Aceh

Peace negotiations will not influence security operations

Detik.com - February 28, 2005

Melly Febrida, Jakarta -- Armed forces (TNI) chief Endriartono Sutarto has guaranteed that recent peace negotiations which are being organised between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) will not influence the operation to restore security in Aceh.

Sutarto admitted however, that the operation to restore security is now being focused more on safeguarding humanitarian activities.

The TNI itself continued Sutarto, reading written answers to the People's Representative Assembly Working Commission I headed by commission chairperson Theo L. Sambuanga at the parliament building in Jakarta on Monday February 28, are in a position to accept and carry out whatever policy decisions are taken by the government.

"And, up until now this has remained in force in the framework of resolving the GAM question which is the political decision to conduct an integrated operation and that is what the TNI is in the middle of doing at present through the operation to restore security. And, the process of the negotiations will not detract from the implementation of the operation to restore security in Aceh", he said.

Responding to the issue of the negotiations between the government and GAM which took place in January and February, a member of Commission I from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle fraction meanwhile expressed their disappointment because the negotiations have been conducted under two flags, the Republic of Indonesia and GAM, and as a result internationally people are assuming that GAM represents a country.

"Why weren't the negotiations held in Indonesia. And, with regard to the solution of special autonomy which was offered by the government, haven't we already given special autonomy [to Aceh] though legislation, why is it being offered again. So there are two choices, surrender or be destroyed", he asserted.

A member of Commission I from the National Mandate Party fraction, AM Fatwa meanwhile, declared his respect for the political steps being taken by the government which has never grown tired of dialogue and continues to maintain security in Aceh.

With regard to the impending replacement of the chief of the TNI meanwhile, Sutarto explained that the matter is one of presidential authority, because Sutarto himself only has the capacity to submit the names of chiefs of staff as candidates for the position. (umi)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Indications of corruption in construction of barracks

Kompas - February 26, 2005

Banda Aceh -- Entering its third month, indications of corruption in the handling of the disaster in Aceh are starting to be uncovered. On Friday February 25, the Aceh Working Group for Peace Without Corruption (Kelompok Kerja Aceh Damai Tanpa Korupsi, ADTK), a grouping of traditional social and anti- corruption activists in Aceh, suspect that corrupt practices have occurred in the construction of barracks for Acehnese refugees.

The indications of corruption were observed from the lack of government contractual documents with project organisers, the lack of clarity over the mechanisms for the purchase and use of land and a lack of standardisation in barracks construction.

These suspicions were raised by ADTK activists Bambang Antariksa and Akhiruddin Mahjuddin yesterday. "We will take the findings to the KPK (Commission for the Eradication of Corruption) and the Attorney General as soon as possible", said Antariksa.

In response, the head of the Aceh Public Works Task Force, Totok Pri, explained that accusations of corruption are premature bearing in mind that up until yesterday not one cent has been disbursed for the constructing barracks, either from the government of foreign aid groups. He also said he was prepared to take responsibility for the quality of the construction work if it is questioned.

According to Antariksa, the construction of the barracks were clearly carried out without contractual documents between the government and the project organisers so that there was no standardisation of prices. "The project organisers could have purchase cheap timber, for example. But, in [their] final reports [they] could state that they used expensive timber. This has the potential for corruption", he said. Construction work without contracts also violates Presidential Decree Number 8/2003 on the Procurement of Goods and Services.

The means in which land for the barracks was obtained is also unclear. Most of the land is owned by traditional land owners, such as a number of barracks in West Aceh. In addition to this, there is also land which had previously been used by the local population growing food such as Kembang Tanjung in the Pidie district of North Aceh.

Mahjuddin added that the size of the rooms also varied, ones which should measurer 4x5 metres actually measure 4x3 or 2x3 metres, such as in Pidie, Lhokseumawe and Bireuen.

At barracks in the Village of Baet, Lambada Lhok and Banda Aceh for example, although the rooms measure 4x3 metres the cement mix ratio, which should be 3 to 1 (three parts sand and one part cement) was in fact 4 to 1, such as in Bireuen and Samalanga. As a result cracks are appearing even before they have been used.

Both view the construction of the barracks as a waste of money. For example, in a proposal for the North Aceh regency, barracks to accommodate 20 families consumed 1.37 billion rupiah or 48.75 million per family. This money would have been better used to assist people to rebuild their homes.

No violations have occurred

Despite this, Pri denies that there has been any violations. On the question of project documentation for example, he said there were Work Commencement Orders (SPMK) and direct tender systems for state owned enterprises that carried out the projects. The SPMKs are regulated under Presidential Decree Number 80/2003. "So far the contractors themselves have paid for the residential projects. Not one rupiah has been issued. So what's to corrupt?".

Suspicion of corruption in the construction of barracks he said, may be because people had not looked at the procedures. Before a contractor can claim payment for the construction of a barracks, an audit is conducted beforehand by the Financial Examination Agency and the Financial and Construction Supervisory Agency. (ADP)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Circle of ruin rings Aceh

Asia Times - March 2, 2005

Richel Dursin, Jakarta -- A government plan to cut down more trees in one of the largest national parks in Indonesia to help rebuild tsunami-ravaged Aceh has drawn opposition from environmentalists and officials in the country's Forestry Ministry, who claim that the plan could worsen illegal logging in the country.

"We don't want Gunung Leuser National Park to be cleared as the source of logs for Aceh," Henri Bastaman, senior adviser to the minister of environment, told Inter Press Service. "Targeting the park as the resource of logs for reconstructing the tsunami- devastated province would completely destroy the area."

Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry has estimated that about 8.5 million cubic meters of timber is needed to build 123,000 houses for Acehnese who survived the December 26 tsunami disaster. Of the total figure, 6 million cubic meters will be in the form of logs and the remaining 2.5 million cubic meters will be sawn.

The epicenter of the undersea earthquake was near Meulaboh in western Aceh. The tsunamis that resulted from the quake hit the coastlines of a dozen countries in South and Southeast Asia, killing more than 220,000 people. In Aceh, more than 70% of the inhabitants of some coastal villages are reported to have died.

The official death toll in Indonesia has exceeded 120,000, while more than 127,000 others remain missing. The exact number of victims probably will never be known.

According to the Ministry of Environment, the central government in Jakarta is targeting Gunung Leuser National Park, which has been declared a world heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization because of its complete ecosystem, to be the "supplier" of the logs.

"The government's argument is that we have the Gunung Leuser in Aceh so we should use it. But we don't see it as the solution," Bastaman said.

Instead of clearing the protected forests in Gunung National Park, Bastaman suggested that the government either import wood or ask developed countries to provide timber to construct new homes, schools and fishing boats for tsunami victims.

Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar has rejected the plan to exploit Gunung Leuser, which comprises 850,000 hectares of tropical rainforest, and instead asked other countries and aid agencies to donate logs for the reconstruction of Aceh. So far Sweden has expressed its intention to supply logs for Aceh's reconstruction.

"The rehabilitation of Aceh must not damage our forests," Witoelar said. Cutting down trees in Gunung Leuser National Park would lead to other calamities such as floods and landslides, he added.

Gunung Leuser is one of the last places in Indonesia where endangered Sumatran tigers, orangutans, rhinoceros and elephants all exist. Yet even before the tsunami struck Aceh, the national park had been threatened.

The non-governmental Indonesian Forum for the Environment disclosed that one-fifth of the national park has been affected by illegal logging, and the destruction is increasing with the construction of a road network known as the Ladia Galaska project, which cuts through hundreds of kilometers of protected forests in Aceh to link the east and west coasts of the province.

The main section of the Ladia Galaska road will cut through 100 kilometers of protected forests as well as some forest- conservation areas, including the Leuser ecosystem.

The 2.6-million-hectare Leuser ecosystem, which encloses Gunung Leuser National Park, is known to biologists as the most complete natural laboratory in the world. It is made up of coastal beaches, lowland swamps, degraded lowland rainforest, extensive pristine mountain forest, and isolated alpine meadows and is rich in animal and plant species.

"The Ladia Galaska is a crazy project. Imagine building a road in a very steep and protected forest area," Longgena Ginting, executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment, said in an interview. "The Ladia Galaska road project has opened up the Gunung Leuser National Park all the more to illegal loggers," Ginting stressed.

The Indonesian Forum for the Environment regards the road network project as "illegal" because no feasibility study was conducted before construction began. Moreover, Eko Soebowo, a geologist at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, argued that six of the nine planned roads would cross the Sumatra fault-line and would thus be prone to earthquakes and landslides.

But Indonesia's Ministry of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure emphasized that the road construction, which started in 2002, would benefit the rural economy in the western part of the province.

Since the tsunami devastated Aceh, supporters of the Ladia Galaska network have been using the catastrophe to legitimize the road construction, which is still ongoing despite strong opposition by environmental groups.

"We're worried that the tsunami tragedy is being used to affirm the road construction in the province," Ginting said. "We have to stop the road-construction project and prevent Gunung Leuser National Park as the source of logs."

According to Forest Watch Indonesia, it would be very risky if all the logs needed for the reconstruction of Aceh would be sourced domestically because this would worsen illegal logging in the country.

Indonesia, home to 10% of the world's remaining tropical forests, has the world's highest rate of deforestation, with about 3 million hectares being lost every year. Indonesian police, military and government officials often turn a blind eye to illegal logging and this exacerbates the problem.

Environmental activists have pointed out that the high demand for timber in the growing national and international markets and limited supply cause illegal logging to thrive in the country and result in increasing pressure on Indonesia's forests.

Forest Watch Indonesia disclosed that only 20% of Indonesia's total demand can be met by the legitimate cutting of trees. Last year, demand from the local timber industry averaged between 63 million and 80 million cubic meters of logs. But of this amount, only 12 million cubic meters of logs were provided through legitimate cutting.

Togu Manurung, executive officer of Forest Watch Indonesia, pointed out that some of the logs being used to rebuild Aceh were illegally cut from protected forests.

"The government should declare publicly and transparently that some of the logs used for rebuilding Aceh come from illegal logging operations," Manurung said.

He pointed out that some Acehnese are aware that the logs they are using to rebuild their province were illegally cut, but said, "So far, there was no rejection on the part of the Acehnese because they have no choice.

"Providing illegally cut logs for the rebuilding of Aceh should not be tolerated as this would induce illegal loggers to continue their operations," Manurung said. "With the government allowing the use of illegal logs, it is giving incentives to illegal loggers."

Aceh immigration offices to be re-built

Australian Associated Presse - February 28, 2005

Australia will rebuild Indonesian immigration offices in the tsunami-shattered province of Aceh to improve ties between the countries and bolster the fight against people-smuggling, Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said.

Following a meeting in Jakarta with Indonesia's Minister for Law and Human Rights, Hamid Awaludin, Senator Vanstone said Canberra would immediately give $300,000 for the rebuilding of the offices.

"It will help improve cooperation and will be outside the package Australia has already made available to Indonesia for reconstruction," Senator Vanstone said.

She and Mr Awaludin signed an agreement to improve border control and immigration arrangements between Australia and Indonesia.

Despite a fall-off in asylum seeker arrivals since Australia adopted a tough stance against unauthorised boat arrivals following a stand-off over refugee hopefuls on the Norwegian freighter Tampa in 2001, neither country could afford to relax, she said.

"One of the mistakes that humans tend to make is to judge a situation as it is and then be comfortable," she said. "Equally, the opportunity to make the mistake is saying, 'well, look, the boats have largely stopped coming to Australia, so we fixed it' and walk away. That would be a mistake. We are consistently working on ensuring that the achievement we have made between us is maintained, and that requires ongoing cooperation."

Australia and Indonesia have clashed over responsibility for illegal arrivals, with Jakarta refusing to be a "buffer zone" to protect Australia's northern coast. Aceh was one of the hardest- hit regions in the Indian Ocean tsunami on December 26.

Indonesian media bias in covering the tsunami

Asia Times - February 27, 2005

Andreas Harsono -- One early morning in January, when Hotli Simandjuntak drew water from a well outside a house in Banda Aceh, he was complaining about some messages he had received from his Global TV editors in Jakarta. "They grumbled about having no official quotes on the beating of Farid Faqih. How important is Farid in Jakarta? But here his story is not that important," he told me. "You could check with other Aceh journalists. His story is only important for the parachuting journalists from Jakarta." We ended up trading jokes about the frenzied Jakarta editors, while carrying buckets of water to an adjoining bathroom.

Simandjuntak is a 30-year-old photojournalist, who used to freelance for the Agence France Presse. Like most stringers, his payment depends on how many of his photos or how much footage gets used by his bosses in Jakarta. He is humble, energetic and critical -- and this combination makes him an ideal correspondent in the war-torn Aceh. I met him because the December 26th tsunami destroyed his house and he moved to Nani Afrida's house, which she made into a temporary shelter for visiting journalists, like me, who couldn't find a hotel Banda Aceh. She is also a freelancer, who writes daily for The Jakarta Post.

Both Hotli and Nani told me that many Acehnese men and women were being harassed, scolded, beaten, and even killed by Indonesian soldiers. Such violence was frequent, they said, but stories about it go unpublished. As I heard this, I remembered Ryamizard Ryacudu, the Indonesian army chief, who openly admitted that in the month after the tsunami his men had killed 120 members of the Free Acheh Movement (Gerakan Acheh Merdeka, or GAM). GAM representatives said only 20 guerillas were killed and that the others who'd been killed were civilians. I tend to give more credit to the GAM version.

The Jakarta media continuously regard such beatings or killings as minor stories, but when an Indonesian army captain beat more well-known, Jakarta-based activist Farid Faqih, who allegedly stole some relief aid, this beating immediately became a headline. Kompas, the largest newspaper in Indonesia, carried news of the beating on its front page. "Indonesian journalists do not understand Aceh stories from the Acehnese perspective," Hotli said, adding that as a Christian Batak from northern Sumatra he did not understand the perspective until he moved to Aceh four years ago.

Indonesia's vast diversity

Indonesian media are overly narrow-minded when they are required to cover anything that relates to stubborn territories like Aceh, Papua or East Timor. Since the 1950s, Aceh has struggled to secede from Indonesia and Papua set up its own Free Papua Organization in the 1970s, even though each voluntarily joined Indonesia originally. In 1999, East Timor won a United Nations- supervised referendum to become a new state. Today Indonesia comprises 13,677 islands stretching over a distance from east to west that is approximately the same as from London to Baghdad. Its 210 million people speak more than 300 different languages and 88 percent of its population are Muslims, especially on the islands of Java and Sumatra, making Indonesia the largest Islamic country in the world.

Ethnic violence and separatist movements are escalating throughout the country. The main reasons are injustice, human rights abuses and the growing gap between the main island of Java and the other islands. Now questions are being raised whether Indonesia can survive as a nation-state. Critics contend that Indonesia is bound to disintegrate like Yugoslavia, given that its people's only common history is their Dutch colonial past. The old strongman, General Suharto, managed to keep the country together by brutal means after he rose to power in 1965. But when he left power in May 1998, the institutions that he had built up also began to crumble.

Ironically, almost all of the current media companies were set up during the Suharto era. It is no wonder that I heard so many times these news organization's top editors talking about the need to preserve the Unitarian State of the Republic of Indonesia (Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia, or NKRI). "We journalists should be red-and-white first and defend the NKRI," declared Derek Manangka, the news director of RCTI, Indonesia's largest private channel, when talking in a seminar about the Aceh coverage two years ago. (The red-and-white is the name of the Indonesian flag.)

Suryopratomo, the chief editor of Kompas, told me it is always better that those territories remain within Indonesia, even though he realizes that many human rights abuses by Indonesian soldiers take place in Aceh, Papua and others, "Still it is better to be united in this age of global competition," he said. Such views are common, even if they don't totally dominate the media of Palmerah, the Jakarta neighborhood where most of the leading newspapers and TV stations have their headquarters. Frequently, managers and editors at these news outlets put forward their nationalism -- and in some cases also their Islamic interpretation -- when confronted with ethnic or religious problems in their coverage.

The politics of tsunami coverage

When the tsunami hit Aceh, reporters from these news organizations rushed to cover the suffering of their "Acehnese brothers and sisters." Many also organized fund raising to help relief services. The tsunami raised a genuine solidarity among many Indonesians. Outside Indonesia, from Paris to Beijing, from Warsaw to Lima, many people also shared the suffering of the Acehnese, the people in Sri Lanka and other tsunami-hit countries.

But just one week after the tsunami, the Jakarta media bias against what they claimed to be "foreigners" and "Christianization" began to appear. They reported that activists of the Muslim-based Prosperous and Justice Party (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera, or PKS) put up posters in public spaces in Banda Aceh with this warning: "Don't let Acehnese orphans be taken away by Christians and their missionaries." Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla announced that he would call upon the Indonesian Council of Ulemas to help decide on the adoption of Acehnese orphans. "We will help the children to keep their faith. No adoption could be done without the ulemas' supervision," Kalla announced.

Hidayat Nur Wahid, a PKS leader and currently the speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly, said the arrival of American, Australian as well as other "foreign troops" to help the tsunami victims should be controlled. "They should go out within a month," Hidayat said, adding that his party is worried some foreign soldiers as well as the international aid workers might help to "Christianize" the predominantly Muslim Acehnese.

Jawa Pos Group, which controls more than 100 newspapers throughout Indonesia, quoted Kalla without providing an explanation for what prompted him and Muslim activists to focus on religion when the bulk of attention was on how to get emergency aid quickly to the tsunami survivors. Tempo magazine also published a cover story on the "Acehnese children" without providing readers with a single bit of evidence that Christians had taken the initiative to adopt the orphans. Though some American Evangelical groups had been working in Aceh to preach the Gospel, it was the US media that revealed their religious activities. Concerns such as these raised in various media accounts were soon brought up in a cabinet meeting led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Kalla, who attended the meeting, later told the media that "foreigners should get out of Aceh as soon as possible." He added: "Three months are enough. The sooner [they leave], the better." Indonesians, not foreign troops, according to Kalla, should be in charge of caring for those who lost their homes to the tsunami. When asked about long-term relief efforts, he said: "We don't need foreign troops."

Such statements irritated the Acehnese, who organized a street rally in Jakarta in late January to demand that the United Nations, Americans and the British remain in Aceh and saying that Indonesia tries to keep foreigners out of Aceh in a bid to keep pacifying the Acehnese. "If the foreigners go out, the Indonesian corruptors will go in," said Nasruddin Abubakar, a leader of the Center for Information and Referendum in Aceh.

Aceh is an oil-and-gas-rich province of Indonesia. Most of its natural resources, however, have been channeled into Jakarta. In 1976, the Aceh independence movement began when Hasan di Tiro, an Achehnese aristocrat with a doctorate from Columbia University and a past connection with the CIA, declared independence in Aceh. Di Tiro established a guerilla network, trained his soldiers in Libya, and maintains his position as walinegara, or head of state, from self-exile in Sweden. He wants to see the ancient Aceh sultanate revived. Di Tiro dislikes Indonesia; for him "Indonesia" and "Aceh" are a contradiction. He hates Indonesia's political construction and even uses a different spelling ("Acheh" rather "Aceh") for his region. He described Indonesia as "a Javanese republic with a Greek pseudo-name."

The Jawa Pos Group newspapers also did not mention a word about the street protest nor any statements made in Aceh about this situation. The Acehnese, indeed, want the international workers to remain to balance the presence of the Indonesian military, but statements, such as those by Hidayat and Kalla, were published widely and found resonance in many Indonesian circles opposed to the United States.

