Democratic struggle

Students protest anti-amendment legislators, release mice

Jakarta Post - August 9, 2002

Jakarta -- Some 200 students from Jakarta and its environs staged another rally outside the legislative assembly building here Thursday to press for the completion of the latest round of constitutional amendments by the Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

The students, hailing from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), University of Indonesia (UI) and the State University of Jakarta (UNJ), released a number of black mice.

"These [mice] are the symbol of legislators who reject the formation of a commission on the constitution and who are fit to become MPR mice only," chief of the IPB's student executive board, Atang P, said to Antara He said the students would keep on taking to the streets during the 10-day Annual Session to remind the MPR members of their promises to press ahead with reform, including the setting up of a commission on the constitution.

Six out of the 12 factions in the MPR's Commission A resisted on Wednesday demands for the establishment of a commission on constitution, causing a delay in the endorsement of the fourth round of amendments to the Constitution.

The fourth batch of amendments is crucial because its endorsement will ensure the passage of several bills, including the political bills designed to guarantee a more democratic Indonesia.

The student executive boards (BEM) from institutes of higher learning in Jakarta and its environs said they would stage a mass rally on Friday involving thousands of students.

The students said the New Order regime had used the 1945 Constitution to retain its power at the expense of all aspects of life, leading to a multidimensional crisis.

Atang said that to enable the nation to emerge from the crisis, there is no alternative but to amend the 1945 Constitution during this year's annual session of the MPR, the country's supreme lawmaking body.

Water cannons used as protesters break into parliament grounds

Agence France Presse - August 6, 2002

Indonesian police used water cannon against protesters who broke into the grounds of parliament demanding that legislators approve key constitutional reforms.

Police sprayed the students after several protesters began rocking and climbing the heavy steel gates at the main entrance.

The cheering demonstrators toppled the gates despite their drenching but were halted by rolls of barbed wire, which were guarded by dozens of riot police and six water cannon.

The students later rolled the wheeled gates onto the main street, to the cheers of fellow demonstrators who totalled around 2,500- 3,000.

Representatives of all parliamentary factions met the protesters after the incident. They signed a pledge prepared by the demonstrators to push for the constitutional amendments.

The People's Consultative Assembly, the top constitutional body, is discussing amendments to introduce direct presidential elections and make the assembly a fully elected body. Its annual 10-day meeting at parliament ends Saturday.

The students waved banners reading "Anti-amendments equal to anti-reforms" and "Amendment is needed for a clean and legitimate government". Supporters of the changes say they are crucial for bolstering democracy after decades of authoritarian rule under founding president Sukarno and his successor Suharto.

A compliant rubber-stamp assembly, which then had large numbers of unelected members, kept Suharto in power for decades by routinely re-electing him.

The rally was necessary because "the 1945 constitution was hastily made and has a lot of flaws because it was initially intended to be used as a provisional constitution", one protester, who gave his name only as Andi, told AFP.

The president and vice president are currently elected by the assembly -- which is now composed of the 500 members of parliament plus 200 representatives from the regions and major mass organisations.

Also on the agenda of the current meeting is a controversial proposal to require Muslims to follow Sharia Islamic law. Thousands rallied in the capital on Saturday and Monday to support the proposal, which is unlikely to be adopted.

Labour issues

It's all his fault, No, it's his fault, It's government's fault

Straits Times - August 10, 2002

Robert Go, Jakarta -- Indonesia's failure this week to win an extended amnesty period or leniency for its citizens who work illegally in Malaysia has prompted the country's vice-president to describe his own government as incompetent, and sparked an open feud between two senior Cabinet ministers.

Vice-President Hamzah Haz told a crowd after Friday's prayers: "The Malaysian government had given us six months, but our own government addressed the issue incompetently ... This is our fault." Mr Hamzah, head of the Islamic United Development Party (PPP) and potentially one of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's chief rivals for the presidency in 2004, added that Jakarta knew for some time that half a million Indonesians worked illegally abroad, but did little about it.

"This disaster is an accumulation of previous mistakes. We should not have waited to deal with this issue," he said following Thursday's talks between Ms Megawati and Malaysian Premier Mahathir Mohamad in Bali.

In the wake of Malaysia's refusal to budge on its tough new migrant-labour policy, Manpower and Transmigration Minister Jacob Nuwa Wea blamed Foreign Affairs colleague Hassan Wirayuda for failing to use diplomatic channels to convince Malaysia to stop deporting the workers.

Mr Jacob, a former union leader, had come under fire for not helping the nearly 250,000 workers who flocked home in recent weeks. Malaysia's amnesty for illegal workers to leave the country ended on July 31 and tough new laws and punishments including caning, hefty fines and jail terms came into effect on August 1.

Said Mr Jacob yesterday: "This has happened because the Foreign Affairs Minister and our Ambassador to Malaysia did not do their jobs properly. If their diplomatic skills were working, I doubt that the situation would be as bad as now.

"If you want to know how this deportation has hurt our workers, please ask Hassan Wirayuda, not me." Mr Jacob said that in previous Cabinet meetings, he had pressed the Foreign Ministry to begin a dialogue with Malaysia on the issue, but to no avail.

But Mr Hassan has explained that Indonesia wants a comprehensive agreement on workers with Malaysia, instead of just a pact on deportation. Such a deal could not be prepared before the Bali meeting.

"We have worked to the best of our abilities and performed our duties as far as possible to protect our citizens during their return," his office said in a statement.

This issue, said analysts, could be used by Ms Megawati's critics to mobilise public opinion against her and her chances for re- election.

Mr Umar Juoro, head of the Centre for Information and Development Studies, said: "Her opponents could certainly paint this as yet another example of how the Megawati administration is incapable of handling problems, particularly those that concern her main constituency -- the poor." That parts of government are blaming each other also shows how political stability here remains fragile.

Analysts had said that although many Indonesians rushed home, there could be nearly 200,000 others still living and working in Malaysia without proper papers.

Aid workers say that despite the bickering, the government must keep its focus on the real problem: helping illegal workers still in Malaysia and returnees stranded in border areas with no jobs and nowhere to go.

Construction laborers in long wait for work in Jakarta

Jakarta Post - August 10, 2002

Leo Wahyudi S, Jakarta -- Several men in shabby clothes are seen every day lying down or sitting in this small park off of Jl. Permata Hijau Barat in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta. They are sheltering from the sun under a big shade tree in the area where a luxury housing complex is located.

At first glance it would appear that they were a group of workmen taking a hard earned break and enjoying their leisure time. Despite the incessant automobile traffic just yards away, some of them fell asleep, while others sat on a wooden bench. But these were not men taking a leisurely nap.

"We have been here for three weeks languishing, awaiting gainful employment," said Dasikin, a resident from Brebes, Central Java, with a hoe and a bamboo spade as the basic tools of his trade.

Dasikin is one of around 50 villagers who daily congregate here in hopes of securing a day's wage on a construction site or in someone's private yard.

His colleague, Jaib, said that he had worked on and off as a day laborer for 15 years to get extra income to put food on his family's table back in Brebes. Like the others, Jaib hails from Brebes, where he owns a 14 meter by 14 meter plot of land.

"I cannot feed my family simply from the tiny harvests on my plot, as we have only one a year," Jaib said, adding that the paddy fields there were all dry at this time of the season.

As there is no irrigation, the fields depend entirely on rainfall and this means that the farmers can only harvest once a year. Jaib said that one harvest could yield about 600 kgs of unhusked rice with a total market price of Rp 960,000 (about US$100).

"We keep the rice for our daily meals at home, but then we need to supplement our incomes to meet our family's daily needs and to pay our children's school tuition," he said.

After the harvest, Jaib and many other villagers come to Jakarta. They spend months hoping to earn some money for their family, by offering their muscles and low-wage labor for construction projects, especially digging. However, most of them have to endure frustrating periods of joblessness that can last for weeks.

Mirta, 50, said that he had been jobless for more than two weeks. Even without any money in their pockets, Mirta and other workers still must eat. Luckily, there are some food stalls which allow them to eat on credit. Being hungry most of the time is indeed the major problem while waiting for jobs.

"To minimize my debt [with the food stall], I only eat once or twice a day, and even that is just rice and a vegetable, usually without any meat," Jaib said. "Otherwise I would not be able to save any money to take to my family."

If he gets selected by a passing construction manager for a few days of work, he could earn up to Rp 100,000. But he can never be sure when someone will pick him up. Workers on an excavation projects, may earn between Rp 12,500 and Rp 25,000 per cubic meter of earth moved, or a flat fee of Rp 50,000 a day. Most of them prefer the piece work because they can earn more money by working harder.

Once a month or so, they return home and bring some money, which can range from Rp 50,000 to Rp 300,000. In Jakarta, they stay in a tiny dorm in Kebayoran Lama with a weekly rental fee of Rp 2,500 per person.

There are many places in Jakarta which have become similar bases for these types of seasonal workers. Another one is located under the Cawang flyover in East Jakarta. There, dozens of farmers from Subang and Cirebon, West Java, have led a hard life being seasonal excavation workers since the 1980s.

Usman, who had been doing nothing but waiting for 10 days, said he came to the city to get money to support his child's education and his wife in Subang. "If I am lucky, I will work for a week and take about Rp 200,000 home," Usman said.

Usman and his fellow workers hope that one day their life will be better but they also have pride and dignity and most have sworn never to succumb to the temptation of resorting to criminal behavior, like so many others in their shoes.

"We are physically dirty and people often look down their noses at us, but we have good hearts for others," Adi, a worker, remarked, "not like some supposedly respected gentlemen who wear ties but have no heart."

Drivers go on strike in Palu

Antara - August 9, 2002

Palu, Central Sulawesi -- Drivers of public transportation vehicles in Palu, the capital city of Central Sulawesi, went on strike on Thursday to demand the local government stop inter-city buses from picking up and dropping off passengers within citylimits.

The strike started at 9am Eastern Indonesian time and left thousands of commuters stranded on Palu's main streets.

"We are simply demanding the administration to take firm action against intercity buses, which pick up and drop off passengers in our area," Amin, a driver said, with his colleagues echoing support behind him.

The drivers marched to the local city council to deliver their demand.

Thousands may lose jobs as Nike scales back

Jakarta Post - August 5, 2002

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang -- Thousands of workers at PT Delton Indonesia, a sub-contracting factory of shoe giant Nike Inc. of the United States, will very likely lose their jobs as the US firm will stop its shoe orders from some areas of Indonesia in November.

Due to the halted orders, PT Delton Indonesia, which is located on Jl. Raya Legok, Tangerang, has planned a massive layoff, some workers told The Jakarta Post here last Saturday.

They said that they realized the company's plan to dismiss workers on a massive scale after seeing a letter signed by the Nike's General Manager in Indonesia Jeff Du Mont last Monday, stating that Nike would halt its orders starting from November.

In the letter, Du Mont made it clear that it was a business decision that had prompted Nike to stop its shoe orders from the country. The letter stated that the decision was made after considering a number of factors regarding the state of the economy here and the "capability and performance" of the factories.

In recent years a number of companies, especially shoe manufacturers have found the overall business climate here less competitive in relation to other countries such as Vietnam and China, where government regulations, human resources and legal certainty all favor investors. However, many workers said that their fate was still unclear as the dismissal plan was just a rumor.

As of Friday, the factory workers were still working as usual. But during a lunch break, they staged a rally on the factory compound, urging the company management to pay serious attention to their fate.

Sabarrudin, one of the workers, told The Jakarta Post Saturday that Nike's orders from the company in January and February, decreased precipitously.

Within the last four months, Nike's orders to fulfill its markets in several countries such as Britain, Korea, US, Japan and the Philippines had again dropped drastically each month, he told the Post.

Another worker, Tasimin, said that he and fellow workers had planned rallies at the US embassy on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta if Nike did not pay attention to workers.

"We have obtained permits to stage a rally from the police. As of today, we are still waiting for certainty on our destiny even though there had been talks between worker representatives and the company management about a severance payment," he said.

His colleague, Syaiful Bahri, added if there was a massive lay off, at least 3,000 workers would lose jobs. The remaining 3,000 others would likely be retained due to the company's financial difficulty with severance payments.

The planned massive dismissal has apparently also worried some 200 vendors selling various goods and food near the factory.

Neither the factory production managers or human resource managers could be reached for comment.

Deadlock grows tighter as Indonesia bars workers emigrating

South China Morning Post - August 6, 2002

The deadlock over labor issues between Taiwan and Indonesia showed no signs of improvement with the Indonesian government reportedly barring its workers from leaving for Taiwan yesterday.

The Indonesian government's move came after Taiwan's Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) decided last week to temporarily freeze employment of Indonesian workers, citing Jakarta's inaction to solve major labor issues.

Among the CLA's complaints were high brokerage fees imposed by the Indonesian government as well as rising absconding rates of Indonesian workers and forgery of labor documents.

According to local media reports, the CLA received complaints regarding workers who were prohibited from leaving the country by Indonesian custom officials at local airports.

It has also been reported that a number of labor brokerage agencies received notices from the Indonesian Labor Ministry on Monday regarding a ban on Indonesian maids from coming to Taiwan starting August 5.

The CLA pointed out that the suspension, starting August 1, does not apply to applications filed prior to the effective date. However, the Indonesian government's actions affect the rights of those Indonesians workers who have already acquired working visas from Taiwan, CLA officials said.

CLA stressed that it's possibly to quickly lift the hiring ban on Indonesian workers if Jakarta is willing to lower the high labor-brokerage fees. However, Jakarta's present reaction will only hinder chances for successful negotiations.

CLA Councilwoman Chen Chu also told reporters that it will not be necessary to meet with Jakarta's representative in Taiwan unless the Indonesian government improves labor problems. She added that the council has already come up with supporting measures to protect the rights of employers.

As a remedy, employers can revoke hiring documents for Indonesian workers if they are not able to come to Taiwan, and reapply for permits for workers from other countries. The CLA has looked into the possibility of Vietnam and Thailand supplying more workers.

Currently, there are over 307,500 foreign laborers in Taiwan, and more than 96,000 are Indonesians, with the majority employed as care-givers and maids.

The council also encouraged those in need of care-givers or maids to take advantage of the Interior Ministry's "home caring program" that offers subsidies to families with disabled members who are hiring local part-time care-givers.

Jakarta looks at ways to send workers back legally

Straits Times - August 6, 2002

Robert Go, Jakarta -- The Indonesian government yesterday formed a ministerial-level task force to deal with the hundreds of thousands of illegal workers who fled Malaysia's new tough immigration laws in recent days fearing harsh punishment, including jail and caning.

But instead of focusing on helping these workers get back to home regions within Indonesia, the task force will work on sending them back to Malaysia legally.

Vice-President Hamzah Haz said after a Cabinet meeting that this was in preparation for Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's visit.

"The task force will discuss how to solve the migrant workers' issue, given that Malaysia still needs workers from Indonesia." Coordinating People's Welfare Minister Yusuf Kalla, the task force's chairman, told reporters: "We are working to return these workers to Malaysia as soon as possible.

"Malaysia is in trouble now. There is nobody left to work in its factories, plantations and petrol pumps, or as household maids. Illegal workers from Indonesia are beneficial to Malaysia. They are cheap, plentiful, and employers do not pay taxes on them."

The task force also includes Justice and Human Rights Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Social Affairs Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah, Transportation Minister Agum Gumelar and Police Chief Dai Bachtiar.

Mr Yusuf added that the two countries were expected to sign an agreement this week on how Indonesian migrant workers can work and should be treated in Malaysia.

Jakarta's latest initiative could set President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Dr Mahathir, who will begin a two-day meeting in Bali tomorrow, on a collision course over migration controls and labour policies. Malaysia clearly does not want illegal workers -- particularly those from Indonesia -- back.

Dr Mahathir's government came down hard on illegal workers following rioting and other incidences of violence perpetrated by rampaging Indonesian labourers last year.

Malaysian authorities first threatened to deport migrant workers and then gave Indonesians least-priority status when it comes to accepting migrant workers. Under laws that took effect on August 1, illegal immigrants or those harbouring them face mandatory six-month jail terms and up to six strokes of the cane.

The Indonesian government's response to this crisis has also drawn criticisms from workers' groups, who said that Jakarta is evading responsibility for the welfare of its citizens by not spending resources on giving them jobs at home.

Reports from Indonesian regions indicated that there are still around 200,000 workers stranded in various regions that border Malaysia.

Mr Wahyu Susilo of workers' advocacy group Kopbumi said: "The government doesn't know how to deal with these workers. So it is throwing them out again. It should be focusing more on helping workers and on creating new jobs here.

"Wanting to send the workers back is not realistic. Malaysia, after going through all this trouble to get them out, is surely not interested in taking them back."

Protests over cuts may shoo investors away

Straits Times - August 5, 2002

Robert Go, Jakarta -- Decisions by Nike and Reebok to cut orders from local manufacturers leave Indonesia's footwear industry under siege, and laid-off workers may harm the country's economy further by staging rowdy street protests and scaring off potential investors.

The two companies' officials and Indonesia's footwear manufacturers association Aprisindo said that simple business sense had motivated the cuts.

Aprisindo chairman Anton Supit said: "There is no long-term guarantees in this business. Foreign buyers come and go, depending on their own business calculations. In this case, the suppliers' cut-off will hurt, but other players, who employ thousands more Indonesians, still benefit from relationships with Nike and Reebok.' Mr Jeff Dumont, Nike's general manager in Indonesia, said in a statement that even though his company had terminated its contract with supplier PT Doson Indonesia, it would continue ordering shoes from nine other firms that employ 60,000 workers.

Reebok also still gets more than 25 per cent of its shoes made in Indonesia by three manufacturers which employ nearly 20,000 people. The footwear industry here has suffered since the onset of the economic crisis in 1996, and experts said that protests could aggravate the situation.

Last week, 1,000 workers staged a raucous protest in front of the US embassy in Jakarta after Reebok said it would stop buying shoes from the local manufacturer that employs them. PT Doson's workers have also said that they would demonstrate against Nike for its decision to stop ordering shoes from them by November.

Aprisindo estimated that shoe exports would contribute only US$1.3 billion to the Indonesian economy this year, down from more than US$1.7 billion two years ago.

Rising production costs, such as higher wages and material prices, have put about 100 local producers out of business. Those still operational are worried about losing orders from foreign buyers such as Nike and Reebok.

Indonesian manufacturers are also losing customers to suppliers from other developing countries such as China, Vietnam and Thailand, who reportedly can produce shoes and other apparel items cheaper and more efficiently.

Mr Anton complained: "The picture has worsened steadily over the last few years. Buyers take their bottomlines seriously, and if we cannot offer better deals than our competitors, we will simply lose." Aprisindo added that the minimum wage in Vietnam, for instance, was only US$42 per month, compared to over US$60 in many parts of Indonesia. A Vietnamese worker, however, is also more productive, churning out four pairs of shoes daily, whereas the typical Indonesian can finish three. The strengthened rupiah, in this case, also deals a blow to labour-intensive industries here by driving up costs.

Industry experts said that buyers could not be blamed for making reasonable business decisions and warned that worker protests only created the impression that investing in Indonesia brought foreign companies more trouble than it was worth.

A factory owner said: "They're not thinking of the good of the country when they demonstrate like that. Nike and Reebok still employ thousands more. If they were to pull out completely, the entire industry will be affected."

