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Indonesia News Digest No
8 - Februrary 19-25, 2001
Green Left Weekly - February 21, 2001
Max Lane -- The Indonesian political elite is becoming
increasingly fearful of a radicalisation of the country's masses,
which is being provoked by a right-wing campaign to destabilise
President Abdurrahman Wahid's government. It's turning to trusted
methods: like threatening to repress the left-wing People's
Democratic Party, the PRD.
Almost one million Wahid supporters, mainly peasants and urban
poor, mobilised on February 7. What started as a pro-Wahid rally
evolved into an anti-Golkar rally, with the masses calling for
the disbanding of Golkar, the party of former dictator Suharto
and the political symbol of his "New Order" regime.
During a day of mobilisations in different parts of Surabaya, the
East Java headquarters of Golkar was burned down.
On February 8, Golkar chairperson Akbar Tanjung accused the PRD
of being behind the burning. He was backed by a statement from
Wahid's defence minister, probably reflecting the position of the
armed forces and the police.
President Wahid also hinted he held the same views but later
clarified that he was "joking".
On February 12, East Java police chief General Bimantoro held a
press conference to accuse the PRD of being behind the burning.
Between February 8 and 12 several other Golkar figures also made
direct or indirect attacks on the PRD.
Then Tanjung escalated his attack by calling for a review of the
PRD's existence.
"If the PRD is no longer in accord with the national interest,
its existence should be reviewed", Tanjung told reporters during
a visit to West Papua.
In addition to the new attacks on the PRD, the right is also
continuing its campaign against Wahid. The youth and student
organisations associated with the Central Axis parties, such as
the Islamic Students Association and the Indonesian Muslim
Students Action Union, have been mobilised to demand Wahid
resign.
Intellectuals who had worked for former president BJ Habibie have
also issued statements against Wahid. Members of the Muslim
organisation Nahdlatul Ulama from Central Axis-dominated regions,
such as West Java, have called on Wahid to resign.
The Supreme Advisory Council, a non-constitutional body full of
Habibie appointees and headed by an ex-general, has advised Wahid
to transfer head of government power to vice-president Megawati
Sukarnoputri. A range of conservative intellectuals have joined
the chorus.
PRD responds
In a statement issued on February 13, the PRD rejected
Bimantoro's accusation, pointing out that the party was a
participant in a different mass demonstration, outside the East
Java parliament, at the same time as Golkar offices were being
burnt.
The PRD has been backed by representatives of more than 20 other
organisations that participated in the demonstrations. The deputy
secretary-general of Wahid's National Awakening Party (PKB),
Chotibul Umam Wiranu, also made a statement on February 14
claiming that Golkar people burned down their own offices in
order to discredit Wahid's supporters.
PRD general chairperson Budiman Sujatmiko led a delegation to
police headquarters in Jakarta to lodge criminal libel charges
against Akbar Tanjung.
The PRD's primary response is, however, political. "We will
continue to spread our call for the trial before a people's
tribunal of the Golkar party," PRD deputy chairperson Moti told
Green Left Weekly. "It is the masses themselves that are calling
for the disbanding of Golkar. This call is coming from there, not
from the PRD. But we support this general sentiment and will not
end our struggle for the destruction of the old New Order forces.
"There can be no progress on achieving of total reformation while
these forces have not been defeated," Moti added. "The masses are
just angry that nothing has been done to bring the Older Order
criminals to justice."
New radical coalitions
Demonstrations calling for Golkar to be brought before a people's
tribunal have occurred in many cities and towns since February 8,
forcing Tanjung to defend Golkar's very existence several times.
Many of these demonstrations, including in Jakarta, are being
organised by new radical coalitions and it was the role of just
such a coalition in the February 7 demonstration in Surabaya that
has sparked the elite's new fears and its attack on the PRD.
When hundreds of thousands of urban poor and village supporters
of Wahid rallied outside the East Java parliament, they were
joined by a contingent of several thousand people from the Total
Reformation Front (FRT), a coalition of at least 14
organisations, including student and urban poor organisations
linked to the PRD, Nahdlatul Ulama and various campus activist
groups.
The FRT speakers were able to eventually speak to the masses
immediately outside the parliament building and introduced the
slogan: "The people united to bring Golkar to justice". This
slogan was taken up by big sections of the rally who also chanted
"Disband Golkar". A rally where the initial slogans were confined
to pro-Wahid chants quickly transformed into a militant anti-
Golkar rally.
The FRT distributed large numbers of leaflets explaining their
demands, which include a people's tribunal for Suharto and
Golkar; cleansing the state apparatus of all pro-Suharto elements
and their investigation for crimes against humanity and
corruption; the nationalisation of the wealth of corrupt
officials and conglomerates; the abolition of the "dual function"
of the military, which allows intervention into political
affairs; a 100% wage increase; jobs and cheap housing for the
people; subsidised education and health and improved welfare for
soldiers and their families.
Similar coalitions have developed in other cities, including
Jakarta. "In Jakarta, there has been a real breakthrough in
building links between all the radical groups", Moti said.
"The links between the PRD, the Student League for National
Democracy, the friends from the Indonesian Islamic Students
Association, and almost all the radical cross-campus activist
collectives have never been better. We have had three
demonstrations over the last several days but more importantly we
are now setting up joint action command posts on several
campuses, as well as in some urban poor neighborhoods."
Similar coalitions have organised actions in Lampung, Medan and
Jambi in Sumatra as well as Yogyakarta, Bandung and even Bali.
Pressure on Golkar is also developing from other quarters.
Various non-government organisations have raised demands for
investigations into major cases of corruption during the Suharto
and Habibie periods.
The most recent was the call by Indonesia Corruption Watch for an
investigation into the alleged transfer of US$9.4 million to
Golkar for its 1999 election campaign. The group's director,
Teten Mazduki, also demanded that the attorney-general, Marzuki
Darusman, be removed from involvement in the case, as he was a
deputy chairperson of Golkar at the time.
Meanwhile the leaders of the Nahdlatul Ulama and the PKB seem
unable to determine a clear strategy to respond to the Golkar
offensive.
President Wahid himself is trying to contain the conflict with
Golkar to within the elite and to contain any mass action
radicalisation. At the same time, he has issued a series of
statements emphasising that mass anger must not be directed at
the institutions of the Suharto period but only individuals.
Other leaders make various contradictory statements in the same
vein.
However, there are two key consistent policies that have
developed in practice: Nahdlatul Ulama has not put any obstacles
in the way of its youth and student organisations joining the new
radical coalitions and it has issued a formal statement that it
will take no responsibility for the actions taken by the
parliament against Wahid.
`Disband parliament, call new elections'
The political process unfolding is pitting mass sentiment more
and more against the parliament, which is dominated by Golkar,
the Muslim rightist Central Axis and Megawati Sukarnoputri's
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP).
As Tanjung holds the post of chairperson of the house of
representatives (the DPR) and the Central Axis' Amien Rais holds
the presidency of the People's Consultative Assembly (the MPR),
the Golkar-Central Axis combination is able to take political
initiatives to destabilise the Wahid government almost at will.
But, as a consequence, both the DPR and MPR themselves are more
and more being seen as representatives of the New Order forces.
This pressure is starting to impact on the PDIP which has been
playing an opportunist game, trying to position itself to take
advantage of Wahid's fall while at the same time distancing
itself from Golkar's campaign.
PDIP members supported the February 2 censure vote against Wahid
but Sukarnoputri then spoke out against any attempt to get rid of
him. As the parliament becomes more and more identified with the
New Order, however, PDIP figures have been forced to add their
support for action to be taken against cases of corruption from
the New Order period.
The PRD has now begun to call for a dissolution of the parliament
and new elections to be organised by a provisional government
comprising representatives of the anti-New Order forces. The
reality is that if the mass call for the dissolution or trial of
Golkar continues to spread it will inevitably put the masses in
confrontation with the parliament.
Detik - February 19, 2001
Djoko Tjiptono/Hendra & GB, Jakarta -- Students grouped in the
Golkar Disbursement Alliance (ABG) wanted to take over the
Jakarta offices of the Golkar Party but apparently have not been
successful.
Around 100 security officers from the Jakarta city police are on
alert at the site. Head of the Jakarta city police, Inspector
General Mulyono Sulaiman, is there too.
ABG, an alliance of student groups, moved from the University of
Indonesia in Salemba to the Golkar Party's offices on Jl
Pegangsaan Barat, Central Jakarta, Friday. The ABG groups are:
the People's Network, Students Action Front for Reform and
Democracy (Famred), City Forum (Forkot), National Democratic
Student League (LMND), All-Indonesia Forum and University of
Indonesia Students' Action Front.
As observed by Detik, several people in the vicinity of the site
in civilian clothes also looked to be safeguarding it. "Well, go
ahead if they want to guard it. That's because they think this is
their place which must be defended. We as the police are here
just to help safeguard by preventing violence," said Mulyono to
journalists in front of the office.
Mulyono also said the demonstration had been caused by the
tension within the political elite. "It effects the masses as
well as the police's duties. In fact the police have many other
duties besides overseeing demonstrations," he said.
Meanwhile, the situation around the Golkar Party offices at
4.45pm local time is relatively calm. It appears the ABG will not
be successful in `claiming' or sealing off the offices as student
groups were in Yogyakarta, central Java, earlier in the week.
Calls are rising for the Golkar Party which dominated Indonesian
politics under former president Suharto be disbursed for it's
political and economic crimes. The driving force of this movement
are students.
East Timor
Labour struggle
Aceh/West Papua
Elite power struggle
Government/politics
Regional/communal conflicts
Human rights/law
News & issues
Environment/health
Arms/armed forces
Economy & investment
Democratic struggle
Elite fears new radicalisation
Students move in on Golkar's Jakarta offices
Police increase presence at Golkar offices
Jakarta Post - February 19, 2001
Jakarta -- Police have increased the number of personnel guarding offices of the Golkar Party following an attack by hundreds of students on the party's branch office on Jl. Cikini, Central Jakarta on Friday.
City Police Chief Insp. Gen. Mulyono Sulaiman said on Saturday a company unit of police officers, numbering about 100, had been deployed to the party's headquarters in Slipi, West Jakarta as a precautionary measure.
He said another two company units of reinforcement officers had been posted at the Cikini office, which has in the past few days become the target of student protests. "The additional personnel were brought in to anticipate further student rallies against the party," Mulyono told reporters.
Before Friday's attack, dozens of police had been placed at the two main Golkar offices following destruction and arson attacks on Golkar offices in East Java. Mulyono condemned Friday's anti- Golkar rally, calling it an act of violence endangering police officers by throwing molotov cocktails.
He said nine students were being questioned in connection with the incident. They were accused of attacking a police officer. "We allow students to stage rallies but they should be conducted according to the law and not simply as an occasion to commit violence," he remarked.
More than 500 students called themselves the Golkar Dissolution Alliance (ABG) staged a rally in front of the party's branch office on Friday evening.
The rally turned violent when students started to throw molotov cocktails and, in return, police officers shot tear gas at the crowd. Seven students were arrested while at least 10 students were injured after being beaten by police officers who dispersed them.
The students came from several organizations, including the University of Indonesia Student Action Forum (FAM UI), the City Forum (Forkot), the National Student League for Democracy (LMND) and the Collective Forum (Forbes), all of whom demanded the dissolution of Golkar.
Silent rally
Separately on Saturday, some 25 demonstrators who claimed to represent the Anti-Golkar Community (Fromag) staged a gagged- mouth rally at the fountain circle in front of Hotel Indonesia demanding the dispersal of the Golkar party on Saturday.
During the 40 minute-long rally, the protesters taped their mouths shut with black tape. The rally symbolized the protesters' call on the political elite to halt their polemics through the media, the dissolution of Golkar and the need for a trial staged for the dispersed party in order to try former cadres.
The protesters also urged the government to avoid making political compromises with major parties, reminding the public of the party's efforts to lure them.
A big banner displaying a slashed banyan tree, Golkar's symbol, was paraded during the rally. A wolf's head and a word in Indonesian language which means greedy were added to the picture.
Another banner read: "Golkar is a shelter of corruption, collusion and nepotism which has caused poverty to people". In response to the continuing anti-Golkar campaign, the Joint Secretariat for Total Reform demanded on Sunday that the former ruling party pay US$145 billion in compensation to the state over what it called "political, economic and human rights crimes" Golkar committed during the New Order.
The organization's coordinator, Chandra Rahmansyah, told a press meeting at the University of Indonesia campus in Salemba, Central Jakarta, Golkar was subject to the repayment because as a political machine of the past regime, the party was given privileges in political, economic, social and cultural fields.
"During its heyday, the New Order and Golkar claimed lots of lives, destroyed the country's natural resources and generated an unabated economic crisis resulting from abundant foreign debts," Chandra said. The organization asked Golkar to fulfill the demand by March 11 at 1pm, otherwise it will hold a people's tribunal to dissolve the party.
Chandra dismissed allegations that the campaign against Golkar was prompted to divert the public's attention away from the House of Representatives censure of President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid over its role in two financial scandals. "The demand for Golkar's dissolution is part of the reform agenda we started in 1998. It is nothing to do with the controversy over Gus Dur's leadership," Chandra said.
| East Timor |
South China Morning Post - February 25, 2001 (abridged)
Associated Press in Jakarta -- Australian peacekeepers clashed with suspected militiamen in East Timor, UN officials said on Saturday.
A UN patrol fired on two suspected paramilitaries late on Friday after one of them raised a weapon at them, said UN spokesman Captain John Liston. Captain Liston said no peacekeepers were injured in the incident, which occurred about 6km east of Balibo near the border with Indonesian West Timor.
Two light reconnaissance helicopters flew in to locate the militiamen and extra troops were deployed to the area to assist the patrol, he said. No further details were immediately available.
Jakarta Post - February 24, 2001
Jakarta -- A pro-integration East Timorese militia member told the North Jakarta District Court on Thursday that he had stabbed a UNHCR humanitarian aid worker after witnessing another man do the same thing.
"I stabbed the man once and then I went home. I didn't know if he was alive or not after I left," Joao Alves da Cruis testified in the trial over last year's incident in Atambua, East Nusa Tenggara, involving the murder of three UNHCR workers.
He said that he attacked the victim after seeing Joao Martin stabbing him. The court is trying six militia members in two separate trials.
Alves, who stands trial along with Jose Fransisco and Julius Naesama, was testifying in the trial of Joao Martin, Xisto Pareira and Serapim Jimenez.
On September 6 last year, the mob attacked the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Atambua, East Nusa Tenggara, set the building on fire and killed three foreign staff: Fero Simundza, Carlos de Seros and Samson Aregafoe.
The incident is believed to have been triggered by the death of Olivio Mendoza Moruk, a former militia leader, a day earlier. Moruk was one of 23 suspects named by the Attorney General's Office for human rights violations in East Timor in 1999.
Jose Fransisco told the court that he saw Joao Martin throwing a stone towards the chest of one of the victims. "The black skinned man was holding a 50-centimeter club and tried to hit Joao. Joao, who was five meters away, then threw a stone which hit the man's chest," he told the court. He also testified that he heard yells encouraging the mob to attack the UNHCR office.
The witness said that he saw Izidio Manek, Olivio's younger brother, firing two shots, which provoked the people to break into the office.
Naesama testified later that he had not seen his cousins Xisto Pareira and Serapim Jimenez at the crime scene. He also said that he did not commit any violent acts.
"I didn't do anything, I just went into the UNHCR office. People came because they wanted to pay respect to our friend Olivio Moruk. I saw nothing and got home before the fire got bigger. Later I heard on the radio that three people had been killed and that the fire had burned their bodies," he said.
Prosecutor Widodo Supriadi then showed judges the blood-stained stone, believed to be the one used to hit the victim. The hearings were adjourned until Monday when defense witnesses will be heard.
Sydney Morning Herald - February 24, 2001
Mark Dodd, Dili -- East Timor will go to the polls on August 30 -- the second anniversary of its United Nations-brokered referendum -- in a historic vote that will mark the transition of the world's newest country to full independence.
The UN-chaired National Council, the territory's de facto parliament, has approved legislation that sets the voting day, preferred electoral system, laws governing the formation of political parties, and the establishment of a national parliament and constitution.
The recommendations will become law when they have been approved by Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, the head of the UN Transitional Authority in East Timor.
The former Portuguese colony, invaded by Indonesia in 1975, is under UN transitional rule following the the bloody 1999 vote for independence that saw as many as 1,500 people killed. About half of its estimated 800,000 population will be eligible to vote.
The deputy chairman of the committee on political affairs, Mr Agio Pereira, described debate at the National Council session on Thursday as intensive and exhaustive.
Other key decisions included East Timor's first indigenous electoral law, he said. The council agreed to form a democratically elected 88-seat, single-chamber constituent assembly. Its members would include one representative from each of East Timor's 13 districts to be elected by first past-the-post ballot and 75 elected on a national basis using proportional representation.
The elected assembly would then prepare and adopt a constitution within 90 days, which would need to be endorsed by at least 60 assembly members. Decisions on the type of government and the election of a president will be made by parliament.
The Australian section of the International Commission of Jurists has recommended a Westminster-style government, in which the Cabinet consists of elected MPs, rather than a United States- style system, in which the president choses whomever he likes for top posts.
The electoral law stipulates that all registered political parties must put forward women candidates in 30 per cent of "winnable" seats. Mr Pereira said he hoped that this would put women in at least 20 seats in the 88-seat assembly.
A national constitutional commission will be formed to consult East Timorese from all walks of life on the constitution. The commission will comprise members of the National Council's standing committee on political affairs, church, women's and youth groups, and representatives of all political parties.
The new constitution will be proclaimed on December 15, and the constituent assembly will be transformed into the national parliament that day.
Agence France-Presse - February 23, 2001
Jakarta -- East Timorese leaders told Indonesian parliamentary heads Friday that unless Jakarta moves soon to try those accused of committing crimes in East Timor, an international war crimes tribunal will be unavoidable.
"If Indonesia delivers justice it will be good for everyone," East Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta told journalists after meeting upper house speaker Amien Rais.