At this time, US forces are not anybody's heroes after the bad publicity they received from Iraq. Jakarta media carried the Abu Ghraib prison scandal pictures in full and this has only fuelled resentment against them. Many Indonesian Muslims see the American troops as staunchly anti-Islam. In mainstream news reports, the innuendo was palpable: Relief services which had come to Indonesia were motivated by religious considerations and nationalistic factors.

Perhaps such worries were sparked because international relief organizations -- whose workers are mostly Westerners and presumably Christians -- were among the first to rush to Aceh. But this seems to present more of a case of paranoia. Nothing has happened to suggest that international relief workers are keen to take away Acehnese children, and neither have Indonesian churches demonstrated much altruism. The international troops visited Aceh to help the victims at a time when most Indonesian soldiers were themselves still trying to survive the tsunami.

Misunderstanding nationalism

Benedict Anderson, the Cornell University political scientist who wrote "Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism," believes that many Indonesian political elite misunderstand the concept of nationalism. Anderson is an old hand in Indonesia's political analysis. He used to be the director of the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project and for more than 20 years edited the Indonesia multidisciplinary bi-annual journal.

In March 1999, a year after President Suharto stepped down from power, Anderson visited Indonesia and gave a speech to media leaders in Jakarta. In this speech, he said that nationalism is widely misunderstood to be something very old and inherited from "absolutely splendid ancestors." Many misunderstand nationalism as arising "naturally" in the blood and flesh of each Indonesian citizen, he went on to say. In fact, nationalism is a new entity; in countries like the United States and France it is little more than two centuries old, and in Indonesia, which declared independence in 1945, it is in its infancy.

Another misunderstanding Anderson shared is that "nation" and "state" are, if not exactly identical, at least connected like a happy husband and wife in their relationship. In fact, the reality is often just the opposite. In this speech, Anderson also debunked the idea that only Westerners could colonize "native people" by reminding audience members that 90 percent of the government officials of the Netherlands Indies, the colonial ruler of this vast archipelago, were "natives." In the 1950s, when Indonesia began to govern itself, these native colonial officials became the ruling elite.

During the Dutch colonial period, repression took place but was not as extreme as what was observed during Suharto's regime (i.e. torture with electrical cords connected to activists' genitals.) And such violence took place excessively in areas like Aceh, Papua, and East Timor. "I see too many Indonesians still inclined to think of Indonesia as an 'inheritance,' not as a challenge nor as a common project. Where one has inheritance, one has inheritors, and too often there are bitter quarrels among them as to who has 'rights' to the inheritance: sometimes to the point of great violence," Anderson said. "The situation is today very serious and can only be remedied by a radical change in the mindset of the political leaders in Indonesia," he wrote.

As Hotli and Nani's comments attest, and Anderson's observations show, nationalism in Indonesia is narrowly understood, especially among leading editors. A necessary change of mindset should start with journalists themselves as they work to rid themselves of their narrow-minded sense of nationalism and start to report on the Aceh and its people from a broader perspective. In some ways this will mean choosing to act first as journalists, and then as Indonesians. It is by sticking to my journalistic principles that I believe I serve my Indonesian audience better.

[Andreas Harsono, a 2000 Nieman Fellow, is the head of the Pantau Foundation, a media think tank in Jakarta.]

Government considers revision to special autonomy

Jakarta Post - February 26, 2005

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- The government is considering modifications to the implementation of special autonomy in Aceh to put an end to three decades of rebellion in the province.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Friday the government would try to provide more details of the special autonomy program on offer to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels when the peace talks resume in Helsinki in mid-April.

"GAM needs to understand what special autonomy is. Of course there is a possibility there will be modifications to the autonomy framework. [However] all negotiations are about give and take," Kalla said at his office.

The Vice President, who has been assigned by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to handle the Aceh conflict raised the possibility that GAM members may be allowed to contest regional elections for gubernatorial, mayoral or regental posts in Aceh after they secured an amnesty.

Unlike in other regions in Indonesia, in Aceh independent candidates are allowed to vie for regional posts as set out in the local regulations (qanuns) that are endorsed by the Aceh council.

However, the revised law on regional administrations, which also regulates the elections in Aceh, bans "those who have been involved in separatism," from local elections.

Underlining that Aceh was a part of the unitary state of Indonesia, Kalla said the government remained unclear about what GAM's concept of self-rule was in the second informal talks that concluded early this week. "We want to make sure that it [the offer] is in line with our legislation," Kalla said.

Separately, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto said the government and GAM needed to talk more about their many unresolved differences, including the special autonomy issue, before they could draft any peace agreement.

"GAM is still sensitive about special autonomy, that's why the demand for self-government appeared," he said after reporting the results of the Helsinki talks to the President.

Also present were Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin and Minister of Communication and Information Sofyan Djalil, who were also involved in the peace talks.

Widodo said GAM's proposal for self-rule in Aceh was difficult to understand. "Perhaps it's just a matter of semantics, but we believe it does mean something," Widodo said.

He said both parties had talked about the implementation of special autonomy in Aceh and the possible establishment of local political parties and regional elections in Aceh.

"For Indonesia, special autonomy is not mere terminology. It is legislation produced by a sovereign country, which is the Law No. 18/2001 on special autonomy for Aceh," he said.

Meanwhile, GAM spokesman Bakhtiar Abdullah refused to go into details about his group's proposal for self-government in Aceh but warned the government against dropping the offer of special autonomy. "We have never retracted our demand for independence," he told The Jakarta Post.

Forms of self government have been granted by European countries to some of their regions -- the most well-known being the recent self-rule granted by Britain to Northern Ireland. Spain's Galacia, Valencia, Barcelona and Basque provinces also have forms of self rule as do the Danish administrations of Greenland and Faroe Island.

Most of these territories have their own heads of state, either a president or a prime minister, and parliaments. But defense and fiscal affairs remain the central government's domain.

Susilo had asked the government delegation to prepare for another meeting with GAM and had suggested drafting a possible accord, Widodo said. "But, we have to focus on identifying what the differences are between the two sides before making any further moves," he said.

Land/rural issues

Flooding may cost farmers $5 million

Jakarta Post - February 26, 2005

Bandung -- Flooding in the past few days has damaged several thousand hectares of rice fields in several regencies in West Java, which will mean little or no harvests this season in the affected areas, a senior official has said.

Entang Ruchiyat, the chief of Agriculture Office at the West Java provincial administration, said on Friday that, due to the flooding, the estimated harvest failure of over 6,000 hectares would cost farmers approximately Rp 45 billion (approximately US$5 million).

He claimed that 24,000 hectares were saved after the farmers and government officials pumped water out of the rice fields. With the harvest failure, the farmers in the area had lost the opportunity to produce some 30,000 tons of rice, said Entang.

War on terror

Trial of cleric Bashir wraps up in fiery fashion

Agence France Presse - February 26, 2005

The terrorism trial of Indonesia's Abu Bakar Bashir wrapped up in characteristically fiery fashion, with the Muslim cleric telling judges they would face God's punishment if they convicted him.

The 66-year-old preacher has been on trial since October and is facing charges linked to a series of attacks blamed on the Al- Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah. The court is due to issue its verdict and any sentence on Thursday.

Prosecutors have accused Bashir of failing to prevent Jemaah Islamiyah militants allegedly under his leadership from carrying out terror attacks, including the 2002 Bali bombings, and have sought an eight-year jail sentence. Making his final defence plea, Bashir urged judges to throw out what he called "trumped up" charges.

"If the panel of judges are convinced that the prosecutors' charges are intended to aid the infidels who have evil schemes -- the United States -- the judges are obliged to disavow and categorically reject them to avoid unwanted consequences in the hereafter," Bashir told the trial.

Bashir, who has maintained that he is being framed by US President George W. Bush for campaigning for Islamic law, also warned prosecutors that they would face God's wrath.

"I'm sure that what the prosecutors are doing is against their will and against their conscience as Muslims. They have been ordered by their leaders who are under pressure from the enemy of Allah, George Bush," he said.

"Such leaders will lead them to hell," he said, urging the prosecutors to repent. "It is better to have menial jobs than holding positions that will bring catastrophe in the hereafter," he said.

The cleric is on trial for his alleged link to a series of deadly bombings in recent years blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah, the most deadly of which, the Bali nightclub bombings, claimed the lives of 202 people.

Prosecutors insisted that Bashir as the alleged leader of Jemaah Islamiyah knew of his subordinates' activities, including bomb- making classes at a militant training camp in the southern Philippines.

Prosecutors dropped a primary charge that Bashir and his supporters actually planned the attacks or that Bashir incited his followers to engage in terrorism, saying they had insufficient evidence. However, they said evidence showed he was guilty of involvement in acts of terrorism.

One of Bashir's lawyers, Wirawan Adnan, said he feared that the judges would be pressured into handing down a guilty verdict and heavy sentence despite what he called flimsy evidence. "It's quite possible for the judges to issue a heavy verdict because they want to save their career. But, so far I have not seen any indication of pressure from the government," he said.

Bashir, who was cleared in 2003 of leading Jemaah Islamiyah, was released from jail in April last year after serving a sentence for an immigration offence. He was immediately rearrested by police, who said they had new evidence of terror links and of his leadership of Jemaah Islamiyah.

Prosecutors in their indictment said Bashir, as Jemaah Islamiyah chief, visited a rebel training camp in the Philippines in April 2000 and relayed a "ruling from Osama bin Laden which permitted attacks and killings of Americans and their allies".

Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for numerous attacks including a suicide bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta last September that killed 11 people.

Politics/political parties

PDI-P reform declaration broken up by Mega supporters

Detik.com - February 26, 2005

Budi Sugiharto, Surabaya -- A declaration of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya has been marred by a fist fight. Six youths, supporters of PDI-P chairperson former President Megawati Sukarnoputri, forcibly broke up the event. PDI-P Reform Movement leader Sukowaluyo Mintohardjo was spat on in the face.

The declaration was held at the Wanita Building on Jalan Kali Bokor on Saturday February 26.

The brawl started when six unidentified youths began shouting, calling for PDI-P cadre to leave the room. "Whoever defends Ibu Mega leave the room", shouted one of the youths raising their fist.

The six youths then tried to climb onto the podium and grab the microphone but were prevented by other participants. A fist fight then broke out which resulted in one of the Reform Movement activists suffering serious bruises to the face. Seats were even thrown and scattered over the floor.

The 100 or so participants ran helter-skelter leaving the room. One of the initiators of the PDI-P Reform Movement, Mintohardjo was unlucky. Mintohardjo, who at the time was sitting in the front row of seats was spat on by one of the rioting pro-Mega youths. He appeared to be unable to do anything.

It was only after the brawl was over that a number of police arrived and took control of the situation.

Must be investigated

Following the brawl, Mintohardjo said he regretted the anarchistic behaviour. "If they are Megawati supporters, there's no need to create violence. That will only smear Megawati's good name. The police must investigate the perpetrators of this violence", he asserted.

Megawati's younger brother and PDI-P Reform supporter Guruh Soekarnoputra had initially been scheduled to appear at the event however because it forcibly broken up he failed to show his face. (aan)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

PPP wants to replace Hamzah Haz

Jakarta Post - February 28, 2005

Hera Diani, Jakarta -- The internal strife in the United Development Party (PPP) appears to be worsening after members gathered for informal talks over the weekend demanded that the party bring forward its congress to the end of the year from the scheduled 2007, citing the need for reform and regeneration in the party.

The demand to hold an early congress was signed by 602 participants who came from 94 out of the party's 452 provincial and regental branches at the conclusion of the two-day meeting on Saturday.

In their statement, the participants said the snap congress was aimed at reforming the party, whose popularity has been on the decline. The party won 9.25 million voters (8.15 percent of the total vote) in the 2004 legislative election compared to 11.3 million (10.7 percent) in 1999.

The PPP secured 58 House of Representatives seats in last year's legislative election, the same number as it garnered in the previous general election in 1999. The party's bid to win the presidential election, however, faltered in the first round.

PPP deputy chairman Suryadharma Ali said he was seeking an immediate meeting with party leader Hamzah Haz. "It would be too much if the central board rejected such a good recommendation. It's a matter of introspection," Suryadharma told a media conference on Sunday, as quoted by detikcom. However, he added that Hamzah had the right to reject the recommendation.

Suryadharma, who is also State Minister for Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises, was among the participants at the informal meeting. He has been deputized to convey the recommendation to Hamzah.

The informal gathering marked an escalating conflict in one of the biggest Islam-based parties in the country. The PPP central board had formally banned party members from attending the gathering, saying it was an attempt to break up the party.

"This informal gathering was aimed at undermining the party. It was simply a forum for some party executives to express their discontent with the party. It's a betrayal," said Mahmud F. Rakasima, the PPP's research and development division deputy head, as quoted by Antara.

Another party executive, Wall Paragoan, branded the informal gathering as the worst tragedy ever in the party's history. "The party has to uphold its dignity by sacking the executives [who held the gathering]," he said.

Wall added that if some party members were bent on internal reform, they should have channeled this through the official mechanisms. "If they had good intentions, they wouldn't have held the informal gathering, which was a waste of money and little more than a political maneuver," he said.

Meanwhile, party executive Ngudi Astuti said it was out of line for the party to intimidate members who wished to improve the party's fortunes. "This informal gathering should be viewed as a sort of consolidation to help develop the party," she was quoted by Kompas daily as saying.

The first signs of dissension within the party came in 1998 when a number of party executives, including popular cleric Zainuddin M.Z., split from the party and formed the PPP Reformasi. The new party did not make it to the 1999 election, but later in 2004, after changing its name to the Star Reform Party (PBR), it managed to finish among the top 13 parties competing in that year's general election.

Corruption/collusion/nepotism

Illegal logging 'caused 31 billion rupiah in losses'

Jakarta Post - March 2, 2005

Semarang -- State forestry company Perhutani I in Central Java lost an estimated Rp 31.72 billion (US$3.5 million) because of illegal logging last year, the company's boss says.

The amount was less compared to 2003, when the company suffered Rp 61.66 billion loss, company head Sofyan Hanafi said in Semarang on Monday.

He said the decrease was because there were few loggable trees left in Central Java's forests and there was less illegal logging going on. "We are trying to develop alternative trees to replace teak wood in the furniture industry," he said.

Radical reform necessary to curb corruption: Report

Jakarta Post - February 26, 2005

Jakarta -- Radical reform of the Indonesian administration and bureaucracy is imperative to help curb endemic corruption among civil servants, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report has said.

The bank's Country Governance Assessment Report said rampant corruption among civil servants was made possible by poor management at all levels of administration, as well as by a lack of transparency in recruitment and promotion, and by bribes being paid for appointments.

The government demonstrated its preference for an open recruitment system last year by holding simultaneous nation-wide civil service recruitment tests for 204,584 positions to minimize the possibility of bribery.

However, Law No. 43/1999 on Civil Servants, and Government Regulation No. 25/2002 on Jurisdiction of the Central Government and Provinces allows for closed recruitment, which leads to opportunities for bribery.

It is an open secret that applicants for government positions usually have to pay money to get accepted.

The report said that there were anecdotal indications that suggested that the level of corruption in appointments and promotions was significant. Promotions were often given to the highest bidder, with higher payments being required for entry into "lucrative" jobs.

"The trade in positions serves three illicit purposes. The person paying the bribe is assured a job with rewards that cannot be expected from basic salaries and allowances. For the persons accepting the bribe, it provides some income," the report said.

"It also guarantees personal loyalty to the patron under whom this operation works and thus enforces allegiance in maintaining corrupt practices and assuring secrecy."

A source at the Office of the State Minister of Culture and Tourism confirmed that bribing of National Civil Service Board (BKN) officials took place very often. "Civil servants do it to expedite the administration process," said the man, who has served 18 years as a civil servant.

The source also confirmed the subjectivity of appraisals conducted by superiors in each department, where arbitrary likes and dislikes prevailed.

The report also found that the policy of maintaining low basic salary levels plus various types of allowances, made civil servants look for other avenues to obtain income.

"I've been working for almost two decades but my basic salary is only Rp 1.2 million. Therefore, I'm counting on money from projects to increase my income," said the source.

The ADB report said that annual performance assessments of civil servants did not evaluate performance based on targets and objectives, but as a means to extend rewards.

In conclusion, the ADB suggested that radical reforms be made, among other things by seeing to it that all actions taken by civil servants have a basis in law, that they be accountable to their superiors, and that effective accountability mechanisms be put in place.

Past graft cases not priority: SBY

Jakarta Post - February 26, 2005

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta -- President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Friday that the government was focusing its antigraft efforts on the prevention of corruption in the future rather than pursuing graft cases that took place in the past.

"I am concentrating more on preventative measures for the future. If we only look to the past, it means delving into things that are far from certain. We would be better off preventing mega corruption cases from recurring in the future," he told governors at a meeting of the Indonesian Provincial Administrations Association (APPSI) in Jakarta.

Susilo asked the governors to support his soon-to-be-issued national action plan to combat corruption, as well as a recently issued presidential instruction designed to accelerate the antigraft effort.

Citing his recent meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and parliamentarians, Susilo said they had stressed the need not to focus on the past as to do so would prove to be extremely complex. "But Turkey is successful, and is firm against corruption," he added.

The President also said that the antigraft movement should not become tainted with "political motives".

He said that differences in political thinking between the present government and past governments should not be used as an excuse to victimize past officeholders. Asked to elaborate, presidential spokesman Andi Mallarengeng said the government was determined to prevent corruption in the future through the creation of a deterrent effect.

"The graft cases currently being handled by the authorities, such as those involving Nurdin Halid and Adrian Waworuntu, will proceed. But a case like that of Pak Harto will not be pursued as it has already been taken to court," he said.

Andi was referring to former president Soeharto, who briefly stood trial for graft in the South Jakarta District Court. The case came to an abrupt halt, however, after the court in a controversial ruling found Soeharto unfit to stand trial for health reasons.

Andi said the government would leave any decision whether or not to pursue a past corruption case up to the Attorney General's Office. However, he said the government would not hesitate to prosecute serving government officials suspected of stealing state funds.

On Thursday, the President approved a request by prosecutors request to question Blitar, East Java, Regent Imam Muhadi as a suspect in a corruption case. He also gave the police the go- ahead to summon Temanggung, Central Java, Regent Totok Ary Prabowo as a witness in a similar case.

Since coming to power in October last year, the President has given his consent for the questioning of 37 state officeholders and legislators on suspicions of graft.

Susilo said that a number of governors had asked him not to readily issue permits for the police and prosecutors to question local administration chief executives as they feared this would irreparably tarnish their images, even if the charges were eventually thrown out in court.

"I listen to their calls. But I will continue to give my written consent. I have explicitly told the police and prosecutors that they must only question suspects if there are strong indications of corruption," he added.

The President urged law enforcers to seriously consider the consequences before laying graft charges. "Should some apparent irregularities have occurred in the use of funds due to erroneous interpretations of policies or regulations, do not immediately conclude it is corruption without first conducting a thorough examination," Susilo said.

Indonesia targets timber trafficking racket

Asia Times - February 26, 2005

Bill Guerin -- Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono this week pledged an "integrated crackdown" on military and police personnel and officials from the ministries of forestry and immigration suspected of involvement in the world's biggest timber trafficking racket.

The crackdown comes hot on the heels of a report by the London- based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and the Indonesian non-governmental organization Telapak that shows that Indonesia, which has the world's worst deforestation rate, is also the world's second-biggest exporter of illegal timber after Russia. The region's booming economic giant, China, has become the world's largest buyer of illegal timber.

The report, "The Last Frontier", said that around 2.3 million cubic meters of Indonesian timber were smuggled onto the Chinese market last year. The report accused the Indonesian defense forces (TNI) and government officials of smuggling 300,000 cubic meters of merbau timber every month, valued at US$1 billion, from Papua to China to feed the timber processing industry there.

