Democratic struggle

Jakarta poor told not to pay city taxes

Straits Times - April 17, 2001

Geraldine Goh, Jakarta -- A boycott on the payment of city taxes has been called by a local group fighting for the rights of the urban poor.

The Coalition for Financial Transparency (CFT) also mobilised about 3,000 people, including 1,000 trishaw operators, who took to the streets on Sunday to protest against corruption.

CFT, a non-governmental organisation, claimed that the taxes collected by the authorities were misused and brought no benefit to Jakarta's poor. It asked them to stop paying taxes on utilities, motor vehicles, entertainment, goods and services, health services, garbage collection and land use, among others.

Said spokesman Wardah Hafidz: "The authorities don't care about poor people like us. Many times before we have gathered here to call for their attention to improve our lives. But they have not heeded our calls. We must bring about change." A huge banner urged the public not to pay taxes imposed by the city council.

CFT said the authorities in Jakarta had misused portions of state funds which total some 7.5 trillion rupiah. About 40 per cent of the funds are said to come from public taxes.

CFT alleged that most of the funds were used to provide facilities for the governor and city council officials instead of being allocated to the poor.

Said trishaw driver Tulhalim, 28: "I earn around 50,000 rupiah a day. How can I survive on this when I have to pay taxes here and there? I won't have enough to feed my family. We demand justice. We demand fairness."

East Timor

I'm doing fine, says bruised teenager taken by militia chief

Sydney Monring Herald - April 21, 2001

Christiani Tumelap in Atambua and Lindsay Murdoch in Dili -- A 16-year-old East Timorese girl allegedly kidnapped as a war prize has defended the notorious militia leader who fathered her son, saying she is "doing just fine" and wants to stay with him and his three de facto wives.

Juliana dos Santas told the Herald in a brief interview that she chose to leave her home town of Suai at the height of the East Timor mayhem in 1999 because she and the 28-year-old militia leader, Igidio Manek, were "probably meant for each other".

"I was not kidnapped or run away," Juliana said in the first interview she has given since her case was taken to the United Nations Human Rights Commission by Mrs Kirsty Sword Gusmao, the wife of East Timor's leader, Mr Xanana Gusmao.

"Everybody in the town had fled because of the conflict so I decided to look for Manek and left Suai with my mum and grandma," she said.

Wearing tight blue jeans, a denim jacket, gold necklace, gold earrings and gold bracelets, Juliana arrived at a government office in the West Timor border town of Atambua with a adhesive plaster over what appeared to be bruises under her right eye.

Asked about the bruises, she replied: "Oh, it's nothing. I just felt itchy. No, I've never been beaten or anything like that." Manek, who accompanied Juliana, dominated the interview, insisting on answering most of the questions asked of her.

Calling Juliana the "mother of my child", Manek said Juliana could return home to East Timor if she wanted to. "Tell her parents I will marry her and pay whatever they demand for the bride price," he said.

Juliana's aunt, Mrs Domingas Santa Mouzinho, and Ms Sword Gusmao have campaigned around the world for international pressure to be applied on Indonesia to secure Juliana's release. Juliana was 15 when, her family says, she was abducted by Manek, who led Laksaur, a pro-Jakarta militia group blamed for some of the worst violence in East Timor in 1999.

But when asked her age by the Herald, Juliana said, "I will be 19 soon." Juliana's family claim she is traumatised. They say that, at the height of the violence in East Timor, Juliana watched as Manek murdered her brother.

Evidence given to UN investigators alleges that a few days later Manek gave the order for the massacre of about 200 people who were sheltering in the grounds of the Suai church, including priests and nuns. Juliana's aunt says she took her to the home of a popular Catholic priest, Father Hilario, one of those slashed to death on the church steps.

But Manek and some of his thugs came to the house and seized Juliana, claiming "this is the one I want to be my wife", she says. When Mrs Mouzinho tried to stop Menek taking Juliana away, he fired a shot in the air.

Later the same day, Mrs Mouzinho says, Manek took Juliana to her mother and placed his gold chain around her neck, stating "now she is officially my wife".

That was the last Juliana's family saw of her. Mrs Sword Gusmao told a recent session of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva that Juliana was taken by Manek and his men across the border into Indonesian West Timor.

After being paraded as a war trophy, Juliana was repeatedly raped and fell pregnant, Mrs Sword Gusmao alleged. Juliana gave birth to a son, Hercules Carlos Amaral, on November 27 last year.

Mrs Sword Gusmao decided to take up the fight to reunite Juliana with her family after giving birth to her own son, Alexandre, on September 30 last year. Mrs Sword Gusmao is also campaigning to free an unknown number of girls and women being held in militia- controlled refugee camps in West Timor in similar circumstances.

Juliana told the Herald that she was very excited to give birth to her son and "got along just fine" with Manek's other wives, who live in different houses. She said she maintained contact with her mother, who had returned to East Timor, and other family members.

Juliana said she could not leave West Timor because she was emotionally attached to Manek. "Besides, I have a baby now," she said. "It's difficult to travel with a baby. I felt sorry once. But anyway, just tell my family that I'm doing just fine. I'm happy with Manek. He will marry me."

But Sister Clara, a Catholic nun working in West Timor with the Jesuit Refugee Service who was present during the interview with the Herald, said she did not believe Juliana was telling the truth.

"I think she is not happy; the look on her face can't lie," Sister Clara said later. "Did you see the bruise on her cheek? She's in trouble." A military officer said Indonesian authorities had investigated complaints by Juliana's family. "But we found the accusations unproven," the officer said.

"Juliana herself said that she was not kidnapped and that she loved Manek and travelled with him on her own choice." Manek said in the interview that the accusations against him were false. "Let them sue me in the international court," he said. "I'll be there to prove my innocence."

Timor Lorosae's sovereignty must be respected

Suara Timor Lorosae - April 20, 2001

The head of TNI's Information Center, Air Marshall Graito Usodo said yesterday there was an elite group that was trying to revive nationalistic sentiments in order to "seize back" Timor Lorosae and "annex" it as part of Indonesia.

Air Marshall Graito said this elite group was trying to seek popularity for their cause. But he warned they would not succeed.

"Let me assure you this thing to seize back Timor Lorosae and bring it into Indonesia will not happen," Air Marshall Graito told journalists at the El Tari Airport in Kupang, West Timor.

Air Marshall Graito said TNI will not tolerate any group that is against the Indonesian people in recognizing independence for Timor Lorosae. "We must accept Timor Lorosae's independence sincerely, because it [independence] has been accepted by the international community," he added.

Air Marsahll Gaito told journalists the elite group, comprising veterans, were trying to regroup in West Timor's border with Timor Lorosae. "They call themselves the Veterans' Brigade," he added.

Gusmao: I'm not the man to lead East Timor

Straits Times - April 21, 2001

Geraldine Goh, Jakarta -- East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao said new blood is needed to lead his country towards self-rule.

The president of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), who delivered a speech on political transition at a conference here on Friday, told The Straits Times that the people of East Timor must choose the right person to steer the country towards full independence.

Speaking in Indonesian, Mr Gusmao said: "The people of East Timor are building a new course in the history of nation-building, and so, it is important for everyone to find a new leader, not one from the past who had fought in the battlefield, but someone who will have the capability and vision to face the struggles ahead on the path towards an independent East Timor." The former freedom fighter stressed that he was not aiming for the role of a lawmaker in East Timor.

"I am not standing for the National Assembly elections in August," said Mr Gusmao. "I will only participate as an ordinary voter." The polls slated for August 30 will see 88 candidates voted into Parliament -- a representative from each of the 13 districts of East Timor and 75 other assemblymen who will vie for national representation.

The parliamentarians will then have three months to draft a new Constitution for East Timor which will include the date for the presidential election.

Mr Gusmao said he had also no intention of running for the presidency. He added: "I am not a politician. I have been a fighter all my life. I don't know anything about building this and that -- the architecture, reconstruction. So, we must have someone who knows about all these -- to rebuild East Timor."

Mr Gusmao said he also wished to see not only the physical rehabilitation of his homeland after the years of conflict, but also the emotional recovery of his people.

"I hope that reconciliation will continue among our people. East Timor wants to live in peace with itself and with its neighbours," he added.

Mr Gusmao held talks with Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid on Thursday to discuss joint border control between East Timor and Indonesian West Timor to avoid further clashes.

He also sought assistance for the repatriation of the remaining East Timorese refugees among the estimated 100,000 living in camps in West Timor, who wished to return home.

Mr Gusmao expressed hope that the returnees could participate in the political process in August to choose a new government which would take over from the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET).

He also commended Singapore for its commitment to send a 70- member contingent of peacekeepers to East Timor next month for a one-year stint. "We value Singapore's contribution to keep peace in East Timor as it joins other countries among the international community to help in our steps towards a new beginning," he said.

Indonesian commander embraces Timor hero, admits army excesses

Agence France-Presse - April 20, 2001

Jakarta -- A former army commander Friday admitted excesses in the Indonesian military in its handling of separatist movements, and publicly embraced East Timor's independence leader Xanana Gusmao.

Retired Lieutenant General Prabowo Subianto, the former leader of the feared Kostrad special forces, saluted and hugged Gusmao, who commanded East Timor's Falantil guerillas for 21 years, before an audience of foreign businessmen and diplomats. "Between warriors we have mutual respect," said Subianto, sharing the platform with Gusmao and other panelists discussing Indonesia's separatist movements at a conference here.

"I think I was chasing Mr Xanana Gusmao for many, many years and he eluded us, and so as warriors, we salute and we respect a worthy and a strong warrior. Now the wheels of fortune have turned and I have to address him as `your excellency', but that's life, c'est la vie."

Subianto rose to the highest ranks of Indonesia's army during 28 years of service, married former president Suharto's youngest daughter, and was tipped to become military commander or even president.

But his dazzling career was cut short within months of Suharto's fall from power in 1998, when he was blamed for organising the kidnapping and disappearance of democracy activists and discharged from the military.

Subianto told Friday's conference that widespread international criticisms of Indonesia's armed forces had their "basis in fact," although he said they were not entirely objective.

"There have been excesses, violations, there have been breakdowns in discipline, breakdowns in correct rules of engagement, however ... I know this is not part of our doctrine," he said.

"It is not part of any official policy and in fact the doctrine that we have states very clearly that we are a people's army and therefore our whole basis of military success must be based on support of the people." Indonesia's military was divided by conflicting approaches to dealing with separatists, Subianto said.

"One tradition or school of thought are those that say `victory at all costs, mission at all costs, pragmatism ... results ... I don't care about anything else, we don't care about the feelings of the people etcetera, we have to go in and if there are civilian casualties so be it, collateral damage'," Subianto said.

"There's another train of thought that proposes or tries to defend the doctrine of the basis of the Indonesian military doctrine, which is the doctrine of total people's defence." Subianto said in the three years he had been outside the military, he was "very surprised and very disappointed" at continuing incidents that resulted in "excessive civilian casualties." "They are aberrations, they are violations, and are detrimental to the success of the mission of the Indonesian military.

In defence of the military, Subianto said Indonesians were by nature violent. "We do have a culture of violence, the tribes, the ethnic groups in Indonesia, the Indonesians will go very fast to violence," he said. "The word amok comes from the lingua franca of this archipelago, something we are aware of and that we do not like."

He said biased behaviour by military members was a reflection of Indonesian society, pointing to the 28-month sectarian conflict in the Moluccas where soldiers and police have joined Muslim and Christian fighters.

"If there are fault lines in the society there will be fault lines in the military. This is what happened in the Moluccas." "We have active serving officers who are siding with one side. In the daytime they go to the headquarters, they go for their roll call, and at night time they stay up they join the various factions.

This is very tragic." He said the "wilful ignoring of doctrine, of orders" was sympotomatic of the soldiers' cultural and educational background.

[On April 21 the Indonesian Observer quoted Xanana as saying he regarded Prabowo as his friend and to seek a further relationship to share their working life in the future. "We are all friends. We knew each other and have been fighting each other for a long time. But I know that the war that took place in the past was not between me and Prabowo. War will not change myself and him as an old friend", he said - James Balowski.]

UN urges Indonesia to judge East Timor killers

Reuters - April 20, 2001

Geniva -- The United Nations urged Indonesia on Friday to bring those responsible for bloodshed in East Timor to justice and rein in militias intimidating thousands of refugees still in camps.

The UN Commission on Human Rights also called for completion of the voluntary repatriation of refugees from the camps in West Timor so they can register to vote in East Timor's first democratic elections set for August 30.

The "chairman's statement," a milder form of rebuke than a resolution, was adopted by consensus by the 53-member forum after being negotiated with Indonesia's delegation.

In August 1999, tiny East Timor overwhelmingly voted to split from Jakarta's rule, ending 23 years of often brutal Indonesian domination but sparking Jakarta-backed carnage.

The UN refugee agency says that between 50,000 and 70,000 of the total 250,000 refugees who fled at the time remain in West Timor, but are intimidated from returning home by militias.

The Commission welcomed "encouraging improvements of the judicial system in East Timor and the first measures that have been taken against suspects accused of crimes against humanity and other serious crimes committed during the violence in 1999." It stressed the importance of continuing international aid to strengthen the devastated territory's nascent justice system.

The Commission took note of efforts by Indonesia's attorney general to investigate fully violations perpetrated in East Timor and a recent parliamentary proposal to set up an ad-hoc human rights court to try suspects.

It urged Indonesia to establish the court without delay "and to bring to justice those responsible for violations of human rights and humanitarian law abuses in East Timor." "The Commission will continue to monitor closely developments and in their light consider whether further action would be required," it added.

The UN transitional administrator in East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, has called for greater efforts to prosecute for war crimes those responsible for the 1999 killings.

UN distances itself from report on East Timor war crimes

Associated Press - April 20, 2001

Dili -- UN officials in East Timor Friday distanced themselves from a report that accuses senior Indonesian army generals of masterminding the wave of violence that swept the territory after an independence vote in 1999.

James Dunn, a former Australian consul to East Timor, prepared the 60-page report for UN prosecutors who are conducting their own investigation into crimes against humanity. Details of the report were published in the Australian media Friday.

UN chief prosecutor Mohamed Othman criticized the content, structure and conclusions of Dunn's report. He said it lacked hard and original evidence and didn't reflect the position of an ongoing UN investigation, which is expected to indict as many as 400 suspects, including some top Indonesian military officers.

Othman said Dunn had been engaged as a consultant by East Timor's UN administration, but he had no official status within the world body. "It is his own report and reflects his own views," said Othman. Dunn wasn't immediately available for comment Friday.

Othman said prosecutors had asked Dunn to write the report with the aim of submitting it as evidence to future war crimes trials. However, this was now in doubt. "Making the report public has diminished its effectiveness as a legal document as it can now be challenged for prejudicing our investigation," he said.

Progress toward bringing those responsible for East Timor's devastation to justice has been slow and uncertain. Under a UN directive, Indonesia is to prosecute members of it's military and civilian administration for crimes against humanity in East Timor. Indonesia's attorney general's office has prepared a list of 23 potential suspects. However, no formal charges have been filed.

Othman said the United Nations still hoped that Jakarta would take action. "We will increase the pressure on Indonesia to cooperate with our investigation," said Othman.

East Timor GDP to grow 15 percent in 2001

Reuters - April 19, 2001

Jakarta -- East Timor's economy has rebounded strongly after violence destroyed the tiny half-island territory nearly two years ago, with 15 percent growth forecast for 2001 and 2002, the Asian Development Bank said on Thursday.

But the Bank cautioned the growth was from an extremely low base and the fledgling economy was still dependent on external financial support.

"Real GDP grew by 15 percent in 2000, largely due to initial reconstruction works and the gradual restoration of commerce and basic services," the Bank said in its Asian Development Outlook for 2001.

"The economy is expected to continue its 15 percent growth momentum in 2001 and 2002, respectively," it added, saying agriculture, construction and services would be the main engines of growth.

Prices are expected to stabilise and inflation, measured by the consumer price index in Dili, is forecast to be three percent in both 2001 and 2002.

Pro-Jakarta militias demolished East Timor in response to its overwhelming vote on August 30, 1999 to end Indonesia's harsh 23-year rule.

"The violence and unrest associated with moves toward independence shook the entire foundation of the economy," the report said. The Bank said early reports suggested a 40 percent decline in GDP in 1999.

It said unemployment remained high, with comparatively high wages paid by international aid organisations and the inflexible wage structure of the UN -- currently running the territory -- distorting the labour market.

In other key forecasts, the ADB said the current account deficit would remain high at around 55 percent of GDP in 2001 and 33 percent in 2002. Last year, the current account deficit was 51.7 percent of GDP.

East Timorese plan to hold their first elections for a fully independent territory, in August.

Human rights tribunal not a priority: Gusmao

Jakarta Post - April 20, 2001

Jakarta -- East Timorese leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao insisted on Thursday that overcoming the territory's complex social and economic problems was his most immediate priority, and not the convening of a tribunal to try past human rights abusers.

Speaking to journalists after a meeting with President qAbdurrahman Wahid, Gusmao said that such a tribunal was, "not a priority for me." Nevertheless, he quickly stressed that such a stance was his own personal position and "not the position of all East Timorese".

Gusmao defended his view, saying that East Timor is "dealing with a difficult process, political transition and other issues". Accompanied by his Australian wife Kirsty Sword and his baby son, Gusmao said that during his meeting with Abdurrahman the two leaders discussed the political situation in East Timor and the likelihood of further scholarships for East Timorese students to study at Indonesian institutions.

The question of an international tribunal has been a major cause of controversy since the former province was released from Indonesia.

After the historic ballot in East Timor in August 1999, pro- integration militias went on a violent rampage, allegedly assisted by elements of the Indonesia military.

Several senior military officers and officials are suspected of involvement in the violence. The Indonesian government, however, has rejected the possibility of an international tribunal and insisted that suspects should be tried under Indonesian laws.

As a result of the wave of terror that hit the territory, hundreds of thousands of people fled across the border into Indonesia.

There are still an estimated 120,000 East Timorese in East Nusa Tenggara and efforts to repatriate them have been sluggish, particularly since the suspension of activities by international agencies following an incident in Atambua last September, which resulted in the deaths of three UN aid workers.

In Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET) Chief of Staff N. Parameswaran said on Thursday that it was necessary for a UN security team to first assess the situation before operations could resume.

Parameswaran pointed out that since the Atambua incident he had visited the area seven times, noting that the situation had been improving. Parameswaran also stressed that success of the repatriation efforts had in the past, and will in the future, depend on the cooperation of the Indonesian side.

