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Indonesia News Digest No 44 - November 17-23, 2005
Associated Press - November 23, 2005
New Delhi -- India and Indonesia, Asia's largest democracies,
agreed Wednesday to forge closer defense and economic ties and
cooperate in fighting terrorism, Indonesia's president said.
With the two countries' two-way trade nearly tripling in the past
four years, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told an
Indian business leaders' meeting that it was time to expand trade
and investment, technological cooperation and cultural ties.
"We agreed on a new strategic partnership which calls for closer
diplomatic consultations, stronger defense relations and enhanced
economic ties, especially in trade and investment," Yudhoyono
said after meeting in New Delhi with Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh.
Singh and Yudhoyono pledged to establish a strategic partnership
between Asia's largest democracies to promote peace and stability
in the continent.
The two countries, which both face threats from terrorism, also
agreed to coordinate their efforts at countering terror through
frequent consultations.
During his three-day visit to India, Yudhoyono also met with
President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and
Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Trade between the two countries has risen to US$3.5 billion in
2004 from US$1.4 billion in 2000, the Indonesian president said.
Indonesia's main exports to India were palm oil, coal, paper,
timber, and some agricultural commodities, while its top imports
from India were engineering goods, information technology and
agricultural products, Yudhoyono said.
"We expect an economic growth of around 5.7% to 5.8% this year,"
Yudhoyono said. "The time to invest in Indonesia is now."
Commerce Minister Nath said there is an urgent need to diversify
and expand the two countries' trade. "Indonesia is India's
second-largest export market in ASEAN (the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations), and one of our leading export
destinations among developing countries," Nath said. "Indonesia
is our bridge to ASEAN."
Indian companies have invested more than US$2 billion in
Indonesia, Nath said at the business leaders' meeting.
Yudhoyono said Indonesia has been successfully battling terrorism
and has overcome the disastrous effects of the Dec. 26 earthquake
and tsunami. The Indonesian president was to leave for Pakistan
on Thursday.
Green Left Weekly - November 23, 2005
Max Lane -- The Indonesian government's policy, announced last
month, of giving a A$40 handout to people on an income of less
than $25 per month as compensation for rises in fuel prices was
only due to last for a few weeks, yet was supposed to help people
out over a three-month period. The resulting queues for the cash
handouts, attacks on neighbourhood heads for not issuing vouchers
for handouts, and the scramble to be registered as poor to be
eligible for the handouts have faded away. It is not clear
whether there will be another round of handouts in two months'
time.
Yet the impact of the 126% rise in the price of petrol and the
300% rise in the price of kerosene continues to be felt. Both
price increases were urged by the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) and the World Bank. Indonesian newspapers carry daily
reports about the impact on the living conditions of the mass of
the people. There has been no increase in wages to help cover the
17% inflation since the price rises.
According to a spokesperson for the Central Bureau of Statistics
(BPS), 10 million people -- 2.5 million families -- have dropped
below the official poverty line in the course of one month. The
previous poverty line was Rp175,000 ($25) income per month, but
with a 17% inflation rate this has risen to Rp216,000 ($30).
While Rp216,000 is being used as a measure of poverty, the
minimum wage in Jakarta is about to be set at Rp819,100 ($110).
If the handouts to the poor resume in two months, there will be
another few million people eligible. Seventy million people now
qualify in a population of 230 million. Since the scheme began in
October, the BPS says that 10.6 million people have registered
for the handout.
On November 15, the Kompas daily newspaper carried an extensive
report detailing how workers' wages can now be eaten up by
transport costs. In Surabaya, the reports detailed, 50% of wages
could be taken up by transportation. The workers described how
they now had to get off the bus or other public transport half
way to work and walk the remaining kilometers on foot. The same
article reported similar or even worse effects in other cities in
Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan.
Waras Warsito, the West Java deputy chairman of the National
Workers Union, told Kompas that there had been a flood of workers
seeking to borrow money from the factory cooperatives just to buy
daily necessities, which meant that on pay day they ended up with
only half their salary.
Meanwhile, the BPS also announced that unemployment has grown
steadily at 5.5% every year since 1996. Some 1.9 million people
have come onto the labour market every year, unable to find real
work. The National Development Planning Board estimates that
unemployment has been growing at 9.5% annually.
The November 15 Kompas also reported that 4400 workers were laid
off in a Plywood sawmill in East Kalimantan. The same day, the
paper reported that 30,000 workers in an industrial estate in
Medan, North Sumatra, were soon to lose their jobs as the
factories announced they would have to close down due to the
increase in fuel prices and the electricity shortage.
On November 17, Kompas reported that another 20,000 workers were
laid off in the finishing industry as 200 tuna fishing ships were
stuck in port, their owners no longer able to pay for fuel.
Meanwhile in Banten, West Java, the fisheries department reported
than 19,000 of 26,000 fishers in their region could not afford to
take their boats out. It cost Rp200,000 ($27) for enough petrol
for one trip out and they could only expect to make that amount
in total per trip.
Farmers have also been hit. Kompas reported a case of farmers in
Bekasi, just outside Jakarta, ripping out acres of spinach.
Kompas reported piles of rotting spinach along the roads. The
farmers reported that increases in the price of inputs since the
fuel price rises have meant that it is no longer profitable to
keep the spinach in the ground. Inputs increased drastically,
while the price of spinach fell 75%, farmers told the newspaper.
Aceh
West Papua
Military ties
Human rights/law
Labour issues
Land/rural issues
War on terror
Government/civil service
Regional/communal conflicts
Environment
Health & education
Business & investment
Opinion & analysis
News & issues
India, Indonesia to forge strategic ties
10 million drop below 'poverty line'
Residents protest road access to Catholic school
Jakarta Post - November 23, 2005
Multa Fidrus and Abdul Khalik, Tangerang/Jakarta -- Although the road access to Sang Timur Catholic school in Karang Tengah, Tangerang regency, has again been blockaded by protesting local residents, students keep coming to school.
As their cars cannot reach the school, parents have to drop off their children on the main road and let them to walk to school.
"Our children have to walk at least 500 meters to reach the school as no cars can enter the school from Jl. Raden Saleh. They have to walk along a small path to get to the school," Hillon Goa, one of parents, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Most students, he said, do not mind walking that far but many of them have disabilities. "The school has autistic students, who find it hard to reach the school. Their parents have to accompany them every day as they panic easily," Hillon said.
Several residents of Karang Tengah housing complex have blocked the 100-meter long and four-meter wide road which is still under construction since Sunday morning. The residents blocked the road that leads to the school by building zinc fences to separate it from the main road, Jl. Raden Saleh.
They also put a banner that reads: Local residents support the closure of the road access. The residents were protesting the construction of the road, arguing that the school's management Karya Sang Timur Foundation had no right to be granted a permit from the administration to acquire land in the area and to construct its own road access.
"We were not informed about this at all... The foundation claimed it had obtained approval from the Tangerang municipal administration," said Laman, head of community unit No. 13 in the housing complex.
The residents are refusing to remove the zinc fence until the administration provides an explanation.
The residents blockaded two roads to the school on Oct. 3 last year and built a concrete wall in front of the school's main gate, saying that they were disturbed by the presence of the cars taking up the road when the car owners attended religious services held at the school for the local Saint Bernadette parish.
The residents, backed by other religious groups, shifted their demands to the closure of the school, that has been in existence for 12 years, which they said had violated the use permit of the building as it was used as a place of worship.
The administration demolished the wall on Oct. 25, but locals continued to prevent cars from passing through the neighborhood to reach the school, forcing 2,417 students -- including 137 autistic and mentally disabled children -- to stay at home.
The parents' forum urged Mayor Wahidin Halim to take immediate measures to ensure that their children can study in peace.
The closure made headlines last year, attracting attention from many parties, including religious leaders, the National Commission on Human Rights as well as the National Commission for Child Protection.
Former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid even visited the school and held an audience with the residents, but tension remains in the neighborhood.
Wahidin decided in November last year to assist the school's management to acquire land for road access, realizing that it would be difficult to persuade locals to sell part of their land for the purpose "because the case, which was related to the use of neighborhood streets has been linked with religious issues... the residents have been provoked, and the problem has become more difficult to solve".
Jakarta Post - November 19, 2005
Evi Mariani, Jakarta -- An online, global sex survey carried out by condom manufacturer Durex revealed that 31 percent of the Indonesian respondents said they wish to have sex more frequently, while only 34 percent of the total 1,112 respondents said they are happy with their sex lives.
This year is the first time the annual Durex Global Survey has invited Indonesian respondents. The survey attracted 1,112 Indonesians, of whom 923 were male and 189 female, all between 16 and 55 years old.
Durex has carried out the survey nine times, the last four of which were online through its website www.durex.com. The number of global respondents this year was 317,000 from 41 countries.
The Indonesian respondents claimed to have sex once every four to five days, or an average 77 times annually. The number is far below the global average, which is 103 times per year.
Indonesia is among the five nations that are at the bottom of the list. According to the survey, the least amorous lovers are Japanese, making love only 45 times a year, followed by Singapore (73), India (75), Indonesia (77), and Hong Kong (78). The Greeks top the list at 138, followed by Croatians (134).
The survey also revealed that for Indonesian respondents, voluptuous actress Sarah Azhari is the sexiest woman here.
The average age of the first sexual experience for Indonesians is 19.1 years of age, above the global average of 17.3. Indonesia took third position after India (19.8) and Vietnam (19.6). Apart from the bedroom, Indonesians said they preferred toilets (38 percent) as a place to have sex, as well as cars (35).
To enhance their sexual appetite, 44 percent of Indonesian respondents said the used pornography; 33 percent said they possessed erotic literature.
Indonesia, with an average 5.1 partners, was fifth from the bottom in terms of sexual partners respondents have in their lifetime. Immediately following Indonesia are Hong Kong (3.7 partners), Vietnam (3.2), China (3.1) and, at the bottom, India (3.0).
HIV/AIDS activist Baby Jim Aditya, who spoke during the press conference for the Indonesian survey result, said she suspected the numbers presented by the survey were still too conservative for Indonesia. She said that based on her observations many Indonesians were both promiscuous and hypocritical.
"Once, I was really ashamed when an Australian photographer told me that his Indonesian male friends often invited him to hire prostitutes," she said. "He told me that his Indonesian friends said they didn't like to wear condoms even when having sex with prostitutes," Baby said.
She added that many Indonesian pointed a finger at Westerners, saying that "free sex" was a Western characteristic, while in reality Indonesian people were more promiscuous.
The results of the survey also appear to indicate this hypocrisy. Most Indonesian respondents (39 percent) suggested that developing countries should focus on encouraging people to abstain for sex until marriage.
The average age of first sex, however, is 19.1 -- clearly below the average age of getting married. On top of that, the average number of partners is 5.1 -- clearly far higher than the average number of people getting married during their lifetime.
Baby said that she often gave sex education at respected schools in Jakarta and found that on the face of it students seemed naive. "But once, for example, after giving a one-hour sex education class at a school owned by a religion foundation, I received an SMS (cell phone text message) from a 16 year old boy who asked me about the signs of pregnancy. He was worried about his girlfriend, who claimed to be 'late'," she said.
Later, Baby said, this boy, who had had sex several times with his girlfriend, claimed not to have used condoms and simply "ejaculated on the girlfriend's pubic area".
She insisted that openness between parents and their children was crucial for sex education. Many parents mistakenly thought their children were naive, she added.
Baby lamented that about 50 to 100 people were in two hospitals in Jakarta, suspected of having contracted HIV/AIDS. She called for an end to hypocrisy and suggested parents be more open in discussing sex with their children.
Jakarta Post - November 18, 2005
Fadli, Batam -- A drastic drop in Batam's tourist arrivals in the January-October period has forced dozens of entertainment establishments, such as karaoke and massage parlors, to close down. Based on data from the Batam Tourism Office, tourist arrivals started decreasing after the government started to crack down on gambling activities few months ago. Batam's 2005 target for tourist arrivals is 1.5 million.
Casinos indirectly contributed much to tourism on the island by attracting visitors from nearby Singapore on weekends. The considerable drop in the number of tourists to Batam can be seen in 2004's figure of 1,527,216 arrivals, in which from January to October the number stood at 1,271,948, compared to 870,356 in the same period in 2005, a deficit of 402,583 tourists, which has had an adverse effect on the entertainment industry.
The situation was different between 2001 to 2004, during which the number of foreign tourists visiting Batam was on an upward trend. In 2001, Batam recorded 1,145,578 foreign arrivals, in 2002 foreign arrivals numbered 1,101,208, 2003 it was 1,277,098 and in 2004 the number reached 1,527,216 tourists.
Over the past few months 10 of the 40 karaoke halls registered at the Batam Tourism Office have closed down, as have a number of massage parlors, both of which contribute significantly to revenue from tourism, mostly derived from Singaporeans who visited on weekends.
The head of the Tourist Attractions and Service Department of the Batam Tourism Office, Saad, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that the drop in the number of tourists and the impact from the closure of entertainment centers on Batam also negatively affected Batam municipality's tax revenue from the tourist sector.
In 2004, tax collected from tourism amounted to Rp 472.7 million. From January to October 2004, tax revenue stood at Rp 401.1 million. It dropped 15 percent this year to Rp 341.7 million. This year's targeted Rp 450 million is unlikely to be reached.
According to Saad, decreasing foreign arrivals to Batam and the consequent impact on the entertainment sector is due to the crackdown on gambling activities across the nation, which began in July at the instruction of the then new National Police chief, Gen. Sutanto.
Despite poker machines being classified as gambling equipment and therefore illegal by law, the Batam municipality had issued 3,800 permits for poker machines and 90 amusement business licenses.
Foreign tourists, especially from Singapore, used to travel to Batam to gamble and also proved a boon to the karaoke and massage centers, some of which also had sex workers on their premises, which was a further attraction.
The absence of customers could be seen at the entertainment hub in Nagoya. Normally, the place would be packed with foreign tourists patronizing karaoke, massage parlors and other entertainment centers until 3 a.m. These days, however, the area is quiet by 11 p.m.
Only a few bars in the Harmoni Batam shopping complex, where Western expatriates hang out, are busy until 1 a.m., but fewer Westerners visit Batam than Singaporeans.
| Aceh |
Fpdra.org - November 23, 2005
Ilyas, Langsa -- Because the normative and other rights employees have not been accommodated by the leadership board of the Langsa City branch of the All Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI), scores of Langsa SPSI members held a demonstration and issued a motion of no confidence in the SPSI leadership.
During the action -- which proceeded peacefully at the SPSI offices in Langsa on Jalan A Yani on Monday November 21 -- the demonstrators were received directly by the head of the leadership board, Nasrul Haida, and a number of other board members.
Also present were the head of the Langsa sectoral police Iptu Jufriadi R, a representative from the Langsa labour office Mukhtar, and the Langsa sub-district head T Muldisyah. During the action, the employees declared their mistrust in the SPSI leadership board and moved a motion of no confidence against Haida.
According to the employees, the leadership board has been unable to fight for many of the members' rights and they even feel as is they are children who have lost their parents.
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Jakarta Post - November 23, 2005
Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh -- Antigraft activists have criticized members of the Aceh and Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) as "overpaid and underachieving".
"The salary of the BRR chairman is higher than the President's. It is also higher than the salary of the Corruption Eradication Commission chief, who does a lot more work," Akhiruddin Wahyuddin, coordinator of the Aceh Anticorruption Movement (Gerak), said here on Tuesday.
According to Gerak, BRR chairman Kuntoro Mangkusubroto's monthly take-home pay is Rp 75 million (US$7,500). His deputy is paid Rp 62.5 million and other top executives receive Rp 35 million a month. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's monthly salary, according to the corruption watchdog, is about Rp 62.7 million.
"Allocating that much money for BRR staff is insulting. So many Acehnese are still living in refugee tents (following the Dec. 26 tsunami)," Akhiruddin said.
He said the BRR's total budget of Rp 3.9 trillion came from an interest moratorium on Indonesia's debts to donor countries. "That money should be used for tsunami victims," Akhiruddin said, calling the salaries being paid to BRR executives "another form of legalized theft of public funds".
Gerak also criticized the large budget allocation for housing for BRR officials, which the group said amounted to Rp 440 million per year for the chairman, his deputies and secretary.
Gerak demanded that the BRR and the House of Representatives review the agency's budget, and urged the agency to be more transparent in managing its budget.
BRR deputy head for communications and information Sudirman Said welcomed the criticism, but said the budget allocations cited by the group were not final. "The President has yet to approve (the budget)," Sudirman said, adding that high salaries were a good way to prevent officials from becoming involved in corruption.
The agency has been criticized at home and abroad for the slow pace of reconstruction in Aceh, which was devastated by the Dec. 26 tsunami that left over 200,000 people dead or missing.
Aceh Kita - November 22, 2005
Imran MA, Eastern Aceh -- On Monday November 21, Muhammad Nurdin (43), a resident of the Buket Paka village who has been a member of the Rantau Peureulak sub-district Red White Militia (Laskar Merah Putih, LMP) in Eastern Aceh, surrendered a hand grenade to a former member of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for the Peureulak region.
The grenade was surrendered at around 10am in the village of Blang Baroem and received directly by Teungku Zakaria, the GAM commander for the Nurul A'la region (sagoe), sub-district Rantau Peureulak.