"However, if it fails there is no way the (UN) Security Council itself can escape its responsibility to hold an international war crimes tribunal," he said on the second of a three-day visit.
Ramos Horta was speaking after he and the territory's chief UN administrator Sergio Viera de Mello met with Rais and lower house speaker Akbar Tanjung, along with members of the parliament's foreign affairs committee.
De Mello said Thursday that the process to try 22 people accused by Indonesian prosecutors of involvement in the violence surrounding the 1999 ballot violence was "in legal limbo."
UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson has warned that if Jakarta does not try the suspects, and justice is not seen to be done, an international tribunal could be convened.
UN investigators say they have evidence that at least 600 East Timorese were killed by the militia, when they went on a rampage of arson, burning and looting to avenge the quit-Indonesia vote.
At Friday's meeting Rais "reiterated his preference for a domestic court to hold the trials," Horta said.
De Mello and Horta expressed their support for the setting up of ad hoc tribunals to hear East Timor crimes, coming up for approval by the parliament in the coming weeks.
"If that takes place it will be a major step forward for Indonesia's credibility," Horta said. "We don't want a war crimes tribunal [just] for the sake of it."
The change of status of one of the most notorious suspects named by Indonesian prosecutors, militia leader Eurico Guterres, -- from prison into house arrest -- while still on trial in Jakarta on charges unrelated to the Timor violence, boded poorly, Horta said.
"It doesn't help much in the credibility of the whole Indonesian legal system but the trial is continuing," he said. "Eurico Guterres is suspected of many more serious crimes," he said referring to the 1999 violence.
Agence France-Presse - February 22, 2001
Jakarta -- A retired Indonesian general accused of killing five Australian-based journalists in East Timor in 1975 told a parliamentary hearing here Thursday that new witnesses in the case were lying.
Former lieutenant general Yunus Yosfiah, who served as Information Minister in the previous government, denied that he was involved in the deaths of the television journalists, the state Antara news agency said.
UN investigators say they have enough evidence to prosecute Yosifah and two other Indonesians, and are preparing to seek international warrants to arrest the three for the killings of the five, Australia's Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported earlier this month.
The journalists were killed in the border town of Balibo during a covert operation by an Indonesian special forces unit in October 16, 1975, months before Indonesia invaded the then-Portuguese colony.
Testifying before the parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee, Yosfiah said the truth of new information given by two East Timorese men to UN investigators last year should be questioned.
"Their information is based more on emotion and hatred for Indonesian soldiers," Antara quoted him as saying.
Yosfiah said both witnesses, whom he named as Olandino Guterres and Thomas Gonzales, had been captured, interrogated and wounded by Indonesian troops in the past.
Their accounts were inconsistent and contradicted each other on the time and place of the killings, he said.
"The witnesses are lying," the Detik.com news service quoted Yosfiah as saying. He added that the killings had occcurred an extremely long time ago.
As Indonesia prepared to invade the half-island territory, Yosfiah was an army captain in charge of the "Team Susi" unit, which was allegedly responsible for the killings.
He said he interacted more with East Timorese fighters from a pro-Indonesian group known as Apodeti, while Olandino was a fighter with different political leanings.
"Olandino Guterres, who appears to know the most, was not part of Captain Yunus' team nor was he one of his men in the field," he told the committee hearing.
"It is very strange that even though he was neither in my team nor has even been near me, he can give witness accounts of what I [allegedly] did."
Yunus accused the UN of behaving ambivalently and trying to corner Indonesia. "In a report received by the UN 1976, it was clearly stated that more than 75,000 people were killed by Fretilin and most were women and children," Antara quoted Yosfiah as saying.
"Without trivialising [the UN's] real intentions in the case, why do they close their eyes in the case of much more serious human rights violations?"
Detik.com said Yosfiah charged that "attempts to corner the TNI (Indonesian armed forces)" were behind the Balibo investigation.
The journalists were Australians Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart; Britons Malcolm Rennie and Brian Peters; and New Zealander Gary Cunningham.
Indonesia maintains they were caught in crossfire between rival East Timorese factions and were not killed by Indonesian troops.
An Australian government inquiry led by judge Tom Sherman last year found Indonesian special forces troops were responsible for the deaths, but said the killings were more likely to have been a blunder rather than murder.
Sherman said attempts were made to cover up the killings by dressing the newsmen in combat uniforms, and then burning the bodies.
Sydney Morning Herald - February 22, 2001
Mark Dodd, Dili -- The Australian wife of the independence leader Mr Xanana Gusmao has blasted Indonesian authorities over their lack of action in securing the freedom of an East Timorese teenage girl raped then abducted by a militia leader as a sex slave.
Ms Kirsty Sword Gusmao, a strong supporter of greater justice for East Timorese victims of sexual violence, said repeated promises by Indonesia to free Juliana dos Santos, now 16, had not been fulfilled.
In September 1999, Juliana, a survivor of the Suai cathedral massacre, was raped at the district military headquarters before being abducted as a war prize by the Laksaur militia leader Igidio Mnanek and taken across the border to Indonesian West Timor, where she remains.
Ms Sword Gusmao claims Juliana saw Mnanek murder her brother in the cathedral massacre on September 6, which left as many as 200 people dead. East Timorese human rights officials say Juliana became pregnant after being raped repeatedly in the refugee camps of West Timor.
Ms Sword Gusmao said refugees returning from West Timor in December had delivered a letter allegedly written by Juliana but denounced by her distraught parents as a trick by her captor husband Mnanek. They said Juliana was now living in Wamasa village, about a kilometre inside the West Timor border.
In the letter, Juliana says she gave birth to a boy on November 27 and wished to be left alone to live with her husband. Ms Sword Gusmao said the letter contained a veiled threat to her parents -- "Don't meddle in our affairs and don't try to separate us." It appeared to have been dictated by Mnanek, she added.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had attempted to secure Juliana's release and her case was raised with Indonesian authorities last year during a visit to West Timor by a team of senior diplomats from the Security Council.
"Basically, there has not been any progress whatsoever in getting her released and in touch with her family in East Timor," Ms Sword Gusmao said.
Despite assurances by Indonesian government and military representatives to the Security Council that efforts would be made to reunite Juliana with her family in Suai, there was no evidence of any concrete steps being taken.
"What Juliana has endured to date is inhuman by anybody's standards," Ms Sword Gusmao said. Other East Timorese women being held in West Timor by militia in similar circumstances must also be returned, she said.
She accused Indonesian officials of failing to uphold their promise, made at a meeting of the Joint Border Committee in Bali in January, to resolve Juliana's case.
"Both sides agreed that Juliana and her baby should be placed in a safe environment free from duress so as to enable her to make her own free choice [to return home or not]," she said.
Mnanek is believed to be in the protective custody of Indonesian security forces after ignoring a summons to appear before the Indonesian Attorney-General, Mr Marzuki Darusman, to answer charges related to his role in the Suai massacre.
Green Left Weekly - February 21, 2001
Jon Land -- The Australian government is attempting to prevent East Timor from gaining full sovereign rights over vast oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea that are expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties over the next 20 to 25 years.
By arguing that the current terms of the Timor Gap Treaty should remain unchanged, Prime Minister John Howard's government is trying to swindle the people of East Timor out of vital revenue, thus undermining an independent East Timor's ability to rebuild its shattered infrastructure and economy. When the treaty was signed on December 11, 1989, by Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas and his Australian counterpart, Labor's Gareth Evans, it was hailed as a major step forward in relations between the two countries. With the convening of the inaugural inter-ministerial council on Bali on February 9, 1991, the treaty officially came into force, allowing the Suharto dictatorship and the Bob Hawke- led Labor government to approve contracts with the petrochemical companies queuing up to develop the rich fields in the Timor Gap.
East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmao passed a letter to Prime Minister Bob Hawke via an Australian parliamentary delegation visiting East Timor in February, 1991. Gusmao condemned the treaty as "a total betrayal" of the East Timorese people by Australia. A pre-condition for the establishment of the treaty (and its continuation) was the recognition by successive Australian governments of Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor.
The improvement in relations between Indonesia and Australia after the signing of the treaty coincided with a brutal wave of military repression throughout East Timor, intended to smash the resistance of the East Timorese masses. Special efforts were directed at breaking the resolve of a new generation of East Timorese student and youth activists who were developing an extensive underground network in every town and village.
On December 11, 1991, just one month after the massacre at Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili that claimed hundreds of lives, Australia signed an agreement with Indonesia to award Timor Gap contracts to exploration companies. Evans alleged that the killings were not a deliberate act of the Suharto dictatorship but simply "the product of aberrant behaviour by a sub-group" and therefore did not justify a policy change towards Indonesia or the suspension of activity in the Timor Gap.
More contracts were awarded early in 1992. The race to get access to known and potential reserves had begun in earnest, mostly in area A of the zone of co-operation. Between 1989 and 1999, gas and oil companies spent $485 million to explore and $196 million to develop deposits within area A.
The oil and gas industry, through its considerable political power and influence, played a critical role in shaping the final outcome of the treaty. For the likes of Australian-based oil and gas companies such as BHP, Woodside, Santos and Petroz, the Timor Gap exploration flurry in the 1990s was their "reward" for years of lobbying and private meetings with government ministers.
With the majority of East Timorese people opting for independence in the 1999 referendum, the prospect of changes to the treaty has raised "concerns" from these and other companies, such as the US-based Phillips and the Anglo-Dutch Shell corporation.
East Timor's leadership has stated, on several occasions, that while it considers the treaty illegal and invalid (as does the United Nations), it wants the oil and gas projects to continue. In the event of East Timor gaining full sovereign rights over its seabed resources, East Timor's leaders have stated that the fiscal requirements for companies operating in the gap shall remain the same.
The Howard government has sought to manipulate the renegotiation of the treaty, citing "maintenance of investor confidence" and the "national interest" as the reason why the terms of the treaty should not be changed.
It is rumoured that at the next round of formal talks on the future of the treaty between UN, East Timor and Australian government representatives, Australia may accept a greater share of royalties going to East Timor. The Australian government appears reluctant to budge on the issue of re-establishing the seabed boundary along the half-way line (in accordance with international laws and norms) between East Timor and Australia.
The significant oil and gas reserves in the Timor Gap were major factors behind Australia's support for Indonesia's invasion and 24 year-long occupation of East Timor. By clinging to the unjust and immoral Timor Gap Treaty, the Howard government is continuing to deny the people of East Timor the full and free expression of their right to national self-determination.
Sydney Morning Herald - February 19, 2001
Mark Dodd -- One of East Timor's most notorious militia leaders will today meet representatives of the community he left devastated to discuss his return home to face justice. Cancio Lopes de Carvalho, former leader of the Ainaro-based Mahidi (Life or Death Integration) militia says he wants to return to East Timor, with 15,000 supporters who also fled to West Timor after post-independence ballot violence in 1999.
A meeting brokered by the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor is scheduled at the southernmost border post in the Salele forest, 20 kilometres west of Suai, today. Talks earlier this month, facilitated by the UNTAET chief of staff, N. Parameswaran, had focused on Lopes de Carvalho and followers returning to East Timor.
The Ainaro community had expressed its willingness for him to return provided he faced justice for war crimes in 1999 and acknowledged East Timor's status as an independent nation, an UNTAET spokesman said.
The Mahidi militia was one of the worst violators of human rights in East Timor and one of the first to receive arms from the Indonesian military.
East Timorese human rights groups say Lopes de Carvalho had close ties with the former East Timor military commander Brigadier- General Tono Suratman, then a colonel based in Dili.
Ainaro town, once a thriving municipal seat at the base of the southern highlands, was almost destroyed by the retreating Mahidi militia after the announcement of the independence victory on September 4, 1999.
A spokesman for UN military headquarters in Suai said New Zealand and Fijian peacekeepers would provide special security for the reconciliation meeting.
| Labour struggle |
South China Morning Post - February 23, 2001
Associated Press in Portland -- Workers at nine of Nike's contract factories in Indonesia have witnessed verbal and physical abuse by supervisors against their colleagues and seen female employees being coerced into sex, according to a new report.
Employees complained of being forced to do overtime, seeing assembly-line workers fondled by managers and having access to medical care restricted, the findings from the watchdog group Global Alliance reveal. Nike, the sports shoe and clothing giant, paid for the report and acknowledged the findings were disturbing. The company said it welcomed the chance to improve conditions at the 25 Indonesian factories from which it buys products.
"Of course, many of the results are disturbing, but that's exactly what we wanted to find out," said Maria Eitel, Nike's vice-president and senior adviser for corporate responsibility. "While the messages are tough, we welcome them."
Global Exchange, a San Francisco-based human rights group, praised Nike for releasing the findings. "I find the conclusions surprising," said Jason Mark, a spokesman for the group. "I think it demonstrates a welcomed candour, but the question is what Nike will do with this information?"
Researchers from Global Alliance conducted hour-long interviews with 4,004 employees -- six per cent of the workforce at the nine factories chosen. Subjects were picked at random, and the interviews were done without supervision from factory officials, said Rick Little, chairman of Global Alliance.
Global Alliance, formed in 1999, is a consortium of groups and companies -- including the World Bank, Nike and The Gap, a major US clothing retail chain -- committed to improving the professional and personal lives of factory workers, especially women, across Asia.
The alliance's first report, issued last year and focusing on Thai and Vietnamese workers, was criticised by labour groups for not concentrating enough on violations and alleged abuses.
Of the workers surveyed in the latest report, 56 per cent said they had seen supervisors verbally abusing colleagues. And 15.7 per cent reported observing improper sexual touching. Some 13.7 per cent said they saw physical abuse.
Workers reported seeing others punished for being late by making them clean toilets or run around the factory grounds. Others alleged the deaths of two workers were related to the denial of medication.
| Aceh/West Papua |
Jakarta Post - February 24, 2001
Jakarta -- An official said on Friday that the long awaited trial of proindependence activist Muhammad Nazar would be transferred to Banda Aceh rescinding a previous decision to try the case in a neutral area, Medan, North Sumatra.
"The trial for the chairman of the Center Information of Referendum for Aceh (SIRA), who is charged with disrupting public order, is to be transferred to Banda Aceh," an official at theMedan District Court said, as quoted by Antara.
The trial would be presided over by the same panel of judges appointed by the Medan court. No further details regarding the schedule of the trial were revealed.
The Supreme Court had ordered the venue of the trial be moved from the strife-torn province of Aceh to the neighboring North Sumatra province due to security concerns.
However, Nazar and prosecutors were absent from the first hearing of the trial held in Medan on Wednesday. At the hearing judges adjourned the trial indefinitely.
Jakarta Post - February 24, 2001
Banda Aceh -- Violence continued in Aceh as Indonesian Police and Military officers held talks with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on Thursday and Friday, officials said. As of Friday afternoon, no immediate results had been revealed.
Friday's talks involved government representatives Sr. Comr. Suyitno, Sr. Comr. Manahan Daulay and Sr. Comr. Ridwan Karim, while GAM was represented by three deputy operational commanders, including Tengku Amri bin Abdul Wahab and Tengku Saiful bin Moh. Ali. Two members of the monitoring team, Muhammad Daim and Nasrullah Dahlawi, were also in attendance.
Director of the Humanitarian Pause Information Center Oemardi said the closed-door meeting was a continuation of the previous meeting on a cease-fire between the two sides which ended on February 20. The agenda for the talks included a discussion on the details of the security pact agreed on by Jakarta and GAM last week after two days of talks at a secret location in Switzerland, Sr. Comr. Ridwan said on Thursday.
The pact, details of which have yet to be released, is designed to replace a month-long truce in Aceh. "Both sides will intensify dialogs among their commanders at the district level," he said.
The two conflicting sides would also be able to widen the dialog by involving other elements in Aceh so that the process could "evolve into some kind of a popular consultation between all the groups involved."
In Pidie, a civilian was found dead with gunshot wounds and seven others were injured on Friday following an overnight raid by joint military-police personnel who arrived in 10 trucks and one armored vehicle at Blang Lam Kaca village in Nila district.
"The routine operation was conducted due to a report of a GAM base in the area but when the security forces were passing the village, gunmen fired at them from the bushes," Adj. Sr. Comr. Heru Budi Ersanto said.
The security forces claimed they succeeded in locating the GAM base in the jungle near the village and seized documents, boots, GAM military uniforms and various other pieces of equipment, but the rebels had already fled under covering fire.
The dead man, M. Yusuf Rasyid, was found in a yard near the village along with a man named Ilyas Zakaria who was in critical condition when found by locals and Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) officials on Friday. GAM's Abu Razak, however, said that there was no GAM base in the area.
GAM rebels also attacked the military's missile base in the hilly Pulo Rungkom region in Dewantara district, about 30 kilometers west of Lhokseumawe, near the PT Arun Gas LNG plant late on Thursday. The camp was attacked with mortars.
"The attack began at 7:30 p.m., but the mortars missed the target as they fell behind the missile base," North Aceh Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Wanto Sumardi said on Friday.
GAM's Abu Sofyan Daud said he deployed 30 of his men to attack the compound for about 20 minutes.
"We managed to damage the base and injured a soldier. This blitz is a warning to those officers who keep on conducting security operations and have established a military post at Babah Krueng village [about 10 kilometers away from the missile base]. If the TNI keeps on behaving like this, then we'll keep on attacking them," he said.
Meanwhile, two bodies with severe gunshot wounds were found separately in South Aceh on Thursday. They were identified as 53-year-old Abdurrahman of Kuala Batee district and Alimuddin of Kluet Selatan district.
In East Aceh, a 28-year-old civilian named Salahuddin Hasan was found dead with gunshot wounds in Blang Paseh district on Thursday. "The body has been removed to Langsa General Hospital," Yusuf Puteh, a humanitarian activist, said on Friday.
Sydney Morning Herald - February 22, 2001
Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta -- Jakarta plans a crackdown on separatist movements in Aceh and Irian Jaya that observers say will almost certainly end reconciliation talks promoted by President Abdurrahman Wahid and dramatically escalate violence across the country.
