East Timor

Testing time for East Timor

Green Left Weekly - April 10, 2002

Jon Land -- Two-and-a half years after East Timor's referendum on independence, the effect of the Indonesian military and militia's post-ballot destructive rampage are painfully apparent. Burnt out shells of buildings stand dotted around the suburbs of Dili, which remains a place, for most, of daily hardship and poverty. Green Left Weekly spoke to Tomas Freitas, a researcher with East Timorese non-government organisation La'o Hamutuk, which monitors the reconstruction process, about the situation leading up to the May 20 transfer to self-governance.

A recent survey on poverty, conducted jointly by the National Planning Commission, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the United Nations Development Program and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, found that 41% of the population was living in poverty. The survey has not yet been fully released.

Some 49% of East Timorese are unable to read and write. The figures for poverty and illiteracy are higher in the rural districts, where the majority of people live. Twice as many women die in childbirth in East Timor than anywhere else in South East Asia or the Western Pacific. Less than a quarter of East Timor's women have ready access to a health facility or a qualified midwife.

"Where is the infrastructure and development that we were promised by the United Nations and the World Bank?" asks Freitas.

Nestled behind high security walls and a tropical garden bordering Dili harbour are the offices of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the ADB. All three have been in East Timor from the start of the UN-administered transitional period and have been instrumental in shaping East Timor's economic policies and institutions.

The World Bank and the ADB, its junior partner, have responsibility over the two main trust funds that finance the UN administration and the reconstruction process. These funds are not loans, but donations made by a range of countries to assist East Timor.

With the transition period coming to an end, the bureaucratic inefficiencies of the UN administration and exorbitant consultancy fees paid to foreign "experts" have severely sapped these funds. The result is that the new East Timorese government will have major problems in balancing the budget. Rather than starting self-rule as a debt-free country, East Timor faces the prospect of being forced into debt from day one.

Freitas, who was a delegate at the recent Porto Alegre World Social Forum, has fears about where East Timor is headed. "I'm very worried about East Timor given the experiences in Argentina. The government here says we will still use the US dollar after the transition, maybe for at least five or six years. If we continue to use the US dollar, I think there will be many problems relating to balance of payments.

"What can East Timor export? We have rice but we cannot export it because of problems with its production and quality and because the government keeps importing rice. This is a big problem", he told Green Left Weekly.

"I'm also confused about why the National Planning Commission says we need US$63 million for the 2002 budget. How did they calculate this?", Freitas added.

It is unclear whether the commission has accounted for all the services provided by the UN administration. On March 12, administration chief Sergio de Mello informed the East Timor Council of Ministers that after the May 20 transfer to independence, legal and legislative support, internet access, telecommunications, photocopying and vehicle maintenance would no longer be provided.

De Mello also said that international interpreters would cease to provide simultaneous translation services in the Constituent Assembly and current TV and radio services could also end if a "substitution mechanism is not implemented". That is, unless funds can be borrowed to keep things running.

"The situation for us in East Timor is very complicated at the moment" Freitas commented. "We are not properly informed about many government decisions. We are soon to become independent and it is unclear where we stand in relation to the international financial institutions. After May 20, we don't know whether the government will listen to the NGOs and civil society or whether it will be more influenced and interested in dealing with the World Bank." Through his experience in community radio, Freitas believes that most East Timorese "feel detached from the whole political process ... it is just political leaders and elite that discuss politics. This is a bad situation and very little information about decisions made in Dili make it to the villages".

"They don't know about, or only understand a little about, the transition and how it is going. `Do you know about the constitution?', I would ask and they would say no", Freitas explained. "They are just thinking about tomorrow ... how are they going to live, how are they going to eat, where will the food come from? How will they send their children to school or how can they work their land? They don't have much time to think about politics, but they are very concerned about the future." Freitas appealed for ongoing solidarity and support during this crucial time for East Timor. "This is especially so as far as justice is concerned. We don't believe that the ad hoc human rights tribunal run by the Indonesian government on the killings in 1999 will bring justice. It is important for there to be a strong campaign abroad for an international human rights tribunal for East Timor.

"We need economic justice as well. How is East Timor to survive globalisation and the impact and dominance of the international financial institutions and the large nations in the region ... we need your ongoing support and solidarity during this period."

Gusmao winds up campaign for East Timor presidency

Australian Broadcasting Corporation - April 12, 2002

[East Timor approaches the last formal step in its long hard road to democracy and independence -- on Sunday the people go to the polls to elect a president. Xanana Gusmao, who led East Timor's struggle against Indonesian rule, first as a jungle fighter and then from prison, is the overwhelming favourite in a two-man presidential contest.]

Transcript:

Kerry O'Brien: Closer to home, East Timor approaches the last formal step in its long hard road to democracy and independence -- on Sunday the people go to the polls to elect a president.

Xanana Gusmao, who led East Timor's struggle against Indonesian rule, first as a jungle fighter and then from prison, is the overwhelming favourite in a two-man presidential contest.

Mark Bowling reports from the campaign trail of a reluctant candidate, who's been likened to Nelson Mandela.

Helda Da Costa, University of East Timor: It's an atmosphere of explosion. The people love him and adore him. In fact, people running towards him and then lifting him up and yelling, "Viva Xanana, long life, Xanana."

Mark Bowling: In a country fractured by a quarter of a century of harsh Indonesian rule, he's the one binding force in East Timor. It is not a question of whether but by how much he'll win this presidential race. Some say he could secure 90 per cent of the vote, even more.

Xanana Gusmao, presidential candidate: I know them, they know me. They know that if they choose me, I will do all my best to serve them.

Mark Bowling: Xanana Gusmao embodies the hopes of a new nation. His message to this crowd in Maliana, a town once controlled by the pro-Jakarta militia is that together, out of the ashes, they must build stability and democracy.

But the wounds of the past have still not healed. Painful as it is, he calls on his supporters to forget the killing and violence inflicted during Indonesian rule and to move on.

Accompanying him on the campaign trail is his Australian wife, Kirsty Sword Gusmao, herself a tireless worker during East Timor's struggle for independence. She admits it's hard for these people to forget, but Xanana Gusmao believes reconciliation, not an endless process of human rights inquiries and trials, is the best way for the new East Timor to get ahead.

Kirsty Sword Gusmao: They know that he has also suffered like them in a very real way through the sacrifices that he made through the loss of family and loved ones and, you know, a life of real hardship in the bush for 18 years. And I think that they relate to him so strongly because of, you know, that shared suffering as well as the shared hopes that they hold for the future of East Timor.

mark bowling: The other presidential candidate is Francisco Xavier do Amaral. A heart condition has forced him to mount a low-key campaign and his chances appear slim.

Still, he's a respected figure and like Xanana Gusmao, he is already part of East Timor folklore, a one-time jungle fighter who spent years in an Indonesian jail. In the confusion that followed Portugal's withdrawal from East Timor in the early 1970s, he declared himself president, lasting as leader for nine days.

Do Amaral is campaigning to stop corruption and to prevent East Timor relying on international handouts.

Francisco Xavier Do Amaral, presidential candidate: I am not fighting to be the winner or to be the loser. I have fought for peace only. I want to ensure there is democracy here in East Timor. We are going to be the first nation in the 21st century.

Mark Bowling: If Xanana Gusmao is a red-hot favourite, the irony is, he's a reluctant candidate who appears more interested in his personal, not his public life.

Kirsty Sword Gusmao: You know, they see, this is not just a political ploy. This is actually something very sincere. He doesn't have any personal ambition. He continues to say to them, "I don't want to be president," and he means it.

Mark Bowling: Xanana Gusmao has insisted to his supporters there is a deep and personal reason for his reluctance. So what is that reason?

Colin Stuart, UN Head of Political Affairs, East Timor: When he was in the jungles leading the guerillas, so that there would be no question as to where his loyalties lie, he once promised to his troops that he would never seek political office.

And so it was very difficult for him to break with that promise under extreme pressure from many quarters and run as president, because he had vowed he would never to do that. But he has since acknowledged that he has a responsibility.

Mark Bowling: For East Timor's future leader, the most pressing issue is refugees.

Finding a way for the repatriation of up to 60,000 East Timorese still in Indonesian West Timor, those who have languished in camps like this one, the Halowin (phonetic) camp near the border, for the last two and a half years. These babies and toddlers have known no other life than here.

Xanana Gusmao has taken time out from campaigning to visit West Timor, to talk directly to the refugees, meeting some of them under tight Indonesian military security. Most of these people were herded across the border by the pro-Jakarta militia. Some are former militia members themselves.

Xanana Gusmao has been reassuring people it's safe to return to East Timor and only those accused of the most serious of crimes could ever expect to face trial.

Most in East Timor now yearn for a quiet life. But perhaps the biggest challenges lie ahead. The United Nations administration is preparing to pull out. International aid will start to dry up and a new nation will have to stand on its own feet. East Timor has a poor farming economy. It's pinning its hopes on a potential boon from oil and gas in the Timor Sea.

Colin Stuart: With oil and gas, East Timor has a lot of potential to invest in its health and education and actually change dramatically its standard of living.

Mark Bowling: As a new nation takes shape, it may come down to one reluctant man to lead the way.

Xanana Gusmao: We must not forget that the real meaning of independence is to make people believe that independence will give some benefits.

Canberra's 'unfriendly act' over gas field irks Timorese

Sydney Morning Herald - April 13, 2002

Hamish McDonald, Dili -- A last-minute dispute has blown up over the treaty that will unlock oil and gas resources worth billions of dollars in the seabed between Australia and East Timor, and the new nation's likely prime minister has accused Canberra of mistrust and an "unfriendly act".

Tension has been created by a new demand Canberra has placed on East Timor to speed up negotiations covering a rich natural gas field at the side of a joint development zone where the two nations share petroleum revenues, as agreed in a draft treaty last July.

In addition, East Timor's leaders and advisers have been taken aback by the Australian Government's sudden announcement last month that it would no longer accept the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in The Hague and another specialised tribunal over maritime boundary claims.

Mari Alkatiri, who heads the cabinet in the United Nations administration and is expected to be prime minister when East Timor becomes independent on May 20, yesterday sharply criticised the decision to withdraw from the court's jurisdiction. "I have been saying that I would like to ratify the [Timor Sea] agreement on May 20," Mr Alkatiri said.

"But I have also been saying that the agreement should not compromise East Timor's position and that we will approve legislation on the basis that our maritime frontiers are very clear. And the withdrawal of Australia from the International Court at The Hague is in our opinion a sign of a lack of confidence in us, and an unfriendly act."

Mr Alkatiri said East Timor was "quite ready" to ratify the treaty, but not its annex covering the division of revenue from the Greater Sunrise gas field straddling the eastern boundary of the joint development zone.

Greater Sunrise is a gas reserve of 9.5 trillion cubic feet controlled by a consortium of Woodside Petroleum, Phillips Petroleum, Shell and Osaka Gas. Under Annex E of the Timor Sea draft treaty it is deemed to lie 80 per cent in Australia's resource zone and 20 per cent in the joint zone.

This means that under the 90:10 revenue split in Dili's favour in the joint zone, East Timor will get 18 per cent of total government tax revenues from Greater Sunrise, which are likely to total tens of billions of dollars over 50 years from the opening of the field late this decade.

Australia has said that until Annex E is elaborated in a full "unitisation" agreement covering Greater Sunrise it will not agree to the whole Timor Sea treaty coming into force.

This position means that East Timor, which has virtually no other large-scale revenue prospects aside from foreign aid, would have to wait until the Greater Sunrise deal is locked up before getting any tax flows from Timor Sea oil fields.

UN officials are upset at what one called "this new and unreasonable demand", and say that full agreements are highly technical and take up to three years to pin down.

Fretilin fighting to keep the Xanana republic at bay

Sydney Morning Herald - April 13, 2002

Hamish McDonald -- A tropical cyclone has been hovering close to East Timor, dumping frequent rain on a mountainous island still in wet-season green and leaving officials wondering if the depression will move onshore just in time to disrupt tomorrow's presidential election.

Similarly, hints of potential trouble are emerging in the politics of this little nation as it moves into the final weeks before its formal independence on May 20.

The election itself is a predictable and mostly amicable affair. Xanana Gusmao, the heroic leader of armed resistance against the Indonesians, international celebrity, handsome and popular, is set to win by a large margin and become the new country's first head of state.

The only other candidate, Xavier do Amaral, is a much less vigorous figure -- he came down with pneumonia early in the campaign and has a nervous twitch around his mouth -- and comes from a more distant and contentious chapter of the former Portuguese colony's history.

In 1975 Mr Amaral was president of the independent state declared unilaterally by the Fretilin movement just 10 days before Indonesian forces overran Dili. Two years later his colleagues dumped him as party leader, he surrendered to the Indonesians, and then spent two decades in servitude to an Indonesian general.

Mr Amaral is modest enough about his reasons for standing. "If there was only one candidate there would not be a choice," he said on Thursday at a final election debate held at the newly reopened National University in Dili -- at which he and Mr Gusmao posed with arms around shoulders and frequently agreed with each other's points.

But East Timor is far from becoming the "Xanana Republic" which many predicted. The real competition at the ballot is between Mr Gusmao and the Fretilin to which he once belonged and from which he now keeps a careful distance.

Fretilin has emerged with undisputed control of the organs of government from the process of drafting a constitution that has gone on while East Timor has been under a lavish ($2.2 billion) interim period of administration and protection by the United Nations.

The party's crossed identity with the resistance left it with the strongest grassroots penetration of any political grouping here after 1999, and it scooped up about 65 per cent of the seats in the constituent assembly elected last August.

Last month this assembly approved a new republican constitution weighted to parliamentary power, with a directly elected but largely symbolic president. The assembly then decided to transform itself into East Timor's first parliament for a full term -- meaning that Fretilin will run the government for the next five years until elections.

Mr Gusmao is pitching himself explicitly as a countervailing power to the Fretilin machine. His objective as president, he said at Thursday's debate, would be "to look at those who rule and see that they can respond to the needs of the people".

He is said to have set his sights on a 90 per cent vote, a popular mandate that would give him immense moral ascendancy over the Fretilin government, likely to be led by the chief minister of the interim cabinet, Mari Alkatiri.

Conversely, Fretilin appears to be engaged in a whispering campaign designed to whittle down Mr Xanana's vote, to no more than the party itself received in August's constituent assembly ballot.

There have been door-knocking campaigns, reminding people that voting was not compulsory and suggestions that voters should "honour" both the 1975 proclaimer of independence and the resistance hero by ticking both images on the ballot paper -- which would of course render the vote invalid.

Fretilin leaders have appeared on Mr Amaral's platforms and not been chastised. But a Fretilin MP who joined a Gusmao rally is being disciplined. The non-Fretilin politicians worry that Fretilin might show tendencies to drift into a one-party state. A question raising comparisons with the former Salazar fascist state in Portugal and the Soeharto regime in Indonesia drew the loudest applause from students at the presidential debate.

The party is instinctively secretive, and inclined to claim it knows what the people think and feel without having to ask them. Nor has Fretilin helped allay fears by inserting many of its 1975 revolutionary symbols into the new constitution.

The preamble states that May 20's ceremony is the international recognition of the independence Mr Amaral's Fretilin declared on November 29, 1975. The new country's name is Democratic Republic of East Timor, and its flag is a slight modification of the 1975 Fretilin flag -- red, black and yellow with a white five-pointed star, a design which, as the conservative Timorese politician Joao Carrascalao points out, has nothing distinctly Timorese about it.

To be fair, the Constitution and Fretilin's contemporary platform is replete with commitments to pluralistic democracy and a free economy.

Mr Alkatiri, who is descended from a Yemeni settler and member of East Timor's tiny Muslim community, has shown himself a pragmatic, hard-working cabinet member in charge of economic affairs during the UN interregnum, working happily with international agencies and foreign aid donors.

Yesterday, Mr Alkatiri said he would be voting, but refused to say for whom and did not deny earlier reports quoting him saying he would post a blank ballot. "Whoever wins the election will be president of this country and will be respected as that," he said. "And if I carry on in the government I will do my best to make sure there's a very sound relationship between the government, the president and the parliament."

Without the checks and balances of the new system, it could also be argued, Mr Gusmao could himself drift into a dictatorship or presidency-for-life, supported by a previously unsuspected capacity to raise funding from Asian business houses for his favourite projects.

A more ominous trend is the recent appearance of militia-style groups and martial arts societies in several regional centres, one supported by the 1975-era Fretilin central committee member Rogerio Lobato, which put themselves up as unrecognised former resistance members and seek affiliation to East Timor's new defence force.

