Agencies in Jakarta – Police on Bali have detained four members of the Indonesian Democracy Party (PDI) who were planning to hold a political "long march" between Bali and Jakarta, a report said.

The police yesterday questioned the four, including the plan's initiator, Roch Basuki Mangunprojo, in Badung, Bali, according to the daily Suara Pembaruan.

Bali's deputy police chief, Brigadier-General Suroyo Bimantoro, was quoted as having warned the march would be dispersed by force. The 1,200-kilometre journey had been planned in an effort to consolidate the party, which has been split since last year into two camps, Mr Mangunprojo said this month. One organiser, Juniar, said her group were "still planning to go ahead".

Bali and east Java are strongholds of PDI members loyal to ousted party leader Megawati Sukarnoputri, who are boycotting the march.

Meanwhile, Surabaya prosecutors yesterday sought up to eight years' jail for two activists of the illegal People's Democratic Party - Dita Indah Sari, 32, and Coen Husein Pontoh - on subversion charges.

Four PDI figures called in by police

Business Indonesia - March 26, 1997

Jakarta – The Indonesian Democracy Defense Team (Tim Pembela Demokrasi Indnesia, TPDI) has confirmed that four PDI pro-Megawati Sukarnoputri figures have been called by the police in relation with the PDI anniversary and the July 27, 1996 riots.

Those who were called in on Thursday are Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno, I Gusti Ngurah Sara, Mangara M Siahaan and Laksamana Sukardi who are each PDI leaders and members of parliament.

According Achmad Dilapanga, one of the TPDI members, the official letter SPGL No. 631/III/1997/Polres Jaksel which was signed by the regional police head Eko Riwayanto was received to day.

Responding to the order, TPDI's attitude remains the same as when the police called in Megawati and Taufik Kiemas, that is it must have agreement from the president.

"In this matter remember that the four figures are members of parliament. Under law it must be in black and white".

The lawyer also touched on the issue of its suite against the government on the investigation of Megawati and Taufik Kiemas which was [done] without a letter of agreement from the president. Meanwhile RO Tambunan said that in the coming week around 124 victims of the attack on the PDI offices in Central Jakarta, will sue Soejadi, the head of the PDI as result of the Medan congress.

[Abridged translation from Business Indonesia - James Balowski]

PDI 'long-march' to East Java forbidden

Suara Merdeka - March 25, 1997

Surabaya – V/Brawijaya Commander Maj-Gen Imam Utomo has said that his party [the army] will forbid a PDI long-march which will who's route will go through Java-Bali.

"For the moment, political activities, approaching the 1997 general elections have not been given permission, or have an relation with the public interest", he said yesterday.

This prohibition is not without grounds. This procession is almost certain to disturb the public interest. As reported, pro-Megawati PDI members [calling themselves the] "Constitutional Lovers" (Cinta Konstitusi) will hold a long-march from Bali to Java [previously reported as being planned for April 1 - JB].

[Abridged translation from Suara Merdeka - James Balowski]

Bintang's detention extended

Kompas - 26 March, 1997

Jakarta – The detention of Sri Bintang Pamungkas (General Chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Union Party (PUDI), Julius Usman (Chairman), and Saleh Abdullah (Secretary General), which has already lasted 20 days, as of Tuesday (25/3) has been extended with 20 days, to mid April next.

Thus the clarification by the Deputy Attorney General for Special Criminal Acts, Ismudjoko, to the press in Jakarta on Tuesday (25/3). Asked about the request for deferred detention submitted by legal counsel, Ismudjoko only said, "We have already received that letter but have not yet given it consideration."

The legal counsel team of Julius Usman and Saleh Abdullah from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, Luhut MP Pangaribuan, Irianto Subiakto, Dwiyanto Prihartono and Hotma Timbul, submitted the detention deferral request on Friday (21/3). Then the legal counsel to Bintang from the Indonesian Legal Aid Institutes Foundation submitted a detention deferral request on Monday (24/3).

Meanwhile, yesterday the National Committee on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) led by Secretary General Baharuddin Lopa met Bintang cs and the Attorney General. However, Lopa was not yet willing to give detailed clarification. Lopa came together with Muladi, Albert Hasibuan, Soegiri, and Djoko Soegianto.

Lopa met subversion suspects Bintang cs in the Detention Room of the Attorney General's Office for almost 50 minutes. That meeting was followed by a meeting with Attorney General Singgih, who was sided by the Deputy for Special Criminal Acts (JAM Pidsus) Ismudjoko, which lasted more than an hour.

"There is no clarification concerning those two meetings, because all the input from the three suspects as well as the Attorney General will be taken for discussion to the Plenary Session of the National Committee on Human Rights in the beginning of next April," affirmed Lopa.

Before that, around 13.15 West Indonesia Time the Komnas HAM group had arrived at the Attorney General's Office, and had been received immediately by the Attorney General in his office. After a mere ten minutes, the Komnas HAM group went directly to the Detention Room in the General Criminal Cases Building, which is on the west side of the Attorney General's Office complex. Not a single Attorney General's official was present at that discussion between the three suspects and the Komnas HAM Team.

Depends on the Attorney General

When asked about the possibility of a deferral of detention for Bintang cs, Lopa tried to evade that question. "As far as the substance of the case is concerned, the Committee is not allowed to and will not ever interfere in the matter. These matters are not within the competence of the Komnas HAM," affirmed Lopa.

But Lopa evaluated that thus far the National Committee will study well and thoroughly all information in connection with the legal procedure on arrest, detention, up to questioning. "This will all be discussed in the Plenary Session of the National Committee on Human Rights, before it is concluded whether it is necessary or not for the Committee's suggestions to be submitted to the authorized agencies, in this case the Attorney General's Office," said Lopa further.

Elsewhere the Attorney General's Office Head of Public Relations, Suhartoyo, confirmed that this Tuesday only Sunardi had come for questioning as witness in the case of Bintang cs. The other two witnesses were not present, because Paskah Irianto had gone out of town, and Mrs Hj Rosnah Salim was ill. "For Paskah and Mrs Rosnah we will issue another summons, while we are tracing the true addresses of Jopie Tomasoa, Paschali El Mukir and Petrus Latumalia," said Suhartoyo.

Pretrial

Meanwhile, legal counsel to Bintang, Bambang Widjojanto and Achmad Fauzan, besides requesting deferred detention also submiited a request for a pretrial in the South Jakarta District Court. The Attorney General was called for pretrial because of the process of arresting and detaining Bintang.

When contacted by Kompas - Luhut MP Pangaribuan said that as legal counsel to Julius Usman and Saleh, his side had no plans yet to submit a plea for pretrial. "There is no such plan yet," said Pangaribuan. (*)

Indonesia arrests publisher of book by former politician

Dow Jones News - March 21, 1997

Jakarta – An aide to a prominent former legislator has been arrested on charges of publishing a banned book by his boss that authorities say insults President Suharto, police said Friday.

Buyung Rachmat Buchori Nasution also is accused of distributing illegal pamphlets, said Jakarta police spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang. Nasution works for Subadio, who was a legislator during Indonesia's parliamentary democracy period in the 1950s.

Suharto, a former army general, and his 'New Order' government took power in 1966. Subadio's book, 'New Era - New Leader: Badio Rejects the Scheme of the New Order Regime,' was banned this month, and authorities ordered its 5,000 published copies confiscated. The contents are not known, but it is believed to have accused Suharto of allowing corruption and nepotism, and of using the military to stifle democracy in Indonesia.

Nasution is accused of giving directions to the printer of the 22-page book, and of distributing thousands of copies of the text, plus unspecified materials that insult the president. Aritonang said he was wanted since January on charges of distributing illegal pamphlets. 'We wanted him long before the book was banned,' Aritonang said.

Megawati addresses huge crowd in Central Java

Kompas - 26 March 199 (Slightly abridged)

Speaking to a huge crowd of about five thousand people, Megawati Sukarnoputri (the ousted leader of the PDI who has been excluded from contesting the elections on 29 May) said that the Executive Council of the PDI under her leadership would shortly be issuing an instruction on how to act in the run-up to the forthcoming general election.

Megawati and other PDI leaders from Jakarta were in Magelang to attend the marriage of the daughter of the local PDI leader.

Megawati supporters from all parts of Central Java arrived in hundreds of vehicles and mini-buses in a convoy stretching five kilometres, bringing traffic in and around Yogyakarta and Magelang to a standstill for five hours.

Megawati said many of her supporters had conveyed complaints to her about the uncertainty as to what they should do in the elections.

She was happy to be getting so much support for the struggle she had waged so far and asked all her supporters to be disciplined and maintain their self-respect. She urged her supporters not to act violently as this was against the constitution and principles of the party. She said repeatedly that if anyone acted in such a way, she would call for them to be arrested.

Prosecutor seeks eight years for Dita and six for Coen Pontoh

Kompas - 26 March (slightly abridged)

The prosecutor in the trial of Dita Indah Sari, chair of the Indonesian Workers Centre of Struggle PPBI, and Coen Pontoh, coordinator of the education and propaganda department of the National Peasants Union, has asked the court to pass down a sentence of eight years against Dita Sari and six years against Coen Pontoh. He said they were proven to have been guilty of subversion by seeking to undermine the state ideology.

According to the prosecutor, the two defendants had affiliated politically with the People's Democracy Party led by Budiman Sujatmiko, a party with the aim of creating a coalition government in order to bring about a people's multi-party democratic system in Indonesia.

In collaboration with Wilson, Ignatius Damianus Pranowo, Suroso, Ken Budha Kusumandaru, Yakobus Eko Kurniawan, Ignatius Putut Arintoko and Mohamad Sholeh, they set up the PRD, a party outside the political system which failed to mention Pancasila as its basic principle, in this way distorting, undermining and straying from the state policy as set down by the MPR.

In order to achieve the objectives of the PRD, the two defendants had undertaken activities together with students, saying that they wanted to support the workers struggle for democracy in Solo, Semarang, the Jakarta-Bogor-Tangerang-Bekasi region and in East Java.

In Surabaya, the two had led a demonstration of workers at two companies on 8 July 1996. As the main speaker, Dita Sari had fired her listeners enthusiasm by calling for Rp 7,000 a day, for freedom of association, for the repeal of the five political laws, the rejection of the army's role in workers' disputes and an end to the dual function of the armed forces.

The prosecutor said that Coen Pontoh had not acted as badly as Dita Sari who, as chair of the PPBI, took part in an action of solidarity with Sri-Bintang Pamungkas at the Jakarta district court, calling for his release and the repeal of the five political laws.

She had also attended a meeting of the student organisation, SMID in South Jakarta at which there was a discussion about how to ensure that the independent monitoring committee, KIPP would be a success. She had also lit a peace candle to commemorate the the Santa Cruz tragedy and calling for a referendum in East Timor.

Surabaya PRD leader kidnapped

ASIET News - March 27, 1997

The New Order military regime apparently has still not ended its hunt for PRD cadre. Miranti, a Surabaya PRD cadre was kidnaped on 18 March by agents in civilian clothes, after she attended a session of the trial of Dita Sari and Coen Hussein Pontoh. Other PRD cadre saw Miranti being forced into a green coloured car about 300 metres from the court

This is not the first kidnaping by the East Java military apparatus. Earlier, Syafii Kemang (a member of the Surabaya SMID executive) and also Agus (Surabaya PRD) were kidnaped. Syafii Kemang was kidnaped by 7 agents in civilian clothes and was threatened with death. He escaped by jumping from the car he was arrested in. Agus was tortured and forced to disclose the whereabouts of Yoko (head of SUrabaya SMID) and Herman (PRD head in Surabaya).

There has been no further news on Miranti: whether she will be killed like Marsinah or tortured. PRD cadre in Surabaya are suffering constant repression by the military. Kidnapings and other repression will surely continue because this has become the character of the military.

PRD cadre understand this fully. The military are mistaken if they think these tactics will erode the spirit of PRD cadre because all cadre are in agreement with the slogan: Democracy or Death!

[Statement and information released by LIBERATION (PEMBEBASAN), 24 March, 1997.]

Summary of AJI 1996 Annual Report

AJI/LSSP - March 24, 1997

[Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) and the Institute for the Study of the Press and Development (LSPP).]

On 20 March 1997 AJI will publish its second annual report, on this occasion in conjunction with the Institute for the Study of the Press and Development (LSPP). This summarizes its main findings.

In assessing the state of the Indonesian media in 1996 it is clear that the struggle for press freedom still has a long way to go before it can be realized. The media still faces a range of obstacles to achieving independence, and pressure on publications and journalists remains a way of life. The most extreme example of the dangers inherent in carrying out a journalist's profession - to act as a conveyor of information to society - was the murder in August of Bernas journalist Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin.

The problem of pressure being exerted by media investors on editorial independence became increasingly significant during 1996. Included in this was the issue of the influence exerted by the Minister of Information - who owns shares in a large number of publications - on the media by both direct and indirect means. The Minister's use of the SIUPP (the publication licence required by all mass media) as a tool of control over who can operate in the industry, has also been an important issue during 1996. These efforts at constraint appear to reflect official concern at the possibility of independent publications linking up with independent financial backers which could in turn threaten the status quo.

The arrival in the market of new publications, or changes in existing ones, has also been a hallmark of developments in the media. Yet they do not necessarily mean good news as far as media independence is concerned. If the trend towards increasing ties between the mass media and political interests continues the media will undoubtedly lose its critical spirit and will become no more than a sterile industry, lacking in innovation and independence.

In the context of the forthcoming general elections at the end of May 1997, 1996 already witnessed evidence of strong media bias in favour of Golkar. Meanwhile, with the presidential succession still a subject of hot debate, a number of powerful players can be seen to have been seeking to promote their own interests through media aligned to them.

Since the 1980s there has been concern at the danger to editorial independence inherent in the trend towards ownership of the mass media by conglomerates. This concern has been heightened over the last two years, during which shifts in ownership, in particular in the print media, have been largely towards those with close ties to the political leadership. The mass media is, without doubt, a high risk industry for investors. Besides the usual financial risk, the continuing requirement that all mass publications have a SIUPP - which may be granted and withdrawn at will by the Minister of Information - adds a significant political risk factor to the equation. Motivation of investors is also an issue: i.e. whether their investment is a purely business decision, or whether other strategic interests - for example political interests - are a factor.

In 1996 16 groups controlled 292 publications. These groups can be divided into two categories. The first comprises those businesses that began in the media and subsequently diversified into other fields, such as Kompas - Grafiti, Jawa Pos, Sinar Kasih and Pos Kota. The other group refers to those that did the reverse, i.e. who were initially involved in other areas of business, such as groups owned by Aburizal Bakrie, Cipta Lamtoro Gung, Bimantara, Abdul Latief, Agung Laksono, Bob Hasan and Suwikatmono.

This "press publication oligopoly", as press analyst Christianto Wibisono describes it means that only a small number of groups now control the print media. Only those with big money to invest, and only those of whom the government approves, can get the SIUPP required to formally publish.

A group of ex-Tempo employees found this to their cost when they sought a SIUPP for the magazine Opini (Opinion) following the ban of Tempo magazine in June 1994. By contrast, a SIUPP was granted to Gatra, the magazine owned by a close associate of President Soeharto, Bob Hasan, that some other ex-Tempo journalists joined.

There have been changes in the financial control of six media during 1996. The kind of concern that these changes in ownership can give rise to is exemplified by the case of Forum Keadilan. The magazine, previously owned and managed by Grafiti Pers, was taken over by PT Larsa Media whose director in chief is Rahmat Ismail, along with the former director of Telkom, Setyanto. In large part the sale was a result of pressure placed on Grafiti Pers which reached the point where some members of the Keadilan Foundation sought the sanction of the Ministry of Information to freeze the magazine's licence until the situation was resolved.

For Target, one of the newcomers to the market in 1996, interference in editorial independence by its financial backer, Agung Laksono, who is also a senior member of Golkar, has been a repeated occurrence. For example, when the news about Edy Tansil's escape from Cipinang prison broke, Agung Laksono asked the editor not to publish a story on the subject, particularly concerning the interrogation of Edy Tansil's brother, Hendra Rahardja, because Hendra is a business colleague of Agung. The editor responded by refusing to publish an edition of the magazine that week. Continuing conflicts between the editorial staff and the financial management, plus pressure from the Ministry of Information, has resulted in a number of issues not being published since then.

