News & issues

Prosecutor demands 10 months for insulting president

Tempo Interactive - May 12, 2005

Ayu Cipta-Tempo, Jakarta -- Bay Harkat Jonday Firdaus, a sixth semester English literature student from the faculty of culture and humanities at the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) in Ciputat, South Jakarta, could face 10 months jail for insulting the head of state.

The public prosecutor, Hassanudin, told the panel of judges presided over by Judge Supriyono on Thursday that the actions of the defendant violated Articles 134 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) on insulting the head of state.

"What makes it worse for the defendant is his actions in burning a photograph of the president and vice-president demeaned the prestige of the nation", said Hassanudin. In the defendant's favour meanwhile, he has had no prior convictions and has been well behaved during the trial.

Jonday was arrested and detained in December 2004. Police caught him after setting fire to a poster with a picture of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice-president Jusuf Kalla. The incident occurred during a break in a demonstration opposing increases to fuel prices at the UIN campus.

Jonday will prepare his defense speech that will be read to the court next week. The trial was marred by a student demonstration demanding that Jonday be released. Scores of demonstrators tried to force their way into the courtroom but were blocked by police.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Indonesia politicians visit ailing Suharto

Associated Press - May 12, 2005

Michael Casey -- Suharto's weeklong hospital stay, the country's political elite stumbled over one another to visit the ailing strongman.

Emerging from the elite Pertamina Hospital, they described him as a great leader and "father of the country." Neither current President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono nor anybody else mentioned Suharto's dismal human rights record or his history of corruption on a staggering scale, sending the strongest signal yet that the dictator's long-dormant graft case for allegedly stealing $600 million would not be reopened.

"What the government is trying to do is distance themselves from the complicated past," said Marzuki Darusman, who was attorney general when the Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that Suharto was unfit to stand trial because of his health. "There is a sense that they would be putting themselves on trial if they put Suharto on trial."

A spokesman for Yudhoyono insisted the president's visit had nothing to do with Suharto's legal case. But Vice President Jusuf Kalla, when asked by reporters, said "there was no legal case" against Suharto. "This is not the place to discuss this," said Kalla, hours before Suharto was released from the hospital Wednesday after recovering from internal bleeding. "We respect him as a father of the nation."

Suharto, whose downfall in 1998 led to the advent of democracy in Indonesia, has suffered several strokes in recent years that allegedly affected his memory and kept him out of the courts.

His recent health woes have prompted a wave of nostalgia for his New Order regime, with some Indonesians preferring to focus on the plentiful jobs and security that were hallmarks of Suharto's rule rather than the lack of freedoms and killing of political opponents.

"We cannot close our eyes and our hearts to what Suharto has done for us," said Agustinus Sutopo, a bank employee. "During Suharto's administration, the economy was good and it was peaceful. There were no bombings, no riots and the separatists couldn't do anything against his administration."

The outpouring of support from the political establishment has more to do with the shadow Suharto still casts over many top figures in the current government, analysts said.

Yudhoyono was a general in Suharto's army and his wife is the daughter of the late Gen. Sarwo Edhi, who commanded Indonesian troops who killed upwards of a million leftists and trade unionists soon after Suharto took power in a 1965 coup.

The largest political party in parliament now is Golkar, which was Suharto's political machine during his dictatorship. Kalla, the vice president, is Golkar's party chairman.

"He [Suharto] has enjoyed complete immunity from prosecution because he is protected by a gang of grateful cronies who never lost control of the country even though Suharto himself had to step aside in 1998," said Jeffrey Winters, an Indonesia specialist at Northwestern University.

Ex-Indonesian strongman Suharto leaves hospital

Reuters - May 11, 2005

Former Indonesian president Suharto, admitted to hospital last week with serious internal bleeding, returned home on Wednesday after doctors said he could leave although the 83-year-old still requires intensive care. Suharto, forced out in 1998 after 32 years in power when chaos engulfed Indonesia, was taken to Jakarta's Pertamina hospital last Thursday. Doctors said he suffered from digestive bleeding that had affected his kidneys, lungs and heart.

"Due to his request to go home today, intensive treatment will be followed up at his residence," said Mardjo Soebiandono, chief doctor of a medical team that treats Indonesian presidents.

Soebiandono told reporters that the internal bleeding that had been the main concern had stopped, but doctors had wanted the former president to stay in hospital longer.

"The recovery of the organs, like the brain, heart, kidneys and lungs, has not been optimal and needs intensive treatment. If his condition deteriorates, he has to return to the hospital," the doctor said.

Soebiandono said doctors would regularly visit Suharto's Central Jakarta residence to check his health.

Suharto left hospital in a wheelchair flanked by his doctors and managed to smile and wave to journalists.

Suharto has had difficulty communicating due to the strokes he has suffered since leaving office.

As president, he transformed Indonesia from an economic basketcase to an emerging tiger economy, but his ironfisted leadership stifled political freedom and bred widespread corruption. Attempts to prosecute Suharto for alleged corruption have foundered due to his ill-health.

Asia's 1997-98 financial crisis savaged Indonesia, which needed an IMF-led bailout that eventually reached $45 billion.

IMF-backed measures, such as higher fuel prices, helped spark the student demonstrations and violence which eventually led to Suharto's downfall in May 1998.

Troubled times for Yudhoyono

Green Left Weekly - May 11, 2005

Jon Lamb -- Six months after his election, the cracks are well and truly appearing in the promises and policies of Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The half-hearted support of the Indonesian masses for his presidency is rapidly evaporating as he continues to implement World Bank and International Monetary Fund austerity measures. The humanitarian crisis and heavy-handed response of the Indonesian military to the pro- independence movement in Aceh are fuelling additional political problems.

Green Left Weekly spoke to People's Democratic Party (PRD) international affairs representative Zely Ariane, a guest speaker at the Asia Pacific International Solidarity Conference held in Sydney at Easter, about these and other issues surrounding Yudhoyono's presidency.

"The people now know that the president has lied and has lied many times", said Ariane. "The first lie relates to Aceh. Since November 19, Yudhoyono has placed Aceh under a state of emergency. Then he continued the policy of sending more troops to Aceh.

"Then on the issue of corruption, he promised within three months that there would be a major crackdown ... but no-one has been charged or jailed. The cronies and corrupt business leaders, especially those linked to the family of ex-president Suharto, knew that they would not be jailed. So people know the president is lying on this issue as well." Fuel price rises To help offset the impact of the economic reforms, such as the removal of subsidies on fuel, Yudhoyono promised to improve welfare and to lower the prices on certain goods and services. But these improvements have either failed to materialise or have not made a difference to those people whom they are supposed to assist.

"In the first month after he was elected, the people still had much hope in Yudhoyono" and believed that "he should be given some more time and opportunity because of the situation he inherited from the former government under Gus Dur and Megawati Sukarnoputri", Ariane said. "But after the fuel price hike, the situation is completely different." Ariane explained: "Even as early as November and December, the government announced that there would be a fuel price hike soon, but it was not confident to say when because it knew how the people would respond to this increase. SBY [Yudhoyono] tried to hide the fuel price hike through various policies, so the people knew he was not to be trusted." The fuel price increase "is a very critical issue for people", yet has been met with a mixed response. The organised movement among student and activist groups has so far been unable to tap the discontent and spontaneous response from the hardest hit sectors of Indonesian society.

"The fuel price movement has not been able to respond strongly because it is weak at the moment. It is mostly student groups who have been the main force behind it, who have been used by the parliamentary elite. Their political independence is not strong. After the parliament approved the fuel price hike, the student movement became less active, especially some of the Islamic student groups linked to parties in the parliament.

"It is a difficult situation, because those outside the organised student movement, the spontaneous movement -- especially amongst the urban poor and those such as drivers and small vendors -- they are ready to fight this fuel price hike, but they have no partner in the form of the student organisations." Aceh Ariane believes that the situation in Aceh is another sign of the ongoing erosion of human rights and democracy in Indonesia under Yudhoyono. The tsunami disaster has been used by the Indonesian military (TNI) to further strengthen its presence in Aceh and hound the guerilla fighters of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Through her involvement with SEGERA, a coalition of Aceh solidarity organisations, Ariane has seen firsthand the role of the military in Aceh.

"The day after the tsunami, the head of the military lied when he said 40,000 troops would be sent to Aceh and the troops would be divided equally between humanitarian help and operations seeking GAM. In fact, they only mobilised 10,000 troops to help the people and 30,000 to chase GAM in the mountains.

"SEGERA recorded the TNI activities in Aceh after the tsunami until the end of February ... it is clear that TNI forces are the ones that are starting the conflict." The arrival and large presence of foreign aid workers and international troops made a big difference. According to Ariane, "They helped a lot, because the Indonesian military was unable to do so ... these 10,000 TNI were not really helping ... we could not readily see them helping in the streets. If we did see them, they were going everywhere with their guns, even when recovering dead bodies." Under pressure from the Indonesian government, countries that sent troops to help with aid and reconstruction efforts have, or are in the process of, completely withdrawing their troops. Significant restrictions have been imposed on the movements of foreign aid workers and journalists outside the capital, Banda Aceh.

"On this issue of the international troops leaving quickly, this is a very contentious one for Jakarta. Especially because the actual humanitarian role of the TNI is not a high profile one ... for example, the US troops were the first to make contact with the city of Meulaboh, not the TNI." Yudhoyono and the Indonesian government are extremely sensitive to outside perceptions about the TNI's role in Aceh, hence some tense debates and public discussion over the latest round of negotiations in Helsinki with GAM representatives.

Ariane believes: "The approach to negotiate with GAM in Helsinki is a tactical differentiation by the military and the government towards the GAM leadership in Sweden and the GAM based in Aceh. That's why they have agreed to the proposal of talks." "There is a lot of hope for these talks", explained Ariane. GAM "decreased its demands" in the first round. "It didn't insist on independence", but proposed "self-government through autonomy, the involvement of local political parties and that the Indonesian government must withdraw troops. It is a start." "We support this process and campaign around it in Jakarta, through SEGERA and in Aceh through FPDRA [the Acehnese People's Democratic Resistance Front]. But it seems the Indonesian government and the parliament doesn't want this process to continue. TNI does not want the negotiations to continue. We are sure of that. They do not want peace in Aceh.

"The negotiations and ceasefire issue was 'accepted' by the government after the international troops arrived in Aceh. The Indonesian government was under pressure to open Aceh. But there was not a united voice to solve the situation in Aceh peacefully. That is why when President SBY and the government partook in the Helsinki talks, the parliament was so angry -- 'You cannot have a meeting in Finland, it must be in Indonesia!'." "Still during the negotiations in Helsinki, the statements of the military and the parliament in Jakarta are completely contradictory. [TNI chief General Endriartono] Sutarto said that if the Acehnese insist on self-government and they insist on local political parties, then this means war." True to his words, TNI forces killed six suspected GAM members within two days of the latest round of talks, which began on April 12. There have also been reports of troops kidnapping family members of GAM fighters. The TNI announced on April 14 that an extra 3000 troops would be sent to Aceh (plus three battalions to West Papua, which is also under extreme military repression).

Military ties The US announced in late February that it would resume the International Military Education and Training program (IMET) with Indonesia. (The program was suspended in 1991 and then completely halted in 1999.) Ariane is adamant that Australian-Indonesian military ties should not be strengthened. "The TNI hasn't changed ... the way they acted in East Timor, the way they behaved under Suharto has not changed. Their activity in Aceh and the secret war in Papua reveal the genuine character of the TNI.

"I think if the Australian people were really aware of what's going on, then they would demand that aid goes to the people, not the military. The aid must be in the hands of the people, not the control of the military. We can't trust the TNI ... so we call for pressure to stop the war in Aceh and the war in Papua."

Aceh

Public flogging to be carried out soon in Aceh

Kompas - May 14, 2005

Medan -- Punishment in the form of public floggings (hukum cambuk) for Muslims who violate Islamic law in Aceh will soon be implemented. The governor, the head of the Supreme Court for religious affairs (Mahkamah Syariah), the head of the High Court, the regional chief of police and the chief of the Aceh Iskandar Muda territorial military command are presently discussing who will execute the punishment.

"At the moment we are coordinating [with each other] to determine the execution [of the punishment], is it enough if the head of the High Court nominates the executor or does it need the governor (written authorisation). What is important is that within a short time the punishment will be carried out", said the head of Aceh's religious court, H Sofyan Saleh, who was contact by telephone in Banda Aceh on Friday May 13.

On April 30, a panel of judges headed by Drs H Abdullah Tengku Nafi in a religious court in the North Aceh regency of Bireuen handed down a sentence of six lashes each to seven Bireuen residents who were found guilty of gambling. The punishment represents the application of Qanun (local regulation) Number 13/2003 on Islamic Law in Aceh.

Bireuen regent Mustafa A Glanggang who was contacted in Bireuen says that the public flogging will be carried out in the grounds of the Jamik Mosque in Bireuen after Friday prayers. The religious court, the head of the state prosecutor's offices, the district police, the district military commander and the regent of Bireuen are still waiting for a determination by the governor of Aceh on the execution of the punishment.

The face of the person carrying out the punishment will be covered so that no one will recognise them. The punishment will start with the sentence being read by the prosecutor followed by the punishment itself. According to the Qanun, a convicted person must wear clothing that reveals their body and may not be allowed to bleed from the wounds inflicted by the flogging.

The local government must also provide a health official and ambulance in the event that a resident witnessing the punishment faints. The location of the punishment meanwhile shall be at the main mosque of the capital city in the sub-district where the person was convicted.

"Carrying out a flogging will be a good lesson because it will be done before the public. Members of the convicted person may also be present. We hope that little by little social ills will disappear in Aceh", said Glanggang.

Saleh explained that the implementation of Islamic law would also be valid for Muslim members of the security forces who violate Islamic laws who can also be punished in accordance with Syariah. (ham)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Critics question why military still in Aceh

Jakarta Post - May 14, 2005

Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta -- Critics questioned on Friday the government's failure to order the withdrawal of military troops from Aceh despite lifting the state of civil emergency, a decision they deemed a compromise.

Henri Simarmata, a researcher at the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI), said the lifting of the emergency status would enable Acehnese to have a normal life after years of armed conflict.

But he insisted that lifting the state of emergency should also entail the police maintaining security and order, not the military. "We consider it an effort by the President to control the military, and we must admit that he's still unable to control the military," Henri said, referring to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The military has since 1976 been fighting Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels, who have demanded an independence state for the resource-rich province.

Currently, there are 39,000 military troops on duty in Aceh. The figure accounts for over 15 percent of Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers.

Henri said returning Aceh to civil order would significantly help the reconstruction and rehabilitation process, which involves both domestic and foreign groups and multibillion dollar projects.

Civil order may also boost the ongoing peace talks in Helsinki, which are aimed at ending the conflict in Aceh permanently. "The settlement of problems in Aceh, including the armed conflict, will be a credit for Susilo in the eyes of international community," Henri said.

Susilo's inability to control the TNI has given him no choice but to extend the military operation to flush out separatist rebels in Aceh, Henri added. "The law enables the deployment of military troops upon the request of a civilian administration," Henri said. He warned, however, the ambiguity would not help reduce human rights violations despite the new status.

Former legislator Gazhali Abbas Adnan concurred, saying the government should not lift the state of emergency in Aceh without the establishment of "a strong and respected civilian administration". "What is the point of lifting the emergency in Aceh without giving full authority to the civilian administration?" he said.

A strong and respected civilian administration in Aceh is mandatory to manage both civilians and troops in the province, the Acehnese Adnan said.

Separately, a GAM fighter said the guerrillas would obey all orders issued by their top political leaders, including to resist the offensive by the Indonesian Military.

Teungku Kafrawi, GAM spokesman overseeing Peureulak in East Aceh, accused the military of changing its offensive operation to an intelligence operation early this year.

"Based on our investigation, Indonesian intelligence officers have been deployed to some schools here to monitor whether students and teachers have been influenced by our movement. They also tortured several teenagers for alleged espionage activities," Kafrawi told the Post.

Iskandar Muda Military Commander Maj. Gen. Supiadin A.S. told Antara that the military had been intensifying intelligence operations to support the reconstruction and rehabilitation process in Aceh.

After the tsunami, chronic mental health problems

Jakarta Post - May 14, 2005

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh -- Thirty-four-year-old Maisarah Muharram M. Noer can still remember when she was brought to a psychiatrist several weeks after the tsunami, screaming her lungs out with an intravenous drip in her arm. "Everything was instantaneous. I thought I had gone insane," she told The Jakarta Post.

Maisarah survived the tsunami after successfully fighting the treacherous currents. The remains of her husband and three young children have yet to be found and possibly never will be. She is now alone and suffering from severe trauma.

While her wounds have healed, she remains mentally affected. Frequent memory blanks mean Maisarah often has difficulty recognizing simple words. But it's better than before, she says, when was frequently spooked by the sounds of helicopters and wailing sirens while being treated in hospital.

"They sound like an approaching tsunami. I usually screamed as hard as I could if I heard those sounds," she said.

Her family brings her to the psychiatrist regularly. "I'm better now, but I'll still scream if there's a quake," said Maisarah.

A resident of Linke village, Banda Aceh Abdul Munar, 24, also survived the tsunami after being swept two kilometers inland. He lost his elder brother and his fiancee. Like Maisarah, Munar also has experienced deep trauma. He still sleeps by the door of his house for a quick escape. "I can run outside easily in case of a quake," he said.

Munar may be able to forget about the waves but the aftershocks still rattle him.

The Acehnese are still feeling the effect of the tsunami five months after it struck the area on Dec. 26 last year.

The World Health Organization (WHO), in a joint effort with the University of Indonesia (UI), had conducted a study on the mental health conditions of tsunami survivors in Aceh and Nias. The survey involved 1,600 survivors, 730 of them children.

According to the survey, children are better at coping with the trauma than adults. Dr. Irmansyah, from UI's psychiatry school said that 20 to 25 percent of the children had experienced significant emotional and behavioral problems during the post- tsunami period.

Irmansyah said the good news was that most of the children were showing improving signs of positive social interaction.

