Democratic struggle

Police attack IWD march

Green Left Weekly - March 13, 2002

Nglinting Darmono, Yogyakarta -- Two hundred protesters from across central Java gathered in Yogyakarta on March 8 to mark International Women's Day.

The protesters marched from Gadjah Mada University to the regional parliament. Their demands included an end to IMF austerity measures (cuts to subsidies for electricity, fuel and telephone calls), free education, a 100% increase in workers' wages, and the abolition of Dharma Wanita (Women's Duty) -- the organisation used by the New Order regime to control women.

At the regional parliament building the protest was ordered to disperse by police, on the grounds that it was disrupting people travelling to Friday prayers at the mosque. The police then moved in, splitting the protest and trapping some activists inside the parliament compound.

Dozens of protesters were beaten, and one activist from the Surabaya branch of the street musicians' union (Sarekat Pengamen Indonesia) was arrested. He was released later in the afternoon after suffering further injuries in custody.

Hunger strike continues in protest of NTT budget

Jakarta Post - March 12, 2002

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang -- Students on a hunger strike in the province of East Nusa Tenggara threatened on Monday to encourage locals not to pay taxes if the province's budget was not revised to ensure that public interests were placed above all others.

At least five students have been on a hunger strike since Friday in protest of this year's Rp 215 billion budget, Rp 12 billion of which has been allocated to the salaries of all 55 legislators. The Rp 12 billion fund was allotted from the province's original total revenue of Rp 42 billion.

The students on the hunger strike were among at least 100 others who started their demonstration on Friday at the provincial legislative council, where they pitched blue tents for shelter. The protesters continued their free speech gathering on Monday to campaign for public disobedience of tax payments.

Council speaker Daniel Woda Palle told The Jakarta Post on Monday that the legislature had yielded to the hunger strikers' demand, but underlined that a change to the budget would only be made three months after it came into effect. "The council has accepted the demand and aspiration of the students. But the budget will be changed in April or May 2002," he said.

In response to Daniel's statement, the spokesman for the protesters, Vincent Bureni, said the protest would continue until the legislature accepts their demand for an immediate review of the budget. "The provincial budget will be revised in April or May 2002. That means we allow council members to blackmail people," he said.

The five students on the hunger strike, Nel Parera, Fandi Tade, Gusti Tulasi, Fredik Boy Bani and Nico Manoka, are from various universities. The strike drew widespread attention and public sympathy with many visitors lending moral support to the protesters' actions.

The protesters called the local legislators, who refused to meet them, arrogant for their stubbornness in prioritizing their own interests in endorsing the budget.

"East Nusa Tenggara has the lowest income per capita in Indonesia, and reaches only Rp 42 billion. But all 55 members of the legislature are extravagant with the money by spending one- third of it (Rp 12 billion) on self-serving benefits," Vincent said.

The Rp 12 billion has been allocated to cover their representation fees of Rp 1.23 billion, a welfare allowance of Rp 1.32 billion, medical allowance of Rp 825 million, clothing allowance of Rp 1.33 billion and travel expenses for official trips of 2.85 billion as well as the operational costs for the council's secretariat of Rp 3 billion.

Each legislator will also earn a salary of Rp 218 million a year or an equivalent of Rp 18 million per month, while the average per capital income for four million people, comprising 600,000 families, in the less-developed provinces is under Rp 1,000 each.

Based on data from local population authorities, at least 80 percent of the people, or 550,146 families in 13 regencies, are categorized as poor. They eat meat or fish once a week, own one piece of clothing and live in wooden shacks with dirt floors.

East Timor

Forget the leak and expose generals: Comment

Sydney Morning Herald - March 15, 2002

Hamish McDonald -- Canberra's predictable reaction to the disclosure of signals intelligence material on the Indonesian Army's covert East Timor campaign has been to try to find and plug the leak.

If target countries are alerted that the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) can read their messages, it invites them to change ciphers, buy more sophisticated encryption devices, and talk more discreetly.

Yet it would hardly surprise any of the Indonesian generals who were active in East Timor -- some of whom, like Major-General Syafrie Syamsuddin, trained with Australia's Special Air Service -- to be told that the DSD was listening to their calls.

Signals intelligence is also a moving battle, requiring periodic updates in detection and computing power. Yesterday's secrets are today's common knowledge. The Americans, who have confidence in their ability to stay ahead, are far more open about it than us or the British.

And all intelligence is there to be used. Instead of allowing the Defence Department to define that use entirely in military terms, the Federal Government should be weighing up the wider strategic gains from using material like the Timor intercepts against the costs of disclosure.

The contingencies of military conflict may never arise. Meanwhile, Canberra has two big problems with Jakarta. One is that the Jakarta political establishment, or at least large sections of it, has been sold the line that East Timor's independence results from Australian conspiracy, and the United Nations ballot in 1999 was rigged.

The other is that the same generals who carried out what veteran activist James Dunn calls a "textbook case of state terrorism" are still riding high in Jakarta, holding back reform of the political system in general and the armed forces in particular, and even playing senior roles in the post-September 11 "war against terror".

Dunn, who worked in the DSD watching Indonesia and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and was later Australian consul in Dili, argues that the agency's purpose cannot be simply to collect an amazing collection of material too secret to be used. "It has to be used to some purpose, to change situations," Dunn says.

Like exposing army generals whose behaviour is a long-term threat to regional security. If the damning details contained in the DSD's interceptions are not shared with UN war crimes investigators, the cost of this effort to retain DSD secrets will be that this malign element remains lodged in the political life of our big neighbour.

Police called in over leaked Timor secrets

Sydney Morning Herald - March 15, 2002

Craig Skehan -- Australian Federal Police are investigating the leaking of classified material showing that high-level Indonesian officials were involved in orchestrating the wave of violence linked to East Timor's independence ballot in 1999.

The Defence Minister, Robert Hill, confirmed the police investigation in Parliament yesterday.

The Herald carried a detailed account yesterday of classified intercepts from the Defence Signals Directorate, including messages between Indonesian officers who co-ordinated the campaign of terror.

The Opposition Defence spokesman, Chris Evans, asked Senator Hill in Parliament yesterday if he could confirm that the Australian Government knew before the vote for independence on August 30, 1999, that senior Indonesian generals were behind the violence. He asked what steps the Government had taken, on receiving the directorate's information, to protect the East Timorese people. Senator Hill said information "based" on intelligence reports had been given to special UN investigators.

Challenged on whether the Government had failed to use the intelligence material to protect the East Timorese from organised violence, Senator Hill said: "I am not in a position to confirm particular reports. If reports existed, I would not be in a position to advise how they were utilised."

A spokesman for the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, said last night that no "raw" intelligence material from the directorate had been passed to the UN officials assigned to investigate the violence. However, he said "information based on classified intelligence" had been passed to them and to "responsible authorities" in the Indonesian Government.

Mr Downer's spokesman said Australia also had given the UN all military police reports of investigations into crimes in East Timor at the time. The UN investigators had appreciated the help, and consideration would be given to specific requests for more information. However, he could not say if this would include original directorate, or other intelligence, documents.

The Opposition foreign affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd, said yesterday that, as late as November, 1999, Mr Downer had insisted that only "rogue elements" in the Indonesian military were involved in the violence.

He cited the leaked directorate material showing that the Government had intelligence from as early as February, 1999, linking Indonesian generals and a minister to atrocities. He said a failure to now hand over all relevant intelligence material to the UN would ensure the criminals went free.

An Opposition MP, Laurie Brereton, who is Labor's former foreign affairs spokesman, said in a statement that the Herald report on the leaked documents confirmed "that Foreign Minister Downer consistently failed to speak the truth about events in East Timor over the course of 1999".

The reluctant president

Bangkok Post - March 13, 2002

Kate Rope -- On May 20, a new country will be born. At the helm of the finally free East Timor will most likely be Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, the reluctant but ineluctable leader of this century's first new nation. A guerilla fighter who helped win freedom for his homeland after two decades of mountain jungle battles, clandestine operations, and six years of imprisonment, Gusmao wanted his role to end there. He would rather return to pumpkin farming and poetry writing and see his country led by people not soaked in the blood of the last 25 years of struggle.

But he is also a man of his word, unswerving in his duty to the men who risked their lives under his leadership. When he finally acquiesced to run for president (on February 23, which was the deadline to declare candidacy for the April 14 election), it was, for him, the unavoidable fulfillment of an oath to his people.

Speaking to members of the Soroptimist Club of Bangkok recently, Gusmao was as mystifying as his story is compelling. Here is a man who knew how to lead a successful guerilla war with no military support and practically non-existent resources, perilously outnumbered by a merciless Indonesian regime. He understands the problems of his people and carries with him their trust. But he says he has no idea what he will do as their president, and with a month to go until the election, Gusmao is crossing his fingers in the hopes that he will lose. Almost all agree it is a useless wish for the odds-on favorite to make. Now, as before, it looks as if Xanana Gusmao will be triumphant.

At 55, Gusmao's ruggedly-sculpted face and closely-clipped greying facial hair hint at the ruffian-like bearded rebel he was when he first took up arms against the Indonesians, who had invaded East Timor shortly after it was freed from Portuguese colonial rule in 1975.

Born just after the bloody Japanese occupation of World War Two to a mother who made him ever aware of the suffering of his people, Gusmao spent four years in a Jesuit seminary and even won the East Timor poetry prize before becoming a freedom fighter, a title he eschews. "I am not a politician. I am not a lawyer. I am not an activist," he told the Soroptimist Club.

Then what is he? "Myself," he answered.

From jungle combat to the prospect of being a politician, his words and motives have the lyrical simplicity of a natural leader. Explaining why he chose to fight, a dangerous job many might understandably decline, he says, "I believe you never ask a slave why he or she wants to be free. It was our right to be free, to decide our own destiny, our own fate. Being a society under oppression, you can't have certain kinds of discussion. We believe that only [when we are] free can we change everything." But the fight was not nearly that simple.

Gusmao joined the resistance against Indonesia in 1975. Three years later, he assumed leadership of the rebel forces just as their numbers were decimated. "In the beginning, the first three years in the mountains, we had 27,000 armed people," he explained. "In 1977 and '78, Indonesian troops started a big operation and we lost our population, lost many comrades. In 1980, I went around to all the territories to call remaining groups. The [number of fighters] was between 650 and 700 people. We were very destitute in our military capability and then we built it back up."

And never, said Gusmao, did he think of giving up. The determination of the people fuelled his will. "If you see people participate in the struggle, giving you their lives, accepting all sacrifices, you cannot give up, you must go [on]. Our people gave everything. They fought, cried, suffered, laughed. And if you watch them doing everything to get freedom, you just go with them."

That unshakeable commitment, coupled with an honesty disarming in a future president, earned him the trust of the East Timorese. "We never, never hid news from the people. We told them everything -- bad news, good news. Then they could help us. They got us food, ammunition, medicine, clothes, they gave us everything we needed. And, if 20 on our side died, and only one of the other, we said that 20 of us died and only one on the other side. Because of this kind of true communication, they believed in us and we [were able to] organise the clandestine resistance."

That was perhaps the genius of the campaign against Indonesia. The resistance established and nurtured contacts with civil servants in the Indonesian government and members of the Indonesian army. Those insiders fed the fighters information vital to outwitting a force that had them outnumbered and outgunned.

One member of that secret community is now poised to be the First Lady of East Timor. Kirsty Sword Gusmao, code name "Ruby Blade", was a young Australian aid worker who slipped intelligence to Gusmao in prison when he was finally captured in 1992. Having barely met face to face, they fell in love in a cloak-and-dagger love story. The two were married in 2000 after Gusmao divorced his first wife and Kirsty was already pregnant with their now 18-month-old son, Alexandre.

But celebrations of their romance and Gusmao's release were short-lived, coming on the heels of the most destructive offensive against East Timor yet. In September of 1999, after East Timorese had cast their votes for independence in a UN- monitored election, pro-Jakarta militias terrorised the territory, killing as many as a thousand and deporting many to West Timor, prompting the UN to send in forces and set up a transitional government.

According to Gusmao, the greatest gift of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor, which has been in place for more than three years, was creating the space and time for the East Timorese to reflect as a people. "Without the international presence in East Timor, maybe we East Timorese could not understand each other so well," he says.

In preparation for his impending presidency, Gusmao began meetings last month with East Timorese to learn what they need from their new country. "We asked them their dreams, what they want in five years, by 2020. It was wonderful to see people participate in discussions, in debates, asking the government to pay more attention to health care, education, infrastructure," Gusmao effuses. "We believe that in 10, 15 years we can appear as an independent country with the people reaping the benefits of independence, not betraying the sacrifices they made on the way, not betraying their suffering."

Living up to the lives lost will be no easy task for Gusmao and is perhaps a reason for his reticence, though he has never shrunk from a fight. East Timor suffers from 60 percent unemployment, almost half the population is under the age of 14, infrastructure necessary to develop the economy is mangled from years of fighting, and the hope of the people has been obliterated.

Perhaps the thorniest issue before Gusmao is justice and reconciliation between the victims of the militias and former militia members. On this point, Gusmao has, in the past, talked more about being willing to forgive than putting people in prison, making him, again, an unlikely and unusual world leader.

At the Soroptimist Club luncheon, Gusmao was hit with very specific questions from the journalists in the crowd, "Is there a timeline for East Timor to join Asean?" "Will East Timor recognise the government of Burma?"

With smiles and jokes he dodged almost every bullet. "I am not the foreign minister," he offered at one point. "So, you wish to make trouble between Burma and us?" he asked another, laughing, quickly exiting the podium having offered few concrete answers. He is a man of the people, and that is where his loyalty lies.

Gusmao's humility is a great part of why he has no presidential aspirations. "I am telling people to cut the present from the past," he said. "I am now the chairman of the Association of the Veterans of the Resistance, 18,000 members. From the beginning of the UN administration, we adopted a policy in which we would never take advantage of the situation by occupying big houses or asking for privileges. We keep to ourselves. Nobody fought for individual purpose but for a common purpose, for the future."

But, in the end, it was his duty to the veterans that pushed him back into the spotlight. "I was asked to run, and I could not avoid it. It was something that was a moral and political obligation for me to accomplish. I gave my oath to my soldiers that I would not run from any place, any position. But, I would rather not win," he said.

Nor does he know yet what he will do as president. "I don't know how to be president," Gusmao said frankly. Has he talked to any other leaders about how to do it? "I don't have the money to fly around and talk to presidents," he replied, laughing and feigning insult at the question.

Is he scared or nervous about the job? "Not scared. Not nervous. Unhappy." What kind of a president will he make if he is unhappy? "I believe that if you are unhappy, you can understand the unhappiness of all your people. If you are happy, you don't care."

And Gusmao does understand intimately what is wrong with his country: East Timor is not yet free. "We have a flag, a parliament, a president, a government. People are free. But free from what? There are many aspects to eradicate -- illiteracy, poverty, illness, many, many things. We are free from colonialisation and other states. We need to free people from different states, from suffering."

For her part, Kirsty Sword Gusmao said she anticipated being a Hillary Clinton-type first lady. She has several social issues on her agenda and has already created a foundation for the women victimised during 25 years of militia terror.

After the luncheon, Kirsty hardly resembled the image-conscious Clinton. Seated comfortably in a billowy red blouse, her long hair hanging about a face that was barely made-up and yet striking, she was tending to a squirming Alexandre whose patience had just about run out with the day's activities.

Did they make the decision, as a family, as to whether Gusmao would run? "Of course!" her husband said. "We're a democracy!" Kirsty seemed to see it differently. "I didn't give my advice. I knew it wouldn't count," she said with a small smile.

As they reassembled the diaper bag, searched for Gusmao's Marlboros, and prepared to leave, there was just time for one more question: Was her husband, today, the same man that she met in prison? "He's one and the same man," she said, after a pause for thought, "but with a whole new set of demands placed on him."

UN briefs government on services that will stop on 20 may

UNTAET Daily Briefing - March 12, 2002

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in East Timor Sergio Vieira de Mello today briefed the Council of Ministers on the services currently provided by UNTAET to government and the community that will no longer be provided by the UN successor mission after independence on 20 May.

Following are some examples of affected services mentioned by the SRSG:

• There will be no public television or radio, unless a substitute mechanism is implemented with direct donor funding;
• The judicial and legislative services currently provided to the government will no longer be provided;
• There will no longer be simultaneous interpreting for the Constituent Assembly, unless national staff are recruited;
• Other services provided by UNTAET, such as internet access; telecommunication; including network between districts; reproduction machines including photocopiers; vehicles workshop, will be no longer provided to the government, Central Public Administration, district administrations, NGOs and the communities in the districts, including the ones where the future mission will be present;
• The current administrative and technical support provided by international staff to the government and Public Administration will be reduced to 100 international consultants financed directly by the United Nations assessed budget. The recruitment of additional 200 international consultants to provide assistance to the government after the independence is not certain yet (these posts would be financed by various sources with United Nations Development Program support).
• And finally, the future United Nations mission will not only be substantially different and much smaller, but it will also be present only at the mission headquarters in Dili and five other districts.

The Transitional Administrator also discussed with the Council possible alternatives and measures that the Government needs to adopt on a short term with a view to minimise the impact of the lack of these services, as well as the assistance UNTAET can provide until independence.

Finally, the Council approved a proposal to open foreign embassies and accredit diplomats in East Timor, as proposed by Senior Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Jose Ramos- Horta. The Council decided that its policy shall be to encourage foreign governments to establish embassies in East Timor.

Silence over a crime against humanity

Sydney Morning Herald - March 14, 2002

Hamish McDonald -- The evidence is contained in the most tightly held archive in Canberra: the electronic data base of the Defence Signals Direct-orate (DSD), the result of months intercepting secret communications between Indonesian officers involved in a shadowy campaign to thwart East Timorese hopes of independence in 1999.

Some details of this vast intelligence record have been revealed for the first time to the Herald by senior defence community sources in Canberra. They are dismayed at a huge crime against humanity, committed on Australia's doorstep and under the eyes of the United Nations, remaining unexposed.

The DSD intercepts map out the chain of command, from the local militias and covert Indonesian forces in East Timor up to one of the most feared military men in Jakarta, General Feisal Tanjung, whose involvement has so far escaped mention in human rights investigations.

The defence sources also say that some of this critical intelligence in the first half of 1999, pointing to high-level Indonesian involvement, was not included in intelligence exchanged with United States' agencies at a time when the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was blaming the militia violence on "rogue elements" in the Indonesian army.

The tensions this caused between Canberra's Defence Intelligence Organisation and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) have been seen as contributing to the June 1999 suicide of the DIO liaison officer in Washington, Lieutenant-Colonel Merv Jenkins, after he was questioned by DFAT security officials about "Australian Eyes Only" material shared with American counterparts.

The intercepts, contained in files classified as "Secret Spoke" (meaning derived from intercepted clear-voice telephone calls) or "Top Secret Umbra" (derived from encrypted or scrambled voice communications), have not been shared with UN or other investigators.

But they include details of command and communications hierarchies that would provide vital evidence for international- standard war crimes tribunals, such as those prosecutions being mounted in The Hague against politicians and generals in the former Yugoslavia.

Instead of setting up such a tribunal for East Timor, the UN has stood back for two and-a-half years to let Jakarta fulfil its promise to mount its own trials of those responsible for the 1999 massacres, abductions, coerced population movements and destruction.

In Jakarta, the first trial is due to begin today, with former East Timor governor Abilio Soares and former provincial police chief Brigadier-General Timbul Silaen accused of crimes against humanity involving widespread attacks on civilians.

