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ASIET NetNews Number 16 - May 4-10, 1998
East TimorStudents call for Suharto's death Student actions spread, more casualties Medan still tense as rioting spreads Seventy-seven police, 60 students injured Students rally to protest reform decree Alumni back student calls for reform
Political/economic crisisHundreds demonstrate at Semarang trial Jail sentences sought for four Timorese Four Timorese youth shot dead in Maubara
Labour issuesIndonesian markets edgy over new protests Chorus of reform demands grow `Abyss of misery and hatred' threatens` Reform or pay the penalty, says IMF Are Indonesia's state-companies for sale? Six die as riots shake Indonesia for third day Police open fire again on protesters ICMI calls for reforms, special MPR session Former cabinet minister calls for reform Economic crisis hits more female workers Violence erupts as prices go up Politics weighs heavy on Indonesian rupiah
Human rights/lawThousands of workers go on strike
Arms/armed forcesFour NGO and SBSI activists go on trial Indonesia court jails 11 activists
International relationsUS cancels military exercise with Indonesia
Economy and investmentUS embassy warns Malaysia illegals
Transport fares raised after fuel price hike
| Democratic struggle |
Defiant Indonesian students called for the execution of President Suharto Friday as police and soldiers cracked down on the escalating nationwide protests with baton charges and hails of rubber bullets.
In the central Java city of Solo, 650 kilometres southeast of Jakarta, an estimated of 5,000 university and high school students joined with labourers and clashed with security forces in a running battle that left at least 130 people injured.
In the capital, about 500 students staged a rally at the Teachers Training Institute campus in East Jakarta, burning an effigy of Suharto and blaming the embattled leader for the economic crisis battering the nation.
In the protest, the students staged a mock trial in which an "Extraordinary People's Court" accused Suharto of mass murder and wholesale corruption through his family's many bus inesses.
In the trial drama the students charged Suharto with killing as many as 1.5 million people during his rise to power in 1965-1966, in East Timor in 1975, in the so-called mysterious killings of 1983 and in the Tanjung Priok rioting of 1984. The students pronounced Suharto guilty and sentenced him to death.
Jakarta-based diplomats said the mock trial marked an extraordinary escalation in the tone of anti-government protestors, who have in the past showed a degree of respect for the 76-year-old leader.
In the North Sumatra capital, Medan, several days of rioting and looting appeared to be subsiding in the face of an overwhelming response by security forces, but sporadic attacks on shops and vehicles continued on the outskirts of the city and business activity came to a standstill throughout Friday.
Army troops, with orders to shoot rioters on sight, patrolled the streets, which were littered Friday with debris from ransacked buildings and the shells of burnt-out cars. Many other troops were deployed to guard the city's business district.
At least six people reportedly were burnt to death by mobs or killed by police bullets this week and scroes were injured, many by gunshot wounds.
The disturbances broke out on Monday, hours after the government announced sharp fuel and electricity prise hikes, in line with economic reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund. In the ensuing rampage, some 170 shops were destroyed or looted and burned in Medan while 38 cars and 21 motorcycles were also set ablaze, North Sumatra police said.
Mobs targetted ethnic Chinese shop owners, many of whom barricaded their shops and banded together in a central Medan hotel or even fled to Singapore or Kuala Lumpur.
Chinese, who account for only 3 per cent of Indonesia's 202 million people, dominate the commerce sector and have long been the targets of discrimination that occasionally erupts into violence.
Authorities quelled the riots when five military companies of the Strategic Command of the Army (Kostrad) headquarters in Jakarta were deployed to Medan, 1,300 kilometres northwest of Jakarta.
In Pematang Siantar, 139 kilometres southeast of Medan, and in Tebing Tinggi, about 40 kilometers from north Sumatran capital, calm was restored Friday after days of mayhem, but all shops remained closed.
Calm was also restored in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra, a day after thousands of protesters went on a rampage, looting shops and attacking banks and government buildings, officials and local residents said.
Student protests went on in several other parts of the country, despite a tough warning on Thursday by General Wiranto, chief of the Indonesian Armed Forces, combined with stern measures by police.
The protests notched up the pressure on Suharto, who was scheduled to leave Indonesia on Saturday for a five-day state visit to Egypt.
The wave of student actions across the country on Thursday led to a number of clashes with the security forces. There were casualties on both sides; the number of student injured was higher than on previous days, many caused by truncheons, rubber bullets, stone throwing and beatings.
The worst clash occurred at Sudirman University, Purwokerto, Central Java where 65 students were injured, of whom 28 were taken to hospital. Most had suffered head injuries from rubber bullets or truncheon blows. Eight were very seriously injured. A monitoring post set up by the students reported that nine students were missing.
The clash occurred when students started marching peacefully to the local assembly building (DPRD) and tried to breach a security barricade. Wielding truncheons, the security forces chased the students who put up resistance. Besides hitting out with their truncheons, the security forces threw tear gas canisters. The university rector, Prof. Rubianto Misman later expressed regrets over the incident.
In Solo, Central Java, there was a hail of stones and molotov bombs, resulting in casualties on both sides. Eleven students were injured, of whom two were rushed to hospital. The security forces suffered 43 casualties. The clash occurred when a thousand students tried to leave the campus, pushing hard against the troops surrounding the campus who forced the students back inside. Stones and molotov bombs began to fly. Tear gas was used to disperse the students. Thirteen students fell to the ground with breathing problems. The students tried to push their way onto the roads.
In Riau, Sumatra, a clash resulted in ten student casualties. Car windows were smashed and six students were arrested but they were later released, after a crowd of some eight thousand students demanded their release. The protests in Riau were the largest for ten years. As the students tried to march to the governor's residence, they were blocked by troops. The students managed to breach the blockade in two places but when they were within twenty metres of the building, they came under attack by hundreds of troops. When three dogs were set on the students, they rapidly dispersed. Tear gas was used and the security forces chased the students wielding rattan sticks.
In Jakarta
A clash at the Technology Faculty of the Jayabaya University in Jakarta resulted in 21 students being injured, all of whom were rushed to hospital. Two had been shot in the neck and arm while the others has sustained blows from truncheons and body irritation because of the teargas. One student had two bullets removed from his body. The rector announced that there would be no lectures Friday.
Similar clashes broke out at Gunadarma University, Kelapa Dua, Jakarta where hundreds of students from several universities held free-speech forums. Trouble broke out when students from Jayabaya University walking the four kms to Gunadarma University were attacked by troops. The Legal Aid Institute later reported that at least 52 students had been injured.
At Sahid University, students took part in protests, and carried banners. They were forced to return to the campus where they held a free speech forums.
In Yogyakarta
Following a series of bloody clashes on Tuesday and Wednesday, the local police chief announced that all student protests should end by 2 pm each day. Any students gathering after that time will be dispersed with the use of water spray, teargas, rubber bullets and live bullets. These measures were announced by the police chief when a team of lawyers from the Sanata Darma University went to the police command seeking clarifications about a number of students who went missing after protests on Tuesday and Wednesday. The team was escorted by the university rector.
On Thursday, seven students were still unaccounted for after security forces conducted 'sweepings' throughout the campus of the Teachers Training College, IKIP for several hours starting 11.30 at night. [The seven students are named.]
In Bali, at the Udayana University campus, the general public joined with tens of thousands of students coming from a number of universities on the island. The crowds grew in size because of the appearance of Permadi, the well-known soothsayer, along with a member of the local assembly, the DPRD. Students had been arriving for the event since early morning. Security forces watched the event from a distance of about 400 metres.
Students from dozens of tertiary institutions took part in actions in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi. Thousands of students on motorbikes and other vehicles converged on a city square but were forced back by security forces. They spread out in all directions and started rallying around the city.
Three students sustained bullet wounds, one of whom had to undergo an operation to remove the bullet. The clash occurred as students continued with their protests until 6pm despite attempts by security forces to disperse them.
Medan -- Rioting spread to nearby towns yesterday as parts of the North Sumatran capital remained tense.
East Medan's Tebung commercial area was littered with glass and debris yesterday evening after scores of shops had earlier been looted and set on fire by hundreds of rioters.
In another part of the city looters broke into a car and motorcycle dealer showroom and dragged out 20 motorcycles and one car and burned them on the street.
By early evening an uneasy calm had descended in much of Medan but the central and eastern sections of the city were still tightly patrolled.
