News & issues

Seen but not heard, life is tough for forgotten kids

Jakarta Post - May 24, 2007

Prodita Sabarini, Jakarta – Jakarta's traffic lights inevitably show a bleaker side of the city. As cars slow down at red lights, little pleading faces emerge at windows asking for money. The time of day seems to not matter to them.

Pass a red light in the morning, the children are there; in the day time, the weather-beaten children are there; in the afternoon, as well as the evening, midnight, and even dawn, the children are still there.

From toddlers with their mothers sitting on the roadside, up to scruffy pubescent teens, the children are a fixture of traffic lights, public buses and parks.

Data from the Social Affairs Ministry showed the city had some 30,000 street children on 2005. While there has not been another survey since then, volunteer worker Heru Suprapto from the Jakarta Center for Street Children said the numbers have not gone down. "It's obvious just by looking at the streets, there are more and more children there," he said.

Street children are likely to become victims of violence. Sexual abuse against street children has been frequently reported in the media, the latest case being in Bekasi earlier this month. The body of a six-year-old boy, showing signs of sexual abuse, was found in a cardboard box at a bus stop.

The bitter reality of being young and poor in Jakarta also means the risk of facing violence by the state. The 1945 Constitution states it is the responsibility of the state to take care of neglected children. But in reality, especially in Jakarta, street children are viewed as a menace to public order.

The Jakarta Center for Street Children has conducted research this year on violence against the destitute and desperately poor. Heru said from the 85 respondents in the centers mini-study, more than half said they had faced violence from public order officers.

According to Heru, respondents said they had been kicked, dragged, had their hair pulled, were burned by cigarettes, strangled, stepped on, beaten, and even stripped naked by public order officers. "The violence faced by the poor is against human rights, but since they're poor they don't have much power to fight back," he said.

A skinny 16-year-old boy, Zulfikar, said a public order officer "scraped" him off the street and placed him in the Kedoya Social institution in West Jakarta. "They took us off the streets by force and then to Kedoya. We were beaten up as well," he said.

Zulfikar said he was taken off the streets for violating the 1988 city bylaw on public order. "I was seen to be disrupting the city's beauty," he said.

He was taken to the Kedoya Rehabilitation Center and spent a month there. "It's not a rehabilitation center. It's more like a prison," he said.

The city bylaw on public order has discriminated against and criminalized not only street children, but also the broader mass of the city's poor.

The bylaw was one of Governor Sutiyoso's initiatives to create a safe, conducive, and comfortable city, without beggars, the homeless and sidewalk vendors.

"It's as if, because we're poor, we have no place in this city," said Zulfikar's friend, 17-year-old Dedi Yansen Apriyansyah.

Dedi has been on Jakarta's streets since he was eight years old. He ran away from his abusive parents in Palembang to move to Jakarta. "It's not like I love the streets. It's not a good place to live. But I don't want to face the violence at home," he said.

National Commission on Child Protection Secretary General Arist Merdeka Sirait said the bylaw on public order contradicts the Law on Child Protection and should be lifted. Arist said the public order bylaw views street children as criminals rather than victims.

The deputy head of the Jakarta Public Order Agency R Sitinjak said public order officers did not commit violence against street children. "There is no such thing," he said.

Sitinjak said officers took public order offenders, such as side walk vendors and three-in-one jockeys to the Kedoya rehabilitation institution. "I don't know about violence there since it's run by the social agency," he said.

Arist said public perceptions of street children should also be altered. "Street children are stigmatized as troubled and poor, which stops them from functioning in society," he said.

Dedi said that some of his friends were lucky enough to enroll in school. But even there they faced mockery from their fellow students and even their teachers.

Dedi said he aspires to be a journalist. Under the guidance of volunteer workers from The Jakarta Center for Street Children, he produces a weekly bulletin, named Dekkil Pos (an abbreviation of "Dengan kata kita lawan" – "With words we fight") about life on the streets. "I'm not that worthless. I can be good at something if I get the chance," he said.

Women's rights 'need redressing'

Jakarta Post - May 25, 2007

Jakarta – Legal experts and women's rights activists are calling for a review of laws that fail to protect women and children.

"The government has yet to take action on critical issues in laws that discriminate against women," Mitra Perempuan director Rita Serena Kolibonso told a workshop here Thursday.

The discussion focused on the Criminal Law, the 1992 Health Law, the 1974 Marital Law and the revised draft of the 1992 Population and Family Planning Law. The critical issues that require redressing, activists say, include marital rape, abortion, age perimeters, contraception and polygamy.

"Although marital rape is already regulated in the 2004 Domestic Violence Law, most trials still refer to the Criminal Law that does not recognize that term," said Rita.

Surastini Fitriasih, a law expert from the University of Indonesia, said that prior to 1992 the term "rape" was used only to refer to a woman being forced into sexual intercourse outside marriage. "However, in 2005, with the latest revision of the law, (the pre-1992) definition of rape has been reintroduced," she said.

Also of concern is legislation pertaining to abortion, which is prohibited under the Criminal Law and the 1992 Health Law. "Article 15 (on abortion) of the Health Law is so vague. No wonder the Health Ministry itself has taken the last nine years to formulate its supporting regulations," said Kartono Mohamad, a women's health expert. "The government must also regulate abortion and punish its practitioners, not the women," he added.

The proposed revision of the 1992 Population and Family Planning Law, Kartono said, limits contraception usage to married couples and would increase the probability of extra-marital pregnancy. "Contraception should be regarded as the right of an individual, which does not concern the person's marital status," he said.

The age at which a child is considered an adult is also unclear under current legislation, specifically the Criminal Law and Marital Law. "Those old laws should be synchronized with the latest 2002 Child Protection Law that defines a child as being younger than 18 years of age," Rita said.

Women's Empowerment Minister Meutia Farida Hatta Swasono recently said: "The Religious Ministry is the focal point for the revision of the Marital Law, yet they're still averse to accepting the law's review."

Sri Rumiati of the Psychology Bureau at National Police headquarters said: "Our officers face difficulties in implementing legal proceedings due to those unsynchronized laws, particularly in relation to age limits and other vague explanations."

Retired judge Deliana Sayuti Ismudjoko of the National Commission on Violence against Women insisted the Marital Law should not regulate marriage from a particular religion's point of view, "but should comprehensively include all other religions."

Activist Siti Musdah Mulia cited examples of bylaws in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and Gorontalo, North Sulawesi, that regulate women's behavior in the name of morality, when in fact they repress women. "All of the 56 new bylaws enacted between 1999 and 2006 throughout this country marginalize women," she said.

Rita Serena Kolibonso also made mention of a local ordinance on polygamy in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, that permits men to take multiple wives by simply paying a sum of money.

Thuggery a part of life at city's traditional markets

Jakarta Post - May 31, 2007

Jakarta – Gang activity in South Jakarta's Kebayoran Lama market will be hard to eradicate since both local authorities and illegal street traders benefited from their presence, a criminologist has argued.

The local administration has allowed thugs to extort traders while police have allowed gangs to take over the job of ensuring security, Rudi Satrio of the University of Indonesia said Saturday. Many illegal street vendors had no choice but to give the thugs money in return for "security", he added.

A fight last Tuesday between two gangs, the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR) and the Association of Betawi Families (IKB), over the control of parking along Jl. Ciledug Raya and the collection of illegal levies left two people dead.

Kebayoran Lama district head Tahrir said he knew of the existence of several gangs collecting illegal levies in and around the market. "I've been hearing about it since I was transferred here two years ago. But I can't do anything about it because the issues of levies and thuggery are just beyond my authority," he said.

Tahrir said he was only responsible for moving vendors from streets to reduce traffic congestion. However, he admitted the traders always returned to their places as soon as his staff left the area.

"We also tried to relocate them to a place behind the market, but that failed. Traders want a quick result and prefer to go back to the street where they can get more customers," he said.

Tahrir said dealing with violence and intimidation at the market was the responsibility of police.

Separately, Comr. M. Priyono, who heads the Kebayoran Lama police, said he found it hard to handle thuggery as the most frequent victims, traders, often refused to testify.

"Traders are reluctant to be involved in the legal process. They don't want to have any problems with the gangs because that would affect their businesses," he said. He said police also found it hard to go ahead with cases without reports from victims.

Rudi, however, said the criminal code allowed police to investigate extortion cases without such reports. "Police can conduct an investigation any time they come across a case of illegal levy collection," he said.

Traders who operate illegally along Jl. Ciledug Raya and around Kebayoran Lama market said they felt safe after paying their daily protection fee to gang members from the IKB. Traders pay between Rp 2,000 (US$ 22 cents) and Rp 12,000 per day to the gangs to protect them against raids by the city's public order authority.

"The gangsters always tell us about upcoming operations so we can get ready and save our merchandise before the officers come," said a vendor.

Danuri, a fruit vendor of 15 years, said he paid Rp 4,000 per day, but he did not mind as long as he could run his business without disruptions. "I am okay with the fee, I have no choice. But I really need them to keep the situation right for me to be able to boost my sales," he told the Post on Wednesday.

Hundreds of workers could face death penalty in Malaysia

Jakarta Post - May 26, 2007

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – While it grapples with the problem of large numbers of illegal migrant workers in Malaysia, Indonesia has another labor problem on its hands: 279 of its workers are on death row or facing possible capital charges in the neighboring country.

Manpower and Transportation Minister Erman Suparno said Friday the government had been providing legal assistance to the detained workers, but stressed that there are limits on what Indonesia can do to help.

"The government cannot interfere in the Malaysian judicial system because both countries impose harsh sanctions on such criminal acts," Erman told reporters after signing a memorandum of understanding on good governance with the Development Finance Comptroller here Friday.

He said 95 percent of the detained workers were Indonesians of Acehnese descent who were charged with illegal possession of drugs believed to have been brought from their home villages in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam. Some have been convicted, while others are still under police investigation or face capital charges at federal courts in the neighboring country.

Erman said several Acehnese sentenced to death in drug cases were awaiting execution after their appeals were rejected by the Malaysian Higher Court.

He declined to reveal how much the government had spent to provide legal assistance to the workers, but said his office and the Foreign Affairs Ministry had worked closely to lobby Malaysian authorities to protect the workers' rights and to recruit Malaysian lawyers to accompany them during the police investigation and at court hearings.

In addition, Erman said, several Indonesian migrant workers are on death row in Saudi Arabia for their alleged involvement in murder cases at their workplaces.

Asked about a planned crackdown on Indonesian illegal workers in Malaysia, Erman said he had just held talks with the Malaysian home minister to ensure that Malaysian volunteers will treat undocumented workers humanely.

"Malaysian authorities have agreed to train their volunteers to treat the illegal workers according to the law and to impose harsh sanctions on any volunteers beating and robbing the workers during the operation," he said. He added that his office had also made a similar request of Saudi authorities in their upcoming raids on some 40,000 undocumented Indonesian migrant workers in that country.

Erman said further that Malaysia had agreed to issue ID cards for the Indonesian workers to replace passports that had been kept by their employers, so that the workers could file complaints with authorities if they were abused at their workplaces.

"The Malaysian government has also required Malaysian employers to insure their workers and to comply with the hike in monthly wages to 500 ringgit (US$147) from the previous 380 ringgit," he said.

Meanwhile, workers and activists staged a protest before the Saudi Embassy, demanding the royal government protect the human rights of undocumented Indonesians during the raid, slated to start June 1.

They said Saudi authorities should treat the workers humanely and fairly because their people have taken advantage of the workers.

"The amnesty period should be extended for a few weeks to let the illegals have adequate time to return back home voluntarily and to let them avoid fines and the threat of prison," Migrant Care coordinator Anis Hidayah said.

Aceh

Aceh: Women activists declare new political party

Green Left Weekly - May 30, 2007

James Balowski, Jakarta – On May 20, a group of women activists in Indonesia's northern-most province of Aceh declared the formation of a new local political party – the Acehnese People's Alliance Party for Women's Concern (PARAPP).

This is the third local political party that has been declared since the ratification of a law on local parties in Aceh that is part of the peace deal between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian government in Helsinki in August 2005.

In other parts of Indonesia, political parties can only participate in elections after fulfilling strict requirements on the number of chapters established at the provincial, regency and sub-district levels.

PARAPP chairperson Zulhafah Lutfi said that the party would focus on programs to struggle for women's rights in Aceh and to empower women by increasing their involvement in politics. "This is not a women's party. But whoever is in the party is obliged to struggle for and give more attention to women's problems", she told Acehkita.com following the declaration.

Women's and human rights activists in Aceh have long expressed concern that women are being left out of the reconstruction and rehabilitation process following the 2004 tsunami and that local Islamic-based sharia laws discriminate against women and the poor.

Aside from PARAPP, two other local parties have also been formed in Aceh – the leftist Acehnese People's Party (PRA) and the Gabthat Party (which means brave, strong or bold in Acehnese). The Gabthat Party was established by Islamic scholars and former GAM members in the Greater Aceh regency. Although GAM has said that it plans to form a political party, this appears to have been delayed due to internal divisions within the organisation.

'One of the problems in Aceh is GAM vs. GAM'

Jakarta Post - May 28, 2007

Former Aceh Monitoring Mission chief Pieter Feith recently made his first visit to Jakarta and Banda Aceh since the mission's mandate expired in December 2006. He spoke with The Jakarta Post's Tony Hotland on Saturday about the progress of peace in Aceh, before flying out to the province on Sunday morning.

Question: Did it come as a surprise to you that the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)'s Irwandi Yusuf was elected governor?

Answer: I was surprised. We didn't think he was a serious candidate, a likely winner. He didn't have the money, the resources. The question now is does he have the capabilities to manage the enormous amount of money coming to Aceh, over Rp 3 trillion in the coming years on top of the normal allocation by the central government. What is needed is that this money is well-spent and the right priorities are being followed. That the money will be spent on infrastructure and productive projects, and it remains graft free, environmentally sensitive.

How do you see the Free Aceh Movement now after Irwandi's win?

My concern is about the internal relations, the situation within the GAM. At this point, one of the problems that may complicate the process a little bit is GAM versus GAM. There's a lack of communication between the old leadership and the new young troops, such as Irwandi. It needs somebody to invite them to sit together in a room to talk, because as a result of this lack of communication things in Aceh are not moving as smooth as they could.

Lack of communication?

They don't talk to each other, they don't consult each other. If you want to look at how we're going to continue implementing the MoU (peace agreement) and the law on Aceh governance, we need to talk to (GAM commander) Malik (Mahmood) because he signed the MoU in Helsinki, but now he doesn't consult with Irwandi. If we look at who's going to represent the GAM in the Forum of Communication (between GAM and the government) to continue discussing the implementation, then the GAM representatives are chosen by Irwandi and, here, Malik doesn't know about it.

Do you see these frictions having an impact to the peace process?

It's just frictions, nothing dramatic. We're talking to them tonight (Saturday). It is perhaps just a classic game of power... who's going to come out on top, who's going to be the leader for the future. Is it the new generation or the old generation? The new generation isn't accommodating the older enough, or you can say the other way around. It's true that Irwandi is the governor now, but he's very busy and he's got other responsibilities now. So I don't want to blame anyone.

Aside from this internal conflict, there is also the issue of re-integration funds reaching their targets slowly, or not getting to them at all. Have you heard any explanations from the government?

The funds are indeed being transferred to Banda Aceh a little bit late. There's a lot of expectation in Aceh and people are still waiting for what they've been promised. And if it doesn't come forward, it creates resentment.

Maybe you know, it is a transitional period and for this year it has been, out of the Rp 700 million (US$79,500), Rp 250 million was supposedly disbursed this year and Rp 450 million next year, and you will see this later.

The question is how to get the money out this year so that people don't get disappointed. Can they wait? Do people understand this is a budgetary technical problem? I had wished there would be perhaps a little bit more political sensitiveness (from the government) about this to make sure people don't turn cold on this.

Because basically when they agreed to peace, it was because of a lack of money in the jungle?

Yes. But people want to see an improvement in their livelihood, and they expected to see that the day after the agreement was signed. And it may not be realistic but that's how, what people think. And they haven't seen this improvement in their livelihood. Some have, but not everybody. People still don't have enough money to live and this is what needs to be addressed.

How do you see the transparency of the disbursement of the re- integration funds?

I will leave it to the central government and the local administration. I don't know how they're going to work that, but I hope it will be transparent and there will be a sensible expenditure framework. There's clarity on what the money will be spent on. There's a lot to be done in Aceh in many aspects, including with the destruction because of the tsunami.

I can't give you a precise answer on this question because it's up to the government, which is responsible for that, to deal with the challenges in that. The government has committed itself to auditing... we'd love to see how the government organizes that.

West Papua

Vanuatu Papuan office raises concern over alleged collaboration

Vanuatu Daily Post - May 23, 2007

The West Papuan representative in Vanuatu, Dr Otto Ondawame has raised concern over a recent incident in Port Moresby claiming the PNG government was allegedly working in collaboration with the Indonesian Embassy in PNG and pro-special autonomy groups led by France Albert Yoku to force the West Papuan refugees in 9-Mile refugee camp to repatriate to West Papua.

Dr Ondawame said the action on the West Papuan refugees there was done against their own will.

