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Indonesia News Digest No
29 - July 15-21, 2001
Jakarta Post - July 17, 2001
Jakarta -- Political activists are calling for an act of civil
disobedience by rejecting all regulations, policies and taxes
imposed by the government and the House of Representatives.
In a statement signed by political activist Bara Hasibuan,
economist Faisal Basri and anticorruption activists Teten
Masduki, Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas and Irma Hutabarat, they
charged that political leaders had forgotten the people's
interests and were focused on their personal struggle for power.
"Political leaders, both in the legislative and executive bodies,
ignore the problems we face and concentrate more on a tussle for
power at the cost of the people," Bara Hasibuan, who read the
statement, said.
"If the coming People's Consultative Assembly special session
only becomes a venue for distributing power [among themselves],
we then call on the people to boycott the political elite and
reject policies made by them," he said.
Bara, a former member of the National Mandate Party (PAN),
underlined that the special session should be a new chapter for
the country in dealing with its current hardships, and not simply
an arena to topple the President.
Faisal Basri, another former PAN member who left the party out of
discontent, said acts of civil disobedience could take the form
of refusing to pay taxes or by simply ignoring the antics of
political leaders.
"For example, the media does not have to cover their actions for
a whole week during the special session, or all state-owned
companies could stop delivering money to legislators. It is time
for us to fight them," Faisal remarked.
He contended that political leaders should stop burdening the
country to fulfill their own ambitions, and start discussing
issues that are more important to the people.
"The main agenda in the future should not be the distribution of
power but the distribution of burdens, which are currently on the
shoulders of the people ... We have to show them our defiance,"
he said. "I am ready to go to jail for this ... I am sure that 60
percent of the legislators have received illicit money from
state-owned companies," Faisal remarked.
Teten Masduki had a more mirthful suggestion: declare a national
holiday during the special session. "Let the people enjoy
themselves while the legislators are busy with themselves during
the special session. The House does not represent the people as
it is not fighting for the people's interests," he remarked.
Teten, who is a member of National Ombudsman Commission, stressed
that people were concerned by the large increases in electricity
rates and fuel prices, but the legislators simply ignored these
concerns. He said the special session would be useless if all it
did was produce a new government that would once again ignore the
people's interests.
Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas suggested the special session forge a
national consensus to deal with the economic hardship of the
people and the crimes of former regimes, so the country could
move ahead with the reform movement.
Jakarta Post - July 19, 2001
Yogyakarta -- Some fifty members from East Timorese
prointegration groups held a modest ceremony on Tuesday at
Yogyakarta's East Timor Students Dormitory to celebrate what they
called "the 25th anniversary of East Timor's integration to
Indonesia".
Participants of the ceremony, residing in Yogyakarta and its
surrounding towns, sang the national anthem Indonesia Raya as
they raised the Indonesian red-and-white flag. Bernardino Mariano
Sousa of the prointegration Uni Timor Aswain (UNTAS) led the
brief commemoration.
During their ceremony several youths yelled their allegiance to
the Republic of Indonesia and pledged to continue the struggle
for the return of East Timor. "The struggle for the return of
East Timor is a must, as we can't let our people in East Timor
fall into uncertainty under UNTAET's authority," the chief of the
prointegration group Forbalott, Arnaldo Basmeri dos Reis Araujo,
said, referring to the United Nations Transitional Administration
in East Timor.
Meanwhile, Mariano expressed his belief that most East Timorese
refugees would prefer to be registered as Indonesian citizens
than living in East Timor in an uncertain economic and political
situation.
East Timor
Aceh/West Papua
Elite power struggle
Regional/communal conflicts
Human rights/law
News & issues
Environment/health
Arms/armed forces
International relations
Economy & investment
Democratic struggle
Activists call for an act of civil disobedience
East Timor
Timorese youths call for integration
PST does not want Constituent Assembly to be like NC
Timor Post - July 19, 2001
Avelinho Coelho, the secretary-general of the Timor Socialist Party (PST) said the Constituent Assembly to be formed after the 30 August election must not be structured like the now-dissolved National Council.
He said under the NC, it was UNTAET which was actually holding power rather than the people. "The regulations that were passed in the NC reflected the needs of the administration and not that of the people. These regulations did not take into account actual realities," said Avelino.
Avelino, a former NC member, said he did not want to be nominated as a candidate for the Constituent Assembly because he was wary it might be like the National Council. "I do not want to be in a so-called legislative body where I will be used as a rubber-stamp and cannot perform my duties as a people's representative," he added.
Though Avelino said he was not a candidate, he, however, would support other PST candidates to the Constituent Assembly. He said PST would begin organizing labourers and farmers because they were the most downtrodden in the country.
Lusa - July 18, 2001
Three days after the start of the official campaign period for August 30 elections, the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) became the first party to publish an advertisement in the East Timorese press.
"Of the people, with the people and for the people" is the slogan featured in the full-page ad dominated by the UDT party symbol and carried in the Wednesday edition of the Timor Post. The text in the territory's lingua franca, Tetun, does not appeal for votes but rather to "God, to give clarity to all the parties" so that they conduct "a good electoral campaign, freely and in peace".
A Timor Post employee told Lusa that a full-page ad in the paper costs USD 500. Voters in East Timor will on August 30 elect members of an 88- member assembly whose main duty will be to draw up the future national constitution. Sixteen political parties are contesting the ballot.
[An identical advertisement also appeared in the Suara Timor Lorosa on July 19 - James Balowski.]
Australian Associated Press - July 17, 2001
Karen Polglaze, Canberra -- A new book on Australia's foreign policy approach to East Timor from 1998 to 2000 is highly selective and partisan, opposition foreign affairs spokesman Laurie Brereton said today.
The book, published today, is entitled East Timor in Transition 1998 to 2000: An Australian Policy Challenge. It was written by officers of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and launched today by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
Mr Brereton said in a statement that the book was selective and showed Mr Downer's flawed diplomacy. "This publication was initiated at the suggestion of Foreign Minister Downer and has been produced by DFAT officers directly involved in the government's East Timor diplomacy," he said. "It cannot be regarded as objective or balanced. Taxpayer funds should not have been spent on this political exercise."
Mr Downer said the book was written because of the high public interest in East Timor and events before and after the August 1999 independence ballot.
"This is a unique undertaking," Mr Downer said at the launch. "But East Timor has been such a vast public interest issue in Australia and of such compelling national importance and for a long time, that I wanted to provide the Australian public with insights into the historical, political and diplomatic context in which events played out and to the greatest degree possible, access to the deliberations and the actions of their government."
The book draws on public and departmental sources to explain how Australian officials saw the events from the fall of former Indonesian president Suharto in May, 1998, until after the arrival of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET).
It covers controversial issues, such as when Australia knew about the connection between the Indonesian military and the militia groups they formed, funded and ran, and how much pressure it put on Indonesia to stop the violence that may have compromised the August 30 ballot.
Sydney Morning Herald - July 18, 2001
Craig Skehan -- An official history of Australia's role in East Timor's transition to independence reveals that the Federal Government knew more than it was willing to admit at the time about orchestrated Indonesian military violence.
However, the official account maintains that Australia had not been in possession of hard evidence that the conspiracy was directed by the military's top brass in Jakarta.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday that "outrageous" allegations had been made about Australia's role in the self-determination process. This had included claims that Australia failed to disclose Indonesian military plans for post- referendum massacres because of fears it would offend the Indonesian Government. Mr Downer said the aim of East Timor in Transition 1998-2000, an Australian Policy Challenge, was to set the record straight.
However, the Opposition's foreign affairs spokesman, Laurie Brereton, said taxpayers' funds had been spent on a "highly selective and partisan account" intended to repair damage to Mr Downer's credibility. He said Mr Downer could not escape from the fact that Australia argued against pressing Jakarta to accept an international peacekeeping force for the August 30, 1999, vote.
The new account confirms that, in the weeks leading up to the ballot, Australia did not believe that a peacekeeping force was achievable. However, it states that the Prime Minister, Mr Howard, during an April meeting in Bali, personally pressed Indonesia's President Habibie to accept a peacekeeping force.
Indonesia had strongly rejected the proposal and the Australian Government concluded that pursuing it further would have risked Indonesia cancelling the whole self-determination process.
The Australian Government's account, written by Foreign Affairs Department officials, stressed that Australia had suggested to Indonesia a period of at least several years' autonomy before a vote on independence. President Habibie nonetheless opted for a quick ballot.
The military's "credibility" had earlier been eroded with its announcement in December 1998 that it would arm civilian volunteers. "Over the first months of 1999, a pattern emerged of militia violence and intimidation against independence supporters with extensive TNI collusion," the book, based on both public sources and diplomatic cables, states.
"This phenomenon was to generate intense international alarm -- not only over the plight of East Timorese who fell victim to the terror campaign, but over how to ensure that these new militia groups, abetted by the military, did not derail the historic opportunity for a lasting resolution to the East Timor issue."
The book said TNI's real attitude towards East Timor in the period leading up to the ballot was "difficult to gauge" because of mixed messages and conflicting information.
"Progressively, throughout the first months of 1999, however, TNI's actions in East Timor revealed a commitment to retention of East Timor as part of the Republic," the book says.
"By March, Australia started seeing the evidence of a dual policy at work: a declaratory policy of neutrality consistent with Habibie's commitment to a free ballot, and a covert policy that sought to ensure an outcome in favour of autonomy.
"There was a belief that intimidation could be an effective means by which to influence the way in which the East Timorese would vote and, by the middle of the year, it was evident that TNI was encouraging and supporting militia groups in pursuit of this goal."
At the time, Mr Downer referred publicly to what he dubbed "rogue elements" of the Indonesian military being actively involved in militia violence. But the new account states: "The reality was that the militia were established with the support and encouragement of TNI, with the clear objective of undermining the independence cause."
Of the militia groups, it is said; "Many were attracted to the violence, others were press-ganged, still others did it for money or other inducements, including drugs and alcohol."
Underscoring Australia's official knowledge of strong links between the military and militias, the book says it was clear that militia excesses were conducted with "impunity and the acquiescence" of the Indonesian military although it was "not possible to determine the extent to which TNI's actions on the ground were sanctioned by, or ordered, from Jakarta".
But Mr Downer said at a press conference yesterday that statements being made at the time by military head General Wiranto on attempts to stem militia attacks at the very least had the hallmarks of a "PR exercise".
The Australian - July 18, 2001
A Defensive Alexander Downer undoubtedly has his eyes on the history books with the publication of the Government's apologia for its handling of the East Timor crisis. But East Timor in Transition 1998-2000, the official Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade account of the tumultuous period and Australia's role in mediating the crisis, deserves more than cursory dismissal. This is not merely a political tract designed to justify the minister and the department's conduct in the face of criticism they did not do enough to prevent devastation and violence -- or that we did too much.
The book, prepared by former members of DFAT's East Timor desk, offers some answers to three key questions about Australia's conduct: did John Howard's infamous December 1998 letter to then Indonesian president B.J. Habibie urging a process of self- determination force an independence vote too early; how much did Australia know of the links between the Indonesian military and the East Timorese militia; and could Australia have forced a peacekeeping mission before violence ensued?
The book argues persuasively that the Prime Minister and Mr Downer could not have foreseen Dr Habibie's rapid move towards a ballot on independence. The Australian Government took a decision to make a substantial shift in East Timor policy, and urge an act of self-determination at some time in the future. It did not advise Dr Habibie, who cited Mr Howard's letter as a motivating factor, to radically narrow the timeframe. This was, as the book correctly notes, at odds with both Mr Howard's views and those of East Timorese leaders. And there was little Australia and other critics could do.