Bukit Barisan Military Command spokesman Lt. Col. Agus Ramadhan said he had not received any reports of fatalities during the riots. He also said the authorities had arrested 148 people for looting and rioting.
Coordinating Minister of Political Affairs and Security Feisal Tanjung in Jakarta condemned yesterday what he called the "anarchy" in Medan and warned that the government would crack down on rioters.
"The government will take measures against people involved in this mass destruction and looting," Feisal said before attending a cabinet meeting at the Bina Graha presidential office.
He added that the demonstrations had deviated from their original intent and had been exploited for criminal purposes, such as looting.
The riots broke after three days of student protests in Medan ended in sharp clashes with security personnel, leaving dozens injured.
Then on Monday evening, a mob gathered on Jl. Pancing near the Teachers Training Institute (IKIP) started smashing shop windows and burning cars. It is not known whether the mob consisted of students.
The rampage continued Tuesday and by yesterday afternoon had spread to nearby towns despite the fact that parts of Medan had quieted down.
Many people had apparently joined the mob to vent their frustration over Monday's announcement of fuel and electricity price increases.
Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto arrived in Medan late last night and immediately held a briefing with local police and military commanders.
Spreading violence
In the town of Lubuk Pakam, 37 kilometers south of Medan, angry mobs attacked and looted hundreds of shops. It is not clear what sparked the violence.
In Tanjung Morawa, Deli Serdang regency, 11 km south of Medan, hundreds of people looted the town's Mora supermarket. At least 10 nearby shops were also attacked by angry mobs.
Riots were also seen in other towns in the regency such as Petumbukan, Galang and Pantai Labu where at least one car was reported damaged.
Deli Serdang Military Commander Lt. Col. B. Sinuhaji told The Jakarta Post that the riots in the regency had actually began Tuesday and continued until yesterday afternoon.
"These are lootings. They did not have anything to do with politics or demonstrations, " he said.
A number of people have been questioned by the authorities following the incident, he said.
Bukit Barisan Military Commander Maj. Gen. Ismed Yuzairi told reporters that one helicopter, six armored vehicles and military personnel were put on alert at Medan's Banteng Square to anticipate further incidents.
Police had also closed off a toll road leading into Medan, fearing that people from neighboring towns might join in the riots.
Activity was slow at Medan's port of Belawan as many trucks carrying goods stayed off city streets because of the violence. Medan, Indonesia's third largest city, is the trading hub in a major palm oil, rubber and coffee producing region.
Medan, a city of some two million people, is western Indonesia's main commercial and commodity center.
Aggravating the situation further, a soccer match at Teladan Stadium between local team PSMS Medan and PSIS Semarang ended with spectators invading the field.
According to Antara, the match was only guarded by 20 police officers because other officers were busy in other parts of the city.
Jakarta -- Clashes between students demanding political reform and security forces in three towns at the weekend left 77 policemen and at least 60 students injured, six by rubber-coated bullets, reports said yesterday.
The bullets were fired at the Teachers' University in East Jakarta where 33 other students were also seriously injured in addition to the six, Kompas daily said.
It said 28 police were hurt during the clash, which followed an attempt by 2,000 students to march down the street to a nearby university. Jakarta police chief Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Aritonang was quoted by the Bisnis Indonesia daily as saying 20 students and 28 members of the security forces had been injured.
"All injured students have returned to their homes," Colonel Aritonang said. "They had been hit by a fence that fell down and not because of shots fired."
Another encounter at the Academy for Foreign Languages in central Jakarta left three students injured.
At Malang in East Java, students and police fought in two separate incidents and 49 policemen and 30 students were injured, the East Java-based Jawa Pos daily said. It said scuffles broke out as students of the Merdeka University and the National Technology Institute attempted to protest on the streets on Saturday.
The Jawa Pos said the injuries occurred in the clash with students of the institute in which security forces used tear-gas, water cannon and warning shots while the students threw rocks and debris.
Violence at Jember University in the town of the same name 120 kilometres east of Malang left one student hurt, the Jawa Pos said.
Other, non-violent, student demonstrations to demand political reforms also took place at campuses across Jakarta and in several other cities on the islands of Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi on Saturday.
At Medan in North Sumatra, a lawyer from the local branch of the Legal Aid Institute said Nommensen University activists torched a military police jeep. The North Sumatra military spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Agus Ramadhan, denied the report. He was quoted by Antara news agency as saying students took a new car from a showroom and burnt it in front of the university campus.
Derwin Pereira, Jakarta -- In nationwide rallies yesterday, thousands of Indonesian students protested against President Suharto's decision to rule out major political reforms in the next five years.
Meanwhile, workers for the first time joined them on several campuses in the capital in a "show of solidarity", to stress students were not alone in calling for changes in the New Order regime.
Besides Jakarta, students in Yogyakarta, Solo, Surabaya, Bandung and Medan all staged anti-Suharto protests.
Reiterating demands which have been growing since mid-February this year, they called on him to quit and accept responsibility for the country's worst economic crisis in decades.
University of Indonesia (UI) activist Linda Rahman, 22, said that the students were not prepared to wait five more years for reforms, as Mr Suharto had urged on Friday, in response to mounting criticism of his government.
She said: "The only way out is for him to go, then we can implement reforms. There can be no change as long as he is in power. Mr Suharto is the problem and the solution in this crisis."
Labourer Abdul Kadir, 30, said that he and 300 other factory workers from Tanggerang in East Jakarta joined the demonstrations in front of the medical faculty of the state-run UI at the invitation of the university's student leaders.
"Our aim is to turn this into a movement big enough to put pressure on the government," he said.
"We are not happy with what is going on in Indonesia. The government is oppressing us, not helping us. More and more of us will be joining the students' cause."
The workers, who wore red arm bands to distinguish them from students dressed in the yellow jackets of the country's most prominent university, joined 3,000 students in the sometimes carnival-like atmosphere, by singing songs and chanting political slogans calling on Mr Suharto to step down.
Most of yesterday's protests were peaceful, but there were some exceptions.
Security forces prevented more than 100 students from various universities, who rallied at the Academy of Foreign Languages in central Jakarta, from marching to the nearby UI campus. At least three students were injured as police used batons and tear gas to disperse them.
Reuters news agency reported that clashes also broke out between students and troops in the North Sumatran capital of Medan.
More than 1,000 students gathered at the private Nomensen University in central Medan to demand reforms, and clashed with security forces while attempting to take their protest to the streets. One military jeep was burnt.
Jakarta -- Alumni from 48 leading universities and institutions have thrown their weight behind student rallies for reform and vowed to establish a special network to aid families whose relatives "disappear".
After a gathering which featured a free-speech forum, the Cooperation Body of Indonesian University Alumni said Saturday they were concerned about the cases of missing persons, many of whom were students from universities they had graduated from.
"We will strongly focus on the issue of the disappearances because it is a clear violation of human rights. There will be internal cooperation among us which is aimed at giving advice and voicing these concerns," the head of the body, Kusnadi Hardjasoemantri, said as quoted by Antara.
The meeting of alumni was held at the University of Indonesia campus in Depok to commemorate National Education Day which falls on May 2.
He explained that the assistance wold cover legal and psychological counseling, both for those who disappeared and those who participated in demonstrations.
Several activists and a politician have been reported missing for the past few months. While some notable figures, namely Pius Lustrilanang, Andi Arief, Desmond J. Mahesa and Indonesian Democratic Party politician Haryanto Taslam, have reappeared, others are still missing.
The National Commission on Human Rights, in a report, has said that they were abducted by force by a well-organized unit.
Support
When asked about the "moral movement" initiated by the students, the alumni expressed the belief that it had the backing of the public at large.
Political commentator Wimar Witoelar said protests currently being staged by students enjoyed greater public support than the ones held in 1966, which only had the backing of the Army.
The famous 1966 student demonstrations were a precursor for the New Order regime which resulted in the banishment of the Indonesian Communist Party.
Head of the central branch of the University of Indonesia alumni association, Hariadi Dharmawan, urged the "actors" in the present national development not to be ashamed to admit their faults. "We realize that the many problems now arising may have been contributed by the alumni of our alma mater, but we shouldn't be afraid to admit them," he said.
In a joint statement read by Toeti Herati Noerhadi, a professor of philosophy at the University of Indonesia, the alumni said they were "concerned that the adverse impacts of the (monetary) crisis have been exacerbated because of rampant corruption, collusion and nepotism in the bureaucracy that have led to a political crisis and a crisis in (people's) confidence (in the government)".
