Labour issues

Workers' rallies could boomerang on them: Minister

Jakarta Post - September 25, 2002

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta -- Thousands of workers from various labor unions continued their rowdy rallies on Tuesday to voice their opposition to the two controversial labor bills, a move labor experts claim will backfire on the workers themselves.

The rallies turned ugly when the police called up water cannon as the workers began shaking the House's entrance gate.

The gate, which was newly erected after it was brought down by other demonstrators last month, finally collapsed, but the police prevented the protesters from moving further into the grounds of the House building.

The protesters were demanding that the House throw out the two labor bills, which they consider as disregarding workers' interests and siding too much with business, and draft new bills from scratch.

The two bills have also been rejected by employers, who consider them as protecting workers too much at the expense of employers. The employers are demanding that the House and the government revise at least 47 articles concerning five issues -- strikes, dismissals, remuneration, night work and sanctions against employers.

The rejection of the bills by both sides has prompted the government and the House to postpone the passage of the bills until the next sitting.

Labor expert and former manpower minister Bomer Pasaribu criticized labor union rejection of the two bills, saying that it would not do them any good. He contended that the bill on industrial dispute settlement was a lot better than the prevailing law.

He said the bill provided for better and faster resolution for both workers and employers. "Under the bill, a dispute can be resolved by an independent court within several months, while under the existing law it can take years to settle a dispute," he said. Besides, the prevailing mechanism for resolve industrial disputes could be tampered with by employers, he said.

Bomer, nevertheless, agreed that the labor protection bill needed some revisions on a number of contentious issues, but the entire bill should not be discarded altogether.

He said the various parties must sit down together and discuss the best compromise regarding the various issues involved, ranging from strikes to compensation for resigning workers.

Separately, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea, himself a former activist, said the government would press ahead with its intention of having the two labor bills endorsed by the House. "In our view, the bills are better than the previous ones. We're not planning to draft new bills," he said.

The labor bills, expected to replace suspended Law No. 25/1997 on manpower, have raised controversy as the they have been rejected by both labor unions and the business community.

Numerous revision have been made on a number of contentious issues, including workers' rights, negotiations, industrial strikes and child labor -- all of which are considered as accommodating labor interests.

As the passage of the bills has been postponed, Law No. 25/1997 on labor, which has also been rejected by both the workers and employers, will come into effect on October 1. As this 1997 law was no less controversial, the government and the House agreed to draft a new law to repeal its predecessor.

Thus, the status quo will continue. Relations between workers and their employers will continue to be governed by the outdated laws and regulations: the 1957 law on labor dispute settlement, the 1964 law on labor dismissal by private companies, and Minister of Manpower Decree No 150/2000 on dispute settlement.

Labor unions reject privatization

Jakarta Post - September 25, 2002

Jakarta -- The Federation of State Enterprises' Labor Unions (FSP-BUMN) threatened on Tuesday to file a class action against State Minister of State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi should he proceed with the ongoing privatization of state enterprises.

A federation senior executive, Bahrun Syah, said that under the privatization scheme, all state enterprises would be sold below market price, thus generating losses to the state. The workers also fear mass lay-offs resulting from the privatization, he added.

"We reject privatization. If Laksamana dares to continue with it, we'll file a class action against him," Bahrun told a news conference on the sidelines of a seminar on the subject. Bahrun said the federation demanded that Laksamana's offices be dissolved as they were no longer functioning for the people.

Earlier this year, the federation held rallies to reject the privatization plan, but the government went ahead with selling off the companies in the program. State telecommunications companies PT Indosat and PT Telkom were among those privatized this year.

Farmers and workers protest

Kompas - September 25, 2002

Jakarta -- Thousands of demonstrators from a number of groups demonstrated in front of the parliament in Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon. The workers were rejecting the Draft Law on the Resolution of Industrial Disputes and the Draft Law on Establishment of Labour Efficiency.

The farmers from the People's Front for Agrarian Reform (Pembaruan Agraria, FRPA) were demanding agrarian reform as quickly as possible. Meanwhile a group from a number of student organisations were demanding that the management of peasants' land be returned to farmers. Coinciding with 42nd Farmers/National Agrarian Day the demonstration was attended farmer organisations from a number of regions.

At around 12noon, the first workers who had arrived broke down the gates to the parliament. Two of three police water cannon vehicles fired water to disperse them. Nevertheless there was a serious class between security forces and the demonstrators.

The security forces then allowed them to enter the grounds of the building an listen to the chairperson of the National Front for Workers' Struggle (Front Nasional Perjuangan Buruh Indonesia, FNPBI) Dita Indah Sari give a speech from on top of a command vehicle. Not long after, hundreds of farmers from FRPA along with hundreds of other students arrived and joined the worker demonstration.

In their statement, FRPA demanded that the government immediately implement the Basic Agrarian Law and the Law on Basic Produce Distribution as a condition for [creating] economic and political democracy.

Meanwhile, the secretary general of Village Development, Saiful Bahari and an activist from the Consortium for Agrarian Reform (Konsorsium Pembaharuan Agraria, KPA) Erphan Faryadi stated that the National Movement for Agrarian Reform called on the government to end violence against farmers and traditional society over the last three years.

The movement which is supported by 18 farmers' organisations and non-government organisations (NGO) also demanded that the government not use the military and police against farmers who are struggling for their right to land.

Erphan also called on the government to immediately implement agrarian reform which benefits ordinary people. Implementation of agrarian reform, said Erphan, means that the state provides land, food and work to the people. "This demand is valid on the grounds that farmers are a part of this nation which wishes for government policies which are responsible and side with the interests of the majority of people", said Erphan.

According to Saiful, for a long period farmers and traditional Indonesian people have experienced oppression and violence as a result of their land being seized. The Indonesian nation has lost its sovereignty over food and work as a result of following damaging stipulations from international trade agreements regulated by the World Trade Organisation.

For long enough said Saiful, the Indonesian nation has been hit by the burden of foreign debt accumulated by corrupt government officials.

Saiful explained that agrarian laborers represent a way out of the economic crisis. Agrarian workers represent a means to move the wheels of the national economy and at the same time the wheels of the people's economy.

The Basic Agrarian Law was promulgated 42 years ago however it has not been effectively implemented so the majority of farmers do not have access to ownership of land.

In Bandung, the day was marked by demonstrations by around 1,500 farmers under the Pasundan Farmers Union (Serikat Petani Pasundan, SPP). They arrived from a number of regions in West Java to complain about their situation to members of the Jabar Regional People's Representative Assembly.

The demonstration which rallied at the Gasibu Field on Jalan Diponegoro began at around 7am. They arrived from a number of parts of Jabar such as Sumedang, Karawang, Indramayu, Cianjur, Garut, Tasik, Subang, and Bandung in scores of trucks and busses which were parked in front of the PT Telecom office headquarters.

Last Friday, no less than 2,000 farmers from Yogyakarta [Central Java] held a farmers' art parade around Yogyakarta. As well as the farmers' art parade, the orderly procession carried posters which demanded government policies which was more orientated to farmers welfare.

As well as farmers, the parade was joined by NGOs, youth, student and social organisation. Initially they gathered at the Northern Square. After speeches by representatives from youth, farmer and NGO organisations, the participants marched around the city towards the Yogyakarta governor's office to meet with the governor Sultan Hamengku Buwono X.

The farmers supported by youth, students and NGO activists were invived to go to the Kepatihan open audience hall which had been emptied so that the thousands of farmers could be seated. The farmers felt disappointed because they were unable to meet with the Sultan who was in Jakarta but were able to meet with other government officials.

In Jombang, East Java, students and farmers gave speeches and erected banners. The joint action was objecting to government policies which are not considered to side with farmers and was accompanied by a "happening art" action.

Demonstrators from the Student Secretariat for Peoples Democracy (Serikat Mahasiswa Untuk Demokrasi Kerakyatan, SMUDEMKRA), Jombong Farmers Consultative Forum (Forum Musyawarah Petani Jombang, FMPJ) and the Jombang Youth Struggle Front (Front Perjuangan Pemuda Jombang, FPPJ) called on the government to immediately revise Basic Agrarian Law Number 5/1960.

They consider since the New Order regime [of former President Suharto] up until now, the rights of farmers have be shacked. At that time farmers largely played the role of objects in the authoritarian system of the New Order through the monopolisation and control of assets which should be owned by farmers. Thus many farmers lost their land as a consequence of a development program which focused on the industrial sector and the presence of foreign investment.

In Pelembang, the secretary general of the South Sumatra Untied Solidarity for Farmers Welfare (Kesatuan Solidaritas Kesejahteraan Petani, KSKP), Ipi Magrang Cawang and the head of the Rural Division of the Pelembang Legal Aid Institute, Dede Sineba, [said that they] considered that local government as well as regional and provincial governments must be able to take advantage of the promulgation of MPR Decree Number IX/2001 on Agrarian Reform and Management of Natural Resources to resolve a number of agrarian problems which are nearly all linked with the lives of farmers.

Because of this the regional and provincial governments were pressed to draw up local regulations on protecting farmers so that land cases can be resolved and the lives of farmers become more prosperous. (Team Kompas)

[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski.]

Thousands of workers demonstrate

Kompas - September 25, 2002

Cimahi -- Around 2,000 workers demonstrated at the Leuwigajah market in Cimahi, West Java on Tuesday. Thirty two demonstrators were arrested by police because they were said to have demonstrated without asking for permission from security forces.

On the same day, the demonstrators who were arrested were tried and found to be guilty of violating Article 510 of the Criminal Code. The police did not succeed in arresting other demonstrators because aside from there not being enough police for it to be possible, the demonstrators who were to be arrested left beforehand.

At the action they demanded a 100 per cent increase in wages, rejected the dismissal of workers and legislation on the Resolution of Industrial Disputes/Establishment of Protection for Labour and its revisions along with Law Number 25/1997.

At around 6.30am, workers from a number of industries in Jabar [in West Java] gathered near the Cimindi market, Bandung. They planned to join with other demonstrators at the Jabar regional parliament. Demonstrators filled the Cimindi road and as a result traffic was completely blocked.

The action was joined by social activist organisations in Jabar including the National Front for Labour Struggle (Front Nasional Perjuangan Buruh Indonesia, FNPBI), the Indonesian Islamic Student Movement (Pergerakan Mahasiswa Islam Indonesia, PMII), the National Student League for Democracy (Liga Mahasiswa Nasional untuk Demokrasi, LMND), the Indonesian National Party (Partai Nasional Indonesia, PNI), the People's Struggle Party (Partai Perjuangan Rakyat, PPR) and the People's Democratic Party (Partai Rakyat Demokratik, PRD).

However at the Cibaligo intersection near the Cimindi markets the demonstrators were blocked by scores of police made up of a joint team from West Bandung regional police and the Bandung provincial police. Police then questioned demonstrators as to whether they had a permit to demonstrate. Although the demonstrators showed them the permit along with a facsimile sent to the Jobar local police, police continued to request that they disperse.

At around 9am, the police arrested 32 demonstrators including five women because they did not disperse. They were arrested at two locations, on the road which goes past the Cimindi market and near the Cimindi pedestrian overpass. All of the arrested workers were from the company PT Garudafood.

Police also detained the chairperson of FNPBI, Jabar Eti Rostiawati (25), who at the time was driving a pickup. A PRD activist, Bin Bin (27) who had previously been detained by police in a similar case was also arrested.

Those who were arrested were then taken to the Bandung police headquarters and interrogated. Then, at around 12noon, the 32 demonstrators were taken to a room near the office of the Bandung police chief which "magically" became a court room.

At the hearing, which was presided over by judge Jihad Arkanuddin, eight members of the Bandung police were presented to the hearing as witnesses. In their testimonies they stated that they had not received notification for the demonstration. A Bandung police officer known as Rusman gave expert evidence on the procedures [required] for holding a demonstration.

As well as this, two employees of PT Garudafood were also witnesses. They stated that they had forbidden company employees from demonstrating on that day. However they could not be prevented from doing so when worker going home from work then joined the action.

The hearing decided that the 32 demonstrators were guilty because it was proven that they had violated Article 510 of the Criminal Code on conducting parades without a permit. The 31 demonstrators would therefore be sentenced to 10 days in jail and two months probation. "This means that they do not need to serve the sentence if over the next two months they do not carry out [further] actions of this nature", said Jihad.

Meanwhile, one person, Bin Bin was sentenced to one month's jail and two months probation. "Bin Bin has already committed a violation in a similar case" added Jihad.

After hearing the decision, seven of the demonstrators immediately appealed. "We do not accept this decision because we do not feel [we are] guilty. [Before] this action we informed the police but security forces still arrested us. This indicates that democratic space [in Indonesia] is becoming increasingly narrow" said Eti. (T05)

[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski.]

Workers storm parliament in protest against labor bill

Agence France Presse - September 24, 2002

About 1,000 Indonesian workers have stormed the parliament building in a protest against a draft labor law which they said favors employers.

Police fired water cannon as the protestors began shaking the main gate of the sprawling parliament complex on Tuesday. The steel gate, which was newly re-erected after it was brought down by demonstrators demanding the imposition of Islamic law last month, finally collapsed. The workers entered the compound but were prevented from moving further by a police barricade.

The laborers, many working at garment and footwear factories, said the draft law allowed employers to arbitrarily fire them and impose unfair conditions. "The draft law justifies sinister acts by capital owners" including short-period employment, they said in a statement They accused legislators of being paid by employers to pass the bill.

PPD bus crews go on strike, leaving thousands stranded

Jakarta Post - September 24, 2002

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta -- About 2,000 bus drivers, conductors and other employees of state-owned Djakarta Transportation company (PPD) went on strike on Monday morning, causing thousands of commuters to be left stranded at bus stops and stations during rush hour.

Many people were late for work as they had to find alternative transportation. But in the afternoon, the situation was back to normal as most PPD employees ended the strike and went back to work.

In the morning, thousands of commuters were seen waiting for buses at a number of bus stops and terminals, such as Pulo Gadung in East Jakarta, Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta, Pasar Minggu in South Jakarta and Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta.

Some commuters waited almost an hour before they realized the PPD buses they usually took to work were not running. "I had waited for more than half an hour before I realized that something went wrong," Ineke, an employee at a private company on Jl. Gatot Subroto, South Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post.

She said that she usually paid Rp 3,500 in bus fare on the air- conditioned PPD buses, which she caught near her house on Jl. Gajah Mada in West Jakarta. But on Monday she spent more than Rp 16,000 for a taxi.

PPD's management apologized to commuters for the numerous inconveniences caused by the strike. PPD business director Jun Tambunan said the company operates 480 buses every day. He said that not all the bus crews wanted to go on strike, but they were forced to comply. Jun claimed bus operations were back to normal at about 1pm. He also guaranteed that there would not be a strike on Tuesday.

There are two trade unions in the PPD: the All-Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI) under the leadership of Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea, and the Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI) under the leadership of Mochtar Pakpahan. Monday's strike was organized by the SBSI.

During the strike, PPD employees held a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Finance and at the offices of State Minister for State Enterprises in Lapangan Banteng, Central Jakarta. They were demanding at least the minimum monthly wage for working in the city, which is Rp 596,266.

"I have been working here for 25 years, but my monthly take-home pay is only Rp 250,000. How can I afford a life for my five children?" Sumaji said.

Since it was founded in early 1985, the company has not been efficiently run. The government failed to bring the company up to standards as the ratio of employees to vehicles is about ten to one, which is far from the ideal figure. PPD currently has some 5,000 employees while there are less than 500 buses on its fleet.

"How can PPD be a healthy company if 10 people are responsible for one bus?" the spokesman for the Land Transport Directorate General, J.A. Barata, told The Jakarta Post on Monday, adding that the normal ratio should not be more than five to one.

Meanwhile, head of the City Transportation Agency Rustam Effendy claimed that the PPD bus strike did not significantly affect transportation in the city. He said that some 70 city buses from various private companies in the city were deployed to ply the routes usually served by PPD buses.

Workers protest 'sudden' closure

Jakarta Post - September 24, 2002

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang -- Some 6,800 locked-out workers of PT Doson Indonesia, a subcontractor for shoe giant Nike, staged a rally on Monday in front of the company factory. They protested that the management had closed the company suddenly without giving them any advance warning.

All the steel gates of the factory, which is located on Jl. Raya Legok in the Legok district of Tangerang regency, were welded shut on Sunday.

The workers interviewed by The Jakarta Post said that they had not been informed about the factory closure plan by company management. "All of the factory's gates are welded tight so that none of the workers who arrived at the factory to work as usual could get in," said one of the protesting workers, who refused to give his name.

Joko Haryono, who chairs the Indonesia Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Union (SPTSK) branch in the company, said the management had never announced the plan to close the factory on Sunday so that the workers came to the factory to work as usual on Monday.

The workers were shocked by the secretive closure and they were at a loss to know what to do in response to the management's decision.

SPTSK secretary Surono said that several workers who by coincidence came to the factory on Sunday had found contractor welding the gates of the factory shut. When they asked who had ordered the welding, the contractor said it was the management and the Tangerang Police.

Joko said that all the workers were wondering what was going on on Monday morning as none of them were picked up by the company buses that usually transported them to the factory. "All the workers came to the factory using public transportation," he said.

"We tried to contact both PT Doson Indonesia HRD manager Mohammad Banjir Iqbal and General Manager Candra Handoko, whom we believe had knowledge of the factory closure, but their cellular phones were switched off," Joko added.

The workers will stage a rally to protest the closure at the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration Office on Tuesday.

Some workers earlier said that they had 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 month, stating that Nike would halt its orders starting from November.

House offers to mediate for controversial labor bills

Jakarta Post - September 24, 2002

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Jupriadi, Jakarta/Makassar -- Following the indefinite delay to the endorsement of two bills on labor issues, the House of Representatives offered on Monday to mediate between employers and workers, both of whom are upset, in a bid to improve the draft laws.

House deputy speaker Muhaimin Iskandar said after receiving a delegation of workers, that a dialog forum would be held to accommodate the opinions of both the businesspeople and the trade unions in the evaluation of the contentious articles in the two bills.

"The bills on industrial relations dispute settlements and on labor development and protection will not be passed into laws until we improve them through an open dialog," he told protesting workers, rallying in front of the House compound.

Hundreds of workers from several trade unions said they hoped the House would scrap the bills in favor of completely new ones, arguing that the bills would hurt the workers' interests and basic rights.

Labor activist Dita Indah Sari expressed fear that the current delay was part of a strategy to calm the workers while creating disharmony among the trade unions.

"Although they would need some revision, we would be better off going back to the 1957 law on labor dispute settlement and the 1964 law on dismissal of labor from private companies," she said in her speech, referring to the labor friendly laws of the Sukarno era which were later superseded by Soeharto-era laws, which are largely in effect today.

Muhaimin said the existing laws and regulations were not protecting the workers enough and failed to recognize their basic rights, while the government was allowed to play a bigger role to pursue investment and create job opportunities.

Dita pointed to several contentious articles in the bills, such as the regulation on strikes which were considered to have too many administrative and procedural obligations, which if broken, would make the protesting workers considered criminals.

Under the bills, she said, the government would stay clear of giving protection to the workers as stated in a clause that the management should no longer ask approval from the government in any dismissals.

"Any disputes will be brought court. And that is unacceptable, because Indonesian courts are not trusted as institutions that will be fair to working people," Dita remarked.

The rally turned somewhat violent as the workers tried to force their way into the compound by tearing down the front gate. They also threatened to strike on Tuesday should the House respond unsatisfactorily.

In Makassar, South Sulawesi, around 200 demonstrating workers rallied near the entrance of Hasanuddin Airport to reject the two bills. Police fired warning shots and tear gas, then beat them with rattan sticks and kicked those who had fallen. Dozens were reportedly suffering from bruises and light injuries.

The incident started when the workers intended to express their rejection to the two labor bills to President Megawati Soekarnoputri who had just arrived along with her entourage, before continuing her trip to Manado, North Sulawesi. Two platoons of police troops and the province's police mobile brigade blockaded the entrance so the workers could not advance.

During Monday's House plenary session, which was presided over by Muhaimin, all factions decided to take the initiative to issue a law on the annulment of the unpopular 1997 law on manpower which was expected to be passed on Friday, because, otherwise it would go into effect starting October 1.

FNPBI demonstrators class with security forces in Sulawasi

Kompas - September 24, 2002

Maros -- Around 300 workers from the Indonesian National Front For Labor Struggle (Front Nasional Perjuangan Buruh Indonesia, FNPBI) clashed with Mobil Brigade (Brimob) troops in the area of the Hasanuddin airport in the Moros regency of South Sulawasi on Monday. The class occurred at 2.20pm at the same time as President Megawati Sukarnoputri was in transit at the VIP Galaktika lounge of the Hasanuddin airport. During the clash warning shots and tear gas were fired by security forces.

The FNPBI demonstrators began the action at the regional People's Representative Assembly. Failing to meet any parliamentarians the demonstrators took the demonstration to the offices of the South Sulawasi governor. There they demanded the government withdraw [Labour] Law Number 25/1997 and that all companies increase workers' wages by 100 per cent.

At 1pm they intercepted four trucks at the end of the Reformasi toll road. The workers, who carried FNPBI flags and red banners, asked the truck drivers to take them to the Hasanuddin airport. They had information that Megawati was in transit before continuing her journey to Manado. However at the airport their demands changed calling on Megawati and Vice-president Hamzah Haz to resign from their respective offices on the grounds that they had ignored the plight of workers.

The four trucks carrying the demonstrations, the majority of which were women, were able to enter the gates to the airport. However security forces, who were equipped with shields and clubs blocked the demonstrators who were heading for the VIP lounge where Megawati was in transit. The demonstrators and security forces began to push and shove each other. When negotiations stalled and demonstrators surged forward, the security forces fired warning shots and two tear gas grenades to disperse them. A number of workers suffered minor injures after being struck by clubs. However in the end the demonstrators retreated while the security forces who had been reinforced by two platoons were strengthened by yet another platoon.

The Maros regional police chief Ajun Komisaris Besar Syamsudin Yunus who was at the scene when the clash occurred explained that the police had tolerated the demonstrators entering the area of the Hasanuddin airport which is forbidden without permission. "[But] They should have only demonstrated 500 metres from the entrance. That is already in the area of the airport", he said. (pep)

[Translated by James Balowski]

Shangri-la protest symbol of wider woes

Laksamana.Net - September 22, 2002

Visitors to Jakarta's Shangri-la Hotel last week were confronted by a reincarnation of the labor dispute that closed the hotel for three months at the beginning of 2001, providing symbolic evidence of the fragile nature of Indonesia's labor relations.

Demonstrators from the sacked workforce staged new protests outside the hotel, using high-power loudspeakers to turn the lobby area into a different place than normal.

One long-haired union leader stood by the exit road from the hotel, offering a non-negotiable thumbs-down to guests leaving the hotel now considered a "scab" workplace by the international union movement. The Shangri-la protest, in connection with union pressure that has taken the issue of the right to strike to the Indonesian Supreme Court and to the legers of international union law, came as other workers were gearing up for a last-ditch stand to defend their position under existing national legislation.

