News & issues

Abuse victims reluctant to speak out

Jakarta Post - December 23, 2005

ID Nugroho, Surabaya -- Her answers are barely audible and her eyes cast down at the floor as she holds tightly to the arms of her chair.

"I realized that I had been deceived for much of my married life," Ratna Hastuti (not her real name), 45, from Jember, East Java, told The Jakarta Post. "I will never forgive my husband for neglecting our children." Ratna, the mother of four, is a victim of domestic abuse.

She first learned of her husband's "other life" when a man arrived on her doorstep and introduced himself as her husband Karyono's son. His name was Totok and it was clear from his age, 29, that her husband had been unfaithful for some time. Totok said the marriage had taken place in Jakarta. "The news was a shock," Ratna said.

A second blow came when Totok informed her that Karyono, whom she married in 1975, had married three other times. Ratna confronted her husband but his response was cold rather than apologetic and he threatened to leave her. "I would have left him then but for my children," she said.

Ratna counted on her husband mending his ways when she decided to give the marriage a second chance.

Karyono, who owns a construction company in Jakarta, grew more distant and neglected their children. When he married a fifth time she filed for divorce. "Excuse me for saying so but I now consider my husband dead," she said.

The Pro-Democracy Women's Commission (KPPD), a non-governmental organization advocating women's rights, has recorded an increase in the number of domestic violence cases among the province's 17 million women.

"There were 194 domestic violence cases in East Java in 2005, and the number could rise even more because many women are still unaware of their rights," the group's chairperson Erma Susanti told the Post.

Most of the women were beaten, confined to the home, threatened, neglected or forced into prostitution, or subjected to other kinds of abuse by their husbands.

Of the 194 cases, Surabaya ranks top with 52 cases, followed by Malang with 33 cases and Banyuwangi, Nganjuk, Pacitan and Tulungagung with one case each.

"I believe more cases of domestic abuse exist in small cities but have gone unnoticed because the victims are reluctant to report the case to the police as they regard the matter a 'risk of marriage'," said Erma.

Many domestic abuse victims are unwilling to talk about their experiences, let alone file a report.

Three women the Post approached for an interview said they were too traumatized to speak about their years of abuse.

Besides domestic abuse, women are also the victims of rape -- including date rape -- sexual harassment, trafficking and abuse by authorities in prostitution cases.

Rape ranks highest with 324 cases, followed by sexual harassment with 71 cases, abuse by authorities with 50 cases, date rape with 40 cases and trafficking with 12 cases.

The high number of abuse cases against women, particularly housewives, is proof of the ineffectiveness of Law. No. 23 on domestic violence, enacted in 2004.

The KPPD has suggested that all parties, including the government and the public, continue to promote awareness and enforce the law. "Without publicity and effective law enforcement, women, including housewives, will continue to face violence at home," said Erma.

Muslims stage major rally against radicalism, terrorism

Jakarta Post - December 19, 2005

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- Former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid led thousands of Muslims in a march through the capital on Sunday to promote "Islam for Peace" and counter militant ideas.

The march went from the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta to the parking lot of Senayan stadium in the south of the city. Participants condemned militants who justified their violent actions by invoking the name of Islam.

"There are many people who try to legitimize violence against others by using the name of Islam, but Islam never teaches radicalism," Gus Dur, also a former leader of Nahdlatul Ulama, the nation's largest Muslim organization, told the crowd.

"The true face of Islam is one of a religion that promotes peace. People who try and get us to commit violence against others, claiming such violence is part of jihad, are using false Islamic teachings," he said.

The rally, participated in by a number of moderate Muslim groups, was organized by Gus Dur's National Awakening Party (PKB). The organizing committee claimed some 12,000 people attended the rally.

The chairwoman of the event's organizing committee, and the deputy PKB secretary general, Zannuba "Yenny" Arifah Chafsoh Rahman, said the event was organized to counter a rise in radicalism by militant Muslims who carried out terrorist attacks in the name of Islam.

"With this event, we want to show the public that the moderates are truly dominant among Indonesian Muslims," said Yenny, who is also Gus Dur's daughter. "We will rally again and again to counter radical groups," she promised. Hard-line groups frequently take to the streets to stage rallies to promote their extremist ideas.

Yenny said Sunday's rally was to promote a moderate Islam in Indonesia, that tolerated other beliefs and fostered peace among all peoples.

In addition to Gus Dur, several other clerics took part in the event, during which dozens of pigeons symbolizing peace were released, as well as balloons that carried the words "Islam for Peace".

The marchers issued a manifesto that was read by Abdul Hay Naim, a charismatic Betawi cleric from the Darut Tahzib Islamic group. The manifesto rejected the misuse of Islam to harm others, non- Muslim in particular.

Gus Dur also used the event to criticize any government attempt to fingerprint students at Islamic boarding schools, or pesantren, as part of its fight against terrorism. "It would not be wise for the government to do this because pesantren should be respected as places where students can learn about a peaceful Islam," he said.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla has discussed the idea of fingerprinting pesantren students, but police denied any such effort was planned following protests from Muslim scholars and the schools.

Gur Dur, widely known as a pluralist, also urged the government to maintain security during the Christmas holiday. "It is the government's responsibility to protect all citizens, regardless of their religion, race or ethnicity, during Christmas." On Christmas Eve in 2000, dozens of churches were bombed in Jakarta and several other towns, killing 19 people.

Elsewhere in Jakarta, members of the Hizbut Tahrir group staged a rally on Sunday against the government's war on terrorism, which they said was part of an effort to discredit and weaken Islam.

"We believe the current war on terrorism is propaganda aimed at cornering Islam as a religion for peace. Therefore, we must take a stand against this propaganda," said Hizbut Tahrir chairman Achmad Junaidi Ath Thayyibiy.

The rally was held in front of the presidential palace in Central Jakarta. The demonstrators waved banners, some reading, "Jihad is not part of terrorism and terrorism is not part of jihad," and "Pesantren not a hotbed for terrorism."

Child trafficking still going strong in Aceh, Nias

Jakarta Post - December 19, 2005

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan -- A non-governmental organization (NGO) has reported that child trafficking and illegal adoptions were continuing in the tsunami-ravaged areas of Aceh and Nias.

Several children of the tsunami were found to have been sold to irresponsible parties in Malaysia, while very young victims of the earthquake in Nias had been illegally adopted by people in Medan, Jakarta and Bandung, said an official with the Center for Child Protection and Study (PKPA).

The executive director with PKPA, Achmad Sofian, said on Saturday that child trafficking and illegal adoptions were revealed by a study conducted by his NGO recently.

Sofian explained that they had found two cases of Acehnese children sold to irresponsible people in Malaysia. The first case concerned a girl child identified only as I.R., a Lhokseumawe resident, who was locked up in Binjai, North Sumatra about two months ago. The case became public after the child was able to escape when members of the trafficking syndicate left the house to arrange for her passport. The second case was of 16-year-old identified as S., an Aceh Besar resident. The girl was able to escape when the syndicated members were trying to get her out of Aceh by bus.

At first, the victim did not suspect the syndicate members because she apparently knew them before and they told her that she would be employed as a domestic helper. But, later she learned that the syndicate planned to sell her to their colleagues in Malaysia. She managed to escape when the bus stopped in Langsa, East Aceh.

Sofian said the first victim had been returned to her family in Lhokseumawe while the second had been made adopted by a government official in Langsa.

Based on the findings, members of the NGO went to Malaysia in order to investigate child trafficking and they found that in several places in the neighboring country, Acehnese teens who had survived the tsunami were found working in restaurants.

The youngsters actually are not supposed to be working in restaurants as they are below 21, the minimum age requirement in Malaysia, said Sofian.

"After further investigation, we found that many of their birth certificates had been forged to make them eligible. In the passports, their ages were changed so that they could enter Malaysia for work," said Sofian.

The NGO was studying whether the teens were also employed as prostitutes in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Sofian also said that besides child trafficking, the NGO had also found that children in Nias had been adopted illegally. Sofian said according to data gathered by the NGO between March and November this year, 72 children from Nias between the ages of four and 12, had been illegally adopted.

Sofian explained that the cases of illegal adoption began when people claiming to be from an orphanage in Medan offered Nias parents the "opportunity" to have their children adopted by rich families in Medan. They also promised that the children would go to good schools be treated well. But, later on, the parents found out that it was all a scam and to this day have not seen their children. The children had gone missing along with the people claiming to represent the orphanage.

"We probed the cases and we found that some children had been adopted by people in Medan, Jakarta and Bandung," said Sofian.

He said the child trafficking and illegal adoptions had been reported to police. Spokesman for the North Sumatra Police Sr. Comr. Bambang Prihady said officers were investigating the cases.

Child trafficking, and allegations and rumors of it, began to emerge after the tsunami last December, which left thousands homeless and/or orphaned. The tsunami triggered by a monster earthquake swept Aceh coastal areas on Dec. 26 and killed some 130,000 people in Aceh only. Four months later, another monster earthquake rocked Nias island, killing thousands.

Aceh

Acehnese woman writer launches novel

Jakarta Post - December 18, 2005

A. Junaidi -- Acehnese writer Riati M.K. has launched on Wednesday her first novel, Seulanga Gelora Cinta di Tengah Perjuangan Aceh (Seulanga: Glory of love amid Aceh's struggle), which tells a tale of a woman named Seulanga as she searches for her parents' murderers during the armed conflict in Aceh.

Along her search, Seulanga meets and then enters into a romantic relationship with Salam, a youth leader of Aceh's separatist movement.

In the novel, the armed conflict is presented in the context of mixed business and political interests through its antagonists. National and foreign companies operating in natural resource-rich Aceh also provide a background to the novel.

While Seulanga -- published by Creative Media and Tea Time Inc. Jakarta -- is a work of fiction, the writer said it was inspired by her childhood experiences.

Born on Nov. 18, 1968, in Langsa Aceh, Riati is among the few Acehnese writers -- if not the only Acehnese woman author -- to have published in Jakarta who interweaves her novel with a colorful backdrop of Aceh and its cultural heritage, such as proverbs.

A graduate of the English Department of Syah Kuala University, Banda Aceh, and currently an editor of a production house in Jakarta, Riati hoped that Seulanga would raise awareness among readers as to the past conflict and its effects on the Acehnese.

Although the novel could be categorized as popular fiction, upon reading it, readers will be introduced to the prolonged suffering of the Acehnese people and the complexity of the issues there.

TNI to send troops to Aceh for rebuilding

Jakarta Post - December 23, 2005

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- The Indonesian Military (TNI) is preparing to deploy 15 battalions of troops to speed up reconstruction efforts in tsunami-hit Aceh.

TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said on Thursday the head of the Aceh and Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR), Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, had requested assistance from the military. Soldiers will focus on reconstruction work in remote areas that civilian contractors cannot reach, according to Endriartono.

"If the agency has no other choice but to ask for military help to carry out reconstruction then we will help, on the condition that (the BRR) provide the funds to mobilize the troops," Endriartono said.

This announcement comes as the TNI completes a major withdrawal of combat troops from the province, in line with a peace deal signed in August. The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) recently completed its disarmament, which was also a key part of the peace agreement.

The Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) announced on Wednesday the completion of GAM's disarmament, with 1,042 weapons surrendered by the former rebels. The TNI has so far withdrawn nearly 20,000 troops from Aceh, with a final 4,000 soldiers scheduled to depart the province before the end of the month.

Endriartono said the battalions to be deployed to Aceh as part of the reconstruction effort would come from the Army's logistics division. One battalion consists of between 700 and 1,000 personnel.

"TNI Headquarters is now defining the framework for the project, while the Army will prepare the human resources and the necessary equipment to assist the BRR," Endriartono said.

He was speaking following a coordination meeting on the TNI's planned non-military missions next year in areas across the country, including Aceh.

In 2005, the TNI took part in the construction of bridges in Aceh that were damaged or destroyed by the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami. The military also reconstructed the main road linking the provincial capital Banda Aceh and Meulaboh.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Djoko Santoso said the deployment of troops to Aceh for reconstruction work was just waiting for the official green light. "Of course we will coordinate with the BRR, especially in determining what work we will undertake. We are ready to carry out the work," Djoko said.

However, GAM spokesman Bakhtiar Abdullah questioned the deployment, saying there were lots of Acehnese and former guerrillas ready to help the BRR carry out construction in the province. "In this post-conflict situation, it would be better to avoid any policy that could rekindle the trauma of the Aceh people. This redeployment, if it materializes, will remind the Acehnese of their past traumas.

The peace accord signed by both the Indonesian government and GAM requires the military to reduce the number of its troops (in the province) to 14,700.

"The planned mobilization goes against the peace agreement," Bakhtiar told The Jakarta Post. He said he would file a complaint with the AMM over the plan.

Several non-governmental organizations grouped under the Aceh Working Group also criticized the plan. "Why doesn't the BRR ask professionals to carry out the work? Any project involving the military should be seen as the disbursement of large amounts of funds without transparency," Choirul Anam of Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) said.

Aceh children remain afraid

Jakarta Post - December 23, 2005

A'an Suryana, Banda Aceh -- One year after the Indian Ocean tsunami, children in Indonesia are recovering at a slower pace compared to children in other countries affected by the destructive waves, a survey has found.

Some 80 percent of tsunami-affected children polled in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand expressed optimism about the future. Of the Acehnese children who were polled, one-third said they did not think their lives would improve, according to the survey funded by the United Nations Children's Funds (UNICEF).

"This may reflect the fact that a staggering 69 percent of children surveyed in Aceh had lost at least one family member," said UNICEF's Indonesian representative, Gianfranco Rotigliano, in a press release on Thursday.

The survey, conducted by TNS, a global market information company, involved 1,633 children affected by the tsunami in the four countries.

In Indonesia, TNS interviewed 400 children in Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar regency, two of the hardest hit areas by the tsunami. Four hundred children were interviewed in Sri Lanka, 400 in Thailand and 433 in India.

The children, between the ages of eight and 17, were asked for their thoughts and feelings on the disaster and their futures. Rotigliano said the survey showed that many children in Aceh remained "afraid and anxious".

The survey also found all of the children were aware they benefited from relief assistance, but at the same time felt additional aid was needed. The children identified several key needs, most often mentioning assistance to help them return to school and complete their studies. Money, housing, clothing and jobs for their families were other areas the children said they felt more assistance was needed.

More than one-third of children polled in Indonesia said they often feel alone. More than half the children surveyed in India and Sri Lanka fear another earthquake or tsunami, while 76 percent of children interviewed in Thailand fear the loss of a loved one.

In Indonesia, feelings of loneliness and boredom occur more often during playtime, while in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand, the children indicated that during free time they felt cheerful and content.

"This figure may be a reflection of the relatively large numbers of children who are still without permanent homes in Aceh and have lost a family member," said Rotigliano.

More than nine out of 10 children in all four of the countries said they were back in school.

The tsunami swept over coastal areas in Southeast and South Asia, with Aceh the hardest hit region. Of the approximately 180,000 people who died in the worst natural disaster in generations, some 130,000 of them were in Aceh.

TNI chief wants Gam to make a statement on dissolution

Tempo Interactive - December 22, 2005

Jakarta -- The decommissioning and dispersal of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) military wing is inadequate for the Indonesian Military (TNI). TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto has requested GAM to make an official statement regarding its dissolution.

"The dissolution of the military wing is a duty. However, what is important is that GAM must officially announce the military wing no longer exists," Sutarto stated on Thursday (22/12).

In relation to the handing over of GAM weapons in the last stage on Wednesday (21/12), Sutarto said that the TNI did not differentiate between the Indonesian Military (TNI) and Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM). The TNI still prioritizes the peace settlement in Aceh.

"If we always focus on the weapons, when will the Aceh conflict be settled?" Sutarto stated. However, if in the future, the TNI finds GAM members have weapons, there will be legal measures against these GAM members.

Regarding the possibility of former GAM members becoming TNI members, Gen. Sutanto said that these GAM members must follow the selection process objectively without any discrimination. Following the amnesty, GAM members will automatically be Indonesian citizens and be entitled to work on any job. (Maruli Ferdinand-Tempo News Room)

Aceh reconstruction still slow one year on

Jakarta Post - December 22, 2005

A'an Suryana, Banda Aceh -- "I'm tired. I have been writing a lot about reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in Aceh but the progress here has been slow. Many people are still living in tents and barracks, despite the sheer amount of funds injected by the world," an Acehnese journalist has complained.

Her comments are a reflection of the general feeling in Aceh. Hopes had earlier been pinned on a rapid rebuilding process as the international response to the tsunami was overwhelming. But, a year after the catastrophe, the rate of progress has clearly disappointed the people most affected.

At least 67,500 people are living in tents or barracks a year after the tsunami, while hundreds of thousands of people are dependent on food aid and programs to find them work. Health care is also an issue as eight hospitals and 141 health centers were damaged in the disaster last year. On top of that, people have been struggling with high inflation stemming from the rising price of fuel and the growth of the construction industry in the aftermath of the tsunami.

Frustration and anger has been directed at the Aceh Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Body (BRR), which has been overseeing the rebuilding process in the province. The anger is understandable as the public is aware of the vast funds at the disposal of the body.

In its report released a few days ago, the body argued that the slow pace of reconstruction was primarily due to the scale of the destruction. The tsunami, triggered by a monster earthquake, devastated an 800-kilometer stretch of coastline, equivalent to the coastline from San Francisco to San Diego. The vast recovery zone resulted in a logistical nightmare, the body argued.

Of the total "tsunami" budget of US$9 billion, the body has spent US$ 775 million, one year after the catastrophe, less than 10 percent of the total funds committed by the Indonesian government, international donors and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The body said funds had been held back because of the bureaucratic reforms taking place in the central government. Although the reforms are necessary to prevent corruption, they have generated confusion among government officials as long- standing practice have been overhauled. In addition, the budgetary system has not been working well, meaning a considerable amount of funds set to be directed for tsunami recovery were languishing in Jakarta until as late as September 2005.

Another problem for the body is addressing the needs of survivors. The step taken by the body to promote a bottom-up approach rather than a top-down one is commendable but, like it or not, it has also contributed to a disappointing outcome, due to time-consuming public forums on which projects best meet survivors' needs.

The body has to strike a balance for the bottom-up approach to not cost it too much time.

Last but not least, the body's officials may need reminding that the tsunami was one of the greatest displays of mother nature's wrath in modern history. The outpouring of aid that followed it was unprecedented and, likewise, the body is expected to put in maximum effort.

Its sluggish programs are not acceptable to the public given the funds it has access to and the tremendous amount of support it has been given. The BRR has to work harder in order to meet public expectations.

The Acehnese have observed BRR staff members -- and also the members of international NGOs -- wandering around wearing expensive-looking clothes and driving upmarket cars, and they demand to see results. If the results are not satisfactory then it will be the body itself that is said to be Badan Rawon-Rawon (leisurely walking around).

Peace monitors destroy last weapons

Jakarta Post - December 22, 2005

Banda Aceh -- Former Aceh rebels watched on Wednesday as international peace monitors fed a final batch of their weapons into a circular saw, a symbolic end to the nearly three-decade of civil war in the province.

Since the signing of a peace agreement in Helsinki in August, the former fighters have handed in all of their declared 840 arms and the Indonesian Military (TNI) has withdrawn nearly 20,000 troops from Aceh -- with hundreds more scheduled to leave before the month's end.

On Wednesday, six Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels presented EU- led peace monitors with their guns at an emotional ceremony attended by hundreds of people. Each of the weapons was cut into three pieces.

"We are moving in the right direction and are willing to keep moving on," rebel spokesman Irwandi Yusuf told AP, adding that he was also sad to see the destruction of "guns that were our friends when we were fighting for Acehnese interests".

Following the end of decommissioning process, he disclosed that GAM plans to set up Aceh Transition Committee for its 3,000 soldiers.

"We won't let former GAM members live in neglect, that's why we plan to form the committee," Irwandi said, adding the committee is expected to be set up following the official disbandment of GAM military structure by the end of the year.

He said the committee will serve to assist the soldiers during the transition period to become civilians as well as working to guide former rebels and give sanction when they conduct violations.

"In the future, the committee can be turn into political party but let's wait until law of political party being amended," Irwandi said.

GAM spokesman Sofyan Dawood said the committee would be led by former GAM commander Teungku Muzakir Manaf.

"The committee will be different than GAM's military. It's unarmed and the former rebels will eventually turn into civilians and become independent," Sofyan said. The former rebels were badly in need of training and education so they could live independently after fighting in guerrilla groups for years, he said.