They also said they backed the students' push for political economic and law reforms and deplored the strong-arm approach employed by the Armed Forces (ABRI) in handling the student movement.
They said repressive actions were against the state ideology Pancasila and human rights principles.
Participants, who one by one were given opportunities to speak at the meeting, urged all members of society to join the student movement in order "to force the government to initiate total reform and eliminate the causes of the crisis".
Only by combating corruption, collusion and nepotism, and by taking concrete steps to defuse the crisis, can the government regain both local and international confidence, they said.
Koento Wibisono, representing the alumni of Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University called for total reform by upholding the law and human rights amending the 1945 Constitution and strengthening national unity.
A review of the Armed Forces' dual function -- as both security and sociopolitical forces -- is also needed to create a favorable political system.
Mayaksa Johan, representing alumni of the Sumatra Utara University, said political reform should be prioritized since the government has often abused the law, including the Constitution in its efforts to maintain the status quo, often at the expense of people's political rights.
"For more than 3 0 years now, the New Order administration has deceived the people and 'castrated' their political rights and freedom," he said. "We are given only the opportunity to do what the government wants us to, and are never given the opportunity to say no."
| East Timor |
Hundreds of East Timorese students demonstrated at the Semarang district court as the trial of four East Timorese was underway. They demanded that the four men be freed.
For the second time running, the prosecutor was unable to present Constancio da Costa as a witness to testify at the trial. He said this was for security reasons and in consideration of the costs.
The four men are on trial for being in possession of explosives some time between December 1996 and December 1997 and for receiving , possessing and concealing equipment which constituts a danger to the public.
When the four men alighted from the vehicle bringing them to court, they were surrounded and embraced by hundreds of young East Timorese who had been waiting since early morning. They were carrying banners which read: We are not terrorists, Free the courts from intervention, We support the pro-democracy activists, an so on. There were dozens of security forces on guard.
At the end of the hearing, they held another demonstration inside the court but were ordered out of the courtroom after five minutes. They continued to demonstrate outside the court. The event ended peacefully after they were allowed to read out their demands.
The head of the team of defence lawyers, Sugeng Santoso of the PBHI (Legal Aid and Human Rights Association) later told the press of his disappointment at the failure of the prosecutor to bring the witness, Constancio, from Dili. He said that for the prosecutor to say that this key witness could not be brought because of the costs was illogical. 'If the state cant afford to bring him, the PBHI is will to pay for the trip including the cost of his escort. We are prepared to do this in the interests of getting at the truth.'
The four on trial in Semarang have been charged because of a statement made by Constancio when he was interrogated by the police in East Timor on 1 November 1997. However, Constancio issued a statement on 27 March withdrawing his earlier statement, saying that it had been made under duress.
Semarang -- Jail sentences of between 3 and 4 years were sought for four East Timorese students undergoing trial in Semarang, Central Java on charges of possessing explosives. The foru students, Domingus Natalino, Joaqim Santana, Fernao Pedro Malta and Ivo Salvador were charged under Article No. 12/DRT/1951 of the Criminal Code, and Article No. 8/1985 regarding possession of explosive material and involvement in illegal organizations. The Prosecutor, Abdul Gafar Kamba, charged that they were involved in an outlawed organization on the basis of their membership in the Socialist Association of Timor (AST).
Sentences of four years in Jail were sought for Domingus Natalino and Joaqim Santana; three year sentences were sought for Fernao Pedro Malta and Ivo Salvador. Yanuar PW, of the defense team for the four students said that they were completely innocent. The security forces, according to Yanuar, arrested the four without clear evidence. The articles submitted by the prosecution to the court as evidence belonged to someone else. i.e. Constancio Costa. The four students, said Yanuar, were arrested because of Constancio's confession to the Dili police. Yet Constancio had retracted his confession before the court, saying that he had been forced to mention the names of the four. Constancio said that the four students were innocent.
"However, the court did not allow us to present Constancio at the trial," said Yanuar. The prosecutor said that they had had financial problems which made it difficult for them to present Constancio at the trial. The judge, furthermore, did not order Constancio's presence despite offers of funding by the defense.
On the other hand, the prosecution wished to present Avelino, now under the protection of the Austrian Embassy, as witness. but the Department of Foreign Affairs failed to follow-up.
"The Department of Foreign Affairs has run into some problems in requesting that the Austrian Embassy release Avelino to testify at the trial. Yet the request that Avelino be called in as witness originated from the Department itself," said a prosecutor who wished to remain anonymous.
MateBEAN sources at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Pejambon, Jakarta, said that Avelino would be arrested as soon as the Austrian Embassy releases him from the embassy compound.
Dili -- Four Timorese youth were shot dead last week in Maubara, 50 km west of Dili, religious sources at the territory said on Monday.
According to several sources quoted by Agence France Press, local militias armed by the Indonesian forces allegedly executed the four youth.
The international community has already denounced for several times the activities of these militias.
| Political/economic crisis |
Jakarta -- Indonesian financial markets were edgy on Friday on renewed student protests and on continued unrest and looting in cities in north Sumatra.
Students ignored a call from the Indonesia's powerful military chief to halt their protests and staged a mock trial of President Suharto in Jakarta on Friday, condemned him to death and burned him in effigy.
In the north Sumatra city of Medan, the scene of violent student protests for reform and riots over big fuel and electricity price hike, demonstrators denounced Suharto as the `Son of Satan" and demanded he be put on real trial.
The rupiah recovered to a high of 8,750 per dollar from an opening of 9,450 before edging back down to 9,150 at the close.
The stock market fell 0.49 percent to 434.66 points on declines in dual-listed stocks, those that may present an overnight buying opportunity in New York and London when the rupiah is weak.
Stock brokers said investors sold those dual-listed stocks as the rupiah bounced back from low Thursday levels.
Dual-listed stocks Telkom, Tambang Timah and Indosat all were lower on Friday, driving the composite index down, although gainers beat losers by 69 to 39. A chorus of reform demands from establishment organisations grew louder with church leaders representing more than 10 million Protestants throwing their support behind the student protests. Earlier in the week a leading Moslem intellectual organisation urged wide-ranging reform.
Violence flared after sharp hikes in fuel and transport prices took effect earlier this week, adding further misery to ordinary Indonesians facing a wage freeze, rising unemployment and higher food prices.
Currency dealers said the rupiah bounced back from two-month lows of 10,000 per dollar it reached on Wednesday because of riots and looting in the north Sumatra city of Medan. But the rebound was mostly due to technical factors. Offshore investors squared off their long dollar positions ahead of the long weekend. The foreign exchange market will be closed on Monday for a public holiday.
Dealers said the market also largely ignored a central bank rate hike of an average of 7.5 percentage points on Thursday, an IMF loan disbursement and the Friday start of talks in Tokyo about Indonesian debt.
"It's now the socio-political dimension which dictates the market. It takes some time to get this kind of problem under control," one local bank dealer said.
Dealers said the market was also worried by a planned trip of President Suharto to Egypt.
Suharto is due to visit Cairo from May 11 to 13 for a summit meeting of 15 developing countries, followed by a formal state visit to Egypt amid political and economic woes at home.
Currency dealers said the market was worried whether the government could maintain control of the worsening situation with Suharto away for so long.
"The situation remains very tense and the government's moves remain closely watched," said Thio Chin Loo, strategist at Paribas in Singapore.
"We remain sceptical that a change in government will provide a solution to Indonesia's current problems, as there is no other credible party to succeed the present team, and if Indonesia were to adhere to the IMF reform program there is little alternative other than to make the necessary adjustments now."
US Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin urged Indonesia to show restraint in dealing with social unrest but the military has said it will be tough on protesters.
Dealers said the central bank rate hike was not sufficient to allow foreign investors to lock in their money in high-yielding central bank paper because implied yields for swap rates were still much higher than the return.
"It's not enough to attract inflows in central bank papers because of increased risk-premiums for Indonesia," one said.
Andrew Marshall. jakarta -- Church leaders representing more than 10 million Indonesian Protestants have added their voice to the growing chorus of demands for reform of the country's political system and pledged support for student protesters.
"Reform is a must right now," Joseph Marcus Pattiasina, general secretary of the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI), told Reuters on Friday. "We urge every party in this country to support reform."
Pattiasina said the PGI represented 10 to 15 million Protestants -- more than five percent of the mainly Moslem nation's population of 200 million.
