Labour issues

For some Indonesians, echoes of 'coolie' nation

New York Times - August 15, 2002

Jane Perlez, Unukan -- Bent with the strain of balancing 12 years' of belongings, Zainal, a migrant worker who had just been expelled from Malaysia, struggled to board a navy boat that would take him back to his village. His long run of work abroad had abruptly come to an end. Two of his three children tottered along with him, clutching at his arms, their faces tight with fear. Born in neighboring Malaysia, they had never seen their parents' home country.

"I had to leave my job at the watermelon plantation and I have no money for a new passport and a work permit," said Mr. Zainal, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, as he headed for the gangplank.

Day after day, thousands of Indonesian migrant workers have been sailing to their home provinces from this equatorial port, fleeing new laws in Malaysia that took effect on August 1. The laws call for the imprisonment and caning of illegal workers and heavy penalties for their employers.

Thousands more expelled workers linger in the rickety town here, waiting, they say, for documents that will allow them to return legally to Malaysia, where the money is good and their heavy labor on construction sites and plantations is in demand.

They are sleeping on the streets, on verandas and, if they are lucky, in packed tents or halls, where they find a roof over their head and minuscule packets of rice for sustenance. At least 21 workers have died here in the last two weeks. At the sole medical clinic, several migrant workers lay on the floor, the cause of their illnesses unknown because there was no doctor to offer a diagnosis, and virtually no medical supplies.

As many as 400,000 Indonesian migrant workers have returned to Indonesia through various entry points, according to government estimates, with the biggest surge in the last several weeks. Their unexpected appearance in Indonesia is likely to add to the nation's 40 million unemployed, out of a population of 228 million.

More deeply, the images of the young men, elderly women and distraught families being pushed out of a neighboring country where people speak a similar language, look the same and share the Muslim religion has reawakened an old debate: What is Indonesia? "Who are we if all we can export abroad is unskilled workers?" said Adi Sasono, a longtime proponent of social justice and a leader of the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals. "It means we are really a nation of coolies, and a coolie among nations." His use of the word "coolie" was deliberate, Mr. Adi said, because it echoed the evocative language of Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, the father of the current leader, Megawati Sukarnoputri. In an impassioned speech nearly 40 years ago, Sukarno said that during the colonial period, Indonesia was a "coolie between nations," moored between the continents of Asia and Australia.

"Sukarno said to stop being a coolie nation was the very reason we had to become independent, rather than become stuck on the lowest rung," Mr. Adi said.

The meek response of Sukarno's daughter to the Malaysian government's expulsion of the Indonesians has infuriated people here. During two days of talks in Bali last week, Mrs. Megawati asked Malaysia's prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, for a reprieve for the workers and an arrangement that would help them obtain legal papers in Malaysia.

The Malaysian leader, facing an economic downturn in his own country and aware that the Indonesians were unlikely to retaliate against the expulsions, refused to yield.

"The government called the migrant workers the `heroes' of foreign exchange," said Faiza Mardzoek, an official with Women's Solidarity for Human Rights, a Indonesian nongovernmental organization that is trying to assist the expelled workers. "But there is no real discussion with Malaysia about the workers, and no formal agreements to regulate the situation."

Ms. Mardzoek, who came to Nunukan to investigate the plight of the workers and distribute leaflets informing workers of their rights, said the migrant workers were the biggest contributors to Indonesia's foreign exchange earnings after oil, gas and wood. In many Indonesian villages, the remittances pay for new schools, roads and housing that the government is unable to finance.

The flow of Indonesians to Malaysia has a long history, with generations of families in the provinces of Sulawesi and Java sailing to Malaysia to seek their fortunes.

In recent times, labor agents have taken hold of the business of migrant workers, and here in Nunukan, where the local population is only about 80,000, nearly two dozen businesses call themselves "labor suppliers." They charge Indonesians a fee for the promise of legal work, but in fact when the Indonesians arrive in Malaysia they often lack the correct documentation and are left at the mercy of unscrupulous bosses, said Vincentius Ruing, the director of the Association of the Big Family, a local group that assists migrant workers.

Despite the hardships of their stay here in Nunukan, many of the workers said they were fearful of returning to their home provinces.

"If I go back to Sulawesi, people will ask for so many things -- clothes, something special from Malaysia, and I don't have them yet," said Sumarti, 23, a cheerful young woman who said she had worked on a plantation and was planning to go back. "Things are not a problem in Malaysia as long as you can do the physical work."

On an overgrown patch of land on the outskirts of town, where the buildings peter out into tropical jungle, the Roman Catholic cemetery told of the sacrifice of the less fortunate workers. Nine fresh graves, with roughly hewn wooden crosses, bore the names of migrant workers originally from the mostly Christian island of Flores, who had died here. Thomas Mambao, 46, had worked in Sandakan, Malaysia, for 12 years, his friends said. Unmarried, he cleaned the Catholic church in his Malaysian village until he was arrested for holding an expired passport and held in prison for two weeks.

He became ill after landing in Nunukan and died three days later, his friends said. Tears in their eyes, they lighted two dozen white candles to commemorate his life.

Prostitutes go on strike in Kupang

Jakarta Post - August 15, 2002

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang -- Hundreds of hoodlums, gambling bosses and prostitutes grouped under the The Poor People's Union (SKM) went on strike on Wednesday in Kupang, capital of East Nusa Tenggara province, demanding the city administration and legislative council legalize gambling and prostitution.

The demonstrators said the city administration could introduce a bylaw to legalize gambling and prostitution in a restricted area of the city. They said this would help raise the municipal administration's income and create job opportunities for hoodlums and prostitutes.

Jefri Leonard Un Taolin, spokesman for The Poor People's Union, said in a free speech forum held at Kupang's mayoralty office that gambling and prostitution in the city should be legalized because 80 percent of the city's residents were living in poverty. "This will also raise the city's income," he said.

Kupang Mayor S.K. Lerik ruled out the demonstrators' demands, saying the city administration would never legalize gambling and prostitution because they were against Indonesian culture and morality. "The morality of young people would be severely disrupted if gambling and prostitution were legalized," he said.

Gambling and prostitution have become topical issues here after 30 members of the Kupang legislative council held a comparative study in Bogor in West Java, Manado in South Sulawesi and Denpasar in Bali several weeks ago to seek the possibility of legalizing gambling and prostitution in the city.

Gambling and prostitution are both illegal, yet there were no arrests made during the demonstration.

Unemployment figures hide depth of despair

Jakarta Post - August 14, 2002

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta -- The number of unemployed people increased by 400,000 to around 8.4 million during the first half of this year, the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said in its latest quarterly survey.

However, independent experts say the figure does not reflect the true picture of the pressing unemployment problem in Indonesia.

The BPS survey sampled 36,000 households. The result of the survey was seen by The Jakarta Post Tuesday, but there was no explanation about the figures as the bureau has yet to complete its report. A BPS source said the report would be published in September.

The BPS unemployment figure refers to open unemployment, which the bureau defines as the number of people categorized as part of the labor force but who have no job and are seeking work. "This [figure] does not show the real unemployment problem," former labor minister Bomer Pasaribu said.

He said that by using the BPS figure, the country's unemployment rate would only be around 8 percent, which he said was lower than the rate in some European countries.

The labor force is defined by the BPS as: "Persons aged 15 years and over who, in the previous week, were working, temporarily absent from work but having jobs, and those who did not have work and were looking for work."

Bomer said that since unemployed people in developing nations like Indonesia were not supported by government social welfare, the number of disguised unemployed should also be taken into account to measure the true unemployment rate.

"According to my calculations, the number of unemployed in this country is between 40 million to 45 million because there are so many disguised unemployed here," he said. Disguised unemployment is defined as the number of those in the labor force working less than 35 hours a week. Bomer's estimate has often been cited by the press.

Noted economist Djisman Simandjuntak shared Bomer's opinion. "The most worrying for our country is the disguised unemployment figure, since the rate is so high," he said, adding that people categorized in this group were doing any kind of job in order to survive.

Djisman said the ongoing economic and political crisis which hit the country in the late 1990s had caused many companies to completely shut down their businesses or shrink their operations, forcing many people out of work.

The number of unemployed will multiply as some 2.5 million job seekers are entering the job market every year, and an estimated 400,000 illegal Indonesian workers have just been expelled from Malaysia. "This can really create serious social problems here," Djisman said, pointing to rising crime rate, infant mortality and social depression.

Economists have said that to absorb the huge number of job seekers, the country's economy must be able to grow at pre-crisis levels of around 6-7 percent per year. The government has only targeted an economic growth of 4 percent for this year.

But the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) has said recently that the world's economic slowdown coupled with the poor investment climate at home would only allow the domestic economy to grow by three percent this year.

"Unless the country is able to attract more investors to put up money for business activities here, the problem of unemployment can not be resolved," Djisman said.

The Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) said that foreign direct investment (FDI) during the first half of this year dropped by 42 percent to US$2.5 billion compared to the same period last year, while domestic investment plunged by 70 percent to Rp 11 trillion.

Analysts have said that the drop in investment was due to the poor investment climate due to, among other things, continuing labor conflicts, security problems, poor implementation of regional autonomy policy, the unfavorable global investment climate and corruption at all levels of government, the bureaucracy and the judiciary.

The fall in investment occurred at a time when the government managed to improve the country's macro economic condition such as slowing inflation, a stronger rupiah and lower interest rates.

The continuing labor conflict has also affected the country's export performance as foreign buyers are diverting their orders to other neighboring countries who can guarantee a timely delivery of goods.

According to data from the central labor dispute agency (P4) at the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, the number of laid off workers during the first half of this year reached 62,666. If this figure is annualized it already nears the 1998 figure of around 131,000, when the country first plunged into the regional economic crisis.

According to P4, most of the laid off workers come from export- oriented companies which had either shut down operations or streamlined their businesses to cope with the unfavorable economic condition.

Workers urge DPR to stop deliberating labor bills

Jakarta Post - August 12, 2002

Jakarta -- Some 3000 workers belonging to Forum Lima (the Forum of Five) staged a protest on Sunday demanding that the House of Representatives (DPR) stop deliberating bills on worker protection and the settlement of industrial relations disputes.

Carrying placards calling for an end to labor suppression and violence against child workers, the protesters marched from the National Monument (Monas) at Merdeka Square, Central Jakarta, to the front of the DPR complex.

Field coordinator Musriyanto said that they wanted the House to revise the two bills and revoke law no. 25/1997 on labor. According to Musriyanto, law no. 25/1997 was a product of the New Order regime, which unfairly favored the business community, while the labor protection bill gave too many privileges to businesspeople to exploit workers by introducing an internship program and probation period for workers.

"Such arrangements encourage businesspeople to avoid responsibility if a worker has an accident, and can leave workers on probation indefinitely," Musriyanto was quoted by Antara as saying.

He added that the bill on the settlement of industrial relations disputes put workers in a difficult position all the time as it allowed businesspeople to fire workers arbitrarily without any obligation to pay compensation to laid-off workers.

Musriyanto said they had decided to stage a protest in front of the House complex as the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration had failed to respond to their aspirations. "Labor protests often end up with companies firing the workers involved," he said.

On Saturday, National Front for the Struggle of Indonesian Workers (FNPBI) chairperson Dita Indah Sari said in Jakarta that up to 80 percent of the country's trade unions rejected both the two bills and Labor Law No. 25/1997.

"According to data we've gathered so far, almost 80 percent of trade unions [in Indonesia] reject the two bills. They don't wish to mobilize massive protests just yet," said Dita, who is also a noted labor activist.

She said her organization had urged trade unions in large cities such as Bandung, West Java; Semarang, Central Java; Surabaya, East Java; and Medan, North Sumatra, to organize massive protests to reject the bills and law.

"Trade unions are already fed up with the House as their aspirations are simply ignored [by lawmakers]," she said.

According to Dita, the bills were "sponsored" by large companies so that labor protests could be used as legitimate reasons for firing workers.

Earlier, the business community criticized the bills as "overly protective" and at the expense of investors, warning that if passed into legislation, they would further deteriorate the country's business climate.

"If the bills become law, many investors will leave the country and look for other places in which to invest," chairman of the National Economic Recovery Committee (KPEN) Sofjan Wanandi said earlier. "The bill is overly protective [of workers]," Sofjan said.

According to the bill, companies would have to continue paying workers their wages, even if they were on strike. Under the draft, if a worker stages a strike or faces criminal charges in court it means he is failing to fulfill his daily duties, but the company would still have to pay the worker's salary during a strike or for the duration of a trial until the court verdict.

Students/youth

Students demand South Kalimantan Governor resign

Jakarta Post - August 14, 2002

Jakarta -- Hundreds of students demonstrated outside the South Kalimantan provincial legislative assembly on Tuesday, demanding Governor HM Sjachriel Darham resign for his alleged involvement in corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN), Antara state news agency reported.

The demonstrators came from the Federation of South Kalimantan Peace Reform Movement, the Association of Pancasila Students, the Association of Moslem Youths and the National Committee for Indonesian Youth (KNPI).

They urged provincial police to probe Sjachriel's alleged involvement in KKN and asked him to explain the failure of the Barito river dredging project. The angry protesters said Sjachriel was not fit to lead the province because he had lied publicly.

"Where has the 33 trillion rupiah assistance from Germany gone? Where is the construction of world mosques in miniature? All these are empty promises," a demonstrator said.

Meanwhile, KNPI gave the governor till Aug. 21 to tender his resignation. If after the deadline Sjachriel had not resigned, the committee would mobilize 20,000 people to make sure he did, chairman of the committee's provincial branch, M Hasan, said.

Aceh/West Papua

Ex-inmates from Papua demand freedom

Jakarta Post - August 17, 2002

R.K. Nugroho, Jayapura -- Hundreds of former Papuan political prisoners and their relatives demanded independence from Indonesia during a peaceful protest in the provincial legislative council compound on Thursday.

And in separate developments, Maj. Gen. Mahidin Simbolon, chief of the Trikora Military Command overseeing Papua (Irian Jaya), ordered soldiers not to be scared of committing human rights abuses when quelling separatism in the province.

"We must kill as many of our enemies as possible. Human rights are something we must not worry about but must consider," he told a group of soldiers returning to North Sumatra from Papua.

The independence demonstrators were protesting against the province's integration with Indonesia in 1963, based on the tripartite New York agreement between Indonesia, the Netherlands and the United Nations.

