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Indonesia News Digest No
33 - August 12-18, 2001
Green Left Weekly - August 15, 2001
Max Lane -- In moves which confirm activists' appraisals that her
government represents a return to power of those allied with
former dictator Suharto, the government of newly-elected
president Megawati Sukarnoputri is escalating a targeted program
of political arrests.
Following the arrests of political activists in Bandung, Jakarta
and Bondowoso, police have now arrested Purwadi, the chairperson
of the East Java branch of the People's Democratic Party.
Purwadi was picked up on the morning of August 9 at the East Java
PRD office in Surabaya. He was arrested by six plain-clothes
police intelligence officers, who showed him a letter from East
Java police headquarters ordering his arrest for inciting recent
protest actions in the province.
The police intelligence agents also confiscated materials from
three rooms of the PRD office. Purwadi was then taken to East
Java police headquarters, accompanied by other PRD officials. A
few days later, the police also issued an arrest warrant for the
chairperson of the West Java branch of the PRD.
In both cases the democracy movement leaders are being accused of
agitating people to acts of disorder or hatred against the
government.
Green Left Weekly - August 15, 2001
Max Lane -- Militant trade union leader and former political
prisoner Dita Sari has been awarded the Raymond Magsaysay Award,
considered an Asian Nobel Prize, for being a "leader of new
forces in Asia".
The chairperson of the Indonesian National Front for Workers'
Struggles, Dita Sari told the People's Democratic Party's August
8 issue of Our Tasks, that she was "very moved [by the award] but
also even more convinced of the path of struggle I have chosen."
"I am moved because it means the democratic struggle in Indonesia
has won international recognition and support, at the very least
in Asia. I am sure this award is not just for me personally but
for the FNPBI and the PRD and all the democratic forces that have
fought militantly for democracy and the people's welfare." She
also said that she was partucularly pleased that the first
winners of the prize in the new category were women, herself and
Cambodian activist Oung Chanthol.
"This proves that the involvement of women in the struggle is
also being acknowledged and supported internationally", she
remarked. "It is also a warning to the Megawati government that
the anti-democratic practices that have started to occur again
will attract wide international attention."
East Timor
Labour struggle
Aceh/West Papua
Government/politics
Human rights/law
News & issues
Arms/armed forces
International relations
Economy & investment
Democratic struggle
Police arrest another PRD activist
Unionist wins international award
East Timor
After 26 years, Timorese about to begin life again
Sydney Morning Herald - August 18, 2001
Jill Jolliffe, Dili -- Apocalyptic predictions are rife in East Timor as the territory approaches political freedom after centuries of Portuguese colonial rule and a quarter century of Indonesian military repression.
Dead guerilla heroes will emerge from the jungle, it is said, to point the way to East Timor's new generation of leaders. Such stories are usually accompanied by tales of uprisings to expel foreigners from East Timorese soil. The United Nations and its army of foreign staff may have paved the way for independence but they are not universally popular.
Eli Foho Rai Boot, a former guerilla and shaman known as Eli-7, recently called on his followers to assemble in Baucau to await the return of Vicente Sahe, a charismatic guerilla leader killed in 1978. Thousands loyal to his Sacred Family cult streamed into Baucau stadium from outlying regions to wait in vain for an entire day. The prediction may have been wrong, but the sense of rebirth is all around.
For the Fretilin party, the easy forerunner among 16 competing parties, voting day on August 30 looks like being a moment of sweet historical vindication for years of suffering. The election is for an 88-seat Constituent Assembly entrusted with drafting the constitution. It is the first freely-elected parliament in East Timor's history.
Fretilin has swept the countryside with well-organised rallies attracting tens of thousands, and UN analysts privately predict it will win around 45 of 88 seats, or 51 per cent of the vote. If its roller-coaster campaign success does translate into votes, it wants to declare early independence on November 28, a proposal which may cause shockwaves in the region.
The party leader Dr Mari Alkatiri confirmed this intention to Portugal's Lusa news agency on Monday, saying that "80 to 85 per cent of the vote is already guaranteed". Fretilin's determination to win is spurred by the need to show the world that its 1975 claim to have majority popular support was justified. Its supporters believe that if the international community in general, and the Australian Government in particular, had adopted a different policy at that time by supporting Portugal's decolonisation bid and standing up to Indonesia, they may have won government then.
Instead, Indonesian paratroopers seized Dili on December 7, 1975, as the world looked on. Fretilin cadres took to the mountains to begin a long, bitter military struggle that was to continue until 1999.
They were East Timor's best and brightest. Today, the survivors of their generation are the 50-year-olds who have done the groundwork for the Fretilin campaign. Their own youth is spent, but if Fretilin wins the UN-supervised poll on August 30, the victory will be for their children.
Among Fretilin's younger candidates is Jose Lobato Goncalves, 29, the son of East Timor's founding guerilla commander, Nicolau Lobato, who took to the mountains in the first hours of the Indonesian landing. His wife, Isabel, was caught in Dili and publicly executed on the wharf. She had been nursing two-year-old Jose before the troops dragged her away, but managed to thrust him into her sister's arms at the last moment.
For his own protection Jose was raised by his aunt and uncle in an Indonesian cultural environment, his identity carefully hidden until recently.
The young Lobato stops briefly to greet me outside the Hotel Turismo, on the Dili foreshore, before rushing off to another Fretilin rally. "It's great! We're really campaigning hard!" he yells, bubbling with excitement.
It's an eerie sensation, because I last saw him in Timor on almost exactly this same spot in the days before the Indonesian invasion. He was a toddler holding the hand of his handsome parents, oblivious of the cataclysm about to descend. Today he is a replica of his father in looks and intelligence and has an obvious future as a national leader. He is just one of hundreds of thousands of Timorese for whom life is resuming after 26 years: it is indeed a rebirth.
Whether or not Fretilin will win its expected landslide, it appears there will be a large percentage gap between it and the second-place party. Because 16 parties are competing, the vote of the 409,019 electors will be divided various ways, a problem aggravated by the fact that most parties were only formed after 1999. There is no one opposition party that can match Fretilin.
The serious contenders in the second rank are the Social Democrat Party (PSD in the Portuguese acronym) led by former governor Mario Carrascalao, the Democratic Party (PD), headed by student leader Fernando Araujo, the radical Timorese Socialist Party (PST), led by Avelino Coelho da Silva, and the nationalist Timorese Democratic Union (UDT), led by Joao Carrascalao. The Timorese Social Democratic Party (ASDT), formed by Fretilin founder Francisco Xavier do Amaral last March, may also make its mark, with support from traditional leaders in the central Ainaro region. The UDT is the only other party with a long track record, having been Fretilin's main rival in 1975, but the PSD was formed from a split in its ranks.
The election is not expected to be all plain sailing. The UN is taking seriously the possibility of disruption by political groups thought to be linked to Jakarta, operating mainly in the zone between Baucau and Viqueque. "Our assessment is that it is low risk, but substantial enough to take precautions, so we will be beefing up security," an official with the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor said.
Other political parties are also disgruntled by the UN's automatic assumption of Fretilin victory. "I think they are a bit biased," said Carlos Sequeira, a Dili-based UDT candidate. "It's still early yet and other parties may close the gap before the poll."
His counterpart in Baucau, Agostinho Cabral, agrees with this. "People shouldn't forget this is a traditional UDT area," he said, "and not all parties are fielding candidates. Neither the ASDT nor the PST are running here, so we have a better chance. It may not be as clear-cut as people think."
There are many variables which could still come into play. People seem strangely ignorant, for example, about who owns East Timor's two leading newspapers, the Timor Post and Suara Timor Loro Sae. International organisations have worked hard to train young Timorese journalists in democratic traditions, but this is in vain if last-minute changes of editorial policy strongly influence the 78,000-strong Dili vote.
There is also the Megawati factor. The potential for last-minute destabilisation is not to be ignored, whether through the range of political groups said to be doing the bidding of Jakarta, or an upsurge of military activity at the border. That will depend on the long-term intentions of the new Jakarta government, notwithstanding recent assurances to the Australian Prime Minister.
Regardless of party, the overwhelming will of the Timorese is to claim their precious prize of political freedom after centuries without it. Having braved military terror to vote in the 1999 referendum, their collective determination is most likely to reduce attempts at provocation to pest value.
[Jill Jolliffe is a freelance journalist who began her career reporting the Indonesian invasion of East Timor and is the author of two books on the subject. Her next book, Cover-Up: The Inside Story of the Balibo Five, will be published by Scribe Publications on October 16.
Sydney Morning Herald - August 17, 2001
Mark Riley, New York -- The Prime Minister has asked to meet with the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, as the UN comes under pressure to accelerate its withdrawal from East Timor and leave an even greater bill to Australia and its regional partners.
Mr Howard wants the meeting to be included in his American visit next month so he can put his views to Mr Annan before the UN head makes his decision on the withdrawal in October.
A group of countries, led by France, is arguing the UN should encourage Australia and its neighbours to accept responsibility for ongoing civil and administrative assistance in East Timor.
This would allow the UN to pull out much of its civilian staff soon after this month's East Timorese elections and divert some of its resources to growing conflicts in Africa. It would also relieve France and the others of their funding obligations to East Timor and increase the burden on Australia and other Asia- Pacific countries. The diplomatic push has led to a flurry of backroom discussions at the UN Security Council in the past week. Diplomats say the issue has not reached crisis point and see Mr Howard's visit as a way of ensuring it does not.
France believes Australia and its Asia-Pacific neighbours should accept the same level of responsibility in East Timor as the NATO allies have in the Balkans. It says the move would be consistent with the UN's objective of seeking regional solutions to regional problems. Although most of the UN discussions have focused on civil and administrative assistance, diplomats are concerned the push could extend to peacekeeping.
Mr Howard would be expected to tell Mr Annan Australia was opposed to any UN withdrawal that would expose East Timor to security threats or leave it with inadequate administrative assistance. Australia would also argue against any shift to regional responsibility that placed an unfair burden on Asia- Pacific partners.
The proposed meeting would come at a crucial time in East Timor's independence process, closely following the national elections and preceding Mr Annan's final report on the UN's role in the country's future.
The report, expected in October, has fuelled diplomatic lobbying at the UN's New York headquarters. During Security Council discussions last month, all countries supported a gradual withdrawal that would be shaped by any emerging security or administrative problems. However, several countries have voiced different views in closed-door discussions since.
Mr Annan's recent report on East Timor, delivered to the Security Council in May, has been interpreted as signalling a reduction in the peacekeeping force from more than 9,000 soldiers to between 5,000 and 6,000. The scaling down is expected to begin late this year or early next year. Diplomats expect the most important fight to come when the Security Council debates the timetable for phasing out the remaining peacekeepers. That could be as soon as October, when the council meets to discuss Mr Annan's final report.
Mr Howard will fly to the United States on September 8 for a 10- day visit. He will meet for the first time with President George Bush and will address Congress on the ANZUS alliance and the prickly issue of free trade.
He now hopes to add a meeting with Mr Annan to a three-day stop in New York after the Washington leg of his trip. Mr Annan, who is travelling in Africa, has not yet replied to the Prime Minister's request. However, UN sources said he was likely to agree to the meeting.
Mr Howard's New York stopover will coincide with the formal opening of the UN General Assembly's next session. Mr Annan has already set aside substantial time that week to meet visiting heads of state. Mr Howard is also expected to meet Wall Street leaders to continue his promotion of Australia's investment opportunities.
The Age - August 16, 2001
Mark Dodd, Dili -- With an army of street kids recruited to plaster seafront coconut trees with stickers, and a UN vehicle pressed into service blaring raucous political messages, the Timorese Nationalist Party (PNT) kicked off its election campaign this week.
The small party, founded in 1999 with the support of local leaders who favored integration, campaigned for East Timor to remain Indonesia's 27th province although under a mantle of broad autonomy.
It maintains close links with the Popular Council for the Defence of the Democratic Republic of East Timor, a movement that the United Nations mission has warned could provoke trouble in the election period.
The party leader, Abilio Araujo, accused this year of links with the Indonesian military, has ended a 30-year, self-imposed exile in Portugal and returned to contest the August 30 assembly election.
A minister in the government of the short-lived 1975 Democratic Republic of East Timor, Dr Araujo was expelled from Fretilin (Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of East Timor) for his dealings with Indonesia. East Timorese also know the Marxist- turned-businessman as a former associate of Siti Hardiyanti "Tutut" Rukmana, daughter of disgraced former president Suharto.
In an interview with the Suara Timor Lorosae (Voice of East Timor) newspaper, Dr Araujo said he now supports independence and democracy for East Timor. He admitted close links with Indonesian military and political leaders, but said he was able to use these ties to pressure for the release of East Timorese independence activists imprisoned by Jakarta.
Dr Araujo said he had been asked by Major-General Willem da Costa, Indonesia's army commander in charge of the eastern islands, to visit West Timor and encourage thousands of refugees to return home. "During the Indonesian occupation, I often came to East Timor to monitor the human rights abuses and visited those who were detained and put in prison by Indonesia," he said. "I made an attempt to help them and get them out of prison."
This is queried by East Timor's main human rights group, Yayasan-HAK, which said that any access to political prisoners would have required close cooperation with Indonesian military intelligence. Spokesman Joaquim Fonseca said: "We are not aware of any prisoner release at the time as a result of efforts by Mr Araujo or anyone else."
Dr Araujo said he applauded efforts by independence leader Jose "Xanana" Gusmao to foster reconciliation with pro-Indonesian militia leaders, but said reconciliation was also needed to heal the wounds of the bloody infighting that occurred within Fretilin's own ranks in the late 1970s.
Lusa - August 14, 2001
Unidentified assailants have thrown stones at a vehicle carrying Democratic Party (PD) supporters on a campaign tour of the Liquiga district west of the East Timorese capital.
The incident, which took place early Monday evening, left one car window smashed but no-one hurt and was only reported to police on Tuesday.
A police source told Lusa that an investigation was under way into the "isolated act". Authorities were not ruling out any motive for the attack, he said, while emphasizing that the current election campaign has taken place in a climate of calm, with "zero" politically motivated incidents.
East Timorese voters will on August 30 elect the 88 members of a Constituent Assembly whose main task will be to draw up the future national constitution. Sixteen political parties are contesting the ballot.
Suara Timor Lorosae - August 16, 2001 Aout 200 ex-Falintil members on Tuesday staged a one-day sit-in at UNTAET headquarters to demand that the United Nations fulfill its promises to the former freedom fighters.
Domingos da Silva, spokesperson for the ex-Falintil said the group of freedom fighters that did not meet the grade to enter the Timor Lorosae Defense Forces (FDTL) were in dire straits.
"From January to May, these former Falintil fighters were getting US$100 a month as living expenses. Now they are struggling because these payments from the IOM have stopped," he added. Domingos said jobs and housing were promised to the Falintil veterans but the UN agencies had yet to fulfill these promises.
Meanwhile, former CNRT President Xanana Gusmao when contacted said the issue was an internal matter. "We, being the ex- Falintils, have nothing much. But we have to work for ourselves and look for business opportunities. It's a matter of filling our bellies," he said.
But ex-Falintil Julio da Costa said there were some ex-Falintil members who were disabled from the war the war. "Many of them are handicapped physically, after being injured in the war, and are unable to work. These former fighters need help and we just can't ignore them," he added.
Sydney Morning Herald - August 15, 2001
Mark Dodd, Dili -- A former member of the independence movement Fretilin, Dr Abilio Araujo, expelled for his links with Indonesia, has returned to East Timor after 26 years' self- imposed exile in Portugal to contest the election on August 30.
Before Dr Araujo was expelled from Fretilin he was a minister for economic and social affairs in the short-lived 1975 Democratic Republic of East Timor. He now heads the Timorese Nationalist Party, founded in 1999 with the support of local pro-integration leaders.
The party maintains close links with the Popular Council for the Defence of the Democratic Republic of East Timor, a movement the United Nations mission has warned could provoke trouble in the election period.
Dr Araujo, who was accused earlier this year of still having links with anti-independence elements in Indonesia's military, was also an associate of former president Soeharto's daughter Siti Hardiyanti Tutut Rukmana. But in an interview with the Suara Timor Lorosae (Voice of East Timor) newspaper on Friday he said he now supported independence and democracy for East Timor. He admitted close links with Indonesian military and political leaders, but said he was able to use his association to pressure for the release of East Timorese independence activists imprisoned by Jakarta.
"During the Indonesian occupation I often came to East Timor to monitor the human rights abuses and visited those who were detained and put in prison by Indonesia. I made an attempt to help them and get them out of prison."
That claim is queried by East Timor's main human rights group, Yayasan-HAK. A spokesman, Mr Joaquim Fonseca, said any access to political prisoners would have required close co-operation with Indonesian military intelligence. "We are not aware of any prisoner release at the time as a result of efforts by Dr Araujo or anyone else."
Suara Timor Lorosae - August 13, 2001
Thousands of people made their way to Dili on Saturday to take part in the UDT mammoth campaign. UDT supporters in buses and trucks toured the city shouting slogans and waving victory signs before they reached the Democracy field to hear UDT leaders and candidates speak. At the Democracy Field, supporters and on- lookers were entertained by the popular rock band Vi-Almaa-X.
UDT President Joao Carrascalao told the crowd gathered at the field that though he roamed the world (after 1975) at the end he returned home to die in his country. He told UDT supporters and the crowd that the party wanted a transition period of between 8 to 10 years before full independence in order for the people to be fully prepared for it.
"If the Timor Lorosae people had followed UDT principles (in 1975) the country would have been independent a long time ago and not one person would have died," he said. "Those that died for the country will always be remembered and it does not matter from which party," added the UDT president.
