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Indonesia News Digest Number 16 - April 12-18, 2004
Agence France Presse - April 17, 2004
Banda Aceh -- The military shot dead two separatist rebels and a
government soldier died in a hostage crisis in restive Aceh
province, the military and witnesses said on Saturday.
The two Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels were among fourguerrillas
who "accidentally" went inside a house of a local police chief in
North Aceh's Seunuddon while trying to escape from a military
ambush on Friday afternoon, said Lt. Col. Asep Sapari, an Aceh
military spokesman.
"Seven people living in the house were taken hostage overnight
before troops killed two of the insurgents in two raids on Friday
night and Saturday morning," said a local journalist at the
scene.
The other two guerrillas managed to escape but one of them was
believed to be wounded, the journalist said, adding all seven
hostages were left unharmed.
Sapari confirmed both deaths and said the rebels shot dead a
soldier and wounded three others.
Officials from GAM, which has been fighting since 1976 for
independence for the province on the northern tip of Sumatra
island, could not be immediately reached for confirmation.
The military claims to have killed more than 1,300 rebels since
it began an offensive against the rebels last May. Around 2,000
guerrillas and their sympathizers have been arrested or have
surrendered, it said.
Agence France Presse - April 16, 2004
Banda Aceh -- At least six people, including four separatist
rebels, were killed in the latest violence in the restive
province of Aceh, the military said Friday.
One of the four Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels was a 32-year-old
"police chief" for the guerillas who died in a clash in North
Aceh district on Friday, said Second Lieutenant Rukun Santoso, a
platoon commander involved in the clash.
Aceh has been under martial law since last May when the
Indonesian military began an all-out offensive to wipe out GAM,
which has been fighting since 1976 for independence for the
province on the northern tip of Sumatra island.
Soldiers seized a hand gun, ammunition and a handphone from the
rebel.
Residents found an unidentified male corpse with torture marks in
Pidie district on Friday. Three other rebels were killed in two
separate clashes in South Aceh districts over the past three
days, said Captain Chandra Purnama, a local military spokesman.
He also accused the rebels of killing a 35-year-old farmer in the
district on Thursday. GAM officials could not be immediately
reached for confirmation.
The military says it has killed more than 1,300 rebels since the
offensive began. About 2,000 guerrillas and their sympathisers
have been arrested or have surrendered, it says.
Indonesian authorities recently further tightened restrictions on
foreign journalists wishing to visit Aceh.
The US State Department, in a report released in February, said
"unlawful killings, beatings, and torture by soldiers, police,
and rebels were common" in Aceh last year.
"In many cases, the victims were not combatants but civilians,"
it said.
West Papua
Labour issues
Reformasi
'War on terrorism'
2004 elections
Media/press freedom
Regional/communal conflicts
Human rights/law
Focus on Jakarta
Health & education
Bali/tourism
Armed forces/police
Business & investment
Aceh
Aceh hostage drama leaves two rebels, one soldier dead
Six people, including rebel police chief, killed in Aceh
Beudoh magazine being circulated again in Aceh
Fpdra.com - April 16, 2004
Miswar, Banda Aceh -- The tabloid Beudoh, which was closed by the Aceh emergency military command (PDMD) because it ran an lead article titled "Acehnese People Don't Need Elections Under Martial Law", the result of which being that Beudoh's editor was ordered to report to the PDMD [and threatened if the tabloid did not change is editorial line].
After not being published for several months, two days ago Fpdra.com found that Beudoh was again being circulated among the Acehnese public, particularly in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh. Although its tabloid format had change to a magazine, its contents were still sharp and courageous in exposing the realities of the military's crimes in Aceh.
When contacted by e-mail, Beudoh's editor Maarif said that the change of format from a tabloid to a magazine was only to in order to find a new format which was easy to circulate illegally, because we will not be circulating it openly any more. But the contents and commitment to the little people will continue to be Beudo's the distinctive character.
So far we hove only publicized the first edition in magazine format with a print run of 6,000 copies, but in the future we will print more because there were a number of areas which asked for an aditional copies because of its popularity in places such as Lhokseumawe and Banda Aceh said Maarif.
A trader from a market in Aceh who did not want to give their name said that Beudoh's reappearance represented a new spirit for the Acehnese people. Hopefully this will be the start of a reemergence of resistance by the Acehnese people against the military's crimes since martial law came into force.
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Fpdra.com - April 16, 2004
Alisa P, Bireun -- An Aceh Ulama (Islamic religious leader), Teuku Haji Aldelani, the son-in-law of the most outspoken Ulama in Aceh, T.H. Abu Tuming, has been arrested by the emergency military command (PDMD) for leading a delegation of Aceh Ulamas to meet with the coordinating minister of politics and security in Jakarta a short time ago. The delegation urged that martial law in Aceh be revoked.
At the time of going to press, the whereabouts of Aldelani is still unknown. Prior to this, there were also Ulamas who came to Jakarta to asked that martial law be extended, but they not arrested by the Free Aceh Movement and yet the Ulamas who are asking for martial law to be revoked continue to be arrested by the military.
So far the PDMD has not informed the press of the arrests. Suspected to be linked to this case, on Monday April 14, the interim coordinating minister for politics and security, Hari Sabarno, who is acting as the head of the body overseeing martial law in Aceh sent a confidential telegram to the PDMD in Aceh to report to him all steps taken buy the PDMD. Copies were also sent to President Megawati Sukarnoputri, the minister of home affairs and a number of related government officials in Jakarta and Banda Aceh.
A number of parties have expressed regret over the PDMD's arrest of the charismatic Ulama, and this proves that the PDMD does not wish to have the people of Aceh to express opposition to martial law, especially Ulamas. FPDRA (Acehnese People's Democratic Resistance Front) is also extremely disappointed with the mass media who have not carried any reports on the arrest.
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Jakarta Post - April 14, 2004
Apriadi Gunawan, Medan -- Police on Tuesday arrested six suspects they said were part of a network of Aceh separatists involved in an abortive attempt to bomb a mall here last month.
Officers were hunting down two more suspects believed to be the masterminds of the bombing attempt, police said.
Medan Police chief of detectives Adj. Comr. Maruli Siahaan said the arrests of the suspects would prove false allegations key Jamaah Islamiyah member Dr. Azhari was involved in the incident.
The six were arrested separately at various places in Medan this month, Maruli said. He was optimistic police would arrest the two masterminds of the operation soon.
The police for the first time paraded the six men in front of journalists.
They were identified as M. Nur alias Raju alias Bodrin, Ridwan, Frizal Wahyu, Charial Husen, Ismail and Syafrizal. All are suspected members of the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
Raju, 27, an alleged bomb maker, confessed he had agreed to assemble the bomb because he was promised with millions of rupiah in a fee.
He had only received Rp 3.5 million (US$410) and was asked to get the remainder from another suspect, Syafrizal, he said. "I assembled the bomb at the order of Wak Li [who is still at large]. Materials for the bomb were given [to me] by Wak Li through his friend Bruju, from Aceh, but he did not say where he bought them from," Raju told The Jakarta Post.
He explained the bomb he assembled would have exploded within two hours after Frizal Wahyu had planted it in the mall. "I was the one who set the timer. I was given the authority to do it. I was not ordered to detonate the bomb at a certain time," he said.
Raju said he learned to make bombs from his friend, known only as Asnawi, in 2000. According to Raju, Asnawi offered to teach him how to make bombs because he said the skill was worth money.
The bomb was found by an employee of the Macan Yaohan mall. It was tied together with two detonators, nine batteries and a timer but failed to explode due to a low battery charge.
The police had earlier requested assistance from two members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate the bomb. The FBI members' conclusion has not been made public.
Fpdra.com - April 14, 2004
M. Arbi, Tapaktuan -- After the people of Abdya voiced their demands for an extension to martial law in Aceh, on Tuesday April 13 the same demands were echoed by the people of South Aceh. Thousands of people spilled into the grounds of the regional parliament building in the town of Tapaktuan to listen to speeches by public figures demanding that martial law in Aceh be extended.
Using all kinds of transportation, the wave of people from 16 sub-districts -- from Labuhan Haji Barat to Trumon Timur -- had been streaming into Tapaktuan since early morning. The grounds of the local parliament were unable to accommodate the number of people who overflowed into the surrounding streets of Jalan Syeikh Abdul Rauf and the former offices of the governor.
Speeches demanding an extension of martial law began at around 10am and were made by a number of public figures such as Hasan Ilyas, Husaini, Cut Asanah, Buyong Medan and Bintara Yakop. Also present to hear the speeches was the deputy governor of South Aceh, Drs H.T. Meurah Hasan, who was representing the governor and the head of the South Aceh regional parliament, H. Amrin Is.
Amrin said that he was accommodating the aspirations of the people who are calling on the government to extend the military emergency. This demand will be taken before a meeting of the consultative council then submitted to the central government.
Half way trough the speeches meanwhile, Fpdra.com was told that people were forced to come to the action and if they refused they would be considered to be followers of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and would be killed by security forces the following night. There was also a young person who was around 15 years old who said that they came because they were invited to see an artist who would be coming from Jakarta.
Separately, the chairperson of the central committee of the Acehnese People's Democratic Resistance Front (FPDRA) said that these kinds of actions are often held in Aceh such as the demonstrations against the [now defunct] Joint Security Council [which was overseeing a peace agreement between GAM and the government] which were coordinated by the TNI (armed forces).
And now, with the second six moth period of martial law coming to an end and in the lead up to a change of national government [following the April 5 election], the military has a significant interest in mobilising the people to legitimise another extenuation of martial law. This is because in economic and political terms, as an institution the TNI benefits greatly from martial law in Aceh.
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Fpdra.com - April 13, 2004
Alisa P., Jakarta -- Martial law in Aceh has entered its 10th month, and has consumed huge numbers of civilian casualties. Martial law in Aceh has also buried the people's democratic space and the political movements have been accused [by the military] of being a part of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separates, said Dita Indah Sari during a break in a meeting of the United Opposition Front (Barisan Oposisi Bersatu, BOB).
Responding to the government's success in influencing public opinion and maintaining martial law in Aceh for such a long period, Sari said that this is evidence of the weakness of the democratic movement in Indonesia as well as the weakness of the democratic movement in Aceh itself. To date the democratic movement has acted in a fragmented manner, and has not untied, either in Aceh or Jakarta. Sari said she was very surprised that the democratic movement in Aceh, which has already found a common enemy, that is militarism, and has also has the same goals, that is a referendum to resolve the Aceh conflict, has also not been able to untie.
If all the different elements of the movement in Aceh remain unable to unite it will be difficult for martial law to be revoked or even to talk about a victory for the Acehnese people's struggle. Right now the people of Aceh need an alternative and the different elements of the movement, students, peasants, workers, academics and even GAM must join together in a united movement and build the determination to achieve the aspirations of the struggle said Sari.
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Jakarta Post - April 12, 2004
Lhokseumawe -- The military killed on Sunday Suhardi Sulaiman, 33, alias Adi P., who has been listed as the most wanted rebel figure in Bireuen.
Troops from the Army's Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) gunned down Suhardi during three hours of crossfire at the foot of a hill in Paya Rhu subdistrict in Bireuen. The soldiers had encircled Suhardi and five of his companions since early in the morning.
Military sources said the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels threw a grenade at the troops, but it did not explode.
The troops confirmed the death of Suhardi after the gunfight was over. A GAM flag and documents were found near the body. No weapon was discovered, but the military suspected Suhardi's gun was taken away by his colleagues, who managed to flee.
The family of Suhardi, who was called later in the day, identified the body.
Jakarta Post - April 12, 2004
Nani Farida, Banda Aceh -- The martial law administration in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam opened a "reeducation" course on Sunday for 190 men and 10 women who have been accused of membership of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
Aceh military commander Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya said the course followed the success of the initial program, which ended in January, in "rebuilding" the GAM members loyalty to the Unitary Republic of Indonesia.
"So far, we haven't received reports that any of the participants in the first program have gone back to GAM," he said.
The first batch, comprising 438 alleged former GAM members and supporters, underwent a five-month reeducation course, The second group of trainees will take part in a similar course at the Education Quality Institute, formerly known as the Teacher Training Center, in Neuheun subdistrict, Aceh Besar regency.
The reeducation program is for alleged GAM members and supporters who have been captured or had surrendered. Many of the trainees said they had never held a gun or taken part in guerrilla attacks on the Indonesian Military (TNI), but had rather been forced to take part in GAM military training. Some said they joined under the influence of friends.
Fitri, 22, a former inong balee (local name for GAM's women's wing) who is participating in the latest reeducation program, said she gave herself up to Sigli Pidie Military Police upon hearing that the police had summoned her mother in connection with her involvement with the rebel group.
Fitri admitted she had participated in marching drill for a week with GAM in 1999. Afterwards, she got married and moved to Medan, she said.
"I didn't even remember that I had been involved with the inong balee until my mother was summoned," said Fitri, who was detained along with her nine-month-old baby.
The TNI has established two reeducation camps -- one in Neuheun subdistrict and another in Reuleut subdistrict in North Aceh. So far, 1,200 former GAM members have attended the training courses in the two camps.
During the training, the former GAM members are required to learn about the basic principles of the Indonesian state, including the state ideology Pancasila, and to sing the national anthem Indonesia Raya, as well as other patriotic songs.
Acting as mentors are dozens of military and government officials, who are also supposed to teach the participants various skills, such as sewing and agricultural skills.
Before returning home, the participants are required to swear an oath of loyalty to the Unitary Republic of Indonesia.
Although they will be allowed to go home upon completion of the program, they will be prohibited from leaving Aceh pending a presidential amnesty, which is still being discussed by the central government.
| West Papua |
Jakarta Post - April 13, 2004
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura -- The number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Papua province now reaches 1,398 and has sparked concern among Papuans and local health officials.
Of the total, 912 people have been diagnosed HIV-positive and 486 have developed AIDS.
The disease has killed 172 people in Papua since it was first detected in the province in 1992, according to data obtained from Papua Administration health office.
Executive Director John Rahail of the Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association (PKBI) in Papua said on Monday that the number of people who had contracted the deadly disease could be much higher and that the current figure may only be the tip of the iceberg.
He estimated that the actual number of people with HIV/AIDS could be 10 times the current figure.
He said if the estimated figure -- 1/17 of the 2.4 million-strong Papuan population -- was correct, it meant that Papua was overrun by the disease.
Rahail said the had virus spread evenly across almost all areas in the province, including remote areas.
A recent survey conducted by the Papua health office discovered that, in the Waris area on the border of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, three out of the 383 people surveyed had contracted the disease.
In Puncak Jaya regency, provincial health officials recorded one HIV-positive case; in Jayawijaya regency, eight were HIV- positive, while in Nabire regency, 14 people had contracted HIV and 44 had developed AIDS. Merauke regency has the greatest number of HIV/AIDS cases at 561, followed by Timika regency with 514 cases and Jayapura regency with 101 cases.
Rahail said the spread of HIV/AIDS in remote areas was mostly caused by the negative habits of native villagers. For example, some individuals went to towns and procured the services of sex workers, after which they returned to their home villages and passed on HIV/AIDS to their partners.
Rahail added that economic hardships and urbanization had contributed to the alarming number of people infected with the deadly disease, as more and more rural women were traveling to urban areas due to a lack of jobs at home and became sex workers.
Data provided by Mother's Hope Foundation supported this trend, finding that 90 percent of 284 sex workers surveyed recently in Jayapura, the capital of Papua, were native Papuans.
Another factor contributing into the high number of people infected with the lethal disease was the lack of public awareness and knowledge on HIV/AIDS.
Gunawan Ongkokusumo from the AIDS Stop Action-Family Health International asserted that local residents were generally active with several different partners, but rarely used condoms and contributed to the rapid spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
Associated Press - April 1, 2004
Jakarta -- Prosecutors have indicted two senior police officers on charges of allowing their men to torture hundreds of people in the eastern province of Papua, officials said on Thursday.
Proceedings against the commander of the Brimbob paramilitary police unit, Brig. Gen. Johny Wainal, and police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Daud Sihombing of the provincial capital of Jayapura will be the firstrights trials held in eastern Indonesia, government prosecutor Mailan Syarief said.
Both officers are charged with "not preventing or stopping the violence" perpetrated by men under their command and with not handing them over to authorities for prosecution. If convicted, they could face a maximum punishment of 25 years in prison.
