East Timor

Dili insists aid, rather than credits, finance budget deficit

Lusa - February 19, 2002

East Timor's transition government, with little more than three months left before independence, insists that international donors cover its budget deficit over the next three years, estimated at USD 170 million, or euros 195.5 million.

"We do not want in any way to take out credits because one thinks that in three years there will be [oil and gas] revenues from the Timor Sea to pay back the credits", Chief Minister Mari Alkatiri told Lusa in Dili Monday.

Saying future revenues from offshore oil and natural gas fields, expected to begin in 2005, should be considered as "credits of future generations for the current generation", Alkatiri stressed that the "donor community" should cover the projected deficit. "There is money, it's just poorly distributed", Alkatiri aid. "We're not asking for billions and it's not because of 80 million that problems should be raised".

Donor sources, consulted by Lusa in Dili, said the international community appeared unlikely to provide more than USD 90 million of the estimated USD 170 million deficit over three years. While recognizing there were pressing aid demands elsewhere in the world, Alkatiri insisted that East Timor not be made "a victim of our success" in the transition to independence, set for May 20.

He said reducing the budget was not an answer for the deficit because cuts would represent "the collapse of this country".

A decision on financing the deficit must be taken soon, observers said, as the new fiscal year begins in July.

Deputy Speaker receives second nomination for president

UNTAET Daily Briefing - February 19, 2002

Dili -- Francisco Xavier do Amaral, a Deputy Speaker of the Constituent Assembly, received a second nomination today for president. The former FRETILIN leader is the only candidate for the 14 April election with just four days remaining in the registration period.

Xavier do Amaral was nominated today by the party he leads, ASDT (Timorese Social Democratic Association/Associagco Social- Democrata Timorense). On 4 February, he was also nominated by PARENTIL (Partai Republik Nacional Timor Leste).

Candidates must be nominated and registered at UNTAET's Independent Electoral Commission by 12noon Saturday, 23 February.

A candidate can be nominated by one or more political parties or collect 5,000 signatures and run as an independent. New political parties can also register and submit presidential nominations during this phase. The 16 parties that contested the 30 August 2001 elections for the Constituent Assembly are already considered registered.

The presidential election will be the third UN-administered ballot in East Timor. Unlike the previous two polls, East Timorese hold a majority of seats on the IEC's Board of Commissioners, control all 13 district electoral offices and participate in the counting of the ballots.

Reluctant president keeps them waiting

Sydney Morning Herald - February 23, 2002

Jill Jolliffe, Oecussi -- East Timor's revolutionary hero, Xanana Gusmao, was met by enthusiastic village crowds this week as the stage was set for him to become president of the 21st century's first new nation.

Whoever wins presidential elections on April 14 will be sworn into office on East Timor's independence day, May 20, taking power from the transitional United Nations administrator, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

The inauguration will mark a new phase in East Timor's history, after 300 years of Portuguese colonial rule and 24 years of Indonesian military occupation. UN-supervised parliamentary elections in August last year were won by the nationalist Fretilin party.

In Oecussi, the tiny enclave of the former Portuguese territory set in Indonesian West Timor, Mr Gusmao told a spellbound crowd: "Indonesia has been independent for more than 50 years, but its people still don't have freedom. Is this real independence? We want democracy. That means active participation, improving the life of the little people."

But with time running out to nominate for the presidential race, he refused to state his intentions. "I'm very busy right now," was his enigmatic reply to a question from the Oecussi audience.

Nominations close today and, as he spoke, the only registered candidate was Francisco Xavier do Amaral, the aging leader of the Timorese Social Democrat Association, who will be automatically elected if Mr Gusmao does not stand.

The former guerilla commander has said repeatedly he does not wish to be president, but to retire to private life with his Australian wife and young son. But it is clear the citizens of the nation-in-waiting will hear nothing of this.

On Tuesday the Nobel laureate Bishop Carlos Belo told local journalists: "Xanana is a great revolutionary fighter. We shouldn't betray his struggle. "For the international community he is the only one with the reputation. They know his work with refugees and in restoring our relations with Indonesia." Diplomats in Dili have discreetly encouraged his nomination. Sources say Washington, Canberra and Jakarta see him as the desirable candidate.

The excuse for Mr Gusmao's visit to Oecussi was his figurehead position with East Timor's Planning Commission, a role created for him by the UN after last year's parliamentary elections. It has allowed him to renew contacts with the people in the run-up to the presidential poll.

He has not belonged to a political party since he left Fretilin in 1983 to rebuild East Timor's resistance to Indonesian occupation on cross-party lines. He did not compete in the 2001 parliamentary vote, and his closest political allies went their separate ways.

Some were elected for Fretilin, while others opted for the opposition Social Democrat or Democrat parties. He seemed like a politician without a power base.

The Planning Commission's work is to formulate a long-term development plan for East Timor, by gathering statistics at the village level and boosting the involvement of common people in shaping the future. It is a perfect forum for the former guerilla leader, and, in effect, a political leg-up from the UN.

It was meant to be a workshop for 70 local people at church at Numbey, on the Oecussi coast, but the magnet of Mr Gusmao was so strong that about 1000 eventually filled the building.

Don't be afraid to challenge government, he told them. A government shouldn't be like a house where you're peering in the windows from outside -- you can be part of it.

UN increases pressure on Jakarta for suspects handover

Australian Broadcasting Corporation - February 20, 2002

An agreement between the United Nations and Indonesia to pursue those responsible for the gross abuse of human rights in East Timor appears close to collapse. Under a memorandum of understanding signed two years ago, the two parties agreed to assist one other with criminal investigations and court proceedings. But Jakarta has ignored repeated requests to hand- over suspects who fled to Indonesia after post referendum violence in East Timor in September 1999. The UN will now hand its list of suspects to the international policing body Interpol.

Transcript:

Fitzgerald: United Nations prosecutors in East Timor have just charged another 17 people of committing violent crimes in the wake of the independence referendum.

The UN's deputy chief of mission in East Timor, Dennis McNamara says the latest indictments include charges against the notorious Aitarak militia leader Eurico Guterras, who is now an active member of the party of Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

McNamara: And the charges are claims against humanity which means as I say murder, rape, violence, torture, multiple charges with allegations of a systematic process making it a crime against humanity rather than just symbol murders.

Fitzgerald: Indictments have also been issued for the leaders of the Besi Merah Putih militia and for several members of the Indonesian military.

The stand accused of carrying out a reign of terror in the capital Dili, including an attack on the home of independence leader Manuel Carrascalao.

Manuel's 19 year-old son Manuelito was hacked to death in the attack and 11 refugees sheltering at his home were slaughtered.

The new charges have thrown light on the failure of the co- operation agreement between Dili and Jakarta. Under the agreement Indonesian authorities were to have assisted UN prosecuters getting access to suspects for questioning.

McNamara: We have an agreement that they would co-operate with us and under that agreement we are sending the indictments for those who are in Indonesia to the attorney-general's office in Jakarta as we informed him last week when we were there we informed his office. And we will ask their usual co-operation and we'll also request a transfer for the deal for trial but that will be up to the Indonesian authorities. There is no extradition agreement yet.

Fitzgerald: And there lies the problem. So far Jakarta has failed to turn any suspects over to the UN in East Timor for questioning. Officials from the Indonesian Attorney General's Department had in the past however promised the UN efforts would be made to round up the suspects.

This week however The Jakarta Post newspaper has quoted senior Indonesian officials as announcing there will be no handovers to the UN because there is no extradition treaty. Frustrated by the lack of action Dennis McNamara says the UN is approaching Interpol to issue international arrest warrants which would become active if any of the suspects attempted to travel outside Indonesia.

McNamara: We'll also send the indictments to Interpol and once they have accepted and we have become a member or observer of Interpol, we will ask them for these arrest warrants to be registered internationally which means that all countries should be obliged to execute them, to carry them out if the people appear.

Fitzgerald: There are other sings that President Megawati Sukarnoputri's government has little intention of bringing human rights abusers within its military and former militias to justice. For example the recent promotion of the former commanding chief of Jakarta, Major-General Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin to the influential position of military spokesperson.

The general has a controversial record as Jakarta's military commander in 1998 when four protesting students were killed sparking street protests. He is also remembered as failing to control rioting mobs who raped and looted Chinese women and their families in the same year. Mr Pauvam of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association says his group has lodged an official protest about the general's appointment.

Pauvam: Sjamsoeddin is one of the suspects of the the human rights violation during May 1998, during the massacre in Jakarta. During the massacre Sjamsoeddin was the chief of commander in Jakarta.

Fitzgerald: Human rights groups are also criticising Indonesia's new ad-hoc human rights courts which are about to start trying some local and East Timorese human rights cases. Mr Pauvam says the Human Rights courts will be ineffective because prosecutors appointed to them are either serving military officers or they have been selected from the prosecuters office which in the past has been linked with corruption.

Pauvam: Two prosecutors come from the military institution. It's a small number but it is the violator of the principle of the human rights, especially the independence of the judiciary. We demand that the government choose a prosecutor who is a civilian and not from the prosecutor's office.

Prosecutors indict officials for genocide in East Timor

Agence France Presse - February 21, 2002

Indonesian prosecutors indicted seven senior officials including the ex-governor of East Timor for crimes including genocide in the territory in 1999.

"They will be accused of violations of the human rights law of 2000 and could face between 10 years in jail and death," attorney general's office spokesman Barman Zahir told reporters Thursday as the case files were handed over at Central Jakarta district court.

Among those indicted are former governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares; former East Timor police chief Timbul Silaen; and the official who formerly headed the Covalima district, Herman Sedyono.

Four of Sedyono's accomplices would also be tried with him in the same case. They were identified as Liliek Kushadianto, Sugito and Achmad Syamsuddin -- three officers from the military command in Suai -- and Gatot Subiaktoro from the police in Suai.

Zahir said the indictments allege genocide, gross human rights violations and violations of command responsibilities, but did not specify what each official is accused of. The files cover three cases.

Indonesia, under pressure to bring offenders in East Timor to justice, last month set up a special human rights court to try cases. It has named 18 defendants, including three army generals, a police general and several middle-ranking officers. Zahir said indictments in only three of 12 cases were handed over Thursday and the rest would follow soon.

In the months surrounding East Timor's vote for independence from Indonesia in August 1999, pro-Jakarta militias backed by the Indonesian military went on a bloody rampage. They killed hundreds of people, burned towns to the ground, destroyed 80 percent of the former Portuguese territory's infrastructure and forced or led more than a quarter of a million villagers into Indonesian-ruled West Timor.

Files on the 18 Timor suspects will detail crimes committed during two months, April and September, and will include the massacre of refugees.

The United States has refused to resume full military ties with Jakarta until offenders in East Timor are brought to justice.

The then-defence minister and armed forces chief General Wiranto is not among the 18 defendants despite suggestions by human rights groups that he was morally responsible for the bloodshed.

Rights groups question resolve to try East Timor offenders

Agence France Presse - February 22, 2002

Two international human rights groups questioned Indonesia's determination to bring offenders in East Timor to justice despite its indictment of seven suspects in the murderous army-backed militia attacks on independence supporters in 1999.

Human Rights Watch said the indictments filed Thursday for crimes against humanity are a positive development but serious questions remain. Amnesty International said Friday that "basic measures to ensure that the trials in Indonesia meet international standards of fairness are missing."

Those indicted are the former governor and police chief of the territory, a district official, three army officers from the town of Suai -- the scene of a September 1999 church massacre -- and the then-Suai police chief. They are due to face trial in a newly established human rights court in Jakarta, along with 11 other named suspects, but no date has been set.

"Unfortunately the government's commitment to justice remains in doubt," said Sidney Jones, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, in a statement. "The judges [for Jakarta's rights court] were poorly chosen, the prosecutors have shown no interest in accountability, the defence is likely to take advantage of an array of legal loopholes -- and the suspects haven't even been detained."

The law setting up the "ad hoc" rights court provided for non- career judges to be named. Human Rights Watch said many hoped that candidates with human rights expertise would be appointed. Instead, it said, 12 "obscure academics" were chosen, "some of whom had associations with senior army officers."

The New York-based group also questioned the commitment of Attorney General M,A Rachman, saying that when he was deputy attorney general he was "obstinately unhelpful" to requests for cooperation from United Nations prosecutors in East Timor.

Human Rights Watch said a constitutional amendment passed in August 2000 bans retroactive application of laws. While crimes against humanity were considered exempt from this under international law, "it is not clear that Indonesian jurists will take that view."

The group said the international definition of crimes against humanity was improperly translated and may hinder the conviction of defendants who were not actually present at a massacre.

It criticised Jakarta's decision to restrict the court's mandate to offences in April and in September 1999, saying prosecutors may not be able to examine "the broader patterns of state policy and practice that contributed to the violence."

Amnesty said the law setting up the rights court "allows for political interference, including the role of the executive branch of the government in selecting judges and prosecutors and in deciding which cases can be prosecuted."

It raised concern at Indonesia's failure to establish a witness and victim protection program.

Amnesty said the restriction of the court's mandate to two months in 1999 and to just three districts "excludes hundreds of other cases of unlawful killing, torture, rape and other serious crimes."

It said that if Indonesian trials fail to meet international standards, prosecutions in third countries or an international criminal tribunal must be sought.

In the months surrounding East Timor's vote for independence from Indonesia in August 1999, pro-Jakarta militias backed by the Indonesian military went on a bloody rampage. They killed hundreds of people and burned towns to the ground.

Indonesia is under international pressure to bring offenders to justice. But this week it said it would refuse requests to hand over nine pro-Jakarta militiamen and eight Indonesian soldiers who have been indicted by international prosecutors in East Timor.

Indonesia 'should accede to UN, extradite 17 people'

Jakarta Post - February 21, 2002

Tertiani ZB Simandjuntak and Yogita Tahilramani, Jakarta -- Human rights activists urged the government on Wednesday to extradite 17 former militia members and military personnel indicted in East Timor for crimes against humanity there, saying the charges against them did not involve ordinary crimes.

Usman Hamid of the National Human Rights Inquiry Team (KPP Ham) said that no extradition treaty was needed for gross human rights violations. "Indonesia should fulfill the United Nations' request and hand over those men to international prosecutors because these are no ordinary violations ... it is not a matter of one or two or three murders," Usman said.

Munir of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) concurred with Usman, highlighting the fact that Indonesia had no choice but extradite those indicted. "An extradition treaty between East Timor and Indonesia is not needed in the case of such extraordinary human rights violations. Moreover, the United Nations is working towards officially requesting that Indonesia extradite the 17 men," Munir said.

A memorandum signed in April 2000 by Indonesia and UNTAET stipulated that both parties shall "afford to each other the widest possible measure of mutual assistance in investigations or court proceedings." However, the memorandum falls short on provisions for extradition.

According to Munir, the Indonesian government and military were afraid that the 17 indicted, if extradited to East Timor, would reveal the TNI's role in recruiting, training and arming militia members before, during and after the UN-sponsored referendum in East Timor in 1999.

"Indonesia and the TNI fear that once extradited, the men will talk of how TNI, as an institution, and its generals, had created, developed and trained pro-Jakarta militias, fully armed them and funded them," Munir said. "The TNI is just protecting its own generals involved in the killings and needs to shrug off the responsibility of having conducted gross human rights violations in East Timor."

A statement from the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) said the charges included "murder, persecution and other inhumane acts." The UNTAET press office stated on Wednesday that it would be willing to share "all of the evidence" that its investigators had gathered on the case with Indonesia.

"At the same time, our investigators are ready to go to trial. We would like Indonesia to hand over the 17 accused so we can proceed with that trial," UNTAET said in a statement sent to The Jakarta Post.

Meanwhile, the human rights tribunal ad hoc prosecutors are scheduled on Thursday to file the first of three indictments in respect of the 1999 East Timor human rights violations with the Ad Hoc Human Rights Tribunal at the Central Jakarta District Court.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Barman Zahir said on Wednesday that the three separate indictments involved seven of the 19 suspects believed to have played important roles in the 1999 mayhem in East Timor. He refused to give the names of the suspects or specify the charges laid against them.

Barman added that the remaining nine indictments were still being kept on hold given the limited number of ad hoc judges and the courtrooms available, especially considering that each of the cases needed to be heard by five judges.

He also added that UNTAET had pledged cooperation in producing witnesses who are residing in East Timor. Such cooperation would be based on the Memorandum of Understanding signed in April 2000.