Forestry Minister Malam Sambat Kaban, National Police Chief General Dai Bachtiar, Home Affairs Minister Muhammad Maruf, operations assistant to the TNI chief Major General Adam Damiri, and the director general of immigration, Imam Santoso, were all summoned to an unscheduled meeting with the president on Tuesday.

Under ex-president Suharto's New Order regime, Indonesia's tropical forests were exploited to the hilt to reap as much foreign exchange as possible. Little has changed, except that the forests have been further depleted and the huge timber profits now go to international syndicates and not to the state.

Some 30 million cubic meters of logs are smuggled overseas annually, causing the state to suffer losses of about Rp40 trillion ($4.3 billion), according to the Forestry Ministry.

More than 70% of the country's original frontier forests have been lost, and an area the size of Switzerland is cut down every year. Illegal logging is said to have destroyed 10 million hectares (2.47 million acres).

The increasing degradation of the region's forests to meet China's demand is hardly surprising. Mainland China consumes nearly 280 million cubic meters of timber a year, but its domestic capacity is barely half of this. Imports and illegal logging make up for the shortfall.

Papua quickly became the new target for logging barons as forests in East Kalimantan province and Sumatra had been plundered through huge logging operations over the past decade.

The sparsely populated province, formerly known as Irian Jaya, covers an area nearly the size of France and forms the western part of the island of New Guinea, which, with intact forest cover at around 70%, contains the last substantial tracts of undisturbed forest in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Our research shows trade in merbau between Papua and China is being controlled by a few people, a few syndicates, so it's the biggest sort of smuggling racket in terms of the volume and value of the timber being smuggled," said Julian Newman, a senior investigator with the EIA.

Indonesia has banned the export of unprocessed lumber, and in December 2002 signed a memorandum of understanding with China to take steps to regulate timber imports by preventing illegal logging. But three years of investigations revealed a network of middlemen and brokers responsible for arranging shipments of the illegally felled logs to China. The majority of merbau logs stolen from Papua were shipped to the Chinese port of Zhangjiagang, near Shanghai, which in just a few years has become a major log trading port.

Merbau is prized for its strength and durability and feeds the demand for hardwood flooring and garden furniture in China, one of the world's fastest-growing economies.

"Papua has become the main illegal logging hotspot in Indonesia," said Telapak's M Yayat Afianto. "The communities of Papua are paid a pittance for trees taken from their land, while timber dealers in Jakarta, Singapore and Hong Kong are banking huge profits."

"The profits are vast as local communities only receive around $10 for each cubic meter of merbau felled on their land, while the same logs are sold for as much as $270 per cubic meter in China," said the report. Each cubic meter of merbau, when made into 26 square meters of flooring, sells for nearly $2,000 in New York or London.

The rest of the profit goes to criminal logging syndicates that oversee the trade and pay bribes of about $200,000 per ship to get contraband logs out of the country and ensure they are not intercepted in Indonesian waters. The EIA/Telapak report said illegal logging in Papua involves collusion with the Indonesian military, the support of Malaysian logging gangs, and the exploitation of indigenous communities.

Kaban, from the Ministry of Forestry, also admitted that powerful businessmen, whom he described as "slippery as eels in a pond of lubricating oil", have involved civil servants in his ministry, as well as the police and the prosecutor's office, in illegal logging practices.

Kaban said his ministry had reported 59 businessmen allegedly involved in a wide range of illegal logging practices to the police and the prosecutor's office, but not a single case had been investigated. He said rampant illegal logging practices by such businessmen led to the rapid rate of destruction of the country's forests, including those in protected areas.

Kaban said EIA and Telapak had given the government names of 32 financiers of illegal logging operations in Papua and other provinces. Most were Malaysians. He was quoted as saying that, according to the president, "personnel of the eastern navy, the police in Papua, the Trikora Regional Military Command [based in Papua's provincial capital of Jayapura], local offices of the ministries of forestry and immigration in Papua, all have indications of being involved in illegal logging in Papua."

Corrupt police and military officers are bribed to allow illegal logging boats to sail from Indonesian waters and help cut deals with local communities to fell the timber and guard logging sites, the report said.

"There is a question mark over whether Indonesia's military is serious to stop its involvement," Arbi Valentinus, a spokesman for Telapak, said. The TNI have previously denied the institution was engaged in the trade, but conceded rogue elements could be taking part.

A former police chief of Sorong regency in Papua and five of his subordinates are on trial for illegal logging in the province and National Police Chief General Bachtiar has promised "shock therapy" for any police personnel suspected of involvement in illegal logging.

Illegal logging also exacerbates potentially deadly natural disasters, such as floods and landslides, and is killing many of Indonesia's endangered animal species, such as Sumatran tigers and orangutans. In November 2003 then-president Megawati Sukarnoputri ordered a drive to catch illegal loggers eight days after a flash flood blamed on deforestation killed at least 136 people at the resort town of Bahorok in North Sumatra.

Senior officials including Nabiel Makarim, environment minister at the time, said rampant illegal logging in the neighboring Gunung Leuser national park helped cause the disaster. Makarim denounced illegal loggers as terrorists and hit out at their protectors in the police and army. He promised a new law making the crime of illegal logging a capital offense. Forestry Minister Muhammad Prakosa ordered the reforestation of 300,000 hectares of land across the country.

Environmentalists criticized Kaban last year when he said he would probably revoke a proposed government regulation that would have meted out severe penalties to illegal loggers, while financiers of illegal logging would have faced the death sentence or life imprisonment.

Kaban told a hearing with parliament's Commission IV on forestry that the judiciary lacks the courage to tackle illegal logging and said he would prefer to deal with illegal logging "through consolidation and coordination between the Forestry Ministry, the police, the Attorney General's Office and the courts".

"Nobody engaged in illegal logging will be immune from the law," presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng quoted Yudhoyono as saying after the meeting on Tuesday. But environmentalists have said illegal logging bosses are virtually never prosecuted due to endemic corruption in the country's judicial system.

Corruption is said to be worst in the Attorney General's Office and among the national police, environmentalists say. Collusion between the military, police, state prosecutors and the courts are the main reasons why illegal logging bosses have so far gone unpunished in Indonesia.

Bill Guerin, a weekly Jakarta correspondent for Asia Times Online since 2000, has worked in Indonesia for 19 years in journalism and editorial positions. He has been published by the BBC on East Timor and specializes in business/economic and political analysis in Indonesia.

Investigators tell how they uncovered smuggling

Jakarta Post - February 19, 2005

"This is a smuggler... ha... ha... He is a mafia [member]... ha... ha...," an unidentified man told undercover investigators.

He pointed his finger at a Singaporean in a yellow checked shirt, who was counting stash of cash on his desk. The Singaporean smiled and said, "The problem is that somebody asks me to smuggle. The problem is the buyer. No buyer, no smuggling."

"This smuggling is better than drug smuggling. Drug smuggling is no good. This one is OK," he said in a heavy Sing-lish (Singaporean English) accent.

That was a dialog captured on video and presented by the London- based Environmental Investigative Agency (EIA) and its Indonesian partner, Telapak, when unveiling their investigation into the world's biggest smuggling operation of merbau (intsia) from Papua province to China.

The timber smuggling involves around 300,000 cubic meters of timber a month and generates around US$1 billion in revenue. The two NGOs claimed that the racket was the world's biggest smuggling operation in terms of one species of timber being smuggled from one place to another.

"The huge illegal trade of merbau logs between Indonesia and China is the world's biggest environment-related crime and it endangers Papua forests," said John Newman, an EIA investigator.

Arbi Valentinus of the Bogor-based Telapak told The Jakarta Post that the three-year investigation started in 2002, based on reports received from Papuans and local media.

"There were news reports on rampant illegal logging in Papua that they had never seen before," Arbi said after releasing the report: The Last Frontier at a media conference on Thursday in Jakarta.

His colleague, M. Yayat Afianto, said the investigation had been perfectly prepared before they traveled from the eastern tip of Indonesia to the industrial town of Nanxun in China.

"We studied the history of forest management in the area and contacted people in Papua to assist us in accessing the logging areas and talked to the tribal communities," he said.

At the same time, EIA was trying to uncover the chain of syndicates that stretched across Asia and involved high profile businessmen, high-ranking military personnel and customs officials. Each played an important role from preparing shipping documents to finding buyers.

The two NGOs spent around Rp 200 million (around $21,750) for sending two-person teams periodically to document the individuals involved in the racket. In conducting the investigation, the team had to pose as timber businessmen or bird-watchers.

Several members of the teams received threats from unidentified persons, who felt threatened by their investigations. "With regard to the bureaucrats, we didn't have many problems. They were cooperative. But some of our friends received phone threats saying that they would harm their families," said Yahya. But, the threats did not deter them from going ahead with the investigation.

However, the deforestation of more than three million hectares a year was more fearful to them than the threats. Moreover, the investigators felt that the Papuans had suffered losses from the rampant theft, he said.

"An elderly villager in Papua once told us how timber companies extracted 5,000 cubic meters of merbau from a site but only paid the locals Rp 7 million," the report said.

Merbau is one of the most valuable species of wood in Southeast Asia and is often used as flooring. It is worth about US$270 per cubic meter.

Human rights/law

Team looks at possible suspect in Munir case

Jakarta Post - March 2, 2005

Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta -- Six months after human rights campaigner Munir was murdered, a fact-finding team assigned to help the police investigate the case may have a suspect.

The head of the team, Brig. Gen. Marsudi Hanafi, said on Tuesday the team was looking at an employee of Garuda airline.

"I do not want to mention the name, but this person could be named a suspect in the case," he said when asked whether he was referring to Pollycarpus, a Garuda pilot who was on the same flight as Munir on September 7, 2004, from Jakarta to the Netherlands, via Singapore.

Munir, the founder of the human rights organizations Impartial and Kontras, is believed to have been poisoned by arsenic during the flight from Jakarta to Singapore. He died two hours before the airplane landed in the Netherlands. Pollycarpus, who was on the flight to Singapore as a passenger, reportedly spoke with Munir during the flight and offered to have him moved from economy class to business class.

According to Garuda president director Indra Setiawan, Pollycarpus was flying to Singapore that day to assist a Garuda unit on the island state.

Indra said he signed the assignment letter for Pollycarpus personally, that the letter was issued before Pollycarpus left for Singapore and that it was common practice for Garuda employees to be assigned to other units.

However, the fact-finding team found that the letter was dated on September 17, more than a week after Munir's death, and that it was typed and signed on a Saturday when administration offices are normally closed.

"That letter was signed after Munir had died, which indicates that it was only signed after the media had reported about the suspicious death of Munir," Marsudi said.

A source inside National Police Headquarters said the letter was signed by Garuda's vice president of corporate security, Ramalgia Anwar, not the operational director, who is the supervisor for all Garuda pilots.

The source also said that during a two-hour meeting between the fact-finding team and Garuda officials on Monday, the operational director, Rudy A. Hardono, said he was not aware of any assignment for Pollycarpus. In fact, after Munir's murder Rudy grounded Pollycarpus for seven days for leaving his unit without permission.

Marsudi said he would submit the name of the suspect to police investigators so they could expand the investigation. Police investigators, led by Sr. Comr. Oktavianus Far-far, previously questioned Pollycarpus along with other Garuda crew members.

Separately, the director of transnational crime at National Police Headquarters, Brig. Gen. Pranowo, said a preliminary reconstruction of the murder had to be canceled again because Garuda was "not yet ready".

Prosecutions indicted over poor showing

Jakarta Post - March 1, 2005

Jakarta -- "Huuuu...! That's what you get when you skip classes all the time," spectators at the Anticorruption Court in Jakarta once mocked a prosecutor who was warned by the presiding judge to deliver clear and intelligent questions to the defendant, Abdullah Puteh, who has been suspended as Aceh governor while being tried for graft.

About five kilometers away, a 25-year-old man sat in a corner of a West Jakarta courthouse holding a cell phone. He had figured out how to obtain Rp 4 million (about US$430) in a week to meet the prosecutor's demand so that the sentence demand for his bother, on trial on drug charges, could be reduced from the expected four years.

Both cases illustrate the poor quality of state prosecutors and rampant bribery among them, which drew the attention of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) when assessing the performance of Indonesian law enforcement agencies.

"Like the police and courts, this prestigious [prosecutor's] institution is widely criticized for failing to bring about justice. The poor quality of prosecution was shown in highly publicized cases, such as those related to human rights abuses in East Timor as well as in corruption cases against high-ranking officials," said the ADB report titled Government Assessment Report-Indonesia.

It said no specific measure existed for evaluating the performance of prosecutors, including those in management positions. "The skills required for management positions are not defined, so candidates are not necessarily selected on the basis of their skills or the needs of the organization," the 125-page report states.

However, the ADB also noticed that reforms undertaken by the institution were centralized and top-down in nature. Some key aspects of reform were beyond the institution's jurisdiction, such as the requirement of the Office of the State Minister of Administrative Reforms to restructure the organization.

The report also stresses that the institutional reform of the public prosecution services depend merely on the political will and leadership of the president and coordination between several ministers and the House of Representatives, which causes it to owe allegiance to the state.

An unnamed source at the Attorney General's Office confirmed that rapid changes in the institution's leadership partly contributed to the slow pace of reform.

"We have had six bosses in six years. What kind of reform can be done under such circumstances? Worst still, I once had four bosses in a week! That happened during Habibie's presidency. Monday it was Ghalib; Tuesday Faisal Tanjung; Wednesday Muladi, and Friday it was Ismudjoko. Each assumed office for just one day before they were replaced by the president. I bet not even one neighborhood (RT) head has experienced such a thing," said the source.

The poor quality of prosecutors is made worse by the minimum budget the office receives from the state. This has led the institution to look for revenue outside of the budget, which according to a source came from traffic tickets, court fines and other court-related revenue.

"Relying on off-budget revenues has far-reaching consequences for the organization. First, it institutionalizes corruption, undermining the very purpose of the prosecution services in promoting law and justice ... Second, performance cannot be accurately reviewed if major parts of financing are unknown," the report said.

State Department says rights record remains poor

Associated Press - March 1, 2005

Washington -- Just two days after the United States moved to improve military ties with Indonesia, the State Department said on Monday the Jakarta government had a poor human rights record last year.

Most of the abuses took place in areas of separatist violence, the department said in its annual report on human rights conditions worldwide.

"Security force members murdered, tortured, raped, beat and arbitrarily detained civilians and members of separatist movements, especially in Aceh and to a lesser extent in Papua," it said.

Police sometimes used deadly force in arresting suspects and in trying to obtain information or confessions, it said. Past and present military officers known to have committed abuses were promoted to senior positions in the government and military.

The report is certain to be used by member of Congress who oppose the Bush administration's moves to strengthen military ties with Jakarta.

On Saturday, the State Department announced it had lifted restrictions on Indonesia's participation in a US military training program. The restrictions were imposed in 1992 after massacres of civilian protesters in East Timor, then a breakaway Indonesian province.

Later, the conditions were tied to Indonesia's cooperation in the investigation of the murders of two American teachers in Indonesia's Papua province. The department said Saturday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had determined that Jakarta has been cooperating.

Monday's report praised Indonesia's move toward democratic government, the reduced political power of security forces and efforts to criminalize domestic violence and fight trafficking in human beings.

It said serious problems remained, however. Indonesian prison conditions were harsh, the judicial system was corrupt, and the government has arrested peaceful protesters. Journalists have come under increased pressure from the government, businessleaders and security forces, it said.

Focus on Jakarta

Jakarta is sinking fast, agency says

Jakarta Post - February 28, 2005

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta -- The construction of high-rise buildings and the overexploitation of groundwater has caused the capital to sink by up to 100 centimeters over the past 12 years, according to an expert.

Citing a joint study with PT Succonfindo, City Mining Agency head Haris Pindratno said over the weekend the sinkage would undermine any efforts to mitigate the flooding that has plagued the capital over the past few years.

Data provided by the agency indicates the land subsidence varies from one place to another, with North Jakarta experiencing the greatest amount of sinkage.

"The land along Jl. Sunter Kebayoran was 3.42 meters above sea level in 1993, but it stands at just 2.4 meters this year," said Haris, adding that swampy areas in North Jakarta converted into residential areas, offices and commercial space experienced the most severe land subsidence.

Dozens of high-rise hotels, apartments, offices, malls and shopping centers are erected across this city of 12 million people every year. According to official estimates, some 250 million cubic meters of water is removed from beneath Jakarta every year.

Haris said the construction of new buildings contributed 80 percent to land subsidence, water exploitation 17 percent and natural land subsidence only 3 percent.

"This means that Jakarta's land continues to sink as the construction of massive high-rise buildings and excessive water exploitation continues unabated," Haris said.

The agency said that from 1999 to 2005, land in North Jakarta sank by between two centimeters and eight centimeters per year, West Jakarta by 2.2 centimeters, East Jakarta by 1.3 to three centimeters and South Jakarta by two centimeters.

The survey also found that a six-story building measuring 30 meters by 40 meters in Central Jakarta could cause up to 71 centimeters of land subsidence within 20 years.

"If a six-story building can cause up to 71 centimeters of land subsidence, how about buildings that are 30-stories or higher," Haris said. Most of Jakarta's skyscrapers are found along Jl. Rasuna Said and Jl. Sudirman in South Jakarta, and Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta.

According to Haris, continued land sinkage would undercut efforts to stop annual flooding in the city. He also called for more money from the budget for water conservation projects in the capital.

Haris said tax revenue from groundwater reached Rp 52 billion (US$5.778 million) last year, but the city allocated only Rp 250 million to construct 45 reservoirs.

"The city increased the allocation for similar projects to Rp 527 million this year," he said, adding that Jakarta needed some 9,000 more water reservoirs. Currently, the city has about 6,400 reservoirs.

Jakarta's monorail is left up in the air

Sydney Morning Herald - February 26, 2005

Matthew Moore, Jakarta -- For seven months Jakarta's motorists have waited patiently in traffic even heavier than normal as they watched the latest public transport dream take shape in Asia's most congested city.

Drilling rigs set up on the busiest roads and sank shafts into rich topsoil that soon sprouted steel and concrete shoots to one day support a 14.8 kilometre monorail with 17 stations.

Now, suddenly, the rigs and the workers have gone and the media have reported that work has stopped. The company building the thing, PT Jakarta Monorail, insists work is still under way and points to a pile of stone blocks stacked 20 metres into the air, which, it says, are part of a continuing "loading test".

What a director of Jakarta Monorail, Sukmawati Syukur, does admit is that the project is in financial trouble and that the completion date is now in doubt.

The original plan was for the private investors to raise $US650 million to build the project, which they would own and operate for 30 years before handing it over to the Jakarta Government.

Now Ms Syukur says her company needs the government to buy 30 per cent of the project to make it financially sustainable. She is unsure what will happen if it refuses.

"For instance, we can delay the time frame until after 2007," she said, although she declined to say how long that might be. However, she insisted she expected the difficulties would be sorted out.

The idea of a monorail floating above Jakarta's choked streets has been around for years, and has grown more attractive as the traffic has grown heavier.

Heru Sutomo, the chairman of the board of researchers at Gadjah Mada University's Centre for Transportation and Logistics, is depressed about the deteriorating state of public transport in Indonesia.

Even if the monorail is built it will not do much and will carry just half the numbers of Bangkok's light rail.

Jakarta opened a dedicated bus lane on one of its busiest streets about a year ago and has plans for a dozen more.

Although the busway was working, Mr Sutomo said, it was so tiny it made virtually no difference, while a strengthening economy had resulted in an increasing trend towards motor vehicles. "Last year we broke two records in Indonesia, a record for motorbike sales and a record for car sales," he said.