Around 1,500 workers from the metal industry rallied Thursday in front of the parliament to push their argument that changes to the legislation which they claim will limit the right to strike and reduces rights on severance and other standards.

The demonstrators had marched earlier to the Vice President's office. Similar protests also took place in Medan, Surabaya and other major cities and the rallies achieved agreement from parliament for a cooling-off period until the November session to allow more debate on the legislation.

The business sector is continuing to protest the bill as well, saying it still gives too much protection to workers and that it will act as a major deterrent for investors.

In the wake of the decision to delay passage of the legislation. a number of business associations called for the revision of 47 articles concerning strikes, dismissals, payment, a limitation to night-shift working hours and severe sanctions against employers, The Jakarta Post reported.

Management are obliged to pay striking workers under the existing draft, in just one example of employer objections.

Caltex headquarters operations were forced to shut at Duri and Rumbai in Riau province as thousands of workers employed by contractors blocked roads to Caltex offices. The dispute related to conditions on retrenchment at contractor PT Tripatra. Caltex said vital installations, including its oil fields, had not been affected.

Echoes of Indonesia's labor position sounded as far away as Yarmouth in Oregon, US, a production base for a Nike shoe subsidiary, where the company held its annual meeting.

Labor activist James Keady tried to question Nike chairman and CEO Philip H. Knight on the company's decision to end its contract with an Indonesian shoe factory, resulting in the loss of 7,000 jobs.

Knight tried to cut Keady off, declaring him out of order three times. When Keady would not stop, Knight abruptly ended the meeting as security officials and a police officer escorted Keady from the meeting.

Back home, Paskah Suzeta, deputy chairman of the parliament's Commission IX, warned that implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) would cause a new surge in unemployment because many Indonesian companies would not be able to compete, Antara reported.

Surveys had shown that around 27% of 80 business associations queried said they were not yet ready to face AFTA, and small and medium enterprises would be hurt most.

The government meanwhile said it would push for better conditions for Indonesians allowed to return to work in Malaysia, Reuters reported.

"We are proposing better salaries for Indonesian workers in Malaysia, if possible at least 12 ringgit ($3.16) per day. Also we want our workers to have insurance protection on their health," Manpower Minister Jacob Nuwa Wea told reporters.

Aceh/West Papua

Aceh to implement caning punishment

Jakarta Post - September 28, 2002

Jakarta -- In line with sharia law, the Aceh legislative council is proposing that caning be one of the punishments for people who tempt Muslims to desert religious teachings.

A special team set up by the council is drafting the bylaw in response to Law No. 44/1999 on Aceh's special status and Law No. 18/2002 on special autonomy for Aceh.

Chairman of the special team Azhari Basar said that caning would be imposed on those who propagated beliefs other than Islam to Muslims in the province. "Those who violate the ruling will face a maximum jail term of two years and a maximum fine of Rp 6 million or 10 strokes of the cane," he told Antara.

Azhari said that according to Article 17 of the draft, anyone who skips Friday prayers three times in a row without an acceptable reason would be fined a maximum of Rp 2 million, six months in jail or three strokes of the cane.

"Caning also applies to those who open their food stalls during Ramadhan [fasting month]," he said. Food stall owners who sell food, beverages or cigarettes publicly or secretly during the holy month will be fined a maximum of Rp 4 million, spend one year in jail or receive five strokes of the cane.

However, it is not clear who is in charge of carrying out the caning punishment: the police or the sharia police.

A show trial in Aceh

Sydney Morning Herald Editorial - September 27, 2002

After decades of authoritarian rule, Indonesia closed its notorious Department of Information three years ago and declared censorship was dead. But journalists, academics and commentators were right to remain cautious.

At best, the new freedom of information and movement has been unevenly upheld. In the northern Indonesian province of Aceh a "show trial" is looming which threatens to revive the intimidation and fear which former president Soeharto employed to suppress news of dissent.

The accused are two Western women detained over alleged visa violations. These are relatively minor offences. However, the women's ordeal at the hands of the police is intended to serve as an example to others seeking to travel to conflict zones such as Aceh. Lesley McCulloch, a former University of Tasmania lecturer, and her American health worker friend, Joy Lee Sadler, attracted the interest of the security forces because of their alleged contact with armed Acehnese separatists and Ms McCulloch's published accounts of harrowing human rights abuses by Indonesia.

One possible outcome is that travel to Aceh -- and to West Papua where the authorities are facing a similar campaign for independence -- will again be restricted. Until the fall of the Soeharto regime in 1998, foreign journalists needed permits to travel to conflict zones. Few were issued. Consequently, much of the information which so damned Jakarta and its soldiers in East Timor was gathered by journalists, researchers and activists posing as tourists who played a vital role in exposing the carnage in East Timor, which led in turn to international military intervention.

The suffering in Aceh, where 10,000 people have died in 26 years of fighting for independence, has not provoked similar international sympathy. Aceh's separatist rebels are hardline Muslims, and the United States is encouraging Jakarta to crush its Islamic extremists. However, it should be remembered that the Acehnese have genuine economic and human rights grievances which predate the US-led war on terrorism.

Still smarting from East Timor's independence vote, Jakarta is determined to put down independence moves elsewhere. But Indonesia is now a democracy, and accountability lies at the core of any democracy. Only with freedom of information will the people of Aceh, and elsewhere, be protected against a revival of the military abuses of the past.

Academic concerned for health of Aceh detainee

Radio Australia - September 27, 2002

A former Australian University lecturer who is being held by police in the Indonesian province of Aceh is reportedly sick and in need of medical attention.

The head of political and international studies at Deakin University in Melbourne, Damien Kingsbury, says he contacted Lesley McCulloch last night and is concerned for her well-being.

Dr McCulloch, a British national, has been held with an American nurse at Banda Aceh police headquarters for the past two weeks. The two have been charged with violating their tourist visas.

Police allege the women made contact with separatist rebels and were found with video footage of the Free Aceh Movement, as well as documents relating to the rebels.

Dr Kingsbury says Dr McCulloch spoke to him about her treatment by local authorities.

"She basically has not eaten properly for two weeks, she has been in custody now for two weeks, she has had less than one meal a day," Dr Kingsbury says. "She is run down, she's sick and she needs to be looked at urgently," he says.

Papuan human rights group's report on Freeport killings

Radio Australia - September 25, 2002

The leading human rights group in Indonesian Papua, Elsham, has released a report on its investigation into last month's killing of one Indonesian and two American schoolteachers, at the American owned gold and copper mine Freeport. Suspicion for the attack fell initially on the Free Papua Movement's armed wing, the OPM. But, Elsham says its investigation indicates the Indonesian security force protecting the mine may have carried out the attack.

Presenter/Interviewer: Tricia Fitzgerald Speakers: John Rumbiak the co-ordinator of the Papuan human rights groups Elsham

Fitzgerald: ELSHAM's coordinator John Rumbiak says as part of the investigation into the Freeport ambush, he and his team looked at what crimes had been committed in the past in the same location. He says that investigation trail led directly to the Indonesian security force, which is guarding the mine.

Rumbiak: Now ELSHAM is looking at the security policy of Freeport itself, that's the way that we see the incident on the 31st of August by digging out the evidence in the ground, the facts and then looking at such similar cases, like the attack on Freeport main office building at Kuala Kencana in Timika on 25th of May. As well as the shooting of two Freeport employees at Grasberg at the mining site on the 20th of December last year. Of course looking also at crimes committed by the Indonesian security forces that were specialised to guard the mine.

Fitzgerald: How many security forces are generally guarding that mine?

Rumbiak: Indonesian government and Freeport agreed to deploy about 550 special units to guard the mine that consists of the army, that is special forces, Kopassus, Kostrad, their conventional army, and the police, navy as well as air force, they're specialised to guard the mine.

Fitzgerald: Mr Rumbiak says in the past ELSHAM has been notified of other killings of Freeport mine employees which witnesses said had been carried out by the local security force.

Rumbiak: This is not something that's new to the Freeport employees themselves who have been attacked many times by the Indonesian security guards that are guarding the mine itself. There is Freeport expatriate employees ... an Australia that were shot in 1994 when I was down in Timika. Another incident that happened almost at the same site at Mile 52 and 63, was the killing of a Freeport employee that was working along the main road. The problem that we have seen so far in such similar incidents that are committed by the Indonesian security forces is surprisingly Freeport never do anything to either report or process this through the existing authority, such as police.

Fitzgerald: Papua's police chief has not yet released his investigation into the Freeport killings but police chief General Pastika has cast doubts over the military's account of the events following the attack.

John Rumbiak says both the police and ELSHAM investigations have been hampered by death threats and harassment by the military.

Rumbiak: The police who were conducting the investigation get shot by the army that's guarding the mine, and also on the 14th September another shooting to the police who were conducting an investigation occurred on the same ambush site. In our investigation, we also experienced terror, intimidation not only to the police themselves, but also to ourselves, from ELSHAM, Lemasa, which is the Amungme tribal council and all members of our team. I have been followed around and my team in our investigation by the Indonesian intelligence and that makes the investigation itself very difficult.

Witness tells of Kopassus role in Freeport ambush

Sydney Morning Herald - September 26, 2002

Matthew Moore, Jakarta -- Four Indonesian soldiers were at the site of an ambush last month in which three school teachers attached to the United States-owned Freeport mine in Papua were killed, the author of a new report into the shootings said yesterday.

John Rumbiak, of the Papua-based human rights group ELS-HAM, said his group had interviewed a witness who accompanied about nine members of the army's special operations forces, Kopassus, to the ambush site on the day of the attack.

The witness -- a former member of a civilian group set up to help Kopassus -- told investigators that four soldiers were still at the site immediately before the shootings on August 31, while six others, who had walked on several hundred metres, heard the shots that killed two Americans and one Indonesian and injured 12 others.

Mr Rumbiak said the witness had been interviewed by the police and was now in Papua's capital, Jayapura, where he was under police protection.

Papua's chief of police, Major-General Made Pastika, confirmed the witness had been interviewed but said there were some "discrepancies" in his account. It was still not certain he was even at the ambush site or within earshot of the shootings, he said.

Several mysterious security incidents have followed the shooting of the teachers, including the discovery of bombs near the world's richest copper and gold mine, further clouding the motives for the murders.

Almost a month later little direct evidence has been produced by Papuan separatists or the Indonesian police to identify the attackers.

Mr Rumbiak's report said his investigations, confirmed by police, "indicate OPM [Free Papua Movement] were not involved" and that the evidence suggests "the shooting was carried out by Indonesian military personnel or groups facilitated by the TNI [military]".

The ELS-HAM report also catalogues a series of smaller disturbances at Freeport before and after the shootings to build a case that the Indonesian military must have been involved.

In a separate report yesterday, Amnesty International warned companies operating in Papua to pay more attention to human rights following the agency's investigation of two attacks by armed groups in the Wasior district between April and October last year in which five policemen were killed.

"As in the Freeport attack, the Indonesian authorities accused the armed opposition group, the Free Papua Movement of being responsible," the report said.

"However, in the absence of an effective investigation there are still doubts about the group's involvement, and questions about whether they may have had military backing." Mr Rumbiak said there were rumours of attempts to use militias to create ethnic conflict in Papua in the same way as in East Timor.

Army, militia suspects in Freeport murders

Jakarta Post - September 26, 2002

Agencies, Jakarta -- Army soldiers from Indonesia's Kopassus special forces were involved in a deadly ambush on employees of the Freeport mine in Papua, a human rights investigator alleged on Wednesday.

Two Americans and one Indonesian died in the Aug. 31 attack on a mountain road leading to the American-owned Freeport copper and gold mine. Twelve other Freeport employees, mostly Americans, were wounded.

"The Kopassus are implicated in this incident. That's number one," John Rumbiak of the Papua-based Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy (Els-Ham) said in Jakarta.

Releasing the findings of Els-Ham's investigation of the attack, John Rumbiak called on the US government to launch its own probe into the killings, in conjunction with Indonesian authorities.

Papua Police chief Ins. Gen. Made Mangku Pastika, meanwhile, said on Wednesday his officers were still trying to determine which group was responsible for the bloody attack.

He said the police currently were scrutinizing the evidence, including hundreds of spent bullets, firearms and a car.

Mangku said at least 200 bullets were fired at the bus during the attack.

The officer also said he had received a letter from the Free Papua Movement (OPM) denying it had any involvement in the incident.

He, however, said the police had not dismissed the possibility that the group was behind the shooting.

The Army has blamed the followers of Kelly Kwalik, a local leader of the disorganized and poorly armed OPM, for the attack.

Several top generals have already ruled out military or police involvement in the attack.

John Rumbiak, however, rejected the possibility of any OPM involvement, saying he had based his findings on interviews with witnesses, including an informant who claimed to have been in a vehicle in the area with Kopassus members before the ambush.

The witness is now under police protection, Rumbiak said.

It is not clear if the actual shooters were Papuan members of Kopassus or members of a Papuan militia group linked to the military, he added.

Kopassus soldiers have also been implicated in the murder of Theys Hiyo Eluay, chairman of the separatist Papua Presidium Council which advocates peaceful dialog with Jakarta.

Eluay was found dead in his car last November.

Since June, the Military Police have been saying that several Kopassus soldiers would soon be tried in the Eluay case, but no trial has yet begun.

The Papua copper and gold mine, one of the largest in the world, is operated by a local subsidiary of US-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. It is considered a vital national asset by the government and is heavily guarded by government troops.

The massive outflow of revenue from the mine, combined with human rights abuses linked to government security forces, has provided fuel for widespread separatist sentiment among the Papuan people.

Jakarta has granted the province special autonomy status, which promises a greater share of revenue and respect for local culture.

Kopassus accused of Papuan ambush

The Australian - September 26, 2002

Don Greenlees, Jakarta -- A human rights group claimed yesterday to have evidence that members of the Indonesian army's special forces, Kopassus, were implicated in the killing of two Americans and one Indonesian working for the Freeport copper and gold mine in Papua.

Citing testimony from an unnamed witness, Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy (ELS-HAM) official John Rumbiak said Kopassus soldiers had exchanged radio messages on the movements of vehicles carrying the three employees just prior to the August 31 ambush on a road leading to the mountaintop Freeport mine. He said the witness, a Papuan Kopassus informant, had on the day of the attack been close to the ambush site in the company of other members of Kopassus.

The witness alleged that, as the Freeport employees drove past, he overheard a member of the group send a radio message referring to the "target" vehicles. Based on this testimony and other factors, Mr Rumbiak said an investigation by ELS-HAM suggested "there is a strong indication" Indonesian soldiers were involved in the attack. The witness is now alleged to be in police protection in the provincial capital, Jayapura.

The attack has refocused domestic and international concern over conditions in Papua, where the local people have waged a long- running campaign for independence. The fact that two of the victims were American school teachers working for Freeport and that the identity of the attackers remains unknown, has raised the stakes for the Indonesian Government and the independence movement.

Inquiries by police and Freeport have yet to reach any conclusions over who was behind the attack. Investigators, the company and security analysts are divided on the issue of responsibility. Although most still suspect a hardline element of the rebel Free Papua Organisation (OPM) carried out the killings, they do not rule out the possibility that the perpetrators were soldiers or individuals in the pay of soldiers.

Mr Rumbiak said ELS-HAM had discounted the possibility of OPM involvement and he called on the US to co-operate with Jakarta in establishing a more thorough investigation. But a police spokesman in Jayapura, Daud Sihoimbing, denied any conclusions had been reached and said the OPM remained a suspect. The latest allegations of military involvement in the killings coincided with an Amnesty International report alleging a security operation in Papua between April and October last year resulted in widespread abuses, including the deaths of seven people.

Amnesty said the operation, led by the Indonesian paramilitary police unit, Brimob, highlighted the dangers of security forces being employed to protect commercial interests in Papua, such as the Freeport copper and gold mine.

Mega's lightning visit leaves Acehnese unmoved

Straits Times - September 26, 2002

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- Two home-made bombs exploded near the airport hours before President Megawati Sukarnoputri's lightning visit to Aceh yesterday, adding urgency to her pledge to restore security to the province.

The blasts forced the military to deploy two battalions -- at least 1,300 soldiers -- to beef up security around the Banda Aceh airport and beyond, said Aceh military commander Djali Yusuf. Police were also out in force, he said.

But he dismissed speculation that the explosions, which occurred 7 km and 5 km away, were intended to disrupt Ms Megawati's visit.

"No, there was no connection," he told the Straits Times. "Everything is calm here, why should we be tense? Otherwise we will be sick with stress." He pointed out that bomb explosions were a common occurrence in the province that has seen more than 12,000 people killed during a decade of separatist conflict.

The President, who did not leave the airport compound during her hour-long visit, made an emotional speech to a 500-strong crowd, promising to restore security and prosperity to Aceh.

"As a president who always strives for an Indonesia that is strong, whole and united, it is really my wish that the people of Aceh can return to a safe, and peaceful life and progress," she said.

Wearing a modest blue dress and a scarf over her head, she said in her 10-minute speech: "I will do whatever I can do, to always be with the people of Aceh in building a safe, peaceful, prosperous and progressive life, within the integrity of the family of our nation." Her team included her spouse Taufik Kiemas and top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Inaugurating a new provincial airline, Ms Megawati recalled how the Acehnese had contributed to Indonesia's independence struggle by donating money to buy the young republic's first aircraft.

However, local residents seemed unmoved. They criticised the brevity of the visit and said the military operation in the province had to be rolled back if Ms Megawati wanted to win them over.

"We have had many presidents who come here and make huge promises and cry for us but we need more than tears," said building contractor Zoel in Banda Aceh. He said former presidents B.J. Habibie and Abdurrahman Wahid failed to keep promises they made during visits to Aceh.

After two years of negotiations with the pro-independence Free Aceh rebels (GAM), the government has now given them a December deadline to accept a proposal for autonomy and cease demands for independence. Once the deadline expires, it says it will launch an even tougher operation than the current one, which has 30,000 troops fighting about 3,000 GAM members.

Analysts such as Rizal Sukma, an Acehnese, say the government's policy swings from satisfying the demands of the military for a heavy operation to crush the rebels to those of the Acehnese to avoid the use of military force and negotiate with the separatists.

He said pro-independence sentiments would remain high as long as the government failed to prosecute the security forces for human rights violations.

Detention of McCulloch and Sadler is an outrage

Laksamana.Net - September 26, 2002

[This article was distributed on September 25 on an online discussion list of academics focusing on Indonesia and appears here via the Joyo Indonesia News Service.]

Jeffrey Winters -- The New Order mentality is alive and well in Indonesia, and getting stronger by the day. Members of the DPR had few reservations about announcing their desire to limit foreign news broadcasts (but no limits on sports, showing careful attention to detail). Activists have been tried and convicted of insulting Megawati for stomping on her likeness at a protest rally. And now an academic and a nurse are being held as the Indonesian security apparatus gropes about for a suitable charge -- visa violation, espionage, being a nuisance, tending to the sick, trying to illuminate the truth?

If Lesley McCulloch and Joy Sadler can be charged for visa violations, then nearly every one of us on this list should face the same charge and jail sentence. The first and last time I got a visa to conduct my scholarly research was in 1989 when I needed to stay in Indonesia for a full year to do my doctoral fieldwork. I have been back to Indonesia dozens of times since on a simple tourist visa and conducted non-tourist work every time I was there. Not only that, often I was doing this work in open and direct contact with government officials, military personnel, and police officers. Every one of them knew that I was there on short-term tourist visas and they always knew I was working.

The same is true for all other non-Indonesians on this list. And in some instances we have declared our conduct openly and without sanction -- as Bill Liddle did in his recent article in the Jakarta Post when he mentioned he conducted interviews in July for the National Democratic Institute. My guess is Bill did not bother to get an official research visa to do this work but instead entered as a tourist, risking being charged with the same offense for which McCulloch and Sadler were detained.

Businesspeople (used to) enter Indonesia by the thousands every week to conduct their affairs, and overwhelmingly on tourist visas. Indeed, the GOI [Government of Indonesia] encouraged them to do so. Only if they decided to set up operations in Indonesia and live and work there more permanently did they have to apply for a more official visa status (KIM-S or whatever).

The charges these two individuals are being held on are arbitrary and outrageous. The clear intent is to intimidate everyone at home and abroad that might want to gather primary information in Indonesia or tend to those who are harmed at the hand of the police and soldiers.

I find the "espionage" allegation particularly repellant. No official war has been declared in Aceh and no rules restricting entry by foreigners are in place. Indeed, the government in Jakarta has even delayed raising the region to the status of a military security zone. Espionage, by definition, implies that these two individuals were spying on behalf of a formal enemy. This is almost too absurd to merit a response. McCulloch was gathering first-hand information about the way Indonesia was treating some its own citizens. She is an academic who has written extensively on the conflict in Aceh (both scholarly work and as a public intellectual) and she does not work on behalf of any foreign government, nor is she an agent of any domestic enemy seeking to overthrow the Indonesian government.

I'm not sure what Sadler was doing, but if her worst crime was nursing unarmed civilians whose health has been damaged by the conflict in Aceh, then she ought to be given an award as a humanitarian of the highest order. And if she was doing this on a tourist visa, at least she can say that her violation of immigration rules did a lot more concrete good than the visa violations routinely committed by the rest of us.

These two individuals deserve our most vocal support -- voiced to the increasingly repressive regime based in Jakarta as well as to the Australian, British, and US embassies.

Resources and conflict in Papua

Tempo Magazine - September 23-30, 2002

Diarmid O'Sullivan -- The struggle over land and natural resource rights is a key aspect of the conflict in Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya, that pits the Indonesian state against an independence movement supported by most of the indigenous population.

It is thought to have cost many thousands of lives since the 1960s, mostly Papuan civilians killed by the security forces. Among the most recent victims were three employees of the giant mining company, PT Freeport Indonesia, killed in a well-planned attack on 31 August 2002.

The conflict is characterized by sporadic violent clashes between security forces and scattered guerrillas of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) and by the largely peaceful independence campaign of the Presidium of the Papuan Council, an umbrella group regarded, in a society of great ethnic and linguistic diversity, as the most influential voice of indigenous aspirations. Its starting point is the view that Indonesia's 1969 annexation was not legitimate in the eyes of most Papuans.

The murder of Presidium chairman Theys Eluay by Indonesian soldiers in November 2001 has sparked fears within Papua of an impending crackdown on the independence movement, though another theory rests on alleged rivalry between retired generals over logging.

There are fears that the presence of Laskar Jihad, a radical Islamic organization with a history of communal violence, could exacerbate deep tensions between indigenous Papuans and the many Indonesian settlers. It seems likely that the conflict could escalate, especially if the military adopts the hard-line approach it takes in Aceh. Indonesia has attempted to end the conflict by offering special autonomy to Papua, as in Aceh. The original draft of the law, created by members of Papua's educated elite, was watered down in Jakarta to produce a document short of the aspirations of even the most conciliatory Papuans. It does offer some potentially important concessions, notably returning more natural resource wealth to the province and giving a greater (but limited) role to Papuan adat (customary law).