Silaen is one of three generals among the 18 military personnel and civilian militia leaders accused of participation or responsibility in some of the more large-scale acts of murder in 1999. The other two are Major-General Adam Damiri, former head of the Udayana regional command, which included East Timor, and Brigadier-General Tono Suratman, who was East Timor military commander for much of 1999.

To the extent they face substantial punishment the three still seem to be in the pipeline for promotion within the army and police these generals and a number of colonels and junior officers appear to be the sacrifices to appease foreign and local concerns.

The senior generals who were more closely supervising the militia campaign on the ground in East Timor, and who reported directly to top military figures in Jakarta, have been left off the list of accused, although some were named as suspects in Indonesia's special human rights commission report in February 2000.

So far, it appears the Indonesian legal process, while concentrating on specific incidents of terror, has not attempted to lay overall blame for the militia campaign ahead of the August 30, 1999, vote, or for the systematic drive after the result was announced to deport the population and lay waste to the territory.

The Indonesian armed forces commander and defence minister at the time, General Wiranto, was forced to resign from his later cabinet post as co-ordinating political and security minister after the February 2000 report said he carried moral responsibility for the violence, given that Indonesia had guaranteed security for East Timor's referendum.

But now Wiranto also appears to be a fall guy, in terms of political, if not legal, responsibility. In all the inquiries so far, little attention has been given to the role of Feisal Tanjung, Wiranto's predecessor as armed forces commander then as political-security minister, whose pivotal role in instigating, planning and executing the militia campaign is brought into focus by the DSD intercepts.

Normally, the political-security position in the Indonesian cabinet has little executive responsibility or clout within the Indonesia military, compared with that of the commander. But the weighting of the two roles seems to have been reversed in 1999 because of the personalities and records of the officers involved.

Wiranto was a sociable some say weak political general who had risen to senior ranks through his positions in the entourage of former president Soeharto, who had been forced out of office by popular protest in May 1998. Throughout 1999 he kept an eye out for his prospects in Jakarta as political parties courted the powerful military following general elections in June.

Tough-minded Feisal Tanjung had spent much of his career in the feared Special Forces, known as Kopassus, or the paratroop units of the Strategic Reserve. He had associations with operations in East Timor from the earliest occupation days in 1975.

Tanjung appears to have operated a chain of command parallel to that wielded by General Wiranto, using officers with Kopassus and East Timor backgrounds, especially the two major-generals Zacky Anwar Makarim and Sjafrie Sjamsuddin assigned as "liaison officers" to the UN mission running the ballot in East Timor.

Most of these officers were, like Tanjung, associated with the "Green" or conspicuously Islamic faction active in the Indonesian forces in the last years of the Soeharto era. Wiranto and key aides like then lieutenant-general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono belonged to the "Red and White" or more secular nationalist faction (the name derived from Indonesia's national flag).

Because of his political ambitions, Wiranto may have been happy to distance himself from the dirty work involved in keeping East Timor within Indonesia. His colleagues may have been equally content to preserve his political acceptability in order to maintain the military's privileged position. This meant the crescendo of protests made to Wiranto by Canberra and other foreign capitals about the obvious military collusion with the militias went to the wrong address. Equally, Wiranto's promises of fair behaviour by the security forces carried little weight.

According to the Defence sources, the Indonesian embassy in Canberra was also out of the loop. DSD intercepted several queries by the then defence attache in Canberra, Brigadier- General Judi Magio Yusuf, to his Jakarta superiors asking for clarification of atrocities being reported from East Timor. He was routinely told these were foreign press fabrications and to ignore them.

Nine specific intercepts detailed by the Defence sources, plus accounts of other patterns of command and consultation at critical points in 1999, reveal some of the key officers and strategies in the covert campaign to retain East Timor.

On February 9 less than a fortnight after then president Habibie's announcement that the East Timorese would have an early choice between wider autonomy within Indonesia or independence DSD intercepted messages confirming that two Indonesian special forces units, codenamed Tribuana and Venus, had arrived in East Timor to join undercover operations.

The East Timor military command, abbreviated to Korem 164, had already been using armed local auxiliaries and militias since the latter months of 1998 to counter the popular unrest that had been growing since Soeharto's fall.

On February 14, DSD heard the Dili militia leader Eurico Guterres telephone the Tribuana unit about the condition of an injured member of the militia group, which was called Mahidi. Tribuana told Guterres: "We know that Brig-Gen Simbolon is concerned that one of his crew is injured."

This refers to then Brigadier-General Mahidin Simbolon, who was chief of staff in the Bali-based Udayana regional command, which included East Timor. A former East Timor commander, Simbolon was close to the Mahidi leader Cancio de Cavalho, whose coined name for the group (Mahidi, from the Indonesian words meaning "Live or Die for Integration") was a tribute to the Indonesian officer.

On May 5, Indonesia's commander in East Timor, then Colonel Tono Suratman, was intercepted phoning Guterres to ask where he was massing his militia group for a show of force in Dili, the territory's capital. Guterres reported 400 militias waiting outside a city hotel.

On June 1, DSD intercepted Colonel Suratman telling Guterres: "Don't deal with me directly. Contact me via Bambang [referring to Major Bambang Wisnumurti, the intelligence chief in Suratman's command]."

On August 8, DSD intercepted a message from military headquarters in Jakarta, allocating radio frequencies for use by pro- Indonesian groups. This was one of a series of frequency allocations that were intercepted routine signals but the kind that provide crucial pieces of evidence for war crimes prosecutors. The point of contact for the militia groups was another intelligence officer, a Lieutenant Masbuku, in Suratman's Korem 164 headquarters in Dili.

On August 9, a message stated that Director "A" in Jakarta's military intelligence agency BAIS, a Brigadier-General Arifuddin, had organised flags and other material for a demonstration against Unamet, the UN mission. Arifuddin said 5000 T-shirts had been prepared, and 10,000 ordered.

In intercepts in a file dated September 4, and classified "Top Secret Umbra", Major-General Zacky Anwar Makarim is making last minute calls to find out how the count of the votes from five days earlier is going (the result, a 78.5 per cent majority for independence, was later announced by the UN that morning).

Anwar spoke to a police officer named Andreas and asked how the count was going. The police officer said that with 50 per cent of the vote counted, only about 20 per cent seemed to be for the autonomy-within-Indonesia option. Anwar appeared incredulous, asking: "Are you sure? How can it be?" He pointed out that all across East Timor, households had been displaying the red and white Indonesian flag.

Anwar also spoke to Brigadier-General Glenny Kairupan, head of another special team appointed by General Feisal Tanjung, for pointers to the impending result, and to the East Timorese activist leading Jakarta's political campaign in the ballot, Basilio Araujo who said it was obvious the poll was fixed.

While speaking to Araujo, General Anwar also asked him to keep a close eye on Eurico Guterres. Anwar said Guterres had a relative who was a Catholic nun, and might easily be persuaded to jump to the independence side. "I'll take care of him if he goes over to the other side," Anwar said.

Once the ballot's result was announced on September 4, the Indonesian authorities on the ground moved quickly to adapt existing contingency plans for evacuation of pro-integration elements and Indonesian residents.

Across the central and western parts of East Timor, people were driven from their homes and shepherded to land or sea transport to West Timor or other parts of Indonesia. The aim, apparently, was to discredit the UN ballot as rigged, by suggesting that a majority of Timorese were voting with their feet in accordance with their true wishes, or to create conditions for partition of the territory. Over the grim two weeks this scheme was carried out, before the arrival of the Australian-led international force Interfet on September 20, DSD picked up numerous scrambled telephone conversations between General Tanjung in Jakarta and General Anwar in Timor discussing details, the Defence sources say.

In addition, DSD intercepted other discussions about the population transfer involving General Anwar and two ministers in the Habibie government, both with intelligence and special forces backgrounds. One was Lieutenant-General A.M. Hendropriyono, the minister for the former inter-island "transmigration" scheme, the other Lieutenant-General Yunus Yosfiah, the information minister.

On September 21, as Interfet was still landing troops in Dili and establishing an uneasy interregnum with Indonesian forces, DSD intercepted a phone call to the veteran pro-Indonesian political leader Francisco Xavier Lopez da Cruz, informing him that Kopassus had formed special hit-squads code-named "Kiper-9" to hunt down pro-independence elements and pro-Indonesian figures who changed sides.

A final intercept revealed by the sources, reported on October 5, details a message from the East Nusatenggara provincial police commander to the police chief in the provincial capital Kupang (in West Timor). The local police chief is reminded that some visitors from the US State Department are about to visit camps holding relocated East Timorese. He is to make sure the visitors get the impression the refugees are free of harassment.

The generals who figure in the command chain of this campaign aside from Damiri, Suratman and Silaen are all free of legal charge. Feisal Tanjung is active in party politics since losing ministerial office with the end of the Habibie presidency in October 1999, along with former information minister Yunus Yosfiah. Damiri's former chief of staff in the Udayana command, Mahidin Simbolon, has been promoted to his own command, in Papua, where local independence activists fear he could pursue a militia strategy against them, and where Kopassus soldiers are suspected of murdering the Papuan Council leader Theys Eluay.

Zacky Anwar Makarim remains in the army, attached to the TNI headquarters without specific assignment. Sjafrie Sjamsuddin, who is among army officers resisting legal summonses to testify on violence against students in early 1998 (when he was Jakarta garrison chief), has been appointed official TNI spokesman.

The former transmigration minister who helped organise the mass deportations in September 1999, General Hendropriyono, has had a revived career, being made head of the new National Intelligence Body created by President Megawati Sukarnoputri, whom he had cultivated in her opposition years against Soeharto.

Only the decades of impunity enjoyed by the Indonesian security forces make the country's leadership unabashed by the irony that Hendropriyono and Sjamsuddin are now the public faces of a TNI and intelligence service being asked to join the War against Terror.

Indonesian commanders' links to East Timor violence

The Melbourne Age - March 14, 2002

Hamish McDonald -- The Australian Government sat on explosive intelligence material which showed the direct involvement of senior Indonesian army generals in the violence which swept East Timor in 1999.

Defence sources in Canberra have given details of how Australian electronic eavesdroppers intercepted secret messages between the Indonesian officers who ran a campaign of fear to deter the East Timorese from voting for independence.

But virtually none of the collected evidence, which could be vital to finding the masterminds responsible for crimes against humanity, has been shared with United Nations investigators. This is because of concerns that Indonesia would adopt countermeasures to foil future interception operations by the Defence Signals Directorate.

Transcripts of the DSD intercepts revealed to the Herald show a covert chain of command down from the then President B.J. Habibie's co-ordinating minister for politics and security, General Feisal Tanjung, to army generals and colonels on the ground in East Timor. It provides evidence for the first time that Tanjung, a career special forces and paratroop officer, used a network of similar minded officers in a campaign to avert a vote for independence in the United Nations-supervised ballot on August 30, 1999.

When this failed to their enormous surprise, a DSD intercept shows the officers then organised the forced deportation of one third of East Timor's population and the destruction of infrastructure, with the assistance of two other ministers in Habibie's cabinet the former generals A.M. Hendropriyono and Mohammad Yunus Yosfiah.

Three Indonesian army and police generals who were in charge of security for East Timor in 1999 are among 18 suspects whose trials begin in Jakarta today over four militia rampages in Liquica, Dili and Suai. But the generals who planned and directed the militia operation appear likely to escape indictment.

The leak of highly classified intelligence material is the first time raw DSD intercepts relating to a contemporary event have been disclosed. It reflects deep disquiet in defence circles that Canberra at first downplayed the high-level Indonesian military involvement with the militias blaming it on "rogue elements" and since then has not used it to help war crimes investigations.

Intercepts in February 1999 show Jakarta had sent detachments of special forces, code-named Tribuana and Venus, to begin black operations in East Timor, and that a commander based in Bali, Major-General Mahidin Simbolon, was referring to a militia group as "his crew".

As the militia campaign geared up with massacres of independence supporters in April, the DSD picked up conversations in which the East Timor army commander, Colonel Tono Suratman, is supervising the notorious militia leader Eurico Guterres.

Other messages include the allocation of radio frequencies by the Indonesian military command in Jakarta to militia groups, and a general in Jakarta's military intelligence agency organising T- shirts for demonstrations against the United Nations mission supervising the ballot.

The intercepts show the key officer running the militia in East Timor, Major-General Zacky Anwar Makarim, was ready to assassinate Guterres if he changed sides after the vote.

One intercept indicates that just after the arrival on September 20 of the international security force led by Australia's Major- General Peter Cosgrove, the covert campaign chiefs had sent in hit squads of special forces troops, code-named Kiper-9, to target independence leaders and turncoats from the pro-Indonesian cause.

The unfinished story of accountability in East Timor hangs over moves by the United States and Australia to improve contacts with Indonesian military and security agencies to pursue their campaign against terrorism.

The retired general Hendropriyono, who as transmigration minister in 1999 helped set up the camps into which East Timorese deportees were driven, was recently made head of Indonesia's National Intelligence Body.

On his visit to Jakarta last month, the Prime Minister, John Howard, accepted an Indonesian proposal to step up intelligence exchanges with this agency.

Draft constitution - focus on freedom of expression

Article 19 - February 2002

East Timor is due to become officially and fully independent on 20 May 2002. As part of the process of preparing for this, the authorities have prepared a draft Constitution of the Democratic Republic of East Timor. Formal approval for this Constitution is expected on 16 March 2002.

This Note analyses various provisions in the draft Constitution of East Timor that are relevant to the right to freedom of expression. Key among these is Section 40, which contains the guarantee of freedom of expression, along with Section 41, which provides explicitly for freedom of the media. Other provisions which are analysed below include a provision on interpretation, provisions allowing for derogations (in emergencies) and for restrictions on rights, as well as the separate guarantee for honour and public image.

Section 23 provides that the rights guaranteed by the Constitution shall not exclude other rights and shall be interpreted in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is a positive provision, which should help to ensure that the rights guaranteed by the Constitution are consistent with international human rights guarantees. It could, however, be improved by adding a reference to other international human rights treaties.

The guarantee of freedom of expression

Section 40 of the draft Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression. Sub-Section (1) provides:

"Every citizen has the right to freedom of speech and the right to inform and be informed impartially."

There are a number of shortcomings with this section. First, it is restricted to citizens, whereas most constitutional provisions apply to everyone. Under international law, States are responsible for protecting the rights of everyone subject to their jurisdiction, not only citizens. Second, it protects only the right to inform and be informed. This is a much more limited formulation than under international law, which refers to the right to "seek, receive and impart information and ideas." Third, it does not protect freedom of opinion, a right that is protected unconditionally under international law. Freedom of religion is protected, in Section 45, but not the broader right to freedom of opinion. Finally, and most importantly, the right is conditioned by reference to the idea of impartiality. The right to freedom of expressions should apply regardless of impartiality; individuals have a right to impart information that others may consider biased or partial. Indeed, a key aspect of the guarantee under international law of the right to freedom of expression is protecting against having one's expressions subjected to external "quality" controls such as impartiality or accuracy.

Sub-Section 40(3) provides for restrictions on the right to freedom of expression and is analysed below.

Section 41 protects freedom of the mass media. This is a positive section, which provides particular protection for certain mass media activities, including the right to protect confidential sources of information, the right of access to the mass media and the independence of the public media.

Derogations and Restrictions

Sub-Section 40(3) of the draft Constitution envisages the possibility of very broad-ranging restrictions on freedom of expression, as follows:

"The exercise of the rights and freedoms referred to in this Section shall be regulated by law based on the imperative of respect for the Constitution and the dignity of the human person."

This provision is seriously deficient and fails to provide appropriate limits on restrictions on freedom of expression. In effect, it allows the government to impose practically any restrictions they please on freedom of expression, as long as they do so by law. In stark contrast, under international law and under many constitutions States are only allowed to restrict freedom of expression where "necessary" to protect a limited set of listed interests, such as national security and the reputations of others. By not imposing a standard of necessity on restrictions, the Constitution effectively fails to provide constitutional protection for freedom of expression.

Section 24 provides for restrictions on rights either to safeguard other constitutionally protected rights or as provided for in the Constitution. Provisions similar to this may be found in other constitutions. This Section does not clarify how rights are to be balanced in case of the envisaged conflict, but this is a complex matter and should probably be left to the courts. However, it is of some concern that the draft Constitution provides special protection for the right to honour and good reputation, at Section 36, thus placing these rights on an equal footing with freedom of expression. Honour and reputation are widely recognised as grounds for restricting freedom of expression, but are not directly protected under international law. Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), for example, refers to "unlawful attacks" on honour or reputation, but does not directly protect these rights. Section 26 raises the possibility that legitimate criticism, even of political figures, will be deemed unconstitutional because it undermines their reputation. This would clearly bode ill for democracy in East Timor.

Section 25 allows for derogations from rights in case of an emergency and, in particular, "in case of effective or impending aggression by a foreign force, of serious disturbance or threat of disturbance to the democratic constitutional order, or of public disaster." This is a much broader definition of the type of emergency that would justify derogation than under international law, which refers to, "a public emergency which threatens the life of the nation" (ICCPR, Article 4). In particular, the phrases "serious disturbance" and "public disorder" are excessively broad and vague.

Recommendations

ARTICLE 19 recommends that the East Timor authorities take steps to effect the following changes to the draft Constitution:

Sub-Section 40(1) should be amended as follows:

• it should apply to everyone, not just citizens;
• it should refer to the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas, not just to inform and be informed; and
• it should not be conditioned on the impartiality of the expression; all expression should be protected.

Sub-Section 40(3) should be amended to include a test for restrictions on freedom of expression that requires such restrictions, in addition to being regulated by law, to be necessary to protect a limited list of aims set out in that sub- section.

Protection for the right to freedom of opinion should be added to the Constitution.

The references to "honour, good record and reputation, protection of his or her public image" should be removed from Section 36.

Section 25 should allow for derogation from rights only in the context of a threat to the life of the nation.

Presidential hopeful clears way for Gusmao candidacy

Agence France Presse - March 12, 2002

Dili -- A candidate in East Timor's upcoming presidential election on Tuesday announced a concession which will allow his only rival, independence hero Xanana Gusmao, to stand in the poll.

Francisco Xavier do Amaral said the two parties supporting him in the April 14 poll would drop their logos from ballot papers, following a threat by Gusmao to withdraw from the election over the issue. "To overcome this crisis I will take a position, that is that I am ready to be nominated as candidate for the presidency of Timor Lorosae [East Timor] ... without using the logo and symbols of the two parties which are supporting me," Amaral told a press conference.

Gusmao, the hot favorite to win the poll, is angry at a requirement by the United Nations Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) that candidates use party logos on ballot papers. Gusmao, 56, was nominated by nine political parties but on his condition he would only run as an independent. He says the logos compromise this status and threatened on Saturday to withdraw.

The commission had previously said it could only ditch the logos if all parties agree to do so -- including the two who nominated Amaral. It could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday. Amaral said he would write to the commission on Wednesday stating the decision which had been taken "under no pressure whatsoever".

Foreign minister of the transitional government, Jose Ramos- Horta, hailed the move as "a good settlement" of the impasse. He said Gusmao held a strong influence over the people and his pull-out could have caused fresh problems for East Timor. A spokeswoman for Gusmao said he was unavailable for comment but was expected to make a statement Wednesday after an announcement by the IEC.

Gusmao, hugely popular and intensely active in efforts to reconcile pro- and anti-independence East Timorese, is one of only two candidates for president of what will become the world's newest nation on May 20. Amaral, 66, was president for nine days in 1975 when the former Portuguese colony declared independence, only to be invaded by Indonesia just over a week later.

