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Indonesia News Digest No
12 - March 19-25, 2001
Green Left Weekly - March 21, 2001
Kerryn Williams -- On March 12, a group of 70 masked thugs armed
with batons, machetes and bamboo sticks attacked the Jakarta
offices of the National Student League for Democracy (LMND).
They smashed the gate, door and windows, then trashed the
offices. Computers, telephones, a printer and a modem were
destroyed. Documents and books from the LMND's library were
stolen.
According to the LMND, the perpetrators were members of the
Ka'bah Youth Movement (GPK), a right-wing Islamic organisation
that has recently carried out violent attacks against the LMND in
Yogyakarta and Medan.
The attack is part of an attempted come-back by the right-wing in
Indonesia, which includes former dictator Suharto's Golkar party,
the Indonesian armed forces and rightist Muslims. Conservative
student groups such as the GPK are aiding this push by their
efforts to mobilise people to overthrow Indonesian President
Abdurrahman Wahid (also known as Gus Dur).
During March 12-14, the GPK, along with the right-wing controlled
student executive boards, held an action inside the Parliament
complex to demand that Wahid step down. Around 5000 students
participated and the police and military did not intervene. This
was in stark contrast to an anti- Golkar protest on March 13 that
was brutally attacked by the mobile military brigades. Student
protesters were run over by motorcycles then severely beaten.
In response to this attack, a 10,000-strong protest was organised
by the Disband Golkar Alliance on March 14. The demonstration was
in opposition to the "remnants of the New Order" (former Suharto
regime and his allies) and also called on the Indonesian people
to "leave behind the fake reformers". Mundo, international officer
for the LMND, reported that some members of the GPK attacked
demonstrators with knives, wounding five, at the beginning of the
demonstration.
Mundo described the right-wing student organisations' campaign to
oust the president as hypocritical. "They haven't participated in
any of the pro-democracy demonstrations since Suharto stepped
down. [They have not struggled for] democracy, against military
oppression, to bring Suharto to justice, against the rise of oil
prices or to smash the remnants of the New Order for its human
rights crimes and economic corruption."
Mundo rejected the media's presentation of protest actions as
being either for or against Wahid. "We aren't pro Gus Dur. We are
against the remnants of the New Order, and if Gus Dur won't
support us by smashing them, we don't support him and he is just
like them because he is willing to make concessions with them."
The LMND and the organisations and alliances they are working
with plan to continue demonstrations outside Golkar party offices
and parliament. The LMND are also helping to organise students,
workers, peasants and the urban poor to fight against the impact
of the military and bureaucracy on their lives.
Mundo told Green Left Weekly that the LMND is urgently trying to
raise funds to get their offices running and replace the
desperately needed computer equipment and political resources.
Berpolitik.com - March 18, 2001
Solo -- The destruction of National Student League for Democracy
(LMND) secretariats has spread to the districts. Following the
attack on the LMND secretariat in Jakarta, on Sunday March 18, it
was the turn of the Solo (Central Java) secretariat which was
attacked by a group of unknown assailants. As a result, all of
the windows were smashed and items belonging to the organisation
destroyed.
According to the Solo LMND chairperson, Joko Sumantri, who was
one of the witnesses to the incident, the attack began at 2am
local time. There were two attacks. In the first attack, around
eight people armed with machetes, crowbars and clubs beat a
number of LMND, People's Art Network and Indonesian Peasants
Union activists who were staying overnight at the LMND
secretariat.
"At that time there was in fact many comrades staying at the
secretariat. But we did not really expect an attack. Furthermore
we were exhausted after holding a day-long `Anti-violence and
economic oppression' cultural action beforehand", said Joko to
Berpolitik.com.
Several moments after the first attack, a group strongly
suspected to be preman (thugs) returned to the LMND secretariat
which is located on Jalan Walanda Maramis 35. In the second
attack they went straigt into the offices and smashed up its
contents. Fortunately, the LMND activists were able to save a
computer and organisational documents.
"As a result of the attack, aside from all of the windows being
smashed, kitchen utensils were totally destroyed, things like
guitars, mobile phones, shoes and money belonging to activists
were stolen. In the second attack there were more people and they
were more vicious", explained Joko.
Joko has not yet been able to identify who was behind the attack.
[Said] only that there is a strong suspicion that the attack was
most likely linked with the LMND's activities which have
continually demanded the abolition of the [former state ruling]
party Golkar and the trial of [former President Suharto's] New
Order regime.
"On the ground the perpetrators may just be thugs who have been
paid. But we suspect that this attack is linked with the
activities and political campaigns of the LMND which is anti-
Golkar and the military", said a student from the Solo State
College of Islamic Religion.
[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski, ASIET
publications and information officer.]
East Timor
Aceh/West Papua
Elite power struggle
Government/politics
Regional/communal conflicts
Human rights/law
News & issues
Environment/health
Economy & investment
Democratic struggle
Right wing attacks on pro-democracy students
LMND secretariat in Solo attacked by thugs
LMND offices in Solo destroyed
Detik - March 18, 2001
Blontank Poer, Solo -- The offices of the National Student League for Democracy (LMND) in Solo, Central Java, was attacked by scores of unknown people on Sunday March 18. Armed with clubs, crowbars, machetes and wooden sticks, they destroyed the office, smashed the windows and seized a telephone owned by an activist. According to the Solo LMND chairperson, Joko Sumantri, the perpetrators were definitely paid preman (thugs) controlled by a political organisation which feels it has been harmed by their actions. "Perhaps it is linked to our actions which are demanding the abolition of the Golkar party and the dual social and political role of the military", said Joko to Detik and Radio 68H. According to Joko, there were two attacks. In the first, eight people armed with sharp weapons attacked the offices which are used as a secretariat [for the LMND] as well as Jaker at 2am local time. They smashed the windows then left.
No long afterwards, they returned with around 15 people and smashed up the offices and destroyed things they found in the office. As a result, a number of LMND activists and street musicians who where sleeping in the house ran away to save themselves.
Fortunately, a computer and important documents were not taken because they were able to be safe guarded in a neighbouring house. The attackers then smashed a guitar owned by one of the street musicians who is a member of the Yogyakarta Indonesian Street Musicians Union (SPI) who was sleeping there after playing music at a university campus in Solo. The musician also reported a mobile phone and 20,000 rupiah as being seized by the attackers.
LMND, SPI and Jaker protest
In response to the attack, SPI, Jaker and LMND Solo made a strong protest over the tactics of terror, intimidation and violence used out by the attackers.
"We regret that the police who arrived late and were not able to do very much about the attack which was carried out by the remnants of the New Order", said Simoel, the chairperson of the SPI Department of Struggle.
"Will this terror make us retreat from our struggle to demand the abolition of Gokar? No, their violence only indicates that they are anti-democracy", said Rudolfo, the coordinator of Jaker.
They noted that similar actions had been experienced by Yogyakarta LMND activists on February 22, which resulted in a number of people being injured. Before that, the Yogyakarta offices of the People's Cultural Institute Tarang Padi was also attacked by unknown assailants.
Then on March 12, the National offices of LMND in Jakarta was attacked and as a result a number of computers and documents were destroyed.
LMND Solo is known to be active in promoting the abolition of the Golkar party among the masses. Most recently they held a blockade action at the Golkar party's Surakarta (Solo) head office on March 11.
On the afternoon of Saturday March 17, LMND along with SPI Yogyakarta and other pro-democracy forces held a music festival on the theme Uphold Democracy and Anti-Violence at the STIE AUB campus in Solo. A meeting was also held with Golkar cadre who have abandoned Golkar party chief Akbar Tandjung.
[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski, ASIET publications and information officer.]
Jakarta Post - March 20, 2001
Jakarta -- Dozens of students grouped under the Jakarta Student Front (BMJ) "sealed" the home of former finance minister and director general of taxes Fuad Bawazier on Jl. Banyumas No. 4 in the Menteng area of Central Jakarta on Monday.
"On behalf of the people, we seal this house today as it was obtained through corruption," read a banner that was attached to the mansion's front gate.
The students accused Fuad, who briefly served as the finance minister under the 16-month administration of B.J. Habibie, of joining the nationwide bandwagon clamoring for good governance in a bid to conceal his past corruption.
"We realize now that your money and your assistance have ensnared the student movement into serving your own interests," the students shouted.
The students came from, among others, Bung Karno University, Mercu Buana University and Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University. Arriving on three buses, the students held their rally peacefully under the watchful eye of the police.
They said they would next target the houses of former government officials they claimed to be big time corruptors. Their list included the former minister of mines and energy Ginandjar Kartasasmita, a suspect in a marked-up power plant construction project.
| East Timor |
Agence France-Presse - March 23, 2001
Jakarta -- Indonesia's president should immediately pass a decree establishing a special court to try the culprits of the wave of bloody violence in East Timor in 1999, international rights body Human Rights Watch urged Friday.
"Establishment of human rights courts for East Timor and Tanjung Priok is not the end of the road, but a necessary beginning," it said in a statement received here.
Unless President Abdurrahman Wahid acted quickly, the statement said, skepticism about Indonesia's will to prosecute the military involved in the incidents would grow.
The statement came two days after Jakarta's parliament endorsed the setting up of two ad hoc courts to try cases of gross human rights abuses related to the crimes committed during Timor's independence vote in 1999 and additionally a shooting incident at Jakarta's port area of Tanjung Priok in 1984.
The parliamentary action cleared the way for the courts, but they cannot be set up until a presidential decree is issued. Indonesia is under intense international pressure to bring to justice the culprits of the wave of Indonesian army-backed militia violence which left at least 600 dead in East Timor in 1999, or to surrender them to an international tribunal.
In the 1984 incident the military shot dead at least 33 Muslim protestors. Local activists claim up to 200 died.
"The parliament's action removes a huge obstacle to justice, but the real question is when we will see actual trials begin," Rights Watch said.
"Not only do we need the President to issue a decree, but we also need the Attorney General to issue indictments and the Supreme Court to appoint judges for the new courts.
"Unless all of that happens quickly, scepticism about Indonesia's will to confront the military about human rights abuse is just going to grow deeper."
On Thursday the secretary-general of Indonesia's Human Rights Commission, Asmara Nababan, told AFP parliament's action was overdue.
Both UN and Indonesian human rights investigators have conducted probes into the East Timor violence which were followed up by an investigation by Indonesia's Attorney General's Office. However, there have yet to be any arrests.
Indonesian rights investigators implicated 33 people in the violence, including former Indonesian military chief General Wiranto. But Wiranto was left off a subsequent list of 23 suspects determined by the attorney general's office.
Pro-Indonesia militia gangs, backed by the Indonesian military, led an orgy of violence and destruction in the months surrounding the August 30 ballot.
Infrastructure was decimated, reducing the half-island territory to rubble and forcing a quarter of a million people across the border into Indonesian-ruled West Timor.
South China Morning Post - March 24, 2001
Associated Press in Kupang -- Pro-Jakarta militias plan to wage war against the new government of East Timor after UN peacekeepers pull out, a militia commander said yesterday.
A militia coalition known as Combat Lafaek, or crocodile combat group, will wait until UN troops leave East Timor before launching an offensive across the border, said Cancio Lopes de Carvalho, the former commander of a pro-Indonesian armed group.
"At the moment we are in a cooling-down period. We will wait for the United Nations to leave before we go back in," he said in West Timor's capital of Kupang.
Militia gangs were initially established in East Timor in the early 1990s by the Indonesian military in response to a growing independence movement in the former Portuguese colony. Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and ruled it with an iron fist until a 1999 UN- sponsored independence referendum.
The militias served as auxiliaries for the Indonesian army in the war against guerillas. Their activity increased dramatically in the run-up to the plebiscite. Hundreds of East Timorese civilians were killed during army and militia rampages that followed the vote.
Since the Indonesian withdrawal in October 1999, the gangs have operated out of bases in West Timor. Two peacekeepers were killed in a series of clashes with UN troops.
According to Lopes de Carvalho, Combat Lafaek was set up when a number of separate gangs were integrated into a single group.
UN peacekeepers operating along the mountainous border confirmed that the militia group first began operating last year.
Following the murder of three international aid workers in West Timor in September, the Indonesian military was ordered to disarm all militias.
In December, UN liaison officers were informed by the Indonesian military that the leaders of Combat Lafaek had been arrested, said Major Ian Peek, a spokesman for the 7,000-strong force.
However, according to Lopes de Carvalho, the paramilitaries remain armed and ready to strike.
"Combat Lafaek is just waiting for the right time," he said. Peacekeepers say they are concerned the current lull in activity could mean the militants are laying low in preparation for the withdrawal of the UN administration after East Timor achieves full independence next year.
"Although they are quiet, we know they are still there, they still have weapons and their leaders are still there," Major Peek said.
The world body plans to retain a reduced peacekeeping force in East Timor after the transitional administration leaves.
Reuters - March 22, 2001
Jakarta -- Indonesian prosecutors on Thursday asked a court to jail East Timor militia boss Eurico Guterres to 12 months in prison for inciting violence in West Timor last year, well below the maximum sentence of five years.
The requested light sentence is likely to attract criticism from human rights groups and undermine Jakarta's efforts to show it is serious in seeking justice over violence in East and West Timor in recent years.
Guterres, who considers himself an Indonesian, helped lead marauding pro-Jakarta militias that laid waste to tiny East Timor after the territory voted overwhelmingly to break from Indonesia's harsh rule in August 1999.
If sentenced, he will have his term cut by around six months because he has been under detention for that period.
"The accused Eurico Guterres was found to have committed crimes by inciting [trouble] in public ... We ask the council of judges to pass a one-year jail term minus his time in detention," prosecutor Hamka Minhadj told the North Jakarta Court.
Guterres, the youthful and notorious head of the feared Aitarak militia, is accused of inciting violence last September in Atambua, a border town in Indonesian West Timor. The riot forced two United Nations observers to flee to East Timor.
The observers were investigating the killing in the town of three UN aid workers which was widely blamed on East Timorese militiamen opposed to their homeland's break from Jakarta's rule.
East Timor is now under UN administration after an international military force entered following the 1999 vote to restore order.
The arrival of foreign troops in the former Portuguese colony prompted the militias to flee across the border into West Timor, where they continue to harass some 100,000 East Timorese refugees they herded there after the independence vote.