"Some of the adult survivors, however, have suffered a higher degree of post-traumatic stress." WHO will focus on the mental health conditions of tsunami survivors by establishing a health care center in Aceh in the near future.

"Many developing countries hit by the tsunami pay less attention to mental health because they are more focussed on relief aid at the moment," said Mark van Ommersen, a technical expert from WHO's Mental Health and Substantial Violence Department. WHO will also train community leaders as well as 700 hospital staff in Banda Aceh to assist them to help traumatized survivors, "so that they will be better prepared to serve the community," Ommeren said. Besides being affected by the tsunami, many people in Aceh have suffered mentally from the ongoing separatist conflict. The latest survey conducted by the Aceh Health Office indicated that 40 percent of Acehnese are psychologically troubled as a result of the conflict.

The combination of tsunami, earthquake and conflict trauma, means it is predicted the number of mentally distressed people will increase significantly in the post-tsunami period.

UN hands out rice seeds to restart farming in Aceh

Agence France Presse - May 13, 2005

Sebastien Blanc, Jakarta -- The United Nations started distributing rice seeds and farm tools Friday in Indonesia's tsunami-hit Aceh province, hoping to restart agriculture amid the salty sludge that now covers 37,500 hectares.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) began handing out 174 tonnes (tons) of rice seed, 1,305 tonnes of fertilizer and 545 hand tractors, FAO Aceh coordinator Jean-Jacques Franc de Ferriere told AFP.

This would help 8,700 families start to plough and plant an initial 5,000 hectares of those farmlands not made infertile by seawater, he said.

Almost five months after the disaster, which left more than 165,000 Indonesians dead or missing, most of Aceh's 595,305 internally displaced people still rely on aid from the UN's World Food Programme.

Experts of the Rome-based FAO now have high hopes of bringing the agriculture sector back to life despite what de Ferriere called a "very substantial change in the environment" in the north of Sumatra.

Large areas where the soil has been too badly damaged for planting crops will be turned into cattle-rearing areas, he said.

FAO specialists have categorised the formerly arable land according to the level of contamination with salty sand, clay and mud.

Around 2,900 hectares are still covered with brackish waters and are considered "lost forever", said de Ferriere. "Severely damaged" tracts considered unfarmable make up 17,500 hectares, he said. "We are going to find another use for them," he said. "We will be able to plant protective plants like mangroves or coconut trees in order to create a coastal forest."

Before the disaster, 80 per cent of Aceh's working population were farmers and the province was a net rice exporter.

But the once lush rice paddies took a direct hit from the December 26 killer waves, which also killed more than 47,800 head of cattle, 34,600 water buffalo, 61,800 goats and almost 35,000 sheep, the Rome-based agency has said.

The salt water, mixed with man-made toxins near cities, also polluted freshwater aquifers and destroyed mangroves, coral reefs and seagrass fields vital to the marine life that is a major food source for coastal communities.

On some of the "severely damaged" grounds, more salt-resistant natural grass has grown back, making it suitable for cattle- ranching. "Animals have no difficulties finding food among the debris, and their trampling is good for the soil," de Ferriere said.

Around 10,000 hectares of land are "moderately damaged", with a thinner salt crust, which experts hope will be washed away by rain or sufficiently diluted in the soil once the fields are plowed.

"In the less affected areas, salinity has dropped because of the rains," said FAO agronomist Alfizar, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. "It is now possible to grow beans, tomatoes and peppers."

Tsunami village oblivious to Clinton-Bush aid

Reuters - May 13, 2005

Bill Tarrant, Lampuuk -- Juwaria hammers away at cement rubble, extracting iron rods she will sell to buy food, oblivious that her tsunami-flattened village is benefiting from an aid windfall.

Many foreign visitors have come to Lampuuk -- including former US presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton -- and a variety of aid workers have left their banners in the town, where more than four out of every five people died in the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami.

But almost five months after the disaster, the village with a population of 6,500 before the tsunami hit is still a sea of rubble.

Bush and Clinton raised $10 million at a Houston, Texas fundraiser on May 6 for projects in four countries swamped by the monster waves that are feared to have killed 228,000 people around the region, including 160,000 in Indonesia. Some of the money is earmarked for Lampuuk, a coastal town just outside Aceh's provincial capital, Banda Aceh.

"Oh, we didn't know about this," village chief and rice farmer Hamdan Hasyen, 40, told Reuters. "We're happy to hear that. Hopefully, they'll come again and stay with us so they can see the situation here," he said, adding that Lampuuk had renamed its main street "Bill Clinton George Bush Road."

Lampuuk is known as the place where the tsunami traveled the furthest inland -- some 7 km until it smacked into steep hillsides that show wave marks 10 meters high. The only building left standing was a two-storey mosque, which now can be seen from miles away.

About 250 of the village's survivors live in tattered UN tents that regularly collapse now the western monsoon has set in. The rest live in army-style barracks. They draw power from a 1,500- watt generator and water from a huge tank donated by Oxfam.

Money from the Bush-Clinton fundraiser will be used to rebuild a school, a health clinic, women's center and a small market as well as repair the water system in Lampuuk, which the two ex- presidents visited on Feb. 20. It will also pay for some scholarships to universities in Texas and Arkansas.

Food aid stopped

That all seems a little distant to people who are struggling to survive. Hasyen and others in the town say nobody has given them food aid since the end of February.

The World Food Program, which is distributing 10,000 tonnes of food a month to nearly 600,000 displaced people in Aceh, concedes that Lampuuk is missing out.

CARE, one of the groups distributing WFP commodities, had determined that the people living in Lampuuk's tent camp were getting food from another aid group and decided to stop deliveries, a WFP official in Banda Aceh told Reuters.

Hasyen insists that this is not the case and points to a white board on the Rahamatullah mosque showing a list of NGO activities, none of which involve food distribution.

The WFP said it would send a team to the village to investigate the situation.

The group's emergency coordinator, Charlie Higgins, said WFP stopped distributing food when it determined recipients had an independent source of livelihood and no longer need relief.

"If people have an income, it's counterproductive to give out aid. We're considering how to do that in certain areas."

The overall situation in Lampuuk illustrates a central dilemma in the Aceh aid effort. While the government has declared the emergency phase of the disaster over, and foreign aid groups are poised to begin rehabilitation work, hundreds of thousands of people are still struggling to survive day to day.

Iron scraps

Many Lampuuk residents now comb the rubble for concrete reinforcing rods they will sell to a scrap dealer. Although they wear USAID gloves and galoshes with shirts that read "Cleaning up Equals Prosperity," very little cleaning up is being done.

Juwaria, 48, says she can salvage abut 30 kg of iron rods a day, or about 24,000 rupiah ($2.50) worth. "I'm selling the iron for food." Hasyen says Lampuuk has enough equipment for only 50 people to work in the clean-up crews.

"The rest are out looking for iron to get money for food, to get petrol for the generator and stuff."

Rehabilitation work is progressing in Lampuuk, although the natural elements are still the worst of enemies.

Oxfam erected frames for a couple of model temporary homes before they were blown down in a windstorm this week. It is also helping to restore paddy fields.

German Agro Asia is planting mango tree gardens and working to counter the elements by sowing pine saplings to create a windbreak on the beach.

GAM's forces have grown post-tsunami: TNI chief

Tempo Interactive - May 12, 2005

Sunariah, Jakarta -- TNI (armed forces) chief General Endriartono Sutarto has revealed that post-tsunami there has been an increase in the number of Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members. It is suspected that GAM prisoners who escaped have rejoined GAM's forces.

"There has been a slight increase, in our recent evaluation, at the time of the tsunami many prisoners escaped and they have rejoined [GAM's forces]", said Sutarto before taking part in a cabinet meeting at the presidential offices on Thursday May 12.

In addition to the increase in GAM's forces, Sutarto also admitted that the TNI lost many weapons when the tsunami destroyed a number of police barracks but explained that the weapons had already been recaptured by the TNI.

With regard to whether or not the state of civil emergency in Aceh would be extended, he said that GAM is still carrying out robberies, abductions and attacks. They are also collecting illegal taxes to purchase arms so the TNI still believes a need still exists to guarantee that GAM does not disrupt security.

The TNI itself continued Sutarto, doesn't have a problem if the government extends or discontinues that state of civil emergency. However, "We must look at the reality [of the situation], on the ground GAM still exists", he said. It is still felt that this is a problem, both for the public as well as the process of reconstruction and rehabilitation in Aceh.

"We don't want the reconstruction and rehabilitation process to come to a standstill because there are security disturbances", he said.

Before making a decision, the government plans to form a small team to study and give a recommendation to the president as to whether the state of civil emergency should be extended or not. With regard to this, Sutarto revealed that he does not know exactly what the tasks and membership of the team would be. "The Coordinating Minister of Political, Security and Legal Affairs will determine that", he answered briefly.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

GAM even stronger after Aceh tsunami: TNI chief

Detik.com - May 12, 2005

Luhur Hertanto, Jakarta -- Don't think that all of GAM's (Free Aceh Movement) members fell victims to the tsunami. Recent armed contacts between GAM and the TNI (armed forces) in Aceh is evidence that GAM is actually even stronger.

It is believed that there has been an increase in its strength and the number of personnel within GAM. This is because when the earthquake and tsunami inundated Aceh, many GAM personal escaped and rejoined GAM forces in the mountains.

"After we evaluated [the station], many GAM members escaped at the time of the tsunami", said TNI chief Endriartono Sutarto before taking part in a cabinet meeting at the presidential offices on Jalan Medan Merdeka Utara in Central Jakarta on Thursday May 12.

Sutarto's statement is indeed different to what was said before the earthquake and tsunami inundated Aceh. At that time Sutarto said that the strength and the size of GAM's forces were weakening in conduction with the state of civil emergency coming into effect.

Sutarto gave another reason why GAM is now stronger -- many GAM members who were in detention disappeared at the time of the tsunami. They also stole weapons, which were stored at police barracks after the buildings were destroyed.

According to Sutarto many weapons from police barracks have indeed disappeared. It is strongly suspected that these weapons have fallen into the hands of GAM. With this increase in weaponry, GAM is increasing its level of armed criminal actions in Aceh such as abductions, robberies and collecting illegal taxes.

So under conditions such as this is it still appropriate for the state of civil emergency to be maintained? "I think that [we] could still consider extending the state of civil emergency", explained Sutarto.

Bearing in mind this need, the Coordinating Minister of Political, Security and Legal Affairs in currently thinking about forming a small team with the task of evaluating the state of civil emergency to date. This team would recommend whether or not there is a need to extend the state of civil emergency in Aceh. (atq)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Tsunami refugees groan as Jakarta dallies on money

Reuters - May 12, 2005

Bill Tarrant, Lamkruet -- The tents are like ovens in the scorching sun and leak in the rain. The children have no toys and their fathers have no jobs. The food's grim and the ground turns into cesspools in a downpour.

Life in hundreds of tent camps across Indonesia's tsunami- devastated countryside on the northern tip of Sumatra island is brutal. Their residents can only hope it will be short. "They say we can move to semi-permanent homes in July but that's not certain," said Safri, a burly, 36-year-old dentist who looks out of place in dress shirt and pressed slacks in this tattered tent camp near the Aceh provincial capital, Banda Aceh. "We were supposed to move this month."

It's a question they ask every visitor: After months of living in what Indonesia calls Spontaneous Settlement Camps, when can they at least move to temporary wooden barracks, not to mention the permanent homes promised them within two years? The answer is: Not any time soon.

A big part of the reason is that the government in Jakarta, 1,700 km away, has been slow to allocate money while promised international aid has been held up as Indonesia created a reconstruction agency to manage cash inflows.

The people in the camps, meanwhile, are being cared for by a veritable Noah's Ark of aid groups that have set up shop in a land that looks like it's been through a nuclear holocaust.

'Callousness' of bureaucrats

The UN's Children's Fund, UNICEF, provides clean water and sanitation, Care International gives out water jugs, the World Food Program and private aid group World Vision distribute rice and cooking oil.

The chairman of Aceh's Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency is shocked and dismayed at what he sees as the callousness of Indonesia's bureaucrats.

Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, in the job for just over a week, told Reuters in Banda Aceh he had found no sense of urgency in disbursing the 6 trillion rupiah ($613 million) earmarked in the government's 2005 budget for tsunami rebuilding. The money is not expected until September.

"It's shocking. Very limited things have been done for the poor people," he later told a group of foreign reporters in Jakarta after spending several days in Aceh for a first-hand look at the monumental task he faces.

Kuntoro, whose house in Banda Aceh was donated by the United Nations, said he will rely on the generosity of international aid groups, including $600 million from the International Red Cross, to begin rebuilding the province.

Aid donors pitched in $700 million in the initial weeks after the Dec. 26 quake and tsunami, financing most of the emergency relief operations in the first three months. Indonesia is expecting a total of more than $3.1 billion in foreign aid for tsunami relief and reconstruction.

"It's absolutely extraordinary he can't get any money until September," said Imogen Wall, a UN spokeswoman. "We share his frustration. We need someone like him."

Nearly 600,000 people were displaced after the magnitude 9 earthquake, the strongest in 45 years, unleashed an unprecedented tsunami that is feared to have killed 160,000 people in northern Sumatra.

According to preliminary data compiled so far by the United Nations and obtained by Reuters, 187,625 people are living in tent camps, 108,833 are living with friends and relatives, and just 69,930 are living in the crude wooden barracks the government has built.

Overall, the government has said there are nearly 600,000 homeless.

Domestic violence

Each of the displaced receives 12 kg of rice and 170 g of cooking oil a month. Anything more they must pay for themselves. Aid groups enlist those willing to help in the Herculean clean-up tasks at around $3.75 a day.

"I'm a dentist," said Safri. "They say practice here [in the camp] but I have no tools, no medicines. How? When it rains, everything gets wet. When the wind is strong, the tents fall down," said Sulaiman, another camp resident.

While basic needs are being met, aid workers worry about the mental health of people in the camps, where tsunami trauma is still raw. "That's a big concern," said UNICEF spokeswoman Lely Djuhari. "Because you have so many people living so close together, it could exacerbate the conditions for domestic violence."

Policewomen have been stationed in some of the camps to cope with the rising incidents of domestic abuse, she said.

The barracks are a little better, but unlike the tent camps, which sprang up on the ruins of villages, the barracks are located far from schools, markets and mosques.

"Food is most difficult," said M. Saleh, 51, who lost a shrimp farm in the tsunami and stays at the Lambaro barracks outside Banda Aceh with his seven children.

Children usually have to walk 2 km to school if they don't have the 2,000 rupiah a day bus fare. "There is no help, no money from the government," he said.

Funds provide little relief to Aceh residents

Melbourne Age - May 11, 2005

Matthew Moore, Jakarta -- Post-tsunami rebuilding has been stalled by a delay in releasing Government money.

The Indonesian Government has done nothing to start reconstruction in the tsunami-devastated province of Aceh, the official in charge of rebuilding says.

Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said he was shocked to find some people still not getting regular food and angry the Government had not released some of the $A800 million reconstruction funds.

Mr Mangkusubroto, speaking after his first trip to Aceh as head of the new reconstruction agency, said none of that money would be available until it had been included in the national budget and debated by the Parliament in September.

He was dismayed there was "no sense of urgency, even after a tragedy that's killed 130,000". No roads, bridges or harbours were being built, he told foreign journalists this week. "When it comes to reconstruction, zero," he said.

He had written to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono this week asking him to instruct the Minister of Finance to provide bridging finance so some Government funds could be spent.

In the meantime, money was being provided by mainly foreign aid organisations. They had pledged about $US2 billion ($A2.5 billion) for reconstruction that did not need to be included in the budget process.

Mr Mangkusubroto said his agency had just signed a $US600 million deal with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to begin some projects.

On his tour of Aceh, he said he came across people within a few kilometres of Banda Aceh who were still not getting enough food because of continuing problems with distribution. "It's shocking, very limited things have been done for the poor people," Mr Mangkusubroto said.

People were leaving emergency barracks built by the Government several months ago and there was no reliable system to track their movements and continue to provide them with food.

While he could understand the reasons for building the outlying barracks in the tsunami's immediate aftermath, he now believed it had been a mistake because people could not rebuild their lives while they lived there.

"People don't want to go back to the barracks, they want to go back to their business selling rice. You don't sell rice to neighbours in a tent, you go to the market," he said.

A US-trained engineer appointed to head the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction and Executing Agency, Mr Mangkusubroto reports directly to the Indonesian President who, he said, did appreciate the urgency.

While billions of dollars had been pledged by governments and aid groups, the money was not available yet because people had waited four months for his agency to be set up. The agency was needed to provide a framework for managing and spending the money, he said.

Mr Mangkusubroto forecast the spending would begin quickly but that it would take three years for the bulk of houses to be rebuilt. He hoped work would start on the first 1500 houses within three weeks.

One deal Mr Mangkusubroto had signed with a consortium led by the Intel Corp company would see Aceh become the first province in Indonesia with access to broadband. And the whole of the capital would have access to wireless communication.

Tsunami children suffering mental problems - WHO

Reuters - May 10, 2005

Banda Aceh -- Up to a quarter of the children caught up in the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia's Aceh have mental health problems that need professional treatment, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.

Most of the tsunami-affected adult population is also suffering from trauma-related distress, a WHO-funded study by the University of Indonesia found.

The mental health problems are far beyond the capabilities of Aceh's lone mental hospital and so the government has decided Aceh will be the first Indonesian province to have community mental health services, said Dr. Stephanus Indrajaya, technical officer for WHO Indonesia.

Mental health problems tend to be more complex and longer-lasting than physical injuries, making this a key issue in Aceh's rehabilitation, he said.

The survey showed 20-25 percent of tsunami-affected children "had significant emotional and behavioural problems and these children need skilled professional attention," Dr. Imansyah of the University of Indonesia told a news conference in Aceh's provincial capital of Banda Aceh.

About a half-million Acehnese have been living in temporary shelter since the disaster. Camp conditions can exacerbate the trauma, Imansyah said.