[As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, there were in fact only around 1000 supports at Democracy Field on Saturday in what a very tame and lackluster rally - James Balowski.]
Suara Timor Lorosae - August 13, 2001
Certain political parties have resorted to door knocking campaigns forcing people to vote for them. This was brought up at a dialogue session with the Democrat Party (PD) campaign manager who visited Aileu on Saturday.
"Several parties are sending their cadres to door knock in Aileu. They want a commitment that we will vote for them. When we refuse to give that commitment, they threaten us by saying our children would not get jobs if their parties get elected," said an Aileu lady.
Meanwhile in Ermera, the PD dialogue heard cases where villagers were forced to contribute money towards a particular political party's campaign. "They [political party] are forcing us to contribute. Why should we? Previously we contributed willingly because our fighters -- like Konis Santana -- were fighting for our freedom in the jungles. The war is over, so why should we be forced again?" asked a lady from Gleno.
BBC Monitoring Service - August 13, 2001
[Source: RDP Antena 1 radio, Lisbon, in Portuguese]
Presenter: The campaign for the parliamentary elections in East Timor, scheduled for the end of this month, is underway. The first party rally organized by the UDT [Timorese Democratic Union] gathered nearly 1,000 people in a Dili football stadium yesterday [12 August]. The party's leader, Joao Carrascalao, presented the five mottoes of UDT's campaign: the fight against poverty, illiteracy, corruption, political lies and social injustice. He also made severe criticisms of Fretilin [Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor]. Antonio Veladas reports on Fretilin's reply to UDT's accusations:
Reporter: The old political rivals UDT and Fretilin seem to have awakened to a new existence of political opposition, 26 years after the ideological dispute which took East Timor to civil war. The UDT has accused its political opponent of promoting an anti- democratic intimidation campaign but Fretilin has countered these accusations. In an attempt to play down UDT's accusations, Mari Alkatiri, the secretary-general of Fretilin [economy minister of the transition government who stood down for campaigning] has said that UDT is the party ignoring the principles of democracy.
Alkatiri: That is Joao Carrascalao's same old story. He has been telling it since 1974 or 1975. Unfortunately he hasn't changed it since. Joao Carrascalao is not going to teach Fretilin how to practice democracy. First of all he will have to establish democracy inside his party in order to know what democracy is. If there had been democracy in the UDT, Joao Carrascalao would no longer be its president.
Reporter: Fretilin answer to Joao Carrascalao's accusations of alleged verbal attacks and threats carried out in the interior of the country by passing them on to the East Timor Democratic Association led by Xavier do Amaral, thus refusing to accept the allegations of anti-democratic acts carried out by its supporters. Mari Alkatiri has said that his party's aim is to achieve 100 per cent of the share of the vote in the 30 August elections.
Alkatiri: We have already guaranteed 80 per cent [of the vote] but we would like to achieve 100 per cent for two reasons: to allow our supporters and our members to carry on their work without excluding others from working as well, and for this reason we want to achieve 100 per cent. We have other reasons, for example, we want to show the world that who fought the war was Fretilin, who brought democracy to Timor was Fretilin and who has been giving the freedom of existence to the other parties is Fretilin.
Reporter: Mari Alkatiri words have set Fretilin's aims very high and reiterated Fretilin's claim to the preservation of democracy in East Timor.
Financial Times - August 14, 2001
Joe Leahy -- Antonio, a farmer in the arid highlands south of East Timor's capital Dili, points at a distant ridgeline. That is where his family's traditional houses were before Indonesia invaded in 1975.
Today, there is only scrub. The Indonesians forced the villagers to relocate into the valleys to isolate independence fighters living in the hills. "When the Indonesians arrived, they burned down everything, and when they left, they burned down everything. The only thing they left behind was the road," Antonio says. For the generation they were under Indonesian rule, the East Timorese waged a war for self-determination, culminating in a United Nations-supervised vote in 1999 to separate from Indonesia. Now, for the first time they are preparing to elect their own national leaders. On August 30, voters will choose 88 members to serve in a constituent assembly.
The body will formulate a constitution and, after a presidential election, formal independence will be declared. By the first half of next year, East Timor is expected to officially become the world's newest democracy.
However, the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), the international body formed to govern the territory until independence, faces a difficult challenge to ensure that the territory's 800,000-strong population is ready for the transformation ahead.
After years of using the word "democracy" as a byword for their independence struggle, the East Timorese, a deeply traditional people, are only now coming to terms with what the concept means in practice.
"There is little clear understanding of the meaning or implications of democracy," the Asia Foundation, which promotes peace and democracy, said in a survey. It found that while "36 per cent [of respondents] understand democracy as freedom of speech ... no one equated democracy with elections".
Over the past few months, the UN has conducted an intense, if belated, civic education campaign. Small teams of trainers comprised of four local people representing various interest groups have been recruited in each district.
These teams have been training community leaders and other figures in civic education. They have also been giving small grants to others active in the field, such as university groups.
The UN has distributed televisions and video players to the districts. A hit programme has been "Democracy Sunday" -- a recording of a peace rally led by Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, East Timor's Nobel Peace Prize-winning bishop.
The message is getting through, argues Sergio Vieira de Mello, the head of UNTAET. "These people may not know what democracy is but they certainly know what democracy is not, and they're tired of that."
But it is a steep learning curve. At a national level, East Timor has only ever known authoritarianism. Prior to the Indonesians, Portuguese colonialists ruled the territory for about 400 years, interrupted only by the Japanese during the second world war.
The Timorese have also retained many of their traditional, hierarchical social structures. In some areas, the descendants of East Timor's former royal families still enjoy hereditary political and ritual powers. Marriages are often still arranged between closely related clans.
When Indonesia tried to introduce village elections early in its rule, people commonly voted for whoever was chosen by the elders. Some fear this could happen again. "An elected, traditional leader is a contradiction in terms," says Mari Alkatiri, a senior official of Fretilin, the favourite grouping in the elections.
The other potential factor dampening the Timorese appetite for democracy is a fear of violence among the territory's 16 rival political parties. Many remember the brief civil war in 1975 that erupted after the Portuguese pulled out and before the Indonesian invasion began. Thousands were murdered because of their political party affiliations. "There is significant fear that multi-party political competition will lead to conflict and violence," a report by the National Democratic Institute said.
To allay these fears, Mr Alkatiri and 13 other party leaders have been conducting joint visits to the regions to meet the people. They also have signed a pact of national unity and so far have kept a lid on boisterous street campaigning. Fretilin's opening rally was mostly confined to a Dili football field.
Xanana Gusmao, the immensely popular former guerrilla leader, and Jose Ramos Horta, East Timor's other Nobel Peace Prize winner, are also acting as neutrals in the election. Along with the strong UN peacekeeping contingent and police force, they will be ready to mediate in any conflicts. "If there is violence, it will be geographically contained and easily stopped," says Mr Ramos Horta.
Overall, argues Mr Vieira de Mello, there is an emerging political maturity among ordinary people, even if they do not know all the details of what the election is about.
"The anxiety, which was passive, has now become active in the form of a warning to the political parties: 'We don't want violence any more so please abide by these new rules that the UN is creating here of peaceful, multiparty competition'," says Mr Vieira de Mello.
BBC Worldwide Monitoring - August 14, 2001
[Source: RDP Antena 1 radio, Lisbon, in Portuguese. Excerpt from report by Portuguese radio on 14 August]
Presenter Xanana Gusmao former president of the National Council of the Timorese Resistance has today admitted for the first time the possibility of running for the presidency of East Timor. The historical leader of the East Timorese resistance has been constantly refused the suggestion of running for posts within the administration of the future independent country. However, speaking with journalists today, he admitted becoming a candidate under certain conditions. Antonio Veladas reports:
Reporter: Xanana Gusmao has undergone a change of opinion. He no longer says he will never be a candidate for the presidency of East Timor. The doors to a possible candidature were left half- open. Speaking briefly to Portuguese and Timorese journalists, and answering a question on this issue, Xanana clearly said that he would run for the presidency if that was the wish of all the Timorese people and not only of a few people.
Gusmao: Sometimes I meet people who tell me: look the people wants it to be like that running for president, let me tell you something, the people want to see you as president. So, everyone brings the name of the people into this, but I keep meeting people who tell me the same you are now saying: it is the people, the people.
Reporter: But what would you do if the people expressed their wish clearly before you?
Gusmao: If you ask me that question some other time I will tell the people which would be my conditions.
Reporter: ...The president of the Association of Veterans from the Timorese Resistance said he is ready for a potential candidature to the presidency if he feels the people as a whole wish this candidature to happen instead of the exclusive wish of single voices...
The Australian - August 10, 2001
Nigel Wilson -- For months there have been rumours of problems in the "co-operative" arrangement to develop more than 12 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Timor Sea. Yesterday those rumours were confirmed -- with gusto.
Shell basically said it believed Phillips Petroleum, the Oklahoma-based oil and gas group that is developing a gas stripping project based on the Bayu-Undan reservoirs, should not be playing with LNG in our region. Phillips had signed a letter of intent to supply US giant El Paso with LNG from 2005.
Shell, miffed that its $10 billion bid for North West Shelf operator Woodside Energy was blocked by Treasurer Peter Costello, believes gas reserves in Australia should be part of its strategy to dominate LNG action into Asia.
Phillips, which has been very upfront in its desire to get the Timor Sea gas reserves onshore for Australian use and the North American LNG market, has found Shell less enthusiastic.
Phillips' style also has upset Shell, which believes that a far more sympathetic outcome could have been achieved in negotiations with East Timor on sharing the rewards of developing Timor Sea oil and gas if Phillips had not continually threatened to walk away from investment plans if it did not get its own way.
But Phillips can feel justifiably annoyed because the Shell plan undercuts its commitments to East Timor and the Northern Territory Government.
Shell made it clear last night only one LNG project could go ahead and that its plan was up to 40 per cent cheaper than Phillips'. The key cost reduction would be in pipelines. A floating LNG plant would obviate the need for a large pipeline to Darwin -- and rule out plans to supply big gas customers in Sydney and Adelaide from the Timor Sea.
Woodside was last night diplomatically saying that the economics of both projects would have to be evaluated. But there is no doubt senior people in Woodside believe Shell has shown it has an entirely different view of the national interest than that which prevails in either Darwin or Perth.
Sydney Morning Herald - August 11, 2001
Mark Dodd -- An Australian-funded program teaching East Timorese to reject corruption hopes to make an impact on political parties competing in national elections this month for an 88-seat constituent assembly.
Representatives of more than 20 local non-government organisations took part in the week-long workshop in Dili, which ended yesterday. The program, organised by Australian Legal Resources International (ALRI) and the East Timor Jurists Association, was built on the message "Corruption is like a bad disease".
The ALRI program manager, Nathan Laws, said he was encouraged by the high level of debate, input and enthusiasm from participants. "This agenda and the outcomes have been recorded in Tetum [local language] producing the only known set of East Timorese anti- corruption material that will be useful for many years to come," he said. "This is especially appropriate, considering the forthcoming election, as the opportunity of securing commitment to anti-corruption issues by the political parties contending the election has presented itself."
Sixteen parties are competing in the August 30 elections, a milestone on the road to independence expected to be granted by the UN next year.
Trainees from the workshop plan to spread the anti-corruption message by holding 12 similar workshops across the country. Corruption in East Timor was endemic during 24-years of Indonesian rule that ended in 1999. An influx of aid money to help rebuild East Timor's infrastructure destroyed during post- ballot violence has raised fears about the potential for corruption to flourish again.
As the East Timorese prepare to take another step towards nationhood, local human rights workers have expressed concern about the outlook for its relationship with Indonesia after the inclusion of military officers in the new Indonesian Cabinet.
East Timor's main human rights group, Yayasan Hak, said the appointment of a retired general, A. M Hendroprioyono, as the intelligence chief was worrying because of his links with militia groups in 1999. "He was known to have been present during meetings in East Timor when the militia were established," said a spokesman, Joaquim Fonseca.
Yayasan Hak has criticised President Megawati Sukarnoputri's support for pro-Jakarta militia during the 1999 independence vote. The group says her close military ties mean it is unlikely she will bring to justice Indonesian generals responsible for masterminding the militia violence.
"It is worrying for ... the process of democracy in Indonesia that those generals who were part of a long-standing authoritarian government are given new political roles," Mr Fonseca said.
But Mari Alkatiri, vice president of East Timor's largest political party, played down the importance of Hendropriyono's appointment. He was unlikely to remain in the cabinet for long, she said.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's appointment as chief security minister was welcomed because of the former general's close ties with East Timor's independence leader Xanana Gusmao.
Sydney Morning Herald - August 13, 2001
Mark Dodd, Dili -- His name is distinctive, and in coming months Australians may hear a lot more of the East Timorese independence leader LuOlo. The Department of Foreign Affairs certainly thinks so, and earlier this year he was flown to Canberra to meet ministry mandarins for talks and a chance for them to get to know the man and the policies he represents.
Mr LuOlo, a native of the south-eastern town of Ossu, said to be the birthplace of East Timor's warrior leaders, is head of Fretilin (Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor) the party tipped to win the elections on August 30 by a landslide.
About 400,000 East Timorese, in their first democratic election, will vote for an 88-seat Constituent Assembly. Though 16 political parties will be competing for seats, the signs point to a peaceful ballot largely due to a non-violence binding Pact of National Unity. That accord was brokered by the independence leader Mr Xanana Gusmao, who, despite his denials, is the man most East Timorese expect to be their first president; there are no other credible challengers.
Campaigning seems to be stronger on colour than substance. Freshly painted party political offices are opening in rural villages and towns, and flag raising ceremonies have become a means of promoting recognition of party symbols. Minor political parties in western Balibo have even been sharing transport to truck in their supporters, say Australian Army Civil Military Affairs officers.
East Timor's oldest political party, the Timorese Democratic Union, staged an election rally in Dili on Saturday, complete with brightly coloured, eye-catching flags, although it is not expected to garner enough support to be a big threat to Fretilin. The previous weekend, traffic came to a standstill in Dili as Fretilin took over the streets. A conga line of trucks, motorcycles, cars, taxis, buses and commandeered United Nations vehicles snaked through town carrying thousands of cheering banner-waving supporters.
In the middle of a 13-district tour to shore up support, the Fretilin co-founder, Mr Mari Alkatiri, said his party could already count on receiving 80 per cent of the vote.
Mr Alkatiri, a long-serving member of East Timor's independence struggle, also acted as Cabinet Minister for Economic Affairs in the UN transitional government, and took a leading role in negotiations to broker a new Timor Gap agreement.
"Our policy is to be inclusive, because this will be the first independent government after 24 years of struggle," he said. "We will invite the most capable and skilled from other parties to join us, but not all the parties." Fretilin, founded as a radical pro-independence party in 1974, is the veteran of the resistance movement. Its main support lies with the poor rural communities that comprise about 85 per cent of East Timor's 812,000 population.
While Fretilin supports free enterprise and would encourage responsible foreign investment to kick start the half-island territory's moribund economy, it is also intent on improving living conditions for rural dwellers.
Mr Alkatiri said that apart from Fretilin's priorities of education, health, infrastructure and poverty reduction, an investment code had been drafted that would offer tax breaks to foreign companies, including incentives for firms prepared to set up in rural areas.
Washington Times - August 10, 2001
Ian Timberlake, Jakarta -- The Indonesian military directed a militia campaign of killings, terror and forced deportation against East Timorese civilians, according to a new book on the 1999 atrocities.
In "A Dirty Little War," author John Martinkus says the military campaign coincided with a slick public relations effort to portray the violence as clashes between pro- and anti- independence East Timorese while the United Nations and later, international peacekeepers, refused to publicly condemn Indonesia. The book's publication in Australia comes as the United Nations-administered territory takes another step toward full independence with elections set for August 30.
At the same time, trial has begun in East Timor for the first militia accused of crimes against humanity including murder, torture and deportation.
Indonesia, however, has failed to prosecute anybody for the violence in East Timor. Instead, senior military and police officers who served during the violence have been promoted. One of the most notorious militia leaders, Eurico Guterres, became an official in the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle headed by the new president, Megawati Sukarnoputri.
Mr. Martinkus, an Australian journalist, first went to Indonesian-occupied East Timor in 1994 and returned in 1995 and 1997. In late 1998, he became the only foreign reporter resident in the territory. Before long, he saw some of the first militia being trained on a military barracks in the town of Viqueque. By late January 1999, militia commanded by Mr. Guterres had emerged in the capital, Dili. When Mr. Martinkus met Mr. Guterres, he claimed he was defending people against atrocities by the pro- independence side.
"He didn't talk about his real background," writes Mr. Martinkus, who says Mr. Guterres had been recruited in the early 1990s as a leader of Gadapaksi, a black-clad ninja squad known for nighttime kidnappings of Timorese. "The militia that he now claimed to head was just the reactivated Gadapaksi network -- Kopassus-trained, formed and paid for." Kopassus are the Indonesian Special Forces.
By February 1999, militia had begun holding rallies in support of integration with Indonesia. Mr. Martinkus writes that military and local government officials sat at the front of the rallies while other participants privately admitted they had been told to attend. He and Mr. Guterres flew on an Indonesian military helicopter to one of the earliest rallies, even though the East Timor military commander, Tono Suratman, claimed the militia and military had no ties.
"Yet there we all were in the helicopter together, on our way to another 'spontaneous' expression of the people's desire to remain a part of Indonesia." By May, the first tiny contingent of UN personnel had arrived in East Timor to prepare for the August 1999 balloting that would give Timorese a choice between independence or autonomy. Within days of their arrival, some of the UN team were having dinner at a seafront restaurant when militia opened fire and began to destroy a village about 50 yards away. It was, writes Mr. Martinkus, "a show put on for the new arrivals in town." Despite this and later intimidation of UN workers, the United Nations would not publicly admit that the Indonesian military was behind the militia, he says.
