow, commentators say the real political onslaught might be delayed for several weeks.

Demonstrators have vowed to converge in the capital tomorrow, when Parliament begins the New Year with a committee presenting its findings on "Buloggate" and "Bruneigate" -- two corruption scandals involving President Abdurrahman Wahid.

But political observers said that while opposition to Mr Abdurrahman is real, the expected mass demonstrations are only empty threats. "We take the position that usually when something is predicted so extensively in the press here, it will not happen," said one diplomat.

But in preparation of the expected showdown between thousands of pro- and anti-Abdurrahman demonstrators who have reportedly arrived in the capital, the police have deployed 40,000 security personnel in Jakarta to counter possible riots.

President Abdurrahman has repeatedly called on the paramilitaries or Banser from Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) -- the Muslim organisation he used to lead -- not to assemble in the capital. "To Banser and PDI-P's task force, I am telling you there is no need to come to Jakarta because everything is under control," he said.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab and Jakarta Police chief Inspector-General Mulyono Sulaiman have also reassured the foreign embassies here that the capital was secure, despite admissions by Banser leaders in East Java that 10,000 of their members had already arrived in Jakarta. Meanwhile, the police estimated that at least 3,000 demonstrators are ready for a show of force.

NU deputy secretary-general Masduki Baidlawi's statements on Friday that there were individuals impersonating NU civilian guards in two cities outside Jakarta has also added to the ominous warnings made by Cabinet members that certain forces were trying to engineer riots in an attempt to topple the government.

It is unlikely that the Buloggate and Bruneigate investigation committees will be able to present findings or gain agreement on Parliament's reaction to the scandals, as the commission either lacks evidence of the President's involvement or has been persuaded not to pursue the case thoroughly.

Looking back to move forward

Mary S. Zurbuchen -- Even seasoned observers had trouble predicting how difficult the 'post-Suharto era' would be. Yet, despite economic woes, social conflict and vacillating leadership, many Indonesians feel they have indeed embarked on a journey leading toward a more democratic society. Among the key milestones on the road, many say, are efforts to face up to Indonesia's troubled past. The litany is familiar, from the mass violence and detentions following the 'failed coup' of 30 September 1965, through episodic suppression of dissent (Tanjung Priok, Lampung, Dili), to policies leading to systematic rights violations (Aceh, Irian Jaya, East Timor), and to student killings and mass violence in May and November of 1998. These events, and the patterns of impunity they point to, are troubling memories that to this day perpetuate dissatisfaction with government and undermine national cohesion.

In the public mind the New Order's controlling instruments -- the military and police, intelligence, and bureaucracy -- should account for this record. This sentiment is affirmed by a segment of the elite. Indications of commitment at the highest levels of Indonesia's new government to redress past wrongs include pending draft laws to establish a human rights court and a national truth commission. Still, the process of establishing 'truth' and 'justice' is a daunting assignment. It covers a diverse array of events including state as well as vigilante violence, sectarian conflict, detention, discrimination, disappearance, and systematic civil rights abuse. It must be dealt with at a moment when the state's relations with its citizens are undergoing profound redefinition (for example through decentralisation), while regional disaffections and separatism run high, and as an uneasy military relinquishes some of its formidable powers.

Two tough dilemmas face those who hope to shed light on matters long hidden under the New Order. One challenge is to determine whose truth needs to be told, and what definitions of victimisation and guilt are necessary to read accurately the long record of abuse. Another is to identify ways for 'truth-seeking' to create conditions for a stronger national compact, thus providing a foundation for reconciliation and social cohesion.

Uncensored

Previously suppressed accounts are being published for the first time. Colonel A. Latief, long jailed for his role in the events of 30 September 1965, has told his story in Tempo; Pramoedya Ananta Toer's once-banned book on Indonesia's Chinese was launched with much fanfare; and former persona non grata Benedict Anderson's commentaries are widely disseminated. Radio and television talk shows host uncensored discussion on topics such as East Timor's legacy of violence, New Order corruption, or the military's purported role in the deaths of the Trisakti University students in the Jakarta unrest of May 1998.

Once targets for official banning, book publishers are illuminating the past from new vantage points. Flower Aceh, an energetic non-governmental organisation promoting gender justice, produced a volume on women's accounts of Aceh's persistent violence (see Inside Indonesia April 2000). An important dissertation by Indonesian social scientist Hermawan Sulistyo has appeared analysing aspects of the 1965 mass killings. Garin Nugroho's semi-historical film Unburied Poem, which portrays an Acehnese 'didong' storyteller's memory of involvement with 1965 violence, even had a brief run in cineplex theatres. Despite the continued ban on the study of Marxism-Leninism, books on the left and socialism have proliferated, and were in fact best-selling items in book stalls during the August 2000 session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). In the world of arts and culture, meanwhile, an exuberant celebration of Chinese performance traditions suppressed under the New Order has taken place in many locales.

Other Indonesians are pulling the veil from patterns of violence through grass-roots voluntary service. The Volunteer Team for Humanity (Tim Relawan Kemanusiaan)has helped many victims and collected accounts of human rights abuse. Their work has inspired other networks in East Java, Bali, Medan, West Timor, Maluku, Pontianak, and Papua, often with links to faith communities and other NGOs.

Other types of local acknowledgement have challenged official versions of history.

In early July 2000 Sultan Hamengku Buwono X of Yogyakarta dedicated a monument attesting that his father, the late Hamengku Buwono IX, conceived the March 1, 1949 republican assault on Dutch-held Yogyakarta. It directly counters New Order claims that then Lieutenant-General Suharto was the sole hero of that revolutionary operation. New private foundations and activist researchers have initiated studies into the legacy of 1965, the Tanjung Priok killings, and other events. Some of these groups seek to rehabilitate Indonesians long deprived of basic rights through political imprisonment after 1965.

Responding to growing public awareness, some senior figures have apologised publicly. In August 1999 then-armed forces chief General Wiranto apologised for military abuses in Aceh. During an otherwise low-key television appearance in March 2000, President Abdurrahman Wahid expressed his regrets over the involvement of his own Muslim organisation Nahdlatul Ulama in the mass killings of 1965-66 in Java. Many see apologies as inadequate, because they skirt issues of accountability and the complete revelation of the truth. But under the New Order, such gestures would have hardly been imaginable.