Mr Sutomo is unsure what has caused the current impasse with the monorail, but he suspects that, with so much money involved, some government departments may be delaying the project so they can mark up construction costs and take a cut.

"From my experience with the development of the busway, which was much smaller in financial scale, they had these practices of marking up the costs... why would they not do it with this larger, more attractive project?" Ms Syukur said corruption had not been a problem and that British auditors had been through the accounts.

"Everybody can check the price of the monorail. Of course it's expensive because we are using... the best technology." Many Jakarta residents are wondering now if they will ever get to test it.

Home is where the money is for Jakarta councillors

Jakarta Post - February 26, 2005

Jakarta -- Political observers questioned on Friday Governor Sutiyoso's motives in granting Rp 15 million (US$1,620) monthly housing allowances to each of 71 city council members, and Rp 20 million allowances for city leaders, arguing that they did not deserve such generous facilities due to their poor performance.

Yayat Supriatna of Trisakti University said there were many more urgent issues that the city administration should resolve before concerning itself with housing allowances for councillors.

"The councillors ought to be ashamed to accept such an allowance, especially as they have not been able to get the administration to provide free education and health services for the poor," Yayat told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Money allocated for housing city councillors, according to Yayat, ought to be used to improve sanitation in slum areas where around three million residents are living, keeping in mind also that most councillors already have houses in the capital.

Sutiyoso has set the monthly housing allowance for city councillors at Rp 15 million for members and Rp 20 million for leaders. Councillors had requested Rp 12.5 million. The housing allowance effectively triples the income of city councillors to over Rp 20 million per month.

Payments of housing allowances to councillors is stipulated in Government Regulation No. 24/2004 on protocol and financial matters for leaders and members of regional councils (DPRDs).

The regulation states that regional administrations may provide housing allowances for regional councillors if they can afford it.

Yayat demanded that the central government revise the rule as such a facility was inappropriate for councillors in the city, as their houses were not far from their offices.

A similar comment came from the coordinator of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra), Arif Nur Alam, who said city councillors did not deserve such facilities. "What have they done for the people? We often read in newspapers that they often come late to Council's seasons," he told the Post.

He said the Council's demand for such allowances indicated that they were out of touch with the problems being experienced by the majority of Jakarta's people, who endure sometimes-severe economic hardship. Arif also warned that councillors might face legal problems if they used the housing allowance for any other purpose.

"I think most of them already have houses. Therefore, such councillors may not use the housing allowance for renting houses. Meanwhile, each councillor [using the allowance] must be able to show rental receipts," said Arif.

According to Arif, the housing allowance may cause city legislators to be less critical against irregularities taking place in the city administration. "It is a kind of institutional collusion between the administration and the Council," he said.

According to the gubernatorial decree, councillors will also receive various other allowances including for foreign and domestic travel, functions, representation, family, and gifts.

They will also receive allowances for their respective positions in Council's institutions like commissions, and budgetary, ethics and inquiry committees. The city also provides "incentives" for councillors to pass bylaws.

News & issues

Protests erupt across the country over fuel price increase

Detik.com - February 28, 2005

[The following is an abridged translations of a selection of articles from Detik.com which were posted on its web site on February 28, the day before the Indonesian government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice -President Jusuf Kalla (SBY-JK) took the highly unpopular decision cut fuel (BBM) subsides.]

KAMMI students call for economics minister to be replaced

Astrid Felicia Lim, Jakarta -- Prior to a meeting of the People's Representative Assembly Budgetary Commission at which fuel price increases will be discussed, dozens of students from the Indonesian Muslim United Action Front (KAMMI) held a demonstration at the parliamentary building in Jakarta on Monday February 28.

As well as opposing fuel price increases, they also called on the government to reshuffle the economic affairs cabinet team. According to KAMMI general chairperson, Yuli Widy Astono, their opposition to the price increases are final as it is a demand of the ordinary people and students.

"This is final, the policy of increasing fuel prices will result in increases to the prices of other basic goods. The government should use other alternatives. For example, reducing subsidies for bank re-capitalisation which are as high as 41 trillion rupiah and increase [the state oil company] Pertamina's efficiency", he said.

They said that government's argument that the fuel subsidies are only being enjoyed by the rich is false. In realty, the public already knows that the fuel price increases are being done to plug the budget deficit. Astono added that the target of the compensation funds for cutting fuel subsidies is unclear and will only lead to worse corruption.

A number of demonstrators brought posters and banners which read "Oh I'm confused, the feet become the head, the head becomes the feet", "BBM goes up again", "BBM goes up the little people panic", "A sad story: BBM goes up again" and "Wasn't it enough that a tsunami struck down the country".

With regard to the Budgetary Commission meeting which had just started, Astono said that they are lobbying the DPR to allow a delegation to enter and convey the student's position to the commission, that is their opposition to the price increases.

Yogyakarta students demonstrated against fuel price increases

Bagus Kurniawan -- Actions opposing fuel price increases also occurred in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta with students from the Islamic Student Association for Reform (HMI-MPO) and the Yogyakarta Muslim Student League (LMMY) carrying a student wrapped in a shroud to the action.

The action, which was held on Monday February 28, began on the grounds of the Yogyakarta provisional parliament at 1pm where they gave speeches and set fire to an old tire.

As well as bringing HMI flags, demonstrators also carried a student wrapped in a white shroud with the writing "casualty of BBM increases" and posters reading "BBM goes up, the people are strangled", "Oppose BBM increases" and "SBY what happened to your promise".

After 15 minutes of speeches they held a long-march to the central post office where they distributed leaflets calling for opposition to the planed fuel price increases and for the arrests of those hoarding fuel and basic goods.

In a speech, action coordinator Panji Hariyanto said the people are obliged to oppose the planned price rises and if the government withdraws fuel subsidies then the people should withdraw their trust in the government and bring the Yudhoyono- Kalla administration down.

According to Hariyanto, rising the price of fuel is not the only way to solve the budget problems. "The solution is not to reduce subsidies, but to wipe out KKN [corruption, collusion and nepotism]. Not by getting the small fish but the big fish and seizing their assets/wealth to pay the debt", he said.

University of Indonesia students oppose fuel price increases

Arry Anggadha -- Around 100 students from the University of Indonesia Student Executive Council demonstrated against fuel price hikes at the State Palace carrying a bamboo bier with the writing "Rest in Not Peace (an embittered death)(1) on SBY-JK's conscience". The bier covered with a black cloth was carried by four students who also wore black clothing.

Before going to the State Palace the students held a long-march from the National Monument which was barricaded by around 100 police. After negotiations the students were finally allowed to demonstrate on the National Monument grounds in front of the State Palace.

Most of the students were wearing jackets of their university's colours and yellow head bands with the writing "We don't care SBY-JK"(2). Banners were filled with three ultimatums of the people: "Cancel plans to increase the price of BBM", "End economic policies of liberalism" and "Arrest the corrupters and seize their wealth".

There were also posters reading "BBM increases will add to the suffering of the Acehnese people", "A gift for the Acehnese people, increasing BBM" and "This is not the time for 'corruption' but the time for 'caring'".

Although the action proceeded in an orderly fashion it caused a traffic jam disrupting traffic from roads at the nearby Gambir train station to Jalan Medan Merdeka Utara.

Opposing price fuel incases, students call for general strike

Gunawan Mashar -- Opposition against planned fuel price increases has continued in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar where students are even calling for a general strike tomorrow

One of the demonstrations was organised at the South Sulawesi provisional parliament by dozens of students from the National Student League for Democracy (LMND) who arrived at the parliament at around 10am. They brought banners reading "Seize the corrupter's wealth [to pay] the subsidies for the poor". A number of students wore traditional farmer's hats with the writing "Casualties of BBM increases".

"There are many other solutions which should be taken by the government without having to increase the price of fuel which is the same as oppressing the little people. This includes seizing the wealth of the corrupters or increasing the import duties on luxury goods", said one of the students, Adi.

A Similar action took place in front of the Aluaddin State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN). Students from the IAIN Student Executive Council demonstrated by hijacking a vehicle transporting dozens of LPG tanks. The vehicle was abandoned in the middle of the road resulting in traffic jams in the area near the demonstration.

Students also protested in front of the Makassar Islamic University where they carried kerosene stoves which were placed in the middle of the road as symbol of their opposition to fuel price increases. They also held a theatrical action and called for a general strike on Tuesday. Other rallies also called for a general strike.

Opposing fuel price increases, convoy of vehicles heads for State Palace

Arry Anggadha -- Around 300 demonstrators from a number of groups organised a convoy of 25 public transport vehicles to the State Palace. They plan to hold an action opposing fuel price increases.

The demonstrators from the Urban Poor Network, the Greater Jakarta Becak (pedicab) Network and the Greater Jakarta Public Transport Network began gathering in front of the Indonesia Plaza in Central Jakarta at 10.15am.

As well as angkot (small inter-city public transport vehicle) and becak drivers, the action was joined by housewives and small children. To enliven the action, a number of house wives brought kitchen utensils.

The convoy moved off at 11.10am bringing traffic on Jalan Thamrin to a stand still. The convey stopped at the Indosat Building on Jalan Merdeka Barat then continued on foot leaving their vehicles parked along the side of the road.

Students burn photos of president and vice-president

Ahmad Dani -- Dozens of students from the Social and Political Science Faculty of the Indonesian Christian University (UKI) held a demonstration against fuel price increase in which they set fire to tires and burnt photographs of SBY-Kalla.

The action was held in front of the UKI campus in Central Jakarta on Monday February 28 causing a traffic jam when they set fire to tires and burnt photographs in the middle of the street.

In speeches they said that the SBY-Kalla government has proven itself not to side with ordinary people and rejected fuel price increases saying that in order to subsidise the people's needs the government should bring the corrupters to trial and use their money to subsidise the people.

Palembang transport workers strike over fuel price increases

Taufik Wijaya -- In the South Sumatra capital of Palembang, around 150 ankot drivers went on strike over plans by the government to increase fuel prices.

Angkot and city buses had begun "disappearing" since 12noon leaving hundreds of passengers on various routes stranded and forcing them to use motorcycle taxis or three-wheeled bemos which are more expensive.

According Robi, one of the angkot drivers, they plan to take their demonstration to the mayor's office where they will urge the municipal government to adjust public transport fares for short and long distance trips.

Monkey also opposes fuel price increases

Arry Anggadha -- Around 300 people from the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) demonstrated against fuel price increases using a "monkey act" to draw attention to their action.

The demonstration which was joined by members of the Urban Poor Network and ankot and becaks (pedicabs) drivers operating in Greater Jakarta was held in front of the State Palace in Central Jakarta on Monday February 28.

The demonstrators held a long-march from the offices of the Ministry for Political, Security and Legal Affairs to the State Palace. On arriving at the State Palace, they organised a "monkey act". "Look, even the monkey oppose BBM increases", said the head of UPC's advocacy division, Berkah Gamulya, during a break in the action.

A monkey, which was given the name Iis, could be seen dancing while carrying an umbrella and basket. Following this, the monkey rode around on a becak and bicycle.

The majority of the demonstrators were housewives and children who banged household utensils such as pans, woks and jerrycans. A huge banner was unfurled which read "Oppose BBM increases, reduce the price of basic goods". The action proceeded in an orderly manner guarded buy around 100 police officers.

Notes:

1. The implication here is that a person who is murdered "isn't ready to die" and will return as a ghost and haunt the person who committed the crime.

2. "We don't care" is play on words taken from a recent statements by Yudhoyono that he "doesn't care" about his declining popularity over the government's failure to fulfil key election promises in the first 100 days in office.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Demonstrations escalate as fuel price hikes announces

Detik.com - March 1, 2005

[The following is an abridged translation of a selection of articles from Detik.com which were posted on its web site on March 1 after the Indonesian government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice-President Jusuf Kalla (SBY-Kalla) announced the decision cut fuel (BBM) subsides.]

Makassar students burn tires over fuel price increases

Gunawan Mashar, Makassar -- Makassar students greeted fuel price increases by demonstrating on the night of Monday February 28. Demonstrations were held at a number of parts of the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar with student burning tires and reading from the Koran as symbols of the "death of the little people" who are being burdened with a higher cost of living.

Piles of tires were burnt in front of the Makassar State University while students waited for an official announcement on the price increases. At the Makassar Islamic University students from the Indonesian Islamic Student Movement burnt tires and gave recitations from the Koran.

A demonstration was also organised at the Alauddin State Institute of Islamic Studies where student gave speeches in the middle of the road.

Hundreds of students in Kupang blockade roads

Emmy F, Kupang -- Around 100 students from the National Student League for Democracy (LMND) held a demonstration protesting against fuel price increases.

The students who came from a number of colleges in Kupang, blockaded Jalan Soeharto and gave speeches. They also brought banners and posters with messages condemning the SBY-Kalla government.

Students said that the policy to increase fuel prices was made under pressure from the rich countries and the IMF and that it only represents a continuation of the policies of the previous government because the majority of the cabinet are people from the New Order regime of former President Suharto. They rejected the increases and urged the authorities to arrest the corrupters and seize their wealth to pay for subsidies for the people.

As of going to press, the blockade which started at 9am is still in place. Dozens of police officers were present but took no action.

Dozens of angkot (small inter-city public transport vehicle) drivers also held a similar action at the government office for public relations in Kupang. They urged the government to adjust fares because the fuel price increases will be followed by increases in the price of spare parts.

Opposing price increases, students highjack petrol truck

Ismoko Widyaya, Jakarta -- Lively demonstrations against the government's decision to increase fuel prices are continuing. On Tuesday March 1, Students from the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) protested the increases by highjacking a fuel truck.

The action which was organised by around 100 students, had been going on since 9am at the UIN campus in Ciputat, South Jakarta. A number of students wore head bands with the writing "We oppose BBM increases".

The started the action by burning tires in front of the campus. Scattered around the burning tires were posters with messages condemning the increases such as "BBM goes up, SBY goes down", "SBY constantly lies" and "The people have suffered enough, reduce BBM right now".

At 10am a kerosene tanker drove by and the students immediately encircled and "highjacked" it, planning to distribute the kerosene to the people. It turned out however that the tanker was empty and was eventually allowed to go at 11am.

UIN Student Executive Council spokesperson Rahmat Sahid said that they would continue the protests for four days straight demanding the cancellation of the price increases and a reduction in the price of basic goods.

Fuel prices increase, Yogya students 'seal off' Pertamina offices

Bagus Kurniawan, Yogyakarta -- Hundreds of students from a number of different groups in Yogyakarta, Central Java, demonstrated opposing fuel price increases by 'sealing off' the state oil company Pertamina offices on Jalan Mangkubumi. Students believe that the SBY-Kalla government has failed to fulfil its promises and must therefore resign.

The action on Tuesday March 1 which began at 9.30am, was joined by students from the Muhammadiyah Student Association (IMM), the Islamic State University (UNI) and the Yogyakarta Student Alliance which represents a coalition of Student Executive Councils from the Gadjah Mada University, the Yogyakarta State University, the Islamic Student Association for Reform (HMI-MPO) and the Yogyakarta Indonesian Muslim Student Action Front (KAMMI)

Before 'sealing off' the Pertamina offices the students gave speeches and burnt tires at the Yogyakarta monument. As well as bringing the flags of their respective organisations, they also brought posters reading "SBY where is your promise?", "BBM = A burden for the people", "BBM goes up = Tsunami chapter II", and "Stop oppression in the name of BBM increases".

After some 30 minutes of speeches, demonstrators held a long- march to the Pertamina offices. Because Pertamina knew it was a target, the front gates had been closed since 9am and tightly guarded by police and soldiers from the sub-district military command.

At around 10.30am the number of demonstrators grew even larger after hundreds of members from the Yogyakarta Social Alliance joined the rally. Although students had already asked permission to enter, security personnel refused to allow them to go in.

After negotiations, the demonstrators were finally allowed to 'seal off' the Pertamina offices. The offices windows were covered with massages reading "Sealed off, BBM goes up = the little people suffer". They then held a long-march to the Yogyakarta parliament on Jalan Malioboro.

Opposing price increases, students also burn tires in Jakarta

Hendi Suhendratio, Jakarta -- An action against fuel price increases on Tuesday March 1 was also organised by students from the Indonesian Christian University (UKI). Like other demonstrations, they also burnt tires as symbol of protest.

The action in front of the UKI campus in Cawang, South Jakarta, had been in progress since 11am. In front of the UKI campus gates a huge banner was erected reading "The people are suffering, oppose BBM increases".

The students numbering around 100 gave speeches and repeatedly shouted "Oppose BBM right now". They also set fire to tires in front of the campus and as would be expected, it created a traffic jam.

Action coordinator Onis said that the students had planned to highjack a passing fuel tanker however none had passed the campus yet so student gave speeches while they waited for one to pass.

In a statement, they demanded that the fuel price increases which had only just been announced the previous night be canceled and that cutting fuel subsidies was not the correct solution to subsidising needs of the people's.

1,680 demonstrate over price increase, State Palace a favorite target

Muhammad Atqa, Jakarta -- Thousands of students from 11 Jakarta student organisations have held demonstrators against fuel price increases with the State Palace being the favorite target.

This was revealed in data gathered by the Intelligence Directorate and Metro Jaya police on Tuesday March 1. Of these eleven student groups, seven chose the State Palace as the location for their actions.

The groups include 150 students from the University of Indonesia Student Executive Council (BEM) who had earlier held an action at the national parliament, 250 students the Jakarta Student Action Circle, 100 people from the Poor People's Youth Militia, 100 workers from the Port Transportation Trade Union, 80 student from the Jakarta Students Central Movement and 150 students from the Student Liberation Movement.

Other groups which chose the State Palace for their actions included 300 students from the Greater Jakarta Student Executive Council and 100 students from the State Islamic University who also invited bus drivers and conductors to go on strike.

In addition to this, 150 students from the Indonesian Christian University (UKI) demonstrated in front of the Cawang campus in South Jakarta and around 150 students from UKI who demonstrated at the Salemba campus in Central Jakarta.

The Metro Jaya police said that they would break up demonstrations without permits and if they burnt photographs of the president and vice-president police will take action in accordance with the law because it is an insult against the head of state. To safeguard the State Palace, police have deployed around 452 personnel.

Demonstration against price increases causes one-hour traffic jam

Hendi Suhendratio, Jakarta -- Students from the Indonesian Christian University (UKI) set fire to tires in the middle of the road as a protest against fuel price increases on Tuesday March 1. As a result, Jalan Mayjen Sutoyo in Cawang, South Jakarta, was brought to a standstill for almost one hour.

At first students only burnt tires in front of the campus however from 2pm they started burning them in the middle of the road. The action took up four lanes leaving only two for motorists to use. As a result cars and buses were unable to move. Only two traffic police were present so they were busy guarding the student action. It wasn't until 3.15 that traffic began to flow again.

The spokesperson for the action, Onis, said the UKI students would continue holding demonstrations until the price of fuel is brought back down. Earlier they had tried to highjack a fuel truck but there weren't enough students hold the truck for long.

Three students arrested for burning photograph of SBY

Arry Anggadha, Jakarta -- Three students who were involved in an action against fuel price increases were arrested by police on Tuesday March 1 for burning photographs of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY).

The arrests were have been confirmed by the Metro Jaya police chief Inspector General Firman Gani. "Yes, it's true, there were three people who were arrested but not those which were holding an action in front of the [State] Palace. They were holding an action at the University of Indonesia in Salemba and come from the United People's Alliance", said Gani when asked for confirmation of the arrests.

Gani said the three were arrested because they were intending to burn photographs of SBY. Evidence of this was found at the location of the demonstration where photographs of SBY were found which had already been crossed out. Also found were tires and petrol.

