News & issues

New Order's 'Mr. Clean', dead at 76

Jakarta Post - January 23, 2006

Jakarta – Former home affairs minister Rudini, who died Saturday at age 76, was known as a rare New Order politician of integrity, evident in his willingness to speak out about bureaucratic ills.

The soft-spoken, diminutive former army general was one of the few former Soeharto era ministers spared the hail of recriminations following the end of the administration in 1998.

In recognition of his record as the New Order's "Mr. Clean", he was appointed chief of the General Elections Commission in 1999. He carried off the tough task of preparing the first democratic elections in the reform era.

While other New Order politicians fell in line and gave the standard administration responses, Rudini would often discuss issues of corrupt officials and the shoddy bureaucracy.

As a minister, he initiated the establishment of the Institute of Public Administration (STPDN) in Jatinangor, West Java. Established as a highly disciplined institution by the former Army chief of staff, the school's reputation has been damaged in recent years by cases of hazing.

Rudini was admitted to Pondok Indah Hospital on Saturday for dialysis but suffered a heart attack at 11:15 p.m. One of his daughters, Dina, confirmed he had the coronary while receiving dialysis treatment.

He was buried Sunday at Kalibata Heroes Cemetery in South Jakarta. Born in Malang, East Java, on Dec. 15, 1929, he is survived by two wives and five children.

Army chief of staff Gen. Djoko Santoso led the military burial, with mourners including Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi, former president Abdurrahman Wahid, former Vice President Gen. (ret) Try Sutrisno, Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni and human rights activist/lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and First Lady Kristiani Herawati paid their last respects Sunday at Rudini's home.

Susilo, who is also from an Army background, said Rudini was an outstanding example of a soldier who led the Army with professionalism, discipline and responsibility.

"He set a great example not only in the leadership of the military but also in leading the nation," the President said.

Others paying their respects were Indonesian Red Cross chairman Mar'ie Muhammad, Home Affairs Minister M. Ma'ruf, Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso and former State Intelligence Agency chief AM Hendropriyono.

Villages swamped in NTT, Jambi

Jakarta Post - January 22, 2006

Yemris Fointuna and Jon Afrizal, Kupang/Jambi – Continuous rain during the past few days has flooded many villages in East Nusa Tenggara and Jambi, with waters more than a meter deep in some areas.

Thirteen villages were affected by the flooding in Belu and the Rote Ndao regencies. In Rote Ndao a local wharf was destroyed by floodwaters.

"Three school buildings were damaged in Fores Timur regency, the Catholic elementary school SD Sarotary, SD Pantai Besar and state-run SD Inpres Supersemar," Saul da Costa, the secretary for the Flores Timor disaster prevention unit, said on Saturday.

Seven houses were destroyed by strong winds in nearby areas," Saul said.

Belu Regent Joachim Lopez said flooding had affected 13 villages in his regency. The flooding occurred when the Benenain River overflowed, he said.

"The regional administration has set up 10 posts to give medical assistance to the victims," he said.

"The flooding was caused by the heavy rains during the past few days on the northern part of Timor island, especially the Timor Tengah Utara and Timor Tengah Selatan regencies," he said.

Lopez said most of the displaced people from the 13 villages were short of drinking water.

Frans Salem of the East Nusa Tenggara disaster mitigation center said he had no information about the damage caused by the disaster in the province.

"The first step we can take is an emergency evacuation. The government will later rebuild the facilities damaged during the disaster," he said.

Five other regencies in Jambi were also affected by the flooding – Kota Jambi, Merangin, Kerinci, Tanjung Jabung Timur and Batanghari.

However, a flood victim said the regional government was doing nothing to help the people in his area. Asking not to be named, he said flooding had destroyed vast areas of paddy fields and plantations owned by people in Kerinci and Tanjungjabung Timur.

Kerinci is believed to be the hardest-hit regency, with washed-out roads cutting transportation links to the city.

Mahendra Taher, an environmental observer, said the flooding was caused by an overflow of the Batanghari river after the disappearance of forests along nearby water catchment areas.

12 houses destroyed as Brimob runs amok

Jakarta Post - January 21, 2006

Kupang – At least 20 members of the police mobile brigade (Brimob) unit based in Atambua town went on a rampage in Fatuknutuk village Friday, damaging 12 residents' houses and a number of public facilities, an officer said on Friday.

Belu Regency Police chief, Adj. Sr. Comr. Ekotrio Budhiniar said there were no human casualties reported in the incident, which took place on Thursday, but hundreds of residents were traumatized by the ordeal and had fled into the forest, including a mother who had just given birth.

The attack was believed to be a retaliatory action following the death of their colleague, First Brig. Jupiter Baslau, on Jan. 15, who the officers believed had been killed by local residents, Ekotrio said.

"We received reports that the Brimob personnel had descended on the village to look for the perpetrators of the killing. We have detained five residents strongly suspected in the killing," he said.

Head of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Kupang grand diocese, Father Maxi Un Bria, and a priest from the Atambua diocese, Father Gerardus Tallo, said that the Brimob personnel traveled in a truck in the attack, and they were carrying firearms but did not open fire.

"They destroyed 12 houses and their contents, including kitchen utensils. They kicked and broke windows," said Father Gerardus.

Separately, Father Maxi said that three houses were badly damaged and so were a number of public places, like the farmers' meeting hall, the Catholic junior high school dormitory and the Aitabelak traditional house. "A note threatening the residents was also found," said Maxi.

Groups protest Nur's inauguration

Jakarta Post - January 21, 2006

Depok – Dozens of people claiming to be supporters of former Depok mayor Badrul Kamal staged a protest Friday against the plan to inaugurate mayor-elect Nur Mahmudi Ismail and deputy mayor Yuyun Wirasaputra next week, Tempointeraktif.com reported. Members of the National Regeneration and Depok People's movements and the Srikandi Depok Brigade gathered in front of the Depok Council building hours before the councillors started a meeting to set a date for the ceremony. Police officers guarded the meeting, which started at 1:30 p.m.

Badrul, of the Golkar Party, had contested the results of last year's Depok poll after Nur Mahmudi, of the Prosperous Justice Party, was named the winner, accusing his supporters and election officials of vote rigging.

The Supreme Court last year overturned a verdict of the West Java High Court, which had awarded the election to Badrul.

Muslim, Christian refugees unite to demand houses

Jakarta Post - January 21, 2006

M. Azis Tunny, Ambon – About 200 displaced Muslims and Christians rallied in front of the Maluku Legislative Council in Ambon on Friday, demanding the authorities build them adequate houses.

They accused regional and central governments of neglecting their welfare after religious violence forced them to flee Ambon in Jan. 19, 1999.

Pieter Pattiwailapia, head of the Coalition of Maluku Displaced People, said many of his group were still camped at temporary barracks in terrible conditions, six years after losing their belongings, homes and family members to the conflict that saw more than 1,000 people killed.

After being scarred or even permanently disabled by the violence, the survivors had lost further dignity by having to live for years in inadequate dwellings, Pieter said.

Because they had not received government help for so long, their plight should be registered with the Indonesian Records Museum, he said.

Pieter believed the neglect was cause by government ignorance and officials' unwillingness to deal with the problem properly. "No adequate public facilities have been provided by the government, like schools or even the reconstruction of the displaced people's houses," he said.

While many of the displaced people wanted to return to their villages, they could not go home to nothing.

"How can the government be so unprepared?" This central and regional government neglect had created a new kind of poor, Pieter said.

Over 1,000 die of dengue fever in 2005

Xinhuanet - January 18, 2006

Jakarta – A total of 1,099 people died of dengue fever in Indonesia in 2005, a health ministry official said here on Tuesday.

"The number is higher than last year's 957," said Rita Kusriastuti, head of the subdirectorate of arboviruses of the directorate general of disease control and environmental health.

In percentage, the number of deaths this year ranged from 1 percent to 1.4 percent, compared to 2.5 percent last year, Antara news agency quoted the official as saying.

She said cases of dengue fever were found across the provinces in the country with Jakarta claiming the highest number of lives (238), followed by East Java (200). "In some cases the deaths occurred because of the lack of health services," she said.

She said the number of dengue fever cases in the country had increased in the past four years. In 2002 they were recorded at only 40,377, but in 2003 they increased to 52,000 and later to 79,462 in 2004 and 80,837 in 2005.

Besides lack of funds in controlling the disease, implementation of the government program has yet to be maximized. She said "the government has actually prepared a good program for the disease control but as usual its implementation is not always as expected."

Much of the cash-for-the-poor diverted

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2006

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Most of the social welfare programs created by the government following the fuel subsidy cuts are missing their proper targets, a report released by a group of social workers says.

The report showed the four main programs – the School Operational Aid (BOS) scheme, costing Rp 6.7 trillion; the Health Insurance plan, at Rp 3.8 trillion; the Rp 3.4 trillion Village Infrastructure Development program; and the Direct Cash Aid program costing Rp 6.5 trillion – were not being distributed properly.

The report titled "Monitoring Benefits for the People" was published by the Communication Forum for Social Workers (FKPSM), an organization affiliated to the Social Affairs Ministry.

"Most of the 'irregularities' were caused by a lack of proper promotion of the programs to (their target group) and to (government) institutions about the purposes of the programs and how people could benefit from them," FKPSM chairman Fadhlullah T.M. Daud told The Jakarta Post Monday.

He said the monitoring, which was carried out by more than 100 social workers across the 33 provinces from November to December last year, showed that much of the money had been channeled to irrelevant projects that did nothing to empower the poor.

The report said many schools that received the BOS funds spent them on public relations activities, not on repairing school buildings or buying books.

In the health sector, many poor people could not receive the free medical treatment they were entitled to because they could not get health insurance cards, which the report said were difficult to obtain.

It said a lack of technical expertise and transparency in spending prevented the many village infrastructure development programs from benefiting the poor.

"The regional administrations that distributed this money did not do so transparently. They did not provide reports about their budget spending to local people," the report said.

Meanwhile, the direct cash aid program did not reach many of the most impoverished and needy families, it said.

"These deviations were mostly caused by... poor management in promotion. And this shows how the government formulated these programs – in a rush, without first designing a proper supporting system," Fadhlullah said.

A deputy to the Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare, Adang Sutiana, said he would study the report and check whether its data was valid.

"Methodologically, the report may not be perfect. But we will use the findings to improve the next phase of the compensation program," he said.

Adang agreed that promotion was the weakest link in the programs. He said the ministry would formulate an integrated communications system involving all the government bodies responsible for the schemes.

"The purpose is to provide enough information for the people and to coordinate the ministries responsible for executing the programs, so that they can work effectively and efficiently," he said.

Four arrested men declared terror suspects

Reuters - January 20, 2006

Jakarta – Four Indonesians arrested last week have been named suspects under anti-terrorism laws in October's restaurant bombings on Bali island and for hiding a key militant, police said on Friday.

"These four people are believed to have been involved in the 2005 Bali bombings. They also helped hide Noordin M. Top during and after the bombings," deputy national police spokesman Anton Bahrul Alam said.

Police have been conducting a nationwide manhunt for Malaysian Top, a senior member of Jemaah Islamiah, a shadowy militant group seen as the Southeast Asian arm of al Qaeda.

Top is blamed for helping mastermind a series of bombings in Indonesia in recent years, including one on three restaurants in Bali in October by suicide bombers that killed 20 people.

The four men were arrested in Central Java province last week. It was unclear when they would face trial.

Asked about the Wednesday detention of a close aide to Top, Alam said the man was still being interrogated and had not been declared a suspect.

Top worked closely in Indonesia with fellow Malaysian Azahari bin Husin, who was killed in a police raid on his East Java hideout in November. Azahari was seen as Jemaah Islamiah's top bombing expert.

Police say they almost caught Top hours before the November raid and he is thought to be still in Indonesia.

Police say Top is an expert in recruiting young suicide bombers among Indonesia's impoverished masses.

Since the October 2002 nightclub bombings on Bali, which killed 202 people, Indonesian police have arrested hundreds of militants and convicted scores on terror charges.

Aceh

Aceh negotiators upbeat on peace process

Associated Press - January 21, 2006

Helsinki – Peace broker Martti Ahtisaari on Saturday praised former enemies Indonesia and the Aceh rebels for honoring a treaty that ended almost 30 years of bloodshed in the former separatist province.

Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president who mediated the negotiations resulting in a peace pact signed in Helsinki in August, declared the process a success.

"From my point of view, I could have hardly expected anything better than what has happened," Ahtisaari told reporters after meeting both parties earlier Saturday.

"I think this has been a very positive experience for all of us. This is the beginning of a process nevertheless, as everyone realizes, but it's a very, very good beginning," he added.

Leaders of the Free Aceh Movement, or GAM, also were upbeat about the talks with Ahtisaari and an Indonesian delegation headed by Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

"Regarding this meeting... it was very, very cordial, very friendly," said Malik Mahmud, a GAM leader who has lived in exile in neighboring Sweden during the conflict. "We managed to make a mutual understanding that we have to work closely together. We are very positive about a future for Aceh."

The accord became possible after GAM agreed to disarm and renounce a demand for full independence, and Indonesia's government said it would cut the numbers of troops and police in the region.

In December, the rebels surrendered the last of their weapons and disbanded their military wing, and Indonesia followed through with a pledge to withdraw nearly half its 50,000 troops from the province and to grant amnesty to rebel prisoners.

The EU sent some 250 monitors to Aceh to observe the disbanding of rebel militias and the withdrawal of Indonesian security forces.

On Friday, Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen told Kalla the EU likely will decide in February to extend by three months its mission in Aceh, originally scheduled to end in mid-March.

After Saturday's talks, Kalla said the Indonesian government also "was very optimistic" about the peace process. He also expressed confidence that elections in Aceh, originally slated for April, will be held by midyear.

"Elections will be after the new laws. If the new laws will be passing in Parliament around February or March...then tentatively (elections will be held) not in April, but maybe in May or June," Kalla said.

During his three-day visit, Kalla also met President Tarja Halonen and thanked the Finnish government for making possible the negotiations that ended fighting in the province that killed 15,000 people.

Kalla holds historic meeting with GAM chiefs

Jakarta Post - January 22, 2006

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Helsinki – As snow floated down from the dark skies over Finland's capital Helsinki, Vice President Jusuf Kalla and exiled leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) held a historic meeting aimed at building a long- lasting peace in Aceh.

Kalla met for the first time with GAM leaders Malik Mahmud and Zaini Abdullah here Friday evening (early Saturday in Indonesia), following the signing of a peace accord Aug. 15, 2005, to end nearly three decades of separatist fighting.

However, top GAM leader Hasan di Tiro failed to attend the meeting, citing health reasons and bad weather, which made it impossible for him to travel to Helsinki from Sweden, where he lives.

Standing in the front door of the Indonesia House in Helsinki, Kalla and his wife, Mufidah Kalla, welcomed Malik, Zaini and Malik's secretary, Muzakkir Hamid. The group shook hands and exchanged pleasantries for several minutes. "Ah, we finally meet," Kalla said as he shook hands with Malik.

Malik and Zaini, GAM's exiled prime minister and foreign minister, respectively, were at the Indonesia House to attend a reception hosted by Kalla during a two-day official trip to Finland.

The event was also attended by Finland's Prime Minister Matti Vanhonen and Crisis Management Initiative chairman Martti Ahtisaari, who mediated the peace agreement between the Indonesian government and GAM.

Ahtisaari, a former president of Finland, praised Jakarta and GAM for their commitment to ending the conflict in Aceh. "Peace would never exist without the commitment of both sides. I have faith in both the government and Mr. Malik and his colleagues," he said in a speech.

Ahtisaari expressed hope peace-building efforts in Aceh would continue in the right direction, saying there remained a lot of work to do.

Malik thanked Ahtisaari for mediating the peace talks that helped the Indonesian government and GAM "become closer day to day". Before the talks, he said, the two sides "were strangers".

"There were some differences, but we learned to understand each other. Eventually we managed to strike an agreement. We are no longer strangers," he said.

On Saturday morning, Kalla and other Indonesian delegates, including former negotiators at the peace talks – Justice and Human Rights Minister Hamid Awaluddin, Information Minister Sofyan Djalil and Farid Hussein – as well as Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda, held another meeting with the GAM leaders at the Konigstedt Manor in nearby Vantaa, where the Aceh peace talks took place.

Farid said they just exchanged pleasantries and shared memories from the peace talks. Muzakkir Hamid said the meeting discussed the future of Aceh, but did not elaborate.

In a joint news conference with Finland's Prime Minister Vanhonen and President Tarja Halonen after Friday's meeting, Kalla said local political parties would be allowed in Aceh, as mandated in the peace accord.

"This is contained in the bill (on Aceh governance). In accordance with the memorandum of understanding (peace accord), we are offering the possibility of strengthening democracy (in Aceh) through the establishment of local parties," he said.

Kalla's statement contradicts an earlier comment made in Jakarta by Home Minister M. Ma'ruf, who said the bill on Aceh would not include articles that allow for the establishment of local political parties in the province.

The bill, Kalla said, would be submitted to the House of Representatives for deliberation soon. The Vice President, who also chairs Golkar, the country's largest political party, is optimistic the House will pass the bill into law.

Bid for local political parties in Aceh put on hold

Jakarta Post - January 19, 2006

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The Acehnese will not be getting local political parties in the near future, home affairs minister M. Ma'ruf announced Wednesday. He said Jakarta had temporarily ruled out the creation of local political parties, pending consultation with the House of Representatives.

The idea of setting up local parties in the province – one of the most crucial issues during talks between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) before a peace agreement last August – has provoked intense debate in the House and among political analysts.

Ma'ruf said the issue had been dropped from the bill on the political system in Aceh, which will be submitted to the House for deliberation by the end of this week, but future revisions were "possible".

"In the (memorandum of understanding), we were given between one year and 18 months to provide a basis for the creation of local parties, which means we have until February 2007. We still need to talk this through," he said after meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other ministers to discuss the bill.

The MOU Ma'ruf referred to was signed in August last year to end the conflict between the government and GAM. It stipulates that Jakarta will facilitate the creation of local political parties in Aceh, with the provision that they must meet national requirements for the establishment of parties.

The MOU was used as the reference point for the bill on Aceh.

Ma'ruf said the bill, which is expected to be passed into law by March 31, could be amended at a later date to accommodate the establishment of local parties. Other contentious issues include the use of "Aceh" instead of "Aceh administration" in the title of the bill.

State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra said this did not imply Aceh would be an independent administration but was simply a matter of semantics.

He said another sensitive issue was whether Aceh would be allowed to accept foreign loans or grants without central government approval.

"These two issues are basically feasible, but will require certain adjustments at the local level with the issuance of a qanun (Aceh bylaw)." Yusril said most of the potentially contentious terms were adequately defined to prevent any misinterpretations.

"We have problems using the correct and common terms since we're using the MOU as our reference, and many terms in the MOU are quite uncommon in our laws." Yusril said GAM representatives had participated in the creation of the bill. It was later reviewed by the Home Affairs Ministry.

Lots of houses built in Aceh's forbidden zones

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2006

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – The Aceh-Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) admits it has turned a blind eye to hundreds of houses being rebuilt in prohibited, highly polluted areas that were devastated by last year's tsunami in Aceh.

The houses have been rebuilt by tsunami victims with assistance from non-governmental organization volunteers. The refugees say they are sick of living in tents and waiting for the BRR to provide them with promised new homes on safer ground.

BRR spokesman Sudirman Said said it was not easy to prohibit the residents from rebuilding their homes in devastated areas because many people refused to move away from their ancestral lands, even if they knew the dangers of staying there.

"In the field, we cannot expect that every plan will materialize as perfectly as people in Jakarta would hope," Sudirman told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

The BRR is planning to build about 120,000 houses throughout tsunami-hit Aceh to shelter about 500,000 displaced persons. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2007.

Concerns about houses being built in heavily polluted areas have been raised by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Office of the State Minister for the Environment. The WWF notes that an estimated 1,600 houses rebuilt by tsunami victims are located in areas marked as "prohibited" on the reconstruction blueprint prepared by the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas).

"Many houses were built in areas prone to natural disasters and in places contaminated by toxic substances," WWF Aceh program coordinator Nana Fitriana Firman said.

WWF workers and ministry officials met to discuss Aceh's town planning last week.

Sudirman, meanwhile, said the number of houses built in areas considered precarious numbered "in the several hundreds", not as many as the WWF had alleged. "For now, we will let them do this, but as soon as all the (120,000) houses are built, the BRR and the regional administration will move them and properly compensate them," he said.

The ministry warned that about 100 spots in the tsunami-ravaged province targeted as residential areas were unsafe because the soil contained toxic waste and e-coli bacteria shifted by the Dec. 24 tsunami.

Nana said about 100 houses had been rebuilt in the Ulelee village district, an area still heavily polluted. "Most of them told us they just wanted to have homes again as soon as possible. They didn't bother to check whether or not their original home area was still safe to live in," she said.

According to the BRR's annual report, about 67,500 families are still living in tents, with only 16,000 homes built as of the end of last year.

Bappenas environmental division head Medrilzam warned that unless the BRR stopped housing development in dangerous areas, Aceh would see slum housing mushrooming. "When you build houses separately without proper infrastructure, such as water sanitation and public spaces, it is certain there will be a surge in slum areas in the years ahead," he said.

West Papua

Protesters storm parliament in Papua

Agence France Presse - January 23, 2006

Jakarta – About 200 protesters stormed Parliament in Indonesia's restive Papua province on Monday to demand the withdrawal of troops from the region, witnesses said. Calm was restored by nightfall.

Two policemen were injured in the melee in the provincial capital, Jayapura, state news agency Antara reported. Authorities in Jayapura were not available for comment.

Tensions have been high in the province since Friday when security forces opened fire on a group of protesters outside a central Papua police station, killing one person and injuring two.

Witnesses said the demonstrators barged past police guarding the Parliament building, shouting, "Indonesian troops get out of West Papua!" The protesters left after meeting legislators, and the town was calm by nightfall, witnesses said.

Remote Papua province is on the western part of an island just north of Australia and independence activists normally refer to it as West Papua, the term first adopted by the nationalist movement there. The eastern part forms the country of Papua New Guinea.

Papua was integrated into Indonesia in 1969 after a referendum, since dismissed as a sham.

Local and international rights groups have repeatedly accused police and soldiers of abuses in the oil- and gas-rich province in Indonesia's far east.

Last week, 43 asylum seekers from Papua, including independence advocates and their families, arrived in nearby northeastern Australia in a traditional outrigger boat and accused Indonesia of genocide.