A more contentious issue is the extent to which Australia was aware of the Indonesian military's backing of the militia build- up in East Timor. The book reveals that contrary to some public statements at the time, Mr Downer and other officials did have detailed knowledge of the links from early 1999. But, the book argues, it was impossible to determine the extent and nature of the military's collusion with the militia, or the extent to which their actions were sanctioned, or ordered by Jakarta.
Mr Downer and others deserve to be questioned for downplaying the problems publicly, and perhaps even dissembling, while being aware of them privately. Yet at the diplomatic and military level and in Dili, as the book shows, Australia was working furiously to persuade Indonesia to rein in the military, despite their frequent denials of collusion. There is some merit to Mr Downer's argument that revealing more publicly would have jeopardised communications with the Indonesians and not necessarily have helped prevent violence. Mr Downer could, however, have handled the public presentation better. World opinion was hardening against Jakarta and Australia could have been more forthright in attacking the military's backing of violence.
The book offers a similar defence of the Government's position on peacekeepers. Faced with Indonesia's refusal to accept foreign forces, and in the absence of UN support, there was indeed little the Howard Government could practically do to force Jakarta's hand.
The 314-page book reveals, above all, that Mr Downer and his bureaucrats remain highly sensitive about the assessment of the impact of the East Timor crisis on longer-term relations between Australia and Indonesia.
With Abdurrahman Wahid's recent visit there has been a marked thaw. But only history will tell if Alexander Downer will be remembered as the foreign minister who resolved Australia's intractable East Timor problem.
The Australian - July 18, 2001
Don Greenlees, Jakarta -- Seated in a conference room of the Sheraton Nusa Dua Hotel in Bali, an agitated Indonesian president B.J. Habibie thumped his fist on the table. "We will not have any foreign troops. You have got to understand that. I can't allow foreign troops into Indonesia," he said.
In front of him was John Howard, who had just repeated a request to allow foreign peacekeepers to go to East Timor, exasperating Habibie. The date was April 27, 1999. It was 10 days after pro- Indonesia militia had rampaged through Dili, killing independence supporters, and 20 days after they killed up to 60 people in a Catholic church.
Efforts to convince Habibie and other powers in Indonesia, especially the armed forces, of the need for peacekeepers failed and the East Timorese who voted for independence later paid the price.
The issue of whether the international community pressed Indonesia hard enough to allow foreign troops to protect the 1999 referendum in East Timor continues to vex the debate about the territory's passage to independence.
If Indonesia had been forced to accept foreign peacekeepers, the argument goes, then the destruction and violence that followed the vote in favour of independence could have been averted.
Various leaked Australian government assessments have reinforced the view that our politicians knew a lot more about linkages between the Indonesian army and the militia than they let on in public. But fears about jeopardising relations with Jakarta prompted them not to divulge the information or press too hard for foreign intervention.
These accusations have clearly wounded the Government, in particular those ministers with direct oversight of Australian policy. Faced with the possibility of a return to Opposition, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer sought to ensure his place in history by ordering his department to carry out the unusual exercise of preparing a book on the East Timor saga.
East Timor in Transition 1998-2000: An Australian Policy Challenge was launched in Canberra yesterday. In commissioning the book, Downer ensured the authors, officials in the department, had extensive access to relevant cables and other assessments.
The risk for a foreign minister in ordering such a book is that a positive account is treated as self-justification or a cover-up and a negative account makes him look bad or irritates foreign governments. Either way, he stands to lose. The essence of this book is its explanation of contentious aspects of Australia's role. Two stand out: lobbying for a peacekeeping force to go in before the referendum and the December 1998 letter from the Prime Minister to Habibie urging him to agree to self-determination, but only after an interregnum of some years.
On the first issue, the book makes a detailed case that Australia and other players, Portugal and the UN included, on numerous occasions pressed hard for peacekeepers but met stubborn resistance from Indonesia.
This claim is borne out by the record. The above-mentioned incident in Bali involving Howard and Habibie, although not described so colourfully in the book, is one case in point. Australia's ambassador in Jakarta, John McCarthy, had asked Habibie the same question as early as the previous December and been told bluntly: "I can't do that."
Explaining Habibie's reluctance, his foreign policy adviser Dewi Fortuna Anwar says Habibie would have been "crucified" if he had agreed. "What he was doing was just making clear to Howard where he stood and the limits of where he could go," she says in an interview for a forthcoming book co-written by The Australian's Robert Garran and me.
Indonesia would almost certainly have cancelled the referendum rather than accede to pressure for foreign troops. And despite the high price paid, independence leaders have made it clear they would rather the flawed referendum they had than no referendum at all.
On the issue of the Howard letter, the Government's self- justification has led to a more selective review of history. The book asserts the Howard letter was aimed at breaking a logjam in negotiations between Indonesia and Portugal over an autonomy package. In fact, it did more than this. It inadvertently contributed to Habibie's reckless decision to have an immediate referendum without consulting key Indonesian or international parties.
But Portuguese, UN and Indonesian ministers and officials who participated in the so-called tripartite talks are unanimous there were good prospects of a deal on the content of the autonomy package when the Howard letter went to Habibie.
At best, this would have made the Howard letter premature. If there was a logjam to break up, it was over the issue of whether autonomy was an interim or permanent solution to the issue of sovereignty.
That matter was only going to arise once the autonomy package had been finalised. Habibie, his ministers and officials were already contemplating how to tackle that issue. There are signs they would have given ground when the time came, regardless of the Howard letter.
Perhaps a bigger motivation for Downer in proposing the letter to the Prime Minister was anxiety about keeping apace with changes to Labor Party policy and ensuring Australia was not left on the sidelines internationally.
Sydney Morning Herald - July 19, 2001
Mark Dodd, Viqueque -- East Timorese voters have sent their political leaders a strong message to end violence and work towards improving living standards and social services.
The message was conveyed on Tuesday when the UN transitional administrator in East Timor, Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, accompanied by 12 party leaders, visited the troubled districts of Viqueque and Los Palos.
At gatherings in the two towns, Mr Vieira de Mello and the politicians came under intense questioning by residents seeking guarantees there would be no violence in the run-up to the August 30 election for a constituent assembly.
"It's a warning also and I think a very healthy warning from the voters to political parties, in the sense they will not tolerate any forms of violence, any deviation from the pact of national unity," Mr Vieira de Mello said.
People in these two impoverished eastern districts welcomed a pact of national unity committing political parties to non- violence during the election campaign but expressed strong doubts about the sincerity of the pledge.
Speaking before a wary crowd of 500 in Viqueque, Mr Vieira de Mello sought to explain the importance of the elections. "The 88 members [of the constituent assembly] will write the constitution for East Timor. Without a constitution you are not a state, you are not a country and you are not independent," he said.
Viqueque, once a flourishing agricultural town on the south-east coast, was badly affected by militia violence in 1999 while gang violence last March left two people killed and dozens of homes destroyed. "I appreciate the civic education and I will make a decision who to vote for. The Pact of National Unity was important. Now you [MPs] can all go," said one local, attracting loud laughter.
Mr Vieira de Mello and the MPs were questioned on policies for roads, schools, hospitals, and employment opportunities. How transparent are recruitment procedures for senior public servants? Why the sudden switch to US dollars?
People "are very angry and worried about these issues and they want their politicians to be sincere", said Mr Domingos de Oliveira, general secretary of the Timorese Democratic Union, one of the politicians on the trip. "They also want all MPs to go into the small villages and explain their policies on education, health and community development."
Mr Eric Hubbard, a UN civic education official based in Viqueque, said fear and anxiety was widespread. But dissatisfaction about poor living standards was also turning into anger, fertile ground for rabble rousers. "One zone chief told me: 'We have to drink contaminated water and you [UN official] drink bottled water. We have to walk everywhere but you can drive a car'," he said.
Lusa - July 18, 2001
East Timorese electoral officials Wednesday acknowledged "systematic failures" in the preparation of voters' lists for the August 30 constituent assembly balloting and appealed to the population to carefully check posted preliminary lists.
Reports from across the UN-administered territory said that thousands of people had flocked to electoral centers across the half- island to check the lists since they were made public Monday. In a statement, the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) in Dili said it was "paying maximum attention" in preparation of the final voters' lists and was asking registrars to provide or correct "missing and faulty data".
"The CEI takes particular notice that, due to systematic failures in the transfer of data from local civil registries to the central registration unit, there may have been people who received a registration card but whose data may not appear on lists sent to the CEI", the statement said. The commission added that it had detected 6,500 names improperly omitted before publication of the preliminary lists. Officials have estimated that corrected, final lists will have about 380,000 voters.
Electoral official Carlos Valenzuela stressed to reporters "the importance of the largest number of people possible verifying" the lists because "it is the last opportunity to correct any errors" before the August 30 vote.
Lusa - July 18, 2001
A team dispatched to verify rumors of planned election violence in East Timor reported Wednesday they had found the territory's "most vulnerable" areas "calm and serene".
"There is nothing anywhere. It's all an anecdote", a team member told Lusa in Dili. "None of the sources we contacted were able to substantiate any of the rumors". The team, a mix of UN and Timorese security officials, dispatched last week by UN chief administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello, has yet to issue its formal report.
Lusa's source insisted on the importance of "dedramatizing" the rumors of potential violence during the countdown to the August 30 constituent assembly vote, but added that the report would recommend continued "vigilance". "The perception the team gained" from investigations in Baucau, Viqueque, Aileu, Same and Dili, he stressed, was that "the elections will take place peacefully".
Among the rumors which led Vieira de Mello to order the inquiry was a letter he received from a fringe radical group urging Dili's 140,000 residents to flee the city because of an alleged election "bloodbath" between the 16 competing political parties.
Lusa - July 17, 2001
East Timor's Independent Electoral Commission has rejected more than 70 potential candidates for the August 30 constituent assembly elections. The final lists of party-backed and independent candidates obtained Tuesday by Lusa indicate that the Commission rejected 27 national and 46 district-level candidates. Additionally, independent candidate Augusto Mendonga was rejected because his name was also included on the election list of a political party.
Contrary to the list released last week, only 968 candidates will contest the national seats, five of whom are independents, while 96 will run for the district seats, 11 of them independents. East Timorese voters will on August 30 elect the 88 members of a constituent assembly whose main duty will be to draw up the future national constitution. Seventy-five of the seats will be awarded based on proportional results of nationwide voting for party lists or individual candidates, while one candidate from each of East Timor's 13 districts will be elected for the remaining seats.
Campaigning began last Sunday, with sixteen parties eligible to present candidates for the ballot.
The Commission's ruling means that no party was able to ensure that all its candidates were accepted, nor was any party able to present candidates in all 13 district-level contests.
Commission spokesman Jorge Gusman told Lusa Tuesday that the candidate rejections were mainly due to a failure to submit documents on time. "In some cases they presented themselves as candidates for a district other than the one where they said they lived", Gusman said, adding that some of the other cases involved minors or candidates who did not register during the voter registration process that ended on June 23.
At the national level, only the PPT, Fretilin, PST, Kota, PTT, PL and Apodeti were able to ensure the eligibility of all candidates on their respective lists, while at the district level, only the PDM and PTT saw none of their candidates rejected.
UN News - July 16, 2001
East Timor's transitional administration saw a flurry of moves today and over the weekend as political activity began to heat up in the half-island territory ahead of the United Nations- sponsored elections next month.
Cabinet Member for Infrastructure Joco Carrascalco on Monday became the third high-ranking official to resign his position to run in the 30 August elections for an East Timor Constituent Assembly. Last week, Cabinet Member for Internal Administration Ana Pessoa and Cabinet Member for Economic Affairs Mari Alkatiri also gave up their posts to stand for election.
The moves are part of a long-agreed process of political transition and are intended to promote the fairness of the electoral process by ensuring that Cabinet Members do not gain any advantage during the campaign.