"At the moment they are being question by the Metro Jaya police. If proven [guilty], there is a possibility that they will be [formally charged and] arrested", he said.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Susilo's popularity continues to drop: Survey

Jakarta Post - March 2, 2005

Jakarta -- On the eve of the government's announcement it was raising fuel prices, a poll found President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's popularity had dropped to 66 percent, with voters criticizing Susilo's efforts to improve the economy.

A poll conducted in November by the Indonesia Survey Institute (LSI) showed Susilo's popularity at 80 percent. This figure dropped significantly to 67 percent in a December poll. LSI's January poll put the President's popularity at 69 percent, in part due to his response to the tsunami.

According to the latest LSI poll, the results of which were announced on Tuesday, Susilo's numbers were down as a result of his perceived indifference to issues affecting the lower classes, including unemployment, the high cost of education and the rising prices of basic commodities.

Out of 1,200 respondents, 65.3 percent said Susilo had failed to reduce unemployment, 55.4 percent cited his inability to increase wages and 52.6 percent said Susilo had done nothing to bring down the costs of education.

The poll, with a margin of error of less than 3 percent, was conducted during the first week of February in 87 cities and 63 villages across 32 provinces. The LSI said the respondents represented the broad range of interests and concerns of the more than 150 million registered Indonesian voters.

The poll also focused on the public response to the government's decision to cut the fuel subsidy.

Despite widespread protests the government went ahead with the subsidy cut, announcing on Monday that fuel prices would increase by an average of 29 percent.

The government has promised to channel Rp 10.5 trillion of the more than Rp 20 trillion (US$21 billion) that will be saved by cutting the fuel subsidy into programs that will directly benefit the poor.

The country has about 40 million people officially classified as poor, meaning they live on less than US$2 a day.

The majority of poll respondents opposed the fuel price increases, though the poll did not provide specific reasons.

It said more than 70 percent of respondents opposed increases in the prices of premium and diesel fuel, while about 50 percent were against the rise in the prices of liquefied natural gas and Pertamax.

LSI executive director Denny J.A. said that although the President's popularity had fallen to 66 percent, he still had the "political capital" to push through unpopular policies, particularly the fuel subsidy cut.

Susilo's popularity rating is still above the number of votes he received in winning the presidential election on September 20, 2004.

Susilo and running mate Jusuf Kalla received 60.62 percent of the vote in the presidential election, defeating incumbent president Megawati Soekarnoputri and running mate Hasyim Muzadi, who received just 39.38 percent of the vote.

"If he [Susilo] wants to boost his popularity rating, he must answer the public's doubts over the fuel price rises by creating new success stories with the social programs financed with the savings from the subsidy cut," said Denny.

Yudhoyono warns against price hikes as fuel protests

Agence France Presse - March 2, 2005

Indonesia's president has warned traders and transport officials against price hikes during a tour of several towns around Jakarta as protests and strikes continued for a second day after the government raised fuel costs.

At a transport terminal in the west Java town of Rengas Dengklok, Yudhoyono urged drivers to "Please, pity the small people" after they told him they had raised fares by 25 percent.

Yudhoyono, along with several government ministers, then visited the town's main market where traders told him prices had already begun to climb after the fuel price increase.

Indonesia on Monday announced a fuel price hike averaging 29 percent that came into effect on Tuesday.

Senior economy minister Abu Rizal Bakrie said the cash-strapped government was forced to act after spending some 61 trillion rupiah (6.4 billion dollars) on subsidies last year.

Yudhoyono has said the government will compensate by providing more direct targeted assistance to the poor.

Officials have said a total of 16.4 trillion rupiah (1.77 billion dollars) would be channeled to the poor in medical, rice, social and education assistance.

As anger over the fuel price hike failed to subside Wednesday, hundreds of members of the Hisbut Tahrir Muslim group protested in the West Capital province in Bandung while some 100 students occupied a state radio station and a petrol kiosk in Central Java, the ElShinta radio reported.

Student protests were also reported in central Sumatra's Jambi.

Public transport drivers were on strike demanding higher fares in several cities, the state Antara news agency said.

Yudhoyono ordered security forces not to clash with protesters, as National Police Chief General Da'i Bachtiar ordered two-thirds of his officers to remain on standby in case of violence.

In Jakarta, more than 13,000 police, soldiers and city personnel were on hand.

The president also called on governors and mayors to check price spikes in markets and transportation sectors, Antara reported.

"Make sure there are no uncontrolled rise in prices. This is the duty of the government," he said.

Thousands rallied Tuesday in at least 25 cities and towns around Indonesia and legislators said they would enter a motion to investigate the government over the fuel price adjustment, which they say was made without their approval.

Fuel price increase met with massive demos

Jakarta Post - March 2, 2005

Jakarta -- Nationwide protests on Tuesday greeted the government's decision to raise fuel prices, but a heavy police presence helped prevent the demonstrations from turning violent.

More than 3,000 students gathered in front of the State Palace in Central Jakarta to denounce the price increases. Hundreds of riot officers and a large banner urging the protesters to remain peaceful welcomed the students.

Dozens of University of Indonesia students forced their way into state radio station RRI and took over the airwaves to broadcast their opposition to the fuel policy, which they said demonstrated the arrogance of the government.

They said the price increases were untimely because poverty remained prevalent in the country, especially in tsunami- devastated Aceh.

"The present regime has no sense of crisis. It has made this controversial decision despite the hardships faced by people in Aceh and many other regions," a student said in his broadcast.

Thousands of other students marching to the State Palace called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla to step down.

Traffic backed up along the main streets leading to the palace as a result of the demonstrations.

The government announced the fuel price increases late on Monday, after almost four months of delay. The government promised it would redirect Rp 10.5 trillion (US$1.14 billion) of the Rp 20.3 trillion saved from slashing the fuel subsidy into programs to assist the poor.

In Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi, thousands of students gathered in front of the provincial legislature to demand the councillors oppose the fuel price hikes.

Several councillors told the students they would discuss their demands during a plenary session and forward the results of their discussion to the central government.

Protesters hijacked a fuel truck and refused to let it leave the campus of Muhammadiyah University. Other protesters sealed off a gas station in the town, but the protest ended after hundreds of riot police were called in. Students blocked off several roads in the town with burning tires.

Makassar was the scene of several incidents involving police and demonstrators last year, including a police raid on a university campus.

Students and bus drivers in Palu, Kendari and Manado, all in Sulawesi, took to the streets to protest the government's decision, leaving thousands of people stranded as public transportation came to a halt.

Demonstrators received political support from provincial and regency legislative councils.

In Cirebon and Bandung, West Java, students and bus drivers hit the streets to denounce the fuel price increases.

Some protesters in Cirebon set tires on fire, causing traffic jams throughout the town.

Hundreds of police officers were deployed to guard West Java's north coast road to ensure the movement of basic commodities from Jakarta to West, Central and East Java, Bali and Nusa Tenggara was not disturbed.

In Semarang, Central Java, bus fares were raised by an average of 6 percent following the fuel price increases.

Thousands of protesters in Medan, North Sumatra, called on residents to refuse to pay their taxes, electricity and water bills in response to the government's fuel policy.

Robert Sihombing, the rally coordinator, warned President Susilo of a loss of public confidence over his broken campaign promises.

Residents in Pekanbaru, Riau, took the government's announcement in stride, saying the decision was expected.

The city remained quiet and it was business as usual for residents.

"We have to accept the hike. What else can we do? Protests will not bring about change," a resident, Hendra Asril, said.

Cimahi dump slide victims upset with Kalla

Jakarta Post - March 1, 2005

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung -- Victims of the garbage collapse at Leuwigajah dump created havoc on Monday after missing out on an opportunity to talk face-to-face with Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

At least 27 residents destroyed three trucks, an excavator and broke the windows of the dump management office. They had allegedly been about to set the trucks on fire when police officers intervened.

The victims of the disaster -- which took place when mountains of garbage at the dump collapsed last Monday, killing 107 people and flattening 70 houses -- ran amok after learning that they would not meet with Kalla.

"Our lives get worse by the day. The local administration does not care about our future, and neither does the Vice President," said Agus, 50, a resident of Cilimus hamlet, Batujajar.

Earlier, the residents had attempted to stop Kalla from leaving in his car, asking for a moment of his time. However, Kalla was apparently unmoved by the request and the vice president's guards ordered them to move away. Other high-ranking officials at the site, including West Java Governor Danny Setiawan, Bandung Regent Obar Sobarna and Cimahi Major Itoc Tochija, were similarly unresponsive. "Please Pak, give us attention, even if it's only for a minute," yelled the residents.

Head of Cilimus hamlet Iman said the victims of the dump disaster were seeking compensation from local administrations. The dump received garbage from three areas: Bandung regency and municipality as well as Cimahi municipality.

He said donations had been handed over to the victims, including Rp 100 million (US$11,111) from the West Java governor, Rp 75 million from Minister of Social Services Bachtiar Chamsyah and Rp 100 million from Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab. Kalla had also handed over a donation of Rp 1 billion from the government.

"We want to live peacefully again -- in a safer place, with brighter futures. We want a decent life -- like other people who have homes. And we're tired of having to queue for food," said another resident, Adi Sudrajat.

According to the residents, the local administrations in charge of managing the dump are yet to approach the victims with a relocation plan or an offer of compensation. Some residents affected by the disaster said they would rather receive compensation money than be relocated as they wanted to choose their new homes for themselves.

Kalla said the disaster was caused by human error and that residents' relocation was the responsibility of the local administrations. "We should manage our garbage much better," he said in his 20-minute visit, adding the dump was no longer a suitable site for waste disposal.

As of Monday, 107 bodies have been recovered from the disaster area and 36 people listed as missing. Search-and-rescue efforts will continue in the coming days, despite an earlier announcement that they would be called off on Monday.

Cimahi Police chief of detectives Adj. Sr. Comr. Irwanto said that while Awan Gumelar, sole suspect in the case so far, had not been arrested, action against him was being taken. Awan is director of Bandung mayoralty sanitation firm PD Kebersihan. "He [Awan] is not a criminal, but [he is] responsible for the mismanagement of the dump, which caused the disaster," Irwanto said.

Fuel prices hiked, sacrifices called

Jakarta Post - March 1, 2005

Jakarta -- After weeks of uncertainty, the government has announced a hike in domestic fuel prices by an average of 29 percent, which would come into effect on March 1, despite objections from the House of Representatives and the public.

The government asked the public for their understanding, arguing that the price hike is for the greater benefit of the nation as the move would eventually lead to greater funding allocations for welfare programs, encourage more efficient fuel usage and prevent fuel smuggling.

Announcing the plan late on Monday, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie said such a decision was bound to create a dilemma, even if it was based on sound reasons.

"Whether we like it or not, the decision will also demand sacrifices from each and every one of us. Some of us may feel that their lives will become harder," he said. "But I'm sure that is all for a better future." Without the fuel hike and assuming an oil price of US$35 a barrel, the government would have to spend up to Rp 60.1 trillion on fuel subsidies, which would have actually benefited the wealthy more, Aburizal continued.

"As we know, the price of oil recently topped $50 per barrel," he said. "If the subsidies reach Rp 73 trillion, the government would have to spend Rp 200 billion each day, and such an amount could hurt the nation's financial condition." But, with the fuel price hike, fuel subsidies for the year would top Rp 39.8 trillion or Rp 110 billion per day. "The amount is already above that allocated in 2005's budget, which stands at Rp 19 trillion," Aburizal said.

During a consultative meeting with the House's budget commission earlier in the day, the commission's vice chairman, Emir Moeis, said a majority of the House would reject the planned fuel price increases. "If the government does raise fuel prices, then they will do it at their own risk," he warned.

National Police chief Da'i Bachtiar said the police were prepared to deal with any protests that might follow the price increase announcement. He also said the police would crack down on fuel hoarding, which could threaten the fuel supply.

State Minister for State Enterprises Sugiharto said the country's fuel stocks were sufficient for 21.5 days, from the usual 22 days. "We do not have any indications of fuel hoarding, but we will continue to be prepared for any possibilities," he said.

National Land Transportation Association chairman Murphy Hutagalung said a fuel price hike of about 30 percent would only result in a 10 percent increase in public transportation fares.

Minister of Transportation Hatta Radjasa has warned land transportation owners not to raise their fares by more than 10 percent. However, he acknowledged that sea transportation costs could rise by as much as 30 percent, but was quick to add that his ministry had asked state-owned shipping company PT Pelni not to increase the prices of their economy-class tickets.

As with similar moves in the past, there has been a public outcry over the planned fuel price increases. Even before the announcement rallies were held across the country to denounce the plan, with protesters saying the hikes would hurt the poor.

Hundreds of students and activists from non-governmental organizations staged a demonstration in front of the State Palace in Jakarta on Monday to demand the government drop the plan. The protesters said that instead of raising fuel prices, the government should locate state assets that had been stolen.

In Yogyakarta, members of the Association of Muslim Students and the Alliance of Yogyakarta Communities Against the Fuel Price Hike took to the city's streets. They unfurled banners and posters accusing the government of favoring the rich and investors.

In a joint statement, the groups said increasing fuel prices was unfair and would hit the poor the hardest, as increases in the prices of basic commodities would follow the higher fuel prices.

In the Southeast Sulawesi capital of Kendari, dozens of students from the Haluoleo University Family blocked the road leading to the university's campus to protest the government's plan.

They asked bus drivers to stop working and join the rally. The protesters marched to the provincial legislative building to demand councillors urge the central government to back down from its plan.

Also in Kendari, schoolchildren took part in a rally held by the United Student Alliance and the National Democratic Student League at the Wuawua traffic circle.

Protests, fare hikes, greet fuel price increase

Agence France Presse - March 1, 2005

Hundreds of students have held street rallies across Indonesia to protest swingeing government increases on fuel prices by an average of nearly 30 percent.

Protests took place in at least six Indonesian cities and towns, radio and television reports showed, as anger mounted over the government's decision to raise fuel costs.

Scattered protests took place in Jakarta and Makassar in South Sulawesi, while rallies were also reported in Surabaya and Malang in East Java, Semarang, Central Java, and Bandung in West Java.

In an announcement televised nationwide late Monday, senior economy minister Abu Rizal Bakrie said the increase would ensure a better future for all.

Bakrie said the government was forced to act after spending some 61 trillion rupiah (6.4 billion dollars) on subsidies last year as world oil prices soared.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said the government will compensate by providing more direct targeted assistance to the poor.

National Police Chief General Da'i Bachtiar has said that the police has placed two-thirds of its officers on standby in case of violence.

In Jakarta, more than 13,000 police, soldiers and city personnel were readied in anticipation of the protests, Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso has said.

Protests and strikes by public transport drivers were reported in South Jakarta, Bogor in West Java and in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, to demand higher public transport fares.

Some public transport operators were reported to have unilaterally raised their fares, some by up to 50 percent, listeners told the ElShinta radio.

But the government, which sets the ceiling price for public transportation fares, has said it would only allow a 10 percent raise.

Prices of essentials and non-essential goods have already increased in several Jakarta markets on Monday as traders anticipated the fuel price hike.

Under the new system, kerosene for industrial use was increased 400 rupiah to 2,200 rupiah (23.76 cents) per liter while fuel oil rose 47.44 percent to 2,300 rupiah (24.84 cents) per liter.

Premium gasoline was increased 32 percent to 2,400 rupiah (25.92 cents) per litre, with diesel raised 27-39 percent to between 2,100 rupiah and 2,300 rupiah (22.68 and 24.84 cents) depending on use -- transport or industrial.

The price of kerosene, mainly used by low-income families for cooking and so a very sensitive commodity, was not raised and remained at 700 rupiah (7.5 cents) per liter.

Fuel price hike fair for the poor: SBY

Jakarta Post - February 28, 2005

Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Denpasar/Jakarta -- Aware that his popularity rating is likely to plunge over planned fuel price increases, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Sunday his administration would never issue a policy that favored the rich at the expense of the poor.

Speaking during an informal meeting with local leaders and members of the tourist industry on the resort island of Bali, Susilo defended the government's plan to raise domestic fuel prices next month, despite protests by many economists, activists, legislators and political parties.

"Please see if there is any government policy that ignores and hurts the poor. Does the fuel subsidy policy take their side or not? We are trying to make things fair for [the poor]," Susilo said.

Critics have said the planned fuel price increases will only add to the burden on the poor.

The government has said that the savings generated by cutting the massive fuel subsidies, which have weighed down the budget, would be used to provide free education, free health care and inexpensive rice for the poor. The government expects to channel about Rp 10 trillion (US$1.07 billion) into social programs for the poor.

Susilo said another of his administration's policies that favored the poor was the allocation of credits for micro, small-and medium-sized businesses.

Bank Indonesia, the President said, was following up on this policy by outlining a strategy to continue increasing credits to these businesses, and also by dropping the central bank's benchmark interest rate on these loans.

Presidential spokesman Andi Alfian Mallarangeng said on Saturday that Susilo was prepared to see his popularity suffer as a political consequence of raising fuel prices.

"The increase in fuel prices is inevitable and will become reality in the immediate future. The government is just waiting for the right time to announce it to the public," Andi said.

Speaking as a panelist at an interactive dialog organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia, the spokesman said the President had no choice but to raise fuel prices to avoid fiscal trouble as the fuel subsidy became more costly with rising oil prices.

"Unlike in the past, the benefits will now go directly to the people. Some 36 million people living below the poverty line will gain financial advantages from this decision since they will receive cheap rice and free health care, plus their children will receive a free education during the nine-year compulsory education program," he said.

Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a political researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, said that although raising fuel prices would be unpopular in the short term, the move would eventually gain support, especially if Susilo could provide a clear and effective explanation to the public about the importance of the policy for the economy.

"Of the utmost importance is that he must explain to the public why he made this unpopular decision... and the funds for the poverty program must be disbursed transparently and audited," she said.

She predicted the unpopular policy would meet with strong opposition from political parties, students and the middle class, but in the end people would accept the price increases.

Dewi called on Susilo, who is the country's first directly elected president, to press ahead with tough reform programs to help resolve the country's economic problems.

She said polls showed the international community had more confidence in Susilo than voters at home because of his strong commitment to pursuing his social, political and economic programs, and creating a democratic government.

HS Dillon, executive director of the Partnership for Governance Program in Indonesia, said Susilo should strengthen his alliances not only with major political parties but also with the voters, especially those who supported him in the presidential election.

"All decisions and policies Susilo makes will certainly win political support from the people if they benefit the people," he said.

Police gather list of suspects in dump disaster

Jakarta Post - February 26, 2005

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung -- A team of four experts from the Office of the State Minister for the Environment has been assigned to determine whether the management of the Leuwigajah dump was responsible for the garbage collapse on Monday that buried more than 100 residents.

Sixty-eight bodies had been recovered from the mountains of garbage as of Friday, while 88 others are still missing.

The police drew up a list of suspects in the case after questioning four residents and officials who managed the dump.

Cimahi Police chief of detectives Adj. Comr. Slamet Uliandi said the police would not release the names of the suspects for the time being. "We have the names [of suspects] but we will not announce them because we are still waiting for supporting facts from the environment ministry's team of experts," he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Over the last two days, detectives have questioned four residents as witnesses, as well as three officials from the Leuwigajah dump, which receives garbage from Bandung regency and mayoralty, and Cimahi mayoralty.

The officials were identified as the head of sanitation in Cimahi municipality, Sutisna Sumantri, the director of Bandung sanitation firm PD Kebersihan, Awan Gumelar, and the head of Cimahi's environmental agency, Arlina Gumira.

