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Indonesia News Digest 47 - December 9-16, 2005
Jakarta Post - December 16, 2005
M. Aziz Tunny, Ambon -- The Southeast Maluku regency
administration has ordered the closure of a radio station that
often aired stories criticizing the local authorities.
According to the order, Gelora Tavlul radio must stop
broadcasting because its business permit expired in 2003. The
order was issued on Dec. 13, or about a month after the local
administration rejected the radio management's request for an
extension of their business permit.
Backed by a number of local police officers, the so-called Maluku
Frequency Monitoring Team visited the radio station on Thursday
to execute the order, telling the station to close. They said
that the stories aired by the station had criticized the
administration's development and public service policies "too
often".
Joost F. Rettobjaan, the radio station's director, said that the
station was unable to extend the permit after it expired as the
local administration was virtually not functioning amid security
disturbances of the time.
"(But now) instead of approving our business permit, the
administration has told us to stop broadcasting. The business
permit has nothing to do with the broadcasting permit, so what is
it all about?" he asked.
The radio director suspected that the administration was banning
the station from broadcasting because of news stories involving
alleged misuse of regional budget funds. "We will not back down
despite the order. We will stay on air," Joost said.
Gelora Tavlul Radio, which is affiliated with the Jakarta-based
68h radio network, has no hidden political motive behind the
airing of news stories about corruption, he said. "Media
criticism is now nothing new (in this country). Why do officials
feel threatened?" Joost said.
Herman Adrian Koedoeboen, the regent of the Southeast Maluku
administration, could not be immediately reached for comment.
In Jakarta, Minister of Communications and Information Sofyan
Djalil said that the regional administration could not close
broadcasting stations without approval from the regional-arm of
the Indonesia Broadcasting Commission (KPI).
"Regional autonomy allows the local administration to demand the
closure of broadcast media, but they must get approval from the
local office of KPI," he said after attending a ceremony at the
Vice Presidential Palace.
KPI Maluku chapter head Fredy Melmambessy has said that the order
to close the radio station was illegal "According to Law No.
32/2003 concerning broadcasting, it is the KPI who decides on
closing radio stations. They should tell the KPI if they consider
that the station has violated regulations. It is only the KPI
that is authorized to impose sanctions," he said. The KPI
Maluku-chapter has ruled that the Gelora Tavlul radio station can
continue its broadcasting despite the order.
Jakarta Post - December 15, 2005
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta -- General Elections Commission (KPU)
chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin was sentenced on Wednesday to
seven years in jail for corruption in a high profile case that
could eventually implicate other prominent figures, including
some close to the administration.
The verdict against Nazaruddin, a former leading political
scientist at the prestigious University of Indonesia, came after
he successfully led the poll body through the country's first
ever direct presidential election last year, which saw President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's rise to power on antigraft promises.
Antigraft court judges presided over by Kresna Menon found
Nazaruddin guilty of receiving part of a total of Rp 5.3 billion
(US$530,000) in kickbacks from insurance company PT Bumi Putra
Muda, which won a Rp 14.9 billion contract from the KPU to
provide insurance during the holding of the landmark poll.
"The court finds that the defendant is guilty beyond all
reasonable doubt of corruption and hereby sentence him to seven
years' imprisonment," said Kresna. The sentence was 1.5 years
less than prosecutors had sought.
Nazaruddin was also fined Rp 300 million and ordered to return
the money received in kickbacks, or serve an extra six months in
prison. He has decided to appeal.
Nazaruddin is the fourth defendant to be jailed following a
series of trials involving KPU members and staffers on graft
charges. The KPU scandal has been seen as a test case of Susilo's
commitment to rooting out rampant corruption in the country.
KPU member Mulyana W. Kusumah was sentenced to two-and a-half-
years' imprisonment for attempting to bribe a state auditor to
cover up corruption at the commission. Meanwhile, KPU deputy
secretary-general M. Dentjik and treasurer Hamdani Amin received
three years and four years respectively for receiving the
kickbacks from the insurance firm. Another KPU member is still on
trial.
Criminal Law expert J. Sahetapy and Teten Masduki, the
coordinator of Indonesian Corruption Watch, hailed the court's
verdict as progress in the government's campaign to eradicate
corruption, which has evolved into a major obstacle hampering
badly needed investment.
But the two urged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to
also bring other serving and former KPU members, including
Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin and Anas
Urbaningrum, now a member of Susilo's Democratic Party, to
justice, especially in the light of testimony from Amin that all
10 KPU members and dozens of staffers have received kickbacks
from various private firms that won contracts from the
commission.
"It would be unfair if the other KPU members, including Hamid
Awaluddin, are not brought to justice because, according to
Amin's testimony, they also enjoyed the kickbacks," said Teten.
He also suggested that the KPK further investigate the other
graft allegations involving the KPU to further boost the
antigraft campaign.
The graft scandal in the KPU was revealed after Mulyana was
caught red-handed in April at a Jakarta hotel trying to bribe
Khairiansyah Salman, an auditor from the Supreme Audit Agency
(BPK), to overlook irregularities in the commission's finances.
Khairiansyah, who was wired at the time, played a crucial role as
a whistleblower in helping the KPK reveal the case.
For this, he was given the prestigious Integrity Award from
Berlin-based Transparency International in a move that it was
hoped would encourage other would-be whistleblowers to blow the
lid on graft cases. However, he was later named a suspect by the
Jakarta Prosecutors Office for receiving a bribe from the
Ministry of Religious Affairs to overlook irregularities in the
management of haj pilgrimage funds.
Aceh
West Papua
Military ties
Human rights/law
Labour issues
Government/civil service
Environment
Islam/religion
Business & investment
Opinion & analysis
News & issues
Radio station critical of government gets closed down
Election Commission chairman gets seven years
Hotels must report guests to police
Jakarta Post - December 15, 2005
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta -- Jakarta Police are requiring all hotels across the capital to report the identities of their guests to police as soon as they check in.
"We already require newcomers in all neighborhoods to report within 24 hours of their arrival. Now, we want hotels to report their guests' identities to us," city police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani said on Wednesday.
Firman said the requirement was one of the security measures adopted following reports that terrorists may launch fresh attacks in the capital to avenge the killing of top terrorist suspect Azahari bin Husin last month.
Earlier, Jakarta Police issued a circular requiring all newcomers here to report their presence to the neighborhood chief or nearest police station within 24 hours.
General Crimes Unit chief at the city police, Sr. Comr. Moh. Jaelani, said many hotels were still reluctant to ask their guests to show identity cards or passports, even though this was required by the regulations.
"We will go around hotels in Jakarta to check whether they are recording their guests' identities when they check in. We just want to make sure that the capital is secure," Jaelani told The Jakarta Post.
Jaelani said that hotel managements should quickly notify police intelligence when foreign citizens checked into their hotels.
Jakarta has been rocked by a series of terrorist attacks, including one at the JW Marriott Hotel that claimed 12 lives in 2003. Several foreign embassies, including the US, Australian and Canadian Embassies, and the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) have warned that terrorists may launch attacks around Christmas and New Year.
Suspected members of Jamaah Islamiyah bombed 11 churches on Christmas Eve in 2000, killing at least 19 people.
City police have deployed around 17,000 officers to guard 2,152 churches and strategic places across the city during the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
Detik.com - December 12, 2005
Arin Widiyanti, Jakarta -- Concerned about their livelihoods that are being ground down by the advanced countries, though policies being driven by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), farmers, workers and fisherpeople are urging the minister of trade, Mari Elka Pengestu, to struggle for and to protect their welfare.
The farmers, workers and fisherpeople -- who are from the People's Coalition for Food Sovereignty (Koalisi Rakyat untuk Kedaulatan Pangan, KRKP) -- want the minister to take into consideration their future survival at the Sixth WTO Ministerial Level Conference in Hong Kong on December 13-18.
KRKP was established by hundreds of thousands of farmers, workers and fisherpeople in nine provinces: West Java, East Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, South Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, West Kalimantan and Banten.
Three special requests were presented to the minister by KRKP: that there be protection for farmers from the use of short-term contract labour systems; that there be protection for farmers from the pressure by multi-national companies that receive massive agricultural subsidies from their wealthy countries and; that there be protection for small-scale fisherpeople from the thousands of large, high-tech boats that operate in the areas where they traditionally catch fish.
"For these demands were are pushing for the Indonesian delegation at the WTO to struggle for our protection", said KRKP chairperson Witoro before meeting with an trade ministry official at the ministry's offices on Jalan Ridwan Rais in Jakarta on Monday December 12. In order to strengthen their demands, KRKP attached the signatures of 764,853 members from some 96 non-government and social organisations from various parts of the country.
They believe that these demands need to be put forward because in global terms the WTO tends to benefit the advanced countries at the expense of the poor and developing nations. The WTO is precisely what is increasingly removing the role and responsibility of governments in relation to the rights of their workers, farmers and fisherpeople.
KRKP is also urging the minister to struggle consistently for the proposed "special products" and "special safeguard mechanisms" that were taken up by Indonesia as the head of the 44 developing nations making up the G-44 grouping at the WTO.
"The Sixth Ministerial Level Meeting of the WTO is important, not just for us. Because the future of workers, farmers and small fisherpeople throughout the world is at risk. We therefore call for the creation of trade [relations] that are fair, make trade fair", shouted Witoro. (umi)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Jakarta Post - December 12, 2005
Jakarta -- The National Police have announced the largest-ever reshuffle under chief Gen. Sutanto, which an analyst claims kick-starts a new paradigm that will promote meritocracy. In a telegram dated Dec. 9, made public on Saturday, Sutanto appointed 13 new regional police chiefs, of whom eight will get a promotion in rank.
Also promoted was Bali Police chief Insp. Gen. Made Mangku Pastika, who will become the operational chief of the National Narcotics Agency, a post left vacant by Sutanto following his appointment as National Police chief in July. Sr. Comr. Indradi Tanoes, who recently led the raid on the world's third largest ecstasy plant in Serang, Banten, also won a promotion as the head of the drug squad at the National Police Detective Directorate.
Yusuf Rizal of the People's Information Center (Lira) said the major reshuffle marked an end to the old career planning system within the police that took into account seniority and personal ties.
"It seems that Sutanto has chosen officers with capability and capacity for the new posts, instead of seniority. This should set a precedent that selection of leaders will be conducted based on measurable criteria," said Yusuf.
He said the reshuffle should also facilitate investigations into officers implicated in cases of abuse of power. Yusuf was referring to South Sulawesi Police chief Insp. Gen. Saleh Saaf, who will hold a new post as National Police chief expert staff.
A non-governmental organization has reported Saleh Saaf to the Corruption Eradication Commission in connection with a graft case in the police communications network project that caused Rp 600 billion in state losses. Saleh denied the allegations, saying the project involved the government, not the police.
"To some extent the latest reshuffle has something to do with cases that have tarnished the police's image. Investigation into officers implicated in abuse of power cases will be effective after they no longer hold strategic posts," Yusuf said.
National Police recently dismissed Bogor Police chief Sr. Comr. Tjiptono for alleged sexual harassment, three months after his predecessor Sr. Comr. Bambang Wasgito was also demoted for his alleged role in an assault on a subordinate officer.
National Police general supervision head Comr. Gen. Binarto had earlier resigned after an East Java water police officer conceded to having released a vessel believed to have been carrying smuggled fuel following the intervention of the senior officer.
"In the future, punishment for police officers must be double the penalty for ordinary people, because they are supposed to be enforcing the law," Yusuf said.
He said appointment of officers with relatively good track records for key posts should continue. "Sutanto won't be able to bring reform to the police all of sudden, but he will make all police personnel adjust themselves to the new paradigm," Yusuf said.
The Australian - December 10, 2005
Sian Powell, Jakarta -- Australia has left organisers of an Indonesian film festival in the lurch on the eve of its opening by withdrawing funding because it objects to a documentary about Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks and three other works.
Organisers of the Jakarta International Film Festival, which opened last night, were told on Thursday night they would not be receiving $18,000 promised by the Australia-Indonesia Institute.
The institute, a government-funded body set up to promote friendship between the two countries, has sponsored the festival in previous years.
It offered funding again this year but withdrew the offer because four of the 33 films selected did not meet institute guidelines, the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. A departmental letter sent to the organisers said the institute wanted films that would "deepen" relations between Australia and Indonesia.
Festival director Orlow Seunke said the screenings and workshops would still go ahead, and the funds would be found elsewhere. "Twenty-four hours before the opening -- that's ridiculous," Mr Seunke said. "I blew up, I was so furious."
The Dutchman, who is running his second Jakarta Film Festival, cannot understand the objections to the four films, all of which have been approved by the often prickly Indonesian Censorship Board.
The films cited by the department are "The President Versus David Hicks", "Dhakiyarr Vs The King", a film about an Aboriginal quest for justice, "Garuda's Deadly Upgrade", an Australian-directed documentary about the poisoning death of human rights campaigner Munir and "We Have Decided Not to Die", an 11-minute Australian film about the cycles of life. "They never asked to see a list of the films," Mr Seunke said yesterday. "This looks like the politburo." The Indonesian censors have banned him from screening two films about East Timor on the grounds the works may "open old wounds".
Curtis Levy, who made the critically acclaimed Hicks film, was in Jakarta yesterday to run a documentary-making workshop for the festival. "It's terrible that Australian bureaucrats are trying to stop Indonesians seeing these films," he said.
Fellow filmmaker Graeme Isaac was equally incensed. "It's these sedition laws," said the producer of the Dhakiyarr film, which was screened at the US's Sundance Festival. "They create an atmosphere that makes middle-ranking bureaucrats feel able to do things like this."
This was the first time in the festival's seven years that funding approval had been withdrawn, according to founder Shanty Harmayn.
[Additional reporting: AAP]
Jakarta Post - December 10, 2005
Eva C. Komandjaja and Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Jakarta/Malang -- In an effort to fight terrorism and other crimes, the government would fingerprint all citizens instead of only students of Islamic boarding schools, police here said on Friday.
National Police chief Gen. Sutanto said the fingerprinting would be conducted through a Single Identification Number (SIN) system, in which citizens would only be able to have one identification card and passport.
The move, he added, was necessary to prevent people from obtaining more than one identity card or passport, thus increasing the risks of illegal residents and making it easier for terrorists to launch attacks.
Sutanto hoped that the SIN system could soon be applied by the government in order to fight terrorism and prevent other crimes, such as document forgery and immigration violations.
"The system would be under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs. However, we hope the police will be able to get access to the data for our criminal investigations," he said.
He denied reports that it was the police that came up with the idea to fingerprint students of Islamic boarding schools (pesantren), a plan supported by Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
"The idea originally came from several clerics in Cimahi, West Java, and they talked to police about their suggestion," Sutanto said.
Kalla had said he agreed with the plan to fingerprint pesantren students as part of the government's efforts to prevent terrorists from recruiting new members from Islamic boarding schools. However, the suggestion drew strong reaction from Muslim leaders and clerics who said it would place pesantren under suspicion of terrorism.