Speaking to journalists, Nurdin said that his motivation for surrendering the grenade to a GAM member was not because of pressure by anyone. "Purely because [I] see that GAM and the TNI [Indonesian military] are already at peace. So this weapon is no longer need", he said.
Nurdin admitted that the grenade was a gift from a TNI member and combat Babinsa [non-commissioned military officer posted in villages and wards] that was under the control of the operational unit (BKO) of the Rantau Peureulak sub-district military command headquarters of Eastern Aceh.
It was not just Nurdin that was given grenades by TNI soldiers at that time. Three other friends of his, Irwan Alamsyah (the commander of LMP), Piyus Zainuddin alias Wak Itam (a resident of Buket Pala) and Alaidin Ansyar (a resident of Pasir Putih), were also given grenades by the TNI. "They were given [to us] to safeguard ourselves. I have never used it", admitted Nurdin.
Husband to Susilawati, he joined LMP because he was enticed by a wage of 400,000 rupiah per month. During this time he was also active in hunting down GAM members. One of the spectacular actions undertaken by LMP was taking the family of a GAM guerrilla hostage after a local resident was taken hostage.
Handed over to AMM
Former GAM spokesperson for Peureulak, Tjut Kafrawi, appealed to the LMP members and other fronts formed to hunt down GAM members to surrender their weapons to the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM).
Lhokseumawe AMM member Hughes Brian Joseph arrived at the location where the grenade was surrendered at around 3pm along with two other AMM members. GAM handed Nurdin and the grenade over to Joseph.
According to Joseph, the AMM will inform the AMM's TNI representative and the AMM's central office in Banda Aceh about the grenade. Following this he said, it would be destroyed. [dzie]
[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski.]
Reuters - November 22, 2005
Jakarta -- Former rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province successfully ended the third round of a weapons handover on Tuesday after struggling to surrender enough arms that met the criteria of international peace monitors.
Juri Laas, a spokesman for the European-led Aceh Monitoring Mission overseeing a landmark peace pact, said former rebels handed in 57 weapons on Tuesday and monitors accepted all but one piece. "It means the third phase has been completed," he said.
Under the August 15 peace deal, the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has to give up 840 functional weapons to monitors by the year-end during four phases. In turn, Indonesia, which had 30,000 soldiers and 15,000 policemen in Aceh before the truce, is required to trim its forces to no more than 14,700 soldiers and 9,100 police.
GAM was 44 weapons short of the 210 target under the third round deadline late last week, forcing an extension.
Indonesia's military began pulling more soldiers out of Aceh on Saturday under the third stage of the pact, which ended a three- decade war between the government and separatists that killed 15,000 people, mainly civilians.
The military has said 5,700 soldiers and 1,350 policemen would leave the province on the northern tip of Sumatra island by Friday under the third withdrawal stage.
During the first two phases of decommissioning, GAM surrendered a total of 570 weapons. Of these, 424 were accepted by both monitors and the government. A further 52 weapons were accepted by monitors but are still disputed by Jakarta, the monitors have said.
GAM and Indonesia's government signed the peace pact after months of negotiation spurred by the December 26 tsunami that smashed into Indian Ocean coastlines. That disaster left around 170,000 Acehnese dead or missing, and put pressure on the two sides to end their conflict.
Associated Press - November 20, 2005
Lhokseumawe -- Indonesia pulled out more than 2,000 troops from Aceh province Saturday after the rebels handed over weapons as part of a peace deal to end 29 years of fighting, the province's military chief said.
Under a peace accord signed in August, separatist rebels agreed to hand over all of their self-declared 840 weapons by year's end, and the government promised to withdraw 24,000 troops from the province.
A total of 2,052 rifle-wielding troops from two infantry battalions left Krueng Geukueh sea port in Aceh on board two navy warships that would take them to bases in West and Central Java provinces, said Maj. Gen. Supiadin Aries Saputra, the military chief in Aceh.
The rebels have already handed in 570 weapons, while Saturday's departure brought to 17,696 the number of government troops that have pulled out from the tsunami-ravaged region.
Peace efforts picked up speed after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck the area on Dec. 26, 2004, killing 131,000 people in the province and leaving half a million others homeless. Three earlier attempts have failed to end the Aceh war, which has claimed 15,000 lives.
Jakarta Post - November 17, 2005
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta -- The Aceh provincial legislative council has completed drafting a new bill on the governing of Aceh, which would allow former rebels to set up local political parties that could participate in next year's election of top local administration officials.
Azhari Bashar, chairman of the Aceh provincial legislature's special committee preparing the draft legislation, said here on Wednesday that the draft, which had undergone four revisions, would be brought to a plenary session for approval before it was forwarded to the central government.
"We are racing against time to have it enacted in March, 2006, as is stipulated in the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), as local elections to choose a new governor, and new regents and mayors are scheduled to be held in April, 2006, under the new legislation," he said after a meeting to discuss the bill with the Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia.
The historic peace agreement between the central government and GAM, signed in Finland on Aug. 15, reads as following: "A new Law on the Governing of Aceh will be promulgated and will enter into force as soon as possible and not later than 31 March 2006." Another part of the MOU states that the central government will facilitate the establishment of Aceh-based political parties, a crucial condition that would help ensure the political representation of former GAM members, and thus sustain the long awaited peace accord that aims to end the three-decades long conflict in Aceh, which killed over 10,000 people.
Elsewhere, Azhari said that the final draft of the legislation would be handed over to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono this month in the hope that the government would submit it to the House of Representatives next month.
He added that the draft bill already covered all elements in Aceh, as well as the Indonesian Military and National Police.
The bill's content is similar to that of Law No. 18/2001 on special autonomy for Aceh, except as regards local political parties. The bill provides that groups of 50 Acehnese people, 30 percent of whom are women, will be allowed to set up local parties to contest the elections.
The ideology and objectives of the local parties must be in line with the Pancasila state ideology and the 1945 Constitution, and their general goals should be to develop democracy.
To be eligible to stand in an election, the bill requires a local party to have branches and officers in at least 50 percent of the regencies and subdistricts in Aceh, have its own name, symbol and picture that differ from those of other parties, and have a permanent address in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
"As citizens having equal rights before the law, ex-members of GAM will be allowed to set up local political parties as long as they meet all administrative and official requirements," said Azhari. He added that under the new law, the authorities would take repressive action against all forms of separatist movement in the future.
Azhari also said that despite the tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people last December, the situation in Aceh was gradually returning to normal following the signing of the peace pact.
"There have been no more gunfights and people here are no longer afraid to go out at night thanks to the ongoing disarmament of the rebels and the pullout of combat forces from the province. The reintegration of the ex-rebels into society is already underway. Now, the Acehnese people are waiting for the new legislation and to establish a new administration democratically," he said.
Fpdra.org - November 14, 2005
Alisa P, Banda Aceh -- The composition of the draft law on the organisation of a government for Aceh as mandated by the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) should not be a revision of the special autonomy law (Otsus) or Law Number 18/2001. This was conveyed by the chairperson of the Acehnese Popular Democratic Resistance Front (FPDRA), Thamrin Ananda, in Banda Aceh on Monday November 14.
The draft of the law, which has been tendered by the regional government, and even parties, who call themselves civil society, is still strikingly similar to what is in the special autonomy law. Ananda explained that it appears from the draft that they are not composing a new draft but only revising the special autonomy law by adding points that are found in the MoU.
Furthermore said Ananda, the points in the draft are crammed with political nuance and if the if the draft is left as is then the desire to resolve the Aceh conflict permanently will face obstacles. It should be that with the MoU which mandates the formulation of a new legislation, that the special autonomy law be thrown into the rubbish bag beforehand. All of the undemocratic points and those which have the impression of serving the political interests of the past such as the implementation of Islamic law, should not be included in a future law on a government for Aceh. This is because the Aceh problem is not a problem of Islamic law.
"I therefore suggest that the legislation must contain crucial points in order to bring prosperity to the Acehnese people, such as the points on opening up job opportunities in the industrial sector as well as the agricultural sector. In addition to this, in order to be able support these two points, there must be an improvement in human resources though quality and free education for the people, the same is the case for healthcare. Other points which are extremely important are the existence of a committee to control the implementation of the law on a government for Aceh or what is often referred to as an Ombudsman", explained Ananda.
[Translated by James Balowski.]
| West Papua |
Green Left Weekly - November 23, 2005.
Doug Lorimer -- The Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) has called on the Australian government to follow the Dutch government's example and commission a study into Australia's involvement in the 1969 UN-organised "act of free choice" in West Papua.
In 1961, Indonesian troops began invading the Dutch colony of Nieuw Guinea (now called West Papua), which the Netherlands had decided in 1952 to make fully independent by 1970. Behind the scenes, the United States forced the Netherlands to surrender West Papua to Indonesian rule in August 1962. The Australian government, which previously had been a supporter of West Papuan independence, reversed its policy and supported Indonesia annexation.
Only 1022 hand-picked voters -- out of 700,000 West Papuans -- were allowed by Indonesia to vote in the 1969 UN-supervised ballot, and under coercion, they voted for West Papua to remain under Indonesian rule.
On November 17, the Dutch government released a 740-page study, An Act of Free Choice, based on five years of research by Dutch author Pieter Drooglever. The government-commissioned study concludes that "The Act of Free Choice ended up as a sham... A press-ganged electorate acting under a great deal of pressure appeared to have unanimously declared itself in favour of Indonesia."
In a media release issued the next day, Joe Collins of AWPA said: "The Australian government should follow the Dutch government's example and commission a study into our own involvement in this so called 'act of free choice'." Collins noted that in the then- Australian administered colony of Papua New Guinea, Australian officials removed two West Papuan leaders, Clemens Runawery and Willem Zonggonao, from a plane just weeks before the UN- supervised vote in West Papua at the request of Indonesia. The two leaders were on their way to New York to lobby the UN on behalf of the West Papuan people and were carrying testimonies from many West Papuan leaders calling for independence.
He said one way that "the Australian government could make up for its past mistakes in relation to West Papua, is by using its influence with the Indonesian government to help facilitate talks between the Indonesian government and the West Papuan leadership to help solve the many issues of concern in the territory".
Jakarta Post - November 23, 2005
Manokwari, West Irian Jaya -- The West Irian Council insisted on Monday that the province should be allowed to hold regional elections on Nov. 28 as planned, saying that there was no legal basis to postpone them. "No matter what happens, we will still hold the poll. There is no constitutional reason to postpone it," said Council Speaker Jimmy Idjie.
Jimmy said that based on articles 148 and 149 of Government Regulation No. 6/2005 on regional elections in West Irian Jaya, elections can only be postponed in the wake of a natural disaster or conflict.
The central government split Papua into two provinces in 2003, creating West Irian Jaya province, a move criticized by many in Papua. Several leading Papuan figures demanded on Monday that the central government postpone the planned regional election in West Irian Jaya. Relevant ministers are scheduled to meet with leading Papua and West Irian Jaya figures on Thursday in Jakarta to seek a solution to the issue.
Associated Press - November 18, 2005
Jakarta -- Indonesia dismissed Friday a Dutch parliament- commissioned study that cast doubt on the legality of its rule in the province of Papua, saying the report's "substance was no longer relevant."
"The status of Papua as an integral part of Indonesia has already been recognized by the world, including the Netherlands itself," said Yuri Thamrin, a spokesman for Indonesia's Foreign Ministry. When Indonesia proclaimed independence from the Netherlands in August 1945, it declared Papua as its territory although the region on the western half of New Guinea island was still under Dutch rule.
After a spate of military clashes, the two countries agreed in 1962 to place Papua under UN rule. The UN was to have organized a democratic referendum on self-determination for all Papuans in 1969, but it quickly relinquished the territory to Jakarta.
The Indonesian authorities then polled 1,022 hand-picked representatives on behalf of the population of about 700,000 people. They called the vote "the Act of Free Choice."
On Tuesday, Dutch historian Pieter Drooglever issued a report on the process, which was commissioned by parliament in 1999. In the report, he called the vote a "sham."
"A press-ganged electorate acting under a great deal of pressure appeared to have unanimously declared itself in favor of Indonesia," he wrote in a summary of the report.
Thamrin dismissed the report, saying "such a study just has academic worth but its substance is no longer relevant."
Theo Sambuaga, chairman of the Indonesian parliament's commission on foreign affairs, said he was confident "the Dutch government will not be influenced by the study."
Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot was reported to have dismissed the report as "superfluous." Papua is currently home to a small separatist army that launches periodic attacks on Indonesian security forces, which have been accused for years of human rights abuses. Its population is chiefly Christian or animist, unlike mostly Muslim Indonesia.
Jakarta Post - November 19, 2005
Ivy Susanti, Jakarta/Jayapura -- The government plays down the controversial study by Dutch historian Prof. Pieter Drooglever on 1969 vote in Papua, saying that his report was purely academic.
"We view the report as an academic study which is no different from other studies on Papua," Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Yuri Oktavian Thamrin said.
He said that the Dutch government, despite commissioning the study, apparently did not give much support to the idea that Indonesia had orchestrated the vote which saw Papua's integration to Indonesia.
"The Dutch government recognizes Papua as part of Indonesia. That's why the substance of the study has no legal or political relevance to the facts," Yuri said on Friday.
Professor Pieter Drooglever from the Institute of Netherlands History in his new book, Een Daad van Vrije Keuze (An Act of Free Choice), detailed how the Indonesian government rigged the vote by more than 1,000 Papuan tribal leaders who supposedly represented the territory's population of 700,000.
Meanwhile, Papuans supporting the movement for the separation of the province from Indonesia demanded on Thursday the United Nations review the controversial vote.
Meanwhile, Amris Hassan, a deputy of the House of Representatives Commission I on foreign affairs, said the government must be prepared to counter such a finding with solid arguments and to establish lobby groups to stop it from becoming an international issue.
Such a finding was evidence that separatist movements in Papua were still up and running, Amris said.
"The fuss is no longer about the decolonization of Papua, but the referendum. And these separatists continue to spread the issue through the United Nations, foreign organizations and churches. We should be careful because we cannot stop them," he said.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) legislator emphasized that quick and effective lobbying should begin at the UN and in influential countries to keep the issue from blowing up.
Fadel Al Hamid, the secretary of the Papua Tribal Council, a non-governmental organization, which has often acted to oppose the government, said that the new finding should open the way for a resumption of dialogue between the central government and the Papuan people.
"The Indonesian government has always said that the integration of Papua into the Indonesian territory is final, but (some) Papuan people think there was manipulation in the vote that led to the integration. The emergence of a third party with a new scientific finding, should provide a bridge for the two opposing camps," he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
He added that the Dutch government could also become a mediator for talks between the Indonesian government and the Papuan people.
Jakarta Post - November 18, 2005
Jakarta -- Papuan people gave mixed reactions on Thursday to a Dutch government-commissioned study that found the 1969 vote on their territory's incorporation into Indonesia to be a "sham".
Papuan students and others supporting the province's separation from Indonesia staged a protest to urge the United Nations to review the controversial vote. Pro-integration supporters, however, refrained from holding a counter demonstration.
Pieter J. Drooglever, a professor from the Institute of Netherlands History, launched on Nov. 15 in the Hague his 740- page book Een Daad van Vrije Keuze (An Act of Free Choice) which depicted how the Indonesian government rigged the vote by more than 1,000 Papuans supposedly representing the territory's population of 700,000.
Papua, which was not included in the sovereignty agreement with Indonesia after World War II, was to be ruled by the UN (UNTEA) until a free and fair popular vote was held.
Drooglever, who conducted the five-year study of the integration process at the request of the Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry, concluded that Jakarta manipulated the vote to show the world that Papuan people were in favor of joining Indonesia.
Hundreds of Papuan students in South Sulawesi staged a demonstration in the provincial capital of Makassar on Thursday, demanding that the Indonesian government, the United Nations and the Netherlands review the contentious vote.
In a speech at the city's Mandala Monument, protest leader Buchtar said that a new vote involving all Papuan people should be held to determine the territory's future.
"Besides, 59 years after the illegal integration, Papuan people are treated as second-class citizens and abused while their natural resources are being looted," he said as quoted by Antara.
Meanwhile, Jan J. Ayomi, a regional representative from Papua, called on all sides in the province not to be influenced by the Drooglever study as it could have wide-ranging adverse consequences for the province's future.
"It is the right of all people to access information on Papua, including a book that rewrites (the history) of the province's integration into Indonesia. But all sides should stay calm and should not launch any moves as the book sets out the findings of an academic study and does not represent a political movement to fight for Papua's independence," he said.
He said the Indonesian government and Papuan people should accept the study but stressed that it was no longer relevant to question the integration. "Of most importance is that the government does not repeat its mistakes... it has to give more attention to improving the Papuan people's welfare under special autonomy," Jan said.
The government, which has long been under fire for human rights abuses and seemingly ad hoc policies in Papua, has yet to give an official response to the book.
The Dutch government presented the study's findings to parliament on Tuesday and, in an accompanying letter, called it "the results of an academic study that represents an additional contribution to our history and the events surrounding the Act of Free Choice."