The case centers on an incident on December 7, 2000, when dozens of Papuans set ablaze a police station in the provincial capital of Jayapura. After the mob killed a policeman and wounded threeothers, police arrested and abused hundreds of villagers suspected of involvement in the violence. Three teenagers died in police custody after allegedly being tortured by the officers.
Human rights groups have slammed the Indonesian government for delaying prosecution of those responsible for the deaths. "We will be ready to try this case after judges from Jakarta arrive because they are more qualified for human rights cases," said Andi Haedar, head of the court in the city of Makassar, South Sulawesi, where the trial will be held.
He said he received the indictments on Wednesday and that a date for the trial had not been set. Dozens of witnesses will be brought from Jayapura to Makassar to testify at the trial, said Adnan Buyung Azis from the Makassar legal aid body.
| Labour issues |
Jakarta Post - April 16, 2004
Surabaya -- About 1,800 workers from household appliance company PT Kyung Dong Indonesia (KDI) in Sidoarjo staged a protest on Thursday at the East Java gubernatorial office on Jl. Pahlawan, Surabaya.
They demanded Governor Imam Utomo to prevent the closure of the company.
The protesters, who called themselves the Indonesian Metal Workers Federation, arrived on motorcycles, in trucks and private cars at 10:30 a.m. They raised dozens of posters and banners that read, "Uphold justice and pay attention to the plight and rights of workers" and "No to mass dismissal and stop discriminating workers".
They alternately spoke from atop the trucks, and one protester urged the governor and manpower and transmigration minister to fully intervene in PT KDI's planned closure.
Damianus, vice chairman of the federation, said the group had staged the protest at the governor's office upon the hope that the governor would intercede in the affair on behalf of the 1,762 PT KDI workers. However, they were not able to meet the governor.
Instead, they were received by the local welfare agency chief, Bramantyo, and the head of the East Java Committee for the Settlement of Labor Disputes, Pasaribu.
Jakarta Post - April 12, 2004
Jakarta -- Around 4,000 former employees of defunct aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia (DI) have demanded that the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) investigate alleged human rights abuses during the company's controversial massive retrenchment last year.
The workers are charging that the West Java-based company abused their rights when it arbitrarily closed down without prior notice.
"When the company shut its office on July 12, many workers were receiving treatment at the company hospital. But because they turned off the lights and the hospital denied them further treatment, several workers died and others suffered mental duress that it affected their health," said the workers' lawyer, Lamria Siagian, recently.
She said the workers and their families suffered many negative impacts. For example, their children were expelled from school because they could not afford tuition any longer.
Lamria also accused the company of lying about the number of workers who had accepted the compensation fund.
| Reformasi |
Fpdra.com - April 18, 2004
M. Ilham, Jakarta -- The United Opposition Front (Barisan Oposisi Bersatu, BOB) and the Indonesian Trade Union Action Committee (Komite Aksi Serikat Buruh Indonesia, KASBI) are calling for a national strike on May 1 to coincide with May Day. According to Anwar M. from KASBI, the action is not just a routine commemoration of May Day but represents a form of resistance by workers against government policies which do not support the interests of workers.
Dita Indah Sari from BOB said that the May 1 actions would be used by workers to articulate their position on the results of the 2004 general elections which workers do not believe will result in changes to the government's policies on labour. Sari said that the May 1 action will be followed by a national strike in all factories and state owned industries. It is also hoped that as an act of solidarity, the Indonesian public will cease all activities on the day.
Sari and Anwar estimate that the May 1 action will be joined by thousands of people who will converge on Jakarta while in other parts of the country they will gather in their respective cities. The May 1 actions will not only be demanding improvements to people's welfare but must also be seen as a form of political resistance by workers.
Meanwhile, the chairperson of the People's Democratic Party, Yusuf Lakaseng, said that the May 1 action must become a turning point for the unification of workers to take power away out of the hands of the bourgeoisie who oppress workers and farmers in Indonesia.
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Fpdra.com - April 18, 2004
Alisa P, Jakarta -- Speaking at the offices of the Dakwah Muhammaddyah, Munir SH, the executive director of Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) said that National Mandate Party (PAN) chairperson Amin Rais must be responsible for the reformasi stalling. Especially since Rais is attempting to team up with the military as his partner in the coming presidential elections.
Munir said that this is a mistake and criticised Rais as a traitor of reformasi. If there is a perception that people miss the military it is mistaken, the one's who miss the military are only the urban middle class while in villages in Aceh, were farmers are being killed by the military in land disputes, of course they will not forget the military's crimes said Munir.
Rais' desire to team up with the military in the presidential elections has received a great deal of criticism from a number of groups, Rais' attitude represents a betrayal of reformasi and Rais' claims to be a locomotive of reformasi is merely to attract support, said Wahyu from the Action Study Circle for Indonesian Democracy (LS-ADI).
Like Munir, many figures from the Islamic mass organisation Muhammaddyah [from which Rais draws his main base of political support] also feel disappointed with Rais' desire to invite the military to be his partners. One particular figure from Muhammaddyah in Aceh said that to date neither Rais or PAN have a program to resolve the Aceh question democratically. It is this situation which is of great concern, that reformasi will not be able to be saved and New Order regime together with the military will return to power.
[Translated by James Balowski.]
| 'War on terrorism' |
Counterpunch - February 16-29, 2004
Ben Terrall -- In the first visit to Indonesia by a Bush cabinet official since George W.'s October "trip to al-Qaeda hell" (in the words of an unnamed White House official quoted by the New York Times) John Ashcroft flew to Bali in early February to attend a two-day regional conference on terrorism.
Though his appearance was described as a show of support for President Megawati Sukarnoputri, like George W. before him Ashcroft was more successful at further alienating most Indonesians who heard what he had to say.
This time around hatred of Washington was stoked by a refusal to turn alleged Al-qaeda bigwig and Bali bombing planner Hambali over to Jakarta, though Bush had earlier assured Megawati that the prize captive, whom US
authorities apprehended in Thailand, would be made available to her government.
Ashcroft said he was "not able to give a time frame" for when the prisoner would be made available for questioning by Indonesian authorities.
"We're working toward providing access consistent with fighting terror in a comprehensive way," Ashcroft said in a bureaucratic approximation of his commander-in-chief's mangled syntax, adding that the US was still considering "competing impacts" of giving up the suspect. An Indonesian government spokesman responded that a reasonable timeframe would have been "several months ago" as "Time is of the essence to strengthen our cases against people we're bringing to trial." Sidney Jones, with the solidly mainstream International Crisis Group, commented, "It is a repeated slap in the face that [the Indonesians] have been asked to do so much as a result of American pressure and they ask for something and get stonewalled." Visiting Indonesia on March 10, Tom Ridge blasted Jakarta for releasing an Islamic cleric accused of involvement in the Bali bombing but stonewalled on Hambail, saying, "this is a matter that still has to be determined at a later date."
Of course, as uncertain as his current whereabouts and condition is (the accused bomber is being held in one of those infamous "undisclosed locations"), Hambali would hardly be treated with kid gloves by Indonesian security forces.
As an Asia Times online commentator delicately put it in discussing Jakarta's contribution to the "war on terror," "insufficient attention is given to the due process of the law, a problem that Indonesia suffers in no small degree."
That "problem" has rarely been a hindrance to US cooperation with Jakarta, which has only been blocked due to constant work by the East Timor Action Network and other human rights activists. At the beginning of 2004 the US Congress renewed a ban on International Military Education and Training (IMET) aid for the Indonesian military, largely because of Indonesian military (TNI) involvement in the killing of a US citizen, but activist pressure could not stop funding for the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service Task Force 88, an "antiterror" unit consisting of troops from Indonesia's notorious Mobile Brigade (Brimob) police. More than $12 million was spent to build a training facility south of Jakarta for twenty-four Indonesian police, who fired more than 30,000 bullets in a six week course taught by US special forces veterans. Time Asia's Jason Tedjasukmana wrote, "By the end of 2005, another $12 million will have gone toward forging a team of 400 Indonesian investigators, explosives experts and snipers, armed with high-end American weaponry, including assault vehicles, Colt M-4 assault rifles, Armalite AR-10 sniper rifles and Remington 870 shotguns."
In another police training program, the US government is working with the International Labor Organization to (allegedly) encourage less repressive labor relations. But Indonesian Minister of Manpower Jacob Nuwa Wea raised doubts about the wisdom of spending $40 million on teaching Indonesian police "democratic values" when he explained, "if they (workers) are out of order, it's o.k. for the police to slap them around a little bit. We often slap our children at home if they are naughty, don't we?"
In addition to savage campaigns against civilians in Aceh and Papua, Brimob has recently been implicated in violently displacing villagers in South Sulawesi. The Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions reports, "between August-October 2003, more than 15,000 people have been forcibly evicted in Jakarta and other cities by the City Council Commissions. In the community of Jembatan Besi, dozens of police, accompanied by bulldozers, violently evicted hundreds of people from their homes, demolishing some structures when people were still inside."
Such atrocities are of little concern to US elites busily recommending "Washington consensus" economic policies for Indonesia. That work is the bread and butter of the National Commission on US-Indonesia Relations, made up of "prominent Americans" including Bechtel Board Member George Shultz, former commander of the Pacific Fleet Dennis Blair and veteran Democratic Party hawk Lee Hamilton. The commission issued a fifty-eight page report in 2003 on "Strengthening US Relations with Indonesia" that soft-pedals continued TNI repression with the phrase "problems remain in several areas, and reform will take a long time"; it also recycles the convenient passive-voice statement "Indonesia is handicapped by the legacy of more than 40 years of authoritarian rule", without a hint of the key role the US government and US-based corporations played in propping up the Suharto regime for more than three decades. The report stresses that Indonesia, "occupying some of the world's most strategic real estate," is important because "it has huge natural resources and a strategic location astride major sea lines of communication... including the oil and mineral sectors, Indonesia is home to an estimated $25 billion in US
investment, with more than 300 major US firms represented in the country." Not surprisingly, it concludes, "A free trade agreement would go a long way to demonstrate our special relationship with Indonesia."
US Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph Boyce recently said, "There is no better friend of Indonesia today than the US I think Indonesia's transition to democracy is one of the quiet success stories of the new millennium." But in the current run up to presidential and parliamentary elections, that "transition" is dominated by Indonesian military veterans, including General Wiranto, a presidential candidate who UN prosecutors have indicted for crimes against humanity in East Timor.
As usual, Washington's "friendship" is largely skewed toward military elements with a questionable commitment to democracy. As Indonesia specialist Jeffrey Winters puts it, "The two entities most responsible for reinvigorating military influence in Indonesian society since the fall of (Suharto) are Megawati and the US government."
While in Bali, Ashcroft praised plans for April parliamentary elections and a July presidential election. "These elections solidify Indonesia's status as one of the world's leading democracies," he said. "In this both ethnically and religiously diverse country, you could not have done this without your long held tradition of tolerance which sets an example for the world to follow."
That "tradition of tolerance" is far from obvious in Aceh, where human rights researcher Aguswandi argues "the conflict... is basically the problem of the politics in Indonesia an inability of Indonesia to transform itself into a more democratic, less militaristic state." Crackdowns on dissent in that war-torn region have included use of anti-terrorist legislation passed in 2003 to send negotiators from Aceh peace talks to jail on trumped-up charges. A young Acehnese man was also recently sentenced to three years for organizing a rally where protestors carried banners reading "A Peaceful Indonesia means freedom for Aceh" and "Aceh is a killing fields."
On August 5, 2003, Indonesia's ad-hoc court on war crimes in East Timor (which Human Rights Watch called a "sham") found General Adam Damiri guilty of crimes against humanity in East Timor. Despite this conviction, Damiri was promoted to Assistant for Operations to the Chief of the General Staff, where he has overseen military operations in Aceh similar to the ones he directed in East Timor in 1999.
At the other end of the archipelago, on December 1, 2003, the Indonesian government announced that Timbul Silaen would be the new chief of police in Papua. Previously police chief in East Timor during the horrific violence of 1998 and 1999, Silaen has been indicted for war crimes by a UN-led team of prosecutors in East Timor but was acquitted of similar charges by Jakarta's ad hoc court. Notorious militia leader Eurico Guterres, who conducted murderous attacks on East Timorese civilians in 1999, is also beginning operations in Papua.
Hendardi, who heads Indonesia's Human Rights and Legal Aid Association, said "This is to show the public that the military did nothing wrong in East Timor. It means they do not care about justice. The perpetrators (of the violence) are being rewarded."
Ashcroft stressed that the US "recognizes that many governments in this region have limited resources to fight the scourge of terrorism. We're looking for ways to further our cooperation in the region, cooperation against terror networks."
Ashcroft was unfortunately not referring to the infamous Kopassus special forces, of which Australian Professor Damien Kingsbury noted, "The history of Kopsassus'...activities reads more like that of a terrorist organization, which is not surprising given that the techniques and tactics of terror are explicitly outlined in a confidential Kopassus training manual."
A 2002 study for the US Naval Postgraduate School noted that the Indonesian army had become "a major facilitator of terrorism" via "the radical Muslim militias they had organized, trained, and financed." The study noted that the army financed one of these groups, Laskar Jihad, "with money embezzled from its defense budget, estimated to be about $9.3 million." Laskar Jihad has killed thousands of civilians in Maluku.
Ed McWilliams, Political Counselor at the US Embassy in Jakarta from 1996 to 1999, describes Pembela Islam ("Defense of Islam") as another Islamic terror group with ties to the military, and says this outfit "basically has conducted retaliatory actions for racketeers, including military operatives." McWilliams told Counterpunch that "I saw members of Pembela Islam directly involved in the Fall 1998 anti-Ambonese riots that struck Jakarta. In one incident, the remains of an Ambonese who had been hacked to death after found hiding in an ally was brought before a crowd that the PI was addressing. PI spokesmen led the crowd in cheers." But, as in the US, the more practical reasons for a war on terror do not include reigning in an out of control military. In the words of veteran Indonesian activist Munir, Megawati is using security "to win public support, which is in doubt because of her failure to deal with economic problems, unemployment and corruption."
Agence France Presse - April 16, 2004
Indonesian police have officially declared jailed Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir a suspect in terrorism cases, the attorney general's office said.
A defence lawyer said Bashir was now unlikely to be freed from prison on April 30 after serving a sentence for lesser offences.
"The Jakarta prosecutors' office has received a letter from police declaring the start of an investigation into Abu Bakar Bashir," attorney general's spokesman Kemas Yahya Rahman told AFP. This means Bashir has been declared a suspect, Rahman said. He did not know what case Bashir had been implicated in.
National police chief Da'i Bachtiar confirmed Bashir would be questioned as a suspect. "As to what his role is, it's still being investigated," he said.
The US and other foreign governments say the elderly cleric led the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) -- the group blamed for the Bali nightclub bombings of October 2002, in which 202 people died, and for a string of other deadly attacks.
An appeal court had quashed Bashir's conviction for involvement with JI but confirmed a jail term for immigration offences and document forgery.
Defence lawyer Wirawan Adnan said he doubted Bashir would be freed as scheduled. Suspects can be detained for up to six months without charge in Indonesia under an anti-terror law.
"This shows that they are acting on orders from the United States. They are trying to satisfy the US at all costs. We suspect that the move is a kickback for something," Adnan told AFP.
Police indicated they have new evidence that Bashir headed JI. National detective chief Inspector General Suyitno Landung told local radio that Bashir would be interrogated as the leader of "an organisation which is discreet and secretive in nature." "Testimony from witnesses in Malaysia and Singapore shows there is a link between that organisation and Abu Bakar Bashir, who leads that organisation," Landung said without mentioning Jemaah Islamiyah.
The United States, Australia and Singapore all expressed disappointment after the Supreme Court in March halved Bashir's three-year prison sentence for the immigration offences.
Koran Tempo newspaper quoted an unidentified prosecution source as saying Bashir would be charged with involvement in several bombings along with Abu Rusdan, the self-confessed JI caretaker chief.
A Jakarta court in February jailed Rusdan for three-and-a-half years for shielding key Bali bomber Mukhlas from justice. The source said both men would probably be tried together.
A police spokesman said this month they would use testimony and statements from terror suspects detained in the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore in the Bashir probe.