Hasyim Muzadi, leader of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) -- the country's largest Islamic organization that represents thousands of pesantren across Indonesia -- urged Muslim clerics on Friday to oppose any plan to fingerprint their students.
"The plan should be rejected. However, I have asked the National Police chief about this issue and he says he knew nothing about it," he said in Malang, East Java.
Hasyim said the idea was a "counterproductive" move by the government as the fingerprinting would only generalize or stigmatize pesantren as hotbeds of terrorism.
In waging war on terror, he said, government forces should involve pesantren instead of placing them under suspicion. To find terrorists anywhere the government should use intelligence approaches, he added.
Similarly, Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leader Habib Rizieq also responded negatively, saying the police should not only take fingerprints from Muslim students.
"There should be no discrimination in the plan. The police should fingerprint all Indonesian citizens, not just Muslim students," the hard-line group leader said, as quoted by Antara on Friday.
He demanded that the police take fingerprints only through normal procedures, such as a card identification system, and that the data should be computerized with all law enforcement agencies given access to it.
"If we had an advanced system, we should already have the fingerprints of all Indonesian citizens when they apply for identification documents," Habib said.
However, he said the government's current system was very badly managed and not computerized, and that the fingerprints in the database were improperly collected and stored.
| Aceh |
Kompas - December 16, 2005
Banda Aceh -- The commander of the Iskandar Muda Territorial Command, Major General Supiadin AS, says that there are no grounds to extend the presence of the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) in Aceh that is planned to end in March 2006. This is because the TNI (Indonesian military) and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) have already fulfilled their commitments in accordance with the Helsinki memorandum of understanding (MoU) so that the atmosphere in Aceh is already conducive.
If I evaluate [the situation] up until now, there are no strong grounds to extend AMM's prescience in Aceh, Supiadin told journalists after an event commemorating an infantry anniversary at the Neusu Square in Banda Aceh on Thursday December 15.
According to Supiadin, the TNI has already given the highest commitment and the public has accepted GAM presence well. GAM's presence in the settlements has also not created any principle problems.
This means that there are no issues that are related to security. So, if for example if there are parties that wish AMM's role to be extended, I think there are no grounds to justify it said Supiadin.
Criminal issues
According to Supiadin, the security situation in Aceh at the moment is improving and the rate of crime is also continuing to decline. If there are one or two criminals, yeah that's natural and it is also something that we cannot detect. They are just ordinary criminals he said by way of clarification.
Supiadin said that to date almost 20,000 or more TNI troops have been repatriated leaving 5,600 or so in Aceh.
Request for extension
Speaking separately GAM's deputy spokesperson Munawar Riza, said they wanted the AMM's presence in Aceh to be extended by a minimum of 15 months from now. The AMM has the duty of monitoring the process of the transition of various laws in Aceh. One of these is the Draft Law on the Organisation of a Government for Aceh that will only be completed on March 31. The AMM must also participate in the process of the transition of the laws on political parties he said.
According to Riza, after December there will be a campaign on the election of the head of the administration in Aceh. Following this there will be a process of establishing the political parties. It is these moments that are very dangerous because if they are not monitored there will be many parties that will [try to] damage the peace process he said.
Destruction of weapons
Today, Thursday, GAM will again be surrendering weapons. AMM spokesperson Faye Belnis says that on the second day of the last stage of weapons surrender at the Blangkejeren Square in the Gayo Lues regency, GAM surrendered 51 weapons, 47 of which were accepted and four rejected. Out of the 47 weapons that were accepted by the AMM, three are still being queried by the TNI.
So far, 801 weapons surrendered by GAM have fulfilled the requirements and been destroyed by the AMM. This means that GAM must still surrender 39 more weapons because according to the MoU it must surrender 840 weapons in total.
The next or final weapons surrender will probably be carried out on December 17 at a location near Banda Aceh he said. (AIK)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Kompas - December 15, 2005
Jakarta -- It is expected that the provisions on resolving human rights violations in Aceh will again attract sharp debate in dissuasions on the Draft Law on the Organisation of a Government for Aceh.
The provisions in the draft law that have already been completed by the Aceh Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) are indeed ideal and considered to be most appropriate in order to resolve past issues. On the other hand however, it is also understood that it will attract resistance from those groups with different interests.
In the DPRD's version of the draft, it states that the government will form a human rights court and a truth and reconciliation commission (KKR) in Aceh within one year after the legislation is ratified. If there are no guarantees that a fair investigation process can be conducted in cases of gross human rights violations, the government shall provide an opportunity for a special rapporteur and/or other officials from the United Nations to enter Acehnese territory. These provisions are not found in the department of domestic affair's Draft X version of the law.
On Wednesday December 14, House of Representatives Commission II member, Nasir Djamil (Justice and Prosperity Party faction, Aceh I) who is currently in Kupang, said that the heavy debate of the provisions cannot be allowed to disrupt the peace process. It is all very well to fight for ideal provisions on resolving the past that are followed by the formation of a human rights court or KKR, but it is certain that there will be resistance from those groups who feel threatened.
It has been said that there is concern that this debate will continue until in the end it becomes a stumbling block in resolving the Aceh conflict. For example, as the past is dug up, new wounds will arise, rubbing salt into the wounds again, said Djamil. (DIK)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Jakarta Post - December 16, 2005
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta -- Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Thursday that the current peace-building process in Aceh was on the right track, giving optimism for a lasting peace in the resource-rich province, which for three decades had been wracked by bloody armed conflict.
"It is on the right track. The big work now is completing the decommissioning process," he told the press at his office, referring to the final process of disarmament of members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the withdrawal of non-regular military and police troops from the province, one of the major components of the landmark peace accord signed by the government and GAM on Aug. 15.
Kalla, who supervised the government team in the peace negotiation process that took place in Helsinki, believed that GAM would surrender all of its weapons as required.
According to the Vice President, the Acehnese have more homework to complete in order to achieve a lasting peace in Aceh: drafting the bill on the governing of Aceh. This legislation is expected to allow former GAM members to form local political parties to join in the next elections of local administration leaders and councillors.
He said that the bill must accommodate all layers of Aceh society, including GAM, which started its campaign for independence in 1976 leading to a lengthy war that has taken over 15,000 lives.
The government also expected GAM to disclose the names of its members to be given financial support for reintegration.
"After the completion of the truce, GAM members must reintegrate into Indonesia. They will be given land, so the government needs the names of their members for the certificate as well as for their ID cards," Kalla said.
Meanwhile, GAM handed over some of their last weapons on Thursday in the final phase of the disarmament process. The decommissioning of arms is scheduled to be completed on Saturday, Associated Press reported.
GAM has surrendered a total of 730 weapons, which had been accepted by the government so far, said Maj. Gen. Bambang Dharmono representing the Indonesian government.
Under the truce, GAM must hand over a total of 840 functioning arms, while the government must withdraw 24,000 soldiers and police, both by the end of the year. The last 5,800 soldiers in Aceh are scheduled to leave on Dec. 29. "The Free Aceh Movement rebels still need to hand in 110 more weapons," Bambang said.
However, GAM member Teungku Muharram said he was confident the Dec. 31 deadline would be met.
Peace efforts in Aceh picked up speed after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck the area on Dec. 26, 2004, killing 131,000 people in the province and leaving half a million others homeless.
Jakarta Post - December 16, 2005
Hera Diani, Jakarta -- Despite a slow start, progress has been made in tsunami-ravaged Aceh, with the pace of reconstruction picking up. The 65,000 people still living in tents should be residing in decent housing by the end of 2006, officials said on Thursday.
The head of the Aceh and Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR), Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, said that some 16,200 new homes had been constructed so far and 13,200 are under construction, out of the 110,000 needed.
"The reconstruction effort is now running at an increasingly fast pace. We've built 5,000 houses per month since October. But 65,000 people still live in tents, so yes, we're still slow," he told a news conference as the agency released its one-year progress report. Kuntoro said the main priority for next year was to provide decent shelter for all the displaced tsunami survivors.
While permanent homes for all those displaced would take more time, 20,000 transitional houses -- with aluminum frames and wooden floors -- will have been erected by early 2006.
The progress report shows the post-tsunami recovery efforts 12 months after an 800-kilometer band of Aceh coastline was devastated by the Dec. 26 disaster, leaving some 230,000 people killed or missing.
BRR, a ministry-level body set up in April to coordinate rebuilding, acknowledged that the government had been sluggish in formulating a response strategy.
More than 65,000 people were still living in tents, while some 50,000 others were still in temporary barracks, the report said. Around half a million people were initially displaced by the tsunami, but many have moved to stay with relatives.
The agency said 235 kilometers of 3,000 kilometers of damaged roads had so far been rebuilt, 335 of 2,000 damaged schools had been rebuilt or were under construction, and 13,000 of 60,000 hectares of agricultural land had been restored.
Funding has not been a problem for Aceh and Nias, as hundreds of international and local charities have pledged help. One year after the tsunami, US$4.4 billion has already been allocated to over 1,000 projects.
Currently, $775 million of the funds had already been spent, with the largest share coming from NGOs and donor countries. Monthly disbursements will have increased to about $150 million by the end of this year and will likely rise to $200 million per month during 2006.
It is expected that the Indonesian government, donors and NGOs will ultimately contribute between $8 billion to $10 billion to rebuild Aceh and Nias through to 2009.
There are many sectors, however, with insufficient funding, such as communications, energy, transport and environment. Education and health services are recovering fast, but lagging in the west coast, the report said.
Restoring livelihoods after losses of some US$1.2 billion in the fishing, farming and manufacturing sectors has been another major challenge, with the construction boom providing many jobs that will not be sustainable in the long run. Fishermen are meanwhile likely to need fresh assistance.
The report also said 18,000 of the damaged 80,000 hectares of agricultural land and ponds had been restored, 3,122 of the needed 4,717 fishing boats had been supplied, and 40,000 of 60,000 farmers had returned to their land.
However, most of the boats were not expected to last beyond 18 months due to their poor design and substandard materials.
As the reconstruction moves into its second year, the BRR called for better coordination among stakeholders. "It is time to get beyond sentiments of 'my project, or yours' and recognize the need for active coordination," the report said.
More than 400 local and international charities are operating in Aceh and the BRR has threatened to "name and shame" those who fail to deliver on their pledges.
Reuters - December 15, 2005
Jakarta -- The head of reconstruction in Indonesia's tsunami- devastated Aceh province defended the pace of home rebuilding for survivors on Thursday, saying it was exceeding the country's national capacity.
Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, who heads the government's BRR agency, told a news conference that 16,500 homes had been built by mid- December while 15,000 more were under construction.
"If you compare with the capacity of our own state (housing agency), per year they build 16,000 houses. What we have is more than that. I don't agree with what you are saying that it is slow," Kuntoro said in response to a question about the pace of home rebuilding.
On Dec. 26, a magnitude 9.15 earthquake -- the biggest in four decades -- triggered a tsunami that left up to 232,000 people dead or missing in a dozen Indian Ocean nations, including nearly 170,000 in Aceh alone. Half a million people were left homeless in Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island. The BRR has said between 80,000-110,000 new homes were needed.
In recent interviews with Reuters in Aceh, numerous tsunami survivors expressed frustration at the pace of reconstruction and said they were sick of living in tents and wooden barracks.
In a report, the BRR said 67,500 people were still in tents, many of which were becoming mouldy, but that the aim was to get all survivors out of them by early 2006.
"Those displaced or who lost their livelihoods are understandably frustrated that a year later the recovery hasn't been faster. The pace of reconstruction following a disaster of such magnitude is never fast enough, given the lives that have been disrupted, but it is proceeding at least as rapidly as in other contemporary disasters," the report said.
Andrew Steer, country director for the World Bank in Indonesia, told reporters on Wednesday the government had to treat the rebuilding of Aceh as a top priority.
But speaking at the same news conference with Kuntoro, Steer said some of his comments the previous day, made while he was in Singapore, had been taken out of context.
"In fact the permanent housing is going very well. Like (Mr) Kuntoro said, over 30,000 houses are in the process of being built, apparently every month 5,000 houses are being built," he said.
"This is a very good performance. If this pace keeps going, everybody will be in permanent houses by the middle of 2007. This is a very remarkable achievement."
But among other comments on Wednesday, Steer had said: "We are not happy at all with the progress in Aceh. There are still over 60,000 people living in tents today, that's clearly unacceptable a year after the tsunami."
The tsunami destroyed much basic infrastructure in Aceh; thousands of kilometres (miles) of roads were ruined, seaports and airports were wiped out, and over 60,000 hectares of agricultural land were damaged.
Jakarta Post - December 14, 2005
Jakarta -- The efforts to create lasting peace in tsunami- devastated Aceh have been more successful than expected thus far, but the process has now entered a critical stage, a report says.
In its latest update on the Aceh peace process, the International Crisis Group said that since the peace agreement was signed in Helsinki on Aug. 15, the political will of the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to keep the process moving forward had led both to take risks.
"Those risks appear to have paid off. The threat of militia violence has not materialized, and amnestied prisoners have returned home without incident," the Brussels-based organization said.
Under the peace deal, GAM dropped its long-held demand for independence, while the government amnestied the former rebels and promised to allow them to form a political party.
GAM has also to surrender its weapons in exchange for a major pullout of military and police personnel from the province.
The government released GAM prisoners two weeks before decommissioning began, and by the end of the third stage of a four-stage process last month, GAM had turned in more weapons than expected, the ICG noted.
"What has been achieved so far is a real credit to the government and GAM," ICG President Gareth Evans said.
The report said the future prospects of the peace process would depend on the success of the reintegration of former GAM members into civilian life and the legal process of incorporating the provisions of the agreement into legislation. The ICG noted that many combatants who had returned spontaneously to their communities were now mostly unemployed.
Disagreement between GAM leaders and the government over the making of cash payments to facilitate reintegration was also holding up more comprehensive programs to establish new livelihoods, the report said. "If the problem is not resolved, the danger in the long term is that bored or jobless ex- combatants will turn to crime or seek to resume fighting," ICG said.
The second hurdle is the legal process of incorporating the provisions of the agreement into a new law that must be adopted by lawmakers in the House of Representatives.
"The transformation of GAM from an armed movement to a political one hinges on this law, particularly its provisions on local political parties and the mechanics of local elections," the report said. "The question is whether the parliament will accept the Acehnese draft without serious revisions."
The House had initially opposed the peace deal. It recently threatened to derail the deliberation of the Aceh governance bill unless the government provided details of the peace agreement and its consequences.
The ICG noted that a fresh potential sticking point had recently emerged: whether there would be a provision in the law allowing for the division of Aceh into smaller provinces. Demands have been mounting from people claiming to represent 11 of Aceh's 20 regencies in the highlands and part of the west coast for the establishment of two new provinces. GAM has opposed the move, citing the peace agreement which recognizes Aceh's territory as it is now.