Students/youth

Legislators to get 'Traitor' award

Jakarta Post - August 10, 2002

Students have nominated four legislators to receive the "Traitor of Reform" award for their political stance.

The Association of Student Executive Boards from universities in Greater Jakarta is set to present the award in a ceremony on Saturday, when the Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) is formally closed.

Legislators Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno, Taufik Kiemas and Amin Aryoso from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and Siti Hartati Murdaya from the Interest Groups have been chosen as recipients of the award.

Rico Marbun from the University of Indonesia said on Friday that the award would be given in "appreciation" of their consistency in opposing the fourth phase of amendments to the Constitution.

According to Rico, the award will be presented at a symbolic ceremony on Saturday when the MPR ends its 10-day Annual Session.

Students form human chain to protest MPR

Jakarta Post - August 10, 2002

Jakarta -- In an effort to push the reform agenda, at least 2,000 students staged a protest by joining hands to create a human chain, linking the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) complex to Hotel Mulia Senayan, where legislators are staying during the ten-day Annual Session.

The protesting students were grouped under student executive boards (BEM) from various universities in the Greater Jakarta area. They urged MPR members to facilitate the amendment of the 1945 Constitution, Antara reported on Friday.

They also brought an effigy of Amin Aryoso, a legislator with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), who was gathering support to block the constitutional amendment. "We will hang this effigy," said another student.

Students grouped under BEM have staged several protests during the MPR session. They deplored the legislators' failure to put an end to the rampant corruption, collusion and nepotism practices in the reform era.

Students demand constitutional reforms

Jakarta Post - August 7, 2002

Kurniawan Hari and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- As the Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) entered its sixth day, thousands of student protesters staged a rally outside the Assembly building here on Tuesday demanding that the lawmakers proceed with and endorse crucial amendments to the 1945 Constitution.

The students, grouped under the student executive bodies from a number of universities and loose student groupings in the Greater Jakarta area, started the rally at about 8.30am by unfurling posters and banners which read, among other things, "Anti- amendment equals anti-reform," and "Amendment is needed for a clean and legitimate government." "Continue the amendment process, safeguard the reforms!", the students shouted.

Among the students participating in the rally were groups from the University of Indonesia (UI), University of Jakarta (UNJ), Trisakti University and the Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front (KAMMI).

As the situation became tense, security personnel stayed alert with at least three armored vehicles parked near the front gate. Barbed wire was also rolled out to prevent protesters from entering the MPR compound.

Later in the day, as the protesters proceeded to the building's main front entrance and tried to break through in an effort to enter the legislative compound, police personnel used water cannon to drive the protesters back. No injuries or arrests were reported.

The Assembly is holding its 10-day Annual Session during which it is to decide on the amendment of several crucial articles of the Constitution with a view to, among other things, instituting direct presidential elections and changing the make-up of the Assembly itself.

Also on the agenda is the proposal by several Islamic-based political parties that the seven words of the Jakarta Charter be inserted into the Constitution, thereby accommodating the demand from some quarters for sharia.

As reported earlier, more than a hundred legislators have signed a petition asking for a halt to the amendment process and for a return to the unamended 1945 Constitution.

Fifteen students representing the protesters eventually entered the Assembly building at 12 midday, and asked the legislators to meet the protesters outside the compound.

The students asked for the politicians' assurances that they would complete the amendment process and remain committed to the reform agenda.

"You [legislators] must put your signatures to a document guaranteeing continued constitutional reform. Its signing must be witnessed by the protesting students," said Marbun, an activist from the University of Indonesia (UI).

Ten legislators agreed to meet the students' demands and left the Assembly building escorted by the student activists. They were Jakob Tobing of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction; Fahmi Idris, Theo L. Sambuaga and Andi Mattalata of the Golkar Party faction; Ali Masykur Musa of the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction; Zein Badjeber of the United Development Party (PPP) faction; Asnawi Latif of the People's Sovereignty Party (PDU) faction; Harun Kamil of the Interest Groups faction; Ahmad Sumargono of the Crescent Star Party (PBB) faction; and Oesman Sapta Odang of the Regional Representatives faction.

Upon their arrival at the front gate of the Assembly compound, no cheers greeted the legislators. Instead, the students turned their backs and jeered them.

One of the protest leaders attempted to calm down the protesters and asked Jakob Tobing, who chairs Commission A on the amendment of the Constitution, to deliver a speech. "The PDI Perjuangan will unite to press ahead with constitutional reform," Jakob said.

As the rally in Jakarta ended in a minor clash between student protesters and security officers, members of the student executive body from the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (BEM-ITS) voiced their demands for the continuation of the amendment process to the East Java Provincial Legislative Council in Surabaya on Tuesday.

"The amendment of the 1945 Constitution is mandated by the reform movement for a just and egalitarian Indonesia," said BEM-ITS president Nugroho Fredivianus during a meeting with three East Java provincial councillors as quoted by Antara.

Aceh/West Papua

Mediator takes on conflict in Aceh

Sydney Morning Herald - August 10, 2002

Jakarta -- In a new role, General Anthony Zinni, the Bush administration's envoy to the Middle East, has met Indonesian officials in an effort to find a solution to the long-running but little publicised guerrilla conflict in Aceh, the nation's resource-rich northern province.

The general, who relished trying to settle conflicts in Somalia, Ethiopia and Pakistan but had never been here, the world's most populous Muslim country, came to Indonesia in a private capacity as an unpaid adviser to a Swiss organisation, the Henri Dunant Centre. The group specialises in trying to resolve civil conflicts through negotiation.

General Zinni emerged from a meeting with the coordinating minister for security affairs, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, with an optimistic assessment about the possibility of a settlement between separatist guerrillas and the government.

"I think all sides are convinced that the way to peace is through dialogue, and I'm convinced we have a momentum now," the general said.

The mere presence of such a high-profile mediator was interpreted as progress. The Indonesians are traditionally wary of outsiders interfering in what they consider their internal affairs.

General Zinni first had a secret meeting in Singapore last weekend with Mr Yudhoyono and the army chief. When the general's meetings with the guerrillas in Aceh itself were greeted without the usual hostility to foreign negotiators, the Indonesian Government let down its guard.

Zinni says optimistic of peace in Indonesia Aceh

Reuters - August 8, 2002

Jakarta -- A retired US general, who has been mediating between Jakarta and the rebels in Aceh, said on Thursday that the only way to achieve peace in the restive province was through talks.

Retired US General Anthony Zinni, who has served as Washington's special envoy to the Middle East, returned on Wednesday from a three-day fact finding mission in the province where a decades- long separatist conflict has claimed thousands of lives.

"I think all sides are convinced that the way to peace is through dialogue," Zinni told a news conference in Jakarta. "I'm convinced we have a momentum now and it'll be important for all sides to build that momentum into a peaceful resolution."

Zinni visited the province on the northern tip of Sumatra as part of an advisory role for the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HDC), which has brokered two years of largely unsuccessful peace talks.

His comments follow last week's stern message from staunchly nationalist President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who said that crippling the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) was vital to ending the violence. They also come as the government weighs whether to take civil or military emergency measures.

A military emergency would place the army commander in Aceh in charge. A civil emergency is one step down, but still gives wide security powers to local authorities.

But Indonesia's chief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Megawati and the government were still open for talks even though more drastic measures were being considered.

"President Megawati has decided that the dialogue has to be continued in the most effective manner ... So we're obliged, both the government of Indonesia and the HDC as the facilitator, to develop a more appropriate framework," Yudhoyono told reporters. During his trip, Zinni met with leaders of Indonesia's military and the GAM, who routinely blame one another for the almost daily violence.

Zinni said plans for peace talks were in the pipeline but did not elaborate and urged both sides not to become discouraged by any setbacks in the meantime.

"We're working now on setting up a date for the next session and we would like to do it relatively soon ... Obviously to continue the momentum," he said Acehnese have long complained of abuses by GAM but their strongest criticism has been directed at the behaviour of the security forces in the province of four million people.

US mediator upbeat about peace in Aceh

Straits Times - August 9, 2002

Jakarta -- US retired General Anthony Zinni on Thursday said he was optimistic peace could prevail in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province if Jakarta and separatists push for talks.

Gen Zinni, Washington's Middle East envoy, met top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta after a three-day visit to Aceh in his capacity as a mediator between the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and Jakarta.

"I think this is a problem that can be resolved through dialogue and through hard work in the areas of security, political dimensions and security dimensions," he said.

"I think all sides are convinced that the way to peace is through dialogue and I'm convinced we have a momentum now," he said, adding all sides should cooperate to build the momentum into a peaceful resolution.

Asked if Jakarta's Aceh policy was on the right track, he said: "I believe it is. What we lacked in the past was a framework but now both sides are coming together and beginning to frame that." Mr Susilo has said a new Aceh policy would be announced this month. Last week President Megawati Sukarnoputri vowed tougher measures against the rebels while also offering dialogue.

Gen Zinni, an adviser to the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Centre that facilitated talks between Jakarta and the rebels since 2000, said Acehnese needed "a strong sense of security" and a mechanism to express their concerns.

The talks in Switzerland have yielded a series of fragile ceasefires that had only brief lifetimes, with both sides accusing each other of bad faith. GAM has been fighting for independence since 1976.

Gen Zinni said a date for the next round of talks had yet to be decided but he hoped it would be "relatively soon". Mr Susilo said the government would prefer the talks to be held in Aceh to involve all province parties.

The same day, GAM said government troops shot dead two high school students. They denied army claims that the victims were GAM members killed during an exchange of fire.

Independent domestic team seeks internal solution to Aceh

Jakarta Post - August 8, 2002

Jakarta -- An independent team of five prominent public figures is working to expedite a solution to the conflict in Aceh, advising the government not to impose a state of civil emergency on the restive province.

Team member and chairman of the country's second largest Muslim organization Muhammadiyah Syafi'i Maarif said on Thursday that the team had started to work a week ago. Syafi'i said he expected his team would make a viable counter to foreign efforts in bringing peace to Aceh.

"We always depend on foreigners because from domestic side, we don't have a counterpart to solve Aceh problems," Syafi'i said when asked to comment about the visit of retired US general Anthony Zinni to Aceh.

Syafi'i said he and others in the team were approached by Acehnese figures in Jakarta who asked them to help end the more than 25 year long conflict in Aceh. He did not say who the Acehnese were.

The others team members, Syafi'i said were noted Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid, former foreign minister Ali Alatas, former minister of home affairs Surjadi Soedirja, and former member of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI), Ali Yafie.

"Hopefully, five of us can work better," he said on the sidelines of a joint seminar by the Nadhlatul Ulama, the country's biggest Muslim organization, and American business consultancy company PT CastleAsia. Syafi'i said the team would provide inputs to the government and the public.

He added that in the week the team had worked, they advised the government against a civil emergency status. "The team is very independent, we work voluntarily," Syafi'i said.

A three-month standstill in peace talks and unabated violence spark concern the military might regain control over the province which suffers from human right abuses in the 10 years under the so-called Military Operations Area (DOM).

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has been fighting for independence in the province since 1976. The conflict has since claimed around 10,000 lives, many of whom are civilians, according to estimates by human rights bodies.

Negotiation with GAM since 1998 is at risk of collapsing amid a surge of violence over the past few months. In May, a deal to cease hostility and hold an all inclusive dialogue among Acehnese failed to materialize as both sides remain locked in sporadic gun fighting.

In a three-day visit earlier this week, advisor to the Geneva based Henry Dunant Centre (HDC), Zinni toured the province in hope to get both sides return to the negotiation table.

Zinni met on Wednesday Aceh's Iskandar Muda Military Commander Maj. Gen. Djali Yusuf, who asked the US mediator replace GAM negotiators with those owning greater authority.

The spokesman to the military command, Firdaus Komarno said Djali told Zinni the current GAM negotiators failed to get members of their group comply to agreements they reached over the table.

"They [GAM negotiators] have no authority to control their forces on the ground. That's why GAM cannot implement our agreements at the lower level," Firdaus quoted Djali as saying.

Earlier, Zinni met with GAM negotiators, local activists, and Aceh Police Chief Insp. Gen. Yusuf Manggabarani. By law the police is in charge of domestic security but the military is called in when facing armed groups such as GAM.

Around 40 members of a 140 strong anti-guerrilla troop of the police's elite force Brimob were sent off to Aceh on Wednesday, Antara reported. They will add to the 12,000 police members already present in Aceh.

The military has 21,000 members in Aceh and last month asked the government for another 4,000 soldiers -- a bid which at that time had gained a favorable response from the government and some legislators.

US general meets Aceh military commander

Agence France Presse - August 7, 2002

Retired US General Anthony Zinni held talks with the military chief of Indonesia's Aceh province as part of efforts to pave the way for more talks between Jakarta and separatist rebels.

The private one-hour meeting with Major General Djali Yusuf was held at military headquarters in the provincial capital. Zinni was accompanied by David Gorman and Andrew Marshall from the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Center which has been arranging peace talks in Switzerland since 2000.

Yusuf, quoted by his spokesman, told Zinni that in future peace talks the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) should send delegates who commanded the obedience of rebels in the field.

`"All this time GAM has presented those who have no control over their forces on the ground. Consequently what has been agreed during dialogue could not be implemented," spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Firdaus Komarno quoted Yusuf as saying. Ceasefires agreed during previous talks have always broken down, with both sides accusing each other of bad faith.

Komarno said the US general told Yusuf that he visited Aceh in his capacity as an advisor to the Henry Dunant Center not as a representative of the US government. Zinni and the center's officials left Aceh for Jakarta soon after the meeting. They are expected to meet government officials in the Indonesian capital.

Zinni, who arrived in the province Monday, has already met the Aceh police chief and rebel negotiators. He has also visited the Pidie district where insurgents are active. Zinni, the US Middle East envoy, has mediated in the previous talks in Geneva as one of three foreign "wise men".

Top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said a new Aceh policy would be announced this month. Last week President Megawati Sukarnoputri vowed tougher measures against the rebels while also offering dialogue.

An estimated 10,000 people have died during 26 years of separatist violence in the energy-rich province on Sumatra island. Two civilians were found dead with gunshot wounds at Meunasah Blang in North Aceh on Tuesday night, a local aid worker said.

The head of the Aceh Legal Aid Institute, Rufriadi Ramli, said that since the beginning of this year 845 civilians have been murdered in Aceh. He also said there have been 826 cases of arbitrary arrest and 1,164 cases of torture over the past seven months.

Rufriadi expressed concern over the spiralling violence and accused Jakarta of bad faith. "The government has always spoken of enforcing law in Aceh as part of their efforts to resolve the conflict but it seems that they are allowing these extra-judicial killings to happen," he told reporters.

Legislators renew calls for dialog to solve Aceh problems

Jakarta Post - August 8, 2002

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta -- Legislators at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) renewed their calls on Wednesday for the government to give priority to dialog in solving the Aceh problem.

"The President should continue dialog with GAM and other components of society in Aceh to peacefully settle the conflict," commission spokesman Alexander Litaay said in a plenary session.

The commission placed conflict settlement in Aceh at the top of its list of recommendations to President Megawati Soekarnoputri. Litaay of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle also said it was advisable for the government to move negotiations with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels from Switzerland to Indonesia.

The recommendation on Aceh was given in response to Megawati's progress report delivered in the MPR's plenary session last Thursday. Megawati promised tougher action against GAM as part of the government efforts to end the prolonged conflict.

The commission's recommendation on Aceh corresponded with the latest developments on the Aceh issue. Also on Wednesday, Muhammadiyah chairman A. Syafi'i Maarif revealed that the Acehnese community in Jakarta had asked several Muslim figures to mediate the dialog on Aceh.

The Muslim leaders are Syafi'i, former deputy chief of Nahdlatul Ulama Ali Yafie, Muslim scholar Nurcholis Madjid, former foreign minister Ali Alatas and former home affairs minister Surjadi Soedirdja.

Recent dialogs between the government and GAM were mediated by the Swiss-based Henry Dunant Centre. The center's three "wise men", including Anthony Zinni, a retired US general, are currently in Aceh to encourage both sides to continue the peace talks.

The commission also recommended the government protect the Acehnese from any kind of disturbance through the use of balanced, professional and cultural approaches.

"[The government should] uphold the law and settle the human rights violations by establishing a human rights investigation committee and an ad hoc tribunal," he said. Thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the prolonged armed conflict in Aceh.

Apart from Aceh, the commission also recommended the government settle human right violations in Papua and establish an ad hoc tribunal to end conflicts there.

He said the government should learn from the experience of Poso in Central Sulawesi and Maluku. Warring parties involved in the conflicts in the two provinces have agreed to end enmity and have strived to maintain the hard-won peace.

Dozens injured as police, refugees clash

Jakarta Post - August 7, 2002

Medan -- Hundreds of Acehnese refugees clashed with police and public order officers in the North Sumatra governor's office in Medan on Tuesday, a report said.

At least four people were seriously injured, dozens of others slightly wounded while several women fainted during the clash at 10.15am. The building was also damaged.

The fight erupted after Medan public order officers beat a refugee who tried to enter the governor's office. In retaliation for the beating, his supporters uprooted pot plants inside the building and threw them at police and public order officials.

The refugees, carrying sticks, also smashed windows in the office. The violence would have continued if leaders from both sides had not calmed their respective members down. The melee lasted 20 minutes.

The four people who suffered serious injuries were a refugee identified as Saliman, policeman Second Brig. H. Simatupang and public order officials Irwan Idris Siregar and Hadi Andoko.

US envoy's Aceh mission: Keep peace talks on track

Straits Times - August 7, 2002

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- Washington's Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni, now on a tour of Aceh, is pushing for peace talks to resolve the conflict between the Jakarta government and the rebels. But his efforts are likely to be hampered by Jakarta's plan for a new military operation to be announced soon, say observers.

General Zinni held talks with Aceh's police yesterday and visited the sensitive Pidie district, where troops said they had shot dead two rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) a day earlier.

Police chief Yusuf Manggabarani said the US envoy had been told that mediators should remain neutral. "We asked them to be neutral," he said, referring to the American envoy and two officials from the Swiss-based Henry Dunant Centre, which has been mediating between the rebels and the Indonesian government since 2000.

Recently, Aceh's military commander Djali Yusuf and government officials had criticised the two mediators for allegedly siding with the rebels. Analysts view such accusations as a sign that Jakarta has little faith in the peace talks and believes a tougher military operation could wipe out the rebel movement.

They also say President Megawati Sukarnoputri's tough speech at the People's Consultative Assembly last Friday where she said the government's policy was to restore peace "by crushing the armed separatist movement" has only added to speculation that the peace talks are a low priority.

Observers suspect Gen Zinni was invited by the Henry Dunant Centre to try and persuade the Indonesians not to abandon the peace talks as they "definitely need someone to give credibility to the peace process".

Religious leaders, as well as the Acehnese rebels, have also warned that an increased military operation would hurt the peace talks and increase opposition to Jakarta.

"If the government organises a military operation, then the confidence of the Acehnese community towards the government will disappear," said Mr Imam Sudja, the Aceh head of Indonesia's second-largest Muslim organisation Muhammadiyah.

"The victims will not be GAM but the people." Mr Imam is also a member of a team for monitoring violence, established as part of the peace negotiations. He said increased military operations would lead to more civilian victims because of poor military control over the troops.