The spokesman said police would also study transcripts of US interviews with top terror suspect Hambali, who has been in US custody since his arrest last August in Thailand.
Bashir, 65, denies the allegations as a Jewish and US plot to smear Islam. He was arrested in hospital a week after the Bali bombings but was never officially implicated in that case.
When his trial began in April 2003, prosecutors alleged he headed JI, authorised the network's church bombings in Indonesia which killed 19 people on Christmas Eve 2000 and plotted to blow up US targets in Singapore.
In September 2003 Bashir was convicted of taking part in a JI plot to overthrow the government but judges said there was no proof he had led the network. That conviction was overturned on appeal.
Bashir co-founded an Islamic boarding school in Central Java from which numerous convicted terrorists including some of the Bali bombers graduated.
| 2004 elections |
Fpdra.com - April 18, 2004
Alisa, Jakarta -- Dita Indah Sari from the United Opposition Front (Barisan Oposisi Bersatu, BOB) has strongly criticised the current crop of presidential candidates who are creating illusions, such as [former Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security] Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), [National Mandate Party chairperson] Amin Rais and [Justice and Prosperity Party chairperson, PKS] Hidayat Nurwahid.
According to Sari, they are creating illusions in the minds of ordinary people while in reality they have yet to put forward any kind of program to resolve the country's problems.
On the question of foreign colonialism, militarism and corruption we can see that they have no program to resolve these problems, instead, I am convinced that they will prolong these problems, especially if someone like SBY who has a military background [becomes president] said Sari.
According to Sari, SBY is the person most responsible for crimes against humanity in Aceh since martial law came into forces so you cannot say that SBY is clean and hasn't committed crimes.
Like Sari, Acehnese women's activist Suraiya also said that SBY is the person most responsible for martial law in Aceh. Likewise, Amin Rais was the speaker of the People's Representative Assembly when the policy on martial law as formulated. However she was suppressed that the PKS has also gone along with martial law in Aceh when they have consistently opposed military aggression in Iraq yet on the issue of Aceh have not had the courage to oppose the military.
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Jakarta Post - April 17, 2004
Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta -- The emergence of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the Democratic Party as the two parties that have garnered the most votes for the Jakarta City Council has come as something of a surprise.
As of 8:30 p.m. on Friday, the PKS had taken 894,801 votes, or around 23.15 percent of the overall vote, followed by the Democratic party with 781,860 votes, or 20.23 percent, according to the provisional results issued by the General Elections Commissions (KPU).
The PKS, which contested the 1999 elections under the name of the Justice Party (PK), only got four seats on the council back then. As for the Democratic Party, this is the first year it has contested the election.
Sociologist Paulus Wirutomo told The Jakarta Post that the fact that the PKS and Democratic Party had emerged seemingly out of nowhere was a reflection of the public's political awareness and intelligence.
"People living in urban areas, even the uneducated, have begun to realize that the government does bad things to them, such as carrying out evictions. They know that they have to pick other alternatives such as the PKS or the Democratic Party," he said.
"People see the PKS as being the one party that is well organized, highly disciplined, able to work as a team and which has spirited party members. They are tireless going door to door campaigning for their party." Paulus also said that most of the two parties' voters were not bound to the parties, and many were swing voters. However, he said that this was a sign that Indonesian people were becoming more rational in selecting who to vote for.
"This attitude is definitely a good sign. These political parties realize that their voters will turn to other parties if they don't keep their promises in government," he said. Therefore, he added, these parties would try hard to secure their positions by performing well so that their voters would not desert them.
Paulus further explained that while there were still many traditional voters in urban areas, the majority of these were found in rural areas. If they voted for a particular party in previous elections, they would vote for that party again.
This is what happened to the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which currently dominates the city council with 29 seats. "The PDI-P is definitely a strong party with a lot of money. Therefore, they can easily win support from the people," he said.
The KPU online ballot count stated that 75-year-old cosmetics businesswoman Mooryati Soedibyo still topped the Regional Representative Council (DPD) poll with 442,031 votes.
She was followed by veteran politician Sarwono Kusumaatmadja with 431,363 votes, native Jakartan (Betawi) radio entrepreneur Biem Triani Benyamin with 340,485 votes and Marwan Batubara in the fourth place with 299,737 votes.
Reuters - April 16, 2004
Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta -- Imagine trying to run a country where your political party controls less than one tenth of the seats in parliament.
Indonesia's former chief security minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, will face that challenge should opinion polls prove right and he wins the country's first direct presidential election this year.
His Democrat Party won just seven percent of the April 5 parliamentary poll. That means the respected Yudhoyono would need to strike solid coalition agreements with bigger parties to get a workable majority in Indonesia's feisty parliament.
But there is no sign he is near a deal even though candidates must register in two weeks for the July 5 race.
Some say dealing with former ruling parties could hurt Yudhoyono, who since quitting President Megawati Sukarnoputri's cabinet last month has surged to favourite in the presidential race.
Many Indonesians believe he would represent a break from the past and deliver more jobs and cleaner government. However, his skyrocketing popularity only helped his party to fifth place in the parliamentary poll, still a respectable showing for a group that previously was largely unknown.
Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party Struggle (PDI-P) appears certain to lose the top spot in parliament to Golkar, the former political vehicle of autocratic president Suharto. Golkar predicts it will get around a quarter of the seats.
Short of allies
"It's hard to see who he's going to be able to link up with. If the way he's packaging himself is as a reformer, promising something different, then of course he can't align himself with PDI-P and Golkar," said William Liddle, a leading expert on Indonesia from Ohio State University.
"At the same time if he gets elected he has to bring those forces in. He cannot rule without some decent relationship with Golkar and it would help to have some support from PDI-P."
Both Golkar and PDI-P are expected to field presidential candidates on July 5, giving Yudhoyono no choice but to stitch a deal with Muslim-oriented parties.
Getting policies through parliament, the bane of previous presidents, might come at a price should he win. "He will need to pay expensive political concessions to other parties.
The degree of diversity in his cabinet will be a lot higher than Megawati's," said defence analyst Kusnanto Anggoro of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
Abdurrahman Wahid, the president before Megawati, lasted less than two years after his battles with parliament prompted legislators to sack him for incompetence in 2001. His party had won around 12 percent of the previous parliamentary poll.
Indecisive or prudent?
But while Wahid was mercurial and infuriated many, Yudhoyono, 54, is a bridge builder. Some critics say that means he takes too much time weighing strategy and won't take risks.
"There are two impressions. One is of the hesitant guy, the guy who can't make up his mind. The other side is the careful decision maker," Liddle said.
Yudhoyono's military record shows he is no gung-ho leader. The English-speaking Yudhoyono attended more training courses in Western countries while in uniform than assignments in Indonesia's separatist hot spots.
One general once labelled him an "air-conditioner general," although Yudhoyono did lead Indonesia's peacekeeping contingent to Bosnia in the mid 1990s.
But Anggoro, who has spent time discussing security policies with Yudhoyono, said he had some solid attributes. "Yudhoyono's gift is being articulate," he said. "Yes, he has never been a commander-in-chief in real conflict. But his background, experience and training will make him a president who can wield authority more than Megawati."
Yudhoyono topped his class at Indonesia's military academy in 1973. His father and father-in-law were soldiers. So, would an unflappable former general who does not have blood on his hands but then no solid political base either make a good choice for president? Indonesians may soon find out.
[Additional reporting by Dean Yates.]
Asia Times - April 17, 2004
Andreas Harsono, Jakarta -- A retired army general, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is likely to be President Megawati Sukarnoputri's most serious challenger in Indonesia's presidential election in July, judging by an opinion poll and the views of political analysts.
Meanwhile, as of Friday afternoon, with more than 89 million out of a possible 147 million votes counted electronically, the Golkar Party founded by former dictator Suharto appeared poised to win the April 5 parliamentary elections.
Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P) had 17.5 million votes, trailing Golkar by more than a million votes.
The presidential race is heating up such that a poll released on Wednesday indicated that 84 percent of Indonesians want a new president after the July 5 vote, which will be the country's first direct presidential election.
The poll says that Yudhoyono, also a former member of Megawati's cabinet, is the popular favorite with about 28 percent of the vote in the poll.
Megawati, who is seeking another term as president, got 14 percent support in the opinion poll. Akbar Tanjung, chairman of the Golkar Party, who is also eyeing the presidency, was not even among the top five.
The survey, by the London-based group Taylor Nelson, was conducted among 1,016 voters across Indonesia between March 26 and April 1 and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
"It's difficult now to stop Yudhoyono. He is going to be the next president if nothing unusual happens between now and July," said Indonesian activist Liem Sioe Liong of the London-based Tapol human-rights group.
Many Indonesians are looking for a leader who is seen to be clean and at the same time strong. They also want stability and economic growth that has not quite come back since the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
A common public perception is that Yudhoyono is honest, and his military credentials also create a view among some that he will bring discipline into his administration.
Megawati, daughter of Indonesia's founding father Sukarno, is often seen as a weak leader. She has been credited with bringing political and economic stability to Indonesia since she came to power in 2001 after Abdurrahman Wahid. But critics say she is too aloof and has done little to crack down on graft or improve living standards for the country's poor.
At the same time, Yudhoyono "is a general but he is more a civilian than a hawkish general", Indonesian political observer Bill Liddle of Ohio State University told Radio 68H here.
In the wake of the vote count so far in the parliamentary poll, the Megawati camp is now working to control the damage by moving to reorganize her campaign strategy ahead of the July poll.
In terms of percentage as of Friday, PDI-P secured 19.67 percent of the tally while Golkar led with 21 percent of votes. In the 1999 election, the PDI-P won 33.7 percent of the vote to win the top spot, with Golkar coming second with 22.5 percent.
The workers of the Golkar Party, established by Indonesia's authoritarian president Suharto in the late 1960s, are jubilant. "We are already No 1. We are the winners of this election and we will fight for the presidency," Tanjung said Wednesday.
Under Indonesia's revised electoral system, Golkar's lead does not mean that its presidential candidate -- to be decided at a convention on Monday -- has an edge. In the Suharto days, members of parliament would vote for the president, but this time, more than 100 million voters will directly cast ballots for president.
But Golkar's bigger numbers in parliament would give it the privilege to have a candidate in the running for the presidency. Election rules provide that only parties that get more than 5 percent of votes can nominate presidential and vice-presidential candidates.
Tanjung himself does not automatically become his party's presidential nominee. Critics say his public image was badly damaged because of his involvement in a corruption case, although the Supreme Court acquitted him.
Megawati has also been busy making a last-minute effort to prepare for the presidential race, setting up the "Mega Center" where her closest advisers are supposed to draw up a new campaign strategy and to pick a running mate.
This is the same strategy used by her rivals, who include Amien Rais, parliamentary Speaker, as well as Yudhoyono. Both have asked a number of intellectuals and party thinkers to spearhead their campaign strategy through a think-tank.
But heated arguments marked the weekly meeting of Megawati's party on Tuesday, where everyone blamed everyone else, news reports said. In the end, they could not even agree on the establishment of the Mega Center.
Kwik Kian Gie, a longtime adviser to Megawati and a cabinet member, left before the meeting was over. In an agitated tone, he told the media that he doubted whether the new team could help to restore the public confidence in his party.
"I know nothing about the Mega Center, I'm not part of it. But how can you [persuade] Indonesian people to vote for one figure in such a short time?" he asked.
Presidential and vice-presidential candidates need not come from the same political party, which is why Indonesian politicians are busy horse-trading to assemble winning combinations.
Yudhoyono's upstart Democrat Party had secured 6.6 million votes or 7.5 percent of votes as of Friday. While this gives his party room to nominate him for the presidential race, he would need to build an alliance with one or more other political parties to secure his bid for the country's highest post.
Yudhoyono has not said who his running mate would be, but speculation is rife here that he would ask businessman Jusuf Kalla to be his vice-presidential candidate. The logic is that Yudhoyono is Javanese, a member of the largest ethnic group in Indonesia, and he needs a non-Javanese running mate to gain votes from the outer islands. Kalla is a Bugis businessman from South Sulawesi province.
Kalla is a Golkar Party presidential nominee, although he is not seen to be a strong contender to Akbar Tanjung.
Tanjung's closest rival for the Golkar presidential nomination is Wiranto, another retired army general, who has been indicted on human-rights abuses in East Timor, especially after its 1999 independence vote.
If the results of surveys are borne out in the coming months, no single candidate would win more than 50 percent of votes in the July election to become Indonesia's first directly elected president. This would force a September run-off election between the two candidates who get the most number of votes on July 5.
Jakarta Post - April 17, 2004
A. Junaidi, Jakarta -- The favorite pairing for the next president and vice president is Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, cofounder of the Democratic Party and Jusuf Kalla of the Golkar Party, a survey which findings were revealed on Friday said.
The couple defeated president incumbent Megawati Soekarnoputri and Vice President Hamzah Haz, the survey by the Soegeng Sarjadi Syndicated (SSS) showed. Held in 33 cities/regencies in 15 provinces, it revealed that Susilo, the former security minister, was prefered for president by 43 percent of 5,000 respondents while Megawati was only chosen by 20.5 respondents.
"With Susilo's military background and Jusuf's business experience, people viewed them as an ideal pair that could solve current problems security and economics," SSS executive director Sukardi Rinakit said. The results echoed that of recent polls such as the one by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) in which most of 2,760 respondents in 32 provinces prefered Susilo as the sixth president.
The poll conducted between April 10-14 placed the leader of National Mandate Party Amien Rais (11.78 percent), Golkar leader Akbar Tandjung (7.5 percent) and former military chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto (5.28 percent), in the third, fourth and fifth place.
For vice president, Sukardi said respondents favored Kalla who is also Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare (20.5 percent) over Hidayat Nurwahid, leader of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), who gained 15.78 percent.
The results showing the preferred couple was "surprising", Sukardi said, adding that the names were given by respondents who replied to open questions.
He said people viewed Susilo as the underdog victimized by the Megawati leadership, just like the reaction reflected in the results of the 1999 elections toward Megawati herself and her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) under the oppressive New Order regime.
Observer Muslim Abdurrahman who also addressed the discussion of the survey's presentation, urged people close to Susilo and Kalla to convince them to coalesce.
"In particular people close to Kalla should convince him to resign from the current Golkar convention," Muslim said, even though Kalla has indicated that he might be more interested in the vice presidency.
According to a survey conducted by Kompas daily involving 2,006 respondents which was announced on Monday, 58.7 percent of respondents preferred a national leader with military backgrounds.
Jakarta Post - April 17, 2004
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- A group of professionals, religious leaders, students, organizations and senior military officers announced on Friday a movement to gather support for presidential hopeful Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Susilo was not present for the announcement but met with senior military officers earlier in the day to share his political vision before attending Friday prayers at the Jakarta Military Command.
Susilo was chief of staff of the city's military command in 1996, the year of the attack on the Jakarta headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) to oust a camp led by current President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
Claiming to be independent, the group said Susilo should engage more with the grassroots if he was serious about becoming president. Yani Wahid, a member of the movement, said Susilo was a "new phenomenon who brings promise to the uncertain political situation".
The group, which said it was funded by individual members, added that it was ready to educate people about how to best channel their political aspirations, and would establish "posts" nationwide to introduce their presidential candidate.
As of late Friday, Susilo's three-year-old Democratic Party stood fifth in the provisional tally from the April 5 legislative election with 7 million votes, or about 8 percent of the over 147 million registered voters.
Because it has garnered more than 5 percent of the popular vote and stands to win more than 3 percent of the seats in the 550- seat House of Representatives, the Democratic Party is eligible to nominate a candidate for the July 5 presidential election.
Political parties must register their presidential candidates from May 1 to May 7.
Over the past several weeks, Susilo has met with several party leaders, including Abdurrahman Wahid from the National Awakening Party (PKB), Yusril Ihza Mahendra from the Crescent Star Party (PBB), Hidayat Nur Wahid from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and several executives from the Golkar Party.
Susilo has yet to declare which party he is working with or indicate a possible vice presidential running mate.
During Friday's meeting with some 25 senior military officers, Susilo outlined his political vision for the nation.
Those in attendance included Lt. Gen. (ret) Harsudiono Hartas, a former military chief of social and political affairs, Lt. Gen. (ret) Kharis Suhud, a former speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly, and Lt. Gen. (ret) TB Silalahi, a former minister of administrative reform.