He was speaking after the PGI issued a statement attacking "unlawful disappearances and kidnappings of pro-democracy activists" and urging support for Indonesia's reform movement.
"The Communion of Churches in Indonesia supports the reform movement that is being voiced by students and other groups in the society, and encourages all members of society to actively support this movement," the statement said.
"Efforts for economic, political and legal reform, which will lead to a more just, democratic and participatory social and political system as well as a more transparent government administrative mechanism should be supported."
The government of President Suharto and the army say they support gradual reform. Harmoko, parliamentary speaker and chairman of the ruling Golkar party, said earlier this week that parliament would act quickly to reform political laws.
Armed forces commander General Wiranto told a news conference on Thursday the demands of protesting students were being met and they should now end the demonstrations which have occurred almost daily in Indonesia for three months.
Protests have at times become violent, as in the Sumatran city of Medan this week when price rises sparked three days of rioting.
"At the present moment, various parties such as the armed forces, students, scholars and political organisations have essentially agreed on reforms," Wiranto said.
Suharto has been quoted as saying he favoured reform. On Saturday, two government ministers said the 76-year-old president was ready for an immediate debate on political reform, including a shift to a constituency-based system to replace proportional representation.
Their remarks clarified an earlier statement attributed to Suharto that reforms could not be implemented until 2003.
But student protests against Suharto's 32-year rule have persisted, and a leading Moslem intellectual group said on Wednesday government promises of some reforms were "vague, too little and too late."
"What began as a monetary crisis has since turned into economic and political crisis. But all these crises are rooted in a crisis of moral character, or the failure of those who should have been role models in society," the Association of Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) said.
The ICMI is nominally headed by Vice President Jusuf Habibie, but he gave up control of the organisation when he was elected in March and is seen as staunchly loyal to Suharto.
In an editorial on Friday, the Jakarta Post said ICMI's statement would bolster the momentum for reform.
"ICMI's joining the people in calling for total reform has a strong influence on the country's movement toward multidimensional change," it said.
"It should also convince any waverers among publicly aware citizens that the movement for reform has reached a point of no return since so many people have jumped on the bandwagon."
Indonesia's president is elected by the mostly hand-picked People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and not by direct election. The MPR elected Suharto to a seventh five-year term in March.
The Jakarta Post said many Indonesians believed that gradual change would be too late to solve the country's problems.
"The people who are now advocating reform believe that change should take place now or it will be too late to make any difference," it said.
"Many also understand that covert proposals for reform, as announced by the government last week, will act as a symptomatic painkiller but will not cure the national disease."
Geoffrey Barker -- Australia moved to distance itself from Indonesia's rulers yesterday as a prominent Australian expert warned that continuing economic and ethnic crisis could turn Indonesians towards ruthless, demagogic leadership.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Alexander Downer, called on the Indonesian Government, armed forces and police to act with "maximum restraint" and to protect the country's Chinese minority which has been targeted by rioters in recent days.
Reflecting rising government unease over violence in Indonesia, Mr Downer warned that the Indonesian economy would be damaged if the ethnic Chinese were forced to flee the country.
He described the Indonesian situation as "a matter of some concern".
Mr Downer made it clear that Australia's approaches to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, as well as its increased food aid to Indonesia, had been designed to try to ensure that the social environment remained "as stable as possible". Recently he has said Australia is not about either propping up or tearing down the present Indonesian Government.
Although he called yesterday on all parties to show restraint, Mr Downer's remarks suggested that Australia's primary interest now was in trying to maintain stability in Indonesia by assisting poor Indonesians confronting massive increases in food and fuel prices. The Soeharto Government cannot expect additional political support from Australia.
Meanwhile, Australian National University Professor Anthony Reid said yesterday that the risk of Indonesia "falling into an abyss of misery and hatred now seemed very real".
Professor Reid, president of the Asian Studies Association of Australia, was addressing an ANU seminar following a recent research visit to Indonesia. He said the economic crisis in South-East Asia had close socio-economic similarities to the European Depression of the 1930s.
He said the crisis, like the European crisis, was likely to be Indonesia's crisis of transition from a predominantly agricultural elite autocracy to a modern mass industrial democracy.
"The bridge between elite interests and the new mass politics was often bridged by totalising ideologies of a fascist and communist type... The transition to stronger mass-based states brought the darkest peril to minorities which could be targeted as outside the social community and blamed for all the evils of social change." Professor Reid said Indonesians should be concerned about the potential of urban semi-educated people to be attracted to a ruthless demagogue who would identify clearly for them where they should channel their anger.
He said the worst effects of the crisis were still several months away as the savings of companies and individuals were exhausted. "It would seem truly a miracle if darker forces did not take advantage of popular anger in the struggles that probably lie ahead," he said.
Andreas Harsono, Jakarta -- One of Indonesian President Suharto's favorite pasttimes is to have a talk in front of farmers, small traders and villagers, known locally as "temu wicara," a phrase which translates as a "gathering to talk."
Suharto gave such a talk on April 21 in Desa Batu, a small village about 200 kilometers south of Jakarta, in which he discussed the on-going economic crisis hitting this world's forth most populated nation.
"We still do have capital to rise again and to cure the ailing economy," said the 77-year-old leader, adding that in addition to a $43 billion international package arranged by the International Monetary Fund, Indonesia still has around 160 state-owned companies.
"If we don't get assistance from other countries, we could fall back on these assets to substitute the foreign loans. We could sell these companies," said Suharto, stressing that the sales might help to restore confidence in Indonesia whose rupiah had lost around 70 percent of its value to the American dollar since July 1997.
Suharto did really mean it. Not more than 24 hours after the speech, some government ministers announced in the capital that the government is to sell seven state-owned companies to the public in addition to five other listed companies whose major shareholders is the government.
Minister for State Enterprises Tanri Abeng, once dubbed "the most expensive professional manager in Indonesia," said that the government had estimated that the sales of the 12 companies is to raise 15 trillion rupiah (around $1.875 billion).
The sale is intended to help finance the current state budget which allocates a massive flow of funds to subsidize domestic sales of fuel and staple commodities such as rice.
"We discussed privatization but plans have still to be finalized," said Tanri, adding that the firms are currently being audited by international accounting offices and the blueprint of the privatization will be fully developed in September in accordance with an IMF deadline.
Indonesia has a total of 164 state firms, 70 percent of which were considered to be financially unhealthy as of last year. The general perception here is that the state-owned companies are either badly corrupted or under seriously bad management.
Some of them -- such as the national airline Garuda Indonesia, or the power utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) -- had suffered big losses not only because they were managed by incapable hands but also because they had "to serve" companies controlled by the children and cronies of President Suharto.
The Suhartos usually asked state-owned firms to donate their service. And these politically-connected figures simply did not pay or underpay the service, anyway.
The Indonesian alternative newspaper X-Pos once called the state firms the "milk cows" of the Suhartos, whose widely-diversified business interests range from an airplane manufacturer to power plants, from media companies to highway construction, and form the core of so-called "crony capitalism" in Indonesia.
The seven firms Suharto will privatize include steel manufacturer PT Krakatau Steel, construction firm PT Jasa Marga, PT Pelindo II and PT Pelindo III seaport operators, rubber plantation PT Perkebunan Nusantara IV, coal mine PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam and airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II.
The already-listed companies, either on the local stock markets or the international ones, include telecommunication operator PT Telkom (government controls 75,8 percent), PT Aneka Tambang (65 percent), PT Tambang Timah (65 percent), satellite operator PT Indosat (65 percent) and cement producer PT Semen Gresik (65 percent).
But neither Suharto nor Tanri mentioned just what percent of the shares of the seven are to be offered to the market. Tanri said that the government will still control the majority of the company. Other officials also said the government is not going to reduce its controlling stakes less than 51 percent.
Tanri, a former executive of Union Carbide and Heineken, the Dutch beer brewer, said that the privatization is to take place either with a direct placement of stock issues with the help of a strategic partner or via a public offering in the market.
According to the Kompas daily, the seven companies are regarded to as "smoothly-run" firms. PT Krakatau Steel last year had assets of 2.4 trillion rupiah and a profit of 92.63 billion rupiah. PT Perkebunan Nusantara IV reaped a profit of 92.63 billion rupiah in 1996.
Some analysts believed that PT Tambang Batubara is the most attractive among the seven since it is an export-oriented firm. "Of course, the coal price is quite bad lately. But it is a cycle, up and down," said analyst Kevin Evans of the Panin-ANZ Securities.