Hans van Baalen, a member of the Dutch parliament, said here recently that the Drooglever study had no political implications for Papua's status as the territory's integration into Indonesia was final. The United States government also recently removed the question of Papua from the State Department appropriations bill after it had been raised by the Black Caucus in the House of Representatives. The bill asked the US State Department to look into the 1969 vote and the implementation of special autonomy in Indonesia's easternmost province.
Tempo Interactive - November 17, 2005
Lita Oetomo, Jakarta/Jayapura -- The Papuan People's Council has threatened to reinstate demands for special autonomy if the Government delays the election of regional heads in West Irian Jaya scheduled for 28 November. The Council believes the election contravenes Government Ruling Number 54/2004 regarding the Papuan People's Council.
Head of the Council, Agus Alue Alua explained that section 73 of the ruling states that the Council in concert with the Government and the Papuan People's Representative Council as the mother province assist the Government to put an end to flourishing regional problems, which existed before the ruling was issued, at the very least, six months after the swearing in of the Council members.
"That means, the execution of the election for regional heads in West Irian Jaya has to wait for the work plan issued by the Council, the Governor and the Papuan People's Representative Council," said Agus. The work plan then needs to be approved by the President and the People's Representative Council.
All 42 members of the Council were elected on 31 October and on 11 November began the [first] sitting of Parliament. "The Minister for Internal Affairs has reneged the authority granted by President and denies taking such action," said Agus. The Council is very disappointed in the Minister for Internal Affairs' decision to delay elections for regional heads in West Irian Jaya scheduled for 28 November.
The West Irian Jaya province is the result of the division of Papua. This spilt has elicited pro and contra views among the Papuan people. Papuan officials, including Governor J.P.Solossa, do not agree with the split. This pro-contra divide has played a role in influencing preparations for the election of regional heads in West Irian Jaya.
However those who are 'pro' want the election of regional heads to take place immediately. Head of the West Irian People's Council, Jimmy Deminasus Ijie even wanted the election to take place on 20 October. The reason being, the Papuan People's Council is already formed and several stages of the election, such as campaigning has already past. "All that remains is to vote," he said last month.
| Military ties |
Associated Press - November 23, 2005
Chris Brummitt, Jakarta -- Indonesia welcomed a US decision to lift a six-year arms embargo to help the mostly Muslim nation fight terrorism, but human rights groups said Wednesday it betrayed victims of military brutality.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a US-educated former general, said the move represented "a new chapter" in relations between the two countries, and would enable Indonesia to modernize its aging military inventory.
The Bush administration had long wanted to lift the arms embargo, imposed in 1999 after troops ravaged East Timor during the territory's break from Jakarta, but was stymied by US lawmakers demanding the military undertake meaningful reform. Citing national security concerns, the State Department used recently granted powers to waive the restrictions.
"Indonesia plays a unique strategic role in Southeast Asia... and is a voice of moderation in the Islamic world," spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement Tuesday explaining the decision.
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation and is seen by Washington as a key ally in the war on terror. Al-Qaida-linked militants have launched a series of deadly bombings on Western targets since 2002, including suicide attacks last month on three crowded restaurants on Bali island that killed 20 people.
But analysts say the decision to lift the embargo may also reflect Washington's desire to boost its influence in Southeast Asia to counterbalance China's growing economic and strategic clout.
"This is a profoundly disappointing and sad day for human rights protections everywhere," said John Miller from the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network. "With the stroke of a pen... President Bush betrayed the untold tens of thousands of victims of the Indonesian military's brutality."
Parts of the embargo had already been lifted -- chiefly a small officer-training program -- but until Tuesday lethal weapons could still not be sold to Indonesia.
McCormack said the administration planned to help modernize the Indonesian military and support US and Indonesian security objectives, including counterterrorism, but that Washington "remained committed to pressing for accountability for past human rights abuses."
Moves to restore ties received a boost after the December tsunami, which killed 130,000 people on Indonesia's Sumatra Island. The US and Indonesian militaries worked together to deliver aid to victims.
"We welcome this opportunity to work with the United States again," Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono told The Associated Press on an official visit to India.
Yudhoyono, who was elected a year ago in the country's first ever direct elections for head of state, has visited Washington twice to lobby for a full lifting of the ban.
Critics say that the Indonesian police -- not the military -- should be responsible for fighting terror, and that the embargo was a valuable tool in leveraging Indonesia.
The military has long been accused of human rights violations in the course of putting down separatist insurgencies in far-flung regions of the sprawling archipelago.
While Jakarta did hold trials for some of those accused in the East Timor violence, 16 of the 18 government and military officials involved were acquitted. That sparked outrage among Western governments and rights groups who labeled the rights court a failure.
The US and Indonesian militaries had close ties during the three-decade rule of former dictator Suharto, whose regime collapsed in 1998 amid riots and an economic meltdown, ushering in democracy.
Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975 and the subsequent 24-year occupation is blamed for the deaths of 200,000 people -- a third of the population. Anti-insurgent activities in the eastern province of Papua since 1969 are believed to have caused the deaths of more than 100,000 people.
Sydney Morning Herald - November 24, 2005
Mark Forbes in Denpasar and agencies -- The US has restored military ties with Indonesia, lifting a 13-year ban imposed due to human rights violations, stating the relationship was of the "utmost importance" in the fight against terrorism.
The move is a coup for the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and will be welcomed by Australia. The Howard Government has gradually rebuilt ties, severed after an Indonesian military-backed campaign of murder and destruction against East Timorese independence supporters in 1999. It lobbied the US to do the same, claiming the move would increase regional security.
Next year, Australia's SAS will begin training with Indonesia's feared Kopassus troops, who have been accused of numerous human rights violations.
In a statement authorised by the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, a spokesman said restrictions on arms sales, military links and defence assistance would be waived in the interests of national security.
"The Administration considers the relationship between the United States and Indonesia, the world's third-largest democracy, to be of the utmost importance," Sean McCormack said.
Indonesia played a unique strategic role in South-East Asia and was a voice of moderation in the Islamic world, he said. "Indonesia has made significant progress in advancing its democratic institutions and practices in a relatively short time."
The US would help modernise Indonesia's military to support American security objectives, Mr McCormack said.
"The US remains committed to pressing for accountability for past human rights abuses, and US assistance will continue to be guided by Indonesia's progress on democratic reform and accountability."
State Department officials portrayed the move as a reward for the most populous Muslim nation's co-operation against al-Qaeda- linked militants.
Human rights groups condemned the policy shift, saying Indonesia had done little to punish offenders for the violence in East Timor. The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network said the US was supporting "an unreformed military which remains above the law".
Less than two weeks ago the US Congress had requested real improvements in military reform, human rights protections, and accountability for crimes against humanity before military links were boosted. "Secretary Rice has completely undermined that message," the group's statement said.
The US bans were imposed in 1992, after a massacre of Timorese protesters in Dili. They were tightened seven years later, when the military tried to prevent East Timor's people voting to split from Indonesia.
The decision will provide an immediate boost to Indonesia's military. Bans on providing spare parts for its fleet of F-16 fighters have kept most of the aircraft grounded. Earlier this year, the US agreed to allow exports of non-lethal military equipment and revive a small military training program.
Dr Yudhoyono, a US-trained former general and Indonesia's first directly elected president, lobbied Washington for full ties to be restored during a visit in May.
The FBI has been helping Indonesia in its hunt for Jemaah Islamiah terrorists behind a spate of bombings, including the two attacks on Bali.
Reuters - November 23, 2005
Telly Nathalia and Dean Yates, Jakarta -- Indonesia has welcomed the resumption of military relations with the United States while human rights groups expressed concern and said monitoring of the armed forces would need to be tightened.
The United States restored military ties on Tuesday with the world's most populous Muslim nation as a reward for Jakarta's cooperation in the war on terrorism, US State Department officials said.
"We certainly warmly welcome this decision, whatever the reason is," Abdul Azis Manaf, a spokesman for the Indonesian Defense Ministry, said on Wednesday.
The Indonesian military was unable to comment yet because it was waiting for a more formal announcement from the US government, possibly from President George W. Bush, a spokesman said. He did not elaborate.
Washington cut back military ties after Indonesian troops shot at demonstrators in East Timor in 1991, killing dozens, when the tiny territory was ruled by Jakarta.
Ties were severed after pro-Jakarta militias backed by elements in the military sacked East Timor in 1999 when the territory voted for independence. The United Nations estimates the militias killed around 1,000 Timorese.
Washington's move comes despite objections from rights groups who say Jakarta has done too little to reform the military and bring it under civilian control since the downfall of the military- backed regime of ex-autocrat Suharto in 1998.
Zamrotin Susilo, deputy chairman of Indonesia's National Human Rights Commission, expressed concern that weapons bought from the United States could be used against civilians. "What is important is to be on guard against the experiences of the past, where weapons were used to violate human rights abuses," he said.
Ken Conboy, an expert on the Indonesian military, said the armed forces, known as TNI, would be pleased with the decision. He said because of financial constraints, Jakarta's generals would seek military aid for purchases and especially training.
"TNI has wanted this for a while. They wanted to escape their pariah status," he said. "There is a whole bunch of places you can go to buy hardware these days, but with the Cold War over people aren't giving friendship prices and Indonesia doesn't have the money for the high-ticket items that it once did," he said.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a former general, and the country's military chief, both received training in the United States. The United States has also traditionally been a major supplier of arms and fighter planes to Indonesia.
US officials on Tuesday defended Washington's decision, saying Indonesia had made greater efforts to bring justice for the violence in East Timor and had improved the country's democratic credentials and human rights record.
They also said that while the decision allowed the export of lethal weapons, Washington would be looking at Indonesia's rights record in determining whether to go ahead with sales. "Indonesia is a voice of moderation in the Islamic world," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Straddling vital shipping routes, Indonesia performs a delicate balancing act between Washington and a populace that opposes America's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The decision follows agreements earlier in the year to allow exports of non-lethal equipment and revive a small military training program, known as IMET.
(Additional reporting by Saul Hudson in Washington)
Agence France Presse - November 23, 2005
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono hailed Washington's decision to resume some military aid as marking a new chapter in relations, but other officials and politicians were more cautious.
"This is a new page, a new chapter in the strategic relations between Indonesia and the United States which have since 1999 gone through substantial ups and downs in relation to its defence cooperation," Yudhoyono said.
"The essence is that the sanction, or embargo imposed by the United States, has been lifted," the president told ElShinta radio in New Delhi, where he is on an official visit.
Yudhoyono said the US International Military Education and Training (IMET), Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and Foreign Military Financing (FMF) programmes were now "back to normal."
IMET was resumed in February and the decision to resume sales of non-lethal military equipment was taken in May.
In Washington, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Tuesday that resumption of FMF would help anti-terrorism efforts, maritime security and disaster relief. He said the US government planned "to provide assistance for specific military programs and units that will help modernize the Indonesian military."
US military dealings with Indonesia have been restricted since 1991 when Jakarta's forces launched a bloody crackdown on pro- independence protesters in East Timor. Sanctions were tightened after a new wave of violence there in 1999.
"We welcome the decision for the waiver, this is an appreciation of the various progress achieved in Indonesia," said foreign ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin, after studying reports on the US decision.
Other Indonesians were more cautious about the US move. The military said it would not comment until President George W. Bush presented the proposals to Congress.
MP Joko Susilo, from the parliamentary commission dealing with security affairs, said a complete lifting of the embargo on US military aid and sales of equipment was "more important" than the current waiver.
However, Susilo added that at the least, the decision "is certainly a good indication that the US realizes that there is the goodwill from Indonesia in areas of military reforms and democratization in general."
Bonar Tigor Naipospos, of the East Timor Solidarity (Solidamor) group set up to defend human rights in East Timor, agreed that it was too early for Jakarta to rejoice. "We'll see how Congress reacts to this because many of them deem the Indonesian armed forces have not completely reformed themselves," Naipospos said.
The US decision was taken because Washington realizes it needs Indonesia's help in its global "war on terror", Naipospos said. "They know that Indonesia, as the world's largest Muslim country where many radical Muslim groups reside, can play an important role as important partner for them," he added.
Washington Post - November 23, 2005
Glenn Kessler -- Acting swiftly with new congressional authority, the Bush administration said yesterday that it has restored military ties with Indonesia, formally ending the last of the restrictions imposed after violence in East Timor in 1999.
The Bush administration has taken a number of steps this year to reward Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, for its cooperation in the battle against Islamic extremists. The United States resumed military training in February and sales of "nonlethal" equipment in May. President Bush also issued a statement with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in May that "normal military relations would be in the interest of both countries."
But lawmakers and congressional aides said yesterday they were surprised the State Department eliminated the remaining restrictions barely a week after Congress approved an appropriations bill that gave Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the authority to waive them. One Senate staff member said lawmakers had anticipated a six-to-nine-month deliberative process, during which the administration would use the possibility of a waiver as leverage to extract concessions from Indonesia.
The State Department cited the "national security interests" of the United States as the reason for waiver, noting that Indonesia plays a strategic role in Southeast Asia and is a "voice of moderation in the Islamic world."
"This is an abuse of discretion and an affront to the Congress," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), the author of legislation tying military aid to human rights conditions. "To waive on national security grounds a law that seeks justice for crimes against humanity -- without even obtaining the Indonesian government's assurance that it will address these concerns -- makes a mockery of the process and sends a terrible message. The Indonesians will see it as a clean bill of health."
The restrictions, which affect foreign military financing and sales of lethal items, are largely symbolic; Indonesia currently receives $1 million in military financing for its navy and appears to have no plans to obtain lethal items. State Department officials stressed that the decision does not trigger new assistance and the quality and quantity of any sales will be guided by Indonesia's willingness to address rights concerns.
Human rights experts and congressional aides said the Indian Ocean tsunami, which devastated Indonesia's Aceh region, had helped lessen objections to restoring military ties. Other factors included the government's peace pact with Aceh rebels, counterterrorism cooperation and the fact that the FBI has received renewed cooperation in investigating an ambush in Timika, in Papua, where two Americans were killed.
Jakarta Post - November 21, 2005
Rendi A. Witular, Busan (South Korea) -- President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has met US President George Walker Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks on how to enhance Indonesia's defense capabilities and of ways to contain the bird flu outbreak.
The meetings were held separately on the sidelines of the two-day Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Busan, South Korea, on Saturday.
In a 30-minute meeting with Bush early in the morning, Susilo discussed a plan by the United States to resume full military ties with Indonesia after the US Congress issued a bill to revoke a decades-long arms embargo on Indonesia under certain conditions.
"I am not pleading for a resumption. We deserve it because we have undergone a long (process of) reform in our military, with an emphasis on respecting human rights and democracy," he told a news conference late on Saturday.
The United States scrapped military relations with Indonesia after the 1991 bloody killing of East Timorese demonstrators in the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili.
Under the US Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act 2006 (HR 3057), a foreign military financing program may be made available to assist Indonesia, and licenses may be issued for the export of lethal defense articles for the Indonesian Military (TNI).
However, certain conditions were set for the assistance, including cooperation between the TNI and civilian judicial authorities and international efforts to resolve cases of gross violations of human rights in East Timor and elsewhere.
Indonesia will also be required to implement reforms to improve civilian control over the military.
However, Susilo said Indonesia would no longer rely on just one or two countries for military equipment as it had done for decades. He did not specify to which countries he was referring.
"Past experience shows that relying too much on these kinds of countries creates difficulties. We can't use their equipment at times most needed. But we are not deserting them. We just need to balance the system," he added.
Speaking about his meeting with President Putin later on Saturday, Susilo said that cooperation with Russia in the defense sector should be seriously explored, as Indonesia was seeking alternative suppliers of military equipment.
The two leaders have agreed to assign officials for intensive negotiations in order to set up a joint production facility for certain sophisticated military equipment in Indonesia.
The two sides are expected to meet twice for negotiations before Susilo visits Russia next year to close several deals in the defense sector and energy.
"Aside from cooperation in the defense industry, President Putin also offered cooperation in the field of military training and exchange of officers," Susilo said, while conveying his amazement at the capability of the Sukhoi fighter jets Indonesia had bought from Russia in 2003.
Susilo and Bush also discussed the role the United States could play in helping Indonesia contain bird flu, and prevent the virus from spreading among humans.
"The discussion with President Bush was very constructive. Among the issues discussed was on the US assistance in providing Indonesia with vaccines and other protective facilities to contain the disease," he added.
The two also discussed the progress of reconstruction in tsunami-stricken Aceh, with Bush asking about details of Indonesia's recent success in sealing a peace deal with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
Bush also reiterated the US stance on supporting the unity of Indonesia, insisting that he would back the country in any way to settle the problem of the separatism movement in Papua province peacefully.
Kyodo News - November 19, 2005
US President George W. Bush and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono agreed Saturday to work toward expanding bilateral military ties, a senior US administration official said.
Bush "is looking forward to finding ways to expand contact and cooperation with Indonesia on all fronts, including military-to- military, and the two presidents talked about how to move forward on that," said Michael Green, senior director for Asian affairs on the White House National Security Council.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of the two-day summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum that just ended in Busan, South Korea. Bush later flew to the US Air Force Osan Air Base outside Seoul to deliver a speech before heading to Beijing.
Briefing reporters en route to Osan, Green said Yudhoyono "made it clear that with more engagement between the militaries, he would be able to bring up more officers like himself, officers who study in the United States and are advocates of change, reform and democracy."