Indonesians indicted in East Timor

1) Eurico Guterres, Aitarak militia leader; 2) Manuel Sousa, district-level commander in BMP militia; 3) Joas Sera, district- level vice commander in BMP militia; 4) Floriano da Silva, district-level commander in BMP militia; 5) Marculino Soares, district-level commander in BMP militia; 6) Tome Diogo, TNI intelligence officer; 7) Jose Mateus, TNI member; 8) Antonio Gomes, TNI member; 9) Antonio Bescau, TNI member; 10) Antoninho Martins, TNI member; 11) Teofilo da Silva Ribeiro, TNI member; 12) Abilio Lopez da Cruz, TNI member; 13) Jorge Viegas, TNI member; 14) Mateus Metan, BMP member; 15) Domingos Bondia, BMP member; 16) Fernando Sousa, BMP member; 17) Armindo Carrion, BMP member.

Militia leader refuses to return for Timor trial

Australian Associated Presse - February 19

Catharine Munro, Jakarta -- Militia leader Eurico Guterres today said he would answer charges of crimes against humanity in Indonesia but not in his native East Timor for his role in anti- independence activities in 1999.

And Indonesia would not respond to any extradition request issued for the arrest of Guterres and 16 other suspects, despite having agreed to do so with East Timor two years ago. "We currently do not have a written understanding that specifically states that Indonesia will allow the extradition of the suspects (to East Timor)," foreign ministry spokesman Wahid Supriyadi said, according to the Jakarta Post. "There isn't anything as such now."

Guterres was yesterday indicted by international prosecutors in East Timor on five counts of crimes against humanity before the province voted for independence in August 1999. They alleged that he ordered his Aitarak gang members to shoot pro-independence activists at a rally. Guterres was also accused of leading an attack on the home of separatist leader Manuel Carrascalao in April 1999 in which 11 refugees and Carrascalao's 19-year-old son were killed.

"I will not come to East Timor because I am an Indonesian citizen," Guterres said in an interview. "The incidents happened during the Indonesian administration over East Timor, therefore Indonesian law should be applied for this case."

The former gang leader has also been named as a suspect of human rights abuses by the office of the attorney-general in Indonesia. But the long-delayed human rights tribunal which would hear the cases is yet to start. Guterres complained that the Indonesian tribunal was "unfair" but said he would attend any trial.

"If I am found guilty by the court I am willing to be sentenced and if not I shall be set free and my good name restored. "I will not try to run and hide from the prosecution." Guterres now lives in Jakarta and leads the Young Bulls, the youth wing of Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri's political party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

'Ignoring UNTAET writ will tarnish RI's image'

Jakarta Post - February 20, 2002

Jakarta -- The Indonesian government had a moral obligation to surrender 17 military men and former militiamen to the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), which had indicted them for alleged crimes against humanity in 1999, claimed a noted lawyer.

Rights activist and lawyer Johnson Panjaitan said here that the government's failure to support the extradition of the people would further damage Indonesia's image in the international community.

Johnson, who was the lawyer for East Timor independence leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, acknowledged that the Indonesian government did not have an extradition treaty with East Timor.

"But, at least, the government has a moral responsibility to surrender the 17 people to UNTAET. To some extent the government is held accountable for the mayhem in East Timor," said Johnson, the secretary general of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI).

The government has dismissed any possibility of extraditing the suspects, who include prominent pro-Jakarta militia leader Eurico Guterres, to Dili, saying that any Indonesian charged with crimes in the country's former province must be prosecuted under Indonesian law.

However, Johnson suggested that the government take into account the fact that the international community had lost its confidence in Indonesia's commitment to prosecute those implicated in the human rights violations in East Timor.

Indonesia has recently been criticized for its sluggish efforts in processing the human rights trial of military officers and civilians who were allegedly involved in various crimes against humanity following a UN-administered popular consultation in 1999 that resulted in East Timor's move toward full independence.

Johnson said Indonesia risked facing an international tribunal unless it cooperated with UNTAET. "Should the Indonesian government reject the warrants by UNTAET, the international community will regard the country as a haven for suspected human rights criminals," Johnson said.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian authorities remained adamant on Tuesday that the suspects would not be handed over to UNTAET.

The director for political affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Marty Natalegawa said that the United Nations, which represents the international community, had supported Indonesian sovereignty to prosecute the human rights violation cases in East Timor under Indonesian law. Marty was referring to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's statement during his visit to Indonesia in January 2000, on his support for the government's determination to investigate crimes against humanity in East Timor and to bring those involved to a human rights court.

Separately, Maj. Gen. Sudrajat, the director general of defense strategy at the Ministry of Defense, supported the government's stance on the issue. He said the military would reject the extradition of the 17 suspects to UNTAET. "The military will respect any legal proceedings conducted by UNTAET as long as they does not offend the dignity of Indonesian people, as well as the country's sovereignty," he countered.

The complete list of the 17 names could not be immediately obtained. Siri Frigaard, the UN deputy prosecutor general in East Timor, said that international arrest warrants would be sought from Interpol for the 17 men accused.

Timor tells Telstra good riddance

The Australian - February 19, 2002

Geoff Elliott -- Telstra will withdraw its services from East Timor, prompting a stinging attack from East Timor foreign minister Jose Ramos Horta. Mr Ramos Horta said Telstra would not be missed as the telco giant had not done much for East Timor.

His comments follow allegations last year that Telstra had been monitoring phone calls of senior ministers in East Timor. Telstra started rebuilding East Timor's infrastructure in 1999 following Australia's role as the head of the UN-sponsored peacekeeping force after the civil war. Telstra's role was part of an extension to its telecommunications contract with the Australian Defence Force.

But Telstra is not participating in new tenders to run East Timor's phone and internet network, a move in keeping with the company's strategy to abandon marginal operations and services.

Mr Ramos Horta said Telstra had made millions of dollars out of East Timor through its ADF contract but put nothing back. "Telstra did not put much back in [to] East Timor, in terms of infrastructure, they simply piggybacked on what was there, what was not destroyed by Indonesia," Mr Ramos Horta told the ABC. "They made millions and millions of dollars out of East Timor's situation and I don't think anyone will be missing them ... when they leave and other companies take over. There will be no farewell [or] goodwill."

Telstra helped rebuild fixed line communications in Timor as well as a mobile phone network. It was used by the ADF but also handed over for public use too, Telstra International spokeswoman Karen Gomez. "We refute that we haven't invested," she said. "We did resurrect the fixed-line network, we also established a GSM [mobile] network that wasn't functioning at the time, but we have since then extended the GSM network to the general public. "Telstra went to East Timor to support the peacekeeping efforts." She said that Telstra was not abandoning the fledgling nation.

Indonesia says no extradition as East Timor indicts 17 men

Jakarta Post - February 19, 2002

Yogita Tahilramani, Jakarta -- Indonesian officials said they would not hand over 17 men indicted by prosecutors in East Timor on Monday for alleged crimes against humanity, saying that Jakarta has no extradition agreement with the territory.

While an official request for extradition has yet to be forwarded, officials in Jakarta quickly asserted that Indonesians charged with crimes in the former province should be tried under Indonesian law.

"We currently do not have a written understanding that specifically states that Indonesia will allow the extradition of the suspects [to East Timor] ... There isn't anything as such now," foreign ministry spokesman Wahid Supriyadi told The Jakarta Post.

The latest development comes after prosecutors for the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) indicted the 17 for alleged crimes committed during East Timor's violent split from Indonesia in 1999.

A statement from UNTAET said charges included "murder, persecution and other inhumane acts," which were the results of an investigation into a 1999 rally in Dili, that climaxed in a wave of militia violence against East Timorese civilians perceived as independence supporters.

While the complete list of the 17 names could not be immediately obtained, UNTAET confirmed that prominent pro-Jakarta militia commander Eurico Guterres was included. Guterres is charged with five counts of crimes against humanity, two for murder, one for persecution and two for inhumane acts, for the acts of his subordinates and his direct participation in the violence.

Four Besi Merah Putih (BMP) militia leaders are similarly charged, while 12 BMP and Indonesian Military members are charged for participating in the violence.

The Indonesian government here has moved at a snail's pace in setting up an Ad Hoc Human Rights Court on human rights violation cases before and after the East Timor vote in 1999.

Siri Frigaard, the UN deputy prosecutor general in East Timor, said on Monday that international arrest warrants would be sought from Interpol for the 17 accused.

Asked on the possibility of getting the suspects, Frigaard replied: "We don't have a guarantee, but it would be difficult for a country to refuse an extradition. We might succeed, we might not succeed, but at least we have to try," he added.

UNTAET officials said the Indonesian Attorney General's Office has been made aware of the indictments and impending warrants. While it is true that no extradition treaty exists, Indonesia does have a memorandum with UNTAET regarding cooperation on legal, judicial and human rights related matters.

Signed in April 2000 it states that both parties shall "afford to each other the widest possible measure of mutual assistance in investigations or court proceedings." However the memorandum falls short on provisions for extradition.

On Monday former minister of defense Juwono Sudarsono said that Indonesia was handling the matter "within the terms of our own domestic law". "This includes a human rights tribunal which is still hotly debated about amongst our political society. "Our position remains firm, that is to commit to [Indonesia's] own terms ... for the meanwhile, we will not consider extraditing the suspects," Juwono said.

Political and military observers have also noted the links between those allegedly involved in rights crimes in East Timor and ranking Indonesians. Many militiamen have worked closely with elements of the military, and Guterres himself, for example, currently leads a youth wing of President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.

United Nations indicts 17 in Indonesia

Associated Press - February 18, 2002

Joanna Jolly, Dili -- International prosecutors on Monday indicted 17 pro-Jakarta militiamen and Indonesian soldiers for crimes against humanity allegedly committed during East Timor's violent break with Indonesia in 1999.

Among those charged was Eurico Gutteres, a notorious militia commander who now heads a youth wing of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's ruling party in Jakarta.

International arrest warrants will be issued for the suspects who are all believed to be in Indonesia, said Siri Frigaard, UN deputy prosecutor general in East Timor.

Under an agreement signed in 2000, Indonesia committed itself to cooperate with UN investigations in East Timor and to extradite suspects. But recently, Megawati's administration has refused to abide by the accord.

So far, 99 people have been charged with crimes committed before, during and after the UN-supervised independence referendum that ended Indonesia's 24-year military occupation of East Timor.

At the time, Indonesian troops and their militia proxies launched a massive campaign of violence in which hundreds of people were murdered and most of East Timor devastated. The bloodbath ended in September 1999 with the arrival of international peacekeepers.

East Timor is currently under temporary UN administration. It is due to achieve independence in May.

Guterres, who led a militia gang based in the capital, Dili, was charged with five counts of crimes against humanity for allegedly ordering his men to shoot pro-independence activists during a rally, and leading an attack on a separatist leader's home in April 1999.

Guterres, who now heads the Indonesian Young Bulls -- part of Megawati's ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle -- immediately denied he had anything to do with the raid, saying he was not in Dili at the time of the attack.

I also reject the Interpol request for my extradition because I am an Indonesian citizen," he said. "It is up to my government to decide whether to hand over or not."

World's newest country takes on violence in the home

OneWorld UK - February 15, 2002

Daniel Nelson -- After 25 years of brutal occupation, culminating in Indonesian-organized murder and mayhem against a referendum on independence, the world's newest country is turning the spotlight on home-grown violence by launching a campaign against wife- beating.

An anti-domestic violence campaign for the fledgling state of East Timor was launched at a news conference in the capital, Dili, last week and will be followed up by speeches, commercials, special training for police, debates, workshops, and action by support groups. A national conference on the issue is being organized.

Half of all incidents reported daily to East Timor's police force are related to domestic violence, estimates the territory's police chief, Peter Miller, who says combating the abuse is "our number one priority."

While accurate figures on the extent of the abuse are difficult to establish, the incidents made public have prompted widespread concern in the former Indonesian colony taken over by the international community in the bloody aftermath of the referendum in August 1999.

"It must stop!" said Sergio Viera de Mello, the Brazilian head of the United Nations' administration that is responsible for running the country until formal independence May 20. "I urge you as a society and individuals ... to commit yourselves to rid your homes and your communities of all forms of domestic abuse -- the last vestige of violence remaining in East Timor," he said.

Viera de Mello said recently that through their "magnificent patience and restraint," the territory's 800,000 people had proved wrong those who were skeptical about the territory's future as an independent state. Violence in the home was a scar on this record, he said.

One newspaper report which helped to raise the profile of the problem focused on an employee of the government's information department who recounted an ordeal at the hands of her husband.

"There was my husband. He was throwing rocks at me," she was quoted as saying in the latest issue of government-run Tais Timor. "But, imagine, he's wearing one of those government-issued tee-shirts that says, 'End the violence now!'." She says she yelled at him, "Look at you! You have no right to wear that shirt."

The report says that the conservative and repressed nature of predominantly Catholic East Timor may have hidden decades of such abuse -- both under Portuguese colonial rule and under the Indonesian administration that seized power in 1975 -- and that the untreated traumas caused by the violence surrounding the 1999 referendum had probably made matters worse.

At the campaign launch last week Mario Zamorano, director of the information department, said that the success of a national anti-violence drive during last year's peaceful assembly election proved that East Timorese people had the character and strength to confront this last remaining vestige of violence.

Emphasizing that domestic violence was a worldwide problem, he said that as East Timor became the first new member of the UN in the new millennium, "it has the opportunity to set a world example, as it did during the election when it became a glowing global example for electoral non-violence."

East Timor refugees allowed to stay in caps until June

Jakarta Post - February 16, 2002

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang -- The government has extended its deadline for 128,000 (sic) Timorese to vacate refugee camps in West Timor until June 20, allowing them more time to decide on their future.

The decision was made by East Nusa Tenggara Governor Piet A. Tallo and Deputy Governor Yohanis Pake Pani after holding a series of talks with representatives of the refugees in Belu, North and South Timor Tengah and Kupang recently.

Yohanis Kosapilawan, spokesman for the provincial administration, said at a media conference here on Friday that the government had made the decision on humanitarian considerations to give more time to refugees who had yet to decide on whether to return to their homeland or stay in Indonesia.

"The refugees' representatives have asked the government to give them more time, until June 20, 2002, to assess security in East Timor following the territory's presidential election," he said. He said the refugees had indicated that they would return home if the situation there was conducive after the presidential election, which is scheduled for June 20.

About 290,000 displaced East Timorese took refuge in the province following 1999 post-ballot violence in East Timor. Those who remain have been reluctant to return because of the uncertain political situation in the territory.

They have been given two alternatives: return to East Timor or join the resettlement program in Indonesia. To date, they have remained undecided.

The government threatened to forcibly remove the refugees from the camps at the end of January, when it stopped humanitarian aid to the refugees due to financial constraints.

Asked about extending further humanitarian aid to the refugees, Kosapilawan said the refugees had agreed to earn their own living without any aid from the government. "Many refugees have farmland near their camps, while many others have kiosks in traditional markets to help them to survive," he said, adding the government would not give medical assistance to the refugees.

At least 15 refugees, mostly children, have died and hundreds of others are undergoing treatment at public health centers, after suffering diarrhea and respiratory and skin diseases because of flooding in the province.

Kosapilawan said the local administration would evict the refugees from the camps should they fail to decide whether to go back home or to join the resettlement program.

Separately, Joanariao da Silva, a representative of refugees from Viqueque, East Timor, said in Tuapukan, 30 kilometers east of the city, that most of the refugees were keen to go back home but remained uncertain of the security situation in their home village in Viqueque. "We will go back home after the situation (in East Timor) is conducive because East Timor is our homeland," he said.

Joao Bosco, a staff member of Uni Timor Aswain (Untas), concurred, saying they missed their homeland but they could not go home because of instability in the territory.

East Timor is expected to announce its independence in May and hold its maiden presidential election on June 20.

Labour struggle

Uncertain future for Malaysia's Indonesian migrants

Reuters - February 19, 2002

Lewa Pardomuan, Sandakan (Malaysia) -- Occasional trucks carrying palmoil fruits to nearby mills are the only sound shattering the calm for Indonesian plantation worker Nur Hajirah and her family in this quiet corner of Malaysia.

But riots involving Indonesian migrants several hundred kilometres across the sea in another corner of the Southeast Asian nation, may soon change all that. Malaysia's government has responded with a crackdown on migrant workers, including 100,000 in the Borneo island state of Sabah that has been Hajirah's home for the past 15 years.

Hajirah, who applies fertiliser to trees on one of the major estates that cover 1.1 million hectares of Sabah, says she cannot understand why the riots took place. "They shouldn't do that. They should behave because they are working in a foreign country," said Hajirah, 35, who arrived from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi 15 years ago.

Hajirah, who married a fellow worker from Sulawesi a few years back, has two children growing up at the plantation, where rows of palmoil trees dominate the landscape for miles. Her family lives in a wooden house built by her employer with a nearby soccer field, a civic centre and day care for children.

