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Indonesia News Digest 42 – November 9-15, 2006
Agence France Presse - November 14, 2006
Bogor – Hardline Indonesian Islamic groups are considering
launching a no-confidence motion against President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono over US President George W. Bush's visit next week.
"We see that the people reject the visit, but the government is
arrogantly going ahead with the plan to receive Bush," Secretary
General of the Islamic Society Forum (FUI) Muhammad al-
Khaththath, told AFP Tuesday.
FUI groups several hardline Islamic groups, including the
Indonesian Mujahedin Council, chaired by firebrand cleric Abu
Bakar Bashir, and the Front for the Defenders of Islam, known for
its raids on nightclubs.
"Yudhoyono was elected by the people and if he ignores the wish
of the people, then it is only appropriate that he gets a vote of
no confidence," he added.
He said if the government did not change its mind over the visit,
which has prompted daily protests across the country, the FUI
would initiate a no-confidence vote by seeking the signatures of
as many Muslim leaders as possible.
"The essence is that Bush and his regime have their hands
bloodied and the conclusion is that most Indonesians do not want
his visit," Khaththath said.
He said the main Muslim leaders in the country had already said
they were opposed to the Bush visit and would not deign to meet
him.
He cited the leaders of Indonesia's two largest Islamic
mainstream organisations, the Nahdlatul Ulama and the
Muhammadiyah, as well as leaders of the Indonesian Council of
Ulemas (MUI), the highest authority on Islam in the country.
"We also see the daily protests everywhere demanding that
Indonesian cancels the invitation to Bush," Khaththath said.
As he spoke, hundreds protested at the Kujang Memorial in nearby
Bogor, a resort town where Yudhoyono will meet and entertain Bush
for a few hours Monday.
The protesters included about 500 veiled Muslim women from the
popular Islamic Prosperous Justice Party, many protesting Bush's
visit by carrying black paper flowers and posters depicting the
US head of state as a devil.
The women, many of them carrying children, held aloft placards
which read "We are offering our condolences for Bush's visit, the
one with the venomous mouth and the cold-blooded killer."
Students from two organisations – one Christian and the other
Muslim – were also among the protesters.
In Semarang, Central Java, about 100 Muslim students also
protested the visit in front of their university, the ElShinta
radio reported.
In Southeast Sulawesi province, dozens of students also staged a
rally outside the town's parliamentary building and urged funds
spent for the preparation of Bush's visit be allocated to the
poor.
"The government should better concentrate on improving the public
and regions that still need assistance rather than spending
billions of rupiah" for Bush, a protest leader who identified
himself as Hadrin was quoted by the state Antara news agency as
saying.
More than 90 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people follow
Islam.
Jakarta Post - November 14, 2006
Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara – The 30th congress of the Indonesian
Christian Student Movement ended in chaos here Saturday when a
dispute turned violent.
Congress participants were discussing whether to set up a new
office in the newly established West Irian Jaya province, to join
the already existing office in Papua.
Several representatives from Papua, including Jayapura, strongly
opposed a new office, saying more preparation time was needed.
They said feasibility and sociocultural studies needed to be
carried out before a new office could be established.
However, representatives from Sorong and Fak-Fak, both in Papua,
urged the congress to make an immediate decision on the matter.
"The request for the new office has the support from many
branches throughout Indonesia," said Donny Mooy, head of the
congress assembly.
Students from the opposing camps were later involved in a clash,
leaving two people injured, including one seriously after he was
hit with a chair.
Aceh
West Papua
Popular resistance
Human rights/law
War on terror
War on corruption
Media/press freedom
Environment
Armed forces/defense
Foreign affairs
Economy & investment
Opinion & analysis
News & issues
Indonesian leader faces no-confidence motion over Bush visit
Student congress ends in chaos
Kalla ends 'fuss' about SBY unit
Jakarta Post - November 11, 2006
Tony Hotland, Jakarta Post – Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Friday that there would be "no more fuss" about a new presidential advisory team, at least from the Golkar Party, although he still regards the team as unnecessary.
"It's all been settled. I'm the chairman of Golkar, and if I say (the controversy is over), what more could they want?" he said after being asked if the country's largest political party still opposed the team and would withdraw its support for the government.
But while Kalla acknowledged that he did not have the right to approve or disapprove of the new team, he still stated his objections to it.
"I said the system of coordination should remain as it is now. There's no need for another kind of coordination... coordinating ministers will do their jobs, the Vice President will do his, but if the President wants help from a working unit, of course it's just common," Kalla said.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono established the Presidential Unit for the Management of Programs and Reform through a presidential decree late last month.
The creation of the unit raised the ire of Kalla and Golkar leaders, who feared it would encroach on Kalla's domain in the economy sector. The unit's head, Marsilam Simanjuntak, is known for his antigraft attitudes and for being a staunch critic of Golkar.
Several political figures and chairmen of Muslim organizations had quoted Kalla as saying that the unit was frozen due to his disapproval.
Yudhoyono staged a news conference Thursday night, broadcast live by two TV stations, explaining that he needed the unit to ensure all his programs were successful. He said the unit would continue working and that he was drawing up rules on how the new advisory team would interact with the Cabinet to ensure a good working relationship.
Sources at the Vice Presidential office said Kalla would play with the technicalities of the unit's future works, including barring Marsilam from Cabinet meetings. The decree establishing the unit states that Marsilam is to attend Cabinet meetings.
Kalla declined to comment on such an arrangement. He said the Golkar would not discuss issues related to the unit in its upcoming national leadership meeting in Jakarta, to run Monday to Thursday.
"(The unit) is too small an issue for Golkar for discussion by hundreds of our representatives from across the country. We'd rather discuss election strategies and recommendations for a more efficient election process," he said.
Chairman of the National Mandate Party Soetrisno Bachir said President Yudhoyono wanted political parties to stay out of the disputed relationship between him and Kalla.
Soetrisno, who spoke privately with the President for more than an hour at the palace late Thursday night, quoted him as saying that there was a chance the working unit's officials might be replaced based on their performance.
"The unit will stay on for the next three years, but if the President feels the people in the unit aren't satisfactory, they can be replaced," he said.
Jakarta Post - November 9, 2006
Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – One of three militants charged with beheading three Christian schoolgirls last year in Poso carried out the attack as an "Idul Fitri gift" for Muslims, a Jakarta court heard Wednesday.
Reading out the indictment, prosecutors at the Central Jakarta District Court accused Hasanuddin alias Hasan of instigating the attack to avenge the slaying of Muslims during the sectarian conflict in the Central Sulawesi province between 1998 and 2002.
Hasan was charged under the antiterrorism law and could be sentenced to death if found guilty. "The defendant planned or provoked others to commit violent acts aimed to incite terror," prosecutor Payaman said.
Payaman said prosecutors had evidence Hasan had plotted the attacks with two accomplices in a Gebang Rejo library in 2005. During the meeting, Hasan had told them he used to attack security posts and kill soldiers as an "Idul Fitri gift" to Muslims when he trained with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Philippines.
Hasan had allegedly told his accomplices: "We had better find Kongkoli (Christians) as an Idul Fitri gift (this year). Go look around (to find targets)," Payaman said. Hasan was silent during the proceedings.
He along with fellow suspects Lilik Purnomo and Irwanto Irano and another six militants currently on the run, allegedly beheaded the three girls as they walked to school along an isolated jungle track leading to Poso. Another girl was also slashed in the cheek, but managed to escape.
Lilik and Purwanto were due to be indicted Wednesday but their trials were delayed until next week.
The defendant was quoted by prosecutors as saying that killing children and women was "actually prohibited by sharia (law) but it was allowed to avenge what they (the Christians) have done to us." A handwritten note found with the girls' heads said the attackers "still need another 100 heads. Blood for blood, a life for a life, and a head for a head."
Defense lawyer Achmad Michdan demanded the judges delay the trial because prosecutors had not given copies of the indictment to the defense team three days before the session, as legally required. "We even didn't know the trial had started today," Achmad said.
Presiding judge Binsar Siregar dismissed the demand, saying the defendant had admitted to having already received a copy of the indictment on Nov. 3. Prosecutors did not know that Achmad was acting as the lawyer for Hasan, Binsar said. The trial was adjourned until Nov. 15 when the defendant will enter his plea.
Three Catholic militants were executed in September for instigating a deadly attack on a Muslim village in Palu in 2000, killing from between 60 and 190 people.
Tensions in the two regions have risen recently with the shooting of a Christian minister and the killing of a Muslim man by an angry mob.
The police are hunting 29 suspected Muslim militants believed to be responsible for a series of murders and bomb attacks on Christians in Poso and Palu since 2002.
Tempo Interactive - November 10, 2006
Mustafa Moses, Jakarta – A hundred out of 600 regional languages in various Indonesian dialects are threatened with extinction. According to the Director of the Language Center at the Department of National Education Dendy Sugono, the dying regional languages are mostly in the central and eastern regions of Indonesia.
Of the nearly extinct languages, six languages of East Nusa Tenggara and Papua are confirmed as gone. "There is no regeneration of the language users," said Dendy at the Language Center office yesterday (11/9) in Jakarta.
In addition to the lack of regeneration, said Dendy, the important factor that causes the extinction is that the users are not yet literate. So "there is no documentation for their languages. If those languages were documented, they might be traced," he said.
One of the indications of the extinction of regional languages is that they are only practiced by 100 people. Due to cultural development, sooner or later the regional languages will not be used any more. One of many reasons of why the languages are dying is intermarriage between tribes.
Early December of this year, the government and the international language institution will hold a seminar, researching and mapping for saving the vanishing regional languages. "We will form a team for mapping languages," said Dendy.
According to Dendy, within the next 100 years, there will be 50 percent reduction of 6,700 regional languages throughout the world. Nonetheless, with the decrease of regional languages, the emergence of new regional languages will be possible because of cultural development.
| Aceh |
Jakarta Post - November 11, 2006
Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Aceh needs at least 10,000 election observers to help ensure just and democratic regional polls in Aceh on Dec. 11, Ikhwanussufa of the Independent Election Committee in Aceh (KIP Aceh) said Friday.
Ikhwanussufa said the number of observers was still far from sufficient, with only 800 registering so far. "The number of registered observers is still very small. We will wait until Nov. 22 because we need at least 10,000 observers to monitor each polling station," he said. Around 10,000 polling stations will open throughout the province on voting day.
Ikhwanussufa said four foreign monitoring institutions had registered at KIP Aceh – the Republican Institute with 10 observers, European Union with eight people, the Asian Network Free Elections (Anfrel) 10 people, and the American consulate with six people. "They are still in the process of applying for visas," Ikhwanussufa said.