Unlike Indonesia's mainly ethnic Malay inhabitants, Papuans are ethnic Melanesians. Most Indonesians are Muslims, but Papuans are Christians or animists.

Indonesian police deny Papuan revenge deaths

Agence France Presse - January 23, 2006

Jakarta – Police in Indonesia's Papua on Monday denied allegations that four students were shot dead in a revenge attack linked to a group of separatist refugees fleeing from the province to Australia.

According to police, a clash in the Waghete area last Friday occurred after police asked residents to stop extorting road users, resulting in a mob attack on a station that in turn led to security forces firing into a crowd of 100.

A 13-year old high school student was killed, Papuan provincial police spokesman Kartono Wangsadisastra said last week.

But Benny Giay, from the Indonesian human rights group Elsham Papua, told the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday that four students were shot and killed when they were ambushed on their way to school. It said the 13-year-old high school student Moses Douw was one of those killed.

Kartono on Monday denied the claim. "That is entirely untrue. There were three people shot in that single incident. One was killed and the two others were injured," he said, adding that he stood by his account of the circumstances that led to Douw's death.

Kartono said that an investigation into the incident would be carried out and it was not known whether police or soldiers fired the fatal bullet. Giay could not be reached for comment Monday.

The paper also reported that Douw was said by activists to be a close relative of one of dozens of Papuan refugees who landed in northern Australia last Wednesday.

Australia asked Indonesia at the weekend for information about the shooting.

The group reportedly included prominent pro- independence activists, and their boat featured a large sign alleging military oppression in Papua, a former Dutch colony that Indonesia took over in the 1960s.

The military and the government here have denied their claims.

A sporadic and low-level separatist insurgency has rumbled on in Papua for decades, with many Papuans upset over their share of revenue from resource extraction in the province amid allegations of military human rights abuses.

Papuan asylum seekers allege Indonesian abuse

Radio Australia - January 23, 2006

Calls are growing for Australia's immigration department to grant immediate protection visas to 43 Papuan asylum seekers who arrived in far north Australia last week. The group is now being held on Christmas Island, many of them at one of Australia's offshore immigration detention centres. Supporters of Papua's independence movement say the group fled their homeland because of human rights abuses by the Indonesian military.

Presenter/Interviewer: Emily Bourke

Speakers: Papuan activist Jacob Rumbiak, from the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation.

Bourke: The asylum seekers – 36 adults and seven children – claimed the Indonesian military was carrying out intimidation and genocide in Papua.

Within days of their arrival and transfer to immigration detention, a deadly clash occurred between the Indonesian military and a group of protesters in a village in Papua.

Some reports say up to four young Papuans were killed in the clash. The Australian government has asked Indonesia to clarify the reports.

And while the Indonesian government has agreed to investigate the matter, the Australian government says it will reiterate to Indonesia its long standing policy that any differences between Indonesia and the people of Papua be resolved peacefully, within Indonesian law, and with respect to human rights.

Australia remains confident its diplomatic ties with Indonesia won't influence the case.

But Jacob Rumbiak from the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation, says Australia with its focus on regional security, is well placed to pursue Indonesia over the issue.

Rumbiak: "Each country has a responsibility to protect humans. In West Papua human rights abuses and genocide have been done by the government and military of Indonesia so I think Australia has a responsibility to put pressure on Indonesia because training the military money and training facilities in Indonesia is supported by Australia."

Bourke: Mr Rumbiak argues the group has a strong case for asylum and that Australia has an historic and moral obligation to assist the Papuans.

Rumbiak: Australia should remember that West Papua has given three gifts to Australia and American allies. When the Pacific war was on in the 1940s, Australia stood with West Papua. During the Cold War in the 1960s, West Papua was sacrificed by America and Australia to transfer West Papua to Indonesia. And thirdly Rio Tinto and BHP also operate in Papua to exploit resources. Now West Papua questions what Australia and America give to us, to Papua.

Bourke: Activists say the Indonesian government has doubled its military presence in Papua to more than 25-thousand members and that the Indonesian military is "dressed for war". Jacob Rumbiak from the West Papua Coalition says it's now time for a third and independent party to intervene.

Rumbiak: Papua is a land of peace and justice we want to talk with Jakarta in a peaceful way and we hope the international people will come and be a third party to West Papua and to talk peace.

Bourke: Do you think it's possible to talk peace and still pursue a case for independence?

Rumbiak: I believe it can become reality, if the world is involved in this, especially those involved in the transfer of West Papua to Indonesia, the UN, the US, Holland and Australia. If foreign countries are involved in this and come together I believe that the independent rights of Papua can be solved by peaceful means but if one or another ignore I think it will create suffering for the Papuan people for a long and long time.

Papuans demand release of Timika detainees

Detik.com - January 23, 2006

Nova Maulani, Jakarta - Flavours of West Papua dominated a demonstration in Jakarta by people from Indonesia's eastern-most province. They were demanding that police release the eight people that have been cited as carrying out the shooting of US citizens in Timika in 2002.

At lest 100 Papuans held a demonstration at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout on Monday January 23 that was followed by a similar action in front of the State Palace and US Embassy.

Demonstrators wore various kinds of traditional Papuan costumes and clothing such as penis gourds and spears. There were also some that wore tassels and uniquely Papuan decoration on their faces.

They also brought a number of banners with messages such as "In West Papua Still Continue Genocide" [original in English - JB], "Release the eight civilian prisoners unconditionally", "PT Freeport Indonesia end mining exploration on Papuan land now" and "A referendum for Papua".

Another huge banner meanwhile contained four demands: the unconditional release of Reverend Izak Onawame; that Freeport, that the TNI (Indonesian military) and police end the financing of genocide in Papua; an end to the deployment of ex-Aceh TNI and police to Papua; and the immediate closure of PT Freeport.

The action at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout continued for around 15 minutes and was then followed by a rally to the State Palace. Because they used the Busway lane, traffic was blocked for the entire length of Jalan MH Tahmrin.

In front of the State Palace they held speeches and theatrical actions that depicted TNI and police violence and questioned the arrest of Onawame and the seven other civilians.

Action spokesperson Arkilaus Boho said the Mile 62-63 case [the Timika shooting in 2002] was engineered purely in interests of the TNI and police. They intentionally created a situation that to ensure that PT Freeport funds would flow into their hands. (san)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Anti-Freeport demonstration ends up at US Embassy

Detik.com - January 23, 2006

Nova Maulani, Jakarta - A solidarity action over the Freeport tragedy has ended up at the US Embassy. For one-and-a-half hours around 150 demonstrators gave speeches and held theatrical actions.

Prior to this they held an action at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout and the State Palace.

The four busses that brought the group of demonstrators arrived at the US Embassy on Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan in Jakarta at 12.30pm on Monday January 23.

Four platoons of police from the Central Jakarta district police and the Gambir sectoral police "greeted" them as soon as they arrived. They then held speeches and theatrical actions that depicted the interrogation of a person wearing military clothing while traditional people danced around a campfire.

They also set fire to two US flags, a Freeport flag and military paraphernalia that was used during the theatrical action.

The field coordinator of the action, Arkilaus Boho, said that the US Embassy was indeed one of the targets of the demonstration. This is because Freeport is a US company. "And we are also demanding that Freeport be closed right now", he said.

Commission XI House of Representatives member Inya Bae - who originates from West Papua and also joined the demonstration - said that the recent arrest of the 12 civilians in Timika missed the target. There is something that doesn't fit, bearing in mind that four of the 12 are aged between 12 and 14 years.

The other thing that doesn't fit he said is the question of the magazine. Usually, he added, a magazine contains 30 rounds but 130 spent rounds were found in the vehicles. "It makes no sense that the Free Papua Movement is behind the action", he said. The demonstrators disbanded at around 2pm. (umi)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Makassar student demand release of Timika detainees

Detik.com - January 23, 2006

Gunawan Mashar, Makassar - Scores of West Papuan students in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar have also held an action demanding the release of the Timika detainees. As well as giving speeches, the demonstration was accompanied by traditional dances.

The 30 or so Papuan students started the action at around 9.30am. They held the action at the Reformasi toll road intersection between Jalan Urip Sumohardjo and Jalan Andi Pettarani in Makassar on Monday January 23.

The students - some of whom wore traditional Papuan clothing - held speeches in front of drivers. "We demand that the Timika detainees be release. Because it was not them that did it, but the TNI [Indonesian military]", they said in a speech.

In addition to giving speeches, some of the students danced non-stop. Forming up into a line, they danced around their friends that were playing guitars. After the dance, they sang traditional Papuan songs.

The students also held an action at the South Sulawesi Regional House of Representatives on Jalan Urip Sumohardjo where they also gave speeches. The demonstration finally ended when they dispersed at around 1.30pm.

As many as eight Papuans have been arrested on charges of carrying out the shooting of US citizens in Timika in 2002. (nrl)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Papua council questions public on West Irian Jaya

Jakarta Post - January 23, 2006

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Papua People's Council (MRP) has formed four teams to gauge public opinion in West Irian Jaya about the controversial proposal to form the area into a separate province.

MRP head Agus Alue Alua said in Jayapura the teams would work from Jan. 19 to Jan. 31, and share their results with bureaucrats, political and public figures, non-governmental organizations and elected councillors from the West Irian Jaya legislature.

Agus said one team would speak to people in Manokwari municipality, encompassing the areas of Manokwari, Bintuni and Teluk Wondama; the second team would work in Sorong, South Sorong and Raja Ampat regencies, and Sorong municipality; and a third team would be sent to Fakfak municipality and Fakfak and Kaimana regencies. A fourth team will meet with West Irian Jaya councillors in Manokwari.

Agus said each team would reach out to different segments of the population, including women, traditional and religious groups, NGOs involved in social welfare and human rights, and political parties. "The teams will speak with people and organizations to gauge public opinion on the issue of autonomy," Agus said.

Agus said so far the only ones discussing the issue of dividing West Irian Jaya off from the rest of Papua were elected West Irian Jaya councillors, and other segments of the population had to be heard from. "We will send the results of the survey to Jakarta," he said.

The survey results will also be taken into consideration by the MRP as it decides whether to approve or reject West Irian Jaya's petition for autonomy. This kind of public consensus, Agus said, was in line with Law No. 21/2001 on regional autonomy.

Agus explained that an agreement was reached during a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla in Jakarta on Jan. 9, that the governor of Papua, the Papua legislature and the MRP should resolve the issue of autonomy for West Irian Jaya in the timeframe between Feb. 15 and the middle of May.

The governor should already have submitted a proposal on the creation of West Irian Jaya province to the Papua legislature for deliberation, and then presented the proposal to the MRP to be studied and approved or rejected within the agreed to timeframe.

The MRP would then have the chance to determine public opinion of the proposal during the process, Agus said.

Agus urged every segment of the population, including the central government, to follow the law on regional autonomy, especially the paragraph that states the creation of a new province should be proposed at the grassroots level up, not from the central government down.

"This is what has happened in West Irian Jaya, when the central government, in favor of autonomy, urged the MRP to approve (the new province)," he said.

Agus also expressed regret over the central government's decision to begin the process of strengthening the bureaucracy in West Irian Jaya while the issue of autonomy had yet to be resolved.

West Irian Jaya caretaker governor Timbul Pudjianto has already appointed Abdul Gani Yudean to head the justice and human rights office in the proposed province. "The central government should not appoint officials to strategic posts before autonomy is granted," said Agus.

Family blames commander for Papua shooting

Jakarta Post - January 22, 2006

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Relatives of a Papuan protester killed by security authorities in Paniai regency two days ago demanded on Saturday that Trikora Military Commander Maj. Gen. George Toisutta be held responsible for the death, accusing his soldiers of the shooting.

The body of the victim, identified as Mozes Douw, 15, had not been buried as of Saturday because his relatives want Toisutta to be present at the funeral, Paniai Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Anton Diance said.

The body is still at Enarotali military district command headquarters in Paniai, Anton said. "Relatives and local residents do not want to bury the body before the military commander comes," he said.

Unidentified security authorities opened fire on a group of protesters outside a police station in Paniai on Friday, killing one person and injuring two others.

Anton said the incident occurred when three people arrived at the Wagete district police station to complain about an earlier refusal by the station's chief to sign a form allowing them to ask for money from passing motorists.

Anton said the crowd around the police station, located near the city's military post, soon grew to about 100 people. He claimed members of the crowd assaulted police officer Second Insp. Ronald Tumana, and that was when the shooting occurred.

Anton said local police officers, accompanied by Enarotali military district chief Col. Efri Triasunu, had already met with the victim's family and local community leaders, but they insisted on meeting the Trikora Military commander.

Efri said the shooting was still being investigated. "I will go to Wagete to join the investigation to find who fired the shots and the motive behind the shooting," he said.

Meanwhile, Toisutta said in Jayapura earlier Saturday if any of his soldiers were involved in the shooting they would be punished. "I do not tolerate any violations by my subordinates and the perpetrator will be put through the legal process," he said.

Commenting on the demand by the victim's relatives that he attend the burial, Toisutta said he was prepared to oblige. "If the weather is good I will go, because that is one of my duties," he said.

Anton said the situation in Enarotali, the capital of Paniai regency, was calm and residents just wanted the shooter to be punished.

Frietz Ramandey, a member of the Papuan Human Rights Commission, deplored the incident. "Weapons should be used by the state only to protect people, not to kill them," he said.

In a related development, Australia has asked Indonesia to explain the shooting, Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock said Saturday, but he declined to speculate on whether the incident was linked to the flight of dozens of asylum seekers from the restive region. "We've asked our diplomatic representatives to obtain an appropriate report (on the shootings) for us," Ruddock said in Sydney as quoted by AP.

The shooting occurred a day after 43 asylum seekers from the province, including independence advocates and their families, reached Cape York in northeastern Australia in a traditional outrigger boat and accused Indonesia of genocide.

Military kills Papuan man

Sydney Morning Herald - January 21, 2006

A Papuan man has died and two others are in critical condition after being shot by the Indonesian military yesterday, sparking fears of reprisals in the wake of the arrival of asylum seekers in Australia this week.

The dead man, Moses Douw, is believed to be a close relative of Amatus Douw, one of the 43 Papuan asylum seekers who landed at Cape York on Wednesday.

The incident happened in the Papuan highlands at the village of Waghete, a region where many of the asylum seekers came from.

The chairman of the Indonesian human rights group ELSHAM, Dr Benny Giay, said the attack appeared to be unprovoked and had resulted in the death of Mr Douw, a man he described as an innocent civilian.

"Another two men have been critically injured and have been taken to hospital," Mr Giay said. "Another man has been badly beaten."

In the Paniai region, Waghete and surrounding towns and villages have been a hotbed of independence agitation and have been the scene of arrests and allegations of looting of villages by the Indonesian military over the years.

An extra 10,000 troops were moved to Papua late last year following the peace settlement in the war-torn Indonesian province of Aceh.

Dr Giay said the incident was of extreme concern and was being investigated by his organisation. Indonesian authorities did not return calls yesterday.

The shooting comes just two days after a boatload of 43 Papuan asylum seekers reached Cape York, provoking concern in Jakarta.

Nick Chesterfield of the Australian West Papua Association said his informants had told him that a "top-level" delegation from Jakarta was coming to Australia on Monday to discuss the asylum seeker case and to seek the repatriation of the Papuans.

The asylum seekers' 25-metre outrigger canoe was emblazoned with a banner accusing the Indonesian military of genocide in Papua, a resource-rich province which came under Indonesian sovereignty after a fraudulent vote in 1969.

That boat – which was handcrafted in the Melanesian tradition – was destroyed by immigration officials just before it flew the asylum seekers to the remote detention centre on Christmas Island.

Labor yesterday criticised their removal, saying it was unnecessary and hugely expensive. The Opposition's immigration spokesman, Tony Burke, said there was ample capacity at detention centres on the mainland to house the asylum seekers while they underwent further processing.

However, the Prime Minister, John Howard, defended the decision as "entirely appropriate". "Their position will be assessed, they will be interviewed and they will be dealt with in accordance with the law," he said.

It is understood that the Department of Immigration is investigating whether any charges for people-smuggling can be laid in relation to the arrival of the Papuan boat.

Two Papua children 'shot dead'

Sydney Morning Herald - January 21, 2006

Andra Jackson and Mark Forbes, Denpasar – Two West Papua school children were shot dead yesterday by Indonesian soldiers, according to a group representing Papuans.

Three other children were shot and injured in Paniai, the region from which some of the asylum seekers who arrived in Australia this week fled, said Jason MacLeod, a spokesman for the Australian West Papua Association.

One of the dead has been named as Moses Douw, aged 10, according to his school's website. Details of the shootings by Indonesian Battalion 753 were relayed to the association by priests from the area.

The shootings occurred in the Papuan highlands at the village Of Waghete, a region where at least 10 of this week's 43 asylum seekers came from. The group claims to be escaping persecution by Indonesian forces.

Dr Benny Giay, the chairman of the Indonesian human rights group ELSHAM, said the attack appeared to be unprovoked

The dead include a relative of one of the 43 people who Left Indonesian-controlled West Papua by boat last Friday.

A relative of one of the children shot lives in Melbourne and was advised by phone of the shooting last night, Mr MacLeodsaid.

He said the five were shot on their way to school with one dying at the scene, and the other at the Enaratali health clinic. The injured have been flown to a hospital at Timika, which is near the controversial Freeport mine.

Greens senator Kerry Nettle last night said that the shootings were "disgusting" and called for a Government investigation, saying "Minister Downer must investigate, what on the face of it, appear to be reprisals for the recent arrival of asylum seekers in Australia".

Prime Minister John Howard yesterday defended the decision to move the 43 Papuans, made up of political activists and their families, to Christmas Island for processing, after they came ashore at Cape York on Wednesday.

The move was "entirely appropriate", he said. "Their position will be assessed, they will be interviewed and they will be dealt with in accordance with the law."

Indonesia warned that Australia's response to the Papuan arrivals could jeopardise relations and risked sparking a flood of asylum seekers.

Indonesia's foreign affairs spokesman Yuri Thamrin said yesterday that granting asylum to the Papuans could cause a backlash in Indonesia. "It has strong potential to lead to disturb the existing constructive, close relationship between the two countries," he said. Mr Thamrin dismissed claims of human rights abuses in Papua.

An Indonesia official in Canberra said on Thursday that Indonesia expected the asylum seekers to be returned but Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone refuted this, saying their claims would be assessed on their merits.

The 36 adults and seven children landed on Cape York on Wednesday after fleeing the troubled Indonesian province five days earlier in a 25- metre outrigger canoe.

The men in the group are being held in the Christmas Island detention centre and four families will stay in immigration housing on the island.

Locals who saw them arrive on Thursday night said they looked "scared and subdued", West Australian refugee advocate Kaye Bernard said last night.

Senator Nettle said she was concerned that the Government had allowed Indonesian officials access to the asylum seekers on Thursday. "I hope the TNI (Indonesian military) is not engaging in reprisals against the West Papuan population for seeking asylum in Australia," she said.

Mr MacLeod said Paniai had been the scene of Indonesian military activity in the past two years, as documented in the recent Genocide in West Papua Report prepared by the Centre For Peace and Conflict at Sydney University. He said about 400 West Papuans had been killed in Paniai in the past two years.

[With Tom Allard.]

Security officers kill a protester in Papua

Jakarta Post - January 21, 2006

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Unidentified security officers opened fire on a group of protesters outside a police station in Paniai regency in restive Papua province on Friday, killing one person and injuring two others, a police spokesman said.

Paniai Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Anton Diance said that the clash occurred after three people arrived at the station to complain about an earlier refusal by the local Wagete Police chief to sign their request to allow them to ask for money from passing motorists, he said.

In their request they asked the police chief to sign a circular, obliging truck drivers to pay Rp 100,000 (US$10.5) each time they passed by a section of damaged road that the protesters claimed had been repaired by local residents, Anton said.

Other rates for lighter vehicles were set at Rp 75,000, public vans and buses at Rp 50,000 and motorcycle taxis at Rp 20,000, he said. Anton said that soon after the refusal, around 100 other people gathered at the station, located near the city's military post. "The civilians got angry and started beating Second Insp. Ronald Tumana, one of the police officers," Anton said. "Then the shooting occurred."

Resentment runs high against Indonesian troops in Papua province, where human rights groups estimate some 100,000 people have been killed in years of resistance to Jakarta's rule there. Police and soldiers have been repeatedly accused of abuses by local and international rights groups in the oil and gas rich region in the country's far east.

Anton identified the deceased as Mozes Douw, 15, while Yolice Kotokil, 18, and Petrus Pekey, 19, were injured. Anton said that Mozes died in the hospital after being shot in the chest, Yuli was shot in her right thigh and Petrus was shot in the chest.

Mozes' body was laid out at the Wagete military district headquarters, while the wounded victims were admitted to a Nabire hospital for medical treatment.

Government questions Jakarta over Papua unrest

ABC News online - January 21, 2006

The Federal Government says it has asked Indonesia for official clarification of reports of a shooting in which one person was killed and two injured, in the troubled province of Papua.

Concerns are being raised that the shooting is linked to the arrival in Australia earlier this week of 43 asylum seekers from Papua.

The Federal Government says it is still in the early stages of interviewing the Papuan asylum seekers who arrived in far north Queensland on Wednesday.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd says he is concerned the arrival of the group may be linked to the shooting of three people in central Papua yesterday.

"It's important for Foreign Minister Downer as a matter of absolute priority to establish who precisely has been killed and were there any connections between these individuals and those who have sought asylum on Cape York," he said.

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says Australia's embassy in Jakarta has asked for urgent clarification from the Indonesian Government. "And obviously we've asked our diplomatic representatives to obtain the appropriate report for us," he said.

Mr Ruddock has declined to comment about any possible link between the shooting and the asylum seekers. "You're talking about issues that might be raised in the context of asylum claims and I'm simply saying they are not matters about which it is appropriate for me to comment," he said.

Mr Ruddock says Indonesia has also been asked to ensure the situation in Papua is resolved peacefully and that human rights are respected.

An Indonesian police spokesman says security forces injured two men and shot dead a high school student during a clash with residents yesterday in the central Papua district of Paniai.

The clash allegedly erupted after three people were told to stop taking donations of up to $10 from residents while repairing roads in the area.

The three reportedly returned with about 100 supporters and attacked the police station.

The police spokesman says soldiers came to aid the police and security forces were forced to open fire into the crowd because they refused to disperse. He could not confirm whether there were members or supporters of the separatist Free Papua Movement among the protesters.