In response to the sentence demanded by prosecutors, Guterres said: "I don't see any signs of justice." He has previously denied any wrongdoing.
The trial was adjourned until April 3 and the court is expected to hand down its verdict in the next few weeks.
Sydney Morning Herald - March 22, 2001
Mark Dodd, Kupang -- It was an eerie sight. In the tropical afternoon, the Patricia Anne Hotung nudged away from Kupang wharf with 500 Timorese refugees lining the deck.
Heading into open water, another ship came into view -- a listing old freighter barely seaworthy, its hull streaked with rust and its decks crammed with refugees, Christian Indonesians, fleeing religious violence in Ambon. The two vessels passed close by, the refugees staring at each other in silence with a shared sense of uncertainty.
Clutching a sheaf of identity papers to prepare him for a new life in his East Timor homeland, 50-year-old Manuel Soares reflected on what had driven him to leave the militia-run refugee camps in Indonesian West Timor.
"It's no good, the life here. There is no money, too little food -- it's a hard life. I will try for any job when I get back, I'm just homesick," he said inside the Fatululi transit centre on the outskirts of Kupang, the provincial capital.
Had he heard of national elections scheduled for August? "No, I don't get much news in the camp," he replies. "Is there any intimidation?" I ask. Mr Soares drops his voice, glances around him, pauses for breath: "No," he replies unconvincingly and walks away.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its partner, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) believe otherwise. They say intimidation in the camps remains rife as pro-Indonesian militias, faced with dwindling support from Indonesian authorities, try to keep a grip on their shrinking constituency, the refugees.
But some former militia leaders and cadres are co-operating with the UNHCR and the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), perhaps in the hope of avoiding prosecution for war crimes committed before and after the August 1999 ballot for self-determination.
But time is running out as the agencies aim to repatriate most of the remaining refugees before August 31, when UNHCR says it will shut down operations in East Timor.
It is not known exactly how many refugees remain in the West Timor camps. It is believed that about 250,000 East Timorese fled or were deported after the 1999 violence. About 176,000 refugees have returned home so far, leaving 74,000.
The Indonesian Government, which receives generous donor assistance for the refugees, claims a figure of 130,000.
IOM's head of operations, Mr Chris Gascon, estimated the number wanting to return home may be as low as 30,000 -- the same figure used by the East Timor independence leader, Mr Jose Ramos Horta.
Mr Gascon said an expected flood of refugees -- after militia violence in the border town of Atambua last September left three international staff dead -- did not eventuate. "There was every reason for those people to come back and there was ample opportunity for them to come but they did not take advantage of the situation and this was very surprising," he said.
About 20 per cent of East Timor's estimated 400,000 eligible voters supported integration with Indonesia in the 1999 ballot. That translates into approximately 80,000 people, and may explain the reluctance of many to return to East Timor.
Despite more than 700 refugees leaving the camps this month, UNHCR's chief of operations, Mr Bernard Kerblatt, said overall returns were "no more than a trickle". He said ignorance about the situation in East Timor, and Indonesian delays in settling pension payments to former civil servants also could be hindering the repatriation process.
Nobody wants the issue resolved more than UNTAET's chief, Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, who says he supports new initiatives to empty the camps.
These include using Indonesian security forces to close the camps, and ensuring refugees who want to return home are given the opportunity before June 20, the cut-off date for voter registration.
But Mr Vieira de Mello says the tight timetable could result in East Timor having 10 per cent of its population stranded in a foreign country but less than five kilometres from the nearest ballot box when voters go to the polls on August 30 this year to elect their first democratic parliament.
All involved in refugee repatriation agree that the Indonesian army could resolve the issue in an instant.
The appointment of Major-General Willem da Costa, as Indonesia's commander for the country's eastern region or Udayana Command, brings hope of more co-operation from the military.
General da Costa is a Timorese native whose father was born in the East Timor enclave of Oecussi. UNHCR and IOM say he engenders more confidence than his predecessor, Major-General Kiki Syhanakri.
But revelations that a former deputy commander of the Dili-based Aitarak militia is serving as a provincial level army intelligence officer with access to the names of returnees raises concerns about the continuing influence of the militias at the highest level of repatriation operations.
Mr Elly Pereira, or Mr Eliziarou Dalus as he is now known, was able to brush past 250 police and soldiers at Fatululi earlier in the month -- soldiers hired by UNHCR and IOM specifically to ensure that former militia leaders were kept outside East Timor. Mr Pereira's presence means refugees such as Mr Soares are afraid to tell the truth. "His presence at Fatululi illustrates why this refugee problem can't be solved in the current way," said an IOM spokesman, Mr Chris Lom.
Sydney Morning Herald - March 21, 2001
Mark Dodd -- The United Nations mission in East Timor admitted yesterday that an internal security memo accusing a group of shipwrecked Indonesians of being spies was untrue.
Ms Barbara Reis, spokeswoman for the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), said seven Indonesians shipwrecked off Atauro island near Dili late last month were from Alor island and had been repatriated.
An internal investigation was trying to determine why a weekly UN security report circulated to senior UNTAET staff and heads of department had accused the seven of travelling to Atauro "to monitor and report" on a pilot civil registration project.
According to one foreign long-term resident on Atauro, the Indonesians were found near a UN civil registration site, which made locals suspect they were spies.
Other concerns raised in the report are being taken seriously, including a warning that a lack of safeguards on the Atauro-Dili sea lane poses a security threat to Dili.
The resident said unlawful landings by Indonesian craft were common on Atauro, which is part of East Timor but 20 kilometres north of Dili. It has a population of 7,500.
Meanwhile, the East Timor Transitional Administration has ordered a Singaporean company to demolish a controversial Dili hotel in an unprecedented warning to unscrupulous property developers.
Construction on Dili 2001 Hotel began in early January on prime beachfront property near the Cristo Rei environmental protection zone east of Dili. However, no planning permission had been sought or environmental safeguards for sewage disposal agreed.
After ignoring several warnings from UNTAET's infrastructure department, Engineering and Construction had almost completed the 128-room hotel, using Burmese labour. It has seven days to appeal against the demolition order.
The Age - March 21, 2001
Geneva -- East Timorese refugees returning home from West Timor who are suspected of having taken part in the unrest of 1999 have been the targets of threats and violence, a UN report said.
Members of ethnic and religious minorities have also been reportedly harrassed or physically assaulted because of their perceived links with Indonesia or pro-autonomy groups, the report said.
The document, presented by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson to the annual session of the UN Human Rights Commission here, said about 240 Muslims are living in the grounds of the Dili mosque out of fear for their safety if they return to their homes. The community where they come from is not yet ready to accept the families' return, it said.
Three Protestant churches were burnt down in June 2000 because of allegations the Church had connections with milita groups. The number of violent incidents against returnees has been relatively low, the report said.
However, there continue to be reports of incidents where those suspected of supporting pro-autonomy groups or participating in 1999 violent crimes have been "intimidated, threatened, kidnapped, arbitrarily detained and beaten."
Robinson visited East Timor in August 2000, and Indonesia in November 2000.
A UN sponsored referendum on East Timor's independence was overwhelmingly accepted in 1999, sparking a wave of violence by anti-independence supporters.
More than 250,000 people fled the violence to West Timor, of which between 80,000 and 100,000 are still in the Indonesian province.
| Aceh/West Papua |
South China Morning Post - March 24, 2001
Agence France-Presse -- Indonesian security forces have shot dead five civilians in the latest violence to hit the province of Aceh, police and residents said yesterday.
A joint army-police team conducting a sweep for separatist rebels in the village of Suak Bilie, in the West Aceh sub-district of Seunagan, killed the civilians on Thursday, a journalist quoted residents there as saying.
"The security personnel fired shots as soon as they jumped out of six trucks and one armoured car, and began to go after villagers who were working their fields," one resident said.
Five men were taken away by the troops and villagers, seeking to know their fate, went to the town of Meulaboh and found the five dead at the Cut Nyak Dhien general hospital. All five bodies had gunshot wounds, the residents said.
Aceh police spokesman Adjunct Senior Commissioner Sudarsono said the sweep was launched after an ambush on a police patrol in the area on Thursday and the torching of a military post in the same sub-district on Wednesday.
The local commander of the Free Aceh Movement, Teungku Ramli, claimed responsibility for the torching of the military post, but denied ambushing the patrol.
Jakarta Post - March 25, 2001 (abridged)
Jakarta -- Security concerns have forced President Abdurrahman Wahid to cancel a trip to the restive province of Aceh next week.
Though presidential aides cited technical reasons, palace sources and the President himself acknowledged earlier security concerns torpedoed the planned trip. Abdurrahman was originally scheduled to make a one-day visit to the West Aceh town of Meulaboh on March 27.
Speaking to journalists at Merdeka Palace on Friday afternoon, presidential spokesman Adhie Massardi said "the cancellation is due to technical problems, because the visit is too close to the date the President is scheduled to reply to the House of Representatives".
Abdurrahman is due to present a reply to the House's memorandum of censure on March 28.
Adhie said the President would likely schedule a visit to Aceh in mid-April, upon his return from a trip to Australia and New Zealand.
Palace sources said earlier in the week that the military objected to Abdurrahman's visit to the volatile province because of security concerns.
Presidential aides had said the go-ahead for the Aceh visit depended on an assessment of the situation by Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh. Earlier on Friday, Abdurrahman admitted he had been advised against making the trip to Aceh by security officials.
Speaking after Friday prayers, Abdurrahman also claimed that negotiations would remain the focus of the government's policy in Aceh, despite the plan to launch new military operations in the territory.
"The government has decided that the only solution is peaceful dialog, and this decision has received the support of many countries, including from [US] Secretary of State Colin Powell during his talks with foreign minister Alwi Shihab several days ago," the President said.
Separately, Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said security operations were part of the government's policy to restore security in the province.
Speaking to journalists after meeting with Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Friday, Susilo described the planned military operations as a "security operation, not a limited military operation".
Minister of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy Soerjadi Sudirdja, Minister of Defense Mahfud MD, National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro, Indonesian Military Commander Adm. Widodo A.S. and all military chiefs of staff also attended the meeting.
"The reason all of the military's top brass attended the meeting was to make sure all security actions and law enforcement and public order operations are conducted in accordance with government policy," Susilo said.
Bimantoro later said police were "open to talks" with members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM). "If they want to talk, let's talk. But if all they care about is attacking us, then they need to be stamped out," Bimantoro said.
He identified the police officers who died in Thursday's mortar attack in North Aceh as Second Brig. Ardian and Second Brig. Aifandi of Section C of the Aceh Mobile Brigade.
Straits Times - March 22, 2001
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- As shooting continued around the ExxonMobil oil refinery in North Aceh, observers said the step-up in rebel attacks on the American firm appears to be part of their extortion attempts on the refinery.
Yesterday, locals living near the ExxonMobil oil refinery reported that unidentified gunmen continued to exchange fire with the military.
This followed Tuesday's shooting attacks on two helicopters, which were carrying the Minister for Mining Purnomo Yusgiantoro and the North Sumatra military commander Maj-General I.G. Purnawa to the oil fields.
The attack on the helicopters was the latest in a series of shooting attacks and hijacking incidents by unidentified gunmen which prompted ExxonMobil to suspend their operations last week.
The gunmen are believed to belong to the separatist Free Aceh Movement, also known by the Indonesian initials GAM.
In response, Indonesia's Defence Minister Mohammad Mahfud vowed to launch a limited military operation to suppress the separatist rebels and defend the ExxonMobil oil fields, as well as the PT Arun gas fields, which produce valuable LNG or Liquified Natural Gas for export to Japan and South Korea.
"It is evident that GAM doesn't want a peaceful solution. We said the operation should soon be carried out and the President agreed," the minister said, speaking in Jakarta after a meeting with President Abdurrahman Wahid and security chiefs.
While Free Aceh officials have denied the attacks, Lhokseumawe Free Aceh commander Muzakir Mualim admitted to local magazine Tempo that he had demanded ExxonMobil pay "taxes" to the movement and remove all Indonesian military and police guarding the refinery. ExxonMobil denied that Free Aceh rebels had made any such demands to the company.
However, diplomats argued that the primary motive for the rebels' attacks around the oil fields, which over the past few months have increasingly targeted ExxonMobil staff and facilities, appeared to be greed.
Commentators said the attacks pointed to the breakdown in control between the rebel leadership, which vowed not to attack foreign companies operating in Aceh, and the commanders on the ground, who were trying to extort money from the company or possibly damage Indonesia's gas exports.
"Different people in GAM have different aims. Perhaps they wanted to damage Indonesia's image as a reliable supplier of gas, which you could argue contributed to the fall in the rupiah," commented one diplomat.
However, as diplomats noted, the attacks have damaged the movement's international reputation at the same time when the independence rebels are trying to gain international support for their political cause.
It will also ironically damage the flow of funds to the movement, as the tense situation has caused shops and businesses to close in Lhokseumawe making it harder for the rebels to collect "taxes" from local businesses.
Free Aceh rebels denied they shot at the helicopters, saying that intense troop deployment in the vicinity of the oil fields made it impossible for rebels to get close to the site of the attack and accused the Indonesian army of launching the attacks on the two helicopters.
"They did the shooting on their own, it is part of their propaganda programme so that they can call us criminals or terrorists and then launch a military operation," said Free Aceh spokesman Sofyan Daud.
The announcement of a military offensive also effectively suspends the ceasefire agreement reached between the rebels and the Indonesian government, made earlier last month, after a series of peace agreements were concluded by the two sides.
South China Morning Post - March 22, 2001
Vaudine England -- While Jakarta prepares for what it calls a limited operation against separatist rebels in Aceh, military sources and analysts say the army intends to crush the rebels once and for all.
Defence Minister Mohammad Mahfud said the despatch of 600 extra troops -- bringing the total in Aceh to almost 30,000 -- signalled a new approach.
Other conflicts "change from time to time but the GAM remains the same", said chief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, referring to the Free Aceh Movement, or GAM. "That's why the Government needs to update its strategy and methodology in dealing with GAM." He said the goal was to prevent casualties and excess, as part of a comprehensive policy.
But ceasefire talks over recent months and the declaration of peace zones last week have continued against a daily backdrop of brutality and death. And military sources admit they see the Government's new willingness to support increased military action as the green light for a total clampdown.
