News & issues

Democracy 'but a concept' in Indonesia

Jakarta Post - September 20, 2005

Sri Wahyuni, Yogyakarta -- The much-vaunted reform movement has helped Indonesia build a democratic infrastructure but the country has yet to develop democratic practices, a noted political analyst says.

Speaking at a seminar here on Monday, Harold Crouch of the Australian National University said Indonesia had actually done quite well in establishing an adequate democratic framework since 1998.

The formal constitutional system, he said, had provided an infrastructure that enables the practice of real democracy. Yet, a democratic infrastructure alone was not sufficient to guarantee that democracy would work well.

"These days we hear many complaints about the behavior of politicians who have been elected in free and democratic elections," Crouch, a specialist in Southeast Asian politics, particularly those of Indonesia, told the seminar, held to mark the 50th anniversary of Gadjah Mada University's School of Social and Political Sciences.

Also speaking at the forum was former People's Consultative Assembly speaker Amien Rais, who is an alumni of the school.

"Not only do we hear many stories about corruption among officials and legislators, but every few weeks we read about democratically elected politicians being convicted and sent to jail," Crouch added.

A democratic political infrastructure, therefore, did not guarantee good government, but only made it easier to introduce reforms that could improve the quality of governance.

"It, therefore, would not matter whether a head of government is elected directly or indirectly, whether an election is held under a district, proportional representation, or a mixed system. It also would not matter whether it is a unitary state or a federal constitution.

"All these systems are 100 percent compatible with democratic principles. You can't say that one type is in principle more democratic than others," he said.

The choice between these alternatives, he said, was basically a pragmatic one. It all depended on how well they worked in practice in the particular political, social and economic circumstances of a particular country.

"If they work well, that is good. If they don't work so well, then just change them," he said.

The choice of an electoral system, for example, could make a real difference in practice not because one system was more democratic than another but because one system might be more appropriate to the particular problems, challenges and circumstances facing a country.

"I do not intend to argue that this system or that system would be best for Indonesia. The point is that choice of electoral system is not primarily a matter of democratic principles but depends more on the particular problems of a particular country." "The medicine that the doctor prescribes depends on the illness. A medicine that can cure one disease can do a lot of harm for a different disease," he said.

'Extraordinary' Indonesian bird flu outbreak widens

Agence France Presse - September 20, 2005

Jakarta -- Suspected bird flu patients can be forced into hospital under "extraordinary" measures welcomed by the World Health Organization to counter a widening outbreak of the virus in Indonesia, officials said.

A day after declaring the country faces an "extraordinary incident" because of bird flu, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said the number of cases has continued to rise in the country where four have died from bird flu over the past two months.

She said six patients are now being treated at a hospital for respiratory ailments. "Two are almost certain to be bird flu cases. Four others are still under observation but judging from the symptoms, they are similar to those of bird flu although there is yet no laboratory evidence that they are positive," the minister said after the opening of a regional health ministers' meeting.

On Monday Supari declared the "extraordinary incident" status after bird flu left a fourth person dead, three children with suspected infections and the Jakarta zoo shut down -- all since last Friday. The government has previously declared an extraordinary health event for an outbreak of dengue fever.

"The national extraordinary condition was declared so that the people can remain calm and not panicking because the government is prepared to handle this in a national way," Supari said.

On Friday health official said tests confirmed that a Jakarta woman aged 37 had died of bird flu a few days earlier. The latest death brought to 63 the number of people in Southeast Asia known to have died from the H5N1 strain of the virus since 2003. Indonesia and Cambodia each have four reported deaths, Vietnam has 43 and Thailand 12. International concern is mounting that the disease could mutate into a major killer.

Indonesian officials said the country's first bird flu deaths came in July when an auditor and his two young daughters died in suburban Jakarta. The government said chicken droppings were suspected to have caused those deaths.

"An unusual outbreak requires extra efforts," said Haryadi Wibisono, a director of disease control at the health ministry. Under the extraordinary status patients with suspected bird flu can be admitted to hospital by force if necessary, Wibisono said.

He said free medicine will be given to patients suspected of bird flu infection, citizens will be encouraged to contain the outbreak and public places could be closed. "This is a serious problem for Indonesia and the whole world and therefore it should be dealt with seriously," he said.

Georg Petersen, the World Health Organization's Indonesia representative, welcomed Indonesia's efforts and said it is not easy in an underdeveloped country of about 212 million people. He called it "a serious situation" and said the H5N1 virus is widespread in Indonesia's poultry population.

"We are pleased for all the effort being done, recognizing the difficulties," he said, adding the WHO is satisfied that suspected cases are being investigated. He said massive culling of birds would be very difficult in Indonesia, where most chickens are backyard birds.

However, Petersen said authorities in Jakarta should look at how to improve the hygiene and handling of birds in the metropolis. A chicken seller and a bird owner in central Jakarta said they already practise good hygiene.

Nasaruddin, 65, who buys live chickens and cuts them up for sale, said he regularly cleans their coops and ensures they are properly fed and watered. "I'm not worried because I know how to select healthy chickens," he said.

Next door, 14 caged turtledoves hung over a small roadside restaurant operated by Sadli bin Ilin, 47. "I haven't thought about vaccinating them but the most important thing is we keep them clean," bin Ilin said.

Officials shut down the Ragunan Zoo in Jakarta for 21 days beginning Sunday after 19 of 27 samples taken from birds at the zoo, including pigmy chickens and eagles, were found to contain the bird flu virus.

Fuel price hikes

Roundup of demonstrations against fuel price hikes

Indoleft - September 16-22, 2005

[The following is a compilation abridged translations on demonstrations between September 16-25 against the government's plan to increase fuel prices by as much as 60 per cent on October 1.]

Malang students oppose fuel price increases

Detik.com - September 16, 2005

Budi Hartadi, Malang -- Actions opposing fuel price increase are continuing in Malang, East Java. On September 16 around 100 students demonstrated against the policies of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla (SBY-Kalla) which they believe will only cause the people suffering.

The students came from a number of groups including Student Executive Councils from a number of different universities, the National Student League for Democracy (LMND), the Independence Workers Union (SPM), Kobar (Workers Committee for Reform Action) and Forhap.

With the fuel price hikes said the students, Yudhoyono and Kalla are totally failing to side with the people who elected them in 2004. "If they indeed side with the people, the government would not increase fuel prices", said action coordinator Tino.

According to Tino, actions are again being held because Yudhoyono and Kalla have broken their campaign promises where they promised a clean government and to eliminate corruption, provide employment, increases economic growth and not to increase fuel prices.

"Fuel price increases will only increase the difficulties of the poor. Unemployment will spread further. The government's promise to provide compensation will not be felt by the people because it will be eaten up by government officials", said Tino. Because of this continued Tino, students are calling for Yudhoyono and Kalla to step down. "We don't need a reshuffle of their cabinet ministers", he asserted. (umi)

Four groups in Makassar demonstrate against fuel price hikes

Tempo Interactive - September 19, 2005

Irmawati, Makassar -- Four student groups in Makassar demonstrated against the government's plan to increase fuel prices next October. They held the action in front of the South Sulawesi Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) on Monday September 19.

The four groups were the South Sulawesi Regional Student Movement, the Indonesia Muslim University (UMI) Student Executive Council (BEM), the Anti-Neoliberalism People's Network and students from the Makassar State University.

Starting at 10am, the four groups arrived in succession at the DPRD and at the end three of the groups joined up at the parliament grounds. Although they were taking up the same issue -- opposing the planed fuel price increases -- the students held speeches and organised activities separately. As a result, the atmosphere at the parliament grounds became loud and noisy.

In a speech, the chairperson of the student group for the liberation of the South Sulawesi region, Harkam, took up a number of demands including opposing foreign intervention in determining fuel policy because this is a form of economic colonialism, the return of the people's rights to over the ownership of fuel as public property and for businesspeople to manage oil based on Islamic law.

The BEM demonstrators from UMI continued their action by going to the Makassar VII Marketing Unit of the state oil company Pertamina that is located on Jalan Garuda. During their action they called on the marketing unit general manager, Andi Syafruddin, to sign a contract declaring opposition the planed price hikes and to deal with those speculating in and hoarding fuel.

Students 'seal off' petrol station owned by deputy governor

Tempo Interactive - September 20, 2005

Faidil Akbar, Serang -- Around 500 students from a number of colleges in Banten, West Java, demonstrated against planned fuel price hikes on September 20. During the action, the students "sealed off" a petrol station owned by the deputy governor of Banten, Ratu Atut Chosiyah.

Before going to the petrol station, demonstrators blockaded the Jalan Ciceri intersection causing a massive traffic jam. They also distributed leaflets containing their demands, gave speeches and held a happening-art action.

"As an oil producing country, the increase of world oil prices should add to the Indonesian people's prosperity because of increasingly large oil profits, but why with world oil prices becoming more expensive is the suffering of the people in the country increasing" said student coordinator Zulkarnain.

Students waylay Pertamina tanker and burn Golkar flags

Detik.com - September 22, 2005

Ahmad Dani, Jakarta -- Actions against planed fuel price hikes continue. This time students voiced their opposition by waylaying a Pertamina fuel truck and burning Golkar Party flags. The action was organised by students from the Earth Top United Student Action in Jakarta on Thursday September 22.

Initially the group held the action in front of the State Palace but in the middle of the demonstration they received information that a Pertamina fuel truck would pass the nearby Radio Republic Indonesia building. Ten students left the demonstration and after catching their "pray" climbed on top of the truck which had been stopped by the driver.

From on top the truck the students called on Pertamina to end corruption and threatened to distribute the fuel in the truck to the people. However the action did not last long because police moved to quickly to remove the students and ordered them to return to the demonstration in front of the State Palace. Outnumbered by police the students did as they were told.

Golkar flags were also burnt by the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Student Executive Council. One of the students in a speech said that the crisis, which has befallen the Indonesian nation, was because of Golkar's actions. (iy)

Jambi students hijack fuel truck

Tempo Interactive - September 22, 2005

Syaipul Bakhori, Jambi -- On September 22, around 500 students from Jambi in Central Sumatra demonstrated against planned fuel price hikes by hijacking a fuel truck.

Students had been giving speeches since 8.30am at the Telanaipura intersection when a fuel truck passed by which was immediately hijacked and then taken to the Jambi Regional House of Representatives (DPRD). The truck was held for three hours until a member of the DPRD declared they were prepared to meet with representatives of the demonstrators.

The demonstrators came from a number of groups including the National Student League for Democracy (LMND), the Jambi Chapter of the National Student Front (FMN) and the Indonesian Islamic Student Movement (PMII).

In speeches students called on the government not to increase fuel prices because it would add to the suffering of the people by triggering increases to the price of basic goods. Students also called for the arrest and trial of corrupters and that their assets be seized to subsidies the people.

Students hijack fuel truck and burn Golkar flags

Kompas Cyber Media - September 22, 2005

Jakarta -- Hundreds of students demonstrated in front of the State Palace in Jakarta on September 22 opposing the government's plan to increase fuel prices. They also hijacked a fuel truck and burnt Golkar Party flags.

Although the students were from two groups they demonstrated jointly at the Palace. The first group comprised some 200 students from the United Mercubuana Revolutionary Students from the West Java University of Mercubuana. Prior to arriving at the Palace they hijacked a fuel truck owned by the state oil company Pertamina although police secured it when they arrived at the Palace.

During the action they burnt Golkar flags as protest against the party leadership's support for the fuel price increase. They also symbolically "sealed off" the Palace with placards with the writing "Sealed by the People".

The second group comprised some 500 students from the University of Indonesia Student Executive Council (BEM) and the Jakarta Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front (KAMMI).

A statement by KAMMI included calls to oppose the fuel price hikes, the nationalisation of oil companies and the provision of alternative energy for the people such as gas, coal and nuclear power. In BEM's statement they called for an audit of Pertamina, opposed the fuel price hikes, demanded that funds to compensate the poor reach their target and called for an evaluation of the cabinet and economic policy.

Yudhoyono and Kalla given rotten vegetables and fruit

Detik.com - September 24, 2005

Nurvita Indarini, Jakarta -- What's the pleasure in eating rotten vegetables and fruit? That was the gift demonstrators gave the President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla (SBY-JK) at the State Palace on September 24 for their rotten promise not to raise fuel prices.

The action was organised by around 500 people from the People's Independence Front (Barisan Rakyat Merdeka, BRM) who demonstrated on October 1 at the State Palace. Demonstrators also threatened to hold a general strike on September 29.

Some 50 social organisations joined the action including the National Student League for Democracy (LMND), the People's Youth Union, the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI), Farmers Youth and the Student Executive Council from the Political and Social Sciences Institute.

Demonstrators also held a theatrical action that depicted the food and fuel crisis in which seven farmers painted in black wept for the rotten fruit and vegetables next to a chicken cage and drum of oil. The farmers then gave the fruit and vegetables to someone playing the part of the government while asking the government to find a means to overcome poverty.

"SBY-JK only sell rotten promises. The people must queue for kerosene at 2,500 rupiah per litre, and this is improper. So fuel price increases must be rejected. This policy is blatantly anti- people", said one of the speakers. (aan)

Farmers and women demonstrate against fuel price hikes in Palu

Detik.com - September 25, 2005

Jafar G Bua, Palu -- The wave of demonstrations against fuel price hikes continues to grow. On September 24 hundreds of youths, students, women and farmers from a number of organisations demonstrated in Palu, Central Sulawesi.

Demonstrators held a long-march through Palu and handed out leaflets. In a speech, the regional chairperson of the People's Democratic Party (PRD), Marten Sibarani said that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla had failed to overcome the economic crisis and improve the welfare of the people. The cuts to fuel subsidies are evidence of this failure he said. (gtp)

Thousands of workers demonstrate at state palace

Detik.com - September 25, 2005

Veronika Kusuma Wijayanti, Jakarta -- Although it was a holiday it didn't mean the wage of demonstrations against fuel price hikes stopped. Following a demonstration by Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, thousands of workers went to the State Palace to condemn the fuel price hikes planned for October 1.

The demonstrators calling themselves the Association of Independent Trade Unions held the action on September 25. The workers believe that the fuel price increases will add to the pressures being faced by ordinary people and that some 40.4 million people are living in poverty.

They also said that diesel fuel price increase would be taken advantage of by business. "The fuel price hikes will be an excuse for business not to increase wages and to sack workers", said one of the speakers. Demonstrators also brought a number of posters with messages such as "Oppose fuel price hikes" and "Reduce the prices of basic goods for the people". (ton)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Fuel scarcity causes massive lay-offs

Jakarta Post - September 19, 2005

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandar Lampung -- Yuswandi, 40, a shrimp farm worker, seems bewildered. He and his colleagues have been traveling back and forth between South Lampung and Bandarlampung for the past week expressing their grievances to Lampung legislators. They have not worked for the past month because their employer has had to stop operations due to the shortage of diesel fuel.

Yuswandi is one of the thousands of shrimp farm workers rendered jobless as farm owners have been forced to close down their farms because they could no longer obtain diesel fuel following the fuel price increases.