"Such a reference (to allowing division) could undermine the consensus in Aceh around the current draft and ultimately, the peace itself," the group warned, adding however that overall it was upbeat about future prospects.
Jakarta Post - December 14, 2005
Andrew Steele, Jakarta -- The wagons are already circling. In just over one month, swarms of journalists and humanitarian icons spanning from U2's Bono to former US President Bill Clinton will descend on Aceh to take stock of the recovery and reconstruction efforts that have occurred in the wake of last December's tsunami. Field vests will be dusted off and parachuting pundits will arrive prepared to pass judgment on a situation with which they have had only fleeting familiarity and no direct observations since their immediate post-tsunami visit.
Given the unprecedented US$4 billion in donations and the more than 200 non-governmental organizations working in Aceh now, the international community is expecting results. In Jakarta, aid workers who have been central to the process from the outset are preparing for a negative assessment of the relief work to date. That stems mainly, they say, from the rosy estimations laid down last year regarding where the rebuilding of Aceh would be after one year.
"No one in January would have thought the people in tents then would still be in tents 10 months later," admits one World Bank official in Jakarta. But to cite that as a failure on the part of relief workers, including the Indonesian government's own Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) for Aceh and Nias, is unfair at best.
The unrealistic expectations and overly optimistic projections that pervaded the dialogue last year should not be used as a benchmark for judging the reconstruction efforts. Those that have not witnessed the efforts day in and day out should tread lightly and consider the unforeseen obstacles that have impeded efforts before they denigrate the process.
There certainly have been speed bumps that could have been avoided; for example, to date there is still no formalized monitoring of the rebuilding of homes by international aid groups. That has allowed for occasional shoddy construction and has led to jealousy among villagers regarding the differences among homes being built. Some villages have actually rejected newly built homes. Also, relief groups have at times competed with one another where coordination would have been more appropriate.
For sure, the Indonesian bureaucracy is a problem, too. The red tape is often exhausting, aid workers say. And the government at times seems to lack a sense of urgency. It also has no system to disperse emergency funds efficiently.
Let us not forget what the reconstruction entailed, however. The death count, according to the UN, sits at 131,000 with another 37,000 unaccounted for, and tsunami costs are estimated at US$5.1 billion. Furthermore, there are few roads to bring supplies in and there is no working port. The cost of sending supply ships into Aceh is inflated, as they have no cargo to pick up to finance the return voyage.
The decades-long insurgency in Aceh that the tsunami interrupted leads to the only appropriate analogy that comes close to capturing the magnitude of the resuscitation of Aceh: that of a post-war reconstruction. Under these circumstances, the Indonesian government, the BRR, and aid agencies like the World Food Programme deserve serious accolades.
There have been major successes in the relief efforts to date. The Indonesian government managed the initial stages very well and buried the bodies in a timely manner, staving off a second crisis that could have resulted from disease. There also have not been issues of starvation to date. Houses are now being built at a faster pace than at any time to date, and the health care and education services might even be better now than they were before the tsunami.
That said, the reconstruction efforts are hardly out of the woods. This has aid agencies worried that donor fatigue may set in with Aceh. Given the other disasters that have occurred since last year, including Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the earthquake in Pakistan that killed some 70,000 people, available funds are going to be increasingly scarce. It will be easy for the press corps to look around and see that a vibrant and prosperous city has not sprung up in the last year.
The devastation in Aceh, however, is unprecedented in the modern era; appraisals of the recovery effort have no analogous historical precedents. The work done thus far in rebuilding Aceh must be judged as a unique response to a unique disaster. Let the news accounts of Aceh's condition after one year reflect the enormity of the task at hand rather than the unrealistic goals offered in the immediate post-tsunami period.
[The writer is the Managing Editor of the Van Zorge Report.]
Jakarta Post - December 10, 2005
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- The demands for Aceh's partition should not be a priority for immediate discussion so as to avoid shifting the focus of attention from the reconstruction work in the tsunami-ravaged province, lawmakers have said.
They told those people in Aceh clamoring for the province to be split into three provinces to instead give their full support to the efforts of the Aceh and Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR).
"The people of Aceh are currently busy with various programs under the supervision of the BRR, and others resulting from the recent peace deal between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)," said Acehnese House of Representatives member Ferry Mursyidan Baldan.
He said the peace accord also assigned Aceh's decision-makers two main tasks -- the formulation of a new law on the government of Aceh and local direct elections scheduled for April next year.
Ferry, who chairs the House security and internal affairs commission, was speaking to The Jakarta Post on Friday after receiving a group of people from Aceh who have staged several rallies in Jakarta to push their demands for the creation of two new provinces in Aceh -- Aceh Leuser Antara (ALA) and Southwest Aceh (ABS).
If formed, ALA would comprise Central Aceh, Southeast Aceh, Aceh Singkil, Gayo Lues and Bener Meriah regencies, while Southwest Aceh would consist of South Aceh, Northwest Aceh, Aceh Jaya, Semuelue and Nagan Raya regencies. Currently, Aceh is divided into 20 regencies and municipalities.
Armen Deski, a local figure representing Gayo Lues, said during Friday's meeting that the proponents of the Aceh split would cease using Acehnese symbols and other attributes should the government and the House refuse to immediately respond to their demands.
Most of the proponents opposed the GAM insurgency in Aceh. Demands for the establishment of two new provinces in Aceh actually started several years ago when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was the chief security minister during the Megawati Soekarnoputri administration.
GAM and Acehnese scholars have said the central government would undermine the Aug. 15 peace accord signed in Helsinki, Finland, should it accept the demands for partition. They argued that Aceh's division would fly in the face of agreement, which defines the province's borders as those determined on July 1, 1956.
However, Ferry said that partition would not contravene the agreement as it did not explicitly state that Aceh must be ruled by only one provincial administration.
"I suggest that they (the partition proponents) be patient, pending the establishment of a definitive administration and legislature in Aceh. I hope this will prevent others from thinking that the demands are being engineered by the central government," he said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs said any demand for the partition of a province must satisfy certain conditions, including the approval of the local governor and councillors. The formation of a new province must also obtain the approval of at least five regents, it added.
"It looks like it will be a long road ahead before the demands for the establishment of new provinces in Aceh are heeded," ministry spokesman Sojuangan Situmorang said on Friday.
Jakarta Post - December 9, 2005
Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta -- If responded to by the government, the demands for Aceh's partition into three provinces could undermine the peace accord it signed with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), GAM leaders and Acehnese scholars warned on Thursday. They said the division would contravene the truce, under which the borders of Aceh are defined as those determined on July 1, 1956.
However, GAM negotiator Mohammed Nur Djuli said it was possible that new provinces could be created after the new Aceh legislature was elected in 2009. "The central government should give the Acehnese a chance to live in peace, and not try to wreck it by immediately responding to these demands," he said.
Calls have been growing for the government to establish new provinces, to be called Aceh Leuser Antara (ALA) and Southwest Aceh (ABS), following the peace deal signed in August in Helsinki, Finland. The demands, however, first emerged several years ago.
Proponents have argued that partition was necessary to improve the welfare of people in these areas as the current Aceh administration had failed to do.
"Those demanding new provinces in Aceh, be they local administration officials or councillors, are part of the old oppressive and corrupt machinery. And they are just worried about facing a truly democratic government in Aceh when every point in the memorandum of understanding (MOU) is put into effect," Djuli told The Jakarta Post.
A proposed draft law on the governance of Aceh, which is currently being discussed at the Ministry of Home Affairs, has adopted some of the clauses of the MOU.
Acehnese scholars shared Djuli's view, saying that all major policies on Aceh's future should be determined after direct local elections in 2009.
"The central government will only give rise to a lack of legal certainty should it respond positively to the demands for new provinces in Aceh," said Iskandar A. Gani, a lecturer at Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh and also a member of the drafting team preparing the bill.
Acceding to such demands would only repeat the mistake made by the government when it decided to create two new provinces in Papua, he added. The carving of West Irian Jaya and Central Irian Jaya provinces out of the existing province of Papua was met with strong opposition from local government and community leaders.
Meanwhile, Minister of Communications and Information Sofyan Djalil said the government was currently focusing its efforts on fully implementing the peace deal. While he did not rule out the possibility of the government to heeding the demands for Aceh's partition, he said that a democratic process would first be required.
"The most important thing is the democratic process. It would be fine if the partition process was democratic," said Sofyan, who was a member of the government negotiating team at the Helsinki peace talks that resulted in the truce ending almost three decades of armed conflict in Aceh.
| West Papua |
Radio New Zealand International - December 16, 2005
An advocate for the self determination movement in the Indonesian province of Papua says the Vanuatu parliament's withdrawal of a motion in support of West Papua is shameful.
Dr John Ondawame had been active in rallying key support among Vanuatu's chiefs for the motion which called on Vanuatu's parliament to sponsor the push for self determination.
But the motion was dropped yesterday after the government withdrew its support, saying it had concerns about the way it has been presented and worded. Dr Ondawame says the motion would have been an important gesture of international support for the Papuans' cause.
"Because the US congress -- 351 congressmen passed a bill on West Papua - 88 members of the Irish Parliament passed a bill on West Papua -- British Parliament, even the House of Lords and former ministers are concerned about West Papua -- even Dutch Parliament investigating the conduct of the so called Act of Free Choice in 1969, so we have international support."
Dr John Ondawame claims the withdrawal of the motion is a sad indictment on Melanesian brotherhood.
Radio New Zealand International - December 16, 2005
There are hopes that a coalition to be established in the Indonesian province of Papua will lead to a united self determination movement.
Spokesman Rex Rumakiek, says the West Papuan National Coalition for Liberation will be an umbrella organisation involving all stakeholders, including militant groups such as the OPM, political groups and NGOs.
He says a key motivation is the desire to ensure that such groups do not work against each other as sometimes currently happens.
He says the members have set national unity and co-ordination of a natonal liberation programme as the only way forward for the province, which has been pushing for independence for more than 40 years.
Mr Rumakiek says a Secretariat would be set up as soon as possible to prepare the framework for this National Coalition.
Jakarta Post - December 16, 2005
Jakarta -- A high-ranking government official returning from Yahukimo regency in Papua denied on Thursday a famine was underway in the isolated region, describing people there as "fat".
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, who just returned from the regency, said "people in the area are fat, the pigs are big, and the corn and cabbage is growing well".
Aburizal, a well-known business tycoon, traveled to Yahukimo at the order of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono after reports began emerging that 55 people there had died of severe malnutrition since November.
The minister, however, denied there was a famine or that 55 people had died in the area. He said food was abundant in Yahukimo, except for sweet potatoes, which is a staple food in the region.
He said Yahukimo, some 800 kilometers from the provincial capital Jayapura, simply needed to improve its agricultural methods to prevent future sweet potato crop failures.
After attending a function at the Vice President's Office, Aburizal took the opportunity to criticize the media for its reporting on the so-called famine in Yahukimo, saying the stories were incorrect. He said journalists should travel to the area themselves to get firsthand information on what is happening.
"I will show you the pictures. The people there are fat," he said, adding that he did not know how the reports on the "famine" began.
While Aburizal was denying a famine was underway, the government on Thursday continued to send food and medical aid to the regency. Aid has reached 13 of 17 remote villages most at risk of food shortages, Aburizal said.
He said to guarantee food security in the area, the government would set up food barns and send in agricultural trainers and experts to teach residents how to plant alternative crops.
Tempo Interactive - December 13, 2005
Jakarta -- Widodo AS, the Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Security, has said that the government has taken a rapid response to the hunger cases in Papua.
"I think that the government has already responded quickly to the situation in Papua," stated Widodo.
What was most important, said the coordinating minister, was that measures must be taken to verify the information so that the real situation can be seen.
Widodo also said he hoped that leaders in the region were concerned about development matters in each region. "What we want to know now is how development matters touch the main issues of welfare," he stated.
According to Widodo, welfare issues have become the target of all government efforts. In order to settle and manage issues in Papua, he stated that special autonomy should be applied consistently. "Special autonomy is the best solution in settling problems in Papua," said Widodo.
(Fanny Febiana-Tempo News Room)
Toronto Star - December 10, 2005
Olivia Ward -- West Papua is one of the world's most obscure territories, a rain-forested land that is little known except for its exotic beauty.
But human rights lawyer Yan Christian Warinussy says its indigenous people mainly experience the ugliness of poverty and repression, as they struggle for independence from the ruling Indonesian government.
Yesterday, Warinussy accepted one of Canada's highest honours for human rights advocates, the John Humphrey Freedom Award, from Rights & Democracy (International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development), based in Montreal.
In Toronto last week, the diminutive, soft-spoken Warinussy called on Canadians to oppose human rights abuses that he said have been "carried out with total impunity by members of Indonesia's armed forces" during Jakarta's 42-year rule in which thousands of native people reportedly have been killed by government forces.
He said the abuses include "torture, rape, summary executions, arbitrary arrests, disappearances, the killing of indigenous leaders and civilians alike, the displacement of indigenous populations and confiscation of their lands."
Since 1998, when Suharto's 32-year dictatorship ended, Indonesia has won plaudits for its efforts to democratize and its co- operation in the "war against terrorism." But it has been plagued by corruption, massive unemployment and catastrophic terrorist attacks, as well as the dire effects of the Asian tsunami.
Indonesia claims that West Papua voted to join it in a 1969 referendum, and that the territory has been granted more rights under a "special autonomy" law. The fairness of the referendum has been disputed, and indigenous people insist they have reaped no rewards from their new status.
Bitterness has overflowed into violence with the rise of guerrilla groups, who are responsible for a number of attacks in West Papua. But human rights groups, including Amnesty International, point the finger at Indonesia for its repressive measures against indigenous people who are seeking their rights, or are victims of military purges.
"Nothing has changed for the better for the indigenous people," said Warinussy. "They are still very poor and unable to earn a living.
Their land has been confiscated without compensation, and the industrialization of West Papua has not improved their lives. Those who ask for their rights are treated as militant separatists."
West Papua, a territory rich in oil, mineral and timber, occupies one of the largest land masses in the Indonesian archipelago.
For University of Toronto Professor Janice Stein, the political scientist who is chair of Rights & Democracy's board of directors, "the tragedy unfolding in West Papua is one that has gone unnoticed for too long."
Since it took over West Papua, the Indonesian government has settled the territory with Indonesians who were provided with jobs, housing and roads, raising tensions among the indigenous people, who feel increasingly disenfranchised. Indonesians now account for at least 40 per cent of West Papua's 2.3 million population. "Indigenous people are second-class citizens in their own land," said Warinussy.
The 41-year-old lawyer began his campaign to defend indigenous rights while in university. The son of a civil servant in the former Dutch government, he grew up at the time of transition to Indonesian rule. "I have received many threats and I accept that," he said. "I have been jailed for three months because the government didn't like my criticism."
