Aceh

GAM agrees to discuss special autonomy in next round of talks

Detik.com - February 18, 2005

Luhur Hertanto, Jakarta -- The Coordinating Minister for Politics, Legal and Security Affairs, Widodo AS, has revealed that the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has agreed to including special autonomy in the agenda to be discussed in the next informal meeting between GAM and the Indonesian government which is to take place in Helsinki.

"We have received confirmation from GAM on the agenda which will be discussed. Based on this conformation the team will depart tomorrow", said Widodo following a meeting at the Presidential Palace on Jalan Medan Merdeka Utara on Friday February 18.

Including special autonomy on agenda for the talks resulted from an offer from the government in order to continue talks with GAM. Prior to this the government asserted that it was not prepared to participate in meetings with GAM if special autonomy was not on the agenda.

Widodo said that the government has high hopes that the Saturday meeting in Helsinki will resulted in concrete advances which can contribute to resolving the Aceh conflict comprehensively and permanently.

The team which will leave tomorrow is the same team that participated in the first negotiations at the end of January, that is Widodo, the minister for communication and information, Sofjan Djalil, and the minister for legal affairs and human rights, Hamid Awaluddin, who will act as the chief negotiator. (umi)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Activist's detention extended by 40 days

Kompas - February 16, 2005

Jakarta -- On the grounds that the investigation is yet to be completed, the detention of Government Watch coordinator Farid Faqih by police on charges of being involved in the theft of aid for victims of the Acehnese disaster was extended by 40 days on Tuesday February 15. Under the extension, Faqih will retain the status of a prisoner until March 27.

The extension of Faqih's detention at the Acehnese local police station which made based on a document issue by the Attorney General's office and was signed by the deputy Attorney General T. Zakaria was also receive by Faqih yesterday.

Aside from the reason that the investigation is yet to be completed, there was no other explanation regarding the extension. This is different from the case concerning the alleged assault on Faqih by Captain CKM Syuib which was signed by the Iskandar Muda Regional Military Command (Kodam) military police. The investigation into this case has been completed and handed over to the 0101 Banda Aceh Military Judge Advocate.

A request by Faqih's lawyer meanwhile to be given permission to be treated has yet to be granted by police. According to Faqih's lawyer, as a result of the alleged beating by Syuib and a number of his colleges when he was arrested on January 26, Faqih's eardrum has been ruptured. (ely)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Ethnic Chinese key to Aceh fix-up

Christian Science Monitor - February 18, 2005

Tom McCawley, Banda Aceh -- In a crammed row of storefronts, only Joy Optikal, an eyeglasses shop, has reopened on a dusty street of the tsunami-battered city of Banda Aceh.

"Live or die, I will stay in Aceh," says a defiant Maria Herawati, who has run the store with her husband, Joannes Jony Pandy, for 16 years. The two are part of Banda Aceh's small ethnic Chinese minority.

Unlike an estimated 6,000 other Chinese who left, they decided to stay behind in the city after the December 26 tsunami that killed some 240,000 people in Indonesia.

Ethnic Chinese are the heart of Aceh's trading community. How fast they return and set up shop will help determine the speed of recovery in the province hardest-hit by the tsunami.

Mrs. Herawati, whose family has survived wars, revolution, and persecution since migrating from China about a century ago, says she is determined to start business again, selling eyeglasses to the citizens of Banda Aceh.

In an interview last month, her husband recounts the story of standing guard on their shop's roof over five days and nights while looters pillaged their neighbor's deserted shops. "Either I was going to die, or they were going to die," says Mr. Pandy.

"People thought I was crazy." The two are bitter that police and military officers stood by as looters swept through the city's trading district.

After braving the deadly flood waters, the two now face a much longer challenge: rebuilding a business in a city where up to 40 percent of the population perished in the tsunami. Aceh's economy will benefit from an aid effort expected to cost $4.5 billion over the next five years, some of that distributed by Western nongovernmental organizations and companies. And the biggest industrial enterprise in Aceh, the PT Arun natural gas facility, is operated by a US company, ExxonMobil Corp., along with a Japanese partner and the Indonesian government.

But the small ethnic Chinese businesses such as Joy Optikal have formed a vital trading network linking economic sectors in Aceh, and indeed much of Southeast Asia. Business conglomerates founded by ethnic Chinese tycoons dominate Indonesia's stock exchanges and much of the economy. In Banda Aceh, ethnic Chinese own an estimated 60 percent of the shops and distribute everything from spare parts to business loans.

"If they [the ethnic Chinese] don't come back, the economy here will die," said Udin, a Muslim construction worker taking refuge in a Buddhist temple.

The temple, a few hundred yards from Joy Optikal, is a way station for Tolong Menolong, an organization that has been helping Aceh's estimated 200,000 ethnic Chinese. In the city of Medan, hundreds of Acehnese Chinese are living in a camp known as Metal Street, set up by the organization.

A scapegoated community

Tolong Menolong, founded in 1970, also has its roots in political turmoil and exile. Chin Chung Mao, Tolong Menolong's 75-year old coordinator and one of its founders, says the flood of homeless people in the days after the tsunami evokes painful memories of another exodus 40 years ago.

Mr. Chin's family fled Aceh in 1965, accused of sympathy with Beijing amidst anti-Communist fervor sweeping Indonesia after an alleged coup attempt in faraway Jakarta by Indonesia's Communist party, the PKI. "This disaster, the refugees, it all reminded me," he says.

Chin himself set up camp on Metal Street in Medan in the 1960s, where hundreds of homeless Acehnese Chinese families are now camping. Tolong Menolong was founded soon afterwards.

The organization has since helped to bring in doctors from Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore to treat tsunami victims. Businesses with a large number of ethnic Chinese employees, such as PT Astra Internasional, Indonesia's largest automotives maker, have also donated resources to the relief effort.

The ethnic Chinese, who make up around 4 percent of the country's 220-million people, have often become political scapegoats under Indonesian governments and also the former Dutch colonial regime, partly due to their prosperity and their relatively small numbers.

But Tolong Menolong, which now boasts a network of 400 families, has flourished under new cultural freedoms that blossomed after Indonesia took a stumbling step towards democracy when authoritarian President Suharto fell from power in 1998.

"We Chinese were harshly suppressed" under Suharto's 32-year rule, says Chin, speaking a week after the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration known as Imlek.

Under Suharto, open displays of Chinese culture, such as calligraphy or language schools, were banned, and many ethnic Chinese were pressured to take Muslim names.

By contrast, since 2000, the community has openly celebrated Imlek. A national television network features a Mandarin language program. Chin says the residents at Metal Street took a brief respite at Imlek with traditional celebrations. Even the nonethnic- Chinese governor arrived to distribute the traditional Ang Pao- red, cash-filled envelopes that usher in prosperity.

Tolong Menolong is now gently persuading thousands of displaced people to return to their homes and businesses in Aceh and start again. It is offering food and small cash grants in return for a pledge from recipients not to return to Metal Street.

A town half full

Back in Banda Aceh, Pandy says he believes that people whose families survived and whose businesses weren't completely destroyed would return.

"Half of our customers are dead," he said last month, his eyes bloodshot and bleary after weeks of stress. "Half of them are still alive!" said Herawati, clad in her pajamas and snapping orders at employees.

Nearly a month later, a few more shops close by have opened, but business has not picked up. Pandy wants to pack up and move to Jakarta, but Maria's resolve to stay has not waned.

Public service still depends on foreigners

Jakarta Post - February 18, 2005

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Banda Aceh -- Muzakir Sulaiman heads the Banda Aceh municipal manpower office but he cannot go to work. While he has attended several coordination meetings for public services, he has done little else and he finds it hard to summon up the energy to get busy.

Muzakir can be excused for not wanting to work. Not only was his office leveled by the waves -- they also took his house, his wife and two of his four children. "How can I provide services to the public when my own family is still in a poor condition and we live in this refugee camp," said Muzakir from Mata Ie.

Twelve colleagues in his office were also lost in the disaster. "I don't know much about the situation of the remaining staff because they are also living in refugee camps and barracks in the city," he said.

Despite the impact of the tsunami, the municipal administration has already resumed some services to the public two weeks after the disaster. However, these remain limited to issuing identity cards and marriage certificates, while other major services have been entrusted to civilian volunteers, the Indonesian Military, and foreign troops and relief agencies.

Banda Aceh Mayor Mawardy Nurdin said public services were still greatly affected by the huge loss of life. "The municipal administration has lost 2,000 of around 5,000 of its employees while about 90 percent of public buildings and offices were badly damaged by the disaster," he told The Jakarta Post from his office on Wednesday.

He said public services, especially education, health and transportation, had been entrusted to local and foreign non- governmental organizations, foreign forces and other civilian volunteers.

Hundreds of soldiers from Russia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Norway and Finland and several local and foreign NGOs and UN agencies such as UNICEF, the World Food Program, World Vision, Care and Mercy are still in Aceh distributing relief aid and providing public services.

The disaster damaged or destroyed 12 of 21 public health centers, five of seven hospitals and almost 100 school buildings in the city.

Aceh provincial secretary Tantowi called on civil servants to return to their offices next week following the end of 40-day mourning and emergency period.

"Civil servants affected by the disaster cannot continue mourning... they must be realistic and must resume their daily activities to give services to the public because they are paid to do so," he said.

Yusuf Sulaiman, who heads the human resources bureau at the governor's office, lost two of his three children and his house in the tsunami. "Now, I only have my wife and my eldest son who is still studying in Bandung," he said.

One of the few civil servants back at work, he said the tsunami killed around 1,650 of the provincial government's 76,500 employees, while more than 2,200 were still missing.

The provincial administration buildings, many of which were badly damaged in the disaster due to their closeness to the sea, were still largely empty, he said.

Aceh Jaya Regent Zolfian said some public services were now available in his jurisdiction although they were mostly entrusted to volunteers and agencies.

"Public offices have been opened in Calang and Lamno, two major towns in the regency where the rescue operation is still going on," he said.

Aceh Dispatch - A story half-told

Guardian (UK) - February 18, 2005

John Aglionby -- It is almost eight weeks since the Boxing Day tsunami devastated much of the coast of Indonesia's Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra and it appears the world is beginning to suffer media fatigue over the story.

This was to be expected following the almost continuous coverage in the days following the tidal wave, and in some respects it is understandable considering the current state of events.

While the death toll is still rising by hundreds every day -- the current figures in Indonesia are 120,000 dead and up to 115,000 missing -- the vast majority of the 400,000 displaced people have some sort of roof over their heads, there are no significant food shortages or outbreaks of disease, and the hundreds of foreign military units, international aid agencies and non-governmental organisations are neither openly nor covertly at war with each other or the Indonesian authorities.

Meanwhile, in the provincial capital Banda Aceh two of the larger hotels have reopened, the markets are bustling, traffic congestion is increasing and the coffee shops are almost as busy as ever.

One seasoned aid worker was even recently quoted as saying that if the disaster had struck many parts of Africa it could well have taken over a year for the recovery effort to get as far as it has in Indonesia in less than two months.

This was due mainly to the fact that while the local administration in Aceh was paralysed, the central government and the military, which was effectively running the province as part of its war against the separatist Free Aceh Movement (Gam), were able to step in.

But such an assessment tells only half the story. The other half is about how the foundations are being laid for longer-term reconstruction. Here the picture is less clear, and success, while not unattainable, is looking far from guaranteed.

The main problems stem from the fact that reconstruction efforts have been suspended while the central government prepares its Aceh recovery blueprint. This is not due to be published until March 26, a timeframe that many Acehnese, who want to start rebuilding their lives as soon as possible, are not prepared to stick to.

The result is that rather than wait in refugee camps or overcrowded houses for key decisions, such as how far from the coast construction will be permitted, people are just getting on with doing what they want to do.

Fishing families are a case in point. Hundreds, if not thousands, have already started fishing again after being given boats and equipment. Not surprisingly, they want to be as close to the sea as possible and are willing to risk the possibility of another tsunami. Senior government officials accept it is unrealistic to expect fishermen to live two miles away from the sea, but it is unclear how the rules will be drawn up or how violators will be treated.

Then there is the issue of towns that have been washed away. Should they be rebuilt, even where more than 90% of the population has died? If so, how and where? Again, the answers are not forthcoming.

Consultation, or rather a lack of it, is exacerbating the growing feeling that reconstruction is going to take the form of a Jakarta diktat.

Grand plans by Malaysian firms to rebuild towns and cities along the lines of their newly-built capital, Putrajaya, appear to be getting much more attention in ministries than the people who will have to live in these places would want.

Similarly, civil society and cultural leaders were prohibited from holding a consultation brainstorming session in Aceh last weekend. The fact that the army didn't even bother to give a reason for the ban speaks volumes about the reality of life in a province that has being coping with 28 years of secessionist violence and mutual mistrust between the Acehnese, the military and the civilian authorities.

The meeting was eventually held in Medan, in the neighbouring province of North Sumatra, but many of the original participants were not able to attend. Both local and central government are now starting to consult with the Acehnese people, but it is unclear how widespread or effective it will be if Jakarta insists on controlling the whole reconstruction process, something the main international aid agencies are actively lobbying to prevent.

The other crucial ingredient missing from the reconstruction planning is and in-depth discussion of the region's armed conflict. Local government planners believe, strangely, that the economic issues they are responsible for can be implemented without considering the uprising, which impinges on almost every facet of Acehnese society. It is as if the fighting will become irrelevant if it is ignored.

If the planners are very lucky they might get away with their disingenuousness because Jakarta and Gam are negotiating for the first time in almost two years.

A second round of talks is due to be held this weekend in Helsinki under the auspices of the Finland-based Crisis Management Initiative. Even optimistic analysts accept progress will be slow, but few people are ruling out the possibility of success.

Red Cross to embark on massive reconstruction project

Jakarta Post - February 17, 2005

Jakarta -- The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) and dozens of its international counterparts are teaming up to take an active role in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Aceh and North Sumatra, Red Cross representatives said on Wednesday.

In meetings that began earlier this week, 32 Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies of a total of about 180 worldwide met in Jakarta to lay down a solid plan of action for rehabilitation and reconstruction in the tsunami-affected areas.

The meeting was organized by PMI with the support of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies (IFRC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The final draft of the project will likely be finished soon, at which time it "will be delivered to the government as an input and contribution for the government's consideration," according to a press statement.

The project, if approved, will last for at least five years and will cover a wide and comprehensive range of humanitarian assistance, including basic health care, hospital upgrades, water distribution and sanitation, food and non-food relief distribution, rebuilding of schools and clinics (locally known as Puskesmas), psychological support, family reunification and income-generation support.

"The people in Aceh need sustainable income so we are committed to helping them," said Mar'ie Muhammad, the PMI chief.

"We are now in a transitional period from emergency to rehabilitation and reconstruction. The 32 societies represented at the meeting acknowledged the need for a stronger and better- organized plan of action. To build is not difficult, but maintaining what has been built, is," Mar'ie explained.

PMI, which does not usually help in reconstruction phases after disasters, will assist the government, due to the large scale of the calamity and crucial land problems, according to Ole Johan Hauge, ICRC's Head of Delegation for Indonesia.

Johan Schaar, Special Representative of the IFRC Secretary General for tsunami operations, said, "It is our obligation to support PMI, which needs capacity-building [to improve] its ability to provide humanitarian aid. Our mandate is to coordinate and act when natural disasters happen."

Both Schaar and Hauge added that the long-term projects would not take over the government's role in handling the aid effort in the wake of the catastrophe. Instead, PMI will provide an "auxiliary function" in supporting and providing contributions based on the government's plan and regulations. The plan will be consistent with the local and national culture and religious values.

"It is therefore important to keep the local and national Red Cross at the center, which was why PMI invited their Aceh branch members for a meeting in Lhokseumawe in early January to gather information on what kind of help was needed in the area," Hauge said.

The size of the budget for the project would be difficult to calculate, according to Mar'ie and Hauge, as help would be given in cash and in kind on a per project basis. Instead of allocating a specific budget, donation requests will be made each time a project's assessment comes out for specific areas.

Mar'ie said that about 10 community health centers and 10 primary schools would be built in Aceh as part of the first phase. He added that the projects would also be focus on improving PMI's expertise and human resources nationwide. "Capacity-building is important because Indonesia is highly prone to many kinds of disasters," he said.

Letter from Banda Aceh

Boston Globe - February 16, 2005

Laurence Ronan -- This city of 400,000 is in shambles, a third of it completely wiped off the earth, another third under water and mud. Imagine if a wave took out Dorchester, South Boston, Back Bay, and the South End, leaving only a few sticks that were trees and no buildings, just foundations. Well over 100,000 people died here and along the nearby coast.

At the University Hospital all 300 patients and most of the staff drowned or were buried in the mud when the tsunami came. The hospital lost everything -- people, equipment, and buildings. They are still pulling bodies out of the mud.

The hospital director lost his wife and children but showed up the next day to dig out his hospital. Heroic.

We're taking the sickest patients on board our hospital ship Mercy. One of our newest patients is a little boy who was found floating on a board by fisherman two days after the tsunami. He was sent first to a refugee camp, where an uncle found him and told him that his mother and father were dead.

The boy has developed a serious case of "mud pneumonia" from all the water he swallowed and is now on a respirator fighting for his life. He is a favorite of the ship's medical team because he represents the struggles and courage of so many of the people here hit by the tsunami.

Every person I meet has a similar story. To put this in perspective, our medical team visited a small school in the nearby town of Lamnos yesterday where only 20 of the 120 kids are left.

If I could dream, I'd fix the hospital's pediatric building, truly one of the saddest places I've encountered. It smells of urine, incense, mud, and human excrement. It's dirty and filled with flies and mosquitoes. There are no toys for the children.

It, too, went under the giant wave and the mud that came next. Nearly all of its patients were lost in the tsunami. A few survivors are here, huddled in cribs or cots in corners throughout the building with their parents or siblings camped beside them. Many of the kids are suffering from "mud pneumonia," having been overwhelmed by the tsunami; they swallowed and aspirated seawater and mud. These children are slowly dying, daily growing thinner and breathing more heavily.

One child sits outside with the cats and dogs, his 12-year-old sister beside him. They lost their parents and four brothers in the flood. Terribly devoted to one another, they share one plate of food between them and make sure each carefully has his or her proper share.

Most of the parents are in shock. Many live in the displaced persons camps. All have lost someone and hope for their return. The great horror of the tsunami is not knowing what happened to a loved one.

Stressed, a mother delivers prematurely, a 30-week-old preemie, 4 pounds. We likely would save this child in Boston; here, she dies slowly, quietly, in front of our eyes.

The children are listless and won't play. They don't cry. And they don't respond to our offers of beanie babies.

Our psychiatrist says the kids and their parents are depressed and suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome. We had the children do crayon drawings -- unbelievable what they remember: the massive wave, lifeless bodies.

I had brought my camera but really can't bear to photograph them because what is in front of me is so awesome, sad, and overwhelming. Indeed, at times I can't even muster my professional skills in the face of this.

Our nurses staff the hospital during the day to give the on-site nurses -- local and international -- a break. The Belgian nurse volunteers are real heroes, but they, too, look and act exhausted and defeated; they've been here as volunteers for weeks now, working without a break.

When we go back to Boston we'll begin to think how we can help to rebuild the medical center. We'll start with one small wing of the hospital for TB and pulmonary patients because rebuilding the pulmonary disease ward is a doable project with huge consequences for people's immediate and long-term health. And the Indonesian medical leadership gave this to us as their priority. They'll need an X-ray machine, TB equipment, beds, air conditioners, and a laboratory.

Most of all they'll need the aid the world promised them back in January before the spotlight of attention turned away.

[Dr. Laurence Ronan is aboard the hospital ship USNS Mercy off Banda Aceh with a 42-person medical team from the Massachusetts General Hospital organized by Project Hope.]

Talks with Aceh rebels must focus on autonomy: Susilo

Agence France-Presse - February 15, 2005

Singapore -- Peace talks with separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province will continue if the guerrillas stick to the agenda of special autonomy, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said here on Tuesday.

Any solution must be based on this concept and not independence, said Susilo, noting that even the United Nations has expressed support for Indonesia's territorial integrity.

Susilo was speaking to reporters on the first day of a two-day state visit to Singapore. The former general had arrived from Malaysia, the first leg of his first regional tour since being elected president last year.

Negotiators from the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) met in Helsinki last month for informal talks amid pressure to end the 29-year-long conflict after a tsunami devastated the province on December 26.

It was the first time the two parties met face-to-face since May 2003, when the government declared martial law and launched a major military offensive in the province after a ceasefire broke down.

The second round of talks is scheduled to be held in Helsinki from February 21 and will be mediated by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who also chaired the January talks.

Led by leaders living in Sweden and holding Swedish citizenships, GAM has been fighting for independence for oil-rich Aceh province on Sumatra island since 1976. It says the Indonesian government plunders its resources and troops commit atrocities against the local population.

But since the Indian Ocean tsunami ravaged Aceh, the rebels and the government have come under international pressure to end the conflict. More than 234,000 people are dead or missing and some 400,000 were left homeless in the province.

Acehnese struggle to recover from tsunami

Radio Australia - February 16, 2005

It's almost two months after the Indian Ocean Tsunami wiped out much of Banda Aceh in Indonesia. But while many reports have focused on the progress of rebuilding efforts, the long-troubled province is experiencing much more subtle shifts. Australian and New Zealand medical professionals who've been providing aid are preparing for a final departure in a few weeks and have returned a ward in Banda Aceh's main hospital to Indonesian control. But some Acehnese aren't ready to move on.

Presenter/Interviewer: Geoff Thompson

Speakers: Brigadier Dave Chalmers, Australian forces commander in Aceh; young Indonesian in Aceh; Colonel Bambang Suryanto, in charge of military recruitment drive in Aceh; Marlinda Zahra, magic man client

(Sound of Indonesian singing)

Thompson: A song of farewell to Australian and New Zealand medics from Indonesian Nurses at the Infectious Diseases Ward of the Zainoel Abidin Hospital in Banda Aceh. It's the city's main medical facility where Prime Minister John Howard was welcomed during his brief tour of Aceh two weeks ago. Today however, it's a time to say goodbye, as Australian medics hand the running of the ward over to the Indonesian staff they have been working with to prevent a wave of disease in the devastated province. But the man who commands Australian forces in Aceh, Brigadier Dave Chalmers can't say exactly when his troops will be going home.

Chalmers: Well, there's not a firm date in a sense that I won't be downing tools on a particular day and taking a thousand people away from Aceh. We will be gradually reducing our commitment as we can hand over the capability to other people.