Gusmao, a former guerrilla commander who spent six years in an Indonesian prison, has for months expressed his reluctance to become president. On a visit to Thailand last week he said he hoped Amaral would win. When he announced his candidacy in August, Gusmao said he would rather be a pumpkin farmer but had agreed to run after pressure from international leaders and the UN's Transitional Administration in East Timor.

East Timorese voted in a UN-sponsored ballot in August 1999 to split from Indonesia, prompting a bloody and destructive backlash from pro-Jakarta militias supported by elements of the Indonesian army. Australian-led international troops arrived in September to secure the territory against the massive campaign of destruction and the UN took over the administration in October 1999.

East Timor: To be or not to be a member of ASEAN?

Jakarta Post - March 11, 2002

Lela E. Madjiah -- With full independence now a matter of two months away, East Timor must deal with various unanswered questions, one being its relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Although not an immediately pressing issue, it is worth pondering, given recent developments in the region, in particular with its closest neighbor, Indonesia.

The issue was raised during a meeting of foreign ministers of the 10-member regional grouping in the Thai resort of Phuket in mid- February, during which Myanmar objected to a proposal to grant East Timor observer status to the association.

In its argument, Myanmar raised East Timorese leaders' "past dealings" with Myanmar opposition forces led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi when East Timor was still under Indonesian control, Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Lauro Baja said last Thursday.

According to Baja, Myanmar officials said these "solidarity" meetings apparently continued after East Timor had voted for independence and come under interim United Nations administration. "There was no consensus on how East Timor could participate in ASEAN," Baja said, as quoted by AFP.

ASEAN, formed in 1967, now groups Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Observer status, now enjoyed by Papua New Guinea, would allow the territory to attend ASEAN's annual ministerial meetings and hold informal consultations with the group. Since its secession from Indonesia, East Timor has attended several ASEAN meetings as an invited guest.

The Philippines, the only mainly Roman Catholic nation in the group, backs the conferral of observer status to fellow Catholic East Timor.

Indonesia, whose relations with East Timor are odd to say the least, has no objection to East Timor seeking observer status. Even if it does, Indonesia will not directly voice its stance and may "borrow" the mouth of other members to get its message across to East Timor and other ASEAN members. Indeed, Indonesia is in a very awkward position when it comes to East Timor. As a former "ruler" of the half-island country, it would be unwise for Indonesia to comment on East Timor's policy or conduct.

Indonesia's formal stance regarding East Timor's relations to ASEAN is consistent with the ASEAN Declaration, which states that "the Association is open for participation by all states in the Southeast Asian region subscribing to the aforementioned aims, principles and purposes."

It further states that "the Association represents the collective will of the nations of Southeast Asia to bind themselves together in friendship and cooperation and, through joint efforts and sacrifices, secure for their peoples and for posterity the blessings of peace, freedom and prosperity."

On the other hand, Myanmar's objection is not totally against the ASEAN spirit. The founding leaders of the grouping had intended to keep membership to all 10 members of the Southeast Asian nations, or ASEAN-10. Given this background, Myanmar's objection is valid, especially given East Timor's inconsistent, at times belittling, view on ASEAN. In October 1999, for example, Jose Ramos Horta stated an independent East Timor would resist any attempt by Southeast Asian nations to bring it within their sphere of influence.

"We are one of the South Pacific nations, not part of ASEAN," Horta said, as quoted by AFP during a fundraising lunch in Sydney on October 15, 1999. When discussing regional cooperation, East Timor would liaise with South Pacific nations, he said.

"We can accept Australian command, we can accept New Zealand command, we can accept Fiji command," he said. "We will not accept anyone from the ASEAN countries because they're not neutral; they've been accomplices of Indonesia."

Last year Horta changed his ASEAN policy. No longer rejecting the idea of being part of ASEAN, he said East Timor needed between three years to five years before joining the group. Horta said there was a consensus in East Timor about the importance of ASEAN and all the political parties (in East Timor) were enthusiastic about joining.

"But it will take several years. First, we must put our house in order," he was quoted by Antara/Bernama as saying after attending the 34th ASEAN ministerial meeting in Hanoi on July 24, 2001.

The question is: What is the significance of East Timor's entry into ASEAN for the other members?

Geographically and historically East Timor belongs to ASEAN. East Timor is as much a part of ASEAN as the rest of the region as it was once part of Indonesia. Once it attains full independence in May, there is no reason for other ASEAN members to reject its presence in the grouping, granted it is willing to enter.

Economically, and that is where ASEAN will focus its energy in the future, East Timor carries little significance, even compared with Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, the three countries that were the last to join the grouping and completed the so-termed ideal number. East Timor's entry into ASEAN will serve as nothing more than a good public relations gimmick for ASEAN.

East Timor, on the other hand, will benefit greatly from its ASEAN membership. As a new country, it needs all the support it can get to rebuild the devastated country and create a regional network.

Indonesia, too, will benefit from East Timor's participation in ASEAN, especially in the light of continued armed struggles in Irian Jaya and Aceh. Indonesia must not underestimate East Timor's capability to muster international support for its cause, as clearly demonstrated by its success in having international (read the West) backing for secession from Indonesia.

While economically East Timor may be insignificant, its political network cannot be ignored and many of its former supporters, including parliamentarians and NGOs, particularly in non-ASEAN countries, have indeed shifted their focus towards Irian Jaya and Aceh.

Ramos Horta himself has repeatedly called on the Indonesian government to end repressive policies in Aceh and Irian Jaya. He has even opposed the United States and Australia restoring defense ties with Indonesia. "I don't think Indonesia needs weapons at the moment. What it needs is debt relief, it needs investments, it needs financial, economic and humanitarian assistance," Horta said in an interview with Australia's Nine Network television on Aug. 12, 2001.

There are also concerns over growing Australia's influence over East Timor, which is seen more as an Australian protectorate rather than a fully independent country. There are indications that Australia is securing a safe passage to the north and that can be achieved best with East Timor under its full influence. Under the pretext of curbing human trafficking into the continent, Australia could turn East Timor into its military base to safeguard its northern passage and to serve as a buffer to deter boat-people and the illegal entry of immigrants.

There are even rumors of a Timor Raya (Great Timor) and while the Indonesian authorities have denied the existence of such a movement to unite East and West Timor, it should not ignore the possibility of such an idea. Again, it is Australia that would benefit greatly from a Timor Raya.

It is therefore in Indonesia's interest to take an active part in making East Timor part of ASEAN to prevent it from leaning towards Australia's interests at the expense of Indonesia's unity and ASEAN's integrity.

Gusmao threatens to pull out of presidential race

Agence France Presse - March 10, 2002

Dili -- East Timor's reluctant presidential favourite, Xanana Gusmao, threatened Saturday to withdraw from next month's elections over an electoral technicality.

Gusmao, the independence hero considered a sure winner of the territory's first presidential polls on April 14, is angry over United Nations electoral authority requirements that candidates use a logo.

He called a press conference in the Timorese capital to air his complaints over the UN-run Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)'s outlines for the ballot paper, which he says require candidates to place a political party logo alongside their name.

"I give the IEC one week to change to this requirement, and if there is no response I will withdraw my candidacy," Gusmao told reporters. Gusmao, 56, agreed to be nominated for the presidency by nine political parties on the condition that he would only run as an independent candidate. Using a logo, he said, would be interpreted as having an alliance with a political party and would therefore compromise his independence.

Gusmao, hugely popular and intensely active in efforts to reconcile pro and anti-independence East Timorese, is one of only two candidates for president of what will become the world's newest nation on May 20. His sole rival, Francisco Xavier do Amaral, 66, was president for nine days in 1975 when the former Portuguese colony declared independence, only to be invaded by Indonesia just over a week later.

Gusmao, a former guerilla commander who led the fight against Indonesia for almost two decades of its 24-year occupation, has for months repeatedly expressed his reluctance to become president. On a visit to Thailand on Tuesday he told reporters that he hoped Amaral would win. When he announced his candidacy in Dili last August, Gusmao told a packed auditorium that he would rather grow pumpkins, but had agreed to run out of pressure from international leaders and the UN's Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET).

The UN has been running East Timor since October 1999, after Australian-led international troops arrived to secure the territory from a massive campaign of destruction by departing Indonesian troops and their proxy local militias. The orgy of looting, arson and killing was launched in response to East Timor's overwhelming vote to split from Indonesia in a UN- sponsored referendum on August 30 1999.

UN optimistic that election row will be solved soon

Associated Press - March 10, 2002

Joanna Jolly, Dili -- The United Nations is optimistic that a dispute threatening the participation of East Timorese independence leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao in the nation's first elections will be solved soon, a spokesman said Sunday.

Gusmao, who is the overwhelming favorite to win the polls, on Saturday threatened to withdraw his candidacy in an argument over election procedures. The former guerrilla fighter said he disagreed with a rule calling for ballot papers to carry party logos next to candidate names. Although he has been nominated by nine parties, Gusmao said he wanted to run as an independent to unite the country.

"The U.N is optimistic that a solution will be found by the beginning of the campaign period on Friday," said the world body's head of political affairs in East Timor, Colin Stewart. Elections are scheduled to begin on April 14. Stewart said the United Nations -- which has administered East Timor since it voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999 -- would support efforts to find a solution that is acceptable to all parties.

Despite enjoying vast popularity in the territory, Gusmao is a reluctant candidate for the nation's top job. He has made several threats not to run as president over the past year. Aderito de Jesus Soares, a member of East Timor's largest political party Fretilin, said Gusmao's recent behavior was losing him support. "He wants people to beg him to become leader. He is behaving inconsistently and he is moving further and further away from the grass roots," he said.

Gusmao's only opponent in the race will be Fransisco Xavier do Amaral, who was appointed East Timor's first president in 1975 after its Portuguese colonial government pulled out. Gusmao joined the armed resistance against Indonesian rule and quickly rose to command the guerrilla forces in the 1980s. He was captured by Indonesian troops in 1992 and was held prisoner in Jakarta for seven years.

Timorese women legislators second highest in region

UNTAET Daily Briefing - March 8, 2002

Dili -- East Timor, where women hold 24 per cent of Constituent Assembly seats, joined the world today in celebration of International Women's Day during a ceremony held in Dili attended by UN Transitional Administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello, NGO representatives and diplomats.

Speaking at the ceremony, Vieira de Mello addressed the important role East Timorese women played during the territory's struggle for independence, as well as UNTAET's efforts to encourage East Timorese women to take part in the process of national development.

"The results of your dedication speak for themselves: a 24 per cent representation in the Constituent Assembly, the second highest in the Asia-Pacific region, which has only a 12 per cent average of women in elected parliaments," the UN Secretary- General's Special Representative said. "This has ensured a voice for women in shaping your country's Constitution."

Other changes over the last two years in the participation of women in decision-making and public life include the appointment of women as District Administrators, ministers (Justice and Finance) and Advisors to the Chief Minister (Human Rights and Promotion of Equality). While the Public Administration has not yet reached the minimum 30 per cent representation established target, the national police force and border control have exceeded it, and the East Timor Defence Force is now beginning to recruit its first women.

The ceremony was organised by the East Timor Women's Network in conjunction with the Second Transitional Government's Office for the Promotion of Equality.

Maria Domingas Fernandes, the Advisor to Chief Minister Marm Alkatiri for the Promotion of Equality, is observing the 46th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York.

Team probing journalist's murder ends East Timor visit

Agence France Presse - March 11, 2002

Jakarta -- An Indonesian legal team investigating the 1999 murder of a Dutch journalist in East Timor has ended a visit to the territory after making "significant inquiries", UN staff said Friday.

Sander Thoenes was working as the Jakarta correspondent for Britain's Financial Times when he was killed in the territory's capital Dili on September 21, 1999, by departing Indonesian troops.

The three-man team, the first Indonesian investigation team to visit East Timor, spent 10 days in the territory and interviewed nine witnesses -- eight East Timorese and a journalist who travelled from England.

Dutch investigator, Chief Superintendent Gerrit Thiry, told a press conference in Dili that a lead suspect in the murder of Thoenes was Second Lieutenant Camilo dos Santos, of Battalion 745. "We were able to identify a witness who was able to point out a suspect and identify him as the man who pointed his gun to the back of Sander Thoenes, and shots were heard," Thiry said.

Members of the Serious Crimes Unit from the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor also attended the interviews along with a senior Dutch policeman. "The Serious Crime Unit is investigating the case on the basis that members of Indonesian army Battalion 745 were responsible for the killing," said prosecutor Stuart Alford. "We have not gone so far as to name individual members."

Thoenes had arrived in Dili hours earlier to cover the arrival of the UN-sanctioned Australian peacekeeping forces. They were sent in following an orgy of killing and destruction by military- backed pro-Indonesian militiamen. The violence was sparked off by East Timor's vote for independence in a UN-sponsored ballot on August 30, 1999.

Alford told AFP that battalion members killed 10 East Timorese as well as Thoenes as it withdrew in convoy from its eastern base at Los Palos to Dili, and then back to Indonesia. "Some people describe it as a scorched-earth policy in terms of destruction by fire and looting and killing -- part of a pattern of looting and property destruction as they were leaving the country," he said. The killings were apparently random murders, Alford said.

He said some of the witnesses were East Timorese who were members of the battalion at the time while others were bystanders. "There is some good evidence about who was in the vicinity and who was involved." Alford said his unit expects at some time to issue indictments. "The question after that is whether we ever get the suspects ... we have to fight that battle as well."

Last month international prosecutors in East Timor indicted nine pro-Jakarta militiamen and eight Indonesian soldiers over a bloody rampage against independence supporters in Dili in April 1999 which cost 13 lives. But Jakarta said it would refuse to hand them over in the absence of an extradition treaty.

Indonesia has set up its own human rights tribunal to try offences committed in April and in September 1999 in three districts of East Timor. The killers of Thoenes can be taken to the court under these restrictions.

Alford said the Indonesians "came with genuine intentions. But they don't ultimately make the decision about who goes in front of the tribunal. "But it was the first time we had an investigation team from Indonesia -- that alone is progress."

Militias in West Timor remain a threat to East Timor

Kyodo News - March 8, 2002

Fairus Husaini, Dili -- The UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration have assisted more than 190,000 East Timorese refugees make voluntary returns home from West Timor since October 1999.

But many of the nearly 50,000 refugees still in West Timor are former pro-Indonesia militia leaders and their supporters who remained armed and, according to some in East Timor, remain a clear threat to East Timor as it transitions to independence in May.

Nemesio Lopes de Carvalho, 36, a former deputy commander of the Ainaro-based militia group Mahidi, confirmed that many former militia members in West Timor still have weapons. "They did not hand over all their weapons to the Indonesian government," de Carvalho told Kyodo News.

Mahidi, an Indonesian abbreviation meaning "Live or die for integration with Indonesia," was led by de Carvalho's brother Cansio who controlled 8,000 members and the districts of Ainaro, Kovalima, Manufahi and Ailiu in central East Timor. The group was one of several militia groups set up and backed by Indonesia's military ahead of a UN-sponsored referendum on independence for the former Portuguese colony on Aug. 30, 1999.

Many militia members would face arrest for their involvement in massive atrocities in East Timor before, during and after the referendum in which the vast majority of East Timorese voted to sever all ties with Indonesia, but only if they are caught.

De Carvalho, who returned to his hometown Ainaro last October, said many of the still-armed militia leaders, including his brother, refuse to return to East Timor at the moment, but they plan to do so once the United Nations leaves the new country. "They are waiting for an appropriate time, which is likely after all UN peacekeeping troops leave East Timor," de Carvalho said.

The UN Security Council has agreed the UN should stay engaged in East Timor after independence to ensure security and stability, but there has been no decision on how long peacekeeping troops will remain in the country.

UNTAET officials have said peacekeeping troops may stay for another year or two, but already it has begun downsizing its military component and the current deployment of nearly 8,000 troops will be cut to 5,000 by independence day on May 20.

Many fear, however, if the UN deployment is further reduced and the still-armed militia members return from West Timor, then East Timor's own military -- just 650 troops -- and its police -- only 1,300 men -- would be unable to maintain security.

Clementino dos Reis Amaral, a member of East Timor's Constitutional Assembly from the Association of East Timorese Heroes, told Kyodo News he is particularly concerned about security threats from militia in West Timor once the peacekeepers leave. "I will write a letter to UNTAET leader Sergio Vieiro de Mello to pay a more attention to this," he said, adding he wants the peacekeepers to stay beyond 2004, especially in the border area with West Timor.

Amaral, who is a former member of Indonesia's Commission on Human Rights, said Indonesia would be responsible if any security breaches occur along the border, partly because Indonesia claims to have disarmed the militia members in West Timor. Indonesia came under strong international pressure to disarm the militias after three UNHCR staff members were murdered in the West Timor border town Atambua by a militia-led mob in September 2000.

In May last year, an Indonesian lower court convicted six men of "committing violence that resulted in the deaths" of the UNHCR staff members, but it sentenced them to only 10 to 20 months in jail.

The country's Supreme Court later stiffened the sentence to six to seven years in jail, but many in East Timor still feel there is neither enough deterrence nor determination on the Indonesian side to prevent more violence in the future, particularly if the UN sends the peacekeepers home.

Uneasy quiet on border

The Age - March 9, 2002

Jill Jolliffe -- From the other side of the cyclone wire fence, a man with a large scorpion tattooed on his face peers into East Timor.

He comes here regularly, sometimes chatting with Indonesian army officers. His name is Olivio Mau, one of the most wanted militia leaders still in West Timor, and he is one of the reasons the people of Suai, 20 kilometres to the east, are scared.

The New Zealanders from NZBatt5 who guard this remote border post are powerless to act so long as he stays on the Indonesian side. Besides, these days their message is one of peaceful persuasion, and they must suppress their frustration.

Under their 200-centimetre commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Antony "Lofty" Hayward, a main thrust of their soldiering is to help East Timorese refugees who cross the border from Indonesia.

There are still an estimated 60,000 of them in West Timorese camps. Some trickle through each week. The soldiers liaise with Indonesian commanders and work with United Nations authorities to resettle returnees peacefully in their own communities.

The New Zealanders are also working to reassure locals that they will be secure when the battalion leaves in November and Timorese soldiers take over.

They have an imaginative program of community work to strengthen leadership qualities in village heads, build self-reliance and prepare people for life in a democracy after independence on May 20.

"We're part of the healing process, and we want to create understanding of how to function as a community," Lieutenant- Colonel Hayward asserts, "We're also a small country, and our soldiers are the best ambassadors -- it's part of the Kiwi touch."

Mr Mau faces a series of accusations, including participating in the Suai church massacre of about 200 unarmed civilians in September, 1999. Recently East Timorese refugees attacked him with a machete -- a desperate reaction to the intimidation they still suffer in the West Timor camps.

The problem for the Cova Lima district, which the New Zealanders secure, is that it is cheek-by-jowl with the Indonesian border and people are acutely conscious of their vulnerability. It is symptomatic that police prosecutors working on the Suai massacre have found it almost impossible to recruit local interpreters. Militia culprits are just too close for comfort.

The NZ battalion secured the border with its Australian counterparts in September, 1999, after an advance action by SAS forces of both nations. The Australians guard the northern sector and the Kiwis control security in the south, which takes in some of East Timor's most inaccessible densely forested mountain country.

During these early hard-edge operations they paid dearly for their commitment. Three died in accidents. The fourth, Private Leonard Manning, was shot by militia infiltrators in July, 2000, and his body mutilated. "People forget that the New Zealand army has only two infantry battalions, and one of them is here," Jonathan Austin, head of New Zealand's Dili mission notes.