Radio Australia - April 16, 2004
Indonesia's Golkar party, the former political machine of retired dictator Suharto, looks set to reassume dominance on the country's political landscape. Just six years after being ousted from office, Golkar is poised to win this month's legislative election. It's now eyeing a prize unthinkable just a few years ago -- winning the presidential elections. The dilemma however, is choosing between convicted embezzler -- Akbar Tandjung or an indicted war crimes suspect -- former armed forces chief, General Wiranto.
Presenter/Interviewer: Marianne Kearney
Speakers: Akbar Tandjung, Golkar presidential candidate; retired General Wiranto, Golkar presidential candidate; Greg Fealy, Research Fellow and Lecturer in Indonesian Politics at the Australian National University
Kearney: (RALLY SFX) That was general Wiranto, one of six presidential candidates campaigning in Gunung Kidul Central Java prior to the parliamentary elections.
And Indonesians have obviously bought Golkar's message -- that if they were running the country life would not be so tough for the ordinary Indonesian. Having won over the majority of the Indonesian electorate however Golkar still needs to pick its presidential candidate.
Competing for the job is in a US style convention on April 20th are: Golkar chief -- Akbar Tandjung, former armed forces commander Wiranto, another former general Prabowo Subianto, media magnate Suryo Paloh, welfare minister Yusuf Kalla, and businessman Aburizal Bakrie.
However, this is essentially a two horse race -- between Wiranto an indicted war crimes suspect and the consummate politician Akbar Tandjung.
The former armed forces commander, General Wiranto is far more popular, particularly as he is able to tap into a widespread desire for a strong government. Not too many Indonesians care that he has been indicted by Dili for failing to prevent the wholesale destruction of East Timor in 1999.
Sarjowono: "Because Mr Wiranto is a former military member and maybe because he's from the forces he'll be more disciplined and responsible as a president,"
Kearney: So says 25 year old, Sarjowono, an unemployed man from Central Java.
And Wiranto argues that because of his record dealing with crises such as Timor and the overthrow of Suharto, he is the better candidate. He's also confident that at the grassroots level of Golkar leaders, he has more support.
Wiranto: This I have proved that I can take on this, and as a leader of the military, and also within the structure of the bureaucracy I have participated in government during several national crises, in a way that is very persuasive in order to minimise destruction. And this is what is needed for the future of this country.
Kearney: Ironically though it is not his alleged crimes in East Timor or even his failure to stop widespread rioting during the downfall of Suharto, that may prevent Wiranto from winning the presidential nomination.
Instead it is the political prowess of Tandjung that poses the greatest obstacle to Wiranto's rise. Despite only recently having a $6 million corruption conviction against him overturned, Golkar's supremo appears determined to run for president.
Akbar: "If the court already decide I'm free all the people should appreciate the decision of the court. I'm traveling all over Indonesia and I meet the people. I don't feel the people don't like me, I see the people and I think no problem."
Senior Golkar leaders such as Golkar vice-chairman Theo Sambuaga say that it was Tandjung who won these elections for Golkar, and therefore he will be nominated.
Sambuaga: Akbar I am confident will win, because at least two factors, he won already his case two months ago, and the second factor, is under his leadership, we won this parliamentary elections and those who are going to vote for him are those local Golkar leaders who were also working with us for the parliamentary elections.
Kearney: Strangely it is Tandjung with his corruption tainted past, rather than Wiranto, who will be the harder nominee to sell to the Indonesian public say analysts.
But within Golkar, Tandjung is the far more powerful politician and loyantly to Tandjung, rather than concerns about human rights abuses is probably what will sway Golkar members next week says Greg Fealy, an academic from ANU.
Fealy: "I'd still say that Akbar is the favourite more so than Wiranto, despite his low popularity ratings. I think the Golkar machine think they can sell him. But he's still got to get elected in the convention. And the view seems to be at the grassroots branch level there is lot of skepticism about him, people who are closer to the general community realise that it will be difficult for him to attract enough votes. But people in the higher levels at the provincial and national levels, a lot of these people owe a lot of debt to Akbar and admire what he's done with Golkar to build the party since the Suharto era. So I think they're very reluctant to abandon his cause."
Agence France Presse - April 17, 2004
The Golkar party of former dictator Suharto maintained its lead in Indonesia's general election but a rival demanded party leader Akbar Tanjung resign ahead of a convention to choose the party's presidential candidate.
With 90 million votes counted after the April 5 poll, Golkar had 21.04 percent of the votes compared to 19.59 percent for President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
Retired general Wiranto, seen by many as Tanjung's strongest rival among Golkar's six presidential hopefuls, said Tanjung should "temporarily resign" to give everyone "equal opportunity" at the party's national convention Tuesday.
Tanjung, one of Indonesia's wiliest and most experienced politicians, will face five other Golkar candidates at the convention to pick the party's presidential candidate.
"Why Akbar should be non-active [prior to the convention]? Because he is also a contestant in the convention. All contestants must have the same opportunity to convey their plans and thoughts to the public," Wiranto was quoted as saying by the Media Indonesia daily.
Golkar senior executive Marwah Daud backed Wiranto's call, saying such a move was necessary to ensure the convention was fair.
But Golkar deputy leader Mahadi Sinambela said Tanjung had won the backing of the party's central executive board due to his succees in increasing the party's votes. This does not guarantee Tanjung a win but the endorsement could influence the vote of undecided members.
Tanjung has already claimed victory in the election, saying most of the votes still to be tallied will come from Golkar's powerbase in outlying regions.
Megawati will have to battle to keep her job in the presidential election on July 5 after PDI-P's poor showing compared to 1999, when it took 34 percent of the votes.
Her former security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose new Democrat party performed strongly in the election, is by far the presidential front-runner, according to opinion surveys.
Tanjung was convicted of graft involving food aid for the poor but was cleared in February on appeal to the supreme court. Opinion surveys have shown him ranked only fourth or so among people's presidential preferences. But some analysts still expect him to secure Golkar's nomination given that he has apparently delivered victory in the parliamentary poll.
Golkar in fact is still below the 22 percent it won in 1999, when its ties to Suharto were an electoral handicap. Suharto stepped down in May 1998 after 32 years of authoritarian rule.
Candidates must be nominated by a party but do not have to belong to that party, opening the door for coalition-building efforts before the July poll.
In the legislative election all the big established parties performed worse than in 1999. Millions of voters switched to new groupings in what analysts see as a clear desire for change.
The third-placed National Awakening Party of former president Abdurrahman Wahid was on 12 percent Saturday compared to 13 percent in 1999. Vice President Hamzah Haz's United Development Party, the main Muslim grouping, had 8.31 percent (11 percent in the last election).
The Democrat party, which took millions of votes away from PDI-P, was in fifth place with 7.52 percent. The conservative Islamic Prosperous Justice Party, another new grouping, placed sixth on 7.15 percent.
Fpdra.com - April 17, 2004
M. Ilham, Jakarta -- According to the government the elections in West Papua were a success, however for the people of Papua this cannot be said to be true, moreover as many as 70,000 Papuan people were not registered to vote. Identification cards are not longer used at polling stations [voters must have a separate voter registration card]. So if we talk about that kind of democracy there is no space in these provinces for the participation of the people.
According to Charles Imbir, the Papuan people did not participate in a voluntary manner, rather it was because of intimidation by means of threatening bringing martial law into force in Papua. So if we talk about democracy there was no room there for the participation of the people. The participation of the Papuan people was not voluntary but rather because of intimidation by threatening that martial law will be brought into force in Papua said Imbir in a discussion with Jak News FM Radio.
Meanwhile, Taufik Abda from Cesar said that in some circles it has been said that holding elections in Aceh was inappropriate because Aceh is under a state of martial law. If seen from the level of participation by the people perhaps the 2004 elections were the most successful to date in Aceh. But in terms of quality, they were in fact far from successful, because people were forced to vote. Moreover there were those who were mobilised to vote at specific polling stations which had been prepared beforehand on that grounds that they were in a "black" zone [a zone controlled by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)]. One day beforehand, those living in black zones were forcibly evacuated on voting day to ensure that they participated in the elections.
Taufik added that the socialisation of the elections was only carried the day before voting so it was only then that the people were given an explanation about the voting procedures. As a result many ballots were damaged either intentionally or invalidated because people did not understand how to vote.
Ardian from City Forum (Forkot) agreed saying that the elections cannot be viewed in terms of the total number of people who participated but must be seen in terms of whether or not they were forced to vote or did so by their own choice. However it was not just in Aceh and West Papua that they voters were forced to vote. In Aceh people were afraid of being accused of being members of the GAM if they did not vote, in Jakarta people voted pragmatically or for whoever had paid them.
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Detik.com - April 16, 2004
Astrid Felicia Lim, Jakarta -- If SBY [recently resigned coordinating minister for politics and security Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and presidential candidate for the military backed Democratic Party) becomes president, then responsibility for the military operation in Aceh, the investigation of human rights violations and reform of the military will be obstructed.
"It is doubtful he can control the military. This is related to his background which is also a military one", said the director of Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) Munir, following a public discussion titled "The post-election political configuration and its implications for democracy" at the national offices of the Islamic mass organisation Muhammadiyah in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Friday April 16.
Munir explained that the first obstacle was that there is no responsibility being taken for the military operation in Aceh. Because of this any evaluation [of the success or failure of the operation] will encounter serious difficulties. This is caused by the fact that the ability of law enforcement agencies to conduct investigations is absolutely dependent on the president.
"I doubt that there will be a follow-up evaluation on martial law in Aceh if SBY becomes president. Except if prior to the presidential elections SBY demonstrates a clear position on the question", said Munir.
The second obstacle he continued, was past human rights violation which are difficult to bring to before the justice system. Basically to bring a case of human rights violations before the courts it must be trough a presidential decree.
"So, these investigations will come up against the obstacle of the presidential decree. Except if SBY demonstrates a clear position on this question", repeated Munir.
The third obstacle he said was the issue of military reform. This is because SBY will be a representative of the civilian government but as a member of the civilian government he will certainly come under political pressure from the military.
"And the most likely way to reduces this pressure is for him to slow down [the pace of] military reform, so that it will not be clear where the TNI's [armed forces] is positioned", predicted Munir. (sss)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Laksamana.net - April 14, 2004
Presidential hopeful Akbar Tanjung came under fire at a lunch with the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club Wednesday, struggling to answer questions on corruption and details of his promise to fix the economy.
Tanjung started out strongly at an event whose audience was peppered with foreign diplomats keen to see the Golkar Party chairman in action.
He made much of the party's leading position in the polls, saying late votes would come from outside Java and tend to favor Golkar. He predicted a Golkar presence of between 140 and 160 seats in the coming parliament, compared to its present 120 seats.
He was confident, he said, that Golkar would win the presidency, since the party had 32 years of experience of government and was the only one capable of bringing Indonesia out of its crisis. He said a Golkar-led government would concentrate on improving the security position in order to make conditions better for foreign investment and said the military would have more facilities and leeway to do the job.
The need to boost the economy was urgent, Tanjung said, because Indonesia's growth rate was lagging behind that of other countries and unemployment was a major problem.
Above all, he said, Golkar was a party of harmony and tolerance. "Building harmony and tolerance in Indonesian politics and society is our main goal."
Once a presidential candidate had been decided at the party convention on April 20, "we will then start to discuss intensively the process of forming a coalition" for the presidency, he said.
But, he admitted, it would not be easy to form a coalition because everyone wanted to be president. "Ibu Megawati wants to be president, Amien Rais wants to be president and has already set up a new axis. Bambang Yudhoyono is very popular now and we hear he is going to make a coalition with Gus Dur [Abdurrahman Wahid] but we know Gus Dur himself wants to be president."
Then came question time, with the first probe suggesting that he was unelectable because of the smear from his corruption case. Tanjung asked for the question to be repeated three times before telling the audience that "you know the Supreme Court has decided that I am free. We have to appreciate the decision of the Supreme Court. We have to appreciate the supremacy of the law."
"I don't have any feeling that people don't like me, I don't think it is a problem," he said. He promised credible figures for positions such as the attorney general.
The next question asked for detail on how a Golkar government would solve Indonesia's security problems. Again, the answer was less than satisfying, with Tanjung stating only that Golkar had always taken a tough line on terrorism.
He sidestepped the issue of rebellious provinces such as Aceh and Papua and made no response to a question on whether he would ban the hard-line group Jemaah Islamiyah.
Next in the firing line was the economy. He said he would appoint a strong cabinet and make economic revitalization a priority. Asked for specifics, he said he would continue the privatization program, but would select appropriate companies and set a list of priorities for privatization.
The audience was more impressed by a promise to streamline the investment process and reduce the bureaucratic hurdles faced by business.
Also a crowd-pleaser was a promise to resign as chairman of Golkar if he became president. "If you are at the same time the chairman of a party I think there will be a conflict of interest," he said.
Tanjung declined to name any potential vice-presidential running mate, saying that would only be revealed after the party convention.
But, he said, Golkar had every reason to continue its drive to take the presidency. "We have worked hard since 1999. I think we are quite confident if our vote is quite high even though it is not so easy. We have to compete with someone quite popular but we are the only party in Indonesia that has a machinery like us. If you want to win the election, you have to have a machinery."
Jakarta Post - April 13, 2004
Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta -- Golkar Party officials supervising the party's convention have expressed concern about possible money politics during unreported meetings of leaders of the party's regency chapters with presidential candidates.
Regency chapters, which will be represented by their leaders, will have a combined 440 votes in the convention to elect the party's sole presidential candidate, scheduled for April 20.
Bomer Pasaribu, secretary of the supervisory body, called on all six presidential candidates to follow the rules of the convention.
"The convention committee should be informed of such meetings beforehand in order to prevent the possibility of money politics," he told a press briefing at Golkar's headquarters here on Monday.
Money politics, he said, would only tarnish the convention, which he said was intended to boost democracy. Golkar vowed to eradicate corruption during the election campaign period which concluded on April 1.
Other Golkar officials, Sulasikin Murpratomo and Marzuki Darusman, said they hoped money could not buy the leaders of the party's regional chapters and they would vote for the best candidate.
The party officials were obviously referring to former Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto and media mogul Surya Paloh. Both Wiranto and Surya Paloh have no position in the party's structure.
Bomer also reminded all the six participants of the convention to remain loyal to Golkar in the presidential election.
His statement gives a clear message to Golkar presidential candidates to reject any offers from other parties intending to forge a coalition with them for the July 5 presidential election.
Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, businessman Aburizal Bakrie and former Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) chief Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto are the party's presidential candidates to contest the convention.
Members of the campaign teams for Wiranto and Surya Paloh acknowledged the two presidential candidates had organized separate meetings with leaders of Golkar's regency chapters. They, however, dismissed allegations that money politics was involved in the meetings.
Sugeng Suparwoto, a member of Surya's campaign team, said the meeting between his boss and Golkar figures was only aimed at evaluating the party's performance in the April 5 general election.
"There was no money involved. If Surya Paloh gave a special message to them during the meeting, I think it is standard practice," Sugeng told The Jakarta Post.
Separately, Danny P. Thaharsyah from Wiranto's camp also denied accusations that the meeting would open the possibility of money changing hands in the convention.
He said leaders of Golkar's regency chapters had shown their eagerness to vote the best candidate. "I don't think they are driven by money politics," he told the Post.
He acknowledged Wiranto held a meeting with a number of regency chapter leaders in Jakarta recently. But, he did not disclose the number or the identity of the leaders.
Danny instead accused Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung of abusing his power by holding a series of closed-door meetings with Regional Representatives Council leaders recently.
He demanded that Akbar declare himself non-active in his capacity as party chairman before contesting the convention. "The problem lies in the dual positions played by Akbar Tandjung," Danny added.
Jakarta Post - April 13, 2004
Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta -- The results to date of the count in the legislative elections appear to more or less reflect the amount of work put in by the political parties during the campaign, and how much they forked out on advertising.
The absence of a sufficiently long campaign to allow so many unfamiliar parties and their candidates to properly introduce themselves to the public posed a major challenge for the advertising agencies hired by those parties that could afford them.
Data collected by the Institute for Studies on the Free Flow of Information (ISAI) showed that in the first two weeks of the campaign, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) was the most active advertiser on radio and TV.