In jail in 1998, he said, "they were very careful to treat the inmates humanely because they knew I was watching. But I learned how prisoners are really treated. It's not surprising that the police have little respect."
Warinussy said he was punched in the face during his detention and later denied family visits. On another occasion, a police officer called him to a compound where six of his clients were being detained for raising the West Papuan flag. An officer demanded to know why he had written a letter alleging police violence against some of his clients, and asked the jailed men to declare if any of them had been beaten. When one came forward, the officer drew his gun and said: "If you make false reports, I will shoot you and your lawyer."
Some of Warinussy's clients fared worse. Daniel Yairus Ramar, 51, a teacher and tribal leader, was arrested on suspicion of murdering employees of a logging company working near his village. When two weeks later his battered body turned up in a local morgue, the police insisted he had died of natural causes, even though medical reports raised allegations of torture.
Warinussy said attacks on indigenous people who campaign for their rights continue, but he has no plans to abandon his struggle.
"If I had chosen to be a doctor and cured 100 people, I'd be sure to make 100 friends," he said with a smile. "As a human rights lawyer, if I help 100 people I also make 100 enemies. I'll continue as long as what I'm doing benefits the community."
Jakarta Post - December 10, 2005
Jayapura/Jakarta -- Stunned by reports of famine in a remote Papua district that has left 55 people dead, the government dispatched a military cargo plane on Friday night to carry food aid to the stricken area.
The effort came amid criticism from Papuan leaders that the central and regional governments had neglected their own people, leading to the disaster.
The military aircraft was carrying basic necessities needed by starving Papuans living in Yahukimo regency, such as instant noodles, baby food and medicines, said Rizal Mallarangeng, an aide to the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare, Aburizal Bakrie.
Other government officials vowed earlier in the day to lend a hand to Papuans suffering from lack of food, with Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah promising to send rice to the famine-affected areas while Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari vowed to send two teams of doctors.
The statement came after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered the officials to take concerted measures to alleviate the suffering in Papua.
"We must save them first," said the President, who reportedly first head about the famine on Thursday from the news ticker on a local television station. Before attending a function -- ironically celebrating food security -- at the State Palace on Thursday, the President ordered Aburizal to investigate the famine and tackle the problem. He also demanded accountability from Papuan leaders and vowed that once he found who was responsible, heads would roll.
The President admitted to experiencing mixed feelings as he presented food security awards to groups of people during the function, while at the same time Papuans were starving to death.
News of the famine became public after Yahukimo Regent Ones Pahabol told the media that at least 55 people had died from malnutrition and 112 others had fallen sick from related illnesses since November in Yahukimo. The failure of the sweet potato crop was to blame. The regency has a population of 55,000 people, who are currently having to do without their staple foodstuff, sweet potatoes.
The mountainous regency was originally part of Jayawijaya regency before it was hived off as a separate entity, and is located some 800 kilometers from Jayapura, the Papua capital. It can only be reached by plane.
Separately, a religious leader condemned the government for ignoring the people of people. The Rev. Socrates Sofyan Yoman said that development in Papua had been solely focused on projects and that the people in general had been neglected. The projects only benefited government officials and not the people, said Sofyan, the chairman of the Injili Church Synod in Papua. He said the government should have sought the participation of the churches in Papuan development as they were part of Papuan society and understood the people's needs.
Papua opposition figure Fadel Al Hamid said the famine showed that the government had failed to properly implement regional autonomy in Indonesia's easternmost province. "The funds transferred as part of regional autonomy are huge, but still there is famine," said Fadel, the secretary of the Papuan Tribal Council.
Fadel said that most of the autonomy funds had been looted by the Papuan elite, and had failed to improve the lot of the ordinary people. "This is ironic. Papua is rich in natural resources and yet people still die of famine. It's like mice dying of hunger inside a rice barn," said Fadel.
In Jakarta, legislators took turns to call on the government to immediately take concrete and comprehensive action to prevent such a tragedy occurring in other parts of the country.
House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono said the government had failed to institute an early detection system to prevent such disasters.
| Military ties |
Counter Punch - December 15, 2005
Ben Terrall -- As the US empire continues its so-called "war on terror" via blank checks for the military-industrial complex, the Bush Administration recently overrode a congressional ban on military aid to Indonesia and restored all such assistance by exploiting a "national security waiver."
Under intense US grassroots pressure, the Clinton administration suspended all assistance after the September 1999 Indonesian military destruction of East Timor, and Congress subsequently legislated continuing limits on aid. On November 22 of this year, the State Department announced, "it is in the national security interests of the United States to waive conditionally pertaining to Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and defense exports to Indonesia."
Senator Patrick Leahy, author of the Congressional restrictions this maneuver overrode, called the move "an abuse of discretion and an affront to the Congress to waive on national security grounds a law that seeks justice for crimes against humanity -- without even obtaining the Indonesian government's assurance that it will address these concerns -- makes a mockery of the process and sends a terrible message."
Joseph Nevins's A Not-So-Distant Horror: Mass Violence in East Timor (Cornell, 2005) is essential for understanding the broader context of Washington's latest support for Jakarta's military. The book provides a thorough overview of "international community" backing for the 24 year Indonesian military occupation of East Timor, and shows the blatant power calculations that went into the sell-out of the East Timorese. As Nevins quotes then- US Ambassador to Indonesia Stapleton Roy saying in 1999, "Indonesia matters and East Timor doesn't."
Nevins methodically shows the double standards implicit in the relative importance accorded "ground zero" in the US (New York City on 9/11/2001) and the scorched-earth "ground zero" the Indonesian military left in its wake when departing East Timor in September 1999. Though we see or hear admonitions to "never forget" September 11 virtually on a daily basis, few in the US are aware that a military armed and trained by our government destroyed 80% of East Timor's infrastructure only two years earlier. In the midst of that destruction, the military and its militia proxies killed some 1500 civilians.
Even that abhorrent body count is dwarfed by the many tens of thousands killed, often with US-supplied weapons, in the previous two decades of Indonesian military terror largely ignored by mainstream coverage of the 1999 carnage. Nevins writes of the corporate media's disinterest in East Timor, "This silence, or 'forgetting' is a crime of omission of sorts as it facilitates impunity. It also helps to perpetuate myths about the supposed dedication to human rights and principles of international law among the powerful."
Nevins, a Vassar College professor who spent many months in occupied East Timor throughout the 1990s, shows how both powerful Democrats and Republicans share responsibility for keeping the occupation's ugly history out of the public eye. Nevins cites one especially galling example of this bipartisan collusion, a 2000 speech in which Richard Holbrooke, former Clinton Administration ambassador to the UN and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs under Jimmy Carter, heaped fulsome praise on Iraq invasion cheerleader Paul Wolfowitz, calling the Reagan-era ambassador to Indonesia "a continuing participant in the effort to find the right policy for one of the most important countries in the world, Indonesia." Holbrooke went on to explain that Wolfowitz's "activities illustrate something that's very important about American foreign policy in an election year and that is the degree to which there are still common themes between the parties.
East Timor is a good example. Paul and I have been in frequent touch to make sure that we keep it out of the presidential campaign, where it would do no good to American or Indonesian interests."
Washington and other governments have consistently blocked efforts by activists in East Timor, Indonesia and the US to achieve justice with real reckoning for the crimes of 1974-1999.
Sadly, opposition to those efforts has also come from East Timor's president, the former guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao. Gusmao recently downplayed the findings of his country's truth commission, the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (known by its Portuguese initials, CAVR) and its recommendations for justice and reconciliation. These include reparations to victims from countries -- including the US -- which backed the occupation, and from corporations which sold weapons to Indonesia during that period.
John M. Miller, the National Coordinator of the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) described the CAVR report as "the product of three years of extensive research by dozens of East Timorese and international experts." Miller added, "Its completion is especially timely, given the Bush administration's recent decision to ignore the criminal record of many high- ranking Indonesian military officers."
Miller further noted, "Since Timor's independence referendum in September 1999, Washington has provided monetary and other assistance to East Timor's reconstruction and development, but such aid does not even begin to compensate the East Timorese people for the suffering caused by 24 years of US support for Indonesian military occupation. Along with the CAVR, we agree that the US owes East Timor reparations."
Despite East Timorese and Indonesian calls to publicly release the CAVR report, Gusmao has thus far failed to do so.
East Timorese parliamentarian Leandro Isaacs, who has campaigned for an international tribunal on Indonesian military crimes committed in East Timor, told Australian journalist John Martinkus, "It's not just people from Kosovo, I'm sorry to say it, who have a right to justice because they are white. It's not just Yugoslavs who have rights. We here also have the same level of humanity as the rest of the world. "
The truth commission's findings follow a May 2005 UN Commission of Experts report on human rights violations in East Timor in 1999. That report concluded, "The Commission wishes to emphasize the extreme cruelty with which these acts were committed, and that the aftermath of these events still burdens the Timorese society. The situation calls not only for sympathy and reparations, but also for justice. While recognizing the virtue of forgiveness and that it may be justified in individual cases, forgiveness without justice for the untold privation and suffering inflicted would be an act of weakness rather than of strength." The UN Security Council is awaiting the Secretary General's recommendations in response to that report.
The Washington-based National Security Archive's Indonesia and East Timor Documentation Project assisted the CAVR in obtaining US documents via Freedom of Information Act requests. According to the Documentation Project's director, Brad Simpson, these documents showed that "Indonesia's invasion and occupation of East Timor and the resulting crimes against humanity occurred in an international context in which the support of powerful nations, especially the United States, was indispensable."
They also provide further backing for Nevins's argument about the bipartisan nature of US support for the Indonesian military occupation of East Timor. The documents show that in 1977, Zbigniew Brzezinski and other Carter Administration officials blocked declassification of the explosive cable transcribing President Ford's and Secretary of State Kissinger's December 6, 1975 meeting with Indonesian dictator Suharto.
In that exchange, Ford and Kissinger explicitly approved the invasion of East Timor. Also newly-released was a 1978 message Vice President Walter Mondale wrote President Carter to request accelerated approval for the sale of sixteen A-4 fighter jets to Jakarta. On May 9, as Mondale arrived in Indonesia, Carter approved the sale but sought clarification "on the circumstances in which they envision the planes will be used, in particular in East Timor." The extent of the Carter Administration's concern for the East Timorese can be gauged by a telegram in which Mondale reassures Suharto of their two nations' "mutual concerns regarding East Timor," in particular, "how to handle public relations aspects of the problem."
As Dan Lev, Indonesia specialist at the University of Washington, said in a recent interview with Indonesia Alert [www.indonesiaalert.org], "people in the Department of Defense in the United States are constantly arguing that the thousands of Indonesian officers who they train are advantaged by that training. But there's no evidence of that! And the places where they have trained don't have to do with human rights. They have to do with crushing people, actually. And they have to do with intelligence services and the like."
Lev added, "The United States, the major country in the world, sees the Indonesian army as an ally, and very useful to America. And that's what helped the army become more engaged in the first place, in 1957, 1958, when the United States spotted the army as the principal means for getting rid of the communist party, at that point the third largest communist party in the world [in] 1965, it's true that the American government of the time was deeply grateful to the Indonesian army for carrying out and implementing in a sense one of the worst massacres of the last century Then the issue was communism, now the issue is terrorism."
But, as Karen Orenstein, ETAN's National Coordinator, told me, "Given the lack of oversight or serious reform, the armed forces of the archipelago remain by far the most significant purveyor of terror for the people who live there. "
[Ben Terrall is a writer and activist in Oakland. He can be reached at: bterrall@igc.org.]
Jakarta Post - December 15, 2005
Members of the House of Representatives Commission I on defense Permadi and Djoko Susilo examine various types of weaponry belonging to the Army Special Forces (Kopassus) at the unit's headquarters near the Central Java town of Surakarta.
The lawmakers visited Kopassus on Wednesday to inquire about the possibility of the unit taking part in a joint exercise with Australia's elite Special Air Service (SAS) unit next year.
The lawmakers called on Kopassus to "think twice" before agreeing to Australia's offer, which is aimed at helping the country fight terrorism and piracy. Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle lawmaker Sabam Sirait said the government should be cautious about the invitation, saying Australia might use the opportunity to intervene in Indonesia's domestic affairs.
"We need to be cautious as we are aware that Australia really needs collaboration with us so they can counter their greatest fear, which is terrorism," he said.
Djoko of the National Mandate Party expressed similar concerns, saying Indonesia should instead give priority to military cooperation with the United States through its International Military Education and Training (IMET) program. "That program (IMET) is more essential for us because we can learn much from it," he said.
Rights watch groups have also criticized the Australian offer, saying that such an opportunity should be given to the police who are in charge of security.
Australia announced on Sunday it would resume the joint training program with the TNI after seven years of lapse and invited the Kopassus to a two-week antiterror drill next year. (JP/Blontank Poer)
Tempo Interactive - December 14, 2005
Jakarta -- The USA, according to US-Indonesia (USINDO) society President Alphonse Laporta, might impose a new military embargo on Indonesia because every year the Congress has a different budget committee that will discuss the new legislation.
Laporta said that the Congress might propose another military embargo on Indonesia. "The Senators might impose or try to impose another embargo," Laporta said in the seminar discussing the US Congress policy on Indonesia.
However, Laporta hoped that the military embargo would not be enforced again. In addition, the US Congress is focusing on the problem of Papua. What was revealed in the US policy on Papua is that the US Congress is convinced of how 'the freedom to choose' applied in Papua has been manipulated and even sounds unfair and unjust. The US Congress has tried to minimize the human rights violations in Papua.
The Indonesian government, Laporta said, must try hard to improve the welfare of the Papuans and the USA in delivering maximum support. "This is the time for Indonesians to act in solving the problems in Papua," stated Laporta.
The US Congress also plans to support health, education and local government capability in Papua by giving training to local officials, Papuan police and civil defense units that defend human rights.
The issue of Papua in the Congress comes from academicians and various human rights organizations. "The local people of Papua for the most part join religious and human rights organizations,' stated Laporta.
According to Sumadi Brotodiningrat, former Indonesian Ambassador for the US who ended his term two months ago, said that support for Papua by the US was valid. However, it must first be coordinated with the central government in Jakarta. "Any support must be according to the Decentralization Law. If it is not compatible, then it should not be allowed," said Brotodiningrat.
Regarding the imposed embargo, Brotodiningrat said that this all depended on the US budget next year.
(Marulli Ferdinand-Tempo News Room)
Jakarta Post - December 12, 2005
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- Australia has invited Indonesia's special forces Kopassus to join a two-week counterterrorism exercise next year, a move which rights activists say is inconsistent.
"In this era of heightened terrorist threats, it is in Australia's interests to engage with regional special forces, such as Kopassus, to safeguard the lives of Australians and Australian interests abroad," Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill was quoted by AP as saying on Sunday.