A new policy of not talking to separatist groups such as the Free Aceh Movement, endorsed by Cabinet this week, highlights how crippled Mr Wahid's presidency has become. The decision also shows that the armed forces are re-establishing their power amid the growing political instability.
The Minister for Defence, Mr Mohamad Mahfud, announced: "It is clear that within the next two weeks the Government will impose a new policy, that is to take firm action against separatist movement activities. Of course, we'll still hold dialogues, but not with the separatist groups. Aspirations for independence will not be discussed in the dialogues either."
Mr Mahfud told Indonesian journalists after a limited Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that the Government was tired of prolonged peace talks with separatist groups.
"Look at the Free Aceh Movement. We have held talks with them twice but they were fruitless," he said. "They still ask for independence, which the Government will never allow."
Mr Mahfud, a former academic, has often made controversial statements he has later retracted. But he has repeatedly warned of a military crackdown on separatists if reconciliation talks failed.
The military has always opposed Mr Wahid's support for talks with separatist leaders in staunchly Islamic Aceh, where a so-called humanitarian pause agreed by both sides last year failed to stem the violence.
A renewal of the agreement in Geneva last weekend was greeted by more violence, which came as the military admitted that it planned to send several thousand more troops to the province, boosting a force already estimated to be 30,000-strong.
The Free Aceh Movement's military commander, Mr Abdullah Syafie, last week declared his forces would "create chaos all over the country" if joint police and military operations continued. "We do not want to incite war, but if we are pressed against the wall, we will have no other choice but to fight," he said.
A group of separatists from Irian Jaya, also known as West Papua, the minerals-rich province at the other end of the Indonesian archipelago, this week delivered a demand for independence to parliament. One of the group, Mr Willem Onde, said Papuans demand that the Government retract a shoot-on-sight order in the territory and release jailed political leaders.
Tensions have escalated in Irian Jaya since December, when Mr Wahid retracted a pledge to allow Papuans to fly the Morning Star, the separatist flag, and security forces arrested almost all the separatist leaders.
Mr Onde was allowed to come to Jakarta to meet political leaders after his group last month released unharmed 16 employees of a South Korean-owned timber company who had been abducted near the town of Merauke in Irian Jaya. Mr Onde told journalists that more abductions would take place because "our aspirations have gone unheeded".
Mr Mahfud said the Government was preparing a "legal umbrella" under which the military could act against separatists, hinting it might be through a presidential decree.
He said the Government planned a "comprehensive approach" to ending the separatist movements that would involve law enforcement and economic recovery as well as "social, religious and political activities".
Jakarta Post - February 21, 2001 (abridged)
Jakarta -- A member of the Indonesian Military/National Police faction in the Aceh provincial council said rogue forces in the province had exacerbated tensions between security forces and separatist rebels.
The spokesman of the TNI/National Police faction, Col. Muhammad Hadis, said in Banda Aceh on Tuesday numerous parties were exploiting the conflict for their personal interests.
"They are ex-convicts and dismissed TNI or police personnel. They intimidate, kidnap, murder and rob people," Muhammad told councillors during a session that also was attended by Governor Abdullah Puteh.
In the last three years, these people may have stolen hundreds of millions of rupiah from people in the province, Muhammad said.
"Hundreds of motorcycles and cars owned by the people and the government, and also a number of mobile phones, have also been taken by force," Muhammad said as quoted by Antara.
Muhammad, a former Banda Aceh Military District commander, urged security forces and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to cooperate to catch these rouge forces, who often pose as security officials and GAM members.
Separately on Tuesday, an Aceh-based alliance of non-governmental organizations said it planned to send a delegation to the annual session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland, next month. The delegation will ask the International Court to take legal measures against those who have violated human rights in Aceh.
The alliance's spokesman, Maimul Fidar, said the delegation would deliver a report on the behavior and policies of Aceh Police chief Brig. Gen. Chairul Rasjidi and his personnel.
Maimul said the police were guilty of crimes against humanity because of the major role they played in the violence in Aceh.
"Ever since their operations began during the negotiations between the Indonesian government and GAM, the situation in Aceh has deteriorated," Maimul said as quoted by Antara.
Agence France-Presse - February 20, 2001 (abridged)
Banda Aceh -- At least two people were killed and 10 others were wounded in the latest violence to hit the troubled Aceh province despite a new peace deal, police and rebels said Tuesday.
One of the victims was an Indonesian armed forces (TNI) soldier, who was killed in a gunfight that followed a rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) ambush on a military convoy in the Muara Dua subdistrict of North Aceh on Monday night. Five other troops were also injured.
"The GAM attack occured when the convoy was on its way to the PT Arun [natural] gas field for a duty shift," north Aceh police chief Ajutant Chief Commissioner Wanto Sumardi said on Tuesday.
The deputy commander of GAM in North Aceh, Sofyan Daud, claimed responsibility for the attack, but said it was aimed at "two jeeps" trailing the convoy. "I am very sure that the passengers of both jeeps were the same people who have been terrorizing residents here," Daud said
Also on Monday, five other TNI soldiers were wounded in a second GAM ambush in Gandapura subdistrict of Bireuen, police said. But the district's GAM leader, Tjut Manyak, claimed that one TNI soldier died on the spot and another was critically wounded during the attack, citing intercepted radio reports.
In Mutiara subdistrict of Pidie, troops shot dead an 18-year-old youth during a rebel search operation on late Monday afternoon, a local resident told AFP Tuesday. The youth, according to Pidie police chief Heru Budi Ersanto, was shot because he had "tried to flee with his motorcycle" when he ran into the troops.
Jakarta Post - February 20, 2001
Jakarta -- House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung ruled out on Monday independence for Irian Jaya, dealing a blow to separatist rebel leader Willem Onde during his visit here.
Akbar suggested that Onde and the people in the province draft a bill on special autonomy for their natural resource-rich territory.
"I invite all parties in Irian Jaya to deliberate the form of special autonomy in the province. I promise we will take the aspirations of the people more into account than those of the government," Akbar told Onde during a meeting. The separatist leader was accompanied by Irian Jaya provincial administration officials and community leaders.
Akbar underlined the House's position that Irian Jaya is and will remain a part of Indonesia. "Our political stance is clear; we will maintain Indonesia's unity, so contribute your ideas for the plan to grant Irian Jaya special autonomy."
Onde came to the House to deliver the demand for the province's independence, and to ask for the House's stance on the issue. The government arranged a series of meetings between Onde and top state officials, including President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri, after his separatist group abducted 16 employees of South Korean-owned plywood firm Korindo, which is based in Asiki district, some 360 kilometers from Merauke, the country's easternmost town.
Thirteen of the hostages were released on January 28 following negotiations with the rebels at their camp. The remaining three were freed a week later.
No ransom was paid for the release of the hostages despite the rebels' demand for US$1 million and logging in the area to be stopped. The government has guaranteed Onde's security during his visit to the capital.
Both Abdurrahman and Megawati have ruled out independence for Irian Jaya, also known as Papua.
Onde said on Monday more abductions would take place because "our aspirations have gone unheeded". He insisted he was not leading a separatist movement, saying that Irian Jaya was a sovereign territory. He added that Jakarta should make clear the political status of the province.
Onde said during his meeting with Akbar the people of Papua also were demanding the government retract the shoot-on-sight order in the region and the release of all political prisoners from the territory.
Akbar said the people of Irian Jaya, as well as other Indonesians, were allowed to submit suggestions to the House, including changing the name of a province and creating new holidays.
"But you cannot remove the national flag because we consider the region part of Indonesia, just like the rest of the country. On your demand for security guarantees and the release of political prisoners, we will convey the messages to the government," he said.
South China Morning Post - February 20, 2001
Vaudine England, Jakarta -- The renewal of a ceasefire between secessionist rebels and the Government in Aceh was greeted by more violence, but human rights activists say the peace pact reached in Geneva last week is still better than nothing.
"That the leaders of both sides are still sitting together, talking together, that means something," said Abdul Humam Hamid, of the Care Human Rights Forum in the Acehnese capital, Banda Aceh.
In the latest violence, the body of a non-governmental organisation employee was found in East Aceh yesterday. The worker, 47-year old Oz Rusli Radja, who was reported to have been abducted on Saturday, was later found with bullet wounds to his head. His body bore the marks of torture. His rickshaw driver had also been tortured before he, too, was killed.
Abdurrachman Yacob, head of the Coalition for Human Rights, said it was likely that Radja, who also worked as a journalist, had been the victim of Indonesian security forces.
"It is often that human rights workers and journalists are abducted and killed by the security forces. And these so-called 'unidentified groups' I think are intelligence personnel," he said. International human right's groups have accused the security forces of using death squads to kill political opponents.
Shootouts between Acehnese rebels and Indonesian troops and local police greeted the latest peace pact, leaving at least one rebel and one marine dead over the weekend.
In addition, the Jakarta Government plans to send thousands more troops to join the 30,000 police and soldiers already in Aceh. The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) says fresh troop arrivals will provoke violent retaliation not only in Aceh, but in Jakarta too.
The killings came after an open-ended renewal of a ceasefire was signed on Friday in Geneva. Fresh commitments were made to pursue more broad-based talks around the needs of Aceh for greater freedom and of Jakarta to hold the country together.
"The next step is an all-inclusive political dialogue in Aceh itself, in which GAM would be participating," said senior diplomat Hassan Wirajuda, who led the Jakarta delegation in the Swiss talks.
Both President Abdurrahman Wahid and his Foreign Minister, Alwi Shihab, frequently claim that the Aceh problem will be solved "soon" and that peace is at hand. Field commanders on both sides in Aceh also pledged to withstand provocation and to stop seeking out the other side, apparently to no avail.
"We don't know the mechanisms in the way Wahid governs," admitted Mr Hamid. "But we do know that he is personally committed to not using the [armed forces-backed] security approach against the Acehnese. I still believe he wants a peaceful solution. The worse thing for the Acehnese would be if Wahid left office, or was not trying."
| Elite power struggle |
Reuters - February 25, 2001 (abridged)
Madiun -- Some 4,000 supporters of Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid hit the streets in East Java on Sunday, resuming protests against efforts to oust the beleaguered Muslim cleric.
Packed into trucks, the protesters drove around the town of Madiun shouting slogans in support of Wahid before gathering for a mass prayer.
"There are around 4,000 people here and the praying has just started," said Sujarno, head of Madiun's field operation unit. There were no reports of any violence. Madiun lies about 575 km east of Jakarta.
Police and the civilian youth militia of a major religious organisation once headed by Wahid had cordoned off the Madiun office of the rival Golkar party, which has borne the brunt of pro-Wahid street protests this month.
International Herald Tribune - February 24, 2001
Philip Bowring, Jakarta -- President Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia faces many crises, several of his own creation. But it would be wrong to assume that he is doomed and unwise to believe that his early removal, even if conducted constitutionally, would be beneficial.
Whatever Mr. Wahid's physical condition, personal failings, political ineptness and lack of administrative ability, the available alternatives are worse. They could quickly reverse the modest progress that Indonesia has made in devising, though barely implementing, reform.
Friendly governments would do better to consider how they can best avoid aggravating issues. The present situation where the International Monetary Fund appears to be the chief interlocutor between Indonesia and the outside world is troubling. Whatever its technical merits, the IMF's micro-agenda and unearned self- righteousness raises nationalist hackles here, aggravating the instability which is sapping energies and making policy implementation ever more difficult.
Expectations were always too high that with one election and the liberal Mr. Wahid at the helm Indonesia could create a clean, decentralized, democratic and plural system while also rebuilding a collapsed financial system. Democracy has changed the rules but not the players and created new monetary demands on a system imbued with corruption. Decentralization and changes in the voting system may eventually change the players but for now reform will remain a very slow process, whoever leads, and is partly at odds with the need for faster resolution of corporate debts.
Mr. Wahid started with a weak hand, owing his position to maneuvering within the Peoples' Consultative Assembly though his own party has few seats. His behavior has weakened him further -- intellectual arrogance, autocratic ways, and a refusal to acknowledge that the power of the presidency has waned. Parliament may be fractious and immature, but cannot be ignored.
Mr. Wahid could form a more effective government if he were less determined to defend his own prerogatives and more willing to make compromises with Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri, whose PDI-P is the largest party in Parliament. That might not improve the quality of the cabinet but would allow Mr. Wahid to spend more time governing and less on political maneuvers. It would also reduce the likelihood of issues being fought on the streets, where Mr. Wahid's Muslim group has muscle.
A third Wahid cabinet with more PDI-P and technocrat membership is now a possibility but whether Mr. Wahid can change his autocratic ways is in doubt. But do not expect too much from cabinet changes. Failures to prosecute Suharto era criminality or enforce bankruptcy orders is more due to the pervasiveness of corruption than to Mr. Wahid.
It is possible that Mr. Wahid can be removed, but the constitutional process is murky and could raise the political temperature on the streets to boiling point. Nor is there any reason to believe that Mrs. Megawati would be an improvement.
Mr. Wahid's faults are in implementation, not policy. He remains the most inclusive figure, a Muslim leader with a mass following who is trusted by Chinese and Christians. Given Indonesia's fragile social fabric, this alone is good reason for him to stay.
He has at least tried to find non-military solutions to the Aceh and Irian insurgencies, and is committed to decentralization. He has an international outlook and favors an open economy.
Mrs. Megawati owes her position to her name as former president Sukarno's daughter, not her ideas, organizational ability or anti-corruption zeal. She would take a more nationalist stance on the economy and is more popular in the army because she favors a tough line on Aceh and is viewed as more easily influenced than Mr. Wahid.
But she would face as many problems with Parliament as Mr. Wahid and is a more divisive figure who might spark the rise of a more radical Islam.
Further ahead new options may open up -- including the return of the now divided and discredited military. But for now the status quo, despite its many frustrations, is the best option. It is also likely to prevail because the political elite has not changed significantly.
The Jakarta elite will be reluctant to push their personal interests to the point of causing chaos. Society is fraying at the edges but still expects its leaders to find compromises.
Allies should note that Indonesia's problems are in the first place political and should receive attention at the highest political level.
They need to quietly persuade Mr. Wahid to be more flexible while avoiding lectures on micro-economic issues. Public bullying of the embattled government of this huge and proud nation is no way to help Indonesia remain a plural, united and open society. Above all, be more patient.
Jakarta Post - February 24, 2001
Jakarta -- Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) chief Lt. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu confirmed on Friday he had assured Abdurrahman Wahid of his soldiers' loyalty prior to the President's departure on an overseas trip.
"I told Gus Dur to enjoy his overseas trip and to take time to complete his religious duties [the haj pilgrimage]," Ryamizard said, referring to the President by his nickname.
"I also told him not to have any negative thoughts of the military; that rumors of a military coup were not true. The soldiers have never had such thoughts," he said at his office after performing the Friday prayers.
The President left Jakarta on Thursday morning for a two-week trip abroad. Abdurrahman will travel first to Yemen, and then head to the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Egypt and Nigeria, concluding his journey by performing the haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
The President held a predeparture meeting with top military brass and senior aides at the presidential palace on Wednesday.
The meeting was attended by Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Indonesian Military chief, the chiefs of the Army, Navy and the Air Force, the National Police chief, Minister of Defense Mahfud M.D., Attorney General Marzuki Darusman and the intelligence chief.
Later on Wednesday, Abdurrahman met with Ryamizard and the commander of the Army's Special Force (Kopassus), Maj. Gen. Amirul Isnaeni.
"I was told by the Army chief of staff that the President wanted to see me. But during the one-hour meeting, Gus Dur did not specifically ask me for security assurances or give me a mandate to maintain security and order while he was away," Ryamizard said. "Do you think I am so great that the President delegated that authority to me?" the three-star general asked.
A military source, however, told The Jakarta Post that the President did ask for security assurances from both Ryamizard and Amirul.
"And since both officers are well informed of the situation in the field, Gus Dur also asked them to inform him of all new security developments at home," the source said.
Ryamizard said most of his meeting with the President was spent simply chatting. "The meeting on Wednesday was not that serious as about 45 minutes of it were spent merely joking," Ryamizard said.
Some military analysts have said the President's political opponents may seize the opportunity presented by his absence to incite instability. Unconfirmed leaked documents seem to support this view.
There have been rumors that the relationship between Abdurrahman and the Army's top officers, including Ryamizard, has been tense since the President reportedly asked that the Army chief, the Kostrad chief and the Kopassus chief be replaced for disobeying presidential orders.
When asked if he and Abdurrahman discussed a possible reshuffle of the Army's top brass, Ryamizard said there was nothing wrong in his relationship with the President that required repairing.
"Like Vice President [Megawati Soekarnoputri], Gus Dur also knows me well. I am a professional soldier who will never become involved in politics, such as voicing support for certain political leaders," he said.
When asked if the President had called the meeting with him because of his anxiety over security in the country, Ryamizard said national security was worrisome and that the Indonesian Military and other elements of the nation had to prevent the "ship of Indonesia" from leaking. "If we let these leaks grow bigger and bigger, I am afraid that we are going to sink," he said.
Australian Financial Review - February 23, 2001
Tim Dodd, Jakarta -- Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid left Jakarta yesterday on an overseas trip which takes him out of the country for two weeks while a leadership crisis grows at home.
Speaking at the airport before his departure, he urged Indonesians to "be calm". "There is nothing going on. Mrs Mega is here," he said referring to Vice-President Megawati Soekarnoputri who will be in charge during his long absence.
But Vice-President Megawati is the focus of plotting by key figures across the political spectrum who want her to replace the President. They will use the President's absence to further undermine his shaky position.
But one of the President's key political foes -- Mr Arifin Panigoro who is from the anti-Wahid faction of Mrs Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle -- said yesterday that party officials were in talks with the Muslim "central axis" parties and the former ruling party Golkar to form a coalition to back a Megawati presidency.
Mrs Megawati has not yet indicated her attitude to the proposed coalition but parliamentarian, Mr Pramono Anung, who is close to the Vice-President, yesterday downplayed the significance of the talks.