"This is a violation against the fundamental human rights and international laws. You cannot force people against their own will. They have been living there for more than 20 years. Why does UNHCR keep silent on this matter?" the West Papuan peoples' repre-sentative in Vanuatu Dr Otto Ondawame stated referring to the United Nations refugee agency.

The West Papuan People's Representative Office in Vanuatu stated that the community of over 200 West Papuan political refugees living at 9-mile in Port Moresby, recently demanded deportation following an 'unannounced and unwelcome visit to the refugee camp, by Indonesian officials and Kopassus Military who were escorted to the Settlement by the PNG Police Force and more recently an eviction notice demanding they vacate the settlement.

Secretary of the 9 Mile Settlement, Samuel Imggamer explained in a statement through the West Papuan Peoples Representative office in Vanuatu stated, "The Indonesians came without permission or warning taking photos of our homes and people. The vehicles had diplomatic number plates from the Indonesian Embassy and two of the Kopassus Military were dressed in civilian c1othes.

Ms Wallaya Pura, UNHCR Head in Port Moresby, had stated at that time that she was aware of Indonesia's efforts to repatriate the refugees back along with Indonesia's efforts to coerce the PNG government to support the programme. Regarding the unannounced visit by the Indonesian delegation to the Refugee Settlement at 9 Mile she stated "(The Indonesians) shouldn't even think about going there".

According to the West Papuan Office in Vanuatu, the 9-Mile refugees chased the delegation out of their settlement damaging 2 vehicles in the process. One, of the refugees Martha Bong-goibo spat in the face of the officials and told the PNG police escorting the delegation "you should know that these people are our enemies".

"We are an enemy of Indonesia so we cannot accept the visit by the Indonesian delegation" said Samuel Imggamer. "Nobody sought permission and when they came they stayed in their cars and left the engines running".

Mr Imggamar stated, "We all have a price on our head. For example Colonel Simon Imbiri (an old veteran of TPN/OPM Freedom Fighters living at the Settlement) has a US $19,000 price on his head if he can be returned to West Papua. [The price ]only for one motive – to put an end to the West Papuan struggle for independence".

It was after this incident a week later the 9-Mile Community received an eviction notice saying they must vacate the land that they have occupied for more than 20 years.

Government not serious about rights violations in Papua

Antara News Agency - May 25, 2007

Jakarta – The government is not serious enough in settling human right violations in the country in general, in Papua in particular, a human rights observer said.

"The government has yet to show a sincere intention to settle a number of human right violation cases in Papua," human rights observer Jayadi Damanik said here Thursday.

He said the human right violation cases in the country's most eastern province did need to remain unsettled if only the government, the law enforcement agencies in particular, seriously intended to refer them to courts of law.

"The cases in Papua can actually be solved but the question is whether the investigators are prepared to pass them on to the courts," he said.

So far, investigators had refused to present the cases to courts of law on the excuse that the dossiers drawn up by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas Ham) were not complete. However, the investigators had never explicitly asked the Commission to complete the dossiers and had just shelved the dossiers.

Since Papua integrated into Indonesia on May 1,1962, human right violation cases in the province had been pilig up with none of them having been settled until the present, according to Damanik.

Among the cases were the murders and shootings in Wasior, Teluk Wondama Gulf, Papua Barat province, on June 13, 2001, the murder of a policeman in Abepura, Jayapura, on Dedemeber 7, 2001 which led to the shootng to death of three students and the maltreatment of hundreds of other students, one of whom died in police custody, the shooting in Waghete that caused the death of a junior high-school student and maltreatment of civilian residents by security officers as well as rights violations in the economic, social and cultural fields.

Human rights/law

Marines kill five in land dispute

Jakarta Post - May 31, 2007

Wahyoe Boediwardhana and ID Nugroho, Pasuruan, Surabaya – A protest over a disputed plot of land in Pasuruan regency, East Java, turned deadly Wednesday after marines shot and killed five people.

The Navy defended the shooting, saying soldiers followed standard procedures for dealing with a violent protest.

Human rights groups have condemned the incident, calling for a thorough investigation by the police and the National Commission on Human Rights.

"My soldiers did not want to become victims like in Papua. They just wanted to scare the protesters and make them stop," the marine commander at the Navy's Eastern Fleet in Surabaya, Maj. Gen. Safzen Nurdin, told a press conference.

He was referring to an anti-Freeport protest in Papua that ended with protesters killing several security officials.

Safzen said his soldiers fired warning shots before being "forced" to open fire on protesters. "On behalf of the Navy, we express our deepest apologies over the incident," he said, promising to investigate the shooting.

The incident occurred in Telogo hamlet, Alas Telogo village, in Grati subdistrict, Lekok district. It was triggered by a protest involving some 300 villagers angry over the construction of a Navy office on about 3,600 hectares of disputed land.

The dispute between residents and the Navy dates back several years, when residents from the subdistrict's 14 villages formally rejected plans by the Navy to turn the land into a location for military training. Villagers took the case to court but lost. The case is currently in the appeal process.

Wednesday's protest began peacefully but turned violent when protesters began pelting stones at construction workers. Navy personnel intervened, attempting to disperse the residents.

As residents continued throwing stones, according to the Navy, marines fired warning shots in an attempt to disperse the protesters. When that failed, they opened fire on the crowd.

Five residents died at the scene. Among the dead was a woman who was four months pregnant, identified as Dewi Khodijah, and a 27- year-old woman, Mistin, and her 3-year-old son, Khoirul. At least seven others were injured in the shooting. The dead and the injured were taken to Syaiful Anwar Hospital in nearby Malang city.

Following the shooting residents blocked Pasuruan highway, which connects Surabaya-Banyuwangi-Bali, with trees and burning tires. The blockade caused massive traffic jams before the road was cleared at around 8 p.m.

A witness, Ruba'i, said residents were angry after workers from the Navy's cooperative unit began building an office on the disputed land, which villagers had planted with vegetable gardens.

"The residents at first didn't dare protest, but then the situation heated up and (Navy personnel) opened fire, causing people to start picking up stones and throwing them. But then they (the marines) attacked the residents and chased them into their homes," he told journalists.

He said Dewi Khodijah was standing behind her house when she was shot in the head, and that Mistin, carrying her son Khoirul, was attempting to flee the clash when she was shot in the chest.

The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence condemned the shooting. It urged the case be tried in criminal court, saying a military court might cover up the shooting and protect the marines.

"The military should respect the ongoing legal process of the land dispute and wait until a final verdict comes out. This incident is evidence of the military's old paradigm, which views the people as enemies," commission director Usman Hamid said.

[Tony Hotland contributed to this story from Jakarta.]

Indonesian villagers bury marine shooting victims

Agence France Presse - May 31, 2007

Jakarta – Hundreds of villagers gathered Thursday for the funerals of those killed when Indonesian marines opened fire on protesters, officials said.

The bodies of the four victims were carried through the streets of a hamlet outside Pasuruan on the main island of Java before being buried at the local cemetery, the official said. "All four victims are now being buried in the same cemetery, side by side," Muzammil Syafii, deputy chief of the district, told AFP.

The military apologised for the shootings Wednesday, when marines opened fire on villagers who had gathered to rally against development by the navy of land just outside Pasuruan.

Villagers blocked a road leading to the land and held speeches before clashing with marines who tried to disperse them, officials have said. Two men and two women were killed and others were injured in the shooting, officials said.

Villagers followed the bodies Thursday and gathered at the cemetery outside Alastlogo hamlet. Flags were at half mast in the hamlet as a sign of mourning and the atmosphere was calm, Detikcom online news portal said.

Residents are often embroiled in property disputes with the Indonesian military which owns vast tracts of sometimes dormant land, although disputes rarely lead to such deadly violence.

Witnesses have said the soldiers opened fire without provocation, but the military has said they were threatened by the crowd which had also started to pelt them with stones.

The military has promised a full investigation into the shooting. About 13 marines involved would be questioned by the navy's military police unit later Thursday, Detikcom reported.

The navy originally owned the land but neglected it for many years, allowing residents to build on and farm the area, officials have said. The navy reclaimed ownership several years ago, forcing some of the residents off the some 3,000 hectare (7,410 acre) site, prompting them to take the matter to court.

The court ruled in favor of the navy, but residents have lodged an appeal which they say prevents the navy developing it until the case is settled.

Indonesian marines open fire on protesters, four dead

Agence France Presse - May 30, 2007

Jakarta – Indonesian marines shot and killed Wednesday at least four villagers who were among hundreds protesting over land ownership on the main island of Java, a local official said.

Marines started shooting after the residents from Pasuruan town in east Java gathered to rally against the development of land at the centre of a bitter court dispute with the navy, said district official Muzammil Syafii.

"So far, we have three confirmed dead, all with gunshot wounds," he said. "Eight others were injured, most with bullet wounds," he said, adding one man and two women were killed. Another man who was shot in the head later died in hospital, said Sakuntala who works at Syaiful Anwar hospital in nearby Malang city.

Residents are often embroiled in property disputes with the Indonesian military which owns vast tracts of sometimes dormant land, although disputes rarely lead to such deadly violence.

Villagers blocked a road leading to the land Wednesday and held speeches in an increasingly charged atmosphere amid tight security, said Syafii.

It was unclear what triggered the shooting, although one military official said residents had started pelting stones at the marines on guard.

Television pictures showed chaotic scenes of bleeding residents, mainly women, being carried on the back of a truck to hospital.

Children were among the crowd screaming and crying, Metro TV showed. "There is a child about three years old injured," local police chief Boy Rafli Amar said.

About 40 marines opened fired on the residents but then fled the area, one witness said. "They ran away after the crowd became bigger," witness Solihin told ElShinta radio. "People were gathering on the road, it was easy to shoot them," another witness, Kurois, also told ElShinta.

He said most of the crowd fled when the shooting started, although some also hurled stones at the marines.

Navy Marine Commander Safzen Nordin said that marines pelted with stones could have triggered the incident, although details were still unclear.

"We are investigating the incident," he told Metro TV. "If we find that any of our members were involved in the clash, for sure, we will take strong measures against them," he said.

The navy originally owned the land but neglected it for many years, allowing residents to build and farm on the area, the East Java provincial government's website said. The navy reclaimed ownership several years ago after taking the matter to court and winning a decision that forced some of the residents off the 3,000-hectare (7,410-acre) site, the website said.

The residents have lodged an appeal against the decision which they say prevents the navy developing it into a training centre for its recruits, until the court case is settled.

Local lawmaker Effendi Choirie expressed outrage at the shooting. "We kept reminding the army to settle the (land dispute), but now they are shooting people. This is too much."

Police examine key witnesses into Munir's murder

Tempo Interactive - May 29, 2007

Irmawati, Jakarta – The police have examined several key witnesses in the murder of human activist Munir. One of them is Ongen.

"In addition to investigating, we've given legal protection to the witnesses," said National Police (Polri) Chief, Gen. Sutanto, during a working meeting with the House Law Commission, yesterday (28/5).

However, Sutanto was not willing to name the other key witnesses besides Ongen. According to Sutanto, the police found legal evidence that can be filed as a judicial review by the general prosecutor.

A Tempo source at the police explained that Ongen has been asked for testimony several times. During the first and second examination, Ongen was silent. "But then he started giving testimony."

According to the source, the police have also checked Ongen's health. Now the police are still carrying out intensive investigation into two suspects in the case, former Garuda Indonesia's Managing Director Indra Setiawan and Garuda Pilot Chief Secretary Rohainil Aini. Both were arrested at Polri's Criminal Research Agency HQ.

In early May, the police extended the arrest terms of Indra and Rohainil after exceeding 20 days limit. The extension was because the police still needed statements from them.

According to Polri HQ spokesperson, Ins. Gen. Sisno Adiwinoto, from the result of investigation into the two suspects, the police have found many developments.

Report Munir case progress, police told

Jakarta Post - May 29, 2007

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The National Police should create a progress report on its investigation into human rights activist Munir Said Thalib's murder and frequently update the public on the matter, a human rights watchdog says.

"The police needs to give the public a recurrent report on the progress of Munir's murder investigation. People should not lose focus that the important thing is to find the mastermind behind the murder," the head of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence's impunity division, Haris Azhar, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Haris said the public had been kept in the dark about the latest investigation of suspects Indra Setiawan and Rohainil Aini.

"We haven't heard much about the investigation results for a while," he said. "The rumor that Indra Setiawan was somehow released from detention by the police was brought up first by the public. The police should have anticipated it by making their statement first before people pressed them."

National Police chief Gen. Sutanto thoroughly dispelled this allegation after it was made.

Indra's lawyer, M. Assegaf, reported Thursday that his client was missing from his cell without notification. The lawyer only said that guards informed him that Indra "was being borrowed" by investigators.

Haris added that police should disclose their findings for further examination and scrutiny. "Their findings should be analyzed and treated the right way so they won't have any counterproductive results," he said.

Meanwhile, National Police chief detective Comr. Gen. Bambang Hendarso Dhanuri told legislators that a key witness in the murder case, Raymond "Ongen" Latuihamalo, was currently under police protection.

"There are several witnesses, including Ongen, who could reopen the case of Munir's murder," Bambang told members of the House of Representatives Commission III for legal affairs.

Munir was found dead onboard a Garuda flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam, which included a stopover in Singapore. Dutch forensic authorities found excessive amounts of arsenic in his system.

Bambang said the arsenic poisoning occurred during transit at Singapore's Changi Airport, a conclusion reached after extensive laboratory testing in Seattle and the further cross-examination of key witnesses and experts.

New bill must check power of intel agencies: Observers

Jakarta Post - May 26, 2007

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Observers say a new intelligence bill must strictly detail the powers of spy agencies, as a way of checking their reach and authority.

An intelligence bill was recently submitted by the House of Representatives. After the administration responds to the bill, the two sides can begin deliberating the legislation.

At a discussion in Jakarta hosted Friday by Partnership, an organization seeking to bolster good governance, intelligence analysts agreed the country's various intelligence bodies had so far gone largely unregulated.

They said this had led to cases of overlapping responsibilities, and competition between intelligence units in the military, the police and the National Intelligence Agency (BIN). The lack of regulation, they said, has also helped politicize intelligence bodies.

"Intelligence units need supervision to avoid becoming self- tasking or politically driven units. And this calls for both internal supervision and externally from the government, the House of Representatives and the public," said University of Indonesia analyst Makmur Keliat.

Overlapping responsibilities and competition between intelligence units, he said, resulted from unclear divisions of tasks and authorities. The main function of the new intelligence law, he said, should be to bring order to the intelligence world to prevent strategic surprises with the potential to disrupt defense and stability.

Military analyst Andi Widjajanto said the law should provide clear divisions of power among intelligence units. "(Based) on the type of information it gathers or the end users, the law should make it clear (which unit does what) so that the units are well-regulated," he said.

Andi said that in addition to dividing powers, there was also a need to coordinate the various intelligence units. "This requires both capacity building at each unit as well as at the parliament, in terms of supervisory capacity building," he said.

According to a 2002 presidential instruction, intelligence units are coordinated by BIN. This only happened after the 2001 Bali bombings, when intelligence bodies were blamed for failing to detect and prevent the attack.

Last year, Home Minister M. Ma'ruf issued a decree that reinstated the powers of regional intelligence unit commands, which had been disbanded. This move was criticized by activists concerned by the implications for freedom of speech.

During Soeharto's 32-year New Order regime, which ended in 1998 with his resignation, intelligence units were used by Soeharto as a means to maintain power and stifle dissenting opinions.

In an earlier draft bill submitted by the BIN, requested the power to detain suspects for up to 30 days without charge. This proposal was quickly shot down by lawmakers.

Lawmakers threaten to block defense treaty

Jakarta Post - May 25, 2007

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Lawmakers from Indonesia's largest political parties said Thursday they feared a defense treaty with Singapore could undermine the country's sovereignty.

"We can ratify the extradition treaty but we will not ratify the defense treaty if it undermines our sovereignty. We need the government to give us details on every article of the treaty, and explain why they agreed to such terms," Marzuki Darusman of the Golkar Party, the country's largest political party, told The Jakarta Post.

Both Indonesia and Singapore have reiterated that the defense and extradition treaties come as one package, and should be ratified together.

Marzuki, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission I on security and international affairs, said the commission would meet Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda in two weeks to discuss the matter.

Permadi, a lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Indonesia's second largest party, also questioned the defense treaty.

"There's no way that PDI-P and myself will agree to ratify the defense treaty, as I know that the government gives Singapore freedom to enter our territory. It really undermines our sovereignty," Permadi told the Post, adding that most of his colleagues on the commission opposed the treaty.

Earlier, another commission member, Djoko Susilo of the National Mandate Party (PAN), said if the government did not renegotiate the treaty his party would reject it.

A military and international relations expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Kusnanto Anggoro, said the lawmakers had every reason to reject the defense treaty because its ambiguous language stood to benefit Singapore. He said the treaty, for instance, did not specify what military equipment Singapore could bring into Indonesia.

"Singapore will expect that its submarines can be used in training in Indonesian waters, while it can also launch and get rid of its expired missiles in Indonesian territory. We would like to know also if Singapore would have to notify Indonesia before bringing in third parties for training," Kusnanto said after speaking at the United Nations Information Center in Jakarta on Thursday.