The others have a so-so reputation. Krakatau Steel's market is comprised mostly of domestic firms which have remarkably decreased their activities if not closed totally during the economic crisis here.
The Jasa Marga tollroad operator controls routes which are not very profitable since the crowded ones are controlled by its main rival, PT Citra Marga Nusaphala Persada, owned by Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, the eldest daughter of Suharto. Hidayat Jati, a senior researcher with the Castle Group, however, said that it is still difficult to estimate the value of the companies because, unlike Thailand and South Korea, two other countries hit worst by the monetary crisis, "Indonesia fundamentally has not yet reached a point where the market has already been diverted from the economics."
That was an obvious reference to the question of President Suharto's rule. Student protests have been flaring up everywhere. Anti-Chinese riots also broke out in more than 30 cities throughout the country. That has discouraged investors from putting their money into Indonesian assets.
Worse than that, the government also maintained an on-again and off-again stance on the IMF-sponsored reforms. In October, the Jakarta government signed a deal with the IMF, but breached it repeatedly, prompting the international agency to make a replacement deal in January. But again, some say, it was fooled by the Suharto government. The third deal took place in March, but many are skeptical whether Suharto's empire, with all its vested interest, will implement the agreement.
But not everyone believes that Suharto should be replaced before an economic restoration could take place. These analysts tend to be more pragmatic and advocated a business-as-usual approach.
"People should stop looking for who and start thinking about what. What kind of issues would be important to the country? And who is talking about these issues? Who has the most credibility?" said a foreign political economist in Jakarta.
Suharto himself closed his talk with the villagers with a nationalistic remark that a wholesale takeover of Indonesian state-owned companies by foreign investors is possible if the nation failed to resolve the economic crisis.
"Do you know what will happen if these upheavals continue? Domestic industries will be paralyzed and foreign capital will come in and take them over," the aging leader said.
By Robyn Dixon in Melbourne and Jennifer Hewett in Washington
The IMF's managing director, Mr Michel Camdessus, has expressed "deep concern" over the rioting in Indonesia, but said the real cause of unrest was not price rises, but the deeper economic management problems which had led to the crisis in the first place.
Mr Camdessus said in Melbourne yesterday that the 71 per cent petrol price rise which led to riots in the city of Medan was indispensable to the country's economic future, and he urged Jakarta to push ahead with the tough economic program backed by the IMF.
He said the petrol price rise was part of the IMF's agreement with Indonesia, and described IMF policies as medicine which created more pain at first, but which would lead to a more balanced economy.
"Deplorable as these [riots] ... can be we should always remember that our programs are not the deep origin of these problems," Mr Camdessus said.
He was also "extremely concerned" about the cases of missing activists in Indonesia.
"I believe that human rights violations can never be accepted and are never a good thing for economic progress," he said.
While Korea and Thailand had shown their commitment to tough monetary policy, Indonesia had not yet proved it was capable of sticking to the IMF program, Mr Camdessus said. He warned there were no instant miracle cures to Asia's crisis.
Australia is set to provide new loans to Indonesia following the decision by the IMF to release $US1 billion ($1.56 billion) to the Soeharto Government but most other countries - including the United States and Europe - are still delaying paying out.
Australia will lend $US300 million as part of its contribution to the IMF rescue package for Indonesia; Japan will provide $US1 billion and Malaysia will make some funds available.
But the US, hobbled by a hostile Congress and doubts about Indonesia's sustained commitment to reform, prefers to wait longer before the Administration hands over any money. As part of the massive $US43 billion rescue package organised by the IMF last year, a range of countries agreed to provide $US17 billion worth of second-tier financing.
The collapse of the first two agreements between the IMF and the Soeharto Government meant there was no question of this money being called on, with the IMF itself suspending a $US3 billion payment in March.
But following a new deal between the IMF and Indonesia - and its gradual implementation - the funds board agreed this week to hand over $US1 billion as a first step.
The IMF payment means that other institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank will also be able to start releasing funds.
The scepticism about Indonesia is still evident, however, with the IMF doling out the money in one-month instalments and subject to constant review.
After the IMF released its delayed loan to Indonesia yesterday, Mr Camdessus said he believed Indonesian authorities had belatedly realised the damage that their delays to structural economic changes had caused to the country's international economic credibility.
"Now they know that, they know the only effective way to rebuild their credibility is to stick to the program they have agreed with us," he said.
In Washington, the IMF's first deputy managing director, Mr Stanley Fisher, made it clear that the situation in Indonesia would have to be monitored very closely.
"We are under no illusions that everything will be smooth sailing from now on out," he said. "There really is not much room for slippage."
Ian MacKenzie, Jakarta -- Riots in the North Sumatran capital of Medan shook Indonesia for a third consecutive day on Wednesday, with local reporters saying at least six people were killed in blazing buildings or by gunfire from security forces.
Mobs looted and burned shops and vehicles in the commodities trading centre and neighbouring towns as financial markets tumbled on fears the violence might spread throughout the nation of 200 million people.
Despite the nation's economic and political woes, the government said President Suharto would attend a summit of 15 developing nations in Cairo followed by a state visit to Egypt next week.
The official Antara news agency said Suharto would attend the summit of the G-15 group of Asian, African and Latin American nations from May 11 to 13 and then stay in Egypt for a two-day state visit.
Suharto last left Indonesia for an extended visit to southern Africa, Canada and Saudi Arabia last November, following which he was seriously ill for several weeks.
The violence in Medan was triggered by Monday's announcement of an increase in the prices of fuel, transport and electricity.
Reuters journalists in the city of two million reported seeing at least two people shot and wounded. Local reporters said at least six people were killed in Wednesday's violence and one man died on Tuesday when he was trapped in a burning building.
Reports from the nearby town of Lubukpakam said one person was killed in a riot there, they said.
Demonstrations involving thousands of students were held in the capital Jakarta, Bandung in West Java, Yogyakarta in Central Java, and Indonesia's second city of Surabaya in East Java.
Witnesses said troops fired rubber bullets into the air during protests at the National University in Jakarta but there were no other immediate reports of trouble.
Troops also replaced riot police at the Institute of Sociology and Politics in the capital in a show of force indicating the army was taking charge in dealing with the protest movement.
More than 20,000 students gathered at three universities in Surabaya and troops prevented them from taking their anti- government protests to the streets.
Witnesses said the students dispersed and made their way to the East Java legislative building, where they were joined by members of the public in a mass protest over prices.
Thousands of students also demonstrated in Yogyakarta, but there were no reports of trouble after a confrontation late Tuesday night. There were no immediate reports of trouble elsewhere.
Student confrontations with riot police in volatile Medan had set the scene for the explosion of violence there, sparked by the sharp increases in fuel and transport prices.
Political and diplomatic analysts said it was not clear how the situation in Medan might affect the rest of the country, where student protest movements have so far lacked cohesion and national leadership.
A senior diplomatic analyst said anti-government opposition remained localised, and had not yet spread beyond major urban centres.
But there was the danger for the government that broad public discontent over rising prices could give added backing to the student movement and broaden opposition to unpopular government measures.
"It is a festering sort of situation, with a good deal of uncertainty," he said.
The powerful armed forces have warned students against a descent into anarchy and to restrict their protests -- in which they have called for quick political and economic reforms and an end to President Suharto's 32-year rule -- to campuses.
The Medan riots shook the rupiah currency, which slid to around the 9,000 level against the dollar in London trading on Wednesday from just over 8,000 at the Jakarta opening.
The Jakarta composite stock index fell 4.72 percent to end at 414.63 points. Some analysts predicted it could reach the 400 level or lower.
The Medan riots were a bitter blow to a government that had hoped to boost confidence in the nation's battered economy after the International Monetary Fund approved a balance-of-payments loan of nearly $1.0 billion on Monday.
The IMF's implicit approval of Indonesia's progress on economic reforms had helped counterbalance the Medan violence on Tuesday, but it failed to keep up the support on Wednesday.
The collapse of the rupiah from around the 2,400 level against the dollar last July plunged Indonesia into its worst economic crisis since Suharto took power in the mid-1960s. Inflation and unemployment are shooting up, most companies are in technical bankruptcy and trade has come to a virtual standstill.
The increase in fuel prices that went into effect at midnight on Monday were part of the IMF reform agreement, but they will cause additional hardship in a nation dependent on transport between 17,500 islands spread for 5,000 km (3,000 miles) along the Equator.