GAM took up arms in 1976 to carve out an independent homeland in the oil- and gas-rich province. Nearly 15,000 people died in the conflict, many of them civilians caught up in army sweeps through remote villages.

Peace efforts gained momentum after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck the region on Dec. 26, 2004.

With the sensitive phase of disarmament and decommissioning near completion, the government will start preparing laws giving the rebels the right to form a political party and cementing the region's right to greater autonomy and control of its natural resources. They also will start paving the way for provincial elections.

Illegal logging 'rampant' in Aceh

Jakarta Post - December 22, 2005

Jakarta -- The Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) urged the government on Wednesday to immediately cancel forest concession rights that have been given to logging companies operating in Southeast Aceh and Aceh Singkli, saying that it would only worsen the deforestation problem in the tsunami-devastated province.

Walhi executive director Chalid Muhammad said his organization's investigation, carried out from September to early December, found that rampant illegal logging activities have taken place in the two regencies.

"Our findings show that the logs are being harvested not for the province's reconstruction purposes, but to be sold on the world market by first exporting it to Malaysia and Singapore," he said at a media gathering in his office on Wednesday.

He warned that more natural disasters would occur in Aceh unless the government moved quickly to resolve deforestation and illegal logging problems.

After the flood... peace: Rebels lay down their arms

The Independent (UK) - December 21, 2005

Marcus Tanner, Banda Aceh -- There can't be many guerrilla leaders with escape stories like Yusuf Irwandi's. One of several hundred separatist fighters in the province of Aceh jailed by the Indonesian military, his nine-year sentence came to an abrupt end at 8am on 26 December last year, when the tsunami washed away his prison. "The water lifted me up to the ceiling and I found it was quite soft -- just asbestos -- so I punched through it," he says. "After that I lifted off the tin roof and swam away."

Most of his comrades from the Free Aceh Movement, known as GAM, were less lucky. Unable to escape their cells, about 200 drowned like rats in the prison on the outskirts of the local capital, Banda Aceh. Another 180 fighters perished in an equally gruesome fashion in the jail in nearby Lhoknga.

Today Irwandi holds court in the rebels' head office, only yards from the headquarters of Aceh's military governor, General Bambang Dharmono, who before the tsunami struck had waged a merciless war against the rebels and their dream of independence from Indonesia.

The war in Aceh was one of many low-level conflicts that had rumbled on for decades in developing countries such as Indonesia without a clear winner, or anyone in the outside world really noticing. Overshadowed by the bloodier drama in the largely Christian former Portuguese colony of East Timor, few foreigners knew much about the parallel conflict wracking Muslim Aceh, a remote, mountainous slice of northern Sumatra.

When the tsunami struck, killing 200,000 of Aceh's four million population, no one knew if the disaster would ratchet up the war, or help extinguish it.

In the event, it did the latter. Having sealed off Aceh for years, Jakarta was forced to open the province dramatically to several hundred foreign aid organisations and from being a closed city, Banda Aceh overnight became home to thousands of mainly young Western aid workers.

As government and aid agencies struggled together to feed, water and rehouse the tsunami's half a million homeless survivors, Brussels and Indonesia's neighbours in the Asean group of countries launched a remarkable initiative, which led to a tentative peace deal in Aceh, and then to a joint mission, the Aceh Monitoring Mission, to supervise the terms.

The result was the Helsinki Agreement, signed in August, since which Jakarta has withdrawn most police and army units, and the rebels have handed in most of their weapons.

In a landmark event yesterday, which showed that the agreement continues to hold, more than 1,600 Indonesian troops left Aceh, only one day after the monitors declared that the rebels had handed in 840 weapons, thereby fulfilling the quota for disarmament laid down in the Helsinki deal.

More is to come. About 5,600 remaining troops are due to leave Aceh by the end of the year, after which the province will be policed and defended by an overwhelmingly "organic" -- that is, locally born and trained -- security force.

Under the second phase of the Helsinki deal, starting next spring, political change will take priority as the people of Aceh get the chance to choose a government that will enjoy wide autonomy -- though not independence - within Indonesia.

Diplomats who recall the fiercely centralising policies of Indonesia's former presidents Sukarno and Suharto rub their eyes in disbelief. But Marty Natalegawa, of Indonesia's foreign ministry, says that alongside Sumatra's natural catastrophe, "a political tsunami has taken place in Aceh. One year ago peace negotiations weren't even on the table whereas now we have a real agreement." He adds: "It's not peace at any price but a happy compromise."

Jakarta pulled in its horns in Aceh, foreign diplomats say, because unlike East Timor, whose loss Jakarta still bitterly resents, the Aceh deal does not threaten Indonesia's very existence as a state. "It's not separation and the framework is Indonesian unity," Mr Natalegawa says. "It's shown we can rebound from a doomsday scenario."

That might sound like diplomatic patter. But a drive round Aceh yields no glimpses of army -- or rebel -- roadblocks. Dawn brings the sight of remaining Indonesian troops doing their morning press-ups in the steaming heat on the parade grounds but there is no other sign of a military presence in Banda Aceh, or in the more remote villages, where many remember the years when they were frightened to go out after dark for fear of meeting army -- or rebel -- patrols. The "emergency" years, one village headman told me, were overshadowed not only by shootouts but routine extortion and kidnapping, carried out by both sides.

Maria Leissner, head of human rights for the international Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM), says there are occasional lapses on both sides in the form of exchanges of fire between jumpy army patrols and rebel units. But there is equally no doubt that one of Indonesia's nasty backyard wars is well and truly over and that everyone is enjoying a slice of the peace dividend. "Freedom of movement has helped subsistence farmers," she says. "Road blocks and checkpoints have gone, so extortion decreases."

Most adults cannot even remember a time when Aceh was at peace. When Indonesia was the jewel in the Dutch Queen's crown, the fiercely independent Acehnese, who treasure memories of long-ago fighters against the colonial army, maintained a constant guerrilla war. They rejoiced when the war-weary Dutch reluctantly hauled down the flag in Batavia, now Jakarta, in 1949, only to find themselves at loggerheads with a new set of masters who insisted on treating the Acehnese thirst for self-government as treason. The existence of substantial oil reserves round the province, to which Jakarta helped itself, added an extra element of resentment.

Quite why a low-level war that has rumbled on almost since time immemorial has stopped is still somewhat mysterious, despite the obvious fact that the tsunami drowned so many GAM fighters. Aceh's pugnacious military governor maintains his forces had already broken the back of the GAM. "If it hadn't been for the tsunami we'd have just waited [for their surrender]," General Bambang tells me with a broad grin in his military HQ, minutes from GAM's humbler digs.

"Before all the foreign aid arrived [in Aceh] the GAM fighters were all starving!" The general's claim that the rebels never had much armoury is born out by photographs of the guns they have handed in to the AMM monitors.

Many, as one monitor admits, were rusting pieces of rubbish, some literally struck together and of danger only to those foolhardy enough to use them. Many were such junk that the AMM refused to register them as weapons, which was one reason why the disarmament process has taken as long as it has done. The ex- fighters also seem mightily relieved it's all over. In the coastal town of Meulaboh, I met a group of them in a GAM office.

Barefoot, tongue-tied and bashful in front of the white foreigner, they hardly belonged to same league as the hatchet- faced gunmen of the IRA. None saw any real action against the Indonesian military during their sojourn in the jungle, where they were sustained by a "tax" imposed by GAM on nearby towns.

"We never got any money, though," one ex-fighter notes. "All we got was food and cigarettes." They professed delight with the peace deal and especially with the financial packages they stand to receive from the authorities under the Helsinki deal. Worth about $100 an instalment, and financially underwritten by the EU, the ex-fighters stand to receive several instalments over the coming months -- a substantial bonus in a region where most incomes are tiny.

If there was a gap between the independence they fought for, and the autonomy they are about to receive, it didn't appear to bother them. All that interested them was whether they would be able to get a job.

Some foreign aid workers believe the tsunami gave both sides an excuse to end a war that had exhausted all sides, for although it is true that Indonesia's massive army had easily contained the GAM in the dense jungle that covers the mountainous interior of north Sumatra, like a rash, the GAM never went away.

Moreover, it wasn't just GAM fighters who died terrible deaths in jail when the flood came; 1,700 government policemen are also thought to have lost their lives.

Certainly, Aceh's smiling general-cum-governor betrayed no irritation with the fact that government policy towards Aceh seemed to have undergone a 100-per-cent revolution. "As a soldier I follow my mission," he said.

"My mission before was to wipe out the GAM. Now it is to implement to peace deal." If the GAM fighters seemed to be looking forward mostly to new jobs, the general seemed eagerly to contemplate joining the military exodus.

Others believe that joint European-Asian mediation was just as crucial as either the tsunami or the existing military stalemate. Pieter Feith, the head of the AMM, says Jakarta would never have allowed the United Nations the same leeway to broker a deal as it did the Asean and the EU, as "there is a perception in Jakarta that it was thanks to the UN that [East] Timor was lost".

Unburdened by suspicions of harbouring an agenda in favour of independence, he added, Brussels was able to help the Acehnese to negotiate political and economic gains they could never have achieved through any number of years of future guerrilla warfare. And with real peace, foreign aid has flowed freely and liberally into Aceh.

Many complain at the slowness with which houses have been rebuilt, but Aceh is no longer the physically devastated landscape it was six months ago.

New, deep clean-water wells, paid for by the EU, dot the partially rebuilt villages and Aceh's destroyed fishing fleet, also paid for by the Europeans, is once more going about its business.

"It's the biggest building site in the world," says Andrew Steer the World Bank's country director in Indonesia. "Things are well positioned to get everyone in permanent housing by 2007. We are reaching cruising speed in house building. The world is now spending $200m a month in Aceh. Before it was more like $20m." Little of this would have been possible if Aceh had still been at war and if aid workers had been caught in the fighting or the culture of bribery and extortion that the conflict fed and created.

Mr Feith is reluctant to buy into euphoric suggestions that the Aceh road to peace-building might be applied to some of the other regional conflicts, such as Kashmir or Sri Lanka, as these are "frozen conflicts", in which both sides have become totally embedded over the years. But he does see some potential for its application in the insurgency in southern Thailand. Others suggest it might be used elsewhere at home in Indonesia, to settle other sputtering unsolved conflicts, such as the one in Papua.

As for one of the world's luckiest ex-jailbirds, Yusuf Irwandi is gearing up for the forthcoming elections in which many former GAM fighters will take part, even though he himself is not. "I'm going back to teaching veterinary science," he insists. Irwandi looks back on the tidal wave that changed Aceh for ever with more mixed feelings than most. "It was that force that freed me from jail," he admits.

Aceh peace agreement in final phase

Radio Australia - December 21, 2005

Thousands of Indonesian troops have begun withdrawing from Aceh province in the last phase of a peace plan agreed with the rebels. The pullout was finalised after the Free Aceh Movement surrendered their final batch of weapons, fulfilling the terms of the pact reached in August.

Presenter/Interviewer: Marion Macgregor

Speakers: Wiryono Sastrohandoyo, former Indonesian government negotiator; Jueri Laas, Aceh Monitoring Mission spokesman; Zaini Abdullah, a member of the exiled Acehnese leadership based in Sweden

MacGregor: Over the next few days, around 6,000 government troops will leave Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh, and they won't be coming back. It's the fourth and final phase in the process which has already seen 18,000 non-local military and police units withdraw from the region.

The government committed to pulling out of Aceh four months ago when it signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Free Aceh Movement, GAM. Jueri Laas is the spokesman for the Aceh Monitoring Mission, which has been overseeing the implementation of the MOU.

Laas: Of course this a very huge step for the peace process, it's both the decommissioning and redeployment are the first steps, and they are very much confidence-building. And what we have so far is a very strong commitment from both parties.

MacGregor: The final stage of the Indonesian pullout this week comes after the former GAM members surrendered the last of their weapons. Jueri Laas says there was an atmosphere of relief as the arms were handed over at the Lhong Raya football stadium in Banda Aceh.

Laas: The AMM has accepted 840 weapons that have been handed over. In actual numbers, GAM has handed over more than 840 weapons, they have handed over 1,018, but we have disqualified 178, and this brings us to the number of 840.

MacGregor: It's exactly the number the Free Aceh Movement agreed to give up when they signed the pact with the government in August. Speaking from Sweden early this morning, GAM spokesman Dr Zaini Abdullah said the rebels have fulfilled their end of the bargain.

Abdullah: This is according to our commitment with our commander in the field, we have handed over just 840 weapons.

MacGregor: More than 15,000 people, mostly civilians, have died since the start of the separatist conflict in Aceh in 1976.

It took the December earthquake and tsunami that devastated much of the province to produce a breakthrough in Helsinki. There GAM finally agreed to drop its demand for independence for the province of four million people.

Wiryono Sastrohandoyo, the chief Indonesian government negotiator in previous Aceh peace talks, didn't think the deal would work.

Sastrohandoyo: Basically you see the problem is that the government wants autonomy as a solution, but the agreement, or the MOU as they call it, has a quasi-constitutional character. And it is establishing in a way a kind of federative relationship between Aceh and the central government.

MacGregor: Under the new structure, the government agreed to allow the Acehnese to start a local political party. For that to happen, the Parliament in Jakarta still needs to approve changes to the law.

Jueri Laas is confident that the momentum of the peace process will help the draft through. But some are less confident that the legal changes will sail through the Parliament. Former government negotiator Wiryono Sastrohandoyo says in the end, it will be a numbers game.

Sastrohandoyo: The government I think has the Golkar party supporting the government position, which means I suppose that they will comply with the agreement. PDIP, Megawati's party, has less numbers in the parliament, but the dynamics of the situation is still not clear to me. It may be that some parliamentarians, because now we are very free and very messy in our politics here, I think it's going to be still difficult to predict definitely. But I suppose the mindset is also changing because people are tired of these conflicts.

Peace monitors to stay longer in Aceh as disarmament ends

Jakarta Post - December 20, 2005

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Nani Afrida, Jakarta -- The government is expected to extend the presence of international peace monitors in Aceh, previously scheduled to finish their job in March, for another three months in a bid to help ensure a lasting peace in the province.

In Banda Aceh, former separatist rebels surrendered a final batch of weapons on Monday to meet the total 840 pieces required under the peace agreement signed in August 2005.

Minister of Communications and Information Sofyan Djalil said the government would hold a meeting later this month to discuss the possible extension of the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM)'s presence to supervise the implementation of the peace deal with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

"It's probably for another three months, but it is subject to the government's evaluation," he told the press in Jakarta on Monday.

He said the number of AMM personnel would, however, be reduced as their main task of monitoring the decommissioning of GAM weapons and the withdrawal of reinforcement soldiers and police in Aceh is set to be complete by the end of this month.

As many as 50 of the total 210 AMM monitors from ASEAN and the European Union would leave Aceh as early as this week following Monday's completion of the arms decommissioning.

Sofyan said AMM's next task would probably be to monitor the implementation of direct regional elections in Aceh in accordance with the peace deal.

Earlier in the day, a number of ambassadors from ASEAN and EU countries held a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who supervised the peace talks in the Finnish capital of Helsinki that resulted in the Aug. 15 truce.

Among the ambassadors in attendance were Brunei's Mohammad Amin, Malaysia's Zainal Abidin Zain, the Philippines' Shulan Primavera, Thailand's Atchara Seriputra, Singapore's Edward Lee, the United Kingdom's Charles Humfrey and EU delegation head Jean Breteche.

Also present at the meeting were Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto, Minister of Information and Communication Sofyan Djalil, AMM chief Peter Feith, and Juha Cristensen, a Dane who helped facilitate the peace talks.

"The ambassadors wanted to know about the future of AMM because they need to inform their governments," Sofyan said, adding that AMM had played a very positive role in the peace process in Aceh.

Separately, Feith said the security situation in Aceh had improved and that there was no need for AMM to stay there longer than July 1.

"I think confidence and stability in Aceh has now increased to a level where we don't need them beyond the maximum of the first of July," he said after the meeting.

Feith said he expects Aceh will hold its first direct election sometime between April and June.

In the meantime, GAM said it had fulfilled its obligations under the landmark peace accord by handing over a final batch of 37 weapons.

The peace agreement required the former rebels to surrender all of their 840 firearms, and for the Indonesian military (TNI) to withdraw nearly 24,000 troops from oil- and gas-rich Aceh by the year's end.

GAM gave up the last of their guns at the Harapan Bangsa sports stadium in Lhongraya, Banda Raya district, Banda Aceh, in two stages.

The first stage took place at around 10:30 a.m., where GAM members handed over 37 firearms, with two of them disqualified by the AMM. The remaining two were later surrendered at around 4:30 p.m.

AMM has recognized a total of 805 weapons surrendered by the rebels since the start of the disarmament in September, but declined to officially say if GAM had met its arms decommissioning quota.

However, the government was still questioning the qualification of 71 of the 840 weapons surrendered by GAM in the four stages. "The Indonesian government has so far recognized only 767 firearms, no more," said AMM's government representative Bambang Darmono, who was formerly an Aceh military commander.

In response, GAM spokesman Bakhtiar Abdullah said his side would leave the issue of disputed guns to the international peace monitors for settlement. "Today we have completed the disarmament. I think the number of surrendered weapons is already enough," he said.

Bakhtiar said GAM would symbolically surrender the last weapon on Wednesday, which would be destroyed. The government is expected to withdraw the last of its soldiers and police on Dec. 20, 27 and 29.

Aceh rebels meet disarmament quota

Jakarta Post - December 19, 2005

Banda Aceh -- Former rebels in Indonesia's Aceh today surrendered enough weapons in a final disarmament process to meet the total required under a historic peace pact with the Government, a foreign monitor said.

The rebels surrendered 35 more weapons, meeting the terms of the August pact signed with the Government in Helsinki and seen as the best chance yet of ending three decades of bloodshed in Indonesia's westernmost province.

Today's handover took place in the Lhong Raya football stadium in Banda Aceh, said Juri Laas from the Aceh Monitoring Mission, a foreign monitoring team mandated to oversee the implementation of the peace pact.

Under the pact, former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) fighters were to hand over their declared arsenal of 840 firearms.

1,600 troops leave Aceh as final withdrawals start

Agence France Presse - December 20, 2005

Banda Aceh -- Indonesia withdrew 1,600 troops from Aceh province as part of a pact aimed at ending a separatist conflict in the province devastated by last year's tsunami. The troops were among the last due to leave Aceh during the final phase of military withdrawals called for under an August peace pact signed with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Helsinki.

"This is proof of our commitment to the peace agreement," Aceh military chief Major General Supiadin Adi Saputra said as he oversaw the farewell ceremony at Krueng Geukeuh port in North Aceh.

The last of the reinforcements are scheduled to leave next Tuesday and Thursday, officials said.

Former GAM rebels on Monday surrendered their final batch of weapons to meet the total of 840 firearms required under the pact, seen as the best chance yet of ending three decades of bloodshed in Indonesia's westernmost province.

The peace agreement stipulates that by the end of the fourth phase, only 14,700 soldiers and 9,100 police, all locally- recruited, will remain in Aceh.

The separatist conflict had claimed about 15,000 lives, most of them civilians, since GAM began its struggle for an independent state in 1976.

The accord saw GAM drop its demand for independence in exchange for a form of local government in Aceh, a province of more than four million people. The government agreed to grant former fighters amnesties and allow them to start a local political party.

Both sides were pushed to the negotiating table in the wake of last December's tsunami, which left some 168,000 Indonesians dead and missing, mostly in Aceh, and some 220,000 dead across the Indian Ocean region.

Reconstruction body praises GAM's role in rebuilding

Jakarta Post - December 17, 2005

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta -- The head of the Aceh and Nias Reconstruction Agency (BRR) praised on Friday the role of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the work being done to rebuild the tsunami-hit province.

Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said the GAM representative on the BRR, Tengku Kamaruzzaman, played a major role in helping the agency carry out its work.

"We have picked up the pace of reconstruction in Aceh, thanks to Pak Kamaruzzaman," he said, praising the GAM representative's "vast networks" of contacts across the province. Kuntoro said that since Kamaruzzaman joined the BRR, following the signing of a peace deal between the government and GAM in August, the agency had been able to penetrate areas that "were previously difficult to get into".

He cited an incident when a number of men, claiming to be GAM members, attempted to extort money and materials from a non- governmental organization that was constructing houses. "We asked Pak Kamaruzzaman whether they were GAM members or hoodlums. He found out they were hoodlums, so we contacted the police and asked them to step in," he said.

