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Indonesia News Digest No
13 - March 26-31, 2001
Tempo - March 29, 2001
Jakarta -- About 30 women activists held rally at the US Embassy
on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan here today. They asked President
Bush not to support the Indonesian military (TNI) in any form,
including supporting education program for TNI officers in the
US.
The demonstrators also asked the US government not to lift
military embargo imposed since the East Timor referendum, until
TNI is no longer involved in the power play.
The women held the rally for fear of the return of the military-
with the support from the US government. According to them,
violent politics practiced by military is a latent threat to
Indonesia's civil supremacy. During the New Order era, military
were involved in murders, kidnappings, tortures and rapes of its
own people.
US President is also asked not to give a chance to the military
to return to power. Military should stick to its function to
defense the country. Consequently, territorial command system
should be abolished. According to the women, it is enough that
Indonesia had to suffer under military rule for 32 years.
President Bush is expected to support Indonesia's recovery from
multi dimensional crises by giving trust to the civil government.
US government should consistently support democracy and human
rights around the world, including Indonesia. Democracy and human
rights issue in Indonesia should be put above US economic and
geo-strategic interests.
The Indonesian women involved in the rally came from a number of
women organizations, including `Apik' Legal Aid Institute,
Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLBHI), Jakarta Legal
Aid Institute, Commission for Missing Persons & Victims of
Violence (Kontras), Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI),
Urban Poor Consortium, Indonesian Forum for the Environment
(WALHI), Bioforum, Solidarity Forum for Aceh and other NGOs.
Jakarta Post - March 30, 2001
Yogyakarta -- Some 30 students representing 12 universities in
Yogyakarta marched to the provincial legislative council on
Thursday to warn the country's political elite that the country
was in danger of disintegrating.
Claiming to belong to the All-Indonesian Students Executive Body
(BEMI), the students demanded that local legislators take their
aspirations seriously. "Our voices have been neglected by the
national and local [political] elite," said Alif Basuki, the
group's spokesman. "We are sick of the political conflict, which
only makes people poorer and poorer," he said.
BEMI is calling for a political cool down for the sake of
national unity. The students also demanded that the government
focus on policies which put the people's interest first. "The
Indonesian government should prioritize an increase in minimum
wages, cheaper education and the creation of employment
opportunities," said Alif.
BEMI also regretted the fact that some campuses had been marred
by political interests in Jakarta. "The students must not be
involved in any movements linked to politics," said Alif.
Meanwhile in Denpasar, the capital of Bali province, dozens of
Udayana University students staged a peaceful protest on Thursday
demanding, among other things, the dissolution of the Golkar
Party.
"Golkar was the backbone of the New Order regime, which did
nothing but committed corruption, damaging and exploiting the
country for 32 years. Ironically, the party has never been held
responsibility for all those things," a protester shouted.
The students made speeches and distributed leaflets to motorists
passing along Jl. Dewi Sartika. The protesters, claiming to be
members of the People's Movement Against the New Order, also
warned members of the political elite to stop their fruitless
bickering.
East Timor
Labour struggle
Aceh/West Papua
Elite power struggle
Regional/communal conflicts
Human rights/law
News & issues
International solidarity
Democratic struggle
US President urged not to support Indonesian military
Students warn of collapse
East
Timor
US court told of Timor murder
Agence France-Presse - March 29, 2001
Stephen Collinson, Washington -- An activist from East Timor tearfully told on Tuesday of his brother's murder in violence that erupted after the territory voted for independence, as a US court opened a civil trial into an Indonesian general's alleged role in the carnage.
The US District Court in Washington is trying General Johny Lumintang in absentia. He is charged with presiding over gross human rights violations against East Timor's people before and after they voted to leave Indonesia in August, 1999.
General Lumintang was vice-chief-of-staff of the army at the time of the vote, which triggered a rampage by pro-Jakarta militias who launched massacres and forced tens of thousands from their homes.
The crux of the case, brought by three East Timorese, lies in the claim that top Indonesian military officers planned and supervised the violence.
The first witness, a political activist whose name was withheld for his own safety, said his brother, also an independence advocate, was murdered by militia members and his father was shot in an attempted execution.
He recounted how he found out about his brother's death when he returned to East Timor after having fled to Bali. Relatives told him how militiamen hunted down his brother, whose identity was also withheld from the court, shooting him in the legs and stabbing him before finally cutting his throat, said the activist.
His family had later found the body buried by a river. "We found pieces of his body, fingers," he told the presiding magistrate through an interpreter.
General Lumintang, secretary-general of Indonesia's Ministry of Defence, did not appear in court and was not represented.
Detik - March 30, 2001
Rita Uli Hutapea/Heather, Jakarta -- East Timorese leader, Xanana Gusmao is unimpressed with the Indonesian government's handling of East Timor's transition to independence. He believes the donations have dried up due to the slow implementation of building projects in Timor Lorosae.
Gusmao announced this at a meeting with donor nations in East Timor. He reminded the nations not to be too unnerved wby the rate of development in Dili, East Timor's capital. He says the economic conditions of the population of that area have not much changed since the violent phase of 1999.
Gusmao's statement shocked the people of East Timor. He has resigned from his post as Chairman of the National Council on Wednesday and confirmed that his leadership in the East Timorese Resistance Movement (CNRT) will come to an end by the June 1 of this year. He has also withdrawn his candidacy from the East Timorese Presidential Election, planned for August 30.
He explained that the CNRT must end in order to allow more participation from the people and to make politics more competitive in the upcoming elections.
Gusmao made no attempt to hide his annoyance from the delegates of the 25 donor nations, "not all funds donated have been used well or appropriately," he added.
Despite this, however, Gusmao gave assurance on the political stability and maturity of the leadership in East Timor, but asked for more care in overcoming the social instability.
Gusmao also asked for aid programs to reach the Falintil guerillas -- who were once lead by Gusmao but are now the armed forces of East Timor -- who had been fighting the Indonesian government for the past quarter century. Representatives of both the World Bank and the IMF also attended the gathering as observers.
Reuters - March 30, 2001
John Ruwitch, Jakarta -- East Timor leader Xanana Gusmao will remain a key figure in the impoverished territory's painful transition to independence despite resigning as head of the de facto parliament, UN officials said on Thursday.
Gusmao quit on Wednesday in a letter to the UN representative in East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who has administered the former Portuguese colony since it voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999. As East Timor's key political figure and independence hero, Gusmao has previously used resignation threats to get his way.
"He is fully engaged in the [political] process...," said a UN official in the East Timor capital Dili who declined to be identified, adding Gusmao had retained his post as head of the National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT), the main pro- independence group.
Vieira de Mello told a meeting of international donors in Dili on Thursday he understood Gusmao's position, and said the resignation would free up the charismatic leader to focus on his grassroots work as head of CNRT.
"Now Xanana Gusmao will have more time to make sure that this process [of transition] will continue to be peaceful, balanced and responsible ... and we will prove to all sceptics that they are wrong," an aide, speaking by telephone from Dili, quoted Vieira de Mello as saying.
In November, Gusmao proposed resigning to focus on his CNRT work, but Vieira de Mello convinced him to stay on until the National Council finalised a critical electoral law, which it did in mid March.
East Timor aims to achieve formal independence at the end of 2001, two years after pro-Jakarta militias backed by the Indonesian military laid waste to the territory when it voted to break from Indonesia's harsh 23-year rule.
Tipped by some to become East Timor's first president after elections slated for August 30, Gusmao said internal squabbling in the National Council was delaying decisions on details of the constitution and sowing confusion among the population.
He added he was taking the step after the National Council on Tuesday refused to pass a regulation creating a commission that would allow for grassroots consultation before drafting a constitution for the fledgling territory. "It's important to stress that I see it as a priority, the need for engagement in this process of constitutional consultation," Vieira de Mello added.
Under plans for transition to full statehood, an estimated 400,000 eligible voters are due to elect a Constituent Assembly in the territory's first democratic elections on August 30. The assembly will then have 90 days to prepare and approve a constitution ahead of full independence set for late 2001.
Gusmao disillusioned
A political analyst in Dili said Gusmao was disillusioned with the National Council. "I think he saw [it] as a very important regulation," the analyst said.
She said many people had previously expected that Gusmao, who spent seven years in an Indonesian jail for his guerrilla activities, would not run for president in August. "But then a lot of other people say: 'Well, who else is there?' He's the only one with credibility. He's one of the only ones with the base support," she added.
The charismatic leader has no heir apparent. Gusmao, who was released from jail in Jakarta shortly before the vote for independence, had previously warned that East Timor was in danger of plunging back into political chaos.
The first UN official said Gusmao's resignation underscored the need for politicians to stop squabbling and focus on the transition to independence in East Timor, which has had little but hardship under either Portuguese or Indonesian rule.
"Maybe it is a good strong call to remind people that they shouldn't be too political at this point and that they should be very concentrated on the transition and on the preparations for the [August] election and independence," the UN official said.
Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and annexed it a year later in a move never recognised by the United Nations.
Sydney Morning Herald - March 30, 2001
Dili -- After quitting East Timor's interim legislature in a bitter row over the shape of a new constitution, independence leader Mr Xanana Gusmao yesterday announced he will not compete in the nation's first presidential election.
Mr Gusmao, who had been widely expected to assume the presidency, said: "I believe that if I could do something for this country and these people it was in a different stage of the process, the liberation struggle ... I will not run for president."
As East Timor's dominant political figure and independence hero, Mr Gusmao has used resignation threats to get his way in the past.
One United Nations official said his resignation did not mean a withdrawal from politics. "He is fully engaged in the [political] process," the official said.
East Timor's temporary UN administrator, Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, said he had accepted Mr Gusmao's resignation on Wednesday night from the National Council, East Timor's UN-controlled interim legislature, but he hoped he would change his mind.
"I do hope he will stand for elections," Mr Vieira de Mello said. "I believe he is key to stability in East Timor during the transitional phase and particularly after independence."
In his resignation letter, Mr Gusmao said the National Council -- which consists of 36 members appointed by the UN -- no longer reflects the views of the East Timorese people. "He feels he was unfairly challenged by some members of the National Council, and I agree with him," Mr Vieira de Mello said.
Mr Gusmao quit after an acrimonious debate in the legislature about the new Constitution. He appears to have been angered that his own party blocked a proposal that all East Timor's 600,000 people should be canvassed for their views.
Elections are due to be held in August for an 88-seat constituent assembly, which will replace the National Council and draw up a new Constitution.
Despite his resignation, many in the territory believe the 54- year-old leader will succumb to popular pressure and stand in the presidential election.
Nobel laureate Mr Jose Ramos Horta, who is also a council member and unofficial foreign minister, said he wasn't surprised by Mr Gusmao's move. He thought he would change his mind. Mr Gusmao resigned from the National Council in August and changed his mind the same day.