Plantation owners in Sabah generally provide their workers with lodging, electricity, running water and medication. New arrivals earn eight ringgit ($2.11) a day. Pay rises depend on productivity.

West of Sabah in the state of Negeri Sembilan, hundreds of textile workers rioted in January after police tried to detain suspected drug users. Angered by this and other violence involving immigrant labourers, Malaysia has banned new workers from Indonesia and pledged to halve the 900,000 currently registered there.

Illegal Indonesian immigrants also made up the bulk of detainees at a detention camp in the southern state of Johor, where rioters burned a dormitory to the ground. It is a world away from the silence of a Sabah plantation.

"I am happy. Nothing has ever hurt me since I moved here," said Suluk, another Sulawesi migrant who works as a gardener on an oil palm estate in Sandakan. "It's not good to create trouble. We should concentrate on our job," said Suluk, who says he is 85 years old.

Plantations growing

Indonesian migrants' home customs are much in evidence in Sabah capital Kota Kinabalu, where smoke from clove-scented cigarettes smuggled in from Kalimantan hangs in the air and native Indonesian dishes are widely available.

The state relies heavily on foreign workers, mostly from Indonesia, after a rapid 30 percent expansion in oil palm plantations in the last five years provided job opportunities shunned by locals. It also has migrant workers from the Philippines, who work mostly in construction.

The state, whose economy depends mainly on agriculture, became Malaysia's largest palmoil growing area in 2000. Malaysia is the world's largest producer of palm oil, used extensively by food manufacturers in the West in everything from pretzels to cake mixes. There are 500 oil palm estates and small holders in Sabah, which is also Malaysia's main cocoa growing area.

Plantation owners said they understand government frustration but argue their region, bordering Indonesia's Kalimantan, is mostly trouble-free. "The Indonesians are good workers. Historically, we never have problems with them. We praise our Indonesian workers for their dedication," said one plantation owner.

"The trouble makers are those who are doing odd jobs in town. Those who are not fully employed and who are taking advantage of our hospitality," said the planter, who declined to be named. Another said: "There are of course problems, such as thefts. But there have never been any serious threats. I think plantation is the most peaceful sector."

Malaysia is home to more than a million foreign workers, most of them from poorer countries like Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Myanmar and the Philippines. Indonesians also work in the construction and manufacturing sectors and many work as housemaids, leaving various islands in the giant archipelago such as Java, Madura, Sulawesi and Timor to look for jobs in their richer neighbour.

Teachers' laying off protested

Jakarta Post - February 20, 2002

Jakarta -- Dozens of parents of pupils at Al Azhar school in Kemang, South Jakarta, demonstrated on Tuesday against the laying off of 11 teachers, along with some remaining school teachers who have also gone on strike.

The teachers were laid off for demanding a salary hike, according to Eni, one of the protesters.

A teacher who had taught at the school for 12 years received Rp 800,000 a month, while each student pays an average of Rp 250,000 in school fees a month, Antara reported.

There are about 60 teachers in total at Al Azhar kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school and senior high school, which is owned by the Shita Budi foundation.

Several students also joined the protest with posters saying: "I want my teachers back", "We love our teachers" and "Give back our teachers".

Labor group condemns brutality

Laksamana Net - February 19, 2002

A workers' rights group has accused factory managers in several cities of using the notorious Pemuda Pancasila thugs-for-hire group to intimidate and attack laborers involved in trade union movements.

The Indonesian National Front for Labor Struggle (FNPBI), which is led by respected unionist and former political prisoner Dita Indah Sari, on Monday urged the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to be more proactive in investigating the abuses of factory workers.

About 30 FNPBI activists gathered at Komnas HAM headquarters in Central Jakarta and made speeches condemning the repression of fledgling trade union groups.

Dita, who hit the headlines earlier this month after refusing to accept a human rights award from Reebok sportswear corporation, told the commission that FNPBI representatives were being targeted at several large factories where employers had used Pemuda Pancasila members to attack and intimidate workers.

Pemuda Pancasila was formed by the Army in 1959, ostensibly to uphold the state ideology, but under former president Suharto the organization became an association of notorious thugs and petty criminals who carried out dirty work on behalf of the regime. The organization still has close ties with various factions of the military and police, and has been linked to criminal activities such as racketeering and extortion.

Dita said workers at PT Maja Agung Latexindo in Sunggal, North Sumatra province, face constant intimidation from the local Pemuda Pancasila branch. PT Maja Agung Latexindo manufactures surgical and other sterile latex gloves. The company is owned by US-based Shamrock Manufacturing Company.

In the wake of the September 11 terror attacks in the US and subsequent series of anthrax-contaminated letters, Shamrock was quick to advise consumers that proper handling of suspicious materials was the best way to avoid the highly infectious disease. The company's website at www.smcgloves.com doesn't mention anthrax cases in Indonesia or the abuse of its factory workers.

Dita said that on January 30, 2002, Pemuda Pancasila ruffians showed up at the latex factory, intimidated workers and beat an FNPBI representative senseless. Rather than target the attackers, police came to the factory on February 8 and arrested over 150 employees. Five FNPBI representatives were later illegally fired with the support of the local chapter of the All-Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI), which was the only labor union permitted under Suharto's authoritarian New Order regime.

Dita said similar incidents of abuse also occurred at the PT Golden Star factory in Makassar, capital of South Sulawesi province, and at PT Sumber Makmur Jaya Perkasa in Palu, capital of Central Sulawesi province.

"We demand Komnas HAM accept our demand to drag to court those who use hired thugs in Medan, Palu and Makassar. PT Maja Agung Latexindo in Medan is particularly culpable, as they have utilized Pemuda Pancasila members to abduct, beat and intimidate. We cannot tolerate action of that nature," she was quoted as saying by detikcom.

She also demanded that police and the military cease intervening in labor disputes, stop repressing workers and release FNPBI representatives still being held in Medan.

Members of Pemuda Pancasila have long been used to attack pro- democracy activists and workers' rights groups.

The military used Pemuda Pancasila to join a raid on the Jakarta headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) in 1996 when supporters of then opposition figurehead Megawati Sukarnoputri were protesting against the regime's putsch that ousted her as party leader. Dozens of pro-democracy activists "disappeared" during and after the attack.

Garment workers stage strike in Tangerang

Jakarta Post - February 19, 2002

Tangerang -- About 850 workers at garment manufacturer PT Hyun Indonesia on Jl. Telesonic No. 1, Jatiuwung, Tangerang, launched a massive strike on Monday. They rejected the company's plan to eliminate transportation and food allowances for workersfollowing the increase in the minimum regional wage (UMR).

"We preferred to strike because we don't have any labor union to negotiate with the factory's management," one of the protesters said.

The workers gathered at the factory site early in the morning. Some just sat together while other chatted or sang. None of them entered the factory, causing a total halt of production.

Some workers said the factory management had agreed to increase their wages as stipulated by the Jakarta municipal administration. But the management planned to eliminate their transportation and food allowance.

Since the workers -- who usually receive Rp 1,500 (US cents 14.7) for food and Rp 1,200 for transportation daily -- rejected the cutting of their benefits, the management suspended the planned salary increase in January.

The Jakarta administration has stipulated that the minimum wage must increase from Rp 426,000 to Rp 490,000 per month.

Aceh/West Papua

Eight killed in Aceh, residents hold prayers for peace

Agence France Presse - February 21, 2002

Banda Aceh -- Eight more killings were reported Thursday in Indonesia's strife-torn Aceh province as residents said special prayers for peace on the eve of the Muslim Day of Sacrifice.

Some 1,000 people gathered outside Baiturrahman mosque in the provincial capital Banda Aceh after midday prayers and held a special mass prayer for "peace and the end of hatred among people in Aceh," witnesses said. The Jakarta-appointed governor, Abdullah Puteh, had urged people to pray for an end to the 26- year separatist conflict.

Three suspected separatist rebels were shot dead in a clash with soldiers at Bubon in West Aceh on Wednesday, said a provincial military spokesman, Major Ertoto. The local commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Abu Juana, denied any clash took place and said the three were civilians shot dead by troops during a search for guerrillas.

A rebel was shot dead when he and another suspect on a motorcycle encountered a military patrol at Krueng Seumideun in Pidie district on Wednesday, said the local military commander, Lieutenant Colonel Supartodi. The other man escaped.

The body of a man who had been shot in the head was found Wednesday at Lhokseumawe, a local humanitarian activist said. The local GAM spokesman, Teungku Jamaika, said the man had been shot by a member of the Brimob police elite unit as he was on his way home.

Jamaika said troops searching villages in the Tanah Pasir area of North Aceh shot dead one civilian while he was searching for crabs. He also said two civilians who had been arrested Wednesday morning were later the same day found dead nearby. There was no immediate confirmation of Jamaika's claims.

Some mosques and other places of worship in Banda Aceh ignored Puteh's appeal. "The mosques routinely hold prayers for peace after each of the day's five prayers anyway so it is not something new for Muslims here," a resident told

An estimated 10,000 people have been killed since the start of the revolt, including more than 200 this year alone.

The children held hostage to war in Aceh

Radio Australia - February 18, 2002

Australian researcher Lesley McCulloch meets three teenagers who have become unwitting players in the long running secessionist war in the Indonesian province of Aceh. The Indonesian armed forces used a combination of enticement and coercion to recruit them as military informers. Now they are effectively prisoners of the separatist rebels.

There is a disturbing new dimension to the conflict in Aceh -- children recruited as spies to work for the Indonesian armed forces (TNI). I was confronted by this new reality in a remote corner of East Aceh, one of the most conflict-wracked parts of Indonesia's northwestern province, where separatist rebellion that has been raging for almost thirty years.

After being delivered to a remote meeting point via an elaborate system of pick-ups and drop-offs, I was introduced a fourteen year old boy called M and two young women, 18 year old F and 17 year old R. F and R had just returned from school, and were still dressed in their school uniforms. The teenagers are effectively under "arrest" by the Aceh Sumatra National Liberation Front (ASNLF), the group that is fighting for independence from Indonesia. The Front, known in Indonesia as GAM (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka or Free Aceh Movement) has accused the teenagers of working as military informers. All three admit that the accusation is true. The stories they tell are disturbingly similar and suggest a pattern of TNI behaviour that is drawing children into the armed conflict as pawns of the military.

The three teenagers come from different villages, and each of them was "invited" separately to work for the military. M says he was promised Rp 450,000 (about AUD $90) a month, while F and R were each promised Rp 500,000 a month. There is no doubt that the salary was attractive in a country where the economy is struggling, and where Rp 450,000 a month is more than many adults can hope to earn. However all three add that both they and their families were threatened with punishment if they refused to comply with the military's requests.

M says he worked for TNI for 4 months before being captured by ASNLF fighters. However M says he only ever received one month's pay from the TNI. Similarly, both F and R say that they worked for the military for five months but received no money. During this time they continued to live with their families. M says the TNI visited him every day for a report. The two young women allege that the military visited them often, asking for sexual favours. ASNLF spokesman for East Aceh, Ishak Daud remarks that many young women are befriended by the police and military and then recruited as informers. They have no choice, says Daud as their lives and the lives of their families is threatened. All three teenagers confirmed that this is the case.

Despite the fact that the teenagers were probably unwilling recruits to the military, the ASNLF says that they made effective operatives. Spokesman Ishak Daud claims that between them they were responsible for the death of at least 7 unarmed ASNLF supporters. "We know of only 7 deaths" he told me, "but in fact there may be more".

M, F and R are not the only child informers pressed into service by the TNI. ASNLF says it has five other children under "arrest" and M reports that six friends around his own age are working for the military. F describes a similar situation:

"So many of my friends work for TNI, all of them girls" she says. "We were all flattered by the attention they gave us, but now it has turned into a nightmare." She says that all of her friends are now very scared.

"Normally the punishment for informers is death" says Ishak Daud. "But, I am human, and these are only children. The problem for us now is what to do with them. Since they were captured three weeks ago they stay in the village with us and we send them to school every day. We also educate them about what is right and wrong. They are helping us with our investigation. The use by the military and police of children is something we must expose. The problem is that the TNI and police have posts very close to the civilian population. This causes fear and terror and leads to the situation we have now."

All three say they have been treated well by the ASNLF. "At the time I was offered the money, I was happy to help the military" says R. "But then I realised that there was no money, only threats and I was very afraid. But what could I do? I am glad that the ASNLF caught me and I have apologised for what I have done." F says she tried to resist the "requests" for help but the TNI threatened to rape her and then shoot her.

"Please let the international community know what is happening to the children in Aceh" R pleaded with me. She says that her friends who are still "working" for the security forces have not been paid, are very afraid, but don't know what to do.

M says that he wants to go back home to his family. His is a very troubled and sad young face of the conflict. Daud admits that the families of all three have requested that their children be returned home. He says that the ASNLF is ready to set the children free but warns that their lives would be at risk if it did so. "We don't know what to do with them" says Daud. "If we send them back to their villages the military will come for them, probably to kill them, knowing they have helped us with our investigation."

There are two issues that must be addressed here. The first is the military's exploitation of children to work as informers, drawing them into the conflict and exposing them to the great risks. The second is the question of how to return these young informers to their families with a guarantee of their personal safety. Perhaps the intervention of an international non- government organisation is the solution in this case. But it is not enough to pick up the pieces in cases like those of M, R and F. The international community and the Indonesian government must also take preventive action. These three teenagers can name the military officers who recruited them, but fear that giving that information to the authorities will only bring them and their families further trauma. The military personnel who are recruiting these young people must be brought to justice for the crimes that they have perpetrated and the young lives they have effectively destroyed.

What of the teenagers hopes for the future? They are sure of only one thing -- that they are now locked in a potentially deadly situation. Around them, the conflict in Aceh is already proving more violent this year than last. The Aceh office of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (LBH) estimates that 25 people were killed and 80 arrested in the first month of 2002. Self- congratulatory remarks by TNI officers about the recent shooting of the ASNLF military commander, Abdullah Syafie'ie show that the armed forces are committed to seeking a military solution to the conflict and will blatantly disregard any serious attempt at dialogue with the rebels. Yet the general feeling among many of the population in Aceh is sadness at Syafie'ie's death and anger at the Jakarta government.

While the international community has been focussed on events in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Israel and Palestine a deadly game is being played out in Aceh. The results of President Megawati's order to the military and police to solve the problem in Aceh are evident. Megawati has given the green light to a military that is struggling to attain any level of professionalism. The result is a growing number of deaths, tortures and arrests. There is also an increase in the number of robberies and houses burned by the security forces as they "sweep" through Acehnese society searching for members of the independence movement.

Not only are the military and police destroying the economic and physical infrastructure of Aceh, they are also destroying the people. They are in fact, breeding a new generation of pro- independence supporters. This is a very dangerous game indeed, and one which the international community could and should persuade the Indonesian government to cease. In the young faces of M, R and F, I should have seen youthfulness and hope for the future. I saw only insecurity and fear. Daud appeals to the international community to play a role in returning these children back to a normal civilian life. The international community has a duty to respond to his request.

[Lesley McCulloch is a lecturer in Asian Studies at the University of Tasmania, Australia and co-founder of the Aceh Humanitarian Assistance Fund, which provides help to civilians in emergency need as a result of the Aceh conflict.]

`Australia is helping the army to kill my people'

Green Left Weekly - February 20, 2002

Max Lane -- "It was extremely disappointing to see Australian Prime Minister John Howard shake hands so enthusiastically with Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri. Doesn't he know how her government treats the people, not just in Aceh, but all over Indonesia?", Aceh's outspoken democracy leader Kautsar told Green Left Weekly.

Kautsar is chairperson of the Acehnese People's Democratic Resistance Front (FPDRA), which campaigns for Acehnese independence and for democratic rights for all the people of Indonesia.

Kautsar was imprisoned for six months last year after he helped organise a protest against the US oil giant ExxonMobil. He was freed after a court cleared him of the police charges.

"Hasn't Howard heard Megawati's statements to her soldiers that they need not worry about violating human rights when carrying out their duties? Doesn't he know about the terror in Aceh?", Kautsar added.

In response to statements by Australian government officials that claim that Australian military cooperation with Indonesia would not include assistance for Jakarta's elite commando forces, Kopassus, Kautsar pointed out that "there are many Kopassus troops in Aceh, but you will not find them in Kopassus posts".

"They are all serving in other units. Kopassus troops may be better trained, but otherwise there is no difference between them and the rest of the army. The Australian government is helping an army that is terrorising and killing my people. It should cut all military ties with Indonesia and also end any commercial ties that help finance the military", the Acehnese leader said.

There were more than 1700 documented cases of killings in Aceh last year. Human rights organisations say at least 170 more died in the first few weeks of this year. The Aceh Information Centre (AIC) issues daily reports of people being assassinated.