The year has seen eight new publications in the market place, of which Target is one, covering a range of issues. Target, like another of the new publications, Aksi, is licensed to cover legal and criminal topics. Meanwhile the new monthly magazine, Tajuk, has a general remit, Aura is a women's tabloid, and health is the subject matter of the new publication, Sartika, part of the Femina group.

Kontan, which represents the first ever tabloid to focus on business and economics, was first published in October. Its high quality staff - the chief editor is Jakob Oetama, the deputy chief editor (and former managing editor of Tempo) is A. Margana, and the publication also boasts a number of ex-Tempo journalists - has ensured the rapid growth of its popularity in the marketplace. But it's growing success has been threatened by political pressures. The government-backed journalists' association, the PWI, has queried the employment at the tabloid of a number of journalists who signed the Sirnagalih Declaration which represents the founding document of AJI. Both the PWI and the Ministry of Information have insisted that all journalists working at Kontan become members of the PWI, the country's only officially- recognized journalists' grouping.

In addition to a number of new publications emerging during the year, 1996 has also seen management reshuffles or changes in management in seven others, and another six have experienced changes in sources of financial backing.

One of these is the magazine D & R, previously owned by the Selecta group under the full name of Detiktif dan Romantika (Detective and Romance). It's editor, Gusti Emran, explains that since the late 1980s the magazine had been through ups and downs, resulting in a steady stream of journalists leaving the publication to the point that it was more or less paralysed. In 1996 Grafiti Pers, Tempo's publisher, injected funds into the magazine, which then moved away from gossip journalism and became a respected journal featuring legal and criminal issues.

Like Kontan, D & R has come under scrutiny from the PWI and the Ministry of Information, to the extent that the PWI withdrew its recommendation from Gusti Emran as editor on the grounds that he was employing AJI members. Both cases amply demonstrate the way in which in Indonesia professions such as that of journalism come under harsh pressure as a result of political considerations from the very professional group that claims to work on their behalf.

Violence against journalists increased in 1996. The most serious incident concerned the murder of Bernas journalist Fuad Mohammad Syarifudin (more commonly known as Udin) in August 1996. Not only was the murder itself of extreme concern - particularly as he is widely believed to have been killed because of his articles critical of a local government official - but the actions taken by the authorities in response to his death also demonstrate wholesale abuse of power. The regent of Bantul, who is implicated in Udin's murder, has yet to be questioned. Instead Dwi Sumaji, an employee of an advertising company, was plied with drink, provided with a prostitute, and promised money by police officials in return for confessing to Udin's murder. Despite subsequently retracting his "confession" the police are still seeking to bring him to trial, although to date the palpable lack of proof has caused the court to refuse to hear the case.

The year also saw a number of other cases of human rights abuses of journalists in the course of carrying out their professional activities. During the 27 July riots in Jakarta, for example, a number of journalists were beaten by security forces, often despite the fact that they made it clear that they were present in their professional capacities. For example Cecep Sukma was beaten up by security forces after he was seen photographing them beating up another man. In Surabaya the following day two other journalists received similar treatment when they were reporting on a PDI protest march in the city. Surya journalist Adi Sutarwijono and Surabaya Post journalist Subechi were arrested and taken to the district military command headquarters where both Adi and Subechi were beaten up by officials who paid no attention to their attempts to clarify who they were.

These are by no means the only examples of this form of abuse of power. But the journalists affected are nonetheless generally reluctant or in sufficiently daring to attempt to take those responsible to court. One reason for this is the perceived weakness and pro-government bias of the Indonesian justice system. Sadly, rarer still are instances of a publication being prepared to confront those responsible for the violation of their employees fundamental human rights. Instead these cases are simply left to fade away.

New regulations issued by the government ensure that the mass media will play a more significant role than ever with respect to the forthcoming general elections. Yet if the media's treatment of political developments in 1996 are anything to go by there is little doubt that the government will be working hard to ensure that its own version of events are the ones that are published in the run up to the May 1997 elections.

Political interference in editorial independence was perhaps most evident in the context of the most dramatic political developments of the year: the PDI crisis, the 27 July riots and the scapegoating of the Democratic People's Party (PRD). Shortly before the events of 27 July a senior military official visited a number of editorial offices with allegations that members of the PRD were communists. These claims were duly given considerable coverage by a number of mass media, despite the fact that the details provided by the authorities proved to be inaccurate.

Publications who sought to find their own answers to the political crisis came under strong pressure to desist. Forum magazine, for example, received a warning when it published a critical study of the 27 July incident, as well as publishing a column by a well-respected political analyst who likened the events to the Malari incident in 1974. Another column in the magazine by noted intellectual Y.B. Mangunwijaya also no doubt angered the authorities, given his contention that the deliberate use of the issue of communism against weak opponents constitutes evidence of the use of communist tactics by the very people making the accusations.

Despite the growing pressures on the media ahead of the 1997 elections, it has been interesting to note a form of resistance to this that has continued to develop throughout the year: the "alternative" media. Respect for "alternative" media such as Kabar dari Pijar, Suara Independen, Bergerak, Media Kita and Siar is growing both for their demonstration of resistance to official censorship as well as their provision of uncensored, often very well sourced, information. Articles from these media are also to be found, along with other uncensored commentaries in cyberspace, through Indonesia L, often known as Apakabar, which is has become well known as a reliable vehicle for alternative information.

Sadly, however, the daring of the "alternative" media has yielded victims in 1996, just as it did in 1995 with the imprisonment of Ahmad Taufik, Eko Maryadi, Tri Agus Susanto Siswowihardjo and Danang Kukuh Wardoyo. In October two printers - Andy Syahputra and Dasrul - were arrested for taking an order from the magazine Suara Independen (Independent Voice). Andy Shayputra is currently on trial accused of insulting the president, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of seven years' imprisonment.

This case gives a strong indication of the kind of challenge the "alternative" media is likely to face as the elections approach. Nonetheless its continuing vibrancy in spite of such pressures, and the eagerness with which publication of such unlicensed publications is greeted by the readers must be a source of encouragement for all those working to achieve freedom of the press in Indonesia.

Ali Sadikin called in by the Attorney General

Kabar dari PIJAR - March 18, 1997

Jakarta – Ex-governor of Jakarta, retired Let-Gen Ali Sadikin was called in by the Attorney General on Monday (13/3) in relation to the banning of the book "New Era New Leader, Badio [Soebadio] rejects New Order Engineering" by Soebadio Sastrosatomo.

M Joesoef, ex-General Secretary of the Department of Information, was also called in relation to the same case.

The order was confirmed by the Head of the Intelligence Division of the Attorney General Gatot Hindrarto. "The calling in of Ali Sadikin is as part of [our] continued information gathering" Hindrarto told Harian Terbit adding that the attorney general's office was still investigating the book.

According to Joesoef, he was not surprised to be called in, "why must [I] be surprised, I myself have done nothing wrong" he said. He admitted that he had received the book directly from the author saying "Certainly I receive books sent to be from overseas and Indonesia. I like to read".

Soebadio himself said that he had sent the books but Sadikin had asked to be sent more. "He said they were to give to other '1945 members' living the Menteng [Central Jakarta] area. Sadikin was immediately sent 10 more copies, which according to Soebadio was before the book was banned. He said that when he met with Sadikin, he said that the friends that received the book were happy [to have received it].

Soebadio's book was officially banned on March 5. Prior to this a number of other books were banned including "Silent Song of a Deaf Mute" by Pramoedya Ananta Toer. The book was banned because it carried a list of political prisoners involved in the G30S affair [alleged coup by the Indonesian Communist party, PKI] who went missing or died in jail.

A book published by the Institut Studi Arus Informasi (ISAI) titled "Images of the PKI" ("Bayang-Bayang PKI") was also banned. The book's cover had a picture of Sukarno and D.N. Aidit [General Secretary of the PKI] and contained an analysis and investigation of the G30S affair. The book "The July 27 Affair" also published by ISAI was banned in Central Java by the Diponegoro Commander Maj-Gen Soebagio HS.

The book told the story of the incident and included a number of interviews with Megawati, RO. Tambunan, Buttu Hutapea, Dr. Arief Budiman, Veronica Sembiring (Garda's mother) Hendrik Sirait (Pijar Foundation), Jaksa Agung Singgih, and armed forces Social and Political officer Syarwan Hamid.

[Abridged translation from KdP - James Balowski]

Art action of concern regarding the national situation

Yogyakarta Committee of Concerned Youth (KKPY) - March 22, 1997

9.05 Students gather outside the Social and Political Sciences Faculty

9.30 Activist Helmi, with fist raised in air, starts the action calling on students to get involved.

9.40 Intelligence operatives identified taking notes behind a nearby car.

9.41 A march begins with students carrying posters: with the slogans: Smash the Culture of Silence; differences of opinion are not a sin; repeal the anti-subversion law, Free Budiman, Dita and other prisoners; eliminate nepotism and feudalism; The "I'll flatten you!" approach is the enemy of democracy; Mega or no elections at all!

9.42 A student wrapped in a white shroud pulls forward a coffin: "The Coffin of Dead Democracy"...

9.45 The students sang the Struggle Hymn followed by speeches analysing the national situation, outlining the sharpening conflict between the state and the people. According to key speaker Aji, the elections were the time for the democracy movement to take a stand through a boycott of the election.

9.47 Happening Art was started by Susi and Hamcrut as journalists arrived from Jakarta Post, Bernas, Jawa Pos, KR, Kompas - TPI, and Adil.

9.58 The student wrapped in a white shroud collapses on the ground, another comes up on the stage and scatters flowers over the coffin and the body on the ground. The second student is wearing a black mask and cries out about the death of democracy even before it is born.

10.09 350 students march past the Law building, causing a big traffic jam, and then on past the Philosophy and Literature buildings. Speeches called for the repeal of the 5 main repressive political laws, the ending of the role of the military in politics, and the release of Budiman, the PRD political prisoners and other political prisoners.

10.46 As the march approached the Purna Budaya building, the numbers increased to over 500.

11.03 At the Purna Budaya intersection, the rally confronted the mobile military police brigade, local garrison military and regular police. Negotiations started in a tense atmosphere. Meanwhile Art Actions began blocking traffic on the main road out of the city.

11.16 With the situation becoming even more tense, with emotions and the weather getting hotter, the crowd was increasingly exhausted. The march was led off in a different direction towards the Boulevard. The chanted started up Only Democracy, there must be democracy, seize democracy. The chants echoed out around the area..

11.23 The rally stopped at the Boulevard for more speeches and Happening Art (street theatre) activity. The crowd started up the chant "Boycott the elections".

11.30 Reaching the Bunderan area, the rally increased further in size. The military blockade shifted to the Bunderan area. There were more speeches and chanting against the repressive Political Laws and the official doctrine of a civilian role for the military.

11.47 The Happening Art came to a climax. A person wrapped in a white shroud started rolling on the ground screaming pain before the coffin of dead democracy. A person dressed in black assisted by three other people came forward carrying three containers filled with green yellow and red [the colour of three recognised political parties] liquid which are readied to be broken open over the man in white's head. (The symbolic meaning is that people are born pure and clean and then choose their colours) The person dressed in white starts to move as if he is going to choose a colour. Then three containers have their contents poured out and they all turn out to have yellow inside them. Th person in white rebels and opens his white shroud displaying in big letters the slogan "Boycott the elections" while starting up a chant "Boycott the elections" which was enthusiastically taken up by the rally.

12.01 The action ended with the reading of statements by the KKPY, the Democracy Struggle Committee from Semarang, the SRC from SADAR, the student council (SRC) from Gajah Mada University UGM, the Pijar Filsafat magazine, PPD and BPPM UGM. The different statements called on the people to unite in struggle against the New Order dictatorship and to establish democracy with the repeal of the repressive laws, the ending of the military role in politics, the freeing of the PRD and all other political prisoners and reaffirming the decision to boycott the 1997 elections. 12. 15 After burning the action paraphernalia while singing the Struggle Hymn and reading out the Student Oath and chanting "Long live the people! long live democracy! long live the students, long live the peasants, long live Megawati, long live Budiman, the rally ended in an orderly fashion.

At the time of the writing of this chronology, there are no news of arrests. The KKPY has stated that larger actions are planned in the near future.

[Chronology by Advocacy Division of KPKY. Released by PEMBEBASAN (Liberation). Translated by ASIET.]

Minister of Justice: PRD trial a bad example

Kompas - March 24, 1997

Jakarta – The Minister of Justice, Oetojo Oesman, said that they [the ministry] always monitors the actions of all judges, including those trying the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) activist in the Central and South Jakarta, and Surabaya state courts. Oesman said that he has asked for a report after an incident in which one of the judges in the Central Jakarta court left before the court session was closed.

"So I requested a report on the incident. Apparently he went to the toilet", said Oesman to reporters in Jakarta on Friday (21/3). As reported [see abridged translation in ASIET NetNews #12 - JB], Suhardjo, one of the judges in the trial of Garda Sembiring left the court before the presiding judge Madnjono had closed the session (Kompas 20/3).

Aside from this, the presiding judge trying three PRD leaders, Asmar Ismail evicted the accused and their lawyers. In response the accused and their lawyers carried out a "walk-out" action.

The minister said the incidents were not an example of a good trial and that the "walk-out" by the accused and defense lawyers was not an admirable act.

"I think that action was not one to be admired. If [they] are dissatisfied (with the running of the court) it can be channeled in the next session. But don't let it become a habit", said Oetojo. (tra)

[Abridged translation from Kompas - James Balowski]

East Timor

U.N. envoy meets jailed East Timor rebel leader

Reuters - March 27, 1997

Jakarta – The United Nations special envoy for East Timor, Jamsheed Marker, said he met jailed rebel leader Xanana Gusmao on Thursday at the end of his fact-finding mission to Indonesia.

Marker told a news conference that he met Gusmao in Jakarta but would not give any more details.

Gusmao, the leader of East Timorese guerrillas fighting Indonesian authorities for independence and revered by many in the territory, has been in a Jakarta jail since he was arrested in 1992 and is currently serving a 20-year sentence.

Legal aid officials later said it was Gusmao's first contact with any visitor other than family since 1995.

Marker said he would present a report on his visits to Annan next week after which "we hope to come forward with some sort of proposal which will give impetus to the ongoing dialogue."

"We don't intend to waste any time on this," he added. "It's just a matter of structuring the meetings. "I have found a desire for a solution to this long-standing problem and a genuine willingness to look for it," he said.

Asked if the talks between Indonesia and Portugal would resume by the end of the year, Marker said: "I hope much earlier than that. We shall start the process fairly quickly."

Meanwhile, police said they were questioning 33 East Timorese youths who broke into the Austrian embassy in Jakarta on Tuesday and staged a protest demanding a meeting with Marker.

Three of the youths were taken to meet Marker that afternoon and the group left the mission compound early on Thursday.

Marker acknowledged he met the delegation but added: "I was available to meet them and they could have asked (U.N. authorities) and come over. I didn't think it was necessary to jump over embassy walls to in order to meet me, whatever else they may want."

Marker also said that no one was killed when Indonesian police broke up a protest demonstration in the East Timor capital Dili on Sunday at the hotel where he was staying.

Self-exiled East Timorese leader Jose Ramos-Horta, who shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize with Bishop Belo, said in Geneva on Tuesday that he had unconfirmed reports that between two and seven protestors were killed in the incident.

"I am happy to say that this is not correct," Marker said. "This has been confirmed to me not only by government authorities but also independent authorities like the ICRC (the International Committee for the Red Cross)."

UN envoy meets jailed East Timorese rebel leader

Agence France Presse - March 27, 1997

Jakarta – The UN special envoy on East Timor on Thursday met Jose Xanana Gusmao the jailed leader of the troubled territory's pro-independence movement as part of UN efforts to reactivate a peace process.