Teams have been sent to various districts to enlist the support of community leaders for local mental health centres, Indrajaya said. Acehnese, like many traditional communities in Asia, are reluctant to acknowledge mental health issues, the experts said.

A 2002 survey showed many Acehnese already suffered trauma after nearly 30 years of rebellion in the province.

The Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami struck a dozen nations around the Indian Ocean rim, leaving nearly 230,000 dead or missing from Thailand to Somalia. About 160,000 are feared dead in northern Sumatra alone.

Aceh restoration 'close to zero'

BBC New - May 9, 2005

The Indonesian official co-ordinating the recovery of tsunami-hit Aceh has said reconstruction there has hardly begun, five months after the disaster.

Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said he was shocked at how little had been done for almost 600,000 survivors who lost their homes on 26 December 2004.

Indonesia had been too slow to set up the agency he heads, and $5 billion in aid had not been disbursed, he said.

Mr Mangkusubroto said bureaucracy might delay the money for four more months. "No roads or bridges" Mr Mangkusubroto told reporters that while some rehabilitation work had been done, it was "close to zero".

"Roads? There are no roads being built. Bridges? There are no bridges being built. Harbours? There are no harbours being built," he said.

He said part of the problem was that foreign governments were waiting for his agency to be up and running before handing out the billions of dollars they had pledged.

Defenders of the aid effort say they are doing their best in the face of overwhelming suffering. They say they need to move with deliberation to avoid misdirected or duplicated assistance.

The BBC's Tim Johnston in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, says Mr Mangkusubroto's comments echo the increasing frustration of many Acehnese at what they feel is the relatively slow pace of reconstruction.

More than 165,00 people died or are assumed dead in Aceh, as a result of the earthquake and tsunami. A further 600,000 were left homeless.

In total, some $10bn has been pledged for relief and reconstruction for the countries around the Indian Ocean, and the bulk of that money is expected to go to Indonesia, the hardest- hit country.

Situation 'shocking'

Mr Mangkusubroto, who took up his position just over a week ago, accused the Indonesian government of dragging its feet. "There is no sense of urgency," he said.

Mr Mangkusubroto, who has just visited Aceh, said the situation there was "shocking". "There is not enough food for the kids... at least there should be some food." He said the key to the problem was co-ordination, and he promised to provide the needed direction.

And he pledged to take a tough stand towards anyone in his agency found misusing funds, saying they would be subject to double penalties under Indonesian law, including prison terms.

West Papua

Jayapura's top cop replaced for mishandling protest

Jakarta Post - May 14, 2005

Nethy Dharma Somba and Suherdjoko, Jayapura/Semarang -- Under mounting public pressure, Papua provincial police replaced on Friday another senior policeman held responsible for the shoddy handling of a violent protest in Jayapura on Tuesday.

During the official changeover ceremony on Friday, the provincial police also named nine other lower ranking officers as suspects for alleged human rights and procedural violations.

Jayapura Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Son Ani was replaced after a thorough evaluation in the case, said Insp. Gen. Dodi Sumantyawan, the chief of Papua provincial police.

Mimika Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Paulus Waterpauw would replace Son Ani, while Son Ani would assume a non-commission post at the provincial police, Dodi said.

"We expect that a leader must not only be able to impose self- control, but he or she has to be able to impose control on his or her subordinates in order to prevent unexpected things from happening," said Dodi after the changeover at the Papua provincial police headquarters.

The demotions came after allegations from the local branch of the National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) that police had severely beaten a group of Papuan separatist protesters, with several officers allegedly dragging a woman protester away and stripping her of her clothes. Another officer allegedly stabbed protesters with a syringe.

More than 20 people, including police officers later received hospital treatment for injuries sustained in the brawl.

Earlier, Son Ani's subordinate Adj. Comr. Novly Pitooy was replaced by Adj. Comr. Dominggus Rumaropen. Novly is also to assume a non-commission post at provincial police headquarters.

Dodi said provincial police were investigating nine officers named suspects for alleged human rights violations in the incident. He did not specify what the violations were.

Police were also questioning 26 protesters over the case, he said.

The protest broke out on Tuesday when some 100 people became unruly in front of the Jayapura District Court, shortly after a trial prosecuting two Papua separatist leaders took place.

The protesters were upset as Philep Karma, a respected separatist leader, was not allowed to speak before or after the court session, unlike in previous court hearings.

The group hurled stones into the court grounds that were being guarded by police, prompting a response from the officers.

Karma and Yusak Pakage are on trial for allegedly helping to raise a Papua separatist flag in September last year. During the trial on Tuesday, a prosecutor recommended the court sentence the pair to five years' jail each for their subversive activities.

Earlier the case attracted the attention of the National Police's top brass in Jakarta. During his visit to Semarang on Friday, national chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar slammed the way the officers handled the case.

Da'i, who had earlier called for the planned demotions and investigations, said he planned to visit the Papua provincial police headquarters soon to personally receive a briefing on the matter.

Meanwhile, a human rights activist called on Friday for the national headquarters of Komnas HAM to investigate the case despite the internal police investigation and sanctions.

Albert Rumbekwan, an official at Komnas HAM's Papua office said the rights body should probe the case thoroughly.

Overcoming Papua repression through peace

Jakarta Post - May 13, 2005

Carmel Budiardjo, London -- Despite being chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights and affirming its commitment to human rights, including self-determination, at the recent Asian-African summit in Jakarta, the Indonesian government has once again demonstrated its instinctive mistrust of fundamental freedoms by its response to an international meeting on West Papua.

Just a day after my colleague Aguswandi argued in this newspaper that being hostile to foreign and domestic critics of its human rights record harms Indonesia's reputation as an up-and-coming democracy, on April 29 the government reportedly attempted to stop a solidarity meeting convened in the Philippines to discuss ways of supporting the human rights and political aspirations of the West Papuan people.

The government's actions have once again highlighted its repressive approach to the West Papua problem. Its efforts to suppress freedom of expression and association internationally reflect its far harsher policies on the ground where people are murdered, tortured, disappeared or thrown into jail for exercising similar rights or for being suspected "separatists". National Commission on Humanrights (Komnas HAM), for example, has found evidence that following a series of military raids against alleged "separatists" in Wamena in 2003, as many as nine people were killed, 38 were tortured and 15 others were arbitrarily arrested and detained. Komnas HAM suggests that crimes against humanity were committed.

Fortunately the Philippines meeting went ahead as planned from April 29 to May 1 despite the verbal intimidation of participants and direct appeals to the government in Manila and the Board of the University of the Philippines where the event was held. The meeting was attended by representatives from a number of Asian countries, including Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, East Timor, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines, as well as delegates from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The international solidarity movement for West Papua is not anti-Indonesia as alleged by foreign affairs spokesman, Marty Natalegawa. It is pro-West Papua. Its objective is to support the Papuan people in their search for peace, justice and democracy.

One of the key concerns of the movement is to promote West Papua as a "Land of Peace". This is an initiative supported by religious leaders of all faiths, local politicians, tribal leaders, the police in West Papua, the Indonesian-appointed governor, and the provincial parliament. It rejects the increasing militarization of the territory and aims to provide space for political dialogue and create conditions in which human rights are fully protected, impunity is ended and proper attention is given to the economic, social and cultural needs of the West Papuan people. It involves all people living in West Papua and respects the diverse ethnic, racial and religious nature of the society.

These should also be the central government's objectives and it is difficult to understand why instead it persists with repressive policies, such as the recent alarming decision to increase the number of troops in the province to around 50,000. The only conclusion to be drawn from this military expansion is that the security forces are intent on exerting even tighter control over the population as well as continuing to exploit the business opportunities presented by West Papua's abundant natural resources. The troop increase will also increase concern about illegal logging activities involving local military units.

The Indonesian Army has a reputation for creating violent incidents in order to provoke unrest and justify its continued presence in the interests of security. The Papuans have shown admirable restraint in the face of such provocation, but have suffered grievously from military operations such as those currently being conducted in the Puncak Jaya area of the Central Highlands.

The potential for an escalation of the conflict has also been heightened by Jakarta's failure to implement special autonomy and its divisive attempt to split the territory into three or more separate provinces.

Among the issues considered by the Manila meeting was violence against women. Delegates called for stronger support for West Papuan women's groups and for the implementation of national and international laws to protect West Papuan women against all forms of violence in the home and from Indonesian state forces.

The meeting also called upon Indonesia to allow immediate and unfettered access to West Papua to the international media and NGOs so they can see for themselves the conditions under which the West Papuan people are living. It also called for the release of all West Papuan political prisoners wherever they are being held in West Papua or Indonesia.

West Papua as a "Land of Peace" should be the guiding principle of Indonesia's policy towards West Papua and should inform the approach of all international actors, including foreign governments, transnational corporations, religious bodies and non-governmental organizations. The Indonesian government would be far better off responding positively to this initiative than wasting time generating bad publicity by bullying the foreign friends of West Papua.

[The writer is a human rights advocate, who attended the Philippines meeting and works for TAPOL the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign in London.]

The campaign for peace in Papua

Jakarta Post - May 13, 2005

Neles Tebay, Rome -- President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to visit the United States, the European Union (EU), and Japan. Before leaving the country, the President needs to be informed about the growing international campaign for peace in Papua, as manifested in the so-called "Geneva Appeal on West Papua." The appeal, entitled Papua, a Land of Peace (PLP), was adopted in Geneva last month by faith-based organizations around the world.

According to their assessment, there is absence of peace in Papua. Why? The Papuan autonomy law has not been implemented effectively, fully and comprehensively. The approval of the law has not brought about real improvements in the livelihoods, security and dignity of the majority of Papuan people. Rather, there is fear for further escalation of the conflict and the violence.

Many Papuans still experience ongoing deprivation and injustice. Jakarta's contradictory policies and poor rule of law create a growing atmosphere of conflict in West Papua.

They see that military operations have increased and pose a threat to the Papuan peoples' existence and survival as a culture and ethnic entity. The security approach to confront so-called separatism and critical voices only produces insecurity for Papuans.

Papuans still suffer some of the poorest standards of education, health and live expectancy in Indonesia" due to the "negligence of educational and medical facilities by the State.

They are worried that should armed militias and gangs get involved in creating conflict in Papua, then, the result would be further militarization, reinforcing the security approach, and consequently worsening the situation of human rights and peoples' security.

Peace in Papua, for them, means not only the absence of violent conflict. For it "encompasses trust, mutual respect, the ending of the practice of impunity, and about fair chances for development". It is "a dream about an adequate space for political dialog without fear for stigmatization".

The campaign for the PLP, then, is not merely a political effort. For it includes social-economic development, cultural rights, justice and peoples' security.

This absence of peace has encouraged them to garner international support for a peace campaign, initiated by Papuan religious leaders under the motto "Papua, Land of Peace" (PLP) through the celebration of international day of peace on Sept. 21, and the Papuan day of peace on Feb. 5.

The supporters of the appeal highlight three major challenges in creating the PLP.

First, there are conflicting signals from the government and from military command in Jakarta about the status of the Papuan autonomy law, its interpretation and its implementation.

Jakarta's policy of splitting Papua into two or more provinces without democratic consultation and the emasculation of the role and mandate of the Papuan People's Council (Majelis Rakyat Papua/MRP) are examples of the conflicting signals.

Therefore, there is a pressing need for an open and genuine dialog to clarify the interpretation of the law and to move ahead to ensure full implementation of this law in accordance with the aspirations of the Papuan peoples.

The second challenge for the prospect for peaceful development, open dialog and justice is the disproportionate military (TNI) presence in West Papua that often generates conflict.

To build a culture of peace in Papua, the police should be responsible for civic order, and be equipped to maintain the rule of law professionally. The military presence, then, should be brought back to a sensible and appropriate size.

The third is how to make the concept of the PLP become the fundamental attitude in the approach to the problems in Papua, by the people, by the government, by the international community.

The campaign for the PLP includes overcoming suspicion and divisions on the basis of ethnicity, religion, political aspirations and interests.

Therefore, the notion of the PLP should be embedded in the hearts of people of all religious and ethnic communities concerned... not only in West Papua but also in Indonesia as a whole, and elsewhere".

Supporting the PLP's campaign, the backers of the appeal are committed to draw the attention of their religious communities, their governments and the international community to the suffering of the peoples of West Papua.

The network urges them pro-actively to assist the Indonesian government and the Papuan community to confront the challenges encountered by the Papuan peoples within the framework of peaceful change.

They appeal to the Indonesian government to protect and respect the rights of indigenous peoples in West Papua, apply a rights- based approach to development in implementing Papuan autonomy, create space for democratic dialog, in accordance with the spirit of the law, cease further efforts to divide Papua, and undertake an open and democratic process to review the establishment of West Irian Jaya Province.

They call on the UN Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights to grant the necessary support to the government to promote peace and to solve conflict with recourse to the mechanisms provided by the Special Autonomy Law.

They appeal to the Indonesian authority to commit seriously to the eradication of all forms of discrimination against the indigenous Papuan peoples.

They call to the EU to encourage the UN Secretary General to engage in the promotion of peace in West Papua.

They appeal to the religious communities of all faiths to remember the Papuan peoples in your prayers, support the effort of Papuan religious leaders to realize the campaign for the PLP and to join the Faith-based Network on West Papua for Papua, Land of Peace.

The Geneva appeal has been widely circulated through the Internet and its supporters have already been involved in the campaign for peace in their respective countries.

Indeed, they are neither representing their governments, nor supporting the Papuan separatist movement (OPM). As religious- based organizations, their main concern is nothing more than peace. They are and will be examining all Jakarta's policies toward Papua from the perspective of peace.

The central government under President Susilo's leadership, then, is challenged to review Jakarta's policies towards Papua from the perspective of peace. Due to the campaign, President Susilo, during his visit to the US and the EU, might be asked about how Jakarta supports the peace campaign in Papua.

[The writer is a post graduate student at the Pontifical University of Urbaniana.]

Senior cop axed over Papua rights violation

Jakarta Post - May 12, 2005

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura -- A senior Papuan police officer has been replaced and four other are being questioned for alleged human rights violations following a violent clash between separatist supporters and police personnel on Tuesday in Jayapura, a police spokesman said on Wednesday. "After a quick evaluation, one officer was found guilty and four others are being questioned after the incident," said Papua Provincial Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Sitompul.

For the time being, chief of Jayapura Police Adj. Sr. Comr. Son Ani has replaced chief of the antiriot squad at Jayapura Police Adj. Comr. Novly Pitooy with Adj. Comr. Dominggus Rumaropen. Novly will assume his new post soon at Papua Provincial Police headquarters.

Meanwhile, police internal affairs are currently questioning four other police officers who are suspected of violating police procedures in the incident that injured dozens of people, including 10 police officers.

Sitompul would not go into details, but merely said that the police would investigate the case thoroughly.

According to Sitompul, 11 out of the dozens of local separatist supporters injured in the incident had been released from hospital after receiving treatment.

The separatist supporters were victims of a clash in front of Jayapura District Court that broke out on Tuesday. They went on a rampage after Philep Karma, a respected Papuan separatist leader who just left the courtroom, was not allowed to speak before the crowd, unlike in past court hearings.

Karma is being prosecuted for his alleged role in subversive activities. He was nabbed last year for leading a ceremony to hoist the outlawed Papuan separatist flag.

During the court hearing on Tuesday, the prosecutor recommended that Karma and his accomplice Yusak Pakage receive a five-year prison term for subversive activities.

Meanwhile, an activist said that the Papuan representative office of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has received a report on alleged violations of human rights in Tuesday's clash.

Albert Rumbekwan, an activist at Papua's Komnas HAM, said that the report was filed by Cosmos Iwal, who represented the victims. Rumbekwan said that the report revealed four alleged violations committed by police personnel.

The report said that police officers had beaten the protesters, some police officers dragged off a woman and took off all her clothes, a judge assaulted a Papuan separatist supporter attending the court session and a police officer jabbed a protester with a syringe before he was dispatched to a police post for questioning. "The report is still one sided and we have to confirm it with Jayapura and Papuan Police Headquarters," said Rumbekwan.

According to Rumbekwan, his office will immediately send the report to Jakarta for follow up. The office recommended that Komnas HAM established a team to investigate the alleged violations of human rights in the incident.

Trial of separatist ends in riot, scores wounded

Kompas - May 11, 2005

Jayapura -- The separatist trial of Philip Karma and Yusak Pakage who are each facing five years jail at the Jayapura State Court on Tuesday May 10 has ended in a riot. As a result of the clash, scores of local people and police officers suffered injuries and some 26 vehicles were damaged.

Demonstrators also blockaded roads on the Jayapura-Abepura- Sentani route for two hours after which police arrested 26 people, 15 of which have been declared as suspects.

Accompanied by the head of the Abepura sectoral police detectives unit Chief-Inspector Juvenalis Takamuli, Abepura police commissioner Muhamad Safei said that the riot started when demonstrators felt dissatisfied with the prosecutor's demand that the accused be sentenced to five years jail.

Karma is a state civil servant at the office of the Papuan governor while Pakage is a student from the Cenderawasih University. Both are accused of organising a demonstration at the Trikora square in Padang Bulan on December 1, 2004, at which Morning Star Flag was raised for 30 minutes to commemorate West Papua's independence day.

Yesterday's court hearing, the ninth, began at 11am and was presided over by Judge Radiantoro. Also present was the public prosecutor Yulius Teuf and the defendant's defense lawyers led by Paskalis Letsoin.

The defendant's lawyers was not present when Teuf read out the charges as they were in fact in the midst of the crowd of demonstrators gathered in the grounds of the court house.

After reading the charges, Radiantoro closed the session forthwith and gave an opportunity to defense lawyers to prepare their defense for next week.

As Karma was taken outside to a vehicle to be driven to the Abepura correctional institution, demonstrators protested saying that the charges were invalid because the defendant's lawyers were not present when they were read.

The 500 or so people who filled the grounds then closed the gates to the courthouse and detained the vehicle carrying the accused. Following negotiations with police demonstrators then reopened the gates.