Kusnanto urged lawmakers to demand the government provide more information so the public will know what Singapore can actually do in Indonesia's territory under the treaty.

Indonesian chief negotiator on the defense agreement, Dadi Susanto, said the government has anticipated all of these concerns, and planned to provide explanations to the House of Representatives and the public.

Suciwati meets Canadian parliament

Tempo Interactive - May 24, 2007

Raden Rachmadi, Jakarta – Suciwati, widow of late human rights activist Munir, has continued generating supports from the international world regarding the case of her husband's death.

On Tuesday (22/5), she flew to Canada. "She will be visiting for ten days. Suciwati will meet the parliament, media and society groups there," said Usman Hamid, Coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violent Acts (Kontras), yesterday (23/5).

According to a former member of the Fact-Finding Team for the case of Munir's death, Canada's position in the United Nations is very important.

This country is one of the active and influential members that result strategic policies including the making of resolution and international regulation such as conventions.

"They invited Suciwati to find out about the progress of human rights in Indonesia and the Indonesian government's efforts in investigating the case of Munir's death," he said.

He said he hoped that the North American country, multilaterally, could play its role to help the disclosure of Munir case.

Bilaterally, Usman hoped that in relation to Indonesia, Canada can place the human rights and Munir case disclosure issues as the priorities in diplomatic talks. In addition, said Usman, technical aid of forensic law and technology can be provided by Canada.

Such aid is important because in disclosing Munir case, the Indonesian government always has an excuse that those matters are the main impediments. "Don't let a country be willing to help but the government accepts it halfheartedly," he said.

Earlier, Suciwati went to the United States and Australia to generate international support in terms of her husband's death.

Environment/natural disasters

Nuclear plant seen as risky, premature

Jakarta Post - May 31, 2007

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – A government plan to begin the construction of a nuclear power plant by 2016 has been labeled environmentally risky and premature, with environmental groups highlighting that feasibility studies on the dangers posed by the project have yet to be conducted.

"The risk of failure of a nuclear power plant in Indonesia is high. Many energy-related regulations, such as the placement of gas stations, have not been followed closely," Nyoman Iswarayoga, program manager for environmental group Pelangi Indonesia Foundation, said Wednesday at a public discussion held to commemorate the foundation's 15th anniversary.

"Many gas stations are built in close proximity to one another. There are also gas stations built next to supermarkets, which is already a violation."

Although Indonesia is more or less set to make an eventual move toward nuclear energy, the 2017 deadline set by the government for producing 2,000 megawatts (Mw) of nuclear-wrought energy will likely be pushed back, Iswarayoga said.

"We don't think that other energy resources, such as geothermal and micro-hydro, have been optimized in their development and use," he said, adding that the costs involved in building a nuclear plant are enormous.

In France, 80 percent of energy is derived from nuclear plants because the country lacks other natural energy resources. Indonesia, on the other hand, has many options up its sleeve.

Unlike other energy sources, nuclear-wrought electricity is relatively affordable for the public and nuclear plants are able to produce immense amounts of it with little manpower.

Fabby Tumiwa, chairperson for the Institute for Essential Services Reform, said a breakdown in the country's nuclear waste management could be potentially devastating as radioactive waste lingers for upward of 100,000 years.

"Humans can easily get cancer from radioactive exposure. Many people are not yet fully informed about the danger of a plant failure," he said, adding that Indonesia still lacked the experience to sufficiently manage large-scale energy waste.

The National Atomic Energy Agency (Batan) conducted an assessment of different energy sources for electricity generation in Indonesia in 2002. It concluded that projected technological and economic growth in Indonesia could warrant the construction of a nuclear plant by 2016.

However, Fabby insists Batan's research was insufficient. He suggested that state-owned electricity company PT PLN undertake a comprehensive inquiry into ways to maximize available energy sources for the medium- and long-term before Indonesia develops a nuclear plant.

"The government should incorporate all important aspects, such as a roadmap for the electricity market structure, an energy mix and sources, cost and pricing mechanisms, potential investors, technology and economic and social factors," he said. "The spread of electricity consumption itself is still mainly concentrated in Java and Bali."

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro has said that the contribution of nuclear energy to the local energy mix would amount to 4,000 Mw by 2025. Indonesia possesses sufficient radioactive minerals for self-supply.

Air control bylaw still 99% hot air

Jakarta Post - May 31, 2007

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Last year Governor Sutiyoso received an award proclaiming him Asian Air Quality Champion. But since then, less than one percent of the 2.5 million private cars in the city have had mandatory emissions tests done.

Data from the Partnership for Clean Emissions (MEB), which was tasked by the administration to oversee the tests, also showed that only 92 percent of the 25,632 cars that were tested passed the emissions standard.

MEB secretary general John Livingstone Wuisan said the data had been delivered to Sutiyoso on Friday, during a meeting with the heads of city agencies and the mayors of Jakarta's municipalities.

"In the meeting, we asked the Governor to issue an ordinance to fix the mandatory emissions tests, if the city wants the other 99 percent of private cars to take the tests as well," he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

The emissions tests are part of bylaw on air pollution control. Up to 80 percent of pollution in the capital is caused by vehicles.

An international seminar in Yogyakarta last year awarded Sutiyoso the award of Asian Air Quality Management Champion for his air improvement policy.

Jakartans enjoyed 45 days of clean air last year compared to 28 days in 2005 when the administration first launched the emissions tests. As of April, there were 25 days of clean air in the capital.

John said that since police did not require the emissions certificate for extending car registration, many people left their cars unchecked.

"The implementation of emissions testing has been at almost zero since July last year because there has been no ordinance to be used as guidelines for performing the test," John said.

The administration plans to be begin punishing motorists who fail tests in September, a month before Sutiyoso ends his second and final term as governor.

The draft of the gubernatorial decree, which is at the city's general bureau, is expected to be signed in June. The draft would see all cars traveling in the capital, including Bekasi, Depok, Tangerang and Bogor, forced to comply with the emissions standard.

John said the city police had agreed to temporarily use a 1992 law on traffic to punish those who failed emissions tests with a maximum fine of Rp 2 million or two months jail. The existing bylaw on air pollution control stipulates that a violator could face six months in jail or a Rp 50 million fine.

The draft bylaw would also shift the burden of paying for the clean air effort away from the city budget. "All of the budget, including the printing of emissions certificates and stickers, will be funded by authorized garages," John said.

The administration is set to authorize 300 auto garages, up from the current total of 136 and certify 600 technicians, up from the current of 303

A public policy expert from Indonesia University, Andrinof Chaniago said the mandatory emissions tests, which will bring money to some in the private sector, were created to raise money.

"The emissions tests policy is not aimed at improving public services. It's not a basic need. Therefore, it's more important to conduct emissions tests on public transport and enforcing that law," he said as quoted by Antara.

Landslides, floods hit parts of North Sumatra

Jakarta Post - May 29, 2007

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Continuous heavy rainfall across parts of North Sumatra over the weekend caused a landslide in Deli Serdang regency and floods in Medan on Monday.

No casualties were reported from the incidents, but the landslide, which occurred in Sembahe village, temporarily disrupted traffic between Medan and Karo regency. The floods in Medan inundated more than a thousand houses in five villages.

The chief of Medan traffic police, Comr. Safwan Khayat, said the landslide in Sembahe took place at 2 a.m. Monday. Traffic was cut off until 6 a.m. because parts of the road were covered with mud and debris.

Safwan said in order to avoid congestion, police opened one of the road's two lanes for the benefit of motorists traveling to Medan to sell agricultural produce.

The road was opened for traffic coming from Medan at 8 a.m. after the number of vehicles coming the other way decreased. "The flow of traffic returned to normal at 11 a.m. after rubble from the landslide was cleared using heavy machinery," Safwan said.

The floods in Medan reached a height of up to 1.5 meters before the water started to subside Monday afternoon. In Medan Maimun district more than 1,250 houses were flooded when the Deli river burst its banks.

Syarifuddin Harahap, a resident of Aur village, said the river had been overflowing since Sunday. Water started to inundate residents' houses at 3 a.m. Monday.

Maimun Medan district chairman Arfan Harahap said houses were flooded in the Aur, Sukaraja, Jati, Sei Mati, Hamdan and Kampung Baru villages. "We've set up health centers and public kitchen facilities in the affected areas," Arfan said.

Meanwhile, the North Sumatra office of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency has urged people living in 15 regencies and cities in North Sumatra to be aware of the possibility of floods and landslides caused by heavy rainfall.

The regencies and cities at risk include Langkat, Pematang Siantar, Asahan, Toba Samosir, Labuhan Batu, Tapanuli Tengah and Sibolga.

Misery for Indonesia's mud volcano victims

Agence France Presse - May 27, 2007

Nabiha Shahab, Porong – Muziati, a refugee of Indonesia's "mud volcano", stares at her baby and hopes that the meagre food she gives him will be enough.

"He has to be fed rice juice (formed during cooking) because there's no milk," Muziati says of conditions in a makeshift shelter in Porong on the main island of Java. "He is small for his age," she adds of her six-month-old boy.

Muziati is among more than 15,000 people who have been forced from their homes across Sidoarjo district in East Java since last year when steaming mud began spewing from the depths of the earth at an exploratory gas well.

One year after the May 29 disaster started, thousands are still living in shelters, and the flow of toxic sludge shows no sign of stopping.

Muziati was three months pregnant last year when she lost her job at a prawncracker factory that was submerged in the massive flow. Six months later, on the day she gave birth, an embankment, hastily built to contain the hot mud, burst and later swallowed her home.

Muziati, her husband Sudarto and neighbours sought shelter wherever they could before moving to a vacant market building in nearby Porong where they survive on rations of rice from the drilling company blamed for the disaster, Lapindo Brantas. "Nobody cares enough to even visit us. Not the mayor, not the governor," says Sudarto.

Nine villages, industrial areas and farms over more than 600 hectares (1,500 acres) have been engulfed by the thick mud as authorities grapple with the extent of the disaster.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered Lapindo, an Indonesian firm, to pay 3.8 trillion rupiah (420.7 million dollars) in compensation and mud containment efforts.

But Sudarto and his family have refused an initial cash payment of 20 percent of the value of their homes and land. Like many of the 3,200 sheltering in Porong, they want Lapindo to buy their land so they can rebuild elsewhere.

"We are not beggars, we just ask for our rights," says Sudarto who has named their baby David Lapindo – after the firm, which has links to welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie, one of the nation's richest men.

The disaster has left international engineers scratching their heads and environmentalists fuming about damage to the local ecosystem. Massive dykes have been built around the volcano to contain the mud, and heavy machinery works overtime carrying dirt and pebbles to strengthen the embankments.

"The dykes are very vulnerable," says security guard Waliyanto pointing to muddy water leaking from the walls around the crater. Cracks have led to larger leaks, forcing authorities to declare the area off-limits to the public.

The sludge has reached a depth of up to 20 metres in the worst- hit areas with rooftops barely visible. Villages in the outer areas, caked in mud, have been abandoned for safety reasons.

Initiatives to stop the flow have ranged from the scientific to the spiritual. Engineers spent two months trying to plug the hole with chains of large concrete balls dropped into its core, but the move appears to have failed. Authorities continue to try and channel mud from the dams into a nearby river.

Ahmad Chairusin, 64, arrived at the dykes earlier this month from nearby Kediri town, convinced that he can stop the flow through prayer.

"I fast and pray here twice a day," Chairusin told AFP. "We should look inwards to ourselves, what have we done wrong (to spark the flow)?" he asks, adding that "the only thing we can do is pray and pray."

Others, including healers and mystics, regularly perform rituals at the dykes, make offerings and cast spells.

Despite the efforts, some 120,000 cubic metres of sludge – equivalent to 48 Olympic-sized swimming pools – continues to spew daily from the hole, says Ahmad Zulkarnain, a spokesman for the government agency set up to tackle the crisis.

Supari, 40, remembers watching animals and plants die as the mud moved across the district last May. He never thought the flow would reach his village outside Indonesia's second city of Surabaya so quickly.

"The mud spread so fast, it flooded my house before I could save many of my belongings," he says, adding that he fled in the middle of the night with his wife and two sons. In the chaos, Supari says he left behind the deeds to his home, the documents he needs to prove ownership and gain compensation.

He used to earn four million rupiah a month selling snacks to schools, and sometimes clothing and coal briquettes. But worrying about his family's future now consumes him.

"It's not that there are no jobs now, but I cannot think straight. Riding this motorcycle taxi is all I dare do," says Supari, motioning to the bike. "I usually get lucky on Sundays, I guide tourists around the mudflow site."

Supari and his family have rented a house nearby and, unlike other residents, refuse to sell their land. "I cannot sell the land, it has been passed down for generations."

Deep scars remain from Indonesian quake

Reuters - May 26, 2007

Budi Satriawan, Yogyakarta – A year after a powerful earthquake devastated an area around Indonesia's ancient royal city of Yogyakarta, thousands of homes have been rebuilt but deep physical and mental scars remain for many survivors.

The quake that struck around dawn killed more than 5,700 people and left tens of thousands homeless – in a matter of seconds reducing homes to piles of wood, masonry and dust in a heavily populated area in the heart of Java island.

Yanti, a 36-year-old vegetable seller, was confined to a wheel chair after the walls of her home crumbled onto her. Before the quake, the mother of three used to start her day at the market and return home by midday to care for her children.

"At that time I was shocked, the whole family were confused, I cried everyday. I was so depressed," said Yanti, as she struggled to walk using crutches at a Red Cross clinic in Bantul, a coastal area south of Yogyakarta which bore the brunt of the 6.3 magnitude quake whose epicentre was in the Indian Ocean.

Yanti, who goes by one name like many Indonesians, attends physiotherapy sessions three times a week, along with other patients. "Nearly 40 percent of the patients in the program were suffering from serious depression," said Tutur Priyanto, a Red Cross official. Nearly 40,000 people were injured in the quake.

In a culture where people are unwilling to be seen as a burden on their family, he said despair amongst some of the injured has led to a number of suicide attempts. Community radio has been used to try to encourage listeners to speak out and help prevent isolation.

Lessons learned?

A year after the disaster, some people are still living in make- shift tents, although most have returned to at least semi- permanent housing, often bamboo-built structures.

Unlike some other disasters, most survivors have remained near their destroyed homes, with communities and households given cash to rebuild, with strings attached to try and prevent misuse.

Danang Parikesit of the National Technical Team for the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of post-earthquake Yogyakarta, said that the government had disbursed in two tranches 5.4 trillion rupiah ($618 million) to help rebuild 250,000 houses.

"People can match the size of the houses with their land. They can choose their own design for their houses." The official said, however, that in the Klaten area more than 40 percent of households were waiting for a second batch of cash.

Pete Manfield, a UN recovery coordinator for the area, said that lessons had been learned from previous disasters. "I think what this has proved is that communities are the best people to make decisions about their needs."

In some areas new housing has been built by outside groups. In the Prambanan district, about 70 quake-proof dome-shaped houses – along with a mosque, clinic and kindergarten – have been built by a foundation involving a Dubai-based property firm. Although the new inhabitants appeared happy with their dome homes, there have been glitches.

"There were lots of people living here but there is no electricity yet. So, they returned to their shelter again, up on the hill," said Mardiono, a 46-year-old recipient of a home, who said he was waiting for power before moving his family in.

Prambanan is the site of an ancient Hindu temple complex, which suffered damage from the quake. The more famous Borobudur complex nearby escaped damage.

Despite the problems, many officials say aspects of the recovery plan will be used as a model for other disasters. Gendut Sunarto, a government official in Bantul, said the recovery was also a tribute to the local people.

"I believe it is in the nature of the Javanese people. We are very good at picking ourselves up from the ruins and our communal bonds make us help each other in rebuilding our lives."

[Additional reporting by Mita Valina Liem, Ed Davies and Adhityani Arga in Jakarta.]

Nuclear plant received coldly

Jakarta Post - May 26, 2007

Suherdjoko, Salatiga – The government's plan to build a nuclear power plant was put under the microscope again as experts said the plan was criminal, would put thousands at risk and did not make any sense.

Philosophy lecturer Franz Magnis-Suseno SJ said the plan was criminal because it could cause a disaster of huge proportions.

"Why does such a risky power plant have to be built in Indonesia?" Franz said during a seminar focused on analyzing critically nuclear power plant construction in Indonesia.

"If it's being built on the north of Mount Muria in Jepara (Central Java), how will residents suffer when there's a nuclear disaster like Chernobyl?

"If this kind of disaster takes place in Muria, the nuclear radiation might reach Semarang. So I doubt residents can be persuaded by the government to take the risks," he said from the Salatiga-based seminar in Central Java.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last year announced plans to start building a nuclear power plant in 2010 to become operational by 2016. The power plant would be the first of its kind to provide energy to the Indonesian public and industrial sectors.

It is expected to meet four percent of the total power demand in Java, Madura and Bali – an energy demand expected to reach 175 terawatt hours (TWh) by 2015.

Nuclear energy was essential for the country's development given Indonesia would need an additional 1,500 to 2,000 megawatts (MW) annually after 2016, the government said.