There are growing indications that, when he returns on March 7, President Wahid will try to reshuffle his cabinet with broader representation in an attempt to shore up his support. Student leaders from the student wing of Mrs Megawati's party, who met President Wahid on Wednesday, said yesterday that the President had signalled plans for a reshuffle.
During his absence President Wahid is leaving behind a weak government and a litany of problems -- including ethnic fighting which has raged on the island of Kalimantan for several days, leaving a death toll of at least 75 with many beheaded in ritual killings.
Problems are also mounting on the economic front, with Indonesia in talks this week with the IMF to break a deadlock which threatens continued support for its economic reform program. The IMF is insisting that Indonesia ensure its central bank remains independent, that it speed asset sales and that it prevent local regional governments from borrowing.
And in Jakarta the Government's sales program for assets of failed banks is threatened by nationalist opposition to the $700 million sale of palm oil plantations to a Malaysian firm, Kumpulan Guthrie.
On his trip President Wahid -- who has already visited more than 50 countries in his 16-month presidency -- will visit Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Egypt, ending with a Haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
San Francisco Chronicle - February 16, 2001
Ian Timberlake -- A telephone rings somewhere inside Eggi Sudjana's denim jacket. He pulls out two tiny cell phones and talks briefly into one, but the 41-year-old corporate lawyer seems to be half asleep.
That might be because the night before, he'd met again with members of the resurgent student movement that has been shouting for the resignation of President Abdurrahman Wahid, who is threatened with impeachment over corruption allegations and is facing the most severe crisis of his 16 months in office.
As much as the battle to oust Wahid is centered on Indonesia's Parliament, it is also taking place on the streets where students, sometimes in the thousands, issue demands almost daily that Wahid has to go.
But there are strong suspicions being voiced that the student movement is manipulated and perhaps even funded by Wahid's foes, some of whom are seen as part of the New Order -- the regime of former dictator Suharto, who was toppled in May 1998 after massive student protests.
Todung Mulya Lubis, a prominent lawyer, bluntly declares: "There are New Order forces manipulating the student movement. I think a lot of people in Parliament suddenly converted themselves to reform, when in the past they were part of the New Order ... I think it's disgusting, actually." Anti-reform forces are widely believed to turn to Sudjana and other behind-the-scenes figures like him when they want to make a point on the streets.
Sudjana is known as a "mobilizer" of protesters, and he admits to advising several of the hard-line Islamic militias that have intermittently destabilized Indonesia during Wahid's term in office.
Sudjana chuckles at the suggestion that he is one of the people behind the current protests: "If I am the one organizing, I have to be near them. I must be out there. I'm not. I just got back from Japan. I'm a busy man."
The current demonstrations peaked in late January and early February, when several thousand students blocked a highway outside Parliament as the House of Representatives discussed a committee report that implicated Wahid in two financial scandals.
Offering little concrete evidence, the House report claimed Wahid was involved in the illegal transfer of $4 million from the state food agency, Bulog. It also accused him of failing to officially declare a $2 million donation from the sultan of Brunei.
The House voted to censure Wahid, a nearly blind, moderate Muslim cleric. He has four months to respond before Parliament can begin impeachment proceedings.
Andre Rosiade, 22, a Trisakti University accounting student and anti-Wahid activist, said, "We see the indications that Wahid is implicated in KKN, so we ask him to resign." KKN are the Indonesian initials for corruption, collusion and nepotism, which was a standard rallying cry for demonstrators opposed to the Suharto regime -- and emblematic of a culture Wahid vowed to eradicate.
Rosiade, president of the Trisakti University Student Executive Body (BEM), spoke after several hundred young people rallied at the University of Indonesia several days ago.
Leaders of the University of Indonesia student movement are also officials of BEM, which exists at a number of campuses and which critics allege is closely linked to the Association of Islamic Students (HMI), a group associated with anti-reform elements.
Hendardi, a Jakarta human rights lawyer who has represented East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmao, said that HMI's alumni include Akbar Tandjung, leader of the Golkar Party, Suharto's longtime political vehicle. Golkar is now the second-largest party in Parliament and is fiercely critical of Wahid.
Hendardi concludes: "This isn't like the student movement of 1998. It's engineered." He says he suspects some of the protesters are paid, and he accuses HMI of directing them on behalf of Wahid's parliamentary opponents, who have various political agendas but are united in wanting him removed.
Hendardi said the protests "aim to give a certain type of support to the House to make it look like the people want Wahid toppled." Sudjana, a HMI alumnus himself, admits he has advised the students that Wahid needs to be removed but he denies their movement is organized.
"It's the logical consequence of the feelings of students who were hurt because Wahid betrayed the reformation," said the self-described "consultant" to the Front Hizbullah, Islamic Defenders Front and Laskar Jihad, violent extremist groups who have wrought havoc in Javanese cities and the far-off Malukus archipelago.
Other students disagree with BEM's focus on Wahid. "Maybe they are not supported by Golkar but they are playing on the stage built by Golkar," said Rheinhard, 24, a ponytailed political science student and an activist since 1998. He wants Golkar disbanded and the remnants of the Suharto regime neutralized.
Golkar are not the only ones who want Wahid out but the party has become the focus of anger for the president's supporters, thousands of whom rallied last week before trashing Golkar offices in East Java province.
"There is a convergence of interests to get rid of Wahid," said a Western diplomat who cited these reasons:
"Even those who supported him are disappointed with the way he managed the country," said Lubis.
He particularly faults Wahid for not appointing a tougher justice minister and attorney general. The administration has had little success in bringing the Suharto family to justice on corruption charges or in pressing for accountability for the military's crimes in East Timor.
Lubis agreed that the old regime and its sympathizers, with their money and resources, would be a major obstacle for any attorney general. But Wahid could have done more to confront them.
"As president, he can do a lot," Lubis said. "But I think he did not use that opportunity to strengthen the legal team in his cabinet." Now it may be too late.
Wahid is unlikely to fall in the next few weeks, but his future beyond that is in doubt. "I think he will have to go at some point," the diplomat said.
Jakarta Post - February 19, 2001
Jakarta -- After days of rallies -- some of them violent, the capital enjoyed an arts performance on Sunday aimed at easing the political tension. No less than 500 people took part in the celebration, which ranged from a parade to a music festival that lasted into the evening.
"It is a moral campaign and also entertainment for city residents to enjoy after days of demonstrations and violence. It is time to end these clashes," Anwar Sutrisno, the coordinator of the event, said in his opening remarks. Some people arrived in medium-sized buses, while others showed up in the parking lot of the Senayan sports complex in traditional horse-drawn carriages, or delman.
The arts performance, sponsored by cultural activist Setiawan Djody of the Kantata Bangsa Foundation, among others, was mostly attended by university students from Jakarta and Bandung.
Among the those taking part in the parade were members of student organizations from Mercu Buana University, Trisakti University and Bina Nusantara University.
Noted poet Willy S. Rendra took part in an event titled Be Just My Country, Unite My People.
A march to the National Monument, some 10 kilometers to the north, began at about 3:30 p.m. March participants stopped near the Semanggi cloverleaf and spread flower petals in remembrance of those "student heroes" who died in clashes with security personnel in front of Atma Jaya University.
" ... those reformist chameleons who used to overpower the country, now they are pretending to fight for the people ... we are deceived by freedom without democracy ...," Rendra read his poetry near the cloverleaf.
In his reading, Rendra conveyed a message of peace, calling on the community to refrain from violence, because in the end they were not the ones who would benefit.
Police redirected traffic into one lane to allow hundreds of city residents from all walks of life to assemble along the street to watch the parade. The police also were seen securing the streets.
After the stop at the Semanggi cloverleaf, the march proceeded to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle. A group of 80 people from the Yadika Marching Band were giving a performance in front of the Grand Hyatt Hotel when the parade participants approached.
A dance troupe, Belpas, waited at the traffic circle to join the parade. Belpas, which performed the barongsai lion dance, also conveyed a message of peace. Several banners attached to the sides of the buses carrying the dancers, carried calls to maintain the peace.
After Belpas completed its performance, most of the parade participants took buses to the National Monument (Monas), where a huge stage was set up. The 10-meter-by-15-meter stage was highlighted with huge white screens on each side.
Celebrities taking to the stage included Doel Sumbang, Elpamas, Sawung Djabo and Kantata Takwa, while Setiawan Djody delivered a political speech.
They sent a unified message to the community to eradicate political corruption and crime. Meanwhile, hundreds of street vendors benefited from the large crowd that gathered to watch the performances.
Indonesian Observer - February 19, 2001
Jakarta -- Pro-reform organizations across Java and Sumatra yesterday stepped up their demands for the former ruling Golkar Party to be dissolved and investigated over its involvement in corruption and human rights abuses.
Hundreds of people representing at least 20 groups in North Sumatra staged a rally in the provinces capital of Medan to demand the dissolution of Golkar, used by former president Soeharto to retain his corrupt New Order rule for 32 years.
The protesters, calling themselves members of the North Sumatra Anti-New Order Community, also urged the disbandment of upper and lower legislative bodies because they are still controlled by the remnants of Soehartos regime.
We ask the government to soon try officials linked to New Order remnants, as they have been disadvantaging the people and making them suffer. And we ask for Golkar Party to be dissolved, Yansen Harahap, protest spokesman, was quoted as saying by Antara.
Harahap, chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama Youth Force (AMNU), argued that Golkar has hampered efforts to implement sweeping reforms.
Other groups at the Medan rally included the Marhaen Peoples Movement, the National Front for Industrial Workers Unions, the Student League for Democracy, the National Brotherhood Institute, the National Farmers Union and the Syndicate of Anti-Fascists.
Golkar, which has the second-largest faction in parliament, has been under strong pressure this month to disband after it took a leading role in moves aimed at unseating President Abdurrahman Wahid over his alleged involvement in two financial scandals.
The House of Representatives early this month censured Wahid after its special committee said the president could be suspected of involvement in the theft of Rp35 billion from the National Logistics Agency (Bulog) and a second scandal over a US$2 million donation from the Sultan of Brunei.
In the East Java capital of Surabaya, similar anti-Golkar protests continued yesterday to push for the trial of the former ruling party, but refrained from calling for its dissolution.
Thousands of students and youths from Surabaya, Lamongan, Gresik, Mojokerto and Malang, grouped in the Front for Total Reforms (FRT), demonstrated against Golkar in the nations second biggest city, urging the government to seize the ill-gotten wealth of corrupt officials who prospered during Soehartos regime.
The one-and-half-hour protest, which started at 11am, ended peacefully as security forces were on tight alert to prevent it from turning violent. We do not demand that Golkar be disbanded because it violates the results of the past elections regarded as democratic, but we want the party tried in various cases of corruption, collusion and nepotism, said Yordan Batara-goa, secretary of the FRT presidium.
On Saturday, dozens of anti-Golkar protesters blocked House Speaker Akbar Tandjung on his arrival at Sultan Syarief Kasyim Airport in the Riau capital of Pekanbaru, but he later managed to get through the line after police fired warning shots.
Meanwhile, senior members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) have thrown their weight behind mounting calls for a parliamentary probe into a Rp90 billion corruption scandal allegedly involving Golkar.
Defense Minister Mohammad Mahfud says he has sufficient evidence that the party took Rp90 billion from Bulog to fund its campaign ahead of the 1999 general election. He has urged parliament to set up a special committee to investigate the scandal, dubbed Golkargate.
Haryanto Taslam, a former deputy secretary of PDI-P, said the calls should be appreciated and followed up. If we are really committed to eradicating KKN [corruption, collusion and nepotism practices], we should not be discriminatory, he told the Jawa Pos newspaper daily in a response to Mahfuds calls.
| Government/politics |
Jakarta Post - February 22, 2001
Jakarta -- The police have found indications of the commission of a crime in an alleged land scam linked to House of Representatives Speaker and Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung, National Police Spokesman Brig. Gen. Didi Widayadi said on Wednesday.
"Although he [Akbar] has not been summoned yet, there is a possibility of him being named a suspect in the case," Didi told reporters. He said the police had yet to receive the consent of President Abdurrahman Wahid for the questioning of Akbar as required by law. The request for presidential approval was submitted last week, according to Didi.
Police have questioned three witnesses in the case, including Akbar's nephew Kurnia Ananda who reported his uncle for allegedly forging the land titles to 23 hectares of land in Srengseng, Kebun Jeruk, West Jakarta in 1995.
The land, owned by Akbar's elder brother Dato Usman Zahiruddin, was sold to, among other purchasers, the city administration for conversion into a public park.
Former Kebun Jeruk district chief executive and subsequently West Jakarta mayor Sutardjianto has already been named a suspect in the case.
Kurnia, who is Zahiruddin's son, told the police that he and his brothers once met with Akbar, whose full name is Akbar Djandji Zahiruddin Tandjung, when the latter was minister of public housing, at his official residence on Jl. Widya Chandra, South Jakarta in 1995.
According to Kurnia, Akbar offered to return the proceeds from the sale of the land based on a price of Rp 50,000 per square meter, but Zahiruddin's sons refused the offer and instead demanded Rp 500,000 per square meter as the market price of the land had reached Rp 1 million per square meter by that time.
Kurnia reported the case to the police last year, but received an unsatisfactory response. Last month he turned to the National Ombudsman Commission, which then recommended that the police investigate the case.
Innocence Separately, Akbar's lawyer Atmajaya Salim insisted that his client was innocent and said that the lawsuit was already statute-barred.
Atmajaya, from the Soekanto-Salim and Associates law firm, told the media that the land dispute took place between 1983 and 1994 and an action brought by the heirs of Zahiruddin had been thrown out by the South Jakarta District Court and the Jakarta High Court.
"Over the period of the dispute, my client was merely a member of the administrative staff of the family company Marison NV, where he had been since 1978. He didn't have the authority to decide on the acquisition of the land.
"Moreover, by law, a cause of action becomes statute-barred after a period of 12 years has elapsed. However, if the plaintiff insists on filing a lawsuit, he should address it to Marison NV, not my client," Atmajaya asserted.
Atmajaya said Marison NV had yet to obtain the land title documents as the firm had canceled the purchase of the land in 1974 due to financial problems following the death of the company's director Usman Zahiruddin. The company only had made a down payment for 10 hectares of the land.
In March 1984, Bob Sugiarto, a contractor named by the city government to acquire the land for a city park, reimbursed the down payment.
Atmajaya claimed that Usman's heirs were not informed about the purchase of the land by the city administration as they were not on Marison NV's board of directors, although they were the shareholders.
"However, there is a clause in the agreement between Marison NV and Usman's heirs that all assets under their names belong to the company so that decisions about the assets are up to the directors," he added.
Straits Times - February 22, 2001
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- The thousands of students who have been protesting across Indonesia in the past few weeks might argue that replacing President Abdurrahman Wahid is the only way to save Indonesia from its economic and political morass.
However, most Indonesians would disagree, arguing that Indonesia lacks a leader capable of pulling the country out of its economic and political crisis.
A survey conducted across five Indonesian cities and covering all socio-economic levels reveals dissatisfaction with, and lack of confidence in, all the major political leaders.
The independent Centre for the Study of Development and Democracy conducted the survey among 1,200 respondents between January 25 to February 9.
When asked who was capable of solving Indonesia's problems, 30 per cent could not name anyone. Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri was named by 28 per cent. She far outstripped Mr Abdurrahman, who was selected by only 12 per cent of those surveyed.
But while the President may not have the popular support he claims, his detractors have even less. Only 7 per cent of respondents nominated MPR Speaker Amien Rais as capable of solving Indonesia's crisis and 4 per cent thought Golkar leader Akbar Tandjung was capable.
Interestingly, Dr Amien, one of Mr Abdurrahman's strongest critics, was thought even less capable than former President B. J. Habibie, who is infamous for having "lost" East Timor to the United Nations.
"They've succeeded in reducing the legitimacy of the President to zero, but they've taken themselves down too," said analyst Dr Syahrir of Mr Abdurrahman's political opponents.
Another political scientist, Mr Daniel Sparringa, said the survey illustrated "the widening gap between the political elite and ordinary civilians".
Most analysts were not surprised at the widespread disappointment in Indonesia's leaders, saying the political system did not encourage accountability.
"Everybody agrees the political system doesn't work because there is confusion over whether we have a parliamentary democracy or a presidential system," said Dr Syahrir.
Asked who should replace Mr Abdurrahman if he were forced out of office, 46 per cent of respondents nominated Ms Megawati, while all the other political leaders trailed far behind.
Dr Syahrir said public respect for Mr Abdurrahman, Mr Akbar and Dr Amien was low because they were perceived as being "greedy and selfish", while Ms Megawati was seen to be wiser.
The survey also suggested that the two financial scandals, which may lead to the President's impeachment, were not the issues that had led to lack of confidence in Mr Abdurrahman's leadership.
Newsweek - February 26, 2001 (slightly abridged)
As always, Singapore's senior minister Lee Kuan Yew is keeping a wary eye on the big powers in his region-especially Indonesia and China. In Davos for the recent meeting of the World Economic Forum, he spoke with Newsweek's Lally Weymouth. Excerpts: Newsweek: How will the situation in Indonesia unfold?
Lee Kuan Yew: Indonesia is going through a very difficult transition from one-man rule by President Suharto to a form of government as yet unsettled. The media is open and free. Anything you say is immediately published. The result is that Army officers' reputations have been tarnished, former leaders have been damaged. And now attacks are going on against all leaders in government and in the legislature. [Moreover,] the executive and the legislature are boisterously uninhibited in their attacks on each other. It's a vast and complex country. There are demonstrations going on every other day. In the midst of all this, they are supposed to run a democratic government? How?
It's said that the government is unraveling and things could come apart.
I think it is difficult to hold the situation indefinitely. Whether it will unravel I don't know. [President Abdurrahman] Wahid's constitutional successor, Megawati [Sukarnoputri], is not eager on taking over in an unconstitutional way, and she holds the largest bloc of votes in Parliament.
Do you believe Megawati would make a good president?
It is improper for me to comment. The Clinton administration was uncomfortable that Megawati was close to the Army. It wanted to send the Army back to the barracks and under civilian control. Whether any president could do this depends on whether he or she differentiates between the Army as an institution and certain officers who have violated the rules. You can't govern that country without the Army.