Detectives not only want to find out whether there was unlawful taking of life, as defined by Article 359 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, but also whether there were any violations of Law No. 23/1997 on environmental management.

The team of experts dispatched by the Office of the State Minister for the Environment's deputy assistant for law enforcement, Darsono, arrived at the dump on Friday to determine whether the dump met national standards. It will also establish whether the dump has a mandatory environmental impact analysis and operating permit, and if it meets the designated spatial plan for open dumps.

"We will ask for their information tonight, meaning we will get their response on Saturday," Slamet said.

Fifty-eight families forced from their homes by the garbage collapse and now sheltering at the SD Batujajar II elementary school demanded the administration permanently relocate them to a safer area.

Residents living near the dump had long complained of air pollution and ground contamination from the dump long before the garbage collapsed buried 70 homes. The Bandung regency administration, however, said there were no locations to where it could relocate the affected residents.

The search for more bodies was temporarily halted on Friday because of heavy rain.

Environment

Governemnt drops plan to raise logging quota this year

Jakarta Post - February 28, 2005

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta -- The Ministry of Forestry has decided to drop its plan to raise its logging quota this year after discovering that unscrupulous timber companies were deliberately misreporting their demand.

Minister of Forestry Malam Sambat Kaban told The Jakarta Post recently that a comprehensive and reliable audit was needed since businesspeople, who had legal concessions, were not being honest about their exact demand of timber and the capacity of their plants.

"There is an attempt from [the companies] to 'legally' rake increase their concession area and plant capacity by overstating the actual domestic demand and then selling the excess wood illegally overseas," he said.

Kaban said the audit would be conducted soon on the ground in each of the registered companies by officials from the forestry ministry and independent auditors.

The audit, which is expected to be completed before the end of the year, may also help ensure the exact availability of timber from the country's sustainable production forests and plantation industry.

The ministry had planned to increase its logging quota from 5.45 million cubic meters to up to 30 million cubic meter this year to meet domestic demand and help create employment.

The ministry argued that reducing the logging quota was not the answer to curbing the illegal logging, because the low quota has prompted most forestry-based companies to seek illegal timber so they could sell overseas.

At present, the timber processing industry has an estimated capacity of about 42 million cubic meters per year, but the industry is flooded with illegal timber from already depleted natural forests.

The great discrepancy between the demand and the available logging quota has been cited as a key contributor to widespread illegal logging across the country since former President Soeharto provided privileges for businessmen willing to utilize the country's forestry resources in early 1970s.

According to Kaban, their decisions on a logging quota are based on demand, as reported by number of forestry based industry associations. But the demand cannot be verified by his ministry because it was not a result of an audit, but a mere estimate.

"I don't want to risk the sustainability of our forests because of unreliable data. We have problems dealing with rampant illegal logging and I don't want to exacerbate it by allowing the forest concession groups to consume more timber from our forests too," he said.

To cope with shortages in the legal timber supply, the ministry has urged the industry to lower their collective reserve capacity and to import logs or procure them from industrial plantations.

The quota decrease was apparently decided upon as part of the previous government's efforts to protect Indonesia's rapidly diminishing natural forests.

Haze chokes Pekanbaru and neighboring cities

Jakarta Post - February 26, 2005

Puji Santoso, Pekanbaru -- Historically thick haze from forest fires and burn-offs blanketed several parts of Riau on Friday, including the capital of Pekanbaru, disrupting flights and forcing schools to close.

The haze from Sumatra also spread to other cities in the region, sparking fears that the thick, hazardous "pea-souper" smog would increase to the extreme levels experienced in 1997.

The authorities in Pekanbaru said the haze on Friday was thickest they had ever measured. Visibility reduced from 300 to 600 meters to under 200 meters, virtually shutting down the Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport in Pekanbaru.

"The visibility is only 200 meters. It is the thickest haze so far," said Joko Budianto, the chief of the air-traffic operation division at the airport.

Fearing ill effect from the haze on school children the Pekanbaru government ordered schools shut down in the city on Friday and advised parents to keep their children indoors.

"The students will return to schools only after the haze has lifted," Pekanbaru Mayor Herman Abdullah said.

However, many students ignored the advice and were seen playing soccer in local fields. Others rode motorcycles or wandered aimlessly in packs around the city's thoroughfares in traffic slowed down by the haze.

A Reuters report on Friday said smoke from forest fires was shrouding other Southeast Asian cities, stirring memories of a choking pall that blanketed the region almost a decade ago.

Hundreds of fires have burnt for days in parched forests across Malaysia, Singapore and Sumatra, razing more than 80 square kilometers in Malaysia alone.

The haze is less severe than the thick blanket of forest-fire smoke that descended on the region in 1997 and 1998 and cost an estimated US$9 billion in damage to farming, tourism and transport. But it has prompted official warnings of unhealthy levels of air pollution in several parts of Malaysia.

Governments have urged people not to light fires or discard burning cigarette butts, pointing out that forests are tinder dry after weeks of abnormally hot, dry weather.

"The public has to be careful," Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said in Kuala Lumpur, where it is impossible to see the horizon even from office towers.

Health & education

Sutiyoso told to bring public hospitals back

Jakarta Post - March 2, 2005

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta -- The central government requested the Jakarta administration resume control of the newly corporatized hospitals in the city as it fears their new status will adversely affect services to the poor.

In a copy of letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs received by the administration on Tuesday, the ministry said the corporatization of the formerly city-run hospitals was clearly "against the public interest" and failed to address the provision of social services.

The letter, signed by the ministry's secretary general, Siti Nurbaya, and dated February 14, noted that the decision had caused protests by civil servants in the three hospitals -- Cengkareng Hospital in West Jakarta, the Haj Hospital and Pasar Rebo Hospital, both in East Jakarta.

"We ask the Governor [Sutiyoso] to end the implementation of the bylaws [on corporatization] and for the city council to repeal them forthwith," the letter stated.

Siti Nurbaya said the ministry had asked the Jakarta administration to report progress on the repeal no later than 15 days after the date of the letter -- or March 1.

Sutiyoso said the administration was discussing the response to the letter. He planned to defend the decision personally to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. "We have strong arguments... Unlike less-developed cities of the country, Jakarta is in dire need of more competitive hospitals," he said.

City Health Agency head Abdul Chalik Masulili said changing the hospitals into corporate entities would not mean the poor received less health services. "The change of status is only meant to give leeway to the respective hospital managements to manage their own resources and raise funds from sources other than the cash-strapped city budget," Masulili said in a hearing with the council's Commission E overseeing education and health on Tuesday.

Corporatized hospitals would continue to dedicate a minimum of 50 percent of their total rooms, emergency care and out-patient departments for low-income patients, he said. "The hospital managements are able to take profits from services they provide to richer patients in their high-cost rooms to subsidize services for the poor," he said.

He added that the lion's share of the profit, or about 80 percent, would be used to improve services, while the remaining 20 percent would go into city coffers.

The administration is planning to incorporate three more city-run hospitals: Tarakan Hospital in Central Jakarta, Koja Hospital in North Jakarta and Budi Asih Hospital in East Jakarta.

Armed forces/defense

Genernal Ryamizard hands over Army post

Jakarta Post - February 26, 2005

"With a sincere heart, I must say that I am very happy today that I officially handed over the Army's command baton to Pak Djoko. He is my junior and my former deputy. We've been together since our military academy days.

"If people are curious about the reshuffle, I must stress here that reshuffles are common. There is nothing 'behind the scenes'," Ryamizard said standing beside Djoko.

Ryamizard, whose next job is a non-portfolio post at TNI headquarters, recalled a story about Djoko when the two served as middle-ranking officers, saying that the two had grown up in the field as commanders of Army battalions before winning the top Army post.

"I know his [Djoko's] capabilities as much as I know his character, and I have often wished that someday he would replace me... And, thanks to God, he has become my successor. I'm happy for him," Ryamizard, a 1974 graduate of the Army Academy (Akabri) said.

Meanwhile, Djoko, a 1975 graduate, described his relationship with Ryamizard as "more than just a junior to a senior." "Pak Ryamizard and I are just like brothers, but the public may fail to understand this because I am a reserved person. I still remember when we both sat in a bus on our way to military's command school. At that time, Pak Ryamizard told me that if I became his superior, he would support me and follow my commands. I replied that I would do the same thing," Djoko said.

Ryamizard said he hoped that under Djoko's chairmanship, the Army would remain a unified, apolitical institution.

"We have to maintain our neutrality toward the government no matter who is president. We are not living in the New Order era any longer, therefore our minds should be focussed on how we can be more professional soldiers," Ryamizard said.

Only 40 percent of air force planes operational

Tempo Interactive - February 26, 2005

Jakarta -- Out of all the planes owned by the Indonesian Air Force, only 40 percent can be operated optimally. The remaining 60 percent cannot be operated optimally because of several problems, including the lack of engines for Hercules planes.

TNI Air Force Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Djoko Suyanto made this statement to reporters following when he took up his new position from Marshall Chappy Hakim at the Halim Perdanakusuma airport in Jakarta on Wednesday (23/020).

Suyanto said he expected that the government, specifically the Indonesian Ministry of Defense, would conduct efforts to improve Air Force plane operation to 70-80 percent. "Our projection [in the Air Force] in the future is to increase the activities of the planes. However, this all depends on the budget," he stated.

Suyanto cited the fact that the Air Force that now has 20 Hercules planes, which ideally each have four engines, meaning that 80 engines are required. However, the Air Force currently only has between 36 and 40 Hercules engines.

It's a similar situation as regards Air Force fighter planes, with four Sukhoi fighters still without their weapons systems. According to Suyanto, the Air Force should have a complete squadron (16 planes) of Sukhoi fighters complete with weapons systems.

Because of the budget problems and the economic crisis, the Air Force Chief of Staff continued, the purchase of a Sukhoi fighter squadron planned since 1996 has been delayed. Just two years ago, the government was able to purchase only four of these fighters.

Suyanto said that the Air Force has convinced the government and the House of Representatives (DPR) that the air defense system is an integrated system.

Only having radars but not having equipments to identify, intercept and destroy enemies is not a good and full defense system. "Therefore, this equipment must be purchased and installed," Suyanto stated. He said he would continue filing requests for the completion of Sukhoi facilities.

The Indonesian Ministry of Defense, which is authorized to supply the Air Force with weapons, has delayed the plan to purchase the Russian fighters in the 2005 year budget.

Suyanto stated that the Air Force really needed to have the purchase of these fighter planes included in the 2006 budget. He pointed out that the purchase of the Sukhoi fighters has already been planned by the Air Force.

"So, we have to be consistent in conducting the purchase because it is impossible to operate the air defense system properly only with four Sukhoi fighters," Suyanto stated.

He said he also hoped that the number of Hercules planes and engines would be increased along with efforts to have the US military embargo on Indonesia lifted.

Following the tsunami wave disaster in Aceh, Suyanto said, the Air Force has received the aid in the form of 80 types of Hercules spare parts worth US$970,000. "These spare parts are already in the hangars," he said

At a press conference held at the TNI Air Force headquarters (HQ) in Cilangkap, former Air Force Chief of Staff Marshall Chappy Hakim said that the courage of the Air Force to decide on purchasing Russian fighters was a strategic breakthrough in improving the air defense system in Indonesia.

"This is important to balance conditions and avoid depending on only one country," stated Hakim. (Dimas Adityo/Agus Supriyanto- Tempo News Room)

Police/law enforcement

Corruption rampant in police, says ADB

Jakarta Post - February 28, 2005

Jakarta -- In a corner of a kiosk in suburban Jakarta, a young man brags about how he managed to escape being imprisoned after paying Rp 1 million (US$107) to a police officer who had arrested him for possession of a small amount of marijuana.

In contrast, Siti (not her real name) put on a sad face because she could not come up with the Rp 10 million (US$1,075) demanded by police officers who caught her husband selling two ecstasy pills at a discotheque in West Jakarta.

The practice of bribing police officers is acceptable to some people to avoid facing tiresome legal procedures to obtain justice.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) mentions such practices in its report titled Country Governance Assessment Report-Indonesia, saying it was one hurdle for the National Police to overcome.

The report says the public ranks the police as the poorest performing major public institution serving the community because the institution has not effectively dealt with the endemic corruption within its own departments.

"Corruption is in fact institutionalized. Examples of corruption and malpractice cited by the police -- dereliction of duty, misuse of operational funds, extortion, bribery in criminal cases, bribery and nepotism in appointments and promotions, protection of gambling and prostitution, and debt collection -- are all common among units and police officers across the country," the report says.

The ADB gave an example of how corruption in the force began at the recruitment stage, citing how families may have to pay between Rp 10 million to Rp 40 million to enroll their child in the police school.

Adrianus Meliala, a police expert from the University of Indonesia, said that a similar report about rampant corruption within the police had been submitted by students at the Police Academy about one and a half years ago.

"I can say that the National Police are aware of the [widespread corrupt] practice. The police have admitted their mistakes, which is far better than other institutions that continue to deny such allegations. The police started introducing reform measures in 1999 by formulating a clear appraisal system based on capacity and performance," said Adrianus.

The ADB also believes that insufficient skillful personnel had caused the police's performance in fighting corruption outside the institution to appear stagnant.

The National Corruption Crime Directorate at police headquarters has only 40 operative officers, while provincial police have an average of 10 operative officers assigned to handle corruption cases. Worse still, from only a handful of trained accountants working for the National Police, none of them work in corruption units, the report said.

In fact, the lack of personnel in the corruption crime unit represents the imbalance between the number of police officers and the number of population it serves. One Indonesian police officer serves 1,068 citizens, which is far from the ideal number constituted by the United Nations, which is 1:400.

According to the bank, it is even below the ratio in India, the second most populated country in the world, which has a ratio of 1:700.

Military ties

US to resume military ties

Green Left Weekly - March 2, 2005

James Balowski, Jakarta -- In the boldest statement on the subject to date, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has signalled that the US is ready to restore full military training ties with the Indonesian military (TNI). But the announcement coincides with new evidence of the TNI's involvement in the murder of two US nationals in 2002 and what is being dubbed the "biggest timber heist ever".

On February 17, Rice told reporters that she was in the "final stages" of consultations with the US Congress on certifying Indonesia as eligible to benefit from the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program. "I think it's a good time to do that", she said, citing what she called Jakarta's "successful" presidential election last year and cooperation in the investigation of the 2002 murders.

Jakarta was quick to endorse Rice's comments. Foreign affairs spokesperson Marty Natalegawa said on February 18 that the program would serve as a "correction for an anomaly" that had hindered relations between the two countries.

The Bush administration argues that renewing military ties with the world's most-populous Muslim country is crucial to prosecuting its "war on terror". This intensified following the devastating December 26 tsunami.

Washington argued that had it maintained links, coordination between US troops and the TNI during relief operations would have "made it possible to respond much more quickly and effectively".

Washington also parroted Jakarta's lie that the embargo on spare parts for US-built Hercules transport planes hindered aid efforts -- Jakarta has been allowed to buy the parts under US law since 2002. It also regurgitates Indonesia's claim that the TNI is "trying to reform" and that reestablishing ties will assist in developing a more democratic and professional military.

If anything however, the TNI's handling of relief operations in Aceh -- restricting the movement of foreign aid workers, hoarding and reselling humanitarian aid and harassing local aid groups -- demonstrated that it remains the corrupt and abusive institution it has always been.

Congress first voted to restrict Indonesia from the IMET program following the Dili massacre in 1991. All military ties were severed in September 1999 when the TNI and its militia proxies razed East Timor.

The most sensitive issue however, remains the murder of two US school teachers and an Indonesian national near the Freeport Gold and Copper mine in West Papua in August 2002. Indonesian police and rights groups concluded that the TNI was behind the attack although an investigation by the FBI -- which has been dismissed as a "white-wash" -- later exonerated the TNI blaming instead rogue elements of the armed separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM). In June 2004 the US indicted alleged OPM member Anthonius Wamang for the murders.

In the latest revelations, the West Papua-based Institute for Human Rights Studies and Advocacy (ELSHAM) says it has uncovered new evidence linking the TNI to the attack. In a February 17 press statement, ELSHAM said that IMET should not be released until the FBI "explores well-documented ties between the TNI and Wamang as well as a number of yet-to-be indicted coconspirators".

ELSHAM has established that Wamang travelled to Jakarta in January 2002 at the TNI's expense. Wamang had no prior combat training and ELSHAM believes it was provided at this time. Wamang reportedly claims the ambush was planned during the trip.

In an interview with the ABC in August 2004, Wamang admitted to purchasing ammunition from the TNI. ELSHAM says it now has detailed evidence on two long-term TNI collaborators who helped procure the weapons. One of the two flew to Jakarta and stayed at the home of a serving TNI officer, Colonel Sugiono. The weapons were purchased through TNI agents and Sugiono arranged and paid for the individual's return to Papua. The rifles were not forwarded immediately but stored at the Cikini police station in Jakarta.

ELSHAM says that the TNI's most probable motive was to ensure continued "security payments" from Freeport. According to a communication by Freeport with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the company paid the TNI US$5.6 million in 2002. ELSHAM says Freeport made these payments in the form of direct monthly transfers into the account of the West Papua military commander. Payments were discontinued a month before the attack.

These allegations are not new. In 1991, Emmy Hafild, from the Indonesian environmental NGO Walhi, claimed that the local military commander boasted to her that Freeport directly supported military operations and helped pay military salaries.

In an article posted by Laksamana.net on September 2, 2002, Denise Leith, author of The Politics of Power: Freeport in Suharto's Indonesia, argued that for years Freeport was willing to tolerate the TNI's demands for money, but on July 26 that year, US Congress passed the Corporate Fraud Act requiring US companies to file certifications by August 14 declaring that their financial accounts were true and accurate. Leith suggests that it changed its corporate policy and the attack was staged to force Freeport to recommence payments.

If this isn't enough, a new report alleges that the TNI is involved in a massive illegal logging racket in West Papua.

The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and its Indonesian partner Telapak say that 300,000 cubic metres of wood is being smuggled out of Papua every month to feed China's timber processing industry.

"It's probably the largest smuggling case that we've come across in our time of research on illegal logging in Indonesia", the groups said at a February 17 press conference. "This illegal trade is threatening the last large tract of pristine forests in the whole Asia-Pacific region".

They alleged it would not be possible without the participation of the TNI and police at every stage. "The army, police and navy are all involved but it is mainly the navy", said Yayat Afianto of Telapak, "It is not the institutions but dozens of bad apples, including generals".

The government says combatting illegal logging is one of its top priorities but freely admits to TNI involvement. The coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, Widodo AS, told the February 19 Jakarta Post "It is organised crime and it involves many officials" adding it be difficult to arrest and prosecute military or government officials because "they are very tricky".

Even before the latest information was made public, Forestry Minister H. MS Kaban had revealed that illegal logging was costing the state 60 trillion rupiah annually. To put this in perspective, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have successfully pressured the government to scale back the 59 million rupiah it spends on fuel subsidies. The resulting cuts will cause widespread hardship and are expected to trigger widespread public anger and protest.

Excerpts from interview with Senator Leahy

Democracy Now - March 2, 2005

[Excerpt from Senator Leahy on Bush's judicial nominees: You Can't "Make The Judiciary An Arm Of The Republican Party".]

Amy Goodman: Senator Leahy, I wanted to get to two other issues before I know you have to go.

Senator Patrick Leahy: Sure.

Amy Goodman: One of them is IMET. One of them is Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State, calling for the restoration of international military education and training aid to Indonesia, restoring military ties with the Indonesian military, which were cut off after the Santa Cruz massacre in 1991, in which the Indonesian military killed more than 270 Timorese, and ultimately cut off in 1999 as the people of Timor voted for independence and Indonesian military razed the country to the ground. Now, Condoleezza Rice saying that they're going to restore. You have been very active on this issue over the past decade. What is your response?