Last week, Exxon-Mobil suspended its gas operations on Aceh due to the lack of security, and threats of stepped-up military operations have crystallised into action. On Tuesday, the military carried out sweeping operations around Lhokseumawe and Bireun.
Two helicopters carrying government ministers and journalists were shot at as they approached Lhokseumawe on Tuesday. GAM denies being behind the attacks, saying military cordons made it impossible for them to be in a firing position. But Mr Mahfud blamed the rebels. "It is evident that GAM doesn't want a peaceful solution. We said the operation should soon be carried out and the President agreed," he said.
The use of the shootings as a justification for a military crackdown suggests the shots could just as easily have come from the military, analysts said. "Yes of course it will be more than limited [military] operations," said military analyst Kusnanto Anggoro. "It will be a major operation. They say another 600 troops have been sent to Aceh, but I think it's more than that.
"The Exxon closure is creating the excuse, because the TNI [Indonesian armed forces] and even the Government see that the Exxon case creates credibility problems overseas," Mr Anggoro said.
But the TNI has had little success in counter-insurgency operations in the past and is responsible for more than 7,000 deaths and widespread rights abuses during its nine-year period of military rule in Aceh. "I don't think they will achieve anything," Mr Anggoro said.
Jakarta Post - March 22, 2001
Jakarta -- The Moi tribe in Beraur district, Sorong regency, Irian Jaya, threatened to close all the oil fields in Klamono and Seget if the government failed to improve the welfare, Antara reported on Wednesday.
The chief of the tribe, Musa Labot, said the threat was made because his tribe had been living in poverty for at least 38 years while residing on oil-rich land.
According to Musa Labot, several companies, including state oil company Pertamina and the Dutch-colonial government company NNGPM had explored for crude oil on their land.
However, there has never been any improvement in the living conditions of his tribe, Musa said, adding that the 6,665 members of the tribe remained impoverished. "The Moi people, who are spread across 14 villages, remain poor and ignored by the government," he said.
Jakarta Post - March 22, 2001
Jakarta -- President Abdurrahman Wahid said on Wednesday he would declare the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) a banned organization in a bid to increase stability and security in Irian Jaya, Antara reported.
The President was quoted by Peter Tomasoa, the chairman of the Indonesian Christian Party (Parkindo), who met with Abdurrahman in the presidential office.
Abdurrahman has been portrayed as being lenient on separatist groups in the country, including OPM. During his visit to the province, Abdurrahman said he would allow the name of Irian Jaya to be changed to Papua and the separatist flag to be raised.
The President also donated Rp 1 billion to fund the Papua People's Congress in June last year. The congress declared that Papua was not part of the unitary state of Indonesia. Abdurrahman flatly rejected the results of the congress.
Jakarta Post - March 22, 2001
Banda Aceh -- Leader of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels in North Aceh Abu Sofyan Daud denied allegations that GAM was behind Tuesday's shootings of helicopters carrying the entourage of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources inspecting Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) operations in Aceh.
"We deny responsibility for the helicopter incident," Abu told media on Wednesday. "It would have been impossible for our troops to breach the area because the military had set up a cordon around the area where the choppers were shot at," Abu said.
He further said the incident "was an attempt to defame GAM". "The shootings were clearly carried out by security officers to defame us," Abu said.
Separately, spokesman of Cinta Meunasah II operation Adj. Sr. Comr. Harunantyo revealed that police have identified two 5.56 millimeter projectiles found in the helicopters.
"The bullets were shot from M-16 and AK-47 rifles," the officer told The Jakarta Post by phone. He said both helicopters were within the firing range of GAM, which is about three kilometers away from Malikussaleh Airport.
The incident is evidence of GAM commander Tengku Abdullah Syafi'ie's lack of grip on his troops, the officer said. "It's hard for him [Abdullah] to control the rebels as most of the recruits are hoodlums, illegal brokers or vigilantes. GAM's Darwis Jeunib, for instance, has long been known as a ticket scalper.
Meanwhile, police and residents on Wednesday reported another seven deaths in Aceh.
In Jakarta, Asmara Nababan, secretary-general of the National Commission on Human Rights, queried the government's argument to carry out a military operation in Aceh at a time when the situation in the area is considered "normal".
"We think it better to deploy more police officers there as all problems started from the military operations in the early 1990s," he said.
Also in Jakarta, Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Wednesday that the government would not change its policy on Aceh.
"Media statements that we will simply conduct a military operation is not true, since we are preparing six agendas in finding the solution for Aceh's problems, including a military approach," Susilo said while addressing foreign ambassadors and officials of international organizations on the latest developments in Indonesia, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Susilo was accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro, director-general for political affairs of the foreign ministry Nur Hasan Wirayudha, and deputy chief of the Indonesian Military (TNI) Strategic Intelligence Body (Bais) Maj. Gen. Tulus Sihombing.
Speaking about the limited security operation, Susilo said the objective is only to crush the Aceh Separatist Movement (GSA).
Responding to a question by South Korean Ambassador Hong Jung Pyo about the government's wish for giant oil and gas firm ExxonMobil to resume operations, Susilo said the limited security operation was also to protect and secure the vital natural gas resources there. ExxonMobil has halted its operations since March 9 on security grounds.
Meanwhile, Minister of Defense Mahfud M.D. said that Tuesday's shooting incident had persuaded the government and the President to immediately conduct a limited military operation in Aceh.
"We are sure that certain people in GAM will never change their intentions. We urge the President to immediately issue an instruction for the operation," Mahfud told reporters after attending a hearing with the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
Separately, National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro said the police still hold the lead over security troops in Aceh. "The security status of the province is currently a civil matter, so the military personnel there are still under the jurisdiction of the police," Bimantoro said.
Jakarta Post - March 22, 2001
Jakarta - The government failed on Wednesday to reach an agreement with American oil and gas giant ExxonMobil on the timetable for the resumption of production at the company's gas fields in Arun, Aceh.
Company executive vice president Bill Scuggins told reporters the company still needed to further discuss matters with the government before deciding whether to resume operations of the gas fields, which the company closed last week due to security concerns.
"We shall continue our discussions with the minister," Scuggins said after a meeting with Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro. Scuggins refused to comment further on the meeting or discuss the company's plan regarding the closed gas fields.
Scuggins flew from the United States to meet government representatives following mounting pressure from the government on the company to resume operations.
Purnomo was earlier quoted by the local media as saying that the government expected to make a final decision on the fate of ExxonMobil's gas fields in the meeting with top executives from the company's headquarters.
The president of state oil and gas company Pertamina, Baihaki Hakim, who accompanied Scuggins in the meeting, told reporters ExxonMobil was interested in resuming operations of the fields but would only do so if the situation in the vicinity of the fields returned to normal.
"ExxonMobil said if the situation around the fields was as secure as two months ago, it would resume operations," he said.
The suspension of gas production by ExxonMobil has forced liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer PT Arun NGL Co, which relies on the company for its natural gas supply, to stop production as well as LNG shipments to South Korea and Japan.
Agence France-Presse - March 21, 2001
Jakarta -- A separatist leader from Indonesia's remote Irian Jaya province said he was unaware of a plan to pardon him if convicted of subversion but vowed to uphold the province's struggle for independence.
President Abdurrahman Wahid was quoted by Australian media as saying Monday that he would pardon Chief Theys Eluay, leader of the pro-independence Papua Presidium, if he was convicted.
"I haven't been informed of anything. What I've asked for though is annulment of the charges and the dropping of the trial," Eluay told AFP Tuesday at the Jakarta hospital where he is recovering from prostate surgery.
Eluay, 63, is one of five Presidium members facing trial next month for alleged subversion. The five were arrested in the capital Jayapura in the days surrounding last year's December 1 commemoration of an unrecognised declaration of independence in the resource-rich province, known locally as Papua.
Lying on the western half of New Guinea island, Papua was a Dutch colony until 1961 and was preparing for independence when Indonesian troops entered.
After eight weeks in detention Eluay was rushed from his Jayapura police cell to Jakarta for emergency prostate treatment on January 21. Three operations later, he is ready to leave hospital, and is due to be discharged by the end of the week.
His four colleagues were released from detention last week pending the mid-April trial.
Eluay said his lawyers had already written to Wahid requesting the subversion charges be dropped altogether.
He would have to "consult with his presidium colleagues and the Papuan people" before deciding whether to accept a pardon instead of annulment, he said.
"But either way, be it a pardon or annulment, neither will curb the Papuan peoples' aspirations for independence. That is their right."
Eluay has asked to meet Wahid on March 28 or 29, before he returns to Jayapura. "I will tell him we don't want special autonomy, but ... our right to sovereignty returned to us, and by 2003 we will be on our own," he said.
Wahid has repeatedly ruled out independence for Papua, pledging special autonomy instead, which Jakarta has said will be enacted by May 1. "The government's trying to press our people to accept special autonomy, but we will continue to reject it," Eluay said.
He would also ask Wahid to "grant absolution not just for the five presidium members, but for all independence campaigners in jails across the province."
Eluay, who has shed 30 kilograms in the past two months, said his weakened health would not reduce his role in the independence movement. "I am still commander of the struggle. The people still listen to me. They don't trust anyone else," he said. "No-one else has my traits .... charisma, authority, courage."
Eluay said being in jail in Jayapura for eight weeks "felt strange." "We should be the ones putting Indonesia on trial, for denying us our right of sovereignty."
Independence leaders contest as unrepresentative and flawed a 1969 UN-conducted plebiscite which affirmed Indonesian sovereignty over Papua.
Separatist moves gained momentum early last year following Wahid's offer to change the province's official name, allow the flying of the separatist flag, and hold dialogue with independence leaders.
Wahid made his approaches through the figures that make up the presidium, who are considered moderates compared to the Free Papua Movement who have been fighting a bush war against Jakarta for decades.
Authorities however have since slammed the door shut and reversed the liberal approach, banning the flag, shooting violators of the ban, refusing the name change and arresting independence campaigners.
Jakarta Post - March 21, 2001
Jakarta -- Indonesian Military Commander Adm. Widodo A.S. said on Tuesday a limited military operation in Aceh was necessary because the police could no longer handle security disturbances in the province.
"In a Cabinet meeting, the government declared the Free Aceh Movement [GAM] separatists. Therefore a proportional security action is a must since crushing separatist activities is not part of the National Police's duties," Widodo said during a break in a meeting to discuss political, social and security affairs.
Widodo, however, said the military operation was only "a small piece" of the comprehensive approach being taken by the government to ensure peace in Aceh.
"To solve the problems in Aceh, the government has taken steps in the fields of politics, the economy, the legal system, public order, security itself and also information," he said.
In Aceh, tension rose in Bireun and North Aceh regencies despite the two areas being declared "security zones" by field commanders from GAM and the Indonesian military.
A series of blasts on Sunday and Monday shook North Aceh and Bireun, the deputy spokesman of the police's Cinta Meunasah II operation, Comr. Sudarsono, told The Jakarta Post by phone.
"Rebels tossed a grenade at the Bank Indonesia building and the Pertamina oil depot in Lhokseumawe, the capital [of North Aceh], on Monday night about 10 p.m.," Sudarsono said, adding that there were no casualties in the blasts. And at about 10:45 p.m. on the same day, unidentified men threw a grenade at the Pertamina depot in Hagu Tengoh village in Banda Sakti district.
It also was reported that a provincial legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), O.K. Ibrahim, disappeared while traveling from Banda Aceh to Medan, the capital of the neighboring province of North Sumatra.
Antara news agency quoted Aceh councillors as saying Ibrahim left Banda Aceh for Medan on Saturday aboard a public bus, but as of Tuesday there was no word on his whereabouts.
"A friend of his in Banda Aceh tried to check on him because no one had heard any news of him, but his cellular phone was inactive," one councillor said.
It is suspected that he went missing somewhere between North Aceh and East Aceh. A woman who picked up the phone at Ibrahim's house said he had not contacted his family as of Tuesday.
Separately in Banda Aceh, the prosecutor in the trial of Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) chairman Muhammad Nazar asked the court to sentence the proindependence activist to one year in prison. The trial will resume next Tuesday, at which time the court will hear from the defense.
Meanwhile, nine people were killed in Aceh on Monday and Tuesday, two of them young girls. In North Aceh, gunmen in Padang Sakti village fired on a jeep carrying a man identified as Karimuddin and his 12-year-old daughter, Rosita.
The girl died at the scene while her father, an employee of PT Arun LNG Co., was injured. The attack took place at about 7 a.m. on Tuesday. "The rebels attacked the jeep, shooting and killing the girl," North Aceh Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Wanto Sumardi said.
Also in North Aceh, a woman identified as Lina A. Gani was found dead in Bunot village, Syamtalira Bayu district, on Monday. The discovery of the body followed an overnight gunfight between rebels and security forces near the Syamtalira Bayu Military Command subdistrict office. "The body was found after the gunfight ended," Wanto said.
In South Aceh, the bodies of two people were found in separate locations on Monday and Tuesday, police officer Sudarsono said.
The body of Amir Budiman was found on Tuesday near the regency hall in Tapak Tuan. His neck had been slashed and he had burns on parts of his face. "He has been missing since March 13," an activist who requested anonymity said.
In East Aceh, two people were shot and killed on Monday, one of them a young girl. The shooting took place in a market in Peurelak district, according to witnesses.
In Central Aceh, a man identified as Karjiman was stabbed to death by an alleged rebel in Simpang Tiga, Bukit district, on Monday, Sudarsono said.
And the body of Muhamad Adam was found in Meunasah Capa village, Jeumpa district, Bireun regency, on Monday, an activist said. The victim appeared to have been shot.
Straits Times - March 20, 2001 (abridged)
Jakarta -- Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said yesterday that he would pardon a leading separatist politician from Irian Jaya province even if a court finds him guilty of subversion.
Mr Theys H. Eluay, who heads the Papuan Presidium Council, was arrested in December, along with four other senior officials of the organisation, ahead of a pro-independence rally in the provincial capital Jayapura.
They were charged with sedition, a crime which carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence. The move sparked a storm of criticism from local and international human-rights organisations. They denounced Indonesia's anti-subversion laws, which they say were being used to silence dissent.
In an interview with Australian journalists yesterday, Mr Abdurrahman said he would not allow Mr Eluay to go to prison even if a court convicts him. "As soon as the sentence is delivered, I will pardon him because I respect him," he said.