"The government should speed up the solving the conflict by bringing the two sides to the negotiating table, not through a military solution," he said.

GAM negotiator Amni bin Ahmad Marzuki warned that launching another military operation would be "counter-productive" and destroy GAM's trust in the ongoing peace talks.

US envoy visits Aceh after two men shot dead

Agence France Presse - August 6, 2002

Retired US General Anthony Zinni set out for Aceh's sensitive Pidie district, where Indonesian troops said they shot dead two alleged separatist rebels a day earlier.

Zinni, who has mediated in talks between Indonesia's government and separatist rebels in Aceh, arrived in the province Monday as Jakarta said it was preparing for more discussions with the insurgents.

His trip to Pidie, about two hours from the capital Banda Aceh, followed a meeting Tuesday morning with Inspector General Yusuf Manggabarani, the provincial police chief.

Two officials from the Henry Dunant Centre (HDC) which has organised previous rounds of talks between the government and rebels in Geneva since 2000, accompanied the former Marine general during the closed-door session.

Zinni declined comment after the meeting, but Manggabarani told reporters that police reported the "real situation" in Aceh, where rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) have been waging a 26-year war for independence. "We asked HDC to be more neutral and transparent so a negative perception toward them doesn't occur," Manggabarani said.

The security forces in Aceh have previously questioned HDC's neutrality but Indonesia's foreign minister has said he is satisfied with its role.

Zinni then left Banda Aceh for Pidie. He was to return to the provincial capital late in the afternoon for talks with the Aceh military commander, Major General Djali Yusuf.

Yusuf's spokesman, Major Zaenal Muttaqin, said troops shot dead two men in their early twenties on Monday in Pidie's Puuk region after they allegedly opened fire. Muttaqin said troops seized a pistol, grenade and ammunition from the alleged rebels.

On Monday, Zinni held a closed-door meeting with GAM negotiators at the Banda Aceh hotel where they are based.

Amni bin Ahmad Marzuki, one of GAM's negotiators, told AFP they reported to Zinni their refusal to accept any government policy made outside of the agreement, reached in Geneva in May, for the Aceh problem to be settled through negotiations and a democratic process.

"If Jakarta makes a different policy other than what was agreed to last May, we will evaluate that as a way to shatter the dialogue process constructed since the year 2000," Marzuki said.

Jakarta's top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had said a new Aceh policy would be announced this month. Last week President Megawati Sukarnoputri vowed tougher measures against the rebels while also offering dialogue.

Marzuki said Zinni did not make any statements during his nearly one-hour meeting with the GAM negotiators. "He was more often silent and listened to our report."

In other violence Monday, Muttaqin said a man was found shot in the head near Lhokseumawe city in North Aceh. He said the victim was a GAM member. GAM's district spokesman, Teungku Jamaika, rejected the allegation.

An estimated 10,000 people have died during 26 years of fighting in Aceh. This year alone more than 600 people, most of them civilians, have been killed.

Activists, Acehnese say no to new military operation

Jakarta Post - August 5, 2002

Berni K. Moestafa and Nani Farida, Jakarta -- The government plans to announce today a new policy to quell the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in what many fear might revive the bloody history of military operations there and extend the long list of human rights abuses perpetrated against the Acehnese.

Ahead of the announcement, six bombs exploded on Saturday in a village in Jambo Aye district, North Aceh. A GAM official said that gunfights in the area had killed one civilian and wounded two others.

The surge of violence over the past few months has renewed the government's determination to crush the separatist movement it blames for instigating armed attacks and abducting civilians.

Over the weekend, activists and Acehnese, however, urged the government against resorting to repressive means in handling armed resistance in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province.

"Instituting repressive means reflects the ineptitude of Jakarta in coming up with an answer to the Aceh problem," said Munir, a co-founder of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KONTRAS), which monitors human rights violations in the troubled province.

There is concern that the government will impose a state of civil emergency, which would restrict civil rights and give the military greater control over the province.

Munir said that the security situation in Aceh had scarcely improved, but that this did not warrant a reinstatement of the massive military operations of the past. "A state of civil emergency will only spread violence and reinforce calls for independence among locals," he said.

GAM has been fighting since 1976 for an independent Aceh, which is home to rich natural resources, notably natural gas. Attempts to crush the group by declaring the province a Military Operations Area, or DOM by its Indonesian acronym, in 1989 ended 10 years after with deepened resentment against the military and greater calls for independence.

Activists and Acehnese have blamed the military for most of the gross human rights violations perpetrated throughout the province's 10 years as a Military Operations Area. Human rights bodies estimate that some 10,000 have died over the 25 years of the conflict, most of them civilians.

A spate of fresh violence, including the kidnapping of local athletes and the crew of a ship owned by the local unit of American oil and gas company ExxonMobil Corp., elicited a sharp response from Jakarta.

An exchange of fire occurred last Saturday, killing one civilian and wounding two others according to Abu Jamaika, GAM spokesman for the Pasee region.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri has urged the military to take resolute action, while Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono branded GAM a terrorist organization.

Susilo, who visited Aceh last month to seek input for the new policy, said he hoped for a peaceful solution, but later added that more troops should be sent to Aceh. Critics said that the sending of additional troops was tantamount to imposing a de facto civil emergency.

"What's the guarantee that if more troops are deployed it will be safer for us," asked Alyasa Abubakar, who heads the province's sharia office. His office is a product of Aceh's special autonomous status under which the province adopted Islamic law, and which was the government's answer to some Acehnese's demands for the introduction of sharia.

Another Acehnese, human rights activist Naimah Hasan, said she believed the security situation had improved somewhat compared to a year ago. "Many people hoist the red and white banner without fear," she said, referring to the officially organized custom of displaying the Indonesian flag ahead of the nation's independence day on August 17.

Student activists over the weekend also protested plans for any policy that gave the military a greater say in the province. The Student Coalition for Peace in Aceh (Kamada) said it was dismayed by the government's reluctance to negotiate with GAM, saying that dialog was the only solution. Talks have come to a halt as both sides disagree over the preconditions set by the opposing side for negotiations.

Activist Munir said the government's favoring of the military approach reflected the succumbing of the politicians to the wishes of the Indonesian Military (TNI).

The debate over a civil emergency in Aceh had little to do with the province itself, he said, citing that the security situation generally remained the same anyway. "What's happening is a power struggle by the military for greater political influence in Jakarta." Military analysts agreed that the government was treating the TNI more as a political powerhouse than a state institution it must regulate.

"It's [military solution] the easiest way for the government to handle the problem, but the ones suffering from this are the people of Aceh," said Munir.

Megawati's military approach on Aceh criticized

Jakarta Post - August 5, 2002

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta -- Several party factions at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) criticized on Saturday President Megawati Soekarnoputri's use of the military in Aceh, urging the president to prioritize dialog to settle the prolonged armed conflict.

The Islamic-based United Development Party (PPP), chaired by Vice President Hamzah Haz, urged the government to build security instead of fear in various conflict areas, especially in Aceh. Aceh is a PPP stronghold.

"People need peace, not fear brought about by military operations," faction spokesman Arif Mudatsir Mandan said while reading his party's general view of the progress report of Megawati.

The president delivered a progress report to the Assembly on Thursday, the first day of the Assembly's Annual Session. She promised tougher action against separatists, including in Aceh, as part of efforts to end conflicts throughout the country.

Arif said his faction proposed that peace negotiations between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which was earlier conducted in Switzerland, be moved to Indonesia. "It's time to move the negotiations here," he said, citing the inefficiency of the meetings in Switzerland.

Other factions, including the Regional Representatives' faction (FUD), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Reform factions, also criticized Megawati's policy on Aceh.

The FUD, which has 60 legislators in the Assembly, suggested dialog to settle the problem in Aceh. "We believe it [dialogue] could create a peaceful Aceh that is free from hatred," FUD spokesman Usman Sapta said at the plenary session.

The Reform faction, which consists of the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Justice Party, said that only through dialogue and negotiations, and by taking into account cultural aspects, could the government settle the Aceh conflict.

"Dialogue, negotiations, and cultural and welfare approaches as well as upholding the law and justice principles should be prioritized," Reform faction spokesman Ahmad Farhan Hamid, who hails from Aceh, told the plenary session.

The PKB faction meanwhile urged the government to take an approach that could create self-confidence among the Acehnese and build trust in the government. "The government has concentrated on the special autonomy issue, which is not the problem there," PKB spokeswoman Tari Siwi Utami said.

Thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the bloody conflict in the northern tip of Sumatra island as government forces try to crush the armed Acehnese separatists.

Rural issues

Farmers in limbo over falling price

Jakarta Post - August 5, 2002

Oyos Saroso H.N., Gunungsugih, Central Lampung -- Farmers in Lampung are clamoring for a higher base price for unhusked rice to compensate for the soaring price of fertilizer.

The price of rice now ranges from between Rp 1,025 (US 11 cents) and Rp 1,100 per kilogram in the districts of Gunungsugih, Bandarjaya and Seputih Rahman, Central Lampung and local farmers are in a quandary whether or not to carry on their loss-making farm business.

Subawa, 40, chairman of Central Lampung's Sri Munggah Farmers Group, recently confirmed the unfavorable situation. He pointed out that, excluding labor costs, the cost of fertilizer and other materials had doubled, so the government price should at least be at the same level.

In areas with transportation difficulties, like Rawajitu in Tanggamus regency, farmers had to sell their unhusked rice at only Rp 850 per kilogram, compared to the previous price of between Rp 1,400 and Rp 1,500 per kilogram.

Although this year's harvests have been sporadic and not bumper yields, a lot of farmers have found it hard to make ends meet. Riswandi, 51, a Bandarjaya farmer, claimed to be unable to manage his field and to have barely enough money for his children's education, Sarkam from Palas, South Lampung, could no longer afford to support his family properly.

Ramli, 31, a Trimurjo farmer in Central Lampung, said he spent Rp 2 million on seedlings, fertilizers and processing costs per hectare, which produced only five tons of wet unhusked rice with a gross profit of just Rp 3 million, which was meant to support him and his family for three months.

Ramli admitted he had no more money to grow paddy in the coming season because he would need at least four quintals of fertilizers worth Rp 430,000 and would have to pay handtractor operation fees as high as Rp 250,000 per hectare and buy more seedlings.

The unhusked rice price crash in Lampung's paddy production centers is inseparable from actions taken by the local middlemen, who monopolize the trade at the expense of the provincial logistics depot.

This group prevents external wholesale traders from contacting farmers directly and threatens not to buy from farmers who sell their products to other parties.

Suroto, 40, a rice mill owner in Abipura village, Trimurjo, also has to buy between three and four tons of unhusked rice every day from the mafia at Rp 1,100 per kilogram. Other buyers from Palembang, South Sumatra, and Bengkulu have to face the same group of local middlemen.

Meanwhile, Achmad Suryatna, head of the agriculture ministry's food resilience agency, indicated the government was preparing to advance Rp 170 billion to anticipate a further price plunge in the bumper harvest season of 2003, which has been approved by the House of Representatives.

The fund will be allocated to rice-growing regions in Indonesia through local administrations to finance the purchase of rice by cooperatives or rice mills from farmers at a government fixed price.

He said the average price of unhusked rice during the January to June period, as shown by the Central Board of Statistics, was Rp 1,519 per kilogram, still higher than the official floor price, though he admitted in some areas the price was lower due to off- season harvests.

A central government team is evaluating the present floor price, while the domestic price has also been maintained by imposing rice import duties.

'War on terrorism'

Preacher is behind radical network, report says

New York Times - August 10, 2002

Jane Perlez, Jakarta -- A militant preacher, who returned to Indonesia after years in exile, became the fulcrum for an even more radical network that wanted to establish a pan-Islamic state of several countries across Southeast Asia, according to a new report.

The preacher, Akbar Bashir, increased his contacts with Al Qaeda and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood while he was in Malaysia and had a hand in recruiting men for training in Afghanistan, the account says. Mr. Bashir, an Indonesian of Yemeni descent and well known here for his televised image of his white beard, white garb and big grin, remains the head of a boarding school here although the United States has asked Indonesia to arrest him.

The International Crisis Group, a private research group based in Brussels, released the report written by its director here, an American, Sidney Jones. An expert on Indonesian Islam, Ms. Jones was until recently the Asia director of Human Rights Watch. Her report delves into 30 years of activities by Islamic radicals, and paints a far more intricate picture of their work than that previously described by officials who have warned of Indonesia's vulnerability to Islamic extremism.

The network of Islamic teachers, some businessmen and militiamen was born of a rebellion by Islamic militants against the authoritarian rule of President Suharto, who came to power in the 1960's, the report found. The group coalesced in the 1970's and was given fresh impetus when Mr. Bashir, imprisoned by President Suharto, was released and then fled to Malaysia in the 1980's. He returned after the fall of President Suharto in 1998. He now runs a boarding school in central Java.

Because Indonesia remains a secular state, which the Bush administration is trying to exhibit as a model moderate Muslim country, and because it is often regarded as the "silent giant" of Southeast Asia with a long shadow over the region, the new information has attracted attention, Western diplomats said.

"Indonesia is the big prize for the militants in the Middle East," said an experienced diplomat here. "We know the militants here want to ultimately establish a pan-Islamic state of Indonesia, Malaysia and the southern part of the Philippines." The militants described in the Jones report were as well organized as old-fashioned Communist Party cells, and their relationship to Al Qaeda was akin to franchiser and franchisee, this diplomat said.

Ms. Jones describes a large cast of characters, some of whom she says went to radical Islamic centers in Germany and Holland, and traveled to Afghanistan for training.

Other than Mr. Bashir, the central players in her report are a confidant, Hambali, alias Riduan Isamuddin, who is thought to be Al Qaeda's main Indonesian contact; another colleague, Abu Jibril, who has been described as a financial conduit for Al Qaeda in the region; and Abdul Wahid Kadunnga, who looked after Mr. Bashir when he went into exile.

Of these four, the whereabouts of Mr. Kadunnga and Mr. Hambali remain a mystery, although Western officials believe they are hiding among the 13,000 islands that make up Indonesia. Mr. Jibril was arrested in Malaysia in January on charges of being part of a plot to blow up the American Embassy in Singapore.

Washington has urged Indonesia to arrest Mr. Bashir, but the government says it cannot find anything that he has done to violate Indonesian law. The government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri has indicated it is unprepared to antagonize the Islamic political parties by arresting him.

Mr. Bashir began as a charismatic teacher who attracted like- minded militant teachers and students to the school he founded in the 1970's in the village of Ngruki just outside Solo, a city with a tradition of extremism. At that time, he established Jemaah Islamiyah, the precursor to an organization of the same name that, according to the government of Singapore, he recalibrated in Malaysia.

Thirteen members of that organization were arrested in January on charges of plotting to blow up the American Embassy in Singapore. Eight of the 13 reportedly had training in Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, Ms. Jones notes in her report.

Even before he worked in Malaysia, Mr. Bashir was intent on encouraging his followers to take violent action, she asserts. In the early days of his school, one of the lecturers wrote a book urging Muslims to go to war against enemies of Islam.

While Ms. Jones presents many details on the Islamic network, much of it garnered from Islamic publications and sources, as well as records from the Indonesian courts, she counsels care in how the West should deal with Indonesia. (Her document includes a list of 44 names of people she cites as having some involvement with Mr. Bashir's activities or having been inspired by them.)

For now, she writes: "Indonesia is not a terrorist hotbed. Proponents of radical Islam remain a small minority." But she adds, "Even a tiny group of people can cause an immense amount of damage." The challenge, she concluded, is for Indonesia and its allies to "be alert to the possibility of individuals making common cause with international criminals" without undermining the country's fragile democracy.

Repression by the Suharto government gave birth to the network and repression now could serve to invigorate it, she added.

'US anti terrorist aid should help moderates not military'

Jakarta Post - August 5, 2002

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta -- Prominent Muslim scholars are urging the United States to shift its counter-terrorism aid from Indonesia's notorious military to moderate Muslim groups promoting human rights and democracy.

They also dismissed suggestions by foreign media that pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) and Islamic universities here were producing radical Muslims.

Azyumardi Azra, rector of Jakarta's State Islamic University (UIN) said that to fight terrorism the US should invest in the moderation of Muslims rather than in empowerment of the military.

Many of the traditional Islamic boarding schools were teaching moderate Islam, Azyumardi said on Saturday. He said the US needed to assist moderate organizations in their research and training bodies to promote moderation.

Last week visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell promised Indonesia US$50 million as part of its global campaign against terrorism. Most of the money, which requires Congress approval, would go to upgrade the police's capability in meeting terrorism threats, with only a fraction going to the Indonesian Military (TNI).

Although praised by Powell, Indonesia is seen as slow in clamping down on suspected terrorists. Neighbors like Singapore now fear the vast archipelago has become a hiding ground for international terrorists.

Indonesia is the world's biggest Muslim nation, with a vast moderate population which has been a bulwark against radicalism. Still, the minority of radicals with anti-US beliefs are the most visible, which adds to the impression that Indonesia is a hotbed for terrorism.

Azyumardi said that if Washington wanted to help Indonesia, it should focus on empowering Indonesia's national education on democracy, human rights and religious tolerance.

Convincing the US to extend aid that would end up funding Indonesia's Islamic boarding schools however may not come easy.

A large cache of fighters from the Afghanistan based Al-Qaeda group, whom the US has blamed for the September 11 terrorist strike, come from Islamic boarding schools in Pakistan.

"Pesantren and Islamic universities [in Indonesia] are in fact turning out Muslims with moderate thoughts and strong religious tolerance because they perceive Islam as a social phenomenon," Azyumardi said.

He said Muslim extremists here often emerged and spread in major science-oriented universities such as the University of Indonesia, the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) and the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).

Syafii Maarif, chairman of the country's second largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, echoed Azyumardi's remarks, saying many Muslim students and graduates from science universities or institutes turned to extremism as they did not learn about Islam comprehensively. "They perceive Islam merely as white and black. Actually, Islam should not be understood in such a way," Syafii said.

Both Azyumardi and Syafii were asked to comment on Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman Hasyim Muzadi's call for the US to support Indonesia's majority of moderate Muslims in countering extremism and terrorism by fostering progressive education and cultural- oriented programs.

Hasyim, speaking after meeting with Powell on Friday, said foreign aid was needed to strengthen the moderates in their efforts to counter radical groups.

"There are [people] who fund the radicals, but who is funding the moderates?" he asked, referring to widespread suspicions that certain elements within the Indonesian Military (TNI), or even perhaps from overseas, fund extremist groups such as the Laskar Jihad and the Islam Defenders Front (FPI).

Hasyim, Syafii, and Azyumardi, prominent Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid and popular preacher Abdullah Gymnastiar held a meeting with Powell here on Friday.

As the nation's two largest Muslim organizations, NU and Muhammadiyah -- representing a combined membership of some 70 million people -- are both known for their moderation. Muslim scholars have repeatedly urged them to take the lead in countering extremism.

Syafii said he agreed with the idea to redesign the national education system to promote moderate stances among students and enlighten them.

Government & politics

Jakarta rejects Muslim law and alters presidential voting

New York Times - August 11, 2002

Jane Perlez, Jakarta -- Indonesia's highest legislative body, after rebuffing calls to impose Islamic law here in the world's largest Muslim country, closed its annual session today with constitutional changes aimed at enhancing the democratic nature of the state.

