Democratic struggle

`The old forces are back in power'

Green Left Weekly - August 8, 2001

The ouster of President Abdurrahman Wahid and his replacement by Megawati Sukarnoputri has opened up a new, and likely volatile, era in Indonesia.

Reprinted here, in abridged form, is an interview with Budiman Sudjatmiko, the prominent and outspoken chairperson of the radical leftist PRD, the People's Democratic Party, about the likely shape of things to come in the country, from the party's daily newsletter, Our Tasks.

What are your comments on the new Megawati government?

This new government is the fruit of the conflict among the bourgeois elite. The essence of this conflict is the struggle for control of economic assets, but it manifests itself as a political conflict.

Megawati became president after she allied herself with the surviving forces of [former dictator Suharto's] New Order -- Golkar [Suharto's political party], the armed forces and the police (TNI/Polri) -- as well as the [right-wing Muslim] Central Axis.

We know that these forces have never struggled for total reformation. And in fact Golkar and the TNI/polri were the main machine used for repressing the people [under] the Suharto regime.

So there is a big chance that the democratic space may narrow?

Exactly. The current government is based on a criminal confederation of elements opposed to total reformation. The repressive methods of the New Order are being used again.

I have received reports from our comrades in East Java that just to hold normal prayer meetings now you must get permission from the regional military command. Religious teachers in Pasuruhan and Problinggo have been terrorised by the military.

So what are the prospects for finishing the process of total reformation?

We can't expect much from the ruling elite now. Megawati is not going to drag any of the Golkar people responsible for economic and political crimes before the courts. All the generals responsible for massacring the people feel safe. Megawati is in debt to these two forces -- Golkar and the TNI.

Hamzah Haz [Sukarnoputri's new vice-president] has been using his civilian militia in Yogyakarta, the Kabah Youth Movement, to terrorise the democracy movement, often working with Golkar. To expect democracy from them is just daydreaming.

With this narrowing of democratic space, why is the United States and the European Union supporting the new government?

All the talk by these capitalist countries is just empty talk. All they are concerned about is political stability. They need stable safe countries where they can invest their capital. They will even support a military coup if it will benefit their capital.

Megawati has offered them this stability. In her inaugration speech she stressed that there needed to be stability to safeguard national integrity but made no mention of strengthening human rights or democracy. This means that Mega will use the army to defend national stability.

Apart from providing them with fertile fields, Megawati is also very accommodating to international capital. International capital, through the International Monetary Fund and its agents, will find it easy to implement its plans for Indonesia: the cuts in consumer price subsidies, the privatisation of state companies. Don't be surprised if fuel prices rise again.

So what about the prospects for human rights and democracy in areas of unrest, like Aceh and West Papua?

Of course, they are under threat too. Even before [Wahid] was ousted, the army was carrying out massive terror in Aceh with great loss of life.

Now with Megawati and her narrow nationalistic jargon, repressive actions by the military will increase. We know that Megawati, because of her narrow nationalism, did not agree with East Timor becoming independent. The Papuan and Acehnese people who are demanding independence will be suppressed by Megawati, with the army as her main instrument.

So what are the tasks that face the democratic movement now?

First, I must reaffirm that the old forces of the New Order are back in power. It is important that I say this so there is no confusion.

Second, the democratic forces must escalate their resistance. This is crucial if the New Order forces are to be destroyed. We must explain this to the people too. The people's resistance must be consolidated in organs of resistance, from the neighbourhood to the national level.

Why not set up anti-New Order poskos [security and organising posts] in strategic spots like markets, factories, bus terminals? We need these to consolidate any resistance. In the future, these poskos can be the basis for alternative institutions to replace the rotting state institutions -- alternative parliaments, government institutions.

The people's protests must be continued as well. Golkar offices, parliament buildings, army headquarters, government offices all must be targets. These are the places where the forces of the New Order still nest.

The people have to seize their sovereignty. There has to be an early election. And it has to be carried out by a provisional government, [whatever] we call it. There is no way we can trust either the executive or legislative that exists today, given how it is dominated by forces from the New Order.

A provisional government must be constituted by all the forces that have consistently fought to destroy the power of the New Order forces.

And so that any election is genuinely democratic, Golkar has to be put on trial first. Golkar has to be held responsible for all its crimes, institutional and individual.

The generals too have to be brought before the courts. The army has to be returned to the barracks and the dual [internal political and external defence] function of the TNI/Polri has to be dismantled in all its aspects.

Elite squabbles, army arrests, people protest

Green Left Weekly - August 8, 2001

Max Lane -- An intense struggle is underway within the Indonesian elite over how to divide up the spoils after the ousting of President Abdurrahman Wahid. On August 3, 12 days after Megawati Sukarnoputri was elected president by the People's Consultative Assembly, it was announced that it would still be another week before she would announce her cabinet.

The coalition of political parties which backed Sukarnoputri and her PDIP -- Golkar, the party of former dictator Suharto, and the parties of the right-wing Muslim Central Axis -- are insisting on an all-party cabinet.

Amien Rais, the chairperson of one of the largest parties in the Central Axis and the speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly, has openly threatened not to cooperate with Sukarnoputri if he does not get his way. Golkar chairperson Akbar Tanjung has also criticised the new president for being too slow and not sufficiently involving his party in deliberations.

Adding pressure to Sukarnoputri has been a spate of bombings in Jakarta -- the dominant view in political circles in the capital is that they are the work of military elements keen on ensuring that she agrees to Golkar and Central Axis demands.

Meanwhile, the military has stepped up arrests of democratic activists seen as a threat to its dominance. It appears that there is now a consistent policy of arresting people under the colonial-era Haatzai Artikelen, which makes it an offense punished by a long prison sentence to "spread hatred" against the government.

On July 31, police in Surabaya arrested eight activists who were distributing anti-Golkar and anti-military leaflets, issued by the Council for the Salvation of the People's Sovereignty.

Those arrested included two members of the provincial parliament, Mustawiyanto and M. Rozak, four members of the mass religious organisation Nahdlatul Ulama, Yoni Fatahillah, Hamka Cahyaning, Ahmad Kawakid and Abdul Hadi, and two members of the People's Democratic Party (PRD), Febri Erfinanto and Rudi Akhikoh. Mustawiyanto and Rozak are the first members of parliament to be arrested on political charges since the 1965 crackdown in Indonesia.

In Bandung, the West Java police have issued an arrest warrant for Natalia Scholastica, the West Java chairperson of the PRD. She is charged with incitement to protest in relation to the Bandung worker protests that occurred in June. Nineteen Bandung- based activists have been held as political prisoners in the city's police headquarters since June 15.

In the same week, authorities in Jakarta also arrested seven police officers in the detectice service, the police academy and human resources area. They had met informally several times to discuss the legality of top police officials' refusal to obey the orders of former president Wahid. They are now being charged under various laws relating to insubordination.

On August 2, the police arrested Faisal Syaifuddin, the chairperson of the Jakarta office of the Aceh Referendum Information Centre (SIRA).

A police spokesperson stated that he was being charged under the "spreading hatred" laws. However, pressed by journalists in Jakarta, he also stated that Syaifuddin was being held because he had hindered investigations into an accidental bomb explosion in an Acehnese student hostel last year.

Mohammed Nazar, the Aceh-based chairperson of SIRA, was arrested last year for organising a demonstration in Aceh and is now serving a sentence of 10 months in prison. Also now in prison is Kautsar, the chairperson of the Acehnese People's Democratic Resistance Front, and nine other of its activists or supporters.

As yet the arrests have not dented the people's resistance. Demonstrations continue to occur daily throughout Indonesia, mostly students in the cities or supporters of Wahid, mainly peasants and workers in the small towns of East Java.

In the East Javanese city of Jember, a Jember People's Congress of about 10,000 delegates rejected the Sukarnoputri government and demanded early elections and the trial of Golkar and military officials. There are plans for similar assemblies in other East Javanese towns, as well as for an East Java-wide assembly in Surabaya.

On August 3, scores of organisations belonging to the People's Struggle Alliance held a demonstration in Merdeka Square in Jakarta on the occasion of the return to Jakarta of Abdurrahman Wahid.

The alliance is demanding early elections and the trial of Golkar and the generals. Among alliance supporters are most of the student activist organisations, the People's Democratic Party, the Indonesian National Front for Workers' Struggles and numerous outspoken pro-democracy intellectuals and academics.

There has even been a string of demonstrations by journalists demanding that President Sukarnoputri not re-establish the Ministry of Information, which was used by Suharto and Habibie to control the press but which was abolished by Wahid.

Fighting for a say

Chronicle Foreign Service - August 7, 2001

Ian Timberlake, Jakarta -- Petrus Hariyanto sees the fate of his tiny political party as a symbol of what's to come under Indonesia's new president, Megawati Sukarnoputri.

In the hilltop city of Bandung, about 60 miles southeast of Jakarta, the office of his leftist People's Democratic Party (PRD) remains closed several weeks after police used the pretext of violent demonstrations against rising gas prices and new labor laws to shut them down.

Though the PRD is a social democratic party with no seats in parliament and just 10,000 members nationwide, Hariyanto, its secretary general, insists it is "an official party, a valid party."

That has made no difference to police officials. They seized documents and arrested seven PRD members as well as 13 representatives of other left-wing political groups who remain in jail charged with inciting violence.

Numerous observers say that as the political campaign to impeach Megawati's predecessor, Abdurrahman Wahid, escalated this year, the PRD was the target of an ongoing campaign by police, radical Islamic groups and opposition political parties as part of a strategy to weaken the reformist Wahid's support base.

Some observers fear that persecution of such democratic leftist groups will continue under Megawati. They say she is too close to the military and the Golkar party, which was the political vehicle for former strongman Gen. Suharto during his repressive 32-year regime.

During Wahid's 21-month attempt to strip the military of its influence, "the room for them to operate was relatively tight," Hariyanto said. "But now it is more open to act against democratic groups." Despite Wahid's erratic behavior and failure to successfully prosecute members of the Suharto regime for corruption and human rights abuses, some Indonesians saw the 61- year-old, nearly blind Muslim cleric as the best hope for democratic reform. Before Wahid flew to the United States late last month for medical treatment, thousands of supporters turned out to say farewell to the first democratically elected leader in Indonesian history.

With shouts of protest, they voiced their concern that the Golkar-military alliance would return to power under Megawati.

Journalists have protested across the country about reports that Megawati's party is considering the reinstatement of the Ministry of Information, which Suharto used to censor and control the press. Wahid dissolved the ministry in 1999. In a recent letter, the Committee to Protect Journalists, in New York, asked Megawati to "ensure publicly that your new administration will not take any steps to curtail the hard-won freedoms of the Indonesian press."

Megawati's apparent closeness to the military and her staunch nationalist views -- she was a vehement opponent of independence for East Timor -- also have left observers in fear of an all-out war against separatist movements in gas-rich Aceh and mineral- rich Irian Jaya provinces.

"[The military] is the source of conflict," said Smita Notosusanto, who heads a group seeking to revise Indonesia's vaguely worded constitution, which doesn't clearly define the division of powers between the executive and legislative branches. The document was a major source of contention between Wahid and parliament.

Yet many military officers say they are no longer involved in day-to-day politics and are committed to the democratization process. "We are not politicians," said Major Yunus, a navy officer. "We don't care if it's Megawati or Wahid. We are different than before."

Although the police were removed from the military's direct control under Wahid, leading figures in both structures maintain an ideological aversion to nongovernmental organizations and democratic leftist groups -- especially the PRD -- which they believe are "subversive," analysts say. The PRD is led by the bespectacled Budiman Sudjatmiko, a 31-year-old former student activist who was sentenced to 13 years in jail for subversion in 1996 by the Suharto regime and freed by Wahid in 1999.

In an interview with Detik.com, an Internet news service, police spokesman Col. Anton Bachrul Alam said he suspected an unnamed nongovernmental organization had bombed a Jakarta church a day before legislators voted unanimously to impeach Wahid and install Megawati as the leader of the world's fourth-most populous nation. "This group is always trying to pit security forces against the people," said Alam.

In June, police detained 32 foreigners attending a seminar on economics and politics organized by Sudjatmiko on suspicion they had violated the terms of their visas. The foreigners -- including 20 Australians and one American -- were carted off in police trucks, held in jail until early morning and sent back to their hotels without their passports.

The police also allegedly allowed an Islamic militia, the Ka'Bah Youth Movement (GPK), to rough up the conference's Indonesian participants, witnesses said. "The use of thugs by the police and military to do their dirty job was normal practice during the Suharto era," said an editorial in the Jakarta Post after the raid.

In March, the Islamic Defenders Front took to the streets of Jakarta to rail against "communist elements" in the PRD and student groups. In June, two bomb blasts went off at Sudjatmiko's parents' home.

Unless Megawati can control military and police abuse, harassment of the PRD and other democratic groups is likely to continue, observers say. In fact, although the PRD is a small party with no political muscle, it could become a convenient "whipping boy," said political analyst Bob Lowry of the International Crisis Group in Jakarta.

"We regarded Megawati as a symbol of the oppressed, a symbol of the people's resistance," said Ribka Tjiptaning Proletariyati, who leads a minority faction within the new president's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle that believes the party has made too many compromises with former Suharto supporters. "Now we see it's far from all that."

Viewpoint: I just don't believe in her

Time Asia - August 6, 2001

Pramoedya Ananta Toer -- I don't blame President Sukarno for my arrest in the early 1960s. I blame the army. But being a political prisoner in the early 1960s was very different from being a captive of later regimes. Sukarno's political opponents were free to visit their families, to go out walking within a limited area if they wanted to. We were at least treated with respect.

Under Suharto there were no rules, nothing. You could be thrown into prison without first going to court. If you were found with anything to read, even a piece of torn newspaper, you could be killed. If you were a prisoner in Jakarta you could receive visitors -- but for that you had to pay.

In 1979, when I left prison on Buru Island, all my papers were taken from me. I was in a group of 40 who were separated from the others. When our ship was north of Madura, my group was taken off the boat. It looked like the authorities were planning to hide us away somewhere. But by chance, someone from the Catholic church in Buru heard we were going to be exiled and he spread the news. So when we were put ashore in the Madura Straits and found a vehicle there ready to take us to Nusakambangan, the notorious prison, the world was already watching. And as a result, with numerous foreign ambassadors as witnesses, the government was forced to give us our release papers.

During Suharto's New Order regime, Megawati, Sukarno's daughter, served in parliament. After her father was overthrown, the New Order government gave her a house and salary as a member of parliament. But did she ever say anything about the way her father was treated? Did she ever protest when her fellow countrymen were imprisoned? Never. Did she ever call Suharto to task?

Never! But then she's not alone. Even after Suharto resigned, no one would take him to task, no one dared to bring him to trial. Silently, through his New Order protege, he still holds power in this country.

Megawati came to power on the crest of a wave of youth rebellion. Those kids didn't really think about it; they didn't have any other figurehead, so they adopted her because she was Sukarno's daughter. That's all she is.

Maybe Megawati hasn't read her father's books. I don't see that she has inherited any of his better characteristics. She has no experience. There is no evidence that she can resolve the country's problems. Yes, she might visit places where conflict has occurred, but for no other reason than to show her tears. Her heart goes out to the people, she says, but that's the most they get. The villagers praise her, but that's because of ignorance. They don't know her.

No one seems to realize that Indonesia is entering a period of social revolution. The signs are there. It can be seen in the farmers who, having had their land stolen from them during the New Order, are now taking it back by force. It can be seen in the protests by farmers outside regional parliament buildings. It can be seen in the attacks on hundreds of police and military posts. In the past, these very same people would have let themselves be robbed of their voices, but now they are fighting back. Whether they realize it or not, they are the vanguard of a social revolution. Now the nation needs a leader. We've fallen behind; Indonesia is exhausted.

People like to say that Indonesians are so friendly and polite, but that kind of view seems to be nothing more than a leftover tourism slogan. There is a struggle going on, and it is being controlled by people in Jakarta -- by the very same people who have done such things in the past. As I see it, there is no real leadership at present; there are just people with power. That students are now part of the democratic process is a sign of progress; indeed, the change we have seen can be credited to the younger generation. This is not what Megawati fought for. She didn't do anything. The kids, the students, did the fighting and she is here now to enjoy the results of their sacrifice.

[Pramoedya Ananta Toer, author of The Buru Quartet and The Mute's Soliloquy, is a former political prisoner.]

Regimes change, but activist keeps fighting

South China Morning Post - August 6, 2001

Vaudine England, Jakarta -- In a quirk of history, two very different Indonesian women won honours recently.

Megawati Sukarnoputri became President, and 28-year old Dita Indah Sari won a newly created gong -- a women's category added this year to the annual Magsaysay Emerging Leaders awards, presented by a Philippine foundation in honour of former president Ramon Magsaysay.

While Ms Megawati was the acceptable middle-class face of opposition to Suharto, it was Ms Sari and her colleagues who ran the underground cells, bore the brunt of oppression and saw friends die and disappear.

While Ms Megawati represents the core of unitary-state nationalism, which would retrieve East Timor from independence if it could, Ms Sari was the lone Indonesian voice two years ago speaking in support of East Timor's right to self-determination. When even many of her progressive friends were in shock at the insult to Indonesian nationhood, it was Ms Sari who said the sooner Jakarta let go of East Timor the better.

Both women are university dropouts. But whereas Ms Megawati's lack of academic achievement resulted from the vagaries of her father's career as founding president, for Ms Sari the end to her studies came through activism and imprisonment.

Ms Sari's career as a labour organiser and member of the small, legal and left-leaning People's Democratic Party was strangely intertwined with Ms Megawati's. Just before military-backed thugs attacked Ms Megawati's office in 1996, dozens of activists such as Ms Sari were rounded up, beaten, jailed and blamed for the attack and resulting unrest. Sentenced in 1997 to five years in jail for subversion, she was released in mid-1999. While Ms Sari was in jail, her mother died but she was not allowed out for the funeral.

Nowadays, Ms Sari is a savvy leader of the National Front for the Indonesian Workers' Struggle. She can whip up demonstrations of thousands of workers who, understandably, believe they have a right to earn more than US$40 a month.

Ms Sari was born on December 30, 1972, in Medan, Sumatra, to middle-class parents and moved to Jakarta in 1988. Her workers' movement now has more than 20,000 members, and she makes no secret of the fact that the bigger it gets the better. From a beginning among women workers in textile, shoe, food and drinks factories, she has now included maritime workers and others. She is represented in 14 provinces across the country, including Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Bali and Kalimantan. International Labour Organisation rules about freedom of association and the likes were ratified by former president Bacharuddin Habibie in 1998, but it took two years and three ministers before her union was recognised.

"Just as in the Suharto era, there is now a growing trend among politicians and bureaucrats trying to justify anti-labour policies by giving greater priority to foreign investors and so- called industrial peace," Ms Sari said earlier this year.

Cheap labour provided the bedrock of Indonesia's economic growth under Suharto and bore the brunt when the economic crisis came. But little has changed and employers are still able to sack hundreds of workers who merely want more pay. But Ms Megawati will no doubt intrude into Ms Sari's life as the Government's overriding goal of economic progress takes hold. But no matter how long it takes for Ms Sari to achieve her goals, she is determine to carry on leading the fight.

East timor

Court told of beating until death

Sydney Morning Herald - August 8, 2001

Mark Dodd -- A court holding the territory's first war crimes trial heard graphic evidence yesterday about the torture and murder of a pro-independence guerilla by Indonesian special forces.

Ten members of the Indonesian-trained Team Alfa militia gang are on trial for 13 murders committed in four separate incidents in eastern Los Palos between April and September 1999. Another defendant, Lieutenant Syaful Anwar, a member of Indonesia's special forces command, Kopassus, remains at large in Indonesia.

In the court yesterday a former member of the Team Alfa militia, a group trained and armed by Kopassus, gave evidence that he had been present during the interrogation and murder of Mr Evaristo Lopes, a Falintil guerilla member, at the main Kopassus base in Los Palos. The court ordered the identity of the witness be protected.

On April 21 Team Alfa members abducted Mr Lopes in Los Palos. After militia members beat him in the street, Anwar ordered that Mr Lopes be taken to the Team Alfa base, the witness said. Anwar ordered that Mr Lopes be killed with a bayonet, the witness said. He was stabbed, and when he did not die immediately he was kicked by four or five militia members. "They jumped on him and stamped him until he was dead."

The United Nations administration in East Timor has indicted a further four suspects for crimes against humanity after the territory voted for independence in 1999. The territory's chief prosecutor, Mr Mohamed Othman, said: "This is the first time we have indicted for this scale of deportation."

Indonesia rejects UN proposal for land link to East Timor enclave

Agence France Presse - August 9, 2001

The Indonesian government has rejected a United Nations proposal for a land link between East Timor and its Oecussi enclave in West Timor, a report said Thursday.

The refusal of the proposal by the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) was based on security considerations, said East Nusa Tenggara province vice governor Yohanes Pake Pani.

"UNTAET has already made the proposal and during a joint meeting it had put the proposal on the table for further discussions in one of the subcommittees, but we continue to reject the proposal," Pani said, according to the Antara news agency. He was referring to meetings of a joint committee between Jakarta and UNTAET.

The enclave, which has a sea outlet, is part of East Timor but surrounded by Indonesian West Timor.