"I met him this morning," said Jamsheed Marker, a special envoy for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for East Timor issues. Gusmao is serving a 20 year jail sentence in Jakarta jail, but Marker did not say where the meeting took place, though he said Gusmao appeared "in very good health."

Speaking to journalists at the end of his "fact finding" visit to Indonesia and East Timor, Marker called his trip "extremely valuable and useful."

"I have had the opportunity of speaking to a large spectrum of political opinions in Indonesian," Marker said, adding that he would return to New York "with a number of ideas I should be presenting to the UN secretary general."

Marker arrived March 20 and during his stay spent three days in the former Portuguese colony, invaded by Indonesia in 1975. He said he was seeking input for the UN leader to "take steps to reactivate" peace negotiations.

East Timorese youths leave Austrian embassy in Jakarta

Radio Australia - 27 March, 1997

A group of 33 East Timorese who sought refuge in Jakarta's Austrian embassy have left the complex for an undisclosed destination.

An embassy spokeswoman says the youths left of their own will and were picked up by the police shortly after they emerged. The spokeswoman says the Indonesian Foreign Ministry has promised that the group will be treated well.

The group entered the embassy last Tuesday to try to meet with visiting United special envoy on East Timor, Jamsheed Marker.

Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony of East Timor in 1975 and annexed it the following year, however the annexation has NOT been recognised by the international community.

Horta reports Timor clash injuries

Reuters - March 25, 1997

Geneva – East Timor independence leader Jose Ramos Horta, quoting Catholic Church sources on the troubled island, said on Tuesday that Indonesian troops had seriously wounded 18 youths at a weekend demonstration.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, speaking to reporters in Geneva, said he had unconfirmed, conflicting reports from the island's capital Dili that between two and seven people had been killed in the incident at a hotel where a U.N. special envoy was stayin g.

"I have a list of 18 teenagers who were gravely wounded by bullets," Horta told reporters. "I have an additional list of people fully identified, 34 of them, lightly wounded by bayonets or glass from windows breaking."

Referring to the list of 90 who disappeared after the incident, he said: "We presume they are in detention at police and army headquarters. In East Timor, detention automatically means being beaten up and tortured."

Horta, who is due to address the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva early next month, called on the 53-member body to adopt a strongly-worded resolution condemning Jakarta for violations in the former Portuguese colony annexed in 1976.

"If any more evidence was needed for a strongly-worded resolution, this incident under the nose of the U.N. special envoy (Jamsheed Marker) should disperse any doubts."

Police to question Timorese from Austrian Embassy

Reuters - March 26, 1997

Jakarta – The Indonesian military said on Wednesday 33 East Timorese youths now inside the Austrian embassy in Jakarta would be questioned once they left the mission, the official Antara news agency reported.

The agency quoted armed forces spokesman Brigadier-General Slamet Supriadi as saying the actions of the youths, who climbed over the embassy's fence, were improper.

"Those who have scaled the embassy fence will be questioned by police once they leave the mission's yard," Supriadi said. Antara gave no further details and Supriadi was not available for further comment.

The youths entered the embassy compound on Tuesday afternoon and demanded to meet Jamsheed Marker, the U.N. secretary-general's special envoy on East Timor who is in Jakarta as a part of a familiarisation trip to Indonesia and East Timor.

Only hours after the break-in, three of the youths were taken to meet Marker at United Nations offices in Jakarta.

Eleonora Windisch, first secretary at the Austrian embassy, said on Wednesday negotiations were still going on and there was a possibility the youths would stay for another night.

"Negotiation is still underway but we think they may stay for another night," she told Reuters. She gave no details. About 40 youths staged a counter-protest outside the embassy on Wednesday, denouncing the youths inside, witnesses said.

They said the demonstration was watched by about 20 uniformed police who allowed the youths, apparently mostly East Timorese, to hang banners on the embassy fence despite protests by an embassy official.

Hours later, about 20 students staged a demonstration in support of East Timor's integration with Indonesia in front of the U.N. representative office in Jakarta and presented a statement to Marker denouncing the break-in at the Austrian embassy.

"If we want to ask for a dialogue, we should ask for it in a civilised way," student spokesman Octavio Soares said.

Marker said after a meeting with Indonesia's official National Commission on Human Rights that he had met the youths. "I took their representation which I will give to the secretary-general," he told reporters.

Mariano Sabino Lopez, a spokesman for the 33 Timorese, said on Tuesday: "We told him of our aspirations. We do not mean to create hostility against the Indonesian government but (want) a way to open more dialogue on East Timor."

Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, on a visit to the United Arab Emirates, on Tuesday criticised the youths' action.

Since September 1995, 108 East Timorese have entered foreign embassies in Jakarta and asked for political asylum, always granted by Portugal.

Embassy break-in youths meet UN envoy

South China Morning Post - March 26, 1997

Agencies in Jakarta – A group of East Timorese youths gained a meeting with a UN special envoy yesterday after breaking into the Austrian Embassy in Jakarta and demonstrating for self-determination in their homeland.

Three of the youths were taken to meet Jamsheed Marker, the special envoy for East Timor currently visiting Indonesia, at the United Nations offices in Jakarta.

"We have met him and we told him of our aspirations," group spokesman Mariano Sabino Lopez said.

"We do not mean to create hostility against the Indonesian Government but we want a way to open more dialogue on East Timor."

He said the delegation handed over a petition demanding the release of political prisoners in East Timor, the freeing of East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao and a referendum on the territory's future.

A diplomat said the petition accused the Indonesian authorities of genocide in the troubled territory. The statement also condemned the "terror and intimidation used by Indonesian forces" and the authorities' "inflexibility" in finding a solution to the conflict, the diplomat said.

After the 1-hour meeting, Mr Marker would only say he was continuing his work.

Unfurling banners, the protesters had scaled the embassy gate and asked officials to arrange a meeting with Mr Marker.

"We are here, 33 of us, inside the embassy. We want the embassy to become a mediator for us to meet the UN envoy," Mr Lopez said.

"We want to make it clear that we are not seeking asylum. We want to stay here until our demand is met. We may want to stage a hunger strike if necessary."

Seven hours later, the group was still inside the mission although the three who met Mr Marker had returned.

Ambassador Hans Demel said the protesters would stay in the embassy overnight.

Mr Marker arrived in Jakarta last Thursday and spent the weekend in East Timor, where activists' attempts to meet him led to riots in which at least a dozen people were seriously injured.

The envoy, who did not meet the demonstrators on Sunday, was quoted as saying shortly before his departure from Dili he regretted the violence.

Police said 11 people were injured in the melee in which rubber bullets and batons were used.

East Timor independence leader Jose Ramos Horta yesterday accused troops of using gunfire and bayonets to disperse the Dili demonstrators. He claimed 18 people were seriously wounded and there were unconfirmed reports of deaths.

Police charge 24 over Dili protest

ABC News - 25 March, 1997

Police in East Timor say they have charged 24 people with showing hatred towards the Indonesian government.

The laying of the charge, which carries a maximum penalty of seven years' jail, follows a violent protest on Sunday during a visit to Dili by a United Nations envoy, Jamsheed Marker. East Timor's deputy police chief, Lieutenant-Colonel Atok Rismanto, said the banners carried by the protesters showed hatred against the Indonesian government.

He said the 24 people charged were also accused of property damage, possession of sharp weapons, and resisting arrest. Those charged were among 48 people arrested as security forces broke up the demonstration. The U-N envoy was in Dili as part of a new effort to settle differences over East Timor between Indonesia and Portugal, still recognised by the U-N as the legitimate administrator of the territory.

Indonesia forces in East Timor clash, 2 dead - Official

Dow Jones News - March 23, 1997

Dili, Indonesia – Indonesian security forces clashed Sunday with East Timorese activists trying to see a U.N. envoy, killing two people and injuring 38, a security official said.

The two were killed when police fired warning shots to disperse more than 200 East Timorese trying to see U.N. envoy Jamsheed Marker at a hotel in Dili, capital of the former Portuguese colony, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Indonesia annexed East Timor in 1976 and since has fought a simmering independence movement there. Its troops frequently are accused of human rights abuses.

Col. Yusuf Mucharam, the local police chief, refused to confirm the deaths, but said 48 demonstrators were picked up for interrogation. He said the demonstrators, waving anti-Indonesia posters and banners, broke into the lobby after the envoy failed to meet them at the Mahkota Hotel.

'They broke glass windows and furniture in the lobby and shouted anti-Indonesia slogans,' he said.

About 100 police and soldiers dispersed the demonstrators, who fled into the streets. Dozens of churchgoers fled when police chased some of the demonstrators who tried to hide near a church. Police fired three warning shots into the air.

Marker, who arrived Saturday in Dili, met Nobel Peace laureate Bishop Carlos Belo, East Timor Gov. Abilio Soares and other officials. After refusing to meet the demonstrators, he left by helicopter for another district in East Timor.

At least 24 youths remain in custody

Amnesty International - 26 March, 1997

Twenty-four of those arrested in connection with a demonstration at the Mahkota Hotel in Dili on 23 March 1997 remain in custody and are now facing charges for publicly expressing hatred against the government. The remaining 21 arrested on 23 March appear to have been released.

The fact that the 24 are being held under Indonesia's 'Hate-sowing' Articles, which punish the expression of 'hatred' against the government, confirms Amnesty International's fears that the East Timorese are being tried for the peaceful expression of their beliefs, rather than for any alleged acts of violence during the disturbance.

A police official was quoted by Reuters news agency as stating that '[t]he banners they displayed show hatred against the government'. It is not known whether the 24 have been given access to independent legal counsel.

It is not known if the three and possibly seven others arrested on 24 March are still being held.

UN Envoy meets East Timorese dissidents in Jakarta

ABC Radio Australia - 26 March, 1997

The United Nations special envoy on East Timor has held talks in Jakarta with East Timorese who had demanded the meeting after earlier forcing their way into the Austrian embassy.

The envoy, Jamsheed Marker, declined to comment after a 90-minute meeting at the UN office in the Indonesian capital with three representatives of the 33 East Timorese who had entered the embassy.

One of the representatives, Mariono Lopez, said they had given Mr. Marker a petition calling for the release of all East Timorese political prisoners.

It also called for the participation of genuine representatives of the East Timorese people in talks involving Indonesia, the UN and Portugal, the former colonial power in East Timor.

Mr. Lopez said it had been decided to let the Austrian ambassador deciede the fate of his group, which is understood NOT to have sought asylum or to be allowed to leave Indonesia.

Baucau sad symbol of Jakarta failings

The Australian - March 22, 1997

Patrick Walters, Baucau – The young men in black T-shirts came in their hundreds to the centre of Baucau. With sombre faces they linked arms and formed a protective cordon for the procession of the new Bishop of Baucau, Monsignor Basilio do Nascimento, to the town's newly consecrated Cathedral of St Antonio.

The installation of Baucau's first bishop on Wednesday brought thousands of East Timorese into this sprawling hillside town, with its panoramic ocean views across the Wetar Strait.

The VIP guests dined in the colonaded old Portuguese market or 'mercado' beside the cathedral while Baucau's idle youth gathered in the streets to observe the proceedings.

Baucau is a profoundly depressing place. There are few shops and businesses and no nightlife. The church remains the only institution that offers hope and succour to a psychologically shattered population.

Its one hotel is a badly run down establishment lacking basic amenities which endeavours to discourage visitors. At night, the locals, fearing harassment by the authorities, rarely venture out of doors into the ill-lit streets.

Twenty-five years ago, before the Indonesian invasion, Baucau had a very different air. TAA flew each week from Darwin into the town's international airport carrying Australian tourists visiting Timor for a holiday break.

"In those days, Baucau was the hillside escape for the people of Darwin. It was a pretty, economically indolent village but not an unhappy place," recalled Mr James Dunn, Australian consul in Dili in the early 1960s and a frequent visitor to East Timor until December 1975.

Twenty years on, Baucau's airport is closed to civilian traffic and is closely guarded by elite Indonesian troops. The ubiquitous Indonesian military continues to dominate proceedings. No visitor in their right mind ever wants to stay in Baucau.

The town itself is the most vivid testament to the monumental failure to Indonesia's governing strategy in the territory. For the local authorities, the listless, disconsolate young men who gather on Baucau's streets are a social time bomb waiting to go off.

Strongly Catholic East Timor has one of the highest population growth rates in Indonesia. Each year, more than 15,000 young people graduate from high school and university. But with business investment in East Timor stalled, there are no jobs.

The best and brightest leave the island to study and work on Java. Only the local civil service has succeeded in hiring large numbers of graduates, many of whom find themselves with little actual work to do.

"We are going to have growing unrest because the number of jobless young people will go on increasing", said one of East Timor's leading non-government spokesmen, Mr Florentino Sarmento.

"At the moment, businessmen simply won't invest here. While the political situation remains unsolved. I think it really is too optimistic to wait for business to help the Government solve the unemployment problem."

Church sources speak of a more visible military presence in East Timor, particularly since the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Bishop Belo last October.

A particular worry is the current activities of the "Garda Paksi", a group of young men chosen to receive employment training in Java, sponsored by the military, that sources say sow deeper divisions among an already fractured community.

In recent months, the Garda Paksi has been accused of indiscriminately harrasing and beating up people suspected of holding anti-Indonesian views. In Viqueque last month, more than 100 people were detained after a Garda Paksi offensive which locals say created a reign of terror in the town.

Bishop Belo said this week that there had been no substantial change in the political situation. "For me, it is the same. There is no substantial change. There are demonstrations by young people. They arrest them and put them in detention without trial."

While he admitted that the award of the Nobel Prize had brought greater international attention to East Timor's plight, Bishop Belo said he was not optimistic about a political settlement.

"Timor is different culturally, historically from other parts of Indonesia. Give some concessions, let the people have their autonomy," he said.

Timorese enter Austrian mission, demand meeting

Reuters - 25 March, 1997

Jakarta – Thirty-three East Timorese entered the Austrian embassy compound in Jakarta on Tuesday, demanding a meeting with visiting U.N. special envoy for East Timor, Jamsheed Marker.

Unfurling banners, including one saying "Viva Timor Leste" (Long Live East Timor), they scaled the embassy gate and asked embassy officials to set up a meeting with Marker, who returned to Jakarta on Monday after a three-day visit to East Timor.

"We are here, 33 of us, inside the embassy. We want the embassy to become a mediator for us to meet the U.N. envoy," the group's spokesman Mariano Sabino Lopez told Reuters from inside the embassy compound.

"We want to make it clear that we are not seeking asylum. We want to stay here until our demand is met. We may want to stage a hunger strike if necessary," he said.

At least 20 policemen were seen outside the embassy soon after the Timorese, who claimed to have come from several cities on the islands of Java and Bali, entered the compound.

An employee at the embassy said officials were not available for comment.

Since September 1995, 108 East Timorese have entered foreign embassies in Jakarta and asked for asylum. They have been granted asylum in Portugal, the former colonial ruler of East Timor.

More on the 23 March Dili incident

TAPOL - 23 March, 1997

From Reuters 23 March

According to the Indonesian version, 48 people have been arrested after taking part in a violent (sic) anti integrasi demonstration outside Mahkota Hotel. Shots were fired during the incident but these were 'warning shots' into the air according to procedure law down by law,' said Dili police chief, Colonel Atok Rismanto.

East Timor police chief later said that eleven people required hospital treatment for light injuries. Staff on duty at Dili's general hospital and the military hospital said no one had been admitted after the incident.

According to Reuters, Jamsheed Marker said later: 'I was in my room. They came at about 6am (local time) and I heard some slogans being shouted. The demonstration was then dispersed and at least some of them got into the (hotel) lobby. I didn't actually see the demonstration.'

Rismanto said those detained were being questioned and police were looking for others involved in the incident.

From Agence France Presse 23 March

This agency quotes Marker as saying: 'There was a demonstration this morning but the authorities seem to have cleared it up.'

According to a member of the hotel staff, fifty youths came into the hotel, yelling and waving banners. Security officers quickly came in and the two parties clashed.'

Marker told AFP that his visit so far had been 'very interesting. I have just been trying to ascertain the facts here and I have been given all the facilities to meet people I wanted to meet so far.'