Seated next to Kuntoro, Kamaruzzaman simply responded to questions by saying he was not in a position to talk about GAM.

Before the peace accord was signed on Aug. 15, 2005, by the government and GAM in Helsinki, Finland, Kamaruzzaman was serving a prison sentence for his involvement with the separatist group.

Kuntoro and Kamaruzzaman were speaking to the press after a meeting on Friday in Jakarta with Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who supervised the talks in Finland. Later in the day, Farid Hussein, one of the government negotiators at the Helsinki talks, also met with Kalla.

Sources said the separate meetings discussed efforts to establish a long-lasting peace in Aceh, the role of the Aceh Monitoring Mission in the province, deliberations of a draft law on governing the province and the establishment of local political parties in Aceh.

About 65,000 people displaced by the Dec. 26 tsunami are still living in tents almost a year after the disaster.

Kuntoro said BRR was working to complete the construction of some 110,000 houses by 2007. The agency has built 16,200 houses and is currently working on another 16,000 homes. Security is a critical factor in speeding up the pace of construction, he added.

Kalla said on Thursday peace building in Aceh was on the right track following this month's implementation of the final phase of the peace deal to end 29 years of separatist fighting.

The decommissioning of GAM's weapons, which began after the signing of the peace accord, is expected to conclude on Saturday. Another 5,800 government soldiers are scheduled to leave Aceh later this month.

Under the peace accord, GAM is required to surrender some 840 weapons, while the government must withdraw 24,000 soldiers and police officers, both by the end of the year.

Peter Feith, who heads the international Aceh Monitoring Mission, said he was "impressed" by how few conflicts there had been since the start of decommissioning and how well the two sides had abided by the agreement.

"We've seen no more than a handful of serious cases. It's encouraging to see so few incidents take place. This is not to say Aceh has become Switzerland, but if put in perspective, I'm encouraged, if not impressed, by the efforts on both sides," he was quoted by Deutche Presse-Agence as saying.

A recent report by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group also said tensions between the two sides had eased since the start of the peace process.

However, continuing disagreements between GAM leaders and the government, particularly in regard to dispersing reintegration funds to the GAM rebels who have laid down their arms, "speaks volumes about the reservoir of distrust that still has to be drained", the report said.

West Papua

Papuan activists confident new body will help cause

Radio Australia - December 20, 2005

Organisations campaigning for independence in the Indonesian province of Papua hope that a new umbrella body will help them gain support from governments in the Pacific.

The West Papuan National Coalition for Liberation was formed last month at a secret meeting at Yambi, in neighbouring Papua New Guinea. The new coalition joins together 18 Papuan organisations including the Organisasi Papua Merdeka independence movement.

Spokesman for the new coalition, Rex Rumakiek, says the development of the united body should improve Papua's chances of eventually gaining independence.

"Those who attended have signed a memorandum of understanding that they will stand united from now on to work for the liberation of West Papua and they will establish a secretariat to make sure that all the framework is established and consult everybody else to participate," he said.

Report of 'sham' vote sparks Papua activists

Interpress Service - December 20, 2005

Fabio Scarpello, Jakarta -- A recently published Dutch-report has rekindled hopes of "correcting the course of history" in Papua, Indonesia's easternmost province and theatre of a struggle for independence ignored by most of the world.

"This is the evidence of the historical distortion. This is going to change everything. It will change the future of the Papuans. Thanks to this report, the international community will not be able to deny the truth any longer," the general chairman of the West Papuan Baptist Church, Reverend Socrates Sofyan Yoman, told IPS.

The 740-page report, 'Een Daad van Vrije Keuze' or 'An Act of Free Choice', commissioned by the Dutch Parliament in 2000 and authored by Pieter J Drooglever, was released in The Hague on Nov. 15.

The Act of Free Choice was the last straw of a very messy decolonisation process by the Netherlands, who once ruled over most of the modern day Republic of Indonesia, then called Dutch East Indies.

Papua, which occupies the western half of New Guinea Island, was not included in the Indonesian declaration of independence in 1949. Strategic reasons -- as well as the lack of substantial historical, cultural, religious and ethnic links between Papua's native Melanesians and Indonesia's mostly Malay Muslim inhabitants -- convinced the Netherlands to hold on to Papua and set it on a path of self-determination to be achieved by 1970.

Back then, Papua was called Netherlands New Guinea. Before assuming its current name under Indonesia President Abdurrahman Wahid in 2000, Papua was also called West Papua, West Irian and Irian Jaya.

The Dutch wish for Papua to decide its own future never materialised.

Leafing through the layers of history, it is clear that Papua was a small token in an international game that saw Indonesia prevailing with the blessing of the United States and the sanction of the United Nations.

Jakarta never stopped claiming sovereignty over Papua. Tension led to low-level Indonesian military incursions at the beginning of the 1960s and the threat of open war. Gripped by the Cold War syndrome, Washington feared that Jakarta could fall under the spell of communism and pressured the Netherlands to let Papua go. The United Nations watched powerlessly.

On Aug. 15, 1962, the Netherlands and Indonesia -- without consulting the Papuans -- signed the New York Agreement on the future of Papua.

It specified that from Oct. 1, 1962 Papua was to be placed under the control of an ad-hoc UN body that would hand it over to Indonesia on May 1, 1963. After seven years, Indonesia was required to consult the Papuans on whether they wished to remain a part of Indonesia or become independent.

This consultation was the Act of Free Choice, which Drooglever in his study labels a "sham". The vote was cast over six weeks from July to August 1969 by 1,022 representatives hand-picked and threatened by Jakarta "The Act of Free Choice ended up as a sham, where a press-ganged electorate acting under a great deal of pressure appeared to have unanimously declared itself in favour of Indonesia," wrote Drooglever in an English summary of the study, which is in Dutch.

Actually, the study says nothing that various historians had not said before. What gives it an aura of "final word" is the fact that it was commissioned by the Dutch government, and that it draws its information from the archives of the Dutch, US, British and Australian governments, as well as from interviews with some of those who were chosen to vote.

"They were flown to the Netherlands especially to give evidence in 2003. One of these, Reverend Obed Komba, was arrested on his return to West Papua and has been held in prison or under house arrest ever since," Richard Samuelson from the Oxford-based Free West Papua Campaign told IPS.

Samuelson also pointed out that Drooglever was banned from conducting research in Indonesia thus had no access to Jakarta's archives.

Although the Indonesian and the Dutch governments have dismissed Drooglever's endeavour as "irrelevant" -- the Dutch foreign minister who commissioned the study has since moved on -- Papuan activists have pounced on it hoping to use the report to propel "the Papuan issue" onto the world stage.

"The book proves that Jakarta stole our rights of self- determination, our history and our basic human rights," said Yoman, stressing that the Indonesian Military (TNI) has been guilty of gross human rights abuses in the province ever since the hand-over.

A report by the University of Sydney's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies released in August and titled 'Genocide in West Papua', details eyewitness accounts of Indonesian military involvement in rape, arson and torture in the province. Such abuses have also been widely documented by various international organisations.

"The UN has not responded to our call for help, but now it is different. Now they cannot refuse it anymore. Thanks to this report, the international community will not able to deny the truth any longer," Yoman added.

There are signs of a budding interest in the issue. A Mar. 26, 2002 appeal to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to review the UN conduct during the Act of Free Choice is slowly gaining ground.

According to the West Papua Action website, in addition to 81 NGOs the appeal has now been endorsed by 40 members of the European Parliament, the majority of Irish MPs and several others from Britain, Finland, New Zealand and the US Senate.

On Dec. 12, 2004, Baroness Symons, the UK Foreign Office Minister, was the first representative from a western government to acknowledge that Papuans were coerced into joining Indonesia.

"He (the Bishop) is right to say that there were 1,000 handpicked representatives and that they were largely coerced into declaring for inclusion into Indonesia," Symons replied to a query from the Bishop of Oxford in the House of Lords.

According to Samuelson, by far the most important pro-Papuan development to date was a reference to the Papua issue in the US State Department Authorisation Bill last July. The reference was omitted by Congress in early November and never made it close to being passed into law, yet it gave the case a massive boost onto the international stage.

"It was important because it pushed the West Papua issue, and most especially the Act of Free Choice, higher up on the international agenda, and because it showed Indonesia that West Papua is now an international issue, whether Jakarta likes it or not," added Samuelson.

Papuan groups form national coalition

Radio Australia - December 20, 2005

Organisations campaigning for independence in the Indonesian province of Papua have formed a new umbrella organisation -- the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation. Members of the armed wing of the Organisasi Papua Merdeka -- the OPM independence movement -- crossed into Papua New Guinea to participate in the founding meeting of the new coalition. Since the 1970s, members of the OPM have been campaigning for independence from Indonesia, but the movement has long been riven with differences between its different wings.

Presenter/Interviewer: Nic Maclellan

Speaker: Rex Rumakiek, external spokesman, West Papua National Coalition for Liberation

Rumakiek: There are all the organisations actually involved in the independence struggle.

In fact the facilitating committee have consulted widely. That was one of the conditions that PCRC put to them, that is Elsham and PCRC as partners involved in the facilitating role -- all the organisations involved must be consulted and take part of this thing.

So 18 organisations enrolled or participated, and the others, about 10 could not make it but they fully support the idea of establishing the coalition.

MacLellan: What sort of groups have been involved in the discussions?

Rumakiek: One of the important groups that we are aiming at at this stage was the TPN -- the military arm of the OPM, because PCRC and Elsham are worried that if we don't keep them on check, the declared Zone of Peace might be in danger. So they were fully involved -- all the commanders were there.

MacLellan: So commanders from the TPN -- the armed forces of the West Papuan independence movement OPM were present at the meeting in Papua New Guinea?

Rumakiek: That's correct.

MacLellan: And they have agreed to maintain the policy of a Zone of Peace in Papua?

Rumakiek: That is correct as well. They have confirmed that they will maintain, they will uphold the Zone of Peace.

MacLellan: Rex, you've said that members of the TPN, the armed wing of the Organisasi Papua Merdeka were present at the meeting. Do you think that that might cause diplomatic problems with Papua New Guinea?

Rumakiek: Well that will happen but for us, those who really love peace and want peace to be maintained, this is a chance we should not miss, because we want to make sure this group of people can respect the civil society decision to declare a Zone of Peace.

MacLellan: For many years, the Papuan nationalist movement has been seeking diplomatic support from Pacific Island governments, but there's been criticism that the movement's been disunited. Do you think that the creation of this new coalition will have an important diplomatic effect?

Rumakiek: It will be yes, definitely. In fact, those who attended have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that they will stand united from now on to work together for the liberation of West Papua. And they will establish a Secretariat, to make sure that all the framework is established and consult everybody else to participate.

MacLellan: Do you think that the creation of a West Papua National Coalition will open the way for further discussion with Jakarta?

Rumakiek: I think that is expected, that after this united front or coalition that is the aim to encourage dialogue between interested parties.

Indonesia probes atlas showing Papuan separatist flag

Agence France Presse - December 17, 2005

Jakarta -- Indonesian police have seized dozens of atlases showing the flag of separatist rebels in Papua province amongst the banners of nations.

Fifty-nine atlases containing the Morning Star separatist flag were seized from bookstores in the resort island of Bali during a recent raid, Bali police spokesman Antonius Reniban was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying.

The book, entitled Atlas of Indonesia and the World, was published by a publishing company in Surabaya, the capital of East Java province, the newspaper said. Police have also seized similar books in South Kalimantan on Borneo island, the Post said.

Indonesia won sovereignty over Papua, which was then called West Irian, in 1969, after the United Nations allowed an integration referendum involving a public show of hands by a few hundred hand-picked tribal leaders. The separatists, now split into badly coordinated factions, have been fighting a sporadic and ill-armed guerrilla war since then.

Jakarta has offered special autonomy for Papua, giving it a greater share of its oil and gas revenues among other concessions.

Papuans have long complained they have not received a fair share of profits from the province's natural resources. Human rights abuses by troops have fuelled separatist sentiment.

Military ties

Indonesia won't buy military goods from US for 10 years

Associated Press - December 22, 2005

Jakarta -- Indonesia will not buy more jet fighters and submarines for 10 years despite the United States lifting its arms embargo on the country, the defense minister said Thursday.

Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said Indonesia will make its priority the purchase of transport aircraft to serve the thousands of islands that make up the vast Southeast Asian nation.

"We would only focus on purchasing transport aircraft and patrol boats within 10 years," Sudarsono said after meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla. "The high tech jet fighters and submarines are very expensive and still beyond our capability."

He added that transport aircraft are the most strategic and efficient equipment for the deployment of troops, surveillance, patrol and rescue efforts in disaster areas.

Sudarsono said the government plans to allocate only about 30% of its defense budget to purchase spare parts for 21 Hercules C- 130s, while the remaining 70% would be used to buy transport planes from domestic companies.

Washington lifted a six-year embargo on arms sales to Indonesia last month as a reward for Indonesia's cooperation in fighting terrorism.

The US, then Indonesia's largest supplier of weapons and military equipment, imposed the ban due to human rights concerns. That left many of the country's US-made aircraft grounded and forced Indonesia to look for other cheaper suppliers of military hardware.

In 2003, Indonesia bought four Sukhoi multi-role fighters from Russia, with 12 more expected to be delivered in 2007, while the navy is purchasing two corvettes from the Netherlands and has a deal with South Korea to buy diesel-electric submarines.

Australia trains Indonesian troops linked to Kiwi's death

New Zealand Herald - December 20, 2005

Australia is to resume training Indonesia's most feared Army unit, Kopassus, which has been linked to the murder of New Zealand soldier Private Leonard Manning in Timor, and to human rights abuses.

"Senior New Zealand Army intelligence officers were in no doubt Manning's death involved Kopassus," the Australian newspaper reported yesterday. Kopassus was also allegedly involved in the training of militia, and intelligence, beatings and torture in Timor in 1999.

Private Manning, 24, was shot in an ambush in July 2000. East Timor militiaman Yacobus Bere is serving a six-year jail sentence imposed by a court in Jakarta after he was prosecuted as one of five people who killed Private Manning.

At the time of the shooting, senior New Zealand Army officers were reported to have speculated that, as well as training and equipping the militia, the Indonesian Army might also have been part of the group which attacked the New Zealand troops.

"A follow-up operation by Kiwi troops scouring the area of the ambush recovered several items of military paraphernalia including a special forces first-aid kit and a discarded Kopassus tunic," the Australian said.

Kopassus has been accused of involvement in numerous human rights abuses stemming from operations in Aceh, Maluku, West Papua and East Timor.

The Australian Defence Force trained Indonesian Army personnel up to 1999, as did Perth-based Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) specialists in hostage rescue, counter-insurgency, long-range surveillance and clandestine operations.

Now the Bali bombings and the war on terror have led the Australian Government to announce that counter-terrorism exercises between the SASR and Kopassus will resume early next year.

A spokesman for East Timor's most respected human rights group Yayasan HAK, Jose Oliveira, said the extent of Kopassus' accountability in the violence that swept East Timor in 1999 was still unresolved.

At his war crimes trial in 2001, East Timorese militia leader Joni Marques, facing 13 counts of murder, assault, kidnapping and torture including the cold-blooded killing of a nun, said Australian SAS and Indonesian Kopassus forces were his former trainers. The militiaman told the Dili court he was recruited and trained by Kopassus, in exercises involving Australian troops.

Anti-neoliberalism

Four Indonesians arrested in anti-WTO sit-in charged

Associated Press - December 19, 2005

Hong Kong -- Four Indonesians who took part in an anti-WTO sit-in that occupied a major thoroughfare in Hong Kong over the weekend have been charged with unlawful assembly, an activist said Monday.

An activist monitoring the situation of the arrested Indonesians, Titi Soentoro of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, announced the charges at a press conference.

Participating in an unlawful assembly carries a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment.

The Indonesians were part of a larger group of more than 1,000 -- mostly South Koreans -- arrested after protesting late Saturday. The authorities have released at least 188 people, including 150 South Korean women.

50 Indonesian farmers join action against WTO in Hong Kong

Detik.com - December 18, 2005

Ahmad Dani, Jakarta -- Coinciding with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Level Conference (KTM) in Hong Kong, 2,000 farmers gathered at Victoria Park on Saturday December 17. They were commemorating Farmers' Day by holding an action opposing the WTO. Fifty of the demonstrators were from Indonesia.

"We farmers have gathered to reject the agenda of trade liberalisation. We will keep demanding that the WTO be expelled from [involvement in] agricultural [trade agreements]", said the secretary general of the Indonesian Farmers Federation, Henry Saragih, in a press release received by Detik.com on Saturday December 17.

According to Saragih, workers and farmers are united in opposing the WTO's free trade regime because they believe that this meeting will take decisions on free trade. "We don't want any new agreements at this WTO KTM in Hong Kong", explained Saragih.

Saragih said that there are indeed indications that the Sixth WTO KTM will not reach an agreement. But there is concern that the Doha round of trade talks that will end in 2006 will produce new rules on liberalisation.

Farmers and all elements of society therefore will continue to close ranks to resist the agenda of liberalisation. "It will still be a long struggle, there are still may other neoliberal agendas. There are still free-market agreements such as the FTAs, BFTAs and their camouflaged forms", said Saragih.

Two well-known Indonesian artists also joined the action -- singer Franky Sahilatua and actor Rieke Dyah Pitaloka -- who invited the farmers to sing together. They sang the song "We Shall Overcome".

"The people united cannot be defeated. I share your concerns and will continue to struggle together with migrant workers and farmers", shouted Pitaloka fierily. (ahm)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

100 demonstrate against WTO at State Palace in Jakarta

Detik.com - December 18, 2005

Muhammad Nur Hayid, Jakarta -- Around 100 people from the Indonesian People's Anti-Imperialist Union (Perisai) demonstrated in front of the State Palace on Sunday December 18. They were demanding that the Indonesian government leave the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and sever its relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

They also believe that the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla (SBY-JK) still has many hopes in the WTO. This is dispute the fact that the WTO clearly inflicts harm on developing countries, while at the same time benefiting rich countries like the United States and the European Union. Yudhoyono is even seen as a puppet and lackey of the US.

"Disband the WTO right now. SBY-JK must have the courage to leave the WTO. Sever the relationship with the World Bank and other world donor institutions", said Perisai's field coordinator Wawan during a speech in front of the State Palace on Jalan Medan Merdeka Utara in Central Jakarta.

They are also calling on SBY-JK to develop fairer economic cooperation by consolidating the developing countries. The cancellation of the recent fuel price increases and the cancellation of rice imports would prove that SBY-JK are pro- people. "If SBY doesn't want to fulfil these demands, then SBY-JK must resign from their posts", asserted Wawan.

Speeches are continuing but have not attracted any special security. Only 15 Gambir sectoral police who still appeared smart despite the rain were guarded the action that started at 5.20pm. (atq)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

500 demonstrators to call for Indonesia to leave the WTO

Detik.com - December 18, 2005

Ahmad Dani, Jakarta -- Actions opposing the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will also been held in Indonesia. The Indonesian People's Anti-Imperialist Union (Perisai) will hold a demonstration demanding that Indonesia leave the WTO.

"There are 500 people that will demonstrate at the State Palace. They are from labour organisations, representatives of farmers, non-government organisations and student", said Perisai public relations officer Dani Setiawan when contacted by Detik.com on Sunday December 18.

According to Setiawan, the action will be held in front of the State Palace in Jakarta where they will be demanding that Indonesia leave the WTO. "There is no benefit from being part of the WTO. It only makes things difficult for the people", he explained.

In addition to this, process of liberalisation carried out by the WTO causes the people great suffering. Setiawan even believes that this process of liberalisation represents the colonialism of new capital. "The liberalisation process in trade, agriculture, oil and gas and so forth represents an agenda by the foreign companies to embed its claws in Indonesia", asserted Setiawan.

Setiawan gave as an example Indonesia's foreign debt that has reached more than 140 trillion rupiah. In order to pay this the government must economise on the state budget. "Just imagine if were weren't in debt, we could save 150 trillion rupiah annually. But unfortunately we are already caught in their [debt] trap", he explained.

Setiawan even believes that the production of debt that is rolled over by the advanced countries cannot be separated from the ideological and exploitative interests that confront the countries that accept loans. "Thus foreign companies can open up their markets in Indonesia as well as producing a surplus for their home countries", asserted Setiawan. (ahm)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Demands for Indonesia to walkout of WTO growing stronger

Detik.com - December 18, 2005

Machhendra Setyo Atmaja, Jakarta -- Calls for Indonesia to walkout of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are growing stronger as it is believed that the Indonesian government gains no benefits from an organisation that is driven by the advanced countries.