Pani, whose province includes West Timor, said the two sides would reopen talks on traffic in the border area in September. Finding a model for cross-border cooperation and security in the frontier area would also be discussed. Pani said that as long as cross-border cooperation was not defined, both sides would be unable to tackle the illegal markets of smugglers which have sprouted along both sides of the border.

But Indonesian authorities say they will be vigilant to essential commodities sold in the illegal markets so that West Timor will not suffer from shortages in light of higher prices in East Timor.

East Timor is currently under UN supervision and will hold elections for a constituent assembly on August 30 in preparation for independence, after voting in 1999 to split from Indonesia.

Refugee registration a sham

Tapol Bulletin 162 - August 2001

On 6 and 7 June, the Indonesian government went ahead with controversial plans to register East Timorese refugees in West Timor and determine whether they wished to remain in Indonesia or return to East Timor. With militias still in control of the refugee camps and security conditions preventing the direct involvement of the international community, the process was a dangerous sham which has done nothing to contribute to the safe repatriation or re-settlement of the refugees.

The final figures for the registration showed that 295,751 refugees were registered of which 113,794 were over the age of 17 years. Of those over 17, 98.02 per cent opted to remain in Indonesia. These figures -- both for the total number of refugees and the proportion wishing to remain in Indonesia -- are far too high and clearly do not reflect the refugees' real wishes and long-term intentions. Local NGOs estimate that around 65 per cent of the refugees would prefer to return to East Timor at some stage.

The fact that the international community allowed the Indonesian government to go ahead with the registration is highly regrettable. Serious questions have to be asked about why the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) funded almost half the costs (using money provided by the European Union) and why the UN Transitional Administration for East Timor (UNTAET) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) lent credibility to the process by sending observers. Their involvement begs the question as to who will challenge the Indonesian authorities' handling of the refugee crisis and who is actually looking after the interests of the refugees. Almost two years after the East Timorese were forced into West Timor, it appears that the answer is nobody.

International diplomatic and media attention on the refugee crisis has waxed and waned since September 1999 when over 250,000 East Timorese were forcibly driven to West Timor following the post-ballot violence in East Timor. There was some renewal of interest after the murder of three UNHCR workers in Atambua, West Timor in September 2000, which resulted in the withdrawal of all international aid organisations and UN agencies. However, consistent and significant lobbying on behalf of the refugees has never materialised in either an international or East Timorese context.

Ironically, more international outrage was expressed over the light sentences handed out to those charged in connection with the UNHCR killings than was expressed over the plight of the tens of thousands of refugees who had been without significant humanitarian assistance for nine months. Never mind the fact that there has been no justice for the West Timorese also killed by militia in and around Atambua at the time of the UNHCR killings.

Indonesia presses ahead regardless

In this vacuum of international concern, the Indonesian government forged ahead with its own solution to the problem with very little resistance from any quarter. The registration process it conducted was deeply flawed. In particular, it did not address the rampant militia intimidation, corruption and aggression that would prevent the refugees making a free and informed choice.

In November 2000, a UN Security Council mission to East Timor recommended that a team of experts should assess the security situation in West Timor and that the registration process should not start until the team had verified that it could be carried out safely. That security assessment was only started on 8 July, after the registration was completed.

The official participation of organisations such as UNTAS (a pro-integration political organisation associated with the militias) in publicising the registration undermined the neutrality of the process and should have been prohibited at all stages. The fact that the actual outcome almost matched an UNTAS prediction that 95 per cent of refugees would indicate a wish to remain in Indonesia is a clear indication that the whole process was tightly controlled by the pro-Indonesia forces.

The criterion that refugees had to register with their "heads of families" nullified any illusion that the process would provide a comprehensive and accurate survey of refugees' intentions, bearing in mind that the majority of families in West Timor are headed by males, who are either militia or associated with the Indonesian military (TNI) or under their influence. Many refugees were swept into West Timor from villages dominated by militia leaders and are still helplessly under the authority of those leaders. Whole families and communities would have had no option but to register according to the dictates of the militias or face violent retribution.

Only 12 international observers were present to cover 507 registration stations, 1,600 registration officials, 80 field supervisors and no less than 4,504 security personnel from the TNI and police. Even if the proposed number of 34 international observers had arrived and participated, they would never have had the capacity to comprehensively monitor the entire process. Several local NGOs with long experience of dealing with the refugee crisis were not given accreditation.

The fact that in the event the registration on 6 and 7 June was conducted in an orderly fashion and without any overt displays of violence or intimidation is largely irrelevant. The power and influence of the militias is far more insidious and operates at various levels above and below the surface. As the relative calm of the August 1999 East Timor ballot day demonstrated, the military and militias are able to turn the violence off and on at will. The atmosphere on the registration days says nothing about prior or subsequent intimidation and violence, which would have had a profound influence on the refugees' decisions. In stating that the "people had been able to express their wishes freely without fear, threat or intimidation" (see OCHA Consolidated Situation Report for Indonesia, No. 29 for 15-22 June 2001), UNTAET and IOM were at best extremely naove and at worst complicit in the violation of the refugees" rights.

The report of the international observers -- including UNTAET and IOM -- is a disgraceful cop-out. Incredibly, the word "militia" is not used once throughout the entire six-page report. In a perversion of language, the observers prefer to use the term "refugee community leader". There is no reference to the general security situation in West Timor and its impact on the process. The observers were more concerned with technical issues such as whether the registration started on time and whether proper ink marking was used. The only worthwhile outcome of the mission was the finding that "the ballot should be viewed as a choice made by the refugees on the day, and not necessarily as an indication of their permanent intentions".

A rushed and deeply-flawed process

The process was driven in part by the wish to complete the registration and repatriation in time for refugees to register for the East Timorese elections on 30 August 2001. That may have been a laudable objective, but the overriding objective of the process should have been to ensure that the refugees were able to make a free and informed choice about where they wished to live. The Indonesian authorities should not have been permitted to impose a timetable for registration unrelated to the situation on the ground in West Timor. If anything, the East Timorese authorities should have considered postponing the elections until conditions in West Timor allowed for the registration, repatriation and re-settlement of the refugees according to international standards for the protection of refugees.

Apart from the major problem of militia violence and intimidation, the process was seriously flawed in failing to take account of the complexities of the refugees' circumstances and intentions.

Frank Brennan, Country Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service in East Timor wrote to Sergio de Mello, the head of UNTAET two months before the registration saying: "Asking the simple question whether people 'wish to return to East Timor or whether they wish to settle permanently in Indonesia" will provide little guidance about people's real intentions." After the registration, he said: "It is impossible to read any sense into the result of such a simplistic survey conducted with inadequate public education and security." He pointed out that many refugees actually wanted to wait and see what happens after the elections in East Timor. Others were still awaiting assurances regarding their homes and land. Some who wish to settle in Indonesia want to do so only if they can stay in West Timor; others want to stay so long as their salaries are paid by the Indonesian authorities. He went on: "Most East Timorese want to return home eventually. Most of those still in the camps want to stay in West Timor in the foreseeable future. We all knew that before the registration. The registration results will now be used by the Government of Indonesia, UNHCR and UNTAET to rationalise the abandonment of the majority of the people left in the camps on the basis that they have exercised a choice to stay. UNHCR described this registration as 'a necessary first step towards identifying and promoting durable solutions for East Timor refugees ..." It was nothing of the sort. It was a further step backwards after the international community's departure in September 2000 and will now be used as a step along the way of UNHCR's withdrawal from Timor before these people have pursued their preferred durable solution.

"Any registration of intention [to remain or return] in camps as insecure as those in West Timor is dangerous and imprudent unless the anonymity of the registrants can be assured. Even if anonymity be assured, there is a need for transparent, independent socialisation about the process, none of which was in evidence when I visited camps around Atambua two weeks before the registration. The international community should not have given any endorsement [let alone paid for] a registration process which could proceed in a closed environment where militia leaders and their political masters enjoy a campaign monopoly without independent scrutiny. In one camp, even I was seen as an apologist for UNTAET because I was giving both sides of the story.

There was little public understanding in the camps about the purpose or nature of the registration process. And yet UNHCR covered half the costs ... UNHCR would never have conducted such a process itself in camps where it had open and secure access. Pragmatism dictated the funding of a flawed process" (Frank Brennan SJ, "Bridging Diverse Issues and Converging Interests in the West Pacific", The Australian Studies Centre University of Indonesia International Seminar, Jakarta, 13 June 2001).

Confusion was also caused by the fact that the registration was publicised by many people -- including the Indonesian task force responsible for its administration -- as a vote. The outcome was described as the "result" and those who failed to indicate their intentions were said to have "abstained". Dis-information was spread by some militia that this was a re-run of the 1999 ballot in East Timor; the intention being to scare people into "voting" to stay in Indonesia in order to avoid a reprise of the 1999 violence and devastation.

The outcome of the process was also seriously distorted by people registering in more than one place and non-refugees registering in order to obtain food and aid from the Indonesian government. This explains the high figure for the total number of refugees. The government's budget for the registration included plans for an extensive TV and print media socialisation campaign, registration of refugees outside of West Timor, try out registration runs in Tuapukan and Haliwen camps and money for indelible ink to be used on registration day. None of this was done and UNHCR must hold the government properly to account for the expenditure of the money it was given.

International community must now act

It is now incumbent on the international community to hold the Indonesian Government to account for all its decisions regarding the refugees and the results of the registration. Once re- settlement commences, it will be much harder to monitor the ongoing welfare of the refugees especially if they are taken to other parts of Indonesia against their will. There is increasing concern about what has happened to those who opted to return to East Timor. If the Indonesian government has neither the means nor the will to proceed with the re-settlement and repatriation then all other efforts must continue to ensure freedom of choice for all those who remain in West Timor. The myriad of reasons for the ongoing refugee problem remain and must be addressed.

There are signs that Jakarta wants to deal with the crisis, but is powerless to confront the militias who are holding the upper hand. The Indonesian Government is also unable to confront the problem of disgruntled TNI elements, which refuse to accept the loss of East Timor and are determined to prolong the refugee crisis as a source of instability and possible means of revenge against the East Timorese. In April, the OCHA stated: "TNI spokesman Rear Marshal Graito Usodo said that a certain elite group is still attempting to motivate former militiamen of the pro-integration group to reoccupy East Timor. He did not elaborate." (OCHA report No. 20, 20 April 2001) While the militias and TNI elements are succeeding in their long-term objective of keeping the refugees in the camps, the Government appears to be concerned about the social and economic consequences of large numbers of refugees remaining in Indonesia. Security minister, Agum Gumelar has said that he hopes tens of thousands of the East Timorese refugees will return home (Jakarta Post, 21 June 2001), while minister of resettlement and infrastructure, Erna Witoelar, has admitted that Indonesia is unable to shoulder the burden of all the refugees who have said they want to stay (Jakarta Post, 18 June 2001). The Governor of East Nusa Tenggara province, which includes West Timor, said that the province could accommodate only 6,000 refugees (OCHA, 15-22 June 2001).

Indonesia also has to cope with the massive problem of an estimated 1.25 million internally displaced persons in other provinces, such as Maluku (Jakarta Post, 12 July).

The problem of salaries and pensions remains an issue that affects up to 20,000 East Timorese refugees in West Timor. Negotiations during bilateral talks held in Denpasar, Bali in May between UNTAET and the Indonesian government made some progress regarding a planned severance or compensation fund for former state employees. In this connection, a consolidated appeal for West Timor refugees will probably be launched by Indonesia and the United Nations in July. However, a timetable for the scheme needs to be clearly defined and implemented as soon as possible.

Continuing disinformation regarding the security situation in East Timor and general confusion about the upcoming election and predicted violence are still major factors for non-return. Contact with family members and friends who have already returned to East Timor remains the most trusted manner in which refugees receive reliable information. "Border Reunions" should be restarted in order for information from both sides of the border to be disseminated from and to communities who trust one another in the same manner that "Go and See" visits and/or border meetings should be instigated at a grassroots level. A community approach to reconciliation and reintegration will be a much more effective way of fostering trust and successful return. Some local and international NGOs have been carrying out effective work in this area but do not have the capacity to bear this burden in full.

In this respect, there must be a more co-ordinated approach to reconciliation. High level delegations and visits do not impact at the grassroots level and can lead to more confusion and distrust amongst the ordinary refugee population. Reconciliation talks with militia leaders, although important for the future stability of East Timor, do nothing to encourage refugee return. They merely consolidate and legitimise the power militia leaders have in the refugee camps and increase the distrust refugees have of the UN, whom they see negotiating with the very people keeping them in West Timor.

UNTAET and the East Timorese leadership must take affirmative action to ensure the best possible conditions for return. Although foreign minister, Josi Ramos-Horta, publicly criticised the registration process as "an absolute farce" (AP, 8 June 2001), it is time for more than words. Motivated by financial and some international pressure, the Indonesia government has been the only body to take decisive action on the refugee problem in the last nine months; the registration being its solution. Not one of East Timor's new political parties has spoken about the potential refugee voters who are not being allowed the opportunity to participate in their country's future. If neither the international community nor the East Timorese show an interest, then who will hold the Indonesian government to account? If tens of thousands of refugees are forcibly resettled to other parts of Indonesia, who will take responsibility for their plight? Judging from recent history on West Timor, the answer, again, is nobody.

Socialists build support in East Timor

Green Left Weekly - August 8, 2001

Jon Land -- With elections to the country's first post-occupation Constituent Assembly due on August 30, East Timor's socialists are building up their support across the country and are confident of good results.

The Socialist Party of Timor is unique amongst all the parties contesting the elections: it's the only one running on an openly socialist and Marxist platform.

But getting information out about the party has been no easy task. "We have many technical and logistical problems because we have few funds with which to run an election campaign", PST secretary general, Avelino da Silva, told Green Left Weekly.

"We could fill a hundred trucks or more with our supporters from the districts for rallies, but we cannot afford to pay for so much transport".

As with all the other parties contesting the elections, the PST receives very limited support from the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor.

Without such backing, the PST and the other new, smaller parties have found it difficult to compete against the larger, better resourced ones, such as Fretilin, the Timorese Democratic Union or the Social Democratic Party, who can also draw upon relatively wealthy supporters from within East Timor and from the diaspora. "Despite our difficulties, there is a good morale in the party at the moment", Da Silva said.

One advantage the PST has is that it can draw upon a broad spread of experiences. It has many young activists who were former students in Indonesia and at the University of East Timor involved in the clandestine resistance and the Indonesian pro- democracy movement, but also an older cadre of former Falintil fighters and Fretilin activists.

With the limited resources it has, the PST has concentrated on sendings its cadres from Dili to the districts, to help local groups and open new offices.

Film-maker and solidarity activist Jill Hickson, recently returned from East Timor, told Green Left Weekly "With very little, the PST is achieving quite a lot. They are determined to make the most of the campaign period." Hickson, who is putting the finishing touches on a film about East Timor, added that, while "the lack of resources and funds is a constant frustration", the PST is "better organised than they were even a few months ago".

In the elections, the party is campaigning for the restoration of the Democratic Republic of East Timor, which was proclaimed on November 28, 1975 in Dili, including its constitution and founding declaration, its anthem and its flag.

The party argues for the restoration of the democratic republic on the grounds that, according to a recently released political manual, it "was formed on the wishes of the majority of the East Timor people and in accordance with the revolutionary spirit of the period" and because "the proclamation at the time broke all historical bonds with colonialism".

"The concept of the struggle of the East Timorese people over the last 24 years was for the liberation of the nation from the colonial oppression, this concept of nationhood ... inspired the spirit of sacrifice by the East Timorese people".

The party describes its goals as "the liberation of East Timor based on the values of socialist philosophy to create a society which is just, democratic and based on solidarity. The PST bases itself on the doctrine of Marxism-Leninism which is used not as a dogma but rather as a tool to analyse social development and a tool for action aiming towards the formation of a socialist society".

The party also argues that a parliamentary system is preferable to a presidential one, and for the separation of powers between the legislature, the executive and judiciary. A president should have limited functions.

The party has also backed the provision of free education and free health services, the rejection of all forms of discrimination and full employment for all East Timorese.

In order to facilitate these rights, the PST "supports the takeover and [enforcement of] a process of [nationalisation] of all wealth of the Indonesian regime by the state; that all sources of the nation's natural wealth must be controlled by the government and used for the welfare of the nation and state".

Regarding the crucial issue of land reform, the PST states that "land is the communal property which was stolen by the colonialism of Portugal and Indonesia and handed over to migrants or the bourgeois class, which to this day has been mismanaged or has been managed without protection and social consideration, and must immediately be nationalised and returned to the local peasant communities. This land will become the property of the community for self-sufficiency based on the principal of cooperative work".

"The PST's political manual and program clearly puts it to the left of any other party contesting the elections", Hickson told Green Left Weekly. "They have established strong bases in many rural areas, despite having little more than their enthusiasm and ideas to win people over".

Hickson believes that whatever the result of the elections, the PST will be a key player in the country's future. "They are very serious about building a left, socialist alternative in East Timor".

More than 400,000 eligible to vote in historic election

Lusa - August 9, 2001

Electoral officials in Dili said Thursday that final voters' lists for East Timor's August 30 constituent assembly elections contained 409,019 eligible voters, after additions made in corrections of faulty preliminary lists.

Carlos Valenzuela of the Independent Election Commission stressed that any eligible voter who had registered but whose name did not appear on the lists could still cast a ballot on presentation of registration documents.

The corrected lists, which show Dili with more than 72,000 eligible voters, include 26,331 more names than the preliminary lists, which were earlier described as being marred by "systematic errors", Valenzuela said.

On August 30 the East Timores will choose an 88-seat constituent assembly to draw up the UN-administered territory's first constitution, a milestone in the countdown to independence, from among 16 parties and 16 nonpartisan candidates.

Diggers trained me, says Timor thug

Sydney Morning Herald - August 10, 2001

Mark Dodd in Dili and Craig Skehan in Canberra -- An East Timorese militia leader who served in the Indonesian Army's special forces and is on trial for war crimes -- including the murder of a nun -- says he was trained by Australian soldiers.

Joni Marques, a 37-year-old East Timorese, told his Dili trial that he had played the role of a Falintil pro-independence guerilla in an exercise involving Australian and Indonesian troops in Java in 1993.

In 1986, he had helped the Indonesian military set up Team Alpha, one of the first pro-Indonesian militias in East Timor, and had been recruited to Kopassus, Indonesia's special forces.

Australian military sources said that the Australian unit most likely to have been involved in the exercise was the elite Perth-based Special Air Service Regiment. The SAS took part in several exercises with Kopassus in the early 1990s but Australia had abandoned this practice in 1998 after months of damaging publicity over the Indonesian unit, which is accused of widespread abuses in East Timor, Aceh, Irian Jaya (West Papua) and elsewhere.

A Defence Department spokesman, Mr Tim Bloomfield, said that it was a matter of record that the Australian Defence Force had trained Indonesian soldiers but "it was not until 1998 that there were militias as we now know them". "We certainly have not trained any militias," he said.

A spokesmen for the Foreign Minister, Mr Downer, said questions about the training of Indonesians by Australia was a matter for the former Labor government and the Opposition Leader, Mr Beazley, who was defence minister at the time. Last month the former Labor foreign minister, Mr Gareth Evans, said that "many of our earlier training efforts helped only to produce more professional human rights abusers".

The Herald has obtained a transcript of the evidence given by Marque at East Timor's first war crimes trial on July 11. He did not identify the Australian unit involved in his training but said that during war games devised by the Australians he had played the role of a guerilla being pursued by Australian troops.

Marques is one of 10 defendants, all members of the Team Alfa militia which he commanded, facing 13 counts of murder, assault, kidnapping, torture, persecution and forced deportation of civilians between April and September 1999. A serving member of Kopassus, Lieutenant Saiful Anwar, has also been charged and is believed to be at large in Indonesia.

The prosecution alleges that Marques took part in the torture and murder of Evaristo Lopes, a Falintil member, in April 1999. He is also accused of planning the ambush and murder of a group of clergy, church workers, an Indonesian journalist and a teenage boy near Los Palos on September 25, 1999. It is also alleged that he shot dead a wounded nun.

Marques told the court he had been selected for specialist training by the former Kopassus commander Lieutenant-General Probowo Subianto, son-in-law of the disgraced former president Soeharto. He said the training took place in 1984 at Los Palos and Bandung, Java, in 1993. Australian soldiers had been involved in the Bandung training.

Widows who share a legacy of murder

Sydney Morning Herald - August 9, 2001

Mark Dodd, Maliana -- Every day a group of women meet at the shop called Nove Nove (Nine Nine) in bustling Maliana market. They share a chilling legacy. In the ninth month of the 99th year they all lost their husbands during a frenzy of army and militia killings that followed the referendum for self-determination.

Almost two years after the slaughter, memories of September 1999 have not dimmed -- for most of the women the passage of time has only sharpened their desire for justice or revenge. "I honestly want to beat them up. I lost my two children and my husband. I want to see those men and beat them with my own hands," said Rosarina Muniz.

After the announcement of the landslide vote to end 24 years of Indonesian rule Maliana descended into anarchy. Armed militia gangs spearheaded by Dadurus Merah Putih (Red and White Typhoon) and directed by Indonesian Kopassus special forces and army intelligence sought retribution against pro-independence supporters.