However, Franz said he feared widespread corruption practices for most projects, including the government's. He said lowering the quality of building materials was just one way the project would suffer corruption.

Franz asked the seminar to consider the busway road construction project as an example and said many roads in this project were already damaged because of corruption and poor building materials, just six months after operations had commenced. "So nuclear power plant construction should not start until Indonesia successfully fights corruption," Franz said.

Coordinator of Working Group on Power Sector Restructuring Fabby Tumiwa said during his seminar presentation the government had conducted no social study on the plan and had not sought approval from the public. "The big risk of a nuclear power plant is that it will get a lot of attention," he said.

Fabby referred to a document from the International Atomic Energy Agency and reminded the audience that, "nuclear energy poses special risks to the health safety of persons and to the environment: risks that must be carefully managed".

New districts threaten national park

Jakarta Post - May 25, 2007

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb., Padang – The management of Siberut National Park, on Siberut Island, West Sumatra, has warned of the threat posed by the emergence of new districts.

The park, located in Mentawai Islands regency, has raised concerns over the regency administration's decision to form new districts.

Head of the Siberut National Park Center, Rusmaharmidi Chamli, said his office was never invited to discuss the matter with the Mentawai Islands administration prior to the establishment of the new districts.

"The park is located in the Traditional Beneficial Zone (TBZ), and we are concerned that the emergence of new districts, which would involve the construction of administrative, public and residential facilities and roads, could be detrimental to the preservation of the national park.

"The Mentawai Islands regency administration should have discussed the matter with us," Chamli said. The Mentawai Islands Legislative Council approved the division of four districts on Dec. 26, 2002, including two districts on Siberut Island that were divided into five districts.

The decree took effect along with the construction of facilities funded by the 2006 and 2007 provincial budget.

Large sections of both the West Siberut and Southwest Siberut districts include the traditional villages of the Mentawai tribe, which are in the national park's TBZ.

Betaet village, in the center of West Siberut district, lies in the TBZ, where official homes of the district chief and his deputy are currently being constructed.

Chamli said the presence of districts within the area could pose an environmental threat to the national park.

"Population growth will spur construction of additional buildings, despite the fact that only the traditional community is allowed to utilize the TBZ to meet the needs of ritual purposes," said Chamli.

Chamli said he sent letters to the Provincial Development Planning Board (Bappeda) and the Mentawai Islands regency administration last year, informing them that some of the new districts were located within the national park.

"We asked Bappeda to discuss the district autonomy issue with us...the park is protected by Law No. 41/1999 and the law should not be breached," he said.

The Directorate General of Nature Conservation and Forest Protection, said Chamli, had asked Mentawai Islands Regent Edison Saleleubaja about the district separation policy in October last year.

"The regent and Bappeda have still not responded, so I plan to sent them another letter," said Chamli.

In 1993, the forestry minister affirmed that Siberut National Park, which spans 190,500 hectares, or half of the western part of Siberut Island; a protected area. In 1981, UNESCO declared the park a World Biosphere Heritage area.

Since a number of traditional villages of the Mentawai tribe are located within the national park, they too have been turned into TBZs.

Mentawai Islands regency legislative speaker Kortanius Sabeleakek said the main objective in forming the new districts was to assist with administrative procedures.

"It takes days for people to arrange administrative matters on the east coast. Traveling from one village to another can take several days and even a week by motorboat, especially during bad weather," he said.

He said the Siberut National Park management had been excluded from earlier discussions due to the lack of awareness of the issue by previous councillors.

"The rumors were that a logging company had backed the formation of new districts by facilitating a road project from the east to west coast, bisecting the national park...but I assure you the construction of these facilities will not harm the core and forest zones," he said.

He said the council is struggling to complete an outer ring road project, which will run from the east to the west coast of Siberut, to open up isolated areas.

Police may charge over Indonesian mud volcano

Agence France Presse - May 24, 2007

Indonesian police say they are preparing to file a brief recommending up to 13 people be charged over the country's "mud volcano" disaster in heavily populated East Java.

But it's unclear whether the catastrophe – linked to one of Indonesia's most powerful families – will ever make it to court, with the chief prosecutor saying he believed the "mud volcano" was a natural disaster, and not man made.

It has been almost a year since an unstoppable flow of mud burst through the earth during deep drilling at a nearby exploratory gas well – linked to the family of Indonesia's Public Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie and also part-owned by Australian company Santos.

Nine villages have since been smothered by sludge, including thousands of houses, factories, mosques and paddy fields, displacing 15,000 people and forcing dozens of businesses to close.

The mud continues to flow at a rate of 160,000 cubic metres each day – with no end in sight. All efforts to stop it have failed.

As the May 29 first anniversary of the disaster nears, police said they were preparing to file their report "very soon", recommending either negligence or deliberate act charges against those involved in the drilling.

It will be the third time they have handed the paperwork to prosecutors, who have twice returned it seeking further information.

East Java police investigator Supriyadi said police had gathered enough evidence to mount a case of criminal negligence over the drilling of the well. "According to investigators, we have a criminal case of a negligence in the drilling," Supriyadi said.

Police will recommend charges under both the criminal code and environment management laws, with penalties ranging up to 15 years' jail, or a 750 million rupiah ($A105,000) fine for a deliberate act of pollution which causes loss of life.

Thirteen people were killed in November when a gas pipeline under the mud cracked under pressure and exploded.

"We will put both deliberate act and negligence articles in the charges, but to tell you the truth it is leaning more to negligence," Supriyadi said.

"It is almost impossible that it was a deliberate act. According to the investigators we have sufficient evidence for a trial, but the dossier is still incomplete based on the advice of the prosecutors."

Police say they have questioned 59 witnesses and an extra 16 experts in geology, the environment, water management, land degradation and meteorology.

"Yes it has been a long time, almost a year," Supriyadi said. "There are obstacles, like the dossier going back and forth from police to the prosecutors. According to the investigators, this is man made, triggered by the drilling. We are going to file it again soon, very soon."

But East Java's provincial prosecutor Mulyono said he personally believed the disaster was a natural phenomenon. "If the question is when (the charges will be filed), I don't know," Mulyono said.

"But as long as the police have not fulfilled the items the prosecutors want, it's not going to happen. When they file it again we will have to study it. My personal opinion is this is natural, not man made, because you know, negligence can be overcome, but not this. They are trying to divert the mud south but it keeps going north, so that's God's willing. We will process it (the case) but I don't know whether it will reach the court."

Santos, which owns a non-operating 18 per cent stake in the venture, has set aside $A89 million for its share in repairs and losses from the disaster. It is not under police investigation.

Climate change will 'seriously harm Indonesia'

Jakarta Post - May 24, 2007

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – It is no long shot. Indonesia is facing serious threats on many fronts from climate change, a government report says.

A country report on the impact of climate change says that water scarcity is a clear danger to Indonesia, with some coastal areas facing the real prospect of disappearing off the map.

"Indonesia is vulnerable to climate change. Floods, droughts, landslides and forest fires are common climate-related hazards here," Rizaldi Boer, the coordinating author of the central government's report Climate Variability and Climate Change and their Implications in Indonesia, said Wednesday.

The executive summary of the first-ever official report on climate change was delivered at an international seminar on water and climate change Wednesday. The report will be published next month before being submitted to the United Nations.

The report says climate change will lengthen the dry period caused by El-nino and deplete sources of surface water.

Warmer temperature are expected to lead to a rise in sea levels and worsen the quality of groundwater, which has long been the main source of drinking water in urban areas.

The report says saltwater intrusion is already occurring in Jakarta, Surabaya and Semarang. In Jakarta, the problem has been evident since the 1960s. The shallow groundwater of coastal areas was brackish before major groundwater developments in previous decades.

Saltwater intrusion in the shallow and deep aquifer has reached 15 kilometers from the coastline in Jakarta and caused serious land subsidence that will make the areas more flood prone, the report says.

Indonesia has around 81.000 kilometers of coastline. Many industries such as oil and gas, fisheries, agriculture and tourism operate in coastal areas.

The report says a one meter rise in sea levels would flood 405,000 hectares of coastal land and could lead to the disappearance of small islands. This would have serious implications for Indonesia's state borders.

The report says a water crisis would negatively affect crop yields in farming areas, while an increase in temperatures and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations would also affect rice yields.

The report also predicts global warming will make more people become vulnerable to outbreaks of water and vector-borne disease such as malaria and dengue fever.

Indonesia is currently the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases due to the significant release of carbon dioxide from deforestation.

War on corruption

Police unearth recipients of Tommy's overseas funds

Jakarta Post - May 26, 2007

Jakarta – The National Police announced Friday it had discovered the identities of four people believed to have received a share of the funds belonging to Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra that were successfully withdrawn from the London office of the Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) Paribas.

Police are currently investigating the bank accounts of the four individuals, identified only as ZY, TM, IKG and HA.

"We have requested to open the bank accounts (of the four), which allegedly had a connection with Tommy's funds kept at Paribas," National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Bambang Kuncoko told reporters as quoted by detik.com news portal.

Bambang said the police had been cooperating with the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) and the Indonesian banking industry to help focus its investigation on the flow of funds belonging to the youngest son of former president Soeharto.

The Attorney General's Office (AGO), which is holding a parallel investigation into the funds transfer, had earlier alleged that the funds were obtained through money laundering.

The AGO is also currently observing several other corruption cases involving Tommy, including the Goro land swap deal, the Timor Putra National (TPN) car project and monopoly practices carried out by the now-liquidated Clove Marketing and Buffer Agency (BPPC).

Investigators at National Police headquarters had obtained evidence that Tommy's funds were transferred to a number of bank accounts in Indonesia through an overseas company, identified as MIL, in mid 2005.

"A number of witnesses who knew about the fund transfers have also been questioned by the police," Bambang said. "We are stepping up our investigation into building the case (against Tommy)."

The officer disclosed that one of the four recipients had held his share of the cash at the Kebayoran branch of Bank BNI in South Jakarta.

"The police have issued a request to have the account opened and examined... but there is no reply (from the country's financial authorities) yet," he said.

It was reported earlier that Tommy had transferred US$10 million through one of his foreign companies, Motorbike International Limited, to an account belonging to the Justice and Human Rights Ministry. The account was opened by the then director general for legal administration at the ministry, Zulkarnain Yunus, upon the approval of then justice minister Hamid Awaluddin.

It was also reported that the case implicated Hamid's predecessor Yusril Ihza Mahendra.

Meanwhile, National Police chief Gen. Sutanto said police were also investigating 35 million euros belonging to Tommy, which was being held at Paribas' branch in Guernsey, a British crown dependency off the northern French coast, which is also believed to have been obtained through money laundering.

"We will first verify the money laundering allegations. If proven, we will then have the grounds to build the corruption case (against Tommy)," Sutanto told reporters after attending the first anniversary of the National Commission on Police on Friday.

"We will cooperate with the Attorney General's Office and the PPATK to investigate the money laundering allegations."

AGO targets Soeharto foundation

Jakarta Post - May 25, 2007

Imanuddin Razak, Jakarta – After a four-month delay the Attorney General's Office (AGO) announced Thursday it would file charges against a foundation belonging to former president Soeharto for alleged funding discrepancies.

Junior attorney general for civil and state administrative crimes, Alex Tobiya, said the charges would be filed with the South Jakarta District Court before July 22 – the AGO's anniversary. "Initially, we will file the charges against the Supersemar foundation, with other foundations to follow," Alex told a media conference.

Director for civil cases at the office of the junior attorney general for civil and state administrative crimes, Yoseph Suardi Sabda, and AGO spokesman Salman Maryadi were also present at the conference.

Alex said the Supersemar foundation had been targeted as the first case against the former president because they had secured President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's approval to investigate the foundation.

The AGO will seek the court's approval to seize all of the foundation's assets. "We will also seek compensation for losses that the foundation allegedly inflicted on the state – totaling Rp 11.5 trillion (US$1.3 billion)."

The plan to go after Soeharto's Supersemar foundation was initiated by former attorney general Abdul Rahman Saleh in January. But the plan remained on paper until Abdul Rahman was replaced by Hendarman Supandji in a Cabinet reshuffle earlier this month.

Soeharto founded the Supersemar foundation, through a government regulation in 1976. It collected donations from businesspeople and others to provide scholarships for students. Almost 800,000 scholarships have been awarded by the foundation but, as it is a private foundation, its books have never been opened to the public.

Alex said the AGO had not been able to calculate the total assets of the foundation that would be seized. "A plot of land in Kuningan area (South Jakarta), where the Granadi building is situated, is one asset."

He said prosecutors were having trouble identifying the foundation's assets because several had been transferred to different companies.

"We have evidence of transfers, which amounted to Rp 1 trillion, Rp 400 billion and Rp 8 billion... among others to Kosgoro (cooperatives), Goro (a wholesale firm) and Sempati Air," he said.

Meanwhile, a British Court on Wednesday extended the freeze on the account of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra at the Guernsey office of Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP). Alex said the court's decision would give the Attorney General's Office more time to build a corruption case against the youngest son of Soeharto.

"The court's verdict will give us more time to collect evidence and build our case against Tommy. We will file a civil suit against Tommy within the next three months." "If we win the civil suit, it will be used as evidence in the Guernsey Court trial, where the court is expected to declare the status of Tommy's money at the French bank."

Indonesian president denies graft claims

Agence France Presse - May 25, 2007

Jakarta – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono denied Friday that his 2004 presidential campaign was financed with public money, branding the claims "illogical."

"I and (vice president) Jusuf Kalla clearly never received (funds) and clearly the claims are misleading and unhealthy," Yudhoyono said in a rare press conference called to reject the claims.

The allegations were made by failed presidential candidate Amien Rais, who has admitted receiving 200 million rupiah (22,000 US dollars) in unauthorised funds for his own campaign.

Rais, a former parliamentary speaker, claimed earlier this month that money was also funelled by a government minister to other candidates, including Yudhoyono, and called on them to confess. Former marine and fisheries minister Rohmin Dahuri is currently on trial for allegedly misusing his department's money.

Yudhoyono, Indonesia's first democratically elected president, said Friday the "claims that we received illegal financing are illogical".

Yudhoyono, who came to office in October 2004, has vowed to root out endemic corruption at the highest levels of government. He has described as embarrassing the levels of bribery and kickbacks in Indonesia which have in the past poisoned the economy in the eyes of foreign investors.

The president's comments also follow a newspaper report Friday which said testimony was given at Dahuri's trial that the Yudhoyono and Kalla campaign team received 387 million rupiah (43,000 dollars).

Funds were also transferred from Dahuri's department to other candidates' campaign teams, a former member of his staff has reportedly told the trial.

Dahuri denied Friday any involvement in the distribution of money, saying he delegated the duty to a staffer, Didi Sadili.

"Our honesty in recording everything is what caused me to fall in this mess," Dahuri told ElShinta radio. "(Receivers) of funds are recorded by Didi Sadili, my staffer that managed the funds, and the names have been mentioned as fact in the trial," he said without saying who had been named.

Watchdog Transparency International ranks Indonesia as one of the world's most corrupt countries.

TNI/Defense

Photo tells thousand words on military-Soeharto ties

Jakarta Post - May 31, 2007

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – A photograph of a top military officer bowing and shaking hands with murder convict and graft suspect Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, shows the military remains loyal to the Soeharto family, critics say.

They say the photo, taken at a recent shooting competition hosted by the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) – where Tommy was a participant – raises concerns that Kopassus is supporting the youngest son of former president Soeharto.

The officer photographed, special Forces commander Maj. Gen. Rasyid Qurnuen Aquari, said his actions were a mere gesture of politeness and asserted that Kopassus remained detached from politics. Qurnuen is a former member of the presidential guard, which secured Soeharto's family during his presidency.

Soeharto's third son, Bambang Trihatmodjo, also took part in the shooting competition.

Military critic and director of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Usman Hamid, said Wednesday the photo confirms the military's enduring loyalty to Soeharto and his family, nine years after his resignation.

"Even the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) agrees that Soeharto's family is an untouchable hive of politics. The gesture in the photo shows the subordination of a military officer to a member of Soeharto's family."

He said it was understandable for the US and others to question the impartiality of the military when it came to Soeharto, his family members and close acquaintances.

US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Christopher R. Hill was quoted by Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono on Tuesday as mentioning that some civil organizations in the US accused the Indonesian Military of partiality.

"Soeharto's family still has a great amount of influence over the military, thus it is understandable that reform is happening at a snail's pace and past cases of human rights abuses are being left on the shelf," Usman said.

He said Tommy was a symbol of the much-criticized New Order regime and a test of the new administration's commitment to law enforcement.

Tommy served a jail sentence for ordering the murder of a Supreme Court judge and is currently being investigated by the Attorney General's Office on multiple graft allegations.

Military analyst Ikrar Nusabakti from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences said a strong Javanese culture ran deep within the military, so a bowing gesture – as depicted in the photo – could simply be a social grace. However, he said it could also be taken as a symbol of a military still in thrall to the Soehartos.

"(Former Indonesian Military chief) Gen. (ret) Wiranto made it clear that the military would continue to protect the Soeharto family, even when Soeharto stepped down as president."