Green Left Weekly - March 28, 2001
Starting March 27, a United States court in Washington, DC, will hear evidence that Indonesian General Johnny Lumintang is responsible for gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed in East Timor. The proceeding will determine the amount of compensatory and punitive damages to be assessed against Lumintang, who is not expected to attend.
"Lawsuits like this one can help insure that those responsible for 1999's devastation of East Timor are called to account, while putting future rights abusers on notice", said John M Miller of the East Timor Action Network, which is supporting the suit. "While no substitute for an international tribunal, all available means must be used to bring justice for East Timor".
In 1999, Lumintang was the vice chief of staff of the Indonesian army. He currently serves as secretary-general of the ministry of defence.
Following the August 30, 1999 UN-organised referendum, the Indonesian military systematically destroyed East Timor, murdering at least 1500 East Timorese and destroying 70-80% of the infrastructure. Hundreds of thousands were forced from their homes. Plaintiffs who have travelled to Washington to testify in the proceedings include Aniceto das Neves, head of the advocacy division of Yayasan Hak, an East Timorese human rights organisation, and a victim of Indonesian military violence.
His father was injured and brother killed in post-election attacks.
Two other East Timorese (who, still fearful of the militia or Indonesian military, wish to remain anonymous) targeted by the Indonesian military in September 1999, during the "scorched earth" campaign following the overwhelming vote for independence from Indonesia, will also testify: a mother whose son was shot and killed, and a man who lost a foot after he was shot by an Indonesian soldier.
Lumintang was personally served notice of the civil suit on March 30, 2000, while visiting the Washington, DC area. After he failed to answer the charges, including crimes against humanity, summary execution, and torture, a judge declared Lumintang to be in default. The hearing will determine the amount of damages for the plaintiffs and the amount to be assessed against Lumintang in punitive damages.
In 1992, a judgment for $14 million was issued in a similar case against Indonesian General Sintong Panjaitan for his involvement in the November 12, 1991 Santa Cruz massacre of over 270 East Timorese.
The Lumintang lawsuit, like the Panjaitan case, is based in part on the Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789 which allows anyone, citizen or not, to sue for acts committed outside the United States "in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States". The 1992 Torture Victim Protection Act restates the 1789 law and applies it to torture victims. Lawsuits can only go forward if the defendant is served legal papers while in the US.
Green Left Weekly - March 28, 2001
Jon Land -- Chances are increasingly remote that the Indonesian legal system will bring to justice those responsible for war crimes and human rights abuses committed before, during and after East Timor's August 1999 referendum. Any trial that does take place will be little more than a whitewash.
As the political crisis within Indonesia deepens, the very criminals that coordinated the carnage in East Timor -- the top leaders of the Indonesian military and its intelligence apparatus -- are steadily regaining their former dominance.
The intensifying military repression in Aceh and West Papua by the Indonesian military, the TNI, and the renewed attacks on pro-democratic and progressive forces campaigning against Golkar, the TNI's traditional ally in parliament, does not bode well for those seeking justice for what was done in East Timor.
Nor does the staunch opposition by the civilian elite in Jakarta, including President Abdurrahman Wahid, to the trial of any significant leader of the TNI.
Wahid has already promised that if former TNI chief General Wiranto does go on trial and is found guilty, he will be pardoned.
While Wiranto was questioned by the Commission for Investigation of Violations of Human Rights in East Timor, the official body established by the Indonesian Human Rights Commission (KPP-HAM), he was not one of the 23 named by KPP-HAM in September as subjects for further investigation.
Neither is General Zacky Anwar Makarim, the former head of TNI intelligence, who is widely believed to have created the pro- Jakarta militia gangs which terrorised East Timor.
The list of 23 under investigation (now 22 following the death of one of the militia suspects) includes former local military commanders Adam Damiri and Tono Suratman and former police chief Timbul Silaen, plus the notorious militia leader Eurico Guterres. The remainder are lower-ranking officers or militia leaders.
None of their superiors have been named. Just to make sure of the safety of the army's top leaders, the Indonesian parliament took the pre-emptive constitutional amendment in August which prohibits retroactivity in prosecutions and restricts command officers' culpability for crimes against humanity.
The KPP-HAM has also faced continuous obstacles in taking the investigation to trial. The named TNI officers have a team of well-paid and influential lawyers who have used technical and obscure legal arguments to block proceedings.
There have been several protests opposing the investigation outside the Attorney-General's department, as well as bomb threats.
On March 22, the Jakarta Post reported that the house of representatives had finally approved the creation of an ad-hoc court to try human rights abuses in East Timor in 1999 and during the Tanjung Priok killings of 1984.
Deputy speaker Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno stressed that the cases needed to be solved immediately, "in order to prevent intervention by outsiders".
The "intervention" Soerjogoeritno and others are opposed to is the creation of an international war crimes tribunal for East Timor, which the United Nations has hinted it may establish if the Indonesian legal system fails in its duties.
Investigations by the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor's Serious Crimes Investigation Unit have also been seriously hampered by the intransigence of the Indonesian government.
The Wahid government has repeatedly reneged on an April memorandum agreeing to provide UNTAET information and access to those suspected of human rights abuses. It has refused an extradition order issued by UNTAET last October for Guterres and has similarly ignored the indictments of other suspects issued in December.
UNTAET investigators were able to meet with Guterres in January and March, though he declined to answer questions relating to murders he is known or suspected to have been involved in. The meeting with the UNTAET investigators, as with the minor charges Guterres has faced in Indonesian courts over the possession of weapons, was portrayed as "persecution" of a real "patriot" in much of the Indonesian media.
The establishment of an international war crimes tribunal for East Timor faces opposition from Indonesia's main Western allies also, who have repeatedly stressed their preference for Indonesia to conduct its own trials.
The United States, Britain and Australia have all expressed an interest in renewing and improving ties with the TNI -- something which would be very hard to justify if an international war crimes tribunal went ahead.
These governments also fear that an international war cimes tribunal may not be restricted to just the direct events of 1999.
If established, why should such a tribunal not investigate other massacres, like that at Santa Cruz cemetery in 1991 or the slaughter of more than 200 people from the village of Kraras in 1983?
Even more threateningly for Western powers, if such a tribunal was established, why should it not investigate the actions of those states who condoned, aided and abetted Indonesia's illegal occupation of East Timor, and who have consistently lied about the extent of their involvement?
UN News - March 27, 2001
The National Council of East Timor today voted against setting up a mechanism that would have allowed the East Timorese people to provide input to the drafting of their territory's first constitution, according to the United Nations mission there, which had supported the idea of national consultation.
"[We were] supportive of a formal consultation process, and will now look at other options," officials from the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) said in a statement issued today in Dili.
Introduced by the Standing Committee on Political Affairs, the draft regulation would have led to the establishment of national and district constitutional commissions to consult the people of East Timor at district and sub-district levels and to provide their input to the Constitution Assembly to be democratically elected on 30 August.
The regulation was defeated with five votes in favor, seven against and eight abstentions.
Aniceto Guterres, National Council representative for non- governmental organizations (NGOs), presented the motion, noting the broad support of NGOs for the proposal and its implementation.
According to UNTAET, the proposal was said to have the support of civil society in general and was backed by members of the Committee on Political Affairs, among them CNRT and National Council President Xanana Gusmao.
Meanwhile almost 35,000 East Timorese have been registered in the territory's 13 districts as of yesterday, 26 March, ten days after the process started, UNTAET said.
The total does not include Viqueque district, where registration started only this week after the violence of 12 March. In addition, some registration sites have been unable to open, in part due to accessibility problems caused by landslides.
UNTAET is also carrying out a national public information campaign on civil registration, featuring posters, leaflets, radio and TV interviews and a road show that started in Dili on 25 March.
Associated Press - March 27, 2001
Dili -- UN prosecutors in East Timor condemned on Tuesday the downgrading of charges against six people accused of killing international aid workers in West Timor in September.
On Friday, Indonesian prosecutors at the trial of the defendants recommended they be charged with "mob violence resulting in death" rather than manslaughter. They asked for sentences ranging between two and three years in prison. Under Indonesian law, manslaughter carries a 20-year jail term.
"It seems the sentencing decision doesn't reflect the severity of the offense in terms of the deliberate nature of the attack," UN Chief Prosecutor Mohamed Othman said in Dili, the capital of East Timor. "The suspects should be charged for manslaughter," he said.
The six men are accused of killing the three UNHCR workers in the West Timorese border town of Atambua on September 6. The defendants are pro-Jakarta militiamen, who, along with thousands of others, moved from neighboring East Timor after it voted overwhelmingly to break free from Indonesian rule in 1999.
Immediately after the killings of aid workers from the US, Croatia and Ethiopia, the UN issued a resolution demanding that Indonesia disarm and disband the militia gangs and bring those responsible for the slayings to justice.
Lawyers for the men argued Tuesday that the recommended sentences were fair because the murders weren't premeditated. "We determined during the court hearing that our clients killed those three UN workers without having any plan to do so beforehand. They did it spontaneously," said Suhardi Somomoeljono. "That is why prosecutors' demands were lighter than the maximum sentences."
So far, Indonesian authorities haven't charged anybody for the violence that erupted in East Timor after the UN-supervised independence ballot on August 30, 1999.
After the vote, pro-Jakarta militias backed by Indonesia's military destroyed much of the territory, killed hundreds of people and forced thousands of others to flee to West Timor. Last year, Indonesia's Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said that the trials of 21 soldiers, police and militia members would start in January.
One of the suspects, Major General Adam Damiri -- who was regional military commander in East Timor at the time of the violence -- is now responsible for deploying thousands of troops in a planned operation to crush separatist rebels in western Aceh province, a human rights organization said.
The London-based group, Tapol, said the move illustrated that the military were showing contempt for the investigations and that trials of the army officers responsible were unlikely to happen.
| Labour struggle |
Jakarta Post - March 30, 2001
Jakarta -- Hundreds of workers of car upholstery producer PT Kadera AR Indonesia in Pulogadung industrial estate were attacked while on strike in the early hours of Thursday, leaving one dead and 11 injured.
The workers, who had camped inside the factory since the strike took effect on March 19, were asleep when around 500 unidentified people, armed with machetes, swords and homemade bombs, arrived on buses and started to attack.
East Jakarta Police chief of detectives Adj. Comr. Agus Irianto identified the dead worker as Kimun Effendi, 21, a resident of Jl. Kedondong II in Kranji, Bekasi. Agus said that Kimun could have died from blast wounds, caused by a homemade explosive thrown at the striking workers during the attack.
"We suspect the attack was conducted by workers of the same factory who opposed the strike, plus hoodlums who were hired by the factory to intimidate the protesters. This is only a suspicion however. We have yet to question the company director," said Agus.
