Aceh

CGI asks Indonesia to settle Aceh conflict peacefully

Antara - December 12, 2003

Jakarta -- The international community through the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) has asked to prioritize a peaceful solution of the conflict in Nangroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) province.

"They support efforts at reaching a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Aceh on the basis of special autonomy status with an Indonesian unitary state," Coordinating Minister for Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti said yesterday.

The states and the CGI donor institutional forum, he said, stated that the rule of law and administrative order, as well as attention to long term economic development are important things for the development of trust and confidence of the Acehnese people.

"And they wished that all these are included in the integrated operations," the minister said.

When asked whether it was true that the international community through the CGI forum has asked for easier access to Aceh for humanitarian operations, the minister said such humanitarian activities may enhance the confidence of the Acehnese people in the Indonesian government.

"The Indonesian government, in this case Coordinating Minister for Social Welfare Jusuf Kalla welcomed the willingness of the international community under the CGI forum to lend a helping hand in these efforts," he said.

He added that the Indonesian government provides access for humanitarian operations in Aceh through three international institutions, namely the World Health Organization, the International Red Cross Organization and the United Nations Development Program.

In reply to a question whether CGI demands some conditions for its loan commitment to Indonesia, Finance Minister Boediono said Indonesia has to work hard to smoothen the process of the loan disbursement.

Aceh tabloid forced to close

Jakarta Post - December 12, 2003

Nani Farida and Teuku Agam Muzakir, Banda Aceh/Lhokseumawe -- Pressure on the press in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam has claimed another victim after the Indonesian Military (TNI) allegedly forced a local biweekly tabloid to stop publishing in the war- torn province.

Beudoh published its last edition late last month. It first appeared in March, two months before Aceh was placed under martial law by the central government.

Chief editor Maarif said the decision was made after military officials asked him to change the tabloid's editorial standpoint, which they said opposed the military operation.

He said he was summoned for interrogation last Friday by the martial law authorities in relation to several of the tabloid's stories deemed to have offended them.

Maarif, 25, said at least eight intelligence officers questioned him for 10 hours. "Of course, to change the tabloid's standpoint is impossible because it is against our policy," he said.

He said the military also asked the tabloid to make a public apology and sign a letter to declare that he had carried false reports in the publication. "The letter must also note that if someday I make similar mistakes again, I have to be ready to stand trial," Maarif told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Martial law authority spokesman Col. Ditya Soedarsono denied the military had banned the tabloid from publishing. "We [the military and Maarif] just held talks to discuss a story in the tabloid's last edition," he claimed.

Ditya was referring to the story entitled The Acehnese people do not need elections, which criticized the government's decision in November to extend martial law and questioned the legitimacy of next year's elections in Aceh under the emergency status.

"We consider that the story was provocative because it compiles opinions of people opposed to martial law," he said. He was apparently referring to Jakarta-based labor leader Dita Indah Sari.

Beudoh is staffed by five journalists aged in their 20s. All are former activists at the state-run Syah Kuala University and the Ar-Raniri State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN). As of November, the tabloid had published only eight editions. Many have highlighted strong pressure on journalists who have been covering the conflict in Aceh. They blamed both the military and separatist rebels for failing to prevent constant intimidation of the press for their respective political interests.

The rebels are blamed for holding RCTI's reporter Ersa Siregar and cameraman Ferry Santoro hostage since June 29. Their whereabouts remains unclear. Earlier, TVRI cameraman Jamaluddin was found dead in Aceh after he went missing several days earlier.

In the latest development, the bodies of two Mobile Brigade (Brimob) policemen who died in an accident on Wednesday while escorting noted Muslim preacher Abdullah "Aa Gym" Gymnastiar during his visit to Aceh, were flown to their hometowns in Java.

The dead were First Brig. Sukijan and Second Brig. Eko Sutikno. Seven other policemen injured in the accident are being treated at a local hospital. The fatal accident occurred when a speeding truck carrying dozens of police personnel overturned on a slippery road in Pidie regency.

Indonesian troops find rebel weapons factory

Agence France Presse - December 9, 2003

Indonesian troops said they had uncovered an arms cache and a weapons factory in Aceh province, where soldiers and police have been battling separatist rebels since May.

Soldiers found weapons including a home-made grenade launcher, guns, rifles and ammunition at Nisam in North Aceh, provincial military spokesman Ahmad Yani Basuki said yesterday.

The discovery was made after the questioning of a detained member of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). He said troops found a weapons factory the same day at Pantee Cermin in West Aceh and seized weapons and gun-making equipment.

Two guerrillas were shot dead, three were captured and two surrendered over the weekend, Basuki said. He said a soldier was shot and wounded during a clash at Teunom in Aceh Jaya district yesterday and was rushed to a military hospital.

The military on May 19 declared martial law in the province and launched an all-out offensive to wipe out GAM, which has been fighting for independence since 1976.

More than 1,100 guerrillas have been killed since then, while another 2,000 have been arrested or surrendered and almost 500 weapons have been seized, the military has said.

West Papua

Jakarta accused over Papua

BBC News - December 12, 2003

Tim Johnston, Jakarta -- A report from an American university has accused Indonesia of crimes against humanity for its actions in the troubled eastern province of Papua, and has suggested that Jakarta may also be guilty of genocide.

Thousands of Papuans have been killed since Indonesia took over the former Dutch colony in 1963 and Jakarta has been the target of frequent criticism by human rights groups.

They accuse the Indonesians of using murder and torture against the indigenous Papuans. The Indonesians deny abusing human rights. They say that the level of violence is an inevitable outcome of their attempts to suppress a long-running separatist revolt in the province, which was formerly known as Irian Jaya.

The new report was prepared by the Lowenstein international human rights clinic, which is part of Yale University's law school, on behalf of the Indonesian human rights network.

The report looks at whether Indonesia's actions could be legally interpreted as genocide as defined in the United Nations convention.

The report accuses Indonesia of engaging in a systematic pattern of acts which have harmed a substantial part of the indigenous population of Papua.

It says that even if the primary intent of those actions was not to wipe out native Papuans, recent interpretations of the convention seem to imply that knowingly pursuing policies that have genocide-like outcomes, could be classified as genocide.

Indonesia is already under substantial international pressure to soften its policies in Papua and the new report will add fuel to the arguments of Jakarta's critics.

Tribal people killed and terrorised by invaders

The Independent (UK) - December 11, 2003

David Usborne, New York -- Sitting in the Deluxe Cafe on Broadway just south of Columbia University on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, John Rumbiak is far from his native land. Home is West Papua, a province of Indonesia the size of France which has suffered violence for nearly forty years.

And it seems set to become worse. Rumbiak belongs to one of the indigenous groups who inhabited Papua before the Indonesians arrived. His people are from Biak, an island just off the coast of Papua, which is home to some of the most remote tribes in the world except for Brazil. The tribal leader says that West Papua, formerly Irian Jaya, is in, "a life or death situation".

Rumbiak, now teaching at Columbia, is the head of an indigenous human rights coalition in West Papua called the Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy (ELSHAM). Its mission is peace for the province, which has been fighting for freedom since 1962 when its former colonial masters the Netherlands ceded it to Indonesian control.

Human rights observers calculate that the Indonesian military's tactics to suppress independence have taken no fewer than 100,000 civilian lives. It has been compounded by the avarice of foreign firms for lumber and minerals.

West Papua occupies the western half of New Guinea, the eastern end is independent Papua New Guinea. With only 0.01 per cent of the world's population, it is home to 15 per cent of the planet's known languages. It also has an abundance of lumber, copper and gold.

When the Dutch surrendered West Papua to Indonesia it was on the understanding that there would be a referendum on independence. But the vote in 1969, was fixed by the Indonesian authorities. The result left West Papua in Indonesian hands.

Frustration spawned an armed independence group called the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM, or the Free Papua Movement). The Indonesian military was brutal in its response.

Meanwhile, Jakarta, with support from the World Bank, set up a transmigration policy, encouraging different ethnic groups from other islands in the Indonesian archipelago to settle in West Papua. The aim was to rob the indigenous peoples of political and economic control.

Meanwhile, foreign companies were invited to draw wealth from the land. Most infamous has been the American mining company, Freeport McMoRan and Rio Tinto which extracts gold and copper. A recent study by Yale University alleged that the "Indonesian government has shown a callous disregard for the basic human dignity of the people of West Papua".

Human rights group Survival International, one of the organisations being supported by The Independent's Christmas Appeal, assisted local people in blocking plans for a Scott Paper pulp mill. It threatened serious environmental harm. Survival was also among the groups that managed to persuade the World Bank to stop funding transmigration.

Tensions eased somewhat after Indonesia's President Suharto was ousted from power in 1998. In 2001, West Papua was offered political autonomy and an increased share of mining revenues. But the government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri has changed direction. It is moving to divide West Papua into three provinces, apparently to weaken the pro-independence movement.

The fact that East Timor finally did break away after bloodshed and international intervention, in 1999 does not bode well for West Papua. "The independence of East Timor has produced a fear ...," Rumbiak explains. "They are not going to let any other parts of the country follow East Timor."

It is the violent precursor to independence in East Timor that concerns him. This year has seen Timbul Silaen become West Papua's new police chief -- the same job that he held in East Timor during its bloody independence drive. (Silaen has recently sued Rumbiak and ELSHAM for allegations it made about recent killings and police involvement.)

More alarming are reports by ELSHAM of the recent arrival in West Papua of Eurico Guterres, the leader of anti-independence militia in East Timor blamed for much bloodshed.

Nor is Rumbiak hopeful that the international community will be able to help. "With the biggest Muslim population in the world, they need Indonesia as a friend," he says. Rumbiak knows he must return to West Papua. But in recent months, he has faced another challenge: threats against his life.

Ex-militiaman defers Papua plan for nationalist group

Jakarta Post - December 10, 2003

Nethy Darma Somba, Timika -- A group of former East Timorese militiamen postponed a plan on Tuesday to open a branch office of their pro-integration Red-and-White Defenders Front (FPMP) in Papua province, following strong objections from the local people.

Munawir Yacub, who was elected secretary of the organization's branch in Mimika regency, said that he, however, would continue to promote its objectives in the province. He expected that within two or three years, the local people would accept the FPMP's presence in the territory.

"I think it will be useless for us to continue with the plan [to establish a branch office] if it only leads to conflicts among local communities," Munawir told The Jakarta Post.

Former East Timorese militia leader and head of FPMP Eurico Gutteres plans to fly to Papua on Tuesday to lead an inauguration ceremony for new FPMP members.

Munawir said Gutteres was also slated to meet provincial leaders during his visit and to hold a presentation on the FPMP's vision and mission, which was "no different from those of other youth organizations in the country".

Even though the local administration has yet to reveal its stance on the issue, Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Budi Utomo said earlier that security officers would not allow the establishment of the organization there if "its presence is to cause disturbances".

A similar militia group called the Red-and-White Task Force, believed to have the backing of the Indonesian Military (TNI), was established in Papua late 2001.

The Task Force recruited members from migrant communities, raising concerns that it could spark conflicts with native Papuans.

Migrants, who tends to have a higher standard of living than Papuans, once expressed fears that they would some day be expelled from the territory if separatist groups won support for their pro-independence movement.

Separatist groups have long been campaigning for an independent Papua, a resource-rich province, but whose people see little of the profits gleaned from the region's natural resources. Rampant human rights abuses by security forces have also helped to fuel separatist sentiments.

Separatist group Free Papua Movement (OPM) has been waging a small armed struggle following its self-declared independence of the state of Papua on December 1, 1963.

Tom Beanal, chairman of the Papua Presidium Council (PDP) and head of the Amungme tribe, said people in the territory did not need such task forces to prevent conflicts, saying that "we are all okay here".

One of the Papuan leaders with whom Gutteres wished to meet, Beanal said he did not want to waste his time meeting the East Timorese man, as "he has a reputation as human rights violator in Timor Leste [East Timor]".

"That man once committed gross human rights abuses in Timor Leste when the people there were fighting for independence in 1999. He misses the land [East Timor], and why should he come here now and establish such a front?

"Will he again commit a similar violence in a movement to maintain integrity of the country? The FPMP has different goals from the Papuan people, as most of us wish for independence," said Beanal.

Gutteres once supported pro-integration militias in East Timor. Many believed that the military was behind his activities to spread terror among the East Timorese before, during and after the 1999 UN-sponsored referendum for self-determination.

Gutteres was convicted by an ad hoc human rights court in Jakarta for his involvement in the 1999 mayhem. The court sentenced him to 10 years in prison in November 2002, but he remains free pending his appeal.

Papuan students face jail for raising the Morning Star flag

Indymedia - December 10, 2003

Jason MacLeod -- On Wednesday 3rd of December Indonesian security forces detained four West Papuan students in relation to a nonviolent action two days earlier.

The four students released West Papuan flags -- known as the Morning Star - attached to a hot air balloons in the central Javanese town of Semarang to commemorate West Papua's independence day. The students called for peaceful dialogue between the Government of Indonesia and the people of West Papua mediated by a third party to resolve the contested political status of the territory.

The detained include Charlie Imbir (22), Chris Ukago (27), Herman Katmu (29), and Markus Jiwitao (a high school student) who could all face up to 20 years in jail if charged with treason said Sergeant Joko Sutanto from police headquarters in central Java.

In the meantime Police in Semarang have been conducting house-to-house searches for banners, posters, books on West Papua, and other Pro-Papua material considered subversive by the State.

The Police action comes after a counter demonstration allegedly involving Indonesians brought in from the Javanese town of Solo who demonstrated outside the police headquarters where the West Papuan students are detained. The counter demonstrators called for the state to crackdown on separatism and the OPM (Free Papua Movement).

The security forces routinely harass West Papuan students studying in Java and many have gone into hiding fearing reprisals from the security forces.

Earlier in November this year unknown men wielding a samurai sword and carrying a Molotov cocktail attacked a West Papuan student dormitory in Yogyakarta in the early hours of the morning. Fortunately no one was hurt but students fear further repression from the state. We are all scared, says one student who asked not to be named and we don't dare return to our dormitories.

Many students believe that the increases in the number and frequency in attacks in Java and West Papua are part of an organised crackdown on the nonviolent movement for dialogue.

Indonesian president Megawati Sukarnoputri, Coordinating Minister for Security and Political Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Chief of the Armed Forces, Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, and Army Chief of Staff Gen.

Ryamizard Ryacudu, have all publicly stated that separatism will not be tolerated and have ruled out the possibility of dialogue over the way West Papua was integrated into the Republic of Indonesia.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri chose December the first to announce the appointment of Timbul Silaen, the infamous former East Timor police chief, an indicted human rights violator, as the new police chief of Papua. At the same time, notorious East Timor militia leader, Eurico Guterres, has arrived in Timika, near the giant Freeport-RioTinto gold and copper mine in West Papua to form a militia group -- FPMP (Front Pembela Merah Putih - Red and White Defenders Front) there. Guterres worked alongside Silaen in East Timor during the United Nations sponsored referendum in 1999.

The pair was accused of crimes against humanity following Indonesian military and militia violence in the wake of East Timor's historic vote for independence.

Secretary-General of the FPMP, Norman Sophan said, "You know, there is the Morning Star flag there. We have to fight it, with our blood if necessary. I think it is very normal if you fight back, with or without arms ... So, I told my members, if your area is attacked, you are free to join any militia group to fight the attackers back."

Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Budi Utomo confirmed Eurico's plan to open a branch of his organisation, saying the former East Timorese militia leader had submitted a request with the provincial police for permission. However, Utomo said he was yet to decide whether to endorse the plan or not. "I would not take a hasty decision on this matter as we are studying the group's purpose here. If it is to support security, it's no problem. Utomo said.

Only weeks ago Indonesia's notorious Special Forces, Kopassus raided and killed ten people while they slept in their beds in Yalengga village in the remote highlands. The night before he was killed in his bed OPM leader Yustinus Murip was seen on Australian televisions SBS Dateline program calling for the United Nations to intervene and support peaceful dialogue to resolve the longstanding conflict.

The attack on Yalengga village was the latest offensive in military operations that have continued in the highlands since April and left a wake of destruction including hundreds of people displaced, countless rapes, assaults, extrajudicial killings, torture, and in standard Indonesian military procedure scores of health clinics, churches, schools, gardens and villages have been burnt to the ground.

Barisan Merah Putih (the Red and White Garrison), another militia group, has also been set up by security forces in the highland town of Wamena, while human rights defenders in Sorong and Fak Fak have reported that the Muslim militia group, Laskar Jihad has established a presence there and enjoys support and protection from the military.

Human rights defenders have also been targeted. In September last year the respected West Papuan human rights organisation ELSHAM (the Institute for the Study and Advocacy of Human Rights) had their offices ransacked by thugs in Jakarta. Since then two senior ELSHAM staff John Rumbiak and Yohanes Bonay were forced to leave as a result of death threats. John Rumbiak is now in exile in the United States while Yohanes Bonay's child and wife were seriously wounded when unidentified men opened fire with automatic weapons on a car they were travelling in, the same vehicle that only hours before Bonay decided not to travel in. ELSHAM staff are currently in court, accused by the military of defamation. They have also received boom threats.

West Papuan civil society leaders in the troubled territory claim that there has been a concerted effort to destroy the peaceful aspirations of a people determined to be free and many fear it is only a matter of time before martial law West Papua is declared.

Yet if the Indonesian military wants the support of the West Papuan people the moves are clearly counter-productive. With each act of violence committed by the Indonesian military dissent deepens and trust in the sincerity of the Government of Indonesia to constructively resolve the conflict dissipates.

The current government strategy is at odds with the approach taken by the Presidents predecessor. Former Indonesian President, Gus Dur allowed the Morning Star to fly provided it was flown lower than the Indonesian flag.

Since Megawati Sukarnoputri came to power the flag has been banned and last Monday peaceful flag raisings in Sentani and Manokwari in West Papua were forcibly repressed. Seven activists (Carlos Yumame, Luter Duansiba, Ishak Toansiba, Han Mandacan, Terry Korayem, Yulianus Indem, and Yohakim Mensi) also remain in detention in Manokwari after a pre-emptive Police action scuttled plans for a December 1st commemoration there.