Ikrar said Kopassus was a staunch guardian of the Soeharto family, given that it was once led by Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subiyanto, Soeharto's son-in-law.

US questions Indonesian military's independence

Tempo Interactive - May 30, 2007

Raden Rachmadi/Aqida Swamurti, Jakarta – The United States government and parliament has questioned the independence of the Indonesian military which is considered to be still under the power of the Suharto regime and his family.

"The United States Foreign Affairs Minister's Assistant, Christopher Hill, just questioned me about the matter," said Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono after meeting Christopher Hill in Jakarta yesterday (29/5).

According to Juwono, the matter was brought forward because several NGOs in the US obtained a photo of the Commander of the Special Forces Command (Kopassus), Major General Rasyid Qurnuen, shaking hands with former president Suharto's son Hutomo Mandala Putra (Tommy Suharto).

According to Hill, some NGOs consider that the two people's meeting is a sign that the Army's elite troops are still under the command of the New Order ruler's family.

When the photo reached Washington, a Congress member even turned this issue into a means to press Indonesia by reimposing military embargo.

However, during the meeting, Juwono was able to deny the accusation. "The meeting of the two people has nothing to do with the matters being accused of," he said.

At that time, a shooting competition was held at Kopassus Team 2 HQ in Kartasura, Central Java in which Tommy and Bambang Trihatmodjo wereparticipants.

According to Juwono, Rasyid was also a Presidential Security Guard during Suharto era. "So it was only an Eastern culture politeness from a soldier to the former family he once guarded," he said.

After the explanation, according to Juwono, Christopher Hill was able to understand. Hill said he assumed the news to only be an issue that was turned into a political commodity there. "He also considered the issue a part of the bad image inherited from the past and which is difficult to erase," said Juwono.

Foreign affairs

Australian envoy says sorry to Sutiyoso

Australian Associated Press - May 31, 2007

Jakarta's slighted Governor Sutiyoso says Australia's ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer has personally apologised for his alleged ill treatment by police in Sydney.

Sutiyoso this week cut short his visit to Australia, made at the invitation of the NSW Government, after NSW Police went to his Sydney hotel room and asked him to testify at an inquest related to the deaths of five Australian-based journalists at Balibo in East Timor in 1975.

Sutiyoso has accused police of rude and inappropriate behaviour, alleging they used a master key to barge into his hotel room and ask him to testify. Police deny gaining unauthorised entry to his room.

Indonesia has since lodged a formal protest with Australia, requesting clarification and an apology.

Farmer, who was summonsed to meet Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda last night, this morning met Sutiyoso at Jakarta's city hall.

"Personally he apologised about that incident to me and he will try to get an official statement from NSW today and he will bring it and give it to me," Sutiyoso told reporters after the meeting.

"I forgive him, he is an ambassador, he represents Australia in Indonesia and he, in front of me and some of my staff, conveyed his apology and was very shocked and disappointed with that incident.

"We are a big-hearted country. Why shouldn't I forgive that? He will take care today [to get an] official letter from the NSW Premier [Morris Iemma] to me to apologise formally to me through that letter."

He also urged hundreds of protesters who demonstrated outside the Australian embassy yesterday not to overreact. "I urge them not to overreact and not to do counterproductive, especially anarchaic things," he said.

Farmer said the NSW Government had instituted a formal inquiry into the incident in Sutiyoso's hotel room. "The Governor has made it clear to me that he was deeply offended by the incident at the hotel," the ambassador said.

"I know that the Premier of NSW is deeply disturbed by this incident, that's why the Premier has asked the Police Commissioner in NSW to initiate a senior level inquiry into what happened.

"I understand that there will be further communication between the Premier of NSW and the Governor during the course of the day and I of course will be ready to facilitate that communication in any way I can.

"I deeply value the Governor's assurance to me that he remains committed to working with us to develop a relationship that benefits both Indonesia and Australia."

Farmer also told the Governor "that as an Australian I thought that it was really extremely unfortunate" that such a positive visit had ended so negatively. I deeply sympathise with him, with the way he felt," he said. Sutiyoso and Farmer shook hands for the cameras following their meeting.

Sutiyoso, a former lieutenant-general with the Indonesian military, restated today that, while he had been in East Timor three times in 1975, he had never entered Balibo, where the five journalists were killed.

Police went to Sutiyoso's hotel on Tuesday, with a request to attend the inquest, after the coroner hearing the case said that according to evidence, Sutiyoso had allegedly been part of "Team Susi", one of the Indonesian military units that advanced on Balibo the day the journalists were killed.

According to official reports, Brian Peters, Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham, Tony Stewart and Malcolm Rennie were accidentally killed in crossfire between invading Indonesian troops and Timorese militia. Indonesia continues to maintain that position and considers the case closed.

However, the inquest has heard evidence they were executed by Indonesian troops and that there is enough evidence to prosecute two unnamed people for war crimes.

Police 'ordered hotel room entry'

Sydney Morning Herald - May 31, 2007

Reko Rennie – Police ordered staff at a Sydney hotel to use a master key to gain entry to the room of an Indonesian governor, a hotel employee said today.

NSW Police has confirmed it is investigating a complaint into the officer's conduct during the confrontation with Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso.

Mr Sutiyoso, considered a possible presidential candidate in Indonesia's 2009 election, accused NSW Police of using a master key to enter his Sydney hotel room to deliver a request that he testify at an inquest into the deaths of five Australia-based newsmen at Balibo in East Timor on October 16, 1975.

He was a guest of the NSW Government and is demanding an apology over his treatment.

The police officer's decision to enter the Governor's room while he was sleeping has fuelled fears of a diplomatic row between Australia and Indonesia and sparked angry protests outside Australia's Jakarta embassy.

When the Shangri-La Hotel, where Mr Sutiyoso stayed this week, was called, a staff member confirmed that a NSW Police officer approached a senior staff member at the hotel and demanded access to the Governor of Jakarta's room.

"Yes, they [NSW Police] did come to the hotel and a senior member of staff did approach them and [the staff member] of course asked them for ID and the necessary documentation was reviewed," the employee, who asked not to be named, said.

"Then both the police and the staff member did go up to the room and they did ring the doorbell and then, of course, they accessed the room," the staff member said.

"This was all under the directions, of course, by the police... they demanded access to the guest room.

"We as they requested, did provide access to the room. Our staff member was present at all times and we did ring the doorbell, so we did follow through our procedures we do have."

The hotel employee said police did not explain to staff why they needed access to Mr Sutiyoso's room.

"Unfortunately, we were unaware of their actions," she said. "We really didn't know ourselves what was going on. We weren't informed prior to their arrival.

"We had no idea what was going on, so from our point of view we're ... a bit disappointed how they handled the situation, but of course we have to assist them."

The NSW Coroners Office has confirmed that Detective Sergeant Steve Thomas tried to subpoena Mr Sutiyoso.

"He [Detective Sergeant Thomas] had a subpoena but it wasn't served.

Instead, a verbal invitation was issued [to Mr Sutiyoso] but he declined to attend the interview," a NSW Coroners Office spokeswoman said.

"In court yesterday, the [Deputy State Coroner] Dorelle Pinch said she had been advised that Detective Sergeant Thomas did not use a skeleton key to enter the room."

The NSW Police confirmed a police officer had attended the scene and said an investigation was being launched into the police officer's conduct during the confrontation with the Indonesian official.

"A NSW Police officer attached to the coronial investigation spoke with an Indonesian official at the direction of the Deputy State Coroner," a NSW police spokeswoman said.

"The [NSW] Commissioner of Police, Ken Moroney, will today provide interim advice to the Police Minister on the matter regarding the Governor of Jakarta, Mr Sutiyoso. In the meantime an officer attached to the coronial investigation unit is the subject of a departmental inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the contact with the Governor of Jakarta," the spokeswoman said.

"There will be no further comment."

Fury at war crimes call

Sydney Morning Herald - May 31, 2007

Hamish McDonald, Craig Skehan and Mark Forbes in Jakarta – The inquest into the 1975 killing of five newsmen in Balibo has exploded into a diplomatic row, with a senior Indonesian politician storming out of Australia and Canberra facing a recommendation to prosecute for war crimes.

After the issue received widespread coverage in Indonesia, a chanting crowd of several hundred people, some holding signs including "F – - off Australia", gathered outside the embassy in Jakarta yesterday to protest against the treatment given to the city's governor, Sutiyoso, during his visit to Australia.

Mr Sutiyoso, a retired army lieutenant-general, cut short an official tour of NSW on Tuesday night after police requested he testify about his role in the special forces attack in Balibo on October 16 in which the television newsmen died.

Indonesia is considering retaliating against Australia's "unacceptable action" in attempting to force Mr Sutiyoso to testify, said the Foreign Minister, Hassan Wirayuda.

After meeting Mr Sutiyoso, Mr Wirayuda summoned the Australian ambassador, Bill Farmer, to his office last night to deliver a direct protest and demand further explanation. He said the "unpleasant incident" was performed by Australian police and their conduct was unacceptable. Mr Wirayuda's spokesman, Kristiarto Legowo, said "we will consider appropriate measures we will take against Australia".

Mr Sutiyoso, charging that police had entered his Sydney hotel room in a "rude and offensive" way using a master key, said he had felt "very harassed" and was owed an apology, while the Indonesian embassy in Canberra expressed "deep concern" and demanded an explanation from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The department said coronial processes in NSW were independent of the Federal Government. But it emerged yesterday that the department had headed off a deeper confrontation on Tuesday, when it heard of a move to subpoena Mr Sutiyoso.

The department admitted that its solicitors "drew to the attention" of the Deputy State Coroner, Dorelle Pinch, provisions of the Foreign States Immunities Act in relation to domestic court orders being applied to foreign leaders.

However, a bigger diplomatic storm is building after the coroner's assisting counsel, Mark Tedeschi, QC, recommended yesterday that two Indonesians in the Balibo attack could be successfully prosecuted for war crimes under the Geneva Conventions.

The Crown counsel recommended that evidence against the two be referred to the federal Director of Public Prosecutions for charges of wilful killing of civilians under the conventions, to which Australia and Indonesia are both signatories.

While Mr Tedeschi gave their names in a separate confidential submission, the weight of his long hard-hitting final submission at the close of some eight weeks of evidence made it clear who these would be:

Mohammed Yunus Yosfiah, who led the covert Balibo attack as a special forces captain and later rose to lieutenant-general before becoming information minister in 1998-99. He lives in Bandung. "At least three of the journalists were shot by Indonesian troops after an order was given by Captain Yunus Yosfiah, who was standing at the front of his troops," Mr Tedeschi said. "He also joined in the shooting of those three."

Christoforus da Silva, a non-commissioned officer of the special forces in the Balibo attack, became a district official in East Timor during its 24-year occupation and is now thought to be retired on the island of Flores.

Mr Tedeschi said Mr da Silva had trapped the fifth newsman, who had fled into an outhouse of the Balibo building where the other four were killed. "When the journalist came out da Silva stabbed him in the back with a military knife, killing him," he said.

After a plea in court by John Milkins, son of the dead cameraman Gary Cunningham, for "the perpetrators of the crime" to be brought to justice, Ms Pinch said: "Providing there is sufficient evidence, you can be in no doubt I will be naming people I believe caused the deaths of the journalists."

Mr Tedeschi rejected the findings of earlier Australian official inquiries, including two by the former National Crime Authority head Tom Sherman, that the men had been killed in crossfire during a battle for Balibo by Indonesian-led forces and the Fretilin independence movement.

He said they were killed deliberately by soldiers as they tried to surrender, following orders from officers higher up the chain of command to allow no reports contradicting Jakarta's line that the attack was carried out by local anti-Fretilin partisans.

General Yosfiah has already refused a request from the court that he appear at the inquest, either in person or by video link. Getting him and other Indonesians to face charges in an Australian court would require extradition, and Jakarta is unlikely to co-operate.

Mr Sutiyoso, who had been placed as a participant in the Balibo attack by evidence at the inquest, initially told police assisting the coroner he could not give evidence because of his heavy program, but then cancelled it and flew home.

Sutiyoso incident a 'routine' in cases of human rights violations

Detik.com - May 31, 2007

Anwar Khumaini, Jakarta – The raid by New South Wales police on Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso's hotel room in Sydney, Australia, should be considered as a routine matter.

In upholding cases of gross human rights violations, it is not just state officials that could be arrested but even the president can be arrested if he is involved in gross human rights violations.

"Alberto (sic) Pinochet (the former president of Chile) was able to be arrested", said the coordinator of the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG), Rafendi Djamin during a press conference at the offices of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) on Jl. Borobudur in Central Jakarta on Thursday May 31.

Djamin said that even a president who has political immunity can be arrested let alone Sutiyoso who does not have any political immunity. "If [they] are involved in international crimes they can also still be arrested", he said.

He said that Indonesia itself could in fact take similar actions to those taken by the Australian police. If there were a president or other state official that was involved in committing gross human rights violations, Indonesia would have the right to question them. "Indonesia has ratified the Convention on Torture, so it can also arrest government officials or other heads of state that have violated human rights", he added.

Djamin added that it is not just Sutiyoso that could experience such a thing but former General Wiranto could also be arrested if he goes overseas because he has also been involved in cases of gross human rights violations in East Timor. "He could become a suspect based on international crimes and universal jurisdiction", he said accusingly. (ziz/nrl)

Notes:

According to United Nations police, who in 2000 began a formal investigation into the killing of five Australian-based journalists at Balibo, then Captain Sutiyoso was one of several officers involved in the attack and other clandestine operations against Portuguese East Timor in 1975. In October of that year, Sutiyoso led an assault by Indonesian troops on the sleepy coastal town of Batugade in Timor, the first time that Jakarta had occupied and held a foreign town and the precursor to the full-scale invasion of East Timor two months later.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Sutiyoso incident designed to slander TNI - Suyanto

Detik.com - May 31, 2007

Iqbal Fadil, Jakarta – The raid on Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso's room at the Shangri-La Hotel in Sydney, Australia, is related to his past when as a officer of the Indonesian military (TNI) he served in East Timor. The Commander in Chief of the TNI even sees the incident as an effort to slander the TNI.

In 1975 Sutiyoso took part in the Flamboyan (poinciana tree) and Seroja (lotus) operations in East Timor, at the same time as the incident of the shooting of five Australian media journalists in Balibo, East Timor took place.

"There are non-government organisation interests overseas, particularly in Australia, who are always slandering and [trying to] force the TNI into a corner. It's never ending. As if the TNI is still looking for people in Papua or taking care of refugees in East Timor", said TNI Commander in Chief Admiral Djoko Suyanto at the TNI's headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, on Thursday May 31.

So advocacy against the TNI's image being conducted by NGOs overseas, he continued, is still incessant. And they are looking through the mirror of incidents of human rights violations in the past. But they do not see the developments within the TNI since 2000, which has been reformed.

"Whereas for the TNI East Timor is a thing of the past, [now] it is precisely how we can safeguard the relationship with East Timor so that it is more favorable and better", said Suyanto.

When asked what his response was with regard to what befell Sutiyoso, Suyanto said he regretted the incident. "I was also angry. Pak Sutiyoso phoned me at the time. And I said, your actions were correct in throwing the police out of your room", he said.

Suyanto also explained that Sutiyoso had never been assigned to Balibo, but had instead been deployed in the northern part of East Timor. (sss/ana)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Sutiyoso should have been arrested - Indonesian NGOs

Detik.com - May 31, 2007

Anwar Khumaini, Jakarta – Non-government organisations from Indonesia's NGO Coalition for International Human Rights Advocacy (Koalisi LSM) say that Jakarta governor Sutiyoso should have been arrested because he refused a court order.

The groups made the statement in response to the New South Wales police raid on Sutiyoso's room at the Shangri-La Hotel in Sydney, Australia. Sutiyoso is believed to have been involved in a human rights case related to the death of five Australian journalists in Balibo, East Timor, in 1975.

"The [police's] actions were legally correct. It was an official summons from a judge. If refused, he should have been arrested", exclaimed Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) Deputy Coordinator Choirul Anam during a joint press conference attended by representatives from Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial), the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and a number of other NGOs at the Kontras offices on Jl. Borobudur in Central Jakarta on Thursday May 31.

The coordinator of Koalisi LSM, Rafendi Djamin meanwhile said that the incident does not need to be addressed politically but rather from a legal point of view. "We have to be wise, [and understand] that the courts actions were the actions of an independent institution that occasionally clashes with the executive", said Djamin.

He added that it is not in fact just Sutiyoso that is connected with this case. Long beforehand, the operational commander of the attack on Balibo, retired Major General Yunus Yosfiah had been summoned by the coroner's court. "Sutiyoso became his representative and there are eight [other] generals that are [also] suspected of being involved", said Djamin.

"The public doesn't need to overreact. Don't let us then become anti-Australian and close the Australian Embassy. The [Embassy has] absolutely no relationship [with the incident]", he asserted. (bal/sss)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Indonesia upset by Balibo 'invitation'

Australian Associated Press - May 30, 2007

A senior Indonesian politician has demanded an apology from Australia over an attempt to have him testify at a politically sensitive inquest into the Balibo Five deaths.