The Indonesian president took part in a training program in the United States during his military service. Bush told Yudhoyono, "We're going to try to move forward on that, based on full consultation with the Congress," Green said.
The United States has been stepping up engagement with Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population, gradually resuming military cooperation severed in reaction to the Indonesian military's alleged involvement in human rights abuses during the process of East Timor's independence in 1999.
Green said the two presidents also talked about cooperation in fighting terrorism, dealing with bird flu, energy and ways to strengthen Indonesia's investment environment.
Yudhoyono gave a "full detailed description" of his efforts for peace in Aceh and Papua, and Bush praised him as "doing a great job" and conveyed his support for "building democracy and fighting terror and strengthening the economy in Indonesia," Green said.
John M. Miller - November 17, 2005
The US annual foreign aid bill, H.R. 3057, is now law. The legislation, signed by President Bush on November 14, continues US restrictions on some forms of military assistance for Indonesia.
Jakarta has reacted to this latest US congressional decision on military aid with bluster and misinformation, as it has done repeatedly with past congressional actions on Indonesia. Some press and government statements have misinterpreted or misreported what has actually passed. Others have mixed up two very different bills.
Many members of Congress believe that the Indonesian military still has a long way to go before it constitutes a professional institution that respects human rights and is fully accountable to civilian authority.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican chair of the Senate Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, recently told Voice of America (VOA) that while Indonesia has made initial steps toward military reform and accountability for human rights violations, she is not "convinced that they're there yet."
Military restrictions
H.R. 3057, officially known as the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2006, continues the ban on grants of military equipment and training through the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program and on licenses for export of "lethal" equipment until certain conditions are met. (An exception is made for a small amount of aid to the Indonesian navy.) These three conditions are similar to those that Congress has imposed since 1999 after the Indonesian military and its militia proxies destroyed East Timor in the wake of that country's independence vote.
Specifically, the bill requires the Secretary of State to certify that "the Indonesian Government is prosecuting and punishing, in a manner proportional to the crime, members of the Armed Forces who have been credibly alleged to have committed gross violations of human rights." Second, that the TNI is "cooperating with civilian judicial authorities and with international efforts to resolve cases of gross violations of human rights in East Timor and elsewhere," and, finally, that "Indonesia is implementing reforms to improve civilian control of the military."
Senator Patrick Leahy, the Democratic ranking member of the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee told the Senate regarding Indonesia, "...one area where there has been no discernable progress is accountability for crimes by the army.... Thousands of innocent people died [in East Timor], and no one has been punished.... How do you prevent future atrocities if you let those who order and commit murder get away with it? What is more fundamental to democracy than justice?... For many years, the Congress has put conditions on US assistance to the Indonesian army. The conditions in our law require nothing more than that the army respect the law..."
West Papua
Despite some assertions to the contrary, none of the congressional conditions pertains to counter-terrorism or the killing of Americans in Timika, West Papua, on a Freeport McMoRan mining road in 2002. In fact, the one condition present in 2005 legislation not included in the 2006 version dealt with certification that Indonesia is cooperating with the "war on terrorism." Rather, congressional negotiators wrote this year that they "are grateful for Indonesia's contributions to the global war on terrorism."
While congressional concern remains about progress in the investigation of the August 2002 Timika killings, no military aid is contingent on this case. Instead, Congress has asked the Department of State for a report on the status of the investigation and Indonesian cooperation in bringing to justice those responsible for that crime.
There has also been confusion about legislation concerning West Papua. In H.R. 3057, Congress has directed the Secretary of State to submit a report on troop deployments and humanitarian and human rights conditions in West Papua and Aceh. An entirely separate bill, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, H.R. 2601, contains language requiring a report, though not any action, on West Papua's Act of Free Choice and on the implementation of special autonomy for that region. The House of Representatives passed its version of H.R. 2601 last July. Therefore, the House language on West Papua still stands. However, it cannot become law until the Senate passes its version of the bill, which has not yet happened. The two versions of the bill must then be reconciled. Because congressional sittings last two years, work can continue on the Foreign Relations Authorization bill in 2006.
Congress has not denied all cooperation with Indonesia' security forces. The US government will continue to heavily fund police training for Indonesia. There are no specific restrictions on Indonesia's participation in the International Military and Education Training (IMET) program. IMET was the first military aid program cut in 1992, following congressional outrage at the November 12, 1991, Santa Cruz massacre, when Indonesian troops wielding US-supplied weapons gunned down peaceful protesters in East Timor. The Indonesian military also remains eligible for a special counter-terrorism training program covered by separate legislation.
Recently, Indonesian officials have said that they will urge President Bush to issue the national security waiver allowed in the law and start the weapons flowing. While the administration can legally do this, it is unlikely to risk the political fallout from such an action
Indonesian officials often speak as if US security assistance should be theirs by right. After well over a decade of restrictions on military aid, it is about time for Indonesia to take Congress at its word and start seriously implementing reforms. It is precisely because of this failure to reform that the partial ban remains in place. Even Pentagon officials acknowledge "that Indonesia has not met the congressional conditions as of now," according to VOA.
Some ways Indonesia could demonstrate genuine progress are by endorsing the UN Commission of Experts' recommendations on justice for crimes against humanity in East Timor; ending the military's territorial role (instead of expanding it); placing the military fully under the defense ministry; and allowing unconditional access to West Papua for humanitarian agencies, the media, and human rights monitors.
[John M. Miller is National Coordinator of the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network.]
| Human rights/law |
Jakarta Post - November 19, 2005
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- Pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, currently on trial for the murder of human rights activist Munir, on Friday gave a different account from his earlier testimony as cited in the indictment. However, judges and prosecutors did little to question why defendant had changed his story.
Munir was found dead on board a Garuda Indonesia flight from Jakarta to the Netherlands on Sept. 7, 2004. A Dutch autopsy found an excessive amount of arsenic in his body.
The indictment said Pollycarpus recognized Munir as "someone who caused problems in the implementation of his own programs to support the Unitary State of Indonesia". An earlier team investigating the case alleged Pollycarpus was a State Intelligence Agency (BIN) agent.
The case file also mentioned that the defendant had monitored Munir's activities since 1999, and had admitted making phone calls several times to the rights campaigner to confirm whether he would fly from Jakarta to the Netherlands via Singapore aboard a Garuda Indonesia flight on Sept. 6 last year, to continue his studies there.
But at Friday's hearing, Pollycarpus denied that he made phone calls to Munir's cellular phone. He did admit to exchanging his seat with Munir only to be courteous to "a well-known passenger". "I had never known him (Munir). I had never met him," Pollycarpus told the court.
Presiding judge Cicut Sutiarso tried to confirm Pollycarpus' statement with the indictment by asking: "But according to the indictment, you met him (Munir) for the first time at a rally held in the Bundaran Hotel Indonesia traffic circle?" "Yes, I saw him for the first time in that rally," Pollycarpus replied softly.
"Did you make several phone calls to his (Munir's) cellular phone before his departure to the Netherlands?" Cicut again asked. "No... I never made any calls to his cellular phone," Pollycarpus said.
Pollycarpus said he only realized he and Munir were onboard the same plane when the they were in the boarding room at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, waiting for the flight to Changi Airport in Singapore.
"Can you explain to the court as to why you offered your seat in business class to Munir?" prosecutor Domu P. Sihite said. "I didn't intend to offer my business-class seat to him (Munir), who held an economic ticket. I just tried to be nice to a public figure when I offered him my seat. But, somehow, Munir deemed my suggestion serious, and later moved to business class. I couldn't stop him," Pollycarpus said.
As a pilot, Pollycarpus admitted he was not authorized to offer his or any other seat to any passenger.
Pollycarpus insisted that his being on the same flight as Munir was coincidental. The defendant said he had been assigned by top Garuda officials to help repair a Garuda plane that had engine problems in Singapore.
The panel of judges adjourned until Nov. 28 to hear the prosecutors' sentencing demand for Pollycarpus.
A government-sanctioned fact-finding team has linked former officers of BIN to the murder case of Munir. However, the ongoing trial is largely ignoring those findings, with the indictment not specifying the alleged involvement of other alleged BIN officers.
Detik.com - November 18, 2005
M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta -- The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has expressed regret over the attack by three unknown assailants on an action by supporters of Munir at the Central Jakarta State Court. The actions by the three mysterious men will be reported to police.
"We will be sending a letter to the Central Jakarta State Court in order that [they] provide maximum security for all court hearing spectators. We will also send a written complaint to the Metro Jaya local police and the Central Jakarta district police", said Kontras coordinator Usman Hamid.
Hamid conveyed this at the Kontras' offices on Jalan Borobudur in Central Jakarta on Thursday November 17. According to Hamid the attack further indicates that the Munir case is political. "These thuggish actions must be ended because it worsens the credibility justice in the Munir case", said Hamid.
As has been reported, a demonstration by Munir supporters that had initially proceeded peacefully ended in chaos. Three heavily built men with short hair suddenly started grabbing leaflets that were being distributed by Kontras members to the public. The demonstration took place as Muchdi Purwoprajoyo -- who is a former National Intelligence Agency deputy chief and also a former Commander General of Kopassus -- was in the middle of giving evidence. (aan)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Jakarta Post - November 18, 2005
Jakarta -- Former deputy chief of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), Muchdi PR, claimed that he did not know Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, the main suspect in the murder of top human rights activist Munir, but acknowledged there had been several phone contacts from his cellphone to that of Pollycarpus.
But Muchdi insisted that it was not him that made the phone calls, arguing that his cellphone was often used by other people.
"I didn't make those communications, because my cellphone is often used by other people," he told the Central Jakarta District Court on Thursday as a witness in the trial of Pollycarpus.
Prosecutors said that 27 phone calls had been made from Muchdi's cellphone number (0811900xxx) to Pollycarpus (081584304xxx), as evidenced in a print out provided by telecommunications firm PT Telkom.
According to news portal detik.com, Muchdi said that his cellphone was sometimes held by his driver or by his aide, and that it was only in his hands at night. "During the daytime, anyone can use it, because it's not me who pays the bills, but PT Barito Pacific Timber," he said, referring to a timber company owned by tycoon Prajogo Pangestu. He did not explain why Barito would be paying his cellphone bills, which had been happening since 1995.
Muchdi and former secretary general of BIN, Nurhadi (now Indonesian Ambassador to Nigeria), were supposed to appear in court during a hearing on Wednesday, but did not show up. Nurhadi also failed to turn up at the Thursday hearing.
Muchdi's appearance in court was expected to shed some light on an independent investigation report that implicated certain former and active BIN officials in the murder case. The report, made by the now-defunct independent fact-finding team (TPF) assigned to help police in the investigation into the murder, was submitted to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono but has never been disclosed to the public. It has, however, been leaked to certain journalists.
The team had urged police to also investigate BIN officials, who they allege were involved in a conspiracy with Pollycarpus to murder Munir, who had been a strong critic of human rights abuses particularly by the military.
The former commander of the Army's Special Forces grabbed headlines when he and several other former BIN officials -- who were still active when the murder case took place last year -- refused to appear before the TPF for questioning.
This was despite a protocol agreement that was jointly signed by the team and current BIN chief Syamsir Siregar, which should have allowed the team to summon BIN officials and access important documents.
Munir, the country's top human rights campaigner, died on board a Sept. 6, 2004 Garuda flight bound for Amsterdam. According to indictments against Pollycarpus, a senior Garuda pilot, he joined the same flight as an aviation security officer. Munir was poisoned during the Singapore-Jakarta leg of the trip. Pollycarpus along with two other Garuda crew members are accused of putting arsenic into orange juice served to Munir. Some believe that Pollycarpus is also a BIN agent.
Meanwhile, Pollycarpus confirmed Muchdi's statement they were not acquainted with each other. However, he insisted that the cellphone number mentioned by the prosecutor was not his.
| Labour issues |
Jakarta Post - November 22, 2005
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta -- Labor unions say the government should scrap the current minimum wage system, which according to them does little to protect the vast majority of workers outside the formal sector.
Most of the 76 labor unions registered with the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry have urged the government to phase out the minimum wage system and create a new one to cover not only the 30 million workers in the formal sector but also the more than 60 million others who work in non-taxable jobs.
A much smaller minority of unions, meanwhile, defended the government's move to set minimum wages in the regions, a move they say saved many low income workers from further hardship.
Rekson Silaban, the chairman of the Confederation of Prosperity Labor Unions (KSBSI), said that many unions considered the current minimum wage system no longer relevant.
"The regional minimum wages have been set annually not for the sake of workers but for political interests to show the government's commitment to protecting workers. But it is actually a deception since the government has never paid attention to the larger number of (workers) in the informal sector," he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
KSBSI and many other labor unions said the government should design a national standard remuneration system to help protect all paid workers both in both the formal and informal sectors.
A similar suggestion was raised by the Confederation of All- Indonesian Workers Unions (KSPSI). The union said it was the right time to propose a new remuneration system because of the current economic difficulties, the zero growth of foreign investment and the high unemployment rate of 10 percent.
However, KSPSI chairman and former manpower minister Jacob Nuwa Wea said the existing wage system should be maintained for the time being until the national economy recovered.
"The minimum wage system is still needed to prevent labor conditions from deteriorating amid our economic difficulties. Workers cannot do much to improve their social welfare because of the oversupply in the labor market and workers' low quality and productivity," he said.
Jacob said the government set minimum wages by sector because of the diverse conditions of companies in different industries. Companies in the mining and banking sectors were relatively better-off and financially more able to pay workers above the government-set minimum wage levels than those in the labor- intensive manufacturing sector, he said.
Dita Indah Sari, who chairs the Indonesian Front for the Struggle of Workers (FNBI), said workers and employers should form a coalition to reform remuneration and production systems and help improve the labor market's condition.
"Workers and employers should coalesce to force the government to provide bank credits to the real sector in an effort to allow the industry sector to reform their production systems and pay their workers better," she said.
She said many labor-intensive companies could not afford to pay their workers in accordance with minimum wages as they were still using old machines in their production systems. Therefore, they recruited new workers on a contract basis, Dita said.
Harijantho, an executive of the Indonesian Footwear Makers Association (Aprisindo), blamed the low quality of human resources, high unemployment and the government's lack of attention toward the real sector for the low wages paid to workers.
Jakarta Post - November 19, 2005
Batam -- Batam employers rejected a workers' proposal on Friday for an increase in the regional minimum wage, leading to widespread grievances among Batam workers, who now have to bear the brunt of increased costs following the fuel price hike on Oct. 1.
The rejection was expressed by a representative of Batam employers during a tripartite meeting held at the office of Batam mayor, attended by Batam trade unions, representatives of employer associations and government officials.
The meeting went smoothly in the morning but in the afternoon, chairman of the Batam Employers Association Abidin walked out, expressing his disapproval of the workers' proposal for a steep increase in the minimum wage.
The worker unions proposed a 55 percent hike to Rp 988,260 from a previous Rp 635.000, but the employers said the increase was too high. The employers had earlier told the workers that they would only be able to provide a 10 percent increase.
Jakarta Post - November 18, 2005
Bandung -- Some 500 workers in the Cimahi industrial zone held a protest on Thursday in front the Cimahi regency council, demanding that the administration increase the local minimum wage.
Edi Suherdi, a workers' leader, said the minimum wage in the regency was no longer enough to cover workers' day-to-day expenses as the prices of basic necessities had risen due to the fuel price hikes.
Currently, the local minimum wage is Rp 601,000 a month, while the minimum wage needed was Rp 819,000 said Edi.
The workers demanded that the regency council exert pressure on the administration to force it to raise the minimum wage.
Jakarta Post - November 18, 2005
Multa Fidrus, Tangerang -- Thousands of workers grouped under the Cisadane Workers Coalition (KBC) staged a rally in Tangerang municipality on Thursday to demand that the administration double the current minimum wage for next year.
They also insisted that the team assessing the minimum wage adopt the result of a survey conducted by the workers on the minimum cost of living. "The government's team concluded that the minimum cost of living in Tangerang is Rp 803,485. But, in our survey, we found that a worker with a spouse and one child needs at least Rp 1.4 million," Sunarno, KBC coordinator told The Jakarta Post. "Besides that, the fuel price hike of more than 100 percent has caused the prices of all goods to increase so that minimum cost of living has automatically doubled," he said, adding that the government had always failed to enable workers to have a decent standard of living.
He said that if the minimum wage for 2006 turned out to be lower than Rp 1.4 million per month, some 30,000 workers grouped under KBC would continue to rally and even strike.
Meanwhile, head of the Tangerang Municipal Manpower Agency, Adang Turwana, who also led the team in assessing the minimum cost of living, confirmed that the survey held in three main markets in Tangerang showed that the amount needed to cover the minimum monthly living expenses for a worker was Rp 803,485.
"We held the survey at Anyer market, Cileduk and Malabar markets, involving 30 members comprising businessmen, scholars, workers and administration officials," Adang said.
"We suspect that KBC's survey was not held in accordance with the procedure stipulated in the Manpower Ministry Decree No. 17/2005 on the minimum cost of living." Adang said that the team had yet to decide whether the minimum wage for 2006 would be determined based on the survey result.