The 1st of December is the date West Papuans consider to be their independence day. In 1961 the West New Guinea Council -- a democratically elected body -- adopted a national anthem, agreed upon the name West Papua and for the first time unveiled the Morning Star Flag. The government of Indonesia, however, launched a small-scale invasion to back up diplomatic manoeuvrings, finally securing administrative control of the territory in 1963. West Papua was integrated into the Republic of Indonesia after less than 1% of the indigenous Melanesian population was told to vote for Indonesia or have their tongues cut out in the discredited and fraudulent 1969 Act of Free Choice.

Since the 1960s West Papua has been subjected to an ongoing human rights violations. In recent years and in the face of increasing repression the movement for self-determination has embraced an explicit commitment to nonviolence.

Democratic struggle

Hundreds of students reject CGI meeting

Antara - December 10, 2003

Jakarta -- Hundreds of students staged a rally outside the Bank Indonesia building here on Wednesday to protest a meeting of the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) on December 10-12.

The students arrived at the building's gate on Jl. Budi Kemuliaan in Central Jakarta at 02.30 pm local time. However, they were not allowed to enter the Bank Indonesia compounds.

They later held an oration on the street, protesting the holding of the three-day CGI meeting.

Demonstrators commemorate world human rights day

Kompas - December 11, 2003

Jakarta -- On Wednesday December 10, hundreds of students, youths and non-government organisation activists, victims of land evictions and farmers came out into the streets to commemorate world human rights day. They condemned the lack of commitment by the government and the political elite in dealing with cases of human rights violations in Indonesia and demanded that the generals who have violated human rights be brought before the Ad Hoc Human Rights Court.

The action -- which was held in conjunction with an anti- imperialist and anti-neoliberal action -- was held to coincide with a meeting of the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI). Similar actions occurred in a other parts of the country such as Semarang, Palembang and Samarinda.

In Jakarta, two students from the Mercu Buana University, Eko and Nurhadi, were arrested by police in front of the Presidential Palace. They were arrested because they were alleged to have held an action without informing the authorised body [police] about the plan.

A number of NGOs who are active in human rights advocacy such as the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the Association of Families of Missing Persons in Indonesia (Ikohi), Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) and the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) participated in the action.

Student elements such as those from the Trisakti University, the Jayabaya University and the Mercu Buana University as well as non-campus based groups such as the Indonesian Youth Front for Struggle (FPPI) and City Front also joined yesterday's action.

This year actions were held at various points simultaneously, in the area of Semanggi, at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout, the United Nations building, the national parliament building, the Bank Indonesia building and the Presidential Palace.

In its statement, FPPI demanded that ex-President Suharto be tried for his economic, political and human rights crimes during the period he was in power. FPPI also demanded an end to land evictions and the use of the military to resolve conflicts. The Anti-Imperialist and Violations of Human Rights Front demanded an end to the military operations in Aceh, West Papua and Maluku islands.

In particular they also condemned the land evictions by the Jakarta provincial government which they considered to be a violation against the economic and social rights of the people.

Kontras coordinator, Usman Hamid, told journalists that the commemoration of human rights day was held as a call to the state to investigate past human rights violations. According Usman, society views the old political parties and even the new ones which participated in the 1999 elections as having being proven not to have a commitment to investigate cases of human rights violations.

If in the 2004 elections there are no political parties which have an agenda to investigate human rights cases, there is no political party therefore which is suitable to be elected. "If truly there is not political party which is suitable, the people not only have the right to vote, but also have the right not to vote", said Usman emphatically.

Struggling for themselves

LBH Jakarta, which held the human rights day commemoration together with a number of victims of human rights violations, stated that because the government cannot be expected to struggle for human rights, the people should be called on to struggle for their rights which have been violated.

"If social groups are not capable of struggling for their own rights, then there are a number of non-government organisations, such as the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation which are ready to assist this process of struggle", said LBH Jakarta director Uli Parulian Sihombing.

During the commemoration the Jakarta Human Rights Charter was read out which was drafted by a number of trade unions, pro- democracy groups, women's and human rights activists, ex- political prisoners and victims of land evictions. Within the charter it referred to all victims of human rights violations has having the right to have their cases resolved fairly though an open and transparent legal process and to obtain fair compensation and the rehabilitation of their good name.

According to Uli, the theme of this year's human rights day was the respect for the right to a place to live. This theme he said, was extremely appropriated given the conditions in Jakarta at the moment where there have been numerous land evictions in a number of places.

During the commemoration, the LBH Jakarta Commendation was awarded to the people East Ancol Fisherpeople Society who have struggled for their settlement from which they were evicted in 2001. This commendation was given to them because they were viewed as having consistently struggled for the right to a place to live though legal channels without the use of violence.

On the same day, the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) held a press conference and stated that the state had failed to block the power of the New Order [regime of former President Suharto] which was behind a number of gross human rights violations.

"One of the important elements in evaluating the protection of human rights is though viewing the process of the restructuring the political order. This has not yet been done by the present government", said YLBHI chairperson Munarman.

Actions and speeches

In Samarinda, East Kalimantan, a commemoration of human rights day was organised by a number of social elements with a demonstration and long-march in a number of streets in the city. The action ended at the offices of the East Kalimantan governor.

Prior to this, they held an action at the offices of the Samarinda State Prosecutor. The falling rain did not prevent scores of activist from the Islamic Students Association (HMI), the National Student League for Democracy (LMND), the Mulawarman University Student Executive Council and Pokja 30 from joining together under the banner of the East Kalimantan People's Movement for Human Rights from continuing their action.

In her speech, Brigitta Edna from the Forum on Violence Against Women emphasised the minimal attention the government has given to the issue of violence against women.

In Palembang, South Sumatra, a number of NGOs from the People's Committee for Human Rights held a rally from the Monument of the People's Struggle to the offices of the South Sumatra governor.

"In Palembang there have been at least seven cases of beatings and threats against demonstrators by police and unidentified groups which have been ignored by the police", the internal director of LBH Palembang Anggiat stressed.

In Semarang, the commemoration of human rights day was held by scores of activists from the Poor People's Front for Struggle (FPRM) with a demonstration at the city's Waterfall Roundabout on Jalan Pahlawan. (WIS/WIN/DOT/RAY/K09/WHO)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Anti-imperialist demo rejects CGI, IMF and World Bank

Detik.com - December 10, 2003

Bagus Kurniawan, Yogyakarta -- Around 50 students from various different tendencies, who joined together under the banner of the Anti-Imperialist People's Alliance (Aliansi Rakyat Anti Imperialisme, ARAI), held a demonstration rejecting the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The action, which was held to commemorate Human Rights day in Yogyakarta, was held on Jalan Malioboro and began at 11am Wednesday December 10. Joining the demonstration was the Yogyakarta National Student Front, the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi), the Muslim Student Association, the Islamic Student Association-Reform, the Farmers Alliance and the APMD Student Executive Body.

In their speech, the coordinator of the action, Hersa Krisna, called on ARAI to reject the meeting between the Indonesian government and the CGI, demanded that the CGI be disbanded and called for the termination of Indonesia's relationship with the IMF, World Bank and the WTO.

"We reject [accumulating any] new debts and [call for] the cancellation of existing debts as well as rejecting the sale of assets belonging to the people. We also condemn CGI who violates human rights and represents a form of colonialism in a new guise", said Krisna.

A number of posters were also put up by ARAI. Among these were posters with the message "CGI is the people's repressor", "Break the relationships with all state donors" and "Reject the privatisation of state owned assets".

The action ended at 12noon. The students then held a long-march from Jalan Malioboro which ended at the central post office at the Senopati intersection.

Held concurrently with this action was a demonstration by around 200 Acehnese and West Papuan students. They urged the government to end the violence in Aceh and West Papa and to try perpetrators of human rights violations.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Thousands demand investigation of human rights cases

Detik.com - December 10, 2003

Suwarjono, Jakarta - Around 1000 demonstrators held a demonstration commemorating world human rights day at the Presidential Palace on Jalan Merdeka Utara on Wednesday December 10. Although the palace was empty - President Megawati Sukarnoputri is currently visiting Japan - it did not diminish the spirit of the human rights activists.

During their action the demonstrators called for the government to resolve cases of past human rights violations and bring [the perpetrators] before a human rights court. They demanded that the humanitarian tragedy during the period of the New Order [regime of former President Suharto] and up until now be fully investigated.

The cases which they demanded be investigated included the Tanjung Priok tragedy(1), the Lampung tragedy(2), cases which occurred when Aceh was declared a military operations zone(3), the abduction of activists(4), the Trisakti and the Semanggi I and II cases(5) and human rights violations in Aceh during the military emergency(6).

The demonstrators who came from a number of different groups including the National Human Rights Commission, the Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the Association of Families of Missing Persons in Indonesia (Ikohi), the Trisakti Student Executive Council, the Tambang Network, the Bung Karno University, the National Student League for Democracy (LMND), National Institute of Science and Technology and the Jayabaya University, began their action at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout. They then moved off to Bank Indonesia to protest a meeting of the Consultative Groups on Indonesia (IGC), then the offices of the coordinating minister for politics and security and finally to the Presidential Palace.

During the action the demonstrators took up various issued including rejecting donor institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the CGI, World Band, the Asia Development Bank and developed countries. This was because they consider them to be a new model of colonialism which must be opposed and that the debts owed to them have burdened the ordinary people.

As well as being joined by activists, the action was also joined by fisherpeople from a number of locations including Bogor, Karawang and Banten. The action began at around 2.45pm and was still continuing as of going to print. (gtp)

Notes:

1. Tanjung Priok - On 12 September 1984, dozens of people were killed and injured when troops fired on Muslim demonstrators in the port district of Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.

2. Lampung: On February 7, 1989, as many as 100 people were killed when troops surrounded a village in Lampung, South Sumatra, opened fire and set fire to homes. The government claimed the villagers were members of a "deviant" Muslim sect and that troops were "defending themselves".

3. Daerah Operasi Militer/Military Operations Zone: From 1989 to 1998, Aceh was designated a special military operations area (DOM). During this period thousands of people, mostly civilians, died as a result of clashes, torture and acts of vengeance.

4. Abduction of activists: Between 1997 and 1998 as many as fourteen pro-democracy activists were abducted by members of the elite special forces Kopassus. After extended periods of detention - in many cases the victims were severely tortured - most were released although four remain missing and are presumed dead. Former Kopassus chief Lieutenant General Prabowo Subianto who was at the time President Suharto's son-in-law is alleged to have ordered the abductions. In April 1999, 11 low-ranking Kopassus officers were tried by a military court for the kidnappings and given sentences of between a year and 22 months in prison, although six of them were allowed to remain in the army.

5. Trisakti/Semanggi: In May 1998, security personnel shot into a crowd of student protesters from the Trisakti University near their campus in West Jakarta, killing four students and injuring several. This proved to be the spark which set-off three days of mass demonstrations and rioting in Jakarta which eventually lead to the overthrow of former President Suharto. The Semanggi I and II cases involved the fatal shooting of dozens of student demonstrators in Jakarta in November 1998 and September 1999 respectively.

6. Following the breakdown of peace negotiations between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian government, on May 19, 2003, President Megawati Sukarnoputri declared Aceh to be under a state of military emergency (marshal law) for six months. The government immediately launched what it euphemistically referred to as an "integrated" operation to restore security (read destroy GAM), law enforcement, the functioning of government and a "humanitarian" operation. In November the operation was extended by a further six months. During this period hundreds of civilians have been killed, wounded and disappeared, hundreds of schools burnt down and thousands forced to evacuate their homes.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

200 Acehnese and Papuans demonstrate in Yogyakarta

Detik.com - December 10, 2003

Bagus Kurniawan, Yogyakarta -- As well as Jakarta, lively actions to commemorate world human rights day were also held in other parts of the country.

Around 200 West Papuans and Acehnese held an action at the state palace in Yogyakarta, Central Java. The action which was joined by demonstrators from People's Solidarity for Papua and Aceh (Solidaritas Rakyat untuk Papua dan Aceh, SRuPA) began at 10.30am. The demonstrators gathered at the intersection of the Yogyakarta Monument then held a long-march through Jalan Mangkubumi and Jalan Malioboro towards the state palace.

As with most actions, the demonstrated unfuled a number of banners and held speeches. The banners read "Stop War Aceh or Papua", "We Love Piis (Peace)" and "End the Spilling of Blood on the Soil of Aceh and Papua".

Meanwhile, the coordinator of the action, Teuku Kemal Fasya, said that the action aimed to pressure the government to end the violence in Aceh and West Papua. "We call for an immediate end to the miltiary operation in Aceh.

The government must immediately try the perpertrators of human rights, both civilians and military", said Fasya.

[Translated by Katarina Puji Astuti.]

Labour issues

10,000 jobless as 67 textile firms collapse

Jakarta Post - December 13, 2003

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung -- At least 67 textile companies have had to stop operations in the West Java capital of Bandung this year due to drastic decreases in orders and rising operational costs, businesspeople said on Friday.

The closures had forced around 10,000 workers to lose their jobs, they added.

Ade Sudradjat, the deputy chairman of West Java's Indonesian Textiles Association (API), said most of the collapsed companies were operated by foreign investors and produced clothing.

Many of them had relocated their factories to Cambodia, Vietnam and China, while some others had moved to Central Java, he added.

"In those countries, political and security conditions are more stable and the cost of labor and electricity is cheaper," Ade told journalists in Bandung.

Citing an example, he explained that the price of electricity for industry was seven US cents per KWH here, while in Vietnam it was only 4.2 US cents per KWH. Ade also complained about the increasing minimum wage in Bandung, which was set at Rp 538,000 (US$63) per month, while in Central Java the minimum wage was only around Rp 300,000 per month.

Currently, businesspeople and labor organizations in Bandung are embroiled in a dispute over the local municipal administration's decision to increase the city's 2004 minimum wage to Rp 565,000 per month.

The businesspeople support the decision by Bandung Mayor Dede Rosada, but the labor unions oppose the increase, saying it was still less than the minimum living cost of Rp 643,000 per month.

"If the minimum wage is raised too much, we won't be able to pay it. Our companies will go bankrupt. What's the point of that?" Ade said.

The case was being dealt with by the head of the West Java manpower and transmigration office, Sukarto Karnen. He said the minimum wage should be enough to cover the local minimum cost of living.

Ade said that currently the production of textile companies in West Java was less than 60 percent of installed capacity. This was caused by decreasing volumes of textile exports over the last few years. In 2000, textile exports reached US$8 million in West Java, but the figure decreased to US$6.8 billion in 2002.

"Next year, with Indonesia holding general elections and the free textile quota starting to be implemented, it is likely that more textile companies will close," Ade added.

Bandung is the country's largest textile production center. It hosts more than 1,000 textile firms, or 60 percent of the total number of around 1,800 textile factories across Indonesia.

Thousands of Telkom workers stage rally

Antara - December 10, 2003

Jakarta -- Some 3000 workers of state telecommunication company PT Telkom staged a rally outside the office of the State Enterprises Minister here on Wednesday to protest the sale of PT Mitra Global Telecommunikasi Indonesia (MGTI)'s shares to PT Alberta Communication.

The workers came from the company's regional division IV in Central Java and Yogyakarta. They came to Jakarta aboard tens of buses and private cars.

The workers grouped in the labour union of the company's regional divisions were expected to come to PT Telkom head office on Jl. Gatot Subroto here later in the day.

Reformasi

Observers say people want the return of Soeharto era

Jakarta Post - December 11, 2003

Jakarta -- The public at large are disappointed with the sluggish process of reform, including in the legal sector, and have begun to hope for the return to the old system under former authoritarian president Soeharto who, with his iron fist, managed to make the people abide by the law, legal observers said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Tracing Democracy and Law Enforcement Road in Indonesia seminar, constitutional expert Satya Arinanto said that people at the grass roots were currently suffering from SARS or Sindrom Aku Rindu Soeharto (I-miss-Soeharto Syndrome).

"This SARS arises because the people are disappointed with the slow reform process, including in the legal sector," Satya told the seminar, which was jointly organized by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences and the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

According to Satya, current legal reforms were focusing too much on legal structures and substances such as commissions and legislation without building the legal culture, which was also an important aspect.

He said the absence of legal culture development, worsened by weak law enforcement, had resulted in frequent legal violations.

The slow and weak reform process, he said, was used by elements of the New Order -- the so-called regime of Soeharto -- to boost their interests.

A survey sponsored by the Asia Foundation revealed on Monday that the majority of eligible voters for the next year's general elections wanted a strong leader like Soeharto.

Last week, Concern for the Nation Functional Party (PKPB) nominated Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana as its candidate in 2004, when the country holds for the first time in its history a direct presidential election.

PKPB chairman Gen. (ret) Raden Hartono, former Army chief under Soeharto, proudly claimed that the party carried programs of the old Golkar Party, the political tool of Soeharto for more than three decades.

Meanwhile, human rights lawyer Bambang Widjojanto supported Satya's opinion that elements of the New Order were taking advantage of the slow process of reform.

"Besides SARS, I also heard that the current Golkar Party would campaign for security, welfare and enough food as they did in the past," said Bambang of the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro).

Both Bambang and Satya claimed that the current process of reform had to be pursued, urging the people to be patient as it would take time.

They suggested that the experiences of Thailand and Germany in the reform of their law and legislation were worthy enough to be learned.

Meanwhile, Kittisak Prokati from Thammasat University of Thailand agreed that the reform process would take time, but was worthy of being reached. "I agree that the process is a bitter pill we have to swallow. But it's worthy to do it, like us in Thailand," Prokati said in the seminar.

Like Indonesia, he said, Thailand reformed its legal sector, including establishing an anticorruption commission and an audit commission on state officials' wealth. He revealed that since the beginning of the economic crisis in 1997, two ministers had been dismissed for alleged corruption.

Professor Goerisch of Muenster University of Germany suggested that laws should be based on democratic principles, including serving the interests of the majority of the people. "Law and democracy could not be separated. Without democracy, the law is only a regulation that serves certain interests," Goerisch said in the seminar.