Ms Muniz's husband, Duarte Gouvia, was arrested as he tried to escape the violence, and her sister, Maria Gomes, witnessed his killing. Duarte was first beaten then stabbed and left to bleed to death. The militia then shot Ms Muniz's two children, Renato Goncalves, 12, and Victorino Lopes, 11.

The Nove Nove women reject any suggestion of pardons for the militia leaders and the killers who rampaged through Maliana. "We want the militia brought to justice," said Filomena Fereira da Silva, whose husband was one of 47 murdered during the Maliana police station massacre on September 8 and 9. "We want the militia tried and punished. Reconciliation means justice and a trial."

Ms da Silva, a United Nations electoral worker, was a prominent militia target. So was her husband, a pro-independence leader. By September 3, the day after UN international staff were evacuated, Maliana was under the control of the militia and the Indonesian army. As the violence escalated, many people took refuge in the grounds of the police station, the one place they considered safe.

But on September 6 the commander-in-chief of all of East Timor's militia groups, Joao Tavares, met the three most senior Indonesian security officials in Maliana, Lieutenant-Colonel Burhanuddin Siagian, his intelligence chief, Lieutenant Try Sutrisno, and the police chief, Lieutenant-Colonel Budi Susilo, and demanded a list of names of all the people inside the police compound. On September 8 the militia attacked.

"A 10-year old boy was killed right in front of me. His name was Francisco Barreto," Ms da Silva said. "My husband was dragged into another room. He was stabbed and managed to walk as far as the Junior High School and collapsed there and died from his wounds," she said.

The exact number of people killed in Maliana in 1999 may never be known, but it is thought that 47 people were murdered inside the police compound on September 8 and 9. Survivors say another 13 people who escaped the initial bloodbath were caught the next day and executed by a lake on the outskirts of town. Many more were killed as they tried to flee into the mountains.

UN Serious Crimes Unit investigators believe the death toll may be more than 200. War crimes charges arrest warrants are pending against the four key organisers but, as all the suspects live in Indonesia, it is unlikely they will be brought to justice.

East Timor veterans removed

Jakarta Post - August 8, 2001

Kupang -- Police forcibly evacuated some 500 former prointegration militiamen from East Timor on Tuesday. Grouped under the Indonesian Veterans Legion (LVRI), they demonstrated at the governor's office demanding that the Indonesian government pay greater attention to their future.

Hailing from Belu, Kovalima, Bobonaro, Oecusi, Lospalos and Alas, these former militiamen, along with their family members, were evicted at about 6.30am.

The evacuation went without incident. Some veterans said they were disappointed as the authorities rejected their demand to meet the President and the Minister of Defense in Jakarta to press their plight. They claim that the Indonesian government have abandoned them, now that their service was no longer needed.

Meanwhile, a provincial government official, Al. Foenay, who led the evacuation, said the demands of LVRI members were irrelevant. He said that some 200 of the veterans had received a donation of Rp 80 million from the local administration to fly to Jakarta.

LVRI coordinator, Gabriel Mau, said he was disappointed at the way the provincial administration and security officers had treated the former militiamen. He added that the occupation of the governor's office was actually an appeal for more attention from the government for over 1,400 veterans seeking refuge in West Timor since East Timor held a referendum in 1999.

"If the government had given us what we were entitled to, we would not be doing things like this," Gabriel said.

East Timorese captured in Indonesia, admits to spying for UN body

BBC Worldwide Monitoring - August 6, 2001

[Excerpt from report by Asih Nurhayati by Indonesian Satunet news web site on 6 August.]

An East Timorese Jose Amaral (29) caught entering East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) claimed on Saturday said he was sent to spy on the activities of TNI/Polri Indonesian National Military Forces/Police and former pro-integrationist militia leaders in Belu district.

The East Timorese youth from the Ritabau district of Maliana Bobonaro crossed the border into Indonesia through Lahurus village, East Tasifeto sub-district on 1 August but was caught. He was captured by Manubaun villagers (East Tasifeto) on Friday and taken to 1605/Belu Military District Command Headquarters on Saturday.

1605/Belu Military District Chief of Staff Maj Sapriyadi, represented by Belu Military District Commander Lt-Col Didi Sudiana, currently in Kupang, confirmed the story with Antara on Saturday in Atambua. "The youth admitted he was an UNTAET United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor spy who was being paid five US dollars per day to monitor the activities of TNI/Polri and former militia leaders in the region. His first statement will be handed over to the police to investigate further", he said.

The East Timorese youth also claimed three other friends accompanied him and they were all given orders by the Bobonaro branch Falintil East Timor National Liberation Armed Forces Commander Dominggos who was working in coordination with...

The other three were also from Ritabau and were Manuel Kudafuik, Ameu alias Dominggos and Manuel Borcas. They were able to cross into NTT with Jose Amaral on 1 August and are still in Haekesak village, East Tasifeto sub-district. The group were carrying three grenades in case the mission failed...

Aid workers wary of refugee camps

South China Morning Post - August 7, 2001

Vaudine England -- Aid groups may be reluctant to return to refugee camps in West Timor with as many personnel as before, despite the UN giving the go-ahead for workers to go back.

The decision to allow aid workers back the camps, home to tens of thousands of East Timorese refugees, follows the investigation of conditions by a security team from the world body last month. But it is contingent upon an agreement being reached regarding specific security concerns between the UN and the Indonesian Government.

Some aid groups, including the UN, have already been visiting the camps and discussing ways to restart assistance in West Timor, and UN staff have been eager to return to the West Timor capital, Kupang. But sources raised doubts that some UN agencies would want to return in full force. "Anyone who ever intended to go back went back long ago," one aid worker said.

UN workers and other foreign groups were evacuated from West Timor after a rampaging mob hacked and burned to death three international staff of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) last September. A trial of militiamen responsible for the murder resulted in sentences of only 20 months for those convicted, further disappointing the international community.

It remains unclear how long it will take for an agreement to be achieved with Jakarta, but some UN staff expect to be back in Kupang within three weeks. "The UNHCR won't be going back into the camps though, they will only be involved in the relocation or repatriation of refugees," a UN source said.

The UNHCR previously had an office in Atambua near the border with East Timor, where the September atrocities occurred, but has no plans to reopen. At the time, it was trying to carry out a registration of refugees to provide a free choice to the East Timorese as to where they wanted to live.

In the subsequent absence of international staff, the Indonesian Government carried out its own registration process, which found the majority wanted to stay in Indonesia. Some observers castigated the result, saying it was due to militia pressure on the refugee population.

A UN investigation in East Timor, meanwhile, has cleared New Zealand peacekeepers of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting last month of an Indonesian soldier. The regional military chief on the Indonesian side, General Willem da Costa, also agreed the soldier should not have been where he was when he was shot.

Timorese welcome first step by Megawati

Sydney Morning Herald - August 6, 2001

Mark Dodd -- East Timorese officials have hailed President Megawati Sukarnoputri's decision to expand the terms of an Indonesian tribunal investigating violence in East Timor in 1999.

The decision would be welcomed by independence supporters, an East Timorese government official said. "But we'll have to wait and see what it delivers. So far there has been plenty of evidence but [the Indonesian courts] haven't got out of the starting block.

"As a first step this is much more progressive than anything [former president Abdurrahman] Wahid achieved in the last six to eight months."

In one of her few acts since taking power, Ms Megawati issued a decree last week widening the scope of a special court to try those behind the bloodshed in East Timor.

A recent decision to free the notorious Aitarak militia leader Eurico Guterres was greeted with dismay by many East Timorese. However, the arrest of another anti-independence militia leader, Igidio Mnanek, has been welcomed.

Aceh/West Papua

Still hope for Aceh despite slaughter: new chief

South China Morning Post - August 11, 2001

Agencies in Jakarta and Banda Aceh -- Indonesia's new Foreign Minister, Hassan Wirayuda, said yesterday there was still room for peace talks in the troubled northern province of Aceh, where more than 1,100 people have been killed this year in escalating separatist conflict.

But Mr Wirayuda's comments seemed ill-timed, coming a day after the worst massacre in Aceh in two years. At least 30, possibly 38, civilians were killed on a palm oil plantation in an attack the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the military blamed on each other. The civilians were lined up and shot dead on the estate where they worked in East Aceh.

Mr Wirayuda, a career diplomat, has been leading the Indonesian Government in largely fruitless talks with GAM rebel representatives in Geneva since early last year. The latest talks broke down last month and Jakarta subsequently suspended two joint rebel-government committees that were monitoring security and humanitarian affairs, arresting six of the rebel members soon afterwards.

"There is still room for dialogue among all elements of Aceh society to find a peaceful resolution," Mr Wirayuda said. "I think there is still room to create an atmosphere for dialogue with all groups, including non-government organisations." There were fears in Aceh that the massacre toll would rise. A doctor from the nearby town of Idi Rayeuk said 30 bodies, including that of a three-year-old boy, had been brought into the hospital from the Bumi Flora Afdeling IV plantation. Seven people had been injured, six of them critically.

"Whether there are more victims out there is not clear and we're not game to go out there ourselves, as it's still extremely dangerous because troops are sweeping the area intensively," the doctor said. The corpses had been sent back to the plantation for mass burial, he added.

The military, blaming GAM, put the death toll at 38, with seven injured. The national armed forces chief, Admiral Widodo Adisucipto, said the rebels were to blame. "I have instructed my forces to find the GAM perpetrators," he said. "According to our reports, GAM massacred the plantation workers and stole their wages." Aceh military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Firdaus said GAM guerillas had ambushed the plantation workers as they were going to collect their wages.

"Then they were lined up and sprayed with bullets," he said, claiming the guerillas wanted the workers' wages. "Maybe this time the workers didn't want to give their money away so they were slaughtered," he said.

GAM denied any involvement and accused the military of carrying out a revenge attack on the civilians for what it said was the killing of 25 soldiers by GAM the day before.

Brimob violence engulfs Manokwari

Tapol Bulletin 162 - August 2001

Widespread police operations have been underway since March this year in the district of Manokwari in the Bird's Head region of West Papua, following armed attacks on two logging companies. In the second of these incidents, five Brimob officers were killed. Retribution against the population has led to many civilian casualties and thousands of villagers fleeing to nearby forests. The area has been sealed off as sweepings continue undetected by outside observers.

Events in Manokwari district have been a matter of deep concern for human rights organisations in West Papua and church activists from the GKI, because of the intensity of sweepings and operations conducted since April by the police force, backed up by the notorious crack police unit, Brimob and the Indonesian army, TNI.

The intensity of the response by the security forces is also related to plans by the British petroleum company, BP, to exploit huge gas reserves in and around Bintuni Bay which lies close by, to the west of Manokwari district. The governor of Irian Jaya, Salossa, has warned that security disturbances in Manokwari must not be allowed to obstruct the progress of the BP project. (Cendrawasih Pos, 19 June)

Dispute with logging company

Earlier this year, local people were in dispute with one of the many logging companies operating in the sub-district of Wasior in the southern part of Manokwari district over unsatisfactory compensation for their trees and ancestral land taken over by the concessionaire. Then, on 31 March, the base camp of the company, PT Dharma Mukti Persada (DMP), was attacked by an armed gang and three company employees were killed. Although this was almost certainly the work of a unit of the OPM's armed wing, the TPN, the security forces used the incident as the justification for bolstering their presence in the area, sending in reinforcements from the notorious crack force of the police, Brimob.

As so often happens, the local population bore the brunt of the crackdown. The police conducted sweepings in the area, entered villages and started shooting. Hundreds of terrified villagers fled into the forests, to avoid more acts of violence and intimidation. Alarming reports began to reach human rights groups in Jayapura about the catastrophe unfolding in Wasior.

Since most of the inhabitants in Wasior sub-district are members of the GKI, one of the leading Protestant churches in West Papua, the church decided to set up a Pastoral Team to go and investigate the alarming developments and do what they could to give succour to their flock. However, the local police chief refused to allow the Team to enter the sub-district and it was forced to return to Jayapura.

In late April, a group of 22 villagers from Nabire, which lies to the east, set out on a journey to visit a sacred site in Wasior. On their way home about ten days later, they were intercepted by a unit of Brimob troops who opened fire for no apparent reason as the group had shown no signs of wanting to resist the troops. Six of the men were shot dead and the other 16 who survived by taking shelter in the hold of a vessel which was to have taken them back home by sea, were all arrested. The detainees were beaten and tortured as they were being transported to the town of Manokwari, in the north. The two most gravely wounded detainees were transferred to a hospital in Jayapura while the other fourteen have been held in detention in Manokwari.

Flag-raising incident

Yet another incident occurred when the security forces in Manokwari town pulled down the Morning Star, the West Papuan flag, which had been unfurled on 1 May in the grounds of the home of the local Papuan leader, Bernadus Mandachan. The troops opened fire on the flag-raisers when they refused to lower the flag, injuring seven men and arresting twenty. Two of the five who have been held in detention are likely to face charges, along with others whom the police suspect of being involved in the flag- raising.

Brimob members killed

As the sweepings continued in Wasior sub-district, another logging company was the target of an armed attack on 13 June. Five Brimob members and a company employee were killed. These Brimob troops had been brought into the area after the attack on 31 March to provide greater protection to logging company premises.

When members of the security forces are slain, the fury of their officers knows no bounds and Wasior has become the target of yet more operations, sweepings and intimidation. An even larger area has been sealed off, stretching in the south from Fak-Fak in the west to Nabire in the east. A number of people living in the vicinity of the logging company have been rounded up and transported to Manokwari to be interrogated about the 13 June incident. The security forces have also appointed informers in all the villages, under orders to produce the men who killed the Brimob officers.

To make matters worse, two Belgian television journalists disappeared in Puncak Jaya, to the south of Wasior. It soon became apparent that they had been abducted by a local OPM group and the Belgian authorities became involved in negotiations to secure the men's release. As we went to press, it was announced that two church leaders had agreed to negotiate with the abductors to secure their release.

Human rights activists are facing tremendous problems responding to the situation in Manokwari district. Lawyers sent from Jayapura to assist the many people now in detention there have been hampered in their work and their lives even threatened by police officers, in total disregard of the right of detainees to have the assistance of legal counsel during interrogation. A human rights volunteer working in Nabire who had drawn attention to a number of mysterious murders in the town, was summoned for interrogation by the police in a clear attempt to hamper his investigations. This was how the police responded to a plea from ELS-HAM to the police to investigate the killings.

The terrible retribution being visited on the population of Wasior is bound to have dire consequences for economic and social conditions, especially if villagers are forced to abandon their villages for any length of time and are prevented from tending their gardens or hunting and fishing. This could replicate the disastrous events that overcame villagers in Timika, in the south of West Papua in 1996, when the security forces imposed a clampdown, following the release of four British scientists who had been held captive by the OPM for five months. Later investigations revealed that more than two hundred villagers died, mostly of starvation and lack of medical care, after abandoning their homes. If these security measures continue unabated, the people of Wasior and the Manokwari district are likely to have a very hard time for months to come, while more trials can be expected to take place.

Aceh sinks deeper into war

Tapol Bulletin 162 - August 2001

Since the Indonesian armed forces launched new military operations at the beginning of May, conditions for the population of Aceh have rapidly deteriorated. A massacre in Central Aceh resulted in scores of deaths. The death toll in the first half of 2001 exceeded one thousand, most victims being civilians. NGOs working on human rights and humanitarian issues are in constant danger, forcing many activists to flee, in fear for their lives. Para-military militias are now being trained and armed by the army. Peace talks in Geneva did nothing to end the slaughter.

On 11 April, Presidential Instruction No IV, Inpres IV/2001, was issued providing for a six-point "comprehensive programme" for Aceh, intended to restore the machinery of local government to the province. However, the "security" aspect is the only one to have been put into action. Well before the Instruction was announced, units of the army's elite forces and cmpanies from various parts of the country were getting special training in counter-insurgency at the training base of KOPASSUS, in Batu Jajar, Bandung, ready to be sent to Aceh.

Three days after the Instruction was announced, the armed forces (TNI) commander-in-chief, Admiral Widodo, announced the creation of a special army command known as KOLAKOPS (Komando Pelaksanaan Operasi TNI), for Aceh under the command of a KOPASSUS officer, Brigadier-General Zumroni. The joint police/army operations are known by the name OPSLIHKAM (Operasi Pemulihan Keamanan), Operation for the Restoration of Security. The command went into action on 2 May and since then the level of military operations has steadily intensified. Counter-insurgency operations, mainly in the countryside, are in the hands of the army while the police confine their activities to the towns and cities.

Very early on, extra troops were sent to Aceh to strengthen armed protection of the gas field and liquefaction gas plant installations in Arun, North Aceh, following Exxon/Mobil's announcement that operations had been suspended from 9 March because of the security situation. The shutdown of one of Indonesia's primary sources of foreign exchange was an additional reason for new military operations to be conducted.

Jakarta's interests lie elsewhere

While Aceh descends deeper into all-out war, Jakarta's attention is focused on the scramble for power within the political elite. The national press devotes little attention to Aceh while most reports that do appear are based on army handouts. The lack of news reporting is partly the result of threats to journalists and pressure on local newspapers about how events are reporting, coming from both sides of the conflict.

The military operations have been conducted at the time of a virtual power vacuum in Jakarta. In June, parliament decided to call a special session of the supreme legislative body, the MPR, on 1 August to consider impeaching President Wahid. Vice- President Megawati is widely expected to take over as president.

As compared with Wahid who has been in conflict with the armed forces leadership over wide-ranging reforms and over his intention to issue a decree that would enable him to dissolve parliament, Megawati is very close to the armed forces. While Wahid was very reluctant to issue Presidential Instruction of 11 April (Inpres IV/2001) which gave the TNI the legal basis for renewed military operations, Megawati is known to unreservedly support the military and its declared aim of preventing the secession of Aceh at all costs. At a limited cabinet meeting on 14 June, she was quoted as expressing her confidence that this year's celebration of independence day on 17 August would be blessed by a "special gift", the final solution of the Aceh question. The armed forces are working to her agenda (almost certainly designed by her TNI advisers), not Wahid's, which explains the intensity with which the operations have been conducted.

Another factor driving the TNI's determination to "finish off" GAM is the need to provide conducive security conditions to persuade the giant US oil company, Exxon, to resume operations which were suspended on 9 March. The continued closure is having a severe impact on the economy in lost revenues and foreign exchange earnings and now poses a threat to Indonesia's overseas market for the LNG produced by the Arun natural gas fields in Aceh. Deputy director of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, YLBHI, Munir said the decision to launch new operations ignored the fact, as history has shown, that military operations have never solved anything in Aceh, going back to the Dutch war against Aceh in the 19th century. He described the TNI's determination to "solve" the Aceh question as an attempt to compensate for their defeat in East Timor. The military want to reinforce the myth that they, not civilian politicians, are the only ones capable of solving conflicts and restoring peace in Aceh. Munir said that if the TNI were really interested in resolving the Aceh situation and rolling back the growing distrust towards Indonesia, they could easily do this by putting past perpetrators of human rights on trial [Detik. com, 28 April 2001] This remarks applies with equal force to the situation in West Papua.

Massacre in Central Aceh

The day before talks between Indonesia and GAM were resumed in Geneva on 30 June, reports were received that twenty people had been killed in the village of Menderek, Timang Gajah in Central Aceh. While the security forces claimed they were all members of GAM, a GAM spokesperson insisted that only four of the dead were their members, and all the others were ordinary civilians. As the days passed, it became clear that the massacre in Menderek was the tip of the iceberg. The death toll mounted with reports from local hospitals and an Indonesian Red Cross team saying by 2 July that 62 bodies had been found, many with gunshot wounds and many charred beyond recognition. In mid July, TAPOL received a list of 184 people who had been killed in Central Aceh, along with the place of burial. The list was described as "preliminary".

Reports of serious disturbances in Central Aceh, of numerous houses having been burnt down, began to emerge earlier in June. On that occasion, the attacks appear to have come from GAM units, seeking to drive out the Javanese. Until then, Central Aceh was a region of calm; even during the DOM period (1989-1998), the district was untouched by the horrors that struck elsewhere.

There is a sizable Javanese population in Central Aceh, consisting not so much of recently arrived transmigrants but of people from Java and Tapanuli who settled in the province many decades ago. It is here that the security forces first began to set up and train para-military militias, recruited primarily from the Javanese. This is what seems to have angered local GAM units.

Central Aceh is also the home of a distinct ethnic group, the Gayo, who till recently, kept a distance from Acehnese aspirations. They have now been drawn into the conflict with some of their members joining forces with GAM.

According to reports from an observer in Central Aceh, Brimob and army troops have emptied three-quarters of the villages in some parts of Central Aceh. Gardens have been ravaged, animals killed and houses razed. Tens of thousands of Acehnese have fled their villages, suggesting a comparison with the huge displacement of the population of East Timor, in the wake of the ballot in August 1999.

On 7 July, AFP reported the discovery of 29 bodies in Matangkuli, North Aceh, scattered in a ravine in the Krueng Tuan and Salak Mountain range in Matangkuli, 31 miles west of Lhokseumawe. The bodies bore marks showing they had died violent deaths. The agency quoted a local journalist as saying 400 residents of Central Aceh had taken refuge in the Matangkuli area after being forced to flee their homes by military-led militias; they had taken a week to reach their destination. Other sources suggested that the victims were local residents who had fled their homes when troops made "sweepings" in their villages.

