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ASIET Net News 50 – December 23-January 10, 1997
Lusa - January 6, 1998
Jakarta – Tens of Timorese students demonstrated on Monday in
Semarang, in the centre of Java, against the "police terrorism"
and the recent kidnappings of students and an university teacher.
Mariano Lopes, one of the Timorese student leaders told by phone
that the demonstration was held in front of the regional
parliament of Semarang, 400 km of Jakarta.
The demonstrators called for an end to a series of kidnappings of
students who were tortured before being released in an action
described as an intimidation manoeuvre.
They also demanded an explanation over the whereabouts of
university teacher Lucas da Costa who has been missing since 23
December from University of Surabaya where he has taught Social
Sciences.
Da Costa is the only Timorese university teacher in Indonesia and
heads a foundation that raises funds to support the education of
Timorese students.
The Indonesian authorities have cancelled the scholarships of the
students supported by the foundation as a reprisal for their
political activities.
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.
MateBEAN - December 22, 1997 (posted by ETISC)
Jember – The Association of East Timor Students (IMPETTU)
declared their support for East Timor Reconciliation and Unity
Movement, GRPRTT. All IMPETTU chairmen signed the declaration in
Jember, on 10 December 1997. Around four hundred East Timor
students attended the announce-ment of the declaration. They came
from different cities of Indonesia to com-memorate Human Rights
Day and Indonesian military invasion, 7 December 1975.
They also hailed and supported the hunger strike conducted by
Bandung and Jakarta students in the Indonesian Legal Aid
Foundation building complex, last 8 December 1997. As MateBEAN
reported before, the students were members of the so-called
Indonesian Popular Front (FPI) from Bandung and Jakarta-based
Nation-al Committee for the Struggle of Democracy. The hunger
strike was a protest and condemnation of the Indonesian military
invasion, 22 years ago.
They repeated some points declared on different campaigns in
Jakarta and other Java cities. For instance, they demanded the
presence of Maubere Resistance and East Timor younger generation
representatives in all meetings initiated by the UN Secretary
General.
They also strongly demanded the release of CNRM and FALINTIL
military leader, Xanana Gusmao and all East Timorese political
detainees. The declarat- ion, which is read by IMPETTU Jember
chairman as the host of the Nobel Cup II Competition, was also
condemned United Nation inconsistency on East Timor issues.
To clarify IMPETTU's support for GRPRTT, one of the chairmen
stated that GRPRTT need to be supported by all people who love
peace and wanted East Timor problem to be solved promptly. He
reminded the fact that the organization is fighting for a
referendum regarding East Timor people's rights to self-
determination. CNRM speaker, Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta, had stated
such proposal, and known as the "CNRM Peace Plan".
"We must support such organization, not contrarily, supported
Garda Paksi or Pemuda Pancasila who always terrorize East Timor
people," said the IMPETTU leader who wanted to remain unknown.
GRPRTT is a new organization formed by East Timor informal
leaders. Its aim is to seek alternative problem solving of the 22
years old East Timor is-sue. Most of the founders are former
high-ranking government leaders such as regents and Parliament
members. They came from different political backgrounds. Some are
from the Uniao Democratica de Timor (UDT), the second biggest
politic-al party after FRETILIN. Some also came from Asociacao
Popular Democratica de Timor (APODETI), the party which was being
used by Indonesian military intelligence to support military
invasion and East Timor anexation.
People believed that the arrest of GRPRTT leader, Manuel
Carrascalo, is imminent. He is the older brother of former
Governor of East Timor and then Indonesian ambassador to the
Republic of Rumania, Mario Viegas Carrascalao. He was also ex-
member of parliament from Golkar. Some Indonesian mass media re-
ported that the Government has issued an arrest warrant for him.
According to BBC London, political rumors circulated in Dili
said, that the Governor of East Timor, Abilio Osorio was behind
this plot.
Meanwhile, in Australia, Manuel Carrascalao commented to the
chances of his arrest in a cool atmosphere. Although he knew that
Abilio Osorio has a limited knowledge of his organization, the
possibility of an arrest is a po-litical risk he had calculated
before. Whatever will happen, he is ready for it and he surely do
not want to back off, let alone running away from East Timor.
"I will return to East Timor and live there until the day I die,"
said Manuel Carrascalao to BBC London.
Political/economic crisis
Labour issues
Human rights/law
Social unrest
Economy and investment
Miscellaneous
East Timor
Timorese students demonstrate in Java
IMPETTU supports GRPRTT
East Timorese accused of helping a fugitive to hide
MateBEAN - December 31, 1997
Semarang – Central Java Prosecutor's High Office had arrested Gil Paulo da Silva (23, an IMPETTU Solo member. He was accused of helping one East Timor "terrorist" suspected as one of the bomb- makers unintentionally exploded in Demak a few months ago. He was accused of breaking Article 169 paragraph 1 and Article 221 paragraph 1e of the Indonesian Criminal Law.
Halius Hoesen, SH, the Assistant District Attorney for General Crime said it officially to six IMPETTU student activists came to visit his office in Semarang, Monday 29 December 1997. According to the regulation, Gil, arrested since November 1997, will be released on Thursday 29 December 1997.
"The Prosecutor's High Office have the right to arrest a suspect for 40 days only. In Gil's case, no legal basis can prolong his arrest and he will be released soon," said Hoesen. According to him, Gil was arrested because he helped the wounded bomb-maker Joao Bosco, who ran away from Demak and hid him in Solo. "Joao is a fugitive and included on the Most Wanted list," he added.
Written on Gil's official file is a series of accusations. He was accused as being a member of an illegal criminal organization called the PST, Perkumpulan Sosialis Timur (East Socialist Association), breaking public order and helping to hide a suspected criminal.
Hoesen also stated that the four East Timor youths arrested by the Central Java Prosecutor's High Office and suspected as the Demak bomb-makers, had been officially declared as defendants. The four defendants are Domingos Natalino (22), Joaquin Santana (23), Femao Pedro (22) dan Ivo Salvador.
Up to this moment, the files of the four defendants are still in the Attorney's Office. They are scheduled to stand for trial in Semarang Court, mid-January 1998.
The Attorney's Office had ordered Retno SH, Harnoto SH, Gafar SH and Monita SH as prosecutors for the scheduled trial.
MateBEAN - December 22, 1997
Manatuto – A Red Beret military unit, infamously known as Kopassus had arbitrarily arrested Elias Soares (18), on 8 December 1997, with no clear reasons at all. The primary school graduate from Vemassa Sub-district, Bacau, was on his way from Vemassa to Dili. Until MateBEAN posted the news today, there was still no clues of his whereabouts and destiny.
Eyewitnesses told MateBEAN, there is a small chanceElias will be back home again. "Let him come home safely, there is small hope for poor Elias to be alive. Just do not ask a man's destiny if the Red Beret was the one behind the arrest. The chance to disappear without a trace is bigger," said him sadly.
The people of East Timor know Kopassus as "assassinos" or Merciless Hit Men. If a relative was known to be in the hands of the Red Beret (commanded by the President's son in law Major General Prabowo), they'd rather choose to pray for the safety of his soul than for his body. If by luck he came home, he is more dead than alive, regarding the brutal tortures he had experienced. Most of the victims become insane, or in a state of heavy mental depression.
Meanwhile, there was no solution yet in East Timor University's academic activity stagnation. A meeting between the students with the chairman of Loro Sae Foundation, Haribowo, had not given any conclusion yet. "It is said that the management will announce their final decision, yesterday; but nothing happened yet," commented an UNTIM student.
As we have known before, the management temporarily stopped academic activity, following a strike by UNTIM lecturers who protested the brutality of Army and Police troops on the bloody 14 November 1997. Unofficial sources reported at least one death toll.
Irish Times - January 3, 1998
David Shanks – A fist fight in the car-park of St Anthony's College, Oxford, over that distant land alerted me to the length of Indonesia's surveillnace shadow.
Dr Jose Ramos Horta was speaking inside his old college. But outisde East Timorese studens attacked an Indonesian agnet who had earlier tried to disrupt Dr Horta's lecture - as others had his address the previous nigth to the Oxford Union. Two men, believed to be from the Indonesian embassy had taunted the Timorese by threatening thier families in occupied Timor. A similar incident occured in Vancouver at the Apec summit last year attended by the Indonesian dictatorship, President Suharto. It confirmed speculation that Indonesian dipolmats do indeed abuse their priveliges in foreign countries by acting as agents provaceteurs. Canadian police arrested two of them and stripped them of their summit credentials.
Indonesians also regularly shadow the other Timorese Nobel winner, Bishop Ximines Carlos Belo moved from his hotel in Dun Laoghaire to a religious house in Dublin after his minder noticed that two Javanese-looking gentlemen, who had been on his plane from London also checked into his hotel.
On the fringe of the Oxford lecture, documents were passed out extolling the virtues of the illegal 1976 "integration" of East Timor with Indonesia, attacking Dr Horta's sense of democratic openess and urging "reconciliation" among the divided Timorese.
Quivering with anger, a young Timorese Oxford student said: "They torture and kill our families and then they have the nerve to come here and talk about reconciliation."
The Irish Times - January 3, 1997
David Shanks, Dublin – The East Timorese resistance to illegal Indonesian rule has called for an indefinite unilateral ceasefire in the former Protuguese colony.This reflects diplomatic suggestions from Western leaders to the resistence to lessen tensions with a so far intransigent Indonesia and to offer an "olive branch."
The almost 30 year Indonesian "New Order" dictatorship is suffering from a south-east Asian economic crisis. An East Timorese generation that was hardly born at the time of the 1975 invasion continues opposition to Indonesian military rule. Its confrontational spirit is born essentially of experience, as is a change of heart by former integrationist Timorese aristocrats. Both have encountered security force violence or threats like that visited regurarly on a pro-democracy movement in Indoensia.
Timor's Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Dr Jose Ramos Horta, told The Irish Times yesterday he is trying to avoid any confrontational public statement that "would add fuel to the fire". There is a diplomatic chess game in progress - but it is aimed at getting Indonesia to play.
For the first time the rebel commander, Mr Konis Santana, has joined a ceasefire call by Dr Ramos Horta, the East Timrese resistence spokesman abroad. Mr Santana is awaiting an Indonesian reply to a letter proposing this through Nelson Mandela of South Africa, who has been acting as a mediator.
Dr Ramos Horta this week urged Indonesia to release all political prisoners, stop human rights abuses and reduce and reduce troop levels, which he has said are as high as 30,000.