"Based on past experience, the minimum wage for 2006 will not be far from the survey result or in other words the increase will not be more than 15 percent higher than the current wage of Rp 693,500," he said.
| Land/rural issues |
Detik.com - November 21, 2005
Muhammad Nur Hayid, Jakarta -- An action by hundreds of people from Indonesian Farmers Youth (Pemuda Tani Indonesia, PTI) became heated when demonstrators broke down the gates and forced their way into the national parliament building while hundreds of police stood ready to contain them.
"Open it, open it, open it!" shouted demonstrators as they shook and rocked the gates at the rear of the parliament building on Jalan Lapangan Tembak in Senayan, on Tuesday November 21.
As a result the steal fence became askew. Hooray! Cheered the demonstrators as they entered the parliament building grounds one after another. Seeing that the situation was becoming heated, the number of police personnel was boosted from an initial few dozen to a company level unit (100 personnel).
Demonstrators then held a happening art action using unhulled paddy they had brought which was scattered on the road and by spreading out red and white school uniforms on which was placed 100 rupiah coins and 1,000 rupiah notes. "This is for the people who are tired of the DPR [House of Representatives]", explained one of the demonstrators.
Speeches continued to be given and a number of demonstrators could be seen sitting and waiting for a meeting between 20 of their representatives and the DPR's Commission VI. The plan was that the farmers' representatives would only be able to meet with assembly members at 11.30am because Commission IV was holding a working meeting with the minister of trade, minister of defense and the head of the State Logistics Agency. "Don't make the people angry, receive our representatives immediately", said one of the speakers.
By 11.45am the action was still proceeding in an orderly fashion with police spread out and on guard. Traffic meanwhile, which had had initially been blocked, has now returned to normal. (aan)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Detik.com - November 18, 2005
Arin Widiyanti, Jakarta -- The importation of rice from Vietnam which is being done by Bulog (the State Logistics Agency) with the permission of trade minister Mari Elka Pangestu, has been opposed unconditionally by hundreds of farmers. This is because the price of rice at the moment is good so they believe the policy is intentionally being implemented to "kill" them.
The demonstration by around 500 farmers was held in front of the Department of Trade building on Jalan Ridwan Rais in Jakarta on Thursday November 17. Permission to import rice of as much as 70,050 tons was issued on November 1 and will be conducted up until the harvest period.
The farmers -- who were from the Indonesian Farmers United Federation (FSPI) -- came from Kawarang, Bogor, Lampung, Batang and Banten. During their action they wore traditional bamboo hats and brought dry unhulled paddy.
In a speech, the FSPI's policy deputy, Achmad Ya'kub, said Pangestu, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Vice President Jusuf Kalla and the House of Representatives are made up of people who have already caused farmers to become even poorer.
"Withdraw [permission to] import rice. We have come far in order to open their ears up wide. Look at farmers' conditions who are suffering even more and colonised by its own nation wearing the mask of state officials", he shouted. Ya'kub also believes the Ministry of Trade is acting unfairly and arbitrarily towards farmers. "We must teach them how to express thanks to farmers", he asserted.
Ya'kub also believes that the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is little different from the World Trade Organisation (WTO), that it is a coloniser in a new form because it kills farmers. "We will continue to oppose rice imports, Indonesia's leaders don't side with the people", he said.
There were at least seven demands expressed by the farmers during the action, implement agrarian reform, uphold farmers' basic rights, provide subsidies to farmers, reject rice imports, remove the WTO [role in] farmers' issues, uphold food sovereignty and arrest and try the perpetrators of violence against farmers in Awu, Lombok.
FSPI plans to hold the action until 2pm after which they will hold a similar action at the State Palace and the national parliament building. (umi)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
| War on terror |
Reuters - November 21, 2005
Dean Yates, Jakarta -- A move by Indonesia's mainstream Muslim groups to form a team to counter militant ideas, work with the police and review radical publications is an important step but must be more than just rhetoric, analysts said on Monday.
The special team was set up last week after the discovery of videos showing three suicide bombers using Islam to justify attacks on restaurants in Bali on October 1 that killed 20 people.
It is the first time moderate groups have agreed to play a decisive role in tackling terrorism. In the past, they have been reluctant to criticize militants or have said fighting terrorism was the responsibility of the government and the police.
Sidney Jones, director of the International Crisis Group in Indonesia and an expert on the country's radical fringe, praised Vice President Jusuf Kalla for summoning mainstream clerics to view the videos of the young suicide bombers last week.
"That's a real new step and we haven't had this level of government involvement before in any of the cases that have come up from Bali onwards," Jones said, referring to the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people.
"It's taken this long for some of the (Muslim) organizations to realize the extent of the problem in Indonesia and to realize it's got a kind of staying power."
All major bomb attacks in Indonesia in recent years have been blamed on Jemaah Islamiah, a shadowy network seen as the regional arm of al Qaeda. It usually recruits young, poor Muslims from teeming Java island as its foot-soldiers.
Jones said it would be interesting to see how the team challenged militant arguments and whether it addressed issues of how and where bombers and others were recruited.
The head of the team, Ma'ruf Amin, told El Shinta radio that clerics wanted to devise a strategy that looked at Islamic boarding schools known as pesantrens in the world's most populous Muslim nation, the youth and also publications.
"We will clarify these ideas with pesantrens, especially those alleged to have indications of influences from radical terror views," said Amin.
He also referred to a book written by Imam Samudra, one of three bombers on death row over the 2002 Bali attacks, which he said was "everywhere" in Indonesia. Samudra wrote his book in jail, setting out his arguments for the attacks.
The team gathers top preachers from the two mainstream Islamic groups in Indonesia, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, that have a combined 70 million members.
Tracking
The minister of religious affairs said the team would be involved in tracking information about terrorist suspects and search for books that promote radicalism so they could be banned, the Jakarta Post newspaper reported on Monday.
However, it was unclear if it would review curriculum in Islamic boarding schools. The International Crisis Group has listed several where Jemaah Islamiah members send their children and where some convicted bombers studied.
Andi Widjajanto, a security analyst from the University of Indonesia, said the team could be effective in dealing with formal, registered organizations and schools.
Underground groups were a different matter. "Its effectiveness against fringe groups that are the main recruitment ground will be difficult," Widjajanto said.
Anti-terrorism campaigns in Indonesia have often faced challenges because of a widespread belief that the United States wants to attack Islam.
While Islamic groups across the spectrum condemn bombings, memories also remain fresh of the persecution of Muslim leaders and activists by former President Suharto during 32 years of military backed rule that ended in 1998.
Indeed, officials are still reluctant to use the term Jemaah Islamiah, which means Islamic community, believing it could be seen as putting the general Muslim populace under watch.
And Indonesia has not followed Western countries in banning Jemaah Islamiah. Officials say they cannot ban an organization that does not have a concrete structure or address.
(Additional reporting by Achmad Sukarsono and Telly Nathalia)
Jakarta Post - November 21, 2005
Jakarta -- The country's leading Islamic figures, grouped in a special task force set up last week by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, are set to launch a war against militant ideas spread by terrorists using the Islam brand.
Minister of Religious Affairs M. Maftuh Basyuni said the task force, dubbed the "antiterror team", will consists of ulema from mainstream Muslim organizations and Muslim academics.
"I have set up the team, but I haven't reported on its technical aspects to the President and Vice President," he said on Saturday in the East Java capital Surabaya after inaugurating a Buddhist house of worship.
Maftuh said the team would be involved in numerous activities, including tracking information about terror suspects and searching for books promoting radicalism so they could be banned.
The move comes in the wake of the death of top terror suspect Azahari bin Husin during a police raid on Nov. 9 in Batu, East Java. Officers involved in the raid discovered videos containing the confessions of the three young men responsible for the suicide bombings in Bali on Oct. 1.
Police also recovered a video of a hooded man believed to be terror suspect Noordin M. Top threatening further attacks against westerners.
Azahari and Noordin, both Malaysian, are believed to be senior members of the Jamaah Islamiyah terror network. For the past several years they have recruited young Indonesian men to carry out attacks here.
The establishment of the special task force marks a drastic change of attitude among many Muslim leaders, who for years have appeared reluctant to directly condemn the activities of Jamaah Islamiyah and other radical groups.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who last week invited a number of leading ulema to his residence to watch the videos of the confessions of the Bali suicide bombers, earlier angered some Muslim groups when he announced a government plan to monitor a number of Muslim boarding schools as a part of the fight against terrorism.
Maftuh said the team of ulema would be assigned to counter the "misinterpretation of Islamic teachings", particularly on the concept of jihad, by Noordin and his followers.
The team's main targets are Muslim youth and poor Muslims, who are seen as "vulnerable to the misleading teachings of the terrorists and could be easily brainwashed". "There is no religion in the world that teaches terror," Maftuh said.
The government asked for the help of the ulema in the wake of the increasing number of suicide bombings here. According to Kalla, nine suicide bombers had been identified in a number of attacks in the country. Among the members of the team are representatives of Nahdlatul Ulama, Muhammadiyah, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the Indonesian Muslim Scholars Union and the Indonesian Muslim Missionary Council. Ma'ruf Amin, the head of MUI's fatwa body, was appointed to lead the team.
A member of the team, Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra, said the main task for the ulema was to familiarize the people with a 2003 MUI edict outlawing terrorism and suicide bombings. "We will also examine a number of publications allegedly containing misleading Islamic teachings," Azyumardi said. For example, Imam Samudra, convicted for the 2002 Bali bombings, has published a book about his life.
Jakarta Post - November 19, 2005
The police shot dead Indonesia's most-wanted bomber, Dr. Azahari bin Husin, and one of his followers, Arman, in a raid on their hideout in the East Java hill resort of Batu a week ago, and subsequently arrested at least five terrorist operatives. Former National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief A.M. Hendropriyono recently spoke with The Jakarta Post's Ridwan Max Sijabat on the raid and the counterterrorism effort in general. The following are excerpts from the interview.
Question: What does Azahari's death mean?
Answer: It means that Azahari existed; he is not a pseudo-terror master. He and his compatriot Noordin M. Top recruited locals to help carry out their terror operations in Indonesia. They formed a terrorist organization that has long been identified as being part of, or affiliated to, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
This has convinced the security forces and the public that this terrorist network was behind the (Oct. 1) triple suicide bombings of Bali restaurants that killed at least 23 people, including a number of foreigners. Azahari and his companions launched these terror attacks from East Java.
Azahari, along with Noordin, masterminded the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people and a series of terror attacks in Jakarta in 2003 and 2004.
What does it means for the security authorities?
This is the best result achieved by the police since their successful work in dealing with the 2002 Bali bombings, the major perpetrators of which have been brought to court.
The police and intelligence apparatus are racing against time to arrest Noordin and his men within the month as the Batu raid has put them in a corner and they are temporarily not so solid. The security forces, with the help of the public, have to work harder to track down those involved in the terrorist network before Noordin and his local accomplices form new cells or launch new attacks.
With the latest arrests, the police and intelligence apparatus should be able to unearth more and more information on the terrorist network's cells, at least in this country, to hunt down Noordin and the local JI operatives, and to find their hideouts and ammunition and explosives dumps.
What does it mean for the government?
Azahari's death will restore public confidence in the government-backed counterterrorism measures. The successful crackdown has won high praise for Indonesia from foreign countries for its resolute participation in the global war on terrorism.
No less important is that the government should declare Jemaah Islamiyah and other similar radical groups, such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and Laskar Jihad, to be prohibited organizations as they regularly use violence to pursue their ends and fight for their objectives.
This would allow the government to move forward in countering terrorism. Two years ago, many government officials and certain groups in society were skeptical about the existence of terrorists in this country, including JI, and this made the security authorities think twice about taking the necessary measures (against the terrorists).
If the government is serious about eradicating terrorism right down to its roots, it must no longer play the role of fireman. It must take anticipatory and preventive action as part of an early warning system to avoid any more bomb threats and attacks in the future.
The FPI and similar organizations must be outlawed as they, in fact, use violence. Their prohibition is quite important for restoring the government's authority and upholding the rule of law. They can no longer be allowed to take the law into their own hands. The government is obliged to comply with the law on freedom of organization, but it must also protect the rights of the majority of the people and its own authority.
What about regional and international cooperation in fighting against terrorism?
ASEAN nations should enhance existing cooperation, especially in the fields of information exchange and operation to hunt down other JI operatives in Malaysia, the southern Philippines, southern Thailand and Indonesia. The United States and Australia have been cooperative and have assisted Indonesia to improve its counterterrorist capacity.
With the establishment of the antiterror desk, the police should enhance coordination with BIN, the immigration service and the military to improve the early warning system, uncover the terrorist network and conduct preemptive strikes on terrorist nests in the country.
What do you think of the intelligence bill?
The nation needs a set of appropriate laws to effectively counter terrorism. The government should immediately review the antiterror bill and enact the intelligence bill to provide a legal basis for counterterrorism measures.
The government and House of Representatives should consult with all stakeholders, including BIN and the police, to ensure that the bill is capable of being implemented.
Besides the police, BIN should be given the power to arrest suspected terrorists or their close relatives so as to allow intelligence agents to penetrate the terrorist networks. But this must be subject to the condition that those arrested must not be tortured or persecuted, while intelligence agents wrongly arresting people should be punished.
Reuters - November 18, 2005
Jakarta -- A website purportedly set up under orders from a leading Asian militant gives instructions on how to shoot foreigners in the streets of the Indonesian capital or throw grenades at motorists stuck in traffic.
The Web site, called Anshar El Muslimin (www.anshar.net) and seen by Reuters on Friday, contains diagrams of several locations and why they would be ideal for attacking people and how to escape. Police called the website a "work of terror" and said it had been set up by one of three men named suspects this week over the Oct 1. restaurant bombings on Bali that killed 20 people.
Islamic militants linked to al Qaeda have carried out a number of car bombings against Western targets in Indonesia in recent years, but there have been no shootings of foreigners on the streets, a practice seen in parts of the Middle East.
Antonius Reniban, police spokesman on the resort island of Bali, said a militant he identified as Abdul Aziz, one of three named suspects over the latest Bali attacks, had confessed to designing the website, which would soon be shut down. "This is a work of terror," Reniban said.
Shooting foreigners
A lawyer for Aziz said his client had been approached several months ago by several people including Malaysia's Noordin M. Top, a senior figure in Jemaah Islamiah, a shadowy group seen as the regional arm of al Qaeda.
"Several people came to him and asked him to create that website. One of them was Noordin M. Top," lawyer Muhammad Rifan told Reuters by telephone. "But he only received material supplied by others. A webmaster is not responsible for the content of the website. He is not part of their group." Rifan added that Aziz had no link to the Bali attacks.
One diagram on the Web site showed a computerized schematic of central Jakarta where it said foreigners liked to walk from an office and hotel area to a popular shopping mall. It showed a blue section that it said was the place to attack foreigners. Another showed how foreigners could be shot when they use overhead pedestrian bridges to cross Jakarta's busy roads.
It gave specific examples of places in Jakarta where traffic banked up, saying this was ideal to shoot motorists or throw grenades or small bombs at targets. "Grenades can be used to make sure the injured are dead, God Willing. Grenades can be normal grenades or fire bombs so that the car burns," it said.
News of the Web site comes one day after a video was broadcast on local TV showing a masked militant whom police believe is Top. On the video, found last week by Indonesian anti-terrorist police, the masked man warns Western countries, especially Australia, of more attacks.
Ken Conboy, a security expert in Jakarta who has seen some of the Web site material, said while it was a concern, it did not mean the types of attacks shown would materialize. He said militants would still need to find good weapons, funding and willing participants to carry out such attacks. "It's obviously disturbing. You don't want to see this sort of stuff on the Internet because you don't want to inspire anyone," Conboy said.
The video was among several found last week as part of raids that resulted in the killing of Malaysian Azahari bin Husin, the master bombmaker of Jemaah Islamiah. It was discovered in central Java at a house police have said was rented by Top.
Police have been hunting Azahari and Top since the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. Both men have also been blamed for other attacks. While Malaysian Azahari was Jemaah Islamiah's bombmaker, police say Top is an expert in recruiting suicide bombers.
| Government/civil service |
Jakarta Post - November 18, 2005
Jakarta -- Thousands of secretariat employees in villages across Java and Bali went to the House of Representatives on Wednesday, demanding they become officially recognized as civil servants.
The employees said they had been working for the state for years without a clear job status.
"We want a promotion regardless of our educational background, age or work period," a spokesman for the group, Sutoto, told a meeting with members of the House's Commission II on regional autonomy.
The government said on Tuesday that all civil servants would start receiving a salary increase beginning next year, with the lowest ranked employees getting Rp 1 million (US$100) a month.
Jakarta Post - November 22, 2005
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta -- Tight regulations for government officials whose families run businesses will be not enough to keep them from abusing their powers, an expert says.
It would be better for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to replace his Cabinet ministers who had direct links to business enterprises, the expert suggests.
"The President has the prerogative to replace ministers who are in dual roles and appoint loyal and dedicated professionals to the Cabinet. State officials and their families should also be barred from doing business," the rector for the State Institute of Public Administration, Ngadisah, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Ngadisah said the presence of government officials taking advantage of their positions would lead the country to what she called a "corporatocracy".
While visiting South Korea, Susilo said he would issue a presidential instruction regulating government officials whose families or business groups were involved in public projects for the sake of good governance. The President called the officials "dual-function" politicians.
