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ASIET Net News 5 – January 26-February 2, 1997

Subversion trials

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Subversion trials

PRD subversion trials

ASIET – January 27, 1997

On 21 January, the prosecutor in the case against Budiman Sujatmiko being held at the Central Jakarta State Court presented Wilson as a witness. When asked by the presiding judge Sjoffinan Sumantri if he was prepared to be a witness, Wilson replied that he was not on the grounds that the date of birth on his summons was incorrect. When the judge accused him of trying to delay the court proceedings, Wilson responded by saying: "Actually my intention is not to delay the court proceedings, but to make them more professional." which was greeted with applause from the public gallery. Wilson also objected on the grounds that as he was also facing charges of subversion, according to the Indonesian criminal code (KUHAP) he could not be forced to incriminate himself. On Jan 23 Wilson was again presented as a witness with the DOB on the summons corrected.

Prior to Wilson, "paranormal" Permadi and Romo Sandyawan (who was awarded the 1996 Yap Thiam Hien human rights award) were also called as a prosecution witness. Permadi said that he met Budiman through KIPP (Kelompok Independen Pemantau Pemilu, Independent Election Monitoring Group). Sandyawan said met Budiman, Yakobus Eko Kurniawan and Petrus Hari Haryanto on August 2 who were seeking protection from arrest and took them to Benny Sandyawan's house in Bekasi.

At the Surabaya State Court on Monday 20 Jan, Dita Indah Sari cried in court when hearing the testimony of prosecution witness M. Zainal Abidin, secretary of STN (Serikat Tani Nasional, National Peasants Union) who also appeared the previous Thursday as a witness against Soleh. When questioned by Dita's defence lawyer Buyung Adnan Nasution (ex-LBH), he said that he was arrested and interrogated by police after his involvement in a strike at Simopomahan on June 8, 1996. He was later interrogated by "another agency" [meaning military intelligence - James Balowski] during which he was beaten and had his hearing impaired. It was this statement that caused Dita to cry. The judge interrupted saying it was irrelevant.

When question by Trimoelja D. Soerjadi (another defence lawyer), Abidin said that he had seen Dita and Pontoh at the June 8 demonstration and Dita had been speaking through a megaphone. He said that Dita he had not heard Dita "discredit" either the government or the state ideology Pancasila only that she called "Viva workers, Viva students, Viva the people". When asked if he saw Dita and Pontoh being arrested, he also said he had not because by that time he was unconscious having being beaten by security personal. He later needed five stitchers for his wounds.

On Thursday 23, Sri Bintang Pamungkas (recalled United Development Party parliamentarian and now leader of a the new political party PUDI - Indonesian United Democratic Party) appeared as a witness in Budiman's trial at the Jakarta Central Court. Bintang stated that the PRD's goals of a more democratic society were the same as PUDI's and many other people.

The previous Thursday, January 16, he also appeared as a witness in the trial of Petrus Hariyanto where he stated: "I am the rebel who is resisting the government, not Petrus Hariyanto!"

He also handed PUDI's petition to the judge which contained three central issues: rejecting the 1997 elections, rejecting Suharto's "nomination" as president for the period 1998-2003 and preparations for new regulations after Suharto in 1998. He also handed out two pages of signed demands to spectators in the name of PUDI.

In his evidence, Bintang admitted that he had attended the PRD awards at the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute on July 22, 1996. He said that during Petrus' speech he had spoken about issues of the social gap, poverty and injustice – hardly new issues and ones which are often spoken about.

When asked if in the PRD's manifesto, it was mentioned that they wanted to change the state ideology and government, Bintang responded by repeating that it's the other way round, PUDI is the one who explicitly want's to overthrow the government. "I am definitely the rebel!". The statement brought clapping and cheers from spectators in the public gallery.

When asked by Petrus' defense attorney about the PRD's doctrine, he answered that had no link with communism. He also invited the judges to carry out repairs [fix the legal system - James Balowski] and have the courage to release themselves from dependency on government power for the sake of truth and justice as longed for by society.

Gunawan Mohammed appeared as a witness on January 27 in the case of Budiman Sujatmiko. Gunawan said he met Budiman in early 1996 when he was involved with KIPP. Gunawan said that the PRD's manifesto used by the prosecution was very different from the one actually distributed by the PRD. He also asked the prosecution to show the court the manifesto but this was rejected on the grounds that "they no longer had the book". Gunawan also said that he met with Budiman late afternoon on July 27. At that time Budiman told him that he did not agree with the mass rioting.

Even prosecution witnesses from the Department of Labour and the government controlled "yellow" trade union SPSI (Serikat Pekerja Seluruh Indonesia, The All Indonesian Workers Trade Union) ended up painting a favorable picture of the PRD. When asked about recent worker demonstrations, although they admitted that they had been organised by the PRD, they stressed that they were peaceful and that the workers demands were for better wages and conditions not anti-government. They also added that after the PRD lead actions, workers' conditions improved – and anyway, in most cases this simply forced the company to pay the minimum government wage.

Kompas, Jan 21 - In the trial of Budiman Sudjatmiko, a witness Ridwan Saidi has stated that the withdrawal of the packet of 5 political laws and a minimum national wage of 7,000 Rupiah per day is hardly original has been suggested by many other people and institutions.

According to Ridwan, the withdrawal of the political laws was also included in MARI demands (Mejelis Rakyat Indonesia, Indonesian Peoples Council). "That idea is not originally from the accused or PRD. Budiman and the PRD only supported it. The issue of an increase in worker's wages has a basis. Mochtar Papakhan suggested it and knows much about its basis and why it must be 7,000. Although the wages increase in stages" he explained.

[Compiled from reports by the Indonesian media on the PRD subversion trials - James Balowski]

Direct questioning forbidden in Pakpahan subversion trial

Jakarta Post – January 24, 1997

Jakarta - The subversion trial of union leader Muchtar Pakpahan continued yesterday with presiding judge Djazuli P. Sudibyo prohibiting defense lawyers from directly questioning witnesses.

Djazuli ordered lawyers to raise their questions through him. One of the lawyers, Adnan Buyung Nasution, protested the decision strongly and said the procedure was "inefficient and confusing the witnesses".

Adnan also argued questioning witnesses through the judge "reduced the substance and essence of questions raised". Djazuli did not give a reason for his instruction. In a previous court session he ordered defense lawyers to question witnesses indirectly. The defense lawyers protested the order, though not as strongly as yesterday.

Yesterday, Djazuli rebuked Adnan for questioning labor activist Sunarty from the unrecognized Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI) that Pakpahan chairs. Sunarty was the second witness that the prosecution produced yesterday, after SBSI deputy-chairman Yacub Ereste. Djakuli, however, dismissed Adnan's protest as having no basis in the Criminal Code Procedures. Adnan retorted that neither did Criminal Code Procedures regulate that all questions be passed to a witness through the judge.

Witnesses Sunarty and Yacub brought in by Prosecutor R. Moekiat, testified yesterday that they were unaware Pakpahan had made the allegedly anti-government and anti-President Suharto statements during various speeches he gave between 1995 and 1996.

Sunarty told the court that the defendant had been fighting to help workers obtain their rights through peaceful means.

Judge Djadzuli adjourned yesterday's hearing until Monday.

Papahan's lawyers request judge be changed

Kompas – January 29, 1997

Jakarta – The defence lawyers in Muchtar Papahan's trial have requested that the presiding judge Djazuli P Sudibyo be changed in a protest letter dated January 29, 1996 signed by Adnan Buyung Nasution, Bambang Widjojanto, Mochamad Assegaf, Luthfie Hakim, and Dwi Ria Latifa.

The letter listed nine violations cited by the defense team including:

- "Alienating" the witness Berar Fathia because he rejected statements made in his Preliminary Investigation Report (BAP) while the witnesses Soetardjo and Ridwan Saidi who also rejected their BAPs were not "alienated".

- The judge threatened the accused right to speak saying "Once again if you keep speaking you will be removed"

- The judge violated courtroom ethics by referring to witness and the accused in terms which were denigrating such as "Hey", "that person" and the use of "you" in the familiar.

[Abridged translation - James Balowski]

Trial of Megawati supporter for insulting president opens in Indonesia

Kompas – January 29, 1997

The trial of a supporter of Indonesian opposition leader, Megawati Sukarnoputri, on charges of insulting the country's president, military and parliament opened in Jakarta Wednesday.

Prosecutor Z.W. Were accused Aberson Sihalolo, and Indonesian Democracy Party (PDI) MP of 'deliberately insulting the president in a speech at the party's headquarters last July. He said the 58-year old Sihaloho accused President Suharto of 'seizing our independence and we have become colonised again'.

Sihalolo was also accused of insulting the military and the parliament in his addresses to free-speech sessions at the PDI headquarters during a stand-off with the military, the government and a rival party faction.

'Imagine, all that is being bought with people's money are used to shoot people, this is not right anymore', the prosecutor quoted the MP as having said of the armed forces. The defendant also said parliament 'is not representing the people but represents the conglomerates', the prosecutor alleged.

'The MPR (People's Consultative Assembly) that has been formed so far is not an MPR that materialised for the people, it is materialisation of the rulers so that all the MPR's decisions are not the people's decisions,' he allegedly added.

The charges [under articles 134 and 207 of the Criminal Code] carry a maximum sentence of seven years and six months imprisonment

After the 20 minute court session which was attended by more than a hundred people and secured by scores of riot police, Sihalolo told reporters he had been partially misquoted and that his comments 'were taken out of context'. 'What I was accused of saying was not an insult,' he added.

One of the defendant's lawyers, Luhut Pangaribuan, told reporters after the court session Wednesday that his client 'has not done anything criminal'. 'As a parliamentarian he has the right to talk to the people about subjects having to do with the state of the country,' Pangaribuan said.

Permadi

On January 27, Jakarta daily Kompas reported that Supreme Court Judge Soejono has rejected Permadi's appeal against a four year jail sentence for blasphemy after allegations he called the prophet Muhamad a dictator during a seminar at the University of Gajah Mada in Yogyakarta, Central Java. Permadi was held by police since April 17, 1995 and in September 1995, was sentence to seven months by the Slemen State Court. The sentence was later reduced to four months.

Permadi also claimed that "doctored" tapes of the seminar were leaked by the authorities to make it appear that he intentionally insulted the president. This lead to demonstrations by Islamic students outside his home.

Permadi will not have to serve any more time in jail because he was detained for five months during the trial and now says he is considering suing the government over the extra time he spent in prison. Permadi came to the attention of the attention of the military after he predicted the downfall of Suharto.

Permadi is now intending to seek compensation for the additional time spent in jail. He was reported in Kompas on February 1 as saying: "I am definitely going to demand compensation. I also reject all forms of legal discrimination. All people have the same position under the law. Read the 27 paragraph of the 1945 Constitution".

[Abridged translation from Kompas - James Balowski]

May 1997 elections

Indonesian political parties are slugging it out ahead of the polls

Southeast Asia On-line News – January 16, 1997

S. N. Vasuki - Though Indonesia's parliamentary elections are five months away, major political groupings have already launched an aggressive unofficial campaign. Predictably, the country's political temperature has risen in recent weeks as parties battle for the hearts and minds of the electorate.

To be sure, the outcome of the May 29 election is a foregone conclusion. While the ruling Golkar grouping is expected to win up to 70 per cent of the national vote, it is not taking any chances. The opposition United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) will share the balance.

Information Minister Harmoko, who is also Golkar chairman, has been visiting small towns in West Java. A major theme of his speeches has been the government's success in alleviating poverty. Though Mr Harmoko's visit was in his capacity as Information Minister, local media have reported that thousands of people attending his meetings wore yellow jackets, the official colour of Golkar.

However, the two opposition parties are not exactly allowing Golkar to walk away with the campaign. The PPP has been involved in a colourful controversy in Solo, Central Java, where party workers last week literally painted the town white. PPP functionaries applied white paint to pavements, trees and electric pillars that were hitherto adorned in the Golkar's official yellow. Solo's local administration officials are not impressed and are threatening to sue the PPP unless the party restores the city to yellow. This has ignited further controversy.

Meanwhile, things are brewing at the Indonesian Democratic Party, a party widely believed to be in disarray after the ouster of Megawati Sukarnoputri last year. Ms Megawati's supporters have taken to the streets in recent days demanding that the government accept her list of candidates for the elections. She has set stiff conditions for her return to the PDI-fold which includes reinstatement as party chief.

Despite the aggressive stance by the two opposition parties, political analysts feel they have slim chances of increasing their share of the national vote. The PPP, which draws its support from Islamic groups, has seen its popularity decline in recent years due to strong inroads made by Golkar in consolidating the Muslim vote. And the PDI, despite Ms Megawati's popularity in urban centres, is riven by factionalism and is hopelessly under-prepared for the crucial elections.

Given this optimistic scenario, why are senior Golkar officials fretting about its electoral prospects?