"Papuan people declared the territory's independence in 1963 but the former Dutch colonial ruler and the UN supported its integration with Indonesia in the same year. Indonesia minus Papua declared its independence on August 17, 1945," Advisory Council for Reconciliation of Papuan Ex-Political Prisoners chairman Saul Bomay said as he addressed the crowd.

He said the New York agreement signed on August 15, 1963, was reached without the approval of the Papuan people.

Saul called on Papuans not to celebrate Indonesia's Independence Day on August 17, because Papua had its own independence day.

He said that during almost 40 years of Indonesian rule, thousands of Papuans who fought for the territory's independence had been killed and the region's natural resources plundered by Jakarta without any compensation for the Papuan people.

Celcius Wapay, another former political prisoner, insisted that independence was the only solution. "Special Autonomy is not the right answer to the Papua question. It is only a quick political fix that will never solve the problem," he said.

The demonstrators, who had pledged not to raise the Morning Star flag during their rally, dispersed peacefully after meeting several legislators.

Yance Kayami, chairman of the legislature's Commission A on public administration and security, pledged to pass on the demonstrators' concerns to the central government.

Central Aceh districts clamour for new province

Straits Times - August 17, 2002

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- The ethnically distinct and mostly conflict-free districts of central Aceh want Jakarta to let them break free from Aceh and establish a new province, preferably before next week.

They want to avoid being drawn into violent conflict when tougher military operations against separatist rebels are launched.

Leaders from the five regencies of central Aceh, south-east Aceh, Singkil, Gayo Luas, and Tamiang made their demands this week in a move which would mean missing out on Aceh's oil and gas riches.

But regents from the central highlands and south-eastern regions of Aceh appear unconcerned about the huge revenue handouts, stressing that avoiding violence is their major concern.

Central Aceh regent Mustafa Tami told Chief Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono this week that the majority of people in the five regencies wanted a new province created.

"Pak Commander, now is the right time to release us from the continuing grievance of having supported a unitary state," he told the security minister before a crowd of local officials.

Under a special autonomy law, Aceh's regional government receives up to 30 per cent of gas and oil revenues from Jakarta.

On Monday, Jakarta is due to announce a new policy for the province which many commentators predict will be a tougher military operation aimed at eliminating the separatist rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

"We want to form a new province since GAM is trying to force the implementation of Islamic law. People in the five regencies are not serious about that," said businessman Munawir Rajali.

When Mr Susilo toured the central Aceh district, he was met by thousands of people, along with tribal and religious leaders who said they wanted to separate from Aceh.

The central highlands of Aceh, known as the Gayo region, are ethnically distinct from the coastal lowland regions and there is little interest from people in this area in demanding independence or a referendum to determine Aceh's future.

People in south-east and south Aceh are racially closer to northern Sumatrans rather than the Acehnese, who speak a different language and have a proud history. Until recently, central and south-east Aceh have not been involved in the violent conflict between GAM rebels and Indonesian troops.

But last year, central Aceh's main city Takengon was the scene of violence when Javanese migrants were attacked by GAM, and thousands fled to Sumatra.

An official from the Regional Autonomy Office confirmed that the five regencies had submitted a proposal, including submissions proving that the majority of people in these regions wanted a new province.

The new province would be called Leuser Antara after the Leuser national park, a large national park which straddles Aceh and north Sumatra.

However, Regional Autonomy official Hery Herman said the regents would need approval from their district parliament and the regional parliament before they could split and form a new province.

TNI denies forcing Acehnese to display Indonesian flag

Tempo - August 17, 2002

Bernarda Rurit, Jakarta -- TNI did not force the Acehnese to display the Red-and-White flag to celebrate Indonesian Independence Day on August 17, according to Indonesian Army spokesperson Brigadier General Ratyono.

"TNI did not force [the Acehnese] to display the flag," Ratyono told reporters at his office in Jakarta on Friday. He went on to say he had even been informed that the Acehnese were enthusiastic about the 57th Independence Day celebrations.

"They are enthusiastic about celebrating the Independence Day and are holding several contests and traditional games. [This year] Independence Day will be commemorated merrily in Aceh," he said.

Ratyono said that the situation in Aceh had been conducive recently and compared to the situation during last year Independence Day celebrations, recent conditions are better.

"People were afraid of the Free Aceh Movement [GAM] who intimidated them," he said. When he was asked about GAM's call for people to be on strike, Ratyono said security forces would handle it.

Bomb wounds ten in Banda Aceh on independence day

Agence France Presse - August 17, 2002

At least 10 people were wounded when a bomb exploded among a crowd of civil servants preparing to celebrate Indonesia's independence day in the Acehnese capital, officals said.

The wounded included two children, one of whom triggered the bomb when he rode over it on his bicycle, police said. Witnesses said a total of 13 people were hurt but the state news agency, Antara, reported 10 victims.

The blast occurred about 8am Saturday at Blang Padang field in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital. It was the most serious of numerous explosions and shootings which occurred throughout the capital and in the districts of Bireuen and North Aceh since Friday night.

In another incident, two police officers were wounded when a bomb exploded near their patrol in Banda Aceh Friday.

After Saturday morning's blast, a destroyed bicycle remained on the ground among a large amount of blood. Soldiers said they recovered many pieces of metal from the blast site.

Separatist rebels of the Free Aceh Movement called for a strike across the province Saturday.

In Lhokseumawe, home of ExxonMobil oil and natural gas facilities, public transport stayed off the streets and stores remained shut Saturday morning as residents stayed indoors, except for young boys playing soccer.

Soldiers and police were stationed throughout the city and also guarded a city field where police, soldiers and civil servants gathered to celebrate 57 years of Indonesian independence.

The government considers ExxonMobil to be a strategic national asset, and it is heavily guarded by troops.

GAM has been fighting for an independent state since 1976. An estimated 10,000 people have died during more than 25 years of violence in the energy-rich province on the westernmost tip of Sumatra island. An Acehnese rights body has said 845 civilians have been killed in Aceh this year alone.

Australian embassy ignored killings at mine

Green Left Weekly - August 14, 2002

Bob Burton -- The Australian government has defended its embassy officials in Jakarta who lobbied Indonesian security forces and officials to deal with "illegal miners" at an Australian-owned mine. In three separate incidents after the lobbying commenced, two people were killed and another five injured.

Controversy over the lobbying activities of the Australian embassy erupted after shooting incidents by the notorious Mobile Brigade (Brimob) in June and August 2001 and January 2002 at the Mt Muro mine in central Kalimantan, owned by the Perth-based company Aurora Gold.

Aurora Gold and its predecessors have encountered local opposition to large-scale mining over concerns about the obliteration of traditional small scale mines, past abuses by security forces and pollution. Aurora chairperson Rory Argyle has acknowledged that the collapse of the Indonesian economy has forced many people to turn to what the company calls "illegal mining" as "a means of survival". However, Aurora's economic survival was also tied to the Mt Muro mine, its only source of cash.

In answers to parliamentary questions by Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown, Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer, revealed that since November 1999 embassy officials in Jakarta have worked with Aurora Gold representatives in lobbying Indonesian officials and security forces to eject "illegal" miners entering the Mt Muro mine.

Downer insisted that the embassy officials stressed that the difficulties Aurora, a signatory to the Minerals Council of Australia's voluntary Code for Environmental Management, was having with "illegal miners" should be resolved "in a peaceful manner".

Despite embassy officials being aware of the deaths and injuries from the military crackdown, no inquiries were made of either Aurora or Indonesian police until after Senator Brown asked a series of questions in February 2002.

On November 2, 1999, Aurora Gold representatives briefed the then-Australian ambassador, John McCarthy, about their concerns. Just over two weeks later, McCarthy met the Indonesian mining minister to discuss concerns of Australian mining companies, including Aurora's "problems with illegal mining".

A follow-up meeting was held on March 2, 2000, in Jakarta with the governor of central Kalimantan, the regent of the local regency, police and military officials. Embassy staff also attended "as observers, at the request of Aurora Gold". According to Downer, embassy staff "highlighted the damage to investor confidence in Indonesia if the government was unable to honour contracts of work and resolve the Mt Muro dispute".

The following day, Aurora welcomed assurances from Indonesian government officials that "illegal" miners would be removed.

On May 25, 2001, Richard Smith, who had taken over from McCarthy as ambassador in January 2001, visited the Mt Muro operations at the invitation of Joe Ariti, president director of Aurora Gold Indonesia.

Smith addressed a meeting of provincial government officials and, according to Downer, stressed "the importance of upholding the law, including laws relating to illegal occupation of mining leases and theft, at Australian-owned mining operations in Indonesia to ensure an environment in which Australian investors could operate in accordance with their contracts of work".

Brimob shootings On June 5, 2001, Brimob members shot at a group of small-scale miners scavenging in the waste rock dumps at the Kerikil mine, one of a number of pits at the Mt Muro mine site. Fleeing the Brimob, six of the miners entered a flooded mine. From the pit edge, Brimob members continued firing and threw stones at the trapped miners, killing two of them. Another three were injured, one crippled as a result of being shot in the knee. Aurora's then company secretary, Michael Baud, later claimed that the deaths "were drownings by people who were operating illegally in the mine and fell in to the water at the bottom of a disused pit and drowned". According to Downer, while the ambassador was aware of media reports of the incident no attempt was made to obtain information from either Indonesian government officials or Aurora. Nor, wrote Downer, did Aurora inform embassy staff of the incident.

Despite the killings, desperate miners continued their scavenging operations. Early on August 27, 2001, Brimob fired three shots at a group of small boys scavenging in the Kerikil pit. One teenage boy was shot and disabled by a bullet passing through one of his legs and entering the other. According to Downer, "the ambassador was aware of media reports of the incident" but made no inquiries of either Indonesian government officials or Aurora Gold. Downer insisted Aurora did not inform the Australian embassy of the incident.

In a further incident on January 17 this year, a police officer shot and seriously wounded a 20-year-old man who was searching through waste rock at the Kerikil mine site. The man's two companions, who fled after the shooting, reported that he was shot in the head at close range. After the shooting, protests resulted in the pit being occupied for a day.

A January 24 media release by the Sydney-based Mineral Policy Institute sparked media coverage by the Australian Financial Review and ABC's Asia Pacific program. According to Downer, it was not until five days later that Aurora advised the Australian ambassador of the incident. According to Downer, the ambassador took no further action. However, two weeks after the shooting and protests in Indonesia, authorities announced that Brimob would be recalled from the mine site.

The Australian embassy in Indonesia only began inquiries into the series of shootings after Brown tabled questions in the Senate on February 18. Nine days later, the Australian embassy "sought clarification" from the Indonesian police force about "the reported incidents". On March 5, Aurora sent a written briefing to the ambassador on the incidents at the mine.

Despite the controversy, Downer saw no need to review the role of embassy officials in the affair. "At no stage did the ambassador or embassy officials request Indonesian government authorities act other than in a peaceful manner, in accordance with Indonesian law. In this context, the minister does not consider a departmental review necessary", Downer informed parliament.

Rio Tinto Rio Tinto, a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact promising to voluntarily uphold international human rights standards, is also embroiled in the controversy. In November 2000, Rio Tinto took over Ashton Mining in order to control all of the Argyle diamond mine. As a by-product of the deal, Rio Tinto gained a 35% stake in Aurora.

In February 2001, Rio Tinto appointed the managing director of Argyle Diamonds, Gordon Gilchrist, to Aurora's board. Gilchrist remained on the board until Rio Tinto sold its shares in October 2001.

While Rio Tinto was a major shareholder in Aurora, two of the shootings occurred in June and August 2001 resulting in two deaths. Rio Tinto guidelines on dealing with human rights abuses at projects where it is not the manager, state "we should ... make clear that Rio Tinto strongly disapproves of human rights violations of employees or local people, and press for investigation and prosecution if credible allegations arise".

Mining Monitor repeatedly contacted Rio Tinto's media spokesperson, Ian Head, requesting clarification on whether Rio Tinto staff had contacted Australian embassy officials, Indonesian officials or Aurora about the incidents at Mt Muro while it was a major shareholder and had been a director on the board of Aurora. Head has not responded.

[From Mining Monitor, journal of the Mining Policy Institute, Visit .]

Acehnese demand freedom as government sets deadline

Jakarta Post - August 16, 2002

Jakarta -- More than 700 Achenese demanded independence from Indonesia during a demonstration in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh on Thursday, just two days before the anniversary of Indonesia's independence.

Meanwhile in Jakarta, Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono set a deadline of 2004 to end the ongoing conflict with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) that has claimed thousands of lives since 1976.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri is scheduled to head a special cabinet meeting on August 19, 2002 to formulate a plan to end the conflict.

The demonstrators, coordinated by the Democratic Front for Acehnese People's Struggle (FPDRA), also demanded Megawati and Vice President Hamzah Haz step down to make way for a government which cares about the poor.

Holding anti-Indonesia banners and defaced pictures of the president and vice president, the demonstrators, mainly from isolated areas in the province, marched past the governor's office, the provincial legislative council building and the Grand Mosque.

The rally, closely monitored by police and the military, was the largest since 1999 when thousands of Acehnese marched to demand a self-determination referendum for the province.

Students taking part in the demonstration also demanded local police release prodemocracy activist Reihan Diani who was arrested for insulting the president while leading a rally in the city recently.

The demonstrators also condemned Megawati, the former ruling Golkar party and the International Monetary Fund for failing to pull Indonesia from the prolonged economic crisis.

"In the past, Sukarno [the founding president and Megawati's father] deceived the Acehnese people with his tears, now his daughter cries as she tells us lies," FPDRA Secretary General Thamren Ananda said during a free speech forum.

Reliable sources say Indonesian security forces had forced many Acehnese to raise the national flag in observance of Indonesia's 57th Independence Day.

The situation in Aceh is tense, fueled by a number of incidents, including the burning of a passenger bus in Paya Rangkiloh, North Aceh, 220 kilometers south of Banda Aceh.

According to eyewitnesses, passengers were forced to vacate the bus before it was torched by gunmen believed to be members of GAM. The bus was on its way from Bireuen to Medan, capital of North Sumatra. Land transport from the province to Medan was cut off following the incident.

Susilo, fresh from a three-day visit to Aceh, insisted the conflict must be settled by the end of his term in office in 2004. "We have set a time frame for dialog with GAM with the hope that we are able to solve the Aceh conflict before 2004," he said. He said the violence must be stopped to avoid more civilian deaths.

Separately, Indonesian Military Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto reiterated that four more combat battalions would be dispatched to Aceh immediately in support of the existing 21,000 soldiers stationed there.