"I always said that it would be impossible for us to send even one refugee home without the help of Indonesia, including the government and military," he said. "So far we have the best working relationship with the government of Indonesia," he remarked.

International Organization of Migration staff member Christopher Gascon said that in the past four months the organization had succeeded in repatriating some 12,000 people. They are continuing their operation.

UN lays blame for Timor wave of terror

Sydney Morning Herld - April 20, 2001

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili -- An investigation by a former Australian diplomat, Mr James Dunn, identifies a group of still-serving officers who secretly planned and supervised a campaign of violence to counter a surge of support for independence and then to punish East Timorese for rejecting Indonesia's rule.

The operation was code-named Wiradharma and was commanded from July 1999 by officers of elite Kopassus units, the investigation found.

Mr Dunn's explosive 60-page report on his five-month investigation is still secret and presents the UN with a test of its willingness to push for those responsible for the bloody events in East Timor at the time of the independence vote to be brought to justice.

The report's account of the detailed planning by military leaders before the independence vote also poses a challenge to denials by the Australian Government that it had any forewarning of the violence and intimidation that followed the vote. Given the high level at which the operation was planned, the lack of knowledge by the Australian Government suggests either a massive failure in intelligence gathering or in the processing of intelligence material.

The Dunn report names two army officers as playing key roles: Major-General Zacky Anwar Makarim and the former Bali-based commander of East Timor, Major-General Adam Damiri.

"According to informed sources in Jakarta, it was planned to deport most of East Timor's population to West Timor, from where they would later be dispersed to other parts of the archipelago," it says.

"The planners seemed to believe that the violence would persuade the MPR [Indonesia's top legislature] to reject the outcome of the ballot. The operation began in the immediate aftermath of the announcing of the results of the plebiscite and was focused on the deportation of a large part of the population of East Timor, the destruction of most houses and buildings and on a campaign of terror against the staff of the UN, foreign journalists and other foreigners present in East Timor at the time."

The report urges the UN to step up its efforts to bring those responsible to justice. It names the former armed forces chief, General Wiranto, who has so far eluded prosecution in Jakarta. Mr Dunn says it is inconceivable that General Wiranto, as head of the armed forces, was unaware of a massive campaign conducted by his subordinates that needed a large amount of military resources. "No military commander can shirk responsibility for the behaviour of men under his command," he says.

Mr Dunn says the ultimate responsibility for what he calls crimes against humanity committed in East Timor must rest with those who planned, organised, trained and equipped militia who actually carried out the violence.

"The militia leaders, the most conspicuous subjects for prosecution ... are not really the most important subjects for investigation in relation to these serious human rights violations," he says.

The report, which has been obtained by Herald, casts doubt on Indonesia's promises to prosecute the officers behind the violence.

It urges the immediate establishment of an international tribunal to put officers on trial unless Indonesia fulfils its promises. But the UN, apparently worried the report will disrupt negotiations with Indonesia, has refused to make it public.

Mr Dunn, a former Australian consul in Dili, rejects repeated Indonesian claims that the violence was a spontaneous response by pro-Jakarta East Timorese to the vote for independence.

"Several of the senior TNI [military] officers mentioned in this report not only sponsored the setting up of the militia, provided training, arms, money and in some cases drugs, they also encouraged its campaign of violence and organised the wave of destruction and deportation that occurred between 5 and 20 September," Mr Dunn says.

He identifies five senior officers as the "leading actors" in what was in effect a conspiracy to implement a campaign of violence against the unarmed supporters of independence. "The reality behind the scenes suggests that at least some military commanders were exhorting the militia to kill," he says.

Mr Dunn says the number of people killed in East Timor may be greatly in excess of 1,000. Many killings, especially in the interior, have not been investigated, he says.

Mr Dunn says the continued forced detention of tens of thousands of East Timorese in camps in Indonesian West Timor is one of the most serious crimes against humanity that he investigated. It is still being perpetrated, he says.

Mr Dunn says the crimes he investigated will set back East Timor for a generation. "The wave of violence led to very serious crimes against humanity. They include killings, including mass murder, torture, abduction, sexual assault and assault against children, as well as mass deportation and forced dislocation.

"The crimes against humanity also include the massive destruction of shelter and of services essential to the upholding of the basic rights of the East Timorese to health care and education."

Key findings:

• Indonesian officers began planning to destroy East Timor two months before the independence vote
• 250,000 East Timorese were deported to Indonesian West Timor
• More than 70 per cent of buildings were damaged or destroyed
• A United Nations investigation has found that senior Indonesian military officers planned mass destruction, deportations and killings in East Timor two months before a 1999 vote on the territory's future.

Old friend of Timor says what others will not

Sydney Morning Herald - April 20, 2001

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili -- As the East Timorese capital was being looted and burned on a stifling hot day in September 1999, an Indonesian Army officer rushed to the Turismo hotel.

He encountered a politely spoken former diplomat, James Dunn, one of a dozen Australians who had ignored threats and intimidation and refused to flee Dili on United Nations evacuation flights to Darwin. The officer told Mr Dunn: "You must flee. Wild men with long hair and knives are on the way." Mr Dunn, in his 70s, stood his ground. "Look, I have been a soldier myself. Good soldiers aren't afraid of wild men with knives." The officer stared at him in apparent disbelief, shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

Mr Dunn was one of the last foreigners to leave Dili at the height of the violence. Now, 18 months on, he has affronted other Indonesian military officers.

Mr Dunn has written the most damning report yet about their role in a campaign of destruction, deportation and killings in East Timor that he says amount to crimes against humanity.

The 60-page report, commissioned by the United Nations, will rock what appears to be the growing complacency of some of the top generals in Jakarta who had good reason to believe they had got away with one of the crimes of the century.

It has created a quandary for the UN as it tries to negotiate a fresh relationship with Jakarta, which is showing no willingness to prosecute anybody over what happened in East Timor. It will also greatly intensify pressure on the UN to set up an international tribunal to prosecute the officers involved.

Among those Mr Dunn singles out is General Wiranto, who was chief of the Indonesian armed forces at the time of the atrocities. Wiranto has been reinventing himself in Jakarta since formally retiring from the military last year, promoting himself as a singer, appearing on talk shows and even sitting beside still- serving officers at news conferences, a man of obviously undiminished power. You could be forgiven for thinking he had started campaigning early for the presidential elections in 2004.

Wiranto's name was absent from a list of 22 people cited last year as formal suspects for investigation by the Indonesian Attorney-General's office, even though the country's human rights commission said after an investigation it was inconceivable that Wiranto was unaware of a huge operation mounted by subordinate generals in East Timor.

In his report Mr Dunn makes clear he believes Wiranto should be prosecuted. "... it is difficult to believe that General Wiranto, for example, could have been unaware ... not least because of the magnitude of an operation that succeeded in transporting more than 250,000 East Timorese to Indonesian Timor over a period of less than a fortnight, and in destroying or seriously damaging more than 70per cent of homes and buildings in East Timor," Mr Dunn says in his report.

"This operation required considerable organisational skill and the mobilisation of transport and other military resources. It seems inconceivable that these resources could have been mustered without the prior knowledge of the head of Indonesia's armed forces."

Mr Dunn's report is the first to focus in detail on the role in the atrocities of, among others, Major-General Zacky Anwar Makarim, the former head of one of Indonesia's intelligence- gathering organisations.

UN officers who were in East Timor at the height of the 1999 violence say they believe that Makarim, a member of a prominent Jakarta family, was the key organiser of the violence.

Shortly before the UN-supervised plebiscite, at which Timorese overwhelmingly rejected Indonesian rule, Makarim was removed as the military's UN liaison officer, apparently at the insistence of countries including the United States.

Mr Dunn says Makarim was "widely reported to have been responsible for militia terror against independence supporters and UN workers". Unlike Wiranto, Makarim has kept a low profile in Jakarta since the events of 1999. He is rarely seen in public, although he is still a serving officer.

Mr Dunn says another officer who should be investigated for crimes against humanity is Major-General Syafrie Syamsuddin, a leading officer of the elite Kopassus units. Syamsuddin wields considerable power in Jakarta, having served on Wiranto's personal staff when he was senior security minister. He is one of the military's representatives in parliament.

Mr Dunn quotes a Canberra-based strategic affairs analyst as saying that Syamsuddin prepared the plans for the military and militia operations in East Timor at the military's headquarters in Jakarta. "He was sent to East Timor shortly before the plebiscite, where, according to another report, he helped conduct the militia campaign," Mr Dunn says.

Mr Dunn has spent much of his time sticking up for the Timorese. He was Australia's consul in the former Portuguese colony shortly before Indonesia's 1975 invasion. He has many life-long friends there and is one of the foremost experts on the half-island territory.

But Mr Dunn should be sceptical about whether the UN will act on his recommendations, which include stepping up efforts to bring the Indonesian officers he names to justice. Weeks after he finished his report the UN's headquarters in Dili has refused to make it public.

Apparently its findings are too hot; Mr Dunn put down on paper what others were too nervous to say. In the bureaucratic and secretive UN culture, the report is a bombshell likely to infuriate many in Jakarta still smarting over the loss of East Timor.

Mr Dunn talks of certain Indonesian officers acting in collusion with the civil government. He says blame should not rest with the militia who committed most of the atrocities.

"In most cases the militia may have been identified as the killers and agents of the reign of terror, but their actions flowed from the command involvement of TNI [military] officers, sometimes from direct orders, or from the provision of military training, weapons, money and, according to militia members, drugs," Mr Dunn says.

He says that the Indonesian military devised a plan in July 1999, two months before the plebiscite. That plan involved mass destruction, ransacking and deportations when it was realised the vote was likely to favour independence.

Officers called the plan Wiradharma and also used the code name Guntur. "According to informed sources in Jakarta, it was planned to deport most of East Timor's population to West Timor, from where they would later be dispersed to other parts of the archipelago," Mr Dunn says. "The planners seemed to believe that the violence would persuade the MPR [Indonesia's top legislature], to reject the outcome of the ballot."

Mr Dunn concedes that the pursuit of justice over the atrocities is dependent on political co-operation from Indonesia. "While the early responses from the Government of President [Abdurrahman] Wahid have been encouraging, the political climate in Indonesia may have changed to the extent that the further pursuit of these matters could well turn out to be a lengthy process, with their ultimate resolution being dependent on the support and political will of the international community."

Key recommendations in the Dunn report:

• Efforts should be stepped up to establish the guilt of those ultimately responsible, or with shared responsibility, for the crimes committed in 1999, and to begin action to have them brought to justice.
• Particular attention needs to be given to investigating the roles played by Indonesian military commanders.
• Structural changes should be made to UN investigating units in East Timor.
• Trials of militia in jail in Dili should be expedited. Courts should take "shared guilt" into account.
• An international tribunal should be set up immediately if Indonesia fails to bring to justice those responsible for the East Timor crimes.
• The UN should place on its agenda with Indonesia the question of reparations, or some form of compensation, over the massive destruction of shelter and buildings, and the extensive theft of property in East Timor.
• UN agencies need stronger world support to help East Timor refugees in West Timor. People still detained remain victims of a serious crime.
• A thorough investigation should be conducted into what transpired and who was responsible. The most serious crimes are of such magnitude they must be considered of concern to the world.

Whose agendas? East Timor suffers under weight of world plans

Canberra Times - April 14, 2001

Jenny Denton -- At 11 o'clock on a Thursday morning, a handful of people are standing around outside the Anarchist Bookshop in Newtown, Sydney, waiting to load a truck with food and goods donated for East Timor.

Some of them have been there since 8am. Stacked in the warehouse are sewing machines, bags of rice and flour and cases of long- life milk for Tricia Johns's "self-help project", a wheelchair "for a boy named Elvis", bicycles, bongo drums and a set of encyclopedias for the Hadomi Orphanage, a mixing desk for Radio Falantil, tyres, a photocopier, a freezer and assorted tools for the East Timorese-run trade cooperative, FUTO, and a box labelled "crucifixes" addressed to Bishop Belo. "We don't have any trouble getting the stuff donated it's getting it up there that's the problem," says Barbara, one of the organisers of the collection.

This is the second attempt at shifting the goods from the warehouse to the shipping container which will go to Timor. Earlier in the week a truck organised through another company failed to turn up. Eventually this one arrives, is loaded and heads off to a yard in Alexandria. It gets there to find the container can't be located. This is grassroots Australian aid to East Timor slow, chaotic, but committed.

"There's tens, even hundreds of millions of dollars pouring in," says Andrew McNaughton, convener of the Australian East Timor Association and former AusAID worker. "You've got various levels. You've got the grassroots-type stuff, like people sending up a container, and then you have some of the NGOs with small budgets, and, of course, they're not perfect. But you've also got huge blocks of UN money." In 2001, according to Koffi Annan, "the UN has cause to be proud of what they have accomplished" in East Timor. The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) report for July 2000-January 2001 outlines service and infrastructure achievements, from reopening 820 schools and the national university, to running crash-courses for diplomas.

Under the auspices of the UN's transitional administration, repairs have been made to water and electricity systems. Limited telephone, postage, radio and television services have been restored. District courts, a defence force and a police force have been set up. A registry of births, deaths and marriages was due to start registering inhabitants and issuing identity cards last month. Political parties have been established or re- established.

The UN-chaired National Council recently announced the date for the country's first elections. On August 30 this year, the second anniversary of the UN-brokered referendum on independence, the East Timorese will go to the polls to elect an 88-member constituent assembly. After broad public consultation, a constitution will be proclaimed on December 15 and on the same day the constituent assembly will be transformed into the national parliament.

The world's newest nation seems to be well on track. But scratch the surface of East Timor's "reconstruction" and the picture that emerges is a profoundly worrying one. As well as the persistence of chronic and debilitating shortages, raising questions of the efficacy of aid programs, there are serious questions about the bureaucracy, expense and paternalism of the UN presence and the appropriateness of the models of development being proposed and implemented by the UN in tandem with the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. In particular, the extent and nature of foreign investment, which is not subject to social or environmental guidelines, is a cause for great concern. The influx of foreign investors and comparatively wealthy UN and aid workers has led to the creation of a double economy and the perception of the UN as the new colonialists in East Timor. There is strong evidence of deepening divisions among East Timorese. Many who were active in the struggle for independence, especially the young, have been marginalised in the influx of foreigners and returning diaspora (East Timorese formerly exiled in Australia and Portugal), and the adoption of Portuguese as the official language has locked them out of the political process and public-service employment.

As evidenced by Xanana Gusmao's recent resignation as head of the CNRT (the umbrella group of East Timorese political organisations) and his statement that he would not become East Timor's president, there are clear signs that all is not well in the leadership of the fledgling nation. This tiny half-island has been through everything colonisation, war, brutal occupation twice over. It has become an international cause celebre. And it has come to symbolise various things to different groups. To many, East Timor is an inspiring story of the faith, strength and unity of its people. In Australia, its recent history (though not the 25-year period when Australian government policy recognised Indonesia's occupation as legal) has been used to promote the Australian defence forces and to sell telecommunications. To the World Bank, East Timor is a clean slate to showcase economic development. To others, apparently, it is a new frontier, ripe for profiteering. Whether the next stage of East Timor's history sees rampant free-market economics consigning the territory to a new form of colonisation and continuing inequities remains to be seen. A happy ending is not guaranteed. "If it was just one country helping us, we would understand," Robin Taudevin, an aid worker implementing the United Nations High Commission for Refugees shelter program, was told by a young Timorese villager. In a contribution to the book East Timor: Making Amends? last August, Taudevin says that aid programs in rural districts are often underfunded, very late and of poor quality. The bureaucracy inherent in the UN system and big international aid agencies is compounded by overlapping levels of organisation and governance, and poor communication between them and local structures. At the district level, UNTAET's overall control of the country is frequently "at odds in intent" with the leadership of CNRT. "It is my opinion," Taudevin writes, "that firm, if not formal, lines are being drawn in terms of primary governance of the nation and that there are too many conflicting interests pulling in too many uncoordinated directions." The fundamental problem of the transition, he believes, has been "the scant involvement of East Timorese." In a recent interview with the Jakarta Post, Indonesian sociologist and Newcastle University lecturer George Junus Aditjondro discussed his impressions of East Timor after his most recent trip there in January: "I was shocked at the speed of investments pouring in; this certainly has a lot to do with the way Indonesia left East Timor this created the ideal bonanza for foreign investors, especially Australians from the Northern Territory." In an earlier article, Aditjondro noted that Northern Territory Chief Minister Denis Burke, after sending his special representative on an urgent assessment mission to East Timor in 1999, had immediately fed the results back to the Darwin business community, which was assisted in applying for registration with the UN agencies and subsequently obtained 40-46 per cent of work in the disaster regions. " Timor has been transformed from an Indonesian colony to an outpost of global capitalism with investors from Hong Kong, Macao, Portugal, Singapore everyone wants a piece of the reconstruction pie," Aditjondro says. "The World Bank says East Timor is a showcase in how to build an economy from scratch, thanks to the Indonesian military, but [rebuilding] also involves many other groups, so the Timorese are becoming guests in their own country.

"This is a more subtle and entrenched form of colonialism. The old colonialism was brutal. The new one is pervasive, filling in the gaps, leading to a begging-bowl mentality. If you're Caucasian, you're regarded as a donor and this applies from the top to the grassroots level; begging has increased, which is why the first English word for many youngsters is "Hello Mister", ironically now the name of a supermarket in Dili." Lansell Taudevin (Robin's father), who ran AusAID's East Timor programs for four years, says: "East Timor's got a very, very big uphill battle to face economically. Its first priority has to be, of course, the needs of its people some of the feedback I get from friends and from being up there recently, is that people feel that they're worse off now than they were under Indonesia, economically. "There is very little change in the patterns. You're replacing the Indonesian-Javanese kind of investment with the carpet-bagger type of investment, which appears to be not necessarily dominating, but it's certainly a problem up there. I think a lot of the investments that are going on up there are very much short-term and when the UN and its entourage moves out I mean there was a figure quoted the other day there are 2700 four-wheel-drives and only three fishing boats. I think that encapsulates the whole thing in a nutshell." James Arvanitakis, campaign director of AIDWATCH, an independently funded organisation, says: "Most aid money never leaves Australia, most aid money will go into the pockets of consultants, so the concern is not only where the aid money is going, but the type of projects that are being funded." In response to concerns raised by activists in Timor about the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and some of the projects of international NGOs, AIDWATCH has launched "Timorwatch", a project which will send two people to East Timor to work with local organisations in assessing the projects and proposals of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

"The World Bank agricultural project, if you look at that on its face value," says Arvanitakis, "is saying certain things; it's World Bank-speak.

