• Wahid shoots from the lip

• Provinces take cue from Aceh
• Calm in Ambon after bloody weekend

• Troops ready as violence escalates
• 13 named suspects in Aceh massacre
• Atrocities carried out on TNI orders
• Die already cast in Aceh
• Military wounds in Aceh fester
• Ex-army provocateurs caught in Aceh
• Learning the hard way in Aceh
• Troops attack West Papuans

• Workers need to better bargaining power

• Indonesia keeps public in dark on Y2K
• 90 political prisoners freed
• Suharto in dock unclear prospect
• Wiranto may be charged with `omission'
• Vow to avoid war crimes court
• Australian media face probe
• Gambling den burnt in Chinatown
• ASIET activist jailed in Jakarta

• 3,400 dogs killed in anti-rabies drive
• AIDS activists try to spread the word

• Jakarta, IMF at odds over fuel
• Import duty plans rattle markets
• Foreign loans to be reduced
• Jakarta's cash crunch
• Telkom, Indosat to be sold off
• IMF agreement seen before budget
• Banks' losses at 52 trillion
• Israel has invested millions

Democratic struggle

Where now for the democratic movement?

Green Left Weekly - December 8, 1999

James Balowski, Jakarta -- Spending a day at the People's Democratic Party (PRD) headquarters in East Jakarta watching the stream of activists coming and going, it's easy to forget that just three years ago, the party was banned, its key leaders jailed and the remainder hunted by the military and forced underground.

Since then, the ban has been overturned, the PRD has become a registered political party and was even able to participate in the May general elections. I spoke with several members of the KPP-PRD (the PRD's Central Leadership Committee) about the next steps.

Coen: The formation of the new government -- with Gus Dur [Abdurrahman Wahid] as president and Megawati Sukarnoputri as vice-president -- has brought with it a totally different political environment. On the one hand it has created more democratic space, but at the same time, it has made some aspects of our work far more difficult and complex. Gus Dur and Megawati have a significant base of support among ordinary people, and many consider the new government to be legitimate and representative.

There is also the question of the separatist movements -- or more correctly, the national liberation struggles -- which are emerging not just in Aceh but in places like Riau, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and West Papua.

One thing that hasn't changed is the military's role in politics, which remains essentially intact. Although the new government appears to want to bring the military under tighter civilian control, it still holds 38 seats in the parliament, and its territorial command structure remains in place. In places like Aceh it is still playing a very repressive role, and although it is perhaps more cautious than before, we can expect it to continue to be used to suppress internal dissent.

Economically, the country is essentially bankrupt. The banks are insolvent, the construction industry is stagnant, and many companies are unable to pay their debts. Private and state debt is a major burden and is impacting on many aspects of ordinary people's lives.

Wignyo: Although we are now considered a "real" political party and can openly present our program and policies to the people, we have to find ways to criticise the government effectively, to reach out and talk to the people and present an alternative program.

Wilson: We also need to force Gus Dur to prove himself to the people. By campaigning around specific demands, such as for the trial of former president Suharto and his cronies, we can expose the true nature of the new regime. We can show the people that it is not, and has never been, committed to reformasi total.

Although many people are prepared to give Gus Dur a chance, the sentiment for real reform, which was popularised in the anti- Suharto and anti-Habibie demonstrations, remains very strong among the masses.

Hendri: Many people are disappointed that the supposed opposition parties, which they believed were representing their interests, are working together with Golkar, the very party which Suharto used to maintain his rule for 32 years!

But we still have to convince people that the PRD represents a real and viable alternative. Because we are still small and have few resources, limited access to the mass media and so on, building the party and increasing our influence remain our greatest challenges right now.

Coen: We still have some very real organisational limitations. For example, although we have Pembebasan [the PRD's newspaper, Liberation], financial constraints mean that at most we can print only around 2000 copies of each issue. Building the party paper is one of our major priorities, so as to promote our ideas and program, and to educate our own membership.

Hendri: It used to be much "easier", fighting Suharto, fighting the military. Under the new government the issues are less obvious, less visible. For many in the democratic movement -- especially the student movement -- this has led to a great deal of confusion. Sometimes it is almost as if they would like Suharto back, to have something obvious to fight against.

Wignyo: The student movement is very disoriented at the moment. It still sees itself as the "moral force", whose role is pressure the bourgeois opposition -- who, of course, are now the government.

Even though the student leaders recognise that the new government is not fundamentally different from the previous one, they have failed to understand that merely being a moral force in society is not enough.

The movement must seek to build itself into a national organisation which can present a real political alternative. Initiatives of this kind have already started with the formation of the National Student League for Democracy [LMND].

Part of the reason for this confusion is that since the mass demonstrations of February 1998, the main focus of the student leadership was agitation, but without any propaganda to provide a deeper political understanding.

So, for example, when it came to concepts like the formation of a transitional government, organisations like Forkot [City Forum, a Jakarta-based student coalition] had great difficulty explaining it to the students. There is also a lack of theoretical understanding: they have had almost no opportunity to read books on the democratic movement in Latin America, for example, or the experiences of student movements in other countries.

Coen: We also need to take up specific issues that go beyond the student movement itself, broader political and economic issues such as women's liberation, the environment and culture.

Issues such as the national liberation movement in Aceh must also be taken up.

The PRD fully supports the Acehnese people's right to self- determination, to hold a referendum and independence if that is what the people choose. This is not just because all people have the fundamental right to democracy, human rights and to determine their own future, but because, by supporting such campaigns, we can counter the nationalistic sentiment being promoted by the Wahid government in the name of maintaining "national unity".

Hendri: The neo-liberal agenda will result in many more workers being laid off, more state enterprises being privatised, more banks being closed down. A major challenge for the PRD and the labour movement is to support the formation of a strong trade union which can defend workers in the face of this austerity. One such initiative has been the formation of the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle [FNPBI] earlier this year.

This is very difficult. Workers are afraid to organise, frightened that they will lose their jobs. Often they are just thinking about how to survive on a day-to-day basis.

Wilson: Another challenge we face is integrating the thousands of people who signed up to join the party during the general election campaign. Having worked as an underground or semi-legal party for so long, we have little experience of how to do this. The first step, which has already begun, is to compile a national membership list.

Mugianto: Our organisational limitations mean that it has been hard to follow up recruitment with education, training and the integration of new members into our political work. We are now mapping out an internal party education program to train our own members through nationally coordinated "train the trainers" schools.

We are also organising external education through conferences, seminars, round table discussions and so on.

Hendri: One of the effects of the increased democratic space is that ideas such as socialism and Marxism, which were previously taboo, are now starting to be discussed, but still only in academic circles. Books such as Capital are now sold openly in bookshops. But among broader layers of society, the concept of socialism is still very distorted.

So while our political program is argued from a socialist perspective, we are still calling for a transitional program as outlined in our 1996 Manifesto. We believe that we still need to propagandise around concrete issues such as working conditions and wages, the role of the military in politics, bringing those responsible for human rights abuses to justice and so on.

It also has to be remembered that although there has been some relaxation of the laws regarding Marxist ideas, it is still illegal to openly promote or campaign for socialism.

Wignyo: The priority at this stage is to advance the democratic movement so that it is capable of winning political power, to convince the student movement and the people that they cannot just rely on the present government, the bourgeois political parties or the parliament to carry out any real political reform.

They must form their own independent organisations and link up with broader layers of society. This will be a long journey and, for the PRD, perhaps the greatest challenge we have faced so far.

[Wignyo and Wilson head the PRD's Department of Literature, Hendri Kuok and Mugianto head the Department of International Relations, and Coen Husein Pontoh is the head of the Education Department.]

East Timor

Timor leaders vie for power

The Australian - December 11, 1999

Michael Ware. Dili -- East Timor's political heavyweights and leading lights, now is crunchtime. Real positions of influence and power are up for grabs, and the manoeuvring is under way.

The country's new governing body, the National Consultative Council, a joint agency with the UN administration, meets for the first time today. But the dominant political force in this new island state remains the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), a loosely formed coalition of markedly diverse political interests.

Its formation in Portugal in April last year was born out of political expediency and a patriotic desire for freedom shared by all who participated.

But the stakeholders in this unique formation arrived at their pro-independence common ground by very different means. Age-old class, cultural and economic divisions had to bridged -- and some bloody histories put to one side -- before the CNRT could become the effective and real independence movement it was, working zealously to force the conquering Indonesians to give an opportunity for self-determination.

By their own admission, however, it was never meant to last. And already insiders, willing to exploit the tensions and claiming to act on their masters' behalf, are preparing to begin hiving people off.

Apart from the UN transitional administrator, East Timor's power elite, politically and socially, consists of its minor constellation of international stars, all of whom were instrumental in helping the plight of their people lurch into the global public's mind.

The key figures are Nobel laureates Jose Ramos Horta, who was East Timor's roving ambassador-in-exile for 24 years, a man critical to the marshalling of world opinion against Indonesia, and moral touchstone Bishop Carlos Belo. The other, undisputed force is the charismatic freedom fighter Xanana Gusmao, a man only recently freed from years of Jakarta-ordered imprisonment.

Gusmao's place at the head of the East Timorese political pantheon is unassailed. No one, not even the hugely popular Ramos Horta, could challenge him [not that there's a push to do so] or they would risk the public's retribution because he is so openly adored.

Ramos Horta is the consummate politician, and contrasts sharply with Gusmao in style. Yet he defers freely to Gusmao's authority and right to ascendancy as the country's virtual president-elect, always placing himself behind Gusmao and offering his unquestioning support. Indeed, even during his Nobel peace prize acceptance speech in 1996 he credited Gusmao with the true struggle in East Timor.

The bond, both political and personal, between the two is said to be strong and genuine. As a pair, they make an unsurpassable team. However, other forces are included in the CNRT mix.

One of the other major groupings is that represented by CNRT member Joao Carrascalao. His family, including his brothers Manuel and Mario, is formidable and quick to change with the shifting political winds in East Timor.

Under the Portuguese colonial regime the family flourished. In fact it is said that if the pre-existing Portuguese land acts are reinstituted, the family could own anything up to 40 per cent of the country. True or not, that perception is real among the CNRT and the public.

When the colonial masters withdrew in 1975, the Carrascalaos' political party, the Timorese Democratic Union, entered a shortlived civil war with the forces of Fretilin, the party where Ramos Horta and Gusmao built their power bases.

The Carrascalaos sided with Indonesia during the December 7, 1975, invasion and continued to flourish under the occupation, with Mario becoming governor from 1982 to 1992 and a deputy in the Indonesian ruling party Golkar.

However, their views changed and they became strong supporters of independence. Manuel even lost his son, killed by militia thugs during an attack on his house before the August 30 independence ballot.

But the common ground is breaking up. While Joao Carrascalao comes from a family that has known privilege, Gusmao has always been a man of his people. His father was a schoolteacher and he grew up in the mountains surrounding the capital, Dili.

After receiving his education, Gusmao moved to Dili and began working early in life as a chartered surveyor and teacher. He rose to prominence as leader of the pro-independence Falintil fighters before he was captured and jailed by Indonesian forces. The binding that keeps these CNRT alliances together is, without the shared enemy of Indonesia and with the shape of a future of power in East Timor in the balance, appearing more tenuous than ever. Joao was once touted as the future deputy president -- some are whispering that this title was the compromise necessary to make the alliance work -- but the faceless insiders, depending on whose team you talk to, now say that is out of the question.

A code of conduct to foster transparency in government and public accountability is being drawn up. For some it is expected to be the weapon with which to remove Joao from the CNRT. But Joao, talking to The Weekend Australian this week, insisted his family's business interests in no way posed a possible conflict of interest.

Tapols return to emotional welcome

Agence France-Presse - December 11, 1999 (slightly abridged)

Dili -- Eighteen East Timorese freed by Jakarta under a presidential amnesty program arrived in their homeland Saturday to an emotional welcome.

A C-21A aircraft chartered by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which left Halim Perdanakusumah air force base in East Jakarta with the 18 East Timorese on board nearly five hours earlier, landed at Comoro airport at 2:15pm.

Independence leader Xanana Gusmao was personally on hand at the airport to greet the arrival. He had left the first meeting of the National Consultative Council, a type of cabinet for East Timor, to greet the returnees.

Gusmao, the man most likely to lead a free state of East Timor, served some of the six years he spent in Indonesian jails at the same Cipinang prison in East Jakarta where the 18 prisoners had been held.

The 18 East Timorese were included in a list of 70 East Timorese who were granted an amnesty or had the remainder of their sentence waived by Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid on Friday.

The other East Timorese were held in prisons in East Timor's districts of Dili and Bacau and officials said they might have been freed long ago as the territory was no longer part of Indonesia.

Gusmao went into the plane just after it landed and escorted the 18 across the tarmac into the terminal building, as scores of people lining up the short walk cheered.

As the group walked the tarmac, one of the prisoners waved his arm and could not restrain himself from shouting "Viva East Timor," "Viva Xanana Gusmao," "Viva Falintil," and "Viva the Roman Catholic Church." Falintil is the armed wing of the pro- independence umbrella organisation, the National Resistance Council of East Timor (CNRT) presided by Gusmao.

Many of the returnees wore small crucifixes hanging from necklaces. One carried a one foot long crucifix as he walked solemnly among the group towards the terminal. Inside the terminal, scores of people crowded near the entrance, many of them in tears.

"Viva Gregorio," said several of the people when they spotted Gregorio Saldahna, arrested by Indonesian authorities in 1992 shortly after the November 12 Dili massacre in Santa Cruz, among the newcomers. "We are extremely happy, the government of Indonesia must release all prisoners from East Timor," Saldanha said.

The 18 and some of their welcomers were immediately taken to the new CNRT headquarters in downtown Dili on board vehicles of the ICRC.

At the CNRT office, a former Chinese commercial association headquarters and under Indonesian rule a navy office, that was inaugurated by Gusmao on December 2, over 200 people massed at the frontgate to welcome the returnees.

With the CNRT flag flying above them, four returnees addressed the crowd in the local Tetum language from the building's second-floor balcony.

"I wanted to tell people that today is a great day for us," Saldanha told AFP afterwards. "It is important for us to come back to our mother country," he said, adding that with his other colleagues, he now wanted to contribute to the rebuilding of his homeland.