Mr Eluay has been in a Jakarta hospital since January undergoing treatment for cardiovascular problems. His four associates have been released pending the trial.
Straits Times - March 19, 2001
Banda Aceh -- Representatives of the Indonesian government and separatist rebels in Aceh yesterday agreed to set up a peace zone covering two districts in their effort to end the violence in the province.
The decision was reached after four days of talks at a hotel here. The talks ended yesterday.
"A secure zone has been decided upon in northern Aceh, to include the North Aceh and Bireun districts," a press release issued at the end of the talks said. It said that both sides will refrain from violence in those two districts.
The districts, the statement said, "will be pilot projects in halting violence, starting as of March 22 and until April 3". An evaluation will be made after that period and, depending on its measure of success, the secure zone may be gradually extended to other districts.
North Aceh covers most of the Arun gas field, where Exxon Mobil has halted operations since March 9, citing security reasons. The halt in production has threatened the country's Liquefied Natural Gas exports and affected other industries in the region that rely on fuel supplies from the field.
Senior Police Commissioner Ridwan Karim, who represented the government in the talks, said the choice of northern Aceh had been made following the evaluation of the joint committee on security affairs. "Violence has been most frequent in northern Aceh," he said.
The talks were the fourth to include site commanders from both sides. Both camps also endorsed and agreed to respect an earlier agreement to halt the violence -- reached during the first meeting involving field commanders on February 10 -- and to work to make the judicial system in Aceh more effective.
They also called on all sides to work for peace by prioritising dialogue, and agreed to meet again on March 31. The government and the rebels have held peace talks in Geneva since last year.
They have signed a series of shaky truces, but have so far failed to stem violence which this year alone has killed 300 people.
The government last week finally slapped the "separatist" tag on the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and said it will launch a "limited security operation" involving more troop deployment to rid the province of rebels.
The planned operation has been opposed by the Aceh Student Executive Board that groups student executive boards from universities across Aceh, and by local legislators.
In the latest violence, at least 14 people were killed in a series of clashes between government forces and rebels in Aceh.
In East Aceh, a group of around 50 unidentified armed men on Saturday shot three civilians dead and critically wounded four others, a rights activist said.
In Langsa, the capital of East Aceh, the hospital received four bodies with gunshot wounds, hospital staff said.
In South Aceh, security forces hunting a GAM home- base reportedly shot dead a youth, a pregnant woman and her two children.
| Elite power struggle |
Straits Times - March 21, 2001
Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- With his bare hands, a young man clutches the barbed wire set up to block protesters from entering the Parliament complex and then displays his unscathed hands proudly to journalists. He felt no pain, he bravely said.
He is one of the thousands of die-hard supporters of President Abdurrahman Wahid grouped under the so-called suicide squad Pasukan Berani Mati (PBM), or Ready-To-Die Army.
About 1,500 of them stormed the Parliament complex yesterday, climbing over barbed-wire barricades to congregate at the building's carpark. Police confiscated dozens of sharpened bamboo sticks and daggers before allowing them in.
"We are ready to die," said Mr Untung Supriyadi from Lumajang, East Java. Added his friend, Mr Ahmad Fadil: "To us it's either live honourably or die a martyr's death."
The supporters, who are armed with sharp weapons, believe they have supernatural powers. Mr Untung said their local Muslim leaders had bestowed PBM members with ilmu, or magical powers, before they left for Jakarta.
They believe that even bullets cannot penetrate their bodies and are determined to fight students rallying against the President. "We are mentally and physically ready, we can brave bullets," Mr Untung said. The group is part of a growing number of supporters who have been flocking to the capital.
They are mainly members of the 40-million strong Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the Muslim group Mr Abdurrahman led for 15 years until 1999. They have come to Jakarta to pressure Parliament to withdraw its censure of Mr Abdurrahman over graft allegations and to show his critics that they can wreak havoc if he is forced to resign.
Said Mr Yudhi, who came from Gresik, East Java: "There will be war if Parliament keeps on pressing him to resign." NU officials here denied they were behind the protest, but demonstrators interviewed admitted that they were recruited.
NU offices across East Java -- where Mr Abdurrahman has strong support -- have put up announcements to attract those willing to defend the President at all costs.
In Pasuruan, NU has set up a group called the "Gus Dur's Supporter Society" whose members are trained "with physical and magical powers" should they have to face police or those opposed to the President. In Banyuwangi, NU is reportedly recruiting loyalists willing to die for Mr Abdurrahman.
Most of these NU grassroots supporters are "simple people", said Mr Maskud Chandranegara, an NU official. They are going to Jakarta as they believe their "God-chosen leader" has been betrayed by politicians. NU officials say a massive rally is planned for March 27.
Straits Times - March 21, 2001
Jakarta -- Struggling to hold together the world's fourth most- populous nation, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said he was confident that he would defeat any effort to impeach him over financial scandals. Mr Abdurrahman said he had lobbied individual lawmakers and was prepared to fight an impeachment measure in court, if needed.
Speaking at his state palace, which was heavily guarded and ringed with razor wire, Mr Abdurrahman claimed the opposition against him was limited to the leaders of some rival political factions and would eventually fizzle out.
"They cannot get rid of me," he said. "Please remember there is a third branch of the government -- the judiciary."
Last month, Parliament issued a memorandum censuring Mr Abdurrahman over his alleged involvement in two multi-million- dollar scandals. The censure started a long process towards his possible impeachment by a special session of Indonesia's highest legislative body.
Mr Abdurrahman yesterday stressed that he had done nothing wrong; in any case, a president could only be impeached if he had committed treason.
"But I didn't do that," he said, adding that he would present a detailed rebuttal of the allegations in Parliament soon. "If the censure memorandum is studied by a logical man, a reasonable man, then they will see that there is no argument at all for putting me to the special session."
However, political-party leaders in Parliament yesterday raised the temperature by agreeing to draft a second censure memorandum.
Against a hostile Parliament, Mr Abdurrahman's fate appears more and more to rely upon the support of Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who controls Indonesia's largest party.
Until now, she has remained silent on the matter, even though her close aides have publicly called on the President to quit.
Mr Abdurrahman denied rumours and media reports of a rift with her. Their working relationship was good, although they had differed on some issues, he said. "We are good partners," he said. "On the main things, we see eye-to-eye."
He said she was a competent administrator and would be a potential head of state "if there is a constitutional change" or "through an election". "But not now, because I am the President now."
He brushed aside the importance of protests against his presidency, saying that the biggest so far had attracted only 10,000 people out of a total population of 210 million.
"I have to repeat again and again, it's a minority," he said. "It is nothing. The fact they cannot storm the palace is clear."
Jakarta Post - March 21, 2001
Padang -- Thousands of students marched to the provincial legislative building on Tuesday calling for an expedited special session of the People's Consultative Assembly to impeach President Abdurrahman Wahid.
The protest -- jointly held by members of Student Solidarity for the People and students from Padang State University and IAIN Imam Bonjol Padang -- caused traffic to back up in the area.
The students forced their way into the governor's office despite being told by the chief of the provincial legislature's general affairs bureau, Yusman Kasim, that Governor Zainal Bakar was in the North Sumatra capital Medan.
The protesters then tore down a portrait of President Abdurrahman Wahid that was hanging near the governor's office.
"We also demand the amount of money allotted for education in the provincial budget be increased to 20 percent from 7.2 percent," one of the protesters, Effendi, said. The protesters eventually dispersed peacefully.
Sydney Morning Herald - March 20, 2001
Philip Bowring -- It seems an improbable proposition. Few countries generate more bad news than Indonesia. The Government is in turmoil, the President seriously threatened with impeachment, bloody civil strife exists in at least two provinces, and separatist insurgencies in two more.
The banks are barely solvent and government debts threaten to rise to unserviceable levels. To cap it all, the currency has recently taken another nosedive and insurgents have cut off one of its major exports.
So it may seem absurd to propose that Indonesia's economic growth rate this year could be 4.5 to 5.5 per cent, which would put it into the top half of the east Asian league. That forecast is from the central bank. It is 1 per cent higher than the expectations of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) or what is possible assuming there is neither a new political nor financial crisis.
But Indonesia did better last year than most had forecast, and could do so again.
The first reason is the rather obvious one that daily street demonstrations in central Jakarta do little other than disrupt traffic. They do not have much impact on the industrial areas on the outskirts.
The violence-racked Maluku islands are of scant economic importance, and strife has done little to slow resource exploitation in Irian Jaya, also known as West Papua, or Kalimantan. Indeed, in the case of the latter, illegal logging has probably increased. It was only last week that gas production from Aceh's Arun field was disrupted.
Indonesia has many flashpoints, but so does India. Like elephants, huge countries have momentum and thick skins.
Economic life goes on, driven neither by politics nor that ephemeral and inaccurate barometer of prosperity, the stockmarket. So what are the drivers?
First, agriculture. There is no guarantee Indonesia will not be hit by another devastating drought like that of 1997-98, which was far more serious for most Indonesians than the Asian currency crisis.
But weather aside, an average 3 per cent growth can be expected in this sector. Other disruptions and price changes may have negative implications but gradual increases in productivity are well embedded. That is not to ignore future problems, such as a collapse of new investment due to land ownership disputes and lack of capital.
Next comes devaluation itself. Indonesian costs were already highly competitive before the currency fell back 20 per cent during 2000.
Exporters' rupiah earnings have been rising faster than inflation, now around 9 per cent. This benefits at least some rural producers, which feeds through to domestic demand for basic manufactures and consumer durables like motorcycles. In the short term it shifts demand from imports to local products. The cheap rupiah has also produced a surge of manufactured exports.
Many companies may be deep in debt and many investors reluctant to put more money into Indonesia. But there is no shortage of working capital for those who have export orders and plenty of dollars available to fund raw-material imports. In some cases the lack of progress in debt restructuring may be helping businesses continue to operate, painful though this may ultimately be for the taxpayer. There is plenty of spare factory capacity in most sectors, so new commitments are not often needed.
Last year exports rose by 28 per cent, mostly the result of expansion in non-oil volumes. That's close to the top of the Asian league. This year, with world growth slowing, the nation may be lucky to get close to 10 per cent. But even 5 per cent could prove as good as the Asian average.
Indonesia has a good spread of resource-based and labour- intensive industries, and should be least hurt by the demise of the tech bubble.
Tourism is being hurt by the nation's image, but Bali has held up fairly well.
Some economists maintain that Indonesia's recovery since 1998 has been steeper than the official data suggests, claiming that the "black" economy has been growing faster than the recorded one. For example, it is widely believed that smuggling of imports in order to avoid tax is even more rife than before.
Evidence of faster growth is found in power consumption, usually an accurate and easily measured guide. It grew 9 per cent last year and is now well above pre-crisis levels.
Manufacturing employment has picked up and even cement usage, devastated by the collapse of grandiose metropolitan projects, has responded to income gains.
There is even the prospect of a small pick-up in investment this year, albeit from very depressed levels. Some businesses see markets gaps to be filled in the oil/gas sector, despite problems in Aceh and Irian Jaya.
Of course, much of this progress will be to little avail if domestic conditions deteriorate further, consumers stop spending and buy dollars and manufacturers shy away from export commitments for fear of disruptions. That is a possibility if the rupiah, which has fallen another 10 per cent this year to again breach the 10,000 mark, continues to tumble.
But at the moment, Indonesia still has a functioning economy and a commercial class which sees good business opportunities and even likes President Abdurrahman Wahid for his inclusive attitude towards the country's minority ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs. The banks' capital adequacy may still be marginal and further falls in the rupiah will exaggerate bad-debt problems in a system with a big percentage of loans in dollars. But on a day-to-day basis, the banks work well enough.
The problems with the IMF have probably received more attention than they deserve. The fund may be forgiven for wanting strict accountability before making new disbursements. On the other hand, Indonesia has met almost all its macro-economic and budgetary targets.
Inevitably if there are to be debt restructurings and a return of some flight capital, forgiveness of some none-too-clean past activities is inevitable. The balance now between justice and doing what is expedient is a difficult one.
There is no doubt, however, that the IMF matters, and the public spat with the institution has damaged the rupiah and thus exacerbated debt problems. It has also meant that interest rates have had to be increased to defend the currency.
With government debt, mostly the results of the banking sector collapse, now 100 per cent of gross domestic product and being financed largely with short-term rupiah borrowings, the level of short-term interest rates is vital if debt is to be stabilised and eventually reduced.
For now the economic situation for most people's daily life is not much worse than it was before the crisis, and a lot better than it was in 1998.
Massive transfers of wealth have taken place but the impact on the incomes of the vast majority, who own little capital and do not work in banks, construction or capital-intensive industries, has been limited.
Jakarta Post - March 20, 2001
Jakarta -- Street rallies conducted by pro and anti-President Abdurrahman Wahid supporters continued in some cities on Monday amid debate about the effectiveness of such political maneuvers, which could lead to physical clashes among the masses.
In the Central Java capital of Semarang some 20,000 supporters of the President, mostly followers of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and National Awakening Party (PKB), held an istikhotsah (mass prayer) at the town square in the district of Watucongol, Magelang, on Monday.
Abdurrahman chaired the NU for 15 years, before being elected President in 1999, and was the founder of PKB.
Participants in the mass prayer came from the regencies of Boyolali, Semarang, Demak and Salatiga. Officials from the provincial administration were also in attendance.
Led by dozens of ulemas, the prayers expressed hope that Abdurrahman would retain the presidency until 2004. They also prayed that the nation's unity would survive the looming threat of disintegration.
The event coordinator, Abdul Kadir Karding, who is also secretary of the PKB's Central Java chapter, said that the mass prayer was an expression of the people's concern about the current situation in the country.
"At the grass roots level people have been killing each other," he said, referring to the recent ethnic cleansing massacre in Central Kalimantan. "At the top level, the political elites have also been attacking each other," he added.
Following the mass prayer, the participants left the square, chanting pro-Abdurrahman slogans.
The night before, as many as 1,000 children of Christian and Muslim orphanages in Semarang held a joint prayer for the safety of the country. A. Suhari, the coordinator, said that the children wished that a miracle would occur in the country, saving it from dangers posed by the unresolved crises.
In the West Sumatra capital of Padang, some 500 students grouped in the Bung Hatta University's Student Executive Board (BEM) took over the state Radio Republik Indonesia studio to air their stance against the President.