Local institutions registering include the People's Voters Education Network with 138 people, Forum of Aceh Non-governmental Organizations (441) and the Aceh Recovery Program (218).
The Aceh Strategy Assessment Center and the Center for the Independent Elections Monitoring Committee have not assigned volunteers yet.
All the observers are set to monitor elections throughout Aceh. This is different from the earlier limited monitoring activities allowed when the province was under military rule.
However, KIP Aceh could prevent foreign humanitarian workers in Aceh from working as observers during the elections in line with joint decrees on foreign observers signed by the Minister of Home Affairs Muh. Ma'ruf and Minister of Foreign Affair Hassan Wirayuda.
"The regulation is intended mainly to prevent foreign humanitarian workers from changing their professions, because Aceh is still in need of their assistance," Ikhwanussufa said.
According to the decree, representatives of other countries are allowed to become observers in Aceh's elections as long as they join accredited observer institutions from their respective countries.
Those from European Union countries must join the EU's Election Observation Mission while those from Asian countries will become part of the Asian Network for Free Elections. Non-nationals will also be required to obtain special cultural visas issued by the Foreign Ministry.
"KIP will only be in charge of authorizing the foreign candidates in line with the ministry's ruling," Ikhwanussufa said.
Agence France Presse - November 14, 2006
Banda Aceh – All eight pairs of candidates for the governorship and vice-governorship of Aceh on Tuesday vowed to work for peaceful elections in December.
The candidates signed a pledge to safeguard peace in Aceh during a ceremony attended by current Aceh governor Mustafa Abubakar, head of the Aceh police, Bahrumsyah Kasman, and various other officials and activists.
Candidates in Aceh are required to run in pairs – for governor and vice-governor – in the December 11 elections.
In the pledge, the candidates vowed "to take part in the elections in a spirit of brotherhood, upholding honesty, refraining (from) provocative actions that may disturb peace, and abide by all prevailing laws and regulations".
Abubakar later told the ceremony that the pledge was held at the initiative of the Aceh police chief together with several other public and civil leaders.
Kasman said such a move was deemed necessary as tension and friction had already surfaced between the supporters of the various candidates.
"We hope that with this agreement, the candidate for the governor and vice-governorship will remain committed to compete in an honest way, prioritizing peace in Aceh, when running in the electoral arena," Kasman said.
He added that the pledge, although morally binding, carried no legal sanctions. "What is more important is that they have agreed to safeguard peace in Aceh, because that is what all Acehnese want," the police chief said.
The elections in Aceh are the first ever to directly elect the province's two top positions, in the past filled by appointments from Jakarta. It is also the first time that independent candidates, without backing from political parties, have been allowed to run for election in Indonesia.
The elections are part of a historic agreement reached in August last year between the government and the Free Aceh Movement, which ended some 30 years of conflict.
Of the eight pairs of candidates, five are backed by political parties while three are running independently.
Jakarta Post - November 14, 2006
Nani Afrida, Aceh Besar – Tsunami survivors living in Aceh Besar regency are demanding the government compensate then for land acquired to build an alternative road from Banda Aceh to Meulaboh.
"It has already been two years since the government promised to reimburse us for our land," a Glebruek village resident, Syarifuddin, 30, told The Jakarta Post.
Many sections of the former highway connecting Banda Aceh and Meulaboh were destroyed when the tsunami hit Aceh in December 2004. The military's engineering corps later built an alternative route to open up areas isolated by the tsunami.
However, confusion over who owns the land – most people lost everything during the tsunami, including land title deeds – has meant compensation claims have been slowed.
"Land on which the road was built was once rice fields, graveyards, farms and even land on which houses stood previously," Syarifuddin said.
Another resident, Sabarullah, 22, said because of the road, he had to buy a new plot of land so that he could obtain building assistance from a relief agency, paying Rp 3 million (about US$335.00) for a 36-square-meter plot.
"They took 180 sq m of my land for the road construction, which was quite a reasonable area to build a house," he said.
Residents from Lhoong district have called on the government to pay them Rp 40,000 per sq m for farm land and Rp 70,000 a sq m for residential areas.
Frustrated with the lack of progress, they have twice blocked the road with tree trunks.
Glebreuk village administrative chief Ilias Yahya said he had brought the issue up with the district and Aceh Besar regency administrations. They were still studying the residents' demand, he said. "I have told the villagers to be patient, but they have lost their patience," he said.
Residents said they would block the road permanently if they were not paid during the next few days.
The route also passes through five kilometers of community-owned land in the Pudeng and Pasie villages.
"The alternative road is different from the highway planned by (American agency) USAID because (the USAID road) does not pass through the three villages, but opens up new areas," Ilias said.
Jakarta Post - November 13, 2006
Aguswandi, Banda Aceh – Expectations are high while the possibilities for violence are likely slim in the scheduled December elections in Aceh. Voter turnout is also expected to be high. All the basic requirements for an election are very likely to be fulfilled. But will the Aceh elections be successful?
If success means the absence of significant violence or a high voter turnout at the polls, then we will have success. All realistic projections lead to that conclusion. If violence occurs, it will likely be minor and only in some conflict-intense areas like the central highlands. There is also the possibility of conflicts and protests within the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) constituents, caused by a split within the GAM leadership, but this will not obstruct the election process.
However, the absence of violence and a high voter turnout does not guarantee much. The more important question is whether or not the polls will elect new leaders who have the ability and power to resist old habits which have yet to die. On this topic we still have bad news.
To have great expectations for Aceh's elections is to expect high quality elections – not only in terms of process, but also the ability of the population to understand the meaning of the elections, the power of their vote and also the candidates' vision and future plans if they do win.
In this area, we are still in trouble. But national elections also faced similar problems, where candidates talked little about their programs, while voters were often more interested in the popularity of the candidates or the presence of popular entertainers at their campaign stops.
Candidates so far have said very little about what they will do after they get power. The appeal of all gubernatorial, regent and mayoral candidates in Aceh has so far been based on inarticulate, empty jargon – a product of the particular chemistry between meaningless rhetoric and the ambition to grab power. The best effort many candidates make is to use their personality and sell it to voters.
Early banners show nothing to this effect, or worse, are about completely unrelated issues. One candidate's banner says, "The Prophet is an example" of a good leader.
There have not been proper programs and policies announced by candidates. There has been no debate about platforms and future plans. It is still very much politics without substance in Aceh. The debate has been about whether a particular candidate can read the Koran properly or not, not about answering the real issues affecting real people's lives in Aceh.
Among the population, there is a general lack of understanding about people's own ability to elect good leadership. There is a need to educate voters to have a better understanding about the election of their leaders and the consequences of their choices for the future.
Such education is about helping the Acehnese ask the right questions of their prospective leaders. There is very little news about voter education and building awareness among the population about the impact of these elections on their lives.
On the other hand, Aceh's elections are an opportunity to start the political reconstruction of the province. Those who are interested in a better future for the province must make sure that good leaders are voted into office. In electing governors and district heads, we are electing those who are going to be in charge of maintaining the Aceh peace process, continue to lead post-tsunami reconstruction work and manage the general development plan of the province.
Aceh needs a visionary leader who is smart and brave enough to fight the acute problems in the province. Among the most acute challenges are corruption, bad governance, a badly functioning rule of law, weak capacity of institutions, poor strategic planning and an inability to absorb good development ideas.
These issues have posed significant challenges for many groups working to reconstruct Aceh after the tsunami and the peace deal signed in Helsinki. Many international organizations are complaining – quietly, of course – about these problems.
The incumbent administration in Aceh is neither a failed administration, nor is it a properly developed government administration. It is somewhere in between. We might call this a messy government.
In a messy government, all necessary institutions are there, but they are weak, inefficient and partly incompetent. Here, the ability to absorb ideas is weak. The ability to plan is weak. The ability to execute plans is also weak. What is strong is the ability to waste resources, to justify this waste and to get away with it.
Of course these elections cannot address all of these weaknesses, but they should be the beginning of Aceh's journey to managing these issues. Here we need to improve the quality of Aceh's elections beyond ensuring they run peacefully. We need to ensure they successfully elect good leadership in the province and create a better political process in general. If we are interested in continuing to get good news on Aceh in the future, we must not fail in December.
[The writer is a consultant on post-conflict and reintegration work in Aceh. The views expressed here are personal. He can be reached at agus_smur@hotmail.com.]
Associated Press - November 10, 2006
Foster Klug, Washington – The head of the European Union-led peace monitoring mission in Indonesia's devastated Aceh province predicted on Thursday a smooth transition when the Europeans leave next month as former rebels rejoin society, participate in elections and negotiate directly with their former enemies in government.
Pieter Feith said both sides still could contact top EU officials to arbitrate any emergencies after the mission ends Dec. 15, but for the most part the success of enforcing last year's peace agreement would be up to the government in Jakarta and to the rebels, who fought a 29-year war that claimed 15,000 lives.
"The parties need to assume responsibility and ownership" of the peace process, Feith told an audience gathered at Johns Hopkins University's school of international studies. "It's important that a large, proud country like Indonesia" not be seen as having to rely on foreigners to solve its problems, he said.
The Europeans leave just after the Acehnese stage a Dec. 11 vote for governor and other local positions. The government is allowing former fighters to field candidates in the elections, which has been illegal in the past.
Indonesia's ambassador to the United States, Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat, told reporters Thursday that the elections are a source of pride for his country, after so many years of death and war. He said they will be a "showcase of how the Aceh peace settlement has borne fruit."
An EU mission, separate from the peace mission, will observe the elections, which Feith predicted would be calm. Still, more police will be brought in to prevent violence, he said.
Feith praised Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a former army general and the country's first directly elected leader, for his willingness to seek a peace agreement with the rebels, where other leaders had pushed for crushing the guerrillas militarily.
It appeared, the Dutch head of the EU mission said, that Jakarta had learned from its disastrous handling of the crisis in East Timor. That former Portuguese colony descended into violence in 1999, when East Timor broke from 24 years of brutal Indonesian rule, and revenge-seeking militia rampages left nearly 1,500 people dead.
"A refreshing new openness has emerged" in Indonesia, Feith said, which bodes well for Indonesia to improve its international reputation.
Under terms of a peace agreement signed on Aug. 15, 2005, the army pulled more than 20,000 troops from Aceh, and the province was given control over 70 percent of its natural resources.
Feith said rebels were encouraged to publicly hand over their weapons, which were destroyed immediately. Simultaneously, thousands of Indonesian troops left Aceh in stages, giving both sides important psychological reassurances that peace was becoming a reality, Feith said, and encouraging rebels to rejoin society.
| West Papua |
Jakarta Post - November 15, 2006
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A noted Papuan figure criticized the Indonesian government on Tuesday, saying it was only interested in the province's natural resources, not its people, but praised former president Abdurrahman Wahid.