Senator Patrick Leahy: Well, you are one of the most knowledgeable people in the media about the situation in Indonesia and Timor from your own experience there, and I've told Secretary Rice, I see no reason to be rewarding the Indonesians with this IMET program. It's not a great deal of money. They want it more for the symbolic, but we've had Americans murdered there, aside from all of the people in that region, the Timorese and others who have been murdered, and nothing has been done. I mean, if we just want to look at it from a purely selfish point of view, we have had Americans who have been murdered. You have a person who has admitted complicity in the murder, and we cannot get them even turned over to us. Why in heaven's name we are rewarding? This is supposed to be a law and order administration. Heck, I was a prosecutor. I wouldn't be rewarding somebody who is holding a murderer that I wanted to get, that Mr. Wamang, the one person indicted in the US, why hasn't he been indicted and arrested there?

Amy Goodman: So what are you going to do about -- ?

Senator Patrick Leahy: Well, I think that we -- I think I'm going to keep pushing it. I think it was a bad, bad mistake on the part of the administration. I think it's almost saying, here you can thumb your nose at us. I would be amazed that they would do a thing to help us out, and unless there is an amazing change in it, I'm simply going to bring up the amendment again in the next appropriations bill. I think this is -- the Indonesians have spent millions of dollars trying to get these few hundred thousands of dollars because of the symbolic effect. My response to that would be if you want the symbolism, then do the substance. Turn over the people that murdered the Americans. Clean up your own house within the military. I think the police and others are moving better. The military certainly have not.

New military training not just for top brass: Jakarta

Straits Times - March 1, 2005

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- Indonesia will tap America for nuts-and-bolts operational skills for its troops, not just lessons in military strategy for the top brass, now that the US has decided to resume training members of the Indonesian military.

Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono said the US decision last Saturday to resume the International Military Education and Training (Imet) after a 13-year gap would enhance the capabilities of the Indonesian forces.

The field of training could range from combat tactics to management or human rights laws, he said.

"We need managers in the military to make a more transparent, effective and accountable budget, but also with certain knowledge about the specifics of military equipment," he told The Straits Times in an interview.

By studying in US staff colleges, the officers would have the opportunity to draw comparisons with officers from other countries like Pakistan or India, he said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a retired military general, was among the last batch of Indonesian officers who received training in the United States before the scheme was frozen in the 1990s because of human rights abuses in then East Timor.

The programmes should be extended all the way to the ranks of captains, Dr Juwono added.

Washington, eager to enlist Jakarta as a key ally in the war against terrorism, credited Indonesia's democratic progress and its cooperation in the investigation of the 2002 murders of two Americans in Papua province for the re-opening of the ties.

Dr Juwono is due to visit the US soon to meet US officials and congressmen, who are still reluctant to lift a US embargo on arms supplies to Indonesia. He will explain the need for the country to have a strong and professional military, he said.

He will also hold talks with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to discuss the scope of the Imet programmes.

Former military chief of territorial affairs Lieutenant-General (Retired) Agus Widjoyo hoped the programme would be as extensive as it was before the suspension. Then, it ranged from combat training for junior officers to management of defence strategy for mid-ranked officers.

"The tactical programmes, I think, would benefit us more than just courses on strategies because even lower-ranked soldiers will have the opportunity to compare notes on how to conduct military operations without excesses of human rights abuses," Lt-Gen Agus said.

Legislator Djoko Susilo said courses on human rights and humanitarian laws were important. The embargo gave rise to a growing number of hardliners in the military because they had not been taught to observe human rights, he said.

IMET resumption seen as recognition of TNI reform

Jakarta Post - March 1, 2005

Jakarta -- The United States' decision to resume training members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) after a 14-year suspension of cooperation shows Washington's recognition of the government's efforts to reform the TNI, officials said on Monday.

"The United States believes that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will be able to carry out reforms within the TNI within the framework of democracy," Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono said when asked why the US had decided to resume the program.

Separately, foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said the resumption of the full International Military Education and Training (IMET) program was a recognition of the progress Indonesia had made in democracy.

"This is a development that deserves to be welcomed. The resumption of the program represents an acknowledgment of the far-reaching democratic changes that have taken place in Indonesia in recent years," Marty told AFP.

Indonesia last year went through a series of peaceful democratic elections, including its first direct presidential polls that made Susilo its sixth head of state.

Juwono said the TNI's professionalism would be enhanced through the program. "It will give young high-ranking military officers the opportunity to absorb experiences from another country." The TNI particularly hopes to benefit from training on the "transparent and efficient" use of funds for defense affairs, he said.

"We hope that after undergoing training our military officers will be able to implement a clean managerial system and create a defense system that is specific to Indonesia," Juwono said, without elaboration.

TNI deputy spokesman Col. Ahmad Yani Basuki welcomed on Sunday the resumption of the cooperation as a positive move.

Likewise, Andi Widjajanto, a military analyst from the University of Indonesia (UI), was supportive of Indonesia's renewed participation in the program.

"It's good that the US will restart the program for the TNI. I believe that this program will lead to a new atmosphere of democracy. I hope the US will also provide further assistance that can help our country define its defense concept in line with the spirit of reform," Andi told The Jakarta Post.

Lt. Gen. (ret) Agus Widjojo and Lt. Gen. (ret) Luhut Pandjaitan were among several TNI generals who underwent the IMET program.

However, human rights groups have condemned the resumption of the IMET program for the TNI, which has been accused of widespread rights abuses in the country and its former province, East Timor.

"The [move] is a setback for justice, human rights and democratic reform," John Miller, spokesman for the New York-based East Timor Action Network, was quoted by AP as saying. "The Indonesian Military's many victims throughout the country and East Timor will recognize this policy shift as a betrayal of their quests for justice and accountability," Miller said.

On Saturday, the US State Department announced that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice determined that Jakarta had cooperated with the FBI's investigation into the murders of two American schoolteachers during an ambush in Papua.

Congress had set this as a condition for Indonesia's participation in a US military training program, which is generally viewed as a first step in lifting a ban on military-to-military ties between the two countries.

Indonesia's participation in the program has been essentially on hold since 1992, when its military launched a bloody crackdown against pro-independence protesters in East Timor.

The sanctions were further tightened in 1999, after the TNI was accused of being behind the deaths of about 1,500 people in East Timor in an unsuccessful bid to prevent the territory from gaining independence.

TNI welcomes US decision to resume military training

Agence France Presse - February 27, 2005

Jakarta -- The Indonesian Military (TNI) on Sunday welcomed a US decision to resume training members of the Indonesian military after a 14-year hiatus, a military spokesman said.

"The TNI welcomes any form of cooperation which can concretely enhance professionalism in the military field," TNI deputy spokesman, Col. Ahmad Yani Basuki, told AFP.

He said he had not yet received details of the report, but said the resumption would be "a positive move" that would further reinforce cooperation in various fields between the armed forces of both countries.

Ahmad cited the exchange of information as one field where cooperation between US and Indonesian forces existed.

Indonesia's participation in the program has been essentially on hold since 1992, when its military launched a bloody crackdown against pro-independence protesters in East Timor.

The sanctions were further tightened in 1999, after the Indonesian army was accused of being behind the killing about 1,500 people in East Timor after voters decided to secede from Indonesia in a UN-sponsored ballot.

The ban was effectively written into law by the US Congress in 2002, when US lawmakers insisted generals in Jakarta were blocking an investigation into the killing of two US school teachers in Indonesia's Papua province.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa, who could not be immediately reached for comment on Sunday, has said a resumption of the training program would serve as a "correction for an anomaly.

Pentagon to resume Indonesia ties

The Australian - February 28, 2005

Sian Powell, Jakarta -- Indonesia has welcomed the Bush administration's decision to resume a training program for the Indonesian military that has been suspended since 1992.

But human rights groups vowed to campaign against the program, which was halted soon after Indonesian troops shot demonstrators in East Timor in 1991, causing a bloodbath that became known as the Santa Cruz massacre.

The Indonesian military has not reformed sufficiently to justify the restoration of the highly symbolic program, activists say. But proponents of its resumption argue that the best way of promoting human rights in the military is to foster the overseas training of Indonesian officers.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is a former general who trained in the US, and Australia has a military training program for Indonesian officers -- barring those from the notorious special forces unit Kopassus.

Australia cut links with Kopassus after the Indonesian military- backed violence in East Timor in 1999 left 1400 people dead. But Defence Minister Robert Hill has said the resumption of full military ties between Australia and Indonesia is proceeding slowly but surely, and Kopassus and the Australian military have already made tentative steps towards restoring links.

It is likely the US decision will accelerate the full restoration of Australian-Indonesian military ties.

"Obviously Indonesia welcomes this development," government spokesman Marty Natalegawa said yesterday. "We have always felt the absence of mil-to-mil relations between the US and Indonesia does an injustice to the multi-dimensional relations of the US and Indonesia."

The US Congress had already approved the funding, so the program would restart immediately, according to a spokesman for the US embassy in Jakarta.

The US has long been keen to restore military ties with one of its important Muslim allies in the war against terror, regardless of the trenchant criticisms of human rights groups.

"Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has determined that Indonesia has satisfied legislative conditions for restarting its full international military education and training program," State department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

Before she certified Indonesian compliance, Dr Rice said the time was ripe for the renewal of military ties. "I think it's a good time to do that," she said, referring to Indonesia's successful presidential election last year, and military co-operation with the investigation into the 2002 murder of two Americans near the Freeport mine in Papua.

Following the 1992 restrictions, US sanctions on military relations were tightened in 1999 after the Indonesian army was accused of masterminding the wave of violence in East Timor during the months before and after the vote for independence. The US ban was written into law by Congress in 2002, when the Indonesian military was accused of playing a part in the Freeport murders.

The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Centre for Human Rights and the East Timor Action Network condemned the latest move as "short- sighted, a betrayal of the numerous victims of human rights violations by the Indonesian military"

US may resume program training Indonesian forces

Wall Street Journal - February 28, 2005

Murray Hiebert, Washington -- The US has taken a key step that lets it restore, at least for this year, a military assistance program with the Indonesia military that had been curbed for 13 years because of American concerns about human-rights violations.

On Friday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice certified to the US Congress that Jakarta is cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate the killing of two American school teachers in the province of Papua in 2002. A preliminary Indonesian police report in 2003 concluded there was a "strong possibility" the attack was mounted by elements of the Indonesian military.

In a statement Saturday, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Ms. Rice had "determined that Indonesia has satisfied legislative conditions for restarting its full International Military Education and Training program."

Congress had stipulated that it receive certification that Jakarta was helping the FBI before the US government could spend a relatively small $600,000 on the training of Indonesian officers this year under the program called IMET.

Washington moved to ban military training in 1992, shortly after Indonesian troops killed more than 50 pro-independence demonstrators in then Indonesian-controlled East Timor.

Allegations of other human-rights abuses by the military in rebellious Aceh province hurt the case for lifting the ban, which became an irritant in US-Indonesian relations. In recent months, US President Bush's administration has been pushing to end the ban.

"The amount of money is not the point," said a US official who works on policy on Asia. "It's more a symbolic thing" that the US wants to resume normal ties with Southeast Asia's largest country which has played a key role in the battle against terrorism, the official said.

Patsy Spier, widow of one of the teachers killed in the 2002 attack, and US Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont have called on Washington to maintain the ban on military training until the investigation into the killing has been completed. The US Justice Department last June announced the indictment of Antonius Wamong, a leader of the separatist Free Papua Movement, in the attack, but he hasn't been arrested.

In her confirmation hearing in January, Ms. Rice said resuming military training was in the US interest because it would strengthen the professionalism of Indonesian military officers and increase their understanding of public accountability and human rights.

US to resume Indonesian military training

Agence France Presse - February 28, 2005

The United States, eager to build up its alliances in Southeast Asia, has decided to resume training members of the Indonesian armed forces suspended since 1992, officials announced.

"Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has determined that Indonesia has satisfied legislative conditions for restarting its full International Military Education and Training program," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in a statement.

Indonesia's participation in the program has been essentially on hold since 1992, when the Indonesian military launched a bloody crackdown against pro-independence protesters in East Timor.

The sanctions were further tightened in 1999, after the Indonesian army was accused of killing about 1,500 people in East Timor in an unsuccessful bid to prevent the territory from gaining independence.

The ban was effectively written into law by the US Congress in 2002, when US lawmakers insisted that generals in Jakarta were blocking an investigation into the killing of two US school teachers in Indonesia's Papua province.

But Indonesian authorities have since taken steps to improve cooperation with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and brought murder and illegal firearms charges against Indonesian citizen Anthonius Wamang, a member of a Papuan separatist group.

Moreover, the administration of President George W. Bush has repeatedly stressed the importance of broadening post-September 11 counterterrorism cooperation with Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation.

Boucher said Rice had concluded the Indonesians were determined to continue its cooperation with the FBI in the case of the murdered Americans "and thus have fulfilled the requirements articulated in the legislation to allow for resumption" of the training program.

"The department expects that Indonesias resumption of full international military education and training will strengthen its ongoing democratic progress and advance cooperation in other areas of mutual concern," the spokesman said.

There was no immediate word on where Indonesian military personnel will be trained and what kind of courses will be offered to them.

But the decision caps a quiet lobbying campaign by top Pentagon officials led by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who has openly advocated the view that congressional restrictions on military-to-military contacts with countries like Indonesia and Pakistan were hurting US interests more than helping them.

Following his tour of tsunami-hit countries in January, Wolfowitz came out strongly in favor of opening the doors of US military academies to Indonesian officers.

He cited the case of newly elected Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whom he described as "a democratic reformer" and one of the last military officers trained in the United States. "I think we can have a more positive influence that way," the deputy defense secretary pointed out.

Wolfowitz also called for finding ways to resume US military cooperation with Indonesia, because he said the country was "moving in an impressive way" toward democracy. But he cautioned against opening the floodgates of military assistance, pointing to "the need to calibrate these things carefully."

Rice hinted that a decision on Indonesian military training was imminent more than a week ago when she told a Senate panel she was in the "final stages" of consultations with Congress on the subject Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said a resumption of the training program would serve as a "correction for an anomaly."

Activists slam US resumption of military training

Radio Australia - February 28, 2005

The US State department says Indonesia has met conditions set by Congress for re-establishing a training relationship with the Indonesian military, the TNI. The Bush administration previously tried to revive close ties with Indonesia's military, but faltered after two American school teachers were murdered in Papua province in 2002. Washington's decision is a blow to human rights activists who claim they have new evidence linking past murders in Papua province with the TNI.

Presenter/Interviewer: Adelaine Ng

Speakers: John Rumbiak, international advocacy co-ordinator for human rights group ELSHAM; Eduardo Lachica, co-author of study sponsored by the United States-Indonesia Society

Ng: America stopped a military assistance program to Indonesia called IMET in 1991 after Indonesian soldiers massacred demonstrators in East Timor.

Relations had worsened between the two countries, after the TNI backed pro-Jakarta militias who killed hundreds, following East Timor's vote for independence.

But the war against terror meant America needed to encourage democracy in Indonesia. And it appears the US has seized the opportunity to better diplomatic relations by restoring IMET to the world's most populous Muslim country. The decision has dealt a blow to John Rumbiak, international advocacy co-coordinator for the human rights group ELSHAM, who says IMET should not have been released, even though the money in it is said to be small.

Rumbiak: The money doesn't matter, but it has so much political gesture, if it is held until the Timika case (is solved), the ambush at Freeport Mine really revealed (the perpetrators) it would (have a) huge political impact, especially diplomatic relations with Indonesia and US.

Ng: John Rumbiak has been in the United States lobbying Congress and the FBI to delay IMET's restoration.

He told them he has evidence that the Freeport mining murders in Timika in 2002, which killed two Americans, were linked to the Indonesian military.

So far, one Indonesian man, former head of a now outlawed separatist group, Anthonius Wamang, has been indicted for the murders but he's at large even though it's alleged Indonesian authorities know his whereabouts.

Rumbiak: Anthonius Wamang in January 2002, he was sponsored by TNI members flying to Jakarta and he was staying in a fancy hotel in Jakarta for almost two months. A number of witnesses that met with him, he told them that he was staying in Jakarta looking for guns and ammunition and that his stay at the hotel was financed by the military in October and November. Kelly Kwalik the West Papua guerilla leader in Timika met with Anthonius Wamang. Anthonius Wamang admitted to him as his leader that he was persuaded and manipulated by Kopassus members to kill the Americans.

Ng: The US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, says an earlier investigation found no proof that the Indonesian military or TNI was involved. But Mr Rumbiak says that investigation under former US Attorney General John Ashcroft in June 2004 had repressed any evidence to this effect.

Rumbiak: We emphasise that the IMET program not be reinstated until this case is fully and thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice.

Ng: Others however argued that the case should be kept separate from the decision to restore military assistance to Indonesia.

Eduardo Lachica is the co-author of a study sponsored by the United States-Indonesia Society. He says there are too many factors that are more important right now to the two countries than allowing the Freeport killings to hinder the war against terror.

Lachica: In the scale of things while the poor is not a trivial concern I don't think it's the front burner for them, they have multiple issues to worry about, recovery of Aceh, a possible public turmoil as a result of the government's intention to remove the subsidies for energy. On the side of the United States I don't think the US wants to be seen to be trumping human rights in favour of say security concerns, but on the other hand the security concern is sort of hammering at the door.

Ng: Mr Lachica says there are two strongly held views about how much carrot and how much stick should be applied in improving democracy and human rights in Indonesia -- views that produced heated debates in the US Congress. And we now know which view has won.

Scepticism over renewed military ties

Inter Press Service (IPS) - February 28, 2005

Jim Lobe, Washington -- The State Department's decision to renew military training for Indonesia -- a major step toward full normalisation of military ties between the United States and the giant archipelago -- has been greeted with scepticism by human rights groups and some lawmakers critical of Jakarta's record.

"The secretary's determination is premature and unfortunate," noted Sen. Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Operations Subcommittee, who said the move to make Indonesia's armed forces (TNI) eligible to receive International Military Education and Training (IMET) grants "will be seen by the Indonesian military authorities who have tried to obstruct justice as a friendly pat on the back."

John Miller, coordinator of the East Timor Action Network (ETAN), which, since Timor's independence, has become increasingly outspoken about the human rights situation in Indonesia, offered an equally severe assessment.

"The Indonesian military's many victims throughout the country and East Timor will recognise this policy shift as a betrayal of their quests for justice and accountability," he said. "While the amount of money may be small, its symbolic value is enormous. The Indonesian military will view the restoration of IMET as an endorsement of business as usual which, for the TNI, means brutal human rights violations and continued impunity for crimes against humanity."

They were reacting to Saturday's certification by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that both the civilian-led government in Jakarta and the TNI was cooperating sufficiently with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on the investigation of the August 2002 of two US schoolteachers and an Indonesian colleague in an ambush in Papua province to meet the condition established by Congress for renewing IMET assistance.

The State Department noted that the investigation had resulted in the indictment by a US court of Anthonius Wamang, an Indonesian citizen who, according to Jakarta, is a member of a Papuan separatist group called the OPM, in the murders.

"The Department expects that Indonesia's resumption of full IMET will strengthen its ongoing democratic progress and advance cooperation in other areas of mutual concern," according to the Saturday statement.

The Pentagon has long claimed that IMET influences foreign military officers to be more respectful of human rights, although a prominent neo-conservative, Ellen Bork, recently questioned this assumption in the case of Indonesia.