You look at it and you think, 'Yeah, this sounds OK,' but when you start analysing what it's saying, it's basically putting export-oriented economic growth ahead of food security and that is not going to work. It's a disaster. And that's what's caused starvation in so many parts of the world. The infrastructure that it's promoting is roads into ports. Why do you do roads into ports? To promote, again, export-oriented growth. So it's a very economic rationalist, very export-focused recommendation model.

That's not, we believe, the only solution that can be taken to the table." As an example of inappropriate, "top-down" development planning, Arvanitakis cites an incident in Bougainville: "The Asian Development Bank had hired a number of consultant experts, who had gone in there and designed this really sort of elaborate micro-finance model that was basically a three-tiered sort of [structure] you're going to have a national association and then there's regional associations and you're going to have a new product-development arm and a whole bunch of really weird stuff. "Seriously, if someone was building this for an Australian audience or even somewhere like Indonesia, you could probably say, 'OK, there's a chance it'll take off here,' but somewhere like Bougainville it was just one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen Bougainville is one of the least developed places in the Pacific." The World Bank has a long history of blunders in developing countries with programs which impact heavily on the environment, and change social and economic structures by encouraging dependence on cash cropping, distributing non-native and genetically modified seeds, and by offering loans to larger-scale agricultural concerns, ignoring local patterns of smaller-scale landholding. These policies, well-intentioned as they may be, destroy communities' strategies for self-sufficiency, often with disastrous results.

"The people by Western standards are certainly not well-off," says Lansell Taudevin "That doesn't mean to say that they're starving. They have developed their own almost barter-like trade system and they will probably continue to do so in the face of what is a "top down" system, which I don't think is necessarily going to be, in the long-term, helpful to them. One of the problems they're going to face in Timor, when the Timorese take over their own development, which they should be doing now, is that it's not being driven by the people who know the situation, and to a certain extent that applies as much to UNTAET as to the returning diaspora, which is going to create its own problems. ' Timor does not have the potential to ever become a major exporting country. In terms of agriculture, its first priority has to be self-sufficiency." Taudevin likens the UN development models with those previously tried under Indonesia. 'The Catholic Church tried to [develop livestock], it used the same model as UNTAET, and that was that the Catholic Church spent all this money on developing these cattle industries, and used the farmers" land and used the farmers as serfs to work the land. That"s a major criticism I have of them. "There's a lot of well- meaning aid that went into it, but they farmed it with huge equipment and machinery that the farmers could never afford in their own right. And basically the farmers themselves became serfs of their own land. I don't agree with that, but that's the pattern that UNTAET's following because it's easiest to do. The hardest to do is to get in there and work with the farmers themselves and build and support them, through training, etc, etc. And I don't think that's happening." What about the World Bank 'community empowerment program'? 'Oh look, I've had 30 years in this game, working for the World Bank and working for ADB [the Asian Development Bank], and in every contract that is the necessary thing, along with women in development and gender equality. "These are the catchphrases that you put in all your reports and all your plans. And they look fantastic and they satisfy all of the activists in the world, but then you actually look at the reality, and the reality is that it doesn't happen it can be done, but it requires a totally different mindset to what the World Bank generally is capable of . . . There's a big difference between the reports that people make about what's happening and what's actually happening on the ground. "I think the government itself, CNRT and so forth, what they're saying is: 'OK, our focus, while we've got all this money pouring in from the international community, is to get this self-sufficiency thing going. And then, as a second phase, we'll go for exports." "And I would think that basically they'll set up a balance, to say that agriculture, etc, in the first 10 years will be self- directed and we'll export or exploit our mineral reserves to provide the necessary balance in export earnings. And that's the balance I know they were talking about, but whether they achieve that's going to be very, very difficult." With hindsight, it is tempting to see an inevitability in the success of the East Timorese struggle for self-determination. But there is no inevitability of a happy ending. East Timor's future depends on the institutions and relationships and legal and economic agreements which are being established now. One crucial area of Australian involvement is the Timor Gap Treaty.

Estimates of the value of royalties from the development of the oil and gas reserves in the Timor Gap vary dramatically, but UNTAET head of political affairs Peter Galbraith has speculated they could be between $A200 million and $A400 million by the end of the decade. For a country whose annual budget is just $A90 million, "that makes all the difference", he says. The proportion of that figure which goes to East Timor is dependent on the results of negotiations with the Australian Government. At the last talks in October, the Australian government was seeking to uphold the terms of the treaty negotiated with Indonesia. The Timor Gap Treaty, infamously toasted by Ali Alatas and Gareth Evans in a plane over Timor, didn't establish a boundary, but an agreement on a "joint development zone" which was premised on Australia's recognition of the Indonesian occupation as legal. Current international law, including the UN convention on the law of the sea, favours "median line" sea boundaries between countries, based on equity and distance, rather than "seabed" boundaries, based on geological features, on which Australia's case rests. With the drawing of an equidistant line, the vast majority of oil and gas reserves would fall under Timorese sovereignty.

Back in Newtown, the missing container has been found, and Barbara and another organiser, Alix, are heading off for an appointment with someone from the Maritime Workers Union to see about getting more storage space and shipping donated. "You can play spot the Timorese in Dili," Barbara says, "but they still don't have the basics. They still need the bread and butter stuff."

Horta seeks reconciliation in two areas

Suara Timor Lorosae - April 18, 2001

Dr. Jose Ramos Horta, one of the political leaders of East Timor, thinks that reconciliation among the people of East Timor must be carried out in two areas i.e., political reconciliation and criminal reconciliation.

The Secretary-General of UNTAS, Filomena de Jesus Horany Political said on Tuesday in Kupang, that reconciliation will be carried out according to East Timor culture, whilst criminal reconciliation will be carried out at the proclamation of the independence of East Timor around 2002. Filomena de Jesus Horany disclosed this when he presented the result of the visit of the UNTAS team to East Timor two days ago, at the invitation of the UN Transitional Administration.

Filomena also said that according to Ramos Horta, there would be a general amnesty or total pardon in 2002, for all the people of East Timor who had committed crimes from 1975 till today. After that, all the people of East Timor would take a traditional oath and celebrate a pardon mass together.

"This is a personal idea of Horta and he admits that he has not spoken to Xanana or other people about it," said Filomeno. Filomena also said that UNTAS' stand in principle, is that the global solution to the problem of former Indonesian colonialism can only be through total reconciliation without condition. Through unconditional reconciliation, all people can unite and build the future of an independent and sovereign nation together. During its visit, UNTAS team met with Bishop Belo, Xanana Gusmao and other political leaders.

70 percent of East Timor refugees want to leave Indonesia

Deutsche Presse-Agentur - April 18, 2001 (abridged)

Soe, Indonesia -- Around 70 per cent of the tens of thousands of East Timorese refugees languishing in squalid camps in Indonesia want to return home, an Indonesian military official said on Wednesday.

Colonel Budi Hariyanto, military chief of Indonesia's West Timor province, told journalists touring refugee camps there that most will return to East Timor following a government registration beginning next month. "Only about 30 per cent, mainly ex- militiamen and their families, will want to stay in Indonesia," Hariyanto said.

Some of the 5,000-plus refugees staying in the town of Soe, outside the provincial capital of Kupang, told reporters that reports of intimidation by the militias and local authorities to remain in Indonesia were exaggerated.

"There is no intimidation or pressure from the military or local authorities for us to stay here," said refugee Antonio Gonzales, an ex-militiaman. "Most of us are staying here because of the security situation in East Timor. " He claimed that three ex- militiamen were detained by UN peacekeepers after they returned to East Timor recently, which prompted other refugees to refuse to go back.

Reconciliation must end with a general amnesty: Cancio Carvalho

Suara Timor Lorosae - April 17, 2001

An ex-militia leader yesterday appealed for a general amnesty for those who committed human rights crimes in Timor Lorosae.

Speaking at a radio-talk show in Indonesia-controlled West Timor, the former leader of the Mahidi militia, Cancio Lopes de Carvalho, said reconciliation was important for peace in Timor Lorosae. But he added the reconciliation process must end with a general amnesty for those who committed human rights crimes.

"We are ready to come to the table of reconciliation. We are ready to talk to Xanana, Bishop Belo and other leaders. But people must not be afraid. There must a guarantee that there would be no repercussions against them if they committed any abuses. We are now living under different circumstances," said Cancio.

"The road to peace is there but there must be a general amnesty for those who committed crimes in Timor Lorosae, before and after the referendum," added the ex-militia leader.

"With a general amnesty in place I think all the people of Timor Lorosae can work together to develop the country. There won't be fear haunting us and we can put the past behind."

UNTAET does not have a Timorization target: Mario Carrascalao

Suara Timor Lorosae - April 17, 2001

UNTAET's Timorization process is not clearly visible within the Transitional administration. Also, the transitional administration does not have a definite target for achieving it. This was stated by the vice-president of CNRT/CN Mario Carrascalao in an interview with Radio UNTAET last week.

"In order for Timor Lorosae to be fully independent, it is necessary [for the transitional administration] to have full capacity-building in order to create a definite level of Timorese administrators, till all the administrative positions in UNTAET are filled by Timorese people," said Mario.

Mario said that with regard to the capacity-building exercise only statements had been made and nothing concrete had been achieved. He said before full independence is achieved for the country, all key positions in important sectors had to be filled by Timorese people.

When asked what prevented these positions from being filled, Mario said the main problem in the Timorization process was the system implemented by UNTAET in Timor Lorosae.

"Because they [UNTAET] arranged everything, they also have their own views and perceptions," said Mario. Mario said UNTAET did not have a clear program, nor did it have a definite direction, for the country as it heads towards independence.

UN officials say refugees instructed to challenge Timor ballot

Agence France-Presse - April 17, 2001

Jakarta -- UN officials believe East Timorese refugees they met during a visit last week to camps in West Timor were instructed to challenge the results of the 1999 independence ballot, a UN spokesman said Tuesday.

Officials from the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) visited four refugee camps on the Indonesian half of Timor island, to encourage tens of thousands of refugees there to return home.

The UN and all other international aid agencies have been absent from West Timor since three UN refugee workers were killed by a mob of East Timorese militiamen in the border town of Atambua on September 6.

The charge was contained in a transcript of a press briefing given in the East Timor capital Dili, by UNTAET chief of staff and delegation leader N. Parameswaran, which was received by AFP here.

Parameswaran said that in each of the camps several refugees challenged the outcome of the ballot, which voted overwhelmingly for East Timor's independence from Indonesia, in what appeared to be a coordinated manner.

"There were ... indications that some of the refugees had been instructed to ask questions of a political nature, and question the result of the popular consultation," Parameswaran was quoted as saying. UN officials in East Timor have repeatedly complained that anti-independence militia, which virtually control the camps, have been spreading misinformation about conditions in East Timor to discourage refugees from returning.

UNTAET spokesman Peter Biro said refugees argreed with the delegation. "Their questions seemed to be the same type and there was a feeling they were being orchestrated, that some groups might have sent some people to turn it into something political," he told AFP by phone from Dili.

Estimates of the number of refugees in West Timor range from 50,000 to 100,000. A comprehensive count has never been undertaken.

Parameswaran said that refugees keen to go home were most worried about their security. "The main concern of the refugees who want to return is their personal security, and we were able to assure them that East Timor is stable and safe," the chief of staff said.

The UNTAET visit to Indonesian-controlled West Timor was at the invitation of the Indonesian military commander there, Major General William da Costa, who accompanied the delegation to the camps.

The delegation, which included representatives from the UN refugee agency UNHCR, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and UN peacekeepers, distributed thousands of posters, brochures and videos describing conditions in East Timor to the refugees.

They also met with the bishops of Kupang and Atambua, and anti- independence leaders, Biro said, describing the trip as "very successful." "Security was good, there were no incidents, and the delegation felt they reached out to those who wanted to return and had the opportunity to explain what life was like in East Timor," he said.

Plans are afoot to ship a group of refugees home by the IOM- chartered vessel, the Patricia Anne Hotung, later this month.

East Timor eyes off oil's billions

Sydeny Morning Herald - April 18, 2001

Craig Skehan -- East Timor is set to receive a much larger slice of income from the rich oil reserves it shares with Australia.

Federal Government sources said yesterday Australia was willing to give the incoming independent Government in Dili 80 per cent or more of the income from a joint production zone where the split was previously 50/50.

The Northern Territory Government, however, fears East Timor will press ahead with a territorial claim taking in Australian oil and gas fields off Darwin.

The Territory's Chief Minister, Mr Burke, will fly to Canberra today for talks aimed at ending the worsening diplomatic row with East Timor over billions of dollars in oil and gas reserves.

A United Nations official who serves as East Timor's cabinet minister for political affairs, Mr Peter Galbraith, said last week that the "illegal" Timor Gap Treaty was up for renegotiation. Australia does not accept a July 15 deadline set by Mr Galbraith for negotiations to be concluded.

The treaty, signed between Canberra and Jakarta after Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor, set out a framework for the exploitation of oil and gas.

Currently under an interim UN administration pending transition to independence later this year, East Timor is desperate to expand its revenue base.

The Timor Gap issue is diplomatically sensitive for Australia, given criticism that the original treaty -- supported by both Labor and Coalition governments -- sold out the East Timorese people while they were under brutal Indonesian occupation.

Ironically, the less financially independent East Timor is in the future, the more it will remain dependent on Australian and other international aid.

Today's meeting will be between the Foreign Minister, Mr Downer, and Mr Burke, as well as the Northern Territory's Minister for Resources, Mr Daryl Manzie.

Sources said Australia was willing to allow the higher revenue split if there was no change in the seabed boundaries, which could open up problems over Australia's border with Indonesia.

A spokesman for Mr Manzie said Mr Galbraith appeared to have told East Timorese leaders they could afford to fight a legal battle for 25 years to get all the resources in the Timor Gap.

This included a bid for total control of a proposed gas pipeline to Darwin, the centrepiece of a $5 billion project. "That is crazy," Mr Manzie's spokesman said.

In Darwin yesterday, Mr Burke warned that if East Timor continued to take a hardline stand, it risked not getting any revenue for years to come.

East Timorese representatives have threatened to take Australia to the International Court of Justice if an agreement cannot be reached.

Aceh/West Papua

Papuan proposal seeks wide-ranging autonomy

Jakarta Post - April 21, 2000

Jakarta -- As a compromise to the intense calls for independence, resource-rich Irian Jaya is offering to remain within Indonesia if it retains a bigger portion of its own wealth, an initiative bill submitted by the province suggests.

The bill, drafted by a 14-member team comprising officials of the local administration, councillors, non-governmental activists and proindependence leaders in the province, also known as Papua, underscores an independent administration with separate constitution and broad policy guidelines.

"The Papuan People's Assembly [MRP] and the Papuan People's Representatives [DPRP] determine and endorse the policy guidelines and constitution," the draft, a copy of which was made available to The Jakarta Post, proposes.

The separatist movement has been prominent in the easternmost province since a UN-administered plebiscite in 1969 ratified Indonesian sovereignty over the former Dutch colony.

The bill was drawn up in response to Jakarta's offer of special autonomy status to the province, which is home to abundant mineral deposits. It says the MRP and DPRP must consist of people whose parents, or at least one of their parents, are native Papuans. The draft also proposes that gubernatorial and vice gubernatorial posts are both restricted to Papuans.

Besides the national anthem Indonesia Raya and national flag Merah Putih, the province recognizes a different flag and anthem which symbolize the identity of Papuans, the draft says.

The draft was presented to President Abdurrahman Wahid and House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Akbar Tandjung earlier this week. The government had earlier submitted its own bill outlining special autonomy for Irian Jaya to the DPR.

Comprising 76 articles, the initiative draft stipulates any deployment and withdrawal of troops from the National Police and Indonesian Military require approval from the MRP and DPRP.

"It is also necessary to establish a local police force, which falls under the governor's supervision but cooperates with the national police. Coordination of the two police institutions must be conducted with the governor's knowledge," the draft says.

Revenue sharing, dubbed the thorn aggravating the relationship between Jakarta and Papua, changes radically, with the central government receiving only 20 percent of the province's income. Under the new formula, the province is expected to collect between Rp 12.8 trillion (US$1.16 billion) and Rp 16 trillion a year in net revenue, a sharp rise from the current Rp 2.8 trillion.

The draft also recognizes the traditional rights of the people and gives more opportunity for women representatives in the MRP and DPRP. It also guarantees people's rights to receive health services and better nutrition.

A legislator from the Golkar faction, Simon Patrice Morrin, who is an Irian Jaya native, suggested on Friday that the central government pay more attention to the draft if it wants to appease independence demands in the province.

"We don't know what will happen in the province if we ignore the draft as it has gone through a series of tough dialogs among the people there," Simon said, adding that the House should deliberate the draft as soon as possible.

Five killed in Indonesia's Aceh province

Agence France-Presse - April 20, 2001 (abridged)

Banda Aceh -- Violence in Indonesia's Aceh province has left at least five people dead since Thursday, hospital staff said.

The body of Abubakar Mohammad Diah, a 25-year-old teacher, with torture marks and gunshot wounds was found Friday in the Cot Tingkeum hills, near Meureudu in Pidie district, said local village chief Husni Latif. Latif said Diah had been arrested the day before by troops conducting a weapons search operation.

The body of another 25-year-old, Ibrahim, was found in the same condition Friday morning in Simpang Gunung Cut village in South Aceh. Employees of the Labuhan Haji hospital quoted relatives as saying that he had been kidnapped from a market by security forces on Thursday.

The body of Ibnu Abbas, also with gunshot wounds and torture marks, was recovered on Thursday from a ditch in Keude Simpang village in West Aceh's Seunagan subdistrict by local Red Cross officials, hospital workers told journalists.

Also on Thursday in South Aceh, residents there said two road construction workers were murdered by unknown gunmen in Cot Bayu village in Trumon subdistrict.

The deaths brought to 25 -- five of them members of security forces -- the number killed in the province since the government announced a new security campaign to quash rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) last Thursday.

Separately on Friday, the Banda Aceh-based Serambi newspaper quoted GAM Chief Commander Abdullah Syafiie as saying GAM had "no problem" should Jakarta decide to send more troops to Aceh.

"But unfortunately, they would only be killing civilians because they have no clue of our guerilla system ... I'm advising them not to be sent to Aceh," Syafiie said.

TNI to proceed with deployment of troops in Aceh

Jakarta Post - April 21, 2000

Batujajar, Bandung -- While suggesting that dialog between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) should continue, the Indonesian Military (TNI) have decided to send troops to the strife-torn province of Aceh.