The rejection of a proposal to introduce Islamic Shariah law came even before it was put to a vote by the 700-member People's Consultative Assembly. The party of Vice President Hamzah Haz, the United Development Party, one of the main proponents of Shariah law, and two of its coalition partners withdrew the Shariah amendment when it became clear that it would lose.

Indonesia has a history, dating to the turbulent politics of independence in the mid-1940's, of resisting Shariah as the law of the land. In 1945, the architects of the Constitution specifically dropped a push for an Islamic state, and insisted that the new nation be secular.

There was little doubt that the effort by high-volume but relatively weak Islamic parties would fail again this time. The country's two main Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, both preach a tolerant form of Islam and oppose the establishment of a theocracy.

But in the context of heightened anxiety in Southeast Asia about the country becoming a center of Islamic militants, the latest rejection of Islamic law sent a reassuring signal.

After their defeat, the proponents of an Islamic state vowed to keep up their campaign. "This time, we're in front of a great wall that can't be penetrated but we won't surrender," said Najih Ahjad, a member of the Crescent Star Party. "We vow before God and the Muslim society that we'll keep on fighting."

The most fundamental changes decided at the assembly's two-week session were the abolition of parliamentary seats reserved for the military and provisions for the direct election of the president.

The absence of the armed forces from the Parliament would at least symbolize a reduced role for the institution that ran the authoritarian state from the mid-1960's until the fall of Gen. Suharto in 1998.

Under constitutional amendments approved by the consultative assembly, the military and the police would have until 2004 to give up the 38 seats they now hold.

There appeared to be little opposition from military leaders to the move. The military still retains huge influence in the country, and its senior members remain heavily involved in businesses, including logging, hotels and general trading. President Megawati Sukarnoputri pays more attention to and enjoys more support from the military than did her predecessor, the Muslim cleric Wahid Abdurrahman.

The session also approved constitutional amendments calling for direct presidential elections. Up to now, the president and vice president have been chosen by the consultative assembly, which consists of 500 legislators from the national Parliament and 200 nonelected representatives. The next presidential elections are to be held in 2004. Parliament must enact supporting legislation of the assembly's decisions on changing the Constitution.

Indonesia held its first free general election in four decades in 1999, a year after President Suharto was ousted from office. The consultative assembly chose Mr. Wahid as president even though Mrs. Megawati's party was a big winner in the election. The party fell short of an absolute majority, however.

In July 2001, the assembly removed the erratic Mr. Wahid from the presidency and elevated Mrs. Megawati, his vice president and the popular daughter of the nation's founding leader, Sukarno.

Assembly opts for direct presidential vote, no sharia

Agence France Presse - August 11, 2002

Indonesia's highest consultative assembly wrapped up its 10-day annual meeting, approving its fourth series of constitutional amendments since 1999, including on direct presidential elections and ruling against imposing sharia law for Muslims.

In a plenary that dragged long past its scheduled closure, some 600 assembly members present voted on the last point of contention: whether the assembly should only consist of elected members.

The vote ruled in favor of scrapping all non-elected seats at the assembly by 2001 [other reports cite 2004 - JB], including the 38 held by the military and police and 73 seats of the "interest faction" representative of major non-political mass groupings.

Chairman of the "interest faction" Harun Kamil said he accepted the result of the vote "with the feeling that it is the way it's supposed to be." He received a round of applause as he stepped off the podium Earlier, assembly chairman Amien Rais passed by acclaim 16 amendements which had been already agreed by separate commissions of the assembly, including on direct presidential elections.

It also agreed, without a vote but after a 20 minute break to allow lobbying, to drop efforts to add to a constitutional clause on religion to make it an obligation for Muslims to follow sharia law or for every citizen to practice their religion.

"Factions which had initially proposed alternatives besides the current one have now, with a spirit of statemanship and tolerance ... agreed that it is better to return to what is already there," said Rais. Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim-populated nation but the constitution gives an equal footing to all religions.

Sharia is already partially implemented in the staunchly Muslim province of Aceh as part of a broad autonomy granted by the government last year in an effort to curb separatist sentiments there.

The partial sharia in Aceh obliges women to cover their head and insists businesses and activities stop for the day's five prayers, and for Friday prayers.

Pressure to push for the sharia for the country's Muslims was spearheaded by the United Development Party, the largest Muslim party currently chaired by Vice President Hamzah Haz, and several smaller Islamic parties.

The small Crescent and Star Party officially stated that they did not take part in the decision making while several other assembly members also objected to the decision.

Another thorny issue, the use of the word "indigenous' in the assembly's recommendation to the government on the improvement in the economy, was the subject of heated debate before the floor unanimously agreed to drop the term that many say carried a prejudiced connotation.

"Indigenous" is used to describe native Indonesians while non- indigineous usually designates Indonesians of ethnic Chinese descent.

One of the main reforms agreed by all was to gradually eliminate all form of discrimination, including against ethnic Chinese who have often become the target of unrest.

The decision for a direct presidential and vice presidential elections in 2004 was also agreed by all 12 factions at a People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

They also agreed that should no single pair of vice presidential candidates win more than 50 percent of the total in the first round of elections, the people will elect one of two pairs who win most votes.

At present the president and vice-president are elected by the 700-strong MPR. This is made up of 500 members of the lower house of parliament who include the unelected military/police deputies, plus regional and 73 unelected group representatives.

Other amendements covered the composition of a triumvirate to take over the presidency and the dissolution of the Supreme Advisory Council which has advised the president on major policies. The annual meeting will officially close at a plenary later Sunday.

MPR nod for direct presidential polls

Straits Times - August 10, 2002

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- Indonesians could get to elect their next president directly in 2004 after the country's highest legislative body yesterday approved a change to the Constitution.

Although the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) will formally sign off on the amendments today, the proposed changes to the way in which the country's top leader is chosen will not take immediate effect.

That is because the Indonesian parliament -- whose members also serve in the MPR -- still has to enact, debate and approve a raft of supporting legislation over the next year before direct presidential elections can become a reality.

Direct presidential elections are a controversial issue here and have been the focus of fierce debate in the past few weeks.

Last month even President Megawati Sukarnoputri -- who would be one of the strongest contenders and a virtual certainty to win a direct election -- said she did not think Indonesians were ready for a direct vote in 2004. She suggested that it would be better to delay the process until 2009.

Her view was surprising given that she was denied the presidency in 1999 -- despite her party winning the most votes in the general election -- because Muslim parties in the MPR formed an alliance and backed Mr Abdurrahman Wahid instead.

Among the major questions that were thrown up during the MPR debate was how the president would be chosen if no candidate gained 51 per cent of the votes in the first round of an election.

Some parties backed a proposal where the assembly would then choose the president. But this was criticised by some major parties, including the former ruling Golkar, as being no different from the existing system, where the MPR has the power to elect and dismiss presidents.

This week, the assembly agreed that in a second-round vote, the public would choose between the finalists in the presidential race. Parliament will still need to enact legislation on how many candidates will be put forward for the final vote.

Last month, in a wide-ranging poll, a majority of Indonesians rejected Islamic leadership for their country. The poll of more than 4,000 Indonesians showed support for an alliance between Ms Megawati and Chief Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for the 2004 elections.

Ms Megawati's PDI-P party drew the most support from those polled -- 29.4 per cent -- followed by 27 per cent who had no preference. MPR Speaker Amien Rais and his PAN party was next with 19.8 per cent while Vice-President Hamzah Haz's Muslim-based United Development Party trailed with 6.6 per cent.

Government must reduce dependency on donors

Jakarta Post - August 9, 2002

Ahmad Junaidi and Fitri Wulandari, Jakarta -- The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Commission B asserted on Thursday that it was not seeking to terminate Indonesia's relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but for the government to improve its bargaining position in dealing with donor agencies.

Commission members also clarified earlier reports that the Assembly had plans to recommend that Indonesia end the relationship. Several factions, however, had asked that termination of the contract with the IMF be specifically put in the draft economic recovery decree being deliberated by Commission B.

"We are a member [of the IMF], therefore, we can't quit our membership. We have the right to benefit from the IMF's assistance," commission member Faisal Baasir told reporters on the sidelines of a plenary session on Thursday.

Faisal said the commission underlined the need for Indonesia to improve its bargaining position with regard to donor agencies, including the IMF.

Initially, Indonesia's loan contract was due to expire this year but the government decided late last year to extend the contract until 2003.

Syamsul Balda, another member of Commission B from the Reform faction, said it would push for a termination of the contract with the IMF when it expired.

"We don't want to extend the contract with the IMF because it has not brought improvements to our economy," he said, adding that Indonesia must reduce its dependency on the IMF.

The termination of the IMF contract has become a hot issue at the Assembly's Annual Session. State Minister for National Development Planning Kwik Kian Gie has been among those favoring the contract's termination. Many legislators have given support to the proposal, saying the IMF prescription to improve the economy was not working.

The draft economic recovery decree is being debated at the Commission B plenary session. On Wednesday, the six-member drafting team discussed a recommendation for the government to review relations with donor agencies, with options ranging from correcting imbalanced positions to cutting ties with the IMF.

However, in the final draft, the team decided to only recommend a review of government policy on donor agencies to improve its bargaining position. The final draft does not mention the names of the donor agencies. "We don't want to strain our relationship with the IMF," Faisal said.

Indonesia joined the IMF in 1967. However, it was not until the economic crisis in 1997 that Indonesia decided to ask for IMF assistance. The government of President Soeharto signed the first Letter of Intent along with the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP), which consisted of 48 programs, on October 31, 1997.

Initially, President Soeharto was reluctant to ask for IMF assistance for fear it would negatively affect his children's and cronies' businesses. However, as the economy continued deteriorating and the rupiah rate soaring up to around Rp 16,000 per US dollar in January 1998 from Rp 2,500 in mid 1997, Soeharto gave in and signed the agreement.

Indonesia has since signed five LOIs. The IMF website says that as of June this year the government has secured US$1.9 billion of $3.6 billion in approved loan.

Mega pressured to cut IMF ties

Straits Times - August 9, 2002

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- Indonesia's highest legislative body is likely to call on the government to end ties with the International Monetary Fund, arguing that its prescriptions are not suitable for the country.

But the National Assembly (MPR) will ask President Megawati Sukarnoputri at its sitting today to end such ties only after the existing agreement with the fund expires in 2003 and not before.

In a climate of increasingly nationalist rhetoric, several politicians as well as National Development Planning Minister Kwik Kian Gie have criticised Jakarta's dependence on the IMF in recent months.

This week, legislators from the National Assembly said they would ask the government to end ties with the IMF and other foreign donors.

"We have been working with the IMF for years, and it has caused us a lot of disadvantages and few benefits. The IMF prescriptions were unsuitable for this country," said Mr Syamsul Balda, a legislator from the parliamentary commission drafting a series of recommendations for the government.

Such recommendations would be presented to the President at the end of the assembly's annual meeting this weekend. But political analysts point out that none of the recommendations is binding.

The IMF has been coordinating a US$5 billion assistance package for Indonesia since 1998 in return for promises of economic reforms which are spelt out periodically in letters of intent.

While some local news reports have suggested that the MPR will advise the government to cut ties before the current agreement ends, officials from the Co-ordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs say today's recommendation will instead call on the government to develop an exit strategy for Indonesia's economic management once the agreement expires.

"As far as we understand, the deliberation from Parliament is advice for the government on to how to deal with the agreement after it expires," said Mr Mahendra Siregar, a spokesman for the ministry. "As far as relations with the IMF are concerned, there is no other alternative," he added.

The most recent debt re-scheduling agreement with the IMF was signed by Finance Minister Boediono in December last year and could not be re-scheduled again or broken, he said.

Another legislator from the parliamentary commission said the MPR would not ask the government to abort the IMF agreement but just make recommendations. "The government should make efforts to prepare the best possible exit plan so that there are no financial shake-ups," said legislator Alex Litaay.

Two months ago when the Economic Ministry announced it had renewed an agreement with the IMF last year, Mr Kwik, a former economic czar, as well as other politicians including Vice- President Hamzah Haz, had called on the government to drop the agreement.

The IMF agreement is often criticised by politicians, who argue that its privatisation requirements would mean sale of state assets to foreign companies.

Meanwhile, Mr Kwik, after meeting representatives of the IMF on Wednesday, told reporters that he disagreed with the fund's assessment of Indonesia's economy and ways to improve it.

"The IMF says the development of the macro economy will bring happiness. I said to them I hope that is so. But I have a different opinion," he said.

MPR likely to recommend ending relations with IMF

Jakarta Post - August 8, 2002

Fitri Wulandari, Jakarta -- The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) is likely to recommend the government to cut ties with international donor agencies, particularly the International Monetary Fund (IMF), by 2003.

"All factions have agreed that the government must review relations with international donor agencies," Syamsul Balda of the Reform Faction and a member of the drafting team at Commission B of the MPR Annual Session, said on Wednesday.

Syamsul said that a review of relations with donor agencies would include the possibility of ending ties with the IMF because they decided that it had contributed to the country's economic disasters. The planned recommendation will be finalized during a plenary session on Thursday.

Syamsul said his faction would also push for a termination of ties with the IMF. "We have been working with the IMF for years, and it has caused us a lot of disadvantages and few benefits. The IMF prescriptions were unsuitable for this country," Syamsul said.

The discussion on the IMF and other donor bodies was part of the deliberations to draft an economic recovery decree, which was still being discussed by Commission B. The commission's plenary session is expected to approve the draft.

The recommendation to end the country's ties with the IMF also received support from Commission C which is tasked with discussing the progress report by the President and the state's high institutions. "We support the government moves to end dependence on the IMF," said Paskah Suzetta, a Commission C member.

Last year, the government decided to extend its loan commitment with the IMF until 2003. It was part of a US$5 billion loan package to Indonesia. So far, the government has only been issued $2.6 billion of the package, due mostly to weak compliance with IMF reforms.

The Fund's reform prescriptions to lift the country's economy center on cleaning up corruption and the restoration of the private sector, including reforming the banking system, corporate restructuring, privatizing state-owned enterprises (SOEs), as well as intensifying reform efforts in the judicial system.

These prescriptions have not worked well for Indonesia. The privatization of SOEs, for example, which it is hoped can raise Rp 6.5 trillion for this year's state budget, has only managed to secure Rp 2.15 trillion due to opposition from regions and legislators over what they claim is the sale of state assets to foreigners.

Both Syamsul and Paskah said that the commission would encourage the government to immediately set up an exit policy in anticipation of the endorsement of the recommendation. "The government should prepare exit plans so as not to cause monetary disturbances," Paskah said.

Elsewhere, Syamsul said that the drafting team had narrowed its recommendation to accelerate economic recovery in the fiscal, monetary and real sectors. While refusing to give details on the draft, Syamsul said that the draft was better than the initial one as it also included recommendations to reduce poverty and unemployment.

Meanwhile, the Reform Faction, in its statement, on Wednesday urged the government to focus on accelerating economic recovery in tourism and agriculture, saying that both industries only needed small investments to provide employment and yield results.

Corruption/collusion/nepotism

Jakarta suspends 'corrupt' judges in Manulife case

Straits Times - August 8, 2002

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- Three Indonesian judges involved in the high-profile and controversial bankruptcy case of a Toronto-based insurer have been suspended on charges of corruption, an indication that Jakarta is acting to clean up one of the world's most corrupt legal systems.

The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights said on Tuesday that a presidential decree dismissed the judges of the Jakarta Commercial Court temporarily.

This is pending an investigation into allegations that they received bribes to slap a bankruptcy verdict on Asuransi Jiwa Manulife Indonesia last month. It was later overturned by the Supreme Court.

Justice Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said that an inspector- general attached to the ministry had recommended that Ms Kristi Purnamiwulan, Mr Cahyono and Mr Hasan Basri be 'dishonourably discharged from their position as judges' after concluding that they were guilty of "disgraceful deed and violating their oath of office". "After I read the report from the inspector-general, I agreed with him," he said.

An independent disciplinary board would recommend to the High Court in 30 days whether or not to sack the judges, while police would investigate the case, he said. The judges maintain their innocence, with Ms Kristi and Mr Cahyono planning a lawsuit against the government.

The decision has won praise in a country where the law- enforcement and judiciary systems are seen as the most corrupt institutions.

Lawyer Frans Hendra Winarta told The Straits Times: "They deserve heavy sanction. It's time President Megawati Sukarnoputri's government and the Supreme Court imposed punishment to corrupt judges to deter others." In the past, similar cases often ended with judges being moved to non-judiciary positions at the Justice Ministry, where some proceeded to make money as "case brokers", acting as middleman between judges and the plaintiffs or defendants, he said.

Meanwhile, the US envoy to Jakarta, Mr Ralph Boyce, yesterday praised the Indonesian government's efforts to reform its legal system in the past year.

"It's not an easy task, but in the last year the Indonesian government has done more to root out corruption, to try those responsible for past crimes, to make the justice system work, than at any time in Indonesia's history," he said.

His comment came after grimmer remarks on the justice system. US Secretary of State Colin Powell last week urged Jakarta to intensify efforts to clean up its courts to woo back investors.

Last month, United Nations investigator Param Cumaraswamy said widespread corruption had undermined both local and foreign confidence in the legal system.

But most other Indonesian judges appeared distraught at the latest development, arguing that the government had violated the law.

Indonesian Judges Association chairman Toton Suprapto said the judges should have been given the chance to defend themselves before a disciplinary board prior to their dismissal.

He said: "It's not that we are protesting the move or protecting the three judges, but it is not right to make a move at the expense of breaking the existing laws."

`400 million rupiah in Bulog fund used for press coverage'

Jakarta Post - August 7, 2002

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta -- An advisor at the office of the Vice President said on Tuesday that he had asked for Rp 400 million to produce favorable media reports for then president BJ Habibie.

La Ode Kamaluddin, who is also a member of the People's Consultative Assembly's interest group faction, denied that the money, disbursed by the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), was spent on the campaign for former president B.J. Habibie, who eventually lost in the 1999 election.

La Ode was testifying at the trial of Bulog former chief, Rahardi Ramelan, who is accused of misusing Rp 62.9 billion of Bulog's funds. The trial was held at South Jakarta District Court.

La Ode said, however, that he had approved a proposal from a group called Sabang-Merauke Development Forum for Objective Coverage, which was planning to organize a democracy development program.

"I just wanted to help my friends [in the forum] to obtain funding, so I handed over the proposal to Pak Khalid in September 1999. Later in October, he gave me several checks," he said, referring to former inspector general of the ministry of industry and trade Khalid Ghazali.

At the previous hearing, Kholid said La Ode had submitted a proposal asking for Rp 600 million for the program. However, Bulog approved only Rp 400 million for it.

According to the proposal signed by La Ode, the money was needed to pay 25 electronics and print media for 14 consecutive days of coverage to counter unfavorable reports on Habibie's administration.

La Ode said Habibie knew nothing about the proposal. He also said he did not know where the money came from. "I have no idea about who was the source of the money as I didn't see Bulog's name on the checks," he said, adding that he obtained four checks from Khalid worth Rp 100 million each.