Papua Traditional Council chairman Tom Beanal said that of the many high-ranking officials in the country, only former president Wahid, or "Gus Dur", as he is more popularly known, paid attention to the plight of the Papuan people.
"It's only Gus Dur who has seen us with conscience... only Gus Dur who comprehends and hears the cries from Papuan people's hearts," Beanal said at a ceremony presenting an award to the ex-president.
The award was handed over by Beanal and Taha Alhamid, secretary general of the Papua Traditional Council Presidium, to Gus Dur as a token of appreciation for a number of policies that were favorable to Papuans during his presidency.
While in power, Gus Dur authorized the province's name change from Irian Jaya to Papua and allowed the Papuan flag, the Bintang Kejora, to be raised as a cultural symbol. He also authorized funding for the second Papuan National Congress in 2000, providing Rp 2 billion (US$210,526) to finance the event.
The award was in the form of a 30-by-45-centimeter placard consisting of Sentani stone ring with a small axe and beads as well as text reading: Damai Sejahtera kau bawa kepada kami. Tanah Papua menjadi milik kami Kyai Haji Abdurrachman Wahid. Demokrasi menjadi hak milik Papua. (You have brought peace to us. Papuan lands belong to us Kyai Haji Abdurrachman Wahid. Democracy becomes the properties of the Papuans.) Beanal said the award, given by the Papuan people, had no economic value but was given with conscience and love from the Papuan people to thank Gus Dur for his humane treatment.
In his speech at the ceremony, Gus Dur said an incorrectly implemented government policy had led to the death of Theys Hiyo Eluay, who aggressively campaigned for democracy and justice in Papua. To the government, Theys was simply a rebel, Gus Dur said.
"When Pak Theys was still alive, he together with Pak Tom Beanal met with me a a number of times to discuss the future of the Papuans, who have been unfavorably treated," Gus Dur said.
The struggle of the Papuan people to create a new community was still long and arduous, he said, adding that while Papua was rich in natural resources they had not improved the welfare of its poverty-stricken people. "I'm sure there are still many things we can do to help improve welfare," he said.
Gus Dur said the award meant a great deal to him because what he had done during his presidency could not be compared to the sacrifices and contributions of Theys.
"If Pak Theys did not care about the Papuan people's struggle, he could have just enjoyed life in his kampong as a noted figure... but he left all of them to struggle together with the Papuans before he was finally killed," he said.
Jakarta Post - November 14, 2006
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Murdered Papuan independence figure Theys Hiyo Eluay was a hero who struggled peacefully to uphold democracy in Indonesia, former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid said at the leaders' grave in Sentani on Monday.
"I respected him because he was a noted figure and freedom fighter not only for Papuans, but also for the whole Indonesian people," Gus Dur said. "That's why I will continue pushing for him to be named a national hero," he said.
Papuan Presidium Council member (PDP) Taha Alhamid said Theys was a role model worldwide for people who peacefully fought for freedom.
"Figures like Pak Theys and Munir are heroes for all democracy lovers," Taha said. Munir was a noted human rights activist, who was murdered by arsenic aboard a Garuda plane en route to the Netherlands.
"For the Papuan people, Theys is a hero despite the absence of an acknowledgement from the government," Taha said.
Gus Dur was visiting Papua to accept an award from the Papuan Traditional Council for his support for Papuan aspirations while he was president.
During his term from 1999 to 2001, Gus Dur scandalized many nationalists by giving presidential permission for Papuan activists to hoist the Bintang Kejora flag, a symbol of the province's independence. An advocate of regional autonomy, he also approved government assistance of Rp 2 billion (US$210,526) to finance the second Papuan Nation Congress in 2000.
The former president is scheduled to receive the award at the Cendrawasih sports stadium in Jayapura on Tuesday.
Gus Dur was given an official welcome by top Papuan leaders after arriving at Sentani Airport at midday.
Earlier, dozens of Papuans held a religious ritual at Theys' grave, about 200 meters from the airport, to commemorate the fifth anniversary of his murder.
After visiting the grave, Gus Dur, accompanied by his daughter Yenny Wahid, laid the cornerstone for a memorial for slain independence figures at the cemetery.
Theys was last seen alive on Heroes Day in 2001 after attending a provincial government reception at the Hotel Matoa in Jayapura at 6 p.m.
Later that evening, his driver, Aristoteles Masoka, made an frantic call to Theys' house, saying the leader had been abducted. Theys was found dead in his upturned car a day later on Nov. 11. Aristoteles, is still missing.
Despite his links to the autocratic rule of former President Soeharto, Theys' was revered by many. The pro-independence movement insists he was killed because of his efforts to break the province away from Indonesia. Activists have alleged Theys' death was connected to the Indonesian security forces.
During the Monday ceremony, Aristoteles' mother, Sila Ayomi, cried openly. She said she had continued to search for her son since Theys' death.
"Pak Theys – it was clear he was killed, but my child, I don't know about his fate," she said. "If he is still alive, he would be 26 years old now," she said.
Sila said she had reported the case to the National Commission on Human Rights and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence but had heard nothing Aristoteles is believed to have witnessed Theys' murder.
The Straits Times - November 11, 2006
John McBeth – Ms Patsy Spier sat through every hearing these past five months, quietly taking notes with the help of a translator and, just as quietly, returning to her mid-city hotel. For her, the seven Papuans in the dock were on trial for the murder of her husband, pure and simple. Nothing else mattered.
For the defendants, sentenced last Tuesday to prison terms ranging from 18 months to life, the trial was all about the struggle for Papuan independence and what they and their lawyers saw as a kangaroo court that underscored the repressiveness of Indonesian rule.
To them, it was about everything but the criminal act which claimed the lives of 44-year-old Rick Lynn Spier and two of his colleagues, a fellow American and an Indonesian. All three were shot to death in an ambush on the mountain road leading to Freeport Indonesia's copper and gold mine four years ago.
The high-profile trial would have been the perfect stage to reveal what activists still claim was the behind-the-scenes role played by the Indonesian military in the incident. Yet the defendants stayed silent throughout the proceedings, sitting mostly in the public gallery and offering virtually no defence.
Ms Spier, who sent regular trial updates to seven other survivors and 140 other interested people, has no doubt about their guilt. "Justice was served," she says. "The sentences they received for this horrific and cowardly act were just and warranted."
She does not understand why their lawyers did not mount a credible defence and says she saw nothing that indicated they had been intimidated: "They had every opportunity to bring mitigating evidence. I don't know why they didn't, but perhaps there were no extenuating circumstances."
Their boycott was in protest over the trial being held in Jakarta rather than in the district town of Timika on Papua's south coast, near where the killings took place. The authorities moved the venue because of fears that it would be used as a catalyst for further violence in Indonesia's remote, easternmost province.
That would not be unprecedented in a country where civic unrest often spins out of control. A change in venue was also ordered for the trial of three Muslims, charged with last year's beheading of three schoolgirls in Central Sulawesi. Tensions are on the rise again following the recent execution of three Christians accused of a mosque massacre in 2000.
Indicted by a United States grand jury in 2004, alleged Free Papua Movement (OPM) rebel Antonius Wamang was given life imprisonment for the Papua murders. Two other men who took part in the attack received seven-year jail terms and the remaining four got lighter sentences for playing supporting roles.
In a videotaped confession, Wamang admitted leading the ambush on the vehicles carrying the teachers on a Sunday picnic, claiming he thought they were part of an Indonesian army patrol.
Ms Spier herself believes the contention of wanted OPM leader Kelly Kwalik that he had directed Wamang to target only soldiers passing along the road. But that does not ignore the fact that even when the attackers realised their mistake, they did not stop.
Her husband slumped dead over the wheel of the Landcruiser in front of her, Ms Spier huddled with her wounded companions in the rear of a second vehicle as the three gunmen sprayed it aimlessly with more than 200 rounds over the next half hour.
She was hit in the back during the initial shooting and later sustained a second wound in the foot. To this day, the stoic, long-haired blonde does not understand why her husband had to die in such random circumstances. She is determined it should not happen again to anyone else.
Papuan rights groups insist the military ordered the attack to ensure that Freeport continued to bankroll their presence around the mine. But there has never been any evidence that the firm planned to abandon the controversial payments, introduced in 1996 after rioters rampaged through its facilities.
Ironically, the government recently ordered police to take over guard duties at the mine, with a sharply reduced military force maintaining perimeter security. Apart from the 2002 ambush, the only other time the mine has been targeted directly was in 1977 when OPM rebels cut the pipe carrying concentrate to the company's port.
"We never thought it would get this far, but the doors just kept opening," Ms Spier confesses, marvelling at how her quiet persistence brought together the US State Department, Pentagon, National Security Council and congressional offices in a joint effort to force Jakarta to cooperate in the investigation.
Non-governmental organisations which initially joined the campaign quickly dropped out when the inquiries veered away from the military. But they have a real point in continuing to question where the gunmen obtained such a large stock of ammunition. To many disinterested observers, it could only have come from one source.
Ms Spier hopes her experience will encourage others seeking justice. During a meeting with the widow of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, she urged her never to give up her dogged pursuit of the powerful figures in the country's security apparatus who are suspected of ordering his death.
Although the military leadership was not, in the end, implicated in the Papua killings, Ms Spier notes that was not the perception when the Federal Bureau of Investigation stepped into the long- stalled investigation. "We were going to go in any direction it took us," she says.
Given all the misguided efforts to intimidate journalists and cover up aspects of the case, it is clear senior officers were not at all sure themselves whether their subordinates were involved. It is a suspicion that lingers on today.
Only one of the defendants sought to make contact with Ms Spier, smiling and acknowledging her presence during the trial. "He wanted to shake my hand, but I couldn't bring myself to do it because I didn't know what role he played," she says.
Now she has to pick up the pieces of her life. "I've got to take something positive out of this," says Ms Spier, whose time in Indonesia was funded by the US Department of Justice under the 1984 Victims of Crime Act.
Cendrawasih Pos - November 10, 2006
Jayapura – Prisoners who have been convicted for the Abepura Clash and are now serving sentences in Abepura Prison held a press conference on Thursday.
Led by Selvius Boby, they said their aim was to issue a clarification regarding the news currently circulating to the effect that the bloody Abepura incident on 16 March, in front of the Cendrawasih University campus had been coordinated by Front Pepera (Struggle Front for West Papua).