Horrific conditions in West Timor

Washington Post - December 9, 1999

Nora Boustany, East Timor -- An American relief worker who arrived Sunday from East Timor described horrific conditions in resettlement camps she visited across the border in western Timor, where she said she saw mass graves of children, and refugees living as the virtual hostages of Indonesian soldiers and local militias.

"Outside Atambua, I saw a grave with 24 children aged between 2 months to 6 years," said Pamela Sexton. The cause of death, she was told, was diarrhea. "The biggest concern is the health of children," she added. Most international aid agencies are unable to operate in western Timor because of threats from the Indonesian military and the militias they support, she said.

Sexton said she entered camps in the southern and central parts of western Timor, and those adjacent to the East Timorese border, in October and November. Thousands of East Timorese remain trapped in makeshift camps with nothing but tarpaulins as shelter, three months after they were driven from East Timor by rampaging Indonesian forces, Sexton said in an interview Monday.

Several refugees who tried to cross into East Timor were shot, she said. "In one horrible case, refugees saw severed heads spiked on sticks in late September as a warning sign of what might happen to them," Sexton said. In the camps, women would approach her, touch her hand and quietly ask if she could help them escape. "The minute a militiaman with a pro-Indonesia T- shirt would show up, each woman would change her story, saying, `Things are good. Everything is fine.' This kept happening at every camp," she said.

The Indonesian forces are carrying out a disinformation campaign to discourage leaving the camps, Sexton said. Refugees are being told it is "very unsafe in East Timor. They tell them that men, women and children are being separated and the men are killed, taken out and dumped into the sea." She added that they live in fear of being targeted as pro-independence.

Conditions along the border were the worst, said Sexton, a former UN observer in East Timor who served as the US coordinator for the International Federation for East Timor Observer Project during the August 30 referendum on East Timor's independence from Indonesia. She witnessed the violence and the exodus and returned with Grassroots International, an international development group, to assess reconstruction needs and visit western Timor.

1st free anniversary of invasion

Kyodo News - December 9, 1999

Dili, Tim Johnson -- Timorese Tuesday celebrated East Timor's first free anniversary of Indonesia's invasion of the former Portuguese colony on December 7, 1975.

Veteran independence campaigner Jose Ramos-Horta told Kyodo News his people's hearts are filled with sorrow for the many who died during the initial assault on Dili.

"But it's also a great day of joy for the people of East Timor because it's the first time after 24 years that on this day the people are free," he said after attending a church service with Bishop Carlos Belo, with whom he shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize.

Ramos-Horta, Falintil guerrilla force field commander Taur Matan Ruak and other resistance figures later took part in a colorful procession of vehicles down Dili's main thoroughfare, attracting small crowds each time it stopped to replace street signs along the way.

"The Indonesians had named this long avenue after Suharto's wife," Ramos-Horta said, referring to the former Indonesian president who ordered the invasion. "Today, for the first time in 24 years in a free Timor, we rename it to honor the martyrs of this country," he said. The avenue was renamed Rue Dos Martires da Patria (Avenue of the Martyrs of the Motherland).

Operasi Seroja -- a full-scale land-sea-air attack on Dili involving some 10,000 Indonesian troops -- was launched at 2am on December 7, 1975, less than 24 hours after then US President Gerald Ford and former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger visited Jakarta.

During the attack, Dili residents were subjected to what historian John Taylor has described as "systematic killing, gratuitous violence and primitive plunder."

The only foreign journalist to witness the invasion, Australian Robert East, was shot through the head with his hands tied behind his back, and his body thrown into the sea.

But the Indonesian attempt to take control of the territory proved costly and time-consuming as it was met with fierce resistance from Falintil forces.

Badly outnumbered and outgunned, the Falintil fighters were eventually forced into the mountainous interior, where they waged guerrilla warfare for 24 years.

Indonesia's annexation of the territory in 1976 was never recognized by the United Nations, which on August 30 held a referendum in which the East Timorese people voted overwhelmingly to separate from Indonesia.

Wiranto denies refugees threatened

Agence France-Presse - December 7, 1999 (abridged)

Jakarta -- Influential security minister General Wiranto on Monday denied allegations of a systematic effort by militias to prevent East Timorese refugees in West Timor from returning to their homeland.

"There are accusations that the late return of the refugees ... is due to intimidation by the auxiliary security members or the so-called militia," Wiranto, the coordinating minister for political affairs and security, said.

"But after conducting intensive observations ... [there were] only one or two incidents. Conceptually there's no such thing [as intimidation]," the former military chief told journalists after a cabinet meeting.

"It is feared that the refugees are reluctant to go back to their homeland because they are worried that what they will get in their home country such as security guarantee, facilities and welfare will not be as good as in the refugee camps."

There were also concerns that "their home country is not well- managed by UNTAET," he said, referring to the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor, which is overseeing the territory's transition to full independence.

Wiranto gave assurances the Indonesian government would cooperate with the UNTAET to help with the return of about 140,000 East Timorese still in West Timor. "It means if the refugees return, their welfare and security must be guaranteed," the general added.

Howard hides Timor horror

Green Left Weekly - December 8, 1999

Jon Land -- As investigations by both the United Nations and the Indonesian Human Rights Commission continue into the Indonesian military's involvement in the killing and destruction which took place in East Timor, the Howard government remains reluctant to divulge vital intelligence that would aid these investigations.

John Howard's highly publicised visit to East Timor on November 28 was well timed to take the heat off, to divert public attention from the government's treatment of East Timorese refugees, its "Timor tax" and new evidence that it knew all along what the Indonesian military was really doing in East Timor.

Secret Defence Intelligence Organisation documents, leaked to the media in late November, provide further proof that the Howard government was aware that the Indonesian military was directly involved in the militia violence in East Timor.

The documents state that the terror campaign was conducted with the full knowledge and support of Indonesia's top generals, including the head of the military, General Wiranto.

The contents of the DIO documents, "circulated" in Canberra from November 22, are similar to those leaked earlier in the year. The documents contradict claims by Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer throughout the pre-referendum period that the violence was not the official policy of the Indonesian military and was caused by "rogue elements".

At a special sitting of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade on November 22, Wayne Sievers, a former police intelligence officer with the UN mission in East Timor, provided evidence of the direct involvement of the Indonesian military.

Sievers collected material from a range of sources, including East Timorese serving in the Indonesian army and working for Indonesia's security services, material he says implicates Indonesian officials and representatives of the Indonesian military and police at the highest levels.

Sievers told the Canberra Times, "On the morning the result of the vote was announced, we knew what was going to happen, and how it would happen. It was like waiting for the sky to fall in."

The November round of leaked DIO information coincided with the release of a book entitled East Timor: Too Little Too Late, written by Lansell Taudevin, who headed AusAID projects in East Timor from 1996 to March 1999.

Taudevin was requested by the Australian embassy in Jakarta to provide "information" about the situation in East Timor. He advised embassy officials from as early as July 1998 that the Indonesian military was forming the militias and reactivating several of the infamous "ninja" gangs.

One proof of military involvement detailed in the DIO documents is the Liquica massacre of April 6, when more than 50 people were killed by pro-integration militia.

Downer admitted on April 11 that Indonesian troops were present, but claimed "There's a debate about what part they played" and that there were "wildly different accounts of what actually happened". The Howard government opted to support the Indonesian military's version of the events (which claimed only five were killed) rather than that of church representatives, human rights groups and eyewitnesses and the assessment of its own agency, the DIO.

A confidential DIO briefing on April 8 stated: "It is known that ABRI [the Indonesian armed forces] had fired tear gas into the church and apparently did not intervene when the pro-independence activists were attacked. Brimob [the police mobile brigade] were allegedly standing behind the attacked at the church and firing into the air -- ABRI is culpable, whether it actively took part in the violence or simply let it occur."

Downer decided that the findings of a report by Australian diplomats who visited East Timor to investigate the Liquica killings would not be released. He told reporters on April 16, "We aren't in a position to be able to prove what happened there".

Downer, along with Howard, continued to claim that the Indonesian military was not responsible for or supporting the violence in East Timor. On April 17, militia gangs rampaged through Dili while Indonesian police and military stood by.

Howard denies that the government ignored the intelligence it was receiving. He told ABC television just prior to his visit to East Timor, "We are seeing a massive and partisan attempt to rewrite history, and it won't wash". He claims that the government made 120 separate representations to the Indonesian government during the year about violence in East Timor.

But the Howard government is actively stalling and blocking attempts by investigators to piece together the truth on human rights abuses in East Timor. It has frustrated attempts by members of the International Commission of Jurists to interview East Timorese refugees in Australia -- refugees who are being pressured by the government to return immediately, regardless of the trauma they still suffer from.

In response to requests from the head of the UN administration in East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, for assistance with forensic experts and materials (such as a transportable morgue), Howard said that this was a concern for the states, rather than the federal government.

Howard has also indicated that the government will provide only limited intelligence to the UN investigation into atrocities.

In an interview on ABC radio on November 29, Howard said, "When it comes to intelligence gathering, every national government has obligations that are very important in the national interest which transcend everything else"; the government would only "consider" any "proper approach from the UN". What Howard and Downer really fear is that investigations and leaks will confirm what the government has denied. They will confirm that they knew what the Indonesian military were up to, that they knew the terror campaign came from the very top ranks of the Indonesian military and that the government they led chose to misinform the public so as to protect the "special relationship" with Jakarta.

ALP rejects funding for East Timor

Green Left Weekly - December 8, 1999

The Victorian branch of the ALP has voted against a proposal to provide the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT) with $5000 for urgent reconstruction work in East Timor.

The motion, proposed by the Labor Left (Pledge) faction, was opposed by the Labor Unity and Socialist Left faction leaders at the party's administrative committee meeting on November 26. Even an amended motion for a collection to occur at the upcoming state conference was deferred.

Labor Left policy convener Lev Lafayette said: "After years of having a disturbing and opportunistic record on East Timor policy, the ALP began to make amends at the last national conference. It was hoped by many that the policy changes at that conference would lead to accepting principles of self- determination for the Timorese and a foreign aid policy built on compassion.

"The decision ... is contrary to these principles. The East Timorese ... desperately require food, clothing, housing and medicines -- necessities of life."

The ALP national office and the NSW branch have provided CNRT with financial assistance.

Bitter anniversary of invasion

Agence France-Presse - December 6, 1999

The bodies began to wash ashore about a week after Indonesia invaded East Timor 24 years ago.

"I buried one man over there on the beach," said Joao Pereira, 56, who was a waiter at the seafront hotel Turismo when Indonesian troops landed on December 7, 1975.

Pereira, who still works at the hotel, said the legs of the East Timorese victim had been bound. The waiter turned and motioned further along the water's edge. "I buried one old man who died over there, and I buried one little boy."

They were among the first of what Amnesty International has estimated were up to 200,000 East Timorese who died from armed conflict, bombardment, execution, famine and disease after the invasion.

The dead accounted for about one third of East Timor's pre- invasion population, Amnesty said.

Year after year of brutality followed until the East Timorese voted overwhelmingly on August 30 this year to move towards independence, a move that sparked a final Indonesian spasm of murder, rape, arson, forced relocation and looting.

This Tuesday will be the first time in 24 years that Indonesian troops have been gone from East Timor on December 7. "There will be no party. It is just a day that we have conquered our peace back," said Taur Matan Ruak, deputy commander of the small band of Falintil pro-independence guerrillas who never gave up their fight against thousands of Indonesian troops.

"It's just mind-boggling the way the world has turned around in the last 24 years," said Jose Ramos-Horta, who spent all of those years abroad, trying to make the international community take notice of East Timor's plight.

Both the American and Australian governments were aware of Indonesia's invasion plans, writes James Dunn in his book "Timor: A People Betrayed".

Ramos-Horta said he is not a religious person, but he said the only way this small former Portuguese colony could have survived, "must be an act of God". "God made us strong to survive these 24 years, so on December 7, I will thank God."

The Indonesians first came from the heavens. Pereira remembers standing in the Turismo's garden courtyard about 4am that morning and watching the Indonesian paratroopers come down. Indonesian naval gunfire had awakened him about 90 minutes earlier. "They were already shooting from the sea to the hills," he said.

The night before Pereira had served dinner to the hotel's last guest, the Australian journalist Roger East. "He ate fish and fried potatoes and then I heard the telephone," said Pereira.

The phone call came from Francisco Xavier do Amaral, who had been president of East Timor for 10 days after the Fretilin political party declared unilateral independence as Indonesian forces advanced overland into the territory from West Timor. "See you later. I'm going to president Amaral's house," Pereira remembered the journalist saying. He never saw him again.

A witness quoted in Dunn's book said East was executed on the Dili wharf. His body fell into the sea. Many other unarmed civilians met a similar fate at the wharf, according to Amnesty.

Against armed opposition, the Indonesians did not have as much initial success. "It seems that because of the Falintil's determined resistance to the invading troops in the first few months Fretilin was able to intimidate the Indonesian units into conducting a very cautious campaign," Dunn wrote.

By September 1977 the Indonesians had intensified operations with air and naval bombardment. The campaign decimated Falintil, but by 1979 Xanana Gusmao, its current commander, had set up communications between the surviving guerrillas to keep on the struggle, Ramos-Horta said.

He said he never doubted that independence would come. "For me, what was important was the dream, or it was this inner voice or power saying, `no you must not give up'," Ramos-Horta said. "The only thing that mattered was justice for a people. And justice prevailed."

For Ruak, too, victory was assured."I never, never had any doubts that this day would come and always that we will win. And now we have won," said the Falintil soldier.

Militia intimidating refugees

Suara Pembaruan - December 6, 1999 (summarised)

Jakarta -- The militia have been haunting the East Timorese refugees currently residing in camps in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). Militia are still emotionally charged over not succeeding in their "mission" and have been terrorising and threatening the refugees...

The commission investigating human rights violations in East Timor (KPP-HAM) [expansion unknown] have been in NTT for two weeks trying to gauge the situation and conditions of the East Timorese community who fled to NTT. Their first report, which they gave to the press in Jakarta on Monday [29th November], was entitled "Militia Activity and Human Rights Conditions for Refugees in NTT" .