'War on terrorism'

JI militants split over deaths of Muslims in attacks

Associated Press - December 11, 2003

Jakarta -- South-east Asian militants are divided over the wisdom of attacking hotels, nightclubs and other "soft targets" where Muslims may be killed alongside Westerners -- an internal split which could weaken the terrorist enterprise, the authorities said.

Some militants inside the Al-Qaeda-linked regional terror network Jemaah Islamiah (JI) want their jihad, or holy war, to focus on fighting Christians in certain regions of Indonesia rather than bombing Western targets where Muslims die too, according to government officials, defence attorneys and an intelligence adviser to Indonesia.

The debate among Indonesian militants appears to have intensified after the August 5 bombing of the JW Marriott in Jakarta -- whose 12 fatalities were mostly Muslim. A prominent group of Muslim defence lawyers told AP they would not accept any Marriott bombers as clients.

After the Marriott bombing, several senior militants close to Zulkarnaen, JI's purported operations chief, expressed displeasure because most the victims were Muslim, said the senior intelligence adviser who asked not to be named.

He said the information was based on internal JI communications picked up by Indonesian intelligence agents.

The revelations about the rift coincide with a post-Sept 11 hobbling of Al-Qaeda's and JI's structures that many officials believe has led to more indiscriminate targeting -- not just in Indonesia, but around the globe -- moving away from Al-Qaeda's tradition of limiting attacks to Western and Jewish targets.

Dissension inside militant ranks could weaken terrorist networks anywhere in the world, officials said, though it may also mean greater danger as cells attack without the blessings of their peers.

In fact, officials in Indonesia, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they are bracing themselves for more attacks, which they say are increasingly likely, especially during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Indonesia's national security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned in a speech on Sunday in Bali that terrorists appear to be "regrouping, reconnecting, recruiting and retraining".

JI -- whose professed goal is to impose an Islamic superstate spanning much of South-east Asia -- is loosely organised with an estimated 3,000 members in the region, including 2,000 in Indonesia.

Several senior JI operatives were not privy to either the Marriott bombing or the October 12, 2002 twin nightclub attacks on Bali island which killed 202 people, officials said, underscoring the diffuse nature of the group and its ability to act without consensus.

Most of the Bali blasts' victims were vacationing foreigners, with only a few Muslims, mostly waiters and other workers, among the dead. That is because Bali, unlike the rest of Indonesia, is primarily Hindu and because the Sari Club, the worst-hit of the two nightclubs, had a controversial policy of only admitting foreigners.

All this helps explain why the Marriott attack led to far more soul-searching among militants than the Bali blasts.

Ismail, a key suspect in the Marriott bombing, on Tuesday said he regretted carrying out the attack because of the high number of Indonesian victims.

Increased Muslim deaths are a by-product of successful blows against Al-Qaeda's command structure, communications and finances as terrorists resort to local targets, said a US counterterrorism official, speaking on condition of anonymity from Washington. He predicted that these killings may create a backlash in the Islamic world.

Attorney Mahendradatta, leader of the Muslim Lawyers Group which has defended most of the Bali bombers, said some of his clients believe the war should be limited to places where Muslims have been attacked by Christians -- such as Indonesia's Sulawesi and Maluku regions. Others, he said, think all of Indonesia is fair game "because Indonesia is not yet an Islamic state".

Indonesia prepares 'for the worst'

Straits Times - December 8, 2003

Robert Go, Jakarta -- The police and armed forces are preparing "for the worst" as the Christmas holiday approaches and as Indonesia heads into nationwide elections next year, the country's top security minister has said.

"We have to intensify our operations in identifying threats to our security, including a possible strike by terrorists," said Mr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono after addressing a conference on security in Jakarta yesterday.

He previously told conference participants, including officials and academics from Asia-Pacific nations, that countries would need to cooperate to fight terrorism and maintain global stability.

The minister, a potential presidential candidate next year, said: "We have to work together to fight terror, irrespective of whether you are Indonesian, Filipino, Russian, Chinese, American, Japanese or Australian. In the war against terror, we are all strategic partners, we are all in it for the long haul."

The comments came at a time of increasing uncertainty about security in Indonesia and the region.

Private individuals in Jakarta are circulating numerous e-mail messages about potential threats during the upcoming holiday season. Church bombings, similar to those that killed 19 across the country in 2000, are feared.

On Friday, the United States Embassy in Jakarta issued a warning to Americans living and travelling in Indonesia, saying they could be targeted during a holiday bombing campaign.

The statement said: "The potential for additional bombings at places where Americans and Westerners are known to live is particularly high during the weeks around Christmas through the New Year." Indonesian observers also noted that the 2004 election year, and the high-profile campaign events as politicians jostle for leadership positions, might present terrorists with targets.

Earlier yesterday, during another conference in the tourist island of Bali, Mr Susilo warned that terrorism is a "clear and present danger" and that terror groups may be "regrouping" and "planning more attacks". "We are up against determined enemies who attack us again and again," he said.

The government will keep thousands of security personnel on duty this holiday season. As many as 180,000 policemen and 60,000 soldiers will take on extra duties to secure the elections next year, officials said.

The authorities have detained more than 100 suspected terrorists in the past year, but they warn that many more, including some suicide cells belonging to regional threat Jemaah Islamiah, are still on the loose and could cause further trouble.

Mr Susilo also advised "moderation" and "tolerance" in fighting the roots of terrorism. He said Asia-Pacific nations needed to ensure "our fight against terrorism does not lead to new strategic tensions or aggravate existing ones". "If this happens, the terrorists will benefit," he said.

Meanwhile, police in restive Muslim-majority southern Thailand said yesterday they were on high alert for terror attacks in the region's main city Hat Yai during the Christmas and New Year period, AFP reported.

Security would be stepped up at bus and train stations, which in the past have been targeted with bomb attacks.

Government & politics

East Java councillors slammed over payment rise proposal

Jakarta Post - December 13, 2003

Ainur R. Sophiaan, Surabaya -- The East Java administration has proposed a salary increase of more than 100 percent for provincial legislative council members, prompting enraged criticisms that the local officials lacked a genuine sensitivity toward the impacts of the prolonged economic crisis.

The sharp rise was proposed ahead of the end of the five-year terms of 100 councillors in mid-2004.

If the proposal is approved, councillors would receive a monthly take-home pay of as much as Rp 43.6 million (US$5,129) each, compared to their current monthly salary of Rp 19.071 million.

In order to accommodate the planned increase, the local administration must raise the budget allocated for the council to Rp 52.3 billion next year, from only Rp 22.8 billion in 2003.

East Java administration secretary Soekarwo said on Friday that the proposed Rp 43.6 million salary included a Rp 11.4 million base salary and allowances, as well as Rp 17.5 million in budget evaluation fees and Rp 17.5 million in human resources development funds.

Soekarwo said the human resources development funds would not be disbursed every month, unless councillors were undertaking activities such as working visits to districts and attending work-related seminars. "The disbursements must be taken into account by the council," he said.

Most East Java councillors apparently did not comment on the proposed increase. Councillor Herly Sulistyo of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) did not say whether he opposed or supported the proposed salary increase.

"We leave it to the public to assess. I just want everything to happen transparently and that everyone knows about it," he said. However, he said it was a "fantastic reality". "It is an extraordinary increase. When we first began serving as councillors here, we received only Rp 3.1 million in salaries and allowances," Sulistyo said.

Meanwhile, analysts lashed out at the councillors for showing a "lack of empathy" and a poor sense of crisis affecting the majority of the East Java people, who had increasingly been suffering.

"They have difficulties in making decisions on raising the provincial minimum wages and the salaries of state teachers. But the councillors easily try to double their own salaries without any feeling of empathy," said Rudi Handoko of the August 17, 1945 University in Surabaya.

Considering their poor performance, the councillors did not deserve salary increases, he added. "I think that principally, a pay increase should reflect the performance and productivity of the individuals under consideration. So, if the councillors do not perform well, they are not entitled to a salary increase next year." Rudi said the proposed pay rise for the councillors was connected to the 2004 elections, though they might not be reelected for another term.

"The council members seem to be using the rest of their current term [to earn as much as money before they retire]. Ahead of the 2004 elections, they should have heightened their image and performance instead, so their constituents would reelect them next year," Rudi said.

Similarly, legal activist Herlambang Perdana slammed the planned rise of the councillors' salaries. The move obviously did not take into account the continued increase in the East Java poverty rate, from 6.7 million people in 2002 to 7.2 million people this year.

"The more than 100 percent increase in the councillors' salaries is too much, and tears at the hearts of local people. This will only increase the public's distrust of politicians," Perdana said.

2004 elections

Golkar women demand party comply with quota pledge

Jakarta Post - December 13, 2003

Jakarta -- About a dozen women Golkar Party members demanded on Friday that their party keep its promise to allocate a 30 percent quota for women to be listed as its legislative candidates.

"Our observations indicate that not all of the candidate lists being drafted by the party's regional chapters fulfill the quota," said head of Golkar's women's development department Juniwati M. Sofwan. She also demanded transparency in the evaluation process of the candidates.

Juniwati was speaking after the group's internal meeting at the party's headquarters in Slipi, West Jakarta on Friday. They were drafting a statement on the above demands, to be presented to Golkar leader Akbar Tandjung on Saturday.

The meeting was also attended by head of Golkar's Women's Empowerment Group (KPPG) Sri Rejeki Soemaryoto and several female legislative candidates, including actress Nurul Arifin. Nurul refused to comment on her candidacy status.

Juniwati confirmed that the position of "several" women candidates had dropped on the lists drafted by regional chapters, but declined to give details.

Candidates are dependent on being among the "top numbers" on their party's list of candidates, which could help them get elected if they failed to gain the minimum number of votes in their given areas, which could reach hundreds of thousands.

Apart from issue of qualification, analysts and women politicians have pointed to illiteracy among women voters and cultural factors as among the constraints to get women elected.

Ahead of the passing of the laws on the elections and political parties, women activists had thus demanded a requirement that parties allocate a 30 percent quota for women candidates for the legislative bodies at the national, provincial, regency and township level. However the laws only encourage such affirmative action.

The pressure however led a number of parties, including Golkar, to declare their commitment to have 30 percent of women legislative candidates on their lists.

"Golkar must remember that it was one of the initiators of the idea that the quota be included in the general election law, and had even made a commitment to it by including it in this year's resolution at the party leadership meeting," Juniwati said.

Golkar Party's legislative candidates selection team comprises of its chairman, its secretary-general, and chairpersons of its regional chapters.

The selection team will start finalizing the candidate list on December 15, and submit the list to the General Elections Commission by the December 22 deadline.

Meanwhile activists of the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) lambasted the laws encouraging affirmative action as "lip service". "The quota issue is just being used as a selling point for parties," said Francisia Seda.

"After the next elections we must amend the laws to make the quota a requirement for political parties," she added. "How can women compete if they are not given the opportunity and access?"

Her colleague Ani Soetjipto said the practice of reducing women candidates' chances to get elected could be expected from other major parties. As they are currently not solid, she said, the issue of a women's quota would be among the easiest to be compromised in political bargaining within parties.

Ani added that the candidates' dependency on the power of political parties' leadership to determine candidates would not occur in an "open proportional" system where candidates would simply compete against each other for the highest votes.

FPPI calls on people not to vote in 2004 elections

Antara - December 12, 2003

Jakarta -- Hundreds of Indonesian Youth Struggle Front (FPPI) activists staged a rally outside the parliament building here on Friday calling on the people not to vote for any political party in the 2004 general elections.

The rally turned noisy as many FPPI activists set fire to used cardboard and tires, causing traffic congestion along Gatot Subroto thoroughfare.

In their oration, the FPPI activists said the 2004 elections would not bring about a significant change to the nation.

Political Parties in the 2004 Polls

Laksamana.Net - December 9, 2003

With the official announcement by the General Elections Commission (KPU) that 24 political parties have been passed as eligible to contest the 2004 polls, the ideological affiliation of the parties and the potential for polarization between reformist versus pro status quo groups can be determined.

Several contesting parties have historical connections with the three old political parties, Golkar, the United Development Party (PPP) and the current ruling party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Three new parties are clearly related to Golkar. These are the Concern for the Nation Party (Partai Karya Peduli Bangsa - PKPB) led by former Army Chief of Staff Gen. (ret.) R Hartono, the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (Partai Keadilan dan Persatuan Indonesia - PKPI) led by former Defense Minister and Armed Forces Commander Gen. (ret.) Edi Sudrajat, and the Pancasila Patriot Party led by Yapto Sulistio Soerjosoemarno.

Hartono and Sudrajat, having got involved in the factionalism within the military between the red and white nationalist officers versus Muslim-leaning officers during the Suharto era, with the fall of Suharto both were excluded from Golkar's political constellation following the rise to power in Golkar in October 1998 of Akbar Tanjung.

Sudrajat lost the battle against Tanjung to represent the coalition of former high-ranking military officers and secular Golkar civilian groups. Hartono, who was identified as the crony of Suharto and the family because of his connection with Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana (Tutut), the oldest daughter of Suharto, was also excluded from Golkar's new political constellation as the logical result of the coalition between Tanjung and then President B.J. Habibie, who relied more strongly on Muslim factions within Golkar.

With Golkar dominated by Tanjung and the alumni of the Muslim Student Association (KAHMI), Suharto and his Cendana connections lost their most vital political vehicle.

It came as little surprise to anyone that as soon as Hartono's party was validated by the KPU he moved to nominate Tutut as the party's presidential candidate.

Ginanjar Kartasasmita, former Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs and Golkar politician who had joined forces with Tanjung, has admitted that the nomination of Tutut will be a serious challenge for Golkar.

Analysts add that the former ruler's daughter will be more of a threat to Golkar than to President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her PDI-P.

Tanjung's Golkar and Hartono-Tutut's PKPB both have their roots in the old authoritarian regime under Suharto, making inevitable a split between supporters of the New Order.

Golkar under Tanjung represents a continuation of New Order politics but without the Suhartos, forcing people to choose between ideology with and without certain personalities.

Hartono's signal in nominating Tutut, though considered more a matter of psychological warfare than any serious bid for the presidency, will be seen by Golkar strategists as a threat to undermine Golkar's potential vote.

PKPB itself does not represent any real threat, since it has little voter recognition, but Tutut is well known for her work in Golkar election campaigns in the past. She was a deputy chairman of the party from 1993-97.

Yapto's Pancasila Patriot Party is a reincarnation of the mass organization Pancasila Youth (Pemuda Pancasila - PP), a subordinate wing of Golkar in the past. Yapto, as the son of a retired military officer, is closer to the military factions of Golkar such as the Communication Forum for Sons and Daughters of Retired Military Officers (FKPPI).

The rise of Tanjung and the HMI connection in 1998 provided no place for Yapto, who found that the FKPPI connection was steadily excluded from strategic positions at the central board level and in provincial chapters and branches.

PDI-P copycats

There are four parties that have been historically and ideologically connected with PDI-P. Though the ruling party remains solid and united under the leadership of Megawati, the copycat groups also have the potential to take votes from it.

The four are the Freedom Bull National Party (Partai Nasional Banteng Kemerdekaan - PNBK) led by Eros Djarot; the Pioneer Party (Partai Pelopor) led by Megawati's younger sister Rachmawati; the Marhaenisme Indonesia National Party led by another sister, Sukmawati; and the Indonesian Democratic Struggle Party (Partai Penegak Demokrasi Indonesia - PPDI) led Dimmy Haryanto.

PPDI represents the rebirth of the old Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) formerly led by Suryadi, Suharto's political operator, who was seen as responsible in overthrowing Megawati as the elected leader of PDI in 1996.

In theory, PNBK and the other nationalist parties linked to Sukarno's family are new political vehicles for disappointed and frustrated PDI-P cadres.

Eros Djarot is optimistic that his PNBK will be able to steal 10% of PDI-P voters considered as swing voters. He argues that in the 1999 general elections at least 20% of PDI-P's 34% of votes came from people with no special allegiance to the party.

Djarot was formerly a senior political advisor to Megawati. He was ousted by Megawati's husband Taufik Kiemas, who saw Djarot as having too much influence on his wife, at the party congress in Semarang in 2000.

Ousted from the party, he strongly criticized PDI-P for failing to address the needs of the middle class and educated groups in urban areas. This, he said, created a gap between the political elite and the masses in PDI-P that was vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation.

Sources within PDI-P and PNBK told Laksamana.Net that given the platform of PNBK in targeting urban middle class nationalists, who are basically less ideologically rigid and less emotional than the grassroots, it would be open for PNBK to craft strategic alliances with small parties such as the National Mandate Party (PAN) of Amien Rais, the Freedom Party of Adi Sasono, the United Democratic Nationhood Party of Ryaas Rasyid and the New Indonesia Alliance Party of Sjahrir. Even Muslim parties such as the Prosperous Justice Party led by Hidayat Nur Wahid are potential coalition partners for Djarot's group.

The Pioneer Party of Rachmawati and the Marhaenisme Indonesia National Party of Sukmawati both claim to represent the poor.

Both of the president's sisters, in contrast to Djarot's focus on the urban middle class, say the government has neglected the aspirations of the poor, despite Megawati's claim to represent them.

Thus, the main political agenda of both the Pioneer Party and the Marhaenisme Indonesia National Party are to win over the hearts and minds of the poor with assumption that Megawati and PDI-P have lost support in this social group.

Muslim-based parties

Of the Muslim-based parties, the only political party linked to PPP is the Reform Star Party (Partai Bintang Reformasi - PBR) led by Zainuddin MZ, a Muslim preacher with wide appeal.

In frustration with his inability to oust Hamzah Haz from the leadership of PPP, Zainuddin walked out and formed the new party.

Originally to be known as the Reform PPP, Zainuddin was forced to change the name following protests from PPP cadres and because of restrictions under the new Law on Political Parties.

Given the background of PBR cadres, mostly PPP politicians close to the Suharto regime, it is doubtful whether this new party will be able to create a political platform able to build strategic alliances with reformist parties.