Diesel fuel is still available at gas stations in Lampung province at the moment. However, small-scale shrimp farmers have to buy it at the industrial price, which is more costly, and furthermore, have to go through complicated bureaucratic procedures to obtain a permit from state oil company Pertamina. Thousands of traditional shrimp farmers in South and East Lampung regencies have been forced to shut down their ponds due to the fuel shortage. Of the hundreds of shrimp farms in South Lampung, only 10 survive. The rest have gone bankrupt.

A shrimp farmer from Padangcermin, Edi Prasetyo, 37, said that his business was on the brink of collapse because he could no longer afford to buy diesel. He said that a 10-hectare farm uses 400 liters to 600 liters of diesel per day.

"Diesel fuel is absolutely essential for an intensive shrimp farm to activate water pumps, water wheels and for lighting, without which it cannot operate," said Edi.

Edi, who employs 50 workers, said that it wasn't just farm workers who were affected by the closures, but also other related businesses, such as the shrimp feed industry and shrimp fry hatcheries. The closures would also have a negative impact on state revenues because 90 percent of the shrimps in Lampung are exported," said Edi.

Marketing manager at the Pertamina depot in Panjang, Bandarlampung, Walijanto, said that his office would issue diesel procurement permits to shrimp farmers at the industrial price to help the farmers overcome the crisis.

The shrimp industry is important to the Lampung economy, providing large revenues for the province. In 2003, the export value for shrimps reached US$141 million, a significant increase compared to the value in 2002 of $72.3 million. In 2004, the export volume of frozen shrimps from Lampung reached 150,000 tons with a total value of $150 million.

Police out in force ahead of fuel price hike

Jakarta Post - September 19, 2005

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta -- Anticipating protests about increased fuel prices in October, the Jakarta Police are tightening security around government buildings and public areas and are promising to get tough on people stockpiling fuel.

City Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani said during the weekend that many groups were likely to express their dissatisfaction through rallies when the government announced the fuel price hike. "The Jakarta Police are anticipating this. That's why we have prepared personnel from police subprecincts, precincts and headquarters," he said.

Students, had already expressed their objection to the fuel price hike, he said, and two-thirds of the city police, or around 16,000 officers were on standby, he said. Detectives and intelligence officers were also monitoring certain groups they thought could become violent or unruly, he said.

Firman said he had ordered South and Central Jakarta Police chiefs to prepare contingency protection and evacuation plans as there were many important buildings in both areas.

"They must come up with good maps and plans on how to contain demonstrations. We predict that huge demonstrations will erupt in both areas. Both chiefs should have anticipated the way out of possibly chaotic conditions," he said.

Firman said that police would keep a close eye on rallies outside the presidential palace, House of Representatives buildings, and the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, all in Central Jakarta, as well as Pertamina's head office in Plumpang, North Jakarta.

Vice President Yusuf Kalla said over the weekend that the fuel price would be increased by up to 80 percent to ease the burden of expensive subsidies on the state budget.

Firman said police had established teams to investigate many reports of shortages in kerosene in several areas in Jakarta.

"We realize that prior to increasing the prices, many agents will stockpile fuel so that they can sell it later when the price is high," he said. On Wednesday Jakarta Police announced that during a two-month operation they had arrested 54 people for illegally hoarding a total of 317,000 liters of fuel.

This include 2,000 liters of premium gasoline, 154,000 liters of diesel, 73,000 liters of kerosene and 85,000 liters of other forms of fuel. Most suspects were arrested for holding, transporting, and trading fuel without permits, while several gas station employees were charged for tampering with meters.

Jakartans have recently complained about the increase of kerosene prices to up to Rp 1,200 (US12 cents) a liter from Rp 800 several months ago. Both prices are higher than the government-set Rp 700 a liter of kerosene for households.

Aceh

WFP, BPK lament Aceh's slow recovery

Jakarta Post - September 21, 2005

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Urip Hudiono, Jakarta -- The United Nations food agency expressed deep concern over the slow recovery in tsunami-devastated Aceh, saying another crisis might occur if no action is taken to speed up the ongoing reconstruction and the relief efforts.

Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Program Sheila Sisulu said that after nine months, life had not yet returned to normal in Aceh's hardest-hit areas, with most survivors still living in camps or temporary shelters while the UN agency was still facing difficulties in distributing food to those living in remote areas.

"It has been too slow. I think we've all been overwhelmed. I think we underestimated the challenge -- the government, the international community, all of us," she said during a press conference here on Monday.

Sisulu had just arrived from a visit to Banda Aceh, Calang and Meulaboh, all of which were ravaged by the Dec. 26 quake and tsunami, which killed some 130,000 and left over half a million others homeless in the province.

Calang, on the western coast, has been isolated and survivors in Aceh Jaya regency need to be given better services, while those in West Aceh and Aceh Besar were in relatively better conditions, she explained.

"But, all survivors in the three districts need to be moved into the recovery phase and children need to go back to school," she stated, while adding that WFP was feeding 650,000 people and carrying out a school feeding program for a total of 350,000 elementary school students. She said she had discussed the issues with other international institutions operating in Aceh and the local administration on necessary actions needed to speed up the recovery effort.

She added that WFP, in cooperation with the Aceh administration, and several local non-governmental organizations had distributed the relief aid to the affected regencies via boat because of the damaged roads.

Sisulu warned that the tsunami victims would be facing a second wave of crises in the form of outbreaks of disease, hunger and no education if the government and the international community failed to complete the recovery phase immediately.

Separately, Anwar Nasution, chairman of the Supreme Audit Agency, said a World Bank official also lamented the fact that the relief effort and reconstruction process were going too slow. He said on Tuesday the official warned that if the problem was left unsettled, it would reduce the world's confidence in Indonesia.

Anwar explained that the World bank official, who was assigned directly by the Bank's new president Paul Wolfowitz, would discuss the matter with other international agencies and institutions that have shown a commitment to providing financial assistance for Aceh.

Anwar himself expressed his disappointment in the government's sluggishness in the reconstruction process, saying quick reconstruction would benefit Indonesia's economy.

"If the government speeds up the relief and reconstruction efforts, foreign donors, including the World Bank, will also accelerate the disbursement of reconstruction aid," he said.

Anwar also said BPK was not content with the way the government did its financial report on humanitarian aid for the tsunami victims.

"Financial reports submitted by religious institutions are far better than the government's," he said, adding that he would soon meet with Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab to ask the government to improve its financial reporting in accordance with proper accounting standards.

A new potential conflict in Aceh

Jakarta Post - September 21, 2005

Ardimas Sasdi, Jakarta -- The peace pact signed by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian government in Helsinki on Aug. 15 has so far brought hopes of a lasting peace to the province after more than 30 years of war.

But all parties must remain on guard to contain small conflicts at the grassroots, which if not properly tackled could spiral out of control and destroy this blossoming optimism.

The Acehnese, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other world leaders have good reason to be pleased. Speaking at the Sixth Asian European Editors' Forum in Jakarta two weeks after the signing of the accord, Susilo hailed the peace pact as a milestone achievement of his young government.

The Acehnese in general and GAM in particular have been no less sanguine. Despite their lack of trust of the House of Representatives in Jakarta, GAM's response to the accord has been positive, with its guerrillas coming down from the hills, taking off their combat uniforms, surrendering their weapons and returning to their communities after years apart after years apart from their families. It is not surprising, however, that some have admitted, after all the fighting, that they now don't know what to do with their lives.

The response of the Indonesian Military (TNI), whose role in the peace efforts is crucial, has also been encouraging. The TNI and police have exercised self-restraint and begun pulling out troops from Aceh, although they were initially not supportive of the deal. The military's role is so vital in the Aceh peace that it would have been unthinkable to imagine an accord without their support.

In line with the Helsinki agreement, the government has also released GAM members from prisons across the country under a special amnesty program and allowed them to return to their families.

In a nutshell as expressed by Sofyan Djalil, the Indonesian Minister of Communication and Information who is also Acehnese and was a negotiator at the Helsinki talks, "so far everything is working well."

GAM took up arms in 1976 against the Indonesian government and the response by Jakarta was the massive deployment of military forces to crush the rebellion. But the Dec. 26 tsunami, which ravaged villages and towns in coastal areas and killed more than 130,000 people, helped push the rebels to drop their long-held demands for independence and return to the negotiating table with the government.

The cessation of this armed conflict, plans to help GAM start new lives by giving them land, living allowances and other resources as well as the goodwill of the former rebels to stop fighting are highly commendable. But it is wrong to simplify conflict in Aceh into the problem of an armed struggle.

The almost 30-year conflict, which has claimed 15,000 lives -- mostly innocent people -- has gone beyond the territory of Aceh, as it has torn into the very fabric of society there, leaving many people with gaping wounds, both physical and mental. The Acehnese have become sharply divided into two groups -- the pro- Jakarta Acehnese and the GAM members or GAM sympathizers.

To heal these wounds will not be an easy job and will require the firm determination of the Acehnese and probably also help from outside, including psychologists and experts on peace and conflict resolution.

"Now we are not afraid of the pai (the Acehnese for the TNI) as at least there is a law for them to obey. Moreover, peace monitors are everywhere to watch their acts. We are worried about enemies in disguise and GAM, who in principle are civilians ", said an Acehnese who lives in Depok, a suburb south of Jakarta.

Some Acehnese, who live outside the natural resource-rich province choose not to return to Aceh, but have adopted a-wait- and-see attitude for their own security.

These lingering doubts must be seen in the context of a transition period in a post-war era, which is usually as rocky and as dangerous as the initial war was. There will be many disguised enemies, who have hard feelings about incidents that may have happened years before, and who see this time of transition as a chance to take revenge.

Recent reports have said that a prominent figure from Sigli was dragged by unknown intruders from his home one night and butchered. His body was found by his family the next day not far from his house, but they could not bury his remains immediately as they were worried about the murderers' return.

In the first incident to threaten the peace accord a former GAM soldier, who surrendered to the TNI earlier this year, was reportedly killed by more unidentified assailants in Lawet village, West Aceh. A GAM spokesman said the victim could have been killed by former colleagues, who had accused him of being a traitor.

Fears about such killings are not being exaggerated, they are common and real -- the results of a long and bitter conflict. If the aftermath of the aborted 1965 coup taught us anything, it is that civilians with the right motivation can kill as brutally and efficiently as soldiers. At least 500,000 people connected to the Indonesian Communist Party were slaughtered in this "peace-time" conflict; one still far more devastating than the wrath of any natural disaster.

To prevent 1965's shameful human tragedy from happening in Aceh, all parties -- the Indonesian government, GAM and foreign monitors grouped under the Aceh Monitoring Mission -- need to take the proper steps.

These steps include the employment of enough police to improve security at the villages-level and a campaign to socialize the peace agreement and build awareness among Acehnese -- pro- and anti-integration groups -- on the need to live in harmony and forgive and forget past conflicts.

The initiative by a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in Leueng Bata, near Banda Aceh to help victims and children of the conflict to come to terms with the past is an excellent first step and should be emulated.

The dangers of future conflict must not be underestimated. Those at the grassroots -- those still in pain, those still sharply divided -- are also those that can be easily manipulated, creating a chaos that could destroy the longed-for peace and the US$5 billion reconstruction.

[The author is a staff writer of The Jakarta Post.]

Aceh's rebels give up guns, warily

Christian Science Monitor - September 19, 2005

Simon Montlake, Lhue and Banda Aceh -- For Mahfud and Jaafar, two former Acehnese fighters, life after the rebellion has left time for quiet afternoons like this one, sipping coffee in a cafe. The two men entered into the ranks of civil society last Thursday morning, joining dozens of other rebel soldiers in a convey of vehicles to the provincial capital Banda Aceh.

At a sports field watched by civilian and military officials and jostling reporters, they handed over a batch of weapons and ammunition to international monitors to be counted, catalogued, and destroyed.

For the war-weary province of Aceh, it was a crucial early step in a peace accord signed last month between the Indonesian government and separatist rebels who first took up arms nearly three decades ago. The accord calls for GAM, as the rebels are known, to surrender the rest of their 840 weapons and demobilize 3,000 fighters by year's end. At the same time, Indonesian soldiers and paramilitary police from outside the province are to fully withdraw -- some 800 troops left Sunday -- clearing the way for elections next year in an autonomous Aceh.

Despite Indonesian quibbles over the quality of GAM's weapons -- some appeared homemade and barely functional -- the hand over went smoothly, augering well for the new deal. Some combatants raised their guns in a show of bravado for the cameras while others looked pensive and somber as the firearms were cut into pieces by an electric saw.

Now tough questions are being asked over the fate of battle- hardened fighters like Mahfud and Jaafar as they return to their villages and to civilian lives. Their smooth reintegration into society may hinge on the development of trust between both sides and a belief that this time, after two failed truces in the past five years, peace is really here to stay.

"We must build trust, but this is difficult after 30 years of conflict. Both sides are hurting, and it's not easy to solve this overnight," says Kamaruzzman, a civilian GAM negotiator who was released from jail last month under an amnesty for around 1,400 rebels accused of treason.

Amnesty, money, and maybe land In the Aug. 15 accord, Indonesia pledged to support the demobilization of GAM guerrillas with compensation packages and new livelihoods. A cash stipend is promised to excombatants, and land grants are also being considered. Foreign donors that are already funding aid projects in Aceh for survivors of last December's catastrophic tsunami have quietly offered their support.

GAM members are required to register with authorities to qualify for state support, but few have done so, possibly fearing reprisals if the peace process fails. Monitoring officials say this was expected and would eventually turn around.

"As confidence further strengthens, we expect the names of the 3,000 fighters to be handed over to [the mission] for the purposes of registration so they can receive their entitlements," Peter Feith, director of the Aceh Monitoring Mission, told reporters.

Young, unemployed men

Without an adequate support system, observers warn that restless ex-GAM fighters could become a thorn in Aceh's side. Some are skeptical of the time frame for providing farmland and housing given the strain on resources post-tsunami.

"Anytime you have a large pool of unemployed young men sitting around doing nothing, that's a potential problem. Especially after a conflict like this," says a Western aid worker.

GAM officials say that many fighters went back and forth between the villages and their jungle camps during the conflict, making it easier to return home. They deny that rebels who collected community "taxes" in the past to fund their battles could turn to petty crime, and argue that GAM has renounced violent struggle.

"GAM's weapons have served their duty to defend Aceh's dignity. It's time to let them go," chief representative Yusuf Irwandi told reporters after Friday's hand over.

Back at the village cafe, Mahfud hasn't given much thought to his future. Ten years ago, he secretly joined the rebels living in the green foothills that frame this lush river valley, a GAM stronghold. Last month, after the peace accord was signed in Finland, his district commander sent him back to Lhue where he spends most days idling with his comrades.

Motoring around Banda

In recent weeks, they have tested out their new freedom. They rode their motorbikes into Banda Aceh and visited the tsunami- scoured shoreline. Indonesian soldiers no longer patrol this village or stop vehicles that enter, to the relief of residents who complain of frequent abuses during the period of emergency rule that ended this year.

As the village celebrates the return of its sons, though, some are asking what they will do next. Mahfud's mother says that her son used to work on the family's land but hasn't offered to help her since he returned home. "I can't tell him what to do. He's a grown man.... He used to be a farmer but now he doesn't know how," says Cut Rayuek, during a break from rice harvesting.