One of the checks went to Ita Yulia Lestari, the treasurer of the Sabang-Merauke Discussion Forum, and the other Rp 300 million was given to a member of the forum, said La Ode.

When asked whether the forum had channeled the funds to the media, La Ode replied, "The forum was supposed to supply articles to the media, and the money was supposed to be given to the writers, but we lacked writers so we converted the program into discussions. It was only a public relations attempt." La Ode, who has known Rahardi since 1992, said that he rarely met Rahardi or Habibie. He said he had never met Rahardi to talk about the proposal despite Khalid's earlier testimony that he brought La Ode to meet Rahardi.

But Rahardi said in response to La Ode's testimony that he and La Ode had a relatively close relationship as they both work for the Habibie center, a research center established by Habibie. "Before he handed over the proposal, Pak Habibie called me, telling me about La Ode, who was about to visit me," he said.

Many believe that the money was used to finance Golkar party's campaign in the 1999 election. Golkar had named Habibie for its presidential candidate.

Regional/communal conflicts

North Maluku violence leaves one dead

Jakarta Post - August 9, 2002

Oktovianus Pinontoan, Ambon -- Two bomb explosions in North Maluku's Tobelo district and fresh clashes between two villages on Wednesday left one dead and several houses burned, military reports said.

A mob from Gorua village attacked the neighboring Wari village following the blasts, marking the first violent reaction to a string of bomb explosion this year.

Marine personnel deployed in the area tried but failed to prevent a group of Gorua locals armed with handmade weapons storming Wari village, said Maluku military command spokesman Maj. Herry Suhardi.

Gorua villagers burned down 13 houses and two offices, and only left the scene after soldiers started to take action.

Sabri Islam, whose hails neither from Gorua or Wari but from the village of Samsuge, died in the incident. The cause of his death or the party which killed him has not been established. A Wari local, Dance Duan, 35, was shot in the right foot.

"The perpetrators are being hunted down ... the situation had returned to normal by 2pm," Herry said. It was not immediately clear what prompted the Gorua villagers to initiate the attack.

Head of a human rights body in Tobelo, Nofino Lobiua, said in a statement that the clash ensued after a car passing Gorua was stoned by an unidentified group. At about the same time a bomb explosion and a series of gun shots were heard in the area between the villages.

Meanwhile in Tobelo, the Marines were holding a handover ceremony from Marine Task Force IV to Marine Task Force V.

Maluku has been the scene of communal fighting between Christians and Muslims since 1999. Although Indonesia is a majority Muslim country, Muslims only make up about half the population in Maluku.

Life in the conflict-torn province has been gradually returning to normal after both sides signed a government-brokered peace accord last February. A series of bomb explosions since have threatened to shatter the fragile peace accord.

Violence erupts in 'calm' Sulawesi

Straits Times - August 8, 2002

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- Violence has erupted again in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province just as Mr Yusuf Kalla, the chief welfare minister and architect of two peace deals in the strife-torn eastern islands, said the worst was over in these regions.

A few Christian villages in Poso, Sulawesi, had come under attack since last weekend, reports said. At least 2,100 people were evacuated from Matako and several other villages after an attack by groups of white-robed youths in the early hours of Sunday, said the Christian Crisis Centre in Tentena. No casualties were reported.

Then on Tuesday, a group of nine men arrived, shooting at random and throwing Molotov cocktails in another attack on the village of Malitu, said police spokesman Adjunct Senior Commissioner Agus Sugianto. Several houses caught fire but no one was hurt, he said. About 500 people fled from the village, according to aid groups.

The attacks seemed to contradict Mr Yusuf's statement on Tuesday that sectarian conflicts in the eastern Moluccas and nearby Sulawesi islands were cooling down.

"The worst is over. There have been many explosions, but people are calm and there is no more frontal tension," said the minister who spearheaded the Malino agreement, a peace deal signed last December between the warring factions in Central Sulawesi, and an Ambon peace agreement signed last April.

Police have confirmed the attacks but refused to say whether Laskar Jihad, the Java-based Muslim militant group which has established a presence here, was involved.

A non-government group, the Human Rights Advocacy and Legal Studies Institute (LPS-HAM), also confirmed the attacks but said the identity of the attackers or their motives could not be established.

An aid worker blamed the escalation of violence on the local authorities' failure to expel the Laskar Jihad and to prosecute the local culprits in the recent attacks.

"The incidents are never solved," she said. "There is a mysterious sniper or a bomb goes off but these are never investigated and solved." The number of violent incidents had been increasing steadily since June when the military reduced the number of troops in Central Sulawesi, she added.

Military and police also appear unwilling to crack down and arrest youths stirring the violence in the wake of attacks, according to LPS-HAM investigators. They said there were 16 soldiers stationed in Matako at the time of the attack but they failed to stop it.

Some, however, blame the re-emergence of the conflict on the government's failure to enforce the Malino pact. "We don't agree with Malino because the government violates it all the time," said Mr Arsarson Panjitti, from the investigation team at the Christian Crisis Centre.

1,200 flee Poso villages

Jakarta Post - August 7, 2002

Palu/Makassar -- At least seven people were shot and wounded, four others missing and two churches and 27 houses burned to the ground in the worst violence to hit Poso in Central Sulawesi since a peace deal was signed eight months ago, signatories and activists said on Tuesday.

No casualties were reported, but at least four people -- Z. Doda, 26, Olmas Daya, 27, Yohan Ewakola, 21, and Cecen Mangiri, 20 -- were reported missing after the attack.

Sulaiman Mamar, a signatory of the peace agreement, was quoted by Antara as saying the attack was launched on Matako village in Tojo subdistrict, 40 kilometers from Poso, early on Sunday.

Activists from the Human Rights Advocacy and Legal Studies Institute (LPS-HAM) based in the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu, said the violence broke out at 3:30 a.m. It remains unclear who the attackers were.

They said around 1,200 people, mostly Christians, from Matako and the neighboring villages of Galuga, Malei-Lage and Tongkoyang, had fled and taken refuge in Tentena under coordination by the local crisis center.

The evacuation of the refugees, mostly women and small children, continued on Monday using 20 trucks and public buses. Muslims residents in Matako also sought protection in safer areas in Poso.

The activists said five of the seven people shot were women. All the victims were receiving intensive medical treatment at the Tentena public hospital.

The activists said the attackers not only set two churches on fire, but also cut off the road connecting Poso, Palu and the Banggai Regency for at least 16 hours.

Also on Sunday, a series of fresh bombings rocked Poso. The targets included the house of Poso legislative council speaker Murad U. Nasir. The kitchen and rear of the building were severely damaged.

The latest attacks were a clear plot by extremists to disrupt the peace accord signed last December by both Muslim and Christian leaders in the hill resort of Malino in South Sulawesi.

Mamar condemned the Matako violence and urged security authorities to capture and take firm action against the attackers. "It's too much," he said, noting that the attack was the worst since the signing of the peace pact.

He said the authorities should anticipate further incidents as retaliatory attacks could occur. The latest incident was a serious insult to the Poso security authorities, the Malino signatories and the local administration as it took place just one day after they parties met to evaluate the town's security on Saturday.

Those attending the meeting, held at the Central Sulawesi governor's office, declared that social and security conditions in Poso were improving after the peace deal. "But the reality tells a different story," Mamar said.

As the meeting took place on Saturday, Sukirman, a Muslim figure in Poso, was found decapitated with stabbed several times.

Meanwhile, Wirabuana Military Commander Maj. Gen. Amirul Isnaeni, overseeing security in Sulawesi, said on Tuesday that the local military in cooperation with the local administration was looking into the alleged presence of outside forces in Poso. "We will investigate it," he said.

Foreign soldiers have reportedly arrived in Poso for unexplained reasons and motives. A dozen operatives from the Army's elite special forces, Kopassus, specializing in intelligence were sent there to investigate the reports.

Isnaeni said he has no plans to deploy troops to assist security authorities in Poso despite the increasing violence.

Local & community issues

Dumai residents threaten to seize oil refinery

Jakarta Post - August 8, 2002

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta -- Residents of the Riau town of Dumai threatened on Wednesday to block the operations of an oil refinery belonging to state-owned Pertamina unless a local is appointed general manager.

The threat is serious, the field coordinator of the Dumai People's Forum (Formad), Ruslan, told Antara news agency. He said local residents would seize the refinery and prevent foreign ships from loading and unloading oil at the site.

The threat was made during two days of protests by Formad activists, who occupied the Pertamina office in Dumai and prevented employees from working.

However, activities at the refinery continued as usual on Wednesday, and the protesters allowed employees to get back to their work following negotiations with security officers.

But the protesters said if Pertamina's executive board in Jakarta did not respond positively to their demand by Wednesday afternoon, they would make good on their threat to seize the refinery. Ruslan said local residents would reject anyone appointed by Pertamina's executive board as general manager of its Dumai operations.

Formad has demanded that Syamsirwan, a local engineer, be appointed to replace the unnamed general manager recently appointed by Pertamina, who served a similar role at an oil refinery in East Kalimantan.

The protest has won the support of the Dumai mayoralty administration, which has lashed out at the Pertamina management for failing to heed the desires of local residents.

Dumai Mayor Wan Syamsir Yus said he supported demands for Pertamina to appoint Syamsirwan as general manager of the firm's local operations.

"It is strange that Pertamina has not listened to the people's demand .... So they [people] took this action in Dumai," Syamsir Yus said as quoted by Antara.

The mayor said that although Syamsirwan was not a native of Dumai, being born in Tembilahan subdistrict, Indragiri Hilir regency, also in Riau, he had the backing of the people of Dumai.

He said Syamsirwan should have been promoted from his current position as manager of Pertamina's oil refinery in Dumai.

The appointment of the current general manager, who is not a local, is "unfair" to the local people because he will only hold the post for six months before retiring, Syamsir Yus said. "You know what a person who will retire soon is seeking from his post," he said.

Forced seizures, blockages or even strikes have often been used by locals in Riau to force oil companies in the province, including the country's largest oil contractor, Caltex Pacific Indonesia, to heed their demands.

Caltex has been forced several times to cease production in its fields due to blockages by locals. Through such efforts, the local people want to get a bigger share of the revenues from the crude oil pumped up from their soil.

The campaign by the locals seems to have born fruit with the government having eventually bowed to local demands. Not only that, the government has also agreed to transfer the operations of an expired oil field from Caltex to locals through the local administration.

After a long process, the government eventually transferred earlier this week the operations of the Coastal Plains Pekanbaru (CPP) oil block from Caltex to a joint venture firm involving Pertamina and the Riau provincial administration-owned firm PT Bumi Siak Pusako. The joint venture company will start work in the block on August 1.

Human rights/law

Rights group slams US interference in Exxon lawsuit

Agence France Presse - August 8, 2002

Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned US government attempts to scupper a human rights lawsuit brought by a group of Indonesian villagers against oil giant Exxon Mobil.

"Corporate responsibility shouldn't stop at the water's edge," HRW executive director Kenneth Roth said in a statement. "If the administration is serious about promoting ethical business practices, it shouldn't be trying to stop this court case from going forward."

Villagers from the violence-torn Aceh region claim Indonesian security forces bankrolled by Exxon Mobil to protect their gasfields had committed human rights violations against local people.

The US State Department told the federal court hearing the case that the lawsuit risked a "potentially serious adverse impact" on US interests, including "the on-going struggle against international terrorism" and "US firms bidding on contracts in extractives and other industries."

The lawsuit was filed under the Alien Tort Statute, under which alleged victims of human rights abuses, perpetrated in other countries, can file in US courts. Former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Bennett Freeman called the State Department intervention "a shot across the bow" for those that want to use the statute "as a battering ram" against companies on human rights issues.

"Its hard to deny that this isn't another set back for corporate social responsibility and human rights in the extractive sector, and a big win for Exxon Mobil," said Freeman.

ExxonMobil responds

Laksamana.Net - August 8, 2002

With the US government firmly on its side, energy giant ExxonMobil claims allegations of human rights abuses filed against it in a lawsuit on behalf of 11 villagers in Aceh province are groundless.

The lawsuit filed by the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) accuses ExxonMobil of complicity in acts of torture and murder in Aceh, where the company operates vast natural gas fields.

"The allegations by the ILRF that ExxonMobil is responsible for human rights abuses are completely without merit," an ExxonMobil spokeswoman was quoted as saying by global commodity news service Platts on Wednesday. "We are disturbed by the allegations and will continue to vigorously defend ourselves," she said.

If ExxonMobil feels the charges are rubbish, why did the company strongly argue back in April and May that the lawsuit could jeopardize US-Indonesia relations and America's war on terror?

Presumably because the US State Department recently advised the Federal District Court of Columbia in Washington to drop the lawsuit on those very grounds.

More tellingly, the State Department expressed concern that Chinese oil companies now making inroads into Indonesia's oil-gas sector might try to replace the US energy behemoth if it was forced to leave.

The ILRF filed the legal action in June 2001, stating that an Indonesian military unit guarding ExxonMobil's operations in Aceh had murdered, tortured and kidnapped locals, apparently with the company's knowledge.

ExxonMobil allegedly provided barracks where the state security forces tortured detainees, and excavators that were allegedly used to dig mass graves near the Arun gas fields.

In May, ExxonMobil lawyer Martin Weinstein said the State Department has "serious concerns about whether or not this case would impact Indonesia foreign policy".

"We believe that Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, [is] a place where Al-Qaeda-trained fighters are residing ... this is a very difficult time in Indonesian-American relations," he said.

But shareholders attending ExxonMobil's annual meeting in Dallas in May complained about the company's unprecedented tactic to beat the lawsuit.

"ExxonMobil's legal defense is to claim the suit by International Labor Rights Fund is interference in US foreign policy," said Morton Winston, chairman of Amnesty International USA's Business and Economic Relations Group, which owns shares in ExxonMobil.

"They are trying to involve the State Department to argue in their favor. This is a novel and troubling legal tactic," he said.

Amnesty leads an alliance of environmental, human rights and consumer groups that has been urging ExxonMobil to implement a policy to uphold human rights principles.

ExxonMobil has washed its hands of the abuses, pointing out that Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina "owns the Arun facilities and is responsible for coordinating security for the project, which in turn is provided by the government of Indonesia".

US envoy says world is watching East Timor trials

Reuters - August 7, 2002

Jakarta -- The US ambassador to Indonesia warned Jakarta on Wednesday America and the world were closely watching East Timor human rights trials and the result would help determine if full US-Indonesia military ties are restored.

Speaking at a media briefing to follow up last week's visit by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Ambassador Ralph Boyce also said he hoped Indonesia did not misinterpret a $50 million police and military aid package as a sign relations had been normalised.

"We are watching the process very carefully, attending in many cases the daily [East Timor trial] sessions, and look forward to see what immediate results will be in the first round," Boyce told reporters.

"The timing of the first round of cases that are coming to a conclusion now, and our own legislative timetable, by definition is going to carry a great deal of weight and as I have said many times ... the world is watching."

The United States largely cut military ties with Jakarta following a wave of violence that swept East Timor when it voted to break from Indonesian rule in 1999. The US has said Indonesia must account for what happened in East Timor before full ties would be renewed.

But the East Timor trials, which began earlier this year at Jakarta's new human rights court, have already drawn strong criticism from rights groups who say they are flawed mainly because top military officials have escaped prosecution. The United Nations estimates more than 1,000 people died at the hands of pro-Jakarta militia backed by the Indonesian military.

"It's very important for our Indonesian friends not to misread the signs and to somehow assume that we have accomplished the resumption of normal military-to-military relations," Boyce said.

He also strongly defended the US position on human rights following a negative reaction from rights groups to the $50 million package, most of which would go to the police rather than the army.

He also said comments from the US State Department this week over a human rights-related lawsuit filed by Indonesian villagers against Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) should not be misconstrued.

"Earlier today I was asked ... is it true that the United States is so focused on counter-terrorism that it is going to minimise or not pay attention to democracy and human rights.

"I honestly believe that attention to promotion of democracy and to the upholding of human rights is even more important, frankly, in the war on terrorism, and so I just don't accept that notion at all."

US State Department legal adviser William Taft had said in a letter to a court handling the case that the Exxon Mobil lawsuit could hurt the war on terror.

According to the Financial Times newspaper, the case was filed by the International Labour Rights Fund on behalf of 11 villagers in the northern province of Aceh who claim Exxon Mobil paid and directed Indonesian security forces that murdered, tortured and raped as they protected the firm's operations in the 1990s. Exxon Mobil has denied the allegations.

US moves to block lawsuit against Exxon Mobil

Dow Jones Newswires - August 6, 2002

Tom Wright, Jakarta -- The US has moved to block a lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) for alleged human-rights abuses at its Indonesian natural-gas operations, claiming the court action could hurt relations with Jakarta and undermine the war on terrorism.

The State Department said the action alleging the oil company knew of human-rights abuses by the Indonesian military guarding its facilities in Aceh province "could impair cooperation with the US across the full spectrum of diplomatic initiatives, including counter-terrorism."

The International Labor Rights Fund filed the suit with the US district court in Washington last year on behalf of 11 villagers from Aceh who contend that they were victims of murder, torture, kidnapping and rape by the military unit guarding Exxon Mobil's gas field. Exxon Mobil has denied any involvement with alleged abuses.

In a letter to the district court, which was published on the plaintiff's Web Site, the State Department said the lawsuit would "risk a seriously adverse impact on significant interests of the United States, including interests related directly to the ongoing struggle against international terrorism."

The judge, who heard the case in April, isn't bound to act on the State Department's opinion, but observers say it could scuttle the action. Exxon Mobil lawyers asked the State Department to intervene on foreign-policy grounds.

Set aside human-rights concern

The US intervention is likely to add weight to mounting criticism that Washington is willing to lay aside its commitment to human rights in a bid to strengthen the war on terrorism. Secretary of State Colin Powell on a visit to Jakarta last week promised $50 million over the next three years to train Indonesian military and police to help crack down on terrorist groups operating in the country.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, is viewed by Washington as a "focal point" on the war against al Qaida, the State Department said.

Critics of the US policy say Indonesia's military, also a major political force in this nascent democracy, has done little to justify a resumption of contacts with Washington. The US banned arms sales to Indonesia in the mid 1990s amid concerns of human- rights abuses under former dictator Suharto. Congress banned all training of Indonesian troops in 1999 after the military failed to stop the killing of around a thousand East Timorese after that territory voted for independence from Jakarta.

Sixteen members of Congress and two senators sent letters to the State Department in late June warning that "intervention by the State Department in this private litigation would send precisely the wrong message: that the United States supports the climate of impunity for human-rights abuses in Indonesia."

In Aceh, human-rights groups blame the army for regular abuses against civilians. More than 12,000 people, mainly civilians, are estimated to have died in Aceh during the 26-year separatist war. Indonesia has also failed so far to convict any of the 18 military officers, militia and civilians alleged to be responsible for the East Timor killings.

The State Department letter also argued the action could hurt US business interests in Indonesia, and discourage foreign investment. Indonesia needs oil revenues, which accounted for 35% of total revenues last year, to keep its economy stable, the letter said.

In a letter to Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Indonesian ambassador the US, Soemadi Brotodiningrat, said the court action "will definitely compromise the serious efforts of the Indonesian government to guarantee the safety of foreign investments, including in particular those from the United States." The ambassador also said in the letter Jakarta was opposed to a US court interference in what they regard as a domestic affair.