Mr. Martinkus obtained a document that endorsed the beating and stoning of UN employees. It was signed by a municipal head of government in July 1999 and assured the militia that "the Indonesian military is always behind you." The United Nations claimed the document was a fake. More ominously, later that month, Mr. Martinkus received another document signed by an assistant to a Jakarta Cabinet minister. It hinted at the massive destruction and deportations that would later devastate the territory.
The document said that if the independence side won the balloting, East Nusa Tenggara province -- which adjoins East Timor -- must be prepared to receive huge numbers of refugees. It said the military must be "put on alert and prepared for action near the evacuation areas ... and the destruction of facilities and other vital objects as the Indonesians pull out." In September, Mr. Martinkus saw that plan in action as thousands of refugees marched toward Dili's port while the city was burned and looted. "Behind them walked soldiers with their weapons raised," he writes.
The Indonesians later claimed they were protecting the people from militia. But Mr. Martinkus says the "militia" looked remarkably like members of the military, known as TNI. "They were just soldiers, TNI in militia dress depopulating Dili," according to the book.
Nobody knows exactly how many people died in the violence because there were no proper records, Mr. Martinkus says. Data gathered by the UN mission that supervised the balloting were destroyed in the rampage and never compared with records kept by international peacekeepers who arrived in September 1999. Their data were not matched with that of the UN police who came later.
"The lowest estimates were always quoted," he writes. "Indonesia was being let off the hook." Mr. Martinkus questioned the Australian commander of the international peacekeeping force, Major-Gen. Peter Cosgrove, about the death toll and was told: "Look, you know as well as I do our job was not to come in here and accuse the Indonesians."
| Labour struggle |
Agence France Presse - August 14, 2001
Jakarta -- Hundreds of angry pedicab drivers set fire Tuesday to two Jakarta city council vehicles during an attempt to get them off the streets of the Indonesian capital, witnesses said.
The two pickup trucks were torched during an attempt by city officials to remove the pedicabs from main streets in the central Roxy and Karanganyar areas, one witness told AFP.
The officials had come armed with batons but fled when angry mobs tried to encircle them. The mobs vented their anger by setting the trucks on fire. The pedicab drivers then rode towards a shopping mall in West Jakarta. No one was reported hurt.
On Monday some 74 "becak" (pedicab) drivers formed a union with the support of a non-governmental organisation known as the Urban Poor Consortium to fight attempts to evict them from most parts of the city.
The pedicabs were phased out in 1988 on the grounds that they were inhumane for the drivers and worsened traffic congestion, the Post said. In 1998, at the height of the economic crisis, the Jakarta governor authorised their return on humanitarian grounds. He revoked his decision a day later following protests from the city council but many drivers ignored the ban, the newspaper reported.
City officials cracking down on the pedicabs said 78 had been seized recently and destroyed while the drivers had been released. They said 95 percent of drivers were not Jakarta residents.
Jakarta Post - August 14, 2001
Jakarta -- Some 74 becak (pedicab) drivers, formed a union here on Monday to fight for the right to peddle the streets of Jakarta. The decision was announced by drivers during a three-day congress held in a field opposite the Gapura Angkasa Building in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, that started on Sunday.
The Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), a non-governmental organization which has been fighting to legalize becak, is assisting the congress. "The city administration never recognizes the existence of becak. With this organization, it has to accept that we do exist," Tri Hartanto, a becak driver chairing the congress, told The Jakarta Post.
Meanwhile, the authorities have cracked down on the operation of becak in all five mayoralties. Raya Siahaan, the head of the city's center for monitoring social disorder, said the synchronized operations netted 68 becak in Central Jakarta and 10 in North Jakarta. The vehicles were flattened and sent to a warehouse in Cakung, East Jakarta, while the drivers were released, he said.
Tri said the becak congress discussed the structure and programs of the new organization. The participants represented 50 becak stations in Jakarta which have been supported by the UPC since 1998. "The union is their weapon for struggle," said Eddy Saidi, a UPC activist, adding that it would lobby the city administration to legalize becak in Jakarta's streets.
The UPC has more than 10,000 people registered as becak drivers in Jakarta. The vehicle was formally phased out from the capital in 1988 on grounds that it was inhumane and that it was causing traffic congestion.
Becak made their return in 1998 at the height of the economic crisis, after Governor Sutiyoso allowed them to operate on humanitarian grounds. However, he revoked his own decision a day later following protests from the City Council.
The administration has since been locked in a tug-of-war with the becak drivers, many of whom ignored the ban and have continued to operate in many areas of the capital.
The UPC then joined in the fight to legalize becak. Siahaan said the administration would continue campaigns against the illegal becak. About 95 percent of becak drivers are not Jakarta residents, he said.
Siahaan said that the administration offered some vocational training programs for becak drivers in possession of Jakarta ID cards. This program attempts to provide them with new skills that would enable them to start a different profession. "They can learn some new skills for free," Siahaan said.
| Aceh/West Papua |
Agence France Presse - August 17, 2001
Banda Aceh -- At least 30 bombs or grenade blasts were heard around the main city in the restive province of Aceh in the run- up to Indonesia's Independence Day Friday, residents said.
The blasts cut power to the provincial capital Banda Aceh for some hours Thursday night and badly damaged four banks, an AFP reporter saw. One was burnt to the ground.
Flag-raising ceremonies went ahead in the province on Sumatra island where a separatist revolt has been waged since the mid- 1970s. But witnesses said Banda Aceh remained tense, with streets very quiet, most shops closed and a transport strike still in force.
Residents said at least 30 blasts were heard Thursday evening up to midnight and two more on Friday morning in and around Banda Aceh. Four banks on the campus of Syiah Kuala University in the nearby Darussalam area were bombed Thursday evening and Bank BNI was burnt to the ground. There was no immediate information on casualties or the target of most of the bombs.
Aceh military spokesman Colonel Firdaus reported three blasts between Thursday evening and Friday morning around Lhokseumawe, 200 kilometres east of Banda Aceh.
A suspected member of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) lost a hand when he tried to throw a grenade at a police convoy at Tempok Tengah Thursday night, Firdaus said. The man was in custody in hospital and no one else was hurt.
At Pusong Baru early Friday a small boy was injured when a home- made bomb went off in a badminton court. Firdaus blamed rebels for the blast. He said another home-made bomb went off at a small reservoir at Blang Panjang. No one was hurt but the reservoir was slightly damaged, the military spokesman said.
Apart from civil servants obliged to attend flag-raising ceremonies, most people stayed indoors. Main towns displayed a sea of red and white national flags but some residents said they flew them to avoid reprisals from the military.
"If we don't raise the flag there will be people coming to our houses to threaten us," one spice seller told AFP. Asked who, he replied: "The authorities. It's better to raise the flag than face unwanted things happening to you." A sharpshooter was posted on a rooftop as the flag raising ceremony went ahead in Lhokseumawe and a police armoured car patrolled the streets. Fewer than 50 residents watched.
Firdaus also said troops are unearthing a suspected mass grave in the Lhoong area of West Aceh following a tip-off from a GAM official who turned himself in on August 4. He said the ex-rebel, identified as Teungku Amransyah, told authorities of a grave containing the bodies of 48 civilians allegedly killed by GAM. Troops Thursday uncovered nine bodies from the site and work was continuing, he said.
Bus operators in Aceh have been ordered to halt operations or risk having their vehicles torched. Dozens of schools throughout the province have been set ablaze. The military has blamed rebels, saying they aim to prevent Independence Day celebrations in schools.
GAM has waged a guerrilla war for 25 years in its campaign for an independent Islamic state in the fervently Muslim region. More than 1,100 people, mostly civilians, have died this year alone.
Reuters - August 16, 2001
Brussels -- Two Belgians held hostage for over two months by a separatist group in the Papua New Guinea jungle have been released, the Belgian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
Johan Van den Eynde, 47, and Philippe Simon, 49, were taken hostage by the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) on June 7 while filming a documentary about people in the Irian Jaya region, where separatists have recently stepped up their fight for independence from Indonesia.
The Belgians were released on Wednesday following mediation from ethnic Papuans after three earlier failed attempts, Foreign Ministry spokesman Michel Malherbe told Reuters. He could not say whether any concessions had been made in return for their release. Both Belgians arrived in Jayapura, the capital of the Irian Jaya region, on Thursday morning, Malherbe said.
The leader of the separatist movement, Titut Murib, did not seek a ransom for the hostages, but demanded the closure of one of the world's largest copper and gold mines -- operated by US miner Freeport McMoran on the island, an international forum on the plight of his people, as well as greater media attention to the fight for independence.
South China Morning Post - August 17, 2001 Authorities in Indonesia's Aceh province have unearthed a grave containing the bodies of 48 people, a spokesman said yesterday. Lieutenant-Colonel Firdaus said the mass grave was found near Lhong village, in the west of Aceh, a province on the northern tip of Sumatra.
Colonel Firdaus said it was not immediately clear who the victims were or how they had died. He said the burial site was located after a captured rebel disclosed it during interrogation. The mass grave is the biggest found so far in the region in which guerillas of the Free Aceh movement are fighting to end Indonesian rule.
The war has escalated sharply since March, when government troops launched a major offensive to destroy the insurgents. More than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, have died so far this year in the province.
Agence France Presse - August 16, 2001
Jakarta -- Pro-independence leaders in Irian Jaya and Aceh were unmoved Thursday by President Megawati Sukarnoputri's apology for past suffering inflicted on the restive Indonesian provinces.
In her first state of the nation address, Megawati held out an olive branch to independence agitators in both resource-rich provinces at opposite ends of the Indonesian archipelago. She apologised for past policy blunders that had "caused long suffering" and said the government was "correcting conditions by respecting cultural identities and giving more authority to regional governments ... in the form of special autonomy".
But Papua Council Presidium chairman Theys Hiyo Eluay said the people of Irian Jaya -- the western half of New Guinea island known locally as Papua -- were only interested in independence. "Indonesia should apologise. It's not us who are in the wrong," he said by phone from Jayapura, the capital of the mountainous jungle-clad province.
Papuans were ready to accept Megawati's apology but it would not weaken the campaign for independence. "We have never asked for special autonomy. We want our sovereignty returned. We don't need autonomy," Eluay told AFP.
"Papuans are wanting and waiting for Indonesia to give back their sovereignty which was declared on December 1, 1961." Megawati said Aceh and Irian Jaya differed from East Timor, which voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999, as they constituted domestic problems.
"It's true that Aceh is part of Indonesia's domestic affairs, but that's not the case with Papua," Eluay said. "As we declared sovereignty in 1961, we are not part of the 'Unified State of the Republic of Indonesia'." Separatist sentiment has rumbled in Irian Jaya since Indonesian troops moved in on the heels of the departing Dutch in the early 1960s.
Tension has been fuelled by Jakarta's exploitation of mineral and forest resources, sometimes brutal military repression, and waves of transmigrants dominating the civil service and economy. Around three-quarters of Irian Jaya's 2.4 million residents are Melanesian Christians.
In gas- and oil-rich Aceh, Megawati's comments were greeted with demands for trials of soldiers and police accused of killing civilians and the resumption of dialogue between the government and separatist rebels.
Muhammad Nazar, the jailed head of a student activist group campaigning for an independence referendum, said Megawati must cancel the military operation authorised in April which has helped push the death toll this year above 1,100.
Prosecuting human rights abusers was her next priority as Indonesia's leader, Nazar said. "Ironically ... they've called this a 'security and law enforcement operation' but there has not been a single case taken to court. What law are they enforcing?" Nazar said by phone from jail in Aceh's provincial capital.
Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels rejected the special autonomy pledged by Jakarta. Field commander Teungku Amri bin Abdul Wahab said the Acehnese could only contemplate accepting Megawati's apology if "she gives them independence and then puts on trial all human rights abusers".
Sydney Morning Herald - August 15, 2001
Craig Skehan, Nauru -- A senior member of the Irian Jayan independence movement who slipped into Nauru for the annual gathering of Pacific island leaders despite an official ban, made an impassioned plea for regional support before being deported.
Mr Dirk Kereway, first secretary of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), called on Australia's Prime Minister to soften the country's blanket opposition to independence and support negotiations to avoid spiralling violence.
Last week Nauru's President Rene Harris said independence activists from Irian Jaya, also known as West Papua, would not be allowed to attend the 16 nation Pacific Islands Forum because of factional arguments over representation. Mr Kereway said yesterday that he had come from The Netherlands, where he has lived as a political exile since the 1960s, and it had been too late to turn around and go home.
His passport was taken when he arrived on an Air Nauru flight on Monday, and he was ordered on to a flight to Brisbane on the same airline yesterday afternoon.
But Mr Kereway was able to meet behind the scenes with senior officials of some of the delegates to the forum, which last year called for political dialogue on the future of Irian Jaya without openly supporting the secessionist cause.
Mr Howard attended that meeting. There has been speculation here that one of the reasons he pulled out at short notice this year was due to heightened sensitivity over the issue in Indonesia.
Mr Howard, who will be represented by the Minister for Defence, Mr Reith, told President Megawati Sukarnoputri this week that Australia supported Indonesia's territorial integrity. "I think that Prime Minister Howard is putting a knife into the struggle -- people are hurt," Mr Kereway said.
The Indonesian military had been "killing people" since it took control of the western half of the island of New Guinea in the 1960s, he said. "The forum needs to include the OPM when they want to talk about the Papuan cause. If they keep OPM out they have no right to talk about the West Papuans as if they were objects like cars; we are human beings."
Mr Kereway complained that another relatively new West Papuan group, the Papua Council, were "puppets" who had been backed by senior elements in Indonesia, including former president Abdurrahman Wahid. Jakarta's aim was to achieve a shift in West Papuan aspirations from independence to greater autonomy, he said.
Australia is behind a push for the forum this year to carry a resolution that encourages greater autonomy for Irian Jaya as a province of Indonesia rather than it seceding. Indonesia is for the first time sending a delegation to hold a dialogue session in Nauru with the island countries, ranging from PNG and Fiji to the tiny nation of Tuvalu. Mr Kereway warned that neglect could lead to a repeat of the violence in East Timor: "Australia and the Pacific Islands Forum should be helping to see there is a peaceful solution before the problem becomes too big".
Agence France Presse - August 15, 2001
Jakarta -- Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri Wednesday called for dialogue rather than violence to settle separatist pressures in Aceh and announced she would visit the restive province soon, officials said.
"The president wants to hold a dialogue with the community in Aceh ... the results of the dialogue will be used as a path to resolve the Aceh problem," State Secretary Bambang Kesowo told reporters.
Megawati earlier met 40 Aceh representatives at the state palace to formally present a special autonomy law she had signed, aimed at ending a decades-long separatist revolt in the oil-rich province on the tip of Sumatra island.
"Violence is not the way to settle the Aceh problem," one of the representatives, Usman Hasan, quoted the new president as saying at the closed ceremony. "Therefore I have ordered the concerned personnel to take a new approach in the settlement of the Aceh problem, which in essence relies on deliberations," Hasan, a former adviser on Aceh to ex-president BJ Habibie, quoted her as saying.
Kesowo said Megawati would visit Aceh after her planned tour of fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations from August 22-26. Under the law passed by parliament last month the fervently Muslim province will have its own judicial and education system and selective implementation of Islamic Sharia laws.
Another main feature is the return of 70 percent of oil and gas revenues to Acehnese authorities for eight years, after which the amount is subject to review.
Jakarta's perceived exploitation of Aceh's vast oil and gas reserves has been a major factor winning sympathy for the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). The rebels have however rejected autonomy and insist on full independence for the province, where at least 1,100 people have been killed this year alone. Megawati has been seen as a strong supporter of Indonesia's territorial integrity. There had been fears she might take a hard line against separatists in Aceh and Irian Jaya.
As the ceremony went ahead in Jakarta, a public transport stoppage gripped the province, schools were shut and residents said tension was rising before Indonesia's Independence Day on Friday. Thousands of passengers were stranded when buses failed to operate between the provincial capital Banda Aceh and the North Sumatra capital of Medan, a journalist in Banda Aceh said.
Drivers said their companies had been told by unidentified persons to strike from Wednesday to Saturday or risk having their vehicles torched. Two buses plying the route were set ablaze by armed men in East Aceh on Tuesday. Drivers said trees had been felled across roads in several locations, including the outskirts of Banda Aceh.
Aceh military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Firdaus, said the rebels were trying to scuttle the independence celebrations. The public transport shutdown also hit several other areas of Aceh, including Lhokseumawe in North Aceh and Sigli in Pidie district.
Schools were also mostly empty in Lhokseumawe amid the rising tension and the torching of four local schools by unidentified groups late Tuesday. Two schools were set ablaze in Banda Aceh and surrounding areas late Tuesday, residents said.
There are an estimated 20,000 troops in Aceh, including a 771- strong joint unit trained in anti-guerrilla warfare. A senior armed forces officer quoted by the state Antara news agency said more would be sent and a navy vice admiral said five warships had been deployed off Aceh's east coast to block any attempt to smuggle in weapons.
Straits Times - August 15, 2001
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- The Indonesian navy is stepping up patrols in the Straits of Malacca to block supplies to separatist rebels in Aceh, while President Megawati Sukarnoputri pursues a political solution to the conflict by summoning Acehnese community leaders to Jakarta yesterday.
At least 22 political and religious leaders have been hurriedly summoned for the official delivery of Aceh's autonomy law today. The new law returns 70 per cent of profits from Aceh's oil and gas fields to the province, and allows for direct elections of the governor and local parliament.