The Cabinet portfolio for Political Affairs was also dissolved today with the departure from the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) of the Cabinet Member for Political Affairs and Timor Sea, Peter Galbraith. The ministerial portfolio is being transformed into a Political Office; an office to support the Constituent Assembly; and a Timor Sea Office.
A new Transitional Cabinet composed entirely of East Timorese will be appointed after the Constituent Assembly elections and will be expanded to more closely reflect the structure of an independent government.
Meanwhile on Saturday, East Timor's National Council was formally dissolved but not before it referred eight draft regulations to the head of UNTAET, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who must now determine whether to promulgate these regulations before the new Constituent Assembly is formed by 15 September.
Late Friday, Mr. Vieira de Mello had promulgated a regulation establishing a Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation, that will look into the pattern of human rights violations in East Timor committed between 1974 to 1999 within the context of the political conflicts. The Commission, which was approved by the Council will also create a community reconciliation body to facilitate agreements between local communities and the perpetrators of non-serious crimes and non- criminal acts committed over the same period.
The Commission, initially set up for two years with a possible six-month extension, is expected to begin work this autumn.
The Australian - July 16, 2001
Tony Kevin -- Tomorrow, Alexander Downer launches a book on Australia's role in East Timor between 1998 and 2000. One wonders why he should wish to reopen this Pandora's box. Others have recently addressed the issue: writers John Birmingham and John Martinkus, and SBS television's Dateline on May 9.
The Dateline program contained harrowing statements from survivors of a post-vote massacre in Maliana; from Australians who served in East Timor, Captain Andrew Plunkett and former policeman Wayne Sievers; and analysis by Des Ball of how Australian intelligence information was spin-doctored and suppressed by Canberra before the vote.
The program challenges Downer's claim that "we behaved most honourably throughout 1999 at the end of the day, we handled it just right and the proof of that is in the result".
The report of the Senate foreign affairs committee inquiry into East Timor (December 2000) is also relevant: see chapter seven, paragraphs 83 to 142 (Australian policy) and chapter five, paragraphs 42 to 52 (human rights). This authoritative bipartisan account reviews concerns about Australia's role submitted by independent witnesses.
There remains a strong case to answer. The passage of time does not lessen its importance. Did Australia fail in its duty of care to Timorese people in its policies in months before the vote? Had Australian policy-makers decided during 1999 on a high-risk strategy through which a pro-independence vote could be secured, which General Wiranto's group would have to accept or resort to atrocities on such a scale that a reluctant Washington would be forced to back UN military intervention?
Downer has dismissed such questions as "extraordinary" and "fantastic". Indeed, we find it hard to conceive our policy- makers might be so Machiavellian. Yet the public record, witness accounts and leaks admit only one conclusion: in their complex games of deception and counter-deception with the power-holders in Indonesia in 1999 -- Wiranto and foreign minister Ali Alatas -- Downer and his advisers were either fools or knaves.
Wiranto and Alatas thought they could exploit president B.J. Habibie's January offer of a UN-supervised independence vote to cement, through terror, Indonesia's control of East Timor and have this result internationally validated. Hence the manifest intimidation of February-April, peaking in the Liquica and Dili massacres.
Downer's aim was to maintain momentum, while quietly building world concern about Timor. He had to avoid frightening the horses. Hence his systematic downplaying of massacres as the work of "rogue elements" and his affirmations that the military (TNI) would manage the vote well. Too much noise about human rights violations would have frightened the TNI (and their partners in Washington) into halting a self-determination process that risked destabilising more important US security objectives in Indonesia. Downer wanted to lull Wiranto and Alatas into believing that a naive Australia would shepherd them through a vote they felt sure of winning.
So Australian observers were told to think positive and tone down negative reports in the interests of the big picture. Our electronic intelligence -- which confirmed TNI's scorched-earth plans -- was spin-doctored, sanitised and even withheld from US and UN interlocutors. Australia relied on its recognised East Timor expertise to hose down international anxiety.
After the May agreement committed Indonesia and Portugal to a UN-observed vote in August 1999 with early admission of UN monitors, Australia sharpened its dialogue with Jakarta. The trap began to close on Wiranto and Alatas, as it became more likely that despite TNI's intimidation there would be a strong pro- independence vote -- watched by the world. When East Timor went up in flames after the vote, this forced Bill Clinton's hand at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum meeting in Auckland. The rest is history.
But Australia's role through 1999 is profoundly disturbing. To what extent did we wrong-foot Wiranto's group into launching stupid and murderous actions that would ravage East Timor and shame Indonesia? Did we understand beforehand that the price of East Timorese independence could be widespread bloodshed or did we really believe that we could wing it, with minimal collateral death? Did we deceive ourselves or did we recognise that our real policy was that the end justified the means: that this window of opportunity had to be grasped, whatever the risks we took with East Timorese lives?
The remarkable prevarications to date by Downer and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's main Senate witness, John Dauth, offer no answers to such questions. Answers may not be found in this new book either. Downer may continue to hide behind the empty formalism that Australia was not a party principal to the May agreement and thus is not responsible for subsequent events.
His latest spin on the question of "rogue elements" (on Dateline), that "there were always rogue elements in TNI, in the sense it was not the policy of president Habibie to see the ballot disrupted and violence perpetrated", simply begs the whole question: What game did we think we were playing with Indonesia? One awaits honest answers, but with little hope of getting them.
[Tony Kevin is a visiting fellow at the school of Pacific and Asian studies, Australian National University.]
Reuters - July 16, 2001
Dili -- East Timor's defacto parliament, the National Council, was dissolved on Saturday, one day before the start of political campaigning for a new 88-seat Constituent Assembly, taking the territory closer to full independence.
The United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET) created the 36-seat council in October last year following requests by the territory's independence leaders for a greater say in the running of their affairs.
On August 30, East Timorese will select a Constituent Assembly charged with drafting a constitution for the impoverished nation-in-waiting. Some 16 political parties have registered to take part in the election.
"The National Council, in spite of having been created as an interim body, played an important role in decision making for the East Timorese people," council Speaker Manuel Carrascalao said. Carrascalao criticised the UN for not having moved sooner to establish an interim parliament in East Timor, which has been under UN administration since voting in August 1999 to end 23 years of Indonesian rule.
The UN has said it expected the tiny half-island to gain full independence within the first few months of 2002.
The head of UNTAET, Sergio Vieira de Mello, applauded the council's legislative record as being among the best of any parliament in the world. "In the past nine months [it] considered 28 pieces of legislation, twelve in the past four weeks. Surely this is a record for any parliament," he said.
Among the issues the National Council considered were the Timor Gap deal to split oil and gas revenues from the Timor Sea with Australia and legislation on the nascent East Timor Defence Force. De Mello said although an appointed body, the National Council had been broadly representative of East Timorese society.
South China Morning Post - July 16, 2001
Vaudine England, Jakarta -- Campaigning began yesterday for East Timor's first election, but confusion reigns in the minds of voters about what they are voting for and whether it bears any relation to what they want.
Fears are high that campaigning could bring violence back to centre stage, but analysts are divided on whether such fears are justified. "The biggest dangers for the election are ignorance, disinformation and the resulting confusion," said Sergio Vieira de Mello, chief of the United Nations Transitional Administration for East Timor (Untaet). Another danger is "manipulation of the population by a minority that wants to upset democracy in East Timor, that does not want an independent East Timor".
On August 30, almost 400,000 eligible East Timorese will choose between 16 registered political parties to form an 88-member assembly. That constituent assembly is charged with devising a constitution for the future independent state of East Timor within 90 days. It would then become the first parliament of the independent state of East Timor.
But there is much confusion along the way. Some local leaders say a second parliamentary election is needed after the constitution is confirmed. Others see the coming election as one for the new parliament, and still others look on it as the election of a transitional body to draft a constitution.
Little wonder then that surveys by groups such as the Asia Foundation suggest the system is not as simple to those involved. Only five per cent of the population understood that the August election is for a constitutional assembly. Two-thirds thought they would be voting for president. Many have questioned why they have to vote again, saying they made their choice about the future almost two years ago when East Timorese chose independence from Indonesia.
The answer from Untaet is that a state can only legitimately be formed through the democratic choice of constitution and leadership. But the problem with elections, say some East Timorese when quizzed by outsiders, is that they raise the risk of division when what really is needed is a national consensus.
Perhaps that consensus desire will find greatest expression in votes for the party formed by the pro-independence guerillas of times past, Fretilin. That group also boasts internal divisions but is said by analysts to carry the only chance of a decisive win by any party.
Democratic experience is thin on the ground in East Timor. Centuries of colonial rule by Portugal and 25 years of Indonesian occupation left only a few messy months of political feuding in 1975 after Portugal withdrew and before Indonesia invaded.
Many East Timorese have known only violence as a route to resolving disputes. Recent months have seen intimidation of political rivals, the burning of properties and other threats to the peace. Both the newly formed East Timor defence force (made up of former guerillas) and the Untaet peacekeepers are on alert for any increased violence.
Last week, 14 of the 16 parties signed a pact of national unity to maintain peace in the days that lie ahead.
Sydney Morning Herald - July 16, 2001
Mark Dodd, Dili -- Campaigning for East Timor's first democratic elections began at the weekend, but hopes for a smooth start were marred by a strike and the seizure of a consignment of military uniforms sent from Indonesia. Two-hundred camouflage tunics for the ASDT party were confiscated from a Merpati airlines flight that arrived from Indonesia earlier in the week, according to a senior United Nations official in Dili.
The seizure comes amid reports that some political activists are engaged in quasi-military training, such as marching, according to UN security sources. The ASDT, the Timorese Association of Social Democrats, which was launched this year, is a left-leaning 1974-era political party that is a breakaway faction of Fretilin.
An East Timor independence leader, Mr Jose Ramos Horta, said the seizure of military clothing was a breach of the Pact of National Unity signed by 14 of the 16 political parties competing in the ballot. "The national pact says no assistance from any foreign country, so this is a bad sign. This is a serious development which Mr [Francisco] Xavier do Amaral [the ASDT leader] will have to explain to the people of this country."
And throwing into chaos plans to broadcast the opening of political campaigning, East Timorese employees at the UN's Radio UNTAET and TV Timor Lorosa'e went on strike on Friday for longer contracts and better pay.
Meanwhile, several prominent political parties hit the election trail yesterday. In the shell of a primary school torched by anti-independence militias in 1999, East Timor's oldest political party, the Timorese Democratic Union, launched its campaign. Its leader, the veteran politician Mr Joao Carrascalao, told a crowd of about 50 that providing social justice for East Timorese would be a major campaign pledge. His party expected strong support from rural constituents, he said.
One election favourite, Fretilin, opened its campaign yesterday at a rally attended by about 3,000, and another, the ASDT, was due to launch its campaign in the mountain town of Aileu, 50 kilometres south of Dili.
The August 30 elections, to be held on the second anniversary of the referendum to end 24 years of Indonesian rule, will vote for a 88-seat constituent assembly. The assembly must adopt a constitution within 90 days of its first meeting.
In other milestones on the road to independence, East Timor's de facto parliament, the National Council, was dissolved on Saturday after debating 28 pieces of legislation in the past nine months. Australia's Opposition spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr Laurie Brereton, who was sitting in as an observer, said: "The mark of its success is the manner in which it was wound up today in order that East Timor can move to the next phase. The optimism I have found here for the campaign augurs well for a democratic future."
The head of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor, Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, said the work of the council would have a long-lasting impact on the democratic development of the world's newest country. "It was here that regulations on the budget for this fiscal year, the East Timor defence force, the East Timor police service, a prison service and a legal aid service were all considered in great deal, amended and then approved by you," he said.