He said after a meeting with President Suharto that he was on a 'fact-finding mission' and that the information he gathered would be reported to UN Sec.Gen Kofi Annan to help 'reconcile the points of view of all the parties concerned with East Timor'.

Marker is to stay in Indonesia until 30 March but it is unclear what his schedule will be after leaving East Timor

Reuters 24 March

E Timorese youths held a fresh 30-minute protest in Dili after the previous day's clash. Police chief Muharam confirmed that 45 of thr 48 people arrested were still being held. Ten of the eleven people injured were still in hospital but he denied there were any deaths or serious injuries.

About today's events, he said: 'There was a small demonstration but it was not violent like yesterday's. No one has yet been detained as it was a usual demonstration. If they dont break anything, we do not arrest them,' he said.

Muharam claimed the police seized twelve machettes and knives and 19 banners in Sunday's demonstration.

'Those who were injured broke the glass as they were leaving (the hotel) or were trampled on by others,' Muharam said. 'There was only one warning shot amd pme tear gas canister fired. The warning shot was a rubber bullet to calm the crowd and stop them becoming violent.'

Agence France Presse 24 March

Sources in Dili had spoken of two deaths including a student but none could confirm the deaths nor say they had seen the shooting or bodies.

East Timorese youth demonstrate during un envoy's visit

ABC Radio Australia - 24 March, 1997

East Timorese youths have held a second demonstration in Dili over their failure to meet a special United Nations envoy.

Police say the demonstration at Becora market in East Dili was small and non-violent and there were no arrests.

A police spokesman said three of the 48 people detained yesterday in a protest outside envoy Jamsheed Marker's hotel were still in custody, and the ten or eleven people injured remained in hospital.

Mr. Marker was scheduled to return to Jakarta today after a three-day visit to East Timor during which he met government officials and Nobel peace laureate Bishop Carlos Belo.

45 still held after protests

Agence France Presse - March 26, 1997

Jakarta – Forty-five people remained in detention in the East Timor capital on Monday, a day after a violent demonstration outside the hotel where a United Nations special envoy is staying for a key visit.

Residents said Dili appeared calm but the area around the downtown hotel where UN envoy Jamsheed Marker was staying remained heavily guarded by police.

Mr Marker on Monday met the troubled former Portuguese colony's two Roman Catholic bishops, Nobel laureate Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo in Dili and Bishop Basilio Do Nascimento in Baucau.

Forty-eight people were detained after clashes early on Sunday between demonstrators and police. The demonstrators had demanded to meet the UN envoy.

"Three of the 48 people arrested have been released because of insufficient evidence," East Timor deputy police chief Colonel Atok Rismanto said.

Colonel Rismanto denied reports of fatalities in the demonstrations, but admitted that warning shots were fired in the air to disband demonstrators.

He said 11 people were hospitalised with injuries suffered in the clashes.

Sources in Dili had spoken of two deaths, including a student, but they had seen neither the shooting nor bodies.

They said 38 demonstrators were injured, some with broken arms or legs, and they were treated at a local clinic.

Mr Marker, recently appointed as personal envoy of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for East Timor, arrived in Dili on Saturday for his first visit to the territory which was annexed by Indonesia in 1976.

He left Dili on Monday on a flight for Denpasar, Bali, an official of Dili's Comoro airport said.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said Mr Marker would leave Indonesia on 30 March.

The UN and most of the international community still regard Lisbon as the territory's administrator. Mr Marker said on Sunday he was trying "to ascertain all the facts".

4 East Timorese currently in detention following a demonstration in Dili

Amnesty International - 24 March, 1997

Amnesty International is concerned for the safety of at least 48 East Timorese currently in detention following a demonstration in Dili on 23 March.

The demonstration began at around 5am at the Mahkota Hotel in Dili, the capital of East Timor, where the United Nations Personal Representative of the Secretary General on East Timor, Mr Jamsheed Marker, is staying during a three-day visit to East Timor. Around 200 demonstrators allegedly gathered in the hotel with the intention of waiting for the Personal Representative to emerge from his room so that they could present him with documents.

The demonstrators are believed to have been carrying banners and shouting slogans in support of East Timorese independence. At around 6am police and troops arrived at the hotel and attempted to disperse the demonstration. Clashes then broke out between the security forces and the demonstrators. The police have admitted firing warning shots and there are also reports that rubber bullets were fired.

There are allegations that the security forces blocked off the exits from the hotels, preventing the demonstrators from leaving. Some demonstrators received cuts as they attempted to escape through broken windows.

Forty-eight demonstrators in all were arrested at the hotel. Eleven youths were taken to a military hospital and it is believed that some of them have wounds resulting from beatings by the security forces. Marcelino and Lourenco Smith are among others who were wounded, but neither is believed to be in detention. There are unconfirmed reports that at least one person was killed during the confrontation.

The names of all the detainees are not yet known, but it is believed that there are at least two women among them. Those known to have been arrested include Rosita (f), Marcelina (f), Imaculada (f), Luis de Fatima, Nelson Pereira, Romaldo Brasil and Agustino dos Santos. On 24 March, police released three of the 48, but 45 remain in custody. Police have indicated that arrests of other individuals believed to have been involved in the demonstration may follow.

Another demonstration was believed to have been held in Dili today, 24 March. There are reports that at least three more youths and possibly as many as seven were detained today by police in Dili, but the circumstances of their arrest are not clear. Only three names are known: Cesaltino Ximenes, Herminigildo Da Costa and Tomas Coreia. Their whereabouts are not known.

East Timorese in the custody of police and the military are at risk of torture or ill-treatment particularly if they are denied access to independent legal representation. It is not known if this is the case for those detained in connection with these demonstrations.

The Personal Representative is still in Indonesia, but is believed to have left East Timor. Amnesty International is urging the Personal Representative to use his influence to ensure that those in custody are not ill-treated, are granted access to lawyers and that none is being held for the peaceful expression of his or her beliefs.

UN envoy satisfied with East Timor Commander's explanations

Antara News - March 24, 1997

Dili, E Timor – The visiting UN Secretary General's Envoy on East Timor, Jamsheed Marker, said here Saturday he was satisfied with the explanations by Local Military Commander Col. Mahidin Simbolon on the role of the Indonesian Armed Forces in East Timor.

East Timor District Military Chief Capt Triyogo Budi Prasetyo quoted the UN envoy as saying that the realities he had seen in East Timor proved to be quite different from the things he had heard in issues involving East Timor. Marker made the statement when he met with Simbolon here Saturday.

During the meeting Simbolon who was accompanied by other military officers of the region explained in detail the role of the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) in East Timor province.

"ABRI is carrying out territorial operations to help lift the standards of living of the local people," Simbolon told the UN envoy.

The operations were based on a sense of caring love and aimed at improving the welfare of East Timorese, he added.

"They have helped accelerate the pace of development in East Timor and protected the fruits of that development from ill-intending elements," he said.

Simbolon said the operations were carried out by the ABRI apparatuses in cooperation with the local people.

Besides, the regional military commander also explained the development of education which had succeeded in raising the educational level of the locals and the number of schools with adequate facilities.

Simbolon also briefed Marker on physical and non- -physical infrastructure development such as roads and bridges to support the efforts to increase the living standards of the locals. Marker said he understood that there had been progresses in the implementation of development in East Timor.

Many development achievements could already be felt in East Timor, he said.

He expressed the hope that problems being faced by East Timorese would be solved soon and justly so that they could enjoy peace.

On Sunday, Marker would fly in a helicopter together with his party to have a bird's eye view of the results of physical development in East Timor, particularly those in Mantuto, Aileu,Liquisa and Ermera districts.

The UN envoy is visiting East Timor to witness development in an area which was a Portuguese colony for 450 years and integrated into Indonesia in 1976.

The results of his observations would be used as inputs by UN Secretary General Kofie Annan in speeding up a just and comprehensive solution to the East Timor issue.

[This and the following items have been included in order to show how the government news service (Antara) describes a "visit" in which it is believed 7 people were shot dead, seven others seriously wounded and some 38 others injured - James Balowski]

UN special envoy says he wants to return to East Timor

Antara News - March 24, 1997

Dili, E Timor – The UN Secretary General's special envoy for East Timor, Jamsheed Marker, said he will return to the province to gather more information.

"I am really impressed by the beauty of East Timor that I want to return to see the developments that will take place," Marker said before departing from the Comoro airport here Monday.

Asked on his perception of East Timor's development after it integrated with Indonesia, Marker acknowledged that he had no chance to make an assessment but said he will come back to see developments in the province.

Marker, here for a visit from March 22-24, said he was tasked by the UN Secretary General to gather facts and make a report on the province.

This is his first official visit since he was appointed as a special representative for the East Timor issue.

"Since the East Timor issue is still an international issue, I came to this province to get inputs and try to find a just solution," he said.

During his three-day visit, the envoy met with Governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares, speaker of the provincial legislative assembly Antonio Freitas Parada, chief of the East Timor military command Col Mahidin Simbolon, Dili Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo and newly inaugurated Baucau Bishop Basilio do Nascimento.

East Timor, a Portuguese colony for more than 400 years, integrated with Indonesia in 1976, a year after the majority of its people exercised their self-determination rights by issuing the Balibo declaration.

UN Representative compliment security forces in dili

Suara Karya - Tuesday, March 25, 1997

From 48 anti integration people who attend the demonstration at Mahkota Timur Hotel, this Sunday (23/3), 24 of them were arrested and officially became suspects after being interrogate by the security forces. 10 others were immediately release, and 14 became witnesses. There are possibility that this 14 people will become suspects too, said Dili Chief of Police Lt. Col. (Police) Drs. Beno Kilapong in Comoro VIP room after escorting the UN representative last Monday in Dili.

Beno Kilapong who was injured in his hand while trying to stop the rampage, explain that while interrogated most of the suspect confesed immediately. But the others just joined the demonstration without knowing who is in charge for the demo.

"They, who just joined the demonstration will be return to their family so they could continue their activities like usual. Some of them are school children, but there are also workless people. There are 10 of them after being questioned", he said.

Meanwhile, Special Representative Jamsheed Marker who visited East Timor and witnessed the brutal action last Sunday, in a press conference regrets the action done by Timorese youth. "I really regret with what happened yesterday in front of Mahkota Hotel Dili. I approve the acton if it was peacefully without any violence and destroying properties. Destroying things is what I really dissagree of", he said commenting on the Sunday incident.

According to Marker, the Dili security forces deserve a compliment on their fast and immediate action to stabilize the situation. "There are so many times I met with demonstrators. But here in Dili they are very brutal. We are trying to solve the East Timor problem here. Why did they do this to me?", Marker said.

23 March atrocity: World community must respond

TAPOL – 24 March, 1997

[Chronology of Mahkota Hotel incident, Dili 23 March 1997. Received from Jakarta on 23 March.]

Seven East Timorese youth are thought to have died, seven were seriously wounded and 38 others wounded less seriously after failing to meet the UN Secretary-general's special representative for East Timor, Jamsheed Marker at the Mahkota Hotel in Dili.

A short while after, a police officer was knocked down by a city bus. The situation in Dili is still very tense and it is feared that it will worsen if the international community does not immediately make a response.

Background

The Special Representative Jamsheed Marker arrived at Comoro Airport on 22 March at 11.30am for an investigation of the situation and to meet government officials and representatives of the community. This is part of the efforts of the new UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to resolve the East Timor question.

Marker's arrival was announced on Indonesian television on Friday at 7pm but some people in Dili, including the youth, knew of the visit several days earlier and planned to hold a dialogue with Mr Marker at the campus of the East Timor University

For reasons that are not known at present, this plan was not carried out and about two hundred youth who had planned the dialogue were very disappointed that the UN representative cancelled the visit to the campus. They remained on campus till 2pm, then returned home deeply disappointed.

'We had already prepared a document 500 pages long to submit to the UN Special Representative,' said one student. Others felt the disappointment more deeply after realising that the UN Representative had spent more of his visit visiting government officials than visiting community representative

He had gone straight from the airport - after a brief rest - to see the Governor, the chair of the local assembly, the DPRD. Bishop Belo, the military commander and other officials. These meetings were held behind closed doors so that the general public knew nothing about what had been discussed. This caused people to feel that he would not hear the aspirations of the people

The Mahkota Hotel event Having failed to have the dialogue at the campus, around one to two hundred East Timorese youths and students pushed their way into the hotel at 5am on 23 March, carrying twenty banners and some documents for the dialogue. They gathered in the corridor and waited for the Special Representative to come out of his room to meet them.

At 6 am hundreds of police and troops from Battalion 744 surrounded the hotel. They forced the youths and students to disperse, saying they were disturbing law and order although it was absolutely clear that they were carrying out a peaceful action.

All doors into the hotel were closed tight and those inside the hotel were unable to leave. Some of the troops outside pushed their way into the hotel, armed with truncheons, firearms and loudspeakers. They began beating the youths inside. The situation turned very tense as the youths tried to protect themselves with their bare hands.

Unable to confront the military onslaught, some of the youths started breaking hotel windows in order to try to escape. Mr Marker himself did not take any clear stand and apparently tried to distance himself from what was going on.

Seven youths were killed, four severely wounded and 38 others wounded from broken glass and beatings. At the time of writing this report - 4pm, 23 March - details such as the names of the victims have not yet been confirmed.

According to one witness, eleven people have been arrested, including six women.

All those who escaped from the hotel took refuge in the office of the local newspaper, Suara Timor Timur, at Motael Church and private homes. Some managed to make it to the Motael Clinic next door to the church, for treatment.

On Sunday morning, at mass, the congregation saw many people covered in blood and rushed home at the end of the service, in fear.

News of the incident spread fast throughout Dili and led to widespread outrage. At 7.30am a policeman who was standing on the roadside was knocked down by a bus that was full of youths and students.

The security forces immediate sealed of all the roads leading to the hotal and at 9am, trucks full of troops and police checked all the roads in the town. Almost every intersection was guarded by troops, spreading a sense of fear among people in the streets.

Meanwhile, the UN Special Representative left for Baucau under security escort to meet Bishop Basilio. Further details of the UN envoy's itinerary are not known.

The situation in Dili has been very tense because people there don't know whether a meeting with Marker will take place. The streets are deserted because people fear new incidents may occur. And at the time of writing this report, military vehicles are still patrolling the streets.

It has not been possible to contact the Un envoy to know what his plans are.

Provisional conclusions

The UN envoy's visit was seen by the East Timorese as an opportunity to present their aspirations to him and give him information about human rights violations. An open dialogue with the local community would have increased their confidence in his mission. But the planned dialogue at the university did not take place and there was almost no opportunity to meet the envoy face to face.

The actions by the army and police resulting in seven deaths and scores wounded is concrete proof that human rights violations continue to be a routine part of life in East Timor. People in East Timor hope that these fact will be taken into account by the UN envoy because they happened before his very eyes.

[TAPOL received this report on Sunday 23 March from a source in Jakarta. No doubt, further investigations will be needed to confirm the number of casualties. But We are posting this report because of the detail it provides in the events that took place and because of the need to alert the international community without delay on the event.]

7 shot dead in Dili Hotel trying to meet UN envoy Jamsheed Marker

ASIET News - March 25, 1997

ASIET has received information from the Jakarta based Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) that seven East Timorese youth have been shot dead, four severely injured and 38 with lesser wounds at a peaceful gathering taking place inside the Mahkota Hotel in Dili.

The incident took place on the 23 March. More than 200 students at the University of East Timor had been waiting for UN Special Envoy for East Timor, Jamsheed Marker, to attend a dialogue session at the university. When he did not arrive the students went to his hotel to try to see him. This occurred at 5.00am on 23 March. Frustration in the community was already high due to the closed nature of envoy Marker's meetings and the fact that, apart from the two catholic bishops, he was mainly meeting government officials.

At 6.00am hundred of soldiers surrounded the hotel. Soldiers entered the hotel and started to beat the students. The students attempted to defend themselves with bare hands. Soldiers began shooting the students using weapons with silencers. Students who escaped sought refuge in houses and in the Motael Church and Voice of East Timor newspaper office.