'Responsibility'

Democrats foreign affairs spokeswoman Natasha Stott Despoja says she is concerned the shooting could be linked to information Indonesian officials might have gathered while questioning the asylum seekers yesterday. Senator Despoja says Australia is obligated to ask questions about the incident.

"The Federal Government has responsibility to investigate what is happening in West Papua," she said. "We don't know the reasons behind that shooting. We would ask the Federal Government to make sure that any information about these asylum seekers is kept very tightly under wraps from the Indonesian Government. "But of course, we do expect our Government to make their welfare paramount."

Immigration Department spokesman Sandi Logan is rejecting claims Australia may have allowed Indonesian officials access to the asylum seekers. "There's been absolutely no contact between Indonesian officials or authorities and the unauthorised arrivals – we wouldn't do that, you don't work that way," he said.

It is understood the asylum seekers were offered consular access but that was rejected.

Mr Logan says a foreign government is usually not contacted as part of security and identity checks for asylum seekers and it is unlikely any names were passed on by Australian authorities. The boat people are now on Christmas Island.

More Papuans expected to flee strife - Expert

ABC News online - January 20, 2006

Australia is being told to expect more asylum seekers to make their way to the country from Papua.

Forty-three Papuan asylum seekers arrived on Cape York on Wednesday and have been sent to Christmas Island; refugee advocates say the group includes independence campaigners from the Indonesian province.

John Wing from the University of Sydney's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies says there are reports Indonesian military activity has been increasing in Papua and that could lead more people to seek asylum in Australia.

"This may be a trend that we see developing over the coming year or two as the military operations are stepped up in Papua against the local people.

"As in other parts of the world, the fighting and the human rights situation becomes too grim in one's homeland, that these people are forced to flee to the place of nearest sanctuary and in this part of the world, for the Papuans, it's Australia."

The Indonesian embassy says there is no persecution in Papua.

Mr Wing says he believes a prominent student activist is part of the group.

He says the man has already spent time in jail for attending independence meetings and could be persecuted if he is sent back to Papua.

"Many villages have been burned to the ground; houses, clinics, schools, churches have all been destroyed by arson, by the Indonesian armed forces, and some of these refugees are from that area," he said.

Indonesia rejects refugees' genocide claims as 'rubbish'

Agence France Presse - January 20, 2006

Jakarta – Indonesia strongly rejected claims by dozens of refugees who fled eastern Papua for Australia this week that the government was perpetrating genocide in their home province.

The 43 Papuans, who reportedly include prominent pro-independence activists and their families, arrived on the northern coast of mainland Australia on Wednesday aboard a large outrigger canoe in an apparent bid for asylum.

The political nature of their flight from Indonesia was highlighted by a banner strung on their canoe that accused Indonesia of genocide in West Papua, a former Dutch colony that Indonesia took over in the 1960s.

Indonesia's presidential spokesman Dino Djalil dismissed the claims. "It's all rubbish. There is no genocide whatsoever in Papua. No one believes that," he told AFP.

Djalil conceded there had been human rights "problems" in the past but insisted that under the current government, security forces did not commit violations.

"I'm not aware of any human rights incidents recently in Papua," he said. "There are political problems, but the government is doing its best to rectify the problems of the past," he said.

He was referring to ongoing discontent among Papuans over their share of revenue from resource extraction in the province as well as a low-level and sporadic separatist insurgency that has rumbled on for decades.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who came to power in October 2004, wanted to tackle separatist sentiment, "address grievances and create political stability" in Papua, by implementing a regional autonomy law, Djalil said.

"I'm sure the Australians realise the sensitivities of the Indonesians on this issue," he said, adding that if the situation was dealt with sensitively, it would not disrupt relations between the two countries.

The incident comes as the neighbours negotiate a new security treaty that is expected to include a pledge by Canberra not to interfere in provinces like Papua.

Foreign ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin told AFP Thursday that Indonesia was remaining open minded about the incident and wanted to "manage this case well".

On Friday he said that the matter remained in Australian hands for now and Indonesia was still waiting to be informed officially about the Papuans' claims.

Indonesia won sovereignty over Papua, which was then called West Irian, in 1969 after the UN allowed an integration referendum with a public show of hands by a few hundred hand-picked tribal leaders. The vote was labelled a sham by critics.

Papuans should be brought back from Christmas Island

Agence France Presse - January 20, 2006

Sydney – Refugee activists want the Papuan asylum seekers who landed on the north Queensland coast this week to be brought back from Christmas Island and given bridging visas.

About 100 people gathered outside the Department of Immigration in Sydney today to protest the department's handling of the case.

The 36 adults and seven children were found on Cape York on Wednesday after fleeing the strife- torn Indonesian province of Papua five days earlier in a rickety boat.

The government last night used an Air Force Hercules to fly the group from Weipa to Christmas Island, where they are expected to arrive some time today.

Elizabeth Biok from the International Commission of Jurists told the rally today the asylum seekers needed to be brought back to the mainland to have proper access to legal aid.

"There is plenty of room here in Villawood or Baxter but they are at Christmas Island... so we can't go and visit them," Ms Biok said. "There are provisions in the Migration Act that allow them to be released on bridging visas. They have come here by the only way they know, by boat and directly, we shouldn't penalise them and we shouldn't have them stay on Christmas Island."

Greens Senator Kerry Nettle, who also attended the rally, said Australians needed to band together and demand that Papua be freed from Indonesian occupation as it did with East Timor in 1999.

"Eight thousand of the Australian defence forces were stationed in the West Papuan town of Merouke during world War II – the same town from where these people departed," Ms Nettle said.

"The local population supported these diggers but this government has failed to recognise this debt of honour. "We should stand together and demand as we did in 1999 for East Timor to have independence from Indonesia."

Ms Nettle also supported calls to give the Papuans a bridging visa until their claims for asylum are properly assessed.

Australia accused of cruelty on asylum seekers

Associated Press - January 20, 2006

Sydney – Refugee activists branded the Australian government cruel Friday for flying a group of 43 Indonesian asylum seekers who accused Jakarta of genocide to a remote island detention center.

The group of 36 adults and seven children from Indonesia's restive West Papua province arrived Wednesday on Australia's remote Cape York Peninsula in a small boat.

The group accuses Indonesia of terrorism and genocide in West Papua, the country's easternmost province, and are expected to seek refugee status in Australia.

While their applications are considered, they will be held on Christmas Island, a remote Australian territory in the Indian Ocean.

"It's an expensive, unnecessary and cruel exercise the government is putting these refugees through," said Nick Chesterfield from the Australia West Papua Association. "We've got the ability to look after these people in the community."

Single men will be held in a purpose-built immigration detention center, while families will live in immigration department monitored houses on the island.

Prime Minister John Howard defended the decision to move the Indonesians to Christmas Island. "That's entirely appropriate," he told reporters in Sydney. "Their position will be assessed, they will be interviewed and they will be dealt with in accordance with the law."

Australian Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said Thursday that the asylum seekers' cases will not be influenced by Australia's relationship with Indonesia, which both countries are trying to bolster by negotiating a new security pact.

But in Jakarta, foreign ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin appeared to put pressure on Canberra by saying that accepting the boat people's claims of wide scale rights abuses "could strengthen perceptions in Indonesia that there are parties in and around (Australia) who support or express sympathy for separatism." This "could disturb bilateral relations between the two countries," he added.

FBI still helping on probe into Timika shooting

Jakarta Post - January 18, 2006

Jakarta – The National Police will continue to involve the FBI in resolving the 2002 killings of one Indonesian and two American teachers in Timika, Papua – but agents won't be allowed to question the suspects.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said the FBI agents would not be allowed to directly interrogate suspects in the case but would continue to be informed of developments.

"In the investigation we are cooperating with the FBI and providing them information related to the case," he said at Police Headquarters in Jakarta.

Police earlier confirmed that FBI agents had given them information that led to the arrest of 12 Papuans suspected of involvement in the attack near the Grasberg Mine of PT Freeport Indonesia in Timika.

"We are aware of their more sophisticated technology (in criminal investigations)," Anton said. In comparison police in Papua had a poor communications and transportation system, he said.

Anton stressed the authority to investigate the incident was still in the hands of the National Police, and not the FBI.

"The crime took place in Indonesia and it is our duty to investigate it. We are involving (FBI agents) in the matter just to get relevant information."

It is not the first time Indonesia has involved foreign security forces in criminal investigations. In 2002, the Australian Federal Police helped their Indonesian counterparts investigate the first Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Also on Tuesday, Patsy Spier, a survivor of the shooting and the wife of one of the Americans killed in the attack, appeared at the National Police headquarters to give her eye-witness testimony.

Spier earlier met President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Monday, asking him to ensure the FBI was involved in further investigations into the incident to ensure a transparent and credible process. In earlier statements Spier has said she believed the Indonesian Military could be involved in the attack.

The police are detaining eight suspects in Jakarta – among the 12 Papuans who were originally arrested in Jayapura for their alleged roles in the shooting. Four of the suspects were later freed because police lacked sufficient evidence to charge them.

One Indonesian and two American teachers were killed and 12 other passengers, including Spier, were injured when their convoy was attacked by gunmen on Aug. 31, 2002. The teachers worked for the American-owned Freeport mine.

Papua puppetry leaves murders unsolved

Asia Times - January 18, 2006

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – The United States and Indonesia have gotten their man in the ambush killings of two Americans in Papua three years ago. The arrest of Antonius Wamang, an alleged separatist military commander, is supposed to quell speculation that the Indonesian military was behind the shootings. But in this intercontinental production of wayang kulit – Indonesian shadow puppetry – Wamang may not follow the script.

Wamang has admitted firing shots in the August 31, 2002, attack near Timika on a road to Freeport- McMoRan's vast Grasberg mining complex in otherwise remote Papua. His lawyer says Wamang told police and others he chose the site after receiving information that Indonesian troops would be there, and he intended to attack them.

Instead, he attacked a van full of teachers and other Grasberg employees returning from a picnic. Three people were killed – an Indonesia teacher and two Americans, school principal Edwin Burgon and teacher Ricky Lynn Spier – and 11 others wounded. Wamang was indicted for murder in the US in June 2004 but eluded security forces and a US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) team until last week, though Australian television managed to interview him three months after the indictment.

Masked men

Attacking Westerners would have been unprecedented for the separatist Free Papua Organization (OPM, for Organisasi Papua Merdeka), which has waged a low-level insurgency against Indonesian rule for decades in the province that Indonesia annexed in 1969. According to his lawyer, Wamang told police interrogators he saw three masked men in military uniforms firing their weapons at the scene as well. He also repeated his past claim that he received his ammunition for the attack from a high-ranking soldier.

Of course that makes no sense. Why would the military give bullets to a militant planning to attack its soldiers? And why would soldiers fire at employees of a company that acknowledges paying nearly US$20 million from 1998 to 2004 to the military for protection, as well as spending $35 million on housing and equipment for soldiers? It makes sense if this deadly drama is wayang kulit, where the dalang (puppet master) below the stage controls the action of the puppets.

In the weeks before the shooting, Freeport McMoRan reportedly proposed cutting its rich payments to military commanders. Fees for security services, along with business interests – illegal and otherwise – cover about 70% of the budget for the military, known by the acronym TNI (Tentara Nasional Indonesia). It's been a happy coincidence that for decades low-level insurgencies simmered in Aceh and Papua, where Western companies have extensive resource-extraction facilities needing protection. Despite the small numbers of armed militants, the military was never able to quash these fighters.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em

Investigative reports link the military and Papuan opposition forces, particularly in the 1996 rioting that resulted in $3 million worth of damage at Grasberg and the start of Freeport McMoRan's direct payments to the military.

From one end of the archipelago to the other, for various reasons, TNI has repeatedly encouraged, supplied and supported, sometimes with troops, militants such as those responsible for the massacres in East Timor and the sectarian fighting in Ambon and Central Sulawesi that even conspiracy skeptics such as International Crisis Group director Sidney Jones now recognize as key to the growth of Islamic terrorism in Indonesia.

Government security forces are also believed to smuggle arms to militants. That's a two-way win: the military makes money on the sales and on the additional security needed for protection against the fighters. That makes Wamang's story of bullets and masked men more credible.

But that's not the story that the Indonesian and US governments want for this wayang kulit tale. On Monday in Jakarta, General Sutanto, chief of the national police, laid out the script. Wamang and his colleagues intended to kill soldiers, but they weren't ready to fire when a truck full of soldiers passed, so they unloaded on the next vehicle, mistaking the teachers for troops. Most importantly, there is no evidence of TNI involvement in the attack.

Either the police or Wamang and his lawyer are not telling the truth. Each side has strong motives for its story, strong enough to lie. A vigorous criminal prosecution and defense in an open trial before an impartial judge could determine which story is true. That's not in the script, though.

Coming to America - not

US officials have spoken about extraditing Wamang for trial in the US, but that won't happen. The United States and Indonesia have no extradition treaty. If Indonesia had wanted to let the US have Wamang, or the US had really wanted him, he'd already be there. FBI agents grabbed Wamang and 11 other men – ironically, luring them out of hiding with a promise they'd be brought to the US – then turned them over to Indonesian authorities.

There's precedent for Indonesia allowing the US to have a suspect it wants, specifically al-Qaeda's Omar al Faruq, seized by Indonesia and handed over to the US in June 2002. That rendition stirred radical sentiment in Indonesia, the country with the world's largest Muslim population, where the US-led "war on terrorism" is often portrayed as a war on Islam. Handing over Wamang would have no such impact because there's no Islamic link – Papuans are generally animists or Christians – and the murders resonate more in the US than Indonesia. If Indonesian authorities were going to let Wamang go, they would have simply told the FBI to drive him to the airport instead of a police rendezvous.

A trial in Indonesia will avoid a lot of messiness likely in the US, including close scrutiny of alleged TNI involvement and of Freeport McMoRan's shameful record not only on payoffs but environmental damage to formerly pristine wilderness and wetlands. A trial in Indonesia will follow the script for the conviction of Polycarpus Budihari Priyanto for the in-flight poisoning of Munir Said Thalib, a leading activist for military accountability for atrocities.

An independent investigation uncovered documents from Indonesia's National Intelligence Agency, an arm of the military, outlining plots to kill Munir, including poisoning on a commercial flight. It also substantiated Polycarpus' links to the agency, including cell-phone calls between Polycarpus and a top intelligence official in the days before Munir's murder. Yet the trail so far has stopped at Polycarpus and a pair of hapless flight attendants.

People power Papua-style

To ensure there are no slip-ups, the suspects have already been spirited to Jakarta, where they will stand trial thousands of kilometers from Papua. Papuans staged a noisy demonstration in Jayapura, the provincial capital, after the suspects were moved. More protests are likely during the trial – Papuans demonstrated peacefully outside the US Consular Agency in Bali on Wednesday – but protests in Jakarta are unlikely to evolve into some version of Papuan people power there, the worst fear of Indonesia and Freeport McMoRan.

Most important, neither side has any reason to seek unpleasant truths about the murders. Indonesia prefers its story, that OPM killed the teachers by mistake, as part of its separatist militancy. The administration of US President George W Bush can cite the arrest and forthcoming conviction to justify its decision in November to drop its arms embargo against Indonesia and resume full military ties.

The last thing the Bush people want is evidence that TNI, now its partner for America's national- security interests, had anything to do with killing Americans. If you think the Bush administration wouldn't put American lives above poorly conceived strategic goals, then you haven't been paying attention to the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

The US will laud the arrest of Wamang and Indonesia's cooperation in its catalogue of Indonesia's progress as a democracy. But the case really shows how little has changed in Indonesia, particularly when it comes to TNI, and how much has changed in Bush's America – for the worse. Now America is just another leather puppet on a stick in TNI's wayang kulit.

[Gary LaMoshi has worked as a broadcast producer and print writer and editor in the US and Asia. Longtime editor of investor rights advocate eRaider.com, he's also a contributor to Slate and Salon.com.]

Freeport says it paid US$1 billion since 2004

Bloomberge News - January 18, 2006

New York – Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. paid Indonesia about US$1 billion since 2004, including for security at the Grasberg mine that has sparked a US government inquiry, Chief Executive Officer Richard Adkerson said.

All payments were "fully disclosed," and New Orleans-based Freeport spent about $6 million to $7 million annually to guard the mine, Adkerson said today in an interview.

Between 1998 and 2004, Freeport paid military and police officials almost $20 million, the New York Times reported last month, citing company records it had obtained.

"The amounts we're talking about are not unreasonable," Adkerson said. "We're not sure where the amounts came from" that were reported by the New York Times, he said.

The US government made inquiries since the article and an editorial were published, Adkerson said. The $1 billion in payments includes taxes, royalties and profit from the government's 9.36 percent stake in Grasberg, the world's biggestgold mine and second-biggest copper mine.

"People know we are in a remote area and have to have unusual efforts to be sure we can operate with the 20,000 employees we have and all the other boom-town people to the south" of the mine, Freeport Chairman James Moffett said on a conference callwith analysts and investors.

The payments to Indonesia "adhere to the joint US State Department-British Foreign Office voluntary principles on security and human rights," the company said on Wednesday in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Freeport reported record net income in the fourth quarter, which more than doubled from a year earlier to $478.3 million, or $2.19 a share after the payment of dividends. Sales jumped 61 percent to $1.49 billion, mostly because of higher metals prices.

Shares of Freeport rose $1.02, or 1.7 percent, to $61.77 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, after earlier reaching a record $63.39. The stock has jumped 62 percent in the past year as gold and copper prices surged.

Papua students call for release of Timika suspects

Detik.com - January 17, 2006

Nurfajri Budi Nugroho, Jakarta - Around 40 students from the Papua Students Action Front (FAMP) have demonstrated demanding that police release the eight suspects being held over the shooting of two US citizens in Timika on 2002.

The action was held in front of the national police headquarters on Jalan Trunojoyo in Jakarta on Tuesday January 17.

"The eight detainees that were arbitrary arrested must be released unconditionally. This is a consequence of the logic of resolving Papuan issues democratically", said action coordinator Arkilaus Baho in a speech.

The students could be seen holding banners with demands such as "Don't let there be political interference", "Fully investigate Freeport" and "Release the eight Papuan suspects".

In addition to this, the students also appeared busy handing out statements to pedestrians who passed in front of the police headquarters.

As many as five representatives were eventually received by the chief of the criminal investigation bureau, Police Commissioner General Makbul Padmanegara. In an audience that lasted for 25 minutes, Padmanegara said he was prepared to accommodate the demonstrators' input. The students then disbanded in an orderly fashion. (aan)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Timika slayings 'unintentional'

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2006

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The 2002 killings of an Indonesian and two American teachers in Papua province was caused by local separatist soldiers firing on civilians by mistake, National Police chief Gen. Sutanto said here Monday.

He made the statement after accompanying American Patsy Spier, the widow of victim Rickey Lynn Spier, in a Monday meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the State Palace.

After questioning 12 suspects arrested last week in connection with the attack, Sutanto said there was no evidence the Indonesian Military (TNI) had been involved, despite the claims of activists here and abroad.

That speculation focused on an earlier claim by a key suspect that a group of men wearing military uniforms was seen at the scene. Human rights groups have blamed security forces for the killings, saying a dispute between Timika-based US mining company PT Freeport Indonesia and the military led to the shooting.

With the release of four of the 12 Papuans, Sutanto said the police were now looking for another four men and their leader, Free Papua Movement (OPM) fugitive Kelly Kwalik. Sutanto said the group was believed to be still in the remote Timika area where the attack took place, in the vicinity of PT Freeport's gold mine.

"They were ordered by OPM rebels to cause disruptions to military personnel, police and state infrastructure there," Sutanto said.

Sutanto said at the time of the attack, the suspects planned to open fire on a convoy of vehicles transporting TNI soldiers. "(But) they weren't ready to fire when the vehicle that carried the soldiers passed by. They then attacked the following vehicle, which turned out to be carrying the teachers, after they mistook them for soldiers," Sutanto said.

Albert Rumbekwan, a lawyer for the suspects, said the eight men were definitely OPM members. "They had been ordered by OPM leader Kelly Kwalik to attack TNI members near the location," he said.

"They were not prepared to shoot when the first car passed by, so they shot at the following vehicle." Albert said he believed the shootings were meant to frighten the TNI. In cooperation with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the police arrested 12 Papuans last week, including Anthonius Wamang, who was indicted by a US grand jury in 2004 for the murder. Four were later released.

Sutanto said the other evidence the police had included OPM documents ordering the attack, testimonies from Indonesian and American witnesses, the statements of suspects, and laboratory tests on bullets.

The suspects will be tried at the Central Jakarta District Court for ownership of illegal arms and actions resulting in death.

Sutanto said police would now prosecute the high- profile case without the involvement of external parties, including the FBI. "That's how the Indonesian legal system works," he said.

A survivor of the attack, Patsy Spier, who has returned to Indonesia at the request of the police, said she wanted the FBI to be included in further interviews.

"Such a process should include our FBI investigators... as the international community would be assured that a transparent and credible trial will bring those responsible to justice in a manner consistent with international standards," she said.

In the 2002 Bali bombings, Indonesian and Australian police cooperated all the way to the trial of the bombers.

Presidential spokesman Dino Pati Djalal said President Susilo, who first met Spier in Washington last May, expected to see a speedy and transparent legal process.

Former Timika suspects 'live in fear'

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2006

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Four Timika residents arrested by Papua Police over the killing of two American teachers and their Indonesian colleague continue to live in fear, despite being released after it became clear they had no connection to the murders.

The four – Dominikus "Domi" Mom, Germanus Magal, Markus Kelebetme and Victus Wanmang – are still in Jayapura, the capital of Papua, fearing they will be killed by relatives of the eight suspects in the murders if they return to Timika. The four men and the eight suspects are all members of the Amungme tribe.

Papuan feminist Yosepha Alomang, who is also an Amungme tribal leader, said the fear was based on tribal culture. According to Amungme culture, the 12 people, who left their hometown together, must all return to Timika together.

"In Amungme culture, if five people leave a house together, all five should return together to the house. If they fail to do so, they might be accused of betraying their friends.

"In this case, the 12 left their village for Jayapura and, based on our culture, the four might be accused of being spies and be killed," said Yosepha, a recipient of the Yap Thiam Hien human rights award and The Goldman environment prize, in Jayapura.

The four released men are currently staying at the Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy for West Papua (Els-Ham) in Jayapura, while Yosepha speaks with the eight suspects' families to help them understand the country's legal procedures, according to Paula Makabori, Els-Ham's coordinator in Timika.