The exercise will be the first since Canberra suspended joint training with the commando force following widespread allegations of Indonesian Military (TNI) involvement in atrocities in Timor Leste prior to and after the 1999 independence vote there.
Australia follows in the footsteps of the United States which lifted its ban last month on arms sales to Indonesia after TNI soldiers shot dead dozens of protesters in Timor Leste in 1992.
Hill said members of Australia's Special Air Service Regiment and Indonesia's 81st counterterrorism unit would be involved in the two-week exercise that would include training in counterterrorism, dealing with hijackings and hostage recovery.
"In the event of a terrorist incident, the safety of Australians in Indonesia could well rest on effective cooperation between the TNI and the ADF," Hill added, referring to the Indonesian and Australian armed forces by their acronyms.
A total of 88 Australians were killed by terrorists in the 2002 Bali blasts, several others died in the second attack on the island last October. Terrorists also detonated a bomb in front of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta last year.
Following the Oct. 1 terror strike on Bali, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asked the TNI to take part in the war on terror. The police have taken the lead in the fight against terrorism, in line with their responsibility for security.
Australia has consistently warned its citizens to avoid unnecessary travel to Indonesia due to the terror threats.
Usman Hamid of rights watch Imparsial criticized Australia for being inconsistent in helping Indonesia fight terrorism.
"Australia, like the US, has ensured that the Indonesian police stand in the front line in the antiterrorism campaign. It is inconsistent, therefore, if Australia now asks Kopassus troops to join the exercise," said Usman.
He agreed that the police were unable to handle domestic security, but said that intelligence authorities had contributed a lot to the failure for not providing accurate information to the police. Australia, he added, could threaten TNI's internal reform.
"Australia should know that Kopassus has not contributed to the reform movement. So, there is no strong reason for Canberra to turn to the TNI, instead of the police to seek a partner in the antiterror war," Usman said.
Australian Federal Police have been cooperating with the Indonesian police in unraveling the masterminds of bomb attacks.
Meanwhile, US Congressman Christopher Kit-Bond said his country hoped to see respect for human rights upheld in Indonesia.
"A modern military should respect human rights, civilian supremacy, law enforcement, and other standards of performance in free and democratic countries," Kit-Bond said in a joint press conference with Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono.
The visiting Republican lawmaker had held talks with Juwono on defense cooperation between the two nations.
Radio Australia - December 12, 2005
Reporter: Alexandra Kirk
Mark Colvin: There's been a mixed reaction to the Federal Government's decision to resume training with Indonesia's special forces.
Military cooperation was cut in 1999 when Kopassus trained militias which killed East Timorese people while Australia was leading a peacekeeping mission there.
The Defence Minister Robert Hill says if there's a terrorist incident, the safety of Australians in Indonesia could well rest on effective cooperation with Indonesia's military.
He says Indonesia knows Australia's views about human rights abuses and the military leadership will ensure that those sent here won't cause Australia any embarrassment.
From Canberra, Alexandra Kirk reports.
Alexandra Kirk: Australia cut ties with Indonesia's Kopassus unit after it was linked to human rights abuses in East Timor. Kopassus Unit 81 is the Indonesian Special Forces counter terrorism team. The Defence Minister Robert Hill says [it] has the most effective capability to respond to certain types of terrorist threats in Indonesia, the reason driving the resumption of joint military training.
Robert Hill: Australians have been targeted in Indonesia. There will be occasions when the best response available is through Kopassus and we would like to see Kopassus trained to be as capable as possible. So I'm talking about counter terrorism, counter hijack -- those sort of capabilities.
Alexandra Kirk: Critics of Kopassus argue Indonesia's police force has been doing a good job with its special counter terrorist unit. But Senator Hill says the military may be required too.
Robert Hill: It could be in relation to an aviation incident, we don't generally like to speculate on the detail of these things, but you imagine the sort of circumstances where the SAS in Australia would be called in to assist.
Alexandra Kirk: As for continuing human rights concerns, while Senator Hill maintains there's been significant improvement which should be recognised and rewarded, Australia's taken some precautionary steps.
Robert Hill: The Indonesian military leadership will ensure that those who are sent to Australia they put on the list, will not cause us embarrassment.
Alexandra Kirk: Dr Alan Dupont, senior fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy, thinks it's the right decision.
Alan Dupont: It's a qualified decision and part of the reason for that is because there are well founded concerns about Kopassus because of its human rights record, which has not been particularly good.
On the other hand, I think the Government's view is that that has to be balanced against the need to obtain military cooperation in the war against terror and since Kopassus, like our SAS in Australia, is an intrinsic part of their counter terrorist organisation, then they've got to be included in the calculation.
I think that's, at the end of the day, when you weigh all that up, some of the human rights concerns I think are overweighed by the calculations of realpolitik here. You've just got to have the military on board if you're going to be serious about conducting effective counter terrorist operations in Indonesia.
Alexandra Kirk: Dr Dupont believes Kopassus still has a human rights problem. He says many infringements have been carried out by individuals, small groups of renegade officers, not Kopassus as a whole.
Alan Dupont: You're either going to deal with the Indonesian military or you're not. You can't hive off parts and cherry pick and say we're only going to deal with parts of it.
Alexandra Kirk: But he doesn't think Australia should re- establish full defence engagement with Indonesia.
Alan Dupont: I think in the area of counter terrorism it's necessary to do that, but in other areas, I'd very cautious about going back to the sort of links that we had before. And I think the second point is that in cooperating with Kopassus we should be exposing them to the way in which we do things here and encourage them to make reforms of their own organisation.
Alexandra Kirk: Dr Damien Kingsbury has a different view. A specialist in Indonesian affairs at Deakin University, who's written extensively on Indonesia's armed forces, or TNI, he thinks Australia's acted too hastily. Firstly, he thinks Kopassus is now redundant as an anti-terrorist force.
Damien Kingsbury: If you look at the arrests over the past two or three years, it's been the police that have been active in this and they've been very successful. We've got good relations with the police and we should pursue that -- not military links.
Senator Hill says the Kopassus members that will be trained probably don't have a record of human rights abuses in East Timor. What he's not saying of course is that they do probably have a record of human rights abuses in Aceh, in West Papua and possibly elsewhere, not to mention intelligence links into Islamist organisations that are conventionally regarded as terrorists.
Thirdly, we really effectively approving the Indonesian military for performance that it has not yet achieved, that we're giving it a pat on the back for reforms that have not yet been put in place.
Alexandra Kirk: Dr Kingsbury was also a political adviser to the Free Aceh Movement in this year's Helsinki peace talks. He's a long-standing critic of Kopassus.
Damien Kingsbury: Well, my well stated opposition to Kopassus stems from having seen it first hand perpetrate myriad abuses in a range of places, and I'm not against countries having a military as such -- of course, everybody needs to defend themselves. But Kopassus really, it's culture is so deeply entrenched that really, even the former US Ambassador has said that it's impossible to reform it. It's an organisation that really needs to be thrown out and if you want that sort of special services unit, you have to start again.
Mark Colvin: Dr Damien Kingsbury from Deakin University, speaking to Alexandra Kirk.
Australian Associated Press - December 12, 2005
Labor says the Government must ensure proper safeguards are in place when Australia resumes training exercises with Indonesia's notorious Kopassus special forces early next year.
Exercise Dawn Kookaburra will take place in Perth over two weeks and concentrate on hijack situations. The exercise will involve Australia's Special Air Service Regiment and Indonesia's counter-terrorism unit, Kopassus.
Australia cut ties with Kopassus after militia trained by the troops killed East Timorese in the lead-up to the country's independence in 1999.
Defence Minister Robert Hill has defended the Government's decision to lift a seven-year ban on military training between the forces. He says the move is in Australia's national interest and will further bolster the fight against regional terrorism.
Opposition defence spokesman Robert McClelland says while the Indonesian unit will be a valuable partner in tackling terrorism, Australia must tread carefully.
"It is appropriate that the government look at re-engagement with Kopassus," Mr McClelland said. "But they must also make the case that Kopassus has fundamentally reformed its culture and guarantee that no one participating in joint training exercises has been involved in past atrocities or actions against Australia."
Any links with Kopassus are controversial because of long-running accusations of human rights violations in East Timor and the Indonesian provinces of Aceh and West Papua.
A report released last year by the Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre urged Australia not to renew ties with Kopassus.
The paper said much of Kopassus' role would continue to be viewed in Australia and elsewhere as profoundly inappropriate, and morally and legally unacceptable.
Associated Press - December 11, 2005
Jakarta -- Indonesia welcomed Australia's decision Sunday to resume ties with its elite commando unit to help fight terrorism, but human rights activists questioned whether the force had improved its record since Canberra imposed the ban.
Joint exercises with the force, known as Kopassus, were suspended in 1999 following allegations the troops were involved in atrocities in East Timor ahead of the former Indonesian province's 1999 independence vote.
On Sunday, Australia's defense minister said joint maneuvers would resume next year, citing the unit's importance in cracking down on al-Qaida linked militants blamed for a series of deadly bombings in the country since 2000.
"We highly respect the Australian decision," said Indonesian military spokesman Maj. Gen. Kohirin Suganda. "The world has the right to judge the Indonesian military, but the tsunami disaster and the terrorism threat have opened peoples' eyes and minds on how important we are in providing effective relief aid and in counterterrorism."
Asmara Nababan, the executive director, of the Institute for Human Rights and Democracy Studies, said he was not convinced Kopassus had undertaken meaningful reform since 1999, and noted the force was implicated in rights abuses elsewhere in Indonesia.
"Up until now I am not convinced there have been any major changes in Kopassus, so what is to stop the force committing more abuses in the future," he said. The decision is the latest step in the international rehabilitation of Indonesia's armed forces.
Also citing the need to bolster the military in the light of the anti-terror war, the United States last month lifted a ban on arms sales to Jakarta that was imposed after the East Timor conflict.
Nababan questioned Canberra's reason for resuming the exercises. "The lead agency in the war against terrorism is the police, so what is the relevance and urgency of training Kopassus," he said. "This is all about Australia wanting good ties with Indonesia and using the training issue as a reward."
| Human rights/law |
Jakarta Post - December 15, 2005
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- Human rights campaigners on Wednesday blamed the slow investigation into last year's murder of pro- democracy activist Munir on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's reluctance to unravel the case and bring all of the perpetrators to justice.
They say they suspect the shifting of Brig. Gen. Marsudi Hanafi, who chaired the police team investigating the high-profile murder case, into a non-portfolio job at National Police headquarters was part of a scenario to halt the investigation.
Marsudi used to serve at the police's detective directorate when he led the now-defunct government-sanctioned fact-finding team assigned to assist police probe into the murder.
A police team of 34 officers had been appointed to carry on the investigation after the fact-finding team's tenure expired in June. Marsudi again is in charge of the probe.
The rights groups recently noticed that only two officers, including Marsudi, were actually conducting investigations, while the rest had been given other jobs.
"The police decision to halt the investigation into the death of Munir gives us a clear message that this country's legal system will not touch the masterminds. Instead, the system will only fault the field-level operator, who may be acquitted in an appeal court," Usman Hamid of the Imparsial rights watch group said in a joint statement. Also present were Asmara Nababan, Todung Mulya Lubis, Rachland Nashiddik and Munir's widow Suciwati.
The activists were referring to Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, who is standing trial for allegedly poisoning Munir during the Jakarta to Singapore leg of a flight to Amsterdam. Prosecutors have demanded a life sentence for Pollycarpus.
The fact-finding team believes that certain individuals in the intelligence community had a role in the murder. It also recommended a police investigation into several high-ranking National Intelligence Agency (BIN) officials in connection with the case.
Separately, Pollycarpus told a hearing at the Central Jakarta District Court that he planned to file a complaint with the President over the murder charges leveled on him.
"The prosecutor's team have made accusations against me based on their own assumptions and such charges might lead to life imprisonment. Therefore, I will file a complaint with the President, the Prosecutor's Commission and the UN High Commission for Human Rights over this unfair trial," Pollycarpus said.
The Prosecutor's Commission has not yet been established, pending the President's approval of its elected members.
"As a citizen, I have the right to seek justice," Pollycarpus said. The panel of judges will deliver a verdict next Tuesday.
Agence France Presse - December 14, 2005
Jakarta -- No matter what verdict is delivered in the murder trial of prominent Indonesian rights activist Munir on Friday, activists and legal experts say the true mastermind may never face justice.
Their fear comes despite Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's pledge to do everything in his power to solve the shock poisoning death in September last year of the popular campaigner, who died aged just 38.
The Central Jakarta district court will decide whether an off- duty Garuda Indonesia pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto slipped arsenic into the orange juice of Munir after swapping his seat with him during a flight to Amsterdam.
Priyanto, who faces a possible life sentence if found guilty of premeditated murder, has professed his innocence.
"Whatever the verdict, it will not shed light on who the masterminds were and why he was killed," said Munarman, the head of the respected Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation. The prosecutors have only vaguely cited Priyanto's sense of patriotism being ruffled by Munir's work as a motive for the murder.
Munir was a dynamic activist who began work in the 1990s, providing legal counsel for victims of officially-sanctioned violence and repression during Suharto's rule. He was also a driving force behind an investigation that exposed military involvement in human rights violations during East Timor's 1999 independence vote.
Munarman said more concerning than the trial's outcome was the fact that Yudhoyono has yet to make public the report and recommendations of an independent fact-finding team he established to help police probe the case.
The team, whose mandate ended in June, had the power to question witnesses, but several key witnesses including two top ranking officers of the state intelligence agency declined to cooperate.
Team members said that Priyanto made several telephone calls to members of the intelligence agency before and after the murder.
"I suspect the government appears reluctant to make it public because the report contains names of involved individuals which the government does not want to divulge," Munarman told AFP.
Police have so far only named three suspects: Priyanto and cabin crew members Oedi Irianto and Yeti Susmiarti, who are accused of being accessories. The trial of the latter two has yet to begin.
"Those who are responsible for the planning and implementation of Munir's death have not yet been found," Munarman alleged. Police have also said they will halt the probe into the Munir case as the culprits are thought to have been nabbed, he added.
Rachland Nasyidik of rights group Imparsial and a member of the fact-finding team, said that after the verdict "the investigation will return to zero, but this time with no hope of the case ever being unravelled".
He told AFP that he and another team member were facing a libel suit filed by the former chief of the intelligence agency, Abdullah Hendropriyono, as a result of seeking to question him. He refused. The team's head meanwhile has been removed from his posting at the national police detective's department to become an advisor to the national police chief, a less prestigious post.
"The process will end with the verdicts and if past experiences could be used as yardsticks, the suspects could even go free on appeal later," Rasyidik warned.
Johnson Panjaitan, executive director of the Indonesian Human Rights and Legal Aid Association, said that Yudhoyono's reluctance to make the team's report public was in itself highly suspicious.
"This all fits into the larger scenario of closing the lid over the case," Panjaitan said. "I see the verdict as the last door that will close the way leading to a disclosure of what had really happened."