As president, Mr Gusmao will be commander-in-chief of the two- battalion force trained from the former Falintil armed resistance, and its first chief, General Taur Matan Ruak, is fiercely loyal to him. In addition, Mr Gusmao heads the recognised resistance veterans association, numbering about 11,000 members, and has set up business ventures like a petrol distribution chain and a cement works to give them employment.

The militant groups are a challenge to this aspect of Mr Gusmao's authority. With the UN now cutting back the numbers of affluent international soldiers, police and officials, the thriving service economy of shops and restaurants catering to them will also contract, adding more unemployed to the ranks of potential recruits.

It is easy to see how much could go wrong for East Timor -- then you remind yourself that they do not have to happen and that, so far, things have gone pretty well since the traumatic ending of the Indonesian occupation in 1999.

Leaders of parties that started a civil war in 1975 have been working together for two years in the interim administration, and before that in a national resistance council.

The population understands its rights. The Indonesian military has dropped its campaign to subvert independence, and the 200,000th refugee returned from West Timor this week, leaving only 60,000 there of those driven out by the Indonesians in 1999. Aid donors gather in Dili next week to discuss continued economic support.

In winning its independence, East Timor has been the little country that could. Tomorrow's election will effectively set its political balance for its first five years running itself -- with prospects of the region's first case of European-style "cohabitation". The question is whether the tension will be destructive or creative.

Probe names suspect in reporter's death in East Timor

Christian Science Monitor - April 12, 2002

Dan Murphy, Jakarta -- An investigator has uncovered new evidence in the murder of a Dutch journalist in East Timor in 1999 that bolsters the case against an Indonesian Army unit accused of murdering 12 people as it pulled out of the former Indonesian territory.

A report by Dutch government investigator Gerardus Thiry, obtained by the Monitor, says that 2nd Lt. Camillo dos Santos of the Indonesian Army's Battalion 745 was the killer of former Monitor contributor Sander Thoenes.

Indonesian prosecutors are skeptical of the report. Dos Santos, who is currently serving with Indonesian Army Battalion 743 in West Timor, told The Associated Press last week: "I don't know anything about the Thoenes killing."

Mr. Thiry's report says a witness to the killing, Domingus Amarillo, identified Dos Santos from photographs.

The findings could turn up the heat on Indonesia, which is currently holding ad hoc human rights trials of militiamen and officers accused of being responsible for the rampage in East Timor after the territory's UN-sponsored independence referendum in 1999.

Roughly 1,000 people were killed and 200,000 displaced as Indonesian soldiers and their militia proxies fled the territory ahead of the arrival of a UN peacekeeping force.

Thiry's report links individual violent acts in the withdrawal from East Timor with a pattern of military behavior. He concluded that "systematically and with a plan ... part of Indonesian Military Battalion 745 murdered defenseless civilians without guns, exterminated livestock and burnt houses to the ground."

Mr. Amarillo told investigators that at about 5p.m. on September 21 he was on a road in the Becora neighborhood of East Timor's capital, Dili. Hearing automatic rifle fire, he hid behind a tree. After a short time, he saw four or five soldiers carrying Thoenes. They laid the man down on his left side and one of the soldiers shot him in the back, Amarillo said.

The European Union and the United States have been pressing Indonesia to bring members of the battalion to trial for more than two years. Indonesian prosecutors have a copy of Thiry's report, and recently went to East Timor at the Dutch government's expense to interview the same witnesses. Indonesian prosecutors, however, have drawn different conclusions.

A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office says Indonesia has not found strong evidence pointing to Battalion 745, which has now disbanded. Prosecutors not only doubt Amarillo's credibility, but also an Australian coroner's finding that Thoenes was killed by a gunshot wound to the back. The spokesman cites a conflicting Indonesian military doctor's report that says Thoenes died from a knife wound.

European Union officials are increasingly concerned that Indonesia will close the investigation without a trial. Under Indonesian law, an investigation, once closed, is almost impossible to reopen.

A key deadline for prosecution -- March 15 -- has already passed. It had been set as the final day for investigation. The Attorney General's Office says it has asked the Indonesian tribunal for an extension, but that it has not been granted yet. That leaves the Thoenes case in a legal limbo.

"Legally it is still possible," says a diplomat who is following the case. "If the political will is there, an extension will be given."

Military has not learnt lessons of East Timor

The Straits Times - April 13, 2002

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- Tomorrow, East Timor votes for its first president, taking its final steps towards independence.

It is a process that many in the Indonesian elite would probably rather forget but, of course, cannot.

Two years after an overwhelming majority voted for independence, many Indonesians maintain the fiction that a majority opposed it. This is part of a cynical attempt by the military to free itself of blame for human rights violations. The performance is primarily for domestic consumption.

Beyond this, the military and much of the political elite have not admitted how and why East Timor chose to be independent of Indonesia.

Although the military has blamed then-President B.J. Habibie for allowing a referendum, in fact, the only Cabinet member opposed to it in early 1999 was former foreign minister Ali Alatas.

Recent evidence shows the military was confident it could easily "persuade" the Timorese not to vote for autonomy. According to Australian intelligence, when Indonesian military leader Zacky Anwar Makarim was told that almost 80 per cent of Timorese had voted for independence, he was incredulous.

However, two years on, the Indonesian military has learnt little from the Timor experience, say analysts. In Aceh, it still believes military operations will ensure that the troubled province remains part of Indonesia. As in Timor, it has failed to see a link between the failure of the military to punish those guilty of abuses, and support for independence or autonomy.

There are progressive military figures, like the army deputy chief of staff, General Kiki Syanakri, who admits wiping out the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) is impossible. He understands the importance of political negotiations. But there are also signs that the military still believes its own propaganda. And while there have been moves to introduce concepts of human rights into military and police training, observers say little has changed on the ground.

Perhaps the biggest lesson learnt from Timor was that Jakarta should never underestimate the dissatisfaction of Indonesia's outer regions. Now, there is no way Jakarta will allow Aceh or West Papua to hold referenda. But the vote in Timor and the reaction of the people in Aceh and West Papua have made Jakarta realise it has to offer more than just rhetoric.

The Timor experience added urgency to implementing autonomy for both Aceh and West Papua. West Papua's autonomy law is reasonably far-reaching. It is less so in Aceh. The Acehnese will be unable to elect politicians directly for five years.

And the government's introduction of syariah law in Aceh, an acknowledgement of the province's character, is being met with suspicion and confusion. Few Acehnese know how the law will be implemented. Even fewer have been consulted about it.

West Papua has a far more generous autonomy law, which involves traditional leaders in some government decision-making processes. But winning over Papuans, nearly all of whom support independence and who are ethnically, culturally and religiously different, could be harder.

Even if Jakarta understands the need to give Papuans control over their regional administration, is the chaotic and inefficient central government capable of delivering on its promises?

I'm running to protect democracy: Amaral

Newsweek - April 8, 2002

Why is Francisco Xavier do Amaral running for president of East Timor when he knows he has no chance of winning? Amaral's sole opponent, independence hero Xanana Gusmao, is the most popular man in the former Portuguese colony, which will finally achieve independence on May 20.

Gusmao, 55, spent more than a decade commanding East Timor's guerrilla resistance to Indonesia's 24-year military occupation before being captured and spending nine years in prison for treason. Lauded by world leaders and revered back home with a cult-like status, he is widely expected to win first-ever presidential poll on April 14 in a landslide. But Amaral is no slouch either. The 66-year-old was also an independence leader and spent 22 years in Indonesian custody. He was even president of East Timor's self-proclaimed government when Portugal withdrew from the territory back in 1975. That tenure lasted a mere nine days, ending with the invasion of Indonesian military forces in December of that year.

Like Gusmao, Amaral supports the nation-building mission of the United Nations-which now administers East Timor-as well as democracy and free market capitalism. While he lacks Gusmao's charisma, Amaral makes up for it by presenting himself as a man of principle: he is running on a losing ticket, he says, to ensure that East Timor's voters have a choice. The campaign has not been easy. Amaral is in poor health, and had to suspend campaigning temporarily because of a recent bout with the 'flu. He spoke with Newsweek's Joe Cochrane by telephone last week.

Newsweek: Why are you running when Gusmao is widely expected to win?

Francisco Xavier do Amaral: I'm running for president to protect democracy. Two months ago they were talking about the presidential election, but it was funny-there was only one candidate. How can we talk about an election with only one candidate? The Timorese are not highly educated, but they are not stupid. We have to have more than one candidate so people can choose.

Do you have any realistic chance of beating Gusmao?

I am not fighting to win or lose. I'm fighting to defend principle, to show the world that we, the first nation of the 21st century, must defend all the rules of world democracy. If he's the winner, I will welcome him as long as we can work together for the people of this country. They have suffered for a long time. If Xanana loses, I will still welcome him.

This campaign is taking place after decades of turmoil in East Timor. International peacekeepers had to intervene to restore order in 1999, after Indonesian-backed militias went on the rampage to protest a referendum vote to end Indonesia's military occupation. What's your assessment of the campaign so far?

So far, so good. We have never had a presidential election before. Now, with the help of the UN, we are. We have to obey all the rules of the election.

Gusmao is revered for being a war hero and political prisoner, but you also were in jail. Why hasn't that helped you attract voters?

I am not a war hero. I have been unfortunate. But I didn't die. I am alive, so I will continue to fight.

Chronology: East Timor's long road to freedom

Deutsche Presse-Agentur - April 9, 2002

1512 - Portuguese explorers reach Timor, an island already known to Chinese as a source of sandalwood

1556 - Dominican friary opens at Lifau, in the Oecussi-Ambeno enclave

1642 - Portuguese soldiers arrive from nearby Solor island

1653 - Dutch build fort in the west of the island at Kupang, now the capital of the Indonesian province containing West Timor

1769 - Portuguese set up seat of government in Dili, in the east of the island

1859 - Portuguese and Dutch ratify separation of the island into east and west with the Oecussi-Ambeno enclave going to the Portuguese

1942 - Australian troops land in Dili, drawing in Japanese forces in a military engagement

1945 - Indonesia declares its independence, Portuguese resume control in East Timor

April 25, 1974 - Lisbon regime overthrown by Armed Forces Movement and East Timor abandoned along with Goa and other Portuguese colonies

August 11, 1975 - Pro-Jakarta UDT Party seizes power in Dili to check growing support for independence-minded Fretilin

October 16, 1975 - 3,200 Indonesian troops cross border. Five Australian journalists killed at Balibo

December 7, 1975 - Jakarta launches full-scale invasion of East Timor. Fretilin fighters driven to the hills province

1978 - Australia grants de jure recognition of Indonesia's annexation of East Timor

Nov 12, 1991 - Massacre in Dili's Santa Cruz cemetery re-ignites push for independence

November 1992 - Guerilla leader Xanana Gusmao captured by Indonesian troops, taken to Jakarta and sentenced to life imprisonment

July 1997 - South African President Nelson Mandela insists on meeting Gusmao in Jakarta

May 1998 - Suharto falls after 32 years in power

January 1999 - Habibie promises East Timorese a vote for either autonomy or independence

August 30 - UN-supervised referendum delivers 78.5 per cent vote for independence. Pro-Jakarta militias go on rampage

September 7 - Gusmao released into British custody in Jakarta. Looting, death and destruction in East Timor

September 12 - President Habibie invites UN peacekeeping force to East Timor after US President Bill Clinton says he "must" do so

September 20 - Australian-led international force arrives in Dili under UN auspices

October 18 - Indonesian parliament declares void Indonesia's 1976 annexation of East Timor

October 25 - UN sets up interim administration in East Timor to guide the country to independence

Nov 1 - Last Indonesian troops leave, efforts begin to repatriate 200,000 East Timorese the militias herded over the border into West Timor

August 12, 2001 - Parliamentary elections give 57.3 per cent of the vote to Fretilin

April 14, 2002 - Presidential poll

May 20 - Independence Day presided over by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan

Former guerilla leader slated to become East Timor president

Deutsche Presse Agentur - April 9, 2002

Sydney -- East Timorese voters go to the polls next week to pick the person who will declare their country independent next month.

The winner of the April 14 presidential poll will take over the running of the half-island state from an interim United Nations administration May 20. The UN team was slotted in after Indonesia gave up the territory in 1999.

The victor is expected to be Xanana Gusmao, the handsome, charismatic former guerilla leader who served as an inspiration throughout the 24-year occupation.

Gusmao, 54, was the beacon of the independence movement even during his seven-year stint in a Jakarta jail. He has widespread support among the 800,000 people of a staunchly Roman Catholic country at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago.

Gusmao has the endorsement of Bishop Carlos Belo, a Nobel laureate and the spiritual leader of his people. "Xanana is a great revolutionary fighter," Belo has said. "For the international community, he is the only one with the reputation. They know his work with refugees and in restoring our relations with Indonesia."

Gusmao is just about everybody's hero, a figure who commands the sort of respect and reverence accorded to South Africa's Nelson Mandela and other resistance leaders who have been jailed for their beliefs.

Perhaps it is because he casts such a huge shadow that Fretilin, the party that garnered 57 per cent of the vote at last August's parliamentary elections, is not backing his run for the presidency. Fretilin is not officially supporting any candidate, but would probably like to see Gusmao's only challenger get a respectable slice of the vote.

Gusmao's rival is Francisco Xavier do Amaral, who leads the Timorese Social Democrat Association. A heart ailment has prevented Amaral from spending much time campaign outside Dili, the capital.

Gusmao has been at pains to assure Fretilin, a grouping of independence fighters he once led, that he is prepared to share power. The system of governance the East Timorese have chosen gives the president the power to disolve parliament and call fresh elections.

But the actual running of the country should be in the hands of the Fretilin government once independence is declared. "I am not trying to usurp power," Gusmao told an adoring crowd at a campaign rally earlier this month. "The constitution will be my bible. I will be watching every move and veto legislation if it curbs liberties, but that's all."

Gusmao has presented himself to voters as a very reluctant head of state. He only put up his hand for the job at the very last moment and frequently tells his followers how little he covets power. But he is well aware of his responsibilities. After leading a nation to freedom, there's an obvious obligation to see the job through.

East Timor is beset by mammoth problems, not least forging a workable relationship with Indonesia, the giant power next door that presided over the deaths of 200,000 people during its often-bloody occupation. It shares a border with West Timor, an Indonesian province more than double its size. And it is dirt poor.

East Timor's only serious export is coffee, its economy dependent on hand-outs from foreign donors and its borders still policed by the UN-mandated peacekeeping force that went in to quell violence after the overwhelming vote for independence in the 1999 referendum.

Candidates urge heavy turnout, Alkatiri to vote blank

Lusa - April 11, 2002

East Timor's two presidential candidates publicly embraced each other Thursday in Dili, appealing to voters to cast ballots in Sunday's election, the last political milestone before the territory gains independence on May 20.

In calling for a heavy turnout, both Xanana Gusmao, the wide favorite, and rival Xavier do Amaral said more united than divided them.

They dismissed as a "free" choice the announcement hours earlier by Chief Minister Mari Alkatiri that he would cast a blank ballot.

Separately, the head of the European Union's election observer team, Briton John Bowis, said he was receiving worrying reports that unnamed activists were encouraging people to vote for both candidates, thus voiding ballots.

He described the reported campaign as "unacceptable intimidation and pressure" on the territory's inexperienced and largely illiterate voters.

Gusmao organizers have charged the ruling Fretilin party was discreetly urging the electorate to boycott his campaign, allegations strongly denied by the party Gusmao once led.

In his announcement, Alkatiri said his no-choice stance was one of "equidistance" because his preference would be "to vote for both" candidates, both historical figures in East Timor's struggle for independence from Indonesian occupation.

He said he would go to the polls but would cast a blank ballot, rather than abstaining as erroneously reported earlier by Lusa. Alkatiri also threatened "to sue" any institution, including the European Union, who charged Fretilin of leading voters to void their ballots.

A reluctant candidate, Gusmao opted to run with the backing of nine small parties, rejecting dominant Fretilin's offer of support and its demand he run as an independent.

Fretilin, which holds 55 of Dili's 88 Constituent Assembly seats, fielded no candidate of its own, giving its supporters freedom of choice in the election.

Often-tense relations between Gusmao and Fretilin's current leadership worsened after the party won last August's constituent assembly elections by a landslide and ignored his calls for formation of a broad cabinet of national unity.

Wiranto 'reveals the truth' behind Timor's breakaway

Agence France Presse - April 11, 2002

Indonesia's powerful former military chief, General Wiranto, has published a book giving his version of East Timor's bloody 1999 breakaway, as he campaigns to clear himself of responsibility for the orgy of killing and destruction.

The launch, at a luxury hotel on Wednesday night, was attended by a parade of generals, including two facing trial in a new human rights court over the violence, plus serving and former ministers.