A typical case was the killing of Jailani bin Teungku Yahya Wahab Jailani, the 26-year-old son of the late Teungku Yahya Wahab, an adviser to the late Free Aceh Movement (GAM) guerilla commander in chief, Teungku Abdullah Syafie.

Jailani was arrested by soldiers on February 4 and told to take them to his father's grave. When they got to the grave, he was told to run and then was sprayed with bullets from behind. According to the AIC report, the bullets penetrated his upper torso and also caused his head to break into pieces. His hands and legs were also broken. The troops then went back to his house to tell his family that all the children of the late Teungku Yahya Wahab will be killed whenever and wherever they find them.

Terror

"The terror against the people is getting worse", Kautsar told GLW. "We estimate that there are now 60,000 troops and police deployed in Aceh. Murder, disappearances, rape and torture just spread and spread. The military's posture also gets harsher. They issued a shoot-on-sight order during a general strike last month. They have told businesspeople that if they support GAM, they will be arrested. The military told them that they couldn't use the excuse that GAM forced them to help. Civil servants have also been threatened. In the villages, the repression is even worse."

Kautsar described how village heads are intimidated. "The district military commander called in the village heads from the whole area and told them that they must report monthly who are GAM supporters in their village. He told them that there are always six GAM supporters with four weapons in every village and if the village head doesn't turn them in each month, he will be considered a GAM supporter. The whole strategy is to terrorise the support base of GAM. But virtually the whole population of Aceh sympathise with GAM because they want to be free."

Only small ultra-reactionary Islamic groups support Aceh's integration with Indonesia, Kautsar told GLW. Some work with the military. One group, Indonesian Islamic Students, recently organised a concert with the military under the slogan, "Peace is beautiful".

Another group organised a demonstration against the visit of the US ambassador to Aceh. However, Kautsar noted, protest was not against US support for Jakarta's state terror in the province but to oppose any role for non-Muslim groups in efforts to mediate in the conflict. These forces were socially isolated, said Kautsar, and can only play a political role because of the backing of the military.

Negotiations

Indonesia's terror campaign has forced GAM, the largest and only armed pro-independence force, underground.

"It is no longer possible for GAM to run the local civil administrations like it did a year or so ago. Now organising is done quietly. The people are still totally behind the call for independence and are very loyal to GAM", Kautsar explained.

"Because the FPDRA concentrates on unarmed civil organising and campaigning, we have a little more room to organise. As a result more people are joining us. They don't want to be passive, they want to do something. It is hard for us also, but we have been able to organise some open protests, despite the intimidation."

Kautsar said that a recent round of negotiations between GAM and the Indonesian government were a backward step compared to the previous negotiations. "Probably the most important agreement last time was for the establishment of a Democratic Consultative Bureau to be staffed by GAM and Indonesian government appointees. This bureau was to facilitate open discussion of all the issues, but that never happened. Jakarta never appointed anybody to the body. Now, the right to openly discuss the issues without reprisals is not even on the agenda."

"These last negotiations were held under duress. There are still GAM negotiators in jail, both in Aceh and in Jakarta. We really wonder why GAM agreed to the talks when their own negotiators are being held in prison", Kautsar added.

This will be a tough year for Aceh, Kautsar told GLW. Megawati has clearly opted for a military solution. But he pointed to signs of progress on other fronts.

"The FPDRA has now expanded its network, including in Banda Aceh and Lohksumawe. We are joining up older people now, not only students. These include farmers and small traders outside the towns. In the towns, labourers, trishaw drivers and others are joining.

"After being quiet for a while, university students are also beginning to organise again. There are many small new faculty based groups on the campuses and some have done joint actions on campus with Students in Solidarity with the People (SMUR), a member organisation of FPDRA. We have been able to form a new coalition, the Democratic Society Coalition (KMD), but it still confined to Banda Aceh."

Another positive development, said Kautsar, was the GAM leadership's new preparedness to listen to new ideas and work with other political forces. "They appear more open to working with the democratic movement in Indonesia than before. They have seen how some Indonesians are supporting us on human rights issues and, in the case of the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD), supporting us on the issue of a referendum and independence."

Kautsar elaborated that PRD lawyers from the People's Legal Aid Institute were defending the main GAM political prisoner on trial in Jakarta and that this has been noted in Aceh.

KPN 'could not do much in Theys' death probe'

Jakarta Post - February 20, 2002

Jakarta -- Head of the National Investigation Commission (KPN) Koesparmono Irsan said they could not do much to unravel the mystery behind the death of Papua pro-independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay since they do not have official judicial or lawenforcement authority.

According to the presidential decree that constituted the commission, it can only look into the alleged crime and make a recommendation to the government. "The commission's rights for investigation rest with its members from the police, the Attorney General's Office and the military police," said Koesparmono, adding that the commissionwas still studying the findings by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the police.

KPN was formed to investigate the killing of Theys who was found dead one day after he was reportedly kidnapped on his way home from a function at the local unit of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) in the provincial capital of Jayapura, Irian Jaya.

Probes by local police authorities and the Army'sinvestigation pointed toward the involvement of certain military elements as responsible.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged on Tuesday for the public to give KPN a chance to work.

Acehnese women protest extortion, corruption cases

Jakarta Post - February 20, 2002

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh -- In a rare event in war-torn Aceh, more than 40 traders, all women, held a protest march in Banda Aceh against extortion and the local administration's corruption of government subsidies.

The protesters marched from near the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque to the governor's office holding banners protesting the blackmailing of small-scale traders in traditional markets. They also protested the discriminative distribution of financial assistance to local traders.

Rally coordinator Zainabon said many officials in the city administration did not distribute financial assistance to local traders fairly. "The government has allocated Rp 30 billion to empower small-scale traders and roadside vendors but so far most of the funds have been distributed to officials' cronies and families," she said during a free speech forum in Simpang Lima.

She also called on local security authorities to crack down on hoodlums and unauthorized city officials who extorted traders and roadside vendors in the city.

A senior official at the governor's office, who asked for anonymity, supported the protest rally, saying many local officials' families and cronies had corrupted the money. "The rally is a strong indication that the extortion has been a major problem among the traders because such protests have happened very rarely," he said.

Following the mounting tension between the security authorities and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) since 1998, many locals have been reluctant to hold protest marches. The rally proceeded while a ceremony was held to mark the recent revival of the Iskandar Muda Military Command overseeing the province, at the military command's headquarters in the city.

On Tuesday, the Iskandar Muda Military Command supervising the province also installed their headquarters in a thanksgiving ceremony, locally known as peusojuek In the ceremony, Brig. Gen. M. Djali Yusuf, chief of the military command warned the militant Laskar Jihad group against trying to create more disturbances in the restive province.

"I don't want to see the security situation in Aceh being harmed. Should they [Laskar Jihad members] foment new violence in Aceh, the Indonesian Military will face them," he said. Djali told the Java-based extremist group to disclose the motive behind its arrival in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh. "What's the use of their entry to Aceh? Do they want to wage holy war? Who do they want to fight? We already have a security institution," he said.

The recently installed military chief said that security personnel would arrest group members if they sparked violence in Aceh. The warning came a day after Laskar Jihad held a gathering inside Banda Aceh's Baiturrahman Grand Mosque on Monday, which was attended by about 200 people, mostly its own members.

Laskar Jihad armed forces commander Jafar Umar Thalib led a second gathering at the newly inaugurated Laskar Jihad headquarters in Banda Aceh on Tuesday. The notorious group had planned for a mass rally at the mosque on Monday, a move met by strong opposition from the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and other Acehnese.

Objections also came from local religious leaders, who banned a rally organized by Laskar Jihad who have alleged ties to army generals. As separatist rebels warned of using force to prevent the militants from staging the rally, Tengku Sofyan Hamzah, leader of the main mosque, said the event could lead to a religious war in Aceh.

However, despite the ban, Laskar Jihad went ahead with the peaceful gathering on Monday led by Jafar, which was held after late afternoon Ashar prayers. No attacks on the militants were reported. Ahead of the prayers, group members installed its own microphone at the yard, but later moved it inside the mosque.

In a sermon lasting more than an hour, Jafar called on Acehnese to unite with Muslims and reject western intervention in resolving the conflict. He accused westerners of destroying Islam and Muslims. "If conflict takes place among Muslims, the solution should be referred to the teachings of Alquran and Prophet Muhammad, not by asking for help from non-Muslims."

He said that only Muslim countries should be involved in mediating in peace talks between Acehnese and the government. "If OIC [the Organization of Islamic Conference] members are asked for help, God willing they will want to do so."

Jafar denied rumors he would be arrested by police in Banda Aceh ahead of Monday's gathering. "A police intelligence officer did come to me to know about me and to say hello to me," he said. He also denied that Laskar Jihad's entry to Aceh would spark more violence, saying his visit was only part of the organization's routine activities. "We have just opened the provincial branch of Laskar Jihad in Banda Aceh. Our activities here focus on social affairs and propagation as we do in other provinces," he said,

Western intelligence sources say hardline Muslim generals covertly set up Laskar Jihad two years ago as a tool to destabilize former president Abdurrahman Wahid, a reformist Muslim cleric.

GAM leaders said they refused the presence of Laskar Jihad in Aceh because it could create religious, racial and ethnic problems. They accused the Indonesian Military of backing their entry in the war-torn province.

Laskar Jihad has waged a holy war against Christians in the country's eastern Maluku islands and in the Poso regency in Central Sulawesi.

Laskar Jihad rally in Aceh flops amid opposition

Straits Times - February 19, 2002

Banda Aceh -- Plans by a paramilitary group to hold its first mass rally in Indonesia's Aceh province flopped yesterday, following strong objections from separatist rebels and other Acehnese.

Laskar Jihad chief Jaffar Umar Thalib took over the podium at the main Baiturrahman mosque in the provincial capital Banda Aceh following late afternoon prayers, witnesses said.

But there were only about 100 people inside the mosque, half of them from Laskar Jihad, when he began his sermon on "how Muslims should be aware of Christians and the Jews". The Islamic group brought its own speaker and microphone. Mosque officials, who opposed plans for the rally, were not present during his speech.

Laskar Jihad has waged a "holy war" against Christians in Maluku islands and at Poso in Central Sulawesi.

But the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) protested against the group's planned incursion into Aceh, saying it is not waging a religious war but a struggle against the government in Jakarta.

GAM rebel spokesman Ayah Sofyan said last week that GAM intelligence suggested that the Indonesian armed forces were backing the mass rally plan by the Java-based group.

US Ambassador: I won't interfere in Aceh

Tempo - February 16, 2002

Widjajanto/Dyah Prabandari, Jakarta -- The United States offered to facilitate in solving the Acehnese problem. This statement by US Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph L. Boyce caught people's attention. Interviewed by Tempo News Room at his office on Friday evening, following his trip to North Sumatra, Boyce said that the offer would be conditionally implemented if Indonesia requested it.

There has been no official request from Indonesia for the US to be a facilitator. Boyce explained during his recent visit to Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) that he had offered to be a facilitator, not a mediator.

"There is a difference between a mediator and a facilitator," he said. Boyce explained that a facilitator would ask other countries to support Indonesia in holding a dialog with the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

"As a mediator, the US would have to contact the two sides [Indonesia and GAM] and be actively involved in monitoring the cease fire and take part in all phases of the solution to the conflict," Boyce added.

The US did not want to be a mediator in the Aceh problem, Boyce said, but it did not mean that the White House is reluctant to support Indonesia. "We see the conflict in Aceh as a problem that must be solved by Indonesians themselves," Boyce said.

As a facilitator, the US will not be interfering in Aceh, Boyce added. The US had further repeatedly reaffirmed its position regarding the conflict between Indonesia and GAM. "We do not support GAM's demand to separate from Indonesia. We do not support any movement that wants to separate Aceh from Indonesia. We have repeatedly restated the US commitment to support Indonesia's territorial integrity," he said.

Corporate globalisation

Privatisation to make Indonesia 'nation of coolies': politician

Agence France Presse - February 21 2002

Jakarta -- A powerful politician has expressed fears a privatisation programme will turn Indonesia into a "nation of coolies."

"With the government so easily selling off state-owned company shares to foreign parties, Bung Karno's [ex-president Sukarno's] fears about Indonesia becoming a nation of coolies may yet come true," Amien Rais, the chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly, said.

The privatisation programme, seen by international lenders as a key part of economic reforms, is already faltering amid opposition from some sections of the public.

Rais, quoted by the state Antara news agency late Wednesday, said selling all state-owned companies was unpatriotic, un- nationalistic and completely wrong. He said millions of hectares of palm-oil plantations in Sumatra were now owned by a Malaysian company and the situation would worsen if the government sold its 51-percent stake in PT Semen Gresik to Mexican cement company Cemex.

"I know and believe that if, one by one, the country's assets are sold to foreign parties, we will end up as a nation of coolies," Rais said, using the term referring to unskilled native labourers in East Asia. He said he would urge members of the House of Representatives (lower House) to stop the planned sale of Semen Gresik.

Last November the government, bowing to regional pressure, said it would only go ahead with a partial privatisation of Semen Gresik, the country's largest cement producer. But the announcement failed to mollify objectors.

The World Bank has warned Jakarta to overrule provincial government attempts to take over Semen Gresik's local affiliates or put its future asset sales at risk.

This year's budget envisages a deficit of 42.134 trillion rupiah, equivalent to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product. To help cover the shortfall, a privatisation programme is scheduled to contribute 3.952 trillion rupiah. Asset sales by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency are to generate 19.548 trillion and the rest is due to come from foreign financing.

Among impending asset sales is that of Bank Central Asia, the country's largest private retail bank. An official of the bank's labour union, quoted by Thursday's Jakarta Post, said 80 percent of the employees would go on strike if the sale went ahead.

Leading bidders are British-based Standard Chartered and a consortium led by US investment firm Farallon Capital.

Corporate governance crucial to investment: World Bank

Agence France Presse - February 19, 2002

Jakarta -- Corporate governance reform is crucial to the Indonesian government's effort to attract more investors to the country, the World Bank said Tuesday.

"Corporate governance reform is key in attracting more investors to Indonesia," the World Bank said in a statement citing the conclusions of a workshop organized by the bank here Tuesday.

The workshop, co-organized by the National Committee for Corporate Governance (NCCG), said poor corporate governance in East Asia, including in Indonesia, had contributed to the Asian financial crisis that swept the region from 1997.

It said the main elements of corporate governance, including transparency, accountability, fairness and responsibility, had been missing in the way many businesses operated in the country. Related party transactions, especially in bank lending, had also contributed to the collapse of Indonesia's banking system.

"The state must rise to the same challenges as the private sector in appointing competent commissioners and board members to state-owned enterprises," said the World Bank's country director for Indonesia, Mark Baird. Baird also said in his address to the workshop that setting high standards was also a "key requirement" for accountants, auditors and lawyers.

Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti said that Indonesia has special problems of its own in corporate governance. "It seems to be in a continual 'catch up' mode," Kuntjoro-Jakti said.

The government, he added, was facing a lot of limitations in promoting corporate governance and the private sector should lead the initiative. "The government can play its part in consolidating financial sector oversight and addressing weaknesses in the tax collection system," the World Bank statement quoted him as saying,

NCCG chairman I Nyoman Tjager in his speech stressed the importance of competitiveness in efforts to draw investment into Indonesia. "Indonesia is competing globally for scarce capital investment. investors are concerned about transparency and disclosure in the use of funds," Tjager said.

Government & politics

Two killed in fresh attacks in Yogyakarta

Jakarta Post - February 21, 2002

Yogyakarta -- At least two people have been killed and several others wounded when two separate groups of people dressed in Ninja garb attacked rivals linked to major political parties in Yogyakarta province.

Sigit Purnomo, a supporter of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), died on Wednesday after a group of rivals believed to be members of the United Development Party (PPP) attacked him at around 4 a.m.

The Ninja-garbed attackers riding motorcycles stabbed Sigit outside Jogja Cafe located on Jl. Kyai Mojo, where he worked as a car park security guard. He died from serious head injuries a few minutes after being rushed to Bethesda hospital. His friend Sudarsono was wounded in the leg during the attack.

Earlier on Tuesday, another PDI Perjuangan supporter, identified as Nurgianto, was also fatally attacked by a similar group of people wearing masks and carrying spears and machetes. They also attacked at least five kiosks and houses, including one belonging to Nurgianto, who is a member of the local PDI Perjuangan security task force. Another unnamed party sympathizer was injured in Tuesday's incident.

Also on Tuesday evening, similar attacks were launched at the branch offices of PDI Perjuangan and PPP in Yogyakarta. However, local police refrained from saying if the two separate attacks were related despite similarities.