Jaafar, a quick-witted man with darting eyes and a buzz cut, says that it's too early to make any plans since the peace process isn't a done deal. "Everything depends on our leaders and what they tell us. If we're free to make a new life, that's fine," he says.

His mother, Junaida, says she prayed every day for Jaafar's safety during his three years in the jungle. She lost another son to the struggle, and endured military raids on her home in search of rebels. Now she's hoping for her own reward. "He's grown up now, so he should support his mother," she says.

Indonesia to pull 2,600 troops on Tuesday

Reuters - September 19, 2005

Jakarta -- Indonesia will pull 2,600 soldiers out of Aceh province on Tuesday as it steps up the withdrawal of troops under a peace agreement that ended decades of conflict with rebels, an army spokesman said.

On Sunday, 800 troops were shipped out after the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) fulfilled its part of the first phase of the landmark Helsinki pact by surrendering more than a quarter of its arsenal.

"Four battalions, each consisting of 650 troops, will leave Aceh on September 20. Other departures of troops are scheduled for September 21, 23 and 25," army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Erie Soetiko said on Monday in the North Aceh town of Lhokseumawe, the main embarkation port for the troops.

By September 25, 6,000 soldiers would have left under the first phase of the peace pact.

Indonesian officials have said the troop pullout would take place in step with the pace of the rebel weapon decommissioning.

After the September phase, three more rounds of weapons handovers and troop and police withdrawals are scheduled until the end of December.

Indonesia had more than 30,000 soldiers as well as about 15,000 police in Aceh on the northernmost tip of Sumatra island before the August 15 deal.

Fighting between GAM and government forces began in 1976 and killed some 15,000 people, mostly civilians. In May 2003, a previous truce collapsed over differences in interpretation of that pact, especially over rebel disarmament.

The rebels and the government were pushed back to the negotiating table after a massive earthquake and tsunami on December 26 left 170,000 people dead or missing in Aceh.

The pact will make it easier for aid agencies to carry out a huge $5 billion post-tsunami reconstruction program.

A successful agreement should also attract fresh investment to the resource-rich province of four million people.

TNI starts Aceh pullout

Jakarta Post - September 19, 2005

Nani Afrida, Lhokseumawe -- Around 800 Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers left Aceh on Sunday as the mass withdrawal of reinforcement troops from the province agreed under the recent peace deal began.

The troops, from two infantry battalions, set sail from Krueng Geukueh port in Lhokseumawe aboard the KRI Teluk Sampit naval vessel after six months of duty in the province.

Iskandar Muda Military Commander Maj. Gen. Supiadin said that about 6,000 troops from 11 battalions would be pulled out of the province in the coming week as part of the peace agreement signed in Helsinki on Aug. 18.

The withdrawal of the troops will take place in four stages that must be completed by Dec. 31, while the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) must simultaneously surrender 840 weapons.

Over the past few days, GAM has surrendered 279 weapons to the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM), but 30 of them were rejected for failing to meet the agreed standards and 23 others are still being verified.

"This is a good start to the peace process," AMM chief Pieter Feith said after witnessing the pullout of the troops.

Sunday's troop withdrawal followed the departure of some 1,300 troopers from the police's paramilitary Mobile Brigade on Wednesday.

As a goodwill gesture, the TNI had earlier withdrawn around 1,200 troops from Aceh a few days after the Indonesian government and GAM hammered out the peace accord.

European Union and Southeast Asian monitors grouped in the AMM are overseeing the withdrawal of some 25,000 TNI soldiers and 5,000 police personnel from Aceh, the disarmament of GAM and further steps to create lasting peace in the province, where 15,000 people have died in three decades of armed conflict. Two previous peace agreements were short-lived.

AP reported that the departing troops chanted and waved their helmets in the air as they marched aboard the warship.

"I have been here 18 months, most of which time I have spent in the jungle," said Pvt. Gatot Broto as he boarded the ship. "I am just very happy to be going home." But many remain wary because of the collapse of earlier accords, and were closely watching to see if the military and the insurgents actually abide by the deal.

"The war with GAM is now over and I am looking forward to seeing my family," said another soldier, Pvt. Suhardi. "If we are told to leave, we leave. If we are told to go to war, then we have to wage war." TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, however, expressed satisfaction with GAM for showing its commitment to the peace agreement.

"We thank GAM and feel surprised by their moves to comply with the peace accord," Endriartono said after attending a gathering of military and police retirees in Jakarta on Saturday.

But he warned GAM against displaying or possessing weapons after the disarmament process finishes at the end of the year. "If that happens, the TNI will take the necessary legal measures against them," Endriartono said.

Efforts to end the conflict in Aceh picked up pace after the Dec. 26 tsunami swept the province, killing some 130,000 people and leaving a half million others homeless in the province.

Peace creeps closer as anxious rebels hand in weapons

Sydney Morning Herald - September 17, 2005

Mark Forbes -- On Boxing Day Irwandi Yusuf clambered onto a roof inside Banda Aceh's prison and watched a torrent of water wash the walls and most other inmates away.

This week he witnessed his dreams of an independent Aceh vanish as he surrendered guns for peace monitors to destroy.

Mr Yusuf was an elephant vet before leading freedom fighters in Aceh's jungles. "The tsunami freed me from prison and sent me to Helsinki," he said. Now the catastrophe's reverberations have raised new hope for his embattled province.

Imprisoned and tortured for his role in the conflict, Mr Yusuf fled through the chaos to Jakarta, then to Malaysia to escape a manhunt, and on to Finland's capital, where Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leaders and Indonesia forged a peace treaty last month.

The treaty is crucial to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who came to power promising to end the 30-year conflict that has killed nearly 15,000 people, most of them civilians. Dr Yudhoyono must contend with the military's staunch nationalism and desperation to avoid perceptions of another East Timor-style loss.

There is dissent against peace on both sides: some GAM fighters refuse to emerge from the jungle, and many in the Indonesian military are reluctant to forgo the hundreds of millions they reap from Aceh. Already Indonesian supporters have protested against monitors from the European Union and Asian nations, raising fears of an East Timor-style destabilisation campaign.

Under the peace deal, GAM agreed to disarm by Christmas and abandon independence in return for amnesties, autonomy, the withdrawal of most troops and a share of the billions allocated to rebuild Aceh.

Aceh was under martial law until the tsunami, and killings continued in its wake, stalling reconstruction. With international attention focused on the province, there is optimism this peace deal will stick, unlike two previous attempts.

Mr Yusuf smiled as he passed machine-guns, rocket launchers and AK-47s to international monitors on a parade ground in Banda Aceh on Thursday.

He and his group of jungle rebels had arrived in a motorcycle convoy, many riding for more than 24 hours in a test of their new freedom. They had toured Banda Aceh's ruins, wept in its Grand Mosque and watched their weapons being cut into scrap.

"It's just like letting your first wife go," said Muzakir, a GAM veteran. Another commander, Sofyan Dawood, said that the 3000- strong fighters would disband and there would be no more armed struggle. Aside from Indonesia's failure to crush GAM under martial law, Mr Yusuf credits the tsunami for a new mentality on both sides. "Our soldiers here in Aceh Besar, most have lost all their relatives," he said.

Indonesia's Minister for Information and Communications, Sofyan Djalil, was a key player in the Helsinki talks. He was born in Aceh, but GAM threats kept him away for many years.

He believes GAM's leaders want peace. The crackdown weakened the rebels, but this treaty "is completely different because the tsunami actually changed so many things", he said. Major-General Bambang Darmono, the army's infantry commander, once led the fight against GAM and has been chosen by Dr Yudhoyono to supervise a peace process that has left many soldiers uneasy.

If GAM handed in 210 weapons, a quarter of its declared stocks, 6500 troops would begin withdrawing the next day, General Darmono said.

He denied that militias existed in Aceh, but said there could be some "rejection" of the peace. Sofyan Ali told the Herald his anti-GAM separatist resistance front had 350,000 members. Peace, and GAM, must be given a chance, he said, but "we will keep watching".

Aceh rebels exceed peace deal weapons turn-in target

Reuters - September 17, 2005

Jerry Norton, Teupin Raya -- Aceh rebels have more than met their initial commitment to hand in their weapons under an agreement aimed at ending nearly 30 years of conflict, international monitors said on Saturday.

Monitoring team spokeswoman Faye Belnis said Free Aceh Movement (GAM) fighters had handed in 279 weapons in three days, the first stage in a peace deal calling for rebels to disarm and the withdrawal of government forces from the province.

Three more such rounds of weapon handovers and military and police withdrawals are scheduled between now and the end of December, a key part of the agreement to settle the conflict that has taken some 15,000 lives, mostly civilian.

Belnis said monitors had accepted 243 weapons of the 279 pieces handed over by the rebels, while the Indonesian government had accepted 226 pieces, leaving 17 in dispute. By either count, GAM has exceeded the 210 target needed to trigger a withdrawal of thousands of Indonesian soldiers from Aceh province, on the northern tip of Sumatra island.

The final weapons handover of the first round took place on a grassy athletic field surrounded by towering palm trees in Teupin Raya village, about 135 km (83 miles) by road southeast of provincial capital Banda Aceh.

Festive mood

A festive mood prevailed among the crowd of GAM members, security forces and ordinary Acehnese as semi-automatic rifles, pistols and other weapons were cut into pieces by the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM), while vendors sold ice-cream, other snacks and drinks.

"(The peace agreement) is good for both sides. This is the only way to stop the conflict and I feel optimistic about it," said a long-haired GAM member in a black baseball cap, who declined to give his name.

Asked why he thought this deal would succeed when previous efforts at peace have failed, the 28-year-old former farmer told Reuters: "Because this time the European Union, AMM is taking care of this and I think they'll really end the conflict." The EU leads the AMM, whose 200-plus members come from European and Southeast Asian countries.

Peace will make it easier for aid agencies to carry out a massive $5 billion reconstruction program in Aceh, where last December's Indian Ocean tsunami left 170,000 people dead or missing and 500,000 homeless.

A successful agreement should also attract fresh investment to the resource-rich province of four million people.

"I think the deal is good because it will make a big change," said fisherman Ridwan, 29, as he watched the weapons destruction under a broiling tropical sun.

"I feel very happy because this is peace from both sides and I hope this state of peace will last forever," said 18-year-old high school student Safia, wearing a Muslim head scarf and ankle-length white-and-gray school uniform.

Aceh is the most staunchly Islamic province in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country.

The peace agreement's provisions include amnesty for GAM fighters, a bigger piece of revenue for the province from sales of its resources like natural gas, extensive rights of self- government, and the establishment of locally based political parties.

West Papua

Government to set up powerful Papuan body next month

Jakarta Post - September 20, 2005

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- The government promised on Monday to install the members of the much-awaited Papua People's Assembly (MRP) early next month and to refrain from making any strategic decisions on the troubled province pending the establishment of the local body.

The promise was made by Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Adm. (ret) Widodo A.S. during a meeting with senior figures grouped in the Papua Forum, including Asmara Nababan, Albert Hasibuan, Fikri Jufri and Wiryono Sastrohandoyo.

Albert quoted Widodo as saying that the 42-strong MRP will be inaugurated on Oct. 7 or Oct. 8, later than the initial schedule of late this month.

The government, Albert said, blamed the delayed establishment of the MRP on "technical reasons". Critics have said, however, that the government was buying time in setting up the MRP as it appeared reluctant to give it wide-ranging powers as mandated by Law No. 21/2001 on special autonomy for Papua.

"The MRP's establishment is quite important as it is one way for the government to build up trust among Papuans. After the MRP is set up, then we must let the body deal with Papua's problems one by one," Albert told the press after Monday's meeting.

Under the Papuan Special Autonomy Law, the MRP is authorized to deal with various problems in the province, ranging from rampant human right abuses to coping with the social, cultural and economic gaps being faced by its indigenous people.

According to Albert, a former deputy chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights, the recent court verdicts handed down by the human rights tribunal in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar acquitting senior police officers of all charges in connection with the bloody Abepura incident had resulted in Papuans losing whatever trust they once had in the central government.

"Therefore, it is hoped that the immediate establishment of the MRP will win back Papuans' trust," he said.

A human rights tribunal sitting in Makassar acquitted a number of police officers charged with committing gross human rights violations in the Abepura incident.

Another Papua Forum member, Asmara Nababan, said the meeting also highlighted the government's decision to divide Papua into three provinces -- Papua, and West and Central Irian Jaya.

The partition was one of the crucial issues that the MRP would have to deal with as the decision had been put into effect last year prior to the establishment of the MRP", he said.

During the meeting, the Papua Forum and Widodo also discussed what action the MRP could take having regard to the partition of the province, Asmara said. "The MRP will have to help the government formulate a legal basis for the creation of West Irian Jaya province if it supports the policy. But if it rejects the policy, it has the power to annul the Constitutional Court's decision to recognize the establishment of the new province," said Asmara.

Swiss journalist critical of police acquittal

Radio New Zealand - September 19, 2005

A Swiss journalist who witnessed the Abepura incident in 2000 in Indonesia's Papua province says a police commissioner acquitted of charges in connection to the incident was responsible for fatal beatings.

This month Senior Commissioner Daud Sihombing was the second high-ranking officer found not guilty of committing crimes against humanity after police under his command detained 99 villagers in December 2000.

The arrests came after suspected Free Papua Movement rebels attacked the police station in Abepura, killing one officer. Police raids on nearby villages left three people dead, with others alleging fatal beatings and torture in police custody.

Oswald Iten, who was in the prison at the time, says the blame for the fatal tortures falls on Mr Sihombing.

"He being the commander of police, he having the office right above the cells where it happened. He would pass by this torture chamber every day several times. So I have absolutely no doubt that he was the man who had all the responsibility on this."

Prison, torture and murder in Jayapura - 12 days in jail

Neue Zircher Zeitung - December 22, 2000

[A member of the NZZ editorial staff, Oswald Iten, was held in the municipal jail of Jayapura, Irian Jaya, from 2 to 13 December. The charge: illegal journalistic activity. Most of his fellow inmates were Papuans fighting for West Papua's independence from Indonesia. Iten witnessed the incredible brutality that marked the prisoners' everyday life.]

Oswald Iten -- When the door to the cell slammed shut behind me, the first thing I noticed was the stench of urine and other human excreta. Then I saw, through the dim, humidly hot air, bodies lying on the filthy concrete floor, packed one next to the other like sardines. It was one o'clock in the morning.

Someone in the lineup of bodies handed me a cardboard box, so that I'd at least have something clean to lay my head on.

The police had taken me into custody the previous day and grilled me for nine hours, because on 1 December I had taken "political photos" ostensibly not permitted by my tourist visa. That was the day on which Papuans fighting for independence from Indonesia commemorated the day in 1961, while the Dutch were still the colonial masters, when a declaration of West Papuan independence was made which was acknowledged by no one else in the world. Since then, the flag with the morning star had been their symbol of freedom, and anyone raising that banner had had to reckon with the danger of being shot by occupying Indonesian troops. President Wahid, who took office last year, has issued a directive permitting limited use of the flag, but the Indonesian security forces, who have been operating with increasing autonomy, had declared that this year's 1 December would be the last day on which the morning star banner would be permitted to flutter unhindered beneath Papua's skies.