The row involving Jakarta Governor and presidential hopeful Sutiyoso is threatening to escalate into an international incident, with 500 protesters gathering outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta. Angered by what Sutiyoso called "insulting" treatment by NSW police, the protesters demanded Australia offer an immediate apology.

Sutiyoso accused NSW Police of using a master key on Tuesday to enter his Sydney hotel room to deliver a request that he testify at an inquest into the deaths of five Australia-based newsmen at Balibo in East Timor on October 16, 1975.

"They barged into my room after forcing the hotel to give them a duplicate key," he told reporters in Jakarta after cutting short his Australian visit, made at the invitation of the NSW government.

"I really feel slighted by such treatment. If there is no apology, I will deem it as arrogance on their part, and do we need to continue relations with Australia? If the Australian government apologises and says it was a case of negligence, then we will think of continuing our relations."

Indonesia has since asked Australia's ambassador in Jakarta, Bill Farmer, to explain why Sutiyoso was approached to testify. An Australian embassy spokesman in Jakarta said the protest had grown from about 300 to about 500, but that it was "peaceful and relatively orderly". The embassy was in lock-down and would remain that way until the crowd dispersed, he said.

Deputy NSW Coroner Dorelle Pinch told the Balibo inquest she had asked a NSW Police officer assigned to assist the inquest to go to Sutiyoso's hotel to deliver a personal invitation from her to attend. She said she'd earlier decided to issue the politician with a summons, but abandoned the plan after receiving additional advice about whether she could compel Sutiyoso to attend.

Pinch said she decided to seize a small "window of opportunity" after learning on Tuesday that Sutiyoso was in Sydney. But Sutiyoso "declined to attend the inquest" citing previous engagements, Pinch said. She denied any suggestion that the police officer involved had gained unauthorised entry to Sutiyoso's hotel room.

The Australian embassy stressed that police had not been acting on behalf of the Australian government in requesting he give evidence.

"The thing that needs to be emphasised in this case is that it was only a request, an invitation from coronial police. Mr Sutiyoso was not forced to come to the inquest," embassy spokesman John Williams told ElShinta radio.

According to evidence earlier given to the inquest, Sutiyoso had allegedly been part of "Team Susi", one of the Indonesian military units that advanced on Balibo the day the journalists were killed, Pinch said. Sutiyoso, a retired Lieutenant General, served in the military for three decades and was part of Indonesia's occupation of East Timor.

But he denied that he played any role in the Balibo Five killings. "I did not go to Balibo, my troops were not in Balibo. I was in another place but not Balibo," he said.

Ex-general's visit rudely interrupted by Balibo ghost

Melbourne Age - May 30, 2007

Hamish McDonald – An Indonesian politician visiting Sydney yesterday had an awkward reminder of an event in his past he must have thought long buried: the death of five Australian newsmen at Balibo, East Timor, in 1975.

Retired lieutenant-general Sutiyoso, 62, for the past decade the Governor of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, found a NSW policeman, Detective Sergeant Steve Thomas, at his hotel room door inviting him to appear at a Sydney inquest into the deaths.

But for last-minute doubts about its enforceability and risking a major diplomatic row with Indonesia, Sergeant Thomas would have delivered a subpoena signed by Deputy NSW Coroner Dorelle Pinch compelling him to appear in her Glebe court this morning.

According to books by an Indonesian war correspondent, Hendro Subroto, the then Captain Sutiyoso was a member of "team Susi", the Indonesian special forces unit that attacked the border town of Balibo on October 16, 1975.

Like other Indonesian soldiers taking part in the covert invasion across the Timor land border, he took an alias, in his case "Manix", a mispelled version of the Telly Savalas character popular in the 1970s.

Evidence given to the inquest by Timorese partisans attached to Team Susi was that the five newsmen from channels Nine and Seven were captured while trying to surrender, then quickly executed, and their bodies burnt. None have mentioned any particular action by Sutiyoso.

Up until late yesterday afternoon, General Sutiyoso's visit to Sydney with a 25-strong business delegation had gone well. There had been a reception at State Parliament on Monday, hosted by NSW Tourism Minister Matt Brown, and yesterday an Australia-Indonesia business lunch in the same place, after which he was presented with a bottle of fine NSW wine.

Then a nap in his hotel room, from which he was awakened by Sergeant Thomas.

General Sutiyoso is believed to have told Sergeant Thomas that he was unable to attend the court, because of his busy program of engagements in Canberra today.

Last night, guests at a reception at the Indonesian Consulate- General were told the guest of honour was unable to attend "due to the onset of sudden illness".

Whether General Sutiyoso continues his program remains to be seen. While he is understood not to be travelling on a diplomatic passport, the subpoena was thrown in doubt by legal advice on federal legislation protecting visiting foreign leaders from domestic court orders.

Otherwise, General Sutiyoso would have been the first Indonesian military participant in the Balibo attack to appear in the inquest. The commander of Team Susi, then captain Mohammed Yunus Yosfiah, a former Indonesian information minister, has declined an invitation to testify.

General Sutiyoso has been mentioned as a candidate for the 2009 presidential elections.

Economy & investment

Real sector seen lagging

Jakarta Post - May 31, 2007

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Indonesia's real sector is still hampered by poor infrastructure and access to financing, resulting in continued slow growth despite stable macroeconomic conditions.

These problems, which had been increasing in severity since the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, could not be simply resolved by the central bank's rate cuts and easing of lending rules alone, Bank Indonesia Senior Deputy Governor Miranda S. Goeltom said Wednesday.

She urged all concerned – the government, legislature and the business community – to join hands in putting the right policies in place to resolve the problems, and to roll up their sleeves in actually implementing them.

"What we need is a 'total football' strategy," Miranda said during a panel discussion. "The complexity and gravity of the problems require broader and more integrated structural economic reforms in the infrastructure, labor, legal and institutional sectors so as to improve competitiveness."

Miranda said that the recent macroeconomic stability had not been accompanied by significant growth in the real sector as the economy's supply-side – made up of the output of businesses and industries – was being constrained by structural rigidities that hampered its ability to respond to the demand-side, in the form of consumption, exports and investments.

This was shown by BI's latest study comparing the real sector's output with consumer prices.

While before the crisis an output increase would translate into relatively flat rises in prices, Miranda said that the relational curve had since become steeper.

This reflected a growing inability among businesses and industries to increase output, while keeping production costs down, so as to keep pace with the demand. This inflexibility led to higher prices, she said.

The lack of infrastructure and access to financing was further exacerbated by a shift in the post-crisis economy to more technology-intensive industry, rather than labor-intensive industry. This had resulted in the so-called "paradox" of jobless growth.

"Our study shows that labor force employment in the formal sector has decreased from 81 percent during the pre-crisis period to 11 percent in the post-crisis period," Miranda said.

Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) chairman Sofyan Wanandi argued that the main problem was the failure to implement existing policies. "All of these positive macroeconomic figures will be incapable of being sustained if nothing is done. We are sometimes too busy tending to non-economic policies, as well," he said.

Sofyan admitted that the country's manufacturing sector had in the past enjoyed generous government support in the form of fuel and power subsidies, and tariff protection, but times had since changed in the global competition arena.

What the government needed now to do, he said, was to eliminate all remaining structural problems in the economy that resulted in high costs for industry.

'Bottlenecked' Jakarta seen losing new economic race

Jakarta Post - May 25, 2007

Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – As cities around the world compete to become economic hubs, Jakarta risks losing access to global supply chains unless it can solve its bottleneck problem, an economist says.

Speaking here Thursday at a seminar on leadership and megacities, Melbourne University economist Howard Dick said Jakarta was Indonesia's main interface with the global economy but it failed to work efficiently.

"Congestion, lack of infrastructure, a burdensome bureaucracy and environmental problems are among the factors causing Jakarta's inefficiency," Dick said.

Being Indonesia's main gateway, Jakarta should provide low-cost, on-time and reliable logistics services, but instead its port and the city are strangling each other, he said.

Leaving these problems untackled could mean increasing unemployment in the capital, as Jakarta drops off the radar of the global supply chain of goods and services, Dick said.

In line with the increasingly borderless global economy, Asian cities are emerging as important points for the flow of people, as well as economic and financial activities.

According to a United Nations' Habitat report, by 2015 some 15 of the world's 23 megacities, or cities with more than 10 million people, will be in Asia.

China's Shanghai, as well as India's Mumbai and Bangalore, are among the new global cities set to replace old economic hubs like London, New York and Tokyo, according to Dick.

With these new city-scale hubs, people have to shift from thinking in terms of nations to realizing that the current global network consists of cities which compete against each other, he said.

Those cities failing to provide a conducive and efficient environment will fall out of the race, a reality Jakarta is already facing as it lags behind neighboring global cities, Dick said.

Unlike Singapore and Hong Kong, Jakarta faces the typical problems associated with sprawl, both physically and economically.

Dick said Jakarta needs to adjust its urban boundaries, matching taxing and borrowing power with expenditure needs, as well as creating accountability in order to provide more effective management. Furthermore, it needs to work on its infrastructure to allow better movement of people and goods.

Also speaking at the seminar, Shanghai municipal people's congress vice chairman Zhou Muyao said the key component of Shanghai's urban management is prioritizing public transportation.

That effort seems to have paid off, as Shanghai is currently attracting twice as much annual global investment as the whole of India. A 2006 BBC report said more than 500 multinational companies, ranging from General Motors to Volkswagen, have regional corporate headquarters in Shanghai.

The city, which accounts for about 5 percent of China's national gross domestic product, is growing at a pace exceeding that of the national economy and is expected to grow larger than New York by 2020. By comparison, Jakarta on average accounts for 17.1 percent of Indonesia's GDP.

Opinion & analysis

A commitment to human rights?

Jakarta Post - May 31, 2007

Atnike Nova Sigiro, London – During a recent UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva, Indonesia was re-elected a member for the period 2007-2010, receiving the second most number of votes. In terms of international human rights diplomacy, this was a moment of success for the government. Indonesia has gained international recognition for the ability to transform itself into a democratic nation, following the fall of Soeharto in 1998, who ruled the country with an iron-fist for more than 32 years.

After 1998, Indonesia adopted and ratified international covenants and this played an important role in creating a good image for the government in gaining international praise. It is worth noting that in the years following the Bill of Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) were also adopted by Indonesia's government.

These initiatives added Indonesia to the list of nations committed to upholding human rights, through the adoption of international human rights norms by its national political system.

However, this "progress" ended up in direct opposition to the reality of the fulfillment of human rights protection and respect at the national level. Evidence that indicates a lack of quality in the Indonesian human rights ad hoc court on East Timor has been acknowledged by the UN Commission of Experts in their report, which was authorized by the previous UN secretary- general, Kofi Annan, in 2005.

Instead of improving the quality of the legal system, Indonesia chose to settle bilateral initiatives with East Timor through the establishment of the Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF). The CTF initiative was regarded by several international human rights organizations as jeopardizing international human rights standards, especially since Indonesia, as a member of the UN Human Rights Council, supported the international mechanism on human rights.

A lack of commitment also appears to have stagnated various proceedings on domestic human rights cases. There is quite a long list of unresolved cases, including the human rights ad hoc court on Tanjung Priok; Abepura's human rights court; the Trisakti and Semanggi cases; the human rights investigation team on disappearances; neglect of the Talangsari case; and human rights violations of 1965.

The human rights agenda, which was previously open for debate, seems to have disappeared somewhat from government commitments. Following the abolishment of law no. 27, 2004, on the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) by the Constitutional Court in 2006, there have been no significant indications of the consequences from the government.

It is clear that the cancellation of this law will cause much anguish for victims of past human rights violations. It also impedes a previous commitment to set up a TRC for Aceh and Papua.

The worst possible result is that expectations for institutional reform of the political and militaristic system – that has seen the dignity of so many victims sacrificed and caused segregation in society – have become less promising.

Although Indonesia has ratified several international human rights covenants, the commitment to implement these covenants is still disputable.

Human rights protection is not merely the adoption of a covenant, but most importantly is the initiative to implement it. Government commitments for the implementation of the ICESCR are still questionable. For example, what has the government done to support the victims and communities whose lives have been devastated by the Sidoarjo disaster?

Furthermore, does the government have any specific plan to provide social rights to their citizens? The implementation of the ICESCR relies much on the gradual and positive action of the state.

In conclusion, the re-election of Indonesia as a member of the UN Human Rights Council does not automatically mean that Indonesia is a success story. It should be seen as a means by which to re- question how the government should handle human rights violations in the national system.

Human rights is not about the international recognition that Indonesia receives by signing covenants, nor is it a means by which to gain an important position at the international level. It is about making every effort possible to implement human rights values in our daily social and political agenda as a nation, and finishing the work left over by the legacy of human rights violations that occurred during the period of authoritarian rule.

[The writer is a member of staff at the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM), in Jakarta. He is currently studying for his master's degree in social policy and development at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), in London.]

A Lobbying Bonanza

ICIJ - May 31, 2007

Andreas Harsono, Washington – A long string of human rights abuses had put Indonesia in a deep hole with the United States, but then the September 11 terrorists struck. Suddenly the hole got shallower.

No country has more Muslims than Indonesia, and it is the world's fourth most populous country after China, India and the United States, with almost twice as many people as Japan. So in the emerging post-9/11 world of Islamist terrorism, Indonesia's importance to the US suddenly increased.

The island nation had inaugurated a new president just months before the 9/11 attacks and, by chance, the White House had issued an invitation for her to visit on September 19. As it turned out, the new president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, was one of the first state visitors to the White House after the terrorists struck – and the timing couldn't have been more propitious.

For President Bush, it was an occasion to make friendly overtures to a huge nation that could be a crucial ally in dealing with terrorists.

For President Megawati, it was an opportunity to advance a public relations campaign so relentless that private sources politically connected to the Indonesian government spent more than $1 million to hire a team of Washington lobbyists led by Bob Dole, the former Senate Republican leader and 1996 presidential nominee. Indonesia's lobbying goals included the resumption of controversial military aid that had been cut off after its troops massacred more than 100 demonstrators in East Timor in 1991.

The relentlessness paid off:

In the three years after the 9/11 attacks, Indonesian forces benefited from training in counterterrorism techniques and skills worth more than $5 million under the Pentagon's new post-9/11 Regional Defense Counterterrorism Fellowship Program (CTFP) – even though for much of that time other similar US military assistance was embargoed because of Indonesia's human rights record. An analysis of foreign military training and assistance conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) found that Indonesia received more CTFP training than any other country – twice as much as the second- place nation, the Philippines ( see separate story).

In February 2005, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared the Indonesian military sufficiently reformed to warrant resumption of aid under the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, despite skepticism from Congress and human rights organizations about the extent of reform.

In November 2005, just over four years after Megawati visited the White House, the last restriction on US military aid was lifted. The State Department announced that aid would resume under the Foreign Military Financing program (FMF) with the goals of modernizing Indonesia's military and supporting US-Indonesia counterterrorism cooperation. The program provides funds for foreign militaries' purchases of US military goods, services and training.

In March 2006 Rice visited Jakarta and announced that the US would increase military cooperation and boost the training budget. "A reformed and effective Indonesian military is in the interest of everyone in this region, because threats to our common security have not disappeared," she said. "We look for continued progress toward greater accountability and complete reform."

Indonesia was out of its hole, and US military aid was flowing again. Around the time of the FMF announcement, according to lobbying records, the country ended its relationship with Richard L. Collins & Co., which had succeeded Dole's team as one of Indonesia's primary lobbyists in Washington. But questions remain over who exactly paid for the lobbying.

President's supporters steered contract to Dole

Indonesia spreads over five major islands and more than 17,000 smaller ones in archipelagoes between Malaysia and Singapore. It stretches almost to Australia and across such exotic locations as Bali, Borneo, Java, New Guinea and Sumatra as well as the ancient Spice Islands (now called the Moluccas), where nutmeg originated. Its government is struggling to establish itself as a democracy after the brutal and corrupt 32-year dictatorship of Suharto, who, like many Javanese, uses only one name. During Suharto's reign, the military was reported to have killed as many as 3 million Communists and other dissidents on the outer islands; estimates of Suharto's reportedly embezzled fortune start at $15 billion.

The nation's politics in the decade since Suharto stepped down in 1998 have been tangled and shadowy, with almost continuous insurgencies on the country's different islands and the military still playing a powerful role in politics. So perhaps it is little wonder that Indonesia's three Washington lobbying contracts were signed, successively and respectively, by a politically connected Indonesian businessman, a man claiming to be authorized to sign on behalf of a foundation started by a former president who is a moderate Muslim cleric, and the government's intelligence agency.

Indonesia held its first direct presidential election in 2004, and international monitors declared it well run. In it, Megawati – the daughter of Sukarno, Indonesia's first president after independence following World War II – was defeated by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a retired three-star general who had been her chief security minister and ran as a reformer. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) records on file with the Department of Justice in Washington show that the lobbying contract with Dole's firm, Alston & Bird, was terminated immediately after Yudhoyono was inaugurated.