Are you concerned about the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Indonesia?
If you say that political Islam is now a force in Indonesia, I would say yes. They were not in the seats of power before because Suharto kept them out. He did not allow Islam and politics to go together. [Former president B. J.] Habibie changed that and liberated everything. Now there is a proliferation of Islamic parties, but what is interesting is that in the total vote, they did not gain a majority. They are still a minority, but a vocal and significant minority-well organized. Among them are extremists who went to Maluku and shot Christians.
Could this extremism spread beyond Indonesia?
There is no way of getting them out of the political arena. The hope is that the secular and nationalist parties, such as Megawati's PDI-P, Wahid's PKB and Akbar Tanjung's Golkar-Islamic but secular-will combine. If they do, they would easily form the majority.
Can they combine is the question. There is an incompatibility of personalities and styles between the leaders. That is the problem.
| Regional conflicts |
South China Morning Post - February 25, 2001
Reuters in Sampit -- Terrified refugees crammed onto an Indonesian navy ship on Saturday to escape marauding mobs in Borneo as officials said the death toll from a week of ethnic bloodshed had reached 210.
Officials said the navy had dispatched another two vessels to pick up some 24,000 refugees holed up in the steamy river town of Sampit, centre of the violence between indigenous Dayaks and immigrants from Madura island off east Java. A passenger ferry was also heading to the town in Central Kalimantan province, they said.
"According to the data we have, the number of dead is 210. The condition in the town is improving but is still a bit tense," said Jauhar Pauzni, a local government spokesman in Sampit, 750km northeast of Jakarta.
Officials have been gradually revising up the death toll as more bodies are discovered in Sampit and surrounding areas. Mr Pauzni said 11 people had been wounded.
Some victims have been beheaded and their heads paraded through town. Others have been burned to death.
Smoke rose from burning buildings in several places in Sampit on Saturday morning and many shops were closed.
Police have arrested about 80 people over the violence, including three alleged masterminds, the official Antara news agency reported on Saturday. There were no immediate reports of fresh attacks.
The latest Kalimantan violence underscores Indonesia's volatility and flared as embattled President Abdurrahman Wahid left on a trip to the Middle East and Africa this week, leaving behind a fragile country crying out for leadership.
Dayaks, once fearsome headhunters, roamed around in search of Madurese following a week of violence which witnesses and officials say has largely gone from fighting between the rival groups to one-sided Dayak attacks on Madurese.
Soldiers have cordoned off makeshift camps sheltering the refugees, who are mainly Madurese. Long simmering tension between Dayaks and Madurese occasionally boils over in Kalimantan, stoked by land disputes and competition for jobs.
"It is better that the Madurese leave. This area will be safe then," said one local official, who declined to be identified.
The navy ship, the Sampit Bay, started loading refugees just after dawn and was expected to leave the town later in the day for Java. At least 2,000 people had crowded onto its decks.
It was unclear when the next ships, which have to wend their way along a winding jungle river, would arrive. Officials say some 15,000 Madurese have already fled Sampit.
Hundreds have died in Indonesia's Borneo provinces in the past two years in unrest between Dayaks and immigrants, mainly Madurese.
Tensions have been fanned by the now abandoned and widely discredited policy of resettling Indonesians from overcrowded areas, such as Madura and Java, in underpopulated provinces.
Agence France-Presse - February 23, 2001
Jakarta -- The official death toll from six days of brutal ethnic slayings on Borneo island rose to more than 200 Friday, a medical worker said.
"More than 200 dead bodies have been recorded," a staff member at Sampit General Hospital in Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province told AFP on condition of anonymity. The state Antara newsagency also reported the death toll had climbed above 200, but gave no sources for its figure.
Antara added that scores of headless bodies were still lying in the streets behind the house of the district chief, Wahyudi Anwar. "The fighting must be stopped as soon as possible, so that there are no more victims," the agency quoted Anwar as saying.
Earlier on Friday East Waringin district medical director Qomaruddin Sukhami told AFP by phone from Sampit that hospitals in the area had received 143 bodies.
"The number of bodies brought into the hospitals and recorded is 143, but there are still many more lying in the streets, many without heads," Sukhami said.
Sukhami said the killings were still spreading to districts surrounding Sampit, the East Waringan district capital and Central Kalimantan's main trading town, where the clashes broke out on Sunday.
"Another 26 bodies have been found in Kuala Kuayan sub-district since yesterday, and seven in Cempaga," he said. Kuala Kuayan lies 75 kilometers north of Sampit, and Cempaga is 30 kilometers to the northeast.
Sukhami, citing a "triangle of violence," said Thursday 28 bodies had been recovered in Parenggean, 40 kilometres to the north, and four in Kasongan, 80 kilometres northeast. Many of the dead had been hacked with traditional Borneo swords called mandau and shot with poison arrows from blowguns, Sukhami said.
South China Morning Post - February 24, 2001
Agencies in Sampit and Palangkaraya -- The death toll from six days of brutal ethnic clashes on Borneo island rose to at least 143 yesterday as the violence spread and armed bands of Dayak tribesmen continued to rampage through the main town of Sampit.
"The number of bodies brought into hospitals and recorded is 143, but there are still many more bodies lying in the streets, many without heads," said Komaruddin Sukhami, a doctor at the hospital in Sampit in Central Kalimantan province. He said the carnage was "like the French revolution".
Police and residents said Dayak tribesmen armed with swords, bows and arrows and blow-guns were stalking the corpse-strewn streets of Sampit for Madurese settlers. Smoke was rising from the homes of the Madurese, most of whom had fled.
"The situation is getting worse," regional police chief Brigadier-General Bambang Pranoto said. "The riots are spreading to other towns where there are still many Madurese."
A naval landing craft and two transport ships were due to arrive at the river port in Sampit to collect hundreds of refugees sheltering in government offices and take them to Surabaya, Java.
"Fighting stopped this morning but we're still on alert," said Chief Corporal Rahman, a duty officer at Sampit's district military command headquarters. "Burnings of Madurese homes still continue today.
Hundreds of Dayaks are still roaming around the city ... they are in small groups of four or five people. They are wearing red headbands to identify themselves as Dayak tribesmen and all of them have sharp weapons in their hands. On my way to work this morning I saw two headless bodies lying on the street still untouched.
"All Madurese residents, mostly women, children and elderly, have taken refuge at the district's office and they are protected by police troops ... but some of the men are still guarding their homes."
Dr Sukhami said the killings were spreading in a "triangle of violence". He said 65 of the bodies were found outside Sampit, the district capital. "Another 26 bodies have been found in Kuala Kuayan sub-district, 75km north of Sampit, since yesterday, and seven in Cempaga [30km northeast]," he said.
On Thursday, Dr Sukhami said 28 bodies had been recovered in Parenggean, 40km north, and four in Kasongan, 80km northeast.
More than 600 police and soldiers have been sent to Sampit, and Chief Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said another battalion of 650 soldiers is on its way.
Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo island, has seen repeated outbreaks of ethnic violence.
Dayaks resent the commercial dominance of ethnic Madurese, relocated to Kalimantan through the government-sponsored transmigration programme designed to move residents from crowded to thinly populated areas.
In December, at least four people died in several days of fighting in Central Kalimantan, while 11 people were killed in the West Kalimantan capital of Pontianak in October.
Violent attacks on Madurese by Malays, backed by Dayak tribesmen, in West Kalimantan in 1999 left 3,000 people dead and tens of thousands of migrants displaced.
Jakarta Post - February 25, 2001
Jakarta -- A man was killed and another was injured Friday night in a communal clash that broke out in Woja district, Dompu regency, West Nusa Tenggara.
Lukman, 35, died from a bullet wound. The other victim, One Mursin, suffered injuries and is now being treated at Dompu hospital, Dompu Police chief Adj. Snr. Comr. Ngadi Prayitno said.
Police are still investigating the cause of the clash and has deployed two platoons of anti-riot policemen and a platoon of the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) to the area to contain the conflict, Ngadi said as quoted by Antara.
Straits Times - February 24, 2001
Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- Most Indonesians will not be able to watch the coverage of inter-ethnic clashes like those in Central Kalimantan on their television screen under a new broadcast Bill being considered by the government.
The Bill, which is being deliberated in Parliament, forbids television and radio stations from broadcasting content which could incite ethnic, religious or racial conflicts.
Its ambiguous phrasing has caused anxieties among many in the television business. They are worried that the coverage of violent ethnic or sectarian riots in Indonesia would once again become off-limits as in the repressed decades under former president Suharto.
"I'm afraid that even covering the conflicts between the Christian and Muslims in Maluku will be considered a crime," Mr Karni Ilyas of the Surya Citra Television said.
According to the draft Bill, violators face a maximum five years' jail and a fine of 20 billion rupiah (S$3.8 million). The stations may also lose their broadcasting licences.
Proprietors of Indonesian television stations are urging Parliament to revise the Bill, which they say is a threat to press freedom and a setback to the growth of the broadcasting industry here.
"Its content will stifle the press freedom and the freedom to create, and it may endanger the existence of the broadcasting industry in Indonesia," said Mr Anton A. Nangoy, chairman of the Indonesian Television Broadcasting Association (ATVSI).
The Indonesian media has been enjoying a surge of press freedom following Mr Suharto's fall in 1998.
Another factor much criticised by media groups is the clause on the establishment of an independent supervisory and advisory body, the Indonesian Broadcast Commission.
ATVSI said the new body might become too powerful like the now- dissolved Information Ministry. The ministry was an effective tool to muzzle the press under Mr Suharto.
Furthermore, in a bid to prevent monopoly, the new Bill will make cross-ownership of media enterprises illegal.
Straits Times - February 23, 2001
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- The recent ethnic bloody violence in central Kalimantan was orchestrated by two civil servants who were furious at having lost their jobs in a regional autonomy shake-up, according to the police.
National Police Chief General Suroyo Bimantoro said the two civil servants had paid 20 million rupiah (S$3,800) to a group of men to "kill people and burn houses" because they were hoping that in the ensuing violence "they would be needed again and so would get their old jobs back".
Gen Bimantoro said that several of the native Dayaks who had been detained over the violence had admitted they had been paid to attack the Madurese settlement.
Local Dayak leaders said simmering tension between the two groups often erupted in violence with the slightest provocation because of decades-long disputes existing since the Suharto era.
"The Dayaks are marginalised on their own land. The forest is their traditional land but the people don't have access rights to enter the forest, they have nowhere to live or no way of making money," said Mr Anslemus Mecer from Pancur Kasih, a non- government group dealing with Dayak land disputes.
Mr Anselmus said the Suharto-era practice of forcing the Dayaks violently from their land to make way for the Madurese settlers had sown deep-rooted bitterness. Moreover, the Madurese were often given jobs in new plantations which occupied Dayak land, he said.
Dayak leaders said their people were also angered that traditional community laws had not been respected by the provincial governments. "Real autonomy can only be realised with traditional community law," said Dayak leader Emil Gusni.
But commentators and Dayaks alike blame recurring clashes between the Madurese and the Dayaks on the Madurese. "The migrants don't understand the Dayak's situation and don't respect their land rights," Mr Anselmus said.
Straits Times - February 22, 2001
Three days after mobs torched some 100 houses in the town of Selat Panjang in Riau, the village is now a ghost town as most of the 6,000-odd ethnic Indonesian Chinese have fled north to Pekan Baru and elsewhere to seek refuge.
Most of the women and children fled on Tuesday, said a Singaporean whose Indonesian-born wife and family hail from the town.
"When the mobs, armed with parangs and other weapons began to burn the houses on Monday evening, all they could do was to watch helplessly as the mob threatened violence if anyone attempted to quell the fires," said Mr E. S. Low, 48, a building executive.
He has been keeping in touch with his wife's family by telephone. "I think one person died in the arson. We found out when a family was prevented from going back there to hold the funeral," he said.
The trouble started on Monday when a local ethnic Chinese gambling operator shot dead a robber, who was a pribumi, when he tried to run off with his cash.
A mob gathered shortly and started burning homes belonging to ethnic Chinese villagers. "My relative was ambushed by some of the mobsters as he was riding his motorbike and was badly beaten up," said Mr Low.
They demanded cash from the Chinese villagers and threatened to burn more homes. They also wanted the person responsible for the shooting to be handed over, he said.
But by then, the gambling-den operator and his wife had already fled to Pekan Baru, some three hours away by boat. By the next day, most of the children and women had fled north to their relatives, fearing for their safety. The men also abandoned their homes yesterday, added Mr Low.
Many in the area work as fishermen or sago plantation workers. Most of the ethnic Chinese run shops and undertake barter trade in the town, said Mr Low.
| Human rights/law |
Jakarta Post - February 22, 2001
Makassar -- Makassar District Court commenced on Wednesday the trial of deputy South Sulawesi governor Masnawi on corruption charges.
Prosecutor Daud Kinu accused Masnawi of having violated Article 1 of the anti-corruption Law No. 3/1971 on enriching oneself at state expense. The Article carries a maximum punishment of life sentence.
Kinu said Masnawi, who was head of the Provincial Development Planning Agency between 1996 and 1998, had unlawfully exchanged nine hectares of land in Benteng Somba Opu subdistrict of Gowa regency with the provincial Tourism and Training Center campus.
Kinu said the defendant, who claimed to have acted on behalf of the governor, had caused the state Rp 1.6 billion in losses. "Pak Masnawi may face a life sentence since the alleged corruption he committed caused immense financial losses to the state," Kinu told The Jakarta Post after the hearing, presided over by judge Ismed Ilahode.
Coordinator of the defendant's team of lawyers, Faisal Dachlan, said the lawyers had yet to submit their defense statement, pending the questioning of some 12 key witnesses.
Among the witnesses are acting governor of the newly established Banten province, Hakamuddin Djamal, who was the provincial regional secretary at the time and incumbent Gowa Regent Yasin Limpo.
Jakarta Post - February 22, 2001
Jakarta -- President Abdurrahman Wahid fired another shot in the battle against corruption on Wednesday, approving the establishment of a special court to try graft cases.
The President gave the nod to the establishment of the court, which will be made up of ad hoc judges and prosecutors, during a meeting at the presidential palace with the head of the Joint Investigative Team to Eradicate Corruption, Adi Andojo Sutjipto. Two other members of the team, HS Dillon and Krisantono, also attended the meeting.
Andojo said the President also agreed to issue a government regulation in lieu of the existing laws, which contain loopholes that hamper the fight against corruption, Antara reported.
"Extraordinary measures" such as the establishment of the special court and the issuance of the government regulation are needed in the effort to eradicate corruption, because the current condition is "extraordinary", Andojo said.
He also said there should be the political will to state that the country was in a state of emergency in the battle against corruption.
The team, which was established seven months ago, has identified laws and regulations that contain loopholes that are stumbling blocks to the effort to wipe out corruption.
Corruption in the country has become endemic, boring so deep into the nation's life that it has become an organized crime, Andojo said. Therefore, he believes "extraordinary" measures are needed to battle corruption.
Dillon said the joint investigative team was hampered in its work because of the lack of powers given in to carry out its duties. "We suggested the team either be disbanded or empowered through the issuance of a government regulation in lieu of law," he said.
Last year, the team revealed that several Supreme Court justices were allegedly involved in bribery. The South Jakarta District Court ruled that the team did not have the authority to prosecute the cases.
The team, however, has refused to back down, and plans to begin submitting dossiers on alleged bribery cases involving judges to the district courts concerned later this month. This time, though, it will submit the dossiers through public prosecutors' offices.
Wealth audit Separately, the chairman of the State Official Wealth Audit Commission, Yusuf Syakir, said President Abdurrahman had agreed to complete forms declaring his family's wealth, and would return the forms within one month.
The commission has given similar forms to Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri, People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais and House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tanjung.
Syakir said all state officials must complete the forms honestly, or face legal penalties and dismissal from office. State officials who must complete the forms include directors of state enterprises, judges and court clerks, high-ranking military officers, governors, mayors, regents, ministers and other first- echelon government officials.
"Copies of any ownership documents should be attached," he said, adding that all forms should be returned within one month of receiving them.
The officials also must declare the wealth of members of their family, including their siblings and in-laws. Stocks, savings accounts and movable and nonmovable assets, including gold, jewelry and artwork, must be reported.
Yusuf also said the commission was established on September 2, 2000, and the members installed on Jan. 11, 2001, but so far the commission members had not received any salaries.
Jakarta Post - February 22, 2001
No sooner after President Abdurrahman Wahid had pledged "zero tolerance" for past corruptors this month, the Attorney General's Office went into full gear to prosecute top business leaders and government officials for their alleged past misdeeds.
In the past few days, the Attorney General's Office has named Siti Hardiyanti "Tutut" Rukmana, who is the eldest daughter of former president Soeharto, and Soeharto's younger half-brother Probosutedjo as suspects in two different scandals.
Tutut, who answered a summons on Tuesday, was questioned over her alleged role in a US$306 million oil pipeline project that one of her companies handled for state oil company Pertamina. Probosutedjo is wanted in connection with irregularities over the handling of a project for the Ministry of Forestry. No doubt we will see more big names paraded out in the coming days or weeks as the government tries to convince an increasingly skeptical public about its ability to go after past corruptors.
But if Attorney General Marzuki Darusman or President Abdurrahman hope this will impress the public, they could not be more wrong. Marzuki's record on this front since taking up office in October 1999 has been so abysmal that many people feel this new round of prosecutions will end up in the same place as most other big corruption cases have ended up: nowhere.
The biggest fish of them all, of course, was Soeharto. Yet, in spite of his nearly 80 years of age, he has outwitted the government, avoiding a court trial to this day, with little likelihood of it being resumed any time soon, if at all. The government managed to win a court conviction against Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, but thanks to the ineptness of Marzuki's staff, Tommy fled and is now at large.
The two-year jail sentence meted out to Soeharto's main crony, businessman Mohamad "Bob" Hasan, for corruption in the forestry sector is about the only achievement that Marzuki's office can brag about.