Thompson: When Australian troops leave and other foreign forces wind down their humanitarian commitments, the Indonesian military will assume predominant responsibility for Aceh's relief and reconstruction effort. This week the Indonesian military has been on a recruitment drive in Aceh, and there was no shortage of young men looking for work.

Young lad: Many people need jobs, especially the young people, and now they have opened this, people who are interested can apply.

Thompson: In charge is Colonel Bambang Suryanto and he emphasises that recruitment is going on all over Indonesia and not just in devastated Aceh.

Suryanto: We are offering this opportunity especially in this Aceh area, to make them soldiers of Aceh -- to develop their own area so they can defend their own country.

Thompson: For other Acehnese however, the search for their dead and missing is still a full time job.

I want to ask about my family, says 25 year old Marlinda Zahra, if they're still alive or not and if they are, where to find them. With a crowd of about twenty mostly women, she has come to see a dukun, one of Indonesia's magic men, who specialises in looking at photos of missing relatives. With long hair and long nails, he calls himself Abdul Hafidh Al Fairus Al Bagdad.

Bagdad: People come here because they don't know whether their families are alive or dead, says Mr Bagdad. Sometimes they just want to know where the dead are buried -- in which mass grave -- that's why they come here.

Thompson: On their knees, his devotees give him money, and at least some leave satisfied. Rafikah triumphantly holds up a photo of her cousin, a very young baby girl.

Rafikah: Thank God, I'm so happy that I've still got a cousin.

Thompson: I got goosebumps hearing it. I asked other people and they say that she isn't alive anymore, but here he said that she is. And up and down Aceh's pulverised coast, there's every chance that Mr Bagdad's claim can never be proven wrong.

Acehnese involvement vital

Jakarta Post - February 16, 2005

Medan -- The state government must do something to involve the Acehnese in its rebuilding and reconstruction programs, a group of activists said on Tuesday.

Speaking after a meeting in Medan, Naimah Hasan, the spokeswoman of the 12-group NGO coalition, said that the involvement of the Acehnese was a must if the programs were to best fit the needs of the people. Problems were already being caused because of a lack of coordination, she said.

The central government had already insisted it built refugee shelters further inland because it feared the return of tsunami, while many of the refugees would prefer shelters built near coastal areas where they could make a living as fishermen, she said.

Rebuilding homes and hearts in Aceh

Asia Times - February 15, 2005

Andreas Harsono, Lamno -- Muhammad Ali finished a plate of fried noodles, sipped a glass of cold tea and lamented about his misfortune in a coffee shop at the market in small town Lamno, about 200 kilometers south of the Acehnese capital Banda Aceh.

"No amount of aid can bring back the lives of any of my children," he said, lighting his cigarette and looking at a relief truck from the aid organization World Vision that was distributing plastic buckets, soap bars, cooking utensils, batteries and other essentials at a refugee camp behind the market.

Foreign aid workers, particularly medics, continue to pour into tsunami-ravaged Aceh as the aid operation moves into a second phase, with rescue workers beginning to look at ways of providing long-term support. Initial fears of a post-tsunami disease explosion prompted the huge influx of medical resources, but with no sign of epidemic doctor's caseloads have fallen sharply.

"The peak of the emergency operation is behind us," said a United Nations official. "The difficult part starts now."

Six weeks on from the disaster, aid workers are focusing on rebuilding and returning people to their former homes. More than 400,000 people were left homeless in Aceh as a result of the December 26 earthquake and tsunami. At least 225,000 others are dead or missing.

Pining for loved ones lost Ali used to be a keuchik (village head) in his coastal hamlet of Cot Dulan, near Lamno, before he married Yusmanida, a woman from Ujung Muloh -- a fishing village about a 15-minute walk from the market.

They married about 15 years ago and Ali moved to Yusmanida's village to become a trader. He bought a piece of land and then started a small business venture. Yusmanida later gave birth to a son and two daughters.

Like most Acehnese, Ali and Yusmanida lived with their kin; Yusmanida's parents and grandmother were a permanent part of the family. But Ali's tranquil life changed drastically on December 26, when the killer waves washed away the whole of Ujung Muloh. Only 21 people survived, and Ali was one of them.

"It was one of the first villages hit by the waves," said Hendi, a hardware seller in the market. "As the water started rising fast from the first wave, we started running. Then the second wave hit," Ali recalled. "It was huge -- as tall as a coconut tree, maybe 20-30 meters high."

Ali held on to his youngest daughter, who was only 10 days old. Yusmanida, who had not fully recovered from the delivery, was assisted by her mother. The couple's 13-year-old son Suheri Akhar and 11-year-old daughter Santrina ran together behind their parents. As they ran, the two also held on tight to their great- grandmother.

They managed to escape from the first rush of water, but the second huge wave swallowed the whole family. "I was submerged. I swam and appeared on the surface to find out that I was already at sea. It was more than one kilometer from my house," Ali said. "I checked my baby daughter, not sure, whether she was dead or still alive. The water was moving so fast. I had to let her go," he added, tears welling in his eyes.

A third wave carried Ali to Alumi, three villages away from Ujung Muloh. "A tree trunk hit my back when I was in the water. I also suffered some bleeding in my left forehead," he said, pointing to a black scar that marks his face.

In the water, Ali managed to hang onto a wooden plank that floated toward a coconut tree. When he reached the tree he grabbed it and hung on until the water subsided. When he came down from the coconut tree, he saw corpses everywhere, he said.

Still staring blankly at the World Vision truck outside the coffee shop, Ali said he had lost his wife, his children, his mother-in-law, his wife's grandmother, his gold deposit, his money, house and everything else. "Only my father-in-law survived. He was fishing at sea then," Ali revealed.

Mustafa Ibrahim, a schoolteacher who helped organize grassroots support among the Lamno villagers, said Ali was a broken man after having lost his immediate family. "But at least he is alive. And I think he has to be thankful for that."

Ibrahim and many villagers who live in downtown Lamno helped victims such as Ali -- setting up temporary shelters in school buildings and feeding survivors.

The tsunami cut off Lamno as well as neighboring Calang from the outside world, when it swept away bridges linking the towns to the main highways. Outside help only arrived in Lamno seven days after the disaster. "If outside help did not arrive, we might have faced starvation as food supplies were almost gone," said Ibrahim.

Joel Thaher of the Ratna Sarumpaet Crisis Center, a Jakarta-based non-governmental group that manages the Gle Putoh camp in Lamno, said relief agencies were still relying on helicopters and boats to bring in food and medicine. "The bridges and roads are still badly damaged," he said.

Returning to New York after a week-long tour of Aceh a month after the deadly Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, John L McCullough, executive director of the international humanitarian agency Church World Service said: "Survivors in Aceh are beginning to pick up their lives, but their needs continue to be almost overwhelming.

"This territory cannot be left idle or left in the lurch to rebuild," he said in a plea to the international community. "Recovery of the dead is still going on -- and the international community is very much involved," McCullough said. "But the world community must stay focused and present for what will be long- term recovery in these worst-hit tsunami regions."

McCullough echoed a plea from the United Nations on Wednesday for world governments to keep their pledge promises for tsunami recovery. According to the UN, almost two-thirds of the money promised by governments to help the millions of people affected by the tsunami has yet to be received by the world body.

So far, only US$360 million have been received -- little more than a third of the total $977 million needed for the projected first six months of emergency phase relief work.

[Inter Press Service]

Aceh refugees wary of camp move

BBC News - February 15, 2005

Tim Johnston, Jakarta -- Seven weeks after December's tsunami devastated Indonesia's Aceh province, the immediate crisis is under control. The authorities are now looking to medium-term coping strategies for the hundreds of thousands of people who lost their homes and livelihoods.

For the first time, people are moving into the barracks-like camps that are to be their homes for up to two years. But victims and aid agencies have expressed worries about the move, which they fear may limit self-sufficiency. The first refugees moved into the hastily-built camps outside the Acehnese capital, Banda Aceh, on Tuesday morning.

Long history

The government has said it might have to house as many as 100,000 of the 400,000 survivors in camps across the province. But although the camps, with their showers and kitchens, represent an improvement for people who are currently living in tents and government buildings, many people still do not want to go.

There has been a long and bloody separatist revolt in Aceh and the government has used camps before -- to deny guerrillas access to the population. It is a tactic that is still remembered with horror in the province. The government says it is not going to force anyone into the camps this time and there are good reasons for people to move. It is easier to get health, education, and other assistance to the survivors but these arguments appear to carry little weight with many of the people most affected.

Aid workers are also concerned. They say camps in general tend to encourage aid dependency and are keen for people to start looking for long-term solutions immediately. Some UN agencies say that although they will provide help to people who do decide to go to the camps, they will not assist in building the barracks or encouraging people to move there.

The recovery and rebuilding operation will take years. Even before it gets under way in earnest, the clean-up operation needs to finish. There is a long way to go in Aceh. Seven weeks on, nearly 1,000 bodies a day are still being pulled from the wreckage.

Up to 10,000 Aceh children seek parents: UNICEF

Reuters - February 15, 2005

Banda Aceh -- As many as 10,000 children in Indonesia's tsunami- devastated Aceh province may be seeking lost parents, the United Nations and other agencies said on Tuesday.

That figure represents about 2.5 percent of the 400,000 people displaced on the northern end of Sumatra island by the giant waves, triggered by an earthquake on December 26.

But the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said the number of youngsters without any surviving relatives or adult support was much lower than initially feared.

"It is really, really difficult actually. We can only estimate," UNICEF child protection officer Frederic Sizaret said of the number of children who are unaccompanied or separated from parents.

A social affairs ministry statement on Tuesday put the figure at 10,000, while UNICEF said its estimate was up to 8,000.

More than seven weeks after the tsunami left more than 240,000 Acehnese dead or missing, UNICEF and Indonesian officials on Tuesday were able to reunite one nine-year-old boy with his distressed parents.

"My heart has swollen crying everyday. I told myself that my son would come home, and I prayed to Allah," said Hayatun Nafis, the boy's mother. Officials said the boy, Iwan, recognized his flattened house during a trip around the provincial capital Banda Aceh on Sunday.

Enormous impact on children

Sizaret said the UNICEF figure for children seeking parents was based on a surveyed sample of refugees and included unaccompanied youngsters with no adult supervision and those fostered with extended family or people from their community. Of the 700 children registered as having lost their parents, 50-60 were completely alone and without any support from an adult they knew before the disaster.

More than 170 children had been entered into an inter-agency database so far and were in the process of finding lost parents. "The good thing here is family is generally very extended, so you always have a cousin or a relative somewhere who can be traced... So, I'm confident most children will eventually find some relatives," said Sizaret.

The tsunami had an enormous impact on children, with UNICEF estimating that up to half of all the victims were youngsters, a statement from the agency said.

The social affairs ministry statement on Tuesday said a priority was being put on supporting families who had taken in children and that adoption or institutional care, such as orphanages, would be considered only as a last resort. "Principally, the government wants children to grow up with the provision of family-based care," said Haniff Asmara, head of the social bureau at the ministry.

Adults seeking lost children through official channels are shown five pictures of youngsters. If they correctly identify the missing child additional questions are asked, such as the child's favorite food, the names of school friends and what they were last seen wearing. The child is also asked questions and shown pictures of adults.

To prevent the trafficking of children, the government has put a moratorium on the adoption of children from Aceh. Children under the age of 16 cannot leave the country without a parent.

The turning tide

Melbourne Age - February 14, 2005

For the second time since the tsunami destroyed his house, Kamaruzaman slogged his way up the steep hill on the broken road to Ligan, still searching for somewhere to live and something to eat.

Like the first time he made the 12- kilometre trek in the boiling sun, the slim young farmer lugged a box of possessions while his wife, Nur Azizah, balanced their daughter on her hip.

Ligan is a leafy town up the valley where many of the survivors from Lhok Kruet region on Aceh's west coast fled after the tsunami hit. Back in the hills, they were remote from the waves that smashed the coast and it seemed a safe enough refuge.

But, as Kamaruzaman soon found out, Ligan's distance from the coast, it's reputation as a place that supported the separatist rebels and the lack of tsunami damage meant the aid helicopters mostly flew over it while the 500 refugees waited below for help.

Getting desperate as the weeks passed, Kamaruzaman walked his family back to the coast, through the stench of bodies still dotted among the rubble.

They paid for a boat ride north to the big aid centre in Lamno, where he and his wife registered as refugees with the village head, asked for a tent and something to eat. The rice farmer and his wife got nothing.

He just knew that without help he could not survive, so he borrowed money from a friend, bought a little sugar and some clothes to trade and then paid for boat tickets south, back to where they'd just come from. "I registered my name in Lamno, but there was no aid, so now I'm coming back to Ligan," he said as he rested by the side of his road.

Seven weeks after the tsunami hit, the biggest aid operation in history is in full swing across Aceh's west coast and it's not unusual to see four huge helicopters in the air at a time. But down on the ground, away from the main aid centres, many people remain in a state of shock, confused about what to do, lacking resources and still unsure where to turn for help.

Ligan was just one such community The Age saw on a four-day tour using a small boat with motorcycles on board to visit isolated hamlets.

It's among a large number of towns that were not directly hit by the tsunami but which are now feeling its impact. Many of the several thousand residents here made a living growing thin- skinned green oranges, but that income has now gone.

With so much of the coastal farmland destroyed, wild pigs and birds have descended on their rice crops and the villagers are increasingly dependent on aid deliveries to feed them and the tsunami victims they have taken in.

The little storeroom where the Indonesian soldiers stockpile the food had just 21 sacks of rice left when The Age visited. "We have only got enough rice for one more distribution," said Novem Indrasagita, the army's co-ordinator of food distribution. "If we don't get food soon, who knows what will happen."

Hunger and fear of hunger now spur small groups to trek into Lhok Kruet each morning, some heading for the capital Banda Aceh to search for work and food, others just walking to the coast in search of food any aid agencies might have delivered.

We met Abdullah in the late morning as he was nearing the end of his threehour walk to gather food. When the wizened old man headed home in the afternoon, the bag on his shoulder was still empty. "According to TNI [the Indonesian military] there's no more food and supplies have already been taken up to Ligan," he said.

The army's one working station wagon had just taken up a load of humanitarian ration packs from the American foreign assistance agency USAID, and returned to collect food provided by an Australian couple running their own aid ship, the Batavia.

None of that will provide more than temporary relief to Abdullah or his town. Ligan's village head, Abdullah Sani, said no helicopter had brought food for a week and the villagers were getting worried.

"After the tsunami, our lives are just like the lives of the refugees. We used to have money from the oranges and from cutting wood, but now nobody has money any more," he said. "There's no rice, so we just eat bananas and sago, but now the sago is running out."

But his real worry is that even if another helicopter comes, it will only bring short-term relief. The villagers have repaired the bridges on the road to the coast, using trunks of flattened coconut palms, but there's no one down the valley to buy their oranges.

In the bigger towns, such as Meulaboh, Calang and Lamno, a kaleidoscope of aid groups have built tent cities that attract many tsunami victims from smaller villages up and down the coast.

At the main refugee camps in Lamno, fresh water is delivered twice a day. The Pakistan Army is running a field hospital and World Vision has set up three big black tents they call child- friendly spaces, where 100 children come twice a day to draw, sing and play games as a way of escaping the stress of living in a crowded camp where everyone has suffered terribly.

In many ways, life is regaining something of a rhythm as more children go to school and food stalls open. But not everyone wants to move to town, and the further out people live, the less reliable the aid.

In Sapek village, about eight kilometres north of Lamno, scores of tents donated by the Indonesian Red Cross and some from the UN's refugee agency line the roads, all of them empty.

A quick look inside during a torrential downpour showed why. Water dripped through the canvas and made puddles on the floor. The tents were badly pitched, often on ground that was certain to flood in heavy rain. The canvas Indonesian tents were designed to have waterproof flies over them, but none did in this town. The UN tents had flies, but they were leaking.

A young mother called Hasiah explained the problem. "For four days we have had the tents and they have leaked from day one. You can't stop the leaks." People had tried sleeping in the tents, but had to rush to nearby houses when it rained.

Hasiah used to share her small house with her husband and their only child, but now seven people from four other families have moved in. She said she was happy to try to help them but after six weeks, the strains were showing. "They don't do anything, they just sit around," she complained.

With their rice farms destroyed, there is no focus to the day. The townsfolk pass time by the road, waiting for help to come. It arrives in two trucks from Lamno, usually every three days. As well as food they bring soap and some oil for cooking, but no kerosene. With the electricity gone, the nights are dark or lit with smoky lamps made from shampoo bottles filled with diesel oil.

In Lamno, there is more help and more to do, but these are farming people who survived the tsunami, and are not about to leave their land. One sinewy farmer named Ishak Nasir said he and his friends were anxious to get back to work. Although the rice paddies were still filled with salt water, he was sure they could be worked again but not before they were cleared of debris.

"You can only work the paddy in bare feet and the fields are full of glass and nails and torn sheets of corrugated iron," he said. "We have no irrigation and the tractors are gone." If they were given new tractors, they could turn the soil in the dry season, then sift the rubbish to make it safe again to work, he explained.

Despite the salt water, he was sure the soil could be tilled again and an Oxfam project further up the coast in Leupeung suggests he may be right. There, newly planted rice is just starting to shoot after heavy rains flushed away the salt.

There are similar signs of new life among many of the tsunami victims across the west coast. Each day, little groups of survivors are heading back to their towns, many of them just planning quick exploratory trips to see if they have the heart to try to rebuild their lives.

For some, the sea is still too frightening, so they walk or take motorbikes down the coast road the Indonesian Army is busy rebuilding. At Leupeung, near the northern end of the road, soldiers now stop everyone and demand identity cards from refugees before allowing them to pass -- a problem for those who lost their papers in the tsunami.

Under new rules, everyone else, including aid groups, is told to get a letter of authority from the head of the army's military commander in Aceh, Major-General Endang Suwarya, before getting access to the damaged road.

Most find it easier to use small boats. These go close enough to shore to let them see that the whole Aceh west coast now resembles the banks of a dam in heavy drought, with a band of earth stripped bare of vegetation running 15 metres up the hillside. In some places, where the topography allowed the waves to go higher, the hills are scoured up to 60 metres or more.

This week, a dozen men left their refugee camps in Lamno to return to Lhok Kruet with plans for rebuilding. They met with the local regent, Zulfian Ahmad, who himself lives in a tent after losing his home, his wife and four of his five children. His advice was for people to stay in the camps unless they were ready to struggle.

"I'm not saying people have to come back to where they were. It's up to the people, they have to decide," he said. Nothing much remains of their former town of 5000 people except an army post and a dozen little shelters housing people with spirits so resilient it's hard to think the place won't be rebuilt.

Ayub Waqini lives in one of the huts with his wife and three of his six children he pulled from the waves. This rice farmer never left for one of the aid camps up the coast and said he planned to wait for others to come back and rebuild.

He fed his family for weeks on coconuts and sago while he made them a house with a saw and a thick-bladed machete that he used to pull, straighten and hammer home every old nail that he used.

He seems to think there is nothing brave or unusual about the choice he has made. "It's my home," he said.

UN not taking chances in indonesia

Associated Press - February 12, 2005

Christopher Bodeen, Banda Aceh -- In this tsunami-ravaged Indonesian city, the streets couldn't seem safer. Rifle-toting Indonesian soldiers patrol while children head off to school. Shoppers cram makeshift markets, and unarmed troops from foreign powers deliver aid.

But the United Nations is pushing ahead with plans to fortify the headquarters of its relief effort in Banda Aceh for survivors of the December 26 earthquake and tsunami.

While UN officials say they aren't worried about an attack, the tighter security underscores an uneasiness about the prospect of disorder in an area that has been a battleground for government and separatist rebel forces for nearly three decades.

Bo Asplund, the top UN official in Indonesia, says the new security measures announced this week are only natural for a staff of roughly 100 that is settling in and focusing on long- term rebuilding. But he quickly adds: "We usually, like most aid agencies, don't talk much about our security matters."

Aceh province, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, is mostly peaceful, except for the occasional clashes between government troops and separatist rebels in areas far from the tsunami relief effort.

But the longer aid workers stay, the more they'll be exposed to a host of possible concerns, ranging from a flare-up of the Free Aceh Movement separatist insurgency to Islamic fundamentalist groups that might view foreign aid workers as proselytizing foot-soldiers of the West.

US government officials and security analysts point to the Saudi Arabian-based International Islamic Relief Organization as one potential worry.

Though its leaders deny any ties to terrorism, the group propagates the strict Wahhabist interpretation of Islam that is considered the bedrock for Islamic extremism and a guiding force for the Saudi-born al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Indonesian troops also draw their fair share of suspicion. The country's military is routinely accused of human rights abuses, and its gunbattles with Acehnese separatist rebels has left tens of thousands of people dead since fighting broke out in 1976.

Indonesian forces even attacked the UN compound in East Timor in 1999, after the people of the former Indonesian province voted for independence.

The UN compound in Aceh would be particularly vulnerable if attacked. The bloc of buildings has a college campus feel to it. On a recent afternoon, nobody checked identification as people streamed in and out. Only UN-authorized vehicles were allowed to enter the premises, but others parked directly outside the gates, in front of buildings housing officials.

Since an Aug. 19, 2003, bombing at the UN headquarters in Iraq killed 22 people, including top envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, UN officials have sought to boost security for their staff worldwide.

That threat is very real in Indonesia, where al-Qaida-linked suicide car bombers have targeted Westerners three times in the past three years, most recently bombing the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in September 2004. Local and foreign governments have repeatedly warned that the militants are planning more attacks.

Joel Boutroue, UN deputy humanitarian coordinator in Aceh, cited the "structural weaknesses" of the UN compound in Banda Aceh and said more security checks would be implemented.

US aid groups show little of the concern that grips UN officials. "We're more worried about [earthquake] aftershocks," said Mike Kiernan, a spokesman for the charity Save the Children.

Some militant groups in Aceh don't hide their resentment of outsiders -- or their desire to safeguard their faith. The Islamic group Laksar Mujahidin's 60 volunteers have spent weeks performing the grim task of collecting bodies and giving tsunami victims a religious burial.

Abu Anshar, a wiry 30-year-old and part-time trader who acts as the group's spokesman, said reports of foreigners wearing crosses and complaints of missionary activity have aroused their suspicions that aid groups intend to convert Muslims. In other parts of Indonesia, the group has fought deadly battles with Christian militias.