Poorly organized rebels

So there I was, in a cell with about 40 other prisoners. Among them were 26 members of the "Satgas Papua," a militia of the independence movement which had established posts throughout Irian Jaya and was responsible for guarding the freedom flag. Despite the ultimatum issued by the police, the militia's top leaders had let themselves be taken by surprise and rounded up like snails -- which says a great deal about the Papuan rebels' level of organization. Among the prisoners was militia chief Boy Eluay, son of Theys Eluay, the head of the Papuan presidium (a body of selected leaders advocating independence), and Alex Baransano, city commander of the Satgas in Port Numbay, as the West Papuans now call Jayapura. Mixed in with the dark-skinned Melanesian prisoners were a few Javanese who had come to Irian Jaya under Indonesia's hated "transmigration" (that is, settlement) program and were now accused of some violent crime or other.

The members of the Satgas Papua were physically unharmed. That could not be said of all the prisoners. During my first night in the cell, a drunk was hauled in, and the guards punched and kicked him in the face. Almost every night some drunk was brought in to sober up and, this being the month of Ramadan, was treated to special physical abuse designed to leave him with a lasting souvenir in the form of a missing tooth or a broken nose. At first I tried to get the guards to ease up, but they grew angry and completed their violent work in the guardroom near the entrance to the cells.

Dizzy from both alcohol and the beating, the victims were then thrown into our cell and released the following morning.

At 4:30 A.M. on Thursday, 7 December, noise from the guardroom penetrated the stuffing I'd put in my ears to help me sleep. At first I thought the guards were doing some rhythmic gymnastics, but it also sounded like blows landing on a body. My fellow prisoners were wide awake, and they tried to hold me back when I went to the entranceway of our cell block. The upper part of the door was merely barred, so I had a view of the guardroom.

And what I saw there was unspeakably shocking. About half a dozen policemen were swinging their clubs at bodies that were lying on the floor and, oddly enough, did not cry out; at most, only soft groans issued from them.

After a few long seconds, a guard saw me looking and struck his club against the bars of the cell block door. I quickly went back to my usual spot, from where I could still see the clubs, staffs and split bamboo whips at their work. Their ends were smeared with blood, and blood sprayed the walls all the way up to the ceiling. Sometimes I saw the policemen hopping up on benches, continuing to strike blows from there or jumping back down onto the bodies below (which I could not see from my cell).

Thousands of blows

Thousands of blows must have descended on what was to me an unknown number of people. I thought: That's what it means to "thrash" somebody.

By about 5:15 A.M. things quieted down and I heard the sound of water from a hose. But then the orgy of torture resumed, apparently with a new load of prisoners. My fellow inmates told me that a police post had been attacked during the night. At one point, a guard came into our cell and indicated to me that what was going on outside was to be understood as the normal retribution for the death of policemen. The attack had taken place at 1:30 A.M. in the suburb of Abepura, and two policemen and a private guard had been killed in the course of it.

At 7:30 A.M. the torturers went outside for morning muster, things quieted down and I looked over into the guardroom: the floor was covered with blood, as in a slaughterhouse. Some of my fellow prisoners were ordered out to clean the place up. Shortly before 10 o'clock, noise broke out again.

The cell block door was opened, and with the ends of their staffs the guards drove about three dozen new prisoners in, whose hair had been marked with white from a spray can, like sheep earmarked for shearing. The newcomers were jammed into a single cell. Then the cell block door was opened again and one body after another was tossed into our already crowded cell, some of them more dead than alive.

Disfigured faces, damaged bodies

Most of them remained motionless where they fell, either unconscious or utterly exhausted. They must have been the men who had been tortured earlier that morning. A mask maker would find it difficult to conjure out of his imagination such horrifically distorted faces and damaged twisted bodies. One of the tortured men was virtually blind and had to be led in by the hand by another prisoner; I couldn't tell whether his eyes had been totally destroyed or were merely swollen shut. The last one to enter was a large man, who fell over the bodies on the floor and lay there groaning horribly. He tried repeatedly to straighten himself up, only to fall back down again. Now and again the faces of guards appeared at the barred window, looking down impassively at the tangle of maltreated bodies. In the back of the big man's head, there appeared to be a coin-sized hole through which I believed to spot some brain tissue. After nearly an hour and a half of groaning and spasmodic movement, his suffering visibly neared its end.

About two meters from me, his powerful body raised itself again and his head struck the wall. A final labored breath issued from him, then his head dropped down onto the cement floor. At last his agony was over. After a while, three lackeys came and dragged the body out.

Later I learned that the man who had been tortured to death was named Ori Dronggi. I saw a picture of his corpse in the newspaper Cenderawasih Pos.

The dispatch said that three dead Papuans had been brought to the morgue, and the police stated they had "died in the fighting." I don't know how the other two men died; one of them may have been the second man I had seen with a hole in his head, who had wiped his blood away with the same rag my cellmates generally used in their attempts to keep the toilet clean. I had no longer seen him among the prisoners the following day. (All the men who had been arrested after the attack on the police outpost were released after 36 hours.)

Ori Dronggi was one of 18 men from the highland town of Wamena, all of whom had been arrested in a dormitory near the university in Abepura immediately following the attack on the police post. The chances are he had had nothing to do with the attack; the same was true of the 35 other men who had been tortured (I had counted them the following day). A rumor went around that the police post had been attacked because one of the men on duty there was the one who had torn the morning star flag down on 6 October. About half a dozen Papuans had been killed back then, and in the days after it -- and several times that many Indonesians, who fell victim to the Papuans' blind vengeance. As a result of that chain of events, thousands of Indonesian settlers had fled from Wamena and the Baliem Valley. The "negative" balance of casualties was seen as a disgrace for the police; their rage at the people of Wamena had already become legendary, so it was no surprise when, following the attack at Abepura, they chose to take prisoners from that group of people.

A witness in danger?

In the night following the orgy of torture, the guards felt that I should no longer sleep in the cell with the other prisoners, whose number had by now swelled to 124 and many of whom were covered with suppurating wounds.

The policemen wrinkled their noses, indicating to me that the Papuans smelled bad. I was told I could sleep in the guardroom -- but the countless bloodstains there, even on the bench on which I lay, were a constant reminder of what had happened the previous night. The next morning, Police Chief Daud Sihombing, who also served as superintendant of the prison, noticed that I had not slept in the cell. Furious, he ordered the guards to bring me back there. He also confiscated the mosquito net one guard had brought me. I asked Sihombing if he wanted me to contract malaria. In a voice brooking no contradiction, he replied: "You're no different from the other prisoners. If they get malaria, so will you." From that time on, I feared that I had seen too much and was in danger as an incriminating witness.

Not a hair on my head was touched. In fact, the otherwise sadistic guards went out of their way to be nice to me. But the mistreatment of other prisoners continued. On 11 December I again witnessed a horrible scene.

About 2:45 A.M., three new prisoners were brought in. Two of them were badly beaten outside my field of vision. The third Papuan fell right in front of the one-man cell to which Chief Sihombing had exiled me. A booted guard kicked the man in the head; the prisoner's head banged loudly against my cell door, blood spurting from it onto my leg. The guard was apparently fascinated by the head going back and forth between his boot and the bars of my cell door, like some outsized ping-pong ball, so he kicked it a few more times. A second guard joined in with a swift kick to the middle of the prisoner's face, knocking him unconscious. But that still wasn't enough. A third guard, who had been watching the scene with rifle in hand, now struck the butt of his weapon about five times into the senseless man's skull, which made a horrible sound. I could hardly believe it, but the victim was still alive the next day. He was taken away for interrogation.

'Zero tolerance'

It was all part of the day's work in an Indonesian prison on Irian Jaya. Superintendant Sihombing was obviously not at all disturbed that I, a foreign journalist, should have witnessed such scenes after being arrested for taking some harmless "political photographs." According to his logic, my identity was as irrelevant as had been the barbaric and transparent behavior of the Indonesian police and military after the referendum on East Timor. In fact, by imprisoning me Sihombing was demonstrating that the policy of zero tolerance toward the independence movement, which had gone into effect on 1 December, also applied to foreigners.

Visitors with a temporary journalist's visa are not granted the official Indonesian permit necessary for travel to the interior of Irian Jaya.

My case could serve as a warning to other journalists not to travel to West Papua masquerading as tourists. In his autocratic and self-righteous manner, Sihombing gave the press almost daily briefings on my "important case." His goal was to underscore his demonstration of power by bringing charges which could get me a prison sentence of as much as five years.

I felt like Sihombing's hostage, my ransom value going up with each passing day. But after 12 days, the man's calculations were upset when Jakarta issued an order for my deportation. To save face, he presented my release to the press as his own act of clemency in honor of the forthcoming holiday of Christmas.

The fact that I was not harmed in the prison at Jayapura was due, among other things, to the swift arrival of Norbert Bdrlocher, the deputy mission chief of the Swiss embassy in Jakarta. He traveled 3,800 kilometers to the capital of Irian Jaya in order to extend his protection to me until my deportation on 16 December.

But several dozen less privileged prisoners remained back in the cell, with the Satgas militiamen still among them. Their life in prison will doubtless continue to be as I experienced it, marked by violence. Mornings and evenings they hold a one-hour prayer service, conducted by three catechists who managed to keep their Bibles with them. At the end of each service, they all shake hands. The prisoners receive two adequate meals a day from the police, for which they express their thanks by saying grace. And they are allowed a one-hour family visit every afternoon. Each morning, while the police hold their muster, a loudspeaker broadcasts the Indonesian national anthem through the prison bars. At that point, the Papuans in their cells join in singing their independence anthem. Indonesia can never win the hearts of the Papuans with clubs and rifle barrels; it will simply remain the hated occupying power. In one of his last articles before his arrest, "High Noon in West Papua", the author sums up the present political situation in Irian Jaya.

US lawmakers chide Indonesia on West Papua

Reuters - September 17, 2005

Washington -- Thirty-five members of the US Congress have called on Indonesia to lift travel restrictions to West Papua and halt the military buildup in the province where a rebellion has simmered for decades.

"Despite efforts to impede access by international journalists and human rights and humanitarian workers, we are aware that operations in the highlands have resulted in numerous human rights violations since August 2004," lawmakers said in a letter on Thursday to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The letter, signed by a bipartisan group of House ofRepresentatives members, said the "travel permit system, requiring travelers to report their own movement to local intelligence agencies, is contrary to the freedom of movement that is essential to a functional democracy."

It called on Indonesia to suspend the travel permit system and visa policies "that restrict access of international journalists, researchers, and (nongovernmental organization) workers to WestPapua," an area of rich biological and cultural diversity.

It also called for a halt to new military operations there, and said, "churches, human rights organizations and regional parliamentarians are reporting that thousands of villagers have been forced to flee these military operations."

The letter, spearheaded by Reps. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, and Sam Farr, a California Democrat, commended Indonesia for changing visa policies to give journalists and international organizations access to Aceh province after thetsunami disaster in December.

"We write to encourage you to continue with these positive steps by opening up access to West Papua," the lawmakers said.

Human rights/law

Kontras questions developments in Munir investigation

Detik.com - September 22, 2005

Veronika Kusuma Wijayanti, Jakarta -- The ineptness of the investigation into the murder of human rights activist Munir is being questioned. The reason being that up until now police have yet to arrest the masterminded behind the murder and or to name any new suspects aside from Pollycapus Budihari Priyanto.

It is because of this that the secretary of the Solidarity Committee for Munir (Komite Solidaritas untuk Munir, Kasum), Ori Rahman wanted to meet with the head of the police team investigating the Munir case, Brigadier General Marsudhi Hanafi, to ask about developments in the investigation.

"It cannot be that Pollycarpus is the only suspect in Munir's murder", the activist from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) told reporters at the national police headquarters criminal investigation bureau on Jalan Trunojoyo in Jakarta on Thursday September 22.

Rahman arrived at police headquarters along with other Kasum activists and Iskandar Sonhaji, the lawyer of Munir's wife Suciwati.

According to Rahman, other people were involved in Munir's murder. "Because of this we are asking for a there to be a presidential team to follow up the recommendations of the TPF [Fact Finding Team]. Of course a presidential team would have a more authority", he said.

Rahman however failed to meet with Hanafi who had been called to meet with the chief of police. "Two months ago we met Marsudhi and the chief of police, but where are the developments. Yes, [we] will wait to reschedule another meeting with Marsudhi", he said. (gtp)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Kasum questions developments in Munir investigation

Media Indonesia - September 22, 2005

Shanty, Jakarta -- On Thursday September 22, the Munir Solidarity Committee (Komite Solidaritas Untuk Munir, Kasum) went to the police headquarters' criminal investigation bureau to ask about developments in the investigation of the Munir murder case. Kasum took this step because they believe that the police investigation team has been totally inept in its investigation.

Kasum secretary, Ori Rahman SH, said that it is like the investigation into the Munir case has stalled and there have been no new developments. In fact said Rahman, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and former police chief General Dai Bachtiar promised that police would solve the case.

"We are going to continued to demand that the president solve this case. And we also believe, the president and new police chief will solve this case", said Rahman.

In addition to this, Kasum, which was established by dozens of non-government organisations, is also asking the president to disclose the recommendations of the Munir Fact Finding Team (TPF). "Up until now, the results of the TPF's investigation have still not been made public", said Rahman.

In fact when the team confronted the chief of police two months ago, they were promised that there was new evidence and suspects in the case. However said Rahman, up until now there has been no new suspects. "Developments in the investigation are not even clear", he added.

In addition to this said Rahman, Kasum also wants to question the detention of Eri who was arrested as a suspect in the case one month ago. "What is Eri's involvement and what about developments in his case? Moreover, Eri's name was not included in the TPF's recommendations", he said.

Yesterday, Kasum failed to meet with the head of the police team investigating the Munir case, Brigadier General Marsudi, who was not in his office. "Perhaps tomorrow [we] return together with the wife of the late Munir", said Rahman. (San/OL-06)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Munir murder linked to ex-Garuda boss

Jakarta Post - September 21, 2005

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta -- Former Garuda Indonesia president director Indra Setiawan had given a special assignment to pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, who is charged with murdering noted human rights activist Munir last year, two executives of the company testified on Friday.

Rohaini Aini, a flight operations support officer for Garuda's Airbus A-330 division, said she had assigned Pollycarpus as an extra crew member on board the GA-974 flight to Schipol, the Netherlands, via Singapore, on Sept. 6, 2004, at the orders of Indra.

Munir was found dead on board the plane a day later. A Dutch autopsy revealed that he had been poisoned by arsenic.

"On Sept. 6, 2004, I found a note on my desk. The note, which was signed by Indra Setiawan, said that Pollycarpus was had been assigned as a corporate security officer on board the GA-974 flight," Rohaini told the Central Jakarta District Court. Later in the afternoon, she added, the defendant confirmed he would be aboard the flight.

Rohaini said Pollycarpus had earlier canceled a planned trip to Beijing on Aug. 31, 2004, as he wanted to attend a meeting of the pilots association on Sept. 7. However, she added, the defendant later suddenly notified her that he would fly to Singapore on Sept. 6.