TNI chief Adm. Widodo A.S. announced on Friday that eleven companies of Rajawali (Hawk) II Team troops will fly to the province in stages on Sunday and Monday from the Husein Sastranegara Air Base.

"The security condition in Aceh still requires the presence of TNI troops. But as the government still imposes civilian order their presence there is to assist National Police in restoring security.

"The dispatch of TNI troops, however, will not close the opportunity to hold dialog with the armed rebels there as the security operation is part of the government's comprehensive policy on Aceh," Widodo told a media conference after briefing troops at the Army's Special Force (Kopassus) Education Center in Batujajar

He was referring to a statement by Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono earlier this week that the government has planned to invite GAM to the meeting table for talks as an effort to settle the problems in Aceh.

During the briefing, Widodo was accompanied by 33 generals from the three military forces, including Air Force chief Marshall Hanafie Asnan, Army chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, deputy Navy chief Vice Adm. Fred S. Lonan, Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) chief Lt. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu, West Java's Siliwangi Military Commander Maj. Gen. Zainuri, chief of the Bukit Barisan Military Command overseeing Aceh. North Sumatra, West Sumatra and Riau provinces, Maj. Gen. I.G. Purnawa, and Kopassus's deputy chief Brig. Gen. Sriyanto.

Widodo said Presidential decree (Inpres) No. IV/2001 on efforts to restore law and order in Aceh was a political umbrella for the TNI to perform their duties there, so that the TNI "would not have to ask the government to impose the military emergency status in Aceh.

"I have just asked my boys to perform their duties professionally. I have also asked them to ensure that they are there to create peace not to make war with innocent people," Widodo said, adding that the operation will last for six months, before being evaluated on whether it should be continued or stopped.

The Rajawali troops have been selected from Kostrad's second division in Malang, East Java, as well as Siliwangi Military Command and Jakarta Military Command. Some of them have also been recruited from Central Java's Diponegoro Military Command's crack troops, the Banteng (wild bull) Raiders, the Air Force's special force Paskhas, the Navy's marines, and the military police.

The team is led by Director of Military Education and Training Command (Kodiklat) Brig. Gen. Zamroni, a 1975 Military Academy graduate and former deputy Kopassus chief. The team will be attached to the Bukit Barisan Military Command. General Purnawa said the troops will be deployed at four critical regencies: North Aceh, East Aceh, Bireun, and Pidie.

In a related development, East Java's Brawijaya Military Command chief of staff Brig. Gen. Djoko Setijono sent on Friday 650 troops of the 516/Caraka Yudha Infantry Battalion from the Surabaya-based Navy's Eastern Fleet headquarters to join the operation for restoring order and fighting separatists in restive Aceh province.

Back in Aceh, GAM commander Tengku Abdullah Syafiie warned that his forces would fight back hard if Indonesian troops intensified a security crackdown against separatists.

"This decision was a terrible mistake and the government will suffer for it," Abdullah told The Jakarta Post's correspondent at his hideout in restive Pidie regency on Thursday. Abdullah further threatened that "the more troops they send to Aceh, the more they will be returned as sacks of clothes. We cannot let them kill our people."

In the latest outbreak of violence, four people were killed in separate incidents in South Aceh, East Aceh and West Aceh on Thursday, an official told the Post by phone from Banda Aceh.

Security forces and rebels clash claiming four lives in Aceh

Jakarta Post - April 20, 2001 (slightly abridged)

Jakarta -- A policeman and three separatist rebels were killed in the continuing violence in strife-torn Aceh, an official said on Thursday.

Police's Cinta Meunasah II Operation spokesman Comr. Sudarsono said two rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were shot dead in West Aceh regency of Gagak village in Darul Makmur district on Wednesday.

The two rebels, identified as Buyung Lamie, 51 and Ofianda, 26, escaped police custody and grabbed the officers guns when the police tried to move them from Darul Makmur Police Subprecinct to Aceh Barat Police Precinct, the officer told The Jakarta Post from Banda Aceh. "The bodies were taken to Cut Nyak Dien Hospital in Meulaboh," he said.

In a joint military-police raid on a GAM base camp in South Aceh, a rebel was shot dead and another injured but managed to flee after an exchange of intense gunfire between the two camps in Seuneubok Alur Buluh village in Bakongan on Tuesday, he said.

Dozens of weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunitions were seized in the raid as evidence, including GLM mortar launchers, assembled bombs, SS-1 ammunitions, revolvers, rifles, radio, walky-talkie, bag pack, battery, documents, VCDs on GAM activities and military-style uniforms along with GAM flags and other attributes. The evidence was taken to South Aceh Police Precinct.

A policeman Second. Adj. Mursal was ambushed and shot to death in Kampung Jawa, a suburb of Banda Aceh on Wednesday afternoon. "He was on the way home from the office when gunmen on a motorbike shot him and snatched his bag containing a revolver and police uniform," Sudarsono said.

Government to call GAM to meeting table again

Jakarta Post - April 19, 2001

Jakarta -- Efforts to settle problems in the strife-torn province of Aceh took a new turn when the government revealed on Wednesday a plan to invite the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to the meeting table for talks.

"The government is preparing to make a maklumat [announcement] to invite armed rebels to join their Acehnese brothers for discussions with us, as part of efforts to find a peaceful solution to Aceh's problems.

"We also urge them to consider the government's policy to develop regional autonomy, as well as other beneficial policies in the future," Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters on the sidelines of a discussion on the political and security situation in Indonesia, held by the International Council on World Affairs (ICWA).

Regional autonomy is one of six issues on the agenda prepared by the government to settle Aceh's problems. Others are based upon the economy, social programs, law and order, the restoration of security, and the dissemination of information.

"Their struggle for independence from the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia is a waste of effort as there is no country in the world that supports their armed separatist movement in Aceh," Susilo said.

He said the government will never impose a military operation in Aceh. "Presidential decree [Inpres] No. 14/2001 on efforts to restore law and order in Aceh is quite clear in stating that there is no such intention to undertake military operations in Aceh. The presence of the Indonesian Military (TNI) there is only to assist the police," Susilo said.

The government's invitation to GAM for a dialog came amid the eagerness of some high-ranking military officers to quell armed rebels in Aceh.

The Army's Special Force (Kopassus) chief Maj. Gen. Amirul Isnaeni said on Monday that the force was ready to dispatch its troops to the troubled Aceh province in an effort to suppress rebels. Susilo also said that the government would grant amnesty to any GAM members who surrendered voluntarily.

Separately, in Ciampea, Bogor, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said the Army would dispatch six companies of soldiers to Aceh next week, as part of efforts to restore security there.

"The troops will be dispatched from the Kopassus Education Center in Batujajar [Bandung, West Java] on Friday by the TNI chief," Endriartono said as quoted by Koridor.com. In Batujajar, Kopassus has been providing training on guerrilla warfare for about 15 companies of the Army's infantry troops, namely the Rajawali (Hawk) II Team.

Returning to Aceh, more and more people in the province suffer from serious mental illness due to the endless conflict. "We have been receiving an average of between 50 and 65 patients a day over the past few months," Director of Banda Aceh Mental Hospital Dr. M. Idris Ibrahim said as quoted by Antara.

He told visiting Aceh councillors from Commission E on social welfare affairs that there are 219 patients in the hospital which only has a capacity of 180 beds. "Most patients come from areas which are prone to conflict and more than 20 percent of them are women," Idris said.

In the latest development, at least seven people were killed during a series of violent incidents in Aceh, both officials and a report stated on Wednesday.

In East Aceh, a man and his five-year-old daughter were killed during the security forces' pursuit of GAM rebels in Aluee Ateung village, Nurussalam district on Tuesday morning, spokesman of the police's Cinta Meunasah II Comr. Sudarsono told The Jakarta Post by phone from Banda Aceh. Three other civilians were injured in the incident.

Reports, however, said that the residents were standing near an elementary school in the village when a group from the Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) fired shots in the air, which ended up hitting civilians.

Also in East Aceh, a man was killed on Tuesday morning following a police patrol conducted in Sriget Langsa village.

Two other male bodies with gunshot wounds were also found separately in East Aceh.

In Cangguek village of Tanah Pasir district, North Aceh, First. Sgt. Ali Imran, who sustained stab wounds to the head by two suspected GAM rebels, shot dead one of his assailants on Tuesday.

In Pidie regency, a civilian was shot dead amid crossfire between a joint police-military convoy and suspected GAM rebels who ambushed the convoy in Blang Awe village on Tuesday.

Nearly 400 people have been killed in Aceh this year despite a series of shaky truces between the government and GAM rebels.

Fomapak held rally at US Embassy

Tempo - April 12, 2001

Jakarta -- Students from the Front for Anti Violence (Fomapak) staged a rally in front of the US Embassy located on Jl. Merdeka Selatan here today. They demanded that the international community puts pressure on the Indonesian government to stop human rights violations committed by the military and police officers in Aceh, and that perpetrators be brought to an international court.

The students say that numerous incidents have occurred in Aceh during the imposition of military operations, such as when Aceh was declared a Special Military Operation Area. Fomapak Coordinator, A. Jabar, said that the current Limited Military Operation (OMT) has deviated from its purpose. "The OMT was intended to enforce law in Aceh. It is actually slaughtering the Acehnese," he said.

Human rights abuses make people live in terror. They flee to other places which are considered more secure, but where they cannot conduct normal daily activities and children do not go to school.

Meanwhile, the students also demanded that the US government put pressure on the Indonesian government to withdraw security forces that have been stationed at ExxonMobil in Lhokseumawe. The students say that military and police officers have tortured and killed people at the gas field complex. Therefore, the students urged countries that have veto rights on the UN Security Council to intervene in solving the Aceh problem.

Violence in Aceh province leaves at least six dead

Agence France-Presse - April 15, 2001

Banda Aceh -- At least six people were killed in renewed violence in the Indonesian province of Aceh at the weekend, police and residents said.

A policeman was killed and three others were injured afer a truck carrying them was ambushed by separatist rebels on Saturday, North Aceh district police Adjunct Senior Commissioner Wanto Sumardi said.

The truck, which had left Lhokseumawe, the main district town of North Aceh, overturned after it passed over a landmine and was hit by a grenade, Sumardi said Sunday. The driver of the police truck was killed.

The local spokesman of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Abu Zarkata, told AFP his group carried out the attack. "We will continue to launch similar actions as long as they [the Indonesian security forces] remain arrogant on the field and continue to hurt the people by their field operations," Zarkata said.

A soldier was shot dead by two men in the North Aceh subdistrict of Dewantara on Friday, Sumardi said. The local GAM deputy commander, Sofyan Daud, denied the assailants were rebels and instead accused the military of having shot dead a civilian in Lhok Kuyuen, in North Aceh during a military operation Saturday.

Soldiers also shot dead a 13-year-old highschool student in East Aceh on Saturday, said Sulaiman, a human rights activist. Another civilian was wounded by gunshot and was being treated at the general hospital in Langsa, the main town in East Aceh, he added.

But East Aceh District Police Chief, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Abdullah Hayati, said the two were hit by stray bullets during an exchange of fire between GAM rebels and security personnel there. Sulaiman said there had been no exchange of fire.

A retired soldier was found dead in Nurussalam, also in East Aceh late on Friday, Hayati said, blaming the killing on the GAM.

In West Aceh, the body of a man with three bullet wounds and his hands and feet bound, was found on Saturday, a Red Cross volunteer who only identified himself as Rasmudin, said.

Jakarta on Thursday said President Abdurrahman Wahid had issued a decree ordering security forces to restore order in Aceh. The decree would allow troop reinforcements to be sent to the region, where GAM has waged a guerrilla war against Jakarta rule since the mid-1970s.

The government and the rebels have agreed on a series of truces in Aceh, but have so far failed to curtail the violence which has claimed some 400 people lives this year.

Elite power struggle

Indonesia's former military commander blasts civilian elite

Agence France-Presse - April 2o, 2001

Jakarta -- Indonesia's disgraced former military chief General Wiranto Friday accused the country's political leadership of driving the nation to the edge of an abyss and mobilizing personal militias.

Delivering a speech entitled "Lessons from the Past" before businessmen and diplomats here, Wiranto also accused President Abdurrahman Wahid of falling back into Suharto-style one-man rule. "Today we find the mobilization of seas of people which could lead to a flood of radicalism," he said.

"Our politicians, who have called their followers to form ranks, have driven us to the edge of a cliff. Such manoeuvres have made it nearly impossible to form a consensus concerning how to solve the many problems we face."

The retired general, who rose to power under former dicator Suharto, and has been named by a United Nations probe as one of those responsible for the militia violence in East Timor in 1999, said post-Suharto politicians had failed to learn the lessons of the past.

"The reform movement, which should have provided us with a means of greater democracy, is instead, though justifying itself with righteous rhetoric, in fact despoiling our democracy."

He said Indonesia was entering a new phase of history "... that of the mobilization of vast masses of people who force one opinion [on others] and the forming of paramilitary groups and militias that openly prepare for civil war. This is something that could prove dangerous, not only for our democracy but for the new life of our republic," he said.

He compared the current situation to Indonesia's first years after independence in the 1940s and 1950s when, he said, under founding president Sukarno, political parties held mass demonstrations "to build an image of power." Political parties at that time also formed militias, he said.

He also accused President Wahid, who is currently battling efforts by parliament to oust him, of perpetuating the "personal rule" style of Suharto.

Wiranto, who once served as a military aide to Suharto, himself a retired army general, reeled off a list of mistakes during the former dictator's three-decade-long rule.

"One was the centralization of power, which enhanced a form of personal rule by the president which in turn led to the decline of the rule of law and the rise of corruption."

Such shortcomings, he said, had "not been dealt with in a signifcant way by the [Wahid] government that was elected in 1999." In his speech, Wiranto made no mention of East Timor, nor of the military's controversial rule over the past 30 years or in the post-Suharto era.

PDI-P moves to stop Jakarta violence

Straits Times - April 20, 2001

Marianne Kearney, Surabaya -- Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri's PDI-P party is launching its own counter-offensive to staunch mass violence on the streets, and cleverly projecting the party as the one struggling to hold Indonesia together as President Abdurrahman Wahid again threatened "nationwide rebellion" if the parliament proceeds with impeachment attempts.

Their tactic: to re-establish thousands of the party's command posts throughout Indonesia which dotted street corners prior to the 1999 elections and acted as information centres for the newly empowered Indonesian electorate.

The command posts, or poskos, are a subtle reminder to Mr Abdurrahman's PKB party that the PDI-P too has support from the masses, without actually bringing its own supporters to the streets, said analysts.

The PDI-P claims to have re-opened at least 200 poskos in Jakarta alone. A few dozen PDI-P poskos have also begun operating in Surabaya, East Java, which is also Mr Abdurrahman's political base. In Bali, where the PDI-P won almost 80 per cent of the vote, dozens of bamboo huts are again being decorated with the red flags of Ms Megawati's party.

The re-opening of these poskos is also a way for the party to gain the moral upper hand over Mr Abdurrahman's backers. They allow the PDI-P to project itself as the party opposed to violence, which is trying to prevent Indonesia's dissolution.

Senior PDI-P figures confirmed that in contrast to Mr Abdurrahman's party and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) supporters, the PDI-P would not be mobilising its thousands of supporters or its paramilitary outfit, Satgas PDI-P.

As Mr Abdurrahman's threat to bring 400,000 supporters to the streets inflicts even more damage on the ailing economy, Ms Megawati's non-violence stance can only improve the party's image.

"It is a way of neutralising the situation. The poskos are a way of avoiding conflict among the people," said Mr Budi Hariyono, a PDI-P legislator from Surabaya, East Java. "For instance, people can become emotional if they are given the wrong information."

But more importantly, analysts said, the opening of poskos, particularly in East Java and Jakarta, may also be a way of splitting the ranks of some of Mr Abdurrahman's most ardent supporters who are also fans of Ms Megawati.

"They are like two feudal systems that can understand each other. NU is a religious feudal system, while the PDI-P is like a more secular feudal system," said an analyst.

Worshipping Mr Abdurrahman often went hand-in-hand with worshipping Ms Megawati in East Java, he said. He said that the 1999 elections showed she has a lot of support even in devout Muslim areas because her party, like NU, is seen as championing the needs of the poor.

Given such political sympathy for PDI-P, even among the ranks of Banser, the civilian militia organising the President's suicide squad, establishing locally run command posts by ordinary people often with close links to the NU may stop a lot of Mr Abdurrahman's fanatical supporters in their tracks.

New forces to block Gus Dur's supporters

Jakarta Post - April 20, 2001

Jakarta -- A group of influential Muslim clerics and organizations in East Java launched on Thursday the Ukhuwah Islamiyah Forum (FUI) which aims to promote peace and national unity and pledges to prevent President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid's fanatical followers from thronging the capital.

FUI chairman KH Nur Muhammad Sholeh was quoted by Antara as saying that thousands of FUI followers would be deployed as "peacemakers" in several cities in Java to lobby and prevent ardent fans of Abdurrahman from coming to Jakarta ahead of the April 30 Plenary Session at the House of Representatives (DPR).

"We will persuade Gus Dur's followers peacefully not to come to Jakarta. So far we have managed to hold thousands who were coming from Pasuruan ... only hundreds of them will visit Jakarta," Nur said. The group also intensively lobbied supporters of Amien Rais' National Mandate party (PAN) and Akbar Tanjung's Golkar party, he said.

President Abdurrahman, founder of the National Awakening Party (PKB), is the influential patron and former leader of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Muslim organization in the country. His followers have threatened to throng Jakarta and occupy the House if legislators impose a second memorandum on him.

The newly established forum consists of several prominent Muslim organizations in East Java such as Muhammadiyah, Al-Irsyad, Persis Bangil, The Big family of the Indonesian Muslim Student Association (PII) and the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI).

Signing the forum's declaration were KH Nur Muhammad Sholeh of Al-Ainul Bashiroh Islamic boarding school in Kepanjen, Malang; Fasich (Muhammadiyah), Ust Hud A Musa (Persis Bangil), Drs HM Yahya Mansur (PII), KHM Dhoveir Sah (PII) and several Muslim organizations from Jombang, Malang, Gresik, Mojokerto, Lamongan, Blitar and Trenggalek.

The forum is said to have received support from NU Kyais in East Java, KH Miftahul Akhyar and KH Yusuf Hasyim, from Tebuireng Islamic Boarding school in Jombang.

Similarly, in Jakarta, a group of Muslim clerics gathered at the Sunda Kelapa grand mosque in Central Jakarta on Thursday, urging peace and calm in the capital ahead of the April 30 plenary session.