However, implementation has been left to an inefficient, sometimes corrupt bureaucracy, and most Papuans appear to reject it on principle. The success of special autonomy is, therefore, open to question. Injustices in the management of natural resources under Indonesian rule have contributed significantly to the conflict. The state has often given concessions to resource companies in disregard of the customary rights of indigenous Papuan communities, while troops and police guarding these concessions have frequently committed murders and other human rights abuses against civilians. Provisions in the special autonomy law require resource companies to pay greater heed to adat claims to land ownership, but they do not apply retroactively to the many companies already in Papua.

Indonesian security forces have a financial interest in resource extraction in Papua, through direct involvement in logging and other activities and protection fees paid by resource companies. Numerous serving and retired officers, senior state officials and others close to government are thought to have logging concessions or other business interests. Alongside the substantial tax and royalties accrued by the state, these interests are a powerful reason for the Indonesian state and its agencies to keep control of Papua.

The resource industry with the widest geographical impact in Papua is the logging industry, whose concessions cover nearly a third of the province. ICG research in Papua, notably the western Sorong region, suggests widespread abuses by logging companies which exploit and deceive local people, pay little or no heed to environmental sustainability and rely on the military and police to intimidate villagers who protest. It seems that many Papuans are not opposed to logging or other resource extraction in itself, but resent the way they are often treated by companies.

These tensions, fused with the independence struggle, have led to bloodshed in some places. As in other parts of Indonesia, autonomy has led to a shift within the logging industry. Jakarta's dominance over logging concessions has been challenged since 1998 by local timber elites who use new regulations to issue many small-scale licenses, ostensibly to benefit local people but usually to the profit of timber companies from Indonesia or other Asian countries. The members of these elites can include civil servants, military and police officers and Papuan community leaders. There has also been an upsurge in illegal logging in western Papua, apparently organized or facilitated by these same local elites.

The other resource industry covered by this report is mining. The Freeport copper and gold mine is the most controversial foreign mining operation in Indonesia, largely because of historical entanglement with Suharto-era elites and military. The mine has long been accused of dispossessing locals and colluding in human rights abuses by its military guards.

It has made increasing efforts since the 1990s to win legitimacy with a Papuan community swelled by immigrants drawn to the mine. These include much development spending but have themselves caused social disruption. Relations remain problematic between the company, its guards and an ethnically diverse community.

A new investment in natural gas, Tangguh LNG, is an attempt to extract natural resources without the conflicts associated with Freeport and the logging industry. The driving force, the multinational BP, has made significant efforts to win local support. This is highly complex because of the numerous, sometimes clashing interests involved, which include the company, the Indonesian state and its oil company, Pertamina, local and regional government, local communities, NGOs and security forces. It is too early to say if BP will succeed, or even to define success. The project is seen as a test for a more humane approach to resource extraction.

A significant risk is that security forces will try to involve themselves closely in Tangguh LNG, creating potential for human rights abuses and criminality that have afflicted other resource projects. Should it succeed, BP's approach will be a step forward.

Nonetheless, the violent conflict seems likely to continue for some time. The onus should be on resource companies, Indonesian and foreign, to demonstrate that their presence will not make a bad situation worse. Promises of community development will not compensate if locals do not feel they have meaningful influence over companies, if inevitable social and environmental disruption is not managed well and if the security forces role cannot be curtailed.

Special autonomy offers provincial government opportunity to create better oversight of resource companies, for example through independent commissions to vet investments and investigate complaints. The regulatory and licensing regime for logging should be overhauled to make it more just and sustainable, possibly including a commercial logging ban until reform has taken place.

But the generally poor record of resource investment in Papua will not improve until two interlinked and very difficult issues are tackled: the needs to give meaningful autonomy and a greater sense of justice to indigenous Papuans, and to tackle the behavior and finances of the Indonesian security forces.

[Diarmid O'Sullivan is an analyst with the International Crisis Group (ICG).]

Mounting evidence TNI behind Freeport killings

Green Left Weekly - September 25, 2002

James Balowski -- Three weeks after the fatal shooting of two Americans and an Indonesian from the Freeport gold and copper mine in Indonesia's eastern-most province of West Papua, the identity of the perpetrators is still unclear.

Indonesian officials were quick to blame the Free Papua Movement (OPM) for the August 30 attack. However, there is mounting evidence that the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) orchestrated the attack in order to justify their "security" presence in Papua and to launch an all-out offensive against the separatist movement.

Bullet casings at the scene of the attack showed the attackers used M-16 and SS1 rifles (standard issue for the TNI). The fact that Westerners were targeted and that the attackers appeared to have remained at the ambush site for 24 hours does not follow the pattern of recent OPM activity.

Even the Indonesian police have admitted that the TNI may be involved, and have questioned 21 soldiers who were on duty during the incident. According to the September 10 Washington Post, local police chiefI. Made Pastika said in an interview that members of the TNI may have carried out the attack to extort money or other concessions from Freeport.

Investigators are also evaluating the possibility that Kopassus (Indonesian special forces) may have hired local Papuan fighters to conduct the ambush.

This has put police at odds with the military and reflects long- time rivalry between the two institutions which compete for control over security and the money-making opportunities it brings.

Police have been involved in negotiations to create a "zone of peace" in Papua. In contrast, the senior military commander in the province, General Mahidin Simbolon, recently vowed to crush the separatist movement.

John Rumbiak from Papua's human rights organisation Elsham -- which has been assisting the police in the investigation -- was quoted by Agence France Presse as saying that witnesses said they "saw a number of people wearing military uniforms" in the vicinity of the ambush site at the time of the incident. "They were holding automatic guns", Rumbiak told AFP.

The September 15 Washington Post reported that the body of a key suspect -- who was killed by the military in a shoot-out one day after the ambush -- has been identified by his family as an informant for Kopassus.

Rumbiak told the Post that the suspect was a 24-year-old Papuan named Danianus Waker. His family approached Rumbiak's group on September 14 and said Waker -- a member of the Dani tribe from the Sugapa area, about 76 kilometres north of the ambush site -- had been employed by Kopassus for at least a year while working illegally as a gold panner.

An examination of the body also concluded that the man was killed about 24 hours before soldiers said they shot him, a discrepancy that Pastika said concerned him.

Furthermore, he said in an interview on September 14 that an autopsy had determined that the suspect suffered from chronic, massive enlargement of the testicles. The condition could have made it difficult for him to engage in guerrilla activities, including traversing the rugged mountain terrain surrounding the mine.

"We are still working on it", Pastika said, adding: "For the time being, we have to believe [the army] until we come up with other facts." Rumbiak, however, said this clearly points to military involvement.

On September 14, the car of police investigating the murder was fired upon by unknown assailants, suggesting a campaign of intimidation aimed at thwarting the police inquiry. According to the September 16 Melbourne Age, Pastika said that another car had been shot at the day before.

However, he said he doubted the attacks were undertaken by the OPM. "It does not make sense the OPM is still there. The place is already sterilised by the army so, for me, it does not make any sense that this has been done by the OPM."

Pair held in Aceh fear being framed

Sydney Morning Herald - September 25, 2002

Matthew Moore, Jakarta -- A fortnight after the former University of Tasmania lecturer Lesley McCulloch and a friend were picked up by police in Indonesia's Aceh province, two things look increasingly likely: Ms McCulloch will be sentenced to jail and travel for Westerners to Aceh will become more restricted.

Police have questioned Ms McCulloch, and her American health- worker friend, Joy Lee Sadler, for a week as they try to find evidence that the two women were doing more than simply breaching their tourist visas -- an offence that would normally see them deported.

The protracted interrogation has turned into an increasingly bitter battle between Indonesian authorities and the women and their supporters, who claim they have been abused and who say they are being set up to face spying charges.

Moves by British and American consular staff to quietly negotiate their release from police detention appear doomed as more senior Indonesians accused the pair of supporting Aceh's outlawed separatist movement, GAM.

This week the Indonesian embassy in Australia issued a tough media statement accusing Ms McCulloch of giving "fake information" to investigators about the visas they sought and their travel plans.

"Hence, it can be fairly assumed that the visit of the two to Aceh is related to activities to support the Free Aceh Movement [GAM]," it concluded.

Already the Army Chief of Staff, General Ryamizard Ryacudu, has said he wants to stop foreigners travelling freely to Aceh and Papua, as they regularly did in East Timor. "I have ordered army personnel to examine every foreigner who comes to Aceh and Irian [Papua's former name]," he said. "If they want to have picnics they can go to Bali or other tourist areas."

From the moment Ms McCulloch and Ms Sadler were stopped at one of the many army checkpoints in southern Aceh, an area regarded as a GAM stronghold, they challenged the authorities, refusing to open their bags for inspection. That is when they said they were first assaulted, a claim the Indonesian authorities have denied.

Since then the women have sought to highlight their plight, leaking messages to the media, family and friends about their treatment and fears. "Friends cannot visit and police provide no food, only three meals in four days," said one message from the office where they are being held in the Banda Aceh police station.

This week Ms McCulloch's mother, Mattie, said from Scotland that her daughter expected to be charged with spying.

Australian experts say there is a provision under article 124 of Indonesia's criminal code which prohibits spying or giving refuge to an enemy. It is rarely used, but carries a penalty of 15 to 20 years; breach of a tourist visa has a maximum penalty of five years, plus a fine.

Ms McCulloch has been a regular visitor to Aceh for several years, researching and writing -- mainly on human rights abuses and military excesses in the 26-year independence struggle that has left more than 10,000 people dead and a legacy of bitterness and hostility.

Her defence now depends on her claim that she was doing no more than her tourist visa allowed.

An Australian academic colleague who has written extensively on Indonesia, Dr Damien Kingsbury, said Ms McCulloch was in Aceh visiting people, which is allowed on a tourist visa.

"Indonesian specialist academics in Australia and around the world are deeply concerned that the likely prosecution of Dr McCulloch is intended to scare off people from doing controversial or difficult research in Indonesia and that this is looming as a show trial," he said.

Religious leaders united for peace in Papua

Tapol - September 21, 2002

Jayapura -- The United Nations has declared 21 September as an International Day for Peace. The religious leaders in Papua have responded to this appeal by the UN. On Saturday night all the leaders of the main religions in Papua -- Christian, Islam, Buddha and Hindu -- held a "prayer march" in Jayapura, the capital of Papua.

They have succeeded as well to invite the other authorities along -- regional government, leaders of army and police -- to take part in the "prayer march", ending up in a joint action for peace, which also has been joined by representatives from the student-world.

The march, which lasted for four hours, was divided over five "stops"; at every stop there was a 25 minutes ceremony of prayer and peace-appeal. The march started at the Parliament building, where the representatives of the Buddha religion said the prayer and the Governor and Chairman of the Parliament made their respective appeals for peace.

Next stop was at the main Mosque where the Chairman of the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI Papua) did the prayer and the appeal for peace. Further on to the Christian Protestant church where leaders of the protestant churches held the prayer ceremony and appealed for peace.

The fourth stop was at the Christian Catholic St. Francis of Assisi church where the Bishop of Jayapura led the prayer and appealed to all-present to build up peace. From there the gathered people -- about 1500 -- crossed the road to the headquarters of the regional Police, where the march was concluded with a Hindu prayer and the lightening of 12 candles by all the leaders present, religious as well as civilian and security leaders.

On this last stop the Head of the Police as well as the Head of the Army in Papua voiced their commitment to Papua as a "Land of Peace". Leaving the building of the Parliament the group numbered about 500 people, while the number tripled "under way" to the St. Francis church.

Thousands of people witnessed the march while being on a Saturday shopping evening or relaxing otherwise. It has been a unique event, with a moving variety of religious traditions, which were capable to unite all-present in an atmosphere of reflection and hope.

The main aspiration was expressed simple but clear on the banners all around: "My Peace, Your Peace, Our Peace" and "Peace is Beautiful". This event can be truly looked at as a show of commitment together to keep Papua peaceful in the middle of actual tensions.

Aceh pair 'private intelligence': Indonesia

Laksamana.Net - September 23, 2002

Detained British academic Lesley McCulloch and American Joy Lee Sadler are "private intelligence" agents determined to see Aceh split from Indonesia, Jakarta intelligence sources say.

The pair were detained September 10 emerging from what authorities say is a known concentration of support for the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Tapak Tuan regency, South Aceh.

They are accused of having carried photographs and documents that strongly suggest contact with GAM, and of having abused their tourist visas.

Indonesian authorities were threatening to take the pair to court over their alleged immigration violations, rather than deport them as originally planned.

"Tapak Tuan regency is not a popular destination. It is a base of GAM activities and life is very tense there," says a source in the region's police headquarters.

McCulloch, in a note smuggled out to The Guardian after the pair were finally able to meet a lawyer, said they were detained by an army patrol that stopped the bus they were on with their guide. Soldiers immediately started threatening them. "This soldier held a knife to my throat and screamed at the top of his voice he was going to kill me."

McCulloch said she and Ms Sadler were beaten by soldiers at the remote base at Keunde Rundeng where they were held on the first night. "The commander punched Joy in the stomach and one of his men hit me," she said.

Handed over to South Aceh police on September 11, they were detained there until September 15, then transferred to Medan in a process that left their whereabouts unknown for 36 hours. The pair were later transferred to provincial capital Banda Aceh.

McCulloch, in a phone interview from a bathroom at Aceh police headquarters, told Radio Australia it was not true the pair were carrying GAM documents.

"They found no documentation on us. They say that they found GAM documents, that's not true. They found some handwritten statements that I'd taken from victims and people whose houses had been burnt, who'd been beaten, whose relatives had been shot, had disappeared etc. But that's all. There are no official GAM documents."

McCulloch added that she and Sadler had been charged with abusing their visas and that Sadler was likely to be released first.

"They say for me it's a bad situation, because they suspect me of espionage or something similar."

"They have no proof of anything, they're very suspicious but there's no evidence to link me to anything. So I'm hoping that with the lawyers and the statements that we've made, and with the pressure in Jakarta with the embassies, that we can get this process finished with as quickly as possible."

In Australia, the minority Greens Party protested the detentions, adding that it had moved to support independence for Aceh.

The detention of the two women provoked strong protests from their embassies when access was denied for some days after their arrest. There were allegations that the women had been beaten.

"We conduct searches of the area at least five times a day, and so do the GAM people," says the police source. "Why, suddenly, do two foreigners who have never been here before go to a place like that. And our strongest suspicious is they are independent intelligence"

Police say video footage carried by the pair shows GAM activities that are not the normal course of action for the movement. "We presume that these exhibitions were mounted for the benefit of the foreign guests," says the police source.

McCulloch has worked as a member of staff of the University of Tasmania while Sadler is a nurse pursuing humanitarian work in the area.

A senior member of the Indonesian intelligence community with close links to the office of the Coordinating Ministry of Security and Defense says he also believes that the pair were operating as agencts for a fifth column of anti-Indonesian NGOs.

He says he received calls Friday from British intelligence and other European intelligence officials offering assistance for the detained pair to leave Indonesia.

"Of course I refused as I have data that identifies who they are," he says. The source alleges that McCulloch works for a private intelligence office, under the cover of the Henry Dunant Centre. "I will unveil all the data later," he says.

Indonesian officials earlier insinuated that the Henry Dunant Centre was biased toward GAM, a charge immediately refuted by the agency, which has been brokering the series of talks between Indonesia and GAM. A new round was scheduled for early October before the detentions of the pair.

Another source in the Indonesian intelligence community who works with the Military says Britain is well aware of Indonesia's problems with Aceh, and therefore why the two women were there.

"Of course they will say they were scientists doing reseach in a certain part of this country. Usually intelligence operatives work undercover, for instance as a journalist, NGO worker or researcher."

The Indonesian reaction to the visit of the two foreigners to the GAM base serves to reinforce growing paranoia within the intelligence community over the work of NGOs in Indonesia. While some are above board, Indonesian authorities suspect others are pursuing their own political agendas.

Adding fuel to Indonesia's arguments of an NGO alliance to break up the country, the executive director of Australia's Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), Dr. Mike Nahan, said Friday that a number of organizations in Australia have given their support to separatism in Indonesia, particularly in Papua, Antara reported.

Nahan acknowledged that the NGOs receive funds from the Australian government, but said these fuinds were not used to support separatism.

It was quite different if the NGOs should procure funds from the Australian government to finance social projects, then used these funds to finance support for secessionist movements.

He pinpointed the Australian People Health, Education and Development Aid (APHEDA) organization, affiliated with the Australian trade union movement, as one body which received Australian government funds and had actively supported independence for East Timor and had now turned its attention to Papua.

Between 1999-2000, APHEDA operations in Indonesia had been funded with A$4.4 million in government funds.

Army Chief Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu said the case of the Aceh pair had prompted the authorities to take a harder line against foreigners in conflict regions, strengthening fears that the government wants to close off Aceh, Papua and Maluku to foreigners, whether they be NGO workers, researchers, or journalists.

Mud, mud, glorious mud

Melbourne Age - September 21, 2002

Liza Power -- It's seven in the morning at Wamena's Trendy Hotel. The mosquitoes have retired after a night of feasting on my toes and ears, which means it's time to stumble from room 3, check my collection of flea bites and watch the old Dani man by the door, who wears a penis gourd that reaches to his chin, floss his teeth with a two-metre arrow.

One false move and I'm convinced he'll sever his tongue. For the past two mornings the suspense has had me pinned to my mouldy brown chair. This morning there's a lot to watch in what could be called the Trendy lobby, a stretch of beige linoleum that rolls from a front door pressed with the faces of a dozen tribesmen wearing feathered headdresses to a back table crowded with tall glasses of sweet, murky tea.

Most interest is in the arrival of 40 porters and the counting and inspection of 20 hessian sacks filled with a variety of goods including tea bags, biscuits, two-minute noodles, cutlery and tinned peas. Preparations for our 10-day hike into West Papua's Baliem Valley are almost complete, save for lengthy last-minute negotiations over how much each of the porters should be paid, confirmation of our route and expressions of concern at the arrival of our Papuan guide Moses, who is clearly paralytic.

By 10.30am the number of porters on our doorstep has swelled to about 60. I am learning quickly that Papuans have flexible notions of what constitutes 9am, 40 porters and a deal over which hands have already been shaken. By 11am we are sardined into the back of a battered mini-van on the road to Sugokmo, lurching between potholes, idling past sweet-potato fields and whizzing past trucks piled high with Dani and Lani villagers heading to Wamena in festive fashion for the every-so-often Baliem Festival. Bows, arrows, pig tusks and bird-of-paradise headdresses sail through the cool valley air.

West Papua borders Papua New Guinea and forms the western half of the world's second-largest island after Greenland. In 1969 West Papua became the 26th province of Indonesia after an "act of free choice" sponsored by the United Nations resulted in the transfer of administration from the Netherlands, the colonial power, to Indonesia. In 1973, the province was renamed Irian Jaya (Victorious Irian) by the Indonesian president, General Suharto. The handing over of West Papua to Indonesian hands was anything but a victory for indigenous Papuans.

For the 33 years since, the Melanesian population (whom Indonesia refused to recognise until 2000) has endured an exceptionally repressive military occupation. Indonesian "development" has involved the forced resettlement of entire populations to make way for mineral exploitation (principally PT Freeport, the most profitable copper and gold mine in the world, near where 14 people were shot last month, and another shooting occurred last weekend), logging, new settlements and in Timika, just a short drive from indigenous shanty towns, a lavish Sheraton Hotel.

Such projects have resulted in significant casualties, with many highland tribespeople shifted to coastal areas where they succumbed en masse to cerebral malaria and other diseases to which they had never before been exposed. The Amungme tribe of Akimuka, the Freeport mine site, was almost wiped out during their relocation.

Heavy-handed attempts have also been made to force Papuans to abandon their culture and traditional lifestyles. The most infamous, the "koteka operation", was implemented by the Indonesian military in the 1970s. Koteka means "tail" in Indonesian, an offensive reference to the horim, the traditional penis gourds worn by Papuan tribespeople. The operation involved soldiers binding Papuans by the wrists, removing their gourds, forcing them to wash away the pig fat they apply to their skin to insulate from the brisk mountain winds and dressing them in trousers. This act of public humiliation was a disaster, and most highland Papuans, in an act of proud defiance, still dress in their traditional finery. Western cast-offs, however, have largely replaced traditional grass skirts and the intricately braided marriage skirts given to women to mark their wedding days.

The next battle facing West Papuans is the prospect of becoming a minority in their homeland as Indonesia pursues a program that has led to an annual influx of 10,000 sponsored migrant families from Java, Sulawesi and further afield. Yet another threat to Papuan life is the proposed Mamberamo mega-dam project, which threatens to flood a quarter of the country for hydroelectricity.

On our first morning, as we walk through the Baliem Valley from Sugokmo to Kurima to hand in our walking permits, it's hard to imagine a threat to the solitude of these mountains. Their rocky crowns crowd the skyline and the Baliem River snakes wildly around their feet after a long night of storms. Our porters, half Lani and half Dani tribespeople, quickly settle into a routine of chain-smoking and dawdling and I am already sporting my first two blisters.

But the steep mountain trail is laced with wildflowers, such pretty distractions, and somewhere high up in the mountaintops a pair of nimble fingers draws curtains of mist across the valley as dusk arrives. Our first night is spent in a schoolhouse, with a handful of naked men adorned with horims seated quietly on a wooden bench in the corner and a gaggle of curious schoolchildren by the door. On the hill beside the schoolhouse a small field of coffee beans slowly turns red in the thin mountain sunlight. All night as I snuggle in my sleeping bag I hear the singing and rhythmic chanting of our porters in a nearby Dani hut.

Day two, which is later awarded the self-explanatory title of Hell Day, begins gently with a moderately steep stretch up Tanan Longsor mountain. The trail curls around the girth of several small hills and through a grass meadow embroidered with sweet- potato fields, then in and out of several villages before tumbling down a mountainside towards the Baliem River. As we descend we pass through a hamlet where children pluck mandarins off the schoolhouse tree and sell them for 10 cents a fistful.

Back on the trail we face a near-vertical descent to the water's edge, a river crossing aboard a swaying suspension bridge and a near-vertical ascent up the adjacent mountainside. Halfway up the mountain we break for a lunch of cabbage soup, the first of many identical meals. The day grows steadily worse after lunch. A fine rain sets in and we begin what turns out to be nearly a four-hour vertical climb, broken only by ankle-deep mud and small rivers that must be crossed on slippery bridges of thin tree trunks. The climb becomes so steep that I resort to crawling and so slippery that I grab fistfuls of grass, tree, bush, vine or even thorn to stop myself slithering down the mountainside. At inconvenient intervals, insects land on my forehead and, in an effort to deter them, I smear my face with thick, brown mud. Just when I imagine matters can't get worse I sneeze and the violent convulsion throws me off balance. I slip back down the trail, landing with a thud at the feet of a small child with huge brown eyes and dressed in a skirt of torn rags. As she laughs, she slowly extends her small brown hand and I notice that she's surrounded by the bright blue faces of a cluster of orchids. "Laouk [hello]," she says quietly. "Laouk," I reply.

As my new friend leads me up the next stretch of mountainside, I hear the chanting of the porters behind me, echoing off the valley, and I begin to fall in love with Papua. West Papua is home to 240 different tribal peoples, each with their own language and culture.