These demands were conveyed by hundreds of people calling themselves the Indonesian People's Anti-Imperialist Union (Perisai) in a demonstration that was held in the form of a long-march from the Hotel Indonesia roundabout to the State Palace in Jakarta on Sunday December 18.

In a press statement, Perisai said it believes that the WTO's policies are an extension of the transnational and multinational companies of the advanced countries. The WTO is also trying to destroy the agricultural sector that is the backbone of the majority of Indonesian farmers.

Perisai also said that the WTO is pushing the paradigm of national industrial development that is massively exploitative in character with regard to natural and human resources. The WTO is also pushing for the import of trade services into Indonesia. As a result, a commercialisation of people's basic services has taken place such as in education and healthcare.

In addition to calling on the government to walkout of the WTO, Perisai is also therefore calling for the WTO to be disbanded, opposing free trade, calling for the formation of fair economic cooperation between developing nations, rejecting cheap wages and demanding guarantees on the freedom of association for workers.

They also brought banners with their demands to the action and throughout the long-march gave speeches and sang from on top of cars. (umi)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Demonstrators burn symbols of WTO at State Palace

Detik.com - December 18, 2005

Machendra Setyo AtmajaIntania Nur Kusuma, Jakarta -- Symbols of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have been burnt by demonstrators from the Indonesian People's Anti-Imperialist Union (Perisai) who were demanding that the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla have the courage to leave the organisation.

The Perisai action -- that was held in front of the State Palace on Sunday December 18 -- was interrupted for around 15 minutes by rain at 1.30pm. After the rain stopped the action continued and they even set fire to WTO symbols such as black cloth with the writing "WTO" and posters were initially used during the action.

Perisai's public relations officer, Hersa Krisna, said that this time round the action was held at the State Palace because Yudhoyono and Kalla are lackeys of the US and the policies they have implemented represent the policies of the WTO that are anti-people.

Prior to Perisai's arrival at the State Palace, farmers and workers held a similar action. In the end however, they disbanded in order to go the national parliament.

The two groups were also able to come together in front of the Department of Foreign Economic Relations on Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat. At the time the farmers and workers were giving speeches demanding an end to the construction of an airport in Tanakawu on Lombok Island. The farmers and workers believe that the appropriation of residents' land for the airport violates human rights because it was done though intimidation, as the land there is extremely fertile. (san)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Human rights/law

President will not establish new team for Munir case

Tempo Interactive - December 24, 2005

Jakarta -- Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will not establish a new team to investigate Munir's murder case.

According to Yudhoyono, it would be better if the existing institutions carry out their respective functions.

"It is proper for the police to investigate, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) to prosecute, the Supreme Court and lower judicial institutions to make the rulings," he said.

The President was speaking at a press conference following an informal consultation meeting with House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Agung Laksono at the president's office on Friday (23/12).

He said that too many ad hoc commissions or agencies not stipulated by law could give the impression that law enforcement agencies were not yet working at an optimum level.

"However, due to time requirements, I have decided to establish a fact-finding team," said Yudhoyono referring to the establishment of a fact-finding team into Munir's death.

He has also told the National Police Chief and Attorney General to continue the law enforcement process properly and fairly.

"And the matter of Munir's death really should be settled," stated Yudhoyono. He said that he would not respond to the continuing legal process.

"Whoever is guilty, whoever is not guilty, whoever is responsible in this case and whether there are other perpetrators other than Pollycarpus, I don't have any authority in the matter," stated Yudhoyono.

If there are other perpetrators behind the murder, according to the President, there are investigation mechanisms that can be carried out.

(Dimas Adityo-Tempo News Room)

Indonesian president orders probe into activist's death

Agence France Presse - December 22, 2005

Jakarta -- Indonesia's president has ordered a probe into last year's poisoning of human rights activist Munir after a court convicted a pilot for the murder.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also urged government bodies to cooperate in the investigation, he said, amid suspicions the national intelligence agency was involved.

"The president has ordered the national police chief to thoroughly investigate the Munir case so that things can be completely unravelled," spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said.

"It is not easy to solve a crime of this nature. The president has asked government agencies to work together to help police so that our legal system can work well," he said.

A Jakarta court on Tuesday jailed Pollycarpus Priyanto for 14 years for lacing Munir's food with a lethal dose of arsenic aboard a Garuda Indonesia flight last year.

The activist, 38, was known as a fearless rights campaigner. He provided legal counsel for victims of officially-sanctioned violence and repression during president Suharto's more than three decades rule, and also worked to expose military involvement in human rights violations during East Timor's 1999 independence vote.

Activists see the case as a test of Yudhoyono's dedication to ensuring the rule of law as Indonesia emerges from the shadow of the Suharto era, when the military could eliminate its enemies with impunity. The president pledged after his death to do everything in his power to solve the crime.

Priyanto, a Garuda Indonesia pilot who was on the plane as a passenger on the day of the murder, has denied any wrongdoing and is appealing the sentence.

The judges said there was evidence that in plotting the killing, the pilot made frequent telephone contact with a mobile phone registered to a former deputy chief of the state intelligence agency, Muchdi Purwopranjono.

Judges said the motive was to stop Munir from criticising the government and the military, and urged authorities to continue the probe.

A government-sanctioned team that investigated Munir's death said it had evidence that Priyanto had frequent telephone contact with members of the intelligence agency before and after the murder.

SBY wants man behind Munir's murder nabbed

Jakarta Post - December 22, 2005

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered law enforcement officials to continue their investigation into the murder of human rights activist Munir to determine who orchestrated the killing.

Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said the order, coming a day after a Garuda pilot was sentenced to 14 years in jail for his role in the murder, was specifically addressed to the police, the National Intelligence Agency and the Attorney General's Office.

"It is not easy to unravel the conspiracy behind Munir's murder, but the President has ordered all relevant institutions to continue investigating the case until the mastermind of the murder is punished," Andi said on Wednesday.

Andi said the President delivered his order directly to National Police chief Gen. Sutanto shortly after a meeting in Surabaya late on Tuesday night.

"The President said a successful investigation of the case would determine the credibility of his administration. He underlined that whoever was responsible for the murder must be punished," the spokesman said.

The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced on Tuesday Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto to 14 years in jail for his part in Munir's murder.

The panel of judges said they did not sentence the defendant to life imprisonment, as demanded by the prosecution, because they believed there were others behind the killing of the rights campaigner.

Munir was poisoned aboard a Garuda flight bound for Amsterdam in September last year. He died about two hours before the plane landed.

The judges said the murder was likely related to Munir's criticism of the government, the military and the country's intelligence agencies.

National Police chief Gen. Sutanto responded to the President's order by saying he expected Pollycarpus and the public to provide authorities with more information about the murder.

Sutanto, who took over his post in July, said the police investigation was hampered by the fact that they did not have access to the crime scene.

Dutch authorities conducted an autopsy on Munir's body and a preliminary investigation into the murder, including questioning several witnesses.

Sutanto, however, said officers were moving ahead with the investigation. "We have made some progress in investigating the case," he was quoted as saying by Antara.

Separately, human rights activists urged the President to set up an independent team under his direct supervision to oversee the investigation, saying "a crime involving this kind of conspiracy could not be solved using traditional methods".

They also asked the President to follow up on a report submitted to him by a now defunct fact-finding team set up by the government to investigate Munir's murder.

"The team recommended that several National Intelligence Agency (BIN) officials be questioned in connection with the case," rights activist Hendardi, who was part of the fact-finding team, said on Wednesday.

After officially taking over the investigation from the fact- finding team, the police questioned former BIN deputy chief Maj. Gen. (ret) Muchdi Purwopranjono and BIN secretary-general Nurhadi Djazuli. Muchdi testified at Pollycarpus' trial as a witness.

Cover-up alleged in 'arsenic in the noodles' spy case

The Independent (UK) - December 21, 2005

Kathy Marks -- An off-duty pilot with the state-owned carrier Garuda Indonesia has been jailed for 14 years for his part in the murder of the country's foremost human rights activist, who died after eating an in-flight meal of fried noodles laced with arsenic.

But questions about the role of Indonesia's powerful intelligence agency, which is widely believed to have ordered his killing, remain unanswered.

Munir Thalib, 38, an outspoken critic of military and police brutality as well as corruption in high places, was found dead when his international flight landed in Amsterdam in September last year. The pilot, Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, had given him his business-class seat for the initial leg, Jakarta to Singapore.

Cicut Sutiarsa, the presiding judge, said yesterday that Pollycarpus, who was supervising security on that flight, added a lethal dose of arsenic to Mr Munir's noodles. "The accused then pretended to be reading a Dutch magazine, while at the same time keeping an eye on Munir to make sure he had eaten all his noodles."

The controversial case has been seen as a test of the degree to which Indonesia has changed since the reign of the late dictator Suharto, under whom state-sponsored killings were common and the legal system delivered justice only to the elite.

Following complaints that police had failed to investigate the murder properly, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono -- who took office a month after Mr Munir's death -- set up a fact-finding team, which said in June it had found evidence implicating intelligence officials in "a well-planned conspiracy".

It uncovered documents suggesting that plotters had considered four ways of disposing of Mr Munir: a car crash, using black magic, poisoning him at his workplace, or poisoning him on a flight. Police and prosecutors, however, ignored the team's findings, and two Garuda flight attendants are the only other suspects to have been charged.

Judge Sutiarsa noted that Pollycarpus spoke many times on his mobile telephone to senior intelligence agents before and after the murder, but he did not draw any conclusions. He told Central Jakarta District Court that the motive for administering the poison was to silence Mr Munir.

Pollycarpus, 44, who had claimed that he was the victim of a conspiracy, screamed: "I didn't do it! I'm a scapegoat!" after the verdict was delivered. Mr Munir's widow, Suciati, who has campaigned energetically for justice for her husband, said: "They have to find the mastermind. Pollycarpus played only a small part in this conspiracy."

Mr Munir, who had been given a scholarship to study in the Netherlands, became violently ill after leaving Singapore and died two hours before landing at Schipol international airport. The Dutch authorities, who conducted an autopsy, found high levels of arsenic in his system.

Mr Munir rose to prominence during Suharto's repressive regime and, after the latter was ousted in 1998, continued to draw attention to military brutality in East Timor and in the separatist hotbeds of Papua and Aceh, the northern province of Sumatra.

The murder of the internationally renowned campaigner shocked human rights workers both in and outside Indonesia.

His widow, who has travelled the world in an attempt to draw international attention to the murder case, has received a number of death threats. One warned her that she would be "kidnapped and blinded", while another -- on a note accompanying a decapitated chicken carcass -- stated: "Do not connect the Indonesian army to the death of Munir! Do you want to end up like this?"

US urges Indonesia to release report on activist's murder

Deutsche Presse Agentur - December 21, 2005

Jakarta -- The US government urged Indonesia to release the results of an independent probe into the murder of a prominent rights activist, and to prosecute all those involved in the crime, a statement said Wednesday.

The US State Department applauded the conviction of state airline pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, who was sentenced Tuesday to 14 years in prison, but called on the government to bring to justice others who the court said were involved.

"The judges concluded that the defendant acted as part of a larger conspiracy and urged Indonesian authorities to continue their investigation," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack in a statement.

"We encourage Indonesia's pursuit of justice for the murder of Munir, and we are heartened by the court's call for further investigation into this crime," he said.

The State Department also urged the government to release the confidential report of a fact-finding team that reportedly found others, including members of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), may have been involved in the assassination of Munir, whowas poisoned during a flight to Amsterdam in September.

"We encourage Indonesia to release publicly the Fact Finding Team's report and to take appropriate law enforcement measures against any persons implicated in the crime," McCormack said.

Munir, 38, a vocal critic of Indonesia's military for alleged human-rights abuses in the conflictive provinces of Aceh and Papua, died Sept. 7 of arsenic poisoning aboard a Garuda Indonesia flight bound for Amsterdam from Jakarta.

The court said Tuesday that Pollycarpus was "not the only one behind Munir's death," and specifically cited discussions between the pilot and another person through a cellular phone belonging to Muchdi Purwoprandjono, former deputy chief of BIN.

Muchdi has admitted, in witness testimony in a previous court hearing, to having owned the mobile phone, but said that he was not the only person using it.

A group of dozens of rights activists rallied outside the court building Tuesday, accusing BIN of being involved and calling on President Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono to bring to justice the masterminds of the killing.

Susilo established an independent body, consisting of 13 members from various backgrounds ranging from non-government organizations to government officials, to investigate the case after allegations surfaced that the intelligence agency may have been involved.

Despite members of the fact-finding team saying their investigation pointed to the involvement of certain intelligence officials and recommended a police investigation into their suspected connection in the case, Susilo has been criticized for refusing to release and act swiftly on the results of the probe.

Widow of slain activist calls for probe

Associated Press - December 21, 2005

The widow of a murdered Indonesian rights activist called Wednesday for a stepped-up probe into allegations that the man convicted in his poisoning death had links to the state intelligence agency.

On Tuesday a court convicted off-duty pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto of putting a fatal dose of arsenic in food served to Munir Thalib as he flew to Amsterdam on state-owned airline Garuda Indonesia.

In their verdict, judges said Priyanto killed Munir because of his vocal criticism of rights abuses by the military and the government.

They also said that the killer had received many calls from a phone registered to a senior intelligence agent ahead of the murder in September 2004, but did not elaborate.

"The verdict does not answer my questions," said Suciwati Thalib, whose campaign for justice in the case has taken her all over the world. "Now investigators must work hard to uncover (the link to the state intelligence agency)," she said in an interview.

An independent fact-finding team established by the president also revealed phone records showing calls between Priyanto and a phone registered to the agent, Muchdi Purwopranjo. Purwopranjo testified at Priyanto's trial that someone borrowed his phone to make the calls. The intelligence agency refused to speak to the fact-finding team.

The investigation into Thalib's killing is seen as a test of how much Indonesia has changed since the days of Suharto, the dictator who ruled Indonesia for 32 years until democracy riots forced him to resign in 1998.

State-sponsored killings were common during Suharto's regime and military and police officers were largely above the law.

Thalib, 38, rose to prominence toward the end of Suharto's regime. He went on to probe killings by Indonesian troops during East Timor's bloody struggle for independence and military-led violence in the separatist provinces of Papua and Aceh.

The tireless campaigner often received death threats, and his widow say she too has received threats against her life.

She said she continues her campaign because she wants "to ensure this does not happen again and that impunity does not become ingrained in our society." "I am tired because of all this, but I also want to show my children that I did something for their father," she said.

Munir murder trial leaves unanswered questions

Radio Australia - December 21, 2005

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is under pressure to widen investigations into the murder of human rights activist Munir Thalib. The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced airline pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto to 14 years in jail for poisoning Munir on a Garuda flight to Amsterdam in September 2004.

Presenter/Interviewer: Sen Lam

Speakers: Usman Hamid, Indonesian human rights group KONTRAS

Hamid: To find the exact motive behind the killing of Munir and of course the mastermind behind the killing. So we hope that the president, the Chief of the National Police, can take further actions.

Lam: The Indonesian police, through a statement to the media, did say that they will continue investigations, that the probe is ongoing. Do you think that's likely to uncover more material leading to more prosecutions?

Hamid: Actually we are questioning the credibility of police investigations, because last week the police gave us a statement that the police would like to stop the investigation if there is no new evidence from the court. On the other hand, the police have already stopped the investigation led by a former chief or former chairman of a fact-finding team, Brigadier General Marsudi Hannafi, so it was very confusing for us to measure the commitment of the police investigations. So we are hoping, we are demanding to the president to make sure that the police investigation will be done in a proper manner.

Lam: A committee earlier this year did issue a report to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Do you know what has become of that report and indeed whether the president has acted on it?

Hamid: Well the first conclusion that is very important from the report is the killing against Munir is a conspiracy involving general officials from Garuda Indonesian state airline and senior officials of National Intelligence Agency, and is related to the criticisms of Munir against the National Intelligence Agency. So the fact-finding team, the committee, recommended to the president to take further actions to the police investigations because the other conclusions of the fact-finding team is the police are unwilling to really take action, to really discover or uncover the death of Munir.

The fact-finding team concluded that the National Intelligence Agency has failed to co-operate with the fact-finding team to uncover the death of Munir. The fact-finding team also recommended to the president to establish a new team, a new committee or presidential committee representing the presidential authority to back up or to make sure that the police investigation is really done in a proper manner. It's in the hands of the president; it's up to the president whether the president really wants to take serious actions to enforce the law. Otherwise I think this case is a black precedent for the future of democracy in Indonesia and the future of human rights protection in Indonesia.

Lam: So what happens now though, do you think there will be more representations made to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in order that there may be an official follow-up?

Hamid: It's so confusing for us where the position of the president now is? In the beginning the president said that the death of Munir is the determining factor for us, for Indonesia and this is a test of our history. So we are hoping that the future, or the possible team or committee that might be established by the president is also involving representatives from human rights groups. So that human rights groups can also monitor to make sure directly that everything is running well, that everything is on the right track to enforce the law, to deliver justice to the victims, to the families, to the people of Indonesia.

Pilot jailed for activist's murder

Radio Australia - December 21, 2005

An Indonesian court has sentenced Garuda Airlines pilot Polycarpus Priyanto to 14 years jail for the murder of prominent human rights activist Munir Thalib. Munir was poisoned during a flight to Amsterdam in September, 2004.

Presenter/Interviewer: Peter Cave

Speakers: Asmara Nababan, Executive Director, Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies in Indonesia; Polycarpus Priyanto

Cave: As he has for most of the trial, Polycarpus sat mostly impassively as the five judges took two hours to summarise the evidence against him. Finally he was asked to stand to hear his sentence.

Chief Judge: The defendant, Polycarpus Budihari Priyanto, has been proven legally and convincingly guilty of premeditated murder and document forgery. He will be punished for his actions with 14 years imprisonment.

Cave: Only then did he show some emotion.

Polycarpus: Thank you for all the accusation and the sentence. I reject them because I didn't do it. thank you.

Cave: The prosecution case had been patchy to say the least, but the judges summarised their findings precisely. Polycarpus had forged airline rosters to ensure he got himself a business class passenger seat on Munir's flight.

He offered the activist the seat and then with the assistance of two flight attendants who are yet to be charged he ensured that a fatal dose of arsenic was given to him in a plate of noodles, not in a glass of orange juice as claimed by the prosecution.

The meal was served between Jakarta and Singapore where Polycarpus got off, and by the time the flight was high over Europe, Munir was dead.

The court found that Polycarpus was a strong nationalist who had a motive to murder Munir but that the murder had been planned in phone conversations with other conspirators yet to be determined.

(DEMO)

Several hundred human rights protesters staged a noisy demonstration outside the court demanding justice and demanding that Hendropriyono, the former head of the National Intelligence Agency BIN, be brought to book for the murder.

Munir was a long time thorn in the side of successive Indonesian administrations, and none more so that that of Megawati Sukarnoputri as he repeatedly demanded that some of the country's most powerful generals be investigated for their part in atrocities in East Timor.

Hendropriyono stepped down from the job when the present government came to power shortly after the murder.

Asmara Nababan is Executive Director for the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies in Indonesia.

Nababan: Of course the court did not mention who the other parties are, especially who gave the order. But it is clear that the court gave some indications that need to be followed up by the police.

Cave: Do you think there will be?

Nababan: Well, it depends on the president. If the president has a strong commitment to deliver his promise.

Cave: Do you believe the state intelligence agency, BIN, was involved?

Nababan: Well, I believe some officers and former officers of BIN are involved.

Indonesian pilot jailed over murder of activist

Reuters - December 20, 2005

Dean Yates and Ade Rina, Jakarta -- An Indonesian court jailed an off-duty pilot for 14 years on Tuesday over the murder of the country's top human rights activist during a flight on the national carrier Garuda last year.

Chief judge Cicut Sutiarsa told the court that Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto put arsenic in noodles served to Munir Thalib because he opposed the democracy hero's criticism of the military and the national intelligence agency.

A president-appointed team disbanded in June had recommended further investigation of the Munir murder, saying it had found government intelligence agency officials were implicated, a charge agency leaders have denied.

Human rights groups have said the trial was a litmus test of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's promise to build a more accountable Indonesia after decades of authoritarian rule.