In an operation last Wednesday involving officers from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, Antonius Wamang, the main suspect in the killings, and 11 other suspected members of the separatist Free Papua Movement were arrested. Eight of the 12, including Wamang, have officially been named suspects in the killings, which took place in August, 2002.

The eight were flown to Jakarta on Saturday for further questioning.

Meanwhile, angry that the eight suspects were transported to Jakarta without their families first being notified, relatives of the suspects have returned Jayapura-to-Jakarta airline tickets provided by Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Tomy Tider Jacobus.

"The police said the eight people's departure would be transparent, but it turned out they were quietly taken by helicopter to Sentani without their families or legal representatives being informed. We were lied to and that is why we gave the tickets back," Yosepha said.

A lawyer for one of the suspects, Piet Ell, said he planned to file a lawsuit against the Papua Police chief for unlawful arrest. "They were arrested without a warrant. The warrant was issued by the Papua Police a day after the arrests," he claimed in Jayapura.

Military ties

US seeks close ties with Indonesia

Agence France Presse - January 20, 2006

Jakarta – The United States said it was working towards a closer relationship with Indonesia, the world's largest Islamic nation, despite past strains between the two countries.

US ambassador to Jakarta Lynn Pascoe said it was vital for the world's third and fourth most populous nations to have a "perfectly normal" relationship.

Indonesia and the United States resumed full military ties in November after they were severed over human rights abuses by Indonesia's military in 1991.

"It would be very unusual and very strange that we don't have good relationships and it's because of that we are trying to make sure that relationship is... perfectly normal and working closely," Pascoe said.

Pascoe was speaking after a ceremony in Jakarta which saw Washington hand over 11 million dollars worth of medical equipment to be used as a fleet hospital by the Indonesian navy.

The aid – which will provide the equal of a full-scale US military hospital – was "designed to get at that sort of normal working relationship and particularly, in this instance, in the humanitarian field," Pascoe said.

The handover was the first major military exchange between the two countries since the resumption of military ties and follows Indonesia's close cooperation with the United States over its "war on terror".

"We see this as very much part of that kind of close working relationship that we would like to do, a very normal relationship," the ambassador said, who attended the ceremony with Indonesia's defense minister Juwono Sudarsono.

Sudarsono said the grant "marks focus by the United States" on the Indonesian military's ability to provide relief in disaster-prone areas. Sudarsono also reiterated Indonesia's intention to buy more US-made Hercules planes to boost its own capacity to provide such emergency relief.

Washington lifted a foreign military financing ban on Indonesia last November in a move described by Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as a "new chapter" in strategic relations between the two countries.

The lifting of the ban followed the resumption of US international military education and training and foreign military sales to Indonesia in February and in May last year.

US military dealings with Indonesia were first restricted in 1991 when Jakarta's forces launched a bloody crackdown on pro-independence protesters in East Timor. Sanctions were further tightened after a new wave of violence there in 1999.

Australia doesn't need a treaty with Indonesia

Crikey.com - January 20, 2006

Damien Kingsbury, Indonesia expert and Associate Professor of International and Political Studies at Deakin University, writes:

The history of Australia-Indonesia relations has been characterised by a division of opinion about the extent and nature of the relationship. Since Australia rolled over on the West Papua issue in 1962, under the guide of the Barwick Doctrine, there has been a body of thought that argues for acquiescence to Indonesia's wishes and concerns. There has similarly been a counter position, most marked since the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975.

Melbourne University Asia Law Centre's Professor Tim Lindsey's response to the issue of Australia's proposed new security treaty with Indonesia (item 9, 12 January) tends to reflect the former view, which finds correspondence with much of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Professor Lindsey suggested that any alternative to the proposed security agreement would be "ridiculous," thereby denying legitimate concerns by belittling them. "How on earth are we going to deal with terrorism that affects our region without a treaty?" he asked.

Interestingly, Australia and Indonesia have conducted very successful counter-terrorism investigations without the need for such a security treaty.

Indeed, the recent resumption of training links between Australian army special forces and Indonesian military special forces was undertaken without such a treaty, even though this aspect of the bilateral relationship is itself indicative of why such a security treaty is problematic.

In simple terms, security implies a much wider range of arrangements than just counter-terrorism policing. It also implies support for a fundamentally unreconstructed military that continues to involve itself, albeit at lower levels than before, in the affairs of Indonesia's civil politics.

Professor Lindsey rationalised the proposed new treaty on the grounds that the Keating Government signed such a treaty in 1995. It must be noted that this treaty was negotiated in secret because of what Keating admitted at that time would be a popular backlash against it.

That treaty lasted less than four years before running aground on the rocks of geo-political reality.

There is little or nothing wrong with security treaties as such, and it is true that Indonesia continues, if slowly, down the path of political reform. Electoral politics, however, does not equate with a fully functioning democracy, and Indonesia still has a considerable way to go with this. As was seen under the Megawati presidency, processes of reform can go backwards as well as forwards.

The size of Indonesia or of its Islamic population is itself not a rational argument for a security treaty. A common security threat is.

Indonesia faces a low level threat from Islamic terrorists, it is true, and many Australians have been killed by such terrorists. But this presents a threat to holiday makers, not to Australia as such.

Of course Australia should continue to assist the Indonesian police in helping resolve this problem, and otherwise work towards building a strong mutual relationship predicated upon mutual respect and transparency.

As for suggesting that engaging with institutions that perpetrate human rights will change them, the main proponent of this view, former Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, has since said it was mistaken. It did not have any effect then, he has said, and should not be pursued in the future.

To argue further, as Professor Lindsey has, the moral equivalence of militaries flies in the face of fact. Not all militaries are profoundly corrupt, operate in practice largely independent of civilian rule nor engage in systematic abuses against at least citizens of the state, including in the past those who advocated democratic change. And even if some are, this commonality does not then legitimise their support. It just means the problem is widespread.

One might have thought that rule of law would hold perpetrators of human rights abuses to account. In this case, however, a Law professor appears to excuse them.

Kopassus claims cloud war games

The Australian - January 20, 2006

Sian Powell, Jakarta – Indonesia's Kopassus special forces have been directly implicated in thousands of human rights violations in East Timor in a new report documenting instances of murder, rape and torture, just weeks before Australia resumes joint training exercises with the notorious unit.

Australian special forces soldiers will begin counter-terrorism and hijack recovery exercises with Kopassus troops in Perth next month, six years after Canberra severed military ties when Kopassus was accused of killing political activists in the dying days of the Suharto regime.

Kopassus-trained militia also fired on and wounded Australian soldiers in the lead-up to East Timor's independence in 1999 and members of the unit are also suspected in the past of training terrorist groups such as Laskar Jihad.

The independent Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation, which took nearly 8000 statements from East Timorese witnesses, received 8710 reports of human rights violations by Kopassus and its predecessor Kopassandha, in all districts and during all periods of Indonesia's occupation from 1975 to 1999.

Kopassus has long been blamed for orchestrating the violence in East Timor during Indonesia's 24- year occupation. In 1999, many militias were said to be run by Kopassus forces.

Allegations of atrocities are sprinkled throughout the commission's damning 2500-page report. "In addition to assignments with Kopassandha/Kopassus units (Nanggala and Chandraca) Kopassandha/Kopassus personnel also served in territorial units and combat battalions, including in intelligence roles," the report says.

"Though extremely high, the number of violations attributed to Kopassandha/Kopassus does not therefore cover anything like all the reported violations committed by its personnel."

East Timor President and former resistance hero Xanana Gusmao wrote about Kopassus in a letter to the UN in 1982, which is quoted in the report. "In every village there was and still is a prison and every day five to 10 people are tortured, burned with cigarettes, systematically electrocuted with high voltage electricity, or become victims of the Nanggala (Kopassus) killer knives," he wrote. "They pull out fingernails and squeeze testicles with pliers." Mr Gusmao also wrote of women taken to serve the pleasures of both ordinary soldiers and Kopassus.

Defence Minister Robert Hill announced last month that Australian special forces and Kopassus special forces would take part in the two-week Exercise Dawn Kookaburra.

Senator Hill maintains the exercises are vital to fostering co-operation with Indonesia in readiness for a terrorist incident involving Australians. But the Labor Opposition has urged Australia to vet Kopassus soldiers to ensure none has committed human rights abuses or actions against Australian soldiers.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Australia had not been provided with a copy of the report – due to be handed to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York today – and could not comment.

Indonesia's stature rises

Christian Science Monitor - January 17, 2006

Tom McCawley, Jakarta – A security pact expected to be signed this year between Indonesia and Australia will mark a formal end to a six-year rift over violence in East Timor and signals just how far the world's most populous Muslim nation has come in relations with its southern neighbor as well as the United States.

The pact formalizes greater cooperation between Australia and Indonesia since the 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people, the majority of them Australians. Parallel to that process, a chain of events prompted in part by the December 2004 tsunami has resulted in closer links with the US, including the resumption of military ties.

The measures underscore Indonesia's growing stature as an ally in the US battle against Islamist violence and have drawn comparisons with the world's second-largest Muslim nation: Pakistan.

"After 9/11, security cooperation with Australia became essential – it's part of the grand defense strategy of the US," said Kusnanto Anggoro, a military analyst with Jakarta's Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In both Indonesia and Pakistan, the US now enjoys friendly ties to presidents seen as sympathetic to US interests. Both Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan support a moderate Islam and are seen as bulwarks against violent fringe groups. Together, they preside over about 356 million Muslims, about a quarter of the Islamic world.

Critics such as Patrick Leahy (D) of Vermont, argue that Indonesia has made progress in stemming the human rights violations that first chilled ties with the West. But, they say, it has not done enough to bring the military to account for alleged abuses in East Timor.

Others, however, point to Indonesia's political reforms. Unlike President Musharraf, President Yudhoyono can boast a strong popular mandate and vibrant democracy. And in November, for example, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla took the bold step of showing a video of suicide bombers to powerful Islamic scholars, triggering a sea change in public opinion.

Mr. Anggoro says the Australia pact would "revive the old security agreement [of 1995]" between the two countries. Australia has recently resumed military exercises with Indonesia's Special Forces Kopassus unit, and Australian police have shared intelligence and resources to help Indonesia's police track down suspected terrorists.

In the case of the US, the tsunami spurred unprecedented cooperation with Indonesia's military, says analyst Greg Fealy, a lecturer at the Australian National University.

US aid to Muslims affected by the tsunami and by Pakistan's October 2005 earthquake also dramatically improved attitudes toward the US, according to polls sponsored by the Washington- based bipartisan nonprofit group Terror-Free- Tomorrow.

The Indonesia poll, conducted by the Indonesian Survey Institute in February last year, concluded that 65 percent of Indonesians had a more favorable view of the US. A November 2005 poll in Pakistan found similar results, noting that 79 percent of those with confidence in Osama bin Laden had a more favorable view of the US after the earthquake.

As a result, analysts say, the Bush administration was able to parlay the goodwill into lifting an embargo on military exports and foreign military financing ties with Indonesia on Nov. 22.

A modest $1 million in foreign military financing has been approved for the Indonesian navy in 2006, compared with $30 million in military grants for the Philippines. Indonesia's Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said priority would be given to buying spare parts for C-130 transport planes.

Earlier in the year, Washington had been moving toward repairing military ties. In February, two months after the tsunami, the US resumed IMET, an education program for Indonesian soldiers, and the sale of nonlethal military equipment. Later, in May, "the resumption of normal military relations," said President Bush, "would be in the interest of both countries." But a waiver in the State Department's authorization bill to override many of the restrictions on restoring military ties angered critics.

The State Department cited the "national security interests" as a reason for the waiver, noting Indonesia plays a strategic role as a "voice of moderation in the Islamic world." Indonesia also received critical support from then-Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, a former ambassador to Indonesia.

Another factor holding back military ties, the fate of two American teachers murdered in Papua Province in 2002, also saw progress. On Jan. 11, police acted on leads from FBI investigators and arrested 12 suspects.

But much of the source of improvement lies in perceptions of Yudhoyono himself. A graduate of the IMET program, he has called the US his "second home." Yudhoyono has supported increased civilian control over the military, which has dominated Indonesian politics for 40 years. Perhaps most significant, some 88 percent of Indonesia's electorate voted for him in the nation's first- ever direct presidential election.

Washington's about face on military ties with Indonesia follows that of Pakistan in 2001. Soon after 9/11, Musharraf agreed to allow Pakistan to be used as a base in attacks against Afghanistan's Taliban regime. But where Yudhoyono has a direct popular mandate, Musharraf rose to power in a bloodless coup in 1999.

Some of Yudhoyono's domestic political allies warn that the US cannot take its political support – or popularity within Indonesia – for granted. Hilman Rasyad, a member of parliament's security and foreign affairs commission, said that an alliance with the US would be "difficult, even impossible." Mr. Rasyad's conservative Islamist Justice and Prosperity (PKS) party controls only about 8 percent of the vote in the 550-seat parliament, but stepped in to bolster Yudhoyono. A critical ally, the PKS is one of several Islam- linked parties in parliament. But even it is ambivalent about US ties. "Anti-US feeling is spreading for us, even in this party," Rasyad says.

Who benefits from Indonesia-Australian treaty?

Jakarta Post - January 18, 2006

Duncan Graham, Surabaya – The treaty now being negotiated between Australia and Indonesia raises some interesting questions: The foremost is – who benefits?

According to Australian media reports the long discussed document will cover counter-terrorism, fish poaching, people smuggling, disaster response and humanitarian assistance.

Few would disagree with the last three issues. Tsunami and landslip aid is in place and people smuggling has collapsed since the wave of refugees from Afghanistan and Iraq receded. The other issues are more debatable.

The problem of fish poaching needs a more sophisticated response than the present Australian policy of arrest, boat burning and jailing. Although the Australian fishing industry and some xenophobes are demanding tougher measures, it's costly and unfair to jail poor fishermen pushed by syndicate bosses to risk their boats and freedom.

The few who are caught stay briefly in jail (see The Jakarta Post Dec. 29, 2005) and are then flown home. They're transported, fed, clothed, given legal aid and medical care all at Australian taxpayers' expense – and this is supposed to be a deterrent.

Ross Taylor, chairman of the Western Australian branch of the Australian-Indonesia Business Council, has been trying to explain to an indifferent public that illegal fishing is not one of the Indonesia's most pressing problems.

"Australia needs to work with Indonesia in a firm but cooperative way to firstly cut the market networks for the fish," he said.

"We need to use our now excellent relations between the Australian Federal Police and Indonesia's Police to infiltrate these syndicates, just as we have done with considerable success in the area of terrorism."

On the surface boosting Indonesian security resources and training seems to be a Good Thing. Apart from the fanatics everyone's against terrorism.

But if dissident and separatist movements in Indonesia get labeled as terrorists and Australian aid is used in brutal suppression, then the Australian electorate is likely to get jittery.

Using Australian communications technology to track fundamentalist bombers is one thing; applying this to assist the destruction of Papuan secessionists armed with bows and arrows is quite another matter.

It's reported that at the heart of the proposed treaty is a pledge by Australia to never intervene in Indonesia's internal affairs or undermine this nation's territorial integrity.

Although this harks back to the liberation of East Timor, many forget that Australian involvement was hardened not by the government but the people, outraged at the savagery in the former province.

The Australian government can ink all the treaties it likes promising to respect the Unitary State of Indonesia. But in a democracy it can't stop the Australian public, religious groups, human rights activists and non-government organizations backing separatist movements.

More than ten years ago former Prime Minister Paul Keating signed a secret security treaty with then president Soeharto. When finally revealed after Keating lost office the agreement was roundly condemned, and torn up during the East Timor crisis of 1999.

Keating didn't have the public behind him for his covert pact with the Orde Baru government. Does his successor John Howard have widespread support for the planned new collaboration?

Mainstream media reports in Australia have been positive so far though the fine print has yet to be seen. There has been some eyebrow raising over the already announced decision to lift a seven- year ban and train Kopassus soldiers in Australia.

The government says no troops with past records of human rights abuses will be involved. The intention, according to Defense Minister Robert Hill, is that Kopassus forces "might one day save Australian lives in Indonesia."

The announcement was made in the December silly season when the priority was cricket and Christmas. Disquiet could come once activists and academics get back to the office and start probing the deal.

Although terrorists, poachers, corruptors and other Indonesian evildoers have got up the nose of the Australian public, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is still an Indonesian Idol Down Under.

He made a top impression during his official visit last year and as the public face of Australias big neighbor has so far enjoyed a positive press as a Good Bloke.

The fact that he's a former military man leading a minority political party and has a local reputation for being indecisive has yet to sink into the Australian psyche.

So if the proposed treaty has President Susilo's endorsement then the paper will probably get signed without too many questions raised.

But will it make any difference to the average person? Australia's unlikely to cancel its travel warnings and the ordinary Okker will remain mightily distrustful of Islam. Just as kampong dwellers fear the motives of the hedonistic, godless Westerners they hear about but seldom meet.

It's all well and good for diplomats, soldiers, police and senior shiny bums to be patting each other's shoulders in lavish signing ceremonies, but what about Ms and Mr Goodwill in Suburbia?

Most of us get on with neighbors, partners, in- laws and workmates without the need for a treaty. But if it makes for a better world let's have a treaty by all means: One which breaks down the misunderstandings, removes the investment barriers imposed by bureaucrats, and dissolves the differences between us.

Starting with cancellation of the obnoxious visa restrictions. By both sides.

[The writer is an author The People Next Door – Understanding Indonesia (University of Western Australia Press) and currently living in East Java.]

Labour issues

Workers demand frequency back

Jakarta Post - January 23, 2006

Jakarta – After eight months of uncertainty over their status, workers of the now-defunct Jakarta News FM radio station rallied in front of the Kelompok Kompas Gramedia (KKG) media group's office in Palmerah, Central Jakarta, on Friday.

Along with the station's sympathizers, they protested what they called the illegal takeover of the radio station.

Since May 2005, the Jakarta News FM, which broadcast news and discussion of human right issues, has been replaced by Otomotion FM, which airs more commercial and lifestyle-oriented content.

A spokesman for the station's union, Ignatius Indro, said they wanted the frequency returned to them, or at least for the new station to broadcast more news and information that touched on the interests of the general public. "We want KKG to return the frequency to the public and to give us our rights as workers," he said.

The workers said they had not bee dismissed after the change, but had lost their positions in the office. They said radio frequencies could not be transferred among companies, as the government had appointed the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) to do that job.

The protesters also demanded the rights of the Jakarta News FM workers be taken into consideration.

"Our company never asked us to be involved in the process. They never informed us of anything. All of a sudden we saw this job vacancy advertisement in Kompas saying Otomotion radio at 97.5 on the FM frequency was looking for employees," Ignatius said.

A lawyer, Asfinawati, who attended the rally, said a radio frequency was just like any other natural resource. "Just like water and air, no one can put a price on it. The administration of radio frequencies should be handled solely by the government," she said.

PT Radio Safari Bina Budaya, a subsidiary of KKG, which was initially appointed by KPI to administer 97.5 FM in 1995, released a formal statement Friday saying the company still held the rights to the frequency.

The statement said it had rented the frequency to PT Milenia Komunika Pradana, or Jakarta News FM, from October 1999 to May 2005. When the contract expired, PT Radio Safari gave the frequency to Otomotion FM.

"We're in the middle of negotiations to resolve the dispute... But the demonstration Friday annulled all agreements we had reached," PT Radio Safari said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

East Java workers demand better wages

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2006

ID Nugroho, Surabaya – A clash erupted between thousands of protesting workers demanding the minimum wage be raised and police in the East Java capital Surabaya on Monday, with dozens of workers injured and eight others arrested.

Over 10,000 workers from 24 labor groups in the province took part in the protest, the latest and largest in East Java since the provincial administration raised the minimum wage from Rp 578,000 (US$57.80) per month to Rp 665,000.

Arriving on trucks and motorcycles, the protesters demanded Governor Imam Utomo raise the provincial minimum wage to Rp 800,000, in response to the rising prices of goods following the increase in fuel prices.

The governor declined to meet with the protesters. He said he had already met with representatives of the 24 labor groups, and an agreement had been reached to perform a new survey of basic living costs in East Java in exchange for an end to the protests.

"We reached an agreement with representatives of the labor groups and a new minimum wage will be announced on Jan. 31 at the latest," Imam told journalists at his home.

But protesters were not swayed and they continued with their action Monday, the largest protest since the middle of last month.

Thousands of workers threatened to occupy the governor's office until he met with them to hear their grievances. Hundreds of police officers prevented the workers from getting into the office, but could not stop them from tearing down a fence.

The protesters dispersed only after police turned water cannons on them. Police also attempted to stop journalists from covering the protest. "We cannot accept the actions of the police. We will sue the police for this," Jamaluddin, a spokesman for the workers, told The Jakarta Post.

He said the labor organizations would call for a province-wide strike if their demands were not met. "Setting the minimum wage at Rp 655,000 is wrong. We want it raised to Rp 800,000 or we will go on strike," he said.

Businesspeople in the province responded cooly to the demand for a higher minimum wage. Suharto, a spokesman for PT Maspion, one of the province's largest companies with 50 factories in Sidoardjo and Gresik manufacturing household appliances, said raising the minimum wage would put a lot of companies out of business.

"That is a lot, Rp 800,000. Lots of companies would go bankrupt if that was approved," he told the Post, urging the workers to return to the factories.

Since the fuel price increases last October, Maspion has shut down three of its factories, putting hundreds of people out of work.

Government/civil service

Rice furor puts Susilo to the test

Jakarta Post - January 23, 2006

Endy M. Bayuni, Jakarta – First there was the hearing. Then came the investigation. Next thing we know, in less than a year, President Abdurrahman Wahid was impeached and forced out of office by the House of Representatives in July 2001.

While it is premature to suggest that Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will meet the same fate, the motion to launch an investigation into the government's rice import policy exposes the shaky position of the current President when it comes to dealing with the House.

The coalition government of at least seven political parties is turning out to be nothing but a house of cards, with the junior partners now taking an active part in pushing for the motion that would undermine the credibility and position of the President.

The House will hold a plenary hearing Tuesday to determine whether there are grounds to launch an investigation into possible impropriety in the way that the government has decided to import rice, the nation's staple food. Ironically, the hearing comes after strong lobbying by some of the political parties in the coalition, like the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the United Development Party (PPP).