The current number of refugees in NTT is thought to be around 200,000 people. They are settled in camps in three districts: Kupang, Kefamenanu and Atambua Belu...

In Kupang there are about 40,000 refugees, while in Kefamenanu the remaining refugees number about 30,000 and are scattered around Winni, Nain and Maubesi. The largest number of refugees, around 150,000 people, are situated in Atambua Belu.

In Kupang the refugees are being intimidated by the militia groups Aitarak and Besi Merah Putih. However, other groups such as Jati Merah Putih and Mahidi are also responsible for such operations. In Kefamenanu the militia group is Sakunar, and in Atambua, the Laksuar militia are active.

A number of witnesses, including family members of the victims of violence and terror, say the militia are detaining, threatening and terrorising the refugees. Every militia member guards around 10 to 15 refugees. The militia refugees. Every militia member guards around 10 to 15 refugees. The militia are also threatening any refugees who want to return to East Timor. They also often take refugees' family members hostage to stop them leaving the camps.

Witnesses also say the militia conduct patrols and sweeps in parishes and churches looking for students and community members from the pro-independence side...

Children dying in West Timor

Agence France-Press/Reuters - December 6, 1999

Geneva -- Conditions in refugee camps in West Timor are deteriorating, with provincial authorities reporting that at least 35 people, mostly children, died in one camp over a 10-day period, the UN refugee agency said at the weekend. Thirty-two of the victims were children under five.

The East Timorese refugees died from various ailments, but primarily diarrhoea and malaria between November 22 and December 1, said UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman Mr Ron Redmond. The people were staying at the Tua Pukan camp located outside the West Timor capital, Kupang, he said.

Tens of thousands of East Timorese fled the territory to escape violence by militias after an overwhelming vote for independence at the end of August.

Ground water sources in camps were contaminated, toilets either did not work or were poorly maintained and water delivered to the site was reportedly untreated, he said.

Previously, authorities said 140 people died at Tua Pukan over a three-month period. Mr Redmond said the repatriation program for East Timorese returnees had reached "a critical stage" and there had been a sharp drop in the number of people returning.

A spokesman for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Mr Jean-Philippe Chauzy, said that among people in East Timor there was growing tension between those returning from West Timor and those who stayed in the territory but fled to the mountains.

People arriving back in East Timor with assets had provoked, in some cases, resentment from those who had stayed and lost all their possessions, Mr Chauzy said. UNHCR and IOM said the onset of the rainy season had also made it difficult to reach people in remote camps.

Mr Redmond said systematic intimidation continued in West Timor. Militias in the Atambua border region have threatened to take hostages from families going back. The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Henry Shelton, has backed Australia to head the 11,000-strong UN peace-keeping force in East Timor from early next year.

This puts the US at odds with some Asian nations which have criticised Australia's role as head of the existing multinational force.

Government/politics

Wahid shoots from the lip

South China Morning Post - December 6, 1999

Vaudine England, Jakarta -- President Abdurrahman Wahid, recently back from China, has injected new insecurity into his cabinet by saying he hardly knows some of them and suggesting some should resign.

Asked about three unnamed cabinet members who are being investigated by the Attorney-General's office for corruption, Mr Wahid said at the weekend they would be taken to court if necessary.

"Or there is another way that means not dragging it through court, which is resigning," he said. "The egg has hatched. Pak Hamzah Haz has resigned, that's that."

He was referring to his former co-ordinating minister for peoples' welfare and poverty eradication, Hamzah Haz, who resigned last week. "The others can also resign if they want. An excuse can always be found, that's easy," he said.

The disconcerting President went on to describe the composition of his rainbow coalition cabinet as the result of political deal-making, implying he would be happy to lose several of them. "There are ministers that I just met, that I don't know. It was horse-trading to the fullest," he said.

Mr Wahid secured his own job with the support of the Axis Force, a loose alliance of Muslim-based parties led by Amien Rais, now chairman of the Peoples' Consultative Assembly.

He also gained some support from the more progressive wing of the former ruling party Golkar, led by the new chairman of the House of Representatives, Akbar Tanjung.

And he freely admits he owed debts to then armed forces chief General Wiranto, now Co-ordinating Minister for Politics and Security, and to then opposition leader and now Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

"So Pak Amien, Pak Akbar, Pak Wiranto, Mbak Mega and myself were trading cattle, thus as a result you have a cabinet like this," Mr Wahid said. "Originally the cabinet only comprised 18 people and I carefully selected them. "This is what it's like to sell cows -- in the past it was great because you had the market to yourself, but now you have to trade with others."

More to the point, say commentators, is that in the past, the wily Mr Wahid was not president. Now that he is, some wish he would keep his more frank thoughts to himself.

Rumours are flying as to who is under investigation and Mr Wahid earlier took the rare step of denying in writing that his minister for law and legislation, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, was among them.

Before becoming president, Mr Wahid had said he wanted a small, efficient cabinet in which jobs were awarded solely on merit, and he may now be hoping to achieve that through attrition.

The other provocative point raised by Mr Wahid on his return was his claimed success in securing US$200 million of investments from Israel for largely Muslim Indonesia.

A variety of Muslim and political groups have protested against his goal of trade ties with Israel, but Mr Wahid appears to want to show his disdain for them too.

Regional conflicts

Provinces take cue from Aceh

Financial Times - December 9, 1999

Ted Bardacke and Diarmid O'Sullivan -- "We reiterate our full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Indonesia and support the efforts of President Wahid toward a peaceful settlement of the situation in Aceh."

Last week, this statement about Indonesia's most serious separatist threat was issued from capitals across the world. Whether it came from the country's Asian neighbours meeting in Manila, western powers in Washington and Brussels, or Middle Eastern countries which might be sympathetic to Aceh's Islamic militants, the wording was nearly identical.

So was the sentiment: Indonesia, the world's fourth largest country, could be on the verge of disintegrating and few governments want either to hasten that day or to deal with the consequences, which would be much more serious than the recent move to independence of poor, culturally distinct and illegally annexed East Timor.

Sitting at the northern entrance to the vital shipping lanes in the Straits of Malacca and on top of huge natural gas reserves exploited by Mobil, the US oil company, Aceh would be a significant loss to Indonesia. But the blow to the credibility of the central government in Jakarta would be fatal. Many other provinces, particularly Irian Jaya, site of the world's largest gold mine and big independence demonstrations last week, would be difficult to hold on to unless the army took control and prematurely ended Indonesia's rocky two-year experiment with democracy.

The regional implications would be equally far-reaching. Says a foreign businessman just returned from resource-rich East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo: "Everybody there is watching Aceh. They're thinking 'If the Jakarta government can't keep Aceh, then why should they keep us?' There are even whispers about creating a 'Greater Borneo' with talk going on across the border [with Malaysia]."

By denying world support for the Acehnese separatists through a frenetic series of overseas trips since he became president in October, President Abdurrahman Wahid has won an important battle in the low-intensity war to keep Aceh part of Indonesia.

But in the province militia activity is on the rise, with civilian government having ground to a halt and the Indonesian army in the curious situation of being the most powerful orchestrator of events while officially confined to barracks.

There are daily reports of killings or kidnappings, and people have taken to forming patrols to guard their home districts at night from what they describe as "provocateurs". On any given day these could be members of the GAM guerrilla group, the army, gangsters, Acehnese taking revenge for past atrocities or soldiers acting to protect their private business interests.

Col Syarafuddin Tippe, garrison commander of the Indonesian armed forces in the provincial capital of Bandar Aceh, is sure of one thing: the army has lost the hearts and minds of the Acehnese through its brutality, he says. Although Mr Wahid has ruled out a referendum on independence, that is the overwhelming Achenese demand.

"If there's a referendum, just give them independence, because 99.9999% of them will vote for it anyway," says Col Tippe. But local activists believe that the army, far from giving up, has already begun its counter-offensive.

"The problem for the army is that they have no justification for carrying out operations," says Otto Syamsuddin Ishak, a local academic. The army is solving this problem, he believes, by using agents provocateurs to spread violence and chaos and create the impression that only martial law can restore order. Activists point to the recruitment of a ex-GAM guerrilla known as Arjuna, who they say leads a force of several hundred former guerrillas and hoodlums who masquerade as GAM members, a tactic used before by the Indonesian army in Aceh and East Timor.

"It's hard to prove, but we have good sources in Jakarta who know the relationship between Arjuna and the military, especially Zacky," says Iqbal Farabi, head of the state human rights commission in Aceh, referring to Gen Zacky Anwar Makarim, a special forces officer accused of organising the pro-Jakarta militias in East Timor, who has been active in Aceh in the past.

As Mr Wahid pursues a solution to the problem in Aceh, many believe he is using the confused situation to his strategic advantage -- as he has many times before in his political career

With the separatist movement a motley coalition of Moslem student activists, educated urban people, villagers and religious scholars, along with guerrillas divided into at least two factions, and the army unclear as to what their orders are, the president has made himself the only potential unifying force around which a compromise could be forged. It is still months away but while Mr Wahid sends out conflicting signals to probe reactions he may be able to judge where the middle ground lies.

"Aceh needs time, discussion and a very long leash," says a senior western diplomat. "But he is the right man for the job."

Still, any solution acceptable to the separatists in Aceh will require the punishment of military officers responsible for the killings of thousands of civilians in the territory over the past two decades.

Some suggest the beginnings of the process of accountability will start at the lower levels of the army, who, when pressed in court, are likely to implicate their superiors and in that way move up the chain of command -- a scenario firmly ruled out by the country's defence minister.

The fundamental problem for Mr Wahid remains that he "needs to go after some very big fish" within the army to placate the Acehnese, the diplomat says. But the fundamental unknown is whether the army will stand for it.

Calm in Ambon after bloody weekend

Jakarta Post - December 7, 1999

Ambon -- Calm returned to the riot-torn province on Monday following two consecutive days of communal clashes which claimed at least 31 lives. Businesses and schools reopened in Ambon as roadblocks were cleared.

The situation in nearby Seram Island was also calm on Monday after the authorities secured the area, according to Maluku Police spokesman Maj. Phillipus Jakriel.

Indonesian Military Commander Adm. Widodo A.S. and National Police Gen. Roesmanhadi are scheduled to make a one-day visit here on Tuesday. Widodo is to officiate at the transfer of command in Maluku from the police to the military.

According to Pattimura Military Commander Brig. Gen. Max Tamaela, Widodo will also have a first-hand look at the province. He is due to meet with local leaders and provincial officials, as well as visiting refugees and victims of the communal clash. "But he is not scheduled to visit Seram," Max replied when asked if he would visit the island.

Max also revealed that several members of the military's artillery unit were being investigated by military police for involvement in a shooting spree in Ambon several days ago.

Meanwhile in Surabaya, East Java, Eastern Fleet Commander Rear Adm. Adi Haryono was quoted by Antara as saying that 900 Marines were dispatched to help secure Ambon and the surrounding areas.

"We already sent the troops from Surabaya as part of the military reinforcement. The previous squads in Ambon also needs to be revitalized, too," he said.

Meanwhile in Yogyakarta, sociologist Lambang Triyono of Gadjah Mada University urged Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri to visit Maluku to settle the prolonged conflict.

"We believe that Ibu Mega is acceptable to both warring parties, the Muslims and the Christians," Lambang said on Monday. He recommended that a group of mediators be formed, consisting of representatives from the warring communities.

"Intensive dialogs with community and religious leaders here must be done by the mediators and the government so an effective settlement can be reached," he added.

Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Gen. Wiranto said in Jakarta that he hoped the warring factions in Maluku would take advantage of the coming Christmas and the fasting month of Ramadhan as the impetus to end their hostilities.

Wiranto hoped the spirit of the two major religious events could end the prolonged sectarian violence because ultimately it was the people involved who could effect peace.

"Hopefully during Idul Fitri and Christmas, the process of mutual forgiveness will become a reality," Wiranto said after attending a three- hour Cabinet meeting at the Bina Graha presidential office.

He said the government pursued many means in an attempt to restore peace and security in Maluku, but the situation would not change if people continued blaming each other.

Aceh/West Papua

Troops ready as violence escalates

Agence France-Presse - December 10, 1999 (abridged)

Jakarta -- Indonesia's military Friday warned they were ready to crush separatists in the troubled province of Aceh if ordered to, following the gunning down of a soldier and kidnapping of two officers in the strife-torn territory.

The warning came after the latest attack on Indonesian soldiers in Aceh, when a lone gunman shot a soldier in Pante Pisang village in North Aceh on Thursday.

The shooting sparked an intensive security sweep in the district, with troops and police searching for the attacker and two soldiers who had been kidnapped from the same village on Monday, the Aceh-based Serambi daily said.

Volleys of gunshots were heard in the nearby sub-district town of Matang Geulumpangdua late on Thursday and until the early hours of Friday as soldiers combed the area, Serambi said.

The gunfire began after evening prayers for Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month, leaving many people trapped in mosques and foodstalls for the night, the daily said.

Shots were also heard in nearby Beng Me village where security personnel were also searching for members of the Free Aceh separatist movement, the daily said.

An unidentified group of men believed to be soldiers also burned down a building in Pante Pisang Thursday witnesses told Serambi. There were no reports of casualties but Serambi said several people were arrested during the operation, although it did not give details.

The district's military and police in Matang Geulumpangdua could not be immediately contacted for comment Friday.

The outbreak of violence came despite appeals for restraint during Ramadan which began on Thursday in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated nation.

Meanwhile, military spokesman Major General Sudrajat said the armed forces were ready to send troops to the region again, a report said Friday.

"Separatism is unconstitutional and we [the military] have the right to uphold the constitution by any means necessary," Sudrajat said, quoted by the Media Indonesia newspaper. "TNI (the military) is ready to go back to Aceh, if ordered," the spokesman said.

The Republika daily quoted military chief Admiral Widodo Adisucipto as saying that the military was prepared for "the worst thing that may happen" in Aceh. "TNI is always ready. Everybody is prepared, including the main commands and units on the ground," Widodo said.