In a New Year message he appealed to all involved in the resistance – fighters, youths, students, the diaspora – to observe a ceasefire. "The resistancce, if it is to serve its own cause and purpose, must observe a complete cessation of all armed activity that can give rise to Indonesian use of force," he said.
Dr Jamsheed Marker, the UN Secretary-General's special envoy, made his second visit to East Timor just before Christmas. He has told the Irish Times that both sides basically want to settle, in the words of the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Mr Ali Alatas, has been " pebble in the shoe". Dr Marker, a wily former senior Pakistani diplomat, did not specify a time-frame. Military activity in East Timor has increased since election violence last May and June, with 42 membrs of the security forces, rebels and civilians killed. This week four East Timorese were sentenced to 12 years in jail because of rebel attacks, and earlier two others were sentenced to death after being convicted of teking part in an ambush in which 12 policemen and a soldier died.
The rebels went on an offensive against "no-choice elections". But the escalation of violence led to more suffering for the people. Dr Ramos Horta, briefly foeign minister of an indepedent East Timor, now hopes that taking the "high moral ground" will put pressure on the United States and Britain and send a message "at this time of crisis" for Indonesia.
At the Vancouver APEC summit last year President Clinton raised the East Timor question with President Suharto. Mr Mandela prevailed on the Indonesian leader to make the goodwill gesture of allowing him to have dinner woth the imprisoned Timorese rebel leader, Xanana Gusmao. Timor is "a major issue for Robin Cook", the Biritsh Foreign Secretary, Dr Ramos Horta told The Irish Times.
"The oligarchies of south-east Asia are now using the smae policies and arguments as the old Soviet Union...They talk of 'Asian values' as if Asians don't have the same right to good government and dignity as people elsewhere.
"Asian values are not a code for 'development' but a short handed way of saying 'get your nose out of governmnet but keep it in our business'." Dr Ramos-Horta believes that "freedom for East Timor is in sight". Only the wisdom of Indonesia" is required.
Jose Ramos Horta Christmas message - December 24, 1997
The new year, 1998, will begin with a shattered myth. The so- called engine of economic growth in Asia – the "economic miracle" for the past 30 years that dazzled the developed world – is grinding to a halt.
The harsh truths of the explosive growths of the ASEAN countries and East Asia is now out in the open. Unbridled borrowings by companies controlled by cronies of ruling elites, as economies boomed in Asia, is the main reason behind the region's financial turmoil. Much of the vast amounts of borrowed money had been spent on speculative property developments, prestige projects and unneeded factories. Thailand, Indonesia, and now South Korea, the world's 11th largest economy, have had to ask the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for emergency loans. Malaysia's economy looks increasingly shaky. Even Japan, the world's largest economy after the United States, seems vulnerable.
In order to qualify for IMF bailouts, the countries affected will have to implement very strict financial reforms. To sustain these reforms, there has to be a social consensus behind them. This is unlikely if those seen as the culprits are bailed out, while tough fiscal and monetary policies plunges many innocent people in ASEAN and East Asia into hardship and unemployment.
In Indonesia, the process of economic collapse that is under way strikes at the core of the Suharto regime's legitimacy. For many years, Indonesian elites and their foreign backers have argued that lack of freedom and authoritarianism were necessary prices to pay for economic development. The prices paid by Indonesians during the last thirty years were high. Exploitation, oppression and exclusion from political participation were prevalent. In addition, natural resources have been depleted and the environment seriously damaged. Wealth has been distributed in an extremely unequal manner, and traditional social structures destroyed.
In this time of crisis in Indonesia, I, one of the Suharto regime's most hated persons, have urged the US administration to provide strategic leadership and vision to help rescue the economies of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea. Of all leaders in the region, the one that deserves most support today is South Korea's President-elect Kim Dae-jung as he and his people are the embodiment of the struggle for freedom and democracy in the Asia-Pacific.
As austerity measures taken by governments bite, there is greater potential for social and political unrest in several countries, as frustration builds not only against foreigners and the IMF but their own governments as well. And instability in Indonesia is not in anyone's interest in the region.
The financial debacle in the region, also, debunks the so-called Asian values touted by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and other regional leaders like Suharto, Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Chok Tong and Jiang Zemin. They claim that in the Asian paradigm, values such as consensus and stability trump individual rights and freedom, and they argue that the United States and the European Union have no right to judge the humanitarian affairs of other nations.
These Asian leaders claim that in order to further development, a strong state is needed to guide, organise and protect business the way the Japanese government did in the 1950s and 60s, and the way the governments of Taiwan and South Korea aided development in the 1970s and 80s. These nations, claim leaders like Mahathir and Lee Kuan Yew, once they reached a point at which they were considered "developed", were able to further democracy by holding free and open presidential elections (as in Taiwan and South Korea), or by relaxing some bureaucratic regulations, as Japan did in the early 1980s.
But, I must ask, to what end is development in view of the financial turmoil in the region that is testing the mettle of long-time leaders like Suharto and Mahathir Asian values are not a code for "development", but a short-handed way of saying "get your nose out of our government, but keep it in our business." Unfortunately that business, now, has been shown to be thriving on corruption, nepotism and lack of accountability.
Now is the time for the international community to push for a strategic vision in ASEAN which incorporates political reforms such as democracy, respect for human rights, rule of law, transparency and accountability. These have been lacking for decades, and are some of the causes of collapse of the "Tiger Economies".
Asians do take freedoms, whenever given the opportunity, like suffrage and speech, very seriously. Events in The Philippines in 1986, South Korea in 1987, Burma in 1990 – where Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won the majority of seats in the junta-controlled elections – and Cambodia in 1993 point to that fact.
The international community, now, more than ever, must give full support to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in her struggle for political change in the country. The people of ASEAN are sympathetic to Suu Kyi and they do want to see a government in Burma that is accountable and has the support of the Burmese people. On the contrary, however, ASEAN governments have chosen to ignore their people's wishes and are, sadly, together with China undermining peace and stability within the region by promoting ties with the Burmese military regime. I support the US ban on new investment, by American companies, in Burma. In imposing trade sanctions against Burma, the US has made clear that it regards any association with the SLORC regime as fundamentally and morally wrong. The brutal suppression of the Burmese people must not be sustained through trade and I, also, call for a consumer boycott against all foreign companies trading in Burma.
Examining other, decidedly, Asian nations further erodes the myth of Asian values. Japan is a democracy, and South Korea and Taiwan are slowly but surely making the transition to democracy, undermining the idea that Asian values are perpetually Asian.
Recent events in South Korea seem to augur well for democracy in Asia. For the first time in half a century, a veteran dissident and former political prisoner, Kim Dae-jung, won the presidential elections. Mr Kim's win ends an era of machine politics and marks the first peaceful transfer of power, in South Korea, to the opposition.
The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for my country, East Timor – which in ASEAN is a test of will between the forces of democracy and dictatorship, and between the forces of right and wrong. Xanana Gusmao, of whom I am a personal representative of is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Indonesia – a foreign land. In East Timor, it is the victims and not the abusers of human rights and international law who are treated by the Indonesian state as suspects. Also in East Timor, it is not the aggressors, the oppressors and the butchers of men who stand in the courts of justice. Tragically, it is the defenders of the principles of freedom and democracy.
Torture is still common, systematic and widespread. Hundreds of East Timorese have been arrested by the Indonesian authorities in the last 12 months and hundreds, too, have fled the country. There is a war in East Timor. Innocent victims suffer every day and the Suharto regime and Indonesian military seem immune to criticism. Recent smuggled photographs, from East Timor, of young East Timorese women who at the hands of Indonesian soldiers were in the process of suffering torture, humiliation, rape and finally death, depict even worse atrocities. And these atrocities in East Timor have to be stopped.
The economic crisis that Indonesia is currently experiencing, in the midst of the financial debacle in the region, confirms my long-standing hope that sooner or later the Suharto regime will not have the means to continue on in East Timor. As Indonesia faces a critical future, with Suharto's rule coming to an end, Indonesia can hardly afford the economic, and diplomatic costs of the ongoing occupation of my country. I'm encouraged by the moves of the US Administration and the UK, but more is needed to push Indonesia to cut its losses in East Timor.
While ASEAN leaders, today, may pretend that East Timor is a non-issue, international public opinion, however, has dramatically changed around the world – one year after the award of the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Peace Prize has given much needed boost for the East Timorese fight for self-determination and during the year that is now ending, I have spoken to audiences of thousands in all continents.
I have met with senior US administration officials, various Heads of State and Government, almost every Foreign Minister in the European Union, including three times the new UK Foreign Secretary Robin Cook in the last six months. The UK assumes presidency of the EU in 1998 and I welcome Mr Cook's support for a European code of conduct on the sale of arms. The Asia-Pacific region is the fastest growing arms market and Indonesia is second only to China in the arms build-up.
A recently established Commission of Nobel Laureates has urged governments to adopt an International Code of Conduct on Arms Transfers. The Code would require that all arms recipients meet certain criteria, namely compliance with international human rights standards, humanitarian law, respect for democratic rights and the rule of law. We are conscious that what we are proposing does not go far enough. However, we believe that the adoption of such a Code could contribute to peace in the world.
I can clearly see that there is a distinct change of perception, coupled, with a new political will to address the East Timor conflict. Clear evidence of this comes from the dedicated efforts throughout the year by the UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan, and his Special Representative Jamsheed Marker, as well as the attention given to the issue by South Africa's President Nelson Mandela.
One cause for optimism in East Timor's struggle is the changing situation within Indonesia itself. Pro-democracy and human rights groups are speaking out more and more on the issue of East Timor, linking the oppression there to that which exists under Suharto, in Indonesia. I salute these brave Indonesian activists who are willing to risk jail and persecution for being in solidarity with the East Timorese people.
In the global changes that have followed the end of the Cold War, possibilities for peace in East Timor should now be seriously explored. If a movement towards durable peace is to begin in East Timor, the starting point must be the development of incentives for parties in the conflict to stop the war.
Indonesia must improve the situation in the territory. Prisoners need to be released, the widespread human rights violations must stop, troop reduction must be implemented. Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, my fellow Nobel laureate, has made a dramatic appeal to Indonesia through the UN to put an end to violence and torture. Such steps would go a long way to improve the situation. They could be followed by local autonomy and eventually a referendum on self-detrermination under UN auspices to determine the final status of the territory. There must also be a cessation of all armed activity in East Timor. The twenty-two-year-old conflict in East Timor can come to an end if the two main parties engaged in armed violence in the territory are inspired by the higher interest of peace and the well-being of the people. In this context, I wish to make a most emphatic appeal to the Resistance leaders in East Timor, the freedom fighters in the mountains, the clandestine network, the youths and students, as well as to all those who are directly or indirectly involved in this noble struggle to resist any temptation to engage in armed violence. The Resistance, if it is to serve its own cause and purpose, must observe a complete cessation of all armed activity that can give rise to Indonesia's use of force.