These reports prompted TAPOL to call on the British government to press for the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions to conduct an investigation in Aceh.

Monitoring the mounting death toll Meanwhile, elsewhere in Aceh, human rights NGOs have been attempting with great difficulty to keep a tally of the numbers killed. The Legal Aid Institute (LBH) in Banda Aceh said on 1 June that they had recorded 155 deaths since Inpres IV/2001 was announced on 11 April, an average of 25 deaths a week. Estimates of the number of deaths since the beginning of 2001 had reached one thousand by the end of June. Almost daily reports in the latter half of June suggest that there were on average five killings a day.

While all sources agree that the numbers dying are increasing throughout the province, it is not always possible to establish who was responsible. The security forces and GAM invariably give contradictory accounts. In those cases where monitors have been able to record the testimony of local people, the security forces are almost always to blame. Faisal Hadi of the Aceh Coalition of Human Rights NGOs highlighted the problem of accurate monitoring: "In the field, the soldiers or the police seem like they regard all of the Acehnese as GAM. But when people make a report or complain to their [local] commanders, they always say that you have to give the name and the unit of the soldiers [responsible]. But it's very hard ... because they frequently don't wear their official uniform, just put on a black shirt." (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 21 June 2001) Here are some examples of what has been happening. On 18 June, a couple and their 18-year old daughter were found dead on Lampu'uk beach in Aceh Besar with bullet wounds in the chest and their faces smashed beyond recognition. The police said they had died during an armed clash with the "rebels" but GAM said there had been no armed clash. Local people said the family had been kidnapped by an armed group riding a Kijang vehicle. (Cordova Post, 30 June 2001) In a widely reported incident, three schoolboys were killed on the same day as the above incident was reported. The killing occurred following the gunning down outside a school in Krueng Sabee, West Aceh of a member of Brimob by GAM. In revenge, police raided the school. Although it was a Sunday, schoolboys were there to register for a university entrance exam. During the raid, the police rounded up thirty youngsters and two members of staff."The three students died after being taken to the police headquarters which is about two kilometers from the school," the source said, adding that several other students were injured. (AFP, 18 June) On the same day too, five bodies were discovered by the roadside in Babah, Buloh, BlangPidie. The bodies had gunshot wounds and had been tortured. The security forces said they died in a round-up of GAM members, while GAM said the five men had been kidnapped by soldiers on 13 April. (Cordova Post, 30 June) Such a confluence of reports on a single day is now becoming the norm in Aceh.

NGOs targeted

Ever since the abduction and brutal murder of Jafar Siddiq Hamzah, the founder and chairperson of the International Forum on Aceh, in August 2000, there has been a deliberate campaign by the security forces to undermine and destroy the community of NGOs in Aceh dedicated to alerting national and international opinion about the human rights situation in Aceh. In December 2000, three volunteers working for RATA, the Rehabilitation Action for Victims of Torture in Aceh, were gunned down by a unit consisting of members of the security forces and civilian associates. The murders were widely condemned and eight men were arrested, including four soldiers. However, four have since escaped and there is no news about whether the others are likely to go on trial.

Three months later, a well-known member of one of the joint monitoring committees working for the Humanitarian Pause was shot dead twenty minutes after leaving a police station where he had been questioned. He had been summoned in connection with the case of five women who were given protection by Kontras-Aceh (Committee for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence), after they alleged that they had been raped by members of Brimob. The women were later taken into police custody where they reversed their story, according to the police, now accusing GAM of having ordered them to accuse Brimob members of rape. The murdered man, Al Kamal, killed along with his lawyer and their driver, was travelling in a car clearly marked as belonging to the joint monitoring team.

This incident has been used by the police to accuse Kontras-Aceh activists of maligning their force because they had caused the story to be reported in the press. Besides facing serious charges, Kontras has been forced to curtail its monitoring activities because local volunteers were not able to submit their findings about local atrocitices. Besides the dangers attached to monitoring incidents, they are also too scared to visit shops to fax their reports because of the proximity of the security forces.

Rare glimpse of Aceh's horrors by journalist

Press reports by domestic and foreign journalists direct from Aceh are infrequent nowadays because of a deliberate policy by the security forces to keep the press out. A recent exception was a report in two leading Australian newspapers by a journalist who visited the village of Ujung Reuba, 20 kms east of Lhokseumawe, North Aceh. A young woman, Zubaidad, 25, told him troops had burst into her house, demanding to know where her husband was. He was not at home, she told them, clutching her four-month baby boy. They snatched the baby from her, threw him on the ground outside and poured boiling water over him. Warned that if they left their hut, they would be killed, neither she nor her 15-year old sister dared to go outside to rescue the baby "as the soldiers went on a killing, looting and burning spree through the village". By the time the troops had left, it was too late to save the scolded baby who died next morning and lies buried in a shallow grave marked by a stone.

The village that was home to 385 villagers had been devastated by an attack 6 May. All the houses were burnt or trashed. The journalist, Lindsay Murdoch, no stranger to the murderous behaviour of Indonesian troops on his country's doorstep in East Timor, wrote: "The arrival of hundreds of fresh troops in Aceh has seen the military unleash a wave of largely unreported violence that in some areas is worse than the 1999 atrocities in East Timor. (The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, 14 May 2001) Later that month, a Norwegian journalist, Torgeir Norling, thought he would follow up this account with an investigation of his own in North Aceh. When he arrived, with two Acehnese activists in Peudada, they were ordered off the bus, held at the local police station for 24 hours and then told to leave the area, "because they had no official documents". Norling reports widely for Scandinavian and East Asia newspapers. (The Nation -- Bangkok, 27 May 2001) According to Dini Djalal, writing in the Far Eastern Economic Review (5 July), Acehnese journalists are routinely threatened and beaten by the police."Yarmen Dinamika, of the local newspaper Serambi, says his office was bombed twice and seven office cars set ablaze in the last two years." Commenting on army press releases that routinely identify civilians killed in crossfire, even children and the elderly, as "GAM members", Dinamika said: "In a conflict like this, the first victim is the truth."

NGOs forced to leave

Under intense pressure and facing constant threats or worse, many local activists have left Aceh for the relative safety of Jakarta or gone abroad. The International Crisis Group, in a special report on Aceh published in June, quoted a witness to the killing of three volunteers of the torture NGO, RATA, as saying that the killings were the work of intelligence operatives who told their victims: "Anyone who works for an NGO is GAM." Another rights activist was warned that the military only trusts half a dozen out of the 300 NGOs in Aceh. (Far Eastern Economic Review, 5 July 2001) On 26 June, the head office in Banda Aceh of an NGO devoted to protecting the interests of children, Yayasan Anak Bangsa, was raided in the night by heavily-armed members of the special police unit, Brimob, some of whom were wearing black T-shirts. A man guarding the premises was forced to open up all the rooms and watched helpless as the intruders ransacked cupboards and confiscated diskettes. They refused to believe that YAB focuses on the plight of children and wanted to know whether it was linked to the Henri Dunant Centre (which oversees the peace talks).

Three days earlier, the Banda Aceh office the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) was raided by unidentified men who destroyed a notice board on which were displayed photos of people who have been kidnapped by the security forces. (Tempo Interaktif 27 June 2001)

International presence crucial

It is widely acknowledged that international observers and the permanent presence of international humanitarian agencies are crucially important to overcome Aceh's isolation, to provide protection to human rights activists and to the population at large. But the intensity of military operations is causing some agencies to leave.

The decision by two UN agencies, the UNDP amd UNICEF, to leave Aceh is a serious setback because the presence of UN agencies is so critically important for Aceh. The UNDP says it decided to leave because the situation was "not conducive", following the collapse of the Humanitarian Pause agreement. OXFAM has an office in Lhokseumawe but conditions in North Aceh are too dangerous for it to venture beyond the city. A Peace Brigades International team of volunteers give what protection they can in several cities to targeted NGOs and activists.

In a letter to the British government in July, TAPOL called for UN monitors to visit Aceh, in particular the Special Rapporteurs on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary and Summary Excutions and on Torture, and the Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders.

Strong warning from Australia

In July, the Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer issued a strong warning to the Indonesian military not to commit the kind of human rights abuses that were seen in East Timor in the past, in West Papua and Aceh, because this could lead to outrage by the international comunity. Launching a government publication about East Timor, he said he was concerned over reports from Aceh that pro-Indonesian militias were being formed." If the TNI go down that path, they will be making an enormous mistake", he said. (AP, 17 July 2001)

Gunmen slay 31 people in Aceh

Associated Press - August 10, 2001

Banda Aceh -- Thirty-one people were killed by unidentified gunmen on a palm-oil plantation yesterday, according to police and separatist rebels who accused each other of carrying out the attack.

The raid on the Bumi Flora palm-oil plantation in Idi Rayeuk district in eastern Aceh coincided with the announcement by President Megawati Sukarnoputri of her new Cabinet. Many human- rights groups believe that Ms Megawati will adopt a hard line in dealing with separatism.

The attack resulted in the highest casualty toll in a single incident this year, after an assault on July 21 claimed 21 lives in Peureulak district, also in East Aceh.

Police spokesman Sad Harunantyo said 38 people were shot by the assailants whom he described as members of the Free Aceh Movement. But rebel leader Amri Abdul Wahab claimed soldiers had rounded up and machine-gunned 42 villagers.

West Papua separatists prepare to fight in court

Sydney Morning Herald - August 9, 2001

Hamish McDonald -- A Sydney law professor will head an international study into whether there are grounds for a legal challenge to the incorporation of Western New Guinea into Indonesia in the 1960s.

Professor Sam Blay, a specialist in international law at the University of Technology, Sydney, has been engaged by the pro- independence Papuan Council Presidium in what is now the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya, called West Papua by its separatist movement.

The Netherlands, as the former colonial power, as well as the United States and Australia as interested parties that exercised influence at the time, may be challenged in international courts to resume responsibility.

Under heavy pressure from the US, The Netherlands reluctantly handed over the territory to Indonesia in 1963 after a brief United Nations interregnum. In 1969 the UN accepted an "act of free choice", consisting of a vote by a panel of 1,000 representatives effectively chosen by Indonesian intelligence operatives.

Speaking in Sydney yesterday, the Presidium's international spokesman, Franzalbert Joku, said the Papuan body believed it had a strong case to overturn the legal base of Indonesian rule.

Self-determination was a legal right premised on freedom of choice and a state of self-government advanced enough to make a responsible choice, and should be exercised through democratic processes based on universal adult suffrage. Failure to meet these requirements, and the abuses and intimidation surrounding the 1969 process, rendered the act of free choice invalid, Mr Joku said.

Ghanaian-born Professor Blay, formerly dean of law at the University of Tasmania, is an expert in the law of self- determination with long experience in Australia, Germany and the US. He will engage a team of lawyers from The Netherlands, Indonesia and other countries.

He said the aim would be to use the law to get UN member nations to address the case. This could be, for example, by seeking a declaration from a Dutch court that Dutch conduct before decolonisation amounted to dereliction of duty, or to get the UN General Assembly to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice in The Hague. "Without the law, the West Papuans have no basis to argue a case," he said.

The Papuans, meanwhile, bitterly condemned the revocation of visas by the Nauru Government to their delegates, preventing them appearing at next week's Pacific Islands Forum meeting on the tiny island nation. Several Papuan delegates attended last year's forum in Kiribati.

Mr Joku accused the Australian Government of lobbying against the Papuan presence at the forum. "We believe it is a case of a larger neighbour twisting the arm of a smaller country to conform to the wishes of the big power in the region." Indonesia will make its first appearance at the forum as a new "dialogue partner".

Aceh violence reportedly claims 11 lives, four policemen

Agence France Presse - August 8, 2001

Banda Aceh -- Eleven people -- three rebels, four policemen and four civilians -- have been killed in the latest clashes between Indonesian government forces and separatist guerrillas in the restive province of Aceh, a report said Wednesday.

Rebels have also kidnapped three employees of a relay station of the state television station TVRI in East Aceh, the Banda Aceh- based Serambi daily said. An army information officer in Aceh, Major E. Sulistiadie, told the paper that three members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were shot dead during a raid on a suspected rebel base in Babah Dua, West Aceh on Tuesday. Two others were captured and two handguns and ammunition were seized.

In another raid Tuesday at Mereubo in West Aceh, soldiers arrested six rebel members who surrendered without opposition, Sulistiadie said.

On Monday soldiers raided another suspected rebel base at Lhok Kruet in West Aceh but the guerrillas managed to flee and there were no casualties on either side.

The rebel commander for the Batee Iliek area, Tengku Darwis Jeunib, said his guerrillas killed four policemen in an ambush on a military truck on Tuesday. Police in Banda Aceh could not immediately confirm the report.

Four civilians were found shot dead in the Bukit area of Central Aceh on Tuesday, the spokesman for the Central Aceh GAM command, Wim Rime Raya, told the daily. They had been abducted the previous night by an unidentified group.

In East Aceh rebels Sunday kidnapped three technicians working at the relay station, residents there told Serambi. The Aceh military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Firdaus (eds:one name), said he was still checking the report.

The East Aceh GAM spokesman, Ishak Daud, said they were seized because they were cooperating with the military and the police but gave no details. "The three are in a healthy conditions and no harm has been done to them," Daud said, adding that they were being questioned. He said they were taken off a bus which had been halted by a rebel roadblock in East Aceh.

In the first half of this year more than 1,100 people have been killed in Aceh, in what observers say is the worst death toll in more than two decades of fighting. The GAM has been fighting since the 1970s to turn Aceh, a province rich in oil and gas on the northwestern tip of Sumatra, into an independent Muslim state.

Oil-rich Indonesian province threatens to block Caltex operations

Associated Press - August 6, 2001

Jakarta -- Community leaders in an oil-rich Indonesian province have threatened to block the operations of a Caltex affiliate unless Jakarta reviews a decision to extend its contract by one year, a report said Monday.

A people's congress attended by some 200 community leaders in Riau on Sumatra island on Saturday gave President Megawati Sukarnoputri a deadline to review the contract extension for PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia, the Kompas daily said.

Locals want a greater share of profits from the project and more jobs for locals.

The Coastal Plain Pekanbaru (CPP), operated by the Caltex affiliate, has 435 oil wells producing 750,000 barrels of oil per day.

The people's congress is setting up the "Riau Action To Conquer the CPP Block" (Aruk) to block Caltex operations if necessary, said community leader Al Azhar. He gave no details. "On August 9, Aruk will take action if the president does not review the presidential decree extending the production-sharing contract," Al Azhar told Kompas.

On Friday Megawati approved a one-year extension for Caltex, whose current contract expires on August 8. For the past year or so residents in Riau have been seeking a larger share of Caltex's profits. Their campaign received a boost with the implementation of the government's shaky decentralization process in January, which gave greater powers to regions to administer their own resources.

Kompas said the people's congress demanded that if the government extend the contract Caltex should earmark 30 percent of net profits for Riau, or about 26 million dollars, and employ more locals.

The head of the Riau provincial oil company PT Riau Petroleum, Muchtar Achmad, has said the figure of 26 million dollars had been calculated on an anticipated 62-million-dollar profit Caltex would make by extending its contract a year. Caltex's production-sharing contract with the state oil company Pertamina provides for an 80-20 split in profits, with the lion's share going to the government.

Riau has seen the rise of a peaceful separatist movement since the fall of authoritarian president Suharto in 1998. Its leaders say the province was for decades drained of resources without receiving significant returns. Sacked president Abdurrahman Wahid repeatedly cited Riau as one of the regions that would seek independence if he was ousted. The national assembly dismissed Wahid on July 23 and appointed his vice president Megawati to replace him.

Under decentralisation, the regions are entitled to up to 30 percent of oil profits and 15 percent of gas profits. Provincial officials have complained that funds have been slow to reach them from the national capital and are pushing the companies themselves. Investors meanwhile have complained that the newly- empowered regional chiefs are excessively raising taxes and discouraging new investment.

Military rounds up Aceh student activists

South China Morning Post - August 6, 2001

Vaudine England, Jakarta -- Scores of Acehnese activists have been arrested in Jakarta in recent days as part of the military's no-holds-barred campaign against separatism in the restive province, Aceh sources said yesterday.

The round-up started on Thursday with the arrest of Faisal Saifuddin, the Jakarta representative of Sira, the student-led Centre for a Referendum that is pushing for a self-determination ballot in Aceh similar to that held in East Timor two years ago. The next day up to 57 other Sira activists were arrested in a shopping area at Pasar Minggu in Jakarta, one Acehnese source said.

He said police claimed they had been following the activists for some time, but the Acehnese community in the capital believes Faisal was forced to reveal the identities or location of colleagues in Jakarta. "Maybe we can say the students should have taken more precautions, but certainly they were caught," the source said. Armed forces and police spokesmen did not answer calls to confirm the arrests last night.

Police backed by the armed forces also have continued to arrest government-recognised negotiators of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Aceh's capital, Banda Aceh. Six men who have been negotiating for a peaceful solution to the Aceh conflict were picked up on July 20, just days after an Aceh-based attempt to restart dialogue had failed. One man was released the next day.

However, another -- Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba -- was picked up last week. "All his friends, including me, suggested Tiba should leave Aceh. But he said, 'Why? I haven't done anything wrong'. So he just sat at home and they came to get him too," said an Acehnese worker for a non-governmental organisation who has fled Aceh for his own safety.

What was extraordinary about the arrest of the negotiators was that the men -- although card-carrying members of the GAM -- had had their personal security guaranteed by the Indonesian Government in a document signed in Geneva in July as part of a peace process being brokered by the Swiss-based Humanitarian Dialogue Centre.

But such details were irrelevant to the security forces, which so far have brushed off attempts by the centre to have the negotiators released or the dialogue restarted. "I saw the agreement whereby this Government guaranteed those men's safety. I read it in black and white. That's why these GAM negotiators took no precautions for their safety. As a result, they are now in jail charged with treason, and they have been tortured there," an Acehnese source said. Hassan Wirayuda, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry representative who co-signed the Geneva agreement guaranteeing the men's safety, has sent a letter to the armed forces questioning the arrests, but it is unclear what impact -- if any -- this has had.

The heightened danger of being in Aceh in recent days has made the network involved in finding sanctuary for activists overseas more busy than usual. Activists say the several Acehnese restaurants around Jakarta must be avoided because of the presence of military intelligence personnel.

The armed forces have executed, arrested, beaten and intimidated scores of NGO workers, health and social welfare workers and activists in recent months, spreading fear throughout the Acehnese community and forcing underground many people who less than a year ago were able to live reasonably normal lives and speak openly.

"So long as we make no directly anti-military statements, we might be okay," the NGO worker said. "But look at the case of T. Djohan, a retired brigadier general of the armed forces. One day after he made a strong statement against the military and went back to Aceh, he was killed [on May 10]. There is no limit to what the TNI [Indonesian armed forces] can do these days. They are taking advantage of the government vacuum at the moment. While everybody is looking at the new President in Jakarta, the army can take the opportunity to do what it wants."

It is not only Acehnese who are under threat. Two Americans giving training to help torture victims recover from their ordeals were recently visited by 15 soldiers in their hotel rooms and had their possessions checked for arms. Members of the Peace Brigade International, which provides protective company to NGO workers in Aceh, have also been harassed.

Government/politics

Cabinet's 100-day honeymoon

Straits Times - August 11, 2001

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- While Indonesia's new Cabinet has won praise for its high percentage of seasoned professionals, it will have to move fast to prove its capability.

Analysts and observers say this new team has a 100-day honeymoon period in which to prove it can turn Indonesia's economy around, deal with a violent separatist war in Aceh and a spate of bombings in the country, and tackle rampant corruption and communal violence.

The Cabinet's economic team will be expected to deliver a credible budget and sign a deal with the International Monetary Fund. Meanwhile, Indonesians and the international community will also be scrutinising how the so-called dream Cabinet tackles the security, separatist and social crises rocking the country.

Some observers have expressed confidence in the capability of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's new government to stop the random violence which has plagued the archipelago for so long. It is hoped that the police will work with the military, which in turn is backing the new Cabinet so that at least one high-profile scalp, such as that of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, can be brought in.

Tommy is the playboy son of former president Suharto who has been on the run to avoid an 18-month jail sentence for graft. He has also been blamed for a spate of bombings across Indonesia as well as the recent drive-by killing of a Supreme Court judge. The Jakarta police seem eager to please the new President and while many observers are sceptical that Tommy will be found, they think at least one Suharto family member will be arrested for hiding a criminal.

But some analysts feel that Ms Megawati is unlikely to pursue major corruption cases involving the Suharto family or Golkar party figures linked to the family, who include Ginandjar Kartasasmita, the former finance minister.

Ms Megawati's supporters will be looking for some signs of her being willing to tackle rampant corruption. At the very least, she will have to re-open or continue investigation into some well-known cases, such as those involving state-owned companies or banks. "Perhaps she'll make an example of someone and scare some people," predicted a diplomat.

Another major test for the new government will be its handling of the escalating separatist conflict in Aceh. Analysts are unsure of whether Ms Megawati will opt to continue negotiations with the rebels or just resort to military force to try to wipe out the rebel movement.