Our 10-day hike takes in a tiny pocket of the Baliem Valley, one of the most fertile and densely populated regions of West Papua. We are in Dani country, land of mogat (ghosts) and edai-egen (the Dani idea of soul), where the sun is a woman and the moon is a man. A rich Dani man is a man of many pigs, and a man who wishes to marry must earn himself enough pigs to buy a wife (usually four). The most serious crime a Dani might commit is the theft of a pig. If the theft occurs across tribal boundaries, warfare may ensue.

The Dani live, eat, sleep and play with their pigs, and often on the trail we see Dani women walking with happy piglets trotting at their heels. At river crossings, Dani women lift their piglets across their shoulders before gently putting them down on the other bank to continue the journey.

In larger Dani settlements (which traditionally comprise a round men's house, a smaller women's house, a cook-house and a pigsty) women and pigs live separately; in smaller, more remote hamlets women and pigs reside in the same hut. When I stick my head into a Dani hut to say hello to a village woman, my eyes turn into beetroot-coloured beads within seconds.

The Dani stoke their fires constantly but their huts don't have chimneys. The smoke simply seeps up through the thatch roof and funnels out the doorway. When our porters offer to dry our clothes after day two, our shirts return half-burnt and caked in ash.

Day two also becomes the day of the number four after, halfway up the sixth mountain, Laura, a German member of the group, asks her porter how much further we have to walk that day. The porter promptly answers four, but when the trail continues for another three hours we entertain ourselves with imagining the possibilities of what four might represent: four hours, four kilometres, four mountains, four near-death experiences or four pigs for dinner. We soon learn that questions regarding distance are pointless.

The most useful terms we acquire are "nike" (steep) and "jalan jalan" (keep going). As we wind along the mountainside I catch glimpses of Moses, who has sobered up after falling in the rain- bloated Jetni River on day one. As Moses appears and disappears through the trees, he is like a jungle spider daintily crossing its web, moving with such ease and grace that I forget I'm ankle-deep in mud and lumbering about in the manner of a fatigued rhinoceros.

We arrive at Wesgalep about seven o'clock to find a village in a cloud. The mist is so thick I can barely see 10 metres in front of my nose, and when I head to the river to wash, I nearly lose my way back to the schoolhouse. The next morning I wake to find 50 faces pressed to the wire wall of the schoolhouse, each intrigued by the white people wearing bright-coloured clothes and sleeping in sacks. When I crawl out of my sleeping bag I feel eyes following my every move. I'm astonished by the amount of interest in simply donning a pair of socks and a polar fleece. When I do up three sets of zips there's widespread laughter. Then comes one of the trip's greater challenges: making one's way to the bathroom (i.e. a tree -- quite a challenge in a region that's suffered widespread deforestation) without being followed by 20 curious onlookers.

By day three I have a blister on my left foot that consumes my heel, with a smaller version that sits on a third of my right heel. Rune, my Norwegian walking companion, has appointed himself the blister doctor and each morning begins with a ritual of disinfection and the application of plasters. Our porters have developed a passion for Tiger Balm, along with an appetite for more than three packets of cigarettes a day. Each night they line up pointing to various limbs, requesting balm that mostly ends up on their faces. When I try to explain that Tiger Balm is best worn away from the face I receive a baffling array of responses, most often a gesture that suggests I have no idea of what I'm talking about. Papuan gestures and expressions are hard to read.

Day three is spent walking to Pilo Pilo, climbing along ridges, scaling waterfalls and skating across slimy rocks and bridges made from rotting tree trunks. Having spent the entire morning trying to avoid landing ankle-deep in mud, I spend the afternoon delighting in the stuff, and by sunset I am just about covered in various shades of dried earth. Rune's porter, clearly alarmed by my inability to maintain any sense of balance, has taken to walking one step behind me. It has become quite a comedy act for him to catch me mid-catastrophic tumble or part-way through a spectacular ankle-twist. When I'm not falling over myself he simply plods behind me, making a peculiarly soothing purr with his tongue, much like a fat Cheshire cat.

The trail to Werima proves intriguing, simply for the array of muds we encounter, wade through and eventually end up wearing. On occasion we pass Dani women carrying nets of sweet potatoes on their backs and bundles of firewood on their heads. From time to time enormous pigs emerge from stands of grass, dressed in the same colour mud as our boots and legs. About 11am I fall into a river, performing such an entertaining trick that half-a-dozen porters spend the rest of the day giggling whenever they see me. This provides me with the added delight of wet, sloshy feet and plasters that refuse to stay on my now-bloody heels. Clearly not content with my earlier feat, about 2pm I decide to impersonate Sylvester Stallone by dangling off a cliff face after the track collapses. Fortunately there are no porters around to keep me informed about how funny I look, and the job of hauling me back over the rock face falls to Rune. Zacharia the porter keeps me entertained later in the afternoon with his singular manner of wearing gumboots. He puts his left boot, which has its heel cut out, on his foot but wears the right boot on his head under the string of the canvas sack he's carrying. As he walks, he plays a bamboo mouth organ with this tongue, which lends his face a slightly crazed Mr Bean expression.

My second fascination becomes the amount of dirt gathering under my nails and the quantity of mud on my boots, which by late afternoon -- no doubt partly due to my tumble in to the river -- seem to have doubled in weight. We reach Werima as night falls amid a chorus of oinks from the village pigs and excited shouts from the children. We conveniently find that, despite being covered in mud, the best place to wash is in a river that can be reached only by following a near-vertical trail down the mountainside. This trail is so muddy that it's clear we'll be just as dirty by the time we climb back up as we are before we head down. I opt to wash in a trickle of water obtained by lodging a length of bamboo into a stream on the other side of the mountain. Rinsing the mud from my legs in the dark takes more than half an hour and invites about 20 mosquito bites. When I climb into my sleeping bag later in the evening I realise that, despite violent scrubbing with a rock, I've shifted hardly any mud from my legs at all. I am becoming a Dani pig.

The following day is a pig feast, which for the Dani is one of the most important events of the year. The day begins with the collection of ubi (sweet potato) and their leaves, along with the rounding up of a pig, firewood and a large number of fist-sized stones. Having lit the fire, the men paint their faces and torsos with various patterns and colours, filling their woven armbands with flowers and assembling spears and arrows. An entertaining mock battle follows, complete with dancing, singing, stolen women, death and spear-throwing. When the battle is finished we are led back to the angry pig, which is by now tethered and apparently well aware of its fate. The sacrifice is over relatively quickly, with the pig mounted on a wooden frame and speared through the heart. The still-breathing body is then placed on a small fire, where the hair is singed and the ears and tail cut away. The whole pig is sliced open from the mouth and every organ carefully removed and placed aside. The carcase is laid in the oven, a hole in the ground filled with hot stones, ubi and ubi leaves. Several hours pass before we're handed slabs of steaming meat. The villagers crouch in circles around the fire and await the division of the ubi, leaves and meat, which are delivered by hand from the fire to each cluster of onlookers. Before long the pig and ubi are finished and the remains of the carcase dragged into a house for safekeeping from the village dogs and chooks.

The next day, bellies full, blisters treated and boots almost dry (a sensation close to bliss), we head for Wuserem, a nine-hour hike up a mountainside and into the rainforest. At various points the porters stop to chant away the mogat (ghosts) who are believed to wander the rainforests by day and roam clearings by night. The Dani build small forest dwellings for the mogat to live in, the idea being that if the mogat have happy houses in the forest they won't have any cause to stray from their huts and meddle in village affairs. The Dani also believe that spirits inhabit certain hills, ponds, rocks and streams. On several occasions I see our porters tugging pig tusks through their noses, chanting and perching on rock faces, on the lookout for something I don't know is there.

The following night is spent in a hut at Hugema, by which point the group has taken to comparing flea bites, bad knees, blisters and fantasies about any food aside from nasi goreng. The day's walk is spectacular, hugging the mountains of the Baliem Valley, which wear headdresses of cloud and coats of ubi, carrot and corn fields while the Baliem River slithers and writhes around their toes.

By Maima it's clear many of the group are on their last legs. Boris the German has exhausted all supplies of Tiger Balm and knee bandages. Magosha, from Poland, now has a knee brace that stretches over the better part of her leg, making her look like an Egyptian mummy, while Rune's collection of flea bites extends from his waist to his knees. Katherine, the Russian, and I have taken to dreaming of clean underwear.

We spend the next day wandering back to Wamena, across rivers, over elaborate pig fences and along the airport runway to the Trendy Hotel. Next morning I'm back on my brown mouldy chair watching the old Dani man by the door wearing the penis gourd that reaches to his chin floss his teeth with the same two-metre arrow. He doesn't sever his tongue, despite being fantastically distracted by me scratching my flea bites.

As I leave we shake hands and I point to his tongue and tell him to be careful with the spear. He laughs for a bit, but by the look on his face I'm convinced he sees my flea bites as a much more pressing concern.

Rural issues

Drought strikes suffering farmers as crisis continues

Jakarta Post - September 28, 2002

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang -- Life is hard for thousands of farmers in the northern coastal areas of Tangerang regency. After being hit by huge floods early this year, now they are being attacked by drought which is destroying their rice fields.

Since the dry season started in June, it hardly rains. About 15,000 hectares of paddy fields in three districts of Sepatan, Mauk and Sukadiri, which are among the rice producers in the regency have been affected. Farmers suffered harvest failure. They complained that the fields they planted in July and August could not grow due to the lack of water.

This condition had caused hopelessness to farmers. Some of them even let their cattle eat paddy stalks in the rice fields.

Wasul, 45, a farmer in Sepatan district said that if rain did not come in the next two weeks, his rice plants which had began to bloom would die.

He said the regency administration had failed to anticipate this year's drought would last as long as it had and inform the villagers about it.

He said he had to wait until the rain came before he could begin planting. "But no one knows when the rain will come," he sighed.

Samilah, 53, another farmer who lives in Mauk district, also blamed the harvest failure on the regency administration and the local water and irrigation agency for not evenly distributing water from the main irrigation canals of the Cisadane river.

"As a farmer, of course I depend on the water supply, especially during the drought. I have debt to buy fertilizer and other materials for my paddy. But now, drought has turned it all dry and how can I pay my debt to the fertilizer store?" she said.

The mother of six children said she had no idea what to eat later because she could not resume cultivating the rice fields until the rain came.

H. Asmani, a public figure in Mauk district, accused the regency administration of ignoring the farmers' plight. He said the administration had only paid attention to several districts that had industrial plants such as Cikupa, Balaraja, Pasar Kemis and Tigaraksa.

He also complained about the pollution caused by the industries, which affected farmers in Mauk and Sukadiri.

"You see, the water flowing through the Cicarab river could no longer be used for farming. Many fish and ducks were poisoned and died since the water has been polluted by industrial firms in those districts," he said.

Besides that, Asmani said the dry paddy fields were also caused the regency's resettlement and infrastructure agency which was not fair in distributing water from the irrigation canals. However, Supriadi, an officer in charge of distributing water at a water irrigation sluice in Sepatan said that a new policy was being applied during the drought.

"To water rice fields, we have to make distribution lists and then share the water to farming areas alternately. This policy is done in turns because water supplies from the main irrigation in Sepatan and Cisadane river is much reduced," he said.

He said the system should be applied despite protests among farmers, as it was the only way to do it.

Farmers demand land reform, protection from free market

Jakarta Post - September 25, 2002

Jakarta -- Thousands of farmers across the country marked National Farmers' Day on Tuesday with protests demanding comprehensive land reform and protection from the relentless onslaught of the free market.

But an agricultural analyst said that the country needed agrarian reform and not land reform as demanded by farmers.

Bayu Krisnamurthi, the director of the Center for Development Studies of Bogor Agriculture Institute (IPB), told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that through agrarian reform policies, the government could protect farmland from exploitation other than agriculture and farmers from communist politicking.

Some 2,000 sugar cane farmers from Java and Sumatra protested in front of the Ministry of Finance in Jakarta on Tuesday, demanding a subsidy of 500 rupiah per kilogram for sugar produced by local farmers.

Chairman of the Indonesian Sugar Cane Farmers Association (APTRI) Arum Sabil said that the decision to raise import tariffs for sugar in July had failed to boost domestic prices and he called for a temporary ban on importing the commodity. They also demanded that import tariffs for white sugar be raised from the current 700 rupiah per kilogram to 1,250 rupiah.

In Bandung, West Java, over 3,000 farmers from Karawang, Indramayu, Tasikmalaya, Garut, Ciamis, Banjar, Cianjur and Subang protested at the Gasibu field and urged the country's leaders and politicians to focus their attention on farmers' welfare. "The central government and regional administrations as well as legislative members have not made a clear commitment to raise farmers' welfare," Pasundan Farmers Association chairman Agustiana said.

Agustiana said over 70 percent of West Java's population of 26 million is made up of either farmers or those who are socially disadvantaged, but the government has paid little attention to the agriculture sector as reflected in the shrinking agricultural land.

"On average, farmers in West Java have 0.013 hectares of paddy fields and earn a daily income of 7,500 rupiah," said Agustiana, who called for national land reform.

In Yogyakarta, over 1,000 farmers and students staged a street rally demanding land reform to bring about what they called the land for the people. They also condemned unjust practices in land-related matters, including the issuance of building use certificates for public land and the selling of public land.

In Palu, Central Sulawesi, over 1,000 farmers from across the province marched to the local legislature, demanding land for those less fortunate and an increase in the price of unhusked rice as well as an end to discrimination against farmers. In Medan, North Sumatra, hundreds of farmers protested in front of the provincial legislature compound, calling for an end to excessive land exploitation.

They also demanded that the government return land confiscated from the people by state-owned PT Perkebunan Nusantara II. "Many farmers lost their ancestral land and became poor in their own village," the secretary-general of the North Sumatra Agrarian Reform Committee, Sipa A. Munthe, said.

In Lampung, some 2,500 farmers protested at the Merah Enggah field in Bandarlampung, demanding that the government settle land disputes and protect farmers from the global market threat. They also demanded that the subsidy for agricultural products be maintained to boost the farmers' position in facing globalization.

Bayu said farmers' protests reflected their desperate situation and the weak legal status given to farmland. He said that every year, between 80,000 hectares and 100,000 hectares of farmland in the country was converted for nonagricultural use, such as for housing, industrial sites and recreational places.

Bayu said that most farmland was not fully protected by law since the farmers rarely held land certificates. "Most farmers only base their land claims on girik [ancestral rights], which can easily be defeated in a dispute by a land certificate because a certificate is highly respected and upheld in our national judicial system," he said.

He said that agrarian reform policies could help the farmers gain benefits from the banking sector. Most banks in the country prefer to give soft loans to manufacturing businesses or other sectors other than the agriculture sector, since farming is considered a less profitable venture.

How the mighty Indonesian sugar industry fell

Asia Times - September 26, 2002

Bill Guerin -- Thousands of Javanese sugarcane farmers staged a massive rally in Jakarta on Tuesday demanding protection from the glut of cheap imported sugar that has threatened their very existence.

The Java sugar industry in its colonial-era heyday was a mighty agricultural and industrial enterprise and by the late 19th century Indonesia was in the forefront of the world's sugar producers, beaten only by Cuba. How the mighty have fallen. High input costs, poor management practices, inefficient government policies and a steady stream of cheaper imports mean that the angry farmers are being driven out of a basic industry built by their forefathers.

The country has been a net importer of sugar since the 1960s and now ranks as one of the world's biggest importers. Indonesia's annual consumption of sugar is about 3.3 million tons. Annual imports went down from 2.1 million tons in 1999 to 1.2 million tons in 2000 and about 1.6 million last year. It will likely import 1.5 million tons this year, mainly from Thailand. There are a mere 174 tons in stock, which will improve when the season kicks off in two months time. Total sugar production is currently 1.7 million tons.

Manufacture of sugar in Indonesia in the early days was almost exclusively confined to Java, with its rich volcanic soils and a vast supply of labor. The factories and their mainly Dutch owners and managers dominated the Javanese countryside and set in place agricultural systems in the Dutch mode. Sugar brought work opportunities galore but many small landholders became victims as the factory managers embarked on a lengthy program to grab peasant land for cane production. They also took over what had been the state's function to recruit labor for the planting, harvesting and haulage of cane.

From then onward the state-owned enterprises and factories dominated the country's sugar industry until, in 1957, the industry was nationalized and regulated.

A day before the farmers came to town, Minister of Trade and Industry Rini M Soewandi issued a new decree regulating sugar imports in a bid to redress the price imbalances. Only state- owned plantation companies (PTPNs) will be allowed to import white sugar and imports of both raw and refined sugar will be approved only for manufacturers who use sugar as raw material in their production processes.

Though one of the world's top sugar importers, Indonesia applies the lowest import tariffs, a modest 25 percent duty on white sugar and 20 percent on raw sugar, levels set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its Letter of Intent. Thailand and the Philippines, for example, impose an import duty of almost 100 percent. The European Union imposes a massive 240 percent import duty and the United States slams a 150 percent duty on sugar.

In 1998, the Indonesian government set a zero duty on sugar at the behest of the IMF but in 2000 new rates were implemented. President Megawati Sukarnoputri, in Rome in June for an international food security conference, reportedly agreed to increase import tariffs again on all food and agricultural commodities in the near term. However, Soewandi has rejected the demands for tariff hikes on the grounds that raising the import duties would boost sugar prices at home and burden consumers. Minister for Agriculture Bungaran Saragih also says there is no need to raise the tariff on sugar because it is already high enough, in principle, to assist farmers. Bungaran says sugar prices in the domestic market had to be increased so that farmers would have sufficient incentive to plant sugarcane.

"We'll also help push up sugar prices on the domestic market to encourage local sugarcane farmers to plant more crops," he said.

The Indonesian Sugar Association wants a new import duty of at least 95 percent but Soewandi is fearful that this could lead to even more rampant smuggling of the white gold.

There are some 400,000 hectares of sugarcane plantations in Indonesia and almost three-quarters of this on Java, although productivity in Sumatra, at eight tons a hectare, outstrips that in most Javanese plantations, which average only between four and five tons per hectare.

Ten years ago more than half of Java's cane was irrigated, but this acreage has substantially diminished, reflecting a shift to the cultivation of more profitable crops. Farmers have switched to higher-profit, shorter-duration food crops. Sugarcane has had to compete with other crops, especially rice.

Relatively less attractive returns compared with other crops have discouraged many farmers from growing cane, leaving factories without sufficient raw materials to operate at capacity.

That said, sugarcane cultivation in the major producing islands is still a very significant economic enterprise, and encompasses more than one-third of the total land area.

About 70 percent of the sugarcane areas are cultivated by farmers with small-to-medium-sized holdings. The remainder is grown on the sugar-factory plantations, where the dominant form of sugarcane cultivation is plantation-style. Farmers have a different system, that of Kelompok Tani, where small groups are responsible for at least 20 hectares of land and coordinate the supply of cane to the mills.

Many cane farmers have production-sharing agreements with the state sugar mills whereby up to 65 percent of the sugar produced by the mill is returned to the farmers as payment in kind. Others just sell their cane and are paid based on the current official procurement price. Farmers in this scheme get 90 percent of their payment in cash and 10 percent in kind.

The government also subsidizes cane farmers by authorizing mills to pay the farmers based on the volume of raw cane they bring to the mill and on the extraction yields of their cane.

Only 12 of 59 sugar mills nationwide are operating efficiently and 12 more have already been shut down. Ninety percent of mills are publicly owned.

About 90 percent of sugar is used directly by households and 10 percent by industries. Imported refined sugar is largely for industrial use. The Indonesian mills produce a plantation-grade raw sugar called SHS I quality, which, because it is cheaper than refined sugar, has enjoyed an increased domestic demand.

However, the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries need a higher quality of refined industrial grade that is largely met by imports. According to the Indonesian Food and Beverage Producers Association, local sugar quality is not suitable for these products.

The local refining industry rests with a single refinery, in West Java, which began operations in 1997. It can produce only 150,000 tons of refined sugar per year.

The high incidence of smuggling of sugar and under-invoicing of consignments into Indonesia has, in addition to ensuring declining returns to sugar farmers, made it difficult to attract investment for more modern sugar refining plants.

Increasing sugar production is far from easy. The state-run sugar mills lack decent equipment and the ongoing shortages of cane supply and poor-quality cane have caused many mills in Java to close. This in turn has led to a much-reduced cane-harvesting area.

Private sugar mills account for only 35 percent of total sugar production and, while they have better yields that the state-run mills, they suffer disrupted harvests and milling operations because of widespread land-ownership disputes with locals. Distribution is done by private mills through large distributors and by state mills through a tender process. The whole system is antiquated and does not meet the needs of an equitable system of distributing the sugar from Java across the country. One case illustrates the point. East Java needs some 396,000 tons of sugar a year, but produces about 700,000 tons annually. This year the province's Governor Imam Utomo, backed up by the East Java military district command, the police and the public prosecutor's office, issued a ban on the import of raw sugar to address the imbalances.

The National Sugar Council (DGN, or Dewan Gula Nasional) has failed to live up to expectations that it would help improve the efficiency and productivity of the sugar industry and improve farmer's competitive position in the global marketplace.

A Rp23 billion (more than US$2.5 million at current rates) credit line for cane farmers a couple of seasons ago proved to be of little help. The idea was that mills and farmers would somehow work together to improve deteriorating husbandry practices and the financial difficulties faced by the sugar industry would be attenuated by the credit program. Thus, it was hoped, the quality of cane would be improved and milling operations would be more efficient.

The small domestic production base cannot cope with the rapidly increasing direct domestic consumption backed by an equally fast-growing food-processing industry, and the upshot is that domestic sugar cannot hope to compete in price and quality with imports.

With world sugar prices relatively low, sugar can be imported and sold at retail below the price of the domestically produced sugar. The government and sugar producers complain of unfair trading and even of "dumping" of sugar by other countries into the Indonesian market. There may be some truth in this but the lower efficiency and higher cost of domestic sugar production and milling in Indonesia are prime factors in the market price distortions.

Breakthroughs in rice production in the early 1980s led to a rapid increase in agricultural productivity and farm incomes. Not only could Indonesia feed itself, but millions of farm families were at last able to break out of a subsistence existence. Later, labor-intensive, export-oriented industrialization was the main engine of growth until the 1997 financial crisis. Rising labor demand in the industrial and services sectors created jobs for the poor, boosted real wages and caused wholesale reductions in poverty.

The substantial downsizing of the sugar industry in Java, which has enraged the farmers, is down to the ongoing economic reforms, the liberalization of sugar imports, and the continuing reduction in the land planted with sugar as farmers switch to other crops.

The debate on whether or not to raise import tariffs (Indonesia's World Trade Organization deal allows for imposition of tariffs of up to 110 percent) is now likely to be colored and heightened by anti-IMF posturing on the premise that Indonesia's farm import liberalization was forced upon it by the agency, but the buck must surely stop at the government's door.

The government alone must implement policies that will ensure adequate supplies of sugar at prices affordable to the community at large. Sustainability of production and the availability of employment opportunities in a Java that is getting poorer and poorer would seem to be laudable goals.