On Saturday representatives of East Timor's political parties joined in an all-party soccer team against a joint UN-Timorese team. Cheered on by a crowd of 5,000, the independence leader Mr Xanana Gusmao played goalkeeper in the nil-all game.
| Aceh/West Papua |
Associated Press - July 20, 2001
Jakarta -- In an effort to end a long-running separatist war, Indonesia's Parliament yesterday passed a Bill granting Aceh province sweeping autonomy. The legislation, which will not come into effect until 2002, is not expected to have any immediate effect on the conflict which has claimed over 900 lives this year. Under the Bill, the predominantly Muslim region will have the right to impose Islamic Shariah law and establish a Muslim court system.
Meanwhile, the military yesterday claimed its troops had shot dead the "defence minister" of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Mr Daud Paneuk, during an exchange of fire with the rebels. The GAM has denied the military's claim.
American oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp announced yesterday that it had resumed limited operations in Aceh after a four-month suspension due to the unrest.
Agence France Presse - July 18, 2001
Banda Aceh -- Indonesian troops shot dead three more separatist rebels in Aceh as representatives from both sides entered a third-day of talks here, the military said Wednesday.
The violence occurred as delegates from the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were meeting in Banda Aceh, capital of the resource-rich province. The closed-door meeting was held in a hotel and attended by six GAM members and four government representatives, a source close to the talks told AFP here.
All 10 were members of joint committees which Jakarta unilaterally disbanded or froze last month. Also present at the meeting were three members of a security monitoring committee and three representatives of the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Centre, which has facilitated peace talks between the two sides since last year.
"Issues that are being discussed also mention about the safety of the former members of the Joint Committee on Security Modalities after that committee was frozen by the government," the source said on condition of anonymity.
Among the latest casualties in the conflict was Yusuf Kontrek, a deputy GAM commander in Tamiang area in East Aceh, military operational spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Firdaus told AFP. Kontrek was shot dead during a raid at his house in Manyak Payed subdistrict on Tuesday, Firdaus said.
He said another GAM leader in East Aceh, Wandi bin Jamin, was gunned down by military troops on Tuesday after he had come out of his camp in Pante Rambong village in Lhoknibong area.
Meanwhile the GAM spokesman in Peureulak area, Ishak Daud, claimed Wednesday that the rebel group had shot dead six soldiers in an armed skirmish in Idi Rayeuk area of East Aceh on Tuesday. But Firdaus denied the claim, saying: "should there have been even one victim, I would have announced it."
The third GAM member, 25-year-old Ahmal Zuri, was shot dead in Blang Bintang area of Aceh Besar district on Tuesday after he tried to drive his car into several soldiers who were crossing a street in the area, said military spokesman Major Edi Sulistiadie. Zuri's death was confirmed by the local GAM spokesman, Ayah Sofyan.
GAM has been fighting for an independent Islamic state in the oil and gas-rich province since the mid-1970s. In April, after the failure of efforts to negotiate a settlement based on giving the province greater autonomy, Jakarta deployed troop reinforcements and launched an operation to rid the province of the rebels. More than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the province since the start of the year.
Agence France Presse - July 16, 2001
Banda Aceh -- Violence pitting Indonesian government forces against separatist rebles in the restive province of Aceh has claimed another four lives, police and the military said Monday.
The body of a 49-year-old man whose policeman son was killed Saturday was found by residents in Lampuuk resort area in Aceh Besar district early Monday morning bearing heavy torture marks, said police spokesman Sudarsono.
Amiruddin was believed to have been abducted from his house by suspected Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels on Sunday night, Sudarsono told AFP.
A police sergeant major was shot dead by two people on a passing motorcycle in Keude Geudong, just east of the North Aceh district town of Lhokseumawe on Sunday afternoon, the district police chief, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Wanto Sumardi said. Sumardi said that the attackers also fled with the victim's handgun.
The local spokesman of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Teungku Jamaica confirmed that his men had attacked the victim.
An army foot soldier was shot dead and three others were injured during an ambush by armed separatist rebels in the subdistrict of Idi Rayeuk in East Aceh on Sunday, Aceh military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Firdaus said. About 40 rebels ambushed some 20 soldiers which were returning to their barracks.
News of the ambush prompted the military authorities to alert other troops in the area, which then conducted a sweep to hunt down the attackers. A rebel was shot dead in a clash that broke up after the group of assailants met with troops pursuing them in Seunobok, a village near Panton Rayeuk, Firdaus told AFP.
Meanwhile a press release issued by the head of the Aceh military operation information office, Major Edi Sulistiadie, said that troops on Sunday raided a suspected base of the GAM in Kuta Baro subdistrict some nine kilometres east of the Aceh capital of Banda Aceh but found the base empty.
But troops found 12 home-made bombs, a home-made grenade launcher and a number of ammunition. The local GAM spokesman, Ayah Sofyan, denied that the rebels had left the bombs behind.
GAM has been fighting for an independent Islamic state in the oil- and gas-rich province since the mid-1970s. In April, after the failure of efforts to negotiate a settlement based on giving the province greater autonomy, Jakarta deployed troop reinforcements and launched an operation to rid the province of the rebels. More than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the province since the start of the year.
Green Left Weekly - July 18, 2001
Jon Land -- Three activists from the Acehnese Democratic Peoples Resistance Front were detained by police in Banda Aceh on July 11 during a protest against the United States-based company ExxonMobil.
The three activists -- Kautsar, chairperson of the FPDRA central committee, Mukhlis, a member of Student Solidarity for the People (SMUR) and Maimun Saleh, editor of Beudoh, the newspaper of the FPDRA -- were detained by police while on their way to join the 200-strong demonstration.
The protest was part of an international day of action highlighting ExxonMobil's complicity in human rights abuses in Aceh and its opposition to the Kyoto treaty on climate change.
The police had set up roadblocks around Banda Aceh, stopping and searching vehicles heading for the city centre. According to a report in Beudoh, police detained the activists after discovering in their possession copies of a FPDRA statement calling for the closure of the ExxonMobil operations in Aceh and a letter to ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond.
The statement, signed by the leaders of five student, trishaw driver and political organisations, including FPDRA and SIRA (Sentral Informasi Referendum Aceh), condemned presidential instruction No 4/2001 which authorises Indonesian military operations in Aceh to guarantee the security of gas exploration and production for Exxon Mobil and the Indonesian state oil company, Pertamina.
Following news of the arrests, the protest moved to the Banda Aceh central police station. Beudoh reported that: "The police attempted provocation by letting loose dogs and monkeys on the front ranks of the protesters. They also pointed their guns at the crowd. The chairperson of SMUR was also clubbed with a rifle while he was making a speech. The protesters however remained calm. They chanted `Free Kautsar and our two other comrades' and sang songs of struggle."
After a tense stand-off, the police eventually agreed to allow Kautsar to briefly speak to the protesters. He repeated the call for a tax boycott campaign against military operations in Aceh.
"I reaffirm that I will not retreat from these demands", he told those gathered outside the police station. "I take full responsibility for this protest and all the demands and calls for action on the leaflets we have distributed. We will continue to call on the people to boycott the paying of taxes, to reject the restarting of ExxonMobil operations until Aceh's conflict with Jakarta is resolved, and we will continue to demand the withdrawal of presidential instruction 4/2001."
Mukhlis and Maimun Saleh were later released. The police charged Kautsar with articles 145 and 160, which cover inciting hatred and hostility against the government.
"We are extremely concerned about the safety of Kautsar, who visited Australia earlier this year", Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor national secretary Pip Hinman told Green Left Weekly. The SIRA international affairs department released an urgent appeal on July 13 calling for protest messages in support of Kautsar to be sent to the chairperson of the district police.
The appeal also stated: "This is not a story alone of Indonesian police arresting somebody then charging them with the subversion articles. Muhammad Nazar, SIRA chairperson was sentenced for 10 months with the similar article [subversion] in November 2000"
| Elite power struggle |
Straits Times - July 20, 2001
Ian Timberlake, Jakarta -- President Abdurrahman Wahid's threat to declare a state of emergency tonight is a deliberate tactic to foster negotiations with his political opponents, according to observers. "It's psychological warfare," said Arbi Sanit, a political-science lecturer at the University of Indonesia.
For months now, Mr Abdurrahman has talked of proclaiming an emergency situation. He even set a previous deadline, June 8, which came and went unnoticed.
But what might appear to be indecisiveness on this and other issues is actually a conscious effort to keep his opponents off balance, Mr Sanit suggests. Less than two weeks from the August 1 special session which could force Mr Abdurrahman from office, his pressure tactics could be starting to work.
The leaders of two main opposition parties, Golkar and the United Development Party, have met the President for talks assisted by Cabinet secretary Marzuki Darusman, also a Golkar member. "That's a result of the pressure,"' Mr Sanit said. Both sides were waiting to see who would blink first, said the President's official biographer, Mr Greg Barton.
He said that Golkar, the party which had backed former strongman Suharto, was trying to rehabilitate its image and runs a risk if Mr Abdurrahman calls early elections under a state of emergency. Golkar is not yet ready to face the electorate, Mr Barton said, and the party could also look bad if it insisted on Mr Abdurrahman's removal at the special session. "If they go with the compromise, it lowers the risk," he said, adding that Cabinet seats for Golkar would be part of any deal.
Independent political risk consultant Arian Ardie agreed that Mr Abdurrahman was trying to force people's hands by setting a deadline. "Every time so far that Gus Dur has been up against the wall, he's been able to escape; by less and less a margin each time but so far he's still in office," he said.
Observers agree that the President knows it would be virtually impossible for him to execute a state of emergency because the army and police are opposed to the move. It also remains unclear as to how he could "freeze" the People's Consultative Assembly, which elected him. "What he really wants is to get some sort of a compromise," said Mr Abdurrahman's friend, Mr H.S. Dillon.
Agence France Presse - July 20, 2001
Jakarta -- General Wiranto, the former Indonesian military commander blamed for the violence surrounding East Timor's 1999 independence vote, emerged Friday as a possible vice-president if President Abdurrahman Wahid is forced to quit.
The Kompas daily said Wiranto, who retired from the military last year and has long harboured political ambitions, had been proposed for the post by a Muslim youth group, the Alliance of Muslim Youth for Moral Politics (AMPPI).
Wiranto, protege of former ruler Suharto, served in Wahid's cabinet as security minister up until February 2000 but was forced to step down after the national human rights commission said he was "morally responsible" for the violence in East Timor.
A UN probe also concluded that Wiranto should be held to account for the military's failure to reign in the militias that went on a violent rampage after East Timor voted for independence in August 1999. But the general was not included on a list of 19 people named as potential suspects in Indonesia's own official investigation into the violence.
Kompas said another retired general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, former justice minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra and former welfare minister Hamzah Haz were also possible candidates for the post.
The job will become vacant in the event of Wahid being impeached and replaced by the current vice-president, Megawati Sukarnoputri. Parliament is scheduled to decide Wahid's fate at a special sesssion on August 1. He stands accused of misrule and involvement in two financial scandals, charges he denies.
Yudhoyono, who served until recently as Wahid's senior security minister, is known as a military academic and commands wide respect among civilians.
Haz is the chairman of the Muslim-based United Development Party (PPP), while Mahendra also heads another Muslim-based party, the Crescent and Star (PBB) -- both known to have fanatical youth wings.
Both parties are members of the Central Axis, an alliance of Muslim parties, who in 1999 threw their vote behind Wahid to keep Megawati from the presidency because of her gender. Megawati is the chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party Struggle (PDIP), which leaders have been at the forefront of moves to impeach Wahid by leading three votes in parliament this year to censure him.
Another strong candidate, Kompas said, was the chairman of the lower house (DPR), Akbar Tanjung, who on Thursday received endorsement from 27 regional chapters of his powerful Golkar party.