But Ms Megawati's appointment of Hasan Wirayuda -- who has led negotiations between the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leaders and the Indonesian government -- as Foreign Minister, suggests that she may try to seek a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

"If Hasan has real power, with the international governments' backing, it could be quite successful," said military analyst Bob Lowry. "They would also need the police and the military because GAM needs to know it can't win using military force," he said.

But if the government wanted negotiations to work, they would have to reign in the military and police, ensuring they abide by any ceasefire agreement and not shoot and torture civilians indiscriminately as frequently reported, Mr Lowry said.

This will be where coordinating minister for security and political affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's good military connections would come in useful, according to Mr Lowry.

Megawati takes power with army backing

Tapol Bulletin 162 - August 2001

On 23 July, Vice President Megawati was installed as Indonesian president after the People's Assembly sacked the man it had appointed two years ago. The same state organ that intrigued against her then has now promoted her, with the full backing of a regenerated military. Though former President Wahid fought to the bitter end, the odds were stacked against him: mutiny by the armed forces and large sections of the police who openly defied his orders, a huge majority in the People's Assembly bent on ousting him and a largely hostile press.

While Megawati Sukarnoputri's party, the PDI-P, holds the largest block of seats in the People's Assembly, the MPR, and has mass support in the country, her assumption of power bodes ill for the principles of reformasi that were supposed to have been at the core of Wahid's policy.

Most will agree that it was not realistic to expect anyone to carry out a comprehensive pro-reform policy in Indonesia in the short term, having inherited a country damaged almost beyond repair by 40 years of autocratic rule and a paralysed economy. In hindsight, it could be said that Gus Dur, as Wahid is known, was bound to fail. Will Megawati Sukarnoputri do any better? Will she face the array of foes who were determined from the word "go" to stab Gus Dur in the back? Only time will tell.

But Indonesia's present political crisis is not merely a crisis of the presidency. The deep economic crisis, the absence of the rule of law and the lack of democratic institutions cannot be blamed on the president. These are the results of a long term strategy during the "New Order", when the population lived in a perpetual state of fear. Virtually nothing has been done in the three post-Suharto years to change all this.

A huge power vacuum

As the new regime takes over, it is salutary to examine why Gus Dur failed to function effectively as president and promote the policies expected of him by civil society. As soon as he tried to dismantle the power base of the old forces, they rallied against him, sabotaging his every move. The irony is that, under the authoritarian 1945 Constitution, the president of Indonesia has enough powers to become a dictator, but Gus Dur was not given the chance even to implement a modest reform programme. Isolated and maligned by the very political elite who catapulted him into power, he become a pathetic figure, hoping against hope that his huge religious following could rescue him, while being afraid to bring them out onto the streets for fear of clashes and bloodshed.

In the closing months of Gus Dur's presidency, there was a power vacuum in Indonesia, while regional conflicts and military crackdowns in many places continued unabated. The fact is that none of the political forces in Indonesia has been able to cope with the debilitating crisis. The old New Order gang, with massive resources stashed away and a bevy of supporters, has been mortally wounded. At the apex is Suharto and his cronies and family; they have lost much of their political clout and no one believes for a moment that they will ever make a comeback. But their staggering wealth is being used by sinister forces to finance covert and overt operations to sabotage the government and create instability. They have done everything possible, often by acts of terrorism, to frustrate efforts to bring about change and accountability. Their basic aim is to retain the system of privileges that was one of the hallmarks of the former regime.

The army has once again become a formidable political force and a killing machine, dedicated as always to the "security" approach, but it too is incapable of coping with the present crisis. The 1997 economic meltdown also delivered a severe blow to the TNI as the armed forces are known, forcing many TNI companies to close shop. In compensation, the TNI has become mired even deeper into mafia type activities in the regions. The escalating conflicts in Aceh and West Papua and ongoing problems in Maluku, Kalimantan and Sulawesi have overwhelmed the capacity of the security forces, even though they are themselves largely responsible for the mayhem. Troops have joined forces with the warring parties in some of these local conflicts, but as the power struggle in Jakarta reached a climax, the TNI top focused their attention increasingly on these events. Whilst it was not predicted that the army would try to grab power, Indonesia's rudderless government suited them admirably. They have recently been claiming to be "force for peace" as civilian politicians fight it out in total disregard for the ailing economy and lawlessness everywhere.

The vast majority of parliamentarians in the DPR (Parliament) and the MPR (People's Assembly), were united in their determination to get rid of Gus Dur but apart from that, each of the parties have their own political agendas. Golkar, the former ruling party, is a shadow of its former self in Java, where they are despised as part of the old regime. But outside Java, the party is more or less intact, with its people occupying virtually all the positions of power, from governors and district chiefs down to village heads. The bureaucracy outside Java is still a Golkar stronghold which explains why it was more interested in keeping control of regional spoils than in the power struggle in Jakarta.

The politics of Islam are far more complex today than during the Suharto era. The first two post-Suharto presidents, President Wahid and his predecessor, President Habibie, represent the two major streams in Indonesian Islam, the urban-based and the more rural-based Islamic communities, but they are both secular Muslims. It was once widely accepted that political Islam in Indonesia is a majority with a minority mentality, but this is no longer true. The top Muslim politicians, including Gus Dur, show distinct Machiavellian tendencies in their attitude towards state power and having tasted the sweetness of power they show the same credentials as any average politician on this globe.

The rift between the pro- and anti-Gus Dur camp ran largely along urban and rural lines. Gus Dur still enjoys support in the rural hinterland of East and Central Java where the organisation that he led for years, the Nahdatul Ulama, enjoys a huge following. Elsewhere, the NU is relatively small among urban-based Muslims outside Java. Political Islam was always quite plural and are at least seven Muslim political parties competed in the general elections, each with their own agenda and distinct political subculture. Political Islam in Indonesia remains very divided, with no prospects of unity. As with all the other parties, clientele and money politics are still the dominant feature.

Poisoned by intrigue from the start

There have been many examples in the world of transitions from autocratic regimes to democratic government, but they have varied enormously from place to place. In some cases transition has been accompanied by disintegration. Cynics will say that, despite the profound crisis in Indonesia, the country has not reached such a stage for the simple reason that the main components of the old New Order are still largely intact.

From the start, Gus Dur's presidency involved many compromises with these components. He was catapulted into the presidency through an unholy alliance of Muslim parties which included two components of the New Order: Golkar and the PPP. This unholy alliance was strongly represented in his first cabinet: military and New Order politicians held important posts and as a result of numerous reshuffles, (at least fifteen up to the time he was sacked) in less than two years, New Order elements became even more prominent. The military gained richly from the chops and changes, even winning back the post of defence minister. The deadly alliances saved the skin of many officers who should have faced indictments for corruption and abuse of power.

During the first two years of his presidency, Gus Dur pursued a puzzling two-pronged strategy, trying to take the path of reformasi while trying at the same time to please everybody, including New Order forces. The strategy soon backfired as the army and the New Order politicians and bureaucrats managed to regroup in such a favourable climate. The strategy forced Gus Dur to zigzag his way along creating yet more enemies at every turn. Let's take a look at this broad alliance, starting with the TNI- AD, the army.

A military comeback

The Suharto regime was basically a military regime. A junta in the early years, with Suharto at the top, it was later changed to be ruled by the same Suharto assisted by a small group of cronies and members of his family. The role of military intelligence remained important throughout with the army functioning more and more as an oppressive force to crush rebellions and opposition in the cities. When Suharto was forced to stand down, there were very few top officers capable of functioning as politicians. The army was in a bad shape, with its image in tatters. They had suffered humiliating defeat in East Timor and their acts of gross human rights violations were now widely publicised.

Sad to say however, things changed dramatically after Gus Dur became president. In 1998, the atmosphere was favourable enough to expect that General Wiranto, then the TNI commander-in-chief, would be charged for his role in mass murder in East Timor, Aceh and elsewhere. These days, Wiranto feels confident enough to go onto the offensive. In May, he and several other senior officers filed a lawsuit against Dr. Thamrin Tomagola for "falsely" accusing them of involvement in the Maluku riots. The chances of indictments against senior officers are now very remote and the former president's faltering efforts to reform the army backfired and only helped to unified the several army factions. The 1999 general election helped to clip the wings of TNI and its representation in the DPR was reduced to 38 seats (although they resisted any suggestion that unelected representation should end). In those days, TNI top-ranking officers were saying that the military would now take a back seat in politics but two years on, things are very different. The TNI parliamentary fraction voted in favour of censuring the president (their supreme commander) in May while adopting a position of "neutrality" in the second vote. Being one of the smallest groups in parliament did not detract from that weight attached to their statements. The TNI spokesperson, Major General Hari Sabarno, was one of the most biting in his criticism of the president, thus clearing the way for impeachment.

While Gus Dur was forced onto the defensive in clinging on to power, the military made no attempt to conceal their intransigence. The second censure vote further eroded the president's position, though he continued to behave as if nothing could prevent him from holding on to power.

When he made moves to replace the top TNI leadership in preparation for declaring an emergency and dissolving parliament, the top generals took counter-moves. The bitter irony was that now, a democratically elected head of state was contemplating dissolving parliament while the military, an institution without a shred of democracy in its being, claimed the moral high ground in their determination to oppose such an authoritarian move.

The weaker Gus Dur grew, the more audacious the military became. In 2000, they had offered no resistance when General Wiranto was sacked and went along with the appointment of a civilian as defence minister. There was talk of gradually downsizing dwifungsi, which allows the military to run the political system and the bureaucracy. But as Gus Dur weakened, they saw this as their chance to strike back. With the army being the most solid and best organised political institution in the country and the political elite bickering furiously, the army paraded itself as "a stabilising force".

A creeping coup d'etat

On 24 May, General Endriartono Sutarto, the army chief-of-staff, convened a meeting of senior officers and key retired officers. The purpose was clear, to reject any move by Gus Dur to replace the TNI leadership and to reject any move to declare a state of emergency. As supreme commander of TNI, Wahid certainly had the powers to do all this so the meeting was an act of insubordination, in fact part of a creeping coup d'etat.

A new unity had been forged in the TNI while the event passed off without anyone condemning it as an act of mutiny. All the factions were now on board, including retired officers. This was not the first time that the Indonesian armed forces had forged unity after being torn apart by rupture and division. Gus Dur's efforts to overhaul the TNI had come to a sticky end; instead the TNI's position as "a state within a state" had been reinforced without a shot being fired.

Since May one incident after another has only resulted in the erosion of civilian supremacy. On 28 May Gus Dur granted special powers to Lt General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), the then coordinating minister for political, social and security affairs, as a step towards issuing an emergency decree. The general was given powers to take "all necessary actions, in co-ordination with the security forces, to handle the crisis and enforce order, security and the law as quickly as possible". In effect, this made SBY the most powerful man in the land. But a few days after treating the general with such trust, Gus Dur sacked him and appointed Lt. General Agum Gumelar in his place. Gumelar was soon to be appointed defence minister as well in a later cabinet merry-go-round. SBY, it turns out, was against issuing a decree so had to be removed.

Police chief refuses to go

The most bitter (and public) of Gus Dur's confrontations occurred when he announced the dismissal of Police General Bimantoro, the national chief of police. Bimanoro had made no secret of his intention to round up Gus Dur supporters, including members of the PRD. Bimantoro rejected his dismissal and won the support of most top-ranking officers in the force. In his defence, the police chief of Jakarta, General Sofyan Yacub convened a rally of police and military units close to the presidential palace in defiance of the president, complete with tanks and armoured personal carriers. For the first time since the official separation of the police from the TNI in 1998, the two forces had been united and were pursuing a common cause.

When Gus Dur later ordered the arrest of Bimantoro, the order was ignored. His senior security affairs minister, Lt General Agum Gumelar urged the president to cancel the order while units of Brimob, the police crack troops, took up positions around Bimantoro's residence.

There were many shows of open defiance from the top of the TNI: a "roll call" of Kostrad troops, with its commander making a speech atop a tank, the placing of troops round the residence of Bimantoro to protect him from being arrested, a joint press conference by the speaker of the MPR and the TNI commander-in- chief endorsing the holding of a special MPR session. These were moves that made a mockery of the TNI's professed neutrality.

Golkar and the other parties

The principle of pluralism was upheld in the 1998 elections but many of the parties that won seats were new kids on the block. Only Golkar, often described as the ruling party in the New Order, the PPP, the Muslim political federation and the PDI were old timers. Golkar had the advantage of a solid infrastructure and most of the bureaucracy. PPP enjoyed fewer advantages as did the PDI (now the PDI-P). who fought the election under a new leadership. As was to be expected, these three parties came out as the big three in the elections. The other relatively new parties had to struggle hard to win votes. For the vast majority of voters, this was their first experience of free elections.

The new parliament is a ragbag of old and new faces. Despite its image as the first parliament in the reformasi era, old-style politics have remained with the same old pattern of patron-client relationships. Becoming a member of parliament has turned out to be a privileged chance to climb the ladder of success and line the pockets of the "people's representatives" Genuine reform has had little place in their endeavours following a few months of reform minded actions.

The declining national cake

The members of the unholy alliance of Muslim groups plus Golkar tha brought Gus Dur to power were expecting to have juicy bits of the national cake come their way. But Gus Dur had little to offer, and what he did have went to his own followers. Very soon he was at loggerheads with his former promoters and removed some of his key Muslim ministers who had been appointed to "repay" members of the central axis for their support.

Two scandals were used against Gus Dur, the so-called Bulog-gate and Brunei-gate. Despite being cleared by the Attorney General's office of involvement in the two cases, it was evident that cronies within Gus Dur's inner circle were involved in these relatively minor scandals. Gus Dur, himself a product of the patron-client system, had allowed this to happen. It would appear to be true that deep resentment in certain Muslim circles towards Gus Dur was simply based on the fact that the "trickle down" effect had not applied to them. On the other hand, one of the failures of the Gus Dur government was its inability to end corruption or at least to bring it to "manageable" levels.

Megawati and the PDI-P

Two years ago it was widely expected that Megawati would become the president. A clear winner with 31 per cent of the votes, it was a matter of finding suitable coalition partners for her government. But a loose coalition of Muslim parties, the Central Axis, supported Gus Dur. History, it seems, has now corrected this injustice.

Megawati has proven ineffective as vice president and probably agreed to be second fiddle to calm down her supporters gathered on the streets. Although the two are always presented as being "the best of friends", having known each other since childhood, she was clearly not comfortable as his deputy and often acted wearing her other cap as chair of the PDI-P to express her frustrations. Her "good friend" Gus Dur often insulted her in public with slurs and "jokes" about her femininity, suggesting that she does not have the qualities to run the government.

In the second year, the relationship between them soured and, apart from the formalities required by their offices, they were not on speaking terms for months. At the 2000 MPR session, Gus Dur was heavily criticised and agreed to concede day-to-day governing to Megawati, retaining for himself the broad outline of government policies and the power to appoint ministers and other state officials. But the division of labour never worked, leading only to indecision and confusion.

For her part, Megawati kept a low profile after losing the presidency. She kept her followers off the streets and retained the support of the majority of her party, while avoiding playing a direct part in the ousting Gus Dur. As the daughter of Sukarno, she inherited a huge following but has yet to prove her skills as a political leader.

PDI-P fractions

Rifts within her own party have grown and the test will be whether she can keep the factions together or have to move to expel some people from the party. Broadly speaking, the PDI-P is the main secular party in Indonesia and is in essence a nationalist party. The nationalist wing within the party is quite conservative, representing the petty nationalist views of the past. There are two wings in the nationalist bloc: one wanted to preserve the Gus Dur-Megawati alliance while the other wanted to oust Gus Dur.

The military wing in the party has grown in importance, not only because of the retired TNI generals among its members but also because it enjoys the support of key active TNI officers. Previously Golkar was the political vehicle of the military but today's top echelon officers feel more at home in the conservative PDI-P.

Another small but important wing is the group of powerful businessmen around Arifin Panigoro, an oil tycoon who switched loyalties after 1998 from Golkar to the PDI-P. One of the few achievements of the post-Suharto era has been the requirement for key public office holders to reveal their personal wealth. Arifin Panigoro emerged as the richest member of parliament with over US$200 million, according to his own admission. Many reformers say people like him should be behind bars because of financial scandals and shady business deals with the Suharto family. Instead he has become a shining star in the PDI-P. Another key figure is Taufiq Kiemas, Megawati's husband, a self-confessed multi-millionaire. Known as TK, he is also a slick political operator who maintains good relations with the different wings in the party and will undoubtedly play a crucial role as "the man behind the woman" now that she is "RI 1", the president's number plate.

The PDI-P (then called the PDI) was one of Suharto's last victims when the PDI head office was stormed in July 1996 and has enjoyed much sympathy from the pro-reform movement. The reform wing, though small, is very active and continues to demand that military and New Order elements be ousted from the party. But these are the forces that will be Megawati's political base as she takes over the presidency for the coming three years. Getting Indonesia out of the economic and political crisis is a Herculanean job and will take many years of "good governance". Taking over the job from an impeached president isn't the most elegant way of entering the state leadership. Political analysts assess realistically that the coming 3 years will be "tropical years" for Megawati.

Cabinet lineup

Straits Times - August 10, 2001

• Coordinating Security Minister: Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono - Former Mines and Energy Minister and Security Minister under Mr Abdurrahman Wahid
• Coordinating Economic Minister: Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti - Former envoy to the United States
• Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare: Yusuf Kalla - Golkar member, entrepreneur and former minister under Mr Abdurrahman
• Finance Minister: Boediono - Former director of the central bank
• Mines and Energy Minister: Purnomo Yusgiantoro - Formerly Indonesia's representative to OPEC and military think-tank Lemhanas
• Trade and Industry Minister: Rini Soewandi - Former managing director of carmaker PT Astra and legislator
• State Enterprise Minister: Laksamana Sukardi - One of President Megawati's advisers and former executive of Citibank and Lippo Bank
• Agriculture Minister: Bungaran Saragih - Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) member & agricultural specialist; retained from previous Cabinet
• Defence Minister: Matori Abdul Djalil - Former chairman of the Nation Awakening Party (PKB) of Mr Abdurrahman
• Justice Minister: Yusril Ihza Mahendra - Chairman of Crescent- Star party (PBB),professor and former Justice
• Minister Home Affairs Minister: Lt-General Hari Sabarno - Military-faction member, currently representative of military in Parliament
• Transport Minister: Agum Gumelar - Former chief of the Special Forces (Kopassus)
• Sea and Fisheries Minister: Rokhmin Dahuri - Bureaucrat
• Foreign Affairs Minister: Hasan Wirayudha - Government negotiator in Aceh, lawyer and former permanent representative to the United Nations
• Manpower Minister: Jacob Nuwawea - PDI-P member and former union chief
• Resettlement Minister: Sunarno - Bureaucrat
• Health Minister: Achmad Sujudi - Medical doctor
• Education Minister: Abdul Malik Fadjar - Muhammidiyah leader, former Religious Affairs Minister
• Social Affairs Minister: Bachtiar Chamsyah - United Development Party (PPP) member, former chairman of committee investigating Buloggate and Bruneigate
• Religious Affairs Minister: Said Agil Munawar - Respected Muslim scholar and Nadhalatul Ulama member
• Forestry Minister: M. Prakosa - Former Agricultural Minister and PDI-P member
• Culture and Tourism Minister: I Gde Ardhika - Bureaucrat
• Research and Technology Minister: Hatta Radjasa - National Mandate Party (PAN) member
• Cooperatives Minister: Ali Marwan Hanan - United Development Party member
• Environment Minister: Nabiel Makarim - Bureaucrat
• Women's Empowerment Minister: Sri Redjeki Sumarjoto - Golkar party member
• State Apparatus Minister: Feisal Tamin - Former senior official at Home Ministry
• East Indonesia Development Minister: Manuel Kaisiepo - Former journalist and Minister for Eastern Indonesia
• National Development Minister: Kwik Kian Gie - PDI-P member, economist
• Communications and Information Minister: Syamsul Muarif - Golkar member
• State Secretary: Bambang Kesowo - Bureaucrat
• Attorney-General: Not named
• National Intelligence Chief: Ahmad Hendropriyono - Former general

Not many hangers-on, but one real shocker

Sydney Morning Herald - August 10, 2001

Comment by Hamish McDonald -- The new Megawati Cabinet will reassure foreign lenders and investors that the Government will continue with the economic rescue plan negotiated with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The new chief economic minister, Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, had a spell in jail for questioning the distributive side of president Soeharto's economic management in the mid-1970s. He has since had a conversion to the benefits of strong economic growth fuelled by foreign investment, and has been involved in mainstream policy circles for nearly two decades. Most recently he was ambassador to the United States.

Megawati also seems to have excluded the more obvious fixers and carpetbaggers from the lucrative economic portfolios, though she has made sure the patronage-rich State Enterprises ministry went to her own party lieutenant Laksamana Sukardi. But in the related areas of defence, internal security and justice her intentions remain a bit more enigmatic.

The postponement of a decision on a new attorney-general seems to indicate that a fight is still going on over a post that will be critical to the success of prosecutions of military figures over atrocities in East Timor and elsewhere.

The new co-ordinating minister for security, the retired lieutenant-general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, held the post under president Abdurrahman Wahid. A former head of UN peacekeepers in Bosnia, he is regarded as a "thinking" army man likely to support military reform, if at a moderate pace.