They join the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, which has led the opposition forces in the House since she lost the election to Susilo in October 2004. These parties joined hands in a plenary hearing Tuesday last week to force a vote calling the House to hear the motion by some members to exercise their right to investigate the government, known by its Indonesian term as hak angket.

The vote to get a plenary hearing went their way 207-167. For once, Golkar, the largest but not the dominant party in the House, and the Democratic Party (PD), found themselves at the wrong end of the vote as their coalition partners abandoned them.

At the hearing this Tuesday, each party will air its position on the issue of rice imports before voting on whether or not to go ahead with the investigation. If last week's vote was any indication, the government is likely to lose this motion once again.

The government decided early this month to import rice, saying that national stocks were dangerously low and needed to be replenished before the rice harvest season begins in February. Critics dispute the claim of low stock and said the decision to import rice was motivated by profit by politically connected traders at the expense of rice farmers.

Successive administrations since the 1950s have had to thread carefully between protecting the interests of rural farmers and urban consumers. Concerns about food security has also meant providing incentives to farmers, but when it comes to setting prices, the government has tended to side with consumers and has allowed imports from time to time to bring prices down.

However, when the House holds the plenary meeting Tuesday, it is not so much the fate of rice farmers or consumers that are at stake as the future of the coalition government, and possibly the future of President Susilo himself.

His position indeed has been shaky from the beginning. Despite his landslide victory with 62 percent of the vote in September 2004, the President's own PD controls only 55 of the 550 seats in the House. Golkar, which is chaired by Vice President Jusuf Kalla, controls another 128 seats, bringing their total to 183, well short of a controlling majority.

This is why the President had to bring in several other parties, including PAN, PKS, PPP, PKB and the Crescent Star Party (PBB), into his coalition after he came to office. In return for their support, he has had to allocate them seats in the United Indonesia Cabinet. In the past 15 months, the government coalition has had enough of a majority in the House and its members were united enough to ensure passage of some policies and legislation, including two very unpopular fuel price hikes. The President, however, is now learning that the adage "in politics there are no permanent friends, only permanent interests" extends to his coalition government.

On Saturday, he summoned 11 members of the Cabinet, who represent the political parties in the coalition, to his private residence in Cikeas just outside Jakarta, at which he gave a pep talk about the need for their continuous support for the government.

The absence of Jusuf Kalla, who is on an overseas trip, has meant that the President has been virtually alone in dealing with this crisis. Kalla, a far more seasoned politician than the former Army general, had been the one who worked the phone in the past to ensure support from coalition members. One lesson from the Gus Dur impeachment episode in 2001 is that once the motion began in the House, and once the investigation started, it took on a life of its own and became almost unstoppable. Time will tell whether this will also be the case this time around.

What is certain is that the President faces his hardest test yet with the motion in the House this week, and he has to face this virtually alone, without his coalition partners and without Jusuf Kalla at his side. Whether or not he survives this test will ultimately depend to a large extent on his political skill and statesmanship.

[The writer is chief editor of The Jakarta Post.]

Tug of war goes on in judiciary reform bid

Jakarta Post - January 20, 2006

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – With Supreme Court justices miffed at plans for an assessment of their suitability to sit on the bench, legislators have taken their side in what threatens to become a tug of war in the corridors of power.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono gave the go ahead on Jan. 4 for the issuance of a regulation in lieu of a law (Perpu) that authorized the recently established Judicial Commission to assess the Supreme Court's 49 justices.

It was widely seen as a move to clean up the judiciary, especially after five Supreme Court employees were detained in connection with a bribery case involving tycoon Probosutedjo, who was earlier convicted of graft.

Justices, based on the law on the Supreme Court, should be selected by the House of Representatives. Under the Perpu, however, a poor assessment could lead to "reselection" – a euphemism for their reassignment or removal.

Justices argue that this process would be an "insult" to the public who elected the legislators.

Trimedya Panjaitan, who chairs House Commission III monitoring the Supreme Court, said Thursday that Perpu's issuance should be limited to emergency situations.

"Its issuance in a nonemergency situation disrespects the House as a state institution and allows political meddling by the executive in the judiciary," the lawyer and member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said.

Trimedya said the law required the House to be involved in selecting Supreme Court justices, and the proposed reselection should thus also include legislators.

Fellow commission member Lukman Hakim Saifuddin from the United Development Party (PPP) said the government's action indicated its arbitrary actions.

"If the government pulls out a Perpu to fit everything its way, then the President's credibility will be questioned." A partial revision to the Judicial Commission law is the solution, Lukman added.

Supreme Court chief Bagir Manan, who Probosutedjo accused of accepting bribes, reiterated his objection to the plan, saying it would be vulnerable to abuse by the executive.

The Perpu is being drawn up by the Judicial Commission. After meeting with House leaders Thursday, the chairman of the Judicial Commission, Busyro Muqoddas, said reselecting the justices was urgent as part of the government's war against corruption.

"Revising the law on the Judicial Commission, even partially, will take too much time. A Perpu is the option for now." Busyro said the Thursday meeting was to seek political support from the House before submitting the Perpu's draft to the State Secretary in early February for approval by the President.

He was uncertain if the planned reselection of the justices would also include the House in the process.

The Judicial Commission law endows the commission the power to make preliminary selection of justices at the request of the Supreme Court, before final screening and confirmation by the House.

Megawati's sister named SBY's adviser

Jakarta Post - January 21, 2006

Jakarta – In what could add fuel to their sibling rivalry, Rachmawati Soekarnoputri, younger sister of former president Megawati, has crossed family lines and accepted the invitation of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to join his presidential team of advisers, detik.com reported.

Presidential spokesman Andi with Megawati as a minister in her administration, had asked Rachmawati to join the team and she accepted.

The spokesman failed to mention the field of expertise that she will provide to the President. Currently the President has senior politician Ali Alatas, senior economist Dr. Sjahrir and retired general TB Silalahi on his team.

Lawmakers oppose steep power hike

Jakarta Post - January 20, 2006

Leony Aurora and Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – The government risks a backlash if it pushes on with a plan to raise power rates by more than the average agreed upon in the 2006 state budget, lawmakers warned Thursday.

Member of House Commission VII on energy Tjatur Sapto Edy said legislators had approved up to Rp 17 trillion (US$1.80 billion) in subsidies for state electricity firm PLN to cover rising fuel expenses, on the condition the government only raises power rates by an average of 23 percent in 2006.

"We agreed that rates for 450 VA (volt ampere) customers would not be raised," said Tjatur, who is also a member of the budgetary committee.

The biggest hike was supposed to affect household customers with a power capacity of higher than 2,500 VA and big industries, he added.

"The government should comply with this agreement," said Tjatur, adding that lawmakers would oppose any plan to raise rates by more than 23 percent.

National Development Planning Minister Paskah Suzetta said Wednesday the government was considering increases from 18.4 percent to 48.3 percent.

Paskah, speaking after an interministerial meeting, disclosed that increases for power capacity of between 450 VA and 900 VA would probably be less than 7 percent, but from 83 percent to 90 percent for consumers with capacity from 1,300 VA to 10,000 VA. Several industrial groups might see their rates double, he said, without identifying them.

"We will not pass a power rate hike that exceeds people's purchasing ability and an industry's competitiveness," said commission chairman Agusman Effendi.

He added that PLN's fuel expenses should be lower than initially projected amid the strengthening rupiah and declining price of high speed diesel.

Another commission member, Alvin Lie, also warned the government not to burden the people and industries, already hard hit by last year's fuel price hikes, with excessive increases.

He said PLN could lower its cost of production and improve efficiency through measures such as using less oil-based fuel and increasing the use of coal and natural gas.

The commission will summon the government technical team formed to discuss the hike and PLN for a hearing on Monday.

Separately, Minister of Industry Fahmi Idris said that his office was formulating incentives for industries most affected by the electricity rate hike, such as the textile sector.

Although he did not define the incentives, he said other industries would eventually adapt to the change in their production costs. "We do not have the option to disagree with the policy," said Fahmi.

Indonesian Textile Association (API) secretary- general Ernovian Gysmi warned that textile companies would have no other choice but to lay off workers if there was an increase in their production costs.

According to API data, 77 textile companies have stopped operation, leaving more than 8,000 workers jobless, since the government more than doubled fuel prices in October.

Analysts have warned that inflationary pressure caused by a power hike jump of more than 30 percent will be difficult to control, invoking between 2 percent and 3 percent inflation in the following month. This would in turn delay a recovery of the Southeast Asia's largest economy from last year's fuel hike shock.

Kalla disappointed over rice import vote defeat

Jakarta Post - January 19, 2006

Jakarta – Vice President Jusuf Kalla expressed disappointment Wednesday after the political parties supporting his government failed to block a petition by the House of Representatives to look into a controversial plan to import rice.

"I didn't expect it," Kalla was quoted by the Tempointeraktif website as saying in Brussels, where he is beginning a week-long overseas trip that will also take him to Finland and Japan.

Kalla, who also chairs Golkar Party, the largest faction in the House, was responding to the lawmakers' decision Tuesday to take the petition to the House's consultative committee.

The decision was taken in a vote during a plenary meeting Tuesday. Two hundred and seven of 374 legislators in attendance supported the investigative motion.

Earlier Tuesday, Kalla said he had no difficulty stopping the lawmakers from going ahead with the petition. "It's easy to settle the matter. I just needed a half hour to meet them at Dharmawangsa Hotel."

He was referring to an earlier meeting at the hotel in South Jakarta between the Vice President and the petition's proponents. That meeting, however, did not stop the Tuesday vote. That poll, which was led by Deputy House Speaker Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno, was greeted with strong opposition from the factions backing the government – Golkar and the Democratic Party founded by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Boy Saul of the Democrats left his seat and approached the speaker's podium, while shouting his opposition to the vote. The vote however continued, despite two delays when Golkar lawmakers demanded it only be open to faction leaders. That appeal was rejected. When they knew they had lost the vote, most Golkar legislators left the House.

Lawmakers opposed to the petition were those from Golkar, the Democrat Party and some members of the Democracy Pioneer Star faction consisting of the Crescent Star Party, the Pioneer Party and the Indonesian Democracy Vanguard Party.

Those in support included legislators from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the National Mandate Party, the National Awakening Party and the Prosperous Justice Party.

These jubilant members stood up and waved to spectators at the end of the vote.

The House will now bring the issue to a meeting by the Consultative Committee on Wednesday, which will decide whether the petition can be discussed again in a House plenary meeting.

If it is approved, the House will set up a special committee to investigate whether there was an abuse of power or other irregularities when the government endorsed the plan to import 110 tons of rice from Vietnam later this month.

A total of 113 legislators signed the initial petition calling for an investigation. They said rice imports would lower prices for locally produced rice, hurting farmers.

The government has defended the plan, saying the imports were aimed at ensuring stable national stocks of rice.

Bid to block rice imports fails

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2006

Jakarta – A petition signed by more than 100 legislators calling on the House of Representatives to investigate the government's plan to import rice from Vietnam has suffered a blow.

The House's consultative committee failed Monday to get a quorum to discuss whether the request could be taken to a House plenary session for approval.

The meeting was adjourned until Jan. 19 because only 19 of the committee's 55 members showed up. The move to investigate the imports would have succeeded if half the committee's members had attended.

The legislators who backed the petition had wanted to hold an emergency meeting to stop the shipment of 110,000 tons of rice imported from Vietnam later this month.

Hasto Kristianto, a lawmaker from the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the high absenteeism followed a meeting Sunday between Vice President Jusuf Kalla and leaders of the House factions to discuss the issue.

Corruption/collusion/nepotism

Names, sex, all immigration has on graft convicts

Jakarta Post - January 19, 2006

Jakarta – Ever wondered why big-time graft criminals frequently avoid prison and jet out of the country, to spend their days and ill-gotten gains in "safe" countries like Singapore or the United States.

One could point to the lax efforts by the police, or the nation's prosecutors, in ensuring these criminals escape justice.

But these frequently on-the-take law enforcers couldn't do their job so badly if they didn't receive help from one of the most graft-ridden institutions of them all – the Immigration Office, a member of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said Wednesday.

Ronny Ihram Maulana, the KPK's director of monitoring, said immigration, the nation's gatekeeper, lacked an adequate information technology system to properly detect suspects – even if officials weren't taking bribes to let criminals out.

He said the office still used old computer software, which did not have the capacity to update the records of convicts or suspects banned from leaving the country.

Computer records available at the immigration offices did not include photographs and other specific details of graft criminals, he said.

"Available data on these people only consists of their names and sex," Ronny said during a discussion on immigration at the Department of Justice and Human Rights. Neither could the data be shared among offices around the country – and there was no organized filing system.

The KPK has been investigating corruption at the immigration office for the past few months. Ronny said officers had found that human resource management was inadequate and an organized administrative system was sorely lacking.

There was not even an organized best-practice system for the interviewing, fingerprinting, photographing and identifying suspects, he said.

These lack of systems meant officials could frequently get away with charging more than the standard rate for services. "A lousy system fosters corrupt practices, such as excessive 'tipping' within the office," Ronny said.

But it is not only the KPK which thinks immigration offices are corrupt. So do the immigration officials, themselves.

At the panel discussion, Serang Immigration Office head Daud Afifi confessed that he had taken bribes from travelers in the past because of financial need. "One would be a hypocrite if he said he had never done anything corrupt at the immigration office," Daud said. He believed a lack of adequate pay and conditions for officials at immigration offices had fueled corruption there.

President Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono was embarrassed recently by complaints from foreign investors about the number of corrupt immigration officials they encountered.

The State Minister of Administrative Reform, Taufik Effendi plans to restructure immigration by making it more autonomous and separating it from the Justice and Human Rights Ministry. This plan has been resisted by the ministry.

A member of the House of Representatives Commission III on immigration, Setya Novanto, said after the panel discussion that the immigration office should keep a close watch on the progress of cases at the Supreme Court.

"The immigration office has to keep up with these court cases, so that it knows the status of people being tried or investigated," Setya said. He said communication and cooperation between the Supreme Court, the Attorney General's Office and the Immigration Office must also be improved.

After the meeting, national immigration spokesman Cecep Soepriatna told The Jakarta Post that graft suspects usually fled the country before the Attorney General's Office had issued a travel ban on them.

"In the case of David Nusa Widjaya, his travel ban had already expired," he said, referring to the recently captured fugitive who was convicted of embezzling about Rp 1.3 trillion (about US$138 million) from Bank Indonesia.

Travel bans were issued by the Attorney General's Office, which normally immediately sent data, including the name, sex, and date of birth of banned people to immigration, he said.

Well-to-do criminals also often obtained fake passports and identification cards to pass through immigration checkpoints. The immigration office planned to upgrade Indonesian passports with biometric fingerprints and "iris" identification cards to handle passport fraud, he said. "Hopefully the immigration office will implement the technology next year," he said.

Massive overhaul needed to root out tax graft

Jakarta Post - January 19, 2006

Rendi Akhmad Witular, Jakarta – "Jono" is a junior official in an East Jakarta tax office, and regularly parks his silver BMW sedan, which he drives from his luxury home in Cibubur, Bogor, at his friend's house in Jakarta before riding a Honda scooter on the last leg of his journey to work.

Although possessing only a high school diploma, Jono well understands that he needs to avoid arousing public suspicion over the wealth he has gained from falsifying tax documents and claims for value-added tax (VAT) refunds.

Jono readily admits he has been involved in this dirty work for more than five years, inflicting estimated losses on the state of around Rp 14 billion (US$1.48 million). While his case is just the tip of the iceberg, it highlights how the cancer of corruption has spread throughout the Directorate General of Taxation.

At a time when the government is in dire need of money to provide adequate public infrastructure and services, the relevant ministers and officials in the economic ministries seem helpless to stamp out the graft.

With the tax directorate general tasked this year with collecting Rp 362 trillion ($38.51 billion) in taxes, and a plethora of reports on corruption, the warnings from analysts that leakage of tax revenue may amount to many trillions of rupiah annually need to be heeded by all.

An internal report obtained by The Jakarta Post recently from a tax office shows Finance Ministry's Inspectorate General has identified a variety of corruption methods and causes.

However, it remains unclear why the report has not been acted upon to prevent corruption in the tax service, nor why it has not been taken into consideration during the drafting of the recent tax law amendment bills by the government.

Representatives of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) who were involved in drafting the amendments seem to have missed the big picture by merely focusing on technical matters, such as tax rates and procedures.

As highlighted in the Inspectorate General's report, corruption in the tax service occurs primarily because of the service's excessive powers, including its power to set tax policy, collect taxes and supervise tax collection.

Tax analyst Munir M. Ali of the University of Indonesia said the spiraling corruption in the tax service had long been obvious. The spread of the cancer was helped by the fact that the service was structured in such a way that it left no room for balance or the sharing of rights.

"Everybody should be blamed for making the directorate general excessively powerful, thus opening the way for its officials to abuse their powers. Whoever the tax chief is, corruption will continue unabated unless the service's powers are reduced," he said.

Munir suggested the government and legislature start stripping the service of some of its powers by separating the functions of policy-making, tax collection and oversight during the upcoming deliberations on the tax law amendment bills.

Among the laws to be amended are Law No. 16/2000 on general taxation arrangements and procedures, Law No. 17/2000 on income tax and Law No. 18/2000 on VAT and luxury goods tax.

"Our fiscal incentives and tax rates are fairly competitive worldwide, on average. But investors are still reluctant to come here because of the poor implementation of the tax laws, which leads to a high-cost economy and uncertainty," said Munir.

"China has the highest tax rates in the region, but investors are still going there as they feel comfortable with the tax regime, despite the high rates. This shows that lower tax rates and good incentives will not count too much in the absence of a good system," he said.

Lack of transparency is also blamed for corruption in the tax service, with the tax legislation providing little in the way of rights for taxpayers to seek clarifications or explanations regarding the calculation of their tax bills.

The legislation only gives the taxpayer the "opportunity" to seek such information, instead of conferring a "right" on them to do so. This gives excessive discretion to tax officials in calculating the amount of taxes owed.

Another concern is the numerous "gray areas" in the tax legislation that are subject to differing interpretations between tax officials and taxpayers, thus opening the way to bargaining, collusion and extortion.

As things stand at the moment, there is no institution that is capable of resolving taxpayer complaints independently, because the existing tax tribunal does not come under the auspices of the Supreme Court but rather the Finance Ministry, with the judges' salaries being paid by the ministry.

Taxpayers are often reluctant to appeal to the court as they are required to pay 50 percent of their alleged tax arrears before the court will hear their cases, which can sometimes prove to be burdensome.

"If the government is unable to immediately overhaul the tax service, it could instead speed up the establishment of modern tax offices applying the system currently employed by the Large Tax Office, which has proven itself to be clean and effective, said Munir.

Systemic corruption's deep roots in tax service

Jakarta Post - January 19, 2006

The city of Probolinggo is one of the poorest areas on the north coast of East Java, with the municipal administration only taking in Rp 16.31 billion (US$1.73 million) in revenue in 2003 and the average monthly income being less than Rp 500,000 per capita.

But the situation has not deterred tax officials in this city from blackmailing some corporate taxpayers, despite the fact that they could help lift local people out of poverty, and colluding with others to ensure lower tax bills in return for bribes.

Based on a report from the investigative division of the Finance Ministry's Inspectorate General – a copy of which was made available to The Jakarta Post – eight officials, including the local tax office head, are suspected of involvement in corruption.

The investigation started in March 2005 after the division received a report from the Office of the State Minister for Administrative Reforms to the effect that the local tax officials had inflated the real amount of income tax owed by a local Chinese-Indonesian businessman. For spurious reasons, the businessman was told he had to pay Rp 125 million (US$13,300) in income tax. But the amount could be drastically reduced if he agreed to pay the officials a bribe of Rp 35 million.

Unable to come up with the money, the businessman later tried to negotiate with the officials to get the bribe reduced to Rp 5 million – the normal amount paid by his fellow businessmen. The offer, however, was rejected by the officials.

Worried that the tax office would make things difficult for his business, he then reported the officials to a number of agencies, including to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the police.

After an investigation by the Inspectorate General was launched, and eventually expanded to other cases, preliminary indications were found that the officials regularly demanded and accepted bribes from local businessmen to reduce their tax bills or help get them out of difficulties.

It was discovered out that the officials received between Rp 250,000 and Rp 8 million for every "service" they provided. There was even an official who acted as a tax "broker" and "consultant" for 80 local taxpayers, mostly gold traders in a traditional market, in order to help them evade their taxes.

Probolinggo tax office head A. Sjarkowi could not be contacted by the Post for confirmation as he was on the haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

Another official named in the report, Achmad Dimyati, refused to comment, saying that he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

It is still unclear whether the Directorate General of Taxation has taken any action against the officials.

The directorate has, however, sent a copy of the report to every tax office in the country. This is now being used by other officials to avoid being caught in connection with such "trivial" cases.

"Tax officials are reading the report to improve their corruption skills. It is actually a petty case and is not that complicated. But it shows that we should not make any errors when dealing with similar cases in the future," said a tax official.

The report shows that corruption in Indonesia's tax offices is not the result of the actions of unscrupulous individuals, or oknum as they are known here, but rather is systemic in nature and involves officials from the lowest to the highest levels.

A senior official in the Inspectorate General said that the Probolinggo report and other cases investigated by the inspectorate highlighted how corruption in the tax service was deeply institutionalized.

"The report shows that corrupt tax officials are no longer out of reach of the authorities. Similar cases have also occurred in other tax offices. This case merely reflects this," said a senior official in the Inspectorate General.

The inspectorate recently uncovered a corruption case in a tax office in Lampung's capital, Bandar Lampung, in which 19 officials have been implicated, including the tax office head. Potential state losses are believed to run to Rp 9.8 billion. – Rendi Akhmad Witular

Graft methods uncovered

Jakarta Post - January 19, 2006

A report prepared by the newly established investigative division of the Finance Ministry's Inspectorate General shows that there are various methods regularly used by tax officials to pillage potential tax revenue.

The report, a copy of which was obtained by The Jakarta Post, is based on an investigation conducted in 2005 in response to public complaints.

The first and simplest method involves collusion between tax officials and businesspeople in recording fictitious transactions purporting to show that the companies have credited their value-added tax to the tax office, which can be refunded afterward.

The method is more or less similar to those used in a recent high-profile scam involving collusion between businesspeople and customs and tax officials for the issuance of falsified export documents and the claiming of refunds from the Pademangan tax office in North Jakarta.

Based on the Inspectorate General's report, preliminary evidence was found suggesting the involvement of 30 tax officials in this kind of scam last year, with state losses estimated at around Rp 28.5 billion. The investigation excluded the Pademangan case.