Popular concern has also led to formal processes. Commissions established at the national and provincial levels have submitted reports on abuses following East Timor's referendum in August 1999, on killings of civilians in Aceh, and on the fatal Tanjung Priok riots of 1984. A multi-sectoral fact-finding team that included legal experts, activists, department officials and military attempted to clarify the widespread May 12-15, 1998, violence and destruction in Jakarta. Another investigation, this one led by the national police, has attempted to fix responsibility for the violent takeover of the party headquarters of the PDI in July 1996. Each of these efforts has proved controversial. Each has been driven by the government's need to address specific political groups as well as international opinion. Public reaction has included charges of 'whitewashing', and complaints about weak prosecutorial follow-up. In the Aceh case, a trial and conviction (also much criticised) of low- ranking officers in the killings of Teungku Bantaqiah and his followers resulted from one such report.

Just as opportunities to bring perpetrators to account are opening up, the weaknesses of Indonesia's justice system appear especially glaring. Widespread judicial corruption, limited investigative capacity, and unreliable prosecutors are major constraints when 'truth and justice' are defined solely through the courts.

Despite ongoing training programs for prosecutors and high court reforms, the judicial contests are slow. In frustration, some groups have called for 'people's trials' for Suharto and his family and associates.

Truth Commission

Recognising that formal legal process might not be adequate, some Indonesians have begun to look at establishing a Truth Commission to clarify the New Order record of human rights abuse. Early suggestions along this line came during the short-lived Habibie government, and highlighted the nation's need for 'national reconciliation'. The most detailed blueprint was created by Abdurrahman Wahid before he became president. His Independent Commission for National Reconciliation would have been a private effort involving prominent international advisors and a distinguished Indonesian panel of commissioners.

International donors have been willing to help Indonesians seeking to bring the past to light. In May 2000 a group of Indonesians from the government, military and police, research community and civil society groups went to South Africa for a two-week study of that country's efforts to confront its history of racial violence, including the well known Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Specialists from South Africa and other regions have visited Indonesia to share their knowledge.

Senior government figures traveled to Seoul in July 2000 to learn about South Korea's prosecution of former national leaders. Human rights activists, women's advocates, and victims' groups have begun to learn about the growing record of international experience with truth commissions.

This experience shows that a society can stand to gain through the truth commission process. First, truth commissions allow individual victims to voice their own stories -- and to be listened to, perhaps for the first time. Second, they promote public education through producing an official record of violations. Third, they can aid resolution by acknowledging the suffering of victims, mapping impacts of past crimes, and recommending reparations. Fourth, commissions can recommend specific reforms in public institutions such as the police and judiciary with the aim of preventing recurrence of rights violations. And finally, truth commissions can sort through issues of accountability and indicate perpetrators.

The twenty or so truth commissions that have taken place around the world have all operated in different ways, with various outcomes. There is no single model for Indonesia.

Would Indonesia benefit from a truth commission? What would be its objectives? What form would it take, and how much of the past would be included in its mandate? How would it accommodate Indonesia's great diversity, and the many 'truths' of different actors over the long New Order years? Would the commission have investigative powers? Could it establish a credible account of the past and meet the expectations of victims of rights abuse? Would it help or hinder the judicial process of bringing perpetrators to justice? Would bringing painful past events to light lead to vengeance in society? Is government committed to truth-seeking, or is a commission likely to be a weak instrument co-opted by political interests?

One of the greatest priorities is to promote public education and debate about the possible commission. Advocates believe that formal legal processes alone are not likely to provide the answers about the tragedies of the past. They are convinced that if Indonesia listens to the voices of diverse victims of rights violations, a different vision of society will begin to emerge. Both citizen commitment and consistent political will are needed. Only through looking back at such history can the country move forward to shape a better future.

[Mary Zurbuchen directed the Jakarta office of the Ford Foundation, a private US philanthropy, between 1992 and 2000. She is now at the University of California, Los Angeles.]

Police detect bunker under Tommy's home

Jakarta -- Indonesian police have detected an underground bunker below the central Jakarta home of former president Suharto's fugitive son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.

"We picked up geo- radar signals of a bunker below Tommy's house. We are going to try to open it today," a National Police spokesman said. "If we don't find the entrance, we will force our way in, using special tools."

Forensic police with geo-radar detectors scanned the grounds of the Suharto family's homes on Wednesday and Thursday in a bid to confirm the existence of bunkers. The Suharto family -- the former Indonesian leader and his six children - have interconnecting houses in the plush Jakarta suburb of Menteng.

It is believed that Tommy, 38, who has eluded police for more than two months, may have hid in a bunker. The former playboy businessman has been on the run since early November when President Abdurrahman Wahid rejected his appeal for a pardon over a corruption conviction.

Another police source told the Astaga.com on-line news service that several bunkers had been detected 15 m below the Suharto homes. "All the rooms are interconnected. Now we're trying to locate the door that leads into the bunkers," the source said.

Jakarta's chief of detectives, Commissioner Harry Montolalu, said yesterday police were still waiting for the geo-radar findings to be analysed. "We still haven't got a final result from the forensics laboratory," he said. Police hoped to break into the bunkers by tomorrow, he said.

KPKPN begins massive audit of state officials

Jakarta -- The State Official Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN) functionaries and members were sworn in by President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid at the State Palace on Thursday.

Yusuf Syakir, who was elected KPKPN chairman on Wednesday, said after the ceremony that the commission had already sent forms to the President, Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri, all ministers and to its members to declare their wealth.

"The wealth of the commission's 35 members will be inspected by a public accountant while that of state officials in the executive body will be audited by the commission," Yusuf of the United Development Party (PPP) said. He said the auditing would begin with top officials as it would serve as an example to lower ranking officials.

Yusuf, who had to resign as deputy chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council (DPA) due to his appointment to the commission, said the forms would also be distributed to officials in all state institutions and state-owned companies. "All state officials, including the commission's members, are given one month to fill in the forms, in which they have to declare their wealth, including bank deposits," he said.

He asserted that transparency and honesty were a must in a bid to prevent suspicions and problems which may hinder the auditing process.