One of the striking workers, Supriyadi, told The Jakarta Post the dawn attack was aimed at forcing him and his colleagues to abandon the factory's main plant.
He said some 600 workers of the factory, owned by a Japanese investment company, had been on strike since March 19, demanding a 100 percent salary-hike. The strike brought production activities to a complete halt.
"About 400 of us were sleeping in the factory's grounds ... when an unidentified group of people suddenly arrived at the factory at about 2 a.m on about 10 buses," Supriyadi said at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, where one of his injured friends was receiving medical care.
He said the striking workers camped in the factory at night, and staged their protest during the day.
"They brandished machetes and samurai swords and their screaming woke us up. They ordered us to leave the factory and halt the strike," Supriyadi recalled. "We resisted their attack by hosing them with water. But before leaving, the attackers threw an explosive at us."
Kimun died five minutes after he arrived at the Pondok Kopi Hospital in East Jakarta. One of the injured victims, Rachmat Hidayat, 22, was transferred to Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM) in Central Jakarta. Another wounded worker was admitted to Abdul Salim Hospital in East Jakarta.
While Rachmat was undergoing a second operation to cure his broken thigh bone at RSCM, Kimun's brother, Kamaludin, carried his sibling's corpse away before a postmortem was performed.
Kamaludin accused a group, paid by the company to intimidate the striking workers, of killing his brother.
A member of staff at the company said the director of PT Kadera was not available. The firm's vice president, Rulichi Sujatim, could not be reached for comment either.
East Jakarta Police chief of detectives Adj. Comr. Agus said one of the company's directors would face questioning in connection with the attack. "We are scheduled to question the director of the factory. We are currently questioning a factory employee on the matter," Agus said.
He admitted that only a few police officers were present during the raid, and that they were grossly outnumbered. "Most of our officers were deployed in the Matraman area where a number of brawls have taken place over the past two days, and the Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta, which still needs proper police security in case prisoners go on the rampage again," Agus said.
In a separate development, city police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bahrul Alam said on Thursday that some 31 middle-ranking police officers across Greater Jakarta, were receiving special training in dealing with crowds, should protests turn violent.
"A number of officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have recently arrived and are currently training our Greater Jakarta police officers, for better handling of violent protests," Anton said, adding that the training would last until the second week of April.
| Aceh/West Papua |
Reuters - March 30, 2001
Jakarta -- Two human rights activists and their driver were shot dead in Aceh in an attack that suggests humanitarian workers were being targeted by Indonesian security forces in the rebellious province, a rights group said on Friday. Police confirmed the killings, but said they suspected rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were responsible.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said the three were killed soon after leaving South Aceh police station on Thursday, where one of the men, Teungku Kamal, had been summoned to answer questions over a defamation case involving police.
Acehnese rights activists said Kamal was attached to the Henry Dunant Centre in Switzerland, an advocacy group which has hosted talks between the government and rebels that led to a series of now frayed ceasefires.
Human Rights Watch said in a statement that Kamal was part of a team monitoring efforts to end decades of bloodshed in the province on the tip of Sumatra island.
It was unclear who was responsible for the murders but the statement noted the police and military had been implicated in previous attacks on right activists and humanitarian workers in Aceh.
"The military has made it clear for some time that they want the dialogue stopped and killing members of the monitoring team is one way to do that," Human Rights Watch said.
Apart from Kamal, the other men killed were Suprin Sulaiman, a human rights lawyer and driver Amiruddin.
Late last year, three Indonesian humanitarian volunteers attached to a Danish-sponsored rights group were tortured and shot dead in Aceh. Rights groups accused plainclothes security forces of those killings. Police denied the charges.
Independence demands have simmered for decades in Aceh, where the military has waged war against rebels and the central government has exploited the province's natural resources, including its reserves of oil and gas.
Indonesia's defence minister said earlier this week the government would soon launch a planned operation to quell mounting violence in the province. The military has been saying it would embark on what it calls a limited operation.
The fresh killings occurred on the same day an Acehnese activist appealed a court's decision to jail him for 10 months for spreading hate against the government under subversion laws not used since former President Suharto was in power.
Agence France-Presse - March 30, 2001
Jakarta -- The US embassy here on Friday deplored the "senseless" and "brutal" murder of three Indonesians involved in the peace process in restless Aceh province, and urged the government to investigate the killings.
"The embassy is particularly concerned that people involved in the search for peace and in promoting human rights are being brutally murdered," an embassy press release said.
"We urge the government of Indonesia to investigate these tragic deaths, and punish those responsible." The three men -- a religious leader, a lawyer and a driver -- were found with fresh bullet wounds on Thursday, half an hour after they left a district police station in South Aceh.
The Rights group Human Rights Watch said earlier Friday that the murders suggested that Indonesian security forces were deliberately targetting human rights workers in the province.
The religious leader, Teungku Kamal, was a member of a team monitoring implementation of a "peace through dialogue" agreement between separatist rebels and the Indonesian government. He had been called for questioning as a suspect in a defamation case after police said they had been falsely accused of raping five women from the district, Human Rights Watch said.
The lawyer, Suprin Sulaiman, worked for the Coalition for Human Rights NGOs, an organization which received funding from USAID, the embassy said.
The women involved in the rape case, aged 15 to 19, reported the attacks in February to rights groups in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.
On their return to South Aceh, police took the women into custody. After questioning, they were flown by police helicopter back to Banda Aceh, where they gave a press conference and said their attackers were in fact separatist rebels.
The night before police took the women into custody, they had stayed overnight at a religious school run by Teungku Kamal, Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch called for a full investigation by the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission and international experts.
Attacks on rights activists and humanitarian workers in Aceh have increased, the group noted, citing the arrest and torture of three Oxfam workers in August and the kidnapping and fatal stabbing in the same month of New York-based human rights lawyer Jafar Siddiq Hamzah.
The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has been fighting for a free Islamic state in Aceh since the mid-1970s. More than 300 people have been killed in violence in the province this year. Military repression and siphoning off the province's abundant natural resources by Jakarta have helped fuel the separatist movement.
In Jakarta Wednesday, the Indonesian parliament gave its full support to the government's planned moves to restore law and order through military operations in Aceh.
Jakarta Post - March 30, 2001
Jakarta -- The guilty verdict handed down to Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) chief Muhammad Nazar drew condemnation on Thursday with some saying the trial, criticized as a political maneuver which made Nazar a prisoner of conscience, contained legal defects.
"From the human rights definition, it was not a criminal trial, but a political one," Asmara Nababan, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights, told The Jakarta Post.
Separately, a criminal law expert from Bandung's University of Padjadjaran, Pontang Moerad, told the Post the trial was legally defect as the judges had interpreted the law in an outdated manner just as the Dutch colonial government did to stifle the independence movement.
A Banda Aceh District Court panel of judges presided over by Farida Hanoem sentenced Nazar on Wednesday to 10 months in jail after finding him guilty of violating articles 154 and 155 of the Criminal Code for showing hostile intentions toward the state.
Nababan said that since the 1970s, human rights activists had urged the government to revoke the articles, which were often used against people who had different opinions from the authorities. In 1999, the government scrapped the 1963 Subversion Law to promote democracy, but the two controversial articles in the Criminal Code remain.
Nababan said these articles should have been repealed as they restricted people's freedom of expression and could lead to the imprisonment of people whose opinions differed from those of the government, as in Nazar's case. "If the government does not like someone's ideas, it should counter them with ideas, with discourse, instead of taking them to court," he said.
The government has long planned to revise the Criminal Code, a legal product made in 1946. For more than 12 years a panel of experts at the Agency for the Development of National Laws had deliberated the new Criminal Code bill. In 1993, it was reportedly completed but has not as yet been sent to the House of Representatives for approval.
Nababan suggested that the Criminal Code be partially revised by removing or replacing articles considered obsolete, such as articles 154 and 155.
Moerad, head of the Department of Criminal Law at Padjadjaran University's School of Law, said that articles 154 and 155 contradicted the climate of independence in the country.
Ideally, an independent country should promote a conducive climate that allows different ideas to boost democracy, especially in the reform era like this, Moerad said.
He regretted that the judges, who did not dare take a decision and interpret the law differently from "a few parties". "Maybe it is politically loaded. I don't know because I'm not a political expert. But in the field of law, we should implement it without considering the interests of certain people."
Yogyakarta-based lawyer Kamal Firdaus of the Indonesian Court Monitoring's Executive Board had a different idea. He said that the sentence, which was two months less than the sentence requested by the prosecutor, was too light.
"In my view as a lawyer, many cases can be found in Indonesia where legal supremacy has been placed under the supremacy of politics or social issues," he told the Post. "The Nazar case happened in Aceh province. I can understand why the judges decided to sentence him to 10 months in prison. They took into account nonjudiciary considerations to sentence Nazar less than defendants in similar cases in the country," said Kamal. "The judges in Banda Aceh might be facing strong pressure from the public or something," he said.
Meanwhile in Jakarta on Thursday, dozens of Acehnese and SIRA activists entered their third day of protest by staying overnight in front of the Netherlands Embassy on Jl. HR Rasuna Said, Kuningan, South Jakarta.
"We demand that the Netherlands sponsor a vote on self- determination in Aceh. History records that we [Aceh] won the war over Dutch colonialism back in 1873," Jakarta's SIRA coordinator Faisal Saifudin told the media.
He said that the sentence imposed on Nazar "was proof of an undemocratic system and a violation of freedom of expression". He also said that Nazar's defense lawyers were ready to appeal the sentence.
The protesting group also made speeches, demanding the planned security operation in Aceh be aborted. "We have been trying to have a meeting with Dutch representatives here about our demand but to no avail," said Mirza, the group's spokesman. He said the group would continue its protest until its members met with a Dutch representative.
Jakarta Post - March 29, 2001
Jakarta -- Police fired warning shots and eventually clashed with pro-independence protesters in the Irian Jaya capital of Jayapura on Wednesday, Antara news agency reported.
The clash started when people boarding eight trucks arrived at the Cendrawasih sports hall on Jl. Ratulangi in Jayapura, where a seminar on special autonomy for Irian Jaya was being held.
Arriving at the scene at about 11:30 a.m. local time, these people staged rowdy protests, yelling pro-independence slogans. The protest then turned violent when the demonstrators destroyed the sport hall's name plate and threw chairs outside the building.
Dozens of police then came to the scene and fired several warning shots to disperse the protesters. The protesters hurled stones and other materials at the police. A number of people, including some policemen, got injured in the clash.
The seminar, opened by Irian Jaya governor Jaap Salossa, was attended by some 3,000 participants. They remained inside the hall when the melee erupted.