Violence begets violence. There is violence, for instance, in Algeria because the Islamic fundamentalists there have chosen that path to further their ends. Fundamentalism, with Islamic autocrats having their own interpretation of the Koran, is certainly a threat to the universality of human rights and democracy. In the same light, I condemn the recent violence in Mexico's Chiapas state where 45 Mayan Indians, suspected of sympathising with the Zapatista National Liberation Army, were slaughtered by paramilitary units.
In Latin America, Colombia remains the most violent country with an estimated 40,000 deaths a year, 30 per cent of which are political assassinations. In my recent visit to that country I, however, also encountered the most inspiring movement for peace and democracy. I was moved and I offered my fullest support to the brave Colombian people in their struggle for peace, democracy and the rule of law.
The world has changed dramatically and in two years time we will be approaching the next millennium. Our friend Nelson Mandela is the living proof that nothing is irreversible, no regime is eternal and empires do not last forever. Only 10 years ago, not too many would have imagined Mandela would one day emerge as the President of the new South Africa. He now has handed over the reins of the African National Congress – the party that led South Africa from apartheid to nonracial democracy – to Thabo Mbeki, thus ushering in a new era in South African politics. I wish Mr Mbeki the best in his future undertakings.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama reminds us that no matter what part of the world we come from, fundamentally we are all the same human beings. All of us human beings want freedom and the right to determine our own destiny as individuals, says the Dalai Lama. I fully agree with His Holiness. Freedom for East Timor is in sight.
MateBEAN - December 24, 1997 (posted by ETISC)
Surabaya – MateBEAN sources have tracked the identity of the four East Timor students and two other graduates kidnapped in Surabaya on Sunday 12 December 1997.
Romualdo Amaral, a graduate from Aditama Institute of Technology (ITATS) and Antonio Lopez, a graduate student majoring in philosophy. Other three students, Jose H da Silva, Henrique da Conceicao and Pascal de Carvalho were from Dharma Cendika University, Surabaya, and the last one was Nelson Carvalho, a student from Untag, Surabaya.
The kidnapping happen at 17.00 in the students' rented house, Manyar Sabrangan Street No. IX/42-A, Surabaya. Ten masked kidnappers rushed into their house driving two jeeps. They locked two girls, who happen to be with the stu- dents in the rented house, in a room. Holding pistols with silencer, the kid- nappers tossed the blindfolded six students into their jeeps. On the way, the kidnappers beat and threatened the students.
After driving for a while, apparently in a certain place along the Gresik toll highway, they released the students at 02.00 in the morning on 22 December 1997. They gave the students Rp 60,000 and asked them not to say any-thing to anybody, especially the press. One of the kidnappers confessed, they had been paid to kill the students.
The Executive Board members of East Timor Students Association (IM- PETTU) had met the Police Precinct Chief and the Local Military Resort Com- mander this morning, for confirmation. The officers in charge received them reluctantly. The military chief said the students could not sue the armed forces because they did not have enough proof and could not recognize the kidnappers.
Maybe East Timor students have to pass Christmas and year's end with cautious atmosphere to face a new modus operandi of terrorism. The students suspected the kidnapping as a witch-hunt operation by the military intelligence on their effort to crack down clandestine activities of the so-called Brigada Negra. They wanted to arrest blacklisted East Timor students who are believed to be the masterminds of Brigada Negra operations. After the Demak Bomb Exp- losion incident, the military intensified surveillance against East Timor stu- dents' activities in big cities of Java and Bali.
MateBEAN - December 23, 1997 (posted by ETISC)
Surabaya – Unknown security officers arrested four East Timor students in Surabaya on Sunday 21 December 1997. MateBEAN source from Surabaya stated that only one out of four students was identified yet. His name is Romualdo Amaral Soares (36), a newly graduated student of ITATS Surabaya, majoring in industrial management.
The other three are still unknown except that they are students from a private university in Surabaya, Dharma Cendika University. The source knew only two nicknames, Anino, and Aqua.
It was still unclear, whether the kidnappers were from the military or police. The reason of the kidnapping was still unknown. "I am certain only on what I saw. They were heavy-built people with crewcut hairstyle," said a witness. East Timor students in Surabaya had made efforts to know the whereabouts of their friends but still had no answer.
These last months, the military, especially intelligence units, have intensified their surveillance on East Timor students' activities in big cities of Java and Bali. It seems that they were on a witchhunt for certain East Timorese believed to have connection with Demak Bomb Explosion Incident.
Meanwhile in Dili, UNTIM students still do not know when academic activities begin. Meetings between the chairman of Loro Sae Foundation, J. Haribowo (also the vice-governor of East Timor) with UNTIM's lecturers still being conducted at a slow pace and it seems there is still no agreement reached yet.
University management stopped academic activities following the bloody 14 December Incident, where military and police SWAT attacked UNTIM students and damaged university buildings. Shortly afterwards, UNTIM lecturers went into a strike as a protest to the incident. The students also wanted to meet Duke Duarte from Portugal.
| Political/economic crisis |
Far Eastern Economic Review - January 8, 1998
Salil Tripathi, Jakarta – When it comes to cronyism, few can match Indonesia's first family. The six children of President Suharto seem to have a finger in every corporate pie, thanks to the myriad contracts, equity stakes and exclusive licences handed them over the years.
But as the Suharto era enters its twilight, many – not least the children themselves – are wondering what will happen to their gravy trains once father finally departs. They recently got a hint: Rumours that the 76-year-old president was ill or dead sent the Jakarta stock exchange's main index plunging 20% in mid- December. Significantly, two companies owned by Suharto children fared even worse: Toll-road operator Citra Marga Nusaphala Persada plunged 39%; infrastructure company Bimantara Citra 54%. The main index later recovered most of its lost ground, but the two Suharto-family shares stayed put.
This does not bode well for the gravy train. Suharto, unchallenged for 30 years but increasingly feeble, has no clear successor. Most Jakarta brokerages are uncomfortable with Suharto-related companies, believing they will suffer more than others when the president leaves the scene. Few first-family businesses are listed; most thrive largely on government contracts that a future president could easily revoke. What's more, without their father the children would lose much of the power by which they force themselves into various companies. Where they have only meagre investments in ventures already past the approvals stage, they could be easy prey.
"The toll roads are already built, the maintenance costs are low, and such projects would be extremely attractive to foreign investors," says a research director with a foreign securities house in Jakarta. "Replacing the Suharto children won't be difficult."
For the moment, however, it's business as usual at Suharto Inc. First-family companies have resisted the strictures of a financial crisis that has forced Indonesia into the arms of the International Monetary Fund and brought many firms close to default on foreign debt. The IMF wants Indonesia to scale back big infrastructure projects. Slashing capital imports would help narrow the trade deficit and take pressure off the rupiah, which has plunged more than 50% against the U.S. dollar since the crisis began in mid-August.
But austerity doesn't always suit Suharto business interests. On December 26, for instance, state-run electricity company Perusahaan Listrik Negara, or PLN, signed a 20-year deal to buy power from Consolidated Electric Power Asia, a subsidiary of Hong Kong's Hopewell group. The agreement covers the $1.8 billion Tanjung Jati C power station backed by Suharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardijanti Rukmana (or "Tutut"). Middle daughter Siti Hedijanti Herijadi ("Titiek"), meanwhile, got her own power project, Tanjung Jati A, removed from a list of projects earmarked for postponement.
The two units are going ahead despite World Bank reservations that they will leave Indonesia with more power than it needs or can afford. (Indonesia pays for the electricity in dollars.) Hopewell Chairman Gordon Wu says he has secured financing, but more debt is the last thing Indonesia needs right now.
Other Suharto children are equally willing to defy inconvenient policy. A month ago, the Finance Ministry enraged second son Bambang Trihatmodjo by closing Bank Andromeda, in which he had a 25% stake. The ministry said Bank Andromeda, like 15 other banks, was undercapitalized and overburdened by bad loans. Bambang first threatened to sue the ministry, then settled for reincarnating the lender as Bank Alfa. "Everything at the bank is the same except for stationery," says a Jakarta-based broker. As a former member of parliament laments: "This is so embarrassing, and there is no one surrounding the president who can tell that to Suharto."
Yet the Suharto children's free ride may be slowing, partly because of the financial crisis, partly because long-simmering resentments are starting to surface. Jakarta-based businessmen say that while having the Suhartos aboard can guarantee smooth sailing through Indonesia's bureaucracy, their role is often minimal. Says a consultant: "All they invest is their namecard."
A namecard may no longer be enough. The financial crisis is already making it easier for bureaucrats, business partners, credit-rating agencies and analysts to rebuff Suharto-family interests. Under the terms of its $33 billion IMF bailout, Indonesia must open public-works projects to competitive bidding, depriving the Suhartos of their inside track. In another sign of the times, a local credit-rating agency has downgraded Sempati Air, a private carrier run by youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra ("Tommy").
Local opinion-makers are also speaking out. Economist and opposition figure Kwik Kian Gee has publicly criticized the existence of BPPC, a clove-trading monopoly started by son Tommy. Even some state-run companies are fed up, and saying so. National oil company Pertamina disclosed in November that Tommy's Sempati Air owes it $3.5 million. (Sempati officials declined to be interviewed.)
Some bureaucrats too have become bolder. Djiteng Marsudi, president-director of PLN, the power utility, complained to parliament in December of constant intervention by "outsiders" – an apparent euphemism for the first family – who are forcing more power projects on the country than it can handle.
Quietly, Jakarta's technocrats have put some Suharto-affiliated toll-road projects in Java on hold, and they have scrapped an ambitious plan by daughter Titiek to build a bridge between Sumatra and Malaysia. State banks are also in revolt. Most have signed on for Tommy's $690 million national-car loan, but are dragging their feet about coughing up cash. Likewise with Tutut's unfinished triple-deck road and monorail project in Jakarta. The banks' reluctance is partly because there's little money to lend.
The Suharto children may be getting the message. Analysts say some of them realize that they need to consolidate and professionalize their businesses. Bambang's Bimantara group has progressed furthest, say analysts, who rate the group's Satelindo mobile-phone operator highly.