Rohaini admitted she changed the arrangements without the approval of her superior, Karmal Fauza Sembiring, because the defendant told her that Garuda's corporate security director Ramelgia Anwar would inform Karmal later.

Also testifying during Tuesday hearing, Garuda chief pilot Karmal confirmed this, but denied knowing about Pollycarpus' assignment as an extra crew member aboard Munir's flight, saying that he had been in Beijing on official business at the time.

"I received a note from Pak Ramelgia informing me about the defendant's special assignment a few days after Munir's death," he said. Asked by presiding judge Cicut Sutiarso about the reasons for the assigning of the defendant to the Singapore, Karmal said; "I don't know".

Karmal said he had told Rohaini that the change in Pollycarpus' travel arrangements was against official company procedures.

Outside the courtroom, scores of activists and victims of human right abuses staged a demonstration, demanding that the masterminds behind Munir's murder be arrested.

"The court should not hide behind Pollycarpus, who was just the field operative. You and the prosecution must seek out the masterminds behind the assassination," shouted one protester.

A fact-finding team formed by the government has linked the murder to certain officers of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), but the prosecution did not mention them in the indictment. According to the team, Pollycarpus was a member of BIN.

Indonesian rushs to tighten remission law

Australian Associated Press - September 19, 2005

Firebrand Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir and more than a dozen Bali bombers may get further automatic jail remissions within weeks despite pressure from Australia.

Also it emerged that Bashir was allowed out of prison for one day last week for hospital treatment for a bad back and might have to have further outside medical attention.

Indonesian officials are struggling to change the country's prison laws before the holy month of Ramadan when jail terms for most inmates are routinely cut.

A senior Justice Ministry official said "difficult" changes to exclude terrorists from sentence reduction programs were still being pursued. But it was unclear when they would be in place.

"The law will be revised," Hafid Abbas, the ministry's director- general of human rights protection told AAP from Bangkok. "There will not be the same policy for terrorism figures and ordinary criminals like a chicken thief. There will be special treatment for those who committed crimes against humanity."

Australia's ambassador to Indonesia David Ritchie lodged protests with Indonesia's justice minister Hamid Awaludin in August after Bashir received a four-and-a-half month sentence reduction as part of a general amnesty marking Independence Day.

Bashir is currently serving a 30-month sentence in Jakarta's Cipinang Prison for conspiracy in the Bali bombings, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians.

The sentences of 17 other men convicted of playing a role in the Kuta nightclub attacks were also automatically cut by three months.

Abbas refused to say if the changes would be completed in time to prevent another round of automatic remissions in November, when week-long Idul Fitri holidays come at the end Ramadan.

A further cut would see Bashir freed by May next year or even earlier.

"We will have to see if there is enough time to complete all the changes," Abbas said. "It would be easy if the changes were only to ministerial or presidential policy. But if it's related to government regulations or law, the process would not be simple."

The changes were still under discussion but Australia should recognise that Indonesia was determined to tighten the remission process, Abbas said. "It's the commitment that I think should be appreciated," he said.

He said officials were still discussing whether another reduction for Bashir could be prevented by Awaludin using his ministerial powers. "If it needs discussion with a lot of different parties, it's impossible to implement in a short time and we may have to use old regulations," he said.

Bashir, the alleged spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiah terror group, was allowed out of jail last week for medical treatment on his bad back.

The 67-year-old cleric's chief lawyer Muhammad Assegaf said Bashir had scans and X-rays taken of his back to look for signs of nerve damage before being taken back to jail.

Bashir denies being a terrorist leader. He says he is being victimised because of Western pressure and because he supports turning mostly-moderate Indonesia into a strict Islamic state.

Prime Minister John Howard and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono discussed the remission policy last week at a private talk during the UN World Summit in New York.

War on terror

Taking aim at Indonesian terrorists

Asia Times - September 21, 2005

Bill Guerin, Jakarta -- A senior judge in the world's most populous Islamic country, declaring that "killing is a big thing in the eyes of God, blood must be paid with blood", sentenced a Muslim militant to death by firing squad this month.

It was one of two related verdicts coming down within a day of each other. The South Jakarta District Court on September 13 convicted Iwan Darmawan Mutho, 30, and a day later Achmad Hasan, 34, of terrorism by helping to organize and carry out a suicide bombing outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta and by hiding the perpetrators. The September 9, 2004 blast killed 11 Muslim Indonesians, including bystanders, security guards, police and passing motorists, as well as people queuing to enter the embassy. The suicide bomber, Heri Gulon, died in the blast. More than 170 were wounded. No foreigners were killed. The two, charged under anti-terror laws enacted following the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, will join convicted Bali bombers Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra on Indonesia's death row.

Prosecutors accused Darmawan, also known as Rois, of working with Malaysians Azhari Husin, popularly known as Azahari, and Noordin Mohammad, also known as Top. Azahari and Noordin are likely the most wanted men in Southeast Asia. They are said to have masterminded the September 9 attack and are also wanted for involvement in a string of other terror attacks, including the Bali bombings and an August 2003 blast that killed 12 people at Jakarta's J W Marriott Hotel.

Azahari, a British-educated engineer, is an explosives expert like Noordin. The two learned their trade at al-Qaeda camps and have remained on the run for three years despite a massive search by the Indonesian anti-terror police who are trained in part by Australia and the United States. Both suspects have connections to the regional terrorist network, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).

Darmawan told police al-Qaeda had bankrolled the attack. The money was delivered to Azahari, who drove the suicide bomber to within a few hundred meters of the building, then fled on a motorcycle, looking over his shoulder at the explosion. After his arrest in November 2004, Darmawan disclosed that Azahari had been stopped by Indonesian police three times and let go each time after paying bribes.

Chief judge Rocki Panjaitan said there were no mitigating factors to warrant showing Darmawan any leniency. On hearing the verdict Darmawan stood up, punched his fist in the air and chanted "Allahu Akbar [God is Great]." A mob of supporters rallied to the shout and chanted a jihad marching song in the packed courtroom. Claiming he was innocent, he welcomed the death sentence because it would enable him to die a martyr; "I am grateful to God for being sentenced to death because I will die a martyr. Why should I be frightened?"

In a similar show of bravado a day later, Hasan denounced his judges, shouting, "They're all Satans, it's a satanic court. They're infidels. As long as they oppress Muslim people, Muslim people will have revenge."

The prosecution said Hasan taught bomber Heri Gulon how to drive, surveyed the embassy before the attack, conducted bomb-making classes for recruits and purchased explosive materials for the embassy bomb. Presiding judge Achmad Sobari also said there were no mitigating factors because Hasan expressed no remorse for his "uncivilized actions" that had discredited Islam and killed his fellow Indonesians. His lawyer, Ahmad Michdan, said the verdict would be appealed. "The facts were not explored optimally and there were foreign influences of terrorism propaganda to corner Muslims," he said.

The same court earlier jailed three others for periods of between 42 months and seven years for relatively minor roles in the bombing. Two others are still on trial for alleged involvement, and other recently arrested suspects are expected to be brought to trial soon.

A balancing act

There have been an impressive number of arrests and convictions of terrorists under President Susilo Bambang Yudhyono. He is juggling the needs of the country, in terms of creating a secure and safe environment for investment, with the excruciatingly subtle threats posed to Indonesia's vast majority of peace-loving Muslims by the radicalized few.

Soon after the terror unleashed by the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, there was concern in Indonesia and across the Muslim world that the ensuing US-led "war on terror" would become a prelude to a worldwide assault on Islam and the Muslim world itself.

With the focus now on Islam more than ever, there is deep concern within the Islamic community that the West will use the opportunity to subjugate the Muslim world and force it into some sort of inferior class of Western civilization.

On the other hand, the basic ideology of the fundamentalists is a literal and intolerant interpretation of the Koran. The crux of the extremists' oratory and their Taliban-style spin is an attempt to sell the message that somehow Islam is a religion that sees everything in terms of a struggle -- not against one's self, but against a perceived threat. Their war against the West is sustained by rage at cultural imperialism and global injustice. The bombers may be few in number, but the sentiment they exploit is the widespread psychological urge to see the face of their enemy in pain and grief.

Azahari was one of several Indonesians and Malaysians who went to Afghanistan in the 1980s and early 1990s during, and in the immediate aftermath of, the CIA-backed holy war against the Soviet-backed regime in Kabul. There, supported by massive US and Saudi funding, JI's connections with al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremists were established. The invasion and occupation of Iraq has been one of the best recruitment opportunities for the terrorist cells since the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's top Muslim council, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), has declared liberalism and pluralism as haram, or forbidden under Islam, despite the freedom of religion guaranteed by Indonesia's 1945 constitution. It issued religious edicts in July that banned liberal interpretations of the faith, and death threats have been made against members of the four-year-old Islamic Liberal Network, known as JIL.

JIL says the MUI fatwas (edicts) that sparked the hate campaign coincide with the closure of several unauthorized Christian churches by hardline Muslim groups and the jailing this month of three Christian women for inviting Muslim children to church social events. Some schools of thought see this as a backlash against liberal opinion as well as a push by Muslim conservatives to reassert themselves after political Islam failed to gain ground in last year's general elections.

The developments, if not firmly dealt with, could hurt the country's image as a moderate Muslim nation. "Pluralism actually enriches our nation," stressed the president, when saying he had ordered his subordinates to ensure that such violence would not be repeated. He has also tasked Minister of Religious Affairs M Maftuh Basyuni with investigating the reasons why the MUI issued the edicts.

Australia at risk

The Indonesian legal system has come under fire in Australia since Schapelle Corby was sentenced to 20 years' jail for drug smuggling, though Jemaah Islamiyah's alleged spiritual leader, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, was in March sentenced to only 30 months in prison for being part of a "sinister conspiracy" behind the bombings. There was even more outrage across Australia last month when more than 30 militants convicted over the Bali bombings were granted sentence remissions and Ba'asyir's sentence was cut by 135 days. Police received a cell phone message 45 minutes before the September 9, 2004 embassy bombing, warning that foreign missions in Jakarta would be attacked unless Ba'asyir was freed, Australia's Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, said then. Indonesian police said they received no such warning.

Downer welcomed both the Darmawan and Hasan verdicts although Australia opposes capital punishment.

Meanwhile, Darmawan said Australian dollars from Osama bin Laden directly funded the embassy operation, designed, he explained, to avenge the killings of Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq by the US and its allies, including Australia. He had a chilling message for Australia: "It should be borne in mind that any act of injustice against Muslims anywhere in the world will not go unavenged. Muslims will certainly avenge this."

Australian Ambassador David Ritchie said Friday after the verdicts, "Mindful of President Yudhoyono's warning about the possibility of more terrorist acts, we have taken a preventive measure by issuing a travel advisory to Australians who intend to visit Indonesia."

Yet the biggest threat to Australians may now be on their own soil. Kerry Collinson, author of Crescent Moon Rising to be launched on October 1, argues that the irony for Australia is that joining the "coalition of the willing" gave a gift of epic proportions to the Islamic, extremist fringe. The clear and present danger is that Australia may suffer an attack of disastrous proportions. Earlier this month al-Qaeda televised warnings claiming Melbourne is now a target.

But increased terror attacks inside Indonesia are also a worry, though Sidney Jones, Southeast Asia project director of the International Crisis Group (ICG), believes that future terror attacks in Indonesia may be less professional and even less well-executed than in the past. JI, she said, faces dissension over how to achieve its objectives and is reeling at the double whammy of the arrest of more than 200 of its members and public outrage over its tactics.

"There won't be another attack that's as big as the Bali bombings. JI's alive, consolidating, actively recruiting, but most of its leadership is no longer interested in bombing Western targets as it's wasting time, funds and human resources," she said.

While commending efforts to stamp out terrorism, Jones said the government still needed to improve its intelligence while at the same time avoiding arbitrary legislation and abuses of power.

ICG describes itself in glowing terms as "widely regarded as the world's leading independent, non-government source of information, analysis and advice to governments and international organizations on conflict issues". There are double standards inherent in Jones's comments. Where is the credit for Indonesia's success and the censure for the two major proponents of "arbitrary legislation" and "abuses of power", ie, the US and the UK?

What civil liberties?

Even the US has acknowledged Jakarta has done an "admirable job of pursuing, arresting and prosecuting terrorists". Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Eric G John, in testimony before a Senate Foreign Relations committee last week, praised Indonesia for arresting and convicting more than 130 terrorists since the Bali bombings and establishing an effective counterterrorism police force.

Generally, the war on terrorism has drastically altered the balance between civil liberties and security, putting core values at risk. The challenge to mount an effective domestic and international response to terrorism that does not, in the long run, compromise basic human rights domestically or internationally, has been fudged by both the US and the UK.

Protecting US or British citizens' freedom to live and go about their lives without fear of terrorism is regarded as more important than the civil liberties of suspected terrorists. The UK's proposed new Prevention of Terrorism Bill 2005 gives the government even greater power than the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001, legislation ruled contrary to human rights laws by the House of Lords Judicial Committee. Since January 2002 prisoners from the war in Afghanistan have been cooped up in wire cages at US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba with no access to lawyers -- in violation of international law.

Civil liberties advocates do not dispute the need for additional investigative methods to address the threats of terrorism, but they are acutely concerned about the broader and longer-term implications of sidelining legal rights in response to acts of terrorism.

The many critics of the "war on terror" rarely say the threat is not real, but argue simply that sweeping arbitrary powers are a flawed approach to addressing it. There is a rising chorus of concern that such powers are more likely to lead to a miscarriage of justice and that prosecution in a court of law would be a better solution.

The most fundamental human rights are the freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention at the whim of the executive and the right to a fair trial and due process. "Security and human rights are not alternatives; they go hand in hand. Respect for human rights is the route to security, not the obstacle to it," says Amnesty International.

Nonetheless Jones makes one very valid point. Putting hurdles in the way of the recruitment process, according to her, was one key to the success of counterterrorism efforts, and this involved identifying people vulnerable to being recruited. More than any other country, Indonesia's geography lends itself to extremist groups that rely upon inconspicuousness and free movement. (Indonesia is an archipelago of 17,000 islands, 6,000 inhabited, covering 1,826,440 square kilometers, almost three times the size of Texas.)

Terrorists do not simply appear in full-blooded hate mode, trained and equipped to launch their deadly attacks. Persistent dire social and economic circumstances encourage the converts to take the easy way out. Instead of living for Islam, they want to die for Islam. Being martyrs like the Bali bombers and the Australian Embassy blast accomplices, for them has its rewards in the hereafter.

Hardline Islamic groups do not enjoy widespread public support in Indonesia. The average Indonesian Muslim, judging by mass-media coverage of the issue, does not see the issue as demanding attention. Though those calling for violence and aggression in Indonesia are preaching in a wilderness, the danger is that the extremist interpretations from radicals will strike a chord with the dispossessed and disenchanted masses.

"You may read from time to time of the voice of small radical groups, but these voices will not change the fact that mainstream Indonesia will continue to be moderate, tolerant and democratic," Yudhyono told an Asian-European Editors Forum in Jakarta this month. "Fighting terrorism will continue to be our top priority in Indonesia. We will continue to pursue these terrorist groups wherever they may be hiding. We will continue international cooperation involving the police, intelligence and immigration. We will strengthen the hands of the religious moderates."