13 named suspects in Aceh massacre

Jakarta Post - December 9, 1999 (abridged)

Jakarta -- Military police chief Maj. Gen. Djasri Marin said here on Wednesday that 11 military personnel and two civilians had been declared suspects in the killing of at least 65 people, including Islamic boarding school teacher Tengku Bantaqiah, in the troubled province of Aceh in July.

Djasri did not reveal the names of the suspects, but said the most senior among them was a lieutenant colonel.

Troops allegedly shot dead Bantaqiah, his wife, his students and a number of farmers in an antirebel raid in the remote Beutong area of West Aceh, some 100 kilometers south of the North Aceh capital of Lhokseumawe, on July 23.

Local military officers maintain that Bantaqiah and his students, who it is believed to be supporters of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), were killed in an exchange of fire. Witnesses and a government-sanctioned inquiry said, however, that the victims were executed by troops.

The shooting in Beutong is among five alleged human rights cases in Aceh which the inquiry is focusing on in its investigations of alleged abuses in the restive province.

Djasri was quoted by Antara as saying that the suspects would be tried in a joint tribunal. Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said in late November that the tribunal would be presided over by military and civilian judges.

Atrocities carried out on TNI orders

Agence France-Presse - December 8, 1999

Jakarta -- Leaked military documents obtained by Indonesia's leading independent human rights group Wednesday showed civil rights abuses over the past nine years in Aceh province were carried out on the instructions of the army in Jakarta.

Coordinator of the Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, Munir, showed AFP on Wednesday 400 pages of documents, one of them bore an insignia of a powerful unit in the army.

Munir said the documents would reveal military atrocities were "under the knowledge of the headquarters in Jakarta" and the activities "were reported back to Jakarta with some of the military officers being rewarded with rank promotions."

One report showed a district commander in Pidie disctrict who was recommended for a rank above the usual promotion after he reported he had "successfully killed" three alleged separatist Free Aceh Movementmembers, a woman and her two children. The document described the officer's promotion as a "benefit" for killing the suspected rebels.

"There are three sets of documents," Munir said. "First are documents of what the military called the mapping of the enemy force," he said, adding this apparently referred to the GAM.

"Second is the Red Net Operation which dated from 1994-1998 ... and the third set are documents of incident reports and dossiers of resident interrogations by military personnel," the lawyer said.

He also acknowledged "some of the documents" have been submitted to Attorney General Marzuki Darusman, who is also chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights.

All three sets of documents showed the military's operational pattern, structure of command and links between violence in the field and the central headquarters in Jakarta, Munir said.

He added the evidence "could also reveal that violence in the field were not merely accidents but were rather a part of an operational command."

Munir said the documents would be able to counteract statements by six top Indonesian army officers, who denied during a parliamentary hearing any involvement by the military top brass. The generals claimed abuses were the work of individual "undisciplined" soldiers.

Three former armed forces chiefs -- Benny Murdani, Feisal Tanjung and Try Sutrisno -- as well as former home affairs minister Lieutenant General Syarwan Hamid appeared before parliament's Special Commission on Aceh on November 29.

"What is clear is that there is no policy to kill, rape etc," said Try Sutrisno, who was military chief when the decade-long anti-rebel operation was launched in Aceh in 1989 by former president Suharto. At least 2,000 people have been killed in the campaign.

The hearing was also attended by former Sumatra military commander Major General Pramono, former intelligence chief Major General Zacky Anwar Makarim and former Aceh governor Ibrahim Hasan.

"These documents are vital because they could explain several issues which have been missing to open cases in Aceh and they are also important as a means to re-trace matters unreachable by previous investigating teams," Munir said.

Indonesia's parliament on Wednesday called for a tribunal to try military officers suspected of human rights violations in Aceh and warned the country was facing a "crisis" over growing separatism.

Parliament leaders summoned President Abdurrahman Wahid to voice their concerns over mounting separatist demands in the province and the easternmost province of Irian Jaya, as well as over the ongoing Christian-Muslim clashes in the Maluku islands.

"We urge the government to immediately process the implementation of a human rights tribunal ... based on data collected by human rights commission and the independent commission on Aceh," parliament Speaker Akbar Tanjung said at the hearing.

Die already cast in Aceh

Australian Financial Review - December 6, 1999

Tim Dodd, Banda Aceh -- Only months after Indonesia's ignominious exit from East Timor, the die is already cast in Aceh, the next rebellious province to demand independence from the Jakarta central Government.

Support for independence is overwhelming in Aceh and the Indonesian military has lost control of most of the province, situated at the north-west tip of Sumatra, to the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

"Most of Aceh is occupied by GAM," admitted the Indonesian military commander in the capital city of Banda Aceh, Colonel Syarifuddin Tippe, on the eve of Saturday's anniversary of the founding of the rebel movement 23 years ago.

The military and police are still at their posts across the province and continue to patrol the main roads. But in the paddy fields only a few kilometres off the main coastal road the countryside belongs to GAM.

In the Pidie district, a GAM stronghold, the independence movement raised its flag on Saturday in a military ceremony not far from the main route from Banda Aceh to the neighbouring north Sumatra province. And along the road, where Indonesian security forces were patrolling, the flag flew from houses, power poles and bridges.

Independence leaders tried to minimise the bloodshed on the anniversary by ordering the population not to antagonise Indonesian troops. But soldiers wounded two in Pidie when they opened fire outside the district army headquarters on a convoy carrying the independence flag. Unconfirmed reports yesterday said that 10 were killed in a separate incident in which troops opened fire.

GAM leaders raised their flag at numerous sites around the province on Saturday away from army scrutiny and read a message to followers from their ageing, exiled leader, Tengku Hasan di Tiro, who lives in Sweden. "I call on all citizens of Aceh, men and women, old and young, to get ready to fight the enemy if they attack us. We will turn each inch of our homeland into a war zone," he said.

There is a some chance that serious negotiations between Jakarta and the Acehnese independence movement will begin soon, after a backdown by GAM from its previous refusal to countenance any talks with Jakarta.

The movement is prepared to back a new breed of Acehnese leaders, from the student and intellectual movement, which is preparing to talk with Jakarta about their minimum demand for a referendum on independence. GAM is also willing to accept a referendum, a change from its previous demand that Indonesia unconditionally withdraw.

This week, all the major Acehnese independence organisations will meet to form a committee to negotiate with Jakarta for a referendum.

But if Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid does not agree to a vote, then "we will conduct the referendum by ourselves", said Mr Muhammad Nazor, head of the Information Centre for Acehnese Independence (SIRA).

As one of the main organisers of the November 8 referendum rally in Banda Aceh, which saw up to 1 million people demonstrate in favour of a poll, Mr Nazar has the popular support to make it happen.

There is no doubt what that outcome of a referendum will be. The strength of the Aceh independence movement has surged since Indonesia offered the choice of independence to East Timor earlier this year. Colonel Syarifuddin said that, in his view, "all of the Acehnese, 99.9 per cent, will vote for independence if there is ever a referendum".

But it is inconceivable that the military, which undermined official policy to offer a referendum to East Timor, will permit one in Aceh.

The chief army spokesman, Major General Sudrajat, said on Saturday that the Jakarta Government would first try to meet the separatist threat with dialogue and diplomacy.

"If these two ways fail, then the last step that has to be taken is repressive [actions]. That action must be taken to uphold the sovereignty of the State of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia,' he said.

That sovereignty is already lost. In the West Aceh and South Aceh districts, GAM is virtually in full control, and Colonel Syarifuddin concedes this. If the Indonesian military continues its opposition to a referendum then the only alternative is a bloody civil war.

Military wounds in Aceh fester

InterPress Service - December 6, 1999

Marianne Kearney, Banda Aceh -- Wiry, 45-year-old Ainsyah Basyah is not the most typical victim of the Indonesian military's nine-year campaign to wipe out the Free Aceh separatist movement, which marked its 23rd anniversary on December 4.

But she's certainly not an unusual case either in this province that has been home to a guerrilla movement since the 70s and where separatist sentiment has peaked in the last two months.

Ainsyah is now seeking shelter at the Beureunen Mosque in Sigli, located in northern Aceh, the Indonesian province at the northern tip of Sumatra island to the north-east of Jakarta.

She is there because after crack riot troops entered her village of Gameung three months ago, she says she wants to avoid any further military sweeping operations after a fateful operation in 1990 wiped out half her family.

In just one day Ainsyah lost her husband, two of her brothers and her brother-in-law. Her husband, Kasim, two of her brothers and her brother-in-law were out panning for gold when the elite special forces or Kopassus troops, suspecting that they were using a gold pan from the guerrillas, opened fire on them.

Her son Ibrahim, who witnessed the shooting, was taken to the military headquarters, stripped and tortured, then sent to tell his mother about his father and uncle's death. The soldiers joked that Ibrahim must be immune to the bullets because he had been spared.

Like the 5,000 or so other refugees in Signi, Ainsyah still lives in one of the hundreds of plastic and bamboo huts surrounding the mosque.

From just one small town of Geumpang, with only 3,000 residents, 150 claimed to have been tortured, shot or lost family members during the military campaign, say the students organising food and medicines for the camps.

The Indonesian Human Rights commission says at least 2,000 people were killed, and hundreds tortured during the military campaign which officially ended last year.

But local non-government groups say the scale of killing, rape and torture is much higher, estimating that as many as 6,000 people have been killed.

Some months after her husband's killing, Ainsyah was suspected of assisting the rebels and was picked up and held in detention. For four days, she says, she was tied to a chair and told to confess supplying the guerrillas with rice and food. She refused.

Two years later, she became very sick. "I became very depressed. I remembered all my experiences and I couldn't work," says Ainsyah, although two of her six children still depended on her.

Without any men in the family, she also had to think about protecting her young daughter. Rather than risk having her "picked up" by the military, Ainsyah married her off at 12 years of age.

Ainsyah says the local troops often chased young girls and took them to the barracks, where they were raped. She thinks that five or six young girls from her village were raped like this.

Now Ainsyah is "a little mentally unstable, and sometimes has hallucinations", says Dr Nurdin Rahman, the director from the centre for torture victims, RATA.

Jafar Arsyad, another of Beureunen's refugees, was not injured during the 10-year military campaign. But he was in the most recent military campaign to secure the elections, when at least 6,000 additional anti-riot troops were sent to Aceh.

The 41-year-old was only recently released from local military command's prison cell after being picked up in July.

He says the troops arrested him because they could not find the person they were looking for. They removed his fingernails and beat him, he says, as he holds up his hands and stiffly moves his fingers.

Jafar says he has no plans to return to his village as he fears the military will return again. He does not believe the government's promise, made in October, to permanently remove combat troops from Aceh. "I don't believe anything they [the government] says, they still have a roadblock near my village," he says.

But even in the camp, the atmosphere is still tense. A group of Muslim boarding school students, known as Thaliban, have set up a security post just inside the mosque gates to try to limit soldiers or outsiders entering the camp and taking away suspected Free Aceh rebels.

The students say that one night, the local troops removed six young men from the camp, who were badly beaten. Over the last few weeks, it has not unusual to hear random shooting or to find a dead body dumped by the side of the road say the students. The dumped bodies are thought to be either victims of clashes with Free Aceh rebels or victims of military interrogation.

Not far from the mosque lives ex-village head, Abdullah bin Daud, once a proud member of the local government but now a Free Aceh supporter, after a stint in one of Aceh's most famous detention centre.

Accused in May of supplying Free Aceh rebels with rice seed, he was imprisoned for three months at the local military building in Sigli, known as the "slaughterhouse" because so many of its detainees were killed. During his imprisonment, he was hung by his wrists from timber rafters and beaten with a rattan cane, Addullah says.

Now the soft-spoken rice farmer has almost no movement in his right hand, can just move the thumb of his left hand, and struggles to perform even the most basic farming tasks.

When he was released, the wounds of his torture was so severe that the military sent him to Medan, which is south of Aceh, rather than allow him to return to his village in order to avoid the attention of human rights groups and journalists.

Abdullah has little hope that he will ever receive compensation or that the soldiers will be brought to trial. "The Indonesian government has no respect for the law, I just want Aceh to be independent," he says in a resigned manner.

Like the hundreds of other torture victims, Abdullah receives no special government treatment. Instead, he is expected to go to the local health service.

But most victims are too frightened to have any dealings with the government health service, out of fear the military will track them down. At best, the government medical staff are indifferent to the psychological trauma these people carry, says Dr Nurdin Rahman.

Ex-army provocateurs caught in Aceh

Reuters - December 6, 1999 (slightly abridged)

Jakarta -- Indonesia has captured provocateurs, some of them formerly with the military, who were trying to stir up trouble in rebellious Aceh province, senior minister and former armed forces chief General Wiranto said on Monday.

"We have captured provocateurs in relation to cases in Aceh. They are thugs who come from Medan and there are also some former rouge elements in the military," Wiranto, coordinating minister for political and security affairs, told reporters.

Medan is the capital city of North Sumatra, a territory adjacent to Aceh. Calls to break away from Indonesia are mounting in Aceh. Shadowy provocateurs are often blamed in Indonesia for stirring up trouble when unrest breaks out.

On Saturday, Aceh celebrated the 23rd anniversary of the founding of its rebel guerrilla movement. Fears of widespread unrest at the weekend were not realised, but several incidents in which security forces fired at protesters left one person dead and several injured, witnesses said.

National police chief General Roesmanhadi said on Monday that police only fired in self-defence. "There was some shooting but ... the Indonesian police were not the ones who started it," Roesmanhadi told reporters. He added that some people in the crowds had pointed weapons at the police and had ignored warning shots.

The situation in Aceh on Monday was calm and most businesses and public offices in major cities had resumed normal operations, residents said.

The official Antara news agency reported that Indonesia's military had sent six warships to the waters off Aceh in a bid to strengthen security.

It quoted the chief of Indonesia's navy, Rear Admiral Adi Haryono, as saying the move was also to prevent the smuggling of weapons into the province. Aceh lies on the northern tip of Sumatra island and serves as an entrance to the busy international shipping lanes of the Straits of Malacca.

Learning the hard way in Aceh

Australian Financial Review - December 7, 1999

Tim Dodd, Banda Aceh -- The two men and two women who were paraded through Aceh's capital of Banda Aceh wore signs saying "I stole and I deserve punishment" and "I deeply repent".