Seen from the political mapping among the 24 contesting political parties, a survey conducted by Soegeng Sarjadi Syndicated (SSS) found that in the 2004 general elections the public will not be driven by ideological considerations.

This will allow nationalist and Islamic parties to reconcile their differences on the basis of short-term opportunistic interests.

PDI-P, still under the influence of moderate nationalists like deputy secretary general Pramono Anung and businessman Arifin Panigro, will be able to craft strategic alliances with Muslim- based parties which have grassroots support.

Despite the clear Muslim commitment of parties like the Crescent Star Party of Yusril Izha Mahendra, the Prosperous Justice Party of Hidayat Nur Wahid, or even the National Mandate Party of Amien Rais, sociologically they are supported by, and represent, the middle class and urban groups.

PPP, dominated by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), and the other NU-based party, the National Awakening Party (PKB), will be at a crossroads. In the 1999 general election, the coalition between PDI-P and PKB was based on the cultural similarity between the Javanese-based nationalists and traditional Muslims.

PDI-P, meanwhile, comes to the elections at a time when the influence of the radical nationalist faction in the decision- making process has been eroded by Megawati.

Even in the legislative candidate selection process, those considered as nationalist orthodox or nationalist cadres from formal mass organizations such as alumni of Indonesian Nationalist Student Movement (GMNI), have expressed disappointment and anxiety over their inability to win support.

If this new trend in PDI-P continues, the maneuver of former President and prominent NU figure Abdurrahaman Wahid to craft psychological ties between PDI-P, PKB and PPP as a nationalist-NU coalition, looses its reasoning.

More crucially, the relationship between Wahid and Megawati has gone from bad to worse.

In such an unfavorable situation, Wahid and his NU political caucus in PKB, PPP and other parties, will be vulnerable to political coalitions based on vested interest.

PKPB's nomination of Tutut no doubt will be read by Wahid and the NU circle as a game of destabilization, given the silent political cooperation between Wahid and Golkar's Tanjung founded when PKB sought Golkar's help in having Cholil Bisri nominated as Vice speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

In a situation where Golkar voters will be divided between Tutut and Golkar's candidate, it will be crucial for Wahid and the NU circle to build a wider coalition with Golkar.

Little wonder if Wahid played down the Tutut move, saying it was impossible that Tutut could get her father's blessing to run as a presidential candidate. "I know Pak Harto well. He is the kind of man who will never do something if he is not sure of the results," Wahid said, according to detik.com.

Voters hope for strong leader, survey finds

Jakarta Post - December 9, 2003

The majority of people eligible to vote in next year's general election here are politically alienated, intolerant and hoping for a strong leader like former dictator president Soeharto, according to a survey.

At least 65 percent of adults surveyed from June through until August 2003, said that they did not like politics at all because of widespread political corruption and poor political education. People's interest in politics, however, had improved from 28 percent in 1999 to 38 percent in 2003.

The survey, titled Democracy in Indonesia: A Survey of the Indonesian Electorate 2003, was conducted through direct interviews and group discussions involving 1,056 eligible voters in 32 provinces, with a margin of error of around 3 percent.

Indonesia will hold a legislative election in April 2004 and first-ever direct presidential election in July. At least 24 political parties have been declared eligible to contest the elections, down from 48 in 1999.

The survey, which was conducted by Charney Research of New York and AC Nielsen Indonesia and commissioned by The Asia Foundation, suggested that the majority of voters were intolerant of political parties.

On the question: "Do you think that all political parties, even the ones most people do not like, should be allowed to hold meetings in your area?," the percentage of voters who answered "yes" eroded from 70 percent in 1999 to 57 percent this year.

The decline reflected continued concern about violence and political conflicts.

The survey said that older and illiterate voters, who were mostly living in rural areas, were less tolerant than younger and educated voters. Last month, supporters of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) were involved in a clash with supporters of the Golkar Party in Buleleng, Bali. Two Golkar Party supporters were killed in the clash in the province considered to be a stronghold of President Megawati Soekarnoputri's PDI Perjuangan.

The survey indicated that voters were intolerant of minority groups also, 40 percent of the electorate were willing to vote for women, 8 percent would vote for Chinese candidates and only 6 percent would vote for candidates who were former political prisoners.

The Majority of the voters (66 percent) opposed the ban on former members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) from running for the House of Representatives, while 18 percent were still in favor of the ban. Former PKI members have been banned from exercising their voting rights since the 1960s, following a failed coup d'etat the government blamed on PKI.

And four years into the so-called reform movement, the survey revealed that the majority of Indonesians favored a decisive government that could restore order, even at the cost of freedom. It also said that 53 percent of the voters preferred a strong leader like former authoritarian Soeharto, even if rights and freedom were reduced.

About 58 percent of those who supported a stronger government at the expense of rights and freedom had an educational background of high school or more, the survey said.

Many earlier surveys showed that people's expectations of the return of "a normal situation" -- like what happened during Soeharto's regime when security and prices could be stabilized -- had failed to be realized, which was blamed on the current government.

The recent nomination of Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana by the Concern for The Nation Functional Party could revive the New Order and is said to be aimed at responding to the people's expectations.

Three Sukarno daughters to fight it out in elections

Agence France Presse - December 9, 2003

Three daughters of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno, including incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri, will contest next year's general election as leaders of rival political parties.

Rachmawati Sukarnoputri, Sukmawati Sukarnoputri and Megawati were among leaders of 24 political parties who attended a draw at the national election commission on Monday night to determine the order the parties will appear on ballot papers.

The parties led by Rachmawati and Sukmawati may not be serious contenders against Megawati's ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle. But their emergence signals dissatisfaction with Megawati's rule, even among her siblings.

Each of the three claims to be the standard-bearer of Sukarno's ideals.

Rachmawati, a staunch critic of Megawati's rule, heads the Pioneer Party while Sukmawati is the chairwoman of the Indonesian National Party-Marhaenism. Marhaenism is the term Sukarno used for the peasantry or proletariat and was the centerpiece of his electrifying rhetoric.

The Pioneer Party has nominated Rachmawati, who has criticized Megawati as having no clear vision to run the country, for the presidency.

Sukmawati has not said if she would stand against her two sisters in next year's direct presidential election. Analysts say Megawati is the favourite against all contenders.

Sukarno, Indonesia's founding president who died in 1970, fell from grace in 1966 after a failed coup the previous year which was blamed on the communist party. Suharto assumed power and went on to rule the country for 32 years.

One of Suharto's daughters, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, has also been nominated by a small party to run for president.

Tutut's the new face, and force, of Suharto era

Straits Times - December 9, 2003

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- After five years in political hibernation, old forces from former president Suharto's New Order regime are re-emerging in politics.

The strongest indication of this is the comeback of none other than his eldest daughter, Ms Siti 'Tutut' Hardijanti Rukmana.

Once groomed to replace him, the 54-year-old had been largely out of the public eye following Suharto's fall in 1998.

But her confidant and former army chief Hartono announced last week she was likely to run for his new party, the Concern for the Nation Functional Party (PKPB), in the presidential election next year.

Despite the party's small size and recent formation, the move has caused quite a stir. Observers said she could appeal to the millions of Indonesians disenchanted by the current political leadership. Her return to the political stage could fill the sindrom amat rindu Suharto, or Sars in short. It means a longing for the Suharto era.

Political analyst Sukardi Rinakit said: "People only care about the price of rice, the cost of education and health care and job opportunities. Under Suharto, this was not a problem, but Megawati has not been able to keep the prices down and to provide enough jobs." Tutut provides hope for political and social stability and prosperity to the people suffering from "Sars", he said.

She has a temperament which goes down well with the people. Unlike President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who is media shy but can be biting in her comments, the soft-spoken Tutut typifies the Javanese non-confrontational approach -- never offend or humiliate anyone in public, always speak humbly of yourself and know your place in society.

When she was the minister of social affairs in her father's last Cabinet, she issued coupons for the poor to get free food at food stalls across the country.

There has been talk that former defence minister Wiranto would join her or make her a running mate in the next election.

The Wiranto-Tutut team may pose a challenge to other presidential candidates, such as incumbent Megawati, Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung and National Assembly Speaker Amien Rais.

They [may] have to rethink their campaign strategy and find a running mate who can beat the Tutut team in terms of support, analysts said.

Reminding the people of the corruption, human rights and power abuses during the New Order era is not likely to work, as those practices are apparently still around. Mr Sukardi said: "Our people have short-term memories. Now they can only recall good things from that era."

Tutut's comeback may have a boomerang effect: Analyst

Jakarta Post - December 8, 2003

Jakarta -- The return of Soeharto's eldest daughter to the political stage may backfire if the issue of the former president's ability to speak, and to face the law for charges of corruption, comes into question, an analyst says.

Daniel Sparingga from the Surabaya-based Airlangga University was referring Sunday to reports quoting a founder of a new political party, which is asking Siti Hadiyanti Rukmana to be its presidential candidate.

The founder, former army chief of staff Gen. (ret) Hartono, had cited his conversation on November 24 with Soeharto, conveying the desire of "the people" and mainly members of his party that the businesswoman "come to the forefront." Soeharto, he said, had replied, "Think about it first."

Earlier this year the Attorney General's Office said it could no longer continue legal proceedings against Soeharto, who was charged of embezzling state funds of some US$500 million, citing results of a medical examination. Doctors had confirmed his inability to speak, citing among other reasons, minor strokes.

"I guess it will also be 'a boomerang' for them as they said that Tutut's nomination was due to 'an order' from Soeharto," Daniel said, "The public -- who previously 'pardoned' him [given his reported health condition] -- will again ask whether he seriously faces health problems. And if he does not, we will have to continue processing him before the law."

Tutut has yet to officially respond to the request from the Concern for the Nation Functional Party (PKPB), one of the parties declared eligible to contest next year's elections. She has told the press that she wants to be judged objectively, not as "Soeharto's daughter".

Daniel shared observations that the comeback of Tutut, popular also for her display of concern for the poor, is an indication that the New Order has far from collapsed since Soeharto quit the presidency in 1998. Tutut was a former minister of people's welfare.

Despite Hartono's claim, former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid said Sunday that Tutut would not likely get her father's blessing as a presidential candidate. Gus Dur also once appeared to be Tutut's political ally, "I know pak Harto well. He is the kind of man who will never do something if he is not sure of the results," Gus Dur said as quoted by detik.com news-wire, while attending an international dialog on diversity in Bali.

"And I believe that Tutut will not run for the presidency unless she has talked to me about the plan," he added, claiming that "we were once so close to each other."

Late in 1990s, Gus Dur along with Tutut toured several Islamic boarding schools belonging to his organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), across East Java. Gus Dur had said that Tutut "is the future leader of the country." He earlier chaired the 40-million strong NU, the country's largest Muslim organization.

Hartono's party has to win at least 5 percent of total votes in the upcoming legislative election, scheduled for April 5, 2004, or 3 percent of seats at the legislature to be able to field a candidate in the presidential election scheduled for July.

Meanwhile President Megawati Soekarnoputri seems to be remaining upbeat about her chances. Her husband Taufik Kiemas said Tutut could not be considered a competitor to the President.

"She [Megawati] remains optimistic. She was appointed by her party to run for the presidency in 2004 and thus there was no way to back down," Taufik said.

Surveys conducted by a number of research agencies suggest that support for Megawati has ebbed, but she remains the strongest candidate among presidential aspirants.

Taufik brushed aside suggestions that Tutut's candidacy was due to the failure of Megawati's administration in pursuing the reform movement. "People should be fair in appraising the performance of the current administration and not draw conclusions just like that," he said.

Support for Megawati drops: Survey

Jakarta Post - December 8, 2003

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta -- People's support for President Megawati Soekarnoputri has continued to drop ahead of the elections but she remains the strongest candidate among existing presidential aspirants, a survey indicates.

The latest survey by Marketing Research Indonesia (MRI) showed that support for Megawati had slumped to 16 percent in September 2003, down from 23 percent in July 2003, 26 percent in 2002, and 49 percent in 2001.

Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) also saw a continuous decline in support. The survey indicated that support for PDI Perjuangan fell to 17 percent in September, compared to 23 percent in July.

The survey was conducted in September through direct interviews involving 1,457 male and female respondents aged 17 and above in six cities -- Jakarta, Bandung in West Java, Semarang in Central Java, Surabaya in East Java, Medan in North Sumatra, and Makassar in South Sulawesi, with a margin for error of around 3 percent.

"Clearly this is a warning for Megawati and her party if she wants to become president in the next period," Harry Puspito of MRI said in a statement received by The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

He predicted that both PDI Perjuangan and Megawati would lose even more popularity if the government continued to impose unpopular policies, such as their treatment of the poor in the capital, their obvious disrespect for the media, and their failure to succeed in the country's anticorruption drive.

"If they continue to impose policies that do not place the interests of the common people as a priority and they do not have the goodwill to create good relations with the media, both Megawati and PDI Perjuangan can expect fewer voters in the upcoming elections," Harry added.

Indonesia is scheduled to hold a legislative election in April 2004 and its first-ever direct presidential election in July 2004.

Despite shrinking political support, Megawati remains the strongest presidential candidate compared to other aspirants. Amien Rais of the National Mandate Party, for example, got only a 10 percent vote of the people polled in September, Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono 4 percent, Justice and Human Rights Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra 2 percent, Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung 2 percent, and former president Abdurrahman Wahid 2 percent.

The survey also showed more respondents voting for Golkar, the political vehicle of former dictator Soeharto.

In a survey held in June and July, 10 percent of respondents opted for the former ruling party. However, the figure increased to 14 percent in September.

"Golkar has done very well in its consolidation. If its chairman did not face any problems, the New Order party may come back [to lead the country]," Harry said, referring to Akbar Tandjung, who has been sentenced to prison for a graft case. He remains free pending an appeal with the Supreme Court.

Akbar attracted only 2 percent of respondents in both the June/July and September surveys.

According to the surveys, the National Mandate Party (PAN) may have good prospects in the 2004 elections. The number of voters increased from 6 percent in June and July to 10 percent in September.

"The party's aggressive promotional tours across the country have yielded significant results," Harry commented.

However, Amien Rais, who is also the speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly, only gained a 1 percent increase in popularity among respondents from 9 percent in the June and July survey to 10 percent in September.

The United Development Party (PPP) recorded a decrease from 9 percent in June and July to 7 percent in September, while the National Awakening Party (PKB) recorded a slight increase from 3 percent to 4 percent.

However, the Star Crescent Party (PBB) was chosen by three percent of respondents in September, while in June and July it was voted for by only 1 percent of respondents.

Other presidential hopefuls, such as Susilo, Yusril, and Yogyakarta Governor Hamengkubuwono X gained a slight increase. Yudhoyono was favored by 4 percent respondents from an earlier 3 percent, Yusril from 2 percent to 3 percent and Hamengkubuwono from 2 percent to 3 percent.

PPP chairman Hamzah Haz, who is also the party presidential hopeful, lost 2 percent of voters from an earlier 4 percent while Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid dropped to 2 percent from 3 percent.

The surveys also revealed that Pancasila was favored by most respondents as a state ideology, from 86 percent in the June and July survey to 92 percent in the September survey.

The number of respondents, who opted not to vote, increased from 11 percent to 15 percent.

Old forces contest election

Jakarta Post - December 8, 2003

Tiarma Siboro and Mochammad N. Kurniawan, Jakarta -- The General Elections Commission (KPU) announced on Sunday 24 political parties eligible to contest the 2004 polls, with analysts expressing concern of the possible revival of the New Order.

Daniel Sparringa of the Surabaya-based Airlangga University warned that New Order pedigrees would take over the lead in the fight for reform as parties that claimed to promote the spirit of democracy wasted the momentum.

"Issues on democratization, decentralization and human rights, were popular then, but the public immediately felt disappointed with the loss of security and welfare as the cost they had to pay for reform.

"I guess political parties affiliated to New Order elements will offer issues on national unity, security and welfare, while promising democratization and other reform goals," Daniel told The Jakarta Post.

He said the issues could easily win support from people who were fed up with the so-called reform parties which "have done nothing different from their predecessor."

Riswanda Imawan from the Yogyakarta-based Gajah Mada University said that the comeback of New Order cronies could be seen immediately following KPU's announcement of the parties that qualified for the upcoming elections.

"Almost 60 percent of the parties are believed to be cronies of the New Order regime," he said, without mentioning which parties he was referring to.

Among the parties qualifying for next year's elections several are led by former government officials or organizations associated with former president Soeharto's New Order regime.

The return of New Order supporters in politics has been anticipated with the success of former government officials under Soeharto in qualifying for the election of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).

Indonesia is scheduled to hold a legislative election on April 5 next year and its first-ever direct presidential election three months later.

The 1999 general election, the first since the fall of the New Order regime in May 1998, had raised hopes for democracy, the rule of law and civil society. But the passing time revealed the struggle for power among parties claiming to be fighting for sweeping reforms.

While corruption remains unabated, if not worse than before, the parties that won House of Representatives' seats and work together in President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Cabinet have taken short-term political interests into account in every policy making process.

Riswandha said the so-called reform parties had taken the New Order lightly. "It is a great strategy of the old regime. Its supporters have consolidating themselves within the years when we thought they had collapsed. It is at a time when political parties that claim to be supporters of reform are fragmented, the consolidated-elements of the New Order are striking back," Riswanda told the Post.

He predicted that Golkar, the political vehicle of former president Soeharto's New Order, would lead a move to build an alliance with the newly established parties linked to the old regime to win next year's elections.

"Nowadays, political parties, especially the country's biggest parties, are facing difficulties in building a coalition among themselves. Indeed, no parties, even the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle or Golkar, will win the majority votes during the elections," he said.