Political analysts feel their concerns are not misplaced because the electorate, at least in major urban centres, are focusing on bread-and-butter issues like rising living costs, the growing rich-poor divide, and corruption.

This explains why the national budget had a strong "pro-poor" emphasis with increased spending on social welfare programmes. Information Minister Harmoko, in talking about the government's success in poverty alleviation, cited the example of a fish farmer who reaped a record harvest of 1.5 million rupiah (S$887) after receiving state assistance of 400,000 rupiah just five months ago. Another trader received a government loan of 200,000 rupiah to develop his satay business. "I am now able to save 3,000 rupiah every week and my life has shown some improvement," the trader told the Antara news agency.

Such talk must be music to the ears of Golkar. But whether they will add up to a triumphant symphony of votes on May 29 remains to be seen.

Main Muslim party issues election threat

South China Morning Post - January 15, 1997

Agence France-Presse in Jakarta - The main Muslim political party has threatened to withdraw from this year's general election, saying campaign rules unfairly favour President Suharto's ruling Golkar party.

"If we cannot fulfill the requirements, then we won't participate in the elections," said Tosari Wijaya, general secretary of the United Development Party (PPP), the Kompas Daily reported yesterday.

Mr Wijaya was quoted as saying his Muslim-led party's limited budget would make it impossible to follow the tight government-set campaign schedule.

"Do not blame the PPP if we are unable to take part in the campaign," he said.

The PPP is one of three political parties recognised by the Government. Golkar and the Indonesian Democracy Party are the others.

The campaign schedule obliges the three parties to campaign in designated areas, sometimes in two towns on the same day.

The 27-day campaign will start in late April and end five days before the May 29 election day.

"We do not have the funds... how can we book the flights, hotels?" Mr Wijaya said. "It's different with Golkar, they already have governors or heads of districts in all areas [to campaign]."

He said PPP executives had to campaign in North Sumatra one day then in South Kalimantan, almost 2,000 kilometres away, the next day.

Mr Wijaya also said the campaign schedule for his party seemed to be erratic, with some periods over-booked and others vacant.

"It seems that it was made in such a way so that we are unable to fulfill the whole schedule," he said.

Last week PPP deputy chairman Yusuf Syakir criticised requirements that the Government check all television campaign material before broadcasting.

"How could a political campaign dialogue use a script? If we use scripts it will be like a TV soap opera," Mr Syakir said.

PPP members in the Central Java town of Solo last week daubed white paint over the previously yellow pavements and trees surrounding prominent public buildings, including the city's premier mosque and the traditional palace.

Yellow is Golkar's colour.

PPP's Solo chairman Mudrick Sangidu said he chose white, not PPP's green, for neutrality, to counter the local government's "yellowisation".

Solo Mayor Imam Sutopo said unless the PPP repainted the pavements and trees yellow the branch would face legal action.

The three recognised parties will compete in the elections for 425 seats in the 500-seat Parliament.

Candidates count on the ties that bind

Asia Times - January 21, 1997

Ong Hock Chuan, Jakarta – Family connections figure prominently in the list of parliamentary candidates for Indonesia's 1997 general elections released on Monday.

Among the 2,293 candidates nominated by the country's three official political parties to stand in the May 29 elections are seven of President Suharto's relatives, including four of his children.

Family connections, however, do not stop with the president where the ruling Golkar party are concerned. Also included on the list are the wives of several ministers and ranking armed forces officers.

The candidates - 829 from the ruling-party Golkar, 730 from Muslim-oriented United Development Party and 744 from the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) - will be contesting 425 seats in the House of Representatives.

Their names were posted in the entrance to the National Election Committee's building on Monday. The Indonesian public has until February 18 to voice any comments on the candidates, which have already passed scrutiny by the country's security apparatus.

The election in May will be the country's sixth since 1971 and Golkar, the ruling party headed by Suharto, has won every election - although in the last election in 1992 Golkar lost a considerable percentage of votes to the PDI, especially among young, urban voters.

On Golkar's list of candidates are four of Suharto's six children: Eldest daughter Tutut Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, second son Bambang Trihatmojo, third son (Tommy) Hutomo Mandala Putra and second eldest daughter Siti Hediyanti Prabowo.

The first three are now members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the upper house of parliament which will form the electoral college to elect the president in 1998.

Other Suharto relatives on Golkar's list are Bambang's wife, Halimah Trihatmojo, Suharto's cousin Sudwikatmono and his half-brother, Probosutejo. The latter two are prominent businessmen.

Also prominent on the list of candidates are Golkar chairman and Information Minister Harmoko and his wife, and the wives of armed forces chief General Feisal Tanjung, the military's head of socio political affairs, Lieutenant-General Syarwan Hamid and the wife of Home Affairs Minister Yogie Suardi Memet.

Tycoons standing as candidates include Bakrie Brothers' Aburizal Bakrie, Bimantara's Tanri Abeng and Sahid Group's Sukamdani Gitosarjono.

Other ministers and prominent personalities, including dangdut (Indonesian folk song) star Rhoma Irama, also feature on the ruling party's list.

The PDI was also not beyond extending political opportunities to family members. The newly-installed party president nominated his wife as a party candidate.

The rest of the list was made up by his supporters. To no one's surprise neither ousted PDI leader Megawati Sukarnoputri nor her supporters made the PDI list of candidates. Megawati is the daughter of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno and was ousted as PDI head last year by a rival faction backed by the government.

Under Indonesia's revised electoral system, elected candidates will occupy 425 of the 500-seat House of Representatives. The remaining 75 seats are reserved for members of the Armed Forces.

All members of the House of Representatives automatically become members of the 1,000-seat MPR which is due to meet in 1998 to elect a president for a five-year term. Conventional wisdom in Indonesia has it that Suharto is likely to stand for another term.

The remaining 500 seats in the MPR will be made up of representatives of professional groups, delegates of provincial-level assemblies and appointees from the three official political parties, depending on what percentage of votes they win in the May general elections.

Independent political analyst Arief Budiman, a former sociology professor at Satya Wacana University, was quoted by wire services as saying the inclusion of the business leaders showed continued "opportunistic tendencies" of Indonesian businesses to stay close to the ruling party. "Why didn't any of these business people join the other parties?" Budiman questioned, saying businesses with close links to the government had an easier time obtaining projects and licences.

All the candidates on the list have passed a mandatory screening, involving the internal security agency, which is officially aimed at removing potential candidates with past communist links.

However, an article in the prominent Kompas daily on Monday said the screening "often is used to weed out potentially vocal parliamentary candidates who could be detrimental to government policies".

Indonesia election: Megawati out

Associated Press - January 20, 1997

Jakarta – Officials blocked Indonesia's pro-democracy leader today from running for reelection to parliament in May.

The list of 2,293 candidates approved by election officials includes four of President Suharto's children, his half-brother, a daughter-in-law and a cousin.

Suharto's relatives registered as members of his Golkar party, which has won landslide election victories since the former army general took power in 1966.

Excluded was Megawati Sukarnoputri, whose ouster as leader of an opposition party last year led to anti-government rioting in which at least five people died. She has been a member of parliament since 1992.

Candidates nominated by the 46-year-old daughter of the late President Sukarno already had been rejected on the grounds that she was no longer the head of one of Indonesia's three authorized parties.

The Suharto offspring on the list are his sons Bambang Trihatmodjo and Hutomo Mandala Putra and daughters Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana and Siti Hediyanti Prabowo.

The children are successful business figures thanks to government contracts and monopolies, with interests in construction, communications, aviation, hotels, real estate and the auto and oil industries.

Poll list seen as Suharto's ploy for reelection

South China Morning Post - January 27, 1997

Joe Leahy, Jakarta – The inclusion of four of President Suharto's children and scores of his key ministers and supporters in the candidates list for general elections in May may be part of moves by the ageing head of state to prepare the way for his own reelection next year, analysts say.

Indonesia's three official parties have released the names of 2,303 candidates nominated to run for election to the 500-seat lower house, or People's Representative Council, on May 29.

The ruling Golkar party and minority opposition groupings, the Indonesian Democratic Party and the United Development Party, will contest 425 seats in the mainly rubber-stamp legislature. The rest are government appointees.

Golkar's list reads like a Who's Who of Indonesia's rich and powerful.

It includes for the first time four of the president's children including his eldest daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, his second son, Bambang Trihatmodjo, as well as senior ministers, despite Cabinet members being banned from sitting in the legislature.

However, analysts say most will never sit in parliament.

They say their inclusion is more likely aimed at securing votes for the party and smoothing the way for Mr Suharto's expected bid for reelection as president.

The president is selected by the upper house, the 1,000-seat People's Consultative Assembly, which consists of the People's Representative Council and 500 government appointees. Analysts say the appointees are often chosen from Golkar's general election candidate list.

For the past three decades, the assembly has always voted unanimously for President Suharto, 75. "The [candidates] list seems to be aimed at creating a pool of people who, if needed, can be used for the presidential elections next year," said a foreign diplomat.

Allegations of nepotism against the ruling party were denied this week by the Minister of Home Affairs Yogie Memet, according to reports.

"You should not exaggerate the extent of nepotism in the house.

"There is nothing wrong with it if the candidates selected are capable of the job," Mr Memet was quoted as saying in The Jakarta Post.

KIPP still ready to monitor the elections

News from Pijar - January 29, 1997

Jakarta – The Independent Monitoring Committee (KIPP), held a conference last night on the organising of the coming elections and their preparations to monitor the elections.

According to KIPP the Nominations for the Legislative Members (DPR) were "elitist". 13 PPP nominations were rejected, 21 from Golkar and 16 from the PDI with no open procedures to question how or why they were rejected.

KIPP also focused on the nepotism seen in the initial nomination lists. The program was attended by the Presidium Head, Goenawan Mohammad, the Secretary General, Mulyana W. Kusuma and regional KIPP representatives from North and South Sulawasi.

When asked what preparations KIPP had made, Mulyana raised a number of issues:

- KIPP had already held 3 national workshops and last year sent 26 representatives to training sessions held by POLLWATCH in Thailand

- Planning on the future model to be used by monitors prioritizing 8 cities: Jakarta, Malang, Cianjur, Ujung Pandang, Palembang, Pematang Siantar, Jambi and Semarang

According to presidium member Tohap Simanungkalit, 30 international delegations from America and Europe have been presented as observes for the elections.

Because of the limitations of monitoring all aspects of the elections, it is hoped people will report abuses by phone or e-mail said Mulyana. Mulyana also admitted that KIPP had a number of limitations saying "Perhaps the monitoring we are now carrying out will be optimal in the year 2002, but to achieve this we must begin now".

When asked about an election which would not included Megawati's PDI, Goenawan Mohamad replied that KIPP would still monitor the elections. "Our task is not to forbid elections which are unfair, but to provide information on unfair elections" he said. During this opportunity, local KIPP representatives also raised a number of abuses in the initial process of organising the elections including the politicisation of traditional institutions in Bali, Golkar mobilisations in Jambi, the "yellowing" in Pelembang and Semarang and the failure to list thousands of Islams in Malang.

[Abridged translation of a report distributed by News from Pijar received from KIPP (Kelompok Independen Pemantau Pemilu, Independent Election Monitoring Group), e-mail: - James Balowski]

Megawati to be questioned again

On January 27, the Supreme Court released a warrant for the South Jakarta police to question Megawati Sukarnoputri and Taufik Kiemas [Megawati's husband - James Balowski], with regard to a meeting held at her house last January 10 to celebrate the 24th anniversary of the formation of the PDI. The release followed written agreement by President Suharto [prior agreement must be obtained form the president before parliamentarians can be questioned/arrested by the authorities - James Balowski] dated January 22. According to RO Tabunan from TPDI (Tim Pembela Demokrasi Indonesia), Megawati had previously applied for permission to hold the celebrations in Denpasar Bali but the application was returned by police without explanation. He said that the police are obliged to provide a reason for rejecting such a request and in doing so, had committed a violation of their duty.

[Abridged translation -James Balowski]

Riots, social unrest

New religious unrest erupts in Indonesia

Agence France Presse (abridged) - January 30, 1997

Rengasdenglok – A mob attacked churches and a Buddhist temple in the country's latest bout of religious unrest, prompting troops to patrol the streets.

In a rampage similar to recent incidents across the overwhelmingly Muslim country, hundreds of people torched one church and attacked three other Christian churches and two Buddhist temples in a West Java town, a local official said.

Another source said a complaint by an ethnic Chinese about noise made by Muslims sparked the disturbances. The crowd set ablaze and damaged scores of vehicles and buildings in the rampage, said district head of Karawang, a neighbouring town. He said there were no casualties but two small banks, some shops and homes belonging to ethnic Chinese, were also damaged.

Order appears to have been restored when journalists entered the town, which was cut off to vehicles. But the town was tense with every shop closed and scores of military guarding the empty streets, armed with machine guns.

A source said the unrest erupted after an ethnic Chinese resident complained about noise from neighbouring Muslims. During the Muslim fasting month which started on 9 January, Muslim youths often wake up neigbours to make sure they eat before dawn.