The government needs to tackle, head on, the corruption and collusion that infest the customs service. Hiking the tariffs will play straight into the hands of corrupt customs officials and smugglers, while at the same time ensuring prohibitively high sugar prices for consumers.

With nearly half of the country's 100 million-strong labor force either out of work or underemployed, the challenge is immense and heightened by the fact that between 60 and 70 percent of the country's 210 million people live and work in the countryside, making the agricultural sector the biggest employer.

Sri Mulyani Indrawati, a well-known economist, has noted that there is too much price distortion and government intervention in the agricultural sector. "The government needs to redefine its policy towards the agricultural sector but it should not be a tradeoff vis-a-vis the manufacturing and service sectors," she said.

Given endemic corruption at all levels in the government bureaucracy, there are fears that any new money diverted to promoting agriculture could end up in the pockets of bureaucrats who still exert considerable influence in the villages of Java and the rest of the vast archipelago.

'War on terrorism'

Scorn for claims of al-Qaeda infiltration

Sydney Morning Herald - September 28, 2002

Matthew Moore, Jakarta -- For a fleeting moment on Monday it looked as if Indonesians might be getting closer to the truth about the Bush Administration's contentious claim that their country had been infiltrated by al-Qaeda.

The United States repeated this familiar charge on September 10 when it suddenly closed many of its Asian embassies, including its one in Jakarta. The reasons why came soon after when Time magazine published the CIA's summary of how al-Qaeda's man in Indonesia, Omar al-Faruq, had been arrested in June and interrogated for months before revealing plans for a wave of car bomb attacks on US targets in Asia.

Indonesia's Muslim groups and media were still asleep when at 3.30am on Monday a bomb exploded in a car just 20 metres from a house owned by the US embassy in a quiet street in Jakarta's diplomatic area.

Abdul Aziz, the man believed to have been holding the bomb in the front seat lost a leg in the blast which blew a hole in the car door and sprayed nearby houses with ball-bearings. The three others in the car fled, but neighbours caught the driver, Yusuf Taul, and police found an identity card in the vehicle.

Although Abdul Aziz bled slowly to death outside the house because residents and police feared approaching him, and no ambulance was called, police still had one member of the team to question and several invaluable leads to unmask the man behind the bombing.

Within hours they had raided three houses and captured more suspects. The national police chief, Da'i Bachtiar, announced the US embassy house was indeed the target, that two pistols, 100 rounds of ammunition and two sticks of TNT had been found in the bombers' houses.

From that point on, prospects of the case providing a window into the hidden world of Indonesia's bombers rapidly faded.

Da'i Bachtiar suddenly reconsidered his original statement and said he was no longer sure the US house was the target. By Tuesday promising leads had turned to dust. Police said they had picked up Abdul's wife Fahria, but she had been no help as she did not know what her husband's job was.

Jakarta's police spokesman, Anton Bachrul Alam, announced Yusuf and Abdul were not terrorists because police had no records they were terrorists. "We have files of all those involved, and they are not on the lists," he told one newspaper.

Rather than terrorists, police said they were more likely debt collectors on their way to give someone a scare.

Although Jakarta has no history of bomb attacks by debt collectors, and there have been no details forthcoming about the guns, the explosives, or the bombers themselves, this explanation has now been generally accepted by an Indonesian public familiar with mysterious events. Member of parliament and head of the Muslim Intellectuals Association, Irman Gusman, was adamant the bomb was unrelated to terrorism. "I don't think it's real, I can guarantee it," he said the day after it went off.

How could he be so sure? "I know my country." For the US, such certainty among Indonesia's Muslim leadership that their countrymen are not involved in serious terrorist activities is proving increasingly exasperating.

The day after the bombing, the US ambassador to Indonesia, Ralph Boyce, spent two hours with Mr Irman and the leaders of some 15 Muslim associations gently pushing the US view that Indonesia is harbouring al-Qaeda terrorists.

It was the third time he had held such a meeting, and there were few signs of progress. His audience was deeply distrustful of the US Administration, sceptical of claims of al-Qaeda operations in Indonesia and hostile to Mr Bush's plans to attack Iraq, The CIA's history of covert activities in Indonesia in the 1950s and 1960s were raised repeatedly and the CIA was accused of leaking to Time magazine its evidence obtained from al-Faruq to blacken Indonesia's reputation.

Mr Boyce remained calm but there were glimpses of the frustration the US feels over Indonesia's failure to act on its intelligence, and arrest local suspects in the way neighbouring countries like Singapore and Malaysia have done.

"It's kind of puzzling there should be such resentment and a sense of being insulted where a friend shares information," he said after one burst of criticism.

"I am still learning about Indonesia and trying to understand these strong feelings I see." The dilemma Mr Boyce and the US are facing is how to convince Indonesia's leadership to seek out and uproot terrorist groups without radicalising the world's largest and overwhelmingly moderate Muslim nation.

With moderate Muslim leaders already portraying the latest US intelligence claims as "black propaganda", and police chief Da'i Bachtiar stating they have no evidence of al-Qaeda operating in Indonesia, the US is treading a delicate path.

So far it has refrained from declaring the handful of radical Indonesian Islamic groups terrorist organisations, as nearby countries have done.

"There's a misperception the US has labelled these groups international terrorist organisations," he said. "Indonesian people should be asking themselves whether these groups have [terrorist] links." While Mr Boyce is no doubt right, there are few signs the Indonesian approach to investigating terrorism is about to deliver the results the US has been anxiously awaiting.

Jakarta grenade blast not attack on US, say police

Straits Times - September 27, 2002

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- Debt collectors, not a terror group, were behind Monday's deadly grenade explosion near a building owned by the United States embassy, police said.

The finding seems to quell an earlier suspicion that the blast, which wrecked one car in central Jakarta, was a terrorist act targeting US interests. Jakarta police said witnesses and suspects testified that the attack was masterminded by debt collectors.

A man identified as Abdul Azis -- who carried the grenade -- was killed in the blast while the driver, Yusuf Taul, was caught by police. Two other suspects who were in the car, fled the scene and are still at large.

A Jakarta police source told The Straits Times that the target of the blast was businessman Hasyim Setiono, who lives a few houses down from the vacant US-owned building which was once a guest house. The source said Mr Hasyim could not pay back debts worth billions of rupiah owed to another businessman, named Mr Juanda.

Jakarta police yesterday named Sandy Leonard as a suspect for ordering the bombing. He allegedly hired Azis and the three others to detonate the grenade outside the house. Leonard's associate and alleged accomplice, Made, has been questioned by the police as a witness.

Jakarta police spokesman Anton Bahrul Alam said: "This case is just another crime linked to debt-collecting activities but we can't say much more about the ongoing investigation." The police source said Leonard was ordered to collect the debt by Mr Juanda. Neither Mr Hasyim nor his family could be contacted.

Azis' wife Fahria Nahumaruri told police her husband had worked as a debt collector for Leonard since arriving from strife-torn Maluku province. But Madam Fahria went missing after questioning by the police. Jakarta media reported that she had not been back to her house in Bogor, West Java, since Tuesday.

Police said Azis had been arrested before for illegal possession of weapons after he and several others occupied Mr Hasyim's office last year to collect debts. He was released soon after.

The police source told The Straits Times: "We have handled cases involving debt collectors before and this is how they usually operate."

Indonesia penetrated by foreign terrorists-military

Reuters - September 26, 2002

Dean Yates, Jakarta -- Indonesia's military chief said on Thursday that foreign terrorists were in the world's most populous Muslim nation, saying they had operated in two eastern regions hit by Muslim-Christian violence.

The brief but candid comments by General Endriartono Sutarto are the clearest the government has given yet about foreign terrorist activity in Indonesia, already seen as the weak link in fighting terror in Southeast Asia.

Speaking to reporters, Sutarto gave no details on the number of foreigners involved and who they had aided. He said there was no proof they were linked to al Qaeda, blamed by Washington for the September 11, 2001 suicide attacks on the United States.

But one Indonesian security source said up to 20 foreigners had been involved in the two regions stated by Sutarto -- the Moluccas islands and Poso in Central Sulawesi province.

"From a document presented by the National Intelligence Agency via parliament, [foreign terrorists] are really here," Sutarto said, without saying when the document was submitted.

"They have trained, armed and conducted attacks. They're not Indonesian nationals, they're foreigners. Whether this is connected to al Qaeda can't be proven yet." While Sutarto said the foreign terrorists were in Indonesia, he did not say if they were believed to be currently active or give a timeframe for previous actions.

At least 7,000 people have been killed in Muslim-Christian clashes in the Moluccas and Poso since 1999. But the scale of violence in the two regions has subsided significantly in the past year, although both are periodically shaken by bomb attacks and shootings.

The security source also gave no timeframe for previous actions but said the foreigners included both Muslims and Christians. He said they had comprised trainers, advisers, strategic planners and tacticians.

He added that one Indonesian had been involved, a Muslim cleric called Hambali. Regional officials have accused him of being a key figure in the Jemaah Islamiah terror network, which Washington is considering labelling a terrorist organisation.

Suspected al Qaeda link

That possible US move has put pressure on Indonesia to go after radical Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who Singapore and Malaysia call a pivotal player in Jemaah Islamiah. Indonesia has consistently said it lacks evidence against Bashir, and in an interview on Wednesday at a strict Islamic boarding school in central Java he co-founded, the cleric denied Jemaah Islamiah existed and reitered he had done nothing wrong.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her government have also trodden softly so far for fear of upsetting Muslims.

Indonesian police have said they wanted to arrest Hambali for alleged involvement in bomb blasts on local churches, but say they have no information on his whereabouts. Malaysian officials say Hambali was the key Jemaah Islamiah link to al Qaeda.

Jakarta has expelled at least two foreigners who have been linked to terrorist activity, including one in June, an Arab identified as Omar al-Faruq, whom foreign intelligence reports have said was a leading al Qaeda operative in the region.

Earlier on Thursday, army chief General Ryamizard Ryacudu said when it came to terrorists here linked to al Qaeda "up until now there has been no report nor smell yet. Maybe they're aiming at Indonesia. That's possible. But they're not here yet. If there is proof ... please share. If there is no proof, we can't make any arrests."

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda has denied what he said were charges Jakarta was "less than fully enthusiastic" in the fight against terror, and said one reason for concern over US action against Iraq was it might aggravate global terror activity.

Indeed, Washington has praised Indonesia's cooperation in the anti-terror effort, saying it has provided valuable intelligence.

Some 85 percent of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslim, although in some eastern areas such as the Moluccas and Poso the numbers of Muslims and Christians are fairly even.

While the vast majority of Muslims are moderate, many are growing sceptical about the US-led war on terrorism and are highly critical of a possible US attack on Iraq.

To some analysts, an attack on Iraq would make it harder for Indonesia to arrest people like Bashir, who, far from going in to hiding, has become something of a local media celebrity.

Former US terror suspect plans to sue American government

Radio Australia - September 25, 2002

[A group of Indonesian politicians has called for President Megawati Sukarnoputri to address the parliament on US intelligence reports that Islamic extremists have twice unsuccessfully tried to assassinate her. And they claim some Indonesian Muslims are being unfairly targeted as possible terror suspects, pointing to Agus Budiman, an architect and a Muslim spent nine months in a US federal prison. He was accused of aiding the September 11th hijackers, but has been released and plans to sue the American government.]

Presenter/Interviewer: Linda LoPresti

Speakers: Lawyer Wirawan Adnan, who is representing Agus Budiman in his lawsuit against the US Government

Lopresti: During the early 1990's, Agus Budiman was studying architecture in Hamburg. He was part of what he describes as a lively Muslim community -- a community which included Mohammed Atta, one of the alleged September 11 hijackers and Mohammad Belfas, another terror suspect. Budiman struck up a friendship with Atta and helped him move into a new house. Now fast forward seven years. Agus Budiman has moved to the United States. He allows Mohammed Atta to use him as a contact person to enter the US. But his big mistake is that he falsely certifies that Belfas is living at his address in Virginia. A week after the September 11 attacks, Agus Budiman is arrested for document fraud and held in a maximum security prison for nine months until he's released when no evidence can be found linking him to the events of Septemebr 11. Now back in Jakarta, he plans to sue the US Government for his ordeal. This is his lawyer, Wirawan Adnan.

Adnan: It was a minor violations ... it was a minor violation on a document, but he was sentenced and he has been put in a maximum security, he has been put in isolation. It was clear he has no indications or proof whatsoever that he is linked to the September 11th tragedy, and he was released based on that.

Lopresti: Agus Budiman has addmitted that he did have some association with the September 11 hijackers. What can you tell us about that?

Adnan: He does have acquaintance with someone who is a suspect of the FBI ... like Mohammed Atta, Mohammad Belfas for instance. He has a previous acquaintance with them; he knew them in the past, they both went to the same mosque in Germany. That's about it. He knew someone who is somehow connected to the tragedy, but it is a coincidence. They never established the relationship.

Lopresti: Now he was cleared of all charges in the United States, If he goes ahead with the suit, is he wanting financial compensation?

Adnan: Well financial compenstaion is not the ultimate goal here.

Lopresti: What is the objective?

Adnan: The remedies of the rehabilitaion that he has been found innocent, and that if he pursues for an [American] visa, he could be granted [one] because he was found innocent.

Lopresti: I undersatand the Indonesian Govenmnet is supporting any move by Mr Budiman to file suit against the US if that is the road that he wishes to take. Why do you believe that the government has entered ... has backed Mr Budiman. I mean this case is an individual one, not a case of govenment to government?

Adnan: Well I believe that because of the accusations there's a lot of terrorism in Indonesia and Agus Budiman has allegedly or suspectedly ... or at this stage the government of the United States still believe that he is linked to that but they cannot prove it. So we need to come out in the open and clarify the matter: that we are innocent.; that there is no terrorists here. We need to clarify that... We need to defend Indonesia as a nation, need to speak internationally that there are no terrorists here ... at least Agus Budiman is not, you know.

Taking the hard road

Time Asia - September 30, 2002

Simon Elegant, Jakarta -- George W. Bush told the nations of the world after September 11 last year that they were either with the US in the war on terror or against the US At the time, the choice for most frontline governments was stark: join up or face the wrath of the world's military and economic superpower.

One year on, the war has indeed turned out to be a global conflict. But in Jakarta, local politics may outweigh geopolitics as President Megawati Sukarnoputri's administration last week wrestled over whether to cooperate with the US, or risk being labeled a pariah state in this new, antiterror world order.

The Indonesian President picked a bad week to fence-sit. Singapore's announcement that 19 of the 21 Singaporean Muslims arrested last month have ties to the regional extremist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), an affiliate of al-Qaeda, were a reminder that the scope and reach of terror remain formidable and potentially lethal. Malaysia and the Philippines have taken action against militants too. Teamwork, it would seem, is the only way to counter such threats. Indonesia, accused by nations around the region of harboring terrorists and under pressure from the US for not fighting its share of the battle, looks increasingly like the odd nation out.

The man putting Indonesia -- and particularly Megawati -- in this bind is Abubakar Ba'asyir, the Muslim cleric who is allegedly the spiritual and political leader of JI. As Time reported last week, the US interrogation of Omar al-Faruq, a militant who has confessed to being al-Qaeda's Southeast Asian point man, revealed that he and Ba'asyir had planned to bomb American embassies and consulates in the region the week of the first anniversary of September 11. Despite this and related disclosures that indict him as at least a suspect, Ba'asyir (who has denied these accusations) remains free, openly running his Islamic school in the central Java town of Solo. Indonesia, says Rohan Gunaratna, an expert on terrorism and author of a recent book on al-Qaeda, "is the only place in the world where radicals tied to al-Qaeda aren't being hunted down." Adds a Western intelligence source in Jakarta: "The country's like an aircraft carrier from which terrorists can safely launch attacks throughout the region." Not surprisingly, Ba'asyir's, and JI's, apparent untouchable status has set off alarm bells in Washington. US calls for action against Islamic militants in Indonesia have been ratcheted up in recent weeks. President Bush discussed the issue with Megawati in a September 16 phone call; the next day, the director for Asian affairs of the National Security Council, Karen Brooks, made a quiet two-day visit to Jakarta. While those conversations amounted to polite encouragement, the US has also been using the threat of harsher tactics to bring Megawati into line. Washington is threatening to officially classify JI as a foreign terrorist organization, as well as possibly Ba'asyir himself as a terrorist. Failure by Indonesia to act against JI or Ba'asyir, US officials say, could then precipitate a series of grave economic sanctions such as refusing aid and voting against financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund.

But as a hostage to her country's byzantine politics, Megawati seems damned no matter which way she moves. Regardless of how much Washington increases the pressure, the complex of interlocking forces on which Megawati's power depends seems virtually certain to preclude any action on her part. Not even allegations that al-Faruq and Ba'asyir plotted to assassinate Megawati have stirred her. If she takes steps against Ba'asyir and other JI members believed to be at large in Indonesia, she risks alienating the Muslim majority, whose support she desperately needs if she and her party are to be returned to office in the 2004 elections. Says Arbi Sanit, a lecturer in politics at the University of Indonesia: "Every politician in Indonesia needs the Islamic vote, and with Megawati it's even more so because of her secular background." The power of Indonesia's Islamic lobby was amply demonstrated earlier this year when three Indonesians were arrested in Manila with plastic explosives and detonator cords in their luggage. Despite the evidence, two of the men were released due to pressure from Jakarta, official sources in the capital say. The Philippines came close to releasing the third man, Agus Dwikarna, at which point US officials directly intervened with Megawati (as well as with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo) to warn against allowing the release. Dwikarna was later tried and sentenced to 17 years in prison for possessing explosives.

Indonesia's inaction contrasts starkly with its neighbors' aggressive antiterror measures. Singapore has repeatedly displayed its resolve, not only through its announcement last week but through the arrests of 15 alleged terrorists earlier in the year for a plot to bomb US interests there (masterminded, says Singapore, by Ba'asyir). Local authorities say the fresh detentions foiled plans to target a range of facilities in the republic, including the Defense Ministry, Changi International Airport, water pipelines and communications installations. In the Philippines, meanwhile, officials last week apprehended four Indonesians, one of whom they accuse of being linked to JI and helping to plot bomb attacks that killed 15 people and injured nearly 100 in a mall in Mindanao last April.

Along with Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines have enthusiastically thrown in their lot with America. Singapore has long been a vocal advocate for a strong US presence in the region, which it feels promotes stability. Manila is an old ally of Washington's and has for decades been battling its own Muslim insurgencies. Malaysia does have a Muslim majority, like Indonesia, but the government has never hesitated to use its draconian powers to keep the wilder fringes of the Muslim community under control, an attitude that seems to have been reinforced since September 11 by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's desire to step forward as the world's leading moderate Muslim leader.

Megawati is a moderate too, but even if the President were to allow a crackdown on Islamic radicals, there is no guarantee that the military and police would cooperate. A combination of Islamic sympathy, interservice rivalry, greed and simple incompetence has hobbled similar past attempts. In a series of failed operations in recent years, law enforcement officers have allowed their fellow Indonesians suspected of terrorist activity to slip away. Typical was the incident last December when Spanish authorities requested the arrest of Parlindungan Siregar, who allegedly ran military training at a JI/al-Qaeda camp near Poso on the island of Sulawesi. Despite being under 24-hour surveillance by intelligence operatives and having his mobile phone conversations recorded, Parlindungan vanished as soon as the Spanish request was received. Tellingly, his current whereabouts remain well known to the authorities, says a senior foreign intelligence source: "I was told [by Indonesian officials], 'you can go and talk to him if you want. We'll give you his address in Yogyakarta.'" Seeking to increase their diminishing role in government, the military and police have fallen into an uneasy alliance with Islamic politicians. "There is a danger with this game," warns the University of Indonesia's Sanit. "What if one day Indonesia is accused of being another Iraq by the international community? We'd be dead meat."

Indonesians distrust CIA report on Qaeda Suspect

New York Times - September 23, 2002

Raymond Bonner, Jakarta -- "Beware of US Propaganda." That front-page headline in one of the leading newspapers here this morning spoke to far more than just the article below it.

In the newspaper account, various leaders heaped scorn on reports that a man named Omar al-Faruq had confessed to the CIA that he was an operative for Al Qaeda in Indonesia and that working with a local militant organization, he had carried out attacks against Christians, tried to kill the country's president twice and plotted to blow up the American Embassy.

Across Indonesian society there is a strong sense that this is all a fabrication. People see it as part of a CIA plot to paint Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim population in the world, as a hotbed of terrorists to keep pressure on President Megawati Sukarnoputri to march to the dictates of President Bush in his campaign against terrorism.

Considering the CIA's history here in the 1950's and 60's, the fears are not totally irrational, American officials acknowledge. In that era, the agency spread disinformation, planted photos of President Sukarno in compromising positions and aided and abetted coup plotters.

But American officials are surprised, perplexed and worried about the public reaction to Mr. Faruq's statements. In the view of the United States, as well as important neighbors of Indonesia like Australia and Singapore, this country has a serious terrorism problem, which it has been reluctant to confront and which Mr. Faruq only confirmed.

In an effort to counter the crescendo of skepticism, the United States ambassador, Ralph Boyce, has decided that he must take the American case to the doubting Indonesian public. On Tuesday he will meet with representatives of several Muslim organizations.

Reflecting Washington's anxiety about the issue, Mr. Bush quietly dispatched Karen Brooks last week to talk to President Megawati.

Ms. Brooks is not only the senior White House aide on Indonesia. She was also a Fulbright scholar here, speaks fluent Indonesian and has a deep and strong personal relationship with the Indonesian president.

Her mission was to impress on Ms. Megawati the seriousness of the problem, but even more important, it was to give some courage to the Indonesian leader, who faces the prospect of widespread demonstrations by Muslims if she cracks down too hard, an official said.

Ms. Brooks slipped in and out of town without the knowledge of reporters, which is as both sides wanted it.

Nationalism and pride are strong here. At the same time, not since the days of Sukarno, the current president's father, has the country played a role on the world stage, or even regionally, commensurate with its size -- it has the fourth-largest population in the world -- and strategic location. The political attacks have already begun.

"The US controls Indonesia," the president's politically active sister, Rachmawati Sukarnoputri, a constant critic, told a local newspaper, Suara Merdeka, which devoted an entire article to heaping doubt on the CIA document.

The storm broke here when Time magazine arrived on newsstands last week with its cover story, "Confessions of an Al Qaeda Terrorist." It was based on the CIA's summary of the interrogation of Mr. Faruq.

The summary says Mr. Faruq told his CIA interrogators that as Al Qaeda's representative, he had made an alliance with Jemaah Islamiyah, a militant Indonesian Islamic group, and that its leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, had provided money, supplies and men for several terrorist acts.

Mr. Bashir steadfastly denies a role in any terrorist activities, though expressing admiration for Osama bin Laden, who he says is not a terrorist.

Dissenting from the unassailable assumption of Indonesians that the CIA summary was leaked in Washington by the agency, several diplomats here suggest quietly that it was leaked by a senior Indonesian official, who is one of the few in the government contending that the country has a terrorism problem and must act.