The separatist movement in Irian Jaya has gained momentum following East Timor's split from Indonesia last year.
Jakarta Post - March 29, 2001
Banda Aceh -- The Banda Aceh Court sentenced Central Information for Aceh Referendum (SIRA) chief Muhammad Nazar on Wednesday to 10 months in prison for displaying hostile intentions toward the state. The 27-year-old defendant was found guilty of inciting hostility against the state.
Presiding judge Farida Hanoem said in the verdict that "Nazar has used the court as a platform to convey his political ideology, by stating phrases such as 'the nation of Aceh' and 'Indonesian neo-colonialist'".
Nazar's continued use of court proceedings to express his political beliefs certainly had not helped him, the judge said. Prosecutors had earlier demanded a one-year jail term be imposed.
Nazar was arrested on November 20, 2000 after he organized a mass rally in August last year, demanding a referendum for the determination of Aceh's independence. He is charged under Articles 154 and 155 of the Criminal Code for showing hostile intentions/treason against the state.
Nazar told the session, which took place under heavy security, that he would appeal, charging that the trial was "an extension of Indonesia's colonialism". Meanwhile, hundreds of SIRA activists continued their protest on Wednesday by staying overnight in front of the Netherlands Embassy on Jl. HR Rasuna Said, Kuningan in South Jakarta, Antara reported.
The group sang, held prayers and also made speeches demanding that the Dutch government sponsor a self-determination ballot in Aceh, Jakarta's SIRA coordinator Faisal Saifudin said.
Back in Aceh, Brig. Zulkarnaen of the Baiturrahman police subprecinct was shot dead by two men when he was approximately 300 meters away from his office at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Aceh Besar Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Sayed Husaini said.
In East Aceh, an unidentified man was gunned down on Tuesday when he tried to flee a police operation near a police station in Peureulak subdistrict, spokesman for the Cinta Meunasah II Operation Adj. Sr. Comr. Sad Harunantyo said.
Another rebel was shot and killed on Tuesday in Banda Aceh for resisting arrest, the officer said. "Late on Tuesday, at around 10 p.m., armed rebels also detonated bombs at Bandar District office in Central Aceh before fleeing to Blang Pulo village where they burned down 15 houses, killing two locals," he said.
The police also claimed that the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels had been involved in extortion and conducted a series of vehicle hijackings, with recent incidents occurring in South Aceh and West Aceh on Tuesday. The situation in North Aceh and the Bireun regency, however, was relatively calm after both areas were declared security zones.
Separately, House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung said on Wednesday that the House had approved political support for policies taken by the government in an effort to solve problems in Aceh. Akbar, however, noted that the government must periodically deliver a report to the House over every policy implemented in the province.
Green Left Weekly - March 28, 2001
Pip Hinman -- The Indonesian military is stepping up its war against the Acehnese people.
Jakarta has declared a "limited military operation" to "rid" Aceh of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). The Indonesian government has branded GAM a "separatist" organisation.
On March 9, the ExxonMobil oil corporation suspended operations in Aceh citing "security concerns". On March 13, Indonesian foreign minister Alwi Shihab visited the United States to lobby the administration of US President George W. Bush to resume full military ties.
Indonesian security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on March 17 announced that three battalions (with 650 personnel each) and a cavalry unit had been deployed to protect "vital installations" operated by ExxonMobil.
ExxonMobil is Indonesia's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Japan and South Korea. It sells the oil it extracts to Indonesia's state-owned oil company, Pertamina. ExxonMobil operations account for 30% of Indonesia's foreign exchange earnings in the oil and gas sector. The suspension of LNG exports is a serious setback for the Indonesian economy.
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign, observed in a statement that the Indonesian military (TNI) "have been able to use this opportunity [created by the suspension of ExxonMobil operations] to re-establish its leading role in security operations in Aceh which, since 2000, has been under the overall command of the Indonesian police force". It said the decision by ExxonMobil gave the military "a powerful argument in favour of launching these operations, reversing the policy favoured by President Abdurrahman Wahid to solve the conflict in Aceh by means of negotiations with GAM".
Solidarity needed
As the TNI steps up its war on the people of Aceh, it is important that the solidarity campaign with the people of Aceh be strengthened here in Australia.
We must force the Australian government to end all military ties with Indonesia. While the training of Indonesian special forces by the Australian military was put on hold following the rampage by the TNI and its militia groups in East Timor after the 1999 independence referendum, Canberra continues to train members of Indonesia's regular army in Australia. It is likely that the Australian government will offer increased military cooperation as a "goodwill" gesture when Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid visits Australia in April.
While the TNI continues to act with impunity as ExxonMobil's private security guards -- a recent investigation by human rights organisation Kontras-Aceh estimated that the company pays US$500,000 a month for the service -- the Australian government has a moral responsibility to end all ties to Indonesia.
Of course, the Australian government's foreign policy is based on putting profits before human need. But we know from the success of the solidarity movement in forcing Canberra to reverse its policy of opposing independence for East Timor that governments can be forced, through mass pressure, to change policy.
New level of struggle
The massive strikes and other mobilisations in Aceh have illustrated the scale of opposition to Jakarta's repressive policies there. These mobilisations -- some of which involved 2 million people, half Aceh's population -- sent a message to the world that the Acehnese people were not going to give up. The mass opposition also revealed that the level of organisation in the urban areas had shifted to a higher level, a process that had been building during Suharto's transformation of Aceh into a "military operation zone".
This new level of struggle is reflected in the formation of new civil democratic organisations. Kautsar, a leader of Student Solidarity for the People (SMUR), who visited Sydney in January, has been instrumental in forming the Acehnese People's Democratic Struggle Front (FPDRA). Kautsar was elected chairperson of FPDRA, while other civil democratic organisations will dissolve into it.
The March 1 congress of FPDRA received greetings from the Indonesian People's Democratic Party, the only political party in Indonesia to actively support the Acehnese people's struggle for self-determination, the National Students League for Democracy, National Front for Workers Struggle, the National Peasants Union and from GAM.
In January, Kautsar urged Australians to assist the Acehnese people by applying pressure on the Australian government to end military ties with Indonesia.
Syadiah Marhaban from the Aceh Referendum Information Centre has also emphasised the need for greater international support for her people's struggle. Internationalism, these activists say, is key to them winning their struggle. We have no better example to look to than that of East Timor. For 25 years, Australian governments -- Labor and Coalition -- turned a blind eye to the East Timorese people's suffering. Canberra became Suharto's closest international ally. However, these politicians found themselves totally isolated by the groundswell of the Australian people's solidarity for the East Timorese.
Yet, back in 1975 not a lot was known in Australia about East Timor. The brutal Indonesian suppression of the Timorese independence movement was presented by the Australian government as irreversible. The "national interest" argument was peddled every time someone dared query the wisdom or humanity of Australia's opportunist foreign policy.
The early movement in solidarity with East Timor shrunk to small circles -- until 1991 and the Dili massacre. The rebirth of the East Timor solidarity movement took place throughout the 1990s, and Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET), alongside other groups, is proud to have played a key part in this.
Impossible tasks?
What seemed like two impossible tasks initially were finally achieved by the East Timorese freedom fighters and the international solidarity movement in September 1999.
The first was to force Indonesia to leave East Timor. The possibility for this happening was created by the Indonesian democracy movement which in 1998 scored a massive victory by toppling Suharto and putting the TNI and the political elite on the defensive. This was a significant factor in forcing the Indonesian government to allow a referendum in East Timor.
The second impossible task seemed to be that of forcing the Australian government to abandon the two major parties' profits- at-all-costs foreign policy as it related to East Timor.
Prime Minister John Howard's government was forced by mass pressure to do a 180% policy turn on Timor after 50,000 people in Sydney and the same number in Melbourne turned out in early September 1999 to demand that Canberra lead an international armed force to protect the East Timorese people from the TNI and the militia.
ASIET has vowed that it will ensure that no Australian government will ever forget the "East Timor syndrome" and that no government again be allowed to get away with that sort of inhumane foreign policy.
Canberra has been at pains to reassure Jakarta that it supports the its national oppression in Aceh. A separate state in Aceh or in West Papua, foreign minister Alexander Downer claims, would not be sustainable. Why not?
Australian capitalist governments don't want to run the risk of further souring an already strained relationship with the ruling elite of Indonesia. After all, 210 million people make up a huge market for Australian corporations.
US Congress is currently debating whether to restore full military ties with Indonesia. The Indonesian government has not met most of the US Congress' requirements -- in particular bringing to justice the TNI and militia members accused of human rights abuses, and allowing displaced East Timorese to return home from West Timor -- before US weapons shipments and military training of Indonesian soldiers can resume.
However, Washington has already carried out joint exercises with the TNI and its special forces and it is training Indonesian police. The fact that the US is doing this just as Jakarta has just declared a "limited" military offensive in Aceh is not surprising. After all, the US does have certain interests to protect -- not least those of ExxonMobil.
Canberra -- as signalled by last year's defence White Paper -- will no doubt attempt to follow suit and increase military ties with Jakarta. We must not let that happen. We must make the "East Timor syndrome" live on.
We need to step up the pressure to end all Australian military ties with Indonesia.
We must force the Australian government to pressure the Indonesian government to try in an international court those responsible for human rights abuses in Aceh, East Timor, West Papua and across Indonesia.
Achieving these goals may seem difficult -- even unlikely -- at present, but, as in the case of East Timor, things can change quickly. The "East Timor syndrome" means that Australians are now much more conscious of the plight of our neighbouring peoples. Yes, we do have a job explaining the history of the struggle in Aceh and why the Acehnese need our support, but it's clear from the size of this forum and others held recently that there is a growing awareness about the need for solidarity with the people of Aceh.
[This article is based on a talk at a Sydney public meeting on March 17 organised by ASIET and the Aceh Australia Association. Pip Hinman is ASIET's national secretary.]
Jakarta Post - March 28, 2001
Jakarta -- Hundreds of activists of the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) held a rally in front of the Dutch Embassy on Wednesday to demand that the Dutch government return Aceh to the Acehnese.
The protesters started arriving at 1 a.m. and occupied the slow lane in front of the embassy building on Jl. HR Rasuna Said in Kuningan, South Jakarta.
They prayed, sang songs and made speeches, urging the Dutch to rectify the history of Aceh by giving the Acehnese the right to determine their own fate, Antara reported.
Faisal Saifudin, head of the Jakarta chapter of SIRA, said the return of Aceh into the Republic of Indonesia in 1949 was illegal because Aceh had been at war with the Dutch since March 26, 1873.
The Dutch, he said, should have returned Aceh to the Acehnese. SIRA therefore urged the Dutch government through its embassy here and the United Nations to interfere in the conflict betweenthe people of Aeh and the government of Indonesia by holding a referendum.