Judge Sutiarsa said Priyanto put arsenic in noodles served to Munir on the Jakarta-Singapore leg of a flight to Amsterdam in September 2004. He died before reaching Amsterdam.

"The court rules the defendant Pollycarpus has legally and convincingly been proven to have taken part in the planned killing," Sutiarsa told the court.

Priyanto has said he was the victim of a conspiracy. "I reject all the charges and this verdict. I did not do it," Priyanto screamed as his wife wept in the packed courtroom. He said he would appeal. Prosecutors had demanded Priyanto be jailed for life for killing the outspoken government and military critic.

A Garuda Indonesia pilot himself, Priyanto was on an assignment supervising security on the Jakarta-Singapore leg of Munir's flight. He has admitted to giving his business-class seat to Munir during that leg.

On December 12, Priyanto told the court he did not kill Munir but has not said who he believes might be behind the plot.

"What makes Munir so significant for me that I had to kill him on a Garuda plane... my workplace?" he said during that court session. "I do not believe Munir was killed by poison on the plane. It is only an invention to put me here as a defendant."

Prosecutors failed to verify the alleged link with intelligence officials during the trial and suggested Priyanto acted with the help only of two other Garuda crew and plotted the assassination because he did not like Munir's politics.

But the judge noted Priyanto had spoken numerous times on the telephone to a senior official of the national intelligence agency BIN before and after Munir's murder.

Munir's wife Suciwati told reporters she believed the pilot was just a minor player in the murder. "Polly (Priyanto) is just a small part of a conspiracy... The connection should be found," she told reporters at the court.

Former human rights minister and now activist Hasballah Saad said he not believe the pilot was acting alone. "There must be others. It's just a coincidence that he was brought to court. Unfortunately, the fact-finding team was disbanded before it finished its work," he told Reuters.

Munir grabbed national attention as repression of anti-government activists eased after the authoritarian rule of President Suharto ended in 1998.

He was an outspoken critic of the military and its heavy-handed methods in quashing dissent and separatists in hotspots such as Aceh and Papua provinces.

(Additional reporting by Telly Nathalia)

200 demand mastermind of Munir's murder be caught and tried

Detik.com - December 20, 2005

Fitraya Ramadhanny, Jakarta -- Dissatisfied with the court's decision to sentence Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto to 14 years jail, around 200 activist from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) have urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) to try the mastermind behind the murder of human rights activist Munir.

The demonstrators spread out in front of the State Palace on Jalan Medan Merdeka Utara in Central Jakarta at around 1.30pm on Tuesday December 20.

In a speech, Kontras coordinator Usman Hamid said that the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) is deeply involved in the Munir case and he hopes therefore that the investigation will not end with Pollycarpus. The government is being asked to uncover the real mastermind behind the murder.

"The president must bring in and try the mastermind of Munir's murder and the Munir TPF [Fact Finding Team] must continue their work", he said passionately.

Most of the demonstrators were victims of the May 1998 violence, the Bojong incinerator case and so on. Some of the demonstrators wore T-shirts with Munir's picture and headbands with the writing "human rights". Others brought banners reading "Try the mastermind of Munir's murderer". Poster with pictures of Munir also adorned the demonstration.

It was not just young people that attended -- a number of housewives and parents of victims of violence also joined the demonstration shouting "Drag in and try Hendropriyono". Hendropriyono is the former director of BIN.

Demonstrators were guarded by around 50 police officers. Before holding the action in front of the Palace, they were present at the sentencing of Pollycarpus at the Central Jakarta State Court. Following the hearing, they proceeded to held a long-march to the State Palace. (umi)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Munir case a test for the presidents' authority

Detik.com - December 20, 2005

Fitraya Ramadhanny, Jakarta -- Around 200 demonstrators from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) held an action in front of the State Palace demanding that the government uncover the mastermind behind Munir's murder. The action -- that ended at 3.45pm -- was closed by a speech by Munir's wife, Suciwati.

In her speech, Suciwati said that the investigation into the Munir case identified the State Intelligence Agency's (BIN) involvement therefore the political support of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) is needed to complete the investigation into the case to the point where the mastermind is brought to court.

The action in front of the State Palace on Jalan Medan Merdeka Utara on Tuesday December 20 was held in response to the Central Jakarta State Court's decision to sentence Garuda pilot Pollycarpus to 14 years jail. The demonstrators believe that the trail has been unable to uncover the real brains behind Munir's murder.

"President SBY must [act] concretely on his commitment. Solving the Munir case is a test for the presidents' authority. If the president just remains silent, it means that the president agrees with [efforts to] sabotage his commitment and policies on law enforcement", said Suciwati passionately.

After Suciwati's speech ended, demonstrators disbanded and departed in four large busses. The participants represent a coalition of families who have been the victims of violence in Bojong, Tangerang, Bogor and the May 1998 tragedy. (san)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

'Police not afraid of terrorists, why afraid of Munir's killer'

Detik.com - December 20, 2005

Nurvita Indarini, Jakarta -- The sentencing of Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto was enlivened by a demonstration by hundreds of activists from the Solidarity Action Committee for Munir. But they were not demanding that Pollycarpus receive a heavier sentence -- rather that the police investigate the other perpetrators of Munir's murder.

These demands were depicted in the posters brought to the action. "SBY [President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono], prove that you've got guts", "The police are brave when it comes to terrorists, [but] why are they afraid of Munir's killer" and "The police don't have the guts to uncover the Munir case", read the posters.

The action was held by some 500 people from the National Student League for Democracy (LMND), the Indonesian Environment Forum (Walhi), the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) and the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) on Jalan Gajah Mada, the road in front of the Central Jakarta State Court building.

Inside the building meanwhile, the court was in the process of hearing the verdict against Pollycarpus. The session that began at 10.10am on Tuesday December 20 was presided over by Judge Cicut Sutiarso.

According to the head of Kontras' operational division, Edwin Partogi, they are disappointed with the process of democratisation and human rights that never seems to make any headway. "President SBY already knows who is behind Munir's murder, but is unwilling to divulge it", he said.

The demonstration included a happening art action that depicted Munir's persistence in struggling for human rights even though it meant that he had to face terror threats and end was himself murdered.

Two demonstrators organised the happening art action. One wearing white shorts and no shirt with their hands, feet and head tied with ribbon, and their whole body covered in thorny roses. The other person wore various kinds of white cloth and a mask as they danced. (gtp)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Pollycarpus trial failed to reveal brains behind murder

Detik.com - December 20, 2005

Luhur Hertanto, Jakarta -- Pollycarpus has been sentenced to 14 months jail by the Central Jakarta State Court. The verdict however, has failed to touch on the brains behind the murder of human rights activist Munir. The prosecution also failed to uncover the brains of the murder.

"He (the prosecutor) has not yet been able to reveal who was behind Pollycarpus", said the director of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), Syamsir Siregar, following a meeting of a final assessors team at the presidential offices on Jalan Medan Merdeka Utara in Central Jakarta on Tuesday December 20.

Siregar expressed his regrets over the performance of the investigating team that he says failed to optimally take advantage of the resources and facilities provided by the government. In fact the team was given the broadest possible opportunity to solve the Pollycarpus case but the outcome was instead that Pollycarpus was brought before the courts on charges of falsifying documents.

When asked why the investigators did not perform optimally, Siregar said it is precisely that which needs to be asked of police. "Just ask the police. We [BIN] have been cooperative from the start. If the police want to investigate [us], please, there's no problem", he explained.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has referred to the Munir case as a test of the government's handling of human rights cases. When asked to comment on this, Siregar turned the question around. "Then why are you asking me", he burst out laughing. (san)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Suciwati calls for BIN's former deputy director to be tried

Detik.com - December 20, 2005

Nurvita Indarini, Jakarta -- Although Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto has been sentenced to 14 years jail, Munir's wife, Suciwati, appears not to care. Suciwati is instead asking that the mastermind behind Munir's murder be brought before the courts. Who is that?

"I don't care if Pollycarpus is jailed for life or sentenced to death. What is clear is that I will seek justice because Polly[carpus] was the perpetrator on the ground, the ones that must be pursued are the masterminds", said Suciwati.

Suciwati conveyed this following Pollycarpus' sentencing at the Central Jakarta State Court on Jalan Gajah Mada in Jakarta on Tuesday December 20.

Is Muchdi [Purwopranjono] (an ex-National Intelligence Agency deputy director) behind Munir's murder? "It could be so. It could be that behind Muchdi there is still another mastermind. Polly was not [acting] alone. This is a political conspiracy", said the mother of two children.

According to Suciwati therefore, the police and investigators' job it to bring Muchdi before the courts. "This is in order that the motive for Munir's murder becomes clear", said Suciwati.

As has been reported, Pollycarpus was sentence to 14 years jail. He was declared guilty and found to have committed the premeditated murder of Munir. The verdict was lighter than the life sentence demanded by the prosecution. Pollycarpus has refused to accept the verdict and will lodge an appeal. (aan)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

A widow puts Indonesian justice on trial

International Herald Tribune - December 19, 2005

Joyce Hor-Chung Lau, Hong Kong -- Suciwati Munir looks every inch the modern, media-savvy campaigner, flying from country to country with her bags of matching red-and-black banners, buttons, T-shirts, pens and postcards.

But she is not running for office, nor is she selling anything -- except for a message the Indonesian government may well prefer to keep quiet.

Behind the public figure is the private woman -- the grieving 37-year-old widow of Munir Said Thalib, a human rights activist who was poisoned last year on a Garuda Indonesia flight to Amsterdam, where he was going to study international law.

A petite, energetic woman, Suciwati has recently traveled to Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, addressing overseas journalists and others to pressure Jakarta to tell the full story on its investigation of her husband's death.

Now, a verdict is expected this week in the murder trial of the main suspect in her husband's death, a pilot named Pollycarpus Budhari Priyanto. The trial came to a close last week.

It has been a lengthy journey for Suciwati. Over the past year, she has repeated the same sound-bites about justice and transparency in countless interviews and news conferences; on the US television show "Dateline," and before the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva and the European Union in Brussels.

Suciwati's intent has been to build international awareness of her husband's case before a verdict is handed down. She has also helped turn her late husband's case into a litmus test of Indonesia's ability, under the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to face a sometimes gruesome past and establish a credible judicial system.

"The Munir case," said Indria Fernida of Kontras, an advocacy group Munir founded, "is a key indicator of whether other past human rights cases will be solved, and an indicator of what the future of rule of law will be in Indonesia."

In her public appearances, Suciwati wears a T-shirt that asks, "Who is the mastermind?" -- a reference to her belief that either the government, the police or both were involved in her husband's death. Human rights activists, sharing Suciwati's view, say the outcome of the Pollycarpus trial will be irrelevant without a more thorough inquiry into the case.

Government officials did not respond to facsimile messages and telephone calls requesting comment on the Munir case and on allegations that the Indonesian government was involved in the death.

According to a court indictment, Pollycarpus, who was off duty at the time, offered his business class seat to Munir, who was sitting in economy. They switched seats and, soon after, Munir began suffering from diarrhea and acute vomiting.

He was found dead in his seat when the plane landed. In an investigation held in the Netherlands, the national forensic institute found 465 milligrams of arsenic in Munir's stomach -- more than twice what is accepted as a lethal dose. It is alleged that the poison was dropped in his orange juice.

Munir's death came a month before Yudhoyono, who has been credited with a more liberal rule than his predecessors, took power in October 2004.

And it is because Yudhoyono has been expected to introduce a new degree of transparency to Indonesia, after decades of military rule, that the trial has attracted unusual international attention. Some activists say it will affect the way the outside world views this relatively new leader.

"The Munir case is a lightning rod which will show us how serious Indonea's government is in protecting human rights," said Bruce Van Voorhis, communications officer of the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission, a nongovernmental group.

The irony of Munir's case is that he was best known for founding Kontras, a group that worked to solve cases of violence against human rights activists, before he became a victim himself.

According to Suciwati, there was a lack of transparency in Munir's case. "We didn't have good information," she said. "We didn't hear initially from Garuda or the government."

Suciwati began pressing for an investigation and met with Yudhoyono on Nov. 24, 2004. An official fact-finding team was formed in January 2005.

The fact-finding team found records of 35 telephone calls between Pollycarpus and an intelligence official who had been the subject of a Kontras investigation.

But the team said their work was stopped when the state intelligence agency failed to respond to requests for documents before the fact-finding team's mandate ended in June.

Charged in the case were Pollycarpus and two crew members -- but no government officials. Repeated requests from Suciwati and various nongovernment organizations for the fact-finding team to release more of its findings have been met with silence.

Suciwati's considers this the main flaw in the prosecution's case. "The way is not to just charge Pollycarpus, but to investigate the case more broadly," she said.

"The police in the fact-finding team are afraid to make an investigation because the people behind the case may be their superiors," she said. "The system is corrupt on all levels. Everyone is connected to each other."

Fernida, the Kontras member, said that while Indonesia has a human rights court, it is ineffective. "Almost all perpetrators are acquitted," she said.

"There are still thousands who are still seeking justice," Fernida added, referring specifically to a massacre in 1965, riots in 1998 and political violence during the era of General Suharto, who ruled from 1965 to 1998. "These victims get hopeless because the rule of law is not changing," she said.

Van Voorhis of the Asian Human Rights Commission says change must start with legal system reform. "You cannot have human rights protections if the police, prosecutors and judges are corrupt, ineffective, incompetent or open to political influence or intimidation."

When Suciwati met Munir in 1991, she was a teacher in Surabaya, in an area with many factory workers. At one point, she worked in a factory herself to see what conditions were like.

"And that's when I met Munir, because he worked at a legal aid clinic," she said. They married five years later.

"Even before we were married, I knew Munir had received threats in Surabaya," Suciwati said. "There were bomb threats, threatening letters, attacks on the office, threats against our family and negative propaganda against him in the news.

"We had to tell ourselves that the threats were no big deal," she said. "We had chosen to live as human rights activists. If you fear, it should be for other people, not yourself, because that only gets in the way of your rationale and intelligence."

This year, Suciwati founded JSKK, an acronym for the Victims' Families Solidarity Network. And, she says, she still receives death threats, including one since her husband's death that was attached to a dead chicken. The message read, "Do you want to end up like this?"

Courts incapable of uncovering Munir's murderer

Detik.com - December 19, 2005

Muchus Budi R., Jakarta -- Pollycarpus, the defendant in the murder case of human rights defender Munir will soon be sentenced. The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) however, is pessimistic that the courts will be able to take further action to find and try the brains behind the murder. Kontras coordinator Usman Hamid believes that there are a number of games that are hindering plans to uncover the case.

"No matter what sentence Polly[carpus] receives, I am pessimistic that the courts can uncover the mastermind of Munir's murder. There are many indications that are making the investigation of this case hard to reveal. There are forces that are arranging things in order that the case goes back to scratch", Hamid told journalists in Solo, Central Java, on Monday December 19.

The various indications referred to by Hamid that are a part of this game include the disbanding of the Munir case investigation team by national police headquarters. The head of the team, Brigadier General Marsudi Hanafi furthermore, as been given the post of an expert staff member to the head of the national police. This position he says, automatically ended the investigation despite the fact that there were still much that need to be developed in the investigation of the case.

Other indications are the many important witnesses that were recommended by the Fact Finding Team on which Hamid himself sat that were not followed up and were unable to be presented in Pollycarpus' trial, for example witnesses that knew the defendant had been involved in intelligence activities. Likewise, the Dutch citizen that sat beside Munir on the flight on which he was poisoned.

"This still doesn't include the looming defamation complaint that was thrown up by former BIN [National Intelligence Agency] director AM Hendropriyono who reported me and Rachland Nashidik from Imparsial", he said.

According to Hamid, under such conditions the only remaining hope hangs on the will of the president. Hamid said that the Indonesian people have to right to call on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's to fulfil his promise when he stated that the solving the Munir case is one of his debts to the Indonesian people.

"The president must demonstrate the strongest commitment to investigating this case by forming a new investigation team that has stronger and wider powers. Also needed is intense support and pressure from the political parties because to date I still see that the political parties are only using human rights cases in so far as they are a political commodity", he continued. (jon)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Labour issues

Employers guilty of underpaying workers: Activists

Jakarta Post - December 21, 2005

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta -- Labor activists have accused employers and the government of treating workers inhumanely by underpaying a great number of them. Jacob Nuwa Wea, chairman of the Confederation of All-Indonesian Workers Union (KSPSI), said the recent massive labor demonstrations were an expression of frustration over poor work conditions and unfair treatment.

"In fact, most workers are still underpaid, as reflected in the low wage levels in almost all provinces and regencies. It is impossible for a single worker in the East Java regency of Madiun to meet his/her daily needs with the monthly minimum wage of Rp 300,000 (US$30) or another single worker in North Sumatra with Rp 550,000. The amount is just enough to cover their monthly transportation costs to their workplace," he said.

Nuwa Wea, a former manpower minister, was speaking on Tuesday at a tripartite summit between labor unions, the government and employers.

Workers in North Sumatra, West Java, Banten and East Java recently staged rallies to protest the newly set minimum wages, which will become effective on Jan. 1.

Nuwa Wea said labor unions could not fight for a significant increase in minimum wages because tripartite negotiations on minimum wages were dominated by employers and the government.

"Labor unions have given up as the government has taken the employers' side," he added.

Rekson Silaban, chairman of the Federation of Indonesian Prosperity Trade Unions (KSBSI), said the low wage levels illustrated that both the government and employers had ignored the 2003 Labor Law, which stipulates that minimum wage levels should be equal to what is called humane living needs (KHL).

"We (the national tripartite body) have agreed to set 46 parameters to set KHL, but the minimum wage levels have remained low because there is no political commitment to push the wage higher," he said.

He said there was a trend among employers to put new employees on contract or to outsource work to other companies to reduce labor costs.

Sofyan Wanandi, chairman of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), declined to comment on the low wage levels but instead said employers and workers should intensify bipartite negotiations to settle disputes peacefully and to avoid labor dismissals that would increase unemployment.

"The government should revise the labor law to attract more foreign labor-intensive investment to help ease unemployment," he said.

Nuwa Wea urged the government to make a new law on the national wage system to narrow the widening gap in the current remuneration system.

"It is quite unfair that a single worker is paid Rp 300,000 monthly while the central bank governor is paid Rp 230 million a month. Expatriates are also paid higher than locals," he said.

10,000 workers to lose jobs

Jakarta Post - December 21, 2005

Suherdjoko, Semarang -- Around 10,000 employees in Central Java could lose their jobs by the end of the year, most of them working for textile factories, an official said on Tuesday.

Central Java Manpower and Transmigration Office official Anwar Wijianto said from March to mid December this year, 21 companies had dismissed 7,724 workers, of which 5,832 of them were workers in textile factories.

He said that in Surakarta, Central Java, a textile factory dismissed 1,128 of its workers because it could not compete with imported textile products. "We got the figure from a recent meeting with the Central Java Indonesian Businesspeople's Association," Anwar said. The association had not provided more information about the dismissed workers, he said.

Most companies laid off workers for efficiency reasons, he said. He hoped there would not be a further increase in the number of dismissed workers after the removal of several bylaws regulating labor conditions.

Many workers in the country began to lose their jobs in March when the government raised the fuel prices for the first time this year and the situation worsened when fuel prices were again increased in October, escalating the costs of raw materials and production.

Anwar said his office had applied for a budget of between Rp 3 billion (US$300,000) and Rp 4 billion next year to provide re- training for the unemployed. "With accurate data we can train these unemployed people, including those workers who recently lost their jobs, according to their skills," Anwar said.

He added that the proposed budget would pay for training and facilities, it would not be given to workers as a cash benefit. "We can train them to become tailors, to work in auto workshops or repair electronic appliances," Anwar said.

More complete data about former employees, such as the gender and former occupations of workers would help the office plan training programs. Provincial records 842,692 men and 590,079 women working for 15,862 companies. The province recorded 1.1 million unemployed people or around 7 percent of its estimated 14.8 million workforce, although partially employed people could push the numbers higher.

Anwar said the manpower office was working with employment agencies to provide information on vacancies abroad. "Many of the unemployed people are still single and I'm sure that with their skills, they could work in (overseas) construction projects, electronic factories, plantations or as maids," he said.

Violence mars mass labor demos

Jakarta Post - December 20, 2005

Cimahi/Medan/Surabaya -- Thousands of workers have jammed the streets of the main cities of Medan, Surabaya and Cimahi in massive protests over the newly set minimum wages, which they say are below the cost of living.