The retired general has also ordered chief security minister Admiral A S Widodo and the National Intelligence Agency chief Syamsir Siregar to heighten the level of alert against possible terrorist attacks, saying that domestic terrorist cells might be planning another strike soon.

Yudhyono has focused anti-terrorism efforts on increasing international cooperation and coordination to build a strong network within the region and beyond through a series of agreements to fight terrorism and other transnational crimes.

Still, there seems to be something missing. JI is Indonesia's best-known terrorist network. Its followers come from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore but it is rooted in Central Java with cells scattered across the archipelago. Yet the government, the police and intelligence agencies have not acknowledged that JI is an organization operating within Indonesia nor even recognized it as a terrorist organization.

[Bill Guerin, a Jakarta correspondent for Asia Times Online since 2000, has worked in Indonesia for 20 years as a journalist. He has been published by the BBC on East Timor and specializes in business/economic and political analysis in Indonesia.]

Four injured in fresh Poso blast

Jakarta Post - September 19, 2005

Ruslan Sangadji, Poso -- The peace was again shattered in the Central Sulawesi city of Poso on Saturday night when a homemade bomb exploded injuring four people.

The bomb went off outside a house on Jl. Mongonsidi, Lawanga subdistrict, Poso city, at 11:15 p.m., causing panic among members of the public, but they nevertheless managed to assist the victims, taking the injured to Poso General Hospital for treatment.

The victims -- Sinta, 44; Selvi, 28; Ical, 19; and Fudin, 24 -- suffered only slight injuries caused by flying fragments and were released from the hospital soon after receiving treatment.

The Central Sulawesi and Poso Police's bomb squad, led by Poso Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. M. Soleh Hidayat, arrived soon after the explosion and immediately sealed off the area.

The motive behind the bombing is still unclear, Soleh said, but said it bore all the hallmarks of a terrorist attack. Several witnessed have been questioned by the police but no arrests have been made so far.

"I can't provide detailed information right now but I can say that it looks like a terror attack was perpetrated on Saturday night," he said.

The bomb exploded just moments after revelers finished performing the controversial Dero folk dance at a birthday party outside a resident's house located opposite the residence of Poso regency secretary Awad Alamri.

One victim, Fudin, said the alarm was first raised by another victim, Selvi, who saw sparks coming out of a package. Fudin attempted to sound the warning but the bomb exploded before people could flee.

The Dero dance is controversial in the region. Regularly performed in the past during local ceremonies like weddings and birthday parties, as well as harvest ceremonies, it was never performed in Poso between 1998 and late 2004 following its prohibition by several hard-line Muslim groups.

The groups banned the dance, claiming it was haram (against Islamic teachings), as it was performed by men and women holding hands. In traditional Islam, only men and women who are muhrim (related and who cannot get married), may hold hands.

Saturday's explosion was the first in Poso since newly elected Poso regent Piet Inkiriwang and deputy regent Abdul Muthalib were officially installed two weeks ago.

Poso has been a flash point of sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians that left over 1,000 people dead in two years of bloodshed up to 2001.

Up to August of this year, at least four bombs -- two of them in Poso city -- had exploded, with the bombings at Tentena market in May this year being the deadliest in Indonesia since the Bali bombings of 2002 that killed 202 people.

In May, two bombs ripped through the crowded market in the predominantly Christian area of Tentena, killing 21 civilians and injuring 70 others.

Government/civil service

BPK finds discrepancies in 2004 budget

Jakarta Post - September 21, 2005

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta -- The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has again put a disclaimer note on the government's financial report of the state budget, despite the implementation since last year of what was hailed as a "new and improved" state accounting system.

Delivering BPK's four-month audit result on the government's financial reporting for the 2004 state budget to a House of Representatives plenary session on Tuesday, BPK chief Anwar Nasution said BPK had decided not to give an opinion on the report as it still contained some discreprancies.

"The government's report of last year's state budget is actually a breakthrough to further establishing transparency and accountability in the country, as it is the first to be based on the new state accounting system, which has brought many improvements from previous budget reports," Anwar said.

"However, BPK has still found several weaknesses in the report, which include existing weaknesses within the government's internal audit system, non-compliance of related financial reporting regulations, and a discrepancy in unspent budget expenditures." President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had submitted the report -- which was compiled in line with Law No. 17/2003 on State Finance -- to BPK in May for auditing.

The BPK report consists of a budget realization report, a current accounts report, a cash-flow report and related appendices, which include the financial reports of state-owned enterprises (SOE) and other state agencies.

A disclaimer note, while it does not challenge the legitimacy of the budget, still exposes flaws within the state accounting system that could undermine rating performances and perceptions of the country's economy.

With this year's disclaimer, BPK has for the fourth consecutive time since 2001 gave a "no opinion" mark on the government's report of the state budget.

While BPK's previous disclaimers could be understood as the state accounting system was indeed in the process of being improved, with differences between the government's and BPK's auditing system, this year's disclaimer could undermine the government's efforts to showing that the country had clearly adopted a better state financial reporting system.

Explaining the weaknesses within the government's internal audit system, Anwar said that several state agencies had yet to implement the new state accounting system in verifying their revenues and expenditures.

"The problem in determining the value of state assets -- particularly land assets -- also came up, as many were based on historical prices and not the current market price," he said.

Meanwhile, on non-compliance with reporting regulations, Anwar highlighted possible misuses in the Attorney General Office's (AGO) Rp 6.67 trillion of bail money and the disbursement of Rp 2.89 trillion in reforestation funds.

BPK had also found discrepancies in unspent budget expenditures, in which the funds amounted to Rp 31.56 trillion in the financial report, but was stated as Rp 24.59 trillion in the current accounts report. "An explanation of this was also missing in the report's appendices," Anwar stated.

House under pressure to end closed budget discussions

Jakarta Post - September 18, 2005

Jakarta -- Pressure continued on Friday for the House of Representatives to open their meetings on the state budget to ensure transparency, in the wake of allegations of state funds being "traded" between legislators and local officials.

The deputy speaker of the Regional Representatives Council, La Ode Ida, said institutions such as the House and ministries took advantage of the fact that budget talks were not open to the public to engage in conspiracy and the sale of the budget.

"It is the system, be it at the House or at the Ministry of Finance, which limits information to a few people. This paves the way for some people to perform so-called 'bridging' tasks between the central and local administrations," he said.

La Ode was commenting on the recent scandal involving the state budget, including the sale of postdisaster relief funds, allegedly involving House budgetary committee members who asked for bribes from local officials to help disburse or increase allotted funds for their regions.

Local officials, said La Ode, unfortunately get caught up in the system, offering bribes and later embezzling the funds. "We cannot blame just the House for this practice. We also have the institutions in Jakarta and local officials themselves," he said.

La Ode said he was told by a local official that he had once been asked by a current House member to pay a 10 percent fee for the disbursement of funds.

"I call on all officials to report such cases to the authorities. Let us use this to push the central institutions to be transparent, although I personally doubt that many will (report the cases) because they are also involved in embezzling funds," he said.

Those areas approached by House members or brokers, said La Ode, usually had limited local funds but relatively good networks of businesspeople.

Legislator Suryama M. Sastra shared La Ode's view, and submitted on Friday to the House leadership a proposal to amend the House regulations to open as many meetings as possible to the public.

"The House must immediately take substantial steps that demonstrate its will to minimize abuses in deliberating the state budget. It is imperative that the House makes sure that all budget talks are open to the public," he said.

The House legislative body is currently deliberating whether it will review its regulations concerning opening meetings to the public.

According to current regulations, all meetings or sessions by the House budgetary committee are open to the public unless declared closed. But the fact is that the meetings are always closed.

"In addition, there must never be any official meetings between the House and outsiders held outside the House building. There must be no more backroom deals," said Suryama.

Corruption/collusion/nepotism

Susilo's anticorruption drive disappointing: KPK

Jakarta Post - September 22, 2005

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta -- Eleven months after taking over the presidency, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's pledges to curb corruption within government agencies, particularly the tax and customs services, have not being realized, according to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

"The commission is very disappointed with the government's efforts to prevent corruption. Its efforts and its determination have yet to show progress," KPK Chairman Taufiqurrahman Ruki said after meeting the President on Wednesday.

The meeting was held to allow the KPK put forward its views and evaluation of the government's anticorruption drive, which was labeled by the commission as "very slow and lacking commitment from the President's aides".

Taufiqurrahman called on the government to speed up the anticorruption drive in the country's most corrupt institutions; the Directorate General of Taxation and the Directorate General of Customs and Excise. Both institutions come under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance.

"There have been so much leakage from the tax and customs services as a result of collusion between taxpayers and officials. Our preliminary investigation shows that big fish corruptors are still sniffing at the doors of both services," he said.

A survey by Transparency International Indonesia in February revealed that customs service was the country's most corrupt institution.

The country has been relying on revenues from taxes and excise duties for the past five years to help finance government expenditure. This year's budget envisages 85 percent of revenues being contributed by taxes and excise duties. Based on the budget, the government hopes to collect Rp 331.8 trillion (US$32.8 billion) in taxes and excise duties this year and some Rp 402.1 trillion next year.

Analysts believe that the government could net more than Rp 500 trillion in tax and excise revenue this year by improving tax collection administration and tackling corruption.

The KPK also emphasized the need for the government to reform the public procurement system as it found that leakage in this area often amounted to more than 30 percent of the procurement value.

"There has been no sign of seriousness from ministers, the heads of government agencies and state enterprise executives in preventing procurement leakage or securing revenue for the state," said Taufiqurrahman.

The KPK also highlighted a lack of coordination between the National Police and the Attorney General's Office in investigating and bringing prosecutions in corruption cases.

"Aside from poor coordination, the money allocated for processing corruption case in these two institutions is too low, about Rp 2.5 million per case. President Susilo should seriously address these problems," Taufiqurrahman said.

Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi said Susilo acknowledged his anticorruption drive was still far from achieving its goal and promised to speed up the efforts.

"The President responds positively to the KPK input and expresses his dissatisfaction over the current anticorruption efforts of his aides. The government will intensify its efforts and remain consistent to its goals," he said.

Prosecutors held hostage by anticorruption group

Jakarta Post - September 21, 2005

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang -- Driven by their frustration over the sluggish investigation into corruption cases, dozens of anticorruption activists took high-ranking prosecutors hostage in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara on Tuesday.

A visiting team of prosecutors from Jakarta and top local prosecutors were held for over two-and-a-half hours in a meeting room at the East Nusa Tenggara Prosecutor's Office, but no injuries were reported.

The protesters, who wore red headbands, approached the compound at 1 p.m when a meeting between the Jakarta team and local prosecutors was underway. They formed a line in front of the building to prevent the prosecutors from leaving.

The 20 security guards who were on duty scuffled with them but were outnumbered and retreated to the lobby of the building in order to prevent the protesters from entering the meeting room, which had been locked from the inside.

The activists shouted their demands that the prosecutors speed up their investigation into corruption cases, including alleged corruption cases that involved top officials in Belu, Kupang and Alor regencies. One of the East Nusa Tenggara prosecutors offered to talk with the protesters but his offer was turned down.

Two hours later, when the activists had relaxed their security and were scattered around the compound, security guards escorted out of the building Achmad Luja, the Attorney General's deputy for prosecutor's monitoring, and East Nusa Tenggara Prosecutor's Office deputy chief Rudi Prajitno. However, the protesters were alerted to the move and prevented the prosecutors from entering the official car parked outside the building. One of the activists even took up a position on the car's roof, from where he threatened the prosecutors.

Fearing the situation would turn ugly, the security guards escorted the prosecutors to the meeting room and from there, out the back door. Outside, several plainclothes policeman were ready with a car to transport the prosecutors to a safe place.

The team of prosecutors from the AGO were in East Nusa Tenggara to question several local prosecutors who had allegedly extorted local officials involved in a corruption cases.

Local & community issues

Farmers questioned over Lombok clash

Jakarta Post - September 20, 2005

Luh Putu Trisna Wahyuni and Eva C. Komandjaja, Mataram/Jakarta -- Police said on Monday they have questioned at least 11 people as witnesses in connection with a bloody clash a day earlier between police and farmers in Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Aryanto Boedihardjo said the witnesses, who were questioned by East Nusa Tenggara police, were mostly farmers who attended a conference that turned violent.

"No suspects have been named as yet by the police," Aryanto told the press but added that at least six people may be implicated in sparking Sunday's disturbances.

The clash erupted as local police officers forcibly evicted farmers who were attending the conference on a block of land earmarked for the construction of an airport in Penujab.

Those in attendance included activists from the NTB Farmers Union and members of the international La Via Campesina farmers union, who all rejected the planned building of the airport.

The local police said the meeting was illegal but the participants refused to disperse, arguing that they had obtained a permit to hold the conference from National Police Headquarters.

But the local police said the permit had been revoked for fear that the event could incite a clash between the conference participants and "local residents supporting the new airport".

The police, however, said that no action would be taken against officers who shot dozens of farmers during the clashes in Penujak, Central Lombok.

East Nusa Tenggara Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. H.M. Basri claimed that the shootings were in line with standing procedures.

"These people had been warned that the permit had been revoked so that they had no right to hold the conference. However, they then became violent. Everything we did was in accordance with procedures, although they accuse us of rights violations," Basri said.

"As the participants refused to go home and instead hurled stones at the officers and attacked them with machetes and spears, the officers fired warning shots. When they ignored these, they fired rubber bullets at the protesters," Aryanto said, echoing Basri's comments.

Aryanto claimed that only 15 protesters had been taken to the Central Lombok Hospital for gunshot wounds, and that 46 police officers had also been injured in the clash. "We also confiscated three machetes, one spear, a lot of stones and also the marquee used for the conference," he added.

However, non-governmental organization activists involved in the event said the number of wounded farmers was at least 27.

The conference was supposed to have ended with the installing of a plaque on the disputed plot of land to mark the farmers' opposition to the airport project. The land had reportedly been acquired by state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura in 1995.

Late last month, hundreds of farmers held rallies to protest against the scheduled arrival of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the area to attend the ground-breaking ceremony to mark the start of the airport's construction.

Nine named suspects over Saturday's rioting in Painan

Jakarta Post - September 19, 2005

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Padang -- Police have declared nine people suspects in Saturday's rioting that followed a protest over the inauguration of Pesisir Selatan Regent Nasrul Abit and his deputy Syafrizal. West Sumatra Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. M. Akmil said on Sunday that local police had questioned 20 people involved in the protest, including several high school students.

It was the second violent protest against the results of a direct regional election after an incident in the Bengkulu town of Kaur two months ago. Police opened fire on the protesters on Saturday, wounding two of them who have also been named suspects in the incident.

The suspects were identified as Muspija, 46, Afrizal, 47, Amar, 48, Nofriki, 24, Mike Putra Effendi, 24, Andi, 22 and Fahmi, 17. "I forget the other two," Akmil said. Andi and Fahmi were treated in M. Zain General Hospital, due to gunshot wounds.

Hundreds of people staged a protest on Saturday and felled trees to set up roadblocks on the access road to the provincial capital of Padang from the regental capital of Painan on the northern coast. Children, students and housewives also joined the protest.