The new Home Minister, Lieutenant-General Hari Sabarno, was head of the military-police nominees in parliament, where he acted to repress any challenges to Soeharto's dominance in the last days of his rule. He is likely to put the brakes on the devolution of powers to the provinces and regions begun since Soeharto fell in 1998.

The only real shocker in the list is the new head of the State Intelligence Co-ordinating Body, retired lieutenant-general A.M. Hendropriyono, a former Special Forces officer who has a black mark in his career over the February 1989 massacre of scores of villagers in Lampung province, where he was a local commander.

Mr Hendropriyono is one of two Special Forces, or Kopassus, figures who attached themselves to Megawati's opposition camp in the 1990s, the other being Lieutenant-General Agum Gumelar, who has been made Minister for Transport.

Megawati cabinet confounds her critics

South China Morning Post - August 10, 2001

Vaudine England, Jakarta -- President Megawati Sukarnoputri finally announced her cabinet yesterday and immediately won praise for achieving a judicious balance of professionals, politicians and personal friends.

Of greatest significance were the reappointment of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as Co-ordinating Minister for Politics and Security, and the choice of former ambassador to the United States Dorodjatun Kuntjoro Jakti to co-ordinate economic policy.

Both men are regarded as professionals with safe hands. Mr Susilo was fired from his co-ordinating role over politics by former president Abdurrahman Wahid, allegedly for refusing to implement Mr Wahid's call for a state of emergency. A retired general, he has gained international respect for his administrative skills.

Mr Dorodjatun recently returned from Washington, where he made many friends. He was formerly head of the economics faculty at the University of Indonesia and a student activist imprisoned by former president Suharto for his part in the Malari riots of 1974. He will be supported by respected former national economic planning chief Boediono as Minister of Finance.

The new Foreign Minister is Hasan Wirayuda, a career diplomat. He often filled the shoes of predecessor Alwi Shihab, who spent more time backing his boss, Mr Wahid, than focusing on foreign affairs. Mr Hasan's appointment sends a message of continuity for the less than three years remaining in Ms Megawati's presidency.

One major gap remains in the line-up -- that of attorney-general. Ms Megawati said this post would be filled soon, which left some analysts wondering if this was a good sign of her carefulness in tackling such a key job, or a bad sign of her inability to find someone both politically acceptable and capable of cleaning up rampant corruption.

But the glaring worry in the new line-up for many analysts was the appointment of Hari Sabarno to head the Ministry of Home Affairs, which includes responsibility for the controversial programme of decentralisation and regional autonomy. He is the head of the military faction in Parliament, which pivotally backed President Megawati's rise to power, and represents a politicised and hard-line armed forces eager to quash unrest in the regions.

In Ms Megawati's speech introducing her new cabinet she spoke of the need for national unity without mentioning regional autonomy. This, combined with Mr Sabarno's appointment, heightens fears she aims to re-centralise power in Jakarta at the regions' expense.

Ms Megawati reinstated a formerly weak co-ordinating ministry for social welfare and picked a Golkar party member with strong support in powerful South Sulawesi, Yusuf Kalla, to head it. This was one of several appointments analysts described as a slap in the face to Mr Wahid, as Mr Kalla had been sacked by Mr Wahid amid allegations of corruption. Key Megawati aides Kwik Gian Gie and Laksamana Sukardi return to the cabinet.

Alongside Ms Megawati's many appointments of people linked to the political parties that brought her to power in a parliamentary putsch 17 days ago, she also chose those who have been known to do her favours in the past.

One example is new Minister for Manpower Jacob Nuwawea. He was her personal bodyguard for many years and played a pivotal role at party congresses in the early 1990s when she battled Suharto's attempts to take over her support base.

The man who used to chair Mr Wahid's National Awakening Party but crossed over to Ms Megawati days before the ailing cleric's downfall is also rewarded. Matori Abdul Djalil takes on the hot seat at the Ministry of Defence. He has some expertise in military affairs, having previously been trusted by Mr Wahid to pick reformist generals for promotion.

Observers eager to see the armed forces kept out of politics saw merit in Mr Matori's appointment, suggesting he may not be a favourite among the generals. He is also the third civilian in a row to be put in charge of ties with the military.

Another dig at Mr Wahid is the choice of Said Agil Munawar as Religious Affairs Minister. He is a respected Muslim scholar and a member of the board of the Nahdlatul Ulama, Mr Wahid's mass Muslim support base, but comes from a wing long opposed to Mr Wahid.

Indonesia's Megawati wins praise for cabinet picks

Reuters - August 9, 2001

Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta -- Indonesia's new president announced her long-awaited cabinet on Thursday, winning immediate praise for her choice of a team to pull the country out of years of crisis.

Looking relaxed and confident in the presidential palace that was her childhood home, Megawati Sukarnoputri picked a mostly professional team, although she also handed a number of posts to major political parties and potential foes. "The economics team is a good choice," Budi Hikmat, an economist with Bahan Securities, told Reuters.

Chief economics minister is outgoing ambassador to Washington and respected economist Dorodjatun Kuntoro-Jakti, with former national economic planning chief Boediono as finance minister.

"Dorodjatun and Boediono are the best combination," said prominent economist Sri Mulyani Indrawati. Dorodjatun has broad economic skills and is a good coordinator and Boediono is a good scholar and bureaucrat with high integrity. I give Megawati two thumbs up for these choices." While Megawati handed some posts to key political parties, many of the top positions went to technocrats, a signal Indonesia may at last have a cabinet chosen more for its skills than its political affiliations.

She picked widely respected ex-general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as chief political and security minister, a job he was sacked from near the end of the previous government. It is one of the most important posts as the world's fourth most populous nation struggles to quell separatist rebellions and communal violence that has killed thousands in recent years.

The leaders of the parliament and the top assembly, whose support is crucial to Megawati serving out her term to 2004, welcomed her team, which includes members of their own parties. "We support this cabinet. Overall, I give it good marks, 8.2 [out of 10]," top assembly chief Amien Rais told reporters.

Parliament speaker Akbar Tandjung, whose Golkar is the largest party after Megawati's own, said the team would have strong backing from the House, frequently a thorn in the side of her dumped predecessor.

The former vice-president and daughter of founding president Sukarno came to power nearly three weeks ago when the top legislative assembly sacked Abdurrahman Wahid for incompetence after just 21 months in office.

Call for unity

In her opening remarks, she immediately called on the country's fractious politicians to unite in helping the country recover from four years of economic and political mayhem which has dragged millions back into a life of poverty and violence.

"I realise how difficult the tasks and the responsibilities of the new cabinet will be. I'm looking for support from all groups," said Megawati, dressed in a blue-grey suit of a style popular among bureaucrats.

The cabinet also included several old faces, but she postponed naming the vital post of attorney-general -- whose job will be to try to sort through Indonesia's almost impenetrable legal tangle which is frightening away investors.

Key Megawati aides Kwik Gian Gie and Laksamana Sukardi -- both dumped by Wahid -- were brought back to the cabinet. Kwik, an ethnic-Chinese businessman and economic commentator, was handed national planning while former Citibank executive Sukardi was put in charge of state firms, whose vital privatisation has been repeatedly delayed.

The economic team will need to move quickly to get the economy back on track and regain the support of the International Monetary Fund, which has stopped new loans since late last year because of concerns over lagging reforms.

Yudhoyono likely a popular choice

Megawati has made a popular choice in Yudhoyono, who earned widespread respect during his first time in the job.

One of the few surprises was the defence minister, handed to Matori Abdul Djalil, a civilian and former head of Wahid's party. Djalil turned against Wahid in the final days of his presidency and was sacked from the party post.

"This is indeed a surprise. It's good because he's a civilian ... but he has very weak knowledge of defence strategy and has no strong network in the military," Riefqi Muna, defence analyst at the Indonesian Science Institute, said.

The frail rupiah and Jakarta stocks have been energised by Megawati's rise to power and the sacking of her erratic predecessor. Analysts said a well chosen cabinet would be critical to maintain that momentum. Both markets dipped immediately after her announcement.

The cabinet line-up was the first big test of Megawati's leadership abilities and shows something of the influence she has over the disparate parties that swept her to power on July 23.

"Obviously, Megawati was able to show she is the one who calls the shots and steered away from the inner circle -- previously the biggest concern of the market," said Lin Che Wei, head of research at SG Securities.

Megawati unveils her Cabinet

Sydney Morning Herald - August 9, 2001

Almost three weeks after taking office, President Megawati Sukarnoputri announced her new cabinet today.

She said the 31-member body will include retired army general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as the senior security minister, seen as the most powerful cabinet position. He lost the same post in Wahid's cabinet in June.

Megawati named ambassador to Washington and economist Dorojatun Kuncoro-Jakti as the new coordinating minister for the economy, replacing Abdurrahman Wahid's Burhanuddin Abdullah.

The new cabinet has three coordinating ministers, 17 ministers, 10 state ministers without ministries and two senior officials holding ministerial rank.

The government's main duty will be to pull Indonesia out of its prolonged economic slump and maintain the unity of the sprawling archipelago in the face of separatist rebellions, and escalating ethnic and religious violence.

"National unity will be the first priority of my Cabinet," Megawati said in a nationally televised speech. She said the lineup was designed to improve relations with Indonesia's creditors, which are backing a multi-billion dollar economic rescue program led by the International Monetary Fund.

Megawati identified the wildly fluctuating exchange rate of the national currency, and the difficulties of restructuring banking sector as Indonesia's main economic problems.

Just hours before the announcement, the rupiah rose sharply to a 10-month high as financial sector speculated that market-friendly ministers would be appointed to the crucially important economic portfolios. The rupiah hit 9,050 against the US dollar. This was its highest level since the outbreak of the political crisis that led to former President Abdurrahman Wahid's ouster and Megawati's inauguration on July 23.

Among the other important appointments, was the naming of Matori Abdul Jalil, a civilian, as defence minister. Matori, had been chairman of Wahid's party but deserted the former leader to support Megawati in the final days of his administration.

Although her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle is the nation's largest party and holds one-third of seats in Parliament, it still lacks a governing majority. Because of this, Megawati had to rely on the additional backing of other parties to win office.

Government urged to revise political party laws

Jakarta Post - August 8, 2001

Jakarta -- Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) and the Indonesian Accountants' Foundation (YAI) urged the government on Tuesday to revise political party laws to allow party financial management to be more accessible to public scrutiny.

The laws on political parties and general elections are full of loopholes that parties can exploit to conceal the true circumstances from accountants, Donny Ardyanto, ICW's coordinator for legislative oversight, said at a seminar. The one-day seminar, in which ICW presented the findings of its recent survey of party financial management, also featured Ellya Noorlisyati from YAI and Ramlan Surbakti, the deputy chairman of the General Elections Commission (KPU).

The seminar discussed Law No. 2/1999 on political parties and Law No. 3/1999 on elections. Article 14 (4) of the law on political parties requires parties to list their donors, with donations received being then subject to auditing.

"In practice, many donors are not identified on the lists. They are only identified as, for example, NN [no name], or "servant of God". This practice hampers the auditing process," said Ellya.

Ellya's firm was appointed by the National Election Committee in 1999 to audit those parties contesting the elections.

Another obstacle faced by the auditors was the absence of party financial records. "There are too many unrecorded transactions, and there is no financial coordination between party headquarters and the branches. Therefore, the auditors don't have any financial records to audit. If there are any, they are insufficient" she said.

Chaotic financial record-keeping was also caused by a lack of professionalism on the part of treasurers, said the ICW and YAI assessments.

The treasurer of a political party was also a politician and not a professional accountant. They lacked financial management and accounting skills. "His or her position is more political in nature and is designed to accommodate the political interests of the party," said Donny. "In the future, their recruitment should be based on professionalism rather than political favor." The ICW investigation found that between 80 percent and 90 percent of party funding came from businesspeople.

"The independence of the political parties is questionable at this point ... there could be some sort of patronage between the political parties and the businessmen," Donny said. "Since political parties do not verify the origin of the donations they receive, it is also possible that some of them could have come from corruption," he added.

For the sake of party independence, ideally party funding should come from the members instead of from the government and private donors, the ICW said.

Commenting on the ICW and YAI's opinions, Ramlan Surbakti said the National Election Committee was working on a revision of the laws. "It is expected that this could be passed by the House of Representatives so that it can be enforced for the 2004 elections," he said. "We [the KPU] propose [in the bill] that the amount of donations to and expenses of the political parties be limited and reported to the KPU," said Ramlan.

Regional/communal conflicts

Man burnt to death over stolen chicken

South China Morning Post - August 11, 2001

Associated Press in Jakarta -- An angry mob beat and burnt a man to death after he allegedly tried to steal a chicken from a coop outside a house on the outskirts of Jakarta, news reports said on Saturday.

The victim, 25, was killed early on Friday morning by villagers in Tangerang, just west of the capital, Kompas newspaper reported.

Lynchings have become increasing common as petty crime increases amid Indonesia's worst economic crisis in three decades. Many people who take the law into their own hands say that the police and judges are too corrupt to stop rising lawlessness.

Mob attacks Chinese shops in Sulawesi

Agence France Presse - August 9, 2001

Jakarta -- Hundreds of residents of Kendari, the provincial capital of Indonesia's Sulawesi province, smashed windows of Chinese-owned shops in anger at reports that an ethnic Chinese man had abused his local maid.

The unrest broke out at a market in the town yesterday. A local official named Mr Nurdin said: "It was sparked by reports that a maid had been manhandled by a Chinese man owning a shop in the Mandonga market."

The official said he saw several shops in the market being attacked, but rapid police intervention prevented further damage. A Kendari police officer, Master Sergeant Bambang, said shop windows were shattered but damage was "very limited".

The Antara news agency said the incident involved workers from the Kendari port, labourers at the market and drivers of motorcycle taxis. A hospital official said no one had been admitted for treatment.

Simmering resentment against ethnic Chinese, who dominated the Indonesian economy for decades under former dictator Suharto, has led to several riots in the archipelago in recent years. Chinese citizens were the target of student-led mobs that ran riot throughout the country in May 1998.

Indonesian Chinese, who made up just 3 per cent of the country's population of 202 million, were victimised although they played no role in the political change that led to the overthrow of the Suharto government.

The sheer scale of the violence in May 1998, including the widely-publicised rapes, led to an exit of many ethnic Chinese. Many found new homes in Hongkong, Singapore and Australia.

Human rights/law

Ad hoc tribunal to start in October?

Jakarta Post - August 9, 2001

Jakarta -- The chief of the justices team preparing the establishment of an ad hoc human rights tribunal, Benjamin Mangkoedilaga, expects that they could start the court hearings in October this year.

Correcting his previous announcement that the trials would start in September, Benjamin said on Wednesday they would only open the trials in October "because the team had yet to finish recruitment of noncareer judges."

The government has revised the decree on ad hoc tribunals to try human rights violations in East Timor in April and September of 1999 and the rights abuses that occurred during the Tanjung Priok shootings in September 1984.

"If you ask when we can start to try the cases, I would say that we could start them tomorrow. But trying such cases needs further requirements if we really want to properly handle the cases," Benjamin told The Jakarta Post at his office. He said such requirements included the objective recruitment of noncareer judges who would be selected from among experts and professionals dealing with legal matters.

He said further that between 60 and 80 noncareer and career judges were needed to run the ad hoc tribunals. "But so far, the team has succeeded only in recruiting 40 career judges and no noncareer judges," he said, adding that they found it hard to recruit noncareer judges.

Ideally, he said, each human rights violation case would be tried by five judges comprising two career-judges and three noncareer judges.

So far, the Attorney General's Office has prepared 12 dossiers on 18 suspects involved in four incidents of alleged rights abuses that occurred before and after the East Timor self-determination ballot on August 30, 1999. The office is still working on the investigation of the Tanjung Priok incident.

Failure to name A-G shows deep problems

Straits Times - August 10, 2001

Susan Sim, Jakarta -- President Megawati Sukarnoputri's failure yesterday to name a new attorney-general might be indicative of the difficulties her government will have in deciding how to deal with the ghosts of the past -- the same ones that her predecessor insists brought him down because he went after them.

The A-G's office is a booby-trapped, yet potentially lucrative post which, strangely enough, only one man over the past 10 days has lobbied her for -- retired Lieutenant-General Hendropriyono. Rumour had it that he was being backed by First Husband Taufik Kiemas.

That hint of cronyism, and Lt-Gen Hendropriyono's unresolved past -- human rights activists call him the Butcher of Lampung after a village massacre in 1989 which he says was provoked by the villagers -- should have ruled him out for the job of top cop.

But panic buttons were pressed all over town on Tuesday night when key Megawati aides revealed she was going to name him the A-G, reversing an earlier decision to give him another crucial post -- that of national intelligence chief.

The international community, having long decided that prosecution of cruel generals was a benchmark of good governance here, was ready to crucify her.

But much teeth-grinding later, Lt-Gen Hendropriyono is back to being the spy-master. Which begs the question: Why has the President not yet been able to find someone to uphold what she promised to do yesterday -- establish the supremacy of law and order? Putting the corrupt in jail would also be a key plank of her government, she pledged, fresh from warning her own husband and family not to embarrass her with links to shady businessmen.

And after telling the parties that governing was her business, not theirs, she exceeded all expectations yesterday with shrewd choices which pleased almost all the key pillars here.

She came up with a market-friendly economic team that should put to bed lingering concerns that she is a closet populist about to slam the doors on globalisation. She also named a very capable and popular security czar.

And nobody got the money-making "wet posts", except perhaps her party's Laksamana Sukardi, whose international reputation for integrity made her decision to give him control over state-owned enterprises hard to quibble over.

Yet it is the question of how she will deal with the business cronies who allegedly continue to loot the country which could break her government.

Former president Abdurrahman Wahid staked his legitimacy on making Suharto's corrupt pals and cruel generals pay for past sins, but he made lawmakers so incensed they booted him out. Part of the problem, of course, was that prosecutions appeared to be negotiable despite his tough talk.

The dilemma of cleaning up decades of institutionalised graft goes beyond drawing a line between punishing greedy tycoons to satisfy public outrage and leaving alone industries which employ millions.

Like all party leaders, Ms Megawati has to make sure that her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) continues to have access to financial sources.

When she decided it would be useful to court international opinion in Washington, it was a businessman who paid for the lobbying services of Mr Bob Dole. The former US presidential candidate then set up meetings for her husband Taufik Kiemas with senior Bush officials when she sent him there in June.

Mr Taufik did not win her new admirers, diplomatic sources said, but got straight-talk instead on not jeopardising his wife's position by hobnobbing with business cronies of dubious reputation.

One of Ms Megawati's lieutenants in Parliament, oil tycoon Arifin Panigoro, also has an open file in the A-G's office over his past business deals. Too rich to be bribed by other parties, the former Golkar MP was indispensable in her efforts to build up rapport with the other faction chiefs. Yet, he is so disliked by PDI-P stalwarts that they tried to kick him out of the party twice.

Ms Megawati had to speak up for him. But she told him that his legal battles with the A-G were his own and he should not count on her to interfere. But if she has already decided that impartial prosecutions are paramount to establishing the rule of law, and showed that she is no pawn of the cronies, why is there such difficulty in finding a good man to do the job now?

Rights activists applaud new decree on ad hoc tribunal

Jakarta Post - August 6, 2001

Jakarta -- Human rights activists applauded on Sunday the renewed presidential decree on the establishment of an ad hoc tribunal to try suspects of gross human rights abuses in the 1984 Tanjung Priok and 1999 East Timor bloodshed.

"The issuance of the new decree last Friday shows a good sign of the new administration on human rights," Asmara Nababan, the secretary general of the National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM), told The Jakarta Post on Sunday by phone.

The new presidential Decree No. 96/2001, clearly specifies each of the crimes against humanity to be brought to court, namely human rights violations in the Tanjung Priok shooting spree in September 1984 and in East Timor in April and September 1999. The new decree, signed by President Megawati Soekarnoputri, overrules former presidential decree no. 53/2001, signed by then president Abdurrahman Wahid in April.

The previous decree drew protests from rights activists as it only gave authority to the tribunal to try and hand down verdicts on rights violations that took place in East Timor after the self-determination ballot on August 30, 1999.

Meanwhile, many rights violations in East Timor were recorded before the ballot, especially in April, 1999, including the April 17 attack on proindependence leader Manuel Carrascalao's house in Dili, in which at least 12 people died and the April massacre of refugees at a church in Liquica.

Asmara said then president Abdurrahman responded positively to the outcry by rights activists and promised to correct the decree, but he was ousted from the presidency before he could sign the new decree.

Separately, Ifdhal said the new decree would help state prosecutors in deciding which cases to submit to the ad hoc tribunal and which cases to pursue further in terms of investigation and prosecution.

Following results of an inquiry by Komnas HAM, the Attorney General's Office had prepared 12 dossiers on 18 suspects from four incidents of suspected human rights abuses that occurred before and after the August 30 ballot.

Two postballot incidents investigated by the team were the September 6 attack on the Dili home of Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and the September massacre of refugees in a church in Suai, which left at least 26 dead.

The new decree, nevertheless, confirms the previous decree in terms of the tribunal sitting and budget. The tribunal will sit at the Central Jakarta District Court and its expenses will be covered by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.