In the protests on Monday several workers were injured in Medan when security personnel tried to hold back the crowd.

The fence of the East Java governor's office was torn down after a request made on behalf of the estimated 10,000 workers gathered there, to meet Governor Imam Utomo, was refused. His staff members had relayed the message that the governor was too busy preparing for the arrival of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The hundreds of police on duty were outnumbered by the protesters, who had been arriving in trucks from Surabaya, Sidoarjo, Mojokerto and Pasuruan since early morning.

Once they entered the governor's office compound, the protesters, shouting their demands, lowered their flag to half-mast in a reflection of their "grief" over the new minimum wage -- while others stamped on plaques at the governor's office.

The protest was the latest, and the biggest, in the province following the governor's recent decision to raise the minimum wage from Rp 578,000 (US$57.80) per month to Rp 665,000 -- much lower than the workers' demand for Rp 1,330,000 per month. The new wage will take effect on Jan. 1.

"We staged protests before but were ignored. So we staged a massive protest to show the governor that workers in East Java reject the new minimum wage," said Jamaluddin, a protester.

Thousands of workers in Medan, however, were not as successful in their descent on Deputy Governor Rudolf Pardede's office. Several workers, grouped under the North Sumatra Workers General Action, were injured, allegedly after being pushed by police officers.

The group's coordinator, Baginda Harahap, regretted the incident, which he said could have been avoided if the administration had taken seriously the workers' dissatisfaction over the new minimum wage of Rp 737,794 per month, from the previous Rp 600,000 per month. The workers earlier proposed a new minimum wage of Rp 1.2 million for single workers and Rp 1.5 million for married ones.

North Sumatra administration spokesman Eddy Syofian said the administration understood the workers' demand but it could not ignore the difficult times faced by businesspeople.

In the West Java town of Cimahi, hundreds of workers demanded on Monday that West Java Governor Danny Setiawan revoke the city's new minimum wage of Rp 715,000, from the previous Rp 601,000.

Metalworkers' jobs at risk from downturn

Jakarta Post - December 19, 2005

Nana Rukmana, Cirebon -- The increase in fuel prices and a shortage of raw materials have left 23 metal factories in Cirebon on the brink of bankruptcy and hundreds of workers' jobs at risk, an official says.

Cirebon Metalwork Producers Association coordinator Ade Saefudin said government intervention was badly needed to save hundreds of workers from imminent dismissal. "If production costs remain high, we predict the firms will eventually go out of business," Ade said.

He said the industry had started to feel the pinch since the first fuel price increase in March this year when the price of raw materials from Surabaya increased by up to 100 percent.

"Another fuel price increase in October has exacerbated the situation, with the increase in metal prices by 26 percent. This is a terrible blow to small-scale entrepreneurs like us." He said the price of raw materials before the fuel price hike was between Rp 2,500 and Rp 3,000 a kilogram, which had surged from Rp 5,250 to Rp 5,500 a kg now.

The price of metal pipes has also increased sharply; between Rp 3,500 and Rp 4,000 a kg. to Rp 6,500 and Rp 7,000 a kg.

Ade said most of the companies produced household articles, such as fences and kitchen utensils.

Ganef Sugiarto, the owner of Pt Marta Putra Jaya in Jadimulya village, North Cirebon, said the price of a kilogram of aluminum used to be Rp 8,000 but had surged sharply, he said.

"The price also fluctuates and has the tendency to gradually rise. It has increased again by Rp 1,500 a kg. just within the past week to Rp 13,500 per kg. now," said Ganef.

Ganef said aluminum producers in Cirebon were becoming more pessimistic about manufacturing household items like cooking pots and frying pans.

"We had hoped scrap metal traders would supply us with the raw materials but they now prefer to sell them to bigger traders in Jakarta for export." Ganef said the community-based industry was under the threat of a total shutdown if the problem with raw materials was not solved. The family-run enterprises employ around 200 workers.

Ade said workers in the metalwork sector earned a "reasonable" wage above the regional minimum of between Rp 25,000 (US$2.50) and Rp 30,000 a day.

Ganef said neither regional nor central government had done anything to help the sector. "There has been no attention from the government as yet, and this has let us down."

Sujono: Portrait of a manual worker

Jakarta Post - December 17, 2005

ID Nugroho, Surabaya -- The first thing on Sujono's mind when he decided to move from his hometown of Pacitan to Sidoarjo city six years ago, was to improve the financial state of his family. He and his family left Pacitan after a friend offered him a job in a leather tanning company in the industrial city, some 12 kilometers from East Java's capital of Surabaya.

"We were tired of being poor in the village, and wanted to know how it felt to live in a modern style," Sujono (not a real name) told The Jakarta Post.

Equipped with determination and barely enough money, he brought his wife and two children to Sidoarjo. They rented a modest house not far from the factory.

The first year living in a large city like Sidoarjo was the most difficult for Sujono and his family. They had to scrape through on his monthly wage of Rp 300,000 (US$30.00) to meet the family's needs. Sujono sometimes skipped his meals at work and brought the food home for his wife and children. "I feel sad when I look back at that year," he recalled.

Nothing much had changed entering their second year in Sidoarjo, except for a job offer as a construction worker.

After moving over to the construction job, the family could gradually save some money from Sujono's daily wage of Rp 25,000. He could even afford to buy a small television set. "I could buy my wife and children new clothing if there were lots of work orders to complete," he said.

However, the condition did not last for long. A while later, the financial situation took a turn for the worse in the country, leading to a lull in the construction sector.

The unavailability of jobs as a construction worker had put the mustachioed man in a bind. He had once, during a whole month, only been contracted to do a single job order with a very low contract value.

Their living condition continued to deteriorate as their children were entering school age. With a heavy heart, Sujono was forced to send his wife and children back to Pacitan to live with his parents, while he chose to continue looking for jobs in Surabaya.

Sujono then found a job as a janitor for a ground handling service company at the Juanda Airport in Surabaya in 2000. Sujono is quite satisfied with the job thus far, since he can send home a larger sum of money to his family in Pacitan from his monthly salary of Rp 800,000.

The growing number of airlines establishing new routes to cities like Surabaya, has somewhat caused his job as a janitor to be in demand. "The more airlines serviced by the company, the more money I will get," said Sujono.

However, problems again ensued when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono decided to increase fuel prices on October 1.

Slowly but surely, Sujono has been haunted by the situation. Several ground handling companies had to start streamlining, mostly by terminating the work contracts of a number of cleaning service workers.

"They say that more workers would be dismissed next year. Would I be one of them? Should I return to Pacitan and live in miserable conditions like before?" queried Sujono.

Little has changed for workers in East Java

Jakarta Post - December 17, 2005

ID Nugroho, Surabaya -- The cemetery was quiet in the afternoon, with only the sounds of birds chirping in tamarind trees and the bleat of grazing goats being audible. A grave, covered with blue tiles and sheltered by a gray dome, appeared unkempt. Cracks have started to appear and one section of it is littered with dead leaves. In front of the tomb, a sign explains the date and cost of construction of the tomb and the name of the donor.

In the grave, located in the middle of a rice field and fenced in by shrubbery, lie the remains of Marsinah, a factory worker who was murdered, allegedly by the military. The cemetery is located in Sukomoro village, Nganjuk, East Java.

Marsinah worked for wristwatch maker PT Catur Putera Perkasa in Sidoarjo and went missing after investigating the fate of several other labor activists had reportedly been abducted by security personnel. Marsinah, who was 24 years old at the time, was found dead in a hut next to a rice field in Jegong village, Nganjuk Wilangan district on May 8, 1993.

A local district court found nine people, including military personnel and Catur Putera Perkasa company director Yudi Astono, guilty of premeditated murder. However, the Supreme Court exonerated them in 1995 for "inadequate evidence." The court verdict sparked outcry among labor activists nationwide, and until today people still question the verdict.

Being a victim of injustice, Marsinah become a heroine to workers throughout the country. Her story inspired workers to be far braver and persevere when fighting for their cause, which in turn contributed to the betterment of working conditions in the country.

One result of the workers' struggle was Law No. 13/2005 on labor, which accommodates a workers' interests. "All this was just a dream during the repressive Soeharto era," said the leader of the Surabaya Labor Forum, Jamaluddin.

But despite the progress, workers still face a long and winding road to improved conditions. Changes in laws and regulations have not automatically improved the lot of workers. "There are still a number of irresponsible parties who take advantage of the situation and don't provide workers with decent pay," said Jamaluddin.

Some say workers are still classified as objects for exploitation and not partners in work, as seen in the contract or outsourcing employment system that has been passed into the labor law, which without doubt, disadvantages workers.

"In reference to the outsourcing system, a company has the sole right to dismiss a worker, while there's no assurance that a worker will be employed permanently," a staff member of the labor division of the Surabaya Legal Aid Institute, Ato'illah, told the Post.

The law fails to impose punishment on companies that unilaterally dismiss workers. "They just have to reinstate workers who were arbitrarily dismissed. That isn't fair," said Ato'illah.

And the issue of workers' welfare as per the standard remuneration system, or regional minimum wage (UMK), though previously respected, has the potential of developing problems. One example of this is how earlier this year businesspeople in Surabaya pressured the government in determining the UMK, leading to workers' interests being given less priority. Workers had demanded that the government increase the East Java regional minimum wage 100 percent by next year, but the demand fell on deaf ears.

East Java Governor Imam Utomo recently approved an increase of only 13.5 percent to Rp 665,000 from the previous amount of Rp 578,500. "How could the governor make such a decision? How can we possibly live on just Rp 665,000 per month in a large city like Surabaya?" asked Jamaluddin.

The governor may have made the controversial decision after businesspeople warned the provincial administration that they would close their factories if too high an increase was approved. Businesspeople later deemed the 13.5 percent increase to be acceptable.

"Businesspeople have limitations. If the regional minimum wage was increased above that figure, many businesses would collapse and workers would bear the brunt of the situation," said Wiem Pattiradjawane, advisor to the East Java Employers Association (Apindo).

East Java Statistics

1. Population: 34,899,236

a. Male: 17,181,981
b. Female: 17,717,255

2. Workforce:

a. Workers: 16,691,884
b. People of working age: 16,144,431
c. Unemployed: 967,397

3. Sources of livelihood:

a. Industrial sector (12.51%) comprising males = 1,159,624 females = 928,227 = 2,087,851 people
b. Trade sector (18.80%) comprising: M = 1,333,614 F = 1,804,805 = 3,138,429 people
c. Agricultural sector (46.18%) comprising: M = 4,876,155 F = 2,832,085 = 7,708,240 people
d. Service sector (12.78%) comprising: M = 1,287,008 F = 833,502 = 2,120,510 people

4. Industry:

a. Large plantations 645,317
b. Farms 158,194,22 hectares (ha)
c. Plantations 358,067 ha
d. Factories 224,934
e. Mining 2,942,260 ha

[Source: East Java Information Office 2005]

Expert claims 1.2m jobs lost this year

Jakarta Post - December 17, 2005

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta -- The true picture of the country's unemployment is much worse than is being acknowledged by the government, a prominent labor analyst said.

Bomer Pasaribu, director of the Center for Labor and Development Studies (CLDS), said on Friday that the number of workers who had lost their jobs this year was estimated at 1.2 million.

He warned that the country would soon be facing an explosion of unemployment and poverty along with other negative social impacts if the government failed to create more job opportunities.

He was responding to an earlier report quoting a senior official at the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration as saying that the number of dismissed workers from January to November of this year was only around 110,000. The official, however, admitted that the data was incomplete as since the implementation of regional autonomy in 2001, the office often encountered difficulties in compelling regional administrations to submit their labor statistics.

Bomer, who is also a former manpower minister, said that his estimate of the number of dismissed workers was based on a recent survey of industrial zones in Java, Kalimantan and Sumatra.

According to the survey, the highest number of labor dismissals occurred in the manufacturing and plywood industries and had a lot to do with the two fuel price hikes in March and October this year.

"Labor-intensive companies in the forestry and manufacturing sectors conducted downsizing and cut the number of their employees because of the rising prices of imported raw materials and the government's policy barring the export of logs," he said.

Bomer predicted that open unemployment would increase to 13 million in 2006 from 11.6 million this year, while hidden unemployment, referring to the number of people working less than 35 hours a week, would reach more than 40 million. "An unemployment explosion will happen unless no serious attention is paid to cope with it," he said.

Bomer, who is also an economist at the Bogor Agriculture Institute (IPB), suggested that the government push the growth of small-scale enterprises, particularly in the agricultural, marine and handicraft sectors, and revive the social safety net program to help ease the unemployment problem that has reached alarming proportions.

"If the country's economic growth could reach at least seven percent, the unemployment rate could be reduced to 10 million," he said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has recently reshuffled his economics ministers, whose main task would be to promote macroeconomic stability and lure badly needed investment to create higher economic growth.

Regarding poverty, Bomer said that the number of poor this year had nearly doubled to 72 million from 36.5 million in 2004, and increased by 30 percent compared to 28.5 million in 1980.

"The increasing number of poor has something to do with zero growth in investment, fuel price hikes, high inflation, which reached 18 percent this year, and the damaged infrastructure in rural areas," he said.

Separately, chairman of the Indonesian Labor Exporters Association (Apjati), Husein Alaydrus, said the government should allocate more funds for training programs and disburse more bank credits to labor exporters to send more workers overseas in an endeavor to help cope with the rising unemployment and poverty problem.

"The overseas market is open for Indonesian workers, but we cannot meet the demand because of the absence of serious attention by the government to accelerate labor export," he said, saying that Indonesia could increase labor export to 1.5 million annually from the current 325,000.

Government/civil service

The next two years crucial for Susilo to retain power

Jakarta Post - December 19, 2005

Tony Hotland, Jakarta -- After a relatively ineffective run this year, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration should make use of all political support it has enjoyed in the next two years to implement his suspended development policies, analysts said.

Having spent a year mired in efforts to reach a political consensus, the President should make the most of 2006 and 2007 to prove his presidential skills before parties begin to prepare themselves for the 2009 general elections.

Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) director Saiful Mujani said the President was expected to hit fewer political obstacles after singling out two out of 10 major parties -- the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the second largest and self-styled opposition group, and the small Prosperous Peace Party (PDS).

"With almost all major parties on his side, the next two years should be Susilo's golden period where he can implement his plans to develop this country. If he fails, that means he'll have pretty much a slim chance to lead again," Saiful said during a seminar hosted by the Freedom Institute over the weekend.

Saiful said stumbling blocks from the House of Representatives would not be substantial, unless there were new issues or policies that might generate opposition from the public at large. Current examples of these are the importation of rice, land acquisition regulations, or the fuel price hikes.

But based on experiences this year alone, efforts to summon the President or create a special House committee of inquiry took too much time and later fell by the wayside due to the House's bureaucratic procedures and unbalanced political composition.

Indonesian Institute director of research Anies Baswedan expressed a similar projection that next year's domestic politics would be cool and stable, particularly with the huge composition of moderate-minded people inside the current administration.

"These people are accustomed to negotiating during conflicts and all have similar interests, because they know failure in terms of political compromise would only pave the way for the hard-liners and the radicals into the system," he said.

In terms of changes in political parties, the two expected stability as well, particularly with the subsiding of internal conflicts in parties such as the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Reform Star Party (PBR).

Political turbulence from parties that are now part of the government's coalition, said Saiful, would start to become visible in 2008 because they would raise much stronger criticism as they prepare for the 2009 general elections.

A significant jolt, in fact, would likely come from the biggest party, Golkar, which supported Susilo's administration only after Vice President Jusuf Kalla took the reins of the party in December 2004.

"Golkar is in a huge dilemma by supporting Susilo. If his administration succeeds, the credit will mostly go to him. But if he fails, the blame will be shared with Golkar as the biggest supporter. Either way, the question will be whether or not the party would continue to support him in the next election?" said Saiful.

Attention should be paid to the involvement of more entrepreneurs in politics and the creation of new political parties, he added.

A recent LSI research revealed that only about 30 percent of voters were entirely loyal to their parties.

Saiful said there had been a declining percentage of people identifying themselves with parties as most constituents felt their chosen parties had failed to represent their interests.

"Such a thing was effectively evident with the emergence of Susilo's Democrat Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), both garnering large amounts of votes in 2004 election," he said.

Indonesian lawmakers get poor reception in Egypt

Jakarta Post - December 20, 2005

Tony Hotland, Jakarta -- Public uproar over an alleged study tour by 15 lawmakers to Egypt heightened on Monday with a critical report of their activities from Cairo fueling admonishments from fellow legislators here.

The meeting between the Indonesian lawmakers from the House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee and their Egyptian counterparts was short and the 10-day visit worth US$76,170 was made at "a bad time", Antara reported, quoting an unnamed Egyptian official from Cairo.

Unaccompanied by any lawmakers or assistants, Egyptian Al-Syaab Parliament Speaker Fathi Sourur welcomed on Sunday the 15 Indonesian lawmakers, led by committee chairman Roestanto Wahidi from the Democratic Party.

The 45-minute-long meeting seemed poorly prepared and Sourur, who was sworn in along with new Egyptian lawmakers less than a week ago, looked "half-hearted" about welcoming the Indonesian delegation, the report said.

Sourur was seen leaving the meeting shortly after to answer telephone calls, welcome a number of his private guests and scrutinize several letters before signing them.

At the end of the meeting, Sourur handed over a book about the Egyptian parliament to be used by Indonesian legislators as material for their comparative study.

An Egyptian lawmaker later said the visit was made at "a bad time". "I wonder what they expect to get from this visit as we haven't even established our routine yet," the legislator said.

Since leaving Jakarta on Friday afternoon with journalists in pursuing them to the airport, the delegation was reported to have spent only two hours meeting members of the Egyptian parliament. The rest of their time they spent visiting Iskandariyah, a tourist city north of Cairo. According to sources, the delegation was also scheduled to visit Dubai for shopping.

Suspicions about the purpose of the visit arose a day before the legislators' departure, with some delegation members denying the visit was even taking place. The complete list of names of the delegates was only made available to the public after the story broke but the planned itinerary of the trip remains a secret.

In Jakarta, House Speaker Agung Laksono admitted the delegates' departure had not been approved in a House leadership meeting but had been personally accepted by him and deputy speaker Zaenal Ma'arif.

Agung said some legislators had questioned the relevance of the trip. However, the delegates had insisted Cairo's parliament had prepared an official welcome for them and would properly respond to their inquiries.

"The delegates said Cairo was very eager to welcome them. They wanted to seek information about the supporting system in Cairo's parliament as well as their facilities," Agung said.

Observers suspect the visit was made to spend the allocated House annual travel budget, regardless of its urgency and relevance.

Agung also denied any formal plan to adopt Egypt's gambling law, as suggested by delegate Djoko Edhi Sucipto from the National Mandate Party (PAN). The law allows Egypt to localize and legalize gambling despite its predominantly Muslim population.

PAN faction chairman Abdillah Toha said he would recommend the party's board impose disciplinary sanctions on Djoko and hinted at his possible recall from the House for joining the visit.

Village heads in job protest

Jakarta Post - December 20, 2005

Suherdjoko, Semarang -- Over 1,000 village leaders from across Central Java staged a protest outside the governor's office on Monday, the latest in a series of protests demanding legal certainty over their positions.

The protesting village leaders were among 8,672 others across the province, who recently demanded an extension of their terms in office, while waiting for the issuance of a central government regulation on the appointment and dismissal of village leaders according to Law 32/2004 on regional administration.

In the protest on Monday, the village heads demanded that the Minister of Home Affairs immediately issue the government regulation.

"By the end of this year, 35 percent of heads of villages will end their terms in office. We want to have certainty on the procedure to appoint or dismiss them. To this point, there's no legal certainty on the matter," said Sudir Santoso, head of the Central Java Praja organization, which groups the village heads.

In dealing with these matters, Central Java Governor Mardiyanto earlier issued a circular allowing the village to temporarily appoint acting leaders once the office term expired.

"In reality, many villages interpret the circular wrongly. There are those who agree with the appointment of acting village heads, but there are areas, like in Banjarnegara, where the election of the village leader took place although it is not supported by legal certainty," Sudir said.

He said he had requested his members whose office terms had ended to remain in their position.

"If the regent still wants to hold elections, then the head of the village should ask for a dismissal from the regent. I'm sure the regent will not dare to issue a dismissal letter since such a move has no legal basis," he explained.

Meanwhile, Central Java Governor Mardiyanto said that the central government was currently working on the government regulation.