The PDI-P topped the list of political advertisers on the country's 11 television stations with 1,268 spots, outnumbering the National Mandate Party (PAN) with 302 spots and the Concern for the Nation Functional Party (PKPB) with 252 spots, said ISAI researcher Agus Sudibyo.
The statistics show that the PDI-P slogan of "choose the white muzzle" (coblos moncong putih) was arguably the most popular ad, using the party's well-known symbol of a red bull with a white muzzle. Triawan Moenaf, chairman of Euro RSCG Partnership Adwork who produced the PDI-P ads, said that the frequency of the ads certainly helped, but it would not have reached the target if the messages had not been crafted "to suit the audience's appetites." On TV, Agus said that TVRI, Metro TV and SCTV were the three stations with the most party ads during that period, with 704, 476 and 434 spots respectively. These were followed by Indosiar (340 spots), TV7 (340), ANteve (332), RCTI (329), TPI (306), Lativi (263), Global TV (253) and TransTV (249).
Yet while the campaign period may have produced additional revenue for the TV stations, the difference between this and what they would have earned during normal periods was not that huge. "As everything is tightly regulated, the opportunities for additional revenue are pretty much limited," explained Triawan, also a member of Indonesia's Advertising Association.
The association's calculations show that even if a party ran as many ads as the regulations allowed in the broadcast and print media, the costs would have amounted to only some Rp 30 billion.
"And with only less than half of the parties booking ads, the combined revenues of the 11 TV stations, dozens of radio stations and newspapers would not even reach Rp 1 trillion," he said.
Whatever the case, the count currently underway will let the political parties know whether their media efforts and expenditure paid off, one way or the other.
Straits Times - April 13, 2004
Robert Go, Seminyak -- In the wake of criticism, Indonesia's major political parties began retracting their demands for a re- election yesterday.
Spearheaded by the National Awakening Party (PKB), the political vehicle of former president Abdurrahman Wahid, representatives of 19 parties held the General Elections Commission (KPU) responsible for the vote-rigging and irregularities last week.
Their spokesman Adnan Buyung Nasutian was quoted by local media as saying: "Due to rampant irregularities before and after the elections, we reject the election results and demand they be nullified." But yesterday many were moderating their positions as the demands had come in for sharp criticism.
Said Vice-President Hamzah Haz in Jakarta yesterday: "This is not yet the time. Perhaps it would be different after the final tally has been announced." Mr Hamzah, whose United Development Party (PPP) was part of the so-called 19 member coalition, said: "For the PPP, whatever result will be deemed as the best result."
Other party leaders, including those who earlier criticised the election process and hinted they might lodge protests with KPU, have also distanced themselves from the demands.
Mr Alwi Shihab, former foreign minister and current leader of PKB, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday that earlier statements from politicians merely represented "a wake-up call" for the KPU. The PKB itself has yet to formally come out with a statement.
On Saturday, Mr Abdurrahman had accused the KPU of becoming a tool of the largest political parties, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and Golkar.
Mr Cholil Bisri, a deputy speaker of Indonesia's highest legislative body MPR, believes the demands for a re-election was a bid by the parties to strengthen their bargaining positions, as a coalition seems a certainty.
"Small and medium political parties are trying to get a start on the bargaining process. This is common, and is aimed at getting certain accommodations." Though he did not specify, he was clearly hinting at the fact that smaller parties would wish to try and influence how the bigger parties pair up for presidential and vice-presidential tickets.
The demands of the 19 parties were seen to be unrealistic and no analyst thought the KPU would seriously consider a nationwide re-election process.
KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin said such demands on the KPU were insults to the estimated five million Indonesians who worked on the elections.
He said: "They are speaking without concrete proof of wrongdoing, and blaming others for their own failures. Just because they can't dance, they're saying the dance floor is uneven and at fault."
Radio Australia - April 12, 2004
The Golkar party of former Indonesian dictator Suharto has regained the lead in Indonesia's general election -- one week after the polls. It's still not clear when the computerised count will end, but Golkar now has a thin lead over President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle. But 19 other parties say they will reject the election outcome, because of polling irregularities and violations.
Presenter/Interviewer: Deborah Steele
Speakers: Adnan Nasution, lawyer and spokesman for coalition of 19 political parties opposing election results; Professor Din Syamsuddin, secretary general of the Indonesian Ulema Council, vice chairman of Mohammadiah; Marty Natalegawa, Indonesian government spokesman
Steele: High profile human rights lawyer Adnan Nasution describes himself as an independent activist for democracy and the rule of law ... and the "facilitator" for 19 political parties who -- he says -- reject the election results and will submit a formal complaint to the General Elections Commission.
He says the parties the current third-place getter in the election count -- the National Awakening party, the PKB, led by former president Abdurrachman Wahid, also known as "Gus Dur"
Nasution: The PKB, represented by Gus Dur, and the PKS, were among the biggest parties who came with the same conclusion. They said they were of the opinion that this election has so many violations to the rule that, therefore can not be accepted. And the fact that these 19 parties have the same opinion is something which I think has to be taken into consideration. Quite different than the situation in 1999, when I was then vice chairman of the election board. At the time only the small parties rejected the election and they didn't have any strong evidence. But this time as I understand, from what they represented in the meeting, they have strong evidences.
Steele: The complaints by the 19 parties have been dismissed by the government, which has ultimate responsiblity for the way in which the poll was conducted.
Government spokesman Marty Natalegawa says the parties concerned are distancing themselves from the allegations:
Natalegawa: In fact many of the parties who were included in that list of 19 feel as if they have not given a mandate to anyone to speak on their behalf, including Adnan Nasution. Subsequently there have been other parties equally reputable people in the area of human rights who have said that in fact the request, or demand, for re-election, is an irresponsible one, because the process is yet to be finalised. And there are avenues for people who have difficulties to express themselves formally, but not by wanting to jeopardise the whole thing when in fact millions of Indonesians have come to express their democratic preference.
Steele: Adnan Nasution stands by the claim that 19 parties believe the election is a fraud. He says the parties were represented by executive members who attended one of two meetings he facilitated. They are now consulting party leaders and considering their next move ... in what he describes as a normal and healthy process.
But he says he's confident the 19 parties will hold firm. Whatever happens, there are many who believe that Indonesian democracy is already the winner of the legislative elections.
Among them, Professor Din Syamsuddin, secretary general of the Indonesian Ulema Council, and vice chairman of Mohammadiah -- two of the most influential Muslim organisations in Indonesia -- and a former vice chairman of Golkar in the Indonesian parliament.
Syamsuddin: The result of the election in Indonesia is fair, good and the process of democracy and democratisation through the election has shown the maturity of Indonesian people for democracy.
Steele: As Secretary General of the Indonesian Ulema council and vice chairman of Mohammadiah, would you be happy with a Golkar led government?
Syamsuddin: We don't pay attention to a particular party but this party gain significant achievement, bringing the issues that related to the very problematic of Indonesian people, especially the economic problem. So the election has been perceived by many of the voters as a momentum of change.
Jakarta Post - April 13, 2004
Jakarta -- The General Elections Commission (KPU) turned down on Monday a demand for a nationwide reelection by a score of political parties contesting the legislative election.
KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsudin said that the political parties failed to come up with a strong case, as they could only cite a small number of irregularities in polling stations.
"If they [political parties] can only bring forth violations of election regulations in some polling stations or at the local level, do we need a nationwide reelection?," Nazaruddin said, referring to the demand made by 19 of 24 political parties contesting the election.
The demand, he said, had also been a standing insult to the public, who had participated in the April 5 election in a peaceful and transparent manner.
Nazaruddin said the parties' demand stemmed from the fact that they had failed to garner substantial support from voters. "The political parties should act in accordance with a number of standing regulations. For instance, they should file their complaints on the election result with the Constitutional Court, rather than resorting to such an unpopular move," he said.
Spearheaded by former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid's National Awakening Party (PKB), the parties rejected on Sunday the legitimacy of the legislative election and demanded a nationwide reelection, citing rampant vote-rigging.
On Monday, 21 political parties, not including President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Golkar and the upstart Democratic Party, renewed their call in rejecting the validity of the legislative election.
The group dismissed any criticism directed toward them that said they had betrayed the people's aspirations while making the demand. "On the contrary, we are striving to channel the people's aspirations, which have been hijacked due to rampant vote- rigging," Adi Sasono of the Freedom Party told a media briefing here.
Interim Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Hari Sabarno said the political parties should have followed formal procedures in venting their resentment.
"People have made their choice and if these parties disliked how it has turned out, then they should complain to the people," Hari said.
Leader of the United Development Party (PPP) Hamzah Haz, also vice president in the Megawati administration, said that his party had yet to decide its stance on the election result. "Ballot counting is not over yet, so what's the fuss all about? We should refrain from misleading the people," he said.
The country's largest Muslim organization, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), also expressed dismay at the political parties' latest move, saying that it could disrupt the upcoming direct presidential election and plunge the country into deeper crisis.
"We oppose the parties' move, as it could trigger crisis in the country's leadership. It's simply unwise," NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi said. Hasyim called on the political parties to take legal action on irregularities that had taken place during the election.
However, he dismissed a notion that his stance on the issue had anything to do with his tacit rivalry with Gus Dur, who was also a patron of PKB. "With or without Gus Dur, we would still be saying that rejecting the validity of the legislative election is not acceptable," Hasyim said.
A number of leading scholars and human rights activists, led by Todung Mulya Lubis and Munir, called the demand a political adventure by members of a political elite, who denigrated the people's sovereignty. "The lack of transparency in the election as perceived by the political parties should be responded to with a limited reelection or limited recounting," a joint statement signed by 15 people says.
Associated Press - April 13, 2004
Jakarta -- A candidate in last week's legislative elections in Indonesia won nearly 800 votes despite having died three months ago, poll officials said Tuesday.
"It's a bit ridiculous," said Andi Mappinawang, an election committee member in South Sulawesi province where the mix-up occurred. "Maybe the voters didn't know that he had died," he said.
Mirdin Kasim passed away in February, shortly after the deadline for printing ballot papers had passed, he said. It was impossible to inform all the people in the region of his death, Mappinawang said.
Kasim was one of 33 candidates contesting the south Sulawesi seat in the regional representatives council, a newly created body that will sit in Jakarta.
The vote took place April 5. On the same day, Indonesians also voted for members of the national legislature, and provincial and local legislative councils.
Straits Times - April 13, 2004
Derwin Pereira -- Numbers don't lie. With 60 per cent of the votes tallied in the legislative election, Indonesia's two giants Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) are neck and neck for the top position.
With close to two-thirds of the estimated 124 million votes counted, Golkar leads with 20.5 per cent of the votes while Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri's party trails by a whisker.
The difference might be small. But there are at least three clear indications that Golkar, the party that ruled Indonesia for 32 years under Suharto, will win this race.
For one, it is leading in 24 provinces, half of which backed the PDI-P in the 1999 election. The PDI-P is only ahead in four out of the 32 regions, mainly in its strongholds of Central Java and Bali.
With more votes likely to come in from the outer regions like Sumatra, Sulawesi and Kalimantan, where Golkar has traditionally been dominant, it is almost certain that its national vote tally would increase.
Five years ago, Golkar was in fourth position after nearly half the votes were counted. Today, at the halfway mark, it is No 1. That explains Golkar's confidence in declaring victory midway through the count.
Secondly, Golkar is the only party that looks set to garner the largest number of the 550-parliamentary seats up for grabs.
In Indonesia, votes do not translate directly into seats. The country's proportional electoral system over-represents the thinly populated provinces outside Java, areas where Golkar is strong.
Currently, Golkar has close to 100 seats while PDI-P has about 60. Some observers believe that with the final tally, Golkar could get as high as 150 seats or close to 30 per cent of the total.
Thirdly, credible opinion polls point to a Golkar victory. An exit poll on April 5 showed Golkar might come out ahead, with 23 per cent of the vote, four points ahead of the PDI-P, according to the Washington-based National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and three Indonesian NGOs monitoring the polls.
A quick count at 1,461 polling stations across Indonesia also showed that two out of five people who voted for the PDI-P in 1999 cast their ballot this time for another party. It only helped not just the smaller parties, but also Golkar, gain ground.
The numbers this far don't look as attractive as the big two thought it would. PDI-P had predicted a landslide of 50 per cent. Golkar was thinking of 30 per cent.
For them, however badly they are doing right now, the numbers don't lie. But not for 19 political parties that are now up in arms alleging vote fraud and demanding a recount. The current figures don't mean anything.
They are alleging that both PDI-P and Golkar had 'bought votes' in several polling stations by manipulating the vote count. They are also accusing them of buying ballot papers from election officials.
Their assessment is the two juggernauts' real figures could be as low as 15 per cent each if they did not rig the process.
Mr Taufik Darusman of the New Indonesian Alliance Party, one of the parties leading the protest, told The Straits Times: "The numbers officially released do not conform to the figures that many of us gathered in the field. There is something definitely wrong here."
Some are also calling for a boycott of the election, lending to even more confusion with some suggesting another poll be held again. This looks unlikely.
So far, 77 million votes have been tallied, with an estimated 60 million to go. Expect accusations of vote rigging and fraud to continue. But for now, the numbers show one clear fact: Golkar looks set to finish at No 1.
South China Morning Post - April 13, 2004
Marianne Kearney -- As his bus inches through a densely packed crowd of supporters decked out in yellow T-shirts, yellow bandanas and flags decorating their motorbikes, presidential hopeful and indicted war-crimes suspect Wiranto waves and smiles.
"Look, they are all motorcycle taxi drivers," he says. "All the motorcycle-taxi drivers like me." Dozens of young men wave at him. "You can see these people are not paid," Wiranto says confidently. In fact, many of the 2,000 people who have come to hear the former armed forces commander say they have been paid - at least 5,000 rupiah (about $4.50), and given a free T-shirt and lunch.
But it is not just money and music that bring these people to hear Wiranto's campaign rally. Many of them come from a rough neighbourhood in north Jakarta and are fans of the former general.
"I am very happy to see Wiranto," says Sulomo. a 53-year-old motorcycle-taxi driver. "I want Wiranto to become president because he is ex-military." Sulomo proudly wears his free yellow T-shirt, bearing the symbol for Golkar, the party of former ruler Suharto, and says that, regardless of the financial incentives, he would still come to hear him.
Few seem to care that the former general was indicted by the UN's Special Crimes Unit for his role in the post-ballot violence in East Timor, where at least 1,000 people were killed. Nor do many seem to mind that there are still suspicions about his role during the May 1998 riots, when the military was confined to barracks and hundreds of people were killed by rioters.
On stage, campaigning in a yellow bomber jacket for the Golkar party, Wiranto launches into a tirade against what he says is the chaos and uncertainty of Indonesia's past five years of democracy. "Lots of people are crying, lots of people can't afford to eat. But if Golkar wins, the people are happy and this country will certainly be peaceful," he says to rousing cheers.
In the week before Indonesia went to the polls, Wiranto toured the country, campaigning hard on a ticket of returning strong-arm rule to the archipelago.
"Provocateurs are still running around, police are still losing out to thugs, it's not peaceful," he shouts to a crowd in Gunung Kidul, central Java. "Those who prosper are just corrupters and mad people run around," he yells to further cheers. The general's claims that he can end the era of weak government and street crime, goes down well with this crowd.
Many people such as Supoyo, a 35-year-old farmer, voted for President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle in the 1999 elections. But after five years of rising food, gas and oil prices and difficulties paying his children's school fees, he says he wants a return to the security of the past. "As a presidential candidate, Wiranto is good, because he's a former army member. Maybe he can lead the government with a sense of duty and discipline."
Flying in a chartered plane to campaign in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, Wiranto says his plans to return legal certainty and strong government to Indonesia will bring back the foreign investors and improve the country's economy.
"[Business people] want a guarantee for Indonesia's future -- an Indonesia that is peaceful, stable and regulated, so they will be able to build up business," he says. "They believe in my reputation, my track record, that I am able to build a situation that is orderly, peaceful and regulated."
The former general, who was indicted by the UN's Special Crimes Unit last year for crimes against humanity, sees no contradiction in campaigning on a platform of returning legal certainty to Indonesia.
A recent legal summary of evidence against Wiranto, issued by prosecutors for the Special Crimes Unit, says the general knew that militias had been trained, equipped and partially funded by the military and that his special security representative in East Timor, Major-General Zacky Makarim, controlled them.