The students also seized the photographs of Abdurrahman displayed in government offices and entered the Singgalang and Padang Express editorial offices to confiscate pictures of the President. The rally began with speeches at the Bung Hatta University campus in the morning, after which the protesters traveled around the city on six public buses.
Some of them got off the buses and entered the provincial legislative council building to remove all pictures of the President from the building's walls. All of the actions culminated in the occupation of RRI.
In Palembang, South Sumatra, on Monday, at least 300 people from various universities and organizations prohibited Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid from setting foot on Palembang soil before he quit his post. The students also called on all offices to remove Abdurrahman's pictures from their walls.
Protesters of the Sriwijaya University's BEM, the Muhammadiyah University, The Moslem University and the Indonesian Muslim Students Association (HMI) marched to the provincial legislature and read out six demands, including the prohibition of Gus Dur from visiting Palembang and removal of the President's photographs. They threatened to stage larger protests if their demands are not met.
Jakarta Post - March 19, 2001
Surakarta -- We are responding to the mounting protests in the country against the existence of Golkar, the party chairman Akbar Tandjung told supporters here on Saturday.
Speaking in front of thousands of party supporters, Akbar called on party officials and supporters to resist any form of pressure against the party, which had ruled the country for more than 30 years under former president Soeharto's tenure.
"We have the right to defend the party's respect and dignity. Don't hesitate, we must have the courage to defend our party whenever we are oppressed. If groups of people come to attack our offices, we must take up arms against them," Akbar said.
Protests against Golkar had been staged in the country. The vandalism was pioneered by groups of people, who claimed to be supporters of President Abdurrahman Wahid in the East Java city of Surabaya last month.
Since then, anti-Golkar sentiment has grown and vandalism against Golkar Party offices in several areas, including Yogyakarta, has continued. Last week a large group of anti-Golkar protesters tried to ransack the Jakarta chapter office but was foiled by security officers.
Observers have said that waves of protest against Golkar have been provoked by people's vengeance against oppression by the New Order regime, which was so closely allied to Golkar.
"Now Golkar can no longer expect help from others. The party cadres must get prepared to defend the party's dignity," Akbar said.
He also said he had talked with President Abdurrahman about the destruction of Golkar offices in East Java. "I hoped that he [the President] would issue calls to calm down the attackers. Unfortunately, he has never regretted the incidents or prohibited any groups from attacking Golkar offices."
Muhammadiyah
Separately, Din Syamsudin, deputy chairman of Muhammadiyah, the second largest Muslim organization, said in Surabaya on Saturday that terror against Muhammadiyah leaders in several areas in East Java could have hampered democracy.
Speaking to The Jakarta Post in the sidelines of the Fundraising Night for Refugees, Din said he deeply regretted that violence has been repeated again and again.
"The security forces should be tougher and do something concrete to stop such uncivilized action from spreading to other areas," he said.
He reiterated that differences among the people were a normal thing. "Any party must deal with such differences wisely. Any leaders must guide and set a good example for their supporters."
Din referred to the terrors by certain groups against Muhammadiyah leaders in East Java. Reports also said that unknown people had put a mark on the fences or front walls of the houses of Muhammadiyah leaders.
Many speculate that the recent terror was conducted by supporters of President Abdurrahman following Muhammadiyah leaders' statements on their choice for (Vice President) Megawati Soekarnoputri to assume power.
But Din Syamsudin said on Saturday, as a moral movement, Muhammadiyah could not just sit and do nothing upon seeing the country's deteriorating condition.
Meanwhile, Abdurrahman's supporters in East Java continued to collect signatures on a 100-meter cloth, to express their die- hard support for the President.
| Government/politics |
Jakarta Post - March 24, 2001
Jakarta -- Observers warned on Thursday that civilian politicians' weaknesses in leading the country will provide the opportunity for the military to reclaim their place as the country's leaders.
"The civilian politicians' weaknesses will lead the military to enter the political arena again. Then they [the military] will create a constitutional basis for their involvement," military observer Salim Said said in a seminar to commemorate the 80th anniversary of national hero T.B. Simatupang.
Salim said it is the civilian political elite that should determine the role of the military. "It is impossible to expect the military to have internal reforms, so the country should determine its role through the People's representatives," he said.
"However, by observing the current House of Representatives (DPR), I am afraid that no such thing will happen," he added. Salim further said that it is important to determine the role of the military, as part of the democratization process.
Another military observer Hasnan Habib, echoed Salim, saying that it is impossible to expect the military to be professional and be under civilian authority if members of the political elite continue to fight each other.
"It is impossible to make the military a professional institution as long as the political elite, that should have shown their competence and capability, continue to fight each other," Hasnan said in the same seminar.
He underlined that the only passage to democratization is through the establishment of a civil society, which cannot happen if the military still holds a large proportion of the country's leadership.
"The military is the most undemocratic institution, as its members always act according to the chain of command," Hasnan added.
Meanwhile, military observer M.T. Arifin said on Thursday that the Indonesian Military (TNI) "is already itching to play a larger role to settle the country's problems in response to current political turbulence."
"They [the military] are uneasy with the current political situation and they are itching to do something and play a role," Arifin told a session with the Community for Social Transformation (Katalis) in East Jakarta.
"I think, although they are 'gradually reducing their social and political roles' it is clear that now the image of the military being powerful and having a stronger grip [in social and political roles] has been vividly shown," Arifin said.
The public must accept the fact that the military is the most organized structure, while civilians are still struggling to form a civil society, he said.
"So the civilian elite must be wise and smart in playing their cards. They have to find a balance to create a proper and suitable civilian-military relationship," Arifin said.
Chief of the Golkar faction at the House of Representatives (DPR) Syamsul Mu'arif further said that "the military is being held hostage in their own country".
"Currently there are insufficient laws and political umbrellas for their position, while conflicts are raging everywhere. So far, the DPR is still processing the State Emergency bill .. and until then the President is the sole person who can declare a state of emergency in which the military is obliged to take over. Imagine what Gus Dur [President Aburrahman Wahid] can do.
"Under such a situation the President can dissolve the legislature and that is an unthinkable possibility. Therefore I urge civilian politicians to be cautious and not be over- enthusiastic, because what they do can determine our fate," Syamsul said.
TNI chief of territorial affairs Lt. Gen. Agus Widjojo further told the session that TNI has been gradually "saying goodbye to its social and political roles, among others, by not taking initiatives related to political decisions." "Now, we cannot act without the approval of civilians [rulers].
"But, for the TNI faction in the House ... well, they have to perform their duty and respond instead of abstaining from the current political situation, since they will be there until at least 2004. So we perceive it to be a political learning process," Agus said.
Jakarta Post - March 22, 2001
Jakarta -- The House of Representatives (DPR) endorsed on Wednesday 11 new members of the General Elections Commission (KPU) who are expected to be installed by President Abdurrahman Wahid in the near future.
The new members, who have been selected by the House Commission II on home and legal affairs, were unanimously endorsed by all 11 factions during a House plenary session.
Deputy House Speaker Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno, who presided over the plenary session, assured the 11 KPU members' independence, evaluated by a fit and proper test applied to 22 candidates earlier proposed by the government.
"The commission II sought approval from the House's consultative body [Bamus] before proposing the candidates to the plenary session. And through this session, we approved the 11 KPU members," Soetardjo said.
The new members are Mulyana W. Kusumah, Ramlan Surbakti, Anas Urbaningrum, Dan Dimara, Rusadi Kantaprawira, Imam B. Prasodjo, Nazaruddin Syamsuddin, Chusnul Mar'iyah, F.X. Mudji Sutrisno, Hamid Awaluddin and Valina Singka Subekti.
They will be installed to replace the election commission's 53 previous members, mostly representing the 48 political parties that contended the 1999 elections.
The replacement of the election commission members, charged with maintaining the institution's independence and ensuring free and fair elections in the future, was held in line with an ongoing review of the 1999 political laws.
Meanwhile, the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP), called on the KPU's new members to review the electoral system so that only legitimate legislators will be elected in the 2004 general election.
KIPP chairman Standarkiaa said the proportional representation system that has been applied since 1955 should be replaced with a district representational system because it has been found to be ineffective in selecting legitimate legislators.
"The House of Representatives' credibility has been under fire because its members are more loyal to their own political parties than to the people who cast their votes.
"And they [the legislators] feel they have no obligation to be accountable for their performance to their constituents because of their parties' dominant role in appointing their cadres in the legislative body," Standarkiaa said here on Wednesday.
He said the House's credibility, which rests much on its members and their professionalism, could be repaired if the district system is applied at the next general election.
Standarkiaa said the election commission should also make preparations to select political parties to contend the next elections.
"KIPP supports the selection of parties to contend the next elections. But the election commission must be strict in enforcing the electoral threshold, which is regulated by the law," he said, adding that the number of parties contending the 2004 elections should be less than the 48 participating in the previous elections.
Separately, Mulyana W. Kusumah called on the House and the government to speed up the review of political laws and set comprehensive regulations on general elections, including the election commission.
He said the quality of the next elections would depend, not only on the election commission's independence, but also on the electoral system and laws.
"The People's Consultative Assembly should include the district system and the bicameral parliamentary system in the Constitution, while comprehensive regulations on elections and the commission's responsibility should be inserted by the House in the review bill on elections," he said.
He said that, in addition to being partial, the previous KPU members had breached regulations they had issued.
Detik - March 20, 2001
Hestiana Dharmastuti/Heather, Jakarta -- According to the Indonesian Peace Forum (FID), the bombs planted in churches last Christmas Eve were supposed to make people yearn for the old days under the New Order (Orba) regime of Suharto.
This is the result of an investigation by the FID into the Christmas Eve bombings which has been handed over to the National Legal Aid Foundation office at Jl Diponegoro, Jakarta on Tuesday .
FID's investigation, which ran from 26 December 2000 until 28 February 2001, included questioning over 70 witnesses from the various towns in which these Christmas Eve bombs were found.
The FID investigative team's secretary, Munir said the bombing did not appear to be criminal in nature, but seemed to be a political stunt to bring about nostalgia for the "New Order" (Orba) days of Suharto.
"Clearly the bomber wants the new body of conservatism in society to support the old ways of authoritarianism and to yearn for the return of the Orba," said Munir.
With all these bomb explosions, continued Munir, people will say the Orba days were better. As a result, society will support a repressive government and want the military to be involved in all things and have Intelligence Agencies control everyone's lives. It would be hard for the FID to point the finger at anyone. It is hard to trace it to the root, as all state apparatus are involved in the game.
Meanwhile, Bara Hasibuan said he considers it important to separate the links between the field actors and the main perpetrator. The network of perpetrators is still protecting the field perpetrator, while the one who masterminded this, who has military connections, is given the chance to flee.
Detik - March 20, 2001
Hestiana D/Fitri & Heather, Jakarta -- The majority of Jakartans voted for direct presidential electiona, a poll says. They also consider the election of President Abdurrahman Wahid as president in 1999 General Assembly Session as not the right choice.
Conducted by the New Indonesian Association (PIB) established by prominent economy analyst, Dr. Sjahrir, the polling reveals that 88.3% of Jakarta residents voted for a direct presidential election while only 8,9% said they disagreed with this system. As little as 2,8 said they were not sure. The polling results were revealed by Roky Gerungan, a member of PIB at Jakarta Media Center, Central Jakarta, Tuesday.
For this survey, 559 people were polled via telephone on 10-11 March 2001. To the question of whether Gus Dur -- as the president is popularly addressed -- was the right choice of the 1999 Assembly Session. 58,9% respondents disagreed, whereas 26,7% respondents said the choice was accurate and 14,4% claimed they were not sure.
The poll also shows the Jakarta residents have a negative impression of the House of Representatives (DPR). Up to 66,4 respondents consider the DPR have yet to represent their aspirations. On the other hand, 13,4% said the legislators have represented their aspiration while 20,2% did not make any comment.
Regarding the current general election system, the majority would prefer the current proportional system to be altered to a district system. Up to 76,5% tend to vote for the person as well as his symbol, 18,3 tended to choose by symbol and 5,2 said they did not know.
In the mean time, polling on people's perceptions about executive and legislative institutions on 664 Jakarta residents concluded that it is generally thought that Gus Dur's administration and the legislative are incapable of improving the dwindling economic situation.
From the total of respondents, 64,4% said Gus Dur has failed to improve the economic condition. Whereas 15% considered there is some economic improvement and the remaining 19,9 respondents did not answer.
| Regional conflicts |
South China Morning Post - March 25, 2001
Chris McCall in Sampit -- Dayak leaders in Indonesia's troubled Central Kalimantan have vowed to sweep the entire province for Madurese to ensure their enemies are gone forever.
On the sidelines of a "victory ceremony" near the town of Sampit, where hundreds were killed in violence last month, a local Dayak leader said there was no alternative but to ensure all Madurese left Central Kalimantan permanently.
His warning came amid new killings around the eastern town of Kuala Kapuas, where hundreds of Madurese are holed up, refusing to leave the region where many of them were born. Dayak leaders also cite the west of the province as a target area. They say there are still many Madurese there.
"There are areas of Kalimantan that are still left," said Darham Lasri, 73, the head of a local citizens' security force in Sampit. "I think it is clear the Madurese have to go.
"They must go out and leave Central Kalimantan forever. We cannot guarantee their lives and safety if they do not go out. If they give us resistance of course we will kill them."
Syaiful Maltha, chief of police of Kuala Kapuas, said 400 extra troops had arrived in the area, which was now calm after clashes the previous day between Dayaks and settlers from Madura island.
The official Antara news agency yesterday said based on information it had collected from four locations in the Kuala Kapuas area up to 17 people had been killed and five badly wounded in fighting between machete-wielding mobs.
Dayak elders were backed up by non-Dayak supporters at the victory ceremony, held in accordance with Dayak traditions at Sakaraya, just outside Sampit. Other migrant groups widely support the Dayaks, accusing the Madurese of stirring up the violence against them through their own aggressive and intolerant behaviour.
Dayak leaders vow the victory ceremony will carry on until the province is free of Madurese.
Many of the Dayaks and Javanese brought with them the mandau, a traditional Dayak sword, widely used in Sampit to behead their enemies.
The head of a buffalo replaced the human head of yesteryear at this ceremony, but Dayak leaders say the heads of many Madurese killed in Sampit are still safely in a warehouse in the town and will be brought out again when needed.