And even then, his office nearly bungled it when Hasan was initially allowed by the court to serve his time at home, in conformity with his status at the time of his conviction.
The lessons of the Tommy case seem to have been lost completely on Marzuki's staff. Both Tutut and Probosutedjo are not under arrest in spite of their status as suspects. Obviously, this is a privilege that only a few suspected criminals could enjoy.
Given the government's appalling record on the anticorruption front and with little signs of this ever improving, it is probably worth pondering whether there is any point at all in the government continuing with this new round of prosecutions.
Abdurrahman may be trying to shore up his sagging popularity through tough talk about catching big-time corruptors, but unless Marzuki gets his act together, and quickly, then the longer-term impact will be an even more skeptical public, which in turn will only serve to further undermine the President's support.
It is common knowledge that trillions and trillions of rupiah were plundered by Soeharto and his cronies during his 32-year tenure. And one has to be completely blind or totally ignorant not to know who profited most from the corrupt regime. These corruption cases, replete with the necessary evidence consisting of the abundance of wealth that the protagonists still flaunt, are staring the government right in the face.
It is, nevertheless, unfair to lay the entire blame on Marzuki, for his brief is restricted to exploring the legal possibilities for bringing prosecutions against the corruptors. It would have been far more effective and efficient had the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) from the beginning issued a decree to repossess or freeze the assets of Soeharto's relatives and cronies.
This may be a draconian step by today's standards (although not by Soeharto's), but it would have spared us the agony of having to watch seemingly endless prosecutions, with little prospects of a satisfactory outcome. This way, at a single stroke, the billions of dollars stolen by Soeharto's cronies would be repossessed and the popular sense of justice served to some degree. The legal approach, as opposed to the political approach through the MPR, is long and cumbersome, especially as Soeharto's cronies are putting up a fight and their lawyers are a cut above the state prosecutors.
The legal approach is necessarily piecemeal. Tutut is only being prosecuted over one shady oil pipeline contract. Bob Hasan was convicted over corruption in a forestry mapping project. Even with a favorable court verdict, the money recovered will likely be small compared to what they have allegedly stolen. The legal approach means dealing with corruption on a case by case basis, that is to say, with each crony and with his or her dubious business contracts, one at a time. At this rate, the government is squandering precious time and resources chasing shadows, while new corrupt practices are emerging involving new players.
Instead of trying to work up the public's indignation against past corruptors -- only to cause disappointment again later -- the government would be well advised to rethink its strategy. As the experience of the past 18 months has shown, the country has not recovered the stolen billions, and neither has the people's need to see justice being done been satisfied.
Agence France-Presse - February 20, 2001
Jakarta -- The civil servant who set off a national corruption scandal when he released 3.9 million dollars of state funds a year ago was convinced he was acting on the orders of Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, a court heard Tuesday.
Wahid, implicated by a parliamentary panel of playing a role in the disbursement of the funds, has been censured by MPs over the "Bulogate" scandal, and urged to resign or face impeachment.
A lawyer for Sapuan, the sacked deputy head of the state food agency Bulog, told the South Jakarta District Court that his client was merely following a request passed on to him via a man said to have been Wahid's private masseur, Alip Agung Suwondo.
"Sapuan's act of disbursing Yanatera (Bulog pension fund) funds was in fulfilment of a request from the president which was delivered by Suwondo," lawyer Mohammed Assegaf told the panel of judges. "Sapuan could not refuse a presidential request, because he was beholden to a request which could not be ignored."
Assegaf asked the court to clear his client of all wrongdoing in the case. "He didn't benefit from a single bit of the disbursed money. That money instead went to the coffers of people who are close to Gus Dur [Wahid's nickname]," the defence lawyer said.
"Based on these facts, we ask the judges to declare the defendant's act an unpunishable crime, and clear him of any charges."
State prosecutors have asked the court to sentence Sapuan, who faces a maximum of four years' imprisonment, to 18 months in jail.
Chief prosecutor Nuris Sembiring told the court two weeks ago that Sapuan had "coerced" the Yanatera directors into handing over two cheques in January of 2000, by arguing that the order had come from the president.
"The defendant Sapuan has been proven to have used persuasion in a criminal act of embezzlement which became a continuing process," Sembiring said.
Wahid has admitted that he discussed with Sapuan the possibility of using the funds for humanitarian projects in strife-torn Aceh, but insists he withdrew his request when he learned that a presidential decree was required.
The 50-member panel of legislators also implicated Wahid in a second scandal surrounding a two million dollar donation from the Sultan of Brunei, which the MPs said he had failed to account for.
Police have said that they will again question Wahid -- who has declared his innocence in both cases, and vowed to serve out the rest of his term until 2004 -- over the Bulogate case, but have yet to set a date.
South China Morning Post - February 21, 2001
Vaudine England, Jakarta -- Prosecutors yesterday began questioning the eldest daughter of former dictator Suharto over corruption allegations involving Indonesia's state oil and gas company.
Separately, Mr Suharto's half brother, Probosutedjo, was named as being involved in corrupt reforestation projects.
State prosecutors say the growing number of cases against the Suharto family is part of the due process of law. Others see the legal moves as efforts by the Government of President Abdurrahman Wahid to close in on his political foes.
Mr Suharto's daughter, Siti "Tutut" Hardyanti Rukmana, finally arrived at the Attorney-General's office yesterday after earlier having claimed ill-health in order to avoid previous appointments.
She is accused of overcharging the state-owned Pertamina oil and gas firm for work on an unfinished pipeline project 10 years ago. This apparently caused state losses amounting to US$31.5 million. She was named a suspect in the case last week and has been banned from travelling abroad for 12 months.
Emerging after nine hours of questioning, Kyodo reported Ms Siti Hardyanti, 52, as saying: "I don't feel I did anything wrong. I don't think I have cheated the state." She answered 60 questions and her lawyer said she was ready for another questioning session soon.
Ms Siti Hardyanti said she had "all the necessary evidence" that she was not guilty. "I don't know if this case is politically motivated but I hope that I will get a fair treatment of justice," she said.
Meanwhile, Mr Probosutedjo is accused of marking up a government equity and reforestation fund by US$5 million to sustain a timber estate in South Kalimantan, according to Attorney-General's office spokesman Muljohardjo.
This case is one of many disclosed recently by the Forestry Ministry as it endeavours to recover tens of millions of dollars of misused reforestation money.
Erry Putra Oudang, a nephew of the late former first lady Tien Suharto, has also been banned from travelling. He is a suspect in a US$113 million mark-up scandal involving the Balongan oil refinery project in West Java.
Along with Mr Suharto's son Sigit Harjojudanto and another businessman, Mr Oudang is alleged to have helped British firm Foster Wheeler secure the project for a US$60 million pay-off.
The new charges follow the failure of state prosecutors to try the former president on US$570 million corruption charges on the grounds of his ill-health.
Youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra remains on the run following his 18-month sentence last year on a US$11 million corruption charge.
Police have apparently made half-hearted efforts to capture the fugitive but few people expect ever to see him in jail. At the same time, timber tycoon Mohammad "Bob" Hasan, who was also Mr Suharto's golfing partner, has been sentenced to two years' imprisonment for corruption, but the court ordered him to be held under house arrest.
The Government's laboured efforts to put at least one member of the Suharto family behind bars has been re-energised by the corruption allegations now levelled against Mr Wahid by Parliament. Parliament also recently agreed to proceed with moves that eventually could lead to Mr Wahid's impeachment.
Beyond the short-term politicking, observers and legal experts say the Government's moves against the Suhartos, though flawed, are succeeding in one way.
"The Government will probably never put any of them into jail, but it is a fact that everyone in this family is now being hassled," a foreign lawyer said. "And they're being forced into defending themselves. They know people are out to get them."
Earlier predictions by groups such as Indonesian Corruption Watch that Mr Suharto would evade conviction and that Hutomo, 38, would avoid imprisonment would appear to have come true. But the once- leading clan now has problems they obviously never anticipated.
| News & issues |
Asiaweek - February 22, 2001
Warren Caragata -- Wimar Witoelar, the spokesman for Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, has said that decision-making within the Indonesian government is not quite like turning on a light switch. In other words, there are times -- which occur far too often -- when you can stand there forever flicking the switch and nothing happens. Connections between the switch and the light are often broken. Other times, the light just refuses to do the bidding of the switch.
Wimar was talking about big decisions, like catching Tommy, fugitive youngest son of former dictator Suharto. But the comment applies equally well to small things. Some of those things I will not really be able to tell you about because, you see, I can't get a press pass that allows me to attend press conferences at the presidential palace.
And believe me, it is not for lack of trying. And Wimar, even though he is the spokesman of the president of the Republic of Indonesia, can't help me, even though he would like to. Hey, it's hard enough for him to get paid. For the first few months after his appointment last fall, he worked for nothing because the palace could not manage to get him on the state payroll.
My problem began in September when I started to get serious about obtaining media accreditation on behalf of Asiaweek. I had applied some months earlier and had never heard back. But in September, I decided to push harder. I sent in all the appropriate letters and documentation and photos and followed up with frequent telephone calls. I waited for the pass to materialize. It didn't. Finally, I got an explanation. It was -- well, it was original at least. The palace was going to provide new annual passes at the end of the year and it was too much work to provide a pass that would be valid for only the few months that remained until yearend. No end of arguing could convince them this was a bizarre way to look at things. So, I resolved to wait a few months more. However, not wanting to get caught in the yearend rush, I again sent in an application and all the necessary documentation in mid-November. (Needless to say, all the material had to be re-sent even though it just duplicated what had been sent some weeks before.) When the New Year came, I was told the new passes were not yet ready.
Then, a few weeks ago, came the climax of this sorry tale. Following the parliamentary censure of President Wahid and the beginning of a process of possible impeachment, Wahid held a news conference. I went.
I didn't have a pass, but I figured this would not a problem. No one had passes, as they were not ready yet. And I did have my media pass issued by the Foreign Ministry and all my Indonesian identity papers.
And I figured the palace would be anxious enough to get its side of the story out that these pieces of ID, all with my picture, would suffice.
But as Wimar says, making decisions within the Indonesian government is not like turning on a light switch. I couldn't get in. The passes for 2001 will not be ready until March. Until then, we are supposed to use last year's expired passes. Except, of course, that I don't have one because it would have been too much work in September to issue a card that would have to be replaced in January -- no, make that March.
If you think my protestations impressed the palace guards with their logic, you would be mistaken. Several of us were caught in this net, including one person who had an expired pass but didn't carry it because it had expired.
You should know that the nice people at the palace have an answer to this dilemma. They say that when there is a news conference, I can go to the press office, which is in a separate building, and apply for a temporary pass that will get me into the news conference. Now all I have to do it convince the palace to call its news conferences with more than the customary 30 minutes' notice so that I have time to go to the press office, apply for a temporary pass that will replace the 2001 pass that is not yet issued and that will replace the 2000 pass that they didn't issue because it was too much bother, and then get over to the news conference before it ends. Fat chance.
No wonder they can't catch Tommy.
Jakarta Post - February 23, 2001
Jakarta -- The government will proceed with its plan to raise fuel prices in April despite concerns that it could trigger a new wave of social unrest, according to Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Alhilal Hamdi.
"We have decided to proceed with the plan to raise fuel prices in April," he told reporters following a Cabinet meeting chaired by Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
"But we have yet to decide whether the increase will be a straight 20 percent or a gradual increase," he added.
Hamdi said that the final decision would be made at a Cabinet meeting on March 8, after President Abdurrahman returns from an overseas trip.
Cabinet Secretary Marsilam Simandjuntak separately said that the fuel price increase could not be delayed because the plan was already contained in the 2001 state budget, approved by the House of Representatives.
But Marsilam said that the increase would be gradual so as not to create too great a burden for low-income people.
The government has planned to cut the fuel subsidy by raising prices by an average of 20 percent in April this year as part of the overall strategy to eliminate completely the fuel subsidy by 2003. The plan is also part of an agreement reached with the International Monetary Fund, which is providing a multi billion bailout loan for the country.
The gradual elimination of the government fuel subsidy is also in line with the implementation of the Asian Free Trade Area in 2003.
Finance Minister Prijadi Praptosuhardjo said recently that a delay in the fuel price increase would have serious consequences for the 2001 state budget which is already heavily burdened by the huge cost of the country's bank restructuring and recapitalization program.
But raising fuel prices may trigger further social and political unrest in the country already becoming divided as a result of political infighting between Abdurrahman and a group of factions in the parliament.
Some legislators have recently expressed opposition to the fuel price increase plan. The government raised fuel prices by an average of 12 percent in October last year, but that was also delayed from the initial planned increase in April of that year.
The government had to provide some Rp 800 billion in funds last year to help minimize the financial burden of the fuel price hike on some 17.4 million poor families.
The hike in fuel prices in 1998 contributed to the social and political unrest that led to the downfall of the former authoritarian president Soeharto.
Relations between the government and the IMF recently turned bad after the latter delayed in December the disbursement of a US$400 million loan to the country.
The Fund made the delay because of some concerns over the implementation of the country's economic reform program including the delay in the sale of two nationalized banks, fiscal decentralization policy, and the amendment of the central bank law.
Jakarta Post - February 22, 2001
Surabaya -- The situation in Sampang regency, Madura Island, has become increasingly tense as opposing forces of elected regent Fadhilah Budiono on Wednesday look set for a showdown.
Supporters of United Development Party (PPP) councillor Fadhilah have occupied the Sampang regent office for the past three days. Those who oppose him look set to storm the building within days and have assembled at the National Awakening Party (PKB) office which is located just one-kilometer. A showdown looks imminent as both sides have shown no willingness to compromise over the controversy which began in September.
The dispute began when Fadhilah, who was supported by PPP and the Indonesian Military (TNI)/National Police factions at the Sampang council, secured 23 of 45 votes defeating the PKB candidate by just one ballot.
The strongest protest came from the PKB faction, particularly since it was the biggest faction in the council with 18 seats. PKB also accused Fadhilah, a senior police commissioner, of being involved in swindling food aid for refugees from Sambas, West Kalimantan.
Since then PKB supporters have obstructed attempts to inaugurate the elected regent and tensions have simmered. On Monday Fadhilah's supporters occupied the regency building and demanded that he be immediately inaugurated.
"If the [East Java] governor does not fulfill our demands, we are going to burn down all of the government facilities," threatened West Ketapang village chief Nurun Tajalla on Wednesday, who claimed to represent 168 village chiefs and 8 subdistrict heads. "All the people of Sampang are behind us. We are ready to fight to the death," he added.
With crowds from both sides armed with sharp weapons, most activities in Sampang have ground to a halt as government offices and public services, schools and shops closed due to fears of unrest.
Sampang regency police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. AKBP Endaryoko was openly concerned about the situation and said he had requested reinforcements from the East Java Police.
"In order to avoid a physical confrontation between the two groups, we are still trying to broker a compromise between them," Endaryoko said on Wednesday. Meanwhile the speaker of the Sampang council Hasan Asy'ary blamed East Java Governor Imam Utomo for the political uncertainty in Sampang.
"The governor has no firm stance in handling the problem. He himself has even been creating the problem by delaying the inauguration of Fadhila," Hasan, who is also a member of PPP, charged.
In Surabaya, Imam Utomo refuted allegations that he had worsened the situation contending that he had been placed in a predicament.
"I have asked the central government so many times to expeditiously resolve the problem. All I can do is just wait for the President and the Ministry of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy's decision," Imam argued.
Meanwhile in Jakarta, PKB Secretary General Muhaimin Iskandar called on PKB supporters in Sampang to remain calm and urged Ulemas to help solve the problem without involving grassroots violence.
He warned that any escalation of violence would only be counterproductive to PKB. Muhaimin suggested that the central government extend the term of Sampang's caretaker regent before conducting a re-election.
Straits Times - February 21, 2001
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- Dozens of Indonesian maids working in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia have fled their jobs due to sexual harassment or violence at the hands of their employers, a non- governmental organisation says.
At least 23 maids from Lombok province alone had returned home in the past few months complaining they had been raped or sexually harassed by their employers, said Mrs Endang Susilowati of the Panca Karsa Foundation, an organisation assisting Indonesian migrant workers.
In one case, a woman from a village in the province was raped by her employer's son. As her employer had not paid her salary, she was forced to work for another family to earn money for her airfare back home.
Mrs Endang said there was no legal recourse for these women as it was almost impossible to prove that sexual abuse had taken place and many of the women did not report the abuse until they had returned home.
At least another 40 workers from Lombok, mostly women, had disappeared in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, said Panca Karsa. It is not known whether these women have married overseas or died and their deaths have gone unreported.
Many of the maids were easily exploited by both their employers and the employment agencies as they did not know the language of countries such as Saudi Arabia or knew their rights, said Mr Singgih Darjo Atmadja of the Centre for Indonesian Migrant Workers.
He said he had received complaints from at least 500 foreign worker over sexual harassment, violent employers or non-payment of full salaries.
He said working conditions for maids in Saudi Arabia were often the harshest because the women had little idea of the culture they were entering and were isolated from other foreign maids, and because Saudis expected them to carry out whatever task was demanded.
The plight of Indonesian maids working in the Middle East has made headlines here as a number of Indonesian women have been executed or narrowly avoided execution in Saudi Arabia for committing adultery. The maids often claimed they had been raped.
Mr Singgih pointed out that Indonesian maids earned huge foreign currency for their country. In 1998 alone, Indonesians working overseas brought US$3.93 billion into the country.
But the government had done little to protect their rights, he said. Migrant workers have almost no protection and usually no one to turn to when they encounter problems overseas.
There is no legal protection for foreign workers and Indonesia's embassies lack a labour attache to negotiate for the workers' conditions.
Jakarta Post - February 19, 2001
Jakarta -- Chairman of the executive board of the Corps of Indonesian Muslim Students Alumni (KAHMI), Fuad Bawazier, warns of resurgent communism.
"... the communists are making a comeback in Indonesia and they have infiltrated and made use of protest demonstrations to create anarchy," Fuad said in a speech at the opening of the regional meeting of the Aceh branch of KAHMI in Banda Aceh Sunday.