Kompas quoted Tanjung as saying that he would rather remain as House Speaker and Golkar chairman, but that since Golkar was a political organization, he must also "heed the regions' aspirations." "I will of course listen to [aspirations] from the regions, but whether or not I will fulfill their request, it remains to be seen. It is not an easy decision," Tanjung said.
On Thursday, five West Nusa Tenggara-based legislators from the Regional Faction of the MPR also "individually" endorsed Haz and former Golkar MP, Siswono Yudo Husodo, as their candidates. Husodo, was housing minister under former dictator Suharto's administration in the mid 1980s.
All the potential candidates have shied away from public statements on the vice presidency, saying it would be "unethical" to comment before the job was definitely available.
Sydney Morning Herald - July 20, 2001
Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta -- They call him King Rat. Of many influential Indonesians plotting the downfall of President Abdurrahman Wahid, none is doing more to undermine his rule than Surojo Bimantoro, the national police chief.
His refusal to obey Mr Wahid's commands has exposed deep divisions in the 200,000-member national police force, and played into the hands of Mr Wahid's enemies, especially MPs backing Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri for the presidency.
But serious allegations have been raised about General Bimantoro as he vows to block Mr Wahid's latest threat to declare a state of emergency that would allow him to disband parliament before it can impeach him.
Since Mr Wahid first tried to sack him three weeks ago General Bimantoro has claimed he cannot step aside because parliament had this year passed a decree declaring that the President must first obtain its approval before sacking the national police chief.
But this contradicts General Bimantoro's stand when Mr Wahid appointed him last September.
"As an officer, I accept [the orders] of my superiors," he said. General Bimantoro chose then to ignore parliament's opposition to his appointment.
Like so many others baying for Mr Wahid's blood, the stiff-backed and moustached General Bimantoro rose to prominence during the 32-year-rule of the corrupt dictator Soeharto. Police in Indonesia are paid a pittance, and corruption among the ranks is endemic. When the Jakarta police chief retired last year he presented his former colleagues with 22 imported cars and 17 expensive motorcycles worth five times the force's annual operational costs.
Amid mounting chaos in the police ranks as General Bimantoro continued to defy Mr Wahid, a bundle of documents about the purchase of a fleet of police patrol boats was leaked to the magazine Tempo. The documents revealed that a $60 million contract to buy the boats went to a company managed by someone with close ties to General Bimantoro. The recommendations of a police team set up to assess which boats to buy from a shortlist of 10 companies were ignored.
General Bimantoro has not commented publicly on the deal. According to sources at the presidential palace, the mere mention of General Bimantoro's name infuriates Mr Wahid, whose chances of remaining in office after the impeachment hearings now appear remote. Mr Wahid has tried to prise General Bimantoro out of office by making him ambassador to Malaysia. But acknowledging his own limitations -- he does not speak English -- General Bimantoro refused the job and continued to refuse to hand in the police chief"s baton.
When the President's office indicated last week that Mr Wahid wanted General Bimantoro arrested for insubordination, two platoons of riot police, backed by police tanks, arrived at his home to protect him. Seeing the move would not work, Mr Wahid backed down.
One reason Mr Wahid cites for wanting to dismiss General Bimantoro is that police under his command fired live ammunition during a rally of his supporters in East Java two months ago, killing one of them. Police under General Bimantoro's command staged a huge show of force in Jakarta this week. They are threatening to shoot troublemakers on sight and have again issued their officers with live bullets.
Reuters - July 20, 2001
Jakarta -- In a new twist to Indonesia's political turmoil, the national assembly chairman Friday warned President Abdurrahman Wahid he would face a snap impeachment hearing if he swore in a new police chief. It was the latest manoeuvre in a game of brinkmanship, which has seen Wahid tussling with his arch political foes to gain the upper hand as they fire off threat upon counter threat.
Presidential spokesman Wimar Witoelar earlier Friday announced Wahid would swear in Commissioner General Chaeruddin Ismail, who was appointed in early June as police chief to replace General Suroyo Bimantoro. But the threat drew a sharp response from Amien Rais, chairman of the national assembly, or MPR.
"If President Abdurrahman Wahid swears in [a] new police chief later at 4pm, we will later tonight hold a plenary session for the convening of the special session tomorrow [Saturday]," said Amien Rais, Wahid has still not won parliamentary approval for the new appointment, and the outgoing police chief has refused to hand over his command saying his replacement is illegal without it.
Witoelar was unable to explain why Wahid, whom parliament is trying to impeach for alleged misrule and over two financial scandals, wanted the swearing-in to go ahead before getting approval. "With the swearing in, it gives us enough reason to bring forward the special session because the public is exhausted and they need an assurance," Rais, one of Wahid's arch political foes, told reporters after meeting MPR faction leaders here.
The national assembly is already angry at Wahid's repeated threats to declare a state of emergency, which would empower him to dissolve parliament and call early elections, thus avoiding impeachment. The impeachment hearing has been scheduled for August 1, but MPs have warned if Wahid declares a state of emergency they will hold a snap session.
In a bid to buy time to reach a compromise, Wahid said Friday he will put off declaring a state of emergency until July 31, but it may be too little, too late. The party of Vice President Megawati Sukarnopturi, who stands to take over from Wahid, immediately threw its support behind a possible snap session on Saturday.
"We agree with the MPR leaders' decision to hold the special session tomorrow if the president goes ahead with the swearing in," secretary general Sucipto of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggletold AFP. The PDIP holds the largest number of seats in the assembly.
Lower house speaker Akbar Tanjung also accused Wahid, known as Gus Dur, of disregarding the law. "If Gus Dur swears Chaeruddin in, that means he's ignoring the national assembly decree number 7, 2000," he was quoted as saying by Detik.com news portal. "Candidates for police chief need the parliament's approval ... but we have not yet approved Chaeruddin's candidacy," Tanjung told reporters.
Local media said Wahid had sent a letter to parliament on Thursday asking it to approve Ismail's appointment, but MPs had said it could not be dealt with until parliament reconvenes on August 16.
Wahid suspended Bimantoro on June 2 after he opposed the president's threat to declare a state of emergency and formally dismissed the defiant police chief on June 30. But Bimantoro has refused to accept his dismissal and has also rejected Wahid's offer to be Indonesia's ambassador to Malaysia.
The national assembly, the top legislature, wants Wahid to account for his turbulent 20 months in office. The president will be impeached if his account is rejected. Wahid has admitted he has neither the support of the military or police for declaring a state of emergency.
Reuters - July 20, 2001
Muklis Ali, Jakarta -- Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid on Friday stood by a threat to declare a state of emergency to counter fresh efforts to impeach him, edging the country closer to a potentially explosive showdown.
Wahid told worshippers at a mosque he would declare a civil emergency -- which gives police wide-ranging powers and allows an early election -- effective from July 31 if he could not strike a peace deal.
He has given his enemies until 6pm to drop their push to impeach him at a special session of the supreme People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) due to start on August 1. "I will announce today if there is no compromise that on July 31, at 1800 [6pm] a state of emergency with the status of civil emergency will come into effect," Wahid said.
The MPR has threatened to call a snap impeachment hearing within hours of any emergency declaration. MPR speaker Amien Rais also threatened an early hearing if Wahid goes ahead with plans to swear in a new police chief later in the day. But he gave no timeframe. The parliament and the MPR oppose Wahid's sacking of the former commander.
Police on alert
More than 40,000 police and troops have been deployed around the capital amid fears the political crisis crippling the world's fourth-largest nation could trigger an explosion of violence. But Jakarta was calm in the early afternoon, with businesses and schools open as usual.
There was also no sign of the thousands of fanatical Wahid faithful who have flooded into the city in the past to show their support for the ailing Muslim cleric. Wahid's political heartland of East Java, home to millions of fanatical followers -- some of whom have declared to die defending him and have been training in martial arts and magic powers -- was also calm.
Wahid's chief spokesman, Wimar Witoelar, said efforts were continuing to strike a compromise on Friday. "The political process is still going on hour by ... hour but we have yet to see what transpires and what options will be available to the president," he told Reuters Television.
But most leading politicians say a face-saving compromise is almost impossible just 21 turbulent months into Wahid's five-year term as Indonesia's first democratically elected leader.
Doubts over emergency
Wahid is widely expected to be dumped whenever the MPR sits and the largest party, Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), said on Friday for the first time it would support impeachment.
The taciturn daughter of founding President Sukarno automatically takes over if Wahid falls. Megawati and her party have previously supported an impeachment hearing but have stopped short of specifically backing his ouster.
If Wahid tries to carry out his threat, it is unlikely he will have enough support to implement a state of emergency. Key army and police generals have already warned they would not carry out such an order.
Police have drawn up plans to evacuate MPR members and foreign diplomats if violence erupts in Jakarta.
Straits Times - July 19, 2001
Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- Indonesia's defiant police chief General Suroyo Bimantoro yesterday promoted and reshuffled 138 middle-ranking officers, in an apparent bid to garner more support within the fractured police force.
This latest reshuffle came amid an on-going controversy over the legitimacy of his leadership, following his dismissal by President Abdurrahman Wahid. It also followed last week's promotion of hundreds of middle-ranking officers by the President.
Police spokesman Inspector-General Didi Widayadi said yesterday's changes had been planned long before Mr Abdurrahman announced he was removing Gen Bimantoro from office. But observers noted that several of the general's critics were among those promoted. This suggested that Gen Bimantoro was intent on wooing officers who had criticised him for defying the President's dismissal order by refusing to step down from his post.
Mr Abdurrahman had announced in early June that he was dismissing Gen Bimantoro. He then said he was making him "non-active" after the general -- complaining that Parliament had not been consulted -- refused to step down from his office. In a further show of defiance, the general has thus far refused to relinquish the symbol of his power -- the command baton -- to Commissioner- General Chaerudin, whom the President has appointed as deputy police chief.
Gen Bimantoro's defiance has driven a wedge between his loyalists and supporters of Gen Chaerudin. Last week, 150 middle-ranking officers demanded that Gen Bimantoro resign and thereby reduce tensions within the police force.
Said criminologist Adrianus Meliala, who works closely with the police department: "In the police force, it is common that when someone is seen as being too critical of the police leadership, their career would be over as long as that police chief is still in power. "By not doing anything to some of these officers who clearly supported Chaerudin, and by even appointing them to better positions, Bimantoro may be trying to make a point that he could be worth supporting."
While some continue to question the legitimacy of the sacked police chief's move, one high-ranking officer told The Straits Times that the promotion letters signed by Gen Bimantoro were legitimate as he has not officially handed over command to Gen Chaerudin. "His dismissal by the President was not done according to the correct procedure, therefore Gen Bimantoro remains the police chief and has the rights to reshuffle or promote officers," the officer said.
Gen Bimantoro has appealed for a judicial review of his dismissal and of the appointment of Gen Chaerudin as deputy chief -- a position that, according to the latest police regulations, does not exist.
Agence France Presse - July 19, 2001
Jakarta -- Despite the faint glimmer of a possible compromise, Indonesians were Thursday bracing for President Abdurrahman Wahid to make good his threat to declare a state of emergency to stave off an impeachment move. Late on Wednesday he renewed his threat to declare a state of emergency, plunging Indonesia into another bout of uncertainty.
However, in a new twist, Wahid said that if declared Friday, the state of emergency, which would allow him to disband the parliament before it can impeach him, will only take effect on July 31, the eve of the scheduled start of a special parliament session to impeach him. "So a span of 11 days is given to allow compromises to be reached, and this is as far as I can concede," Wahid said in a late Wednesday dialogue broadcast nationwide.
Politicians said efforts were on course to reach a compromise before the start of the session, among at least two main opposition leaders and the president's emmissaries.