A total of 18 military, police, militia and civilian officials -- but not Wiranto himself -- will eventually face trial for gross human rights violations.

Wiranto, testifying as a witness in one trial last week, said he was proud of his men's efforts to provide security for the United Nations-sponsored independence ballot, in what he dubbed a "Mission Impossible". Wiranto spoke of the difficulty of keeping the peace between supporters and opponents of independence.

But he was not asked about widespread international accusations that the Indonesian military and senior Jakarta officials actually organised and directed the violence by pro-Jakarta militias against independence supporters.

The militiamen waged a campaign of intimidation before the August 1999 vote and a "scorched earth" campaign of revenge afterwards. Between 600 and 2,000 people were killed and 80 percent of the territory's infrastructure was destroyed.

Wiranto, 55, was accused by two separate inquiries in early 2000 of responsibility for the violence because he failed, as then- armed forces commander, to prevent it. State prosecutors declined to charge him but he was sacked fom his post as top security minister.

The 350-page book is entitled: "Farewell to East Timor: The Struggle to Uncover the Truth - The Way it Was, According To a Man Named Wiranto".It purports to reveal the untold story about East Timor, through Wiranto's experiences during his military service in the territory.

An unsigned foreword states: "Hopefully, by revealing the truth through this book, the human rights trial currently under way will not be a continuation of the hate and revenge which has raged in East Timor. Instead, it will be a corridor for the achievement of justice, harmony and genuine peace."

Wiranto writes that the book is his answer to accusations against him and his military colleagues. "There are many rumours about the image of our security forces already far from the truth, and there are strong indications that [our image] was manipulated for political commodity or for other targets for the interests of certain parties," he says in the prologue.

Wiranto writes that "hopefully through this book, all misunderstandings and opinions concerning the negative image of our security forces in delivering the ballot in East Timor can be clarified". The general says it had long been his goal during his military career to "stop the enmity and hostilities in East Timor".

At the launch were Major General Adam Dimiri and Brigadier General Tono Suratman, the two top military commanders in East Timor at the time and the most senior officers to be charged over the violence, and the then-military intelligence chief, Major General Zacky Anwar Makarim.

Last month the Sydney Morning Herald published intercepts of secret communications between Indonesian officers involved in what it called a shadowy campaign to thwart independence.

It said these appear to show that Wiranto was "a fall guy, in terms of political, if not legal, responsibility". The paper said Feisal Tanjung, then then-top security minister, played a "pivotal role" in the militia campaign against independence supporters.

Jakarta general says Timor suspect saved thousands

Reuters - April 11, 2002 (abridged)

Jakarta -- The highest-ranking Indonesian officer implicated in a wave of violence that swept East Timor in 1999 defended its former police chief on Thursday, telling a court he had saved the lives of thousands of UN personnel.

The high-profile trial is widely seen by the international community as a test of whether Jakarta is serious in bringing to book those responsible for the carnage that erupted when the tiny territory voted to split from Indonesia.

Army Major-General Adam Damiri also told the judges that East Timor's Nobel laureate Bishop Carlos Belo owed his life to the head of the police after groups of machete-wielding militia attacked his home.

"I did not see nor hear that [Timor police chief] Timbul Silaen let it happen. If there is such indication, I think 4,000 UNAMET members would have never gone home," Damiri said, referring to the UN mission that administered the August 30, 1999, vote.

"I received reports that Bishop Belo and the refugees were saved ... if the military and police did not act probably the bishop would be dead right now," the officer said.

Silaen is charged with crimes against humanity for allowing the gangs, many supported by Indonesia's military, to kill pro- independence East Timorese on four separate occasions.

The United Nations estimates 1,000 people were killed by pro- Jakarta militias before and after the independence vote that ended 24 years of often brutal Indonesian rule.

Former East Timor governor Abilio Soares is also charged with crimes against humanity but his case was not heard on Thursday as an expected witness did not turn up. The trial of both men was adjourned until April 18.

Military attempts to shift East Timor blame onto UN

Jakarta Post - April 12, 2002

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- The Indonesian Military (TNI) seems to be trying to use the on-going ad hoc human rights trial to wash its hands of gross human rights violations in East Timor, blaming the United Nations and civilian authorities for the bloody terror campaign in the territory in 1999.

Taking the witness seat on Thursday, former Udayana military commander Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri and former Wiradharma military sub-district commander Brig. M. Noer Muis accused the United Nations Mission in East Timor (Unamet) of provoking a massive rampage in the former Indonesian province following the 1999 ballot.

Former TNI chief Gen. (retired) Wiranto, who testified before the same court last week, also blamed the UN for killings. Wiranto repeated his allegations during the launching of his book, "Goodbye East Timor, An Effort to Tell the Truth, Wiranto's Testament", (Selamat Jalan Timor Timur, Pergulatan Menguak Kebenaran, Penuturan Apa Adanya Seorang Wiranto), saying that "there are a few people who are proud to see Indonesia as the second country in the world, after Yugoslavia, where a rights' tribunal is being held to try military and police personnel, ignoring their dedication to their country."

Meanwhile, Adam Damiri and Noer Muis said that Unamet's decision to speed up the announcement of the vote result from September 7 to September 4 sparked anger among pro-integration East Timorese, who felt they were cheated.

The Unamet-declared victory for the pro-independence group on September 4, 1999, came after some 344,508 of the 438,890 East Timorese elected for independence. At the time, the total East Timorese population was about 441,227 people.

Both Adam and Muis testified as witnesses during a six-hour cross-examination in the court, where Brig. Gen. Timbul Silaen, former East Timor police chief, is on trial on charges of committing gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999.

Silaen has been charged under Article 9 of Law No. 26/2000 on Rights Tribunals with the killing of civilians in separate locations in East Timor, including the Liquisa incident on April 6, 1999, and attacks by pro-Jakarta militias on the residences of pro-independence leaders, Manuel Viegas Carrascalao and Leandro Isaac, on April 17, 1999.

Silaen is also charged with being responsible for gross human rights violations perpetrated during separate attacks on September 6 by militias, along with military and police personnel. The attacks were on the St. Ave Maria Church in Suai, where at least 27 people died, and on the residence of Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo in Dili.

"Rather than giving a positive response to the report by the pro-Jakarta group over the cheating by Unamet, they (Unamet) decided to move forward the announcement of the results from September 7 to September 4.

"Unamet treated the pro-Jakarta East Timorese unfairly by recruiting only pro-independence people as its local staffers. This, of course, affected the ballot process," Adam, the incumbent operational assistant to the Indonesian Military's (TNI) chief of general affairs, told the court.

When Presiding Judge Andi Samsan Nganro asked Adam who was the Unamet official that decided to speed up the announcement of the ballot results, Adam said: "Ian Martin ... he was the Unamet chairman."

Meanwhile, Muis defended Silaen, saying that the defendant "had done everything he could to stop the violence, including saving Belo's life during the September 6 attack on his residence by flying him in a police helicopter to Bacau from Dili, prior to his evacuation to Darwin, Australia, the next day."

Muis was officially assigned as the commander of the now defunct Wiradharma military subdistrict from Aug. 13, 1999 to March, 30, 1999 when TNI Headquarters decided to dissolve it.

According to Muis, the pro-Jakarta group launched an attack to Belo's residence as the result of information they had received that several ballot boxes were being stored in his house. This, of course, was against the rules, Muis told the court.

Responding to Judge Andi's demand for supporting documents to prove Unamet's cheating, Muis said that the votes of at least 142,578 East Timorese were not counted due to the loss of about 89 ballot boxes. Unamet staffers had also intimidated East Timorese people deemed to be pro-Jakarta. "Maybe that number was not enough to influence the result ... but still, Unamet ignored the pro-Jakarta group," Muis said.

The trial adjourned until April 18 to hear other witnesses. Earlier in the day, the same court hearing the case against former East Timor governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares decided to adjourn the trial until April 17 and April 18 as the witnesses had failed to appear before the court.

UN administrator welcomes refugee number 200,000, urges vote

Lisa - April 10, 2002

UN transition administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello went to East Timor's border with Indonesia Wednesday to welcome a group of returning refugees, marking the repatriation of 200,000 people.

"The country lives in an atmosphere of stability and peace", Vieira de Mello told a group of about 100 returning through the border post of Motaain, urging them to vote in Sunday4s presidential election.

"You are welcome, not only because you return, but because you return at a very opportune moment", he told them, adding that after Sunday's vote "only one stage will remain -- May 20, the country's independence".

The Brazilian diplomat, who has overseen East Timor's transition to independence since the 1999 plebiscite, encouraged the group, mostly women and children, to return to their villages and towns and send word back to relatives and friends in Indonesia that life was peaceful.

He said he hoped most of the estimated 50,000 refugees remaining in Indonesian West Timor would return before independence.

While Vieira de Mello4s visit to Motaain was billed as welcoming home refugee No. 200,000, officials said that total was actually reached two days ago.

The refugees, roughly one-third of East Timor's population, either fled or were forced into exile by anti-independence violence unleashed by Indonesian security forces and militias before and after the Aug. 30, 1999, plebiscite.

Wiranto launches book on East Timor

Jakarta Post - April 11, 2002

Jakarta -- Former Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. (ret) Wiranto on Wednesday evening launched a book on East Timor, titled Selamat Jalan Timtim, Pergulatan Menguak Kebenaran, Penuturan Apa Adanya Seorang Wiranto (Good Bye East Timor, Struggle to Uncover the Truth, the Revelation of Wiranto).

The 350-page book was published by IDe Indonesia (Institut for Democracy of Indonesia). Aidul Fitriciada Azhari and Idi Subandi Ibrahim are respectively the writer and editor of the book, which purports to tell the facts, figures and the untold story about East Timor, as well as Wiranto's personal account and experiences during his military service in the territory.

"This book is not about defending myself, but more at the level of revealing the truth about what really happened in East Timor. The truth which so far has been covered up by the opinions thrown into the public," Wiranto said as quoted by ElShinta radio.

Also attending the book launching were Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, legal expert Hamid Awaluddin, noted human rights pioneer and former military defense lawyer in the East Timor case Adnan Buyung Nasution and former finance minister Fuad Bawazier.

Timor's first president making comeback bid

Agence France Presse - April 9, 2002

Dili -- Francisco Xavier do Amaral, 66, only had nine days as East Timor's first president in 1975. More than a quarter of a century later, he is bidding for his old position -- the only rival to reluctant but formidable presidential candidate, independence hero Xanana Gusmao.

East Timorese voters will on April 14 choose one of the two to lead the tiny half-island as it graduates to full independence on May 20.

Amaral began secretly campaigning for East Timor's independence in the 1960s when it was a neglected but harshly-ruled Portuguese colony. In May 1974, a month after a revolution at home in Portugal presaged an end to its 400-year rule over East Timor, Amaral founded the pro-independence Timorese Social Democratic Party (ASDT) and took up its presidency. In September of that year the ASDT was transformed into Fretilin, with Amaral still at the helm.

On November 28, 1975, following a brief civil war, Amaral declared East Timor's independence and was appointed president. Nine days later East Timor's first head of state fled into the jungles as neighbouring Indonesia invaded the territory -- the beginning of its often brutal 24-year occupation.

Amaral fought with the Falantil guerrillas, the military wing of Fretilin, until he was captured by Indonesian troops in 1979 and brought to Bali island. There he was kept under loose house arrest until 1984 when he was transferred to Jakarta -- officially still under house arrest, but able to move around freely.

East Timorese finally got their own say and voted to split from Indonesia in a United Nations-supervised ballot on August 30, 1999, triggering an orgy of killing and destruction by Indonesian soldiers and their proxy militias.

Fear gripped East Timorese living in Jakarta, including Amaral, as rumours swirled of intelligence agents hunting down independence supporters. Amaral fled again, this time to the Indonesian island of Batam where a businessman friend took him into hiding. After three weeks he was secretly flown out of Indonesia to Portugal, where he stayed until the following January.

He returned to his devastated homeland on February 4, 2000, finding 80 percent of its infrastructure destroyed by Indonesian soldiers and militias, and his compatriots grieving for hundreds of slaughtered relatives.

In May 2001, as East Timor prepared for its first ever democratic elections, Amaral revived the ASDT. It won six of 88 seats in the August 30 polls for a Constituent Assembly, which will become the parliament after independence.

Gusmao faces tough ride after predicted election victory

Agence France Presse - April 10, 2002

Dili -- East Timor independence hero Xanana Gusmao rode on horseback through streets lined with adoring supporters here Monday as the campaign for the presidency of the world's newest nation entered its final week.

The charismatic former guerrilla commander, 56, seems certain to sweep to victory in the April 14 poll against his sole challenger Francisco Xavier do Amaral.

But analysts say Gusmao may face a rougher ride as the largely ceremonial head of state due to tensions with the territory's biggest party Fretilin. The veteran pro-independence party will dominate the future parliament and government.

Amaral, 66, was president for nine days in 1975 between East Timor's first independence declaration and Indonesia's invasion. Last month he made a key concession allowing the removal of party logos from ballot papers, averting a threat by Gusmao to boycott the poll over an issue which he said compromised his independence.

Amaral on Monday expressed annoyance at having his prospects written off in advance. But he told AFP he is "not fighting to win or lose" but for principles like peace and human rights.

Gusmao's campaign manager Milena Peres last week paid tribute to Amaral's integrity. But she said some members of Fretilin -- which is not backing either man -- were using dirty tricks to try to reduce Gusmao's vote. Pires said the members -- not necessarily on orders from the party leadership -- had been instructing Gusmao's supporters either to vote for Amaral or to spoil their ballots. Many supporters have alleged intimidation attempts.

The allegations of dirty tricks underscore the simmering tensions between the former jungle warrior and Fretilin. Gusmao led Fretilin's military wing in the 24-year independence battle but has since distanced himself from the party. "People in Fretilin see Xanana as a rival to power," said Indonesian lawyer Johnson Panjaitan, who represented Gusmao while he was in jail in Jakarta after being captured in 1992. "There are people within Fretilin who want to become president themselves."

Panjaitan predicted prolonged conflict with Fretilin, which won 57 percent of the vote in last August's elections for a constituent assembly. The assembly will become the parliament after independence on May 20. "Fretilin, I think, will remain intensely critical of Xanana. They will be unrelenting in putting him under pressure," Panjaitan, a regular visitor to East Timor, told AFP. "Definitely there is going to be continued political conflict."

A key source of tensions is Gusmao's policy of granting amnesties to East Timorese involved in the orgy of violence, destruction and forced deportations in the months surrounding the 1999 UN-run ballot on independence.

"Xanana's policy to offer amnesties is intensely criticised by Fretilin. They do not accept his approach and Xanana feels they are arrogant for rejecting it," Panjaitan said. "Xanana says Fretilin must understand that his approach is necessary to maintain the unity of East Timor. He is trying to make East Timor a home for all East Timorese."

Fretilin's deputy leader Mari Alkatiri, the current chief minister who will become prime minister, indicated there were frictions with Gusmao in an interview with Portugal's O Publico newspaper last September.

Alkatiri, who lived in exile in Mozambique during most of the Indonesian occupation, made clear who he felt would be in charge of independent East Timor. "It's the government's job to run the government and the country and the president shouldn't interfere," he said.

UN presence in East Timor to last longer than expected

Jakarta Post - April 10, 2002

Claire Harvey and A'an Suryana, Jakarta -- The United Nations' reconstruction effort in East Timor will continue for at least the next decade, a military expert said on Monday.

Canadian Colonel (ret) Peter Leentjes, the former training chief of the UN's global Department of Peacekeeping Operations, said the magnitude of the task in East Timor was often underestimated.

"Creating a secure environment was easy but the political aspects and the longer term development of the state and its infrastructure are going to take years, and people don't realize that," he said. "It's going to take 10 years minimum."

"[The operation in] Timor has been reasonably successful in terms of actually conducting it, but it suffers from the typical problem of these operations: not having enough resources to do the other parts."

Colonel Leentjes, who was chief of staff operations for the UN's Bosnia-Herzegovina peacekeeping operation in the early 1990s, was speaking at a peace operations seminar in Jakarta.

The five-day seminar, jointly sponsored by the Indonesian government, the UN and the United States military, is coordinated by the Hawaii-based Center of Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, which employs Colonel Leentjes.

The seminar is being attended by senior military officers, diplomats, Red Cross activists and government officials from 17 Asia Pacific countries, including Indonesia, Australia, the Philippines, the United States, Bangladesh, Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand.

The purpose of the seminar is to increase the ability of participating countries to deal with the modern and complex problems of peacekeeping missions.

"The key thing in East Timor is getting a government. There are so many things you can't do without a government -- health, construction, reconstruction," Colonel Leentjes said. "There will be people working there for at least the next 10 years."