All of a sudden however, demonstrators ran amok with protesters and police throwing stones at each other. Twenty-six vehicles which were parked in the grounds of the courthouse and in front of the Abepura shopping centre were damaged -- including a police patrol car, the car owned by the prosecutor, cars owned by police officers, the judge and local people. A number of the vehicles were seriously damaged.

The incident resulted in 10 Abepura sectoral police officers, a member of the Jayapura municipal police and scores of demonstrators being injured after being struck by rocks -- including Safei and a journalist from the Jayapura daily the Kasniel Post.

Most of injuries sustained by police and demonstrators were to the head, temple, chin, legs, arms and back. Police did not shoot any of the demonstrators because most of the police safeguarding the trial were not carrying firearms, only truncheons.

Intelligence officers from the sectoral and municipal police did however fire warning shots into the air on three occasions in order disperse demonstrators. But this only made the demonstrators more angry who then spread out onto the main road, circling the court offices looking for police officers seeking safety while throwing rocks the size of a adult person's fist in the direction of security forces. Although the front windows of the court house were smashed after being hit by stones the inside of the court house remained safe as it was tightly guarded by security forces.

Demonstrators also blockaded a number of roads including the route connecting Jayapura-Abepura and Sentani, the road in front of the courthouse and the road in front of the Cenderawasih University campus. Traffic was brought to a standstill.

Demonstrators then demanded that the 26 people who had been detained by police be released. Negotiations then took place between the head of the Jayapura metropolitan police Chief Commissioner Moch Son Ani. After being questioned 15 of the suspects were released. (KOR)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Violence breaks out in Papua, many injured

Deutsche Presse Agentur - May 10, 2005

Jakarta -- Dozens of people were injured Tuesday when police clashed with independence supporters in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua, news reports said.

The clash erupted outside Jayapura's district court in Papua's capital after government prosecutors demanded up to five years in prison for two pro-independence activists who are accused for coordinating a ceremony to hoist the banned "Morning Star" independence flags, the state-run Antara news agency reported.

The agency quoted officials as saying dozens of people, including police officers, were injured in the clash. Several cars were damaged and the court building's windows were shattered.

Antara reported that at least 11 people were rushed to the Jayapura general hospital to get intensive care for their wounds, while an unspecified number of others were brought to Bhayangkara hospital.

During the clash, two groups threw stones at each other. Dozens of people tried to block a car carrying the two defendants, Philip Karma and Yusack Pakage, out of the court building, to the detention centre.

On December 1 of last year, both Karma and Pakage organized a ceremony to commemorate the anniversary of Papua's independence by hoisting the independence flags at the Abepura district town.

Despite the government's ban, pro-independence activists and sympathizers of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM), have annually commemorated the anniversary of the province's independence day on December 1. The OPM, comprising a small group of separatist rebels, has been fighting a sporadic rebellion in Papua, formerly Irian Jaya, since early 1960s.

International human rights groups have recently expressed deep concerns over an anti-insurgency operation in Papua launched by the Indonesian military forces, saying it has undermined peace and stability in the province.

Papua, the predominantly Melanesian province 3,700 kilometres northeast of Jakarta, is a former Dutch colony that became an Indonesian province in 1969.

At least 13 injured in riot at trial of independence activist

Agence France Presse - May 10, 2005

At least 13 people including two policewomen were injured when an angry crowd threw stones at the trial of a popular pro- independence activist in Indonesia's Papua province, officials said.

Hundreds of supporters of Philip Karmas blocked the main entrance gate to the district court buildings near the Papua capital of Jayapura and began pelting the estimated 300 police inside with rocks.

"They were angered because Philip Karmas, unlike in past hearings, was not allowed to address the crowd of supporters after the trial [hearing]," Judge Ichsan, who heard the case, told AFP.

Karmas, who is being tried for hoisting the outlawed Papua separatist flag, had always been allowed to address his supporters either before or after hearings, Ichsan said.

"This time the defendant was directly put into the vehicle... to be immediately taken back to his detention cell," he said. "The mob grew angry and first closed the main gate and then began pelting stones at whoever was inside." Police fired warning shots into the air to disperse the riot, Abepura police Master Sergeant Suyitno told AFP.

A court official who declined to be named said she had seen at least two policewomen and a civilian man bleeding from head injuries.

A nurse at the emergency ward of Jayapura's general hospital said 11 civilians were admitted, none of them with gunshot wounds. The police hospital, where the wounded officers were taken for treatment, declined to comment.

Shops in the suburb of Abepura remained closed after the crowd was dispersed at about 1pm, with some onlookers staying outside the court building.

Karmas and three of his supporters are on trial for hoisting the flag on December 1, 2004. Prosecutors have recommended the judge sentence them each to five years in jail.

Papua has been the scene of a sporadic guerrilla rebellion since 1963 when Indonesia took over the mountainous and undeveloped territory formerly known as Irian Jaya from Dutch colonisers. There have been widespread allegations of military abuses.

Military ties

Making a tragic mistake in Indonesia

Foreign Service Journal - Vol 82/No 5 May, 2005

Edmund McWilliams -- Is the United States making the same mistakes in its search for partners in the "war on terror" as it did during the Cold War?

During that earlier global conflict, the United States pursued alliances with governments, militaries and rebel groups, even those whose policies and activities were in conflict with core American values and the goals we professed to be promoting in our struggle against the Soviet Union. The list of unsavory regimes Washington courted and counted as allies is long and notorious.

It includes the merely corrupt, such as the Marcos kleptocracy in the Philippines, as well as some which were savagely brutal, such as Shah Pahlevi's dictatorship in Iran. Some, such as Indonesia's despotic Suharto regime, were both corrupt and brutal.

The political costs of these alliances continue to burden US policies and interests today. We see the baggage in fractured societies like the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti, where decades of US-supported misrule have impaired the development of stable, democratic governments. Our interventions have also left legacies of deep resentment among local populations around the world, including Iran, Iraq and much of Central America.

Despite that history, since the 9/11 attacks Washington once again has sought out allies whose corruption, human rights abuses and undemocratic records render them pariahs in the international community. These include the Karimov regime in Uzbekistan, which routinely employs torture against opponents; the Musharaf regime in Pakistan, where democratic progress has been thwarted by the president/general; and the Indonesian military, the "Tentara Nasional Indonesia."

In late February, Secretary Rice announced that the US would resume International Military Education and Training assistance there, overturning a 14-year congressional ban imposed to protest the TNI's human rights abuses, operation of criminal "business enterprises" and lack of accountability to civilian authorities. This action was not a surprise, to be sure. Last year, the Bush administration convinced Congress to adopt new criteria for restoration of IMET assistance that were far looser than the restrictions authored by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. Specifically, Congress agreed that restoration of IMET (though not Foreign Military Sales assistance) could be triggered by a State Department certification that the government of Indonesia and the TNI were rendering "full cooperation" to an FBI investigation of the Aug. 31, 2002, killing of two US citizens and wounding of many more in Timika, West Papua.

Pursuant to that authority, Sec. Rice formally confirmed Indonesian "cooperation" on Feb. 27, 2005. She did so despite the failure of the Indonesian authorities to detain the one person thus far indicted for those crimes by a US grand jury, and despite an eight-month hiatus in the FBI investigation, during which our agents have still not been invited back to Indonesia to resume the case.

A history of brutality

Even if one accepts claims of Indonesian cooperation at face value, this decision ignores the TNI's broader record, which remains indefensible.

In Southeast Asia, that record is rivaled for sheer brutality only by the murderous Khmer Rouge. From 1965 to 1968 alone, the Indonesian military engineered the slaughter of more than a half-million of its own compatriots, following an alleged "coup" attempt against President Sukarno. Employing a tactic it would resort to again and again, the TNI allied itself with Islamic forces that did much of the actual killing.

The Suharto regime which rose to power as a consequence of the coup and which directed the massive killings sought to justify them in American eyes by labeling the victims as "communists."

Following the Indonesian military's invasion of East Timor in 1975, an estimated 200,000 East Timorese, one quarter of the population, died as a consequence of living conditions in TNI- organized relocation camps or as direct victims of Indonesian violence. In remote West Papua, it is estimated that over 100,000 Papuans died in the years following the forced annexation of West Papua under a fraudulent "Act of Free Choice" perpetrated by the Suharto regime in 1969. An April 2004 study by the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School concluded that the atrocities in West Papua constituted "crimes against humanity" and may have constituted genocide.

Yet throughout this period, extending from 1965 to the early 1990s, the US military maintained a close relationship with the TNI, providing it with IMET training and arms. Those arms were employed not against foreign foes but against their own people: during the 1970s and 1980s, the TNI frequently bombed villages in East Timor and in West Papua with US-provided OV-10 Broncos. Military offensives, conceived and directed by IMET-trained officers against usually miniscule resistance, caused thousands of additional civilian deaths.

Even with the end of the Cold War, the US embrace of the dictator Suharto and his military continued for a time as if US policy were on autopilot. The relationship endured largely unquestioned until 1991, when the Indonesian military was caught on film by US journalists slaughtering peaceful East Timorese demonstrators. The murder of over 270 East Timorese youth by soldiers bearing US-provided M-16's so shocked the US Congress that it imposed tight restrictions on further US military-to- military aid and training.

Ever since Congress cut off such assistance, successive US administrations, with the support of nongovernmental organizations that received strong financial support from US corporations with major interests in Indonesia, have sought to restore military-to-military ties.

Those efforts were accompanied by contentions that the Indonesian military had reformed or was on a reform course. But such claims of Indonesian military reform were refuted in 1999, when, following an overwhelming vote by East Timorese for independence from Indonesia, the TNI and its militia proxies devastated the tiny half-island. United Nations and other international observers were unable to prevent the killing of over 1,000 East Timorese, the forced relocation of over 250,000 more, and the destruction of over 70 percent of East Timor's infrastructure. Six years later, the Indonesian justice system has failed to hold a single military, police or civil official responsible for the mayhem.

That failure to render justice demonstrates that, even when confronted by unanimous international condemnation, the Indonesian military remains unaccountable either to civilian authorities or to world opinion.

Moreover, TNI human rights abuses continue to this day. Since mid-2004, it has been conducting military operations in West Papua, forcing thousands of villagers into the forests, where many are dying for lack of food and medicine. A ban on travel to the region by journalists and even West Papuan senior church leaders has limited international awareness of this tragedy and prevented provision of humanitarian relief.

The recent devastating Indian Ocean tsunami turned international attention to another remote arena where the TNI has conducted a brutal campaign for over 20 years. In Aceh, over 12,000 civilians have fallen victim to these military operations. The State Department's most recent Human Rights Report, like its predecessors, notes that most of those civilians died at the hands of the TNI.

What has changed? Sadly, the latest trends recall the worst features of the Suharto period (1965-1998), when critics and dissenters were seldom tolerated, at best, and often met harsher fates. Despite the genuine democratic progress made since Suharto's fall in 1999, critics of the military and anyone else the TNI regards as enemies remain in grave jeopardy.

Reflecting the power of the TNI in "democratic" Indonesia, those critics who meet untimely ends are often the most prominent. In 2001, Theys Eluay, the leading Papuan proponent of Papuan self- determination, was assassinated. In a rare trial for such crimes, his military killers received sentences ranging up to just three-and-one-half years. Army Chief of Staff Ryamazad Ryacudu publicly described the murderers as "heroes."

Last year, the country's leading human rights advocate, Munir, a prominent critic of the TNI, died of arsenic poisoning in 2004. (Like many Indonesians, he only used one name.) In 2000, Jafar Siddiq, a US green-card holder who was in Aceh demanding justice for Achenese suffering TNI abuses, was tortured and murdered. Since 2000, 14 prominent human rights advocates have been murdered and no perpetrators have been prosecuted.

Even more recently, Farid Faquih, a leading anti-corruption campaigner who has targeted military and other government malfeasance, was badly beaten by military officers as he sought to monitor tsunami aid distribution.

He was then arrested and is now facing trumped-up charges of theft of the assistance he was monitoring. And the Papuan human rights advocates who supported FBI investigations of the US citizens murdered in 2002 in West Papua are undergoing continuing intimidation by the military.

More generally, the TNI constitutes a threat to the fledgling democratic experiment in Indonesia. The many businesses it operates generate over 70 percent of its budget, freeing it from accountability either to the civilian president (himself a retired general) or the parliament. Much of this income comes from extortion, prostitution rings, drug-running, illegal logging and other exploitation of Indonesia's great natural resources and -- as documented in the State Department's Annual Human Rights Report and an August 2004 Voice of Australia report -- human trafficking. With its great institutional wealth, the TNI maintains a bureaucratic structure that functions as a shadow government, paralleling the civil administration structure from the central level down to sub-district and even village level.

For much of the last decade, advocates of closer ties between the Indonesian and American militaries have contended that a warmer US embrace, including training programs and education courses for TNI officers, could expose them to democratic ideals and afford a more professional military perspective. Of course, this ignores the decades of close US-Indonesian military ties extending from the 1960s to the early 1990s, when the Indonesian military committed some of its gravest atrocities and when a culture of impunity became ingrained. The argument for reform through engagement also ignores the fact that the US Defense Department already maintains extensive ties and channels for assistance with the TNI under the guise of "conferences" and joint operations billed a humanitarian or security-related.

In the wake of 9/11, proponents of restored US-Indonesian military ties have adduced a new argument for restoring IMET funds: however unsavory the Indonesian military may be, we need it as a partner in the war on terrorism. But the TNI has close ties to numerous indigenous fundamentalist Islamic terror groups, including the Front for the Defense of Islam and the Laskar Jihad. It even helped form and train the latter group, which engaged in a savage communal war in the Moluku Islands between 2000 and 2002 that left thousands dead.

So long as the Indonesian military refuses to curb its human rights abuses, submit itself to civilian rule, end corruption and end its sponsorship of terrorist militias, it will remain a rogue institution and a threat to democracy. And until that changes, the longstanding restrictions on military-to-military ties between the United States and Indonesia must remain in place.

[Edmund McWilliams entered the Foreign Service in 1975, serving in Vientiane, Bangkok, Moscow, Kabul, Islamabad, Managua, Bishkek, Dushanbe, Jakarta (where he was political counselor from 1996 to 1999) and Washington, D.C. He opened the posts in Bishkek and Dushanbe and was the first chief of mission in each. In 1998, he received AFSA's Christian Herter Award for creative dissent by a senior FSO. Since retiring as a Senior Foreign Service officer in 2001, he has worked with various US and foreign human rights NGOs as a volunteer.]

Human rights/law

Ex-BIN official questioned over Munir poisoning

Jakarta Post - May 10, 2005

Jakarta -- After months of stonewalling, the former secretary of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), Nurhadi Djazuli, agreed on Monday to meet the government-sanctioned fact finding team investigating the murder of human rights campaigner Munir Said Thalib.

However, in an apparent setback for the team, the details of the questioning site and the substance of the questions look set to remain a secret.

Usman Hamid, a member of the fact-finding team, told The Jakarta Post by telephone that the meeting between the team and Nurhadi took place for two hours in Jakarta.

"The team has agreed not to expose the meeting location and its substance to the press for practical reasons during the next meetings. All team members threw questions to Nurhadi in line with his tasks and the official mechanisms in the intelligence institution. This first session was not directly linked with the Munir case," he said.

Hundreds of media representatives mobbed the Komnas Perempuan building in Menteng, Central Jakarta on Monday after rumors the questioning would be held there, however, Nurhadi and none of the team members were present.

Any private meeting in the other talked-about location; the media blacked-out BIN Headquarters in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta; would have represented a victory for BIN officials who had pushed for any interrogation to take place there.

Nurhadi earlier resisted the fact-finding team's summons three consecutive times because he said the team had no authority to question him.

Nurhadi, who was recently appointed as the Indonesian Ambassador to Nigeria, was the main secretary of BIN when Munir died aboard a Garuda flight from Jakarta to the Netherlands on Sept. 7, last year.

Dutch authorities found excessive amounts of arsenic in his body. Some time later, police named pilot, Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, stewardess Yeti Susmiyarti and flight attendant Oedi Irianto as the main suspects for Munir's murder by arsenic poisoning.

Pollycarpus was a Garuda security official who offered Munir a seat in business class, moving him from economy class, during the flight from Jakarta to Singapore. There is evidence suggesting Garuda management attempted to manufacture Pollycarpus' reason for being on that flight and other information suggesting he had worked as a BIN agent.

Usman, who is also coordinator of the National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said his team planned to hold a second session with Nurhadi in the same location next week.

"The questions in the next session will be directed to examine any involvement of BIN in the fatal poisoning of Munir," he said.

Separately, Munir's wife, Suciwati, went on Monday to the National Police Headquarters to submit a report on terror threats made against her family, Usman and herself.

Suciwati, accompanied by her lawyer, Iskandar Sonhadji, said that she had recently received a unidentified handwritten letter, which threatened to abduct her, her children and Usman if they continued opposing "NKRI", the acronym for the unitary state of Indonesia, and supporting the investigation into her husband's murder.

The letter stamped on April 27 was sent from Ende, Flores, in East Nusa Tenggara. The unnamed senders also said that they had readied Rp 250 million (US$26,315) to hire people to abduct and assault Suciwati and her family.

This is the second threat addressed to Munir's wife after she received a brown box filled with a severed chicken head, legs and intestines with a typed message saying "Do not connect the TNI to Munir's death. Want to end up like this?" Suciwati said that she received the letter on May 4 and later decided to report it to the police. She was not alarmed by the letter, which had only hardened her resolve, she said.

"Since the threat is only in the form of a letter, Suciwati did not ask for police protection. She will ignore the threat and would encourage police investigators to work harder on this case," Iskandar said.

Reconciliation & justice

Killed students' parents vow to fight for justice

Jakarta Post - May 12, 2005

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta -- The parents of four Trisakti University students shot dead during a protest in May 1998 said on Wednesday that they had lost faith in the government's resolve to punish those responsible, but vowed to continue fighting for justice.

"Seven years is not short time to wait, but together with those who care about justice for our children, I will not stop fighting to reveal the truth," said Lasmiati, the mother of Hery Hartanto -- one of the four students killed in front of their campus on Jl. S. Parman on May 12, 1998.