But analysts were divided over the prospects. "Current developments show that a compromise is no longer possible because the target of the special session is to impeach Gus Dur, based on their belief that he is the source of all problems," Affan Gafar from the Gajah Mada university in Yogyakarta, Central Java, said.
Gafar said the willingness of some politicians to negotiate a compromise was only a ploy to ensure the special session goes ahead. "It's only a formality in an effort to cool down the political tension so that the special session can take place smoothly," Gafar said.
Executives of Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democracy Party for Struggle (PDIP), which has the largest single block of seats at the parliament, have said she has rejected a proposal that envisages Wahid handing over all powers to her.
But another analyst, Hermawan Sulistyo of the state University of Indonesia, stressed a compromise could still be reached. "A compromise remains possible because the anti-Wahid groups are no longer giving Megawati a blank cheque. They are insisting on the issue of the vice presidential post, as well as positions in the next cabinet, while PDIP has refused to talk about these issues," Sulistyo said.
"Therefore, they [non-PDIP groups] think it is better to strike a deal with Wahid right now because he can definitely give them what they want," he said.
The former ruling Golkar and the Muslim-based United Development Party, whose chairmen have agreed to negotiate a compromise, hold a combined 179 seats compared to PDIP's 154. Gafar dismissed fears of large scale riots should Wahid be impeached, saying "the public no longer supports the mass mobilization of people." Wahid's home province of East Java may see some protests, he said, but the military and police have warned they will not tolerate anarchy.
Sulistyo, on the other hand, said sporadic riots could break out. "East Java and Central Java are the two hottest spots. Riots or unrest no longer have to be orchestrated because anger among the lower classes has reached its peak," he said.
Lawmakers have been told to gather in Jakarta by Friday so that they can convene the special session within hours of the state of emergency being declared.
The city's security authorities are readying 42,000 police and troops to ensure that the special session, whenever it will be held, would not be disturbed. Some 6,000 armed policemen will be deployed in the parliament complex, backed by armored vehicles, helicopters and dogs. The Jakarta police chief has threatened to shoot-on-sight protestors attempting to break into the compound.
The leaders of the police and the military have publicly aired their opposition to a state of emergency.
Sydney Morning Herald - July 19, 2001
Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta -- Some of Jakarta's most influential political leaders are trying to broker a last-minute compromise to save President Abdurrahman Wahid from impeachment.
The deal negotiated during a series of secret meetings is based on an offer Mr Wahid made earlier this year to allow the Vice- President, Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri, to run the country while he becomes a figurehead president until elections in 2004.
But sources close to Ms Megawati say she will not consider any compromise unless it is ratified by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), due to convene on August1 to decide Mr Wahid's future. Ms Megawati has yet to indicate publicly whether she is willing to take control while Mr Wahid retains the title of president.
The strongest faction in her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is pressing her to seize the presidency at the special session even at the risk of sparking riots by Mr Wahid's millions of supporters and creating a constitutional crisis should he refuse to accept impeachment.
But the PDI-P treasurer, Ms Noviantika Nasution, said: "The party stand is confirmed that whatever the problem is we are going to solve it in the special session." Among those involved in the compromise negotiations have been the senior security minister, Mr Agum Gumelar, and Cabinet secretary, Mr Marzuki Darusman, a leading member of the second-largest political party, Golkar. Observers say Golkar's leaders are pushing for a deal that would enable them to negotiate positions in Ms Megawati's Cabinet.
However, opposition among MPs to Mr Wahid remaining in office in any form mean chances of a deal are slim. The outcome depends largely on Ms Megawati, whose party controls the largest bloc of votes in the MPR.
While she wants to become president, she is known to be worried that the same MPs who turned against Mr Wahid after supporting his election 20 months ago could turn on her before the next election.
Mr Hamzah Haz, the head of the third-largest political party, the Muslim-based United Development Party, and a favourite to become vice-president if Ms Megawati becomes president, says in the latest edition of Tempo magazine that Mr Wahid had made it plain recently that he would not give the MPR the accountability speech MPs want. "I can't do that. I will oppose this. This is not consistent with the 1945 Constitution," Mr Hamzah quoted Mr Wahid as saying. "I will defend the palace. I will make sacrifices."
Mr Wahid yesterday intensified pressure on Ms Megawati, saying if he was to leave his post, she should also. "If one steps down, the other must step down," he said during a visit to the city of Manado.
Mr Wahid also appeared to back away yesterday from his threat to declare a state of emergency before parliament is dissolved, if a compromise is not reached. "I can use my power as President to do this and that against others, but I will never do it," he said without elaborating.
Last week he threatened to impose a state of emergency at 6pm tomorrow prompting Dr Amien Rais, the MPR speaker, to order all MPs to stay in Jakarta in case it became necessary to call an earlier special session.
Jakarta Post - July 17, 2001
Jakarta -- The Indonesian Military and the National Police reconfirmed on Monday their opposition to President Abdurrahman Wahid's intention to declare a state of emergency ahead of the planned People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) session.
Maj. Gen. Bibit Waluyo, the commander of the Jakarta Military Command, said the President should not issue a decree to declare a state of emergency because such an action would worsen people's livelihood.
"The military leadership has suggested the President drop his plan because it would certainly worsen the lives of all the people who are living in poverty as a result of the prolonged crisis," he said in a joint news conference with city police chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Jacob and MPR leaders here on Monday.
Several top military brass have repeatedly expressed their disfavor of the emergency status, which would enable the President to dissolve the House of Representatives and foil the MPR session.
During the session, which is scheduled to begin on August 1, the Assembly will ask Abdurrahman to account for his government's poor performance, a request which the President has labeled as unconstitutional. Abdurrahman has set a July 20 deadline for the Assembly to cancel the impeachment hearing.
Sofjan agreed with Bibit, saying the Police would not heed the President's instruction if the latter issued the decree on July 20. "The National Police, under the leadership of Gen. Bimantoro, would not comply with the decree if it is aimed at declaring a state of emergency. Let the President issue the decree, but the Police won't support it," he said.
Separately, six major factions in the Assembly reiterated that they would call for a snap special session as soon as the President declared the state of emergency.
"We will call on the Assembly's leadership to invite all legislators to hold a special session two hours later if reports saying the President will issue the decree at 6pm on July 20 are true," Sophan Sophiaan, the chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction in the Assembly, said after a consultation meeting between the six blocks.
Amien Rais, the Assembly speaker, said Assembly leaders would call on all legislators, including members of the interest groups and regional representatives, to stand by in the House of Representatives compound on Friday in anticipation of any issuance of the decree. "The special session will be held soon after the decree is issued," he said.
Muhaimin Iskandar, the secretary-general of Abdurrahman's National Awakening Party (PKB), said his party would call on the President to declare a state of emergency if factions in the Assembly failed to strike a compromise before the special session.
More support for Abdurrahman was aired by 11 minority parties, which said that a state of emergency would end the mounting conflict between the executive body and the legislative body.
"An emergency status must be declared because the conflict between the executive body and the legislature has a lot to do with the unfair power-sharing among members of the political elite and not with people's suffering," Hadijoyo, the spokesman for the minority parties, said.
Among the minority parties were the Murba Party, National Labor Party (PNB), National Democratic Party (PND), Indonesian National Party (PNI) and Indonesian Democratic Alliance Party (PADI).
Hadijoyo said the President should set up a national board to run a transitional administration and organize a free and fair general election to form a new government.
Meanwhile, 100 ulemas and local figures in the town of Sidoarjo, an industrial town adjacent to the East Java capital of Surabaya, visited the provincial legislative council to express their support for the issuance of the presidential decree and their rejection of the special session.
The ulemas, grouped in the Sidoarjo Ulemas Forum, were led by Dhofir and accompanied by Sidoarjo regent Wien Hendrarso. The entourage was received by the speaker of the council Bisri Abdul Djalil.
Before conveying their aspiration, the ulemas chanted a takbir (verse) and tahlil (prayer) three times, which they meant as a symbol that democracy had died in the country. "We call on the political elite at the House of Representatives and the People's Consultative Assembly not to make the special session a forum to impeach the President," Dhofir said.
Straits Times - July 17, 2001
Derwin Pereira, Jakarta -- A defiant General Suroyo Bimantoro, the sacked national police chief, said yesterday that President Abdurrahman Wahid's supporters would engineer mass unrest three days before his impeachment hearing on August 1.
Armed with a copy of the latest police intelligence report, he told a gathering of top commanders that the Nadhlatul Ulama (NU) was plotting to stir up violence to justify the imposition of emergency rule. The meeting was chaired by the man that the President had appointed to replace Gen Bimantoro -- deputy police chief Chaeruddin Ismail.
A two-star police general, disclosing the contents of the intelligence brief, told The Straits Times that there had been "increased activity" by NU supporters last week in nearly all of Java, Lampung, Jambi, South and West Kalimantan, and Central Sulawesi. "We believe they are being mobilised to cause problems," he said.
Analysts said Gen Bimantoro was using the closed-door meeting to shore up support as he continued to defy the President's order to quit. The source said: "Gen Bimantoro does not want to give Gus Dur any excuse to move in on him and any of the other generals supporting him.
"He is hoping that with this report, the officers will back him all the way." The defiant general yesterday ordered ground troops to step up sweeping operations on NU supporters at provincial borders. He warned that the police would be made scapegoats if violence erupted.
But some senior officers expressed doubts over the intelligence report he produced at the meeting yesterday, saying he might have exaggerated the extent of the problems that Mr Abdurrahman's supporters could cause.
Outside the police structure, Gen Bimantoro has also been trying to cultivate the ground in the armed forces leadership. Sources said he had at least two meetings with TNI chief A.S. Widodo last week. He reportedly told the admiral that a number of generals allied to the palace were supporting moves to declare a state of emergency.
But the military commander brushed aside the allegation. According to an army general, the admiral said: "Even if I have one or two generals close to Gus Dur, they will not contemplate causing unrest under the TNI banner". He told the belligerent police commander that he should conduct himself as a professional "and not be so emotional" in reacting to pressures from the palace.
But having said that, observers believe there continues to be strong support for Gen Bimantoro, especially in the army, for standing up to the President. Gen Bimantoro's public attacks on Mr Abdurrahman for seeking to impose emergency rule mirror that of army chief Endriartono Sutarto's battles with the palace.
For the army leadership, the protracted confrontation between the palace and police has a significant bearing on TNI's relations with the President.
The generals are convinced that the 60-year-old leader, by cracking the whip at Gen Bimantoro and his supporters for insubordination, is sending them a strong signal that he does not condone their support for Parliament's initiatives.
Military sources said it was instructive that he had issued the arrest order for Gen Bimantoro, just one day after the TNI backed the need for a special national Assembly session.
Said an army general: "Gus Dur's main gripe is with the army, not the police. "But he found it difficult to attack us directly. So, he picked a softer target like Bimantoro to make his point."
Agence France Presse - July 15, 2001
Jakarta -- Indonesians are bracing for a stormy countdown to the August 1 national assembly session which will decide the fate of embattled Abdurrahman Wahid, the country's first freely-elected president.
With two weeks to go, most eyes will be focused on Friday, July 20, the deadline set by Wahid for the assembly (MPR) to drop its impeachment plan. If it does not, he has warned, he will at 6pm declare a state of emergency, allowing him to dissolve parliament and call new elections.
Until this Saturday, despite warnings from the military that it would not back him on the emergency, that threat stood -- as did a counter threat by MPR chairman Amien Rais to call a snap impeachment session on Saturday, July 21.
General Saroyo Bimantoro, whom Wahid sacked as national police chief in June, has remained defiant and cut short a planned 10- day leave on Saturday after Wahid ordered his top security minister to seek legal actions against him.
Both publicly and privately Wahid insists that even if the session were held, he would be able to survive through a compromise -- won in part through pledging key cabinet seats to hostile parties.