According to YLBHI, several students, including six women were also detained.

ASIET, a national organisation with groups in all Australian cities, is calling on the Australian government to publicly condemn this latest atrocity by Suharto's military and to cut all military ties with the government.

"We are in constant contact with the East Timorese resistance and the Indonesian democracy movement and are kept fully up-to-date with the repression in all areas," ASIET National Co-ordinator. "The killings in Dili as well as the ongoing arrests of democracy activists in Jakarta are more evidence of the dictatorial nature of the Suharto government. The massive sentiment for a boycott of the May elections in Indonesia also shows how unstable the dictatorship is becoming. The Howard government must end all military ties with Suharto now."

To increase pressure on the Howard government to act on this issue, ASIET is organising a week of protest actions nation-wide in the week before the Indonesian "general elections" in May.

East Timorese clash with police, two killed

Associated Press - March 23, 1997

Dili, Indonesia – Indonesian security forces clashed Sunday with East Timorese activists trying to see a U.N. envoy, killing two people and injuring 38, a security official said.

Indonesia annexed East Timor in 1976, and since has fought a simmering independence movement there. Its troops frequently are accused of human rights abuses.

Col. Yusuf Mucharam, the local police chief, refused to confirm the deaths, but said 48 demonstrators were picked up for interrogation.

He said the demonstrators, waving anti-Indonesia posters and banners, broke into the lobby after the envoy failed to meet them at the Mahkota Hotel.

"They broke glass windows and furniture in the lobby and shouted anti- Indonesia slogans," he said.

Marker, who arrived Saturday in Dili, met with Nobel Peace laureate Bishop Carlos Belo, East Timor Gov. Abilio Soares and other officials. After refusing to meet the demonstrators, he left by helicopter for another district in East Timor.

Indonesian troops invaded East Timor in 1975 amid a civil war as Portugal abandoned the territory after four centuries of colonial rule. The United Nations still recognizes Portugal as the territory's administering power.

Last two Hawks arrive in Indonesia

Angkatan Bersenjata - 19 March, 1997

Palembang – Two Hawk-200 aircraft purchased from the UK will arrive in Indonesia on Friday 21 March, completing the supply of 24 Hawk 200/100 contract. The other 22 are now at Ppekanbaru airbase.

Commander of the Operational Command, Vice Marshall Purnomo Sidhi told journalists in Palembang that the 24 Hawk aircraft now in Pekanbaru represent the first installment of aircraft purchased from the UK, to beef up Indonesia's defence system.

He said that Indonesia actually needs a large number of aircraft to safeguard its huge airspace but this must conform with budgetary possibilities. Asked about the purchase of F-16s, the commander said this was a matter for the supplier. Indonesia is keen to purchase the aircraft and agreement was already reached long ago.

He said investigations were underway into the crash of an F-16 in which the pilot was killed. The weather was certainly a reason as the plane was trying to land in thick fog.

He was speaking after the appointment of a new commander of the Palembang airbase. The commander should ensure effective combination between tactical and strategic operations and establish close relations with the local government and society, he said.

This cooperation would ensure that the base should take a full part in national duties including safeguarding security during the forthcoming elections.

The commander said his command and indeed the entire air force were well prepared to safeguard the elections and the MPR session in 1998 and would be taking part in a parade of all forces in preparation for the May elections, due to be held at Perdanakusuma Airfield on 26 March, with General Feisal Tanjung as Inspector of Ceremony.

May 29 elections

Indonesia military threatens to arrest election monitors

Dow Jones News - March 21, 1997

Jakarta – With 70 days to go before May 29 parliamentary elections, the military says it will crush any security threats and is threatening to arrest independent election monitors.

Maj. Gen. Tayo Tarmadi, military commander of West Java, said the country's Independent Election Supervision Committee is banned from his province, the official Antara news agency reported Friday. 'Security would not hesitate to clobber them,' Tarmadi was quoted as saying Thursday.

Interior Minister Yogie Memed said this month that foreigners would be invited to observe the elections. But army commander Gen. Hartono has warned that foreign observers could be arrested if they tried to supervise the voting.

The military says it will deploy more than 10,000 soldiers and policemen with armored vehicles, tanks and helicopters during the parliamentary elections. The army has conducted security drills with soldiers dressed in black rappeling from helicopters at business centers and major streets in Jakarta and other parts of the country.

Security is to be in place before the three authorized parties in Indonesia start official campaigning on April 27. President Suharto has said unspecified subversive forces might try to disrupt the elections. He said he would 'clobber' anyone who tried to do so.

Soeharto bans poll observers

Sydney Morning Herald - March 27, 1997

Louise Williams, Jakarta – The Indonesian Government has cancelled its invitation to foreign observers to monitor the May national elections, saying Indonesia will not be judged by foreign concepts of democracy.

The announcement was made by the Attorney-General and head of the Election Supervision Committee, Mr Singgih, after a meeting with President Soeharto. Earlier this month, the National Elections Institute said the Government "would invite neighbouring and foreign countries to monitor the elections".

However, Mr Singgih, quoted President Soeharto as saying: "Our Government is not inviting foreigners."

Mr Singgih said foreigners could still visit Indonesia during the elections but could not monitor the voting or counting process. "This is our democracy, we are a sovereign country, we have rules and laws, so there is no way Indonesia can be measured by a foreign yardstick," he said.

"If foreigners want to come here to watch, let them go ahead. But they cannot supervise because, according to our law, only we have the authority to supervise."

Mr Singgih's statement also refers to efforts by pro-democracy activists in Indonesia to establish an independent body to supervise voting. Pro-democracy activists here argue that the election process is flawed because the Soeharto Government has control of the entire process, from the vetting of candidates permitted to stand to the announcement of results.

Critics also say that the substantial resources of the Government - which are available to the ruling Golkar Party - as well as regulations which require public servants and their families and families of members of the armed forces to vote for Golkar mean alternative parties have little chance of success.

Mr Singgih said foreigners and members of the so-called Independent Election Monitoring Committee would not be permitted within the fenced area surrounding polling booths and would be banned from interviewing voters or scrutinising election documents. "If they enter the ring [inside the polling area], if they violate the laws, they will be clobbered," he said.

In Denpasar, Bali, a planned "long march" by supporters of the ousted pro-democracy leader, Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri, did not go ahead after the military banned the proposed week-long car rally from Bali to Jakarta.

Earlier, organisers said they would proceed despite the ban but riot police ringed the starting point and the offices of Ms Megawati's supporters from early yesterday morning. Ms Megawati had not endorsed the march, fearing it would provoke violent clashes between her supporters and security forces.

Ms Megawati was ousted from the leadership of the Indonesian Democracy Party (PDI) by a Government-sponsored rebel PDI conference last July and has since been banned from participating in the elections.

Turning up the heat in Jakarta

Asia Times - 24 March, 1997

Ong Hock Chuan, Jakarta – With a ruling party victory a foregone conclusion in Indonesia's May 29 general election and President Suharto almost certain to stand for another term, speculation in Jakarta has focused on who will be the next vice-president and likely presidential successor.

"It's the only game in town for the Indonesian press who feel that political news is the most saleable commodity in the Indonesian market," said a political analyst.

"With the only semblance of opposition in the Indonesian Democratic Party neutralized [by the engineered ouster of Megawati Sukarnoputri from the leadership position] and with Suharto almost certain to stand for a seventh term as president, virtually the only issue they can go on is who would be in the best position to succeed him," the political analyst said.

The speculation has become particularly intense because of the president's age. Suharto, 75, has ruled the world's most populous Muslim nation for 30 years. But the key question of finding a political successor remains unanswered.

Two incidents last year reminded Indonesians of Suharto's mortality - the death of his wife, Tien, and a sudden departure to Germany for a health check which left the local bourse with palpitations.

Two incidents in the past weeks have added further fuel to the speculative fire. The first was the 70th birthday celebration of former vice-president Sudharmono.

Largely out of the limelight in recent years, Sudharmono captured headlines when he marked his birthday by launching an autobiography and an accompanying compendium of recollections of himself from friends and associates.

Though not unusual among prominent Indonesians who have reached an advanced age, many political pundits saw it as Sudharmono's opening gambit in a political comeback.

Political rivals certainly have reason to be wary of Sudharmono. A military lawyer by training, he served in the influential position of state secretary between 1983 and 1988. He was also chairman of Golkar, the ruling party.

In 1988, he was appointed vice-president, a post he held until 1993. During his years in power Sudharmono was seen as a reformist and as the head of Golkar he built up the civilian wing of the party on the assumption that if Golkar became more independent and modern, it also would become less dependent on the executive and the military.

These moves attracted opposition from the Armed Forces which were then headed by the powerful General L B "Benny" Murdani.

In 1988, ABRI, the Indonesian acronym for the Armed Forces, shunted Sudharmono aside within Golkar and ensured he was not renominated in 1993.

But Sudharmono remained influential. During his years in power he cultivated a following among government officials, some of whom are still in the Cabinet.

They all turned up for Sudhormono's 70th birthday bash. And so did his erstwhile arch-rival Murdani, which sparked even more talk of a comeback. Sudharmono of course has denied any such plans.

The other incident that fanned the flames of speculation was a statement by Suparman Achmad, the head of the ABRI faction in the House of Representatives.

Suparman told reporters that ABRI had already decided who it would nominate as vice-president and would announce its choice next year at the opening session of the People's Consultative Assembly. Much interest has focused on the 1,000-member electoral college which will choose the president and vice-president for a five-year term when it meets in March 1998.

So far the names most often mentioned were Vice-President Try Sutrisno, State Secretary Murdiono, Research and Technology Minister B J Habibie, Investment Coordinating Board head Ginandjar Kartasmita, Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Susilo Sudarman, and Army Chief Hartono.

Political analysts warn against making too much of these speculations. "The real message to come from these speculations is that there is a vacuum of real politicking going on in Indonesia," one analyst said.

"The speculations are only filling the void, for want of something better. When it comes to appointing the vice-president, only one man, Suharto, knows who it will be - but like always he is playing his cards close to his chest."

Television monitoring: Discrimination in coverage of election contestants

Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) - March 24, 1997

Background

The 1997 elections will present a different style of campaigning to that of previous ones. The phrase increasingly used for this is "campaigning through dialogue". For these elections there will be no reliance on the processions and mass rallies which in the past have raised concerns about the possibility of rioting. The form of campaigning will thus be different, with greater emphasis being given to discussions, seminars and restricted meetings.

An important media for this "campaigning through dialogue" is television. The restrictions on mass rallies mean that television and radio will become the primary "bridges" via which the political parties can reach their existing supporters among the general public, or encourage new ones.

As a result, access to television and radio is vital for the effectiveness of the campaigns of the three parties. The government, in an effort to give the impression of fairness, has recently issued regulations on how state television (TVRI) can be used in the campaigns of the political parties. These regulations are understood to state that each party will be allocated the same amount of airtime.

However, there has been criticism that these new regulations on the use of television and radio during the 1997 election campaign - contained in Ministry of Information Regulation No. 12 of 1997 - unfairly discriminate against the country's two non-government political parties, the PPP (Partai Persatuan Pembangunan, United Development Party) and the PDI (Partai Demokrasi Indonesia, Indonesian Democratic Party).

Leaders of the PPP, for example, have protested against the new regulations on the grounds that they impose severe restrictions on the parties. For instance, only the chairmen of the three parties will be permitted as speakers in television campaigning. No other person is permitted. Furthermore, the contents of speeches are subjected to prior censorship by the LPU (Lembaga Pemilihan Umum, General Election Institute). "This is very damaging for election contestants", the PPP's Secretary General, Tosari Widjaja, has commented.

Day to day experience shows that, long before the campaign period has begun, the access to television coverage enjoyed by the three parties is far from being even. People often naturally conclude that Golkar is allocated broadcast time almost every day. While, in stark contrast, the PPP and PDI seldom - indeed hardly ever - receive news coverage. It was in order to test the validity of this assumption that television monitoring has been carried out.

Criticism of TVRIs coverage of electoral campaigning has not only arisen in the context of the 1997 elections. During the 1992 elections Golkar's campaign was found to have received three times more air time on the state broadcaster than the other two parties. On Friday, 22 May 1992, for example, of the seven minutes TVRI gave to campaign news, Golkar was featured for four minutes and 25 seconds; compared with one minute 41 seconds for the PPP and just 56 seconds of coverage going to the PDI. TVRI denies charges of deliberately favouring Golkar, however. Instead it offers a variety of excuses, such as that Golkar has more campaigning activities than its counterparts and that it is therefore only natural that Golkar will receive more coverage; or else the station blames absurd technical reasons such as that the limited number of television cameras owned by TVRI necessitates the station being selective about which campaigns it can cover.

In July 1995 Media Indonesia highlighted TVRI's partisan coverage. Over a three month period from April-June 1995, according to TVRI's own statistics, news about Golkar was featured 98 times, compared with ten times for the PPP and a mere two for the PDI. Also noteworthy was the wide variation in the amount of coverage given to the chairs of the three parties. During the same period Golkar chairman Harmoko was featured 38 times, compared with 10 times for PPP chair Ismail Hasan Metareum, while then PDI chairwoman, Megawati Soekarnoputri, appeared in just one news item (Media Indonesia, 8 July 1995).

Private television, whose arrival it had been hoped would introduce a spirit of professionalism and independence into election coverage, has also proved disappointing. Private television ownership is dominated by individuals who are also Golkar leaders, thereby ensuring that private television is also biased towards the party of their owners' choice. RCTI - the biggest of the private stations - is owned by President Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmojo, who is also Golkar's treasurer. He also owns shares in SCTV, another of the private stations. ANTeve, meanwhile, is owned by Aburizal Bakrie - the head of Kadin (the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce) and Agung Laksono, a Vice Chairperson of Golkar. Other private television stations are also controlled by Golkar leaders. The controlling interest in TPI, for example, is in the hands of another of Golkar's Vice Chairs, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana (usually referred to as Mbak Tutut), who is also the President's eldest daughter. The remaining private television station, Indosiar, is owned by a conglomerate headed by Liem Sioe Liong, who is a close friend of the President, who in turn is the Chairman of Golkar's Board of Patrons. Such a structure of ownership cannot other than benefit Golkar - as is reflected in the stations' coverage - at the expense of the other parties.

If "campaigning through dialogue" is to be developed properly then the government must be consistent in opening up access to the state radio and television broadcasters - TVRI and RRI (Radio Republik Indonesia) - in an even way to all three parties contesting the elections. For this to be achieved, the need for balance must be reflected in the regulations on television and radio campaign coverage, something that happens as a matter of course in democratic countries. The seriousness with which attention is given to ensuring fair and balanced access to communication facilities can act as a gauge of the fairness or otherwise of the elections themselves. Monitoring Methods

Three daily television news programmes are being monitored for the purpose of this study: Siaran Berita Nasional (TVRI); Cakrawala (ANTeve); and Seputar Indonesia (RCTI). As private television stations, neither ANTeve nor RCTI are under any obligation to be balanced in their allocation of coverage to the three contesting parties. However, as media responsible to their public there should be grounds to hope that they would fulfil the needs of the public and not cater solely to the wishes of their owners. For this reason, private station news coverage is also being monitored, particularly given the close relationship between these stations and the Golkar leadership.

The monitoring is being carried out in three stages. Period I: October-December 1996. Period II: January-March 1997. Period III: April-May 1997. During the first two periods the monitoring is being carried out for one week per month. During Period III, which covers the campaigning period and the 29 May 1997 elections themselves, the frequency of monitoring will be increased. During April 1997 two full weeks will be monitored, while for the month of May there will be daily monitoring of the above mentioned programmes. A report giving the results of each stage of monitoring will be published at the end of each of the three periods. This report represents the first of these reports, and covers the results of the monitoring carried out between October and December 1996.

The monitoring during the October-December 1996 period was carried out during the second week of each month. This report therefore discusses some 31.5 hours of television news, the content of which was transcribed and news related to the elections, the three contesting parties, and their leaders, selected. These reports were then analyzed, both with respect to the length of coverage given to the respective parties as well to the content of the news reports and the footage that accompanied them.