Still, when Suharto finally goes will the knives come out for his pampered children? At least one economist says Suharto's fear of a Korea-type reprisal is what keeps him from relinquishing power. Others say revenge is not part of the Indonesian character (although the bloody purge of suspected communists that brought Suharto to power gives pause for thought). The children themselves seem to be counting on the views of people like political scientist Dewi Fortuna Anwar, who says: "We need reforms, not revenge."
Even when their father is gone, the Suharto children won't be entirely without leverage. They have formed an intricate web of business alliances with virtually every major player in Indonesia – chiefly the Salim, Barito, Napan and Mulia groups. Bambang and Tommy have business ties with the armed forces, for which one of daughter Tutut's ventures procures equipment. And the president's half-brother Probosutedjo, a critic of "Chinese dominance" in Indonesia's economy, has nonetheless formed alliances with Chinese businesses.
For all that, their best protection may be the very culture of corporate Indonesia. Says a Western research director: "This is such a corrupt country that no pot can call the other kettle black."
Far Eastern Economic Review - January 8, 1998
Margot Cohen, Jakarta – The rupiah has plunged and urban unemployment is up. Hard times for Indonesia – and hard times call for courage, not caution. That was the message hammered home on December 28, when an unprecedented gathering of Muslim leaders and intellectuals rejected the prospect of a seventh term for 76-year-old President Suharto.
Bold demands for political change were greeted with applause and cries of "God is Great!" from nearly 1,000 people packing the ballroom of a Jakarta hotel. The event drew well-known figures from mainstream Muslim organizations, as well as some individuals from the Indonesian Association of Muslim Intellectuals. The association, commonly known by its Indonesian acronym ICMI, was established in 1990 under the patronage of Research and Technology Minister B.J. Habibie.
The meeting was a clear sign that Suharto is losing his grip on the constituency of "modernist" urban Muslims who served as an important new source of support for him in the early 1990s. These urban Muslims could, in turn, swell the ranks of Indonesia's struggling pro-democracy forces, analysts say. Although the ruling Golkar party has assiduously wooed both urban and rural Muslims, the silent compliance of both groups can no longer be taken for granted in the wake of the economic crisis.
"Are we going to wait for a series of even bigger disasters to convince us that the status quo should no longer be preserved?" charged Amien Rais, chairman of Muhammadiyah, which counts 25 million members nationwide. He accused the Suharto government of breeding "corruption, collusion, nepotism, greed and moral degeneration" and denounced "those who act solely in the interests of themselves and their families" – a clear allusion to Suharto's children and their business empires.
The gathering was ostensibly organized by the Muslim weekly magazine Ummat to present 53-year-old Rais with its "Man of the Year" award. Rais's popularity soared after he was pressured to resign from the ICMI leadership due to his outspoken criticism of the large Freeport mine in Irian Jaya and the now-bust Busang gold rush. Recently, Rais has even offered himself as a candidate for president – an idea loudly endorsed by the gathering.
More broadly, the award ceremony seemed calculated to raise the volume of Muslim protest and forge new solidarity between rival Muslim groups. "We don't want to count ourselves among the generation of dwarves who rely on language that is monotone, uniform and utterly lacking in alternatives," declared Ummat's assistant editor, M. Syafi'i Anwar. Notably absent from the meeting was Abdurrahman Wahid, the influential chairman of the 35-million-member Nahdlatul Ulama. However, Wahid later said in an interview that he supports Rais's efforts. "In my opinion, he has a vital role to play in the political education of our people," Wahid said. "I really wish that the candidacy would develop into a big snowball that would ruin anyone else's candidacy."
Such enthusiasm may seem surprising to those who recall Wahid's past quarrels with Rais. While Wahid has made efforts to reach out to non-Muslims, Rais is remembered for his objections to the "over-representation" of Christians in government. But Rais's speech at the meeting stressed the importance of national unity, and was bolstered by the endorsement of Catholic theologian Franz Magnis-Suseno.
The hard part will be translating this nascent solidarity into a concrete vision for the future. Concludes political scientist Hikam Muhammad A.S.: "Unless you have a common platform, the so- called turning point will not happen."
BBC World Service - 8 January 1998
Shops in Jakarta are reporting panic buying by people worried about price rises after another days sharp falls in the value of the rupiah. Some shops have closed altogether because they have run out of stock. The rupiah fell to a record low level, ending down eighteen per cent. Currency dealers say a lack of coherent response from the government, together with reports that the IMF may re-consider its aid package to Indonesia, are continuing to damage investor confidence in the economy. This report from Jonathan Head:
Queues of people have been lining up in supermarkets across the Indonesian capital, pushing shopping trolleys piled high with food and other goods. The collapse of Indonesia's currency to around one quarter of its value six months months ago is starting to cause panic as people try to spend their money before it falls any further.
Shops selling imported goods say they are running out of stock because suppliers wont accept payment in rupiahs. Some shops in up-market shopping malls have closed down altogether. Even the costs of some basic produces like rice and cooking oil are rising sharply.
One financial analyst said there is now a real danger of hyper- inflation as prices continue to escalate and people lose all confidence in the rupiah. Remarkably there has been no response from the government since President Suharto presented the annual budget two days ago.
The budget failed to impress the markets, making what most analysts said were over-optimistic predictions about the economy. They say the government must come up with far-reaching economic and political reforms if it wants to persuade investors to bring their funds back to Indonesia. So far there is no sign that it is ready to do so.
A team from the IMF is due to arrive in Jakarta at the weekend for scheduled talks with Indonesian officials. The market will be watchning closely for any indication that the IMF may be re- thinking the terms of the massive aid package offered to Indonesian last October - a package that has so far failed to restore confidence in the economy.
The Guardian - January 8, 1998
John Aglionby, Jakarta – Demands for an end to President Suharto's 32 years of autocratic rule and outbreaks of social disorder are the signs of increasing political discontent in Indonesia. The government's inability to control the free-falling currency and economic crisis is fuelling opposition and media demands for what would be only the second change of leader in Indonesia's 52 years of independence.
Leading the way is Amien Rais, a staunch government critic and chairman of the 28 million-strong Muslim organisation Muhammadiyah. He believes the only way to rekindle domestic and international confidence is a change in the March 10 presidential election. "Look around us, no one is investing here," he said. "The only way to turn the situation around is to break the status quo. And the only way to do that is to replace Suharto."
Mr Rais points to rising prices, mounting bankruptcies and escalating unemployment which has risen by up to 4 million in the past few months. "If millions of people are hungry, unrest will surely follow. And people will no longer put up with another five years of Suharto repressing them."
Discontent is already apparent. On Monday hundreds of shops and cars were damaged by thousands of rioters in the West Java capital of Bandung after a seemingly innocuous altercation between street vendors and public order officials. Strikes are also becoming more frequent, particularly in the industrial heartland of Java, as workers protest against labour rights violations and job losses.
Other groups echo Mr Rais's sentiments. Yesterday the National Brotherhood Foundation, previously loyal to Mr Suharto, called for the former five-star general, aged 76, to step down. In very polite terms, it said Mr Suharto's age and health were against him. "He has dedicated his life to the country for 50 years as a soldier and a statesman. We do not expect him . . . to carry out more heavy tasks," the group's leader, retired general Bambang Triantoro, said.
At the end of last month, the country was rocked by rumours that Mr Suharto had suffered a stroke and died, or been ousted, when he was not seen in public after doctors told him to take a 10-day rest. If he stands again, Mr Suharto is likely to be re-elected for a seventh term. Indonesia's president is chosen by the 1,000 strong People's Consultative Assembly, which consists of the 500 members of the powerless House of Representatives and 500 people picked by Mr Suharto.
Students at several universities have held polls on whether Mr Suharto should serve another term. None of the surveys has backed him.
The heavily constrained Indonesian media have started giving free rein to government critics. "The media are almost running amok," one diplomat said. "Six months ago they would never have got away with what they are doing now. It shows what a mess the country is in."
One difference between Indonesia now and 33 years ago, when a political crisis brought down the first president, Sukarno, is that there is no Communist Party to blame. After it was accused of instigating an abortive coup, 500,000 of its members were massacred.
Tapol - January 8, 1998
The rupiah fell in value today, Thursday, to below 10,000 to the dollar, from just over 8,000 on Wednesday.
Lack of confidence in the currency, which has fallen dramatically every day since the new year, was further exacerbated by the Budget announced by Suharto on Tuesday which ignored major pledges made by the government last October when it negotiated the rescue package of $38bn with the IMF. It is now widely believed that the IMF will seek to have the budget revised or suspend any further release of funds under the deal concluded last year.
We hear from people in Jakarta that a hoarding panic has taken hold with large queues forming to purchase even the most basic commodities like soap. Other sources say that shops in some commercial centres are not bothering to open because of lack of customers.
We have also been told that tanks are on the streets in Menteng but the purpose is not clear.
When we issued our New Year's Message, we called it, 1998, A Year of Living Precariously. It seems we should have been referring to the month of January which may well be a month of big changes in the Suharto regime.
Sydney Morning Herald - January 8, 1998,
Louise Williams, Jakarta – An Indonesian Muslim leader has called for President Soeharto to be replaced and has proposed an alliance for political reform between key Muslim figures and the pro-democracy leader Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri as the currency continues its slide.
Mr Amien Rais, who heads the 28 million-member Muhammadiyah organisation, asked Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, leader of the 38- million strong Nahdlathul Ulama, and Ms Megawati to "stand with him on a common platform for political reform".
The two leaders cautiously welcomed the approach. Ms Megawati, daughter of Indonesia's founding President Sukarno, said she "accepted the idea, in the context that they share the same goals".
Mr Wahid said "we feel the same need for political reform" and attacked unspecified "political hooligans" whom he said were running the country's politics.
Mr Rais called on the Indonesian people to reconsider plans to renominate the 76-year-old Mr Soeharto for a seventh five-year term in March, citing his failing economic policies.
"Re-electing President Soeharto means that we maintain the status quo," he was quoted as saying in the Jakarta Post newspaper. "Meanwhile, the status quo has failed to curb the monetary crisis.
"The driving and jolting force for political reform would be stronger if Megawati and Wahid join me on a common platform for reform. We all have the same goals with our movement."
Mr Rais's call shows growing impatience as the economy continues its dive, with the rupiah losing 12 per cent to hit a new low of 8,300 to the US dollar as markets reacted against Tuesday's Budget speech by Mr Soeharto.