The heads of enemies slain in battle have special powers, according to Dayak tradition. They widely believe that magic helped them win the battle for Sampit. Although the Madurese have fled in droves, the atmosphere in Sampit remains extremely tense and Australians are regarded with deep suspicion, although other Western nationalities are welcomed as friends.
Headless ghosts haunt central Ahmad Yani street, the survivors of the fight say, while large parts of the city are in ruin, generally those areas once held by Madurese. Security at night is ensured by Dayak posts, many with a red light bulb to light them up, the colour of the Dayaks.
Hundreds of Madurese fled to the forests around Sampit during the violence. Local Dayaks fear that some are still out there and could yet mount counter-attacks. If still in the forests, the Madurese should by now be running short of food and may be prepared to come out at night to scavenge, despite the intense Dayak security.
The scarce traffic on the roads around Sampit moves fast at night and the drivers are reluctant to stop for motorists in trouble. "We are scared the Madurese will try to come back," Mr Darham said.
Dayaks say the Madurese were plotting to take over Sampit, and perhaps other parts of Central Kalimantan. Before the violence Sampit's population was about 60 per cent Madurese, migrants from the island of Madura off eastern Java and their descendants. Some were brought to Kalimantan under government-sponsored transmigration schemes but many more followed of their own free will. However, their culture and traditions have clashed badly with those of the indigenous Dayaks.
The Dayaks defend their practice of cutting off the heads of their enemies. They say that, as killing goes, it is relatively quick and humane, a bit like slaughtering an animal. "We don't torture. We directly cut off the head and it is over," said Mr Darham.
Sydney Morning Herald - March 24, 2001
Jakarta -- Extra Indonesian troops have been sent to the latest ethnic battleground in Borneo, where fresh fighting has killed up to 17 people in a grim reminder of massacres last month that left hundreds dead.
Mr Syaiful Maltha, the chief of police in the Central Kalimantan town of Kuala Kapuas, said yesterday that 400 extra troops had arrived in the area, which was calm after clashes the previous day between indigenous Dayaks and settlers from Madura island.
The official Antara news agency said that, based on information it had collected from four locations in the Kuala Kapuas area, up to 17 people had been killed and five badly wounded in fighting between machete-wielding mobs.
About 700 migrants from the island of Madura were sheltering at the town's sports stadium after fleeing their homes, Colonel Sukarji of the police said.
Police officers and soldiers were patrolling Kuala Kapuas and would shoot Dayak rioters on sight, he said.
A doctor at the town's hospital, Dr Abdul Muin, said 12 people had been killed in the past two days. One of the bodies had been decapitated by the Dayaks, who believe they gain strength from the victim's spirit.
Dayak gangs were still hunting for the Madurese in forests around the town, and the death toll could rise, he said. However, Mr Maltha said only four people had been killed.
The violence underscores tensions racking the multi-ethnic country and the woes besetting President Abdurrahman Wahid, struggling to hang on to power after a rocky 16 months in office.
It was not clear what caused the fighting between the Dayaks and the Madurese settlers around Kuala Kapuas, about 930 kilometres north-east of Jakarta. Tension between them has often flared in the past over land disputes and job opportunities.
"Additional troops from Palangkaraya and Balikpapan have arrived," Mr Maltha said, referring to two Borneo cities. "The situation in Kuala Kapuas is now under control." Central Kalimantan is the site of one of Indonesia's worst bouts of ethnic violence in recent years in which nearly 500 people, mostly Madurese, were butchered by Dayaks last month in other parts of the province.
Straits Times - March 19, 2001
Jakarta -- Indigenous Dayak tribesmen have continued their killing spree in Central Kalimantan, murdering at least eight Madurese migrants.
The bodies of eight victims have been found since Friday in and near the Central Kalimantan town of Sampit, where bloody ethnic violence erupted last month, the Banjarmasin Post said yesterday.
The daily newspaper quoted a witness as having said that one of the victims was killed when he returned from hiding in the forest to check on his house early on Saturday.
The first clashes between Dayaks and settlers from Madura occurred on February 18 in Sampit. The violence spread quickly through the province.
About 500 people have been killed since, most of them Madurese. Many of the victims were decapitated or mutilated.
| Human rights/law |
Jakarta Post - March 22, 2001
Jakarta -- A coalition of non-governmental organizations has slammed a People's Consultative Assembly working group for trying to draft constitutional amendments, which they claim were laden with political interests, without proper public scrutiny.
The Civil Society Coalition for a Constitutional Commission, in a statement here on Wednesday, charged that the working group was, without transparency, deliberately conducting an amendment of the 1945 Constitution.
The Coalition claimed that public participation on the amendments was deliberately being impeded. The current amendments being drafted are due to be brought before the Assembly's annual session in August.
The Coalition pointed out that the working group had established a Team of Experts as both justification and rubber stamp to show that these proposals had been reviewed, in order to push the amendments through without public scrutiny.
Without specifying the controversial draft articles, the Coalition, in their statement, said that their previous proposal in February to establish a Constitutional Commission to draft a new constitution had been rejected by an Ad hoc Committee of the working group. This was despite the fact that it had full authority to carry out the drafting in a transparent and participative manner.
Instead, the Ad hoc Committee established a limited Team of Experts to give their opinions on the draft. However, the scope of this new Team is severely limited and has been given a tight deadline of March 29 to give their opinions on the draft.
When the Team of Experts on Tuesday proposed they be given greater authority to draft a new constitution, this was also rejected by the Ad hoc Committee.
"In short, with the limited authority and time given, the Team of Experts is merely being used as a tool to legitimize the Assembly's work as if the Assembly had tried to conduct amendments in an objective manner," the Coalition said. The Coalition comprises 17 NGOs which include the Center for Electoral Reform, the Independent Election Monitoring Committee, Indonesian Corruption Watch, the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association and the Indonesian Forum for the Environment.
"How can the most basic and fundamental principles and laws of the nation state be drafted under a cloak of secrecy and without public participation?" the Coalition asserted.
In a three-point conclusion the Coalition asserted their rejection of amendments conducted by the Assembly and demanded that the forthcoming Assembly session establish a new Constitutional Commission with full authority to draft a new constitution.
They further called on the Team of Experts to withdraw any support and participation from the Assembly's Working Group.
Jakarta Post - March 22, 2001
Jakarta -- The House of Representatives approved on Wednesday the establishment of an ad hoc court to try human rights abuses related to the 1984 Tanjung Priok incident and East Timor in 1999.
In a plenary session presided over by Deputy Speaker Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno, the House insisted that the special trial was needed to prevent international intervention in the two cases.
"The two human rights abuse cases have attracted the attention of both the national and international communities. The cases should be solved immediately in order to prevent intervention by outsiders," Soetardjo said in his speech marking the House's endorsement.
Based on the National Commission on Human Rights' investigation, the Attorney General's Office is conducting a formal probe into the two human rights violation cases.
"We need to act quickly in establishing the ad hoc trial as we have a certain time limit to try cases of past violence," Soetardjo said.
Another point underlined by the House was that a similar trial should be set up for the pro-Indonesian militia who committed crimes against humanity toward the East Timorese people.
Mounting pressure forced the government to ratify Law No. 26/2000 on Human Rights Abuse trials on 23 November 2000 in a bid to address various human rights violations which occurred during the New Order regime.
The national human rights body (Komnas HAM) implicated last year former Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Wiranto and four other military and police generals plus 28 civilians in the East Timor debacle in 1999.
The dossiers of the 33 people were submitted to the Attorney General's Office on January 31, 2000, but up until now there has been no significant progress made in the investigation conducted by the office, despite the fact that it had named several people, excluding Wiranto, as suspects. Wiranto lost his post as the coordinating minister for political and security affairs following the Komnas HAM's investigation.
Human rights abuses in East Timor have placed Indonesia under huge international pressure, with an international tribunal proposed to try the generals implicated in the case.
On the Tanjung Priok violence which erupted in 1984, the Komnas HAM revealed that the incident killed 33 people, but the identity of 14 victims remained unknown. The rights body also reported that a Chinese-Indonesian family of eight and their servant were burned to death when their house was set on fire during the unrest. The Attorney General's Office is expected to complete the report of its investigation into the Tanjung Priok case next month.
The House Commission II deputy chairman Ferry Mursyidan Baldan said the government could establish the ad hoc trial and determine the format of the trial. "We did not set any deadline for the government, but I think they can begin the trial as soon as possible," Ferry said after the session.
Jakarta Post - March 21, 2001
Jakarta -- The South Jakarta District Court handed down a guilty verdict to the former deputy chairman of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) Sapuan on Tuesday, sentencing him to two years in jail for his part in a Rp 35 billion (US$3.5 million) scandal that allegedly involved President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid.
The judges said that the defendant was found guilty of abusing his power in embezzling the funds belonging to Yanatera, the employees' foundation of Bulog. The sentence was harsher than the 18-month jail term demanded by the prosecutors.
According to the verdict, Sapuan, 67, had issued several notes for the Yanatera executive chairman Mulyono and treasurer Yacob Ishak to give the money to Alip Agung Suwondo, President Wahid's masseur, on two occasions. The first Rp 10 billion was disbursed on January 13, 2000, and Rp 25 billion on January 25.
Sapuan approved the withdrawal of the money because Suwondo told him that the President had ordered him to borrow it for humanitarian aid in Aceh. Suwondo is now facing trial in a similar case at the North Jakarta District Court.
The House of Representatives last month issued a memorandum to censure President Abdurrahman for his alleged involvement in the scandal and another financial scam, Bruneigate. The President insists that he is innocent.
Mulyono had testified in Sapuan's trial that he had objected to the withdrawal of the Rp 25 billion because Suwondo had not returned the first Rp 10 million, but the defendant insisted on the disbursement of the funds which he believed to be personally requested by President Abdurrahman for the purpose of humanitarian aid for Aceh.
The panel of judges, consisting of presiding judge Lalu Mariyun and Rusman Dani Ahmad and A. Munawir, blamed Sapuan for never seeking confirmation from the President regarding Suwondo's request. The prosecutors failed to summon the President to hear his clarification of the matter.
In handing down the verdict, the court considered three aggravating factors: that the defendant kept on denying the crimes despite the evidence to prove his guilt, that the case had raised national problems and controversy and that some of the money had yet to be returned to the state.
Among the mitigating factors in the decision were that Sapuan had lost his job at the agency, that he had not personally benefited financially from the crimes and that he had served for a long time at Bulog.
In a later development, after the facts of the case were revealed, several people, including Suwondo's wife and businesswoman Siti Farika, a friend of Gus Dur, returned the money.
Sapuan, who had been detained for five months since May last year but is now under city arrest, said he would appeal to the higher court.
Sapuan's lawyer Mohamad Assegaf said it was not fair that the judges blamed his client for the recent national problems, the unrest and demonstrations related to the Buloggate affair.
"It's a pity the President had missed the opportunity to clarify his role to the court. That's how all this controversy started," he added.
Meanwhile, legal expert Frans Hendra Winarta told The Jakarta Post said that the verdict on Sapuan may stop the current investigation on Buloggate, since the judges did not mention that the case inflicted losses to the state.
"It's only an embezzlement case and not corruption as people had thought all this time. However, prosecutors and the police should not stop the investigation of the case. Anybody mentioned in the case should be summoned to give further clarification and they should not object since there is nobody above the law."
Straits Times - March 21, 2001
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman has denied he was given a deadline by President Abdurrahman Wahid to bring major corruption cases to trial by the end of the month or face the sack.
He told reporters Mr Abdurrahman assured him about his post in a telephone conversation shortly after reports here quoted the Indonesian leader -- and later presidential spokesman Wimar Witoelar -- saying that Mr Marzuki would be replaced if he failed to act.
The President had said in an interview with Australian journalists on Monday that he was under pressure to replace Mr Marzuki for failing to bring several political figures to trial for corruption and human-rights abuses.
"I said to the Attorney-General that he has until the end of this month to detain three important people. If not, then I will replace him," he said.
According to a transcript of the interview, he added that "only through this way can I make him work harder". The President's comments were then reiterated by Mr Witoelar.
But Mr Marzuki hit back almost immediately. He told reporters of the assurance he received from the President, and blasted Mr Witoelar for having "twisted the announcement from the results of an evaluation ... on the prospects of law enforcement in Indonesia".
He added that the presidential spokesman had also created the impression that there was a "political problem over the relations between the Attorney-General and the President".
While there was no indication as to which "important people" should be jailed, Mr Marzuki has been criticised for failing to put former President Suharto and his fugitive son Tommy behind bars.
Others here have suggested that the people in question are the President's political enemies, particularly members of the Golkar Party who backed a move in Parliament last month to impeach Mr Abdurrahman.
Observers noted that several high profile Suharto-era politicians like Parliament Speaker Akbar Tandjung and ex-minister Ginandjar Kartasasmita -- along with eldest Suharto daughter Siti Hardiyanti Tutut Rukmana -- have recently been named as suspects by the A-G's Office in order to pressurise the President's opponents.
They suggested that Golkar was targeted as part of the President's strategy to gain public sympathy as a reformist leader trying to fight Suharto-era forces allegedly plotting to overthrow him.
Analysts also said that while the President's reported deadline was unreasonable, Mr Marzuki -- himself a leading Golkar member -- may also have been trying to protect his political future and is thus reluctant to prosecute fellow party members.
But Golkar politicians like Mr Fahmi Idris said that the Attorney-General had not made much headway in resolving the hundreds of corruption cases because of his boss.
"Mr Marzuki hesitates because he is not sure if Gus Dur is serious about cracking down on corruption, collusion and nepotism. He only points out his enemies while he protects his friends," Mr Fahmi claimed.
Detik - March 19, 2001
DS Buwana, Yogie AN/Hendra & Heather, Jakarta -- Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Baharuddin Lopa has admitted that many judges use money to win court cases. It's no surprise when the matter of win or lose is not determined by who is right or wrong, but decided by money.
Many court cases have been won by the people who have big capital or a lot of money. That's true, I have already promised to change these judges' attitudes. I won't say how many but a tendency is there," Lopa told the press at Merdeka palace, Monday.
According to Lopa, Judges found to be involved in such practices would be transferred. "At the very least they will lose their post [as judge]," Lopa explained.