The former finance minister said he suspected young communist followers were involved in recent violence in East Java. "I'm convinced that NU members, especially those hailing from East Java, are honorable people who would not have committed violent acts. I'm convinced that the anarchy was created by infiltrators who are young communist followers," Fuad said as quoted by Antara.
He added that communist followers usually hide behind the cloak of democracy while in reality they are anti-democracy. "But the most important thing is they cannot flourish in Indonesia because there is a law [against their existence], the 1966 Decree of the People's Consultative Assembly," said Fuad.
"KAHMI is against the revocation of the decree," said Fuad, adding that many groups in the community are also against the revocation of the decree. President Abdurrahman Wahid has repeatedly called for the revocation of the decree but has so far failed to gather enough support for the move.
Fuad said although communism failed in many countries, Indonesia is a different case. "Unlike in other countries, the communists never really held power in Indonesia, and this explains their desire to seize power, especially since they were defeated by prodemocracy groups," he said.
| Environment/health |
Indonesian Observer - February 19, 2001
Jakarta -- Eighteen syndicates of illegal loggers operating from Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan cost the state an annual Rp1.2 trillion (US$125 million) in lost revenue. All 18 gangs in the logging mafia have special connections with police and local governments. And they have lots of money, enough to bribe all important people, including guards at national parks, to facilitate their misdeeds, Forestry Ministry Secretary General Soeripto was quoted as saying by Antara in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Saturday.
He said earlier this month, police and the Forestry Ministry arrested the leaders of three syndicates. They are Alijambi, who operated from Riau; Hartono, who operated from Pasuruan [East Java]; and Sudono, who operated from Surabaya [East Java] A fourth syndicate leader, Akie, from Tegal in Central Java, is still being searched for by police.
Soeripto is hopeful the courts will punish the arrested illegal logging bosses. In addition to our personnel and police upholding the law, public prosecutors should also be serious when handling cases of illegal logging and trading of illegal lumber, otherwise all our efforts will have been in vain, he sad.
The Forestry Ministry has submitted to police files on 14 leaders of illegal logging syndicates, including Abdul Rasyid, who runs operations in Central Kalimantan.
Soeripto said several logging mafia in groups in Kalimantan are yet to be detected, due to the regions vast size and a shortage of forestry personnel.
Illegal logging in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Java has led to an increase in erosion, floods and landslides, often resulting in a high human casualties. The clearing of the forests has put several animal species on the brink of extinction.
| Arms/armed forces |
Agence France-Presse - February 22, 2001
Jakarta -- Indonesian military observers have warned the country's newly-empowered MPs pose a serious threat to the armed forces' attempts to extricate itself from politics.
"The primary threat actually to military democratisation ... is basically because of the divided and competing civilian elite," Rizal Sukma of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) told AFP.
"Because of this rivalry they are tempted to intervene and to politicise the military in order to strengthen their own position."
Sukma was speaking on the sidelines of a seminar here to discuss draft amendments to the defence laws, which participants said were flawed because they could leave the once all-powerful military again open to manipulation by leaders -- as they were for decades under former dictator Suharto.
The proposed amendments were submitted to the lower house of parliament (DPR) last week, and a special legislative commission has been set up to debate the proposals and pass them into law by mid-year.
Two of the academics who advised the defence ministry on the amendments said many MPs were actually trying to keep the military in politics to serve their own ends.
Sukma pointed to the MPR's decision last August to extend the military's seats in the legislature until 2009, four years after they leave the lower house of parliament (DPR).
"The civilian MPs needed to woo the military faction in the MPR so it seems they try to provide some kind of concession by giving the military the right to stay in the MPR until 2009."
Cornelius Lay of Yogyakarta's Gadja Mada University, said that more dangerous than political opportunism was the MPs scant knowledge of defence. "There is an ignorance among them about defence problems in Indonesia," Lay told AFP.
"Even up till now only a very few members of parliament have paid any attention to defence law or affairs. About two months ago we invited them to discuss the military problems in Indonesia and they said: 'It is not on our priorities.'"
Lay and Sukma raised two other worries about the draft legislation, which they said were probably due to a Suharto-era mind-set.
"The first problem is the title: 'state defence act.' Every other country calls it their national defence act," Lay said.
"A 'state' in Indonesia has been used to refer to a political regime, and the danger is the military forces could be used by a political regime for its own purpose," he told AFP.
"That's what happened in the past. By that definition Suharto systematically used the military for his purposes and interests, and we don't want that again."
Under the 32-year regime of Suharto, himself a former army general, the military was widely seen as keeping the strongman in power, and held key positions in government, the legislature, business and provincial administrations.
A key demand of reformists who forced Suharto from power in 1998 was the total removal of the military from politics, and a return to civilian rule. Sukma said the term "state defence act" reflected "a way of thinking."
The current draft, which has been revised four times, also fails to make the armed forces' chief answerable to the defence minister -- a change Sukma and Lay maintain is essential if the military is to accede to civilian rule.
"If we talk about democratic civilian-military relations, there is no other choice but to put the commander-in-chief under the civilian minister of defence," Lay said.
| Economy & investment |
Dow Jones Newswires - February 23, 2001
Washington -- The International Monetary Fund sought Friday to reassure financial markets that it wasn't turning away from engagement with Indonesia, following speculation in Indonesia that a meeting this week between Fund officials and Economy Minister Rizal Ramli damaged relations further.
Rizal met with IMF First Deputy Managing Director Stanley Fischer Wednesday, but after two hours the IMF would only confirm that the two met, demurring from providing any further details.
Indonesian officials told reporters the meeting was positive and that they were nearing an agreement with the IMF on the payment of a stalled $400-million loan installment, but Indonesian press reports pointed to the silence at the IMF as a sign negotiations had gone poorly.
An IMF spokesman said Friday that, because of the intense media speculation in Indonesia, the IMF wanted to issue a statement on the meeting between Rizal and Fischer.
"They discussed issues relevant to the IMF-supported program in Indonesia," the spokesman said. "The meeting was productive and the two sides agreed to intensify discussions and remain in touch in the coming days."
There is still no hint as yet as to when an IMF staff mission might travel to Jakarta to conclude negotiations with the government on the delayed loan installment, which was to have been paid by the IMF last December.
However, the money has been held back by IMF concerns that the government is about to implement a law weakening the independence of the Indonesian central bank. The Fund also wants the government to curb the borrowing powers of the provincial governments to ensure fiscal discipline is maintained throughout the loan program.
Sydney Morning Herald - February 24, 2001
Hamish McDonald -- The World Bank warned yesterday that if a political or economic crisis broke out in Indonesia it would cease all new lending until stability is restored.
In a report released in Jakarta, it said a crisis was possible if the Indonesian Government's agreement with the International Monetary Fund collapsed, if there was increased political instability or a widespread deterioration in law and order.
Although the bank said the "most likely scenario" was that Indonesia would continue to "muddle through", with "some slippage in structural reforms" the report has highlighted concerns about a rift between the Government and the IMF.
The IMF has withheld $US400 million due in December because of concerns over Jakarta's proposed bill to amend the central bank law, the new fiscal decentralisation policy and delays in the sale of the government's stakes in Bank Central Asia (BCA) and Bank Niaga.
Indonesia's Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy, Mr Rizal Ramli, has been in Washington this week, meeting IMF first deputy managing director Mr Stanley Fischer and US Treasury Secretary Mr Paul O'Neill in an effort to free up the overdue IMF loan tranche.
The Jakarta Post yesterday reported that the most difficult issue appeared to be the central bank law, which some say could threaten the independence of Bank Indonesia.
Singapore's Business Times quoted unnamed government officials as saying the two sides were at loggerheads on just how involved the IMF should get in micro-managing Indonesia's economic recovery program.
A senior official was quoted as saying: "Mr Rizal does not want the IMF to dictate specifics, for example, when he should privatise Bank Central Asia and Bank Niaga, but the IMF, on the other hand, wants the Government to adhere strictly to the Letter of Intent which is signed by the Government.
"The IMF wants the Government to take decisive action and not to hide behind political excuses."
Financial analysts see agreement with the IMF as critical for Indonesia's major aid donors, including Australia, which are grouped under the Paris Club, which meets in early April to reschedule debt due this year.
The rift with the IMF, which began a three-year $US5 billion loan program for Indonesia at the start of last year, has increased fears of further defaults on Indonesia's huge debt, put by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter at $US262 billion or 170 per cent of GDP.
In a report this week the investment bank said Indonesia was a prime candidate for a permanent debt trap, in which a rising proportion of its economic output was devoted to servicing domestic and foreign debt.
Indonesia's public and corporate debt became a monumental issue because the rupiah's steep depreciation in 1997 and 1998 caught banks and corporations unprepared. A meltdown in the banking system led to nationalisation of most banks.
Since then the Government has made little progress in liquidating assets pledged as security against bank loans that have turned bad, or in selling off equity in banks such as BCA and Bank Niaga -- largely because original investors have used political and legal manoeuvres to frustrate the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency.
The London investment bank thinks the failure to make progress in reducing debt is putting Indonesia at risk of being caught in a permanent debt trap, where a rising proportion of national output goes to servicing debt.
It said that already in 2000, 8 per cent of GDP was spent on servicing external liabilities, and 40 per cent of the central government's operating expenditure was used to service central government debt.
To get out of this debt trap, Indonesia would have to reduce its public and external debt, excluding short-term foreign debt, to less than 70-80 per cent of GDP.
Straits Times - February 23, 2001
Jakarta -- Indonesia's Supreme Audit Board said yesterday that government departments, including the presidential office, had misused 8.05 trillion rupiah (S$1.5 billion) last year.
In a report to the Lower House of Parliament, the board said that of the "irregularities" it had uncovered, the State Secretariat misused 51 per cent of the funds it received from the state and the Presidential Secretariat 58 per cent.
The figure for the Department of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure was 28 per cent, and the Department of Transportation and Telecommunications, 27 per cent.
The board defines the misuse of state funds as acts against the law, against the principles of efficiency, or against the principles of effectiveness.
Jakarta Post - February 23, 2001
Jakarta -- The Supreme Audit Agency disclosed on Thursday that it found 1,760 instances of financial irregularities involving a total sum of more than Rp 11.8 trillion (US$1.2 billion) in the management of state budget and state companies in the fiscal years 1999 and 2000.
The agency said in a report to the House of Representatives that ministries or government offices which held the highest record of irregularities in budget management included the State Secretariat, the President's Office, the defense and security ministry, and the military and police headquarters.
"I am glad to report that the customs and excise tax directorate general was the cleanest institution in that it had the fewest cases of irregularities," the agency's chairman Satrio Budihardjo Joedono said.
The report, covered the results of audits conducted by the agency in the last quarter of 2000 for the state budget and finances of state companies for fiscal years 1999/2000 and 2000.
The agency never explicitly mentions corruption, malfeasance or embezzlement of funds in its audit report but implicitly divides them into three categories of what it terms irregularity. Hence irregularities can mean outright losses or simply potential losses.
The three kinds of irregularities are: deviation from the law, noncompliance with austerity and efficiency and deviation from set objectives.
Joedono said the agency audited Rp 37.11 trillion worth of state and provincial budgets and the finances of state companies over the fiscal year 1999/2000 (March to April) and discovered 834 instances of irregularities involving a total amount of Rp 3.88 trillion.
"Of the Rp 44.35 trillion worth of state budget and state companies' finances we audited in the fiscal year 2000 [April- December], we found 925 instances of irregularities involving Rp 8.05 trillion," he added.
With regard to state companies, the agency found irregularities worth Rp 3.2 trillion in potential losses, most of which took place at PT Dirgantara Indonesia, PT PN X1 plantation company, PT PAL shipyard, PT Inhutani forestry company and Bank Mandiri.
Reuters - February 23, 2001
Indonesia's stock market watchdog has issued a ruling allowing mainly listed firms to make substantial transactions without shareholder approval as part of efforts to revive the indebted corporate sector.
"The main reason is to support companies' restructuring programmes and national economic recovery as well as supporting the effectiveness of court rulings," the Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) said in a statement.
Analysts said such a move would help the Bank Restructuring Agency (Ibra) speed the sale of billions of dollars in assets handed over by indebted bank owners as part of debt settlements with Jakarta during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s.
Bapepam said the ruling applied to so-called material transactions -- those worth 10 per cent or more of a listed or delisted company's annual sales or 20 per cent or more of capital.
Under the rules, such transactions would be allowed without shareholder approval for an asset sale of a listed or delisted company by Ibra or for a divestment or an acquisition as a result of a court ruling.
"The rules will be positive for the restructuring process and for debt holders," said Vickers Ballas chief analyst in Jakarta, Ferry Yosiahartoyo.
Director of institutional sales at Trimegah Securities, Octavianus Tedjojuwono, agreed the rule would be positive.
"This way Bapepam helps Ibra, just like it did with BII," he said. Last month, leading retail bank Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) escaped being delisted after Bapepam supported a move by the stock exchange to temporarily freeze application of several delisting rules.
Under the criteria, BII could have been delisted because its average closing price was below 50 rupiah for three straight months. BII is majority owned by Ibra following government recapitalisation of the bank in 1999.
Bapepam said the new rules would simplify procedures for companies interested in participating in Ibra asset sales as long as the target entity was relevant to their core business.
But to protect investors, Bapepam said those companies seeking to buy Ibra assets under the ruling had to obtain shareholder approval first.
Jakarta Post - February 22, 2001
Jakarta -- The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has found irregularities involving over Rp 260 billion (about US$27.36 million) in insurance firm PT Tugu Pratama Indonesia, which is owned by state oil and gas company Pertamina.
The BPK's report, a copy of which was obtained by The Jakarta Post, said that it had found irregularities in the transfer of Tugu shares, its tax and dividend payments, and other inefficiencies that amounted to a total potential loss of Rp 260 billion.
Legislators criticized on Wednesday Pertamina's slow response in following up on the BPK's findings. "With this amount [Rp 260 billion], the Tugu case should have been long ago revealed to the public," legislator Pramono Anung said during a hearing between Pertamina and the House of Representatives' Commission VIII, which among others things oversees the energy and mining sectors.
Pertamina, Anung said, should have brought the BPK's report to the Attorney General's Office immediately on learning of the indications of graft.
The report, dated December 19, 2000, said indications of tax irregularities had been found in the payment of Tugu dividends, resulting in losses of Rp 39.10 billion to the state. The BPK also questioned donations of Rp 33 billion made by the insurance company to various foundations and organizations.
Other inefficiencies reported were related to the supply of seven official cars worth Rp 4.56 billion to former members of Pertamina's board of directors, and questionable investment decisions costing Rp 100.08 billion.
It also suspected a loss of Rp 50.49 billion under what the BPK called a dubious transfer of Tugu shares to the Pertamina pension fund. The report did not say by whom the shares had been transferred.
Tugu is 20 percent owned by the Pertamina pension fund. Pertamina itself owns 45 percent of Tugu, while the remaining 35 percent is still the subject of a dispute between Pertamina and PT Nusantara Ampera Bhakti (Nusamba).
Nusamba is a widely diversified business group, which is 80 percent owned by the Dakab, Dharmais and Supersemar foundations linked to former president Soeharto.
The government had seized assets from the three foundations, following the laying of corruption charges against Soeharto in 1999.
Mohamad "Bob" Hasan has a 10 percent stake in the business group, with the remaining 10 percent being owned by Soeharto's eldest son Sigit Hardjojudanto. Hasan was one of Soeharto's closest associates.
Pertamina had intended to purchase the Nusamba stake, but hesitated on suspicion that the 35 percent stake consisted of empty shares. If Nusamba had acquired the 35 percent stake in Tugu for free, Pertamina would refuse to pay Nusamba for the stake.
Since its founding in 1981, Tugu has grown to become the country's largest insurance company, largely due to the monopoly it enjoyed over indemnity insurance in the oil and gas sector for over a decade.
Although Hasan was only a minority shareholder in Tugu, he practically controlled the insurance company during the Soeharto era. Under Hasan's control, the company reportedly charged Pertamina marked up premium rates.
Hasan is now serving a two year sentence after being found guilty of stealing $75 million in reforestation funds belonging to the Ministry of Forestry.
During the hearing, legislators questioned Pertamina's inability to solve its dispute with Nusamba.
Pertamina announced in 1999 that it planned to acquire Nusamba's stake, but on Wednesday Pertamina president Baihaki Hakim said the company had not yet completed the purchase. However, Nusamba has reportedly transferred its 35 percent stake to the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) as a guarantee for the repayment of Hasan's debts to local banks.
Baihaki said that the company and IBRA were conducting financial due diligence to verify Nusamba's stake in the insurance firm.
Pertamina, he said, was waiting for the BPK to finalize its report before bringing the case to the Attorney General's Office. "The process takes time, but we want to go through it systematically," Baihaki said at the hearing.
Agence France-Presse - February 20, 2001
Jakarta -- Indonesia's economy grew 4.77 percent last year but is likely to slow to around four percent this year, the government said Tuesday.
The full year growth in gross domestic product (GDP) last year was despite a 0.72 percent quarter-on-quarter contraction in the last three months of 2000.
"Economic performance in the fourth quarter declined in line with the trend of the previous year," Central Bureau of Statistics chief Sudarti Surbakti said.
Subakti was referring to a similar pattern of contraction in the last quarter of 1999, when GDP rose just 0.23 percent for the whole year.
The economy contracted by 14 percent in 1998 at the height of the regional financial crisis, and the 2000 figures have been hailed by some as the first sign of real recovery.
Kusmadi Saleh, deputy chairman of the bureau said the 2000 growth was "mainly driven by investment and exports."
But Saleh warned that growth momentum was unlikely to be sustained and was forecast to slow to around 4.0 percent in 2001.
"I'm still concerned with the current [political] situation. We expect GDP to still grow, but it will not be as good as last year," Saleh said.
He said a number of factors were causing concern, including the level of output, which is still below capacity, slow growth of foreign investment, difficult social and political conditions, and a forecast decline in agricultural production, due to climatic conditions.