"I've told Minister of Home Affairs (M. Ma'ruf) about the protests. The provincial administration cannot issue a policy on the matter, we can only make a recommendation," Mardiyanto said.

Rowandi, the head of Kalimiru village in Bayan district, Purworejo regency, said he was confused by the contradictory laws and government regulations.

"I've been in the position since December 1998. At that time, Law No. 5/1979 stated that the village head's office term was eight years," he said.

Another one, Law No. 22/1999, stipulates that a village head serves for 10 years, while the latest one, Law No. 32/2004 says that a village head serves only for six years.

"I'm totally confused. Being a village head now is not easy. People keep protesting, while our superiors keep us under pressure.

"One bitter experience was when we had to register poor residents to allow them to get cash aid. Everybody wanted to get the money although not all of them were poor. In the end, other village heads and I became the enemies of our own residents," Rowandi said.

In terms of remuneration, village heads did not enjoy a comfortable life, claimed Supahar, the acting head of Kepuh village in Nguter district, Sukoharjo regency, who was given the right to work on a five-hectare rice field as his "payment" while serving his office term.

"With the land, it means I have to work as a farmer. When the price of rice falls and the price of fertilizer goes up, I get nothing by being a farmer," he explained.

Central Java provincial council speaker Murdoko received representatives of the village heads on Monday, promising that he would hold a public hearing with the governor, regents and representatives of the village heads to provide a solution to the problem.

Media/press freedom

LSF facing criticism for film poster ban

Jakarta Post - December 23, 2005

Hera Diani, Jakarta -- Director Rudi Soedjarwo was furious, but nervous at the same time.

The Film Censorship Board (LSF) recently ordered the withdrawal of the poster for Rudy's upcoming film Sembilan Naga (Nine Dragons) before it had even been released.

The reasons were baffling: The poster features a caption reading "Manusia Terbaik di Indonesia adalah Seorang Penjahat" (The best Indonesian is a criminal), and a picture of young actor Fauzi Baadila without his shirt.

Rudi said that the withdrawal order meant that no film or VCD distributor would dare promote or distribute the film.

"That means the only chance to see the film will be in January, when the film is released. That is, if it passes the censors at all," he said, adding that the censorship process would start after Christmas and that he was really nervous.

The whole thing showed how the state was reluctant to let the people decide for themselves, he said.

"It's like parents who always think of their children as kids. Why doesn't the LSF just deal with the ratings, instead of cutting the films, and then leave it up to the cinemas and TV stations to sort things out for themselves," said Rudi, who won the best director award at the 2004 Indonesian Film Festival (FFI) for teen hit Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? (What's Up With Cinta?).

Rudi's case once again places the state censorship board in the spotlight, worsening its already notorious reputation as being ultraconservative while at the same time capricious.

Dating back to Dutch East Indies days, the LSF now has 45 members comprising representatives from nine ministries, religious organizations, the military, the police and the National Intelligence Agency. Every film shown on TV and played in a cinema must pass the board's scrutiny.

The LSF frequently cuts scenes containing even a peck on the lips. But there are no clear standards, and some films containing kissing scenes, such as Ada Apa, pass uncut.

Some of its decisions are truly surprising. For example, the 2003 movie Arisan! (Gathering) has a gay kissing scene, while this year's Detik Terakhir (Last Second) even made through with a masturbation scene and a lesbian sex scene in the bathroom.

Another thing about the LSF, it always backs down whenever there is a protest from religious groups, government bureaucrats or people in powerful positions.

Last year, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and Muslim TV preacher Abdullah Gymnastiar, or Aa Gym as he is familiarly known, blasted the LSF for passing the film Buruan Cium Gue (Kiss Me Quick), which they condemned as likely to corrupt the youth with "carnal desires". The film's producer then withdrew the film.

This year, the LSF withdrew the action movie Bad Wolves as the police objected to its portrayal of corrupt officers, which they said would tarnish the image of the force, despite the fact that it is at an all time low.

More recently, three documentary films about Timor Leste were not allowed to be screened at the Jakarta International Film Festival (JIFFest). The films -- Timor Loro Sae, Tales for Crocodiles, and Passabe -- were said to be likely to "open up old wounds and create social unrest."

"They're one sided, portraying Indonesians as the bad guys. They would further damage our already poor image," said LSF director Titie Said.

The fear of social unrest was Titie's excuse for a lot of the things that the LSF has done and been criticized for.

"You have to understand, not everyone is sharp and educated like you. We're still in the middle of a transitional phase as a nation. We are very diverse as a nation, we have to bridge that," she said. "It's not undemocratic, and we're not against artistic freedom. But there is a bigger interest here, the interest of the nation."

While many think that censorship is redundant given the widespread availability of pirated DVDs and access to the Internet, Titie said "if we don't impose censorship, it would inflict more damage to society."

Titie admitted that there were no clear criteria or classifications for the censorship imposed, and that the relevant legislation, Law No. 8/1992, was a bit outdated.

However, she said the board still defended artistic freedom, for instance, in the case of Detik Terakhir, which tells the story of a girl from a broken home who turned to drugs and lesbianism. "We passed the scenes because we don't want to disrupt the essence of the film, which consists of a good moral tale," Titie said.

John Badalu, JIFFest spokesman and director of Q! gay film festival, said that the LSF seemed to have double standards as it treated Western films differently on the grounds that kissing and sex scenes were part of Western culture. "And there should be special rules for film festivals as the screening periods and the audiences are limited," he said.

Filmmakers have urged less censorship, and instead a tighter rating regime.

Noted filmmaker Garin Nugroho said that the people in the LSF were too prone to worry and fear, and that their decisions were often immature and even ridiculous.

"The more important thing is a good law enforcement and justice system, where people can file complaints after a film has been screened," he said.

The current censorship system, Garin said, could undermine democracy and justice. "We would become a worried and fearful nation, and never mature."

Journalist groups condemn assault on 'Indo Pos' daily

Jakarta Post - December 22, 2005

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta -- Dozens of people barged into Graha Pena, the office of Indo Pos daily, in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta on Tuesday evening, occupying the building for several hours and injuring two reporters.

More than 20 people from Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta, claiming to be supporters of gang leader Hercules, arrived at the building at 9:30 p.m., and demanded clarification over an article published by Indo Pos on Monday.

Indo Pos reporter Indra Bonaparte, who was present in the building, said the group claimed that they had never been interviewed by the reporter who wrote the article. They also asked Indo Pos chief editor Irwan Setiawan to meet them to explain the article.

The article talks about a change in the situation in Tanah Abang, where a new generation of thugs have taken over the area from Hercules, who was said in the article to be studying Islam in Cirebon, West Java.

Several group members entered the building by force and went to the 10th floor to look for the reporter who wrote the article.

One reporter, identified as Rizki, who tried to calm the gang, was hit by gang members, while reporter Dilianto, who tried to help him, suffered a broken nose after being beaten up by the gang. The gang also threatened to destroy all the computers in the building if they were not shut down.

"Fortunately, the chief editor arrived with police officers to handle the situation. South Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Guffron also arrived several minutes later. There were brief negotiations, and at 1 a.m., the gang left the building," Indra said.

Contacted separately, the writer of the article said that he did interview Hercules and did cross check other information before submitting his story to the editor. "I am now very afraid. I can't talk to you much as I am afraid of saying something wrong. I am grounded for the time being," he told The Jakarta Post.

Meanwhile, Hercules said that the group came to the building to ask for clarification as he had never been interviewed nor asked for confirmation by the reporter. "I never met the reporter. Also, I am not a thug. I have never extorted money from store owners or residents in Tanah Abang," he was quoted by RCTI as saying on Wednesday.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani said that he had ordered his officers to investigate the case. "We will summon the gang members because of the attack. We will also question Hercules if necessary," he said.

Chairman of the Independent Journalists Alliance (AJI) Heru Hendratmoko urged police to investigate the attack and arrest individuals who had assaulted journalists. "AJI condemns the attack. That is a criminal act. If people have objections over an article, they have the right to respond (through the publication) or report it to the Press Council," he told the Post.

KPI slams closure of radio station

Jakarta Post - December 19, 2005

M. Azis Tunny, Ambon -- A broadcasting regulator has condemned the closure of a radio station critical of the government and asked the station to continue broadcasting.

"The government has no right to close down the station because, according to the broadcasting law, that right is vested in us," said Izack Tulalessy, a member of the Maluku Broadcasting Commission.

The FM station, Gelora Tavlul, was closed down by order of Southeast Maluku Regent Herman Adrian Koedoeboen. The order was issued on Dec. 13 or about a month after the regental government rejected a request by the station's management to extend its permit. According to the order, the station must stop broadcasting because its business permit expired in 2003.

A group of police officers and government officials descended on the radio station on Thursday, ordering it off the airwaves.

The station has been critical of the Southeast Maluku administration, most recently airing a story about the alleged misuse of Rp 19 billion in disaster mitigation funds.

Izack said the government should not resort to repressive measures when it was criticized. The government has the right to answer and this right should be utilized, Izack said.

Rudi Fofid, the coordinator of the Maluku Media Center joined in the chorus, expressing regret over the incident, which had happened "even in the reform era".

Separately, Regent Herman Adrian was adamant the station had to be closed as its permit had expired.

Environment

Jakarta's air gets dirtier every year

Jakarta Post - December 22, 2005

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta -- While the President has set out to clean up politics, it seems the air in the nation's capital is only getting dirtier.

The latest report by the Jakarta Environmental Management Body (BPLHD) reveals that there were only 20 days this year -- up to and including September -- when the air quality was categorized as good, compared to 53 days in 2004 and 25 days in 2003.

A worsening trend is evident over the past five years with good air quality reaching 108 days in 2001 and 75 in 2002.

The report was based on the records of 14 monitoring posts across the city on pollutants, including nitrate nitrogen (NO2), SO2 (sulfate), lead (Pb), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (03) and particulate matter (PM10).

The Jakarta administration has blamed the rising level of air pollution in the city on the massive influx of vehicles, with at least 138 purchased in Jakarta every day.

Vehicular emission accounts for 70 percent of pollution in the city, while the remaining 30 percent comes from industrial estates and households, the report said.

Environmentalist Ahmad Safrudin said Jakartans who had noticed the weather had been warmer than usual of late could blame the worsening quality of the city's air.

"The Jakarta administration should also be blamed for this situation, particularly for its failure to develop open and green spaces and stop the conversion of green areas into housing or commercial estates," said Ahmad, who is also secretary-general of non-governmental organization Clean Emission Partnership (MEB).

He underlined that the function of open and green spaces was, as the city's lungs, to help neutralize pollutants.

Together with other environmentalists, Ahmad conducted a survey this year, which showed that open and green spaces in the city had further shrunk to 6.2 percent of the total city land area of 65,680 hectares, down from 8.6 percent in 2001. This is a far cry from the expected 13.94 percent by 2010 as stipulated in the city's master plan 2000-2010.

"We've registered the massive conversion of green space across the city in the past three years into building estates, like in Cibubur in East Jakarta, Pulomas and Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta and Cilandak in South Jakarta. Sadly, little has been done by the administration to stop the conversion," he said.

He said the administration had apparently attempted to scale down its obligation to develop open and green space from 26.1 percent by 2005 in the previous master plan to 13.94 percent, allowing the conversion of more green spaces into commercial and business areas.

Bad cops undermine illegal logging raids

Jakarta Post - December 19, 2005

Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta -- Corrupt officers have undermined the police's largest crackdown on illegal logging ever this year and could further endanger the prospects for future operations, a top detective says.

Head of the Ordinary Crime Division at National Police Headquarters, Brig. Gen. Suharto, told a seminar over the weekend that police had only managed to recover Rp 40.1 billion (US$4 million) in state losses from illegal logging, thanks in part to crooked police officers.

Police had set a target of contributing Rp 2 trillion to state revenues from the sale of illegal timber seized during the Hutan Lestari (Preserve the Forest) operation to eradicate the rampant practice.

"We found evidence that organizers set up the auctions to enable selected buyers who were the previous owners of the illegal timber, or their accomplices, to buy back the logs," Suharto explained.

A timber auction should be announced in at least one national newspaper five days prior to the date, but in most cases auctions were announced in an obscure newspaper so that the public were not aware of the event.

"We will launch an internal investigation into police officers allegedly involved in setting up the auctions and find out why the amount of state assets recovered was so low," Suharto said.

Police, Suharto said, would cooperate with the military, the intelligence agency and the forestry office to stop the collusion.

Minister of Forestry Malam Sambat Kaban has estimated annual state losses from illegal logging at Rp 40 trillion. He also said illegal logging involved not only local government officials, but also police and military officers.

While most of the money raised from sales of illegal timber goes to the state treasury, some will be returned to the police to finance their operations against illegal logging.

Suharto acknowledged there was still a large amount of timber that remained unsold at forestry offices due to administrative procedures in identifying the origin of the logs. Some of the timber had been kept too long, causing it to decay and for its value to decrease.

"We found a large amount of timber whose owners could not be identified. This is the most difficult part because we can't auction the timbers until we identify the owners," Suharto said. The police had discovered seven such cases in Papua alone.

With only Rp 40 billion collected from the auctions, the police are having difficulty financing their next crackdown on illegal logging, Suharto said. The Hutan Lestari operation conducted in Kalimantan, Sumatra and Papua cost almost Rp 12 billion.

Without additional income to fund the operation, it is widely believed that police will seek alternative sources of revenue, which ironically includes illegal logging financiers.

Police are fully aware of the situation in some remote areas where many police officers were backing the criminal activity, according to Suharto.

"We are doing our best to eliminate these cases. Police officers who are involved in these activities will be investigated and punished just like the illegal logging financiers," he said.

Referring to the financiers, Suharto said he regretted the light sentences handed down by the courts on those who were prosecuted in connection with illegal logging.

"This year we completed probes into 10 out of 87 cases, but nine of them were thrown out by the court, acquitting the defendants. It's frustrating," Suharto said.

Environment conventions yet to be applied effectively

Jakarta Post - December 17, 2005

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta -- Indonesia has been unable to effectively implement three United Nations (UN) conventions relating to environment protection due to the classic problems of lack of information dissemination and weak coordination.

Officials at the Office of the State Minister of the Environment disclosed on Thursday the findings of the National Capacity Self-Assessment (NCSA) Project regarding the country's ability to implement the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which is defined here as the UN Convention to Combat Land Degradation.

The country ratified the UNCBD and the UNFCCC in 1994, while it adopted the UNCCD in 1998.

"The self-assessment findings show that the implementation of the three conventions has not been optimum because of a weak capacity in three levels -- system, institutional and individual," said the NCSA report, which was based on an assessment carried out from April 2004 to October 2005.

NCSA project manager Hernowo said the absence of a legal frame work, weak coordination among stakeholders, as well as low public awareness were among the problems that hindered effective implementation of the three UN conventions.

"We discovered that many high-level state officials weren't aware of the existence of the conventions and that many government institutions did not refer to the conventions when formulating policies," he said.

The UNCBD requires the state to protect and sustain the rich biodiversity in its territory, while the UNFCCC stipulates the state must carry out a program to reduce carbon emissions and the UNCCD states that the country must prevent land degradation by, among other things, curbing erosion.

Assistant to the State Minister of the Environment Liana Bratasida said the country had lots of catching up to do because other countries, such as China and India, had effectively implemented the conventions.

"We ratified these conventions over a decade ago, but we're still facing the same classic issues -- lack of coordination, weak promotion and an absence of law enforcement. We should be ashamed that as a mega biodiverse country with abundant natural resources we can't report any progress," she said.

Liana suggested that promoting the UN conventions should target a great variety of groups and should be conveyed through language that is easily understood.

"For example, if we promote the conventions to artists then we have to use musical instruments or something attractive," said the assistant minister for global environment affairs and international cooperation.

She added that a national coordinating body should also be established to manage communication between various institutions -- government, NGOs and the private sector -- as well as to monitor the implementation of the conventions.

Fauna and Flora International (FFI) policy advisor Enny Sudarmonowati said the absence of a long-term plan to implement the conventions was the reason why Indonesia performed poorly in executing the conventions.

"Our government officials come and go according to the shift of power. If only we had a master plan on how to turn the conventions into action, changing state officials would not affect the government's work," she stressed.

Islam/religion

'Pesantren' told to change values on women

Jakarta Post - December 22, 2005

Hera Diani, Jakarta -- Most Islamic boarding schools or pesantren are more than just educational institutions -- they are also community drop-in centers and citizen's advice bureaus, which can offer a range of services from marriage counseling to drug rehabilitation.

But some people say many pesantren, with their strong emphasis on tradition, are yet to properly serve and protect women. Gender equality at pesantren is often seen as a "Western ideology", which many clerics believe is against Islamic teachings.

However, some women are out to change this. On Tuesday, the Puan Amal Hayati Muslim women's organization along with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) held a one-day seminar to discuss how pesantren could play a greater role in promoting gender equality.

Experts and activists told the forum that Islamic schools should be able to empower people and protect and support women who fall victims to violence and discrimination.

Anisah Mahfudz, representing the Malang branch of Puan Amal Hayati, said that pesantren should reconsider their communications and social functions. Women's emancipation, an increasing reality in modern day life, was also not against Islamic teachings, she said. "Pesantren holds on to the doctrine that women's place is in the domestic arena. That has to change." Instead of holding to views strictly based on Islamic jurisprudence, which were literal and textual, Anisah said pesantren should take a more contextual approach.

"They have to be more open to dialog from the wider public. Their functions as public-service institutions must be improved. Pesantren should not be places to learn about a religion without concern for its environment," she said.

Established by former first lady Shinta Nuriyah Abdurrahman Wahid, Puan Amal Hayati has been active in promoting religious interpretations that are more women-friendly and encourage equal rights. The organization has even reinterpreted a bastion of traditional patriarchal scripture, better known as the Kitab Kuning (yellow book), which is widely used by pesantren in Indonesia.

Shinta said the most resistance to the group's ideas came from the younger clerics, many of whom supported the idea of polygamy over monogamy. "They only understand the issue of polygamy partially, and very textually. They don't want to see the real conditions; the context. Most older clerics are more open to our arguments," she said.

The Sidogiri group of schools in Pasuruan, East Java, were typical of this kind of thinking, Shinta said.

Another obstacle, she said, came from the girls at the Islamic schools, who often were highly submissive and adamant patriarchal teachings were the true ones. Shinta said the number of young women continuing their education to higher levels had begun decreasing in Indonesia, with more women getting married not long after they hit puberty.

"Very few women have been enlightened. However, even these women who graduate from university surrender to the original culture once they get back to their families or communities." Abdullah Moqsith Ghozali, an activist with the Liberal Islam Network (JIL) and a scholar of Islamic jurisprudence at the Wahid Institute, noted the Kitab Kuning had taken 13 centuries of editing, reinterpretation and rewriting to get to its current form. "So, the renewal of its contents cannot be done instantly. It takes time," he said.

Biased gender interpretations did not exist only in scripture but also in people's minds, ritual and tradition -- all things which took a collective effort to reform, he said.

He believed many of the younger clerics' fundamentalist views came from the Middle East countries where they had studied at university.

"A pesantren is like a small kingdom. It's the individual realm of the cleric, and we need to understand this to penetrate these institutions," Moqsith said.

Muhammdiyah offers venues for Christmas service

Jakarta Post - December 22, 2005

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- Thousands of people affected by the closure of churches will be able to attend Christmas services at schools and other buildings owned by Muhammadiyah, the country's second largest Muslim organization.

Din Syamsuddin, who chairs Muhammadiyah, extended the offer during a gathering of religious leaders at the organization's headquarters in Central Jakarta on Wednesday. "We invite our Christian brothers and sisters to say prayers on Christmas Eve and to celebrate Christmas in our schools and other buildings," Din said.

The gathering on Wednesday was arranged to send a message of peace to religious worshipers across the country ahead of three major holidays: Christmas on Dec. 25, New Year's Day on Jan. 1 and the Islamic Day of Sacrifice on Jan. 10.

Among those attending the gathering were Abdul Wahid Anshar, deputy secretary-general of the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU); Rev. Nathan Setiabudi, the former chairman of the Indonesian Communion of Churches; Amidhan, the deputy chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council; Damatedjo from the Council of Buddhist Communities; Budi Santoso Tanu Wibowo from the Matakin Confucianism congregation; and Putu Suarta from the Indonesian Hindu organization.

Over 40 Christian houses of worship, mostly in West Java, have been closed by local authorities since 2004, in response to complaints by Muslim hard-liners about the presence and activities of the houses of worship.