The UN Security Council sent peacekeepers into East Timor in September 1999 to quell a wave of violence sparked by the UN- sponsored independence referendum the previous month.

Pro-Indonesia militias, allegedly backed by the Indonesian Military, went on a rampage across the territory after the vote. Four Indonesian Army officers and a district police commander are currently on trial in Jakarta, accused of failing to prevent the massacre of civilians in a Covalima church in September 1999.

The UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), created in 1999, is responsible for administering the territory and creating legislative, executive, judicial and humanitarian frameworks.

East Timor's first presidential election is scheduled for April 14, when former guerrilla leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao is widely expected to defeat the only other candidate, Fransisco Xavier do Amaral.

Colonel Leentjes told the seminar better planning and preparation were needed for future UN operations, which were likely to be more than simply "keeping the peace". "The majority of peacekeeping operations today are going to be given some authority to use force to ensure you can achieve your mission," he said.

Many previous UN peacekeeping operations were "disasters" because forces were ill-prepared and given insufficient mandates to deal with warring parties, Colonel Leentjes said.

The peacekeepers sent to Somalia and Bosnia were unable to cope with the civil conflicts still raging when they arrived, he said. "[The UN operation in] Somalia was a disaster, a guaranteed failure because they weren't prepared," he said. "The operation was a tremendous success in terms of stopping the famine, but they [peacekeepers] were never mandated to deal with the political or military situation."

Indonesia's dilemma over East Timor

Melbourne Age - April 10, 2002

Tony Parkinson -- Former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid is planning to attend East Timor's independence celebrations next month, amid increasing doubts that his successor, Megawati Sukarnoputri, will accept her invitation to witness the emergence of the world's newest state.

Close friends of Mr Wahid say the logistics of his attendance at the ceremonies in Dili have still to be worked through, but they believe his presence could be an important symbolic gesture. The leaders of 25 nations are scheduled to fly into East Timor for the festivities on May 20.

In Indonesia, there is political controversy over whether Mrs Megawati, as head of state, should take up her invitation. Despite overtures from the new East Timor administration to bury old animosities, there is lingering resentment among hardliners in Jakarta over the loss of what Indonesia once called its 27th province. Is is expected Mrs Megawati may send one of her cabinet ministers.

But it is understood Mr Wahid, a respected figure in East Timor, is interested in taking part. Known popularly as Gus Dur, he made an historic visit to Dili in March, 2000, where, as president, he apologised for Indonesia's conduct during its 24-year occupation of the territory.

He has travelled extensively since being deposed as president in July last year. Although frail and blind, he has just completed a tour of Japan, and is due to arrive in Australia tomorrow, his first trip here since his successful visit as president a year ago.

He will spend Thursday in Melbourne, where he is to launch two books, one studying his career as Indonesia's leading Islamic scholar and democratic reformer, and the other examining his turbulent days in power.

At Melbourne University's Asia Centre, he will take part in a panel session with his former chief spokesman, Wimar Witoelar, and official biographer, Deakin University's Greg Barton. He will then fly to Sydney on Friday to speak at the Foreign Correspondents Club.

An Indonesian court decided yesterday to proceed with a landmark trial into the orgy of violence surrounding East Timor's independence ballot in 1999, dismissing appeals from four defendants to drop the case.

The trial is widely seen by the international community as a test of whether Jakarta is serious about bringing to book those responsible for the carnage that erupted when the tiny territory voted to split from Indonesia.

Xanana is heavy front-runner in first presidential vote

Associated Press - April 7, 2002

Joanna Jolly, Aileu -- On a soccer field in East Timor's central mountains, thousands came to hear Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao make his campaign pitch.

Soon to become the world's newest country, East Timor is holding its first presidential election April 14, and the former guerrilla leader is the overwhelming favorite.

Gusmao joked with the crowd a bit, then he got down to the business of politics, putting himself up as their watchdog against governmental abuses. "If you vote for me, I promise to carry whatever burden you put on my shoulder," he told the cheering crowd in Aileu, 30 miles south of the capital, Dili.

The charismatic Gusmao is virtually assured victory. The only other candidate, veteran political leader Francisco Xavier do Amaral, has run a low-key campaign and isn't expected to pose much of a challenge.

Gusmao, a key leader in East Timor's long struggle to break away from Indonesia, is seen as a man of the people. "The whole world is impressed by your leadership," said Marcus da Costa, a youth leader in the crowd at Aileu. "We want you to continue."

But da Costa and others voiced their anxieties that the presidency might change Gusmao. "We are afraid that you will surround yourself with security and we won't be able to reach you," da Costa said.

Gusmao tried to reassure the crowd, telling them if he wins he will devote his five-year term to being the people's "eyes, ears and mouth".

As the election campaign winds down, there have been reports of tensions between Gusmao and his former political party, Fretilin, which controls the legislature elected last August.

Gusmao has made veiled attacks on the party, claiming that government officials he didn't identify are leading lavish lifestyles while many East Timorese go without basic health care and education.

Still, most observers believe the two camps will be able to work together. "We are optimistic and fully confident that East Timorese leaders will show the same maturity and confidence as they have done throughout this process," said Colin Stewart, the UN political affairs chief.

Now under UN administration, East Timor is scheduled to become formally independent May 20.

The East Timorese voted overwhelmingly in a UN-organized referendum in August 1999 to end 24 years of Indonesian military occupation following 350 years of Portuguese colonial rule.

The plebiscite was followed by a campaign of killing, burning and pillage by Indonesian troops and their militia supporters, but international peacekeepers intervened a month later to restore order.

The biggest challenge facing the country of 650,000 people is setting up its political and legal infrastructure. Last August, voters elected an 88-member assembly to draft a constitution, which was officially approved last month.

The country also must find a way to build up its struggling economy. Despite receiving millions of dollars in aid, nearly half the territory's people live in poverty.

UN electoral chief sets stage for presidential election

UNTAET Daily Briefing - April 8, 2002

Dili -- The candidates are on the campaign trail, polling staff are ready and the stage is nearly set for East Timor's first presidential election, UNTAET's election chief announced today, nine days before the poll.

Carlos Valenzuela, Chief Electoral Officer of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), told a press conference that election preparations -- including polling staff training, voter education, materials and plans -- are all on schedule for the 14 April polling day.

The presidential election will be the third UN-run ballot in East Timor, and the last before the former colony celebrates its birth as an independent nation on 20 May. Drawing on the past polls, the IEC and the UN Development Programme have just completed a lexicon of election terminology in Tetum, the lingua franca of the territory.

"One of the most important requirements for creating a democratic culture is being able to express the many concepts involved in democracy and elections in a language that the majority of the people understand," Valenzuela said.

Two candidates are on the ballot for president: Francisco Xavier do Amaral, a Deputy President of the Legislative Assembly, and independence leader Xanana Gusmao. Both are busy criss-crossing the territory before the campaign period ends on 12 April.

Election preparations have been at full pace for several months. About 5,280 electoral staff have been trained in the proper procedures for a free-and-fair poll; IEC staff and UN-run television and radio canvassed the territory with voter education materials; and 107 observer groups -- both national and international -- have registered to participate in polling day.

The emphasis on this election has been on the "Timorisation" of the process. Unlike the previous two polls -- the 1999 Popular Consultation on the future of the territory and the 2001 Constituent Assembly election -- East Timorese hold a majority of seats on the IEC Board, control all 13 district electoral offices and will participate in the counting of the ballots.

The IEC has estimated the number of eligible voters at roughly 430,000 people. The number is based on the voter roll for the Constituent Assembly election, plus people who have been added to the national Civil Registry and those who have turned 17 since the Assembly election, minus those who may have died or left East Timor since August 2001.

During the Assembly election, 91 per cent of East Timor's eligible voters cast a ballot.

Labour struggle

Agency set up for migrant workers

Jakarta Post - April 12, 2002

Jakarta -- The government plans to establish an agency to tackle issues concerning the country's migrant workers, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said.

Jacob said the agency would involve nine institutions, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Police, and would be chaired by the President. It would provide one-stop service to migrant workers, from the recruitment process, through training to protect them while they are abroad, right up to the placement process.

"We all know that 80 percent of the problems our migrants workers face arise inside the country ... so we are considering establishing an agency involving nine departments," Jacob said after a Cabinet meeting on Thursday.

The agency was necessary due to the fact that migrant workers were a source of revenue for the country but nevertheless remained vulnerable to abuse while abroad. Indonesia is one of the world's largest labor exporters. The workers contributed US$1.1 million to the state in 2001, a figure that is expected to climb to $5 million by 2004.

Over the past three months, 41 Indonesian migrant workers have died as the result of illness, physical abuse or suicide.

Young doctors cry foul over abuses

Jakarta Post - April 11, 2002

Leo Wahyudi S, Jakarta -- Temporarily employed doctors are winning more support for their plight, with the National Commission on Human Rights charging that the mandatory service required of new medical graduates by the government is a form of rights abuse.

Members of the Commission believe that these physicians are being treated discriminatively and that the terms of their contracts are also unacceptable. The commission called on the Ministry of Health to review the present regulations governing the three-year mandatory service period.

Temporarily employed doctors, grouped in the Indonesian Doctors Forum (FDI), have stepped up their protests in recent weeks, questioning not only the basis of their mandatory employment but also the conditions they are being subjected to.

Fresh medical graduates are usually required to serve a mandatory term of service for the government in some 27,000 community health centers. However the conditions in which the 10,000 doctors work are often a source of concern, particularly in remote areas. Among the many complaints is that their salaries are often paid three to four months late.

Commission members during a meeting with FDI representatives here last week questioned why only medical graduates were forced to provide mandatory service despite Law No. 18/1964, which states that all university graduates must provide mandatory service. The Commission in a letter to the minister of health said the law and the other relevant regulations were discriminatory as they were only applied to doctors.

But during a meeting with the FDI on April 1, Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi said he had no authority to make changes to the law and that the FDI's demands should be directed at the legislature.

But even among senior members of the medical community, there is still debate over the issue. Ali Sulaiman, dean of the University of Indonesia's medical school, insisted that it was a necessary experience that young doctors had to go through to hone their skills and recognize real health problems in society.

"They must not be prima donnas. They are on the front line of the public health service," Ali argued. If the program is terminated, Ali said "who would deal with the public's health needs" as there was a dire need for doctors in a country where it was estimated that there was only one physician for every 4,000 people.

Appointments of 'unskilled teachers' protested

Jakarta Post - April 11, 2002

Padang -- The Padang administration in West Sumatra has been criticized for appointing around 100 allegedly unqualified teachers as civil servants in public schools.

At least 100 temporarily employed teachers demonstrated at the Padang mayor's office on Tuesday to demand that the appointments by the local state employment agency be annulled. The agency was spending more than Rp 180 million to train the new teachers.

The protesters from the Association of Temporarily Employed Indonesian Teachers (IGHI) also rejected the allocation of the state funds for the training. They said the allocation of the funds had offended the around 7,000 temporarily employed teachers because none of them were made civil servants.

"The policy has clearly destroyed the world of education and belittled the profession of temporarily employed teachers who have not been appointed as civil servants despite assignments for many years," Yulfa Heri, leader of the Padang-based IGHI, said during the demonstration.

Students/youth

Elementary school students protest swap

Jakarta Post - April 9, 2002

Medan -- Hundreds of students from six state-owned elementary schools in Medan Maimoon subdistrict held a rally on Monday to protest a land swap involving their school buildings.

Accompanied by their parents, the students went to the prosecutor's office in Medan, the municipality's legislative council and the Medan mayoralty office. They asked the mayoralty to cancel the deal and save their school buildings.

The deputy chairman of the prosecutor's office, Zaidan Asnawi, told the students and parents that his office would resolve the issue.

Pardi, 45, one of the parents, said they were opposed to the Medan mayor's plan to relocate the six schools to Helvetia, Kampung Baru and Gang Merdeka. "They are all flood-prone areas. We don't want our children's schools to always be affected by flooding," Pardi told The Jakarta Post.

According to him, the local administration wanted to replace the school buildings with shop-houses. "A vocational school building that used to be located near one of the elementary school buildings had been turned into shop-houses," he said.

Aceh/West Papua

Government hints at 'security approach in Aceh'

Jakarta Post - April 9, 2002

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta -- The government has hinted at pursuing a security-minded approach, instead of dialog, in dealing with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), despite the increasing death toll from military operations in the troubled province.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said that the government has yet to decide whether or not it would enter into another round of talks with GAM representatives because, so far, the government has said that it has little faith in a negotiated settlement.

"We cannot have the dialog just for the sake of having a dialog ... what would be the point of that?" Hassan asked The Jakarta Post after a cabinet meeting on Monday.

Rumors have swirled that the government and GAM would meet later this month in Geneva, Switzerland with the Center of Humanitarian Dialog, the new name for Henry Dunant Center, as the facilitator.

"We are still exploring the target and agenda ... if we want to have talks, there should be a certain goal that we want to achieve," said the minister, adding that the government needed more time to work out possible objectives.

Hassan said that it would be ineffective to have a dialog with GAM if the rebel movement was not serious with the peace talks and without special goals to achieve.

The government has consistently taken a tougher stance against the GAM since it introduced special autonomy status named Nangroe Aceh Darussalam after the country's westernmost province in January.

In February, the Indonesian Military (TNI) revived the Aceh Military Command just two days after the government and GAM leaders concluded that their two days of peace talks in Geneva, in which both sides agreed to reduce violence in the restive province.

Last week, the TNI sent over 2,000 troops to the province as the death toll of fighting between security forces and GAM members has continued to rise. According to human rights groups, more than 400 people, including military and police personnel, have died in 2002 alone. Some 1,700 people were killed in all of 2001.

Minister Hassan also said on Monday that the government wanted to see security conditions in the restive province improving firsthand, before it could hold new peace talks with GAM leaders. "We will need to see whether or not we pursue peace talks with GAM members," he said.

Meanwhile, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saleh Saaf flatly denied on Monday that there was an outbreak of violence between the Army's Special Force (Kopassus) and Brimob officers in Lhoksukon, around 30 kilometers east of Lhokseumawe.

The media has reported that the incident resulted in the death of one police officer, a member of Army's Special Force (Kopassus), along with a civilian, on Saturday.

According to Saleh, the three were killed in a running gun battle between GAM members and security personnel. "The shooting went on for 30 minutes ... a Kopassus sergeant major was shooting at GAM members," Saleh said. "This officer was then helped by Brimob officers during the shootout.

"Both the Kopassus and a Brimob officer were shot dead by unidentified GAM members," he added. "Had the officer died from fighting Kopassus officers, the National Police would neither have had his body flown to his hometown, nor made arrangements for his burial -- with full honors," Saleh told the Post on Monday night

Laskar Jihad members start to upset Papuans: Thaha

Jakarta Post - April 12, 2002

R.K. Nugroho and Sri Wahyuni, Jayapura/Yogyakarta -- Separatist leaders have rejected the presence of the Java-based Laskar Jihad militant group in the troubled province of Papua, which they said had sparked disquiet among local people.

At least 200 members of Laskar Jihad arrived in Jayapura six months ago from Jakarta and have since then been conducting religious activities in at least three regencies, Sorong, Fak Fak and Manokwari, areas which play host to Muslim migrants from other provinces.

Ayip Syafruddin, spokesman for the militant group, said on Thursday that the arrival of its members was so as to expand "the organization's wings" in Papua.

"They have set up six regency branches there including ones in Sorong, Jayapura and Manokwari," he told The Jakarta Post in Yogyakarta.

He said they were also engaged in propagating Islam and educational activities, and were publishing bulletins and a tabloid news sheet for Muslims in the province.

But Muhammad Thaha Al Hamid, secretary general of the pro- independence Papua Presidium Council (PDP), told the Post that Laskar Jihad had started to upset Papuans, mostly Christians, as they were distributing VCD cassettes depicting sectarian fighting in the Maluku islands.

Laskar Jihad has been blamed for further worsening the sectarian conflicts in Maluku and Poso regency in Central Sulawesi, conflicts which killed thousands of people and forced thousands of others to flee.

Thaha warned that the presence of Laskar Jihad could damage the close relations between Muslims and Christians, who had been living together peacefully in the province.

"It's 38 years since Papua became a part of the Indonesian Republic and there has never been a conflict between Muslims and Christians. Such a situation should be allowed to continue," he asserted.

He said that Laskar Jihad's presence in Papua would only disadvantage the Muslim community itself as it could eventually spark hatred between Muslims and non-Muslims. Thaha refrained from calling on local security authorities to expel Laskar Jihad from the country's easternmost province.

Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Made Mangku Pastika denied that Laskar Jihad had entered the province, but said: "Those coming into Papua are members of the Ahlis Sunnah Waljamaah group".

Ahlis Sunnah Waljamaah is a militant Islamic group of which Laskar Jihad is a part. Its headquarters are in the tourist city of Yogyakarta. Pastika said their presence in Papua had officially been reported to the authorities in the regencies.

He also denied reports that Laskar Jihad was conducting combat training in Papua.

Troops told to win hearts, minds of Acehnese

Jakarta Post - April 12, 2002

Lela E. Madjiah, Banda Aceh -- The Indonesian Military (TNI) seems to be succeeding in its efforts to crush the armed separatist movement in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, with reports of an increasing number of armed separatists being killed and arrested, as well as a rise in the number of separatists surrendering.

During the first phase of the operation to restore security and order in the province, from May 2 to Nov. 1, 2001, security forces killed 417 members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and arrested another 223. A total of 593 GAM members surrendered during this period.

Security forces also confiscated 269 rifles, including 125 military-standard rifles, 39,258 rounds of ammunition, 133 homemade bombs, 157 detonators, 213 motorcycles, 37 cars and nine speedboats from the rebels.

On the TNI's side, the number of troops killed and wounded has been declining. A total of 34 combat troops were killed and another 10 were wounded during the first phase of the operation. The number of troops killed from Nov. 2, 2001, to March 1, 2002, stood at 20.

Recent statistics show that one-third of villages in Aceh are still under GAM's influence, and activities have not yet returned to normal in these villages.

This figure is a reversal of the situation prior to the issuance of Presidential Instruction No. 4/2001, which approved the resumption of military operations in the province. Then, nearly 60 percent of villages were under GAM's influence or served as GAM operational bases.

Today, GAM's strength is concentrated in six of the province's 11 regencies -- Pidie, North Aceh, Central Aceh, East Aceh, West Aceh, South Aceh, although most GAM attacks in recent months have been launched from Pidie, North Aceh, East Aceh and West Aceh.

"In many areas life has returned to normal, albeit slowly and mostly in the big cities, as more and more people have confidence in the ability of the security forces to protect them," Aceh Military Commander Brig. Gen. M. Djali Yusuf told visiting Army Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri last week.

Kiki was in the province to evaluate troop performance with the arrival of replacement units to relieve soldiers that had been deployed in the province since last year.

On the first day of his visit last Wednesday, Kiki bunked down with troops in Indrapuri in Aceh Besar regency, around 30 kilometers from Banda Aceh. He also met with the local village head and district chief and a local legislator.

"In the past, they [local residents] did not dare meet with us for fear of reprisal from GAM. The fact that the district chief and village head agreed to meet me was proof that the situation is improving and people feel safe to meet and talk to us," Kiki said.

Djali conceded, however, that in rural and remote areas out of the reach of security forces very little had changed. To reduce GAM's rural influence, the TNI has changed its strategy, relying more on its mobile units to patrol areas where troops are not deployed on a permanent basis. The aim is to restore local authority and revive the economy.

For TNI, however, its greatest achievement is not the killing or arrest of GAM members, but convincing separatists to end their armed rebellion. That was the message Kiki sent to troops during his visit there.

"The total elimination of GAM members is not the sole aim of TNI's operations in Aceh. What is more important is for TNI to encourage GAM members to surrender," Kiki told troops in Banda Aceh, Lhokseumawe in North Aceh, and East Aceh.

TNI is fully aware that military operations alone will not end the conflict in Aceh. "The history of separatist movements in Indonesia has shown that military operations do not end the conflicts. However, dialog without military pressure will not work either.

"The government is always open to dialog because GAM members are Indonesian citizens. They are our brothers. However, if GAM continues to use force, then there is no alternative but to respond with force," Kiki said, adding that it is the duty of TNI to safeguard Indonesia's territorial integrity against secessionist efforts.

He also reminded troops that the ultimate weapon against separatist guerrillas was military professionalism. "Military professionalism is the embodiment of military skills and military character. The first relates to such skills as marksmanship, while the second relates to military behavior, how troops behave in combat and noncombat situations."

He stressed that while military skills were important, the behavior of troops was even more so. "In guerrilla warfare, winning the hearts and minds of the people is key to winning the battle and ultimately the war. It is therefore important for every soldier to show respect to the people, to practice the TNI's Seven Ways and Eight Obligations, in order to secure the support of the people," he said.

The Seven Ways are the soldiers' pledge of allegiance to the nation and state, their pledge to defend the country and people, to uphold the truth, justice and discipline, and to obey commands.

The TNI's Eight Obligations are the soldiers' pledge to respect and protect the people of the nation, to maintain their self- esteem and to set a positive example in solving problems.

"Let the Seven Ways and Eight Obligations be your guide and when people see that TNI troops are good people, then they will no longer side with GAM. They will have the courage to fight GAM and defend TNI," Kiki said.

Finland and UNHCR reject Aceh rebels' asylum request: minister

Agence France Presse - April 11, 2002

Jakarta -- A request for political asylum by two civilian members of the Aceh separatist movement has been turned down by both the Finnish government and the United Nations refugee agency, an Indonesian minister said Thursday.

"The asylum request has been rejected because they did not qualify for it," top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters.

Teuku Nasrudin Syah and Ermiadi, who claimed to be members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), briefly entered the Finnish embassy in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Wednesday. They said they were requesting political asylum because they feared for their lives.

The pair met ambassador Matti Pullinen before leaving the office voluntarily through a rear entrance and heading to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office. Yudhoyono said the two men sought refugee status from the UNHCR but were turned down.

Police are "constantly monitoring" them to protect their safety, "to avoid accusations that they are not being protected," he said.

The two said they were members of the Aceh-Sumatra National Liberation Front, the formal name of the GAM which is battling troops and police in Aceh province on Sumatra island. GAM sources in Aceh confirmed they were "civilian members" of the separatist group and came from North Aceh.

The two could not be reached for comment Thursday and it was unclear where they were. The UNHCR said it would issue a statement later.

After entering the embassy lobby Wednesday, the two Acehnese displayed written messages to reporters waiting outside the locked glass doors. One message said "Our lives are threatened -- Indonesian forces have killed so many of our brothers and sisters."

GAM rebels have been fighting for an independent state in Aceh since 1976. An estimated 10,000 people, mainly civilians, have died since then, including more than 400 people this year alone.

Seven more people killed in Indonesia's Aceh province

Agence France Presse - April 12, 2002

Banda Aceh -- Seven more people have been found dead over the past three days in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province, aid workers and residents said Friday.

The bodies of five men bearing gunshot wounds were found at Blang Poroh in Bireuen district on Thursday, a humanitarian activist said. Aceh military spokesman Major Zaenal Muttaqin said the five were Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels killed in a gunfight with security forces on Wednesday. GAM said the victims were civilians shot dead by security forces.

In another incident, a 47-year-old man was gunned down by four unknown attackers at his house at Paloh Meuria in North Aceh on Wednesday night, residents said. His wife was badly wounded in the attack.

A GAM spokesman, Teungku Jamaika, said security forces killed a street vendor in the Kruang Geukeuh area of North Aceh on Thursday for refusing to give them money.

GAM rebels have been fighting for an independent state in Aceh since 1976. An estimated 10,000 people, mainly civilians, have died since then and more than 400 people have been killed this year alone. Indonesian officials and rebel leaders are scheduled to resume peace talks in Geneva at the end of April.

Aceh 'rebels' seek asylum in embassy

Straits Times - April 11, 2002

Jakarta -- Two men claiming to be members of the Aceh separatist rebel movement entered the Finnish Embassy here yesterday and requested political asylum, saying they feared for their lives.

The pair met Ambassador Matti Pullinen before leaving the office voluntarily through a rear entrance.

One of the men, Mr Teuku Nasrudin Syah, 31, said they had left the embassy and were in the basement of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to negotiate an asylum request. Earlier, the second man, Mr Ermiadi, said embassy officials were accompanying them to the UNHCR office.

In Finland, Foreign Ministry spokesman Erja Tikka confirmed the two men had left the embassy for the UNHCR office. Ms Tikka said earlier that the pair would be told they could not seek asylum through the Jakarta embassy.

"According to our legislation, people can only seek asylum upon arrival in the country. We don't give asylum to asylum-seekers at our embassies and this is quite a common procedure," she said. "They will be told that this is our decision."

The two claimed to be members of the Aceh-Sumatra Liberation Front, the formal name of the Free Aceh Movement which is battling troops in Aceh province.

After entering the lobby of the embassy, they displayed written messages to reporters waiting outside the locked glass doors.

One message said they were seeking asylum from Finland "because they support our struggle. Our lives are threatened -- Indonesian forces have killed so many of our brothers and sisters," read another message

At least six people reported dead in Aceh violence

Agence France Presse - April 10, 2002

Banda Aceh -- At least six people, including two soldiers and two separatist guerrillas, have been killed in violence in Indonesia's Aceh province, military and rebel spokesmen said Wednesday.

Second Lieutenant Fakrurrazi and Private Deny were shot dead as they travelled on a motorbike in the Kuala Meuraksa area of North Aceh on Tuesday, Aceh military spokesman Major Zaenal Muttaqin said. Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels stole two SS-1 rifles from the victims, he added.

"It is strongly suspected that GAM fighters were waiting for the victims. They ambushed the soldiers as soon as they passed by, and both soldiers died on the spot," Muttaqin said. "This incident is further proof that GAM are still launching skirmishes and terrifying residents."

GAM military spokesman Sofyan Dawod confirmed that rebels attacked the soldiers, because "Indonesian security forces continue to conduct operations in the villages and cause deep suffering to the Aceh people." "The ambush was carried out by two GAM guerillas and we also took away two SS-1 rifles," Dawod said.

Soldiers shot dead two suspected GAM members during a sweep of the Gampong Naleueng area of East Aceh on Tuesday, Muttaqin said.

He said a civilian was shot dead by a suspected GAM fighter in the Blang Mane area of North Aceh on Tuesday, although local GAM spokesman Teungku Jamaika said the victim was shot by a soldier. Jamaika added that soldiers had shot dead another civilian named Mukhlis Hasan, 22, in the Rayeuk Munje area of North Aceh on Tuesday.

The ongoing violence took place ahead of a resumption of peace talks between Indonesian officials and GAM leaders, slated for the end of April in Geneva. A series of agreements, including a ceasefire pact, came out of negotiations which began in early 2000, but were ignored by both sides.

GAM rebels have been fighting for an independent state in Aceh since 1976. An estimated 10,000 people, mainly civilians, have died since then and more than 400 people have been killed this year alone.

In Jakarta, meanwhile, two men claiming to be GAM members entered the Finnish embassy on Wednesday and said they were seeking political asylum.

Two soldiers killed in GAM rebel ambush in North Aceh

Jakarta Post - April 10, 2002

Jakarta -- Two members of the Infantry Battalion 141/Aneka Yudha Jayaperkasa under the Sriwijaya Military Command were killed in a rebel ambush in the restive Blang Mangat district ofNorth Aceh on Tuesday morning, according to news reports.

The incident took place at 10 a.m., when the two security officers, riding a motorbike, were intercepted by members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels in North Aceh's Teungoh village, officials said.

The location was some 300 kilometers east of Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh, military spokesman Maj. Zaenal Mutaqqin said, as quoted by Antara.

The bodies of the two men, Second Lt. Fachrurrazi and Pvt. Denny, have been brought back to Jakarta, and the Palembang capital of South Sumatra. "GAM certainly does not want peace in Aceh. They will continue to spread terror and the authorities do not have much choice but to quash their actions," the officer said.

Two SS-1 automatic rifles and FN pistols belonging to the soldiers, along with their rifles, magazines, combat boots and several rounds of ammunitions were missing from their bodies, the officer said.

GAM spokesman Sofyan Daud claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that GAM personnel also snatched the military's guns and equipment

TNI and Brimob clash, three dead in Aceh

Jakarta Post - April 8, 2002

Jakarta -- Three people died in internal fighting within the Indonesian security forces in Aceh on Saturday as rebel leaders said they would attend fresh rounds of peace talks with the Indonesian government later this month in Switzerland.

Members of the Indonesian Military's (TNI) special force Kopassus were involved in a gunfight with members of the police's elite Mobile Brigade (Brimob), leaving three people dead and three others injured, eyewitnesses and a humanitarian activist said.

They said that the incident occurred in Lhoksukon, a small town near the oil and gas field of ExxonMobil, about 30 kilometers east of Lhokseumawe.

Witnesses said that the dead victims were a Kopassus officer, a Brimob officer and a driver of motorcycle taxi, while the injured were a woman named Maimunah, and her four-month-old baby, Silviana.

The victims from the military and police were brought to the Lilawangsa military hospital, near the small town, while the injured civilians were treated at nearby Cut Meutia hospital. They said that they could not identify the military and police officers as they could not get access to the military hospital.

A humanitarian activist, who refused to be identified, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday that the gunfight lasted for about 30 minutes after 12:00 midday.

The clash occurred after a Brimob officer traveling on a motorcycle taxi was shot at by a man wearing civilian dress near a bus station. Both the motorcycle taxi driver and the Brimob officer were shot dead.

Seeing their friend had been shot, the Brimob members on duty at a nearby security post fired at the shooter, who was later identified as a Kopassus officer. The incident caused Lhoksukon residents to immediately stop their activities and stay indoors. TNI military spokesman in Aceh, Maj. Zaenal Mutaqin denied the gunfight between the police and Kopassus on Saturday.

"Jamaika wants to tarnish our image by saying that we're not working in harmony in Aceh," he was quoted by Serambi Indonesia daily as saying.

The daily, meanwhile, quoted Free Aceh Movement (GAM) spokesman, Tengku Jamaika, last Saturday as confirming that there was a gunfight between Brimob and Kopassus in the town.

The government and GAM are expected to discuss efforts to restore security in Aceh and the implementation of special autonomy for the province which includes a greater share in revenue from natural resources and the implementation of Islamic law.

Another GAM spokesman Tgk. Sofyan Ibrahim said his group had been notified by the Henry Dunant Centre, the dialog facilitator, about the peace talk plan. All GAM negotiators will attend the dialog to be held in Geneva, he said. "I think it would be strange if GAM negotiators from Aceh did not attend the meeting," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

No specified date was mentioned for the talks that would follow the latest dialog also in Geneva on Feb. 2, 2002, in which GAM reportedly agreed to discuss the Special Autonomy Law for the province, implemented by the government in January 2002, as the basis for future peace talks.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda, however, stopped short of saying the result of the February talks showed that GAM had softened its stance toward Indonesia, especially after the death of its commander Tengku Abdullah Syafi'ie.

"The most important thing is that [GAM] appeared at the discussions, when before it seemed to be reluctant to engage in another peace dialog with us ... There will be further meetings in the near future," he said.

The on-again-off-again dialog between Jakarta and GAM has been going on for the past two years. However, there were no signs that the conflict would cease in the near future.

Meanwhile, two people were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Aceh, residents told AFP on Saturday. One of the victims was a 37 year-old employee with state television TVRI in the Blang Bintang area of Aceh Besar district. The employee died from loss of blood on Friday night due to multiple gunshot wounds.

In South Aceh on Thursday, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a group of people at a food stall in Sawang area, killing one and wounding at least two others, witnesses said.

As is often the case there were two wildly different accusations from both sides. District military chief Lt. Col. Agus Permana claimed that the shooting was carried out by GAM members. However, local GAM spokesman Ayah Manggeng denied the accusation, stating that government troops were responsible for the incident.

Also on Thursday, two residents were injured when two grenades hurled by two unidentified men exploded near the office of the Lamapaseh Kota village chief in Banda Aceh. Neither side claimed responsibility for the explosions.

Corporate globalisation

Activists set to boost antiprivatization drive

Jakarta Post - April 15, 2002

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta -- Over 120 labor activists from around the country warned on Sunday against pursuing trade liberalization and the privatization of state-owned enterprises, arguing that such moves would only inflict more suffering on Indonesian workers.

Labor activist Dita Indah Sari of the National Front for the Indonesian Workers' Struggle (FNPBI) said free trade and privatization had brought no prosperity, no equality, and no peace but only misery to Indonesian workers.

"We see that the problems Indonesian workers are currently facing are closely linked to the global economic and political system," Dita told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a three-day national labor organization conference here on Sunday.

The three-day conference, which started on Friday, was attended by around 120 labor activists, including factory-based labor organizations, from around the country, with the ultimate goal of formulating a common perception on globalization and the privatization of state-owned enterprises (BUMNs). The results of the conference will be presented to President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Monday.

Those participating in the conference were local activists of national trade unions, including Muchtar Pakpahan's militant Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI), which was represented by the Surabaya SBSI chapter.