Monitoring Results:

7-13 October 1996

TVRI ANTeve RCTI Frequency/Duration Frequency/Duration Frequency/Duration

PPP 1/1'20" 0/0 0/0

Golkar 8/14'18" 3/2'50" 3/3'39"

PDI 2/3'09" 0/0 0/0

4-10 November 1996

PPP 0/0 0/0 0/0 Golkar 6/9'30" 1/0'52" 2/2'32" PDI 0/0 1/3'08" 0/0

9-15 December 1996

PPP 0/0 0/0 1/0.55 Golkar 5/10'30" 3/3'29" 2/2'49" PDI 0/0 0/0 0/0

A glance at the data shows that the public's inclination to regard television as being biased in favour of Golkar has sound basis in fact. Both state and private television fail to provide anything like the same proportion of time to the PDI or PPP that they do to Golkar. Not only that, but hardly a day goes by without Golkar or Golkar Chairman Harmoko appearing on TVRI news. From the three weeks of recording of TVRIs news programme, news about the PPP featured just once, the PDI twice. By contrast Golkar and Harmoko were featured 19 times, i.e. almost every day. The time given by TVRI to each of the three parties is also highly unbalanced. PPP received only 1 minute 20 seconds of coverage; PDI three minutes and nine seconds; while Golkar accumulated 34 minutes and 18 seconds.

It would thus appear that Golkar Chairman Harmoko's comment, when meeting party cadres in Central Java, that "no day goes by without consolidation" is absolutely right. At least as far as television is concerned. When averaged out, of the 21 days monitored, Golkar was featured 19 times. Meaning that there were just two days when there was no news about either Golkar or its chairman on TVRI.

Private television also demonstrated similar tendencies. Although during the period of monitoring Golkar was not featured on the private television news every day, either the party or its leadership appeared on average once every three days. Meanwhile, ANTeve featured PDI only once during the three week period, while PPP did not appear at all. On RCTI the PPP appeared just once during the monitoring period, the PDI never. From this it would appear that private television owners who are also Golkar leaders are able to influence their news department policies to favour Golkar.

The length of time given over to Golkar does not, however, reveal the true extent of discrimination. Because it is not only the news programmes that cover Golkar's campaigning activities. Golkar also benefits from the often lengthy special programmes on the party that are broadcast on television. The clearest example of this was the occasion of Golkar's anniversary in October 1996. Then TVRI, along with all five private television stations, featured three hours of non-stop coverage of the celebrations. The festivities, which included a number of speeches about Golkar's political role, were attended by a number of prominent foreigners, as if in order to give the impression that Golkar's success is acknowledged not only within the country but also abroad. In contrast, Megawati Soekarnoputri was not only denied a permit to hold a celebration to mark the PDI's anniversary, but she is also facing questioning in connection with the event that was held anyway and which the authorities are regarding as an illegal meeting. The PPPs creative commemoration of its anniversary through a street parade was also criticized as violating regulations.

Television's support for Golkar, and discrimination against the other parties, can be seen not only with respect to the amount of time given to each of the parties; but also to the content of the news reports. News about Golkar was by and large positive. Harmoko and Mbak Tutut's activities in consolidating the government party, whether it be at rallies or social functions, receiving party contributions, attending sports events or making appeals in the name of development, were given coverage. By contrast, news about the PPP or the PDI generally focused on the problems the minor parties were encountering. The PPP was featured in connection with the failure of some of its members to pass the election candidate screening process, while news about the PDI dealt with the trials of its members.

RCTI's Seputar Indonesia programme only featured news about the PPP once during the monitoring period, and the tone of this was negative to the party. At the time the PPP was facing problems because almost one hundred of their election candidates had failed the LPU's screening process. In this connection RCTI interviewed the Director of BIA (the army's intelligence agency), Major General Farid Zainudin, who asserted that "the problems in the screening of PPP electoral candidates is their own fault, because their paperwork was not complete" (RCTI, 11 December 1996). The screening institute has in fact long been a source of criticism by political parties and pro-democracy activists, who regard it as an unnecessary restriction on party freedom. Through the screening process, leaders with strong grassroots support and opinions other than those of the government are often prevented from entering parliament. The PPP was, however, successful in getting some positive television coverage on TVRI when the party protested the regulations on the sale of alcohol. Indeed, the PPP's harsh attitude towards these regulations aroused considerable interest. A letter sent by the PPP leadership to the Minister of Home Affairs called for the revocation of the regulations on the sale of alcohol. "The PPP believes that the sale of alcohol itself is what harms rather than helps" said PPP Chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum. Strangely, RCTI only interviewed Golkar leaders on this topic, even though the PPP had been most strident in its opposition to the regulations.

As far as the PDI is concerned, what coverage there was during the monitoring period mainly focused on the conflict between Megawati Soekarnoputri and Soerjadi. TRVI featured the PDI on its news programme twice during the period. On the first occasion concerning the trials in Jakarta of 64 members of the pro-Megawati PDI taskforce, and on the second with respect to the failure of Megawati's attempt to take the government to court for assisting with the Medan Congress at which she was replaced as PDI chair by Soerjadi. In both of the news broadcasts the Megawati faction of the PDI was portrayed as the side in the wrong and, as a result, deserving to face legal sanctions. The news about the trials of the pro-Megawati supporters is a case in point. The resolution of the conflict arising from the takeover of the PDI headquarters on 27 July 1996 is widely regarded as having been unjust given the fact that the Megawati supporters who defended the building have been brought to trial whereas the Soerjadi supporters who - with the assistance of the security forces - began the attack remain free. The National Human Rights Commission's recommendation that the "Soerjadi masses" be brought to trial has, up to now, been ignored.

Also covered by TVRI was the news of the court's rejection of Megawati's law suit. As is well known, Megawati sought to take a number of people to court in connection with the Medan Congress. Apart from Soerjadi himself, they included the head of the armed forces, the head of the national police force, and the Minister of Home Affairs. However, the court rejected Megawati's suits against these senior officials on the grounds that "it is not relevant to try them". As a result, in the news item, the Megawati faction of the PDI was portrayed as being in the wrong. The PDI was also featured once on ANTeve's Cakrawala programme, in connection with the refusal of Guruh Soekarnoputro, another of first president Sukarno's children, to respond to a summons from PDI leader Fatimah Achmad. This long news item (three minutes eight seconds), which was broadcast on 5 November 1996, is interesting to analyze. Not only because of the unusual length of the item - the longest item in connection with the elections that was broadcast throughout the monitoring period - but also because of the context. Guruh may well have been disappointed with the PDI split when he became close to Kosgoro, one of the mass organizations responsible for the establishment of Golkar, with which he organized an anti-Ecstasy art exhibition. Guruh's actions were seen by many as indicating his intention to throw in his lot with Golkar. Although in the end Guruh denied this, Kosgoro appears to have lost no opportunity to use their links with him as a vote getter. And it seems quite possible that Agung Laksono, as one of the leaders of Kosgoro, who also owns shares in ANTeve, could have had a role in the decision to run the unusually long piece on Guruh.

Negative news broadcasts, or else the failure of stations to run interviews that are carried out, seem to have caused PDI leaders to more or less give up as far as television is concerned. Megawati has expressed her disappointment with private stations in the past for their repeated failure to broadcast the interviews they do with her. To the point where she once refused to be interviewed by an RCTI journalist. This led to anger among journalists who accused Megawati of being far from accommodative towards their profession. But Megawati is unrepentant. "I am often interviewed, but the interviews are never broadcast. So what's the point?" she asks. Conclusions

1. The monitoring carried out during this three month period demonstrates that television is failing to provide fair access to the three political parties. Golkar benefits from coverage far more than either the PPP or PDI. Golkar and Harmoko were featured nineteen times on TVRI's Berita Nasional news programme, for a total of 34 minutes 18 seconds; while only one item on the PPP, lasting 1 minute 20 seconds, was featured throughout the period, and the PDI had just two news items on them, lasting three minutes 9 seconds.

2. TVRIs allocation of time to the three parties is even more unbalanced if one takes into account particular Golkar meetings, which receive special coverage, for example the party's anniversary celebrations which were shown on all television channels for almost three hours.

3. Private television stations (RCTI and ANTeve) are also unbalanced in the access they provide to election contestants. Golkar was featured seven times on RCTI's Seputar Indonesia for a total of eight minutes and seven times on ANTeve's Cakrawala programme, for seven minutes eleven seconds; meanwhile the PPP was featured only once on RCTI for 55 seconds, and the PDI only once on ANTeve for three minutes and eight seconds.

4. The content of news stories about the three parties also shows a difference of tone. News about Golkar usually focuses on positive matters, for example concerning the donation of funds, rallies, consolidation, social functions, and so on. While news about the PPP and PDI generally deals with problems the two parties are facing. The focus about the PPP for example concentrated on the failure of some candidates to pass the screening test and, in the case of the PDI, the focus was on the Megawati-Soerjadi split.

Polls no ploy to re-elect me, says Suharto

South China Morning Post - March 24, 1997

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – President Suharto has defended Indonesia's electoral process, insisting it is not a device to re-elect his Government.

"The election is not a ploy by the Government to maintain the status quo. It's a forum for the people to exercise their basic rights," he told a weekend gathering of the Indonesian Ulemas Council, the nation's top Muslim body.

The ruling Golkar party, which Mr Suharto heads, has won each general election since 1971. It secured 68 per cent of the vote in the 1992 polls and party officials predict it will garner more than 70 per cent in May's elections.

Mr Suharto said the poll results were vital because the representatives would shape state policy for the next century.

"The people's elected representatives will endorse the guidelines of state policy, elect a new president and vice-president. All this is vital for Indonesia to prepare to enter the 21st century," he told Muslim leaders.

But critics say the elections have become a ritual to ensure the continued rule of the President and his New Order Government.

"The comments are nonsense. Suharto says the elections are free, but most people here know they are engineered and manipulated. His speeches are perfect in theory, but the practice is very different," said one political analyst.

The analyst pointed to the case of Megawati Sukarnoputri, ousted as leader of her Indonesian Democracy Party in June last year at a rebel party congress.

The congress had the blessing of the Government and military.

"Megawati was ousted because President Suharto feared the party under her leadership after these elections would dare to stand up to him in Parliament," the analyst said.

Anyone speaking out against the elections or Mr Suharto's rule has been denounced by the Government.

A former Islamic party MP, Sri Bintang Pamungkas, and two of his colleagues were arrested two weeks ago and charged with subversion for distributing Eid-ul-Fitr greeting cards. The cards advocated that Indonesians boycott the general elections and reject the re-election of Mr Suharto at next year's presidential polls.

"The President says everyone is free in these elections but, if so, why is Sri Bintang being interrogated? It is very inconsistent," the analyst said.

The Government has restricted the four-week election campaign by banning street parades and outdoor party rallies.

Social unrest

Poll tension: Police fire rubber bullets at crowd

Sydney Morning Herald - March 28, 1997

Louise Williams, Jakarta – Police fired rubber bullets into a rioting Muslim mob ahead of an appearance by President Soeharto's daughter Mrs Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana at a pro-Government election rally in central Java on Wednesday night.

Witnesses in the coastal town of Pekalongan said the mob burned down the stage where Mrs Rukmana was due to appear with a popular local singer who had recently switched allegiances from the Muslim-oriented United Development Party (PPP) to the ruling Golkar group of President Soeharto.

The mob then torched homes and shops belonging the town's ethnic Chinese, in line with earlier riots which saw Muslim crowds vent their frustration on the local Chinese, who are mostly Christians and hold a dominant position in the economy.

The witnesses, contacted by telephone, said scores of people were injured by rubber bullets but there were no deaths. They said shops in Pekalongan, about 300 kilometres east of Jakarta, remained barricaded yesterday.

The Soeharto Government has announced it will take serious action against rioters, and the Pekalongan disturbance is the first time in the recent unrest that rubber bullets have been used. Crowds were previously controlled using batons and only the threat of force.

The speech by Mrs Rukmana went ahead at another site in the town and was broadcast nationally on Wednesday night with no reference to the unrest. The speech was to mark the 31st anniversary of the relinquishing of power by President Sukarno to the then General Soeharto.

Golkar has recruited many popular singers and actors as candidates to boost its image ahead of May's national elections, in the face of growing popular unrest and criticism of corruption and lack of accountability in the Soeharto Government.

The PPP is one of only two small, alternative parties permitted to stand for the 425 parliamentary seats chosen by ballot. The remaining 575 seats are appointed by the Government, meaning the alternative parties have little real power.

However, large numbers of Muslims have been attracted to the PPP as an avenue for venting their frustration over the gap between the rich and poor and development policies which frequently force peasants and slum dwellers off their land.

Supporters of the PPP in Pekalongan said tensions were building from earlier in the day when supporters of Golkar began removing flags belonging to the PPP.

The PPP has complained that it is unable to effectively campaign and in Pekalongan its supporters said there were not enough of them to put their flags back up.

Witnesses said a mob then torched the stage to prevent the Golkar rally going ahead. However, a second venue had been set up and the rally was relocated when Mrs Rukmana arrived.

In recent months Indonesia has been rocked by a series of Muslim riots targeting Chinese shops and homes.

The riots, however, do not mark the rise of Islamic fundamentalism but represent growing frustration among the poor.

Prominent Dayaks accused of subversion

Down To Earth - March 29, 1997

Leading members of the Dayak community have been blamed for the violent ethnic conflict which took place in West Kalimantan earlier this year. The accusation is contained in a three-page report, purporting to investigate the causes of the unrest by a local 'study group'.

Although the authorities claim this report is highly secret, photocopies have been circulating around West Kalimantan since mid-February and have reached even the smallest villages in Pontianak district. The Indonesian security forces are calling this the 'Free Dayak Republic issue' (Republik Dayak Merdeka = RDM).

There are fears that the report could result in official charges of subversion against the seven Dayaks, for which the maximum penalty is death. Twenty five people have already been charged with subversion for their alleged involvement in the recent troubles in the province.

Those accused are: Drs SM Kaphat, Yacobus Frans Layang SH, Rachmad Sahudin, Dr AH Meser, Pius Alfred, H. Ch Saiyan SH and Drs Stephanus Juweng. All seven strongly deny claims in the report that they are members of the RDM and were responsible for stirring up the recent protracted clashes between the Dayak and Madurese communities.

Juweng is head of the Institute of Dayakology, an NGO based in Pontianak which has been active in researching the problems of the indigenous people of Kalimantan for several years. SM Kaphat, a local MP who is also leader of the West Kalimantan Indonesian Democracy Party (PDI), called the report complete slander which insulted all of them personally and the whole Dayak community. He ridiculed the suggestion that the Dayaks had established an independence movement and suggested that the report had been written in order to cause further unrest.

The report was sent to the military and intelligence forces in Jakarta as well as to local administrative and military authorities. Head of the West Kalimantan Police, Colonel Erwin Achmad, and local military commander Colonel Zainuri Hasyim, met reporters in Pontianak on March 12th, but refused to comment on the source or content of the report, stating that they were studying it carefully.

The report, dated February 14th, bears the name of a non-governmental 'study group' in West Kalimantan, headed by Prof Dr Syarif Ibrahim Alkadrie MSc. However, the Professor and his secretary say it is nothing to do with them and claim their headed notepaper and signatures were forged to discredit their group which has been actively working with the local government to bring about a peace settlement between the two communities.

Sources: Media 7/3/97, Merdeka 13/3/97, Media 13/3/97

Homes of Chinese attacked by rioters

South China Morning Post - March 27, 1997

Agencies in Jakarta – Rioters attacked the homes of ethnic Chinese around a town in central Java yesterday during a rampage apparently sparked by a popular singer's switch of political allegiance.

"A number of houses belonging to the Chinese have been either damaged or burned," a Chinese man said by phone from Pekalongan, a coastal town about 300 kilometres east of Jakarta.

"It seems that the target is the Chinese, even though they have nothing to do with what has happened," another resident said.

Army chief General Hartono said at least 10 arrests had been made in the town. A stage prepared for a concert organised by the ruling Golkar party had been burned down, he said.