The men were thieves, the women prostitutes, according to spokesmen for the student group that cut the hair of the four alleged criminals and drove them through the city in the back of a utility vehicle.

It was the first public punishment carried out under Muslim law by Aceh's powerful student groups, in this case the Student Movement Against Immorality, which are emerging as key players in the province's struggle for independence.

Aceh, at the north-west tip of Indonesia's island of Sumatra, is deeply Muslim and the students' administration of public punishment in the centre of the capital is one more sign of Indonesia's diminishing civil authority and the growing strength of the independence movement.

Student groups are now very influential players in Aceh politics. The student groups were the main organisers of the massive rally for independence in Banda Aceh one month ago which brought an estimated million people onto the streets to demand an independence referendum.

But they also see themselves as moral guardians with a responsibility to carry out punishment under Islamic principles, and the application of Islamic law is a key part of their political agenda. Such punishment is not at all unusual in Aceh, but is usually administered by religious authorities.

"The penalty is by no means large but just enough to discourage people from committing something," said a student spokesman. "Our main task is to pursue a referendum which leads to the independence of Aceh. At the same time, we would like our people to behave and not lose their morality."

The public support enjoyed by the students makes them a power centre to rival the hardline Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the 23- year-old independence group which maintains armed fighters in Aceh's mountainous interior.

In contrast to GAM, which favours installing its leader, Acehnese nobleman Tengku Hasan di Tiro, as an autocratic king, the students want Aceh to be a democracy.

Mr Muhammad Nazar, the leader of the student umbrella group the Information Centre for an Aceh Referendum (SIRA), said he was confident GAM would agree to forming a democratic State. "The kingdom is only a political strategy," he said.

Aceh's student groups badly need international support in their campaign for an Aceh referendum. "SIRA is ready to co-operate with countries and human rights organisations which are pro- active in peace and democracy," Mr Muhammad said.

Troops attack West Papuans

Green Left Weekly - December 8, 1999

Linda Kaucher -- Indonesian military forces shot protesters trying to prevent them lowering the West Papuan independence flag in the south coast town of Timika on December 1. Approximately 30 people were injured by the gunfire, and at least 10 people were arrested.

Locals had raised the flag in Timika on November 10, with no adverse military reaction, and had said they would maintain a vigil around the flag until West Papua was granted a referendum.

On December 1, flags were raised across the territory to mark the 38th anniversary of the West Papuan declaration of independence. Indonesian authorities tolerated the flag raisings only on the condition that they were all lowered by dusk. Those in Timika sought to resist the military enforcing this.

Those arrested include Yosepha Alomang, an Amungme tribeswoman who has sued Freeport McMoran, the multinational which, with Rio Tinto, operates the giant Freeport copper and gold mine.

In Canberra, Leigh Hughes reports that a solidarity action was held outside the Indonesian embassy on December 1. Sixty West Papuan refugees and activists waved the West Papuan Morning Star flag in defiance of their antagonists.

They demanded recognition, independence and freedom for their people and called for the withdrawal of all Indonesian troops from the region.

Bob Brown, the only senator to support the struggle, argued that Australian politicians had failed the people of West Papua and Australia by supporting the suppression of democracy and self- determination in West Papua. "It is inevitable that West Papua will be free", he said.

James Vassilopoulos, representing the Democratic Socialist Party, denounced the rigged 1969 "act of free choice" that justified the annexation of West Papua, and called for a referendum on independence similar to that in East Timor.

John Ondawame, the international spokesperson of the OPM, the Free Papua Movement, recalled the shameful history of Indonesian occupation, the efforts of his people in attempting to end that control and their sacrifices made while struggling for freedom.

He called on the Indonesian government to apologise for its human and democratic rights violations, withdraw all military personnel and determine the date of a referendum on West Papua's future.

Labour struggle

Workers need to better bargaining power

Jakarta Post editorial - December 9, 1999

Tjipta Lesmanaa, Jakarta -- The current picture of Indonesian workers is not that encouraging. Of the 90 million-strong workforce Indonesia currently has, roughly 60 million are engaged in the formal sector as well as in the informal sector. Forty million of them earn only Rp 150,000 to Rp 200,000 per month, far below the poverty line set by the National Statistics Bureau.

Of the remaining 30 million, 20 million are categorized into disguised unemployment or those who work less than 35 hours per week. Adding to this is the bleak figure of 10 million unemployed, up from six million registered before the economic crisis in late 1997.

Labor costs in Indonesia are, undoubtedly, the cheapest among ASEAN countries. It is only 5% to 10% of total production costs, while the average figure in ASEAN countries is estimated at 25%. Labor costs in industrialized countries can be up to 40% of total production costs.

Previous governments gave themselves a boost with the cheap labor costs. It was conceived as one of the comparative advantages Indonesia could use to attract huge foreign investment.

Two main reasons are attributable to the cheap labor costs in Indonesia. The first is that it is part of the wholescale red tape system. Secondly, it is part of the government's strategy to lure foreign capital. Neither of the two factors are, however, worthy of appreciation.

Employers in Indonesia cannot afford to pay their workers well since they, more often than not, have to pay "fees" to various government agencies.

Such "fees" are widely seen as a normal practice in bureaucrat- business relationships. Considering its status as one of the most corrupt nations in the world, practices of this nature are very high indeed.

The amount paid by companies for this purpose is, according to Agus Sudono, former national trade union (SPSI) chairman, estimated to be no less than 10% (of total production costs).

The payment of these "fees" is needed to facilitate the procurement of licenses, and in supporting the employers from any "harassment" by the workers.

Collusion between employers, bureaucrats and security officials is deemed crucial in setting up peaceful conditions for production activities. Consequently, workers are paid only 60% of their real wages, while the remaining 40% goes to numerous government officials.

Another bleak figure regarding the labor force in Indonesia involves its quality aspect. Of 90 million people eligible to work, more than 55% are just primary school graduates. Many of them have not even finished their primary school education. Those who attain university education are no more than 10%. Efficiency and productivity across business lines is conceivably very low.

Those various factors mentioned above are contributing to the weak position of Indonesia's workers. They have the lowest salary scale among ASEAN countries. They are weak in bargaining with their bosses, who can, at any time, dismiss them with no serious legal consequences. They are reluctant to bring their fate to the attention of the officials at the manpower ministry because the latter is too concerned with businesspeople (the ministry supports the employers as they get money from them). And finally, unlike their comrades abroad, they have no power to use strike mechanisms to pressure the employers.

The history of trade unions in Indonesia is marked by heavy political influence. Put another way, political parties in the past capitalized trade unions to sell and win their platform. That was one reason why all political parties in the past set up their own trade unions. By the time former president Soeharto seized power from Soekarno in 1996, there were about 23 trade unions in the country.

As a four star general, Soeharto ruled the nation with an iron fist giving no room to freedom of any sort. He claimed to be anticommunist, though. But his regime was, as a matter of fact, patterned on the communist regime. Uniformity is one of the styles of the communist regime everywhere.

Being aware that the political stability could be threatened by labor issues, he instructed his manpower minister to squeeze the 23 trade unions and blend them into one organization.

The motive behind this policy was easy to grasp: to effectively control the trade unions. That was the beginning of the Indonesian Trade Union Federation (SBSI), set up in February 1973.

Under Admiral Sudomo (as manpower minister), however, SBSI was dissolved and changed into the Indonesian Union of Workers (SPSI) which was unitary in its form. Sudomo was previously supreme commander of the powerful security agency Kopkamtib.

Like his mentor (Soeharto), Sudomo was a fierce and ruthless despot. Obsessed by the "efficiency" of armed forces organizations he altered the status of the trade union from a federation to a unitary body.

The move, however, aroused criticism from abroad. Fearing the criticism would endanger the business climate, Sudomo loosened his grip just before his term ended by agreeing to change SPSI into FSPSI (Indonesian Union of Workers Federation).

As Soeharto was beginning losing his grip on power, pressure to crack down on the monopoly of the trade union was mounting. Mochtar Pakpahan was the first intellectual who persistently fought for the setting up of an alternative trade union. His efforts were fruitful when the Indonesia Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI) was established in 1997. Pakpahan's popularity, at home as well as abroad, was even greater when the regime managed to have him sent to jail.

The movement of Freedom of Association for workers entered a turning point when the Soeharto regime was toppled in May 1998. Under heavy pressure from industrialized countries, Indonesia finally ratified the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 87 (on Freedom of Association).

Room for establishing alternative trade unions was widely opened by the government act. Indonesia suddenly became the only country in the world with the most number of trade unions: 17.

Freedom of association is, indeed, important in upholding workers' bargaining positions. But concern is mounting that the exercise of such freedom would only bring chaos without a clear ruling.

There is an urgent need to reform the legal system following the ratification in 1998 of ILO Convention No. 87 by the House of Representatives (DPR). The only ruling on trade unions until now was the manpower minister's Decree No 5/1998 which just covered the registration mechanism of trade unions. It was very limited in its scope.

The need for a law specifying conditions for setting up trade unions is very urgent. Is just about anyone free to form a union? How do the workers stage strikes and how do they reach a compromise when there is more than one union in their work place?

Without such a ruling, the existence of so many trade unions would only harm the workers. The right to stage a strike is also in need of a ruling. Production activity would, undoubtedly, be obstructed if every worker's petition of was channeled through a strike.

Each employee should bear in mind that the employer is his or her own partner in bringing about his or her prosperity. Without the owner, and an undistracted production process, any talk about prosperity makes no sense. Hence, both sides have to work hand-in-hand and respect each other as human beings in need of a decent living.

The position of Indonesian workers in relation to their employers during the past 30 years is, indeed, very fragile. They have low salaries, low levels of education, a weak bargaining position and no freedom of association.

Hopes were in the offing recently thanks to the political changes following of the demise of Soeharto. To seize the new momentum, the government should immediately bring in new laws to make it possible for workers to exercise their freedom of association and to set up a mechanism to solve industrial labor disputes.

It is also high time for labor union leaders to increase their knowledge and skills, especially in the leadership arena, in order to strengthen their positions. The ILO could play a substantial role in this regard.

[The writer is a columnist and lecturer at the political and social sciences department of the University of Indonesia.]

News & issues

Indonesia keeps public in dark on Y2K

Associated Press - December 9, 1999

Jakarta -- After two years of antigovernment riots and economic turmoil, Indonesia's technology gurus thought it best to keep the public in the dark about possible widespread failures from the Y2K computer bug.

"It's a touchy issue," says Widijanto Nugroho, a computer scientist and top government Y2K adviser. "If the government says, for example, the banks aren't ready, people will rush the banks. If we don't say anything, it's probably better for the moment." So Indonesia's leaders have opted to keep the world's fourth most populous nation uninformed.

Newspapers and TV shows barely mention the potential fallout of the computer glitch. Cabinet ministers are on orders not to talk about it.

"Here, less than 20% of the people know about Y2K," Djamhari Sirat, head of Indonesia's national Y2K task force, said of this archipelago nation of 210 million. "We don't think anyone needs to know about Y2K except the government, the police and the military." As most of Southeast Asia girds for turn-of-the- century millennium bug trouble, experts fear the hardest-hit nation will be Indonesia -- where they say neither computers nor the public are adequately prepared.

Varying degrees of readiness

With only a few more weeks until the moment of reckoning, nations in the Southeast Asian region appear to be at varying degrees of Y2K readiness. Most say they moved fast to modify their computers after setbacks from two years of financial collapse. And most have sounded a public alarm.

In the Philippines, citizens have been advised to prepare for the rollover to 2000 "like a typhoon is coming," by stockpiling five days worth of canned goods, cash and candles.

In Singapore, considered among the world's best-prepared nations, the government has mass-mailed a "Y2K Guide" to all 950,000 homes that explains how to debug personal computers, VCRs and other appliances.

Malaysia, which secured a $100 million World Bank loan earlier this year to help pay for computer fixes, has assured its citizens the military and police will deal with any threats to public safety or national security.

In Indonesia, the strategy is different: No national awareness campaign and no talk of contingency plans. Talking to a random sampling of three dozen people in Jakarta's traditional markets and upscale shopping malls found most couldn't care less about the millennium bug.

"Only rich people use computers; I'll be fine," said Andy Setiawan, 33, owner of a small TV shop who had never heard of the Y2K bug -- computers being programmed to express years in just two digits -- so 2000 could be misinterpreted as 1900, causing crashes and lost data.

A. Syafik, a 23-year-old accountant, said that if it was something to be concerned about, the government would warn people. "They aren't paying attention to it, why should I?" Indonesia not Y2K compliant

Indonesian officials insist critical computer systems will be ready and don't expect major disruptions. But they offer no independent verification and analysts think otherwise.

"They aren't going to be Y2K compliant, and my concern is that the people aren't going to know what to do when problems occur," said K.C. Toh, who advises the government on Y2K matters.

Bruce Gale, a regional manager at Political & Economic Risk Consultancy, also is worried. "Indonesian banks certainly haven't had any money to put into Y2K readiness plans. They're spending their money on pure survival. The other area of concern is airports." Indonesia sits prominently on nearly every international danger list.

Lawrence Gershwin, the CIA's chief Y2K analyst, lists it with Russia, Ukraine and China among nations "most likely to experience significant Y2K-related failures." He said in October that such failures could provoke major disturbances, lead to martial law and require huge humanitarian relief efforts.

Although large areas of Indonesia aren't dependent on computers, experts say that if power and telephones fail, the repercussions could be serious.

Concerns over power, Telekom

Regional Y2K consultants and diplomats voice concerns about Indonesia's financially strapped state-owned power company, Perusahaan Listrik Negara, and Telekom, the main telephone service provider.

Telekom, which was supposed to be Y2K compliant months ago, raised eyebrows after pushing its deadline back to December. "We have to be prepared for the fact that there will be a deterioration in the telecommunications service," said Ichyar Musa, founder of an independent watchdog group called Indonesian Y2K Watch.

Predicting where Y2K failures will strike, and how severe they will be, is nearly impossible. Most of the region's computer- dependent sectors, such as airlines and banks, began preparations several years ago and analysts think they will be best prepared.