Another church source said the town had been tense since Tuesday after the authorities tried to remove sidewalk hawkers from the local market.

A local ethnic Chinese shopowner told AFP that his shop and a number of others were pelted with stones.

'We are scared, but we cannot leave town as all the roads are blocked,' he said, adding that rumors were circulating that the mob would start new trouble. Some people had started putting 'Muslim owned' signs in front of buildings. Humanika is involved in the Tasikmalaya case

Gus Dur: 'I can prove it'

News from PIJAR – January 1997

Jakarta – The head of Nadhlatul Ulama [NU, Association of Muslim Scholars)] Abdurrahman Wahid openly and during the Bhinneka Tunggal Ika Dialogue Forum in Jakarta, Tuesday night, said that the Humanika Foundation was involved in the riots in Tasikmalaya some while ago.

"The Humanika Foundation was involved in the Tasikmalaya riot. Please, take me to court. I can prove it," said Gus Dur, Abdurrahman's nickname, asserted before thousands of participants, a large part of which were youth figures.

When the head of Pancasila Youth Yorrys Raweyai who accompanied Gus Dur at the podium and Edwin Sfihara, one of the heads of GP Ansor, who became the moderator in the program with the topic "Analysis and Anticipation of the Political Dynamics of 1977 and the Implications of Entering the 1998 Public Sessions of the MPR" showed an attitude of surprise.

Gus Dur was scheduled to appear along with the Armed Forces Social-political Head, Army Let-Gen Syarwan Hamid, but Syarwan was unable to attend.

Gus Dur's statement was in answer to a question by Permadi, one of the participants, who asked if Gus Dur's statements about the "Green Dragon Operation" (an operation planned by particular people and carried out in the NU base to discredit NU) in the Situbondo and Tasikmalaya riots had strong evidence and not just a baseless rumor.

In his answer, Gus Dur expressed his seriousness that he had original documents and was ready to have it proved in court who it was who planned to start the riots and the place where the meeting was held.

According to notes, they are active in the Humanika Foundation and among others included Egi Sujana and Bursah Zarnubi. "Please, if Egi Sujana denies it", said Gus Dur. Some time ago, Egi denied Gus Dur's statement.

During this opportunity, Gus Dur also said that there were no NU members involved in these riots.

"A person may make a riot hundreds of times, but NU no. Perhaps the green dragon will emerge again which is different or a different dragon", he said.

As is known, large numbers of people at the end of 1996 went into the streets and rioted in the city of Tasikmalaya. The riot started with the actions of a number of police "figures" (oknum) toward three Islamic teachers and a teacher from the Islamic school in that city.

The riot which paralyzed economic activity in Tasikmalaya, behind which it is clearly known that it was not carried out by religious teachers from the school. The destruction and burning of shops and places of worship were carried out by irresponsible social groups. (Antara News Agency).

[Received from "News from PIJAR" - Translated by James Balowski]

'Slander' provokes threat of lawsuit

South China Morning Post - January 31, 1997

Joe Leahy – An Islamic group says it will take the country's most outspoken Muslim leader, Abdurrahman Wahid, to court after he alleged the group started religious riots in the West Java town of Tasikmalaya late last month.

Mr Wahid, head of the reputedly 30-million strong Nahdlatul Ulama organisation, claimed he had evidence the Humanika Foundation, a Muslim human rights group, incited the unrest.

Mr Wahid said the group masterminded the riots on December 26, which left four people dead and led to the destruction of more than 100 buildings, in order to discredit the Nahdlatul Ulama.

However, Mr Wahid, a wily politician and close friend of ousted opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri, may have stepped into the lion's den.

Also this week, he accused Adi Sasono, director of the Centre for Information and Development Studies, and Eggy Sudjana, an expert in environmental law with the centre, of involvement in the plot.

The centre was founded by the powerful Association of Islamic Intellectuals, which is headed by Research and Technology Minister Yusuf Habibie, a protege of President Suharto. Mr Sasono is also secretary-general of the association.

The chairman of the Humanika Foundation, Bursah Zarnubi, was yesterday quoted in the Jakarta Post as saying he and his colleagues would sue Mr Wahid for slander.

"We will file a lawsuit within the next few days on grounds that he violated the principle of presumption of innocence," said Mr Zarnubi.

Two hurt in armed raid on Catholic compound

South China Morning Post - January 30, 1997

Associated Press in Jakarta – About 40 masked men ransacked a Catholic group's office in a remote Indonesian province on Borneo Island yesterday and set a truck and two motorcycles ablaze, a newspaper reported. Two bystanders were injured.

The unidentified attackers, who had their heads covered with black hoods, smashed windows and broke open doors of buildings in the compound in the early morning attack in the town of Siantan Tengah, the Suara Pembaruan reported.

The town in the West Kalimantan district is about 770 kilometres north of Jakarta. The Catholic foundation is involved in social work and runs a high school in the compound.

The injured women, who suffered knife slashes on their arms and backs, worked at a nearly shopping centre and were caught in the attack, the newspaper said.

Earlier this month, 5,000 indigenous Christians went on a rampage in the province, attacking property belonging to Muslim settlers from other parts of Indonesia.

It was not clear what motivated the latest attack, but the ongoing violence is believed to be the result of religious intolerance aggravated by the economic gap between Muslims and minority Christians.

Rape by guards at mine sparked war

South China Morning Post - January 30, 1997

Joe Leahy in Jakarta – A tribal war in Irian Jaya was started by a rape case involving two security guards working for the giant American copper and gold mining firm, Freeport Indonesia, it was revealed yesterday.

Reports quoted military sources as saying the battle, fought with stone axes and bows and arrows in the steep mountains of Indonesia's eastern province, had claimed six lives and left 52 wounded.

The battle, about three kilometres from the mining town of Tembagapura in southwestern Irian Jaya, was mostly between indigenous Amungme tribesmen and ethnic Dani migrants from the Baliem Valley about 200 km to the northeast.

It involved the Banti and Utikini villages in the Wa'a Valley, less than 10 km from Freeport's giant Grasberg copper and gold mine.

Thomas Wanmang, the secretary of the Irian-based indigenous rights group, Lemasa, said preliminary investigations suggested the war was sparked by an incident involving two Freeport employees.

"Three Dani housewives were offered rice by the Freeport security officers. They were then lured into a container and then raped for a day," Mr Wanmang said.

Freeport spokesman Ed Pressman admitted the company's security guards were involved but denied one of its containers was used.

"The guards were Amungme. They were recent hires - part of our promise to double the number of Irianese in the workforce. There's really no correlation between their actions and Freeport," Mr Pressman said.

Mr Wanmang said the Amungme guards and the Dani women's families tried to negotiate compensation on Saturday morning but tempers flared and the dispute erupted into violence.

It remained unresolved the next morning when another dispute, this time thought to be over land, prompted full-scale tribal war.

Mr Wanmang claimed the military and Freeport authorities at first did nothing, treating the war as a spectacle.

Many of the tribesmen, especially the Dani, still wear traditional dress including the penis gourd and carry Stone Age weapons such as axes, spears and bows and arrows.

"Witnesses said the authorities acted like journalists, videoing the conflict and taking pictures. They behaved like an audience," Mr Wanmang said.

"One time, when a tribesman who was hit by an arrow was being taken to hospital, some people stopped the ambulance to take pictures of the victim."

Mr Wanmang said the battle was continuing despite a report in Jakarta's Kompas daily quoting the district military commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Tony Husodo, as saying the situation was under control.

The paper also quoted Major-General Johny Lumintang, commander of the Trikora military region, which includes Irian Jaya, as giving the names of the six who died.

A Freeport official said this week the Dani people and other tribes arrived in the Wa'a Valley last February and March seeking jobs and medical care.

They took part in riots in Tembagapura and refused to go home, placing strain on the Amungme's homeland.

Riots in Tanah Abang

Indonesian Media Sources – January 26, 1997

On January 27 thousands of street vendors attacked and set fire to the Tanah Abang sub-district offices (kecamatan). They also set fire to two vehicles owned by the sub-district Tramtib (Ketenteraman and Ketertiban) and four kecamatan vehicles.

The riot began after a conflict erupted between the street venders and Tramtib (local security) officials which according to a number of vendors was caused by the Tramtib officials "over acting". When the Tramtib officers tried to escape the disturbance, a vendor named Ade (17) was run over and is now being treated at the Sakit Pelni hospital. At the time, the vendors believed that he had been killed. By afternoon the crowd had reached around 600 people plus large numbers of Preman reaching some 4,000. They moved o to the Kecamatan offices (around 500 meters away). They entered the offices, throwing plastic bags filled with petrol then set them alight.

Around 300 soldiers from the Central Jakarta Kodim 0501 arrived with the assistance of hundreds of police officers and anti-riot police from Polda Metro Jaya.

Following a fight between around 100 members of two rival gangs (two gangs allegedly control the markets, Hercules and Yus). in the Tanah Abang markets on January 9, rumors have been circulating that members of a gang known as the "Hercules group", frequently mentioned the name of Kopassus and Army Maj-Gen Prabowo Subianto (Suharto's son-in-law) claiming the gang has backing from Kopassus. Also rumored that Kopassus involved in the shooting of Zainuddin Lesmana at the Jagorawi toal road last year. Prabowo has publicly denied the rumors.

On January 26, the government news agency Antara quoted Prabowo as saying "It's not true" and that the authorities had pledged to rid Jakarta of the gangs, including the two involved the recent fights. Many residents of Tanah Abang had alleged the gangs, who were paid by shop owners to protect their property, were backed by the military. Tanah Abang, a key textile trade area in Jakarta and home to several local banks, is also known for its cheap accommodation and red-light district.

Shopowners said the two gangs, one consisting of ethnic East Timorese and the other made up of ethnic Irianese, were fighting for territorial control of the district.

[Compiled from reports by the Indonesian media - James Balowski]

Street hawkers go on rampage through Jakarta textile district

AFP, Reuters, DPA - January 28, 1997

Jakarta – Hundreds of angry street hawkers rioted yesterday in the Tanah Abang textile district, leaving one government building and five vehicles burnt, police said.

The run-in with the authorities was sparked when officials ordered them to move their stalls which were blocking the street, witnesses said. Street vendors have often been blamed for contributing to traffic congestion in central Jakarta.

The incident occurred as about 250 shops and a department store elsewhere in central Jakarta were damaged when fire swept through a shopping complex.

During the incident, eyewitnesses said that about 50 military personnel armed with rattan canes, shields and tear-gas canisters had to move in an cordon off the area before restoring order.

Seargent Suyatno from the Tanah Abang police post said around 300 hawkers got angry after the authorities intervened during late morning trading at the market, which is busier than normal ahead of Aidilfitri celebrations next month.

"They went to the sub-district office, which is about a kilometer from the market and burned down the building and about five officials' cars and one motorcycle," he said. Police said eight people were taken into custody for questioning in connection with the rioting, the latest in a wave of unrest to rock Indonesia in recent months.

Earlier this month, at least 10 people were arrested following a gang war in the same district.

Many residents had alleged that the gangs, which forced shop owners to pay them protection money, were backed by the military – a charge that senior officers have strongly denied.

Not far away, in the Pasar Baru district, police said that 250 shops, mostly textile and shoe outlets, and a department store belonging to the Matahari chain, were either destroyed or damaged when fire swept through a four-storey complex.

There were no reports of casualties from the blaze, which police said broke out at around 5.30 am on the second floor of the building. About 20 fire trucks were deployed to tackle the fire. By noon yesterday smoke was still billowing from the gutted Harco building, but the flames had been extinguished.

The Antara news agency reported that the fire was possibly sparked by a short-circuit on the second floor of the building but did not give further details.

It was the worst fire to break out this year in the Indonesian capital, which is home to about 10 million people.

Rampaging vendors torch buildings, hurl rocks

Sydney Morning Herald – January 29, 1997

Louise Williams, Jakarta – It took only a rumor to spark a riot along the crowded streets of Jakarta's central market district on Monday morning and raise the spectre of civil unrest. But once the rampage had begun, it raged without reason, the hundreds of angry street vendors who took over the streets hurling rocks and bottles at everyone and everything in their path.

When the crowd finally reached the headquarters of the local government authorities, it vented its frustration on this symbol of authority, dousing the multi-storey office with petrol and lighting a fire that burnt the building down and spread to the government offices next door Yesterday morning, the building was still smoldering behind yellow police tape, the burnt out skeletons of upturned cars lying in its forecourt and the government employees lined up on chairs outside.

For the Suharto Government, this is a deeply disturbing scene in the centre of the capital.

The dispute which led to the violence was not overtly political but the increasing volatility of Indonesian society is posing a serious threat to civil order and challenging the Government's ability to manage the stresses of a rapidly industrialising nation.

The riot followed an attempt by local officials to shut down sidewalk vendors in a clash in which a vendor was incorrectly rumored to have been pushed under a car and killed.