"The 16 March was not coordinated by us at all but by certain elements who deliberately used our name to carry out that anarchistic action," said Boby Along with Boby, the press conference was attended by. Yahnya Echo, Luis Gedy, Elias Tamaka, Othen Dapyal, Thomas Ukago, Ferdinant Pakage, Penesius Waker, Musa Asso,Belson Rumbiak, and Matias Mehel Dimara, Elkana Lakobal, Bensiur Mirin, as well as by Yusak Pakage, a political prisoner. They were all wearing T-shirts bearing the name of Munir.
They said that the aim of those responsible for the clash was to halt the activities of Front Pepera which has been fighting for the rights of the Papuan people, including their demand that Freeport in Tembagapura should be shut down.
Boby said that Front Pepera was not involved; the action was undertaken by a number of students as well as student, youth and community organisations. "Many people were involved, but people are trying to incriminate Front Pepera," he said.
Yahya Echo, who chairs Front Pepera in Port Numbay, said he hoped that the chief of police in Papua as well as the high court and the Indonesian government will agree to rehabilitate the reputations of he and his friends who have been accused of being involved in the Abepura incident.
"We were not involved and we are now victims of a conspiracy plotted by certain circles." He said that even though they were now behind bars, they would continue with their struggle for the rights of the oppressed Papuan people. "We will continue to demand the closure of Freeport, even here behind bars."
He said that they were preparing to lodge an appeal against the verdicts of the Jayapura court and would call on foreign donors to stop funding legal advisers in the Papua Advocacy Team.
He also said that the police should lift the "wanted" status against Papuan students whom the police say were involved in the Abepura incident. "And we will seek political asylum with the help of Amnesty International if there is no clarification regarding our legal status."
[Abridged in translation by Tapol.]
Tempo Interactive - November 10, 2006
Cunding Levi, Jayapura – many as 23 defendants and convicts of the case on March 16 in Abepura, Papua, disputed that the clash was coordinated by the People's Front of Struggle (Pepera) of West Papua.
"Some (people) use our name when committing an anarchistic act," said Selpius Boby, Secretary General of West Papua Pepera in Jayapura.
According to him, some people want to stop Pepera's efforts in radically fighting for Papuan people's rights including the closure of PT Freeport Indonesia in Tembagapura.
However, Pepera was not involved in the clash which was started by the demonstration of university students and organizations of students, youth and the public.
The clash took place when the residents' demonstration urging the closure of Freeport caused several police officers to die and many people injured.
Yahya Echo, Head of Port Numbay Pepera, hopes the Papua Regional Police Chief, Papua High Court and the central government recover their reputation. "We're the victims of political conspiracy," he said. The prisoners also appealed the verdict of the Jayapura District Court.
Melbourne Age - November 9, 2006
Andra Jackson – Australia was "killing off" democracy in Papua with its impending treaty with Indonesia, a Papuan leader has said in Melbourne.
Jacob Rumbiak, foreign affairs co-ordinator for the West Papuan National Authority – which describes itself as Papua's transitional government – said yesterday that Australia would be stopping international monitoring of human rights abuses by the Indonesian military in Papua.
"It will close West Papua from the rest of the world," especially to those concerned about human rights and the environment, he said. He also warned it would "create opportunities for international terrorists based in West Papua to create instability in the Pacific".
The treaty, to be signed on Monday, includes expansion of military and intelligence ties, recognition of Indonesian sovereignty over Papua and agreement to suppress supporters of independence.
"They wanted this treaty to stop the misunderstanding between Indonesia and the Australian Government because of the 43 who arrived in Australia," Mr Rumbiak said, referring to the Papuan asylum seekers who arrived in Australia in January and were granted protection.
"The treaty is not the solution," he said. "It cannot stop the West Papuan struggle to defend West Papuan land, peace and justice. The Australian Government should understand the 43 asylum seekers left West Papua because West Papua was not safe for them. The treaty would not deter future asylum seekers, he said.
A spokesman for the Free West Papua campaign, Nick Chesterfield, said: "The agreement is neither contributing to West Papua's, Indonesia's or Australia's security because it is aligning Australia with the wishes of TNI (the Indonesian military), which is the source of all the instability problems in our region."
A former Papua resident and human rights campaigner, Anglican minister Peter Woods, questioned the implications of the agreement for "those who are legitimately supporting West Papuans' aspirations in Australia and the attitude of the Australian Government towards that".
Newspoll findings released yesterday found 64 per cent of Australians supported access to Papua for journalists and 72 per cent supported access for human rights monitors. The nationwide poll of 1200 respondents prompted calls for the treaty to guarantee access to the province.
| Popular resistance |
Jakarta Post - November 15, 2006
Jakarta – With six days to go before the arrival of US President George W. Bush in Indonesia, protests against his 10- hour visit reached a new volume across the country Tuesday.
Demonstrators of various political stripes attended small but noisy rallies in Bogor and Garut, both in West Java, Semarang in Central Java, Jember in East Java, Mataram in West Nusa Tenggara and Kendari in Northeast Sulawesi.
In Bogor, the city south of Jakarta where Bush is to have talks with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a group of protesters denounced Bush, calling him "the manifestation of neo-imperialist power".
The group also condemned the security arrangements for the meeting, which will prevent hundreds of city residents from doing their jobs or going to school.
A separate Bogor group, calling itself the Muslim Forum, said it would hold a no-confidence motion against the Yudhoyono administration for receiving Bush. They claimed that a number of Muslim figured had signed a petition against the visit, which would be delivered to Yudhoyono on Nov. 19. They also said they planned to stage a bigger rally at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta.
In Semarang, dozens of students from the Indonesian Muslim Action Front burned an effigy of Bush, whom they described as "the oppressor of Muslims around the world".
They said the Indonesian government should reject Bush's attempt to visit the world's largest Muslim country to show solidarity with the millions of Muslims around the globe who had fallen victim to America's foreign policy.
In Mataram, police arrested a Muhammadiyah University student for distributing flyers opposing the visit. The student, Ibnu Hajar, was released after a being held for a short period at a local police station.
Police in Surabaya, East Java, said they would deploy more personnel to guard the border with Central Java to prevent protesters from traveling to Jakarta.
East Java Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Sunaryono was quoted by Antara as saying that efforts would be made to prevent protesters from leaving the province. "They had better stage protests in their towns and only send delegates to Jakarta," he said.
Also in Surabaya, the chairman of the country's second largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, criticized Yudhoyono for the arrangements made for the visit. "SBY gives Bush too many privileges by receiving him at the Bogor Palace and not at the Presidential Palace just like any other head of state," Din Syamsuddin told Antara.
In Jayapura, Papua, former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid said anti-Bush protesters could not claim to represent the country's Muslims. "They dare to protest on the behalf of Muslims in the country, while the majority (of people) don't mind the visit," he said.
Jakarta Post - November 15, 2006
Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Protesters demanding an increase in the minimum wage scuffled with security officers Tuesday in front of the offices of the Bandung regency and local legislative council in Soreang.
Hundreds of textile factory workers from the regency's five industrial centers forced their way into the regency office compound, but were blocked by officers of the Bandung police.
The National Workers Union members from Dayeuhkolot, Baleendah, Katapang, Banjaran and Batujajar demanded that Bandung Regent Obar Sobarna raise the minimum wage from Rp 710,000 (US$74.73) a month this year to Rp 920,000 next year.
The protesters came to the area in convoys of motorcycles. They were stopped by a police rope line. "What do they think we are... animals? Why do they simply drive us away? We're the guests of Obar Sobarna," cried Etty, a worker from Dayeuhkolot.
Others traded punches with the police, but no protesters were arrested.
Minimum wage levels in the provinces are currently being negotiated by local governments, employers and workers' representatives. Each province must publicly announce its decision by early December, a month before the new wage goes into effect.
Sodikun, the coordinator of the protest, said it was time for the local administration, councilors and businessmen to raise the minimum wage in line with the results of a survey on workers' basic needs.
Sodikun said the minimum wage of Rp 710,000 per month met only 95 percent of the acceptable living level, and that factories have essentially not objected to the proposed increase. "The absence of objections shows all employers are capable of paying the higher wages," he said.
Sodikun said the quality of work would be influenced by the mental condition of the workers. They would be enthusiastic about their labors, he said, if they got salaries that met their basic needs.
The protest ended peacefully after local officials agreed to hold meetings with their representatives to discuss their request.
Jakarta Post - November 15, 2006
Suherdjoko, Cilacap – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was greeted Tuesday by hundreds of protesting residents when he arrived to open a new coal-burning power plant in Cilacap, Central Java.
Some 600 residents of the nearby Griya Kencana Permai housing complex, located about 500 meters west of the power plant, participated in the peaceful protest.
The protesters, mostly women and children, claimed the air pollution coming from the plant in Karang Kandri village was affecting their health.
"The coal dust really disturbs us. We want to be relocated immediately. The power plant should buy our homes and find us a healthier place to live," said Sugriyanto, who coordinated the protest.
The residents, wearing masks, formed a line at the entrance to the plant. However, when the President passed by with his entourage, the residents momentarily forgot about their protest, smiling and waving enthusiastically.
A number of students also demonstrated at the intersection leading to the power plant, demanding officials do something about the pollution allegedly caused by the plant.
"We want the plant's management to assure us that the health of the residents living around the plant will not be affected by pollution," said protest coordinator Fakhir Nawawi. The students were quickly dispersed by the police.
The PLTU Cilacap plant has a capacity of 2x300 megawatts. The coal-powered plant's operation is expected to save around 1.1 billion liters of fuel every year, equal to Rp 5.1 trillion (US$554.3 million) from the state's coffers.
Construction on the facility started in 2003. The first phase was completed in 2005, with the second and final phase being completed this year. The total cost of the project was around Rp 4 trillion.
Yudhoyono said the new plant would save the government money by reducing the size of the fuel subsidy in the state budget. This is the second plant constructed in the province after the Tanjung Jati coal-powered plant in Jepara, which has a capacity of 1,320 megawatts.
"By cutting the fuel subsidy in the state budget, more money can be allocated for education, health and poverty reduction," the President said after the event.
Yudhoyono also officiated at the opening of the Karang Sambung geological nature reserve, located on the border of three regencies – Banjarnegara, Kebumen and Wonosobo. The area has long been used as a research site by geologists.
Later in the day, the President officiated the Central Java Grand Mosque in Semarang, which can hold up to 10,000 people. The mosque, which is located on 10 hectares of land and cost around Rp 200 billion to build, boasts a blend of Javanese, Middle Eastern and Greek architecture.
The complex also contains a museum of Islamic culture, a 99-meter high Al-Husna minaret, a telescope, religious library and a conference room that can accommodate 2,000 people.
| Human rights/law |
Jakarta Post - November 15, 2006
Jakarta – The defamation articles in the Criminal Code are undemocratic and must be revoked or amended, a prominent constitutional law expert told a court hearing Tuesday.