"No matter what is behind the two incidents, police will treat them as criminal cases," Yogyakarta Police intelligence chief Comr. Suroto said. He said that police were investigating the incidents to seek the motive behind them.

On February 3, clashes also erupted in the tourist city when PDI Perjuangan supporters attacked rival PPP supporters who had just left a rally to celebrate the party's 29th anniversary.

Leaders of both parties held a meeting at the city's police office on Wednesday. They agreed to take measures to prevent their supporters from being involved in attacks on rival groups.

During the meeting, PPP was represented by its local senior leader Nanda Irwan, and PDI Perjuangan by Cindelaras Yulianto and Andre Subiantoro. "No concrete measures were agreed to in the meeting. But, the two sides are committed to ending the violence," Suroto said.

Police said Yogyakarta was still tense as retaliation attacks between rivals were rumored to be going to take place on Wednesday night. The violent brawls between PDI Perjuangan and PPP supporters are linked to the long-standing rivalry between the parties.

Intelligence sources in Yogyakarta Police said a more serious incident could occur if the conflicting sides did not restrain themselves. "Actually this is also part of longstanding rivalry between different groups of hoodlums in Yogyakarta, affiliated to PDI Perjuangan and PPP," a police source told The Jakarta Post.

Leaders of PDI Perjuangan and PPP, however, blamed provocateurs for the latest incidents. "I'm sure that this was not done by our party supporters. This is the work of provocateurs," secretary of PPP provincial branch Muslih Ilyas said.

Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, and provincial police chief Brigadier General Wahyu Saronto appeared on state television on Tuesday to appeal for calm. The sultan was accompanied by provincial leaders from the two parties in the television appearance, during which he expressed regret over the incidents. The sultan said the people of Yogyakarta would suffer a huge loss if such attacks were not put to an end.

Corruption/collusion/nepotism

Pressure mounts to probe smuggling scam

Jakarta Post - February 20, 2002

Nana Rukmana, Cirebon -- Amid increasing public outrage, authorities in Cirebon have agreed to fully investigate the failed attempt to smuggle luxury cars into Indonesia and allegations the customs department later unlawfully played a role in forwarding the items to a local businessman.

Authorities met on Tuesday in response to a demonstration held by 200 supporters of several political parties who demanded the case be handled transparently.

The decision was finally made during a meeting between the legislature, the local attorney's office chief Iskamto and Adj. Sr. Comr. Siswandi of Cirebon police.

Soenaryo, deputy chairman of the regency legislature, said that it and authorities also agreed to let police take control of the case from the local customs and excise office.

Ironically, the customs department originally busted the smuggling operation when 19 containers from Singapore containing the cars and television sets were discovered early last month.

Customs said the containers were then delivered to a storehouse belonging to a local businessman, named Jhony, after gaining a recommendation from state-owned shipping port management company PT Pelabuhan Indonesia II (Pelindo).

However, Pelindo General Manager Jusni Johan denied giving the recommendation to customs. "Pelindo has no authority to give permission to the local customs and excise office to take the containers out of the seaport," he said.

Jusni challenged customs to bring Johny to the meeting to clarify his statement. Siswandi said the police would investigate the case thoroughly and bring all persons allegedly involved to court, including any customs officers implicated.

The 19 containers ordered by shipping company PT Tiang Grade were brought in by MV Sentosa Jaya on Jan. 10, 2002. They were confiscated when customs found the items without official documents inside.

Red-faced Sutiyoso admits to owning villa in forbidden area

Jakarta Post - February 20, 2002

Jakarta -- City Governor Sutiyoso probably feels a bit reluctant to deplore any further the development of villas in mountainous Puncak resort, Bogor, which were believed to have contributed to the recent floods in the city, after he was "caught red handed" owning a villa himself.

As his face turned a shade of red, Sutiyoso admitted on Tuesday that he bought the villa cheaply when he was the Bogor Military Resort Commander in 1994. Without mentioning the price of the villa or its land, he said that it was located on state land.

However, he claimed that he never stayed at the villa as he was "allergic" to cold weather. "I can't stand cold weather. It's okay if they [Bogor regency] want to demolish the villa, but other villas should also be demolished," the governor told reporters at City Hall.

Tugu village chief Jajat Sudrajat announced on Monday that Sutiyoso was one of several former top military officials who owned villas in the area. Jajat revealed that the villa and 11 others which belonged to former military officials, stood on state land and had no building permits.

Sutiyoso's villa, measuring 200 square meters, stands on aone- hectare plot of land in Tugu village, Cisarua district. A reliable source said that former Indonesian Military (TNI) Chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto owned a villa next to the Governor's. Asked whether Wiranto's villa was next to his, Sutiyoso replied, "I don't know."

Several high-ranking city officials, including West Jakarta Mayor Sarimun Hadisaputra, reportedly own villas in Puncak but use the names of relatives as the owners. "It's slander. I don't have property there," Sarimun once said.

Sutiyoso also claimed on Tuesday that his villa was not a luxurious one, and that it did not disturb the land. "It's a traditional style house built on stilts which does not affect water catchment. It would only take 10 minutes to demolish the house," he said.

The governor, who had been criticized for his incompetence in controlling the floods, had argued that the development of villas in Puncak, which were designated as water catchment areas for low-land Jakarta, contributed to the floods. He blamed the local administration in Bogor regency, for giving development permits for the villas to individuals and private companies.

Jajat's announcement, which apparently stung Sutiyoso, was believed to be engineered by Bogor regency officials, one of the benefits of regional autonomy which inspires lower officials tochallenge higher officials. Lower officials in regencies were often blamed for the development of the villas although most were approved by top officials in Jakarta.

Regional/communal conflicts

Two die in Batam riot

Jakarta Post - February 21, 2002

Batam -- Two men were killed in rioting involving 100 members of the Barisan Brigade youth organization at a major taxi stand in Batamindo Industrial Estate at Mukakuning on Batamisland on Tuesday night.

The victims were identified as Gomgom Nadapdap, 35, a food vendor, and Gotma Sihombing, 24, a taxi middle man.

Head of the Barelang Police station Sr. Comr. Suhartono said on Wednesday that the riot started when a member of the youth organization was waiting for a taxi. A middle man asked him his destination, to which he replied rudely. The middleman then punched him.

A few hours later he returned with 100 Barisan Brigade members, who ransacked food stalls and attacked taxi middle men. The two victims, Nadapdap and Gomgom, were rushed to Otorita Batam Hospital but died soon after arrival.

"We've arrested eight youth members allegedly involved in the killings," explained Suhartono.

The police said riots occurred frequently in the industrial complex. He said he had often called on local authorities to build public facilities, including a bus terminal, and to issue regulations against middle men.

He said the presence of middle men at the taxi stand hadcaused much social unrest. Currently, there are around 200 middle men working in three shifts. The police, supported by 100 security guards of the Batamindo Industrial Estate, have been put on alert.

Local & community issues

NTT budget ignites strong protests from local activist

Jakarta Post - February 21, 2002

Yemris Fointuna and R.K. Nugroho, Kupang/Jayapura -- A score of activists conferred Wednesday 55 coffins to the 55-member of the East Nusa Tenggara provincial legislative council in their protest of the legislature's 2002 budget totaling Rp 12 billion.

The protesters grouped in the Network Caring for People's Money (Jalur) also threatened to call on the local people to pay taxes and other obligations to the local administration unless the budget was revised within 24 fours.

They said they were disappointed with the legislature for having no a sense of crisis neither solidarity for a majority of local people who have been living in a poor condition due to the prolonged economic crisis.

"We will launch a massive campaign to call on local people not pay taxes to the government unless the budget is revised within 24 fours [on Wednesday]," Yolanda who coordinated the demonstration,said after the protesters put the empty coffins at the legislature building.

The province's 2002 budget endorsed on Monday allocates 35 percent, or Rp 12 billion, of the province's total revenue of Rp 42 billion in the fiscal year. The remaining Rp 30 billion is allocated for the government's routine spending and development projects. The legislature's budget was raised by around 33 percent from the previous Rp 9.3 billion.

Controversial points in the legislature's spending that have sparked sharp criticism from the activists were the Rp 1.32 billion representation allowance, Rp 825 million package funds, Rp 500 million health care, Rp 100 million uniforms, Rp 2.9 billion official tour and Rp 4 billion operation costs, including legislators' basic salary. With all the allowances, the legislators receive each a total of Rp 19 million per month or Rp 219 million per year.

According to Yolanda, the legislature's budget was too bombastic and did not reflect the people's poor condition. "The legislature which is said represent the local people is unfair and has no solidarity with the people if they are paid high while a major part of the people are living a poor condition," he said, citing the annual per capita income in the province was Rp 510,500.

Data at the local office of the Logistics Agency (Bulog), 80 percent, or 550,146 families, of the four million population in the province have lived in the poor condition because of the continued economic crisis.

Deputy Chairman of the legislative council Paul Detag, who received the protesters, said the deliberation of the legislature' budget was conducted in line with the official procedure and the law. "There is no manipulation in the budget and it was deliberated with the provincial administration in accordance with the official procedure and the law on regional autonomy," he said.

Of the province's budget totaling Rp 177 billion, Rp 135.2 billion came from the state budget in the form of general allocation funds (DAU) to pay civil servants' salaries.

Johanis Kosapilawan, spokesman for the provincial administration, admitted that the executive was not involved during the deliberation of the legislature's draft budget for unclear reasons. "The provincial administration's team was asked to leave the legislature when its budget commission deliberated the legislature's draft budget," he said.

Meanwhile in Jayapura, the Indonesian democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction at the provincial legislative council turned down the province's draft budget because of the unclear implementation of the special autonomy in the restive province.

Komaruddin, chairman of the PDI Perjuangan faction, said the government was inconsistent since the draft budget was based on the special autonomy while its implementation has yet to be launched officially.

"Our faction needs not only money but, mainly, the government's enforcement of the special autonomy law in the province," he said. He said that so far, none of the law has been implemented and necessary regulations to enforce the law have yet to be issued.

Other factions have yet to issue their response to the draft budget totaling Rp 1.9 trillion, Rp 1.6 trillion of which was proposed from the special autonomy.

Fishermen protest new fishing taxes

Jakarta Post - February 20, 2002

Agus Maryono, Purwokerto -- Thousands of fishermen in Central Java are slated to meet President Megawati Soekarnoputri later this week to demand her intervention in revoking two separate fishing taxes, which were brought into effect two months ago.

They protested the two taxes, called the fishing vessel tax (PPP) and the fishing income tax (PHP). The new taxes have been introduced under a government decree issued by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, which are in addition to the five percent levy on sales that they are obliged to pay.

Under the new decree, fishermen must pay PHP tax amounting to 2.5 percent of their fishing income every time they return to port. Meanwhile, PPP tax is collected every year and its amount is adjusted to the weight of a fishing vessel. As an example, a 30- ton boat is charged Rp 3 million tax.

The fishermen said they were preparing to leave for Jakarta later this week to meet Megawati to urge her to scrap the decree. "Currently, we are seeking ways to afford the trip to Jakarta. Hopefully, we can depart to Jakarta at least on Saturday," Tampari, a 40-year-old fisherman, who was among the protesters, told The Jakarta Post on Monday. "We want Ibu President to revoke the new taxes because they will cause us a great deal of hardship," he said.

Tampari further argued that fishermen are already charged five percent of their sale earnings at fish auctions. The owners of fishing boats and their crew members have expressed support for the fishermen's plan to meet Megawati.

Last Thursday, at least 2,000 fishermen, including Tampari -- from Pekalongan, Tegal, Brebes, Pemalang, Batang, Pati and Semarang -- staged a demonstration at Tegal harbor to push their demand for the revocation of the two taxes. The protest was held while senior officials from the maritime and fisheries ministry were visiting the harbor. However, they responded coolly to the fishermen's demands.

Some posters carried by the protesters read: "Fishermen are not a cash cow. Just because they [the government] are in power, that doesn't mean they should impose taxes arbitrarily. Here, fishermen are in serious difficulties".

Heriyanto Marwoto, secretary of the fishery directorate general, told protesters that he could not decide on the fishermen's demand that the taxes be scrapped. "We come here not to give a decision on your demand. We can only accommodate the aspirations of fishermen and ship owners. We will deliver your aspirations to the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries," he said.

Having heard the response from Heriyanto, the fishermen admitted that they were dissatisfied with his promise. "I, and thousands of my colleagues here, are dissatisfied with your explanations. Don't be surprised if we all head to Jakarta to meet the President," Ardan, a representative of the protesting fishermen from Pekalongan, told Heriyanto during the demonstration.

He complained that to pay Rp 3 million in PPP tax for their boats, it would take an impossible amount of time for fishermen to earn such money, adding that most fishermen in Pekalongan worked on vessels weighing three tons.

Lampung NGOs threaten to mass protest against budget

Jakarta Post - February 20, 2002

Oyos Saroso HN, Bandar Lampung -- An alliance of 36 non- governmental organizations (NGOs) has threatened to call for a mass protest against the 2002 Lampung budget, which they say only benefits the local elite.

According to the NGOs, they will urge locals to stop paying taxes and other obligatory fees to the government and request that the central government postpone disbursement of the budget until changes are made to it.

"The people should not pay their taxes to the government should a bigger part of the budget be allocated to improve officials' welfare while the majority of people, especially those worst hit by natural disasters, are left in poor circumstances," Idhan Januwardana, spokesman for the NGOs' alliance, said at a media conference here on Monday.

He said the NGOs' coordinators would travel to Jakarta to meet President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno to request that the government postpone disbursement of the budget.

The NGOs grouped in the Public Network Caring for Transparency and Regional Autonomy (JMPTOD), includes the Lampung Parliament Watch (LPW), Lampung Anti-Corruption Committee Center for Development Studies (Pusiban) and Center for Studies of Development Policy (Puskab).

Of the Rp 486,307 billion 2002 budget that was endorsed by the Lampung legislative council last Saturday, 66.45 percent or Rp 311.182 billion has been allocated for routine spending and only 33.55 percent, or Rp 157.125 billion is earmarked for development projects.

Despite minor changes to the budget, the increase by 13.5 percent in the budget from the 2001 budget totaling Rp 412.5 billion is aimed not at helping solve numerous problems the people face, but reportedly at improving the welfare of the local elite.

Cladius Dalu Maran, spokesman for the legislature's budget commission, said on Saturday that his commission had cut Rp 9 billion from routine spending and allocated it to development projects. "A part of the funds will be used to help hundreds of families affected by flooding in East and South Lampung regencies," he said.

Idhan said both the provincial government and the legislature had no sense of crisis and solidarity with the people because no significant changes had been made to the budget, which students and experts in the province have also sharply criticized.

Armen Yasir, cofounder of LPW, said the NGOs would file a class- action suit against the provincial administration and the legislature for violating Government Regulation No. 110/2000 on the appointment of local officials, their allowances and facilities, requiring both the executive and legislative bodies to make adjustments that reflect the reality.

"In this case, both the provincial administration and legislature are in violation of both the government regulation and the 1999 law on regional autonomy over which the people are allowed to file a class action," he said.

The NGOs, students and observers have criticized the budget for increasing legislators' gross salary to Rp 22.1 million per month this fiscal year from the previous Rp 4 million and increases in the governor's monthly salary, allowances and other benefits.

Armen said the 2002 budget indicated collusion between the executive and the legislative council, which should be investigated.

Ari Darmastuti, coordinator of the Center for Studies of Development Policy (Puskab), said that despite being endorsed, the central government could delay disbursement of the budget because it was in contrary to the law.

She said the high pay of the governor, deputy governor and members of the legislative council were not a guarantee that corrupt and collusive practices would be eradicated in the province.

She regretted that the local elite in the administration and legislative council had failed to pay attention to poverty, malnutrition, unemployment and education.

Human rights/law

Rights activist HJC Princen dies at 76

Jakarta Post - February 23, 2002

Jakarta -- Senior human rights activist Haji Johannes Cornelis Princen who died early on Friday after suffering a stroke, was eventually laid to rest at Pondok Kelapa cemetery in East Jakarta late Friday afternoon. He was 76.

Among those who attended his burial were activistsand law practitioners such as Luhut Pangaribuan, Muchtar Pakpahan, Hariman Siregar, Jopy Lasut and Gurmilang Kartasasmita. Also paying their respects at the burial were military veterans and friends from the movements of 1945, 1966 and 1974.

Princen passed away at his house on Jl. Arjuna III No. 24 in Pisangan Baru, Utan Kayu Selatan in East Jakarta after recently being treated at Cikini Hospital after a stroke. He is survived by his wife, Sri Mulyati and four children. Three of the childrenwere abroad.