The first newspaper to carry the story here was Koran Tempo, one of the largest-circulation and most respected newspapers, with this headline: "CIA: Al Qaeda Tried Twice to Assassinate Megawati." In other words, the paper was pinning the allegation on the CIA, not on Mr. Faruq. It reflected some of the raw emotions here, Indonesians say.

The country's Muslims have not come to grips with the fact that Mr. Faruq, or someone like him, could be among them, said an Indonesian businesswoman who is a prominent intellectual. "They're in denial," she said.

This is a secular country, and an overwhelming number of Muslims are moderates. The highly observant Muslims are a tiny minority, the militants even fewer.

Yet no major Muslim leader has been willing to speak out, the businesswoman noted, to accept that what Mr. Faruq is reported to have said is true and that the country has a problem.

Solahuddin Wahid, a leader of the country's largest moderate organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, accused Washington of "propaganda tricks." "What has been leaked by the CIA is described by many as a mere American scenario to corner Indonesia into nodding to whatever the US is planning to do," he said. It is an insult to all Muslims, he added.

Grenade blast linked to loan dispute: Police

Jakarta Post - September 25, 2002

Jakarta -- After conflicting statements made about a deadly grenade explosion near a house belonging to the US Embassy on Monday, the police have linked the fatal incident to a loan dispute, quelling allegations that the case may have been an act of terrorism.

"The interrogation of some suspects and witnesses hasn't yielded any indication that the blast was linked to terrorism. It's just common debt collection stuff," said city police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam.

Citing statements made by some suspects, Anton said the suspect killed in the blast, Abdul Azis, 30, was working as a debt collector. "The grenade exploded prematurely due to the bomber's lack of expertise in handling explosives," Anton said.

However, Anton said the police were unconvinced over the suspects' statements. "We will do some crosschecking when we arrest the other two suspects who are still at large."

Azis was killed when the grenade exploded inside a Kijang van on Monday at 3.30am on Jl. Teluk Betung, Menteng, Central Jakarta. National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Monday that the target of the attack was the house belonging to the US Embassy. But later in the day, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara said it was too early to say if the assailants had planned to throw the grenade at the building.

The police are questioning three suspects over the blast: M. Yusuf G. Taul, 26, the driver of the van, Hasan Nahumaruri, 22, and Rian Lestaluhu, 28. Police are also searching for Lili and Taita, the other two suspects who fled the scene.

Separately, an intelligence source confirmed that the recent grenade explosion was economically driven and revolved around a dispute between two local businessmen, identified as Hasyim and Sandy, in which the latter failed to repay the former 5 billion rupiah (about US$550,000).

"The suspects were believed to be debt collectors and had just arrived here from the conflict-torn area of Ambon. They were amateurs," the source said, requesting anonymity.

"It was such a coincidence that the attack occurred at a time when the US was launching its campaign to find out if al-Qaeda was operating in Indonesia," he said.

"They [al-Qaeda members] have a contact person and are developing its network here. Based on our intelligence report, almost 90 percent of the al-Qaeda suspects living in this country are of Arabic descent," he said.

But he stopped short in disclosing who might be held responsible for a series of bomb attacks that recently rocked the country. He also denied allegations that the attack was made as an attempt to create disinformation among the public.

Meanwhile, the military said it had yet to see solid proof that the international terrorist group had been operating here and was building up its network with the country's hard-liners.

"The Army Headquarters has not found any evidence of al-Qaeda's existence in Indonesia. There is terrorism in every country, but on al-Qaeda, there's been no such reports yet," Army Chief Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu told reporters.

Accusations have been flying that the incident was part of an intelligence operation in support of CIA documents and the US's recent claim that its interests in Indonesia might be the target of terrorism from certain hard-liners here.

Anti-terror fight: public must be won over

Straits Times - September 25, 2002

Robert Go, Jakarta -- The anti-US backlash in Indonesia is approaching a feverish pitch.

Dr Amien Rais, Speaker of the country's top legislative body, wrote yesterday in his nationally syndicated column which appeared in many newspapers, that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has cooked up "misleading information in order to provoke trouble in Indonesia".

After Monday's grenade explosion in a car travelling near a US- embassy house, the widely read Rakyat Merdeka yesterday speculated that "America plotted bomb in Menteng", and suggested that the United States engineered the blast to convince people that terrorists are after US targets in Indonesia actively.

"Parliament denounces US", a lead story in the popular Koran Tempo talks about Indonesian legislators' petition to refuse "American arrogance", and urges President Megawati Sukarnoputri's government to stand up and defy US demands.

Events seem to be playing out as a number of moderate Muslim leaders and secular analysts have warned in recent weeks -- pushing Indonesia too hard and too fast on the terror issue risks sparking demonstrations and inflaming anti-American sentiments.

National pride and sovereignty issues are serious business here. The people and their political leaders are quick to pounce when they think other countries are trying to push Jakarta towards one policy or another. The reaction is especially quick and acute when that "other" country is the US.

Religion is also a powerful political tool, and the country has several political leaders who are experts at using their Islamic identities to attract voters. Among them were Vice-President Hamzah Haz and Justice Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra, both leaders of popular Islamic political parties.

Mr Hamzah, who opposed Ms Megawati's earlier bid for the presidency because of her sex, was also quick to embrace Jafaar Umar Thalib after the police arrested him for allegedly stirring up religious strife in riot-torn Maluku province.

These factors may explain why Indonesians choose to reject evidence suggesting that their country has become a regional base of operations for international terrorists.

It may well be that Indonesia has a terrorism problem on its hands. But getting the authorities to act will require convincing the public that any such move is not an anti-Islam one, and that Jakarta is acting in its own best interest.

US urges Indonesians to tackle Al-Qaeda problem

Straits Times - September 25, 2002

Robert Go, Jakarta -- The United States envoy told moderate Muslim leaders in Jakarta yesterday that the Al-Qaeda network is present here and urged all Indonesians to tackle the problem.

Ambassador Ralph Boyce, in a meeting the US Embassy initiated with around 20 prominent Muslim figures, said: "We have been saying since September 11 that Al-Qaeda is in dozens and dozens of countries."

Responding to requests for more proof that terrorists are here, Mr Boyce said: "Just because you cannot see them, it does not mean that they are not there." The envoy argued that Indonesia has to do more in the war against terror, but added that Jakarta has to formulate its own anti-terror programme if it wants to succeed.

He said: "It is an Indonesian responsibility that will have an Indonesian solution. It's not a solution that will be imposed by the United States. For it to have any success, it will have to come from Indonesia."

Mr Boyce's statements came a week after documents leaked by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to Time magazine alleged that an Al-Qaeda operative had used Indonesia to plan terror operations in South-east Asia.

The operative, Omar al-Faruq, reportedly had received help from a number of local radical Muslims in planning assassination attempts against President Megawati Sukarnoputri and a number of bombing attacks both in Indonesia and in the region.

The Time report and subsequent warnings issued by the US Embassy here have sparked an anti-American backlash, with many political leaders saying that the US is once again bullying Jakarta.

Apparently mindful of these reactions, Mr Boyce also said that Washington has not spotlighted Indonesian groups or figures as terrorists.

"There is a misperception that the US has labelled Indonesian groups as international terrorist organisations." He also took pains to assure the leaders that Washington believes the brand of Islam practised by the majority of Indonesia's Muslims "is moderate, tolerant and open".

Some Muslim leaders praised Mr Boyce's initiative in calling the meeting. But many rejected his statements and said that more proof was needed before Indonesians could believe that Al-Qaeda had spread its tentacles here.

Mr Din Syamsuddin, one of the leaders of Indonesia's second- largest Muslim organisation Muhammadiyah, said following the meeting: "We need hard evidence. We hope the US won't continue its accusations or work to destroy Islam in this country. Indonesia wants to work together with everyone, but we will resist all interventions by other countries."

Jakarta walks fine line to stamp out terror

The Australian - September 23, 2002

Don Greenlees, Jakarta -- On June 5, alleged al-Qa'ida operative Omar al-Faruq was arrested by Indonesian intelligence officials and handed over to the CIA. Al-Faruq's arrest and deportation were kept quiet from the Indonesian public; the national police were not even informed.

It is this kind of unheralded co-operation that wins Indonesia occasional praise from US officials for its contribution to the war on terrorism. Al-Faruq is regarded by US authorities as a valuable catch; someone who played a significant role in planning terrorist attacks.

Under interrogation, al-Faruq spoke of plots to assassinate the Indonesian President and other prominent Indonesians, blow up US diplomatic missions, send suicide bombers against US Navy ships in port and start a sectarian civil war in Indonesia, according to a document summarising his testimony.

Despite the assistance of Indonesia's National Intelligence Agency in this and other important captures, Indonesia still manages to project an attitude of ambivalence to the threat of terrorism. The Government has established an intricate balance between private helpfulness in the US war on terrorism and public aloofness.

This policy balance is becoming harder to maintain. On one side, the Government must contend with the political elite and a public that is distrustful of US intentions; on the other, it is presented with growing evidence that some of its citizens have engaged in plotting domestic and international terrorism.

Politicians and community leaders dismiss recent US warnings of "specific and credible" threats against its diplomatic missions or citizens as an over-reaction or an attempt to embarrass the Government into taking action against hardline Muslims.

In some quarters, al-Faruq's sensational testimony that he was aware of plots to assassinate President Megawati Sukarnoputri has met with derision. Such scepticism is fuelled by the fantastic nature of some of al-Faruq's allegations.

According to a CIA summary, he alleged that two plots against the President failed because on one occasion an assassin blew his leg off with a home-made bomb he was carrying in a Dunkin' Donuts box, and on another occasion the plotters failed to smuggle into Indonesia the guns they wanted.

Al-Faruq, in his early 30s, has been described as a Kuwaiti, although authorities in Kuwait say he is an Iraqi by the name of Mahmoud Ahmad Mohammed Ahmad. According to statements he gave to the CIA, he was assigned by senior al-Qa'ida operational commanders to work with southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiah in the late 1990s.

The operations he later worked on are more notable for their failures than successes. His al-Qa'ida handlers gave him the task of planning "large-scale attacks against US interests in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam and Cambodia". He developed plans for car and truck bomb attacks against US embassies in the region in 2000 and 2002.

He also tried to recruit suicide bombers for an attack on a US Navy vessel in the east Java port of Surabaya.

All these operations against hard targets did not materialise, either because they confronted effective security barriers or because of operational failure.

But where the terrorist network al-Faruq describes had more success was against softer domestic targets. He has claimed Jemaah Islamiah's leader in Indonesia -- firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Bashir -- was intent on inciting a "religious civil war in Indonesia in order to achieve his vision of a pure Islamic state under Islamic law".

To that end Bashir, al-Faruq alleges, approved and gave material support to the bombings of churches in Indonesia during Christmas 2000. Eighteen people were killed, a number of them members of bombing parties. Bashir also allegedly ordered the April 1999 bombing of Jakarta's main mosque in the hope of blaming Christians and provoking unrest.

These allegations should be of great interest to Indonesian police, yet Bashir, who was questioned early this year over allegations of masterminding terrorism, remains free. Police and government ministers say they have no evidence to launch a prosecution.

The problem for the Government is as much political as legal. Given the widespread scepticism over terrorism, there is concern Bashir's detention would prompt a backlash and help incite radical Muslims. The Government could be portrayed as doing the US's bidding. Indeed, the secrecy surrounding al-Faruq's arrest and other operations is designed to avoid that perception.

But increasingly, Jakarta faces being caught between demands to clean up its own backyard and domestic hostility to US policy.

Singaporean officials this week announced details of the activities of 19 Jemaah Islamiah members arrested on August 16. As more information emerges about a region-wide terrorist network, overlapping Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, pressure on the Indonesian Government to take a stand increases.

But its freedom to take such a stand risks being increasingly constrained as US policy heads in more controversial directions, such as an attack on Iraq. For Megawati, keeping both US and domestic opinions happy won't be easy.

Scepticism in Jakarta that US mission was blast target

Straits Times - September 24, 2002

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- Traffic on the roads was as chaotic as any other day, offices and shops were open for business and people made their way about the city unperturbed.

Except for the mid-day TV news bulletins and the afternoon tabloids which hit the streets with banner headlines, Jakarta barely paused to register the impact of yesterday's grenade explosion close to a US embassy-owned house, that raised some fears that American facilities are being targeted by radical elements.

Indeed, there was widespread scepticism that the US facility was the intended target although National Police Chief Da'i Bachtiar said as much early in the day. Later, he called the explosion "coincidental" and refused to commit himself further while investigations were on.

There was no statement from President Megawati Sukarnoputri's office or from any of her ministers to clarify the government position. The US embassy, too, maintained there was no sign that US interests were targeted.

The common refrain in the capital was that Indonesia was in a period of transition and there could be several motives and any number of groups behind the blast. The scepticism was not surprising, said analysts, given the number of unsolved bombing and blast cases that have occurred in Jakarta over the past two years.

Political analyst Riza Sihbudi said: "We don't even know the actors and the motivation behind the last explosion in Jakarta so the police would need to make it really clear what the evidence is." The last major explosion in Jakarta occurred outside a nightclub in June, injuring several people.

The head of Indonesia's largest and most moderate Muslim organisation, Nahdlatul Ulema (NU), Mr Hasyim Muzadi, refused to comment saying it was not clear who or what was behind the blast.

Lawyer Mohammad Mahendradatta, who advises Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual head of the Jemaah Islamiah network, and Jafaar Umar Thalib, the Laskar Jihad chief, said he doubted the blast was connected to any militant Muslim group.

"I checked with all my clients and none of them said they knew anything about it," he said. Mr Mahendradatta's "clients" include not only Jafaar, who is being tried for inciting communal violence in Maluku, but several other Muslim groups such as Front Hizbullah and Laskar Jendelah from Solo, Central Java.

These groups last year threatened to expel Americans from Solo in response to the US bombing campaign in Afghanistan. Anti-American sentiments have flared up here over the perceived international pressure for a crackdown on militants.

The House foreign affairs committee has called on party leaders and the parliament to take a strong stance against what they term as American propaganda describing Indonesia as potentially fertile ground for Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

Along with a number of other religious leaders, NU's Mr Hasyim maintained that a CIA report, which revealed there were terrorist plots to assassinate President Megawati Sukarnoputri, was intended to tarnish Indonesia's reputation.

Terrorism threat recedes, embassy can reopen fully: Downer

Australian Associated Press - September 22, 2002

Canberra -- The threat of a terrorist attack had receded enough to allow a full reopening of the Australian Embassy in East Timor, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.

The decision to reopen the embassy came as an international terrorism expert warned Australia could be a target because it was part of the global economy.

President of the American-based Terrorism Research Centre Matthew Devost warned Australia not to be caught unawares.

"We don't want to be caught by surprise, we need to think from the perspective of everything is a target, and work from there," he told the Seven Network.

"An attack that was perpetrated here would have reverberations throughout the world, it would have impacts on the global economy. It could be used to demonstrate a capability."

He said it was more attractive to terrorists to act in the United States but attacks could occur where they thought they would have the highest likelihood of success.

Mr Devost is visiting Australia under the sponsorship of the US State Department and has spoken to government and academics.

The Australian Embassy in the East Timor capital, Dili, was closed earlier this month after generic threats to Australian and United Nations facilities around the anniversary of the September 11 suicide attacks in the US.

"We think the threat is receding," Mr Downer told the Nine Network. "We're changing our consular advice and instead of saying that we would urge Australians not to go to East Timor on non-essential business, we're saying that it will be all right for them to go as long as they remain aware of security risks in East Timor."

The embassy had been operating on a skeleton staff recently, but from tomorrow it would be business as usual.

"But we will still be maintaining pretty tight security, including some Australian soldiers protecting the Australian residential compound and the Australian Embassy," Mr Downer said.

Embassy staff who voluntarily repatriated to Australia following the threats have returned to Dili.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warns Australians to bear in mind the general need for caution near the border with Indonesia.

Anger grows over US 'pressure'

Straits Times - September 23, 2002

Robert Go, Jakarta -- There is a growing backlash here against perceived attempts by the United States and neighbouring South- east Asian nations to pressure Indonesia into cracking down on domestic Islamic militants.

At the weekend, several top figures including Vice-President Hamzah Haz and other members of parliament questioned the motives of the US, British and Canadian embassies in Jakarta, which have issued warnings to travellers on possible anti-Westerner action in Yogyakarta and Surakarta, two popular tourist areas in Central Java.

Mr Hamzah said in Yogyakarta yesterday: "So far we have not discovered that threat. If the US has such data, please share so our agencies and the police can investigate. The police force has not found any terrorist in Indonesia. If there is no proof that terrorists are here, then don't get creative and come up with fictitious evidence in order to pit one group against another."

MPs, especially those from Central Java, and Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X have also come out with guarantees of safety for foreign travellers to the region, with some dismissing the embassies' warnings as paranoia.

Yogyakarta and Surakarta are famous for their cultural attractions. They are also the home bases of prominent Muslim leaders including cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who is accused of being Jemaah Islamiah's spiritual leader, and several radical groups including Laskar Jihad, which has participated in religious strife in violence-torn Maluku.

Scepticism about American intelligence reports, which have described Indonesia as potentially fertile ground for Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, has so far come mainly from Muslim leaders or politicians with ties to Islamic parties.

But analysts and secular figures are warning that Indonesia's predominantly moderate Muslims could be provoked into more radical reactions if they believe that their nation is being singled out and constantly criticised by the US and neighbours as a country that harbours terrorists.

The national news agency Antara quoted Mr Hasyim Muzadi, head of Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation with more than 40 million members, as saying: "If Indonesia is continuously bothered, certain parties, including moderate elements, may take adversary actions against the United States." Speaking on the sidelines of a conference on Saturday, he also claimed that Washington had employed "various propaganda tricks" against Indonesia, including leaking CIA reports that alleged assassination plots against President Megawati Sukarnoputri and warning its citizens of potential anti-Western campaigns in a popular tourist area in Central Java.

Sociologist Imam Prasodjo, who has focused much of his recent work on the sectarian conflicts that have erupted in various parts of Indonesia, agreed that the US had to be careful as it urged Jakarta to step up anti-terror investigations and arrests.

He told The Straits Times: "Indonesia's Muslims are moderate ... but direct and forceful demands for Jakarta to arrest prominent Muslim figures without iron-clad proof of connection to terrorism could very easily stir up a backlash and give people reasons to express anti-American sentiments."

Government & politics

Indonesia's civil service 60% unqualified

Agence France Presse - September 28, 2002

Jakarta -- About 60 per cent of Indonesia's four million civil servants are unqualified for their jobs, according to the State Administrative Reforms Minister.

Mr Feisal Tamin said on Wednesday that studies by his office and other parties showed that only 40 per cent of Indonesia's civil servant force were qualified, the state Antara news agency reported.

However, the government could not dismiss those who lacked the necessary education or training because of regulations and obligations. Also, dismissal entailed early retirement or severance payoffs, the minister added.

"For the time being, all that my office can do is to motivate them to be aware of this condition and make them want to work well," he said. "Raising their performance standards is certainly a heavy task resting on the shoulders of my office."

The raising of the proportion of qualified staff from 40 per cent to 60 per cent would be a major accomplishment, he said, calling on the public to help enforce discipline and productivity among civil servants. "All elements of the community are called on to be active in reporting any kind of abuses allegedly committed by state apparatuses," he said.

In July, Mr Feisal had said his office was considering offering early pensions to almost 60 per cent of the civil servants to cut costs. "If there is no hope for the employees or they continue being yelled at, it is better for them to ask for an early pension," he remarked.

Complaints about the civil servants' lack of professionalism came to the fore last year when a national survey rated them as the worst in the world. And earlier this year, President Megawati Sukarnoputri even said that bureaucrats in Indonesia were like garbage.

Majority of Indonesian civil servants unqualified

Radio Australia - September 25, 2002

About 60 per cent of Indonesia's four million civil servants are reportedly unqualified for their jobs.

The state administrative reforms minister Feisal Tamin says studies by his office and other parties show that only 40 per cent of Indonesia's civil servant force are qualified.

The state Antara newsagency reports the government cannot dismiss or marginalise unqualified staff because of its regulations and obligations.

Mr Tamin says raising staff performance standards is a big task. He says he would consider a reversal of the ratio between qualified and unqualified staff to be a success.

Mr Tamin has called on the public to help to enforce discipline and productivity among civil servants.

Legislators again question Megawati's overseas trips

Jakarta Post - September 26, 2002

Jakarta -- Legislators have once again raised some issues regarding President Megawati Soekarnoputri's overseas trips.

In a hearing with State Secretary Bambang Kesowo here on Wednesday, legislators from the House of Representatives Commission on defense and foreign affairs questioned, among other things, the inclusion of "outsiders" in the presidential entourage in these overseas visits.

Djoko Susilo of the Reform faction pointed out that he could not approve the inclusion of such political observers as Rizal Mallarangeng and Denny J.A. in the presidential entourage.

"I think there are many knowledgeable people in the State Secretariat. Why then should the entourage include outsiders?" Djoko said as quoted by Antara. He also questioned the benefit of including them in the presidential entourage.

Happy Bone Zulkarnain of the Golkar Party faction asked the state secretary to openly disclose the reasons behind the inclusion of the outsiders.

Yasril Ananta Baharuddin, another Golkar legislator, asked the state secretary to be more matter-of-fact in dealing with the issue.

Yasril also warned the state secretary to avoid making the same mistake in the upcoming presidential visits to Mexico, the meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)and the ASEAN Summit.

He said there was nothing amiss about the President's recent trip to South Africa to attend the Earth Summit, except that it was made amid a pressing problem at home -- the handling of illegal Indonesian workers deported from Malaysia. "The President should have cut the trip short," he said.

Syahrir declares new party

Jakarta Post - September 24, 2002

Jakarta -- Noted economist Syahrir declared on Monday the formation of the New Indonesian Association Party (PIB) at Hotel Indonesia and was observed by some 3,000 people.

Syahrir said that the setting up of the new party aims to revive the economic sector for a new Indonesia through reasonable politics, adding that it also aims to "create a healthy, clean and dynamic political life." The economist was elected as general chairman of the PIB and Taufik Darusman as its secretary-general.

Former student activist in 1970s expressed hope that the new party would create more jobs, raise tax revenues, improve economic growth and eradicate poverty.

PIB is the latest party to be set up by public figures during the past few months. The other three parties founded were President Megawati Soekarnoputri's sister Rachmawati Soekarnoputri (Pioneer Party), composer-turned-politician Eros Djarot (Bung Karno Nationalist Party), and political observer Andi M. Malarangeng (Unity, Democracy and Nationhood Party).

Corruption/collusion/nepotism

Police report filed against six Jakarta MPs

Straits Times - September 28, 2002

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- Amid a blaze of flashing camera lights, six parliamentarians were reported to the police for failing to report their assets to a government wealth audit commission on Thursday night.

The commission, previously dismissed as a toothless tiger, has also threatened to take legal action against the legislators.

The head of the Public Servants Wealth Audit Commission, Mr Jusuf Syakir, said he was so frustrated by the politicians' refusal to cooperate that he resorted to such tactics to pressure them.

"According to the presidential decree, it is very difficult to chase these politicians as the law says the punishment for failure to submit a wealth report is only an administrative sanction," said Mr Jusuf.