Earlier, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, whose family runs a range of businesses, said the presence of former businesspeople in the Cabinet was an unavoidable trend as many entrepreneurs were involved in politics. Kalla is a former businessman who now leads the Golkar Party, which won the most votes in 2004 legislative election.
Ngadisah said a corporatocracy would in the long run give raise to economic oligarchies at the expense of democracy as power and economy fell into the hands of a minority elite.
Ministers were already deeply involved in the making of public policy. "The chances are big that they will be trapped in conflicting interests if their families take part in government projects, although they are offered through public tenders, because business aims at making profits," she said.
Ngadisah expressed skepticism that the planned presidential instruction would work because of the absence of close supervision. "Public control, including from the mass media, is very possible, but it has no legal consequences," she said.
Tjahjo Kumolo of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle said the regulation demonstrated the President's inability to shake up his Cabinet after strong pressure from Golkar.
"SBY won the people's mandate. He should not be hesitant to exercise his prerogatives to replace his ministers, particularly the economic team who have proven failures in carrying out his economic programs," Tjahjo said, referring to Susilo by his initials.
Soetrisno Bachir, a businessman who chairs the National Mandate Party, said non-partisan figures should not be barred from public positions, but public officials should be prevented from doing business to avoid conflicts of interest.
"A presidential instruction is not necessary. The President should encourage the strict enforcement of Law No. 28/1999 on clean government and take actions against state officials involved in corruption, nepotism and collusion. It is very simple and a strong political commitment from the national leadership is needed," he said.
He said all sides should be fair in treating Kalla and Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie because their families complied with the rules of the game when doing business. "So far, there is no evidence that either Kalla or Aburizal have misused their powers to enrich their families and business groups," Soetrisno said.
Jakarta Post - November 18, 2005
Rendi A. Witular, Busan (South Korea) -- President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will soon issue a presidential instruction regulating government officials' roles in dealing with projects funded or initiated by the state.
"There should be clear rules of the game for these kinds of officials in order to create good governance and prevent corruption," he said on Thursday aboard the presidential aircraft heading to South Korea where he will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders meeting.
Susilo dubbed such government officials -- who misused their authority to enrich their family or business groups by securing government projects -- as "dwi-fungsi (dual-function) politicians".
"Dual-function politicians are government officials who are running their businesses at the expense of the state. Not necessarily by being directly involved in these (businesses) but through their family or groups," he said.
Susilo said the instruction would arrange the relations between government officials and their families or business groups when dealing with projects funded by the state or regional budgets, or projects initiated by the government.
The instruction also regulates the need for business entities owned by officials' families or business groups to make a disclosure of their relation to officials during a tender process for a government project.
Under the planned instruction, government officials are not allowed to provide or leak information to their families or business interests regarding a tender process, which could cause unfair competition in the tender. Information leaked by officials that could lead to insider trading in capital markets will also be prohibited.
Susilo said he would use the instruction to try to prevent the country's economy from being controlled by only a small group of businessmen, which could create economic oligarchies.
"I know that some cases of nepotism are hard to prove. But everyone should bear in mind that there is no such thing as a perfect crime. There is always ways to prove that they are guilty," Susilo said.
The President's Cabinet includes several prominent businessmen -- Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie, Minister of Transportation Hatta Radjasa, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Fahmi Idris, State Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Surya Dharma Ali, State Minister of State Enterprises Sugiharto and Minister of Forestry Malam Sambat Kaban.
Susilo urged people not to jump to the conclusion that certain government officials were involved in corruption without sufficient evidence. If they did they risked being charged under the law for defamation, he said.
"I am currently investigating certain officials who it is indicated have misused their authority for the interests of their families or groups of businesses. (However) I must have strong evidence before I can take necessary action against them," he said.
| Regional/communal conflicts |
Jakarta Post - November 22, 2005
Ambon -- Army soldiers and police officers were fought a pitched battle at dawn on Monday in Ambon city, leaving three civilians injured.
The brawl broke out as a wedding reception was winding down into the wee hours in Nusaniwe district of the city.
According to witnesses, the melee began after the groom, Lukman Nawi, a police officer, told an Army soldier to stop smoking while dancing in the crowded wedding area. The Army man reportedly became enraged and began punching police officers. As the officers retaliated, the soldiers three colleagues joined the fray and the fight was on.
A group of civilian residents, along with the officers, eventually managed to overwhelm the soldier and his three cohorts, prompting them to flee the dance floor and split the scene.
However, in a shocking turn of events, a larger group of military personnel from a nearby cavalry unit in the city returned to the wedding and attacked the revelers, both civilians and police, in attendance.
In addition to the three injured civilians, at least six houses and eight cars were wrecked after the cavalry was called in.
No arrests or suspensions have been made, but the incidents are being investigated by police and military authorities in the formerly riot-torn city.
Jakarta Post - November 19, 2005
Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta -- A cosmetics salesgirl was attacked and murdered on Friday morning by three machete-wielding men in Palu, Central Sulawesi, in yet another grisly terror attack on young females in the tense province.
Twenty-year-old Supriyanti -- Yanti to those close to her -- was attacked by three men riding a motorcycle. She was also on a motorcycle with two friends.
Yanti's friend Anca, 23, who was driving, managed to avoid injury, while Yanti and her friend Evi, 20, received full blows from the machetes. Yanti suffered a fatal laceration to her neck, while Evi's arm was nearly hacked off by the attackers.
After the men sped away, Anca took his seriously injured friends to Wirabuana hospital, but they were not admitted as hospital personnel barred them from entering on the grounds that "the wounds were too serious". He later managed to get both Evi and Yanti to Undata Hospital, but Yanti died on the way due to blood loss.
A spokesperson for the Central Sulawesi Police department, Adj. Sr. Comr. Rais Adam, said as quoted by Antara that investigators had questioned five witnesses about the incident and were still looking for the perpetrators.
Rais refused to speculate on whether the incident was a random street crime or related to the other recent terror attacks in the province.
On Oct. 29, three Christian schoolgirls -- Theresia Morangke, 15, Alfita Poliwo, 17, and Yarni Sambue, 15, -- were beheaded by a group of men with machetes as they walked to school in Poso.
Just over a week after that attack, two female students -- Ivon Maganti, 17, and Siti Nuraini, 17, -- were victims of a drive-by shooting while sitting in front of a house.
National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko said on Friday that the police had arrested one man named Irfan Masiro, a security guard at Poso Hospital, in relation to the beheading case.
"We have named Irfan a suspect because we found that he owned a machete with a bloodstain that matches one of the victim's (Theresia's) blood type," Soenarko said.
So far this is the only suspect detained in the beheading case. Irfan is one of five men previously questioned by the local military for alleged involvement in the triple murder. The other four were released last week due to "a lack of evidence". Despite the release by the military, the police decided to continue questioning the group.
"We're still questioning two witnesses -- Sudarmanto and Lusiana -- because they were actually in possession of Irfan's machete and we want to know whether they're related to this case," Soenarko said.
As for the drive-by shooting, Soenarko claimed that the police had arrested four suspects, identified as David Mando (a motorcycle taxi driver), Ismet Oskar (a farmer), Zaenal (a teacher) and Aksan (a trader).
However, Soenarko did not elaborate on the what the roles of each person might have been in the incident, as a result of which both girls are still in the hospital with serious injuries.
Poso is a religiously divided town, which saw over 1,000 killed during a Christian-Muslim conflict in 2000 and 2001.
| Environment |
Jakarta Post - November 22, 2005
Bambang Bider, Contributor, Kalimantan -- Life becomes more meaningful when one becomes aware that everything in this universe is a whole entity, the parts of which are interrelated and interdependent.
From the point of view of internal ecology, there is an intrinsic value in every creation. Whether one realizes it or not, destruction is always linked with ignorance and a rejection of the intrinsic value of the lives of others.
Just imagine if another's life happens to be an orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), an animal that is 97 percent genetically similar to humans.
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has stated that the orangutans in Borneo (Kalimantan, Sabah and Sarawak) and Sumatra are now on the verge of extinction.
The 2002 IUCN Red List puts Borneo orangutans in the category of an endangered species while Sumatran orangutans are categorized as being a critically endangered species.
More than 80 orangutan experts and observers from all over the world gathered in Jakarta in January 2004 to attend the International Workshop on Population Habitat Viability Analysis (PHVA), in which the latest potential population of orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra and the factors influencing the survival of these species were analyzed.
According to an estimate made in 2004 by PHVA, the population of Sumatran orangutans of the Pongo abelii species stands at 7,501, spread in 13 habitats.
Meanwhile, Borneo orangutans have three subspecies, namely Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus in the northwest of Borneo, starting from the northern part of Kapuas up to Sarawak, Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii in Central Borneo, starting from the southern part of the Kapuas up to the western part of Barito, and Pongo pygmaeus morio in the northeast of Borneo, namely in Sabah and East Kalimantan.
The total population of Borneo orangutans is estimated to stand at 57,797, therefore bringing the total population of orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra to 65,298.
Threat from tree felling
In the Workshop on an Action Plan for the Conservation of Kalimantan Orangutans held in Pontianak in October 2005, Sri Suci Utami Atmoko of Yayasan Penyelamatan Orangutan Borneo (BOS) said the total population of orangutans was greater than what was estimated about a decade ago. "However, this does not prove that there are now more orangutans than one or two decades back." More specifically, on Borneo orangutans, MacKinnon and Ramono (1993) estimated the total population of orangutans in Kalimantan in the 1900s at over 200,000 but Sugardjito and van Schaik (1993) have found that the figure has dropped to about 45,000.
Jito Sugardjito, who is also country representative of Fauna and Flora International, said, "Tree felling to transform the function of a forest area and to turn it into forest concession land is the main threat to the population of orangutans." In the Workshop on the Action Plan for the Conservation of Kalimantan Orangutans, which was held in Pontianak after a similar workshop for Sumatran orangutans held in September in Brastagi, Herry Djoko Susilo, from the directorate general of forest protection and nature conservation, identified the main threats facing the population of Kalimantan orangutans.
These were: illegal logging, a shift in the function of a forest areas, hunting, forest fires, unirrigated farming, drying of peat forest areas and poor management of concession forest areas.
Meanwhile, the result of research done by A.D. John published in his 1992 research paper titled Vertebrate responses to selective logging: Implications for the design of logging systems shows that the felling of 18 trees in each hectare of orangutan habitat can damage 47 percent of the fruit trees and reduce their number by up to 50 percent.
On the same occasion, Julia Ng Su-Chen of Traffic Southeast Asia said, "What is also saddening is that cross-border illegal trading of orangutans is now flourishing." It is estimated that between 200 and 500 of them are traded every year. She added that the trading of orangutans was flourishing because of the high market demand for these primates as pets, for private collections, souvenirs or as materials for traditional medicine.
Political will, vested interests
Meanwhile, Purwo Susanto of the Forest Conversion Initiative (Kalimantan Region) of the World Wide Fund for Nature, has come up with a more systematic cause for the fragmentation of the habitat of orangutans, qualitatively and quantitatively, that has led to the sharp drop in their population.
He said, "The main cause is both legal and illegal logging, RTRWK (spatial plans for forest areas) that fail to accommodate the need for orangutan conservation, as well as poor law enforcement and lack of political will and political action to stop illegal trading.
"Also, critical are poor coordination among countries, between the central government and regional administrations and among non-governmental organizations dealing in orangutan conservation, a lack of information related to orangutan conservation, in terms of both dissemination and equipment, on the one hand, and the quality of the drafting of policies and of law enforcement, on the other."
Regarding the aspect of political will in relation to orangutan protection, Julia Ng Su-Chen has said that Indonesia and Malaysia, particularly Sabah and Sarawak, commonly have regulations protecting these primates. The difference lies only in the political action in enforcing these regulations.
"In Sabah and Sarawak sanctions are really imposed on hunting or acts that may threaten the lives of orangutans to deter the recurrence of such acts. In Indonesia, regulations are yet to be properly enforced," she said making a comparison.
Of the total population of Borneo orangutans, 13,614 are found in Malaysia, spread in a total of 17 habitats in Sabah and Sarawak. It is understandable that orangutans in Sabah and Sarawak are highly protected because their population is small.
Meanwhile, Purwo Susanto cited a plan for the development of 1.8 million hectares of coconut palm estates along the border areas between Indonesia's Kalimantan and Malaysia's Sarawak as an example of a policy of the Indonesian government that fails to accommodate orangutan protection.
"The border area has forests of different status. In the context of the development of coconut palm estates, it is not right to convert an area into a coconut palm estate if it is still a forest and is ecologically functional to a larger area," Purwo stressed.
In response to this problem, Herry said, " Of course, if it concerns broader interests, we cannot view it from only one aspect. Our view must be balanced, in the context of sustainable development." Erik Meijaard of The Nature Conservancy said that it was very easy to save orangutans. "Just don't kill them and don't damage their habitat," he noted.
"Protect areas that must be protected. Do not damage protected forest areas by converting the land to large-scale coconut palm and other estates. "Forest concessionaires must accommodate harmoniously orangutan conservation efforts in their concession areas. Stop orangutan hunting," he said.
Jakarta Post - November 18, 2005
Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung -- A herd of some 20 wild elephants from the South Bukit Barisan National Park (TNBBS) in Lampung ventured again into nearby settlements in the past week, ravaging dozens of hectares plantations and residents' houses as their habitat continues to shrink.
The elephants invaded Tambak Asri, Tenam Sembilan and Sri Menanti villages in Way Tenong district, West Lampung on Tuesday night, destroying a house in Tambak Asri and two houses in Tenam Sembilan.
Joko Santoso of the Illegal Logging Response Center here, said that the elephants had resorted to destructive behavior due to the gradual encroachment on their habitat by illegal loggers and the consequent shortage of food. "Extensive land clearance and illegal logging activities have heightened the conflict between the elephants and residents living around the national park," said Joko.
According to Joko, there are still around 300 to 400 elephants remaining in the South Bukit Barisan and Way Kambas national parks. "They require an adequate range of habitats and food sources, without which they will come out from the forest and venture into farms or plantations and villages near them," said Joko. The conflict has been going for the past few years and it remains to be seen whether the problem can be resolved soon.
When The Jakarta Post visited the Sri Menanti area (bordering TNBBS) last year, most parts of the forest were barren. Dozens of hectares of coffee plantations, an elementary school and residents' houses were found precisely on the fringes of Sri Menanti village and the national park.
Based on TNBBS data, Sri Menanti village was enclosed in the park previously. In the 1970s, the location was omitted from the park territory and turned into a village.
Trucks carrying sacks of coffee cultivated within the park area, can be seen every day passing along the main road leading to Sri Menanti. Dozens of villages found in West Lampung were previously included within the park zone.
A former World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) activist, Emon, 30, said that the elephants had resorted to such behavior because their habitat had been encroached on due to rampant illegal logging.
According to Emon, the wild elephants frequently enter the settlements as they feel restless in the forest due to poachers. "Actually, hunters are issued permits to hunt deer. But, who can guarantee they won't shoot at elephants and tigers? Eight elephant carcasses were found in the national park last year, abandoned by poachers after cutting off their tusks," said the environmentalist who is monitoring large wildlife species, such as elephants, rhinoceroses and tigers.
Head of the South Bukit Barisan National Park, Tamen Sitorus, said that the herd of elephants usually enter the villages twice a year using a similar route generally at night and return to the forest the next morning.
According to Tamen, his office has assigned seven forest rangers, assisted by local residents, to drive the elephants back to the forest using traditional methods, such as bamboo torches and beating bamboo or wooden drums.
"We certainly cannot blame the elephants because they enter the villages because their habitat is damaged. Illegal logging activities have continued unabated. Most of the villages, now crowded with people, were once the elephants' habitat," said Tamen.
| Health & education |
Asia Times - November 17, 2005
Bill Guerin, Jakarta -- Only two days after a raid that led to the death of one of Indonesia's most wanted terrorist suspects, police struck at a massive illegal drug factory near Jakarta.
Police raided the factory on Friday near Serang, a city about 75 kilometers west of Jakarta. The haul included 62.4 tons of precursor chemicals for producing crystal methamphetamine, locally known as shabu-shabu, and 6.2 tons for making ecstasy.
Thousands of ecstasy pills and hundreds of kilograms of shabu- shabu were ready for delivery. Police say 21 suspects were arrested, including one Dutch, one French and four Chinese nationals. The building had been licensed as a cable factory. Police described the operation as the third-largest ecstasy- making factory in the world.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who visited the factory, said the operation had the potential to produce up to $600 million a year in illegal drugs. The president has declared war on drugs as illicit drug abuse, production and trafficking are among Indonesia's most serious problems and national concerns.
Drugs are readily available in all major urban areas of Islam's most-populous nation, including schools, bars, cafes, discotheques, nightclubs and even in remote villages.
The raid was the second coup for Indonesian authorities in a week, coming in wake of the November 9 killing of Azahari bin Husin, a Malaysian explosives expert linked to the al-Qaeda- linked terror group Jemaah Islamiyah. He had been accused of helping coordinate four deadly attacks in Indonesia since 2002.
Profits versus expertise
Indonesia is no longer just an end-user of drugs but also a producer, especially of ecstasy, which can readily be made at home. Poor law enforcement, corruption and high demand make the country a tempting location for producers. The locally made ecstasy and amphetamines cater to a growing population of upper- class users.