Princen, a recipient of the prestigious Yap Thiam Hien Human Rights Award in 1992, had an extraordinary life history. Born in The Hague (Den Haag) on November 21, 1925, Princen, who had an extensive military background, was once an economic councillor of Teppemaand Vargroup Groothandel voor Chemische Producten in The Hague in 1942. He joined Stoottroepen Regiment Brabant and worked for the Bureau voor Nationale Veiligheid in 1945. He was once imprisoned in a German concentration camp and was moved to seven cities in Europe.

Princen, who was a member of the Netherland's military unit KNIL, then switched sides to join the Indonesian guerrilla fighters during Indonesia's struggle for independence against the Dutch. He also joined West Java's Siliwangi Long March in 1948 and was awarded the Guerrilla Star from Indonesia's first president Sukarno on October 5, 1949.

Due to his rebellious nature and unique passion for defending human rights, however, Princen was arrested many times under Sukarno and then president Soeharto's administration, including during the 1974 Malari incident.

Princen became a legislator in 1956 and became chairman of the Human Rights Defender Institution (LPHAM) in 1966. He was also among the founders of the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) in the early 1970's and was also a journalist for Netherlands Radio and several Dutch newspapers in Indonesia.

He also founded the Merdeka Labor Union (Serikat Buruh Merdeka) in early 1990. Among his prominent publications was his book "Riwayat Hidup di Negeri Belanda" (My Life History in the Netherlands) which was published in Dutch in 1989. The book drew controversy at the time within the Dutch community.

"We will miss him deeply ... a person of such fine quality, rich life experience and persistence in defending his belief in human rights," Munir, Princen's young colleague who is the foundation chairman of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims and Violence (Kontras), said over the phone on Friday

Ex-detainees seek full rights and compensation

Straits Times - February 19, 2002

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- In 1965, Mr Mujiman Jumakir, a member of the now dissolved Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), miraculously survived when Indonesian soldiers dumped him into a river near his village in Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra.

After two years in hiding, the military found him again and this time, he spent 24 years in prison. He was eventually released under strict conditions, including the requirement to report weekly to the local military and civilian authority. But it took the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998 to free him entirely from government scrutiny.

Mr Mujiman, now an activist for a Christian organisation that helped to win his release, has lost his family and his wife, who disappeared for security reasons because of their ties with him. Half-crippled from prison tortures, he has "ex-tapol" -- the Indonesian acronym for political prisoners -- printed on his identification card, which automatically gives him the status of second-rate citizen.

But all he wants is a simple apology from the government for his ill treatment. He is not alone in his sentiments. Nearly 500 former communist members, labour and student activists, and Muslim radicals imprisoned during the Suharto era have come together to seek redress -- the first such move ever seen in the country -- for the way they were ill-treated and ostracised by the former regime.

Last Friday, they held a two-day congress and demanded the restoration of their civil rights and financial compensation. The congress was opened by President Megawati Sukarnoputri's husband Taufik Kiemas, a former activist who had been jailed by Mr Suharto.

Said Mr Chris Siner Key Timu of the Justice Fellowship Indonesia, an organisation that helps rehabilitate former political prisoners: "Mr Taufik, as a former political prisoner himself, should help push Megawati to take action to rehabilitate these people."

Like Mr Mujiman, half of the participants were elderly, having spent most of their lives in prison. Many had also lost family members because of their links to the PKI.

The party was blamed as the mastermind of a 1965 abortive coup which helped usher Mr Suharto to power. Half a million people linked to the PKI were reportedly killed in the government- sponsored backlash, and hundreds of thousands more were jailed without proper legal process. These people have had problems getting jobs and entering schools. Government jobs and public posts are strictly out of bounds for them.

After former president B.J. Habibie came to power, all political prisoners were released. But even after that, getting together everyone who was once labelled subversive by the Suharto government was not an easy task as they comprised people with conflicting ideologies -- such as ultra-right-wing Muslims, leftist communists and socialists.

Former prisoner Iman Hidayat Al'Iqbal spent 12 years in jail for links to a group behind a plane hijacking in 1982 and an attack on a police station in West Java. "We were young and we wanted justice," he said. "But it was never our intention to build an Islamic state." He added: "We all deserve a second chance to prove that we are not as bad as the government had made us look."

News & issues

Tommy still enjoys special treatment

Jakarta Post - February 23, 2002

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta -- Former president Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra continues to enjoy special treatment even though he is now behind bars at Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta.

While other detainees have to share a cell with three or four other people, Tommy, who was sent to the penitentiary on Wednesday, occupies a newly renovated, spacious, furnished cell in a separate block. Tommy receives special treatment not only from prison guards, but also from inmates.

During Idul Adha (Sacrifice Day) prayers at the penitentiary's mosque on Friday, an inmate carried his branded sandals. It was apparent that everybody wanted to win his favor in hope that they might enjoy a bit of Tommy's abundant wealth.

And the once untouchable billionaire demonstrated that he knew how to behave. He impressed both inmates and guards by donating a goat and a cow. The cow was sacrificed in the name of his father Soeharto, who was once indicted for corruption but escaped trial because of ill health, his late mother, his wife and two children.

"It's good to have wealthy newcomers. From experience, I've always found them to be very generous," said prisoner 'Toni', referring to his experience with Tommy's business partner Ricardo Gelael.

Ricardo and Tommy were sentenced to 18 months in jail each for graft. Unlike Tommy, who escaped to avoid the sentence, Ricardo served the jail term at the penitentiary. "He always gave us cakes, expensive cigarettes, soap and sometimes he gave us money. It was nothing to him, but [in return] we wouldn't touch him," Toni added.

Tommy, who looked quiet, shook hands with other inmates after prayers, while several unidentified men protected him from the press.

The 40-year-old man is a suspect in the murder of Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, one of the judges who sentenced Tommy in October 2000 to 18 months in jail for corruption. After Tommy's request for a presidential pardon was rejected by then president Abdurrahman Wahid in November 2000, Tommy ran away. He was arrested in November last year.

In the first few days after the arrest, Tommy slept in an air- conditioned room at the city police headquarters and did not wear a detainee's uniform. On Thursday, his sisters, wife and lawyer visited him after visiting hours in an administration room instead of the visitor's room. One of his friends even visited him in his cell, a guard said.

There is a living room, a bedroom and a bathroom inside Tommy's cell, which used to be occupied by political prisoners who were jailed during his father's term. It is equipped with a television, a fan and a foam mattress. "They lay ceramics in the bathroom last week. They changed the toilet, too," an inmate told The Jakarta Post.

To ensure Tommy's safety, the penitentiary has assigned 10 of its 396 officers to guard him around the clock, according to Cipinang warden Ngusman.

Tommy's cell is located about 100 meters east of the main gate of the eight-hectare penitentiary. Other prisoners cannot easily reach the cell as they would have to pass three gates.

Terrorism? Indonesians laughing it off

Straits Times - February 21, 2002

Kuala Lumpur -- Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said here yesterday that his countrymen were laughing at what they saw as overblown fears of Islamic terrorism in the nation with the world's largest Muslim population.

"Each country has its own system and mechanism to deal with it," he told reporters after a meeting of the Malaysia-Indonesia Joint Commission during which both sides signed an agreement to cooperate against terrorism.

"We continue in our way to deal with these issues of terrorism -- internally, bilaterally, regionally and globally,' he said as he rejected international criticism that Jakarta was not doing enough to act against militants.

Indonesia's problems were mainly from "small groups with radical leanings" which enjoyed little mass support, he said. "When the outside world worries and looks at this ... largest Muslim nation facing radicalism, we laugh at it," he said. "We don't feel threatened ourselves by these small groups, because they do not enjoy wide support from our community."

He singled out Singapore Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew for commenting last week that terrorist leaders were at large in Indonesia. "First, his remark is unnecessary. It only provokes sentiments which may only hamper development of good bilateral relations between Indonesia and Singapore," he said. "Second, Lee's remarks are not substantiated allegations."

He added that Indonesia would send police teams to Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines to obtain 'substantive information' on the involvement of Indonesian militants. "We are not sitting passively," he said, but then added, "We haven't got sufficient information for us to act." He also said that unlike Singapore and Malaysia, Indonesia did not have an Internal Security Act which provided for indefinite detention of suspects without trial.

Indonesian National Assembly Speaker Amien Rais also struck a similar tone in Jakarta yesterday, accusing Mr Lee of meddling and said Singapore should apologise if it could not produce evidence to support the Senior Minister's remarks. "Lee has acted like the mouthpiece of President George Bush," he said. "He has intervened in other people's internal affairs. Singapore has to be more understanding and respectful towards its neighbours."

The latest comments came a day after security czar Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that if there was intelligence data, evidence and witnesses to support the notion that terrorist leaders were in Indonesia, "we are more than happy to cooperate". "If there is a tangible thing to be done, instead of having a debate in the media we had all better act cooperatively to address the real issue," he added.

He said the state intelligence body was looking into "whether these people do actually exist, and where their current locations are". "The government will respond promptly and accurately. I should remind you that in managing intercountry, or bilateral problems we should not get overly emotional," he said. He added that if these problems touched on the sensitive areas of a nation's dignity, sovereignty and the truth, Indonesia would not hesitate to deliver a strong statement.

At the talks in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said his country was "satisfied" with help from Indonesia, but there was a "need to strengthen this cooperation".

Indonesia is facing pressure from the US and South-east Asian neighbours to crack down on militants. Dozens of suspected militants arrested recently are thought to have ties to Indonesia-based cleric Abu Bakar Bashir -- said to be the leader of Jemaah Islamiah, which has links to the Al-Qaeda network.

Police worried about displaced thugs, sex workers

Jakarta Post - February 20, 2002

Jakarta -- Police fear the city administration's abrupt decision to close the Kalijodo prostitution and gambling complex in North Jakarta may increase the crime rate in the area as the government has not made efforts to provide alternative employment for the thugs and sex workers operating there.

The Kalijodo complex was a place where thousands of sex workers, food stall sellers, brothel owners, and thugs, operating as security guards and parking attendants, earned a living. City Governor Sutiyoso announced on Monday the plan to close the complex.

Com. Krisna Murti of Penjaringan Police said on Tuesday that the number of crimes committed in his district had increased rapidly after the spot was sealed last weekend following riots in the area. "In the past four days, there were eight reports of motorcycle thefts," he said, adding that the average incidence of such a theft was normally less than one per day. Krisna suspected that the crimes involved "unemployed" thugs at the Kalijodo complex.

He expressed concern about the impact of the closing as the city administration had not made any plan to handle the sudden unemployment. "It is easy for them just to order the closing without giving serious thought as to how to cope with the huge number of jobless people. The administration should immediately provide new jobs for them or else they will become a burden on society by becoming armed robbers or thieves." He said that the police would not be able to cope with the crimes.

The Kalijodo complex was controlled by three ethnic groups of thugs; the H. Usman group whose members were from Mandar, South Sulawesi; the Agus and Riri group who came from Banten province and the Aziz group who came from Makassar in South Sulawesi. Each group consisted of between 400 and 500 thugs.

The complex was sealed by the authorities on Saturday, following ethnic riots, triggered by the unfair distribution of "protection" money. One person died in the riot that led to the razing of 26 houses and an amusement center, while a police officer was badly injured by an arrow.

Man dies after rioting in Kalijodo

Jakarta Post - February 18, 2002

Jakarta -- One man was killed and 46 other people were arrested following riots in the Kalijodo prostitution complex in North Jakarta on Saturday.

A total of 26 houses were burned to the ground after two groups of thugs in the complex became involved in a brawl, which also led to the injury of a police officer. Sharp weapons, including knives, daggers and spears, were seized from the 46 people, including a woman named Ayun.

The riots began at 1:30 a.m. when about 200 men, who guarded the prostitution complex, began arguing over the distribution of the "safety" money, usually Rupiah 30,000 (2.95), each prostitute must pay the men per night. The quarrel soon erupted into a fight, which led to the burning down of the 26 houses, which were extinguished by two fire trucks.

City Police Detective Chief Sr. Comr. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said that one of the men, Daeng Subuh, 65, died while a policemen, Second Brig. Ronald, was hospitalized at the Cipto Mangunkusumo Central Hospital in West Jakarta after being hit by an arrow in his forehead. The situation was brought under control by 6 a.m.

Sixty percent of live below poverty line: academic

Agence France Presse - February 17, 2002

Jakarta -- The protracted economic crisis affecting Indonesia since 1997 has swelled the ranks of the country's poor to around 60 percent of the 215 million-strong population, an official said.

Gunawan Sumodiningrat, Vice President Hamzah Haz's deputy secretary, said in a lecture at a univerity in Malang, East Java that the growing number of poor was also due to their lack of motivation, skills and capital, the state Antara news agency said.

Sumodiningrat added that the absence of adequate public infrastructure and assisting institutions was also to blame.

An official survey on poverty showed the number of Indonesians living under the poverty line in 1996 at some 22.5 million, or 11.34 percent of the population. The advent of the economic crisis in 1997 pushed the percentage to 24.3 that year.

Sumodiningrat did not say how the poverty level is determined. There was no figure on the current income level marking poverty.

Informal sector/urban poor

Flood victims skeptical about free city services

Jakarta Post - February 23, 2002

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta -- The City Population Agency started a week of free services on Thursday for flood victims seeking identity cards (KTP), birth certificates and family cards. However, the service has proven ineffective and has failed to meet public expectations.

Hasni Suhaimi, a resident of Bendungan Hilir subdistrict, Central Jakarta, who was queuing at the subdistrict office for documents said that he doubted the effectiveness of the free service as he would have to wait one or two weeks to receive his documentation and might end up having to pay a fee.

"I lost both my identification card (ID) and family card (KK) during the flood. Now they've made it easy to fill in a request form. But can anyone guarantee that it will only be one week and be free of charge?," he said.

Another resident, Ramdan of Kedoya Utara subdistrict, West Jakarta, who wasn't aware of the ease of document processing, said that currently he had no intention of obtaining such documents as his neighborhood was still under water. "What I badly need now is some basic food and medical services, as the water level in my neighborhood has risen again," grumbled Ramdan, whose identification card (ID) was damaged in the floods.

The subdistrict has set up a special post to process documents for its residents. However, only residents living along the main streets in the subdistrict knew about it.

Secretary of Pengadegan subdistrict, South Jakarta, Muhammad Ali, questioned the effectiveness of the program, saying that what people currently wanted was to see the flood waters receding, not new ID cards. "Processing an ID card is an easy thing, and it's free all the time, not just during this special program," he said.

The Pengadegan subdistrict was listed as one of those targeted for assistance from the Population Agency in the document processing service. But in fact the subdistrict has not received any assistance from the agency. "I have not received any letter from the agency or from the district office about holding the program", he said.

Kebon Baru subdistrict in South Jakarta is in the same situation. According to the subdistrict chief, Asmarih, no officers from the Agency had visited his office that day. "If they want to hold the program here, we will welcome them, but for what? Here document processing is free anyway. We have offered easy processing for flood victims; for example, if their documents were completely lost, then they don't have to go to the police to report them lost. We will process their documents only on the unit chief's recommendation," he said.

The program excluded several of the worst affected subdistricts in the city, including Bidara Cina and Rawajati in South Jakarta and Penjaringan, Kapuk Muara and Pluit in North Jakarta.

The agency only listed 39 of the total 167 subdistricts affected by the recent floods. They include Kelapa Gading, Pademangan Barat and Papanggo subdistricts in North Jakarta, despite the fact that they were not seriously affected by the floods.

When pressed on the matter, Sylviana Murni, the head of the population agency said that some flood-affected areas had not been placed on the list due to the residents' refusal to come to the subdistrict office for document processing.

"It is impossible that the two subdistrict offices were uninformed about the program. We have been publicizing the program since Feb. 14," she said. When asked about the absence of banners or posters during the publicity process, Sylviana said that her office had only printed a limited number of banners and posters due to budget restrictions.

Government officials show disinterest in flood hearing

Jakarta Post - February 21, 2002

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta -- The floods that have plagued Jakarta for the past three weeks have claimed more than 30 lives and forced more than 380,000 people to take refuge. However, the magnitude of the recent disaster was not reflected in a hearing between the government and the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

Three governors -- Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, West Java Governor R. Nuriana and Banten Governor Hakamuddin Djamal -- were absent and only represented by their deputies at the hearing, although the House had scheduled them to attend. Jakarta Protocol Office did not include the hearing on the governor's schedule on Wednesday.

Sutiyoso tried hard to avoid reporters at City Hall, following reports of his possession of a villa in the nearby mountain resort of Puncak. After meeting his guests, he quickly entered his office, ignoring reporters who tried to approach him.

The Ministry of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure, the Ministry of Forestry and the Office of the State Minister of the Environment were represented by their senior officials. Officials from two other agencies -- the National Land Agency (BPN) and the National Aeronautical and Space Agency (LAPAN) -- also attended the hearing.