He stresses that New Zealand has no strategic or economic designs on East Timor. "It is purely a humanitarian mission. We're a small, poor country as East Timor is, we're neutral, and we can help in small ways."

Labour struggle

No massive job cuts for BCA: StanChart

Jakarta Post - March 13, 2002

Jakarta -- Britain's Standard Chartered Bank Plc (StanChart) said on Tuesday it had no plans for massive job cuts as it rushed to assuage thousands of Bank Central Asia (BCA) employees protesting the sale of the bank to a foreign consortium, who they fear may streamline operations and cut jobs.

Monday's mass demonstration by BCA employees has already forced the government to further delay the announcement of the winning bid, which was scheduled to be done on Tuesday.

But StanChart chief executive in Indonesia, Ray Ferguson was unfazed by the delay, saying StanChart remained committed to its bid. "We fully understand the attachment that Indonesians and BCA employees have to BCA," Ferguson said in a press statement.

StanChart's only other competitor, the U.S. investment firm Farallon Capital Management could not be reached for comment.

On Monday thousands of BCA employees took to the streets in protest against plans to sell the bank to foreign investors. Some of them said there were rumors being spread of job losses and lower benefits.

"There will be no massive job cuts and no changes to employee benefits and pay," Ray said adding that there were also no plans for branch closures, fundamental changes to management structure, nor integration of BCA into StanChart. "The BCA brand name and identity will be maintained," he said.

Farallon, in an earlier press statement cited similar promises, saying there would be no layoffs within the first two years. But with the delay it remains to be seen whether the government can keep its own promise to announce a winner this week.

State Minister for State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi said he had received the last assessment results on the two final bidders. "But in the short term we will assess the latest development like these labor protests which we have to watch out for," he told reporters.

Monday's mass protests again highlights the painstaking processes the government must endure to prove to investors that it is committed to privatization. Much is at stake as investors and international lenders will determine their next moves in Indonesia, or lack thereof, only after the BCA deal is done.

Founded by the Salim Group, BCA is the country's largest retail bank, which the government took over after bailing it out from the impact of the 1997 financial crisis. Some US$5 billion was spent on recapitalizing the bank, and it still costs another Rp 7 trillion (about $700 million) a year to keep BCA, with its thousands of employees, afloat.

Despite the huge public burden to keep it afloat, BCA employees demand the government not sell the bank, especially, it seems, to a foreign consortium. However, their plight has received backing from at least one influential voice within the government.

State Minister for National Development Planning Kwik Kian Gie also opposes the divestment, but for reasons other than job losses. Kwik is concerned with the Rp 7 trillion in taxpayers' money BCA would still receive while owned by foreign investors.

That money is part of approximately Rp 60 trillion the government spends each year on banks that it bailed out with recapitalization bonds. As yet, the government has no immediate solution to reclaim the bonds from other recapitalized banks before divesting them.

On the currency market, the latest snag appears to have had little impact as players have become desensitized to problems surrounding BCA. The rupiah weakened slightly to 9,970 against the U.S. dollar from 9,960 on Monday. Stock traders, however, dumped their BCA shares on news of a delay, prompting the main index to lose 4.6 points to end Tuesday trading at 469.36.

Protests delay bank sale announcement

Straits Times - March 13, 2002

Robert Go, Jakarta -- Indonesia's government yesterday delayed announcing a new owner for Bank Central Asia (BCA) following nationwide protests by thousands of the bank's workers, but stressed that the much-awaited deal would be concluded soon.

State Enterprise Minister Laksamana Sukardi told reporters: "We decided to delay it for a few days because of the worker protests." But he added that the deal would be announced soon. Officials will use the extra time to convince BCA workers that there will be no job cuts or management reshuffling after the sale.

Mr Laksamana has already hinted that the sale contract might include such guarantees from the new owner. Other government sources confirmed the deal -- to be struck with one of two consortiums led respectively by Standard Chartered Bank and United States investment firm Farallon Capital -- could be closed as early as this week.

But while the demonstrations failed to scuttle outright the government's plans, they spurred other critics into action and sparked fresh resistance to the sale.

Among the new critics is Dr Amien Rais, Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and leader of the National Mandate Party, who met with the BCA workers' representative on Monday. He promised to meet Mr Laksamana and other officials in order to get the "BCA tender process repeated, delayed or cancelled altogether".

In what could be an early campaign speech aimed at the 2004 general election, he took up the banner of nationalism and said: "Foreigners need Indonesia, we don't need them."

Calls to keep BCA in government hands have also come from National Development Minister Kwik Kian Gie, who reportedly met BCA workers a few weeks ago in anticipation of the demonstrations.

The sale of BCA, which the government seized from the Salim Group conglomerate three years ago, is viewed by analysts, foreign investors and lenders as a crucial test of the Jakarta government's commitment to banking reforms.

Jakarta needs the expected US$450 million (S$820 million) from the deal to finance its budget deficit. It has promised the sale to foreign lenders, including those who will soon decide whether to ease repayment terms on about US$6 billion owed by Indonesia.

But the BCA case is yet another clear illustration of how much the public resents the idea of foreigners buying up local assets, even at a time when the country sorely needs to raise money and to r- attract investors. Even Vice-President Hamzah Haz has disclosed that he personally disapproves of the privatisation of state enterprises.

Meanwhile, Bank Indonesia Governor Syahril Sabirin warned that scrapping the BCA sale would put Jakarta in deeper trouble: 'The BCA sale is seen as a benchmark for other divestment programmes. If cancelled, it will have a serious impact on the investment climate.'

BCA sale to go on despite protest

Jakarta Post - March 12, 2002

Jakarta -- In a show of force to oppose the sale of Bank Central Asia (BCA) to foreign investors, thousands of employees of the country's largest retail bank staged a mass protest in several major cities on Monday.

But the government insisted that it would not back down from the sale plan, with Vice President Hamzah Haz saying the government was likely to announce the winning bidder of a 51 percent stake in the bank on Tuesday.

"The sale won't be canceled as it's part of the [country's] letter of intent [to the International Monetary Fund] and the IMF has approved it," he said following a Cabinet meeting.

The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) has short-listed two final bidders, including a consortium led by U.K.-based Standard Chartered Bank Plc, and US investment firm Farallon Capital.

The sale of government shares in BCA has been delayed since 2000 due to various reasons, including political interference.

The completion of the divestment program is seen as a litmus test by international lenders and investors for the government's commitment to the economic reform program.

The support of international lenders, particularly from the IMF, which is providing a multibillion dollar bailout loan for the country, is crucial as the government is planning to meet the Paris Club of creditor nations in April to seek a rescheduling facility for debts maturing this year.

The rescheduling facility is important to help limit the 2002 state budget deficit to 2.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). The sale of BCA will also provide cash to the government to help finance the budget deficit, and is also part of efforts to turn around the country's ailing banking sector.

But neither the IBRA top officials nor the State Minister of State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi, who has the final say on the divestment program, could be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin warned that a delay in the sale of BCA would have a negative impact on the overall economy. He added that the sale process of the bank had been properly implemented and the divestment program should in turn benefit employees.

But spokesman for the BCA employees' union, Bilal Idris, said that BCA employees here were firmly against the sale and demanded that their representatives be included in all future negotiations involving the fate of BCA.

"It is the employees who have worked to make BCA one of the country's largest institutions. We should not be neglected," Bilal told the thousands of people, which largely consisted of BCA employees, at the Wisma BCA compound in Jakarta.

At least 4,000 staff members from the Greater Jakarta area joined the protest, causing at least 119 branches of BCA banks in the area to shut down temporarily.

Demonstrators marched from the bank's headquarters to the office of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) and then on to the House of Representatives (DPR) building in Central Jakarta. Many employees reportedly fear less generous benefits or even job loss under a new owner.

In East Java, some 100 BCA employees protested outside the East Java Council, demanding the government to cancel the sale of the bank to "foreigners," stating that they believed they would be treated unfairly by their new owners.

In West Java, the BCA employees' communication forum demanded that West Java councillors support them in their protest against the sale of the government's stake in the institution.

"We are fighting to make sure that the country's biggest asset does not fall into the hands of foreigners," Agus Sudradjat, one of the forum's seven representatives received by West Java councillors, said on Monday.

In Medan, North Sumatra, 15 representatives of BCA employees of the branch there met with North Sumatra councillors in connection with the imminent sale.

Representatives' spokesman Dwi Mensana Tarigan said that all BCA employees shared the fear that there could be a major restructuring of the BCA organization nationwide, which would most likely lead to "downsizing".

Through IBRA, the government took over BCA, which has 800 branches and 22,000 employees, from the Salim Group three years ago at the height of the regional financial crisis. The government injected huge amounts of bonds into the institution to recapitalize the bank.

Employees stage nationwide protest over sale of bank

Straits Times - March 12, 2002

Robert Go, Jakarta -- Employees of Bank Central Asia (BCA) staged protests nationwide against its impending sale to foreign bidders, signaling that whoever takes over could face a hostile reception from the staff.

The strike, involving as many as 4,000 employees, or almost one- fifth of its 21,000 workforce, was a further illustration of the difficulties faced by President Megawati Sukarnoputri's government as it tries to implement crucial economic reforms.

For the two bidding consortia, led by Standard Chartered Bank and US investment firm Farallon Capital respectively, it raises the problem of how to deal with a hostile workforce.

Workers appeared to be concerned mainly with how the deal would affect job security, salaries and benefits. Strikers' representative Bilal Idris said: "The sale will hurt both Indonesia and BCA's workers. The government has to take us seriously."

Branches throughout Jakarta, the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya, and Medan in north Sumatra remained closed yesterday.

Domestic opposition to selling BCA, the country's largest retail bank, had been subdued so far. But this could now pick up after the government indicated that it would announce a new owner as early as this week.

Jakarta is intent on inking a deal. Vice-President Hamzah Haz told reporters yesterday: "The sale won't be cancelled, as it is already promised in the letter of intent to the International Monetary Fund."

The BCA sale, first slated for December 2000, is a make-or-break test for the government. The US$450 million that Jakarta is expected to raise is sorely needed to finance the budget deficit and keep the country afloat.

But more than that, it is a chance for Jakarta to show foreign investors and creditors it can deliver reform pledges. Similar protests and nationalistic arguments from various parties have sabotaged or delayed other deals involving foreign investors in the past, costing the state dearly in potential revenue.

Failure to unload BCA, which restructuring-agency Ibra took over three years ago from the Salim Group, resulted in Indonesia being temporarily suspended from the IMF's US$5-billion loan programme during the term of former president Abdurrahman Wahid.

University of Indonesia economist Bambang Brodjonegoro said the BCA sale must serve as a signal that Jakarta remains committed to the privatisation process. But it must also ensure that future sales go through smoothly, without protest. Otherwise it would send a negative signal to potential investors.

Nike says improving Indonesian labor conditions

Reuters - March 7, 2002

New York -- Athletic shoe giant Nike Inc. on Thursday welcomed an aid agency report alleging its workers in Indonesia are overworked and underpaid, but said it had already made improvements to shed its sweatshop image.

"We are pleased the 'We are not Machines' report recognizes some of the progress that has been made in these workplaces and believe there is much work that remains to be done," Nike said in a statement from its Beaverton, Oregon headquarters.

But it also gently chided the report by Australia-based Oxfam Community Aid Abroad, noting it was based on just 35 interviews with Nike workers in Indonesia, while the athletic shoe maker was working with an independent body that talked with 4,000 employees.

The report, "We are not Machines," released on Thursday in Jakarta said Nike and rival Adidas Salomon AG have taken steps to improve conditions in Indonesian factories but that employees are still overworked and underpaid. The companies had responded to pressure from rights groups and aid agencies to improve working conditions, but had not done enough, the report said.

There was no immediate response from Adidas, but in a statement, Nike said it had received a copy of the report. "We take any concerns raised about factories where Nike product is produced very seriously. Nike is well aware of the issues raised in the report [based on interviews with 35 workers] because we engaged in a transparent assessment of our Indonesia operations with an independent entity, the Global Alliance for Workers and Communities, that involved interviews with 4,000 workers."

Nike said the Global Alliance spent 4,000 hours interviewing 4000 workers in nine factories in Indonesia and Nike has addressed all issues of non-compliance found through that work. The company reports every quarter to the GA on progress on all issues raised in the "We are not Machines" report, it said.

Nike said the Global Alliance is now investing in programs that workers have identified as critical -- health, harassment, management/worker relations training and life skills development.

Aceh/West Papua

Witnesses blame army for Aceh massacre, right group says

Agence France Presse - March 15, 2002

Jakarta -- Almost all witnesses to a massacre of civilians in Indonesia's Aceh province last year said the army was to blame, an international rights group reported Friday.

"Virtually all witnesses asserted that the Indonesian army was responsible, although they could not name individual perpetrators," said Human Rights Watch, in a report focusing on the killing of 30 men and a two-year-old child at a plantation in East Aceh in August.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the evidence was given to two visiting commissioners of the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas-HAM) two weeks after the killings.

The New York-based group in a statement sharply criticised Komnas-HAM for failing to actively pursue an investigation into what it called one of the worst massacres in post-Suharto Indonesia.

"The Indonesian government in general and Komnas-HAM in particular have failed dismally to investigate serious human rights abuses in Aceh," said Sidney Jones, HRW Asia director, in the statement. "And Komnas-HAM has gone from being the most credible institution in the country to being a real hindrance to human rights progress."

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has been fighting since 1976 for an independent state in Aceh on Sumatra island. Countless civilians have died since then, in addition to rebels, police and soldiers. Each side accused the other of the plantation massacre, in which a group of ethnic Acehnese was lined up and executed by a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms.

HRW said the Komnas-HAM team in Aceh failed to follow up important leads and allowed military officers to accompany them on some interviews. "After their return to Jakarta, the commissioners sat on their findings for five months. Only on January 8, 2002 did Komnas-HAM agree to set up a formal commission of inquiry but more than two months later, no progress was evident."

HRW urged the government to give highest priority to ensuring the perpetrators of the massacre are brought to justice. It called on parliament to hold hearings into why so many serious human rights violations in Aceh remain unsolved.

Violence in Aceh leaves 14 more dead

Agence France Presse - March 13, 2002

Banda Aceh -- At least 14 people have been killed over the past two days in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province, security officials and aid workers said Wednesday.

A married couple believed to be members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were killed when a grenade they hurled at security forces exploded near them in East Aceh on Monday, said Adjunct Senior Commissioner Gaguk Sumartono, a local police chief. A gun was seized from the couple's house, he said.

Sumartono said police also gunned down a 22-year-old suspected rebel during a raid in East Aceh's Simpang Nenas village on Monday.

A GAM spokesman, Ishak Daud, denied that the three victims were rebels. "We condemn the killings of civilians who have nothing to do with the GAM," he said.

A civilian and a local Muslim leader were found dead in separate locations in East Aceh on Tuesday, an aid worker said. Their bodies were riddled with bullets and marked by signs of torture.

In North Aceh three bodies with gunshot wounds were found on Tuesday, a local paramedic said.

Troops also killed two rebels in separate locations on Monday and Tuesday in West Aceh, local military spokesman Major Ertoto said.

Aid workers said three bullet-riddled bodies were found in two separate locations in West Aceh on Tuesday.

In another incident, a civilian was shot dead by an unidentified person in Bireuen district on Monday, residents said.

An estimated 10,000 people have died since December 1976 when the GAM began to fight for an independent Islamic state in the province on the northern tip of Sumatra island. More than 300 have been killed this year alone in the energy-rich province.

Government plans new round of peace talks for Aceh

Jakarta Post - March 13, 2002

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- The government plans to facilitate new peace talks that will include all parties in Aceh. This comes after a series of dialogs with rebel groups failed to live up to the aspirations of the majority in the province.

The proposed talks, which officials suggest would be similar to the Malino talks that helped calm the Poso and Maluku conflicts, correspond to terms agreed upon during the recent Geneva talks between Aceh rebel and government negotiators.

The latest talks, sponsored by the Swiss-based Henry Dunant Center (HDC), on February 2 and 3 left the future of negotiations to both Indonesia and representatives of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

One of four prominent points agreed in the meeting stipulated that both parties would hold all-inclusive and transparent political dialog for Aceh between 2002 and 2003. The two parties also agreed to support the cessation of hostilities and all acts of violence in 2002. Another point resulting from the recent talks is the plan to establish a democratically elected government in Aceh through free and fair elections in May 2004.

Officials however have never formally stated that the newly proposed talks are part of the process agreed upon in Geneva.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Tuesday the government would emulate the model of peace agreement between rival groups in the Central Sulawesi town of Poso and Maluku in a bid to settle decades of separatism waged by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

"The government pledges to make a breakthrough in reaching a peace deal. The concept does not necessarily mean the same as what we have done for people in both Poso and Maluku, of course, but it has to be able to stop the violence so that we can develop a better future for the people of Aceh," Susilo told the media conference after hosting a meeting on political and security affairs.

He was referring to the government-sponsored peace agreements known as Malino Declaration I related to the conflict in Poso and Malino Declaration II that is concerned with the conflict in Maluku. The two territories were hit by sectarian conflict between Muslims and Christians.

Susilo claimed that such a model of peace talks had been raised by some religious leaders in Aceh. He, nevertheless, refused to go into detail, saying that the draft of the new peace arrangement in Aceh remained incomplete. "All talks regarding Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province must be held in a frame of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia," he stressed.

Despite the new developments, violence remains commonplace in Aceh. At least 26 people have been killed in skirmishes between security officers and Aceh rebels since Sunday.

Spokesman for the military operation and security command Maj. Zaenal Mustaqin said a Marine officer, Private Susandi, was killed in an attack by a rebel group in Bantayan village in East Aceh on Sunday.

In a series of raids on GAM bases in East Aceh, North Aceh and Pidie between Sunday and Monday, military troops shot dead at least 10 rebels. A GAM spokesman, Amri Abdul Wahab, claimed there was only one casualty on his side during the armed clashes.

Corporate globalisation

US investment firm wins bid for largest retail bank

Agence France Presse - March 14, 2002

Jakarta -- US investment firm Farallon has won the bidding to buy Bank Central Asia (BCA), Indonesia's largest retail bank, the government said Thursday.

State Enterprises Minister Laksamana Sukardi said the consortium led by Farallon Capital Management would buy a 51 percent stake in two stages for a total of 5.3 trillion rupiah (531.6 million dollars) at 1,775 rupiah a share.

The bank was taken over by the state Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) in the wake of the 1997-1998 regional financial crisis, which devastated the local banking sector.

Its sale, after several false starts in recent years, is seen as a crucial test of Indonesia's resolve to reform its banking industry and push ahead with a divestment programme to help plug its budget deficit. Analysts said the sale could revive flagging interest by overseas investors in the country.

The choice is a bitter blow to Standard Chartered Bank, the other final bidder. It was the second time in less than three years that the British-based giant had failed in its bid for a local bank. "The sales and purchase agreement criteria offered by Farallon are better than those of Standard Chartered," Sukardi said.

BCA has 800 branches and 22,000 employees. IBRA took it over from the Salim Group three years ago and holds around 60 percent of the shares. "The government recognises that the BCA divestment is a strategic footstep in improving public and business confidence with regard to the policy on economic revovery," Sukardi said.

"Therefore the government understands the importance of strengthening the sales and purchase agreement and business plan of the winning bidder in a way that will create a strategic partnership in developing BCA as a benchmark of national banking."

Farallon, he said, should improve BCA's ability to channel sorely-needed bank credit to local business, including small and medium-size enterprises.

Apparently mindful of mass worker protests this week against the sale, the minister said there should be a "strong commitment to develop the current resources and there should not be any rationalisation that would create a negative impact on BCA's performance."