Faisal said the protesters who came from Greater Jakarta and other parts of Java will continue their sit-in at the embassy until their demands are met. The protest went peacefully. A company of policemen was seen guarding the site.
| Elite power struggle |
Straits Times - March 31, 2001
Robert Go, Jakarta -- Questions over President Abdurrahman Wahid's health swept through Jakarta yesterday as two separate medical teams issued contradictory opinions on his fitness to remain at Indonesia's helm.
Parliament Speaker Akbar Tandjung first revealed that four specialists had sent Parliament a letter containing the view that the President is permanently disabled and is medically unfit.
Copies of the letter have been circulating among legislators and according to Mr Akbar, the four doctors -- a neurologist, an optical specialist, a general physician and a psychiatrist -- would present their report to Parliament directly on Monday, the last day before MPs take a three-week recess.
Mr Akbar has also told reporters that the four physicians are not "Parliament's doctors" whose medical opinions reflect the MPs' lines of thinking.
Mr Abdurrahman has suffered two strokes -- in 1996 and 1998 -- and is nearly blind. He cannot walk without assistance and is prone to dozing off during Cabinet meetings and official state functions.
Legislators, who have been gunning for the President's removal from office since early last year, have previously suggested that Mr Abdurrahman's frail health affects his ability to govern and that he should step down in favor of Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
But Dr Umar Wahid, Mr Abdurrahman's brother and chief of the President's 40-member medical team, rejected the four physicians' opinions yesterday.
He also told The Straits Times that the leader, who was on a working trip to Ponorogo in East Java yesterday, was in better medical shape compared to two or three years ago.
Dr Umar said: "The President is well. There is no need whatsoever to be concerned over his health. I have been his personal physician for the last 20 years. His condition is better now compared to perhaps the last few years."
He also said that the four physicians cited by Mr Akbar did not belong to the President's official medical team and had never personally examined Mr Abdurrahman.
"I don't know those four doctors. They have never examined the President," said Dr Umar. "Announcing a medical opinion in this manner, without having personally observed the patient, is irresponsible," he said.
While declining to comment on Mr Abdurrahman's specific illnesses, presidential spokesman Wimar Witoelar also said that the 60-year-old leader seemed fit enough to stay on the job. "Better ask the doctors about his medical condition. But make sure you ask the correct doctors," he said in his usual jocular style.
Straits Times - March 31, 2001
Derwin Pereira, Jakarta -- Indonesia will face mass violence "worse than the riots in 1998" if President Abdurrahman Wahid is impeached, Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung has warned.
On the move by the lawmakers to oust him, he said: "They want him out at all cost. But I have asked them to reconsider because it is very risky to force him out even if we do it by the book.
"We have seen what his fanatical supporters are capable of doing in East Java. I am not exaggerating to say that there will be widespread violence in the country if we overthrow him.
"It will be worse than the riots in 1998. That is why I think a political compromise needs to be worked out now to prevent Indonesia sliding down towards anarchy," he told The Straits Times. "It is the best solution."
Straits Times - March 31, 2001
Derwin Pereira, Jakarta -- Indonesian Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung has called on President Abdurrahman Wahid to transfer substantial powers to his deputy to defuse a ticking political time-bomb.
He suggested the power-sharing arrangement as a compromise to end the political deadlock between the President and the lower House of Parliament which is moving to impeach the Indonesian leader.
But his idea for Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri to run day-to-day government, with the President as a symbolic head of state, was shot down almost immediately by several parliamentary factions, including the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), which saw Mr Abdurrahman's ouster as the only solution.
In an interview with The Straits Times, Mr Akbar said the political compromise he sought was one of three scenarios being brainstormed by legislators from the six factions in Parliament.
Another way out, he explained, was for the President to resign voluntarily and be replaced by Ms Megawati who could stay on until 2004.
The third option was for him to be impeached at a special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) by August this year, allowing his deputy to be moved up but with the possibility of snap elections a year later.
Mr Akbar conceded that the last two choices were "high on the list" of many legislators bent on toppling the erratic Mr Abdurrahman whose 17-month rule has been marked by policy blunders, ethnic clashes and separatist tensions.
But his suggestion requires tinkering with the Constitution. Given that Indonesia follows the presidential system, he said that the MPR would need to convene a special session by August to pass a decree outlining the power distribution between Ms Megawati and Mr Abdurrahman.
He said the Vice-President would have the powers to appoint Cabinet ministers and senior military officers. The President would be a symbolic state head and could nominate the country's Chief Justice and ambassadors.
With the exception of the Muslim-based United Development Party (PPP), most of the other parties appeared to be averse to it. Some argued that any such deal was aimed really at saving Mr Akbar, and his Golkar party, which will be the first to fall prey to the muscle politics of the President's supporters as seen in East Java recently.
At the same time, several senior Golkar members, including Mr Akbar and former economic czar Ginandjar Kartasasmita, were being threatened with charges of corruption when they held office under the Suharto government.
Sources said that they could be buckling under pressure from the palace. But that has not stopped Golkar from setting up a committee to consider drafting a second motion against the President.
Mr Akbar said that if the other parties went ahead with another censure motion, his party would have to follow suit. That is becoming a big possibility given the prevailing hardline sentiments towards the President.
PDI-P legislators, who form the largest group in the 500-member Parliament, and representatives of the Reform faction and several Muslim parties, brushed aside any talk of a political compromise with Mr Abdurrahman.
Straits Times - March 30, 2001
Derwin Pereira, Jakarta -- Indonesia's biggest political party yesterday fired the first salvo against President Abdurrahman Wahid by pressing ahead with a potentially fatal second censure motion against the embattled leader.
Just a day after the President had defiantly brushed aside corruption charges in Parliament, the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) set up a special committee to draft a memorandum that is just a step away from impeaching the Indonesian leader.
Sources said that Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who heads the PDI-P, gave the green light to the eight-member panel at a closer-door meeting of senior party executives.
They included several hardliners, such as former economic czar Kwik Kian Gie, Mr Julius Usman, and others who more importantly sat on a parliamentary probe team that found Mr Abdurrahman guilty of complicity in two damning financial scandals last month.
A PDI-P source told The Straits Times: "Megawati did not hesitate to tell us to form the team. She believes it is well within our constitutional rights to go ahead with another formal rebuke. I think we have gone past the point of no return in wanting to bring him down."
PDI-P support is crucial if the President is to escape impeachment, given that it has the largest parliamentary presence. Mr Abdurrahman and his Nation Awakening Party are well aware of this. They have been trying hard to convince several PDI-P members linked closely to Ms Megawati's husband, Mr Taufik Kiemas, to stick with the status quo in return for personal favours.
But recent comments by the President about Mr Taufik's shady business deals have created some difficulty in getting total support from this faction. PDI-P legislators said that it was unlikely to exert much influence given that it comprised only about 20 per cent of the 153 seats in the House of Representatives. Noted a party member: "There are differences in the party. But this is gradually being swept under the carpet by the need to get rid of the President."
Political observers said that the PDI-P's stance on a second memorandum was bound to influence other parties who had until April 30 to craft a response.
The Straits Times understands that the Reform faction yesterday also set up a special committee to draft a motion against the President.
Conspicuously missing so far is Golkar, which commands the second largest number of parliamentary seats.
House Speaker Akbar Tandjung, who heads Golkar, appeared to be guarded when asked if the party would fire a second warning.
He said: "We will study the response. We will listen to our members and they will be asked to give their opinions."
South China Morning Post - March 30, 2001
Reuters in Jakarta -- Senior politicians yesterday warned President Abdurrahman Wahid that discontent with his erratic 17- month rule was so intense he had little chance of surviving much longer in office. Mr Wahid, fighting for his political life, on Wednesday answered Parliament's February 1 censure of him over two financial scandals involving more than US$6 million.
He rejected the charges and apologised for any inappropriate behaviour, but politicians said the response was unlikely to save him from a second censure move late next month, which would take him further down the road towards impeachment.
"Almost without exception they [MPs] are dissatisfied with the response," said Kwik Kian Gie, deputy chairman of the powerful Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
The party is led by Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, widely thought to want the top job if she can get it legally and without plunging the country deeper into crisis.
The comments by Mr Kwik, who was Mr Wahid's chief economics minister until he quit in August, follow warnings in the local media that Indonesia is set for more upheaval.
The Jakarta Post summed up the sentiment of many across the blighted country in an editorial entitled "What Next?" It said Mr Wahid had either missed or chosen to ignore the point that he no longer had the support of most members of Parliament.
The censure is the biggest threat to Mr Wahid's rocky rule, which has failed to pull Indonesia out of a prolonged and often violent crisis that has left the economy in tatters and several of the country's ethnic groups at each other's throats.
Mr Wahid's future rests largely with Ms Megawati, whom he edged out in Indonesia's first contested presidential race in 1999.
Asked if Mr Wahid could escape eventual impeachment, Mr Kwik said: "I don't think so ... appeals [for him to improve his rule] have been made for so long, but he doesn't change." The only way would be if Mr Wahid's supporters cowed his opponents with mass and violent protests, he said.
But political analysts say there are growing concerns in the PDI-P that if Mr Wahid steps down before his term ends in 2004 -- many predict he will be out by August -- Ms Megawati would inherit a poisoned chalice. The PDI-P has the largest block of seats in Parliament, but far from enough to form a government alone.
Mr Kwik said for the sake of the country, Ms Megawati should step in.
Amien Rais, Mr Wahid's toughest critic and head of the top legislative body, the People's Consultative Assembly, said the second censure was a foregone conclusion.
Associated Press - March 29, 2001
Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta -- Indonesia's president, defiant before a hostile parliament, denied corruption charges Wednesday and questioned the constitutionality of efforts to remove him from office.
Adurrahman Wahid, who is nearly blind, sat impassively in front of the legislators as his response to a February 1 censure memorandum was read aloud by Justice Minister Baharudin Lopa. At one point, Wahid, 61, appeared to nod off. "I am sorry that I cannot accept the contents of this memorandum because it is not constitutional," Wahid's statement said.
If lawmakers formally reject Wahid's response to the censure, they can issue a second one. That would oblige Wahid to appear again. If the legislators again reject his explanation, they can open impeachment proceedings.
But nothing is likely to happen until the end of April, since the legislature goes on a three-week recess starting Monday. It will decide on its next step on April 30
Scoffing at allegations of involvement in two multimillion dollar corruption scandals, Wahid said: "I, myself, have not taken one cent." Wahid, a Muslim cleric, warned lawmakers that God would punish them if they tried to illegally remove him from office.
But he apologized for his "unworthy attitude" in not cooperating with the investigation into the financial scandals, as catcalls erupted in the chamber.