Chairman of House Commission IV for development affairs, Herman Suparno, had to delay the hearing for 30 minutes from the original time of 9 a.m. to wait for other legislators who arrived late. Only half of around 50 members of the commission attended the hearing. The main agenda was to discuss the recent floods but apparently just 15 of the legislators remained in the room until the close of the meeting. The four-and-a-half-hour hearing did not even provide an opportunity for representatives of Bogor, Cianjur and Tangerang regencies, mayoralties to inform the House on the calamity.

However, officials from the provinces and regencies believed that a comprehensive approach would be needed to solve the capital's flood problems. They said the poor environmental situation in Bogor, Puncak and Cianjur, West Java, was responsible for the worsening floods in the capital, as heavy rainfall in the areas would flow directly to Ciliwung River.

Data from the Office of the State Minister of the Environment show an increasing amount of erosion in the area, with around 400 tons of earth per hectare being swept down Ciliwung River every year.

Tangerang regency in Banten also plays an important role in dealing with the floods, as the plan to connect Ciliwing River to Cisadane River, which passes through Tangerang, must be approved by its administration. The project is expected to reduce the water level of Ciliwung River during the rainy season.

So far, the plan has been rejected by Tangerang's public and its councillors, fearing that connecting the Ciliwung and Cisadane rivers would cause more flooding in Jakarta.

Banten deputy governor Ratu Atut Choisiah said she needed to discuss the proposed project with other leaders in the province.

West Java Deputy Governor Deden Ruchlia said that the Jakarta administration could no longer dictate to West Java, particularly Bogor and Cianjur regencies, and take action without negotiation. "Bogor, Puncak and Cianjur will no longer act as lower partners to Jakarta. With regional autonomy, we are now equal partners to Jakarta," he added.

'Nearly all developers violate regulations'

Jakarta Post - February 20, 2002

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta -- City Council announced on Tuesday that more than 90 percent of developers in the city have violated regulations, requiring them to set aside 40 percent of their space for public and social facilities.

Deputy chairman of the council commission D for development affairs Ali Imran Hussein, urged the city administration to take legal action against the offending developers.

"The administration should not hesitate to sue the developers although some former top officials are behind them," Ali, of the United Development Party, said, after a hearing with the South Jakarta mayoralty.

According to Law No.4/1992 on housing and settlement, a housing developer should set aside 40 percent of its space for public and social facilities, such as parkland. Developers who violate the law could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail and/or a maximum fine of Rp 100 million (US$10,000).

According to city Bylaw 240/1995, shopping center developers are also required to provide 20 percent of their space for small enterprises. However, Bylaw No. 241/1995 states that developers can pay compensation to the administration if they are unable to accommodate small businesses. The administration is then expected to use the compensation money to accommodate the small businesses elsewhere.

Ali revealed that only 10 percent of 548 developers in South Jakarta have paid compensation of Rp 1.9 trillion, while the remaining 90 percent have yet to pay compensation amounting to more than Rp 20 trillion. "If they had all paid us then we would not have to complain about not having enough money to finance flood control projects," he said.

The mayoralty's secretary, Dadang Effendy, who is also the mayoralty's development control and supervision team head, promised to take stern action against the developers. "But I was just installed in this post last month. So give me some time to study the matter," Dadang said in the hearing.

The mayoralty's data showed that the developers, which have yet to fulfill the administration's requirements, include PT Danayasa Artatama owned by businessman Tommy Winata.

PT Danayasa, which developed Sudirman Central Business District with prestigious buildings, such as the Jakarta Stock Exchange and Bank Artha Graha, was considered "untouchable" after some retired army generals become the company's commissioners.

Another developer, which was owned by former city governor Tjokropranolo, had also not paid compensation for its shophouse complex on Jl. Benda, Cilandak, South Jakarta.

PT Metropolitan Kencana, which developed the luxurious housing complex Pondok Indah, reportedly also did not fulfill its obligation for public and social facilities.

Councillors have been demanding for years that the administration take stern action against violating developers or demolish certain illegal buildings. But it is believed the demands of councillors were weakened after developers "discussed" the matter with the administration and councillors.

On Tuesday, councillor Ali demanded that South Jakarta mayoralty demolish Apartment Executive Paradise on Jl. TB. Simatupang for not possessing any building permit. The mayoralty's officials promised to investigate whether the apartment developer had violated the regulation.

During the council's hearing with the West Jakarta mayoralty last week, it was also found that almost all developers in the mayoralty had not paid compensation.

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Infrastructure damage bill soars from floods

Agence France Presse February 17, 2002

Jakarta -- Flooding in Indonesia this year has damaged 1.8 trillion rupiah (176.5 million US) worth of infrastructure, a report said Sunday.

"According to provisional calculations, the country suffered a total loss of 1.8 trillion rupiah in damaged or destroyed roads, school buildings, dykes and drainages by the recent floods," Settlement and Regional Infrastructures Minister Sunarno (Eds: one name) said, the Antara news agency reported.

He said that in Jakarta alone floods since late Janaury had caused 700 billion rupiah of damage. Sunarno added that the estimates were based on the funds needed to repair or rebuild the ruined infrastructure and did not include the value of damage and losses of individual properties.

"In Jakarta alone around 100,000 homes have been damaged," he said. Recent flooding in the capital killed 67 people with 150 dead nationwide. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes.

Malnutrition another ordeal for the poor

Jakarta Post - February 18, 2002

Tangerang -- Nine-year-old Mahmud can only stare at the hospital room ceiling with empty eyes. His head looks bigger than it should be, his rib protrude and his stomach is extended. Bothhis hands and legs are stunted.

Despite being treated at Tangerang General Hospital for almost a week, he is still weak and underweight. He only weighs 13 kilograms, which is not in proportion to his 120 cm height.

Lasmida, one of the doctors treating Mahmud in the state hospital, said the boy suffered from what is medically called marasmus, which results from prolonged calorie and protein deficiencies.

Mahmud is the seventh of 10 children of Ri'in, 60, and Sutri, 49, residents of Gempol village, Rawa Jambe subdistrict in Teluk Naga district, Tangerang. Ri'in's family has seen more than its share of tragedy. Three of his children were stillborn. A fourth died when it was four months old.

"Mahmud suddenly fell over when he was walking last Monday and has been unable to walk ever since. At about 2 a.m. on Tuesday he fainted. I did not dare take him to hospital because I didn't have any money," Mahmud's father told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

Ri'in said he took his son to the hospital on Wednesday morning after several of his colleagues at Babussalam school foundation, where he works as a courier, urged him to. "I usually take my children to the Puskesmas [public health clinic], which is very cheap. But several colleagues at Babussalam Foundation insisted on Mahmud being treated at the hospital, so I brought him here," he said.

Five hours after receiving treatment at the hospital, Mahmud regained consciousness, but was still in pain and unable to talk as of Friday.

Ri'in said none of his children drank milk after they were weaned by his wife, who also did not eat proper meals due to the family's poverty. "I honestly said that I don't have money to buy milk. I would be very thankful if my children and my wife were able to eat twice a day, having rice, tofu and tempeh regularly," he said. "Sometimes, my kids have to eat cassava or sweet potatoes," he said, adding that it was hard to feed a family of eight on his Rupiah 280,000 monthly salary.

He said that because the family lived in poverty, he had not been able to enroll Mahmud in school until this year. He attends kindergarten at the school at which Ri'in works. At nine, Mahmud should be in third grade.

"I have tried many things to improve my finances, from becoming a construction worker to trying various businesses. But all ended in bankruptcy. God might have predestined us to suffer from such a condition," he said.

Mahmud is only one of more than 1,000 children in Tangerang municipality who have severe malnutrition because their parents are too poor to feed them properly. Data from the municipality's health agency shows that 1,139 under five-year-old children, mostly in its northern coastal areas, such as Teluk Naga, Kosambi and Pakuhaji districts, have malnutrition.

Health agency chief Bachtiar Oesman said over the weekend that the children's parents had become very poor because they had been laid off from their jobs or had failed harvests during the last few years.

Reportedly, hundreds of thousands of workers in the municipality had been laid off by factories that were facing hard times due to the economic crisis that first hit the country in 1997. Farmers, many of whom are found on the outskirts of the municipality, had failed harvests due to natural disasters or plant diseases.

Bachtiar promised that his agency would provide assistance to needy people. "We don't want to see a lost generation happen here," he said, adding that a number of people had been treated for malnutrition at Tangerang General Hospital.

Environment

West Java administration suspends industrial logging

Jakarta Post - February 23, 2002

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta -- The West Java administration has decided to suspend all industrial logging for the next three years in an attempt to re-green its barren forest areas, which have contributed to environmental deterioration and natural disasters such as floods and landslides over the last few years.

With the decision it hoped it would have a "breathing space" to rehabilitate its devastated forest and draft a bylaw to control its forestry and maintain its sustainable development program.

Mubiar Purwasasmita, an environment expert from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), told a media conference here on Wednesday that the moratorium on logging was the only feasible option for seeking a comprehensive solution to salvaging the province's forests, 95 percent of which had been converted to farmland and housing complexes.

"The suspension is more like shock therapy to local people, businesspeople and also the government following their failure to deal with the prolonged deforestation. All sides have yet to realize that the forest is already in a alarming condition," said Mubiar, also a member of the bylaw drafting team.

The media conference facilitated by the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) is part of a campaign for a national moratorium on logging. West Java province is the first administration to carry out such policy.

The suspension was imposed under a gubernatorial decree issued on Nov. 26, 2001, which orders state-owned timber company PT Perhutani and the provincial forestry unit to stop industrial logging from March 2002. The decree allows the logging only of teak but not from the preserved forests.

Under regional autonomy, the provincial administration has taken full control of the province's forests from state-owned PT Perhutani in the light of rampant illegal logging and intensive conversion of forest areas into agricultural land and housing complexes. That has caused flooding and landslides in critical areas of the province, including Bandung, the provincial capital. It aims to convert 40 percent of the barren areas into conservation areas by 2010.

Husein said the forested areas in the province had halved from 1.5 million hectares in the 1970s to 770,000 hectares in the 1990s. Some 70 percent of the remaining forest was damaged due to rapid population growth in the province.

The presence of villas and housing compounds in the Puncak mountain resort, a protected forest located in Bogor and Cianjur regencies, and the overflowing Citarum river in the province have also contributed to the recent flooding in Jakarta.

The issuance of the decree was forced by the indigenous people who believe that 45 percent to 55 percent of the province's 4.4 million square kilometer area should be covered by forest. In the indigenous people's declaration, titled Manglayang Demands, the residents point out that they want to designate the forest as a resource for their livelihood and culture and also, to maintain sustainable forest development and economic growth.

Former West Java governor Solihin GP, who is also member of the People's Consultative Assembly, said that business-oriented Perhutani no longer managed the forest. "The moratorium is essential to rehabilitate the forest. The loggers, who lost their jobs, can change profession to become helpers who reforest the province," he said.

Indonesian forests on borrowed time

BBC - February 20, 2002

Conservationists say the rate at which Indonesia is losing its forests has doubled since the 1980s. They say the lowland forests, the richest in the country, will not survive for long on some of the biggest islands. They blame corruption for driving "an epidemic of illegal logging".

Indonesia's forests are home to a wealth of species and are one of the world's biological treasures. The accusation comes from the World Resources Institute (WRI), Global Forest Watch (GFW), and Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI).

In a report, The State of the Forest: Indonesia, described as the first comprehensive map-based assessment of the country's forests, they say the deforestation rate doubled in the late 1990s.

While Indonesia was losing a million hectares of forest annually in the 1980s, the report says, nearly 2m ha are now being destroyed every year. Forest cover has fallen from 162m ha in 1950 to 98m ha in 2000.

There for the taking

The jewels in the crown, the lowland forests, have almost entirely disappeared from the island of Sulawesi. By 2005, the report says, they will have vanished across Sumatra, and by 2010 from Kalimantan. One of its co-authors, Emily Matthews, said: "Deforestation on this scale, at this speed, is unprecedented. Indonesia is rapidly moving from a forest-rich to a forest-poor country."

The report says this doubling of deforestation rates results mainly from "a corrupt political and economic system that regards natural resources as a source of revenue to be exploited for political ends and personal gain."

Togu Manurung, director of FWI, and another co-author, said: "Indonesia's economic miracle of the 1980s and 1990s was based on ecological devastation and abuse of local people's rights and customs. Our findings do not provide grounds for much optimism, despite clear signs of change in Indonesia."

The report says not only corruption is to blame, but lawlessness, illegal logging, political instability and over-expansion of forest industries. Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry says legal timber supplies from natural forests declined from 17m cubic meters in 1995 to under 8m in 2000.

Left homeless

The report says huge expansion in the plywood, pulp and paper industries in the last 20 years means that demand for wood fibre now exceeds legal supplies by up to 40m cubic metres annually. It says illegally cut wood accounted for as much as 65% of the supply in 2000.

Indonesia is home to 16% of the world's bird species, 11% of plants and 10% of mammals. These include the orang-utan and the Sumatran tiger, neither found anywhere else.

Two years ago the World Bank said the state of Indonesia's forests was so bad it might withdraw support for forestry protection projects.

Sea change needed

It said Indonesian maps showed the area of forest lost between 1985 and 1997 was greater than the entire state of Florida. Thomas Walton of the Bank said: "Illegal logging has become rampant, even in national parks, on a scale that exceeds the volume of legal logging, and the authorities look the other way. Only a radical departure from 'business as usual' will spare the nation and the world the loss of this precious natural resource."

Dirk Bryant, director of GFW, said: "Sixty-four million hectares of Indonesian forest have been cut down over the past 50 years. "There is no economic or ethical justification for another 64m ha to be lost over the next 50."

Forest, ground fires lead to return of haze

Agence France Presse - February 19, 2002

Jakarta -- Forest and ground fires, mainly blamed on land clearing practices, have led to the return of haze over parts of the Indonesian province of Riau in Sumatra island, officials and police said.

The haze, afflicting the region for about two weeks, was thickest around the oil town of Duri, said an official of the province's meteorology office. "The haze has returned for some two weeks and has been quite thick in the past few days," said police Second Sergeant Siringo-ringo in Duri.

"Visibility is only around about 30 meters and many on the streets are already wearing surgical masks," he said. He said the sun was not getting through the thick smoke which he said came from fires in forest and from land clearing in the areas around the town and that houses had their lights on during the day. "It has been like this for at least three days, from dawn to dusk," Siringo-ringo said.

The meteorology official in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province, some 45 kilometres south of Duri said that in Pekanbaru itself, haze was thin and did not affect visibility much during the day. "Early in the morning, visibility is around one kilometer but around noon it is usually already around five to six kilometres, so the haze is not yet a problem here," said the official, who only identified himself as Ibnu. Unlike in Duri, Pekanbaru has seen some drizzles that have helped clear the sky.

Another official, Anwar said the haze in Duri was mostly due to traditional land-clearing using fire to prepare for the new crop season. "The government has continued to warn the people about the negative effects of such land-clearing practice, but farmers are continuing with the burning of their fields because there is no enforcement and it is the most affordable way for them to clear their land for new crop," Anwar said.

The government has banned land clearing by fire following the series of widespread forest and ground fires that cast smoke and thick haze over the region and also covered the skies over Singapore and Malaysia for months.

Religion/Islam

Islamic groups spur business in Indonesia

Straits Times - February 23, 2002

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- Islamic organisations are making their mark on Indonesia's economy with growing operations in the retail, manufacturing and banking sectors. By applying their own brand of 'Islamic management', these groups believe they can be financially self-sufficient to achieve their religious cause.

Take Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second largest Islamic organisation, for instance. Previously, Muhammadiyah ran schools and hospitals. But when donations declined due to the 1998 economic crisis, it embarked on a plan of rapid business expansion and diversification.

In 1999, the group established PT Solar Global International (SGI). The organisation owns 60 per cent of SGI, while its members own the remaining 40 per cent.

First, SGI issued Katam, a smart card for Muhammadiyah members that can be used like an ATM card, in cooperation with the state-owned Bank Negara Indonesia. It also issued an insurance card. Next, Muhammadiyah set up PT Solar Sahara Investment (SSI). Then, a chemical factory was purchased for US$1 million, and more money was injected to develop its retail and fishery businesses.

The group also owns a distributor of spare parts for cars and exports furniture and fresh produce to the Middle-East. Its regional and provincial branches also run their own small- and medium-scale enterprises.

Muhammadiyah's counterpart, Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's strongest Muslim group, is also not a stranger to the business world. It has been running cooperatives for small- and medium- size enterprises. Its operations range from banking, plantations and food production to the publishing industry.