In the past six months, three major riots sparked by similarly localised incidents have rocked provincial towns, leaving 14 dead, scores injured and massive property damage.

Last July, political riots raged for two days, with the crowd burning government buildings, banks and car showrooms - the symbols of the excessive wealth of the ruling elite.

Last week, the Government announced the establishment of "riot alert" centres to monitor social tensions in an attempt to prevent further violence.

But a number of analysts have criticised the security response, saying this solution fails to address the cause of public discontent.

According to Dr Arbi Sanit, a political scientist: "Our society appears to be less and less stable because in the lower classes there is deprivation and anger and the wealth gap between the rich and poor is getting larger.

"The lower classes work hard but they don't lead comfortable lives. At the same time, if they go to the bureaucracy for help, there is no service, or if they go to the courts seeking justice, there is no justice available."

Dr Sanit argues that the riots are a symptom of "political decay" in Indonesia and the lack of accountability of government institutions.

Increasingly, the so-called little people are taking on the authorities over local issues and more and more disputes are turning violent.

Muslim rampage tears Indonesia apart

Sydney Morning Herald – February 1, 1997

Louise Williams in Rengasdenklok, West Java – The makeshift sign propped up outside the barricaded petrol station read: "We are Muslims, do not burn us down." Along the smouldering streets packs of Muslim youths patrolled, intoxicated with rage, metal pipes swinging, excited by the destruction which lay before them.

They pounded on our car, yelling "Muslim? Muslim?", eyebrows raised in question, as they peered in. The driver gave them the thumbs ups. "Yes, Muslim," he nodded, smiling nervously, before they let us pass.

A couple of hundred metres down the road a truck full of soldiers was hurtling towards the mob. It was now more than 16 hours since the packs of young Muslim men had begun their rampage against the minority Chinese Christians and Buddhists in the rice farming district on the outskirts of Jakarta.

Already nearly 80 shops, two churches, a Buddhist temple and more than 70 homes identified with the Chinese minority in the nearby town of Rengasdenklok had been burnt to the ground, or torn apart.

The Chinese were gone, unable to defend their properties. The streets lay littered with piles of burning loot as riot police, machineguns and teargas grenade-launchers across their chests, chased the youths out of the town, yelling at huddled family groups to get back inside their houses and lock themselves in.

It was the third time in less than six months that Indonesia had been rocked by serious religious riots which have killed 14 people, injured scores and caused massive property damage.

For both the people and the Suharto Government the anarchy of Rengasdenklok represents a deeply disturbing social rift which pits the majority Muslim population against the largely Christian Chinese minority.

For nearly three decades - since the massacre of perhaps 600,000 communists and Chinese in the communal riots of 1965 - religion, race and ethnicity has remained a political taboo.

Any mob violence along these sensitive social dividing lines terrifies those who witnessed the horrors of 1965, which preceded President Suharto's rise to power.

At the same time, the recent riots appear to fit into a escalating pattern of civil unrest across the country.

This week alone two unrelated riots broke out ahead of the razing of Rengasdenklok - one on the central island of Kalimantan where a mob burnt down a Catholic high school and another in the busiest market district of Jakarta where vendors burnt down the local government offices.

Each riot has been sparked by a local dispute, but in all cases thousands of people have resorted to mob violence in an attempt to solve their problems.

What that means, say many observers, is that the Soeharto Government has lost thepeople's trust. And, as such, people are taking justice into their own hands.

Conspiracy theorists believe the trend is even more sinister.

Some say that the volatile lower classes are being manipulated in the behind-the- scenes political power struggle ahead of the May national elections and the eventual retirement or death of Mr Soeharto, who has lead Indonesia for more than 30 years.

And in the shadows lie, perhaps, the powerful armed forces, seeking justification for an even more prominent role in politics in the name of social order.

Or, perhaps, the spectre of Islam is being raised to bolster the competing interests of the the political elite who are seeking to succeed Mr Soeharto and need to woo the sizable Muslim majority. The leaders of the armed forces talk constantly of a so-called third force, no doubt referring to Indonesia's underground pro-democracy political opposition.

The riot in Rengasdengklok began in the early hours of Thursday.

As is usual during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan the local children were out at 2.30am banging on tins to wake up the town, calling for residents to get ready for breakfast, which must be finished before sunrise.

Residents say a middle-aged Chinese woman began yelling at them to be quiet - the Chinese are not Muslims and so do not observe the fasting month in which neither food, drink nor cigarettes can be taken during daylight.

The children were angry and came back with older friends who began attacking the Chinese woman's house.

Within minutes it was burning and the rampage began, at its peak thousands of Muslim youths venting their frustration on the Chinese minority. The local Muslim families hurriedly painted defensive slogans across their front doors - "True Muslims Fight, the Chinese are disbelievers".

"The Chinese own 90 per cent of the shops, they are arrogant towards us," said one Muslim shopkeeper as he peered out from behind metal shutters.

Of the rioters, he said: "They are mainly young men, they feel disappointed with development, they are still rural labourers, the harvest has not been very good and they are still poor.

"When one of them starts then the others get up their courage and follow. This is a problem of social jealously, the Government should do something to bring the poorer people up."

The structural imbalance the shopkeeper is referring to exists right across Indonesia. Although only 3 per cent of the population is ethnic Chinese it is the Indonesian Chinese who control much of the national economy.

During the Dutch colonial era the indigenous Indonesians were banned from conducting any business, allowing the Chinese minority to take over the shops and markets in nearly every town, and leaving the indigenous people to toil in the plantations.

At a national level, a handful of super-rich Chinese entrepreneurs still control key sectors of the economy and have forged close economic ties to Mr Soeharto and the ruling political elite.

Beyond the ethnic divide lies the religious split, the rich Chinese primarily Christian or Buddhist, the poorer Indonesians Muslim.

Rengasdenklok lies on the fringe of the industrial and urban sprawl of Jakarta, within reach of the glitzy new shopping malls, the traffic jams of shiny new cars, and the "American dream" satellite suburbs of three-bedroom brick veneer cottages.

Rapid economic growth is transforming Indonesia, but the benefits have not yet trickled down.

In Rengasdenklok the young men still work in the rice paddies, their income is modest, their houses made simply of panels of leaking thatch, their yards patches of damp earth strewn with rubbish and scratching chickens.

Around Rengasdengklok, says a group of minibus drivers, the Chinese and Mr Soeharto own ponds teeming with valuable giant prawns.

The vehicles are owned by Chinese and they say they have been asked by the police not to drive today. Whether or not this is true is irrelevant. The common perception remains that both the Chinese and the ruling political elite are fabulously rich.

The issue of the so-called "social gap" exploded last July during two days of political riots sparked by the ousting of the pro-democracy opposition leader, Ms Megawati Soekarnoputri, daughter of the former President Sukarno.

In the approaching May elections Ms Megawati has been banned from standing, leaving voters with no real alternative candidates within a tightly controlled political system in which President Suharto cannot be voted out of office.

"Political parties are unable to voice the people's aspirations and social organisations are not functioning as expected," said the political scientist Mr Syamsu Suryadi. "If political channels are clogged, people will vent their anger on anything, anywhere."

However, the Minister for Development, Dr Ginandgar Kartasasmita, countered that excessive discussion of the social gap, would only heighten social tensions.

The Army chief, General Fesial Tanjung, called on the people to have "pure patience" so that they can accept any disadvantages of development, apparently referring to the gap between the rich and poor.

The Soeharto Government recently announced the establishment of nationwide riot alert centres in an attempt to monitor potentially explosive social tensions, but has made no major policy adjustments to deal with economic disparity.

The influential Muslim scholar Mr Amien Rais has warned: "I stick to my earlier opinion that unrest stems from social frustration affecting people at the lower levels of society. They are so deprived socially and economically that they become like a piece of dry wood, easily set alight."

Mr Rais said the Soeharto Government must exert greater effort to narrow the "social gap", echoing growing criticism of the spectacular wealth of the ruling elite, including the vast business holdings of President Soeharto's children.

The leader of the 30 million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama Islamic organisation, Mr Gus Dur, said there had been a fourfold increase in the number of mosques in Jakarta alone over the past 20 years and that more and more people were using religion as a way of being heard.

He said it was understandable, in the face of the rapid social change brought about through industrialisation, that people were seeking refuge in their own ethnic group or religion. Mr Dur said many of the complaints about the economy and the lack of accountability of the government departments were being brought to the mosques.

However, Mr Dur cautioned against the manipulation of religion for political goals.

"If the efforts to mix politics and religion prevail, this nation's religious life will suffer and manipulation of religion for politics will occur and, eventually, the nation will burn," he said.

Indonesian workers join riots, burn cars in Bandung

Kyodo News – January 31, 1997

Jakarta – More than 12,000 Indonesian workers staged a protest Friday, demanding a bonus for the Islamic Eid-al-Fitr holiday, with some of them burning cars and destroying a factory in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung, police said.

The violence is the latest incident in a wave of riotings by Muslims in the Bandung area in which Chinese temples and Christian churches have been attacked.

"The last report we received said two cars located about 30 kilometers east of Bandung, which is 125 km southeast of Jakarta.

All companies operating in Indonesia must give a bonus to their workers to celebrate the Islamic holiday or the Christmas holiday at least two weeks before the holidays.

Some companies, however, try not to pay the bonus or delay paying it, which usually spark labor strikes or riots.

Muslim mobs rampaged through the West Java town of Rengasdengklok on Thursday, destroying four Christian churches and two Chinese temples, more than 20 cars and about 70 other buildings.

The riots Thursday followed reports that a Chinese-Indonesian had complained about noise from a mosque.

Factory workers riot as new ethnic violence feared

South China Morning Post - February 1, 1997

Joe Leahy in Jakarta – Fear surged through the mainly Chinese-Christian community of West Java province yesterday after a riot at a textile factory.

In the second outbreak of unrest in the province in two days, a dispute over wages turned violent at the Indonesian-owned factory in Rencaekek, about 20 kilometres from Bandung, the provincial capital.

And troops were sent into central Bandung, 200 km southeast of Jakarta, to impose order after scores of roadside hawkers stoned city officials trying to regulate traders, local sources said.

Bandung residents said the city of three million people had been tense since Thursday when leaflets were circulated with threats to burn the property of ethnic Chinese and Christians.

The source said most Catholic schools and many shops were closed yesterday.

A clergyman at the Pantekosta Church in Buah Batu, Bandung, had said earlier that people were concerned the violence that engulfed Rengasdengklok on Thursday might spread to the city.

Hundreds of Muslims had rampaged through churches, temples and Chinese-owned businesses in Rengasdenklok, 50 km northeast of the capital, but no casualties were reported.

Yesterday, Rengasdengklok remained tense with hundreds of troops patrolling the streets.

In Rencaekek, Effendi Saman, a spokesman with the Nusantara Legal Aid Institute, said late yesterday: "There are a lot of troops guarding the centre of town. There's no rioting but most ethnic Chinese shops have closed."

A spokesman for Kahatex, the group that owns the strife-hit factory, said stone-throwing workers burned one car and damaged more than 10 others.

The workers also attacked the factory's administration offices.

"It started in the morning and only lasted a short time. The local chief of police arrived and held talks with the workers," the spokesman said.

Police said the riot in Rencaekek began after a dispute over a traditional annual bonus.

In Indonesia, workers commonly receive a month's extra pay to mark Lebaran, the end of the Islamic fasting month.

"It's an internal matter of the factory. No one was arrested," a police officer said.

"The incident started because the workers were not satisfied with the Lebaran bonus. Everybody has gone home now."

The Kahatex official said the factory employed about 10,000 workers producing garments for foreign markets. Meanwhile, military chief General Feisal Tanjung threatened tougher measures to prevent any further violence. "If people are still causing unrest, ABRI [the Indonesian armed forces] will act against them more firmly."

He said the measures would be in the form of "serious actions", but he did not elaborate.

Rengkasdengklok riot: Eleven persons are officially suspects

Kompas Online - February 1, 1997

Karawang – The situation in the subregency town of Rengasdengklok, Karawang Regency, West Java, has gradually returned to normal after enduring a riot from morning until afternoon on Thursday (30/1). The security authorities have questioned 126 persons suspected of being perpetrators in the riot. But after intensive examination, only 11 persons have been declared suspects charged with destruction and misappropriation of goods during the riot.

In the center of town, although most shops were still closed, since Friday morning (31/1) street vendors and traditional market tradesmen had already started to display their wares. Similarly, tricycle drivers and hire motorcyclists had started to ply their trade cruising the center of the town.

The skeletons of vehicles which had been burned and strewn along the Jalan Raya Rengasdengklok (main road), were removed on Friday morning by personnel of the district government of Karawang Regency. Cleaning of scrawlings on walls of shops and houses had commenced. The Regent of Karawang, Dadang S Muchtar, said that the total material loss resulting from the riot was still being calculated.