Financial analysts labelled the Budget disappointing, deceptive and unrealistic.
Indonesia's worsening crisis helped send currencies and sharemarkets across East Asia tumbling yesterday, shaking even the most conservative financial bastions of Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. Hong Kong's share market fell 5.9 per cent, and Singapore's dropped 4.5 per cent. The Australian dollar fell to its second successive 11-year low, hitting US63.17c in response to the massive sell-off in Asian currencies. It closed at US63.49c, US0.27c lower than Tuesday's close.
Weaker global share markets pushed the All Ordinaries Index lower. It closed 38.40 points, or 1.43 per cent, lower at 2646.9, with resource stocks leading the fall. Benchmark 10-year October 2007 Commonwealth Government bond yields rose six basis points to close at 5.72 per cent.
A National Australia Bank report yesterday showed growing disparity in business conditions in the local economy.
"The difference between the fast recovering domestic sectors of the economy and externally exposed sectors is quite marked in the level of confidence recorded," it said.
"In many ways [the economy is] being pulled and pushed by increasingly strong forces operating in opposite directions. That is increasing strength in interest sensitive domestic sectors of the economy, as against more gloomy Asian activity."
Indonesia's Budget appears to breach conditions on Jakarta's acceptance of a $US38 billion currency support package from the International Monetary Fund, causing speculation that the IMF might stop further credit until tougher reforms begin.
One IMF official was quoted by The Washington Post as saying: "We would like to see the senior leadership in Indonesia stand up and be counted on the reforms.I think the markets are asking themselves the question of just how much the senior Indonesian leadership is committed to the major reform measures that affect the [Soeharto] family."
Officials in Canberra insisted that Australia's $US1 billion contribution to the IMF bailout had always depended on Indonesia's adherence to the IMF program.
Mr Soeharto's Budget assumes an exchange rate of 4,000 to the US dollar, an inflation rate of 9 per cent and a economic growth of 4 per cent this year. It fails to cut fuel and electricity subsidies, or achieve a surplus equivalent to 1 per cent of GDP, as sought by the IMF.
Many economists forecast zero or negative growth for this year and inflation above 20 per cent, which would cause hardship for Indonesia's 200 million people as unemployment increases.
Financial Times - January 7, 1998
Sander Thoenes, Jakarta – President Suharto presented a draft budget to parliament yesterday that would breach targets agreed with the International Monetary Fund and presumes exchange, inflation and growth rates that many economists consider unrealistic.
The budget for the fiscal year 1998-1999, balanced at Rpl33,491bn (#11.1bn), would not meet a surplus target of one per cent of gross domestic product as agreed with the International Monetary Fund and other lenders in October as part of a bail-out package worth $38bn.
Mr Suharto said the government assumed -an exchange rate of 4,000 rupiah to the US dollar, 4 per cent growth in GDP and 9 per cent inflation. But the rupiah made its biggest ever drop yesterday, hitting 7,700 before closing around 7,250 to 7,350 rupiah to the dollar, and many economists are predicting recession and double digit inflation.
The budget would leave the current account deficit half a percentage point above the 2 per cent of GDP target and fail to reduce fuel subsidies, a large drain on the budget - both recommendations of the IMF.
In the absence of major economic reform announcements in recent weeks, investors had been looking to the budget as a litmus test of President Suharto's commitment to implementing the rescue program agreed with the 1MF.
'`There's a 50-50 per cent chance that the IMF will have to walk away from Indonesia in March because it does not add up," said William Keeling, senior adviser at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, the brokerage. "Economically this place is like Sarajevo. Tax revenues will collapse."
"The government will have to work very hard to realise the domestic revenue targets, especially taxes," said Sri Mulyani Indrawati, an Indonesian economist. "With negative economic growth, their expectation of a 13.1 per cent rise in VAT revenues is unrealistic. Income tax will drop further than the 9.5 per cent fall they predict. Development spending should be cut further. The government seems to Iack a sense of urgency."
While Mr Suharto's speech lacked new steps to tackle the economic crisis, the very fact he reiterated that Indonesia was "fully committed to implement" the IMF recommendations quelled fears that the president had grown disenchanted with the ability of the aid package to revive investor confidence. "We must certainly not lose the momentum," Mr Suharto said.
Mr Suharto also pledged to meet IMF requirements to speed up privatisation, improve management of state enterprises and include some of the many extra-budgetary funds into the budget. Subsidies, hidden in past budgets, would be listed more clearly and value added tax exemptions would be abolished.
Mr Suharto pledged to reduce politically sensitive subsidies on imported fuel and electricity prices "at the right moment." This led some observers to predict that this budget, which takes effect from April 1, may yet be changed to meet the surplus target after presidential elections on 11 March.
The draft budget's target for foreign debt payments was Rp30,240bn, up 57.2 per cent in rupiah terms. Regardless of the exchange rate used, any increase would be more than offset by a rupiah-denominated rise in oil and gas revenues and aid receipts. The IMF in Washington declined an initial comment.
Media Indonesia - January 6, 1998 (posted by Tapol)
The armed forces will not hesitate to cut to pieces (membabat) all anti-government groups, said the commander of ABRI, the armed forces, General Feisal Tanjung, after a meeting with President Suharto. He said that ABRI would be ready to face every threat to security in the run-up to the MPR meeting in March.
"We will strike down and out-manoeuvre (melibas) any group, from left or right, who dares to take a stand against the government", he told journalists.
He said the intelligence agency, Bakin, was keeping close watch on all extreme groups that are planning to disrupt the meetings of the MPR. "We are watching them, my network is watching them all the time," he said.
General Feisal Tanjung said that democracy did not mean the emergence of unhealthy, radical political ideas and movements which can only undermine political stability.
The ABRI commander met the President to report on preparations of an ABRI leadership meeting to be held from 10-12 February which will map out plans to deal with any emergencies that might disturb the MPR session. Commanders from all the forces including the police will be present at the meeting.
He said the current financial crisis could also have an impact on the political and social situation but insisted that "everything is under control and nothing has yet reached a point that endangers national stability".
Responding to these remarks, one member of Parliament from the PPP group, Saleh Khalid, said: "We need to be vigilant but it's surely not necessary to use such language."
Kompas - January 5, 1998
Jakarta – It is estimated that about 36,000 employees or 60 percent of the entire work force of the automobile and motorcycle parts industry will be put on home standby status, in the wake of lowered sales of the industry's products. In fact, the increased prices of raw material accompanied by the strengthened dollar value, which are not offset by increased sales prices, have caused part of the industry to cease production.
This estimate was conveyed by Ir Achmad Safiun, chairman of the Association of Automobile and Motorcycle Parts Industries (GIAMM) in Jakarta on Saturday (3/1). According to him, the monetary crisis, which apparently will last through 1998, has hit all companies without exception. This includes the automobile and motorcycle parts industry which has been most heavily struck by the monetary turbulence.
Because this industry has very high import content, around 90 percent, as most of its raw materials are imported. Local content comes to only about 10 percent. When the rupiah value against the US dollar drops more than 100 percent, according to Safiun, who is also chairman of the Association of Metal Casting Industries, then prices of these parts practically will increase by 90 percent. But in fact the industry cannot increase prices by 90 percent, but at the most 30 percent. Higher means no buyers.
The industry clearly cannot hold out long under these conditions. Especially the smaller companies will not only lower production volumes, but cease production. Lower turnover is caused by low purchasing power in the market. The most severe impact of the monetary turbulence is on companies which sell parts to the automobile industry. Here the expected sales volume of 400,000 units for 1997 was not achieved.
Safiun estimates that at least 60 percent of the employees of 76 companies which are members of GIAMM, will be put on home standby. Of that number, 50 percent are from industries supplying industries producing new vehicles, and 10 percent from spare parts industries.
The number of employees in the automotive field, including the main industries, supporting industries, suppliers, dealers and workshops, comes to about 300,000 workers. Among those, employees involved in the field of automobile and motorcycle parts number about 60,000 persons.
Sydney Morning Herald - January 5, 1998
Louise Williams, Jakarta – The Indonesian Government is under strong internal pressure to breach International Monetary Fund (IMF) austerity conditions in this week's national Budget as the deepening economic crisis forces massive lay-offs and spiralling inflation.
The armed forces and the two largest political parties have called on the Soeharto Government to increase spending in tomorrow's Budget, a move which would put Indonesia in breach of the conditions of the country's IMF-led $US38 million ($58 million) bail-out.
Jakarta is expected to deliver a tough Budget, cutting government spending and freezing public sector pay, but big reductions in government earnings from corporate taxes and a huge increase in debt-servicing costs following the depreciation of the rupiah will make it difficult to fulfil the IMF's demand for a surplus budget.
With economic growth closely linked to government spending, the armed forces, the ruling Golkar party and the opposition United Development Party have urged President Soeharto to boost spending by up to 10 per cent to cushion the impact of the crisis.
Two million people have already been laid off, and the armed forces warned last week of destabilisation as more unemployed pour into the streets.
Sri Mulyani, an economist at the University of Indonesia, said an austerity Budget would further contract the shattered economy, which has seen over 60 per cent wiped off the rupiah and more than 40 per cent off the stock-market since mid-1997.
Didi Rachbini, director of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance, said the Soeharto Government "should not feel obliged" to meet the IMF conditions, which include a Budget in surplus by 1 per cent of GDP, about $US750 million.
Economist say a harsh budget may produce recession, a forecast backed up by the US ratings agency Standard and Poor's, which said Indonesia could expect a 5 per cent fall in GDP for 1998.
The price of rice in Jakarta rose by 9 per cent last week and cooking oil and onions jumped by 64 per cent.
The IMF package has failed to stabilise the economy, and confidence remains low due to fears over Mr Soeharto's health and the absence of any clear political successor.
Sydney Morning Herald - January 3, 1998
Louise Williams, Indonesia's Finance Minister has appealed against a court decision allowing a bank controlled by President Soeharto's half-brother, Mr Probosutedjo, to remain open despite being included in the liquidation list under the International Monetary Fund's bail-out package.
The Finance Minister, Mr Mar'ie Muhammad, and the Governor of the Central Bank, Mr Sudrajad Jiwandono, lodged the appeal with the Jakarta State Administrative Bank, which ruled this week that the bank may remain open pending a final decision on its liquidation.
Analysts warned yesterday that the court decision had weakened the processes essential for recovery, as the rupiah again weakened after the downgrading of Indonesia's foreign debt to "junk" status by the American credit assessor Standard & Poor's.