Labor activists taking part in the conference also came from state-owned companies PT Pos Indonesia, PT Dirgantara Indonesia, the Federation of Independent Labor Unions, and the Metal, Electronics and Machine Trade Union.

"We deliberately invited local labor activists because they are more militant [in fighting for their rights]," said Dita, adding that the leaders of trade unions were conservative in defending the rights of workers.

Dita, who won the 2001 Ramon Magsaysay Award for her fearless fight to improve the conditions experienced by Indonesian workers, said that the country's workers were against privatization and were urging the government to stop selling state companies to foreign investors.

The labor activists' objections to privatization highlighted the demands by workers of the state-owned PT Semen Gresik in East Java and its subsidiaries PT Semen Padang in West Sumatra and PT Semen Tonasa in South Sulawesi that the cement plants not be sold to a foreign company.

Earlier this year, employees of state-owned PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia also protested government plans to sell the company to foreign investors.

"We are meeting to build solidarity among fellow workers and to outline strategies for our struggle [against globalization and privatization]," said Eddy Riswanto of the Medan-based Indonesian Agriculture Workers' Union (Serbuk-Indonesia).

Labor activist Setiono from the Greater Jakarta Workers' Association (SBJ) said that the conference also talked about efforts to raise the bargaining position of workers vis-a-vis employers. "We reject government policies that enhance globalization as well as disadvantage the workers," Setiono stressed.

According to Setiono, workers are questioning whether the selling off of state companies would benefit the country's economy and workers. He also said that workers' associations had the same opinions and were against the globalization process that disadvantaged the interests of Indonesian workers.

"Will the workers become prosperous after state-owned companies are sold? Will Indonesia ever be able to repay its offshore loans by selling state-owned enterprises?" Setiono asked.

Indonesia has depended heavily in the past on foreign borrowing to finance its development programs. At the moment, the country's offshore loans are estimated to stand at US$150 billion, half of which is owed by the government.

Dita said that during the meeting with the President on Monday, the workers would urge the government to enact laws on the protection of Indonesian workers. She did not elaborate.

"We also want the government to reinstate some subsidies that were scrapped earlier," said Dita, referring to government subsidies removed under the International Monetary Fund's economic recovery program.

Dita added that the three-day conference used the upcoming May Day event to protest against globalization. "The workers also want the government to declare May 1 as a national holiday in recognition of the role of workers in the national economy," Dita said.

Government & politics

Police beat up PDIP protesters in Surabaya

Jakarta Post - April 9, 2002

Yogita Tahilramani, Jakarta -- Internal disputes within the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) took on a new dimension on Monday when PDI Perjuangan members protesting against Surabaya branch office party head, M. Basuki, were beaten up by police for forcing their way into the Surabaya Legislature building on Jl. Yos. Sudarso.

The demonstration was held by supporters of PDI Perjuangan secretary-general Sutjipto, who had allegedly fabricated documents which resulted in the ouster of Basuki, police officers said.

Among the 20 PDI Perjuangan members who suffered beatings by officers from the Surabaya Police elite mobile brigade (Brimob), were reportedly Sutjipto's son, Wishnu Sakti Buana, and a 60-year-old grandfather, who participated in the demonstrations on Monday.

"Police have so far made no arrests. We will only call the demonstrators for questioning over the violence that occurred," South Surabaya Police Resort chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Agus Sunarjo said on Monday afternoon.

The demonstrators, grouped under the People's Struggle for Total Reform (PRRT), forced their way into the compound, just as legislators had finished a meeting to discuss the issue of the PDI Perjuangan faction's chief post.

The chief post is currently being fought over by groups within PDI Perjuangan, including Basuki's group.

The demonstrators reportedly started throwing plastic water bottles at the faces of security personnel for not allowing them into the legislature building. When police officers got hit in the face by the bottles, they got angry and started to beat up the demonstrators with their sticks.

Demonstrators who suffered severe head and facial wounds as a result of the beatings, were rushed to the Dr. Soetomo hospital in Surabaya. The angry police officers also started damaging the sound system used by the demonstrators during the protest.

House of Representatives legislator Haryanto Taslam of PDI Perjuangan had filed a lawsuit in February on behalf of his colleagues against Sutjipto over document forgery and defamation.

Haryanto had demanded that Sutjipto and the party's top executives revoke a decree to dismiss M. Basuki. The legislator at House Commission II on law and home affairs has accused Sutjipto of fabricating documents which resulted in the ouster of Basuki.

"Sutjipto's statement in a letter saying there was a party executive board meeting to dismiss Basuki was all a lie," said Haryanto, Basuki's legal advisor. He added that Sutjipto's attitude had tarnished the party's image, and therefore he deserved administrative sanctions, including dismissal.

Sutjipto, who is deputy speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly, played down the legal action, saying that the party executive board supported him.

Corruption/collusion/nepotism

Freeing of Akbar: Where is the fairness, ask critics

Straits Times - April 9, 2002

Jakarta -- The release of Parliament Speaker Akbar Tandjung from detention may have been in accordance with the law, but legal observers and critics charged that the move had "severely offended the people's sense of justice".

Akbar, 56, who heads the second largest political party Golkar, was freed from detention last Friday after almost a month in a cell. "It's a setback," said former attorney-general for special crimes Anton Sujata. "The people expect genuine law enforcement."

The release of the powerful politician contrasts with the continued detention of three others also on trial in the so- called "Buloggate" scandal. All defendants face up to 20 years in jail if convicted.

Critics said the decision highlighted the sort of unfair treatment that could crush attempts to genuinely enforce the law. The decision also heightened public scepticism over the impartiality of the law in this high profile case.

The Indonesian Corruption Watch urged the panel of judges at the Central Jakarta District Court to revoke its decision to release Akbar, claiming that the judgment was engineered. "Such an engineered decision will further expand in this case, because the law and political process are inseparable," it said.

The Central Jakarta district court yesterday ruled that Akbar's corruption trial should continue and threw out defence objections that the charges against him are vague and unclear.

The court also announced that former Indonesian president B.J. Habibie will be summoned to give evidence in the high-profile corruption trial, involving the misuse of millions of dollars intended to feed the poor. Akbar, who held ministerial rank under Dr Habibie, listened impassively as the five-judge panel threw out defence objections over the charges.

Dr Habibie, who now lives in Germany, will be called to give evidence at the next session on April 15. But his lawyer, Mr Yan Juanda Saputra, said: "The possibility of Habibie returning to testify in the coming weeks is very small because his wife is still very ill."

The politically sensitive case concerns the disbursement of 40 billion rupiah (S$8 million) in funds from the state logistics agency Bulog during Dr Habibie's presidency in 1999, when Akbar was state secretary.

Akbar, who oversaw the supposed aid programme, claimed that he channelled the cash to an Islamic charitable foundation to deliver food to poor villages in Java.

The Attorney-General's office says there is no evidence any food was ever delivered and there are suspicions the funds were used to bankroll Golkar's campaign in the 1999 general election.

Two-thirds of Indonesians are victims of corruption: survey

Agence France Presse - April 12, 2002

Jakarta -- Almost two-thirds of Indonesian households who answered a nationwide survey reported falling victim to corruption by public officials, according to a report issued Friday.

Traffic police ere considered the most corrupt body, followed by the customs department and the judiciary, said the report from the Partnership for Governance Reform.

Mosques, churches and temples were seen as the least corrupt institutions, followed by the post office, the news media, non- government organisations and labour unions.

The report, parts of which were first published last year, details the result of a survey of 1,250 households, 650 public officials and 400 businesses in 14 provinces.

It found that 65 percent of households reported having experienced graft involving public officials. The public officials in the survey estimated that 48 percent were receiving "unofficial payments". More than three-quarters of businesses routinely paid bribes.

Despite the prevalence of graft, 70 percent of respondents termed it a disease that should be eradicated. Households ranked it the most serious social problem. But fewer than 10 percent of corruption cases known to respondents were reported to authorities. Some 71 percent said they did not know where to report.

Households said they spent about one percent of their income on bribes while the figure for businesses averaged five percent.

Causes of the endemic graft were given as low pay for officials, lack of enforcement and low morality. But the survey also found that organisations which set great store on fighting graft were less corrupt than others, regardless of individual morality.

The report said the survey results call for an urgent action plan "to address this major social problem"."Corruption reduces not only the quality of public service but also the credibility of the public institution. More importantly, the high cost of corruption discourages business investment," it said.

The report traces much of the problem back to the New Order regime of Preisdent Suharto. "The long-standing collusion between business enterprises and government officials has resulted in a distorted economy that favours private economic interests over the broader public good."

President Megawati Sukarnoputri last month expressed concern about another poll that listed the country as the most corrupt in Asia and called on Indonesians to work hard to shed the image.

The Partnership for Governance Reform is supported by the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program, the Asian Development Bank and donor nations.

Irregularities continue as government fails to act: BPK

Jakarta Post - April 11, 2002

Annastashya Emmanuelle, Jakarta -- Although the government has constantly vowed to eradicate graft and corruption, the level of budget malfeasance remains high as action is rarely taken by the relevant government institutions to follow up on reports of irregularities released by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).

"There is no significant difference in the percentage of budget irregularities under the previous governments and the present one," BPK chairman Satrio B. Judono told reporters after a meeting with Vice President Hamzah Haz.

"It's clear that there's still not much being done to follow up on our reports [of misuse of funds] ... we still find the same irregularities occurring repeatedly," he said, adding that his agency found most of the irregularities occurred in logistics sections of virtually all departments.

In its latest report, the BPK unveiled 1,076 cases of irregularities in the budget resulting in Rp 2.8 trillion (around US$280 million) in losses to the state.

The report, which was submitted to the House of Representatives (DPR) in March, revealed irregularities worth over Rp 1 trillion in the country's state-owned enterprises in 2001.

Regional administration budgets (APBD) came in second with 302 cases resulting in state losses worth Rp 177 billion.

Most of the irregularities, totaling 450 cases, were categorized as "deviations from the law" followed by "deviations from objectives", which totaled 321 cases

The BPK's duty is to provide reports following audits of government institutions. It is then up to the respective department to examine and correct the irregularities.

"Follow-up are the responsibility of those who are being audited, which is the government. Therefore it is up to the government to make changes," Satrio said.

Prior to the submission of the BPK's report to the House, the State Development Finance Controller (BPKP) reported incidents of misappropriation involving Rp 2.5 trillion of state funds in 2001.

Satrio said on Wednesday that BPKP and his agency's duties often overlapped. Nevertheless, the BPK was currently short of the human resources and funds it needed to work effectively.

Regarding the disputed Rp 30 billion taken from the Presidential Assistance Fund (Banpres) that was donated by President Megawati Soekarnoputri for the renovation of military and police accommodation, Satrio said that monies from the fund should not be used before it was included in the state budget (APBN).

"The assistance fund should be included in the APBN before it is spent," he said at the State Palace after meeting President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

According to Satrio, during the presidency of Abdurrahman Wahid, his agency recorded Rp 540 billion in presidential assistance funds held by the State Secretariat.

At that time, the Minister of Finance instructed all non- budgetary funds to be included in the APBN. "The last time we audited the State Secretariat was in June 2000. In the near future, we will examine this institution and then we will see whether the fund has been included in the state budget or not," he said.

Sutiyoso angered at being accused of lying

Jakarta Post - April 10, 2002

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta -- Being accused of espousing "public lies" has apparently offended Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso.

On Tuesday, he refuted a statement by the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction on the city's flood management during his accountability speech about the 2001 City Budget. "I really regret the statement saying that I have covered up the facts and lied in public," Sutiyoso said during the council's plenary session.

Responding to the council's general views on his accountability speech, Sutiyoso called on the faction to think clearly, saying that he had gone to great lengths last year to prevent the onset floods. "I have never washed my hands clean and run from my responsibility over my officials' weaknesses in the flood control program," he said.

Sutiyoso also denied abusing power by claiming that the administration has yet to sell the 10-hectare plot belonging to city-joint venture firm PT Jakarta International Trade Fair (JITF) in Kemayoran fair ground, Central Jakarta. The sale "was approved by the firm's board of commissioners -- but it has yet to be implemented," the governor said.

City spokesman Muhayat earlier claimed that Sutiyoso had approved the land sale in his capacity as PT JITF's president commissioner. PT JITF is partly owned by the Jakarta City Fair Foundation, businessman Edward Suryajaya, and the Japanese Development Consortium. The 10-hectare land is part of PT JITF's 44-hectare land, which will be sold to Edward's property firm, PT Griya Nusa Pradana.

Even though Sutiyoso professed to being offended, PAN councillor Agus Dharmawan said that his faction insisted that Sutiyoso had publicly lied in his 2001 speech on budget accountability. "Many facts related to the floods were different from the governor's accountability speech," said Agus, a member of the Council Commission B for Economic Affairs. Agus also confirmed that PAN has evidence that Sutiyoso, as a governor, had approved the sale of the land in Kemayoran.

In his letter, in March 1999, Sutiyoso said that the land would be sold at US$300 per square meter, and the sale should be completed by February 2002.

Agus claimed that Sutiyoso has also violated a bylaw which banned him from becoming a president commissioner in the city's firms. "No matter his arguments, he was still president commissioner at some city firms last year," he said. He revealed that his faction would reject Sutiyoso's accountability.

Sutiyoso admitted to holding the position as the president commissioner at PT JITF, a city-owned market operator, PD Pasar Jaya, and city-owned PT Pembangunan Jaya. "But it was just an administrative matter that halted me from resigning from the companies. The process [of resigning] is still underway," he said.

All 85 councillors would decide their stance on April 26 -- either to accept or reject the governor's accountability. If the second-largest PAN, which has 13 seats, insists on rejecting Sutiyoso's accountability, the governor's faith should be decided in a vote.

The largest Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction, which has 30 seats in council, will play a significant role in this vote. The faction is likely to accept Sutiyoso's accountability due to its weak stance against the governor.

The councillors and city officials will discuss the accountability speech at the city-owned resort Wisma Jaya Raya in Cipayung, Puncak, West Java.

Indonesia McDonald's boss summoned for graft probe

Reuters - April 9, 2002

Jakarta -- Police said on Tuesday they had issued a summons to the Indonesian holder of the McDonald's fast-food franchise for a second time for questioning over alleged graft involving the country's largest pension fund.

Bambang Rachmadi, accused of failing to pay back a 40 billion rupiah ($4 million) loan and interest on it to state pensions fund Jamsostek, did not answer a police summons last week. His relatives said then he was in Australia.

The loan was made to the Rachmadi-controlled holding company for McDonald's Indonesia -- the country's largest fast-food chain with 76 outlets in 17 cities. "The [second] summons letter has been delivered to his family yesterday. If he is not present here yet we [will] ask the family to make him come at the the time of the questioning ... this Thursday," Jakarta police spokesman Anton Bahrul Alam told Reuters.

Asked what the police would do if Rachmadi failed to answer summonses, Alam said "we will arrest him. If he stays abroad, we will ask Interpol to help out". But he declined to give a deadline for Rachmadi to appear.

Police last week questioned two former top Jamsostek officials, suspected of giving Rachmadi's company the loan in 1999 without approval from the firm's board of commissioners. But current Jamsostek chief A. Djunaidi told local media last week Rachmadi had paid back his debt using cash and land.

Neither Rachmadi, his family nor McDonald's Indonesia officials were immediately available for comment.

The case comes as Indonesia, widely seen as one of the world's most corrupt nations, is prosecuting high-profile figures over their alleged involvement in graft scandals, including parliament speaker Akbar Tandjung.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri has vowed to eliminate a culture of corruption and bribery that can be found even at the lowest level of administration.

Although the graft trials have raised hopes the problem is being dealt with, many Indonesians doubt the tainted legal system will seriously punish the rich and powerful.

Rachmadi is the son-in-law of former Indonesian vice-president Sudharmono, who also once headed the then-ruling Golkar Party.

Akbar's release hampers efforts to uphold justice

Jakarta Post - April 8, 2002

Kurniawan Hari and A'an Suryana, Jakarta -- The suspension of the detention of corruption suspect and House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung may have been in accordance with the country's laws but has severely offended people's sense of justice.

Noted lawyer Frans Hendra Winarta and former attorney general for special crimes Anton Sujata said that the release of Akbar, who is also chairman of Golkar Party, the second biggest in the country, highlighted unfair treatment that could crush attempts to genuinely enforce the law.

"It is discriminative since the other suspects did not receive the same treatment," Frans told The Jakarta Post on Sunday. "It hampers law enforcement. The people expect genuine law enforcement, but ... it's a setback," Anton, who is now chairman of the National Ombudsman Commission, told the Post on Saturday.