Palace sources say he has spent much of the past week quietly meeting his political foes, reportedly including Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri, the woman who would succeed him should he step down. Megawati, who has publicly snubbed Wahid in the past month, has not confirmed the meeting took place.
Among the others in talks with him have been lower house speaker Akbar Tanjung, who heads the second-strongest party in parliament, the Golkar party of former dictator Suharto.
Megawati's group, the Democracy party of Struggle (PDIP) is the strongest bloc in parliament and led the vote to call the impeachment session.
But its MPs are reportedly deeply divided on the issue, and it is fear of a PDIP back-benchers' revolt, some members say, that lay behind the party's insistence that if a vote were taken on August 1, it must be open -- and not by secret ballot.
"Some in the party argue that maintaining the current national leadership is still the most feasible for the country and the nation," Sophan Sophiaan, the PDIP parliament faction chairman told the Jakarta Post Saturday during a national party meeting in Jakarta.
And no one is laughing off the 60-year-old Wahid's compromise efforts as the dying twitches of a politically spent force. Wahid has proved a wily back room plotter and survivor, and is a past master at cashing in on the divisions and suspicions rife among his foes, analysts say.
And Megawati, though showing all the signs of preparing to sit in the president's chair, remains suspicious of her current backers. Those she distrusts most are the so-called Muslim axis. Despite her party's overwhelming win in the first post-Suharto pollsin 1999, they insisted that Indonesia as a predominantly Muslim country should not be led by a woman and threw their votes in favor of Wahid.
She also knows she would face the disappointment of her until-now fanatically-loyal grassroots followers if she were seen holding hands with Suharto's old Golkar party.
A daughter of Indonesia's first president Sukarno, she was a legislator under Suharto for a decade until her growing popularity forced the dictator to try, but to no avail, to push her out of politics in the second half of the 1990s.
As tensions rise, some fear that the followers of Wahid, a cleric who headed the 40-million-strong Muslim Nahdlatul Ulama organization until 1999, may flood the capital.
But there is a depressing sense in Jakarta that whether Wahid goes or stays, the real loser is the reform movement. "Don't forget reformasi" read a forlorn banner posted in the city Saturday by the same students who helped overthrow Suharto in May of 1998, high on hopes of an end to dirty politics and corruption.
| Regional/communal conflicts |
BBC Worldwide Monitoring - July 17, 2001
Kupang Pos, Kupang -- Political discourse on the formation of an Independent Timor (Negara Timor Raya-NTR) within East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) West Timor is treated seriously by TNI Indonesian Military Forces . Nine/Udayana Military Area Commander Maj-Gen William da Costa has stressed that if an NTR is declared, TNI will take strong action against the perpetrators.
"If the plans are still only a matter of discourse then I will make no comment, but if an NTR is declared in NTT, I will demonstrate no tolerance. I will wipe them all out!", insisted the commander when speaking with journalists at the El Tari Airport in Kupang on Saturday (14 July).
The Udayana Commander was asked for his comments on plans by a certain group within NTT to form an Independent Timor (NTR). "... If this concept of forming an NTR violates the unity and sovereignty of Indonesia then this will be dangerous", he said... "Have those proposing an NTR both from East Timor and Kupang thought this out properly? Plans like this will cause NTT to lose face with the rest of Indonesia" , said da Costa.
Therefore, the commander, who originates from Noemuti, North Central Timor, said, NTT should not imitate East Timor. Ideas such as these would only further jeopardize NTT which is already highly dependent on the central government. "This needs to be examined properly because at the moment we live off the central government. NTT is a poor province which receives a lot of assistance from the central government. Does NTT want to turn its back like East Timor did?", asked the commander. He asked them to think rationally and to place the future of the NTT community above their political aspirations...
| Human rights/law |
Straits Times - July 20, 2001
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- The seemingly endless battle between the Indonesian Parliament and President Abdurrahman Wahid over who should rule the country has left the government with little time to focus on the business of running Indonesia.
Unpassed laws have piled up and conflicts between government departments remain unsolved. Investment and development are also delayed as investors wait for the government to sort out who is in control, analysts said.
"Legislation that is pretty mature is sent out, and parliament just lets it sit there," said the head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia, Mr James Castle.
He said oil and gas Bills have still not been passed, two years after the first drafts were presented to parliament.
A recent edition of the local magazine Tempo said only 51 out of 82 draft Bills that have arrived in parliament have been passed over the last 18 months.
More than 100 drafts are still waiting to be assessed by parliamentary committees, said Mr Hermawan Sulistyo, who has worked on draft legislation for election laws. "It's not the time for passing laws. This is politicking in the strictest sense, in that it's the politics of fighting for a position or an economic resource," he said.
Mr Hermawan and other political observers said members of parliament often passed laws only when they were given incentives, such as offers of lucrative positions in a state company for their party members. Mr Castle cited an example where parliamentary committees had asked private companies investing in natural resource industries for "coffee and tea money" before they would even consider legislation that would affect these firms.
He added that the political struggle has resulted in a lack of direction, costing Indonesia billions of dollars in lost investment. 'The cost of poor governance is huge,' he said.
The absence of strong leadership also meant that major issues and policy decisions were being made by bureaucrats and not the ministers in charge, he said. "For instance, you have the head of Telkom making telecommunications policy," he said, referring to one of Indonesia's largest telephone companies. "It's like having Bill Gates making and interpreting computer industry regulations in the States."
And then there is the issue of regional autonomy. Disagreements between the government and parliament over how to deal with independence demands in Aceh and Irian Jaya have also led parliament to spend more than 18 months considering autonomy legislation, said political analyst Alfitra Salam.
Jakarta Post - July 17, 2001
Jakarta -- The Central Jakarta District Court started hearing on Monday a lawsuit filed by five non-governmental organizations (NGOs) against the government for its failure to prevent the bloodshed in Sampit, Central Kalimantan, between February and March this year.
For its negligence, the NGOs demanded that the government pay Rp 1.9 billion in compensation and Rp 110.6 billion to help resettle people of Madurese origin who were forced to flee their homes.
The NGOs, who claim to represent some 28,000 Madurese migrants who were forced to flee Sampit as a result of the violence, charged the President, National Police chief and the Central Kalimantan provincial administration with "having done nothing to stop the ethnic pogrom and even having allowed an act of genocide to take place".
"They [the government and the police] were supposed to provide legal protection for the [Madurese] people by taking resolute measures against the rioters, but they failed to do so," Karel Tuacalu of the Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) told the court.
At least 357 people, mostly Madurese, were killed and hundreds of others wounded in the violence, which first erupted early in February. More than 28,000 people were forced to flee, with most of them returning to their ancestral homeland of Madura in East Java.
A similar pogrom perpetrated by indigenous inhabitants and directed against Madurese migrants erupted in Sambas, West Kalimantan, in 1997.
Joining Kontras in taking the class action against the government were the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI), the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLHBI), the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam), and the Association of Legal Advisors and Indonesian Human Rights (APHI).
The NGOs also stated that the government and the police could be charged with violating Articles 1365 and 1366 of the Civil Code for directly or indirectly causing losses to others.
The trial was adjourned until July 23, to hear the response of defense lawyers from the Attorney General's Office and the National Police Legal Aid Unit.
| News & issues |
Straits Times - July 19, 2001
Jakarta -- The shocking escape of an army soldier, held on charges related to last year's bombing of the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) building, has sparked a furore among the authorities, with the military police chief's head being the first to roll.
Jakarta military police chief Colonel Joestiono was dismissed on Tuesday morning, following second corporal Ibrahim Hasan's escape from his military police guard the day before. He is the second defendant in the case to have escaped this year. Another defendant, civilian Ibrahim Abdul Wahab, escaped in February.
On early Monday morning, Ibrahim Hasan had allegedly told his guards -- four elite members of the military police -- that he was feeling ill, and was driven to a hospital in Central Jakarta in a military van. However, the right front tyre of the van developed a puncture during the journey.
While all four guards were supposedly engaged in changing the tyre, their prisoner escaped. "As the commander, Col Joestiono is responsible for the actions of his men, including their carelessness. He deserves to be dismissed," Jakarta Military Commander Maj-Gen Bibit Waluyo told reporters on Tuesday. The four officers have also been declared suspects in this case.
Ibrahim Hasan, a member of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), is one of two principal suspects in the JSX building bombing case last September. A panel of civilian and military judges had been scheduled to hear his testimony yesterday morning.
Col Joestiono returned his baton to Maj-Gen Bibit on Tuesday at Jakarta Military Headquarters, while his deputy Lt-Col Agus Ryadi took over his duties. Following his dismissal, the investigation into Ibrahim Hasan's escape will be taken over by Military Police Commander Maj-Gen Djasri Marin.
Agence France Presse - July 17, 2001
Jakarta -- Indonesian police said yesterday they suspected a concerted bombing campaign was under way after a woman was injured in the second blast here in less than a week. Two cars were also damaged in the blast under a flyover in South Jakarta.
This was the latest incident to create security fears ahead of impeachment hearings against President Abdurrahman Wahid. The Sunday blast was the second to rock the capital since Wednesday, when an object hurled from a truck passing a flyover in west Jakarta killed one person and injured 10 others.
"This is getting to be a habit," South Jakarta deputy police chief F.F.J. Mirah was quoted as saying by The Jakarta Post as he surveyed Sunday's blast scene. "All this is happening just days before the special session. I can't stand this," he said.
Parliamentary leaders are threatening to bring forward their hearings against Mr Abdurrahman from the scheduled date of August 1, if the President implements his threat to declare a state of emergency on Friday.
Jakarta police chief Inspector-General Sofyan Jacoeb said the characteristics of the two explosions were "almost the same". "We suspect the intended target of the explosions was not a certain person but public places," he was quoted as saying by the Satunet online news service. "The attackers in both cases ... used a red Kijang car and struck at busy hours," he said, adding that both intersections were "strategic locations".
The explosions are the latest in a series to rock Jakarta and other Indonesian cities since last year. A blast believed to have been caused by a home-made bomb razed a boarding house here on June 19, injuring five people.
A south Jakarta dormitory for students from the restive province of Aceh blew up in May, killing three people. Police later said the blast was caused by a bomb that was probably being manufactured there.
Straits Times - July 16, 2001
Robert Go, Jakarta -- It's just trash for most people, but some Jakarta residents are finding novel ways of using garbage to help build their impoverished community.
With the help of the international aid group Mercy Corps and quick-drying cement, residents of a slum in Jelambar, West Jakarta, are turning organic garbage -- banana peels, pieces of cloth, cigarette cartons -- into cheap bricks.
Mr Karno, the community's elder, said: "There's so much trash around here. It makes sense to put it to work." Activist Bambang Darsono, who has lived and worked in the 30,000-strong community for two years, added: "We have a garbage-collection programme already in place. Two months ago, we came up with a good idea for the trash."
The process of making a "Mercy Brick" is simple but labour- intensive: Litter is sorted and chopped up, mixed with cement and sand, and then hand-poured and packed into the moulds. After a few minutes, the mould is removed and the still-wet brick is left to be baked by the sun.
"Everyone pitches in. Some kids get assigned to watch out for chickens, which seem to like the taste of the wet bricks and have ruined a few pieces by pecking at them," said Mr Bambang.
At around 250 rupiah (four Singapore cents) each, the bricks are a much cheaper alternative to commercially sold building blocks, priced at more than 1,000 rupiah a piece.
For this community of fruit sellers, rickshaw drivers and street vendors, where the average monthly income is merely 250,000 rupiah and the richest families share 4-m-by-5-m rooms without indoor plumbing or toilets, the bricks could materialise into much-needed riverside public restrooms, health clinics or schools.