Din said the debate over the right to build places of worship was not yet settled, and he hoped the government would "issue a clear policy" on the matter. "I also call on local communities who live near the closed houses of worship to allow Christians to pray on Christmas in their homes," Din said.

To prevent a repeat of the bloody events of Christmas Eve in 2000, when bombs rocked 29 churches nationwide, killing 19 people, Din asked Muslim youth organizations linked to the NU and Muhammadiyah to help guard churches across the country.

Intelligence authorities have blamed the Christmas Eve attacks on regional terrorist network Jamaah Islamiyah, which also has been blamed for a series of major bombings in the country since 2002.

Indonesia's religious harmony faced its toughest test when sectarian and ethnic conflicts erupted in Ambon in Maluku and Poso in Central Sulawesi between 1999 and 2002, leaving over 3,000 people dead.

The Islam Defenders Front (FPI), a group known for its violent raids on bars and nightclubs, has also offered to help protect churches during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

"We will be directly involved to show that relations between religious communities are good," FPI member Alawi Usman was quoted as saying by Antara.

He said FPI members involved in the security operation would be advised not to get too close to the churches, to avoid raising the suspicion of the police about their intentions.

Business & investment

Government says no plan for debt rescheduling, haircut

Jakarta Post - December 23, 2005

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta -- Key economic ministers asserted that there was no plan to seek rescheduling on the payment of government debts and interest from overseas creditors, since the country was not in a desperate position to warrant seeking such a facility.

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Thursday that the government would still comply with the 2006 state budget, in which there was no room for any delay in paying debts and interest or seek for a debt discount from creditors.

"We are still working based on the state budget assumptions next year, which have been approved by both the government and the legislators. Therefore, a debt rescheduling policy is unlikely," she said.

She responded to a statement by her successor State Minister for National Development Planning Paskah Suzetta, saying that the government was studying a plan for delaying the payment of debts and interest as well as seeking a debt haircut.

Paskah said the plan would help the country allocate more resources for financing several infrastructure projects and provide incentives for the business community in order to drive higher economic growth.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Boediono agreed with Mulyani's suggestion over the debt rescheduling.

"The plan to delay debt payment is a merely one person's opinion, not the official stance of the Cabinet, which is needed to approve such a move," he said, without directly intending to refer to Paskah's plan.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia largest economy, has around US$133 billion in domestic and overseas debts.

Creditors grouped under the Paris Club granted in March a debt and interest payment suspension worth more than $3 billion for a certain period of time.

The decision was taken following the instability of the country's state budget due to the devastating tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004 that killed more than 200,000 people in Aceh and part of North Sumatra.

In the 2006 state budget, the government will spend around Rp 91.6 trillion ($9.25 billion) for servicing debts and interest based on the assumption that the rupiah remains at Rp 9,900 against the US dollar, inflation at 8 percent and the three- month Bank Indonesia SBI interest rate at 9.5 percent.

A request for rescheduling is also unlikely since Indonesia is not under the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s program for economic recovery.

Indonesia graduated from the IMF program in 2004 after receiving guidance from the agency since the financial crisis in 1998.

Investment climate improves

Asia Pulse/Antara - December 21, 2005

Denpasar -- The increase in the number of applications for domestic and foreign investment shows Indonesia is recovering from a slump in investment, said the Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), Muhammad Lutfi.

Speaking at a recent investment forum in Nusa Dua, Bali, he said some analysts believe the business climate in Indonesia is no longer conducive to investment. Therefore, a lot of investors have chosen other countries as the destinations of their investment.

However, signs showing that investment in Indonesia is beginning to recover prove that their assumption is not right, according to Lutfi.

Approved domestic and foreign investment plans from January to December reached Rp110.86 trillion (US$11.66 billion), an increase of 88.02% over Rp58.96 trillion ($6.20 billion) in 2004. In the number of investment projects, the realization of investment plans has reached 1,030 projects this year, up 53.04% over 673 projects in 2004.

The 1,030 projects in 2005 comprise 199 domestic investment projects worth Rp28.40 trillion and 831 foreign investment projects worth $8.68 billion.

Lutfi conceded that the business climate in Indonesia was not conducive to new investment in the last several years due to bureaucratic barriers.

Realizing the bureaucratic barriers experienced by local and foreign investors in seeking investment permits in Indonesia, the BKPM has cut the complicated bureaucratic line.

"It takes only 10 days for an investor to wait for the issuance of an investment permit today, from one month to 40 days previously," Lutfi said.

Government to spend $1.82 billion on infrastructure

Jakarta Post - December 20, 2005

The government will spend Rp 18 trillion (about US$1.82 billion) next year for a range of infrastructure projects including irrigation, roads, dams and bridges, to help drive higher economic growth and reduce employment.

The expenditure would exclude funds required for toll road projects and telecommunications infrastructure, which could be sufficiently provided by the private sector, Minister of Public Works Djoko Kirmanto said on Monday.

"The funds, which would all be taken from the state budget, will be allocated for infrastructure projects throughout the country," said Djoko after meeting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

This year, the government has allocated Rp 12.78 trillion for infrastructure projects, excluding those for reconstruction works in tsunami-stricken Nangroe Aceh Darussalam and parts of North Sumatra. Next year's planned expenditure would also exclude such projects.

Most of this year's funds, however, have not yet been realized into projects, partly because of the implementation of a new system in filing proposals for projects.

Recently installed Coordinating Minister for the Economy Boediono has said the government would boost its spending for development projects to help stimulate the economy, currently facing a speed bump in the form of high interest rates.

The government will spend between Rp 10 trillion and Rp 15 trillion of undisbursed state funds from the 2005 budget during next year's first quarter to help reactivate the real sector.

The government is counting on the private sector to revive investment in the second half of the year, with the central bank starting to gradually lower its lending rates.

The government is targeting the economy to grow by 6.2 percent next year despite weakening purchasing power, high inflation and interest rates, as well as the relatively unstable rupiah exchange rate against the US dollar.

The forecast is more optimistic than that of Bank Indonesia, which predicts the economy to grow by between 5 percent and 5.7 percent next year.

Government comes to the rescue of ailing Merpati

Jakarta Post - December 20, 2005

Jakarta -- The government will soon disburse Rp 75 billion (some US$7.5 million) in fresh funds to bail out ailing state-owned domestic airliner PT Merpati Nusantara to speed up its financial restructuring program, a top official says.

"If Merpati requests the funds today, then we will disburse it today as well," the Ministry of Finance's director general of the treasury, Mulia P. Nasution, said on Monday.

Mulia, however, expected Merpati's management to immediately use the bridging funds -- part of Rp 450 billion in total funds needed to rescue the airliner from bankruptcy -- for their planned debt restructuring program, as soon as it was disbursed.

"We expect Merpati to completely restructure its debts, so that it will no longer need funding injections in the future from the government," he said.

The House of Representatives had earlier approved the Rp 450 billion figure for Merpati, which will be used to reschedule Merpati's whopping Rp 1.6 trillion worth of outstanding debts to creditors and business partners, as well as to implement a debt- to-equity swap of its obligations to the government, state banks and state-owned enterprises.

Among Merpati's major creditors are Bank Mandiri (Rp 164 billion), Bank Danamon (Rp 95 billion) and the government (Rp 92 billion).

Due to the government's own cash-strapped situation, however, the House also agreed that the funds be disbursed in installments, starting with Rp 75 billion in bridging funds for the next two months' operations.

Merpati, which currently has a cash flow deficit of some Rp 40 billion a month and a negative equity position of Rp 800 billion, had previously requested Rp 93 billion to support its cash flow for the next three months.

The government, Mulia added, also expects Merpati's management to continue deliberating the option of a privatization scheme for the airline, whose proceeds could be used as additional operating and restructuring funds.

Merpati's management had said that the privatization proceeds could allow the carrier to buy 20 new planes worth some Rp 600 billion over the next two years to meet growing competition. The privatization plan has, however, yet to receive approval from the House.

Meanwhile, on the option of merging Merpati with national flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia, Mulia said that there has not been any further discussion, and that it would be better to leave such matters to the Office of the State Minister of State Enterprises.

Merpati was a subsidiary of Garuda before it was separated in 1997. Aside from running its business like any other airline, Merpati is also assigned to serve remote areas in the country that private airlines typically shy away from due to their low profitability.

Besides Merpati, Mulia said that the government would also provide Rp 50 billion in bridging funds to state railway company PT KAI, and Rp 20 billion to state-owned paper mill PT Kertas Kraft Aceh within this budget year.

Interest rate to hit 14% in 2006: Economists

Jakarta Post - December 19, 2005

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta -- Indonesia's economy may have to brace for interest rates of 14 percent in the first half of 2006 as the central bank continues its monetary policies designed to tame inflation and support the rupiah, analysts say.

Standard Chartered Bank's (StanChart) chief economist for Indonesia, Fauzi Ichsan, expects Bank Indonesia (BI) to continue raising its benchmark interest rate until the second half of next year, before finally lowering it as inflation in the country; forecast to subside to 8 percent from over 15 percent for the next few months.

"We expect the BI rate to rise by 75 basis points (bps) in the first quarter of next year, and another 25 bps to 13.75 percent in the second quarter, before falling to around 12.0 percent by the year's end," Fauzi said in the London-based bank's latest economic update.

This is, however, lower than StanChart's previous forecast of a 150 bps rate hike in total, reaching 14.25 percent, throughout next year.

Fauzi based his estimates on indications that BI appears to be softening its monetary tightening measures and may trim future rate hikes, as it sees core inflation -- which excludes volatile components such as food and energy -- remaining largely lower than headline inflation, thus implying an already positive real interest rate.

BI also considers the recent surge in headline inflation as a one-off phenomenon rather than the result of a lax monetary policy, expecting core inflation to be at 9.5 percent and headline inflation at 17.4 percent in 2005.

The central bank raised its BI key rate by 50 bps to 12.75 percent on Dec. 6, as November's on-year inflation rose to 18.38 percent, shortly after the Oct. 1 fuel price hikes. The rate hike was lower than analysts expectation of 13 percent, indicating that BI intends to maintain a balance between tightening monetary policy without hurting consumption too much.

The BI rate influences the interest rate of the central bank's one-month SBI promissory notes, which it uses to absorb excess liquidity from the market, as well as loans and time deposit accounts that banks offer. Higher rates make it costlier for businesses to obtain loans for expansion plans, as lenders try to maintain a profitable interest margin between their debts and time deposit accounts, thus slowing economic growth.

Christa Janjic, senior economist of Switzerland-based investment bank UBS, also estimated that rates would continue to rise, likely peaking at 14 percent by February or March next year, as inflation stays above 15 percent until the third quarter, before easing down to between 6 percent and 7 percent by the year's end.

She expects the first rate cuts to happen in the third quarter, wrapping up 2006 at about 10 percent. What this meant for the markets, Janjic added, was that the rally for the rupiah and for bonds can probably continue a bit longer, but economic growth would slow down to 4.3 percent next year.

Economist Faisal Basri of the University of Indonesia said recently that BI would still have to raise its rates to contain inflation and support the rupiah, which, aside from a market euphoria from the recent Cabinet appointments, still lacks underlying transactions such as export proceeds.

"The BI rate must continue to be raised for at least the next three months, reaching 13.5 percent," he said, expecting the level be the highest, so as not to hurt the economy.

"BI should then gradually lower it, perhaps by 5 bps each step, to avoid sudden shocks to the rupiah." Following the Cabinet reshuffle, the rupiah rallied from Rp 10,050 to Rp 9,650 against the US dollar, before stabilizing to Rp 9,890 during last week's profit-taking.

Oil, gas exploration lower than expected

Jakarta Post - December 19, 2005

Leony Aurora, Bandung -- Despite the soaring oil prices, exploration activities in Indonesia remain low at between 60 percent and 75 percent of the plans submitted to the government, which seems to indicate less enthusiasm from the players in the sector.

Two-dimensional seismic monitoring had covered 10,371 kilometers (km) as of Nov. 28, compared to the planned 17,207 km and 13,497 km in the previous year, chairman of the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Agency (BP Migas) Kardaya Warnika said over the weekend.

While three-dimensional seismic monitoring this year was recorded at 3,944 km, higher than the 2,606 km last year, but only around 75 percent of the 2005 plans. Some 62 exploration wells were drilled throughout the year, but 81 were planned.

"The intensification of exploration activities are not on a par with the high number of new working areas (signed)," Kardaya said at a press briefing on the sector's performance this year.

"This shows that most new players are not prepared for the high- risk, capital-intensive activities (of exploration)." Last year, the government signed 19 production sharing contracts (PSCs), comprising to 16 new ones and three extensions.

This year, Indonesia has signed 11 new PSCs and five extensions, and there are plans to make public the results of this year's regular tender of blocks in late December. Most of the contractors awarded with blocks through the direct-offer mechanism in October were local newcomers.

Indonesia is in dire need of new oil discoveries as output, of which 88 percent is produced by mature fields, is continuing to decline. The country has averaged 1.06 million barrels per day (bpd) in output of crude and condensate this year, slightly lower than the target of 1.075 million bpd forecast in the revised state budget for 2005. As of Nov. 28, the daily average output was 1.061 million barrels, Kardaya said.

"Some fields shut down for maintenance and we also faced tight competition to secure equipment as everybody wants to look for oil amid the soaring prices," said Kardaya, citing other reasons for the below-target production. "(The output) is still within an acceptable range from the target," he added.

According to BP Migas data, gas production this year also declined by 3 percent to 8.16 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) from 8.41 bcfd recorded in 2004.

As of January 2005, Indonesia's proven oil reserves were recorded at 4.1 billion barrels, lower than 4.3 billion recorded at the same period the previous year, while proven gas reserves were at 97.3 trillion cubic feet (tcf) and 94.8 tcf, respectively.

Throughout this year, contractors discovered total reserves of 134.6 million barrels of oil and 3.6 tcf of gas. Most of the new discoveries were made in current production areas, while the deep sea and untouched basins, many in less-developed eastern parts of Indonesia, remain untouched.

To boost exploration in the virgin areas, which can only be done by major multinational oil firms with sufficient money to spend, BP Migas suggested that existing major companies form a consortium to pool their budgets and expertise.

"The consortium may be presented with incentives for going into unexplored basins," said Kardaya. "Without going there (virgin areas), we won't develop much," he added.

BP Migas has already conducted talks with the government and oil companies, said Kardaya, without mentioning a specific timeline for the plan to materialize.

Opinion & analysis

Targeting imbalance

Jakarta Post Editorial - December 22, 2005

In one tsunami-devastated area of Aceh, a visitor asked a medical team, "Where are the midwives?" There were none, while only a few weeks after last December's tragedy, an official with the United Nations Population Fund revealed that at least 800 births were at risk. Many of the midwives had of course become victims themselves and apparently no one had told the volunteers of the possibility of a woman approaching her time of labor.

This was an area of unprecedented disaster. But whether in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam or other relatively safer areas, on every national commemoration of Women's Day we are reminded of the huge task ahead of us when it comes to proving that we care for all humans, men and women.

Our maternal mortality rate is still 380 women for every 100,000 live births, mainly due to late access to urgent services needed at time of labor. And compared to the year 2000 when we had barely 63,000 midwives across the nation, or 71 for every 100,000 women of reproductive age, the figure has now dropped to about half that to just under 40,000.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia the number of people living on less than a dollar a day has been estimated at 62 million people.

In such a situation how could the country even begin the task of achieving "the Millenium Development Goals" to, for example, halve the number of those living on less than a dollar a day, or reduce by three quarters the number of women dying in the seemingly mundane act of giving birth, all in the next 10 years? Apart from "expecting 71 midwives to work day and night", last year's budget at regional levels showed that "regents don't want to pay for midwives" to replace those who have sought work in better paying areas, said Meiwita Budiharsana, an expert in reproductive health. Further, latest official figures put the number of illiterate women over 15-years-old at 45 percent, almost double the figure for men at 23 percent.

To overcome this clear neglect of women one would expect a higher commitment from the government. But with less than 10 percent alloted for education and under 7 percent for health in next year's budget, juggling available funds to reduce discrimination 60 years after independence would be a tall order.

Yet there is a great opportunity in this era of regional autonomy to employ ingenious ways to use what is at hand for those in need. Education in the poor Jembrana regency in Bali, for instance, is free; thus parents need not make the traditional decision to put aside precious funds only for their son's schooling. In the absence of commands from Jakarta and with all the campaigns for good governance and "gender sensitivity", the excuse this time to neglect women's needs would likely be ignorance or greedy willfulness to use and abuse resources.

So who would be in the best position to argue for better allocation of resources? The few figures cited above provide a clue as to the sheer neglect of half of our human population -- thus we naturally support those advocating for more women in decision-making positions.

We could take inspiration from Papua, a province many think of as "backward". While its regional legislatures are 90 percent men, the new Papuan People's Council (MRP) has 15 women out of 42 members -- or more than the 30 percent share campaigned for by advocates of affirmative action.

It's just about making possible realistic ways to prevent the likely waste in terms of futile policies and budget misallocations that result from listening to the wrong people: Put women in strategic positions, in addition to educating both women and men about existing differences in society.

In Aceh, the government and scores of local and foreign Good Samaritans are learning the hard way about preventing the waste of the generous aid that has come from across the globe. Let's not wait for another tragedy of last year's horrific proportions merely to learn how to best use available resources, especially when they are so scarce.

The beginning or the end?

Jakarta Post Editorial - December 21, 2005

The murderer of Munir has been found guilty. Pending his appeal, Pollycarpus B. Priyanto is facing a 14-year incarceration for lacing the activist's food with arsenic during a flight to Amsterdam in September.

Two Garuda cabin crew members also face separate trials for their alleged roles in the murder.

Though Pollycarpus continues to plead innocence, the Central Jakarta Court on Tuesday found the prosecution's case overwhelmingly convincing.

But the most striking outcome of this high profile case was not in the verdict itself but the failure to clearly establish a possible link between Pollycarpus and darker forces strongly suspected of being behind the murder.

Judges stopped short of expressing their belief that the defendant was part of a larger conspiracy to assassinate the outspoken critic of the Soeharto regime, the National Intelligence Agency and the Indonesian Military. They did, however, urge investigations to be pursued further.

Following the prosecution's lead, the court concluded that the motive for the murder was to silence Munir's criticism of the military and the government.

Despite the conclusion of the case, the most intriguing question -- raised by Pollycarpus himself during proceedings -- was left unanswered: "What makes Munir so significant for me that I had to kill him?" Why indeed? This was no ordinary crime of passion. It was a calculated execution of a man who had been a thorn on the side of despots and military rulers.

It is almost absurd to think that a regular Garuda pilot would act in measured revenge for his simple devotion to autocrats.

Though they remarked in the most vague terms, it was clear that judges also agreed that the defendant was part of a more sinister plot, which may involve more powerful individuals or institutions.

Once again, Pollycarpus' assertion of being a "scapegoat" rightly daunt this case from closure.

A government-sanctioned team in its earlier investigation found strong evidence to suggest that Pollycarpus had been in contact with state intelligence agency officers ahead of the murder. They also found that he had frequently been associated with various activities that were unusual for a commercial pilot.

We welcome a statement by the National Police expressing their determination to continue the investigation. But given the sinister elements suspected to be behind the murder, we reserve judgment on its candor and effectiveness.

There have been too many cases of assassination, kidnapping and torture which remain unresolved -- not because of a lack of compelling evidence, but a lack of political will.

We commend the civil society network, which has continued to keep this particular case high on the agenda. Our hope is that the public will throw its support behind resolving this murder, finding justice and allowing Munir's memory to rest in peace.

It's about doing the right thing. For many years Munir stood among the lonely few doing the right thing, although most of us were oblivious to the great injustice and the persecutions going on around us. Ultimately, Munir may have paid the price for being in the vanguard of righteousness.

It is now our time to defend Munir's memory and bring peace of mind to his widow and child. The conviction of Pollycarpus should not be the end of the case. It is merely the beginning to exposing the great sins of crimes against humanity perpetrated under the guise of national interest, and at the expense of regular Indonesians.

We should also see through any government moves to promote Pollycarpus' conviction as a step toward a proper protection of human rights or to holding the elite accountable.

The investigation and prosecution was not even the least they could do. The bare minimum of executive action remains wanting.

We cannot let this case die, like Munir did. Instead it must be the beginning of a grisly end -- to impunity, subversion and state-sponsored terror.