She said Trisakti University would not stop fighting to reveal the culprits in the incident.

The three others were Elang Mulya Lesmana, Hafidhin Royan and Hendriawan Sie. Their death sparked massive riots in the capital and across the country on May 13 and May 14, forcing strongman Soeharto to resign on May 21.

Lasmiati complained that four presidents had taken office since Soeharto stepped down, but there were still no signs that the truth behind the killings would be disclosed.

"I have come to conclude that there is no political will from our leaders to uncover the incident. It may be because there were too many people involved," she told The Jakarta Post.

She said initially she had high hopes that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who took office in October 2004, would order law enforcers to reopen the case of the Trisakti killings.

Unfortunately, she said, the President's will had not been supported by those authorized to enforce the law. She cited the sluggish process in investigating the death of human rights fighter Munir as the example.

A similar comment was made by Elang's mother, Hiratetty Yoganandita, better known as Tetty. She believes that the death of four students involved many "powerful men" in the country. Tetty said that it would not be difficult to uncover the incident provided the government had strong political will.

"I think all people know who they are and who are behind them. It is not difficult to know. But I don't think that there will be a hero, who wants to point the finger at them, because if there are any, his fate may be like Munir's," said Tetty, adding the four were shot by skillful sharpshooters.

Rights campaigner Munir died on board a Garuda plane flying to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Police have said that Munir died of arsenic poisoning.

Both Tetty and Lasmiati expressed disappointment that the House of Representatives had declared the killings as ordinary human rights violations, preventing it from being brought to the ad hoc rights tribunal, which is reserved for gross human rights violations only.

"If I always thought about the incident, I would go crazy. If justice cannot be seen here now, it may be found in the hereafter," Tetty told the Post.

She said that her husband Bagus Yoganandita died on Jan. 3, 2003, due to severe psychological stress as he could not forget the death of his son.

"Therefore, I must be strong so that I can take care of my other children," she said, adding: "I leave it all to God Almighty." Meanwhile, Hendrik Sie, the father of Hendriawan, hoped that the four students would be named as reform heroes as promised by former president B.J. Habibie.

"With such recognition, we will feel that our sons' deaths were not in vain," he said.

Critics oppose amnesty plan for Soeharto

Jakarta Post - May 12, 2005

Jakarta -- As Soeharto left hospital on Wednesday after seven days of treatment for intestinal bleeding, the government has been urged to bring the former dictator to justice rather than granting him a possible amnesty for the alleged abuses he committed during his 32-year rule.

"Well, that's a difficult question to answer," noted sociologist Frans Magnis-Suseno said on Wednesday when asked to comment on what the government should do to deal with the unresolved corruption cases against the ailing 83-year old former president.

He said investigations into Soeharto's crimes must not stop, although the results should take into account the achievements he made when ruling the country for 32 years until 1998.

"If there is graft case proven against him, he must return the ill-gotten money and then it can be forgiven and not be sent to prison," Magnis told The Jakarta Post.

He said the Soeharto cases should be handled specifically because he is a former president who had rendered service to the nation.

According to Magnis, a pardon should be offered only in the event that Soeharto is found guilty of criminal acts.

However, he stressed that the granting of amnesty should not be done as a "habit" for common criminals.

With regard to human rights violations during Soeharto's regime, legal decisions should refer to the aspirations of victims, Magnis said.

A similar comment was made by Muslim scholar Komaruddin Hidayat. He said that if the government offered amnesty for Soeharto, it should involve the public in making such a decision.

"If he (Soeharto) is forgiven, it must be followed with concrete steps from the government to combat corruption consistently," Komaruddin said.

Otherwise, the government would lose its credibility in its national antigraft drive, he added.

He said that if law enforcers could not take Soeharto to court for health concerns, then "why don't we choose forgiveness" for the former dictator. That would be realistic, he added.

Komaruddin claimed that negative public sentiment against Soeharto was apparently decreasing, while on the other hand "humanitarian emotion" was taking side with the ailing former president.

Former president Abdurrahman Wahid had once proposed that Soeharto be forgiven on the condition that he returned the money he embezzled to the state.

Ali Sadikin, formerly one of Soeharto's staunchest critics who visited him at his hospital bed earlier this week, said the ex- strongman should be tried to uphold justice, but then immediately forgiven.

Meanwhile, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said there was no need to grant an amnesty for Soeharto.

"If nothing is filed against him, it means there is also no case," Kalla exclaimed after visiting Soeharto at the hospital on Wednesday, accompanied by chief economic minister Aburizal Bakrie and Minister of Manpower Fahmi Idris.

Former House speaker Akbar Tandjung, who was also among Wednesday's visitors at Soeharto's hospital bed, declined to comment on amnesty calls for the former leader.

However, Akbar said that someone who had rendered service to the nation and the state should be able to live in peace in their old age.

Soeharto escaped trial for his alleged past crimes after doctors offered medical evidence stating he was unfit to stand trial as he could no longer hold or follow normal conversations.

Soeharto left Pertamina Hospital on Wednesday, where he had been taken last Thursday. He was wheeled out of the hospital at around 4.40 p.m., accompanied by his oldest daughter Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana. A team of Soeharto's doctors said the bleeding had stopped and his red blood cell count was rising, but his heart and lungs required continuous monitoring.

Pertamina Hospital director Sutji Astuti Maryono said the decision to discharge Soeharto was at his own request.

The ball of the May riots now in the House's court

Jakarta Post - May 12, 2005

Hera Diani and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- As the May 1998 riots remain unfinished business amid four administrations and two independent investigations, activists say that the ball is now in the House of Representatives' court.

Usman Hamid, the coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) urged the House to propose the establishment of an ad hoc human rights tribunal so that all suspects can be summoned.

The demand arose as there has been no sign from the Attorney General's Office (AGO) that it will follow up the investigation into the tragedy by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), although the latter had found systematic gross human rights violations committed in the riots.

"There has been an ongoing debate between the rights body team and the investigators at the Attorney General's Office. We think there is enough evidence to prove that crimes against humanity have been committed. But the AGO thinks otherwise," Usman told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He added that according to Article 43 of Law No. 26/2000 on human rights, the House has the right to propose the establishment of an ad hoc human rights tribunal which must be endorsed by the government.

"The reasons for the establishment are clear: Human rights violations have been committed, there is enough evidence available and the investigations from the rights body," Usman said.

The tragedy from May 13 through May 15, 1998 preceded the end of 32 years of authoritarian rule of now ailing president Soeharto.

Anarchy broke out in Jakarta during riots in which more than 1,000 people were killed, and more than 60 women, mostly Chinese-Indonesians, were gang raped or victims of other sexual violence in three days of bloodshed, arson and turmoil.

However, nobody has been held accountable and sent to prison for the tragedy.

The 16-member independent team set up by Komnas HAM in March 2003 was not able to get most of the military officers active at the time to respond to summonses.

They include the then Jakarta Military Commander Lt. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin (now the Ministry of Defense secretary-general) and Sjafrie's former assistant Maj. Gen. Tritamtomo (now the Bukit Barisan Military Commander).

Regarding the number of victims, the Indonesian Military sent a letter in April to the Post saying that "An investigation is needed to verify the correctness of the report that there were thousands of victims in the riots as otherwise the report is just an assumption".

Usman said that it was the AGO's job to verify the results of the investigation, including the number of victims.

I Ketut Murtika, the director of gross human rights violations cases at the AGO said that the office was willing to resolve the case if there was enough evidence.

"Unfortunately, there isn't. The witnesses' testimony is not valid because it is only based on what they heard, not saw. It is also difficult to find people with expertise in human rights who can testify," he told the Post.

Murtika added that there was no clear regulation that could force military commanders to be responsible for their subordinate's wrongdoing.

He also asked the government to review the Human Rights Law which according to him, gives too little time (240 days) to conduct an investigation into such a complicated case.

Usman said that Murtika's reasons were baseless as based on Article 42 of the Human Rights Law, military commanders can be held accountable for their subordinate's wrongdoing.

"About the witnesses, they are indeed witnesses who lost their children, and saw with their own eyes that a group of men dressed in military uniform poured gasoline into a mall and deliberately locked people inside," Usman said.

Labour issues

3.7 million domestic workers at risk of forced labor

Jakarta Post - May 13, 2005

Jakarta -- Rigid labor contracts are needed to protect up to 3.7 million Indonesian domestic workers, including some two million employed overseas, who are locked up, or exposed, to forced labor, a seminar has concluded.

A discussion on global alliance against forced labor which was held by ILO and participated in by activists, legislators, domestic workers and government officials concluded that while producing legislation on domestic workers, the government and other stakeholders should start campaigning for the use of contracts in the employment of domestic workers to prevent forced labor.

Lita A., the coordinator of the Yogyakarta-based Rumpun Tjoet Njak Dien women's organization, said that the majority of domestic helpers did not get their normative rights and worse still, many were physically abused or raped mainly because of the absence of a contract between them and their employers.

"Domestic helpers are generally employed between 14 hours and 20 hours a day, seven days a week, and are not allowed to communicate with their relatives and fellow workers and are treated as slaves. They are not insured and their monthly wages, which vary from one family to another, are paid once a year," she said.

Ari Sunarijati, an executive of the Confederation of All- Indonesian Workers Union (KSPSI), and Gunawan Slamet, chairman of the House of Representatives Commission IX on labor and social affairs, were of the same opinion that it was high time to acknowledge domestic workers' normative rights after being treated as "second-class citizens" both at home and overseas for years.

Gunawan said his commission would encourage the government to draft a bill that would regulate domestic workers, their legal status and normative rights, which would carry stern punishment for employers who were proven guilty of abusing their domestic helpers.

Ari said the government should comply with the law on migrant workers that requires the government to allow domestic workers to work only in foreign countries that have bilateral agreements with Indonesia. The law also requires foreign employers to sign a strict labor contract with their domestic workers.

"Without a rigid labor contract, the rampant abuse of domestic workers both at home and overseas will go on," she said.

Nurlini Kasri, a deputy to the state minister for women's empowerment, called on non-governmental organizations and international institutions such as the ILO and World Bank, to pay more attention to education to gradually eliminate poverty, which many have said is the root of forced labor.

"Domestic workers, mostly female, work involuntarily because of poverty. They are poor in material wealth, knowledge and information. Therefore, the government should be serious in improving the quality of human resources and give everyone access to at least the elementary and secondary education," she said.

The ILO launched on Wednesday a comprehensive global and regional report on forced labor which estimated that up to one million adults and children were victims of human trafficking in Indonesia and between 2.4 million and 3.7 million Indonesian women were at risk of forced labor because they were migrant workers, domestic workers, or sex workers, who were employed without a work contract.

According to the global report, more than 12.3 million people were locked up and forced to work, generating a massive US$32 billion in profits for those who exploit them. Some 9.5 million of them are in Asia, 1.3 million in Latin America and 920,000 in Africa and the Middle East.

ILO addresses abuse of Indonesia's workers

Jakarta Post - May 12, 2005

Jakarta -- The International Labor Organization (ILO) launched a report on Wednesday, which for the first time presents comprehensive global and regional data on forced labor and call for a global alliance to eliminate the practice.

Lotte Kecser, chief technical advisor of ILO Jakarta, said here on Tuesday that the report was part of the global movement against forced labor that was designed as a follow up to the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights in the Work Place.

"The 87-page report will contain results of comprehensive and detailed analysis of forced labor. The studies present a preliminary assessment of forced labor, numbers of forced laborers, the number of victims of human trafficking and financial advantages of employing traded workers," she said.

Lotte asserted that the report was relevant for Indonesia because a part of it was based on case studies in Indonesia and on Indonesian migrant workers employed in Singapore.

She said the elimination of forced labor in Indonesia faced challenges because of unsettled core problems such as poverty and backwardness.

"Millions of people in Indonesia have been trapped into forced labor because they face serious economic problems. They are forced to work and are physically abused during their employment because they are not educated, are not skilled and are lacking information.

"Minimum standards that should be set by a global alliance are badly needed to provide protection for domestic workers and immigrants employed overseas," she said.

Former President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid concurred and said the employment of domestic workers in Indonesia was a form of slavery, which is against the amended 1945 Constitution and against human rights.

"Most domestic workers employed in families have always been employed more than the recommended eight hours per day and even until late at night. They have no day off and their salaries are often withheld until the Idul Fitri holidays at which time they are allowed to return home. They are not insured and do not receive health care when they are sick either," he said.

He said the worst negative impact of forced labor was the fact that many domestic workers fell victim to abuse and rape by their employers.

Lack of skills and language constraints have been blamed for the widespread incidence of abuse against Indonesian workers employed overseas.

Textile workers on strike

Jakarta Post - May 12, 2005

Bogor -- Representatives of about 6,000 workers of textile producer PT Great River Indonesia staged a rally at the Bogor Council on Wednesday, demanding that councillors force the company to reemploy their colleagues.

"We will continue the strike until we reach an agreement with the company," a worker, Martanto, said.

The workers were protesting PT Great River's decision to lay off some 700 workers on May 9 and, according to them, had cut their monthly salary in half.

"The company always claims losses, but production is still going on, we still receive a lot of orders ... Every time we ask the executives to show us the financial reports, they always refuse," Martanto added.

The company produces shirts and lingerie for export to the US, Italy, Australia and Japan.

The company's human resources officer, Harun Hutapea, deplored the strike, saying that the company needed the workers' moral support to get fresh capital.

Politics/political parties

Multiparty system has not improved democracy

Jakarta Post - May 12, 2005

Jakarta -- The multiparty political system has not significantly contributed to regional autonomy and politicians continue to ignore their constituents demands and aspirations, a study says.

The research, conducted recently by a group of political scientists in cooperation with the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (IMD), revealed that although the presence of many parties in the last two elections had bought greater choice to the people, the performance of regional legislatures (DPRDs) resulting from the elections were no better than those of bodies during the New Order.

"As products of a democratic election, the DPRDs for the 1999- 2004 period polls are a little bit better than the current regional legislatures since they managed to prove they no longer served as a rubber-stamp for the government's policies.

"The two, however, are alike in nature as their members sought only power and benefited from their institution as a stepping stone to positions in government," Syamsuddin Haris, coordinator of the researchers, said while presenting the results of the study here on Wednesday.

There were 48 political parties contesting the 1999 election, and 24 parties competing in the 2004 polls.

Syamsuddin said all political parties, except the Prosperous Peace Party (PKS), were facing a crisis of legitimacy since they failed to provide an adequate space for the public to control their internal matters.

"This means that there is no mechanism for the public to control the political and moral behavior of councillors and the performance of political parties in the DPRDs.

"Parties' branches at the provincial and regental levels failed to develop since most functionaries have moved to local legislatures," he said.

Umar Anggara Jenie, chief of LIPI, said the internal conflict plaguing several parties, including the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Reformed Star Party (PBR), reflected the unaccountability of political parties and the poor condition of democracy in regions.

"Party elites have been involved in internal conflicts in their attempt to seek power rather than to implement party programs and answer to the people's aspirations," he said.

Ichlasul Amal, the former rector of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, questioned the parties' contribution to the democratization.

"It is not clear whether provincial, regental and municipal legislatures represent parties, the people, or conflicting interests in society," he said. Most parties were less-than transparent and did little to assess their accountability during congresses, he said.

J. Kristiadi, a political scientist of the Centre for Strategic International Studies (CSIS), said the poor performance of most political parties was linked to the absence of a long-term political education programs.

"We do not have strong political parties because all existing parties are relatively new and somewhat pragmatic and are only generally active a few months before and after general elections," said Kristiadi who likened parties as "monsters hunting for power." He said ideal parties should not only adopt a modern ideology and policies, but should also operate rigid recruitment, career planning and education schemes for their members. The research team comprised Arbi Sanit of the University of Indonesia, along with Lili Romli, Moch Nurhasim, Sri Nuryanti, Sri Yanuarti and Tri Ratnawati, all from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

They conducted the one-year study in 15 regencies and mayoralties in the provinces of North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Banten, East Java, South Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara.

The research included field studies, and interviews of councillors, legislature speakers, regional government heads, journalists and non-governmental organization activists.

Dismissal of PDI-P reformers would backfire: Kwik

Jakarta Post - May 12, 2005

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta -- The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's (PDI-P) decision to expel 12 members of a dissenting group opposed to Megawati Soekarnoputri's leadership is likely to deepen the party's internal conflict, says a respected party member. The move will disrupt PDI-P's chances of winning upcoming direct elections of local executive heads and the 2009 general election, said former party think tank chief Kwik Kian Gie.

He argued that the people dismissed still had significant influence within the country's second biggest party.

"It will only deepen the conflict because they will not remain silent. They have financial resources and power," Kwik stated after meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday to discuss efforts to combat corruption.

On Tuesday, the PDI-P central board announced the dismissal of 12 dissenting members who had been urging reform within the party.

The expelled members are oil businessman Arifin Panigoro, former state minister of state enterprises Laksamana Sukardi, Sophan Sophiaan, Roy B.B. Janis, Didi Supriyanto, Postdam Hutasoit, Tjiandra Wijaya, Pieters Sutanto, Pius Lustrilanang, Angelina Pattiasina, Imam Mundjiat and Sukowaluyo Mintohardjo.

They have been expelled from the party for refusing to accept the results of the PDI-P congress in April in Bali, which unanimously reelected Megawati as party leader for the 2005-2010 period.

The reformers blamed Megawati for the party's defeat in last year's legislative and presidential elections and said she should not have been reelected.

Roy, who leads the reform-minded group, has claimed that his side is supported by many of the party's provincial chapters and regional branches that want the party's image restored ahead of the 2009 elections.

The group and a number of PDI-P chapters are fighting in court against the legitimacy of the party's recent congress that granted Megawati prerogatives that they say are against the party's statutes.

Such a condition, Kwik said, will cause tension within the party during the upcoming regional elections, which will start in June.

"If the conflict is not brought to an end, the party will face a worse condition," he warned.