Earlier Thursday, before the winner was announced, some 400 people staged a noisy protest outside the head office of Stardard Chartered against the planned sale.

Standard Chartered executives could not be reached for comment. Widespread protests helped scuttle its bid in 1999 for Bank Bali.

The sale of BCA is one of the conditions set by the International Monetary Fund, which is coordinating an five-billion-dollar economic bailout program. Foreign creditors are pushing Indonesia to press on with privatisation and divestment of assets held by IBRA but some politicians had come out strongly against the BCA sale.

Previous attempts to sell BCA, which has 22,000 employees, foundered due to interference from legislators. The failure was a major reason why the IMF suspended its lending programme to Indonesia in December 2000. The programme resumed last year.

'War on terror'

TNI using `war on terror' to regain power

Green Left Weekly - March 6, 2002

Max Lane -- On February 26, Australian defence minister Robert Hill told reporters at the Asian Aerospace 2002 conference in Singapore that Canberra wanted to encourage the Indonesian authorities to "combat terrorist groupings within Indonesia more effectively than what they have been able to do to date".

Hill was echoing the sentiments of Singaporean Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew who had alleged, a few days earlier, that "terrorist leaders" were able to move about Indonesia freely. Hill and Lee's statements come in the wake of a series of newspaper reports constantly referring to US concerns that Indonesia was the weak link in the US-led "war against terrorism".

Lee's statements came after the January 11 arrest of 13 alleged members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) who were accused of planning to bomb the US embassy and a US warship in Singapore.

On January 15, Philippines police arrested another Indonesian, Fathur Rahman Al-Ghozi, and charged him initially with possession of arms and explosives, although these charges were later dropped for lack of evidence and he was charged with using a false name. On January 24, Malaysian police arrested another 23 members of the JI. In Singapore and Malaysia there were Indonesians among those arrested.

Al-Ghozi has reportedly stated that JI is a southeast Asia-wide organisation seeking to establish Islamic states in the region.

Since the arrests, Singaporean authorities have been pointing the finger at an Indonesian Islamic cleric, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, as a "key figure" in JI. Ba'asyir runs an Islamic boarding school in the small town of Ngruki in Central Java. Ba'asyir, since interrogated by Indonesian police, denies any involvement with terrorist activity or any connections with the Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

Ba'asyir is an elderly cleric virtually unknown in Indonesian politics. As far as anybody has been able to document, neither he nor his school have been involved in any violent activities. From the views he has expressed on bin Laden, he appears to be typical of a significant body of opinion among a wide spectrum of Islamic groups which see world politics in terms of Western and Jewish "conspiracies" against Muslims.

Real terrorists ignored

So far no other groups in Indonesia have been singled out as a source of terrorism. The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), whose leaders and members go everywhere armed and have a record of attacking and threatening pro-democracy groups have not been mentioned.

The Kabah Youth Movement (GPK), which attacked participants at the June 2001 Asia Pacific International Solidarity Conference in Jakarta with swords has also not been targeted. Neither has the Laskar Jihad, which has launched violent attacks in Ambon killing hundreds of people. In both cases, it is an open secret that the groups work closely with elements in the Indonesian armed forces.

Despite the fact that neither the FPI nor Laskar Jihad have been targeted for any anti-terrorist propaganda or police action, it has been the leaders of the main conservative Islamic political forces that have reacted most strongly to Lee Kuan Yew's statements. These include protests by Vice-President Hamzah Haz, who is also chairperson of the largest conservative Islamic party, the United Development Party (PPP), and Peoples Consultative Assembly chairperson Amien Rais, who is head of the second largest conservative Islamic party, the National Mandate Party (PAN).

Both Haz and Rais seek to win the support of Muslim clerics like Ba'asyir as well as the membership of organisations like FPI and GPK. They also seek to maintain close cooperation with the military for whom FPI and Laskar Jihad have been useful tools.

It has been the FPI that has been organising demonstrations outside the Singapore embassy since the statements by Lee Kuan Yew.

The major liberal Islamic political organisation, Nahdatul Ulama (NU), has called for investigations into any allegations of terrorist cells.

For the Indonesian political elite, the US "war on terrorism" creates a number of contradictions. By pointing the finger at an Islamic cleric, the US, Singapore and Australia are seen to be targeting conservative Islam in general. Conservative Islam in Indonesia has been a key ally of the conservative wing of the political elite and the military against the democratic and labour movements. It is therefore not surprising the military and police in Indonesia have taken a strong position claiming there is no terrorist or al Qaeda presence in Indonesia.

The one exception to this was statements made last year by the minister for intelligence, retired General Hendripriyono, that al Qaeda had once organised training camps in the Moluccas. Hendripriyono has been trying to build a political base separate from the military while also seeking to win support from the US government. But even he has now changed his tune.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri's government as a whole has not thrown itself in any really enthusiastic way into campaigns against alleged terrorists. She too needs to keep the military on side. The whole political elite seeks to prevent the growth of any propaganda or police campaign that might either spread and hit groups like the FPI, GPK and Laskar Jihad.

It appears that even the Bush administration is having second thoughts about making Indonesia a target in its "war on terrorism". The new US ambassador in Jakarta has given interviews in the last week, for example in the February 19-25 issue of Tempo magazine, stating that the US does not think that al Qaeda is in Indonesia. He has also said that reports about terrorist networks in Indonesia have not been substantiated.

Milking `war on terror'

The Indonesian military cannot milk the "war against terror" for propaganda and tactical advantage too much because it tends towards targeting its own allies. However, it has tried to get what it can.

Soon after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, the Megawati government drafted an anti-terrorism law, which gave security authorities the right to arrest anybody suspected of being a terrorist or the "potential" to be a terrorist. The legislation provided an incredibly broad definition of terrorism, including any agitation that caused a public disturbance.

Under the legislation, media outlets that published statements deemed to cause, or have the potential to cause, a public disturbance could be closed down. Detainees would have no access to lawyers, family or any other outside contacts.

The draft legislation was immediately attacked by all human rights NGOs and pro-democracy organisations. It was seen as being more repressive than the 1959 Anti-Subversion Law that had been repealed after the overthrow of the dictator Suharto. Opposition was so widespread against any return to Suharto-style repression that the legislation has been shelved. A revised bill may be reintroduced at some time, but it appears there are no plans for such a move in the near future.

Although unable to make many gains from the anti-terrorism propaganda so far, the military has still been able to take initiatives in other ways to try to regain the commanding position it had in politics under Suharto.

First, late last year, in defiance of a general sentiment that military regional commands able to interfere in local politics should be phased out, the military has proceeded to establish a new regional military command in Aceh. President Megawati has backed this decision.

Second, the armed forces (TNI) headquarters has refused to allow serving and former officers to be appear before the government appointed National Human Rights Commission hearings into human rights violations under Suharto, including hearings into the 1998 shootings of students in Jakarta. As supreme commander of the armed forces, President Megawati has not ordered a reversal of this decision.

Third, in defiance of the general mood against the reappointment of military officers with known records of human rights violations, TNI headquarters has appointed General Syafrie Samsuddin as chief of the TNI headquarters information office, the main public spokesperson position for the TNI. Samsuddin was Jakarta military chief of staff and then commander between 1996- 1998 during the crackdown on the pro-democracy opposition and was a senior officer in East Timor at the time of the referendum in 1999.

It appears that the main instrument of state terror, the TNI, is gaining confidence in its struggle to seize back political power. Maybe that is why the Australian government has decided to resume military cooperation with the Megawati government.

Government & politics

Mega orders urine drug tests for civil servants

Straits Times - March 15, 2002

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- Indonesian civil servants will be asked to get their urine tested for drugs, and the results could affect their performance appraisal.

Hardening her stance on drug abuse, President Megawati Sukarnoputri yesterday issued instructions to this effect in a Cabinet meeting. "The President has called for law enforcement to be committed to fighting illegal drugs," National Police spokesman General Da'i Bachtiar told reporters after the meeting.

"She also wants all department and government bodies to monitor their officials and make them take urine tests, whose results will affect the officials' performance appraisals." But he did not say what would happen to officials whose test results showed they use illegal drugs.

The President has reiterated her tough stance against narcotics on several occasions. Last year, she called for severe punishment for drug dealers, including the death sentence.

Her latest remark was probably a response to several instances of drug busts involving officials and lower-level lawmakers. Last August, the head of the local legislature in Gresik Regency in East Java was arrested after a raid on a hotel room in the provincial capital of Surabaya. Mr Bambang Hartono was found using the methamphetamine crystal called shabu-shabu with two women.

And in the South Sulawesi town of Gowa, police arrested Regency Chief Syahrul Yasin Limpo in a hotel room in what appeared to be a shabu-shabu party last November.

The head of the Office of Industry in the town of Makassar, also in South Sulawesi, was also arrested over illegal drugs in the same month.

Some local administrations, noticing that illegal drug use was becoming more common among officials, had anticipated the problems earlier than the central government.

In West Kalimantan, members of the provincial legislature and the city council had been required to take urine and blood tests. Some 8,000 civil servants of the provincial government of Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, also had to take urine tests last year.

But an official at the Ministry of Industry and Trade said yesterday he doubted such a policy would cut down on the use of drugs within the government. "Whatever they do, if law enforcement is not effective and is still corrupt, they will fail to clamp down on drug use," said the official who requested anonymity. "Besides, what would happen if the test result of an official shows he uses drugs? Will he get fired? Firing a civil servant is not easy - it requires a lengthy procedure, including issuing several verbal and written warnings," he said.

He said the percentage of people using drugs in the government office was not high. But at offices dealing with drug problems, such as the police force and the Office of Social Welfare, officials often use the drugs they seize, he said. "The urine test should be done there first," he added.

Indonesia party says to keep ministers in cabinet

Reuters - March 11, 2002

Dean Yates, Jakarta -- Indonesia's former ruling Golkar party said it would not withdraw its ministers from the coalition government despite the detention of its chief over a graft scandal, taking political heat off the president.

Senior Golkar leaders said they agreed at a meeting late on Monday to respect the legal process involving their powerful chairman, Akbar Tandjung, who is also speaker of parliament, but would respond by becoming more critical of government policy.

Some analysts had questioned in any case whether Golkar would have taken drastic steps such as trying to engineer President Megawati Sukarnoputri's ouster before the next election in 2004.

Megawati has pledged to crack down on graft but before the Tandjung case had taken little action, and despite his detention many remain unconvinced the affair will be vigorously prosecuted.

Golkar's pledge to stay in the cabinet had been foreshadowed in recent days when two of its three ministers in the government said they would not quit. Some Golkar officials had earlier suggested a boycott of parliament or quitting the cabinet.

"That is childish, the party has no such policy," senior Golkar leader Agung Laksono told reporters when asked about withdrawing ministers after the meeting finished around midnight. "Golkar will be more critical but will not become an opposition body. The party is still committed to working together with the government in bringing this country out of crisis."

The Attorney-General's office detained Tandjung last Thursday over the graft scandal, which involves the alleged misuse in 1999 of $4 million belonging to the state food agency Bulog. Tandjung has denied any wrongdoing and has yet to be charged.

Megawati's Indonesia Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) is parliament's largest, holding around a third of the seats. Golkar is the second biggest, and could disrupt her rule.

But for all the criticism of Megawati's leadership, she has not made political enemies like her predecessor Abdurrahman Wahid, sacked last July for incompetence following a concerted campaign by MPs to oust him.

A number of politicians have also stressed they would not try to bring down Megawati before her term ends, arguing that would be destructive to Indonesia's fledgling democracy.

"From the start all of us knew that their threat was nothing but empty words. In many ways it would be more beneficial for Golkar to keep their ministers in the cabinet because they can participate in decisions," Maswadi Rauf, a political analyst at the University of Indonesia, told Reuters on Tuesday. "Recalling ministers is not a good strategy because it would not improve their public image."

New state secrecy bill threatens public rights

Jakarta Post - March 13, 2002

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta -- A highly-commended plan by the House of Representatives (DPR) to open public access to information more widely will face a tough challenge as the government plans to submit a state secrecy bill for deliberation later this month.

Legislator Djoko Susilo, who heads the media and information team set up by House Commission I, said on Tuesday that the state secrecy bill contradicted the proposed freedom of information bill.

"If the state secrecy bill is endorsed, the public's demand for free access to information will not materialize because even a low-ranking official will have the right to reject requests for information," Djoko told The Jakarta Post here on Tuesday.

Djoko, a legislator from the Reform faction, called on the public at large to pay serious attention to the deliberation of the two conflicting bills.

Even in the absence of a state secrecy law, the general public already found it difficult to obtain information from government offices. If the state secrecy bill were to be approved, state officials would have even more power to withhold access to information.

According to Djoko, the two bills were diametrically opposed. On the one hand, the freedom of information bill provided the public with wide access to information, but on the other hand, the state secrecy bill narrowly restricted public access.

Legislator Tumbu Saraswati of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) told a House plenary meeting on Monday that the freedom of information bill would guarantee that citizens had access to information on a wide variety of subjects -- including debt, poverty, unemployment and human rights abuses. But, the state secrecy bill gave a mandate to state institutions and state enterprises to close off people's access to information.

The proposed state secrecy bill was a serious threat to the public's right to information as it had been listed as the 17th out of 80 bills to go before the House for deliberation.

By comparison, the bills on political parties, the composition of the House, and general elections, all of which were urgently needed before the 2004 election, were listed 40th, 41st and 42nd respectively. "We are opposed to the state secrecy bill as it will stall efforts to bring about a more democratic society," Djoko said.

A coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has also voiced strong opposition to the plan to introduce the state secrecy bill, claiming it would be a setback for the reform process.

Freedom of information bill

• Article 10: To meet the public's right to information, all public institutions have to: (1) keep, store, and provide information in respect of those areas for which they are responsible; and (2) release all information to the public with some exceptions.
• Article 14: The exceptions include information that could interfere with law enforcement, interfere with property rights, endanger state security or infringe privacy.
• Article 21: A freedom of information commission to be set up to ensure compliance with the law
• Article 40: Anyone who fails to comply with a decision of the freedom of information commission would face a maximum penalty of five-years imprisonment.

State secrecy bill

• Article 5: State secrets are determined by the state apparatus and government officials in state institutions, ministries, the Indonesian Military, state enterprises, and other state bodies.
• Article 12: (1) Authority to designate any document as a state secret is vested in the heads of state institutions, ministries, Indonesian Military, state enterprises, and other state bodies; (2) all such persons may delegate their powers to subordinates.
• Article 18: Anyone who does not comply with Article 12 faces a maximum penalty of nine-years imprisonment.

Golkar should seize oppurtunity to reform

Australian Broadcasting Corporation - March 11, 2002

[Corruption investigations into the speaker of Indonesia's parliament have taken a bizarre turn. House speaker Akbar Tanjung is under arrest over the diversion of 40 billion rupiah -- or about 8 million Australian dollars -- from a government agency. The funds went missing when Mr Akbar was state secretary in 1999, and were allegedly used to finance Golkar's election campaign -- but at the weekend, another suspect in the case returned most of the missing money. Despite this, a former colleague says Akbar Tanjung's political career is now finished and Golkar should seize the opportunity to reform.]

Presenter/Interviewer: Peter Mares. Speakers: Sarwono Kusumaatmadja the former Minister for Fisheries and Marine Affairs and Secretary General of Golkar in the 1980s.

Sarwono: My hope is that the law will be upheld and that if he is really guilty he will be treated accordingly, and this is an opportunity as well for Golkar to find new leadership and there is a lot of material there from the younger set of Golkar people. So if they make up their mind to refresh themselves, they should not have any problems with that.

Mares: So do you think that Golkar the party is now going to wash its hands of Akbar Tanjung?

Sarwono: I think it should because irrespective of the findings, his legitimacy has just gone down the drain. So it would be better for them to find an alternative.

Mares: How much damage could this do to Golkar as an organisation?

Sarwono: Well the damage can be caused by an insistence to keep Akbar and the rest of his retinue within Golkar. But if they are wise enough to be shot of him, then they will have a chance to find a new life for themselves.

Mares: Golkar was created really by former President Suharto. It was not so much a political party as an organisation...

Sarwono: I liken Golkar to the director general for elections and I called it the party of rulers, not the ruling party. So it has to transform itself and so Golkar will have to rely on the twenty percent of its membership which is truly political, not the bureaucrats and the people from the military.

Mares: So you are saying that eighty percent of the membership are only members because they are public servants or military officers?

Sarwono: That's right, and by law, these people are not members of Golkar any more, so Golkar has a reserve of twenty per cent to rely on and that should be more than enough to pave the way for the future -- if they intend to do that.

Mares: Is it worth saving the organisation though, or is it too discredited to bother with?

Sarwono: Oh yes definitely. It depends on how it is able to crystalise itself and distance itself from the people who I would call the high-jackers in Golkar.

Mares: Why do you call them high-jackers?

Sarwono: Because they are apparently using Golkar to further their own ends, to get themselves access to public office so that they can be immune from prosecution. That is the sense I get from the kind of people they have as a leadership. So this case against Akbar is really an opportunity for Golkar to find a new life, because judging from its platform, it is not a bad party for Indonesia. It is an open party, non-sectarian, it has a modern party infrastructure which has proved itself at the last election, gaining twenty per cent of the votes, so there is a lot of good material in there, you know, to make a future.

Mares: How strong though is the Akbar Tanjung faction within the party still?

Sarwono: Well I think that they are hanging on by a thread now, because the push for reform is getting bigger at the grassroots level. The best they can do for themselves is buy time, but sooner or later they will have to see themselves as not being part of the party any more.

Golkar hardliners fight move to oust Akbar

Straits Times - March 12, 2002

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- In a bitter power struggle, young Golkar hardliners are fighting a move by the more senior members to expel detained party chief Akbar Tandjung.

The Parliamentary Speaker, who was arrested last week, is seen as a liability by the senior leaders who are eager to cut off association with him to distance the party from the case against him.

The Attorney-General's Office is investigating him for the misuse of 40 billion rupiah (S$7.6 million) from the State Logistics Agency (Bulog). Those keen on deposing him are likely to be challenged by some more outspoken younger members.

In this group are those who last year led the move to impeach former president Abdurrahman Wahid. They have seen their careers flourish under Mr Akbar's leadership. Many of them have historical ties to him as former activists of the Association of Islamic Students, which Mr Akbar once headed.

Said political analyst Affan Gaffar: "The young Golkar members are fully dependent on Akbar. If he is removed, then it may pose a challenge to their political careers."

In Golkar, as in most Indonesian parties, the party chairman has the privilege of picking candidates for Parliament and government posts. Said one of the younger politicians, Mr Rully Chairul Azwar: "Yes, there has been a quiet move to topple Mr Akbar since his arrest." He claimed the move had little backing from regional party chapters.

The rules require the support of two-thirds of Golkar's regional party chapters to hold a Special Party Congress to elect a new chairman. Mr Akbar, who still wields control over Golkar, may be safe for now, but the longer he is detained, the more likely his chance of being replaced.

One of his opponents, Mr A.A. Baramuli, said in a television interview: "I think Mr Akbar's problem will become even greater because the legal process involved is serious. can have a fatal consequence on Golkar and we need to reorganise the party."

Mr Baramuli is an influential member of Golkar's Eastern Indonesian caucus, known by its acronym Iramasuka. It comprises Golkar members from Irian, Maluku, Sulawesi and Kalimantan - all of which make up about 70 per cent of its voters. They view Mr Akbar as a traitor after he withdrew support for incumbent president B.J. Habibie in the 1999 presidential election.