The Indonesian navy's latest operation was aimed at blocking arms supply to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), said Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Indroko Sastrowiryono, who ordered the move.
In the past, GAM rebels had smuggled arms from Thailand and Malaysia. "The isolation operation must be carried out well so that room for GAM's movement could be narrowed and their logistic supplies would in time run out," Adm Indroko told the Antara news agency.
Jakarta launched a military operation against the rebels in April. However, a diplomat said that Ms Megawati was reviewing the operation authorised by former President Abdurrahman Wahid. Diplomats are concerned that it has contributed to the high civilian death toll, which reached 1,100 this year.
In the industrial city of Lhokseumawe, home to Exxon Mobil oil fields, Lt-Colonel Firdaus said the armed forces had stepped up patrols as they feared attacks from the separatist movement on or before Indonesia's Independence Day this Friday.
"We think GAM may bother the community because we have a recent case of bombing. They have threatened the schools by telling them not to operate tomorrow," said Lt-Col Firdaus, referring to the bombing of the government education office.
Local residents say the atmosphere in Banda Aceh has been tense as the military and local government had conducted a campaign to force residents to mark Independence Day by raising Indonesia's national flag every day for the last month.
Meanwhile, Aceh's main daily newspaper has folded temporarily under pressure from GAM rebels who accused it of biased coverage of the largest massacre in the past two years. The newspaper blamed GAM for a massacre of at least 31 plantation workers last Thursday. GAM accused the military of the killing.
Green Left Weekly - August 15, 2001
Eighty supporters of Solidarity for the Acehnese Peoples Movement, mostly non-Acehnese, held a protest in Jalan Thamrin, a central Jakarta thoroughfare, on August 7.
The demonstration, which included supporters from the People's Democratic Party, the Indonesian National Front for Workers' Struggles and the National Students League for Democracy later traveled in convoy to the presidential palace where they continued the protest.
The organising group, SEGERA, was coordinating its protest with actions by at least 22 student and other organisations in Aceh who were commemorating the third anniversary of the "withdrawal" of the Military Operations Region three years ago. A representative of the Acehnese Peoples Democratic Resistance Front also spoke at the demonstration.
Both in Jakarta and Aceh, the protests were demanding the withdrawal of Presidential Instruction No 4, 2001 which established a new security operation in Aceh and has legitimised a relaunching of military operations. More than 1000 Acehnese have been killed in military operations during 2001.
Green Left Weekly - August 15, 2001
Sam Frost -- Oil giant ExxonMobil's operations in the Indonesian province of Aceh are to be examined by a US court, after 11 Acehnese filed a suit against the company, claiming to have suffered human rights abuses at the hands of military units acting on its behalf.
The International Labor Rights Fund has requested a jury trial of ExxonMobil and subsidiaries ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia Inc., Mobil Corporation, Mobil Oil Corporation and PT Arun LNG Company. It is seeking substantial damages.
The plaintiffs claim that ExxonMobil entered into contracts for exploitation, exploration and transportation of Aceh's natural gas resources with the government of Indonesia, knowing that this would require an arrangement under which the TNI, the Indonesian armed forces, would be deployed specifically to provide security for ExxonMobil facilities and employees and that these troops would systematically engage in human rights violations.
According to the ILRF, these human rights violations have included "genocide, murder, torture, crimes against humanity, sexual violence, and kidnapping". The fund claims that murders carried out have been "part of a systematic campaign of extermination of the people of Aceh by ExxonMobil and TNI security forces and, therefore, constitute ethnic genocide".
ExxonMobil is alleged to have provided direct payments and supplies to the TNI security forces assigned to protect the Arun oil and gas project, as well as having purchased military equipment for the security forces.
The suit says that the Mobil companies and PT Arun employed TNI Unit 113, as well as other units of the TNI, and paid the Indonesian military a regular monthly or annual fee for such services.
Employing Unit 113 gave Exxon Mobil effective control over it. This "control and direction includes conditioning payment on the provision of specific security services, making decisions about where to place bases, strategic mission planning, and making decisions about specific deployment areas", according to the plaintiffs' suit.
The companies have also "paid mercenaries to provide advice, training, intelligence and equipment to the TNI military in the project area".
Logistical and material support included:
The ExxonMobil support of the TNI is, however, not limited to the region of the oil and gas project. Its support included "general support for the TNI to ensure that ... [the companies'] business arrangement with the Indonesian government in Aceh is not nullified by the creation of an independent state for the people of Aceh as the result of a democratic uprising."
This support for both the government and the military is designed to "to keep the Indonesian government in power during the life of the Arun Project" and, hence, ExxonMobil directly "supported and continue to support the military's reign of terror in Aceh".
By November 30, 1999, when ExxonMobil became the parent company of the Mobil companies, there was a "clear public record of pervasive and systematic human rights violations perpetrated upon villagers of Aceh by the TNI troops, specifically hired to provide security for the Arun Project and that had received direct support from the Mobil Companies and PT Arun", the suit states.
"Numerous human rights groups, including several based in Aceh with current information on the genocide of the people of Aceh, specifically requested that the Mobil companies and, since November 30, 1999 ... Exxon Mobil, cease its operations in Aceh until it could make arrangements to operate without using the murderous TNI for security".
ExxonMobil has refused these requests, and instead has "demanded that the Indonesian military security forces increase the number of troops and take all necessary steps to guarantee the security of the Arun Project, without regard for, and with full knowledge of, the human rights impact on the Achenese people who live near the Arun Project".
In early March, ExxonMobil shut down most of the project, unhappy with the failure of military operations to provide sufficient levels of security.
The complaint specifically details some of the crimes which took place.
Victim 1 was riding his bike to a local marketplace to sell vegetables, when he was "accosted by soldiers who were assigned to ExxonMobil's TNI Unit 113. The solders shot him in the wrist, threw a hand grenade at him and then left him for dead". As a result he suffered "severe injuries ... including the loss of his right hand and left eye and several severe wounds to his body".
Victim 2 was riding on his motorbike and was pulled over by soldiers assigned to Unit 113. The soldiers took the bike and then "beat him severely on his head and body. The soldiers then tied his hands behind his back, put a blindfold on him, and threw him in their truck and took him to what he later learned was Rancong Camp [next to PT Arun's plant]. The soldiers detained and tortured him there for a period of three months, all the while keeping him blindfolded".
As a result Victim 2 suffered "severe injuries as a result of the beatings inflicted by the soldiers, who also tortured him using electricity all over his body, included his genitals". After three months of detention, "the soldiers took off his blindfold, took him outside the building where he had been detained and showed him a large pit where there was a large pile of human heads. The soldiers threatened to kill him and add his head to the pile." After being released, Victim 2, not long after having returned home, had soldiers come to his house. He fled and in turn his home was burnt to the ground.
Victim 3 was riding his motorbike past a refugee camp, located near part of the ExxonMobil complex, which houses people who have been "displaced by the destruction of their homes by the ExxonMobil security forces".
Approaching the camp, soldiers from Unit 113 "shot him in three places on his leg. He fell down and lost consciousness. The soldiers took him to a police or military camp and tortured him for several hours while he continued to bleed from the gunshot wounds. The soldiers broke his kneecap, smashed his skull, and burned him with cigarettes. The soldiers then took him to the police headquarters in North Aceh, and the police took him to the hospital for treatment. When his wounds were treated, he was returned to the TNI Unit 113 soldiers. The soldiers kept him in custody for approximately one month and tortured him regularly". His release only came about after a local human rights organisation bribed government officials.
In July 2000, Victim 4, while traveling to a village near his home, was "accosted by soldiers assigned to ExxonMobil's TNI Unit 113. The soldiers beat him and then handcuffed him and blindfolded him. They took him to Post 13 [near ExxonMobil's natural gas extraction facilities] where they continued to torture him by beating him and threatening to kill him. The soldiers accused him of being part of [the separatist movement] GAM." When he denied the charge, the soldiers "threw him to the ground and, using a soldier's knife, carved the letters GAM into his back".
He was kept in custody for several weeks, with TNI members "regularly torturing him". Again, he was released only after a local human rights organisation paid bribes to soldiers. ExxonMobil has denied the allegations.
Agence France Presse - August 13, 2001
Jakarta -- Australia has urged fellow members of the Pacific Forum not to debate independence for Indonesia's Irian Jaya province at its annual meeting this week, an Indonesian MP said Monday.
This "positive" development indicated a change of heart of the Australian government, which had previously supported independence for Irian Jaya to the annoyance of Jakarta, said Yasril Ananta Baharuddin, chairman of parliament's defence and security commission.
It now appeared that it was Australia's non-government organisations (NGOs) rather than its government which supported the independence movement in the province, on New Guinea island, he said.
"We consider that Australia's pressure on the forum not to discuss independence for Irian Jaya was very positive and we hope that attitude can be extended to the level of NGOs," he said after legislators met visiting Australian Prime Minister John Howard.
The 16-nation Pacific Forum holds its annual meeting Thursday in Nauru, the world's smallest republic.
During his visit Howard expressed support for Indonesia's territorial integrity in the face of growing separatist unrest in Aceh and Irian Jaya. He said both countries had agreed to look to the future rather than dwell on past disputes.
The two nations fell out over Australia's perceived support for East Timor's vote in August 1999 to split from Indonesia. Jakarta was also upset by Australia's leadership of a peacekeeping force there following a campaign of terror by Indonesian-backed militias.
Baharuddin, previously one of the most vocal opponents of Australian policy, said Howard's attitude had changed. "We see a change in [the attitude of] their government, especially Howard and the foreign minister and the new ambassador," he told reporters.
"Before, the only problem was the prime minister who made statements that intervened in Indonesia's affairs. Now we're facing the future together with a positive attitude; before it was the negative attitude from Howard that made us angry." Baharuddin added: "I think Australia is aware that if it wants to live peacefully as our neighbour it should no longer think of itself as a European or American country in Asia." He added: "It is our [parliament's] desire to forget the past and make a better future but they must not repeat the things that caused problems in the past."
Sabam Sirait, another of the MPs who met Howard, said he suggested sharing profits from Timor Sea oil not just between East Timor and Australia but also with West Timor on behalf of Indonesia. "I asked Howard if it was possible for West Timor to get a bit of the profit," Sirait added, without specifying Howard's response.
Associated Press - August 13, 2001
Jakarta -- Indonesia will not agree to an international probe into the massacre of 31 people in strife-ridden Aceh province because it would infringe upon its sovereignty, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said on Monday.
"We rule out the possibility of sending an international team to Aceh," Mr Wirayuda said. "The international community is aware this is a purely domestic problem."
The Indonesian military and guerillas of the Free Aceh Movement have accused each other of carrying out Thursday's killings in a palm-oil plantation in eastern Aceh. On Saturday, a separatist leader, Amri Abdul Wahab, demanded an unbiased international probe, saying it would be the only way to determine which side was guilty.
The massacre by unidentified gunmen came as government forces escalated their offensive against separatist rebels who have extended their control over wide swathes of the countryside during the past two years.
Thursday's killings -- the bloodiest single incident since Indonesian troops executed 54 teenage students at an Islamic school in 1999 -- coincided with President Megawati Sukarnoputri's announcement of her first Cabinet.
Many analysts have predicted that Ms Megawati, a staunch nationalist, will reverse former President Abdurrahman Wahid's efforts to reach a negotiated settlement with the rebels, and instead give the army a free hand in their campaign to crush the insurgency.
The generals have opposed Mr Wahid's policy of talking to the rebels. Last month, security forces defied his orders and arrested six rebel negotiators who had been granted safe passage by the government.
More than 6,000 people have been killed in the past decade in the gas and oil-rich province on the northern tip of Sumatra. At least 1,000, mostly civilians, have died so far this year.
On Sunday, senior security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said a preliminary investigation by police had determined that the rebels had shot the farm workers. He accused the insurgents of "seeking to attract international attention".
| Government/politics |
Straits Times - August 18, 2001
Robert Go, Jakarta -- Less than four weeks after she became Indonesia's leader, Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri presided over an emotional Independence Day ceremony in front of what was the Dutch colonial governor's palace.
The ceremony, brimming with pomp and splendour, was in stark contrast to Indonesia's very first Independence Day ceremony presided over by her father, Sukarno, 56 years ago.
Then Mr Sukarno had read out a short declaration of independence, following which the first Merah-Putih flag -- handstitched by her mother Fatmawati -- was raised on a short bamboo pole in front of the family's Jakarta home 56 years ago.
Bung Karno, as the first president is remembered here, once reminisced: "The lack of pomp and splendour was compensated by our hope." And the display of nationalistic fervour was as evident today as it was then.
First, Dr Amien Rais, chairman of the country's supreme legislature MPR, echoed Bung Karno: "With God's blessings, we the Indonesian people declare our freedom." An honour guard, dressed in the national colours and made up of what one MP labelled semi-seriously as "the country's future ministers, or at least Parliament members", then marched to the pole and unfurled the flag.
As the Indonesia Raya anthem rang out across the field, tears started to well in the eyes of some, especially those who are old enough to remember the long struggle against the Dutch colonial and the Japanese occupational regimes.
But it wasn't all nationalism. The spirit of commercialism was clearly present throughout the presidential complex yesterday. Indofood, the country's largest instant-noodle maker, had its logo emblazoned on one side -- with the country's symbols on the other -- of the fans that were handed out together with the day's programme booklet.
Dunkin Donuts, herbal-drink companies, bakeries and other commercial entities gave out free samples and rubbed elbows with the country's dignitaries on the spacious grounds immediately after the ceremony.
Despite the brouhaha, the hope for the country that Bung Karno talked about was more evident yesterday than during similar celebrations in recent years. It was after all Bung Karno's legacy that made Ms Megawati's ascension to the presidency possible.
The hope shared by men on the streets and VIPs alike is that the daughter can now turn around the country, just as the father had -- with his declaration -- set the previous generation of Indonesians on an irreversible path towards independence.
All throughout Jakarta yesterday, residents and their children flocked to neighbourhood centres to celebrate and participate in some traditional games -- rice-sack races, slimy pole climbs, fish-chip eating contests, marble shoots, or cock fights.
Some took time off from the festivities to comment on Ms Megawati's tenure as president so far. Taxi driver Margono said: "We believed in her before, and now there is evidence to back it up. She has shown that she possesses her father's strength." West Jakarta businessman Sulaiman added: "After her big speech yesterday and all else that has happened since she took over, we can start to see some stability, and that's better than the last two presidents."
[The state news agency, Antara, reported that some 100 Indonesians attended an independence day ceremony in Dili, the capital of East Timor, under tight security provided by UN civilian police. Dili Bishop and Nobel laureate Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo were among those in attendence - James Balowski.]
Jakarta Post - August 18, 2001
[The following is the state-of-the-nation address delivered by President Megawati Soekarnoputri before the House of Representatives on August 16, 2001 ahead of Independence Day.]
Allow me to invite all of us to together praise and thank God the Most Merciful and Most Compassionate, for only with His mercy can we gather together in this noble and esteemed Assembly Hall. At this juncture, such praise and gratitude are certainly very meaningful for us.
First, tomorrow morning our beloved Republic will celebrate its 56th anniversary. During the last year together we could also demonstrate to ourselves and to the outside world, that this complex multiethnic nation, although seemingly prone to conflict, in fact has an endurance beyond the expectations of many people. We must be indeed very thankful for that.
Second, after going through months of tension, laden with political conflict, even a constitutional crisis, all of us, from whatever group, have finally succeeded in proving that we are capable of settling our differences of opinion peacefully. Despite all criticism, we have also witnessed that the Constitution of Proclamation has in fact still served us well.
Previously, many observers and friendly nations were truly worried that we would slide into even deeper anarchy. Thanks to God the Almighty all this did not happen. The spirit of unity which we built with perseverance and determination since the beginning of the 20th century, turned out to be far stronger than all the short-term challenges we faced. Now, God willing, we are ready again to roll up our sleeves to handle the many difficult problems that have long awaited us. In my observation, this is one of the indications that we are becoming more mature as a nation.
Yet, above all, there is really something more important. Since the beginning, when this nation was formed, we agreed that the formation and sustenance of our beloved nation was only made possible by the blessings of the Almighty Allah. I am sure that this is not only a declaration of faith from our very religious people, but also an explanation that nobody can deny.
There seems to be no other explanation as to why we have been able to overcome so many dire problems.
Once again, indeed we are obliged to be thankful, without slipping into complacency. During the last four years our whole nation has lived under constant fear, because we were stricken by monetary, economic, security and political crises, coming one after the other and, worse, we experienced an institutional crisis and conflict. This was not only felt at the central level, but also in the villages. It is understandable, therefore, that many were very concerned, whether or not the Republic, painstakingly established by our founding fathers, would be able to survive or would disintegrate.
Under such conditions, it is not surprising that many questions arose, as to whether we would be able to resolve the multi- faceted problems quickly and holistically. Certainly, it is not the case. Like a disease, a crisis can erupt very suddenly; however its recovery obviously requires time. Many problems and arrangements which we have to correct are not only technical and small in nature, but there are also instances where we have to correct the functions, structures and working methods of our national and state institutions, both at the superstructure as well as infrastructure levels.
Unexpectedly, the weakness of the political supra-structure and infrastructure has in fact opened up room for various conflicts in unprecedented form and intensity. There has been so much loss, both human and material. There is so much which we need to correct before we can enter a normal life as a society, nation and state, at least in accordance with standards generally recognized in modern nations. The question is what we should do to implement such a remedy.
We need to make corrections based on our own vision and strengths notwithstanding our many shortcomings and weaknesses. We clearly have this capability. We have so far succeeded in developing adequate human resources at all levels and professions, which can be fully utilized in managing our rich natural resources for the people's welfare.