"This development is a setback for the reform program and may undermine the Government's attempts to close more banks," said Mr Stephen Rogers, the head of research for UBS Securities.
The Finance Minister ordered the liquidation of 16 ailing banks on November 1 in the first round of reforms under the International Monetary Fund's $US38 billion ($58.5 billion) bail-out package.
Analysts have warned that any signs that the politically well- connected are not willing to share the pain of economic reform will further damage confidence in Indonesia's economy.
The rupiah fell yesterday to 6,150 to the US dollar, from 5,450 at the close on new year's eve.
Sydney Morning Herald - January 2, 1998
Louise Williams, Jakarta – Indonesia's embattled economy has suffered a further blow with the downgrading of the Government's foreign currency debt to "junk bond" status by the leading United States ratings agency Standard and Poor's.
The agency warned of the growing political risk in falling incomes and rising unemployment.
The rating follows a similar downgrading last week by its rival US credit assessor Moody's Investors Service, and suggests that investors holding the country's bonds face a significant risk that the Government will default.
"Falling real incomes and rising unemployment will test the Soeharto Government's political commitment to fiscal restraint and high interest rates required to stabilise the economy, particularly as the March 1998 presidential elections approach," Standard and Poor's said.
It also pointed to "pervasive linkages" between the political and business elite as one of the possible barriers to vital reforms demanded under the $US38 billion International Monetary Fund rescue package.
It warned of the growing social cost of worsening prospects for the economy, expected to reverse from the past two decades' 7 per cent annual growth to a contraction of 1 to 3 per cent. The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce this week said a million people had already lost their jobs.
The "junk" ratings are significant because most US investment funds are prohibited from holding any bonds below investment grade, and other lenders will demand higher interest rates to offset the risk.
Ratings below investment grade were also announced last week for South Korea and Thailand.
Both rating agencies have now downgraded a number of major Indonesian corporations over fears that they will default on short-term debts.
Standard and Poor's lowered the creditworthiness of one the country's biggest state banks, Bank Negara Indonesia, the toll- road company controlled by Mr Soeharto's daughter Siti Hardyanti "Tutut" Rukmana, the giant clove cigarette manufacturer Sampoerna, and the telecommunications company PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia.
Following its downgrading of government debt, the agency has also placed an alert on debt issued by the US-owned mining company Freeport-McMoran, whose main asset is a massive copper and gold mine in Irian Jaya.
Earlier, Moody's put the country's second-biggest private bank, Bank Danamon, under review for a possible downgrade, as well as downgrading three power projects funded by the state-owned electricity company PLN.
The re-ratings have pushed the rupiah to new lows against the US dollar and left Jakarta scrambling for new tactics to halt the alarming slide.
The rupiah has fallen more than 60 per cent since mid-1997, drastically increasing the rupiah cost of repayments on Indonesia's total foreign debt of $US117.3 billion.
Much of the private sector's $US65 billion debt is short term, meaning some of the country's largest conglomerates face serious difficulties as payments come due in the next few months.
Mr Soeharto has reaffirmed that the Government can meet its external debt repayment commitments due this year, put at $US6 billion. He has also appealed to Indonesian business people to bring US dollar funds being held offshore back into the country.
On Wednesday, the Government announced the merger of four state banks and said foreign investors could take shares in local banks. The merger of Bapindo, Exim, Bank Bumi Daya and Bank Dagang Negara was seen as positive by commentators.
Tapol - December 31, 1997
The Suharto regime is entering 1998 in a state of profound crisis, unprecedented in the regime's 32-year history. During the past twelve months, the regime has suffered a number of political and economic disasters and its international reputation has been irreparably damaged. But as the regime approaches its collapse, it will do its utmost to cling on to power by reinforcing its apparatus of repression.
The escalation of repression in occupied East Timor since the award of the Nobel Prize to Bishop Belo and Ramos-Horta in December 1996 has exposed the regime to unprecendented scrutiny and condemnation at all levels of the international community.
1997, a year of escalating political and economic crisis
For the first time since Suharto took power, the general election in May 1997, the sixth to be held under Suharto's New Order, was exposed to the world as a sham. The enforced removal of Megawati Sukarnoputri as chair of the PDI in 1996 and the bloody assault on the party's head office on 27 July provoked nationwide indignation and worldwide condemnation. More than 20 million people turned their backs on the event by refusing to take part. The forces of democracy succeeded in turning this attempt to legitimise the regime into a mockery. There is growing support within civil society for an end to the army's dual function, the repeal of the corporatist political laws of 1985, and an end to the authoritarian Suharto regime that has ruled the country since 1965.
Outbursts of social unrest across Java, in West Kalimantan and Bandjarmasin reveal the extent to which the New Order regime has stifled channels for the democratic resolution of economic and social conflicts. In many cases, the security forces were themselves targetted by local communities incensed by economic changes imposed from above in total disregard for people's basic interests and needs. The many attacks on police command posts reflect widespread revulsion for this arm of the armed forces in its role as the advanced guard, defending corrupt local government officials.
For nearly six months, forest fires raged in Kalimantan and Sumatra, destroying at least one and a half million hectares of tropical forest and caused a deadly smog to blanket large areas of Indonesia and the region of South East Asia. Timber companies which enjoy the protection of the regime were clearly identified as the culprits. The fires also exposed the regime to intense international condemnation for its failure to respond with effective measures and its disregard for the human misery caused by the calamity.
In July, the Indonesian economy was plunged into a grave monetary and economic crisis, the repercussions of which are likely to endure for many years. The 'economic miracle' so highly praised by western governments, financiers and investors has suddenly ground to a halt. For years, Indonesian people were led to believe that economic development - 7 percent annual growth and the much vaunted elimination of poverty - would promote the nation's prosperity and that the sacrifice of basic democratic rights was a price worth paying. As the myth crumbles, the regime's claim to legitimacy has come under renewed challenge.
The economy was brought to its knees by crippling foreign debts doled out to the private sector, especially to politically well- connected companies and banks. The foreign influx of capital was used primarily for projects unrelated to people's welfare, for speculative property ventures and prestige projects. The fifty per cent fall in the value of the rupiah since the crisis began has caused disarray in the private sector, resulting in bankruptcies and layoffs. Prices of basic commodities have risen sharply, driving millions already on the poverty line to destitution. Heavy cutbacks in the construction and manufacturing sectors have already thrown hundreds of thousands out of work; the level of unemployment is set to rise in all parts of the country.
A bailout worth $38 billion, announced in October by the International Monetary Fund, has failed to stop the rot caused largely by uninhibited capital accumulation by the extended Suharto Family and their cronies, by a corrupt and self-serving banking system, and a system of monopolies protected by the bureaucracy. Virtually all Indonesian economists agree that collusion, corruption and nepotism lie at the heart of the crisis.
The crisis has been further aggravated by prolonged drought that has led to falling living standards in the Javanese countryside and famine in other islands. The drought has taken a particularly heavy toll in West Papua where up to a thousand people are estimated to have died since July and a quarter of a million villagers are at risk from starvation and famine-related diseases. The bitter irony is that while the death toll rises inexorably because of the lack of aircraft to deliver urgently needed relief supplies, the Freeport/Rio Tinto copper-and-gold mine continues to extract millions of dollars in profits for the US and UK based companies and for Nusamba, a company which is run for Suharto by one of his closest business associates, Bob Hasan.
Prospects for 1998
The security forces have already been placed on high alert in anticipation of political unrest leading up to the March session of the MPR at which Suharto will be appointed to serve a seventh term as president. Uncertainty about the dictator's state of health and the veil of secrecy over moves to appoint his vice- president and likely successor are symptomatic of the political morbidity of the regime. A country of two hundred million people ia being held to ransom at a moment of grave crisis as Suharto plots and schemes, pondering his options in order to safeguard his personal wealth and the continuation of authoritarian military rule. The most striking aspect of the political scene in Indonesia today is the deep chasm between the open clamour in civil society for change from top to bottom and the paralysis within elite circles with no one daring to challenge an ailing, greedy and power-hungry dictator to step down. As the New Order struggles with its own internal convulsions, civil society is turning its thoughts to the post-Suharto era when political structures will have to be overhauled and the basis for a genuine democratic state will have to be laid.
Not satisfied with the array of special powers already in his hands, Suharto has demanded that the MPR re-instate special emergency powers that he felt confident enough to relinquish ten years ago.
Events during the past year have shown that the New Order regime has lost control of people's thoughts and actions; its credibility is at an all-time low. The worsening economic crisis can only accelerate the process.
Corporatist management of society was first challenged six years ago by the independent trade union, the SBSI, which has survived despite persistent harassment. Two years later, journalists created the Alliance of Independent Journalists, AJI which has become a major source of alternative reporting. Megawati's election in 1993 to chair one of the three officially-endorsed political parties leading to her removal three years later, was followed by courageous initiatives to set up alternative political parties, first the Peoples Democratic Party, PRD, then the Indonesian Democratic Unity Party, the PUDI.
Leaders of all these alternative political organisations, having affirmed their right to exist in accordance with the universal freedoms of association and expression, have been or are now serving heavy sentences or facing trial. Until 1996, the regime made do with laws about 'sowing hatred' or 'showing contempt for the head of state' to secure convictions. But in the past year, the draconian anti-subversion law which carries a maximum penalty of death has been taken out of the closet and used on a scale unequalled since the post-1965 show trials which were staged to destroy the Indonesian Communist Party and its millions of followers.
Today, people are facing subversion charges not only for setting up alternative parties but even for disseminating leaflets or for being grassroots NGO activists. The slightest expression of criticism by anyone with a political following is now branded as subversion.
On the labour front, strikes and disputes were running at a rate of three a day even before the economic crisis struck. The level of unrest can only escalate as redundancies begin to bite, wage levels are frozen, unemployment soars and traditional holiday bonuses fail to materialise at a time of falling living standards.
East Timor
As Bishop Belo has stated on a number of occasions, the level of repression in East Timor worsened dramatically during 1997. The crackdown has extended also to East Timorese students in Java. But the very structures created by the forces of occupation are turning against their masters, even including privileged East Timorese who became members of the local or national assemblies or senior officials in the puppet administration.
The meeting last July between Nelson Mandela and the jailed leader of the East Timoresr resistance leader, Xanana Gusmao, greatly enhanced the reputation of the resistance internationally. In an attempt to turn the tide of public opinion, the forces of occupation are now trying to brand the resistance as 'terrorist' on the basis of unsubstantiated reports about the killing of civilians, who almost certainly died at the hands of the occupiers.