Sutarto, who had just arrived in Jakarta after a two-day visit to Aceh, said the government would not continue talks unless GAM stopped the violence and accepted special autonomy for the province.

The government's plan to impose martial law in Aceh has been met with opposition from Acehnese leaders and political analysts who say it would bring more suffering to the Acehnese people.

They also criticized the recent revival of the military command and the planned deployment of more combat troops, saying it would not end the conflict and the condition would be similar to martial law.

Admiral Thomas Fargo, chief of the US Pacific Command, said Washington would support a peaceful solution to the Aceh conflict. "The solution should have a political context to it and much more than just involvement of security forces," he said after a meeting with Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda. Fargo also met with Susilo and Minister of Defense Matori Andul Djalil.

US admiral's plea: Avoid Aceh bloodshed

Straits Times - August 16, 2002

Jakarta -- The top United States military officer in the Pacific yesterday urged Indonesia to avoid bloodshed in Aceh, where there are increasing signs that the government is preparing to launch a major offensive against separatist rebels.

Admiral Thomas Fargo, commander-in-chief of the US Pacific Command, said: "We're looking for a peaceful solution in Aceh." Jakarta is expected to announce a new policy for the province next week, and that may include emergency rule, which would allow the military a free hand in dealing with the insurgents and could curtail civil liberties.

He also praised Indonesia's steps towards political reform but said improved defence ties depended on the military's progress towards professionalism.

Adm Fargo, who took over the Pacific command in May, arrived in Jakarta from South Korea on Wednesday and will return to his base in Hawaii today.

Papuan activists call for human rights investigations

Radio Australia - August 15, 2002

[Pro-independence activists from Indonesia's Papua province, formerly known as Irian Jaya, are still agitating for a task force to investigate human rights abuses. Indonesia says human rights is improving in Papua, because of a special autonomy law. But Papuan human rights groups don't share the government's optimism. They say the Indonesian military is running the province.]

Transcript:

Megawati: Speaking in Indonesian....

Fitzgerald: Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri in her annual report to the People's Assembly claiming special autonomy is working in Papua and that the human rights situation is improving there. But Papua's leading human rights group ELSHAM, doesn't share her optomisim.

The special autonomy President Megawati is referring to is supposed to see a larger proportion of funds generated from mining and logging province flow to the province.

ELSHAM director John Rumbiak says autonomy is not working so far, because the military, which is so powerful in the province, has a vested interest in derailing the process.

Rumbiak: "The military basically don't like the idea of autonomy law introduced to Papua, because this autonomy law basically cut off their interest that they had been enjoying in the past three decades. They see Papua as their economic resource base, whether they involved directly in their economic activities or backing enonomic activities in Papua."

Fitzgerald: The military budget from the government meets an estimated 25 per cent of their costs, Mr Rumbiak says the military is running protection rackets and selling its services particularly to large multi-national mining and logging corporations to make up the shortfall like the US firm Freeport McMoRan, which operates the largest gold mine in the world in Papua.

Rumbiak: "At this US transnational corporation Freeport McMoRan, they operate in the highlands of Papua, they have about one battalion deployed in the trans national corporation. So they're involved in the building up checkpoints and monitoring the security situation."

Fitzgerald: They charge individual companies?

Rumbiak: "Absolutely, and the company also have to pay for their facilities including cars, housing and even salaries. The worst part of their involvement in these companies that they end up involving in causing a lot of problems with companies themselves. In March for instance we received a complaint from the head of the state oil company Pertamina in Fakfak complaining about their special force Kopassas [that] they're everytime coming to ask for money from their company, and he's sick of that."

Fitzgerald: General Augus Widjojo who heads the military police faction in the Indonesian People's Assembly says the military's businesses are a necessary part of their operation and they're here to stay .

Widjojo: "They are to give the command a bigger resources to be able to put bigger attention in the work of the soldiers, and that is what we have been doing and what we are still doing in the sense that the return of investment out of these various military businesses are used for scholarships for the families of the soldiers for medicals and for housings."

Fitzgerald: Mr Rumbiak says the military is attempting to have Papua broken into three seperate provinces something which directly contradicts the spirit of the special autonomy deal.

Rumbiak: "They pushed Megawati Sukarnoputri by organising about 240 Papuans meeting with the president, and this meeting organised by the head of the Indonesian intelligence body, including the minister for social political affairs General Bambang, both of them organising this 240 people and meeting with the president, demanding the president to agree on a proposal to divide Papua to be three provinces."

Fitzgerald: Mr Rumbiak says the military is being creative in making business for itself in Papua, by stirring up communal conflict, using East Timor style militias and by assassinating political leaders like the popular Chief Theas Eluay who was killed last November.

In another attempt to provoke violence he says the military has launched a new campaign which has forced a thousand Papuan civilains to flee into the capital Jayapura.

Rumbiak: "They accuse every one of supporting the guerilla activists ... the military also brutally torturung women, they are implicated in sexual harrassment to women along this area."

HDC urged to persuade GAM to lay down arms

Jakarta Post - August 12, 2002

Jakarta -- The House of Representatives (DPR) has urged the Swiss-based Henry Dunant Center (HDC) to persuade the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to end their armed struggle.

"The House considers GAM as a separatist movement, so the Henry Dunant Center has to understand it and urge GAM to pursue peace," House Commission I Chairman Ibrahim Ambong was quoted by Antara as saying on Sunday.

The HDC has been facilitating peace talks between the Indonesian government and GAM, which has fighting for Aceh's independence since the 1970s.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Military (TNI) chief commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said Sunday that he had not received reports on the latest development of peace negotiations facilitated by the HDC.

He also said that he was not aware of objections made by a number of military generals to US General (retired) Anthony Zinni's proposal to engage in talks with GAM.

Army Chief Ryamizard Ryacudu said on Friday that military operations were the best option to put an end to the bloody violence in the country's western-most province. "No more dialog ... the rebellion has to be crushed," Ryamizard said.

'War on terrorism'

Islamic cleric accused of links to al-Qaeda

Radio Australia - August 16, 2002

[The Indonesian Government is refusing to act on requests from Singapore, Malaysia and the US for one of its leading Islamic clerics to be arrrested because of his alleged links to the al Qaeda terrorist network. Abu Bakar Ba'asyir who commands the radical Indonesian Mujahidin Council has been accused of having links to international terrorists who planned to truck bomb western embassies in Singapore. But Indonesian police say they have no evidence against him.]

Transcript:

Fitzgerald: Down in the back laneways of Solo, islamic fundamentalists like cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir are running boarding schools, known as pesantens to train young boys in a hard-line interpretation of the Koran.

The rundown Al Muk Min Ngruki School's courtyard and surrounding laneways are plastered with posters claiming that Osma bin Laden is innocent, and accusing Jews of being the real terrorists. The school attracts young boys from far flung parts of Indonesia. Wahid, a teacher here says both poor and rich families send their children to the school, some of them remain here until they graduate at around 17 years of age.

Mohammed Nur Serwan a civil servant from northern Sumatra, is just one of the parents waiting in the school's tiny office to enrol his son. He says he's travelled for days by bus and ferry to bring his teenage son to this school because it's well known throughout Indonesia as a center of islamic learning, and the children here will get to travel to other islamic countries like Egypt and Syria from the school.

The school promotes anti-Jewish sentiments in posters and slogans, but the children learn curriculum subjects. I caught them here practicing a quite ferocious form of martial arts. And this 13-year old student from nearby Jogya says his favourite topic is the study of the Koran.

Despite the backwater atmosphere of this school, it has a reputation as being the central hub of a network of Indonesian islamic militants. Every Indonesian militant accused of having ties with the international Al Qaeda terrorist group is somehow linked to this school, and the school's headmaster is islamic cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.

His influence spreads well outside his schoolyard. He heads the conservative Indonesian Mujahidin Council, which includes islamic warrior groups and has been accused by Singapore, Malaysia and the US of being a member of the outlawed Jemaah Islamiyah group which was supposedly planning bomb attacks in Singapore.

I spoke to him in his inner sanctuary at the school where he denied he was encouraging extremist views.

Ba'asyir: "There is no such thing as fundamentalists. There is only one islam. Islam is comforting and loving for faithful believers but it is labelled as hard by nonbelievers."

"It is only secular non believers who accuse me of being a fundamentalist. God himself is warning us to be careful if others want us to be soft on islamic principles. Muslims who claim to be muslims but are secular ... their islam is impaired."

"But for real muslims islam is merciful. Islam teaches that you should not compromise on our religious practices, on Sharia law, but for everyday life we are allowed to compromise and co-operate with other religions. So there is no hardline islam, the idea has just been perpetuated by unbelievers, especially the jews."

Fitzgerald: Abu Bakar Ba'asyir and his supporters draw inspiration from Darul Islam, a militant islamic movement set up during Indonesia's war against the Dutch.

The Darul Islam continued to fight for a separate islamic state after the Indonesian republic was formed, refusing to recognise the Indonesian flag and civilian law.

In the mid-eighties members of the movement were persecuted by former President Suharto. Under his rule Abu Bakar Ba'asyir was arrested and sentenced to nine years in prison.

He fled to Malaysia along with other militant muslims, and only returned to Indonesia after Suharto was toppled four years ago. From Malaysia he allegedly forged ties with terrorrist groups in the middle east, an allegation he claims is untrue.

Ba'asyir: "The accusation that I am a terrorist is part of that fight against Islam but they have no proof. The allegation comes because I am an active Muslim and involved in Suunah groups and the Mujahadeen Council."

Fitzgerald: The 65-year old Abu Bakar Ba'asyir says he has never met Osama bin Laden but supports his fight to create an international islamic state.

Ba'asyir: "Physically I don't have any association with Al Qaeda but I regard Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda as upholding islam, as well as the Taliban ... so as a person of faith it is my obligation to praise them and sympathise with them. There is little I can do other than through my words and prayers. But I will always defend them because they are trying to establsih an islamic state."

"I hate the American Government but not the American people because they are being manipulated by jews to fight against islam. It is the duty of muslims to hate America because they are launching an anti-muslim crusade right now, this has been announced by President Bush himself."

Fitzgerald: Abu Bakar Ba'asyir hatred of the American Government also extends to governments supporting the US like Pakistan and Australia.

He preaches that Indonesian muslims should push for the creation of an islamic state ruled by Shariya Law and says they need to fight a jihad or holy war to protect islam from attacks by jews and non believers.

But his outspoken views and his central position in the militant islamic network in Indonesia don't make him a terrorist and it's unclear if he is part of any international islamic terrorist network.

The Indonesian Government has now dropped a plan to re-open old legal charges against him, but that hasn't stopped him from openly criticising the rule of the Indonesian president.

Ba'asyir: "I very much hate the attitude of Megawati's Government because it is a secular government, the secular category includes jews and non believers. The president is closer to jews and non- believers than she is to islam. Although she is outwardly a muslim she is stupid and does not understand islam properly. So Megawati's attitude and her acceptance of anti-terrorism aid from the United States is a great disaster for muslims."

Fitzgerald: The challenge for President Megawati will be to check the growing activities of Abu Bakar Ba-asyir and his supporters without returning to the human rights abuses of the Suharto era.

History shows the reputation of islamic leaders like Abu Bakar Ba'asyir grew after they were arrested by Suharto -- and moderate muslims in Indonesia could start to view them as heroes if President Megawati tries to crackdown on them now."

Government denies report on TNI-terror links

Jakarta Post - August 15, 2002

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta -- The government refuted on Wednesday a report which detailed the Indonesian Military's (TNI) involvement in establishing terrorist groups in the country, and branded it as baseless.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa criticized the International Crisis Group (ICG), which released the report, for being "overly imaginative" and that it was "unacceptable" to link the TNI with militant Muslim groups which had developed in the predominantly Muslim country.

"The report was nothing less than the product of overfertile imaginations and a clumsy attempt to discredit the Indonesian government," Marty told The Jakarta Post.

In an apparent move to clear the way for the restoration of the military ties with the US, which have been limited since 1999 following the East Timor mayhem, Marty said the report was unethical.

The government has contacted the Brussels-based think tank country director, Sidney Jones, regarding the report. "We have been talking to Sidney Jones today [on Wednesday] to express our resentment over the ICG report," Marty said but did not elaborate on her responses. "By concluding that the Indonesian Military is behind the groups is unacceptable and it needs to be further verified," he remarked.

The ICG released the report earlier this week and concluded that Indonesian military intelligence or (BIN) had set up a group in the 1970s, and that had developed into what is now the Jemaah Islamiyah, accused by many countries of being a terrorist organization. The report spells out how former president Soeharto used the group to discredit Muslim opposition activists as well as to contain infiltration of suspected "communists".

As the hardliners grew in confidence, they were arrested by Soeharto who accused them of seeking to establish a fundamentalist state.

The activists included Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who according to many is the founder of the Muslim radical group Jemaah Islamiyah, which has been accused of having links with the notorious al- Qaeda terrorist network and plotting bomb attacks in several Southeast Asian countries.

Marty speculated that the accusation was intentionally made in conjunction with the ongoing process to fully restore military ties between Indonesia and the US

"The attempt to discredit the Indonesian government was made when the international community was increasingly recognizing TNI's role in the war against terrorism," he underlined.

Marty further added that the report had tainted the good democratization process in the country, which recently amended the 1945 Constitution. The amendment stipulates the exit of the TNI from politics by 2004.

Indonesia has been trying to convince the US to lift its military ban as Jakarta needed to give its military more firepower to contain the various conflicts within its borders which have come to a head in the wake of the 1998 reform movement.

President George W. Bush's administration has confirmed its support for normalization of military ties with Indonesia, which depends much on the US Congress rescinding the law that was put in place after widespread accusations of military-sponsored human rights violations in East Timor. Jakarta is expecting to have the full military relations revived by the end of this year.

Intelligence set up group accused of terrorism: report

Associated Press - August 12, 2002

Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta -- Despite a $50 million US aid package and a push by Washington to renew military ties, a new report suggests Indonesia's military created the network now said to be Southeast Asia's most serious terrorist threat.

The report, released by the International Crisis Group, a Brussels, Belgium-based think tank, says that Jemaah Islamiyah -- a shadowy group allegedly trying to topple governments in Southeast Asia and carve out an Islamic state -- was created in the 1970's by the head of Indonesia's military intelligence.

The goal was to compromise Muslim opponents of then-dictator Suharto and to depict them as fundamentalists, the document said.