"If they [foreign troops and aid workers] stay here for very long, there is the possibility of something happening as in other Muslim countries -- such as Iraq," said Anshar, at his group's base in a farmhouse near the city's airport. "We are the troops. We await orders from central command," he said.

However, Sidney Jones, an expert on Indonesian terrorist groups with the International Crisis Group in Singapore, believes groups like the Laksar Mujahidin are more talk than action. They enjoy little support among the Acehnese Muslims, who practice a tolerant form of the faith and have welcomed foreign aid groups, she said. "Even for them, attacking aid missions would be going too far," Jones said.

Hunt for patients as foreign medics overwhelm Aceh

Agence France Presse - February 13, 2005

Fears of a post-tsunami disease explosion in Indonesia prompted the influx of huge medical resources, but with no sign of epidemic, a surfeit of foreign doctors is now struggling to find patients as hospital beds lie empty.

In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, medical facilities that survived were inundated with casualties as what remained of the traumatised staff tended to injuries and sickness with limited equipment and medicine.

Horrific scenes of hospital corridors lined with sick and wounded and concerns that tropical dangers like malaria, dengue and typhoid could spread like wildfire resulted in many nations mobilising teams of doctors.

In the absence of major outbreaks and with most tsunami maladies limited to wounds or fractures that have now been treated, doctor caseloads have fallen sharply, but foreign medics continue to pour into stricken Aceh province.

On February 5, the USNS Mercy -- a 1,000-bed US navy hospital ship stationed at San Diego, California -- arrived off the province's coast to join the relief effort. In a week of activity, it has admitted just 68 patients.

"To be honest, there's more than enough foreign doctors here now," said Fauzi Arief, a senior army physician at the Kesdam military hospital in the devastated provincial capital of Banda Aceh.

"The problem is now under control, although we do welcome the foreigners because they want to participate. But what we really need most now is medical equipment, particularly lab gear and resources." With no emergencies to tend to, foreign teams from countries including Australia, Germany, Japan and Malaysia have found themselves mainly engaged in vaccination missions and the treatment of common ailments.

"We were expecting that patients would still have wounds from the tsunami, but that was only for a few days," said Lieutenant Colonel Walter Schmidt, spokesman for a 30-doctor German medical team based at Banda Aceh's battered Zainoel Abidin hospital.

"Now we have a lot of patients that come to us just to know if they are sick or not with every little problem. So as far as I understand, there are no major outbreaks of disease or sickness from the tsunami." Aceh's citizens have been quick to seize on the unexpected glut of highly qualified physicians that has now built up in their province.

"People come here because they have confidence in the German doctors. We're pretty sure a lot of patients are visiting first Indonesian doctors and then the foreign ones to get a second and maybe even third opinion," said Schmidt.

Patients too say they have more faith in the visiting medics than Indonesian doctors and are more than happy to take advantage of trusted overseas expertise.

"I went to see an Indonesian doctor at a hospital here. I didn't feel better at all and haven't made any kind of recovery, so I came to see the Germans," said Zulfiki, a 51-year-old teacher treated for a deep gash on his right foot.

Government official Rinalsyah Budiman Hasan was also consulting foreign doctors at the Zainoel Abidin in the hope of receiving expert treatment for lymphatic cancer.

"Before the tsunami I had to pay for a trip to Malaysia to see a specialist, there was no one in Aceh who could handle my condition," he said.

"As I can no longer afford a trip overseas, I decided to take advantage of the foreign doctors here for some free treatment. I saw a Swedish doctor yesterday and they referred me to the Australians here. For me, at least there has been one lucky event from the tsunami."

Eigil Sorensen, the UN World Health Organisation's special envoy to Aceh, said that while medical assistance was still needed, the main focus was now rebuilding destroyed facilities and training new staff to replace those lost.

"We need mainly commitment in terms of both human resource organisation, gradually getting local doctors back to work and at the same time trying to train people," he told AFP.

"I expect that some kind of assistance will be required, working with local partners, cooperating in the initial phase," he said, adding that outside help may be needed for up to 12 months.

Despite the ongoing needs, some consider the presence of the Mercy -- a former supertanker equipped with 12 operating rooms, four X-ray suites and capable of receiving 300 patients daily -- as excessive. "In my opinion, the Mercy is too big. There is no need for it," said Germany's Schmidt.

What is really happening on the ground in Aceh?

Aid Watch - February 13, 2005

Tim O'Connor -- Recently returned from Aceh, academic Ed Aspinall has been traveling regularly to Aceh for several years and written extensively on this area. He talks to Tim O'Connor about experiences during his 3 weeks assisting in the emergency efforts and and of the vital and unheralded work the local civil society groups were doing in the immediate aftermath.

Tim O'Connor (TOC): You left for Indonesia the week following the earthquake and tsunami struck off the coast of Aceh. Can you tell us what your impressions were in arriving back in Aceh a place you had been many times?

Ed Aspinall (EA): I arrived in Aceh from Jakarta on the 6th of January, I went overland from Medan as all flights were booked out due to the influx of aid. The traffic along the roads from Medan was incredible. Huge buses and trucks laden with all types of goods were flowing in by this stage. I was traveling with members of the Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) from Jakarta. The main purpose of their visit was to check on the welfare of their staff in Aceh, but they were visiting their families and friends, checking their welfare and the impacts of the earthquake and tsunami and to mourn the dead. The head of YLBH, Syarifah was killed in the disaster.

The Southern part of Aceh was not greatly affected but from Lhokseumawe onwards the effects were visible. Refugee camps dotted the road and most of these in these areas contained a very obvious military presence, unlike Banda Aceh. In addition to the destruction, it was very strange seeing so many foreigners there as the area had been closed to all outsiders since May of 2003 when the military emergency was initiated by the Indonesian Government.

Arriving in the capital Banda Aceh after dark, the impact was overwhelming. Where there had been residential areas teeming with people previously, now there was just debris. It was completely overwhelming although something that everyone had to get over very quickly as there was so much to do. Through some friends, I was able to assist with interpreting at hospitals.

At this stage some international agencies had arrived and were working but many more were still arriving in absolute droves. Meanwhile many local activists and NGOs had recovered very quickly and were operating from as soon as the day after the disaster occurred.

These locals had a good idea about the real needs of the people and were doing very important work; needs assessment, logistical and financial coordination and the thankless task of collecting the bodies.

TOC: Can you give us an indication as to what and who the local groups are that had been operating prior to the tsunami and an insight into the activities of local civil society.

EA: Leading up the tsunami there had been a lively NGO scene in Aceh. Of course the state of military emergency had significant impacts on what these groups could work on and like all civil society groups anywhere it was a very diverse group. After martial law the ones that were hit hardest were the ones who had been advocating a referendum for Aceh, or had touched on the question of independence. The second hardest hit were the human rights groups. Many of these groups had been forced to refocus their work on areas away from human rights abuses to focus on accountability and corruption in the local government. Since May 2003 the civil society scene was certainly not as vibrant or healthy -- the political situation was responsible for that, but a variegated system still operated.

An indication is the various coalitions that were still active. The Aceh NGO Forum for instance had, I think, 78 member organisations. The Human Rights NGO Coalition had 26 constituent members. Geographically the civil society scene is mostly based in Banda Acheh but in the regional towns and other areas there is also a presence. Half of the Human Rights NGO Coalition's members, for instance, are from outside Banda Aceh.

TOC: How badly affected was Achehnese civil society post tsunami?

EA: Like everyone else, they were very badly affected, the YLBH offices were destroyed and they lost their Director, Syarifah, as I mentioned, WALHI, the main Indonesian environmental network had their offices ruined, Kontras (The Commision for Disappearances and Victims of Violence) had their main offices in Aceh destroyed. Many, many groups had lost members and their premises.

Apart from the loss of human life, the greatest loss was the loss of documents and information on computers or in hard copy that can never be recovered.

TOC: Was there evidence that these groups were re-activating?

EA: Almost immediately after the tsunami hit members of these groups became active. The Tsunami hit on the Sunday morning and on the Monday, after the immediate matters of family welfare had been attended to, activists put up a banner at the Aceh NGO Forum to illustrate that they were okay and active. They were among the first organisations to begin the relief efforts in this area.

Very quickly members of these groups became active in assessing the needs of people and ensuring that the most immediate ones were met. Obviously this is a big shift from their normal duties but the exceptional circumstances demanded it. The first 2 or 3 days were spent collecting data on who amongst the civil society groups was missing or had been killed.

Aceh NGO Forum (Forum LSM Aceh) was responsible for running 3 different teams. One was responsible for collecting data about displaced people, mostly from around Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar and further afield. The second was responsible for coordinating logistics, organising assistance and actually distributing to people who needed it and the third had the job of collecting bodies from the wreckage.

The important role these groups played cannot be emphasized strongly enough. Many people were understandably traumatized and in shock. Local Government, everything, was devastated. People talked about there being a lot of chaos in those first few days.

Many ordinary people were saying that it was terrible that no one came to help them -- the government, the military etc, but in my opinion the scale of the disaster meant that there was just pandemonium. Everyone was just trying to establish if their own family and friends were okay, and I think that is pretty understandable.

Also, it wasn't just the local Acehnese groups who were involved, NGOs from all over Indonesia were active on the ground in the days following the disaster. Interestingly, in the days after the tsunami, some unlikely alliances developed. The team based at the Human Rights NGO Coalition that were collecting corpses I mentioned earlier, were being supported by TNI soldiers and this was ongoing until I departed -- this level of cooperation would have been unthinkable in the past. They said the TNI were indispensable to this job. Again this was symptomatic of the scale of the disaster but also that people, especially at first, thought it was deemed important to put aside long held differences to work for the common good.

TOC: What were the immediate effects of the influx of aid and aid agencies into what had been virtually a closed society for the last 18 months?

EA: The obvious things were the increases in rent. Office space and accommodation had increased in price by 10 times in the space of a week and were still rising. This meant people were renting out their houses as they needed the money to buy food and begin to rebuild -- also at inflated prices.

Other things were the recruitment of local staff into the larger international agencies. This was causing obvious tensions and had the capacity to cause a hollowing out of some of the civil society groups in Aceh. In the longer term I imagine over funding of local organisations without the capacity to utilize it will also be a major problem.

TOC: What was the level of coordination between the local and international NGOs and the donor agencies?

EA: My general impression is that there was little substantial coordination between the locals and any international bodies. Occasionally the donors would come and talk to the local groups but often these were little more than information seeking exercises for the internationals who once they had what they wanted would then take off and there was no benefit to the local groups. Some of the local groups were pretty angry about this.

The UN coordination meetings were like stepping into a different universe. These meetings were attended entirely by international agencies and while locals were not excluded they certainly were not engaging and many had stopped going after a very short time. The reports I was getting was that locals were feeling marginalized within the meetings and were not being consulted about what they thought the needs were -- when in reality there was no organisation better placed to direct the aid effectively.

Iv'e got to admit, though, that this was early days, and when I was getting ready to leave it did seem that some of the international groups were making more efforts to get connected to locals.

TOC: What about the level of coordination between the international groups?

EA: It was a mixed picture. They were obviously speaking at the meetings but again the feeling you got was that the agencies were working to their own agendas. They had done this sort of emergency work before, they were bringing in a model that had worked elsewhere and they needed to get active as quickly as possible so they could report results back to their donors, their head offices and the people at home. I was hearing reports that Achehnese were feeling excluded from this whole 'club' of people that had done disaster relief elsewhere and were sure they knew what was best.

Generally the groups doing the most effective work were those that had long standing relationships with groups or communities and had substantial experience of working in Aceh, or at least in Indonesia. Many of the groups who were there for the first time didn't understand the complex relationship between the people, the military, the history, GAM (Free Aceh Movement) etc This will likely mean their work is less effective. But for a lot of the really short-term stuff, like the water purification plants set up by the Australian troops, this kind of detailed knowledge wasn't that important. This kind of immediate stuff was also very positive. But for the longer-term work, international groups will need to develop a closer working relationship with local groups.

TOC: The right wing think tank the IPA (Institute for Public Affairs) has been critical of OXFAM and their partner group WALHI in their work in the emergency phase of the tsunami, did you have any comments on this?

EA: In regard to OXFAM, I had nothing to do with them whilst I was in Aceh this time so I can't comment, though I do know that they have been one of the longer established international NGOs working there and have supported some valuable projects in the past. WALHI on the other hand seemed to be doing very effective work. As I mentioned earlier, the local branch of WALHI lost their offices and also lost staff. Whilst the local office was not functioning to any large extent, the Jakarta office and its members from around Indonesia were playing a crucial role in providing back up care and support. They were collecting and disbursing foodstuffs, medicines, funds and generally playing a significant role in the coordination of medical teams and in other organizing and logistics capacities. Also they were involved in collecting corpses from the field.

WALHI is one of Indonesia's longest established and most respected NGOs, though more precisely it's an environmental coalition. As an environmental group, of course, it is not surprising that it from time to time takes up issues that are considered 'political', understandably, considering Indonesia's political past. During the Soeharto years, the wife of the Secretary of Golkar, Erna Witoelar was head of WALHI. This indicated its respectability in those days and today it continues to have support from a broad spectrum of opinion makers and people in Indonesia. It's a pretty mainstream, highly-regarded part of Indonesia's civil society.

TOC: Considering your experience in your time in Aceh post the tsunami and also your experience and knowledge of the people and country beforehand, what is the most effective way for people to assist in appropriate emergency and reconstruction efforts?

EA: Give aid to a group or organisation with good contacts with Acehnese people or linked to Acehnese civil society. These groups are best able to assess what is really needed. Ask the organisation you are donating to what is their level of cooperation with local groups. Ask about the costs of international staff and the costs they incur. In many ways local groups are going to be more efficient

TOC: Finally what about the joint commission established between Australia and Indonesia to distribute the Billion Australia has pledged in loans and grants?

EA: As ever the devil is in the detail. What it will come down to is who is doing the work on the ground, who is getting the contracts and these practical things. For instance the World Bank has been burnt many times in dealings like this. Everything looks good at the managerial level but the further you dig down the murkier and grubbier such things can become.

West Papua

Jakarta seeks to carve West Papua province by 2009

Radio Australia - February 18, 2005

The Indonesian government is considering splitting the province currently known as Papua into five new provinces, in what is seen by many to be another weapon in its fight against Papua's separatist movement.

In 2003, then Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri tried to split the province into three -- a move ruled unconstitutional by the Indonesian courts. This time the Indonesian government, aided by Papua's current governor, looks determined to carve up the province by 2009. Governor Salossa says the aim is to more fairly distribute the wealth from Papua's resources and ensure prosperity to all Papuan's. But there are many who see another agenda behind the plan.

Presenter/Interviewer: Mike Woods

Speakers: Dr Richard Chauvel from Melbourne's Victoria University; John Otto Ondawame, senior member of the Free Papua Movement

Woods: The Governor says the idea has been greeted with enthusiasm by President Susilo Bambang Yuhoyono and it's now simply a matter of drafting legislation for the formation of the new provinces. But critics say it may not be that simple. Papua specialist, Doctor Richard Chauvel, from Melbourne's Victoria University says he's curious as to how the provinces would be governed under such a plan.

Chauvel: How the Governor intends to integrate within the division into five, the key elements of the special autonomy law and particularly the Papuan People's Assembly, that to me is entirely unclear, you know, are we talking about one assembly for the whole territory of Papua are we talking about one assembly for each of the provinces? Nothing that I've heard so far, clarifies that.

Woods: John Otto Ondawame is a senior member of the Free Papua Movement or OPM -- and heads up it's representative office in Vanuatu he says he is fearful of what may happen to Papua's special autonomy laws if the province is broken up

Ondowame: The special autonomy is only valid for one province -- namely Papua province, not five provinces and I don't know if that means that Indonesia will introduce new legislation underming the implimentation of special autonomy.

Woods: Dr Richard Chauvel says the unconstitutional nature of President Megawati's attempt to divide Papua into three provinces was related to how she intended to do so rather than questioning the powers of the central government to divide them. But he says the courts decision was confusing. While the court ruled that the way in which Megawati wanted to split the province was unconstitutional -- it also found that the formation of West Irian Jaya had been formed in line with constitutional requirements, including the election of local representatives -- and should therefore remain a separate province. Doctor Chauvel says there is little doubt that should Papua be split into a number fo small provinces, the Papuan independence movement will find it difficult to maintain momentum:

Chauvel: Megawati's proposed division into three was clearly a threat to Papuan solidarity and Papuan unity vis-a-vie Jakarta, so to divide it up into five or seven is going to make the maintenence of that unity more of a test for Papuan nationalists.

Woods: John Otto Ondawame says he has no doubt that this is another attempt by an Indonesian government to smash the Papuan people's desire for independence:

Ondawame: It's become clear that the majority of Papuans -- 98 percent rejected the division of Papua into three provinces, this is not in line with the policy of special autonomy that was given by Jakarta this is nonsense.

Woods: Governor Salossa has held out a carrot to the Papuan people in what some say is an attempt to soften the blow of carving up the prince. The Governor says establishment of the five provinces would prompt the government to fully implement legislation for the territory -- including establishment of the Papuan people's assembly as the highest law-making body in Papua. But Dr Richard Chauvel says Papuan's could see the flaws of plans to split the province when first mooted by Megawati Sukarnoputri:

Chauvel: The Papuan fear was that if you do divide into three, now five, that is inevitably going to mean that many of the most senior positions within that administrations are not going to be filled by Papuans but by Indonesians from elsewhere within the archipelago, and hence pose an even greater threat to Papuans efforts to control their own fate and to establish some sense of self government which was the real intent of the special autonomy law of 2001.

Woods: John Ondawame says he despairs for the future of the Free Papua Movement and for ordinary Papuans. He says the geographical break up of Papua and the restriction on travel that will come with it will make the OPM's job hard, but will also mean families will suffer:

Ondawame: They have to report to te local authorities where they are coming from and how long they are going to stay and so on. So when they divide Papua into five provinces their freedom of movement will be restricted.

Woods: Regional elections are due to be held in Papua in June -- and the five-province issue is expected to dominate the poll. Dr Richard Chavel says he believes the election will be beset by confusion and uncertainty -- among both candidates and constituents.

Chauvel: Papuans are going to be electing a group of reprsentatives whose tenure is going to be remarkably short. So I think that rather than be an element in terms of facilitating the movement toward the division into five provincers, it could become something of an obstacle and we simply don't know at this stage what attitude those elected representatives are going to have toward the proposal to divide into five.

Labour issues

Life getting harder for legal migrants in Malaysia

Jakarta Post - February 17, 2005

Rusman, Nunukan, East Kalimantan -- The Malaysia government's threat to crack down on Indonesian illegal workers has not only affected the illegals, but also Indonesian workers whose status is completely above board.

Some Indonesian workers in Malaysia, who have legal documents to work there, confessed that they felt insecure following the Malaysian government's campaign to crack down on illegals that began in October last year. Others said that they had been harassed by Malaysian police and citizens.

Aisyah, an Indonesian woman in her 40s, said that Malaysian police had clamped down at her work place and neighborhood in Sabah state, after the Malaysian government announced an amnesty for one million Indonesian illegal workers in Malaysia in October last year. The government vowed to crackdown on illegals after the amnesty period ended.

The crackdown was delayed several times because of Indonesian protests. The latest announcement of a crackdown was made several days ago when Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi met with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Malaysia. Badawi said that the crackdown would start on March 1.

Despite the extension, Aisyah, who has been a worker at a plantation company for many years in Sabah, said that she felt that she was always being spied upon.

"We always bring our work permits and other documents wherever we go, because Malaysian officials sometimes conduct random checks. We will certainly always bring our documents after March 1 when the real crackdown starts, to avoid arrest," said Aisyah, who was in Nunukan, East Kalimantan, last week to extend her work permit.

Aisyah is one of some 1.47 million Indonesians in Malaysia with legal work permits. They form the backbone of Malaysia's workforce, often doing the menial jobs that Malaysians don't want, such as in plantations. Although their numbers are significant, their lives are largely beyond the coverage of the media.

For Aisyah, the crackdown policy has affected her psychologically. Malaysians often looked down on her after discovering that she is Indonesian.

"I felt as if I was an illegal worker. Sometimes, I want to get angry at my fellow Indonesians who enter the country illegally, but I know it would be unwise. All I can do is suggest that they get legal documents before entering Malaysia for their own sake," she said.

Hardian, 39, a resident of Tarakan in East Kalimantan, who has been living for years in Sabah as a plantation worker, shared the same experience. He has the impression that Malaysian citizens and officials are no longer sympathetic to Indonesians workers, whether legal or illegal, after the Malaysian government started its crackdowns against Indonesian illegal workers in October.

He has found that Malaysian traders often jack up the price of food or basic necessities when they know the buyers are Indonesians. "I get the impression that they are all of the same opinion, that Indonesians are disrupters of the peace in Malaysia," said Hardian.

Jamsostek claims payments being held up by companies

Jakarta Post - February 14, 2005

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Banda Aceh -- State-owned insurance company PT Jamsostek has called on companies in tsunami-ravaged Aceh to provide lists of workers victimized in the disaster, in order to speed up the payment of claims to the victims' relatives.

Mustafa Zaenal, chief of Jamsostek's branch office in Banda Aceh said here on Sunday that his company had delivered blank forms to all companies registered in the social security programs to fill out.

"Most companies that have workers registered with Jamsostek have not yet returned the forms so we can't pay the death and occupational accidents benefits to workers who were killed or injured," he explained.

He said officials from Jamsostek had visited numerous companies whose workers were killed or injured in the disaster to ask them to return the forms soon, but most were unable to because they were still trying to figure out how many workers were victimized.

Many companies were still reluctant to hand over a list at this time because the search for missing workers was still ongoing, he claimed.

Mustafa said that Jamsostek had given two months, or until February 26, for the companies to give them the lists to avoid any more delays.

Jamsostek has allocated Rp 96.8 billion for the insurance claims to thousands of workers, who they estimate were killed or injured.

According to Law No. 3/1992 on social security programs, Jamsostek must pay Rp 6 million in death benefits and 42 times the gross monthly salaries in occupational accident benefits.

"Jamsostek plans to pay death benefits to workers's relatives who were killed when they were off-duty during the disaster and pays both death and occupational accident benefits," said Mustafa.

He added that the claim for insurance payments would increase from February 26, two months after the disaster, because companies were expected to complete the inventory of their workers killed or injured in the disaster.