Only a few countries in the world are blessed with so much natural resources. If only they were all well managed, our people could have lived in a much more prosperous condition. Now, we must identify the root of the problem as to why this did not happen. Was there a mistake in the vision and strategy of development, which we applied in the past? Or did the mistake lie in the mechanism and work procedure that we have so far used -- or in the many deviations in its implementation?
We can only accomplish this gradually, starting from the most urgent needs, which cannot be delayed. Indeed so many crises cannot possibly be resolved all at once. In the short term, we need to restore the living conditions of the people, nation and state, to bring a breath of fresh air, feelings of security and a better environment for all. This is closely related to resuming normalcy, which among others, needs the functioning of democracy and upholding of the law. We are aware that there is not much we can do unless these minimum conditions are met.
We have started to achieve these minimum requirements. In a better situation, we witness that our people are able to develop and make use of their endurance, perseverance and creativity to survive and improve their welfare. We should admire our people's endurance and creativity.
During the four years of the monetary and economic crises, their perseverance and creativity did not only succeed in supporting their own lives; but there were times when we feel they may have even perhaps rescued the Republic.
For these short-term steps to be fundamentally beneficial, we also need to take medium and long-term strategic steps, not excluding the systemic one. We should perhaps ask ourselves, taking into account the recurrence of the crises in our constitutional life; is there anything that we can do to perfect our constitutional principles or rules?
Lately, among our leaders and intellectuals, there has emerged the awareness of the need to make more comprehensive and more conceptual amendments to the state system based on the 1945 Constitution. The founding fathers themselves identified such needs as mentioned in Article 37 of the 1945 Constitution.
However, even if we agree to make these amendments it should be done with great care and mature thinking, which will be able to meet our long-term needs of statehood. We desire constitutional amendments that will not only serve as a political framework for our coexistence today, but also as a stepping stone to advance toward a more just, democratic and peaceful future.
It is for that reason that in preparing, formulating and implementing the amendments we have to hold firm the basic intentions of this country's establishment. This basic intention is included and clearly stipulated in the Preamble of the Constitution. The founding fathers of our nation described the Unitary Republic of Indonesia as a "free, united, sovereign, just and prosperous" nation. I believe that the values contained in this simple formula which we are so familiar with is crystal clear with no need for involved explanation.
The task given to the government of the Republic of Indonesia is also clear, simple and straightforward, that is "to protect all the people of Indonesia and the country of Indonesia, to promote public welfare, to educate the people and to participate in the implementation of a world order, based on freedom, eternal peace and social justice".
The basic moral principle is thus also clear, simple, distinct and fundamental: "Belief in the one Supreme God, a just and civilized humanity, Indonesia's unity, democracy led by the wisdom of deliberations among representatives and social justice for all Indonesian people".
It seems that what we need to do together is to follow up on these clear and bold axioms, and transform them into reality to be enjoyed by every citizen in the archipelago. This vision of statehood should become a reference and yardstick not only for the life of the nation and state in general, but also for those in charge of the central and local governments entrusted by the people.
The honor to modernize the 1945 Constitution certainly lies in the hands of the People's Consultative Assembly that constitutionally represents the Indonesian people.
In this context -- taking into account the intensive public discourse on the need to amend the 1945 Constitution and to give as wide as possible opportunity for all segments of society to contribute to its perfection -- it seems to be more beneficial for the Assembly to focus its attention on assembling terms of reference that could hopefully function as a main guideline for preparing the amendment's concept.
This main framework could also be used to widen public political discourse. The substance of this dynamic discourse can also be crystallized and drafted comprehensively, systematically and professionally by a constitutional commission, to be then reviewed and endorsed by the Assembly's General Session.
I believe that these measures would not only update the 1945 Constitution that contains important historical values and reinforce its open and democratic nature, but they would also smoothen its implementation.
In building up the basis for amendment comprehensively and conceptually, some points may need further contemplation and a fundamental solution. These include the nature of a unitary state that acknowledges institutionally and operationally the right to regional autonomy; the basic policy of retaining political unity and national territorial integrity; institutional relations between the legislative and executive branches; the general electoral system; relations between the regional and central governments; the formula of implications to statehood arising from our diversity, including respect for local customs, cultures and traditional institutions. The essence is the formulation of a concrete form of our system of society, nation and state in the constitution, enabling the reality of our slogan "Unity in Diversity" (Bhinneka Tunggal Ika), as enshrined in our National Coat of Arms.
In particular we need to draw attention to relations between our traditional societies spread out across the vast Indonesian archipelago, based on the spirit of nationhood and of the Unitary State of the Republic. Our clarity in understanding the relations among these three elements is a constant factor, and is a crucial key for the continuity and progress of our beloved republic.
The 1945 Constitution itself acknowledges the traditional societies and their local environments, referring to them as "special regions".
Our long history has recorded wide and intense relations among members of these various traditional societies. There have been family relations, customary and cultural ties, and close economic ties, among inhabitants of one island with another. These complex historical bonds can be considered as a solid social and cultural foundation for the emergence and the development of a sense of nationalism in modern terms.
The development of a new Indonesia also requires restructuring the relations between the central and local governments. We are aware of the fact that the overly centralistic infrastructure has not only been inefficient, but is has also failed to provide space for the growth and development of our citizens' initiatives and creativity. In the system of relations between the central government and the regions, a large part of authority and budgetary support should be allotted to the regencies and mayoralties. The task and authority of the central government will only be focused on a number of strategic fields that are really needed by the nation.
On a more operational level, which directly or indirectly influences the politics of law and the policy of law enforcement, there is also a need to draw a clearer line on the essence, nature, method and form of the reform movement as well as the process to democracy which we embarked upon together in 1998.
I have observed and listened closely to complaints by some members of society, which indicate that under the banner of reform and democratization there has been much to be doubted, as to whether actions are justified under reform or whether they have instead exceeded their proportion. In several instances, we witnessed the outbreak of various mass riots, some of which were conducted in the name of reform and democratization. These series of actions have raised concerns over the possibility of anarchy emerging in our midst, either in mild or violent forms. All this has raised the question of the need for gradual reform and democratization with a clear agenda under the system of representative democracy that we adhere to, namely through the representative bodies. These councils comprise representatives who we choose ourselves through general elections that are organized directly, generally, freely, confidentially, fairly, and justly, and which we should therefore trust.
We do not indeed need to address all these problems from scratch.
Apart from reinforcing our many experiences in nationhood and statehood, we can also benefit from various ideas, especially those related to the promotion and fulfillment of civil rights and political rights as well as social, economic and cultural rights in our respect for human rights in the framework of the United Nations' system.
We must admit that our understanding of human rights in today's modern world lacks depth and dimension. We need to observe this important point, as human rights are rapidly advancing and becoming one of those basic cornerstones or parameters to judge whether a nation-state has reached a modern stage.
Another important point that we need to ponder upon in drafting and implementing the modernization of the 1945 Constitution is the decline of our social discipline. There have been cases in which we have been inconsistent in implementing what we have so far agreed upon, as manifested in our disrespect of the law and the rules of the game normally found in a modern nation-state. All of these create the impression that there has been a missing link between what we think, see and do in real life.
Our difficulty in eradicating collusion, corruption and nepotism (KKN) has directly or indirectly resulted in the crisis that has swept the nation since 1997.
Unlike a feudalistic society which does not tend to see KKN as a big mistake, a democratic society sees this as a tremendous problem.
Regardless of how trivial they may be, KKN practices will transgress public trust and at the same time violate one's official oath.
In this context, allow me to humbly report to this august gathering that I have privately gathered all members of my immediate family, requesting them to solemnly pledge not to open the slightest window of opportunity for the recurrence of KKN in my family.
They have given me their solemn pledge, and I hope that they will be able to resist the many temptations around them.
I am sure that we will be able to undertake a major breakthrough to stop and overcome these KKN practices if we in this Nusantara Room promise -- at least in our hearts -- to avoid them.
I have also requested all my Cabinet members to report their wealth and as soon as possible submit their report to the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission.
Although this looks simple, perhaps this small step will become a starting point of a much bigger social change, which we must carry out promptly. We need to start from our respective families and ourselves.
God willing, gradually, but in the not-so-distant future, we will be able to become one of those well-managed, highly rated governments.
But more importantly, with this step we will be able to utilize more effectively and efficiently our national resources for the sake of the public's welfare.
There have been enough lessons from neighboring countries that indicate how people's welfare has tended to run parallel with good governance which in turn is a crucial factor in maintaining stability in the political, social and security sphere. Experience has also shown that such stability is a prerequisite for economic progress to be enjoyed by the people.
Recently discourse has developed on the concept of a people's economy.
It should be admitted that the meaning, the scope and content of this concept have yet to be clarified. Hopefully this honorable session agrees, that in our current transition, we should first be able to reach a solid understanding of such basic issues. As with other concepts, we also need the ability to give shape to that concept. As a concept expected to become a system of national scale, the ability is needed to break it down into strategies and operational programs. We have much experience with all sorts of concepts, but we have faced difficulties in implementing them. This is why I sincerely hope that we can be wise in introducing new concepts expected to reach a national scope. Because in relation to welfare and the economy, we seem to have a clear reference in the 1945 Constitution: "... advancing public welfare, educating the nation ..." etc. What is needed is the development and breaking down of these areas.
In this framework, I hope that above vision and strategy of development can be food for thought for us all.
To operate a modern economic system without the support of a reliable national banking system is surely impossible. We must learn much from our bitter experience in managing the banking sector; especially after economic liberalization in 1983. We have violated so many conservative norms in banking management, which have been established over a long period. We really need to learn from this experience, to prevent us from becoming like the old man who lost his cane twice.
Like it or not, today we are part of a new world, which has become global in the field of politics, economics, and social and cultural issues. What happens in another country also influences our nation and vice versa. In pursuing economic interests, we have ventured into formal commitments with other countries, both bilateral and multilateral.
In general these commitments are designed in the spirit of mutual benefit. It has to be admitted that some of them have now become quite burdensome. Therefore, the opinion that has emerged among us to request adjustment to such burdensome commitments is not entirely wrong. Notwithstanding the reasons and without any less appreciation for the good intentions behind such thoughts, a commitment is a commitment. An agreement is an agreement, whether national or international.
We must do our utmost to honor the obligations contained in these commitments. Nonetheless, we would certainly be deeply grateful if friendly countries and related creditors could give us some room and breathing space, to enable us to restore our national life in this difficult transition period. We are also facing a short-term challenge which we must respond to with hard work, namely our participation in the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization. Indeed, I believe it requires great strength to maintain our national competitiveness in an increasingly open and competitive international trade, when our economy is at its lowest bargaining position.
Allow me now to touch upon the issues of recovery and efforts to maintain the stability of our national security and defense. There is not much that we can do without security, or if the borders of our territory are trespassed in the absence of any the capability on our part to prevent or counter such violations.
We need an effective, highly disciplined security system and personnel under government control, yet who have the spirit of the people.
Along with national reform aimed at creating a more democratic Indonesian society, the Indonesian Military (TNI) has pledged its commitment to continue its internal reform through concrete measures, to become a professional and functional instrument of state defense, and to uphold democracy and to abide by the law and to respect human rights.
We have consistently also started to separate the National Police from the TNI, although in certain cases the police need military support.
Yet the TNI must focus on defending national territorial integrity, while the police must concentrate more on creating and maintaining security and a feeling of safety among the people.
Therefore along with the need to enhance the professional capacity of the TNI and the National Police, it is the state's duty to ensure the availability of equipment and minimum backup for the task entrusted to them of maintaining security and defense. It would be unfair if we gave the TNI a demanding task but did not provide them with proper equipment and logistical support in terms of the appropriate quantity and high quality.
There is therefore a compelling need for an agenda and clear schedule to pursue on the national policy on TNI and the National Police. There are many regulations to be amended, basic doctrines and their implementation need to be revised and education and training programs to be conducted. I understand that there are issues inherited from the past with regards to the repositioning of the TNI and the National Police, specifically severe violations of human rights in armed conflict areas. We learned of some of the violations from the international media right after they took place, but some came to the fore only recently.
It must be admitted that many such reports have cornered us. Yet our stance remains clear. Should there be convincing evidence of severe violations of human rights outside the battleground, those found guilty should be held responsible and legal action must be taken against them, according to the law. We will not entertain any impression of covering up such severe abuses. For it is clear that Indonesia is a state based on law. No single person is beyond the reach of law, not even a president.
In preparing ourselves to embark upon a better future, allow me to dwell on the three questions from the past that need a comprehensive solution. They are the questions of East Timor, Aceh and Irian Jaya.
Right from the outset, the issue of East Timor has had an international dimension, especially in the framework of decolonization. There was no specific design of the Republic of Indonesia in that region.
Our involvement in the region was unintentional, for it was the stance adopted by the state's founding fathers that the territory of the Republic of Indonesia was the ex-territory of the Dutch Indies. No more, no less.
Without delving again into the causes, we have now fundamentally settled the question of East Timor in 1999 and have openly respected the choice of our brothers and sisters in the region to have their own state.
Yet some lingering issues remain, such as the solution to the problem of a considerable number of refugees in the province of East Nusa Tenggara and assistance for our East Timorese brethren who feel more comfortable to remain in our territory or who have become Indonesian citizens.
The issues of Aceh and Irian Jaya are quite different with that of East Timor. These questions are strictly internal matters, especially connected to nation- and state-building.
We have to honestly admit that the crux of the issues is the various policies of the past, which have been considered very oppressive to the people in those regions. It is therefore natural that as a nation we offer a sincere apology to our fellow citizens who have long suffered from those incorrect policies.
But apology is not enough. It must be accompanied by a series of rearrangements to restore things in the shortest possible time.
Therefore, we are now carrying out basic corrections in the two provinces, not only by paying respect to the cultural identities and specific characteristics of the people, but also by granting the regional administrations more authority to manage their respective regions in the framework of special autonomy.
Yet, one thing is clear; all these should remain within the context of preserving the territorial integrity of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia.
Allow me now to take this opportunity to underline the urgency of maintaining the country's territorial integrity.
Territorial integrity is not only of highly important attribute of a nation-state, but also serves as an integral part of a stable world order, which has permanent boundaries. In this context, any movement intending to secede from the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia would not only face our strong rejection, but would fail to win support from the international community as well.
This fact needs the close attention of the leaders of such separatist movements, especially those who have opted for the path of armed violence, which has led to so many victims among innocent people. From this forum I call on my brothers and sisters who, due to various reasons, have chosen armed violence, to return to society and together build a new Indonesia, a better one than what we have been through.
As I said earlier, now we have at our disposal the instruments of special autonomy, which I believe provides enough room to fulfill your valid aspirations and interests.
It was based on my comprehension of the above conditions that I formed the Gotong Royong Cabinet to carry out the mandate you have entrusted to me until the end of my tenure in 2004.
I apologize for being rather late in announcing the line up of the new Cabinet. The reason was simply because it was not easy to select the most suited among so many candidates who were all the nation's best sons and daughters. It was only due to the limited posts available that I could not accommodate all the candidates to take up the posts of coordinating ministers, portfolio ministers, or state ministers.
Hopefully the next time round the others will get their chance.
In a bid to respond to the above issues allow me to repeat the six programs of the Gotong Royong Cabinet.
I am fully aware that this Cabinet will be unable to perform without the understanding, cooperation and support from every sector of society. From this forum, I again request that understanding, cooperation and support. Only through this approach will we be able to gradually come out of this deeply painful crisis.
Sydney Morning Herald - August 17, 2001
Lely Djuhari, Jakarta -- President Megawati Sukarnoputri, a staunch nationalist, said yesterday she respected East Timor's right to secede from Indonesia, and apologised for atrocities in Aceh and Irian Jaya. It was the first time that Ms Megawati, who opposed East Timor's independence, has publicly acknowledged its right to self- determination. "We openly respect our brothers' choice to live in their own state," she told the national assembly as part of her first state of the nation speech.
Outlining her vision for running the troubled country, Ms Megawati, who took office last month, promised to restore order, and apologised to the rebellious provinces of Aceh and Irian Jaya for decades of human rights abuses.
However, the President told the two resource-rich regions they would never be allowed to break away. "We convey our deep apologies to our brothers who have long suffered as a result of inappropriate national policies," she said, adding that she hoped the people of the two provinces would accept special autonomy packages on offer that would give them a greater say in running their own affairs.
"But one thing is clear: all this [special autonomy] will take place within the context of maintaining the integrity of the Republic of Indonesia." In a speech marking the anniversary of independence from Dutch colonial rule 56 years ago today, she warned Indonesians it would take time to drag the country out of one of its most dire periods.
"Our multitude of crises certainly cannot be overcome all at once ... Only by [working together] can we gradually emerge from this time, which has been very painful for us all." Ms Megawati said her Government would work hard to end a protracted refugee crisis in Indonesian-controlled West Timor. An estimated 50,000 East Timorese are still sheltering in camps in the region, after fleeing the post-ballot violence in 1999.
Ms Megawati campaigned against East Timor's independence in 1999. In the past two years she has also forged close ties with several military commanders whom human rights activists have accused of being responsible for the post-ballot violence. That has raised fears they will not be brought to justice.
But in her speech yesterday Ms Megawati promised to take legal action against anyone proved guilty of atrocities.
Her speech largely sidestepped specific plans to woo investors back to Indonesia and rebuild the banking sector, although she is expected to give a separate account on the economy and the budget to parliament next month. Many analysts also expect Ms Megawati to leave many details to the economic professionals who dominate her new Cabinet.