Even so, many Southeast Asian countries have declared national holidays on December 31 as an extra precaution. They have also printed extra money to guard against bank runs.

Some countries will keep banks and businesses shut January 3, when Jakarta's stock exchange will be closed for computer system testing. In Thailand and the Philippines, bureaucrats have been banned from leaving town on New Year's Eve and ordered to stay at their posts.

Malaysia, which touts itself as the Silicon Valley of Southeast Asia, has enlisted a high-powered public relations firm to spin its message on New Year's Eve from a newly built, high-tech emergency command center. Meanwhile, top officials will make live around-the-clock telecasts.

Many of the region's airlines have reduced flying schedules or plan to keep aircraft grounded during the crucial hour. Although all report Y2K compliance, the state carriers of Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines and other airlines have canceled flights that straddle midnight as an extra safety measure.

The International Civil Aviation Organization, a UN agency, has put into place a regional contingency plan decreasing the number of air traffic routes during the rollover to limit the risk of mid-air collision. It also ordered fewer flights to ensure a greater distance between planes in the sky. The contingency plan will take effect four hours before midnight local time in each country and last several days.

"We've treated this as a predictable potential emergency," said Ross Hamory, director of Asia-Pacific operations for the US Federal Aviation Administration. "If there's a problem, it isn't going to be in the airplanes. The issue is really going to be does power go out on the ground, will phones work, and how do we deal with those kinds of interruptions?" said Hamory. "And these are things that only the countries themselves have control over."

90 political prisoners freed

Agence France Presse - December 10, 1999 (slightly abridged)

Jakarta -- Indonesia on Friday released 90 political prisoners, most of them East Timorese.

In a ceremony at Cipinang jail in East Jakarta, where many of of those released were held, Law and Legislation Minister Yusril Isra Mahendra officially freed them by reading out three presidential decrees containing the names.

Those released included six members of the People's Democratic Party (PRD), 70 East Timorese and 15 people involved in Muslim radical groups in Lampung, southern Sumatra and in Jakarta in the 1980s.

However, only 18 East Timorese were at the jail where the five PRD members are also held. The other East Timorese were held in prisons in East Timor's districts of Dili and Bacau but Mahendra said they might have been freed long ago as the territory was no longer part of Indonesia.

The East Timorese will spend the night at an undisclosed place in Jakarta under the care of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and will be flown by an ICRC chartered plane to Dili on Saturday morning, ICRC spokesperson Sri Wahyu Endah told AFP.

"This is at the demand of [East Timorese independence leader] Xanana Gusmao himself, and he will be on hand to welcome them back in Dili," Endah said.

Their release followed a presidential amnesty or a presidential decision to cut sentences, he said.

Three presidential decrees have been issued for the releases, he said. The decrees said the decision to free the political prisoners was part of the government's effort to uphold human rights and to promote national unity.

The PRD members freed were chairman Budiman Sujatmiko and four others -- Suroso, Ignatius Pranowo, Jacobus Eko Kurniawan and Garda Sembiring.

PRD secretary general Petrus Haryanto, serving a 12-year jail term for trying to undermine the authority of the government handed down in 1997, was not on the list but Mahendra said it was only a "technical" mistake and Haryanto could be released with the other five PRD members Friday.

President Abdurrahman Wahid told visiting businessmen at the Negara Palace earlier Friday that Haryanto had not been on the list of names suggested for release by the legislature.

"I have asked that this be quickly settled, if necessary so he can be released today as well but if is not possible, well, I can only apologize," Wahid said according to the Detikcom online news service.

"I will visit regions across Indonesia to meet PRD activisits. If I have to thank someone, I am thanking my mother, students and the people because without them I would probably have to stay for another five to 10 more years," Sujatmiko said after his release.

The PRD was outlawed under former president Suharto, but the ban was lifted after the former strongman stepped down in May 1998.

PRD leaders were accused by the Suharto government of masterminding a riot in Jakarta in 1996, in which at least five people were killed and dozens of buildings were set ablaze. The government then banned the leftist-leaning pro-democracy organisation and detained its leaders.

The government of Suharto's successor B.J. Habibie lifted the ban, allowed the party to contest the June 7 elections this year and offered its leader Sujatmiko an amnesty.

The offer was rejected by Sujatmiko, who demanded unconditional release for all political prisoners. About 50 PRD supporters and students held a rally outside the jail to welcome the release.

Suharto in dock unclear prospect

South China Morning Post - December 8, 1999

Vaudine England -- The Indonesian Government, eager to prove its reformist credentials, said yesterday it had reopened the investigation into alleged corruption by Suharto, but prospects of retrieving his money or seeing the ailing former president in the dock remain unclear. The previous government of Bacharuddin Habibie had closed the case in October, due to what was termed a lack of evidence, in line with predictions that Mr Habibie was too close to his former mentor to put him on trial.

The current Government of President Abdurrahman Wahid has no such qualms. Mr Wahid has often said he believes Mr Suharto should be prosecuted, but that if the 78-year-old showed due remorse by returning some of the money, he would be pardoned "because he was our president".

The same immunity would not apply to Mr Suharto's offspring and cronies, most of whom are regarded locally as rapacious good-for-nothings.

Public pressure to prosecute Mr Suharto for what Time magazine estimates is a US$15 billion fortune has been intense since before his fall from power in May last year. But legal experts note that it will be hard to show anything technically illegal occurred when it was Mr Suharto who personally made most of the laws.

Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman said on Monday that new evidence had been discovered to warrant a new investigation. Mr Marzuki gave no details but said evidence pointed to "a misuse of power and authority" in issuing government regulations and presidential decrees to amass funds for foundations linked to Mr Suharto, his family and associates.

He said a review of the previous investigation had uncovered new evidence "which directly or indirectly could harm the state's finances or economy".

The Indonesian Transparency Society has claimed that at least 79 of 528 presidential decrees issued between 1993 and last year were manipulated to benefit certain parties.

[On December 8 the Indonesian Observer quoted Attorney General, Marzuki Darusman, as saying that Suharto is now well enough to be questioned. Marzuki told reporters after a parliamentary hearing in Jakarta on December 7 that "He can now be questioned. He is not sick anymore,", although he did not say when he will be summoned - James Balowski.]

Wiranto may be charged with `omission'

Jakarta Post - December 9, 1999

Jakarta -- A government-sanctioned inquiry said on Wednesday that Gen. Wiranto could be charged with "omission" for allowing violence and destruction to continue in the ravaged territory of East Timor after the August 30 self-determination ballot.

Albert Hasibuan, chief of the Commission for the Investigation of Human Rights Abuses in East Timor, alleged that Wiranto had knowledge of the violence in the territory but did not do enough to prevent it from continuing.

Wiranto, who is now coordinating minister for political affairs and security, was the Indonesian Military (TNI) commander and defense minister at the time.

"I believe that Wiranto could be charged with omission or failure to take action," Albert told The Jakarta Post. "He knew what was happening there, but he allowed the violence to continue and by this [inaction] more killings and destruction took place."

The commission, formed in late September, in its midterm report last week said the military was either directly or indirectly responsible for the violence.

Wiranto is among a number of Army generals to be questioned by the commission later this month. Wiranto has appointed former justice minister Muladi and a number of lawyers as his legal consultants.

Albert, however, said on Wednesday that prointegration militia leaders Eurico Guterres and Joao da Silva Tavarres would be questioned first to verify the militia's alleged links to the military.

"We think that the militia members' account will be instrumental to us in confirming TNI's alleged involvement in the violence," Albert said.

He said TNI Commander Adm. Widodo A.S. had promised during a meeting with the commission last week that the military would fly the militia leaders from East Nusa Tenggara to Jakarta.

Albert added that during the meeting Widodo gave the commission a booklet containing the results of the military's investigation into the East Timor violence. Albert claimed, however, that the military had "turned facts around" in its investigation.

For example, he noted that the military claimed the incident in the East Timor town of Suai was triggered by a gunfight between prointegration militias and proindependence supporters. However, according to Albert, witnesses said militias had attacked refugees seeking shelter in a church.

"It's obvious that it tends to scale down the seriousness of the violence, the death toll and the destruction level in East Timor," Albert said.

The commission said earlier that TNI was allegedly involved in the militia attack on the Suai church on September 6 in which at least 26 people were killed.

The chief of the UN commission's inquiry into East Timor violence, Sonia Picado, said earlier this week that after comparing notes with Indonesian counterparts, both inquiries had found traces of evidence that the Indonesian TNI was responsible for the violence.

The UN commission on Wednesday met here with Indonesian foreign minister Alwi Shihab. In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alwi stressed that Jakarta's compliance to work with the UN commission was based on its desire to cooperate and not due to the UN human rights commission's resolution, which Indonesia rejects. The statement also stressed that the commission's visit here "was not to investigate but to consult with the Indonesian side".

Alwi further asserted that "any attempt to take action against those found responsible for human rights violations must take into account the strategic interests of establishing good relations and cooperation between Indonesia and East Timor in the future". Alwi stated on Tuesday that Indonesia would not allow its generals to be tried overseas.

Vow to avoid war crimes court

Jakarta Post - December 9, 1999

Jakarta -- Foreign minister Alwi Shihab said on Tuesday Indonesia would not allow its generals to be tried overseas.

Responding to concerns from legislators that top military officers may be subject to international humiliation and trial abroad, Alwi said the government was doing its utmost to see that it would not happen.

"We will try not to deliver the generals to an international tribunal," he said during a hearing with the House's Commission I on defense and foreign affairs.

The government would lobby various parties to ensure that an international tribunal is not convened. He pointed to a meeting with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as one example.

Alwi said he also did not wish to see Indonesia's generals hounded like criminals abroad. "We don't want generals unable to travel overseas and be arrested like Pinochet," he said, referring to the former Chilean ruler who was arrested in England during a visit.

Indonesia has rejected the idea of an international tribunal on East Timor and contended it can properly investigate and try those responsible for violence in its former province by itself.

Jakarta has set up its own inquiry headed by lawyer Albert Hasibuan. In its midterm report the inquiry said Indonesian Military officials knew of the abuses going on.

The Indonesian and United Nations's inquiry team, headed by Costa Rican Sonia Picado, met on Monday to compare notes and both agreed on the involvement of certain military officials in the violence.

Separately, Indonesian Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said on Tuesday he would not interfere with a judicial process on human rights violations in East Timor as long as fairness and impartiality could be guaranteed.

He said international accusations of rights violations must be first proven through a legal process. "There has to be a clear process of evidence -- not just based on reported media developments, including news from foreign countries, which has tremendous influence on public opinion," he said.

Juwono underlined it was the Indonesian team which "should be accepted to lead the agency in the inquiry rather than the reverse".

"That is linked to our economic interests because I believe that the degree of credibility in the findings ... will be sufficiently adequate to enable the UN Security Council and secretary-general to decide on what level of punishment would be adequate to address to Indonesia," Juwono said, adding that he had met Picado on Monday.

Australian media face probe

InterPress Service - December 9, 1999

Sonny Inbaraj, Darwin -- Australia's national broadcaster and a magazine have come under investigation by the country's spy agency for airing and publishing a series of highly-embarrassing stories based on alleged intelligence leaks on East Timor.

The Age newspaper last week reported the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) was probing the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The Bulletin magazine for running in-depth stories in November on what they claimed were leaked classified documents from the Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO).

It would be a no-holds barred probe, headed by the Defence Department assistant secretary Jason Brown, which could result in criminal charges against those who leaked any information as well as those who received it, the paper said.

Attorney-General Daryl Williams, whose approval is needed by ASIO for phone-tappings, would not comment on the probe. When questioned by the ABC, he replied: "On matters of national security, the practice of successive governments has been not to comment."

But he promised that any investigation would be conducted according to the law. "Let me say that anything that ASIO does will be done in accordance with the legislation under which ASIO is set up," he said.

The allegedly leaked DIO documents indicate that the Howard government was well-informed about how the Indonesian armed forces were fomenting militia violence in the run-up to the August 30 independence ballot.

An orgy of killing and destruction, where thousands have been feared killed, broke out after the announcement of the UN- sponsored ballot results on Sept 4. In that vote, an overwhelming majority of East Timorese opted to break away from Indonesia.

The documents also undermine the view that it was "rogue elements" in the Indonesian army, TNI, that caused the violence that led to an intervention by Australian-led multinational forces.

On the eve of the August 30 ballot, DIO advised Prime Minister John Howard that East Timor will experience violence and intimidation for much of the rest of the year. "TNI will continue to fester violence against its perceived enemies [the pro- independence activists]," said the DIO memorandum.

The memorandum also advised that the militia violence was orchestrated along strict guidelines "from TNI, that it had a clear purpose and that if the vote was for independence, TNI would have less control over its militant surrogates."

"It was absolutely clear that the government knew from very early this year what was happening in East Timor and who was responsible for it," said opposition Labor foreign shadow minister Laurie Brereton.

But Howard, appearing on ABC's 7:30 Report on November 23, before The Bulletin reproduced the alleged leaked documents in its weekly issue the next day, said Australia could have done nothing more than it did to pressure Indonesia to rein in militia violence.

"Australia ahead of any other nation put pressure on the Indonesian government to accept a peacekeeping operation," he told ABC television.

"The Indonesian army failed in its duty at the very, very least and potentially much worse. But there is no way on earth the Indonesian government was going to allow peace enforcers to go into East Timor until after the ballot," added Howard. "Every effort was made. Short of an invasion, how else could you have got people there."

On September 20, the 7,500 Australian-led International Forces for East Timor (Interfet) were deployed to East Timor from the northern Australian city of Darwin 5,000 km away, following a UN Security Council resolution to intervene in the territory. What irks Canberra is how the DIO documents highlight the credibility gap in recent testimonials of Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) officials representing Foreign Minister Alexander Downer in Senate inquiry hearings into Australia's East Timor policy.

On August 13, DFAT Deputy Secretary John Dauth told the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee that he could not confirm reports of TNI troops in East Timor training militias.

"I am really not able to say, not because I am hiding anything but because we do not have definitive information on that ... I simply do not know whether it is true," he had said.

On November 23, at the same time when Howard was in damage- control, Downer strenuously rejected suggestions put forth by the ABC that he had publicly played down TNI's role in the violence. He also argued that the documents were only part of the advice given to his government.