Akbar, on trial for allegedly misappropriating Rp 40 billion (US$4.1 million) in State Logistics Agency (Bulog) funds, was released from detention on Friday pending verdict, while his co- defendants, Dadang Ruskandar and Winfried Simatupang, had been denied such treatment.

Ironically, former Bulog chairman Rahardi Ramelan, another corruption suspect, had his detention extended by 60 days by the South Jakarta District Court on Friday, the very same day Akbar was released on the strength of a guarantee from his wife Krisnina Maharani that the Golkar chairman would not flee or miss any hearings.

On the first day after his release on Saturday a number of high ranking officials visited Akbar at his residence at the Widya Chandra housing complex to extend their support.

The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) urged the panel of judges at the Central Jakarta District Court to revoke its decision, claiming that the judgment was engineered. "Such an engineered decision will further expand in this case, because the law and political process are inseparable," ICW said in a statement.

The decision to release Akbar has strengthened public skepticism over the impartiality of the law in this high profile case.

Former supreme court justice Bismar Siregar noted that the release of Akbar was the decision of justice Amiruddin Zakaria, chief of the panel of judges in Akbar's case. "It's the panel of judges who took the decision," Bismar told the Post.

Amiruddin Zakaria, chief of the panel of judges that are trying Akbar, is a confidant of Subardi, chief of the Central Jakarta District Court. Subardi is a cousin of Agung Laksono, co-chairman of the Golkar Party. This situation has drawn speculation that the appointment of Amiruddin by Subardi was a part of a plot to protect Akbar.

The suspension of Akbar's detention was possible under Article 31 of the Criminal Procedures Code. But, ICW chairman Teten Masduki said that the article constituted a loophole and was often used by defendants to benefit themselves. Coordinator of Government Watch (Gowa) Farid R. Faqih expressed similar concern, saying that the decision to release Akbar was an act of discrimination.

Law No. 8/1981 of the Criminal Procedure Code

Article 31:

(1) At the request of the suspect or defendant, the investigator or public prosecutor or judge -- in line with their respective authorities -- can allow a suspension of detention with or without money or personal guarantee on the basis of set conditions.

(2) Because of their function, the investigator or public prosecutor or judge can withdraw the suspension of detention in case the suspect or defendant fails to observe the conditions as mentioned in section (1).

Elucidation:

What is meant by set conditions is the obligation to report, not to leave home or town. The period of suspended detention for a suspect or defendant does not include the period of his status as a detainee.

Human rights/law

Court rejects attempt to drop Timor rights trial

Agence France Presse - April 9, 2002

Jakarta -- Indonesia's first human rights court on Tuesday ruled that the trial of five officers accused of failing to prevent a church massacre in East Timor in 1999 should proceed, rejecting defence arguments it violated the constitution.

"The ad-hoc human rights court has the jurisdiction to try cases of human rights violations in East Timor. The objections of the defence lawyers cannot be accepted," the court ruled in a statement read out in turn by the five judges hearing the case.

Defence lawyers had asked for the charges of gross rights violations to be dropped on the grounds that the alleged crimes occurred before Indonesia's human rights law was passed in 2000, rendering the hearing retroactive and in breach of the constitutional ban on such a move.

But the panel of judges ruled that the nature of the alleged crimes outweighed any principles on retroactivity. "The more serious a crime is the more it is needed to bring justice to the perpetrators. This need outweighs any legal formality, for in this case the non-retroactive principle can be set aside."

The court rejected similar arguments from the defence lawyers for two other suspects, former East Timor police chief Timbul Silaen, and former East Timor governor Abilio Soares, on March 28.

Military officers packed the court in central Jakarta as the trial resumed of the four middle-ranking army officers and one police officer who are accused of failing to prevent the massacre of 27 civilians in a church in the southern border town of Suai on September 6, 1999.

On trial are Colonel Herman Sedyono, Colonel Lilik Kushardianto, Major Ahmad Syamsuddin, Captain Sugito, and Adjunct Senior Commissioner Gatot Subiyaktoro.

Their hearing was adjourned until next Tuesday, when the prosecution is expected to produce six witnesses. The five are among 18 military, police, civilian officials and East Timorese militiamen who face trial in the new rights court over army- backed attacks by pro-Jakarta militias against East Timorese independence supporters in April and September 1999. If convicted the defendants face sentences ranging from 10 years in prison to death.

Militiamen organised by senior Jakarta officials waged a campaign of intimidation before East Timor's August 1999 vote to split from Indonesia, and a "scorched earth" revenge campaign afterwards. They killed hundreds of people, torched towns and forced more than 250,000 people into Indonesian-ruled West Timor after the vote.

Witnesses against Tommy recant

Straits Times - April 10, 2002

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- Witnesses at the murder trial of Tommy Suharto have retracted their previous statements. Withdrawals by three of them have raised suspicions that they are being intimidated with the aim of securing the defendant's release.

Their statements were made when they were in police custody while Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the youngest son of former president Suharto, was in hiding after being convicted of graft.

Police captured Tommy last November and state prosecutors have charged him with illegal possession of firearms and escaping from a jail sentence as well as murder.

On Monday, Tommy's childhood friend, Dody Hardjito, denied his earlier statements that he had introduced Tommy to a man allegedly hired last August to murder Supreme Court Judge Syafiuddin Kartasasmita. In September 2000, the judge had sentenced Tommy to 18 months in jail for corruption.

A nervous Dody told the court: "At the time I gave my statement to the police at the Jakarta police headquarters I was under unbearable conditions. So some of what I said are true and some are not." Dody, who provided lodgings for Tommy while the latter was on the run, has been charged with helping to plot the judge's murder.

During last Thursday's hearing, witnesses Hetty Siti Hartika and Marvin Hukom also retracted their statements, which they claimed were made under pressure from the police.

Ms Hetty, who manages an apartment building owned by Tommy's wife, denied her earlier statement that weapons that were found during a police raid on the apartment belonged to Tommy. She said the only weapon kept in the apartment was one owned by former presidential guard Wiyono, a key witness in the case who died while in police detention last year.

A member of Ms Hetty's staff, Mr Marvin Hukom, also contradicted his statement that while on the run, Tommy had been staying at the apartment.

The Indonesian legal system accepts only testimonies made under oath in court. Suspects and witnesses have been known to retract in court statements given previously to police.

Experts are worried the judges will find weak evidence for the case against Tommy. Ms Harkristuti Harkrisnowo of the University of Indonesia suggested the judges investigate whether the witnesses had been threatened. The court can convict a suspect on the strength of two testimonies. Prosecutors have alleged that Tommy threatened the late judge Syafiuddin before he was convicted.

So far, only Ms Hetty's former maid, Sainah, has been consistent. She has contradicted the other two witnesses, saying Tommy had stayed at the apartment last year right up until the night before the police raid in August.

She has also said she once helped Ms Hetty to carry a heavy bag into the apartment which, supposedly, had contained weapons belonging to Tommy.

Tommy's response to Sainah's testimony last week was chilling. When asked by the panel of judges whether he had any questions for her, the former playboy replied: "For the sake of the witness's safety, I will not ask any question."

Jakarta's barefoot lawyers

Straits Times - April 8, 2002

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- They do not have law degrees or expensive suits, and even go to court barefoot.

But Jakarta's "ghost lawyers", or "barefoot lawyers" as they are sometimes called, have been scoring significant victories in the courts against goliaths such as the Jakarta administration and the state oil company.

These "ghost lawyers" are ordinary citizens -- pedicab drivers and vendors, for example -- who are going to court to represent hundreds of residents in class action suits.

Ms Musimah, a 50-year-old vegetable seller, and nine co- complainants filed a class action suit recently against the Jakarta government, the Jakarta police force and the Jakarta military command for the unlawful eviction of 15,000 pedicab drivers, mobile food vendors and street singers from the capital's streets last year.

The complainants wore sandals and some even turned up barefoot, said lawyer Paulus Mahulete from Jakarta's Legal Aid, a non- government organisation.

Tommy Suharto's trial opened in that same central Jakarta court the previous day, though the lawyers were decked out in suits.

Nevertheless, the judge ruled in favour of the "ghost lawyers" and even scolded the defendants. "Stop evicting poor people without the proper legal procedures," said Judge I Nengah Suriada.

The judge found that the Jakarta administration had evicted thousands of street vendors and pedicab drivers without the proper permits. Many were deprived of their means of livelihood by the clean-up, which was often violent.

"I am happy we won, but the government hasn't heard that we won because they still carry out these operations against traders and pedicab drivers," said Ms Musimah, who lives in East Jakarta with her pedicab-driver husband and eight children.

The team of "ghost lawyers" often lack the polish of their properly trained counterparts, says Mr Mohammad Berkah Gamulya, an activist working with the drivers and traders. "They didn't really use legal language, they would even use slang," he said. "When they were explaining things they would go around and around, then go off on a tangent, so sometimes the judge would say to them, 'Please get to the point'."

But the barefoot lawyers often get training from lawyers such as Mr Paulus, and they would role-play before each court hearing. In the latest case on behalf of the pedicab drivers, Mr Paulus said the "ghost lawyers" were sufficiently competent that they did not need lawyers present during every court sitting.

He added that the cases are signs that at least the lower courts are handing out rulings that are not influenced by the defendants' social class.

The success of these class action suits has affected Governor Sutiyoso, who is being sued by several non-government groups for neglect during the disastrous floods that hit Jakarta in February.

The governor has rejected a government lawyer and is hiring two famous lawyers who are also defending Tommy Suharto. The case will open this week.

Focus on Jakarta

Overflowing river floods Jakarta

Straits Times - April 10, 2002

Jakarta -- The Indonesian capital has been hit by floods again due to clogged drainage channels.

Residents in southern Jakarta complained that their homes were deluged due to the poor condition of drainage channels following the major floods that hit the city in January and February.

One of them, Mr Rukyana, said the area was always inundated even if it rained for a short time. "The area is now easily inundated as most of the drains here were damaged during the big flood," he complained.

Rain that fell for several hours on Sunday night resulted in the Pesangrahan river overflowing its banks, causing floods in some areas of south Jakarta on Monday. One of the worst affected areas was Cipulir, where the flood waters reached up to one metre.

Another resident, Ms Kalalo, said that the river has been full of garbage after the earlier floods. "No wonder it overflows its banks after the rain."

The latest flooding caused severe traffic jams in the area. Most people who had to pass through Jalan Ciledug Raya in Cipulir failed to get to work on time due to the congestion.

The flooding was unexpected as the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) had earlier announced that the dry season would begin in Jakarta in March, or two months earlier than usual.

A Jakarta Public Works Agency official said that the Pesangrahan river and two other rivers which also overflowed on Monday had not been included in the city's post-flood drainage programme.

News & issues

Thousands in Indonesia rally against Israeli action

Reuters - April 7, 2002

Jakarta -- Several thousand Indonesians rallied on Sunday to protest against Israel's military operations in Palestinian areas, the latest demonstration in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Separately, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said he had told a visiting senior U.S. official that Indonesia wanted the United States to press Israel to withdraw from Palestinian territories.

The protesters -- mainly wearing traditional white Muslim dress -- defied scorching heat to gather at the national monument square near the presidential palace in central Jakarta. Estimates of their numbers ranged from 3,000 to 5,000.

The protesters, mostly from the Muslim-oriented Justice Party, burnt an effigy of Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "Kick out Israel, the invader," read one of many anti-Israel slogans at the rally. Another banner said: "Bush and Sharon go to hell."

Bush called on Saturday for Israel to withdraw its forces from Palestinian areas "without delay". Sharon promised to end the 10-day campaign, which has included a siege of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's office, "as expeditiously as possible."

Foreign Minister Wirajuda told reporters that in a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, a member of President George W. Bush's cabinet, he had repeated Indonesia's condemnation of Israel's actions.

"The United States must use its influence to press Israel to withdraw its military forces from Palestine ... dissatisfaction among some groups of people in Indonesia even among the government has (been) emboldened," Wirajuda said. "Indonesia will never accept the fact that Israel is cornering Arafat, because he is a leader of a nation."

Talks with Megawati

Zoellick spoke to reporters separately after talking to Wirajuda and made no comment on the Middle East, but said he had discussed Indonesia's role in the U.S.-led war on terror.

"I ... emphasised how important the efforts of the Indonesian government are in terms of dealing with these [terrorism] questions at home and in the region."

Later in the day Zoellick met with President Megawati Sukarnoputri and in a brief statement after the session said he had expressed gratitude for Indonesia's support since the September 11 attacks on the United States.

"I ... thanked her personally for [the] policy that she has had and her government has had against terrorism ... and I also asked on her behalf to thank the people of Indonesia because after the attacks ... there were many expressions of warmth and support." Zoellick again made no reference to the Middle East.

Megawati had greeted him warmly with a broad smile but, as is often her practice, had no comments for the media either before or after the meeting.

Sunday's protest was the latest in a series of anti-Israel demonstrations in Indonesia in the past week since Israel's incursions. On Friday Indonesian police turned water cannons on hundreds of Muslim protesters who tried to approach the U.S. embassy. The protest coincided with several similar rallies in other major Indonesian cities.

Around 85 percent of Indonesia's 210 million population is Muslim. Most follow a moderate interpretation of Islam.

Pro-democratic activists urge MPR to stop Constitution amendment

Jakarta Post - April 11, 2002

Jakarta -- A group of pro-democracy activists voiced concern over the ongoing amendment process of the 1945 Constitution on Wednesday, calling on the Assembly to soon form an independent constitutional commission to avoid a possible constitutional crisis, reports said.

Pro-democracy (Prodem) Presidium chairman Nuku Sulaiman warned that the current legislators, both in the House of Representives (DPR) and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), tend to use short-term political logic and forward their political interests instead of the nation's interest.

"What is happening now is parliamentary authoritarianism, in which the legislators have become too powerful and they are doing everything they can to retain their own interests, including by amending the Constitution," Nuku said.

Nuku further said that an independent constitutional commission, whose members consist of experts and elements of the people who have no definite political interests must be formed soon.

He further pointed to symptoms of a constitutional crisis, such as the contradiction in chapter 18 of the amended Constitution on regional administration which actually goes against Law No. 22/1999 on regional administration.

There were also other controversial Constitutional chapters, such as on the human rights tribunal which did not recognize the retroactive principle, he added.

Fishermen cancel tax protest

Jakarta Post - April 11, 2002

Agus Maryono, Purwokerto -- Thousands of fishermen from Central Java canceled their plan to storm Jakarta on Wednesday in protest over the newly decreed fishing taxes, after Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Rohimin Dahuri heeded some of their demands.

The fishermen from many parts of Central Java were planning to stage a massive demonstration at Dahuri's office in Jakarta on April 10. They demanded that the minister revoke the two new taxes, namely the fishing vessel tax (PPP) and the fishing income tax (PHP) which came into effect last November.

In their planned protest, the fishermen were to demand the government at least reduce the PHP tax to 1 percent of their fishing income, and allow them to pay the PPP tax in installments, that is, if their demand for the total revocation of the new decree went unheeded.

The new taxes were introduced under a decree issued by the ministry, in addition to the five percent levy on sales that fishermen are already obliged to pay. Under the new decree, fishermen must pay the PHP tax which amounts to 2.5 percent of their fishing income every time they return to port. Meanwhile, the PPP tax is collected every year and is calculated according to the weight of a fishing vessel. For example, a 30-ton boat is charged Rp 3 million in PPP tax.

However, Dahuri last week accepted the protesters' demand by reducing the PHP tax from 2.5 percent to one percent. The approval was conveyed when the minister met leaders of the Indonesian Fishermen's Association (HNSI).

Under the new agreement, the owners of wooden fishing boats must pay one percent of their income in PHP tax, while those with iron or steel vessels will continue to be charged 2.5 percent. "This has prompted the fishermen to cancel the protest in Jakarta," said Basari Hambali, chairman of HNSI's Pekalongan branch.

However, the mechanism of the two tax collections was being discussed by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and the HNSI as well as related agencies in Jakarta. Bazari said his association wanted the collections of the PHP tax conducted after every sale deal at ports, while the PPP tax should be paid each year in installments.

The protesting fishermen have now begun to return to sea after strikes since mid March. Some of them held a thanksgiving ceremony on Wednesday after their demand was accepted.

Thousands stage anti-Israel protest in Indonesian city

Agence France Presse - April 10, 2002

Jakarta -- Thousands of people in Indonesia's West Nusa Tenggara province staged a rally on Wednesday to protest Israel's sweeping military offensive in Palestine.