She said the Constitution -- a deliberately vague document drawn up by her father, the founding president Sukarno -- had to be overhauled if the country was to avoid more political instability.
Jakarta Post - August 16, 2001
Jakarta -- House of Representatives (DPR) speaker Akbar Tandjung hailed on Wednesday the decision by President Megawati Soekarnoputri to appoint M.A. Rachman, a career attorney, as thenew attorney general.
"M.A. Rachman meets the qualifications to become the attorney general," Akbar told reporters at the DPR/People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) building, as quoted by Antara. "There are positive aspects to appointing a career attorney to become the attorney general as it will stimulate the prosecutors to maintain and do their best in furtherance of their career," he said.
Earlier on Tuesday night, Minister/State Secretary Bambang Kesowo announced the appointment of Rachman as attorney general, and he will be installed later on Wednesday afternoon.
Rachman was a member of expert staff to the junior attorney general for general crimes before being appointed to replace Marsillam Simanjuntak as the attorney general.
On public doubt that Rachman would investigate alleged legal violations by military personnel, Akbar asked that the new attorney general be given the opportunity to perform his duties and not immediately be declared a failure.
Meanwhile, deputy attorney general Soeparman said he was disappointed by the opinion of some legal observers that doubted the capability of a career attorney general.
He said he believed Rachman could perform his duties as the attorney general well. "He [Rachman] deserves to be the attorney general," he said, as quoted by the news agency.
Straits Times - August 16, 2001
Marianne Kearney -- Anti-corruption campaigners and human-rights lawyers yesterday criticised President Megawati Sukarnoputri's choice of Attorney-General as a step back in the government's drive to tackle graft and rights abuses.
They questioned the ability of Mr Muhammad Abdurrachman, 59, a low-key career prosecutor, to do what the President said she had picked him for -- "to enhance the image of the Attorney-General's office, which has recently been not too good".
The President said after swearing him in: "The general public aspiration is to have a clean and respected government. I am sure that, with our support, he can perform his duties well." But the appointment came as a surprise to many in Ms Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P).
They had expected her to choose a neutral outsider or someone from within the Attorney-General's chambers with more credibility.
Observers and PDI-P insiders said the five-day delay in the appointment, which was announced late on Tuesday, suggested that the armed forces had exerted strong pressure on the President.
PDI-P sources said that retired general Hendripoyono, who now heads the military-intelligence agency, and former armed forces chief General Wiranto pressured the President to choose Mr Muhammad because he is sympathetic towards the military. Legal groups said the new Attorney-General was unlikely to pursue large-scale graft cases seriously or to prosecute military figures involved in human-rights abuses.
Legal investigator Agam Faturrohman, from Corruption Watch, said: "I think all the corruption cases and human-rights cases will be dismissed, the same with any Golkar cases or any cases involving huge public finances. The old regime will strike back."
For the past 18 months, international donors have been pressing Indonesia to conduct a credible trial of those allegedly involved in abuses in East Timor. The United States Congress has made military ties and any future arms sales contingent on such a trial.
The new government is also facing pressure both domestically and abroad to launch human-rights trials for military abuses in Irian Jaya, Aceh and in regard to cases such as the massacre of Muslim demonstrators at Tanjung Priok.
However, the military is likely to lobby to prevent high-ranking military officers from being prosecuted for such abuses, said analysts.
One of Mr Muhammad's most difficult tests will be in dealing with corruption cases involving politicians backing Ms Megawati's coalition government. Golkar chief Akbar Tandjung has been linked to a graft case involving the alleged misuse of state funds by his party. And the parliamentary faction chief from the PDI-P, Mr Arifin Panigoro, has been accused of graft at his oil company, Medco. Both Mr Akbar and Mr Arifin are powerful figures and lawyers predict the new Attorney-General is unlikely to pursue them.
He has promised to continue the tough cases pursued by his predecessor Baharuddin Lopa, but he has already expressed reservations. Asked whether he had the courage to prosecute politically-related cases, he told The Jakarta Post: "Let me cross that bridge when I come to it." Another major task for him is to clean up his own very corrupt office, blamed for the failure to prosecute a number of high-profile cases, such as former president Suharto's corruption case.
Agence France Presse - August 15, 2001
Jakarta -- Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri Wednesday swore in career prosecutor Muhammad Abdur Rahman as her new attorney general, a choice which left human rights advocates disappointed and sceptical.
Megawati said she had chosen someone from within the attorney general's office "to enhance the image of the office, which has recently been not too good."
She instructed Rahman, 59, a former deputy attorney general and a member of the office's expert staff, to "immediately put order inside the attorney general's office and meet the hopes of society for the upholding of the law."
But it was her choice of an insider that sparked criticism from rights defenders, who question the integrity and competence of staffers in the office.
Megawati named Rahman late Tuesday, ending an unexplained five- day delay in the appointment which analysts and politicans blamed on an intensive tug-of-war between political and other interested parties.
Rahman told journalists not to become fixated on corruption cases, adding that other crimes in human rights, the environment, illegal logging and banking also needed serious attention. "Don't just focus on the issue of corruption," he was quoted as saying by the state Antara news agency.
The choice of attorney general is widely seen as a barometer of the government's sincerity in eradicating corruption and seeking justice for past gross human rights violations.
Rahman pledged to continue the cases begun by his predecessors, which include corruption charges against former dictator Suharto and several high-profile business tycoons including Syamsul Nursalim and Prayogo Pangestu. Asked whether he had the courage to pursue politically sensitive cases, Rahman replied: "We'll see how it goes."
Rahman headed the team of state investigators which last year named 23 suspects in human rights crimes in East Timor in 1999. The team was criticised for omitting former armed forces chief General Wiranto and other high-ranking military officers who had been recommended for prosecution.
Sceptical rights defenders accused the president of making a compromise choice to appease politicians and the military. "This is a victory for the army lobby," Hendardi, chairman of the Human Rights and Legal Aid Association, told AFP. "I've heard that they were backing him for the post. This is a safe route for Megawati."
Hendardi said choosing a candidate from the attorney general's office was a backward step. "The bureaucracy at the [office] is a problem in itself. It's the first thing that has to be cleaned up and I think he'll hesitate to move against his colleagues," he said. "I don't think we can hope for much in law enforcement, either in tackling corruption or human rights abuses," Hendardi said.
Munir, the head of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, said: "The choice doesn't make us at all optimistic." He said Rahman's choice of suspects for prosecution over East Timor and his investigations into the 1984 army killing of demonstrators in Jakarta's Tanjung Priok "clearly benefited the violators of human rights abuses, like the generals."
However the secretary general of the national Human Rights Commission (Komnas Ham), Asmara Nababan, told AFP Rahman was "the best of the current stock" from the attorney general's office. Nababan said Megawati was seeking a neutral choice because political parties had been fighting for the "strategic post." Nababan said he had little hope Rahman would take "significant steps to clean up corruption," but he believed he would continue pursuing the East Timor cases.
Sydney Morning Herald - August 16, 2001
Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta -- President Megawati Sukarnoputri has disappointed observers in Jakarta by appointing as Attorney- General a low-key prosecutor who failed to pursue senior military officers over atrocities in East Timor.
The surprise appointment of Mr Muhammad Abdurrachman, better known in Jakarta as M.A. Rachman, came after intense lobbying by the main political parties and the military. The Attorney-General will determine the outcome of corruption and human rights cases that former president Abdurrahman Wahid tried but failed to have prosecuted.
Mr Rachman served as the executive chairman of a special team formed last year to investigate human rights violations in East Timor in 1999. But the team failed to recommend the prosecution of high-ranking officers including the former armed forces chief, General Wiranto, who had been named by an independent investigating panel.
Mr Rachman, a career prosecutor in Indonesia's corrupt legal system, was deputy attorney-general during the 1998-99 presidency of Dr B.J. Habibie.
"As an insider, Rachman will have a difficult task in cleaning up the Attorney-General's office from the bad practices of the past," said Mr Asmara Nababan, a member of the state-sponsored Human Rights Commission. "If the Attorney-General cannot bring the big corruptors to trial, that will reflect negatively on Megawati's administration."
The United Nations has warned that it will consider setting up an international tribunal to hear cases if Jakarta fails to prosecute those responsible for the military-sponsored violence in East Timor.
General Wiranto, who was touted last month as a candidate for vice-president, was one of the first people to meet Ms Megawati after she took office three weeks ago, indicating she does not favour his prosecution.
A former crusading anti-corruption prosecutor, Mr Antonius Sujata, said the Attorney-General needed to be an experienced, independent outsider. Asked about Mr Rachman's capability, Mr Sujata said: "Nothing special." But officials in the Attorney- General's office and some human rights activists said they hoped Mr Rachman's knowledge of the main human rights and corruption cases would lead to breakthroughs in having them prosecuted.
One human rights campaigner and lawyer, Mr Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara, said Mr Rachman was among the best career prosecutors, and called him "modest and relatively honest".
Ms Megawati won wide praise last week when she named several respected technocrats to key economic jobs in her 31-member Cabinet. The currency rose to an 11-month high and financial markets were buoyed as a result.
Analysts said the choice of attorney-general was a barometer of the Government's sincerity in upholding the law, including the eradication of corruption and seeking justice in human rights abuses.
Green Left Weekly - August 15, 2001
Max Lane -- Military generals and figures linked to the regime of former dictator Suharto have done well in the first cabinet of newly-elected President Megawati Sukarnoputri, which was announced on August 9.
In a signal move, Sukarnoputri has appointed Lieutenant-General Hendropriyono as the new head of BAKIN, the state intelligence agency, a post which has cabinet minister status.
A former head of the domestic affairs division of Military Intelligence, General Hendropriyono has been one of the most ambitious intelligence officers. With long experience in the commando Kopassus forces' repressive operations in various parts of Indonesia, he pioneered the technique of forming and using so-called civilian militia.
The general also personally commanded a military attack on farmers struggling for land in Lampung, South Sumatra in 1987, during which more than 200 unarmed villagers were massacred.
Hendropriyono's ambition brought him into conflict with Suharto when, in 1993, he refused to suppress one of the early congresses of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) that was supporting Sukarnoputri as party chairperson. He was later retired from the military.
He has maintained contact with Sukarnoputri ever since, even though he later took a cabinet position, as minister for transmigration, in the government of BJ Habibie, which followed Suharto's May 1998 resignation.
Overall the military have tightened their hold on the repressive apparatus of the state.
Retired General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono gets back his position as coordinating minister in charge of politics and security, a position he held under ousted President Abdurrahman Wahid until only a few months ago. Wahid considered him a so-called "reformer" but Yudhoyono increasingly sided with the rightist majority in the parliament against Wahid.
As defence minister, Sukarnoputri has appointed a civilian, Abdul Madjid Matori, the chairperson of the pro-Wahid National Awakening Party who was expelled by that party for siding with the rightists during the last days of President Wahid's rule. While presenting the image of civilian control over the armed forces, his lack of backing from his own party means he will face the military as a lame duck minister.
Furthermore, with Yudhoyono, the chief of the armed forces, the head of BAKIN and the chief of police all sitting in the cabinet, it is clear that Matori is there as a token civilian.
Sukarnoputri has also reappointed as national police chief General Bimantoro, the general who defied President Wahid's instructions to stop using live ammunition in dispersing demonstrations and later refused to accept Wahid's dismissal of him.
The military has also been awarded the ministry for the interior, which controls all important appointments to the provincial, residency, district and village administrations. Provincial governors report to the minister. The ministry is the headquarters for the maintenance of the massive and extensive tribute-gathering and social control network that stretches throughout the country.
Sukarnoputri has not yet appointed an attorney-general. There are enormous public expectations that the new attorney-general will continue prosecutions against allegedly corrupt officials, including the president's husband, Taufik Kiemas, and Akbar Tanjung, the head of Suharto's "party of power", Golkar.
Sukarnoputri has appointed Yusril Mahendra, the leader of the ultra-rightist Muslim Star and Crescent Party and a former Suharto speechwriter, as minister for justice, who is in charge of the appointment of all judges.
Golkar itself is not strongly represented in any of the key political ministries, but has been awarded the potentially lucrative ministry of energy and mineral resources.
Apart from Yusril Mahendra, parties from the right-wing Muslim Central Axis parties have not received influential ministries.
Sukarnoputri's own party, the PDIP, shares key ministries in the economic field with a number of career bureaucrats. They have already confirmed that they will continue to implement all agreements made with the International Monetary Fund.
Overall the cabinet reflects a core alliance between the PDIP, the military and the state technocracy, with other parties, including Golkar, in the second layer of the alliance. Golkar and the Central Axis retain substantial influence in the House of Representatives and the People's Consultative Assembly. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people mobilised in East Java to greet Abdurrahman Wahid on his first visit to the province since his removal from the presidency. Supporters, mainly peasants and workers, brought placards with slogans such as "Welcome, people's president of Indonesia" and "Welcome, fighter for the constitution".
Wahid was hosted by a local Islamic school and was accompanied by a large number of senior leaders of the the religious organisation Nahdlatul Ulama and the National Awakening Party. The pro-Wahid daily newspaper, Duta Masyarakat, reported that the local Christian and Chinese communities also mobilised to support Wahid.
The ousted president addressed the crowds twice, once in the town of Sukarejo and once in the main square in the nearby town of Bondowoso. On both occasions, Wahid urged people to maintain the struggle for democracy and to demand that the authorities provide justice.
"The Holy Koran teaches patience", Wahid said. "We don't need to call upon anybody to mobilise violently. We don't need to be angry, we don't need to be hard. What is important is that we remain firm in rejecting evil." He also said that officials had to end the practice of arbitrary interpreting the law themselves.
"In our country, it is the usual practice for the apparatus to detain people for allegedly disturbing public order. Public order must be returned to the law and not the arbitrarily decisions of officials", he said.
Straits Times - August 13, 2001
Robert Go, Jakarta -- Indonesia's big-bang decentralisation programme took effect eight months ago and gave wide-ranging powers over taxation, education and exploitation of resources to the country's bupatis.
While most analysts argued the need for decentralisation, many have described the current programme as "too much, too soon". Jakarta was trying to distribute power locally, they said, when there was a distinct lack of authority at central level.
A lack of safeguards against corruption in the regions and "creative taxation" have been cited as two major problems. Bupatis have imposed extra levies on road use, advertising and even burial services, often in violation of existing regulations or contracts with private investors, for example.
Inconsistent regulations between neighbouring regencies could also pose problems on investment and trade-related issues. The challenge before Ms Megawati and her nationalistic team is to establish a workable decentralisation hierarchy that will not anger local officials and their people too much.
Straits Times - August 13, 2001
Robert Go, Jakarta -- President Megawati Sukarnoputri's efforts to re-establish stability in the regions will involve a temporary pulling back of Indonesia's decentralisation programme, a move that threatens to spark protests from the country's 350-plus bupatis, or local administrators.
On her first foray into the regions as Indonesia's new leader two weeks ago, Ms Megawati warned bupatis against abusing the powers they assumed last January under two laws signed in 1999 during ex-president B.J. Habibie's term.
Last week, members of her new Cabinet began the public campaign designed to convince Indonesians of the need for some sort of serious revision of the country's regional autonomy laws.
"Autonomy should not get out of hand in a way that allows our regions to compete in an unhealthy way. There has to be coordination between neighbouring regions," said Home Affairs Minister Hari Sabarno, a former military man.
Energy and Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said that the decentralisation programme scared off potential investors, especially those operating in the mining, gas and oil sectors. "If this continues, foreign investments will not come to Indonesia," he said.
Bureaucrats at the Ministry of Home Affairs began rewriting the decentralisation laws a few months ago. They say their amendments would shift, at least temporarily, powers from bupatis and put them with provincial governors.
Ms Megawati is said to be "very interested" in this amendment process. Her advisers are giving the ministry input as to how decentralisation should be made more gradual and "implemented progressively". "There is now too much freedom for regencies. The changes will focus on governors and clarify their roles in relation to bupatis," said the director general for regional development, Mr Cahyana Ahmadjayadi.
And Dr Sudarsono, who is in charge of the ministry's regional autonomy section, added: "We have seen tremendous discrepancies since the beginning of decentralisation.
"It has to be clear that governors oversee the bupatis and can settle disputes that arise in lower levels of government, at least for now." Dr Sudarsono and his peers say there is a need for more supervision of regents' activities.
But those who are in favour of decentralisation, such as Gadjah Mada University political scientist Dr Afan Gaffar, who is one of the original architects of the programme, have a different story. Dr Afan argues the real problem is a central government that is unwilling to let go of power, not out-of-control euphoria on the part of local governments.
"The basic problem is the tendency to re-centralise. All the ministries in Jakarta are hesitant to give away powers, because many officials still have interests at the local level and want to protect their sources of private revenue," he said.
Regardless of why decentralisation has stumbled, the current situation has indeed spooked potential investors. "Too much uncertainty or confusion about who is in charge, and of what, will keep investors out," said one foreign observer.
BBC Worldwide Monitoring - August 13, 2001
[Source: Media Indonesia, Jakarta, August 13]
Jakarta -- The State Intelligence Agency (BIN) will become an umbrella organization for all existing intelligence agencies, according to newly-appointed BIN head AM Hendropriyono.
"The president has determined that the BIN head will be at the same level as that of the cabinet ministers, so that BIN can cover the whole intelligence community," said Hendropriyono, who was installed yesterday as BIN head at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta.
Each military institution has its own intelligence agency and there is no coordination between them. Therefore, some time ago, the DPR House of Representatives suggested that the various intelligence bodies be brought together and their coordination integrated...
Hendropriyono was appointed BIN head in Presidential Decree No 229/2001 dated 9 August 2001. Asked by reporters about the nature of domestic threats to security, the former Habibie-era transmigration minister nominated separatist groups and provocateurs. He said that President Megawati had instructed him to raise the level of investigation, leadership, and community security...