Mr Akbar also faces resistance from army generals and former bureaucrats influential in the Suharto era. They have been sidelined under his leadership despite their support for him in the 1998 election of party chairman.

In January, Mr Baramuli and four other veteran Golkar members calling themselves "Team to Rescue Golkar" urged Mr Akbar to resign after he was named suspect in the case.

Mr Akbar's survival will also depend on the support he can muster from other members within Golkar who are eyeing the coveted party leadership post. Well-placed sources said experienced politicians such as Mr Agung Laksono and Mr Marzuki Darusman were "waiting for the right momentum to decide which side they would take".

Corruption/collusion/nepotism

Ex-central bank chief jailed for graft

Straits Times - March 14, 2002

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- In an encouraging sign that Indonesia is willing to prosecute even top officials for corruption, central bank governor Sjahril Sabirin was yesterday sentenced to three years in prison and fined 15 million rupiah (S$2,700) over a bank scam.

The verdict marks the fourth time that the government has acted against powerful people this month. Parliament Speaker Akbar Tandjung was detained and former trade and industry minister Rahardi Ramelan arrested over another graft scandal. Former president Suharto's son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra faces trial next week on charges of masterminding the murder of a judge.

A defiant Sjahril told reporters after the verdict was announced: "I am not guilty. I will appeal." He also said he would not relinquish his post.

In a judgment that created ripples in the courtroom, presiding Judge Subardi of the Central Jakarta District Court said: "Sjahril Sabirin breached the trust the country has given him."

The central bank chief was charged with allowing 904 billion rupiah to be transferred from the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency to PT Bank Bali in 1999. Bank Bali then paid a 546 billion rupiah commission to Era Giat Pratama, a firm linked to the ruling Golkar party.

An audit concluded that funds had been channelled to then president B.J. Habibie's election campaign. The scandal prompted international lenders to suspend badly needed loans to the crisis-ridden country.

Lawyers yesterday expressed surprise that the central bank chief was found guilty, as two other key defendants were acquitted. They also said it was too early to assume that the verdict marked the beginning of legal reform, pointing out that the Supreme Court could still overturn the ruling.

"The courts still have a long way to go as they are still quite corrupt," said lawyer Frans Winarta, adding that the sentence was light. Mr Teten Masduki of the Indonesian Corruption Watch said the decision could restore public trust in the courts.

But financial analyst David Chang of Vickers Ballas Indonesia cautioned: "The case shows that even the central bank governor is not immune to the legal consequences of corruption, but it is not enough to reassure investors."

Court refuses to resume Suharto trial on health grounds

Agence France Presse - March 8, 2002

A court rejected a request by prosecutors to resume the corruption trial of former Indonesian dictator Suharto, saying he is still too ill.

The head of the South Jakarta district court, Lalu Mariyun, told reporters Friday that he had returned files on Suharto, 80, to the prosecutors' office.

He said a Supreme Court ruling last December, that Suharto senior is too ill to stand trial, is "final" unless the ex-president makes a full recovery. Jakarta prosecutors last week wrote to the court requesting the trial be reopened.

The former general is charged with embezzling some 571 million dollars of state funds during his 32-year autocratic rule which ended in May 1998. "We will accept the files again in the future if Suharto is declared to have fully recovered," Mariyun said.

On Thursday Suharto's youngest son Tommy was charged in a separate proceeding with ordering the contract killing of a Supreme Court judge, a crime punishable by death.

Suharto senior failed to appear at both sessions of his corruption trial in August 2000 and was represented by lawyers. Judges aborted the hearing the following month after doctors said he was too sick and had suffered brain damage from a stroke.

Last December the Supreme Court, in a legal opinion, said the ex-dictator was too ill to stand trial. Suharto, who has been fitted with a pacemaker, has been treated at a state hospital at least three times for various ailments -- including the stroke and intestinal trouble -- since he resigned in 1998.

He has also suffered breathing and urinary complications and underwent an emergency appendectomy in February last year. After he was admitted to hospital with pneumonia last December, President Megawati Sukarnoputri was quoted by an aide as saying she wanted parliament's approval to drop the corruption charge on humanitarian grounds.

The former president and his family are estimated by Time magazine to have amassed some 15 billion dollars during his years in power.

He stepped down amid widespread riots, as senior political and military supporters withdrew their backing, and now lives quietly at the family home in the exclusive Jakarta suburb of Menteng.

Returned Bulog funds 'a bid to get Akbar off'

Straits Times - March 11, 2002

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- The sudden return of 32.5 billion rupiah (S$5.8 million) in missing funds by an associate of detained parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung is being seen here as an attempt to help the powerful politician escape prosecution.

On Saturday, the Attorney-General's Office (AGO) announced that Mr Winfried Simatupang, allegedly appointed by Mr Akbar to distribute 40 billion rupiah in funds from the state food agency Bulog in 1999, had returned most of the missing amount to the government.

"The total money returned is around 32.5 billion rupiah. He has returned it since last week in installments and he has promised to give back the whole amount by the end of this month," said an AGO spokesman.

The timing of the return of the funds has sparked intense speculation here. It occurred just two days after Mr Akbar had been detained by the authorities.

Mr Akbar, then State Secretary under former president Habibie, is being charged for allegedly misusing the 40 billion rupiah. But the return of the bulk of the funds could well serve to undercut the government's case against him.

Lawyers and political observers told The Straits Times yesterday that the return of the 32.5 billion rupiah was meant to ease negotiation for Mr Akbar's release prior to a court case or, at the very least, to ensure a "lighter" prosecution. "This is one step to negotiate his release," said lawyer Hendardi, adding that several technical reasons could be used to stop the case.

But legal observers believe Mr Winfried's move provides insufficient grounds for the AGO to drop the case. "The money being returned does not have a connection with a criminal action, this is still a criminal case -- but it could influence the judges' decision to lighten the sentence," said Mr Hendardi.

Lawyers also said Mr Akbar's repeated denials that he had misused Bulog funds remained "unconvincing". The Golkar leader recently "recalled", for example, that he had directed the Bulog funds to the non-government agency Raudatul Jannah, which is headed by Mr Winfried. But Raudatul Jannah has been unable to prove it distributed any of the money to poor people. A former leader of the foundation has also told Tempo magazine that Raudatul Jannah was set up only to launder Golkar money.

Political observers conceded that the return of the money allows for some political deal-making but said Mr Akbar's political career was likely to have been badly hurt. One said there were already moves within Golkar to replace him with an executive team.

Regional/communal conflicts

Nearly 39,000 weapons surrendered in Poso since December

Agence France Presse - March 11, 2002

Jakarta -- Nearly 39,000 weapons have been surrendered following a peace agreement in December between warring Christian and Muslim residents in Indonesia's region of Poso, a police spokesman said Monday.

The situation in Poso has greatly improved since Muslim and Christian leaders signed the peace pact on December 20, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Agus Sugianto said.

Muslims and Christians in Poso, a district in Central Sulawesi province, had clashed intermittently for more than two years, leaving more than 1,000 people dead and tens of thousands of refugees.

Sugianto said most of the weapons surrendered, including home- made guns, have been destroyed and police and troops have continued raids to search for more weapons.

More than 3,000 police and soldiers have been stationed in Poso. "The situation is already conducive. There has been increasing social and economic interaction between the conflicting groups," Sugianto told AFP.

He said public buses linking three provinces on Sulawesi island via Poso have begun plying their business.

The police spokesman said last week police found 22 rounds of ammunition for an M-16 rifle inside a tree trunk.

The central government has also brokered a deal to halt Muslim- Christian clashes in the Maluku islands east of Sulawesi.

Peace elusive in Maluku despite accord

Jakarta Post - March 11, 2002

Octavianus Pinontoan, Ambon -- Peace remains elusive in Maluku province as a number of militant groups continue to oppose the Malino peace accord, which was mediated by the government last month to end the three-year-old sectarian conflict.

Maluku Governor Saleh Latuconsina told the media over the weekend that although most of the feuding parties had accepted the 11- point agreement, a small number of groups still opposed it and had launched a campaign to persuade other people to reject it.

"As a matter of fact, there are still people who do not approve of the agreement. I hope that people here do not rest on their laurels," he said.

Overall, however, the situation in the province has been gradually improving since the Malino agreement, which was reached last month between 35 Muslim delegates and 35 Christian delegates in Malino, 70 kilometers from Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province.

Maluku Military Commander, Mustopo said that 80 percent of the people of Maluku had accepted the Malino peace pact and only 20 percent oppose it. "That's our conclusion based on our field research," he said, without identifying the opponents.

Since the peace accord was signed on February 12, several hardline groups have voiced their refusal through, among other things, demonstrations in the provincial capital. They include the Maluku Front of Muslim Defenders under Husni Putuhena, the Special Task Force of Amar Maruf Nahi Munkar under Muhamad Attamimi, Brig. Gen. (ret.) Rustam Kastor, Ustad Bahasoan and Laskar Jihad Ahlussunah Wal Jamaah.

An interview broadcast last week on Suara Perjuangan Moslem Maluku Radio (Voice of Maluku Muslim Movement Radio) -- which is run by hardliners Laskar Jihad -- quoted Husni Putuhena and Rustam Kastor as saying they entirely opposed the 11-point Malino peace pact.

There are also opponents of the peace pact on the Christian side, but they have only refused some points of the peace agreement, not all. They are the Maluku Sovereign Front (FKM) under the leadership of Alex Manuputty and the South Maluku Republic (RMS). They oppose point six of the peace pact, which refers to them as Laskar Kristus (Christian Soldiers) and the Christian RMS, and point three, which refer to RMS as a separatist movement.

Maluku Police Chief, Brig. Gen. Sunarko said that the police were still investigating who were behind the recent violent rallies. He refused to confirm reports that the police had not made any arrests even though they knew the identities of the organizers.

"We cannot arrest people without strong evidence," he said. Daud Sangadji, a member of the Muslim delegation at the Malino meeting, refused to comment.

Emang Nikijuluw, a member of the Christian delegation at the meeting, said that after the meeting it was up the government to enforce the peace pact.

The police have given both the conflicting parties three months to disseminate the 11 points of the peace pact, which requires, among other things, both rivals to disarm themselves and militiamen, including members of Laskar Jihad and RMS, to leave the province.

Human rights/law

Ex-governor accused of ignoring Timor massacres

Agence France Presse - March 14, 2002

Jakarta -- A landmark Indonesian human rights court on Thursday began hearing its first case concerning atrocities in East Timor in 1999, with former governor Abilio Soares accused of failing to prevent the massacre of more than 100 people by militia gangs.

"The defendant knew about or ignored information that his underlings ... were conducting gross human rights violations such as murders as part of wide and systematic attacks on the civilian population," according to a charge sheet read to Soares, as the closely watched trials got under way.

Also due to be charged Thursday with gross human rights violations is the territory's former police chief Timbul Silaen. The charge is punishable by between 10 years' jail and death, a court official said.

A total of 18 military, police, militia and civilian officials are due eventually to face trial over the army-backed militia atrocities in the territory which shocked the world.

About 100 people staged a protest outside Central Jakarta district court as the trial began, alleging foreign interference. "Remember we are sovereign," read one banner. Witnesses recognised some of them as supporters of Eurico Guterres, a notorious pro-Jakarta militia chief who is among those due to stand trial later.

Jakarta has come under strong international pressure to punish atrocities by pro-Jakarta militiamen, who were supported by elements of the Indonesian army, before and after East Timor's vote in August 1999 to split from Indonesia.

Soares, 54, was charged with responsibility for violations by three of his deputies -- the civilian heads of the Liquicia and Covalima districts, Leonardo Martins and Herman Sedyono, and the deputy commander of the Pro-Integration Fighters militia, Guterres.

Soares "failed to take appropriate steps in the conduct of his duties," according to the charge sheet read out by chief prosecutor I Ketut Murtika.

It says his three underlings, which will face trial separately later, "led or allowed pro-integration forces" in April or September 1999 to:

• Attack refugees at a church in Suai in which 22 were killed and 21 injured
• Attack the residence of pro-independence figure Manuel Carrascalao, with 12 killed and four injured
• Attack refugees in the diocese of Dili in which 46 people were killed
• Attack refugees at the residence of Dili Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, in which 10 people were killed and one injured
• Attack refugees at the Ave Maria church in Suai, in which 25 were killed

Soares, an East Timorese appointed by Jakarta to the governor's post, gave his nationality as Indonesian. He was not asked to enter a plea. His lawyers asked for a two-week adjournment but the judge, Emmy Marni Mustafa, granted them one week until the 21st. Soares is not in custody.

Silaen, 52, rejected the allegations. "I will certainly say that there were no such things ... we will see the facts in court," he told reporters. "So far the international opinion is that we are war criminals but that is not the case. There will be witnesses, there will be testimony," said Silaen, who is currently head of a national police anti-corruption force.

"The defendant ...who was responsible for maintaining law and order in East Timor is criminally responsible for gross human rights violations that is a crime against humanity, in the form of killings that were carried out as part of wide and systematic attacks which were known by the defendant as being directed at the civilian population," says the charge sheet to be read later Thursday to Silaen.

It cites the killing of refugees at a church in Liquicia, at Carrascalao's house, at the diocese of Dili, at Bishop Belo's house and at the Ave Maria church.

Silaen's charge sheet in some cases gives different figures for the number killed to the charge against Soares. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.

In the months surrounding the vote for independence, pro-Jakarta militias 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.

Two international rights groups, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have questioned Indonesia's determination to bring offenders to justice. Amnesty International said earlier that "basic measures to ensure that the trials in Indonesia meet international standards of fairness are missing."

East Timor abuses trial hits immediate obstacle

Sydney Morning Herald - March 15, 2002

Catharine Munro, Jakarta -- Indonesia began landmark trials focused on human rights abuses in East Timor yesterday, with two high-ranking officials answering charges of crimes against humanity.

But doubts were immediately raised as to how far the cases would proceed when defence lawyers announced they would call on the country's highest legislature, the National Assembly (MPR), to review the validity of the tribunal.

East Timor's former governor, Abilio Soares, 54, and its then chief of police, Timbul Silaen, 53, were accused in separate hearings of crimes against humanity.

"The defendant conducted gross violations of human rights by failing to secure peace and order and failing to control widespread and systematic attacks on the civilian population and being unable to control subordinates committing gross violations of human rights," Silaen was told.

Soares faced the same allegation, but while the police chief was accused of failing to control police, the governor was responsible for militia gangs who had been ostensibly set up to maintain security ahead of the poll. Both denied the charges, which could carry the death penalty.

Nearly 1000 people were killed and most of the territory's infrastructure was destroyed after the 1999 vote to secede from Indonesia sparked violence that was aided and abetted by the security forces. The two officials are the first of 18 suspects to appear before the court.

Soares's defence lawyers said they would lodge judicial and legislative appeals on Monday that questioned the validity of the court. The MPR Speaker, Amien Rais, who is a key political player, would be called upon to judge whether the laws that enabled the court to be established conflicted with sections of the Constitution. "It is up to him [Rais] to decide the legality of the ad hoc tribunal," a defence lawyer, Indriyanto Seno Adji, said. The Constitution was recently amended to prevent laws being applied to incidents that occurred before those laws existed.

Human Rights Watch's Asia director, Sidney Jones, said that along with the constitutional amendment the defence had a number of legal avenues to pursue to ensure that the tribunal could not complete its work. "I don't know what will happen with the [defence] appeal per se but even if it doesn't proceed ... I can't believe we are going to see any real justice being done," she said from New York.

The court is yet to charge the other two generals on the list, along with a string of low-level commanders and militia gang leaders.

Nearly 200 demonstrators opposed to East Timorese independence marched into the court grounds, chanting anti-Australian and anti-Portuguese slogans, and many entered the courtroom to support the defendants. "It's not fair," the East Timorese leader of the Aitarak militia, Eurico Guterres, said. "If the court wants to investigate us, it should investigate other cases."

President Megawati Sukarnoputri limited the scope of the human rights tribunal to events that occurred in April and September 1999, a measure that has been criticised by human rights groups.

Jakarta human rights office attacked ahead of trial

Associated Press - March 13, 2002 (slightly abridged)

Jakarta -- A mob vandalized the offices of Indonesia's most prominent human rights group on the eve of unprecedented trials for atrocities in East Timor that were allegedly committed by Indonesia's army and allied paramilitary gangs. Three generals are among those to face the courts for crimes against humanity.

On Wednesday, dozens of people with sticks and stones broke into the Jakarta headquarters of the Kontras group. They smashed windows and broke computers, said activists who claimed the attack was a scare tactic.

One activist was beaten up in the attack. The group, a fierce critic of Indonesia's military, has long called for key officers to be tried for brutality both in East Timor and in Indonesia.

Wednesday's attackers ripped up documents related to several cases the group is probing. They complained that Kontras had failed to investigate the deaths of four pro-military civilian guards during political turmoil in Indonesia in 1998.

However, Kontras member Doni Ardianto rejected this as an excuse and said the attack was designed to intimate activists involved in high-profile trials of senior Indonesian officials accused of East Timor rights abuses. The trials are scheduled to start Thursday. "We suspect that they are trying to intimidate us because ... of the rights tribunal," he said. "We are not scared. We are used to it."

Kontras has been the target of several attacks since it was formed in 1999.

Human rights activists targeted in terror attacks

Jakarta Post - March 14, 2002

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta -- Human rights activists were cautioned on Wednesday of what they called an escalation of terror against them after dozens of people attacked the office building of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) on Jl. Mendut in Central Jakarta.

One Kontras staff member, Edwin Partogi, was beaten by the attackers, who also vandalized property belonging to the human rights organization. Kontras founder Munir was inside the office when the sudden raid took place, but he managed to escape unhurt. Edwin was rushed to nearby St. Carolus hospital.

Police came minutes after the incident took place, capturing seven key suspects in Pondok Kopi, East Jakarta, in an ensuing chase. The suspects face charges of causing damage to personal property.

Rights activists gathered at the Kontras office later in the day to lend moral support to Kontras members. They said the "act of terror" would not hamper their commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights.

"This has not been the first crime aimed at terrorizing human rights activists in the country. Other human rights organizations have fallen victim to these crimes, which have never been thoroughly investigated," the chairman of the Indonesian Human Rights Research and Advocacy Association, Hendardi, read out in a joint statement.

Also present were lawyers Todung Mulya Lubis and Johnson Panjaitan, political observer Arbi Sanit, rights activist Karlina Leksono of Kalyana Mitra and chairperson of the National Commission on Human Rights for Women Kemala Chandra Kirana.

Kontras has become the target of violence over the past few years. In 2000 a grenade blast damaged several cars parked in the front yard of its office. Last year unidentified men placed a bomb at Munir's family residence in Malang, East Java. Also in 2001, the car belonging to Jhonson was shot, while it was parked at the Kontras office.

In the latest attack, the mob smashed eight computer terminals and four printers and looted boxes of dried food, instant noodles, milk and mineral water. The basic needs were to be donated to flood victims.

Prior to the incident, some 200 people claiming to be relatives of four members of the military-backed Muslim vigilantes (Pamswakarsa) who were lynched by a mob protesting the Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly in November 1998, came to protest "Kontras' systematic discrimination at the expense of Muslims".

They said Kontras paid too much attention to the shooting of dozens of students and residents in 1998 and 1999, known as the Trisakti, Semanggi I and II incidents, which allegedly involved the military and police top brass, including former Armed Forces chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto.

"We cannot tolerate Kontras who has terrorized Pak Wiranto," one of the people yelled before breaking in the office and smashing windows and glass panels. Separately, Wiranto denied his involvement in the incident and said he would sue those who accused him of masterminding it. Wiranto is one of several officers summoned for the inquiry probing the Trisakti and Semanggi incidents.