The audit would be conducted regularly so that any drastic increase in state officials' assets could be detected. The commission would carry out its tasks with the help of consultants from legal and economic disciplines.

"Despite its authority, the commission will entrust the National Police and the Attorney General's Office to carry out a thorough investigation into state officials who are allegedly involved in corruption.

"Our prime mission is not to investigate corruption cases but to prevent state officials from committing corruption and collusion for the sake of maintaining a clean government," he said.

The commission members will serve until 2004, during which they will audit some 50,000 state officials in provincial, mayoralty and regency administrations, legislative bodies, courts, the military, the National Police and state-owned companies. According to KPKPN's internal rules, its members must work independently and are prohibited from holding two jobs.

Ryaas Rasyid, whose resignation as state minister for empowerment of administrative reform was rejected by the President, hailed the commission's establishment to create a clean government.

"The commission, the first in the country's history, will be very important in helping eradicate the culture of corruption that has long tainted the bureaucracy and other state institutions," he said in the reception. He said the government would need the commission's assistance in evaluating civil servants' wages.

"Most civil servants from the lower echelons are forced to abuse their power to earn additional income as they have to meet their family's daily needs," he said. The law prohibits civil servants from moonlighting.

Ryaas said his office would propose a bill on a code of ethic to regulate the receiving of gifts by state officials in the bureaucracy. "The code of ethic would regulate the value of gifts that state officials could receive and would sanction those who violate it," he said.

When asked about the qualification of the commission's members, Ryaas said that the most importance factor was their commitment to doing their tasks responsibly. "The commission's members have passed a fit and proper test conducted by the legislative body, so they should be able to carry out the commission's mission," he said.

Several young commission members, who asked for anonymity, questioned the commitment of the commission's dominant older members, saying they were closely linked to the former corrupt New Order regime.

"We will stick to the commission's code of ethics in treating members who abuse their position in the commission," said a young member, also an activist in a mass organization.

The commission's deputy chairmen are Mas'ud Machfoedz from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta; Momo Kelana, a retired police major general; Abdulla Hehamahua, a politician; and Chairul Imam from the Attorney General's Office. Its members are, among others, Sukri Ilyas, Paiman Manansastro, Agus Tagor, Anwar Sanusi, Thoha Rasidi, John Pieris, Petrus Selestinus, Enny Sunniyah, Inget Sembiring and Reinhart Tampubolon.

Socialists found committee in Java

Yogyakarta -- Activists from various groups representing laborers, peasants, fishermen and youths have launched a new organization called the All-Jawa Socialist Movement Committee. The Committee was established following a two-day gathering which ended on Monday.

"This movement is the factual form of new socialism and this organization does not have any links with previous socialist groupings. We have a different ideological base," Raziku Amin, chief of the socialist movement, said without elaborating on the differences.

The organization is the second to be formed in the country, following the establishment of a Socialist Movement in Parapat in North Sumatra on August 1, 2000.

The two-day meeting appointed several executives of the committee, namely Raziku and Iranda Yudhatama for Yogyakarta, Eko Sulistyo and Asih Nur Chandra for Surakarta in Central Java; Andy Hendraswanto for Jember in East Java; and Muhammad Alfandi for Malang, East Java.

"A socialist movement is different from communism, since communism is anti-democratic in nature and lacks respect for humanity," Raziku asserted.

The new group is also different from the previous Indonesian Socialist Party (PSI), he said. The PSI was established on February 12, 1948 and banned on August 17, 1960 by the country's first president Sukarno.

"PSI was not firm in making its stance against capitalism. They think that the current form of capitalism is no longer 'greedy' like in the past. We think the opposite," Raziku added, while asserting that capitalism is the source of unfair treatment and exploitation in the world.

"Capitalism is also responsible for all kinds of crises and poverty, in Indonesia and all over the world," the group's secretary general Iranda Yudhatama said.

Yudhatama further revealed that regional committees for socialist movements will be established in Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

Wreckage of missing plane located, all aboard killed

Wamena -- The wreckage of the ill-fated Navy Cassa plane was located in a remote mountainous area of Jayawijaya regency on Wednesday with all people aboard found dead. The Jakarta Post correspondent reported from Wamena that the bodies of the nine passengers (not eleven as earlier reported) had yet to be evacuated due to bad weather and difficult access to the location, between Palimo and Silimo villages in the Kurima district, 11,800 feet above sea level.

The preliminary assumption was that the plane made a turn too early and crashed into the mountain, but official statements on the cause of the crash have yet to be made as investigations continue.

The navy plane went missing on Monday while on a flight from the mining city of Timika in the southwest of Irian Jaya, to Jayapura, the capital of the province some 475 kilometers to the northeast.

President Abdurrahman Wahid, who was attending a meeting in Bandung, expressed condolences to the families of the victims of the crash after he was told by National Police Chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro that all people on board had perished. Abdurrahman also led a brief prayer for the victims ahead of the meeting.

Irian Jaya governor JP. Salossa instructed on Wednesday that all Irianese fly the Indonesian flag at half-mast for one week from Wednesday as an expression of condolence.

The victims are Irian Jaya Police chief Insp. Gen. FX. Sumardi, the provincial Military commander Maj. Gen. Tonny A. Rompis, head of the provincial Prosecutors' Office Bismar Mannu, speaker of provincial legislative council Nathaniel Kaywai, pilot Maj. Sutopo Waluyo, co-pilot First Lt. Dedi Haryanto, adjutant of the Irian Jaya governor's police Sgt. Maj. Jeheskia Z., and flight technicians First Sgt. Sultan and Ordinary Seaman Gunawan.

Seven bodies were found in the wreckage of the plane, while the bodies of Sultan and Gunawan were 'hidden' in the tail of the plane. Chief of National Search and Rescue Agency (SAR) operational unit First. Adm. (ret) Sukapdjioto told the Post from Jayapura, that "Sumardi's body was found at the front of the plane, while the remains of chief prosecutor and the two mechanics were in the tail section which fell into a ravine about75-meters deep." "The intense cold of some four to five degree Celsius at the mountainous area plus their injuries made it hard for the victims to survive," he added.