Mercy Corps architect Anna Suzanna said: "The bricks are being tested now for strength and safety. "If the quality is good enough, we can use them to build more facilities and perhaps start a small business for the community."
Mr Karno and his friends already have other plans related to the trash-to-bricks scheme. In addition to adding to the two brick moulds it now has, the community wants to use the same raw mixture to make batako -- small, multi-coloured cement blocks often used here for sidewalks and driveways. Mr Karno said: "I think batako would sell better. People may not like living or working inside buildings made out of these bricks, but there is nothing wrong with walking on them."
For Mr Allister Clewlow, Mercy Corps' Jakarta manager, this is the ideal kind of project for helping Indonesia's urban poor. "It is not just a hand-out programme," he said. "We distribute 5,000 tons of food each year, but initiatives like this also help the communities in other ways. "The brick project is good because it gives the community a sense of self-empowerment and hope for the future."
| Environment/health |
Straits Times - July 18, 2001
Teh Jen Lee -- The haze caused by fires set to clear land for plantations may be less severe over South-east Asia this year because of lower palm-oil prices. Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association president Derom Bangun said the low prices would discourage companies from increasing the plantation areas.
Widespread burning in Indonesia's Sumatra and Kalimantan provinces -- in part by plantation companies -- were largely to blame for the haze which shrouded the region in 1997 and 1998.
Of the 176 companies accused by the Indonesian government of using fire to clear land, about 75 per cent were doing so to prepare oil-palm plantations.
This year, a metric tonne of crude palm oil has been selling for a monthly average of around US$250 (S$450) compared to the 1998 average of US$620. "Shareholders are very unsupportive of expansion of plantations now," Mr Derom said in a telephone interview from Jakarta.
However, prices have been increasing recently, reaching above US$300 last week. Mr Togu Manurung, a forest economist and director of Forest Watch Indonesia, did not think that this short-term increase would induce companies to expand plantations. "Prices are still fluctuating and are difficult to predict," he said.
But in the longer term, both men expect prices to increase. Mr Derom attributed this to efforts by Malaysia, one of the world's main palm-oil-producing countries, to cut down excess stock and production of palm oil. Indonesia, the other main producer, had also seen lower yields this year from plantations -- which cut back on use of expensive fertilisers. Ethnic clashes in areas where plantations are located also disrupted harvesting.
The combined effect of all these was to reduce supply and increase prices, Mr Derom said. He added that if the crude palm oil prices increased to more than US$360 a tonne and remained around that level, the companies would make efforts to expand operations. The high prices would in turn make it an attractive proposition to acquire more land, he said.
The disastrous haze of 1997 and 1998 which affected about 70 million people coincided with an upward trend in prices.
According to Mr Togu, the rise in prices was part of the cyclical nature of the palm-oil industry.
So will there be a severe haze every time prices rise and companies clear more land? Mr Derom believed that this would not be the case because all the 91 companies in his association had been warned not to burn the area to clear the land.
But Mr Togu was not so optimistic that the industry would regulate itself. Instead, he suggested that the International Monetary Fund stipulate conditions for palm-oil industry development even as it pressured Indonesia to be more export- oriented.
| Arms/armed forces |
Jakarta Post - July 14, 2001
Jakarta -- Top Army officials held on Friday a closed-door consolidation meeting at Wiladatika field in Cibubur, East Jakarta on Friday canceling the weekly Friday sports event between the police and military.
Attending the one-and-a-half hour meeting were Army chief of staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, deputy Army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri, Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) chief Lt. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu, Army's Special Force (Kopassus)chief Maj. Gen. Amirul Isnaeni, Jakarta Military commander Maj. Gen. Bibit Waluyo, former Kostrad chief Lt. Gen. Agus Wirahadikusumah, former Kostrad chief of staff Maj. Gen. Kivlan Zen, former territorial assistant to the Army chief Maj. Gen. Saurip Kadi and former Jakarta Military Command chief of staffBrig. Gen. Romulus Simbolon.
Gen. Endriartono told the media after the session that the meeting was merely a routine consolidation meeting. "This is just a routine consolidation meeting and can be held anytime, anywhere," he said, adding that the meeting was not aimed at garnering the military' support for him. Endriartono said he had no ambition to hold on to his post. "My rank and position are in God's hand," he said.
Both Endriartono and Ryamizard said that the meeting did not discuss the current political situation, such as the possibility of President Abdurrahman Wahid imposing a state of emergency orthe planned August 1 special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). Endriartono, however, said that if a state of emergency was imposed, it was up to the emergency executor to decide the moves. The general, however, refused to elaborate further.
Ryamizard said that the meeting was held to maintain solidity within the Army. "We merely want to remind the Army chief (Kasad) to maintain the unity and solidity of the Indonesian Army," he said. Ryamizard further said that during the briefing, four officers shared their views on certain matters. When pressed by journalists about the four officers, Ryamizard replied: "I'm not telling!"
The routine Friday sports event between the police andilitary was supposed to be held in the Navy's Western Fleet compound but was canceled on Thursday as Endriartono wished to hold an internal Army consolidation meeting.
| International relations |
Straits Times - July 20, 2001
Lee Siew Hua, Washington -- The United States said turmoil in Indonesia will threaten its immediate neighbours and hollow out Asean, while endangering US strategic goals.
While President Abdurrahman Wahid fights impeachment, "instability in the world's fourth most populous nation would threaten not only Indonesia's immediate neighbours, but also our strategic and regional objectives", Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Ralph "Skip" Boyce told Congress.
"Growing social disarray in Indonesia could offer a regional entree to Islamic radicalism and possibly international terrorism," he said. The US goal is "a united, democratic, stable, and prosperous Indonesia", and the Bush administration hopes Jakarta will move in this alternative direction.
But he conceded that outside actors like the US have limited influence. "The size and complexity of that nation as well as the limits on our resources dictate that we focus on top priorities, maintaining a long-term strategic approach," he said.
Speaking before the Asia-Pacific panel of the House International Relations Committee, Mr Boyce, who will be the new US ambassador to Jakarta, said the US is not taking sides in the unfolding drama. "We firmly believe the current leadership crisis is a purely domestic matter for Indonesians to resolve."
His views found support with Congressman James Leach, chairman of the Asia-Pacific panel, who said: "It is strongly in the interest of America and the world for Indonesia to succeed." Mr Boyce added that the Bush administration sees the Indonesian military as a "central, truly national institution with enormous potential to support or subvert Indonesia's democratisation".
Mr Boyce, who has been briefing groups of lawmakers on Indonesian policy and also on the sensitive issue of reviving contact with the Indonesian military, said: "We will also carefully modulate our broader contacts with the Indonesian military as a part of any coordinated effort to strengthen Indonesia's institutions." Working with the military also matches wider US goals, he said. "We can and should work constructively with the military to meet specific US interests -- regional stability, anti-piracy and policing the archipelago's economic zone waters come to mind."
He said the US was mindful of many positive developments. "Democracy has begun to take deep root. Civil society is flourishing, with multiplying non-government organisations contributing to public discourse. "Most notably, Indonesia now boasts an independent and vigorous parliament." He emphasised the long-term view, even if the short term often provides "disappointments".
| Economy & investment |
Reuters - July 17, 2001
Joanne Collins, Jakarta -- The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it was still aiming to release a delayed $400 million loan to Indonesia next month, erasing fears an agreement was many weeks away.
Hopes of an imminent loan release dimmed last week when a high level Fund mission left Jakarta saying only it would complete its review of the country's reform efforts before September.
But IMF senior representative in Jakarta John Dodsworth told Reuters on Tuesday the success of the mission had been underestimated.
Asked if the loan would be released in August, Dodsworth said: "Yes that's certainly our joint objective with the authorities here ... sometime in second-half of August, that is our aim."
The loan, frozen since December over a raft of missed economic targets, is vital to trigger more foreign aid for the near-ruined economy and to woo investors back. A $5.8 billion debt rescheduling agreement with the Paris Club of official creditors signed in April last year also hinges on an active IMF programme.
Speaking in an interview with Reuters Television in Tokyo, Dodsworth also allayed fears looming impeachment hearings by the country's top legislature against President Abdurrahman Wahid could set the loan's release back further. "We would expect this [loan disbursement] to go ahead in the same way," he said.
The top legislature is due to meet from August 1 to consider sacking Wahid over his chaotic 21-month rule, but has threatened to sit as early as Friday if he carries out a threat to declare a state of emergency that day and call early elections. Few analysts expect him to survive, whenever the assembly meets.
The IMF's first deputy managing director, Stanley Fischer, said last week the potential for instability meant an August loan was "not certain by any means". The $400 million loan is part of a $5 billion, three-year IMF programme signed with Jakarta in January last year.
No rush on bank sales
In an unexpected move, the Fund also backed down on the divestment of key banks, originally slated for sale in December and partly the reason the $400 million was delayed. Dodsworth said negotiations for a maximum 30-percent strategic stake sale in Indonesia's largest retail bank, Bank Central Asia (BCA) , should not be rushed.
"There is still a process going on with BCA and commercial negotiations cannot be hurried and should not be subject to deadlines," Dodsworth said. Indonesia's powerful bank restructuring agency (IBRA) which controls BCA, was due to announce the winning bids for the stake sale last month.
"Indonesia needs to make asset sales but needs to make them on the right terms... I'm happy as long at end of the day, the bank is sold and to a strong partner," he added. The Fund has been critical of Indonesia's footdragging over asset sales, partly blaming it for stalling the economic recovery.
"... think we need to be a bit a little bit more patient in regard to these deals."
Agence France Presse - July 16, 2001
G.K. Goh, Jakarta -- Indonesia is targeting economic growth of 3.0-3.5 percent this year and inflation of below 10 percent by year-end, according to the draft agreement between the government and the International Monetary Fund.
"We aim to achieve the macroeconomic framework for 2001 agreed with parliament in the context of the revised budget outlook," said a draft copy of the letter of intent obtained Monday by AFP-owned financial newswire AFX-Asia.
The draft was drawn up during a visit to Indonesia by an IMF team, which ended Friday. Approval of the new letter of intent by the IMF board is vital for the release of a 400 million dollar loan tranche under an IMF program, which has been stalled since late last year.
Indonesia's top economics minister, Burhanuddin Abdullah said last week the government expected the IMF to disburse the 400 million dollar tranche before September.
The draft said parliament's approval in June of the government's revised budget assumptions will reduce the deficit blowout by some 2.2 percentage points this year, increasing the likelihood that the government will maintain the forecast budget deficit at 3.7 percent of GDP.
The revised 2001 budget includes new cost-cutting and revenue- raising targets. Measures include cuts in development spending, fuel price rises of over 30 percent for non-industrial users and electricity price rises for large consumers of 17.5 percent on average. A second electricity price increase is expected to be completed in October.
The draft said the 2002 budget proposal, to be submitted to parliament soon, will include new measures to boost tax revenues, reduce untargeted subsidies and further balance fiscal decentralisation.
The government will maintain its policy of freezing the total number of civil service jobs and zero real wage growth in 2002, pending civil service reform including performance-based policies, it said.
Monetary policy was being tightened in line with the inflation target and to produce "real interest rates at adequate positive levels." The government would again meet with the IMF and the World Bank by mid-September to review the implementation of the 2001 budget. It had already formulated contingency measures should the review expose a shortfall in financing or an overrun of the deficit target.
The government also said that the activities of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) remained a key to the government's efforts to recover from the economic crisis which broke out in mid-1997.
"The activities of IBRA remain central to Indonesia's full recovery from crisis -- crucial to fiscal sustainability, corporate restructuring, and rebuilding investor confidence," the draft letter of intent said.
The draft letter of intent consists of 36 points covering the country's macroeconomic framework and policies as well as fiscal decentralisation, banking system reforms, IBRA asset recovery and restructuring and other reforms.