Mustafa also pointed out that a faster benefit payment process could help the Aceh economy recover. "Many displaced persons have nothing to start a new life with because they have lost their relatives and assets, especially houses and businesses in the disaster. The province's economy can be revived sooner if Jamsostek is able to identify and pay the beneficiaries all Rp 96 billion," he said.

Several people reported that they had received money already from PT Jamsostek.

Isnaini, head of the administrative section at the local tap water company, said several women whose husbands were killed in the disaster had received between Rp 12 million (US$1,333) and Rp 40 million from Jamsostek. They said that they had used the funds as capital for new businesses and to send their children to school.

Mariaiyah who received more than Rp 40 million following the death of her husband, said she had used a part of the money to start buying and selling basic commodities at the local market and put aside another part to finance the education of her five children.

Mariaiyah's husband was one of the more than 230,000 people killed or missing in the December 26 tsunami disaster.

Government insists on suing Malaysian employers

Jakarta Post - February 12, 2005

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta -- The government insisted on Friday it would sue Malaysian employers who refused to pay their undocumented Indonesian workers, despite calls from Malaysian officials to back down from the plan.

Speaking after a limited Cabinet meeting, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin said the government would hire Malaysian attorneys to defend unpaid workers, and that Indonesia was determined to settle all labor disputes according to existing laws.

"We want to settle the disputes according to the law, which bind both workers and employers. We will hire lawyers to deal with any possible legal issues in Malaysia, including the unpaid salaries of workers," he said.

Hamid said he did not think the Malaysian government would object to the plan. "We are on the side of those who want to abide by the law. Anyone working illegally there will be punished, and so will those who hired them," he said.

There have been conflicting messages coming out of Kuala Lumpur in response to Indonesia's plan. Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak was quoted by news reports urging Jakarta to think twice before filing any charges against Malaysians.

"I am surprised [by their action] because they are here illegally. I am surprised that illegal workers want to take action against their employers," Bernama newswire quoted Najib as saying.

The New Straits Times quoted Malaysian human resource minister Fong Chan Onn as saying a more practical approach should be taken to resolve individual cases amicably.

"My advice is for them not to sue. If the workers' plight is brought to our attention, we will talk to their employers and advise them to pay their salaries," Onn said.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, however, said Indonesia should take whatever legal action it considered necessary.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to meet with Badawi on February 14 in Kuala Lumpur, with the issue of illegal workers expected to top the agenda.

Separately, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the Indonesian government simply wanted to protect the rights of its workers, particularly those who had yet to receive their salaries from their employers.

"Workers have the right to be paid. [Malaysian employers] cannot escape their obligations just because the workers are undocumented," Kalla was quoted as saying by Sahar L. Hassan, a member of the Indonesian Muslim Students Association (KAHMI).

Members of KAHMI held a meeting with Kalla at the Vice Presidential Office earlier in the morning.

Kalla reportedly said Jakarta wanted Kuala Lumpur to treat illegal Indonesian workers and their Malaysian employers equally before the law. "If the illegal workers are caned, Malaysia must also impose the same punishment on the employers," Kalla said.

Malaysia has indefinitely extended an amnesty period to give illegal workers the opportunity to leave the country and avoid legal sanctions. About 400,000 illegal migrants, mostly Indonesians, have left the country, while an estimated 500,000 others are thought to remain.

Workers win over company's assets

Jakarta Post - February 12, 2005

Tangerang -- Tangerang District Court ruled on Tuesday that 455 dismissed workers of Kingstone Indonesia had precedence over China Trust Bank, one of the bankrupt writing equipment manufacturer's creditors, as regards claims to the company's assets.

In August 2004, the court had allowed the workers to auction off the assets, valued at Rp 7.8 billion (US$876,404), to fund their severance pay after finding that the firm's owner, Whu Ming Chi, had fled home to Taiwan.

After seeing an advertisement announcing the auction in a newspaper, lawyers for China Trust Bank, which is owed Rp 18.45 billion by the company, objected to the auction, claiming that the disputed assets had been pledged to the bank as collateral for loans.

However, presiding judge Gatot Supramono rejected the bank's arguments, saying that Whu Ming Chi was the only party who could claim the assets or dispute their ownership.

Students/youth

Surabaya students 'walk backwards' to protest fuel hikes

Detik.com - February 17, 2005

Budi Hartadi, Surabaya -- There are many ways to express opposition to fuel price increases. On Thursday February 17, scores of students from the University of Airlingga (Unair) Student Executive Council (BEM) chose to demonstrate by walking backwards to the East Java provincial parliament in Surabaya.

Before holding the walking backward action, the demonstrators held speeches opposing price increases in front of the State Grahadi Building on Jalan Gubernur Suryo. "The policies of the government of SBY-Kalla [President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono-Vice president Jusuf Kalla] and their ministers have failed, because they only side with the big companies and ignore the economic [needs] of the little people", shouted one of the demonstrators.

The president of Unair BEM, Bagus Wiyono, told journalists that the action was held because they had heard rumors that the government would increase fuel prices today. "As a result of this news public unease has grown. What's more it's added to by increases in the price of a number of basic goods", he said.

According to Wiyono, in a critical situation such as this the government should conduct an audit of the state fuel company Pertamina. In this way the public would know where the subsidies which are being given to Pertamina are going. "What's more the issues being raised by the government [to justify cutting subsidies], it's not clear what direction they are going", explained Wiyono.

After giving speeches in front of the Grahadi Building, the demonstrators held the walking backwards action to the Surabaya parliament which was quite far away, around 300 metres.

The action became somewhat heated when the demonstrators were about to enter the grounds of the parliament. This was because scores of security personnel from the South Surabaya Sectoral Police forbid them from entering.

As well as giving speeches, the demonstrators also sung songs of struggle and brought posters reading "Reject fuel [price increases] right now" and "The people's misfortune, Pertamina's profit". (asy)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Students protesting fuel price hikes hijack fuel truck

Detik.com - February 17, 2005

Gunawan Mashar, Makassar -- Planned fuel price hikes which are soon to be announced by the government continue to attract a response from the public. Students in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar demonstrated against the price increase by hijacking a petrol truck.

Actions took place at two separate locations. The first was in front of the Makassar Islamic University (UIM) and the second at the reformasi toll road intersection. As of going to print, Thursday February 17, the actions were still taking place.

The demonstration at UIM on Jalan Perintis Kemerdekaan was joined by scores of students. They had been demonstrating since 10am, giving speeches on the road and setting fire to tyres.

They also hijacked two petrol trucks owned by the state oil company Pertamina as they drove by although they were released a short time later. As well as giving speeches the students held a theatrical action by wrapping themselves in cotton shrouds.

As a result of the action there was a traffic jam on Jalan Perintis Kemerdekaan. Also visible were banners reading "Reject fuel [price] increases"

The other action which took place at the same time was at the reformasi toll road intersection which was joined by around 20 people from the National Student League for Democracy (LMND). They also detained a petrol tanker and gave speeches opposing increases in the price of oil. (jon)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Aceh students again rally for free tuition

Jakarta Post - February 15, 2005

Banda Aceh -- Hundreds of students from Syiah Kuala University (Unsyiah) in Banda Aceh again held a protest at the university compound on Monday, demanding the university president, Abdi Abdul Wahab, to provide them and the lecturers shelter and free tuition for one semester.

The two-hour long protest was the third in the past week.

Zulfikar, the chairman of the university's student association, said that shelter provision was aimed at creating a better learning environment as many of their homes as well as those of many lecturers were destroyed in the tsunami on December 26.

War on terror

Bashir rejects Bali bomb link, says Bush behind charges

Agence France Presse - February 17, 2005

Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has rejected charges he was involved in terrorist plots including the 2002 Bali bombings and said President George W. Bush was behind the allegations.

Appearing in court as his defence team presented their arguments in his trial on terrorist charges, the hardline cleric again denied that he led the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah group. A court in 2003 cleared him of that charge.

Prosecutors have sought an eight-year jail term for Bashir for his alleged link to a series of deadly bombings in recent years blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah, including the Bali nightclub attacks in which 202 people were killed.

The 66-year-old bearded cleric said the United States had pressured the government to put him in jail or hand him over to the United States and "hired" Indonesian police to prevent him from campaigning for Islamic law, or Sharia.

"My sermons have made America under George W. Bush and his acolytes afraid and feel uneasy," Bashir said in his defence plea. "I'm sure that this case has been fabricated by George W. Bush and his acolytes to undermine Islamic Sharia from inside," he said.

He denied that he was present at a Jemaah Islamiyah ceremony at a rebel camp in the southern Philippines in 2000, or that he had relayed Osama bin Laden's calls to fight the United States.

He accused the US of a "cunning" campaign to impose its values on Muslims worldwide. "They are not only doing it in Indonesia but also in Afghanistan by destroying the Taliban regime which established Islamic Sharia. They are doing it in Iraq by killing Muslim men, women and children," he said.

Bashir fled to Malaysia in the 1980s to escape persecution against Muslim activists by then-dictator Suharto. He returned to Indonesia in 1999 following Suharto's downfall the previous year.

"Since returning from Malaysia my activities were simply preaching and teaching, making a living honestly," he said, claiming he knew nothing of Jemaah Islamiyah's existence.

Bashir was on trial for inciting followers to stage the Bali bombings and a attack on the Jakarta Marriott hotel which killed 12 people in 2003, charges for which he could have faced the death penalty if convicted.

Prosecutors have said there was insufficient evidence to back up the primary charge that Bashir and his supporters actually planned the attacks or incited others to engage in terrorism. However they said evidence showed he was guilty of involvement in acts of terrorism.

Bashir, who was cleared in 2003 of leading Jemaah Islamiyah, was released from jail in April last year after serving a sentence for an immigration offence.

He was immediately rearrested by police, who said they had new evidence of terror links. Prosecutors in their indictment said Bashir, as Jemaah Islamiyah chief, visited a rebel training camp in April 2000 and relayed a "ruling from Osama bin Laden which permitted attacks and killings of Americans and their allies." Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for numerous attacks including a suicide bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta last September that killed 11 people.

Government/civil service

AGO, House nearly go to blows over graft

Jakarta Post - February 18, 2005

Tony Hotland, Jakarta -- A brief commotion ended a five-hour hearing between the Attorney General's Office (AGO) and the House of Representatives on Thursday following a lawmaker's remark depicting Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh as "an Islamic preacher in a village of thieves".

Hosted by House Commissions II and III, the hearing kicked off hospitably with discussions centering around the detention of regional councillors accused of embezzling public funds.

Lawmakers questioned the detention saying it was unlawful, because prosecutors had used Presidential Regulation No. 110/2000 on local council budgets that had been annulled by the Supreme Court in 2002.

In defense, Abdul Rahman said the regulation was still applicable for prosecuting cases that took place before the regulation was revoked.

"Besides, we're not only using that regulation, we are also using other laws, including Law No. 28/1999 on clean governance, Law No. 20/2001 on corruption eradication, and other regulations," he said.

The hearing became heated when certain lawmakers, mostly from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), accused prosecutors of being biased and politicizing cases as many of the detained local lawmakers were from PDIP.

PDIP is chaired by former president Megawati Soekarnoputri who was defeated by current President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in last year's presidential elections.

"We're targeting those alleged to have committed acts of corruption regardless of their parties or affiliations. Prosecutors are keeping them behind bars, even though they have not yet been proven guilty, because of the fear that they might flee, destroy evidence or threaten witnesses. For those former administration officials who have not been detained, this is because we still lack evidence," said Abdul Rahman.

The legislators, who repeatedly interrupted Abdul Rahman's answers, also brought up other issues, including reports of prosecutors blackmailing and "playing dirty" with local councillors so they could avoid being linked to the cases.

Since the beginning the reformation era 1998, no prosecutors have ever been found guilty or dismissed for corrupt misconduct, despite numerous accusations from the public.

A lawmaker from the Reform Star Party, Anhar SE, even felt sorry for Abdul Rahman, who is known to have clean record, saying he was like an Islamic preacher in a village of thieves.

Far from being flattered, Anhar's remark prompted Abdul Rahman's anger, who said the comment was inappropriate and hurtful, especially as he was accompanied by a number of high-ranking prosecutors.

"We want an apology and the remark withdrawn," he said, followed by a burst of approval from fellow prosecutors. Aceh prosecutor office head Andi Amir Ahmad even stood up and shouted loudly at the lawmakers, demanding their respect. Lawmakers joined in the commotion, telling him to leave the room.

Hearing chairman Teras Narang said legislators did not have to apologize or withdraw their statements because lawmakers had immunity under Law No. 22/2003 on the position of legislators and councillors.

In response, Abdul Rahman quoted the same law saying that legislators were obliged to uphold ethics and norms in their relationships with other institutions.

Both sides eventually decided to end the hearing without making any decisions. Abdul Rahman and Teras made their peace by shaking hands and pressing cheeks.

People are bored with parliamentarian's promises

Kompas - February 12, 2005

Saturday afternoon, February 5. A historical day for the village of Perdamaian in the Langkat regency sub-district of Stabat, North Sumatra. Since the country won its independence almost 60 years ago, not one member of the People's Representative Assembly (DPR) has set foot here. This afternoon, five of the 10 DPR members from the electoral district of North Sumatra III are holding a meeting with their constants.

The DPR members are Bomer Pasaribu and Mahadi Sinambela from the Golkar Party, Ansory Siregar from the Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS), Maruahal Silalahi from the Democratic Party (PD) and Zulhizwar from the Reform Star Party (PBR). The event is being facilitated by the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) and the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (IMD), two foreign non-profit organisations who are active in the area of democratic development.

Unexpectedly however, the arrival of the legislators was clearly not greeted with much enthusiasm with only a few local people bothering to attended. The room was virtually empty. The organising committee had provided around 200 seats but less than a quarter were occupied. Even the head of the village failed to attend. He was represented by the former village chief.

It was as if local people were already fed up with the promise of their representative which never come to fruition and believe that regardless of whether or not there is a meeting, their lives will be the same.

Throughout the meeting, Solimin, one of the local leaders, repeatedly asked the DPR members to be serious in acting on the people's wishes. "Pak Democrat, seriously make a note of this, okay! Please relate this directly to Pak SBY [President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono]" he said again and again to Silalahi. Solimin was relating a number of cases of occupation of land owned by local people which have taken place since 1967, but which to this day had yet to be properly resolved.

"Pak, seriously make note of this!" he repeated again continuing to press Silalahi to take out a pen and actually record it in a note book.

Sofyan, another local, bluntly warned the five DPR members to really think about the ordinary people. "Don't just come [here] and campaign, then after the campaign forget [us]", he stressed. The questioning was increasingly making the legislative members sitting in the front seats look like prisoners sitting in the dock.

Similar calls were raised in two other places, in the village of Hinai Kanan in the sub-district of Hinai, Langkat regency, as well as in the village of Tunggu Rono, in the Binjai Timor sub- district of Binjai City. Nevertheless, in these two villages the people were more enthusiastic. The meeting was filled with outburst from as many as 150 people who attended.

Lembong, a member of the Hinai Kanan village reminded the legislators of the promises they made during the election campaign to build a sluice gate. "Earlier, you and the [election] success team asked [us] to vote for [you]. Now, think about the people. If there was a sluice gate, we wouldn't forget you gentlemen and ladies. In [the] 2009 [elections] we also won't forget", he said during a dialogue moderated by Amir Nadapdap, and anthropologist from the North Sumatra University.

Abdul Hamid, from the village of Tunggu Rono, even became angry. The grandfather who has lived for almost a century, 99 years, has lost all hope. He no longer knows from whom to seek protection in order for him to be able to get back his land which was taken by the state. Since the era of reformasi, government officials have all made all kinds of promises but they have never been realised, even after one by one his colleges have gone to the grave.

"All of you DPR [members] from Jakarta, take care of the people's land. My friends are all gone, but the land issues here have also yet to be solved. Since the period of independence this nation has never upheld the law. It's all just about dividing up the money" he said gasping for breath, his hands shaking as held the microphone.

But as is usual with politicians, their cunning to obfuscate and make excuses didn't elude them. If in working meetings at the DPR they succeed in making ministers confused, its even more so for ordinary people who have no power and a minimum of information. With their skills at debate, they tried to lead people to the view that it is actually they who must understand the members of the DPR, not the other way round.

When they met with people from the village of Perdamaian, Zulhizwar asserted that the DPR has never neglected the people. "Before, before I became a DPR member, there were also views like yours [which were expressed]. But, it turns out there is a lot of work [to do] at the DPR. We work late into the night", he said.

Silalahi also tried to convince them that he had struggled to the best of his abilities. He related the story of how he has often fought for the welfare of farmers when he meets with the minister of agriculture during working meetings in Senayan [South Jakarta, the location of the DPR]. "I'm always asking the minister of agriculture to change just one minor issue: why during the harvesting season does the price of rice always go down", he said.

Silalahi also tried to convince the people that he continues to fight for development in North Sumatra. "If indeed Sumatra is not developed, it's not just other parts of the country which can be said to be breaking away. North Sumatra could also [do so]", he said.

Siregar's arguments were different again. He proposed a conspiracy theory. "The ones who have buried Indonesia, first of all are the foreigners. Secondly our own people", he said.

Pasaribu and Sinambela and Pasaribu meanwhile tried to avoid responsibility. Sinambela explained that not all of the problems could be answered because some of them have already been handed over to local governments because of regional autonomy.

"It is more correct for these issues to be handed over to the regents or governors. Don't be angry therefore if this meeting doesn't bring about too many solutions", he said.

Pasaribu meanwhile threw up a new a new reason for hope. He informed local people about the existence of the Joint Working Committee of 60 DPR and Regional Representatives Council (DPD) Members. He promised that the committee would be able to accelerate development in North Sumatra.

A DPR of assembly members

According IFES' legal and electoral program coordinator, Adhy Aman, the aim of these activities are in a small part to bring legislators and the people closer together. In addition to this it also increases the spirit of team work between DPR members in an electoral district.

Following the last general elections, legislative members no longer wanted to be at odds with each other any more, rather to synergise the development of a strong team. "Problems in electoral districts cannot possibly be rapidly acted upon without there being joint team work", explained Aman.

On these grounds IFES has expressed its highest appreciation to the five legislators who wanted to participate in pioneering the formation of a joint team for the North Sumatra III electoral district.

However it is also appropriate for congratulations to be given to IFES for having facilitated locals to all in their representative's promises. Law Number 22/2003 on the Organisation and Composition of the People's Consultative Assembly, the DPR, the DPD and the Provincial Legislative Councils (DPRD) clearly regulates the duties of DPR members. Article 29 Section (f) states "DPR members have an obligation to reserve, bring together, accommodate and act upon the wishes of society".

The event also reminded the DPR of its oath/promise. "In the name of Allah (God) I swear/promise: [I] will fight for the wishes of the people who I represent in order to bring about the national goals for the sake of the interests of the nation and the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia". (Sutta dharmasaputra)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Local elections will be 'undemocratic'

Jakarta Post - February 17, 2005

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta -- Law No. 32/2004 on regional administrations could create undemocratic elections of governors, mayors and regents, scheduled to begin in June across the country, a court heard on Wednesday.

A number of experts told the Constitutional Court that the law contravenes the Constitution because it allows the government to intervene in the electoral process.

Ryaas Rasyid, a former director general of regional autonomy at the home affairs ministry, said the government must not get involved in the regional elections process. "A democratic election must be conducted by an independent agency," he told the court.

The government recently issued Government Regulation No. 6/2005 on regional elections, which are due to start in June.

During the hearing, the government representatives said that the government drafted the regulation in such a way because all local administration chiefs were part of the state apparatus, under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Legal expert Frans Luhulima of Airlangga University concurred with Ryaas, calling the government "impolite" for issuing the regulation, while the law was still being challenged in court. "The court should freeze the implementation of the law on regional direct elections," he said.

Meanwhile, political expert J. Kristiadi said the contentious articles of the law fail to ensure the principle of fairness and impartiality because it authorizes local general elections commissions (KPUDs) to conduct the elections, but also requires them to be accountable to each provincial legislative council (DPRD).

The KPUDs are the provincial branches of the General Elections Commission (KPU), which organized last year's legislative and presidential elections. "The local legislatures meanwhile comprises members of political parties, which can nominate someone for the local election. A player must not be involved in the process of such a power competition, or else a fair poll can't be guaranteed," Kristiadi said. Ryaas said that there should be a single national system for polls either to elect legislative members, the president or the local administration heads.

He said he could not understand why the law does not authorize KPU, which commendably ran the 2004 elections and won praise from the international community, to organize the regional elections.

"These inconsistencies are illogical," Ryaas claimed, and added that the government and the House of Representatives, which enacted the law, failed to show their commitment to real regional autonomy.

Kristiadi and Ryaas agreed that the problems stemmed from the Constitution, which they deemed as "not perfect yet".

A number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and provincial branches of the KPU, brought the case to the Constitutional Court, saying they opposed certain articles of the law.

Law No. 32/2004 came into force in October 2004. While the law was enacted in a bid to nurture democracy in the country, many have warned of a possible backlash over its many confusing stipulations.

Corruption/collusion/nepotism

'I don't care' about graft report: Minister

Jakarta Post - February 18, 2005

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta -- Government officials appeared indifferent when responding to a survey by Transparency International Indonesia (TII), which ranked Jakarta and the customs office most corrupt institutions.

"I don't care," was the simple response of Minister of Finance Yusuf Anwar, who oversees the customs service, on Thursday when commenting on the survey findings.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said that the fact that his feif was the most corrupt city "makes sense".

Speaking at the State Palace, Yusuf said, "Just let it go. I don't care. All I care about are the improvements in governance and oversight that are taking place. It is more important to try to make an effort instead of trying to make the headlines." He added, "The public do not see our efforts, but things are improving. TII can say what it likes as it is only looking for headlines," he added.

Apart from the customs service, the finance ministry also oversees the tax service, which is named as the eleventh most corrupt institution in TII's list.

Yusuf claimed that the amount of state funds lost to corruption was very small, pointing out that the issue was "exaggerated by certain parties".

Citing an example, he said only 2 percent of the country's three million taxpayers evaded paying taxes last year. "The claim that 40 percent of the country's tax revenues are embezzled is 'bullshit'," Yusuf said, referring to median estimates of state losses in the tax and customs services made by observers.

"We have done a lot in trying to create accountable and transparent systems in the tax and customs services." "The director of the taxation service has dismissed six officials so far this year for corruption. We have also improved our supervision over the customs office at Tanjung Priok port," he added. The 2004 Indonesian Corruption Perception Index survey, conducted between last October and December with 1,305 business owners and top managers of local and multinational firms as respondents, revealed that the customs service had the highest incidence of corrupt interactions at 62 percent.