Ecstasy and amphetamine use has spread throughout Southeast Asia in recent years. In some countries both substances have replaced heroin as the most popular hard drug.
Churning out ecstasy pills by the thousands takes little expertise -- a knowledge of chemistry equating to that of a third year university undergraduate with one vital piece of equipment -- a pill press -- and precursor chemicals (ingredients such as ephedrine and pseudoephedrine that are commonly found in cold and decongestant medicine, but are also used to produce methamphetamine).
Indonesia has banned 23 precursor chemicals that are the main ingredients for ecstasy production, but eight others are permissible imports.
The factory, meanwhile, had been under surveillance since May after a tip-off from Chinese authorities that a machine used to make ecstasy had been delivered from China to Indonesia.
Although estimates vary, the cost of producing one ecstasy tablet is about $00.50 to $1. The factory was able to produce some 100 kilogram of ecstasy per week, which could be used to make about 1 million pills.
Sources say ecstasy pills now fetch prices of between Rp 150,000 and Rp 200,000 ($20) each, up from only Rp 90,000 to Rp 100,000 in early January. At $20 per tablet, one kilogram of ecstasy would generate $140,000. Stocks have fallen significantly as police have confiscated a huge amount of drugs and arrested many traffickers in the past several months.
With an estimated 3.9% of the 220 million people nationwide, or about 8.6 million, either using illegal drugs or trafficking them, the country's national narcotics agency, BNN (Badan Narkotika Nasional), has its work cut out.
Both producers and dealers are targeting the younger generation, who make up about 40% of the population or roughly 88 million people -- the third biggest market in Asia after China and India. The BNN chairman, General Togar Sianipar, said the country's illicit drug users now number about 4 million -- about one in every 50 Indonesians. They include about 7,000 junior high school students, more than 10,000 senior high school students and some 800 elementary school students.
An International Labor Organization (ILO) study indicates that about 4% of illicit drug users in Indonesia are children under 17. And two out of 10 users are involved in illicit trafficking.
Traffickers move around schools selling illicit drugs to students, sometimes forcing them to buy or even giving them out free. Once the youths are hooked, they then go to these traffickers for their supply. If they do not have money, they often steal it from their family or others.
Major cause of HIV
Though the public face is one of strict morality, Indonesia has a massive commercial sex industry. Health authorities say about 10 million men visit prostitutes each year. Fewer than 10% use a condom.
Oddly enough, the HIV-infection rate has been historically low. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Global Report 2004 estimated the number of HIV cases (adults and children) at 110,000 and the number of deaths due to AIDS at 2,400, but the World Health Organization has recently ranked Indonesia an even higher priority than China and Thailand, where AIDS epidemics have ravaged millions.
Infections are soaring among Indonesian intravenous drug users through the use of unsterile injections. One report claims there are up to 1 million drug injectors. The report, from Australia's Burnet Institute, found that drug use is now one of the major causes of the HIV epidemic in the Asia region.
The number infected in China is estimated to be 3.5 million. A high proportion of drug injectors are infected with HIV in China (70%), Indonesia (19%), Iran (75%), Myanmar (63%), Kathmandu, Nepal (50%), Thailand (50%) and Vietnam (63%).
Law and enforcement
In 1997, the 21-year-old law on narcotics offenses was replaced by new two-tier anti-narcotics laws. Ecstasy and shabu-shabu were reclassified as dangerous drugs, giving the enforcing agencies more power to deal with the abusers and pushers.
The law on psychotropic substances (amphetamines, such as shabu- shabu, ecstasy and speed), provides for a maximum sentence of 20 years and/or a fine of Rp 5 billion for the importation, manufacture and distribution of such drugs. Possession and use carry sentences ranging from five to 15 years.
"Class 1" illegal drugs, which include heroin, marijuana, opium and cocaine, are covered by another narcotics law, which provides for a maximum sentence of death for the manufacture and distribution of these substances.
Enforcement officials lack training and experience in contemporary enforcement and investigative methods, but this is changing. There is a plan to model BNN on the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and it will have a specific responsibility for intelligence networking and the investigation of international drug syndicates that impact Indonesia's counter-narcotics efforts. Cooperation with US counter-narcotics officials has steadily improved.
Last year, the US sponsored hundreds of Indonesian police officers for training at the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Bangkok, and for State Department-funded training in Indonesia. In 2004, the DEA provided training in drug intelligence analysis and precursor control. Jakarta continues to work closely with the DEA regional office in Singapore in narcotics investigations.
A deterrent for whom?
Despite the tough sanctions for narcotics offences numerous foreigners have been arrested in recent years, mainly for trafficking or possession. Nine Australians are on trial on Bali on charges of trying to smuggle heroin from the resort island to Australia. They face the maximum penalty of death, which, in Indonesia is at the hands of a firing squad.
Indian national Ayodhya Prasad Chaubey, 67, was sentenced to death in 1995 for trying to smuggle 12 kilograms of heroin into the country. He was executed August 4 last year after he spent nine years on death row. Two Thais were shot by firing squad two months later. As many as seven other drug criminals have had their last appeals for mercy rejected and await execution.
Of the 54 men and women languishing on death row, 31 have been convicted of smuggling or possessing drugs. Nineteen are convicted murderers and only four were sentenced on terrorism charges. Twenty-two are foreigners, most from Africa, and nine are Indonesian. But despite the frequent and very public drug raids and harsh sentences aimed at making examples, the ringleaders are rarely, if ever, caught.
Sophisticated trafficking groups are attracted to Indonesia by poor border security and law enforcement. There are 124 official entry points throughout the archipelago, but security is weak. The drug syndicates not only use the country as a transit point or a destination country for heroin and cocaine, but also set up clandestine factories to produce ecstasy for export.
Many of the foreign drug traffickers establish themselves in Indonesia by learning the local language and marrying Indonesian women.
Smuggling of heroin is usually from the "Golden Triangle" countries (Thailand, Myanmar and Laos) and done mostly by African couriers, as well as by Asians and Europeans.
Henry Yosodiningrat, chairman of a prominent drug prevention non-governmental organization, the National Anti-Narcotics Movement (GRANAT), warns that the government must leave no room for these drug syndicates to take root in Indonesia.
"The government needs to make a moral commitment to deal with the problem," he said. "But one obstacle to obtaining that commitment is that the syndicates have a lot of money to buy officials and this is one of the most corrupt countries."
Experts say a two-pronged strategy is needed to reduce drug abuse in society; a crackdown on the production and distribution of drugs and a campaign to educate the public about the dangers of narcotics.
Though the courts now dish out severe punishment to dealers and traffickers, targeting users is still mainly left to the community at large. Large banners flutter in the smallest of alleys across the capital of Jakarta and elsewhere, warning of the dangers of narcotics. TV advertisements drive the message home. The leading anti-narcotics proponent is YCAB (Yayasan Cinta Anak Bangsa), a non-government, anti-drug abuse foundation that vigorously campaigns in major newspapers and magazines and on billboards, posters and banners as well as distributes brochures.
A common battlefront?
Yudhoyono, with national police chief General Sutanto at his side at the site of the raided drug factory, urged all elements of the nation to continue fighting against three major crimes -- drug trafficking, terrorism and corruption.
Sutanto, the former head of BNN, has already launched a massive crackdown targeting drug users and suppliers. The problem cuts through social classes. According to sociologists, slum-dwellers are getting hooked on addictive substances as much as people from the higher social strata. Ecstasy and shabu-shabu are popular among middle- and upper-class users but for most young people, the drug of choice now is low-grade heroin, known as putaw, which is cheap, plentiful, and potentially deadly.
The perception of a bleak future pulls young people into drug abuse. Poverty drives many of them, usually unemployed or underemployed, into the drug trade, a source of easy money.
The effects of drug abuse reach out far beyond the victims and cause incalculable harm to society in health, social and economic terms. The emergence of injecting drug use has triggered the spread of HIV and other blood-borne viruses such as hepatitis B and hepatitis C among injecting drug users, who then can pass it on to their sexual partners, children and then to the general population.
Thousands of lives are wasted or lost because of illicit drugs. A recent survey by BNN indicates that 15,000 Indonesians die every year from taking outlawed narcotics. Most of the Jakarta addicts -- an estimated 85% -- are between the ages of 15 and 35.
Given the serious destructive consequences of drugs to the country's young generation as well as the inherent curtailment of sustainable development, it could be argued that for Indonesia, battling the drug scourge is as much, if not more, a priority than the "war on terrorism".
The latter certainly grabs the headlines and the lion's share of attention. Yet, despite the deaths of scores of Indonesians in the past four years and the destructive physical damage caused by bombs, terrorism does not strike at the moral foundation of society and corrupt its leadership and institutions as does the drug trade or any other form of organized crime.
"The state must not give up its fight against criminals, especially drug syndicates," Yudhoyono said at a June 26 ceremony marking the International Day Against Drug Abuse. "Otherwise, they will rule the state, which will lead to a failed state."
Just as in fighting terror, the battle against drugs needs a protracted campaign that strikes at criminal networks in Indonesia and abroad, targets money- laundering, and relies heavily on intelligence-gathering. Meanwhile, the river of drugs keeps flowing.
[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.]
| Business & investment |
Jakarta Post - November 22, 2005
Slamet Susanto, Yogyakarta -- Higher production costs prompted by the government's decision to raise fuel prices on Oct. 1 have forced hundreds of handicraft producers in Yogyakarta to cut production by up to 40 percent.
Hundreds of others have had to halt all production and lay off workers because of a fall in orders in the wake of the Bali bombings in October.
The owner of a wooden batik handicraft workshop in Krebet, Bantul, Yogyakarta, Tugiyo, 35, said he had halted all production for the past three weeks because of a business slowdown. In normal times, he ships more than 80 percent of his products to Bali.
"Since the second Bali bombings, demand has dropped and I am just working now on filling old orders. We are in a difficult period now, with low demand and surging production costs because of the fuel price hike," the father of one told The Jakarta Post.
Before the fuel price increase and the bombings, his workshop produced a container of wooden batik products each week, earning a net profit of between Rp 4 million (US$400) and Rp 5 million. Now he cannot even afford to pay his employees. "I had to lay off most of the 300 workers here because of the sluggish business," said Tugiyo.
Riyadi, 42, a craftsman in Pajangan, Bantul, said most people involved in the handicraft industry has seen their profits drop by as much as 25 percent because of higher production costs since fuel prices went up. He said he used to make a 10 percent profit on annual turnover of Rp 300 million before the fuel price increases, but the rise in the price of raw materials had drastically reduced profit.
Riyadi said the price of sengon wood had gone up to between Rp 600,000 and Rp 800,000 a cubic meter, from Rp 400,000 to Rp 500,000. Other types of wood have also become more expensive, including klepu wood which now costs from Rp 700,000 to Rp 900,000 per cubic meter, up from Rp 600,000 to Rp 700,000.
An employee at the Peni batik workshop, Tati, 24, said it was impossible to raise prices to keep pace with the rising cost of raw materials. "It is because of people's lack of purchasing power. Consumers might be scared off if we increased prices," said Tati.
Some 60 leather craftsmen in Manding, Bantul, find themselves in a similar position. The high cost of raw materials and transportation has forced more than 20 craftsmen to stop production, while others are experiencing dropping profits.
"Monthly turnover used to reach Rp 40 million, from which I could pocket a profit of 10 percent to 20 percent. Now I am lucky just to stay afloat," said one leather handicraft producer, July.
There are thousands of craftsmen spread across Yogyakarta, including producers of bamboo handicrafts in Mlati, Sleman, pottery in Kasongan and Pundong (both in Bantul regency), and silver goods in Kotagede.
Most have experienced declining profits and many small-scale craftsmen have been forced to stop operating until the economic situation improves.
Jakarta Post - November 22, 2005
Urip Hudiono, Jakarta -- Indonesia's economy has continued growing at a slower rate, official figures from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) show, as high oil prices and rising interest rates dampened exports and investments, while consumption also stalled under a rising inflation.
In its latest report on the country's economy in the third quarter, BPS said Indonesia's gross domestic product (GDP) from July to September only grew by 5.34 percent, compared to the same period last year.
The figure marks a continued economic deceleration for three quarters in a row, after a revised 5.84 percent growth during this year's second quarter against 6.19 percent in the first. Indonesia's economy had managed to expand by 6.65 percent during last year's final quarter, wrapping up the year at 5.13 percent.
BPS deputy chief for statistical analysis, Slamet Sutomo, said on Monday that the economic slowdown in the third quarter was primarily due to soaring global oil prices, which had touched US$70 a barrel on Aug. 30. A hike in fuel prices for industries in August, following a fuel price hike by an average of 29 percent in March, had also made it even tougher for the economy.
The central bank, meanwhile, was forced to raise its key interest rates amid a global trend of rate hikes and to support the rupiah, which had slumped below Rp 10,000 to the US dollar as oil prices continued to rise.
Bank Indonesia (BI) also increased its rates to contain inflation, which has shot up to 8.81 percent after the March fuel price hike, and only eased down in May before rising again to 9.06 percent for the month of September.
"The high oil prices and rising interest rates have particularly made production costs of businesses in the country surge, slowing down the economy," Slamet said. "Rising inflation also ate away at consumption." BI Governor Burhanuddin Abdullah said the central bank would try to avoid a significant interest rate hike again in the future to avoid hurting economic growth.
The conditions meant year-on-year growth of exports choked at 3.39 percent from 12.69 percent in the second quarter with exports failing to gain on a weaker rupiah, while investment growth also slowed to only 9.18 percent from 14.54 percent.
Indonesia's main economic engine of consumption grew by 4.43 percent -- slightly higher than 3.46 percent in the second quarter -- amid a new academic year and preparations for Ramadhan and Idul Fitri, although it slowed down in anticipation of Oct. 1 fuel price hike.
Growth during the third quarter was only rescued by government spending, which grew by 16.15 percent on more realized projects during the period, so that the country's economy still managed to expand by 5.76 percent to Rp 2,012 trillion (US$201.2 billion) for this year's first nine months.
By sector, BPS reported that many components of the economy were also experienced slower growth, with mining contracting by 2.32 percent from the same period last year.
One of the few rays of lights was Indonesia's transportation and communications sector, however, which managed to retain high growth of 12.87 percent.
Jakarta Post - November 21, 2005
Rusman, Samarinda -- The timber industry in East Kalimantan is on the brink of collapse due to rising production costs and a lack of raw materials, an executive with a timber firm association says.
Taufan Tirtamana, the secretary of the Indonesian Timber Firm Association (APHI), said the government must intervene to save the industry, otherwise thousands of workers would lose their jobs.
Taufan blamed the fuel price hike on Oct. 1 for the rising production costs. "The higher fuel price has burdened a lot of timber firms, leading to slow business in timber sales and production here," he said. These companies consumed significant amounts of fuel during wood processing and transportation.
The second problem was the government policy to cut legal tree felling quotas in East Kalimantan, Taufan said. Last year, the government allowed 1.5 million cubic meters of timber to be felled in the province, but this year, the quota was reduced to 1.4 million, leading into lack of raw materials for mills.
The national crackdown on illegal logging is also likely to have affected business.
Demand for logs reaches about 8 million cubic meters a year and firms now seeking logs outside East Kalimantan have only incurred increased transportation expenses. Taufan called for the government to subsidize fuel for timber firms and increase the quotas for logged timber.
Meanwhile, the East Kalimantan manpower office estimated some 54,000 people worked in the forestry, milling and transportation industries. Some 4,200 workers were laid off last year with 1,200 losing their jobs so far this year.
Suriansyah, 34, was one of those unlucky workers. He had still not received the severance pay he was legally entitled to, despite working for his company for several years. "The workers understand the timber industry is still in the doldrums, but we badly need severance pay to continue living," Suriansyah said.
A migrant from East Java province, Suriansyah has been joining protests about the issue since last week. He is planning to set up a small restaurant back in East Java if he gets paid out.
Bloomberg News - November 21, 2005
Indonesia's economy expanded in the third quarter at the slowest pace in a year as rising fuel costs, higher inflation and interest rates curbed consumer spending.
Southeast Asia's largest economy grew 5.3 percent in the three months to Sept. 30 from a year earlier after gaining a revised 5.8 percent in the previous quarter, Slamet Sutomo, a deputy head at the Central Statistics Bureau said at a briefing in Jakarta today. That was more than the median forecast of a 5.1 percent expansion in a Bloomberg survey of 12 economists.
Higher global oil prices and a slump in the rupiah this year forced President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's government to increase fuel costs and the central bank to raise interest rates. The double blow has curbed purchases of motorcycles and cars in a nation where 126 million people live on under $2 a day.
"For the next couple of quarters it's going to be tough," Raymond Gin, who helps manage about $102 million at PT Manulife Aset Manajemen Indonesia in Jakarta, said before the announcement. "High interest rates and fuel costs will reduce purchasing power and that will naturally slow growth."
Indonesia's central bank has raised its benchmark interest rate five times since July, with a record 1 1/4 percentage point increase on Nov. 1 aimed at curbing inflation and bolstering the currency taking the key rate used as a reference for bill sales to 12.25 percent.
Fuel Prices Further rate increases could damp future growth in Indonesia's $258 billion economy, Homi Kharas, chief economist at the Washington-based World Bank, said in an interview before today's release.