It had been razed on Monday after a dispute over civic authorities' removal of flags belonging to a political party, General Hartono said. He did not say which party the flags belonged to but it was widely believed to be the Muslim-led United Development Party (PPP).

The daily Suara Pembaruan said hundreds of people had attacked the stage area prepared for a concert by local singer Rhoma Irama, who joined Golkar last year after previously being a member of the PPP.

Residents said the singer was apparently now a Golkar candidate in May's parliamentary elections. The attackers, who used Molotov cocktails, according to the newspaper, burned the stage and wrecked seating. There were no casualties, General Hartono said.

Police said yesterday the situation was under control. Residents said police and troops were patrolling.

It was the first violence in Java since a mob attacked Chinese homes and businesses, Christian churches and Buddhist temples in the town of Tasikmalaya, in the island's west, in January. Four people died in those riots.

Residents in Pekalongan said people had also been angered over a rumour that a soldier had shot a PPP member. The official Antara news agency said 16 people had been questioned by the authorities over the burning.

Residents said graffiti denouncing the singer had been scrawled on many shops in Pekalongan.

Armed forces

Abri needs bigger budget, says general

Straits Times - March 21, 1997

Jakarta – Indonesia's special forces chief Major-General Prabowo Subianto says the country's armed forces (Abri) need a larger budget to improve their professionalism, the official Antara news agency reported yesterday.

"Our defence budget is still the smallest in the South-east Asian region because indeed the government has prioritised economic development," Maj-Gen Subianto told a conference of Indonesian social scientists in a rare public speech.

"However, a larger investment in this field is needed to raise the armed forces' professionalism," said Maj-Gen Subianto, who is President Suharto's son-in-law.

He said Indonesia's defence budget, almost US$3 billion (S$4.2 billion) last year, was between 1.3-1.6 per cent of the nation's gross national product (GNP), whereas neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia spent between 3 and 6 per cent of their GNP.

He said in the era of fast-moving globalisation, Indonesian soldiers needed to be better educated and their skills upgraded in a number of areas, highlighting the examples of proficiency in the use of English and computers.

Maj-Gen Subianto, 45, was promoted last year to a two-star general after the special forces, known as Kopassus, was boosted from combat strength of 3,000 to around 4,800. He is the youngest general of his rank. – Reuters.

Economy and investment

Bre-X drops 83% as Indonesia halts development of gold site

Wall Street Journal - March 27, 1997

Jakarta, Indonesia – Indonesia's government Thursday halted development of the Busang gold deposit, once touted as the world's richest, one day after Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. said gold levels at the site apparently were "insignificant."

Freeport's finding severely undercut estimates provided by Busang's discoverer and Freeport's joint-venture partner in the mine, Bre-X Minerals Ltd. of Calgary, Alberta. Bre-X shares lost 83% Thursday in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.

Bre-X had said last month that Busang contained 71 million ounces of gold, valued at more than $24 billion. Company executives even suggested that gold reserves could be as high as 200 million ounces. But Wednesday, Bre-X said an independent mining consultant it hired concluded that potential gold resources at Busang "might have been overstated because of invalid samples and assaying of those samples."

The Busang field is located in East Kalimantan, on Indonesia's portion of the island of Borneo.

In composite trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange New Orleans-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold's actively traded class B shares fell $1.75 cents to $30.125, after dropping $2.25 Wednesday. Bre-X shares, which hadn't traded since Tuesday, plunged $9.406, or 83%, on Nasdaq to $1.969.

Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Indonesia's Director General of General Mining, said Bre-X's contract for development of the mine had been placed on hold. Kuntoro said a letter would be sent Thursday to Bre-X, asking the company to provide an independent consultant to give an objective analysis of the size of the Busang field.

In Indonesia Thursday, Bre-X and Freeport offered no additional information. Even Bre-X's Indonesian partners, Askatindo and Amsya Lyna – both controlled by PT Nusantara Ampera Bakti, also known as Nusmaba, also remained quiet. Nusamba is directed by President Suharto's close ally Mohamad "Bob" Hasan and 80% controlled by foundations chaired by the president himself. Mining-industry analysts conceded that, if a hoax, the Busang saga could seriously damage Indonesia's mining industry. They say Indonesia's government, smarting from the fiasco, will grow much more cautious about offering licenses in the future.

Meanwhile, uncertainty remains over whether Busang was truly a hoax. Many in Indonesia admit to having been skeptical over the size of the Bre-X find, but few say they thought it was a scam. Others noted a total disbelief that such well-respected companies as Indoassay and Kilborn SNC Lavalin could have either overestimated Busang's gold amount or been tricked into doing so.

Indoassay is the laboratory that tests mining samples for a wide array of mining companies in Indonesia, while subsidiary P.T. Kilborn Pakar Rekayas has been in charge of calculating the resource levels at Bre-X's Busang find.

Kilborn's parent company, SNC Lavalin, said Kilborn's calculation for a potential 71 million ounces of gold is "believed to be prudent and reasonable," assuming that assaying of samples gathered by Bre-X was accurate.

Others in Indonesia, however, stood behind Freeport, saying that company most likely used more stringent assaying techniques than Bre-X and that securities laws in the U.S. forced the company to disclose its information.

Initial doubts about the field arose last week amid reports, adamantly denied by Bre-X, that tests on the field were disappointing. Bre-X stock fell sharply last Friday following the reports.

Investors in Bre-X also have been rattled by the apparent suicide last week of the company's chief geologist at Busang, Michael de Guzman, who fell 800 feet from a helicopter en route to Busang. Bre-X said Mr. de Guzman, who was central to the discovery of Busang, was distraught after being diagnosed with hepatitis B, following years of bouts with malaria.

Though Bre-X said Mr. de Guzman left a suicide note, some found the respected geologist's death – particularly coming just days before Freeport's report – mysterious. Mr. de Guzman had on occasion played up Busang's big potential, and was recently quoted as saying "we may have only the monster by the tail."

Speculation grows about Indonesian president's plans

New York Times - March 23, 1997

Seth Mydans, Jakarta – He owns forests, paper and plywood mills, airlines and banks, and last month he brokered a deal that gave him a major share in what may be the world's largest gold deposit.

But the biggest asset of Mohamad (Bob) Hasan is worth more than gold. As he said recently, "I've been friends with the president for more than 40 years."

The son of an ethnic Chinese wholesale merchant, Hasan, 66, has long been known as a trusted friend and golfing partner of President Suharto as well as the administrator of the president's multibillion-dollar charitable foundations.

But over the last year, since the death of Suharto's wife, Siti Hartinah, his role appears to have expanded as presidential confidant and peacemaker among the 75-year-old president's six powerful and sometimes feuding children.

And in the last few weeks his financial profile rose dramatically when he stepped in to secure a stake in the hotly contested Busang gold mine in East Kalimantan and a few days later became head of the country's biggest carmaker.

His increasingly prominent business dealings have fueled gossip over the country's prime topic of speculation, the plans of the president, who is widely expected to seek a seventh five-year term next year.

A question being asked in Indonesia is: Through his aggressive business moves, is Hasan helping to secure the Suharto family's financial future, and does this mean the president is thinking of stepping aside?

"If you are trying to read the president's mind, one way is to watch his friend Bob Hasan," said a foreign businessman who spoke on condition of anonymity. "And one way to look at what he is doing is that he is finding secure parking places for the family wealth."

Hasan has known Suharto since the 1950s, when the future president was a colonel serving in central Java. As the godson of a prominent general, Hasan was in a position to help further Suharto's career, and as Suharto ascended to leadership, Hasan's fortunes rose also.

His financial base is his position as chief executive and 10 percent owner of Nusamba, the investment vehicle for the president's three charitable trusts, with assets estimated at $5 billion or more. Suharto owns 80 percent of Nusamba and the president's eldest son, Sigit Harjojudanto, owns the remaining 10 percent.

Hasan's move to gain control of the automobile company Astra International was seen as a way to end a feud between two other Suharto sons over who would be in charge of a project to manufacture a national car.

Early last year, in a move that drew threats of sanctions through the World Trade Organization, Suharto handed a contract for a national car to his youngest son, Hutomo Mandala Putra, along with tariff exemptions for foreign-made auto parts that would allow it to undersell its foreign competitors in Indonesia by as much as 50 percent.

The contract upset another son, Bambang Trihatmodjo, who already had plans for an automobile project that he hoped would become the national car.

Both projects hurried forward, but neither seemed headed for success. Industry analysts now expect the brothers' projects to be consolidated under Hasan's company.

The struggle for control over the Busang gold mine also involved two Suharto children: Sigit and the oldest daughter, Siti Hardijanti Rukmana, who has substantial business interests.

It began in late 1994, when a small Canadian exploration company, Bre-X Minerals, discovered a deposit in East Kalimantan that by various estimates could be the richest gold find in history, perhaps worth $24 billion, perhaps much more.

Too small a company to develop the find on its own, Bre-X began merger talks with the giant Canadian mining company Placer Dome and, in a bid to secure the support of the Indonesian government, struck a multimillion-dollar consultancy deal with Sigit.

But another even bigger Canadian company, Barrick Gold Corp., entered the competition, signaling its seriousness by promising Mrs. Rukmana major construction contracts if it won the rights to the mine.

The clash of companies aligned with various Suharto children was a demonstration to other foreign contractors of the power of Suharto family interests and the insecurity of business dealings.

It was too much for Indonesian mining officials, who struggled ineffectually to find a formula that would include both branches of the family. And it roused complaints in the Indonesian press that the country's wealth was being handed away to foreign companies.

Late last year Hasan stepped in again to broker a deal. In December he met with Suharto and with James Moffett, chairman of the Louisiana-based mining company Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold, which operates the huge Grasberg mines in the eastern province of Irian Jaya.

In a complicated deal, Hasan apparently helped settle, for now, the competing claims of the mining companies, placated nationalist demands and, to all appearances, calmed the various branches of the Suharto family.

In the end, Bre-X – and its partner Mrs. Rukmana – got a 45 percent stake in the operation, considerably higher than seemed likely under deals that had been in the works.

Freeport, with its close government connections, won a 15 percent stake and will be the operator of the 4-million-ounce-a-year mine. The Indonesian government itself got 10 percent.

And the remaining 30 percent went to two Indonesian mining companies that are controlled by Nusamba, the foundation owned by Hasan, Suharto and his son Sigit.

Environment/land disputes

An energetic opposition: Nuclear power is few peoples first choice

Asiaweek - March 24, 1997

Jim Erickson, with bureau reporting – Nuclear generating plants spew no pollutants into the atmosphere, they provide far more energy per unit of fuel than any other source, and spent fuel can be reused. But people fear the genie held captive beneath the cooling towers.

The recent fire at Japans Tokai facility raises new questions about nuclear safety and rekindles memories of accidents such as the partial-meltdown at Three Mile Island in the U.S. and the nightmarish explosion at Chernobyl that killed 35 and is blamed for sickening thousands.

Asia is home to 112 nuclear reactors, which account for a little more than 5% of the total electricity generated. The regions energy needs are increasing, and several countries are considering additional plants. But in nearly every case public concern over safety has delayed construction.

Indonesias research and technology minister B.J. Habibie announced in early March that a nuclear power project on Javas north coast had been pushed back 30 years to 2030. Public opposition was one factor, cost was the other. Indonesia has cheaper alternatives: gas, oil and geothermal energy. The Philippine government is considering converting its mothballed nuclear plant to operate on natural gas.

Even in countries not so blessed with resources, anti-nuclear activists seem to have the edge. Taiwan, which produces nearly one-third of its power at three nuclear plants, has been trying to build a fourth since 1983. A $1.8 billion construction contract was awarded to General Electric in 1996; the decision sparked massive protests and forced the government to promise that the unpopular plant would be its last.

Safely impounding radioactive waste is one of the nuclear industrys most politically charged dilemmas. Yet some countries see that as the lesser of environmental evils. China produces most of its electricity using the dirtiest of methods, coal-fired plants. Its two nuclear plants contribute less than 1% of total output. Officials would like that number to grow.

Chinas technocrats may be the exception. Even in India, a country whose potential energy consumption is huge, the policy is for nuclear plants to produce just 2% of its electricity. Two percent is nothing. There is no need for any of them, says Bharati Chaturvedi of the environmental group Shristi. In the fallout from the most recent accident, voices like Chaturvedis will ring even louder.

Human rights

US postpones jet fighter sales to Indonesia

Lusa - 26 March, 1997

Washington – The US has decided to postpone the sale of nine F-16 jet fighters to Indonesia because of human rights violations in the Southeast Asian country, the White House has announced.

The spokesman for the White House, Michael McCurry, said on Tuesday that the decision was not related to investigations on the US presidential campaign after a wealthy Indonesian businessman was found to have illegally donated money to the Democrat Party.

This is the second time that the US decides to delay sine die the sale.

Last year, the US Congress voted to postpone the transaction because of Jakarta's human rights record and several human rights watchdogs have also criticised the possible sale raising the issue of Indonesian occupation 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.

British arms help Jakarta fight war against its own people

The Independent - March 27, 1997

[Sue Lloyd-Roberts, BBC Special Correspondent, exposes the trade that gives the Indonesian regime the muscle to clamp down on dissent.]

In April 1996, the students of the University of Ujung Pandang in South Sulawesi, one of 3,000 islands that make up Indonesia, demonstrated against a 67 per cent increase in transport costs. Many live 10 miles or more from the city and the increase threatened to curtail their university careers.

"It was a peaceful demonstration of a practical, non-political nature", recalls Ardilo. "We could hardly believe it when the army intervened. It was like they had declared war." They drove British-made armoured personnel carriers armed with guns onto the campus, the guns were fired and three students were killed in the ensuring panic.

Forty days later, on the day of mourning dictated by Islam, students from the University of Bandung in Java commemorated the deaths of their colleagues in Ujung Pandang. This time the paramilitary police drove British-made armoured water cannon onto the campus and sprayed the students with an ammonia solution. The water cannon were part of batch of nine exported to Indonesia in 1995. Dozens of students suffered skin burns.

The students say they envy Britain's reputation for democratic values and human rights. "I do not believe that Western countries, like Britain, supply these weapons to be used against the people", says Subido, a student injured in the Bandung demonstration. "I am sure the Indonesian Government told the British they would use them only for the defence of Indonesia".

The Stop Arms to Indonesia Campaign this week failed in their bid in the High Court to force a judicial review in UK arms sales to Indonesia. Mr Justice Laws never questioned the evidence cited above. He said the case was "misconceived", because it is a political, not a legal issue, and cannot be settled in the courts. The campaigners are angry. "It means there is no means in this country to challenge a government that sends arms to repressive regimes," says Carmel Budiardjo of Tapol, the Indonesian Human Rights campaign.

The Government says it adheres strictly to the criteria laid down by the DTI on arms export controls, and that in issuing licenses, it "avoids contributing to internal repression and instability within the country of destination and avoids contributing to human rights abuses".

The arms campaigners argue that the Government position is riddled with casuistry and contradiction. On 27 July last year there was the worst rioting in Jakarta for over 20 years when Government forces stormed the party headquarters of the PDI, one of two opposition parties, led by Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of the Indonesian's first post independence president.

While police viciously beat PDI supporters, British-built water cannon sprayed the demonstrators with pink dye, so that they could later be traced and punished. The riots left at least five dead, 149 injured, and 248 were arrested.

When Labour MP Ann Clwyd challenged the Government on the use of British weapons to put down pro-democracy supporters in Indonesia, Jeremy Hanley, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs declared: "If water cannon is used to stop peaceful demonstrations, that is of course totally unacceptable." But at the end of last year, the Government announced new export licences for weapons to Indonesia, including more than 300 armoured cars and water cannon.

Indonesian police are introduced to the latest in British riot control equipment when they come to the UK for training. Hundreds of Indonesian police officers have been trained at Bramshill Police College on a programme paid for with aid money from the Overseas Development Administration.

Indonesia is apparently counting on British-made water cannon and armoured personnel carriers having a sobering effect on the electorate who go to the polls on 29 May. After a display of Indonesian military hardware, including the British imports, on the streets of Jakarta in February this year, one of the government-controlled newspapers reported that "troops, supported by scores of armoured vehicles and British-made Scorpion tanks, helicopters, motorcycles and other vehicles will assure security and order during the elections in the Greater Jakarta area."