Meanwhile the Commander of the Armed Forces, General Feisal Tanjung, after closing the XXIIIrd regular course of the Armed Forces Staff and Command School in Bandung on Friday (31/1), affirmed that in the Karawang incident there was certain to have been an element who had planned and set it into motion. That incident is a burden to the nation on the eve of the general elections. "We will search for the cause of the riot. It is not improbable that, where as soon as it occurred it was immediately known to thousands, there is certain to be a party to have planned and set it into motion," affirmed the Commander of the Armed Forces.

He explained that the riot case in Karawang will soon be investigated. "We should not immediately start to point the finger just like that, but should investigate. Indeed their identities are already known," he explained.

Relaxed

Guarding of the Rengasdengklok town entrances is being relaxed. But security forces are on guard on various street corners, to anticipate various possibilities. "The situation in town is fully under control since 14.00 hours on Thursday," said the Commander of the IIIrd Military Region/Siliwangi, Maj.Gen. Tayo Tarmadi to the press in the Rengasdengklok Sub-regency Office on Friday morning (31/1). He was sided by the Regent of Karawang, Drs H Dadang S Muchtar, Head of the Karawang Police Resort Lt.Col. (Pol) Drs Harry Montolalu, the Intelligence Assistant of the Siliwangi military district Col. Pranghadi, commander of the Sunan Gunung Jati 063 Regiment Col. Oding Mulyadi, and the Head of Information of the Siliwangi Lt.Col. Herman Ibrahim.

The Region Military Commander refused to divulge the identity of the 11 suspects. "To me that is not important, because whoever the persons are, if they violated the law they will be acted against firmly. All people are the same before the law," said the commander.

Besides the 11 suspects, continued the Military Commander, a citizen of foreign origin, suspected of having triggered the riot, has already been detained including his family. "He may be declared a suspect, at least being accused of using uncouth words against other people," said the Commander.

Concerning the riot, the Commander of the Siliwangi Military Region drew three conclusions. First, the occurrence of the riot is extremely regrettable because it has destroyed already achieved results of development. Second, give the security apparatus the opportunity to implement legal handling of the suspects and the person who triggered the riot. And third, the community should not only be reactive and responsive in facing a problem, but also fend off issues which can provoke riots.

"When you hear of a certain issue, please check at the National Alertness Command Posts which have been formed at each military district command. Members of the community must not immediately act on their own in response to issues, of which the truth is not yet clear," said the Commander.

In connection with that riot, the Military Region Commander mentioned that there are two categories of mass movements, namely spontaneous actions which are mass movements of emotional character in responding to an issue. While non-spontaneous actions are actions which according to sound reasoning don't need to be undertaken, but still happen, said the Commander. As an example he mentioned the action which took place on Thursday around 09.00 hours, while the mass action had been smothered at 08.00 hours.

Questioned about a third party in that riot, according to Tayo Tarmadi, the possibility was not excluded that the action was utilized by a third party. "But we must uphold the principle of presumption of innocence. Let the security authorities investigate this case. But looking at the modus operandi, it is almost the same as the Tasikmalaya case, namely the dissemination of issues and false information," said the Commander.

Aid to the amount of Rp 75 million

The Governor of West Java R Nuriana who came to observe the location of the riot together with the chairman of the West Java Regional House of Representatives H Agus Muhyidin on Friday, handed over aid to the amount of Rp 75 million in cash to the Regent of Karawang, H Dadang S Muchtar. "The application of that money is up to the Regent. But operational expense for the troops and the restoration of security requires considerable funds," said Nuriana. To restore security in Rengasdengklok, 2 company-equivalent units of Battalion 305 were assigned, 6 units of the Police Mobile Brigade of West Java, the 9th field Artillery Battalion, Bomb Squad and 100 members of the Karawang police.

According to Nuriana, when a riot has taken place, everybody feels the effect, including impediment of economic activity and social life of the community. "To normalize social life that has been disturbed, needs more than a little time," he said.

Anti-government

What is clear, said Feisal, is that the perpetrators of the riots are anti-government, and the modus operandi and the pattern of the actions are almost the same as the preceding incidents. "Those who did the burnings are Indonesian Communist Party," he stated.

He said that if a group or individual feels slighted by another, resolution should be through the law. "The law must be established. We must not at will play at being judge. Because that way lies anarchy, which in the end will cause uproar and rioting," said the Commander of the Armed forces.

According to him, those who caused the riots must be acted against. If required, anti-subversion articles should be applied, because they cause failure of programs that have been prepared by the national development, and disturb the safety of national stability.

"The juridical apparatus will act in accordance with prevailing laws. People who demonstrate will be acted against according to prevailing law. The Armed Forces have now taken steps with the establishment of Alertness Command Posts," he explained, while appealing to the press to help by providing refreshing news.

Similar matters were also put forward by the Head of the Information Center of the Armed Forces, Brig.Gen. Amir Syarifuddin, that the Armed forces would never tolerate the destructive actions committed by crowds lately. Therefore the Armed Forces Headquarters asks all sides to be more alert in facing issues tending towards the complex of tribe, religion, race and intergroup issues, which are being fanned by irresponsible parties with the sole objective to create instability.

That was put forward by the head of the Armed Forces Information Center responding to journalists after the program of breaking fast jointly by the Armed Forces Information Center and Editors & Journalists assigned to Defense & Security coverage. "The actions of rioting turning into destruction by mobs of late, has already turned to amoral behavior," he emphasized.

"The Armed Forces Headquarters utterly regret the occurrence of riots in Pontianak and Karawang yesterday which turn out to tend towards amoral behavior and without humaneness. Therefore, the security apparatus will take a firm attitude to uphold the prevailing regulations. Those who are wrong are certain to be acted against," he said.

Indonesia's riot-alert posts to be permanent, says report

Agence France Presse - January 26, 1997

Jakarta – The Indonesian government and military said that planned riot-alert posts will be permanent features and were not being set up just to maintain peace in the election year, a report here said yesterday. "They are not just being established only for the general election. They will remain in existence afterwards," The Jakarta Post quoted armed forces chief General Feisal Tanjung as saying.

Indonesians will go to the polls on May 29.

Gen Feisal said the alert centres would be established in each of the more than 240 district military commands and would be overseen by the heads of the district commands.

The centres would also not take over the responsibilities of local security agencies or the police, but would deal with "preventive measures. If the provincial administration... considers it necessary to take action, the centre will forward its report to the police", he added.

President Suharto last week ordered that posts be established for people to pass on information about rumors and also inform the authorities about "who the people are who are spreading the rumors.

"Certain groups who want to create instability" have been behind recent mass riots, he said.

Indonesian officials have claimed that unrest erupted into rioting after rumors were spread in communities about ethnic or religious matters.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Soesilo Soedarman also said that the alert posts were part of a long-term plan and not just for the May elections.

"We don't want to see this nation endangered by upheaval," he said. "We are making every effort to prevent that from happening."

Indonesia has been rocked by three religious and ethnic riots since last October, which left more than a dozen people dead and scores injured.

Thousands of Muslims in the small East Java town of Situbondo took to the streets in October and burned more than 20 churches and Buddhist temples after a prosecutor asked for a five-year jail sentence – deemed too low by demonstrators – for a man accused of insulting Islam.

On December 26 thousands of Muslims went on a rampage in Tasikmalaya, West Java, angered by alleged police mistreatment of three Muslim teachers.

Four people died and over 100 buildings were burned and damaged.

Earlier this month unrest erupted in West Kalimantan when a mob of some 5,000 indigenous Dayak tribesmen burned and looted scores of homes and stores belonging to settlers who had migrated from the Indonesian island of Madura, north of Java.

Permadi stays true to his doom

South China Morning Post, January 28, 1997

Joe Leahy – The conviction on charges of blasphemy of Permadi has failed to perturb the self-proclaimed clairvoyant from standing by earlier predictions regarding Mount Merapi.

The 2,968-metre volcano in Central Java gushed lava and blew clouds of volcanic ash four kilometres into the sky on January 17.

"According to Javanese beliefs, every time Merapi erupts, this will always be accompanied by earthly happenings, whether they are political, economic or whatever," Permadi said. "Until now the signs have been small. These will be interpreted by the Javanese as warnings from God," Permadi said.

"But if the next explosion is bigger, that means social unrest will be unavoidable."

Permadi was attacked by the military in March 1995 for predicting the downfall of President Suharto before next year and his possible replacement by the now ousted leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party, Megawati Sukarnoputri.

The soothsayer said the signs today recalled those of 1965, when President Suharto brutally crushed a so-called abortive coup blamed on the now-defunct communist party.

"The Javanese believe the Jaman Edan [era of chaos] will end in riots and social unrest and this will begin with the eruption of Mount Merapi," he said.

Permadi said the era of chaos was set to end this century and would result in a war between "the bad and the good".

"I think this will happen this year," he said.

More student protests in Ujung Padang

Indonesian Media – January 1997

On 27 January, student demonstrators held a free speech forum, a street march and rallied at the local parliament (DPRD) over remarks made by ex-general Sodomo, chair of the Peoples Consultative Assembly (MPR) over last years rioting in Tasikmalaya, West Java, who said as saying that Islamic extremists were behind the incident. In a letter from Forum Komunikasi Mahasiswa Islam Makassar students said Sudomo had no proof of his accusations and demanded that he withdraw his statement. The added that in doing so, he had insulted Islam. Added that if he did not apologise, the protest actions would continue.

[Abridged translation - James Balowski]

From cattle prods to cobras

The Economist – January 25, 1997

Jakarta – Snoozing in a glass case by the entrance to a police station just outside Jakarta lies the key to a peculiar experiment in crowd control. The case contains seven cobras. They are the first stage in what the local police chief believes will be a breakthrough in his struggle to maintain law and order. "So far this is just a trial," says FBI-trained Lieut-Colonel Alex Riatmojo. But the colonel hopes that in time his officers will be able to disperse demonstrations armed with nothing more than wriggling reptiles.

The ancient world offers at least one precedent for the colonel's idea. Hannibal is said to have won a sea battle against the Romans by throwing cauldrons of snakes into enemy ships. Colonel Riatmojo does not want his men to go that far. He envisages them waving the cobras to intimidate violent rioters, but he admits that more practice is needed before the policemen are themselves completely at ease with the snakes. He is unwilling to explain how they will avoid being bitten, or how they will get close enough to a stone-throwing mob for the snakes to have the desired effect.

Bizarre as this experiment may seem, it comes as no surprise that Indonesia's police should be so preoccupied with riot control. The country has had three serious outbreaks of unrest since October in which at least nine people have died. Last July, the riots that shook Jakarta after a clumsy move by the security forces against Megawati Sukarnoputri, an opposition leader, raised concerns about Indonesia's long-term stability.

In that episode, the police performed lamentably, lashing out at bystanders and running away when confronted by larger groups of protesters. Senior policemen have since gone abroad to seek more training and equipment to help them control crowds. Western governments, however, are finding it increasingly difficult to explain to their electorates why they should sell water cannon and electric cattle prods to a government with such a poor human-rights record.

Colonel Riatmojo's snakes could well be his answer to the difficulties Indonesia faces in buying riot-control equipment. An alternative solution might be to look at the mistreatment meted out by his own security forces. This, along with economic grievances, is one of the main complaints cited by ordinary Indonesians who have turned against their government. They seem to want more charm, fewer snakes.

Clash between villagers in Irian Jaya under control

Antara - January 29, 1997

Jayapura, Irian Jaya – The two-day clash between residents of two villages near Tembagapura, Timika, Irian Jaya, which claimed five lives and injured scores of others, is now under control, a military officer said.

Chief of the Trikora military command, Maj Gen Johny Lumintang, said the clash started Sunday after a man, a resident of Banthi village, was caught having sex with the spouse of an Utikini villager.

Utikini villagers protested and demanded compensation, which was rejected by Banthi villagers, leading to the clash.

Lumintang said five people were killed and 20 others injured in the clash.

To prevent the incident from recurring, social leaders of the two villages held talks on Tuesday before Col G Manurung of the Army Strategic Command's (Kostrad) infantry zone in Mimika district, he said.

Timika is the site of the giant gold and copper mining company, PT Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary of the US-based Freeport McMoRan. Its mining operations cover a 26,400 sq km area.

Fighting between Jakarta high-school students

Indonesian Media – January 1997

Nine students were arrested last week after 50 students commandeered a public bus to attack a rival gang. Police confiscated sickles, a sword, a knife, two sharp steel rulers, two belts with cogwheels attached to them and steel bars.

Aside from questions of youth alienation, poor job prospects and poverty, the increasing incidents of busses being commandeered has been caused, ironically, buy bus fare structures. Several years ago the government introduced a student fare of 100 rupiah (US$0.04), compared with the normal Rp400 (US$0.17) ticket price. But because bus drivers' wages are determined by how much they collect each day it makes little sense to pick up students during peak traffic hours. Students are left stranded for hours as a result and many of them take to roaming in gangs. When these gangs of adolescents meet, it takes very little to spark a fight.