"This method is not a typical scam by tax officials. It is not that complicated and the proceeds are not so huge compared to other, more complex methods. This is usually done by junior and less-skilled officials," said an auditor with a Jakarta tax office.

The Inspectorate General also found a more complicated scam in which taxpayers and tax officials colluded in falsifying tax payment documents, including tax transfer certificates (SSP) and tax transfer certificates for property and buildings (SSB).

With these, taxpayers can evade paying taxes but still obtain a legal proof of payment. The collusion also involves the falsifying of bank deposit certificates in order to lower tax bills.

Based on its investigation. the Inspectorate General identified 12 tax officials involved in such cases last year, with the state likely suffering at least Rp 24 billion in losses.

The favorite method employed by tax officials, however, is simple extortion. The officials intentionally inflate the amounts owed by taxpayers in order to push them to file a complaint with the tax tribunal.

But under existing regulations, they cannot file a complaint unless they have paid 50 percent of the inflated arrears. Given the huge cost of going to the tribunal, taxpayers are often reluctant to seek redress there.

Those who are unable to pay 50 percent of their assessed arrears have no alternative but to seek a compromise with tax officials by paying bribes, which, according to the report, could amount to between 10 percent and 50 percent of the inflated tax assessments.

Other favorite methods used by tax officials to feather their own nests include reducing tax assessments in return for bribes, or threatening to hold up a tax rebate for years unless money is handed over.

The Inspectorate General's report found that 40 tax officials were involved in such practices last year, with the potential losses to the state yet to be calculated. – Rendi Akhmad Witular/The Jakarta Post

Focus on Jakarta

New group commits to greener Jakarta

Jakarta Post - January 23, 2006

Adianto P Simamora and Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – An environmental group declared Thursday says the administration is not ready to enforce bylaw No. 2/2005 on air pollution control, which comes into effect next month.

Jakarta Environment Caucus (KLJ) coordinator Muhayar Rustamuddin said the administration needed to think seriously about supporting regulations for the bylaw. "...otherwise the bylaw won't be workable," said Muhayar, who is also a councillor He said the caucus would be keeping a close eye on the efficacy and workability of the bylaw.

The KLJ is a non-governmental organization uniting, among others, former state minister of the environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, Clean Air Partnership (MEB) secretary-general Ahmad Safrudin and chairman of the Jakarta Resident's Forum (Fakta) Azas Tigor Nainggolan. Muhayar said the KLJ was dedicated to environmental causes.

Jakarta is up against air, water and land pollution problems as well as a poor waste management system, said head of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment's (Walhi) Jakarta chapter Slamet Darruiny, who attended Thursday an event in which the formation of the group was announced.

"If the city fails to address these problems, disasters will result," Slamet said. He said the city was at a critical juncture with losses due to air pollution in 2015 estimated at a staggering Rp 4.3 trillion, compared to Rp 1.8 trillion in 1998. "Up to 70 percent of air pollution in Jakarta comes from vehicle emissions, so something must be done," he said. Atmospheric pollutants and irritants have been linked to chronic respiratory problems.

Slamet said many people drank polluted groundwater as the city waterworks' pumping and purifying equipment was only sufficient to supply 45 percent of Jakartans. Whereas water shortages are experienced in the dry season, floods leave many people homeless in the rainy season, he said.

Jakarta has 78 flood-prone areas, mostly in North Jakarta. The areas include Kampung Melayu, Cipinang Besar Utara, Cipinang Besar Selatan, Petamburan, Kedoya Utara, Pegadungan, Tegal Alur, Kelapa Gading, Pejagalan, Kamal Muara, Sungai Bambu, Kebon Bawang, Warakas, Sunter Utara. Sunter Agung, Tugu Selatan, Tugu Utara, Rawa Badak Utara, Koja, Semper Barat, Cilincing, Kalibaru, Semper Timur, Marunda, Rorotan, and Sukapura.

Slamet said the city's poor waste-management system also put residents at risk of disaster. "Jakarta produces 25,650 cubic meters of garbage daily but the administration can only manage 88 percent or 22.500 cubic meters," he said.

"Effective communications between the public, non-governmental organizations and the city administration can help us overcome these problems," he said.

City calls for united front against drink

Jakarta Post - January 20, 2006

Jakarta – The Jakarta administration on Thursday asked neighboring administrations Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi and Cianjur to join it in presenting a united front against alcohol.

The capital's industry and trade agency issued a circular in December banning the sale of drinks with more than 5 percent alcohol in supermarkets and hypermarkets.

"We have agreed to control the production and circulation of alcohol," agency head Ade Suharsono said Thursday. "That's why we have asked neighboring administrations to increase their supervision of alcohol sales," Ade added.

He could not specify the kind of cooperation the agency was hoping for, pending meetings on the issue with representatives of the other administrations.

The agency's circular prohibited supermarkets and hypermarkets in Jakarta from selling "type B" (wine, champagne) and "type C" (spirits) alcoholic beverages.

The circular was issued in line with a 1997 presidential decree on the monitoring and control of alcohol sales, as well as a 1997 decree from the now defunct industry and trade ministry on monitoring and controlling the production, importation, distribution and sale of alcoholic drinks.

Tangerang municipality has gone one step further by banning the sale and distribution of all alcoholic drinks, including beer. Duty-free shops are the exception. In Tangerang, alcohol can only be consumed in three-, four-and five-star hotels or restaurants displaying special stickers issued by the Culture and Tourism Ministry. The same ruling goes for bars, pubs and nightclubs in Jakarta.

"Any company that violates the law will have its license withdrawn," said Ade. He said the agency had raided several outlets in Jakarta that were selling alcohol illegally. "No company can produce or sell alcohol near a house of worship, school or hospital," he said.

Free bus driver attacked by commercial drivers

Jakarta Post - January 20, 2006

Jakarta – A group of minivan and bus drivers assaulted Thursday a driver for the free school bus in Cilincing, North Jakarta.

Kennedi, 35, a bus driver for the charity organization Dompet Dhuafa, was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment after injuries to his head and face.

The attack came the first day the bus began operating. A group of drivers who said the new bus would rob them of income, stopped the bus already carrying many students at about 6:30 a.m.

The drivers forced all the students off the bus and made them get on theirs, free school bus program director Ahmad Juwaini said.

"Kennedi tried to explain to the angry drivers that the bus was operating legally but they did not want to listen and assaulted him," Ahmad said.

The drivers hit the bus with iron bars, breaking all of its windows. Residents in the neighborhood attracted by the noise later came to Kennedi's aid.

Ahmad said Dompet Dhuafa provided two free buses and had tried to chose a route that would not overlap commercial corridors. "We won't back down. We will discuss the problems with the Association of Public Transportation Owners and the city administration," he said.

Environment

Mining poses threats to the nation

Jakarta Post - January 21, 2006

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Standing in front of 3,000 people, Mari, a junior high school student, reads out a poem reminding people of how environmentally harmful mining activities can be.

"What will we, your next generation, have to pass on to our children, if you, our elders, leave us a land filled with huge and toxic holes?"

Mari was speaking to mark the National Day for Flowers and National Parks, but the question is not as rhetorical as it sounds. Bangka Belitung Environmental Impact Control Office head Tunggul Pakpahan said about 6,000 pit-mining holes had been found across the province.

Polluted with dangerous mining chemicals the holes were left untreated by companies and individual miners after they extracted the copper.

"They were all caused by illegal mining. Not just by companies, but also by groups of people carrying out 'unconventional mining' operations," he told The Jakarta Post recently.

Mining – illegal and legal – has left scars in provinces throughout Indonesia, with some of the worst affected areas being the Bintan Islands in South Sumatra, the island of Kalimantan and Papua.

Despite the prevalence of illegal miners, the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) says the major post-mining threats are posed by huge multinational companies that have been exploiting mineral resources in Indonesia for decades.

In its 2005 report, Jatam said four decades of legal mining had contributed little to improving the Indonesian economy but had heavily damaged the country's environment.

"The mining industry has failed to become a pillar of the national economy, let alone make the local people prosper," the report says.

During the past four years, the mining sector only contributed between Rp 1.3 trillion (US$136 million) and Rp 2.3 trillion to the national budget, Jatam claimed.

Citing two cases of alleged pollution involving two large international mining companies last year – PT Freeport Indonesia and PT Newmont Minahasa Raya, the organization suggested that mining should only be "the last resort" for the government to promote economic development.

"To improve the current conditions, the government must review the regulations on the mining industry to prevent further environmental destruction. Mining should be the last choice for investment here," Jatam coordinator Maimunah said. Although large international mining companies here are taken to court, there are few cases made against illegal miners or mining companies.

Environmental activists have accused Freeport, which operates the world's largest gold and copper mine in Papua, of polluting the Aijkwa River, where it disposed its tailings for more than 30 years. That case has not gone to court.

Gold-miner Newmont, meanwhile, is facing criminal charges in a court in Manado, North Sulawesi, for allegedly polluting Buyat Bay with its mine tailings.

Both companies have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, claiming they carried out environmentally friendly mining operations in line with the country's regulations on environmental protection.

State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said irresponsible mining activities led to land degradation, increasing the risks of natural disasters, such as flash floods and landslides during the rainy season and drought in the dry season.

"God has given us this mineral-rich country. But we don't have to exploit all of the land. There should be a balance between mining and preserving the land and forests," he said.

The minister said his office would encourage local administrations, NGOs, civic groups and individuals to restore post-mining sites by planting trees.

"We will also enforce the law. Any organization that carries out mining operations and neglects to protect the environment will certainly be taken to court," he said.

Former environment minister Sonny Keraf said the House of Representatives was still in the process of debating a draft law on natural resources management.

That law has more regulations protecting the environment from mining activities.

Lax roadworthy test no shining example

Jakarta Post - January 19, 2006

Tantri Yuliandini, Jakarta – A bus stopped, took on passengers, then quickly departed in a choking cloud of smoke. People on the sidewalk scrambled for a handkerchief or piece of tissue to cover their noses from the black trail of fumes.

It is the glaring evidence that, after a decade of requiring public transportation and cargo vehicles to regularly check their roadworthiness, many dubiously certified ones are still on the city's streets.

"Considering how rife extortion practices are in the roadworthy test on public vehicles, we can only hope that the new bylaw requiring private vehicles to have their emissions tested won't become like that," Mitra Emisi Bersih (MEB) program manager Firdaus Cahyadi told The Jakarta Post Wednesday.

He was concerned that, with only two weeks before the bylaw's implementation, no procedures were in place to deal with the prospect of vehicle owners being shaken down to reach the emissions' standard.

"For the last decade, the government has dealt with the testing of only 10 percent of the city's total vehicles, and yet it failed to control illegal practices that went on," Firdaus said.

It was not because the owners of the vehicles were neglectful in coming in for their tests. Firdaus said that an MEB study of 773 vehicles about to be tested at Ujung Menteng test center in East Jakarta in 2004 showed that 99.7 percent of them regularly tested their vehicles' roadworthiness.

The fact was that almost all of them – 99 percent – had been forced, at one time or another, to employ the services of a middleman – meant to save time and avoid bureaucratic snags – for the test.

Difficulties with bureaucracy, at 50.7 percent, was the most frequent complication they faced, followed by those created by the middlemen (29 percent), Firdaus said. The brokers do not come cheap, with some charging between Rp 200,000 (about US$21) to Rp 300,000 per vehicle, while the official charge for a minivan test was only Rp 67,000, he said.

Frequent media reports on the extortion at various testing stations, with many assuming the local officials also take a cut of the charges from the middlemen, have failed to stop the practice.

"Without an official report, it's difficult for us to tell the difference between a middleman and those who aren't, and so far there has not been a report," head of the Jakarta Transportation Agency Nurachman argued, adding that his office would do its utmost to punish any officials involved in the shakedown.

The use of privately owned auto workshops in the emissions tests – instead of government controlled ones for the roadworthy tests for public vehicles – may help minimize illegal practices, but it was no guarantee, Firdaus said.

He urged strict public control and open access to information about emissions tests and air quality.

"The air quality in Jakarta will be one of the main indicators of how successful the emissions test program is. If air quality remains the same after the testing becomes mandatory, then we know that it was not conducted properly."

Islam/religion

Elderly want to die as martyrs on haj

Jakarta Post - January 23, 2006

Jakarta – Every year more than 100 Indonesians die while performing the annual haj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Most of the dead are elderly or ill.

They often go on the pilgrimage without taking into account their old age or poor health. And despite the risks, they are likely to keep going.

For many Indonesian Muslims, to die in Mecca while on a pilgrimage is to become a syahid – the Arabic word for "martyr". "It would be much better if I was destined by God to die there (Mecca)," Kustomo, a 70-year-old food vendor at a traditional market in Central Jakarta, said.

However, for Kustomo, this possibility will likely remain a dream; his family cannot afford the money it would take to send him there. But if they could, and he died: "My family would understand and accept my passing," he said.

A former religious affairs minister and a respected Muslim scholar, Quraish Shihab, said he believed many Indonesian Muslims went specifically to Mecca to die, in the same place where the Prophet Muhammad spent his last days.

Quraish said that many people believed that dying in Mecca was better than passing on in their homeland, although "Islam forbids people from having any sort of wish to die".

The latest data from the Religious Affairs Ministry showed at least 168 pilgrims died during this year's pilgrimage – mostly due to old age, chronic heart conditions or asthma. One-hundred- and-seven of the dead were older than 60. This year's toll rose from the 135 deaths from natural causes the previous year.

However, Quraish said there was no guarantee that dying in Mecca made a pilgrim into a martyr. Martyrdom in Islam was recognized when someone died when performing a noble or difficult act in the name of God, he said. A woman who died in the process of giving birth to her baby was an excellent candidate for martyrdom, Quraish said.

"People need to be guided – they need to have this explained to them." Well-off pilgrims should not seek martyrdom through pilgrimages, he said. It would be better if they set noble examples for people after they returned home.

Achmad Fuad Fanani, a young intellectual from Muhammadiyah, the country's second-largest Muslim organization, agreed. "A pilgrim should share his or her experiences of their pilgrimages and become a role model for others," Fuad said.

Quraish and Fuad called on the government to increase its efforts to reduce the deaths of Indonesian pilgrims in Mecca by tightening regulations for those wanting to go on the pilgrimage. Old and ailing people should be tested and prevented from going to Mecca if they were judged unfit, they said.

The Religious Affairs Ministry's director-general of pilgrimage guidance, Mochtar Ilyas, said the ministry usually stopped pilgrims with contagious diseases from leaving for Mecca, while those with serious conditions were carefully monitored.

However, there were no legal age limits for Muslims to perform the haj, Mochtar said. Tradition meant that only pilgrims under 17 years and unmarried couple were denied the privilege.

About 205,000 Indonesian pilgrims went this year to Mecca, joining about two million others from around the globe. Most pilgrims began returning home on Monday, with the last batches expected on Feb. 12.

Playboy triggers furore among conservative Muslims

Agence France Presse - January 22, 2006

Jakarta – Conservative Indonesians are furious about the planned debut of a local edition of raunchy magazine Playboy, fuelling a growing debate on pornography in the world's largest Islamic nation.

The local publisher has promised that it will dramatically tone down the magazine's erotic photographs, but Islamic leaders charge that the famed title will corrupt a culture already being inundated by Western influences.

"Indonesia is not Europe or America, whose culture and reaction towards nudity are totally different than ours," fumed Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of the country's largest Muslim organisation, the moderate Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).

Playboy "simply has no place in our social norms and culture... Pornography, regardless of how it is being disguised, will only corrupt youth morals and bring catastrophes such as a rise in rape and sexual harassment," he told AFP.

Muzadi wants authorities to revoke not only the license it has issued for Playboy but also for its Indonesian competitors.

Dozens of titillating glossy magazines have debuted since the 1998 downfall of dictator Suharto ushered in a new era of free speech, such as British lads' magazine FHM and sex tip-packed Cosmopolitan, as well as local titles.

"Legalising Playboy to circulate in Indonesia is tantamount to legalising pornography, which is already pretty much uncontrollable due to the circulation of pirated DVDs and VCDs and the Internet," he said.

Such porn discs are readily, if discreetly, available across the capital Jakarta for as little as 6,000 rupiah (60 cents), while tabloid newspapers flaunt flesh-flashing models and erotic movies are beamed on late-night TV. Still, it is world-renowned Playboy, which will sell for between 40,000 and 50,000 rupiah by subscription and at select high-end bookstores, that has hit a particular nerve.

"It will be disastrous for Indonesia," Irfan Awwas, chairman of the hardline Indonesian Mujahedin Council, told AFP. "The publication of Playboy as we know it will further destroy the nation's morality."

But for those in the know, illicit imported copies of the magazine are already sold by vendors such as 23-year-old Jimmy, who produced a November 2004 edition upon request at Central Jakarta's famous Kwitang used book market.

The devout Muslim has no difficulty in reconciling his trade with his religion. "God has His own ways for everyone to earn their living. I believe there will always be customers who want to buy these magazines from me," he told AFP.

His biggest fear was being caught by undercover police officers "who want to jail me but also want to keep my magazines," he complained.

The debut of Playboy highlights an arguable shift in values across the vast archipelago nation, where most people practise a moderate form of Islam, and comes as lawmakers are soon expected to pass a wide-ranging law on pornography.

Leo Batubara, a senior member of the Indonesian Press Council, said the state body was still arguing with MPs over an "acceptable Indonesian media standard of what is deemed to be morally accepted and what is not." The council has no legal power to revoke licences but is often consulted by the parliament to discuss media- related issues.

Lawmakers "cannot seem to make up their mind on how to categorise movies, publications and even our 'dangdut' shows, which do not show full- frontal nudity but reveal women posing and acting in semi-erotic fashion," he said.

The hugely popular dangdut features traditional Indonesian music with strong Indian and Arabic influences.

Aided by experts in communications and media policies, Batubara said the council will try to persuade lawmakers not to include two articles in the current draft law.

One stipulates jail terms of up to seven years for "acts and publication of acts deemed indecent or sexually arousing." The other legislates a similar jail term for people caught kissing in public or dancing – such as dangdut – which includes "arousing movements".

"Many lawmakers involved in the making of the bill have no real understanding and knowledge of what exactly is pornography," Batubara said.

"They just want to issue a law but they do not want to give a damn about its impact on our socially and culturally complex society," he warned.

"If parliament endorses the law (as it stands), could a married couple kissing during their wedding ceremony be sent to jail for public indecency?" On Playboy, Batubara said critics should reserve judgement until they see how it fits into "Indonesia's modern and acceptable social norms."

Fellow press council member R.H. Siregar was also in favour of its publication, saying it would be unfair for it to be banned.

He said, however, that the publisher "must consult religious groups and explain their format and intention." Playboy Indonesia's promotion manager, Avianto Nugroho, told AFP Saturday that its publication launch planned for March "could be pushed back", though he declined to say why.

He said the publisher was due to meet this week with Playboy executives in New York to discuss the magazine's "concept, style and format".

Ulema council rules hunger strike 'haram'

Jakarta Post - January 20, 2006

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – The West Java Indonesian Ulema Council issued an informal edict Thursday, declaring that a hunger strike by Ciseeng residents as haram, forbidden according to Islam.

The hunger strikers, who the council assumes are followers of Islam, are up in arms over high- voltage lines near their village.

The MUI's provincial chairman, Hafidz Ustman, said that under Islam, it is haram to inflict harm on oneself and encouraged the protesters, who have sewn their mouths shut since the strike began 10 days ago, to let the law sort out the problem.

"This is a call, not an fatwa. It is (the residents' rights) to demand something, but not by sacrificing themselves. The strike does not only harm themselves, but also their relatives," Hafidz told journalists in Bandung on Thursday.

Five Ciseeng residents, along with a handful of other people from the province, have been protesting in Jakarta since late December, demanding state electricity company to give them 10 times more money in compensation than the company has agreed to give them.

Thursday's informal edict, made following a consultation meeting between the council and PLN three days ago, was the second time in recent months that the council had come out in favor of the electricity company in the dispute with residents.

In September 2005, the council in Cianjur issued an edict telling residents that paying electricity is a must. The edict was issued after the electricity company ran out of ideas to make the Cianjur residents pay their late bills.

The residents, who earlier declined to pay the bills to protest the transmission line crossing their land, finally bent to the cleric's pressure and paid the bills.

Hafidz said that the transmission line's victims in Ciseeng should obey the law in the case, which has been simmering for almost 10 years and now has a lot of people's attention.

"All government officials, including the President, know (about the case). Islam doesn't advocate violence in solving problem. Hunger strikes, as mentioned in a part of the Koran, is an act of violence," he said.

Meanwhile, the general manager of the Java-Banten center for electricity distribution for PLN, Murtaqi Syamsudin, said his office, apart from requesting a solution to the Ciseeng problem, has also reported an alleged sabotage plan by several protesters in the Waled area in Cirebon, West Java.

"They're threatening to cut down a grid tower, an important installation. If the residents go ahead with their threat, it will cause blackouts for tens of millions of electricity consumers," Murtaqi said.

Those involved in the sabotage, he said, could be charged with violating article 406 and 408 of the Criminal Code and might face up to four years in prison under Law No. 15/2003 on terrorism.

'Pesantren' no hive of tolerance: Survey

Jakarta Post - January 18, 2006

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Although they deny the claims they are a breeding ground for terrorists, pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) are a fertile spot for conservative, intolerant views of other faiths, a new study reveals.

Research conducted by the Jakarta-based International Center for Islam and Pluralism (ICIP) at 20 schools in West Java showed a generally held belief among students and clerics that there was no compromising on the matter of religion. Tolerance should only be limited to sociopolitical and economic issues, they told researchers in the study, released Tuesday.

In practical terms, their unbending view of religious right and wrong means no uttering of a Merry Christmas greeting to Christians, or any other expression of acceptance toward a faith other than Islam. In their opinion, the recognition of other faiths is a sin, because Islam is the only true religion, the researchers said.

Their responses were in keeping with the controversial edict issued last year by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) that banned Islamic interpretations based on liberalism, secularism and pluralism.

They also supported two other MUI fatwas – one that requires Muslims to consider their religion to be the true one, and to view other faiths as wrong, and another that declares Ahmadiyah a heretical Islamic sect. Ahmadiyah recognizes another prophet apart from Muhammad.

The respondents said the involvement of women in politics or society in general must be limited, because their roles were merely domestic, with men as the leaders. Not surprisingly, the idea of feminism and gender equality was branded part of liberal thought concepts which, according to them, were not in line with Islamic teachings.