Supreme Court Justice Benyamin Mangkoedilaga, who leads a working group to select judges for the ad hoc tribunal and human rights court, told the Post on Sunday that they were now selecting names from non-career and career judges, especially those who had been trained on human rights tribunal. They would be assigned to the ad hoc tribunal and human rights courts, which would also be established in Medan, Surabaya and Makassar. He said that at least 12 judges would be assigned at each rights court in Medan, Surabaya and Makassar and more judges for the court in Jakarta.

News & issues

Indonesian police say Tommy Suharto offers to surrender

Agence France Presse - August 10, 2001

Jakarta -- Tommy Suharto, the fugitive son of Indonesia's former dictator, has offered to surrender to face questioning over the murder of a senior judge and other alleged crimes, the Jakarta police chief said Friday.

Sofyan Yacub said he was confident Tommy would hand himself in based on a letter to police from his eldest sister Tutut, received Thursday afternoon.

"Mrs Tutut said Tommy called her at 7am last Tuesday and said he would surrender and he requested a guarantee of security from me," Yacub told reporters.

"So Tutut wrote to me asking for protection and said the family would hand Tommy over as soon as he comes to the family." Yacub said he was optimistic that Tommy would surrender and would be brought to police headquarters by his family, adding that he would "fully guarantee" his security.

Police have launched an intensive manhunt for Tommy after accusing him Monday of ordering the July 26 killing of Syaifuddin Kartasasmita, the Supreme Court judge who sentenced him to 18 months' jail last year for a land scam.

They say two suspects claim to have shot Kartasasmita on Tommy's orders and received 10,000 dollars in payment from the former millionaire playboy, who has been in hiding for nine months to avoid going to jail.

Police have also linked Tommy to a series of bombings in Jakarta in recent months, after discovering a cache of arms and explosives in separate raids last Saturday and Monday on an apartment and house he allegedly used.

Police have summoned Tutut, another sister Titiek, and Tommy's wife Tata for questioning to see if they know anything about the judge's murder.

"We have been told by witnesses and suspects that they knew about plans to murder him and we want to check that information with them," Jakarta police spokesman Anton Bachrul Alam told AFP.

Tutut, the eldest daughter of Suharto who resigned in May 1998 after 32 years, arrived Friday morning for questioning at Jakarta police headquarters.

National police chief General Suroyo Bimantoro said police were continuing the manhunt despite the family's promise to hand over Tommy. "We're not pinning everything on Tutut's letter," he told reporters at the presidential palace.

"We're still undertaking many other efforts which for technical reasons I cannot outline right now. We are questioning the family today but that's not all we're doing. We are optimistic and we will continue to hunt for him." Alam said Tommy would be shot if he tried to escape when located by police. "As a criminal who is armed and dangerous, we would automatically shoot to hamper him but not to kill," he said.

Alam said police had raided three homes in a south Jakarta suburb belonging to Tommy's friends and were continuing to search other friends' homes Friday.

Megawati orders quick arrest of Tommy Soeharto

Jakarta Post - August 9, 2001

Jakarta -- President Megawati Soekarnoputri has ordered the police to immediately arrest the fugitive son of former president Soeharto, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, after linking him to a series of bomb attacks and the murder of a prominent judge.

Megawati's secretary Bambang Kesowo said on Wednesday that the President gave the order to National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro and Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb last week.

"The President asked the police to resolve the problem immediately and to step up efforts to arrest Tommy, because he has been convicted," Bambang told journalists on Wednesday.

Police declared on Monday night that Tommy was the main suspect in the murder of Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita -- who had sentenced Tommy -- following the arrest of the murder suspects. Police on Monday found a stockpile of weapons, a number of documents and a fake ID card belonging to Tommy in a house he allegedly rented for his friends in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta. Tommy has been on the run since last November when he was sentenced to 18 months in jail for corruption.

The President asked the police to work very carefully with the bombing cases, as they have, so far, failed to capture the mastermind.

Bambang also quoted the President as condemning recent bomb attacks. "She is very worried and concerned about [the bombings]. She has asked security officers to take appropriate action to prevent and stop such occurrences," he said.

Police have arrested at least 10 people suspected of involvement in the murder of Justice Syafiuddin. The suspects had confessed to the police that the killing was ordered by Tommy. The judge was fatally shot by two of the suspects, identified as Noval Hadad and Mulawarman, on July 26, in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, on his way to work.

Syafiuddin was a member of a panel of judges that sentenced Tommy for graft in a land exchange deal involving State Logistics Agency (Bulog) and Tommy's firm PT Goro Batara Sakti.

Separately, city police raised the cash reward on Wednesday from Rp 25 million (US$2,777) to Rp 500 million for anyone who had information on Tommy's whereabouts. "Some businessmen who asked not to be named, have promised to give Rp 500 million to anyone who has information on Tommy's whereabouts," city police chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb told reporters.

Sofjan said the reward was aimed at encouraging the public to give information on the whereabouts of Tommy, alias Ibrahim, who currently has a moustache, beard and has grown his hair longer than before. He warned people that Tommy was a dangerous man because he always carried a gun and a grenade under his shirt and had a bag containing bombs.

Police are currently monitoring one of the Soeharto family's houses in Dalem Kalitan, Solo, Central Java. "We are closely monitoring the house, as well as hotels in the city, which were often visited by Tommy," Solo Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Bambang Sudarisman said on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, some members of the House of Representatives Commission I for Political and Security Affairs visited Jakarta Police Headquarters. "Besides congratulating the police, we wanted to make sure whether the arrest of the suspects was real and that the arrests were not engineered," Commission chairman Yasril Ananta Baharuddin said.

After interviewing three of the suspects, Yasril of the Golkar Party, concluded that the police had not concocted the case. However, Legislator Hajriyanto Y. Tohari, also from Golkar, said that they could not conclude whether the arrest was engineered or not just by questioning the suspect for one hour.

Legislator Joko Susilo of the National Mandate Party said the suspects admitted that Tommy acted as an imam (leader) for a magrib (sunset prayer) before deciding to buy motorcycles, which were then used to carry out the assassination of the judge.

The three suspects, who were interviewed by the legislators were Dodi Hardjito, Dedi Setiadi Yusuf and Ferry Ukom. The three are Tommy's schoolmates and friends. "They helped Tommy [in the murder] because of their close emotional ties. They have received financial support from Tommy," Legislator Sophan Sophiaan of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, said.

Sophan said, during the interview, the suspects asked for protection for themselves and their families while in police detention.

In Yogyakarta, Army chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto promised stern action against military officers found to have assisted Tommy. "Helping him means a violation of the law, because he is a fugitive," Endriartono told reporters at Yogyakarta Army Hospital on Wednesday.

Thousands welcome Gus Dur in East Java

Jakarta Post - August 8, 2001

Surabaya -- Tens of thousands of people lined the streets of East Java's Tapal Kuda area on Tuesday to welcome home former president and influential Muslim cleric Abdurrahman Wahid.

The crowds, comprising people from all walks of life, continued to pour into Situbondo's main square in the center of the coastal city, some 160 kilometers east of Surabaya, on Tuesday morning.

They came from the towns of Situbondo, Jember and Bondowoso, riding on motorcycles, open trucks, buses and cars. Many also walked to the square, where Abdurrahman gave a speech on democracy and religion later on the day. "We will continue to fight injustice and uphold the truth," Abdurrahman said before thousands of his followers.

This was Abdurrahman's first visit to his political heartland since the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) removed him from office two weeks ago in a special session held following allegations of incompetence and corruption. Abdurrahman was replaced by his former deputy and one-time confidante, Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Abdurrahman's entourage was welcomed by thousands of people who lined the streets in the Tapal Kuda towns from Surabaya to Situbondo, with red-and-white flags being much in evidence.

The former president arrived at Surabaya's Juanda Airport aboard a Garuda plane in the morning, accompanied by his daughter Zannuba Arifah Chafsoh, or Yenny as she is familiarly known. Unusually, Abdurrahman refused to talk to journalists. East Java Governor Imam Utomo, and a number of NU officials and non- governmental organization activists were seen among those welcoming him.

Abdurrahman was visiting the town to attend a ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of influential Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Muslim cleric KH As'ad Syamsul Arifin, a former head of the Salafiyah Safiiyah Islamic Boarding School in Asembagus, Situbondo regency.

Abdurrahman is an influential patron of NU, the country's largest Muslim organization which he led for 15 consecutive years before being elected as the country's fourth president at an MPR general session in October 1999. He was ousted by the same legislators who pushed him to accept the presidency at an MPR special session on July 23 this year.

"Gus Dur is our leader," chanted the supporters crowding the streets. "We still consider Gus Dur as the constitutional president. But, now he is the president of the people because of the different political reality," East Java NU official Ramadhan Sukardi said.

Security around the area was tight with military and police personnel, along with NU security units, guarding the venue.

Suharto son `gave orders to hitmen'

South China Morning Post - August 8, 2001

Vaudine England, Jakarta -- Police turned up the heat in their search for former dictator Suharto's youngest son yesterday by announcing they had two suspects who had confessed the playboy had paid them to kill the judge who sentenced him to jail.

Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra was accused of giving the alleged hitmen 100 million rupiah to kill Supreme Court Justice Syaifuddin Kartasasmita last month as he drove to work in Jakarta.

Jakarta police spokesman Colonel Anton Bahrul Alam said: "They have confessed that they shot the judge. Tommy lent them a Beretta 9 mm pistol. After they shot the judge they gave the gun back to Tommy and he paid them 100 million rupiah."

The men, named as Rolan and Noval, were picked up on Monday night and yesterday morning, following a police raid on a house owned by Hutomo.

There, police found ready-made bombs, assault rifles, grenades, detonators, ammunition and fake identity cards, one of which carried a picture of the previously mustachioed Hutomo with a full beard and long hair. They also found documents mapping the homes and regular routes of three judges.

Jakarta Police Chief Sofyan Yacob said the fugitive Hutomo set up links with rebels from Aceh who have been accused of involvement in a series of bombings in Jakarta.

"We call on Tommy to surrender himself within three days," he said. "If he does, we will treat him well. Otherwise, we will take strict measures." Hutomo went on the run last November.

He was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment for his role in corrupt land dealings, but managed to delay court proceedings and flee a supposedly comprehensive police dragnet.

Speculation is rife as to where Hutomo might be, with theories ranging from hideouts in Singapore or the United States, to a belief that he is living at the penthouse of the luxury Dharmawangsa Hotel in South Jakarta.

Justice Kartasasmita was gunned down in a professional hit on July 26. The killing shocked Indonesians and raised fresh doubts about the ability of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Government to tackle entrenched corruption throughout the legal system.

Judge Kartasasmita was on the legal team which sentenced Hutomo to jail, and also helped send former Suharto crony Mohamad "Bob" Hasan to a high security prison in southern Java for his corruption convictions.

"As his lawyer, I still think that Tommy has to surrender himself ... but he doesn't want to do so because he believes he has been treated unfairly," Hutomo's lawyer, Nudirman Munir, told a local radio station.

Analysts are now pondering why the police have at last chosen to act against the fugitive playboy, whom most people believe has enjoyed police and military protection for him to be able to stay on the run for so long.

"I think the police think it's all a game which has gotten out of hand. It can't be tolerated any more. And that is because of the killing of the judge," said a former cabinet minister. "Assassination has that effect. It's like in Italy when the Mafia went too far and started hitting too many police and judges. And I do believe that Tommy would have ordered the hit. He is vengeful and violent enough."

A business consultant said: "There is a public lust to see Tommy behind bars and the recent bombings, too, though small, have gone too far. With all the publicity about divisions in the police lately, maybe they want to show they still have what it takes."

Another source said Hutomo "has been wandering around among us all the time and we all know it. He's been sighted by friends of mine and the police have clearly colluded to keep him safe. But it's in the police's interest, now they've helped get [former president] Abdurrahman Wahid] out of the way, to show a bit of action. This will advance a few men's careers." 1

A legal source said there was a large element of theatre surrounding the new police activism. "The whole thing is ridiculous. If they really want to catch Tommy, why don't they bug the phones of his friends and get the money taps turned off?" the lawyer said. "They've clearly known about the house with the arms cache for a long time. They've been involved in all of it and the only explanation for why they're finally choosing to move is that the killing of the judge went too far."

Environment/health

New forestry minister urged to curb log exports

Jakarta Post - August 11, 2001

Jakarta -- Newly appointed Minister of Forestry M. Prakosa is facing calls to impose a log export moratorium to help save the country's forest resources and protect local timber-related companies.

Indonesian Forestry Society (MPI) chairman Soedradjat DP said on Friday that the log export moratorium should be a priority for Prakosa as the country's forests were edging toward massive damage due to over exploitation amid high export demand.

"It's the government's responsibility to control logging activities in accordance to real need," Soedradjat told reporters on the sidelines of a post-handover ceremony from Marzuki Usman to Prakosa.

The government slashed export tax on logs from 200 percent to 10 percent in 1998 as part of its commitment to reform the economy in return for a massive bailout fund from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). But the decision has led to a massive outflow of logs from the country, as the easing of log export restrictions prompted many logging companies to sell their logs overseas to obtain hard currency instead of selling to local wood businesses.

Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Wood Panel Exporters (Apkindo) Abbas Adhar said a huge quantity of log exports had badly hit local wood-related firms due to a lack of timber as their prime raw material.

He said that the country's plywood exports plunged significantly due to the raw material shortage. "The new minister must stop log exports," he said, adding that otherwise many wood-related businesses would be closed down. The government would lose one of the best contributors to its coffers, he said.

The country's plywood exports stood at US$3.7 million last year, while pulp and paper $3 million and other wooden products $1.8 million.

Soedradjat said that the lucrative log export business had boosted the country's logging volume in 2000 to 60 million cubic meters, which was much higher than the 24 million cubic meters real need of local timber-related businesses. "The massive logging activities will accelerate deforestation," he said.

According to data at the Ministry of Forestry, the country's deforestation rate stood at between 1.6 million to 1.8 million cubic meters per year due to rampant illegal logging activities.

Adiwarsita Adinegoro, chairman of the Association of Indonesian Forest Concessionaires (APHI) said that the government should renegotiate with the IMF to review the policy on log export tax.

Meanwhile, Prakosa declined to comment, saying that he needed time to contemplate forestry problems. "Within two or three days, I'll be available for further comment," he said.

The new minister was born in Yogyakarta, on March 4, 1960. He obtained his master's degree in forestry economics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA and his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.

Arms/armed forces

US moves to strengthen military ties

Green Left Weekly - August 8, 2001

Pip Hinman -- With Megawati Sukarnoputri freshly installed as president, and the country's armed forces, the TNI, in the ascendancy, the US government is moving swiftly to strengthen military ties with Indonesia.

US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in Australia to promote closer US-Australian defence ties and "regional security", said on July 29 that he was keen to re-establish US training of Indonesian military officers as well as the sale of weapons and equipment to the TNI.

Australia's foreign minister, Alexander Downer, went on record the next day heartily endorsing the US plan. The move comes as US officials scurry to withdraw from circulation an embarrassing archival report which documents US involvement in installing the military regime of Suharto in 1965-66.

The report shows that the US supplied the military with lists of thousands of members of the Indonesian Communist Party, who were then tracked down and killed. Possibly a million Indonesians were murdered during Suharto's first two years in power, setting the pattern for Suharto's 32-year reign.

The administration of George W. Bush is keen to rebuild close ties with Jakarta. The previous Clinton administration was forced to suspend training, equipment and weapons supplies to Indonesia following worldwide protest at the TNI's post-ballot rampage in East Timor in 1999.

A 1998 defence bill included the Leahy provision which barred the Pentagon from training foreign troops who have a history of human rights atrocities. This provision, which attaches conditions to the re-establishment of full military ties, was renewed on July 22 as part of Congress' 2002 Foreign Operations Appropriations Act.

The 1998 Leahy provision came in after the Pentagon was discovered training Indonesian officers despite a congressional ban on joint training with foreign troops with a record of human rights violations. However, it did not ban the sale of weapons, only "restricting" their use in occupied East Timor and limiting military training to "non-tactical matters".

It was only in September 1999 when the futility of such conditions on the TNI became so obvious that US Congress, along with the European Union and other countries, was forced to suspend equipment sales and training altogether.

Since then, Indonesia has campaigned to get this ban overturned, with some success. The European Union lifted its ban on arms sales in January 2000, with France leading the arms sales push, closely followed by Britain.

Australia, meanwhile, never stopped its training programs, only suspending those with the elite Kopassus troops. The Australian government allocated some $4 million last financial year to Indonesian officer training.

Bush is on record praising Indonesia for its "commitment to the rule of law and democracy", despite the lack of any action being taken against any high-level TNI officer being charged with murders in East Timor, Aceh or West Papua.

Since Sukarnoputri's instalment, the police, TNI and their right-wing militia accomplices have launched a renewed crack-down on Indonesian democracy activists resulting in the arbitrary arrest of some 37 people in the last month.

A new report, "The United States and Southeast Asia: A Policy Agenda for the New Administration", drafted by Dov Zakheim, a Reagan-era Pentagon official who is now one of Bush's under- secretaries of defence, identifies Indonesia as "the region's most important state".

Its two recommendations are to strengthen the US military presence in Southeast Asia and to promote, through multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, "market- oriented economic reform, technology-driven development and measures for poverty alleviation".

Released in June, the Council on Foreign Relations report describes the region as "a troubling landscape of political turbulence and economic fragility" and, with China in its sights, recommits the US to a 1948 pledge to keep the region "free of any hegemonic power".

According to Gerry van Klinken, editor of the magazine Inside Indonesia, the CFR report urges the US to re-engage Indonesia's army and states that Indonesia's "basic cohesion and territorial integrity" be preserved at all costs.

For the moment, the US State Department seems to favour retaining some conditions on the restoration of full US military ties. But for how long? Deputy assistant secretary of state for Asian affairs Ralph Boyce, who is slated to be Washington's next ambassador to Jakarta, believes that the US government should renew its training and equipping of Indonesian police which, he says, acts as a counterweight to the TNI.

Human rights activists disagree. John Miller, director of the US-based East Timor Action Network, said that renewing military ties with Indonesia "would send the worst possible signal" to the new regime.

Not only did Sukarnoputri openly oppose the 1999 referendum in East Timor, he said, but Eurico Guterres, leader of the most notorious militia group, Aitarak, has been praised by her as a national hero and made a leader of her party's youth wing.

Some right-wing commentators are worried about the consequences of the US pursuing military ties with such unseemly haste.

Gareth Evans, a former Labor Party foreign minister who, together with former PM Paul Keating, cultivated the "special relationship" policy with Suharto, says that while he does not oppose such a move, the timing is all important.

In a comment piece in the July 24 International Herald Tribune, Evans, who now heads the International Crisis Group, a right-wing think tank, sounded a warning about the backlash such a move could provoke: "I am one of those who has to acknowledge, as Australia's foreign minister at the time, that many of our earlier training efforts helped only to produce more professional human rights abusers".

According to Jon Lamb from Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor, "Indonesia's scorched earth policy in East Timor hasn't been forgotten -- not by Australians, not by the world. Western governments deciding to reward those criminals responsible for the carnage there, and in Aceh and West Papua, will face concerted public opposition".

"The old discredited policy won't wash any more. If government was in step with public opinion here it would end all military ties with Indonesia."

Indonesia's military `will play a strong role for 15 years'

Straits Times - August 9, 2001

Yeoh En-lai -- Indonesia's military will continue to play a strong role as the present crop of politicians is far from securing the future of the country, Indonesia's former defence minister said yesterday.

Professor Juwono Sudarsono said the civilian parties and their politicians "still have a long way to go before they can embark on purely civilian control" and that it would take another 10 to 15 years before politicians took command of the military.

The decision last August to retain a military presence in Parliament was testimony to the military's role in building Indonesia under a civilian authority, he said.

The army was an influential force in Indonesia's development under former president Suharto and was influential in removing former leader Abdurrahman Wahid last month.

Prof Juwono was in Singapore to deliver a lunchtime talk to the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies Asia-Pacific Summer Camp for Senior Military Officers at the Shangri-La Hotel. He was appointed defence minister by Mr Abdurrahman in October 1999, the first civilian to hold the position in more than 30 years.

He said: "Civilian society has been achieved with the elections of 1999, but the substance of civilian control over the military will take at least 10 to 15 years. "And this has to do with the very weakness of civilian parties and civic associations in building up the institutions of civil society to fill the vacuum left by the military." It is understood the army runs numerous enterprises and businesses used to finance its own needs.

He added that the 21 months under Mr Abdurrahman had "not been promising in the effectiveness of democratisation". Mr Abdurrahman had tried to to rein in the military.

The professor said there was a need for Indonesia to focus on building up a strong middle class to have an effective transition to a purely civilian rule. The middle class now constitutes less than 10 per cent of the country's population of 210 million. A strong middle class was also needed for an effective shift to civilian rule, he said.

And he also noted that the high level of unemployment was a problem. "The social and economic base is just not there. We do not have the very best social and economic environment to provide for a smooth transition."

He voiced disappointment that Indonesia's political parties were not meeting the challenges faced by the people but were leveraging on their leaders' popularity for support. The IDSS camp ends on Saturday.

A long road ahead to resuming US-RI military ties

Jakarta Post - August 7, 2001

[A number of problems feature in the controversy surrounding the resumption of US-Indonesian military ties, writes Dr. Kusnanto Anggoro, senior researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies and lecturer in the postgraduate studies program at the University of Indonesia, Jakarta.]