"[B]efore any steps are taken," she wrote in an article published in the February 28 edition of the Weekly Standard entitled 'Premature Engagement', "the administration should provide an accounting of past programmes and their effectiveness in promoting reform, and outline a strategy that integrates military cooperation into a plan for advancing democracy and human rights in Indonesia."

IMET, which will provide the TNI with only 600,000 dollars to train its officers this year, was suspended in 1992 in the wake of an army massacre the previous year of more than 200 peaceful demonstrators at a cemetery in Dili, the capital of East Timor, which was then under Indonesia's control.

The suspension of IMET was the first of several other measures enacted by Congress, including a ban on sales of lethal military equipment, sanctioning the armed forces for their poor human- rights record.

In 1999, Washington severed virtually all military links with Indonesia when the TNI and TNI-backed militias went on a deadly and destructive rampage in East Timor after its inhabitants voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence in a UN-backed plebiscite. More than 1,000 people were believed killed in the violence that also destroyed most of the territory's buildings and infrastructure.

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, however, the George W. Bush administration has been eager to reestablish ties with the TNI, which has long been seen by the US as one of Indonesia's few unifying institutions and as a possible bulwark against China, even though it has never faced an external threat.

As the world's most populous Muslim nation where Islamic extremists have had some influence, the Pentagon, in particular, also believes that Jakarta has a key role to play in the global war on terrorism.

Since 1999, Congress had demanded that Indonesia bring to justice those responsible for the East Timor atrocities and bring the TNI itself under civilian control as conditions for re-establishing ties.

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and under strong Pentagon pressure, however, Congress watered down or eliminated these conditions, leaving only one -- that the TNI cooperate with the FBI investigation of the Papua murders, which took place when the victims and their families were returning home from a company picnic near Freeport-McMoran's Grasberg mine, the world's largest gold mine.

At the same time, the administration gradually renewed military ties on its own by opening up new aid accounts to provide "anti- terrorism" assistance, conducting joint military exercises, and inviting TNI officers to participate in regional military conferences.

The rapprochement received a shot in the arm after the December 26 tsunami, which killed as many as 200,000 people in another strife-torn province, Aceh. Washington sent an aircraft carrier task force to take part in relief operations alongside Indonesian soldiers.

Rights groups and other observers believe that renewing IMET eligibility will be understood as the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" for the army. According to Dan Lev, an Indonesia specialist at the University of Washington in Seattle, the military remains dominated by officers who are unwilling to part with the power and perks they enjoyed under long-reigning former president Suharto by subordinating themselves to civilian-led institutions or giving up their substantial business interests.

The Indonesian army has long had a reputation for both corruption and brutality. Indeed, the State Department has itself been blunt about this.

In its latest annual "Country Reports", coincidentally released Monday, it wrote, "The Government's human rights record [in 2004] remained poor; although there were improvements in a few areas, serious problems remained."

"Government agents continued to commit abuses, the most serious of which took place in areas of separatist conflict. Security force members murdered, tortured, raped, beat, and arbitrarily detained civilians and members of separatist movements, especially in Aceh and to a lesser extent in Papua."

The report carefully reiterated Rice's assertions about the TNI's cooperation in the Papua ambush. It neglected to mention, however, that human rights groups in Indonesia and the US believe that rather being than an OPM militant, Wamang, who has still not been arrested or indicted in Indonesia, is a TNI informer who, if he was involved in the ambush, was probably acting at the TNI's behest.

Indeed, the police initially pointed to the TNI as the most likely suspects in the murders, and in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation last year, said he received his ammunition for the attack, which survivors say was carried out by at least six or seven assailants, from TNI soldiers. Significantly, Wamang has been neither indicted nor arrested in Indonesia.

That fact was highlighted by Sen. Leahy, a leader in the efforts to condition military aid to Indonesia. "I hope the Bush administration has not forgotten that two of the murder victims were Americans," he said, adding that Rice "has thrown away the last bit of leverage we had [to ensure TNI's cooperation in the investigation]."

Miller believes that "given this lack of progress, the State Department's certification of cooperation is false and misleading."

"It has far more to do with fulfilling the administration's long-term goal of re-engagement with the Indonesian military, than bringing to justice all those responsible for the ambush or encouraging democratic reforms."

Business & investment

Government plans to revitalize capital market

Jakarta Post - February 26, 2005

Rendi A. Witular and Leony Aurora, Jakarta -- The government is aiming to revitalize the country's capital market industry by trying to streamline bureaucracy and improve legal certainty, and make the industry one of the key drivers in the country's economic growth.

Speaking during the opening ceremony of the Indonesian Capital Market Seminar and Expo on Friday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said a vigorous capital market was needed to ensure strong and sustainable economic growth and as a parameter to gauge confidence in the whole economy.

"The country will not only depend on the natural resource-based industry for supporting its economic growth, but also on the financial services industry, which is still lagging behind compared to other countries," Susilo explained to market players.

While pledging to create a better business climate to attract investors, he urged the local and foreign business communities to boost their investment in the capital market here, since there was already an improvement in the country's ratings and risk perceptions.

"International rating agencies have raised our ratings due to confidence in our economy and we have recently been removed from the money laundering blacklist. I am sure that all these factors will help improve the inflow of capital into our market," he said.

In recent weeks, Fitch Ratings has raised the country's long-term foreign and local currency ratings to BB- from B+, with the outlook remaining positive, while Moody's Investors Service has increased its outlook for the country's sovereign ratings to "positive" from "stable".

In addition, the Financial Action Task Force -- a Paris-based money laundering watchdog -- has just removed Indonesia from its list of Non Cooperative Countries and Territories.

The positive factors have made the Jakarta stock market one of the top performers in Asia this year, with its latest record high posted on Wednesday when it closed at 1,102.92.

Market capitalization has also surged by 46 percent to about Rp 750 trillion (US$81 billion) last year from Rp 492 trillion at the end of 2003.

However, Susilo's speech during the event has failed to fuel market confidence, as the Jakarta Composite Index was down by 1.69 percent to close at 1,083.38. Analysts blamed the decline on Susilo's remarks over a possibility that the government would cut fuel subsidies and hike domestic fuel prices in the near future.

The significant progress at the stock market has not, however, seemed to encourage the foreign business community to invest more in the country's real sector, primarily due to various unresolved problems surrounding the sector -- ranging from ever-problematic corruption to the legal morass in the courts.

While assuring the gathering that the government would create a business climate conducive to investment, State Minister of National Development Planning Sri Mulyani Indrawati urged investors to not merely invest in the capital market instruments, but also to start investing in the real sector.

"Businessmen are often attracted to invest in the central bank's one-month promissory notes or state bonds, because such instruments contain little risk," she said.

She admitted that avoiding risks was understandable when the country was in a financial crisis and business confidence was low, but the situation has now improved so they should start investing in the real sector.

Opinion & analysis

Embracing military ties

Jakarta Post Editorial - March 2, 2005

The brouhaha of politics often belie the soundness of ties between two nations. Millions in this country disapprove of America's foreign policy, particularly in issues related to Iraq and Afghanistan. However, they should not cloud what has been a long-standing, amiable relationship among regular Indonesians and Americans.

Liaison between Indonesia and the United States is not dependent on the record of our men in uniform, and neither should the quality of that relationship be defined by the conduct of our respective armed forces.

Washington's decision to resume International Military Education and Training (IMET) for Indonesia officers does nothing to enhance or subtract from the overall bilateral relationship. Nevertheless, it may help smoothen the "rough edges" that may have the ability to stop the relationship from reaching its full potential.

Military ties received a blow in 1992 following the November 12, 1991, Santa Cruz shootings in East Timor in which dozens of demonstrators were shot by security personnel. The US restricted and eventually suspended training and arms sales to Jakarta. Restrictions were reinforced further by the US Congress in 1999 and 2003 after an ambush in Timika, Papua, in which two Americans were killed.

Cooperation into investigation of the Timika shooting -- which some have claimed may have involved Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel -- has since become one of the prerequisites to resuming ties.

The advent of a democratically elected leadership and the much appreciated relief assistance of the US military in the wake of the tsunami in Aceh seemed to be an important catalyst in the current revival of military ties.

The debate over whether the government here and the TNI have truly satisfied these requirements remains contentious.

Questions also surround Washington's motivation on the gradual normalization of military ties as being a part of the long-term goal of re-engaging the TNI -- a vital ally in the fight against terrorism in the world's most populous Muslim country.

One thing is clear though: the resumption of IMET provides long- term benefits, not just in enhancing combat competence, but in helping embed Indonesian officers with a perspective on the proper role of the armed forces in a functioning democracy.

The values of these lessons will be immeasurable. Further enlightening future TNI commanders as to the necessity to respect human rights and to adhere to a civilian administration can only help strengthen the democratic progress.

After seven years of reformasi, we have discovered that instilling a prodemocracy mind set within military institutions is not something that evolves naturally. We are confident that IMET can -- albeit incrementally -- help take this process forward.

IMET can also go a long way in helping to alleviate suspicion of one another's motives. What better way to solidify two country's relations than having each respective's "tools of war" on familiar ground with the other? Allowing Indonesian officers to be trained in the United States will build personal linkages between top echelons of both armed forces.

A crucial caveat to our support for the resumption of IMET is that it must not be exploited by the TNI as a symbolic confirmation to return to "business as usual". This move must be seen as a carrot to engage in further internal reform, accountability and coming to terms with accusations of various past abuses.

With or without IMET, these are the circumstances that the TNI must accept in Indonesia's democratic environment.

The TNI may think IMET important as confirmation of its "rehabilitated" status, but it would be far more distinguishing to be embraced by its own nation rather than be regarded as an anomalous institution that must be feared and contained.

Biting the bullet

Jakarta Post - March 1, 2005

We should commend President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's determination to make the unpopular-but-necessary decision to forge ahead and increase fuel prices. The increases will enable the government to allocate a larger share of resources to poverty alleviation and improve public services and other basic infrastructure in the country.

However, the effectiveness of this reform measure, which should have been taken by then-president Megawati Soekarnoputri in January last year, depends very much on leadership. It has nothing to do with popular legitimacy, as Megawati's failure to get reelected last September has convincingly proven.

But mishandling the policy, which removes the subsidies that affect the middle- and upper-income groups to help the poor, could still trigger massive street demonstrations and cause a social and political backlash at the expense of macroeconomic stability. The potential damage of such a backlash should not be belittled, given the lack of a nationwide, well-coordinated campaign to explain to the general public why prices will go up.

The government is right in arguing that it no longer requires approval from the House of Representatives to raise domestic fuel prices because the 2005 state budget, which was approved by the House late last year, allocates only Rp 19 trillion (US$2.1 billion) for the fuel subsidies, compared to an estimated actual need of almost Rp 60 trillion. Even this estimate is considered by many analysts to be conservative because the $35 a barrel average crude oil price used as the basis for the fuel prices could end up averaging at about $40 a barrel for the whole year.

Most analysts have concluded from the empirical evidence of the fuel price hikes between 2000 and 2003 that if future hikes are well managed they would not cause inflation to spiral out of control. They estimate that an average 30 percent price increase would cause inflation to increase by only between 1 and 1.2 percentage points, bringing up inflation for the whole year to about 7 percent.

Business leaders have estimated that a 30 percent rise in fuel prices would increase the production costs of goods and services, including transportation by 15-20 percent.

But all these assumptions about the moderate impact of higher fuel prices depend on the government's ability to sell the increases to the public; on people's perceptions of the fairness of the increase and of whether the government is acting out of a real sense of urgency and crisis.

Unfortunately, the government has done little to explain the increases and win over the public.

It seems to have wrongly assumed that since most of the fuel subsidies have always been enjoyed by the middle- and top-income segments of society that it needed only the understanding and support of the common people for the move.

But the government should realize that within the political scheme of things here it is not the poor majority but the middle- and top-income groups that dominate the public opinion-making process. It is also businesspeople who could sabotage the reform policy through speculative measures. Vested-interest politicians in the House could make a lot of noise, confusing the issue to advance their hidden political agenda.

The House has insisted that it would support higher fuel prices if the government can guarantee that all the compensation funds for the poor reach their target beneficiaries, if the inflationary impact is well controlled and if the government works to stop waste and inefficiencies in fuel distribution.

While these requirements are important ones, they cannot be fulfilled overnight. It is therefore unreasonable for the House to impose these demands as the main preconditions of support of a badly-needed reform that has so long been postponed.

The government should indeed work harder to enlighten House leaders, university students, the media and other opinion leaders about the wider scope of the changes.

However, most important is for the government to improve inter- ministerial coordination to ensure that the compensation funds accrued from the rise in fuel prices reach their target beneficiaries, that the supplies of essential commodities remain adequate and their distribution remains smooth to prevent excessive price increases. All this would be necessary to prevent an excessively panicky reaction of the market.

More concerted efforts to prevent the waste and inefficiency caused by corruption -- bringing high-profile graft suspects to court within the next few weeks, for example -- would convey a clear message that the government was acting out of a real sense of urgency and crisis.

Increasing fuel prices are always likely to cause some protests and demonstrations but such rallies are likely to be short-lived if the government goes all out to ensure a smooth introduction.

Killing the goose

Jakarta Post Editorial - February 28, 2005

Regencies and cities, which lack resources -- or the capacity to capitalize on them -- should not despair when it comes to attracting private investment, because investors consider policy variables to be very important factors that influence their decisions to set up business in a regency or town.

Policy variables, which include institutional capacity (legal certainty, policy consistency and predictability, government services and local regulations) and socio-political factors, carry more weight than physical infrastructure, labor supply, worker productivity and the structure and potential of the local economy, as factors considered by investors in choosing the location for their businesses.

That is one of the main findings of a comprehensive survey of more than 5,000 businesspeople in 214 regencies and towns across 29 provinces conducted by the Regional Autonomy Watch (PPOD) last year as a means to determining attractiveness of regions to investors.

The survey, funded and inspired by the Asia Foundation and United States Agency for International Development, confirmed the conclusions of similar business-perception studies conducted by foreign chambers of commerce and several business consulting agencies in Indonesia.

The survey, the fourth annual by the PPOD, could eventually be developed into a rating of investment risks in the regencies and municipalities to pressure local administrations to improve the general business climate in their areas.

Such a rating is quite important for local administrations intending to raise funds by floating municipal bonds. In fact, after the implementation of local autonomy in 2001, it is no longer sufficient for investors, notably foreign ones, to assess the country (Indonesia) risks, but also province and regency risks when deciding on a site for their businesses.

Indeed, strong law enforcement to minimize government policy- related costs and risks like those regarding regulations on taxation, customs and autonomy have always been high on the list of grievances that both domestic and foreign investors have had about the investment climate in the country.

The survey, for example, rated Indramayu regency in West Java the best in terms of institutional capacity, because the local administration has expedited investment/business licensing under a one-stop service center at the sub-district level.

The central government has tried to establish a one-stop service center for investment licensing, since the 1980s, at the Investment Coordinating Board, but it has failed -- apparently due to bureaucratic jealousy.

Interministerial coordination has long been the weakest point of the government, not only because bureaucrats from different agencies refuse to give up control. Within the perspective of the public administration, which has been perceived to be one of the most corrupt in the world, licensing authority means "lots of cash" for officials.

Businesspeople have praised the pro-business attitude of the Indramayu administration and its consistent policy of encouraging the public's participation in the formulation of local regulations (bylaws).

Pro-business policies should indeed top the economic programs of local administration because it is investors (businesspeople) who create jobs, which in turn generate purchasing power to spur consumer demand for various goods and services.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who is an experienced businessman in his own right, commented on the survey's conclusions. He said that local administrations should be long-term oriented in their economic policies must quit such short-term endeavors, like manufactured taxes and fees for businesspeople, to raise as much cash as possible.

Many businesspeople have complained about absurd and disturbing regulations issued by local administrations in an overly zealous bid to raise as much local revenues as possible without realizing that this rent-seeking attitude will sooner or later kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. The central government has revoked many regional bylaws, which contravened national laws but narrow-minded administrations in several regencies or municipalities still prefer to squeeze businesspeople to fulfill their fiscal needs and wants.

The business survey also reiterated the need for the central government to further expedite investment licensing by decentralizing the licensing authority from the Investment Coordinating Board in Jakarta to provincial and regency administrations.

The central government only needs to set national standards such as those on environmental requirements and national directives on the business areas closed to private investors, whether domestic or foreign.

Monkeys and men

Jakarta Post Editorial - February 26, 2005

Some say the best way to stop corruption among state officials and officeholders is to pay them better salaries. During a conversation some years ago, the then chairman of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) confronted a post-Soeharto president who advocated this approach.

"Look, you have to remember that if you pay peanuts you get monkeys," the president insisted. "The fact of the matter is, Mr President, you already have monkeys working for you!"

The debate rages on. Advocates point to the psychology of human temptation and basic need. Critics contend that corruption has a cultural dimension here and is so embedded that it is no longer a function of need, but a function of greed.

Ideally, the best approach -- both in the public and private spheres -- is to hire good, professional and honest people. We agree that simply paying good money to monkeys will not work. Once the men have been separated from the monkeys, peanuts can be exchanged for bananas with the goal of maintaining a principled and dexterous work corps.

In this age of flamboyant consumerism, it is too much to expect that public officials will focus entirely upon their work but never upon its rewards, even if they are termed "public servants".

Since 2000, senior public servants and elected officials have been rewarded with significant pay rises. The president and vice president have enjoyed 78 percent and 120 percent salary hikes respectively.

Cabinet ministers, despite their official monthly salaries being just over Rp 20 million, are evidently doing well as shown by a recent wealth audit which found that most members of the previous Cabinet somehow managed to augment their total wealth by several billion rupiah.

Legislators in the House of Representatives have seen their basic salaries almost double in the last five years to more than Rp 16 million.

Local legislators and officials are also earning well above the average incomes in their respective regions. Councillors in Jakarta, for example, take home over Rp 21 million, in addition to various generous allowances.

Grumblings of envy and discontent are often to be heard, especially from the average person on the street, who earns much less.

But senior public office -- whether elected or appointed -- carries great responsibility. The men and women who shoulder the burden of trying to bring the hopes and dreams of 220 million people to fruition deserve to be remunerated accordingly, in the same way as a top executive in a major corporation. By international standards, average salaries in the top ranks of government in Indonesia are paltry.

Singapore is a good example of a nation that has realized that it needs to provide attractive salaries and conditions if it wants to entice the brightest and best into the civil service.

The crux of the argument, therefore, may not be the actual sums of money involved, but whether those to whom they are paid are worth it.

Most Indonesians believe their public officials are simply not worth spending their taxes on. A history of inept performance and high living has led to a widespread perception that most of those manning the upper ranks of the civil service and government are little more than fat cats who like milking cash cows.

Only a string of tangible results and improvements in general welfare levels will be capable of diminishing this view.

Fatuous debates that eat up valuable legislative time over the makeup of House commissions and other technical matters do not help instill public confidence in the organs of state.

No one can deny that this country's farmers deserve better compensation for their toil. Ask whether people believe that the same is the case for legislators or ministers and the likely response will be in the negative.

High salaries are acceptable if they also take into account prevailing conditions at the local level. Any more blatant displays of rapaciousness -- such as the proposed hikes in the salaries and allowances paid to the North Lampung regent and his deputy, which would gobble up a total of 23 percent of local revenue -- will only serve to bring the Indonesian governance system further into disrepute, and must therefore be stopped.

We are reminded of economist J.K. Galbraith's remark that the salaries paid to men of high rank and position are not rewards for achievement, but more often personal gestures by the individuals to themselves.

In politics there are neither rewards nor punishments, there are consequences. Perhaps the rewards paid to our politicians should be reviewed if their performances continue to be so punishingly abysmal.