In terms of implementing sharia law, the responses were split, with some advocating the establishment of an Islamic state, while others thought creating strong morality and education were more important. Democracy which is based on representation, meanwhile, is preferred to direct elections, because "people cannot make their own choice".

Presented at a three-day workshop for members of the West Java Islamic boarding school community, the research quickly drew criticism from the assembled clerics and students.

"The Christmas greeting is trivial compared to the security and wealth received by a minority group. When Muslims are a minority, they are not protected," said a participant.

But the same might be said for religious minorities in this predominantly Muslim country, with the year 2005 marred by the forced closure of many houses of worships in Bandung and its surrounding areas.

Another participant argued that in Christian- majority provinces like East Nusa Tenggara, Muslims also face obstacles in establishing a mosque or making the call to prayer (adzan).

ICIP researcher Jajat Burhanudin said some Muslims remain "traumatized" by the legacy of Western colonization, but the intolerance was not limited to West Java. "But will we continue to see Jews and Christians as threats? Or are we going to move on?" he said.

Jailed teachers' hope for release dashed

Jakarta Post - January 18, 2006

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Three Christian women jailed in the West Java town of Indramayu for inviting Muslim children to their Sunday school last year will stay in prison for three more years, after the Constitutional Court rejected a legal challenge to the ruling.

The court rejected on Tuesday a plea filed by a clergyman to strike off an article in the Child Protection Law, which the Indramayu District Court used to put the women behind bars.

The court ruled that the Rev. Ruyandi Hutasoit had no legal standing in the case and that the article he challenged was not in conflict with the Constitution.

The article in the Child Protection Law rules that people found guilty of persuading children to convert to another religion are subject to five years in jail and/or a Rp 100 million fine.

Hutasoit argued the article contradicted one in the Constitution guaranteeing people the freedom to practice the religion of their choice.

The Indramayu District Court judges ruled last year that the three Christian women – Rebecca Zakaria, Eti Pangestu and Ratna Bangun – violated the article in the Child Protection Law by persuading Muslim minors to convert to Christianity without their parents' consent. The verdict drew criticism from Muslim and Christian communities in the area, who said the children had voluntarily gone to the school and had not changed their religion.

A panel of nine Constitutional Court judges decided that Ruyandi had no right to contest the law because he had not experienced any "direct losses" in the case.

"Because the plaintiff has no legal standing to appeal for a legal review, the court decides that his request... is denied," Judge Jimly Asshiddique said.

The court also ruled that Article 86 of the Child Protection Law did not contradict the Constitution, because the article clearly forbade the use of "tricks, lies or force" to convert children.

Ruyandi's lawyer, Henri Rudiono Lie, said he would need time to decide if he would file another appeal. "Maybe we can find someone else who was victimized by this law as the judges suggested," Henri told The Jakarta Post. Henri said the article hampered the practice of Christianity in Muslim-dominated regions.

Armed forces/defense

Tough job lies ahead for Air Force's Suyanto

Jakarta Post - January 20, 2006

Imanuddin Razak, Jakarta – It is apparent that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has heard the demand that the post of Indonesian Military (TNI) chief be rotated among the three military forces: the Army, Navy and Air Force.

This week, he named Air Force Chief of Staff Air Marshal Djoko Suyanto as his sole candidate for the post, instead of the most senior officer in the pipeline – former Army chief Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu.

Based on the rotation system, which is suggested in the 2004 law on the TNI, it is indeed the turn of an Air Force officer to lead the military.

Though not yet confirmed – observing the legal framework for the nomination and appointment of a TNI chief, which requires approval from the House of Representatives prior to the final appointment – Djoko will almost surely become the next TNI chief, replacing Gen. Endriartono Sutarto.

The only potential obstacle to Djoko's appointment is the House's endorsement. And from the political atmosphere in the legislative body, it is likely the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI- P) faction in the House will offer some opposition to the appointment.

However, the party, led by former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, the daughter of founding president Sukarno, has toned down its rhetoric over the nomination.

Both the head of the PDI-P faction in the House, Tjahjo Kumolo, and the party's secretary-general, Pramono Anung Wibowo, have expressed the party's position in gentler tones, only saying the PDI-P will question the government's position regarding a presidential decree by Megawati a few days before she ended her term on Oct. 20, 2004. That decree endorsed Endriartono's request for retirement and appointed Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu as his successor.

Despite the party's close ties to Ryamizard, it is understandable that the PDI-P has begun showing positive gestures toward the Djoko's nomination.

Historically, the Air Force has had good relations with Sukarno and Megawati. That is likely the reason the PDI-P does not seem to be gearing up for an all-out fight over Djoko's nomination.

The potential appointment of an Air Force chief to the TNI's top post, however, may reopen old wounds and heighten the tension among the armed forces – mainly between the Army and the Air Force. We must remember the nation was torn by a serious rivalry between the two forces during the last years of Sukarno's presidency.

After the downfall of Sukarno in 1966, in the wake of a power struggle between the Army and the now banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), alleged Sukarno- and PKI-related government officials and military officers were dismissed, including then Minister/Air Force chief Vice Marshal Omar Dhani, who also was jailed.

One of the positive aspects of Djoko's appointment is that it could mark the beginning of a new era of closer ties among the three military forces, especially with Susilo – a retired Army general – being the one who nominated an Air Force man for the post.

Apart from the political reasons behind Djoko's nomination, if the House approves his appointment, it could turn out to be a difficult task for Djoko to lead the military.

The fact that Djoko does not come from the biggest force – the Army – which roughly comprises half of the TNI, will make it difficult for him to gain full control.

It also will not be easy for him to carry out reforms within the TNI, a task that is eagerly expected by Indonesians, as he must secure the commitment of other forces – mainly the Army – in pursuing reform.

His military career, which was mostly spent in operational fields and has hardly touched on reform-related tasks or issues, is not indicative of a probable reform agenda. The only strategic "learning" period he had was when he attended a course at the National Resilience Institute in 1999.

Also, Djoko is not a well-known officer and there is no mention in his military records of any large or significant military operations that he led.

As a result of all this, it would be advisable for President Susilo to give full support to Djoko, should he eventually be confirmed as TNI chief. Susilo nominated him and is responsible for ensuring his appointment goes smoothly.

Otherwise, the whole process could aggravate old rivalries between the forces, which would jeopardize the country's unity and security.

Djoko's task is next phase of TNI reform

Jakarta Post - January 19, 2006

Tiarma Siboro and Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Reorganizing the military and reviewing the Army- focused national defense concept will be the main tasks for the new military chief, analysts said on Wednesday.

Military analyst and sociologist Daniel Sparringa said reorganization of the armed forces should be the focus of the second phase of the military's internal reform under Djoko Suyanto, a four-star Air Force marshal nominated to lead the Indonesian Military (TNI).

"The first stage of military internal reform, which includes a total review of the military's old paradigm has been completed," he said of the long-held concept that the military was an all- encompassing safeguarder in society.

"Now as it is entering the second stage of internal reform, reorganization of the institution is a must to enable the military to maximize the allocation of its limited budget for defense purposes."

A researcher from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), J. Kristiadi, said the concept of a professional military focuses on the creation of a modern military to guard the state, which should no longer involve "guerrilla warfare". The concept is still part of the doctrine of the TNI.

"This will be a hard task for the government, and for Djoko as well, to deal with," Kristiadi acknowledged, adding that the Navy and Air Force, both smaller and less influential than the Army, must also hold key roles in creating a professional, modern military.

Another task for Djoko will be shaping a new concept on the military reorganization, Kristiadi said. "The main function of the military is not like that of the local administration, which provides a public service to their people. But the current military structure is still parallel with that of the local administration, as its network ranges from the provincial level down to the village level," Kristiadi said, refering to the territorial command structure.

The structure, which supports the military's social and political roles, has been blamed for abuses of power and human rights violations. Following the formal end of the New Order in 1998, the military pledged that the structure would be dismantled, but it remains.

In a bid to avoid politicking on the appointment, Kristiadi agreed with suggestions from current military chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto that lawmakers should simply give their approval of the nomination when it comes before them.

"The appointment of the TNI commander is the President's prerogative. Unless the lawmakers believe the candidate has a questionable track record, he should not be involved in a fit-and- proper test."

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono submitted a letter to the legislature Sunday night for Djoko's nomination as the lone candidate to take over the military leadership from Gen. Endriartono.

Although Djoko enjoys support in the House, politicians from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) have vowed to sit out the confirmation hearing. PDI-P argued they would support Army chief of staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu as the commander.

House Speaker Agung Laksono was scheduled to announce Djoko's nomination in a plenary meeting on Tuesday, but the lawmakers were instead involved in voting on the government's policy on rice imports.

Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono also said "considerations" by the House would be more appropriate rather than "involving political powers" in the appointment of the TNI chief.

The implications of Djoko's nomination

Jakarta Post - January 19, 2006

Andi Widjajanto, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has nominated Air Marshal Djoko Suyanto to be the next Indonesian Military (TNI) commander. There are several explanations as to why the President picked Suyanto as his sole candidate.

From an organizational perspective, the President is attempting to initiate an organizational transformation in the military by accelerating the regeneration process. This transformation is crucial since the 2004 TNI Law extends the mandatory retirement age for military officers from 55 to 58. This has created a huge gap between the number of officers with structural positions available within the military organization.

By accelerating the regeneration process, Susilo must deal with a number of high-ranking military officers – especially from the Army, who will have to stay at the same level for several years. These officers will have to face several horizontal rotations before they are promoted to a higher position.

Based on this organizational requirement, although seen as the President's preferred choice, as the youngest chief of staff, Army chief Gen. Djoko Santoso will most likely be able to assume the TNI commander post in 2007 or 2008. By nominating the marshal, the President will have an opportunity to nominate another marshal from the class of 1974 or 1975. Similar opportunities are now open up for Susilo to nominate a new Navy chief.

A transformation of the military organization for each branch can also be used to explain the President's decision.

The chief of the Navy, Adm. Slamet Soebijanto, is yet to complete a naval transformation. There are two cases in point. First, since 2002, the Navy has proposed its new naval strategy, "Nusantara Naval Defense Strategy". This new strategy is implemented by strengthening the naval presence in Indonesia's territorial waters by constructing several new naval bases, especially in the eastern part of Indonesia.

Second, as the Navy chief, Adm. Soebijanto still has to decide what kind of weapons system will be used by the Navy. Under Soebijanto's predecessor Adm. Bernard Kent Sondakh, the Navy decided to have a mid-term military cooperation with the Netherlands. The Dutch will provide a supplier's credit for Indonesia to buy several corvette-class warships, fast patrol boats and submarines.

This procurement plan has been postponed by Soebijanto, so now the Navy is still waiting for his decision on a future weapons system. Several states have already stated their willingness to assist the Navy on a weapons system. Some of these are Australia, South Korea, China, India, Germany and Russia.

Similar to Soebijanto, Gen. Santoso is yet to finish consolidation within the Army. For example, many strategic positions in the Army organization, such as commander of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), regional territorial commanders, and the commander of the Army's Staff and Command School have not yet been replaced.

More work is needed in the restructuring of the Army. The strategic plan to create Kostrad's 3rd Division in Sorong, Papua, has been postponed; the plan to create brigade units under each regional territorial command (Kodam) is on hold; and the expansion and strengthening program for rapid reaction units is current being reassessed by Army Headquarters.

For the Army, the nomination of Marshal Djoko has decreased the possibility of internal friction among Army officers. This nomination has effectively ended the "competition" between Gen. Djoko Santoso and Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu. The postponement of the replacement of Gen. Sutarto from October 2004 to January 2006 has reduced significantly former Army chief Ryacudu's opportunity to be nominated, since he has only a few months before he retires in April 2006.

The restructuring of the Army's posture is also related to the possible involvement of the Army in the political arena. The Army was the backbone of the survival of Soeharto's political regime for more than 30 years. However, based on the 2004 TNI Law, this political factor must be removed so Indonesia can have a professional Army with zero political activities.

Gen. Santoso must conduct a structural transformation of the Army organization to make sure that in 2009, the Army will become a nonpolitical organization that stays neutral in political struggles in the next general elections.

The nomination of Marshal Djoko is likely to be approved by the House of Representatives, mainly because it symbolizes Susilo's strong commitment to strengthening the military reform agenda. The President's decision is based on Article 13 of the TNI Law, which states that a rotation mechanism should be considered to give more opportunities for Navy and Air Force officers to lead the TNI.

This mechanism hopefully can transform Indonesia's defense strategy, which currently relies on a land-based defense strategy, to a more integrative defense strategy that relies on the employment of joint military operations. The nomination of the marshal is also symbolized by a commitment to adopt an advanced technology-based defense posture to replace a patriotic and romantic manpower-based posture.

The nomination of the marshal will generate a new hope that the TNI will continue and strengthen military reform. Under Djoko, the TNI is expected to strengthen the professional character of the armed forces by a complete abandonment of the involvement of the military in the political and economic arenas.

One of the most important tasks for the new TNI commander is to initiate a policy of organizational consolidation with the Defense Ministry. This consolidation is needed to strengthen the implementation of the democratic principles of civilian supremacy, as well as more comprehensive and well-coordinated mid-term and long-term defense plans to create an integrated defense posture.

[The writer is a lecturer at the School of Social and Political Science, University of Indonesia. He can be reached at andi_widjajanto@yahoo.com.]

Djoko told to stay course on reform

Jakarta Post - January 18, 2006

Tiarma Siboro and Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Although the nomination of the first Air Force chief to head the military has been hailed as a fresh start in reform efforts, an analyst fears it may be a shortlived window of change before the Army's resurgence.

Ikrar Nusa Bhakti said Tuesday that Air Marshal Djoko Suyanto was considered free of the "politicking" of the Army-dominated military, and his nomination was a historic development for the country's military.

"The nomination of the Air Force chief to the top post should be considered a milestone for 'equality' among all military forces," said Ikrar, referring to the law saying that the leadership of the Indonesian Military (TNI) "can" be rotated among the chiefs of staff.

"Looking to his track record – beginning from his first portfolio job as commander of the Air Force's squadrons – we can also hope that he will be able to stay away from politicking, and, more importantly, that he can also promote democratic control for the armed forces." But he noted there was no guarantee of a rotation of the command among the chiefs of the Air Force, Navy and Army when the 55 year old reached his mandatory retirement age of 56 next December.

Once Djoko was retired, Ikrar said there was the likelihood President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would name an Army leader to "guard his political agenda" for 2009. Only two military commanders have been non-Army officers.

The Air Force, the smallest of the country's armed forces, enjoyed its heyday in the 1960s with close ties with the air force units of the Soviet Union and Eastern bloc countries.

Its fall from prominence following the 1965 abortive Indonesian Communist Party coup, in which some Air Force personnel were implicated, and its low-key role meant it "lacks a record of human rights violations", said sociologist and activist Otto Syamsuddin Ishak.

The executive director of democracy and human rights monitoring body Imparsial added there were expectations that Djoko would be serious in instilling a respect of human rights among military personnel.

Former TNI Strategic Intelligence Body (BAIS) chief Vice Marshall (ret.) Ian Santoso Perdanakusuma told The Jakarta Post that he hoped Djoko would be able to promote professionalism, "so we (the TNI) can avoid past experiences of being condemned by our people because of our old behavior, which was considered abuse of power.

"I hope he will never forget the basic needs of our people, democratic conditions, as well as the needs of his troops in becoming a professional military."

On Tuesday evening, Djoko was summoned by the President at the State Palace. Also present during the Tuesday meeting were Army chief Gen. Djoko Santoso, Navy chief Adm. Slamet Soebijanto and outgoing TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto.

After the meeting Djoko said the President had nominated him due to his seniority, experience and professionalism as well as to provide a chance to an Air Force chief of staff to become the commander.

"No directives had been given by the President. It's still a long way off, given the House confirmation hearings. But I know that I want to create a professional military," said Djoko.

Endriartono said Djoko's nomination should not be politicized, particularly by other eligible candidates through political parties. Lawmakers will carry out a "fit and proper test" on Djoko before voting on his nomination.

"We're aiming for a reformed and professional military, which means that it must not be involved in politics or be used by any political powers. Thus, I think the selection of a TNI chief shouldn't need House approval as it would only allow politicking in the future," he said.

The Constitution itself, he added, defined the President as the highest commander of the TNI, thus the appointment was his prerogative.

Air Force still bears PKI stigma

Jakarta Post - January 18, 2006

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Had the New Order leader Soeharto – a former Army general – not been deposed, few Indonesian Air Force officers would likely hold important roles within the Indonesian Military (TNI).

Under the 32 years of Soeharto's authoritarian rule, military politics was dominated by the Army, and the Air Force laid low after it was stigmatized as a sympathizer of the banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

At that time, few Air Force officers held strategic posts at the TNI headquarters – a stark contrast to the era of president Sukarno, Soeharto's predecessor.

Sukarno loved to call Air Force officers Anak Lanang President, a Javanese phrase that means "the sons of the President".

That situation was reversed after the aborted 1965 coup blamed on the PKI. That incident claimed the lives of six Army generals and a lower-ranking Army officer. The identities of the true masterminds of the attack are still being debated today.

Several top-ranking Air Force officers, including then Air Force chief Omar Dhani, were implicated in the coup attempt, which led to the massacre of hundreds of thousands of PKI members across Indonesia.

When the three-star Army officer, Soeharto, the former commander of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), took over the presidency, Omar Dhani and several PKI members were taken to court. The military tribunal dominated by Army officers declared them guilty and sent them to prison or to death by firing squad.

At the time, anything and anybody associated with PKI was despised and the Air Force removed all pictures of Omar even in Air Force premises.

The winds of change began to blow in 1999, when Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid became president. After his election, Gus Dur appointed a two-star Air Force officer, Ian Santoso Perdana Kusuma, to a portfolio post at the TNI headquarters. A son of the country's national hero, Halim Perdana Kusuma, Ian was later promoted to head the TNI's Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS).

At that time, former Air Force chief Marshall Hanafie Asnan also put up a new picture of Omar among other senior Air Force officers.

"It is a good thing that the Air Force is leaving its dark past behind in connection with the 1965 tragedy. The nomination of an Air Force officer (Marshall Djoko Suyanto) to become the top TNI commander will reduce these psychological wounds," said Ikrar, a researcher from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

Soldiers get 10 week's jail for Sulawesi attack

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2006

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – Three Army soldiers involved in a violent attack last November on a village in Jeneponto regency, South Sulawesi, were each given 10-week jail sentences and fined Rp 5,000 (53 US cents) by a Makassar military court Monday.

The verdict was lighter than three-month sentences sought by military prosecutor Faridah Faisal for the perpetrators – First Pvt. Sirajuddin, First Corp. Alimuddin and First Pvt. Yusmianto.

Presiding judge Lt. Col. Sunardi said in the verdict the three soldiers were guilty of inciting fellow soldiers to take part in the attack on Banrimanurung village, a violation of Article 406 of the Criminal Code. The village is located about 80 kilometers south of the provincial capital Makassar.

"The three were proven guilty of influencing their colleagues to commit a criminal act. For that reason, the court sentences them to two months and 15 days," Sunardi said, adding that the three were also required to pay administrative fees of Rp 5,000 each.

Earlier, the court handed down a five-month sentence to First Corp. Syarifuddin for assaulting a Gowa Police officer following the attack on the village, which involved about 25 members of the 700th Infantry Battalion.

The rampage, triggered by a rumor that a village had hit a soldier with his vehicle, left five villagers injured and 82 houses damaged.

Major Gen. Arief Budi Sampurno, the head of the Wirabuana Military Command overseeing Sulawesi, said during a visit to the village shortly after the attack he would discharge any soldier involved in the incident, as well as the head of the battalion, Lt. Col. Sapto Agustono.

The military command spent Rp 200 million (US$20,000) to compensate the residents for their losses.

However, the three soldiers convicted Monday will not immediately begin serving their sentences. The court ordered the temporary release of the three, who have been behind bars since Nov. 29, while they decide whether to appeal the verdict.

Djoko goes it alone for TNI top spot

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2006

Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – As widely expected, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has nominated Air Marshall Djoko Suyanto to lead the Indonesian Military (TNI), an appointment that is expected to prevent dissent among the armed forces.

House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono told the media Monday that the President had submitted a letter informing the House of his nomination of the Air Force chief to replace TNI Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto.

"The letter was submitted last night. The President nominates Air Marshall Djoko Suyanto for the sole candidate of the Indonesian Military Chief," he said after the opening of the 14th Asia Pacific Parliament Forum (APPF).

The House will announce the notification in a plenary meeting Tuesday, the first stage of confirmation hearings, Agung added.

"I consider my nomination as a mandate from the President and I will do my best to fulfill my duties," Djoko told The Jakarta Post by phone after returning from the haj pilgrimage.

Djoko is likely to be approved by the House because he enjoys solid support among legislators, with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-Perjuangan) the only holdout.

"We have a different candidate from the President, but differences are common. Whether we accept or reject it (the nomination), we don't consider that PDI Perjuangan is trying to politicize the military," PDI-P legislator Tjahjo Kumolo said.

Then president Megawati Soekarnoputri had sent a letter proposing Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu, the former army chief of staff who is set to retire in April, to replace Sutarto during the general election campaign in 2004. The House did not respond to her request.

Legislator Yuddy Chrisnandi of the ruling Golkar Party said his party's executive board supported Suyanto.

"It is House Commission I which holds the last say, not Golkar. By appointing the air force chief instead of the army chief as the candidate, it is clear that SBY has an agenda to reform the military," he said.

Yuddy said he believed Suyanto's nomination was "... only a bridge to install army chief of staff (Djoko Santoso) during the last years of the President's government".

Many also believe the President nominated Suyanto to prevent conflict within the army, which offered Ryamizard and the younger Djoko as candidates for the military's top position. The President's decision was supported by Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Military analyst Indria Samego said the President's move was a sign that Susilo was serious in wanting to reform the military because he did not pick another candidate from the army, which is seen by many as the arm of the military that most interferes in civilian affairs.

"In appointing someone from the air force, Yudhoyono is pushing the military in a more professional direction," he said.

Suyanto, 55, graduated from the military academy in 1973, the same year as Susilo, who was an army general.

His successor is likely to be Rear Marshall M. Basri Sidehabi, the commander of the TNI Staff and Command School. The Makassar-born Basri is supported by Kalla, who hails from the same area.