The discovery of the Navy Cassa U-614 was assisted by a report from a local child to a Catholic priest living in Silimo, some 15 minutes flight from Wamena, that he had seen wreckage of a plane on Wednesday morning. The priest then reported the news to Wamena-based MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) Rek William, who conveyed the news to fellow pilots Harry Berguis and Thomas Haans, who then flew a helicopter to the location.

Trikora Military Command Chief of Staff Brig. Gen. K. Ralahalo said that two pilots could see a broken wing bearing letters TNI-AL (Indonesian Navy) on it. "They returned to Wamena and reported to the Search and Rescue command post what they had seen. Unfortunately the Indonesian Air Force's Bell helicopters had to halt operations due to badweather," Ralahalo said.

Two platoons of Army have been deployed to the location and will evacuate the bodies on Thursday (today) to Timika and then to Jayapura. Sukapdjioto said that if possible, from Timika the bodies would be flown straight to Surabaya and Jakarta.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting on Political, Social and Security Affairs in Jakarta, Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Widodo ruled out the possibility that sabotage caused the crash. "We always inspect every plane to assure it is in a good condition to fly. The ill-fated Navy Cassa had also undergone such a clearance," Widodo said.

In a related development, Irianese students grouped in the Revolutionary Papua Students Movement (Gempar) in Yogyakarta called on officials not to make rash comments or speculate that sabotage caused the plane crash. "Once Jakarta officials speculate that sabotage was behind the crash, the soldiers posted in Irian Jaya would translate the speculation as an order to commit more violence which is against human rights," he said.

Refuting the possibility of human error both Widodo and Indonesian Navy spokesman Commodore Franky Kayhatu said that pilot Maj. Sutopo Waluyo, a deputy chief of Squadron 600 and co- pilot First Lt. Deddy Haryanto, were both very experienced.

"They had been posted in Jayapura, Irian Jaya, for about six years," Widodo said. According to military records, Maj. Gen. Tonny A. Rompis was born in Lembean, Minahasa on June 17, 1948 and was appointed chief of Trikora Military Command on November of last year.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf said on Wednesday that the late Irian Jaya Police Chief Insp. Gen. F.X. Sumardi, 52, was one of the best police cadre. Born in Yogyakarta, on June 25, 1948, Sumardi had been awarded at least six medals for his loyalty, valor and courage, Saleh said.

Meanwhile, Attorney General's Office spokesman Muljohardjo said that prosecutor Bismar Mannu's body would be buried at the institution's cemetery in Cibinong, West Java.

Born in Bone, South Sulawesi on October 12, 1942, he had served as prosecutor since 1968. Mannu was installed as the office's expert for a year in 1999 before being assigned to the top post at the Irian Jaya Prosecutor's Office on July 28, 2000.

The 25-year-old Nathaniel, was a graduate of the school of law at the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

Police trace bomb clues through Jakarta mosque, Singapore, Malaysia

Jakarta -- Police said Tuesday they were investigating records kept in a Jakarta mosque on Indonesian Muslims who have fought in Afghanistan, as part of their probe into the deadly Christmas Eve church bombings.

"We are trying to check their records to confirm claims by a suspect that he and his colleague trained and fought in Afghanistan," a senior officer told AFP, requesting anonymity.

"This mosque keeps records of Indonesians who have headed to Afghanistan to train and fight as volunteers there, and those who have returned home.

"When these volunteer fighters return home they are full of pride, and they go and register themselves at this mosque. So this mosque knows who has been trained to use weapons and make explosives," he said.

Police were not ready to believe the Afghan training claim -- allegedly made by suspect Dede Mulaydi from his hospital bed -- until they had proof, national police spokesman Brigadier General Saleh Saaf said. "We are still 50-50 about it," he told AFP.

Teams of Indonesian investigators were also in Malaysia and Singapore tracing phone numbers that were listed on the cellphone printout of a Bandung-based suspect, Saaf said.

The bombings, which targetted churchyards and priests homes, killed at least 18 people and injured more than 100 across the country.

Mulyadi, 31, was injured when a bomb he and his colleague Yoyo were carrying by motorbike to a church in the West Java town of Pangandaran exploded on Christmas Eve. Yoyo was killed in the premature blast.

Investigators said last week that Mulyadi, hospitalised in the West Java capital of Bandung, told police he and Yoyo had learnt to use weapons and make bombs at a Mujahideen camp in the Afghan city of Jalalabad, and fought as volunteer fighters there between 1990 and 1992.

Saaf said police were not yet drawing any links between the bombings in Indonesia and the bombings in Manila five days later, which Philippines police have blamed on the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Saaf said police believed Mulyadi and Yoyo were not part of a wider organisation, but "merely individuals who were used by a higher-up group for their bomb-making skills." "They were paid 300,000 rupiah (31 dollars) each by two middle-men, Haji Aceng and Ustad Iqbal," the police spokesman said.

Aceng, a property dealer and owner of a Bandung workshop where bombs also exploded in their makers' hands while being built on Christmas Eve, and Iqbal, a private merchant, were middle-men acting on orders from a "higher-up group," Saaf said.

"Iqbal and Aceng coordinated the operations in West Java, provided the equipment, and determined which places would be blown up," Saaf said. "They tracked down, employed and paid the bomb-makers."

Both men, identified as key suspects, are still on the run. Police were intensifying efforts to capture Iqbal and Aceng, Saaf said, as it was believed they held the key to identifying the bombing masterminds.

"That [mastermind] group could be political, they could be extremist, they could be religious ... we are trying to find out," he said.

Three suspects, including Mulyadi, are under police guard in Bandung hospital, while a fourth suspect, an explosives expert named Fahruji, is being held in Jakarta. Three more suspects, Aceng, Iqbal, and Holis alias Udin, are still being hunted by police.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the near- simultaneous explosions in eight cities as Christmas Eve masses and services were being held. But police have said they believe the perpetrators belong to a single, well coordinated group.

Final police figures put the number of bombs prepared at 45, of which 21 were defused by police and 24 exploded, in 38 separate places.
 

Environment/health

Kalimantan's peatland disaster

Jack Rieley -- Southeast Asia contains seventy percent of the world's total tropical peatland, mostly in Indonesia and Malaysia. But these vast peatland landscapes are under great pressure from years of resource exploitation and land development.