The parents of the victims came to pick Wiranto up at his Simprug home on Monday to face the inquiry, but he was not there. "I've been told that a demonstration took place at my house. I heard it was organized by Kontras. Many legal experts deplored this, when legal issues become a personal matter. I've told my friends not to make exaggerating reactions regarding this," he said after visiting detained House of Representatives speaker, Akbar Tandjung, at the Attorney General's Office.

10 reasons why courts will not bring justice to East Timor

ETAN - March 14, 2002

In January 2000, the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry on East Timor and the Indonesian government's own human rights commission both found the Indonesian military responsible for crimes against humanity committed in East Timor in 1999. The UN commission called for the establishment of an international tribunal. The Indonesian government balked at the possibility of international trials and in response promised to establish its own Ad Hoc Human Rights Court for East Timor. After numerous delays, prosecutions are expected to begin today in Jakarta.

The East Timor Action Network (ETAN), along with most Indonesian and East Timorese human rights groups, does not expect these trials to be thorough or impartial or to provide justice for the people of East Timor. Here are 10 reasons why:

1. The Court's limited jurisdiction covers only to April and September 1999 and only three of East Timor's 13 districts -- Suai, Liquicia and Dili. Numerous serious crimes committed in 1999 in East Timor will not be prosecuted. This piecemeal approach makes impossible prosecution of overall coordination by Indonesian security forces and political officials at the highest levels to disrupt the UN consultation, terrorize the East Timorese people before the vote and punish them for voting overwhelmingly in favor of independence. Many of these officials are not even listed as suspects.

2. The crimes were committed in East Timor, a territory never internationally recognized as Indonesian. They were committed against a UN mission created by the Security Council and involved assaults on both East Timorese and UN personnel. East Timorese staff of the UN mission were murdered in the aftermath of the ballot.

3. The Indonesian military (TNI) remains extremely powerful and continues to operate with impunity. Many members of the military accused of crimes against humanity and other abuses in East Timor continue to hold prominent positions and receive promotions. While the military may allow a few token prosecutions as a public relations effort to create the illusion of TNI reform and to re- establish military ties with the US, meaningful prosecutions of high-ranking officials are unlikely to be tolerated. As a head of the team deciding prosecutions for crimes in East Timor, Indonesia's Attorney General M.A. Rahman recommended that only low-ranking officers be prosecuted.

4. The Court will not address crimes committed before April 1999. Most of the more than 200,000 East Timorese killed by Indonesian forces died in the first decade after the 1975 invasion. Since 1975, thousands were raped, imprisoned and tortured. With courts in East Timor overwhelmed and severely under-resourced, and Indonesia refusing to extradite suspects, despite an agreement with the UN administration, victims and their families are unlikely to see justice unless an international tribunal is created.

5. Indonesian prosecutors have not targeted any of the many systematic crimes committed against women in 1999, including rape and sexual slavery, as well as widespread forced sterilization during many years of the occupation.

6. East Timorese witnesses are unlikely to testify. They have been traumatized by decades of Indonesian occupation and, given the military and police refusal to ensure security during the UN ballot period, are distrustful of Indonesian commitments to protect them. The last minute issuance of untested witness protection regulations will not reassure anyone.

7. While Indonesia's constitution bars retroactive prosecution, Indonesia's legislature stated that this constitutional provision will not apply to past violations of internationally-recognized human rights heard by Ad Hoc Human Rights Courts. An appeals court may well rule that the constitution is paramount and overturn any convictions.

8. Many of the judges are unqualified, with little or no trial experience or knowledge of international human rights standards. Some have close ties to the Indonesian military.

9. Indonesian courts are notoriously corrupt and susceptible to political pressure. The US State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices described Indonesia's judiciary as riddled with "pervasive corruption" and "subordinated to the executive."

10. In the rare instances when low- or mid-level soldiers or militia were prosecuted, Indonesian courts have given light punishments for the most heinous human rights abuses. After the November 12, 1991 Santa Cruz massacre in East Timor, a Military Honor Council sentenced some low ranking soldiers to between eight and 18 months in prison. Several higher-ranking officers were "punished" by being sent abroad to study. On the other hand, East Timorese human rights activists who participated in the Santa Cruz protest and a Jakarta demonstration protesting the massacre were imprisoned for up to 15 years. More recently, militia members who confessed to brutally killing three UN refugee workers in West Timor initially received sentences of 10-20 months after they were convicted for inciting mob violence not murder. These were increased to a maximum of seven years only after an international outcry.

Rights trial begins amid strong public skepticism

Jakarta Post - March 14, 2002

Jakarta -- The country's long-delayed human rights trial commences on Thursday amid public skepticism that justice will be done to those responsible for gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999.

One police general and a senior official are to stand trial on Thursday for their role in a massacre at a church in Suai where at least 26 people were killed, including three Catholic priests, in September 1999. They are all charged with crimes against humanity, including genocide, which carries a maximum penalty of death.

The Suai church massacre is the first of a series of trials for 18 suspects accused of gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999. The 18 suspects include three Army generals and one police general. Gen. (ret) Wiranto, who was the chief of the Indonesian Military (TNI) when the bloodshed occurred, is not included on the list.

The government had initially planned to commence the rights trial in September 2001, but due to technical reasons it was pushed back to November. Without a reason given, the date was pushed back again to December and then January 15, 2002, before it was finally moved to March 14, 2002.

A corrupt judicial system, ill-equipped state prosecutors and judges as well as a severe lack of understanding of human rights among Indonesians have raised doubts that justice will prevail in the country's first ever human rights trial.

"There are too many loopholes that could prevent the effectiveness of the trial, such as the skill of the judges, the law, as well as the independency of judges from elements of power," Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) chairman Hendardi told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

"It is better to be not too optimistic with the upcoming human rights tribunal, considering its many shortcomings," the secretary-general of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), Asmara Nababan said, pointing out the weaknesses of Law No. 26/2000 on Human Rights Trials, the recruitment process of both judges and prosecutors as well as their competency in human rights issues.

Law No. 26/2000 on Human Rights Trials, which serves as the legal basis for the proceedings, excludes the possibility of using any other legal means then the country's Criminal Code, which has fundamental weaknesses when dealing with gross human rights violations -- that is, it lacks, among other things, international standards on admissible evidence, testimonies and medical evidence.

In addition, the judges and the state prosecutors for the ad hoc trials were selected quietly, depriving the public the chance to scrutinize their track record and affiliations.

None of the 17 ad hoc judges are known to be involved in human rights issues. As all of them are university lecturers, they are not known for their experience in litigation and due legal process. The chances are they will view human rights issues purely as an academic exercise.

At least one of the ad hoc judges has in the past provided legal advice to generals implicated in human rights violations in East Timor, while another is a retired army lieutenant colonel. But even among the 12 career judges, most of them, if not all, have no experience in dealing with human rights issues.

On the prosecution side, two of the 24 ad hoc state prosecutors appointed by the Attorney General's Office are active military officers. Bearing these factors in mind, the outcome of the ad hoc trials is predictable.

The stakes are very high for the country. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights' special rapporteur Leandro Despouy told President Megawati Soekarnoputri last January that the international community would be observing the proceedings of the human rights tribunal closely. He also said that his office would send international observers to monitor the proceedings and hinted that the cases would be taken to international courts if the entire process did not meet international standards.

Indonesia was unable to stop the post-ballot violence in East Timor, which killed dozens, or perhaps hundreds, of innocent East Timorese, destroyed up to 80 percent of the infrastructure in the former Portuguese colony and drove over 200,000 East Timorese into refugee camps in West Timor. At least 120,000 East Timorese are still living in makeshift refugee camps in West Timor.

An investigation conducted by a government-sanctioned team concluded in 1999 that TNI was directly or indirectly involved in extra-judicial executions in East Timor after the August 30 self-determination ballot.

"If there is a strong enough commitment from the government and the House of Representatives to uphold human rights, this (the rights trial) could be a good lesson for the country and a basic step in strengthening Law No. 26/2000," Nababan said.

Violent incidents to be brought to court:

• Attack on pro-independence leader Manuel Carrascalao's house in Dili, which killed at least 12 people, on April 17, 1999
• A massacre of refugees in a church in Liquica in April 1999
• Attack on the home of Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo on September 6, 1999
• A massacre in a church in Suai where 26 people died on September 6, 1999.
• The killing of a group of nuns and civilians in Los Palos on Sept. 25. The killing of nine people, including an Indonesian journalist.

Military says it legally assisted militia leaders

Australian Associated Press - March 11, 2002

Catharine Munro, Jakarta -- Indonesia's military said it has provided legal assistance to militia leaders accused of human rights abuses in East Timor in 1999 ahead of the start of human rights trials in Jakarta this week.

Officials today confirmed that the Indonesian military (TNI) would attend the tribunal hearing the cases. Concerns were recently raised that the tribunal would be boycotted when the TNI refused to give evidence at a human rights commission investigation into the shooting of university students during the political turmoil of 1998 and 1999 in Jakarta.

The investigation was ignored by the military because Parliament had already concluded that the military could not be accused of human rights violations in those cases, a departmental spokesman said.

But the East Timor trials would be fought out in court, according to the TNI's legal team. "We are very serious," said Colonel Setiawan, who uses only one name. "This not only involves institutional responsibility but also state responsibility."

Only a finding of innocent for its members would be seen as fair, according to the TNI's legal department head Major General Timor Manurung. Manurung accused "enemies" of the military of bribing the civilian militias who ransacked East Timor in protest at the pro-independence vote into providing false evidence.

The militia gang leaders were being persuaded to testify that the TNI had supplied them with weapons, he said. "They even tried to bribe with large amounts of money -- more than 10 billion rupiah ($A2,000,000)," Manurung told Tempo newspaper.

A department official later confirmed that the TNI was providing legal support to the leaders of civilian militia groups who were among nearly 20 suspects named by prosecutors. So far, militia leaders have not had formal charges laid against them under the Dutch-based system. But three low-level military commanders have already been charged over a massacre in a half-built cathedral in Suai just after August 30, 1999.

Prosecutors allege that 27 East Timorese were massacred in the grounds of the Ave Maria Catholic cathedral. The case is due to begin on March 19. The three, along with a former district police chief, are accused of failing to control their troops in an attack on the compound of the cathedral.

The first case to be heard on Thursday involves former East Timor governor Abilio Soares and former East Timor police chief Timbul Silaen, who will face accusations of crimes against humanity involving widespread and systematic attacks on civilian people.

Factbox: Indonesia's trials into East Timor violence

Reuters - March 12, 2002

Jakarta -- Indonesia on Thursday will begin trying suspects over human rights abuses in East Timor in 1999, when the territory voted to break from Jakarta's rule. Following are details on the suspects, the process and also trials taking place in East Timor that relate to the bloodshed:

Suspects:

Eighteen suspects will stand trial including military officers, civilians and members of pro-Jakarta militias, who were responsible for much of the violence and destruction of East Timor. Officials in 2000 had named 19 but one has since died.

The highest-ranking armed forces suspects are: former regional military commander Major-General Adam Damiri, former East Timor military commander Brigadier-General Tono Suratman and ex-East Timor police chief Brigadier-General Timbul Silaen.

Others include the last Jakarta-appointed governor Abilio Soares as well as mostly middle-ranking military officers.

Prominent pro-Jakarta militia leader Eurico Guterres was later named a suspect. He was sentenced one year ago to six months in prison for inciting violence in West Timor.

Who is not in the dock:

Wiranto, Indonesia's military chief at the time. In early 2000, a commission of inquiry set up to probe the carnage linked him to the violence and included him in a list of 33 names submitted to the Attorney-General's office for investigation. Wiranto has denied any wrongdoing.

Zacky Anwar Makarim, head of military intelligence when East Timor voted. The commission said he should also have been probed. He has been quoted in local media as denying there was a systematic campaign of terror and destruction in East Timor. Also absent are some key pro-Jakarta militia leaders.

The law and courts:

The trials will be the first cases using Indonesia's landmark law on Human Rights Courts, issued in 2000, which for the first time makes top military officers liable to civilian prosecution for gross human rights violations, including genocide.

However, the law does not recognise crimes committed before it was enacted, a move which enraged human rights groups.

To get around that, the law allows parliament to propose the setting up of ad hoc courts to cover pre-2000 cases. So far, parliament has recommended ad hoc courts for two cases, the East Timor violence in 1999 and the killing of scores of Muslim worshippers at Jakarta's Tanjung Priok port in 1984.

Such recommendations require a presidential decree to give the courts legal status. The government then selects judges and decides which particular events to focus the prosecution on.

The law provides for a witness and victim protection programme, although this has yet to be set up, raising concerns witnesses, especially those in East Timor, would be afraid to testify. Court officials have said they had no immediate plan to call witnesses from the territory.

The presidential decree covering the Timor trials only allows for violence committed in April and September 1999 to be subject to trial. Amnesty International has said that excludes hundreds of other cases of serious crimes during the independence process.

Indonesia has no actual human rights court complex. All ad hoc trials will take place at the Central Jakarta District Court. Suspects will be tried separately over five incidents that occurred in three districts in East Timor before and after the vote. These include massacres at two churches.

Judges are a mix of career and non-career. Those who are not professional judges have been chosen from academia in an effort to ensure impartiality. None of Indonesia's best known human rights lawyers, who are also academics, have been selected.

Trials in East Timor:

As the legal process in Jakarta finally gets under way, East Timor has already handed out jail terms as part of its own probes into what happened during the 1999 violence. An East Timor court in December sentenced 10 pro-Jakarta militiamen to jail for crimes against humanity in 1999.

The Special Panel of Serious Crimes in Dili, set up in June last year, can try cases of genocide, war crimes and other serious offences committed from January 1 and October 25, 1999.

Separately, the Dili Appeals Court last month issued an international warrant for the arrest of militia leader Guterres and 16 others, including members of the Indonesian military. They were all charged with crimes against humanity. Jakarta has said it would not hand over the men.

East Timor trials to put Jakarta under scrutiny

Reuters - March 12, 2002

Dean Yates, Jakarta -- Indonesia will begin trials on Thursday over violence that swept East Timor in 1999, putting Jakarta under international scrutiny and testing the president's willingness to hold the military accountable for rights abuses.

Political analysts said despite constant pressure from key donors, none were likely to cut aid should the trials of 18 suspects, including three generals, be a sham because there was little stomach for withdrawing support from President Megawati Sukarnoputri or destabilising a nation vital to Asia's stability.

The trials over the destruction of East Timor when it voted to break free from Jakarta's rule have been plagued by frequent delays and widespread skepticism that justice would be served.

Hearings at a special human rights court kick off on Thursday with the former East Timor police chief General Timbul Silaen and an ex-governor of the territory, Abilio Soares, in the dock for separate sessions.

A court official said the two had been charged with crimes against humanity over a massacre of Timor refugees in a church in September 1999. Their particular charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years jail.

It was unclear when the other suspects would take the stand. "They will be very closely watched," Sidney Jones, executive director of the Asia Division of the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said of the trials. "But if the defence team rides roughshod over the judges and prosecutors and use every legal loophole in the book to get these guys acquitted, no one is going to cut off aid to Indonesia or take other drastic action."

Yan Juanda Saputra, a lawyer from a defence team representing all the suspects, told Reuters that Silaen and Soares, along with the other 16, were not guilty of any of the charges.

US military ties on the line

Security analysts said the trials would need to be credible -- and dish out stiff terms to a few senior officers -- to help restore full military ties with the United States, slashed in the aftermath of the East Timor carnage.

Some Indonesian officials say that rupture has hindered Jakarta from fully taking part in Washington's war on terror. The United States has linked a return to full military cooperation to an accounting of what happened in the former Portuguese colony.

The United Nations estimates more than 1,000 people were killed during mayhem when pro-Jakarta militias with backing from Indonesia's military rampaged after the 1999 independence vote.

East Timor has been under UN administration since late 1999 and will declare formal independence on May 20.

"I think it depends on the credibility of the process and what happens. They will be carefully scrutinized and it's a bit of an acid test," said one senior foreign security analyst. "I don't think the US government is looking for a witch-hunt but I think if they at least symbolically put a few senior people in jail ... it would probably go a long way to getting Congress to lift restrictions on military engagement."

Court officials said there was no immediate plan to call witnesses living in East Timor, raising questions about whether judges would get a complete picture of what happened.

The trials will also be the first cases using Indonesia's new law on Human Rights Courts, issued in 2000, which for the first time makes top military officers liable to civilian prosecution for gross human rights violations, including genocide.

Political analysts said the trials were unlikely to drive a wedge between Megawati and the military, partly as generals had more to gain by not disrupting the process. The military chief at the time, Wiranto, and some other top officers are not on trial. The analysts also said Megawati, who hates confrontation or controversy, would likely keep her distance from the trials because of the emotions they might generate.

Question mark over military accountability

That raises doubts over how serious Megawati is about military accountability in Indonesia, one of the major issues that has dogged the world's fourth most populous nation since former President Suharto stepped down in 1998.

The military often acted with impunity during Suharto's 32-year iron rule and has largely rebuffed calls for extensive inquiries into human rights abuses committed by troops.

Megawati has said gross rights violations by soldiers off the battlefield must be dealt with, but made little effort to drive any accounting of an institution she sees eye-to-eye with on issues such as fighting separatists in Aceh and Papua provinces.

"The trials will be a test of the Megawati government's willingness to hold military officers accountable for human rights violations and, as such, will have ramifications for Papua and Aceh," Jones from Human Rights Watch said.

A whitewash could renew calls for the United Nations to convene an international tribunal along the lines of those for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, but UN officials and diplomats have said they doubted such a move would take place.

Kontras report reveals rights abuses worsening

Jakarta Post - March 13, 2002

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta -- The country's human rights record worsened in 2001 as the state continued to neglect its obligations to promote and protect human rights, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said.

In its annual report released on Monday, Kontras said that the administrations of both former president Abdurrahman Wahid, familiarly known as Gus Dur, and President Megawati Soekarnoputri had failed to show a commitment to upholding the people's civil and political rights in 2001.

"What we see is only a tug-of-war between political interests, but we have yet to see efforts to strengthen the institutions that handle human rights issues or the refining of legal mechanisms," Kontras coordinator Ori Rahman said during a discussion organized in conjunction with the launching of its annual report titled Human Rights in Stagnation: Report on Human Rights Conditions in Indonesia in 2001.

Highlighting the unrestrained human rights abuses in 2001, Ori said that the country's rights records was only likely to worsen in 2002 and beyond.

Kontras noted that efforts to protect victims and to make people more aware of human rights issues were neglected in 2001, and that both Gus Dur and Megawati had failed to prevent more rights violations. "This is indicated by the appointment of those who were responsible for many rights abuses to strategic positions in the country," Kontras said.

The appointment of A.M. Hendropriyono and Da'i Bachtiar as the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) and National Police chiefs respectively has come under fire because of their alleged past human rights abuses.

Hendropriyono has been accused of human rights abuses in Lampung in 1989, in what became known as the Talangsari intimidation, while demands have been made for Da'i to account for the shooting dead of five supporters of Gus Dur in Bondowoso, East Java, in 2000.

"The military and police still have the power to influence the state's policy with regard to human rights issues," Ori said.

Many past human rights abusers have been left untouched, including those responsible for the 1984 mass slaying in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta; the 1989 intimidation in Talangsari, Lampung; the 1998 and 1999 shootings of student activists and citizens; and the unsolved kidnappings of at least 1,039 people, 14 of whom have not been heard from since.