Wahid was implicated by a parliamentary inquiry in the illegal transfer of $4 million from the state food agency by a former business associate. He is also accused of failing to declare a $2 million aid donation from Sultan Hasanal Bolkiah, the ruler of neighboring oil-rich Brunei.
Some lawmakers applauded Wahid's response. But others said they had heard nothing to change their minds and that impeachment seemed certain. "All I can say is that his reply will not prevent him from being given a second censure," said Ade Kommarudin, a parliamentary deputy.
If ousted, Wahid would probably be replaced by his popular vice president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, who heads the largest party in Indonesia.
A prominent political analyst, Dede Oetomo, said Wahid's political survival hinged on the support of Megawati's party -- the largest in the assembly -- and of the armed forces, which have 38 seats. "If he doesn't get the support of those two, he is finished," Oetomo said.
Wahid, Indonesia's first freely elected head of state following four decades of authoritarian rule, assumed office in October 1999. He has been sharply criticized for his failure to curb corruption, prosecute key figures in Indonesia's former authoritarian regime and reform the country's ailing economy. He also has been unable to stop outbreaks of ethnic violence.
Reuters - March 29, 2001
Dean Yates, Jakarta -- Indonesian newspapers on Thursday warned more upheaval would follow President Abdurrahman Wahid's rejection of a parliamentary censure, and one leading critic said the Muslim cleric was on borrowed time.
Newspaper editorials welcomed the absence of protests on Wednesday when Wahid appeared before parliament to answer the rebuke, but some predicted opponents and supporters of the president would soon hit the streets again.
The Jakarta Post summed up the sentiment of many across the blighted country in an editorial entitled "What Next?". It said Wahid had either missed or chosen to ignore the point that he no longer had the support of most members of parliament.
"Once again, the country will be plunged into another period of uncertainty as the power struggle continues," it said, referring to the months ahead that could lead to the impeachment of Indonesia's first democratically elected leader.
Wahid on Wednesday rejected the censure over two financial scandals but for the first time apologised for any "inappropriate behaviour" during his erratic rule. The censure is the biggest threat to his rocky 17-month rule, which has failed to pull Indonesia out of crisis.
Key to Wahid's future will be the response of the biggest parliamentary party, headed by Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, whom he edged out to win the presidency. Initial reaction from her party has been mixed, although several members have said a second censure was inevitable when the House formally replies on April 30. That would bring impeachment one step closer.
Amien Rais, Wahid's most vocal critic and head of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the top legislative body that would convene to consider impeachment, said the second censure was a foregone conclusion. "There is no question about that. I believe 99 percent that the second censure will be issued by parliament," he told Reuters Television in an interview.
Rais said he had urged Megawati not to hesitate in seeking the top job. Megawati is widely believed to covet the presidency, but does not want to be seen pushing her old friend out.
Blanket apology Presidential spokesman Wimar Witoelar told Reuters Television that the criticism from MPs of Wahid's response was predictable because they were primarily intent on ousting him. He said Wahid's apology on Wednesday was not specific because he wanted to cover anything that had upset the country.
"The president does not know exactly what it is that irritates them most, so he offered a blanket apology for any behaviour which has been considered unacceptable by the public," Witoelar said. That won some praise for the cleric.
"We have to respect the big-hearted attitude from the president who was willing to apologise to the House and the nation for his past behaviour..." the Kompas daily said. "We hope compromises can be reached, with everyone having a big enough heart to accept this ... for a better Indonesia."
Media Indonesia expressed relief at the lack of protests. "Unity is an expensive item in this republic ... and currently we are on the way to digging its grave. But yesterday we saw ... a uniting spirit [from protesters] to restrain themselves from going face- to-face on the streets," it said.
Leaders of various groups said they had convinced their members to stay off the streets to prevent an escalation of violence. But the Jakarta Post said even if Wahid somehow survived the latest battle with parliament, his lack of support among MPs would make his administration even more ineffective.
Jakarta Post - March 29, 2001
Jakarta -- "Unsatisfactory" and "rhetorical" were some of the unfavorable responses from legislators to President Abdurrahman Wahid's reply to the House of Representatives' memorandum of censure.
The general feeling among most legislators on Wednesday was that, no matter how passionate the President's plea for legislators not to approve a second memorandum, it would only be a matter of time before one was issued.
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) Secretary General Sutjipto said the President's speech was nothing more than "meaningless rhetoric".
Sutjipto, who is also the PDI Perjuangan faction's deputy chairman at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), also decried the President's continued resistance to accept the validity of the House's investigation into the financial scandals.
Syamsul Muarif, chairman of the Golkar Party faction, warned that the President's reply only encouraged House factions to press ahead with the second memorandum.
"Besides being unsatisfactory, the President's response did not address his alleged involvement in the disbursement of the Rp 35 billion in Bulog foundation funds," he said.
The influence of these two factions will be essential if the House decides to issue a second memorandum. PDI Perjuangan occupies 153 seats in the 500-seat House, while Golkar has 120 seats.
Separately, senior legislators attending a meeting of Jakarta- based newspapers' chief editors, known as The Editors' Club, also regretted Abdurrahman's decision to avoid a response to the alleged scandal.
PDI Perjuangan legislator Julius Usman told the gathering on Wednesday evening that the issue would only be settled if "the Assembly holds a special session".
The meeting brought together legislators and activists who are members of the November 11, 2000 Caucus, a combination of political figures involved in an information-sharing cooperative.
Secretary-general of the United Development Party (PPP) Ali Marwan Hanan also believes that conflict between the executive and legislature will drag on until a special session is held. "The only constitutional forum to invoke the President's accountability is an Assembly special session," Ali insisted.
Maj. Gen. Budi Harsono, chairman of the Indonesian Military/National Police faction, said he heard nothing new or extraordinary in the President's response, but remained aloof as to how the influential faction would react. "It will be taken into consideration by the faction in determining its political stance as to whether a second memorandum is necessary," he said.
PPP's Bachtiar Chamsyah, who headed the now disbanded special committee which investigated the scandals, said the lack of substance in the response showed that the President is not committed to improving the government's performance. "The plenary session is not a forum to question the investigation's procedures," he said.
Hatta Radjasa, chairman of the Reform faction, was facile in his comment: "A second memorandum may be inevitable."
House Speaker Akbar Tandjung said factions would deliberate the President' speech and present their response in a plenary session on Friday as to whether a second memorandum would be issued.
Akbar went on to praise the President's willingness to publicly apologize, saying Abdurrahman's "positive attitude shows his recognition that he is still human".
Ali Masykur Moesa from the National Awakening Party (PKB) said that his faction was ready to discuss the President's response and will appraise it in accordance with constitutional standards.
Separately, Lt. Gen. Agus Widjojo, chief of the Indonesian Military's Territorial Affairs, was more positive about the President's reply. Agus told The Jakarta Post at his office in the TNI headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, that the reply was a starting point for reconciliation. When pressed on the TNI/Police faction's stance, Agus only said that it should not be trapped in a battle to make certain political powers victorious.
Meanwhile, in Semarang, Central Java, political observer Arbi Sanit said the various pros and cons to the response were normal in the wake of such an event.
"I was informed that the House's consultative body had agreed to seriously study the response," Arbi remarked, while urging legislators to be more careful in responding to it.
According to him, PDI Perjuangan is playing a significant role in nurturing the House's ability to become more prudent. He stressed that the key to the nation's future was a compromise among the political elite.
"The compromise would mean that Gus Dur remain in his post with a promise to improve his performance. More power might be shared with Megawati," he said. "It will be very costly if the House's memorandum leads to an Assembly special session to impeach the President. "Megawati is not ready to become President. She doesn't want to take the post now, and we can do nothing about that," Arbi added.
Jakarta Post - March 29, 2001
Jakarta -- To everyone's surprise, the capital was free from huge rallies which had been expected to mark a plenary session at the House of Representatives to hear President Abdurrahman Wahid's reply to its first memorandum of censure on Wednesday.
There was business as usual in major streets around the State Palace, Hotel Indonesia traffic junction, the House and other public places where both supporters and opposition of the embattled President usually assemble. Dozens of security troops were seen guarding the palace, while hundreds of others were deployed at the House.
A demonstration did take place at the City Hall, staged by hundreds of people working in construction services who demanded that the council's speaker, Edy Waluyo, revoke his approval of an extension to a city regulation which requires construction service providers to register with the city administration.
Another rally was held in front of the Dutch Embassy on Jl. Rasuna Said by some 30 people who demanded international intervention as a last resort to settle the conflict in troubled Aceh. The group was part of hundreds of activists representing the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) from across Greater Jakarta, who camped on a sidewalk close to the embassy overnight.
A man, identified as Yudi Engran, stole the show at the House building with a lone protest. In his statement, the 30-year-old man criticized members of the political elite who continue to fight each other at the public's expense.
Rumors of mass rallies had circulated prior to Wednesday's House session after thousands of Abdurrahman supporters streamed into the capital. They marched through the capital on Tuesday in show of support for the President, who was elected in 1999 after chairing the country's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama for 15 years.
The NU youth-wing Anshor Movement chairman, Saifullah Yusuf, revealed on Wednesday the reason behind why the rally failed to materialize. He said Abdurrahman's supporters had been banned from the streets to prove their compliance with the President's orders.
"We urged them not to stage a protest because further public pressure against the House would only discredit Gus Dur and cause trouble to the country. I am glad that people have started to realize that," Saifullah told The Jakarta Post, referring to the President by his nickname.
He said Anshor had persuaded Abdurrahman's supporters to express their support in their respective towns peacefully. "What happened today was a good example of the ability of members of the public to listen to different opinions," Saifullah said. He also said he was still trying to ask thousands of Abdurrahman supporters from other provinces to leave the capital.
Chairman of University of Indonesia's Student Executive Board (BEM) Taufik Riyadi told the Post that students in opposition to the President kept off the streets to give him a chance at delivering his reply and to avoid a showdown with their pro- Abdurrahman counterparts.
"We decided to follow the constitutional process and to allow it to run its course so that we could listen to the President's answer. We consider mass mobilization to no longer be effective, in fact it is counterproductive to our movement," Taufik said. He further said that students were seeking another form of peaceful movement to show Abdurrahman the door.
In Makassar, some 100 students of the Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front (KAMMI) took to the streets demanding that President Abdurrahman step down, and that the House issue a second memorandum of censure. The students were of the opinion that Abdurrahman was defending himself rather than responding to the House's first memorandum.
Meanwhile, in Bandung, dozens of supporters of the People's Democratic Party (PRD), Democrat-Socialist Union (PSD) and Young Socialist Democrats (SMD), clashed with police officers as they tried to force their way into the provincial legislature building to air their demands for the dissolution of Golkar.
Three demonstrators were beaten provoking other demonstrators to pelt the policemen with stones, bottles and other solid objects. The police threw the objects back at demonstrators.