The demonstrators, mostly Muslim students, marched to the local legislative assembly building, dragging and stamping on the Israeli flag, the state Antara news agency reported. They made speeches at intersections condemning the Israeli attacks on Palestine and asked for donations from motorists, cyclists and pedestrians for the Palestinians.

The anti-Israeli rally was the biggest ever of its kind in the province and caused traffic congestion.

Chairman of the provincial branch of the Justice Party, Johan Rosihan, called on Muslims across the world to help the Palestinians' struggle against Israel.

"This is a manifestation of our solidarity as Muslims, so that Allah may give strength to the Palestinians so they could free themselves from Zionist Israel's cruelty," he was quoted as saying.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have been burning Israeli flags and effigies of Israeli leader Ariel Sharon almost daily in cities across Indonesia, the world's most populous -- but secular -- Muslim country.

Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, a radical Muslim preacher accused by Singapore and Malaysia of having links to the al-Qaeda terror network, implored protestors in the central Javanese city of Solo on Tuesday to take up arms against Israel.

"There is no compromise of dialogue with the Israelis. They are Islam's greatest enemy ... there is only one path to deal with Israel, that is fight them with weapons and wage jihad [holy war]," Ba'asyri, who heads the Indonesian Mujahedin Council, was quoted as saying by Satunet online news.

The cleric, who runs an Islamic boarding school in Solo, also announced he had established the Free Palestinian Commando group which would soon open registrations for jihad volunteers bound for the West Bank.

Jakarta -- while condemning the Israeli action -- has urged would-be volunteers not to travel to the Palestinian territories to fight against Israel. Vice President Hamzah Haz, who heads Indonesia's largest and oldest Muslim party, has urged pro- Palestinian sympathisers to offer humanitarian aid and prayers instead of fighters.

On Wednesday Haz promised that the government would send medicine, medical teams and funds to help besieged Palestinians, according to Habib Hussein al Habsy, the head of the hardline Indonesian Muslim Brotherhood.

More police charged in brawl case

Jakarta Post - April 10, 2002

Yogyakarta -- The provincial police named on Tuesday two other policemen as suspects in the death of Aan Yulianto who died in the hospital after having been "interrogated" in relation to a brawl early this month.

Spokesman for the Yogyakarta police office Adj. Sr. Comr. Sudarsono said the new suspects are Joko Taruno and Adhofir.

"I need to assert that the police are very serious about this the case. We guarantee that any of our personnel proven guilty will be punished," he said here on Tuesday. The police also named the other two policemen, including Soleh, as suspects in the same case.

Aan was one of the five witnesses questioned for his alleged involvement in a melee that took place on Jl. Magelang. The clash left police Mobile Brigade member Totok Sugiarto wounded after being stabbed by an unidentified assailant.

Doctors said Aan died after incurring serious injuries to his lungs and liver. Several of his ribs were also broken. Aan's relatives have filed a complaint with the police over the death.

Police arrest 17 suspected members of Muslim group: report

Agence France Presse - April 9, 2002

Jakarta -- Police have arrested 17 suspected members of a radical group campaigning to establish an Islamic state within Indonesia, reports said Tuesday.

The detainees, arrested at a house in West Java on Monday, said they had surrendered their Indonesian citizenship and taken an oath to become members of Negara Islam Indonesia Region-9 (NII KW-9), senior West Java police officer Irianto told the Jakarta Post.

"Some residents living close to the house were suspicious of people staying there and their guests. With the residents' tip- off we spied on them and later raided the house," Irianto was quoted as saying by the daily.

The detainees had also told police that they were each required to recruit six to 10 new members, Irianto said.

Police confiscated documents on NII's history, vision and mission from the house in Bandung. It was not immediately clear what law the suspects were being detained under.

The NII is the subject of investigations by police and the country's highest Islamic authority as to whether it is linked to an Islamic boarding school in the West Java town of Indramayu.

Indonesia Council of Ulemas (scholars) deputy chairman Umar Shihab told AFP last week that it would "never tolerate the existence of the NII" and would demand the closure of the Al- Zaitun school if it "is proven to be a tool of the NII." Parents of students accuse the school of teaching a deviant form of Islam.

Monday's arrests in Bandung are the second of alleged NII members in the mountain city. In January ten people were arrested but only one was held as a suspect while nine were released.

NII followers say they are the new generation of a group called Darul Islam, whose leader Sekarmaji Marijan Kartosuwiryo proclaimed the establishment of an "Indonesian Islamic State" in 1949.

Kartosuwiroyo was executed by the government of then-president Sukarno in 1962 after several bloody rebellions on Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi.

Another seven people were arrested Monday in Bandar Lampung city in southern Sumatra on suspicion of belonging to the Darul Islam, the Post reported.

Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim-populated nation but Islam is not the state religion and most people practise a moderate form.

The NII says people who do not subscribe to its belief that Indonesia should be ruled by Islamic law are non-believers.

Environment

Fishermen wage war against trawlers

Jakarta Post - April 8, 2002

Oyos Saroso HN, Bandar Lampung -- Hundreds of fishermen demonstrated in Bandar Lampung on Saturday to demand that local authorities crack down on their fellow fishermen using trawlers and dynamite in fishing.

They threatened to occupy the provincial legislative council building and the governor's office, should firm action not be taken against the rouge fishermen.

The protesters from at least 15 local groups of fishermen marched to the city's Saburai ground and later paraded across the town in vans, trucks and motorcycles.

"We have protested many times to the governor, the council and the police, but they always ignore our demand ... so we have often been forced to expel them (trawlers) ourselves," said M. Yamin, leader of the Lampung Fishermen Union.

He said that apart from damaging the environment, dynamite fishing in Lampung waters had reduced the catch of traditional fishermen there. "The environmental damage to nearby coastal areas has forced small scale fishermen to go much further out to fish at sea, though their vessels and fishing equipment are inadequate to do so," he added.

Yamin said trawlers and fishermen using dynamite usually work for big businessmen backed by security personnel.

The protesters also urged the government to take action against at least three companies accused of polluting the Way Seputih, Way Terusan and Way Pegadungan rivers that empty into the Kuala Seputih waters, where local fishermen usually catch fish.

The three firms are PT Indo Lampung Lestari, PT Ve Wong Budi Indonesia and PT Budi Acid Jaya, Yamin said. "The factories have clearly killed thousands of tons of fish and shrimp between 1998 and 1999," he added.

The pollution has made fishermen in Central Lampung and Tulangbawang regencies jobless due to the death of fish. Yamin further said traditional fishermen in East Lampung have frequently been involved in clashes in Semangka waters with rivals using trawlers and dynamite fishing.

The Jakarta Post observed many cases of brawls between trawlers and traditional fishermen at Kotakarang village in Telukbetung, who have often received threats from outsiders for their attacks on rivals.

Health & education

6,000 more students drop out in Cirebon

Jakarta Post - April 10, 2002

Sumber, West Java -- At least 6000 students in the West Java city of Cirebon have been forced to drop out of elementary schools since January due to financial problems and individual values, local officials said on Tuesday.

The number of dropouts is expected to soar unless the local authorities take necessary measures to tackle the economic difficulties of low-income people in the regency, or rethink school fees for poor people.

Cirebon Regent H. Sutisna confirmed the figures, adding that the number of dropouts within junior and senior high schools is also alarmingly high. "But I don't know it exactly."

He said the rising numbers of dropouts were not only attributed to economic factors but also to the local people's lack of awareness of the importance of education, and therefore they did not prioritize it for their children.

"The rural people still believe that attending school is just a waste of time. Children mostly spend their time working in rice fields. We have to change such a view," he said.

Sutisna vowed to try his best to provide the Cirebon population of 1.9 million people with "better" education.

Religion/Islam

Muslims pray for Palestinians, burn Israeli flags

Agence France Presse - April 7, 2002

Thousands of Indonesian Muslims burned Israeli flags at a mass prayer rally for Palestinians in the capital, calling Israel "the real terrorist" for its latest offensive in the Palestinian territories and accusing Jakarta of being too weak in its criticism.

Girls in white veils and men in white prayer robes, some wearing the black and white checked headscarf of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, offered prayers and cheered orators who slammed the Israeli military occupation and the Indonesian government's response.

They carried banners proclaiming "Israel is the Real Terrorist," "Save Palestine" and "Palestinians are our brothers" in the fourth pro-Palestinian rally in Jakarta in the past five days. "Jihad for Palestine" was emblazoned on another.

"We condemn Israel's arrogant behaviour. We declare that the real terrorists are Israel," rally coordinator and leader of the Anti-Zionist Israel Movement, Ferry Noer, told reporters. "We implore Indonesians to show their concern for the Palestinians through prayers, donating funds, and even by sending volunteers to help the Palestinians fight," Noer said.

Several militant groups here including the Front for the Defenders of Islam have opened registration for volunteers to fight with the Palestinians. But Jakarta -- while condemning the Israeli action -- has urged would-be volunteers not to travel to the Palestinian territories to fight against Israel.

The head of the Indonesian Ulemas (Muslim scholars) Council, Din Syamsuddin, called on the government of Megawati Sukarnoputri, however, to take a harsher stance against the Israeli action. "As a sovereign and peace-loving nation, and as the country with the world's largest Muslim population, the government should strongly condemn Israel, but so far it's only taken a mild stance," he told the crowd.

Most of the 5,000 protestors were from the Muslim-based Justice Party (PK). They converged on the city's central National Monument square from the greater Jakarta area and West Java. Dozens of protestors stood in rows carrying enlarged photographs of funerals of Palestinian victims. Others torched Israeli flags by throwing them onto piles of burning tyres.

A PK district leader Igo Ilham said earlier Sunday that while the party would not open registration for pro-Palestinian volunteer fighters, it would not stop members from going. "As a political party, we are neutral [on volunteer fighters]. Those who wish to join the fight physically, please go ahead, but as an institution PK will not send its members there," he told the Satunet online news.

Vice president Hamzah Haz on Friday urged pro-Palestinian sympathisers to offer humanitarian aid and prayers rather than going to the West Bank to fight alongside them. "If people want to register as fighters for Palestine, feel free, but it would be more effective if we provide humanitarian aid and prayer," he was quoted as saying by the state Antara news agency after talks with Palestine ambassador Ribhi Awad.

Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated nation with more than 80 percent of its 216 million people following Islam, has no diplomatic ties with Israel.

International relations

US envoy praises Megawati on reforms

Associated Press - April 8, 2002

Jakarta -- A senior US envoy yesterday lauded the efforts of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's government to reform the Indonesian economy, nurture democracy and combat terrorism.

US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick lavished praise on the President and said her administration's success was vital to America's interests in South-east Asia.

He visited Jakarta a day after touring Batam and Bintan, where he announced that the Indonesian islands would be included in a free trade pact expected to be signed between the US and Singapore later this year.

Under the deal, certain high-tech electronic goods made on the two islands will be regarded as Singapore-made products. They will enjoy the dual benefits of cheaper labour and duty-free access to American markets.

Economy & investment

Indonesia's official creditors approve debt rescheduling

Agence France Presse - April 12, 2002

Paris -- Indonesia's foreign government creditors on Friday said they had agreed to re-schedule a portion of the country's external debt service obligations.

The agreement, worked out here among Jakarta's official creditors in the Paris Club, will reduce Indonesia's debt service obligations between April 1, 2002 and December 31, 2003 from 7.5 billion dollars to a maximum of 2.7 billion, according to a club statement.

It said the re-scheduling was designed to "further support the continuing efforts on economic recovery undertaken by the government of Indonesia" under an International Monetary Fund program.

The agreement covers Indonesia's debt to the Paris Club falling due between April 1, 2002 and December 31, 2003. The total obligation for that period is 7.5 billion dollars, of which 5.4 billion was eligible for re-scheduling.

An Indonesian statement issued here expressed satisfaction with the terms that are to be applied to the portion of the debt eligible for re-scheduling.

"The re-scheduling of payments will include actual debt and interest within the consolidation period from April 2002 to December 2003 [21 months] to the amount of 5.4 billion dollars," the statement said.

The Paris Club noted that during that 21-month consolidation period Indonesia's debt service owed the club "will not exceed 2.7 billion dollars."

"We hope that this will really alleviate pressure on the budget and the balance of payments this year and next year," said Indonesian Coordinating Minister of Economic Affairs Dorojatun Kuntjoro-Jakti.

In their statement Indonesian officals noted that "the conditions of the re-scheduling payments of these foreign debts are better" than previous such accords.

Under terms of the agreement, official development assistance will be repaid over 20 years, with a 10-year grace period. Commercial credits will be reimbursed over 18 years, with five years of grace.

Indonesia has also agreed to seek re-scheduling arrangements with its other external creditors.

Blackouts loom in Indonesia

Straits Times - April 11, 2002

Robert Go, Jakarta -- A lack of investment in Indonesia's power sector has forced the government to schedule regular blackouts in more than 30 regions across the country.

Officials from the state electric company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) told The Straits Times yesterday that Indonesia has insufficient power-generating and transmission capacities, and could see a nationwide crisis within three years. The 30 regions include all areas of Indonesia outside of Java, Bali and Batam islands.

In some cases, natural disasters have exacerbated the problem. For example, West Sumatra and Riau rely on hydroelectricity, but a drought in recent months has forced PLN to impose blackouts.

In Lampung and South Sumatra, earthquakes and other natural disasters have also brought down power lines and disrupted the power supply to hundreds of villages and towns.

Mr Bambang Hermiyanto, director of operations at PLN, said: "Outside of Java, Bali and Batam, our power infrastructure is inadequate. PLN itself cannot make new investments. Independent power producers have not been building new plants."

In the early 90s, Indonesia signed numerous deals with independent power producers, and officials estimated that as much as US$5 billion was invested each year.

But at the height of the economic crisis in 1998, the government suspended many projects, due to fears that heavily indebted PLN would not be able to pay its partners. Experts said yearly investments had since dropped to around US$400 million.

Indonesia renegotiated 10 of those suspended deals recently -- covering geothermal and coal- or gas-fired power plants.

But the PLN official warned that many more generating plants needed to be built and thousands of kilometres of transmission lines placed, if the government wanted to avoid a nationwide crisis, which some analysts have said could happen by 2006.

"Without new plants, we will not be able to supply the power that our industries and homes will need. This is a basic infrastructure problem, and we need to solve it quickly," he said.

Constructing and preparing a plant for full operation could take up to four years, PLN officials explained.

Another problem is the heavily subsidised electricity rate, currently US$0.04 per kilowatt-hour (kwh). "The price has to go up to around seven or eight cents per kwh before both PLN and investors can operate profitably," Mr Bambang said.

He added that Indonesia had hiked rates several times during the last two years, and would continue to increase tariffs over the next five years to entice more investment.

ADB says growth not fast enough to lift millions out of poverty

Agence France Presse - April 9, 2002

Jakarta -- Indonesia's economic growth in the next few years will be too low to lift millions of its people out of poverty, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Tuesday.

The bank, in its annual Asian Development Outlook, forecast gross domestic product growth of three percent this year and 3.6 percent in 2003. It said there was little prospect of a return to the heady growth of 7-10 percent -- the rate necessary for sustained reductions in poverty -- which Indonesia enjoyed before the 1997-98 regional financial crisis.

"To regain high growth rates it will be important for policymakers to work hard to convince both domestic and international investors that reforms are effectively reducing corruption and weaknesses in the legal and judicial system," the report said.

Jan van Heeswijk, ADB country director, noted some efforts in "chipping away" at corruption but added: "We clearly would like to see increased efforts."

The bank said growth of 3.3 percent last year was driven mainly by private and public spending, with businsss spending muted in response to recurrent political problems and a rise in tension after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

The US response to the attacks triggered a series of street protests and threats against foreigners from militant Islamic groups. The ADB noted a growing weakness in exports and imports last year, with net exports falling 26 percent.

Foreign direct investment faded as the world economy weakened and the ADB said there was also "a widespread perception that the policy environment for investment in Indonesia has turned harsh and unsupportive." Political opposition to privatisation was one symptom.

Approved foreign investment projects totalled six billion dollars in the first ten months of 2001, about one third the total in the same period of 2000. The fall predated the September attacks and would seem to be "part of the broader, longer-term problem of capital flight seen in Indonesia since the financial crisis.

"Continuing problems of financial governance, lack of credibility of the legal and judicial system and political uncertainty have all discouraged investors from making longer-term commitments," the report said.

The ADB also highlighted "stubborn inflation," poor tax collection and Indonesia's huge debt burden. Interest payments were the largest single item of government spending, equalling 5.9 percent of GDP last year.

"Our business is trying to pull families out of poverty," said deputy country director David Green.

Indonesia had shown over decades that it could significantly reduce poverty, he told a press conference. "Now we're facing a situation where for the next few years we don't see that. It drives us frantic."