Leading opposition figure Megawati Sukarnoputri castigated the government for the increases, saying they showed Suharto's administration was out of touch with the people.
Markets in other Asian centres were also hit by fears for Indonesia's stability.
Indonesia straddles key shipping and air routes, and is by far the largest country in the nine-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Instability in the world's fourth most populous nation would have a major impact through the Asia/Pacific region and beyond, analysts said.
Political and diplomatic analysts said that while the Medan riots were dramatic, the security authorities appeared to have kept nearly three months of student demonstrations fairly well under control.
Diplomatic sources said military commanders had put out the order to avoid using live ammunition to prevent an escalation in confrontations.
Injuries, mainly from rubber bullets, had been relatively small given the numbers of people involved, they added.
[On May 6, a volunteer with the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation in Medan told Radio Australia that some 130 people have been arrested in the rioting. The city was 'like dead', he said. Thousands were involved in the rioting, he added. Some 30 Chinese Indonesians have sought shelter in a hotel in Medan and Chinese propert and police vehicles have been burned, he said.]
Louise Williams, Jakarta -- Indonesian police shot and wounded at least two people during riots in Medan yesterday, as the North Sumatran capital was hit by a third consecutive day of mob violence sparked by steep increases in fuel and transport prices.
Unrest is growing across the country as the Soeharto Government ends subsidies on basic goods in line with the conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund in return for its economic rescue package.
As the protests intensified, the Indonesian House of Representatives announced it would initiate a review of key political, legal and economic legislation, in a sign the Government may be willing to give some ground in the crisis.
However, some analysts said the offer was too little too late, and that the demands of the protesting students and workers had gone beyond compromise and now included the resignation of President Soeharto.
Reporters at the scene of yesterday's shootings in Medan said they saw at least two peoplewounded when Indonesian security officers opened fire to disperse a crowd of protesters estimated at up to 5,000.
Two other people were shot and wounded by police in Medan during rioting on Tuesday, witnesses said.
As well, the Jakarta Post reported yesterday that a student demonstrator had been shot and wounded by police in South Sulawesi's capital of Ujung Pandang.
The price rises follow lay-offs of millions of workers, caused by the collapse of the economy and the devaluation of the rupiah.
The latest violence in Medan came as armed police chased looters from the smouldering remains of rows of shops and houses following a night of clashes between protesters and security forces.
Reports from Medan said scores of people were injured overnight as mobs angered by the price rises joined student protesters and rampaged through the city.
Indonesian newspapers reported that the mobs attacked the homes, shops and warehouses of ethnic Chinese, whose control of business and visible wealth makes them frequent targets. At least 100 homes and 100 shops were destroyed, as well as scores of cars and motorcycles.
Another report said at least one person died and several were injured when they were trapped in a burning building. In the central Javanese university town of Yogyakarta, thousands of residents joined student demonstrators occupying a five kilometre stretch of the main road. One witness, contacted by telephone, said the protest continued until early yesterday morning when police using tear gas and batons forced the crowds off the street.
"It was frightening. The police were quite rough. Only about 40 per cent of the demonstrators were students, the rest were members of the public. The crowd was just running amok, lighting fires and looting."
In Jakarta, students joined minibus drivers in a demonstration in front of the Parliament, one of the first joint actions between students and workers.
The House of Representatives Speaker, Mr Harmoko, announced that laws criticised as having a bias in favour of the the ruling Golkar Party at the expense of the two other legal parties would be revised, modified or scrapped and replaced.
Indonesia's much-criticised subversion law, under which opponents of Mr Soeharto's New Order regime have been jailed, would also be discarded, as forecast by the Justice Minister, Mr Muladi, last month.
Mr Harmoko also announced that the three parties and the armed forces faction of the Parliament had agreed to reform laws on monopolies and consumer rights, banking legislation and anti- corruption laws. And the National Police spokesman, Brigadier General Da'I Bachtier, confirmed that members of the public were joining student demonstrations, saying that of about 160 people arresteded since Monday, 40 were not students.
"People are coming from all over the place, and when there is a mass of people gathered, anything can happen," he said.
A local political scientist, Mr Ryass Rasyid, said the demands of the students and their supporters had gone beyond the review offered by the House of Representatives and now involved the resignation of the President and the convening of an emergency session of the 1,000 member People's Consultative Assembly.
He said the student demonstrations could be stopped only by military force or through extensive political reforms.
"I have heard of student efforts to solicit support from workers," he said. "It is therefore very urgent for the Government to take action to accommodate the people's aspirations."
The influential Association of Indonesia Muslim Intellectuals. ICMI, has called for sweeping political reforms in the wake of escalating violent protests, reports said Thursday.
President Suharto's latest reform proposals were "vague, too litte and too late", the ICMI statement saidm in a statement called for a cabinet reshuffle.
The organisation, previously chaired by Vice-President B.J. Habibie, also supported demands that the People's Consultative Assembly, the MPR hold an extraordinary sesion to initiate broad reforms.
After days of violent protests in the North Sumatra provincial city of Medan, the ICMI board met Wednesday and called for a special session of the MPR which meets once every five years to elect the president and set broad politcy objectives.
"The lack of confidence in the government is the source of these protests. They have widened as more and more people are feeling the burden of increasing prices of basic commodities," an ICMI statement issued after the meeting said.
House of Representatives speaker, Harmoko rejected the demand for an extraordinary session of the MPR, saying Suharto, elected in March to a seventh term in office, should be given the chance to carry out his new mandate.
Jakarta -- Former cabinet minister Siswono Yudohusodo stressed the necessity of immediate political and economic reforms yesterday, indicating that a cabinet reshuffIe may be needed to help defuse the national crisis.
"Seeing the deterioration in the quality of life in the social economic and political fields immediate reform has become a must. There are no other alternatives, " said the former minister of transmigration at a seminar on reform organized by Nasional University.
He said the people were losing confidence in the government and in certain issues, the government was not even respected anymore.
"The current crisis cannot be defused by an administration which lacks credibility and is without the people's support, " he said, adding that the image of the Armed Forces also had deteriorated compared to a decade ago.
He cited corruption among government officials, nepotism in the recruitment of House of Representatives members and the appointment of government and military officials as having contributed to the deterioration of public confidence in the government.
He also attacked the national car program, saying that it had tarnished the country's image.
"When the program began, PT Timor Putra National imported 40,000 units of Korean-made cars with tax breaks. At home, the cars' Korean brand was changed to Timor. It's an immoral deed. Then, in order to cover that negative impression, it was said that the cars were made by Indonesian workers sent to Korea, although the Indonesian workers were really employed at a glass factory, " he said.
Siswono, also a businessman, warned that economic reform was urgent.
"In certain fields, reform is a must because delay could spark demands for drastic changes that could turn into c revolution," he said.
Concrete steps
Siswono suggested concrete steps the government should take in carrying out economic and political reforms.
He stressed that the government must consistently comply with the IMF-sponsored reform package. "The government's hesitation to implement the program in the past has contributed to the prolonged economic crisis," he said.
A reshuffle of the current cabinet may be necessary to regain public confidence in the government, he said.
Siswono said ministers not committed to the eradication of corruption, collusion and nepotism should be replaced.
The government should reconcile with critics and possibly accommodate them in a reshuffled cabinet to strengthen national solidarity, he said.
Concerning presidential succession, he said President Soeharto should be replaced in 2003 by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) because he would be 82, an age considered too old for the post.
"However, a hasty replacement of the President and Vice President is also believed by some as a way to enable the nation to quickly solve existing problems because it would be effective in winning new government legitimacy, " he said.
Another step should include the greater empowerment of the state audit agency while auditing the assets of government officials. The agency should also issue regulations banning families of officials from doing business with their own departments.
The review of key laws, such as for elections, on political organizations, on state legislative bodies and provincial and regency councils and the establishment an antimonopoly law would be necessary, he said.
He said the MPR should also issue a decree limiting presidential terms of office. The proportional election system should be changed to a district system in the next general elections for the House of Representatives and the MPR, he said. On top of this, the elections should be fair and democratic.
He said the government should take clear, transparent and integrated steps in handling cases of abducted activists in order to regain public confidence.
"One main task of the government is to protect all citizens and make them to feel safe," he said.
The government should learn from these cases that it is of great importance to uphold human rights, he said.