But what could prove very embarrassing to Jakarta-Canberra ties, already under severe strain because of East Timor, are details in the DIO documents claiming that former Indonesian military chief General Wiranto had orchestrated the militia violence in the territory to back his own political ambitions.

The Bulletin quoting the alleged leaked documents portrayed Wiranto, now the coordinating minister for political and security affairs in the new Indonesian Cabinet, as "an intensely ambitious and ruthless military commander" who viewed events in East Timor as providing a stepping stone to his ultimate aim of ruling Indonesia.

The documents warned of Wiranto's "resurgence over the next five years", saying that this would likely be met with violence. "Despite some talk of reform within senior ranks, there is very little evidence to suggest the military is serious about confining itself to the barracks," wrote The Bulletin's Asia editor Michael Maher.

Added Maher: "On the contrary with secessionist sentiments running high in Aceh and elsewhere in the archipelago, TNI's view of itself as the only institution capable of keeping the country together is sure to be enforced."

In the meantime, according to sources in the ABC, legal counsel will be sought if ASIO hinders the broadcaster's editorial staff in carrying out their journalistic duties.

Gambling den burnt in Chinatown

Agence France-Presse - December 8, 1999

Jakarta -- A mob of angry Jakarta residents on Wednesday set ablaze four cars and a gambling den in Jakarta's Chinatown on the eve of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, witnesses said.

An AFP photographer said a building believed to be a gambling den was on fire when she arrived at the scene. Police were quick to move in and bring the crowd under control.

"One jeep and two minivans parked under the flyover were set ablaze with another vehicle set on fire in front of the entrance of a building," she said.

The mob -- believed to be angered by the operation of the gambling den despite the onset of the Muslim holy month -- also smashed the windows of at least one building, the photographer said.

A resident in the Asemka area, near an old section of Jakarta, told AFP that the incident could also have stemmed from "a possible business competition among gambling mafia" who provoked local residents to burn the place.

He said the competing mafia "might have urged" the residents to destroy the place by using as an excuse the increasing calls to suspend prostitution, gambling and drugs before Thursday -- the first day of Ramadan in this largely Muslim nation.

Watched by some 100 onlookers, several military police officers were seen checking the damage at the site, but no arrests were made.

Jakarta was hit by a three-day orgy of arson, rape and looting in May 1998 and the Chinatown area suffered the most casualties. At least 1,000 residents were killed with hundreds of buildings destroyed at that time.

ASIET activist jailed in Jakarta

Green Left Weekly - December 8, 1999

Max Lane -- Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor member Chris Latham was arrested in Jakarta on November 29. Latham, who is a student in Sydney, was participating in a demonstration of workers and students organised by the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggles.

Latham was held and interrogated at Jakarta Central Police Station until December 2, when he was moved to the Immigration Detention Centre on the outskirts of Jakarta. He is imprisoned in a three-by-three-metre cell with two other people, one from Nigeria and one from South Africa.

Latham has not yet been told whether he is to be deported or brought to court in Indonesia. He has been visited by Australian embassy representatives and the People's Democratic Party (PRD) international department spokesperson, Mugianto.

According to Mugianto, Jakarta police are accusing Latham of repeatedly attending demonstrations in Indonesia, an activity which the police say contravenes the conditions of tourist visas. It appears that Latham has been under close surveillance during his stay -- the police had detailed knowledge of his attendance at demonstrations.

Latham's arrest follows a raid by Indonesian intelligence officials on the Lampung office of the PRD the previous week. The officials said they were looking for Australian Democratic Socialist Party activist Roberto Jorquera, who was visiting Indonesia and meeting with student activists. Jorquera was not in Lampung at the time, but was later detained briefly at Denpasar airport in Bali as he left Indonesia.

The PRD protested against the raid and pointed out that Jorquera's visit to Indonesia was conducted openly and that the PRD activities he had attended in Lampung had been public events.

Environment/Health

3,400 dogs killed in anti-rabies drive

Agence France-Presse - December 9, 1999

Jakarta -- At least 3,400 stray dogs have been killed this year in the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan in a drive by the authorities to prevent the spread of rabies, the official Antara news agency said Thursday.

Munif Muchsinin, the head of the province's animal husbandry service, said the drive had been successful.

"The stray dogs suspected of having been infected by this virus have been killed through food poisoning," Antara said in a dispatch from the East Kalimantan capital of Samarinda.

It said 2,000 stray dogs have been killed in the districts of Pasir and Kutai, 800 in Balikpapan and 600 in Samarinda.

AIDS activists try to spread the word

Jakarta Post - December 9, 1999

Novan Iman Santosa, Karawang -- Like many AIDS volunteers around the globe, Abdurrachman Saibun, 25, is busy at the end of the year preparing to commemorate World AIDS Day, which falls on December 1.

Last Sunday, the senior high school graduate led 35 other volunteers from Yayasan Pelita Ilmu (YPI, a non-governmental organization focusing on AIDS), to provide an information service and campaign on the lethal disease in several villages in Karawang regency. The regency is located some 70 kilometers to the west of Jakarta.

For years, the area has been widely known for its promiscuous women and the permissive sexual activities in the villages. The fame of its women, for example, in swaying and rhythmically moving their body during dancing, has even been described in the expression Goyang Karawang (Karawang Sway).

It is said that husbands in some of these villages gratefully welcome any male strangers into their houses and permit them to make love to their wives. It is also said that many women who have been left alone by husbands working outside Karawang also open their doors to strangers, of course with the permission of their faraway husbands.

The sexual permissiveness is not all about money. Visiting males are said to be able to acquire free services, depending on their style of approach.

It is no wonder that many volunteers are concerned about the potential massive spread of HIV/AIDS in the area. People who live here mostly work on farms or in factories.

Abdurrachman said that at first it was difficult for the residents to understand his HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. "I faced a big challenge from the residents because they didn't have a good understanding about HIV/AIDS," he said. "The residents simply thought that the disease could only happen to city people and the rich."

Abdurrachman has regularly visited the Karawang villages to spread HIV/AIDS awareness since 1996, but only after three years of hard work, has he finally been accepted by the locals.

He has even been christened by locals as the "AIDS man". "They thought [at first] I was just a kind of technician, or a plumber," said Abdurrachman, who is of Betawi origin. Trucks

To mark World AIDS Day, he and his friends drove last Sunday on three small open small trucks to the area. They distributed brochures and pamphlets on HIV/AIDS throughout their 20-kilometer journey from their YPI post at the nearby Pagadungan village of Tempuran subdistrict to the other villages.

Throughout the trip, members of the group explained matters related to the disease via megaphones from the cars. "It's a way to attract the attention of the villagers," said Abdurrachman, who coordinates the team.

The volunteers also stopped at many busy shopping centers in Karawang city, distributing brochures about the HIV/AIDS campaign. "The villagers usually spend their Sundays at such places, or just relax at home," Abdurrachman explained. "Moreover, there's no entertainment spots in their villages."

He and his friends believe that their street HIV/AIDS campaign on that Sunday was the first such campaign ever held in the West Java province.

Abdurrachman said the first HIV/AIDS case that alerted him and his foundation to focus their campaign in Karawang was the 1996 story of a local pregnant mother who was affected by the deadly HIV/AIDS.

He said the terrified woman was refused permission by her neighbors to deliver her baby in the area. "The neighbors thought the baby would be a monstrous one, so they didn't allow her to deliver her baby in the village," he recalled.

The villagers also held a belief that stepping on any land belonging to the woman, such as her farm and paddy fields, would transfer her disease to them, said the volunteer, who has been with YPI since 1996.

After several difficult stages, the YPI volunteers were finally able to prove to locals that it was safe to have social relations with people living with HIV/AIDS. "We carried the baby and showed the villagers that the baby was as normal as other babies." He said the only way to present such a campaign was to show villagers the facts.

The other difficulty in imparting the messages are the different sex businesses in the Karawang villages. Abdurrachman cited one example at a red-light district, about one kilometer south of Karawang city. "There you can find houses used for prostitution on both sides of the street."

The volunteers had visited the place to alert the workers to the HIV/AIDS awareness campaign, Abdurrachman said. "We approached and treated them in a very humane way. But we still find it difficult to convey our messages effectively, because the girls only stayed there for three weeks before being rotated by their pimps to other red-light places. "They are often moved to Bekasi and Indramayu [in West Java], or to Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta every three weeks."

He said that usually the YPI volunteers needed to spend at least one full month to convey their message to sex workers. To anticipate the rotation, Abdurrachamn and his colleagues have designed a program to carry out their campaign in one week.

Abdurrachman outlined another sexual practice which posed risks to sexual health: what is known locally as an "Open House". "It is a sex service usually provided by divorced widows or deserted housewives, not necessarily for money, sometimes just for sexual pleasure.

"Why would they do it for money? They already have everything," he said, drawing attention to their houses, motorcycles and rice fields. "Some of the women are deserted by their husbands, who become migrant workers or leave for another woman," he said.

He said the types of "Open House" varied. One of them is called the "Love Restaurant" which offers extra services for customers that consume food or drinks on the premises.

"A bottle of soft drink can be as high as Rp 30,000 (US$4), from its usual Rp 2,000 price," Abdurrachman said, "because there is a lady accompanying you with her hands stroking your body or waving [paper] fans to chase the heat from your body".

"Further service is available on a guest's request," he added. "All these practices make it difficult to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, but we will continue our activities in HIV/AIDS counseling and education," Abdurrachman said.

Economy and investment

Jakarta, IMF at odds over fuel

Jakarta Post - December 11, 1999

Jakarta -- The government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are still at odds over the questions of when and how much to increase the price of fuel and electricity.

Minister of Mines and Energy Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters on Friday that the IMF had proposed hikes on these two commodities as early as January, while the government preferred to delay them until April, the start of the new fiscal year. "We hope there won't be any price adjustments until we have a new budget settled," Bambang said.

The government and the IMF, which is leading a massive international bail out program for Indonesia, are currently negotiating a new set of programs to lift the economy out of the current recession. The government is expected to sign a new letter of intent sometime this month and present its budget in the first week of January.

The government last hiked the price of fuel in May 1998, by between 25 and 70 percent, on the recommendation of the IMF. The measure led to massive riots that forced the government to scale back the increases. The damage, however, was done, and the unrest helped force then president Soeharto to resign on May 21.

Bambang did not disclose the rate of increase sought for fuel prices, but said the IMF had suggested a 40 percent increase for electricity, a figure which the government felt was too high.

He said he accepted the IMF's reasoning on the timeframe and the rate of increase for electricity as aiming at strengthening the Indonesian energy sector.

However, most people could not afford such a big hike in the immediate future, he said, adding: "We can't just demand a flat hike of 40 percent for electricity." While not disclosing the government's own proposed rates of increases, he said the hikes should distinguish heavy users such as factories and low users such as households which used less than 450 kilowatts per hour.

Bambang, nevertheless, accepted that price increases in fuel and electricity were essential to restructuring state oil and gas company Pertamina as well as state electricity company PT PLN, both of which come under his supervision. The government and IMF were in agreement on the agenda of restructuring the two state companies, he said.

At the IMF's behest, Pertamina was audited earlier this year by independent auditor Price WaterhouseCoopers for the period from 1996 to 1998, the result of which revealed a US$2 billion loss due to inefficiencies.

PLN's last audit by a public accounting office disclosed losses of Rp 9.16 trillion (US$1.2 billion) in 1998, 15 times worse than the previous year.

Bambang said that while PLN's special audit had yet to be completed, the result of both audits form the basis on which the restructuring program would be directed.

Bambang said he expected Pertamina to show real changes within two years. "By then, another special audit of Pertamina must reveal inefficiency losses close to zero," he said.

Separately, Pertamina President Martiono Hadianto warned on Friday that fuel subsidies would soar unless prices were increased. "I fear that as long as fuel remains subsidized, there will be a distortion in fuel demand," Martiono was quoted as saying by Antara, following a ceremony celebrating Pertamina's 42nd anniversary.

The oil subsidy in the current fiscal year ending March 31 is estimated to have surged to Rp 25 trillion ($3.6 billion) from Rp 10 trillion originally budgeted by the government.

The 1999/2000 budget was calculated using an average oil price of $10.50 a barrel, but oil prices have hovered above $20 a barrel for the most part of the year. The high oil prices represent a windfall for the government as well as a burden because it has to fork out more to subsidize local consumption.

Martiono said with domestic fuel prices relatively cheaper, people tended to be wasteful and this meant greater government spending on subsidies.

Import duty plans rattle markets

Business Times - December 8, 1999

Indonesia's rice market is nervously waiting for the government's final decision on an import tariff while players' reluctance to sell their stocks has triggered price hikes, traders said yesterday.

Agriculture Minister M Prakosa told reporters yesterday: "We are still calculating it by using certain formulae. The tariff will adjust to world prices, the rupiah rate, domestic production and consumer welfare.

"It will also be adjusted to the regional minimum wage," he said, adding that the tariff, seen by grain traders to be up to 35%, was expected to boost the income of small farmers.

Traders also said the tariff would be favourable for farmers, but added it would spark rises in prices for the staple in the world's fourth most populous country.

"This is a tough issue. We are confused because we can't make any future plans," said one trader in Surabaya, the provincial capital of East Java. "If I release my stocks now, there is a danger the tax will be high. Then I will lose money.

"These days, traders only wish to sell their stocks in small quantities. Those who have 100 tonnes, for example, will only release 25 tonnes to the market." Government officials said the tariff was expected to cut imports. But traders said a high import tariff would also boost prices of local grain because there would be less rice in the market.

Officials have said the tariff was expected to take effect after the Muslim Hari Raya celebration in January and would be included in the next letter of intent with the International Monetary Fund.

Traders said prices of 25% broken rice, the type mainly consumed by Indonesians, rose to 1,750 rupiah/kg this week compared with 1,650 rupiah/kg last month. Prices are expected to rise again ahead of the celebrations because demand traditionally grows, traders said.

But a trader in Jakarta said despite uncertainty over the import tax, the government had made sure stocks would be enough to meet demand ahead of the celebrations.