Nineteen students were killed last year in the 150 school-related brawls reported by police, and a total of 1,842 students were arrested. Police also said 541 buses were damaged last year as students "ran amok" in two schools. Over the last 5 years, 63 have been killed, 300 suffered minor 110 serious injuries. Thousands of buses and private vehicles attacked

[Compiled from reports by the Indonesian media on high-school student fights - James Balowski]

Indonesia's schools of hard knocks

Asia Times – January 17, 1997

Ong Hock Chuan – When a group of students commandeered a 50-seat public bus to attack a rival gang last week, it was in many ways business as usual in Jakarta.

Student brawls happen all over Asia, but in the Indonesian capital they increasingly end as newspaper obit- uaries.

Police prevented serious injuries in last week's incident by quickly intervening and arresting nine of the students. They confiscated sickles, a sword, a knife, two sharp steel rulers, two belts with cogwheels attached to them and steel bars.

But other incidents have ended in tears - and worse. Nineteen students were killed last year in the 150 school-related brawls reported by police, and a total of 1,842 students were arrested. Police also said 541 buses were damaged last year as students "ran amok" in two schools.

There are many explanations for the violence; analysts have pointed to everything from poverty to bad television programming.

One of the more intriguing explanations centers around bus fares. Several years ago, to make transportation more affordable for students, the government introduced a student fare of 100 rupiah (US$0.04), compared with the normal Rp400 (US$0.17) ticket price.

But critics claim the well-intentioned measure has backfired. Bus drivers earn their day's wages in accordance with how much they collect from their passengers and it thus makes little sense for them to pick up students during peak traffic hours.

"They often would not want to pick us up," said Argus Sunandi, a 19-year-old economics student at Universitas Mercubuana, "because they can earn Rp300 more carrying other passengers".

Students are left stranded for hours as a result and many of them take to roaming in gangs. When these gangs of adolescents meet, it takes very little to spark a fight.

Bus fares, however, clearly do not tell the whole story. Analysts are still stumped by the escalation in the level of violence.

"The quality of violence and the number of students taking part are beyond everyone's expectations," said Daniel Dahkidae, a sociologist and senior researcher at Kompas newspaper.

He is not the only one stunned by the brawls. "The level of violence has developed at such a surprising rate that we cannot find an answer to explain why this is so," said Yaumil Chariah Argoes Achir, the head of the Psychology Faculty at the University of Indonesia. "So far even police, educators and social scientists have not been able to explain the phenomenon."

But Yaumil, who also serves as the assistant minister for population, pointed out that given Jakarta's huge student community, the number of students involved in violence in percentage terms was not very large.

Nevertheless, it was still a cause for concern, she said, and efforts to understand the factors driving students to violence were crucial.

"One of the most important factors is the stressful life they face every day in an urban environment," she said.

Sociologist Dahkidae agreed. He said that in a survey of students by Kompas two years ago, the paper found that most of the students who were involved in violence came from low-income classes and broken homes. Most of the student brawls also involved vocational and technical schools where these students end up.

The pressure of the living environment on these students cannot be underestimated, said an analyst. "Just take a drive to one of the poorer areas of Jakarta. There you will find narrow, congested streets reeking from waste, car fumes or a polluted river nearby. The houses are small, often there are no private toilets in these houses. And everywhere there is little privacy."

"Many of these students do not see much prospect in the future," said Yaumil. "They know that for them it is difficult to get into tertiary education and even if they do it would be difficult for them to get jobs."

A chat with some students at Blok M, a shopping area and bus terminus in south Jakarta which is a popular after-school hangout, seemed to confirm this. "I want to be a rich man," said Deny, a first year economics student at Universitas Mercubuana. He, however, could not say how he planned to get rich or why he wanted to be rich.

Wandering through the labyrinthine of stalls of Blok M, a pack of about 30 students stick to the basement of the shopping mall. "We ngongkrong [loiter] around here because we don't want to go up [to the ground floor] yet," said one student in the group from Penergbangan Technical School.

The student would not give his name but said that if they were to go up they would surely meet other student gangs from different schools and a fight would be likely. So they hang around in the basement of the shopping plaza until most of the other students have gone home before making their own way back.

Another student, Agung Canori, said that many of his peers also were in no hurry to go home. "Many of them do not come from nice homes and when they go back their parents get them to work. They don't want to do this so they hang around here until late."

Experts have also blamed the usual ills of violent television programs and a rapidly-modernizing society as causes of student violence.

Sarlito Sarwono, a consultant psychologist who lectures at the University of Indonesia, however, said that while it was easy to blame socioeconomic factors, what must not be overlooked was that government, teachers and parents were not properly addressing this problem.

"There are many followers but the students who get involved in the violence are actually criminals and must be treated as such," he said.

"People not only are reluctant to treat them as criminals because they are in school uniforms," Sarlito said, "[but] the teachers actually end up rewarding some of the troublemakers.

"They promote them up the grade at the end of the year irrespective of their academic performance just to get rid of them.

"When other students see this happening, they begin to admire these troublemakers because they are able to get away with it," he said.

Sarlito added that a large part of the problem also came from a culture which has developed in Indonesia in which people, especially teachers and other civil servants, were loath to take initiative for fear of failing.

"Nobody wants to take the first step to solve the problem. Everybody is waiting for Pak Harto [President Suharto] to give the word and take the first step." Minister for Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro has blamed the rural-urban migration patterns in the country which may be partly responsible for a 2.5-fold increase in the number of criminal cases in recent years.

But he also said that many of the students did not have an outlet for their youthful energy because of poor facilities. "Consider: Of the 1,600 schools in Jakarta how many of them have a sports field? Only very few," he said in a recent interview with a local magazine.

Wardiman and other educationalists also blame violent television programs and violent video games such as Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter.

He said one way to reduce these violent incidents was to choose with care the inter-school competition venues, where many of the brawls broke out. Another solution was for teachers and parents to have better supervision of the students.

But Wardiman ruled out changing the laws to penalize offending students because many of them were minors. Sending any of them to correctional institutions would bring a torrent of protests from activists, he said.

Not everyone is at a complete loss to deal with student violence.

Asrul Chatib, who is headmaster of SMU 3, a lower secondary school in the Kuningan suburb of southern Jakarta, proved in his last posting that school violence can be curbed, though not totally eliminated.

For the past four years, Asrul headed SMA 70, a school notorious for its brawling students and ranked about 40 in terms of academic performance. When he started, recalled Asrul, there were fights every day, not only between students of his school with students from other schools but also among themselves.

Four years later the incidence of school violence was down to perhaps one minor brawl in a month. The academic performance of the school also improved. It is now among the best 10 schools in the city. (See accompanying story.)

"There are many reasons for school violence," Asrul said. "But in the end it boils down to giving the students and teachers a good environment and self-respect."

East Timor

Indonesian-East Timorese partnership in cement factory

Lusa – January 20, 1997

Lisbon – The Indonesian group that has bought Italian car maker Lamborghini was said to be a partner in the construction of a cement factory in East Timor. Former East Timorese resistance leader Abmlio Arazjo told Lusa on Friday that East Timorese businessmen will have the major stake in the joint-venture known as PT Semem Timor-Loro Sae which will also involve Lamborghini-owner Indonesian investor Budi Prakoso. Arazjo said that the investment was estimated at US$512.8 million and that the factory was expected to produce 2.3 million tons of cement per year and employ 1,500 people. He said that the project would be located in the eastern part of East Timor. Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and annexed it one year later but the United Nations still regards Portugal as the territory's administering power Lusa/Fim

Australian bishop denounces plot to kill East Timorese Bishop D. Ximenes

Lusa – January 20, 1997

Sydney – The Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne, Hilton Deakin, has said that an Indonesian soldier was killed on Christmas Eve after he was found to have been paid to assassinate 1996 Nobel Peace Prize East Timorese Bishop D. Ximenes Belo. Deakin said on Friday that he had received a fax from "reliable Catholic sources" with the details of the murder attempt in December as Belo arrived from a trip to Europe and celebrated a mass in Dilis cathedral attended by thousands of the Bishops supporters. The Australian Bishop said that one soldier had been beaten to death on December 24 after "somebody had heard one of them (soldiers) speaking and saying derogatory things about the bishop and (how) he would get him, and so on." Deakin added that "there was an awful scuffle", a dead body was eventually found inside the cathedral and, by all accounts, the smear of blood on the floor indicated the body had been dragged into the cathedral after the person had been severely wounded". He said also that "hundreds of thousand of rupiahs, equivalent to several thousand Australian dollars" had been found on the body. Deakin said that he had decided to release the fax details because he was concerned with the safety of Belo who has said last month that murder attempts were made on his life in 1989 and 1991. East Timor was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and annexed one year later but the United Nations still regards Portugal as the territory's administering power Lusa/Fim

East Timorese resistance leader "surprised" with plan to form territory's

Lusa – January 20, 1997

Lisbon – East Timorese resistance leader Mari Alkatiri has said to be "surprised" with Josi Ramos Horta's announcement last week of a plan to form a "shadow government" for the territory occupied by Indonesia. Alkatiri who lives in Mogambique and is in charge of the legal affairs of East Timor's resistance movement Conselho Nacional da Resistjncia Maubere (CNRM) told Lusa on Friday that Ramos Horta's announcement had been "premature" although he stressed that there were "no major disputes" between the two leaders. Alkatiri said that their differences were more "of conceptual rigour" saying that "I totally disagree with the shadow government. To whom would it be a shadow? To an illegal (Indonesian) governor?" Ramos Horta, a 1996 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate, announced in Macau on Friday resistance movement plans to form a "shadow government" later this year that would seek to involve East Timorese from the widest possible political spectrum, including "people who are currently working for Indonesia". East Timor was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and annexed one year later but the United Nations still regards Portugal as the territorys administering power. Lisbon demands that East Timor be given the right to self-determination. Lusa/Fim

New East Timorese bishop warns of popular revolt in East Timor

Lusa – January 21, 1997

Lisbon – The apostolic administrator of East Timor's diocese of Baucau Bishop D. Basmlio do Nascimento has stressed that popular revolt against the Indonesian troops can easily arise in the former Portuguese colony. Speaking at the Christian Spiritual Center in Lisbon on Monday, Do Nascimento compared the situation in East Timor to a blaze saying that "it takes only a spark to cause a fire". The recently consecrated bishop invited to talk about the Roman Catholic Church presence in East Timor said that it was facing shortcomings in the territory, with insufficient number of priests and lack of a good doctrinal education. Do Nascimento, who will take charge of the position of apostolic administrator of the new diocese of Bacau, covering East Timor's eastern half, on March 19 added that 85 percent of the territory's 800,000 population were Catholics. Indonesia, the worlds biggest Moslem Country, invaded East Timor in 1975 and annexed it one year later but the United Nations still regards Portugal as the territory's administering power. Lusa/Fim

East Timor's resistance movement applies for observer status at Socialist

Lusa – January 21, 1997

Rome – East Timor's resistance movement Conselho Nacional da Resistjncia Maubere (CNRM) has announced that it will apply for observer status at the Socialist International (SI) during this weeks IS Congress in Rome. East Timorese activist Josi Ramos Horta told Lusa on Monday that CNRM would seek the position of observer in the SI as he arrived in Rome to attend the organization's two-day congress starting Tuesday. The CNRM is an umbrella group that joins together different East Timorese political factions like Frente Revolucionaria de Timor-Leste Independente (FRETILIN) and Unico Democratica Timorense (UDT) that have opposed the Indonesia occupation. Ramos Horta who was awarded recently the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize has been lobbying internationally for East Timors right of self-determination as a special envoy of the CNRM. Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and annexed it one year later but the United Nations still regards Portugal as the territorys administering power. The London-based Socialist International was founded in 1951 as an association of socialist parties that believes in parliamentary democracy and opposes communism. Lusa/Fim

Roman Catholic cardinal said to be "deeply concerned" with East Timor's

Lusa - January 22, 1997

Rome – East Timorese activist Josi Ramos Horta has said that the president of the Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace, Roman Catholic Church Cardinal Etchegeray, was "deeply concerned" with the lack of school and professional education for the East Timorese youth. Ramos Horta made his comments on Tuesday after a 30-minute meeting with Etchegeray. The Cardinal visited East Timor in February 1996 and attended the awarding ceremony of Nobel Peace Prize to Ramos Horta and East Timorese Bishop D. Ximenes Belo on December 10 in Oslo. East Timor where the majority of the population is Catholic, was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and annexed one year later but the United Nations still regards Portugal as the territorys administering power. Lusa/Fim