Some 140 respondents said they had to pay bribes to the customs service approximately 31 times per year, with each bribe averaging Rp 38 million (US4,086).

Sutiyoso, meanwhile, said that with over 70 percent of the country's economic transactions taking place in the capital city, so "it makes sense that most corruption cases took place here". The survey, he argued, was not about corruption "within the city administration".

Sutiyoso also believed that the survey might have selected the wrong respondents. "Take the city public works agency as an example. With hundreds of projects being put out to tender, many businessmen fail to win contracts. If they were to respond to the survey, of course they will accuse the tender winners of bribery."

The governor, who will end his second term in 2007, believed that his administration could curb corruption by cooperating with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in setting up a mail box for the public to file complaints as well as establishing a regional ombudsman.

The responses of the two officials were regretted by TII board of directors member Todung Mulya Lubis. "Those comments show the government's arrogance. They should have been ashamed [with the survey findings] instead of getting angry," he said. "The report reflects the business community's perceptions on corruption. The government should have reflected on its performance."

The noted lawyer reminded the government that the business community had yet to see any of the changes promised by the new government, including a renewed fight against corruption, the resolving of high-profile disputes involving foreign investors, improved legal certainty and attracting more investment.

Jakarta, customs top graft list

Jakarta Post - February 17, 2005

Tony Hotland, Jakarta -- In the eyes of the business community, Jakarta is the most corrupt city and the customs service the most corrupt institution in the country, according to a survey by Transparency International Indonesia (TII), the results of which were revealed on Wednesday.

Of 21 cities/regencies surveyed, the country's capital was perceived to be the most corrupt by the business community, followed by the major provincial capitals and industrial centers of Surabaya, Medan and Semarang. Getting positive reviews were the smaller cities of Wonosobo, Banjarmasin, and Makassar, which were perceived as being the least corrupt cities in the country.

The survey compiled the responses to questionnaires and face-to- face interviews with 1,305 business owners and top managers from local and multinational firms operating in the 21 areas.

The questions mostly centered around the need to pay bribes in order to obtain public procurement contracts and business permits, and also the level of satisfaction with the services provided by local government institutions.

"It's quite saddening that the ambivalence of local businessmen as regards bribery actually exacerbates the problem," said Todung Mulya Lubis, a member of the TII's board of directors.

The survey confirmed public concerns about deep-rooted corruption within government institutions, and served to back up a Transparency International (TI) survey that ranked Indonesia as the fifth most corrupt country out of 146 surveyed last year.

The 2004 Indonesian Corruption Perception Index survey, conducted between October and December last year, was conducted in cooperation with, among other bodies, the Berlin-based TI and the European Commission.

The 21 cities were selected based on a number of factors and discussions, including with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), and were ranked on a scale of zero to 10, with zero indicating the most corrupt.

Besides identifying the country's most corrupt areas, the survey also said that the customs service, police, and armed forces were the institutions where bribery was most common.

A total of 140 respondents said they had to pay bribes to the custom service approximately 31 times per year, with the average amount paid each time being Rp 38 million (US$4,086).

Meanwhile, over half of the respondents believed that strict law enforcement with severe punishments for culprits were essential for eliminating corruption in the country, and were believed to be more important than higher salaries.

Therefore, most of them hoped the government would press ahead with the hard task of reforming the country's weak legal system.

NGO demands probe on KPU graft case

Jakarta Post - February 16, 2005

Jakarta -- The Coalition for Clean and Proper Elections (Koalisi LSM) demanded National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar on Tuesday suspend a probe into them and instead go ahead investigating a Rp 301 billion (US$33 million) graft case allegedly involving the General Elections Commission (KPU).

Previously, Koalisi LSM had reported the KPU to the Jakarta Police for an alleged mark up in the election budget by the commission during the preparations for the legislative election on April 5 last year.

After the report was issued, the KPU accused the Koalisi LSM of libeling it, while the Jakarta Police decided to investigate the non-governmental organization, not the KPU, over the case.

Hermawanto of the Koalisi LSM said police should decide whether the KPU was guilty in the case before probing into the libel case involving the Koalisi LSM.

"If the KPU is found not guilty in the graft case, then it could say that we're libeling them, but the police must investigate the KPU first in this case," Hermawanto said.

Public upbeat over graft suspect hunt

Jakarta Post - February 12, 2005

Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta -- The public has high hopes that the planned government team assigned to hunt down graft suspects residing overseas will be able to conclude its mission in a country where corruptors have long managed to easily escape justice and enjoy their ill-gotten wealth abroad, according to a top lawmaker and anticorruption activist.

Deputy chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) A.M. Fatwa, however, warned that the public's optimism could turn into outrage, if the team fails to perform its task.

"This step can be a test to assess the government's seriousness in eradicating corruption," Fatwa said in a press release issued on Friday.

"If there is a positive result, then [public] support for the current government will strengthen. If not, I'm afraid the public will become increasingly apathetic, and perceive similar actions in the future as mere lip service," said the senior politician.

Hatta was responding to a plan by the Attorney General's Office to set up a joint team to hunt down corruption suspects who have fled overseas particularly to neighboring Singapore. The eight- member team will also track down the personal assets of the corruptors to help recover state losses.

Office spokesman R.J. Soehandojo said that the team, which will include officials from the National Police, immigration office and the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, would start work after the government concludes an extradition treaty with Singapore.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to fly to Singapore on February 15 to discuss the long-running extradition issue with Singapore Prime Minister Lie Hsien Loong.

Fatwa acknowledged that the success of the team's mission would largely depend on whether the government could secure an extradition treaty with Singapore.

Meanwhile, Lucky Djani, deputy chairman of Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), said that aside from good bilateral ties with foreign countries, the team's success would also depend on good coordination between related offices.

"From what we've seen so far, lack of coordination has always been the main problem of our government. If the team can get past that hurdle then the road to success will open wide," Lucky told The Jakarta Post.

"We will see this time whether or not the team can capture those fugitives, since it is such a huge task and cannot be accomplished in a few months but may take as long as several years," he added.

Deputy Attorney General for intelligence Basrief Arief has been chosen to head the special team, while National Police deputy chief of detectives Insp. Gen. Dadang Garnida will be his deputy.

Meanwhile, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said that the team did not have a specific target on the number of graft suspects to be brought back home to face trial, nor how many assets could be recovered. "We'll just do our best," Da'i said.

Da'i admitted that an extradition agreement, especially with Singapore, would make the team's work easier, but even without the agreement, the team would still be able to work by asking help from a mutual legal assistance agreement (an agreement between ASEAN countries) and Interpol.

"First we have to be able to locate all those fugitives by asking help from those agencies, then we will be able to think of our next move," Da'i said.

Local & community issues

Locals protest Blue Oasis City

Jakarta Post - February 17, 2005

Bekasi -- The ongoing construction of Blue Oasis City complex in Karangkitri, Bekasi, has come up against protest from all sides.

Aji Ngumboro, member of Bekasi council Commission A for legal and administrative affairs, said the administration should stop the project that is being developed by PT Rekapastika.

"The most blatant mistake is that the municipality agreed to receive only 35 percent of the fees after the first five years. That is too small -- about Rp 100 million a year," he said.

The 7.6-hectare complex will consist of a shopping mall, two apartment buildings, a hotel and a water park. Investment in the mall alone has surpassed Rp 300 billion.

Meanwhile, Benny Tunggul of the Environment Community Union (ECU), added that the location is in Bekasi's green area.

A farmer in Karangkitri, Saudin, said that he and 20 other farmers had not received compensation for their land affected by the project, which commenced in 1994. Company director Rosano Pitojo, however, argued that the Bekasi administration was responsible for land acquisition.

In their agreement, Bekasi would be granted ownership and management of Blue Oasis City in 2033.

Bekasi spokesman Endang Suharyadi told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that the administration would provide facilities for investors intending to develop commercial areas and shopping malls.

Residents sue Mayor over Punclut

Jakarta Post - February 17, 2005

Bandung -- Environment activists and Bandung residents have filed a civil lawsuit on Wednesday against Bandung Mayor Dada Rosada over the development of the Punclut Tourist Resort.

The lawsuit, filed at the Bandung state administrative court, was a last ditch effort by the activists and residents to stop the project. In the suit, the group allege that the development of Punclut Tourist Resort was in contravention of West Java provincial Bylaw No. 2/2003 that prohibited the construction of new roads leading into the Punclut conservation area.

The activists and residents fear that if the resort is built, it will damage the environment in the Punclut area, which is a water catchment area for Bandung city.

Sumbawa villagers riot, one dead

Jakarta Post - February 15, 2005

Mataram -- One villager was killed and four others severely injured after gang fight between neighboring villagers in Bima regency, West Nusa Tenggara province on Sunday.

The bloody riot on Sumbawa island also left six buildings in Rompo subdistrict burned.

The clash broke out after a Rompo resident named Gunawan had a scuffle with Omang from neighboring Karumbu subdistrict.

Omang, who was surrounded in the fight, ran away back to his village and quickly was able to round up a vigilante posse of Karumbu residents to exact revenge upon Gunawan and the rest of Rompo. The Karumbu residents got to the outskirts of Rompo and were met by a gang of Rompo residents, who had anticipated the revenge attack, and the two gangs armed with sharp weapons fought a pitched battle.

Human rights/law

Draft defense and security law a step back for reform

Sinar Harapan - February 17, 2005

Jakarta -- Discussion of the Draft Law on Defense and Security (RUU Hankam) which has been initiated up by Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono is a step backwards in efforts to reform the Indonesian armed forces (TNI).

This view was expressed separately by the former TNI chief of territorial affairs retired Lieutenant General Agus Widjojo and the chairperson of the National Mandate Party Amien Rais on Wednesday (16/2) the Thursday (17/2).

Widjojo believes the functions of defense and security are different and cannot be united because the security portfolio which to date has been held by the Indonesian national police and defense which is held by the TNI are totally different. "It isn't that easy to unite the functions of defense and security. This is a solution which is too simplistic", said Widjojo.

Rais believes the merging of the functions of the TNI and national police is the start of the liquidation of democracy. Rais said further that it was a strange thing for the minister of defense to say that the separation of the functions of the TNI and police to date are a kind excess reformasi.

"The separation of the functions between the TNI as the backbone of national defense and the police as the backbone of national security represents a proportional result of reformasi. So it is very strange if this is said to be excessive reformasi", he said.

Earlier, in an interview with Sinar Harapapn on Tuesday February 15, the head of the legal bureau of the Department of Defense Brigadier General Sugeng Widodo said that the RUU Hankam will become a legal umbrella for Law Number 3/2003 on National Defense, Law Number 2/2002 on the Indonesian National Police and Law Number 34/2004 on the TNI. According to Widodo, revisions can later be made to all laws which refer to the RUU Hankam.

So far, plans to draft a law on defense and security have been restricted to academic writings and study. Widodo however says that there are a number of points which must later be inserted into the RUU Hankam including the question of the concept of foreign and domestic defense, mechanisms for making decisions, the formation of a defense and security council and the issue of a reserve force. In the future, the position of the TNI under the Department of Defense and the police under the Department of Home affairs or the Department of Legal Affairs and Human Rights will also be regulated.

With regard to the plan, Widodo says that the Department of Defense should hold a public consultation. "Don't make policies only based on the decisions of a small section of the elite", he said.

Widodo also believes that if the RUU Hankam later flows on to the realisation of the placement of the TNI under the Department of Defense and the police under the Department of Home Affairs -- as part of realising reform in the TNI/Police -- it would be best if it was not done in a complicated manner. "If the aim is to carry out reformasi, look for the shortest way, don't instead create a new problem", he said.

An observer from the Propatria Institute for Military Studies, Hari Prihartono, believes that it is inappropriate for the Minister of Defense to initiate a discussion about the integration of the TNI and police in parliament.

According to Prihartono, Sudarsono should not confuse his role as an academic and the minister of defense. It is enough for Sudarsono to moot the idea in accordance with his authority as the minister of defense, but it shouldn't be spun off onto other institutions such as the police which are not under his authority. "It will become a big problem if the defense minister spins it off onto other institutions because the police are not under his authority", said Prihartono.

Prihartono says that he is unable to comment yet on the RUU Hankam which is presently still in the form of an academic document. "Later if it is already in the form of a draft [law] it will be easier to comment [on it] article by article", he said.

He believes that in its conceptual form as it is now there are still many changes which will be made. The discussion of the draft of the RUU Hankam must continue and be handled by an internal Defense Department team which is coordinated by the head of the legal bureau, Widodo.

The team is made up of five TNI officer with the rank of colonel. Three of them are members of the legal bureau, that is Colonel Dharmadi, Colonel Heru and Colonel Ahwani. The two other officers are from the Directorate General of Defense Forces in the Department of Defense.

Prihartono added that the RUU Hankam has more or less adopted the concept of national security which has previously been proposed by Propatria. This document includes issues of internal security and defense. "But I don't know how it happened that a draft of the RUU Hankam such as this appeared. It doesn't appear to fit because it has most certainly been taken from a different concept", he said.

Not under a single roof

Indonesian chief of police General Da'i Bahtiar meanwhile says that he doesn't feel convinced that the TNI and police could come under one roof. "I don't know exactly and [wish to] comment on that one issue, but what I heard was [it would] not united [them] under one roof. Perhaps what is being considered is how to integrate TNI or police aid [efforts]", he said in Semarang on Wednesday February 16.

Responding to the defense minister's statement which said that his office was currently preparing amendments to the Defense Aceh, that is that the TNI and police would be under the coordination of the Department for Legal, Political and Security affairs, Bahtiar admitted that for the time being TNI or police aid efforts have no government regulation or reference which is mandated by law.

Although at the moment joint work and their mechanisms are functioning, according to Bahtiar a standard regulation is still needed. "So, perhaps what was meant by the minister of defense is only about the implementation, what is the social relationship between the TNI and the police", he explained. (ant/yuk/san/emy)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Major changes in draft of defense, security law

Jakarta Post - February 16, 2005

Tony Hotland, Jakarta -- The Ministry of Defense is drafting a new law to replace the existing defense law aimed at upgrading coordination between the defense and security functions of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police, and putting the two forces under the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs.

Speaking on the sidelines of a hearing with legislators on Tuesday, Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono expected the draft to be submitted to the House of Representatives within two months.

"We're assessing the coordination and synchronization between the TNI and the police. The two should be under the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs because this office deals with both defense and security issues," he told reporters.

With centralized coordination, Juwono said the two forces would cooperate better in securing and defending the country, especially in combating activities such as human trafficking and illegal logging.

Currently, the TNI and the police are under the direct supervision of the President. The two forces were once integrated under the name of Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI), but were later separated in 1999.

Juwono's remark completely contradicted previous information made available by a team drafting revisions to laws on defense (No. 3/2002) and police (No. 32/2004), who said that the TNI and the police would be put under the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Home Affairs respectively.

Contacted for comment, a confused team member said Juwono's remark was likely to be incorrect. The team member questioned the plan, saying the Ministry of Defense would have no authority at all if the TNI was put under the control of another ministry. On the other hand, the team is currently in talks with the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding the plan to put police under their authority.

It is believed that the National Police would strongly object to the plan because it would mean that a National Police chief would be positioned under a home affairs minister, who are mostly recruited from Army top brass.

Government urged to improve legislation on human rights

Jakarta Post - February 15, 2005

Tony Hotland, Jakarta -- Human rights activists urged the government to provide better legislation for human rights protection in the country as it aims to ratify the International Bill on Human Rights.

Director of Indonesian Human Rights Monitor (Imparsial) Rachland Nashidik said that without such a measure, the move to ratify the international convention would only be seen as a mere cosmetic gesture to enhance Indonesia's image in the international community rather than to bring substantial progress in the protection of human rights here.

"Looking at our history [performance of past governments], I'm pessimistic that the government will enact [the necessary] laws immediately or even in the future due to strong political reluctance," he said over the weekend.

"The idea of ratifying the bill surfaced during the administration of Gus Dur [president Abdurrachman Wahid]. But there's a question mark whether the plan to ratify it now is because we're elected to chair the United Nations Human Rights Commission last month," he said, referring to Makarim Wibisono, a senior Indonesian diplomat who has been appointed to the top post at the UN human rights body.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is said to have instructed the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to prepare for the ratification of the International Bill on Human Rights, which came into being three decades ago.

The bill consists of two covenants: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Culture Rights; and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Rachland said the government should also adopt two optional protocols contained in the bill. One is allowing individuals to submit petitions about human rights violations in Indonesia, and second is the abolition of the death penalty in all forms.

"If the government wants to be thorough and show that it takes the bill seriously, it should consequently enact implementing laws and adopt these two protocols. At least, the ratification allows the amendment of the current Human Rights Law, which still contains many loopholes," he said.

Indonesia has ratified a number of conventions in connection with human rights, such as the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; or the Covenant on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

However, no laws have been enacted to follow up the ratified conventions to make them a part of Indonesian law, making the protection of these respective issues more discounted and more difficult to assure.

Makarim Wibisono also warned the government to be responsible with its plan to ratify the bill. "What's worse than not ratifying the bill is ratifying it, but intentionally ignoring the responsibility it brings by not applying it. It means you need the implementing guidelines, such as laws and government regulations," he said.

He also said that the international bill should be able to address the issue of legal impunity enjoyed by certain groups of people, which many believe is the main reason why many human rights cases here have failed to bring justice to the victims.

Police hit snag in probing Munir's death

Jakarta Post - February 15, 2005

Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta -- The National Police are facing difficulties in the investigation of the death of top human rights activist Munir, particularly due to resistance from the Netherlands government to allow the Indonesian police to investigate in that country.

Director of Transnational Security Brig. Gen. Pranowo Dahlan told reporters on Monday that the Netherlands wanted a mutual legal assistance agreement signed between the two countries before Indonesian investigators could do any investigative work there.

"With such an agreement, our investigation there could be declared legal and valid," Pranowo said on the sidelines of a hearing between the National Police and House of Representatives Commission III on human rights and security.

Munir, who often criticized the human rights record of local security personnel, died of arsenic poisoning on board a Garuda flight to Amsterdam from Jakarta on September 7, 2004.

Due to the absence of an agreement, the police have not been able to collect the remains of Munir or documents related to the case. An autopsy was conducted on Munir's body by Dutch doctors in the Netherlands.

Pranowo said the police were focusing the investigation on three people who were on the same flight as Munir. They are an off-duty Garuda pilot named Policarpus, Indonesian passenger Emilie Lie Swan Gie and an Indonesia-born Dutch Citizen identified as Lie. None of the three has been named a suspect.

Both Emilie and Lie sat near Munir on the flight, while Policarpus moved Munir from economy class to business class on the plane.

According to the police report, Emilie Lie Swan has agreed to be questioned, but the police have yet to question Lie, a Dutch citizen, due to the absence of a mutual legal assistance agreement between the two countries.

Therefore, in order to solve the case, Pranowo said an agreement was urgently needed. "We plan to send investigators to the Netherlands but we're waiting for the go ahead from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Pranowo said.

Elsewhere, Pranowo said the police wanted to reconstruct Munir's death this week, but had to wait for Garuda to provide a plane on which to do the work. Most Garuda airplanes are currently being used to transport haj pilgrims. "This will be only a preliminary reconstruction since we have no suspects yet. We hope we can do it this week," Pranowo said.

Reconstruction of Munir's death will start from the moment he entered Soekarno-Hatta International Airport until his transit in Singapore's Changi International Airport. Ii is believed that Munir ingested arsenic on the short trip to Singapore.

Lawmakers differ over laws on security, defense

Jakarta Post - February 12, 2005

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- The government's move to amend legislation on security and defense has split legislators, with a Golkar Party lawmaker leading the opposition to attempts to prevent House members from having a say in the appointment of the Indonesian Military (TNI) chief.

Happy Bone Zulkarnaen, a member of House of Representative's Commission I on political, security and foreign affairs, said the role of lawmakers in appointing the TNI chief was crucial to the system of checks and balances.

He expressed concern that if the role of the House was eliminated, the president would come to dominate the country's armed forces as during the authoritarian Soeharto regime.

Happy was responding to drafts of revised legislation on security and defense, as reported in this paper on Thursday, which among other things would allow the president to appoint and dismiss the TNI chief without approval from the House.

A special team at the Ministry of Defense has completed the first drafts of the revised legislation, which also include proposed changes to the law on the National Police.

Effendi Choirie, a legislator from the National Awakening Party (PKB), supports the revised legislation and expects President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to implement the changes before the end of his term in 2009.

"Personally, I support the ministry's ideas. I do not think the House will object to not interfering in the president's rights, but only on one clear condition: that the TNI is placed under the Ministry of Defense," Effendi told The Jakarta Post.

Happy agreed that the TNI must be placed under the Ministry of Defense, and the National Police under the Ministry of Home Affairs, but underlined that the "time frame for re-positioning the police must be more flexible" to allow the ministry complete the necessary internal preparations.

Under the proposed changes to Law No. 3/2002 on defense and Law No. 32/2004 on the military, the Indonesian Military will be put under the Ministry of Defense. Currently, the military is under the direct supervision of the president.

President Susilo, however, has said that any moves to place the TNI under the supervision of the Ministry of Defense should be implemented gradually.

Coalition of NGOs opposes secrets bill

Jakarta Post - February 12, 2005

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta -- A coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) launched a campaign on Friday opposing a proposed official secrets bill, which they said could hamper the effort to establish transparent and accountable government if it were enacted into law.

They also urged the House of Representatives to prioritize the deliberation of a freedom of information bill this year rather than the official secrets bill.

"Essentially, we don't need an official secrets bill as many provisions on official secrets have actually been incorporated into the freedom of information bill," said Agus Sudibyo from the Institute for the Study of Free Flows of Information (ISAI) during a press conference held at the House.

He questioned why the government and lawmakers preferred to prioritize the official secrets bill rather than the freedom of information bill, which was drafted three years ago.

Fellow activist Agus Pambagio from the Children of the Nation Vision (VAB) group emphasized that the immediate deliberation of the freedom of information bill was important for ensuring transparency in the management of donations for disaster-hit areas around the country.

He said that the activists, grouped in the Freedom of Information Coalition, planned to meet legislators from the House's information and intelligence commission.

In addition, Agus Sudibyo added that the substance of the official secrets bill ran contrary to that of the freedom of information bill.

The official secrets bill adopts the principle of limited access to information, while the freedom of information bill adheres to the principle of maximum access to information.