Surbakti attributed the negative growth in fourth quarter of 2000 to "the sharp fall in agriculture output." She said agriculture output in the three months to December declined 12.55 percent from the previous quarter.
The central Bank Indonesia said separately it expected a GDP growth of 4-5 percent in 2001.
However, while imports and investment will continue to strengthen in line with the ongoing economic recovery, exports will slow down later in the year, the bank said.
Analysts were mixed in their own forecasts for 2001 -- with Merrill Lynch expecting growth of 3.7 percent and GK Goh Stockbrokers forecasting around 4.6 percent.
Merrill Lynch Indonesia head of research Heriyanto Irawan said their low forecast was based primarily on the expectation of slower growth in exports.
The contraction in fourth quarter GDP was largely due to a decline in exports, he said, adding that the growth rate for electronics and machinery exports, which was more than 100 per cent last year, was likely to slow.
The steep fall in the agricultural sector seemed to be related to the export slowdown, he added.
GK Goh Stockbrokers regional economist Song Seng Wun said last year's growth showed that domestic consumption was largely driving the economy, while exports, although important, contributed only around 35 percent of GDP. "Indonesia's export-to-GDP ratio is the lowest among the ASEAN countries," he said.
Sydney Morning Herald - February 21, 2001
Indonesia's top economics minister left yesterday for crucial talks with the International Monetary Fund, after an advisory panel warned that the country's fragile economy would not recover unless key reforms were made.
In a statement obtained on Tuesday, the team of four dignitaries hand-picked by President Abdurrahman Wahid urged the Government to stick to its agreements with the IMF, saying Indonesia risked losing financial aid and a decline in economic confidence if it did not do so.
The IMF has propped up Indonesia's economy since the Asian financial crisis hit in 1997. But it recently suspended disbursement of $A770 million of loans because of disputes with the Government about the pace of economic reforms, which have stalled since last year.
The IMF has said that before new loans can be released Indonesia must deliver on three key issues. These are the maintenance of central bank independence, the need for oversight of a bank restructuring body and a ban on borrowing by regional governments.
In an effort to overcome the impasse, the Economy Minister, Mr Rizal Ramli -- who last week accused the IMF of pushing too hard for reforms that involve tough political decisions -- left for Washington on Tuesday for talks with fund officials.
"I look forward to discussing some of Indonesia's economic achievements and our continued commitment to the implementation of the economic rebuilding program," Mr Ramli said. "We hope the international community will not overlook ... the substantial progress we have made to date in meeting [IMF] program targets."
The presidential advisory panel, which met Mr Wahid on Saturday, consists of a former US Federal Reserve chairman, Mr Paul Volcker, Singapore's Senior Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, a former senior Japanese diplomat, Mr Nobuo Matsunaga, and a former member of Germany's central bank, Mr Ulrich Cartellieri.
Indonesia "must build on a year of promising but still highly fragile and incomplete economic recovery", the four said in a statement. "That effort would be surely jeopardised -- indeed made fruitless -- by failure to address certain issues, some chronic, some new."
It said the Government must push through key reforms to the justice system. "We are told that economic progress and reform are being impeded by a sense of pervasive cronyism and corruption," the statement said.
The team's pessimistic outlook comes at a bad time for Mr Wahid, whose opponents are trying to oust him. However, he said yesterday that Indonesia's political crisis had passed and that his government faced "no serious threat".
Reuters - February 21, 2001
Jakarta -- Indonesia said yesterday that a number of mining companies have suspended exploration due to uncertainty over new regional autonomy laws and warned that this could hit the economy.
"We have letters from some mining companies, both local and foreign, including Newmont, saying that they are suspending their activities for between one and two years, awaiting developments over the legal aspects," Mines and Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro told reporters. Newmont Mining Corp runs two major mines in Indonesia.
"The companies that are already producing continue to operate," he said. Firms in the exploration stage were shutting down operations. "This not only threatens future mining activities but also has an economic multiplier effect on the regions with mining sectors," he said.
Under new autonomy laws, the legal system for the mining sector falls under the control of regional governments. There is considerable confusion over how the new system will work and the central government has said it wants to keep hold of the crucial mining sector for up to five years.
Asiaweek - February 16, 2001
Warren Caragata -- Before Indonesia can truly get back to the job of successfully running and economy, the nation needs a functioning financial system. It is only a dream.
Chalk it up to the deep-breathing exercises that Edwin Gerungan does every morning on rising, and the power-walking that follows. Gerungan is surprisingly calm given that he has probably the toughest job in Indonesia: chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency. Not only is he responsible for managing almost all of the nation's banking system, IBRA also controls a huge range of assets from shrimp farms to Bali tourist resorts. The total is estimated by the World Bank to be worth $58 billion that's right, billion in banks, companies, property and mostly dud debt. "There are nothing but problems here," he told Asiaweek in a recent interview in his office on the top floor of a central Jakarta office tower that IBRA inherited from a failed company.
Gerungan is the fifth person to head the agency since it was established in the last months of Suharto's rule in 1998 and the third in less than a year. Before taking the chairman's job, Gerungan, 52, was a senior vice-president at state-owned Bank Mandiri. Before that he spent 25 years at Citibank in Jakarta, rising to be a vice-president. He seems calm on the outside, but Gerungan would be excused if he were rather uneasy about job security in his new job.
After three months as chairman, Gerungan's office still suggests a man ready to leave on a moment's notice. There are no family pictures on the credenza, no personal knickknacks, none of the touches that usually mark the office of the man in charge. Other than a plastic canister of Jacob's biscuits, the office is so bereft of personal effects that before the interview begins, an IBRA staffer volunteers to hang a painting above the desk.
Little wonder if he is insecure: Gerungan is responsible for restoring Indonesia's banking system to health, reviving the economy and dismantling Suharto's entire ugly legacy. "The complexity of the problems here is probably more than anywhere," he says. Talk about understatement. IBRA was established in 1998 to rescue a basket case of a banking system that included more than 200 poorly capitalized, opaque institutions burdened with billions of dollars in bad debt and usually owned by the debtors. IBRA today controls assets equal to 57% of GDP. Meanwhile it has become an inefficient, less-than-competent, sometimes corrupt bureaucracy supported, to use that term loosely, by a weak central government. The problems don't end there. IBRA is at the epicenter of a struggle over Indonesia's economic soul. On one side are the still-powerful forces of the old regime Suharto's children and cronies. And on the other are economic reformers and activists who want retribution for the pain they see inflicted on the country by sweetheart deals and outright corruption.
The stakes are high: If IBRA fails to sell off the troubled assets, real improvements in corporate transparency and governance will founder. Cronies who dominated the economy under Suharto could return in full force. "The conglomerates don't want to give up," says Sri Mulyani, an economics professor at the University of Indonesia and a former economics adviser to President Abdurrahman Wahid. Regardless of what happens to Wahid, there is no reason to believe that any successor will have the legitimacy and talent to adjudicate this dispute. "The pursuit and punishment of Indonesia's super-elite for past corruption lies at the heart of Indonesia's nation-building process and will take its toll on growth for years to come," the Standard & Poor's bond-rating agency says in a recent report. In this tug of war for Indonesia's future, IBRA is the rope.
Says Jakarta business consultant James Van Zorge of Van Zorge Heffernan: "IBRA is going to decide on the future division of wealth of this country." That is no exaggeration. IBRA acquired its assets in exchange for helping banks in two ways: first by injecting capital and second by taking on the worst of the banks' bad loans. Critics of the agency say IBRA has actively avoided asset sales because they will expose a giveaway to the cronies, who often own the banks that were helped. The argument is that the assets that IBRA received are nowhere close to full compensation. "The government should have been honest enough to say that the money is not going to be recovered," says Eko Budianto, a former IBRA deputy chairman, who left last year in a fight over what he says was political interference. If the agency manages to recover 20 to 40 cents on the dollar, which experts say is realistic, it means that bailing out the banks will cost Indonesia perhaps $40 billion, equal to 144% of the government's annual budget. Mar'ie Muhammad, chairman of IBRA's oversight committee, says the agency should get on with selling the assets. "We should recognize that the damage has been done."
But the agency is in no hurry to reveal a potentially enormous hole in its finances. In the last two years, it has unloaded all of about $3.8 billion worth, only 8% of the estimated value of its total holdings by World Bank estimates. And each day of inaction increases the threat that something really serious could happen, a severe economic jolt or political crisis that could spawn a new round of business failures and debt insolvencies. Even after almost $70 billion in capital injections, Indonesia's banks are far too shaky to withstand more than a minor tremor. Meanwhile, as long as IBRA fails to sell assets, it's unlikely that real reforms or accountability will be imposed on crippled companies.
IBRA figures to be around for decades trying to sort out the whole mess, says Jim Castle, an economic consultant in Jakarta who heads the Indonesia-US Chamber of Commerce. When it was founded, it was supposed to wrap up its work in seven years. He says the agency needs to stay focused or risk being overwhelmed. "IBRA is there to sell assets," says Castle. "Until they do that, they're a failure." The main barrier to asset sales has always been the opposition of Indonesia's old elite, who harbor hopes that delay will give them more opportunities to regain assets. The cronies often still wield tremendous power and stir great public animosity.
Late last year, bowing to public outrage that Liem Sioe Liong (a.k.a. Sudono Salim) was buying back assets that had been taken by IBRA, the government blocked Indonesia's No. 1 crony from any more bidding. (But not before Liem repurchased a company called Karimun Granite and a piece of QAF, a Singapore-listed food company that had been handed over to IBRA.) The case of Bank Danamon is another illustration of the ongoing tussle with tycoons. Late last year, on less than an hour's notice and with no explanation, Gerungan's predecessor as IBRA chairman, Cacuk Sudarijanto, fired Milan Shuster, Bank Danamon's president. Shuster was one of the few foreigners to head an Indonesian bank and was well-regarded in the business community for his ambition to remake Danamon, formerly owned by close Suharto associate Usman Admadjaja, into one of Indonesia's best-run financial institutions.
Danamon officials familiar with the situation say Shuster was pushed aside in part because he repeatedly challenged Cacuk and the government to take his side in disputes with Admadjaja. According to testimony Shuster gave to a parliamentary committee after his October ouster, he refused to keep quiet about a loan of $16 million from Admadjaja to the bank that Danamon still carried on its books as a liability even after it collapsed. Shuster argued that, because Admadjaja's equity in Danamon disappeared when the bank crashed, the loan should also have been wiped out. However, that hasn't happened.
The final straw may have been a battle between Shuster and Admadjaja over a lease the bank's main branch had with one of Admadjaja's companies. Shuster felt the terms of the lease were outrageous and wanted to break it. He eventually succeeded though without Cacuk's cooperation, which he had sought. IBRA now pays in one year what it was paying Admadjaja in one month. Cacuk and Admadjaja did not agree to be interviewed, and Shuster will not comment on his ouster.
By definition, IBRA's job is to cut deals with the old Indonesian elite. Even with the purest of motives the agency would be open to allegations that it has caved in to or even colluded with the cronies. But IBRA and the government have done nothing to appease suspicions.
Deals are often cut behind closed doors, raising concerns about favoritism. One example is the controversial deal restructuring $2.7 billion in debt owed to IBRA by Texmaco, a huge textile and engineering group owned by Marimutu Sinivasan. While critics insist that the deal favors Sinivasan, interviews with numerous people involved in the negotiations suggest that isn't true. (Wednesday night, the government said it has approved Texmaco's debt restructuring, though details were intially unclear.) But making a conclusive judgment is impossible because important details have not been publicly released.
Both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have joined the critics in calling for greater transparency. The government, says Mark Baird, the World Bank's Indonesia chief, "must avoid the appearance of insider deals." The public's hatred and suspicion of the cronies is sometimes strong enough to derail IBRA's plans. When the agency early last year tried to dispose of Indonesia's second-largest bank, Bank Central Asia, a public backlash against the involvement of Liem, once Indonesia's richest man and one of Suharto's closest cronies, helped kill a plan to make the bank look better to a prospective buyer.
Rampant nationalism also prevents IBRA from holding a fire sale of its sickly assets. The government early last year rejected a proposal to sell a minority stake in BCA to a foreign bank which would have restructured the operations and pursued greater efficiency. Sources close to IBRA say that the agency and the Wahid government feared a nationalist backlash against the sale. The misplaced idea that somehow the price of key assets will improve with time is deeply ingrained at IBRA and throughout the government. It reflects a widely held nationalist fear that foreigners will swoop in like vultures to pick up valuable assets at cut-rate prices. As a result, a 22.5% stake in the bank was sold through an initial public offering in May. The IPO was a major disappointment; IBRA earned only $107 million, about half what it had hoped for. A further sale of BCA slated for late last year has been delayed in hopes that market sentiment will improve in a few months. IBRA now says it will sell the stakes in BCA and Bank Niaga by the end of June. But unless outside investors are permitted to bid, the sale prices will be far less than true market values. The IMF is not satisfied by another promise of future action and has refused to release the next $400 million loan tranche from its financial support package. "You can't just keep promising every quarter," says the IMF's Jakarta representative John Dodsworth.
Still, some foreign buyers have been allowed to participate, and the agency is slowly moving ahead. IBRA had the best year of its short life in 2000, selling $2.2 billion worth of companies and bad loans, which was a shade above the target set for it by Indonesia's Parliament. The biggest single triumph came about 11 months ago when it received more than $500 million from the sale of its controlling stake in Astra International Indonesia's top car maker to Singapore's Cycle and Carriage. IBRA capped off the year with a $370 million sale of 24 palm oil plantations formerly owned by Liem to Malaysia's Kumpulan Guthrie.
Gerungan cites the accomplishments in 2000 as evidence that criticisms of the slow pace of asset sales are misplaced. "The speed is already there," he insists. If so, it is a pace that will not get the job done, which is something Gerungan clearly implied his first day on the job when he said he would push the agency to act more quickly, echoing comments from Rizal Ramli, the senior economics minister, that IBRA should "accelerate the process." In fact, Gerungan is already laying plans to push more assets out the door by setting up a joint venture with one or more big investment banks. The investment banks would take up to $500 million in bad loans, restructure them and share any profits with IBRA.
IBRA as an institution may simply be out of its depth with all its assets, overwhelmed by the scope of the problems it faces. Budianto, the former deputy chairman, recounts a story from his time at the agency. At one point, as IBRA was closing failed banks the agency could not identify the intended destination of $106 million in cash that came in. "We didn't know what belonged to what," says Budianto. He says debtors were in some cases making payments even though their creditor banks were officially shut down. In other cases, bank accounting was shoddy, and payments were not always posted to the appropriate loans. It took Budianto's staff three months of detective work to reconcile most of the items more than $10 million could never be accurately placed.
The experience of a mid-sized North American communications enterprise that came to Indonesia with the intention to invest in one or more companies is an indictment of IBRA's competence. An executive of the enterprise, who spoke to Asiaweek on condition he and his company remain anonymous, says the firm spent a year and about $2 million investigating various assets, most of them officially under IBRA's care. The stories he tells are a litany of IBRA woes. The first problem, which everyone encounters, was the inability to talk to anyone. Telephone calls to IBRA would rarely be returned. Meetings would be set up and cancelled at the last minute. And when it seemed useful meetings might actually take place, the businessman says sometimes no one would show up on IBRA's side. Three months into the process, according to the executive of the prospective North American buyer, he was still trying to get an answer to a question he asked the first day: The bumbling "got to be a joke." Worse, IBRA sometimes did not know anything about some of its assets.
The executive once asked about the debt load of a particular firm under the agency's control. "We don't have those records," was the reply. "You were never sure what you were buying," the executive says.
Ultimately, the company decided it had been through enough: "High risk didn't equal a high return." Such IBRA horror stories, Castle says, are commonplace. "That's an experience repeated all too often." As a result, "people give up." Government critics are certain that corruption plays a role in some IBRA decisions or inaction. But charges of malfeasance, outside the infamous Bank Bali scandal, are unproven. Bank Bali gave IBRA its biggest black eye and helped end the presidency of Wahid's predecessor, B.J. Habibie. The bank, which had been taken over by IBRA, paid a 60% commission to a firm linked to Habibie's Golkar party to recover interbank loans from IBRA. Beyond that, a recently published study by PricewaterhouseCoopers on global business transparency concluded that Indonesia is the world's second-most corrupt economy next to Russia. So it is hardly surprising that IBRA stands accused by its critics of impropriety. The agency "has become a field for growing corruption,' says Amien Rais, speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly and one of the Wahid government's most vocal opponents.
Other evidence of impropriety is circumstantial at best. An investigation by the state audit agency has raised questions about IBRA's payment of consulting fees, which last year amounted to $68 million. Some of that money could be used for bribes, an auditor publicly suggested. Nevertheless, accounts of widespread corruption inside IBRA remain unproven. Mar'ie Muhammad says that, except for the Bank Bali case, "there is no evidence of large-scale corruption." Given its daunting litany of problems, what are the chances Gerungan can turn things around? No one questions his honesty or commitment. But he is a political neophyte with few protectors. That suggests he is independent, but it also means he may not be able to muster political support when he needs it. Laksamana Sukardi, a former minister in Wahid's cabinet, worked with Gerungan at Citibank and believes his friend will have problems: "Citibank was like a simulated environment, everything is in order," he says. "When you get out of Citibank, it's like working in the jungle." And there's no ruder jungle than the chairman's suite at IBRA. Gerungan has told friends he is prepared to resign if needed.
Gerungan's experience in the no-nonsense private sector may make him the right person to streamline a bureaucracy that has quadrupled in size over the last year and now occupies parts of two office towers.
But IBRA's refusal to confront the ruinous realities of the Suharto era reflects the failings of the government that runs it. If Habibie never really wanted to sell off the cronies' assets, Wahid is too weak to do so. To move the assets out the door, to get the loans restructured, IBRA needs political cover and a government with the clout to protect it from interference. "If the president and top legislators don't support it, not much will happen," Castle says. It will take more than a little democracy to clean up the economic mess made by Suharto and his cronies. For Wahid and for IBRA, the hard part has barely begun.