The roadblocks were aimed at preventing newly installed Governor Gamawan Fauzi from visiting Painan to inaugurate the reelected regent. Painan is located some 30 kilometers south of Padang.

Hundreds of vehicles were forced to turn back, and Gamawan and his entourage finally reached Painan by boat.

Most of the protesters were residents of Tarusan, who voted for candidates M. Yusril and Bakri Bakar, who lost by a narrow margin of 1,196 votes to the pair of Nasrul and Syafrizal.

The Yusril-Bakri ticket challenged the election result last month as they found indications of fraud in the poll -- including the number of voters, which exceeded the registered number, and findings of underage voters and multiple perforation.

The lawsuit, however, was overturned by the West Sumatra High Court. The Pesisir Selatan Election Commission then declared Nasrul and Syafrizal, who were nominated by a coalition of Islamic parties, the winners with 72,738 votes.

A clash occurred on Saturday as the crowd tried to resist hundreds of police officers who came to clear the roadblocks. People threw stones and other objects at the officers, injuring four of them. Protesters also took a police detective, Brig. David, hostage, beating him before his release. Police fired rubber bullets at the angry crowd, injuring at least three people.

M. Akmil defended the tough measures, which he said were in line with procedures. "We opened fire to save the officer who was taken hostage," he said. Despite the riot, however, the inauguration ceremony of the reelected regent and his deputy continued undisturbed at the Zaini Zein Sports Center in Painan.

A clash over a regional election result erupted in Kaur regency in another part of Sumatra Island in July, as thousands of people attacked and set fire to the house of the local legislature's council speaker, the regent's office, the local office of the General Elections Commission and the office of the public housing agency.

The angry mob suspected that the victory of incumbent Regent Syaukani Saleh and his deputy Warman Suwardi was marred by vote- buying. The protest turned violent when no official was willing to address the crowd.

Police named four people, including one of the losing candidates, suspects. They are still under detention pending the completion of the police's investigation into the case.

Farmers, policemen injured in clash

Jakarta Post - September 19, 2005

Jakarta -- Dozens of people, including two policemen, were injured as farmers and police clashed on Sunday over a dispute in connection with land earmarked for the construction of an airport in Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).

The disturbances erupted at around 10 a.m. after police forcibly evicted local farmers who occupied a block of land in Penujap, where the planned airport is be built. Tension was high in the area following the riot, Antara reported.

Herman, an activist with the NTB Farmers Union, a non- governmental organization, was quoted as saying that at least 27 farmers were injured in the clash. They mostly suffered gunshot wounds while two police officers had been wounded by arrows. At least eight farmers were arrested and brought to the local police station.

However, the West Nusa Tenggara Police were unable to give further information on the incident and the suspects. "I haven't been formally notified about the incident by the Central Lombok Police," NTB Police spokesperson Adj. Sr. Comr. M. Basri was quoted as saying.

The land in question had reportedly been acquired by the local administration for the construction of a new airport in Central Lombok.

The eviction, according to local police, was carried out following the revocation of a permit granted by the National Police chief for the holding of a meeting of local members of an international farmers organization in Penujap.

The farmers, however, insisted that they had received a permit, so they pressed ahead with their plan to hold the meeting.

After the violence, 11 members of the international farmers group, along with local colleagues, held a peaceful rally in front of the West Nusa Tenggara Police headquarters. The farmers demanded that the police officers guarding the block of land be withdrawn immediately.

Late last month, hundreds of farmers held rallies to protest the scheduled arrival of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to the area to attend the ground-breaking ceremony to mark the start of the airport's construction.

At the time, the protesters brandished traditional weapons, such as swords, sharpened bamboo sticks and spears following the arrival of bulldozers at the site.

Land disputes are quite common in the country, with cases of arbitrary eviction and land takeovers by the government in the name of development being commonplace.

The Susilo administration recently issued a government regulation allowing the state to take over land to be used for the construction of public facilities, even if no agreement was reached with its owners.

The regulation stipulates 21 types of development projects, including airports, that are to be given priority. Despite providing greater clarity over the issue of eminent domain, the new decree has also raised public concerns and protests due to fears that the old practices of arbitrary eviction would continue.

Environment

Walhi protests governor proposal

Jakarta Post - September 23, 2005

Padang -- An environmental group has issued a statement in protest over West Sumatra Governor Gamawan Fauzi's decision to issue a letter of recommendation to the central government to grant 49,440 hectares of forest concession to a plantation company.

Chairman of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment's (Walhi) West Sumatra chapter, Agus Teguh Prihartono, said on Thursday that having filed the recommendation, the governor had bypassed a team of experts and government, which was studying whether the company deserved the concession.

"The governor filed the recommendation saying that the team of experts approved the concession, while in fact, we the team have not yet completed the study. We deplore the governor's actions," said Agus.

The forest concession in question is located in Siberut Island, in the Mentawai group of islands. The letter was sent on Sept. 5 to the Ministry of Forestry and in the letter, the governor asked the minister to allow plantation company PT Salaki Summa Sejahtera to operate on Siberut Island.

The newly elected West Sumatra governor could not be contacted for comment on Thursday.

Newmont Mining to stand trial in Indonesia

Associated Press - September 20, 2005

Miedy Pakasi, Manado -- Newmont Mining Corp. and one of its top executives must stand trial on charges of dumping mercury and arsenic-laced pollutants into an Indonesian bay, a court said Tuesday, rejecting the gold mining giant's request to drop the case.

Richard Ness, the president director of Newmont's local subsidiary, faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $68,000 if convicted. He remains free pending the verdict.

"I am very disappointed with the judges' decision," said Ness, a 56-year-old American from Ada, Minn., adding that if the court had followed "proper legal procedures" the case would have been thrown out.

The company said it would appeal and warned that "based on today's ruling, the president director of every company in Indonesia should be concerned about this decision."

The trial is being closely watched by foreign investors already anxious about the country's weak legal system. Mining experts said the ruling Tuesday only reaffirmed concerns that Indonesia is not a good place for companies to explore -- despite it having some of the best mineral prospects in the world.

"From an industry perspective, it's disappointing to see the matter still going on without resolution," said Marc Upcroft, who analysis the Indonesia mining sector for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Australia. "It really is continuing to have an impact on mineral investment spending in Indonesia, which is unfortunate since we're in the middle global minerals boom."

The company is also in negotiations to settle a $133.6 million civil suit filed by the government in the same case.

Environmentalists, meanwhile, are eager to see if the cash- strapped government will punish a multinational mining company for the first time in recent memory.

The government says Newmont Minahasa Raya violated environmental laws by dumping millions of tons of pollutants into Buyat Bay on Sulawesi island, allegedly causing villagers to develop skin diseases and other illnesses.

The company argued that the police investigation and the indictment were flawed and there was no evidence of pollution or that villagers became ill.

Presiding Judge Ridwan S. Damanik said he was satisfied with the prosecutors' indictment, saying it "fulfilled all legal requirements." "The trial will continue on Oct. 7," Damanik said at Manado District Court, which was surrounded by nearly 100 police who were anticipating demonstrations by environmental activists and villagers from Buyat Bay.

Prosecutors are expected to depend heavily on testimony from villagers, who claim Newmont's mining waste sickened them and caused fishing stocks to plummet. Both sides are expected to present scientific experts.

Newmont began operations in Sulawesi in 1996, and stopped mining two years ago after extracting all the gold it could. But it continued processing ore until Aug. 31, 2004, when the mine was permanently shut.

The trial in the North Sulawesi capital of Manado, 1,300 miles northeast of Jakarta, could take several weeks and will be a battle over conflicting test results.

The World Health Organization and an initial Environment Ministry report found Buyat Bay to be unpolluted, and a government study released in May found that traces of heavy metals in villagers living close to the mine were within normal levels.

The prosecution, which says Newmont dumped 5.5 million tons of pollutants into the water, will present a police report showing the levels of mercury and arsenic are well beyond national standards.

Islam/religion

Counselors jail for insulting Islam

Jakarta Post - September 23, 2005

ID Nugroho, Probolinggo -- Seven former counselors at a drug and cancer rehabilitation center in Probolinggo were sentenced on Thursday to jail terms of between three and five years for the crime of insulting Islam, a clear sign that the East Java judiciary is clamping down on alternative Islamic thought despite the religious freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.

The verdict at the Probolinggo District Court came after the Malang District Court sentenced a Muslim preacher last month to two years in jail for introducing an Indonesian translation of the Arabic sholat prayer.

At the Probolinggo trial, the panel of judges found that the seven counselors, through their teachings at the Cahaya Alam Cancer and Drug Addiction Healing Foundation, had introduced teachings and practices that contravened key precepts of Islam. These included introducing notions of "free sex" and a belief that recognized Satan as a creature who served God. The main evidence behind the allegations was a book of guidelines, which the clinic had circulated among patients.

The judges handed down six five-year jail terms to the six male counselors, including foundation chairman Ardi Husen, while the only woman in the group, Mufidah, received three years. The clinic, which was established in 1991, had treated thousands of people suffering from cancer and drug addiction.

Police began to investigate the clinic's alternative healing activities in May, after the local Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued an edict calling the foundation's teachings heretical. The council had earlier obtained one of the foundation's books from a former patient.

Hundreds of people raided the group's headquarters in Karangpilang shortly after the edict was issued, vandalizing the interior and driving out patients waiting to be treated at the clinic.

Police later arrested the counselors for causing a disturbance after preventing the crowd from attacking them. They were later charged with the crime of insulting Islam.

Lawyers for the defense had argued the counselors should never have been brought to court, calling the prosecution excessive and politically motivated; a response to MUI's edict.

Neither should the defendants have been put on trial for publishing a book that had never been officially banned by the government, they said.

The defense team slammed groups like MUI, which it said were taking on the role of a moral police; trying to punish the counselors for their beliefs; something they had no power to do under Indonesian law.

Violence against groups seen by religious fundamentalists to be at odds with Islam has increased over recent months, despite the country's Constitution guaranteeing the right of people to freely practice their beliefs.

The Probolinggo trial comes after a group of Muslim hard-liners earlier this week attacked property belonging to members of the Ahmadiyah religious sect in Cianjur, West Java. That sect, an offshoot of Islam, believes in another prophet after Muhammad.

Police arrested 48 people and named 12 suspects for destroying property belonging to Ahmadiyah members.

FPI steamed about nude Adam, Eve

Jakarta Post - September 23, 2005

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta -- Actor Anjasmara and model Isabella were reported to the Jakarta Police on Thursday by an extreme right wing Islamic group for allegedly posing nude in a photograph displayed since Sept. 17 at the Bank Indonesia Museum in Central Jakarta.

The Islam Defenders Front (FPI), which apparently is not pleased with the artistic photo, also reported photographer Davy Linggar to the police.

FPI member Jafar Sidik alleged that the three had insulted Islam by portraying Adam and Eve in the nude. Adam is believed to be a holy prophet by Muslims, which accounts for around 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people.

Jafar also said that the pictures were considered pornographic, and could contribute to immorality among teenagers who see the exhibition.

"The pictures display the classical story of Adam and Eve in Eden. How could they depict a prophet in the nude like that," he queried after filing a complaint at the Jakarta Police headquarters.

Jafar stated that "many people had come to them complaining about the nude pictures", which according to the complaints had aroused sexual desires among young people.

Jafar alleged that the actor, model and photographer had violated Articles 156 and 282 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum punishment of five years imprisonment.

Article 156 stipulates that people who express or do something that insults a religion in Indonesia can get a maximum punishment of five years, while Article 282 states that people who publicly display pornographic pictures or writing can get a maximum sentence of one and a half years in prison.

News reports said earlier that Anjasmara had repeatedly asked for forgiveness from anyone offended by the photo. He said that he had no other intention but to create art.

Anjasmara also denied that the picture were pornographic as people should look at the whole concept and the beauty of the picture.

He said that he was not completely naked when the picture was taken because he was still wearing underwear during the photo session.

The FPI has reported several celebrities for various perceived legal violations over the past few months.

Music band Dewa was reported to police because FPI thought the group had insulted Islam by using Allah's name on the cover of its album. Dewa and FPI agreed to settle the case out of court.

FPI also reported Miss Indonesia and Miss Transvestite Indonesia because they deemed them to be an insult to Muslims in Indonesia. Those cases are still being investigated.

Indonesia's moderate Islamic image under threat

Reuters - September 20, 2005

Dean Yates, Jakarta -- Joining a group of young Indonesian intellectuals who hold liberal Islamic views was once just a ticket to controversy. Now, it could be life-threatening.

Since Indonesia's top Muslim council issued religious edicts in late July that banned liberal interpretations of the faith, death threats against members of the 4-year-old Islamic Liberal Network, known as JIL, have poured in.

The fatwas that JIL says triggered the hate campaign coincide with the closure of numerous unauthorized Christian churches by hardline Muslim groups and the jailing this month of three Christian women for inviting Muslim children to church events.

The developments have hurt Indonesia's image as a moderate Muslim nation and reflect a backlash against liberal opinion as well as a push by Muslim conservatives to reassert themselves after the failure of political Islam to gain traction during last year's elections, experts say.

"The fatwas have had a snowball effect," said Nong Darol Mahmada, a co-founder of the Islamic Liberal Network who has received dozens of death threats via e-mail and text messages.

"People believe that JIL is banned and that it is now legally permitted (under Islamic law) to murder us." Police guard the Jakarta office that houses JIL after one militant organization threatened to attack the group, which has never shied from controversy since its inception in 2001.

It has been quick to poke holes in the arguments of militant clerics and take the lead in debates about issues from marriage to the role of religion in politics, often using radio to reach a broad audience across the world's most populous Muslim nation.

In the crosshairs

To some analysts, JIL was a key target when the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) issued its non-binding fatwas on July 29. Apart from attacking liberalism, the council forbade pluralism and inter-religious marriage.

"We are seeing a conservative high tide which is a reaction to several things, but a common view that Muslim liberals have taken things too far," said Greg Fealy, an expert on Indonesian Islam at the Australian National University in Canberra.

Fealy said he did not believe such a backlash meant the end of progressive Islamic thought in Indonesia, where Muslims have embraced democracy and have more freedom to express their views than in just about any country in the Islamic world.

While it was clear Indonesians increasingly identified with Islam, last year's elections showed voters did not care for Islamist parties that support strict Islamic Sharia law. Those parties won 23 percent of parliamentary seats last year, up from 19 percent in 1999.

"People are more self-consciously Islamic but it doesn't mean anyone is saying... we should make Indonesia an Islamic state," Fealy said.

Many Indonesian Muslims, especially on the main island of Java, infuse the practice of Islam with local tradition influenced by Hinduism and mysticism. Indonesia is also officially secular and recognizes Christianity and several other religions in addition to Islam.

That has not stopped Islamic militants in the past two years from closing down some 25 unlicensed churches that operate from homes and shops.

Christians say the growth of such churches underscores the difficulty of getting a permit, which requires approval from local communities where they are usually a minority. Police have said they cannot act because the churches are illegal.

In another religious case, a court in West Java this month jailed three Christian women for three years each for inviting Muslim children to church events without parental consent.