"We are urging the NU's supporters not to throng the capital so as to avoid possible chaos ... we urge every member of the elite to think with a cool head. It would be better if the NU mass prayer be held simultaneously throughout the country and not only be concentrated in Jakarta," Djaelani, one of the figures attending the event who is also Jakarta's deputy governor for administrative affairs, said as quoted the SCTV private television channel.

In Surabaya, the chief of the East Java Police's Operation and Control Unit, Sr. Comr. Sabur W.S., said on Thursday that a total of 8,000 police officers were ready to be deployed in an effort to prevent President Abdurrahman's die-hard followers from flocking to the capital.

"We will conduct intensive search operations and weapons checks at certain points such as in public places, train and bus stations, and entry and exit points," the officer said.

The number of police personnel to be deployed could be increased to up to 12,000 men, he said. "But, hopefully we won't have to deploy any more officers if the leaders of all military-style training camps are willing to halt their activities," he said, adding that the Police were working on persuasive measures to bring this about.

Gus Dur warns of `national rebellion'

Jakarta Post - April 20, 2001

Jakarta -- President Abdurrahman Wahid warned on Thursday of a "nationwide rebellion" against the House of Representatives (DPR) if its attempts to oust him continue.

Speaking at a seminar on the country's future, Abdurrahman added that the DPR's attempt to impeach him was "legally impossible".

"You can see that there will be a nationwide rebellion against the way the legislature is currently doing its work," Abdurrahman announced to the audience of a seminar organized by the firm, Van Zorge Heffernan Political Economic Consultancy.

Speaking in English, the President repeated his old argument that, according to the 1945 Constitution, a president could not be held accountable by the DPR.

"The legislature and MPR [People's Consultative Assembly] now want a legislative Cabinet ... which is legally impossible because according to the 1945 Constitution, the government should be presidential," Abdurrahman said. "It should remain as such except in the case of treason against the state."

Abdurrahman said the Constitution stipulates that, under the presidential system, he should only be held accountable by the MPR at the end of his term in 2004. "So, in this respect, the second memorandum [of censure] is something that is legally unnecessary and wrong," he said.

The motion to oust Abdurrahman has prompted thousands of his loyal supporters from East Java to set up ready-to-die forces to defend the President.

Abdurrahman again defended his supporters saying that their actions were understandable "as the legislature has been irresponsible to the point that it is trying to remove the President."

He claimed that up to "400,000 people from all over Java, Lampung and Sumatra" would stream into Jakarta later this month and were ready to defend him if the DPR didn't back down from demands for impeachment.

Abdurrahman also quoted a Christian activist, Soritua Nababan, from the Batak Protestant Congregation (HKBP) as telling him: "If you feel it necessary then you can call us and hundreds of thousands of our members will come to Jakarta".

The President's supporters are expected to flood Jakarta on April 29, one day before the DPR plans to convene a plenary session to decide whether to pass a second censure motion against Abdurrahman.

The supporters will join a mass prayer (istighotsah) organized by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) at Gelora Bung Karno sports complex in Central Jakarta.

With the likely prospect of violence, Abdurrahman said that he was still open to negotiation and that he should be "humble ... so that the political process will not go in such a way that could make the whole nation fall apart."

"The basis of my policy is that we have to negotiate, but the negotiation should not violate the Constitution," Abdurrahman said.

He was apparently referring to his statement earlier that he hoped to meet with Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri, House Speaker Akbar Tandjung and Assembly Speaker Amien Rais to seek ways to end the political stalemate.

Akbar has said that the power-sharing formula between the President and Megawati should top the agenda of the planned meeting. Speaking to reporters on his visit to the town of Purwokerto, Central Java, on Thursday, the Speaker of the House renewed his proposal, saying it was a compromise worth seeking to salvage the country.

Abdurrahman argued that he has already set his own terms saying that the dialog should at least include security, law enforcement and the economic crisis.

Abdurrahman's threat of national rebellion came as his confidant, Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab, said later in the day that representatives of five major political parties would meet this weekend to set the date for the "summit" dialog.

Speaking to reporters after meeting Abdurrahman at Bina Graha office, Alwi said "senior officials" from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, Golkar Party, National Mandate Party, United Development Party and National Awakening Party would meet on Saturday at an unnamed Jakarta hotel to hammer out details of the planned dialog.

Meanwhile, a rival Islamic group, the Muslim Brotherhood, led by cleric Hussein Al Habsyi, again on Thursday voiced opposition to NU's planned rally and threatened to confront Abdurrahman's supporters if police and the military failed to prevent them from running riot.

In a statement, released after their meeting, the ulemas, from Jakarta, Tangerang, Bogor and Bekasi, said the planned mass prayers on April 29 had no legal basis according to Islamic law and was politically motivated.

"In order to get closer to Allah [God], it's better for us to pray every day at places where Muslims propagate Islamic values, such as mosques, Islamic boarding schools and Islamic schools, so that prayers could be conducted solemnly," Rachmat Sarmili read out in a joint statement.

Habsyi said NU's mass prayer was an attempt to manipulate religious values for political goals, and therefore had to be called off.

"Mass prayers held in a yard is unknown in hadits (Prophet Muhammad's deeds and sayings). It's just an abuse of religious values for political interest that will fool people," he said.

Conspiracy theories over tycoon's arrest

Straits Times - April 19, 2001

Robert Go, Jakarta -- The detention order issued against tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim of the Gadjah Tunggal Group over longstanding money-swindling charges has raised concerns in the business community that the move is yet another attempt by the administration to prevent their defection to the political opposition.

What has raised eyebrows and set tongues wagging is that the detention has come just months after President Abdurrahman Wahid suspended investigations into Mr Sjamsul and two other tycoons.

President's action then had prompted critics to charge that the administration was "selling" protection to alleged crooks. Several leading businessmen have indicated that they are curious about the move against Mr Sjamsul and others, such as former Economics Minister Ginandjar Kartasasmita. There has been speculation over the administration's political motivation for the slew of arrests.

Mr Abdurrahman -- criticised for being soft on corruption and who has himself been accused of involvement in two financial scandals -- now wants to show some teeth and has ordered Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman to press ahead with prosecution.

Additionally, some of the tycoons are reported to be backing the President's opponents in Parliament.

And some in business circles here suggest that there are yet other reasons for the move. "In our private conversations, there is speculation that the government is trying to squeeze more pay-off money from the business community. There are also possible political angles," one executive said.

Added a conglomerate owner: "The administration is in political trouble, but perhaps wants to use Sjamsul to remind other businessmen that it is still in power; that it is not out yet." But the sources acknowledged that the government had to investigate corruption cases, including Mr Sjamsul's, if the country were to regain the trust and confidence of potential investors, both domestic and foreign. "If the cases are valid, the government should pursue and jail offenders," another businessman said.

Investigators started questioning Mr Sjamsul last week over what happened to 37 trillion rupiah in bank-bailout money that his former bank, BDNI, received from the state between 1997 and 1999. The authorities have said that he diverted almost 11 trillion rupiah to other businesses within his empire, which includes South-east Asia's biggest tyre manufacturer and the world's largest shrimp farm.

Corruption probes and jail are the only sanctions the government holds over the heads of businessmen who allegedly abused emergency state credits issued during the economic crisis and designed to keep the banks afloat.

The Attorney-General's office moved recently against other businessmen and bankers, including Mr Kaharuddin Ongko and Mr David Nusawijaya, over the liquidity credits issue. But the cases against them are moving slowly and, some analysts say, inconsistently.

Human-rights lawyer Frans Winarta has warned the government against using the judiciary simply as a political or a fund- raising tool.

He said prosecuting corrupt businessmen, some of whom were ethnic Chinese, would not only further the economic recovery, but could also help dispel the perception that all Indonesian Chinese were evil businessmen.

Health: useful excuse

Pleading illness has proven to be a popular method of getting out of, or stalling, arrest.

In the latest example, Nursalim, complained of high blood pressure and chest pains when he was served with a 20-day detention order. The Indonesian authorities have allowed him to be evaluated and treated.

Late last month, former Economics Minister Ginandjar Kartasasmita left the Attorney-General's chambers for hospital shortly after being summoned to answer questions over a graft charge. He managed to stay out for the next eight days and was detained only after investigators consulted a different medical team for a second opinion on his health.

Perhaps the case of Faisal Abdaoe, a former head of state-owned oil company Pertamina, takes the cake. After a few days inside a cell, he complained of a heart condition and is now resting comfortably in his own home.

Militia wing of NU training suicide squad

Straits Times - April 19, 2001

Marianne Kearney, Banyuwangi -- Leaders of Indonesia's largest Muslim group are distancing themselves from a suicide squad heading for Jakarta -- but it has become apparent that their own militia outfit has been training the 50,000-strong outfit.

Proving the group's strength, religious Syamsuddin demonstrates how magical powers can protect a new volunteer of the Truth Defenders Front. The group has pledged to die for Gus Dur.

The militia wing of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which President Abdurrahman Wahid once headed -- has been making sure that it is adept in martial arts and guerilla manoeuvres.

The squad, known here as the Truth Defenders Front, has pledged to flood Jakarta in the days leading up to the April 30 meeting of Parliament, which could see impeachment proceedings against Mr Abdurrahman for alleged corruption set in motion.

Mr Wiro Sugiman, the man behind the Front and a regional Banser chief, maintains that his group grew out of a desire by ordinary Indonesians to "protect the nation, the Constitution and the president chosen by the people".

And even as he sat down with The Straits Times with Banser commanders, he claimed that it has no connection to Banser or NU.

Modelled on on a military outfit, Banser claims to have members in almost every village in East Java, and a total of 400,000 members across Java. But it is thought that its real numbers may only be around 50,000.

While numbers may be exaggerated, the organisation is impressive. Officially, its role is to provide security for NU events and leaders. But it also guards businesses, assists in community events, and even provides security for weddings to fund itself.

Increasingly, Banser has taken over security-related activities earlier undertaken by the military. Breaking up labour strikes, protecting big business and factories. Leave that to Banser. Observers say that in East Java, it has come to fill the role that Pemuda Pancasila, the Golkar youth movement, occupied when Mr Suharto was in power.

As Mr Abdurrahman rose to power, so too has the reach and influence of Banser. And commentators say that his ousting could significantly reduce "earnings".

"No doubt, there are financial benefits. Many of their leaders are like the classic preman or thugs, and are probably into racketeering"' said one source.

The source added that Banser, like other civilian militia outfits such as Pemuda Pancasila, was probably using its position and links with the government to tax businesses. Analysts warn that once mobilised and brought to the capital, it cannot entirely be controlled by the NU leadership.

And the existence of a separate suicide squad has now stoked fears that more violence could rack the already-bloodied country, terrifying both Mr Abdurrahman's political foes and the financial markets.

Commentators are also reading in the mixed signals from NU leaders about halting its march to the capital a sign that some sections of the NU and Banser have too much to lose if Mr Abdurrahman is ousted.

Fears of instability have sent the main share index to its lowest point in 29 months, while the rupiah is nearing 11,000 to the US dollar for the first time in a month.

[On the same day Associated Press quoted Wahid as warning that a "nationwide rebellion" could erupt if the parliament attempts to impeach him for corruption. Wahid said 400,000 people from across the main island of Java and the southern end of Sumatra were ready to come into the capital to protest against moves to oust him - James Balowski.]

Megawati gets full-blown support from minor parties

Jakarta Post - April 19, 2001

Jakarta -- Formal support for Megawati Soekarnoputri to replace President Abdurrahman Wahid grew on Wednesday as two house factions stated their political backing for a change of leadership.

Support came from the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the United Development Party (PPP) who separately expressed their desire to see the Vice President succeed Abdurrahman.

PAN formally announced their political stance, issuing a recommendation at their national meeting in Sanur, Bali, on Wednesday, saying such a transition of power is necessary as Abdurrahman "has failed to meet his constitutional mandate".

"In the event of the President experiencing certain obstacles, resigning or being punished in a special session due to violating state guidelines ... the latter must be removed [from the post]," PAN chairman Amien Rais said.

Amien, who is also chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), further added that if Megawati took the helm and replaced Abdurrahman, the post of vice president could "either remain vacant or be filled."

"On that matter PAN is taking a flexible stance. If the post of vice president is to be filled, the MPR would run an election after Megawati was sworn in as president. If not, the post would remain empty as in the previous Habibie administration," Amien explained.

Amien, however, asserted that PAN would stick to "constitutional methods" in pursuit of the proposed national leadership arrangement.

Chairman of PPP, Hamzah Has, said that his party supports Megawati to replace Abdurrahman because it was just "temporary."

"PPP has been accused of being inconsistent, in the past it was against a female president, but now it agrees. The agreement is made considering the current situation of the nation, and that Mega will become a president temporarily by [until] 2004," Hamzah said before local councillors of the PPP faction in Pekan Baru, Riau, in the provincial congress.

Hamzah said that if Megawati becomes president, this is in accordance with the Constitution, and as an Islamic Party, PPP will respect the Constitution. He said that the party will be consistent in its vision to defend and uphold the moral good. PPP supporters would not reject a female president, let alone, conduct violence to hamper her.

"Mass deployment, like what Abdurrahman's supporters are currently doing, is not democratic," he said. He criticized the ready-to-die supporters of the President, saying that such activities are a waste of time.

He said that the axis force, including PPP, used to support Gus Dur on two conditions: that he is able to uphold and propagate Islamic values and improve public welfare. "If Gus Dur is able to do that, please let him go ahead not until 2004, but until 2009," he said.

He said that under his leadership, there has been no sign of improvement in the economy, security conditions or politics. "The condition has actually got worse," he said.

Aberson Marle Sihaloho, an outspoken legislator of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), issued a warning to Megawati.

"Megawati's current political maneuvering to win political support from the military and factions that blocked her candidacy in the 1999 presidential election, goes beyond the Constitution and PDI Perjuangan's platform," he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He said PDI Perjuangan nominated Megawati, also chairwoman of PDI Perjuangan, as its candidate in the last presidential election because it won support from around 38 million people who voted for the party in the last elections and not from the military and other factions in the People's Consultative Assembly.

"Megawati once promised that she was ready to be president only if the people elected her. She declared, following the party's victory in the elections, that she was factually the president," he said.

Aberson also said he was disappointed with Megawati's support for the military's repressive approach to national unity. "The military, especially the Army, is seemingly behind Megawati and the latter has allowed repressive military action in handling separatist activities in Aceh and Irian," he said.

Asked about Megawati's decision to maintain Arifin Panigoro in his present position in the party and its faction at the House, Aberson said Megawati has used Arifin to lobby the military and other factions at the House and the Assembly for the presidential position. "For Megawati, the presidential position is a matter of now or never," he said.

Indonesian military wants Gus Dur to step down

Straits Times - April 18, 2001

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta -- The scene spoke for itself. In February, Indonesian generals lined up behind legislators to charge President Abdurrahman Wahid with involvement in two damning financial scandals.

The move was of deep political significance. Never in the last 30 years had the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) defied its leader so openly in Parliament -- and that was just days after it refused to obey its Supreme Commander's order to impose a state of emergency.

Despite Mr Abdurrahman's determination to hold on to power, the conviction among top military brass that he must step down is now even stronger. There appears to be a TNI consensus that he is becoming a political liability and must make way for his deputy Megawati Sukarnoputri this year.

That consensus grew from a rocky 18-month relationship with the President. Although the TNI never supported Mr Abdurrahman openly in the 1999 election, the military elite recognised him as the constitutional successor. But it was willing to subjugate its interests only up to a point.

The generals still believed that as the "soul of the nation" that fought for independence against the Dutch colonists, the TNI had an inherent right to be part of the decision-making process.

Being excluded from this process and the periodic civilian interference in security policies contributed to the worsening ties between the military and the President.

The level of resentment is greatest in the army, which has long been first among equals, where several officers feel he is favouring the navy and air force by offering them key posts in the military headquarters.

Problems came to a head when he began weeding out opponents in the army -- former military chief General Wiranto and his supporters -- to put in place palace loyalists. And he continues to meddle in the make-up of the top hierarchy.

Military sources disclosed that he was now plotting to get rid of his army chief, General Endriartono Sutarto, who has stubbornly refused to do the President's bidding on several occasions.

The military's estrangement from the President has been aired regularly in the press and in ad-hoc meetings. It gained momentum early this month when key military commanders met formally to talk about the political fate of Mr Abdurrahman.

Chaired by TNI chief Admiral A.S. Widodo and attended by army, navy and air force chiefs-of-staff, military insiders said the generals wanted a change in the country's leadership.

Besides residual resentment of his handling of the TNI, there were three other reasons why they believed Mr Abdurrahman had to go.

First, his legitimacy to rule had been damaged badly by the Buloggate and Bruneigate scandals. The military was taking its cue from Parliament. Legislators had responded negatively to his formal response to their first censure memorandum. And backing for Ms Megawati was growing stronger.

Secondly, senior officers were critical of his treatment of rivals, especially members of the former ruling Golkar party who have become political targets of the palace. They said army intelligence had proof that he ordered his supporters to attack Golkar branches in East Java last month and would do so again in other parts of Indonesia.

The TNI was growing edgy that the President was prepared to use force to make his opponents back off. This could only mean periodic bouts of instability as he fought desperately to stay in power.

Lastly, he had done little to turn around the battered economy. The rupiah continued to slide, exports were down and foreign investments were not coming in.

A three-star general noted: "The problems facing Indonesia are Herculean in proportion. We need a Hercules to solve them. Gus Dur is definitely not one. He's a blind man leading us into the dark ages." Military analysts said about 70 per cent of high- ranking officers think he is not up to the task and should quit.

This group comprises most of those holding key strategic appointments, including the TNI chief, the three services' heads and most regional commanders.

In contrast, the palace generals do not hold key positions and are growing smaller in number. They include former Jakarta commander Slamet Kirbiantoro and Brigadier-General Romulus Simbolon, both of whom have been persuading Mr Abdurrahman that it is in his interest to slug it out until 2004.

The ones that want him out are primarily from the conservative and mainstream army factions. They are backing Ms Megawati.

The conservatives see a Megawati presidency as guarantee that military interests will be protected. The process of "demilitarisation" would proceed only at a gradual pace and many of the "sins of the past", including human-rights abuses in Aceh and other provinces, would be forgotten.

The mainstream group is led by security chief Bambang Yudhoyono and includes Gen Endriartono, Lieutenant-General Djamari Chaniago and former army commander Tyasno Sudarto. They have been working behind the scenes to prepare for her takeover.

They have been lobbying, for example, Muslim clerics of the rival Nadhlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah groups to support Ms Megawati. Clashes between the millions of supporters from both groups could crush hopes for a peaceful transition.