Government policies promoting land conversion from peat swamp forest to agriculture have greatly reduced the area of the natural ecosystem. Ecologists have always understood the environmental degradation this brought about, but now the economic basis of the conversion is under challenge as well.

Until a decade ago there were still 2.5 million hectares of peat swamp forest in Malaysia and 25 million hectares in Indonesia. Most of this was part of the commercial forestry estate in both countries. This area has now been reduced to around one million hectares in the former and 17 million hectares in the latter.

The land has mostly been converted to plantation use, especially oil palm, although small farmers from outside the locality have been used to open some parts to new settlements.

The largest of these land conversion schemes was the Mega Rice Project in Central Kalimantan. The brainchild in 1996 of former President Suharto, it was the most glaring misuse of tropical peatland in recent times. Suharto felt obliged to restore Indonesia's rice self-sufficiency. In 1985 the Food and Agriculture Organisation gave him a medal for such sufficiency. But since then about one million hectares of rice paddy in Java had been sold for commercial and urban development. To compensate, he decreed that an equivalent area be created out of lowland peat swamps in Borneo. In theory this proposal had much to commend it. However, the peatland soil characteristics in Central Kalimantan are completely different from those of volcanic Java. The project was doomed to fail before it started.

Knowing that international aid organisations and funding agencies would not agree to the Mega Rice Project, President Suharto authorised expenditure from internal Indonesian sources, especially the reforestation fund in the forestry ministry. The money was spent largely on excavating drainage and irrigation channels, done by companies owned by his cronies. The forest resource within the project area was allocated for clear felling, again by companies owned by Suharto's family and friends. No independent environmental impact assessment was done beforehand. Only afterwards did a team of so-called experts, of whom hardly any had experience of peatland ecology, carry out a minor one.

The Mega Project was an unmitigated disaster. Not one blade of productive rice was ever grown there, in spite of the removal of at least half a million hectares of primary peat swamp forest, the extermination of around 5,000 orangutan and myriads of other wildlife, and the creation of more than 4,600 kilometres of channels. This environmental folly, many believe, contributed to Suharto's downfall. His successor and protPresident Habibie stopped the project and handed over the land to be managed by the forestry ministry and the Central Kalimantan provincial government.

Ruins

By the time the project was abandoned, major damage had been done to the regional and global environment. Forestry resources had been ransacked, government money had been misappropriated, and the economy and quality of life of indigenous people had been irreparably disrupted. Five years after the Mega Rice Project commenced, one million hectares of wetland landscape lie in ruins, a wasteland testimony to human greed and stupidity. The peat swamp forest is either gone or in terminal decay. The 60,000 settlers who were transferred to part of the area can grow neither rice nor enough substitute crops to exist. Disease and poverty are rife. Many have reverted to despoiling the nearest remaining forest for firewood. Others have joined the legion of illegal loggers, who are financed by a new generation of crooks replacing the Suharto cronies in raping this sensitive landscape.

The sad story does not end there. Rubbing salt in the human- induced wounds, nature has also contributed to the saga of destruction of the peat swamp forests of Southeast Asia. The combination of forest destruction, land clearance and an exceptionally severe El Nino climatic event in 1997 led to the severest forest and peatland fires ever known in this region. Between half a million and three million hectares of vegetation burned, much of it on peat. The fires penetrated into the dried- out surface peat to a depth of up to 1.5 metres.

At least one billion tonnes of carbon were released into the atmosphere -- more than that released by the fossil fuels the European Union burns in a year. It undid an estimated ten years of carbon fixation by all of the world's pristine peat bogs.

The radiative forcing generated by this sudden release of carbon could have added about 0.5 parts per million carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. This is a significant addition to the global greenhouse gas concentration. It was a disaster of monumental proportions, yet governments and international environmental organisations have underplayed it. Why?

The answer to this last question lies in the relationship between the governments in Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, and business interests involved in land development and resource exploitation. These regimes and the companies that support them have vested interests in removing forests, draining peatlands, and establishing plantation crops, especially oil palm.

Intensive logging, forest destruction and land conversion having been taking place in Indonesia and Malaysia for more than twenty years. Several severe fire and haze episodes occurred in that time. In developing countries, fire is the only effective tool for clearing land cheaply prior to converting it to agriculture. But the fires attracted little publicity, and nothing was done to stop the activities that caused them. Too much money was at stake for those involved, whose influence reached to the highest levels of government.

The Malaysian and Singaporean governments made no comment until the devastating 1997/98 fires occurred -- a combined result of the extreme El Nino drought and the Mega Rice Project land clearance in Central Kalimantan. Even so they intervened only after the fires had been raging for more than six weeks, and initial comments were almost muted. Could this reluctance to condemn the lack of action by the Indonesian government be linked to the fact that companies owned by Malaysian and Singapore interests, including family members of prominent politicians, were involved?

A new scam

The eventual response of the Indonesian government was to cancel the Mega Rice Project. But in the absence of any real understanding of what do about the disaster, it rolled this failed scheme into an even larger proposal to develop 2.8 million hectares of tropical peatland in Central Kalimantan. An enormous sum of money had already been squandered in the failed attempt to create a vast area of rice paddies. Officials clearly believed that throwing even more money at it was the only cure. The infrastructure for this Integrated Economic Area within the Kapuas, Kahayan and Barito Catchments (Kapet Das Kakab) is now in place.

Instead of rice paddy this plan favours oil palm and rubber plantations. The new proposal is yet another scam to justify removal of a further half million hectares of pristine peat swamp forest, as well as to launder money to certain business enterprises and government officials under the guise of land clearance, infrastructure provision and planting incentives.

In late 1999 Erna Witoelar, minister of public works and regional development in the new government (and a former environmental activist), put the Kapet on hold.

On the one hand, this action was a positive acknowledgement that Central Kalimantan's peat swamps are special and difficult to convert to agriculture. On the other hand, it created a vacuum of indecision that will provide opportunities for unscrupulous developers to suggest further crazy schemes. They see the potential to make more money from land conversion and the provision of infrastructure. One thing is certain, however. They will not grow economically sustainable crops with any more success than did the Mega Rice Project.