There are to be no rallies or public meetings during these elections, in which the opposition parties are strictly controlled by the Government. With the memory of last July still vivid, neither opposition party is expected to misbehave.

Reports of heavy-handed tactics used by security forces in the rest of Indonesia are nothing compared to the treatment meted out to occupied East Timor. At the weekend, two protesters were killed, dozens were injured and 60 arrested in the capital, Dili, for attempting to air their grievances to a visiting UN delegate.

These figures are the official ones; the reality is likely to be higher. These new deaths bring to well over 200,000 the number of Timorese killed since Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 -a third of the population.

Among the East Timorese, the British Aerospace Hawk fighter plane has become a symbol of the worse excesses carried out on the island. Konis Santana, leader of the East Timorese resistance army, claims British planes were responsible for killing hundreds in bombing raids carried out against villages which supported them in the late Seventies and Eighties. Mr Santana believes that "the war in East Timor would have taken another course if the Indonesians had not received military support from abroad, including the Hawks that Great Britain offered during the crucial period after the invasion."

He says the Indonesian air force no longer uses British jet fighters for bombing missions, but for intimidation, because the "Hawks killed so many people in bombing attacks in 1978 and 1979 that today, whenever people hear the noise of the Hawks flying, they are scared and the authorities know they will not dare leave their homes."

Defeated in the High Court this week, the arms campaigners are now arguing for a change in the law.

[Sue Lloyd-Roberts' report on British arms sales to Indonesia can be seen on Newsnight tonight at 10.30pm on BBC2.]

Report of the Special Rapporteur, Mr. Abid Hussain, pursuant to

East Timor Action Network - 4 February, 1997

By letter dated 26 April 1996, the Special Rapporteur, in a joint initiative with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, conveyed information to the Government concerning a confrontation between university students protesting a rise in transport fares and military personnel which had reportedly broken out in Ujung Pandang, Sulawesi, on 22 April 1996. On 24 April 1996, 212 students and members of the security forces were reportedly wounded, after the military entered 4 university campuses to quell the protests. In the course of the operations, some soldiers, after initially firing warning shots, allegedly fired directly at demonstrators, as a result of which some students received bullet wounds. At least three students, Andi Sultan, Syaiful and Adnan, died, allegedly after being subjected to severe beatings. A number of students were reportedly taken into custody, up to eight of whom were said to remain detained at the District Military Command in Ujung Pandang (26 April 1996).

By letter dated 10 May 1996, the Government replied that the demonstrations on 22 and 23 April 1996 held by university students against the hike in public transportation fares was peaceful and turned violent only on 24 April, when a number of students continued the demonstration and clashed with the Association of Public Transportation Drivers, who also held a demonstration aimed at demanding higher fares. The confrontation resulted in a number of injuries, material destruction and attacks on innocent bystanders resulting in injuries, by uncontrolled and aggressive students. In the attempt to restore public order, the security officers used rubber, not live bullets, tear-gas, water canons and other standard instruments. In the ensuing chaos, many students fled or jumped into the Pampang River. Three students, whose correct names are Szaiful Bya, Andi Sultan Iskandar and Tasrif were found drowned in the Pampang River the next day. It was further noted that on 25 April, the students gathered to roam around the city of Ujung Pandang, causing material damage, and not for the purpose of exercising the right to freedom of opinion. An investigation team was appointed on 27 April by the VII Military District Command to examine the manner in which security officers had dealt with the student demonstrators. The National Commission on Human Rights too sent an investigation team to Ujung Pandang and stated to the press in its preliminary conclusion that it regretted the incident and that there were leads pointing to possible irresponsible conduct by the security officers. The investigation team of the VII Military District Command concluded that a number of security officers were suspected of having acted irresponsibly. Twelve officers, including three senior officers and nine privates, were arrested and will face military court in May 1996. In this connection, the Chief of Staff for Political Affairs of the Armed Forces had publicly stated that the incident was indeed regrettable and should never have happened. Finally, it was noted that since the incident, peaceful demonstrations to show solidarity with the students of Ujung Pandang have taken place in many universities in Indonesia. These have neither been banned, interfered with nor repressed by the Government in any way.

The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government of Indonesia for the reply provided and the willingness shown to cooperate with the mandate. He would appreciate being informed of the motivation for any action taken against the security officers suspected of having acted irresponsibly.

International relations

US should sell F-16 jets to Jakarta: Powell

Straits Times - 25 March, 1997

Jakarta – The United States should set aside human-rights concerns and go ahead with the delayed sale of F-16 warplanes to Indonesia, former Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell was quoted as saying yesterday. The retired General Powell, on a tour of Asia, said human rights "should not be an overwhelming element in US arms sales", according to extracts from a speech carried by the Indonesian press.

He also criticised calls from two American congressmen that Washington halt aid because of Indonesia's clampdown on the opposition, saying such "punitive acts" would not be useful.

The US government wants to sell Indonesia nine F-16 fighter jets which were originally purchased by Pakistan in a deal blocked over Islamabad's nuclear policy.

However, the US Congress also blocked the sale to Indonesia because of its human-rights record and suppression of the opposition.

"I support the sale of the F-16s. Arms sales to Indonesia should be based on the entire agenda of issues between the United States and Indonesia, not on one single issue," said Gen Powell.

His comments came as Mr John Shattuck, US Undersecretary of State Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, arrived in troubled East Timor on a fact-finding trip which would include talks with Nobel laureate Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo.

The sale would be in line with US policy of providing weapons that can be used to defend against an external threat, but not against domestic opposition, Gen Powell said.

He has also said that the US bore responsibility for the controversy over Asian campaign contributions.

"The problem was not in Asia but in the US," he said. "What we should do is fix the way we finance our political campaigns and do it in such a way that it does not result in Asia-bashing." – AFP.

Politics

Investigators scrutinize Hubbell's ties to Riady

Washington Post - March 24, 1997

Susan Schmidt, Washington – Three months after he left his Justice Department job in disgrace in 1994, Webster Hubbell scheduled a 7 a.m. breakfast meeting in Washington with an old friend just in from Indonesia, James Riady.

A few hours after breakfast, Riady was at the White House, but not for long; Hubbell had his friend penciled in for a midday luncheon meeting at the elegant Hay-Adams hotel.

What Hubbell and Riady talked about, and what transpired in a flurry of meetings Riady had at the White House every day that week, are now at the heart of a mystery investigators are trying to unravel.

Hubbell's breakfast and lunch with Riady, the head of the Lippo Group, a multibillion-dollar Indonesia-based conglomerate, occurred June 23, 1994. That same month, according to knowledgeable sources, a Lippo subsidiary paid Hubbell $100,000. Little work, if any, was expected from Hubbell in return for the money, according to a source familiar with some of Lippo's activities. Investigators want to know whether the payment was intended purely to buy his silence.

The meetings and the money are just part of the mystery surrounding Hubbell and Lippo.

John Huang, the former Commerce Department official and Democratic National Committee fundraiser now at the center of a Justice Department inquiry into questionable campaign activities during last year's presidential contest, helped facilitate the $100,000 Lippo payment to Hubbell, according to the source with knowledge about the company's activities here. Huang's attorneys say their client did nothing improper.

Huang attended several of the White House meetings with Riady that June, including the June 23 White House session that Riady sandwiched in between breakfast and lunch with Hubbell. Two days before that, Riady met with President Clinton, administration officials said. That was just one of 25 visits Riady has made to the White House since Clinton was elected, records show.

Clinton spokesman Lanny Davis said he did not know who Riady saw at the White House each time he visited, but on June 23 he was in the company of Huang and Mark Grobmyer, a Little Rock, Ark., lawyer who has tried to put together several international trade deals, including some with Lippo. Davis could not confirm the reason for the White House visits by Riady and Grobmyer, but he said they appeared to be connected to a briefing on a think tank that studies the presidency.

Investigators in Congress, in the office of Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr and on the Justice Department task force created to examine questionable fundraising practices in the 1996 election campaigns are trying to learn more about the payment to Hubbell from Lippo. The Justice Department task force is focusing specifically on whether China tried to influence U.S. elections through Lippo and other companies.

Prosecutors are using grand juries here and in Little Rock to examine the Lippo payment to Hubbell. They are also scrutinizing about a dozen other payments he received after leaving the Justice Department. The payments, which exceeded $500,000, dwarfed Hubbell's $123,000 Justice Department salary. They also were made at a time when he was under intense pressure to provide information about Clinton and his wife to Starr's investigators.

Hubbell was forced to step down from his job as associate attorney general in April 1994 after his former colleagues at Little Rock's Rose Law Firm, where he was a partner with Hillary Rodham Clinton, accused him of stealing from his clients and the firm. In December 1994, Hubbell agreed to plead guilty to mail and tax fraud and pledged to cooperate in the Whitewater inquiry, cooperation prosecutors felt he never provided. Last month, Hubbell completed an 18-month jail term.

Line in the sand

Far Eastern Economic Review - 27 March, 1997

John McBeth, Jakarta – Just back from Germany in early February, Science and Technology Minister B.J. Habibie was summoned to a five-hour meeting with President Suharto. As the minister took notes in a book he habitually uses for presidential tete-a-tetes, Suharto railed against Muslim leader Amien Rais, whom he accused of making "subversive" statements. Rais, the president told his long-time confidant, was far more dangerous than his rival, Abdurrahman Wahid.

Within days, Rais had "resigned" as head of the board of experts of Habibie's Indonesian Association of Muslim Intellectuals, or ICMI, a controversial grouping formed in 1990 to channel Muslim aspirations into public policy. Accusing the government of paranoia, he later grumbled: "Some people can't distinguish between cats and tigers. I'm only a cat a thin cat."

Rais, who continues to head Muhammadiyah, a mass Islamic organization, is only the latest victim of a system where political Islam must toe the official line. While Suharto has reached out to Muslims in the past seven years, the unwritten law is that the dialogue has to stay within the parameters set by the president. In Muslim-majority Indonesia, Islam and politics can mix, but it is Suharto who decides by how much.

Another to have crossed Suharto's line in the sand is Sri Bintang Pamungkas, who was expelled in mid-1995 from his parliamentary seat by the Muslim-oriented United Development Party and then from the ICMI's board. Sri Bintang will soon go on trial for "unconstitutional activities." His crime: sending out Muslim greeting cards suggesting a boycott of the May 29 parliamentary elections. He already faces a 34-month jail term for "insulting" Suharto in a speech he made at a German university in 1995.

The upheaval in the ICMI and a symbolic reconciliation between Suharto and Wahid, leader of Nahdlatul Ulama, Muhammadiyah's larger rival, appears to have dealt Habibie and his radical-modernist Muslim allies a major setback. The minister's stock had already taken a tumble because of downsizing at his pet project, state-run aircraft manufacturer Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara, and his difficulties in selling the Natuna gas-field project to foreign investors. It took another beating on March 11 with his announcement that Indonesia's long-planned nuclear-power station may be delayed for 20 years.

Wahid has been a vocal critic of the ICMI since its inception, sharing the view of many military officers that it represents a potential threat to secularism as well as to his own stature as a religious voice of moderation. "This is the biggest blow to hit the ICMI," he said in an interview. "All the notions the radical modernists had of dominating political life here are gone. Now Habibie has to clean up the organization, ousting all the radicals from key positions. It has to be neutralized and sanitized."

Still, Wahid isn't sure what the recent turn of events means in a country where Islam's place in politics is still a hotly debated topic. "Is it a tactical adjustment?" he muses, "or does it represent a true shift in Suharto's views that Islam shouldn't be manipulated in a political way? You have to remember the president is a very astute player who keeps his cards close to his chest." What triggered Rais's demotion was a verbal attack he made on the Irian Jaya-based American mining firm Freeport Indonesia, and on the country's mining policy in general. He made the charges even as an unseemly scrap over East Kalimantan's giant Busang gold deposit was under way. His mistake may have been to describe the terms of current mining contracts as "unconstitutional," a charge sure to touch a raw nerve with Suharto because it goes to the heart of his political legitimacy.

Habibie later confided to some of his associates that while he had protected Rais from his critics in the past, he was not in a position to do so now. Certainly, Rais had alienated the authorities as far back as the 1980s, when his sympathies for the Iranian revolution led to accusations he was a Shia fundamentalist. That was a damaging label in a strongly Sunni-Muslim community.

Although perceptions about a change in Rais's tone in the early 1990s may have been enough to win him election as chairman of Muhammadiyah in 1995, it apparently hasn't been enough to get him off the military-intelligence watch list. "The military has always worried about Rais," says one well-placed source, familiar with thinking in the intelligence community. "He's considered much too nationalist to be a leader of such a large religious organization."

Corruption, democratic reforms and political term limits have remained the focus of Rais's sharp-edged rhetoric. Indeed, during the 1995 Muhammadiyah congress, Rais ally Syafi'e Marif shepherded a resolution through the organization's political commission calling for a limit of two five-year presidential terms. The measure was subsequently dropped during the plenary session when it failed to attract a consensus.

Analysts have been struck by the lack of any real reaction to Rais's demotion in the ICMI. But that might change if there is a move against him in Muhammadiyah itself, as some predict. "Muhammadiyah is not the PDI [the Indonesian Democratic Party], and if someone tried to intervene there as they did with PDI, then the trouble would be very serious," says respected Muslim scholar and ICMI founder-member Nurcholis Madjid, referring to the state-engineered downfall of PDI leader Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Rais, whom Nurcholis diplomatically describes as a "romantic," has his most ardent following among university students and young professionals. While he espouses the same democratic ideals as Wahid, their differences mirror the gulf that separates the two organizations. Largely urban-based and considered more orthodox than Wahid's Nahdlatul Ulama in its interpretations of the Koran, Muhammadiyah is dispersed mainly through Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi. The Nahdlatul Ulama's 35 million members, who follow a moderate creed, are concentrated in the rural heartland of Central and East Java.

If Rais's downfall was not anticipated, Wahid has manoeuvred shrewdly all the same. While he remains close to Megawati, his symbolically important handshake with Suharto last November marked the first contact between the two since he refused to endorse the president's re-election in 1993. That highly publicized meeting was followed in early February by a similar encounter with Suharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardijanti Rukmana, or Tutut, which insiders say was arranged through army chief Gen. Hartono.

In many ways, the imagery has served the purposes of both Wahid and Suharto. For the president and Tutut the latter one of the eight chairmen of the ruling Golkar Party it sends the message ahead of the parliamentary elections that all is well between the government and Indonesia's largest Muslim organization. For Wahid, whose religious credentials belie the skills of a consummate politician, it allows him to regain his stature as Islam's spokesman seemingly at the expense of Habibie and the ICMI.

Some analysts believe it was the closeness of the alliance between Wahid and Megawati in late 1995 which led to her being unseated from the PDI leadership. Wahid insists he was trying to prevent her from being overly influenced by the more radical elements in the PDI. "He can't be an opposition figure, he must be in the middle," explains Ulil Abshar Abdullah, a member of Nahdlatul Ulama's research and development board. "It's important to maintain the culture and the equilibrium of the organization, so to do that he has to play the pendulum game."

Although Suharto had nothing to do with the ICMI's actual conception, his patronage of the organization has allowed him to co-opt many of his critics. Whether it will survive him, however, remains an open question. Rais acknowledges the ICMI would never have been born if its leaders had not been in harmony with the government, but now he clearly feels the relationship has become too close for comfort. Nonetheless, he believes the ICMI will survive, "but in a different way."

Miscellaneous

British judge blocks attempt to prevent sales to Indonesia

ABC News - 26 March, 1997

A judge in Britain has blocked attempts to stop the government from selling military equipment to Indonesia. Judge John Laws says the campaign by three lobby groups was honourable, but purely political. The British government has given export permits for water cannon and armoured vehicles to Indonesia.

The lobby groups argued that the proposed sale violated British guidelines against arms sales to oppressive regimes. The case was brought by two British-based groups, World Development Movement and the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, and and an Indonesian body, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign, or TAPOL.