Due to their dismissals, those expelled who serve as House of Representatives members will likely be recalled from the legislature by the party.

However, House Speaker Agung Laksono said on Wednesday he had not received a letter from the PDI-P recommending that its dismissed members be recalled from the legislature.

According to Kwik, many PDI-P members disagree with the central board's decision to expel the 12.

"They are forced to obey any decision by the central board because (their existence in the party) equates with their income. They are afraid of being dismissed from the party. They are anxious," he said.

They conveyed their grievances during the PDI-P national congress in Bali, said Kwik, who acknowledged that he was no longer involved with the party's business, nor had any contact with its top executives.

Kwik, who initiated the formation of a separate wing to campaign for internal reform within the party, also said he had stopped pushing for a leadership change because the party's central board still maintained members the "gang".

He was apparently referring to the three top members, namely Sucipto, Pramono Anung and Gunawan Wirosarojo, whom he blamed for PDI-P's defeat in the 2004 elections, instead of Megawati. Of the three, only Gunawan has been excluded from the current central board.

PDI-P supporters run amok as candidate ruled ineligible

Jakarta Post - May 12, 2005

Jemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang -- Hundreds of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) supporters went on a rampage on Tuesday night in Manggarai, after their candidates for regent and vice regent were refused registration by the local General Elections Commission (KPU). Their candidacy was rejected because they had missed the registration deadline.

The angry masses hurled stones and vandalized the Manggarai Council building. Later on, they marched to the nearby Manggarai KPU building but were prevented from entering the building's compound by hundreds of police and military personnel.

Despite warnings, the protesters pushed forward towards the security personnel, prompting some security personnel to fire warning shots into the air. No fatalities or injuries were reported during the incident that lasted until Tuesday midnight. A day later, the situation in Manggarai regency has returned to normal, although some PDI-P supporters are still assembled in groups in certain parts of the city.

Stunned by the rampage, the chief of East Nusa Tenggara KPUD Robinson Ratukore said that the Manggarai KPUD had to take a stance in response into the mob's demands.

Ratukore argued that the Manggarai KPUD should have bowed to protester's demand, and reopen registration for the regent and vice regent candidates in the run up to the Manggarai regental elections.

He said that Manggarai KPUD rejected the candidacy based on Government Decree No. 6/2005 on the election of heads of regional governments. However, this government decree had been revised by a subsequent decree No. 17/2005 that brought a lot of changes, including to the format of registration forms.

"On this basis, the registration has to be reopened to establish fairness in the run up to the Manggarai election," Ratukore told The Jakarta Post in Kupang, the capital of East Nusa Tenggara, on Wednesday.

The Manggarai KPUD opened the registration for candidates running in the regental elections on April 28 and closed it Wednesday last week.

Regional elections

Papuan parties set tariff for candidates in elections

Kompas - May 14, 2005

Jayapura -- A number of political parties in Papua have established a tariff for anyone wishing to nominate themselves as a regent, deputy-regent, mayor or deputy-mayor. The provision is an internal party matter so the amount of the tariff will vary, as there are no precise regulations on the illegal collection of money by political parties.

A member of Papua's provincial National Election Committee (KPUD) in Jayapura, Pdt Romboirussi, confirmed this on Thursday May 12. Information has been circulating among the public that political parties are currently reaping a profit from social groups who want to nominate themselves to be elected as regents.

"The tariff for perspective candidates which has been set by the political parties is referred to as a contribution to the party. There are no independent candidates(1) so those who wish to nominate themselves have to fulfill the political parties' requirements. In most cases the only ones who have the money to pay political parties [to be nominated as] regents/deputy-regents or majors/deputy-mayors are local government officials and businesspeople", said Rombuirussi.

According to Rombuirussi, there has yet to be an official report from a prospective candidate or specific organisation on the collection of money by political parties from candidates. Among the public however there is already much talk about these uncontrolled collections.

The KPUD does not have the authority to control political parties in such matters. The regional Election Supervisory Committee (Panwas Pilkada) which does have the right to supervise matters related to money politics, has almost no authority in the regional elections.

Gustur Ohoiwutun, the coordinator of the success team for two candidates running for the regent and deputy-regent of the Asmat for the period 2005-10, JP Ohoiwutun and Harun Yaran, said that the two had failed because they did not have the funds to make a deposit with the Golkar branch's board of directors (DPC) for the Asmat regency. "Actually, JP Ohoiwutun and Yaran were previously supported by Golkar's [members of the] DPD [Regional Representatives Council]. There was even a special letter signed by the DPD chairperson from the Golkar Party, John Ibo, to Golkar's Asmat DPC asking them to support the Ohoiwutun and Yaran duet as prospective candidates for regent and deputy-regent of Asmat", said Yaran.

The Asmat Golkar Party DPC has instead chosen Benyamin Simatupang, the former deputy-regent of Merauke for the period 2000-05. Simatupang is suspected to have paid Golkar's DPC as much as 100 million rupiah as well as covering the cost of various essentials for the Golkar's Asmat branch. Simatupang denies that the payment is a form of money politics saying that he is a Golkar Party member and obliged therefore to assist the party in paying for the party's needs.

For the nomination of the governor of Papua for the period 2005- 10 meanwhile, political parties have set a tariff of 1 billion rupiah for those who want to become candidates. The size of the tariff however is not the same for all candidates. If they are an ordinary citizen who doesn't have a large amount of funds, the political parties limit it to 500 million rupiah. But if the prospective candidate is an active government official they are obliged to pay 1 billion rupiah. (kor)

Notes:

1. According to the law on regional elections, all independent candidates must be nominated by a political party or group of parties that secured at least 15 percent of the vote or seats in the local legislature.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

TNI candidates may tarnish democracy, warns Scholar

Jakarta Post - May 13, 2005

Nethy Dharma Somba and Sjofiardi Bachyul, Jayapura/Padang -- A Papuan scholar criticized on Thursday the Indonesian military's (TNI) decision to allow its personnel to become candidates for political office in the upcoming regional elections, saying that it could undermine democracy.

"Many people have expressed concern that, if the officers become candidates in the election, then the TNI, as an institution, might intervene to help him or her. There is fear that it can lead to possible abuses of power that can tarnish democracy," said Bambang Sugianto, a lecturer at Cendrawasih University in Jayapura, Papua. Similar concerns were also expressed by the chief of the Agam regency Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) in West Sumatra, Raymon.

According to Raymon, their candidacies were legal, but they could spark fear that the TNI candidates could make use of TNI facilities, including the entire TNI network, to win the election.

"In order to prevent this, we have made an agreement with the Agam military command, so they will stick to the regulations and not abuse their facilities to allow the TNI candidates to win the election," said Raymon.

Bambang and Raymon were voicing their concerns after the TNI allowed at least six of its officers to register and become candidates for regent and vice regent posts in the upcoming regional elections this June. The six included Lt. Col. Bastiam who will run for the post of Agam Regent and Maj. Abdul Rais Ashar Sadar, who is vying for the job of regent in Yapen Waropen regency, Papua.

The TNI has suspended them from their current military posts pending the election outcome, however concerns remain that the could use TNI assets and networks to win the elections.

Separately, Lt. Col. Bastiam sought to ease public concerns, saying that TNI personnel were allowed by the law, namely Law no. 32/2004 on regional government, to participate in the elections.

"The TNI personnel have the right to be nominated for government posts. If there is a party that impedes the candidacy of TNI personnel in the election, then it will be a violation of our human rights," said Bastiam who is currently a senior officer at the TNI headquarters in Jakarta.

Bastiam acknowledged the reality that the TNI had been associated with a repressive regime, but, he insisted, the situation had changed since the reform era began over seven years ago.

"These fears are not realistic or subjective. The TNI may have committed mistakes, but they were past mistakes. The public should now be more objective," explained Bastiam.

Bastiam added that he chose to run in the election after he was nominated by the United Development Party (PPP).

Bastiam promised that he would not mobilize human resources and TNI facilities to win the election and that he would only use PPP and public facilities -- in line with the law.

Meanwhile, responding to the candidacy of a TNI Maj. Abdul in Papua, another political observer from Cendrawasih University Beatus Tambaib, said that psychologically it would be very hard for Papuans to accept the candidacy of a TNI officer.

But, it was also hard to predict whether the TNI officer will lose or win the upcoming election in June, he said without elaborating.

Officers suspended, to run for government posts

Jakarta Post - May 12, 2005

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto has suspended six officers, four of them from the military intelligence unit, to enable them to contest the upcoming regional elections.

Spokesman for the TNI Col. Ahmad Yani Basuki said on Wednesday that the temporary suspensions, effective since May 3, was a consequence of the TNI chief's policy interpretation for serving military personnel who wished to nominate for regional government positions.

The officers suspended are Col. DJ Nachrowi of the TNI Information Center, Lt. Col. Didi Sunardi of the TNI Intelligence Body (Bais), Lt. Col. Naschfin FN of Bais, Maj. Bastiam of Bais, Maj. Abdul Rais Ashar Sadar of Bais and Capt. AM Bahtiar Syambawa of the presidential details unit.

Nachrowi said all the political parties that nominated the officers had officially informed the TNI of the servicemen's candidacy.

TNI headquarters is allowing active military officers to contest direct elections for regents, mayors and provincial governors, which will kick off on June 1. This was apparently due to loopholes in Law No. 32/2004 on regional government that does not specifically ban active military or police officers from nominating for regional government posts.

However, TNI Law No. 34/2004 explicitly bans active military personnel from engaging in politics.

The election law passed in 2003 also forbids military involvement in election campaigns or other activities related to a political party's efforts to win election, but allows them exercise their right to vote. But Endriartono unilaterally insisted last year that the military was "not ready" to vote, giving the reason that partiality might affect national unity.

Critics have urged military officers to resign, or for the TNI chief to dismiss them, if they wished to become candidates in regional elections, saying that suspension does not cut their ties with the institution.

Critics say that military officers joining the race under the banner of political parties is detrimental to the military's alleged commitment to maintain its neutrality, and in turn its professionalism.

During the New Order dictatorship, the military as an institution was inseparable from the ruling party Golkar.

In his letter of approval, Endriartono simply asked officers seeking local governmental posts to resign if they won the elections. The TNI will welcome them back if they fail to gain election, but says they might lose their current posts within the military.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is one of a few officers who sacrificed their military careers before taking up civilian posts. Then an Army lieutenant general, Susilo retired from the military after then president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid appointed him as mining and energy minister in 1999.

Gus Dur made Susilo an honorary four-star general after naming him coordinating minister for political and security affairs.

Corruption/collusion/nepotism

BPK finds 'missing funds' in budget

Jakarta Post - May 14, 2005

Tony Hotland, Jakarta -- Noting a staggering Rp 8.82 trillion (US$929.32 million) missing from the 2003 state budget, the House of Representatives is likely to order the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) to carry out an investigative audit in hopes of clarifying the use of the funds.

A BPK regular audit on the government's 2003 state budget report, recently submitted to the House, discovered that the balance recorded at the end of the 2003 state budget period should have been Rp 34.58 trillion instead of only Rp 25.75 trillion. The state budget was managed under the administration of Megawati Soekarnoputri, with Boediono as the minister of finance.

The enormous discrepancy between the figures, according to the BPK, resulted from the weak internal control system in all government institutions and violations of finance regulations.

The BPK ended up not giving any opinion to the government's report due to the ever-present problem of an absence of a standardized auditing system in government institutions, which has often led to poor documentation and reporting of fund management.

It is the fourth time the BPK has rendered no opinion to state budget expenditure, but the discrepancy seems to be more extensive than in the past few years.

The alleged discrepancy was also caused by, among other things, unreported grants received by ministries, undocumented purchases by the state, inappropriate debt and grant management, and unreported use of balance.

Although indications of corruption have not been detected as yet, the House budgetary commission is likely to ask the BPK to carry out an investigative audit.

However, commission chairman Emir Moeis said the government's report would be accepted. "Acceptance of a state budget report is required to make way for the (regular) audit of following state budgets. But if we find irregularities worthy of further probing, we will render a specific motion and ask the BPK to do an investigative audit (on the 2003 budget)," he said on Friday.

Commission member Djoko Susilo, who hails from the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction, took a harsher stance, saying that a stronger measure needed to be taken to deal with the BPK finding.

"I can assure that the PAN faction will not accept this report, and will propose that the Corruption Eradication Commission take part in investigating this," he said.

Emir said the commission would start working on its review of the government and BPK reports on Friday night before submitting the review to the House plenary session on Monday, to be deliberated later.

Minister of Finance Yusuf Anwar acknowledged there was a discrepancy, but placed the guilt on the absence of regional accountant offices in some areas, unskilled human resources in accounting, as well as poor information and technology infrastructure.

Yusuf said the government was not obliged to formally explain such discrepancies because the law on the state budget only orders the report for the realization of the state budget.

However, the government will make formal reports of all uses of and spending for the 2004 state budget, as obliged in Law No. 28/2003 on the 2004 state budget, and is expected to submit them to the BPK next week.

KPK seizes KPU funds as graft probe intensifies

Jakarta Post - May 12, 2005

Jakarta -- The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has seized around Rp 3 billion (US$315,789) out of a total of some Rp 20 billion in funds allegedly given by private firms to the General Elections Commission (KPU) as kickbacks.

KPK deputy Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean also said on Wednesday that a certain person had returned a further Rp 1 billion from the aforementioned funds.

Speaking to House of Representatives Commission III legislators, Tumpak said the person had returned a combined $79,000 and Rp 342 million to the KPK, as he or she was likely fearful of harsher sanctions if he or she did not come clean amid the ongoing investigation into alleged corruption at KPU.

However, Tumpak refused to identify the person as they did not want to jeopardize the ongoing investigation, but said that the person was neither a KPU member nor a state official.

Tumpak also said that no names of House members had appeared during any questioning of KPU officials or staffers so far. Media rumors have it that a number of House members are believed to have received portions of the funds as well.

After looking into the procurement of election materials, KPK chief Taufiequrachman Ruki said his investigators planned to expand its inquiry into the provision of insurance and books worth Rp 37.5 billion.

The KPK is investigating a wide range of corruption in the KPU, which broke open with the arrest of KPU member Mulyana W. Kusumah after he was caught trying to bribe a state auditor to influence audit results.

The bribe money apparently came from the funds given by 10 firms, who had won trillions worth of tenders to provide election materials, as kickbacks.

Aside from Mulyana, two more KPU staffers have been declared suspects by the KPK. They are deputy secretary general Sussongko Suharjo and treasurer Hamdani Amin.

Both have acknowledged that the collection of these funds were agreed upon by KPU chief Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin, who has consistently denied any knowledge or involvement. Nazaruddin has also been accused of giving the green light to his subordinates to pay off the auditors.

The KPK again questioned Mulyana and Hamdani, as well as two staffers who worked directly under Sussongko. These two staffers are believed to have witnessed the conversation between Mulyana and Sussongko about the bribery.

The KPU has been deeply criticized in recent months following the arrest of Mulyana, and then the disclosure of billions of rupiah worth of irregularities in the management of legislative election funds.

KPU officials pass the buck

Jakarta Post - May 10, 2005

Tony Hotland, Jakarta -- Members of the General Elections Commission (KPU) maintained their innocence against charges of corruption before House of Representatives legislators on Monday, attempting to throw guilt onto the KPU secretariat general.

While the KPU members were busy justifying themselves, the commission's deputy secretary general Sussongko Suhardjo let the cat out of the bag by stating that it was KPU chief Nazaruddin Syamsuddin who had ordered a bribe payment for a state auditor in order to influence his audit results, which subsequently led to the arrest of commission member and noted criminologist Mulyana W. Kusumah.

During a hearing with House Commission II on home affairs, Nazaruddin said the KPU secretariat general had managed all specific uses of funds disbursed by the commission. "We are only policy makers. Even if we had conducted tenders, we only made policies and left the execution to the secretariat general," Nazaruddin told legislators.

The KPU members were summoned by the House to clarify a Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) investigative audit that indicates over Rp 90 billion (US$9.47 million) in KPU funds had been misappropriated during last year's legislative election.

Asked why the members never demanded that the secretariat general clarify the matter, Nazaruddin said he had lost contact with then secretary general Safder Yusaac. "He [Safder] has not been with the KPU since January," Nazaruddin said. Safder is now with the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Sussongko's lawyer Gunawan Oetomo said Nazaruddin was responsible for the bribe given to the BPK auditor. "Verbal instructions were also rendered by [treasurer] Hamdani Amin and Safder," Gunawan said while accompanying his client, who has been declared a suspect, during questioning at the office of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Hamdani, another suspect in the bribery case, said last week that the KPU had collected some Rp 20 billion from election material supplier firms as kickbacks, which was later shared among all members and some staffers. He said each member had received about US$105,000, and the funds were also shared with House members, BPK staffers and bureaucrats at the Ministry of Finance.

As if to alarm KPU members to speak the truth, Hamdani's lawyer Abidin quoted his client as saying that the collection of such funds had been agreed during two KPU plenary sessions. "The first one was attended by Nazaruddin and [deputy] Ramlan Surbakti, while the second was attended by all KPU members, the secretariat general and all heads of bureau," he said.

Nazaruddin denied the accusations, even claiming that he was confused as to why Mulyana would bother to bribe the BPK since there was nothing corrupt to hide. Seconded by seven remaining KPU members, Nazaruddin said the BPK report contained numerous mistakes. The KPU even proposed the appointment of an independent auditor, which lawmakers quickly brushed off.

He admitted that the KPU violated regulations in some instances, such as increasing additional ballot papers by 10 percent instead of the required 2 percent, and giving a rise to self-estimated prices of ballot papers, due to the "tight" and "abnormal" technical situations it was facing back then.

Regional/communal conflicts

Added spice to Indonesia's terror

Asia Times - May 14, 2005

Bill Guerin, Jakarta -- President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is facing demands to step up security in Indonesia's eastern island chain, the Malukus, or the "Spice Islands" to romantics, amid concerns that a nationwide terror operation may be in place.