"If you scratch any radical Islamic group in Indonesia, you will find some security forces involvement," Sidney Jones, the International Crisis Group country director, said Monday. "These links need further investigation." The report's release could embarrass the Bush administration, which has made renewing links with Indonesia's military -- cut three years ago because of human rights abuses -- a centerpiece of its anti-terror strategy in Southeast Asia.

It comes after accusations by former President Abdurrahman Wahid that Laskar Jihad, another extremist organization accused of killing thousands of Christians in the Maluku islands, was set up by hard-line generals opposed to democratic reforms after Suharto's fall in 1999.

The Bush administration has been looking for ways to re-establish military ties with Indonesia. The effort, spearheaded by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz -- a former ambassador to Indonesia during the Suharto regime -- gained momentum after September 11, amid fears Indonesia could become a haven for the al-Qaida terrorist network. This week, Pacific fleet commander Adm. Thomas B. Fargo is due in Jakarta to discuss a $50 million aid package announced by Secretary of State Colin Powell during an August 2 visit.

Jemaah Islamiyah, which authorities in Malaysia and Singapore claim has links to al-Qaida, is also accused of plotting to bomb US targets in Singapore. Dozens of alleged members have been arrested in Malaysia and Singapore, but not in Indonesia.

Jemaah Islamiyah has its roots in the Darul Islam rebellion in Indonesia in the 1950s which sought to transform Indonesia into an Islamic state, according to the International Crisis Group report. The uprising collapsed in the early 1960s.

In 1966, Gen. Suharto seized power in Indonesia. By the 1970s, Suharto had become concerned about the opposition groups' growing popularity and set about to discredit them, the report said.

In a sting operation, Suharto's intelligence chief Gen. Ali Murtopo persuaded former Darul Islam members to reactivate themselves, ostensibly to prevent communist infiltration. When they did so in 1977, the security forces arrested 185 activists and accused them of seeking to establish a fundamentalist state.

The name Jemaah Islamiyah first surfaced in court documents as the organization the activists thought they were setting up at Murtopo's behest.

Most activists were released in the 1980s, and some -- radicalized by their experience in prison -- organized to fight the dictatorship. These included Abu Bakar Bashir, a Muslim cleric now accused by Singapore of being Jemaah Islamiyah's ringleader.

Jones said senior Indonesian military officials retained close ties to the group at least through the 1980s.

With Suharto's overthrow in 1998 after massive pro-democracy protests, the brutal repression of political rivals that characterized his dictatorship ceased.

But Jones warned that Jakarta was now under international pressure to re-institute arbitrary measures against Bashir and his followers, who deny links to al-Qaida. She said imprisoning suspects without trial or using torture to extract confessions would backfire and transform them into national heroes.

As an example, Jones cited Agus Dwikarna, an Indonesian jailed in the Philippines after being caught carrying explosives at Manila airport. Most Indonesians, she said, are convinced the evidence was planted by intelligence agents.

Government & politics

Jakarta lawmakers reject privileges for pribumis

Straits Times - August 12, 2002

Robert Go, Jakarta -- The vast majority of Indonesian lawmakers squashed a move to insert the racially-charged term "pribumi" -- meaning indigenous or native -- into economic recommendations to be made this year by the nation's top legislative assembly to the government.

Its inclusion would have amounted to instructing Jakarta to give special considerations to businesses run by non-Chinese citizens as it formulates its economic recovery programme.

The draft economic recommendations by a commission of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) told the government to "boost and develop the economic status of the underprivileged and the pribumi".

Lawmaker Afni Ahmad, who backed the idea, said it would correct inequalities established by policies that gave advantage to ethnic Chinese cronies of former president Suharto.

He told The Straits Times: "It is a fact that the majority of pribumi Indonesians have been marginalised economically by the government. This group should enjoy the same economic privileges as those of the ethnic Chinese.

"As we abolish political discrimination against the ethnic Chinese, we also have to address the economic limits that are now in place against pribumis. Only then can we create an Indonesia where everyone is treated equally and fairly."

According to its supporters, the pribumi-first concept is similar to Malaysia's bumiputera or the United States' affirmative action policies which accord certain privileges to races lagging behind others in development.

Mr Afni admitted that only a few MPR members -- from the interest group faction, Golkar and Islamic Reform factions -- supported the idea. In fact, most lawmakers rejected the idea so thoroughly that there was never a vote on the use of pribumi. A lobbying process was instead used to bypass the issue.

Mr Alvin Lie, one of a handful of ethnic-Chinese lawmakers in Indonesia, said: "The idea was a dangerous one, but it was not tough to defeat it. Most legislators today realise the problems posed by using that term. It would have set us back decades.

"Although it talks about helping non-Chinese people, it in effect would make the Chinese second-class citizens once again. Our economy cannot stand it, and it would create too many social problems."

Businessmen and analysts agreed that directing Indonesia's economic programme towards helping a specific racial group over others would hurt the recovery process here. Mr Suryo Sulisto, head of The Indonesian Pribumi-Businessmen Association, said yesterday: "That kind of a programme would be counterproductive to the recovery process. The MPR cannot use racial definitions when it formulates its policies."

Instead of prioritising specifically non-Chinese business groups, the government should create programmes that support the vast number of small businesses throughout the country, he and other experts argued.

Mr Suryo said: "One of the lessons from our economic crisis is that in the past, we focused too much on a small number of big conglomerates, instead of making sure that the economy is a field in which many more people, of all races, participate."

Amended Constitution gives parties stronger role

Jakarta Post - August 12, 2002

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta -- The newly amended Constitution now gives more power to the people through political parties, but still lacks one thing: a proper system of checks and balances.

Political observer Bachtiar Effendi said on Sunday that the amended Constitution, although not wholly satisfactory, has put the executive, legislature and judiciary in their rightful places. "This will eliminate possible distortion in the process of democracy," Bachtiar told The Jakarta Post.

Hadar N. Gumay from the Center for Electoral Reform (CETRO) also made a positive comment on the amended Constitution, especially on the inclusion of a direct presidential election.

With such an election, power should be distributed equally between the executive and the legislative branches, where legislators should no longer intervene with the administration.

"A direct election means, logically, the president should have full support from the people. It will strengthen the president's legitimacy. As a consequence, we will have a much better administrative system," he told The Jakarta Post on Saturday. Conversely, Hadar said, the people would have the power to elect and even alter the administration.

Nevertheless, Bachtiar and Hadar warned that the amended Constitution was unfair in that it granted the privilege only to political parties to nominate candidates for president and vice president, as stipulated in Article 6A (paragraph 2). No individual or candidates proposed by independent groups would be allowed to contest a presidential election.

Consequently, political parties would be able to provide a counterbalance to the president and vice president through the House of Representatives.

Hadar added that it would only be members of political parties who could contest general elections for seats in the House as well as on local legislative councils, as stipulated by Article 22E (paragraph 3).

Individual candidates would be allowed to contest membership of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), which, together with the House, would form the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

"Although Article 22E, paragraph 4, allows individuals to be elected as DPD members, their total is just about one-third that of House members. The DPD also has little power to influence government policy," said Hadar, who is also a member of the Coalition for a New Constitution.

The Coalition highlighted crucial issues missed in the fourth and final amendment of the Constitution, passed by the MPR early on Sunday morning.

The amended Constitution failed to mention crucial auxiliary state institutions, such as the independent and permanent General Elections Commission (KPU), an anticorruption commission, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the National Ombudsman.

Hadar argued that the inclusion of such state institutions in the Constitution, aside from the fact that their presence was stipulated under legislation, would give a stronger legal basis to their work in providing an appropriate system of checks and balances on the government. Therefore, Hadar said, an independent constitutional commission had to be established to write a new comprehensive constitution.

Political observer Mochtar Pabotinggi agreed with Hadar's suggestion for the expedited formation of a constitutional commission, as stated in an MPR decree.

Constitutional changes doubted in Indonesia

Washington Post - August 12, 2002

Jakarta -- Indonesia's parliament closed a two-week session today in which legislators introduced sweeping constitutional changes designed to shrink the military's role in politics and boost presidential powers.

But the world's most populous Muslim nation still faces serious challenges to its fledgling democracy. Some commentators warned that behind-the-scenes power remained with the generals and an entrenched political elite.

"These changes are just cosmetic and will not alter political life in any meaningful way," said Arbi Sanit, a prominent analyst and professor at the University of Indonesia.

In rejecting calls for the introduction of Islamic law, the lawmakers bolstered Indonesia's position as a moderate Muslim bulwark against the religious extremism being targeted by the US-backed war on terror.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri has not commented on the reforms, which allow for direct presidential elections. Until now the assembly had chosen the president.

On Saturday, the 700-member People's Consultative Assembly also agreed to abolish by 2004 the 38 unelected seats reserved for the military in the subordinate 500-member national parliament. Members of parliament are also part of the larger assembly. The military, therefore, would have no representation in either body.

The seats were granted under the dictatorship of Gen. Suharto after he seized power from Megawati's father, Sukarno, in the 1960s. Suharto was ousted after pro-democracy protests in 1998.

Representatives of the military have been eager to withdraw from parliament because their presence has made them the focus of domestic and foreign critics who accuse the armed forces of human rights abuses.

Instead, senior generals now are likely to wield power and influence mostly in private dialogue with Megawati, said Dede Oetomo, a professor at Airlangga University in Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city.

"It's probably easier to do it at the palace than at parliament," he said. "There is no light yet for Indonesia at the end of the tunnel." Megawati needed the generals' support last year to oust her predecessor, Abdurrahman Wahid, who had made enemies among the military leadership by trying to assert civilian control. Her administration has abandoned those reforms. The generals' political confidence has been boosted by US attempts to recruit Indonesia into its international anti-terrorism coalition.

The United States wants to restore military ties and financial support severed after Indonesian troops laid waste to East Timor in 1999 and committed massive human rights violations when the East Timorese voted to break free of Indonesian rule.

Last week, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell visited Jakarta and announced a $50 million program to assist Indonesia's security forces in the anti-terrorism struggle.

The program was put in place despite criticism from Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who sponsored the law that ended ties. Robert Gelbard, who served as US ambassador here until last year, has also argued against new military links.

Indria Samego, a political observer from Jakarta's Institute of Science, said the changes adopted Saturday, particularly direct presidential elections, were "an experiment" that could easily be undone. "We have to see how they are implemented," Samego said.

Win, win for Megawati

Straits Times - August 12, 2002

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta -- Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri's opponents may have wanted the just-concluded national assembly session to be a referendum on her one year in office and a chance to unseat her. It was anything but.

They ironically laid the groundwork for potentially undercutting their own political influence by passing a series of constitutional amendments that clipped the powers of the highest legislative body in Indonesia -- and by default, strengthened the hand of the President and the secular-nationalists.

In the space of a week, Ms Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) turned the tables on her Islamic opponents to block the controversial amendment on syariah, and more importantly, make it almost a certainty that she would be re- elected in 2004.

Political observer Arbi Sanit of the University of Indonesia told The Straits Times: "This is a clear victory for the President. It will strengthen her position up until 2004 and even beyond."

The decision by the 700-member People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to abolish its own role as an electoral college that picks the country's leader is regarded as the most important constitutional change since the 1960s.

Since Dutch colonial rule ended after World War II, the assembly has elected the country's head of state for a five-year term. But legislators and pro-democracy groups have been pressing since 1998 for a direct vote.

The proposal calls for a two-stage election for President in 2004, in case no candidate wins an outright majority in the first round. The crucial issue now is if electoral laws can be passed in time.

The PDI-P sources believe that if that were to happen, it could lead to a contest between the nationalist Megawati and an Islamic leader the likes of current Vice-President Hamzah Haz.

A senior PDI-P official said: "This MPR has paved the way for a straight fight between the nationalists and Muslim forces in 2004. Ibu Mega will have the advantage, given stronger grassroots support."

If anything, the 55-year-old leader and nationalists scored a symbolic victory over Muslim hardliners -- spearheaded by the United Development Party and smaller Islamic parties -- by warding off their attempts to introduce the syariah.

It is a telling sign of how the vote could go in a parliamentary election that instructively for the last 30 years has been very much in favour of the secular nationalists.

A senior diplomat said: "The radicals faced opposition from even other Muslim groups like the Nahdlatul Ulama and the Muhammadiyah. They are all noise but don't have the political clout to make things happen. It is a harbinger of things to come."

Some might argue that the decision to abolish 38 un-elected parliamentary seats for the powerful military by 2004 could be a setback for the President. Since taking office last July, she has leaned closely to the generals as a counter-veiling force against Muslim hardliners.

Two years ago, the MPR agreed to end the representation of the military and police in Parliament from 2004, but the option was left open for them to be represented in the top legislature until 2009. Given public pressure against the generals remaining in the legislature, sources said that Ms Megawati and her party saw it in their interest to back their "ouster" as an "act of public relations".

PDI-P official Meilona Soewondo told The Straits Times: "Agreeing to get the military out of the legislature strengthens her reformasi credentials."

Analyst Ken Conboy of the Control Risks Group believes that contrary to widespread perceptions, the generals are no losers here. He said: "It gives the military the best of both worlds. It allows them to retain influence but it absolves them of any political accountability."

Proponents of democracy will argue that what took place this last week is a step forward for Indonesia. But sceptics think otherwise.

The amendments will reduce drastically the strength of what has been so far the country's most powerful state institution. Besides losing its power to elect the President, it will also not be able to change or make laws in the future.

Mr Arbi Sanit said: "The real concern is whether in the name of democracy we are vesting too much powers in Megawati without any checks and balances. This will only allow her natural instincts as an autocrat to grow. The clock might be turning back for Indonesia."

Regional/communal conflicts

Security forces blamed for Poso attacks

Jakarta Post - August 15, 2002

Jakarta/Palu -- Armed assailants involved in attacks in the Central Sulawesi town of Poso remain a mystery, but the authorities' failure to capture them or uncover their identities and whereabouts has sparked speculation that security forces may have played a role in a recent spate of attacks there.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla blamed the local security authorities on Wednesday for failing to prevent the renewed violence from spreading in Poso.

The police's inability to arrest any attackers has prompted the unrest to continue across the town, he told journalists after a meeting at the State Palace, Jakarta. "Seven incidents have taken place in one month and security personnel have not arrested anyone in connection with the attacks. This has disappointed people," Kalla said in Jakarta.

Local Muslim leader Nawawi Sang Kilat and Christian leader Sawerigading Pelima also voiced their grievances over the authorities' failure to capture the assailants despite reinforcement troops being deployed there.