The hearing to review the articles, requested by lawyer Eggi Sudjana and political activist Pandapotan Lubis, is being held at the Constitutional Court. Both men are charged with defaming President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
"I think those articles are irrelevant," said J.E. Sahetapy, the constitutional law expert. He said any restrictions on criticizing the president would undermine commitment to national reform.
Sahetapy argued that law enforcers should be able to tell the difference between criticism and defamation of a state leader, saying they often tended to consider criticism an insult.
The panel of judges, presided over by court chief Jimly Asshiddique, adjourned the trial until Nov. 24.
Jakarta Post - November 11, 2006
Ary Hermawan, Jakarta Post – The National Commission on Human Rights says the current government is responsible for finding 13 democracy activists still missing after being abducted by state apparatus ahead of the 1998 fall of then president Soeharto.
"The Yudhoyono administration has the obligation to find them. It has the power to order... the police and the military, to rescue them," commission chief Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara said Friday. "We will file our findings with the president."
The commission reported that 13 people had been victims of abduction. They were identified as Yani Afrie, Sony, Herman Hendrawan, Dedi Hamdun, Noval Alkatiri, Ismail, Suyat, Petrus Bima Anugrah, Wiji Thukul, Ucok Munandar Siahaan, Hendra Hambali, Yadin Muhidin and Abdun Naser. "We don't know if they are alive or dead," Garuda said.
Commission deputy chief Zumrotin K. Susilo, however, said there were indications that Yani, Herman, Noval, Dedy and Sony were still being held at the Cijantung, East Jakarta, headquarters of the Army's Special Forces. "We have witnesses saying they communicated with them while they were being abducted," she said.
Garuda said the military figures responsible for the abductions were the then armed forces chief, Gen. (ret.) Wiranto, the then Army's Strategic Reserves Command head, Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto, and the then Jakarta military commander, Lt. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsuddin, who is the current Defense Ministry secretary general.
During Friday's press conference, however, Garuda only announced the positions and titles of the men, not their names.
The commission said it would file its findings with the Attorney General's Office within a week. "We have preliminary evidence there had been human rights violations in abduction cases during the 1997 to 1998 period," he said.
Last year, the commission set up a team to investigate the disappearances of 44 people between April 1997 and May 1998. The team worked from Oct. 1, 2005 to Oct. 30, 2006, questioning 77 witnesses – 58 civilians, 18 police officers and one retired military officer. According to the commission, the military had released 10 of those abducted and killed one.
Garuda said the team had faced difficulties summoning military officials allegedly involved in the case. The military argued that the case could not be investigated under the 2000 Human Rights Tribunal Law. "The AGO gave the same reason when the commission asked for permission to visit places where the activists were detained," he said.
The missing activists are believed to have been abducted by the so-called "Rose" team, a squad of elite Special Forces who have already served brief sentences for abductions during the riots prior to Soeharto's downfall.
Activists have speculated that the abductees have been killed and their bodies destroyed. "If the government knows anything about their whereabouts, it must tell and return them to their families," Garuda said.
Previous investigations into the 1998 violence that have implicated Wiranto and the other generals have failed to result in any prosecutions.
Detik.com - November 10, 2006
Nala Edwin, Jakarta – The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) is calling on the government to find the 13 missing activists who were abducted between 1996-1998 and whose fates are still unknown.
"It is up to the government, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, because he has the authority to order law enforcement officials to find them", said Komnas HAM chairperson Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara at a press conference at the Komnas HAM offices on Jl. Latuharhari in Menteng, Central Jakarta on Friday November 10.
Abdul Hakim warned that if the president has information on the deaths of the 13 people, he is therefore obliged to reveal where the bodies are and to return them to their families.
The 13 activists that are still missing are Deddy Hamdun (the husband of artist Eva Arnaz), Yani Afrie, Sony, Herman Hendrawan, Noval Alkatiri, Ismail, Suyat, Petrus Bima Anugrah, Wiji Thukul, Ucok Manandar Siahaan, Hendra Hambali, Yadin Muhidin and Abdun Naser.
In addition to these there were also 10 pro-democracy activists that were released safely after being abducted in 1997-1998. They are Mugiyanto, Aan Rusdianto, Nezar Patria, Faisol Riza, Raharja Waluyo Jati, Haryanto Taslam, Andi Arief, Pius Lustrilanang, Desmon Mahesa and ST. One other, Gilang, was found dead in Sarangan, East Java.
Abdul Hakim went on to say that the individuals considered to be accountable for the disappearances are the former chief of the Armed Forces, the former chief of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), the former Jakarta military commander and the military intelligence body BIA. "I don't need to mention their names, you already know who they are", he asserted.
A team of investigators looking in to the case of the disappearances has been working between October 1, 2005 and October 30, 2006. The team has questioned 77 witnesses including 58 victims, the families of the victims and members of general public as well as 18 current and retired members of the national police and 1 retired TNI (armed forces) officer.
There have been difficulties however in the investigation of these cases, one of which is the refusal of the TNI to present is personnel for questioning by the team. The TNI bases this refusal on the argument that the disappearances occurred in 1997-1998 before Law Number 26/2000 on the Establishment of a Human Rights Tribunal was ratified.
"As a result what is needed is a decision by the House of Representatives which has proposed an ad hoc human rights court. On the same grounds as those presented to the Attorney General when Komnas HAM presented a request to visit the locations or places where the activists were held", he explained.
Out of the victims that were abducted one was killed, 11 tortured, 12 mistreated, 23 were forcibly disappeared and 19 had their physical freedom removed arbitrarily.
Abdul Hakim is asked that the results of the investigation be forwarded to the Attorney General in order to form an investigation team because sufficient prima facie evidence has been found to conclude that crimes against humanity were committed.
A assistant to the ad hoc investigation team into the 1997-1998 disappearances, Lamria, said there a number of people out of the 13 activists that are still missing who are known to have been at the army's elite special forces Kopassus post located the Cijantung area of East Jakarta. They are Yani Afrie, Sony, Herman Hendrawan, Deddy Hamdun and Noval Alkatiri, who Faisol Riza and Pius Lustrilanang met before released. (fjr/sss)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Jakarta Post - November 10, 2006
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The government should quickly solve the Munir murder and other outstanding human rights cases to avoid becoming the target of US Congressional sanctions after the Democrats take control of both chambers, experts warned Thursday.
The Indonesian Institute of Sciences' (LIPI) Dewi Fortuna Anwar said Democrats were known for their concern about human rights issues and would likely focus on the Munir case, which had already been bought before the previous House.
"The Munir case has become a focus of the US Congress (before) so don't be surprised if there is a congressional resolution on it," she told The Jakarta Post.
Dewi said no movement in solving Munir's murder could negatively affect US assistance to Indonesia and could include cuts to economic aid and military assistance.
"Don't forget that the waiver of the US military embargo on Indonesia is not permanent. The assistance is reviewed each year. A Democrat-dominated Congress can cancel military assistance if it has reason to believe that Indonesia has a poor record on human rights," she said.
Human rights activist Munir Said Thalib was murdered by arsenic poisoning in September 2004. Lower courts and a presidentially sanctioned investigative team found evidence linking top National Intelligence Agency officials to his murder, although none have ever been charged.
The only man successfully prosecuted for his murder, an off-duty Garuda pilot, was later found not guilty on appeal by the Supreme Court in September this year.
Democrats took control of both US houses of Congress for the first time in 12 years during the mid-term election Thursday.
Deputy head of the House of Representatives' Commission I on security and international affairs Amris Hassan agreed a Congressional resolution on Munir was a possibility following the Democrats' win. He urged the government to start a public relations campaign – to explain to Congress that Indonesia's human rights record had recently improved.
"Indonesia's human rights record is still not good in the eyes of many Americans, especially since the Munir case was brought before Congress. Besides improving our public relations campaign, we must solve the Munir case – following the investigation wherever it will lead," he told the Post.
In a separate interview with AFP, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda worried about effect of the Democrats' win on ongoing free trade negotiations.
"From the aspect of Indonesia-US trade policies, maybe like other countries, which are currently discussing free trade areas, we are very worried," Hassan said.
He said that the Democrats were known to be more protective about US labor rights and therefore more sensitive to policies or regulations on US trade.
Hassan, however, said Indonesia did not anticipate fundamental changes in ties with the United States, stressing that despite the Democrats' poll victory, the government of President Bush still had two years to serve.
Jakarta Post - November 9, 2006
Jakarta – The post-Idul Fitri influx of migrants to Jakarta may create opportunities for internal human trafficking from rural to urban areas, experts say.
Indonesia Against Child Trafficking coordinator Emmy Lucy Smith and Arist Merdeka Sirait, the secretary-general of the National Commission for Child Protection, said poor people could be trafficked into the city in the wake of the holiday period.
With a groundbreaking bill on human trafficking still pending at the House of Representatives, desperate jobseekers continue to trickle into Jakarta to try their luck.
Fourteen young women and girls with haggard faces lugged their travel bags to a bench at the Kalideres intercity bus terminal in West Jakarta over the weekend, hoping to put the long bus ride behind them.
"I'm a newcomer here. The man escorting us promised us work. But I don't know where I'll be working, or who my boss will be. I don't even know how much I'll get paid," said one of them, a teenager who asked not to be named.
She had been recruited and transported to Jakarta by a man from her village in Lampung, along with 13 other girls ranging in ages from 13 to 20.
Another woman, Siti Rahmah, 20, said, "My family is poor, so I decided to come to Jakarta when that man offered me the chance to become a maid, even though the salary is not clear." Her 17-year-old sister also made the trip in hope of a job.
More than one quarter of the Indonesian population of 220 million lives in poverty, earning less than US$1 (Rp 9,100) a day, according to government statistics.
Saefudin, 25, the man who was herding the girls through the terminal, said they had come to Jakarta to work as domestic staff in private households.
Responding to a report on this group of young women coming in through Kalideres, Emmy said Sunday: "This is a case of human trafficking because it displays the three elements that define human trafficking: the process, the method and the purpose. And the post-holiday period is the perfect opportunity.
"Even though the women concerned have come voluntarily and are not being deceived in relation to the nature of their future occupations, if they are under 18, they are being trafficked."
According to the United Nations, trafficking in persons is the recruitment, transportation, or receipt of persons, with threat or use of coercion, abduction, deception, the abuse of power, or the giving and receiving of benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another, for the purpose of exploitation.