"Bulog says stocks are sufficient," said the trader, referring to the state commodity regulator. "It will not hold new tenders in the near future because it doesn't have enough money, but it will invite private traders to sell their rice through some kind of closed tender."

Bulog's last open tender was in August this year when it bought 75,000 tonnes of Chinese rice at US$195, US$200 and US$205 a tonne including freight. The government allowed private traders to import rice for the first time in 1998 in line with an agreement with the IMF. Imports used to be a monopoly of Bulog.

Foreign loans to be reduced

Agence France-Presse - December 8, 1999

Jakarta -- Indonesia will slow down foreign borrowings and focus more on the domestic bond market to fund government projects, Finance Minister Bambang Sudibyo said Wednesday.

Increasing reliance on domestic financing would improve the country's balance of payment position, Bambang said at a hearing of the parliament's budget committee.

"In the medium term, the government will seek financing from the domestic bond market as a substitute for foreign borrrowing. We will stimulate the domestic bond market," he said. "We hope the role of the domestic bond market will become more important from next year onward," he added.

The finance chief also said the government was planning to reduce the budget deficit to below five percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for the nine months starting April 2000. The government has forecast a deficit of 6.8% of GDP in the year to March 2000.

Jakarta's cash crunch

Far Eastern Economic Review - December 12, 1999

Dan Murphy, Jakarta -- Indonesia's new government is facing a dilemma as restive provinces such as Aceh, Irian Jaya and Riau clamour for a bigger share of the revenues from their natural resources, such as oil and gas.

If Jakarta ignores the demands, it will further fuel separatist calls in provinces that -- by no coincidence -- happen to be richest in natural resources. But if it pays up, it risks blowing a hole in its budget, as well as hurting efforts to repay its $80 billion national debt. Solving the dilemma will be a tough challenge for President Abdurrahman Wahid, whose actions will be closely watched by aid donors.

Currently, levies, taxes and royalties ensure that Jakarta grabs almost all revenue from oil, gas, timber and minerals. It's such a sensitive issue that the government doesn't say how much it keeps of what it collects from the provinces. In May, demands from the regions for a greater share of the income from natural resources led then President B.J. Habibie to enact a law promising to return billions of rupiah to the nation's 300-odd districts. The law, which comes into full force in May 2001, promises to let regions keep a greater share of the after-tax revenues they generate -- a 15% slice in the case of oil and 30% for natural gas.

That new revenue-sharing plan is floundering, with local politicians and activists demanding an even bigger slice. Provincial leaders are particularly incensed. One of Habibie's intentions in the legislation was to keep the country's 26 provincial administrations weak by sending money directly to district level. The reasoning was that poorly funded provincial governments would be too weak to challenge Jakarta.

The government is now being drawn into talks that could see it giving away a much larger share of revenue than originally planned, and at a faster pace.

"The law is a product of the old regime and it's not just," says Djufri Hasan Basri, the head in Riau province of Parliament Watch, a non-government organization. Riau, in northern Sumatra, is home to the Caltex operations that produce most of Indonesia's oil. "The parliament has to revise these numbers if they want to win the people over, and they've got to do it quickly," Djufri says. He thinks Riau should keep half its oil revenue.

The provinces' demands are already getting some results: In off- the-cuff remarks at the start of November, Wahid said Aceh could get 75% of oil revenues, creating concerns that that would become a benchmark for all resource-rich regions. Later, on November 22, his regional-autonomy minister, Ryaas Rasyid, said the government would determine the structure of autonomy for each region on a case-by-case basis.

That sort of talk spooks the International Monetary Fund and other donors; they are concerned that concessions by the government could threaten its ability to repay its $80 billion foreign debt. The budget, already expected to run at a deficit of $5 billion in the coming year, could be further strained. "The financial split as it now stands can be lived with," says a government adviser who has experience of the issues involved. "But if they give away 75% of oil revenues, it could be a disaster." With the recent surge in oil prices, it might seem there's a lot more to go around. But Indonesia provides massive oil subsidies to its citizens that are expected to cost about $5.5 billion in the year to March. As oil prices go up, so does the size of the subsidy.

Meanwhile, with the corporate tax base slashed because of the financial crisis, oil and gas have become an even more important source of government revenue. They could account for 35% of revenue this year, against the original budget target of 28%.

Donors are also concerned about the political implications of giving greater financial autonomy to provincial governments that were riddled with incompetence and corruption during the Suharto years.

In a position paper presented in November, a group of Indonesia's largest donors suggested the government phase in financial autonomy to give local governments a chance to learn how to deal with their new-found wealth.

Forgotten, though, in all the noise over how much should be paid out to the resource-rich provinces are Indonesia's poorer regions. They could lose out significantly if wealthy neighbours successfully press their demands. The government is working on an equalization fund to channel money to poorer areas, but as Jakarta's budget shrinks, it's not clear where the money will come from. "If the central government ends up giving away 50% of the oil and gas revenue at this time of rather acute financial distress, who is going to look after the poorer provinces?" asks Iyanatul Islam, a United Nations economist who has studied regional autonomy in Indonesia.

He says that's a powerful argument against simply caving in to the richest provinces' demands. After all, if financial flows to the poorer provinces dry up, they too will suddenly find themselves questioning what they get out of being part of Indonesia.

Telkom, Indosat to be sold off

Dow Jones Newswires - December 6, 1999

Edhi Pranasidhi, Jakarta -- Indonesia's senior economic minister Kwik Kian Gie said the government plans to sell majority stakes in state-owned PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (TLK) and PT Indonesia Satellite Corp. (IIT) next year, a plan that surprised and impressed the market.

Speaking in Singapore Monday, Kwik said the government must seek to minimize the country's financial burden by accelerating the privatization of state-owned enterprises and the recovery of assets acquired by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency.

As part of this plan, he said, the government will divest majority stakes in state telecommunication companies next year. "Next year, we hope to divest majority ownership in our state telecommunication firms," he said, without providing further details.

The market was quick to welcome the surprising comments: Shares in domestic phone monopoly Telkom ended up 3.7%, or 125 rupiah ($1=IDR7,255), at IDR3,525, while shares in international call provider Indoast gained 3.4%, or IDR350, to end at IDR10,750.

The two companies are two of Jakarta's main blue chips, and the gains by their shares helped lift the broader market index 1.8%.

"The statement came at a time when investors ran out of fresh leads in the telecommunication sector," said Widyakanusapati, research director at Sigma Batara, a joint venture securities company.

He said although the statement was scant on details, buying sentiment in the telecom shares is set to remain strong until the government clarifies its plans.

"The only thing that the government has to do now is to convince the parliament to approve the sale," he added. It may not be easy to convince the legislators. The previous government already ran into some flak when it sought to sell control of cement maker PT Semen Gresik (P.SGK) to Mexico's Cemex SA (CMXBY).

After a group of protesters from Padang, in West Sumatra, complained about selling control of the company to a foreign party, the government gave in and said it would retain control of Semen Gresik. Cemex ultimately bought a minority stake. If it seeks to sell control of Telkom and Indosat, the government could run into similar problems.

With both companies, the previous government argued it couldn't sell majority stakes because they were strategic assets, but the new government has already sent signals it will drastically speed privatization and sell off companies that the state doesn't need to own.

Telkom and Indosat are the crown jewels of any privatization program and the sale of a large chunk of either could generate handsome returns for the state coffers.

They are viewed as solid blue chips and at least one of them would feature in the portfolio of most foreign institutional investors that hold Jakarta stocks. The government owns 66% stake in Telkom and 75% stake in Indosat.

The previous government sold a 9.6% stake in Telkom in April to international institutional investors, bringing in about $404 million. The B.J. Habibie government also sought to sell a stake in Indosat though similar avenues, but failed to drum up enough interest at the right price.

This is the first time the government has expressed an interest in selling majority stakes in both companies. Telkom and Indosat are listed in Jakarta and New York.

Agung Prabowo, an analyst with Danareksa Securities, said investors should view Kwik's statement cautiously, adding the government still has to reveal details of the plan.

"We have to know at what price the shares will be sold and who is going to buy them," he added. He said if the government is going to sell majority control, it would have to do so via a tender offer on the market.

A more likely means of selling off a major stake could be to a strategic investor, analysts reckoned. Possible suitors named by the previous government for stakes in either company include British Telecommunications PLC, France Telecom SA, Deutsche Telekom AG and Australia's Telstra.

Kwik's comments also took the companies involved by surprise. Telkom investor relations manager Setiawan Sulistyono said it's still waiting for further details on the government's plan.

Budi Prasetyo, investor relations manager at Indosat, said the plan, although surprising, would make sense. "The government's plan to sell majority stakes is in line with its aim to make the two companies nationwide operators," ahead of the deregulation of the market for domestic and international calls that begins in the middle of the next decade, he said.

Indosat is set to lose its monopoly in 2004, while Telkom will start to lose its monopoly in 2005 and lose it completely in 2010. Telkom has argued in favor of a merger with Indosat, arguing that a merger is necessary ahead of the planned market liberalization. Indosat is against the idea and says it would bring no value for its shareholders.

IMF agreement seen before budget

Reuters - December 6, 1999

Raj Rajendran, Singapore -- Indonesia will seal its next letter of intent with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in time to meet its budgetary obligations, Indonesia's chief economics minister Kwik Kian Gie said on Monday.

In a broad ranging speech to Chinese businessmen in Singapore, Kwik promised easier access for foreign investment in Indonesia and said the pace of the country's financial sector restructuring would pick up.

"The IMF letter of intent will be signed in January after the government has presented the state budget in the first week of January. Ninety percent of the letter of intent is already finished."

Kwik said an IMF technical team would arrive in Jakarta on December 7 to begin work on the letter of intent which should be approved by the IMF Board and the Indonesian government well before the budget was presented in early January.

"We can regard that as final although it is not signed ... the money which is needed in order to support our budget will be disbursed again," he said. He confirmed that the government agreed with the IMF forecast of 2.0% growth for fiscal year 2000.

Agreement on tariffs expected

But differences remained over the imposition of import tariffs and the removal of subsidies on basic neccessities. Kwik said the government opposed an IMF plan to have zero import tariffs on rice and sugar imports.

"We're opposed to that idea because rice in the international market is very, very low, so that if the import duty is zero then the farmers in Indonesia will be wiped out in a year," he said.

Kwik said this was dangerous as it would make Indonesia dependent on imported rice which would be a heavy burden on the state when prices increased in the future. "The IMF is receptive to this idea, so a final agreement would be reached in a few days,"he said.

The official Antara news agency reported in late November that the IMF had agreed to let Jakarta impose an initial rice import tariff of 25%. Kwik said 35% was also discussed but he did not have the final figure.

In the case of sugar, Kwik admitted that mills in Java were not competitive but those outside the province were profitable, and a rational plan would be to move the mills out which would take time. "Reduction of sugar import tariffs would be done gradually," he said. The sugar industry had recommended a 65% import tariff.

Bank recapitalisation

Kwik said the government had formed a four-member Financial Sector Action Committee, which would have the power to dispose of assets as it saw fit, to speed up the works of the Indonesian Bank Retructuring Agency (IBRA).

"The power of IBRA management to make a decision to sell an asset was limited by the action of the police and the attorney general's office," he said.

Kwik said the twinning of state banks with international banks was progressing well, with Deutsche Bank already in a preliminary agreement while ABN Amro was keen to enter into one.

Indonesia's interest payment on bank recapitalisation bonds for the next fiscal year would hit four percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and 10% of its budget, Kwik said.

He said the amount would decline from 2000 with acceleration of privatisation of state-owned enterprises and recoveries on assets by the bank restructuring agency.

[On December 7 Reuters quoted Gie as saying he expects the rupiah to stabilize to the level of around 7,000 rupiah to the US dollar in the "medium to long term" adding that "The Indonesian economy is bottoming out ... It will be better bit by bit - James Balowski.]

Banks' losses at 52 trillion

Agence France-Presse - December 6, 1999

Jakarta -- The Indonesian banking sector recorded a combined operating loss of 52.094 trillion rupiah (7.1 billion dollars) in the 10 months to October compared to a loss of 177.02 trillion rupiah for calendar 1998, Finance Minister Bambang Sudibyo said.

"The total operational income of the national banks as of October 1999 was 129.719 trillion rupiah while operational expenses were 181.813 trillion rupiah," Sudibyo said in written answers to questions from the lower house of parliament, the People's Representative Counil. "So the operational income minus operational expenses is 52.094 trillion rupiah."

Asked about negative spreads in the sector, Sudibyo said the banks recorded interest income of 74.818 trillion rupiah as of October while the interest expenses were 96.015 trillion rupiah. "So the interest loss was 21.197 trillion rupiah," Sudibyo said.

Israel has invested millions

Agence France-Presse - December 5, 1999

Jakarta -- Israel has quietly invested 200 million dollars in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated nation, via foreign companies, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has said.

"Israel does not extend the capital directly but through a third party, a Dutch or US company," he told members of his newly inaugurated National Economic Council Saturday.

But according to the overnight report from the official Antara news agency he did not say which sectors the Jewish state had invested in.

Indonesia and Israel do not have official diplomatic ties, but Wahid, a respected Muslim cleric, said shortly after being elected in October that he wished to open trade relations with the Jewish state.

His proposals were widely criticized at home, especially by the Muslim lobby, with massive street demonstrations last month in the capital and other main Indonesian cities.

Indonesia has been a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause and many protestors have said trade with Israel would constitute treachery.

Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab earlier defended the government's plan saying it would help improve Indonesia's image abroad and the economy.

Shihab told the Tempo weekly magazine in an interview last month that the real aim of the move was to influence the strong Jewish lobby in the United States.

"We have to be frank, the Jewish lobby in the American congress is very strong ... the US cabinet, is also dominated by the Jews," Shihab told Tempo.

"Israel has already expressed its wishes to invest in Indonesia in the field of agro-business and production but because there are no formal ties, this cannot yet take place," Shihab said. He had said that indirect Israeli investment in Indonesia amounted to 20 million dollars.

The new National Economic Council, headed by distinguished economist Emil Salim will advise Wahid on the country's economic development as it shakes off the Asian financial crisis which brought the economy to its knees in 1997.