Another local Muslim figure, who refused to be named, said the police might be aware of the attackers' identity and whereabouts. "The police are actually capable of identifying the perpetrators, but they may be afraid of moving to make arrests," he told The Jakarta Post.

Separately on Wednesday, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar apparently shifted the blame to hard-liners opposed to last December's peace accord to end sectarian fighting in Poso. "There are people who disagree with the peace deal and we are trying to seek evidence against them," he remarked.

Gen. Da'i reiterated that the attacks erupted after troops were pulled out of the three villages as peace was restored there. But, church workers said it was illogical to withdraw troops on Saturday from Sepe and Silanca, while the security situation there was still uncertain.

At least five people were shot dead and hundreds of houses and two churches set ablaze on Tuesday when unidentified gunmen stormed the three Christian villages of Sepe, Silanca and Batu Gencu in the latest grisly attacks in the town of Poso.

Noldy Tacoh, secretary of the Crisis Center, accused police officers of involvement in an attack on Batu Gencu.

Noldy's accusation was flatly denied by Central Sulawesi chief of Police Brig. Gen. Zainal Abidin Ishak and National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saleh Saaf. But Noldy said he had evidence to back up his charge.

The Christian activist argued that the attack was launched after security forces were blocked from entering Batu Gencu. Residents of villages in Poso that suffered the brunt of the recent attacks, revealed that attackers carried automatic weapons and were dressed in black with a white sash tied at their waist. Arabic words were written on the cloth, church workers based in Tentena subdistrict, Poso, said, quoting witnesses.

They refrained from speculating that the armed assailants were from the Muslim faction. "What is clear so far is that the gunmen were non-Christians," said Widyanto, an activist of the Crisis Center belonging to the church in Tentena.

Poso has seen two years of religious fighting since 2000, resulting in the deaths of some 2000 people. The violence subdued drastically for several months after the signing of a peace deal by Christian and Muslim representatives in the South Sulawesi hill resort of Malino last December. But over the past two months, fresh attacks have plagued the town.

A second round of peace talks was organized on Sunday and Monday to ease the violence, but this failed to quell the renewed unrest.

In a latest attack, an 18-year old woman, identified as Vilna, from Lembomawo village near the town of Poso, was badly beaten as she shopped in Poso. The woman, accused of being a spy by the crowd, was saved by security forces stationed nearby.

The local Muslim figure who asked to remain anonymous questioned why the series of recent attacks escalated after the Wirabuana military command based in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar sent at least 12 Army's Special Force (Kopassus) members to Poso.

Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Zainal Abidin Ishak confirmed the dispatch of 12 Kopassus personnel, saying that six were stationed in Poso and another six in Tentena.

He did not explain what mission the Kopassus personnel were carrying out in Poso and Tentena. However, some sources said the Kopassus personnel specializing in intelligence were there to investigate the rumored presence of foreign security officers in the conflict areas, who were traveling there on tourist visas.

An Italian tourist was shot dead last Friday as gunmen ambushed a bus in the town. It was not clear, however, whether he was among the foreigners the elite force were investigating.

Five dead in attack on Christian villages in Sulawesi

Agence France Presse - August 13, 2002

Five people were killed and hundreds of houses were burned to the ground during an attack on three Christian villages in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi, residents and the military said.

The villages were in the district of Poso, which has been seen more than two years of sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians which have left between 500 and 1,000 dead, and tens of thousands homeless.

"Five people were killed in the attack on Silanca, Sepe and Batu Gencu on Monday," said Noldy Tako, of the Christian Crisis Center in the town of Tentena.

He said the three villages were situated some 12 kilometres east of Poso, the main town in Poso district, and that it took place while the heads of the regional police and military commands were both in the town.

He said the villages of Silanca and Sepe were also home to some 1,000 refugees from other areas in Poso. "Two churches were also burned in Silanca while the total number of houses burned in the three villages reaches hundreds," Tako said on Tuesday.

The violence came just a few hours after representatives from both the Christian and Muslim communities met for a second round of peace talks mediated by Indonesian welfare minister Yusuf Kalla in Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi.

A military spokesman in Poso said the regional military commander was planning to visit the sub-district where the incidents took place. "We are not yet clear what happened in Lage, but some houses sheltering refugees have been reportedly set on fire," said First Sergeant Erwin, declining to give further details. Police in Poso declined to comment.

Following a new upsurge in violence, an army battalion from South Sulawesi and an elite police unit from Jakarta have been dispatched to reinforce security in Poso.

One dead, three missing in tense Poso

Reuters - August 12, 2002

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta -- Tensions flared anew between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia's troubled region of Central Sulawesi after one person was found dead and three people were reported missing over the weekend, police said on Monday.

The latest incidents in the Poso regency of Central Sulawesi followed the death last week of Lorenzo Taddei, an Italian tourist shot dead by unidentified gunmen when his bus passed through rugged terrain near the Christian enclave of Tentena.

Clashes since late 1998 between Christians living in Poso's lakeside hills and Muslims near the seaside have killed 2,000 people until a December truce put an end to the worst of the violence.

"Two locals are missing and a policeman wearing civilian dress has not returned yet," Central Sulawesi police spokesman Agus Sugiyanto told Reuters by phone from the provincial capital of Palu, some 1,650 kilometres northeast of Jakarta.

"These incidents have made communities that have been reconciling tense again. There have been no direct clashes yet, but suspicions from both sides are in the air," he said.

Officials in Poso city, some 100 kilometres southeast of Central Sulawesi's provincial capital, Palu, told Reuters a body with bullet wounds had been found in one of the region's many hamlets but further information was not available. The incidents coincided with two days of talks in Palu between Muslim and Christian leaders who signed the truce nine months ago.

In a recent interview with Reuters, the main architect of the agreement, chief social welfare minister Jusuf Kalla, said the worst of violence was over in Poso, but armed groups were still marauding in the area.

"There is no more conflict among the people, but there are small terror groups ... They explode bombs one day and fire shots on another," he said, adding that the perpetrators were suspected to be Indonesians from outside the troubled region.

Local media reported on Monday that National Police Chief Da'i Bachtiar, who had been inspecting the troubled area, asked for more troops to be deployed there. National Police spokesman Saleh Saaf, who is part of Bachtiar's Central Sulawesi tour, said additional troops had been sent and the number could rise.

"We've added one battalion from TNI [military] and two companies from the police two days ago. The overall forces [in Poso] can reach up to 5,000 if needed," he said.

Around 2,000 troops were previously assigned to keep the lid on Poso's simmering violence. Sporadic violence has rocked Poso since the number of troops was gradually halved to that level in recent months.

More than 85 percent of Indonesia's population is Islam, but in some eastern areas of the archipelago Christians match Muslims in roughly equal numbers.

Ethnic tensions and separatist revolts have rocked Indonesia in recent years, as the country seeks to cope with major economic problems and make a transition to democracy after the authoritarian 32-year rule of former president Suharto.

Local & community issues

Fishermen protest security in North Sumatra waters

Jakarta Post - August 13, 2002

Apriadi Gunawan, Jakarta -- Some 800 local fishermen staged a demonstration at the North Sumatra legislative council on Monday to protest the recent abduction of fishermen and extortion, an indication of poor security in the waters adjacent to the province.

The demonstrators called on the legislative council to seek clarification from the naval base in Belawan and to request that it stop extorting money from local fishermen. They threatened to obstruct waterways for foreign ships entering the province unless the security was enhanced on the waters.

On Saturday, the fishermen also held a demonstration at the naval base to seek a security assurance for fishing ships from the local Navy leadership but they failed to meet with Col. Koesno, chief of the naval base.

Sardi, representing the demonstrators, said they regretted that local security authorities failed to maintain security on the waters, despite high charges imposed on fishermen.

Small vessels are asked to pay around Rp 50,000 (US$8) per day while large ships are each obliged to pay Rp 200,000 to Rp 300,00 per day. "We cannot refuse the demands of the security personnel. If we did they would surely beat us," he told The Jakarta Post.

Sardi acknowledged that most fishermen would not go fishing following the recent abduction by gunmen of 50 crew members from two fishing ships near Berhala Island off Belawan port.

Deputy secretary of the local chapter of the Indonesian Fishermen's Association (HNSI) Ihya Hulumuddin, said several of the abducted fishermen had made radio contact with their colleagues at Belawan before being abducted last week.

"They shouted they were being abducted but later, radio contact was broken off," he said, citing the number of fishermen abducted by gunmen over the last two years had reached 121.

He said HNSI had enhanced coordination with local security authorities to search for the abducted fishermen but so far, no progress had been made.

B. Zebua of the local police's air unit, said the police had intensified the search along the coastal areas of the province and restive Aceh.

Deputy chairman of the provincial legislature Serta Ginting pledged that the legislative council would seek clarification from the naval base chief on the abduction and alleged extortion.

Spokesman for the naval base First Lieut. Arief denied the accusation about extortion, saying the naval base had never imposed charges on fishermen operating on the waters.

"It is our obligation to maintain security in the waters but we have never imposed any charges on fishermen," he said on Monday.

Susukan villagers to protest Jayamix

Jakarta Post - August 12, 2002

Jakarta -- At least 100 residents from Susukan in Ciracas district, East Jakarta, protested on Sunday against PT Jayamix's plan to build a factory in the village.

Ciracas Police Second Brig. Sudino said the residents had staged their protest peacefully.

The residents object to the presence of the concrete-making company, saying it will damage their groundwater resources. They also said that they will be also disturbed by the sounds of the company's trucks.

"Their trucks are very noisy and their sound will harm our ears," Sumarwoto, 45, one of the residents, told Antara. "The management of the company should pay attention to our complaints."

Human rights/law

Reshuffle on the cards for Indonesian judges

Straits Times - August 16, 2002

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- A major shake-up of courts in Jakarta and other big cities is in the offing. Judges and prosecutors will be reshuffled as public pressure builds up to wipe out corruption in the legal system.

Justice and Human Rights Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra told reporters yesterday: "We are in the process of talking with the Supreme Court about the shake-up." He said there would also be a "strict watch" on judges in large cities like Makassar and Medan, where many trials are marred by corruption and bribery.

Several judges are being investigated by his ministry and the Supreme Court, including two judges in west Jakarta and one in south Sulawesi, he said. Also under probe for accepting bribes are three Commercial Court judges, in the case involving Canadian-owned insurance company Manulife, who have been removed from their posts.

Next week, the ministry will begin probing the conduct of several judges presiding over the million-dollar corruption cases involving banks which allegedly misused loans from the central bank in 1999, he said.

In a ruling that was called unjust, the Central Jakarta District Court last week acquitted the owner of Bank Modern, Mr Samadikun Hartono, from charges of misusing 169 billion rupiah loans from Bank Indonesia.

Anti-corruption activists have demanded an investigation into the conduct of the judges and the prosecutors who had pressed for only a year's jail sentence.

Many other suspects in various bank loan scams have similarly got away with light sentences of between eight months and one year. Those who did receive longer jail sentences were tried in absentia as they had fled overseas before the trial began.

Mr Yusril said that apart from judges, the attorney general should also investigate corrupt prosecutors and lawyers. "It is impossible for the Justice and Human Rights Ministry to clean up the legal system if the prosecutors and lawyers are still corrupt," he said.

But some judges told The Straits Times that they felt victimised by the bad publicity. Supreme Court Judge Toton Suprapto told The Straits Times: "The majority of the some 6,000 judges in Indonesia are clean. If a small percentage is corrupt, don't blame all of us." He said the judges were feeling "terrorised and besieged" and warned that it could affect their judgements in court.

Judge Toton, who heads the Association of Indonesian Judges, also warned that if some allegations of corruption were concluded "too prematurely", they could implicate innocent judges.

A District Court judge said the planned shake-up was Mr Yusril's strategy to win public support for his political ambitions. Mr Yusril, who heads the Muslim-based Crescent Star Party, is one of the presidential hopefuls for the 2004 election.

The country's justice system has lately attracted a rash of criticism from notable figures including United States Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN special rapporteur Param Cumaraswamy.

Focus on Jakarta

Jakarta governor snubs poll debate

Straits Times - August 14, 2002

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta -- Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso yesterday refused to share the stage with other political hopefuls, including a becak or pedicab driver, by not turning up at a much-awaited public debate over who would earn the right to be the capital's next governor.

Critics said his absence at the debate, organised by a coalition of non-government organisations, showed the governor's disregard for public participation in the electoral process in the run-up to the September 11 race.

Two other potential candidates for governor invited to the debate, former minister of empowerment for women Tutty Alawiyah and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) councillor Tarmidi Suhardjo, also did not turn up.

Said Mr Ridwan Saidi, one of the candidates at the debate yesterday: "The political process at the City Council has been going on without involving the public. And ironically, this all happened after our country approved the amendment of the Constitution to allow direct presidential election."

Mr Ridwan, a prominent resident of Jakarta, is one of 14 pairs of candidates from a list of 72 people vying for the posts of governor and vice-governor currently being screened by the City Council for the third phase.

Two other participants at the debate were urban planning expert Marco Kusuma Wijaya and becak driver Rasdullah. Both had registered for the election but were turned down by the council.

Earlier yesterday, Mr Sutiyoso, so far the strongest contender, spoke in a hearing with the City Council of his vision for the next five years if he was re-elected governor.

Claiming that the city's more than 10 million population was the root of social and security problems, he suggested a 'significant reduction of the population'.

But it was precisely this policy of throwing poor people out of their illegally built homes, jailing people without identity cards and the brutal seizure of becaks -- leaving thousands jobless -- that has earned him much criticism. His poor handling of the floods this year and graft allegations have also caused much uproar over his candidacy.

Furthermore, the former chief of the Jakarta Military Command was seen as the person responsible for the military-backed attack on the Indonesian Democratic Party headquarters in Jakarta in 1996.

During the past week, hundreds of people have rallied against his nomination. But despite strong public opposition, he has secured support from the majority of the 82-strong City Council which voted to accept his accountability speech on Monday.

Most of the support came from the PDI-P, whose members were ordered by its chairman, President Megawati Sukarnoputri, to support Mr Sutiyoso's candidacy. This had prompted speculation that horse trading and money politics were behind the councillors' support for him.

Ms Wardah Hafidz of the Urban Poor Consortium said: "In the last five years, Sutiyoso had not shown any improvement or development of the capital. There is no reason why the City Council should accept his report."