Ramos Horta denies political implications in CNRM'S proposed observer

Lusa – January 22, 1997

Rome – East Timorese activist Josi Ramos Horta has denied that the territorys resistance movement application to become an observer at the Socialist International (SI) would link East Timor self-determination supporters to political movements. Ramos Horta, a 1996 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate, said on Tuesday that the application by Conselho Nacional da Resistjncia Maubere (CNRM) to become an observer at the SI would only "strengthen the resistance movement in the diplomatic field", stressing that CNRM did not "claim any ideology". He told Lusa on Monday that CNRM would apply for observer status at the SI. The London-based SI was founded in 1951 as an association of socialist parties that believes in parliamentary democracy and opposes communism. East Timor was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and annexed one year later but the United Nations still regards Portugal as the territorys administering power. Lusa/Fim

US congressman plans to present solutions for the East Timor issue to the

Lusa – January 22, 1997

Washington – US republican congressman Frank Wolf has said that he will present the Clinton administration with solutions for the East Timor conflict. A spokesman for the congressman told Lusa on Tuesday that Wolf will talk about East Timor in a press conference this week at the US Congress. Wolf is a member of the Human Rights Group of the US Congress and was recently in East Timor for a three-day visit. Washington is considered one of the main western allies of Indonesia. East Timor was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and annexed one year later but the United Nations still regards Portugal as the territorys administering power Lusa/Fim

Ramos Horta urges SI to promote peace and democracy in Asia-Pacific

Lusa – January 22, 1997

Rome – The East Timor issue is "an heritage from the Cold War era" that could be solved in the current new political environment, East Timorese activist Josi Ramos Horta has said. Addressing the Socialist International (SI) congress in Rome, Ramos Horta, a 1996 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate, said on Tuesday that in the post-cold war era he believed "the universal principles of democratic socialism will prevail as the most solid and ethical option for the world". He added that SI as well as the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan could have an important role in the promotion of peace and democracy in the Asia-Pacific region. Ramos Horta told Lusa on Monday that East Timor's resistance movement Conselho Nacional da Resistjncia Maubere (CNRM) would apply for an observer status at the SI. The London-based SI was founded in 1951 as an association of socialist parties that believes in parliamentary democracy and opposes communism. East Timor was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and annexed one year later but the United Nations still regards Portugal as the territorys administering power Lusa/Fim

Indonesia's FM is East Timor's electoral candidate

Lusa – January 22, 1997

Sydney – Indonesia's Foreign Minister Ali Alatas is on the East Timor list of candidates from the ruling Golkar Party to the legislative elections scheduled for May. The spokesman for the Indonesian Foreign Ministry told Lusa on Wednesday that Ali Alatas was a "very appropriate" representative of East Timor in the Indonesian parliament since he "speaks of East Timor, knows well the situation in the territory and represents East Timor at the international scene. He is almost a (East) Timorese". Alatas is the fifth in the eight-candidate list from East Timor composed by two Indonesians and six East Timorese and led by current president of local parliament, Antsnio Freitas Parada. East Timor was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and annexed one year later but the United Nations still regards Portugal as the territory's administering power. Lusa/Fim

Washington urged to seek "active" role in solving East Timor conflict

Lusa – January 24, 1997

Washington – US republican congressman Frank Wolf has urged President Bill Clinton to meet East Timors 1996 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate Bishop D. Ximenes Belo when he visits the US at the invitation of Yale University. Wolf told also a press conference on Thursday that Washington should use its good relations with Jakarta to "actively seek" a solution for the East Timor conflict. He advised the White House to appoint a special envoy to hold talks with Indonesia, Portugal, Germany, East Timorese representatives as well as with the United Nations (UN) on a peaceful solution for the territorys conflict. Wolf said that Germany should be included because of the strong ties between Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Indonesia. The US congressman is a member of the Human Rights Group of the US Congress and was recently in East Timor for a three-day visit where he said to have found the population living in a situation of "terror". Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and annexed it one year later but the United Nations still regards Portugal as the territorys administering power. Lusa/Fim

Amnesty International UK calls for UK to stop equipping Indonesian

Amnesty International – January 1997

Amnesty International (UK) is calling on the UK Goverment to urgently revoke export licences granted to a UK company, Alvis, for the sale of armoured vehicles to Indonesia. This call comes in the light of mounting evidence about the use of such equipment in commiting grave human rights cviolations in that country.

The organisation is calling upon the company's shareholders, meeting at the company's AGM today in London, to make a stand for human rights and oppose the sale of these armoured vehicles to Indonesia.

AIUK director, David Bull comment: Armoured personnel carriers are part of the machinery used by the Government of Indonesia to crush internal dissent. This export deal places in the hands of the Indonesian Government equipment which we know has been used to commit human rights violations.'

Amnesty International has documented a pattern of human rights violations committed by the Indonesian Armed Forces, including the police, during operations where members of the armed forces and the police have been transported in, or have used, armoured personnel carries (APCs). It also has been monitoring a recent increasing pattern of repression against both violent and non-violent internal dissent since July 1996 which is anticipated to last until at least the parliamentary elections in May 1997.

In April 1996, UK-supplied APCs were used to quell demonstrations by students in Ujung Pandang in South Sulawesi in which at least three students were killed by the military. As a result of the outcry which followed the government's handling of these demonstrations, six Indonesian soldiers were court martialled for 'exceeding official orders' and sentenced to terms of imprisonment. In addition, APCs were also present during the quelling of riots on 27 July 1996 in Jakarta during which the security forces were filmed beating individual demonstrators.

In December 1996, the UK Government confirmed that export licences had been issued for the export of fifty armoured vehicles to the Indonesian Government. The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Jeremy Hanley, told Parliament on 15 January 1997 that human rights considerations were 'a key factor' in the decisions in granting the licences. However, in the same breath Mr Hanley stated that as the fourth most populous country in the world, Indonesia 'is an important country with which to do buisness'. Given the evidence of use of such equipment to commit human rights violations, it appears that commercial considerations may have been allowed to outweigh human rights concerns.

The United States, the biggest supplier of military equipment internationally, has banned the export of armoured vehicles to Indonesia as a result of international comdemnation of the Indonesian Government's handling of demonstrations in mid-1996. If the UK continues to authorise exports of such vehicles to Indonesia it will undermine the US stance. It will lay UK companies and the UK government open to accusations of profiting from another country's stand on human rights.

Woman raped, held as slave at military post

South China Morning Post - January 23, 1997

Joe Leahy, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights is to investigate allegations an East Timorese woman was raped and held as a virtual slave at a military post after being accused of being a member of the territory's Fretilin guerilla movement.

A report submitted yesterday by an alliance of 14 activist groups alleged the woman, Alianca Henrique dos Santos, 23, and seven relatives were arrested without warrant in November and taken to Ermera, about 60 kilometres southwest of Dili.

The report contains a letter from East Timor's bishop, Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo to the Dili military command on December 25 urging it to investigate the allegations.

Ms dos Santos and other detainees were tortured, and she was beaten, warned she would be killed, kept handcuffed and raped on three occasions by soldiers, the report alleges.

Another detainee was stripped naked before her husband and children and led away, it said.

"Alianca was frequently ordered to boil water and do other work by soldiers while repeatedly being rebuked as a member of the rebel movement," the report said.

The group was eventually discovered by a member of their village church, who managed to secure their release.

Human rights commission member Clementino dos Reis Amaral said yesterday he and a team would investigate the claims during a trip to the territory early next month.

East Timor military and police officials were unavailable for comment.

East Timorese men who have been arrested in Viqueque district

East Timor Human Rights Centre Urgent Action - January 29, 1997

Names:

Miguel Alex Correia, 22 Paulino Almeida Pinto, 34 Savio de Almeida, 27 Paulo Lisboa, 34 Abilio de Almeida,25 Antonio Guterres, 26 Salvador Alves, 40 Martin Lopes, 53 Cancio Almeida, 29 Ponsiano Silvester, 20

Violations: Arbitrary Arrest

Location: Uatulari sub-district, Viqueque district, East Timor

Ref: UA 2/97 Further information: UA 12/96

The East Timor Human Rights Centre has received reports with the names of ten East Timorese men who have been arrested in the Viqueque district.

Nine East Timorese men were captured at 8.45 am on 11 January, 1997, during a military operation conducted by the soldiers of the 407th battalion in the Uatulari sub-district. The authorities have alleged the men were collaborating with the armed Resistance. The ETHRC believes that the nine men may have been arbitrarily arrested and may be at risk of torture and ill-treatment if still in detention. These fears are heightened because their current whereabouts is still unknown.

The details of the nine men, who are all from the village of Besoru, Viqueque District, are as follows:

Miguel Alex Correia, 22, son of Alfredo & Fransisca Paulino Almeida Pinto, 34, son of Cubedo Savio de Almeida, 27, son of Luamesi Paulo Lisboa, 34, son of Soru Mau & Maria Abilio de Almeida,25, son of Moeses & Julieta Antonio Guterres,26, son of Leopoldo & Julieta Salvador Alves, 40, son of Camillo & Mari Noco Martin Lopes, 53, son of Aboro & Mari Mau Cancio Almeida, 29, son of Alfredo & Julieta

A further report received by the ETHRC states that Ponsiano Silvester, aged 20, was arrested recently in Viqueque by members of the Indonesian military and detained at the District Military Headquarters in Viqueque. It is believed he has been accused of setting fire to vehicles belonging to the District Head and the Viqueque Military Commander. Fears are held for his safety if he is still in detention as all East Timorese people in military custody are at risk of torture and ill-treatment. This risk is heightened if prisoners are denied access to lawyers of their own choice and to members of their families.

Background information - On 13 December, 1996, the ETHRC released a report about the systematic intimidation of the Viqueque population and the violation of their human rights by the Indonesian authorities. The latest reports indicate that this pattern is continuing in 1997, raising new concerns for the population of Viqueque.

Recommended action:

Please send faxes/telegrams/express/airmail letters in English, Bahasa Indonesia or your own language:

- seeking clarification of the whereabouts of all 10 East Timorese men and the charges against them (if any);

- seeking their immediate release if they have not been charged with a recognisable offense under the law;

- seeking assurances that they will not face any torture or ill-treatment in detention and that they will be treated humanely and in accordance with international standards;

- seeking assurances that they will have full and continuing access to lawyers of their own choice and members of their families; and

- seeking assurances that the Indonesian military will cease its acts of generalized intimidation and ill-treatment of the local population.

Portugal's FM lashes out at Ali alatas' (East) timorese identity

Lusa – January 24, 1997

Lisbon – Indonesia's Foreign Minister Ali Alatas nomination to the country's legislative elections next May as an East Timor representative does not make him a (East) Timorese, the Portuguese Foreign Minister Jaime Gama has said.

Gama told a press conference on Thursday that the nomination "will not make FM Ali Alatas a (East) Timorese and, surely, will not give East Timor more rights".

"Elections in dictatorships have little value and in the case of East Timor even less value, being organized by anti-East Timorese", Gama added.

Alatas is the fifth in the eight-candidate list for East Timor made up of two Indonesians and six East Timorese and led by current president of local parliament, Antσnio Freitas Parada.

The spokesman for the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that Ali Alatas was a "very appropriate" representative of East Timor in the Indonesian parliament since he "speaks of East Timor, knows well the situation in the territory and represents East Timor at the international scene. He is almost a (East) Timorese".

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and annexed it one year later but the United Nations still regards Portugal as the territorys administering power. Lusa/Fim

East Timor - Youth round-up provokes unrest

South China Morning Post - January 27, 1997

Reuters in Jakarta – Tension has risen in East Timor's capital Dili as Indonesian security officers continue searching for youths suspected of involvement in the killing of a soldier on Christmas Eve, residents said yesterday.

"The youths have become more and more restless because of the continuing search at night," one resident said.

Residents said police and military officers had been rounding up the youths each evening for questioning.

East Timor deputy police chief Lieutenant-Colonel Atok Rismanto said this week police had detained 15 people suspected of involvement in the killing of Corporal Alfredo dos Santos and pledged to arrest more.

Police were not available for comment yesterday.

Residents said there were no reports of further incidents overnight and that Mass in churches in the predominantly Catholic region proceeded smoothly yesterday morning.

Dos Santos was beaten to death near Dili's cathedral on December 24. On the same day, several other police officers and soldiers were attacked by members of the crowd welcoming Nobel Peace Prize laureate Bishop Carlos Belo back to the territory.

The Indonesian military said the dead man, who was wearing civilian clothes, was off-duty and visiting the cathedral as a worshipper on his own accord.

Bishop Belo has apologised for the death of the soldier, a native of East Timor and father of seven.

Indonesian troops invaded the former Portuguese colony in December 1975 and annexed it the following year, making it Indonesia's 27th province. The move was not recognised by the United Nations, which regards Lisbon as the territory's administering power.

Financial news

Politics might spoil the brew, but it is a risk worth taking

Wall Street Journal - January 23, 1997

Pui-Wing Tam – That is the message from fund managers as they survey the prospects of the Indonesian market in 1997. While Hong Kong proved to be the most popular regional investment destination at the start of this year, more fund managers are now gaining confidence in Indonesia and are putting the country on their buy lists.