"So I tried to use another law under the criminal code." Under a 1999 presidential decree, all national and regional politicians, as well as public servants, are to submit a report on their assets. However, the law also says that this is voluntary.

Mr Jusuf said he hoped another law on public servants in the criminal code, which says that public servants who do not abide by government orders relating to civil servants can be sentenced to four months in prison, would be more effective.

Inspector-General Engkesman Hillep, the national chief of detectives, received the report on the six politicians on Thursday and vowed to investigate the case immediately.

Although none of the six politicians are major political figures, the reports on the wealth of public officials, especially politicians, have been followed closely.

Politicians who fail to go public about their wealth even have their names listed during ad breaks on the MetroTV television channel. But even if the politicians declare their assets, investigating those suspected of corruption would be extremely difficult, said Mr Jusuf.

Politicians or public officials could still hide extra funds in additional bank accounts or have unlisted additional properties. "We don't really have the intelligence apparatus to investigate, which is why we need the public to report to us any information they have," he said.

And the reaction from one of the reluctant legislators shows just how much contempt politicians have for public accountability, and even for laws that they have helped pass.

Mr Solihin Gautama Purwanegara, a member of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and former governor of West Java, argued that his case should not be sent to the police because there was no proof that he was corrupt.

Interviewed on television, he said: "If there is no strong indicator of corruption, then I shouldn't be treated like a corruptor." When pressed about how he could flout a law that he himself had passed as a MPR member, he argued that he had never agreed with the law anyway, but was overruled by a majority in the house.

Just this week, one former Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI-P) politician Meilono Suwondo said fellow parliamentarians had accepted bribes of between US$1,000 to US$15,000 from the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency for approving the sale of Bank Niaga.

Parliament Chairman Amien Rais has called for an investigation into the scandal, while senior PDI-P leader Sutjipto has called for the establishment of a disciplinary council to apply sanctions against legislators involved in such cases.

Bouncing cheques, money politics throw councillors into tizzy

Jakarta Post - September 25, 2002

Jakarta -- The National Mandate Party (PAN) urged the police on Tuesday to question a gubernatorial candidate who reportedly gave 10 cheques worth Rp 450 million each to 10 of the party's coucillors to vote for him as governor during the recent election.

"The police should investigate the case. I know that he [the candidate] is a fraudster," councillor Wasilah Sutrisno told several members of non-governmental organizations (NGO) who visited the council to protest the election.

Wasilah revealed that the candidate, Endang Darmawan, had also given out cheques, which were later dishonored, when he stood for election as the mayor of Yogyakarta two years ago.

"My brother, who is the Yogyakarta chapter chairman of the United Development Party [PPP], told me that he [Endang] did the same thing [giving out cheques] then. Endang is from Yogyakarta," she said.

A senior PAN councillor, who asked not to be named, revealed on Tuesday that three of PAN's 13 councillors met businessman Endang in the Hotel Aryaduta one evening before the election on September 11.

Endang then asked one of the three councillors to pass on 10 cheques drawn on Bank International Indonesia to 10 councillors who had not attended the meeting.

The councillor then give the cheques to the 10 councillors at the Hotel Ibis in Menteng on the same evening. Since the councillors did not want to accept the cheques, they handed them over to the party's central board.

Endang, who only secured three votes during the election, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

"I regret that my friends were playing footsie with other candidates even though our party chairman Amien Rais had personally sent 13 letters in support of our own candidate," the source said.

In the election, PAN had nominated its deputy chairman Abdillah Toha as deputy governor paired with Tarmidi Suharjo from the largest faction on the council, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) as governor. The pair only secured 13 votes while their rival, incumbent Governor Sutiyosowon the election with 47 votes.

Besides supporting a police probe, PAN's faction secretary Syamsidar Siregar promised her faction would discuss the issue of the cheques.

"I don't know anything about the cheques. But we will discuss them along with other issues involving money politics during the election," Syamsidar said. The NGOs visiting the council on Tuesday, which included the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta), the Islamic Defenders' Front and the Betawi People's Association, also urged the police to investigate the allegations of money politics during the election.

"With or without public complaints, the police should investigate the case," Fakta chairman Azas Tigor Nainggolan said.

Akbar's right-hand man wants him to quit

Straits Times - September 24, 2002

Jakarta -- The calls for Mr Akbar Tandjung to quit as Golkar chief are growing louder. In the second serious blow to his grip over the party, his right-hand man Agung Laksono joined the ranks of those demanding his ouster.

Mr Agung revealed over the weekend that he had urged Mr Akbar, who was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to three years' jail, to resign from the Golkar chairmanship.

Earlier, Golkar leaders Aulia Rachman, Fahmi Idris, Marwah Daud Ibrahim, Marzuki Darusman and Theo L. Sambuaga had told Mr Akbar to quit during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday night.

Mr Agung said the party leaders, who asked Mr Akbar to resign, had no personal grudge against the House Speaker. "We did so to save everybody in the party and so that all sides concerned are not prejudiced and dragged into the problem Akbar is facing," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

Senior Golkar leader Marzuki Darusman said on Sunday that more and more Golkar leaders were calling for the party chief's resignation, but refused to give details.

He also said that although it had been agreed to keep Mr Akbar as party chairman, things could still change. "We have a mandate to keep Akbar in his position, but we are aware that this can change at any time. The conviction of Akbar has had a bad impact on Golkar," Mr Marzuki said.

But Golkar co-chairman Rambe Kamarulzaman said that only party leaders Fahmi, Marwah and Sambuaga wanted Mr Akbar to resign.

Regional/communal conflicts

Four injured in Sulawesi bomb blast

Radio Australia - September 26, 2002

Four people were wounded when a bomb exploded near police headquarters in the troubled town of Poso in Central Sulawesi province in Indonesia.

The bomb exploded inside a public minibus outside the Poso main market. The minibus was just 10 metres from the town's district police headquarters. Another public minibus was also damaged.

Poso district has been ravaged for over two years by intermittent violence between members of the Muslim and Christian communities. The conflict has left about 1,000 people dead and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

Human rights/law

Munarman elected YLBHI top executive

Jakarta Post - September 25, 2002

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta -- After nine months without a permanent director, the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLBHI) elected on Tuesday Munarman its top executive.

Munarman, who formerly headed the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), pledged to consolidate the foundation members as his first move.

Of 23 electors, who are members of the foundation's supervisory board, 17 voted for Munarman, who is the current YLBHI coordinator of civil and political division. Munarman beat colleague Daniel Panjaitan, the deputy director of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute as the only other contender in the election. Munarman and the foundation's board of executives will be sworn in on October 2.

YLBHI co-founder and chairman of the supervisory board, Adnan Buyung Nasution, expressed hope that the new executives would improve the organization's achievement in promoting human rights and democracy.

Buyung said the foundation had run out steam in conducting its mission due to internal rifts and the large amount of non- governmental institutions with identical activities.

The board of trustees, now the supervisory board, dismissed the last director Bambang Widjojanto last December for his alleged indecent proposal to reform the foundation into a more populist association and to reduce the authority of the patrons sitting on the board of trustees. Bambang's motion was sparked by a move of senior members who swapped positions in a bid to maintain their power in the name of "professionalism".

Adnan has been criticized for defending senior military officers implicated in gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999.

At that time Adnan denied any bickering in the foundation and argued that the dismissal was aimed at giving opportunities for new faces since Bambang had reached the end of a five-year tenure. Bambang's exit followed the resignation of vice chairman Munir.

A caretaker team, comprising Irianto Subiakto, Mappinawang and Haneda Srilastoto, was named to run the organization and to prepare for the election which was originally slated for July.

Such an abrupt move by the board of trustees sparked criticism from the members, with Munarman becoming the most outspoken critic, and it almost cost him his position on the executive board.

Munarman, who was once the director of the YLBHI office in Aceh, appeared confident during the public debates held earlier on Tuesday morning.

"To build democracy, we should seek out our foes, but make friends ... The differences among us are part of our tradition. YLBHI will never be broken down because of differences," he said in the debate.

Focus on Jakarta

Protesters demand annulment of election

Jakarta Post - September 28, 2002

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta -- Dozens of activists and city councillors marched to the Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday, demanding the annulment of the recent election of Sutiyoso and Fauzi Bowo as the new governor and deputy governor of Jakarta, due to allegations of money politics.

The activists from several non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta), the Islamic Defenders Front and the Betawi People's Association (POB) urged Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno not to inaugurate Sutiyoso before the case on alleged corruption was solved.

"We hope the minister looks into the allegations of money politics before swearing Sutiyoso in," councillor Abdul Aziz Matnur of the Justice Party told reporters.

Aziz also questioned the ministry's response to his party's complaint letter, which, along with the National Mandate Party and the Crescent and Star Party, asked the ministry to probe irregularities during the election.

The parties protested the ballots, which were marked by councillors who supported Sutiyoso during the vote on September 11. Besides marked ballots, two failed gubernatorial candidates, Mahfudz Djaelani and Endang Darmawan, reportedly offered bribes during the election.

However, NGO activists and councillors were annoyed as none of the ministry's officials would talk to them. "We regretted that no officials would talk to us. We will be back here next Monday," Fakta's chairman Azas Tigor Nainggolan said.

The protests against Sutiyoso's reelection have yet to end and cries calling for him and Fauzi to step down may well continue until inauguration day, scheduled for October 7.

Undeterred by the mounting protests, Sutiyoso decided on Thursday to take a one-week leave. He reportedly went back to his hometown of Semarang in Central Java for a rest, starting on Thursday.

Since election day, Sutiyoso was reportedly sick for a week and rested at his official residence. Some scheduled programs were canceled before he resumed work early this week.

Activist arrested for slandering Sutiyoso

Jakarta Post - September 27, 2002

Jakarta -- Outspoken activist Azas Tigor Nainggolan was arrested by city police on Thursday for slandering Governor Sutiyoso by alleging that he had bribed city councillors.

Tigor, chairman of the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta), was arrested as he was about to board a city bus in front of the Central Jakarta District Court after attending a hearing of a class action suit against Sutiyoso filed by flood victims. Tigor, who is one of the plaintiffs' lawyers, was taken to the city police headquarters at about 11 a.m., and was released after being questioned for almost four hours.

"I rejected the accusation that I had slandered Sutiyoso. I was simply responding to journalists' questions about allegations of money politics," he told The Jakarta Post after the questioning.

He believed that the arrest was part of an attempt to silence outspoken activists who had been critical of Sutiyoso. He had already ignored a police summons three times because it did not clearly say why the police wanted to question him.

On Friday, Tigor and several activists from many non-governmental organizations plan to stage a rally at the Ministry of Home Affairs and at the State Palace to demand annulment of the result of the recent gubernatorial election.

Sutiyoso, who won the election, reported Tigor to the police in March this year for slander over his accusation that Sutiyoso had bribed city councillors with Rp 3 billion so that they would accept his accountability speech for the city budget.

Separately, several city councillors regretted the arrest of Tigor by the city police as an attempt to oppress activists. "I regret the arrest. Why did it happen now, so close to the inauguration of Sutiyoso?" City Council deputy chairman Muhammad Suwardi of the National Mandate Party said.

The Minister of Home Affairs is scheduled to inaugurate Sutiyoso and Fauzi Bowo as the new governor and vice governor on October 7.

Water shortages putting Jakarta and Java at risk

Straits Times - September 25, 2002

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- Residents in several parts of Java and the Indonesian capital are suffering from a water shortage -- the result of a drought caused by the extremely dry El Nino season in the country.

Thousands of residents in parts of West Jakarta are being forced to buy water from private contractors because they do not have enough to wash clothes, clean or cook.

A Department of Mining and Energy official, Mr Muzahein Muhtar, said Jakarta's water shortage had reached dangerous levels.

Water supplied by public utilities such as PT Pam Lyonnaise Jaya, which services about 50 per cent of Jakarta city, has slowed to a trickle. In parts of south Jakarta, thousands of residents have had running water for only a few morning hours over the past two months.

An official from PT Pam Lyonnaise Jaya said the shortage was due to low water levels at the main dam in Jatiluhur, West Java. Due to the drought, more and more farmers in West Java were using water from this dam for irrigation, said the official. Some farmers were even breaking into pipes owned by PT Pam Lyonnaise Jaya and redirecting some of the water to their farms, she said.

Much of the water has become so polluted from chemicals and household waste that it cannot be cleaned.

Thousands of precious farms in rural Java have been affected by the drought. In West Java's Cirebon and Indramayu, at least 14,000 ha of farm land have been hit, while in central Java at least 11 districts are suffering.

Amid the current water woes, experts are predicting that Jakarta, and cities such as Semarang and Surabaya, will suffer from a severe water crisis in the next 10 years unless the government puts the brakes on deforestation and develops better policies for the collection and storage of water.

State Minister for the Environment Nabiel Makarim said: "Deforestation and excessive water consumption have worsened the water deficit. If deforestation is not stopped, and water consumption continues to increase, the water deficit will worsen in the coming years." He pointed out that the northern coastal areas already had water shortages for four months of the year.

He said the authorities in Jakarta needed to draw up plans urgently about how to collect water from surrounding water catchment areas such as Bogor, a mountain town 60 km from Jakarta which has a high annual rainfall.

Environment

Indonesia says graft hampers foreign help on haze

Reuters - September 27, 2002

Pontianak -- Indonesia's environment minister said on a visit to the smoke-choked island of Borneo on Friday corruption was blocking the international help needed to tackle forest fires.

The haze from the fires, often set by farmers and illegal loggers, has blanketed parts of the island for months, causing serious health problems and occasionally shutting schools and grounding aircraft.

Smoke from the fires is also affecting neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore, although it is not as bad as in 1997 and 1998, when dense haze cost regional economies $9 billion in damage to farming, transport and tourism.

"We are not able to handle this forest fire problem ... everybody knows that we need help," minister Nabiel Makarim told reporters in the West Kalimantan capital of Pontianak. "But low credibility in eliminating corrupt practices has hampered ... international institutions to help us on this annual haze and fire problems," he said.

Makarim's visit came as conditions deteriorated in the city of Palangkaraya -- in the neighbouring province of Central Kalimantan -- where visibility had fallen to below 50 metres.

"The haze has worsened today because light rain in some areas last night has raised the humidity," said Hidayat, an official at the Palangkaraya meteorology office told Reuters. "The possibility of more rain falling in the coming days is there ... but a full day of rain of more than 100 mm will be needed to put out the fire," he said.

Some schools in the city which reopened this week closed again on Friday and the main airport has been closed since the beginning of the month.

In West Kalimantan, where Makarim met officials to discuss ways to put out the fires, the pollution index reached 405, a level health officials consider dangerous.

Makarim said he was due to meet Malaysian Science, Technology and Environment Minister Law Hieng Ding in Kuala Lumpur on October 7 to discuss the problem.

Conservationists have long criticised Jakarta for failing to protect its natural resources and put a stop to slash and burn practices and illegal logging. Indonesia has said that its laws are too weak to deal with the problem but has promised to make reforms.

Schools ordered to close in haze-choked Indonesian city

Agence France Presse - September 26, 2002

Schools have been ordered to close in the capital of Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province because of persistent choking haze caused by fires, an official said.

Palangkaraya mayor Salundik Goyong Wednesday ordered the closure with immediate effect of all schools in the city and surrounding areas, mayoral spokesman Halis Lanca said Thursday. "The closure will be until further notice is issued," he said.

He said closure was ordered because of the health hazard caused by the thick haze that has blanketed the area for weeks.

Early Thursday the haze, caused by smoke from burning forests and peat, had reduced visibility in the capital to around 10 meters. But visibility should slowly improve to just over 100 meters later in the day, said Indra Sarwono of the local meteorology office.

The provincial government has already given schools in the province permission to decide whether to close because of the haze, spokesman Harun al-Rasyid told AFP.

"Government employees who have difficulties working in the haze conditions are also allowed not to work although all basic public services have to remain functioning," al-Rasyid said.

The government last month set up a team of some 370 men, including forest rangers, police and soldiers, to try to put out the fires, he said. "But the problems they face are not easy." He said most of the fires were ground fires and they were difficult to extinguish because of the deep peat soil layers prevalent in the area as well as in large parts of Borneo island.

"These peat soil fires can only be extinguished by a large amount of water, such as continuous rains. Rains remain our main hope," he said. Access to forest areas that were on fire was also difficult because of the lush vegetation, al-Rasyid said.

The Palangkaraya meteorology office has forecast rains only sometime next month.

In Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province also affected by haze, the sky was clear and visibility was over 3,000 meters by mid-morning as rains had fallen over the city the previous evening.

"It is clear now, but the sky may get covered again in the afternoon with haze carried by winds from the Ketapang [district] area where rains have not yet fallen," said Suwardi of the local meteorology office.

Haze has also begun to cover parts of Sumatra island.

In Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province, the smoke from forest fires in the region was forced downwards because of a weather depression in the neighbouring province of West Sumatra and a tropical cyclone in the South China Sea in the east, meteorology official Slamet Riyadi said.

"The first two GMT hours, or seven to eight in the morning here, visibility was about 300 to 400 meters only because the smoke hung low," Riyadi said.

A slight rain helped improve the visibility to 500 meters an hour later, he said. "This condition, due to the depression and the cyclone, is expected to remain until at least tomorrow," he said.

Illegal loggers and farmers are blamed for the fires which they light to clear their fields for the next planting season. The fires have prompted neighboring Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore to call for action to contrl the haze.

The burning has caused smoke haze over the region almost annually since 1997.

Smog clings to Indonesia Borneo, rain helps Sumatra

Reuters - September 23, 2002

Jakarta -- Choking smog worsened in Indonesian parts of Borneo island on Monday but rains cleared much of the haze that had been blanketing Sumatra, officials said.

Visibility was again reduced to tens of metres (yards) in at least two of Borneo's provinces and many schools and offices remained closed as transport continued to be disrupted.

"Smoke has got thicker and thicker. I cannot even see the runway from my office window now. Visibility has reached 50 metres," Jamaluddin Hasibuan, an airport official, told Reuters from the capital of Central Kalimantan.

"We had some showers yesterday but it only made things worse because of the burning peat land the smoke rose up," he added by telephone from Palangkaraya city, some 875 km north of Jakarta.

The airport has been closed since the start of the month because of the haze and last week the governor of Central Kalimantan province ordered schools and offices to close, although several reopened on Monday.

Bouts of haze from forest fires, mainly from Indonesia's Kalimantan provinces on Borneo, have been a problem for six weeks, but residents in Sumatra's Riau province breathed easier on Monday as rain helped disperse the pollution.

"Visibility here was as low as one km ... but then there were light showers and winds...now the visibility is three km," said an airport official in the capital, Pekanbaru.

Smoke from the fires has also affected neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia although it is not as bad as in 1997 and 1998, when dense haze cost regional economies $9 billion in damage to farming, transport and tourism.

Conservationists have long criticised Jakarta for failing to protect its natural resources. Indonesia admits its laws are too weak to deal with the problem and is promising reform.

Health & education

HIV/AIDS cases increase sharply in northeast West Java

Jakarta Post - September 28, 2002

Jakarta -- The number of people with HIV/AIDS has increased sharply in the northeast coastal areas of West Java in the past two years because of increased drug use and prostitution in the area.

Akhmad Jumarma, coordinator of the Sidikara Foundation, a non- governmental organization working on the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS, said on Friday that the foundation had recorded 63 people with HIV/AIDS in the coastal areas by the end of 2001.

"Data for 1999 showed that there were only 14 people with HIV/AIDS. This means that the number has increased by four times within this two-year period," Akhmad said.

West Java's northeast coastal areas include Bekasi, Karawang, Cirebon, Indramayu and Kuningan regencies. Akhmad said his foundation's research showed that the sharp increase had been caused by two things: the increase of drug users who shared needles and the rising number of sex workers.

The highest drug increase was recorded in Bekasi, while increases in prostitution occurred in Indramayu, Cirebon, Kerawang and Kuningan.

"Our survey shows that in Cirebon, Indramayu and Kuningan regencies, the number of sex workers has increased and they have spread out to more areas. This has caused a rapid spread of the virus," Akhmad added.

He noted that the number of people with HIV/AIDS recorded by his office was in all probability only the tip of the iceberg and that the actual number could be much higher.

Religion/Islam

Radicalism no threat to Indonesia: Crouch

Jakarta Post - September 28, 2002

Jakarta -- Religious radicalism has no place in the world's most populous Muslim country due to the fact that the sociocultural diversity of the people here would discourage such extremist movements, analysts said on Friday.

Harold Crouch, a prominent Indonesianist from the Australian National University (ANU), told a two-day seminar titled Indonesian Update 2002 in Canberra that reports of radical movements in Indonesia were "exaggerated" by foreign media.

He was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying it was a "misperception" to consider that campaigns for the implementation of Islamic sharia law in Indonesia were a radical movement. Such campaigns could not be accused of embracing and promoting radicalism since they were conducted through peaceful ways, Crouch added.

Similarly, international relations expert Dewi Fortuna Anwar of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) told the seminar that radical movements were no threat to Indonesia, arguing that the nation's diverse culture would not support their growth. There were no Islamic organizations in Indonesia which could be considered "real radical groups", she said.

Crouch further said there had been a tendency that hardline groups campaigning for the adoption of Islamic sharia law in Indonesia had ceased using violence to achieve their goals, like what the now defunct Darul Islam radical movement did in 1950s.

Crouch said the radical movements had significantly declined in Indonesia since then. Darul Islam, led by Marijan Sukarmaji Kartosuwiryo, fought for sharia in the country in the 1950s. Established in West Java, the group declared an Indonesian Islamic state on August 7, 1949 and waged a rebellion against government forces.

Kartosuwiryo allowed his members to rob, kill and rape other Muslims and non-Muslims in their violent struggle. The religious rebels even attempted to assassinate founding president Sukarno before their notorious leader was captured and killed. The rebellion spread to three other provinces -- South Sulawesi, South Kalimantan and Aceh.

Following the downfall of former strongman Soeharto in 1998, Islamic extremism emerged once again. Hardline groups like Laskar Jihad, the Islam Defenders' Front (FPI) and the Indonesian Mujahiddin Council (MII) have openly campaigned for their causes: the adoption of sharia.

The three groups, along with the United Development Party (PPP) and the Crescent Star Party (PBB), were the most prominent to demand the inclusion of sharia, contained in the Jakarta Charter, in the amended constitution.

The demand was rejected by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) during its Annual Session last August. "We cannot label legislators calling for the inclusion of the Jakarta Charter as those of radical groups because they struggle for their aspirations through democratic channels," Crouch said.

He said followers of radicalism were often connected to violence to achieve their goals. He added that it was not the case in Indonesia.

Even though religious conflicts between Muslims and Christians were raging on in the Maluku islands and the Central Sulawesi regency of Poso, they had nothing to do with radicalism. "They are fighting against each other but it is not the problem of radicalism," he added.

Unfazed, radical Indonesia cleric keeps teaching

Reuters - September 25, 2002

Dean Yates, Solo -- Abu Bakar Bashir ambles around the grounds of an Islamic school in Indonesia's central Java in white robes and a skull cap, chatting with students and looking every bit the avuncular teacher he claims to be.