"This is an economic cycle which is just starting to build," said Kharas. "One wants to make sure that it continues to build and not to be too far ahead of the curve in monetary policy if at the same time fiscal policy is also tightening."
Bank Indonesia was forced to raise rates after President Yudhoyono increased fuel prices by an average 29 percent in March to help prevent subsidies from widening the budget deficit. Kerosene prices almost tripled and diesel tariffs more than doubled on Oct. 1 to cap the government's fuel subsidies this year at 89.2 trillion rupiah ($8.7 billion). Bank Indonesia, the nation's central bank, will try to avoid a "substantial" interest rate increase, even with inflationary pressure, because it doesn't want to hurt economic growth, Governor Burhanuddin Abdullah said in Jakarta today.
"Going forward BI will try to take steps so that a substantial rise in the benchmark BI rate can be avoided to maintain the momentum of the economy," Abdullah told reporters.
Interest rates
Rising interest rates will reduce earnings at lenders, bankers said. "Most Indonesian banks will see a decline in profit this year and through the first half of next year," said Chairul Tanjung, chairman of PT Bank Mega, a mid-size lender. "Rising interest rates may prompt non-performing loans to increase this year."
Car sales in Indonesia fell 20 percent to 35,103 units in October from 44,044 the previous month after declining 13 percent in September, according to figures from PT Toyota-Astra Motor, the local unit of Toyota Motor Corp., the world's third-largest automaker, which are compiled from data from the Association of Indonesian Automotive Industries. Motorcycle sales fell to 452,876 units in September from 504,787 units in August.
"A slowing economy will have an impact on telephone traffic," said Muhammad Awaluddin, a spokesman at Telekomunikasi in Jakarta. "There is a possibility customers may use more of the cheaper text messages to communicate."
Consumer Spending Manufacturing expanded 5.6 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, according to today's report. Farm output rose 1.6 percent during the same period, whilst Indonesia's mining industry declined 2.3 percent.
Government spending increased 16.2 percent in the three months ended September from a year ago. Investment grew 9.2 percent and household consumption rose 4.4 percent.
"It's possible that people spent more in anticipation of further price increases," said Winang Budoyo, an economist with PT Mandiri Sekuritas in Jakarta. "Spending will most likely slow down in the next quarters, while other components, such as investment and exports have slowed quite a bit and they may not pick up in the short term."
Inflation
Indonesia's inflation rate, which reached a 26-month high of 8.8 percent in March after the government raised fuel prices, jumped to 17.9 percent in October following that month's subsequent increase in energy costs.
Inflation may average 17 percent this year, Indonesia's top economics Minister Aburizal Bakrie said on Nov. 1. The central bank on Oct. 24 raised its 2005 inflation forecast to 14 percent from its original estimate of 12 percent.
Higher oil prices have threatened to widen Indonesia's budget deficit -- forecast at 24.9 trillion rupiah or 0.9 percent of gross domestic product this year, as they make fuel subsidies more expensive. Crude oil prices, which have dropped about 19 percent since reaching a record $70.85 a barrel on Aug. 30, are 22 percent higher than a year ago.
The rupiah, which plunged to a four-year low of 10,840 against the US dollar on Aug. 30, has dropped 7.9 percent this year, making it the second-worst performing of 15 Asia-Pacific currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The rupiah rose 0.1 percent to 10,066 against the US dollar at 3:26 p.m. in Jakarta.
Indonesia's economy may expand about 5.5 percent this year, lower than the government's official forecast of 6 percent, Planning Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said last week. The government expects 6.2 percent growth next year.
President Yudhoyono's government wants to spend $150 billion over the next five years to build the roads, power plants and other infrastructure projects needed to spur growth and create jobs. The government wants to revive foreign investment that fell to $10.3 billion in 2004, about a third of the amount it received in 1995 before the Asian financial crisis.
Jakarta Post - November 21, 2005
Leony Aurora, Bandung -- Analysts and industry players have expressed a wide range of views over the government's target of raising the country's oil production to 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2009, with some saying it would be challenging and others saying it would be downright impossible.
The government needed to come up with new breakthroughs and out- of-the box thinking if it wanted to attain the optimistic target, the panel of speakers and prominent members of the audience said at a symposium titled "To raise Indonesia's oil and gas production", which was held here by the Association of Petroleum Engineering Experts (IATMI) last Friday.
Such approaches had to be taken to encourage exploration, which had more than halved since 1998 as investors waited for the country's turmoil to subside and for the implementation of the new Oil and Gas Law, president of Chevron Pacific Indonesia (CPI) Wahyudin Yudiana said.
"It's a pity that we could not raise production amid the current high oil prices," said Yudiana, whose company produces some 50 percent of Indonesia's total crude output. The government could offer incentives to promote joint exploration in eastern Indonesia, where most of the unexplored basins are located, to major existing producers like Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and BP. "If one major find is discovered, the areas around it will become attractive," said Yudiana.
Panelist TN Mahmud, former CEO of Arco Indonesia, suggested that the government form a crisis team that would report directly to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to coordinate efforts to boost exploration and restore investor confidence.
The target of 1.3 million bpd by 2009 is unrealistic, he said. "We have lost the momentum in recent years," said Mahmud. Even if there were coordinated national efforts taken right away, the results would only become apparent five years down the track.
It would be impossible to repeat the experience of the late 1960s, when, within five years, the oil and gas sector saved the state budget after the country faced near bankruptcy. The Local Autonomy Law and investors' disappointment with the state's failure to honor the sanctity of the contract in the past were cited as being among the reasons for this.
According to figures from the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Agency (BP Migas), some 80 percent of crude and condensate output, which this year is estimated to average at 1.075 million bpd, comes from fields that have passed their peak production.
Indonesia's oil production is declining by 5 percent annually due to aging fields and lack of exploration.
BP Migas chairman Kardaya Warnika said at the event that the agency was making various efforts to boost production and called the government target "quite difficult but not impossible".
In the next three years, the agency will fast-track processes, applying special licenses that will enable some work to start before the plan of development (POD) is approved and providing incentives for "brown" fields, said Kardaya.
"We will also speed up the development of the Cepu block and conduct enhanced oil recovery efforts," he added, referring to the country's largest untapped oil reserves that are currently the subject of a prolonged dispute between state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina and ExxonMobil.
Jakarta Post - November 18, 2005
Urip Hudiono, Jakarta -- To invite more private participation into public infrastructure development, the government has issued a new regulation providing more incentives and governmental support for the risk management of projects.
The new rules, Presidential Regulation No. 67/2005 on public- private partnerships for infrastructure provision, also provide other incentives such as tax exemptions and public service obligation (PSO) subsidies for tariff-bearing projects.
"This regulation was issued as part of the government's commitment to speed up infrastructure development and create an investment climate that encourages the private sector to participate in this development," State Minister for National Development Planning Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Thursday. The regulation, which was issued on Nov. 9, will replace Presidential Decree No. 7/1998.
The new rules, Mulyani said, were designed to protect the best interests of consumers, the public and private investors. All infrastructure projects would now be implemented through partnership agreements or operating licenses after passing a proper due diligence process, she said.
"The procurement process of the projects must also adhere to the principles of transparency, competitiveness, efficiency and maintaining a level-playing field," she said. To protect the interests of private investors and encourage their participation, Mulyani said the government would provide support in covering the risks of the projects, with the finance ministry having already established a Risk Management Committee for Infrastructure Provision for that purpose.
"This committee will facilitate managing the risks of the projects through parties considered the most capable of doing so. But any of the incentives would still be considered with regard to the state budget," she said.
Infrastructure projects covered by the new regulation include those proposed by ministries and regional administrations in the transportation sector, such as the construction and operation of seaports, airports, railways and toll roads.
The private sector can also participate in the development of irrigation facilities, as well as public drinking water and sewage treatment facilities.
Power generation projects and their transmission grids are also open, as well as refineries, storage and the distribution of oil and gas products.
Private investors can propose their own projects, which if approved would still be offered through an open tender, with compensation for the project initiator in the form of a value- added purchase price and the purchasing of intellectual property rights of the projects by the government.
Minister of Public Works Djoko Kirmanto said the governmental risk guarantee in the new regulation would hopefully help investors overcome their difficulties in raising the needed capital from banks, many of which consider multi-year infrastructure projects here too risky.
Meanwhile, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro hoped the regulation could help solve the power crunch in several remote areas in the country because private investors could now propose their own projects.
On PSO subsidies, Minister of Transportation Hatta Radjasa said the government would provide a framework on initial tariffs and their adjustments to ensure a competitive return on investments for the private sector, he said.
| Opinion & analysis |
Jakarta Post - November 22, 2005
Aboeprijadi Santoso, The Hague -- A Dutch study on Papua, charged with political implications for Indonesia, has been greeted with rejoicing by many Papuans, and led to controversy in the Netherlands and growing concern about the prospects for Papua.
Nov. 15, 2005, will go down in history as an important day for Papuans as Prof. P.J. Drooglever's long awaited study, Een Daad van Vrije Keuze (An Act of Free Choice), was finally launched in The Hague. The Dutch-commissioned report has now confirmed international findings that the UN held "vote" in 1969, that put Papua under Indonesian sovereignty, was "a sham" -- a conclusion likely to strengthen the pro-independence Papuan perspective and the international criticism of Papua's integration into Indonesia.
Jakarta has always considered Papua its province in the legitimate and ultimate sense, and The Hague has stated that it categorically respects Indonesia's territorial integrity. Drooglever's work, though, is not a political document, but a study written at the request of the Dutch Foreign Ministry. Yet the launching of the report has been a delicate and sensitive affair precisely because of its conclusions.
Neither Indonesian diplomats nor Dutch government officials, both moving in tandem, were willing to attend. Foreign Minister Bernhard Bot refused to officially receive the book, which he dismissed as "superfluous" despite it being sponsored by his ministry. Instead, it was presented to his predecessor, Joziaas van Aartsen, the man who actually gave the go-ahead to the study.
The two governments' conspicuous silence indicates a cautious, but undeclared concern that Drooglever's findings might complicate the issue of Papua by provoking Papuan and international demands for a "historical rectification" of the 1969 vote, i.e. a new referendum.
Few anticipated such a prospect when, following President Abdurrachman "Gus Dur" Wahid's opening up toward Papua in 1999, a Dutch-Papua lobby proposed a historical study on Papua. But, then Foreign Minister J. van Aartsen, perhaps naively, agreed without seeking parliamentary consent or considering its implications.
The proposal by two legislators from small Christian-based parties, E. van Middelkoop and G. van den Berg, thus resulted in the Drooglever assignment. But, much to their dismay, Gus Dur was deposed a year later and, worse, the special autonomy offered and welcomed by the Papuans in 2001 has since been effectively decapitated by the division of the province, resulting in growing local resistance. Thus, the success of the Papua lobby and Drooglever's publication in the Netherlands, came just as the condition in Papua has grown worse, leaving Jakarta and The Hague with its consequences.
Minister Bot, anxious to guard the improved relationship with Indonesia, has denied that The Hague was responsible for the Drooglever assignment. Indeed, recognizing that the project would be viewed as an unfriendly act to a friendly country, Bot took a historic step, acknowledging Indonesia's Aug. 17, 1945 independence day.
Neither is the Dutch parliament planning to do anything with Drooglever's findings. Yet van Aartsen and the Papua lobby, the "heroes" at launch day, maintained, "the book is about our (Dutch) history", hence, the government's sponsorship.
Viewed from the Papuan perspective, however, Drooglever's publication -- precisely because it was commissioned by the Dutch administration -- has assumed an importance that it is hoped will take Papua to a new departure after decades of abuse, inconsistencies and confusion.
In particular, it is seen as opening up an opportunity for encouraging a dialog on "historical rectification" as demanded by the historic Second Papua People's Congress of 2000 -- the first ever Pan Papua mass meeting, which significantly defined the parameters of Papuan identity, dignity and objectives.
Certainly, no book will by itself change history, but Drooglever's publication has started a momentum that could bring Papuan politics into line with history. The presence, therefore, of a dozen representatives of key Papuan organizations at the seminar is a clear sign of a new determination among Papuans to pursue a peaceful struggle to encourage the international community to help Papuans rectify history.
Ironically, the Papua issue has always evoked sympathy from among the paternalistic conservatives, including the Dutch Foreign Minister of the 1960s and 1970s, Joseph Luns -- the last Dutch "imperialist" and champion of Papuan rights.
P.J. Drooglever has no doubt written a credible and most comprehensive study on Papua. He recognizes that the Papua issue began after the Dutch raised the idea of zelf-beschikkingsrecht (right to self-determination) at the Linggardjati talks (1948) and put it in the Round Table Agreement (1949). However, President Sukarno and Foreign Minister Soebandrio's successful diplomacy cornered Joseph Luns after the two Kennedys, John and Robert, threw US support behind Indonesia.
The sham that thwarted a free vote began after Gen. Soeharto declared he would only accept the results if Papua, then called West Irian, joined Indonesia. Based on archives and testimony, Drooglever argues, the 1969 vote was not, in fact, held quite in accordance with the 1962 New York Agreement. In fact, there was no vote at all as the process went through stages where decisions were taken collectively by carefully selected Papuans on the basis of written prescriptions -- often with intimidation and threats of violence forming the backdrop.
It seems unfair for Jakarta to deal with the problems in Papua without addressing the very issues the Papuans themselves have been raising since the 2000 Papuan People's Congress. Like Aceh's pro-referendum mass meetings and the pro-democracy manifestations elsewhere in Indonesia during the late-1990s, the forgotten Papuan congress produced genuine expressions of local aspirations that need to be respected.
To restore Papuan dignity means to rectify history. Papuans need peace and dialog, and to be made the masters in their own land -- without having to endure ever-changing rules from Jakarta. The New Order's total failure to win hearts and minds by combining diplomacy and violence made the East Timor issue -- that "pebble in Jakarta's shoe" -- unbearable the East Timor was finally resolved.
A similar process is now taking place in Aceh with the successful implementation of the Helsinki deal. It's time to learn these lessons and apply them also in Papua.
[The writer is journalist with Radio Netherlands.]
Jakarta Post Editorial - November 21, 2005
A perusal of the backgrounds of the suicide bombers who wrecked havoc in Bali on Oct. 1 can serve to tell us a lot about why there seems to be no shortage of terrorists. Mat Sukarto, a 57- year-old farmer and father of one of the bombers, said he did not fully understand why his less-than-religiously-inclined son, Misno, had decided to take his own life in such a manner.
Mat told this paper, as reported on Nov. 14, that his last meeting with his 23-year-old son was in August, when he bid farewell as Misno set off for Batam island, where he planned to work in a hotel. Mat said he gave his son Rp 1.5 million (about US$150) out of his meager savings.
Terrorism is a complex issue that may be connected with one or more of the following elements: faith, patriotism, globalization, ideology, perception, alienation, belief and poverty. Mat's case underlines the vulnerability of the poor to becoming roped into terrorism. Terrorist leaders like Osama bin Laden and Dr. Azahari bin Husin may be rich, but not their foot soldiers. Tempo magazine reported this week that Azahari was guarded by his four accomplices when he was killed in a police raid in Batu, near the East Java town of Malang, on Nov. 9. All four accomplices came from the lower income brackets.
The fight against terrorism is a multi-pronged battle. The government can draft in more police and troops, boost intelligence capabilities, increase antiterrorism funding, set up special antiterror units, purchase state-of-the-art weapons, provide specialist training, and even permit foreign donors to assist Muslim religious schools (pesantren), but these are all only part of the story.
It is not enough for the government to be good at fighting terrorism physically, it must also be good at fighting poverty, perverted ideologies, exploitation of religion for short-term political purposes, corruption, and attempts to divert Muslims from the true teachings of Islam, among others things.
This represents a tough challenge. With its vast coastline, most of which is unguarded, it is not hard to see that Indonesia is looking at a long war before the terrorists are defeated.
Among the various challenges, poverty is particularly prominent as more than 135 million Indonesians live on less than US$2 a day, which means below the poverty line. Thus, more than half Indonesia's total population of 230 million people are virtually destitute.
So behind every small step on the road to victory against the terrorists, poverty will always be lurking in the background, like a snake ready to strike at any time.
After poverty, the next major challenges are corruption and the spreading of false Islamic teachings. Corruption is indirectly responsible for rampant poverty. Unfortunately, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has a poor record in this area during his first year in government.
Unlike terrorism, corruption is committed silently, far from the gaze of the public. Often, but not always, it is committed in luxurious office buildings and in high places. It is a silent killer responsible for keeping millions of people poor. Its effects are no less serious than terrorism. It is silent terrorism that is very difficult to eradicate. The fact is, no single government since Indonesia gained its independence in 1945 has ever succeeded in uprooting corruption.
Eradicating the evil of corruption will entail stopping the gravy train for those in positions of power and authority -- something that could well prove next to impossible. With corruption still commonplace, mass poverty will continue and the terrorists will have no shortage of new recruits from the lower rungs of society.
Muslim leaders say that Islam has never taught its followers to kill innocent people. Since most Indonesians are Muslim, it is time for the people and the government to work together to rid this country of the scourge of deviant Islam. The pledge given by Muslim leaders last week to work to this end is a good start. The window of opportunity that has now opened must not be allowed to slam shut.