"The principle of limited access means that the state can restrict public access to information by saying that the information is secret," he said.

According to Agus, the official secrets bill also contained articles that could pose a serious threat to press freedom.

He expressed fears that the plan to deliberate the official secrets bill was part of a government plan to stifle the flow of information, given that the government was simultaneously revision the Criminal Code. The draft revision of the Criminal Code contains articles that could also adversely affect press freedom.

Separately, legislator Mutammimul Ula, a member of the House's legislation committee, said that the House has recently included the official secrets bill on its priority list this year based on the readiness of both the government and lawmakers to deliberate the bill.

The committee had targeted the passage of 55 bills in 11 months as part of the National Legislation Program.

The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights' director general for legislation, Abdulgani Abdullah, has stated that the revised Criminal Code was among the 55 bills.

But given the fact that the revised Criminal Code contains more than 700 articles, the deliberation process could take more than three years.

Focus on Jakarta

City watchdog sees no reform on horizon

Jakarta Post - February 16, 2005

Jakarta -- Jakarta may still be dealing with its four main problems -- garbage, flooding, a poor health system and traffic jams -- for many years to come, due to a distinct lack of professionalism, a city watchdog announced on Tuesday after unveiling a report.

"The administration should humbly admit that it has not been serious or professional enough in dealing with the problems," stated the 23-page annual report put together by the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) and entitled, Jakarta: A Megalopolis or A Dump? Since the same administration will be managing the city until at least 2007, "the conditions will not change much from that of the last few years," said Fakta chairman Azas Tigor Nainggolan.

Also attending the seminar on the report, Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo argued that the administration was doing all it could to deal with the four key problems. "But it's like listening to the 1001 Arabian nights tales... there is never an end to it," he mused.

He said the administration was still planning to construct the decades overdue East Flood Canal as well as a long-planned reservoir in Ciawi, West Java, but explained that those things would not eliminate flooding as long as people continued to litter their environment so egregiously.

"There needs to be a change in people's attitude about the disposal of garbage," said Fauzi. "Floods and garbage go hand in hand." He explained that the rivers in the city were only able to flow at about 40 percent of their normal rate because they were clogged with garbage.

East Jakarta mayor Koesnan Halim, who was also invited by Fakta, admitted that about 70 percent of the residents in his municipality regularly toss their garbage directly into one of several rivers and canals.

Fakta stated that although Governor Sutiyoso had warned for years that everybody would soon be "sleeping on garbage", his administration had yet to resolve the matter, as evidenced by its failure to keep the Bojong and Bantar Gebang waste disposal facilities operating. Those two dumps are in Bogor and Bekasi, respectively, and local residents in those towns have vehemently opposed Jakarta's trash being dumped on them.

The report also blamed "the now yearly phenomenon of flooding" on the rapid construction of malls and housing complexes." It noted that there were a total of 12 new malls completed in 2004 and 11 more that were currently being built.

Fauzi Bowo admitted that the construction of buildings compounded the flood problem. "Those buildings reduce the capability of the land to absorb water," said Fauzi. "But there is nothing the administration can do to stop it. If we refuse to let them build on one site, they will simply find another."

The report cited health problems caused by the poor drainage and flooding that left water standing and provided an ideal breeding ground for dengue-carrying mosquitoes. It expressed concern over the dengue outbreak and the administration's failure to deal with it effectively.

Concerning traffic conditions, the report noted that although the administration had begun construction of an integrated transportation system, traffic problems would continue to exist as long as both police officers and motorists failed to obey the laws and drive responsibly.

Squatters demand compensation

Jakarta Post - February 16, 2005

Jakarta -- Some 200 evicted squatters from Tanjung Duren, West Jakarta, staged a demonstration at the West Jakarta District Court on Tuesday to demand more compensation.

Evicted on October 2, 2003, the 280 former residents have yet to receive compensation for the money they spent building homes on the site, which they claim totaled Rp 9.3 billion (US$1 million).

PT. Sinar Slipi Jaya is now building the Mediterania Apartment complex where their former homes once stood in the Taman Anggrek area of West Jakarta.

"I lived there for two years. I had to sell almost all the valuable belongings that I had, including my wife's jewelry and the land I owned back in my village in Pekalongan, Central Java, to build my home there. Altogether I spent almost Rp 55 million," said Sentot, a father of two children who runs an unregistered taxi service.

"We are here today, again, to ask for our right to compensation," said Ali Nugraha, the coordinator of the rally. This was their 13th demonstration outside the courthouse during the legal proceedings on the case.

The former residents are basing their case on payments they say they made to a land broker representing the owner of the site.

The residents are suing former West Jakarta mayor Sarimun Hadisaputra, PT Sinar Slipi Jaya, the reputed owner of the land, Agustina Munawar, and the city defense/security agency for compensation.

"The compensation for each family ranges from Rp 12 million to hundreds of millions of rupiah. But that does not include anything for duress or other non-material effects of the evictions," he said.

Traders protest rent increase

Jakarta Post - February 15, 2005

Jakarta -- City-owned market operator PD Pasar Jaya has raised the rental fees of at least 39 of 153 traditional markets in the capital since January, despite the traders' opposition.

Pasar Jaya president director Prabowo Soenirman said on Monday that the hike rate was based on the transaction volume at respective markets.

"The hike varies in accordance with the volume of transactions. It's natural that the traders have opposed the increase as it was the first time we raised the fees, which we considered too low," Prabowo told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

Prabowo said that Pasar Jaya had also shortened the rental term to one year from two years, owing to its plan to renovate some market buildings.

Over 1,000 traders staged a rally in front of the City Council on Monday to protest the rise in rental fees.

Arriving in dozens of public buses, the protesters said they would find it difficult to pay higher rent.

Some traders said they would have to pay between Rp 250,000 and Rp 850,000 in rent per year per square meter, as compared to only between Rp 40,000 and Rp 50,000 per kiosk for two years.

"We are also afraid that banks would refuse to loan money to small traders like us, with rental terms of one year. The banks might worry that we could not pay the money we owe them within a year," said Casmadi, a spokesman for the traders' association.

The traders also said Pasar Jaya had set a deadline of February 28 for them to start paying, in installments, the increased rent up until October. Should they fail to come up with the money, Pasar Jaya would evict them.

Chairman of the traders' association, Rostal Gurning complained that Pasar Jaya had ignored the City Council's recommendation made on December 24, 2004 not to raise rental fees.

In response to the traders' complaints, chairman of the council's commission B for the economy Abdul Muthalib Shihab promised to arrange a meeting between the traders and Pasar Jaya's Prabowo in order to seek a solution to the problem.

Pasar Jaya said that it planned to partially or completely renovate at least 86 markets since they had already exceeded the allowed 20-year life span.

Pasar Jaya is also in the process of closing down seven markets that have failed to attract high numbers of visitors and vendors, and converting them into alternative facilities, including apartments.

Promising to provide better facilities, the company has also gradually increased charges for facilities used by traders by up to 70 percent, from June 1 last year.

"The increase is part of the 300 percent increase planned for over the next five years," Prabowo said, adding that the company expected to contribute Rp 26 billion to city revenues.

News & issues

BOB urges parliament to reject fuel prices increases

Media Indonesia - February 13, 2005

Surabaya (Miol) -- The East Java United Opposition Front (BOB) is asking the East Java Regional Parliament (DPRD) to oppose fuel price increases which are planned for March and April.

"We (BOB East Java is made up of eight student groups at the provincial level) oppose the decision to increase fuel prices", East Java BOB spokesperson Syafruddin Budiman told the Antara news agency in Surabaya on Sunday.

Therefore he said, they are asking the DPRD to oppose the fuel prices if the government does go ahead and increase the price of petrol and diesel fuel by around 2,700-2,800 rupiah per litre.

"We are asking the East Java DPRD to be sensitive and to care about the suffering of the people, because the increase [in the price] of LPG of 40 per cent not long ago set off increases in the price of other goods", he said.

According to an activist from the East Java Muhammadiyah Student Association, the government must think about the domino effect of fuel price increases because the price of goods which have already increase will increase again.

"If the government want's to shift subsidies to the poor directly it must also think about the many subsidy shifts which have missed their target", he said.

He believes that shifting subsidies is not the answer to assist the poor, because of the domino effect which will throttle the people will be greater than the subsidies which will poor in.

"There is another way to assist the people without having to increase fuel prices, that is to make use of distillation technology to turn crude oil into fuel, so that the government doesn't need to provide subsidies", he said.

To date he said, the government has exported crude oil to foreign contractors which ends up being imported by the state oil company PT Pertamina in the form of refined fuel and sold with a combination of subsidies to the people.

"If the government chooses to make use of sophisticated distillation technology certainly it will be expensive, but the alternative to this is cheaper compared with [paying] subsidies year after year", he said.

He said however, that this method demands that the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono have the courage to put pressure on the international financial institutions who are intentionally placing developing countries in debt on the grounds of development.

"This method will also confront domestic obstacles because it requires the internal restructuring of PT Pertamina which is controlled by the old elite who work with the foreign elite", he said.

He added that if the government is not serious about defending the people then BOB and other Indonesian student groups will undertake procedural means to get the DPRD to sign a social contract rejecting fuel price increases.

"In any case, the Constitution mandates that any issue which is related to livelihood of large numbers of people is the responsibility of the government, including health, education, electricity, fuel and the like. If the intention is to provide subsidies, the government must also be able to raise taxes and recover money which has been misappropriated, but efforts to develop distillation technology [must] still be prioritised", he said. (Ant/Ol-1)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

'Prophet' fails to predict arrest

Jakarta Post - February 17, 2005

Palu (Central Sulawesi) -- A resident of the Alabibi subdistrict, Banggai Islands regency, Central Sulawesi province, has been arrested after he announced that he was a Muslim prophet.

Sr. Comr. Tatang Somantri, director of the crime division of the Central Sulawesi police, said that Zikrullah, the supposed prophet, was arrested a few days ago at the request of local figures.

According to Tatang, Zikrullah was charged with violating Article 156 of the Criminal Code for sparking hostility among religious believers that carries a maximum sentence of five years jail.

Zikrullah earlier built a "Ka'bah" (a small stone building in the court of the Al Haram Mosque in Mecca) in his house compound. He told his believers that they need not go to Mecca any more to perform the Muslim pilgrimage, and instead they could perform the pilgrimage around his own Ka'bah.

Indonesia removed from money laundering list

Jakarta Post - February 12, 2005

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta -- After four years of pleading by the government, the global money laundering watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), has finally removed Indonesia from its list of Non Cooperative Countries and Territories (NCCT).

The announcement is expected to greatly improve international financial institutions' confidence in Indonesia, which is still considered to be marred by corruption and legal uncertainty.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie said the government managed to convince the FATF over its efforts in complying with the regulations and recommendations set out by the task force.

"I am glad [about their decision] because it will help reduce our country risk," he told the press on Friday at the State Palace.

The decision was made after the FATF convened in Paris on Wednesday to review the list and at the same time decide the fate of Indonesia.

Since 2001, Indonesia has been on the "black" list along with Nauru, Nigeria, the Philippines, Myanmar and the Cook Islands. But after the meeting, Myanmar, Nauru and Nigeria remained on the NCCT list.

The other three countries -- Indonesia, the Cook Islands and the Philippines -- were removed from the list after recent visits by FATF representatives to the countries, confirming that they have been effectively implementing anti-money laundering measures.

The Paris-based agency, set up by developed nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), said in a statement that the three countries had applied systems with stricter customer identification, suspicious transaction reporting, bank examinations and legal capacities to investigate and prosecute money launderers.

In addition to that, the three countries had developed financial intelligence units, which analyze financial data, coordinate national efforts and facilitate international cooperation.

The FATF will now monitor the implementation of these measures in the three countries to ensure that they sustain their recent commitments and progress.

With the decision, Aburizal was hopeful that international rating agencies would eventually upgrade Indonesia's ratings soon.

"The decision will enable Indonesia to avoid higher risk premiums and interest rates imposed on the government and local firms when making transactions with international firms or when issuing bonds or borrowing money," he said.

Another advantage is that it means there is now little risk of a termination of correspondence alliances between domestic banks and banks in member countries of the FATF; and the rejection of letters of credit (L/Cs) issued by local banks.

"Other countries will no longer put us on their suspicious lists when doing financial transactions with us," said Aburizal.

The government has taken several important steps to be excluded from the noncooperative list, including passing an anti-money laundering law and establishing the Financial Transaction and Report Analysis Center (PPATK).

PPATK has audited the country's financial institutions to disclose money laundering activities.

PPATK chairman Yunus Hussein said the FATF had outlined six recommendations for Indonesia to be immediately implemented in a bid to sustain its position in the future.

The recommendations include intensifying financial audits for small banks, improving the audit process and systems, timely prosecution process, capacity building for PPATK and its tasks, drafting of a bill on mutual legal assistance for money laundering suspects and widening the authority of PPATK.

Environment

NGOs accuse TNI, officials in biggest timber heist ever

Jakarta Post - February 18, 2005

Jakarta -- The most egregious case of timber smuggling ever discovered -- valued at more than US$1 billion -- was made public on Thursday by two non-governmental organizations (NGOs), who also accused Indonesian military and government officials of running the racket.

The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and the Indonesian environmental group Telapak said the case involved the smuggling of 300,000 cubic meters of timber per month from Indonesia (mostly Papua province) to China.

One of the key points that the groups pointed out on Thursday, was that the operation was allegedly supported and managed by high-ranking Indonesian Military (TNI) officers in cahoots with other government officials and law enforcers.

They were reportedly part of a group of international criminal syndicates involved in the massive looting of merbau (Intsia) wood to supply China's increasing demand in the timber processing industry.

Merbau is one of the most valuable timber species in Southeast Asia, but Papuan communities get approximately $10 a cubic meter for chopping them down. They are then sold for around $270 per cubic meter in China where it is used for furniture and flooring.

"Papua has become the main illegal logging hotspot in Indonesia. This massive timber theft of Indonesia's last pristine forests has got to be stopped," M. Yayat Afianto of Telapak stated during a news conference to release the investigative report by the two groups in Jakarta.

The report entitled "The Last Frontier" identified Sorong, Manokwari, Fak Fak, Nabire and Serui regencies as the main illegal logging hotspots, from which the logs are shipped to the Chinese port of Zhangjiagang.

"The smuggling is still going on, even though Indonesia and China have signed an agreement to stop illegal logging. Therefore, we urge both governments to enforce the agreement immediately," said EIA's Julian Newman.

In December 2002, Indonesia and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Forest Law Enforcement and Governance designed to halt the purchase of illegal timber.

The report said a three-year investigation that started in 2002 revealed the involvement of several military personnel, customs officers and forestry officials.

During the two-hour press briefing, the names of several high- ranking military officials accused of being involved in the racket were mentioned.

"The authorities have taken no action whatsoever against these officials, even though we have reported them to the Ministry of Forestry, hoping that they would be tried. One of the officials we reported to the police still runs his logging business openly in Papua, instead of being arrested," Arbi Valentinus of Telapak told The Jakarta Post.

He was referring to a captain in the military police in Sorong who was in March 2004 reported by a television station as running an illegal logging operation and selling the wood to a Malaysian timber company.

Meanwhile, former Sorong Police chief Faisal AN and five of his subordinates are on trial in Jayapura, Papua, for their alleged roles in illegal logging in the province.

The case surfaced after a Panama-flagged vessel laden with 12,000 cubic meters of illegal logs was seized by the water police off Sorong on January 15, 2002.

The report by the environmental investigators said each component of the syndicate played a specifically defined role -- from Jakarta-based bosses securing protection for shipment, Malaysian logging gangs, Singapore-based shippers arranging transport for the logs and Hong Kong-based brokers selling huge quantities of Merbau, to companies on mainland China.

"Aside from expecting the Indonesian and Chinese governments to take action to halt the smuggling, and in light of the fact that it involves several international syndicates, we urge that an international response be formulated," said Sam Lawson, a senior campaigner for EIA.

Minister of Forestry M.S. Ka'ban has said that 43 million hectares of Indonesian forests have been damaged or destroyed over the last several decades due to illegal logging, with the average annual deforestation rate estimated at more than 2.8 million hectares since 1998.

Timber smuggling ring exposed

The Guardian - February 18, 2005

John Aglionby -- Environmental activists have exposed what they claim to be the world's biggest timber smuggling racket, the supply of the luxurious dark hardwood, merbau, from Indonesia's eastern Papua province to China and then on to Europe and north America.

The London and Washington-based Environmental Investigation Agency and its Indonesian partner Telapak, said yesterday that if all the merbau, which is used mainly for flooring, was sold in the west the trade would easily exceed #550m a year.

One Indonesian trader said on camera that at least 5% of his illegal stock ended up in Britain, but it was not clear whether this was an industry average.

"In terms of volume and of a smuggling racket involving one species from one distinct place to another and just a few organised groups behind it, merbau from Papua is the world's biggest," Julian Newman, the head of EIA's forest campaigns, told the Guardian.

Over the past three years an average of 300,000 cubic metres of merbau have been smuggled out of Papua each month, according to the 32-page report, titled The Last Frontier, Illegal Logging in Papua and China's Massive Timber Theft.

Loggers are paid #5.75 a cubic metre, which is then sold for about #128 in China after being relabelled, usually with forged Malaysian documentation as Indonesia has imposed a log export ban. Market prices in the west are up to #1,450 a cubic metre.

The report's comes a day after the American non-governmental Earth Policy Institute published research showing that China had surpassed the US in the consumption of every major commodity except oil.

Indonesia and China have laws to combat illegal logging, but neither has succeeded in implementing them, mainly due to corruption within government agencies.

The illegal merbau trade would not be possible without the participation of members of Indonesia's military and police at every stage, the EIA-Telapak report says, from the cutting down of the trees to protecting the ships until they leave Indonesian waters.

"The army, police and navy are all involved but it is mainly the navy," said Yayat Afianto of Telapak. "It is not the institutions but dozens of bad apples, including generals."

He said that if the logging continued at its current rate, Papua, which has the largest remaining forest cover in the region, would be virtually bare in 10 years. "The situation is getting worse and worse each year because there is nowhere left in Indonesia with such a large supply of timber."

Environmentalists estimate an area of forest about twice the size of Wales is illegally felled in Indonesia every year.

No one from the Indonesian military was available for comment, but a spokesman for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the Guardian that combating illegal logging was one of the government's top priorities.

"The forestry minister has recently submitted dozens of names of important people suspected of being involved in illegal logging to the police and attorney general," he said.

Environmentalists accept it will take years to eradicate corruption in Indonesia and China, so are also lobbying consumer countries to ban the sale of wood products that have not come from verifiably legally sourced trees.

Law on mining challenged

Jakarta Post - February 17, 2005

Jakarta -- As many as 90 non governmental organizations (NGOs) and 80 individuals have challenged Law No. 19/2004, which strengthens a government regulation in lieu of law approving open pit mining in protected forests.

Dede Nurdin Sadat, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, said that the law unconstitutional because its clearly states that the law was enacted to support the interests of investors, rather than the Indonesian people.

He told the Constitutional Court on Wednesday that the Constitution guarantees human rights, including the rights of people to live in a preserved environment, while mining operations are always associated with environmental destruction.

The government regulation in lieu of law, which was issued earlier last year, allows 13 mining firms to resume operations in protected forests.

The firms were part of a large group of mining companies forced to suspend operations following the enactment of a new forestry law in 1999 that banned open-pit mining in protected areas.

Fire razes 14,000 hectares of forest

Jakarta Post - February 17, 2005

Pekanbaru (Riau) -- Fire has razed 14,000 hectares of forest in two regencies here over the past week, and causing smoke haze problems.

Due to the haze problem, at least 26 people have been treated at hospitals after suffering respiratory symptoms, a high ranking official said on Wednesday.

Wan Abubakar, Riau Deputy Governor, said that the provincial government had dispatched several groups of firemen to help put out the fires in the forests in Indragiri Hilir and Bengkalis regencies.

Massive timber theft uncovered in Papua

Agence France Presse - February 17, 2005

Environmental investigators say they have uncovered massive timber smuggling from Indonesia's Papua province to China in what they described as the world's largest logging racket involving one wood species.

The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said 300,000 cubic meters (more than 10 million cubic feet) of merbau wood is being smuggled out of Papua every month to feed China's timber processing industry. Merbau is a hardwood mainly used for flooring.

"It's probably the largest smuggling case that we've come across in our time of research on illegal logging in Indonesia," Julian Newman, the group's head of forest campaigns, told a press conference. "This illegal trade is threatening the last large tract of pristine forests in the whole Asia-Pacific region," he said.

China has become the world's largest buyer of illegal timber owing to a continued economic boom, the EIA said.

The investigation has revealed that in a just a few years, a small anchorage in eastern China has been transformed into the largest tropical log trading port in the world, the group said in its report issued Thursday.

A nearby town has become a global center for wood flooring production with 500 factories together consuming one merbau tree every minute, the report said.

The EIA said illegal logging in Papua involved Indonesian military and civilian officials, Malaysian logging gangs and multinational companies, brokers in Singapore and dealers in Hong Kong.

Syndicates pay around 200,000 dollars per shipment in bribes to ensure the contraband logs are not intercepted in Indonesian waters. Indonesia has banned the export of logs, to curb illegal logging.

"There's no denying that military officers are involved in illegal logging," said Muhammad Yayat Alfianto of the Indonesian environmental group Telapak, which worked together with the EIA in the investigation.

Sam Lawson of the EIA said merbau smuggling was worth one billion dollars a year based on the wood's value in the West.

The profits are vast as Papuan communities only received around 10 dollars for each cubic meter of merbau felled on their land, while the same logs fetch as much as 270 dollars per cubic meter in China.

"Papua has become the main illegal logging hotspot in Indonesia. The communities of Papua are paid a pittance for trees taken from their land, while timber dealers in Jakarta, Singapore and Hong Kong are banking huge profits," said Alfianto.

Indonesia is losing forest areas the size of Switzerland every year, according to the EIA.

Newmont demands closure of case

Jakarta Post - February 15, 2005

Jakarta -- Gold mining firm PT Newmont Minahasa Raya (NMR) has demanded the police halt an investigation into the alleged pollution of Buyat Bay, North Sulawesi, after Jane Pangemanan retracted claims she made against the firm on February 3.

Newmont lawyer Luhut Pangaribuan said on Monday that with the retraction, all investigation into the case should be halted and all charges dropped.