Concerning the accusation that the performance of the intelligence agencies had been poor, Hendro nickname said that the work of the intelligence agencies depended on community support. In future his office would concentrate more on involving the community.
| Human rights/law |
Associated Press - August 14, 2001
Jakarta -- Human rights groups accused the the Indonesian army of hampering the hunt for the fugitive son of former dictator Suharto, as police interrogated his wife yesterday. Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra has eluded authorities since he was convicted of corruption last year and sentenced to 18 months in jail.
Last week, police accused the millionaire playboy of ordering the assassination of the judge who sentenced him and masterminding a bombing campaign in the capital. Hutomo has also been implicated in the Jakarta Stock Exchange bombing, which killed 15 people.
The chairman of the Indonesian Human Rights Association, Hendardi, claimed top army generals were assisting Hutomo evade capture by providing him with information about the police investigation and helping to hide him. "Tommy still has much support from commanders in the army who were loyal to his father as well as to him," Mr Hendardi said yesterday.
He said the generals were afraid that if members of Suharto's family could be punished for graft, the military chiefs who backed the former autocrat's 32-year regime could also face prosecution for human rights abuses and corruption. "Police officers are also afraid that if they help catch Hutomo, they could be killed," Mr Hendardi said.
A spokesman at military headquarters rejected the accusations, saying the armed forces supported the police in their hunt for Hutomo.
George Aditjondro, a professor at Australia's University of Newcastle who has long studied corruption in Indonesia, said there was a power struggle between the police and the armed forces. "The police are trying to catch him and the military are trying to protect him," Mr Aditjondro said. "Suharto and his family are still extremely strong."
The Supreme Court convicted Hutomo last September over a multimillion-dollar real estate scam. But he was not jailed immediately, and vanished in November after an arrest warrant was issued.
He is the only member of the Suharto family to be found guilty of corruption. The former strongman evaded prosecution for graft last year by claiming he was too ill and old to face trial.
Police say they have launched a major operation to track down Hutomo but have had no success.
Police interrogated Hutomo's wife, Regita "Tata" Cahyani, for six hours about the whereabouts of her husband. Afterwards she said: "We will urge him to turn himself in." Detectives questioned two of Suharto's daughters last week. Police said the women knew where Hutomo was hiding, but rejected demands they be arrested for concealing a fugitive.
Straits Times - August 13, 2001
Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- The Indonesian police have come under fire for their half-hearted attempts at arresting the fugitive son of former President Suharto. Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala allegedly ordered the murder of a senior judge and masterminded bombings in the capital.
Despite indications that members of the Suharto family had been hiding him for the past nine months, police yesterday dismissed calls to arrest them on charges of concealing Tommy's whereabouts. They say the law, in its present form, renders the family immune to such charges.
Jakarta Police spokesman Senior Commissioner Anton Bahrul Alam quoted Item 221 of the Criminal Code which says relatives or spouses of a suspect or convict cannot be charged for concealing a fugitive's whereabouts.
But legal expert Frans Hendra Winarta of the National Legal Commission argued that another clause in the Criminal Code stipulates that once a person is convicted and ordered to serve a jail sentence, anyone suspected of concealing his whereabouts can face a maximum of two years and eight months in jail.
Tommy has been at large since last November when was given an 18-month jail term for corruption.
Last week, he was implicated in the drive-by murder of Supreme Court Justice Syaifuddin Kartasasmita, who headed the panel of judges that convicted him. Police had indications that he had been living at his sisters' homes in an exclusive block in Menteng, central Jakarta, even as they said they had no idea where he was hiding.
But legal observers are sceptical that police actually have the willpower to arrest Tommy -- now Indonesia's most wanted man with a 500 million rupiah bounty on his head.
A Straits Times source close to the investigation said that a special police team in charge of locating him was dissolved shortly after they concluded that he was still living at the homes of Mr Suharto and his children in Jalan Cendana.
Jakarta Police Chief Inspector General Sofyan Yakob said people working for the family testified that Tommy had often stayed there since his supposed disappearance. "Tommy has been seeing his father regularly. He was at Suharto's birthday celebration at his sister's house on June 15," he said.
Said Mr Frans, who is a member of the National Legal Commission: "The police do not have the guts to arrest him." Civic lawyer Luhut Pangaribuan added: "The investigation does not reflect serious intention and honesty on the part of police."
But the police say there are too many obstacles in finding Tommy -- so much so they have even consulted psychics.
Yesterday, they raided the homes of his "spiritual gurus" and quizzed his wife, Ardia Pramesti Regita Cahyani, who later urged Tommy to emerge and clear his name. "We will urge him to turn himself in. If and when he calls the family, we will urge him to clear himself," she said.
Jakarta Post - August 12, 2001
Jakarta -- An investigation into the July 26, 2001 murder of Justice Syafiuddin Kartasasmita has revealed that fugitive Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra had once offered the judge billions of rupiah in return for ruling in favor of the convict in a 1996 corruption case.
Second widow of Syafiuddin, Iwa Setiawati Kartasasmita, admitted on Saturday that Tommy, the youngest son of former president Soeharto, had offered the money through his lawyers. "But, Bapak rejected the offers as he really did not want to be bribed," Iwa, a witness in the case, told reporters during a break in police questioning at Jakarta Police Headquarters as quoted by Antara.
Syafiuddin had two wives, Soimah and Iwa. Soimah lives in Sunter, North Jakarta, while Iwa lives in Cipayung, East Jakarta. Syafiuddin was shot on his way to his office from his house in Sunter by suspects Munawarman and Noval, who are now under police custody.
Syafiuddin was a member of a team of judges who, in November 2000, sentenced Tommy to 18 months imprisonment over corruption charges in a 1996 land swap deal between the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) and his then wholesale firm PT Goro Batara Sakti.
Tommy then went missing until recently when a police team found hundreds of explosive devices, firearms and evidence in a rented house of his on Jl. Alam Segar III in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta on Monday.
Iwa said that around September or October 2000, Nudirman Munir, a lawyer of Tommy's offered her husband Rp 2 billion (US$210,526) as downpayment if Syafiuddin was willing to meet Tommy in Cipayung. But, Syafiuddin rejected it.
On a separate occasion, in October 2000, another of Tommy's lawyer, Bob R.E. Nasution, offered some Rp 5 billion to Syafiuddin, which he again rejected, she said.
But, Syafiuddin agreed to meet Tommy without any payment at his house in Cipayung, where Tommy asked Syafiuddin to "pay attention" to his case, she said. Iwa, who has three children from Syafiuddin, said Tommy was accompanied by another lawyer Elza Syarief and the latter's husband, identified as Kenny, along with two other guys who were waiting in a car.
She also cited that Tommy's younger sister Siti Hutami Endang Adiningsih, known as Mamiek, also visited her husband over a case involving Soeharto.
Iwa said that she gave her testimony at Jakarta Police Headquarters to clarify earlier media reports, saying that she had been offered Rp 20 billion by Tommy. "The reports were untrue. As the second wife [of Syafiuddin], I did not want to be bought ... I did not want to accept the money," Iwa, who was dressed in brown kebaya said.
Jakarta Post - August 13, 2001
Jakarta -- Former president Abdurrahman Wahid, familiarly known as Gus Dur, warned the new government against the arbitrary arrest of prodemocracy activists, saying it would sow hatred against the security authorities.
Abdurrahman, also chairman of the advisory council of the National Awakening Party (PKB), said the continuing arrests of prodemocracy activists in East Java and other regions was evidence that the new government, which was appointed by the recent "unconstitutional" special session of the People's Consultative Assembly, was repressive and undemocratic.
"The security authorities should not arrest any person arbitrarily or based on engineered grounds because this will certainly engender popular hatred against both them and the government. If the detainees are suspected of having been involved in public order offenses, let the courts decide whether they are guilty or not," he said after a party meeting here on Saturday.
The East Java Police have reportedly arrested dozens of prodemocracy activists, including local leaders of the People's Democratic Party (PRD), for handing out leaflets calling for the general election to be brought forward.
Gus Dur said several of the detainees had been released after being subjected to indoctrination "but this will certainly increase their hatred against the government and security authorities.
"Therefore, I call on the National Commission on Human Rights to investigate these arbitrary arrests to ascertain whether the detainees violated the law or not," he said. He added he could not handle the arbitrary arrests himself as he had yet to establish his planned foundation on human rights and democracy. When asked who would replace Matori Abdul Djalil, who has now been appointed as minister of defense, Gus Dur said that this would be decided at a national meeting of the party scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Muhaimin Iskandar, the secretary-general of the PKB, said the main agenda of the party's national meeting was to decide the fate of Matori and of the PKB faction in the legislature, which had been dissolved following the issuance of the decree attempting to suspend the legislature by then president Abdurrahman Wahid.
Muhaimin said the national meeting would decide what sanctions would be imposed on Matori, who broke party ranks on the special session, and would appoint acting party chairman Alwi Shihab as the definitive chairman.
Meetings of the party's advisory and executive boards last week dismissed Matori from the party for his participation in the Assembly's special session that removed Abdurrahman from the presidency.
Muhaimin said that despite the party' support for the decree, the national meeting would likely recommend the revival of the party factions in the House and Assembly to maintain the PKB legislators' monthly incomes and enable them to continue to represent their constituents.
"Besides the question of representation, the financial question is another reason why a lot of our legislators want to revive the PKB factions," he said, adding that several PKB legislators needed money to pay the installments on their cars.
However, if the national meeting decided to permanently dissolve the PKB factions in the legislative bodies, Muhaimin said the PKB would turn itself into an "advocacy party" to help uphold democracy and protect human rights in the country. "To me, the fate of the PKB factions depends on an assessment of how well it can play its political role in the legislature," he said.
| News & issues |
Straits Times - August 17, 2001
Jakarta -- With an unstable security situation and well- entrenched separatist movements, Indonesia has become fertile soil for international terrorist groups to sow seeds of violence, experts warned.
Military analyst Hasnan Habib said on Wednesday that the country's prolonged economic crisis, resulting in increasing unemployment, had enticed local people to join terrorist groups.
He added: "A country with a high rate of unemployment like Indonesia is undoubtedly a fertile place for terrorism to grow." Separatist campaigns, such as those being waged by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Aceh and the Free Papua Organisation in Irian Jaya, could also encourage the emergence of overseas-linked terrorism.
The recent bomb explosions that rocked various parts of the country may have involved separatist groups, and also their supporters overseas, noted Mr Hasnan, a retired army lieutenant- general. "We know that many supporters of GAM live in Malaysia. Also there are several organisations in Australia which support separatism in Irian Jaya," he said.
The increasing terrorism has only served to prove that both military and police intelligence personnel were incapable of taking adequate countermeasures. Their inability to anticipate terrorist acts may be rooted in their inexperience with terrorism in the past, especially during President Suharto's rule.
Meanwhile, former defence minister Juwono Sudarsono blamed the poor performance of the intelligence services on financial constraints. He said: "Even the police and military in advanced countries frequently could not prevent terrorist attacks." Mr Munir, a human-rights activist, said the efforts to end terrorism must begin with the solving of internal political problems, as all acts of terrorism were rooted in such problems.
Jakarta Post - August 16, 2001
Jakarta -- The owner of a car repair shop who is facing a possible death sentence for the bombing of the Jakarta Stock Exchange building told the court on Wednesday that he was a scapegoat and had been framed.
"I wonder why I was chosen to become a scapegoat and made to suffer by being framed by the joint investigators of the city [and military] police?" Tengku Ismuhadi Jafar said in his defense statement.
The 30-year-old man, who admitted that he was an Acehnese activist, told the South Jakarta District Court that he was innocent. He said that the charges were based on dossiers that were made under coercion.
Prosecutor Endang Rachwan asked the court last week to sentence Jafar to death as he was proven guilty of masterminding the bombing. The prosecutor also demanded a life sentence for Jafar's employee, Nuryadin, alias Nadin, 29, for his alleged role in the case. Nuryadin escaped from prison last month.
Ten people were killed and 46 others injured when a strong blast rocked the JSX building on Jl. Jend. Sudirman, Central Jakarta, on September 13, 2000.
According to the prosecutor, Jafar planned the bombing to shake the economic stability in the country. Jafar had also taken advantage of the situation as he had bought dollars just prior to the incident only to sell them again as the dollar rate rocketed following the bombing.
Jafar also said on Wednesday that the prosecutor's allegation that he had planned the bombing during the afternoon of September 8 in his repair shop in Ciganjur, South Jakarta, was totally wrong as at that time, he was in Singapore for business purposes.
Straits Times - August 15, 2001
Medan -- A court in the North Sumatran capital of Medan has jailed for 11 years a man found guilty of making and posting 14 bombs to churches and clergymen on Christmas Eve last year.
The sentence was lighter than the 20-year jail term sought by chief prosecutor Freddy Siregar.
The judges said in their verdict on Monday that Edy Sugiharto, 42, had been found guilty beyond any doubt of producing bombs to be detonated in Medan and Pematang Siantar, also in North Sumatra, and in Pekanbaru, Riau.
Presiding Judge K. Sianturi said that Edy had received an order to produce the bombs from a man identified as Polem, alias Eriyanto, a commander of the Free Aceh Movement in the neighbouring province of Aceh. Polem is still at large. The judge said that Edy had received 28 million rupiah (S$5,600) from Polem to assemble 14 bombs and to detonate them at the homes of clergymen and churches in the cities. The court heard that after several meetings with Polem and his friends between June and December 19, last year, Edy began making the bombs on December 20. He finished assembling them three days later. Each of the bombs was then put in a parcel with a Christmas greeting card bearing the message: "Appealing for God's blessings and a miracle for my mother who is undergoing cervical cancer surgery in Singapore."
Only one of the parcels, sent to a reverend's home in Pematang Siantar, exploded, damaging the house but causing no injuries. The other bombs were found before they could go off. Edy and his lawyer Togatorop have appealed. The prosecutors said they would also appeal.
Jakarta Post - August 15, 2001
Jakarta -- Responding to the increasing number of terrorist attacks in the country, Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has instructed all branches of the security forces to mobilize their intelligence potential to prevent further outrages.
At a meeting on political and security affairs on Tuesday, his spokesman I Wayan Karya said that Susilo had briefed military and police chiefs as well as all related officials and ministers about security priorities, including how to combat political crimes and terrorism in order to create a more conducive situation in the country.
"Pak Susilo said that all intelligence officers from the National Police, the Indonesian Military (TNI), and other relevant institutions must be put on high alert as we have to deal with such political crimes and terrorist activities," Wayan said.
The issue of terrorism has came to the surface after the US Embassy in Jakarta warned Americans in the country on Saturday of the possibility that "extremist elements" could launch anti- American attacks here.
A similar warning was issued by the British Embassy here on Tuesday. The embassy warned its citizens in the country that they may be the targets of a "terrorist threat."
"The US government believes there is a heightened terrorist threat to US interests, including in Indonesia, at the moment ... The organizations who comprise the biggest threat to the US regard the U.K. as a secondary target," stated an advisory posted at the embassy's website.
A reliable military intelligence source told The Jakarta Post that the military had foiled four terrorist acts in the capital, including planned bomb attacks on the US Embassy, the American Club, and Hotel Indonesia, all in Central Jakarta.
He further revealed that terrorists, linked to Middle Eastern networks, were especially targeting Americans and other European people in the country as they were the terrorists' "major enemy."
"They have no design to destroy the government. They are just using our unstable security situation as a chance to beat their enemy, that is the United States and other European countries, by attacking their people and assets here," he said.
The source also implied that the terrorists had also planned to kidnap some US citizens here. "We have also indications that these terrorists have links with terrorists in the Middle East. But as they have specific characteristics, especially their Arab appearances, they use Malaysian terrorists to conduct clandestine operations here," he said.
Speaking to reporters at Susilo's office, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb confirmed that the police had arrested four Malaysians over the recent bombing of the Santa Anna Catholic church and the Huriah Batak Protestant (HKBP) church in East Jakarta, and the Atrium Plaza shopping complex in Central Jakarta.
Sofjan identified the four as Dani alias Taufik, Darwin alias Asep, Diki alias Rusli, and Agus alias Abas. They left Johor in May, 2000, heading to Nunukan, East Kalimantan. Then they continued their journey to Sulawesi, from where some of them joined the local jihad force in the Maluku provinces, while some others traveled on to Jakarta. "These people come from a hard- line jihad group in Malaysia with a mission to wage war against a certain religion," Sofjan said.
Malaysian foreign minister Syed Hamid Albar was quoted by AP as saying on Monday that the main suspect in the bombing was a member of a 10-man group called Kumpulan Jihad, or Group for Holy War. Syed Hamid claimed the group had planned to continue its jihad in Malaysia.
Separately, legislator Yasril Ananta Baharuddin of the Golkar party said the warning issued by the US and British governments to their citizens and the capture of Malaysians allegedly being involved in bombings here were no strong grounds for believing that Indonesia had fallen prey to international terrorist groups. "However, we should be vigilant over the possibility," he told the Post.
Yasril suspected that the warning issued by the US embassy was a tactic employed by US ambassador Robert S. Gelbard to attract the world's attention as the end of his tenure drew near. "What is the point of targeting US interests in Indonesia? I hope his successor knows Indonesia better than he does," he said.
Skepticism was also aired by Syamsu Rizal Panggabean, head of Gadjah Mada University's Center for Security and Peace Studies. He said he saw no grounds for terrorists to target American citizens in Indonesia. "In recent incidents, the targets have always been Indonesians, not foreigners," he said.