To some Southeast Asian governments the tall but reed-like Bashir is a pivotal player in a regional terror group, Jemaah Islamiah, which the United States is now considering labelling a terrorist organisation.

Not so to the students at the Al Mukmin boarding school, which the radical Muslim cleric, an open admirer of Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, helped found decades ago.

"He's great," shout several 12-year-old students wearing Indonesian school uniforms as they crowd around Bashir, sporting his trademark wispy silver beard and large reading glasses.

At 65, Bashir spends much of his time teaching the tenets of Islamic sharia law and dispensing advice to the 2,000 students here at the school, reached through a maze of narrow lanes in a suburb of Solo city, 500 km east of Jakarta.

Not surprisingly, the terror accusations against Bashir by Singapore and Malaysia carry little weight here, where students say they admire Bashir for his efforts to implement strict Islamic sharia law in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

A relatively obscure Muslim cleric until Singapore and Malaysia officials earlier this year accused him of being a key leader of Jemaah Islamiah, the growing spotlight on Bashir has put Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri in a bind.

Matthew Daley, US assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, on Tuesday stepped up pressure on Jakarta by linking Bashir to Jemaah Islamiah, calling it "the Abu Bakar Bashir organisation", apparently to differentiate it from the literal translation of the group which means Islamic community. He said the US was considering calling it a terrorist group.

Bashir denies such a group exists and calls Daley's comments groundless. Indonesian police questioned Bashir earlier this year over the terror accusations, but said they had no evidence.

Holy war

This is not Bashir's first brush with trouble. He was jailed in 1979 under former autocrat Suharto for agitating to set up an Islamic state. In 1985 he escaped that jail term and fled to Malaysia and returned in 1999 when subversion laws used widely by Suharto, who kept a tight lid on militant and political Islam, had been repealed.

In an interview, Bashir insists he is just a simple Islamic teacher, although he readily admits to encouraging Muslims to wage holy war if they believe Christians are attacking Muslims.

He said while teaching in Malaysia it was possible some of his followers in an Islamic study group, whom he called his "listeners" and which had informally called themselves the Sunnah Group, had gone to fight in places such as Bosnia.

Bashir said he had heard some followers had also gone to Indonesia's eastern Moluccas islands to battle Christians. The Moluccas have been ravaged by Muslim-Christian violence. "If you understand jihad and are capable, carry it out but only in places of jihad, where there is a war against infidels, protecting yourself and Muslim brothers under attack like in Bosnia," he said.

Political ties

Complicating things for Megawati, Bashir has garnered support from many quarters in Indonesia, where scepticism over American intentions toward the Muslim world have grown, partly in response to a possible US attack on Iraq.

Indeed, Bashir said he hoped to meet Vice President Hamzah Haz soon in Jakarta. Haz paid Bashir an unexpected visit last May, adding to perceptions that arresting him would not be easy.

Clearly at ease with the growing spotlight on his activities, Bashir grabs a small television microphone before an interview and expertly attaches it to his robes.

"I already know how to do this," he said laughing, flashing a grin from his narrow face that showed a few bottom teeth missing.

Jemaah Islamiah has been accused of seeking to bomb Western targets as part of a jihad, or holy war, intended to establish an independent Islamic state across the region.

Bashir says one member of Jemaah Islamiah, Fathur Rohman Al- Ghozi, jailed in Manila for illegal possession of explosives, attended Al Mukmin, probably while Bashir was living in Malaysia.

Some Southeast Asian governments have linked Jemaah Islamiah to bin Laden's al Qaeda network, Washington's prime suspect in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Students from across Indonesia, ranging in ages from 12 to 19, attend Al Mukmin, which differs from moderate mainstream Muslim boarding schools. They are quick to defend their teacher.

"He's not what they say he is, he's a good man," said Karnadi, 18, a student from West Java, speaking near a sign that said: "Enter the house to study, leave the house to fight."

Thousands declare holy war in mass anti-US rally in Solo

Jakarta Post - September 26, 2002

Surakata -- About 1,500 militant Muslims from various regions in Java and Sumatra attended a mass anti-US rally in Surakata on Wednesday and declared they were ready to wage a jihad against Washington.

Secretary-general of the Front for the Defenders of Islam (FPI) Ahmad Sobri Lubis said that the rally was held to protest allegations by members of the international community that the al-Qaeda network was active in Indonesia and that Indonesian Islamic leader Abubakar Ba'asyir was involved with international terrorist networks.

"We declared at the rally that Indonesian Muslims should never trust any statement from the US government as long as they continue repressing Muslims in Afghanistan," Lubis said.

"Everyone who attended the rally is waiting for instructions from their leaders to stage a jihad against America," he told AFP following the 90 minute-rally, which ended shortly before dusk.

The rally was decided on last week during a meeting at a Muslim boarding school headed by Ba'asyir in Ngruki, near the Central Java city of Surakata.

Participants at the rally also gave their "ultimate support" for Ba'asyir, whose name, Lubis said, had been "smeared" by a Time magazine report and accusations of links to terrorists by Malaysia and Singapore.

A recent Time magazine report based on allegedly leaked CIA documents said al-Qaeda had been operating in Indonesia. Citing a foreign intelligence report, Time said in its Sept. 23 issue that an alleged al-Qaeda senior operative, Omar al-Faruq, admitted he planned to kill Megawati Soekarnoputri in May 1999 when she was running for the presidency.

According to a CIA report referred to by the magazine, Ba'asyir had offered assistance to Faruq for carrying out a recent plan to bomb US embassies in Jakarta and elsewhere in the region.

Lubis said all accusations made against Ba'asyir "must be proven by Indonesian law". US Ambassador to Jakarta Ralph Boyce has said the report was not an official government document, but he has also said al-Qaeda has been active in Indonesia.

Ba'asyir and Habib Riziq Shihab, the FPI leader, were not invited to a dialog between Boyce and representatives of several Islamic organizations held at the headquarters of the country's second largest Muslim group, the Muhammadiyah, in Jakarta on Tuesday. Boyce said at the meeting that Washington had not labeled any Indonesian Muslim groups -- including Ba'asyir's Indonesian Mujahidin Council -- as international terrorist organizations.

In an interview with private television station SCTV from Surakata earlier on Wednesday, Ba'asyir said he saw Boyce's statement as "an improvement". But he warned Indonesian Muslims to remain cautious of Washington's stance on Islam.

"We still have to be careful because no matter what [Boyce has said] America has made Islam its enemy," he said, adding that Washington should be fair in solving the Middle East crisis. Ba'asyir has denied the presence of terrorist networks in Indonesia and any link to international terrorism.

Earlier, Habib Rizieq Shihab said the protest would also push for Jakarta to be "more active in protecting its citizens in the face of pressure from overseas, including from the United States, who want to turn them into scapegoats".

Several Indonesians have also been arrested or are being sought in the region on suspicion of terrorist links.

An inspiration for Muslim fighters

Washington Post - September 23, 2002

Ellen Nakashima and Alan Sipress, Yogyakarta -- Abubakar Baasyir is a wanted man in Malaysia and Singapore. The Bush administration is weighing whether to add him to its terrorist list for what intelligence officials say is his leadership of a militant Islamic network linked to al Qaeda.

The government in Indonesia, where he lives, faces growing international pressure to arrest him, but fears a Muslim backlash. Details provided by suspects seized in Singapore and Indonesia, revealed this month, implicate him in plots to bomb US embassies and other targets in Southeast Asia.

But the 64-year-old cleric, who was imprisoned in the late 1970s as a potential political enemy of the Suharto government and later spent 14 years in exile, shows little sign of agitation. He not only denies he is the leader of Jemaah Islamiah, the militant network, but also says no such organization exists.

However, Baasyir, with his gold-rimmed glasses and gray beard tinged with yellow, volunteered in an interview late last week that his lessons have been the inspiration for an informal network of followers called the Sunna Group, based in Singapore and Malaysia. So committed are they, he said, to the values he preached that they have set off to fight for Muslim causes in Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, the Philippines and the Moluccas, an Indonesian region beset by violence between Muslims and Christians.

"The students who absorb my teaching and finally understand Islam completely want to implement the teaching of jihad," he said.

He offered them Islamic guidance, he said, but they found their own military training and paid their own way. Many of these followers, whom he calls his "listeners," have been arrested in Malaysia and Singapore, including one man jailed by Singaporean authorities in December, he said, for allegedly participating in a plot to attack the US Embassy and other Western targets in the city-state.

Baasyir spoke slowly and steadily, settled comfortably into a torn, blue armchair in the busy headquarters of the Indonesian Mujahadin Council, a militant Muslim organization he helped found. The group is based in downtown Yogyakarta, a university town in central Java that was the center of an Islamic resurgence in the 1980s. His discussion of Islamic teaching and the recent allegations against him continued for nearly an hour, broken only by the song of his mobile phone, alerting him to incoming calls with a traditional Arabic tune.

Intelligence agencies are focusing more intently on Baasyir following information provided this month by a suspected al Qaeda operative, Omar al-Farouq, under interrogation by US investigators. According to a government document summarizing key points of the interrogation, al-Farouq said Baasyir was the "coordinator" of a plot to carry out truck and car bombings of US embassies across Southeast Asia around the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon. Al- Farouq reportedly said Baasyir had authorized him to use Jemaah Islamiah operatives and resources in the attacks.

According to the document, al-Farouq said Baasyir was behind a 1999 bombing of a mosque in Jakarta, meant to incite Muslim anger against Christians, and a series of church bombings on Christmas Eve 2000 that killed 18 people. Al-Farouq also said that "al Qaeda encourages Baasyir's goal to spark a religious civil war in Indonesia in order to achieve his vision of a pure Islamic state under Islamic law."

Baasyir denied the allegations, point by point. He said he has never met al-Farouq. "I ask the American government to give me proof that I am linked to terrorism," he said. "I am prepared to face Omar al-Farouq face to face. But don't persecute me in a cowardly way." Baasyir called the accusations a CIA setup. He was a victim, he said, of a US-sponsored vilification campaign.

"They are accusing me of being a terrorist because I have a very objective assessment of Osama bin Laden," Baasyir said. "I don't call him a terrorist. Even until today, the American government cannot prove that he is a terrorist connected to the World Trade Center. In fact, I would even call Osama a great Islamic warrior until the US government can come up with evidence that he is a terrorist." He asserted that the US government objects to his outspoken advocacy of an Islamic state under religious law. "The enforcement of sharia must become the law of the country," he said. "This is not popular among Americans. And this is what they're afraid of the most." President Bush, he said, is using the war on terrorism to "camouflage" his true goal of defeating Islam.

Baasyir is the spiritual leader of a militant network that has at its hub a religious boarding school, Pondok Ngruki, founded in 1972 by Baasyir and fellow cleric Abdullah Sungkar.

The school, in the city of Solo 40 miles southwest of Yogyakarta, has turned out at least one student now charged with terrorist activities. Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, 30, has been detained in Manila since January in connection with illegal possession of explosives and falsification of documents. Philippine authorities say he participated in the plan to attack US assets in Singapore.

Baasyir's vision of an Islamic state sharpened during his years in exile. He and Sungkar, who were persecuted by the Suharto government in the 1970s and fled Indonesia in 1985 after their release from prison, began Islamic discussion groups in Malaysia. These, Baasyir said, grew into the Sunna Group, dedicated to realigning Islamic practice in Malaysia and Singapore with the teachings of the prophet Muhammad. Over the years, the number of "listeners" at his lectures grew, he said.

Baasyir returned to Indonesia after Suharto fell from power in 1998 and organized Koranic reading groups. But they are unrelated to those of the Sunna Group, he said.

Baasyir has mellowed since he opened Pondok Ngruki 30 years ago, said Ibnu Chanifah, the assistant academic director at the school. "Before he saw things in black and white," said Chanifah. "But now he's ready to discuss other religious ideas, meet with other Islamic communities." The school today educates 2,100 boys and girls in the sciences and Islamic studies in three compounds of whitewashed buildings arranged around courtyards shaded by mango and cashew nut trees. Each classroom is plain, with simple wooden desks, Koranic inscriptions and a single ceiling fan to counter the heat. The boys, dressed in white shirts and blue pants, peer out of dormitory windows, eager to try out their English, which they practice with one another every Monday and Thursday.

Baasyir had no contact with the school while in exile, Chanifah said. Since his return, he "has put a very strict limit" on his involvement, Chanifah said.

Baasyir said he continues to focus his teachings on the urgent need to establish an Islamic state, not just in Indonesia but wherever there are Muslims. He said members of other religions, including Christians, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists, would be able to follow their own beliefs under the protection of an Islamic government.

Because bin Laden shares the goal of promoting Islamic rule, Baasyir said that he would pray for his welfare. So, too, Baasyir said he hopes that all Indonesian Muslims will pray for him, as pressure intensifies on the government to arrest him.

Flashing a smile, Baasyir said that unlike politicians, he is unwilling to predict what will happen if he is arrested. "I will defend myself the best I can, as long as it's in line with sharia law and it doesn't strongly contradict Indonesian law."

International relations

Indonesian ties get a rocketing

Australian Financial Review - September 25, 2002

Tim Dodd -- Indonesia's Foreign Ministry has a message for Australia that it evidently wants to be heard loud and clear, rather than in the confines of normally discreet diplomatic communication.

Yesterday, for the first time since 1999, senior officials from the two countries met in Jakarta for regional security and disarmament talks, which used to be held on a semi-regular basis until the East Timor crisis blew apart the relationship. In itself the meeting was a sign of further normalisation of Australian-Indonesian ties.

But in his opening statement to the meeting at Jakarta's Foreign Ministry, Indonesia's delegation leader, Makarim Wibisono, departed from his prepared statement to put on the record two issues that are bothering Indonesia regarding its southern neighbour.

One is alleged involvement by Australians in the independence movement in Indonesia's province of Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya, which is the western half of the large island Australians know as Papua New Guinea. The other is the rocket- launching facility that Korean businessman David Kwan, with generous Australian government assistance, plans to build on Christmas Island, only 400 kilometres south of Indonesia's most populous island of Java.

Raising these two sensitive issues in yesterday's meeting, even though neither was listed on the agenda, would not in itself be unusual. What was interesting -- and not expected by the Australian side -- was that the Foreign Ministry raised the tempo by inviting journalists along to hear the opening statements, including Makarim's departure from his script.

It looks like a signal that despite the notable progress in relations since the low point after the Tampa affair and the asylum-seekers dispute a year ago, Australia should not take things for granted. This reminder from Indonesia hardly signals any major change in attitude.

Indeed the relationship is smooth at the moment and Makarim's tone yesterday was friendly. The two countries, as he mentioned in his opening statement, are co-operating in many areas. For example, in December, Australia and Indonesia will co-host an international conference in Bali on combating money laundering and terrorist financing, and in January they will jointly host a follow-up to this year's people-smuggling conference.

In his statement, after mentioning Papua and the Christmas Island launch pad, Makarim warned: "We must keep a vigilant eye on any issue that may come between us so that it will not grow into an irritant that can dilute the good relations and close co- operation [between us]."

Later during the morning coffee break, Makarim, who is director- general for Asia-Pacific and Africa, was more forthcoming on both issues. He acknowledged, with regard to Papua, that the Australian government did support Indonesia's territorial integrity. But he complained about Australian activists supporting the independence movement, an issue already being investigated by Indonesian diplomats in Canberra after an allegation by the Institute of Public Affairs in Melbourne that government money had supported Australian organisations involved in the Papuan independence struggle. "There are some people in Australia who are active in Papua and they agreed to clarify the matter," Makarim said.

The other issue, the Christmas Island launching pad, is less well known as a source of tension in Australian-Indonesian ties. But Korean businessman David Kwan has won whole-hearted endorsement from the Howard government for the project. The government agreed several years ago to spend $100 million on infrastructure -- including a long runway to fly in the rockets -- to help him realise his dream of a setting up a commercial rocket-launching venture on Christmas Island. (Conveniently for the government, the facilities are also supporting the new detention camp for asylum seekers on the island.) Using cheap Russian rockets, and with a position only 10 degrees south of the equator to take full advantage of the earth's rotation, Kwan believes he can break into this very competitive industry.

The problem, from Indonesia's point of view, is that his rockets will soar into orbit on a flight path that will cross 3,000km of eastern Indonesia. Legally this is not an issue because national airspace does not extend into outer space. But Indonesian parliamentarians have already voiced strong concern about the risk of accidents which could shower debris on Bali and Lombok.

Their concern is no doubt genuine, but people on the Australian side believe that Indonesia's real agenda is to try to establish the launch pad on Biak Island in Papua, which is positioned almost on the equator and already has a long runway. In reality, there is at present a glut of satellite-launching capacity and Kwan's venture faces an uphill struggle to get off the ground. But the issue has now entered bilateral security talks. Yesterday, during the coffee break, Makarim said there would be "a joint effort from both sides to eliminate adverse impacts, such as falling rockets".

Under Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda -- a former diplomat appointed to the post just over a year ago -- Indonesia's Foreign Ministry has gone the extra mile to improve relations with Australia, and was notably active in rebuilding ties in the aftermath of the Tampa affair when the Howard government was re- elected last year. Obstacles to the relationship are not likely to come from this source. Which means their message has to be listened to.

Aid to rebels claims upset Indonesians

Autralian Financial Review - September 23, 2002

Rowan Callick -- Indonesian Embassy in Canberra is investigating claims by the Institute of Public Affairs that "taxpayer-funded Australian non-government organisations are supporting independence movements".

Don DCruz, IPA research fellow and editor of the Melbourne-based think-tank's NGO Watch Digest, writes in the latest edition of the IPA Review: "It is not surprising that pro-independence advocacy by Australian NGOs is viewed with suspicion in Indonesia, and may be hindering the further normalisation of relations between Australia and Indonesia."

He cited, in particular, Australian People for Health, Education and Development Abroad. The management committee of APHEDA includes Labor MP Laurie Ferguson, ALP president Greg Sword, and Sharan Burrows, president of the Australian Council for Trade Unions. Mr DCruz said that most of APHEDA's $5 million annual budget came from the government, and that in its annual report it talks about its "campaigns in support of independence in West Papua, Palestine and Western Sahara".

He said: "APHEDA and its Indonesian partners also led a strike against the Shangri-La hotel chain at the end of 2000 which resulted in civil disturbance with riot police called in."

A spokeswoman for the Indonesian embassy in Canberra said the issue was of concern. The embassy already had begun investigating activities of Australian NGOs in Indonesia, and would follow up the new claims from the IPA. "If they support independence for a part of Indonesia, that is their own opinion. But if they also operate in Indonesia and carry out activities that are against the law, that is something else, and we would express our concern, and ban those activities."

Bruce Davis, the director general of AusAID, said that funding to all Australian NGOs represented just over 6 per cent of total official aid. "All developmental NGOs that receive Australian Government funding must undergo a rigorous accreditation process, overseen by AusAID, which will only fund development activities and will not fund welfare, evangelical or political activities. AusAID's funding agreements require that NGOs strictly observe the laws in host countries where they work."

Mr DCruz cited Kirsty Sword, now wife of East Timor President Xanana Gusmao, as an example of "how committed activists can pursue their passions with little regard to the integrity of the aid agencies for which they work". Employed as a teacher by the NGO, Australian Volunteers International, she revealed on ABC TV's Australian Story that she had engaged in covert activities during Indonesian rule in East Timor.

Mr DCruz said this might lead some "to the conclusion that amateur espionage is an acceptable part of Australian aid work abroad". Mr Davis said that AusAID had "raised serious concerns about the conduct of Ms Sword, and sought formal confirmation from the chief executive officers of both AVI and the Australia Council for Overseas Aid that their agencies know nothing about the undercover activities of Ms Sword in Indonesia".

AusAID had reiterated to all accredited NGOs that "their contracts with the Australian Government preclude them from engaging in political activities in recipient countries".

Economy & investment

Shine goes off shoe industry as manufacturers go elsewhere

Sydney Morning Herald - September 23, 2002

Matthew Moore, Jakarta -- For more than 10 years Australians have often seen "Made in Indonesia" labels inside their sports shoes, but now there are signs that these are steadily being replaced by similar labels from China, Vietnam and Burma.

With its huge low-paid labour force and stable -- if dictatorial -- government, Indonesia's burgeoning manufacturing industry looked certain to mimic the spectacular rises of Taiwan and Korea for most of the 1990s. But as shoe workers like Juli from Sumatra are finding out, the country's manufacturing future is looking precarious, and so is Juli's.

Intelligent, articulate and capable, you sense Juli could do a more demanding job than sticking soles on Nike sports shoes. Still, she has been grateful to have it.

"It's a good job," she said of the only work she has had since she left her village eight years ago to come to West Jakarta's dusty industrial belt, where she found work with a Korean- Indonesian sub-contracting company called PT Doson Indonesia.

But within the next 10 days, when the last Nike order is filled, Doson will close and Juli's job will disappear with those of about 7000 colleagues.

It is a trend that has been happening in Indonesia's shoe industry for years. The Wall Street Journal says Indonesia's share of Nike worldwide shoe production has fallen in the past five years, from 38 per cent to about 26 per cent, and that since 1996 the total value of shoes made in the country has fallen about 25 per cent.

In news releases Nike insists it is committed to producing shoes in Indonesia, explaining its decision not to renew the Doson contract as "part of Nike's ongoing evaluation to develop a more versatile Indonesian manufacturing base that is compatible with its global footwear strategy". That means fewer factories.

For Juli that means no job for her or for her husband, who also works at the plant. It also means they are likely to join the 40 million people without real work in a country that has no social security system, no health care, no education and little hope.

Juli, 33, who has a four-year-old son, is pessimistic about getting another job because most factories prefer to employ 18 to 25-year-olds as they are considered the most productive. It is not just age that will prevent Juli from getting a job, but the lack of new jobs being created in manufacturing.

An expert on the Indonesian economy, Hal Hill, of the Australian National University, says the trend in the shoe industry is particularly worrying because shoe and clothing manufacturing are normally critical industry steps for emerging economies.

The president of the Association of Indonesian Shoe Manufacturers, Anton Supit, rejected predictions that the country's shoe industry could be gone in five years, but agreed it faced a challenge to stop the drift to other countries.

In addition to the commercial yardsticks of price, quality and delivery that buyers used to assess a product, human rights, labour relations, security issues and the environment are other issues assessed by companies when they decide where to place their orders.

Mr Supit said the country was in transition and was still struggling to overcome an image problem that scared foreign investors.

Dr Hill agreed that the vagaries of Indonesia's nascent democracy inevitably affected the business and investment climate. Unions were competing for members, and strikes or demonstrations sometimes turned ugly.

Despite the critics, President Megawati Sukarnoputri has delivered Indonesia's most stable government since Soeharto's fall in 1998.

However, that has not been enough to stop Japanese and Korean companies in particular from closing some of their factories here and threatening to relocate others.

Wage rises have also alarmed investors, even though the national average weekly wage is only about $A20.

Some of the 350 local governments, backed by more militant unions, have started to use newly granted powers to set higher minimum wages. While many welcome the pay rises, they make the country a less desirable place in which to set up business.