The figures for human trafficking have been gradually increasing each year, according to the National Commission for Child Protection. This organization estimated that in 2004 as many as 75,000 to 95,000 people were transported in the country and smuggled overseas, up over five percent from the figures for 2002.
Sirait, the secretary-general of the commission, said Monday that the bill on human trafficking was still being deliberated at the House.
| War on terror |
Reuters - November 13, 2006
Telly Nathalia, Jakarta – The botched bombing of a US- franchised fast food outlet in Indonesia at the weekend bears none of the hallmarks of previous anti-Western attacks by Islamic militants, police and security experts said on Monday.
Authorities said an analysis of bomb-making material recovered from the suspect's home did not match the sophisticated devices used to deadly effect by the Jemaah Islamiah network or its allies.
"He did it alone because none of the explosive materials are the same as in other previous bombings," said Jakarta police spokesman Ketut Untung Yoga.
Those comments reflect the views of Western security experts, who have concluded that it was not an attack by Jemaah Islamiah radicals.
They point to the low-grade explosive, made of simple black powder, the selection of a target unlikely to attract foreigners since it was in a distant Jakarta suburb, and the suspect's apparently strange behavior in which he failed to get out of the way of what was apparently not a suicide mission.
Media reports said the bomber was acting strangely before the blast, apparently pretending to faint shortly before setting off the device.
The force of the bomb cracked windows in the restaurant, sending broken plates, glasses and food across the floor. The suspected bomber was the only person injured.
Police spokesman Yoga also played down earlier reports that the 36-year-old suspect had stored more bombs in his home, saying investigators had found only material matching the device detonated on Saturday inside an A&W restaurant.
Still, the man's motives remain a mystery, although some media outlets have speculated it might be related to the visit of President Bush on November 20.
"Investigators are coordinating with the medical team about when (they) can interrogate him," the spokesman said.
The Jakarta Post, meanwhile, said authorities at the tourist resort area of Bali and other regions were tightening security at shopping malls, restaurants and other public places.
Jakarta and other parts of Indonesia have been that targets of a number of bomb attacks by Islamic militants usually aimed at targets with Western ties, but other blasts have been linked to separatist groups or criminal activities.
In 2003, a bomb exploded near an outlet of the US-based KFC fast-food chain at Jakarta's international airport, wounding more than 10 people.
Major attacks linked to Islamic militants have mostly been in the capital or on the resort island of Bali.
A bomb attack in 2003 on the US-run JW Marriot hotel in Jakarta killed 12, while another blast outside the Australian embassy a year later killed 10.
Two sets of suicide bombings at nightclubs and restaurants popular with Western tourists on Bali in 2002 and 2005 killed more than 220.
Reuters - November 11, 2006
Jakarta – A bomb blast at a fast food restaurant in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Saturday wounded one person, police said.
Police said the blast occurred around midday at an outlet of the US-based A&W chain in a shopping mall in the east of the city and they were investigating, with bomb squad and counter- terrorism officers present.
A Jakarta police spokesman described the bomb as low explosives. "It (the blast) was in an A&W restaurant at 11.45 a.m. Initially we suspect that the person who set it off was the victim," spokesman I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana said. The official said the wounded man was being treated at a police hospital.
A Reuters correspondent on the scene said windows of the restaurant were cracked, with broken plates, glasses and food littered on the floor.
The Indonesian capital and other parts of the country have seen previous bomb attacks linked to Islamic militants usually aimed at targets with Western ties, but blasts are sometimes also linked to separatist groups or criminal activities.
In 2003, a bomb exploded near an outlet of the US-based KFC fast-food chain in Jakarta's international airport, wounding more than 10 people.
Major attacks linked to Islamic militants have mostly been in the capital or on the resort island of Bali.
A bomb attack in 2003 on the US-run JW Marriot hotel in Jakarta killed 12 people, while a bomb attack on the Australian embassy killed 10 people a year later.
Two sets of suicide bomb blasts on nightclubs and restaurants popular with Western tourists in the resort island of Bali in 2002 and 2005 killed more than 220.
| War on corruption |
Jakarta Post - November 15, 2006
Apriadi Gunawan, Jakarta/Medan – A non-government group claims many of the houses built for tsunami victims on Nias island in North Sumatra have been illegally sold, leaving disaster survivors without shelter.
The Advocacy and Policy Study Center conducted a two-month survey in Nias, and says it found evidence village heads on the island were selling houses meant for survivors of the December 2004 tsunami to their own relatives.
Center executive director Efendi Panjaitan said Tuesday the illegal practice had been going on since last year.
He said houses built by the Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) for tsunami survivors were being sold by village heads for between Rp 2-3 million.
"Based on our findings, around 40 housing units in South Nias regency have been sold by village chiefs for around Rp 2 million to Rp 3 million each. This is very cheap since the standard construction cost of a permanent house built by the BRR ranges from Rp 40 million to Rp 58 million," he told The Jakarta Post.
He said incidents of houses being illegally sold had occurred in Teluk Dalam and Lahomi districts, allegedly involving at least 20 village heads. "These village chiefs have not been arrested even though we and the BRR have reported the matter to the police," Efendi said.
When contacted, the head of the BRR office in Nias, William P. Sabandar, confirmed the agency was aware of the illegal practice.
"All we can do is hope the police take immediate action against them (village chiefs). We at the BRR find it difficult to deal with this matter since there will resistance from them (village chiefs)," William said.
He said the practice had prompted the agency to postpone plans to build more houses for tsunami survivors, fearing the houses would simply be put up for sale once they were completed.
"The houses are built for tsunami victims and they are supposed to be free because the construction is funded by the government. So if the houses are being sold it's wrong and those responsible should be arrested," William said.
So far, the agency has constructed 2,700 houses for tsunami victims in South Nias and Nias regencies.
"The number of houses already built might not be that great, but we hope to complete the construction of 6,000 houses by next year," William said.
The agency plans to construct a total of 15,000 houses by 2008.
William said the construction of houses for tsunami victims in Nias was being slowed by several factors, including the rising prices of building materials as a result of hoarding by people hoping to make a profit.
He said in the past two weeks, the prices of many building materials had nearly doubled.
"We encourage the police to do something about this so we can speed up construction on Nias."
Jakarta Post - November 15, 2006
Jakarta – The country's antimoney laundering watchdog, the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), says it has noticed a significant jump in the number of suspicious transactions over the course of the year.
Most of the reports involved identity fraud for the purpose of opening bank accounts, PPATK director Yunus Husein said Tuesday. However, few of the cases had been found to be actually connected with money laundering.
"There has been a 100 percent increase (in the number of suspicious transaction reports) this month alone, giving us an average of eight to nine reports each day," Yunus told a press conference after opening an international workshop on money laundering in Jakarta.
As of the end of October, the PPATK had received 6,530 reports of suspicious transactions from 160 banks and non-bank financial institutions. This was more than triple last year's overall figure of 2,005 reports.
However, Yunus said that of the more than 400 cases the agency had reported to the authorities since 2003, only seven convictions had thus far resulted under the antimoney laundering legislation. "The rest were tried under the corruption legislation or other laws," he said.
Concern, however, remains over the rising trend of suspicious transaction reports involving identity fraud.
Accordingly, Yunus said he would ask the government to introduce a single identity number scheme as soon as possible, like that applied in Malaysia, Singapore and the US.
"If not, then Indonesia will always be prone to document forgery, and this will make it more difficult for us, the banks, and the authorities to identify suspicious transactions," he said. This was particularly the case given that money laundering rackets were becoming increasingly sophisticated.
Tuesday's workshop is being held to highlight the latest methods criminals are using to launder money, Arun Kendall from the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) said.
Established in 1997, the APG seeks to set guidelines against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Indonesia and Australia currently share the group's chairmanship.
Indonesia was removed in February last year from the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) list of countries deemed to be non- cooperative in combating money laundering crimes, with the Paris-based global antimoney laundering watchdog noting various improvements, including the passing of the Antimoney Laundering Law and the setting up of the PPATK.
The FATF further removed Indonesia from its monitoring list earlier this year.
Jakarta Post - November 11, 2006
Jakarta/Makassar – Antigraft and human rights groups have warned the Judicial Commission it is risking its legitimacy by nominating corruption suspect Achmad Ali as a justice candidate for the Supreme Court.
They also urged the commission to review and improve its selection mechanism. "We regret this. We fear that the commission will lose its legitimacy," Firmansyah Arifin of the National Commission for Law Reform told a joint conference here Friday.
The commission on Monday filed the names of six justice candidates, including Achmad Ali, with the House of Representatives. "We all agree that the commission should not have selected Achmad Ali, considering his status as a graft suspect," Emmerson Yuntho of Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) said.
Prosecutors in South Sulawesi have accused Ali of being involved in the swindling Rp 250 million in tuition fees from students of the Hasanuddin University. Ali failed to attend a summons for questioning Friday by South Sulawesi prosecutors.
"We regret his failure to turn up for questioning today," prosecutor Abdul Taufieq said. Taufieq said the prosecutors would send another summons for Ali and threatened to put the law professor behind bars if necessary.
Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence coordinator Usman Hamid said the Judicial Commission should also consider a letter sent by the National Commission for Women to Ali, which protested his statement on rape cases in Aceh. "We not only need justices who are willing to fight corruption, but we also need those who defend human rights," he said.
Emmerson said the Judicial Commission should upgrade its standards in the selection process and be more proactive in investigating the track record of candidates.
During interview sessions on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, it was revealed that one of the nominated justices had admitted to using office facility for personal interests. The ICW in its investigation found out that another candidate had allegedly had an affair. "How can we believe in justices whose integrity is under question," Emmerson said.
The Judicial Commission allocated Rp 2.7 billion (US$255,555) for the selection, and spent around Rp 2.3 billion.
Chief Justice Bagir Manan said there was no haste to fill the vacant positions in the Supreme Court and that the money could be used to renovate or build new court buildings. Under the law, the Judicial Commission must recommend three names for each vacant position in the Supreme Court. This year, 120 people put themselves up for nomination for two positions, although only six could pass the selection process. The House of Representatives' law commission will chose two of them to be the new justices.
Judicial Commission chief Busyro Muqoddas said he was confident the House would not reject all six candidates, but some legislators have already signaled their dissatisfaction with the nominees.
Law commission member Achmad Fauzi said he would not interview Achmad Ali. "There is no need to interview him because he has been named a graft suspect," he said.
Should the House reject all the candidates nominated by the Judicial Commission, it will be the second blow to its existence and legitimacy after the Constitutional Court stripped its oversight powers in the judiciary.
| Media/press freedom |
Jakarta Post - November 11, 2006
Jakarta – The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) demanded Friday that the Air Force discipline the airmen who allegedly assaulted reporters in Tangerang, Banten, two days earlier.