San Francisco Chronicle - August 12, 2001
Lynn Fredriksson -- Recent reporting in Indonesia has predictably focused on expectations about newly appointed President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
But it has virtually ignored Jakarta's responsibility for escalating military and police operations. Indonesian forces this year have claimed more than 1,000 lives in Aceh, and their deployment has resulted in the arrest of scores of prominent political activists in Aceh, West Papua and Jakarta.
While the military received kudos for an orderly transfer of power from Abdurrahman Wahid to Megawati, few commentators considered the political implications of their mutiny, and allegiance to Megawati, a politician aligned with powerful generals.
Although Megawati deserves praise for her early decree opening ad hoc tribunals on human rights violations committed in East Timor in 1999 and Tanjung Priok in 1984, how far will this gesture go?
A more telling indication of her motives has been her unwillingness to acknowledge East Timor's successful vote for independence from Indonesia in August 1999, and her support for its militia attackers such as Eurico Guterres.
The motives of Indonesia's security forces this year are equally questionable:
- Sanctioning militia control of tens of thousands of East Timorese refugees in West Timor; - Condoning the provocation of violence between Muslims and Christians in Maluku;
- Standing by during bloody ethnic attacks of Dayaks against Madurese in Kalimantan. In West Papua (also known as Irian Jaya), the security forces have deployed thousands of additional troops, and established "pro-Jakarta" militias.
In Aceh, nearly all nongovernmental leaders have been threatened, arrested and beaten, "disappeared," killed or driven into hiding. Last week, student leader Faisal Saifuddin was arrested on charges of inciting hatred in Jakarta. And Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience Muhammad Nazar has been locked up on subversion charges since last year.
This summer, a lawsuit was filed in Washington, D.C., by the International Labor Rights Fund on behalf of 11 villagers against the giant ExxonMobil Corp. for its role in human rights violations committed by Indonesian security forces protecting its facilities in Aceh.
And it was one year ago this month that a personal friend, human rights lawyer Jafar Siddiq Hamzah, a New York resident, was abducted and disappeared in Medan. His badly mutilated body was found one month later, but Indonesian police still refuse to release Jafar's autopsy report.
Ten years ago, the United States weighed in on the side of human rights in Indonesia, as Congress and successive administrations began chipping away at military assistance. By September 1999, in the midst of Indonesia's final siege on East Timor, then- President Clinton suspended what was left of US-Indonesia military ties.
That November, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and a bipartisan host of representatives and senators passed a law prohibiting the renewal of most military assistance (weapons and training) until six conditions on accountability, refugee return and security in East Timor were met. Two years later, none of those conditions has been fulfilled.
It also makes sense to refuse Indonesia's military the tools to continue repressing its own people -- until it meets additional conditions demanded by the human rights community. These are that:
Past US military training and equipment to Indonesia have been abused. According to a report by the International Crisis Group, the US "bilateral military relationship has not been effective to date in producing an Indonesian military that meets the standards of a modern, professional force under civilian control or promoting long-term stability in Indonesia."
The Bush administration has made the mistake of reinitiating military contacts and restarting joint regional exercises not banned under law. But until reform in Indonesia is truly under way, anything more will meet with stiff opposition in Congress, and throughout the human rights community.
The Indonesian military continues to kill, torture and arrest its civilian population. Current congressional restrictions are appropriately based on human rights. The Bush administration would do well to heed them.
[Lynn Fredriksson is co-founder and advisor of the Indonesia Human Rights Network in Washington D.C.]
| Arms/armed forces |
Sydney Morning Herald - August 14, 2001
Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta -- Australia has buried the hatchet with Indonesia's new government over East Timor, opening the way for renewed contact between the two countries' armed forces.
Indonesia's senior security minister, Mr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said after meeting the Prime Minister, Mr Howard, in Jakarta yesterday that talks were needed between ministers and the military chiefs of both countries on how to restart the co- operation that was cut in 1998 over the Indonesian military's human rights record.
Mr Yudhoyono, a former army general, said he and Mr Howard had discussed "the need to improve the co-operation between the Australian army and the Indonesian army". Asked about Mr Yudhoyono's comments, Mr Howard told journalists that while no arrangements for resuming ties had been made, talks on them would be held "inevitably and gradually". He did not elaborate.
The Bush administration is moving tentatively to resume some contact between the Indonesian and US militaries but has made clear a ban on weapons sales to Jakarta would not be lifted until Indonesia punishes those responsible for atrocities in East Timor.
Mr Howard and Indonesia's new president, Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri, have agreed to boost a wide range of ties.
During his 26-hour visit, Mr Howard pledged Australia's support for Indonesia as it struggles to rebuild its economy but urged Ms Megawati's government to push for transparency in institutions such as the banks and the legal system.
"Laws which are attractive to mining companies and things of that kind are important as far as Australia is concerned," he said. Several mining companies operating in Indonesia have had their sites overrun by illegal miners and have been pressured to pay bribes to provincial administrations.
Mr Howard promised Australia would argue the case for Indonesia when "unreasonable demands" were made on it in international forums, an apparent reference to the International Money Fund, which is holding up $A800 million in aid for the country's collapsed economy because of Indonesia's failure to introduce economic reforms.
But, Mr Howard said, as a friend, Australia must tell Indonesia there could be no turning back from economic openness "as far as the world economy is concerned."
Indonesian and Australian officials said Mr Howard and Ms Megawati established a personal rapport during two meetings and a dinner that buried lingering animosity over Australia's role in East Timor in 1999.
Ms Megawati described a one-hour meeting with Mr Howard at the presidential palace yesterday morning as "frank." She and Mr Howard released a 15-point communique that "reaffirmed the commitment of both countries to a strong bilateral relationship based on mutual benefit and respect".
Indonesia's new foreign minister, Mr Hassan Wirajuda, told reporters Mr Howard's visit, less than three weeks after Ms Megawati had taken office, had taken relations between the two countries to a higher plane.
Asked if both countries had put differences over East Timor behind them, Mr Wirajuda said: "I believe so, because what we discussed were practical ways to resolve the residual issues of East Timor."
| International relations |
Green Left Weekly - August 15, 2001
Pip Hinman -- It doesn't come as much surprise that PM John Howard has been so quick to visit Jakarta. Barely a day after the new Indonesian cabinet was announced, Howard was on his way to make a deal with the Sukarnoputri-military government.
In essence the deal goes like this: we'll support "territorial integrity" -- turn a blind eye to human rights abuses in West Papua and Aceh -- if you pursue, under IMF supervision, neo- liberal austerity and other measures to benefit Western, particularly Australian, business.
Howard's Indonesia visit is also taking place following agreement between Canberra's and Washington's defence chiefs that Megawati Sukarnoputri's government provides an opportunity to restore full military ties with Indonesia's armed forces, the TNI.
The moves to do so come despite revelations by an East Timorese militia leader that he was recruited to the elite Kopassus forces and trained by Australian soldiers.
The rebuilding of military ties also ignores the fact that the TNI and Suharto cronies are still at liberty to do as they please.
Tommy Suharto, the only Suharto to be charged with corruption, remains at large, the terror campaigns aimed at Acehnese civilians and pro-referendum activists continue unabated with more than 1000 people murdered this year alone, the number of political prisoners in Indonesian jails is now greater than during the last year of Suharto's reign, and no senior TNI officer has been brought to justice over crimes against humanity in East Timor.
In fact, TNI officers in charge during the 1999 post-ballot carnage in East Timor have now been deployed to West Papua and Aceh. Since Sukarnoputri took power with the backing of Indonesia's political elite, these and other human rights abuses seem to have all but disappeared from view. Instead, Sukarnoputri is being hailed by Howard and opposition leader Kim Beazley as a true "democrat" for the "constitutional" transition to power.
Western leaders, for example, have rushed to praise her decision to amend the decree on the establishment of an ad hoc human rights court for crimes committed in East Timor -- yet the new decree only extends the court's jurisdiction to crimes committed in Liquica, Dili and Suai in the months of April and September 1999.
London-based human rights group TAPOL makes the point that the changed jurisdiction doesn't allow for the exposure of the systematic and widespread nature of the violence committed over the whole year, or the Indonesian army's organisation of militia forces.
Howard and Beazley have learnt nothing from East Timor. They have made it clear they will support Jakarta's bid to block the movements for self-determination in Aceh and West Papua. Beazley said it is the ALP's "fervent hope" that "our nearest Asian neighbour and a nation of 220 people remains united under [Sukarnoputri's] leadership".
Politicians' reference to the large size of Indonesia's population gives a clue as to the main factor dictating the Coalition's and Labor's policy on Indonesia: business ties.
About 400 Australian companies do business in Indonesia, with investments totalling around $6 billion. According to government figures, this could increase by $1.3 billion if proposed investments in mining, agribusiness and services take off.
Indonesia is Australia's 10th largest market for merchandise exports and the 12th largest source for Australian goods and services. While Australia is only Indonesia's 10th largest foreign investor, behind Japan and the US, it's clear that Canberra's foreign policy is aimed at shoring up greater access to the Indonesian market. Even if only 10% of Indonesians ever purchase Australian goods, this still represents a significant, and profitable, market.
Australian mining companies also have a sizeable stake in Indonesia. It's better for business if the resource-rich provinces of Aceh and West Papua are prevented from holding referendums, given the popular sentiment for independence in both places. Canberra, like Washington, knows this and is willing to turn a blind eye to atrocities carried out by the TNI and their hired militia thugs.
The Howard government is also determined that neighbouring countries adopt the same position towards Indonesia. According to the West Papuan government-in-exile, Canberra has pressured the Nauru government -- the hosts of this month's annual Pacific Island Forum -- into barring the attendance of West Papuans. Indonesia, meanwhile, has been invited for the first time.
At last year's forum in Kiribati, West Papuan leaders successfully managed to include a statement in the final communique denouncing human rights violations in West Papua.
Franzalbert Joku, the council's spokesperson, described the decision to ban the West Papuans this time as being "in direct contravention of the consensus view of [last year's] forum." "West Papua has become the ignored East Timor", he said, warning that the struggle for self-determination "will not go away unless it is resolved conclusively".
Howard and Beazley see the Sukarnoputri government as providing them with the opportunity to return to "business as usual", after the old special relationship policy was so severely discredited in East Timor.
We have to make sure that they don't succeed. One of the important ways we can assist the peoples of Aceh, West Papua and those fighting for democracy in all parts of Indonesia is to force Canberra to end all military ties with Indonesia. As former Labor foreign minister Gareth Evans now admits, Australian military aid to Indonesia only "helped produce more professional human rights abusers". It must end.
Reuters - August 13, 2001
Jakarta -- Australia's prime minister on Sunday became the first foreign leader to visit new Indonesian President Megawati, vowing to be a good mate as his troubled neighbour moves towards democracy.
Prime Minister John Howard's fleeting visit -- barely 24 hours -- is also aimed at rebuilding the damage to relations over Australia's decision to lead international troops into East Timor in 1999 to restore peace after its vote for independence. After a brief courtesy call on Megawati and her deputy, Hamzah Haz, Howard told reporters the president had assembled a capable team but faced a difficult task to revive the economy and take the nation forward.
"We admire the steps being undertaken by Indonesia to emerge as a democracy and we respect and understand and are sensitive to how difficult that process is and we have got to help along the way," he said.
"That's what a good regional mate should do." Howard said Megawati, in power for less than three weeks, had expressed a desire to boost relations between the two neighbours.
"We both want a good relationship. We recognise there have been some differences in the past, but importantly there's a great deal of residual goodwill," he said.
But he cautioned against expecting too much too soon. "If you invest the relationship with too many expectations you are often disappointed," he said.
Howard is due to meet Megawati and other senior members of her government on Monday. He would not say what issues would be raised, but Megawati's chief spokesman told reporters at the palace East Timor and possibly separatist tensions in Irian Jaya would be raised.
"Both leaders want to increase cooperation, in a realistic way," said State Secretary Bambang Kesowo, who was present at the meeting between the two leaders.
Relations between the two countries hit their lowest in years after Australian troops led a United Nations-mandated force into East Timor to end a rampage of destruction and killing by pro- Jakarta militias following the vote to end more than 23 years of often brutal Indonesian occupation.
Megawati, who opposed giving East Timor a choice on independence, won power after the national assembly dumped Abdurrahman Wahid over allegations of incompetence and corruption on July 23.
Megawati, the 54-year-old daughter of Indonesia's founding father, had been Wahid's vice president.
| Economy & investment |
Wall Street Journal - August 15, 2001
Michael Schuman -- A deteriorating Indonesian economy could constrain new President Megawati Sukarnoputri's efforts to pursue much-needed reforms.
Growth in Indonesia's gross domestic product slowed to 0.18% in the second quarter, compared with a 1.8% expansion in the preceding quarter. Year-to-year, the economy grew 3.5% in the second quarter, compared with 4.1% in the same period in 2000, according to government figures released Wednesday.
The slowdown is the result, in part, of weaker exports and weaker domestic consumption, which grew 3.3% and 0.16%, respectively, from the previous quarter, compared with growth of 8.3% and 2.2% in the first quarter. Some economists expect the downward trend to continue. "The second half will be worse," predicted Arjuna Mahendran, an economist at SG Securities in Singapore. He forecast 2001 growth will be 2.9%, compared with 4.8% in 2000. Earlier this year, Jakarta projected 2001 growth of about 3.5%.
Indonesia's senior economics minister, Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, said in an interview last week that Indonesia needs to see annual growth of 7% to begin creating enough jobs to absorb millions of unemployed workers. He conceded that he was skeptical that such high growth could be achieved in the near future with industrial economies sagging. "We still depend on the US," Mr. Dorodjatun said.
Last week's appointment of Mr. Dorodjatun and a team of economic technocrats to Ms. Megawati's first cabinet has raised hopes that better policies could give the economy a lift and help end a political crisis that gridlocked decision-making under former President Abdurrahman Wahid. Mr. Wahid was ousted in late July by Indonesia's highest legislative body and succeeded by Ms. Megawati.
The resulting improvement in business sentiment has pushed the rupiah up 27% against the dollar since Ms. Megawati assumed the presidency. But export growth could be damaged if the rupiah continues to strengthen, making local goods more expensive in foreign-currency terms, some economists said. Indonesia exports mainly commodities and cheap manufactured goods, and although it hasn't been hit as hard by the US slowdown as producers of higher-end electronics, such as Singapore and Taiwan, the country is still suffering from weak global demand.
Ms. Megawati needs to use the early support she's received for her economic team to push ahead with reforms, analysts said. Mr. Dorodjatun stressed the need to revive the country's feeble banking system so it can better support manufacturing companies and spur fresh investment. He also wants to fortify the state budget, strained by interest payments on the public sector's $68 billion in debt. Such steps will likely be more difficult to achieve if the economy continues to slow, dragging down state revenues with it.
To get the economy moving again, Ms. Megawati also will need to take on entrenched political and business interests. But she has given mixed signals about her willingness to do so. On Monday, Ms. Megawati gave former Citibank banker Laksamana Sukardi oversight of the country's debt-restructuring agency. Mr. Sukardi is expected to speed asset sales and possibly crack down on corporate debtors who have dragged their feet on restructuring plans.
But late Tuesday, Ms. Megawati appointed a relatively unknown state prosecutor, Muhamad Abdurrachman, as her attorney general. The appointment didn't inspire confidence that the new government will try to stamp out the corruption that plagues Indonesia's economy. "I don't think he is going to be aggressive," said human-rights attorney Frans Winarta of the new attorney general. "If you want to make a breakthrough, then you must have an outsider." Separately, the White House announced that President Bush will host Ms.
Megawati for a visit in Washington Sept. 19 to discuss political and economic reforms in Indonesia. The announcement follows a visit to Jakarta last week by US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.
[I Made Santana of Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this article.]
Straits Times - August 15, 2001
Robert Go, Jakarta -- Indonesia will sell assets cheaply, if necessary, to meet state-budget targets and to conform to the prescriptions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said the country's new minister of state-owned enterprises.
A day after assuming control over an estimated 70 per cent of the government's assets, Mr Laksamana Sukardi told The Straits Times: "Our first priority is to meet asset-sale targets that have been agreed to with the IMF. We have to support the budget, so we may have to take any pricing for assets to be offered before the end of the year." He added that the rupiah's drastic improvement over the last month and the generally optimistic mood that has marked President Megawati Sukarnoputri's first days in office could add up to higher prices for the government.
He declined to name companies that could be unloaded by the restructuring agency Ibra or his ministry in the next few months, but had earlier indicated that the state's lucrative telecommunications companies could be at the top of the list.
Mr Laksamana took charge of the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) with a total book valuation of more than 850 trillion rupiah (S$187 billion) last Thursday, and became Indonesia's assets czar on Monday after Ms Megawati handed him control of Ibra and its nearly 600 trillion rupiah in nationalised assets.
The state budget targeted to raise 6.5 trillion rupiah from the sale of 16 SOEs and 27 trillion rupiah from the sale of Ibra assets. But, by the end of July, no government-owned company had been sold. Ibra has managed to net only 12 trillion rupiah.
A key part of the problem has been Indonesia's nationalistic Parliament, which has scuttled or slowed down asset-sale plans due to concerns that prices were too low. SOEs also remain inefficient and relatively corrupt cash cows for some of the state-appointed officials who run them.
Despite some concerns over so much state assets coming under the control of one man, observers largely applauded Ms Megawati's decision to give Mr Laksamana, a respected former banker and corruption fighter, carte blanche on privatisation and Ibra. Mr Raden Pardede of Danareksa Research Institute said: "Privatisation and Ibra are closely related to the question of how to attract investors to Indonesia. It is not an easy task, but Mr Laksamana should be able to make progress."