Political parties eligible to contest in 2004 polls

1. Democratic Party - Budi Santoso
2. Prosperous Justice Party - Hidayat Nur Wahid
3. Concern for the Nation Functional Party - R. Hartono
4. Indonesia Justice and Unity Party - Edi Sudrajat
5. Reform Star - Party Zainuddin MZ
6. Freedom Bull National Party - Eros Djarot
7. Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle - Megawati Soekarnoputri
8. Golkar Party - Akbar Tandjung
9. United Development Party - Hamzah Haz
10. National Awakening Party - Alwi Shihab
11. National Mandate Party - Amien Rais
12. Crescent Star Party - Yusril Ihza Mahendra
13. New Indonesia Alliance Party - Sjahrir
14. Marhaenisme Indonesia National Party - Sukmawati Soekarnoputri
15. United Democratic Nationhood Party - Ryaas Rasyid
16. Indonesia Unity Party - Rahardjo Tjakraningrat
17. Prosperous Peace Party - Ruyandi Mustika Hutasoit
18. Pancasila Patriot Party - Yapto Sulistio Soerjosoemarno
19. Freedom Party - Adi Sasono
20. Regional United Party - Oesman Sapta
21. Socialist Democratic Labor Party - Mukhtar Pakpahan
22. Pioneer Party - Rachmawati Soekarnopuri
23. Indonesian Nahdlatul Community Party - Sukron Makmun
24. Indonesian Democratic Struggle Party - Dimmy Haryanto

Corruption/collusion/nepotism

Donors urge Indonesia to intensify antigraft drive

Jakarta Post - December 11, 2003

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta -- The two-day annual meeting of the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) kicked off on Wednesday, with donors stressing the importance of intensified efforts to tackle corruption to help improve the investment climate and increase the effectiveness of foreign loans.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Japanese delegation, two of largest donors in the country's traditional donor grouping, acknowledged that corruption had become a major obstacle hampering investment and consequently slowing economic growth.

"We realize that corruption is one of the major problems that Indonesia is currently facing, as it hinders private investment badly needed here," a Japanese diplomat told The Jakarta Post on the condition of anonymity.

"We had a discussion with the business community earlier at the meeting, and they were mostly complaining about how high the cost of doing business here is due largely to corruption." He added that his delegation would urge stronger efforts on the part of the government to eradicate corruption, and note it in its official presentation to be read out before the CGI forum.

Corruption is not a new phenomenon in Indonesia. The practice has been flourishing for decades at almost every level of government, with no signs of abating.

It has caused business costs to soar and made the country less competitive in terms of doing business. As a result, foreign and domestic investment remains hard to come by, making it difficult to generate higher economic growth crucial to help resolve the huge unemployment problem here.

The World Bank said in a recent report, citing a survey among 1,000 domestic and foreign companies, that micro-economic instability, policy and legal uncertainty us well as corruption were what investors considered needed great changes to fix the investment climate.

In fact, it was rampant corruption that has led some elements in society to attack the CGI's role in the country, saying that the CGI aid had added the burden of debt to the people. They also deemed it inefficient, as much of the loans had been misused by corrupt officials.

Among the critics of CGI are the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), a number of top economists including former economic minister Rizal Ramli and Revrisond Baswir of Gadjah Mada University. The National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) has estimated that at least 20 percent of the CGI loans intended to finance various infrastructure projects each year, had been abused during the implementation stage. State Minister for National Development Planning Kwik Kian Gie also said that Indonesia might still need the CGI this year, but not next year.

Shamshad Akhtar, ADB deputy director general for Southeast Asia, admitted that there were cases of abuses of loans pledged by the donors, saying that it eventually reduced the effectiveness of the loans. However, she said the donors and the government had been setting up monitoring measures, especially at the project level, to improve the effectiveness of the loans.

"All our new project have been very carefully designed and have clauses of accountability ... There are appropriate audits, intensive process and procedures for transparency in the procurement mechanism, there is very intensive review at the project level, and so on," Akhtar said.

Elsewhere, the World Bank, which chairs the forum, has said that the pledges for next year's budget deficit would be in the range of US$2.3 billion to $3billion.

However, the Japanese diplomat told the Post that his government would provide $660 million to be included in CGI's loan pledge, which would officially be determined on Thursday. On top of that, he added, it would also set aside $220 million in export credit, bringing the total lending from Japan to $880 million.

World's most corrupt countries 2003 (rated by Transparency International) 1. Bangladesh 6. Tajkistan 2. Nigeria 7. Georgia 3. Haiti 8. Cameron 4. Paraguay 9. Kenya 5. Myanmar 10. Indonesia. The survey covers a total of 133 countries.

Resume Suharto probe, say lawmakers

Straits Times - December 11, 2003

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- Legislators want the government to resume investigations into graft allegations against former president Suharto, after a member of his inner circle revealed that the 84-year-old had been consulted about his daughter's political comeback.

General Hartono, who had served in the Suharto Cabinet, told the media last week that the former strongman had told his eldest daughter Siti 'Tutut' Hardijanti Rukmana to think twice before deciding to run for the presidency next year.

Legislators said this proved that a court ruling that Mr Suharto was mentally and physically unfit to stand trial was no longer accurate. There appeared to be nothing wrong with his physical health, they added.

The former leader has been photographed a couple of times by the media while visiting youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra at the Nusakambangan prison in Central Java, where he is serving a 15- year sentence for the murder of a judge.

And last month, a fresh and healthy-looking Suharto received hundreds of people at his house in Central Jakarta during an open-house celebration of the Aidilfitri holiday.

Mr Firman Jaya Daeli of the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) told The Straits Times: "There should be a new initiative to find the real truth about Suharto's condition. There should be a routine check on his physical and mental health by an independent team to see whether there has been an improvement since the ruling."

The South Jakarta District Court ruled in September 2000 that Mr Suharto was mentally and physically unfit to stand trial and removed his city arrest status. A year later, the Attorney- General's office conducted another medical examination and ruled that his physical condition was good but that he had suffered permanent nerve damage. Attorney-General M.A. Rachman decreed that investigation into his corruption charges must be stopped.

But Gen Hartono revealed last week that the idea to form a new political party was actually inspired by Mr Suharto.

"Before the 1999 election I asked his permission then to take over Golkar Party from its chief Akbar Tanjung, as we still had a lot of people in the leadership loyal to him at the time," he told Tempo magazine, referring to the party Mr Suharto founded. "He said I did not have to do that; instead, he told me to set up my own party," he said.

In fact, Mr Suharto partially contributed to the name of the new party, the Concern for the Nation Functional Party, Gen Hartono admitted.

Analysts said the former strongman still wields strong influence from behind the scenes to pave the way for his family's return to the political stage.

Indeed, the legislators' demand that the Attorney-General's office reopen the case against Mr Suharto was likely triggered by the fear of the return of the old forces from his era to politics, especially with the declining popularity of the current political leadership.

Yesterday, a survey commissioned by the Asia Foundation involving 1,065 random respondents showed that 53 per cent of voters would be willing to sacrifice political freedoms and elect an authoritarian leader capable of maintaining law and order. It also indicated declining trust in the country's politics, reflecting continued concern about violence and political rows.

It showed that 93 per cent of Indonesians planned to vote in next year's presidential election. However, only 15 per cent said they believe they can influence government decisions by electing politicians who will represent their interests, AP reported.

Legislators seek revival of graft probe into Suharto

Agence France Presse - December 9, 2003

Several Indonesian legislators have urged the attorney general to resume a corruption investigation into former autocratic president Suharto, one of the parliamentarians said.

"I have asked the attorney general's office to be more professional and continue its probe into the case of Suharto," said J.E. Sahetapy.

He said he and at least three other legislators made the demand Monday when attorney general M.A. Rachman appeared before a parliamentary commission.

Suharto's family and associates amassed billions of dollars through lucratrive monopolies or outright corruption during his 32-year rule. He stepped down under pressure in May 1998.

A 1999 investigation by Time magazine found that he and his six children still had assets at that time conservatively estimated at 15 billion dollars.

But a court in September 2000 ruled Suharto was mentally and physically unfit to stand trial on charges of embezzling 571 million dollars in state funds.

In July Rachman said medical tests had shown Suharto, now 82, is still unfit to stand trial.

"The fact is that Suharto is still strong enough to make long journeys, including to Nusakambangan [island jail] and even push his own daughter to present herself as a presidential candidate for the 2004 elections," Sahetapy told AFP.

Nusakambangan is an island jail off Java where his youngest son Tommy is serving a 15-year jail sentence for the murder of a judge.

Last week a small political party announced it wants Suharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, to run for president.

Sahetapy, a legislator from President Megawati Sukarnoputri's party, said that "if necessary, the parliamentary commission can question the concerned doctors or seek a more impartial verdict from foreign doctors."

Suharto has suffered various ailments including minor strokes since he stepped down. He lives quietly at home in the smart Jakarta suburb of Menteng.

Human rights/law

96 NGOs demand ratification of rights conventions

Jakarta Post - December 11, 2003

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Urip Hudiono, Jakarta -- A coalition of 96 non-governmental organizations called on the government on Wednesday to promptly ratify all international conventions on human rights in order to stem rampant abuses across the country.

"With the ratification of those conventions, the public will have a stronger legal basis to demand that the government protect the basic rights of its citizens," coalition coordinator Bambang H. Lukito of the Indonesian Legal Aid Association (PBHI) said in conjunction with the observance of Human Rights Day.

The NGOs, grouped under the Coalition of Civil Society for the Ratification of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, were particularly keen to see the ratification of conventions on basic socioeconomic rights, such as the right to earn a living and the right to shelter, education and health care. The coalition also demanded the elimination of all forms of discrimination, the revocation of laws and regulations unfavorable to human rights, and the prosecution of perpetrators of human rights violations.

Aside from PBHI, coalition members also included the Institute for Public Research and Advocacy (Elsam), the Coalition of Alternative Education for Women (Kapal Perempuan), Imparsial, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI), and the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI).

Meanwhile, dozens of rights activists and students celebrated Human Rights Day by holding a street rally demanding comprehensive investigations into human rights violations that occurred since the failed 1965 coup d'etat, and the trials of rights abusers, especially high-ranking military officers.

The activists marched from Hotel Indonesia traffic circle at around 1pm to the presidential palace. They dispersed peacefully at around 5pm.

"We also demand that Megawati's government stops being a puppet of the military," said Rahmat Hidayat Pulungan, one of the field coordinators of the demonstration.

At the House of Representatives, legislators from House Commission II slammed on Wednesday the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), saying that it had failed to promote human rights in the country in the past year.

Trimedya Panjaitan of the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P) said the commission had been acting as a research center on human rights instead of an advocate.

"[The effort] to advocate is very low. It cannot be seen," he said in a hearing with Komnas HAM, the National Law Commission (KHN), and the National Ombudsman Commission.

Fellow legislator Yusuf Muhamad of the National Awakening Party (PKB) commented that the commission had been too passive as it tended to take in complaints from the people instead of digging for information.

"You are supposed to be active [in searching for information on possible rights violation] instead of waiting for complaints," he remarked, referring to the recent massive evictions against squatters in Jakarta.

Another legislator, Firman Jaya Daeli of PDI-P, questioned the fate of several cases of alleged rights abuse in the past. "You have observed them up until now. What concrete actions have you taken?" he asked, referring to, among other things, the disappearance of several activists during the administration of the New Order era. Led by former rights activist Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara, they claimed the commission had appeared inert after the appointment of the members of the commission in September last year.

It has promised to promote the establishment of the truth and reconciliation commission, in a bid to settle past rights abuses and freedom of expression.

Komnas HAM deputy chairperson Zoemrotin K. Soesilo admitted that the commission needed time to consolidate itself to serve as a state body. "Some of us former activists must learn how to work for a state body, we cannot work as we used to," she said.

However, Zoemrotin asserted that the responsibility to promote human rights was not in the hands of the commission alone, but it also concerned the legislative and judicial authorities. "Our responsibility is to promote human rights, we have no power to prosecute or decide the fate of alleged rights abusers," she said.

Reconciliation & justice

Priok witness says soldiers did not fire warning shots

Jakarta Post - December 9, 2003

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta -- Military soldiers deployed to quell the demonstration in Tanjung Priok in 1984 opened fire at the crowd without prior warning shots, a witness told the human rights court on Monday.

Yusron bin Zainuri, one of two witnesses testifying against the main suspect Col. Sutrisno Mascung and 10 of his men, said that although he could not identify the soldiers in the incident that took place at night, he was sure of what he saw as he was in the front part of the crowd.

"There were no warning shots either to the ground or in the air. One of the soldiers barked a command ordering the crowd to back off, and then the shooting began," Yusron told the judges.

Sutrisno and his men are being charged with crimes against humanity for opening fire at the crowd of demonstrators in the 1984 incident, leaving 33 of them dead and another 55 injured according to an investigation by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM). The crime carries a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of death as stipulated in Law No. 26/2002 on the human rights tribunal.

Yusron said he was shot in the chest, but managed to get back on his feet to help fellow demonstrators. He said he saw three truck-loads of soldiers who kept shooting at the crowd while passing the area.

He said he pretended to be dead when soldiers scoured the place and his left arm was dislocated after the troops threw him aboard a military truck along with other victims. The wounded were taken to Gatot Subroto Army Hospital (RSPAD) in Central Jakarta.

During his stay at the hospital, Yusron said he was treated well by the military police guarding him, except for being slapped across the face and being branded "a rapist communist" when he tried to converse with the hospital's nurses.

The other witness, Irta Sumitra, said the shooting began all of a sudden. Then a junior high school student, he said he tried to escape from the shooting spree but was shot in his right thigh. He was helped by nearby residents who admitted him to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM) in Salemba, Central Jakarta. He was then transferred by force by the soldiers to RSPAD.

"There, I saw dozens of the other victims, as well as Try Sutrisno, who even came up to me and told me to pray and study hard, and never to get involved in such a thing again," Irta said, adding that he was then kept for three months at the military detention center at Cimanggis, in Bogor, West Java to wait for his trial.

The former vice president Try Sutrisno was then the Jakarta Military commander, but escaped prosecution.

During his trial, Irta said that he was forced to confess to carrying a sharp object during the demonstration. He was sentenced to a year and six months in prison, minus his detention period.

Monday's trial was also marked by a request from the panel of judges to the prosecutor to summon military officers responsible for the military equipment to be used as evidence.

"Since the court is now hearing testimonies from witnesses, we might as well question those officers as witnesses," said Judge Binsar Gultom. The Attorney General's Office had sent two letters dated September 12 and September 13, 2001 to the Indonesian Military Headquarters concerning the confiscation of 13 SKS rifles, several bullet casings and several military trucks for evidence.

In a response dated September 18, 2001, however, then commander of the air defense artillery battalion, Lt. Col. Bambang Suartono, said the equipment had long been withdrawn and replaced.

The trial was adjourned until December 16 to continue hearing the testimonies of three other witnesses.

Indonesia is short on justice for Timor, activists say

Seattle Post - December 8, 2003

Larry Johnson -- Indonesia is facing criticism at home and abroad over recent developments involving two men linked to human rights abuses in the former Indonesian province of East Timor in 1999.

One man, a police chief accused of failing to prevent violence in East Timor, was appointed last week by the Indonesian government to be the police chief in West Papua, another restive province.

The second man, a notorious East Timorese militia leader, formed a militia group in the West Papua mining town of Timika.

During Indonesia's occupation of East Timor from 1975 to 1999, the Indonesian military was responsible for the deaths of more than 200,000 people, one-third of the population. The United States supplied more than $1 billion in weapons and training from Indonesia's invasion in 1975 through 1991 when Congress, responding to Indonesian human rights violations in East Timor, cut off funding.

After the East Timorese people voted for independence in 1999, the Indonesian military and its militias retaliated by killing more than 1,300 people, raping hundreds and destroying most of the country's infrastructure.

East Timor formally became an independent nation May 20, 2002, largely through United Nations intervention.

Since then, the Pentagon has established funding for a new Regional Defense Counter-terrorism Fellowship Program, which probably will renew training for the Indonesian military, despite Indonesia's granting virtual immunity to the military for crimes in East Timor and despite human rights violations in other provinces.

Timbale Silaen was named last Monday the new head of police in West Papua, where a small group of separatists have been pushing for independence for decades. Silaen was acquitted of the charges last year. To date, only six of 18 Indonesian officials charged in the East Timor violence have been convicted, and critics have called the trials a farce.

Hendardi, the head of Indonesia's Human Rights and Legal Aid Association, said Silaen's appointment showed Jakarta's disregard for due process.

"This is to show the public that the military did nothing wrong in East Timor. It means they do not care about justice," he said. "The perpetrators [of the violence] are being rewarded."

Militia leader Eurico Guterres was sentenced in November 2002 to 10 years in jail for instigating attacks on pro-independence leaders during East Timor's bloody referendum. He was released pending an appeal, which could take years. Last month, he formed the Laskar Merah Putih, or Red and White Warriors militia, said Elsham, a Papuan human rights group.

"He has 200 members, and they consist of refugees from Maluku, Timor and Sulawesi," said Elsham's Aloysius Renwarin. "The Papuan community is afraid this group will be used to create a conflict."

The 29-year-old militia leader was continuing to sign up members and had asked the local government in Timika to provide the group with an office, Renwarin said.

"We are deeply concerned about this," said John Miller, national director of the East Timor Action Network, an organization formed in 1991 to support self-determination and human rights for the people of East Timor.

Miller, in an e-mailed statement Thursday, said that although the Papuans are increasingly demanding peace zones and negotiation and are emphasizing non-violent means to pursue their struggle, "Jakarta is pursuing harsh repression." He described the latest developments as two more examples of Jakarta's pursuit of a militarized solution, "which, of course, is no solution, and as East Timor showed, only intensifies demands for independence."

"The two men, already indicted in East Timor, should be brought before an international tribunal set up by the UN," Miller said. "Instead, they are allowed to roam free and create more havoc."

Tapol, the Indonesian Human Rights Campaign, based in Britain, said in a news statement Thursday, that the latest moves "renew fears of increased instability and violence in the territory and are a triumph for impunity over justice."

The statement quoted Paul Barber, a Tapol spokesman, saying, "It beggars belief that persons convicted or strongly suspected of involvement in gross rights violations can resurface in an area of conflict which has suffered from widespread human rights violations over many years -- this demonstrates Indonesia's contempt for justice and its unwillingness to ensure that atrocities are not repeated."