In the main, the generals prefer Ms Megawati as she is perceived as a staunch conservative at heart. Her statements on preserving national unity, opposition to federalism and criticism of Washington's meddling in domestic affairs have struck a chord with the nationalist army.

More importantly, she is seen as the constitutional successor. This is why several officers and her own cadres of the Indonesian Democratic Party-Perjuangan (PDI-P) have talked her out of any power-sharing deal with Mr Abdurrahman because it would not be guaranteed under the current presidential system.

An army general said: "Everything is in her favour. She has got the backing not just of PDI-P supporters. There is a broad-based support from most of the major factions in Parliament. Even the Muslim parties want her in power. We can't ignore this growing support for her.

"If Ibu Mega becomes President, it will be in line with our Constitution. It is a short-term solution to end the political crisis. But the real worry for us is whether Gus Dur and his supporters will accept this."

The ideal scenario for the TNI is for the President to resign voluntarily before a second memorandum is passed by Parliament. But prospects look dim.

A senior Cabinet minister, who has been consulting Ms Megawati on the matter, explained: "Will he go for it? We don't think so, because he has too much of an ego to just give up. He will fight all the way to survive." The military has drawn up contingency plans for the worst possible outcomes.

If Mr Abdurrahman were to unleash thousands of diehard supporters in Jakarta to bring the country close to civil war, the generals would push for martial law.

If the President were to reject this, fearing a creeping coup, the TNI chief could then resort to putting the military on "highest alert".

This order would allow soldiers to shoot on sight. The military is taking steps to ensure that it would not come to this, especially given doubts among top generals whether troops would be able to react effectively.

Their poor track record in the last three years is instructive. The Jakarta military and police have stepped up joint patrols and have been carrying out sweeping operations to prevent Mr Abdurrahman's supporters from getting into the capital.

But there could be widespread problems even without them entering Jakarta. If they rampaged in East Java, attacking rival Muhammadiyah schools and Golkar branches, there would be retaliation in other parts of Java.

Said the Cabinet minister: "The transition is not likely to be smooth. We are looking at ways to ensure that it does not get as bad as May 1998." Well-placed sources said the military was also concerned that the President might act on his threat to dissolve Parliament if he were pushed into a corner.

If this happened, the TNI would challenge him by rounding up the support of other political parties.

A two-star army general said: "It is unconstitutional if he does that. The military will take the lead in rejecting it and use all necessary means to get the President to resign. Some might think this is nothing but a coup. It is not.

"That is why it is important to have the civilian politicians on our side. We are not foolish enough to carry out a full-scale coup d'etat."

For some, military intervention is the only way out of the political impasse. Observers speculate on scenarios borrowed from the 1988 coup in Myanmar, the transfer of power from Sukarno to Suharto in 1966, the 1986 military revolt in the Philippines and the 1999 coup in Pakistan.

But as in the last three decades, and most recently in May 1998, the army remains reluctant to seize power directly. The TNI has very little backing from the middle class and students for a conventional coup.

And any such move would draw a strong international protest as well as possible economic sanctions on an Indonesia that has barely recovered from the financial crisis.

For the Indonesian military, an effective strategy these days is to do nothing and let violence fester, as the recent glaring example of Central Kalimantan makes clear.

At the same time, it is possible that army elements might seek to destabilise the situation -- a "white ant" strategy -- to speed up the President's downfall, with their contingency plans as a cover perhaps. But that would be the limit of military intervention.

When Mr Suharto fell in 1998, the armed forces declined to take over power at a time when its credibility was dipping to an all- time low. Civilians gained the upper hand in Indonesia's fledging democracy while the military retreated.

That trend appears to be reversing. It is taking place at a time when developments in other countries belie the notion that the 20th century ended on a wave of irreversible global democratisation.

The TNI is on a slow ascendancy as politicians tear at each other's throats. That pattern is likely to continue for the next year or two. Is the clock beginning to turn back for Indonesia?

Indonesian suicide squads flood Jakarta

Reuters - April 17, 2001

Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta -- Tens of thousands of Indonesian suicide warriors have flooded Jakarta ready to defend embattled President Abdurrahman Wahid, the commander of the squads said on Tuesday.

Nuril Arifin also claimed a similar number of other Wahid supporters had also come to the capital ahead of a showdown between Wahid and an angry parliament on April 30.

"At the moment, there are already some 30,000 of our followers in Jakarta, they are spread out in the capital and they are ready to stage mass protests to defend our leader," Arifin, clad in long white robes and green turban, told Reuters.

Arifin said the Wahid faithful would take to the streets on April 30, when parliament is due to debate its response to the president's rejection of an earlier censure over two graft scandals.

A second formal rebuke is widely considered all but inevitable, clearing the way for the peak People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to consider impeaching the ailing Muslim cleric.

Fears of violence

Wahid on Tuesday attacked his critics as arrogant, saying parliament had no right to impeach him.

"The parliament has been so arrogant. A presidential government cannot be impeached because of its work," he told hundreds of supporters in the hill town of Malang in his East Java heartland. "A president can only be impeached if he betrays [the nation]."

The suicide squads have stoked fears more violence could rack the already bloodied country, but Arifin pledged his troops would not resort to violence during the protest.

"Our force will not use violence, we plan to gather outside the parliament to show support ... we don't care who we might be pitted against but we will not attack," he said.

"But we are ready to die when they attack us ... Our reason is clear and simple, we don't want to see our leader being treated unfairly." Wahid himself opposes the suicide squads and has told his supporters to stay away from Jakarta.

Thousands of fighters have been training at camps in the rice paddies and sugar cane fields of East Java, Wahid's heartland, learning martial arts and magic powers. Many believe they are protected by magic spells or talismans and Arifin says they can kill with their bare hands.

Arifin declined to say where his men were staying in Jakarta. No one knows how many camps are sprinkled across the fields of East Java countryside, but an estimated 50,000 volunteers have walked away from their normal lives to train.

Most are followers of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Muslim organisation in the world's largest Muslim nation, which also has its power base in East Java.

People give up fields

Wahid used to be the chief of the NU before he became Indonesia's first democratically-elected president 18 months ago. Arifin insisted Wahid has the full backing of most Muslim clerics and warned of a bigger wave of pro-Wahid forces if the parliament did not stop efforts to oust him.

"This must sound absurd but in the countryside in Java, people would sell their paddy fields to join the squads ... or to come to Jakarta," Arifin said.

The fanaticism of Wahid's supporters and their promise to bring their fervour to the capital is what Wahid's political foes fear most. However, Defence Minister Mahfud M.D., travelling in Malang with Wahid, said the authorities could not stop his supporters travelling to the capital.

"But if they try to force their demands, they will be dealt with. Actions will be taken," he said adding the government could also not restrict training of the suicide squads.

"We can never stop people from practicing martial arts." Near the hilltown of Bogor, just outside Jakarta, the army has been running live ammunition exercises in preparation for any possible violence leading up to and during parliament's debate.

Ban on `jihad' to defend Gus Dur

Straits Times - April 16, 2001

Jakarta -- With two weeks to go before legislators meet to censure President Abdurrahman Wahid yet again over two graft scandals, leaders of his power base, the Nahdlatul Ulama Islamic movement (NU), are taking away his strongest trumpcard -- NU zealots will not be allowed to declare war on his political opponents.

Their dilemma -- do they try to save his presidency at all costs, even to NU's detriment, or do they help the opposition push him out and safeguard NU's future interests? Advertisement. NU leaders meeting in Cilegon, West Java, are today expected to issue a strong public warning against the launch of a "jihad" to defend the President, who was their former chairman.

They are also telling NU members to stay away from Jakarta if their intent is to create anarchy, putting paid to plans by the East Java branch to bring thousands into the capital's main stadium for a "prayer session" on April 29, and incidentally, intimidate the legislators meeting a block away.

Leading the warning calls is President Abdurrahman's own brother Solahuddin Wahid, an NU deputy chairman who told reporters that "conducting a jihad to defend Gus Dur would only impact negatively on the NU".

Sources say he is so worried about the possibility of a violent backlash from some NU members that he has been rallying other NU leaders to call on his brother to resign before the end of the month, when Parliament is expected to issue a second censure memorandum against him.

Mr Solahuddin, a source told The Sunday Times, has even sent an emissary to seek a concession from Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, should his brother resign voluntarily: If she agrees to name an NU leader as her vice-president when she moves up, he will get 20 prominent NU kiayis (religious leaders) to call on Mr Abdurrahman to relinquish the presidency.

The only way the kiayis can convince the President that resigning is the best way to save both his own image and NU's political future, Mr Solahuddin reckons, is to assure him that an NU man will still play a significant role in national decision-making.

But, said the source, Ms Megawati declined to respond when told of the offer last week. No specific NU name was pitched to her as the new No. 2, but other sources say Mr Solahuddin has cited Mr Hamzah Haz, chairman of the Islamic-oriented United Development Front (PPP), and a senior NU leader, as the best choice.

Explaining her silence, one of Ms Megawati's advisers said: "Of course, she would like Gus Dur to resign -- that's the cheapest way for her to take the job. But she doesn't even know how he will respond with a second memorandum. He might even decide he will not go even if the MPR rejects his accountability statement in June or August!"

Although various party leaders, including Parliament Speaker and Golkar chief Akbar Tanjung, have so far indicated that they are intent on humiliating the President one more time with another censure memorandum, they are also keen to start a dialogue with him that will lead to either a new power-sharing deal, or his voluntary resignation, rather than go for an ugly impeachment process.

Indeed, aides to People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais, his most embittered critic, say that he hopes to use the dialogue to show the President and his followers that a consensus exists -- that Gus Dur is the problem and must resign to save the nation.

Said the aide: "Amien Rais now says the dialogue is important because he needs the forum to build a momentum, to let the public know that Gus Dur is not serious about finding solutions to the problems of the nation."

Fighting hard for his political life, the Indonesian leader, too, knows that he needs to build a momentum in his favour. Analysts say a Cabinet reshuffle could be announced as early as this week, bringing yet new permutations into the current political imbroglio.

Regional/communal conflicts

40,000 North Maluku refugees return home: Governor

Jakarta Post - April 20, 2001

Jakarta -- About 40,000 refugees of the strife-torn North Maluku have returned to their homes in the regencies of Halmahera, Morotai, Bacan and other islands after living for nearly two years in refugee camps.

North Maluku Governor Muhyi Effendie said on Thursday that the refugees -- both Muslims and Christians -- decided to go home on their own initiative, Antara reported.

"Many returned on their own while others were facilitated by the police, military and local administrations," Muhyi said after attending a meeting with residents of four subdistricts in North Maluku on Thursday.

He said that a conducive security situation in the province made it possible for the refugees to return to their homeland.

Those who have returned include people of the restive subdistricts of Ibu and Loloda and some 300 East Javanese transmigrant refugees who eventually returned to the transmigration site in Kao-Halmahera subdistrict.

Newly established North Maluku province has seen the worst communal conflicts, which first erupted in the Ambon capital of Maluku on Janury 19, 1999. The two years of violence in the Maluku islands has claimed at least 8,000 lives and forced 130,000 others to flee their homes.

Palu food aid gone to waste

Jakarta Post - April 19, 2001

Palu, Central Sulawesi -- The coordinator for the Poso refugees, Yus Mangun, said on Wednesday 3,000 packages of food aid from the Kuwaiti government had gone to waste.

Yus, who is an official in the local administration, said the packages passed their expiration date before they could be distributed.

He said one of the reasons for this failure was that the parties assigned to distribute the aid had no experienced in dealing with refugees. He did not say who was assigned the task of distributing the aid.

"Their inexperience caused a long delay in channeling the supplies to the refugees. The delay was so long, the food passed its expiration date."

According to Yus, other aid meant for the refugees met a similar fate. Construction materials from the Indonesian Red Cross was stolen before it could reach the refugees. Yus said bags of cement and iron bars were looted by local residents.

Some 2,000 people have taken shelter around Palu to escape the violence in Poso which has left at least 200 people dead in the past year.

Mosques, churches set ablaze in Poso town

Jakarta Post - April 15, 2001

Jakarta -- The situation in Poso, Central Sulawesi, has heated up over the past several days, with a number of mosques and churches being set ablaze, Antara reported on Saturday.

It was reported that the latest incident occurred on Friday night, when a mob burned down Al-Ikhwan Muslim Mosque in the village of Padanglembara, Poso Pesisir district. The fire, first spotted at about 10:30 p.m., was believed to have started in the rear of the mosque.

Security personnel stationed some 500 meters from the mosque were unsuccessful in their efforts to put out the blaze, hampered by a lack of fire extinguishers and strong winds. The mosque was destroyed by the fire, but there has been no report of casualties.

Poso Military chief Lt. Col. Dede K. Atmawijaya confirmed the incident, speculating the mosque was burned down in retaliation for the recent burning of a church in the village of Moengko Baru in Poso Kota district.

There are reports that two other mosques and a church have also been set ablaze. The mosques, which were burned on Tuesday, were located in the villages of Patiwungu and Tangkura, both in Poso Pesisir district. Bethesda Church in Gebang Rejo, Poso Kota district, was burned on Monday.

Sources told Antara the burning of the houses of worship was a prelude to another round of violence between Muslims and Christians in Poso.

Since an attack on the Sayo Police post on April 3, rumors have been circulating in Poso that a certain, unidentified group would attack churches, mosques and residential areas, the sources said.

Three people, including a police officer and a local woman, were killed in the attack on the police post. The policeman and the woman were reportedly killed after performing the predawn prayer at a mosque near the post.

"In response to the Sayo incident, a church in Moengko Baru subdistrict was burned down, and this was answered with the burning of the mosque in Tangkura village," Atmawijaya said.

Up to 200 people have been killed in religious violence in Poso since May last year. Thousands of others have fled their homes.

The news agency said that on Friday, people gathered around the office of the Kawua subdistrict head in Poso Kota district and in the nearby village of Tagolu.

Security forces and locals were told to anticipate violence in the area. However, as of Saturday afternoon, there have been no reports of serious clashes in the subdistrict or its neighboring villages. A resident of Tagolu village said many Christians were gathered in the area for Good Friday and Easter.

Human rights/law

Draft on anticorruption body strongly criticized

Jakarta Post - April 21, 2000

Jakarta -- Five non-governmental organizations criticized on Friday the government's draft of the law on the establishment of an anticorruption body, arguing it did not give enough power to the body to combat the crime.

In a joint media conference, the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLBHI), the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), the National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the Aid Watch Commission (AWAC) and the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam), said that the draft did not reflect the commitment to fight the crime.

Robertus Robet from YLBHI urged that the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights who drafted the law should consider that such an anticorruption body should not be a subordinate of any conventional legal institutions.

"The antigraft body must be powerful and independent to ensure that it will not involve police and prosecutors, two institutions which are notoriously corrupt. Its first task should be handling corruption in legal institutions and public services," he said.

He explained that a similar body in other countries was empowered with several privileges including the legitimate ability of the authorities to open a suspect's bank account, to examine one's personal assets and to detain suspects during investigation and prosecution.

"To ensure impartiality and credibility, the body, which is mandated by the 1999 Anticorruption Law to come into existence next August, should be formed under a presidential institution and the team preparing its establishment should consist of credible figures. "We ask the government to dismiss the current team, whose impartiality are questionable," Robertus added.

AWAC chairman Hayie Muhammad added that the draft, which is already on its 10th revision, would only make the antigraft body suffer the same fate as its embryo, the Joint Anticorruption Team. The joint team should be disbanded in June following the Supreme Court's decision to annul the team's legal ground.

Donny Ardyanto from ICW said the draft also missed the essence of the antigraft body's function to prevent corruption.

In an all-out effort to eradicate corruption, Kontras' chairman Munarman said legislators should revoke all regulations and laws which require the establishment of a joint investigating team for military officers implicated in a corruption case together with civilians. "Many military officers are corrupt. Such regulations only serve as a tool of impunity to them. It's discrimination before the law so they should be annulled," he added.

The watchdogs also proposed that the government give the body the authority to shift the burden of proof in the handling of corruption cases to anticipate the abuse of power by police and prosecutors in the implementation of the new system.

Minister attacks justice advocates

Jakarta Post - April 16, 2001

Yogyakarta -- Many critics condemning a reversal of the burden of proof for corruption cases were those who had participated in construction of the web of corruption during the New Order regime, Minister of Defense Mahfud MD said here on Saturday.

Mahfud, in his capacity as a legal expert, told reporters on the sidelines of a lecture at the Gadjah Mada University's school of law, that people had voiced their opposition to the arrest of Ginandjar Kartasasmita's for corruption out of fears of being brought to justice for their own wrongdoings in the past.

"Corrupt politicians and officials have joined hands to go against government policy and accuse the government of exploiting the legal procedures as part of a political game to stab its rivals," he said.

Mahfud cited as an example the arrest of People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) deputy speaker Ginandjar, which many politicians branded as a political maneuver rather than a legitimate legal action.

"When Soeharto was still president, many figures, including Amien Rais, had detected Ginandjar's corrupt actions in various large projects, such as the Freeport mining project in Irian Jaya. However, when President Abdurrahman Wahid had Ginandjar arrested many 'reformists' and political leaders joined the chorus to defend Ginandjar," he said.

Mahfud warned that political rivalry could terminate the implementation of the reform agenda's objective to uphold legal supremacy. He said government efforts to fight corruption were frequently blocked by attacks from the government's political rivals. "How could they suddenly oppose something they themselves advocated in the past?" he said.

Mahfud suggested that all parties unite to fight corruption, which was the legacy of the New Order regime. "They should not be confused between political maneuvers and efforts to eradicate corruption," he said. "Law enforcement is at stake. In the future we may regret the failure to enforce the law merely due to chronic political quarrels."

Mahfud, known as one of President Abdurrahman's close aides, however, regretted the President's sluggishness in ordering an investigation into alleged corruption involving three businessman: Sinivasan, Prajogo Pangestu and Syamsul Nur Salim. "The President had no reason to suspend legal proceedings against the three tycoons."

In Jakarta, lawyers defending alleged corruptors welcomed the government's proposal to introduce a regulation on the shifting of the burden of proof, but warned of the possible abuse of people's basic rights.

Mohamad Assegaf, who is also an MPR member, said the shift of the burden of proof should be regulated in a law and not just in a government regulation, in lieu of the law.

"I think all of us gladly welcome the implementation of the shift of the burden of proof. But such a new legal principle, which concerns the public interest, should be regulated by a law, deliberated by the House of Representatives.

"The government should not impose an emergency regulation because it could raise suspicions that its introduction has been used as a political tool by Gus Dur [Abdurrahman's nickname] to attack his opponents," Assegaf told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Assegaf said the new system would not disadvantage the accused as it was aimed at upholding the law and that legislators have already anticipated the possibility that the system may violate other legal principles.