Jakarta -- Female workers have become the prime target of lay- offs and dismissals in Greater Jakarta, a women's organization said.
The Indonesian Women's Association for Justice (APIK), which has been monitoring labor relations in Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi, said over the weekend that pregnant workers were the number one target of dismissals.
Spokeswoman for the association Sriwiyanti said other common victims were female workers on menstrual leave, those viewed as having the potential to lead labor strikes, and women approaching pensionable age.
Women make up 57.7 percent of textile, garment, and shoe factory workers, sales assistants, migrant workers and domestic helpers, according to the association.
In the industrial sector, women generally work in positions which are vulnerable to dismissal, and in many other sectors they have no legal protection at all, Sriwiyanti said.
"Women working in the informal sector, such as domistic helpers and migrant workers, are commonly abused, mistreated, denied regular payment and forced to work unpaid over time," she said as quoted by Antara.
Employers are using the worsening economic crisis to justify the current wave of lay-offs and dismissals, Sriwiyanti added.
"There is no question that the crisis has led many companies to the brink of bankruptcy but a lot of companies which have not been badly affected had used the issue to dismiss employees in the name of efficiency," she claimed.
Worse still, she pointed out, some companies were using the economic crisis to force through wage cuts among their employees and to justify withholding allowances.
In connection with international labor day that fell on May 1, APIK called on the government to do more to stop employers from arbitrarily dismissing employees, to take action against companies who exploited workers, and to punish owners who closed down companies resulting in large job losses, without going through the proper procedures.
It also urged the government to provide better legal protection to female workers who have fallen victim to the economic crisis adding that government economic policies should have the interests of ordinary people at heart.
Christopher Torchia, Jakarta -- Thousands of rioters burned cars and looted stores in an Indonesian city today and police battled rock-throwing students in the capital as sharp hikes in the cost of fuel and transport kicked in.
The violence came as the government pushed through reforms geared to lift Indonesia's drifting economy, but sure to deepen the economic pain of millions of Indonesians.
"Everybody is now complaining about the prices," said Yayah Syamsiah, a 40-year-old noodle vendor in Jakarta who has six children. "Who will listen to us? Ordinary people are crying."
In the second day of violence in the northern city of Medan, mobs swarmed onto a main highway, torched nine cars and attacked shops owned by ethnic Chinese shopkeepers, police said. The ethnic Chinese minority, which dominates commerce in the nation of 200 million, was targeted in deadly riots over price increases in February.
"It's not a pure student protest anymore, because it involves ordinary people," police Lt. Col. Amrin Karim said. "There are thousands of angry people trying to burn houses. They are burning tires and turning over cars." At least 20 officers were injured and 59 people arrested in Monday's unrest.
Rioters said they were angry over a 71 percent rise in the price of gasoline today as well as increases in the cost of kerosene and bus, train and ferry tickets, said Medan lawyer Ramadaniel Daulay.
Many truckers did not deliver goods to the port because they didn't want to pay higher fuel costs, port officials said.
Campus unrest broke out in Jakarta, where police lobbed tear gas canisters and fired rubber bullets at student protesters demanding the ouster of President Suharto. At least five officers and 25 students were injured in two clashes, police and witnesses said.
President Suharto's economic advisers, meanwhile, got high marks from the International Monetary Fund when IMF directors approved loan disbursements from a $43 billion bailout for Indonesia.
Nearly $7 billion in aid is now available to Indonesia, IMF special envoy Prabhakar Narvekar said after meeting with Suharto. Aid had been suspended amid fears that Suharto was backing off pledges to open up the economy.
The news that aid had been resumed did little to soothe 200 student protesters in Jakarta, who shouted "Fight Suharto!" and demanded the lowering of fuel prices at a rally outside Parliament. "This is a mistake. This is the fault of Suharto," said one protester, who gave his name as Jimmy. Trucks of police were parked nearby, but did not enforce a military ban on street protests.
Hundreds of students chanting for democratic reform also rallied at campuses in the Java Island cities of Yogyakarta and Semarang.
Angry over the fuel price hike, bus drivers refused to drive high school and university students to classes in Kupang, 1,150 miles east of the capital. Thousands of students marched in protest to the governor's office.
Mantik Kusjanto, Jakarta -- The IMF's executive board is expected to give Indonesia's reform programme its seal of approval on Monday, but economic analysts said even this was unlikely to stimulate the country's battered financial markets.
They said politics was the key issue setting the direction for the rupiah currency, as well as implementation of economic reforms.
The board of the International Monetary Fund is due to review Indonesia's progress on reform and is expected to release immediately $1.0 billion from a $3.0 billion balance of payments loan held over since mid-March.
The full loan is due to be disbursed over three months, but the initial payment will trigger several billions of dollars in assistance from other agencies and nations committed to backing Indonesia in its economic crisis.
But currency dealers said the market appeared to be focusing on political matters rather than economic considerations.
The underlying worry now was the escalation in student protests demanding swift political and economic reforms and that President Suharto step down after 32-years in power to take responsibility for the economic crisis.
"The strength of the rupiah is no longer determined by economic factors. The weight of non-economic issue is playing a greater role," said Pande Raja Silalahi, economist at Jakarta's Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
He said the shift in market perception was reflected in a stagnant rupiah value against the dollar despite repeated interest rate rises by the central bank.
The rupiah was little changed throughout April at around the 8,000 level against the dollar.
"The high political risk of Indonesia seems to have prevented (capital) inflows in central bank certificates (SBIs) despite the attractive returns," Silalahi said.
The central bank has raised its key interest rates twice in five weeks to prop up the beleaguered rupiah.
The rupiah's collapse from around 2,400 to the dollar last July triggered the crisis, causing prices and unemployment to shoot up, throwing most companies into technical bankruptcy and bringing trade to a virtual halt.
Analysts said investors were concerned over the country's stability with thousands of students demonstrating on campuses throughout the nation of 200 million people almost daily.
The government on Saturday quoted President Suharto as telling top government, political and military officials the previous day that he was not against political reform, and talks could start immediately.
The government issued a statement saying electoral reforms could be expected before the next national polls in 2002. The statement was issued hurriedly after two cabinet ministers had failed to get Suharto's message across when briefing journalists.
The 76-year-old Suharto was re-elected for a seventh five-year term in office in March, and another factor concerning analysts and investors is the state of his health after a bout of illness late last year.
Political analysts said it now remained to be seen whether the students would accept the offer to discuss reforms, or escalate their demonstrations.
"It's getting serious on the political front. Student protests are gaining momentum and opponents of Suharto's rule are raising their voices," one analyst said.
Meanwhile, the stock market continued its slide as high interest rates and political and economic uncertainties dampened sentiment.
The composite index dropped almost nine percent last week to an 11-month low of 448.53 point by Friday, with the market likely testing even lower levels.
"With a domestic interest rate of 50 percent, there is really no incentive to buy equities at the moment," said Stephanus Partono of Goldman Sachs in Singapore.
| Labour issues |
Jakarta -- Thousands of workers across Indonesians went on strike demanding wage increase after hikes in fuel, electricity and staple food prices, reports said on Thursday. About 4,000 workrs staged a rally in front of two ceramics factories in the greater Jakarta area town of Tangerang, demanding higher improved benefits and more transparent hiring policies.
Meanwhile 1,500 workers at wood processing manufacturer in Kerawang, West Java staged a pay strike Wednesday, the Pikirin Rakyat daily reported. "We know for sure the management kept making huge profits during the economic crisis because our products are aimed for exports," one worker was quoted as saying. "Meanwhile oue wages stay the same whereas our daily expenses have skyrocketed".
The strikes came on the heels of massive price hikes in fuel, electricity and transportation costs after the government announced the removal of subsidies in keeping with an Inernational Monetary Fund endorsed economic reform programme. Inflation is already running at an annual rate of close to 30 percent, with prices jumping 4.7 percent in April from a month earlier. Some fuel prices rose 71 percent.
| Human rights/law |
Four activists who were arrested on 9 March while taking part in a small demonstration in Jakarta went on trial at the Central Jakarta district court, charged with carrying out political activities.
The four are: Kuldip Singh and Wandy Nicodemus Tuturoon, members of the political reform NGO, PIJAR, Widhi Wahyu, a student activist, and Farah Diba Agustin of the trade union, SBSI.