The losers, as always, are the environment (because of irreparable loss of biodiversity and natural resource functions), the provincial government (who have to deal with the problems), and the poor farmers (who have been deposited in a bleak landscape without sustainable means to survive). The only glimmer of hope is the new democratically elected government in Jakarta and its stated determination to root out collusion, corruption and nepotism. International agencies are supporting (forcing!) it in this attempt. New laws are being enacted, but enforcement is slow to follow. It will be a long haul. Corruption is deeply rooted in all levels of society, and some of the worst offenders are the supposed law enforcers. By the time the problem is sorted out there may be no natural peat swamp forest left.

There must be a new approach to managing tropical peatlands. It must begin with a detailed evaluation of all its attributes, services and values, including biodiversity, ecology and natural resources. Land uses for nature conservation, landscape protection and sustainability of natural resources must be given equal weighting to agricultural development and human settlement.

[Jack Rieley is Director of the Kalimantan Tropical Peat Swamp Forest Research Project and Vice President of the International Peat Society.]

Suharto's fires

George J. Aditjondro -- Widespread forest fires, covering significant proportions of Sumatra and Kalimantan, with its smoke and haze drifting to Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia, have become an almost annual occurrence in archipelagic Southeast Asia. Yet, the Indonesian government has not taken drastic steps to prevent their recurrence. Why? The palm oil industry in Indonesia has been blamed as the main culprits. Its political strength relies on two factors. Firstly, it is still controlled by relatives and business associates of the former Indonesian president, Suharto, who still enjoy tacit support in the top echelons of the Indonesian political and economic system. Secondly, the influence of the Suharto oligarchy extends way beyond the boundaries of Indonesia into the two neighbouring countries, Singapore and Malaysia, which have been the most affected by the haze caused by the forest fires.

During the 1990s, the scale of the burning grew each year as the forestland converted into tree plantations in Sumatra and Kalimantan expanded. Plantation firms and the land-clearance contractors they hired almost exclusively use fire to clear land. Scientists assessing the forest fire damage say that approximately five million hectares of land were burned in 1997. Of this, 20 per cent was estimated to be forest, 50 per cent agricultural land, and 30 per cent non-forest vegetation and grasslands. Putting this in financial terms, scientists working for Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) Indonesia have calculated that the direct and indirect short-term impacts of 1997/1998 have exceeded US$ 4 billion, equivalent to total annual health spending by both the public and private sectors.

In 2000, the situation did not radically improve. The emergency of hotspots as early as March moved Singaporean officials to sound their alarm bell.

Nevertheless, this did not discourage corporate and individual farmers in central Sumatra to continue burning the undergrowth way into the middle of July, when officials in Peninsular Malaysia began to worry. These early hotspots and the smog that engulfed half of the Malay Peninsula revived traumatic memories of the 1997 haze, which blanketed Singapore and Malaysia for weeks and scared off tourists.

Corporate arsonists

Regardless of the national and international criticism, three consecutive regimes in Jakarta (Suharto, Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid) have not been able to cope with these recurrent forest fires. In fact, from the 144 companies which had their licences revoked in October 1997 by then Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo, two months later 45 permits were reinstated. And even after a new forestry law was enacted in 1999, which carries a sentence of a maximum of five years in prison or a fine of Rp 5 billion (around US$ 0.5 million), no company owner or executive has been charged and found guilty of lighting the fires.

From the Forestry Ministry's initial list of 176 suspects, 133 were oil palm and pulpwood plantations. Of these two, oil palm plantations had the biggest share, since 46%-80% of all big fires took place on these concessions.

Currently, Indonesia out-competes Malaysia in terms of labour costs by five times and in terms of land by four times, thereby making it the cheapest producer of palm oil in the world. Companies owned by the members of the Suharto clan and their cronies were the most outstanding among the 176 companies blacklisted by the Forestry Minister in 1997. They are still the main driving force in the palm oil business. Cross-referencing the 1997 blacklist with general and specific business directories in Indonesia shows twelve business conglomerates linked to the Suharto family, namely the Salim, Sinar Mas, Barito Pacific, Astra, Raja Garuda Mas, Surya Damai, Kalimanis, Danitama, Mercu Buana, Citra Lamtorogung Persada, Teknik Umum, and Maharani Groups, prominent among the corporate arsonists.

More important than the predominance of Suharto-linked companies on the 1997 Forestry Department's list of suspects is the systemic control the Suharto clan have over the entire palm oil industry, from plantations to marketing to the use of revenues generated from the palm oil trade. Three generations of the clan are represented in the plantations, from Suharto's brother and cousin to Suharto's grandson. The marketing hegemony works in the following way. During the Suharto era, state palm oil plantations produced crude palm oil (CPO), which was sold to the state logistics agency (Bulog) in either its raw or refined form at rock bottom prices. Bulog made a significant mark-up and profit on its subsequent sales of cooking oil, which is still dominated by two Suharto-linked conglomerates, Salim and Sinar Mas. Key state officials pocketed the difference, foremost among whom is Bustanil Arifin who headed Bulog for two decades. This is also the man who Suharto has trusted -- together with Bob Hasan -- to manage his four wealthiest charities, claimed by Arifin to far surpass the wealth of the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations.

Given the fact that three generations of the Suharto family controlled the palm oil industry one can label it Suharto's 'palm oil nepotism'. But since it does not only involve one but several extended families of Sino-Indonesian business people and a handful of retired generals and bureaucrats, loyal to Suharto, one can further label this political economic system, Suharto's 'palm oil oligarchy.'

Despite the fact that Suharto has officially stepped down, this oligarchy is still deeply entrenched in the political and economic system in Indonesia. Janji Akbar Zahiruddin Tanjung, the speaker of parliament, for instance, is a member of the Tanjung family whose family company, PT Marison Nusantara, has overlapping shares with several member companies of the Salim and Raja Garuda Mas Groups. Their businesses range from condensed dairy milk to trade in chemical products.

ASEAN-isation

The influence of Suharto's palm oil oligarchy, however, has not been limited to Indonesia's borders. Preceding the smog that drifted across the Malacca and Natuna Straits to Indonesia's northern neighbours, the tentacles of this business octopus had already become deeply entrenched in the nearest ASEAN countries.

This explains the lukewarm response which the haze has received in the upper echelons in Kuala Lumpur, and to a lesser degree, in Singapore.