But under a US law, foreign citizens are able to use US courts to bring legal action against US companies for alleged violations of international law.

A US judge ordered Unocal Corp. (UCL) earlier this year to stand trial in September for alleged human-rights abuses committed by the government of Burma, the oil giant's joint-venture partner in the development of a gas field.

US says interests hurt by suit against Exxon

Reuters - August 6, 2002

Elaine Monaghan, Washington -- The United States has told a US court that a human rights-related lawsuit filed by Indonesian villagers against Exxon Mobil could hurt the war on terror, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

The intervention could kill the case filed by the International Labor Rights Fund on behalf of 11 villagers in the Indonesian province of Aceh, the Financial Times newspaper, which first reported on the issue, said on Monday.

The villagers claim that Exxon Mobil, which operates a natural gas field in Aceh, paid and directed Indonesian security forces that murdered, tortured and raped as they protected the firm's operations in the 1990s, the daily said.

Exxon Mobil denied the allegations in the case, filed under a law letting foreigners hold US firms accountable in US courts for violations of international law, the paper said.

In the letter, State Department legal adviser William Taft repeats US condemnations of human rights abuses in Indonesia but says its cooperation with Jakarta in all areas, including human rights, could be hurt by the lawsuit.

"The Department of State believes that adjudication of this lawsuit at this time would in fact risk a potentially serious adverse impact on significant interests of the United States, including interests related directly to the ongoing struggle against international terrorism," Taft wrote.

The United States has embarked on a course of resuming military ties with Indonesia, whose army has a history of alleged human rights abuses, notably in East Timor. Secretary of State Colin Powell, during a visit to Jakarta on Friday, announced about $50 million in aid to help Indonesia's security forces fight terrorism.

Because of concerns about the army's rights record, the vast majority of the money will go to building a modern police force. The Pentagon will spend $8 million on the army over 2002 and 2003 and $400,000 will go to training the army out of next year's budget only if Congress approves.

The July 29 letter was written to a District Court in Washington in response to a May 10 letter from the court.

Taft warned that the litigation was likely to discourage further foreign investment, noting that oil and gas revenues had made up 19 percent, 23 percent and 31 percent of government revenue in Indonesia in 1998, 1999 and 2000 respectively.

He said he was enclosing a letter from the Indonesian ambassador to Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage saying that Jakarta saw the lawsuit as an "unacceptable" act that would complicate efforts to safeguard foreign investors and hurt Indonesia's struggle for economic recovery.

Anthony Zinni, a retired US general who has served as Washington's special envoy to the Middle East, was scheduled to be in Aceh on Tuesday.

The province has been the scene of unrelenting separatist violence, and Zinni was due to meet rebels and military officials under the auspices of the Henry Dunant Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, which has mediated two years of largely unsuccessful peace talks between the sides.

Focus on Jakarta

Sutiyoso in flood fund probe

Jakarta Post - August 10, 2002

Jakarta -- The police said on Friday they would summon Governor Sutiyoso as a witness in the alleged misuse of funds for flood victims by non-governmental organization (NGO) ICE (International Civic Education) on Indonesia.

City police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara stated that the police would send the written summons to Sutiyoso as soon as possible. "Of course, he [Sutiyoso] must be questioned as he is the key witness who knew most about the funds," Makbul told reporters.

However, Makbul did not state the specific date to summon Sutiyoso. The police said earlier that the interrogation of Sutiyoso was awaiting written permission from President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The funds for the flood victims were raised in a charity night on March 1, in which ICE on Indonesia was assigned to channel them to the flood victims. However, the NGO reportedly siphoned them off for educational purposes instead of for the flood victims.

Megawati endorses Sutiyoso for re-election

World Socialist Web Site - August 8, 2002

Luciano Fernandez -- Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri has triggered sharp protests inside and outside her own party-the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P)-through her endorsement of the incumbent Jakarta governor Sutiyoso for the same position in upcoming elections in September.

Megawati backed Sutiyoso, a former general with close links to the Suharto dictatorship, for re-election in opposition to her party's own candidates, who she forced to stand aside. Megawati's support of the military's preferred candidate is yet another indication of her political dependence on the armed forces (TNI) leadership and the growing influence they wield in Jakarta.

Her support for Sutiyoso is particularly striking as he is implicated in the crackdown against the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) in 1996. Party members and supporters had occupied the PDI headquarters in Jakarta after Suharto engineered Megawati's removal as party leader. On July 27 1996, gangs of state-organised thugs and police invaded the building, setting off widespread protests in the capital that were ruthlessly suppressed by the military. Several people were killed, while hundreds were injured and arrested. A number of party members simply "disappeared".

Sutiyoso held the powerful post of Jakarta Military Commander at the time and is widely regarded as the man entrusted by Suharto to organise the repression. Megawati, however, has not baulked at endorsing this military thug for another term as city governor. When the commander of military police, Major General Sulaiman announced in late July that Sutiyoso was a suspect in the 1996 incident, Megawati reacted by reaffirming her support for the general in the election.

Megawati's stance has added to the growing alienation among her supporters who regarded the president as a champion of "reformasi"-that is, an opponent of the Suharto junta and the military's domination of political life. About 1,000 people demonstrated on July 27 to mark the anniversary of the 1996 attack on the PDI headquarters. Senior PDI-P figures were in attendance, including Tarmidi Suhardjo, chairman of the party's Jakarta branch and its original candidate for the post of governor.

One PDI-P legislator commented: "The nomination of Sutiyoso hurts the victims of the July 27 incident. We are all disappointed about the emergence of authoritarianism within the party's central board." He was referring to a statement signed by Megawati and PDI-P general secretary Soetijipto, instructing all the party's members on the Jakarta City Council to support Sutiyoso and threatening sanctions against anyone who failed to do so.

The previous day a group of students burnt effigies of Megawati in protest. Nineteen demonstrators were detained. One student, Kaistono, was kept in detention and could face up to seven years in jail for insulting the head of state by burning Megawati's effigy.

Open opposition to Megawati inside the PDI-P has already resulted in a series of resignations over the past year by top PDI-P leaders. Some of these are in the process for forming new political parties to contest national elections due in 2004.

Former PDI-P leader Eros Djarot recently joined other former party members in 14 provinces to form the Bung Karno Nationalist Party (PNBK)-"Bung Karno" was the nickname of Indonesia's first president Sukarno, Megawati's father. As Eros explained: "We think they [the government] have failed to build on the reform spirit and have departed from the ideas of our founding fathers. As a friend I don't even recognise Megawati anymore." Megawati's support for Sutiyoso has underscored her own right-wing politics and the mounting tensions within the PDI-P. While Megawati has been widely promoted in Indonesia and internationally as a Suharto opponent and a "reformer," she has always had the closest relations with the upper echelons of the ruling elite, including the military, both before and after Suharto was forced to resign in 1998.

When Megawati joined the PDI, it was one of the three legally sanctioned parties in Indonesia, all of which were virtually state-run organisations. The PDI had encouraged her to enter political life to take advantage of her family connection to Sukarno and his populist politics. Under conditions where anyone who voiced any serious opposition to the junta was jailed or worse, Megawati was permitted to assume the post of PDI president.

Megawati's transformation into a Suharto "opponent" was not any of her own doing. Suharto orchestrated her removal from the PDI leadership out of concern that she would benefit from the mounting opposition to his rule. Megawati responded timidly to her ousting in 1996 and gave little support to the protestors occupying the PDI headquarters. She attempted to distance herself from the "riots" that erupted following the July 27 attack.

Despite herself, however, the events of July 1996 made Megawati a focus for the hostility of broad layers of workers and the poor towards the Suharto regime. She has always acted unerringly in defence of the interests of the privileged ruling elites and in opposition to any independent movement of the masses.

During the turbulent months leading to the ousting of Suharto in May 1998, Megawati was virtually silent but sought to capitalise by transforming her PDI faction into a separate party. She welcomed all manner of political opportunists into the PDI-P- former generals, state bureaucrats, businessmen and others-who were seeking "reformasi" credentials in the post-Suharto era.

When she failed to secure the parliamentary vote for president following the 1999 elections, despite the PDI-P winning the largest portion of the vote, Megawati concluded that it was necessary to establish even closer ties with the military and Golkar-Suharto's old party. She finally took the post of president last year after a protracted and bitter factional fight to impeach her predecessor Abdurrahman Wahid on a series of trumped up charges.

In her battle to oust Wahid, Megawati depended heavily on the military top brass. In the key weeks leading up to the convening of parliament, Wahid attempted to declare a state of emergency in order to block the parliamentary session and prevent his impeachment. The military refused, effectively handing Megawati the presidency-a favour that has put her in debt to the generals ever since.

One key reason why the TNI leadership backed Megawati was that she had opposed Wahid's attempts to reach a negotiated settlement with separatist movements in Aceh, West Papua and elsewhere. Since assuming the presidency, Megawati has stressed the need for "national unity" and given the military a free hand to step up its repression, particularly in Aceh in northern Sumatra.

Megawati's obvious support for the military has raised sharp tensions within her PDI-P, which remains a rather heterogeneous organisation. As her support among layers of students, workers and the poor has begun to wane, sections of the party leadership have broken away in an attempt to set up new political safety valves amid signs of a mounting economic and social crisis in Indonesia.

Megawati, however, has not altered course. She has continued to implement the economic dictates of the IMF, which have deepened the social divide between rich and poor. Her close relations with the military are a warning that in the event of a social upheaval she will have no hesitation in using the security forces against any opposition. That is spelled out most clearly in her embrace of Sutiyoso, the man who just six years ago unleashed the police and gangs of thugs against her own party members.

Jakartans say 'quack, quack' to councillors

Jakarta Post - August 8, 2002

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta -- Some 300 people presented on Wednesday 11 ducks for the 11 factions in the City Council to mock their apparent blind loyalty to incumbent Governor Sutiyoso, who is set to become the strongest gubernatorial candidate.

They gathered in front of the City Council building on Jl. Kebon Sirih, Central Jakarta, and spoke out in condemnation of the councillors who failed to see the fact that Sutiyoso did not deserve to be reelected because he had caused misery for most people in the city.

The demonstrators, organized by the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta), said they were victims of the city administration's policy. They included becak (three wheel pedicab) drivers, street vendors and those who were evicted from their houses.

"You [Sutiyoso] have disappointed us on countless occasions, because you are never on our side and never protect our interests," they said in a statement.

Sutiyoso was nominated by three major factions, the Golkar Party, the United Development Party (PPP), the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), and one minor party, the Justice and Unity Party (PKP). The demonstrators urged the factions to reject Sutiyoso's accountability speech, which was represented last month.

The council's factions are scheduled to give their final say on the speech on August 12. If it is rejected, Sutiyoso will lose his chance to be reelected. So far only three factions -- the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Justice Party (PK) and the Crescent and Star Party (PBB), have openly stated that they would reject Sutiyoso's accountability speech.

"I came here because I want to tell the councillors about my misery. My husband is now jobless after his becak was seized by City Public Order officers," Puji, 26, told The Jakarta Post while holding her 18-month-old baby. She said she now lives in a makeshift tent built on the grounds of a former airport in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, together with her husband and three children.

Representatives of the demonstrators were received by councillors from four factions: PAN, Golkar, PK, and the National Awakening Party (PKB).

Pedicab driver plans to establish new party

Jakarta Post - August 5, 2002

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta -- A number of gubernatorial candidates said on Friday they would go on with their struggle to realize their programs after their names were removed from the list of candidates for lack of support from the City Council's factions.

Rasdullah, a pedicab driver, said that he would establish a new party representing urban poor people. "I will set up a new party to be named Ampera, which stands for Amanat Penderitaan Rakyat [Message of the People's Suffering]," he told a discussion on the Jakarta gubernatorial election.

To be a governor, whose duty it is to govern the people, Rasdullah said, was everyone's right regardless of their status or walk of life. Rasdullah was nominated as a gubernatorial candidate by the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), a non-governmental organization chaired by Wardah Hafidz.

The discussion, organized by the Indonesian Institute for Democracy Education (IDE), also featured a number of other candidates, including engineer Marco H. Kusumawijaya, women's activist Nursjahbani Katjasungkana and Ridwan Saidi, a Betawi (native Jakarta people) cultural expert.

Concurring with Rasdullah, Marco revealed that he planned to establish a center which would continue to campaign on the public issues affecting Jakarta residents through the publication of booklets, pamphlets and writings.

"The main goal is to stimulate public participation and the emergence of new thoughts from the public," said Marco, who is known as an expert on urban planning.

The center would take independent as well critical stances against the city administration, he said, "But, we will give recommendations needed for the improvement of the public well- being upon request." Another speaker, Nursjahbani, blasted the election system as it prevented those who had no support from the parties in the council from proceeding to the next stage.

"Everything's just as I predicted. The election will only benefit those who have affiliations with the councilors," complained Nursyahbani, who was nominated for governor by the Jakarta Residents' Forum (Fakta).

However, Nursjahbani remarked that she would continue her campaign for greater public involvement in the current election citing that her main agenda during the gubernatorial election process was to campaign for direct elections.

Nursjahbani asserted that direct elections were necessary to help increase public participation and involvement in local politics, which in turn would help to promote democracy.

Ridwan, who is popularly known as a representative of the Betawi community, said that he would continue to monitor the election closely. "I want to gather evidence that money politics has been involved in the election."

News & issues

Indonesian court hands Tommy a light sentence

World Socialist Web Site - August 7, 2002

John Roberts -- A five-judge panel of the Jakarta District Court pronounced its long-awaited verdict on Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the youngest son of the former Indonesian dictator General Suharto, on July 26. The court found him guilty of murdering a judge, illegal possession of weapons and evading imprisonment and sentenced him to 15 years in jail.

The decision was a political one. A not-guilty verdict would have been questioned immediately in international financial circles by those who regard the trial as an important test of the ability of the country's legal system to end the corruption and nepotism of the Suharto era. At the same time, the court was careful not to risk the wrath of the Suharto family, which still wields considerable influence in Indonesian ruling circles.

Tommy Suharto had been widely expected to challenge the decision. However, in what was the first-ever news conference convened by a prisoner inside Jakarta's Cipinang Penitentiary, he told the assembled media that, while he was innocent, his legal team, despite its loud denunciations of the trial, would not appeal the verdict or the sentence. He said his conviction had been for "political reasons" and that in the current climate an appeal was unlikely to succeed.

The Jakarta Post pointed to more immediate personal reasons for his decision. The newspaper noted that if a higher court rejected an appeal, the lenient sentence could also be changed and he could face the death penalty for the murder and weapons charges. Even without an appeal, he has other options, including to request a judicial review by the Supreme Court, or to admit his guilt and apply for a presidential pardon.

The leniency of the sentence has already been criticised. In part, it was due to the prosecution, which asked for a 15-year jail term. However, the court gave life sentences to the two hitmen hired by Tommy Suharto to carry out the murder of Supreme Court judge Syafiuddin Kartasamita, even though the prosecution asked for 14 years jail. Under Indonesian law, Suharto, as the instigator of the murder, should have received the harsher sentence.

Kartasamita was the judge who originally sentenced Tommy Suharto to jail over his role in a land scam involving the state-run National Logistics Agency or Bulog. Suharto had been acquitted of the charge in October 1999 but Kartasamita overturned the original decision in September 2000 and sentenced Suharto to 18 months jail. According to Kartasamita's wife, Suharto had attempted to bribe the judge prior to the decision.

In November 2000, after then President Abdurrahman Wahid rejected his clemency appeal, Tommy Suharto went underground. He claimed he had been double-crossed by Wahid's subordinates who, he claimed, had accepted large bribes. Despite a police dragnet, he was able to spend a year "on the run". During the latest trial, he explained that he had spent most of the time in his central Jakarta home, protected by the country's security forces.

After the drive-by shooting of Kartasamita in July 2001, police claimed to have found firearms and explosives linking Suharto to the murder. According to police, the two men charged with the murder claimed they were paid $10,000 by Suharto and supplied with the weapons. Suharto was "found" by police in November 2001, just after the Supreme Court overturned the original Bulog conviction on the flimsiest of grounds.

During Suharto's trial on the murder charge, which began in March this year, the two hired killers abruptly changed their stories, saying that the police had engineered their original statements. In May, police detained Suharto's lawyer Elza Syarief for two weeks for allegedly bribing three witnesses. When the verdict was finally announced Suharto did not attend, claiming a stomach upset. His lawyers, who called for a delay in the proceedings, ostentatiously walked out as the court continued and subsequently proclaimed to the media that there were numerous grounds for appeal.

Tommy Suharto is the only member of the powerful Suharto family to have been found guilty and jailed for any offence. The government and courts have sidestepped demands for the former dictator Suharto to be put on trial for his looting of the Indonesian economy and the many brutal crimes carried out by the military during his 32-year rule. Attempts to try the elder Suharto on limited charges of corruption collapsed when the court decided he was too infirm to face trial.

The reluctance to prosecute the Suhartos is not surprising. Suharto family members still control the bulk of estimated $US45 billion in assets they built up over three decades and have close connections to the top echelons of the military and state bureaucracy. Suharto's old ruling party, Golkar, is part of the ruling coalition that brought President Megawati Sukarnoputri to power. Any serious investigation of the Suharto family would also expose the involvement of current ministers, parliamentarians, judges, generals and police chiefs in the dictatorship and its crimes.

Tommy Suharto was initially put on trial over a relatively minor corruption charge over the Bulog deal as part of an attempt to convince both the Indonesian public and foreign investors that Jakarta was putting an end to the Suharto era. The IMF and World Bank have been insisting on court reforms to end the corrupt and arbitrary nature of legal decisions that make it difficult for international investors to conduct business with any confidence.

Suharto's subsequent murder trial, along with the corruption trial of Golkar leader and parliamentary speaker Akbar Tandjung, have been widely viewed in international financial circles as test cases. Tandjung's trial is also about to conclude in Jakarta. If Tandjung is convicted as well as Suharto, the result is unlikely to do a great deal to boost Indonesia's economic fortunes. But there may be a sigh of relief in Jakarta that even if investment is not flooding into the country, at least it is not flooding out.

As for Tommy Suharto, he is making himself as comfortable as possible in Cipinang Penitentiary for what will in all likelihood be a relatively short stay. Despite a public outcry, he has a well-equipped three room cell to himself, is being protected by his own bodyguards and a personal secretary runs errands for him. His wife, family and friends come and go as they please.

None of these proceedings have anything to do with justice for the millions of Indonesians who suffered at the hands of the Suharto regime. No one has seriously raised the necessity of an investigation into, let alone prosecutions over, the deaths of an estimated half a million people who were murdered in the wake of the CIA-backed military coup that brought Suharto to power in 1965-66 or any of the subsequent atrocities carried out by the dictatorship.

Police use dead to cover up problems

Jakarta Post - August 9, 2002

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta -- In attempt to wash their hands of a potentially damaging case, police announced on Thursday that they had closed the investigation into an alleged plot between security officers and convict Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra after the probe reached a dead end.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara revealed that the case was stopped as the key witness, Wiyono, a retired Army officer who was also Tommy's accomplice during the latter's escape from justice had died making it impossible to delve further into the case. "That's the final result of our investigation," Makbul told reporters.