The local media had reported that some of the candidates spent between 250 million and one billion rupiah (between S$50,000 and S$200,000) to buy support from city councillors to enter the second phase of the election process. A city councillor told The Straits Times: "There's really no secret that those who pay the most will be able to buy the most votes. And there is no question that Mr Sutiyoso has more money and resources than the other candidates."

Mr Sutiyoso has declared assets worth 15 billion rupiah, while his running mate, City Secretary Fauzi Bowo, has 17 billion rupiah in assets.

News & issues

In search of the true Indonesia

Jakarta Post - August 16, 2002

Fitri Wulandari and Lela E. Madjiah, Jakarta -- Indonesia is mobs burning alive criminals, would-be criminals and even the innocent -- and taking great delight in doing so.

Indonesia is a country that frees tycoons charged with embezzling trillions of rupiah belonging to the state and the people.

Indonesia is Christians killing Muslims, Muslims killing Christians and Dayaks beheading Madurese.

Indonesia is increasing calls for separate states and the security forces continued brutal suppression of those fighting for independence.

Indonesia is unpaid billion-dollar debts whose streets in the capital are jammed with imported luxury cars but whose poor subsist on rationed rice that is often stolen by the officials that distribute it.

Indonesia is also lush paddy fields, glorious mountains, exotic plants, rare animals, burning forests and drying up rivers; lovely smiles, beautiful dances and pleasing music.

Those are the images reflected by this nation of conflicting faces.

Who are we? Are we really that savage, as demonstrated by the burning of thieves? Are we a nation of thugs who steal from the poor? Are we opportunists who occupy positions of power for our own interests? Are we legislators who make unnecessary foreign trips while millions are jobless? What about all those past testimonies describing Indonesians as friendly, a smiling nation? Were they misguided, or have we changed? These are questions Indonesians should answer truthfully as they prepare to celebrate their 57th anniversary as a free nation. Independence Day is a day for reflection, a time to ponder past deeds and mistakes for future reference.

While the above portrayal of Indonesia seems bleak, it is part of the reality and is therefore subject to scrutiny and some rethinking. For one thing, the face of Indonesia today is a breach of the spirit of the nation as stated in the preamble of the 1945 Constitution and the Pancasila state ideology. Both mention belief in God, humanity and social justice as part of the foundation on which the nation stands. There is a gap between the ideal Indonesians and the real Indonesians.

This gap has become even more prominent during the past few years, ever since the economic crisis hit the country in 1997. After all, the true character of a person or a people becomes apparent in times of crisis. National solidarity, a willingness to sacrifice for the people and country, to put national interests above personal and group interests and compassion for the needy and oppressed, seems to have disappeared from the face of this nation of one-time patriots.

Noted educator Ibu Kasur and children's songwriter A.T. Machmud agree that today's Indonesia is indeed different from the Indonesia they have always known.

"In my time, people knew Indonesians as warm, friendly people and they were like that," Ibu Kasur, whose real name is Mrs. Soerjono S., told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

A.T. Machmud meanwhile said he had never experienced a time when his own people fought each other. "I have been through Dutch and Japanese colonialism as well as [the 1945 independence] revolution, but even in harsh times, such as the Japanese period, Indonesians didn't fight each other," he said.

Today's events are due to the fact that Indonesians have lost their consciences because of a lack of moral guidance to choose between right and wrong.

"Your conscience helps you think with your brain and your feelings. That is what is lacking in our people now," A.T. Machmud said.

Tommy Suharto joins dad's golfing buddy on prison island

Agence France Presse - August 15, 2002

The youngest son of former strongman Suharto was transferred to an Indonesian prison island where he will serve his 15-year sentence alongside his father's golfing buddy.

Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra Suharto was flown Thursday by helicopter to the Nusakambangan prison island off the west coast of Java, an airport official named Bambang in the town of Cilacap told AFP.

An official at the Batu correctional facility on the island confirmed Tommy's arrival following his conviction for murder and illegal weapons possession, but refused further comment.

Batu is where timber tycoon Bob Hassan, the golfing partner and notorious crony of former president Suharto, is serving a six- year jail term for corruption.

Earlier a convoy of armoured vans from the police bomb-squad, their drivers wearing black balaclavas, was seen leaving Cipinang prison in east Jakarta where Tommy had been detained for the past few months, the Antara news agency said. The agency did not know where the convoy, believed to be carrying Tommy, went.

A Jakarta court last month sentenced Tommy for the murder of a supreme court judge who had ordered him jailed 18 months on graft charges, and for the illegal possession of weapons. He made no appeal.

Tommy, who has been detained since November after he was caught, ending a year on the run from the law, has mostly been detained in an upmarket cell, with ensuite bathroom, at Cipinang jail.

The Nusakambangan prison, dating back to the former Dutch colonial era and built between 1908 and 1912, has been used to house prisoners serving long sentences.

Tommy's trial was seen as a key test of Indonesia's corruption- prone legal system and its fledgling democracy. During his father's iron-fisted rule from 1966 to 1998, the rich and powerful were seen to enjoy virtual immunity from the law.

Soeharto suffering from brain disease

Sydney Morning Herald - August 13 2002

Doctors who examined former Indonesian dictator Soeharto to determine whether he was fit to stand trial said yesterday he was suffering from a brain disease which left him barely able to speak.

"His physical condition is good but his language ability is really minimal," Akmal Taher, who heads the team of state- appointed doctors, told a press conference at the attorney general's office.

Taher said tests on the 81-year-old former president found he was suffering from aphasia -- the total or partial loss of the power to use and understand words. The illness is usually caused by brain disease or injury.

"He cannot speak fluently, can only say short sentences of two to three words," Taher said. Soeharto, the doctor said, could also read slowly but had difficulties grasping complex sentences.

Prosecutor Yan Mere said Suharto's current condition meant it was unlikely he would face trial on corruption charges related to his 32-year rule. "To defend himself, a defendant has to be able to communicate and understand [questions]," Mere said. But he said he would conduct a special study on the case to see whether Soeharto could still be held to account.

Soeharto has had two minor strokes since he resigned from the presidency amid mounting public unrest in May 1998. In 2000, Soeharto was declared physically and mentally unfit to stand trial for corruption, but the supreme court in 2001 ordered the attorney general's office to give him medical treatement at state cost so that he could be brought to trial.

The attorney general's office ordered the new tests after reports that he appeared healthy when he attended his granddaughter's wedding recently.

Soeharto was accused in August 2000 of stealing $US571 million dollars from the state, but the Jakarta court hearing the case in October that year halted the trial after lawyers said he had suffered brain damage.

He has been fitted with a pacemaker and has been treated several times for ailments including the stroke and intestinal trouble.

Environment

Malaysia cancels flights as haze hits from Indonesian fires

Agence France Presse - August 17, 2002

A thick haze caused by fires in Indonesia has disrupted internal air services and forced flight cancellations in Malaysia's Sarawak state on Borneo island, an airport official said.

National carrier Malaysia Airlines has been forced to cancel several flights by small aircraft since Thursday as air quality had deteriorated, said a spokesman for Sarawak's Miri Airport on Saturday.

He said that a number of flights servicing the state's rural areas had to be delayed or cancelled as smaller aircrafts which fly at lower altitudes could not land or take off in the hazy conditions. "The air quality has gotten very bad and the low visibility makes flying the small planes very dangerous," the spokesman told AFP.

He said air routes connecting the Malaysian peninsula to Sarawak were unaffected as they were serviced by bigger aircrafts that were not hindered by the haze.

Local newspapers have reported an increase in fires in the Indonesian regions of Kalimantan on Borneo and Sumatra, which are attributed to both deliberate land clearance and accidental outbreaks.

There were 203 hotspots -- areas showing high levels of heat caused by burning -- detected in Sumatra Friday, up from just 60 the day before, the New Straits Times daily reported.

A spokesman from the Meteorological Department here told AFP that visibility levels in Sarawak and its neighbouring Sabah state on Friday were "one of the worst in years".

"The visibility in those states is alarmingly low, and it could cause serious problems, aside from disrupting flight services," the spokesman said.

"Everything has to be put on hold when the haze gets this bad, from agriculture to schooling, for health and security reasons." The spokesman said it was too soon to tell if the haze would improve, but added that little rain was expected in Sabah and Sarawak in the coming week.

"This is the dry season and every year it's the same thing. The burning in Sumatra and other parts of Indonesia causes us to be hit by the haze," he said.

In 1997 and 1998, choking haze caused by forest fires in Indonesia enveloped parts of Southeast Asia for months, causing serious health problems and traffic hazards and disrupting airline schedules. The haze then cause an estimated 9.3 billion dollars in economic losses.

Jakarta to check flow of sand to Singapore

Straits Times - August 15, 2002

Robert Go, Jakarta -- The Indonesian government will impose a quota on sand supply to Singapore from next month as part of efforts to block illegal sand mining, and at the same time, to increase revenues from the commodity.

The new policy, which is to be accompanied by stepped-up patrols by the Indonesian Navy to catch illegal sand miners, could also make Singapore's reclamation projects more expensive if other sources of sand cannot be found.

Mr Ferry Yahya, director for export of agricultural and natural products at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, told The Straits Times: 'My ministry will determine the maximum amount of sand that can be mined and exported nationally.

"We want to exercise better control on sand mining, to prevent environmental damage and smuggling that have happened in the past." Trade and Industry officials admitted that Indonesia was also instituting the policy in order to make more money from sand deals.

Mr Ferry said: "We have not settled on a final price, but senior officials believe that there has to be a reasonable price for sand. It is an important commodity, and Jakarta as well as the local regions where the sand comes from should be compensated for it."

Previously, Indonesia charged around S$1.30 per cubic metre, but if Jakarta gets its way, the price of each cubic metre of sand taken from its territory could escalate to S$5. The central government intends to only set a national quota.

Regional administrations can compete for customers and decide among themselves how much sand each area will export.

Mr Ferry's office will come up with a limit for the rest of 2002 by early September. It will set quotas applicable for subsequent years every December of the previous year.

The official declined to comment on just how much sand Indonesia is prepared to export yearly from now on, saying that his aides were still studying the issue. But a source in the ministry indicated that the quota would allow the export of less than 100 million cubic metres per year.

The same source reported that by Indonesia's calculations, Singapore's various reclamation projects require more than 110 million cubic metres of sand yearly.

Apparently intent to set teeth to this new policy, Jakarta has also instructed its Navy to increase its presence in Riau waters in order to foil illegal sand exports.

In recent weeks, the authorities have caught and held seven ships which were mining for sand while possessing false permits and export licences.

Sumatra haze over Malaysia, visibility low

Reuters - August 15, 2002

Kuala Lumpur -- Choking haze from forest fires in Indonesia has blanketed parts of Peninsular Malaysia, reducing visibility to as low as 1.5 km near the capital Kuala Lumpur, government officials said on Thursday.

Smoke from the fires in Sumatra, just across the Strait of Malacca, has shrouded several states in the peninsula since Wednesday night and badly affected the Kuala Lumpur area.

"The southwesterly winds have blown the haze to the peninsula. We learned there are about 50 hot spots in Sumatra," an official at the Malaysian Meteorological Service told Reuters.

Earlier this year Malaysia banned open burning, even barbecues, with exceptions made for cremations and destroying animal carcasses, following a spate of forest and scrub fires around the country and in Indonesia.

"The haze descended to Kuala Lumpur last night. But it's not caused by forest fires in the peninsula. We don't hear reports of new fires here," said one official from the Fire and Rescue Department.

In Subang, just outside Kuala Lumpur, visibility reduced to 1.5 km from the normal 10 km while in another suburb, Petaling Jaya, visibility was slightly better at five kilometres.

Smoke pollution has raised fears that the drought-inducing El Nino weather phenomenon may be back in southeast Asia, worsening the risk of forest fires. Haze from fires in 1997 and 1998 cost regional economies $9 billion in damage to farming, transport and tourism. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed in June to cooperate in developing and implementing measures to prevent fires and provide early warning systems.

Fires in Borneo

In Singapore, Malaysia's southern neighbour, skies were clear on Thursday, though the National Environment Agency said sea surface temperatures in the central tropical Pacific Ocean were slightly above normal, consistent with those of a weak El Nino.

"The impacts of this weak event in the region are not expected to reach the level of severity experienced during the strong 1997-98 El Nino, when extended dry weather conditions gave rise to widespread fires and prolonged thick smoke haze. "However, with the current dry season in the region, increased occurrences of slight-to-moderate haze can be expected between July and October 2002," the agency said on its website.

Kuala Lumpur government officials said conditions could worsen as forest fires were also widespread in Indonesia's Kalimantan, which shares Borneo island with the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak.

"Kalimantan is very bad. I think there around 700 hot spots there," said the meteorology official.

An Indonesian newspaper reported on Thursday that although smoke blanketed almost all of Kalimantan, the main airport of West Kalimantan remained open despite haze at hazardous levels.

Air pollution costs billions in economic losses

Jakarta Post - August 13, 2002

Jakarta -- Air pollution has cost Indonesia billions of US dollars in economic losses, deputy minister for Technical Infrastructure of Environment Management of the State Ministry for Environment Masnel Yarti Hilman says.

Citing data issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), Masnel said that air pollution had cost Indonesia US$634 million in economic losses in 2000, up from $424.3 million in 1990.

She said economic losses resulted from health problems associated with the pollution and environmental impacts, including droughts and acid rain which directly affected farmers.

"Air pollution is very dynamic, it can move from one region to another in a short period of time. So, air pollution knows no administration and territorial borders," Masnel said when opening the second Technical Working Meeting on Ambient Air Quality Monitoring in Denpasar, Bali on Monday.

Masnel said economic losses would soar if the government did not take steps to tackle the problem. However, she fell short of listing the steps the government had to or would take to improve the country's air quality. She said sources of air pollution included industrial emissions, vehicle emissions, households and forest fires.

The meeting was attended by 40 participants from ten big cities in Indonesia, and delegations from Bali and East Nusa Tenggara.

Masnel said air pollution had become a serious problem for Indonesia in the past few years, especially in big cities like Jakarta, Surabaya in East Java, Semarang in Central Java, Medan in North Sumatra, and Makassar in South Sulawesi.

The poor quality of air had also increased the prevalence of respiratory diseases, triggered acid raid and reduced the intelligence of children. Experts have also attributed the global warming phenomena to the poor quality of air.

To inform the public about the quality of air in big cities, the government has provided air quality monitoring equipment along with data displaying the health of the population in the ten biggest cities.