But in terms of Islamic spirit, the Hawariyun business group may take pride in leading the race. Set up in Jakarta in January 1997, Hawariyun originated from Darul Arqam, a militant religious group based in Malaysia that was later outlawed there and in Indonesia.

Darul Arqam's members regrouped and jumped on the business bandwagon. Now, they run schools, hospitals, construction companies, plantations, publications and travel agencies. Its Suq Al-Anshar division operates in the retail, food and beverage, and manufacturing industries. The group's vice-president Abdurrahman Effendi recently said: "Economic activity is our way of getting closer to God now."

Hijab-clad women and men in turbans tend to its supermarket and dozens of retail outlets. Un-Islamic products such as cigarettes and alcohol are not sold. Hawariyun's business ethics are drawn strictly from the Quran: no savings in banks, no monopoly and no unpaid loans. Its employees are required to pray five times a day.

The Association of Indonesian Islamic Intellectuals is also an active player. It owns Bank Muamalat, the first Islamic bank in the country, and runs publishing, construction, supplier and insurance companies.

More Indonesian banks converting to Syariah system

Straits Times - February 20, 2002

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- More Indonesian banks are converting themselves into Syariah banks as people become "more Islamic" and their trust in the conventional banking system erodes. Syariah banks are those which apply the Islamic no-interest principle -- borrowers pay no interest while depositors get a share of profits.

These banks have been gaining in popularity over the last three years even as numerous commercial banks restructure or fold up due to poor performance. From only one Syariah bank in 1992, there are now five major Syariah banks in Indonesia as well as three conventional banks with Syariah divisions and 80 small, rural Syariah banks. In addition, there are thousands of cooperatives and financial institutions which apply the Syariah principle.

There were proposals last year to convert several banks under the care of the central bank (Bank Indonesia) and the Indonesian Restructuring Bank Agency, including Bank Tugu and Bank Bukopin.

A revival of religious sentiment may be the reason for the popularity of Syariah banks. A central bank survey of 4,800 people in Java showed that almost all of them believed that Islam forbade the practice of usury. "Eroded public trust in the country's banking system may have also turned many to the Syariah banks," added an economist. Further, Syariah banks are the only ones that still finance small and medium enterprises as conventional banks suffer tight liquidity.

The country's first Syariah bank, Bank Muamalat Indonesia (BMI), saw business grow three-fold in the last 2 1/2 years. Last year, its annual profit rose dramatically from 10 billion rupiah to 63 billion rupiah (S$11.4 million). The amount may seem small by conventional standards, but the bank has grown while many others have collapsed after interest rates were raised sharply to halt the rupiah's nosedive.

BMI president Achmad Riawan Amin told The Straits Times: "Creditors for conventional banks found their loans multiplied as interest rates soared, but not in our banks."

The bank offers two kinds of non-interest financing -- "profit- sharing" and "buy and sell" schemes. In the latter, customers who want to buy a motorcycle, for example, get the bank to buy it and sell it to them at a higher price. They then make a fixed payment to the bank.

"Conventional banks revolve their money in the money market making it more risky, we invest our money in manufacturing, trade and commerce so that money goes back to the community."

Economists said prudence may be the main strength of Syariah banks. Mr Umar Juoro of the Habibie Centre said: "The fact that they operate on a small scale and their creditors are carefully selected makes their non-performing loans relatively low while their asset growth is strong."

But Mr Umar Juoro said he could not see Syariah banks replacing the role of conventional banks. But he said they could reach beyond the Muslim community, as Syariah banks do in Malaysia.

Armed forces/Police

The bloody career of Major-Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsuddin

Tapol - February 19, 2002

The announcement that Major-General Sjafrie Sjamsuddin is to become the head of public relations and the official spokesperson of TNI, the Indonesian armed forces, has provoked angry denunciations in Indonesia. He is well known in Indonesia and East Timor as an intelligence officer from Kopassus with a direct hand in some of the worst violations during the 1990s around the time of Suharto's fall from power. He spent many tours of duty in East Timor, culminating in a semi-official re-appearance in mid 1999 when he supported the militias before and after the ballot, during widespread atrocities.

Sjafrie is also under fire because of the role of the Jakarta military command of which he was commander in May 1998 when four students at Trisakti University were shot dead and subsequent riots erupted in major commercial districts of the capital during which hundreds of mostly ethnic Chinese were killed and dozens of women were raped, while troops stood by. Sjafrie is one of several generals who have refused to respond to a summons from the KPP HAM (human rights investigation commission) for the Trisakti atrocity for questioning in connection with that event.

At the time of his re-emergence in East Timor in mid 1999, he held no command post in the army, having been put out to graze, after being replaced as military commander of the Jakarta military command following the disastrous events just before and after Suharto's fall. The commander of the Jakarta military command usually gets promoted to the top echelon in the army. While ABRI, under its new name TNI, was licking its wounds and being subjected to strong condemnation from civil society for the years of repression and violence under Suharto, Sjafrie remained in the shadows.

His appointment this week to one of the TNI's most influential positions is a sign of the renewed confidence of the armed forces who feel that they can now afford to ignore public opinion and the need for basic reforms of the armed forces.

The following biodata is taken from a document prepared by James Dunn for UNTAET.

Major General Sjafrie Sjamsuddin

• Background: Born: 1952, Ujung Pandang, South Sulawesi
• 1973: Commander of the Cadet corps at Akabri (Armed forces academy)
• 1974: Class 5, Military Academy (Akmil)
• 1975-77: Battalion Commander, Group I Kopassandha (forerunner of Kopassus) Took part as a volunteer in Operasi Flamboyan, under Yunus Yosfiah, and in Operasi Seroja (codename for the invasion) in East Timor in 1975. Commander, Second Company, Group I, Special Forces. Reported to have participated in Operasi Nanggala X.
• 1978-?: Commander, Executive Unit, Presidential Escort.
• 1980-81: Intelligence Officer, Group I, Kopassus.
• 1982-85: Deputy Commander, Battle Detachment 13, Group I, Special Forces, involved in Operasi Chandra XV in Timor in 1984.
• 1985: Infantry Officers Advanced Course, Fort Benning USA
• 1986-89: Deputy Commander, First Battalion, Group I Kopassus. Part of Maleo Team, with Agum Gumelar, in 87.
• 1991-93: Deputy Assistant for Operations, Kopassus.
• 1993: Brief training course at Swanbourne SAS base, Perth, Australia.
• 1993-95: Commander, Group A, Presidential Security Guard.
• 1996-97: Chief of Staff, Kodam Jaya (Greater Jakarta).
• 1997-98: Commander, Kodam Jaya
• 1999: Member of the MPR, ABRI faction. Also Expert Staff, Defence and Security Affairs, Commander of ABRI Staff.
• 1999: Assigned to East Timor (under Zacky Anwar) at time of the plebiscite.
• 1999-2000: Expert Staff, Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security (under General Wiranto).

Comments: Leading Kopassus officer. Fought in Operasi Bravo alongside Prabowo in East Timor. As head of SGI (Kopassus Interrogation Centres) in East Timor in 1991 is said to have had an involvement in the Santa Cruz massacre. Reported to have designed counter intelligence operations in East Timor during his tour. Is reported by intelligence analysts to have prepared the plans for TNI and militia operations, there playing a key role in efforts to prevent loss of East Timor. According to an ANU strategic affairs analyst, Sjamsuddin prepared the plans for TNI and militia operations in East Timor at ABRI Headquarters. He was sent to East Timor shortly before the plebiscite where, according to another report, he helped conduct the militia campaign. One of those recommended by KPP HAM inquiry for investigation.

Assessment: Further investigations should show that this officer is implicated as one of the key military officers responsible for the development of the TNI strategy that led to serious crimes against humanity in East Timor.

International relations

Of dogs and fleas

San Francisco Examiner - February 8, 2002

Conn Hallinan -- The problem of lying down with dogs, goes the old saying, it that you end up with fleas. Over the years, the US has run with some nasty brutes, from the Congo's Mobutu to Iraq's Saddam Hussein. One would think we learned a few lessons from those kind of alliances, but in its worldwide crusade against terrorism, the Bush Administration is about to bunk down with the Indonesian Army, a pack of junkyard canines with a record of murder and mayhem second to none.

Shortly after September 11, the White House, led by Deputy Secretary Of State, Administration super hawk, and former ambassador to Indonesia Paul Wolfowitz, began maneuvering to loosen restrictions on military aid to Jakarta. The latter was cut off by the Clinton Administration during the Indonesian Army's 1999 rampage in East Timor that killed thousands of civilians and destroyed 70 percent of the tiny country's infrastructure.

But Bush Administration officials argue that the Indonesian Army has "reformed" since those bad old days (two years ago) and now needs our help in its struggle against "terrorism" by separatist movements in several provinces. In any case, they claim, US intelligence says Osama bin Ladin and Al Queda are active with extremist groups in Java. These days all you have to do is mention "Al Queda" and the Marines start tooling up. But if we aren't careful, the US is likely to find itself in the middle of several very nasty civil wars, which have little to do with jihad, but quite a lot to do with very worldly things like gold, copper, and oil.

The Indonesian Army, while small by regional standards, has done a stunningly efficient job of massacring its own people over the years. Since the press these days has been imitating a bunch of stenographers with amnesia, a little history about the outfit to which we are about to sell helicopters and communication equipment seems in order.

The Army got off to a good start on the business of killing its own when it suppressed an uprising in 1965 by murdering some 500,000 leftists, many of them fingered, according to recently declassified documents, by the US Embassy in Jakarta. Oh yes, we've run with these guys before, supplying them over 90 percent of their military hardware over the past 30 years.

Indonesia put those to deadly use in 1975 when it invaded tiny East Timor, a former Portuguese colony on Indonesia's eastern edge. That invasion, according to the same documents, had the full blessing of then President Gerald Ford and Secretary Of State, Henry Kissinger.

According to the United Nations, Indonesia's 24 years of occupation resulted in the deaths of over 200,000 Timorese, or one third the pre-invasion inhabitants. In terms of percentage of the population, not even Pol Pot managed that kill ratio.

When Timor voted for independence in a 1999 UN-sponsored referendum, the Indonesian Army and its militia allies systematically destroyed the country, killing at least 2,000 people and forcing 250,000 more into concentration camps in West Timor.

The Indonesian Army is presently engaged in suppressing two other independence movements, one in Sumatra's Aceh Province and the other in Irian Jaya on the country's eastern edge. The campaign in Aceh has killed over 6,000 people, 1,500 in the last year alone. In Irian Jaya, which makes up the western side of Papua New Guinea, the Army has been jailing pro-independence supporters, and firing on demonstrators. In November, Kopassus, the Indonesian Army's equivalent of the SS, invited one of Irian Jaya's independence leaders to a dinner. He ended up strangled to death on the side of the road,

From all indications, that violence is likely to escalate. In a recent speech to military cadets, Indonesian President Magawati Sukanoputri told them "You can do your duty without being worried about human rights," a green light to unleash the full fury of the Army's repressive skills. No more Mr. Nice Guys.

While Jakarta says its civil wars are about terrorism, what's really at stake are billions of dollars in raw materials. The seizure of East Timor allowed Indonesia to claim part of the Timor Gap, a channel between Timor and Australia, estimated to contain anywhere from 1 to 6 billion barrels of oil. While the Indonesians have finally left East Timor, they are hanging onto the Gap.

In Iryan Jaya (recently renamed West Papua) the Army is deep into logging, as well as protecting the investments of the US operated Freeport-McMoran gold and copper mine and the Atlantic Richfield oil company.

Indonesia's problems are caused by greed, not terrorism, and by the nature of its own army. Both Aceh and Iryan Jaya's independence movements were peaceful until Army repression sparked a violent response. As Sidney Jones, the Asia Director of Human Rights Watch put it, "The brutality of the army created the mass base for separatist movements."

In the name of fighting "terrorism," we are about to bed down with this outfit. Bad idea the first time around, bad idea the second.

Economy & investment

Indonesia to press banks harder to repay loans: minister

Agence France Presse - February 20, 2002

Jakarta -- The Indonesian government -- which is starved of funds to help the country's poor -- will increase pressure on former bank owners to repay billions of dollars in state loans, the top economics minister, Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, said Tuesday.

He said the cabinet would decide soon whether to go ahead with a controversial plan to extend the repayment period to 10 years from four, following fierce public opposition to any extension.

"I'm waiting for everybody in the cabinet, I hope by the beginning of March, to have a decision on where we are heading, [whether] to go back to the old contract," Kuntjoro-Jakti said in a speech to foreign correspondents. "And then we just impress upon all those who signed: 'Look what happened to the discussion in public. It's not just a matter of this governmnet who asked you please to come forward'."

The central bank between 1998 and 1999 injected billions of dollars in emergency liquidity to banks hit by the financial crisis that began in 1997. But a report by the state Supreme Audit Agency in August 2000 concluded that more than 95 percent of the funds had been misused. Only a fraction had since been returned to state coffers. Kuntjoro-Jakti said assets pledged as collateral were worth only about 30 percent or less of the outstanding loans.

Kuntjoro-Jakti said he had examined many of the original deals with banks and was amazed at how the contracts were so weak. He said the losses would have to be borne by all Indonesians but vowed to pressure those who owed the most. "I plan ... to persuade big debtors to be more co-operative than what we have seen in the last four years," he said.

The minister put the total "cost of the crisis" to the government at the equivalent of 44 billion dollars but did not give a breakdown. Kuntjoro-Jakti said annual payments on this would cost the government 58 trillion rupiah (5.7 billion dollars) this year -- compared with a mere 2.8 trillion rupiah spent on compensating the poor for the effects of a recent fuel price rise.

Last week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) called for a "clear strategy" from the government to recover the loans. It said a visiting IMF team had held talks with authorities on the need to improve the recovery of funds from the banks' former owners. "The team looks forward to the government developing a clear strategy on this matter, recognising its importance for fiscal recoveries," the IMF said.

Finance Minister Budiono was quoted Tuesday as saying the plan to extend debt repayment periods might impede debt rescheduling talks with the Paris Club of creditors, "The debt extension issue will be part of the letter of intent to the IMF which must be approved and signed by the IMF board in Washington before the upcoming Paris Club," Koran Tempo quoted him as saying. The Paris Club meeting is scheduled for April to discuss a rescheduling of debt maturing in the period of April 2002 to December 2003.

Aneka Tambang, Timah privatisation delayed indefinitely

Agence France Presse - February 20, 2002

Jakarta -- The Indonesian government has decided to delay the privatisation of mining concerns PT Tambang Timah and PT Aneka Tambang due to weak commodity prices, State Enterprises Minister Laksamana Sukardi said Tuesday.

"Clearly, it cannot be carried out this year," Sukardi told reporters at parliament. He said the government was concerned that weak commodity prices would push down the valuation of the companies.

The cash-strapped government is embarking on privatisation as part of economic reforms pledged in return for five billion dollars in aid from the International Monetary Fund and to help reduce a ballooning budget deficit.

PT Aneka Tambang derives its main income from nickel but it also mines gold, silver and other various precious metal. Tambang Timah saw its profits plunge 92 percent to 2.5 million dollars in the first nine months of 2001 amid plunging world prices for tin, high operating costs and competition from illegal miners. Both companies had been scheduled for privatisation some time this year.

Indonesian economy grew by 3.3 percent last year

Agence France Presse - February 18, 2002

Jakarta -- Indonesia announced Monday its economy grew by 3.32 percent last year, lower than the government's forecast of 3.5 percent but higher than many of its neighbours.

Kusmadi Saleh, deputy chairman of the Central Bureau of Statistics, said gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter was down 1.21 percent from the third quarter but up 1.6 percent compared to the same period the previous year.

Bank Indonesia (the central bank) has forecast GDP growth of 3.5-4.0 percent for this year while the government forecasts 4.0 percent.

Indonesia has suffered less than its regional neighbours from the US slowdown, partly because its exports are less centred on high-technology items.

Analysts said a total of 15 days of public holidays in the fourth quarter slowed down production activity.

Indonesia forecast lower rice production in 2002

Agence France Presse - February 18, 2002

Jakarta -- Indonesia's unhusked rice production is forecast to reach 48.65 million tonnes this year, 1.9 percent less than 2001, an Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) official said Monday.

"The lower rice production this year is estimated to be due to a shrinking of harvest areas," BPS deputy head for economic statistics, Slamet Mukeno said, according to the Detikcom online news service. But Mukeno could not give a figure on the total surface of rice planting this year.

He said that rice production in 2001 was estimated at 49.6 million tonnes of 4.45 percent compared to the 51.9 million tonnes in the previous year. The total surface planted with rice in 2001 reached 11.3 million hectares or 3.2 percent lower than the total in the previous year, he said.