"Foreign funds have been getting back their weightings in Indonesia again," says Barbara Shaw, a fund manager at National Mutual Funds Management (Asia) Ltd. and manager of the National Mutual Indonesian Fund. "Since not much has happened in politics in the last quarter, the market is coming up again."

Indonesia performed strongly in the first five months of 1996, but then political worries began hurting share prices. The June ouster of pro-democracy leader Megawati Sukarnoputri as head of a political party, plus two July events – President Suharto's trip to Germany for a medical checkup and riots rooted in anger over Ms. Megawati's removal – prompted many investors to leave the market. Those who stayed were rewarded by a fourth-quarter rally, which lifted the Jakarta composite index 24% for the year. The index closed Wednesday at record high of 686.11, up 5.23 points.

May Elections

Political jitters are likely to reappear later this year, warn many fund managers, especially after the first quarter. Parliamentary elections, in which Ms. Megawati has been barred from any role, are scheduled for May. The campaign will cause some jitters, as will continued uncertainty about who will succeed 75-year-old President Suharto. His current five-year term ends in March 1998 and, if health permits, he is widely expected to seek a seventh term.

But should these political fears turn fund managers away from Indonesia? Mac Overton, a fund manager at Mbf Unit Trust Managers Ltd. and manager of the MBf Indonesian Growth Fund, argues that the political risks are already priced into the market. "You should buy into Indonesia now," he says.

The market is currently underpinned by a solid fundamental economic picture. Kitty Hon, an analyst at ImPac Asset Management (HK) Ltd., forecasts Indonesia's economic growth will hit 8.1% this year, up from the projected 7.5% in 1996. And export growth is likely to reach 14.4% this year, up from an estimated 9.7% last year, she says.

Meanwhile, inflation should slow to 7.3%, from 9.4% in 1995, creating a positive environment for lower interest rates, the managers contend. Currently, Indonesia's prime interest rate is 18%.

The positive environment is also expected to fuel corporate earnings growth this year. Ms. Hon predicts average earnings growth will be 20% this year, and 17% in 1998, compared with about 14% in 1996.

'My Favorite Market'

In addition, the Indonesian market is trading at a relatively low price/earnings ratio. "Indonesia is my favorite market in Asia because it's one of the few markets where the price/earnings ratio is lower than the projected earnings growth rate," says MBf's Mr. Overton, who calculates the market is currently at 14.2 times projected 1997 earnings.

Even the perennial problem that many fund managers complain about in Indonesia – limited liquidity – is being alleviated, they say. Simon Chan, manager of the Barclays Indonesia Fund and a fund manager at Barclays Global Investors Hong Kong Ltd., says that the participation of local investors in the market has increased over the past year. Brokerage firms such as PT Lippo Securities, for instance, are offering brokers commissions to develop their retail business.

"We see the market is now not only focused on the blue-chips," says Mr. Chan. "The mix and liquidity in the market has improved."

Fund managers with dedicated Indonesian equity funds are most heavily allocated in the banking and finance sector. MBf's Mr. Overton says the banks are trading at a cheap price/earnings ratio of 12.9 times projected 1997 earnings. Banks' average earnings growth is expected be around 19% this year. While the bigger banks are generally favored, some midsized ones also are displaying impressive growth, say fund managers. Among the top choices are Bank Internasional Indonesia, which Mr. Overton predicts will produce 23% earnings growth this year, while trading at just 13 times projected 1997 earnings; and Bank Tiara, which is forecast to achieve 23% earnings growth. Its share are currently trading at 8.9 times projected 1997 earnings. In trading Wednesday on the Jakarta Stock Exchange, Bank Internasional closed at 1,800 rupiah (76 U.S. cents), down 25 rupiah, while Bank Tiara settled at 3,000 rupiah, up 50 rupiah.

Car industry - Japanese to take on Suharto's son

Sydney Morning Herald - January 29, 1997

Russell Skelton, Tokyo – The bitter trade dispute between Japan and Indonesia over President Soeharto's controversial national car project has taken an unexpected turn. Japanese car makers, furious at the concessions handed out by the President to a company controlled by his third son, "Tommy" Mandala Putra, to build the 1.5-litre Timor, are determined to force the same deal for themselves.

They are preparing to lift the local content on their vehicles in an attempt to force President Soeharto to extend to them tax breaks granted to the Timor, Indonesia's so-called national car.

Toyota and Honda have both indicated that they will boost investment in Indonesia to lift local content on rival models to 60 per cent, the same level as the Timor - a hybrid built by South Korea's Kia Motors.

Japanese executives believe the President is unlikely to cave in to pressure from Japan, Europe and the US to drop tax breaks which have allowed the Timor to undercut rival models by 50 per cent.

But, in other developments, it appears the controversy over the Timor may be resolved in the marketplace. Since September, Japanese car makers claim only 7,700 units have been sold.

The Timor is believed to have lost much of its appeal with consumers after Timor Putra was forced to import the first batch of cars from South Korea. Thousands are now stored in the tropical sun by Jakarta's international airport.

Timor distributors are said to have lowered sales projections from an initial 4,000 vehicles a month to 3,000. Timor Putra has announced that it will begin assembling Timors in Indonesia in April in a borrowed plant.

But the haphazard planning and the failure to construct the plant on time is said to be complicating production schedules and allowing rival makers to come up with new models.

A consortium led by the President's second son, Bambang Trihatmodjo, and Hyundai plans to market a car only 25 per cent more expensive. The preferential treatment dispensed to Putra Timor is the subject of a World Trade Organisation investigation following complaints by the US, the EU and Japan. [Signpost] This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited.

Labour news

Minimum waged to be raised by 10%

Jakarta Post – January 1997

The government announced yesterday it is to increase the minimum wage level in all 27 provinces by an average of 10.07 percent from April 1.

Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief said the increase would bring the average minimum wage across the country closer to what is officially perceived as the minimum physical requirement.

"The minimum wage will average 95.32 percent of the minimum physical requirement, compared to 92.49 percent in 1996," Latief said after he, Coordinating Minister for Production and Distribution Hartarto and Minister of Industry and Trade Tunky Ariwibowo reported to President Soeharto at Bina Graha. The minimum physical requirement is calculated on the basis of the local costs of a daily calorie intake of 3,000 for a single worker.

Latief said the increase was the result of "very democratic" deliberations involving representatives of the government employers and workers, with proposals coming from a wide range of people in all sectors. He said increases had taken into account regional inflation rates. Nationally, 1996 inflation was 6.7 percent.

With the increase, the minimum monthly wage for a worker in the Greater Jakarta Area (Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi) would increase from Rpl56,000 ($68) to Rp 172,500) The minimum wage level in the industrial-designated zone of Batam, including the islands under the Batam Development Authority, would be increased to Rp 235,000 from Rp 220,500. Batam had the highest minimum wage level, reflecting the high cost of living there. Yogyakarta still had the lowest minimum wage level, in spite of an increase from Rp 96,000 to Rp 106,500. The minimum wage levels in some regions already equaled or surpassed the minimum physical requirement.

Latief said the government had made a commitment to make minimum wages in every region at least equal the minimum physical requirement by the end of the Sixth Five-Year Plan in 1998/1999. "We still have one more year to do it," he said.

Last year, the government introduced a regulation requiring that all companies calculate wages on the basis of 30-working days a month, abandoning the traditional practice of setting a basic daily wage. This meant workers employed on a daily basis were entitled to wages for the Sundays they did not work.

The regulation was opposed by employers, particularly textile and apparel producers whose association sued Latief in the State Administrative Court. The minister won the case. "Let's make it clear to everyone: this is a regulation and the government intends to uphold it," he said when asked about objections to the wage laws.

This year's increase is the lowest in the past five years. The annual increases between 1993 and 1996 were 17.76 percent, 30 percent, 18.6 percent and 10.63 percent.

Latief was quick to point out the accumulated total of wage increases since 1993 had reached 125.6 percent. Latief said companies who felt the increase was too burdensome could apply for exemptions, but they would have to allow their books to be audited by outsiders.

While requests for exemption would be considered, the government would seek ways of helping these companies out, he said, adding the assistance could be in the form of management consultancy, arrangement of new loans, or rescheduling of existing debts.

Last year, of 44,564 companies that employed more than 25 workers, only 365 sought exemption. The government approved 269 requests, including 203 from textile and garment companies. Under the labor law, employers that failed to pay minimum wages faced three-months imprisonment or a fine of Rp 100,000. When asked whether he considered the punishment too light, Latief said: "That's what the law says. That is why, God willing, I wil1 submit a draft to revise the law on manpower."

Latief disclosed a government plan to encourage workers to set up cooperatives under a scheme jointly-run by the Ministry of Manpower and the Ministry of Cooperatives.

PT Jamsostek, the state-run company which runs social security programs, will set aside Rp 50 billion as soft loans to workers cooperatives. Loans carry an annual interest rate of 12 percent. PT Jamsostek, overseen by Latief, is expected to chalk up a net profit of Rp 200 billion this year. Its asset stands at Rp 5.8 trillion, up from Rp 1.2 trillion in 1993, he said. (emb)

Mixed reaction greets minimum wage decision

Jakarta Post - 23 January, 1997

Jakarta – Union leaders said yesterday the government's planned 10 percent increase in the minimum wage level was not sufficient, while the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry urged all members to comply. [The government announcement about the increase will take effect as from 1 April.]

The increase was not satisfactory because it did not guarantee workers decent living conditions, Atika Karwa, deputy chairman of the Federation of the All Indonesian Workers Union (FSPSI), told Antara.

The use of the minimum physical requirement as a reference in setting the minimum wage was inappropriate, Atika said, pointing out it was calculated based on wholesale prices and not on the retail prices workers pay.

The ideal minimum wage for a worker was Rp 10,000 a day, based on the needs of a worker and his or her family, he said. "It will take a serious effort by the government to improve the welfare of workers," he added.

FSPSI had officially asked for a 16 percent increase in the minimum wage, though some unions under the federation had called for an increase of up to 20 percent in major industrial centers like Jakarta and Surabaya.

The Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI), not recognized by the government, denounced the 10 percent hike.

"This is way below expectations," SBSI deputy chauman Tohap Simanungkalit told The Jakarta Post.

"What kind of quality do you expect from workers whose earnings provide only 90 percent of the minimum physical requirement?" he asked.

He also set Rp 10,000 per day as an ideal, a minimum wage level which would encourage workers to improve their skills.

"This is not impossible, if the government has the will," he said.

Tohap said an SBSI study found, on average, labor made up 9 percent of total production costs. The biggest component amounting to 40 percent, is what business called "invisible costs", he said [protection money paid to the military - James Balowski].

Another FSPSI executive, Wilhelmus Bokha, told Antara various business levies by the government, including many illegal ones, were at the root of Indonesia's "high-cost economy". Many companies had demanded these invisible costs be eliminated so they could pay workers more, Bokha said. He warned the low wages paid to workers could threaten production. "Workers who earn low wages are vulnerable to; agitation and calls for demonstrations," he said.

Aburizal Bakrie, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said he hoped all companies could comply with the new minimum wage policy. Abunzal however rejected the suggestion by some business associations that minimum wage levels should be based on sectors rather than regions.

"It's impossible for us to set different minimum wage levels for steel workers and textile workers. We can only set them by regions," he said. He said increases in minimum wages should be linked with workers' productivity. "If productivity does not increase, then employers have to make tradeoffs (in costs) elsewhere," he said without elaborating. (08/jskJemb)

Miscellaneous

Ecstasy smuggling case embarrasses Indonesia

Antara - January 24, 1997

Jakarta - Indonesia believes that the case of the Garuda pilot who is now under the Dutch police custody for allegedly smuggling thousands of ecstasy pills is being politicized, Ambassador to the Netherlands Sudarmanto Kadarisman said.

"There are certain parties that do not like Indonesia," he told the press here Thursday after a meeting with President Soeharto at his Jalan Cendana residence.

He said it has been apparent that certain parties in the Dutch government are taking the advantage of the case to smear the image of Indonesia.

He expressed the hope that the Dutch government will take measures against those groups, who have also been trying to "systematically" smear Indonesia at international forums.

Kadarisman also said that the Indonesian embassy's appeals to the Dutch government have been simply aimed at giving MS a humane treatment while under their custody.

MS, a senior pilot of Garuda Indonesia, was arrested by Dutch anti-narcotics police at the Schiphol airport on Sept 29 last year for carrying at least 6,448 ecstasy pills in his vest pocket.

He will be tried again in April.

Asked on efforts aimed at discrediting Indonesia, Kadarisman said that following MS's arrest, the Dutch daily "De Telegraaf" reported that a military officer at the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague was believed to be involved in the case.

The report also hinted the illegal use of diplomatic pouches, he added.

"It is really too much," he said.

[Rumors circulating Jakarta at the moment suggest that one of the reasons the police have been unable to break the Ectasy smuggling, production and distribution racket in Jakarta and other major Indonesian cities is that the racket is controlled by Suharto's grandson Sigit - James Balowski]

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