Jakarta Post - March 20, 2001
Jakarta -- After being questioned for four hours by police over an alleged land scam, House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung on Monday insisted that he was innocent, while maintaining that he would not file a counter-suit against his nephews, who lodged the police complaint.
"I feel I have done no wrong, but I will not sue, because these are family matters. The people who filed the complaint against me are my own nephews ... whatever the reason [for filing the complaint], they are still biologically linked to me," Akbar told reporters at the National Police Detectives Headquarters, adding that he had been asked 22 questions in the four-hour police questioning, which began at 10 a.m. "Besides, I was questioned only as a witness."
The police complaint filed by Akbar's nephews Kurnia Ananda, Taufik Ananda and Indra Ananda, allege that Akbar had forged the land titles to 23 hectares of land in the Srengseng subdistrict of Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta.
The consent of President Abdurrahman Wahid to question the House Speaker was granted on March 12. Police have so far questioned three witnesses in the case, including Kurnia Ananda.
The land, owned by Akbar's elder brother Dato Usman Zahiruddin, was sold by Akbar to, among other purchasers, the city administration for use as a public park.
When asked on Monday if Akbar had received Rp 400 million (US$40,000) for the land sale from Bob Sugiarto -- a contractor named by the city government to acquire the land for a city park -- Akbar did not answer clearly, stressing only that he had given his answer to the police.
"For the substance of the case, it is better if you [reporters] ask the police. Till now, I don't feel I have committed any wrong," Akbar said.
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.
Separately, Akbar's lawyer Atmajaya Salim, who arrived at the office of the National Police Detectives before Akbar, insisted that his client was innocent and said that the lawsuit was already statute-barred.
Earlier, Atmajaya, who is from the Soekanto Salim and Associates law firm, said that the land dispute took place between 1983 and 1994 and a suit 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 authority to decide on the acquisition of the land," Atmajaya said.
ABC News - March 18, 2001
The human rights group, Amnesty International, says arbitrary executions, arrests, torture and poor treatment have continued in Indonesia.
Amnesty plans to highlight human rights abuses in Indonesia when the United Nations Human Rights Commission begins its annual session on Monday in Geneva.
Amnesty says the abuses are worst in Aceh and West Papua, also known as Irian Jaya, where separatist movements have caused violence.
Amnesty will ask the commission to send investigators on torture and extra-judiciary executions to the two districts.
The organisation is also lobbying the commission to establish an international penal court to judge those accused of human rights abuses in East Timor, both before and after the self- determination referendum of August 1999.
| News & issues |
Jakarta Post - March 24, 2001
Jakarta -- President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid has decided to cancel a long time planned trip to Australia and New Zealand, citing pressing domestic problems.
"Mr. President has decided that he will postpone his visits to Australia and New Zealand until a further timetable is mutually agreed on between the countries," Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab said here Saturday.
"The president sees that he needs to focus on the many internal problems this country is facing," Shihab told reporters after an informal meeting of top cabinet ministers.
The President was scheduled to leave for Australia on April 4 for a four-day visit and continue to travel to New Zealand.
Alwi said that he had already conveyed the postponement to Australia's ambassador, Ric Smith, and said he would be talking to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer later in the day.
"We are asking for the understanding of the Australian government that this postponement has absolutely nothing to do with the bilateral relationship between the two countries," Alwi said as quoted by AFP news agency.
According to Alwi, the President would personally inform Australian Prime Minister John Howard of the change in plans.
Straits Times - March 20, 2001
Jakarta -- Journalists in Indonesia faced "constant scrutiny and frequent threat" from security forces, rebels and mobs as they reported on the nation's rocky transition from a dictatorship to a democracy, the Committee to Protect Journalists said yesterday.
The New York-based group said in its global survey of press freedom that there were 118 cases of attacks and threats against journalists in Indonesia last year.
The report said that despite calls by President Abdurrahman Wahid for the press to be unshackled after three decades of repression under former President Suharto, force was still being used against journalists.
Official restrictions against the media were eased after Mr Suharto was forced from office in 1998. Mr Abdurrahman also got rid of the Information Ministry which used to keep tabs on the media.
However, the President's own followers attacked a newspaper office after it published a critical report about him. The paper had to be closed down for a day.
The survey said that journalists covering a separatist war in Indonesia's westernmost Aceh province had frequently been subjected to threats and intimidation from both the military and the insurgents.
In the Maluku islands, where Christians and Muslims have been fighting each other, journalists of each faith have had no access to the other side, making it impossible to provide balanced coverage of the violence.
Jakarta Post - March 20, 2001
Jakarta -- The city police and the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) reached an agreement on Monday to respect each other's rights following a controversial attack on the lawyers' office last week.
LBH deputy director Daniel Panjaitan said after a meeting with the city police's deputy chief Brig. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara that the police would honor "LBH integrity" by avoiding arbitrary searches and raids on the LBH office.
Police broke into the office on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta last Wednesday and arrested 14 people inside whom they accused of inciting a mass brawl pitting Student Executive Board (BEM) activists demanding President Abdurrahman Wahid step down and their rivals demanding Golkar's dissolution.
"The police promised they would no longer make arbitrary raids on our office and arrest people in case of a mass brawl occurring nearby," Daniel said. He said Makbul admitted that the attack was wrong but justified it as "an attempt to calm the BEM supporters who were emotional." The clash broke out as BEM activists were marching towards their base at the University of Indonesia campus in Salemba, Central Jakarta.
A group of people reportedly tossed molotov cocktails at the marching students near the LBH office. The attackers were believed to be hiding inside the building.
Daniel denied allegations that the attackers took shelter at his office. "All but one of the people arrested by the police were our clients who were consulting with us about their cases," Daniel said.
BEM activists went to the city police on Friday to hand over dozens of molotov cocktails they claimed were to have been used by the rival group to attack them. Daniel said that if the BEM failed to produce witnesses in connection with the attack, the case should be closed.
Separately, activists from the Democratic People's Party, National Student Movement League and several other student groups issued a joint-statement demanding the police investigate the alleged attack on the BEM students in a fair and impartial manner.
Jakarta Post - March 19, 2001
[This articles on protected crime by Dr Tim Lindsey, Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Asian Law Centre at the University of Melbourne in Australia was published in two parts, the second appearing on March 20.]
Melbourne -- The toughs, or preman, were central to the illegal systems of violence and corruption by which the New Order operated. But look in any shopping mall or city park: they are still here and they still have their hands in your pocket.
Derived from the Dutch for "free man" and originally used to refer to irregular or demobilized soldiers, the term preman came to mean bandit and then gangster or, more commonly, standover man. Today, preman or, in their own slang, jawara, are the toughs found throughout Indonesia who extort illegal rents from people living or carrying on a business in territory they have "won" by fighting and defeating other preman.
Even pickpockets working a demo feel obliged to pay the local jawara a tenth of their take. Under Soeharto's New Order, state officials protected street-level preman through a system known as dekking or bekking ("backing").
Rival criminal "gang" structures linked political and business elites through the military to preman. Sometimes these gangs mutated into private armies or militias linked to political and business leaders.
The "backing" system gives preman state protection. It also forces them to pay their own dues. Having extracted their rent from citizens, they in turn pay rents to government representatives, usually members of the military or police, in return for the right to operate.
A typical approach to creating "backing" mechanisms has been for government or military associates to create formal youth groups or work-related associations as bases for criminal gangs. In Medan, for instance, the army-created anti-communist youth gang, Pemuda Pancasila (PP), and a splinter group, Ikatan Pemuda Karya (IPK), contest access to standover rents in the city's markets. Despite PP's dekking by the police mobile brigade, IPK now seems to have gained control of important political posts.
The dekking system operated outside the law but often overlapped official, formal structures of state. Invariably, it subverted any state structures with which it came into contact. And eventually it permeated virtually every aspect of public life under the New Order, from contracting to law enforcement to narcotics -- and even the operation of public transport.
The Tanah Abang Microlet network, for example, was run for years by the local government and police as a mafia-style protection racket.
The post-Soeharto reformasi era succeeded in publicly identifying the essential criminality of many state systems and in some cases forced the state to close down the more public and outrageous "rackets" like Tommy Soeharto's clove monopoly. It failed, however, failed to achieve real systemic change.
In many cases, rackets pushed out of the state's systems have been "privatized". New Order-approved gangsters now operate now as covert enemies of the government.
An ironic consequence of this is that it is now much more difficult for the state to control preman activity because the state is no longer the "boss".
This is one of the reasons for the surge in violence across the archipelago since Soeharto. Militia activity in Eastern Indonesia, standover violence by so-called "Islamic" groups against nightclubs and discos in urban centers and the rise of vigilantism in Jakarta.
All of these can be seen in part at least as responses to a weakening of state control over preman groups, resulting in violent battles over territory and attempts to find for new sources of income.
Of course, the current violence across the archipelago is also part of a pattern of violence between Indonesians that the American scholar James Siegel has described as "an intermittent civil war", usually involving violent state action.
It can be seen in events in Aceh and Timor and can be traced back through events like the recent "ninja" killings of suspected practioners of black magic; the state-ordained shootings of alleged criminals (petrus); the 1984 Tanjung Priok shootings of Muslims in Jakarta, the massacre of more than a million "leftists" in the mid-1960s, the PRRI-Permesta rebellions in Sumatra and Sulawesi; and so on, back to the revolution in the 1940s.
Just as the events reach back to the revolution, so too does the political ideology that justifies the state acting so often and so harshly against its own citizens.
The 1945 Constitution adopted Raden Soepomo's idea of the integralistic state, portraying the relationship between the Indonesian state and its people as one of total unity.
Soepomo was adopting the same "legal romanticism" that the Nazis relied on, only in Indonesia the ideas of volk (people) and fuhrer (father, leader) were filtered though Dutch jurisprudence.
If the state and the people are one -- "there can be no difference between the State and the people", Soepomo said -- then it follows that the state is infallible and above the law. This means that if something goes wrong, it must be a result not of bad policy but of sabotage and betrayal by enemies of state, who are thus enemies of the people: outlaws. The state is therefore entitled to act beyond the law and with extreme violence to protect the people and, by extension, itself.
Under the New Order extra-legal violence to defend the interests of the state -- or rather, the crony elite who ran it -- became so pervasive that only a widespread acceptance of imminent crisis could make it tolerable.
This means that the regime had to become a "state of insecurity", creating a fear of invisible and nameless subversives on the verge of toppling the Republic.
The quintessence of this genre was the notion of "organizations without form" (organisasi tanpa bentuk, OTB) that had to be destroyed by aggressive force in order to maintain the union between state and people.
The state's obsession with OTB was, of course, directed at the political left, but official insecurity went much wider than increasingly unbelievable claims of secret Communist conspiracies.
For example, Soeharto claimed the petrus (acronym of mysterious shootings) killings of the tattooed "wild street youths" (gali, or gabungan anak liar) on his orders were required as "therapy" to protect the people from criminals who threatened public order.
Carried out by disguised members of the military who left the corpses with multiple bullet shots or stab wounds in streets and rivers, the executions were an attempt to appropriate the power of preman by asserting that the state was the only institution that could go beyond the limits of the law.
Although the state has rarely experienced real limits on its authority, it is clear that it emerged from these events as the unchallenged possessor of lawless power -- the mediator of violence.
In order to transform the power derived from its violence into wealth, the New Order consciously created a parallel "secret" state to ensure elite access to illegal or extra-legal rents; and it was through this system that business and administration were really carried out.
The degree of this bureaucratic system of "secret" corruption and state-managed violence was exposed by the extraordinary evidence given by a local manpower ministry official at the murder trial of labor activist Marsinah.
He testified that, despite the existence of a formal industrial relations system, labor disputes in the Sidoarjo region where Marsinah had worked were in fact conducted through a secret network of government, military and employer representatives known as the Sidoarjo Intelligence System.
Run by the local office of the ministry of manpower, its purpose was to coordinate the exchange of favors between military and employers to ensure intimidation of workers. Identical networks existed throughout the nation, he added.
The New Order state was thus a standover operation offering protection (against "wild street youth" or communists, for example) and meting out punishment in the form of brutality, as with Marsinah, who was killed in May 1993. This is also the case with the August 1996 murder of the journalist Fuad M. Syafruddin.
This was not simply an example of a powerful, centralist state committed to economic development, whatever the cost. On the contrary, the New Order state's quest for illegal rents for the elite often took place even if it impeded development, as evidenced by the Timor national car fiasco or the Busang/Bre-X goldmine scandal.
Development occurred not principally for ideological reasons or in response to the market but rather at elite direction to fund Soeharto's corrupt "franchise" system.
Again, this tradition of the state as the ultimate illicit rent- seeker can be traced back to the revolution. The anti-colonial forces -- whether the republican government, its armed forces or the civilian defense groups (lasykar) militias and bandit forces -- required funds to continue their opposition to the Dutch. This funding frequently came from raising rents on trading within areas under Indonesian control.
It was here that the roots of the New Order business-military alliance began -- through such alliances as military commander Soeharto's financial arrangements with Sudomo Salim.
These corrupt alliances have existed for as long as the Indonesian state, but really began to flourish after the military-backed killings of 1965-1966 removed any substantial political opposition to the military.
The romantic integralistic state envisaged by the 1945 Constitution was thus fragile from the start. All that was needed to facilitate its transformation into a preman state was the Constitution's imagined "benevolent father" to be substituted by a wicked stepfather: Soeharto.
The prevalence of private or state-sanctioned brutality understandably leads to a common perception that every aspect of the entire state system is unremittingly criminal.
This manifests in the common attitude of absolute cynicism towards any form of authority; an assumption of the worst in any assessment of government actions; the proliferation of widely accepted conspiracy theories; and an expectation of violence as the state's response to any crisis.
In late November last year, for example this lack of faith in the legal system led to the death of Sugeng Riyanto in Magelang, Central Java, when a riot broke out after a judge sentenced an alleged murderer to death.
The crowd was not protesting against the sentence -- they were angry because they were not permitted to see the execution take place on the spot and thus assumed that the judge was bribed to help the prisoner escape. The continuing Tommy Soeharto sage doubtless fed their anger.
The expectation of corruption becomes a vicious circle. Police -- who know that everyone believes they routinely steal confiscated goods or take protection money -- have little incentive not to do so.
Likewise, if civilians believe that the state lies and is implicated in violence and crime, then why shouldn't they do the same? There is, of course, justification for many of the conspiracy theories implicating the state and former elite in corruption and violence.