Activists have seen the case as a test of Yudhoyono's dedication to ensuring the rule of law, as Indonesia slowly emerges from the shadow of Suharto's 32-year rule when the military could eliminate enemies with impunity.
Jakarta Post - December 12, 2005
ID Nugroho, Surabaya -- Deddy Prihambudi, the chairman of the Surabaya Legal Aid Institute, who usually speaks in an explosive manner, was, for a moment, unusually quiet.
"Human rights are certainly a complicated problem in Indonesia and the government is still ambivalent about them," Jember, East Java-born Deddy, knitting his brow and closing his eyes, told The Jakarta Post in Surabaya recently.
Although he feels reluctant to be dubbed a human rights fighter, Deddy is inseparable from the history of the struggle for human rights in East Java. He has been involved in the struggle since he was a law student at Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java, in the 1980s.
Along with his peers and his seniors, including the late Munir, Deddy participated in a lot of discussions on problems relating to human rights and the law, which were often violated during the New Order era.
"The social upheaval in land issues involving the Nipah community in Madura is always fresh in my mind. That was a major case that I handled before I became a lawyer," he told the Post, reminiscing.
In the 1990s, tall, well-built Deddy, who had just graduated from law school, joined the Malang chapter of the Surabaya Legal Aid Institute as a volunteer, along with the late Munir.
That marked the beginning of his passion for the struggle for the enforcement of the law and the upholding of human rights; it also got him involved further in the activities of the Surabaya Legal Aid Institute.
Deddy became more prominent in the fight for human rights following the tragic death of Marsinah, a labor activist who lost her life in Sidoarjo, East Java in 2002.
Together with the late Munir, Deddy investigated the case, which has remained a symbol of labor struggle in Indonesia. "We secretly tried to find out in Sidoarjo what had actually happened to Marsinah," he said.
In those days, terror and threats were commonplace, especially when the findings of the Surabaya Legal Aid Institute increasingly implicated security officials in Marsinah's case.
"I was threatened numerous times," he said. Marsinah's case has yet to be resolved. It is something for the Indonesian people to think about. Even though the evidence is very clear, the case has yet to be dealt with properly," he said, in serious tones.
'Not much has changed'
Following the attack on the offices of the central executive board of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) in 1996, many student activists were kidnapped. The Surabaya Legal Aid Institute responded to this situation and Deddy became a member of the legal defense team set up to help the student activists. They were unable to help them, and many were later incarcerated.
Still, Deddy gained greater popularity and was entrusted with the directorship of the Surabaya Legal Aid Institute, a position that he has held for two terms, from 2001 to 2003 and from 2003 to the present day.
For Deddy, a devout Muslim, the collapse of Soeharto's New Order did not herald much change in the country's human rights climate.
"In the Soeharto era, the government often used the military to violate human rights but today we see violations of human rights by civil society and the military acting together," he noted.
Small social groups, he said, were increasingly violating human rights. "In the case of heresy, for example, the public can openly take the law into their own hands against perceived perpetrators while civilian law enforcers, such as the police, prosecutors and the judiciary, seem powerless to do anything," he said.
Meanwhile, reports have been submitted to the Surabaya Legal Aid Institute to the effect that military groups at the territorial levels such as Babinsa (noncommissioned officers for village control) and Koramil (the military command at the district level) have taken over the role of the police.
"There have already been instances where Babinsa and Koramil officers, for example, inquired about licensing. Have they ever been assigned a responsibility like this before?" he said.
Nationwide, the condition is not much different. Although President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono appears to welcome the movement to uphold human rights, other groups do not want to see human rights properly exercised in Indonesia.
Deddy took as an example the murder of human rights activist Munir. "The dialog between the fact-finding team for Munir's case and the President has been illuminating, and the President has even issued a decree on the matter.
"Ironically, the decree seems to have had no effect on several high-ranking military officers. This is really an undesirable state of affairs," he said. "The President is being held hostage by the actions of just a few people," he added.
Jakarta Post - December 10, 2005
As the world community prepared to commemorate International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, human rights activist Todung Mulya Lubis shared on Thursday his observations on the advancement of human rights in the country over the past year with The Jakarta Post's Ridwan Max Sijabat.
Question: How do you rate the promotion and protection of human rights under President Susilo's administration?
Anwer: The game the government is playing is hunting down big embezzlers. Our main agenda, or the central issue, is the war on corruption, causing the government to pay less attention to human rights issues. There are no concerted measures to settle gross human right abuses. I'm disappointed with the Attorney General's Office and the court, which are busy trying only corruption cases and with the print media, which has given more space to issues on terrorism, corruption and the implementation of the memorandum of understanding in Aceh.
Could you give examples of the challenges facing the human rights movement in Indonesia?
The government has not yet carried out a thorough investigation into the premeditated assassination of human rights campaigner Munir, nor the shooting of three female Christian students in Poso. Indonesia's image has been tarnished by the acquittal of a police official who is believed to be involved in the Abepura shooting case and by the unresolved human rights abuses during the Trisakti and Semanggi tragedies. The government has remained silent on the controversial trial of human rights perpetrators in East Timor. No human rights perpetrators in the cases have been sent to jail. So far, no trials have been conducted to bring to justice human rights perpetrators in Aceh and Papua.
President Susilo must fulfill the pledge he made during his presidential campaign last year to investigate thoroughly human rights abuses. To repair Indonesia's tarnished image in the international community, all the unresolved human rights abuses must be brought to court. The trial of gross human right abuses will never make up for the suffering of victims and their relatives but it could reduce their burden, bring justice to perpetrators and create a better human rights culture in the country.
How about religious freedom?
This year was also one marked by violations of religious freedom, which the government has failed to take harsh action against. Security authorities did not take the appropriate action against a certain group that damaged the property of Muslim organization Ahmadiyah, nor against those who forcibly closed down houses of worship in Bandung and Bekasi, West Java.
We witnessed this year the erosion of religious freedom. It is really a setback in human rights protection since religious freedom is guaranteed by the 1945 Constitution. Unfortunately, we have become victims of the Osama syndrome, whereby radical groups have manipulated the public fear of radicalism to intimidate minority groups.
What is your comment on the ongoing trial of the Munir case?
It's most regrettable that the trial will apparently stop at Pollycarpus. Pollycarpus is not the ultimate offender. He is only a minor player. The Attorney General's Office and the court should go deeply into the case until they arrest the masterminds behind Pollycarpus. If the government is committed to human rights protection, the trial of the Munir case should be a good time to settle all the unresolved gross human rights violations. The prosecution of only Pollycarpus means that the government is not committed and has made a compromise with the anti-human rights sides and it is a huge debt that the President has with human rights advocates.
The government's weak commitment is shown in President Susilo's reluctance to expose to the public the results of the fact- finding team's investigation into the case. The President is apparently trapped between the two conflicting sides. He has promised Munir's wife Suciwati a thorough investigation into the case but, on the other side, he has made a compromise with the anti-human rights side.
Do you think the investigation should be taken up by the National Intelligence Agency (BIN)?
Yes, the investigation must continue until the masterminds are arrested. If the investigation ended with the arrest of BIN personnel, the President would need to ensure there was no damage to the reputation of the intelligence agency.
Do we have the necessary laws to uphold human rights in Indonesia?
The prevailing laws have been sufficient. We have Law No. 39/1999 on human rights protection, Law No. 20/2000 on the ad hoc trial of human rights abuses, the law of freedom of expression and the law on freedom to unionize. The government recently ratified the United Nations Covenant on Civilian Political Rights and the United Nations Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. These laws need to be consistently enforced.
Which laws hinder human rights protection?
The Criminal Code and the revised bill on the criminal code, the bill on intelligence, the law on state defense and the law on terrorism still have contentious chapters that could endanger human rights protection in the country.
The Criminal Code threatens press freedom while the law on ad hoc human rights trials carries the death penalty, which is against human rights.
Regarding the intelligence bill, BIN has potential to abuse its power if it is given the authority to arrest terrorist suspects within three days. I can understand BIN's needs but the arrest must be supported with strong evidence and made under tight supervision.
The bill must stipulate the circumstances in which intelligence agents are authorized to make an arrest and sanctions for those who make wrongful arrests.
Ottawa Citizen - December 9, 2005
Anna Piekarski -- Yan Christian Warinussy is a wanted man. Not because he has committed a crime, but because he is trying to protect the law.
Mr. Warinussy is a human rights lawyer in West Papua, a land where, he says, more than 100,000 people have been killed since the Indonesian government took control in 1963.
Mr. Warinussy is in Ottawa this week as the guest of the Rights and Democracy group, which is honouring him tonight at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. He is to receive the John Humphrey Freedom Award and a $25,000 prize.
In an interview yesterday, Mr. Warinussy said West Papua, which shares the world's second largest island with Papua New Guinea, has been fighting for independence from Indonesia, and people who talk about separation are targeted by the military.
He said the Indonesian military made a list of those they consider separatists, and two weeks ago he learned his name is on it. "To be on this list is possibly to be on a death list," he said, speaking through an interpreter.
Many people come to Mr. Warinussy for legal advice -- at his legal aid clinic and in his home -- and he never turns anyone away. Because of his efforts, many realize they have rights.
Mr. Warinussy's work has earned him widespread recognition as a defender of human rights, says Rights and Democracy president Jean-Louis Roy. "He stood firm and goes to court and tries to learn what happens to those who disappeared. He is an extraordinary man."
Mr. Roy said the prize -- named after John Peters Humphrey, the Canadian law professor who prepared the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- is awarded annually to someone who is actively protecting human rights.
A father of four young girls, Mr. Warinussy said he isn't concerned for his own safety, but he worries about his wife and family. He said he will use the prize money to further his legal aid work, as his organization rarely receives any funding.
Part of the prize includes a speaking tour and Mr. Warinussy has visited Vancouver, Victoria, Winnipeg, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa.
Mr. Warinussy says he hopes to make Canadians more aware of the killings and human rights violations in his homeland and that international pressure will force Indonesia to address the situation.
| Labour issues |
Jakarta Post - December 15, 2005
Jakarta -- Aiming to boost efficiency, the world's largest instant noodle maker, PT Indofood Sukses Makmur, has dismissed thousands of workers and plans to keep on doing so until at least 3,500 workers have been laid off by the end of the year.
"As of September, we had laid off 2,900 workers who were mostly nearing retirement age. It is mainly for efficiency reasons," Indofood vice president director Franciscus Welirang said during a company briefing on Wednesday.
The company had around 50,000 workers at the beginning of 2005 and planned to downsize this figure to between 46,000 and 46,500 by the end of the year.
The company has allocated Rp 130 billion (some US$13 million) in severance pay and is hoping that this will save the company between Rp 80 billion and Rp 100 billion per annum in the years to come.
It said that it would automate the packaging process, and also operate three shifts a day to optimize the utilization of the company's production capacity.
Despite the massive layoffs, Franciscus said that the company was also recruiting new employees for its oil palm plantations and newly acquired shipping firm.
Earlier this year, Indofood bought convertible bonds issued by shipping firm PT Pelayaran Tahta Bahtera.
An Indofood director, Cesar M. dela Cruz, said the company would expand its current 97,000 hectares of oil palm plantations to up to 300,000 hectares over the next 10 years. "But, it is also possible that we might do it within a year," he added, without elaborating.
Its current plantations supply 315,000 tons of crude palm oil (CPO) per annum, or around 50 percent of the company's demand for vegetable oil.
In the first nine months of the year, Indofood's net profit dropped to Rp 42.2 billion from Rp 288.6 billion as of September last year.
"This was due to one-time charges and loans amounting to Rp 217.3 billion," Franciscus said, adding that losses arising from the sale of foreign exchange hedging contracts also contributed to the drop.
Indofood has targeted an increase in its market share for consumer products -- mainly instant noodles -- to up to 75 percent by the end of this year from slightly over 70 percent currently. "Market share is expected to reach 78 percent next year," dela Cruz added.
Jakarta Post - December 10, 2005
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta -- Freedom of association is not being upheld in many workplaces here in spite of the seven-year reform movement, a labor union has reported ahead of International Human Rights Day.
The Confederation of Indonesian Prosperity Labor Union (KSBSI) said in a report launched on Friday that it had recorded at least 45 companies in 12 provinces that violated freedom of association, leading to the arrest of two labor activists and the dismissal of more than 1,400 workers over the past year.
Juanda, an executive of the KSBSI, said these offending companies had used various irrational reasons and taken numerous measures -- either persuasive or repressive -- to prevent the presence of more than one labor union in their respective companies.
"Two KSBSI activists in North Sumatra and East Kalimantan, respectively, were sent to jail on theft charges after they led demonstrations to demand the acceptance of a KSBSI unit in their own company," he told a seminar held to launch the report.
The KSBSI said that a local unit of US giant gold and copper mining company PT Freeport was an offender as it had rejected the establishment of a KSBSI unit at the company's large mining operation in Timika, Papua.
Entering the reform era in 1998 following the fall of Soeharto, Indonesia amended the 1945 Constitution to adopt a true democracy and human rights principles. It has also ratified ILO Convention No. 87 on the freedom of association to allow workers to unionize, and introduced Law No. 20/2000 on the freedom of association.
During the Soeharto era, the regime only acknowledged one government-backed labor union called the SPSI, banning other unions to represent workers.
But now, at least 68 unions have already registered with the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, although a larger number of the country's nearly 100 million workers have not unionized yet.
KSBSI chairman Rekson Silaban said the organization had several times filed reports on violations of the freedom of association to the relevant authorities but no serious action had been taken.
"The freedom of association is part of universal human rights and it is quite strange that violations continue to occur amid the reform era," he said.
Yunus "John" Howay, deputy secretary of the local branch of the KSBSI in Timika, Papua, said Freeport's management had rejected calls to acknowledge the presence of a KSBSI unit in the company and workers had been barred from joining the labor union.
"A unit of KBSI has been established by dozens of workers, but the management has refused to recognize it," he said, citing that the management had only recognized the existing Confederation of All-Indonesian Workers Union (KSPSI).
John said his office had sent two letters to the management to recognize the KSBSI, but no response had been forthcoming.
"In a meeting organized by the KSPSI in September, 2005, the management stressed that PT Freeport Indonesia accepted only one union representing workers in bipartite and tripartite negotiations with the management," he said Meanwhile, spokesman for Freeport Siddharta Moersjid denied the accusation, saying the management and its partner companies had never barred their workers from setting up their own unions. "PT Freeport complies with the law and has never prohibited the presence of labor unions other than the KSPSI. The problem lies in the fact that no workers want to join other unions," he said, adding that the management would not have any objections to workers joining the KSBSI or other unions.
Jakarta Post - December 10, 2005
Cirebon -- An NGO activist lashed out on Friday at new minimum wage set up by the local administration, saying that it was well below workers' expectations.
"The government is ignoring the rights of workers to enjoy decent lives," said Yoyon Suharyono, an activist with the Worker and Environment Foundation (YBLH).