Elsham said it suspected Guterres might have the support of either the central government in Jakarta or local militias to intimidate Papuans who oppose their province being split into two or three provinces.

"Most Papuans oppose the division of the province, so maybe he [Guterres] can influence the Papuan community not to oppose the division," said Renwarin, adding that Guterres had strong ties to President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, and was appointed head of one of Megawati's civilian security groups in 2000.

Opponents of the plan to divide West Papua say Jakarta has supported the division because it is seen as a way of diluting the Papuan independence movement.

Papuans last week marked the 42nd anniversary of their failed declaration of independence. Since 1961, the armed Free Papua Movement has fought a sporadic guerilla war against the Indonesian military, which formally annexed West Papua in 1962.

News & issues

Indonesian jails turn kids into hardcore criminals

Straits Times - December 13, 2003

Jakarta -- Indonesia's justice system is turning young offenders into hardened criminals because of a lack of funds to set up juvenile detention centres, a top policeman has admitted.

National detective chief Erwin Mappaseng said young people were being locked up alongside adult criminals and repeat offenders.

"Our observation shows that children who leave prisons usually become real criminals as they learn many things from their peers in prisons," General Mappaseng told a national seminar on juvenile justice here on Thursday.

Mr Steven Allen, the Indonesia representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), a co-organiser of the seminar, said most juvenile offenders in Indonesia ended up in adult jails. There are fewer than 10 children-only prisons in Indonesia.

"We have found that in Indonesia, more than 4,000 children are brought to court every year ... nearly nine out of 10 of these children end up being locked up," Mr Allen said.

He said these children were more prone to abuse, both by older detainees or law enforcers themselves. Once in detention, it becomes almost impossible to respect the rights of children.

He added that there were few police guidelines on how to treat children in custody and officers were given little training in dealing with juvenile offenders.

He said protecting children in custody "should be a priority for the government. Prisons and detention centres are not places for children."

More than 3,500 children are locked up under "horrific" conditions each year in Indonesia's adult prisons, the seminar heard. Most of the jailed children are homeless boys aged 12-17 who are often arrested for minor crimes, according to a report by Unicef and the University of Indonesia.

"The conditions of children in detention centres and prisons are horrific," the report said. It said children were "locked up in overcrowded tiny cells".

Gen Mappaseng said Indonesia was trying to address the issue. He said financial constraints prevented the building of separate detention centres for juveniles but other steps could be taken. "Diversion, the effort to divert children away from criminal court proceedings, is one of the ways," he said.

Gen Mappaseng said a law that came into force last year rules that detention should be "a last resort" for young offenders and gives police discretion on whether to detain them. "The police would rather have children being processed for crimes returned to their parents," he said.

Protest against people trafficking hit Semarang, Medan

Jakarta Post - December 13, 2003

Suherdjoko, Semarang -- A coalition of street children, housewives, students and activists took to the street for a rally here on Friday against rampant people trafficking across the country.

A similar rally also took place in Medan, the North Sumatra capital. The rallies were held in conjunction with the signing of a United Nations protocol to prevent or stop the trafficking of people and to bring perpetrators to court.

Waving two large banners reading "People are not for sale" and "Stop children and women trafficking," demonstrators in Semarang, Central Java, urged all elements of society to say no to such practices.

They called the illegal practice a "new form of slavery in the era of modern society".

The demonstrators marched from the Air Mancur traffic circle on Jl. Pahlawan in Semarang and stopped before the gubernatorial office.

"We call for public awareness of rampant people trafficking in the country committed by people out for their own interests. We also call all elements of society and the government to join hands to combat the illegal practice and bring the perpetrators to court," said Emmy LS, coordinator of the coalition.

The coalition groups, among others, the Indonesia Against Child Trafficking (ACTs), the Solo Brotherhood Foundation, Satara Semarang, the Yogyakarta-based Kusuma Buana Foundation, the Women's Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Apik) and Samen Yogyakarta.

"The government should promote policies and pursue a method to stop the practice. And if it fails, then we call it a human rights violation," Emmy added.

In Medan, hundreds of school-aged children also took to the streets to criticize the local administration for its lack of action in preventing the trafficking of children and women in the city, Antara reported.

The rallying children were accompanied by activists from various local non-governmental organizations involved in social issues.

"Look into child trafficking cases" and "Don't sell your children to irresponsible hands" were among the words written on banners that the children carried during the rally.

An official from the North Sumatra Center of Information and Child Education, Dedi Sofyan, disclosed on Friday that the number of women and children being trafficked from the city to neighboring countries was cause for concern.

"Therefore, the government and relevant parties should stop organized crimes that victimize women and children for sexual exploitation," he said.

Pre-election activities prompt Suharto health doubt

Radio Australia - December 13, 2003

Many Indonesians are asking just how unwell former president Suharto really is, amid mounting speculation that he's stagemanaging his daughter's political comeback. In September 2000, a court ruled Mr Suharto was mentally and physically unfit to stand trial on corruption charges. But since then, he has been photographed meeting prominent political figures, fuelling speculation that his initial diagnosis may have been flawed.

Presenter/Interviewer: James Panichi

Speakers: Tim Meisburger, director of election programs, Asia Foundation; Meliono Suwando, PDI-P; Professor Dimyati Hartono, former PDI-P deputy chairman.

Panichi: If polls are anything to go by, the Suharto family's political comeback could be just around the corner.

Earlier this month a prominent news website found that Siti Hardiyanti -- better known as Tutut -- could rely on the support of up to 32 per cent of the country's 140 million eligible voters.

That was followed by a survey of over one thousand people by the Jakarta office of the Asia Foundation think-tank.

It found 53 per cent of voters would be ready to sacrifice personal freedoms, to elect a more authoritarian political figure, capable of maintaining law and order.

Some media outlets read that statistic as support for the strong and of controversial leadership of Mr Suharto, who was ousted in 1998.

However, the Asia Foundation's director of election programs, Tim Meisburger, says there's more to the figures than meets the eye.

Meisburger: "When we look at those people that support a stronger leader, we also see that those same people are the most likely to support democratic values, and to know the most about democracy.

"So, the way we interpret that is that those people are actually frustrated with government performance, and that they are actually hoping for better government performance, rather than actually supporting autocratic government."

Panichi: And so, you wouldn't interpret it as a sense of nostalgia for the certainty of the Suharto days?

Meisburger: "There could be some nostalgia for that, but I think when we look in general at the survey results, we see that the majority of Indonesians are moving forward in the democratic transition, and we don't think they want to go back to that sort of lifestyle."

Panichi: If that's the case, it would be good news for the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle, or PDI-P, led by president Megawati Sukarnoputri.

That's because parts of the electorate may be dissatisfied with the PDI-P's performance, yet that doesn't mean they want to return to the Suharto family.

Nonetheless, the former president's long shadow over his daughter's presidential campaign has upset many prominent political figures.

The PDI-P's Meliono Suwando says he's particularly concerned about recent newspaper photos, which cast doubts over Mr Suharto's claim to be in poor health.

Suwando: "Ah, I think he's still in a good condition, in good health. What happened in the newspaper, that his is not healthy, that his heart condition is very bad, I think is only a trick, a movement of his supporters to cover for him."

Panichi: Do you think, then, that he should stand trial for corruption?

Suwando: "Oh, yeah. I had a proposal three years ago. It's best for Suharto to go to trial, but after the decision, then we release him. Because, like it or not, he has some positive points for this country.

"So, I think we have to teach people that if you do something wrong, then you have to be punished."

Panichi: Do you think, though, that the Indonesian people are prepared to forgive Mr Suharto for the past, and perhaps accept his daughter as a future leader?

Suwando: "Most people have forgiven -- that's why there are no demonstrations against Suharto any more. But that's not a good condition for this country. We need to teach people to do good, and not to do something wrong."

Panichi: And a high profile examination of Mr Suharto's legacy would enhance the PDI-P's political prospects.

Siti Hardiyanti was minister of social affairs in the dying stages of the Suharto government. Her personal wealth is estimated at around 2 billion US-dollars, through investments in a range of Indonesian companies.

And many Indonesian political organisations believe resentment over the Suharto family fortune -- estimated at 45 billion dollars -- can still offer political traction.

Professor Dimyati Hartono is a former PDI-P deputy chairman, whose very public falling out with President Megawati led him to abandon the party.

Yet he too believes that whatever reservations people might have about the current government, few would be prepared to support Tutut's bid for the presidency.

Hartono: "I don't think that it will be so easy for his daughter to run for the presidency, because now we can see the negative reaction about her appearance.

"People did not forget the bad experience, in political terms, legally, human rights ... People have suffered during the period of Mr Suharto."

Police detain two of four suspects over cleric's slaying

Jakarta Post - December 9, 2003

ID Nugroho, Surabayan -- Police here said on Monday they had detained two people and were hunting two others suspected of slaying a Muslim cleric from the National Awakening Party (PKB), following increasing pressure to bring the alleged killers to justice.

Police had detained a total of four people but released two due to insufficient evidence to charge them with involvement in the recent killing of PKB leader Asmuni Ishak in Lumajang regency, East Java.

The remaining suspects are being questioned at Lumajang Police headquarters, East Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Sad Harunantyo said.

"We are also searching for two other persons linked to the murder," he said, but he refused to identify them and the two detainees.

"The two suspects disappeared after the killing of Kyai [cleric] Asmuni," he told a news conference accompanied by East Java Police criminal investigation chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Sutarman. Sad said police had questioned at least 27 witnesses in connection to the case.

A group of six masked men armed with machetes stabbed Asmuni to death after they broke into his house in Jatiroto subdistrict on November 27. His wife, Siti Mutmainah, survived but was seriously wounded in the attack. She remains in hospital.

PKB executives believe the incident was politically motivated to terrorize party members in East Java, its main stronghold, ahead of the 2004 general elections.

The claim was supported by reports that more PKB clerics in several regencies in East Java, including Gresik and Jember, had received death threats from mysterious callers.

However, police have said Asmuni's death was not politically motivated, although they were still investigating. "We have so far found evidence that the motive for the killing was robbery," Sad said, echoing statements of other police officers.

He said the two suspects currently on the run were connected to evidence police found during investigations. At the house of one of the two, police discovered spots of blood on his trousers, Sad said, adding the blood was believed to be Asmuni's. Sad said police had also found blood stains at 12 places surrounding the scene where Asmuni was slain, and discovered an artificial tooth and a sandal covered with blood. "We will examine the blood at a police laboratory through a DNA test," he added.

On Sunday, deputy PKB chairman Mahfud M.D. claimed that certain persons had been hired to try to kill party executives and ulemas of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) on East Java's Madura island. He said he had been notified of the threats during his visit to Madura last Friday, accompanied by PKB chairman Alwi Shihab. Mahfud, a former defense minister, declined to name the clerics who had received the threats.

Mahfud's statement was denied by East Java Police. "We have directly sent a team to Madura and found there are no hired killers," Sad said, quoting Madura Police chief Sr. Comr. Agus Widarto's statement.

Asmuni's slaying and the reported death threats have prompted the NU-affiliated youth wing, Ansor, to deploy members of its paramilitary group Banser to guard the houses of NU clerics across East Java. However, they were warned against reacting violently to the threats.

PKB officials have said the latest threats were reminiscent of the conditions leading up to of the 1999 elections. Dozens of Muslim preachers linked to the PKB were beaten or hacked to death in a number of different regencies across East Java in 1999. It was claimed that the clerics were murdered as they had practiced black magic. The killings remain a mystery. Little effort was made to solve the seemingly organized murders.

Attacks on Muslim preachers in East Java, where the PKB won the 1999 elections, could potentially trigger unrest.

PKB get reports of more death threats

Jakarta Post - December 8, 2003

ID Nugroho, Surabaya -- The House of Representatives plans to summon National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, as the National Awakening Party (PKB) has received reports of more death threats made to Muslim clerics in East Java.

Deputy chairman of PKB Mahfud M.D., speaking in Surabaya on Sunday, said anonymous callers had threatened to kill party executives and ulemas of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) on East Java's Madura island.

He said he had been notified of the threats during his visit to Madura on Friday, accompanied by PKB chairman Alwi Shihab.

Mahfud, a former defense minister, declined to name the clerics who had received death threats.

Earlier, PKB clerics had reportedly received similar death threats in the regencies of Gresik and Jember, following the recent killing of party leader Asmuni Ishak in Lumajang regency.

Asmuni was stabbed to death after six masked men armed with machetes broke into his house in Jatiroto subdistrict, on November 27. His wife, Siti Mutmainah, survived but was seriously wounded in the attack. Asmuni's death followed the murder of Rafiq, a PKB activist, in Jember, earlier that week.

Mahfud underlined that the recent death threats and the death of Asmuni indicated that PKB and NU members in East Java -- the party's main stronghold ahead of the 2004 elections -- were clearly in danger. "It's the task of the police to investigate the case thoroughly," he said.

Former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, who chairs the PKB board of patrons, Mahfud and other party executives believe that both the threats and Asmuni's murder were politically motivated, in a bid to weaken support for the party prior to the 2004 elections.

However, so far, the police have concluded that Asmuni's murder was not politically motivated. "If it was a non-political crime, as found by the police, we will be happy because the consequences will not be so severe. But such a conclusion must be supported by adequate evidence from suspects," Mahfud said.

PKB legislator Effendi Choiri said his Commission I in the House will summon Da'i Bachtiar and East Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Heru Susanto for a hearing on December 15, concerning Asmuni's death and the threats made to the clerics.

"The police have not completed their reports on this case. So, we [from Commission I for security and foreign affairs] will ask them [the police] to settle [the case] thoroughly," Effendi added.

He criticized the police for concluding that Asmuni's death was not politically motivated. He added that a NU cleric in Gresik (also Effendi's hometown), Hasbullah Faqih, had received a death threat from two strangers who had turned up at his house.

Separately, PKB secretary general Saifullah Yusuf said the NU- affiliated youth wing Ansor, which he also chairs, has ordered its paramilitary group Banser not to react violently to the threats.

He was quoted by Antara as saying that Banser and Ansor members had been banned from acting beyond their authority, such as conducting raids. It's the police's job," he said.

East Java Police detective chief Sr. Comr. Sutarman had earlier said Banser members were permitted to protect the ulemas by acting as guards. "It's no problem as long as they do not violate the law. If they find a crime has been committed they should report it to the police. Don't take action alone," he said.

Lumajang's PKB executive Abdurrohman said security had been tightened at Islamic boarding schools and the residences of party officials. "Students and local people are more alert now," he said, adding that the move was ordered by East Java's PKB.

PKB officials have said the latest threats were reminiscent of the conditions leading up to of the 1999 elections, which catapulted Gus Dur into the presidency.

Dozens of Muslim preachers linked to the PKB were beaten or hacked to death in a number of different regencies across East Java in 1999. It was claimed that the clerics were murdered as they had practiced black magic.

The killings remain a mystery. Little attempt appears to have been made to uncover the truth behind the seemingly organized murders.

Attacks on Muslim preachers in East Java, where the PKB won the 1999 elections, could potentially trigger unrest. The PKB won the most votes in the province, ahead of President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.

Separatist movements are main threat, not terrorism

Jakarta Post - December 8, 2003

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta -- Indonesia's defense white paper puts terrorism behind separatism as the main security threat to the country, a policy that prompts the need of maintaining the military's territorial function, an official said.

Director-General for Strategic Defense Planning of the Ministry of Defense Maj. Gen. Sudrajat said that the territorial integrity of Indonesia found its relevance now that the general public was concerned about the existence of the unitary state of Indonesia, while terrorism remained the center of controversy in the country.

"There is misunderstanding among neighboring countries and the US toward Indonesia's perception of threats. We perceive Indonesia's integrity as the primary concern, while other countries may presume terrorism is their main concern," Sudrajat told the general conference of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP) here on Sunday.

Indonesia is currently launching a major offensive to quell the prolonged separatist movement in Aceh and has sent reinforcement troops to Papua to deal with the threat of separatism there.

The post-New Order administrations have granted the two provinces special autonomy status in order to appease the outcry for independence there.

Traditional threats, which may manifest themselves in the forms of invasion or aggression from other countries, look very unlikely to materialize for quite a long time in the future, Sudrajat said.

"Such threats won't come from our neighbors because according to our calculations, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines or even Australia are not in a position to invade Indonesia. The only country that can invade Indonesia is the United States, in the condition that we are proven to harbor terrorists," he said.

Separatism, he said, has emerged as the real threat, as well as cross-border crimes, sea piracy, hijacking, the problems experienced by migrant workers and drug trafficking.

"Eradicating these domestic issues requires the police and Indonesian military to work together," said Sudrajat.

Sudrajat highlighted the necessity of maintaining the territorial function of the Indonesian Military (TNI) in order to keep soldiers close to society.

"The understanding that the military should be contained to military bases and barracks, for the time being, is not our paradigm. We can't treat Indonesian Military the same way as the western countries treat their soldiers. Here the military originated from the people, fought together with the people and for their interests," he said.

Rights and pro-democratic activists have been calling for an end to the military territorial function, on the ground that the role, inherited from the New Order, has justified its wide- ranging involvement in the sociopolitical field.

Environment

Walhi slams illegal logging probe

Jakarta Post - December 13, 2003

Samarinda -- The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) criticized councillors on Friday for their poor performance in carrying out investigations into rampant illegal logging in the province.

"Since the council set up a special committee a few months ago to investigate illegal logging and deforestation across the province, it has not dealt with any cases, although people from the regencies of Pasir and Berau have filed at least two cases," Walhi East Kalimantan director executive Syarifuddin told The Jakarta Post.

He accused the councillors of being reluctant to investigate the cases for fear that local officials may be implicated, referring to the illegal logging case allegedly involving timber company Surya Darma Group. The case remains unsolved. Local residents had filed a complaint against the company's illegal activities in a 440-hectare plot of land.

According to data from the provincial forestry office, 14.6 million of the 21.1 million hectares of forests in the country are located in the province.

Syarifuddin said around four million hectares of forest had, however, been destroyed by illegal loggers.