Wiranto denies this. In his book, "Witness in the Storm - the Truth as Revealed by Wiranto", he says that his and the military's (TNI) role in the destruction of East Timor was greatly exaggerated. "Misinformation campaigns via the mass media succeeded in creating the perception that what happened in East Timor was a brutal and evil conspiracy by TNI and pro-integration militias against the pro-independence group in the form of killing, torture, expulsion, arson and so forth," he says.
Analysts such as Kevin O'Rourke, in his book Reformasi say Wiranto formed strong links with the Islamic Defenders Group, a thuggish organisation that attacked students during the anti- parliament protests in 1998; attacked the Indonesian Human Rights Commission when it was investigating the East Timor mayhem; and appeared to stoke sectarian violence in Jakarta in 1998 and Maluku in 1999.
But it is precisely because he was in charge during the difficult days of Suharto's ousting, student riots, East Timor violence and the explosion of sectarian violence in Maluku, that he alone has the experience to lead Indonesia through its current crisis, Wiranto says. He says he was the midwife to Indonesia's democracy, refusing to turn guns on student protestors -- a crucial decision in forcing Suharto to resign.
Critics say that the then commander of the armed forces could see Suharto was a spent force, and that he may even have been one of the generals masterminding the May riots that led to the president's downfall.
Wiranto enjoys playing the refined Javanese warrior to the hilt, creating the impression that he is not seeking out power but only offering himself up as part of his patriotic duty.
But today, his greatest battle may not be the ghosts of the 1998 riots or East Timor, but two other contenders for the presidential seat: another former general, the former security minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the wily Golkar chair, Akbar Tandjung.
As the engineer of Golkar's rise from a disgraced Suharto-linked party to this year's apparent election winner, Mr Akbar is a powerful figure in its machine. Businessman Suryo Paloh, and another general, Prabowo Subianto are also competing for the nomination as Golkar's choice in the July 5 presidential election, when it holds a US-style party convention on April 20.
While Mr Akbar has been aggressively promoting himself during the three weeks of campaigning, Wiranto has campaigned for the party just as much as for himself. His advisers are confident his tactics will win him more support where it counts, among Golkar's district heads.
Although Mr Akbar is powerful among the upper echelon of the Golkar party, grassroots cadres hold the majority of voting seats at the convention.
Just like John Kerry winning at the US Democrats convention, Wiranto will win the Golkar equivalent, says one of his advisers, Nasir Tamara. "Who is Kerry? He is a seasoned politician, he has a network, and this is also the case with Wiranto," Mr Nasir says. "He has been out of power for five years, but now you can see that although he has no public functions, he is not a businessman.
He has very strong support from everybody, meaning that people see he is a natural leader."
Given that many of the thousands of people who have turned out to his rallies over the past few weeks have been paid, it is hard to measure Wiranto's real popularity.
Analysts say the former general has built up strong networks among Golkar groups and businessmen, but whether he is as popular as he says is another question. One factor in his favour is that Mr Akbar is widely viewed as corrupt, despite having been cleared of graft charges by the Supreme Court this year.
"Wiranto has the most potential, although it is not necessarily clear he would beat Megawati," says Umar Juoro, of the Habibie Centre think-tank. "But Golkar likes him because he is popular, relative to the other candidates."
But Golkar now has another former general to choose from, in the shape of Mr Susilo. He emerged as the dark horse in the parliamentary elections and his Democrat Party has garnered an unprecedented number of votes for an organisation formed just three months ago. Having resigned from the cabinet only last month, he appears to be even more popular than Wiranto.
A recent poll by the International Federation for Electoral Systems showed he was by far the most popular presidential candidate, easily beating Ms Megawati.
Already, senior Golkar leaders have said they would like to form a coalition with Mr Susilo. Given his popularity, it would be hard to see how they would offer him less than the presidential seat. In which case, Golkar may not need another ex-general.
Fpdra.com - April 13, 2004
Alisa P., Jakarta -- On April 12, Aceh Papua Solidarity (Solidaritas Aceh Papua, SAP) held a press conference at the offices of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) which was attended by most of the democratic groups who are involved in SAP.
SAP coordinator Arie Arianto, who is also the head of the People's Democratic Party's (PRD) department of military, political and national affairs, was accompanied at the press conference by Thamrin Ananda from the central committee of the Acehnese People's Democratic Resistance Front (Front Perlawanan Demokratik Rakyat Aceh, FPDRA) and Charly from the West Papua National Students Front (Front Nasional Mahasiswa Papua, FNMP) as well as other elements of the democratic movement in Jakarta.
SAP said they rejected the results of the elections in Aceh and Papua because they are legally flawed and do not conform to the principles of democracy. In addition to this, Arianto added that the elections in Aceh and Papua were held as a means to score votes for the former state ruling party and political parties supported by the military (the Golkar and Democratic Party). According to Arianto, in Central Aceh the Golkar Party had already marked their party on election ballots and the people arrived merely to witness the count.
In Papua meanwhile, many polling stations were burnt down by the public and this must be viewed as a rejection of the 2004 elections by the Papuan people. In addition to this many members of the public did not understand the elections issue and this was taken advantage of by the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and the Golkar for their own political interests said Charly.
Ananda added that aside from the acts of fraud by the large political parties participating in the elections in Aceh, there was also intimidation by the military to force people to go to poling stations. The military were also mobilised before voting at 8am sharp to warn people against damaging ballots. They said that if there were damaged ballot papers, the village head would be held responsible, as occurred in the Delima Pidie sub- district. For the people of Aceh, they participated in the elections simply to get their fingers marked with ink [to show that they have already voted] because if they did not vote they would be considered Free Aceh Movement sympathisers.
Ananda said that because they were forced to go to the polling stations, the Acehnese damaged ballot papers with 49.1 per cent piercing ballot papers with the words GAM and this must be seen as a form of resistance by the Acehnese people against the government.
SAP said that it totally rejects the results of the elections in Aceh and Papua as well as rejecting the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and Golkar as the victors because they committed a number acts of fraud and have used conflict areas a places to score votes.
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Jakarta Post - April 12, 2004
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta -- Major parties said on Sunday it was too early to reject the results of the April 5 elections and called on the public to remain calm while waiting for the manual count.
Asserting that any statement rejecting the election results would only spark confusion among the public, the parties suggested that any disputes over the poll results be settled in the Constitutional Court.
"A previous statement [rejecting the polls] was simply a wake-up call for the General Elections Commission (KPU) to deal with any fraud in the vote counting," National Awakening Party (PKB) leader Alwi Shihab told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
He said the PKB as a party had not taken an official stance regarding the election results. He said the PKB's stance on the issue should be formed through the party's mechanisms, not on an individual's wishes.
"We know we have to wait for the manual count, and should we be dissatisfied we will go to the Constitutional Court," Alwi said.
The manual counting will be used by the KPU to determine the official results of the legislative election, which will be announced at the end of the month.
A similar opinion was voiced by Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) leader Hidayat Nurwahid, who said the party was not in a position to reject the election results.
"Whether we accept or reject the results will require further discussion, but we have to criticize the ongoing tabulation," Nurwahid said.
Both party leaders denounced a joint statement from several party leaders who gathered here on Saturday to reject the election results because of alleged vote rigging. Claiming to represent 19 of the 24 parties that contested the elections, including the United Development Party (PPP) and the Democratic Party, they called for a revote.
PKB chief patron Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid and PKS executive Fachri Hamzah were among the participants of the meeting.
Both Hidayat and Alwi said that those people involved issued the statement not in the capacity as party representatives.
Despite the protest, KPU continued the computerized vote counting, which saw Golkar Party take over the lead from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) with 15,540,612 votes or 20.47 percent of over 75.9 million votes counted nationwide as of 10:30 p.m. on Sunday. PDI-P was second with 15,388,773 votes, followed by PKB, PPP and the Democratic Party.
KPU members Hamid Awaluddin asked that all parties wait for the results of the manual ballot count before deciding whether to accept or reject the election results. He added KPU had invited leaders of the parties to a meeting on Tuesday to resolve any misunderstandings over the computerized ballot count.
Presidential hopeful Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the patron of the Democratic Party, called on the KPU to resolve the ongoing dispute over the ballot count, but underlined that his party would respect the ongoing tabulation process.
"The KPU should respond to the criticism but should there be problems, they should be handled through the proper mechanisms," he said as quoted by Antara.
Golkar party executive Slamet Effendy Yusuf said the criticism reflected that some politicians could not accept their parties' failure to meet pre-election targets.
"It should be kept in mind that official results are based on the manual count. Any statements rejecting the election results will only confuse the public," Slamet said.
PDI-P's deputy secretary-general, Pramono Anung, said the party would wait for the results from the manual count, but underlined that it would accept whatever the results were.
He reminded people that the computerized tabulation was only meant to satisfy the public's demand for real-time information on the results of the elections.
Separately, a group of scholars and leaders of 20 religious institutions regretted the decision by some politicians to reject the election outcome.
"This will only create panic, destroy democracy and disrupt the unity of the country," Azyumardi Azra, the rector of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, said during a press conference.
Agence France Presse - April 12, 2004
Former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid has alleged fraud in the computerided tally of election results and said 16 parties would meet to discuss whether to accept the outcome of Monday's poll.
"There is widespread fraud," he said in an interview on local radio, citing the vote count and "various other" problems. "It's still a question whether the results of this election can be accepted," he said.
Local newspapers on Thursday also reported concerns about possible fraud in the computerised tally.
Latest results Thursday showed President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) virtually tied with the Golkar party which backed former dictator Suharto.
With more than 32 million votes tallied, PDI-P had 20.71 percent of the vote compared with 20.08 percent for Golkar, with Wahid's National Awakening Party in third place with 13.71 percent.
More than 147 million Indonesians were registered to vote.
Wahid said 16 of the 24 parties, including PDI-P, would meet late Thursday afternoon to discuss the "rules of play" so that the results can be accepted.
He said his concerns are not related to his own party's place. "This is connected to the upholding of democracy in Indonesia," said Wahid, who was dismissed as president and replaced by Megawati during a parliamentary vote in July 2001.
Republika daily said Megawati's PDI-P suddenly jumped ahead of Golkar in the tally as she made a brief visit to the national tabulation centre in a luxury Jakarta hotel on Wednesday.
The newspaper featured an interview with Roy Suryo, an information technology expert, who said the online tally system was not fraud-proof.
Another daily, Media Indonesia, reported that the Election Supervisory Committee has said manipulation may take place while data is processed at the national tabulation center, where the process cannot be monitored by witnesses.
The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) alleged counting has been unfair and has cost it an estimated five percent of the vote.
"It occurred in many polling stations across the country and we are continuing to list it," campaign manager Muhammad Razikun was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying after presenting evidence to the election supervisory committee. PKS has made a surprisingly strong showing with about seven percent of the vote.
The Independent Committee for Elections Monitors gave the supervisory committee a list of 191 alleged violations. These included voting outside polling stations, poll workers intentionally damaging ballots during counting, repeated voting and vote count manipulation.
Straits Times - April 12, 2004
Jakarta -- The number of political parties rejecting the legitimacy of the legislative elections has grown and so have their demands. Not satisfied with a recount, they are now calling for a new election.
Citing endemic vote-rigging, 19 of the 24 political parties that contested the April 5 polls rejected the results on Saturday and called for the General Election Commission (KPU) to call a new election. Their move was slammed by analysts, who said it was motivated by short-term political gains.
Spearheaded by the National Awakening Party (PKB), the political vehicle of former president Abdurrahman Wahid, the parties held the KPU accountable. "Due to rampant irregularities before and after the elections, we reject the election results and demand they are nullified," lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution, the spokesman for the grouping, said.
"We have set up a crisis centre that will collect data on violations of the election regulations. We will meet with the KPU on Tuesday to put forward our case."
On Friday, 17 political parties demanded that the KPU recount all ballots tallied electronically as the parties were not involved in monitoring the counting process.
President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party -- Struggle (PDI-P), the Golkar Party, the Democratic Party and the Crescent and Star Party (PBB), however, are supporting the electronic vote. It is not clear which other party has not asked for a recount.
Local and international election observers have said that the elections were conducted peacefully and in a transparent manner despite logistical problems.
Mr Syamsuddin Haris, an analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, said the parties' move was counter-productive to building a more stable democracy. Political observer Dewi Fortuna Anwar said: "I regret the fact that the disgruntled political parties have acted so selfishly."
Straits Times - April 12, 2004
Devi Asmarani, Surabaya -- The rising star of Islamic-based parties in Indonesia is making waves by eroding the vote base of established secular giants.
But the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), formed to woo devout Muslims six years ago, downplayed its religious credentials to win support.
Of the two-thirds of votes counted by yesterday, PKS had secured 6.9 per cent of votes nationwide. In the capital city, it looked set to finish first with 22 per cent of votes, soaring above giants like the Indonesian Democratic Party -- Struggle (PDI-P) and Golkar.
Observers have dubbed its success -- a sixfold increase from the barely 1 per cent of votes won in 1999 -- phenomenal because its leader Hidayat Nurwahid is not considered a star candidate.
Besides, this year's poll results have shown a significant decrease in support for other Islamic parties like the 30-year- old United Development Party.
PKS was one of the first Islamic parties to cite Islam as its platform. But this year, the word "Islam" hardly appeared in its campaign. Though the party has said it wants to transform Indonesia into an Islamic society with Islamic values, there has been no mention of syariah law during campaigning.
Instead, the party has focused on issues like corruption and unemployment. PKS' pitch has been that it is a party for everyone.
Party spokesman Suryama Sastra told The Straits Times: "From the beginning, it was clear that we are an Islamic party. So what we have to do is prove that we are different from the rest through actions." For him, the results come as no surprise. "Our campaigns began long before the campaigning month started," he said.
The party has been diligently grooming its cadres, going for door-to-door visits, hosting religious gatherings and doing charity work in areas hit by natural disasters. They assisted the urban poor during the flood disaster in Jakarta two years ago. Analysts said this may have paid off in the latest elections.
Apart from the urban poor, the biggest bloc of PKS supporters are middle-class and educated voters, including young professionals who see the party as one that will fight graft.
But some analysts warn that the party could be deceiving its constituents by playing down its Islamic credentials and casting off its conservative agenda to appeal to voters across the board. At its core, PKS remains a staunchly Islamic party, they said, adding that it has been at the forefront of movements that place the party alongside hardline elements of the Islamic community here.
They held protests against the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the US war against Iraq, although all of them were carried out peacefully.
Mr Suryama, however, insisted that PKS has not diluted its Islamic credentials. He pointed out that last year, for example, when some Christian and non-Muslim minority groups called for changes to an Education Bill that was seen as being too Islamic oriented, the party openly opposed the demand for changes.
He said: "We are a cross between a political and a cultural movement. That explains why in certain times, we are staunchly Islamic, and other times we have to tone it down."
The process to transform Indonesia into an Islamic society would take a while, he said. "Our role for the time being is to educate people so that they would decide on it through rational judgment and through consensus like the election, not through violence and intimidation," he added.
| Media/press freedom |
Jakarta Post - April 12, 2004
Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta -- In a bid to provide stronger legal grounds for press freedom, the Constitutional Commission has proposed the inclusion of the issue in the newly amended 1945 Constitution.
Albert Hasibuan, deputy chairman of the Constitutional Commission, said over the weekend that all commission members had agreed to put freedom of the press, along with freedom of organization and of expression, in the Constitution.
The wording that the commission members agreed to put in the draft reads: "Freedom of organization, freedom of expression and freedom of the press are guaranteed and shall be regulated further by laws".
"The inclusion of freedom of the press in the Constitution is definitely needed because it is very important," Hasibuan told The Jakarta Post here on Saturday.
The commission was set up last year to synchronize changes to the 1945 Constitution, which according to experts are riddled with short-term political interests, and thus some legislation has become contradictory.
The work of the commission, however, would still be brought to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which has the final say on all constitutional amendments. It will convene next month.
Hasibuan said the inclusion of press freedom in the Constitution is meant to encourage anyone affected by press reports to exercise their rebuttal rights without taking the case to the court.
Media groups accused of libel have often been charged under the Criminal Code, despite the presence of the Press Law that provides room for anyone affected by press reports to use their right to present their side of a story.
The use of the arcane Criminal Code libel laws, according to Hasibuan, a noted human rights activist, was a serious threat to freedom of the press.