The Alston & Bird contract had been negotiated by a powerful group of Megawati supporters after she became president, and it was signed by one of them, Yohannes Hardian Widjonarko, then the treasurer of the Kawula Alit Nusantara Foundation, an organization led by Megawati's husband Taufik Kiemas. Taufik is also a leader of Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle. Its executive director is Tjahjo Kumolo, who heads the party's faction in the Parliament.

The one-year contract was signed on December 1, 2003, by Frank (Rusty) Conner III, the partner in charge at Alston & Bird LLP, and Widjonarko. The contract was also signed by Dole and specifically indicated that he would coordinate Alston & Bird's lobbying efforts for Widjonarko and his "designated representatives." The contract called for payment of $200,000 per month and laid out 12 lobbying objectives, including increasing trade between America and Indonesia; seeking a resumption of the military assistance; and providing counsel to the Indonesian government regarding business, legal and financial issues. In addition to the retainer, the contract allowed the firm to charge up to $2,500 per month for travel, meals and administrative costs such as photocopying and computerized research.

The engagement specified that Dole was to "actively participate in and supervise our day-to-day work under this agreement. All work will be coordinated from his office." And there was much to supervise: the work of nine other Alston & Bird lobbyists assigned to work on Indonesia's behalf, including two other partners, Jonathan Winer, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for international law enforcement, and Thomas Boyd, who headed the Office of Policy Development in the Department of Justice under President George H.W. Bush. Others working on the account (some of whom have since left the firm) included Michael Marshall, a former spokesman for Dole; John Schall, a former policy adviser to the senior Bush; Cameron Lynch, a former aide to Sen. John Ashcroft; plus Atiqua Hashem, a lawyer then working out of Alston & Bird's Atlanta office.

The agreement had a follow-up detail three weeks later that brought Indonesia's government directly into the arrangement, through a December 18, 2003, letter from Laksamana Sukardi, Indonesia's minister for state enterprises. Records show that Sukardi, whose office controlled more than 150 companies ranging from oil exploration to shipping to telecommunications, asked Dole to advocate personally for the state-owned oil company Pertamina in a multimillion-dollar legal case.

FARA records show that the Dole team called and met with then- Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge as well as Karen Brooks, then the Asian affairs director for the National Security Council. They also met with US Agency for International Development officials, including its Jakarta director, William Frej, and lobbied officials of the United States-Indonesia Society.

Those records further show that they made contact with the offices of then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice; Richard Armitage, deputy secretary of state; and Cofer Black, the State Department's counterterrorism coordinator and former head of the CIA's counterterrorism center. The records show that the lobbyists called or met with State Department officials 12 times, including Ralph Boyce, the US ambassador to Indonesia.

According to listings of the firm's expense accounts filed with its Department of Justice FARA papers, Dole and Atiqua Hashem traveled to Jakarta in December 2003 and again in March 2004 (a trip on which Winer joined them). The same records show Hashem traveled extensively between Atlanta and Washington to work with Dole. On Capitol Hill, Dole's team made contact with the offices of Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and John Kerry, D-Mass., and with many other members of Congress and their staffs, promoting not only the resumption of military aid but also Indonesia's status as the biggest Muslim democracy and an ally in the Bush administration's war on terror.

The total cost for all this, according to FARA records, was $1,044,147. From November 1, 2003, to April 30, 2004, Alston & Bird reported $846,163 in income from Widjonarko. From May 1, 2004, until October 20, 2004, the reported income was $197,984.

Where did all the money come from? It depends on whom you ask.

Alston & Bird's Jonathan Winer wrote in a FARA document that Widjonarko "is responsible for financing and controlling this engagement.... Although this engagement may from time to time also be directed by individuals in the government of Indonesia, to my best knowledge, Mr. Widjonarko is not supervised, owned, controlled, financed, or subsidized by a foreign government, foreign political party, or other foreign principal."

In an interview with ICIJ, Muhamad S. Zulkarnaen, another member of the group of Megawati supporters who coalesced around her husband, declined to comment about who contributed to the Alston & Bird payments. He denied that Sukardi's ministry of state enterprises funded the lobbying campaign, directly or indirectly, instead characterizing the funding as "political donations." When asked by ICIJ who contributed those "political donations," he responded that, "Well, you don't keep that kind of list."

The FARA documents, however, mentioned the name of "P. Sondakh," an apparent reference to Peter Sondakh, a powerful businessman who controls the Rajawali Group, whose interests range from cigarette to cement productions. Winer sent Sondakh a package in June 2004, according to the firm's FARA filings that year and two other sources, a Rajawali Group executive and an Indonesian diplomat in Washington, D.C., speaking with ICIJ on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Taufik, Megawati's husband, had asked the Rajawali Group for financial contributions.

So what did all of this lobbying accomplish? When the contract was terminated after Yudhoyono became president in October 2004, the US embargo on IMET and FMF funds was still in place and the Pertamina case had not been resolved. In a phone call with ICIJ, Winer said that the firm has a policy of not commenting on its work for clients unless authorized by the client; Widjonarko did not respond to repeated requests for an interview by an ICIJ reporter in Indonesia. Zulkarnaen told ICIJ that the lobbying accomplished almost nothing.

After the Dole team had left the field, in February 2005, Condoleezza Rice, who had become secretary of state a month earlier, announced that reform of Indonesia's military was sufficient to justify resumption of IMET funding.

Military, intelligence agency linked to abuses

Military reform in Indonesia is a major challenge. Suharto's military conducted massacres on an all but unimaginable scale. Today many of the officers of that era are still serving in the military or are retired but engaged in politics.

Indonesia's military has long operated with unusual independence; the International Relations Center quotes experts who estimate that only 25 to 30 percent of the military's funding comes from the government's budget, "with the rest coming from 'taxes' on natural resource extraction, bribes, and other forms of 'informal' financing."

Further, Indonesia's military is deeply engaged in the country's various conflicts. Suharto had used the military to force outlying parts of the islands to become part of Indonesia against their will and, as a result, troops were routinely engaged with separatist insurgencies, notably in East Timor, Papua and Aceh provinces.

East Timor, which is predominantly Catholic and Portuguese- speaking, became an autonomous nation after a United Nations- supervised referendum in 1999, but even after the referendum Indonesian troops and militia groups launched attacks there. At other far reaches of the archipelago, the special region of Aceh and province of Papua have achieved ceasefires and negotiated greater autonomy. Charges of repression and gross human rights violations, once common, continue at lesser volume in both Aceh and the predominantly Christian Papua.

In November 2001, Papua leader Theys Eluai was assassinated. An investigative commission concluded that a unit of Koppasus, the army's special forces, was involved in planning and executing the murder.

In August 2002, gunmen attacked cars passing on a mountainous road to a copper mine in Papua that's operated by Freeport- McMoRan, now the world's largest publicly traded copper company. Two American teachers and one Indonesian teacher at Freeport's school were killed in the ambush. The attack alarmed Washington.

John Otto Ondawame, spokesman for the Free Papua Movement, which is known by the initials OPM, issued a statement alleging that the attack may have been "orchestrated by the Indonesian military." The Papua police and Elsham Papua, a human rights group, also said they suspected the military. Indonesia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa countered that "there are indications the act was committed by elements of OPM." In November 2006, a Papuan guerilla fighter, Antonius Wamang, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, and six other defendants received lesser sentences. But human rights advocates insist that Kopassus officers played a part and that a police officer supplied the bullets Wamang used.

Indonesia's intelligence agency, Badan Intelijen Negara (BIN), has also long been linked to human rights violations, including the 2004 assassination of human rights campaigner Munir Thalib.

According to Central Jakarta district court documents, Munir was poisoned with arsenic sprayed on his fried noodles during a Garuda Indonesia flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam on September 7, 2004. In December 2005, the court sentenced a Garuda pilot, Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, to 14 years in prison for poisoning Munir and for carrying forged travel documents. His conviction was overturned by Indonesia's Supreme Court, and in April 2007 two new suspects were named by Indonesia authorities.

The court documents note that Pollycarpus had no personal motive to kill Munir; the proceedings also brought to light 41 telephone conversations between Pollycarpus and a mobile phone number, 0811-900978, before and after Munir's assassination. The mobile phone was registered to Maj. Gen. Muchdi Purwopranjono, a deputy director at BIN and a friend of Widjonarko, the businessman who signed the Alston & Bird lobbying contract.

In his court testimony, Purwopranjono confirmed that 0811-900978 was his mobile phone number but he said it was frequently used by his driver and aides. He denied ordering Munir's assassination or having ever met Pollycarpus. Purwopranjono, who was the commander of the notorious Koppasus special forces in the Suharto era and retired from the military in 1999, confirmed that Widjonarko is his friend. BIN didn't respond when contacted several times to comment for this article.

Second lobbying effort pays off

Indonesia's lobbying campaign in Washington resumed in May 2005 with the hiring of Richard L. Collins & Co., a smaller boutique firm. This time, BIN, the Indonesian intelligence agency implicated in the Munir assassination, was paying the bills.

Its selection of the firm was no coincidence: Collins & Co. didn't have a Bob Dole on its roster, but its vice president for international business at the time, Eric Newsom, was a former assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs in charge of running the IMET and FMF military aid programs – the very programs Indonesia wanted restored. He was also a former top aide to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a key figure in the Senate on human rights issues and US-Indonesia policy.

BIN initially lobbied from the shadows, hiding behind a former Indonesian president's charitable foundation. But the connection between BIN and the charitable foundation, the Gus Dur Foundation, is documented in papers Collins & Co. filed in compliance with FARA. The foundation was established by former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, who goes by the nickname Gus Dur and is known for his moderate politics and support for human rights.

Gus Dur retained Collins & Co. for $30,000 a month to lobby to "remove legislative and policy restrictions on security cooperation with Indonesia," according to a copy of a signed initial contract. But in FARA forms that accompany the contract the firm noted, "For the purposes of this contract, the Gus Dur Foundation's activities are directed and funded by the [BIN]. The nature of the activities carried out under this contract were defined in consultation with representatives from the [BIN] and the [BIN] provides the funding...."

The FARA documents show that on July 31, 2005, the contract between Collins & Co. and the Gus Dur Foundation was terminated and, effective September 1, a new contract for the same monthly amount was executed directly between Collins & Co. and BIN. Collins & Co. lobbyists did not return repeated calls requesting comment.

The initial contract defines Collins & Co.'s mission in the context of Indonesia's "obstacles to a more cooperative relationship with the United States, particularly in the area of military cooperation... the image of Indonesia, especially in the United States Congress, remains highly negative and colored by events in East Timor and other disturbed areas like Papua and Aceh."

The FARA filings also reflect the fact that part of Collins & Co.'s charge was to assuage congressional concerns over the in- flight assassination of Munir, the Indonesian human rights campaigner. In the US Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2000, Congress made the resumption of military aid contingent on reform of the Indonesian military and prosecution of major human rights offenders.

The FARA records show that between June and October of 2005, Collins & Co. lobbyists, sometimes accompanied by BIN officials, met with several key members of Congress and their staffs. Among them were Sen. Leahy, and Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, as well Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill. and an aide to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill..

Newsom accompanied BIN officials As'ad Said Ali and Burhan Mohammed to a meeting with Sen. Leahy and a key aide just off the Senate floor on July 21, 2005.

According to Tim Reiser, Sen. Leahy's top aide on the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee for State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (whose annual funding bill finances the IMET and FMF programs), Sen. Leahy agreed to the 15-minute meeting so he could express his opposition to the resumption of full military assistance to Indonesia. Sen. Leahy told As'ad that he didn't think sufficient reform had taken place.

The lobbyists from Collins & Co. also met with American Samoa's representative, Eni Faleomavaega, to discuss West Papua. Faleomavaega, a Democrat, is the most important, if not the only, champion of the Papuan cause on Capitol Hill. He has spoken about Indonesia "slaughtering" 100,000 people since its takeover of West Papua in 1969.

The lobbying campaign was certainly not the only reason military assistance was eventually resumed; in fact, the push for reinstating IMET and FMF for Indonesia began shortly after the Bush administration took office in 2001. The administration and Republican allies in Congress say the previous policy of punishing Indonesia for human rights violations had not paid dividends; the much-hoped-for reform of the Indonesian military and security apparatus had not occurred.

In November 2005, the FMF restriction was lifted – and, the FARA records show, Indonesia's contract with Collins & Co. came to an end.

In an interview with the Inter Press Service news agency, Sen. Leahy called the decision "premature and unfortunate," saying resumption of a military training program for Jakarta "will be seen by the Indonesian military authorities who have tried to obstruct justice as a friendly pat on the back."

Sen. Leahy inserted a provision in the Senate version of the fiscal 2007 Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill (not yet passed by Congress) that would require the Secretary of State to submit a report to the Senate and House Appropriations committees detailing "the status of the investigation of the murder of Munir Said Thalib, including efforts by the Government of Indonesia to arrest any individuals who ordered or carried out that crime and any other actions taken by the Government of Indonesia (including the Indonesian judiciary, police and the State Intelligence Agency [BIN]), to bring the individuals responsible to justice."

How did Gus Dur find his name attached to lobbying paid for by BIN? Muhyiddin Aruhusman, a close associate of Gus Dur's, signed the original Collins & Co. contract on behalf of the Gus Dur Foundation. Ikhsan Abdullah, the foundation's secretary, told ICIJ that Aruhusman, a member of Parliament, had no official position at the foundation.Asked whether he was authorized to sign on behalf of the foundation or whether Gus Dur himself knew about the contract, Aruhusman said, "I can't discuss more. I have to bear in mind Gus Dur's good name. He didn't know."

In a September 2006 news conference, following inquiries by ICIJ on the matter, Gus Dur acknowledged letting BIN use his foundation, saying that it was done "for the sake of the nation."

"Neither the Gus Dur Foundation nor I have ever made any deal with BIN nor hired a US company to seek resumption of the military training program," Gus Dur told the media. He told reporters in Jakarta that BIN deputy chief As'ad Said Ali and several other intelligence agents had met with him one day in 2004, asking him if it was okay to make use of his name for the national interest. "Upon hearing the words 'for the sake of the nation,' I replied: 'Please do.' And I had no idea this conditional permission would be misused to lobby for the lifting of the military embargo," he said.

Counterterrorism efforts offset by tensions

What did the United States get in return for opening the military aid spigot to Indonesia?

The island nation became an early, if somewhat reluctant, partner in US counterterrorism efforts. After 9/11, President Megawati was careful about cracking down on suspected militants for fear of inflaming the country's vast Muslim majority. The US, well aware of this dynamic, also took an early kid-glove approach, declining initially to include Indonesian extremist groups such as Laskar Jihad and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) on its list of terrorist organizations, despite the fact that JI's founder, Riduan Isamuddin, an Indonesian national better known as Hambali, was a known associate of Al Qaeda.

But over the years, the Indonesian government quietly stepped up its pressure on homegrown militants, arresting and prosecuting hundreds of terrorist suspects, many of them in connection with the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, which killed 202 people and injured 209, largely Australian tourists. A steady drumbeat of attacks has continued since: a 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing that killed 12; a 2004 bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, which killed 10; and 2005 suicide bombings in Bali that killed 19.

In late 2006, in a visit with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, President Yudhoyono pledged to increase anti-terrorism cooperation with Pakistan, signaling the convergence of two of America's key counterterrorism allies. Indonesia is also now part of the State Department's Regional Strategic Initiative, an effort to link key governments in a particular area – in this case, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines – to combat terrorism. All three countries are combating local insurgencies that at times have been linked to Islamist extremists.

But tension continues over whether BIN, which hired the lobbyists who helped push a resumption of military aid, was responsible for the assassination of a human rights advocate. Tension also exists over whether the Indonesian military, which benefits from the military aid, was behind the Freeport mine ambush that killed two Americans.

Bring Lapindo to court

Jakarta Post Editorial - May 30, 2007

It's one year now, and the problems surrounding the mudflow in Sidoarjo remain unresolved. Even worse, there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel.

The mudflow, which has been spewing since May 29 last year, has engulfed hundreds of hectares of land, including villages, rice fields, factories, devastating the lives of more than 15,000 people.

Efforts have been made to stop the mudflow by numerous parties, coordinated by the government first through a national team consisting of inter-ministerial representatives, and now by the Sidoarjo Mudflow Mitigation Agency (BPLS).

Without dismissing their efforts, the fact is the problems remain the same. Hot mud continues gushing out of the ground, at even larger volumes, the destroyed toll road and other infrastructure remain unrepaired or unreplaced, and there are still thousands of people living in makeshift camps.

Why have these problems not been dealt with? Looking at the way the government has handled the situation, it seems to be torn between two conflicting interests; i.e. the interests of the people and those of Lapindo Brantas Inc., the energy company blamed by many for causing the mudflow.

The government of course wants to help the more than 15,000 people affected by this disaster. But at the same time, it seems not to want to harm Lapindo, a company controlled by the family of Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, through PT Energi Mega Persada.

The result of these conflicting interests has been a failure to arrive at a permanent solution, for either the victims or Lapindo and its partners in the Brantas gas block at the center of the mudflow.

What the government has done is order Lapindo to pay Rp 3.8 trillion (US$434.8 million) in compensation to victims and for efforts to halt the mud, while the government will bear the cost of repairing or rebuilding destroyed infrastructure, which could run into the billions of dollars.