The ten big cities are Denpasar in Bali, Jakarta, Medan, Pekanbaru in Riau, Jambi, Bandung in West Java, Semarang, Surabaya, Pontianak in West Kalimantan, and Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan.

Health & education

500 infants die every month in West Kalimantan

Jakarta Post - August 16, 2002

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta -- Poor service at public health centers in West Kalimantan has been blamed for the province's high mortality rate among babies and their mothers.

A survey conducted by the provincial health office shows that as many as 6,000 new-born babies die every year. The survey said there were 46 deaths for every 1,000 newborn babies.

"Although there is no exact data on the infant mortality rate in West Kalimantan, at least 6,000 babies die every year in the province," M. Subuh, who led the team responsible for the research, told a seminar on Wednesday in Pontianak, the province's capital.

The nation's infant mortality rate is 46 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to health ministry data.

West Kalimantan's infant mortality rate is, however, lower than that of West Nusa Tenggara, which has 68 deaths per 1,000 births, and Central Sulawesi, where there are 59 deaths per 1,000 births.

Subuh was quoted by Antara as saying the survey found that 400 out of every 120,000 women die while giving birth in the province, meaning that between one and two mothers die every day.

However, the figure is still below the national average maternal mortality rate, Subuh said.

According to data from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), 380 out of 100,000 mothers die while giving birth in Indonesia.

This figure is 10 times higher than in Thailand, 11 times higher than in Malaysia, and 75 times higher than in Singapore, the UNFPA added.

Subuh said they were aiming for a maternal mortality rate of only 16 out of every 100,000 births, like in Singapore.

In Sri Lanka, which is among the poorest nations in Asia, the maternal mortality rate is only 50 per 100,000 births.

According to the survey, bleeding was the main cause of death among mothers giving birth in West Kalimantan. It said the high mortality rate stemmed from the poor service provided at village-based community maternity health clinics (Polindes) and also the province-wide shortage of midwives.

This was all due to the province's limited budget for maternity health clinics, the survey said. "This condition endangers pregnant mothers," Subuh said.

His statement was echoed by Andre Tano, a doctor from World Vision based in Sungai Pinyuh, West Kalimantan, who last month conducted research on the health of mothers and children in the town of Landak.

The research shows that only 15 midwives were available in 30 Polindes in the subdistricts of Sengah Temila and Mandor.

The shortage of midwives makes it difficult for mothers to monitor their pregnancies and give birth safely, Andre said, adding that many births were still assisted by traditional midwives.

Religion/Islam

Muslim militant spread hate: Jakarta prosecutors

Reuters - August 15, 2002

Jakarta -- Indonesian prosecutors on Thursday accused the head of the best-known Muslim militant group of inciting hatred when he delivered a speech earlier this year in the strife-torn Moluccas islands.

The trial of Laskar Jihad leader Jafar Umar Thalib is the first prosecution of a radical Muslim cleric under President Megawati Sukarnoputri, a move some analysts say will boost her standing in the international community.

"The defendant said the government was selling out the Moluccas. [Thalib said] 'tell that to [national police chief] General [Da'i] Bachtiar and his dogs who exaggerate the burning of churches,'" state prosecutor Slamet Rijanto told the court.

"[He also said] 'Hereby, I declare war on the RMS Christians. I urge president Megawati to capture those traitors ... No more reconciliation'," the prosecutor added, repeating Thalib's speech in front of a mosque in Ambon, the main city of the Moluccas which lies some 2,300 km east of Jakarta.

The South Moluccas Republic, or RMS, was a movement born in the 1950s with its call for Moluccan independence but over the past few years Muslims have said a radical faction of this group has now declared war on them.

Police arrested Alex Manuputty, leader of the RMS faction in April, and he is due to stand trial next Monday on charges of subversion. Analysts estimate Manuputty's faction has around 100 supporters spread throughout the island chain.

Thalib, who has denied all charges of wrondoing, faces a maximum penalty of seven years in jail if convicted.

The charismatic Muslim cleric came to Thursday's trial at the East Jakarta court along with around 150 supporters who occasionally chanted "God is Great" during the session.

"I was preaching in the mosque in accordance to my religion. I don't understand the content of the charges," Thalib, wearing a white robe and turban, told the court.

Police detained him in May for the speech, which was also broadcast on local radio throughout the Moluccas, where a wave of clashes between Muslims and Christians have claimed over 5,000 lives since early 1999.

Laskar Jihad sent thousands of fighters to the Moluccas in mid- 2000, worsening tension in the once idyllic spice islands, but a peace pact earlier this year has stopped most of the violence.

Some 85 percent of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslim but only a tiny fraction are radical. Christians share equal numbers in some eastern areas in the sprawling nation.

Militant leader Jafaar goes on trial in Jakarta

Straits Times - August 16, 2002

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta -- Jafaar Umar Thalib, who heads one of Indonesia's top militant groups that is allegedly involved in bloody sectarian clashes in the Malukus and Sulawesi, went on trial yesterday.

Dressed in white robes, Jafaar was trailed by over 150 supporters who demonstrated outside the south Jakarta courtroom, chanting "God is great".

He appeared unmoved as he was charged with defaming President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Vice-President Hamzah Haz, defaming the regional government and provoking people to break the law.

Jafaar, who has denied all charges of wrongdoing, faces a maximum penalty of seven years in jail if convicted.

He was arrested in May for inciting violence through a fiery sermon where he urged those attending Friday prayers to attack Christian separatists and ignore a newly signed peace deal. His trial actually began two weeks ago but prosecutors did not read out the charges then because he claimed to be under stress.

"The Muslims of Maluku will never stop fighting the Christian separatists until the government arrests them and brings them to trial," said prosecutor Slamet Rijanto, repeating the Laskar Jihad leader's sermon.

Two days after he spoke, unidentified attackers raided the Christian village of Soya and massacred 13 people.

Jafaar, who is not in custody, told the court yesterday: "Grammatically, I understand what I am charged with but I don't understand why those charges are brought against me since I was speaking inside a mosque and I was only doing my religious duty." The hearing was adjourned until August 29.

The trial is being closely watched by the United States, which hopes that Indonesia, with the world's largest Muslim population, could aid the war against terrorism.

A diplomat following the case said that despite numerous witnesses who could have testified that Jafaar urged Muslims to attack Christians, the Attorney-General was not able to press the heavier crime of inciting violence due to a lack of evidence.

Indonesian rules do not allow a tape-recording of the sermon to be used as evidence against him unless he verifies that the recording was his voice.

Jafaar's lawyer Mohamad Mahendradatta criticised the case, saying the defamation charges impinged on freedom of expression. "It's a thin line between libel and protest," he said. Jafaar was just a scapegoat for the government's attacks on Muslims groups, he added.

The case is seen as a litmus test for Indonesia on how it will deal with militant groups, particularly the Muslim ones, which have been involved in various violent conflicts.

The authorities have been quick to crack down on the Christian separatist group, the South Moluccas Republic movement (RMS). Its leader Alex Manuputty was arrested in April and is due to stand trial on Monday on charges of subversion. Some analysts have said that the government has been reluctant to crack down on Laskar Jihad for fear of appearing unIslamic, despite evidence that the group had violated the law by carrying weapons and their suspected involvement in numerous attacks.

Others, however, say that the case is a step forward, given the pressure from Muslim politicians, such as Mr Hamzah, to drop the charges against Jafaar.

The militant leader and his followers, all of whom wear white Arabic-style robes, have waged launched a jihad in the Malukus and Sulawesi over the last two years. He has justified the violence by saying that his Muslim brothers were under attack in the two provinces.

Attempts to impose sharia Islamic law gain steam

Associated Press - August 15, 2002

Steven Gutkin, Jakarta -- Women in miniskirts gyrate in all-night discotheques, where designer drugs circulate as freely as alcohol. Friday, the Islamic sabbath, is a regular work day. Pork is widely available in restaurants and supermarkets.

These and other violations of Islamic law -- or sharia -- are the norm in Indonesia, the world's largest Islamic country, where secularism has long held sway in national legislation.

Although some religious parties asked for sharia law to be included among a set of constitutional amendments adopted Saturday by lawmakers, the measure was dropped because of overwhelming opposition within the national legislature.

Yet voices calling for sharia are growing louder at the very time the United States is seeking to promote Indonesia as a bulwark against Islamic extremism and an ally in the war on terror.

"There is no God but Allah!" chanted thousands of pro-sharia demonstrators outside Parliament this week. Women in headscarves waved banners saying "We long for sharia!" while pushing their babies in strollers. Boys wore T-shirts with photographs of Osama bin Laden.

The crowds cheered wildly as Abu Bakar Bashir, a militant singled out by neighboring Singapore as the leader of an al-Qaida-linked terrorist network, entered Parliament to make his case for sharia to legislators. "The US government has evil intentions with regards to Islam because it is controlled by Jews," he told reporters on his way out.

Voices like Bashir's remain in the minority in this nation of 220 million people -- more than 80 percent of whom are Muslim. Yet Indonesia's tumultuous transition to democracy following the 1998 fall of ex-dictator Suharto is opening up politics to unknown possibilities -- and the battle is on for the country's soul.

"This is one of the ways we can save this nation," said Rusjdi Hamka, chairman of the United Development Party's parliamentary faction, which supports sharia law. "This is how we can rebuild the morale and character of the country."

Attempts to make Indonesia an Islamic state are not new. Bloody battles were fought over the issue in the 1950s. During his 32- year reign, Suharto alternated between cracking down on Islamists and courting them for political ends. Even today, certain aspects of sharia are obligatory for Muslims, such as laws governing marriage.

Yet sharia's more draconian features -- the so-called "hudud" mandating hand amputation for thieves and stoning to death of adulterers -- are not imposed here and are unpopular among the majority of Indonesians who practice a moderate form of Islam.

For Azyumardi Azra, president of the State Islamic University of Jakarta, sharia has no hope of becoming law in Indonesia. The parliamentary debate on the issue, he says, is an opportunity for politicians to show their Islamic credentials ahead of national elections in 2004.

"The Islamic sharia issue is only a card, a political commodity," he said. Azra asks how it would be possible to impose one set of laws for Muslims and another for non-Muslims in a country with large populations of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists.

"If you cut off the hands of Muslim thieves, what about non- Muslims who steal? It would be discrimination against Muslims. All citizens should stand in equal footing before the law," he said.

Still, Islamic parties favoring sharia for Muslims are stepping up grass-roots organization and providing schooling, clothes, rice mills, tractors and other services in areas where government assistance is absent.

Muslim parties now control about a quarter of Parliament, and the country's vice president, Hamzah Haz, is an Islamic leader who raised eyebrows by visiting a jailed militant charged with inciting violence against Christians. Widespread corruption and an inept judicial system appear to be fueling the growth of Islamic fundamentalism.

"People who steal chickens are sent to jail," said Bachtiar, a 40-year-old woman who was among the demonstrators calling for sharia outside Parliament this week. "But the corrupt politicians are free." Six months ago, sharia became law in the independence-minded province of Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island. But so far the new edicts are not being enforced.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a visit to Indonesia last week, called for quicker action in reforming the justice system -- and praised Indonesia for cooperating in the anti-terror war.

Many Indonesians see the attempts to impose sharia as an affront to the pluralistic vision of the country's founding fathers, who pointedly avoided including sharia in the 1945 constitution.

The country's two largest Muslim organizations -- Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama -- oppose state-imposed sharia.

Said Haris, a 57-year-old building inspector who like many Indonesians uses a single name: "We prefer a private form of Islam, not a state form. It's between a human being and God."

Armed forces/Police

Indonesia must stay on military reform course-US

Reuters - August 15, 2002

Jerry Norton, Jakarta -- Indonesia's military must stay the course on reforms toward civilian control and respect for human rights if it wants normal ties with the United States, the top American commander in the Pacific said on Thursday.

Admiral Thomas Fargo, Commander in Chief of US Forces in the Pacific, also praised a decision last weekend to remove military representatives from Indonesia's top legislative body by 2004.

"I think that's positive, part of indications of reform," he told a media briefing during a visit to meet top Indonesian civilian and military leaders including President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

But he was cautious in his comments on trials under way in the world's fourth most populous nation over human rights violations in East Timor. The violations were a key element in Washington's decision to sever most military ties with Indonesia.

In 1999 East Timor was racked by violence surrounding a vote to break from Jakarta's rule. Militia backed by elements of the Indonesian military were blamed for atrocities that took the lives of more than 1,000 people, according to UN estimates.

Asked about a court decision on Wednesday finding the then- governor of East Timor guilty of human rights violations and giving him a three-year sentence, Fargo said: "I think it would be inappropriate for me to comment on the legal proceedings, but obviously a large part of our effort is to encourage accountability and reform."

Civilian control

"Certainly we believe that a professional military is one that adheres very closely to civilian control ... to human rights, and to the rule of law, and every step in that direction is something we strongly support," he said.

His comments came before verdicts were rendered in six other East Timor cases with all the defendants -- soldiers, a policeman and a civilian official -- found not guilty.

Those decisions brought condemnation from human rights groups already unhappy the top military brass at the time were not among the accused, although some say the fact Indonesia is even holding hearings at all is a step forward from attitudes that gave the military a virtual free rein and major political power. Eleven other cases are still pending.

Fargo said while Washington looked forward to improved military ties, moves toward normalisation had only just begun and "future progress will depend on the [Indonesian military] continuing to transform itself" into an accountable institution that respects democratic principles and human rights.

Powell package

The most significant recent US step toward normal ties was a $50 million package announced by US Secretary of State Colin Powell this month. The bulk of the money will go to the police but the plan also includes funds for military training in counterterrorism and military-civilian relations. Fargo echoed senior US officials like Powell in praising Indonesia for its help in combating terrorism.

"... we think that the government of Indonesia is committed to combating international terrorism, and we certainly appreciate their contribution to date and encourage further efforts in this particular area," he said.

Asked if Indonesia should go further in cracking down on militant Muslim groups some linked to terrorism, Fargo said that was an internal matter. He also said he had nothing to offer on reports an al Qaeda training camp had operated in Indonesia.

But he did suggest Indonesia's navy had a formidable task in keeping its 17,000 islands, which sprawl over 5,000 km, secure from terrorist and other threats, and Jakarta needed to make sure it had the balance right among the navy and other forces.

"I think the Indonesian navy probably has one of the great challenges of any navy in the world ... my guess is that they feel under-resourced," he said.

US-Indonesia move closer to full military relations

Voice of America - August 15, 2002

Stephanie Mann, Washington -- The United States is moving toward restoring full military relations with Indonesia after a three- year hiatus.