Jakarta -- Military ties are expected to be a test in the relations between the United States and Indonesia. The ties were curtailed in the 1990s and then suspended because of the Indonesian Military's (TNI) involvement in the East Timor debacle in 1999. The relations have been extremely limited ever since, though the TNI was invited to observe Cobra Gold and the Navy participated in the exercises of Cooperative and Readiness Afloat Training.

Washington has recently signaled an early resumption of closer military ties with the TNI. Changes in Washington and Jakarta have made the benefits of a stable Indonesia far outweigh concerns about the military's human rights violations. East Timor is no longer part of Indonesia. Still, new concerns have emerged in the White House about a more assertive China and about prolonged instability in Indonesia.

There still remains a big question mark as to when the plan for closer military ties can eventually take off. The White House may touch off a bitter fight with Congress which has in place restrictions on what Washington can do with TNI. The Leahy Amendment on limitations on assistance to security forces requires Jakarta's commitment to investigations and prosecution of members of the TNI and militia responsible for human rights violations in Indonesia and East Timor. This remains unfulfilled. Two generals have been declared suspects; none have been sent to court.

Meanwhile, the scope of cooperation is no less problematic. At the bureaucratic level, there still appears a split between the Pentagon and the US State Department. The former wants swift moves to reestablish closer ties with the Indonesian Military. The latter favors a more cautious course in light of the intensification of repression and violence in Indonesia. This would surely close down the possibility of an early resumption of ties.

Under the circumstances, the Bush government must approach the Indonesian government with caution and this would include progress on accountability for human right abuses. That East Timor has now split from Indonesia may not necessarily change the minds of many in Washington. Even a strong proponent of an earlier resumption of military cooperation such as Adm. Denis Blair, the Commander of the US Pacific Fleet, demands "to see good behavior" from the (Indonesian) military in Aceh and Irian Jaya.

It would be wrong to argue that the resumption of military ties is only a matter of time. A "sooner or later" argument does not resolve the dilemma that Americans face in their military-to- military cooperation, which in fact has never been an effective instrument of foreign policy. Events during the late years of the Soeharto regime and the East Timor debacle, were strong evidence that Washington could not use the widely touted "leverage" that military assistance and ties allegedly provide to rein in the Indonesian Military.

Military cooperation with Indonesia will continue to be constrained by a patchwork of existing American regulations, bureaucratic politics and vulnerability to hostile public opinion. A challenge for Washington is to find legitimate and justified military assistance to Indonesia. Selling of defensive weapons and/or nonlethal spare parts may be tolerable in certain circumstances.

But no one would accept the US military training their Indonesian counterpart in a broad range of lethal tactics, including "advanced sniper techniques" and "psychological operations".

Instead, they may be able to assist the TNI in developing roles and missions appropriate not only to their more democratic policy but also to a more interdependent world. As such, devising modern military doctrines and strategies to guide the Indonesian Military in multilateral cooperation and/or in cooperative management of transnational issues would be of great importance. It may also be useful for the US military to enlighten the TNI on the importance of transparency and accountability in defense and security policy.

Regardless of such technical considerations, reengagement with TNI would only benefit the people of Indonesia if it does not undercut civilian control over the military. In fact, this is the greatest challenge. Washington should understand that Indonesia's defense and security policy making are still in the hands of military personnel, including retired as well as officers-turned politicians. The post-Soeharto regime has largely failed to "civilianize" the defense ministry, despite having a civilian defense minister.

Worse still, civilian members of the legislature are not well versed in the subject of defense and security. Most journalists, academics and activists are interested more in vague issues of military politics and a purist moral view of human rights. As a result, there is no serious attempt by civilians at defining the practical mechanism and instruments for democratic control of the armed forces. It will be a long time before civilians can use their leverage to rein in the military.

If the Bush government is to re-establish their ties with the TNI, they must also complement this with programs to empower civilians.

Policy recommendations for Indonesia: Upside down, they look good

Gerry van Klinken - July 27, 2001

America is still looking mainly for military allies in Southeast Asia -- as if the cold war never ended. This is the central message of a new report issued this month by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) on what the Bush administration should be doing in the region. It's likely to alarm Southeast Asians.

Entitled The United States and Southeast Asia: A Policy Agenda for the New Administration, the report was drafted by Dov Zakheim, Reagan-era Pentagon planner and now one of Bush's Under-Secretaries of Defense.

The president will soon receive similar advice from Zakheim's boss, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who in mid-June set out defense principles that refer to "allies" and "adversaries" but not much to countries in between.

The new report identifies Indonesia as "the region's most important state." Its two key recommendations clash so sharply with the views of many Indonesians that the simplest way to describe what the latter would prefer for US policy to be would be to take the CFR's recommendations and turn them upside down.

Strengthen US military presence

The report's first recommendation is to strengthen the US military presence in Southeast Asia. It opens with this vintage 1960s cliche to describe the region: "[A] troubling landscape of political turbulence and economic fragility," and consequently recommends that the "highest American priority should still be assigned to maintaining regional security." The origin of America's commitment to keep the region "free of domination by any hegemonic power," the report says, goes back to 1948, arguably the first year of the cold war. As then, China remains the main US competitor. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is described as "a nascent security community." Accordingly, the report looks to "a constructive US-ASEAN response to an emerging China."

After identifying Indonesia as the core ASEAN state -- and thus the key ally against China -- the report goes on to get so much of Indonesia wrong.

After the horrendous destruction of East Timor in 1999, the US Congress responded to desperate appeals from Indonesian and East Timorese civil society by cutting US-Indonesian military links. As a condition for military reengagement the so-called Leahy Amendment specified that the Indonesian military should first be called to account for its abuses in East Timor. This report, to the contrary, calls the congressional action "short-sighted." Instead, it urges the US to "re-engage Indonesia's army," which it describes as "remain[ing] a potent political force" that is now at least formally committed to civilian supremacy. Indeed, Washington has already invited the Indonesian navy and air force to participate in regional military exercises with US troops.

The trouble with reengagement minus accountability is that the Indonesian military is an instrument of internal repression -- not just in East Timor but throughout Indonesia. Engaging Indonesia primarily as an ally against China makes it less likely that the US will concern itself with the military's continuing record of human rights abuses at home. Indeed, the report describes Indonesia's domestic politics in terms that will please the Indonesian military. Its dark prognosis about this country reads: "The future of wobbly, democratizing Indonesia, the keystone of the region, is in doubt." The CFR report's prescription: "[P]reserve the basic cohesion and territorial integrity of Indonesia." Indonesia's generals will certainly interpret this as coded language indicating US approval for military action against self-determination protests in regions like Aceh and Papua, which they see as threats to national integrity.

In addition to frequently wielding the term "instability," the report also refers to "the specter of politicized Islam." Aceh is mentioned as a particular example, but the same specter threatens "the lower ranks of the army" and even "the central government." Thanks to the likes of Samuel Huntington and his Clash of Civilizations, any mention of Islam is likely to trigger aversion reactions in Western policy circles that resemble those once triggered by the word communism.

What happens when we turn this call for increased military ties on its head? It is precisely heavy-handed military action that elicited the dissent and protests that this report characterizes as political instability. Everyone in Aceh -- from the Jakarta- appointed governor to the lower government ranks -- has opposed the renewed military action that followed the collapse of a limited cease-fire earlier this year.

Instead, the national parliament is now considering an Acehnese proposal to grant extensive special autonomy to the province.

Aceh's population remains deeply traumatized by the military violence of the past decade. Yielding to a military logic will drive more distressed young men to the ranks of the violent guerrilla resistance movement, GAM. This will make tensions in Aceh as intractable as those of the Jaffna Peninsula in Sri Lanka or in Northern Ireland.

Internal military operations are incompatible with democracy in any country. Indonesia is no exception, particularly so at this delicate transitional stage. By recommending the military solution (while genuflecting to democracy), the Council on Foreign Relations report looks back to a Suharto-era idea of normality that many Indonesians now regard as oppressive and violent. Like the former Soviet Union, Indonesia is undergoing a fundamental transition away from authoritarianism and toward increased popular participation in politics. It would be a mistake for the authorities to regard this new surge of popular involvement in political issues as a threat to political stability that they must counter.

The reasoning that begins with the Chinese adversary and ends by winking at military action against "Islamic" Aceh is dangerous policy analysis. Even some of the report's own authors resisted it, as is evident in the dissenting views distributed with the report. The position is certainly open to alternatives. For the Acehnese, that alternative is an open-ended dialogue in which everything (except violence) is possible, including an end to Indonesia's territorial integrity. Such an alternative will boost those Acehnese and Indonesian actors committed to democracy. There is a role in this dialogue for outside partners, including Americans, mainly as aid donors, mediators, and monitors.

Market-oriented reform, again and again

The second key recommendation is the expected economic advice: "The United States should promote market-oriented economic reform, technology-driven development, and measures for poverty alleviation."

Economic reform is linked in the report to democratization, in a way that reflects orthodox neoliberal thought. Free-market and democratic reforms invariably bring with them a degree of disorder. So will stability or democracy have the highest priority for the United States? The frequency with which the report qualifies Southeast Asian democracy as "wobbly," "fragile," and in need of "stabilizing" indicates the authors' sympathies and orientation.

If the goal is poverty alleviation, the road to it is to "assist the International Monetary Fund (IMF)." Throughout Southeast Asia, however, there is rising recognition that market-oriented reforms such as those sponsored by the IMF brought on the Asian crisis in 1997. The IMF-imposed reforms weakened the ability of states to moderate the destructive effects of footloose capital on national currencies.

Malaysia and China are widely admired throughout the region as models of how governments can protect their populations from the dangers of the US-dominated market. Yet the Council on Foreign Relations report ignores this view. Its only nod to the heavy debt burden left behind by the Asian crisis is to suggest that Japan could help restructure the region's external debt.

The belief that market-oriented reforms will alleviate poverty in its wake is much disputed in Southeast Asia. Just as most Indonesians view recommendations for increased security as springing from military headquarters in Washington and Jakarta, this economic recommendation bears the imprint of the corporate office tower and the US Treasury.

In the view of this report, what's needed are policies that nurture and build the confidence of capitalist investors -- mainly foreign -- while the nourishment and economic aid for the poor that's so badly needed receive little attention.

Recommendations turned on their head

What would American foreign policy look like if this set of recommendations were turned on its head? Instead of blindly pushing on with the IMF agenda, Washington would support economic reforms that actually do reduce poverty. In the economic arena, this would necessarily mean leveling the mountain of government debt. Indonesia spends 23 times as much government revenue repaying debt as it does providing health services. Public debt (owed by the state) now stands at $134 billion, representing 104% of Indonesia's Gross Domestic Product. Unless this debt is reduced (not merely restructured), there is little hope that the government will address the needs of poor Indonesians.

Other economic measures that deserve US support include stopping IMF demands that Indonesia raise fuel prices (which are already causing riots); helping to ensure that US transnational corporations comply with international labor, environmental, anti-corruption, and human rights standards; and supporting attempts to recover Suharto's ill-gotten wealth. In the long term, Washington should support reforms of the global financial system that at present makes weak economies ever weaker. These include controls on the damaging international flow of capital, limits on the World Trade Organization, and a greater voice for debtor nations on the IMF Board.

But healthy multilateralism goes well beyond economics to the need for a world order in which weak societies like Indonesia have more say.

Indonesians also need support for an International Criminal Court to try those who destroyed East Timor. This is an essential component in the battle to end military impunity. Indonesians would benefit from the Kyoto Protocol, which would help protect their forests from irresponsible foreign investment.

If Washington would respond differently to the political and economic issues confronting Indonesians, it would go a long way to increasing the respect for the US in Southeast Asia. However, if Washington pursues the type of policy recommendations promoted by the Council on Foreign Relations, then it will face increasing resentment. In other words, the latest foreign policy report would be great for Indonesians if its recommendations were turned upside down.

[Gerry van Klinken edits the quarterly magazine Inside Indonesia.]

International solidarity

Free the Bandung 19

Green Left Weekly - August 8, 2001

Urgent solidarity action is needed from supporters of democracy worldwide to secure the release of activists held by police for organising against the Indonesian regime.

Particularly urgent is the case of the Bandung 19, who have imprisoned as political prisoners by the authorities in police headquarters in the West Javanese city since as far back as June 15.

The 19 are being held for their involvement in June protests against regressive changes to labour laws and increases in oil prices. On June 13 and 14, more than 20,000 workers struck and marched on the provincial parliament building, and were attacked by riot police on both occasions. On June 14, police assaulted the crowd with rubber bullets and tear gas, injuring at least 19 people.

The Bandung 19 were arrested in the days after and blamed for starting the "riot". The young activists are from the Young Christian Workers (YCW) movement, the National Student League for Democracy (LMND) and the People's Democratic Party (PRD), amongst other groups.

They have been charged under criminal laws that prohibit displaying signs that may cause humiliation to the Indonesian government, the Indonesian people, public authorities or any similar person/institution; and for openly using violence against people or goods.

The prisoners have been treated extremely badly. They went on a hunger strike for eight days, and eventually were given medical attention and ordered to end their fast.

One of the prisoners, Mardiyono from the Young Christian Workers, wrote in a letter from prison: "The conditions in the custody are very bad. Each day we are provided with rice and only salted fish and fermented beans.

"The policemen in charge call the roll every day and anytime we may get a punch or a kick. We feel depressed, bored and frustrated. When members of family came, they could only shed tears. In the first five days we got torture that hurt us. We suffer physically and mentally. The police have dreadfully violated the human rights. Therefore we will keep struggling for democracy and human rights in Indonesia."

The 19 prisoners are: L.V. Mardiyono, 23, factory worker, from the YCW; Normalinda, 22, student, LMND; George Dominggus Hormat, 21, student, LMND; Fransiskus Xavarius Farneubeun, 21, worker, PRD; Kahpi, factory worker, PRD; Albertus Budi Pratomo, 21, factory worker, PRD; Hiskia Hartono, 31, student; Edy Irwansah, 20, labourer, YCW; Maraden Sinaga, 23, student, YCW; Deny Nugraha, 33, worker, YCW; Wirya Wangsa Direja, 24, labourer, YCW; Deny Kusmarna, labourer, YCW; Dindin Suherman, NGO worker at "Dewan Kota"; Asep Ruhyat, NGO worker at "Dewan Kota"; Andy Hartono, 22, student, LMND; Anton Jauhari, student, GPRI; Donny Danudirjo, 21, student, LMND; Yovi Wijaya, 21, student, LMND; Sri Darwanti, 24, student, GPK.

Economy & investment

Jakarta's IMF loan

Straits Times - August 11, 2001

Robert Go, Jakarta -- Market players do not expect miracles, but they see the quick signing of Jakarta's next agreement with the International Monetary Fund as a major test of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's new economic Cabinet.

Much depends on how soon Coordinating Economics Minister Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti and his team could convince the IMF to sign the release of the next US$400-million loan instalment, part of a US$5-billion programme, to Jakarta.

Mr David Chang of Vickers Ballas said: "If the IMF is willing to disburse the money, investors will start looking at Indonesia again, and the rupiah can continue to strengthen. The IMF's money itself is small, but its backing and endorsement for this government is a crucial signal to private investors and other international creditors."

Mr Umar Juoro, an adviser to former President BJ Habibie, agreed: "If we move ahead with the IMF programme, investors will see real signs of reforms and stability."

Mr Dorodjatun yesterday told reporters that he expected an IMF team to visit Jakarta in mid-September to discuss Indonesia's economic programme.

Analysts said Indonesia's economic problems since the South-east Asian crisis' onset in 1997 was due to a lack of credibility. Time after time, previous governments have reneged on pledged reforms, putting out feel-good statements, but producing little concrete progress on asset sales, restructuring or other programmes that could spur recovery.

Chief among Indonesia's severe economic problems is weak investor confidence and the sluggish inflow of foreign capital into the country. Foreign direct investment totalling US$33.8 billion poured into the country in 1997, but that figure dropped to US$15.4 billion in 2000. Available statistics suggest that Indonesia will attract even fewer investments this year.

To many observers here, the logic is simple and has underlined recovery efforts since Mr Habibie's brief turn at the palace: The IMF is the kick that can start Indonesia's recovery ball rolling again.

IMF backing and money provide stability to the rupiah and the country's financial markets. At the same time, it allows Jakarta to negotiate further loans from other creditors and to appear more attractive to potential investors. Better performance of those two indicators would facilitate easier debt-repayment and restructuring for the government and the hugely indebted private companies.

Analysts think this current economic team will do better than its predecessor, citing Mr Dorodjatun's reputation as an effective communicator, and his network of friends in Washington and within the IMF itself.

Early signs showed both sides wooing each other, with Mr Dorodjatun, Indonesia's former envoy to the United States, saying that the IMF programme should not be viewed "as a burden" by Jakarta. The Washington-based lender, for its part, had promised approval of the next loan instalment before the end of this month.

Mr Chang said: "The market is still cautiously optimistic that this team can manage better ties with the IMF. "We won't see results for another few months, but a quick IMF deal would be reassuring to investors."

Praise for Mega's economic team

Straits Times - August 10, 2001

Robert Go, Jakarta -- By drafting respected technocrats and businessmen into her economic dream team, President Megawati Sukarnoputri made clear her intentions of reclaiming the international community's support and getting the economy back on track.

New Coordinating Economics Minister Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, Finance Minister Boediono and the rest of the team got similar reviews from analysts in Jakarta as capable, non-partisan and internationally-respected team players.

Mr Raden Pardede of Danareksa Research Institute said: "They are just what the doctor ordered. The team is full of heavyweights. Market reaction will be favourable." Former presidential adviser Sri Mulyani agreed: "They are competent and have integrity. The President has chosen the best combination available at this point and they should work well together."

Beyond assuaging the fears of domestic analysts, Ms Megawati also seemed to be trying to get across an idea that could define the rest of her presidency: Nationalistic thinking will guide her political decisions, but globalisation and a firm commitment to foreign creditors and investors will define her economic policies.

A few months ago, when then-president Abdurrahman Wahid entertained his economics czar Dr Rizal Ramli's anti-IMF musings, it was Ms Megawati who made behind-the-scenes efforts to appease and recover the trust of the Washington-based lender.

Mr Dorodjatun furthered the cause yesterday in his first remark as the new economics czar: "We will continue to work closely with the IMF. The government shouldn't regard the IMF programme as a burden." Finance Minister Boediono also has some ties to the IMF, as he was a part of the team that former president Suharto dispatched to negotiate with the agency in 1997 at the beginning of the South-east-Asian economic crisis.

Ms Rini Soewandi, now Trade and Industry Minister, and Mr Laksamana Sukardi, head of the state-owned enterprises, are also both internationally recognised names with proven track records of managing companies in the midst of an economic crisis. The two have worked in both the private and public sectors and are said to be relatively clean in an Indonesia that is defined, in part, by its institutionalised corruption.

And few are as well equipped as Manpower Minister Jacob Nuwawea, himself a former leader of a major union here, to deal with Indonesia's labour mess and to convince potential investors that there will be stability in that sector.

Ms Megawati's efforts could be paying off already, according to several foreign observers and players. Mr Mark Baird, the World Bank's director in Jakarta, said: "This is a very promising economic team. It combines professional expertise and bureaucratic experience. It should be well received by the financial markets." Mr David Chang of Vickers Ballas, on the other hand, had some doubts: "Yes, these are good choices, but foreign investors will still wait for further developments. Failure would set the country back again."

World Bank's IFC says freezes funding to Indonesia

Reuters - August 8, 2001

Jakarta -- The World Bank's private sector arm said on Wednesday it had temporarily frozen all funding to Indonesia mainly because of a court ruling over one of its debtors.

The announcement by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) marks another public relations black eye for Indonesia's faltering efforts to revive its economy and comes on the eve of the naming of new President Megawati Sukarnoputri's cabinet.

The IFC -- which has total investments of around $800 million in Indonesia -- recently lost a second Supreme Court appeal over a bankruptcy case involving local finance company PT Panca Overseas Finance .

"It's a freeze, a temporary freeze," IFC's Indonesia manager Amitava Banerjee told Reuters. When asked what would be required for funding to resume, he said: "... The government has to demonstrate its commitment and its concern for foreign direct investment by actually signalling what can be done." He said $250 million worth of projects currently in the pipeline -- of which the IFC would invest $60 million -- had also been frozen.

Indonesia's graft-ridden legal system has been a key impediment to foreign investment, which plunged amid the Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s.

Jakarta says tax revenue above target despite woes

Reuters - August 8, 2001

Jakarta -- Indonesia said on Wednesday tax collection in the first seven months of 2001 was above target, raising hopes the government would be able to meet the full year tax revenue target crucial to help plug its budget deficit.

There have been concerns about whether the government would be able to achieve the target because of domestic political instability and slow economic growth this year.

"We have collected 92.2 trillion rupiah ($9.9 billion) from January to July against a revised 91.7 trillion rupiah target," tax director general Hadi Purnomo told Reuters.

Indonesia targeted total tax revenues of 185.3 trillion rupiah in 2001 compared with a previous target of 179.9 trillion. The 2001 budget was revised in June following sharp falls in the rupiah and higher interest rates. Tax revenues accounted for some 65 percent of total domestic revenues.