"There will be regulations where the rights of the accused are protected. The prosecutors should first prove the accused as guilty before a court and then the judges give the defendant a chance to prove his or her innocence," he said.

Denny Kailimang, chairman of the Indonesian Advocates Association, said the law on the shifting of the burden of proof should be imposed for specific corruption cases, such as bribery and receiving gifts from state officials.

"However, it doesn't mean that when a state official obtains a new luxury car the state prosecutors can immediately ask them to disclose how they got the car. "Such measures can only be taken, after a case that implicates the state official, has been submitted to the prosecutors."

News & issues

Megawati and hubby have net worth of $11 million

Straits Times - April 19, 2001

Jakarta -- Indonesian Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her husband have a net worth of around US$6 million, the country's Examination Commission for Government Officials' Wealth (KPKPN) said yesterday.

This is almost 20 times more than the net worth of President Abdurrahman Wahid, based on his submission to the commission.

Privately-owned television Metro TV station reported that Ms Megawati and her husband, businessman Taufik Kiemas, are worth 59.8 billion rupiah.

This includes the value of their 12 luxury cars, worth 1.5 billion rupiah; ownership of 24 properties, worth 24 billion rupiah; and seven petrol stations, worth 32 billion rupiah.

Metro TV also quoted sources at the commission as saying that Mr Abdurrahman and wife Sinta Nuriyah have a fortune worth 3.5 billion rupiah, consisting of five cars and property. "The figure excluded a bank account worth US$458," the station added.

The commission has yet to reveal the net worth of other government officials and Cabinet ministers, including Parliament Speaker and Golkar chief Akbar Tandjung and People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) chairman Dr Amien Rais.

The KPKPN, an independent body, has been tasked with examining the worth of all government officials before and after they take office, as part of the government's bid to fight corruption in the country.

Gus Dur approves members of General Elections Commission

Jakarta Post - April 17, 2001

Jakarta -- President Abdurrahman Wahid has endorsed the 11 names recommended by the House of Representatives Commission II for home and legal affairs as members of the General Election Committee (KPU), an official said on Monday.

The decision is stipulated in Presidential Decree No. 119/M/2001, which was signed last Monday. "The new members will hopefully be inaugurated by the President in a ceremony at the State Palace soon," KPU spokesman Wartawan Masri told reporters.

Among the members are chairman of the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) Mulyana W. Kusumah, political lecturer of Surabaya-based Airlangga University Ramlan Surbakti, University of Indonesia (UI) sociologist Imam B. Prasodjo, and UI political lecturers Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin, Valina Singka Subekti and Chusnul Mar'iyah.

Other members are former chairman of the Indonesian Muslim Student Association (HMI) Anas Urbaningrum, Catholic priest F.X. Mudji Sutrisno, Jayapura-based Cendrawasih University lecturer Daan Dimara, director of the Center for Public Policy Studies (Puskap) Hamid Awaluddin and political communications expert from Bandung-based Padjadjaran University Rusadi Kantaprawira.

All of the members underwent the fit and proper test before legislators of Commission II from March 7 to March 9. The Commission initially selected 21 candidates proposed by the government.

One candidate, chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) Hendardi, withdrew his candidacy in March due to a "lack of transparency in the selection process".

Anti communist group declares PRD as the `public enemy'

Detik - April 16, 2001

Bagus Kurniawan/HD & HY, Yogyakarta -- Eleven people from the Yogyakarta branch of the Anti Communist Piety Society Forum (Format) have declared war on Communism. They staged a demonstration at the Yogyakarta police headquarters (Mapoltabes). They also planned to move to the Yogyakarta provincial legislative council (DPRD) A demonstration was held at the Mapoltabes, Jl Reksobayan, Yogyakarta, Monday.

They included people form the Communication Forum of Indonesian Veterans' Children (FKPPI), the United Development Party (PPP), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Justice Party (PK), the Crescent and Star Party (PBB), Ka'bah Youth Movement and Muhammadiya Youth.

In addition, several other groups also attended, such as the Mosque's Teenagers Friendship Forum, the Indonesian Anti- Communist Front (FAKI), the Defence of Golkar Party's Honour Network, the Anti Communist Youth Action Union, Panca Marga Youth and the Anti-Communist Defence Movement (Gepako).

In their action, they displayed several banners and posters which read "Gepako Ready for Sweeping of PRD and Yogyakarta Working Group [an element under the PRD, Ed]", "Let's hunt Communism together"; "The PRD [People's Democratic Party] and PRY are the Real People's Enemy" and "Defend the Assembly's decree No. XXV/1966 to the last drop of blood".

In a closed door meeting with the head of Yogyakarta police Commissioner Police Drs. Ibnu Sudjak, a co-ordinator of Format, Muhammad Jazir ASP demanded Ibnu Sudja prosecute Dwi Bambang Sucipto for being the chairman of the New Indonesian Communist Party (PKBI) which was established in Yogyakarta several days ago.

At present, Bambang has been detained at Yogyakarta police for owning a weapon. In this case, they support the police charging him. Acceding to Jazir, the declaration of PKBI showed an intention of insurgency, so Format demanded the Yogya police or National police (Polri) take legal steps to deal with this.

Aside from that, Format strongly believes that with the Assembly's Decree No. XXV/1996 covering the ban of Communism, Marxism and Leninism, the ban on Communism must remain. "We hope the Polri can take concrete steps so as not to lose the public's trust and prevent such mobs.

Communism has long been taboo in Indonesia, following the abortive coup attempt of 1965, blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). In the wake of the botched coup, up to half a million PKI members, alleged supporters and sympathisers were killed. Many of the killings were reportedly conducted by NU members, as the Islamic organisation was staunchly anti- Communist.

Throughout the Soeharto regime, many of the nation's problems were blamed on the outlawed PKI. Analysts say that in its final years, the regime found a new "scapegoat", the left-wing PRD, which was also banned.

At time of reporting, around fifty demonstrators from Format started to move to the Yogyakarta Legislative Council located on Jl Malioboro, Yogyakarta.

Thousands of PPP supporters attend mass prayer in Sleman

Jakarta Post - April 16, 2001

Yogyakarta -- More than 7,000 supporters of the United Development Party (PPP) attended on Saturday a mass prayer in Ngaglik, Sleman, some 12 kilometers north of here, with ulema KH Zaenuddin MZ from Jakarta as the key speaker.

The gathering also saw the establishment of a new PPP militant youth wing -- based in the regency of Sleman -- called Gerakan Militan Ka'abah (GMK). One of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) deputy speakers, Husnie Thamrin and legislator Alfian Dharmawan, were also in attendance.

Thousands of people, mostly youths from the nearby towns of Surakarta, Magelang, and Klaten, started the gathering with a parade of vehicles through the city. The cars and motorbikes roaming the streets caused serious traffic congestion about one hour before the event began at 2 p.m.

In his vigorous speech, Zaenuddin said that Indonesia had been suffering for a long time since the multi-dimensional crisis hit the country in 1998. "Until today, we have yet to see any sign of change. The political elite has been too selfish and not listened to the people's aspirations," he said.

He hinted that in such a situation Indonesians needed statesmen, instead of politicians. "[Unfortunately] this country only has politicians. The only statesman Indonesia has ever had was [former president] Soeharto," "When people forced Soeharto to abdicate, he bowed to the people's aspirations and quit despite the fact that he still had myriad supporters," Zaenuddin, known for his closeness to the Soeharto family, said.

Zaenuddin campaigned for PPP from the '70s till the early '80s. He withdrew his support for the party in 1997, and claimed that he belonged to all (political) groups. "The current national condition made me come back to politics. I immediately said 'yes' when Pak Hamzah Haz asked me to assist the party again," he said, referring to the PPP chairman. "So don't say that I have come back to PPP, because actually I never left the party," he said, which was applauded by the supporters.

Such a huge mass gathering apparently worried many Yogyakarta people, who have recently experienced much chaos. Sleman Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Djoko Subroto told The Jakarta Post that the police deployed all of their members to secure the event, "We have more than 1,160 personnel in Sleman, and all of them were on alert," he said.

Despite the security guarantee from the police, incidents happened after the mass prayer ended. The first incident took place when a group of supporters damaged a restaurant in the Umbulharjo area on their way home. Another incident occurred on Jl. Kaliurang, some 4 kilometers north of here, when another group smashed and broke a car's front windshield.

Environment/health

Logging concession system to be replaced

Tempo - April 18, 2000

Tempo, Jakarta -- The existing forest resource management system, which has been regularly exploited and abused, will be replaced by a balanced and sustainable forest management system.

The Minister of Forestry and Plantations, Marzuki Usman, presented a paper entitled "Towards A Fair, Democratic and Continuing Natural Resources Management Law" to a seminar held at the Hilton Hotel in Jakarta today. Marzuki told the seminar that old dysfunctional policies must be replaced with policies of conservation and rehabilitation. "It's no time to have logging concessions of up to five million hectares. It's such greed!" he said.

Marzuki said that the existing forest management practice of granting logging concessions to entrepreneurs has led to 35 years of forest destruction. The destruction covers 1.6-2 million hectares of forest land each year. This is equal to an area half the size of Central Java.

Marzuki said that aside from destroying the forest, logging concession grants have also eliminated the very existence of local populations. According to Marzuki, the consequences of the forestry policy which has been applied since the 1970s are that "the forest ecosystem is destroyed and people living near the forest have been moved aside. They become poor as their rights to live on their land by using the existing resources have been taken away. These rights, that have been taken away for 35 years, will be returned to them," Marzuki said.

Aside from changing policy in this sector, Marzuki will punish those involved in destroying the forest or the environment generally. The punishment will be increased. In the period to date, the maximum punishment imposed on persons involved in forest destruction has only been a 20 years sentence. And in that case, the person received parole. "A 300 year prison term and a fine 100,000 times the costs of the destruction are about the right punishments for those forest destroyers," he said.

Marzuki already holds names of persons allegedly involved in forest destruction. Unfortunately, Marzuki said, those people are still free. Marzuki declined to mention further efforts to be made by his ministry in order to stop the forest criminals. "We should act as a detective. We can't let you know our measures now, as we have yet to arrest those criminals." Marzuki said.

Marzuki concluded by stating that forest management policies that are focused on the natural resources would contribute significantly to stabilizing the political situation and decreasing ethnic conflicts. He said that it will lead to understanding within the nation.

Wood barons threaten Indonesian sanctuary

Agence France-Presse - April 15, 2001

Aras Napal -- The European explorers who penetrated deepest Sumatra in the 18th century recoiled in awe at the beauty of the "dark and savage" forest that covered the Indonesian island. Today, there is hardly any of it left.

As is the case across much of Indonesia, huge swathes of tropical woodland have succumbed to the ravages of deforestation, in the process destroying the natural habitat of endangered species including tigers and the Sumatran rhino.

"70 percent of the logging is illegal. At the current pace, the tropical forest will have disappeared within 10 years," said Arbi, a 29-year-old activist with the environmental group Telapak.

Satellite images show a huge green mass in the north of Sumatra where the forest has survived. This is the Leuser national park and the protected eco-system that surrounds it is one of Asia's most stunning natural sanctuaries.

It is the last place where Sumatran rhinos, whose numbers have dwindled to less than 80 in the wild, still share the forest with tigers, elephants and orangutans.

The park's forests and valleys stretch for as far as the eye can see -- the blanket of green broken up only by the sudden appearance of a brilliant red bird.

Greater serenity, it seems, could not be found anywhere on the planet -- or at least that would be the case if it was not for the distant drone of the chainsaw.

"I can't see them, they are a few kilometers away, but I can hear the sound, says Tina, a young Dutch zoologist. "The local people here say 'that's the sound of the forest.' It's not a very nice sound, is it?" The teams of local farmers who operate the chainsaws are paid less than two dollars a day for their toil in the stifling humidity of the mosquito-infested forest.

Already a fifth of the park has been seriously damaged by illegal logging. Fragile marshland areas have been transformed into plantations. In broad daylight, lorries loaded with wood can be seen on the roads leading to the city of Medan.

"Illegal logging is not a poverty problem," insists Mike Griffiths, one of the directors of a European-backed project to defend the Leuser park. "That's a myth. Its a greed problem." The loggers are only the last link in a chain from which the principal beneficiaries are powerful businessmen, the wood barons.

"Here everyone knows who they are and nobody does anything about it," says one local ecologists. Campaigners are happy to name businessmen who they say benefit from contacts in the security forces and forestry companies who cut down far more trees than they are authorised do.

In 1997 and 1998, millions of hectares of forest were destroyed in huge fires designed to clear land for planting.

Such practices are not new: millions of hectares were destroyed by companies linked to cronies of former ruler Suharto such as "Bob" Hassan, who has since been jailed.

Since Suharto was toppled in May 1998, local barons have taken over, using the same combination of corruption and violence to get their way, according to Telepak.

Indonesia's moves to devolve power to the regions has played into their hands, the environmentalists argue.

"We want to stop illegal logging," North Sumatra governor Nurdin Tengku Rizal recently told EU ambassadors. But he added: "The new autonomy law gives us responsibility, but not power." The ambassadors had come to demand greater efforts to protect the park, which the EU has funded to the tune of 32.5 million euros (36.5 million US dollars).

"Catching those involved in cutting or transporting logs illegally is not enough," said Sabato Della Monica, the head of the European Commission's Indonesian office. "A legal process in a court of justice is necessary. And not only those involved in cutting and transporting should be punished, but more important is that those behind the scenes who are involved in buying and trading illegally should be dealt with severely." To date only a handful of drivers have been arrested, some of whom have been convicted on largely symbolic charges.

Local officials say Indonesia's myriad economic problems, the lack of efficient security forces to impose order and the strong international demand for tropical hardwood mean combatting illegal logging is an uphill struggle.

The environmentalists insist that the real problem is how to put an end to the corruption and nepotism that allows it to continue. Above all, they argue, there has to be an end to the culture of impunity symbolised by the fact that one of the country's most notorious wood barons, Abdul Rasyid, sits in parliament.

Religion/Islam

Islam's holy warriors

Far Eastern Economic Review - April 26, 2001

Sadanand Dhume, Yogyakarta, Bandung and Jakarta -- At first glance, there's nothing extraordinary about the small religious school outside Yogyakarta in central Java. Its mosque is a modest affair. The scrawny chickens strutting about in the dirt could belong in any Asian village. And the lush green vegetation all around is common on this fertile island.

Two wide-eyed girls are the first indication that this is no ordinary place. Though barely knee-high, the toddlers' heads are demurely covered, their hair hidden from view by the kind of scarves you would usually see only on Muslim women past puberty.

This is the headquarters of Laskar Jihad, a 10,000-strong fundamentalist Islamic group that has shot to prominence in Indonesia by waging a holy war -- or jihad -- against Christians in the troubled northeastern province of Maluku, once known as the Spice Islands. The violence has killed about 5,000 and displaced another half million.

Ja'far Umar Talib, a 39-year-old Islamic preacher, is the unlikely holy warrior behind Laskar. When he isn't leading the faithful in Maluku or drumming up support in Jakarta he lives in a small, modest house behind the mosque. Talib, the grandson of a Yemeni trader who came to Indonesia for business and stayed to raise a family, looks younger than his years. A shock of white in his wiry black hair and a thickening gut are the only signs of approaching middle age. His eyes are animated. His laugh is light. As he sips a cup of dark coffee flavoured with ginger he speaks softly and with sincerity.

"For us to defend the country is one of God's orders," he says. "There is no way to get respect from non-Muslims for Muslims except through jihad." Talib's words resonate most loudly in Maluku. Independent observers say the 15-month-old volunteer force, mainly recruited from Java, has been key to turning the tide in a battle against the province's Christian population since it joined the bloody civil war in May last year.

But Laskar's importance goes well beyond Maluku. In many ways, the group's rapid growth illustrates the larger problems facing Indonesia's young democracy. Laskar's existence symbolizes the erosion of central government authority and the breakdown of law and order. It also speaks of an explosion of ethnic violence and creeping religious intolerance amid economic hard times.

Laskar's activities have the potential to mar Indonesia's reputation for practising a tolerant and inclusive form of Islam, the religion of 90% of the country's people. As one Western diplomat who follows the Laskar's activities says, "Indonesia is still a fundamentally pluralistic and tolerant place. But that tolerance is being tested."

However, it isn't only Jakarta that has cause for concern. For regional neighbours and the West, the group's alleged links to international terrorism -- albeit tenuous -- raise the prospect of the world's largest Muslim nation becoming a breeding ground for other radical pan-Islamic groups.

Talib's first steps toward becoming a holy warrior were taken in 1986 when he left his native village in East Java to study Islam in Lahore, Pakistan. At the time, Pakistan was the main staging ground for a holy war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan sponsored by America and Saudi Arabia. Talib, then just 24, was drawn to the idea and soon found himself in a training camp, an international jihad university that he says included Afghans, Pakistanis, Egyptians, Burmese, Sudanese, Thais and Filipinos. In 1989, the year the Soviets left Afghanistan, Talib returned home to Java to get married and to take up his vocation as a preacher. But, he says, the idea of jihad stayed with him.

Even so, if not for a series of tumultuous events, Talib might have remained an anonymous Javanese preacher. In late 1997, the Asian Crisis hit Indonesia. By the following May, it had helped end the 32-year-old rule of President Suharto, sending out shockwaves that continue to reverberate across the country.

The discredited military can no longer employ the heavy-handed tactics it once used to maintain order. And the fledgling democratic government has lurched from one crisis to the next. Law and order has virtually collapsed.

Meanwhile, the state doctrine of Pancasila -- which downplays the individual role of Indonesia's religions by harnessing them to a set of universal values -- has come under siege. Talib for one has nothing but contempt for it and instead wants Indonesia to be governed by Islamic law.

"We don't like Pancasila because it means that Islam is the same as other religions," he says. "This is not so. We believe that Islam is the highest religion and the best." According to Douglas Ramage, Jakarta head of the Asia Foundation, an American not-for-profit organization, the Suharto regime is largely to blame for the emergence of sectarian groups such as Laskar. For too long, he says, the legitimate discussion of issues such as ethnicity and religion were buried under a rhetoric of forced tolerance. "It's not surprising that when the authoritarian lid comes off there's a flowering of democratic speech," says Ramage. "But there's also a seemingly natural explosion of fundamentally undemocratic ideas."