Yet despite the strength of international support for East Timor and strong pleading from Mandela, Suharto and the armed forces show no signs yet of making even minimum concessions. It is becoming increasingly obvious that radical change in East Timor is dependent on fundamental political change in Indonesia, ushering in a democratic system of government. The looming crisis in Indonesia is the best hope for fundamental change in East Timor.
1998, a year of living precariously
For human rights activists around the world, the coming year is likely to see dramatic changes in Indonesia which will require more actions to support the pro-democracy forces and further enhance Indonesia's reputation under Suharto's rule as a pariah state.
There are two possible scenarios. The changes could be peaceful, paving the way for a civilian takeover. They could however be violent should Suharto die in office, leading to conflict between the vice-president who will automatically take power and military circles unhappy with the new dispensation. This would bring in its wake more state violence and human rights abuses, even possibly a bloodbath.
1998 will be especially significant for TAPOL which celebrates its 25th anniversary in August. We are looking forward to a year of greater activity than ever, alongside solidarity groups around the world. We hope in particular that the solidarity movement for East Timor will broaden its horizons to encompass solidarity for the pro-democracy movement in Indonesia. The two are human rights issues which are inextricably linked.
Jakarta Post - December 29, 1997
Jakarta – Two leading scholars have blasted government officials for "burying their heads in the sand" and living in denial when faced with crises.
Sociologist Loekman Soetrisno of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta and Abdurrahman Wahid of the Moslem organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) said the habit failed to solve problems.
"Such an attitude does not bode well for us as a nation," Loekman told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
Loekman cited as an example the way some officials treat the monetary crisis.
"We had been claiming that the fundamentals of our economy were strong when in fact they were not," he said. "This habit of denial is demonstrated not just by officials but by us as a nation. "
Abdurrahman, better known as Gus Dur, said officials refused to face up to reality and even tended to cover it up.
"This is a mistake and it does not solve any problems wrought by the present crisis," he was quoted by Antara as saying in an address to hundreds of people joining the Friday prayer at Takhobbar Mosque in Surabaya, East Java.
"When facing a crisis, we behave like an ostrich . . . we pretend there's no problem ... we bury our heads in the sand."
The food crisis affecting many areas of Indonesia is another problem that has been dismissed by government officials, he said.
Abdurrahman fell short of naming officials or famine-stricken areas, but it has been reported that almost 700 people have died of drought-related illnesses and food shortage in Irian Jaya, while tens of thousands of others face the same threat in Maluku.
Both men argued that, on occasions, local officials in the affected areas had also denied there was a problem. Some of them claimed that their districts did not suffer from food shortages and supply was in abundance, but people became sick or died because they could not afford to buy food.
A number of countries, including the United States. Japan, Australia, Germany and Norway have been sending relief to drought-stricken areas in Irian Jaya.
According to Abdurrahman some government officials in areas suffering from food shortages were baffled by the crisis and have been unable to cope. "But it was a very strange thing when they stopped the incoming foreign relief ... it's as if they were too scared to have people discover that there had been famine in their areas," he was quoted by Antara as saying.
He pointed out that officials should, instead, use common sense and investigate what had caused the food crisis. He named forest fires and the prolonged dry season as being among the causes. "When facing that kind of problem, we must not pretend that we know everything when in fact we're confused. We need to work together to face the crisis," Abdurrahman said.
During his address, he also called on Moslems – who make up 87 percent of the total population of 200 million – across the country not to panic in the face of possible food crisis in the next few months.
The imminent threat of food shortage must be overcome together with "a strong will, patience and diligence" as taught in Islam, he said.
Abdurrahman suggested that one of the measures to cope with the crisis was for people with surplus food to share it with those in need.
| Labour issues |
Media Indonesia - January 7, 1998 (posted by Tapol)
Employers affiliated to a number of employers associations have pleaded with the government not to increase the minimum wage for 1998 because of the grave crisis which now has the country in its grip, following the dramatic fall in the value of the Indonesian currency.
They warned that any wage increase would compel companies to make redundancies or even to close down altogether. They said an understanding should be reached between employers and employees to ensure that business can continue.
The employers involved in this joint appeal are from the associations of textile companies, manufacturing companies, shoe companies, and toy companies, The plea was made at a meeting with officials of the Manpower ministry, the trade ministry and representatives of the FSPSI.
The Manpower Minister A Latief said that any decision on the minimum wage for 1998 will depend on economic developments. He said that no decision had yet been taken on the matter.
The representative of one employers association said the minimum wage should not be increased at a time when there was still great uncertainty about the rate at which the value of the currency would stablise. He acknowledged that wages were extremely low and adjustments would need to be made. 'It would be realistic to raise the minimum wage. What is not realistic is for us to go on paying a contribution to the social fund, Jamsostek.' He suggested that this contribution should be scrapped and the money saved should go to increase the minimum wage.
Employers from many regions who were present at the meeting also complained about cash flow problems because of the current tight money policy. One shoe company proprietor complained that companies have to bear the additional burden of paying extra levies, official as well as unofficial (he did not say that much of this burden goes to paying local military commands for their intervention in labour disputes).
Alliance of Independent Journalists - December 28, 1997 (Slightly abbreviated translation by Tapol)
A cultural evening entitled "Culture of the Marginalised" which was to have taken place at the office of the independent trade union, the SBSI, was broken up by police just a few minutes after it had begun. Dozens of police entered the hall. One officer yelled: 'You haven't got a permit'. All those present were then ordered to leave the hall.
The chair of the organising committee, Riswan, challenged the police officer in charge of the operation, saying that according to a joint miniterial decree of 1995, cultural events do not need a permit nor do the police need to be informed of the event.
He said that the programme consisted of poetry recitations, 'dangdut' music and some drama performances by a factory workers theatre workshop. As the events were being staged in the SBSI, there should be no question of it going ahead, said Riswan. However, the police broke up the event. All those present were ordered out of the building and eight people were driven away for questioning.
The police also confiscated a number of documents and possessions, including 900 cassettes, two sound system units, three electric guitar units and even a large map of Indonesia which was hanging on the wall.
In a statement signed by SBSI secretary-general Sunarti, the SBSI strongly protested at the police action and rejected the banning of the event which is in violation of the laws in force. There was no justification for claiming that the event was banned because no permit had been issued since such an event does not require a permit. The statement called on the authorities to uphold freedom of expression and assembly, as guaranteed in Article 28 of the Indonesian Constitution.
The SBSI members who were taken into custody were not released until the following day at 1pm. They returned immediately to the SBSI office where they were greeted by a crowd of people including playwright Ratna Sarumpaet whose play about Marsinah, the murdered workers activist, has been banned in several cities. Later they all went in a group to Cikini Hospital to report on what had happened to Muchtar Pakpahan, SBSI chair, who is currently still in hospital.
| Human rights/law |
Media Indonesia - December 31, 1997 (posted by Tapol)
Budiman Sudjatmiko and Petrus Heryanto, the chair and secretary- general of the PRD, the People's Democracy Party, have filed a lawsuit against Interior Minister Yogie S. Memed for dissolving and banning their party and the six organisations affiliated to it.
The basis for the lawsuit is articles 27 and 28 of the Indonesian Constitution and Article 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which uphold the freedoms of expression and association. Their lawyers from the Legal Aid Institute, the LBH, argue that the Interior Minister is guilty of misusing his powers.
Paulus Mahulette of the LBH told Media that the minister's decision was in blatant violation of the general principles of good governance including legal certitude, equality, fairness and reasonableness.
The decision inflicted material and non-material damage on the party by provoking public mistrust and creating a wrong perception of the PRD. 'It is not easy to put a price tag on this, but in rupiah terms, the PRD as suffered losses worth Rp 500 million,' the lawyer said.
The decision banning the party issued in September argued that the PRD was not a lawful organisation and that it had not been recognised by or registered with the government, in other words that it was a clandestine organisation. In addition, the leaders of the party are now serving sentences, having been found guilty of subversion, and its party manifesto, 'Towards a People's Multiparty Democracy' has been banned.
Based on a report in Kompas - December 30, 1997 (posted by Tapol)
Former member of Parliament, Sri-Bintang Pamungkas, now chairperson of PUDI, the Indonesian Democratic Unity Party, walked out of the third hearing of his trial in Jakarta on Monday after the judge rejected his petition to have the prosecutor declared unsuitable to take part in the trial proceedings.
At the commencement of the hearing, the defendant protested against Prosecutor Silangit continuing to appear at the hearings. He argued that the prosecutor used physical violence against him during pre-trial interrogations. His defence lawyer, R.O. Tambunan also argued in court that it was not acceptable for prosecutor Silangit to take part in the proceedings because of a conflict of interest, considering his role during the questioning of the defendant.
The judge ruled that the prosecutor should continue to handle the case, a ruling that caused the defendant to walk out. 'I cannot remain in the same room as Mr Silangit so I will save you the trouble of ordering me to leave the courtroom by walking out. I hereby state that I shall appear in court each time I am summoned to do so but as soon as I see Mr Silangit, I will walk out,' Sri-Bintang told the court.
His lawyers announced that since their role was to assist the defendant, there was no point their remaining in court in his absence and they too left.
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Prosecutor Silangit said there was nothing in law preventing an interrogator from acting as the prosecutor of the accused. 'This is a special case, a subversion case, and so the interrogator is allowed to be the prosecutor.'
In the absence of the defendant and his lawyers, the prosecutor read out the indictment which charges Sri-Bintang with subversion for setting up PUDI with the aim of undermining and deviating from Pancasila, the state ideology.
Jakarta Post - December 24, 1997
JAKARTA – The government will launch a national drive to promote human rights protection next year as part of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations (UN) Declaration on Human Rights.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said yesterday, after meeting with President Soeharto, the program would include the ratification of some UN conventions on racial discrimination, social rights and torture.
"UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent letters to all world leaders, including the President, and asked them to take measures to bolster progress and protection of human rights," Alatas said. The one-year-long action plan will include programs for public education and dissemination of information to students and government agencies which have strong ties to human rights issues.
"The President has given his approval of this program and will issue a presidential decree on the plan," Alatas said.
The ratification of the convention on torture will likely be one of the most significant in the plan. Human rights activists have repeatedly urged the government to ratify the convention in order to prevent possible torture by officials of some government agencies and Armed Forces (ABRI) members.
At the UN World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, in June 1993, China, India, Indonesia and several Middle East states strongly opposed the idea of outside interference in upholding human rights, insisting they had the right to set their own priorities.