The government has set a new minimum wage for workers in Cirebon municipality of Rp 540,500, representing a Rp 65,500 increase over the previous minimum wage. The new minimum wage will take effect on Jan. 1. But, based on a recent survey conducted by the foundation, a reasonable minimum wage in Cirebon would be Rp 640,000 a month, said Yoyon.
A wide range of industries are located in Cirebon, a coastal city in West Java. Most workers are employed by the rattan industry.
Jakarta Post - December 9, 2005
Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta -- All Indonesians will soon enjoy equal opportunities as regards employment recruitment and placement, and in the remuneration they receive, regardless of gender, religion, race, ethnic group, political affiliation or social status... on paper at least.
The government, labor unions, employers associations and the International Labor Organization (ILO) jointly launched Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) directives on Thursday that are designed to ensure that firms eschew discrimination in the workplace.
The directives, composed of seven chapters made up of a total of 48 pages, say that firms should recruit, select, place and compensate their workers based solely on competence, talent and expertise.
The employers are also required to provide equal pay for work of equal value, and to set transparent wage structures and scales so as to ensure that this is done.
"Different treatment in terms of wages and allowances between male and female workers is prohibited," the directives say.
Newly appointed Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Erman Suparno said the directives were designed to give effect to articles 5 and 6 of the Manpower Law (No. 13/2003), which stipulates that all workers must be treated in a non- discriminatory manner.
"Recruitment and placement should be undertaken in an objective, transparent, fair and equitable manner," he said in a written statement read out by the ministry's secretary-general, Harry Heriawan Saleh, at the launch of the directives at the manpower ministry.
The minister said that an EEO Task Force set up by his predecessor as minister, Fahmi Idris, had formulated the directives in collaboration with the Indonesian Employers Association (APINDO) and three labor union confederations -- the Indonesian Labor Union Confederation (KSPSI), Indonesian Trade Union Congress (KSPI), and the Confederation of Indonesian Prosperity Trade Unions (KSBSI).
The directives were also drafted in response to the ratification of ILO Conventions No. 100 on equal remuneration and No. 111 on discrimination (employment and occupation), the minister said.
ILO Indonesia Country Deputy Director Peter Rademaker welcomed the adoption of the EEO directives.
"Equal opportunity is important... The directives have shown the willingness of Indonesia to have workplace rules, policies, practices and behavior that are fair and do not disadvantage people because they belong to particular groups," he said.
APINDO secretary-general, Djimanto, said employers should support the directives as they would also be beneficial to employers. Meanwhile, KSPSI chairman and former minister of manpower and transmigration, Jacob Nuwa Wea, stressed that the government should actively promote the directives to make sure that employers and workers across the nation fully understood what they stood for.
EEO Task Force chairman Lumban Gaol said the ministry would monitor the implementation of the directives and formulate incentives to encourage compliance.
"Those who comply will be rewarded, while those who don't will be punished," he said, adding that under the prevailing manpower legislation, the firms could face administrative sanctions, fines or criminal charges.
| Government/civil service |
Jakarta Post - December 14, 2005
Jakarta -- In spite of the public uproar, the government has disbursed Rp 10 million (US$1,030) in monthly operational allowances for each of 550 House of Representatives lawmakers, Antara has reported.
The allowances, which community watch organizations claim would not be accounted for, were ostensibly aimed at facilitating better communications between legislators and their constituents.
Deputy House secretary-general Ayu Darsini said on Tuesday the allowance was effective as of July, therefore each lawmaker was paid backdated allowances of Rp 60 million.
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle legislator Hasto Kristyanto said the allowance was transferred to his bank account on Dec. 9. Darsini said legislators were free to spend the allowance on any activity to support their relationship with their constituents.
The allowance was previously Rp 4 million per month, until the increase was approved during the deliberation of the state budget revision in October.
Hasto said it would be his party that would decide on how the allowance would be used.
Each House member earns Rp 51.8 million in take-home pay per month, in accordance with the revised state budget, a sharp increase on the Rp 28.3 million they received previously.
The provision of operational allowances raised debate even among lawmakers. Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party legislators have said that they would not accept the money, while National Mandate Party chairman Soetrisno Bachir threatened to recall any party legislator who accepted the allowance.
The increase in lawmakers' pay comes amid the unabated financial crisis that has caused the number of people living in poverty to rise.
Critics have said the House members were not entitled to higher salaries, citing their poor performance. Legislators have failed to articulate people's aspirations, and have been singularly unproductive, with only a handful of bills being passed through the legislature since they took office over a year ago, leaving a large number of very urgent bills languishing.
Meanwhile, presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said there would be no increase in the salary of either the President or Vice President.
"Indeed, there was a proposal from the state minister of administrative reforms to raise the President's salary by 5 percent, but its likely it will be turned down," Andi said.
According to the law, the President is entitled to a salary amounting to four times the salary of the highest-paid state official.
Jakarta Post - December 12, 2005
Jakarta -- The Islamic-oriented Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has claimed it senses a conspiracy to alienate it from the coalition that supports the current administration.
PKS chairman Tifatul Sembiring said certain individuals or groups had attempted to edge his party out of the coalition that supports the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
"I don't want to name names, but their characteristics are of the 'pro-New Order regime ideology', and they have tried to push PKS out of the coalition," he said on the sidelines of a party gathering on Sunday in Bogor, West Java.
"It (the alleged conspiracy) was one of the reasons for us to insist on maintaining our stance as a government partner, while providing constructive criticism," he added as quoted by Antara.
Before Susilo announced a Cabinet shakeup last week, the Kalla- led Golkar held a national leadership meeting in Jakarta, reaching a conclusion that the country's largest party would lobby other political groups to back the current government.
The party was also rumored to have demanded more Cabinet seats in the reshuffle, but Susilo gave it only one more, bringing the total number of its ministers to three.
Golkar, which was previously led by Akbar Tandjung, had challenged Susilo's candidacy by backing the bid of the rival pairing of Wiranto and Solahuddin Wahid, along with the National Awakening Party (PKB) during the presidential election.
Also ahead of the Cabinet shakeup, PKS publicly asked Susilo to increase its Cabinet seats to four. However, the President refused to respond to the request.
Nevertheless, a recent national meeting of PKS patrons decided that the party would continue supporting the Susilo-Kalla administration, despite growing protests from grassroots constituents who opposed the government policy of raising the fuel prices in October.
"It has been decided by our board of patrons, whose members are from all over the country. Once decided, there will be no more discourse," Tifatul said.
According to Tifatul, the victory of Susilo and Kalla in the 2004 presidential election was mainly due to the efforts of four political parties: the Democratic Party (PD), PKS, the Crescent Star Party (PBB) and the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI).
"We can't deny that fact. It was these four parties that contributed to the victory as they fought hard to persuade people to vote for the pair," he said.
Should the PKS be pushed out of the coalition, Tifatul said, the government's attempts to eradicate corruption and other crimes would no longer be effective.
Before deciding to support the Susilo-Kalla pairing, the party had signed a political contract for them to pledge their commitment to good and clean governance, he added.
Tifatul said that so far the cooperation between Susilo and Kalla to eradicate corruption had been effective, with a number of big-time corruptors already sent to jail.
"We've established a task force comprising financial forensic experts to investigate dubious transfers, money laundering and other crimes. These attempts have irritated many corruptors. That's why they want us out of the (pro-Susilo) coalition," he said.
He said PKS would continue to get public support, particularly because of its "effective and efficient" efforts to combat corruption, as well as other crimes like drug abuse, gambling and prostitution.
| Environment |
Jakarta Post - December 12, 2005
Rusman, Balikpapan -- Illegal logging on Borneo along the Indonesia-Malaysia border has increased in recent years, leading to rapid deforestation, a non-governmental organization (NGO) activist has said.
Illegal logging could not be prevented because government officials and security personnel were still supporting it, claimed David Simorangkir, an executive with Tropenbos International, an NGO based in East Kalimantan province on the Indonesian side of the border.
The loggers are well-organized and it has long been alleged that they have the full backing of a wide range of powerful people, particularly government officials, businessmen and security personnel.
The Indonesian-Malaysia border areas provided extra opportunity for illegal logging because of the sheer remoteness. In addition, after cutting trees in East Kalimantan, the illegal loggers can quickly haul the timber over the border into Sabah and Sarawak states in Malaysia, well away from the Indonesian authorities that are trying to crack down on the crime.
"It has been common practice for Malaysian financiers to organize the illegal logging and bring the logs into their country," alleged David.
Illegal logging in East Kalimantan has been on the rise in the past few years, according to police data. While in 2003 only 108 illegal logging cases with 126 suspects were found, through October this year the police discovered 152 cases of illegal logging and named 168 suspects.
Despite the increase in unlawful tree felling, Chief of East Kalimantan police Insp. Gen. DPM Sitompul said that illegal logging had become a top priority. "The police will tighten surveillance on the Indonesia borders with Malaysia to curb illegal logging," vowed Sitompul.
There are an estimated 14 million hectares of forested areas in East Kalimantan.
David also urged the government to pay more attention to illegal logging as it was not only happening in production forests, but also taking place on conservation areas and protected forests, which have a rich diversity of unique animals and plants.
David also expressed concern that currently, not only were government officials, businessmen and security personnel involved in the forest crimes, but local residents were also involved.
"Claiming that the trees are located on their traditional lands, the local residents cut the trees and sell the timber to companies for a living," said David.
Jakarta Post - December 10, 2005
Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta -- The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) has urged the government to address environmental problems from a human rights point of view.
Observing International Human Rights Day, which falls on Dec. 10, Walhi executive director Chalid Muhammad said on Friday the government had failed to protect people's right to a healthy environment, which was among the basic human rights.
The government, he said, had failed to punish those who damaged the environment, which he deemed a violation of Article 28 of the Constitution. The article says that all people have the right to a healthy environment.
"The state, the government, has failed to respect, fulfill and protect a basic right of the Indonesian people -- the right to enjoy a good environment," Chalid said at his office.
He said the government and law enforcers lacked a human rights perspective in adjudicating environmental destruction cases as they treated them as common criminal acts.
"Not a single verdict delivered on an environment-related case took into account human rights aspects," he said, taking as an example the pollution of Buyat Bay in North Sulawesi involving mining giant PT Newmont Minahasa Raya.
In the Buyat case, Chalid said, the government had agreed to an out-of-court settlement. "In a human rights violation case, there's no such thing as a compromise," he said.
Recently the government decided not to appeal the South Jakarta District Court's verdict that overturned its lawsuit against Newmont, settling the case out of court.
Since legal actions against the government's accountability in protecting the right to the environment have always failed in court, Walhi and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) would raise the issue in the next United Nations High Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) session in March 2006.
"We will deliver the issue in the rights of development and the rights of economy, social and culture sessions," Walhi deputy director Ridha Saleh told The Jakarta Post.
Member of the National Commission on Human Rights Saafroeddin Bahar supported the move, but was skeptical of its success.
"To follow up the report, UNCHR might send a delegation or write to the President, but you must remember that an international consensus has its limitations," Saafroeddin said, suggesting that NGOs cooperate with the government in advancing the right to the environment.
| Islam/religion |
Jakarta Post - December 16, 2005
Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta -- Members of several Muslim organizations will help guard churches over the Christmas and New Year period, a city official says. The head of the Alert Division of the City Public Order Agency, Surbakti, said on Thursday that 14 organizations would deploy 7,700 personnel, including those from Muslim organizations such as Nahdlatul Ulama's (NU) youth wing Ansor.
Other Muslim organizations include the Mosque Youth group and the Islam Defenders Front (FPI).
Apart from Muslim organizations, the Betawi Association (Bamus Betawi), Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR) and Pancasila Youths will help 17,350 police and 7,000 public order officers assigned to secure churches and other strategic places in the capital.
"The deployment of NGO workers is expected to create a secure atmosphere during Christmas and New Year celebrations," Surbakti said after a meeting with NGO leaders at City Hall.
Intelligence reports suggested earlier that terrorist groups were planning to attack public places in the capital, including churches and shopping centers, to avenge the death of Azahari bin Hussin last month.
Azahari, along with Nurdin M. Top, had been accused of masterminding a series of terrorist attacks across the country, including the deadly 2002 and 2005 Bali attacks and the JW Marriott Hotel explosion in 2003 and the Australian Embassy attack in September 2004.
Nineteen people were killed on Christmas Eve in 2000, when bombs thought to be planted by members of Jamaah Islamyah exploded in dozens of churches across the country.
Surbakti said that all members of the organizations would work under the coordination of the city police and the City Public Order Agency.
A trial run involving city police, NGO workers and city public order officer will be held on Dec. 24. "After the trial run, the security personnel will be deployed across the capital," Surbakti said.
City police operations chief Sr. Comr. Komang Udayana said earlier that the police would pay special attention to 2,000 areas over Christmas and New Year's, including 1,200 churches, embassies, malls, entertainment centers, hotels and resort areas.
Betawi Association deputy secretary-general Muhiddin Mochtar expressed readiness to deploy members of the organizations over the Christmas and New Year period.
"As an organization of native Jakartans, we are responsible for making the capital secure for its residents, regardless of race or religion," Muhiddin told The Jakarta Post on sidelines of Thursday's meeting.
He expressed optimism that the involvement of members of society in securing the holiday season would deter anyone wanting to carry out an act of terror or any other form of violence.
Asia News - December 16, 2005
Benteng Reges, Jakarta -- Following the revelations of Fabianus Tibo-one of three Catholics sentenced to death for the 2000 sectarian violence in Poso-demands are growing that the real culprits of the violence of that period be identified. Increasingly, religious hatred does not seem to be the sole motive.
Leaders of Poso's Muslim and Christian communities have gone to the central headquarters of Nahdlatul Ulama (Indonesia's main Islamic organisation) in Jakarta to meet its president, Kiai Haj Hasyim Muzadi, a well-known advocate of inter-faith dialogue.
According to Rev Rinaldy Damanik, chairman of the Synod of Churches of Central Sulawesi, and Adnan Arsal, president of the Islamic Brotherhood Forum in Poso, it is urgent to set up an independent commission of inquiry to determine the causes of the 2000 violence when thousands were killed.
Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marinus Riwu were sentenced to death for their role in the violence. But last month, Tibo revealed that there were at least 16 people involved in the Poso violence, including government officials.
For Both Damanik and Arsal, the government's task force on the Poso violence has failed so far to come up with a single culprit.
"We respect the work of the task force, but we want the government to encourage the participation of various groups in the inquiry, including religious leaders, so as to shed light on this enigma," said Arsal.
For Reverend Damanik, an independent commission of inquiry would help the population better understand what happened in Poso.
"So far, the events have been explained in terms of social problems-people think that it was all because of religion".
For some observers, sectarian hatred as the explanation hides other issues such as corruption amongst local authorities, the lack of security forces intervention and army involvement to the extent that the weapons used during the incidents were army issued.