They are being charged under Law 5/PNPS/1963 which makes it an offence to take part in political activities which are critical of the government. They are accused of taking part in a demonstration in Jakarta on 9 March which called on the government to stop mass layoffs, to lower the prices of basic goods and to release Muchtar Pakpahan, leader of the SBSI.
The indictment said that altogether twenty people took part in the demonstration. They face a maximum penalty of five years.
The accused are assisted by a defence team of lawyers from the PBHI, the Association for Legal Aid and Human Rights, and the TPKB, the team to uphold justice for workers.
The prosecutor also accused them of disturbing public order because the demonstration disrupted the traffic. The next hearing will be held on 8 May.
Jakarta -- The South Jakarta District Court has sentenced 11 activists to nearly two months in jail for taking part in a street protest here in February, the Jakarta Post daily said.
The court sentenced the 11 defendants to one month and 23 days each in prison for ignoring police orders to disband while marching from the attorney general's office towards the manpower ministry on February 11, the report said.
The 11, who had already been detained for two months and 22 days,
| Arms/armed forces |
Jim Mannion, Washington -- The United States called off a military training exercise with Indonesia and is reviewing all other scheduled joint military activities because of concern over political unrest there, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday.
"The reasons we terminated this exercise at this time is because of the circumstances now prevailing in Indonesia," the spokesman said. "We thought it would be inappropriate to continue training at this time."
"Because of the prevailing situation we are going to conduct a policy level review of individual military activities," he said. "We will review all other US military activities currently planned in Indonesia and we will decide on a case-by-case basis whether to proceed," said the spokesman, who requested anonymity.
Dubbed "Balanced Iron," the exercise began May 1 and involved a static line parachute jump master course, navigation and low- level flight operations courses.
Some 95 US Special Forces troops based in Torii Station, Okinawa were supposed to take part in the exercise, but only 17 were in the country when the Pentagon decided to terminate it, the official said. It was scheduled to conclude May 20.
The decision to terminate the exercise followed calls by the White House for restraint and respect for human rights by Indonesian authorities in the face of escalating riots that have left as many as six dead this week.
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a protest by stone-throwing students in central Java, injuring at least 60 people in the worst violence during a day of demonstrations at universities across the country calling for an end to President Suharto's rule.
General Wiranto, the Indonesian military chief, sought to defuse the protests, telling students that their demands for political reform had been heard and urging them to end the demonstrations. But his appeals Thursday were ignored.
Although US military aid to Indonesia has been banned since 1992, the Pentagon has conducted joint training with elite Indonesian military units under a Joint Combined Exchange and Training (JCET) program.
The training programs have come under fire from US lawmakers and human rights activists who argue that the units receiving the training were among Indonesia's most notorious abusers of human rights. The Pentagon official strongly denied that the decision to pull out of the Balanced Iron exercise was intended as a protest against the government's handling of the crisis.
But he said, "It reflects our concern about conditions in Indonesia. Human rights is an important consideration and we believe programs like JCET and E-IMET (expanded International Military Education and Training) can be beneficial in that regard."
Since 1993, the US military has conducted 41 JCET training programs with the Indonesian military at a cost of 3.4 million dollars.
| International relations |
K. Baranee Krishnaan, Kuala Lumpur -- US ambassador to Malaysia John Malott said on Tuesday he would not tolerate another violent entry into his embassy by asylum seekers after eight Indonesians broke in last month and fought with embassy staff.
"You don't come in fighting when you want to seek political asylum from the United States," Malott told Reuters on the sidelines of a meeting between US and Malaysian businessmen. "I will not tolerate any further violent intrusions of this nature at the embassy. It is my duty to protect the embassy and its staff," Malott said.
The eight Indonesian immigrants entered the US embassy on April 10 by climbing a wall to avoid deportation by Malaysian officials.
Malott said the immigrants were in a combative mood and did not appear to be asking for help. "They engaged in a 10-minute hand combat with at least three American civilian officials, three military officials and one security personnel. Both our people and theirs were injured," he said. "They jumped into the compound and began assaulting our people without saying a word. Is this the way you ask for help?"
He said after subduing the immigrants, one of the American civilian officers who speaks Malaysia's local language, which sounds much like Indonesian, understood that the immigrants said they were Aceh separatists from Indonesia.
"From here on, our approach to the whole matter changed," he said, adding that he could not yet say when the immigrants would leave the embassy. Embassy officials have been working with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' office in Kuala Lumpur to determine if the immigrants deserve political asylum. Malaysia has said it will deport all illegal immigrants regardless of their claims.
More than 20 other immigrants who broke into the Brunei, Swiss and French compounds on the same day were turned over to the police. Malott said those groups were just as violent. "I must say that I can understand why the embassies reacted in the way they did," he said. "What kind of response do you expect from any embassy in the world when you enter the embassy illegally at 7.30 in the morning and start throwing rocks at the building and beating up anyone you encounter inside?"
He said the immigrants at the US embassy were now quite happy. "They are eating the same food we are eating, that comes from our cafeteria. We've given them shampoo, too, and they've been asking us for hair oil. "They're also asking for cigarettes but we can't do this as it is not the US government's policy to buy anyone cigarettes."
| Economy and investment |
Christine T. Tjandraningsih, Jakarta -- The Indonesian government Monday announced an increase in public transportation fares, only a few hours after it announced price hikes for fuel and electricity in accordance with an International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommendation to reduce government subsidies for the two commodities.
The increases cover bus, train and ship transportation fares with an average increase of 65.61%, Transportation Minister Giri Suseno Hadihardjono said after meeting with President Suharto.
According to Giri, the new fares will be effective Tuesday. The highest increase of 100.72% will be imposed on economy-class train fares, while economy-class inter-city bus fares will rise by 50 %.
Fares for regular buses and minibuses, which are used daily by most commuters, will be raised by 66.67% and 50% respectively -- from 300 rupiahs (about 4 US cents) to 500 rupiahs for buses and from 400 rupiahs to 600 rupiahs for minibuses. "Fares for students (for regular buses and minibuses) will remain at 100 rupiahs, while the fares of air-conditioned buses will be decided by the owners of each bus company," Giri told reporters, adding that taxi fares will be determined by provincial governors.
Fares for diesel-powered trains will be raised 72.96%, while ship fares will be raised 53.33%.
The decision to increase the public transportation fares followed an earlier government decision to increase fuel prices by an average of 47%, effective from Tuesday, and electricity prices by 60% in three stages, starting this month.
Minister of Mines and Energy Kuntoro Mangkusubroto acknowledged the price hikes will be a hardship for the public, but said the decision was "the best" from a list of "hard and bitter" choices.
He told reporters that the government will "try to protect the low-income class and those who have been most affected by the impact of the economic crisis... through a cross-subsidy system either in fuel prices or in electricity fees."
Kuntoro announced an average increase of 47% in fuel prices, of which he said the largest portion will be borne by the affluent.
He said the highest increase -- 71.43% -- will be imposed on "premium", a kind of gasoline that is used by luxury cars, causing the price per liter to rise from 700 rupiahs to 1,200 rupiahs.
Kuntoro said last month that the wealthy would buy the more expensive premium "to subsidize kerosene customers who are mostly poor people." The price per liter of kerosene will be raised by only 25 %, to 350 rupiahs from 280 rupiahs, Kuntoro said Monday.
Meanwhile, according to Kuntoro, electricity fees will be increased by an average of 20% in May, 20% in August and 20% in November. He said that if fuel and electricity prices are not increased, the government's subsidies for both commodities will reach 27.54 trillion rupiahs, -- 11.37 trillion rupiahs for electricity and 16.17 trillion rupiahs for fuel.
The government has attributed the huge subsidies to the sharp fall of the rupiah, the country's currency, against the US dollar, rather than to the inefficient operations of the state electricity company PLN and the state oil and gas company Pertamina.
Kuntoro said that last week operations of both are relatively efficient. "As the minister of mines and energy, I have the task of making the companies efficient and preventing their inefficiency from contributing to the fuel and electricity price increases," he said.
The price increases are expected to boost the country's inflation rate, but Kuntoro did not disclose the estimated inflation rate at the Monday press conference.
When the government last raised fuel prices in January 1993, the country's monthly inflation rate after the increase in fuel prices rose to 2.3%, from 1.5% in the preceding month.
In a recent agreement reached between the government and the IMF, Indonesia has promised that "subsidies will be substantially scaled down by Oct. 1" to cover the state budgetary position, which has come under severe pressure as a result of poor economic activity.