The inclusion of press freedom in the Constitution is expected to trigger amendments to existing laws, including the Press Law, to oblige anyone who objects to media reports to use their rights to counter the news article and seek out-of-court settlements to any press disputes.
Hasibuan said anyone who believes that a press report contained defamatory material should make clarifications instead of bringing the cases to court.
"If the press commits a violation, it must be settled by the proper procedures," he said.
Article 5 (1) of the Press Law states that the press must publish articles with respect to religious norms, ethics and the presumption of innocence.
The press must provide the public the right to make clarification/rebuttal.
Commission member Hadimulyo, meanwhile, said he hoped all existing laws relating to the press would be adjusted to the new stipulation.
"The existing laws must be adjusted with stipulations in the Constitution," he said, adding that the 31-member commission would soon finish its final draft.
Hadimulyo and Albert said they hoped revisions to the existing laws must include detailed procedures for the out-of-court settlement.
Albert, meanwhile, suggested that the public and state apparatus would use the Press Law instead of the Criminal Code to settle cases relating to the press.
The Press Council had called on the Supreme Court to issue a circular obliging judges to use the Press Law to deal with cases involving the press.
| Regional/communal conflicts |
Jakarta Post - April 13, 2004
Ruslan Sangadji, Palu -- More than 300 additional paramilitary police arrived in the religiously-mixed regency of Poso, Central Sulawesi, on Monday after an new attack on a church over the Easter weekend injured seven Christians.
The shooting at the Tabernacle Church in Kilo village, Poso Pesisir subdistrict, on Saturday revived fears of a return to sectarian fighting in the regency, which killed some 2,000 people over two years from late 1999.
Deputy Poso Police chief Comr. Rudi Tranggono said 120 Mobile Brigade (Brimob) reinforcements had been deployed from Jakarta and 80 others from Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.
Around 100 other Brimob troopers were sent in from Palu, Central Sulawesi, he added. Two weeks ago, another batch of 100 Brimob officers had also been flown from Jakarta after a clergyman was shot dead by gunmen, who also wounded a woman lecturer in Poso. In an earlier attack, a Christian man was shot in front of his wife.
In the worst bloodshed last year, gunmen in October killed 10 people in attacks on mainly Christian villages.
The latest reinforcements bring the number of police in the town to at least 2,492. They are being assisted by up to 1,300 soldiers.
These figures exclude an unspecified number of police and military intelligence officers deployed in the Poso area.
The security forces, brandishing firearms, have tightened security in the town but appear powerless to stop the renewed attacks blamed on unidentified gunmen.
Christians have lashed out at police for failing to prevent the latest shooting incidents, despite a government-brokered peace deal signed in December 2001 to end the fighting.
No suspects have been arrested over Saturday's shootings. Police have declined to speculate on the identity of the attackers, who wore black outfits and hoods and were armed with automatic weapons. But they believe the gunmen were from the same group that perpetrated the previous attacks.
A senior security official blamed previous killings on members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah regional extremist group.
Rudi said the police had identified the weapons used by Saturday's attackers as M-16 rifles, with 5.56 millimeter bullet cases having been found at the scene.
He said the gunmen probably fled into the jungle after the shootings. "We are continuing to comb the forest for the suspects, but to no avail so far. We will hunt them down wherever they flee," he vowed.
Meanwhile, Poso remained calm after the April 10 Easter shooting incident. There were no reports of demonstrations or gatherings of people set on avenging the victims of the latest violence.
Despite fears of more attacks, local residents continued to work as usual and traffic was normal. The security forces checked vehicles traveling to and from Poso.
Shortly after Saturday's attack, the residents of the mainly Christian town of Tentena gathered en masse and checked every vehicle passing through the town.
On Sunday night, they gathered in a church to pray for the seven injured victims, including a four-year old girl, who were being treated at the hospital.
They also prayed for harmony between Christians and Muslims to prevail in Poso and for people not to be provoked into renewed fighting.
Noldy Tacoh, who heads the advocacy section of a local crisis center, urged Christians to remain calm and avoid being incited to retaliate. "I see there are attempts to provoke Christians to take revenge. But, thank God, they have not done so," he said in Tentena.
Jakarta Post - April 12, 2004
Irvan NR, Palu -- Christians here lashed out at security forces for failing to protect them from Saturday's Easter shooting by unidentified gunmen in Poso regency, Central Sulawesi, despite recent police reinforcements.
The protest was swiftly staged by residents in the predominately Christian town of Tentena around one hour after the attack on Tabernacle Church in Kilo village, Poso Pesisir subdistrict, which injured seven people including a four-year old girl.
The protesters gathered en masse in Tentena and checked every vehicle passing through the town.
Poso Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Abdi Darma Sitepu confirmed on Sunday that the Tentena residents had tried to avenge the victims of the shooting.
But they refrained from resorting to violence as police immediately arrived to calm them down, he added. "There were only gathering in groups." Despite the attack, thousands of Christians in Poso flocked to churches in the lakeside town for Easter Sunday mass amid tight security from hundreds of police.
Abdi admitted that he was worried if Tentena residents retaliated as it would have pleased the gunmen because their target would have been achieved.
Previous attacks blamed on unidentified gunmen have mostly targeted Christians in Poso after a 2001 peace accord to end two years of religious fighting, which killed some 2,000 people. However, Christians have so far not retaliated.
The fresh attacks were launched despite reinforcements of security personnel in the religiously divided town.
Two weeks ago, police deployed around 300 more officers to Poso after a clergyman was shot dead and a woman lecturer was injured by gunmen on March 31.
The police arrested five men, including one of Arab descent, after the previous attacks.
Abdi said he sent two platoons of police officers to comb Poso in search of the perpetrators of the Easter shooting at around 7:15 p.m. on Saturday. However, none of suspects have been captured.
Abdi believed the attackers were still in Poso, but could not identify them or their whereabouts. He said that the gunmen likely belonged to the same group that launched the earlier attacks.
In Saturday's attack, two gunmen dressed in black Ninja-like uniforms rode up to the Tabernacle Church on a motorbike and fired shots indiscriminately at churchgoers who were singing a hymn. The people immediately fell to the ground and lay face down covered only by the pews.
Abdi said daily activities continued as usual on Sunday as local residents were not affected by the latest shooting, although they remained alert in case of further shootings.
Traffic on the Trans-Sulawesi highway was normal. A traveler, named Om Ontet who made a trip from neighboring Morowali regency to the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu via Poso, said his car was examined by security forces while arriving at the scene.
Poso has seen intermittent violence after the government-brokered peace deal in 2001. In the worst bloodshed last year, gunmen in October killed 10 people in attacks on mainly Christian villages.
| Human rights/law |
Jakarta Post - April 16, 2004
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta -- The government is considering an amendment to Law No. 62/1958 on citizenship that will scrap all regulations that discriminate against Chinese-Indonesian.
Spokesman for the Directorate General of Immigration, Ade Endang Dachlan, said on Thursday there were some articles in the existing law that required Chinese-Indonesians to produce an Indonesian Citizenship Certificate (SBKRI) when applying for immigration documents if there were doubts about their citizenship.
"The requirement was adopted because at the time, there were many [stateless] migrants living in Indonesia. The rules applied not only to Chinese-Indonesians but also to Indian-Indonesians and Arab-Indonesians too," Ade told The Jakarta Post.
He said the regulations were no longer relevant because most ethnic Chinese-Indonesians were born here and possessed birth certificates as Indonesian citizens.
"To ensure an end to the discriminatory policy, the law needs amending," he said. The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights had begun efforts to revoke articles on SBKRI, Ade said.
Chinese-Indonesians have long complained about the discriminatory ruling stipulated in the obsolete law. Discrimination has kept those of Chinese descent from working in the bureaucracy, the military, police or political institutions.
Former president Soeharto also banned the performance of Chinese culture and prohibited the use of Chinese writing, isolating Chinese-Indonesians to the business sector.
It was also Soeharto who issued Presidential Decree No. 56/1996, scrapping many regulations that justified the use of the SBKRI.
But because the law on citizenship remains intact, in practice the discriminatory policy is still in effect. Indonesia's first Olympic gold medalists Alan Budikusuma and Susi Susanti are the latest to complain about the SBKRI, saying immigration officials asked them for their SBKRIs when they were renewing their passports. Deputy cabinet secretary Erman Radjagukguk said a presidential decree could not annul the citizenship law.
"We will look into how to amend the citizenship law," Erman told the Post.
Ade denied reports immigration offices had asked for the presentation of SBKRIs. Since 2002 the office had circulated a letter announcing the certificate was no longer needed to obtain or renew immigration documents, he said.
"Those who hold identification cards, birth certificates and other official documents that prove their Indonesian citizenship do not need to present an SBKRI." "Should they experience otherwise, they should file a report to the immigration head office. I promise we will take action against those errant officials," Ade said.
He also called on the Chinese-Indonesians not to use middlemen or a service bureaus when traveling.
"Sometimes immigration officials make deals with these middlemen so they can ask for more money. Please try to go to the immigration office by yourselves to ensure no one will try to extort money from you," Ade said.
| Focus on Jakarta |
Jakarta Post - April 17, 2004
Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta -- Since its launch on January 15, city residents have warmed to the busway as shown by the increasing number of passengers over the last three months.
According to data from the TransJakarta busway management, the number of passengers in the first week of February, after the two-week trial period, reached 259,600. From early February to mid-March 2,535,068 passengers boarded the busway, while that figure jumped to 313,246 in the last week of March.
During the last week of March, the outdoor campaign period for the general election campaign was in full swing.
On March 30, the number of passengers reached 62,323 a day. On that day two political parties, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the Reform Star Party (PBR), held outdoor campaigns.
Previously, Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI) chairman Suyono Dikun warned that the busway project was unlikely to succeed as only a small percentage of car owners traversing between Blok M in South Jakarta and Kota in West Jakarta would be willing to use public transportation.
The Jakarta Post observed that the number of busway passengers peaked around 8 a.m., lunch time (12 p.m. to 1 p.m.) and also in the afternoon around 4 p.m. Many passengers have opted for the busway due to the extended three-in-one policy along the busway corridor from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Janni, who works for a private bank on Jl. Sudirman said that she often took the busway during her lunch hour. "It is easier to ride the busway if I want to have lunch at a place located on Jl. Sudirman or Jl. M.H. Thamrin than to drive a car," she said.
Hetih, a busway commuter, said that she enjoyed taking the busway because it was faster and safer than regular buses. "I've seen many passengers using their cell phones, that would never happen on public minibuses or other regular buses," she said.
Another passenger, Titis, said she always took the busway from her house in Ciputat to her workplace in the Olimo area. "It's a lot faster to take the busway because it is not subject to traffic jams. Therefore, I can save up to 30 minutes and get home earlier than usual," she said.
She also said that it was a lot more comfortable than regular buses or air-conditioned Patas buses, as street musicians were prohibited from boarding.
However, she was not sure about the city administration's plan to build other busway corridors, such as along Kalideres-Pulogadung, Blok M-Lebak Bulus, Kota-Ragunan and Kota-Kampung Rambutan.
"I think building more corridors would cause more traffic jams in the city, because the busway needs a special lane and the planned routes are not as wide as the main thoroughfares, such as Jl. Sudirman or Jl. M.H. Thamrin," she said.
The current busway corridor has already caused the Jakarta Public Works Agency to start widening sections of these roads.
Another busway passenger criticized the busway service which she said had not improved over the last three months. "The ride itself is comfortable, but busway officers should be more helpful by telling passengers which shelter is closest to their destination," she said.
Many urban activists and transportation observers, however, warned the busway management not to take the popularity of busway for granted and to keep trying to improve the service, especially in accommodating disabled people.
Agence France Presse - April 16, 2004
Jakarta -- Construction of what is billed as the world's tallest tower began in the Indonesian capital yesterday.
Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso oversaw the start of work on the Jakarta Tower in the Kemayoran district on the site of the city's former airport.
The tower will stand 558m tall, surpassing the Canadian National Tower in Toronto which is 553m high, Detikcom news portal quoted a press release as saying.
"The tower is going to be the landmark of Jakarta and will be like other famous structures in big countries. This will enhance the image of Jakarta as a metropolitan city," Mr Sutiyoso said.
Work on the tower is expected to end in 2009. Construction was due to start in the late 1990s but the 1997-1998 regional financial crisis forced a postponement.
The project is being financed by local tycoons. The cost was originally projected at US$400 million.
Jakarta Post - April 12, 2004
Bambang Nurbianto and Evi Mariani, Jakarta -- At least 25 families of 50 evicted fishermen in Ancol Timur survived on their boats on Sunday after the North Jakarta municipality demolished their houses a day earlier.
"We will discuss the possibility that the evictees receive priority in getting some of the low-cost apartments that are being developed by the city administration," Hermawanto of Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta), the lawyer of the evicted fishermen, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
Earlier on Saturday, for the fourth time in seven years, about 50 fishermen and their families, some 160 people, were evicted by the city public order officers from their makeshift homes in Ancol Timur on Saturday morning.
During the eviction, the only land access to the site was blocked by heavily armed military troops along with officers from the public order agency.
The only way to reach the site was by boat, ironically, from nearby Ancol Dreamland Park.
When LBH Jakarta activists arrived at the site, all their plywood and fiberglass houses had been burned down by the officers.
Hermawanto said that the fishermen were distraught, as they had nowhere to stay.
Most took their families to stay on their boats while, as of Sunday, access to the land was blocked by a group of unidentified men.
Some of them were decided to stay temporarily at the LBH Jakarta office on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta.
According to Hermawanto, the fishermen -- who originally are from Cirebon and Indramayu in West Java -- had been living in Ancol Timur for nearly 30 years.
Saturday's eviction was the fourth for them. They were first evicted in 1997 as the land they had occupied was to be used for the north coast reclamation project. After moving to another site in the area, they were evicted for a second time in 1999 for the same reason. In 2001, they were also evicted, although they had moved to another site.
The administration has been planning since 1995 to reclaim the north coast and build a plush housing and business area.
The fishermen's class action suit against the administration was rejected by the Jakarta State Administrative Court and the Jakarta High Court since filing the class action suit in 1993. They appealed to the Supreme Court but there has been no decision.
Head of the North Jakarta public order office Toni Budiono could not be reached for comment.
The LBH Jakarta questioned the administration's persistence in going ahead with its reclamation plan of 2,500 hectares of the northern coast although there are legal question marks. The office of the State Minister of the Environment has rejected the reclamation plan, fearing serious environmental damage. The minister's office lost its legal battle but they filed an appeal and the case is currently at the Jakarta High Court.
LBH Jakarta activists also said that the fishermen were not recognized by the country as they were not registered to vote in last week's legislative election -- effectively disenfranchising them.
Separately in West Jakarta, 38 evicted residents of Tanjung Duren Selatan, West Jakarta, who had recently sought shelter at the National Commission on Human Rights office, were arrested by the police for destroying private property.
About 300 people evicted from the land on October 2, 2003, tore down the wall surrounding the land close to Taman Anggrek Mall at about 3 a.m. on Friday, in an attempt to reoccupy the land.
| Health & education |
Sydney Morning Herald - April 16, 2004
Thousands of children have been forced into prostitution by their parents and others on the Indonesian island of Java, an International Labour Organisation study has found.
Child trafficking for prostitution is one of five labour sectors researched in support of Indonesia's National Action Plan to prevent and eliminate the worst forms of child labour.
Researchers found more than 21,000 prostituted children during their study of Jakarta and all Javanese provinces except Banten.
"Poverty, lack of educational facilities, traditional views on economic values of a girl and loose social control are identified as the main characteristics of the sending areas," an ILO statement said.
| Bali/tourism |
Straits Times - April 17, 2004
Robert Go, Seminyak -- Bearing an ornately carved "dragon blowpipe" and a wooden cigarette box, souvenir seller Dewa Nyoman steps more lightly on his beach route now that Indonesia's general election has passed without trouble.
The 37-year-old knew that his livelihood was at stake. "Of course, Bali could have gone into another crisis if violence had taken place. I don't know what I would have done if the tourists had disappeared again," he said.
The April 5 election delivered a political revolution on the tourist island. President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) has lost big. It had 85 per cent of the vote five years ago, but the early tally of ballots shows it might get just over 50 per cent this year.