While in late July 2000 the smog from Indonesia's forest fires had drifted along the Malay Peninsula into southern Thailand, ASEAN government leaders did not offer any concrete steps to ameliorate the catastrophic Indonesian forest fires. On the contrary, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad strongly refused to take any steps. The ten-nation ASEAN foreign ministers' summit in Bangkok also failed to address the transnational haze strongly in its final communiquMahathir Mohamad in particular, even criticised the international press for 'exaggerating' the haze problem, driven by what he labeled as a 'political agenda' to discourage tourists from coming to Malaysia.

The attack on the foreign media had been preceded by a ban on the domestic media to publish air pollution readings, after Kuala Lumpur and other areas on the peninsula were blanketed with dense haze from forest fires across the Malacca Strait. The Malaysian public, however, refused to play that ostrich policy, forcing the New Straits Times, which usually supports government initiatives unreservedly, to call for the government to publish the Air Pollution Index readings.

On the macro level, Malaysia's silence is partly influenced by the fact that it needs Indonesia to expand its own palm oil industry. By March 1997, Malaysia already had commitments to invest in 1.6 million hectares of oil palm plantations in Indonesia through joint ventures with various Indonesian companies. This was more than a third of all the oil palm plantations planned until the turn of the century. More than 1.3 million hectares had already materialised by 1999, with some of them linking up with companies controlled by four Suharto siblings, namely Bambang Trihatmodjo, Tommy Suharto, Titiek Prabowo, and Siti Hutami Adiningsih. Their plantations cover hundreds of thousands of hectares in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Thus the largest Indonesian business groups had already formed numerous joint ventures with the most well connected companies in Singapore and Malaysia.

Moving deeper into the current and former ruling elites of Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia, several joint ventures have emerged, where relatives of former president Suharto, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, and incumbent Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad hold powerful positions as shareholders or directors.

Or else they are shareholders in companies which in turn acquired shares of other companies in which members of these three families are involved.

Mahathir's middle son, Mokhzani, for instance, through his Tongkah Holdings, acquired a majority stake in Hospital Pantai, which in turn became a substantial shareholder in Singapore- listed AsiaMatrix Ltd. This company has Suharto's daughter-in- law, Ratnawati Harjojudanto, listed as its chairperson.

The list is growing of companies which involve the three powerful clans of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore and which have expanded further in the Asia-Pacific region. They were the driving force behind the economic opening of China. That is the reason why the country-by-country approach of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), without unraveling the capital flow from the Southeast Asian countries to China and elsewhere, is doomed to fail.

Any serious attempt to reduce the frequency and extent of the forest fires and the related haze problem has to deal with this 'intra-ASEAN oligarchy.' The long-term aim should be to enforce regional and global transparency and accountability of the members of this oligarchy to its stakeholders, and especially to the ordinary citizens in the ASEAN region who have been -- and may still be -- regularly choked by the smoke from forest fires.

[George Aditjondro teaches at the University of Newcastle, Australia.]
 

Religion/Islam

Extremists' visit intimidates paper

Vaudine England, Jakarta -- A busload of militant Muslims walked into the offices of the English-language Jakarta Post to "deliver a strong protest" over an editorial that described Indonesians who fought with the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan as mercenaries, the newspaper reported yesterday.

The members of the Laskar Jihad (Holy War Legion) said Monday's editorial, entitled "Soldiers of Fortune" and referring to Muslim resistance against Soviet occupation, was insulting. Although they left peacefully after talking to editors, the intrusion was the latest in a series of attacks on press freedom.

The paper had discussed police claims that two suspects in the Christmas Eve bombings of churches were trained in Afghanistan and might be part of a larger Muslim movement, including the Laskar Jihad now active in the Maluku Islands.

One of the delegation's leaders described the piece as "a vulgar, direct attack on the Mujahedeen of Afghanistan. It is also a slanderous [description] of us, as if the mercenaries gave birth to Laskar Jihad. This is a great insult."

In May, members of the Banser youth group affiliated to the country's largest mainstream Muslim group, Nahdlatul Ulama, invaded and damaged offices of the Surabaya-based Jawa Pos newspaper. They were offended by unflattering coverage of their former leader and mentor, now President Abdurrahman Wahid, and by allegations of corruption in the NU.

Also last year, a delegation from the Front to Defend Islam invaded the studios of the private SCTV station and forced it to cancel showings of the popular Latin-American soap opera Esmeralda. The show was deemed to defame Islam because it featured a less-than-perfect character called Fatimah (also the name of the daughter of the Prophet Mohammed).

Meanwhile, a house usually used for prayer meetings in Sleman, Jogjakarta, in Central Java, was stoned, allegedly by the Muslim Community Front of Prambanan.

People on motorbikes and in cars threw stones at the house, described by its largely Irian Jayan congregation as the Evangelical Church of Indonesia. "For prayers, the adherents were advised to look for another location which is acceptable to the local people," the Sleman police chief said.

Pork extract: Islamic body knew long ago

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta -- In what could become another political hot potato for President Abdurrahman Wahid's beleaguered government, the country's highest Islamic authority disclosed yesterday that it knew as far back as September last year that pork enzymes had been used in producing a popular flavour enhancer.

Sources in the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) told The Straits Times that they discovered the fact after a tip-off from officials of the Japanese firm PT Ajinomoto when MUI was about to carry out an audit of its food product.

"We were aware months ago that the company was deceiving Muslims by using bactosoytone," said K.H. Maruf Amin, who heads the MUI body that certifies whether food in Indonesia is halal. Bactosoytone is a medium extracted from pork to produce the enzyme needed in the production of the taste enhancer.

Asked why it took so long for MUI to release the information to Indonesians who make up the world's largest Muslim population, the Islamic cleric said that the council "did not want to scare the public until it got the facts right".

Mr K.H. Maruf said that for three months, MUI made trips to Ajinomoto's factory in the Mojokerto district, near Surabaya in East Java, for field surveys. Besides this, it also carried out tests at the Institute of Agriculture in Bogor that houses the MUI laboratory.

For several observers, however, the delay in resolving the matter in September -- made worse by revelations that Ajinomoto continued production using pork enzymes even when it was under investigation -- only undermined the government's credibility.