Business & investment

Lingering legal concerns deter mining investors

Jakarta Post - January 23, 2006

Leony Aurora, Jakarta – Lack of legal certainty continues to dissuade investors from exploring mining prospects in Indonesia, particularly with a bill introducing a licensing scheme to replace the sector's contract of work system currently being deliberated.

Spending on greenfield exploration in the country stood at US$7 million in 2004, which represented less than 0.44 percent of spending worldwide, down from 0.67 percent a year earlier, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) mining partner Ray Headifen said recently.

Global exploration investment rose by 50 percent to $1.59 billion in 2004 from 1.05 billion the previous year, PwC said in a report on the state of the country's mining industry in 2005.

"There is no doubt that Indonesia is a mineral prospective country," said Headifen. "The concern here is whether Indonesia is acting quickly enough to capture global exploration spending." Quoting a recent study by the Fraser Institute, the PwC report said that Indonesia ranks sixth worldwide in terms of mineral prospectivity but third last on investment conditions with a score of 12 out of 100.

The new mining bill, which is aimed at replacing the contract of work system with licenses issued by local administrations, would further deter investors, said Headifen.

A contract of work sets out the terms, as well as the tax and royalty rates, upfront, while a license would be at the mercy of changing rules, rendering it difficult to make financial and profitability predictions. "(The proposed change) hasn't been well received by foreign investors," said Headifen.

The bill, intended to supersede Law No. 11/1967 on mining, stipulates that exploration and production licenses will be awarded by local administrations in line with the local autonomy law.

Simon Sembiring, the Mineral Resources Ministry's director general of coal, mineral, and geothermal energy, said that the government would be barred from entering into direct business deals with investors.

One possible solution would be to form a legally incorporated agency to represent the state's interest in the mining sector. "In the oil sector, such an agency has already been established," said Simon, referring to the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Agency (BP Migas), which represents the government in dealing with oil and gas contractors.

The PwC report also shows revealed that despite a relatively high effective tax rate of 37 percent in 2004 compared to 24.7 percent on average worldwide, net profit margins were also higher here at 19.3 percent compared to 15.2 percent globally.

Boosted by high commodity prices, the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) of mining companies in Indonesia stood at 38.9 percent in 2004 while return on equity was 27.3 percent. The corresponding global figures were 29.7 percent and 18.9 percent, respectively.

Indonesian Mining Association chairman Jeffrey Mulyono warned that although the short-term prospects for the industry were good, the longer term ones remained open to question.

"Investment in exploration is almost non- existent," said Jeffrey. "Meanwhile, all the discovered deposits will be depleted in time." The mining sector is an important contributor to the state coffers. According to figures from the ministry, total revenues from the sector almost doubled to Rp 17.68 trillion ($1.86 billion) last year from Rp 8.99 trillion in 2004.

Tax revenues from the sector came in at Rp 12.9 trillion in 2005, up from Rp 6.42 trillion the previous year, while non-tax income, including royalties, stood at Rp 4.78 trillion and Rp 2.57 trillion, respectively.

Predictable policies key to investment

Jakarta Post - January 20, 2006

Jakarta – While noting an improvement in the Indonesian investment climate, the government still has a long way to go to provide a sense of policy certainty to firms doing business here, a US business delegation says.

"Our concerns are similar to those of businesses everywhere – that there is stability, transparency, absence of corruption, and predictability in policies," US-ASEAN Business Council president Matthew Daley told a media briefing on Thursday.

"The government should avoid endorsing policies that will only create distortions in the market," he said, mentioning the government's decision last year to hike fuel prices as a positive step forward in eliminating such market distortions and strengthening the overall economy.

US-Indonesia Business Council chairman Robert Haines further said that the government should always ensure transparency in its policies as abrupt policy changes could have adverse effects on investment.

"What is important is that any policy adjustment and its reasons be explained clearly so that investors can assess its impact on their business plans," he said.

The US-ASEAN Business Council delegation is concluding a five-day mission here, having met with several ministers, including chief economics minister Boediono and finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

The 46-strong delegation also visited Batam Island to get a first-hand look at the effects of local autonomy on the investment climate there.

In its recommendations to the government, the delegation highlighted the importance of a predictable and efficient regulatory structure to avoid confusion and delays that could hamper investment and threaten the viability of contracts.

For this, it recommended that the government always engage in public discussion before the adoption of any policy. It also stressed that need for the government to strengthen the capacity of the judicial system so as to improve law enforcement and uphold contractual rights.

Meanwhile, regarding the government's fiscal policy, the delegation pointed out that Indonesia's current tax system still contained major disincentives to investment, and recommended that the government address the problems of burdensome value-added tax (VAT) and tax refund procedures.

Opinion & analysis

Forgotten conflict - Papua deserves our help

Sydney Morning Herald Editorial - January 21, 2006

Australia's enthusiastic embrace of Indonesian democracy overlooks the bleak truth that sweeping political reforms in Jakarta falter when powerful vested interests stand in the way.

Nowhere is this more tragically apparent than in the remote, resource-rich Indonesian province of Papua. Despite repeated promises of political autonomy, an end to military repression and a fairer share for the local people of Papua's considerable natural wealth, it's business as usual.

Credible reports of a recent military build-up and continued threats against Papuan activists suggest far too little has changed since the collapse of the abusive Soeharto dictatorship in 1998.

An extensive research project by Yale University concluded in 2003 that systematic and horrific human rights abuses at the hands of Indonesian troops, resources-stripping, environmental degradation and the destruction of traditional agriculture were "calculated to bring about the destruction" of the Papuan people. That is tantamount to genocide.

The landing this week of a group of Papuan asylum seekers on Cape York should focus the Howard Government's attention firmly on this forgotten conflict on Australia's doorstep.

The decision to make the perilous trip across the Torres Strait in a large, dugout canoe would not have been taken lightly. Australia has never supported Papuan activists seeking independence from Indonesia, despite the rigged referendum which incorporated the former Dutch colony into Indonesia in 1969.

But that does not mean ignoring the plight of the Papuan people. The with Indonesia's majority Malay Muslims and have been fighting a sporadic guerilla war for independence since Indonesia assumed control. The Indonesian military uses the conflict as a pretext to make tens of millions of dollars a year from logging, extortion and in "protection" money at the giant US-operated Freeport copper and gold mine.

The Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has put the armed forces on notice that their extraordinary Soeharto-era business privileges are coming to an end. Plans To hand autonomy to the Papuan people are already on the table In Jakarta.

It can be done. International pressure following the 2004 tsunami highlighted similar longstanding grievances in Aceh, resulting in a peace treaty. Reform in Indonesia's remotest corners is every bit as important as a fine, new parliament in the capital. And Australia needs to tell Jakarta so, in the frankest of terms. Real friends tell each other what they need to know, not what they want to hear.

Boat people test the winds of change

Melbourne Age Editorial - January 20, 2006

Throughout history there are examples of relatively minor incidents having far-reaching consequences. The arrival by boat of 43 West Papuan asylum seekers at Cape York on Wednesday is potentially one of those times. Their presence on Australian soil poses particular challenges for the Federal Government as it attempts to reconcile its moves to soften the application of the mandatory detention policy with its efforts to forge a closer relationship with Indonesia.

The Papuans, from the Indonesian province formerly known as Irian Jaya, on the western part of the island of New Guinea, spent five days at sea on a 25-metre wooden canoe before landing at Janey Creek, north of the Aboriginal community of Mapoon. They are seeking refuge, alleging persecution and likely death at the hands of the Indonesian military.

Papuan separatists have been agitating for independence since a 1969 vote, widely regarded as unrepresentative, supported political integration of the former Dutch colony with Indonesia. The situation further deteriorated last week with the deployment of 10,000 Indonesian troops from Aceh and the arrest of 12 separatists.

Long ignored by the rest of the world, West Papua has received greater global attention since East Timor gained independence from Indonesia in 1999. It is significant, although undoubtedly coincidental, that these asylum seekers arrived in Australia on the eve of the release by the East Timorese Government of a United Nations report documenting atrocities carried out by the Indonesian military during 25 years of occupation.

The accounts of slavery, torture and public beheadings along with evidence of the deaths of as many as 180,000 civilians at the hands of the Indonesian military, most of whom remain unpunished, cannot be ignored. They lend credence to the claims of repression by the West Papuan separatists and make less credible the assertion by an Indonesian embassy spokesman that Papuan activists were not persecuted.

Given the negotiations of a security treaty with Indonesia that calls on Australia to pledge not to interfere in its "territorial integrity", the Federal Government is in a delicate position. Granting asylum would mean accepting that the Papuans would be persecuted if they returned home.

But, above all else, the Government must learn the lessons of East Timor and of last year's damning report into the Immigration Department by retired senior policeman Mick Palmer. It is imperative that this country take its international obligations seriously and assess the asylum seekers' claims on their merits, free of political interference.

Immigration Minister Senator Amanda Vanstone's response to the arrival of the Papuans was heartening. She stated clearly that the asylum claim would be assessed on its merits and that relations with Indonesia would not influence any decision relating to this group of people. Now her department has an opportunity to demonstrate that promised changes have been made to the application of immigration policy and to the culture in the department. There should be no repetition of the sort of hysterical scare campaign that has greeted the arrival of "boat people" in the past when the Government relentlessly exploited public fears about asylum seekers.

Beyond this, the issue is a test of Australia's improved relations with Indonesia. If the relationship has matured, our northern neighbour should be able to accept Australia's honouring of its international obligations on human rights.

Indonesia's elected president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, represents a break from his country's past but the nation is still emerging from decades of dictatorship and a period of resentment over Australia's role in East Timor. The question is whether Australia has broken from its recent oppressive policies on asylum seekers. As The Age has asserted previously, seeking asylum is a human right, not a crime. People must not be kept locked up merely because their acceptance may upset the authorities in another country.

The Timika killings

Jakarta Post Editorial - January 18, 2006

An American teacher has survived a traumatic experience in Papua in which her husband was killed, and has returned here in a bid to speed up the search for justice for herself and the other victims of the shooting incident in 2002.

The calm words of Patsy Spier, however, belie any sign of frustration that she and the other victims and their families may have in that search: "Pursuing this case is in both our countries' interests," she said after meeting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday.

That "case" – the ambush and fatal shooting of one Indonesian and two American employees of PT Freeport Indonesia – has been one of the few remaining impediments to the full restoration of military ties between Indonesia and the United States.

Developments in this case were also the sole reason for the significant progress in improving relations between the two countries. Having convinced Congress that Indonesia was cooperating with US investigators in the search for the perpetrators, Washington restarted a training program for Indonesian Military (TNI) officers in February last year.

By November, despite lingering congressional concerns about resuming full military ties, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice waived the final restrictions for national security reasons – and the US is again able to supply lethal weapons to the TNI.

With relations normalized, the whole case would likely have been forgotten if not for the recent arrests – and Spier – who has not let the case drop. With the support of dozens of human rights organizations, she has lobbied Congress and the American and Indonesian presidents to raise the issue.

We support her struggle and the authorities' efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice.

And the progress so far has been encouraging: Police have arrested 12 people, including Antonius Wamang, identified as a ringleader of the killers and who police say is a member of the Free Papua Movement (OPM). Wamang had earlier been indicted by a US federal court for his role in the incident but had never been apprehended.

But there is still one lingering question – how much was the military involved – if it was at all.

The authorities have been quick to lay the blame on Wamang, who activists had previously linked to the TNI, and not the OPM. Now the police are also blaming the conflict on another at-large OPM rebel, Kelly Kwalik, who they say gave Wamang the order for the attacks.

Police say they have documentary evidence and testimony proving their case. It will be vital for these documents to be properly scrutinized in any trial to allay public reservations.

For there has never been a satisfactory answer to certain questions raised by human rights organizations in Papua. Why were security personnel in a normally tightly guarded area near the world's biggest copper and gold mine absent during the attack, which lasted at least 30 minutes. Why did some of the survivors remember the shooters wearing military uniforms?

More recent questions concern procedure: the allegations the suspects were fooled into cooperating with the authorities because they thought they would face trial in the US – instead they were handed over to authorities here – are worrying.

Many Indonesians are likely to be in favor of the unconditional lifting of the US military embargo, and there is no doubt international cooperation is vital in many areas and certainly when combating terrorism. But rushing to improve international ties by attempting to brush an incriminating incident under the carpet, in the words of one activist, would lead us instead to a "partnership of impunity."

Spier's struggle to find the truth, reminds us of another widow also looking for justice – Suciwati, the wife of murdered activist Munir. What these women have gone through reflects what it takes for an ordinary citizen to move on after their loss. Spier says that settling this case is in the interests of both countries. Citizens of all nations need to be sure that they are protected wherever they are employed; and the US government needs an assurance of cooperation, especially from the world's largest Muslim nation, in the war against terror.

For Indonesians, meanwhile, it is ultimately in our interest to know whether we are still living under the reign of those who would like to keep secrets from us. Those who kill with impunity, knowing they will never face trial.

Book/film reviews

Anthology mulls over the turning tides

Jakarta Post - January 22, 2006

[Of Aceh and Turning Tides: Songs to My Sisters. Debra H. Yatim, Acehkita Foundation, Banda Aceh/Jakarta, 2005. 71 pp.]

Nelden Djakababa, Jakarta – Acehnese are no strangers to the art of words: For centuries, Aceh has been known as the home of many forms of oral traditions; poets and songwriters are held in high regard in their communities. Thus, it is small wonder that Debra H. Yatim should pick poetry as her art-form of choice to express her personal reflections on what it means to be an Acehnese woman today.

On Aceh and Turning Tides: Songs to My Sisters brings together 60 poems by Debra with themes on Aceh, the tsunami (inevitably so) and about the pain, struggle and challenges that have been all- too familiar for Aceh before and after the giant wave came in and altered its landscapes forever. It is also about being and becoming a woman in this context.

A Jakarta-based former journalist who now runs her own public relations consultancy, Debra is known as an active speaker, panelist and moderator, and has also acted as mistress of ceremonies for issues concerning women. But the fact that she is half-Acehnese on her father's side has given Debra a unique vantage point when it comes to matters concerning Aceh.

In spare, clear and flowing words, with beautifully illustrated with artwork by Liang, the poems at times give voice to the Acehnese people's collective experience of pain, horror and grief, but also of hopes, strengths and laughter.

Many, for example, would be able to relate to SMS Conversation, the first poem, which captures the anxiety and confusion of the first hours after the tsunami, when Aceh was practically cut off from the rest of the world.

Following is an excerpt:

Sunday 8:30 a.m. Quake hits Banda, destroys Kuala Tripa! But you are back, right, here in Jakarta? Yes, thank God. But worried sick about our friends.

Midday 12:30 All friends are missing. What to do? But you, yourself? OK, aren't you? Yes, safe. But how to check our missing friends? Afternoon 4 p.m. Eight-point-nine on Richter scale, Not six-point- five as stated. And none of friends detected yet. Can we assume they're missing? Evening 8 p.m. By the way, how is your family? Our missing friends still missing. No, no contact yet with family. And do regret those missing.

Hello. Aceh, Aceh? Any news? Hello? Anyone. Do send word from you.

The text-messaging form has been used before in Indonesian literature, perhaps most notably by Djenar Maesa Ayu in her short story titled SMS (2002) – although it deals with a very different theme. However, the choice of this form still gives the poem a fresh effect, thanks to the brevity and urgency that characterize messaging. This feature, in turn, makes for quite an effective element in this opening piece.

In many of the poems, highly conscious self- reflections on "being a woman with Acehnese blood" are apparent, as in this stanza from Matri-line: There's a dark watery place where everything is female fecund and brackish and fertile and secret, and it needed tsunami to make me realize it.

In other instances, personal reflections on the in-between-ness of having multiple identities are more dominantly expressed.

In this world, where more and more people are constantly on the move and crossing borders (physical or otherwise), this theme appears time and again. Consider for example the question of how to attach meaning to the words in this excerpt from 1999: A draining two-hour discussion and by day's turn, I'm gone with salt fogging my vision for you, majestic land, with your burden of the hurt of decades, pain. Then Medan again, and home – but where?

The word "home" again appears as an existential question in Village Vignettes: How to describe coming home? How to describe the feeling of finally walking the ground of my fore-mothers and -fathers? Of breathing in the very air they breathed? While it would help readers to understand more of the context from which these poems were drawn with some background knowledge about Aceh and its current affairs, Of Aceh and Turning Tides is beautiful to read.

One of the things that render this beauty is the underlying optimism and hope in the midst of pain and sorrow – a stance that stems from the inner strength that makes the Acehnese people who they are.

Song of Sisters (excerpt) Bodies were stacked like fish in cold storage have we seen, said they. The search for meaning and order have we seen, said they. Yet through it all, the song of sisters ring so clear. A bell of hope in face of doom.

Internet means new liberties, not necessarily democracy

Jakarta Post - January 22, 2006

[The Internet in Indonesia's New Democracy. David T. Hill & Krishna Sen Routledge, 2005, 204 pp.]

Ignatius Haryanto, Jakarta – Over the past few years, Australian researchers David Hill and Krishna Sen have garnered acclaim for their work on Indonesian media.

Hill's interest in this subject area, mainly in print media, and in Indonesian literature began while he was completing his doctorate thesis on Mochtar Lubis – a writer and Magsaysay award- winning journalist. Meanwhile, Sen's interest was rooted in Indonesian cinema.

Their collaboration is so perfect that between the two of them, Hill and Sen can cover the history of Indonesia's media development – from the golden era of the newsprint industry of the 1970s to 1990s, to the high technology and concentrated capital in the broadcasting industry.

Their earlier collaborative work culminated in Media, Culture and Politics in Indonesia; their collaboration continues today, with renewed focus on a new kind of media technology – the Internet – in The Internet in Indonesia's New Democracy.

As they started their research on the Internet in the latter half of the Suharto era, we can see how they place the Internet as an alternative media or alternative tool for the public to get information. Differing from other traditional media, like newspapers, magazines, radio or television stations; this "new technology" can generate a larger readership than the available audience in a specific region. In addition, people outside Indonesia can obtain day-to-day news and information by accessing local Internet news services provided by institution like Detik.com or Tempo Interaktif and many others.

Ironically, the two sites mentioned above – Detik.com and Tempo Interaktif – were created as a transformation of Detik and Tempo, two of three weeklies that had been banned during Suharto's New Order era.

Under the skies or a relatively more open era, the government's tendency to control the flow of information became outdated, and as the wind flows across the sky, information can now be accessed by anyone, anywhere and at any time. The authors claim The Internet in Indonesia's New Democracy "charts the growth and specific political uses of the Internet across the Indonesian archipelago since the early 1990s... (and) at its broadest it is about the relation between democratization and new computer-mediated communication systems". (p.1) This is the initial perspective Hill and Sen take on Internet development in Indonesia from the early 1990s; another is a view on the challenges Internet media face from regulatory bodies.

In the Suharto era, the tendency toward media technology development was more restrictive, but it was loosened when it came to the transition era in mid-1998, and after that strict control over Internet media was implemented.

Hill and Sen use descriptive and factual information about the locus of the Internet industry in Indonesia – its origins, its development and examples of individuals or organizations involved in nurturing the growth of this new media technology. They record Internet growth in Indonesia, which shows an increasing number of users, providers and institutions linked to Internet facilities. These basic data are very important and well recorded.

For instance, according to the Association of Indonesian Internet Service Providers (APJII), in 1996 only 31,000 people subscribed to Internet providers while approximately 110,000 people used the Internet. Within eight years, the number of Internet subscribers increased 40 times to 1.3 million while the number of Internet users rose by 120 times – about 12 million.

In this sense, Indonesia is truly a potential market for the Internet, although the increasing figures are not necessarily related to the issue of information equality, since the majority of Internet users and subscribers are concentrated only in big cities, and those mostly on Java.

It is clear that Hill and Sen sympathize with democratization and the use of new communication technologies. Referring to the 1999 General Elections, they note that, although it was not conducted online, the election was "the first occasion when Indonesian voters were able to confirm, through a search of an independent publicly accessible Internet site, the calculation of the poll statistics, from tens of thousands of individual polling stations, through all levels of government from district (kabupaten) to the final centralized national tally". (p.77)

Following the success of digital democratization in the 1999 election, several regional governments set up their own websites, forming regional e- governments. In the spirit of the Regional Autonomy Law passed in 2001, some local governments also took the initiative to provide basic information about their regions and other related activities. Most of these sites were intended to attract economic investment to their respective regions.

The writers then turn their focus on the question as to what the Internet meant to Indonesia's nascent democracy and – sadly – how the Internet also became a propaganda tool for those parties involved in socio-political conflicts that erupted in the mid-1990s. Using the cases of East Timor and Maluku, they try to show alternative objectives of Internet usage. The parties involved claimed to offer reliable information about the conflicts, but the information was one-sided and, most of the time, wielded as no more than mere propaganda tools, providing biased information to their audience.

East Timor is presented as an example of how the independence struggle there adjusted to new strategic possibilities of the Internet, and how these technological possibilities could have contributed to exerting international political leverage. (p.98) The independence movement in East Timor has traditionally used the media as part of its campaign, from the Indonesian invasion in 1975 to the Dili massacres in 1991, and before and after the 1999 referendum.

In the case of Maluku, the Internet was used by several groups and organizations "on the ground" to extend their activities through cyberspace. (p.117) Hill and Sen cite researcher Birgit Brauchler's work of the Internet's role in the Maluku conflict, that the Internet offered an ideal playground for the construction of individual as well as group identities, the latter providing a means for the creation of "virtual communities" – shared-interest groups that evolved through the online exchange of information, views and debate.

In reality, however, several sites and mailing lists related to the Maluku conflict provided one-sided, propaganda-type stories that heightened tensions, specifically in the cyberspace.

Although we can say that the Internet is a chaotic media, in that anyone can contribute anything to or post anything on it, we should now ask the serious question as to whether the Internet can be used to decrease the economic gap for a country like Indonesia – which has as severe gap between development in central areas like Java and in other parts of the country.

We might say that the Internet alone cannot contribute so much, since it is only a vehicle or a medium that can be used for anyone's intentions. Then the question arises as to how serious the government and other organizations are in their positions to narrow the gap between developed and developing regions.

The Internet has its own function of facilitating communication exchange, so again, it is up to the user for what purpose they are using the Internet: killing time, reaching out to their communities, business purposes, or catching up on the latest trends – including showing off their technological skills and gadgetry.

[The reviewer is a media researcher at Lembaga Studi Pers dan Pembangunan/LSPP (Institute for Press and Development Studies), Jakarta.]