One of the reporters who had been covering the eviction of the old residents of a housing complex for retired airmen in Neglasari subdistrict, Tangerang, Banten, said the airmen threatened to shoot him. Others said they were "choked", "kicked" and "dragged away".
"We condemn the action because no one is allowed to intimidate reporters or stop them from doing their jobs according to the Press Law," Andy Marhaendra, the head of the AJI's advocacy department, said in a statement.
AJI also urged the Air Force to apologize to the victims and their families for the assault.
Jakarta Post - November 9, 2006
Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – A protest was staged Wednesday against the alleged assault of reporters by Air Force soldiers, who had been trying to stop them from covering an eviction at the force's housing complex in Neglasari subdistrict.
The Tangerang-based Journalists Working Group (Pokja) demanded that the Air Force Military Police investigate the case.
"We demand a public apology from the Air Force chief of staff and for the Indonesian Military chief to instruct soldiers not to take violent action against journalists doing their jobs," Pokja chairman Chandra Eka said.
The incident took place Tuesday when a number of TV reporters and photojournalists were covering the eviction of the old residents of the missile unit housing complex, which is soon to be occupied by active soldiers.
The unit invited the reporters into the housing complex at about 10 a.m. When negotiations between the officers and the current occupants turned sour, the reporters were sent away.
At about 12 p.m., the soldiers started to force out the occupants of the eight houses in the complex. Reporters who tried to record the eviction by climbing the wall were pulled down by the soldiers.
Later, one of the evictees smuggled in the reporters through a back entrance and allowed them to tape the eviction. But the soldiers found them out and chased them away.
Vince from TV Banten said the soldiers threatened to shoot him, while Legowo of TV7 said he was choked by a soldier and dragged away. SCTV's Abdul Rosyid and Trans TV's Ika Rahayuningsih said they were kicked.
| Environment |
Associated Press - November 15, 2006
Niniek Karmini, Mantangai – With smoke from nearby forest fires stinging his eyes, the conservationist aims his tranquilizer dart at the orangutan high in the Borneo jungle. After several misses he manages to knock her out.
Rescuers lower the giant, red-haired beast with ropes and take her to a reserve – temporarily safe from slash-and-burn land- clearing, poachers and machete-wielding farmers who are killing around 1,000 apes a year, said Hardi Baktiantoro of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation.
Southeast Asia's Sumatra and Borneo islands are the orangutans' last homes, and environmentalists say the estimated 60,000 animals remaining could disappear from the wild within the next decade.
Hundreds of fires set annually by Indonesian farmers, plantation owners and palm oil companies are speeding things along, said Baktiantoro and other enviromentalists.
This year's blazes are some of the worst in 10 years and have sent a thick, choking haze over much of the region, especially Indonesia's Sumatra island and Borneo – which is shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
"The fires are out of control," said Baktiantoro, after teams of rescuers trudged for hours through the jungle in search of primates needing help, a task made harder by visibility of less than yards.
The sun burns orange in a gray sky, smoke fills the nose, irritates the throat and stings the eyes.
"We believe we have lost more orangutans than before," said Baktiantoro, who like many Indonesians uses one name. An estimated 2 million acres has been torched on Borneo this year, according to Walhi, an environmental group.
This drives apes into plantations in search of food, and farmers fight them off with machetes, clubs and guns.
"Sometimes they destroy acres of land and eat hundreds of buds," said Muji Harto, a palm oil worker in Lamandau district in Central Kalimantan province. "We know they're endangered and protected. But what else can we do?"
The small-time farmers say the real culprits are the big palm oil plantation companies, which they say burn forest on a large scale and are responsible for most of the haze.
Encounters between humans and orangutans – which comes from the Indonesian and Malay words "man of the jungle" – are often horrific.
Most of the 45 orangutans rescued and taken for medical treatment in Borneo in recent weeks have wounds to testify to that, said Anand Ramanathan, an emergency relief worker with the Washington-based International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Though some had respiratory problems and burns, most were injured by man, he said, some arriving with chopped-off paws, wide facial gashes or bullet-riddled bodies. Baktiantoro said babies are often kept as pets or sold abroad.
"Many of these orphans will end up being traded internationally," he said from a wildlife center in Nyaru Menteng district, where some 400 orangutans, a quarter of them orphans, were being prepared for reintroduction into the jungle.
But even though the apes are lucky simply to have survived another year, farmers say they have practiced slash-and-burn techniques for generations and will continue to do so next year.
Jakarta Post - November 11, 2006
Jakarta – An alliance of activists, politicians and experts has accused Forestry Minister M.S. Kaban of intervening in the police investigation into an illegal logging case against wood businessman Adelin Lis.
Adelin was arrested in September in China for his alleged role in illegal logging in Indonesia.
Speaking in a seminar on illegal logging here Thursday, the alliance said a letter sent by Kaban to police in North Sumatra was an indication that the minister was trying to interfere in the investigation.
The minister sent the letter to North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen. Bambang Hendarso on April 21, 2006, asking him to stop the investigation into administrative violations allegedly committed by PT Mujur Timur Timber, owned by Adelin.
Greenomics Indonesia coordinator Vanda Meutia Dewi said she was also disappointed with the police's move to auction all illegal logs confiscated from the company as material evidence in the case.
Bambang Suharis, a legislator with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, said the letter showed the government lacked coordination in combating illegal logging cases in the country.
Jakarta Post - November 11, 2006
Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Malang – An official at a state-run river management agency in East Java has accused factories of dumping toxic waste into one of the province's main sources of clean water.
Harianto, the secretary of Jasa Tirta River Management Agency, claimed Thursday at least 70 percent of factories located along Brantas River were disposing of their waste directly into this major waterway.
He warned pollution levels in the river had already passed safe levels, and that if the dumping continued the health of the river would be in serious jeopardy.
An analysis of the liquid waste dumped into the river between July and September this year found that of the 44 companies dumping waste into Brantas River, 33 were discharging waste that exceeded safety standards.
The waste was found to exceed the standards set by a 2002 gubernatorial decree on industrial liquid waste in East Java. The criteria used to test the waste were Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS).
BOD is a benchmark to observe the oxygen content needed to dissolve organic substances, COD to determine oxygen content for chemical processes and TSS to observe the total material contents being dissolved.
The 320-km Brantas River winds through Malang city, Malang and Tulungagung regencies, Kediri city and Nganjuk, Jombang, Sidoarjo and Gresik regencies, before emptying into the sea near the provincial capital Surabaya.
The worst affected areas are Malang and Surabaya cities, and Malang and Tulungagung regencies, caused by such businesses as slaughterhouses, sugar, tapioca, paper and textile mills, pig farms, cigarette and oil palm factories, and tofu producers.
"There are actually thousands of companies, but we only took samples representing the types of waste and their locations by using a device called an online water quality monitoring station," said Jasa Tirta lab head Vonny C. Setiawati.
The average deviation level of the liquid waste dumped directly into Brantas River reached more than 1,000 percent, and above 3,000 percent in some cases, such as waste from the Sempulur pig farm in Malang regency.
Waste from the pig farm had a COD content of 7,540.8 mg/liter, well above the allowable level of 200 mg/liter. Waste from the PT Penamas cigarette factory in Malang regency had a COD level of 3,664.1 mg/liter, above the maximum standard of 100 mg/liter.
Harianto said his office had reported the results of its tests to the East Java office of the Environmental Impact Control Agency (Bapedalda).
"The water quality of Brantas River is obviously affected by this. However, we have to conduct further analysis to be more specific, and Bapedalda will have the ultimate say in the matter. We only execute the tests," said Harianto.
He said Jasa Tirta was not authorized to take action against polluting companies, which is the job of Bapedalda.
"The important thing is that we have carried out our job as a management agency of Brantas River, according to Public Works Ministry Decree No. 56/1991, such as monitoring and evaluating liquid waste dumped into the Brantas River," Harianto said.
Jasa Tirta expressed hope all parties would take immediate measures to stop the pollution before it got worse.
| Armed forces/defense |
Jakarta Post - November 13, 2006
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Following Democratic victories in last week's US midterm elections, Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said Indonesia would continue to spread its military purchases among major powers to avoid being dependent on any one country.
"We will try to balance our defense relations with all major powers. So, we are now examining all our military equipment needs, and then deciding which country we will buy them from," he said on the sidelines of a seminar on South Korea-ASEAN ties at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies here on Saturday.
Juwono said that in addition to the US, Indonesia had military and strategic ties with Australia, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea.
Indonesia suffered declines in its military after the United States imposed restrictions on military sales and cooperation in 1992 over concerns about rights abuses by Indonesian armed forces in East Timor (now Timor Leste).
Facing a severe shortage of spare parts for its US-made equipment, the Indonesian military relied on the black market as well as spare parts taken from damaged equipment.
Only after launching its "war on terror" in response to the 9/11 attacks in 2001 did the US consider resuming military ties. Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population, is seen as a strategic partner in the fight against terrorism, and the Republicans controlled both US chambers after 2002.
Last November the U.S Department of State lifted all remaining congressional restrictions on US military assistance to Indonesia.
In February, the Bush administration proposed a more than sixfold increase in military funding for the country.
However, Democrats regained control of both US houses of Congress for the first time in 12 years during the midterm elections last week.
Some observers have said that the Democrats, who are known for their concern about human rights, could raise concerns about issues in Indonesia such as the unsolved murder of activist Munir. That case had already been brought before the previous House.
Several experts even suggested that the Democrat-dominated Congress could issue a resolution on Munir.
They argued that if Indonesia failed to resolve this and other cases, it could face sanctions including cuts to economic aid and military assistance. The waiver that lifted the US military embargo on Indonesia is not permanent and is reviewed each year.
Human rights activist Munir Said Thalib was murdered by arsenic poisoning on a Garuda flight in September 2004. Lower courts and a presidentially sanctioned investigative team found evidence linking top National Intelligence Agency officials to his murder, although none have ever been charged.
The only man successfully prosecuted for his murder, an off-duty Garuda pilot, was found not guilty on appeal by the Supreme Court in September.
Juwono said he expected no significant changes in US policy on Indonesia, however, as Democratic leaders in both chambers had expressed a belief that Indonesia should receive aid.
"The Indonesian police are still investigating it so the US understands that Indonesia should handle the case without outside pressure," he said.
Jakarta Post - November 13, 2006
Magelang, Central Java – A former military (TNI) chief says there is no reason to deny soldiers their basic right to vote in the 2009 general elections.
"(If critics) keep saying that time is not right for the military members to vote in 2009, then when will they be allowed to vote?" Gen. (ret) Endriartono Sutarto said Saturday, as quoted by Antara. He said that three years from now would be enough time for TNI to prepare itself to take part in the election.