Jane, who earlier accused NMR of polluting the bay and causing illness to some villagers, said her accusations against the US- controlled firm in the middle of last year were premature due to a lack of scientific evidence.

The police had used Jane's report as a basis for their investigation against NMR.

Brig. Gen. Suharto of the National Police said the retraction would not affect the case since the alleged pollution was not a general offense that required a complaint, but a specific environmental criminal act.

Health & education

'Dengue campaign only lip service'

Jakarta Post - February 16, 2005

Although the current number of casualties of dengue hemorrhagic fever is lower than last year's, the government has announced an extraordinary occurrence of dengue fever in 12 provinces affected by the dengue outbreak, including Jakarta.

The Jakarta Post asked residents for their opinion on the measures taken by the government to prevent the spread of the mosquito borne disease.

Idham, 37, owns a language and administrative studies center in Pejaten, South Jakarta. He lives with his wife and three children in Pancoran, also in South Jakarta: I've heard that the government has declared Jakarta one of the areas with an extraordinary occurrence of dengue. But do you see any activities or even an emergency atmosphere in the capital showing that we are in a critical situation? I don't.

It is just business as usual. Although I've been told that two residents outside our housing complex have been treated in hospital for dengue fever, no one, not even officials from the subdistrict administration or from the health agency have come to assist us in preventing an outbreak.

I think the Jakarta administration talks up its efforts to the media, so that the public thinks everything is under control. Moreover, the President has called for the issue to be tackled more seriously in order to prevent more infections. The media has reported what the government is doing or its plans, but the government never communicates directly with the people.

Liesna, 28, works at a beauty parlor in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta. She lives with her parents in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta: We shouldn't depend on the government to clean up our neighborhoods. We should take the initiative ourselves and not wait for officials to tell us what to do.

Maybe I don't know much about dengue, but I do know that it is transmitted by a mosquito that breeds in clear water, such as our bath tank. So, all we have to do is to clean or change the standing water around our house. That does not sound like such a big deal, and it's something that everyone can do.

However, without concerted efforts from all of us, our individual efforts are rendered useless. A mosquito from next door, for example, could infect someone from my family, even though we have cleaned up our house. I hope other people pay attention to this.

Armed forces/defense

Reshuffle gives Susilo more names for top TNI post

Jakarta Post - February 18, 2005

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- The Indonesian Military (TNI) announced on Thursday that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had appointed three new military chiefs of staff, giving him four candidates to be named TNI's next commander.

TNI spokesman Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin told a press conference that the four possible candidates for the top military post would be newly appointed Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Djoko Santoso, Navy Chief of Staff Vice Adm. Slamet Soebijanto, Air Force Chief of Staff Vice Marshall Djoko Soeyanto and outgoing Army Chief, Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu.

"It is now up to the President to decide... the four senior officers now all have the same chance to be appointed as the commander," Sjafrie said.

According to Law No. 34/2004 on the military, the President can only pick active senior officers who have held at least a post of chief of staff to be eligible as TNI commander. The outgoing Navy Chief Adm. Bernard Kent Sondakh and Air Force Chief Marshall Chappy Hakim are not eligible because they are past the mandatory retirement age. They will both retire as they no longer hold a portfolio post.

Sjafrie also explained that the TNI Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto had tendered his resignation for the second time on February 7, but the President had not yet responded to his resignation letter.

Susilo has been facing pressure from lawmakers to replace Endriartono, who first tendered his resignation during the latter part of the previous administration of Megawati Soekarnoputri, who at the time proposed Ryamizard, a tough-talking nationalist and close ally of the Megawati family. But after assuming power in October last year, Susilo annulled Megawati's proposal letter to the House of Representatives (the lawmakers need to approve the proposed TNI commander chief), and retained Endriartono until further notice. That move did not sit at all well with the House, which at the time was still dominated by factions supporting Megawati.

Prior to the reshuffle of the military chiefs of staff, Ryamizard was the only eligible candidate for the top post at the TNI.

It is still not clear when the President will name his replacement for Endriartono, but according to the TNI's internal regulations, new chiefs of staff can only be promoted after having undergone their first three-month performance evaluation.

According to the Military Law, the chiefs of staff of the three branches of the military should take turns in leading the TNI, meaning that newly appointed Air Force chief Djoko Soeyanto should be named, because the last two were from the Army and Navy, respectively.

Pundits, however, have already begun speculating that Susilo will likely pick new Army Chief Djoko Santoso, who has served under retired Gen. Sudi Silalahi, a confidant of Susilo and the current Cabinet Secretary. Djoko is also seen as a more moderate officer compared to Ryamizard, who often made comments that particularly irked the US and other countries, at a time when Susilo is trying hard to mend military relations with the US and attract foreign investment.

Police/law enforcement

Da'i fears officers protected gambling house

Jakarta Post - February 15, 2005

Abdul Khalik and Tony Hotland, Jakarta -- National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar suggested on Monday that West Jakarta police officers may have protected a gambling house in Taman Palem, which his officers raided two weeks ago.

The raid nearly triggered a pitched gun battle between National Police officers and officers from the West Jakarta police and City Police headquarters.

Da'i told a hearing with House commission III in charge of human rights, legislation and security that internal affairs officers were sent to the site following information that police officers ordered to raid the house, owned by a person identified only as Iwan K., were apparently not going to arrest the owner or the gamblers.

"We started wondering why the West Jakarta police chief, who should know what's going on in his own area, seemed to do nothing to close down a very well-known gambling house operating in his jurisdiction," Da'i explained.

He said that after a squad of intelligence officers was sent to investigate the gambling house two weeks ago, they were met by a group of West Jakarta and Jakarta police officers, and shots were fired but nobody was reportedly injured.

He said the internal affairs investigators had questioned several officers from the two precincts, trying to ascertain whether or not the local policemen were aiding and abetting the gambling operation.

Previously, internal affairs chief Insp. Gen Supriyadi said Adj. Comr. Tarmo, the officer in charge of the city officers in the raid, had been questioned, and they now suspected that he and his men were indeed protecting the gambling house.

City police officers were sent to Taman Palem on February 2 -- ostensibly to conduct a raid. Shortly thereafter, the detectives from the National Police headquarters arrived, but it did not sit well with the "raiding" officers.

An eyewitness said instead of arresting Iwan K. and the dozens of gamblers at the site, several officers simply spoke in private with Iwan in his office.

While Iwan and the officers were talking, another team from internal affairs arrived and saw the detectives chatting with Iwan.

As the internal affairs officers arrived, several of the local cops unholstered their pistols and shot the ceiling, which prompted the internal affairs officers to also fire their weapons into the ceiling. Cooler heads prevailed and everybody apparently went home, but there were reportedly no arrests made that night.

According to some sources, the Taman Palem gambling house regularly paid Rp 3 billion to the West Jakarta police, the Jakarta Police and the National Police each month for protection.

While many people have reported the existence of such gambling dens to police in several areas of West and Central Jakarta, the police routinely deny all the reports and claim they had raided such places but found no evidence of gambling.

After the February 2 shooting incident appeared in the mass media, the police announced that they had arrested Iwan and 169 other gamblers, but it is not clear when those arrests took place or where they are being held.

Reshuffle at national police

Jakarta Post - February 12, 2005

Jakarta -- National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar recently ordered a major reshuffle affecting four senior officers, including police spokesman Insp. Gen. Paiman.

Paiman told reporters on Friday that the reshuffle had taken place on Tuesday after one of the senior officers reached retirement age.

Insp. Gen. Anang Budiarjo was appointed the new National Police spokesman. Meanwhile, Paiman was appointed the deputy chief for general supervision, and Insp. Gen. Heru Susanto, who previously held the post, was appointed deputy logistics chief, taking over from Insp. Gen. Juharnus, who has retired.

Military ties

Rice signals move to restore military training ties

Agence France Presse - February 18, 2005

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signaled that the United States was ready to restore full military training ties with Indonesia that were downgraded 13 years ago.

Rice told a Senate panel she was in the "final stages" of consultations with Congress on certifying Indonesia as eligible to benefit from the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program.

"I think it's a good time to do that," she said, citing what she called Indonesia's "successful" presidential election last year and cooperation in the investigation of the 2002 murder of two Americans in Indonesia.

The administration of President George W. Bush has been eager to restore military links with Indonesia, largely to help combat terrorism, but has run so far into a reluctant Congress.

But Rice, testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee on the proposed 2006 budget, expressed confidence the move would go through. "I do believe the time may have come to do that," she said.

The top US diplomat said the move, which requires congressional approval, would "restore full IMET privileges to Indonesia" that were suspended in 1992 amid concerns over Indonesia's human rights record.

The United States stepped up sanctions in 1999 after the Indonesian army killed some 1,500 people during East Timor's drive for independence.

Ties soured further in 2002 when the Indonesian army was accused of blocking US investigations into the killing of two US schoolteachers in the country's Papua province.

Relations took an upturn, however, after the United States mounted a massive military relief operation to help Indonesian victims of the December 26 tsunami that wreaked havoc, mostly in Aceh province.

Washington partially lifted an embargo on the supply of military hardware to Indonesia, delivering spare parts for five Hercules transport planes so they could be used to aid tsunami victims.

US moves to reinstate Indonesia military aid

Reuters - February 17, 2005

Washington -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday she is moving to reinstate US military training assistance for Indonesia, an important step toward restoring full military ties.

Formal military relations were cut with the world's biggest Muslim nation more than a decade ago because of alleged human rights violations by Indonesian forces, although there has been some low-level training cooperation.

The Bush administration tried to revive close ties with Indonesia's military during its first term which ended in January but the effort faltered after two American school teachers were murdered in the province of Papua in 2002.

Investigations by police and non-governmental organizations pointed to Indonesian military involvement in the murders.

The US Congress made any resumption of US military training -- called the International Military Education and Training or IMET program -- for Indonesian officers dependent on certification by the secretary of state that Jakarta was helping the FBI investigate the killings.

"I am in the latter stages of consultations with members of Congress about a decision to certify that Indonesia has met the cooperation requirement set forth in the law... so that it is possible to restore full IMET privileges to Indonesia," Rice told the US Senate Appropriations Committee.

"I think it's a good time to do that. They just had presidential election, a successful democratic exercise in a huge country with a huge Muslim population," she said.

US military aid was cut after Indonesian troops killed 57 demonstrators in East Timor in 1991, when the territory was part of Indonesia.

Some counterterrorism training for Indonesian forces was resumed after the September 11, 2001 attacks as Washington sought to enlist Jakarta as an ally in the war on terrorism. But key members of Congress have been concerned that the Indonesian military has not sufficiently improved its rights record.

Rice said Indonesian authorities had been "cooperating well enough [with the FBI] that we've been able to get an indictment in this [school teachers'] case."

Rice gave no figure but IMET funds tend to be modest, belying what supporters say is their significant impact in forging close relations between a highly trained, professional, civilian-led US military and the armies of countries Washington is trying to influence.

Although often overshadowed by other Asian giants like China and Japan, Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation and a key to regional stability which for 50 years had close military ties with the United States.

The tsunami that devastated parts of Indonesia and other Asian nations in December as well as Jakarta's progress in moving from an authoritarian state to a more democratic system has given the administration a new opening to push again for closer US- Indonesia military ties.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz visited Indonesia last month to review tsunami damage and announce a desire for closer military ties.

Washington made a temporary exception to military aid restrictions to provide spare parts for planes delivering relief to tsunami victims.

Business & investment

Red tape, discrimination a constraint for businesswomen

Jakarta Post - February 18, 2005

Jakarta -- For Moudy Lintuuran, expanding her rubber supply business was not easy. Trying to obtain a bank loan last year, she had to deal with a maze of bureaucracy and discriminative treatment.

"When I stepped into a bank [providing loans for small- and medium-sized enterprises], as recommended by a fellow businesswomen, it felt as if I was in the forest," she told The Jakarta Post. "It was the first time I applied for a loan from a bank. I needed about Rp 500 million [US$53,763]."

To get the loan, she offered her Rp 700 million house as collateral. However, she said, when it came to the actual process of applying for the loan, she had to follow a long-chain of bureaucratic procedures. She needed to present a business plan to the bank and legalize the business permit at the notary office.

"Then I found out that the amount that I requested was not approved. In fact, the bank could grant no more than Rp 500 million loans," Moudy said.

Finally, the bank approved a loan of Rp 300 million. She said it took her two weeks to arrange all the paperwork and get the money.

Moudy, who is the general secretary at the Jakarta branch of the Indonesian Businesswomen's Association (IWAPI), could consider herself lucky for just getting a loan at all.

IWAPI chairwoman Suryani Motik said many of her members were facing problems in accessing credit from financial institutions for SMEs due to existing misconceptions.

"These misconceptions and our paternalistic culture put women who are income earners in second place," she said on Wednesday during a workshop held by IWAPI in conjunction with program for eastern Indonesia for SME assistance (PENSA) -- an affiliate of the World Bank's private arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Furthermore, Suryani explained, Indonesian wives could not get their own tax numbers (NPWP) since Article 8 of Law No. 17/2000 on income tax stipulated that married women were prohibited from getting loans independent of their husbands.

However, women were good potential clients of financial institutions. According to a survey conducted by IWAPI and the International Labor Organization (ILO), 87 percent of SMEs respondents in Jakarta were women -- the main earners in the family with a loan recovery rate of 97 percent.

IWAPI and IFC-Pensa had already signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a year to train women entrepreneurs. The agreement emphasized capacity building, public relations and technical assistance, including conducting evaluations. "Improving access to finance through technical assistance is part of the core-competence of IFC," IFC-Pensa program manager Hans Shrader said.

Bido said IFC-Pensa would provide training and technical assistance for IWAPI members about how to obtain loans, manage family businesses and deal with taxation. Suryani expected the joint effort would yield positive results. "We hope we will be able to determine what the problems are," she said.

IWAPI and IFC-Pensa plan to issue a Voice of Women Entrepreneurship magazine in the future targetting bankers and other business executives and also plans to form a business development service.

Meanwhile, a bank executive, who spoke during the workshop, said his bank did not discriminate against customers based on gender. "We'd rather prioritize the business-worthiness of our customers," said Bank Bukopin business manager Suherly.

He said that requirements in applying loans for SMEs were the same for everyone. Bukopin put no limit on loans to SMEs, he said. Suherly said that last year, Bukopin provided Rp 8 trillion in SME loans. It was likely to increase the funds for SMEs by 30 percent this year, he said.

President promotes a business friendly image

Radio Australia - February 18, 2005

Cutting beaurocratic red tape has been marked as a priority area by foreign investors interested in Indonesia. President Susilo Bambang Yudhyono was in Malaysia and Singapore this week talking up the benefits of his country as an investment destination. Indonesia has unveiled plans for massive infrastructure improvements and it needs millions of jobs for the ranks of unemployed. Foreign investment is showing signs of picking up following last year's peaceful elections coupled with SBY's business-friendly image.

Presenter/Interviewer: Finance Correspondent Karon Snowdon.

Speakers: Dato Mohammad Izat Emir, President of the Malay Malaysian Businessman and Industrialists Association; Regional Economist with GK Goh Investment in Singapore, Song Sen Wun; Alex Chen deputy Executive Chairman of Metro Kajang Holdings.

Snowdown: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's first stop was Malaysia, where talking up investment needed less tricky diplomacy than the sensitive issue of the hundreds of thousands of illegal Indonesian workers there facing expulsion.

Malaysian business groups say its a good time to consider investing in Indonesia.

Dato Mohammad Izat Emir, President of the Malay Malaysian Businessman and Industrialists Association, has two cardboard factories in the country and is planning more investments. He says President Yudhoyono is well regarded.

Emir: We're extremely impressed with his speech, his very up to date understanding of the situation both in Indonesia and Malaysia. And he's very blunt and his ambition of his realisation in areas that concern business people, such as transparency, corporate governance.

Snowdown: The climate is improving economically as well as politically.

According to just released figures, the economy grew a better than expected 5-point-one per cent in 2004 and was especially strong in the last quarter, expanding by 6-point-7 per cent. Regional Economist with GK Goh Investment in Singapore, Song Sen Wun forecasts stronger growth next year.

Song: Looking at the trend and looking at the confidence that we're seeing in Indonesia which we haven't seen for several years there's reason to believe that Indonesia will probably end up with growth that will be higher than 2004, we're looking at about six per cent growth, again driven by private consumption.

Snowdown: So its a good time for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to be on his investment drive as he's been doing this week in Malaysia and Singapore. How's he been received in Sinagpore?

Song: Certainly very well, I mean he gave a public lecture and there was a huge turnout including the entire Singapore Government Cabinet. He did quite well out of it and I think everybody appears to be quite willing to go into Indonesia particularly at this point when there's quite a bit of potential for private consumption to drive growth.

Snowdown: Malaysian businessman, Alex Chen is considering investing in Indonesia for the first time in infrastructure and plantations. He's deputy Executive Chairman of property developer and construction company, Metro Kajang Holdings.

Chen: I would consider investing in Indonesia because Indonesia is our nearest neighbour. We hope our neighbour's economy will improve. Also there are many areas of business in which Malaysia and Indonesia can cooperate and compliment each other.

Snowdown: As for problems, Alex Chen says there's still lots of Indonesian red tape to be cut. And I asked if Chinese Malaysians hold any concerns over Indonesia's reputation at some times in its past for anti-Chinese sentiment.

Chen: Of course there are some businessmen concerned about uncertainties in the past. But now we should look forward that overall investment atmosphere will improve, then the businessman will come to Indonesia.

Snowdown: Indonesia's plans for major road building projects will particularly interest Malaysian companies. In addition to improving the legal system, investors want land acquisition made easier and development leases extended. Dato Mohammad says President Yudhoyono promised to look into it.

Emir: To do this we need to acquire certain properties that belong to the villages along the highway. And in the past it has been very difficult now he assured us its going to be easy, smooth and practical. And he said he realised Indonesia needs a lot of investment and they are prepared to humble themselves and declared that they have a lot to learn and they want to go in that direction.

Snowdown: This will be politically sensitive in Indonesia, especially the issue of land acquisition, and present another challenge for President Yudhoyono who's promised to deliver economic growth and jobs consistent with the people's expectation of enhanced democracy.

Economy grew by 5.13% in 2004: BPS

Jakarta Post - February 17, 2005

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta -- Despite pre-election jitters and a final-quarter slowdown, the economy in 2004 still managed to grow by 5.13 percent, continuing a steady four-year improvement, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said on Wednesday.

The figure, which exceeded the initial target of 4.8 percent and 2003's growth of 4.1 percent, has pushed the nation's income per capita to Rp 10.64 million (US$1,181), from Rp 9.57 million the year before.

The report shows that strong household consumption continued to be the main fuel of the economic engine, making up about 66.54 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) -- the value of goods and services produced throughout the year.

Nevertheless, investment and exports had managed to show a steady expansion and began to contribute more to the GDP growth, BPS head Choiril Maksum said.

Most sectors in the economy had reflected this overall growth, except for the mining sector, which had contracted by 4.61 percent, Choiril said. "The most significant growth was in the transportation and communications sector, at 12.70 percent," he said.

Trailing further behind, the construction sector had expanded by 8.17 percent over the year, while financial services grew by 7.72 percent.

With some 40 million people currently living on or below the poverty line, and 2.5 million new workers entering the country's job market each year, Indonesia still needs economic growth of more than 6 percent to soak up its unemployment.

Estimates by economists show that each extra 1 percent of GDP growth per annum would create up to 400,000 new jobs.

However, the country's improving investment and export markets boded well for the future, BPS social statistics official Rusman Heriawan said.

"In previous years, consumption was the backbone of our economy," he said. "However, we can see that investment growth in 2004 has outpaced growth in consumption." Consumer spending grew by 4.94 percent in 2004 while growth in investment reached 15.71 percent.

However, in terms of total numbers, consumer spending still made up the lion's share of GDP, at about 66.5 percent, as against investment, 20.9 percent, while net-export earnings contributed the remaining 12.6 percent.

Indonesia's exports grew to an historic high of $69.71 billion last year, up 11.49 percent from the previous year, boosted by strong sales in non oil and gas commodities of palm oil, electronics, clothing, coal and tin.

Still, analysts say much work is left to be done to boost more of growth in investment.

Business remains poor here compared with Indonesia's regional competitors, with overseas investors steering clear of the country because of corruption in business, excessive red tape, higher relative costs of labor and uncertainties about the legal system and security situation.

Nevertheless, because of the strong consumption and improving investment and export trends, Rusman predicted this year's economic growth target of 5.5 percent was attainable.

Government to put port, airport projects out to tender soon

Jakarta Post - February 17, 2005

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta -- As a follow up to January's Infrastructure Summit, the Ministry of Transportation will start the tender processes in March and April for three projects worth over Rp 8 trillion (US$864.9 million).

The projects are a new port in Jakarta, a new airport in the North Sumatra capital of Medan and the expanding of Soekarno- Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng, which also includes the development of cargo handling facilities and a rail link.

"These tenders represent the next step after the Infrastructure Summit last month," Minister Hatta Radjasa told a press conference on Wednesday after a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Port and airport projects are among the government's top priorities for upgrading the country's woefully inadequate infrastructure. During the two-day summit on January 17 and January 18, the government offered 91 infrastructure projects worth US$22.5 billion to domestic and overseas investors.

Hatta said the projects were necessary to reduce congestion in the distribution chain, which significantly increased the cost of doing business here.

The minister acknowledged the existence of a dispute surrounding the Jakarta New Port project, also known as the East Ancol Seaport project. Therefore, Hatta said, the ministry would immediately call upon the parties involved to settle their differences amicably and to jointly develop the project as soon as possible.

The dispute involves port operator PT Pelindo II and the Jakarta administration, and concerns who has the authority to manage ports in the capital. The city administration bases its arguments on the Local Autonomy Law, which contradicts other legislation stipulating that Pelindo has the sole authority to manage ports nationwide.

"I have urged Pelindo and the administration to set up a joint venture to develop the port in order to resolve this problem. The government needs the project to be completed as expeditiously as possible," said Hatta.

It is estimated that the new port will cost around Rp 4.4 trillion, with the first phase involving the construction of facilities for handling automotive products.

The second key project is a Rp 2.71 trillion scheme to expand the capacity of Soekarno-Hatta airport -- which includes the expansion of Terminal I (domestic flights) at a cost of some Rp 1.6 trillion -- a Rp 430 billion development of cargo handling facilities, and the construction of a railway connecting the airport to Kalideres bus terminal at a cost of Rp 675 billion.