Aid & development

Indonesia's donors pledge post-IMF loans

Financial Times - December 13, 2003

Shawn Donnan, Jakarta -- At the end of this month Indonesia will become the last of the economies plunged into chaos by the 1997- 98 Asian financial crisis to graduate from the IMF and is looking to plug a budget gap of more than $10 billion.

In an effort to alleviate concerns that it may abandon a reform agenda already criticised by some for its plodding implementation, Jakarta earlier this year unveiled a "white paper" setting itself an ambitious schedule for reforms.

While the IMF and the World Bank have heaped praise on the plan, donors gathered for the annual meeting of the Consultative Group on Indonesia yesterday said its "effective implementation" remained the "key challenge".

"All eyes are now on next year," said Jemal-ud-din Kassum, the World Bank's vice-president for east Asia and the Pacific.

"If the government delivers on the commitments it has made, then growth in Indonesia is set to take off," he said. "But significant slippage, especially on improving the investment climate, governance and fighting corruption, would put gains in market confidence at risk."

That confidence is particularly relevant in the months ahead. To help fill the financing gap after its graduation from the IMF and its resulting inability to turn to the Paris Club group of creditors to restructure foreign debt, Jakarta is looking to issue an international sovereign bond as early as January.

Finance minister Boediono said on Thursday details of that offering would be unveiled "soon". He has said he expected an issue of about $400 million while investors have told Jakarta the market would absorb up to $1 billion.

Efforts to improve Indonesia's poor investment climate come as domestic and foreign investment, badly needed to help spur growth, still troubles donors.

"Conditions are in place for a sustained recovery. Still, growth has been moderate, unemployment has been high and poverty remains higher than we would like," said the IMF's Daniel Citrin in an FT interview this week.

Thursday's donor pledges came as Mexican cement maker Cemex turned to international arbitration to try to resolve a dispute over its efforts to buy a majority stake in Indonesia's largest cement maker.

CGI slammed for being insensitive about Indonesia's debts

Jakarta Post - December 13, 2003

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta -- The meeting of the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) was a disappointment because it did not address measures needed to tackle the country's huge debt, International NGO Forum for Indonesia Development (INFID) says.

INFID, a grouping of a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), said the new loan pledge announced on Thursday showed the international donors encouraged -- to some extent -- the country to remain trapped in the debt circle.

"The forum did not seriously discuss efforts to reduce our debts, domestic or foreign. I'm disappointed with it," INFID director Binny Buchori said Friday.

Binny said such a situation would only push Indonesia deeper into debt trouble. "Although the debt-to-gross domestic product [GDP] ratio has now declined to around 60 percent, the outstanding [debt] is still huge."

At the end of the two-day CGI meeting, the country's traditional foreign donors agreed to provide US$3.4 billion in new loans and grants for the country next year. Some $2.8 billion of the loans would go to finance the 2004 state budget.

Some economists have said the CGI loan is crucial for the country as it would no longer be eligible to the Paris Club debt rescheduling facility once the current International Monetary Fund program expires at the end of this month.

Excluding the latest CGI loan pledge, the country's foreign debt outstanding as of September stood at $77.1 billion, while domestic debts stood at Rp 619.7 trillion.

Despite the fact the CGI was never intended as a forum for the country to seek debt relief facility, Binny said it was the least the grouping of 30 multilateral and donor countries could do, if they were seriously concerned about Indonesia.

Airing similar concerns was Vice President Hamzah Haz, who asked the grouping to give Indonesia breathing space in repaying its debts to the CGI, by allowing it to temporarily skip the payments, so that the country could provide higher allocations for more productive spending.

"The CGI should give Indonesia such a debt relief until after the economy has fully recovered," Hamzah was quoted by Antara as saying, adding the CGI could ask for the repayment after the economy manages to grow by around 7 percent. During the period of time, he added, the government could allocate more on other crucial spending as the pressure on the state budget lessens.

The government said it had no alternative but to look for external funding, to help it finance the state budget, which ironically has been burdened heavily by the payments of existing debts, both domestic and foreign.

Under the 2004 budget, for instance, Rp 131.2 trillion has been earmarked to repay domestic and foreign debts, both the interest and principal. The figure, which accounts for more than one third of the budget's total expenditure, is almost double the amount set for development spending which stands at Rp 70.9 trillion.

Some analysts however, while agreeing the debt level was alarming, said they were of the opinion that it remained manageable. What's more important was ensuring how to make the best use of those loans, for the good of the country.

The last thing Indonesia needed was to have its debt level increased, which means more burden on the budget, without taking the benefit out of it, they said.

Indonesia must focus on pro-poor growth

Australian Financial Review - December 10, 2003

Andrew Burrell -- It's an alarming statistic that helps explain Indonesia's economic, political and social predicament: about 110 million people are scraping by on less than $US2 ($2.70) a day.

And for Indonesia's security-conscious neighbours, this is a number that should be resonating far more deeply than the latest arrest count from the Bali and Marriott Hotel terrorist bombings.

While macro-economic stability and higher growth in the past few years have lowered Indonesia's poverty rates from earlier post- crisis levels, the enormous, dangerous chasm between rich and poor remains.

According to a new report by the World Bank, Indonesia should be focusing more attention on "pro-poor growth", such as improving roads in rural areas, where 78 per cent of the poor live, and scaling up community-driven development programs to empower the poor.

As the bank pointed out on Monday, about the same number of Indonesians who survive on less than $US2 a day about 53 per cent of the total population also lack access to basic services such as water and sanitation.

The provision of other essential services, such as health and education, is woeful. The absenteeism rate among doctors in health clinics is a staggering 42 per cent, while the average first-grade school teacher attends school for less than three hours a day. The maternal mortality rate in Indonesia is two times higher than in the Philippines and five times higher than in Vietnam, both poorer countries.

Targeted measures aimed at improving the lot of the poor are proving ineffective: about 74 per cent of those who receive subsidised rice through a major government scheme are not, in fact, poor.

Corruption the root of many of Indonesia's woes also affects the poor disproportionately.

"Because of weak information, poor organisational capacity and lack of skills, the poor are unable to take effective, systemic actions to demand higher levels of accountability," the World Bank said.

A few hours after the release of the World Bank report, one of Indonesia's most important Muslim leaders, Syafii Maarif , was speaking at a different event across town in Jakarta, but he was exploring remarkably similar themes.

Maarif, the chairman of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second biggest Islamic organisation, is a relative rarity in Indonesian public life: a reform-minded individual who calls a spade a spade.

And on Monday night, in front of hundreds of people attending a conference on security in the Asia-Pacific region, the moderate Muslim leader was pulling no punches about the economic and political situation in his country, and even about the state of his religion.

Maarif's thesis was that Indonesia's corrupt ruling elite had completely failed the poor, who live in extreme poverty with no access to a reliable justice system or other key services.

He said a resurgence of radicalism should be understood as a response to the "pervasive sense of disenfranchisement" engulfing ordinary Muslims as they grappled with the forces of change.

"When the deprived see that the state and the government have not come to their defence, they feel abandoned," Maarif told a captive audience that included Australia's Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer.

"When they see there is no way out, they become frustrated. When the state becomes an accomplice in maintaining the gap between the privileged and deprived, they get angry.

"Confusion, frustration, despair, and anger soon find expression in many forms, some through violent means, initially aimed at what they see as injustice, moral decadence and religious bankruptcy." Maarif also addressed Indonesia's vast inequality. "While a few hundred parents send their children abroad for a better education, tens of millions of others are still struggling to buy even a simple book for their children.

"When some of these 'new rich' insist on sending their children to the best hospitals around the world even when they catch a simple flu, millions of other parents can only pray and watch their children lying on simple wooden beds helplessly.

"Millions of Muslims in Indonesia cannot understand why hedonism and consumerism, with all its consequences for morality, are allowed to flourish unabated by the state." Maarif then turned his attention to his own faith, arguing that Indonesia's Muslim communities tended to blame others for their own lack of progress, rather than engaging in any critical introspection.

"The argument that Islam is not compatible with democracy will sustain the injustice, corruption, oppression, despotism and authoritarianism so pervasive in many parts of the Muslim world, including in Indonesia.

"In fact, Islam is full of references to the principles of democracy and pluralism and the importance of human rights." It was thought-provoking stuff. But as one audience member pointed out, such arguments are more productive when conveyed to ordinary Muslims in mosques, rather than foreign security experts sitting in a five-star hotel.

CGI may provide $2.7 billin in new loans

Jakarta Post - December 9, 2003

The country may obtain some US$2.7 billion in fresh loans from the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) to help finance next year's state budget. The amount is the same as that pledged last year by the donor grouping for the current 2003 budget.

World Bank lead economist Bert Hofman said on Monday the amount would be within the range $2.3 billion to $3 billion, which the government planned to request when the CGI held its two-day annual meeting on December 10.

"We may come out with the same amount as last year [for the 2003 budget]," Hofman told a news briefing when launching the bank's brief report to the CGI. The bank will chair the upcoming meeting of the country's traditional donor grouping.

In the report, it was said that next year would pose an uphill financial challenge for Indonesia in view of the absence of a special program from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which deprives the country of the debt relief facility from the Paris Club of creditor nations.

The situation leaves Indonesia little choice but to remain dependent on its usual foreign donors.

"Financing needs will increase in 2004 despite further fiscal consolidation, as exceptional financing dries up with the end of the IMF program, and debt service will increase from 31 percent of revenue in 2003 to 37 percent in 2004," said the report.

The impact from the absence of the Paris Club debt rescheduling facility alone means that the amortization of public debt next year is expected to rise by $2.6 billion.

Under the 2004 state budget, the government is setting its sights on proceeds from bond sales, both domestic and international; privatization; the sale of banks and assets under the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency; bank financing and loans from foreign lenders -- mostly the CGI.

The budget has targeted a state budget deficit of Rp 24.4 trillion, or some 1.2 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), as compared with the estimated Rp 34.4 trillion (1.8 percent GDP) deficit for this year.

The CGI has been a crucial financing source to which the country turns to help it plug the annual state budget deficit.

International donors are hoping the next loans will provide an incentive for the country to remain committed to reform.

The bank said that while praising efforts to restore macroeconomic stability amid various internal and external shocks, attempts to improve the investment climate to boost growth and reduce poverty lagged behind.

The economy -- while expected to grow by about 4 percent this year amid shocks resulting from the Iraq war, the SARS epidemic and a bomb attack on a Jakarta hotel -- remains driven largely by consumption amid weak investment and export performance.

Strong and sustainable economic growth should be supported by healthy investment growth.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) approvals in the first ten months of the year stood at $9.3 billion, rising from the same period of last year but still only a quarter of the precrisis level, the World Bank report said.

The Bank cited a survey among 1,000 domestic and foreign companies that highlighted microeconomic instability, policy and legal uncertainty as well as corruption, as areas that investors thought needed plenty of improvement to strengthen the investment climate.

Health & education

Indonesia needs to prioritize girls' education: Unicef

Jakarta Post - December 13, 2003

Jakarta -- The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has urged the Indonesian government to make the education of girls a priority if it is to improve the country's development prospects.

In its recent report, Unicef warned that international development efforts were drastically short-changing girls and that without accelerated actions to get girls into schools over the next two years, global goals to reduce poverty would not be reached.

The world body said a Ministry of Education report confirmed the seriousness of the situation in Indonesia, particularly for girls who wished to go to secondary schools, or those from poor families and in rural areas.

"Data from the Ministry of Education compiled last year shows significant gender gaps in school dropout rates, both at primary and junior secondary levels. Girls are more likely to drop out of schools than boys.

"In primary schools, out of every 10 children who drop out, six are girls and four are boys. It's the same in junior secondary schools. The gender gap slightly widens at the senior secondary schools to seven girls dropping out of every three boys," Unicef's representative in Indonesia Steven Allen said.

He said the results of this education gap between the sexes could be seen in the national adult literacy rate. "Nearly 20 percent of women are illiterate compared with less than 10 percent of men," he said.

He asserted that Indonesia stood little chance of substantially reducing poverty, child mortality, HIV/AIDS and diseases if it did not assure both girls and boys equal access to basic education.

Unicef also criticized the government for its low spending on education, which is now the lowest in East Asia and Pacific.

The UN body has identified a number of issues that impede girls getting equal education, including gender biased textbooks, gender stereotyping and early marriage. Unicef claimed the textbooks widely used in schools across the country reinforced the gender stereotypes.

National Development Planning Agency's (BAPPENAS) Education and Religious Affairs Director Nina Sardjunani agreed with Unicef, blaming the society's conservative perception toward girls.

"The textbooks our children use in schools portray the gender stereotype that women should stay at home, thus, they should just get married early and be good housewives," said Nina.

This gender stereotyping indicates a form of "voluntary discrimination" practiced by both females and males, according to Unicef.

"It is evident in some majors offered in schools. You'll see a lot of female students enroll in social sciences or cooking, and male students enroll in engineering," Nina said.

Although the situation now has changed as more female students are going to engineering and technical schools, Nina said the government still had a lot of homework to do to change stereotypes.

"We need to change this perception that women belong nowhere but at home. We need to raise the public's awareness that women are no less better than men," Nina said.

Armed forces/police

Mining companies asked to stop payment to military

Dow Jones Newswires - December 12, 2003

New Orleans (Associated Ppress) -- A shareholder resolution asking that Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. stop payment to the Indonesian military has been filed by the New York City comptroller's office.

That office manages retirement funds holding $28.8 million in Freeport stock. Freeport operates one of the world's largest mines in Indonesia.

Company executives are drafting a response to send to the Securities and Exchange Commission before the SEC's deadline in early January, said Freeport spokesman Bill Collier.

The company has been criticized by human-rights activists in the past for its relationship with the military, which provides security around the mine.

In the mid-1990s, the Indonesian military was accused of atrocities against dozens of tribal people living near the mine. Freeport said it is simply a foreign contractor and has no control over the military.

The comptroller's office manages retirement funds for police, firefighters, teachers and city employees in New York.

SEC rules allow shareholders to file proposals asking companies to adjust business practices. If approved by the SEC, the proposals are given to shareholders for a vote. Even if a majority of shareholders vote for the changes, the company's directors make the final decision.

The current resolution has its roots in the August 2002 murder of two American teachers employed by a school for Freeport workers, said Pat Doherty, an administrative manager for the New York comptroller.

The teachers were ambushed on a road. The US Embassy in Jakarta called the attack "an outrageous act of terrorism," but an initial investigation by Indonesian police suggested that soldiers might have been involved. A joint police-military investigation was inconclusive.

The FBI is attempting to conduct its own investigation. Earlier this year, the US Senate blocked $400,000 in military training money for Indonesia.

In its 2002 disclosure to the SEC, Freeport said it had paid the military for "government-provided security, involving over 2,000 government security personnel." Those payments totaled $5.6 million in 2002 and $4.7 million in 2001, the company said.

The company also said that over a period of several years, it had built housing, offices and other facilities for the military at a cost of about $35 million.

The comptroller's resolution asks for a stop of the payments until the Indonesian government cooperates with the FBI and prosecutes the killers of the teachers.

Doherty also said his agency is concerned that Freeport, which has a contract with the Indonesian government, could feel coerced to make the payments. Doherty said that raises the question of whether the company is in violation of a federal law forbidding US companies from paying bribes to foreign governments.

Soldiers fighting cops in Jakarta

Straits Times - December 13, 2003

Robert Go, Jakarta -- At least 80 soldiers have been questioned in connection with a shootout between the country's police and soldiers early this month.

It was the first of two gun battles between the sides in as many weeks.

The latest clash took place on Tuesday night when angry soldiers arrived at the police station in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, after a minor traffic accident in which a member of the local army corps was the victim. The driver involved in the accident was being held at the station.

An argument broke out between the police and the soldiers. It soon escalated into a full-blown shootout which left one soldier dead and two policemen wounded at the end of it.

This and the first clash in Luwu, South Sulawesi, are not to be taken lightly, say observers.

They noted that friction started after the formal separation of the police from the military structure two years ago during the Abdurrahman Wahid presidency.

Some attribute these brawls to the country's security forces just lacking discipline and perpetuating an unhealthy rivalry but others think the problem is more serious than that.

The laws were changed to make the military focus purely on external security threats and the police, internal.

But Major-General Sudrajat, the director-general of strategic planning of the defence ministry, said on Thursday that these changes were not working and it was time the legislators and the government reviewed these laws, the Jakarta Post reported.

"We are currently facing non-traditional security threats, a domain which is the responsibility of both the military and the police," said Maj-Gen Sudrajat, suggesting that there would not be any invasions from other countries for the next 20 years.

The legislation, he said, has created rivalry and problems of turf, as exemplified in the issue of terrorism where the police had set up an antiterror team, and the military has for a long time had such teams, the Jakarta Post said.

Army Chief of Staff General Ryamizard Ryacudu agreed, adding that these clashes would continue if the legislation was not fixed.

But observers say the real reasons for the clashes go deeper than the explanation being given by the security authorities.

Observers spoke of an open secret: Facing meagre official budgets, cops and soldiers had engaged in side businesses to augment their incomes. The clash now had to do with turf, money and commercial advantage.

Mr Usman Hamid of human rights group Kontras said: "Cops and soldiers often get involved in businesses, including illegal ones, like prostitution, gambling and drugs. This has not been corrected."

When the new legislation two years ago shifted the military to a purely "external defence" role, the military lost much of its income sources. "Now they see the police moving into lucrative sectors that traditionally had been controlled by the military. This might be the major reason for conflict," Mr Usman argued.

But there are those who think the problem is nothing more than a disciplinary issue. MP Logan Siagian said on Thursday: "The military and police leadership have to raise the level of discipline of their men and this has to be done immediately to tackle the problem."

One dies in clash between TNI soldiers and police

Jakarta Post - December 11, 2003

Bambang Bider and Abdul Khalik, Pontianak/Jakarta -- Indonesia Military (TNI) personnel and police officers clashed on Tuesday in Wanawa, West Kalimantan, leaving one TNI soldier dead, one badly hurt and two police officers severely wounded, just a week after a similar incident in Palopo, South Sulawesi.