Asian governments insisted they recognized the universal nature of human rights, but also said they should be considered in the context of the special characteristics of each nation.
The UN plans to review the 1993 Vienna declaration next year and set up a program of action to seek a fuller implementation of human rights standards and commitments.
"After five years, we need to review how far we have carried out those decisions (made in Vienna)," Alatas noted.
When asked about the most important event in foreign diplomacy this year, Alatas said that international criticism of East Timor had dropped compared to last year. "I think Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) affairs are among the most important events of this year, due to the enlargement of its membership, which triggered some controversy at the time," Alatas said.
Laos and Myanmar officially joined ASEAN in July. The membership of Cambodia was postponed following the ousting of Cambodian First Prime Minister Ranariddh in June.
Some Western nations, including the United States, accused Cambodia of rights violations.
[Note Alatas' claim that criticism of East Timor policy dropped this year - ETAN.]
| Social unrest |
Associated Press - January 5, 1998
Jakarta – More than 1,000 people went on a rampage today through the capital of West Java to protest a crackdown on illegal street vendors.
Police said vendors and some passers-by smashed the windows of a supermarket and other stores in downtown Bandung, targeting members of Indonesia's ethnic Chinese minority. Small business owners of Chinese descent are often singled out when social unrest flares in some parts of Indonesia.
SCTV television said 400 riot police and army personnel were deployed to quell the rioters. There were no serious injuries reported.
The official Antara news agency said police closed a major shopping street, causing traffic chaos in the city of more than 2 million people 110 miles east of the capital, Jakarta.
Witnesses said police moved in after arguments turned violent among street vendors and local officials who accused them of operating illegally.
On Sunday, more than 100 people fought security forces in two towns on eastern Java Island, wounding two police officers, the Suara Pembaruan newspaper said. The riot started after villagers gathered to burn down buildings believed to house brothels or alcohol shops.
Attacks on targets considered immoral sometimes occur during Ramadan, the Muslim holy fasting month that began here Wednesday. About 90 percent of Indonesia's 202 million people are Muslims.
Tapol - January 5, 1998
The West Java capital, Bandung erupted in rioting as 30,000 people went onto the streets in support of street traders in a conflict with the local authorities.
The trouble started with a dispute between street traders in Cicadas and municipal security officials who moved in to remove traders, using rough, inhumane methods.
The riot began at 2.30pm Monday and continued until 5 in the evening when things were brought under control after special police forces, the tanks brigade and airborne troops were brought in to help the local police. There were no casualties.
According to Media Indonesia, the trouble goes back to a decision by the municipal authorities prohibiting street traders from selling their wares before 6pm each day. Traders were very angry at this restriction, especially as the Lebaran Muslim festival is approaching.
Yesterday, municipal security officers arrived at the location in two vehicles and tried to remove traders who had laid out their wares at 2.30pm. Obscene words were used as the officials tried to drive the traders away. The traders responded by attacking the officials and vented their anger too on nearby shops, buses and two municipal trucks.
Around one thousand traders were involved, but tens of thousands of local inhabitants rallied to their support in sympathy. Shops in the vicinity immediately put up their shutters, but many windows were smashed. The riots led to several major thoroughfares being closed to traffic.
Even though a senior army officer arrived on the scene to announce that the traders could trade as they wished, it proved impossible to calm things down until a special force arrived on the scene.
Four people were arrested during the troubles.
| Economy and investment |
Sydney Morning Herald - January 1, 1998
Louise Williams, Jakarta – An Indonesian court has blocked the liquidation of a bank owned by President Soeharto's half brother, Mr Probosutedjo, which was ordered closed two months ago in the first round of reforms under the International Monetary Fund's $US38 billion ($58.5 billion) rescue package.
The ruling is a blow to the reformist Finance Minister, Mr Mar'ie Muhammad, who had made a point of liquidating several banks with links to the Soeharto family.
But it also shows how Indonesia's economic crisis is unravelling cosy relationships within the political and business elite, which had enjoyed privileged access to financial resources and contracts during three decades of steady growth.
To help save his Bank Jakarta, Mr Probosutedjo publicly claimed it had been included on the liquidation list "because it did not have enough money to maintain a relationship with Bank Indonesia, the Central Bank".
On Monday, police announced that three of four sacked Bank Indonesia directors had been formally charged with corruption over a $US375 million loan scam to ailing banks which avoided liquidation.
Police also say they are investigating the massive fire in the central bank's new headquarters in Jakarta early last month, which cost 15 lives.
A massive collapse in international confidence in the Indonesian economy has seen almost 60 per cent wiped off the rupiah since mid-year and almost 40 per cent off the share values, and commentators have repeatedly pointed to deep-seated nepotism and corruption, alongside the large debt burden, as a barrier to recovery. In the search for scapegoats, damaging allegations of multi-million dollar corruption within Government institutions are being exposed.
So far 35 people have been arrested for alleged involvement in the Bank Indonesia fraud which police said included fake loans, commercial papers and deposits to five ailing private banks.
But the corruption issue is a can of worms in a nation which has an economy based on a tight nexus between political power and business.
In November the workers' insurance company, Jamsostek, was forced to admit it paid up to $US2 million in bribes to members of parliament to have them pass labour legislation which limits the rights of workers to strike.
In another scandal, Jakarta Airport custom officials seized large quantities of baggage belonging to wives of politicians following a bargain-hunting trip to Bangkok, allegedly paid for using government funds.
Yesterday, the Manpower minister, Mr Abdul Latief, was in the spotlight, denying he had improperly collected levies from overseas workers. He earned enough money of his own not to have to resort to taking public funds, he said.
Foreign investors are also jittery over the re-introduction of several large projects originally cancelled under conditions attached to the IMF package.
In Mr Probosutedjo's case, the Jakarta State Administrative Court ruled that Bank Jakarta may remain open pending a final ruling on the court challenge against the liquidation order. The decision overturns the order by the Finance Ministry to close the bank on November 1.
In November President Soeharto's son, Bambang Trihatmodjo, withdrew his legal challenge against the liquidation of his 25 per cent-owned Bank Andromeda "in the national interest", after admitting he had broken the law by exceeding the legal lending limit to prop up one of his own industrial ventures.
Bambang was, however, permitted to acquire another bank, Bank Alfa, and to transfer the assets of Bank Andromeda to it.
Mr Probosutedjo said yesterday that the court was not influenced "from outside", and, like Bambang, he had been offered a replacement bank, but had refused in favour of the court challenge.
The US ratings agency Standard and Poor's has lowered Indonesia's long-term foreign currency rating from BB+ to BBB-, and its local currency rating from A- to BBB+.
The agency said the action reflected the Indonesian Government's "diminished fiscal and balance of payments flexibility".
| Miscellaneous |
Asiaweek - January 5, 1998
Yenni Kwok, Bekasi – It is a brave motorist who ventures on to Pantura, the highway that runs for 1,000 hair-raising kilometers along Java's north coast. Trucks and buses are given to bullying anything smaller out of the way as they weave from lane to lane at breakneck speeds. But, for the truck drivers, the real danger starts when they step down from their cabs for food and rest – and for cheap sex with local prostitutes.
The drivers sneer at condoms. They complain they blunt their sexual pleasure and are not macho. Some have not even heard of them. Typical of the prostitutes' clients is 26-year-old Iwan. He says: "I only get home once a week. Often I am eager for sex, but my wife doesn't want to sleep with me. So I go with these women. I don't use condoms." Last year, he contracted syphilis. It could have been a lot worse.
Health workers believe the Pantura highway could be ground-zero for an AIDS explosion in Indonesia. Says Baby Jim Aditya, an AIDS activist: "With their high-risk behavior, the truckers could be conduits for sexually transmitted diseases, and AIDS in particular, spreading infection to other regions of Indonesia and to their own families."
The Indonesian government estimates that between 40,000 and 50,000 people are infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or have fully blown AIDS. Other sources put the number at up to 120,000. Records are not comprehensive enough to establish whether truck drivers are among them, but it seems certain they are. Aditya and other health activists judged the situation so serious they decided on direct intervention. The result: Pantura Free AIDS Action, a project aimed at raising drivers' awareness of the risks they take.
Volunteers targeted the Rawa Pasung truck terminal, east of Jakarta, where drivers stop to rest for a few days before hitting the road again. Getting the truckers to respond was not easy at first. Though surveys and statistics show the majority of them use prostitutes, very few are open enough to admit their habits to strangers. "Their level of denial is high," says Dr. Cecilia Boediono, the project medical advisor. It took Aditya several visits before she finally won their confidence.
Pantura Free AIDS Action wound up its initial campaign last June, but Aditya still calls by once a week to distribute leaflets and chat with truckers about sex, diseases and condoms. The overwhelming impression, she reports, is that very few of the tens of thousands of drivers on the Pantura run have any understanding of the dangers of unprotected sex. "Every time I hear how little they know, I just want to hug them," she says.
Long-distance truck driving is strong on male bonding. Sexual activity is a matter of pride and is seen as a sign of strength. Contracting a disease is an admission of weakness. Says Sariadi, a driver's assistant: "If someone does catch something, he usually won't mention it to his friends. It would make him a laughing stock." The consequence is that many truckers seek medical attention only after the discomfort becomes too much – and after the infection has been passed to another prostitute, who, in turn, infects dozens of other victims.
Despite the efforts of Pantura Free AIDS Action, folklore still has a firm hold when it comes to sexual diseases. Hari, a 33-year-old driver, explains why he contracted gonorrhea: "I wasn't in prime condition when I had sex. I was tired. That's what did it." Some drivers believe they can cure infections by drinking soapy water. Others take antibiotics just before or after sexual intercourse.
To spread their AIDS message along the Pantura highway, volunteers persuaded drivers to turn their trucks into mobile billboards. About 300 abandoned the usual paintings of scantily clad women and were adorned instead with messages such as "Resist Temptation, Anti-AIDS," "Bring Home Money, Not Disease," "My Love Is for My Wife Only." Abstinence and faithfulness are advocated; condom use is not. The co-sponsor of the AIDS campaign is the National Family Planning Coordinating Board, which worries that promoting condoms would be seen as endorsing a promiscuous lifestyle.
But with hundreds of prostitutes working the terminals and many of the food stalls along Pantura, cheap sex (usually for less than $10) will always be a temptation. That's why the AIDS workers hand out condoms to those drivers who will take them. But many people worry that it may all be too late. The AIDS time bomb could already be primed.