But nobody in the public knows for sure how that Rp 3.8 trillion figure was arrived at, or if Lapindo has actually agreed to provide that amount of money.

What we do know is that the compensation process has been slow, and the victims are becoming even angrier toward Lapindo, and that there are no signs infrastructure work in the area will get underway anytime soon.

So, what's wrong? The government policy requiring Lapindo to compensate the victims is unacceptable. The gap between what the people are demanding and what Lapindo is offering remains wide.

Second, the government clearly is having trouble securing approval from the House of Representatives for funds to finance the construction of major infrastructure submerged by the mudflow, including a new toll road and railway link to facilitate the smooth movement of goods and people between western parts of East Java and eastern areas of the province and Bali.

Legislators keep asking the government to demand Lapindo bear all the costs, including for rebuilding infrastructure. And the government does not seem to have a clear-cut answer as to why it does not demand this of Lapindo. Lapindo does seem to have an answer, though. It says the mudflow was not caused by its drilling at the Brantas bloc but by the massive earthquake that rocked Yogyakarta two days earlier.

However, this explanation is highly debatable and there is no definite answer for this either.

To solve the problems once and for all, it is important to establish first of all what really caused the mudflow. As each side has its own claims, we need a third party to provide a permanent decision. In other words, we need a credible court verdict.

We suggest the government bring this case to court, not to harm Lapindo, but to provide legal certainty for all parties: Lapindo and all the victims in Sidoarjo and surrounding areas.

To make this process credible, we call on Aburizal Bakrie to resign from the Cabinet. Because of the mudflow case, Aburizal has lost all credibility as chief minister for public welfare. His resignation would be greeted with praise.

And while pursuing a legal settlement, the government must take over the handling of all problems related to the mudflow, including compensation for the victims.

In this way, the victims would have hope of a resolution and all parties would see the light at the end of the tunnel.

A who's who of Indonesian biofuel

Asia Times - May 24, 2007

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Some of Indonesia's most influential and politically connected companies have refocused their business strategies and are joining hands with foreign investors to push forward the government's multibillion-dollar ambition to transform the country into the world's leading biodiesel producer.

But there are major political, financial and environmental risks to the grand designs, which arguably are being understated and threaten to complicate the emerging industry's outlook. The same local companies now leading Indonesia's biofuel drive incurred and defaulted on huge foreign debts in the wake of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. Few fully repaid their debts and today they still dominate the country's logging, wood-processing and pulp industries. Several also have highly suspect environmental records.

Now, they are landing big new foreign joint-venture deals to develop the nascent biofuel sector, including major investments in palm-oil plantation development and big new processing facilities that benefit from government incentives and policies aimed at rapidly developing the sector. For instance, Chinese energy giant China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) is among 59 foreign and local energy investors who in January signed many biofuel-related renewable energy agreements worth US$12.2 billion.

CNOOC is China's leading energy company and leads the country's broad strategic efforts to reduce its dependence on imported crude oil and offset the use of coal. It has recently teamed up with local plantation giant Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology (SMART) and Hong Kong Energy in what is being billed as the world's largest biofuel project. It has plans to bring three biodiesel plants online this year and additional facilities in Papua and West Kalimantan provinces beginning in 2008.

SMART is listed on the Jakarta and Surabaya stock exchanges and is a subsidiary of the country's largest oil palm grower, Golden Agri-Resources Ltd. It is also part of the controversial Widjaja family's sprawling business empire, which includes Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), part of the Sinar Mas Group and Asia Pacific Resources International Ltd (APRIL), which in turn is controlled by Raja Garuda Mas International (RGM). Other major players are Asia Pacific Resources International Ltd (APRIL) and Asian Agri, both of which are supported by management-services company Raja Garuda Mas International (RGM).

Therein, some analysts contend, lies big risks. At the height of the Asian financial crisis, Sinar Mas and APP defaulted on billions of dollars worth of loans, equivalent to more than a tenth of Indonesia's total foreign debt. Many have put those dark days behind them, but their reputations as reliable business partners are still in doubt. APRIL, Asian Agri and RGM are all owned by Sukanto Tanoto, who is Indonesia's richest man, according to a recent Forbes magazine survey, and is recently on record as referring to palm oil as "green gold".

Global market forces are definitely driving up prices, but past family business practices are still questionable in the minds of certain credit analysts. Golden Agri-Resources Ltd plans a bond issue in Singapore this year, but US-based credit-rating agency Moody's has warned that the company's "complicated family- controlled organizational structure" risks funds being used to support affiliated companies.

APRIL's main pulp subsidiary Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP) defaulted on $1.26 billion of debts owed to a consortium of foreign and local banks during the financial crisis. Meanwhile regionally oriented Asian Agri now operates more than 200,000 hectares of oil-palm, rubber and cocoa plantations across Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, according to RGM's website. Ranked as one of Asia's largest primary producers of crude palm oil, the company manages more than 21 plantations totaling 150,000 hectares and 19 palm-oil mills with a production capacity set to reach more than a million tons. It also has three refineries processing crude palm oil into end products.

Riau province, home to both APP's and APRIL's giant pulp-and- paper mills, has more recently become Indonesia's largest crude- palm-oil-producing area. Both enterprises also have the lion's share of plantation concessions there. Of a total of 1,806,533 hectares of plantation concessions, APP holds 679,424 and APRIL 639,593, according to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature. APRIL also has concessions for 57,807 hectares in the Riau islands.

SMART announced this month a plan to spend $60 million on a new biodiesel plant with Texas-based Fulcrum Power Services. APRIL has denied that it was not in "full legal compliance" and no legal action has been taken against the company.

APRIL announced earlier this month a plan to spend $60 million on a new biodiesel plant with Texas-based Fulcrum Power Services and is now building a second paper mill in Sumatra province which will double its capacity to 800,000 tons per annum by year's end. Meanwhile, RGM's Asian Agri unit has a production capacity of about 1 million tons of crude palm oil per year, which is currently used mainly for food production, but the company now says it plans to build a palm-based biodiesel plant in the area.

Another major player is publicly listed PT Bakrie Sumatera Plantations (BSP), owned by the listed conglomerate PT Bakrie & Brothers, which is 80% owned by the family of Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie. The family accumulated and defaulted on part of more more than $1 billion in debts at the height of the Asian financial crisis related to a broad range of businesses.

BSP currently has concessions on 53,000 hectares of mixed plantations, the majority of them planted with oil palms. The company recently acquired another 25,500 hectares in Sumatra and expects to boost crude palm oil production to 180,000 tons this year, up from 158,000 in 2006. The company also operates three palm oil refineries in West Java and Sumatra and holds a 70% stake in Bakrie Rekin Bio-Energy, a joint venture with state- owned contractor Rekayasa Industri, with whom it has started building a biodiesel plant in Batam with a capacity of 100,000 tons per year

The Widjaja and Bakries are not the only ones bidding to rehabilitate their businesses and restore their family fortunes through biofuel-related businesses. For instance, the Salim Group's publicly listed Indofood Agri Resources Ltd, with investments in oil palm plantations, commands a 60% share of Indonesia's cooking oil sector. It recently raised $275 million in a share sale in Singapore to be partially used for biofuel- related outlays. The group was founded by Liem Sioe Liong, a renowned business associate of former strongman president Suharto.

Meanwhile, PT Astra Agro Lestari, owned by Indonesia's giant auto maker Astra International, is the country's largest crude palm oil producer. Founded by Suharto associate and former trade minister Bob Hasan, the company controls some 205,000 hectares of plantation area in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi provinces. Hasan was convicted on corruption charges in February 2001 for causing the Indonesian government to lose $244 million in a fraudulent forest-mapping project. He was released on parole in February 2004.

Although criticized for their past cozy relations with senior politicians, Indonesia's emerging biofuel tycoons are almost universally taking their corporate cues from the government. The chairman of the government's biofuel development committee, Alhilal Hamdi, says current planning envisages production of about 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent in biofuel per day by 2010.

Towards that end, the government has ordered provincial governments to simplify arrangements for land-use permits, urged the Agriculture Ministry to encourage more raw material production, goaded the Industry Ministry to simplify plant- licensing procedures and passed a new investment law that gives foreigners control over land for as long as 90 years.

Most of the new land to be made available by the government will be used to nurture palm oil, the government's most favored basic feedstock for biodiesel. Palm oil production hit 16 million tonnes last year, with about 60% of that total exported both as finished product known as RBD palm olein and crude palm oil. Total output is expected to grow by 500,000 tons to 750,000 tons a year for the foreseeable future as more acreage comes on stream.

One obvious controversial aspect of the master plan is the need for vast new land banks for plantation expansion, which some environmental groups say is accelerating already rapid deforestation. Indonesia currently has an estimated 5.5 million hectares of palm oil plantations, and the government now plans to more than double the total area under cultivation through the development of another 6.1 million hectares in Kalimantan, Papua and other provinces.

Currently, decisions on the maximum and minimum area to be used for palm oil and other commercial crop plantations are in the hands of the minister of agriculture. Plantation companies are licensed by local administrations in the respective provinces, which officially dispense 35-year renewable concessions based on the availability of land, population density and other factors.

Environmentalists say the expansion of oil palm plantations continues to come at the expense of natural forests rather than the conversion of already denuded land because of the better soil conditions fresh-cut forest lands provide. The annual forest fires that rage through Indonesia and frequently smother neighboring countries in smog are started mainly by palm growers to clear land for new planting.

More significantly, perhaps, the biofuel industry's economics are less than clearcut. Energy analysts note that biofuel projects around the world – even those benefiting from fat government subsidies – would be uncompetitive should crude oil prices fall to about $50 per barrel. Energy consultant Rudy Salim told Asia Times Online that any incentive for making and selling biodiesel produced with Indonesian palm oil will essentially disappear when crude palm oil prices reach levels above $650 per tonne.

He emphasizes that biodiesel is in any case never going to be more than a "drop in the ocean" in terms of overall supply compared to fossil fuel-based diesel. He figures that based on an average price of crude palm oil under $500 per tonne, the break- even point for palm oil versus crude oil would be $40 per barrel of oil. Crude prices now hover around $62 a barrel, while commodity analysts expect palm oil will average $564 a tonne this year compared to between $400 and $500 last year.

It's not only industry analysts who are raising red flags. United Nations environment program executive director Achim Steiner last month warned attendees at a global business summit for the environment in Singapore that businesses run the risk of a public backlash if the globally in vogue green business model is hijacked by industries who engage in environmentally destructive practices. That may have been a veiled reference to the personalities leading Indonesia's biofuel development.

[Bill Guerin, a Jakarta correspondent for Asia Times Online since 2000, has been in Indonesia for more than 20 years, mostly in journalism and editorial positions. He specializes in Indonesian political, business and economic analysis, and hosts a weekly television political talk show, Face to Face, broadcast on two Indonesia-based satellite channels. He can be reached at softsell@prima.net.id.]

Book/film reviews

Indonesia will never be a nation until the revolution is complete

Jurnal Nasional - May 24, 2007

Jakarta – May 1998. Students from throughout the country spilled into the hall and occupied the national parliament building. The State Palace also was not spared the invasion of large numbers of uninvited guests.

"One-one, Bring down Suharto. Two-two, Bring down Suharto. Three-three, Bring down Suharto. One, Two, Three, Bring down Suharto!" they sang. The lyrics used in the children's song reflected the fact that they wanted one thing only: to bring down Suharto.

May 21, 1998. Suharto finally resigns from his post as president of the Republic of Indonesia. His power, which was embedded so strongly for 33 years, had finally disintegrated. Then the call that was taken up was reformasi total! But what did we do after that?

Max Lane, in his new book titled "An Unfinished Nation", attempts to answer these questions. During the launch of his book at the Grand Melia Hotel in Kuningan, South Jakarta on Tuesday May 22, he said that almost all nations in the world were born out of revolution. "Suharto was brought down using the weapon of mass action. This is one of the rich lessons of the Indonesian national revolution", said the man from Australia.

The analysis that is laid out in the book concludes that Suharto did not just fall from power, but was overthrown. The movement that forcibly removed him from power was a result of a tortuous process that was propelled forward by mass based political consciousness, that was indeed aimed at bringing down the dictator. This analysis is different from the majority of Western works on the subject that emphasis the role of foreign powers or the elite as the principle cause of his down fall.

Nevertheless, the fall of the dictator did not meant that our work as a nation was complete. "The Indonesian people must re-win the memories of the revolution. It must re-win its revolutionary history and the populist ideological wealth that represents the weapon of national liberation that also [most] effective", said the man who has been coming to Indonesia since he was 17.

Lane said he regretted that major works written by revolutionaries in Indonesia are not being read at school. "How can a nation be able to learn if it does not read about its own national revolution?", he asked.

This month it is exactly nine years after latest in numerous revolutions in Indonesia (sic). It seems however that this revolution is also not over. "As long as the revolution remains incomplete Indonesian will not fully become nation", said Lane accompanied by applause from those present.

Perhaps indeed we haven't completed it yet because we do not really want to become a complete nation. But if it is already complete, then the question that follows is what else are we to do? Because the job of building the nation will indeed never been completed. (Tussie Ayu Riekasapti)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Venezuela: Today's revolutions mean participation

Pikiran Rakyat - May 21, 2007

["Understanding the Venezuela Revolution, a Discussion Between Hugo Chavez and Martha Harnecker. Published by Progressive Youth Alliance (AMP) and the Institute for Global Justice (IGJ), February 2007. Reviewed by Zely Ariane.]

"Chavez understands that the people adore him, however he wants to change that love into organisation. According to Chavez, only a revolution can bring Venezuela out of crisis". (Page 18)

Since 1998, the testing of revolutionary theories have discovered a new arena in Venezuela. An arena where peace and democracy has been chosen as principle rules of the game. But peaceful revolution does not mean compromising the take over (read control) of the country's sources of wealth from foreign domination for the sake of a more just distribution of wealth and to increase the people's productivity. Democracy does not end with illusions in the cycle of elections without the real participation of the people, through their organisations, their groups, their thoughts and desires. At least it was these two basic ideas that I drew out of this book.

For many people, revolution, the meaning of which has been increasingly distorted following the fall of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the Berlin wall 18 years ago, is seen as passe. Through Hugo Chavez however, the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the meaning is reaffirmed by an impressive choice of methods: democracy. There is not one democratic country in the world (even the United States) where the government in power and their polices have been legitimised by as many as eight referendums not ending at the mechanism of representation.

"Understanding the Venezuelan Revolution" attempts to invite us to be more critical of the present world order, that a new world is not impossible if we actively build it. This book also lays bare the weaknesses and difficulties being confronted by pro- revolutionary governments in the face of unrelenting threats and sabotage from opposition groups (Chapter III and IV), the corporate mass media (Chapter IV) and of course the US, the largest crutch supporting the interests of capital in the world (Chapter V). Although the path of violence may well become an option to overcome this, nevertheless, the resurgence of popular participation through the people's organisations, is a path that was proven to be more effective in 2002 (the return of Chavez after the opposition coup d'etat - page 211) and in 2004 (defeating the recall referendum).

Many news reports accused the Chavez government of being a military dictatorship (because Chavez and the principle supporters of the revolution were the military), but there is little evidence given to support this. No media was shut down (except for the cancellation of the RCTV station's broadcasting licence which admittedly was shown to have been involved in the April 11, 2002 coup d'etat), popular organisations were instead promoted, referendums were held many times, Trias Politica as the pillar of modern democracy was even added to (General Elections and Citizenship) to become the Penta Politica.

The book, written by Martha Harnecker, appears not to have been written for the layperson. As I have already mentioned, he borrowed from workers and socio-political thinkers (intellectuals, students, activists, teachers, politicians, political party members, historians and so forth) who are honest and concerned about the reality of the lives of the majority of the people who are suffering as the result of prolonged structural poverty. Indirectly Harnecker also tries to express the view that Chavez is the key to understanding the Venezuelan revolution.

The revolution has provided the option of a way out to oppose the dictates of neoliberal policies. Through peaceful and democratic methods, Venezuela has made possible what was impossible for many people, taking control the oil and gas industry, building basic industry under worker's control, distributing the country's wealth, organising the strength of the poor, conducting referendums, paying off the foreign debt, severing relations with International Monetary Fund and so forth.

A revolution of this type has of course reaped controversy within many circles that believe in revolutionary theory. However there has been no break in the revolution, except that it represents a transformation that is not half-hearted (comprehensive) and rooted in reality (Page 70), and not just within the realm of ideas that are struck mute in the face of reality. The revolution by the Venezuelan people is now being regarded as one of the means to be able to change destiny, so they have thronged to defend it. Revolution now means participation, the rising up of the people who reject becoming coolies who are merely valued through the ballot paper. Now they wish to manage their country with their own hands, though a constitution that they themselves enacted. "We cannot make the mistake of taking power away from the people, the source from which we gain our strength" (Page 71), declared Chavez. I think that this is the key to understanding the type of revolution needed to change the world right now.

[Zely Ariane is the coordinator of Indonesian People's Solidarity for an Alternative Latin America (Koordinator Solidaritas Rakyat Indonesia untuk Alternatif Amerika Latin, SERIAL). Translated by James Balowski.]