Wiyono reportedly died of a "heart attack" in August 2001 on his way from the Jakarta Police detention center in Central Jakarta to Kramatjati Police Hospital in East Jakarta. He was detained for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition at Apartemen Cemara in Menteng, Central Jakarta which allegedly belonged to Tommy.

The case involving security personnel became public following Tommy's acknowledgement during his trial that he was able to move freely around the city during his time on the run thanks to the help of security personnel.

However, after what appeared to be a reluctant attempt to investigate Tommy's claim, police said that Tommy was only referring to Wiyono. "Wiyono is our only source of information and we cannot question him now that he is dead," Makbul said jokingly. Makbul added the result would be immediately reported to National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar.

However, legal expert Luhut M.P. Pangaribuan blasted the case closure as an attempt by the police to wash their hands of the case by shifting all blame to the deceased. "It is now a new trend here that blame is shifted to the deceased, in addition to defendants feigning illness," said Luhut.

Luhut alluded to a similar ploy used in a graft case implicating House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung in which a deceased taxi driver, named Dadi Suryadi took the brunt of the blame in the misuse of the Rp 40 billion fund belonging to State Logistics Agency (Bulog). However, all measures, Luhut said, boiled down to the same thing, that is, dropping crucial cases for absurd reasons.

Luhut warned that such a ploy would only increase public suspicion that the police were colluding with Tommy. "The case will show to the public that the police's vow to reform themselves was only empty words," he asserted, adding that the case would only further tarnish their already tattered image.

Police seen to be uncomfortable about settling cases implicating their officers, especially senior officers. The latest case is the smuggling of luxury cars into the country implicating former Jakarta Police chief Comr. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb.

Sofjan has been accused of smuggling 11 Mercedes Benz sedans from Singapore into the country at the end his tenure as South Sulawesi Police chief in 2001. It has been two months, but police have yet to report any progress in the investigation into the case.

Retired generals demonstrate at parliament

Laksamana.Net - August 9, 2002

The dissenting voices rejecting the present parliament are not confined to student activists and renegade politicians.

A number of retired generals joined forces Thursday with around 100 men protesting in the name of the 1945 Independence Defenders Front (FPP) and the 1945 People's Movement Rejecting Amendment (Geram 45).

Two generals seen in the demonstration were retired Lt. Gen. Syaiful Sulun and Lt. Gen. Sudibyo, as well as a former member of the 'Struggle' Democratic Party (PDIP) with a military background, Roch Basuki.

Rejection of the amendment process apparently was not their only agenda. Geram and FPP are appealing to the community not to trust the People's Constituent Assembly (MPR).

They also called on people to consider all the decisions and regulations, including the first up to the fourth amendment, made by the Assembly as illegitimate acts.

The demonstrators effectively urged MPR members elected in the 1999 general election to immediately stop their political activities, claiming they were acting illegitimately.

In the action at the parliament building, followers of Geram and FPP wore T-shirts with the slogan "I love Indonesia and vote no confidence in the Assembly." The presence of a number of Indonesian flags clearly identified the group as nationalist in sympathy.

The involvement of Lt. Gen. Syaiful Sulun raised eyebrows. He was chairman of the military faction of parliament from 1987 to 1997.

After the replacement of Suharto by B.J. Habibie on May 21,1998, Syaful Sulun worked with former Vice President Try Sutrisno and a number of veteran Army officers in a united front against Habibie.

They voiced their aspirations through organizations such as the Veteran's Association, of which Sutrisno was chairperson, and through the National Front (Barisan Nasional) led by former commander of the Army's Strategic Reserve (Kostrad) regiment, Kemal Idris, and former Defense Minister Edi Sudrajat.

Their dissatisfaction with post-Suharto Indonesia strengthened with the loss of the battle for control of the Golkar leadership. In the race for General Chairman of Golkar, Sudrajat was ousted by Akbar Tanjung.

When the controversy over the amendment process rose to the surface, Try Sutrisno and Syaiful Sulun were among those who strongly rejected the revised constitution under the pretext that it threatened the unity and integrity of the nation.

At a seminar held by the Institute for Strategic Studies of former Home Affairs Minister and retired four-star general Rudini, Try Sutrisno, who was regarded as Suharto's protigi, made clear his rejection of the amendment process by declaring that the process had to be stopped at all costs. "it is no problem if we are considered as non-reformist," said Try at the time.

Striking a different note were students grouped under the Action Student Front of Indonesian Universities (FAM UI) and the Student Front of Reform and Democracy (FAMRED), which also voiced a vote of no confidence in the MPR. The student groups continue to sound the theme that Golkar party, the New Order and the military needed to be taken to account.

Either way, the magnitude of the demonstrations was not significant as it involved at the most 500 persons. But one source closed to the demonstrators told Laksamana.Net that a number of retired generals were backing the protest, along with another remnant of Suharto's regime, former Finance Minister Fuad Bawazir.

Protesters say no to sharia, amendments

Jakarta Post - August 9, 2002

Jakarta -- Hundreds of people rallied in front of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)/House of Representatives (DPR) complex on Thursday to reject amendments to the 1945 Constitution.

The protesters also rejected demands for the inclusion of sharia in Article 29 of the 1945 Constitution.

The protesters came from Front Pembela Proklamasi 45 (the 1945 Proclamation Defenders Front), Gerakan Rakyat Menolak Amandemen UUD 1945 (the People's Movement against Amendments to the 1945 Constitution) and Gerakan Nasional Rakyat Indonesia (the National Movement of the People of Indonesia, or GNRI).

Six were finally allowed into the MPR building and they met with members of Commission A. The commission is finalizing deliberations on several crucial items in the fourth amendment, including a proposal for the imposition of sharia. The proponents of sharia have submitted two alternatives: the first to include seven words from the Jakarta Charter in Article 29 of the Constitution, the second to use sharia as the basis for the Constitution.

According to the protesters, the Unitary Republic of Indonesia is in a state of near-collapse because the amendment process has gone beyond control. The resulting amended Constitution has deviated from the spirit of the nation (as stated in the preamble to the unamended Constitution), and is therefore a betrayal of the country's founding fathers.

"We are not against amendments in principle, but the process has gone too far," said regional GNRI secretary Karyono, without elaborating. GNRI has also rejected the adoption of sharia into the Constitution.

"We have to be fair. Indonesia is a diverse nation and the adoption of sharia could lead to national disintegration," Karyono said after the rally. We must return to the original article. Mas Amien [MPR Speaker Amien Rais] has also agreed to return to the original article," he added, as quoted by Antara.

Meanwhile, another group of protesters accused the Golkar Party of conspiring with other elements of the MPR to stall the amendment process. They demanded, therefore, that the party be dissolved.

The protesters, grouped under student executive bodies from a number of universities including Trisakti and Atma Jaya, and loose student groupings in the Greater Jakarta area, charged that the MPR and Golkar were not serious in implementing the reform agenda. No violence was reported to have occurred during the rally.

This was the third day of rallies held to coincide with the 10- day Annual Session of the MPR, with most protesters demanding endorsement of the fourth batch of amendments.

The largest rally took place on Tuesday, when thousands of students demonstrated outside the Assembly building, demanding that lawmakers proceed with and endorse crucial amendments to the 1945 Constitution.

Seven tried for attacking Komnas HAM office

Jakarta Post - August 8, 2002

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta -- Seven people stood trial on Wednesday at the Central Jakarta District Court for allegedly attacking the office of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM). Ten people were injured in the attack.

Defendants Ahmad Gunarso, Wartono, Yeyet Adian, Dedy Bachtiar, Endang S., Saidih and Danial Al Haz, all members of the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR), were held responsible for the attack against members of the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) who were staging a demonstration outside the office in Jl. Latuharhari, Menteng, Central Jakarta, on March 28, according to the indictment.

The defendants were tried in two separate trials. The first four defendants were tried by a panel of judges led by Judge M. Daming Sunusi and the others by another panel of judges presided over by Iskandar Tjakke.

They were charged with violating Article 170, Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment.

Chief prosecutor Slamet Rijanto said the defendants, along with other FBR members held a meeting on March 27 at the residence of their leader, Fadloli El Muhir, to discuss their planned visit to Komnas HAM office.

However, the indictments did not mention whether their plan to visit the office was for the purpose of attacking demonstrators led by Wardah Hafidz of the UPC. The prosecutor also did not mention the fact that FBR members had previously attacked UPC members when they were staging a rally to protest against Governor Sutiyoso at City Hall. At that time, they threatened to "arrest" Wardah.

Claiming to be Betawi people (native Jakartans), FBR has repeatedly expressed its hostility toward Wardah and the UPC, which has strongly criticized the city administration's discriminatory policy toward the poor.

Using several public buses and a minivan, some 1,000 FBR members led by Endang went first to the City Council building in Jl. Kebon Sirih, Central Jakarta, and later to the Komnas HAM office, according to the indictment.

They asked a policeman, Supriyanto, about the whereabouts of the Komnas HAM office before entering its yard and attacking the demonstrators.

There was no information in the indictment as to why the FBR members were permitted to enter the office even though they were carrying machetes, rocks, and wooden clubs despite the presence of several policemen.

FBR members, lead by Wartono, attacked the demonstrators and damaged the Komnas HAM office. As many as 10 people, including several activists, were injured while 37 others, including babies, received light injuries in the incident.

The defendants denied their involvement in the attack.

Experts warn of parties exploiting the jobless

Jakarta Post - August 8, 2002

Debbie A. Lubis, Jakarta -- As political parties prepare for the 2004 General Election, experts warned the government on Wednesday of the possible mobilization of unemployed people for vested political interests.

Psychiatrist Limas Sutanto said the unemployed had the characteristics that would be of use for people with political interests. That is they tend to be aggressive, narrow-minded, egocentric, irritable, ignorant, and bad-tempered.

Limas said those characteristics emerged as a result of the psychological pain caused by their failure to fulfill a basic need -- to land a job.

"A great number of unemployed people can easily be found in areas with escalating social unrest because there are many players -- people with vested interests -- taking advantage of the unemployed people's weaknesses: low self-reflection and strained relationships with others," he told The Jakarta Post.

Currently, there are 40 million unemployed in the country, from a total potential workforce of 99 million. And some 59 percent of the workforce stay in the villages.

Pinky Saptandari, head of the school of anthropology at the Surabaya-based Airlangga University in East Java, said that many of the unemployed would see the 2004 election as an opportunity to make instant money.

"The unemployed will do anything to serve any political parties that can give them money, even for only Rp 5,000 (55 US cents) or Rp 10,000," she said.

Pinky added that such mass mobilization could create conflicts among the parties' supporters. "It can be an instant job opportunity that leads to destructive activities," she said.

Sociologist Ignas Kleden said the unemployed were able to be exploited for political purposes because they were politically and economically unstable.

"They can stand not having a dwelling place and decent clothing but they cannot tolerate hunger. In this case, the jobless people will accept any job that can bring instant cash in a bid to survive," he said.

Ignas, who is also the director of the Center for Eastern Indonesia Affairs (CEIA), said that people of dubious motives could easily hire the unemployed to stage a rally, trigger social unrest and even commit crime.

"The unemployed have unchanneled energy that if released could create massive unrest," he said.

Yet, the experts believe that family ties still play a major role in ameliorating the potential social distress caused by unemployment.

Limas said that the absence of visible distress in the country was not because the government had taken measures to tackle the unemployment problem.

"It is more because of the Indonesian people's ability to endure poverty and also due to their extended family's support," he said.

Pinky said a sense of belonging and brotherhood remained high among Indonesians. "Here, especially in the villages, an extended family is still willing to finance its unemployed members' monthly needs like food, health services, and education," she said.

She urged the society to build moral power at the grassroots level through raising public awareness about political issues in the country to prevent the unemployed from being used by people with evil motives.

Meanwhile, Ignas warned the government that families had a limited capacity to care for their relatives. "The government cannot rely on the families' kindness all the time because it is its responsibility to create job openings and to improve the welfare of the unemployed," he said.

Environment

'Military officers involved in rare animal trade'

Jakarta Post - August 8, 2002

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta -- An environmentalist alleged on Tuesday that high-ranking military officers and government officials were involved in the killing and trade of endangered Sumatran tigers, rhinos and elephants.

Harry Alexander, an official with the Jakarta-based Advocacy Network for Tigers, Rhinos and Elephants (HBG), said the illegal animal trade flourished in several provinces in Sumatra, including Lampung and Aceh.

"We have strong indications of their [high-ranking military officers and government officials] involvement. And if we don't stop such activities, Sumatran tigers, rhinos and elephants will be extinct in the next few years," Harry said during a break in a workshop being held in Bogor on the protection of endangered animals.

Harry cited the example of a high-ranking military officer in Lampung who remained above investigation despite allegations that he was involved in the recent killing of rare animals in the province. "As usual, the military will only allow low-ranking officers to be prosecuted," he said.

In Aceh, he said, military officers backed the illegal animal trade, using the cover afforded them by the ongoing military operation against the separatist Free Aceh Movement.

According to data from HBG, some 33 Sumatran tigers have been killed every year since 1993, and currently there are only between 400 and 500 Sumatran tigers left in the wild.

The data shows that the number of wild Sumatran rhinos on the island has decreased to 150 in early 2002 from 400 in 1993. And the Sumatran wild elephant population has also rapidly declined from 2,800 in 1984.

Sumatran tigers and elephants are only found in Sumatra, while the Sumatran rhino can be found in Sumatra, Malaysia and Myanmar.

The hunting and illegal trade of these endangered animals is a lucrative business. Those involved in the trade can make millions of rupiah from the sale of the bones, tusks, ivory and fur of the animals.

A stuffed Sumatran tiger can fetch Rp 25 million (US$2,700) when sold in Indonesia, a price that probably increases for overseas buyers.

Indonesia is also a haven for the international trade in endangered animals, an illegal activity that ranks only behind drug trafficking in lucrativeness.

The illegal trade of rare animals in Sumatra has been linked to a Malaysian trader known as Mr. T, and a South Korean businessman based in Indonesia.

"As far as we know, the businessmen are still involved in the illegal trade, exporting the items to other countries. Their mode of operation can involve illegal logging activities, hiding the protected animals among unprotected ones, transporting the animals and their parts in containers with fake documents or just simply carrying the animals out of the country with them," Harry said.

According to him, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan were the major export destinations for the animals. The main export gates are Medan in North Sumatra, Jakarta, Batam in Riau, Bali, and Makassar in South Sulawesi, he said.

Based on Law No. 5/1990 on the conservation of natural resources, those involved in the trade of endangered animals can receive five-year prison sentences and a fine of Rp 100 million.

Illegal logging rampant in Kerinci Seblat forest

Jakarta Post - August 6, 2002

Jakarta -- The illegal logging that has swept through most of the Kerinci Seblat National Park (TNKS) in Lubuk Linggau, South Sumatra, is spreading throughout the park.

Around 800 hectares of the national park's 340,750 hectares in Rejang Lebong had been left barren due to intensive illegal logging in the last few months, the Antara news agency reported on Monday.

Rejang Lebong forestry office chief Edi Kasik confirmed on Monday that the illegal logging had spread from the Musi Rawas regency in South Sumatra to the Padang Ulak Tanding subdistrict under the noses of local authorities.

He said his office had no authority to arrest those looting the forest while police charged with supervising the park in Kerinci, Jambi, had done nothing despite information being passed to them.

"The illegal logging has a lot to do with the lack of coordination between the local administration and the security authorities," he said.

The Bengkulu provincial administration has threatened to take action against anyone implicated in illegal logging.

The law provides for a maximum fine of Rp 100 million and ten- years jail for individuals or companies found guilty of logging in national parks or protected forests. The local government is also launching an operation to drive forest squatters out of the national park.

Logs stolen from the national park are supplied to sawmills who process them for export.

Local people say local officials know about the illegal logging and the existance of PT AMK which sawmills illegal logs. However, the officals do nothing.

They said the company owner was arrested for supplying illegal logs but he returned to the timber business after serving his jail sentence.

Illegal logging is also rampant throughout other parts of the park, including in Jambi and Riau.

The Jambi Provincial Police have even hired two security companies to crack down on illegal loggers and sawmills operating near the protected forests.

Conserving the national park, a home for millions of rare species, including elephants, tigers, rhinos and the rafflesia flower, has been handled by authorities in the four provinces with financial assistance from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the World Bank.

Rejang Lebong administration spokesman Rudi Pancawarman said authorities were launching an operation to clear the forest of squatters.

"The environment in the national park is badly deteriorated and the deforestation will continue unless strict action is taken."

Religion/Islam

Radical Muslims may become heroes: Report

Reuters - August 9, 2002

Jakarta -- Pressure on Indonesia from the United States and Southeast Asia to crack down on Islamic militants could backfire and turn them into heroes, according to a report by Brussels- based think tank.

The International Crisis Group (ICG) report also says the world's most populous Muslim nation is not a terrorist hotbed.

"Many Indonesians have expressed concern that pressure from the US and Southeast Asian governments on Indonesian authorities to carry out preventive arrests of suspects without hard evidence could be seriously counterproductive," read the report, released this week from the ICG's Jakarta office.

"It could easily turn the targets of that pressure into heroes within the Muslim community." The report follows a visit to Jakarta last week by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who promised Indonesia $50 million to help its security forces fight terrorism.

Indonesia is regarded as the region's weakest link in the US-led war on terror and has come under fire from some officials in other countries for not doing enough to rein in Muslim hardliners in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

The report downplays suggestions of widespread links between Islamic militants operating in Indonesia and the al Qaeda network blamed for the attacks that killed 3,000 people in the United States.

It says only one network of militant Muslims -- which Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir helped found -- produced all the Indonesian nationals so far suspected of links to al Qaeda. Singapore and Malaysia have accused Bashir of terrorism links. He has denied the allegations.

ICG is a private, multinational organisation funded mainly from the West and dedicated to conflict prevention and resolution.

Indonesia Muslim body opposes US war with Iraq

Reuters - August 10, 2002

Jakarta -- One of Indonesia's leading Muslim organisations has warned the United States not to launch an attack on Iraq saying it had no moral grounds to do so, the Jakarta Post reported on Saturday.

The US is debating an attack on Iraq to topple the regime of President Saddam Hussein, seen as a threat over efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction.

"I don't see that the planned attack will be a popular move for the country because the US doesn't have the moral ground to attack other countries, even if they are accused of terrorism," the Post quoted Muhammadiyah Chairman Syafii Maarif as saying.

Last year, the 30-million strong moderate Muhammadiyah group was among those who strongly condemned the US-led military strikes on Afghanistan in response to the September 11 attacks on the United States. Indonesia had almost daily anti-American protests after the strikes began, with radical Muslim elements calling for a holy way.

Indonesia's foreign ministry has also raised concerns over a possible attack against Iraq saying it would only support a peaceful resolution.

"Our common position remains that we want a peaceful resolution to any conflict situation, including the current developing situation in Iraq," foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa was quoted as saying.

"It is the common stance of Indonesia that we support dialogue or resolution through the United Nations Security Council and that we should not confuse the issue as a religious one," he added.

A White House official said on Friday that US President George W. Bush had no timetable for deciding whether to take military action against Iraq.

Around 85 percent of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslim, the majority of them moderates.