Once again, Mr Abdurrahman's coalition government was being perceived as weak and ineffective. Noted a seasoned diplomat: "The government can't seem to crack down separatists in Aceh, catch Tommy Suharto, stop bombing attacks or even fix things right away when they found out that pork enzymes were being used in a product popular with Indonesians."

Some would like to think that MUI's delay was politically motivated. After all, the Islamic body is divided between supporters of the President and his arch rival Amien Rais, the national assembly chairman, who is reportedly plotting to bring Mr Abdurrahman down by August.

There were also disaffected elements in MUI who were waiting to strike at Mr Abdurrahman. But MUI secretary-general Din Syamsuddin countered suggestions of a political ploy in the delay, saying that the three-month period taken to audit Ajinomoto was "nothing out of the ordinary".

Meanwhile, some observers speculate that arresting Japanese executives was one way to sabotage the Indonesian economy on the throes of recovery. Most of Ajinomoto's top brass have been caught, including Japanese vice-president Yashushu Oda. The top man, president director Mitsuo Arakawa, was arrested on Sunday by police and faces a five-year jail sentence.

This, conspiracy theorists argue, could send ripples through the Japanese investor community in Indonesia. A Straits Times check with the Japanese Embassy here, however, revealed otherwise. An embassy official said: "There are no indications yet that the confidence of Japanese firms have been affected. Many of them see the Ajinomoto case as just being a special case with no bearing on the investment climate."
 

International relations

Asean 'cornerstone' of Jakarta's foreign policy

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- Indonesian Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab has reassured Asean members that the South-east Asia grouping is still central to Indonesia's foreign policy.

"Asean is the cornerstone of our foreign policy and as a founding father, it is impossible for us to leave Asean," Mr Alwi told journalists on Friday.

However, the Foreign Minister also told the foreign and local press that Indonesia planned to establish the controversial West Pacific Forum for cooperation between pacific countries currently excluded from the Asean grouping.

Mr Alwi hinted that one of the major purposes of forming a West Pacific Forum -- comprising Australia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Indonesia -- was to ensure diplomatic support outside Asean for Indonesia's territorial integrity.

He also hinted that the forum was intended to shore up support for Indonesia's hold over the restive province of Irian Jaya.

Mr Alwi also said that Indonesia's relationship with Singapore was improving even though Mr Abdurrahman had lashed out at Singapore late last year. Mr Abdurrahman was reportedly angered by Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew's opposition to including East Timor and Papua New Guinea in Asean.

"In our 30-year relationship with Singapore, there are a lot of things that we can tidy up, but we will do it quietly. We fully realise that neighbours are very important for us," the minister said.

President Abdurrahman will visit Singapore tomorrow to officiate the importing of natural gas imports from Indonesia's West Natuna Seafields.

Mr Alwi also suggested the differences between the two countries had been exaggerated by media reports. "It is better if we speak like husband and wife, certainly behind closed doors. It is not necessary to speak outside. The matters that we discuss in private, we will be discussing in a better manner, until afterwards when we emerge," then it won't be distorted, the daily Kompas reported.
 

Economy & investment

Riady scandal won't scare off US investors

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta -- Banking magnate James Riady's conviction for illegal funding of US politicians will ruffle feathers in the US Congress and government but is unlikely to scare off American businessmen from Indonesia.

With a new Republican administration at the helm in the United States next week, political observers say that Riady's campaign finance scandal would further fuel bad vibes in Washington about Indonesia and do little to improve shaky bilateral ties.

Analysts believe that although the conviction could colour perceptions towards Jakarta, the Bush government would have other more immediate concerns to deal with. But several US Congressmen are expected to go for the jugular.

They might use the Riady saga as fodder to push the government to take a tougher stance towards Jakarta against the backdrop of other thorny problems like East Timor.

Mr Dennis Heffernen, a senior partner with the Jakarta-based US consultancy, Van Zorge and Heffernen, said that some Republicans who had long questioned donations to Mr Clinton's Democratic Party from people connected to the Lippo Group would want to ensure that the new government keeps it in mind.

He said: "It is going to be on the radar screen for the political elite in Washington. The timing is bad because of a new government coming into power.

He added that some Congressmen might see this as an opportunity to get the new administration to turn the screws on Indonesia, for example, by holding back aid.

"Indonesia will feature in the mind of these Republicans for a while. They are not going to forget what Clinton and Indonesia through Riady did together."

Others echo these sentiments but argue that those pulling the punches on Indonesia in Congress would not be "a significantly big group".

Noted an American political analyst: "Clinton is already on his way out. There is no real urge to get him now. Moreover, the Riady scandal was taken over by other more juicy scandals like the Monica Lewinsky affair."

But he did concede that the Republicans, traditionally said to be close to Indonesia, would be more lukewarm in their response to Jakarta given the fact that an Indonesian billionaire had tried to support the Democrats in an election.

"Indonesia really shot itself in the foot because of James Riady," he said. "Jakarta does not really have the full Republican backing because that incident will remain etched in their minds. They also can't turn to the Democrats who seem rather ambivalent towards Indonesia. In fact, Indonesia can't turn to anyone in Congress for help these days."

If the political elite in Washington is somewhat affected, the same cannot be said of the American business community. Mr David Chang, President-Director of Vickers Ballas, said that there was little indication that they would be driven away.

"I think the big American corporations who do business here know Indonesia well enough to know that there are big differences in moral values between the two countries," he said. "The Riady case will have minimal impact on American investor confidence.

In fact, the Ajinomoto debacle and closure of the Shangri-La hotel because of strikes will have much more impact on the Americans."

But he said American businesses with links to the Lippo Group could disengage gradually as they do not want to be linked to a foreign firm found guilty under US laws.

Indeed, Lippo stands to lose a lot given its extensive dealings with US companies, several of whom have opened branches in Jakarta. These include Toys "R" Us, JCPenney and Arkansas-based Wal-Mart. Lippo will also lose its influence in the White House with Mr Clinton stepping out of office.

For most Indonesians, the Riady scandal does not seem to register any interest. Some are in fact puzzled that the Americans could have taken influence peddling so seriously.

Noted a senior Indonesian official: "Why are the Americans making such a fuss? One million dollars is a small amount. It is so common to give political parties money in Indonesia during election time. I think we live in different planets.