Unfinished story

JIL was not actually banned in the MUI fatwas, but the message was clear, said Mahmada, 31, an articulate graduate of Islamic studies from Indonesia's most prestigious Islamic university, as she sipped a bottle of iced tea. "I am pretty pessimistic about Islam in Indonesia," she added.

Down the road at the Al-Muslimun mosque, Imam Pambudi, 41, a local Islamic community leader, said JIL had to leave the area. "At first we had no problems but after the MUI fatwa, the people here were shocked that something considered haram (forbidden) by the MUI was among us," said Pambudi.

Despite what appears to be a series of blows to Indonesia's Muslim liberals and the country's image in general, analysts like Fealy and Merle Ricklefs, another prominent Australian expert on Islam in Indonesia, remain generally optimistic.

"This is a story without an ending, but there are grounds for thinking that the progressive liberalism of Indonesia has withstood the attack," Ricklefs wrote in the Australian Financial Review on September 2. "With its reactionary fatwas, MUI may indeed have sidelined itself within a rapidly changing society."

Ahmadiyah mosques destroyed in attack

Jakarta Post - September 21, 2005

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung -- Hundreds of people in West Java vandalized on Monday night houses, mosques and cars belonging to members of the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI), a Muslim group whose teachings differ from the central tenets of Islam.

No casualties nor injuries were reported in the attack.

West Java Police said on Tuesday the vandalism had been localized to Campaka district in Cianjur regency, some 100 kilometers southeast of Jakarta, which is home to hundreds of Ahmadiyah followers.

The attackers, mostly from the neighborhood and the nearby Darul Rahman Islamic boarding school, destroyed or damaged four mosques, 33 houses and four Islamic schools, and set fire to three cars. The mob of Muslims dispersed after the 90 minute attack at around 9 p.m.

West Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Edi Darnadi said the Cianjur Police had arrested 48 people in relation to the attack. Five of them, he said, had been declared suspects. They have been identified as Deni Hidayat, 35, Yopi Suhendar, 32, M. Yohadi, 35, Dani Hamdani, 27 and Nurdin, 22.

Darul Rahman boarding school head Muhammad Hardian Nawawi, who is believed to have led the attack, is being questioned by the Cianjur Police.

The attack was the latest against Ahmadiyah, which has been branded a heretical group by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) through its fatwa issued recently.

In 1984, the Ministry of Religious Affairs issued a circular to provincial offices across the country, declaring that Ahmadiyah was misleading and against Islam.

The group believes that another prophet, its founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, came after Muhammad, the last prophet of God in Islam.

In July, thousands of people attacked the Ahmadiyah compound in Parung, Bogor, West Java, in a protest against the group's teachings.

The attack was condemned by Muslim organizations and leaders, who said that faith differences must not be resolved with violence. However, nobody was arrested for the Parung violence.

Ahmadiyah has existed as an organization since 1953 and now has about 200,000 members.

The West Java Police chief said the Cianjur authorities had been slow to settle the conflict between Ahmadiyah and local residents, which he said had caused accumulated rage and destruction.

West Java Police chief of detectives Sr. Comr. Ahmad Abdi said the Cianjur administration had met on Sept. 5 with local residents and Ahmadiyah leaders.

During the talks, the Ahmadis had been told to halt their activities but had ignored the demand. "Despite the MUI's fatwa against Ahmadiyah, the attack was a punishable crime -- and punishment was needed to avoid similar attacks in the future," Abdi said.

Meanwhile, West Java Governor Danny Setiawan appealed for tolerance and restraint for the course of the police's investigation. As of Tuesday evening, Ahmadiyah's West Java leader, Abdul Wahab, could not be reached for comment.

Armed forces/defense

Military headquarters speeds up reform of businesses

Tempo Interactive - September 23, 2005

Jakarta -- Following the selling of the Kartika Eka Paksi foundation's 11-percent in PT Bank Artha Graha for not depositing the requested capital, the working group within Indonesian Military (TNI) headquarters (HQ) is still discussing the grouping of the corporation's legal base and military business capital.

All this will be surrendered to the government. "Currently, this matter is still being discussed because there is a number of laws regulating military businesses," said TNI HQ's head of the information center Maj. Gen. Kohirin Suganda Saputra following the granting of Indonesia's medal of honor to Singaporean Army Chief Lt. Gen. Ng Yap Chung in Jakarta on Friday (23/09).

The laws include Law No.25/1992 on cooperative business, Law No.28/2004 whioch regulates foundations and Law No.1/1995 on a limited company. "We still discuss the grouping of the corporation so that there will be synchronization of the three laws," said Saputra.

Saputra considered that the deadline on September 27, 2005, given by the Indonesian Defense Department should not be considered as a technical deadline because the discussion of military businesses will result in several solutions regarding which business that must be submitted to the government and still be managed by TNI.

Military businesses are not centralized, meaning that TNI HQ does not subordinate the military foundations. Each foundation has its own legal base. "This must be formulated together," said Saputra.

In accordance with the plan, the TNI chief wishes to settle the military businesses within two years. "This means there will be a decision in October 2005 that the implementation of the businesses will take place from October 2005-October 2006. In November 2006-November 2007, there will be an evaluation and in 2007, the reform of military businesses hopefully will be settled," said Saputra.

Regarding compensation for military businesses being submitted to the government, Saputra was yet able to decide this matter. "Following the discussion at Indonesian Military headquarters by TNI forces and the Indonesian Defense Department, the mechanism of military businesses shall be coordinated with State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and the Indonesian Finance Department," said Saputra. (Fanny Febiana-Tempo News Room)

US commander urges reforms in military

Reuters - September 23, 2005

Canberra -- A US defence commander said on Friday that Indonesia must show it had taken steps to reform its military for resumption of aid and arms sales, held back because of concerns of human rights abuse by troops.

Washington revived a small military training programme with Indonesia in February in a sign of thawing defence ties with the world's most populous Muslim nation.

But it maintains a ban on arms sales imposed after troops shot dead dozens of protesters in 1991 in Dili in East Timor, which was then an Indonesian province.

Admiral William Fallon, the US Pacific Commander, said US politicians had serious concerns about the past activities of the Indonesian troops and it was necessary to demonstrate real reform in the military.

"I am working to try to have demonstrated action that I can take back to show some of the political leadership in my country that there has been enough change to merit some infusion of aid," he said.

"People in my country are looking for performance. They want to see deeds in addition to words," Fallon told reporters in Canberra, where he is on a visit for talks with Australian defence chiefs.

But Indonesia's transition to democracy and a visit by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to Washington in May have helped thaw relations, he said.

The mood had also improved after the Dec. 26 tsunami, which brought the two militaries together in relief work in the devastated Indonesian province of Aceh. The United States sent a large contingent of naval vessels, helicopters and troops in emergency relief.

Fallon said there was a lot of potential in military ties with Indonesia, which he described as significantly more moderate than many other Islamic nations. "It is an opportunity we have to take advantage of," he said.

Fallon, who has held talks with Yudhoyono and military chiefs in Jakarta, said he would initially look at the sale of non-lethal military supplies, such as spare parts for Indonesian military transport aircraft.

Business & investment

An Indonesian bears $600 in debt

Jakarta Post - September 20, 2005

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta -- The fact that one in five Indonesians still lives on less than US$1 a day is made even gloomier by the fact that every person in the country -- including those extremely poor and even newborn babies -- already has nearly Rp 6 million (US$600) in debt to shoulder.

Such a sad, but true reality was unveiled on Monday when Minister of Finance Jusuf Anwar told the House of Representatives' Commission XI for financial affairs that Indonesia's outstanding debt through this year's first quarter amounted to Rp 1.28 quadrillion (some US$128 billion), or 52 percent of the 220- million population's gross domestic product (GDP).

The debt stock consists of foreign debts worth Rp 624 trillion and Rp 658 trillion in domestic debts, coming mainly from foreign creditors in the form of loans and from the market through government bond issues, respectively.

Jusuf said the debt portfolio was also prone to several risks, including refinancing risks due to an imbalance in the maturation of the debts and market risks from fluctuations of the rupiah and interest rates.

"The government's long-term debt management goal is to minimize these risks," he said, mentioning such measures as buying back and extending the bonds, increasing the portion of bonds with fixed interest rates and only accepting soft loans with a maximum interest of 3.5 percent.

The finance ministry previously estimated that for every Rp 100 depreciation of the rupiah against the US dollar, the government would have to bear an additional Rp 6 billion in interest payments, while every 1 percent increase in interest rates costs Rp 2.2 trillion.

State Minister for National Development Planning Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who also attended the hearing, however was upbeat that the government would be able to lower Indonesia's current debt as a percentage of GDP to 30 percent by 2009.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration is aiming to reduce the country's debt-to-GDP ratio to 43 percent next year, from 49 percent estimated for this year -- an improvement from a 75 percent debt ratio in 2001.

"We plan to do this by continuously reducing the budget deficit while boosting our economic growth, particularly through exports," she said.

Mulyani added that the government would limit its net bond issues to a maximum of 1 percent of the GDP and gradually reduce its foreign loans by between $1 billion and $2 billion every year.

In the future, the government will also prioritize negotiations only with major creditors, focusing on more flexible program loans, rather than fixed project loans.

Meanwhile, Bank Indonesia (BI) Senior Deputy Governor Miranda S. Gultom expected the government to issue its short-term treasury bills soon to replace the central bank's SBI promissory notes as a more effective money-market instrument.

BI has so far acquired Rp 10.4 trillion in bonds from the secondary market as part of its stock-building strategy to later use them -- apart from the SBI notes -- for its monetary operations.

Time running out, foreign investors warn Susilo

Jakarta Post - September 18, 2005

Kornelius Purba, New York -- Less than two weeks before completing his first year in office, foreign businesspeople reminded President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono about the danger of the rising fuel subsidy and that time is running out for him to deliver the economic promises to those who voted him into office last year.

While fully acknowledging that Susilo's economic policy is going in the right direction and praising his hard work, they also emphasized that the government would not be able to achieve its economic growth target unless it has the determination to take bold economic measures.

They also pointed to the fact that the value of foreign direct investment commitment in the first semester of this year was lower than the same period last year.

Speakers in the Indonesia Global Investment Forum here on Thursday morning pointed out that unless the government immediately reduces its huge fuel subsidy and stabilizes its currency, the country's economy would be in jeopardy as foreign investment would dry up.

"The biggest risk to investment is if the President does not follow through with what he intends to do," said Steven Hess, vice president and senior credit officer of Moody's Investors Service. "We are really concerned with the subsidy because the money can be used for other purposes," he added.

The President showed that he fully understood investors' complaints by presenting a detailed list of their complaints, starting from corrupt tax procedures, labor problems, poor law enforcement, red tape and lack of good governance and transparency.

He argued that he has worked hard in combating the negative aspects but acknowledged his government was still far from its target. "I fully realize your problems," the President told the audience.

Hess observed that the central bank, Bank Indonesia, was very reluctant to raise the interest rate because with a high interest rate the monetary authority fears it will affect investment because the lending rate will also rise. However higher economic growth is needed in order to maintain social stability, he said.

"But finally they have and they are moving in the right direction by raising the interest rate. Inflation is relatively high and therefore the higher interest rate will help to stabilize the currency," Hess said.

Irene Cheung, the head of Asia Sovereign and FX Strategy of ABN AMRO Bank NV, Keith Rabin, president of KWR International also voiced similar concern over the danger of the government's indecisiveness in rising fuel prices and stabilizing the rupiah. They believe the country's economy could grow if the government could resolve the major obstacles that hamper economic growth.

Rabin cited transparency and tax as among the main problems faced by foreign investment, and added if the government could overcome the problems of transparency and predictability "they can expect more investment".

Martin King, president of clove cigarette giant Sampoerna, which was taken over by the American cigarette company Philip Morris several months ago, gave a more encouraging picture of Indonesia.

He believes the government has done many concrete measures to combat corruption and to create a more conducive investment climate. "Actual risk is actually low. But the perceived impact is higher than the actual risk," the executive said.

King however also expressed his concern over the weakening rupiah. "Currency is an issue for us, because we are doing business in rupiah," he said.

Earlier in the morning, the President visited the New York Stock Exchange (NYSC) and witnessed the signing of Memorandum of Understanding between the Jakarta Stock Exchange and the NYSC. He was also given the honor of opening Thursday's trading session.

Opinion & analysis

Disclaimer on government report

Jakarta Post Editorial - September 22, 2005

The Supreme Audit Agency, for the fourth consecutive year, placed a disclaimer on the government's financial statement for the 2004 fiscal year, due mainly to inadequate internal controls, noncompliance with financial accounting rules and discrepancies in current accounts.

We expected some problems with the 2004 government financial report, assuming that since it was the first overall balance sheet from the government since the country's independence 60 years ago there would be some shortcomings.

While previous reports covered only the state budget realization (cash flow reports), the 2004 financial statement was a milestone in state financial reporting because it was a consolidated report that captured all of the budgetary and nonbudgetary transactions (cash flow and current accounts), as well as state companies' and local administrations' finances.

The balance sheet, prepared on the basis of the Law on State Finances and audited in compliance with the Law on State Financial Accountability, should theoretically have been a precious tool for gauging the government's financial soundness. The consolidated report was supposed to contain comprehensive and accurate information to help the government improve its fiscal management and policy making.

However, as Supreme Audit Agency chief Anwar Nasution reported to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, his agency could not give any opinion on the 2004 financial report because of basic flaws in the accounting reports. The government's internal control system, he said, was ineffective even though the system works under four layers of internal audits and is supported by ample resources, a large operating budgets and adequate office equipment.

Citing some examples, Anwar said his auditors could not verify Rp 275.8 trillion (US$27.5 billion) in tax receipts and could not find Rp 19.4 trillion in oil and natural gas sales receipts. The auditors also discovered that almost Rp 17 trillion in government balances at various commercial banks were unaccounted for.

An audit is supposed to examine, on the basis of tests, proofs supporting the amounts and expressions in a financial statement. An audit also comprises an evaluation of the accounting principles used, significant estimates made by the government as well as of the presentation of the financial report in its totality. However, the 2004 financial statement seemed so inadequate that it could not be used by the Supreme Audit Agency as an adequate basis for expressing an opinion on the statement.

Needless to say, it is imperative for the government to respond to, clarify and act on the auditor's findings and recommendations. Such catchwords as transparency and accountability, which the government often pronounces as the basic principles of good governance, require stringent public reporting requirements and the enforcement of fiscal discipline in a transparent and accountable manner.

True, it is not easy to prepare a government consolidated balance sheet. The process involves the collection and processing of data and accounts from more than 40,000 working units within the public sector across the country. However, an appropriate, integrated accounting system, which apparently was not in place for the 2004 balance sheet, could enhance transparency in the reporting of the government's financial position.

The findings of the auditors also show that the government has yet to establish an effective risk management system within its overall financial management, which is vital for identifying internal control problems. For example, the plundering of tens of thousands of tons of crude oil from state oil and gas company Pertamina's floating storage unit in East Kalimantan, which occurred over the course of 11 months (October 2004 to August 2005) without being detected by the company, was made possible because Pertamina's internal control system failed to identify oil storage units, offshore or inland, as high-risk areas.

The government should realize that an effective internal control system is a first-line defense against corruption and inefficiency.