Almost the whole of Indonesia's eastern region has been involved in ethnic and religious violence, and sporadic bombings and armed attacks still occur in Central Sulawesi, which lies to the west of the Malukus. Sectarian violence and separatist movements are nothing new to these areas, where, according to an International Crisis Group (ICG) report published last week, earlier conflicts in Ambon and Poso have proven to be superb recruiting mechanisms for jihadi organizations.

In one of the latest incidents on April 24 in the remote Mamasa district of West Sulawesi, a new province partitioned off from South Sulawesi last November, a deadly anti-Christian attack left six people dead and several houses torched. Police now believe the incident may be linked to the Ambon conflict and the bombing of the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in August 2003.

Three Javanese suspects captured last week in Poso were said to be involved in the Ambon violence and the Mamasa attack, though Central Sulawesi police chief Sholeh Hidayat said he could not yet confirm their suspected link to the Marriott bombing. Evidence collected at the scene of the arrest included several videotapes about Osama bin Laden, five manuals on how to carry out a jihad, several do-it-yourself manuals for homemade bombs, and a diary belonging to Imam Samudra, the mastermind of the Bali bombings. Samudra has been convicted and sentenced to death, but his accomplices -- Malaysian nationals Azahari Husin and Noordin Moh Top, both of whom are still at large -- are accused of plotting and taking part in the attack on the Marriott.

There are now fears that without a strong response from Jakarta, radical Islamic groups could once again expose ethnic and religious fault lines by exploiting an essentially local conflict in the Spice Islands and encouraging further radicalism across provincial Indonesia, where hundreds of thousands still live in extreme poverty.

A history of conflict

More than 6,000 people were killed, and tens of thousands were forced to flee the Malukus before the signing of an agreement in 2002 that resulted in a temporary peace between warring Muslim and Christian parties on the Malukus' main island of Ambon. Some 87% of Indonesians are said to be Muslim, but in the Malukus, about 1,700 kilometers from the capital, Jakarta, the split between Muslims and Christians is more or less even.

Both Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, when chief security minister and coordinating minister for people's welfare, respectively, under former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, were instrumental in bringing about the agreement, known as the 10- point bilateral Malino Accord, which was signed in February 2002 between 35 Muslim and 35 Christian delegates. Despite the accord, fighting between Christian and Muslim groups has continued.

To the west of the Malukus lies Sulawesi, the world's 11th largest island. Sandwiched between the mainly Christian North Sulawesi and the predominantly Muslim South Sulawesi is the remote and backward province of Central Sulawesi, where some 2,000 Muslims and Christians were killed in fighting in the town of Poso and in the capital, Palu, in 2000. Occasional bombings and attacks still occur in the province.

As Indonesia attempts to tackle it's internal terror problems, supporters of mending the 13-year rift between the US and the Indonesian military argue that Indonesia needs support to become a principal ally in the global "war on terror", whose targets include al-Qaeda-linked regional terrorism networks, such as the Jemaah Islamiyah, or JI. Indonesian police have not been able to penetrate the group. Despite recently convicting militant Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir on charges of conspiracy in the October 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people, the Jakarta court threw out the case against him of leading JI due to lack of evidence (see Indonesia's trial by terror, March 12).

The US declared JI a foreign terrorist group immediately after the Bali blasts, naming Ba'asyir as its spiritual leader. But JI has not been banned in Indonesia, despite Yudhoyono's stated commitment to declare it an illegal organization should there be evidence to warrant this action.

Breeding grounds for radicals

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Kelty has pointed out the "almost endless supply" of people in Indonesia willing to become terrorists. The same point was made by the ICG in its lengthy report published last week, "Decentralization and Conflict in Indonesia: The Mamasa Case".

A strong response from Jakarta is being urged. But tougher action to improve security and law enforcement can only come at a price. During his term as security minister Yudhoyono warned that Indonesians should be prepared to accept drastic new limits on their civil rights. "The government will impose restrictions as we are determined to prevent the deaths of more victims," he said in August 2003. "Their lives are worth more than the price of human rights."

In her state of the nation address in the same month, president Megawati Sukarnoputri vowed to "dismantle the terrorist network to its roots". Four days later a car bomb ripped through the Marriott Hotel, killing 12 people, including the bomber.

Though few doubt Yudhoyono's commitment, it will take more than just political will to overcome the security and intelligence challenges implicit in the tough fight to combat domestic terrorism. The military, or TNI, needs to be brought in. Since the separation of the National Police from the TNI in 1999, engineered by then president Abdurrahman Wahid, internal security is supposedly the exclusive province of the police.

Though doing its best to build an independent, intelligence capability backed by the Australian Federal Police, it is no secret that the TNI keeps important information about internal security threats close to its chest. The country's shadowy intelligence apparatus is known for its reluctance to share information.

Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Djoko Santoso said he would improve the 22 new territorial commands that have been set up across the country. The presence of these military commands in provinces, military districts in regencies and security networks in rural areas, has long been under fire, but a campaign of attrition against an enemy who is here, there and everywhere all at the same time will be facilitated by the network, with its command structures all the way down to the local level.

The importance of resumed US military ties

Washington also believes that Indonesia remains a natural key recruiting ground and safe haven for terrorists and their sympathizers. Yudhoyono, a former general, is scheduled to fly to Washington and meet with US President George W Bush later this month. Yet a hoped for revival of full military ties between both countries may be farther away than has been generally assumed.

The US announced in February it would resume the International Military Education and Training program (IMET) with Indonesia, and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she was in the "final stages" of consultations with the US Congress to allocate US$600,000 to $800,000 in IMET money to the country. Her proposal, as part of the 2006 budget, is awaiting congressional approval (see US back in step with Indonesia, March 3). The IMET program was suspended in 1991 due to concerns over the Indonesian military's human-rights record and then completely halted in 1999. The IMET's program, of which Yudhoyono himself is a graduate, includes counter-terrorism training.

The United States-Indonesia Society (USINDO), a Washington-based non-governmental organization whose members include major US corporations with businesses in Indonesia, such as Exxon-Mobil and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, has also called for the lifting of restrictions on military ties.

But before agreeing to restore military ties, some elements in the US administration and several senators want Jakarta to pursue justice by fully investigating the August 2002 murders of two Americans near Timika at the Freeport gold mine in Papua province. US investigators have accused the TNI of blocking a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe into the deaths, but an initial FBI investigation led to the indictment by a US grand jury of an Indonesian civilian, Anthonius Wamang. He was described as a pro-independence guerrilla, but separatist activists maintain he was a military informer.

Meanwhile, Admiral William J Fallon, commander of the US Pacific Command, said on Friday he believed the resumption was going to be "much sooner than later", citing Indonesia's progress in upholding human rights. "We both know there's a legacy from the past of issues that were causing friction and were obstacles to progress. I believe we're on the road to fixing many of these things."

A day later US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, used the same terminology. "We would like to extend the efforts but we need to do so in the context of what we do with some of these legacies," Zoellick said after meeting with Yudhoyono last Saturday. (Indonesian marines and US Navy Seals took part in a joint anti-terrorism exercise on Tuesday in the latest sign of increased cooperation between the two militaries.)

Yet to many Indonesians, not just the extremists, the US has little justification to condemn human-rights violations elsewhere after the bombing of Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq and subsequent events there.

A democratic ally

Proponents of the full resumption of military ties sooner rather than later, among them Bush himself, argue that training and education under IMET could boost Indonesia's capacity to fight terrorism and other transnational threats and help expose Indonesian officers to US views, including human rights.

Indonesia is the world's fourth-largest populated country, with more than 238.5 million people, only slightly behind the US with 265 million. Its presidential election last year was the biggest direct, one-day presidential election in history. The July run- off between presidential candidates Yudhoyono and Megawati generated 145 million votes, whereas American voters cast only 115.4 million votes in the George Bush/John Kerry election in November 2004.

This seems proof enough that Indonesia is now firmly in the ranks of large democratic nations and has shown that Islam and democracy are compatible. The enormous good will in Indonesia toward the US, generated by its support after the tsunami and its continued long-term economic assistance, is a golden opportunity for the superpower to continue the momentum and build a partnership with Southeast Asia's biggest nation.

By all accounts both presidents are ready, willing and able to reach out to this new dimension, but they need to be much more pragmatic about human-rights violations by both sides in the recent past.

[Bill Guerin, a 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.]

Focus on Jakarta

NGO warns city about 'flaws' in new busway

Jakarta Post - May 13, 2005

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta -- As the Jakarta administration completes construction of two new busway corridors this year, a non-governmental organization is warning about flaws that could undermine the operation of the corridors, including the failure to integrate the Senen railway station into the system.

"The administration is going to lose between 20,000 and 25,000 passengers a day by failing to integrate the Senen railway station into the new busway routes," the executive director of the New York-based Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), Walter Hook, said here on Thursday.

The new busway routes will link Pulogadung in East Jakarta with Harmoni in Central Jakarta, and Harmoni with Kalideres in West Jakarta. The administration opened the first busway route in January last year, connecting Blok M in South Jakarta with Kota in West Jakarta.

"Another thing the administration has yet to consider is the high demand of passengers who want to transfer from one busway route to another route. If there is no free transfer between corridors, we estimate that the demand will drop by 35 percent since the passengers will be reluctant to pay more during the transfer," Hook said.

Hook said improvements in the ticketing system to integrate the first busway corridor with the new busway corridors was urgent to make the system much more efficient.

The ITDP, with the support of USAID and the University of Indonesia's Center for Transportation Studies, recently questioned about 70,000 busway riders for their comments on the system.

"We learned that many passengers complained that they already felt overcrowded aboard the buses while the capacity of the buses is still relatively low or only 2,700 passengers per hour per direction," Hook said.

These complaints will grow in the future when the new busway routes become operational, doubling the number of passengers to 4,000 per hour per direction, if the administration does not make any technical improvements to the existing busway system, he said.

Among the technical improvements recommended by the institute was placing additional doors in every bus and shelter in order to ease passengers getting on and off the buses, significantly reducing the boarding time and increasing the headway of the buses. Headway is the period of time between the arrival and departure of a bus at a shelter.

According to the ITDP's projections, adding additional doors in buses and shelters would significantly reduce boarding time from 45 seconds to 22 seconds, and in turn boost the capacity of the buses to take 6,000 passengers per hour per direction.

The institute also recommended the use of articulated buses to further upgrade the capacity of the buses to 9,600 passengers per hour per direction.

Meanwhile, City Transportation Agency head Rustam Effendy said the administration would continue work on the new busway corridors beginning in mid-July. Construction on the corridors was halted because of delays in the disbursement of funds from the 2005 city budget.

The city administration has allocated more than Rp 500 billion from the 2005 budget for the completion of the two new busway corridors, which are scheduled to open in December. The first busway corridor cost about Rp 240 billion to complete.

Environment

Mentawai NGOs back revocation of 17 forest concessions

Jakarta Post - May 14, 2005

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Padang -- A coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGO) has supported the Mentawai regent's decision to revoke 17 licenses for the right to undertake and profit from logging in forests on the Mentawai islands, West Sumatra. According to the NGO coalition, the decision was correct as the felling of forests on the Mentawai islands, all of which are small, would endanger the islands' environments.

"As an alternative for the future, the government should develop programs that would enable local people to benefit from the forests without endangering them," said Prasetyo, the leader of an NGO coalition called the Mentawai Coalition of Civil Community Concern (KSMP).

Among the NGOs in the coalition are the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi)'s West Sumatra chapter, Indonesia International Conservation (CII) and the Citra Mandiri Foundation (YCM).

The local legislative council, represented by its speaker, Kortanius Sabeleakek, also welcomed the decision by the Mentawai regent. "The licenses never produced a single cent in revenue for the regency. The regent has done the right thing in revoking the licenses," said Kortanius.

Regent Edison revoked the licenses through Decree No. 41/2005, which was issued on April 9 this year.

The main reason behind the revocation of the license was apparently the fact that the regency had not benefited financially.

In its 2004 annual report, the local government said it had received no revenues from the forestry sector, even though its annual revenue target for the sector had been set at Rp 2.5 billion (US$278,000). The report, presented by officials from the Mentawai Revenue Office to a council hearing in March, surprised many of the councillors. Although the local government had granted 17 licenses in 2004 for the right to undertake logging within a 30,000-hectare area, the administration had not received any money in fees from the timber companies following the issuance of the concessions.

Rio, an official from the Mentawai Islands Forestry Office, had earlier said that the timber firms had refused to pay the fees, claiming they were too high.

Fees are imposed on a wide range of forestry activities, including the use of heavy machinery and chain saws, and the stockpiling of logs.

Crackdown on illegal logging fails to snare key figures

Radio New Zealand - May 13, 2005

Environmental agencies say the government crackdown on illegal logging in Indonesia's Papua province has failed to catch those behind the lucrative trade.

In a press statement, the Environmental Investigation Agency and its local anti-logging partner, Telapak, say while the crackdown has cut shipments to China and arrested 173 suspects, none were influential figures.

In March, the Indonesian government launched a two-month operation to stop the illegal export of logs from Papua to China.

That followed a report in February by the two environmental groups, which said they had uncovered the world's biggest smuggling racket involving a single type of wood.

Telapak Forest Campaigner Yayat Afianto says although they recognise the operation has had an immediate effect on reducing illegal logging, the operation will be ineffective if the major criminal networks are not broken.

He says the government is well aware of some politicians and top officials in Papua and Jakarta being behind illegal logging, yet there's no evidence of them being investigated.

Gender issues

Government plans to reduce female illiteracy

Jakarta Post - May 13, 2005

Jakarta -- Confronting the fact that illiteracy in women is two times higher than that in men, the Office of the State Minister for Women's Empowerment, the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Home Affairs signed on Thursday a joint decree spelling out their commitment to halving the rate by 2009.

The education ministry reported that in 2003, the illiteracy rate in women aged above 15 years old reached 13.84 percent, compared to 6.52 percent in men.

"Illiteracy has caused women to be ignorant of current issues, making them prone to deceit and therefore hampers the development of their role as mothers," State Minister for Women's Empowerment Meutia Hatta Swasono said on the national meeting for Gender Mainstreaming on Education here.

In his speech, Minister of National Education Bambang Sudibyo said that bringing down illiteracy rate in women would have a great impact to the country's efforts to curb the nation's overall illiteracy rate, and in turn help the country meet the Millennium Development Goals.

According to the joint decree, the state minister of women's empowerment office will be responsible for running campaigns and advocacy, developing models and infrastructure as well as reporting the progress of the program to the President annually.

Meanwhile, the education ministry will take part in developing human resources, teaching modules and curriculum.

Since the action plans would be carried out by local administrations, the home affairs ministry will supervise the implementation and evaluate progress made by each province.

The illiteracy eradication program will be integrated into non- formal education such as internships, community learning groups, community libraries as well as community life-skills studies.

The mapping and analysis of gender problems in the country was initiated by the education ministry's directorate general for out-of-school education and youth in 2001. The directorate general distributed guidelines for local agencies and asked them to follow suit.

"The implementation could be in the form of giving scholarships to female students prone to drop-out, bigger quotas for female students and reaching out to illiterate productive-aged, out-of- school women," the director general, Fasli Jalal, said.

Jalal said that the government would only provide partial funding in the form of block grants, but the action plans would be developed locally to address specific problems facing each province. Local administrations must also set aside funds from local budgets according to their planned projects, he added.

Armed forces/defense

TNI budget will be increased: Minister

Tempo Interactive - May 15, 2005

Jakarta -- State Minister for State-Owned Enterprises Sugiharto said that Indonesian government has planned to increase its budget for Indonesian Military (TNI).

This increase is aimed at lessening the losses suffered by the state due to the illegal logging actions, that often involve the apparatus. "We have seriously discussed how to stop this illegal logging action by increasing the military budget this year from Rp14.7 trillion to Rp23 trillion," said Sugiharto while giving a speech in a discussion in Jakarta on Tuesday (10/05).

The government hoped that the increase of the budget could eradicate the involvement of the military apparatus in the illegal logging and wood smuggling activities. "This way, the post of soldiers' welfare can be taken from legitimated funds, that are budget," said Sugiharto.

The losses suffered by the state in the wood sector that were caused by illegal logging activities and smuggling have also occured in the fisheries sector. "Indonesia is assumed to have suffered US$5 billion per year due to this illegal fishing action," said Sugiharto. (Tito Sianipar-Tempo News Room)

Running low on ammunition: Interview with Juwono Sudarsono

Straits Times - May 13, 2005

John McBeth, Jakarta -- Indonesia's newly-fashioned strategic relationships with China and Australia stem from its political and economic weakness, says Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Straits Times, he points to the maritime boundary dispute with Malaysia off eastern Borneo and the massive international assistance needed to bring relief to tsunami-stricken Aceh as striking examples of the relative impotence of the cash-strapped Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI).

With the navy and the air force now incapable of mounting any credible deterrence, Mr Juwono says the price of maintaining a low defence budget has been to use neighbouring countries as a first line of defence.

While Australia and Indonesia are edging towards a so-called "comprehensive relationship" aimed at enhancing military and defence cooperation, the civilian defence chief says the military dimension of an umbrella agreement signed with China last month deals more with technological aid to some of Indonesia's defence-related industries.

Those companies include the Bandung-based aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Nusantara, which builds the C-235 cargo plane PT PAL, the state-owned Surabaya shipyard, and PT Pindad, the supplier of arms and ammunition to the Indonesian Army.

"That's where we can see some headway being made," says Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natelagawa. Other senior government sources say President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a retired US- trained general, is wary of any deepening defence arrangements with China, whose commercial interests in Indonesia have grown dramatically over the past few years.

Economic restraints are likely to weigh on Mr Juwono throughout his five-year term. This year's defence budget is only US$2.4 billion (S$4 billion), about half of what Singapore and Thailand spend on their military and far below the US$6 billion Mr Juwono estimates is needed to support what he calls "a minimum essential force" for the army, navy and air force, covering salaries, operational costs and capital equipment. Current spending adds up to a mere 1.5 per cent of GDP and 9 per cent of the annual budget.

Says the minister, with just a hint of mortification: "I think the only comparable country with the same problem as us is the Philippines."