South China Morning Post - March 28, 2001
Vaudine England, Jakarta -- President Abdurrahman Wahid's reply to a censure motion today could trigger a last-ditch round of corrupt deal-making to try to ensure his political survival, according to analysts.
More than 1,000 Wahid supporters demonstrated in Jakarta yesterday and police were on high alert in anticipation of unrest ahead of the parliamentary session.
Parliament reprimanded Mr Wahid on February 1 for acting improperly over two financial scandals -- opening the way for the leader's possible impeachment. Mr Wahid has already said he has done nothing wrong and is expected to restate his innocence to parliament.
"We mustn't close a window to the fact that Wahid may survive, but he will have to give some concessions," said veteran political analyst Harold Crouch, head of the Indonesian office of the International Crisis Group.
Parliamentarians have given themselves a month to consider Mr Wahid's reply and will use the time for serious bargaining, said Mr Crouch.
Political lecturer and member of Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, Cornelis Lay, said it could open the way for a free-for-all of corrupt deal-making. "It won't be only money but other deals and, of course, the mobilisation of people on the streets," he said.
Fears are rising of a dangerous confrontation on the streets between Wahid supporters and opponents in what could be a bloody conclusion to the battle to unseat him.
"Mobilisation of the masses can be seen as part of the political bargaining. We can expect the climate in Jakarta to get very intense, which could easily create wider conflict, simply because this is the last resort for both sides. This marks the start of the last battle," said Mr Lay.
By offering a reply today, Mr Wahid can hope to use the next month of parliamentary recess before the censure deadline to win over support by any means, analysts agreed.
One sign of the kind of political deals that may ensue is the removal of allegations against House of Representatives chairman Akbar Tandjung in a separate corruption case. He will instead appear as a witness. "I wouldn't be surprised to see Akbar moving closer to Wahid after that," a source said.
If Mr Wahid's reply fails to satisfy members of parliament then they will issue a second memorandum of censure. This would require a special session of the Peoples' Consultative Assembly (MPR), which would almost certainly vote President Wahid from office.
An indication of this came in comments by the sacked former justice minister and chairman of the Crescent Star Party, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, who said the MPR could hold a special session at any time. His party had yet to see any improvement in the Government's performance, he added.
The scandals for which Mr Wahid was reprimanded involve an alleged donation of US$2 million by the Sultan of Brunei, and the embezzlement of US$3.5 million from the state food agency Bulog by a presidential aide.
| Regional/communal conflicts |
Jakarta Post - March 30, 2001
Banjarmasin -- In order to prevent the spread of ethnic clashes between local Dayaks and Madurese migrants, a Dayak and a Madurese representing their respective communities inked a peace deal here on Wednesday.
The Madurese migrants were represented by H. Narawi, the leader of the Madurese community here, while Perain Mora represented the Dayaks. The two wept and embraced each other after signing the deal.
Both Madurese and Dayaks in Banjarmasin agreed that they would strive to maintain harmony among ethnic groups in the province of South Kalimantan. They also promised to unite and wage war on all forms of provocation.
"This deal clearly shows that the residents of South Kalimantan are peace-loving people," said South Kalimantan Governor Sjachriel Darham.
Meanwhile, Kapuas Police shot and wounded a Dayak man who was involved in burning vacant houses belonging to Madurese migrants in the Anjir Batu district, some 14 kilometers away from the town of Kapuas.
Kapuas Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Syaiful Maltha confirmed the shooting on Thursday, saying that Zailani was shot in the back as he and some other local people were setting alight the houses of Madurese migrants at around midnight on Tuesday. "He was shot while carrying a jerrycan full of gasoline. He is being treated at a hospital in Banjarmasin," Syaiful told The Jakarta Post.
Despite the shooting, the situation in Kapuas remained fully under control. No one tried to attack the police station after the shooting, he said.
Syaiful added that his subordinates had found four corpses -- all decapitated -- in outlying areas of Kapuas regency on Wednesday. The bodies were believed to belong to the victims of a manhunt conducted by Dayaks on Tuesday.
Agence France-Presse - March 28, 2001
Jakarta -- Ethnic violence in Indonesian Borneo claimed another five lives, police and the military said Wednesday, a month after similar bloody clashes there left at least 500 dead.
"Four Madurese migrants were killed as they returned to their home in Saka Mangkahati village early in the morning yesterday [Tuesday]," Lieutenant Colonel Arie told AFP from Central Kalimantan province. Four other people were injured.
Arie said those killed and injured had previously been evacuated to neighbouring South Kalimantan province. But they had tried to return to their homes to salvage some of their possessions, he said.
Additionally, the Antara news agency reported from Palangkaraya, the capital of Central Kalimantan, that the headless body of a man had been found on a street there early Wednesday. The identity of the victim remained unknown.
The new toll brought to at least 15 the number of people killed in the latest wave of ethnic unrest involving indigenous Dayak tribesmen and Madurese migrants in the Kapuas district of the province.
Meanwhile, Kapuas district police late Tuesday freed five Dayak tribesmen arrested for involvement in last month's bloody ethnic violence, in which most the dead were also Madurese settlers.
District police chief Adjunct Senior Commissioner Saiful Maltha stressed, however, that the cases against the five remained in force and they would face trial on charges related to attacks by Dayaks on Madurese settlements. Police are still looking for 15 other men who, Maltha had said, were rioters and provocateurs.
The police chief denied the release had been prompted by a demonstration at his headquarters by about 200 Dayak tribesmen on Tuesday. Tuesday's protestors had earlier picketed the local district parliament, where some of their leaders gave the authorities 48 hours to rid the districts of all Madurese migrants.
About 1,500 Madurese migrants had been sheltering in government- protected refugee centres, with most now evacuated to Banjarmasin, 40 kilometres to the south.
The Kompas daily said that while lawyers and the police were preparing to release the five suspects, bands of Dayaks had set fire to 10 houses and stalls left vacant by Madurese, although Maltha denied this.
Kompas also said that leaders of the various ethnic communities in East Kalimantan, one of four Indonesian provinces on Borneo island, had agreed on Tuesday to form five teams to promote peace among ethnic groups. "These teams are tasked with finding the root causes of the conflict so far," Awang Faisjal, an East Kalimantan community leader was quoted as saying.
Tenisons between the two communities first erupted in Sampit on February 18 and quickly spread to Palangkaraya and Kualakapuas.
More than 50,000 Madurese have fled or been evacuated from the province. The clashes have been blamed on cultural differences between the two communities and the dominance of the Madurese in the local economy.
Jakarta Post - March 28, 2001
Jakarta -- Fire raged in Kuala Kapuas, the capital of Kapuas regency in Central Kalimantan, turning the town into a sea of fire all day long Tuesday.
Native Dayaks set fire on the houses and properties belonging to Madurese. As the fire was raging, thousands of Dayaks staged a rally demanding the release of five people caught red-handed setting fire on Madurese properties last week.
Tuesday's fire destroyed houses deserted by their Madurese owners, who fled the town and the Dayaks following a clash on March 22 that killed at least 17 people.
Tension returned to the town and residents were seen guarding their neighborhoods on Tuesday night to prevent the destruction of non-Madurese properties. Despite the efforts, a house and a store belonging to non-Madurese settlers were also set ablaze, Antara reported.
The protesting Dayaks rallied in front of the locallegislature building and at the Kapuas Police Precinct. At around 8:25 p.m. the protesters dispersed after the police released the five suspects.
| Human rights/law |
Jakarta Post - March 30, 2001
Jakarta -- Former Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto said on Thursday that he was not responsible for the shooting incident at the Trisakti University on May 12, 1998.
"As the TNI chief, I was responsible at the policy level and not the operational level. The military's hierarchical structure recognizes a direct-superior and direct-subordinate assessment system. So, it's quite clear who must be responsible for mistakes conducted by troops in the field," Wiranto said in a House of Representatives' special committee hearing.
The special committee is probing the alleged use of violence by security forces in dealing with student demonstrations in May and November 1998, known as the Trisakti and Semanggi incidents.
A military tribunal, established to investigate the Trisakti incident, sentenced on August 12, 1998 First Lt. Agus Tri Heryanto, 29, and Second Lt. Pariyo, 38, both members of the police's Mobile Brigade, to 10 months and 4 months in jail respectively. The officers were found responsible for ordering their men to shoot into a crowd of demonstrating students, killing four Trisakti University students -- Heri Hartanto, Elang Mulya Lesmana, Hafidin Royan and Hendriawan Sie.
Besides blaming the "direct superior", Wiranto also blamed "the actors" who mobilized demonstrations demanding then President Soeharto step down. However, he did not name who was directly responsible for instigating the demonstrations.
Wiranto said security authorities had banned the students from staging protests outside their campuses to avoid provocation. "I also told the troops to promote persuasion, while repression should be a last resort. No live bullets were allowed," he said.
Wiranto defended the troops, however, saying that they had the legal authority to take firm action against the protesters as stipulated in Law No. 9/1998 on demonstrations. "No one obeys the Law, even now," Wiranto said.
Accompanying the general were former TNI chief of general affairs Gen. Fachrul Razi, former Armed Forces Intelligence Body (BIA) chief Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim, Military Police chief Maj. Gen. Djasrie Marin, Head of TNI's Legal Affairs Department Maj. Gen. Timor P. Manurung and former Jakarta Military Police chief Col. Hendardji.
Wiranto admitted to having asked Fachrul Razi to withdraw all police personnel from the field and replace them with Marine troops from Surabaya. "The people's hatred toward the police had been increasing following the [Trisakti] shooting incident. In several places they burned police posts and even attacked police officers," he explained.
The retired four-star general said he had ordered the TNI headquarters to probe the case and reveal the findings to the public. "I even asked Sjafrie [then Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsuddin] and Hamami [then Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Hamami Nata] to convey our apologies, on behalf of the government and military, to the victims' families," he said.
Many observers have criticized the tribunal established to try the police officers, saying it was partial because the shootings were not conducted by police. They assert that military snipers were utilized "to create martyrs" and expedite the downfall of Soeharto's regime. Wiranto denied the allegation by displaying video documentation of proceedings before and after the incident.
| News & issues |
Agence France-Presse - March 30, 2001
Jakarta -- Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said Friday he had ordered prosecutors to arrest a former mines and energy minister implicated in a graft scandal linked to a son of former dictator Suharto.
Wahid said Ginanjar Kartasasmita, who held several cabinet posts under Suharto and is now a deputy speaker of the national assembly, was due to be arrested on Friday by the Attorney General's office.
"Today as I left, [Attorney General] Marzuki Darusman called me saying the arrest would be carried out today," Wahid was quoted by the Detikcom news portal as telling Muslim worshippers after Friday prayers in the East Java town of Ponorogo.