Indonesia 'creating heroes' of Muslim militants

Sydney Morning Herald - August 9, 2002

Matthew Moore -- The United States risks destabilising Indonesia and turning Muslim militants into heroes by pressuring the Indonesian Government to arrest them, a report published yesterday says.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group also disputes the evidence against Agus Dwikarna, one of three suspected Indonesian terrorists detained in Manila since March on charges of illegally possessing explosives.

"The claim by Agus Dwikarna and the two others arrested with him that ... the evidence in their suitcase in Manila was planted appears to be well-founded, but the US Government still wants to reward Indonesian intelligence for working with Philippine authorities to bring off the arrest," the report says.

"Such tactics are likely to backfire -- Agus Dwikarna has already become a hero to many in South Sulawesi to the point that local and national politicians vie to get him released." The report says that one of Indonesia's best known Muslim militants, Abu Bakar Bashir, has also benefited from the as yet unsuccessful push for his arrest by the US, Malaysian and Singapore governments, which urged Indonesia to see if he could be prosecuted for a case going back to 1982. As a result, financial and public support for Abu Bakar's group has grown.

The report plays down the extent of al-Qaeda links in Indonesia and says that the only Muslim network to produce Indonesian nationals with suspected links to al-Qaeda is one that Abu Bakar helped to found. Of the four members of the network who allegedly have contacts with al-Qaeda, the report says there is no convincing evidence against two of them.

The International Crisis Group also questions the case against Abu Jibril, who has been in detention in Malaysia since January under the Internal Security Act after he appeared on a videotape recruiting fighters for the conflict between Christians and Muslims in the Maluku islands. The report says "no convincing evidence of involvement in terrorist activities has been made public against these suspects".

While the Indonesian nationals suspected of al-Qaeda links come from the same network, the report says the network also includes many with "well-established political legitimacy for having defied the Soeharto government and gone to prison as a result".

The crisis group's Indonesia project director, Sidney Jones, who wrote the report, said that by arresting suspects without real evidence, Indonesian authorities and their US-backed supporters could be seen as adopting the same tactics used so ruthlessly by Soeharto to crush opposition.

"It's extremely dangerous to arrest people before you have a good case ... You can create a new generation of radicals by making them courageous, outspoken defenders of the faith," Ms Jones said. "If you can keep these guys under surveillance that should be enough to forestall any danger. You don't have to manufacture evidence."

Muslims call for nationwide Islamic law

Reuters - August 5, 2002

Jakarta -- More than 5,000 Muslims called for the nationwide imposition of Islamic sharia law and voiced opposition to secular President Megawati Sukarnoputri at a demonstration on Monday at Indonesia's parliament.

The protesters, including some of Indonesia's leading radical clerics, marched to the national assembly to urge legislators, holding an annual meeting, to amend the constitution so sharia can be implemented in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Most Indonesians hold moderate religious views. Major political parties in the assembly have said they would block proposals by minor parties to recognise sharia law, as they have in the past. The march followed a rally of similar size on Saturday by a conservative Muslim group.

"We are led by a president who does not know anything, is always silent and only uses her father's name," said Noval Dunggio, leader of the Front Hizbullah. "If this year they can't pass sharia law, we will keep on pushing for it and her resignation." Megawati is the daughter of founding President Sukarno and marked her first year in power on July 23. She defended her rule in a speech to the top assembly last week, although critics have accused her of passive and at times ineffectual leadership.

The march was organised by the Islamic Defender's Front, known for its sporadic raids on bars and discos in Jakarta.

Leaders of other militant Muslim groups took part, including Jafar Umar Thalib of the hardline Laskar Jihad organisation, and Abu Bakar Bashir, a Muslim cleric accused by Singapore and Malaysia of terrorism links.

Bashir has denied the allegations, while Thalib is on trial on charges of inciting hatred against the government. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Conservative Muslims believe sharia law would help tackle woes like endemic graft and a growing drugs problem by imposing stricter punishments, although few favour drastic measures carried out in parts of the Middle East such as amputation of limbs for thieves.

Some principles of sharia law have been incorporated into marriage and inheritance laws, but efforts to make it the basic legal reference nationwide have failed to win much support.

Jakarta last year allowed sharia to be used in Aceh as part of an autonomy package designed to defuse independence demands in the staunchly Muslim province on the tip of Sumatra island. There have been no reports of drastic punishments.

The annual session of the 700-member top assembly, the People's Consultative Assembly, opened last Thursday.

Some 85 percent of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslim. Indonesia has long practised a more moderate version of Islam than Middle East countries, after blending the beliefs with traditional cultures across Indonesia's main island of Java and other parts of the country.

Armed forces/Police

TNI accountability key to restoring ties with US military

Jakarta Post - August 8, 2002

Jakarta -- With its long record of human rights abuses, the Indonesian Military (TNI) must be made accountable for its past before the United States restores military ties with Indonesia, US Ambassador Ralph L. Boyce said on Wednesday.

"This accountability remains a condition that will no doubt be related to possible further normalization of our military ties," Ambassador Boyce said in a press briefing on last week's one-day visit by US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

In the pipeline of the US bureaucracy is the approval to revive the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program for Indonesian military officers, which was suspended in 1992 following the famous Santa Cruz shooting incident, in which dozens of East Timor independence supporters were killed.

In 1999, the US imposed a military embargo against Indonesia following charges that TNI hardliners were involved in the East Timor violence, which erupted when locals overwhelmingly voted for independence in a 1999 United Nations-organized referendum.

Pressured by the international community, the government set up a human rights ad hoc court earlier this year to hear cases related to the East Timor violence.

Middle-to-high-ranking officers, senior government officials and pro-integration militias have been called to the bench in a move foreign observers have called "encouraging".

But Boyce said the East Timor tribunal was not the only litmus test determining the resumption of military ties. He said he was looking forward to seeing "immediate results".

military ties, yet Powell in his visit indicated that the possibility was still a long way off. "The possibility of professional military training, which is called IMET, may be restored at some point in the coming months," Boyce said.

He said the TNI must demonstrate accountability and that included taking a series of reform-oriented moves.

The military has been criticized for its apparent reluctance to retreat from politics, a notion that has grown with President Megawati Soekarnoputri making overtures to the military in what analysts say is an attempt to secure its political support.

"My point is simply that should the professional military training be restored, we still have a long way to go," Boyce said.

Full military ties will allow TNI to purchase spare parts directly from the US instead of through third parties, which is more expensive. According to the TNI, its funding from the state budget accounts for only 30 percent of its expenses.

US signals lifting of military aid to Indonesia

Radio Australia - August 7, 2002

[The United States has signalled that the freeze on US military aid to Indonesia, is about to be lifted. The ban was imposed three years ago because of human rights abuses by the Indonesian military in East Timor. On a brief visit to Jakarta last week, Secretary of State Colin Powell announced an aid package of 50- million US dollars, to help Indonesia fight terrorism, a package which he says is a first step to normalising full military ties.]

Presenter/Interviewer: Tricia Fitzgerald, Jakarta

Speakers: US Secretary of State Colin Powell; TNI faction leader in MPR and deputy leader of the MPR, Lt General Agus Widjojo; Azyumardi Azra, head of Indonesia's State Islamic University

Powell: "The resumption of IMET when we were able to get it all worked out and these other programs are really just the begining ... much more will have to happen in the months ahead as we watch the performance of the TNI and as we make sure that there will be accountability for past actions. Many stops along the way untill we get to a full resumption of military to military activities and co-operation."

Fitzgerald: Colin Powell announcing the relaxation of the US ban on military ties with Jakarta.

The American money is to train and assist the Indonesian police and military and to establish a special police counter-terrorism unit. But just who are the terrorists that the beefed up police force will be targeting is not clear.

Indonesia does have para-military islamic groups, and since the fall of former President Suharto they have been operating more publicly.

The militant laskar Jihad army, which has been active in Ambon in the Maluku Islands, is one and there is the FPI the Islam Defenders Front, which has been attempting to shut down bars and gambling dens in Jakarta's red-light district. It celebrated its fourth anniversary this week.

There has been reports that the Jemaah Islamiah group, which has links in Malaysia and Singapore, is also active.

The head of Indonesia's State Islamic University Azyumardi Azra, who was one of a group of islamic leaders brought in to meet the US Secretary of State, does believe stronger law enforcement is needed to curb the extreme groups.

He says in the past former President Suharto kept a tight reign on them but he says since his downfall the extremists have become more active.

Aszra: "And the Government cannot enforce law and order, so ther is some kind of vacuum in the enforcement of law and order. This cleared a chance for this group to take law into their own hands like Laskar Jihad for instance or FPI for instance, argue that because the government and police have failed to stop the spread of narcotics or something like that and then they take law into their own hands."

Fitzgerald: Some of the Indonesian groups name themselves Hammas and Mujahadeen after Palestinian militants, but Azyumardi Azra says they are home grown rather than linked to any international networks like Osama bin Laden's group.

Azra: "Some of this group claims that they have some 30,000 Afghan Fretlin in Indonesia. I don't think that this number is correct ... or probably there are some ... lets say 10 or 20 Afghan Fretlin in Indonesia, but I don't think that there are were 30,000 Afghan Fretlin in Indonesia. So there is a tendency among this group to assert themselves ... to claim a very bigger claim."

Fitzgerald: Mr Azra, warns the US is in danger of loosing the support of moderate Indonesian muslims if it tries to crack down on the extremists and says they should be kept included in the islamic family.

He says he told Colin Powell, poverty and unemployment are the main cause of the of the rise in extremist groups in Indonesia, and he says many of them are in fact paid militias.

Azra: "Indonesia's government together with the US have to take a positive action in order to address Indonesian economic problem. Because some of the groups ... in fact unemployed people, they have no job, and then sometimes they get paid from any side who can use them."

Fitzgerald: Critics of US military aid to Indonesia say the anti-terrorism funding is just playing into the hands of the Indonesian military, the TNI.

They claim its elements of the military itself who are funding the islamic militias in an effort to stir up trouble to justify the need for a strong military force in Indonesia.

They say Suharto-era pressure groups like Permuda Pancasila, the militant youth arm of Suharto's Golkar Party, are still on the military's payroll but have now changed their uniforms to the white robes of islamic warriors.

For example this week hundreds of supporters of the detained extremist laskar Jihad leader Jaffar Umar Thalib, turned up to support him in court. He was facing charges of stirring up religious violence in the Maluku Islands.

Many of Mr Thalib's supporters had army boots and clothing on under their white islamic tunics.

General Agus Widjojo who heads the military faction of the People's Assembly admits there may be links between the islamic militias and the military, but he claims they are totally unofficial.

Widjojo: "There has never been a command policy coming out of the Military to support these militias. There can be individuals, but because that the term Military or TNI is being inappropriately used, it is used to point out those individuals whom have retired from the Militaries. Secondly there are also those individuals which like in Ambon for instance...where there have been individuals involved in the conflict in Ambon."

"But it is to be seen more as those individuals as local population who have been drawn into the conflict because they were part of the family who were also involved in the conflict. And thirdly I do not claim that we are perfect ... that there are also maybe some disciplinary problems down in the field."

Agus defends military, police involvement in politics

Jakarta Post - August 7, 2002

Fitri Wulandari and Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta -- The Indonesia Military/National Police faction in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) admitted on Tuesday that the military and police were still involved in politics but defended the move being based on good grounds.

"It's true that the statement by TNI chief Gen. Endriartono on the amendments was part of the TNI's political activities," Lt. Gen. Agus Widjojo, deputy chairman of the TNI/Police faction, told Antara after meeting with executives of the Indonesian National Youth Committee (KNPI) at the Assembly building.

Agus was responding to questions regarding the military and police's commitment to abandoning politics. Suspicions remain high that the military and police are actually reluctant to withdraw from the country's politics, especially after TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto proposed that the nation return to the original 1945 Constitution if deliberations on the latest round of amendments became deadlocked. Endriartono made the statement at a press conference on July 30.

Endriartono's statement has triggered fears that the TNI will never really leave the political stage. Such fears were reinforced on Monday when Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung defended the presence of the military and police in the Assembly. Akbar said he wanted the TNI/Police faction to remain in the MPR until 2009, instead of 2004 as was earlier agreed.

Agus, a former territorial affairs assistant to the TNI chief, maintained that Endriartono's statement was a natural consequence of the military and police's presence in the MPR. However, Agus claimed that the military and police had no intention whatsoever of becoming involved in day-to-day politics.

Agus contradicted an earlier statement by faction chairman Maj. Gen. Slamet Supriyadi, who said on Monday that the military and police were prepared to abandon politics. "We have wholeheartedly decided to leave the Assembly. We ask for your support and blessing in doing so," Slamet said on Monday.

Slamet on Tuesday urged a review of MPR Decree No. VII, which stipulates that the TNI's seats will be available until 2009.

According to Agus, the military and police presence in the House of Representatives and the MPR was part of the democratic process and the result of a political consensus at the time when it was instituted. "Basically, we never intended to engage in day-to-day politics, but it happened due to the political situation that gave a place for the TNI [in the House and Assembly]," he said.

Agus' acknowledgement of the military's current political activities has also lent credence to suspicions that the TNI/Police faction was involved in the move to block the amendment of several crucial articles of the Constitution, particularly regarding direct presidential elections and the continued existence of the TNI/Police faction.

The TNI's stance on the fourth phase of the constitutional amendment process as revealed by Endriartono's statement also accords with the conservative stance of quite a large number of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle faction members who are adamantly against the process. If the fourth batch of amendments is endorsed, the TNI/Police must vacate its 38 assigned seats in the Assembly in 2004.

The TNI's role on the political stage has a long history. On October 17, 1952, the Army intervened in national politics and demanded that President Sukarno dissolve the provisional assembly. On July 5, 1959, then Army chief Gen. A.H. Nasution forced President Sukarno to issue a decree reinstating the 1945 Constitution.

The decree nullified all the constitutional amendments effected by a constituent assembly. In fact, the assembly was the result of the country's first democratic election of 1955.

General Nasution then formulated the TNI's political role, which later became known as the TNI's Dual Function (Dwifungsi). The dual function was maintained and became even more firmly entrenched during the new order regime of President Soeharto.

In 1999, the MPR reduced the TNI's representation in the Assembly from 155 seats to 38 seats, but maintained its 75 seats in the House.

Many people also believe that the TNI's political interests are being taken care of by retired officers who have joined the civilian political parties.

Economy & investment

Indonesia misses out on China deal

Radio Australia - August 9, 2002

Indonesian parliamentarians have blamed security and legal concerns for the country's failure to win China's first major liquefied natural gas supply contract.

Tubagus Haryono, the deputy chairman of a parliamentary commission on energy affairs, says efforts had been to reassure Chinese authorities over the legal and security issues, but to no avail.

However, China did pick Indonesia's Tangguh gas field, which had also bid for the initial contract, as supplier for a second LNG project which is planned to begin operating in 2006.

In a separate development, Indonesia has started piping natural gas to Malaysia for the first time under a 20-year contract expected to generate billions of dollars profit for the country.

IMF's Indonesia 'solution' leaves bitterness

Financial Times - August 8, 2002

Alan Beattie and Tom McCawley -- The International Monetary Fund does not usually end up being sued by the people it has negotiated with. But Kwik Kian Gie, Indonesia's national development planning minister, recently advised a group of local lawyers to go ahead and file a class action lawsuit against the IMF for its policies in the country.

Of all the countries affected by the Asian crisis, Indonesia had perhaps the most fraught interactions with the international community. And it has recovered far more slowly and painfully from the trauma of 1997-98 than most, intensifying the legacy of bitterness and recrimination.

For its critics, the IMF's Indonesian programme became a byword for malign and capricious interference in a distressed country's affairs. When the currency started weakening and banks came under pressure in late 1997, the IMF's attempt to stem the pressure with a limited bank closure failed.

Critics then charge that, in the second round of reforms, the IMF took the opportunity to impose a massive and painful restructuring on the economy -- which precipitated the ousting of former president Suharto in May 1998 -- far out of proportion to the cause of the crisis.

IMF officials say the problem with Indonesia was the intertwining of politics with economics. Suharto's dictatorial regime, with its extensive nepotism reaching into almost every corner of the economy, meant that any serious attempt at reform inevitably ended up threatening a relative and hence the president's power base.

One part of the long list of conditions set down in return for help -- the dismantling of the government monopoly on marketing cloves -- has been widely cited as a symbol of excessive micro- management.

When Horst Kvhler, the IMF's managing director, took up his post in 2000, he cited his personal experience of the IMF programme in Indonesia -- having been sent as an emissary from the German government -- as an example of why the fund had to slim down the conditions it placed on help.

"It was impossible to do it overnight," he said. "It was an agenda for a decade." Officials involved in the programme admit that some parts of it, such as the first round of ad hoc closures of banks without guaranteeing deposits, was in retrospect a mistake. It encouraged rather than prevented bank runs as depositors wondered which banks would be shut next.

In the chaos that followed, Indonesia's economy contracted 14 per cent in 1998, the most severe damage wrought on any Asian country by the regional crisis.

But the officials hold firm to the idea that Indonesia's essential problem was crony capitalism, and that a serious reform effort was necessary to demonstrate that this would end. The clove monopoly was owned by Suharto's son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, who amassed a personal fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

"Not every policy was well-conceived and wise," says Hubert Neiss, then director of the IMF's Asia-Pacific department and now Deutsche Bank's chairman for Asia. "But that is inevitable in a crisis. The broad strategy was right: to use conditionality to impose better governance. Without that the international community would never have come to Indonesia's support."

IMF officials also point out that demands for extensive reform emanated from within the country itself. As a counterbalance to the demands of his family and cronies, Suharto had collected a so-called "Berkeley mafia" of US-educated economic advisers to whom he turned in times of crisis. Liberal, market-minded reformers of a sort eagerly seized on by the IMF, fund officials say they pressed it to include more and more conditions in its lending which would have the effect of undermining the Suharto dictatorship.

In reality, the IMF's problem was not that it came in with a preset notion of what needed to be done, but that it faced a country beset by corruption and dictatorship and, in effect, threw in its lot with a particular faction which had a view of how to reform it.

"Many of the domestic reformers were telling the IMF we needed to demand certain things as a symbol of Suharto's willingness to undertake reform," says an IMF official. "The clove monopoly was a symbol of this. In the abstract, we may not have insisted on its elimination." These debates have by no means gone away, as Mr Kwik's intervention shows.

Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesia's president, remains in favour of a continuing relationship with the IMF and the lending programme has recently been extended, but Mr Kwik finds significant minority support elsewhere.

Amien Rais, speaker of parliament, says Indonesia can achieve recovery without the IMF. He and other Islamist leaders, whose parties hold 15 per cent of parliamentary seats, hit at "western imperialism".

Economic nationalism of the type preached by Suharto is still widespread. Indonesia's government is reluctantly re-privatising the banks it took over during the crisis, but has still to make significant inroads in liberalisation elsewhere. A large debt burden drags back economic growth and restricts the ability of companies to borrow. Almost alone among the crisis-hit east Asian currencies, the rupiah remained vulnerable to bouts of severe weakness in the years after the crisis abated.

The experience of the IMF rescue hangs over the country. Late last month Tommy Suharto was jailed for his alleged part in an assassination attempt. The controversies over Indonesia's relationship with the international financial institutions, which in many other Asian countries have subsided, remain a part of its daily political life.