Meanwhile, repressive action against secessionist movements in Aceh and Irian Jaya was still ongoing, and the social conflicts in other regions of the country, such as Maluku, Central Sulawesi's Poso and Central Kalimantan's Sampit had yet to be resolved.

Kontras concluded that the latest government-backed peace deals for Maluku and Poso had failed to change the quality of violence in those regions, violence that also involved the military.

Parents demand Wiranto comply with summons

Jakarta Post - March 12, 2002

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Apriadi Gunawan, Jakarta/Medan -- The parents of dozens of students killed in several incidents that took place in 1998 and 1999 gathered at the residence of former Armed Forces chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto on Monday to mount pressure on him to comply with a summons for an inquiry scheduled later in the day.

They assembled at Wiranto's house at Jl. Simprug Golf V J/1, in the residential area of Permata Hijau, South Jakarta, to ask the retired general to act as a role model for his juniors, who have also been summoned for questioning by the Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations (KPP HAM) on the tragedies occurring at Trisakti University in May 1998, and near the Semanggi cloverleaf in November 1998 and September 1999.

Wiranto was scheduled to face questioning on Monday, after KPP HAM sent him the second summons. Wiranto and his family reportedly live in Permata Hijau most of the time beside owning two other homes in the city.

"We hope you can come to help unravel the case ... your appearance would set aside opinion that the military and the police officers are escaping responsibility," one of the parents, Arief Priyadi, read from a letter to be presented to Wiranto.

But Wiranto was not home, according to one of his adjutants, Suherlan, who met the visitors at the resident's front gate. "Pak Wiranto has been out of town since Friday evening," he said.

Former National Police chief Gen. Roesmanhadi was also scheduled to be questioned on Monday. Like Wiranto, Roesmanhadi failed to show.

KPP HAM chairman Albert Hasibuan said that the inquiry would give a harmful evaluation of the officers' absence in its recommendation to investigators. "We can conclude that their absence means that they refuse to comply with the summonses and are not willing to clarify their involvement in the incidents," said Hasibuan, who is also a member of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), which established KPP HAM.

Both the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police have written to KPP HAM that they will not let their officers be questioned in connection with the cases since the House of Representatives had conducted a similar investigation and recommended that they fall under the civil or military judiciary instead of the human rights court.

Separately in Medan, North Sumatra, Army chief of staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto reaffirmed that the officers' refusal to appear at the inquiry was not resistance but instead a part of the institution's efforts to uphold the law.

He was in town to install the new Bukit Barisan Military commander, Maj. Gen. Idris Gasing. "The cases took place in the past, therefore the investigation should first secure the House's approval. And the House has stated that there were no gross violations of rights during the incidents," Endriartono said.

Informal sector/urban poor

Sutiyoso's supporters chase away flood victims

Jakarta Post - March 14, 2002

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta -- Wielding sticks and swords, hundreds of supporters of City Governor Sutiyoso threatened and chased away dozens of flood victims who staged a protest in front of City Hall on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday.

The protesters, who were organized by the non-governmental organization, Urban Poor Consortium, arrived in a bus and a pickup truck at the scene at about 10 a.m., unfurling a one- kilometer-long banner along the road's berm.

Fifteen minutes later, Sutiyoso's supporters, grouped under the United Betawi Forum (FBR), arrived on dozens of motorcycles and cars and grabbed the banner, which was marked with hundreds of signatures.

The governor's supporters asked the protesters to leave the scene and one of them pointed a sword at UPC's chairwoman, Wardah Hafids, and then beat up one of Wardah's friends, who had tried to protect her.

Wardah told reporters that her supporters were, "protesting the way the governor uses the Betawi people to attack us".

A comical incident occurred when Wardah received a written statement from one of FBR's member. It stated that the forum was ready to attack Wardah and her friends for causing chaos and using poverty for its own interests. "They gave me the statement. They did not recognize me," Wardah quipped.

The FBR also supported Governor Sutiyoso's policy in handling floods in the city. Wearing black clothes and hats, Sutiyoso's supporters continued their rally to the nearby City Council building on Jl. Kebon Sirih.

City Council chairman Edy Waluyo, who was presiding an internal meeting with council leaders on the building's second floor, was shocked when FBR members knocked on the door. He asked them to leave immediately.

Edy finally met supporters in the council's lobby to receive their demands, which included a demand for the administration to provide them with jobs. One of the supporters admitted that he was promised Rp 50,000 to join the rally. Sutiyoso could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

The rally held by flood victims at City Hall also announced that they would file a suit at Central Jakarta District against the government. Fourteen representatives of the flood victims, demanded the President, City Governor and West Java Governor pay compensation of more than Rp 2.7 billion.

Plaintiffs said the government had failed to give prior warning, causing damage and losses to residents during the floods. They were represented by 32 lawyers, mostly from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH).

The plaintiffs said that more than 97,300 families or 365,000 people had to leave their house and find a temporary shelter due to the huge floods that hit the city from the end of January to early in February

Flood victims file multi-million dollar suit against government

Agence France Presse - March 13, 2002

Jakarta -- Victims of last month's devastating floods in the Indonesian capital and a neighboring province on Wednesday filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against President Megawati Sukarnoputri and two governors for their failure to deal with the disaster.

The class action suit was filed by 32 lawyers, representing 15 plaintiffs, at the Central Jakarta district court. The plaintiffs demand the president, Jakarta governor Sutiyoso and West Java governor Nuriana pay flood victims 1.26 trillion rupiah (126 million dollars) in damages.

"The lawsuit is launched because the government has been indifferent to the suffering of the residents and has failed to fulfill their obligations as state officials," one of the lawyers, Azas Tigor Nainggolan, told reporters.

The floods and landslides hit several parts of Indonesia and killed at least 147 people nationwide, 67 of them in Jakarta and its satellite towns. It was not clear whether this figure includes subsequent deaths from disease. The disaster also left more than 330,000 people in the capital temporarily homeless.

City Governor Sutiyoso, a retired general, has rejected calls to resign despite criticism of authorities' failure to put effective flood control measures in place. Official efforts to aid victims have also been slammed as inadequate.

Environment

Illegal trade in endangered species on the rise

Jakarta Post - March 13, 2002

Rita A. Widiadana, Denpasar -- Illegal trading of endangered and protected species has reached an alarming level in Indonesia, with the provinces of Bali and East and West Nusa Tenggara serving as centers for the illicit practice, State Minister for the Environment Nabiel Makarim said.

Indonesia, he said, had ratified the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in l978, yet the criminal practice continues to flourish because of a lack of law enforcement and rare species are commercially viable.

"There are 236 endangered and protected species of animals and 58 of plants in Indonesia but their numbers are diminishing because of their illegal trade," he said in Denpasar on Monday.

He said the international community had urged the country to take effective measures to stop the illegal trade. "Bali will host a preparatory meeting for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in May and June. That is why we have to show our strong commitment in dealing with any environmental problems, including illegal trading and smuggling of protected and endangered species," warned Nabiel, adding that the international community was "watching" the nation.

Nabiel said that the three provinces must join forces to eliminate the irresponsible trade of thousands of protected animals and plants found only in these areas. "Recently, the international community planned to boycott Bali as one of the world's tourist destinations because of the killing and illegal trade of green turtles," he said.

Bali, West and East Nusa Tenggara are rich in biodiversity and have been hot spots for various illegal practices and the smuggling of rare species, Nabiel added. Among the provinces' native species are the Bali starling, the green turtle (chelonia mydas), the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) and various species of birds and insects.

Meanwhile, a large number of plants, such as orchids and sandalwood, have been smuggled into domestic and overseas markets. "Demands for such species have been very high in these three provinces as they are commercially beneficial," the minister pointed out.

In a preliminary meeting on Monday, Bali Governor I Dewa Made Beratha, West Nusa Tenggara Governor Harun Al Rasyid and East Nusa Tenggara Governor Piet W. Tallo signed a joint agreement that addresses the utilization, distribution and trading of endangered and protected animals and plants.

"This issue is very complicated and difficult to deal with. We need strong cooperation in curbing the illegal trade of protected animals to a minimum," said Dewa Beratha. He admitted that the Balinese Hindu use turtle meat in a number of religious ceremonies. "But the amount is limited to sustain the turtle population," the governor said.

The joint cooperation will comprise the establishment of special teams, joint monitoring of inter-island transportation of endangered species and an exchange of information.

The two-day meeting also involves regents of the three provinces, legislative officials and representatives of local and international non-governmental organizations, including the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Wallaceae Bioregion Program, Animal Conservation for Life (KSBK) and other agencies.

"The involvement of regents at this meeting is crucial because they are the persons who directly deal with this problem at a regional level," added Harun Al Rasyid.

In the regional autonomy era, regents and regional legislative bodies play important roles in implementing any policy on the environment. "Sometimes, there are misunderstandings between provincial and regional administrations in interpreting environmental issues," he said.

Roset Nurhadi, the director of Indonesia's chapter of Animal Conservation For Life, said that the illegal trade of endangered species in the three provinces, and in Indonesia in general, often involved members of the Indonesian Armed Forces, strong officials in the government and irresponsible traders.

"We have often failed to arrest people who sell and possess protected animals because they have strong backing and are usually members of high-ranking armed forces," Roset said.

Haze blankets North Sumatra capital Medan

Jakarta Post - March 13, 2002

The head of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency at Polonia Airport in Medan, North Sumatra, hinted on Tuesday that the haze which had been covering the city since Saturday had the potential to become a very serious problem.

"The number of hot spots from forest fires was 191 on Saturday, 550 on Sunday spreading in Asahan, Labuhan Batu and Langkat regencies in North Sumatra, Aceh, the Riau Islands and the southern part of Malaysia," Firman said.

"On Monday, the satellite only found 360 hot spots because the hot spots in Central Aceh had disappeared," Firman said. But this did not mean that the situation would improve over the coming days.

Haze had also affected Polonia Airport. Visibility was down to 1,500 meters on Monday, while normally it was between 7,000 and 10,000 meters. According to Firman, activities at the airport, including flights, were all normal, but he warned everyone to be on alert.

He said that haze usually appeared between the months of June and July when the dry season extended to most areas of the country. Firman called on residents to be extra careful by minimizing outdoor activities. "The haze could cause respiratory problems."

Logging blitz threatens North Sumatra Leuser forest

Jakarta Post - March 12, 2002

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan -- Mount Leuser National Park (TNGL) in North Sumatra province is facing further degradation, as illegal logging and occupation of land in this protected forest by Acehnese refugees has continued unchecked.

At least 3,000 hectares of land inside the forest are currently occupied by around 700 families from the neighboring restive province of Aceh, who are using it as a resettlement area and for agriculture. The occupied land is located in Sei Lepan and Besitang subdistricts in Langkat regency, North Sumatra.

The Consortium to Safeguard the Leuser Forest and Ecosystem Zone (KP-HAKEL), a nongovernmental organization (NGO) concerned with the protected park, said the refugees, mostly from East Aceh regency, began to seize the land illegally in early 2001. Initially they came in small groups but their numbers later swelled due to the absence of security guards preventing the illegal intrusion.

Deni Purba, a Consortium activist, said not all the settlers were Acehnese refugees but land speculators from Langkat and Medan, involved in clearing the protected forest since the 1980s.

He said that based on findings of the Consortium, which oversees 30 NGOs dealing with environmental affairs, the speculators have played a significant role in encouraging Acehnese refugees to settle there in the former's own interest.

The existence of the refugees, who now total 1000 families, has brought economic fortune to the speculators as they have ready access to a pool of labor to assist in the illegal logging.

The speculators have sold two hectares of land in the Leuser forest at Rp 2 million to Rp 4 million to each refugee family, who may pay for it in installments. With a down payment of only Rp 50,000, a refugee family can acquire two hectares of land and repay its monthly installments from the illegal logging income. "In such a way, land speculators can tie refugees in to the illegal logging process," Deni told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

In an effort to curb the continued onslaught on the protected forest, the Consortium urged the central government to immediately intervene in resettling refugees to more appropriate areas and take firm action against the speculators.

The refugees fled their homes in East Aceh following the unabated fighting between government troops and armed members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Last September, the Leuser management authorities managed to relocate at least 154 refugee families from the forest to Riau province. But the relocation effort seemed to grind to a halt without good reason.

Heri Wahyudi, coordinator of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JSC) -- who serves as a volunteer for the refugees -- said the ill-fated Acehnese were willing to be resettled to other areas, except for their home province. He confirmed that local illegal loggers had been exploiting the refugees purely for their own benefit. "It has already become public knowledge that the existence of refugees here is advantageous to many speculators," he told the Post on Saturday in his JSC office, Medan.

The Acehnese refugees were indeed aware that what they had been doing was in breach of the law. "So far, they are not afraid of possible sanction by the authorities. They are prepared to face any risk," Heri said.

Religion/Islam

Muslim militant denies his radio station seeks to stir violence

Agence France Presse - March 13, 2002

Jakarta -- The leader of an Islamic paramilitary force which has waged "holy war" against Christians in Indonesia's Maluku islands denied Wednesday that its radio broadcasts are aimed at destroying a recent peace pact.

Jaafar Umar Thalib, commander of Laskar Jihad (holy war force), said his group's radio station -- The Voice of The Muslim Struggle in Maluku -- was set up to balance "local press reports in the Malukus which are always unbalanced and always disparage Muslims."

Maluku governor Saleh Latuconsina wants to close down the station for "provocative" reporting which he says threatens a Muslim- Christian peace deal brokered by the government last month.

Thalib told a seminar on broadcasting that pressure to close down the station came from rival media in the Malukus, state television and radio and two local newspapers. "Those sides who own these local media are feeling uncomfortable ... and there has since been this polemics about our radio being provocative and the pressure for the governor to close us down," Thalib said.

He described the content of his radio as part religious sermons quoting the Koran and the Prophet's sayings and part news reports from the field, plus comments from officials and experts. "We also commented on the Malino II pact, but because there was a government statement that said that whoever is against the Malino II pact is also against the government, this case [of pressure for the shutdown] also arose," Thalib said.

Laskar Jihad was not invited to the peace talks in the South Sulawesi hill resort of Malino. It says the deal was flawed because it did not encompass all sides in the conflict. The Java-based group has said it will not leave the Malukus even though the peace deal calls for outside forces to withdraw, because it is engaged in "humanitarian work."

Thalib admitted that his radio did not possess the required licence. The current frequency belongs to a radio station owned by a Muslim which has ceased to operate since the sectarian conflict broke out in Ambon city in the islands in January 1999.

More than 5,000 people were killed and more than half a million driven from their homes. The peace deal is largely holding so far. In May 2000 Laskar Jihad -- with the apparent connivance of security forces -- sent thousands of fighters to the Malukus. Christians say it played a major part in fanning the violence while some Muslims accuse Christian groups of doing likewise.

Thalib has denied his group has links to international terror. He says he met accused terror mastermind Osama bin Laden while both were fighting against Soviet occupiers in Afghanistan in the 1980's, but maintains he disagrees with bin Laden's ideology.

Last year he was questioned by police over a Laskar Jihad makeshift Islamic court in Maluku which ordered an adulterer stoned to death. He was never prosecuted. Laskar Jihad forces were also involved in Muslim-Christian battles in the Poso region of Central Sulawesi. A December agreement also reached at Malino ended fighting there.

Economy & investment

Economy forecast to grow 3.2-3.8 percent this year

Agence France Presse - March 13, 2002

Jakarta -- Indonesia's economy will grow by up to 3.8 percent this year and inflation will be fall to 9.5 percent under an optimistic scenario, Central Bureau of Statistics head Sudarti Surbakti said Wednesday.

Under a pessimistic scenario, she said, gross domestic product (GDP) might only expand by 3.2 percent this year and 3.5 percent next year -- with inflation seen at 10.5 percent before falling to 9.8 percent in 2003.

The optimistic scenario was based on various assumptions, including improved political and social stability and an easing of the global economic slowdown, Surbakti told parliament.

"The US and Japanese economy and other main trading partners have started to recover," she said. Surbakti said that if the optimistic scenario materialised, GDP would grow 4.5 percent in 2003 with inflation falling to 8.5 percent.

Finance Minister Budiono was less sanguine last month, saying growth this year was likely to remain similar to last year's at around three percent. His comments contrasted with the government's earlier forecast of 4.0 percent.

Budiono said he was not optimistic about the hoped-for recovery in the US economy in the second half, which is expected to act as the locomotive for global economic growth. Inflation in February was up 15.13 percent from a year earlier.

Lenders critical of Hamzah plan, says economist

Jakarta Post - March 14, 2002

Berni K. Moestafa, Jakarta -- Foreign lenders have questioned Vice President Hamzah Haz's plan to announce an economic recovery program, fearing it could push aside reforms agreed on with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an economist said.

Hamzah told daily Tempo in an interview on Tuesday that his blueprint for economic recovery contained parts that contradicted those under the IMF's reform program. "There is a genuine concern out there ... how come we have two different documents on the same program [for reforms]," economist Sri Mulyani Indrawati told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Sri, who has close contacts with officials from multilateral lenders, such as the IMF, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), said lenders were "not pleased with what was going on inside the government".

The Vice President has come into the spotlight over the past few weeks, as his economic team is seen to be encroaching on the authority of the government's team of economic ministers in setting out the priorities for the country's economy.

Hamzah said he was told by President Megawati Soekarnoputri to help her out with economic affairs, but analysts saw in this Megawati's fading trust in the team, led by Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti. The delegation came on the heels of speculation over Dorodjatun's waning influence within the Cabinet.

Sri warned that this question of credibility would pose a serious problem during negotiations with foreign lenders. "The Vice President's office is higher in rank compared to all three officials who signed the letter of intent for the IMF, so how much is their signature worth now?" Sri said.

She was referring to the letter of intent, which outlines Indonesia's reform targets for the IMF. The document is signed by the coordinating minister for the economy, the finance minister and the governor of Bank Indonesia.

A new letter of intent is expected later this month or early April, as a requirement for debt rescheduling talks with the Paris Club of creditor nations. Indonesia seeks to reschedule sovereign debts of about US$5 billion to $6 billion, but Sri warned that Hamzah's plan might come in the way. "It's only understandable, that they [Paris Club] would question Hamzah's program," she said.

Details of the blueprint, once called the stimulus package, remain sketchy so far. Several economists, who were earlier invited by Hamzah to discuss the plan, described it as a domestic letter of intent that would set the guidelines for economic policies.

Hamzah said he proposed to revitalize state-owned assets so that they could stimulate the domestic economy, and demanded creditor nations to shoulder more of the country's debt burden. Sri pointed to three points in Hamzah's program that could spell trouble.

One was that Hamzah proposed to stop financing the state budget using proceeds from the privatization program. That, she said, was against the letter of intent, which required the government use cash to unload its debt burden from the budget. Hamzah instead offered the privatization proceeds to be used for raising capital in an unexplained effort he called "value creation".

The second point, she said, was a plan to offer small and medium-scale enterprises some Rp 20 trillion (about $2 billion) in capital. "Now where is all that money going to come from? The state budget doesn't say anything about that," she said. Another possible concern, Sri said, was a plan to repatriate export earnings in a move that smacked of capital control.

David Chang of Vickers Ballas Tamara said so far, the market was unconcerned over Hamzah's foray into economic policy-making. But he warned that once it started to affect the foreign lenders' stance on Indonesia, it would cloud market sentiment.

A senior staff member at the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, Mahendra Siregar, said Hamzah's team and senior economic officials had met over a consultation of the planned program. He said the program still needed some fine-tuning, but in doing so, Hamzah was not required to consult the government.