Although such issues came back to the fore after Tibo's revelations, they had already come to light at his trial in 2001 but ignored.
Nahdlatul Ulama president Muzadi backs the proposal of the two Poso religious leaders saying that he hoped the government would deal with the situation right away.
"The people of Poso are sick and tired with sectarian conflict," Muzadi said. "Everyone knows that religion was used for political and personal purposes at that time".
| Business & investment |
Jakarta Post - December 16, 2005
Urip Hudiono and Mustaqim, Jakarta -- As high inflation and interest rates continue to climb, the economy is expected to remain sluggish until the end of 2006, Bank Indonesia said, wrapping up both this year and next with weaker than expected growth.
In its latest assessment of the economy, Bank Indonesia (BI) is estimating that gross domestic product (GDP) will expand by between 5.3 percent and 5.6 percent this year, and approximately 5.0 percent to 5.7 percent in 2006.
Both are lower than the government's official GDP growth forecast of 6.0 percent for 2005 and 6.2 percent for 2006. The GDP growth forecast is a key reference point in the drafting of the annual budget.
BI Deputy Governor Hartadi A. Sarwono said the economy would likely continue its slowdown until next year's third quarter, with this year's final quarter growing by 4.0 percent to 4.5 percent.
"The economic slowdown is the result of a downturn in consumption and investments as the public's purchasing power decreases after the recent fuel price hikes, a weak rupiah and high interest rates," he said.
Data from the Central Statistics Agency shows that the economy has indeed been slowing down, from 6.12 percent in the first quarter to 5.34 percent third quarter.
Hartadi went on to explain that a boost in consumption and investments could be expected to drive next year's growth, but cautioned against potential global imbalances and oil prices, which still remain relatively high at around US$57 a barrel.
Meanwhile, on the inflation front, BI is forecasting that inflation during next year's first quarter will be at 3.19 percent due to a planned electricity rate hike, but tempering to 0.88 percent and 1.08 percent during next two quarters, before rising again to 2.36 percent due to the holiday seasons in the final quarter of 2006.
On-year inflation, meanwhile, is estimated to remain at approximately 18 percent during next year's first two quarters, but will gradually ease down to 16.7 percent in the third quarter and 8 percent by the end of 2006.
Separately, economist Arianto A. Patunru of the University of Indonesia's Institute for Economic and Social Research (LPEM-UI) expected a growth of 5.75 percent for 2006, as inflation slowly levels out to 8.55 percent.
"This is on assumptions that the impact of the fuel price hike will slowly disappear within the April to September 2006 period, GDP growth will pick up by July 2006, and an overall recovery will be reached by October. Also, the figures do not include an electricity rate hike, which is possible," he said.
Business Week - December 14, 2005
Joyce Barnathan -- It has been a tough road for Indonesia. Since the Asian financial crisis led to the toppling of its long-time corrupt strongman Suharto in 1998, the world's fourth-largest country has faced one major test after another. Its great challenge is to demonstrate that democracy can grow and thrive in a moderate Islamic state.
Indonesia has made some political progress, but the nation's new-found freedoms also underscore the weak political institutions in Jakarta, which have given rise to a succession of less-than-stellar leaders. Attacks against the ethnic Chinese business community, insurgent uprisings, the devastation from last year's tsunami, bird flu, and two suicide bombings in Bali -- one in 2002, one this year -- have only compounded the country's problems.
So how is Indonesia -- an archipelago with a population of 242 million and nearly three times the size of Texas -- doing now? And what are the country's attitudes toward the US? On a trip in late November, I met with Jusuf Wanandi, head of the Centre for Strategic Studies and one of the most prominent political and economic analysts on Indonesia.
Violence continues
On the face of it, Jakarta now looks far better than it had when I had last visited, in 1998, shortly after buildings and shops owned by ethnic Chinese had been set ablaze and many of the country's best and brightest had bolted for safer havens. The charred buildings have been restored, and the downtown area is well-maintained, with its lovely parks and kitschy monuments to the founding President, Sukarno.
But law and order hasn't been fully restored in Indonesia. Wanandi cites as an example the October beheadings of three girls on their way to a Christian school in Sulawesi. And the US State Dept. has continually issued travel warnings, urging Americans to defer all nonessential trips to Indonesia. Business executives who do visit routinely get extra security.
Hope is widespread that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will turn things around. Wanandi gives this former military man -- a candidate he didn't support in the elections -- good grades for restoring peace to the restive region of Aceh, for ending fuel subsidies that were eating up the national budget, and for presenting a favorable face of Indonesia to the international community.
Corrupt legacy
The bad news is the economy. Though growth is relatively brisk at 6%, Wanandi argues that such a rate won't be sustainable without future reforms. Inflation is on the rise, and fuel prices have skyrocketed. Above all, Yudhoyono hasn't been able to attract the necessary foreign investment to keep the country humming.
Though the nation is rich in raw materials and has a relatively cheap labor base, it's no competition for China, where the population is better educated, the infrastructure superior, and high technology more advanced. Wanandi says it would be "very dangerous" for Indonesia to be perceived as an economic laggard.
Another huge issue is corruption, something that has long defined the Indonesian economy. This is a legacy from the Suharto era, when the first family and other key officials managed to cash in handsomely. "The bureaucracy is a corrupt, unwieldy, and rotten thing," Wanandi said in a speech in October. The President has called for better training, but Wanandi argues that bureaucrats "don't need training. They need to be fired".
'Fickle attitude'
Yudhoyono seems to be heeding that advice. On Dec. 5, he announced a major Cabinet reshuffle of his top economic lieutenants. He named the respected Boediono Economy Minister, and made his highly effective Planning Minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the new Finance Minister. While Wanandi hailed those appointments in an e-mail on Dec. 9, he lamented the fact that the President put a "nobody" in the position of Manpower Minister. Unless the country loosens up its rigid labor laws, foreign investment won't head to Indonesia because costs are simply too high compared with cheaper alternatives such as Vietnam or even India, he says.
As for relations with the US, Indonesians clearly have mixed feelings -- "a fickle attitude," as Wanandi puts it. After the US invaded Iraq, only 11% of Indonesians (88% percent of whom are Muslim), had a favorable attitude toward the US, he says. "They were not happy with the way that issue was handled." Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes, who recently visited Indonesia, didn't help much, because she didn't have a good grasp of either her audience or the facts when she spoke at the University of Islamic Studies, he adds.
Perceptions of the US did dramatically improve after the American military offered assistance in the remote regions of Indonesia hit hardest by the tsunami. Favorable attitudes jumped to 38%, according to Wanandi. One deeply saddened security guard I spoke with in Jakarta said he lost 68 family members in Banda Aceh, leaving only four survivors. He brightened up when he mentioned the humanitarian aid given by the US military, which he says saved the lives of thousands.
Getting Indonesia on the right track is no easy job, but many feel Yudhoyono has what it takes to succeed. If he gets it right by cleaning up the bureaucracy and attracting new foreign investment -- and those are very big ifs -- this could be the world's best hope for a thriving modern economy for Muslims.
Jakarta Post - December 10, 2005
Jakarta -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) foresees stronger coordination between the fiscal and monetary authorities in navigating Indonesia's economy through the high inflationary and high-interest rate environment.
"We met today (Friday) with the new economic team and we have strong confidence in the good policy coordination between the government and Bank Indonesia," IMF Deputy Director of the Asia and Pacific Department Daniel Citrin told a news conference on Friday.
Citrin, who ended a week-long visit in connection with the periodic, semester review of Indonesia's economy under the terms of the IMF post-program monitoring, was referring to his talks with the new chief economics minister Boediono, finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Bank Indonesia's Burhanuddin Abdullah. He said he agreed with the immediate action agenda the new economic team would implement, including priming the economy and concrete measures to reinvigorate investment.
"It is important for the government to spend money next year. Hence, we don't have any disagreement with the government's plan to accelerate budget realization to bolster growth," added Citrin, who was accompanied by IMF senior resident representative here Stephen Schwartz.
He said the government had saved by slashing fuel subsidies and it was now time to inject the savings into the economy.
He understood, though, the tricky job of the central bank in gradually bringing down interest rates to support economic growth, but he agreed with the government's prediction that inflation could be brought down to between 8 percent and 9 percent next year from more than 18 percent (cumulative) this year.
"But we are highly confident about the fiscal sustainability even though the government's domestic and foreign debt service burdens will be much larger next year. After all, the fuel subsidies have been slashed and the government debt-to GDP ratio has declined to as low as 50 percent from more than 90 percent in 2001," he said.
The high interest rates will increase the interest costs of the government's bonds, while the foreign debt service burdens will also rise significantly next year because the government will no longer get debt-payment deferment from the Paris Club of sovereign creditors.
Citrin said given the steady decline in the growth of gross domestic product in the first three quarters -- from 6.2 percent, to 5.84 percent and 5.34 percent -- a trend that would most likely continue in the current last quarter, the growth for the whole year would only be slightly higher than 5 percent.
That growth level would be similar to last year's economic expansion of 5.13 percent but much lower than the government target of 6 percent.
"But I think the government growth target of 6.2 percent for next year is very difficult to achieve," he added.
| Opinion & analysis |
Jakarta Post Editorial - December 14, 2005
The reports coming out of Papua about a famine that has taken the lives of 55 people since November punctuate the suffering of a country still reeling from the recent fuel price increases.
This despite the newly gained sense of optimism following the shake-up of the economics team in the Cabinet.
Reports filtering through have been patchy due to the isolation of Yahukimo regency. What we have learned so far is that food shortages in the remote regency began as far back as August.
As is so often the case, local initiatives to help the people of Yahukimo were well under way long before the government was even aware there was a problem. In Yahukimo it was foreign missionaries, local church leaders and activists who spotted the emerging signs of a famine in August and extended a helping hand to residents.
However, the bulk of the responsibility for helping the people of the regency should have laid with the local government. The four months that elapsed from the time signs of an approaching famine first appeared and news of the tragedy became public raise doubts about the local government's ability to monitor food availability for residents, the difficult terrain in Papua notwithstanding.
It takes days, perhaps weeks, to reach the regency on foot from Papua's capital Jayawijaya, but it takes months for a famine to reach the desperate levels of the one in Yahukimo.
Signs of an impending catastrophe must have been apparent in the region since earlier this year, when the area was pounded by heavy rains that destroyed the sweet potato crops.
Had local government leaders been more alert, they could have anticipated the disaster and prevented the loss of life. Food shortages and malnutrition have become disturbingly regular occurrences in Papua in recent years. There have been at least four other recorded cases of food shortages in this vast region in the last eight years, affecting Puncak Jaya, Jayawijaya and Jayapura regencies.
Sadly, the events in Yahukimo are not the first of their kind this year. Malnutrition has affected thousands of people in West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, North Sumatra, West Sumatra and West Kalimantan. In the first two provinces, more than 66,000 children were found to be suffering from malnutrition, while malnutrition affected more than 1,400 children on Nias island in North Sumatra.
But the number of fatalities in Yahukimo has made this the most disturbing incident. In addition to the 55 people who have died of malnutrition, 112 others have become ill from related sicknesses since November, all in a regency of 55,000 people.
Some ministers have contested these figures, while other government officials have gone so far as to deny any malnutrition at all in the regency, a common tactic during the New Order regime. In the other provinces affected by malnutrition this year, public officials also at first denied there was a problem.
All of these incidents underline that something has gone terribly wrong with our food security system. They also serve as a warning that good management is desperately lacking in most regional governments.
The horrible irony of the Yahukimo famine is that is occurs in a province that is immensely rich in natural resources. Papua has million of hectares of virgin tropical forest and huge gas and mineral deposits. Some of this natural wealth has been exploited for decades, but the riches have not trickled down to regular Papuans.
A serious investigation into this tragedy is called for to prevent similar incidents in the future. If isolation is a major reason for the famine, a serious effort must be made to bring the regency, and all other isolated areas of Papua, into closer contact with the rest of the country. It is difficult to believe that there are regions that remain cut off from the rest of the country 60 years after independence.
The government must demonstrate that it is not only willing to open up and ensure access to isolated areas blessed with valuable natural resources, but also to remote areas blessed with the lives of villagers.
Jakarta Post Editorial - December 10, 2005
Human rights have become part of the daily vocabulary of people at all levels of society. However, it is obvious that not everyone, including the most educated in society, have a correct understanding or a true grasp of just what is meant by human rights.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, introduced on Dec. 10, 1948, was meant to ensure the rights of all people were protected, regardless of religion, race, nationality, ethnicity or political affiliation.
The commemoration of World Human Rights Day on Saturday should be a time to examine the extent of our sincere respect -- as a nation -- for human rights.
We can be proud of the historic peace agreement between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the government that ended the decades- long conflict in Aceh.
In another positive step, proposed amendments to the antiterror law, which would put the rights of the public at large ahead of the rights of individuals, can be seen as an example of the government's improved understanding and respect for human rights.
If passed, the amendments would allow preemptive measures against suspected terrorists and anyone promoting radicalism. The antiterror law as it now stands only provides a legal basis for responsive measures to acts of terrorism.
The head of the antiterror desk at the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Ansja'ad Mbai, said the current law did not give authorities room to maneuver, partly because of concerns about human rights. He said there had to be a common understanding that the nation cannot protect the rights of individuals at the expense of the rights of the public at large.
The killing of terror suspect Azahari bin Husin is proof of the government's remarkable efforts to protect the public from terrorism. However, there remain a number of past rights violations that must be addressed. The Semanggi shootings and similar cases from around the archipelago remain unresolved, part of a dark history that we must shine a light on if we hope to move forward as a nation.
More troubling, the killing of innocent people continues today. The recent bombings in Bali and the murder of students in Poso, Central Sulawesi, demonstrate that we have a long way to go to ensure the rights of all people are protected.
Past governments had very poor human rights records. This is why the government and its security forces are the usual scapegoat for any rights violations that occur in the country.
The evictions of squatters by local administrations are clear examples of the arrogance the authorities can sometimes show. But the government no longer has a monopoly on rights offenses. The Bali bombings and the Poso killings were certainly not the work of the authorities. Attacks on places of worship by so-called religious groups and the storming of police stations by mobs show a blatant disrespect for human rights. People must be made aware that taking the law into their own hands goes against the true sense of human rights. A case could be made that reckless motorists are not living up to the spirit of human rights, because their actions deny other motorists the right to use the roads safely.
All of these examples indicate that the true meaning of human rights has yet to be properly understood here.
Some people claim human rights are a Western concept, but the truth is human rights are a universal value and a fundamental right of all people.
It is time for the government to acknowledge its past shortcomings in the field human rights, so that it can lead the way into a new era marked by the protection of the rights of all people. At the same time, people must be made more aware of the need to respect the rights of others. Early education is needed for this. Teachers and parents must explain to their students and children what human rights are, how to respect them and why it is necessary to honor the rights of others.