The spark for this particular explosion came hundreds of miles from Talib's base in Yogyakarta. In early 1999, a local dispute between a bus driver and a passenger in the Maluku city of Ambon soon snowballed into large-scale violence between Christians and Muslims. According to most accounts, the Muslims suffered more in early fighting. As news of Christian atrocities, both real and embellished, filtered into Java, Talib says he was stirred to do something for his co-religionists, "so that they could feel safe in their own country." In January 2000, Talib organized the first gathering of Laskar Jihad in a Yogyakarta football stadium, publicizing it with flyers and by word of mouth.

By May the newly formed group had begun to ship its first fighters, armed with machetes and other crude weapons, to Maluku. Despite the media glare surrounding Laskar's departure for battle, President Abdurrahman Wahid's government stood by, unable -- or unwilling -- to stop them. Since then, claims Talib, Laskar's membership has grown to about 10,000, although this has not been independently verified. At any one time, he says, the group has 3,000 fighters in Maluku province. Most do four-to-five-month shifts before being replaced.

According to a report by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, the presence of the Laskar in Maluku has decisively tipped the balance of power in favour of the Muslims, and is the main source of any continuing fighting.

But for many ordinary Indonesians, exposed to magazines, videotapes and Web sites detailing alleged Christian atrocities, the Laskar Jihad are more like white knights in shining armour than a sinister private army with orders from God. Some suggest that Laskar could not exist without a wink and a nod from elements in the army eager to embarrass the civilian government.

Talib denies this, though he is adept at infusing his talk of jihad with a dose of old-fashioned nationalism. "If Maluku breaks away like East Timor, it is a problem for all of Indonesia," says Talib. "This will affect other places such as Irian Jaya, Sulawesi and Flores -- areas with lots of Christians."

Though Laskar is an extreme aberration, unrepresentative of most Indonesian Muslims, its rise has coincided with a gradual religious revival in the country.

The position of Islam was first boosted by Suharto in the early 1990s, in an attempt to woo Muslims and shore up his waning popularity. More recently, political freedom and economic hardships have given Islam fresh impetus.

According to Achmad Rozi, a director with the independent human- rights organization Paham, it has become more common to see men with beards and women covering their heads with scarves in universities. There are other signs, of rising religious fervour, too: A magazine vendor outside Bandung's main mosque says he always manages to sell every copy of Darul Islam, a new Islamic magazine linked to NII, a hardline Islamic group with roots in western Java. And last year, another Islamic group, the FPI, made headlines by trashing bars and discos in Jakarta.

Talib says most of his recruits are from central and western Java. And there is enough of a groundswell of sympathy for him to be able to openly solicit funds for his group's activities in Maluku. In Yogyakarta, Bandung, and other towns in Java, Laskar volunteers can be seen on busy streets seeking -- and receiving -- donations.

There's nothing furtive about the group's Bandung office: Large green banners hang outside the house in a quiet neighbourhood, loudly proclaiming the group's mission to defend Islam. Muhamad Haris, a travelling fundraiser for Laskar says the average donation is about 70,000 rupiah (about $6.60). According to Talib, two such donations are enough to pay for the cost of sending a fighter to Maluku.

But not all of Talib's funding comes from the man on the street. Western observers say his operation could not survive without tacit approval from at least some elements in the army. They say that some Laskar Jihad soldiers have army-issue weapons, though most still use crude bombs.

Talib denies any connection with the army. He does, however, admit that some of his money is raised through the Internet. Laskar's professional-looking Web site (www.laskarjihad.or.id) openly solicits donations for its jihad and offers a bank-account number at Indonesia's Bank Central Asia. Essentially, this means just about anybody can funnel money to the group.

Laskar's possible international connections are beginning to raise eyebrows outside Indonesia. Talib says that though some Laskar commanders have studied in Pakistan or Afghanistan foreign participation in his holy war is limited to funds transferred to the group's bank accounts. He says that only one foreigner, a Yemeni man killed in action in Maluku, has signed up to join Laskar. Some observers, however, speak of a possible Osama bin Laden connection and striking similarities between Laskar's Web site and those of Islamist groups operating as far away as Chechnya. But the group's strongest foreign link is probably much closer to home -- the Muslim Moro guerrillas fighting the Philippine government.

For now, Laskar's fighters remain in Maluku, from where news of their exploits continues to trickle out. In recent months the violence there has subsided somewhat, a development Western observers attribute to the fact that most Muslims and Christians now live in separate communities. Now, emboldened by what some refer to as Jakarta's "deer in the headlights" response, some fear Laskar may look further afield in Indonesia to continue its jihad, to Java perhaps. Or perhaps its success will encourage other, more radical groups to emerge. Whatever happens, few expect the Indonesian government to bring Talib and his boys to leash. "This is a country of equal opportunity impunity," says Ramage of the Asia Foundation. "Nobody gets punished for anything."

Arms/armed forces

Kopassus groups reduced to 3, with 2 supporting units

Jakarta Post - April 17, 2001

Jakarta -- The Army's Special Force (Kopassus) officially announced on Monday the reorganization of its structure from five operational groups to three, with two supporting units. Kopassus chief Maj. Gen. Amirul Isnaeni, however, said the new structure would be under trial for one year before being reviewed for further implementation.

"The reorganization of Kopassus has been approved [by the Indonesian Military headquarters]. But, the process is ongoing," Amirul told a media conference after chairing the ceremony to commemorate the force's 49th anniversary at its headquarters in Cijantung, East Jakarta.

Most of the retired generals from Kopassus were present at the ceremony, including former Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) chief Gen. (ret) Leonardus Benyamin "Benny" Moerdani, former minister of defense and security Gen. (ret) Edi Sudradjat, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications Gen. (ret) Agum Gumelar, and Minister of Industry and Trade Gen. (ret) Luhut Binsar Panjaitan.

"Regarding the deployment of troops affected by the implementation of the new structure, it will be up to the Army Chief of Staff and the Kopassus personnel department to manage," said Amirul, who was accompanied by commanders of the three groups and the two units in the media conference.

As a result of the reorganization, some 6,000 Kopassus personnel who are split into five groups, will be reduced in number.

But, Amirul declined to mention the actual figure, saying that "there is no such elite force in the world that would reveal the exact number of its troops." He quickly added that Kopassus was among the smallest elite troops in the world.

In 1996 the elite force was expanded from four groups to five. Group I, located in Serang, Banten province and Group II, located in Kartosuro, near Surakarta, Central Java, both comprised combat troops. Group III in Batujajar, Bandung, West Java, was responsible for education and training. Groups IV and V, located in Cijantung, East Jakarta, were responsible for intelligence and anti-terrorism operations respectively.

The 1996 reorganization also promoted the Kopassus chief from the rank of brigadier general to major general.

The current Kopassus reorganization will retain the two combat groups and the intelligence group, but convert the anti-terrorism group into an anti-terrorism unit and the education and training group into an education center.

Combat Groups I and II will be located in Serang and Kartosuro, respectively, while Intelligence Group III will be located in Cijantung.

The new anti-terrorism unit, also to be situated in Cijantung, will report directly to the Kopassus chief, while the Kopassus Education Center will be situated in Batujajar.

Separately, Kopassus spokesman Capt. Farid Ma'ruf said the anti- terrorism unit will be named the Kopassus 81 Anti-Terror Unit and be led by Col. Lodewijk F. Paulus, while the Education Center will be led by Col. Hotma Marbun.

Groups I and II will still be led by Col. I Ketut Mudja and Col. Edwin Hudawi Lubis respectively. While the former Group IV, now renamed Group III, will be led by Col. Hotmangaradja Panjaitan.

"We may channel the remaining personnel to other units in the Army headquarters," Farid told The Jakarta Post by telephone.

Economy & investment

Foreign businesses advised to deal directly with regions

Straits Times - April 20, 2001

Robert Go, Jakarta -- Chief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday advised foreign businesses to start dealing directly with local administrations, in the clearest admission yet that Jakarta's economic sphere of influence would decline as decentralisation kicks in.

The minister said: "I suggest companies work closely and cooperate with local leaders and government officials, including the police.

Advertisement "They should also develop policies by involving the local society as much as possible." Mr Bambang, who spoke at a seminar attended by hundreds of foreign and domestic businessmen yesterday, added that investors should take advantage of the potential influence local leaders may exert on their communities.

District and provincial officials could serve as a company's "eyes and ears, mediate disputes with the community, and help protect the company's interests".

Indonesia's decentralisation programme took effect this past January. But analysts, even the programme's own designers, have raised concerns over how local governments would execute their new responsibilities.

In addition to greater political and social control over their respective regions, Indonesia's 300-plus bupatis, or district administrators, also gained much expanded economic powers.

There have been numerous reported cases where district governments demanded that existing business contracts be redrawn -- problems that analysts ascribed to conflicting or unclear regulations, and lack of monitoring by the central government.

Several foreign executives interviewed by The Straits Times agreed that the best way of dealing with problems related to decentralisation is to cultivate local relationships.

A foreign consultant who has worked in Indonesia for over 15 years said: "A Jakarta-based network is not sufficient anymore, especially for companies whose businesses are tied to the land, such as oil and gas, and minerals. You have to get to the district level."

An oil-sector executive added: "There is so much uncertainty that the best thing to do is to maintain a positive yet neutral relationship with every level of government -- bupati, governor or national players." But they also echoed Dr Andi Mallarangeng, a political analyst and decentralisation expert, who said that Jakarta still has to exert some control.

"There has to be a balance between district power and central control. Only this balance can cut down corruption, inefficiency, and other problems inherent in the decentralisation process," said Dr Andi.

Jakarta and IMF break budget deficit impasse

Straits Times - April 20, 2001

Robert Go, Jakarta -- Indonesia and the International Monetary Fund broke an impasse over the country's swelling budget deficit problem yesterday, but the obvious solution proposed by the international lender and other aid agencies -- lifting generous fuel subsidies -- could amount to political suicide for President Abdurrahman Wahid's government.

According to IMF Asia-Pacific Deputy Director Anoop Singh, Indonesia has agreed to keep its budget deficit this year at 3.7 per cent of GDP, a level that both the government and the agency targeted last year.

Advertisement "We have agreed that every effort must be made to bring down the deficit to what was agreed to in December," Mr Singh said.

The 2001 Budget planned for a deficit of 53 trillion rupiah, but analysts and government officials last month projected that the country would incur a shortfall closer to 75 trillion rupiah, or between 5 and 6 per cent of GDP.

It remains to be seen whether Indonesia can revise quickly its budget assumptions and spending targets, but both legislators and the administration have indicated that they will expedite an adjustment to the budget to reflect current macro-economic conditions.

An obvious solution pushed by the IMF and the World Bank, two major lenders to Indonesia, involves cuts to fuel subsidies, worth 60 trillion rupiah this year. The World Bank's Country Director for Indonesia, Mr Mark Baird, reiterated this prescription at the Indonesia Next business seminar yesterday.

He said: "Higher fuel prices have to be a part of any budget deficit package. Persistent efforts in this area will be needed to reduce subsidies to affordable levels." The IMF had also made subsidy removals a pre-condition of previous loans to Jakarta, but to the agency's ire, the current government only implemented one round of cuts, which took effect last April.

A senior government official referred to the mass rioting that took place after former President Suharto abruptly hiked fuel prices in 1998, shortly before his departure from office, to explain the government's reluctance.

Political observers have argued that the fuel riots, which included the participation of students and workers, contributed to the downfall of the Suharto regime.

Said the government source: "We still remember the immediate and unruly impact of that increase. How do we go ahead with price hikes, knowing the possible political consequences? "It is also difficult to proceed because of the potential impact on the poor." Mr Baird and several analysts, however, disagreed that fuel-price hikes hit at the poor, and instead asserted that the country could not afford to maintain current price levels.

"Very little of the fuel subsidies go to the poor. It benefits middle-class consumers with cars and people who want to smuggle fuel out of the country," Mr Baird said.

Prerequisite required by IMF for loan release

Dow Jones Newswires - April 18, 2001

Farida Husna, Jakarta -- The International Monetary Fund told the Indonesian parliament Wednesday that a new letter of intent will only be signed after the current state budget is revised, legislator Kwik Kian Gie said.

The former senior economic minister told journalists after a meeting with IMF's Asia Pacific Deputy Director Anoop Singh that the IMF also demanded the government implement all of the programs it promised in the last letter of intent before sending a new one.

"The IMF wants to know if parliament is ready to revise the state budget," Kwik said. "We told them that we are ready, but it depends when the government will propose the budget revision," he said.

The signing of a letter of intent, which details economic programs the government has promised to implement, is a prerequisite for the disbursement of the IMF's next $400 million installment to Indonesia.

The IMF has been holding up this installment since late December for various reasons, among them concerns that the government's plan to amend the Bank Indonesia Law may undermine the central bank's independence.

The assumptions and estimates used in the current state budget do not reflect the rupiah's present weakness either. The budget was based on an exchange rate of Rupiah 7,800 per US dollar, but the dollar is now close to Rupiah 11,000 due to worries over rising political tension.

Indonesia may miss privatisation goal

Straits Times - April 17, 2001

Jakarta -- Indonesian officials fear the government might not meet its 6.5 trillion rupiah privatisation target this year amid weak markets.

"I have talked to the IMF staff about the progress of the privatisation of state companies, and looking at the conditions, we suggested revising the target to four trillion rupiah," the finance ministry's director-general for state enterprises, Mr Njoman Tjager, told reporters.

But it was not clear if the government had proposed formally the revised target to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is spearheading an international bail-out for the country.

Asked if cutting the target could affect the disbursement of already-delayed IMF funds, Mr Tjager said: "We will explain this issue." He did not elaborate.

Relations between Indonesia and its key donor have soured over a raft of missed economic reform targets and concerns over controversial changes to the central bank law. The IMF had delayed US$400 million in loan disbursements since the end of last year.

In its Budget for this year, Indonesia said it planned to privatise 16 companies to raise 6.5 trillion rupiah. The latest Budget approved by parliament put the deficit at 52.5 trillion rupiah, or 3.7 per cent of gross domestic product, and the privatisations have become crucial as a plunging currency, higher interest rates and lower-than-expected revenue elsewhere look set to worsen the deficit.

The one-month benchmark interest rate reached 15.82 per cent at the last weekly auction, its highest since mid-July 1999. The rupiah broke the psychological level of 10,000 early last month and has hovered around 29-month lows, weighed down by political insecurity.

High rates and the currency's woes have helped to push the stock market down by more than 11 per cent this year, after losing 40 per cent last year. The slide has already forced the government to revise targets for some companies.

It had hoped to raise up to 376 billion rupiah from pharmaceutical company Indofarma, which listed on the Jakarta exchange yesterday. Instead, the 596.9 million new Indofarma shares netted 149 billion rupiah.

World Bank loan canceled on government's request: Luhut

Jakarta Post - April 17, 2001

Jakarta -- The World Bank canceled the second US$300 million tranche of its $600 million social safety net adjustment loan on request from the Indonesian government, a Cabinet minister revealed Monday.

"We asked the World Bank to cancel [the loan] because we are no longer in favor of the JPS program that had failed its purposes," Minister of Industry and Trade Luhut B. Pandjaitan told reporters. The loan was supposed to have been disbursed before the end of December.

A government evaluation reveled that the programs failed to meet its target, said Luhut. "Trillions of rupiah of the funds simply disappeared," Luhut said as quoted by Antara.

According to Luhut, the government is preparing an alternative program to replace the JPS program. He did not say the amount of funds made available for the new scheme.

On a separate occasion State Minister for Cooperatives and Small and Medium Scale Businesses, Zarkasih Nur, said the JPS program would be integrated with similar programs at related departments pending the availability of a new program.

Zarkasih said the JPS funds were part of a 1997 World Bank loan totaling $600 million. Of the amount, $300 million had been disbursed through various programs under the JPS scheme while another $300 million was initially scheduled for disbursement inthe 2001 fiscal year.

However, as the program had proved ineffective, the government had decided to discontinue it, said Zarkasih. "So, don't get it wrong, it's not them [the World Bank] who canceled the loan, but we asked them to," he said.

IMF asks government to suspend large projects this year

Jakarta Post - April 17, 2001

Jakarta -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked the government to shelve several large projects this year in a bid to rescue the troubled state budget, according to a source.

The source did not say which particular projects were suggested for cancellation, but he said that the IMF was concerned about the prospect of a greater-than-estimated deficit in the current state budget. "The IMF wants the government to cancel several large projects financed by the state budget," the source said on Monday.

An IMF special mission is currently reviewing the country's economic condition and the implementation of several key economic reform programs.

One feature of the talks with the government is a plan to revise the 2001 state budget due to the unachievable nature of several assumptions, particularly amid the economic conditions of a weakening rupiah and rising interest rates.

The government recently admitted that the budget deficit this year could exceed more than 5 percent of gross domestic product, or equal to more than Rp 72 trillion (US$6.86 billion), compared to the initial projection of 3.7 percent of GDP, or Rp 52 trillion, if no measures were immediately taken.

The government will have to cut spending, particularly on large scale projects, to save the state budget because reducing routine expenditure such as government employee salaries would be politically impossible, while boosting domestic revenue from taxes and excise duties would be difficult amid the current economic difficulties.

Initially, the government planned to embark on several infrastructure projects this year in a bid to stimulate economic growth and create employment. Some of the projects were canceled in 1997 when the economic crisis hit Indonesia, and also following recommendations by the IMF, which signed a multi- billion dollar economic bailout package with the Soeharto administration in power at that time.

Government spending was expected to be one of the driving forces to generate economic growth this year as investment and exports were unlikely to make a strong contribution amid the current political problems at home and economic slowdowns in the US and Japan, the country's major traditional export markets.

Bank Indonesia recently predicted that the government's 5 percent GDP growth target this year could not be achieved due to the drop in the exchange rate of the rupiah against the US dollar, domestic political trouble, and slowdowns in the US and Japanese economies.

The IMF mission arrived last week for a two-week review, expected to be completed next Monday. The mission will then report to IMF headquarter in Washington before the fund decides on the disbursement of its next $400 million loan tranche to Indonesia, which was canceled late last year due to signs of the government backtracking on the implementation of several key economic reforms.

Director General of Financial Institutions Darmin Nasution said that a revision of the state budget was inevitable. "It is certain that there will be a revision," Darmin said, but declined to provide more details.

The current state budget assumes an exchange rate of Rp 7,800 per US dollar, and a Bank Indonesia SBI promissory note interest rate of 11.5 percent. However, the rupiah fell to a 30-month low of around Rp 11,500 per dollar last month amid domestic political problems and a delay in the disbursement of the crucial IMF loan tranche. The drop in the rupiah has forced Bank Indonesia to allow the SBI rate to increase to 15.82 percent.