The third project is the construction of a new airport in Medan. It is expected that the new airport -- which will replace the existing Polonia airport -- will cost Rp 2.3 trillion.

The government has decided not to upgrade Polonia airport due to its location at the heart of Medan, the country's third largest city. The new airport is expected not only to support economic growth in North Sumatra but also to serve as a catalyst for enhanced economic cooperation between Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand in what is referred to as a growth triangle.

Parliament rejects government bank merger plan

Agence France Presse - February 17, 2005

Jakarta -- The House of Representatives (DPR) has rejected a government's plan to merge state-owned Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) with a publicly-listed state bank.

If approved, the planned merger would make it difficult for middle- and low-class people to obtain loans to buy low-cost houses, Enggartiasto of the House Commission V for transportation, telecommunications, public housing, and public works, said at a hearing with real estate developers here on Monday.

He said BTN had played a major role in helping the government provide loans for the public to buy low-cost houses. "If merged with a commercial bank, BTN will lose its function," he said.

What was more, the housing development program was high on the list of the government's priorities, he said.

Economically, the program was not profitable, but politically it would benefit the government, he said. "If approved, the planned merger will threaten the program," he said.

Meanwhile, Muqowam, another member of the House Commission V, said the government should not see BTN merely from the aspect of profit and loss.

Separately, on Monday, State Minister for Public Housing M Yusuf Ansyari said the government needed three to four banks engaged in the housing sector particularly to support BTN which plans to provide loans for the construction of 75,000 low-cost bouses this year.

"To achieve the target of the building of 225,000 low-cost houses in 2005, we need another bank like BTN," he said.

This meant that if the government pushed through with its plan to merge BTN with another bank, the people who wished to have their own houses should forget the wish. "This is because the only bank which provides home loans no longer exists," he said.

After all, Ansyari said the House Commission V would continue to discuss the planned merger with the state minister for state enterprises and other relevant parties. "The problem is related not only to the economic aspect but also the socio-political aspect," he said.

Sharing Ansyari's views, former public housing minister Siswono Yudhohusodo said he rejected the planned merger. "I do not agree with the plan to merge BTN with other publicly-listed state banks," he said.

He said BTN had performed well over the past few years. Even at the height of the economic crisis in 1997, BTN was still able to provide loans to low-income people to buy a house of their own.

Economy grows faster than expected in 2004

Jakarta Post - February 16, 2005

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta -- Indonesia's economy grew faster than projected last year, thanks to continued robust spending and signs of investment revival, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie said on Tuesday.

The economy could grew by as much as 5.1 percent in 2004, the fastest pace since the 1997-1998 crisis, beating the initial target of 4.8 percent as set out under the 2004 state budget.

"We were able to beat the target and reach 5 percent to 5.1 percent growth in 2004," Aburizal told a mining seminar here. In comparison, the economy grew by 3.8 percent and 4.1 percent in 2002 and 2003 respectively.

Aburizal added that the fairly strong growth was supported by relatively benign inflation and the low Bank Indonesia's benchmark interest rate (SBI). The low inflation and interest rate helps maintain and boost people's purchasing power and keep strong domestic consumption in place. In total, consumption makes up about 65 percent to 70 percent of GDP.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) is slated to announce the country's 2004 economic growth on Wednesday.

Indonesia, with some 40 million of its 220 million people living at and below the poverty line, needs to pick up its economic growth to help contain the problem.

Moreover, about 2.5 million new workers are entering the country's job market each year, meaning that the economy has to expand by at least 6 percent just to accommodate that.

Aburizal said that from this year on, a pick up in exports and investment was a must, as "We cannot rely on consumer spending to continue supporting growth".

With early signs of investment revival in 2004, Aburizal was optimistic that investment would fare better this year, providing more support for growth. The government expects the economy to expand by 5.5 percent this year.

In the seminar, the minister also said that the new government targeted economic growth of 7.6 percent by 2009. "That can only be reached if the investment ratio in relation to GDP could reach 28.4 percent by 2009, from 20.5 percent last year."

Property boom can have negative impact on local people

Jakarta Post - February 17, 2005

Anton Muhajir, Denpasar -- It was drizzling that Saturday, but Ketut Karja and his two friends were still working in their rice field in Legian, on the outskirts of north Kuta. Across the street, several Westerners were seen sitting in the gazebo of a restaurant. They were separated only by several rice fields and a highway known as "Sunset Road". It is a new road that connects Legian, Kerobokan and nearby areas with Nusa Dua, Jimbaran and other tourist areas in the south.

Where the road stands used to be rice fields and swamp. Before the highway was built, the price of an acre of land in the area was less than Rp 50 million, but now it is Rp 200 million per acre.

Despite the price, there is a great demand for the land. Many buildings are being constructed along the road. There are also plots of empty sign, most with for sale signs on them. "I didn't have any idea this place would change as rapidly as this," said Karja, a farmer.

The construction of the Sunset Road began in 2002. In two years, the 10-kilometer road was opened. Shortly after, buildings began to pop up along the road.

Putu Suasta, a local social activist, said the river culture in Bali had changed to a road culture. In the past, a village was built in accordance with the flow of a river. The villagers' houses were built along the riverbank. Now the development in Bali is determined by roads. After a road is ready, buildings are constructed along the side of the road.

The problem is there is no clear master plan to regulate development activities, so anyone can build any type of building along a road.

This has happened not only along Sunset Road but also Jl. Marlboro in Kerobokan, Kuta, and Jl. Teuku Umar in Denpasar. Many shop-houses and other types of buildings are located along these roads.

According to the Denpasar branch of Bank Indonesia, the growth of the property sector in Bali was outstripped only by banking sector growth. Last year, the property sector grew 4.89 percent and the banking sector 6.85 percent.

Another indication of the booming property business is the opening of many property agents in Bali. Some of them operate under the franchise system, like Raine & Horne. The properties in highest demand in Bali are shop-houses. Yoseph Kebe from Reine & Horne said more than 50 percent of his clients were looking for shop-houses.

Not everybody, however, is happy with the flourishing property business. Popo Danes, a renowned local architect, is a little upset that so many of the new buildings are owned by foreigners and many Balinese have lost their land.

Many villas and houses in Kuta, Kerobokan, Nusa Dua, Ubud and other tourist areas belong to foreigners.

"The Balinese just work as gardeners on the property of foreigners," he said.

Eddy Surya Wijaya, director of Etika Dewata, a local property agent that opened in Bali last year, said 20 percent of his customers were foreigners, while Yoseph said foreigners made up 10 percent of his clients.

Local buyers, mostly from Jakarta, Surabaya and also Bali, prefer to buy shop-houses or buildings to run businesses.

Therefore they choose to buy property in strategic places like near the Sunset Road, Jl. Marlboro or By Pass IB Mantra, which connects Denpasar with Gianyar, Klungkung and Karangasem.

In those areas, a two-story shop-house measuring 5 meters by 15 meters costs between Rp 700 million and Rp 1 billion. In a month, R&H can sell between three and five shop-houses, while Etika Dewata sells between five and 10 units per month.

These figures have been on a rising trend, according to both Yoseph and Eddy.

Foreigners prefer to buy land in tourist areas like in Canggu, or Sawangan, Nusa Dua, and build villas there.

According to a government regulation, foreigners cannot individually own land, a house, a villa or other property. But the facts show that many buildings in Bali belong to foreigners.

Yoseph said some of them owned buildings in their capacity as foreign investors, while others bought property using the name of a local.

"More than 90 percent of my foreign clients use the second method," he said.

This can be easily done. A foreigner will pay a local who will allow the foreigner to use his or her name to buy property, and usually the foreigner will hire the local as an employee or his or her representative.

Ketut Sudiarta, a Balinese who works as a security guard, said he allowed an Australian to use his name to buy land in Lovina, Buleleng, and build a villa there.

Another method is marrying a local. There are many foreigners who marry a Balinese man or a woman so that they can buy property using the local's name.

"Therefore, there is no definitive data about the ownership of property by foreigners," Popo said.

Made Pria Dharsana, a notary public who often serves foreigners, said it was not difficult for a local married to a foreigner to buy land or a house, while a foreign investor had to get a permit from the Investment Coordinating Board in Jakarta.

To get the permit, the foreigner must submit a detailed proposal.

After the investor gets a permit, he or she has to apply for approval for the establishment of a legal body at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. A building permit and a location permit from the local administration are also required.

Following the implementation of the regional autonomy law, local administrations also often involve themselves in the establishment of a legal body and ask for a share of the business, according to Dharsana.

Land owners in Bali do not care about the procedures. "If anyone wants to by my land, I will sell it," said Nengah Sudiani, a resident of Nusa Dua, who is selling 3.5 acres of land in Nusa Dua at Rp 100 million per acre.

Others have deliberately tried to sell their property to foreigners. Like Ketut, who is selling five acres in Kuku district in Karangasem, near the tourist area of Tulamben.

"I can sell it to foreigners at a better price," he said.

Popo criticized the less-than-clear regulations about property ownership and the attitude of the locals. After selling their property, the Balinese usually spend the money to buy a car or to build a large merajan, a temple at their house. Popo said the larger the merajan, the higher the cost of (religious) ceremonies. "If there is no more money left, what can they do?" Popo asked pointedly.

Opinion & analysis

Aceh: Focus on people

Jakarta Post Editorial - February 17, 2005

The reconstruction of Aceh moved into a new stage this week with the completion of military-style barracks to shelter victims of the December 26 tsunami. Not all the barracks have been completed but some 3,281 families, or more than 11,000 people, have now moved from their tents -- that had been their home since the December 26 disaster -- to the more substantial constructions.

More and more of them will be moved out of their tents over the coming days and weeks as more barracks are completed. The government estimates that some 100,000 of the estimated 500,000 displaced people will be accommodated in these new facilities. Others will probably have to linger on in their tents for the time being, and some will continue living with their relatives who were not directly affected by the disaster.

As much as we'd like to laud this as a significant development in the government's program to rebuild Aceh, the barracks are only marginally better as a place of abode than the tents. Physically, they are certainly much better, especially since rain often makes the depressing life inside tents even more miserable. But as a place to rebuild family and community life, the barracks, at least the way that they have been designed and constructed, are unlikely to be much better than the tents.

The barracks provide very little privacy, and this is absolutely necessary for normal family life to function. The partitions separating one family from another inside the building are quite inadequate. Families also have to share amenities, such as bathrooms and kitchen, with other families in the barracks.

Any joy that the barracks bring to relocated families is likely to be short-lived once the reality of barracks life sinks in. Depression, so common in the camps over the past few weeks, will continue to haunt them.

The government's Aceh reconstruction program puts too much emphasis on physical aspects and not nearly enough on psychological aspects. Rebuilding Aceh must ultimately be about rebuilding the lives of its people. And where better to start than rebuilding the life of every family in Aceh that has been shattered by the disaster.

The decision to build the barracks was taken somewhat hastily when other options, including some that took into consideration matters of privacy, were clearly available at the time. The Alumni Association of Gadjah Mada University (KAGAMA), for example, came up with a proposal to design shelters in clusters of small houses that give both privacy and a sense of community. Its proposal was turned down in favor of standardized military- style barracks, although the KAGAMA plan was as doable and inexpensive as the barracks.

While it is now too late to change, the lesson from this episode is that the government's program to rebuild Aceh must focus on people. Physical constructions must be adapted to the needs of people, not vice versa. Given the scale of the destruction, rebuilding Aceh will be a very costly and time consuming project. But the place to start should be with the family, then the community, then the entire province.

The barracks are merely very temporary shelters for the tsunami victims. They are not designed as places for people to rebuild family life, let alone rebuild communities.

The government must now set itself a deadline as to how long these people will be expected to live in these military-style barracks before they are moved to proper places in order to rebuild their families and communities.

Makarim's diplomacy

Jakarta Post Editorial - February 14, 2005

Much has been made of Makarim Wibisono's appointment as chairman of the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR). The honor signifies recognition of the diplomat's long service to his country and his contribution to multilateral diplomacy. Given his experience and tenure in various international organizations, Makarim is, without doubt, a qualified candidate for the job.

Despite this relative "success" for Indonesian diplomacy, we should not make too much of his appointment. Makarim remains effectively a steward of a body that traditionally takes turns annually chairing the commission based on regional groupings. Having secured the support of the Asia group, it was no surprise that Makarim was then elected by acclamation for a one-year tenure.

Established in 1946, the UNCHR was created to help promote and protect human rights. It promotes guidelines, studies problems and helps codify international norms on human rights.

Comprised of 53 members elected to three-year terms, the UNCHR meets annually for six weeks. Makarim is due to chair this year's meeting in Geneva beginning mid-March.

While the UNCHR plays an important structural role in the promotion of human rights, it has largely become a diplomatic talk-fest in recent years. Because of its bureaucratic nature, the UNCHR has lost much of its appeal to the more high-profile activities of the High Commissioner of Human Rights. Since 1994, it is this office that has become the focal point of the UN's human rights activities.

It is the Commissioner who is mandated to quickly respond to violations and prevent rights infractions around the world. So with all due respect to Makarim, he has a little something to prove. Otherwise, history will likely judge him simply as an honorary appointee.

Since news of his appointment came through the senior diplomat has become a much-coveted speaker in intellectual circles here at home. His remarks thus far deserve credit, showing a clear vision on what he would like the UNCHR to be.

He succinctly encapsulated one of the main deficiencies of the body by noting that the debate in the commission had tended to become politicized and aimed at shaming particular countries.

While his argument is merited, does Makarim not realize that human rights is all about politics? Human rights is the basic core of the socio-political contract between citizens and its government. It cannot be treated in the same way that diplomats treat particular articles of treaties and negotiations -- with compromise and trade-offs.

The same way certain countries insist on highlighting another's human rights record, those who reject their record to come under scrutiny do so based on political interests.

To deliberate on style, rather than substance is an obsolete "New Order" mindset which this country is desperately trying to shed.

One senior diplomat once described his task during the New Order as "defending the indefensible". Makarim now has the luxury of not having to do so.

Others often talk about Makarim's appointment in the context of Indonesia's national interests. The question is whose national interest? For decades, the national interest was defined by a small clique of leaders who did so to perpetuate their political stranglehold. It would not be wise to perceive Makarim's appointment as a way of "overlooking" Indonesia's own outstanding human rights cases.

When warranted, this country should welcome criticism, even the harshest kind. It is a reminder to put our house in order, the same way that Makarim's tenure is a wake-up call for domestic actors to act responsibly on issues of human rights.

He may be an Indonesian, but Makarim's first duty should now be towards the defense of universal human rights, not merely the narrow view of some Asian or Western states. That is the best way to make the country proud of his tenure as chairman.

Post-tsunami GAM and the future of Aceh

Straits Times - February 12, 2005

Yang Razali Kassim -- Within days of the tsunami disaster, several Indonesian organisations sent volunteers to Banda Aceh to provide humanitarian relief. Among them were two Islamist groups, the Majlis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI) and the Front Pembela Islam (FPI). They set up a command post at an air force base in Aceh to help bury the dead and distribute aid. But the gestures of MMI, or the Mujahidin Council of Indonesia, and FPI, or the Islamic Defenders Front, were opposed by the separatist Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM, or the Free Aceh Movement).

GAM's exiled leaders in Sweden issued a statement to say that the presence of MMI and FPI would be unhelpful to the cause of a free Aceh as the two groups' objectives were to establish an Islamic state -- which implied that this was not something GAM was fighting for.

"FPI and MMI are not welcome in Aceh and have never been supported by the Acehnese people. Nor has their presence been requested. Their intervention in Aceh is therefore counterproductive," GAM added.

The same view was taken by a coalition of student bodies fighting for a referendum on Aceh. The Sentral Informasi Referendum Aceh (SIRA, or Aceh Referendum Central Information) said in its own statement: "Laskar Mujahidin and FPI's presence would steer the conflict in Aceh into a religious one." Laskar Mujahidin is the militia arm of MMI.

The Indonesian military in Aceh however responded to the presence of MMI and FPI with conflicting signals. The army said sentiments against MMI and FPI were unfairly overblowing the threat from these groups. A military spokesman, Colonel Djazairi Nachrowi, was reported as saying that volunteers from both MMI and FPI were doing good humanitarian work and should not be discriminated against just because of their militant tendencies.

But the air force took a harder line, expelling 19 of MMI's 206 volunteers from the airbase. An MMI official, Mr Fauzan Al Anshari, said the air force did not give any reasons for the expulsion, but it was believed to have been under foreign pressure. According to him, the foreign media had asked whether MMI was linked to Al-Qaeda and when MMI denied this, rumours surfaced that they could be linked to GAM instead. In reality, however, GAM and MMI are ideologically not on the same page.

GAM and Islam

There is a general misconception that GAM wants an independent Islamic state of Aceh. This misreading is understandable given that the struggle for a free Aceh first began as a quest for an Islamic state.

Fiercely independent-minded, the Acehnese were, historically, the last to fall to the Dutch colonising power in the 19th century. They then joined a Darul Islam rebellion across Indonesia to set up an Islamic state in the 1950s when the incipient Indonesian nation failed to give Aceh a provincial status as promised.

The Aceh revolt ended when the government in Jakarta gave Aceh the status of a "special territory". But by 1976, a new movement emerged calling itself the Acheh/Sumatra National Liberation Front, using the old spelling for Aceh.

Also known as GAM, it fought for an independent Aceh following Acehnese disillusionment with what they regarded as "Javanese economic and political domination".

Led by Mr Teuku Hassan di Tiro, or Hassan Tiro, GAM was driven more by Acehnese ethno-nationalism than any Islamic ideology. Indeed, GAM's objective is a secular-nationalist state, not an Islamic nation.

Although a descendent of an ulama who led the 19th century resistance against the Dutch, Mr Hassan is ideologically more a socialist than an Islamist. GAM was formed by him along with a group of other foreign-educated Acehnese with commercial interests in the West.

Indeed, GAM, in its website, describes Mr Hassan as the president of Doral International Ltd, New York, a company active in such fields as investment banking, aviation services, petroleum, natural gas and shipping.

However, GAM, in its initial years, did not enjoy wide ground support in Aceh and its leaders subsequently moved to Malaysia, Libya and finally Sweden where several of its leaders acquired citizenship. It is from Sweden that GAM leaders like Mr Hassan directed and rebuilt the separatist drive in Aceh.

In 2002, the ideological divide among the insurgents led to the birth of a small splinter group called the Front Mujahidin Islam Aceh (FMIA). This group wanted to continue the Darul Islam rebellion and sought to establish an Islamic state in Aceh. FMIA was led by Mr Fauzi Hasbi, who also formed another small group called the Republik Islam Aceh (RIA).

Both FMIA and RIA emerged out of their dissatisfaction with GAM's secular orientation. Their existence is however now in doubt after the death of Mr Fauzi, their common leader.

After the fall of president Suharto in 1998, Jakarta's strategy to resolve the separatist problem was to give the Acehnese people as much as they wanted -- so long as they remained within the unitary state of Indonesia. Hence, Jakarta implemented a "special autonomy" package in 2001 that would provide for the return of 85 per cent of oil and gas revenue to Aceh.

More significantly, the special autonomy would allow the implementation of syariah or Islamic law, even though GAM has not generally demanded for syariah.

It was a strategy to win over the "hearts and minds" of the Acehnese people and hopefully marginalise GAM while at it. GAM refused to accept the special autonomy deal and the truce that took effect in December 2002 collapsed three months later. Jakarta subsequently declared GAM a terrorist organisation.

Hardline stance

GAM's statement also referred to MMI as an umbrella organisation for "jihadist" groups such as FPI and Laskar Jihad. MMI was founded in August 2000 by Abu Bakar Bashir, whom foreign governments allege to be the spiritual head of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI). FPI is headed by Mr Muhammad Habib Rizieq, who is better known for his radical approach of confronting bars and nightclubs which refused to shut down during Ramadan.

Laskar Jihad in turn was started by Mr Jaafar Umar Thalib, an Indonesian of Yemeni descent who took part in the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Practising the purist Wahabbi doctrine, Laskar Jihad draws membership from the urban poor and was formed to protect Muslims in the Malukus in the inter-communal conflict there with the Christians. Laskar Mujahidin, on the other hand, is another "jihadist" group that has operated alongside Laskar Jihad in the Malukus.

The hardline stance adopted by MMI, FPI and Laskar Jihad is however not really shared by the majority of Indonesia's Islamic community, although they empathise with the groups' motivation to protect Muslim interests.

For example, the Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS), the Islamic party which is even more active doing relief and humanitarian work in Aceh, is not comfortable with the militancy of FPI and Laskar Jihad.

Window to Mecca

Aceh is where Islam first landed in Indonesia and subsequently spread to the rest of South-east Asia. That is why Aceh is also known as Serambi Mekah (Window to Mecca).

The attachment that Acehnese have for Islam is therefore deep- seated. Analysts see Aceh's relationship with Islam in terms of three phases:

Aceh as an independent and prosperous Islamic sultanate having its own diplomatic ties with Europe (from 1524 to 1873); Aceh during the Dutch colonial period, during which the Acehnese sultanate put up the strongest resistance against Dutch attempts to colonise the East Indies; and Aceh's role in its war for Indonesian independence and the subsequent fight for Darul Islam (1945-1959). These three phases shaped Aceh's distinct Islamic identity.

The rise of GAM in 1976 marked a shift towards Acehnese secular- nationalism at the level of the Acehnese political elite who seek independence. But on the ground, the Acehnese inclination towards the Islamic identity remains strong.

This is a fact which GAM itself has had to accommodate. It is also a reason why the Indonesian government found it sensible to compromise and offer a special autonomy package that allowed the implementation of syariah law in Aceh, provided the province remained part of Indonesia.

The offer of syariah is a major concession for Jakarta in view of its staunch commitment to the secularist-nationalist ideology of Pancasila.

If both GAM and Jakarta regard the separatist conflict as having gone on for too long, the post-tsunami period is the best time to end it. It is just as well that both have begun peace talks in Helsinki to find a rapprochement.

But the road to permanent peace may not be easy to travel. It will depend on one fundamental: Can the two sides agree on what the future Aceh will be?

GAM, given its ethno-nationalist ideology may not be fighting for an Islamic state. But its ultimate goal has always been an independent state of Aceh. This is however something Jakarta will never accept.

In the Helsinki talks, Jakarta rejected GAM's offer to suspend its quest for independence in return for a referendum in Aceh within a decade. Does GAM feel weakened enough by the tsunami disaster to accept a final solution which falls short of its dream of an independent Aceh -- Islamic state or not?

[The writer is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, Nanyang Technological University.]