Like the "formless organizations" of the New Order, however, the new bogeyman -- the Soeharto family or their close associates -- are imagined to be behind absolutely everything that goes wrong.
The almost paranoid fear of illegal semi-secret activities against citizens by the state has moved beyond reason to become a pervasive expectation.
The protests and demands of reformasi initially forced the state apparatus to act against some of the preman, but this appears to have been short-lived. The preman are back again. However, the increasing poverty brought on by the economic crisis has brought with it a backlash and a growth in anti-preman vigilantism.
The weakening of state control and the loss of direction among the military since Soeharto's fall have both diminished control over the "masses" and weakened protection for preman.
Attacks on preman have increased markedly over the last year in Jakarta. There are no official figures, but Indonesian newspapers are full of reports every day, and Jakarta's Cipto Mangunkusomo hospital recently even set up a special unit to handle vigilante casualties.
Unraveling the New Order system of violence and corruption -- which dates back not to 1966 but to 1957, when Sukarno suspended democratic processes -- is not something that can be done quickly or easily.
Abdurrahman Wahid's government is an amalgam of competing interests, many of them committed to the old system. The President thus has only limited ability to control the state apparatus and can offer little guarantee of the proper functioning of the legal system.
He has almost no ability to effectively prevent or punish violence or corruption through legal or political measures, as the continuing freedom of Tommy Soeharto and his father demonstrate. There can be little hope of any roll-back of the sophisticated preman system built by Tommy's father, Indonesia's "Godfather".
Associated Press - March 18, 2001
Jakarta -- About 500 Muslim protesters sacrificed two goats in downtown Jakarta Saturday demanding the government clamp down on student activists that they claimed were intent on turning Indonesia into a communist state.
The demonstrators, dressed in white Islamic robes, burned communist flags and disrupted traffic as they called for the disbandment of several student groups that have in the past demanded ex-dictator Suharto be tried for alleged corruption.
The protesters claimed the students were communists and were using their call for Suharto to be prosecuted as an excuse to disrupt daily life in the capital and thus make a communist takeover possible.
There have been several violent anti-Suharto protests in the past year. The student groups describe themselves as democratic and say they have only one aim, which is to see Suharto jailed.
Communism has been banned in Indonesia ever since an abortive 1965 coup attempt that Suharto blamed on communist forces. As many as 500,000 leftists and others were slaughtered in an army- sponsored massacre that followed the failed coup.
South China Morning Post - March 19, 2001
Vaudine England, Jakarta -- The once-reformist President Abdurrahman Wahid, who has been taking frequent pot-shots at the media, has begun pressing the state-owned television station TVRI to produce positive news.
Reports that could be seen as damaging to the President could soon disappear from the screen, an unnamed news editor at the station told Tempo magazine. "TVRI was also asked to broadcast news which would cool down the political situation," the news editor said.
The "situation" referred to is that of a fractious Parliament looking to impeach Mr Wahid over a series of alleged corruption scandals against a backdrop of intensifying violence in the capital and regions.
New, larger demonstrations are planned by both pro- and anti- Wahid groups for tomorrow, amid threats from Mr Wahid that tens of thousands of supporters of his Banser paramilitary organisation from East Java were heading towards Jakarta.
The shifting sands of elite politics in Jakarta mean the options for anyone daring to tackle Mr Wahid are perilous: his supporters' threats and his own statements show that he is prepared to fight rough.
His Vice-President and probable successor, Megawati Sukarnoputri, is moving away from Mr Wahid in subtly judged public manoeuvres, but has not yet taken a firm lead.
Mr Wahid is expected to deliver a reply to Parliament's censure this week. Parliamentarians say that if his reply is unsatisfactory, as they expect it to be, the House of Representatives will issue a second censure that would leave Mr Wahid just one month away from a full parliamentary session that could vote him out of office.
That special session was one subject now deemed off-limits to TVRI staff, sources said, and instructions to this effect were delivered by Mr Wahid during a recent meeting with TVRI managing director Chaerul Zen.
"Our media always reports negative things about me, whereas the truth is far from that," Mr Wahid said. He maintained he could take the personal slights. "I am willing to be a martyr of the democratisation process," he said. But his comments to TVRI suggest the message was that bad coverage might inflame the passions of his supporters.
Banser members have trashed newspaper offices when coverage has not been to their liking. After violence was visited on the Surabaya-based Jawa Pos last year, the newspaper apologised and made contributions to a mosque-building project. Then, Mr Wahid backed his violent supporters rather than press freedom.
TVRI used to be the only television channel in Indonesia and routinely broadcast government propaganda throughout the Suharto years. Reforms that followed Suharto's fall, and the growth of independent TV stations, moved TVRI into more open journalism, which may now be under threat once more.
| Environment/health |
Jakarta Post - March 20, 2001
Charlie Pye-Smith, Tarakan, East Kalimantan -- You can't hear the chain saws in Tarakan harbor, but their handiwork is plain to see.
Vast quantities of round logs, felled in the rain forests of East Kalimantan, await shipment to Malaysia and elsewhere. Not long ago most of the timber here came from large-scale concessions to the west of Malinau, a frontier town over 100 kilometers upstream from Tarakan. But an increasing quantity now comes from small- scale logging permits.
The idea of communities and district governments having greater control over the forests may be admirable, but research undertaken by the Bogor-based Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) suggests that these logging permits, though individually small, could lead to a massive loss of forest.
"The problem is likely to accelerate and worsen," warned social scientist Lini Wollenberg, who is working with Dayak communities in one of Borneo's last great expanses of lowland forest.
Wollenberg believes that the difficulties of law enforcement, and the large profits to be made from clear-cutting, mean that district governments and many communities are ignoring the long- term implications of forest destruction. They need the income, but can they afford to lose the forests?
For centuries the rain forests of East Kalimantan have provided the Dayaks with almost all their needs, and for many the sole source of income still comes from collecting eaglewood, a much- prized incense.
"We don't want the forests to disappear," said Emang Mering, subdistrict leader of Pulau Sapi, a village on a tributary of the Malinau River. "We depend on them for hunting and many other things." But he swiftly added that everyone in the village wanted to raise their standard of living. Recently, a logging company offered Rp 200 million for the right to clear-cut 3,000 hectares of forest. The community accepted. They will lose part of their forest, but the financial gains -- for some -- will be considerable.
As part of the move toward regional autonomy, Indonesia's district leaders can now grant IPPKs, permits for the exploitation of the forest, and an array of other permits to fell timber on land claimed by local communities.
Indeed, they are under considerable pressure to generate new sources of revenue as allocations from the national government are being severely curtailed under the new autonomy laws. The speed with which the permits are being granted is astonishing. So far 28 permits, covering some 30,000 hectares, have been granted in Malinau district alone since April 2000.
Although communities are supposed to file requests for IPPKs with the regent, who acts as the district leader, it seems to be the investors, mostly logging companies seeking new sources of timber, who are driving the process. In return for the right to fell timber they offer a package deal. Sometimes they contribute toward the construction of a public building. They generally promise to hire villagers during the felling operations.
And they always agree to pay a royalty, on average Rp 15,000 to 40,000/m3. The districts also receive an area-based fee of Rp 200,000/ha and a volume-based royalty of Rp 15,000/m3.
"These fees represent a very small fraction of the commercial value of the timber downstream," says CIFOR policy scientist Chris Barr, who is researching the impact of decentralization in Malinau district. In East Kalimantan red meranti and other dipterocarp trees are selling for around Rp 500,000 to Rp 600,000/m3, a relatively low price by historic standards.
Profits
In Malaysia, where much of the timber from Malinau goes, log prices are assumed to be higher. Of course, the investors must pay to log and transport the timber, and they must provide what are euphemistically termed "informal payments" to local officials, but they still make handsome profits.
Analysis of existing IPPKs in Malinau suggests that the fees are going to a relatively small number of people, often just to village leaders and favored individuals whose names are assigned to each 100-hectare block. According to Wollenberg, there is frequently no consultation process, and villagers are often unaware of the deals made by their leaders.
"All the same," she conceded, "many people believe that any benefits, however small, are an improvement on the past, when they received almost nothing from large-scale timber concessions." However, selective logging, as was prescribed by forestry concessions known by their Indonesian acronym HPH, often leaves large areas of standing forest, which provides hunting grounds, food and other products.
With IPPKs, the forests are completely razed. Investors often promise to replant logged areas with crops like rattan, pepper and coffee, but many people fear that little or no replanting will happen.
A recent study of saw mills in three districts in East Kalimantan found that nearly all were operating illegally, either because they lacked permits, or because they relied on illegal logging. Many of the companies which supply them have now taken advantage of the IPPK system.
"Prior to this," said researcher Krystof Obidzinski, "most logging companies were operating illegally. Now, not only do the IPPKs provide them with a new source of timber, they also legitimize their operations." Barr believes that the IPPKs are enabling companies to bring heavy machinery into the area, something they would have found hard to justify before. Between April and October 2000, the number of timber-extracting machines in Malinau district doubled to over 400.
"Most of it is being shipped in by Malaysian investors, and industry officials in the region have reported that the volume is far in excess of what they need to log the areas thus far allocated under IPPK permits," Barr said.
Political patronage During Soeharto's New Order period, the central government used timber concessions as a form of political patronage. The indications are that a similar process is now taking place at the district level.
"Local officials, if they want to retain power, need the backing of the business elites, who are often involved in logging," Barr said. In return for permits, officials secure the support they need to stay in office.
This goes some way toward explaining why many districts are interpreting the laws so broadly and granting IPPKs -- in effect, clear-cutting permits -- for areas the central government has designated as permanent forest estate, intended either for total protection or rotational felling. This has already brought investors into conflict with the state forestry enterprise, Inhutani II.
There are also growing signs of tension in Malinau district. In Setarap, villagers mounted a protest when the investor failed to employ them, as had been promised. In Adiu, they halted work as the investor failed to make an up-front payment. A company which had an agreement with one village carved its access road through the old swidden fields of another, destroying fruits and timber trees. And communities which have refused to cooperate with investors have reportedly been subjected to intimidation. In the meantime, the chain saws keep whirring.
Wollenberg believes there is an urgent need to raise local awareness about the threats to the forests, and the fact that most of the financial gains are accruing to relatively few people. In Pulau Sapi, Emang Mering agrees that villagers need to think of the long-term consequences of felling forests. "But it's hard when people are being offered big lumps of money," he added.
CIFOR scientists also suggest that districts, together with the communities and technical agencies, need to determine in a transparent way exactly where the permanent forests estate should be. They also advocate that logging companies should be required to lodge a bond as a guarantee that they will pay the correct fees and replant logged areas.
For these measures to work, policymakers need to reexamine, and agree on, appropriate roles and responsibilities among district, provincial and national agencies. "Otherwise, decentralization may accelerate the loss of Indonesia's forests," Wollenberg said.
[The writer is a consultant science writer at CIFOR.]
| Economy & investment |
Straits Times - March 20, 2001
Robert Go, Jakarta -- International aid agencies are slowing down lending to Jakarta and will link future loans to improved reforms and government performance. The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) became the latest major lender to offer a reduced package when it announced late last week that Indonesia could get between US$600 million and US$1.2 billion per year over the next three years.
That amount is a far cry from the US$1.8 billion the bank committed to the country in 1998, and the US$1.5 billion in 1999.
The ADB also specified that approval of additional low-interest loans would depend on better poverty-reduction, anti-corruption and decentralisation measures from Jakarta.
Mr Jan van Heeswijk, director of the bank's mission here, said: "The ADB would be flexible and responsive to the country's changing political and economic conditions ... However, without improved governance, ADB's programmes will not have a sustainable impact on poverty."
The ADB's move mirrored the World Bank's current strategy for Indonesia, which was unveiled in late February and proposed a base loan programme of up to US$400 million per year. This is less than a third of the past few years' average of US$1.5 billion.
A source at the World Bank told The Straits Times yesterday that US$400 million is "realistic and is in line with the government's own efforts to reduce its debt levels".
"If better governance happens and if performance improves, the World Bank is willing to increase its commitment to US$1 billion per year," he added.
Several economists agreed that the government should reduce and control its debt exposure. But they also indicated that Indonesia still needs substantial international support in order to provide even the most basic social-service programmes for its 210 million people, nearly 50 per cent of whom are vulnerable to poverty.
The real reason behind the loan cutbacks, these experts argued, was that the aid agencies had little confidence left in the government and its policies.
University of Indonesia economist Dr Sri Mulyani said: "The international agencies are becoming more concerned about the instability, the direction of policy, and the ability of the government to manage."
Dr Sri Adiningsih, chairman of University of Gadjah Mada's economic programme added: "It makes sense that the World Bank and the ADB would want to reduce their exposure and risk. The situation here is not improving fast enough."
The International Monetary Fund, which has forwarded in excess of US$8 billion to Indonesia during the last three years and currently has a US$5 billion loan programme in place, may also be showing similar concerns.
The Fund delayed the disbursement of its US$400 million loan instalment last December and despite the Indonesian government's assurances that negotiations are going well, there is no clear sign yet that the money will be released soon. "It is becoming harder to justify continuing to give huge loans to Indonesia," Dr Sri Adiningsih said.
Straits Times - March 19, 2001
Jakarta -- The United States business community here said it would not withdraw its investments in Indonesia, despite current worries over political uncertainty in the country.
"However, the security and political situation also means it is unlikely that American businesses will pour their capital into this country," said Mr James Castle, chairman of the United States-Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"Although bringing in new capital to Indonesia is difficult nowadays, existing investments will not be withdrawn," Antara quoted him as saying during a luncheon in New York on Friday.
The US is the second biggest investor in Indonesia after Japan. It has invested around US$40 billion, mostly in the mining sector.
US-based giant Exxon Mobil, which operates natural-gas fields in North Aceh, has said its fields will be reopened as soon as the security condition in the troubled region returned to normal, the Indonesian Observer reported.
Exxon Mobil said that it was forced to close the fields because of threats from the Free Aceh Movement separatist group.
Regional military commander Maj-General I.G Purnawa said the Indonesian Defence Forces would guarantee security, but added it was up to the company to decide when and where to reopen the gas fields.
The government has deployed about 2,000 troops to Aceh to protect Exxon Mobil's gas fields.