Wahid himself is facing the threat of impeachment after parliament censured him in February over his alleged involvement in two multi-milllion dollar financial scandals.
MPs have said they will issue a second censure in a month although Wahid protested his innocence in a rebuttal to the censure on Wednesday at parliament.
Kartasasmita has been officially named as a suspect in a corruption case in the early 1990s involving a company owned by one of Suharto's sons, Bambang Trihatmojo and the state oil and gas monopoly, Pertamina. The scandal caused around 24.8 million dollars in losses to the state, according to prosecutors.
Amien Rais, speaker of the national assembly, warned Thursday that the legal process against Kartasasmita should not be politcally motivated. "My concern is that the local process should operate in a proper way and there should be no political motive behind Ginanjar's case," Rais was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying.
Former Pertamina director Faisal Abda'oe, named as a suspect in the same case, was moved on Thursday from the attorney general's detention centre to house arrest, the Kompas daily said. Abda'oe had been held at the detention centre since March 21 after he was named as a suspect in the scandal.
The transfer was made because he was suffering from heart problems, the daily said. A spokesman for the attorney general's office could not be reached for immediate comment.
Straits Times - March 31, 2001
Jakarta -- Former President Suharto remains unfit to stand trial despite some improvement in his health, said the chief prosecutor in the graft case against the former ruler.
"Based on the evaluation of tests conducted between February 28 and March 28 by the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM) doctors, we consider Mr Suharto still unable to face trial," said prosecutor Muchtar Arifin on Thursday.
The head of the medical team, Dr Ichramsyah Rachman, said Mr Suharto was able to "take care of himself in a limited way". "Now he can eat, take a bath and pray unassisted, but his activities need close monitoring," he added.
The medical report, however, revealed that the ex-president's cognitive problems remain, saying that he was very slow to speak and needed time to think before answering the doctors' questions.
Dr Ichramsyah said the decision to declare if he was fit for trial was up to the prosecutors, not the doctors.
The doctors on the RSCM team had visited Mr Suharto's residence in Central Jakarta every day since February 28 to conduct the checks. They met twice to assess his health.
Mr Muchtar said the monitoring of his health was scheduled to last until July 28 but added that the possibility of bringing him to court in the distant future was wide open. "We will resume the trial as soon as the medical team declares his health condition is good," he said.
The Attorney General's Office had also requested money from the Ministry of Finance to cover the cost of the medical treatment. "For the time being, Mr Suharto's medical expense is being covered by the hospital," said Mr Muchtar.
The Supreme Court recently upheld the South Jakarta District Court's decision to delay the prosecution of the 79-year-old former leader who has been charged in connection with a US$571 million corruption case, and to release him from house arrest because of his ailing health.
The court also ordered the Attorney General's Office to supervise his health care and cover his medical costs until he is declared fit for trial.
Jakarta Post - March 30, 2001
Jakarta -- Around 1,000 angry residents of Inderagiri Hilir, Riau, Thursday night ransacked and burned down the local police precinct building. No casualties were reported in the incident which was triggered by a fight between two locals on Sunday, Antara reported.
Spokesman of Riau Police Adj. Snr. Comr. S. Pandiangan said on Sunday Maryanto attacked Masran with a knife. A crowd of people who witnessed the attack ran after Maryanto. At that time, head of the operations section of the Inderagiri Hilir PolicePrecinct, First Insp. Najib, was at the scene and he joined the crowd in the chase.
Maryanto, however, resisted the arrest and tried to attack the police officer with the knife. Najib fired a warning shot to prevent Maryanto from escaping, Pandiangan said.
Maryanto ignored the warning shot and continued to attack Najib, who finally aimed his gun at him. Despite the shot, Maryanto continued to run and jumped into a nearby river. A search was mounted, but his body could not be found. "But we still don't know if the bullet really hit Maryanto," said Pandiangan.
On Thursday morning people found Maryanto's pants and ID card near the site where he jumped into the river. "Rumors spread that Maryanto died under police torture," said Pandiangan.
At around 4:30 p.m. around 200 people went to the police precinct and as night came the number increased to around 1,000. They started to pelt the precinct with rocks and Molotov cocktails.
The police, who were outnumbered, were forced to withdraw and let the crowd vent their anger. They ransacked the building and finally set it ablaze. Several policemen were wounded from the stone throws.
Riau Police have sent reinforcement from Pekanbaru, including a platoon of the Police Mobile Brigade. There were no reports of an arrest
Jakarta Post - March 29, 2001
Jakarta -- Residents in Kaloran village, Temanggung regency, East Java, Wednesday put up a roadblock to their village following a plan to bury the remains of 21 ex-communists there.
A barricade of logs and iron chairs was built on the road in front of Kaloran district office leading to the village. The stone road leading to the house of Irawan, 80, a former chairman of the Kaloran branch of the banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was also closed. A huge banner was erected near his house. On it is written the people's rejection of the burial, Antara reported.
Head of Kaloran district, Supangkat, said the villagers built the roadblock following rumors that a crowd was coming to the village for the burial. "They were worried there would be anarchy related to the burial," Supangkat said.
The burial was actually planned on Sunday by the Temanggung branch of the Foundation for the Investigation of the 1965/1966 Murder Victims.
The foundation exhumed the remains of 21 PKI members from a cemetery in Wonosobo regency in January.
The villagers, who are also members of the Kaloran Islamic Brotherhood Forum led by Muh. Khozin, rejected the burial and angry villagers ransacked his house on Sunday.
On Wednesday several members of the forum met with chairman of the Temanggung regional legislature, Bambang Sukarno, demanding the disbandment of the foundation for fear of a revival of the PKI.
They agreed to raise the roadblock when they were assured there would not be any mobilization of the mass against Kaloran villagers. Irawan himself is now under police protection at the Central Java Police headquarters in Semarang.
South China Morning Post - March 28, 2001
Vaudine England -- The timber tycoon and golfing buddy of former Indonesian president Suharto, Mohammad "Bob" Hasan, has been moved to a high-security island jail following fears he might escape his central Jakarta cell.
The imprisonment of Hasan, 70, is the sole success so far in the Government's campaign against past corruption. He was sentenced to six years for causing the state losses of US$243 million in a fraudulent aerial mapping survey.
"He arrived on a special jail ferry from Cilacap this morning and has now been put in solitary," said an officer on duty at the high-security Nusakambangan jail, which lies off the southern coast of Java.
"Rather than being worried that he may escape, it has been decided to put him in the Nusakambangan penitentiary. It will be difficult to escape from there," Justice Minister Baharudin Lopa said. "And what is more important is that it will have an impact on corrupt officials and deter them from further corruption."
Trying and sentencing Hasan was no easy task. An initial sentence of two years was commuted by the court into house arrest, but the subsequent outrage prompted an appeals court to triple the sentence and move him directly to jail in Jakarta.
His mentor, Suharto, remains unsullied by any corruption conviction on the grounds of ill health. But Hasan's harsher treatment also shows Suharto can help him no longer. Hasan is also expected to pay back the amount deemed lost to the state.
One lawyer wondered yesterday if the transfer might be a favour to Hasan, given the fatal riots at Jakarta's Cipinang prison recently.
These were blamed on overcrowding, but inmates were also asking why they should be detained when higher profile criminals, such as Suharto's fugitive younger son, remain at large.
Meanwhile, Suharto's eldest daughter, Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana, and his half-brother Probosutedjo are suspects in two separate multi-million dollar graft cases.
Suharto's youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, was sentenced to 18 months in jail for corruption in a land swap deal but remains on the run.
| International solidarity |
Green Left Weekly - March 28, 2001
John Gauci, Sydney -- The large turnout of 230 people for a March 17 dinner and public meeting here on issue "Free Aceh, Referendum now!" is an indication of growing interest in the struggle in Aceh among the Australian public.
The event was organised jointly by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) and the Sydney-based Aceh Australia Association (AAA).
National secretary of ASIET Pip Hinman drew attention to the Australian government's continuing military ties with the Indonesian military. She said "It is concerning that the Defence 2000 white paper indicates that the government plans to step up its military ties with [Indonesian president Abdurrahman] Wahid's administration.
"Past Australian governments, both Labor and Liberal, have a long and shameful history of backing the Indonesian regime. The reason is that they consistently allow big business interests, rather than human rights, to determine foreign policy."
She called on Australians to "step up the pressure" on the Australian government. Canberra must push Jakarta to "agree to referendums in Aceh and West Papua and to cut ties with a military which is still committing human rights atrocities not just in Aceh, but across the whole of Indonesia", she argued.
A representative of the Aceh Referendum Information Centre (SIRA), Syadiah Marhaban, has been in Australia for two weeks to speak to groups about the situation in Aceh.
She told the meeting that the Acehnese overwhelmingly supported the idea of a referendum, pointing out that a poll conducted by SIRA just before a massive November 8 pro-referendum rally -- during which 48 people were killed, hundreds were injured and thousands of public and private vehicles damaged by the security forces -- 92.6% of respondents said they favoured independence rather than autonomy.
"Despite the overwhelming sentiment for independence, the Wahid government is only prepared to allow greater autonomy, a position the [Acehnese provincial assembly] has adopted," Marhaban said. "Wahid's government is pushing the Acehnese house of representatives to prioritise deliberation on the autonomy law which ensures the central government maintains control over financial and security affairs."
Marhaban noted that, while the new autonomy laws, scheduled to take effect from May, are supposed to decentralise decision- making and allow Aceh to retain a greater percentage of earnings from the exploitation of its natural resources, "they say nothing about reducing the number of TNI troops in Aceh".
In an attempt to shift the balance of forces and provide some legitimacy to the autonomy demand, the Wahid government is seeking to include anti-independence groups in the negotiations.
These attempts are "unlikely to be successful" according to Marhaban, "given [main independence group] GAM's strong base of mass support, and the activities of pro-referendum groups like SIRA and the radical Student Solidarity with the People (SMUR)."
Ed Aspinall, a lecturer in Indonesian studies at the University of New South Wales, has recently returned from Aceh. He told the meeting that Wahid is "pursuing a dual policy of negotiations with GAM while the Indonesian military is allowed a virtual free hand to wage war. While the political situation in Indonesia remains unstable, the military is playing up their role as harbingers of peace and security."
"The military's attempts to hunt down GAM members and terrorise its rural support base reflect the Indonesian government's unwillingness to engage in genuine negotiations over Aceh's future", Aspinall argued, who also noted that the military have significant commercial operations in the gold, oil, gas timber and marijuana-rich state of Aceh.
Actively Radical Television's new short film Aceh, the peoples struggle was also launched on the night. The film's director is Jill Hickson, who has already produced two films on the radical student and workers' movements in Indonesia.