The incident began when TNI's Second Pvt. Supriyadi was hit by a bus. Fearing a revenge attack from other TNI soldiers, the bus driver sought protection at a nearby police station.

Shortly afterwards, several TNI members came to the station and asked the police officer on duty, Second Brig. Nanang Jatmika, to hand over the bus driver, who had been sent to another district police station. Unable to find the bus driver at the station and unhappy with the reception they received the soldiers beat up Nanang, inflicting serious injuries.

The group of soldiers then left for Mempawah District police station to seek the driver, but were unable to find him there either. So they went to Pontianak police station, where one of the soldiers started to fire his gun, severely injuring Second Brig. Uray Tery. They then came to a subdistrict police station in Mempawah, where police and the soldiers engaged in a brief exchange of fire. One soldier, Second Sgt. Triyono, was killed in the incident.

"The situation calmed after a meeting between Kalimantan military chief Maj. Gen. Hery Cahyana and West Kalimantan Police chief Insp. Gen. Iwan Pandjiwinata," said National Police deputy public relations chief Brig. Gen. Soenarko.

He also said that no one had been declared a suspect yet but both security forces would investigate the incident. "The first priority is to bring the situation under control. When it cools down, we can start investigating," said Soenarko.

The shootout was the latest of many clashes that have occurred between the two security forces since the police force was separated from the military in 1999.

A week earlier, a similar incident happened in Palopo, Luwu regency in South Sulawesi, leaving a police officer and soldier severely wounded. There were no fatalities.

In September 2002, eight people were killed in 10 hours of fighting between the Army and police in Binjai town, North Sumatra. Firearms, grenades and mortars were used in the clash that followed an attempt by several soldiers to seek the release of a civilian "friend" detained by police on drugs charges.

In February this year, soldiers and police officers were involved in a clash in Dumai, a Riau port town, in which two policemen were injured. The clash was sparked by an earlier brawl between hoodlums and soldiers in a red-light district some 15 kilometers from Dumai.

Clashes are sometimes triggered by disputes over protection rackets independently operated by soldiers and police.

The chiefs of both forces usually pledge that there will be no repeat incidents. However, the pledge appears to mean little to the rank and file.

On the sidelines of a seminar in Jakarta, Ministry of Defense Director-General for Defense Strategy Maj. Gen. Sudrajat said that the recurring incidents were caused by the separation between the TNI and the Police. Previously they were under one command.

"We hope that our national leaders and House members can rethink the laws that regulate the separation because there are some problems in their implementation," he said.

Cases of recalcitrant police officers increase

Jakarta Post - December 8, 2003

Tony Hotland, Jakarta -- City police efforts throughout the year to restore their tarnished image were largely ineffective given the increase in cases committed by defiant personnel from 206 cases last year to 234 this year.

In a speech delivered during the commemoration of the Jakarta Police's 54th Anniversary on Saturday, deputy chief Brig. Gen. Nanan Soekarna said the police had taken firm action against the 379 personnel involved.

"We have given penalties to those engaged in the cases. We have even dismissed 80 officers," he said.

The cases are related to, among other things, insubordination, desertion, ethics code violations such as weapon misuse, and criminal conduct such as embezzlement, fraud and bribery.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara could not attend the ceremony because he was with National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar who was on a visit to China.

Nanan argued that the wide scope of police operations and weak monitoring increase the chances of such offenses taking place.

He, therefore, asked the public to take an active role in the monitoring the police and informing police authorities about the performance of their personnel.

"It's very difficult to monitor each officer on the field. So we want the public to help us by reporting cases of unlawful conduct among our personnel," he said.

"And, don't bribe the officers in order to pass the recruitment test to join the force or when you get ticketed, for example." Nanan added the police would welcome criticism in a bid to change their superior or "arrogant" image into a "civil" image, and to create a "clean, skilled, honorable, and lawful" force. The police force was separated from the Indonesian Military in 2000, but a repressive style of conduct still lingers within the civilian force.

Last May, a team of police were involved in a shooting in which stray bullets killed two young girls, and injured the mother of one of them in the Taman Sari area of West Jakarta.

The officers said the officers involved would soon face trial as ordinary civilians.

Observer Rashid H. Lubis commented that the police had not overcome their internal problems, which was holding them back in implementing reform.

"Professionalism is still out of question unless the police first manage to solve their internal problems," the executive director of police watchdog Polwatch told The Jakarta Post.

He pointed to what takes place inside interrogation rooms as the status quo in the "culture of violence", citing Polwatch's recent interviews of criminals jailed at Cipinang Penitentiary, East Jakarta.

"Eighty percent of the inmates we interviewed revealed that torture, beating and electrocution were common during interrogation," he said.

In the ceremony, Nanan put emphasis on the police program to protect the city during Christmas and New Year celebrations. "We still put bomb threats at the top of the list ... we will take all necessary measures to prevent them," said Nanan.

International relations

Indonesia says US policy in Iraq becoming debacle

Reuters - December 8, 2003

Dan Eaton, Jakarta -- Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, issued some of its harshest criticism of Washington's Iraq policy on Monday, saying the US occupation had not met objectives and was becoming a debacle.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda also said the war in Iraq served as a wake-up call for Southeast Asia to get its own house in order to prevent similar events in the region.

"It is possible the forces of the old regime in Iraq, aided by foreign fighters infiltrated into the country, will continue to wage a prolonged guerrilla campaign," said Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda.

"There is the dreadful prospect of the balkanisation of Iraq with boundaries drawn on ethnic and sectarian lines," he also said in a speech to a security conference.

"The various rival factions in Iraq today could be sucked by that power vacuum into a new and terrible round of internecine violence -- a civil war." He said that those developments would pose a threat to the entire Middle East, and the situation had heightened the grievances in the Muslim world and damaged the United Nations.

If the various trends continue, "that would make the war in Iraq a debacle to the cause of security and peace." The United States has tried hard to make strategically located and 80-percent Muslim Indonesia an ally in Washington's war on terrorism.

After a halting start, it has had some success in getting the world's fourth most populous country on board in regional efforts, but both the intervention in Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq has brought widespread Indonesian criticism.

Wirajuda's comments on Monday were some of the strongest from the government since Baghdad fell to US-led forces.

If weapons of mass destruction have not been found in Iraq "because they do not exist, then an entire country has been leveled to the ground for no good reason," Wirajuda said.

After Wirajuda's talk, Ralph Boyce, US ambassador to Indonesia, told Reuters: "It's a little early to declare the Iraq situation a failure. We are only a few months into this effort.

"Also the idea that the whole country was levelled to the ground I have to push back. I don't know a war in human history that made more of an effort to avoid civilian and infrastructure damage, even enemy force casualties, so the post-war rebuilding would not be impeded," Boyce said.

Wirajuda said it was essential ASEAN -- the area covered by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations that Indonesia now chairs -- becomes a region at peace with itself and neighbours. "If we can achieve that, we have largely insured that what happened in Iraq this year will never happen in Southeast Asia."

Military ties

Why do we continue to arm oppressive regimes?

The Independent (London) - December 10, 2003

Johann Hari -- September 11 comes around once every three days. One thousand three hundred innocent people are slaughtered with conventional weapons within 24 hours somewhere in the world: by the middle of a third day, the death toll from 9/11 is surpassed.

This is the practical effect of the vast arms trade that Britain is at the heart of. Not all of the wars in which people are dying are unjust, but that mustn't stop us reeling from the sheer mass of corpses. It's difficult to disagree with Shattered Lives, a report issued today by Amnesty International, Oxfam and the International Action Network on Small Arms, which explains that "the arms trade is out of control".

Democratic countries need to defend themselves. But Britain's share of the arms trade -- one-fifth of the entire global industry -- is not dedicated to helping democratic regimes. Here is just a taster of the people our Government has recently flogged weapons to (deep breath): the Jamaican police force, which has committed more than 600 improperly investigated killings over the past three years, especially of the gay people it systematically persecutes; the House of Saud, which allows no freedom of speech or thought and routinely tortures democrats; the Tanzanian government, whose military radar system was condemned by those notorious lefties, the World Bank, as a scandalous waste of money in a country where a quarter of all children die before they reach their fifth birthday ... I could go on for a long time.

Most people now see that the British Government was obscenely mistaken throughout the Eighties to arm Saddam Hussein while he committed acts of genocide. How long will it take us to learn that all victims of tyranny and poverty are equally deserving of our sympathy?

The Blair Government claims it has put in place regulations that prevent arms sales to countries which would then use British- supplied weapons to torture or slaughter innocent people. There is some truth in this: the regulations have been tightened, but there are loopholes the size of a Challenger tank in the current system. The main problem lies with the monitoring programmes designed to check whether tyrannical regimes are telling us the truth when they say their stash of British weapons won't be put to horrific ends. They are, in Amnesty's words, "woefully inadequate".

An example of the system's failure can be seen in the arsenal of weapons we have flogged to the Indonesian government. For 26 years there has been an ongoing battle between the Indonesian government and the separatist rebels in Aceh, a northern province. Given Indonesia's history of violent repression and genocide, it probably wasn't too smart to accept their reassurances that no British bullets would be used to suppress Aceh.

True, the Indonesian government has changed and vastly improved since the days of the East Timorese butchery, but we knew at the time of the sales that they still placed a bloody claim on territories that, according to the best evidence we have, would prefer to be self-determining and separate. Now we know for sure how sincere the Indonesian government was: Tapol, the brave Indonesian human rights group, has provided photographs of British tanks and weaponry being used to murder people who were fighting for national liberation.

So much for our regulations. Tony Blair has offered a disturbing argument to justify these loopholes. Asked in 2002 why he tolerated selling weaponry that would target civilians, he said: "What would actually happen if we refused to sell them is not that these parts wouldn't be supplied. It's that you would find every other defence industry in the world rushing in to take the place that we have vacated."

That, of course, could be used as an argument to have no regulation whatsoever, and reveals that his heart was never in even the meagre regulations the Government has introduced. His argument would justify selling freshly polished axes to Fred West -- although we should bear in mind that West's decades-long programme of slaughter is merely a day's work for our friends in the Indonesian and Saudi governments.

Yet many people are tempted by the Prime Minister's argument. It's easy for you with a nice comfy job to posture about weapons, the argument goes. Why should a thousand people end up on the dole queue in Newcastle for the sake of a meaningless gesture? There's something in this.

Currently, we have anarchy at an international level when it comes to the arms trade. Even the regulations about testing and selling biological weapons have been trashed by the Bush administration in the past few years. When you have such a disordered system, of course one country acting alone will make no difference.

The solution is not, however, to shrug and continue to jealously guard our own slice of this market. The answer is, as the Control Arms campaign (which you can join at www.controlarms.org) argues, to build an international Arms Trade Treaty to place strict controls on the exchange of weapons between countries.

It cannot be beyond the world's democracies, who almost exclusively arm the world, to decide to sell weapons only to regimes not committing atrocities, and to set up an international body to secure and regulate this. The collapse of the Kyoto Accords on global warming, a matter just as urgent, does not encourage much faith in international agreements to self-regulate -- but the status quo is intolerable. Just think of the five people who have been murdered with small arms somewhere in the world since you read the first paragraph of this column.

Are we supposed to tell their family that we're sorry but treaties are terribly fiddly things?

It will obviously be a long fight to stigmatise and ban the provision of weapons that are used to suppress and murder. Yet the fight against slavery was no less difficult nor less moral, and it is now inconceivable for countries to trade slaves across borders. In the meantime, the Government, if it wants to have any moral credibility, needs to look again at its Swiss cheese-like regulations and begin to plug the holes one by one.

All arms sales to Indonesia must be barred immediately and for decades, given the lies they told to get hold of their current stash. A proper and well-funded monitoring process must be put in place to ensure that this does not happen again, and there must be an independent watchdog who can assess the likelihood that an arms-hungry government really won't find a nefarious purpose for its guns further down the line.

Yes, some jobs will be lost if we stop arming butchers. Slave auctioneers lost their jobs too, and a paedophile loses a job every time we shut down a child porn website. Should killing children with weapons in Aceh be any more acceptable than abusing children in London?

The Prime Minister should give some thought to arguing for that international treaty. It's not as implausible as it sounds: just a few years ago, mankind collectively made a decision that landmines were a repulsive and unacceptable technology, and now they are prohibited.

Who seriously doubts that flogging guns to dictators is just as bad as laying a landmine? Already, the governments of Brazil, Finland, the Netherlands, Cambodia and Mali have said they would participate in the Treaty -- why not Britain? Oh, another person just got murdered, by the way.

British government faces court over arms to Indonesia

The Guardian (UK) - December 10, 2003

Richard Norton-Taylor and John Aglionby, Singapore -- The legality of Britain's arms sales to Israel and Indonesia is to be challenged in the courts on the grounds that they breach stated government policy, the Guardian has learned.

Bringing an unprecedented action, lawyers for human rights groups will tell the high court that the sales violate the government's criteria for export licences.

They argue that the assurances of the Indonesian authorities that the arms would not be used for internal repression, and by Israel that they would not be used in the Occupied Territories, have proved hollow.

When the case against Indonesia is announced today, human rights day, Amnesty International and Oxfam will challenge the government to sign a proposed arms-trade treaty which would outlaw the export of weapons likely to be used in "violations of international human rights or humanitarian law".

Britain's "consolidated criteria" -- in effect binding secondary legislation incorporating UK and EU policy -- say that an export licence will not be issued if there is a clear risk that the proposed export may be used for internal repression or international aggression, or may threaten regional stability.

A case against the Department of Trade and Industry and the Foreign Office is being brought by an Indonesian, Mr Aguswandi, who is associated with his country's human rights organisation, Tapol.

"The British government has failed to admit that British weapons were being used in Aceh and is ignoring human rights violations," he said yesterday. He said British Hawk jets and Scorpion light tanks had been seen in Aceh province, where rebel forces are fighting for independence.

His lawyer, Jamie Beagent, whose firm is also preparing the case against Israel, said the risk of use for internal repression, mentioned in the criteria, was "patent".

The Guardian revealed last week that figures given to Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrats' foreign affairs spokesman, showed that this year the government had approved export licences for broad categories of arms, including machine guns, rockets and missiles, for Indonesia.

After foreign observers were refused access to Aceh, the government told MPs last month that it "remained concerned about the situation" there.

The Foreign Office says in its latest human rights report that although the professionalism of the Indonesian security forces has improved, "serious problems remain, with allegations of extrajudicial killings, disappearances, arbitrary detention, rape, torture and mistreatment of prisoners".

In the latest operation to crush the Free Aceh Movement (Gam) in Sumatra, 40,000 heavily armed soldiers have pushed the rebels into the jungle-covered hills.

The death toll, officially put at about 1,600 since President Megawati Sukarnoputri declared martial law in May, is impossible to assess because there is a de facto ban on foreign media, and local journalists are strongly intimidated into what the military describes as "patriotic" reporting.

Official figures show that a large quantity of arms and internal security equipment is being sold to Israel, despite London's public criticism of the country's human rights record and growing violence.

Amnesty and Oxfam say that Brazil, Cambodia, Mali, Macedonia, Costa Rica, Finland and the Netherlands have pledged support for an international arms trade treaty which is backed by the Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy.

Economy & investment

Blackout says it all at Bali energy summit

Straits Times - December 8, 2003

Robert Go, Nusa Dua -- Something unexpected happened while Mr Iin Arifin Tahyan was speaking about the need for Indonesia to get more energy-sector investments during a high-profile conference in Bali on Friday.

Power supply to the auditorium was cut off, rendering the Energy Ministry official speechless and leaving hundreds of bankers and analysts -- and a few investors -- in the dark. The hotel explained that there had been a cut in the power supply from the state-owned power provider, PLN. "Maybe it was an act of God. I hope the audience found it funny," said Mr Iin.

The embarrassing disruption proved a point: Indonesia desperately needs billions of dollars injected into its infrastructure and energy sectors if it wants to get the national economy ticking again.

Analysts said that in these two sectors, Indonesia was not competing against China and other countries and therefore could still attract foreign investment.

Dr Martin Panggabean, a top economist at Bank Mandiri, said: "China has a big market and lower labour costs, Indonesia just can't compete. But energy and infrastructure are a different story." Officials said Indonesia's best chances of securing much-needed investment might lie in these two sectors.

Mr Kristiono, chief executive officer of Telekomunikasi Indonesia, said only 3.6 per cent of Indonesians had fixed telephone lines and 5.6 per cent used cellphone services.

He argued that room for growth was "robust" and the sector could absorb between US$2 billion and US$3 billion in investments annually for the next decade.

PLN boss Eddie Widiono, who followed Mr Iin as a conference speaker, said more than 100 million Indonesians did not get a steady supply of power and his company could use a total injection of US$28 billion from foreign players in the 10 years ahead.

Mr Iin also spoke about the need for more oil and gas exploration. Known oil reserves were expected to last only until 2020, and the government planned to offer 20 new exploration blocks to investors each year, starting this year.

The good news was that investors seemed to be getting interested again, at least in energy and infrastructure. Last year, Jakarta invited bids for the rights to explore 14 areas for oil and gas projects, but only one was taken up. This year, 16 such projects were begun. This is good news for the government budget because oil and gas revenues account for up to 30 per cent of the state's annual income.

PLN's Mr Eddie said foreign companies were welcome to work with newly empowered local governments to build smaller power plants, especially in Indonesia's outer provinces in Borneo and Sulawesi islands.

Two pilot programmes for that model of developing power infrastructures had yielded some success in Riau and East Kalimantan provinces. They involved British investors and Mr Eddie wanted to see more of such projects.

But there were potential stumbling blocks. Conference delegates were of the opinion that Indonesia needed to fix lots of laws to make energy and infrastructure more attractive investment targets for foreigners.

Mandiri's Dr Martin said the two sectors were still hugely dominated by political and government control. "Some steps towards liberalisation have been taken, but the government needs to do more on this," he said.

Another concern cited during the weekend talks dealt with a decentralisation programme launched in 2001 which was aimed at giving regional governments more power to decide on local political and economic issues.

Analysts said investors remained concerned about the ability of local governments to deal fairly with foreign business interests.