Washington has also decided to give Indonesia more than $50 million in aid to improve its security forces. Analysts say these steps may give a renewed sense of legitimacy to the Indonesian army, whose image has suffered because of the army's alleged involvement in atrocities in East Timor.

For decades, the United States was a major source of support to the Indonesian army -- providing training and sophisticated weaponry. During the Cold War, the United States saw the Indonesian government as a staunch anti-communist bulwark in a region with many potential and real adversaries. But human rights groups opposed US support for the Indonesian military, seeing it as endorsement of hardline tactics by Indonesian security forces against political and ethnic dissent.

In 1999, Washington suspended its military relations with Jakarta after the Indonesian army was implicated in violence that wracked East Timor at the time of its referendum on independence.

Now, prompted partly by the US-led war on international terrorism, US-Indonesian military ties are on the mend. Secretary of State Colin Powell, during his recent visit to Jakarta, announced that the United States will provide more than $50 million in aid to Indonesian security forces.

Most of the money will go to the Indonesian police. Some is earmarked for training the army in counter-terrorism measures and a small amount ($400,000) needs US congressional approval to be used for military education.

Analysts say the resumption of US aid may boost the army's standing in Jakarta. "We still have to see what effect the American support will have. I think it is considerable," said Daniel Lev, a specialist on Indonesian politics at the University of Washington. "And I think the political leadership of the army is overjoyed by this renewal of the connection, even though there is very little money provided as yet for the army. It's basically for training of officers here. What's important about it is the symbolic support. It is a relegitimation of the army." Professor Lev says although the Indonesian army is losing its reserved seats in the country's parliament, its political influence will remain strong and will be boosted by the resumption of ties with Washington.

Kelley Currie, who watches political developments in Indonesia, agrees that renewed military ties may be good for the army's self esteem.

"It may serve internally to boost their morale and to restore some of their lost sense of well-being, because they certainly have taken a beating in the past three or four years, when the practices of the military have become very much public information within Indonesia and it has tarnished their image internally," said Ms. Currie, who is deputy director for Asia with the International Republican Institute. "But it doesn't really do much, having improved relations on a mil-to-mil basis with the United States, doesn't really do much for the Indonesian military in terms of their image with the Indonesian public, in my opinion." Professor Lev agrees that not everyone in Indonesia is pleased with the prospect of US support for the army, and he points to protests outside the US embassy in Jakarta during Secretary Powell's visit.

"You will notice that students are demonstrating against that renewal of support," he said. "And many, many other people are very distressed by this, because they understand that the politics of it is much like the politics of 1957, when the United States supported the army for Cold War reasons. Now, it's for reasons of Islamic radicalism."

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country. While most of the population follows a moderate version of Islam, there are some radical groups, and a few that engage in violence for local political or separatist purposes. Some militant Indonesian muslims are suspected of links with Al Qaida, the international terrorist organization. Ms. Currie says the United States may want better cooperation with Indonesia's military in order to combat international terrorism, but she says that's not what the Indonesian people are told.

"In the news that's for local consumption, about this improvement in relations with the United States, the spin on it is very different than what we get and what we see on this side," she said. "They are very clear to draw a bright line between any cooperation with the United States on security issues and the war on terror. The Indonesian military leadership does not want to be associated with the war on terrorism." Ms. Currie says the Indonesian army does not believe its domestic credibility or popularity are enhanced by joining the United States to fight Islamic militants.

Golkar appoints retired general

Laksamana.Net - August 12, 2002

What will generals do after the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) decided to remove military and police representatives from parliament? Simple, they can join mainstream political parties, as evidenced by the appointment of retired Lieutenant General Budi Harsono as Golkar Party's new secretary general.

Harsono, who had previously served as chairman of the Military/Police faction in the MPR, was on Monday installed as Golkar's secretary general by party chairman Akbar Tanjung, who is on trial for corruption.

The appointment comes just days after the MPR amended the constitution to terminate the military's role in the legislature after general elections in 2004. Harsono replaces the late retired Major General Tuswandi, who died on June 12.

Tanjung said the appointment of Harsono signifies Golkar's historical relationship with the military, as the party -- originally known as the Joint Secretariat of Golongan Karya (Functional Group) -- was founded on October 20, 1964, by an association of Army-organized anti-communist groups.

Tanjung said Golkar and the military still share the same vision: commitment to the Pancasila state ideology, 1945 constitution and the Unitary State of Indonesia, and to achieving the ideals of Indonesia's independence proclamation. "That's why I invited this figure from the military to fill the post of secretary general," he was quoted as saying by state news agency Antara.

Tanjung said Harsono had been among the candidates for the same position in 1998, but the job ended up going to Tuswandi, who had been serving in the military's think-tank, the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas). "After Tuswandi died, I remembered Harsono, who was also nominated to the post by the party's extraordinary congress in 1998," said Tanjung.

Harsono, who served as assistant to the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) chief of sociopolitical affairs becoming involved in politics, is regarded as a strategist who plays his cards carefully.

This was seen when [he] did not vociferously oppose calls for the resignation of former dictator Suharto in May 1998.

Under Suharto's handpicked successor B.J. Habibie, Harsono was appointed to head a governmental committee that was tasked to draft rewrites of Indonesia's electoral laws. Little wonder that the committee opted to keep the military in politics.

In May 2001, Harsono denied the Indonesian military's militia proxies had committed human rights violations in East Timor in the months surrounding the territory's 1999 referendum on independence.

He claimed the militias' acts of arson and murder were merely a "provoked act of retaliation". He said their actions were in response to illegal provocation, such as pro-independence activists and the international community rigging the results of the referendum.

Harsono compared the militia violence to the US dropping atom bombs on Japan in 1945 in retaliation for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.

Not surprisingly, he was strongly opposed to President Megawati Sukarnoputri's decision to attend East Timor's independence proclamation in May 2002. He said the president should have sent a ministerial level official as a representative of the Indonesian government.

In April 2001, Harsono was outspoken in his opposition to then president Abdurrahman Wahid's efforts to replace the military commander, dissolve parliament and declare a state of emergency. In the end he refused point-blank to obey Wahid's orders.

More recently, Harsono was strongly opposed to efforts to form a special parliamentary inquiry to investigate Tanjung's role in the embezzlement of Rp40 billion in state funds. He said there was no need for Tanjung to resign and praised the Attorney General's Office for cracking down on corruption.

Clearly Budi Harsono is the perfect man for the job of Golkar secretary general, but whether his "qualities" will benefit the development of democracy and transparency in Indonesia is another matter entirely.

Anyone who believes reports that the military is set to lose its political role has rocks in their head. Just about all of the major parties have senior generals on their executive boards, well aware that the military remains a dominant player in the Indonesian political arena.

Despite the impending termination of the Military/Police faction in parliament, the armed forces will maintain its political role through whatever means are possible.

In this so-called reform era, the generals will be glad to get out of parliament and make their political maneuvers from behind the scenes.

Indonesia banishes military from parliament

Sydney Morning Herald - August 12, 2002

John Aglionby, Jakarta -- Indonesia's supreme legislature has expelled the once virtually omnipotent military from the national assemblies and surrendered its right to elect the president and vice-president.

The change, the biggest step the country has taken in 30 years on its often bumpy road towards full democracy, will come into effect at the end of the next parliamentary term in 2004. After that there will be a two-stage process for the election for president, with a run-off if no candidate wins an outright majority in the first round.

Other decisions taken by the 700-member People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) at the end of its 10-day annual session included a rejection of efforts by Muslim parties to introduce sharia law.

Political analysts and non-governmental organisations broadly welcomed the changes, but criticised the assembly's failure to establish a commission to draft a new constitution.

Legislators were kept aware of public demand for change by student demonstrations outside the parliament building. Police used water cannon several times to prevent the several thousand protesters storming into the parliament compound. On most days the students were joined by thousands of radical Muslims demanding the imposition of sharia law.

Banishing the military from the parliament and the MPR has been one of the main demands of pro-democracy activists since president Soeharto was toppled in May 1998.

The security forces, particularly the army, had been the most powerful political force since Soeharto took power in 1966 and retained massive influence after he was ousted, even though their number of seats was cut in half to 38 in the 500-seat parliament.

Immediately before the MPR met, the head of the armed forces, General Endriartono Sutarto, said he wanted the military to retain its seats for at least another five years, but the strongest parties rejected his demand.

"Getting the military out of the MPR and parliament is very significant," said Rico Marbun, head of the student council at the University of Indonesia. "Hopefully it will teach them that their job is to be a professional force and leave politics to the people." Introducing direct presidential elections is equally momentous. Mr Soeharto used the MPR, which he controlled, to "elect" him every five years to give his dictatorship a veneer of legitimacy.

Critics say the one big flaw is that independent candidates will be unable to stand. The current President, Megawati Sukarnoputri, is expected to win re-election in 2004, even though she is not as popular as when she replaced the impeached Abdurrahman Wahid a year ago.

Andi Mallarangeng , a political analyst and founder of a new centrist political party, said progress should not be underestimated. "Even a few months ago, direct presidential elections seemed unattainable. But the Constitution is still in a big mess and needs to be rewritten. That battle will probably take another few years."

Economy & investment

IMF says Indonesia's 2003 draft budget 'sound'

Reuters - August 16, 2002

Jakarta -- The International Monetary Fund praised Indonesia's 2003 draft budget on Friday, describing it as "sound" and saying it made big headway in reducing the country's hefty debt burden.

"This is a sound budget which, along with other policy reforms, should help reinforce macro economic stability," David Nellor, IMF senior resident representative in Jakarta, told Reuters.

"One of the observations that can be made from this budget is the tremendous gains this government has made in terms of reducing the deficit to help improve the debt situation," he added.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri handed down the economic blueprint to parliament earlier on Friday saying economic growth would be targeted at five percent from four percent in 2002. It also forecast a budget deficit of 1.3 percent of gross domestic product from 2.5 percent in 2002.

Jakarta gets pat on the back from IMF

Straits Times - August 13, 2002

Robert Go, Jakarta -- The latest review team of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) left Jakarta on Sunday with some praises for Indonesia's economic reform progress.

But it warned that investor confidence remained fragile and the recovery process could be derailed by future government mistakes.

The visit, led by IMF Asia-Pacific deputy director Daniel Citrin, is a stepping stone towards a seventh promissory letter by the Jakarta government and the release of yet another US$360 million loan instalment by the Washington-based lender next month.

The IMF said in a statement: "The government has made further progress in implementing its reform programme. It will be important now to renew efforts to build on macroeconomic stability and transform these gains into stronger growth and employment prospects."

It cited a stable rupiah, lower inflation and interest rates, and the government's ability to stick to this year's 2.5 per cent Budget deficit as achievements of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's economic management team.

But it urged Jakarta to follow through on a number of previously pledged reforms, such as the merger of a number of small government-controlled banks and the sale of more assets including nationalised banks that used to belong to some of the country's biggest conglomerates.

The IMF also stressed the importance of cleaning up its tax and Customs bureaucracies, and of lowering trade barriers as a means of establishing "an environment attractive for investment".

Despite the careful warnings, however, Mr Mahendra Siregar, a top aide to Coordinating Economics Minister Dorodjatun Kuntjoro- Jakti, described this latest quarterly review by the IMF as an "encouraging" development and a recognition of Indonesia's stabilising economy.

Although the review took place without an apparent hitch, it also occurred at a time of mounting pressure on the government to cut its ties with the IMF by December, when the current US$5-billion loan programme ends.

Last week, Indonesia's top legislative body, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), recommended that Jakarta finalise its arrangement with the IMF and "prepare a thorough exit plan so that it will not lead to monetary instability".

Although Ms Megawati's team is not obliged to follow the MPR suggestion, it is nevertheless a clear signal that a significant number of Indonesia's politicians, including MPR Speaker Amien Rais, think Indonesia could do better without IMF involvement.

Mr Kwik Kian Gie, Minister for Economic-Development Planning and one of Ms Megawati's trusted aides, has also been critical of the IMF's role in Indonesia and has even called for a class-action suit to be filed against it.

But cutting ties with the IMF, analysts warned, is a process that has to be done carefully, as other foreign lenders and donors use the IMF's approval of reforms as a green light for their own programmes with Indonesia.

IMF completes review of Indonesia's economy, reform

Jakarta Post - August 12, 2002

A'an Suryana, Jakarta -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed on Saturday reviewing the country's economic situation and the implementation of economic reform measures here, according to a senior government official.

Mahendra Siregar, an expert at the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Economy, said the IMF review team was heartened by the relatively stable macroeconomic situation.

"The outcome [of the review] is encouraging. The IMF noticed the Indonesian economy had stabilized," he told The Jakarta Post on Saturday, pointing out positive factors such as the stable exchange rate of the rupiah against the US dollar at around Rp 9,000, slowing inflation, and the decrease in Bank Indonesia's benchmark interest rate.

The IMF review team, led by the fund's senior advisor for Asia Pacific, Daniel Citrin, had been in Jakarta for a week. The completion of such review work is normally followed by the issuance of a new letter of intent (LoI) by the government, which basically contains a set of new economic targets and an economic reform agenda.

The review team will now report to the IMF board of directors in Washington. If the latter approves the LoI, the fund will disburse its next US$350 million loan tranche for the country. The last loan tranche was made in April.

Mahendra said the IMF board was expected to convene in September to decide on the approval of the seventh LoI.

The IMF is providing Indonesia with a three-year $5 billion bailout loan program. The country has so far received a total of $2.6 billion. No details of the new LoI have been made available yet.

Meanwhile, Anggito Abimanyu, an official at the finance ministry, was quoted by Antara as saying that among the economic measures included in the seventh LoI were plans to issue perpetual promissory notes (PPN) and the time schedule for the sale of government shares in several banks.

Reports have said the government and Bank Indonesia have agreed to settle a dispute over who should be responsible in covering massive liquidity support channeled to ailing banks during the late 1990s financial crisis.

Under the deal, the government would issue Rp 134.5 trillion of PPNs to the central bank. The bonds would not jeopardize the government's finances because PPNs have no interest rate or maturity. However, the government would have to pay interest if the central bank's capital condition was under threat. Anggito added the government would sell shares in Bank Niaga this September, followed by the sale of a stake in Bank Danamon.

Mahendra said the government had also reported to the IMF review team on progress in legal reform, including the completion of a draft bill on the anticorruption commission, and a draft on the amendment to the bankruptcy law. He said lawmakers were expected to debate the two bills next month.