All this, however, is taking place quietly. No mob has taken to the streets and the PDI-P's local leaders seem courteous in defeat.
Analysts say the Balinese know their tourism-driven economy is all too sensitive and will respond negatively to political violence and signs of instability.
And the people will keep things calm as Indonesia finishes its political year by holding its first direct presidential poll in July, all for the sake of keeping the tourists coming in.
Mr Nyoman is not alone. All over the island, cafe owners, fruit vendors, hotel maids and others who depend on tourist dollars are breathing a collective ans heartfelt sigh of relief.
Mr John Daniels, the American boss of the Bali Discovery Tours group, said: "Political violence would scare off tourists. More than 50 per cent of Balinese depend on tourism, and nobody wants to rock the boat."
The police are nipping potential trouble in the bud. At least eight men have been detained in Bangli district for vandalising public facilities such as street lamps and signs after their party of choice fared poorly on April 5.
Such is the tight control being exercised that police are refusing to say publicly which political party the vandals supported. "The crime is what is important, not the politics," one local police source said.
All this is taking place against the backdrop of yet another recovery for Bali, which has been on an economic roller-coaster during the past six years.
The downfall of Mr Suharto in May 1998 and the climate of political uncertainty that followed in its wake cut tourist numbers. After a brief recovery, the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington again affected air travel and hit Bali hard.
Then came the biggest blow of all: Bombings by Islamic militants in Kuta killed 202 people. As a result, the incoming flow of tourists slowed to a trickle in October 2002.
Analysts say another recovery is taking place and with the summer holiday season coming up, Bali could be back on its feet. "Everyone knows the effects of unrest and instability ... those who try to provoke others may find themselves in big trouble," said analyst Ngurah Karyadi.
As for Mr Nyoman, the souvenir seller, he is happy that he can start raising prices for his wares and that more Australians and Japanese -- considered to be less tight-fisted with their cash -- are visiting again.
"Want blowpipe, cheap price?" he offers before puffing his cheeks and shooting off a sewing needle out of the dragon's mouth and into the sand.
| Armed forces/police |
Asia Times - April 15, 2004
Andreas Harsono, Jakarta -- For nearly 50 years, the Indonesian military held 20 percent of the county's parliamentary seats -- but now the time has come for these unelected officers to leave the legislative building for good -- and find a new place in the country's changed political landscape.
When the new and expanded parliament, for which elections were held on April 5, convenes in October, the 75 uniformed lawmakers previously appointed by Indonesian leaders, including former dictator Suharto, will no longer be making policy.
This phasing out of military involvement in politics and civil society marks yet another step in the democratic reforms that have been under way since 1998 in the world's fourth most populous country. Most welcome the change as a move toward furthering democracy, but some concerns remain.
"It's going to be different because we used to see these officers coming on time" for legislative sessions, said Ujang Royadi, an employee in Senayan, as the parliament building in central Jakarta is popularly called, suggesting that civilian lawmakers are not as punctual or as disciplined as military officers.
But democracy is more than a matter of arriving for sessions on time, and the law that allowed for the nomination of military officers to parliament -- thereby institutionalizing the military's role in Indonesian politics -- has long been cited as one of the biggest flaws in the country's political system.
"We have not been a democracy yet over the last five years, because we still had those unelected people. But [now] we will be more democratic indeed," said Rahman Tolleng, a former legislator who, in the early 1970s, witnessed the Indonesian military's takeover of 20 percent of parliamentary seats.
The idea of putting unelected officers in parliament began in 1959, when Indonesia's founding president, Sukarno, dismissed the democratically elected parliament and appointed politicians to represent various groups in a pseudo-parliament. One of the groups he included was the military.
Sukarno was toppled in a coup in 1965, and the military-backed regime of Suharto strengthened the military's role in the early 1970s. At that time, Suharto allowed the Indonesian military to occupy 100 of the 500 seats in parliament.
The argument for doing this then was to stabilize Indonesia's secular constitution and protect it from either the communists or Muslim fundamentalists.
Afterward, Suharto began the militarization of the Indonesian political structure, installing active military officers as ministers, governors, regents and other officials. The military also introduced a doctrine called its "dual function" to justify its presence in civilian roles. After Suharto was forced to step down in 1998 amid popular protests, civil-society organizations immediately called on the military to vacate their parliamentary seats -- national, provincial and local -- as well as dismantle their territorial commands.
But during the transitional period in democratic reforms that came after that time, civilian leaders, including incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri, agreed to let these unelected military officers keep their parliamentary seats after reducing their number from 100 to 75.
It was only in 2002 that the People's Consultative Assembly, the country's highest representative body, agreed to scrap the military seats altogether. The Indonesian military also began to ban active military officers from seeking elected office, agreeing to peacefully step back from parliament -- whose membership will now be increased to 550 -- when its new members convene in the fall.
But while the military's departure from parliament is a positive sign for an emerging democracy, genuine reform in the military's political role is another issue.
Rahman said that as long as the territorial commands -- another Suharto legacy -- are still in place, it is actually easy for the military to jump back into politics.
And the continued existence of these commands show that the idea of civilian supremacy is not fashionable among many Indonesian officers. "Especially among the retired ones," said Agus Widjojo, a retired three-star general who helped draft the military's pullout from parliament two years ago.
Rizal Sukma, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies here, said that in truth, many active military officers continue to intervene in day-to-day politics.
"The armed forces' headquarters still directs the Ministry of Defense, rather than the other way around," said Rizal, citing examples, such as active generals who are still directing weapons procurement and defense policies.
Last year, a controversy broke out when military headquarters reportedly decided to buy four Russian Sukhoi jet fighters and two helicopters without the involvement of Defense Minister Matori Abdul Djalil, who was confined in a Singapore hospital at the time. "Old habits die hard," Rizal said.
Critics said that Matori, a close, mild-mannered confidant of Megawati, does not understand military issues well enough to win respect from his generals. His lack of expertise is a liability given the strong political tradition of the Indonesian military and has created difficulties between the generals with their civilian minister. "It is still new for our generals to accept a civilian to be their boss," said Agus.
But despite the hurdles, the overall trend of sweeping parliament clean of military appointees has become difficult to reverse. For instance, Posma Lumbang Tobing, a police general, is the last officer to head the current military faction in Senayan. A team of academicians will be writing a book about the military faction, which has been in parliament for 45 years.
And though the military presence appears to be dwindling, some of the standards they set hopefully will not be. "We also contributed a lot to the parliament," Posma said, adding, "At least, we instilled discipline in being on time, hopefully future members will have that discipline."
Jakarta Post - April 13, 2004
Jakarta -- Minister of National Education Abdul Malik Fajar rejected on Monday a plan to require senior high school graduates to undergo compulsory military service.
Malik said there was no urgency in implementing the program, which has been adopted by several Southeast Asian neighbors.
Commenting on the draft bill on compulsory military service prepared by the Ministry of Defense, Malik said there were many ways to promote nationalism other than through military service.
"At present I don't think it's necessary, because there are many other activities that students can participate in to boost their nationalism," the minister said.
Malik said such a program was applicable when the state was at war or facing a specific threat.
| Business & investment |
Jakarta Post - April 17, 2004
Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta -- The recent presidential decree which centralizes the issuance of permits for investment under the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) reflects not only a lack of creativity on the part of the government in streamlining the bureaucracy, but is also detrimental to the spirit of the long- sought regional autonomy.
While a clear-cut policy is badly needed to improve the investment climate, scrapping the power of the regions in that area is the wrong formula, according to the head of the Regency Administrations' Association (Apkasi) Syaukani HR and senior legislator Rizal Djalil.
"The government should instead set up a better formula for coordination between the regions and the investment agency, so investor' confusion over the long and often contradicting procedures, can be reduced.
"That's the essence of decentralization, synchronizing things between the central and regional governments. The decree only reflects the government's frustration in trying to seek a solution to this dilemma," Rizal Djalil of the House of Representatives said on Friday.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri issued a decree early this week centralizing permits and other investment service facilities under the BKPM, setting up what it called an investment service "under one roof".
It abolishes the power of regional administrations -- governors, regents and mayors -- granted by previous rulings, to determine their own policies on investment in their respective regions.
The regulations that had granted such powers: Law No. 22/1999 on regional government, and Government Regulation No. 25/2000 on the authority of the central government and regions -- all led to the enactment of the Regional Autonomy Law in 2001, giving more authority to regions to draw up and implement their own policies.
The new decree aims to boost flagging investment in the country, particularly foreign investment, due largely to the adverse climate here with concerns over security and political uncertainty, bureaucratic red tape and confusion over decentralization.
"In a bid to attract investors more effectively, it is deemed necessary to streamline the investment service system through a one-roof investment service facility," the decree said.
However, Syaukani, who is also the regent of Kutai Kartanegara in East Kalimantan, attacked the decree as the latest sign of the government's arrogance toward the regions.
"It's a huge setback. The government is no different to what we had in the New Order era, where everything was centralized. What's the point of having a decentralization program if these things continue to happen," he asked.
Moreover, Syaukani questioned the validity of the decree, as it contradicts earlier regulations on regional autonomy and regional government laws that are actually a higher instrument in the legal hierarchy of regulations than a presidential decree.
Jakarta Post - April 13, 2004
Jakarta -- The liquidation of Bank Dagang Bali (BDB) and Bank Asiatic, caused in part by a number of lending irregularities, point to the fact that the painful and costly efforts to restructure the banking sector have yet to bear fruit.
Having been in charge of the banking restructuring process over the past six years, the central bank remains unable to set up a sound supervisory mechanism and is unable to detect and prevent banking fraud, analyst Aviliani said on Monday.
"What happened to the two banks exposes once again the central bank's poor control mechanism. More banks will follow unless the current supervisory scheme is tightened," said Aviliani, an analyst from the Institute for Development, Economics and Finance (Indef).
She was responding to a move by Bank Indonesia last week to close the two small-sized commercial banks due to their worsening financial condition resulting from a number of alleged illegal transactions, causing some Rp 1.2 trillion (US$ 139 million) worth of loans to turn sour.
According to the central bank, the alleged irregularities -- the first one took place about two years ago -- centered on a number of lending frauds and legal lending limit violations, involving affiliated companies which turned out later to be fictitious.
The two banks are owned by two families connected by marriage, which saw the son of I Gusti Made Oka, who owns the majority stake in BDB, married to a daughter of Asiatic's majority stake owner Tong Muk Keung. BDB is a Bali-based lender which has 31 branches and is staffed by 632 employees. Asiatic employs around 150 staff.
Despite Bank Indonesia's claims that all efforts had been made to salvage the banks, the fact that such a practice could go undetected in the first place is a worry for the fragile banking industry and puts at risk hard-won public confidence in the sector.
"It was exactly such practices that had plunged the country into a deep banking crisis in the late 1990s. Bank Indonesia should also be held responsible for failing to prevent them again this time around," Gadjah Mada University economist Revrisond Baswir said earlier.
Indonesia embarked on a massive bank restructuring process in 1998 with the hope of preventing common bad banking practices in the precrisis period -- such as excessive loan exposures to affiliated firms, weak internal and external control, poor credit risk managements and others -- from reoccurring.
However, despite a cost of more than Rp 600 trillion in state funds, evidence shows that fraud by greedy bankers remained.
Aside from what happened in BDB and Asiatic, similar practices have also occurred in other banks.
Still fresh in people's mind are the lending scandals involving two of the country's banking giants Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI).
"Unless Bank Indonesia's supervisory mechanism is improved, we may well be facing the second phase of the banking crisis," said Aviliani.
Jakarta Post - April 13, 2004
Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta -- After a week-long rally triggered by relatively trouble-free legislative elections, the Jakarta stock market plunged on Monday on fears of political instability following news that several politicians may reject the general election results.
The Jakarta Composite Index, which comprises 388 firms, ended lower by 11.805 points, or 1.5 percent, to 767.812, compared with last week's close.
The index rose 4 percent throughout last week until Thursday. The market was closed on Friday due to the Easter holiday. Telecommunications and banking blue chips led the decliners.
Shares of state-owned telecommunications company PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) fell by Rp 200 to Rp 7,800 on profit-taking, after sharply rising by 16 percent last week. Telkom is the largest counter on the Jakarta Stock Exchange.
Its rival, PT Indonesian Satellite Corp. (Indosat) also dipped by Rp 100 to Rp 4,200 after surging 15 percent last week.
Blue-chip Bank Mandiri, the country's largest lender in terms of assets, ended down by Rp 25 to Rp 1,425. The drop was tailed by other banking blue chips, such as Bank Central Asia (BCA), which ended lower by Rp 75 to Rp 3,675, and Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), which dropped by Rp 25 to Rp 1,675.
Stock analyst Fendi Susiyanto from BNI Securities said that fear of political uncertainty had further fueled the already fragile stock market, which was overheated by a sharp increase last week on positive sentiment after a peaceful general election.
"The index is already fragile with profit-taking, as several blue chips have already been overbought. The possibility that several political parties may reject the poll result has exacerbated losses on the stock market," said Fendi.
He explained that investors were afraid that the political row could lead to further security instability, since the parties could mobilize their supporters nationwide for a mass rejection.
Citing endemic vote-rigging, 19 of the 24 political parties contesting this year's legislative election rejected on Saturday the April 5 poll tally and demanded the General Elections Commission (KPU) call for a reelection.
The rejection, which has been criticized by analysts and the other five parties, is spearheaded by former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, who is now an adviser to the National Awakening Party (PKB).
Fendi said the index would consolidate this week within the range 742 to 772, before rising to a psychologically important level above 772.
Regarding the drop in several banking blue chips, Fendi said that was mainly caused by the overbuying of bank shares, rather than by the central bank's recent move in shutting down Bank Asiatic and Bank Dagang Bali.
"The closure sent a positive sign to the banking sector, to comply with prudent banking practices. Such a move was needed to improve the local banking industry," he said.
Concerns at potential political uncertainty also hit the rupiah, pulling the currency down to Rp 8,595 against the US dollar on Monday, from Rp 8,575 on Thursday.
Jakarta Post - April 12, 2004
Urip Hudiono, Jakarta -- The move by Bank Indonesia (BI) to close two small banks last week could trigger nervous depositors to shift their funds from smaller to larger banks, experts said.
"There is a possibility that customers of small banks will start shifting their funds to larger banks, which they might consider more reliable," economist Drajat H. Wibowo from the Institute for Development, Economics and Finance told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
Drajat could not give an estimate of the amount of funds that might be affected, but said that public funds in small banks currently amounted to about 20 percent of about Rp 800 trillion (US$95 billion) of third party funds in the entire banking industry.
To prevent a loss of public trust in smaller banks, Drajat called for more transparency from the banks when publishing their financial reports and from Bank Indonesia in monitoring the banks.
"BI should also educate the public about how to choose banks according to their financial performance, and not just because they offer higher interest rates," Drajat said.
He also urged the central bank to step up pressure on banks to boost their capital either through mergers, by raising funds or through capital injections by the banks' owners.
BI shut down Bank Asiatic and Bank Dagang Bali (BDB) last Thursday due to the banks' worsening financial condition, allegedly the result of violations of prudential banking regulations and fictitious lending activities involving Rp 1.2 trillion in loans.
The closures will cost the public Rp 2.39 trillion for covering deposits in the two banks, which fall under the government's blanket guarantee program.
The controlling owners of the two banks, I Gusti Made Oka of BDB and Tong Muk Keung of Asiatic, are connected by marriage (Made Oka's son is married to Tong's daughter). This connection apparently made it easier for them to abuse the funds in their banks, leading to unrescuable liquidity problems.
Drajat said the case also provided evidence that bad habits die hard, as bank owners continue to violate banking regulations by channeling funds to affiliated businesses, despite the costly late 1990s financial crisis.
The crisis, which forced the government to bail out and close down troubled banks at a cost of Rp 600 trillion, was caused in part by bank owners ignoring prudential requirements.
"The authorities should not hesitate to prosecute them [Made Oka and Tong]," Drajat said. "BI should also consistently implement its banker certification and black-listing program, otherwise cases like these will reoccur." Economist Revrisond Baswir of Gadjah Mada University also said that jittery depositors might seek safety in larger banks.
He also criticized the central bank over the case, saying it demonstrated Bank Indonesia's failure to monitor the country's banks.
He suggested the government establish an independent financial authority institution to replace the central bank in the monitoring of banks.