Unlike other countries in the region, the very size of the Indonesian archipelago makes defence spending even more problematic. In fact, Mr Juwono says the US$6 billion represents about 70 per cent of what is really required to secure Indonesia's air space and territorial waters. "And I'm not talking about threats," he adds. "I'm just focusing on defence capability."

Maritime Resources Minister Freddy Numberi, a retired Papua-born admiral, has estimated that Indonesia loses up to US$23 billion a year to fish poachers, illegal loggers and other illicit traders.

Even with adequate finances, Indonesia would still find itself in a cleft stick. With American hardware making up more than two- thirds of its inventory, a US embargo on arms sales going back to the 1991 East Timor churchyard massacre has left the TNI with weaponry so outdated that much of it is non-operational.

Defence officials have been saying for two or three years now that Indonesia may have to go back to Russia and eastern Europe, which last supplied military hardware to Indonesia during the rule of socialist-leaning president Sukarno in the 1960s.

Much of the concern rests with the air force's 10 US-built F-16 fighters, only four of which are airworthy.

In what was billed as an effort to fill the gap, Indonesia last year took delivery of two SU-27SK interceptors and two SU-30MK ground attack jets from Russia under a US$193 million barter agreement. But there was one glaring catch.

The fighters are still not equipped with the avionics, missiles or even the cannons that make them one of the world's top-line combat aircraft.

Mr Juwono says: "I don't know what the motive was in buying them. I suppose you would have to say it was unplanned defence."

All these factors -- and the unseemly haste with which the pact was concluded -- only fuelled speculation that the deal was designed to boost then-president Megawati Sukarnoputri's re- election campaign, rather than a considered purchase.

Documents leaked to the press at the time showed that Trade and Industry Minister Rini Suwandi, a Megawati confidante -- and not then-defence minister Matori Abdul Djalil or armed forces commander General Endriartono Sutarto -- played the dominant role in the transaction.

Mr Juwono is unaware of any new prospective purchases of SU-27s and SU-30s, but Russian defence officials claimed in January that a US$890 million plan to buy six more of the Sukhois was scrapped when the money was diverted to help in the Aceh relief effort.

Although the twin-engined jets have a combat radius suited to Indonesian conditions, they are expensive to maintain. Western experts say the Sukhoi's two engines require an overhaul every 1,000 hours and have a limited life compared to the F-15, its US look-alike.

That means a sound economic structure and a bigger budget are required to support what is actually a larger fiscal responsibility than the actual purchase of the planes. Still, Mr Juwono has made it clear that the time is fast approaching when the Indonesian government will have to look to the future.

"We have reached the point where we will have to decide in the next six months whether we can afford to break away from the United States system and, if so, whether we can afford to go to a new system which in the long run will be more expensive," he points out.

The US has agreed to provide spare parts for Indonesia's ageing, but vital, fleet of C-130 cargo planes needed for disaster relief operations and to speed troops to far-flung trouble spots.

But despite the cordial relations that President Yudhoyono enjoys with the Bush administration, the Indonesian military's failure to provide an accounting for the 1999 militia rampage in then- East Timor and the killing of two American teachers in Papua three years later remains a significant congressional roadblock to the restoration of the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme.

Mr Juwono's visit to Washington in March was clearly a frustrating experience.

Despite a lengthy session with senators Patrick Leahy and Russel Feingold, two of the TNI's strongest critics, in which he appealed for their understanding at a time when Indonesia is making progress towards democratic rule, both refused to budge.

"How do I do this with such a meagre justice system?" Mr Juwono asks.

The minister believes only an effective lobbying effort might turn the tables. But then there is that old problem again. There is no money to pay for it.

Military budget raised to overcome illegal logging

Bernama - May 11, 2005

Jakarta -- Indonesia will increase its budget for the armed forces from Rp14.7 trillion (RM6.1 billion) to Rp23 trillion (RM9.6 billion) aimed at, among others, improving the effectiveness of measures taken against illegal logging, illegal fishing, smuggling and human trafficking.

State Enterprises Minister Sugiharto said that in addition, the significant increase in the military budget would also be used to improve the wellbeing of military personnel and for purchasing operational equipment.

"At the moment, 70 percent of the timber in Malaysia and the Philippines originated from Indonesia," he said, declining to disclose the actual allocation for the purpose of preventing illegal tree felling and log smuggling.

He was quoted by the daily "Media Indonesia" Wednesday as saying that there were hundreds of exit points for the smuggling of timber.

As such, he said, Indonesia had initiated cooperation with Malaysia lately by limiting the entry terminals for timber into Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono said the budget estimates for the Defence Ministry, however, had yet to be finalised.

He said that so far, the government allocation for the Indonesian navy and air force had only reached 40 percent of the amount required for their operations while the allocation for the army and the police had reached only 70 percent and 90 percent of the requirement respectively.

National Development Planning Minister Sri Mulyani, meanwhile, said under the Indonesian budget for 2005, the government allocation of Rp21 trillion (RM8.8 billion) for defence and public order would be increased to raise capacity in maintaining security and peace.

"For the year 2005, we will raise the budget estimates but would ensure that the deficit (in the national budget) would remain between 0.8 and one percent," he said.

The ministers had earlier held a closed-door meeting at the Finance Ministry here to discuss the budget estimates for the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) which was also attended by TNI commander Endriartono Sutarto and Minister for Economic Coordination Aburizal Bakrie.

Business & investment

Corruption-eradication drive 'key' to investor confidence

Jakarta Post - May 13, 2005

Jakarta -- The government must continue strengthening Indonesia's economic fundamentals if it wants to sustain average economic growth of 5 percent per year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says.

The fund's Asia and Pacific department chief, Odd Per Brekk, said on Thursday among the items the government should prioritize were keeping inflation at a manageable level and attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to the country.

"The government must improve its fiscal policies and its governance in related sectors," he said during a hearing with House of Representative Commission XI on financial affairs.

The meeting with the legislators was held to exchange views and assessments of the country's economy.

Another issue the government should concentrate, Per Brekk said, is stopping corruption, which is crucial for reestablishing the country's credibility among foreign investors.

Since taking office in October last year, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has repeatedly said the anticorruption drive is one of his administration's top priorities, although critics say little has actually been done to stop the practice.

"Poverty eradication and reducing the unemployment rate should also be among the government's priorities," he said.

Per Brekk also said the banking sector should be improved, with the central bank being key to establishing strong monetary policies for the country's economic sustainability and establishing a healthy banking industry to ensure development financing from FDI.

The government is targeting gross domestic product growth of 5.5 percent this year, up from 5.13 percent last year.

The IMF has forecast the same growth rate for Indonesia's economy.

Over the next three years, the government hopes to achieve an average economic growth of 6 percent per year, with that figure reaching 7.2 percent by 2008.

Indonesia needs at least 6 percent economic growth just to absorb the more than two million new workers who enter the job market every year.

Indonesia's unruly economy

Asia Times - May 9, 2005

Bill Guerin, Jakarta -- An incident of bullying, threats and violence on a basketball court at Jakarta's top school for expatriate children has brought Southeast Asia's biggest economy firmly back into the international spotlight, for all the wrong reasons. Widespread media exposure of the violent rampage was a major embarrassment to the government, since the alleged perpetrator in the April 17 incident at the Jakarta International School was not some wayward, unruly foreign teenager but Theo Toemion, chairman of the powerful Investment Coordinating Board.

Toemion reportedly attacked a 14-year-old student referee, and parents of other children, over a dispute involving his seven- year-old son. The assault left an American oil company executive -- a parent of one of the children in the game -- with a broken nose. The executive, fearing violence, has since left Indonesia with his family. Another oil company employee was hit in the back of the head, requiring several stitches. Toemion has claimed his outbreak was an act of nationalism because he believes his son was treated unfairly due to racism and discrimination.

Executives from major US multinationals -- ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Unocal and Nike -- were among those trying to stem the violence, which probably partly explains the response from the US Embassy's deputy chief of mission, W Lewis Amselem: "We are thinking of forbidding him from visiting America." Toemion, who has held the post since June 2001, has since told the local media that he was resigning, but added that he was "very irritated" by media reports on the incident. A recent report in the International Herald Tribune cited Indonesian officials as confirming that Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had already planned to replace Toemion, an appointee of previous president Megawati Sukarnoputri, with his own appointee before the incident occurred.

Approved foreign direct investment (FDI) from January to April in Indonesia totaled US$4.28 billion, up 173% compared with the same period a year earlier, but the high-profile incident came during a week that saw other mixed signals for the prospects of the economy and further investment. Though Southeast Asia's biggest economy is forecast to expand 5.5% this year -- the fastest growth in nine years -- partly on expectations of increased foreign investment, there are still fears that spiraling inflation could stunt growth and hamper economic recovery. Concerns about this, and the weakening of the rupiah against the dollar, came amid a sharp reminder of continued problems with the labor force in the country.

Some good news from Toyota, which forecast that car sales would rise this year by 12% and announced a planned new investment of $50 million in its local subsidiary, Daihatsu Motors, was overshadowed by official confirmation from Japanese trading house Marubeni that it will pull out of its loss-making holdings in the giant Chandra Asri petrochemicals complex. The plant is Indonesia's largest ethylene producer, with a production capacity of 520,000 metric tons/year, as well as 240,000 tons/year of propylene and 300,000 tons/year of polyethylene. Marubeni led a consortium that lent the Indonesian-Japanese joint venture $700 million in the early 1990s. It plans to sell its 24.6% stake in the project by the end of this fiscal year to set up a joint venture with Commerzbank International Trust (Singapore) Ltd, a unit of Germany's Commerzbank AG, incurring a net loss of up to 22 billion yen ($210.2 million) from its joint venture.

Currency and inflation concerns

The rupiah depreciated 1.4% against the US dollar in the final quarter of 2004, against 0.24% in the corresponding period the previous year, and by the beginning of last week had slumped to its lowest level since April 2002, following earlier comments by central bank (Bank Indonesia, or BI) Governor Burhanuddin Abdullah that full-year inflation could soar to 8.8% this year, well over the 2005 budget projection of 7%.

BI then announced that it would raise its key interest rates by up to 20 basis points as part of a package of measures in a currency support plan and aimed at fighting rising inflation. The government has been reluctant to see an increase in rates because it needs low interest rates to sustain economic growth and curb borrowing costs. The announcement came on the heels of a personal appeal from President Yudhoyono for government cooperation to stem the rupiah's slide by, for example, coordinating the purchase of dollars with the corporate sector.

Criticism of the slow official response, which had led to the president's intervention, came from Minister of National Development Planning Sri Mulyani, who blamed pressures in the foreign exchange market for contributing to the slide of the rupiah against the dollar. Mulyani said in an interview that policymakers had not "responded adequately" to the "additional pressure of a changing global economic environment", which was pushing the rupiah lower.

Describing the rupiah's slide as a "wake-up call" for the government, Mulyani had warned against complacency over what had been accomplished so far, citing the need for strengthening and fine-tuning policies in a much more timely manner. "If the market fails to see progress, there must be something wrong in terms of the way we communicate this" to the market, the minister pointed out. One casualty of the steadily weakening rupiah has been PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk, the country's biggest telecommunications company, which has reported a 34% fall in fourth-quarter net profit, partly due to foreign exchange losses.

Thorny labor issues

Thousands of people across the country took to the streets to mark Labor Day on May 1 with demands for better working conditions and protection of workers' rights. The demonstrators demanded, among other things, that the government stop the dismissal of workers, eliminate the contract system and revoke the Manpower Law that came into effect in 2003.

Alboin Sidabutar, deputy chairman of the All-Indonesia Workers Union Confederation, said labor indicators have been worsening because of the absence of significant changes in the social, political and economic fields over the last seven years. "This is evident in the frequent dismissals of workers, rampant violations of freedom of association by employers and the high unemployment rate," he said.

Sidabutar said the government's failure to take short-term measures to enforce the law, to rid the bureaucracy of corruption and eliminate the high-cost economy has resulted in little change in the investment climate and a lack of job opportunities. "President Susilo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla have been in power almost six months, but the political and economic situation is not recovering. There are many foreign investors who wish to come but no actions have been taken to eliminate the high-cost economy," said Sidabutar.

Corruption

Despite a very public show of addressing corruption and trying to repair the nation's reputation, Indonesia is ranked the sixth- most corrupt country in the world. The Corruption Eradication Commission has exposed strong indications of widespread corruption at the General Elections Commission after an audit report by the State Audit Agency (BPK) indicated widespread corruption in the procurement of materials for last year's legislative election.

The county's largest bank, Bank Mandiri, majority owned by the government, plans to acquire several banks with assets of more than Rp10 trillion ($1.05 billion) this year to increase its customer base to 2 million and fulfill its ambition to be the dominant player in the banking sector. It has a solid asset base of Rp248 trillion and a healthy CAR (capital adequacy ratio) of more than 17.8%. However, the bank is being investigated by the attorney general following irregularities uncovered by a BPK probe of the bank's financial reports.

The probe has so far resulted in at least three arrests of executives of local private companies on charges of loan fraud. Several senior executives, including the bank's president, Edwin Neloe, are being questioned over "28 irregularities" in loans amounting to Rp1 trillion. Minister of State Enterprises Sugiharto put the best spin he could on the news, saying that the investigation isn't about the bank, but only certain individuals. Nonetheless, there are concerns that the ongoing investigation could spark a "rush" on the bank if depositors believe their money is at risk.

A local daily, citing an unnamed source, reported that Jusuf Kalla's nephew owns one of the firms linked to the loan irregularities at Bank Mandiri. The report cites the vice president as saying his nephew's firm, PT Semen Bosowa, is a Bank Mandiri debtor, but the company "wouldn't have any problem" in repaying the loan.

And now, the good news

In the wake of the Toemion incident came a fairly encouraging set of figures released on Monday by the Central Statistics Bureau. It announced that inflation in April had eased slightly as increases in food prices slowed. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose only 8.1%, from a year earlier, compared with the 8.8% gain in March, which had been the fastest rate since at least January 2003.

The trade surplus rose to $2.27 billion in March from $1.62 billion in the same month last year on the back of higher oil and commodity prices, though a substantial increase in imports accounted for the surplus being below February's $2.40 billion. Imports rose 22% month-on-month to $4.98 billion while exports soared by 13.63% to $7.25 billion. Non-oil and gas exports were up 8.75% to $5.48 billion in April, though non-oil and gas imports were also up 12.10% to $3.35 billion.

The government also looks eager to try put the Toemion embarrassment behind it as quickly as possible. Presidential spokesman Andi Malarangeng, announcing that the president had issued a decree on the appointment of Mohammad Luthfi as the new chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board, said the change was based on professional concerns and also to give a "new spirit to the investment environment".

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

Opinion & analysis

Like parrots, our leaders heap praise on Soeharto

Jakarta Post - May 13, 2005

Kornelius Purba -- My hands were clasped at waist level in a submissive, defensive posture, as one of Soeharto's most feared aides told me in a hotel in Cairo that Soeharto was very angry with me for misquoting the then-president in saying that he was ready to end his 32-year tenure. "It's not my fault Pak," I said desperately, trembling.

It was still morning at that time, May 13, 1998, when CNN quoted Reuters as reporting that Soeharto was about to step down. The news agency itself wrongly identified its source, a major national newspaper, as The Jakarta Post.

One day earlier, massive riots had hit Jakarta following the killing of four Trisakti University students. At that time Soeharto was in Cairo attending a summit of 15 developing countries. Soeharto finally quit on May 21.

When Soeharto celebrated his 77th birthday on June 8, about three weeks after his resignation, this newspaper reported, "Less than a month ago, 202 million Indonesian people called him president, but now only his trained parrot at home -- screeching 'Good morning Bapak President' -- does." As Soeharto was no longer in power, the reporter who wrote about the parrot had no need to place his hands over his abdomen.

The parrot died some years later -- according to a Soeharto aide, the bird suffered a stroke -- but the bird should be very pleased with itself and the example it set. All of his boss's four successors -- B.J. Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati Soekarnoputri up to the present Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono -- have all dutifully followed the parrot's example. In fact, they treated the nation's second president even better than the bird.

All of them were very reluctant to force him into court to face corruption and human rights abuse allegations. All of them apparently believed -- at least in public -- that Soeharto would never recover from his sickness, which was used by the courts as a reason not to start his trials. It is as if all the president's after Soeharto did not want to believe that maybe some day he might get better, thus dispensing with periodical medical check- ups to ascertain whether he was still sick.

Like or not, however, it was probably a pragmatic decision taken in their own interests. None these four leaders want to be aggravated by issues of corruption and abuse of power when they are no longer in their position.

It is advisable that anyone wanting to bring Soeharto to justice learn from the experience of Andi M. Ghalib, an attorney general in Habibie's Cabinet. While he was visiting Switzerland and Austria ostensibly hunting for Soeharto's money in June 1999, Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) made the astounding revelation that Ghalib and his wife had received about Rp 1.8 billion in deposits from problematic conglomerates. He lost his Cabinet job.

Soeharto himself has denied all allegations. He even swore that he did not have one cent in an overseas bank. (Perhaps it was difficult to find a bank that would accept such a small deposit). The former first family now live in peace and contentment in their fortified compound in leafy Menteng.

Soeharto has just got out of the hospital, and he will turn 84 next month. Dare we disturb his peaceful life? After seven years, more and more people are lining up to say nice things about him. They recall our high economic growth during his rule. Sure, there was corruption and his greedy children, but people also miss the glamorous development of the 1980s and early 1990s. Many people blamed his children, rather than Soeharto himself, as the main cause of the economic collapse in 1997.

Should the nation forgive him without first prosecuting him in a court of law? Some people have suggested that he should apologize to the nation for his past wrongdoings.

A colleague suggested some wisdom: "The verdict of history has already been written about him. Such a verdict is much more painful to him and his family compared to formal court verdicts." It is merely false hope to expect the current government to bring this man to justice. Even students have now lost their appetite for protesting against him, meaning Soeharto can continue to live out his peaceful existence. So, just what are we supposed to do with this old man?