Allowing TNI employees to cast votes in the general election is a crucial issue in the ongoing debate on the amendment of the general election bill.
Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono is one of the several figures who say that the 2014 elections would be more suitable, as it would allow TNI to finish the necessary preparations.
Antara News - November 10, 2006
Magelang – The Indonesian and US army special forces will resume cooperation following the lifting of the US military embargo on Indonesia some time ago, the chief of the Indonesian army's special force (Kopassus), Major General Rasyid QA, said here on Friday.
"The cooperation will be resumed not all at once in all fields, but in stages," he said to ANTARA News when accompanying the army chief of staff during his working visit.
He said that in the initial stage, the cooperation would be focused on education and training of Kopassus officers considering that human resources development was a vital part in building a reliable force.
After human resource development is already established cooperation will be upgraded to weaponry which is needed to support a special force's role, he said.
Kopassus had a cooperation and joint exercises with its counterparts of countries such as Singapore and Thailand. The joint exercises with Australia and the US were halted following the US embargo imposed in 1999.
Indonesia and Australia resumed cooperation especially with that country's Special Army Services (SAS) in 2004 through two army talks.
Indonesia and the US meanwhile have started considering holding two army talks as part the US-Indonesian Bilateral Defence Dialogue.
Indonesia and the US have been engaged in security cooperation in the framework of the Indonesian-US Security Dialogue (IUSDD) since 2002.
The two countries have also been engaged in defense cooperation under the United States-Indonesia Bilateral Defense Dialogue (IUBDD) which was discontinued after the US imposed an embargo on Indonesia.
Following the lifting of the embargo, the two countries agreed to resume their defense and security cooperation.
| Foreign affairs |
Sydney Morning Herald - November 14, 2006
Mark Forbes in Senggigi, Lombok – With two signatures and a handshake, Indonesia and Australia have proclaimed a new era of closer relations with a treaty aimed at ending a roller-coaster of diplomatic crises.
The ambitious security treaty was signed last night by the Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer, and his Indonesian counterpart, Hassan Wirayuda, in Lombok.
Pledging stronger links in defence, law enforcement, counterterrorism, intelligence-sharing, border protection and even nuclear energy programs, the security framework also contains clauses appeasing perceptions of Australian support for Papuan independence.
The clauses, stating Australia will not interfere in Indonesia's domestic affairs or "in any manner support any person or entity which constitutes a threat to the stability, sovereignty or [its] territorial integrity", will spark concern in human rights groups and could create unrealistic expectations in Indonesia.
Non-interference could mean Australia turning a blind eye to the plight of Papuans and human rights abuses in Indonesia.
Although the clauses apply to both countries, they are a response to Australia granting asylum to 43 Papuans earlier this year, sparking a three-month freeze in relations and the recall of Indonesia's ambassador.
Officials admit the concessions are aimed at calming the waters before the expected arrival of more Papuan asylum seekers.
Last night Mr Downer said the agreement "reflects a confident and maturing bilateral relationship", providing a legal framework for much greater co-operation in all areas of security. The treaty states Australia and Indonesia will do "everything possible individually and jointly to eradicate international terrorism and extremism".
Mr Downer has been eager to distance this treaty from the security pact secretly negotiated by Paul Keating in 1995 and torn up during the conflict over East Timor's independence. Both sides state this is a broader framework for a far deeper relationship in coming years.
The deeper links will include operations with Indonesia's feared Kopassus troops – already training with Australia's SAS – and State Intelligence Agency, which is under investigation over the poisoning of Indonesia's leading human rights activist in 2004.
However, this is a new treaty for new times. Under its first directly elected President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia had determinedly embarked on democratic reforms. Rampant abuses by the military and police in provinces such as Aceh and Papua have been curtailed, although not eliminated.
The joint response to the Bali bombings and the hunt for their perpetrators demonstrates the value of an ally in fighting terrorism, and Indonesia's resurgence as a regional power offers further benefits to Australia. The treaty represents a convergence between Mr Howard's desire to play a greater regional role and Dr Yudhoyono's wish to reinvigorate ties with the West.
The push for closer ties has been undermined by mistrust. A Lowy Institute survey this year found most Australians believed Indonesia was controlled by the military and posed a threat of invasion. A majority of Indonesians said Australia was too interfering and wanted to split Papua from their nation.
The treaty envisages stronger personal links and education campaigns to counter such misconceptions. Mistrust fuelled Australian anger over the Schapelle Corby case and sentence cuts for the Bali bombers. Fresh strains will come over the sentencing of six of the Bali Nine heroin smugglers to death.
But as Mr Wirayuda said at the weekend, Australia and Indonesia are neighbours forever and the treaty aims to transform potential conflicts into greater co-operation.
"This treaty is for the long term. Presidents may change; prime ministers may change."
Reuters - November 13, 2006
Indonesia and Australia will sign a new treaty on Monday aimed at smoothing prickly ties through greater security cooperation, and underlining support for Jakarta's sovereignty over restive provinces.
Following are some key dates in bilateral relations:
1962 – Australia criticises Indonesia's takeover of former Dutch colonial territory on the western part of New Guinea, partly because Jakarta at the time is seen as too sympathetic to the Eastern Bloc.
1963 – Indonesia violently "confronts" former British areas of Malaysia and Singapore. In fighting on Borneo island between Malaysia and Indonesia, Australian troops aid Malaysians.
1965 – Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, loses power to military elements who over the next few years shift policy in a pro-West, pro-capitalism direction. Ties with the West improve.
1975 – Five Australian journalists are killed in town of Balibo in East Timor in an attack blamed on Indonesia's military shortly before Jakarta's annexation of the territory.
1989 – Australia acknowledges East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, as an integral part of Indonesia.
Dec 1995 – Australia and Indonesia sign security pact, widely praised as a consolidation of progress in bilateral relations. Canberra agrees to shun independence movements as part of the new alliance with Jakarta.
Sept 1999 – Australia leads peacekeepers into East Timor to quell militia violence following a vote for independence. Indonesia announces it is tearing up the 1995 security agreement.
2001 – Australia deploys navy warships to prevent Middle Eastern boatpeople from Indonesia crossing the border.
Aug 2001 – Indonesia and Australia cooperate in combating illegal immigration after a Norwegian cargo ship rescues mostly Afghan asylum seekers in a fishing boat off Christmas Island.
Oct 2002 – Bombs on Indonesia's tourist island of Bali kill 202 people, including 88 Australians. The attack by Islamic militants leads to greater cooperation between police from the two nations in combating regional terrorism.
Sept 2004 – Australian embassy in Jakarta is bombed, killing at least 10 Indonesians, but no Australians.
Dec 2004 – Deadly Indian Ocean tsunami hits Aceh and North Sumatra provinces in Indonesia. Australia is the first country to offer aid, sending transport aircraft and military personnel.
Oct 2005 – Bombs explode in Bali again, killing 20 people, including four Australians.
March 2006 – Australia grants temporary visas to 42 Papuan asylum seekers. Indonesia recalls its envoy and accuses Canberra of supporting the separatist movement in the far- flung province.
June 2006 – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Australian Prime Minister John Howard meet on Indonesia's Batam island to mend strained ties. Howard says his country has no wish to be a staging point for Papuan separatists.
Nov 8, 2006 – After two years of negotiations the two sides announce their agreement on a new security treaty, including wording supporting Jakarta's sovereignty over restive provinces.
Australian Associated Press - November 13, 2006
Indonesia said it was confident Australia will no longer be used as a staging post for separatist groups following the signing of a historic security pact.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda signed the wide-ranging seven-page treaty on the resort island of Lombok.
The so-called Lombok Agreement signals a thawing of relations between the two nations, after Indonesia's ambassador to Australia was recalled amid a row earlier this year when Australia granted protection to 43 Papuan asylum-seekers.
The treaty – covering 10 areas including cooperation on defence, law enforcement, counter terrorism, intelligence, energy and emergency aid – is the first formal security agreement since Indonesia tore up the previous treaty during the 1999 East Timor crisis.
Importantly, both countries pledge not to support "in any manner" any activities which threaten the "stability, sovereignty or territorial activity" of the other, including separatist groups operating in their own territories. Australia and Indonesia have both previously said they don't want to see Australia become a staging point for secessionist groups.
Dr Wirajuda said Indonesia had expressed its concerns to the Australian government that those recently granted temporary visas were using Australia as a staging post.
However, the Papuan situation has been "really quiet" since then, he said. "We have expressed this openly, as far as we have expressed our concerns to the Australian government that those who were granted temporary visa have tried to use their presence to champion their separatist aspirations," he said. "But we have also witnessed that they have been pretty quiet since then. "With the signing of this agreement it strengthens our belief that Australia will not be used by them."
He urged the media not to focus on the Papua incident and the agreement covering nuclear issues, saying the talks started long before the asylum-seekers arrived in Australia.
The agreement commits Australia and Indonesia to cooperate to help prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and strengthen "bilateral nuclear cooperation for peaceful purposes".
"The situation has been really quiet and there has been no threat of an exodus or mass movement of west Papuans to neighbouring countries in the south."
Mr Downer said Australians needed to realise there had been a "massive transformation" in Indonesia in recent years, describing it as a pluralistic society with a free press and freedom of speech. Further, any upheaval in Indonesia from separatist groups would be a potential disaster for the region.
"If Indonesia was to be broken up or if there was to be a massive upheaval in the republic of Indonesia... not only would that be a disaster, including a disaster for the people of Indonesia, but that would be a disaster for the whole region including Australia," Mr Downer said.
He said the Australian government was "delighted" to sign the agreement. "What this does is provide a bedrock for the relationship for many years to come." He said the deal still needed to be ratified by the parliaments of both countries.
"I'm hopeful that they will be very positive in their response to it," Mr Downer said.
Australian Associated Press - November 10, 2006
Karen Michelmore – The Federal Government has given a clear commitment under a new security pact to oppose Indonesian separatist movements, including those operating within Australia, Indonesia has said.
Australia and Indonesia will next week sign the security agreement, which reinforces cooperation on defence, police, intelligence and counter-terrorism. Under the pact, both nations have also promised to respect each others territorial integrity and not support secessionist movements.
It comes as the countries move to repair relations, damaged earlier this year when Australia granted temporary protection to 43 asylum seekers from the separatist Indonesian province of Papua.
"Besides principles of respecting territorial integrity, sovereignty, not interfering in domestic affairs – one important principle in this agreement is that both parties will not use or support separatist movements and will not use their territory as a standing point for separatist movements," Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said today.
He said Prime Minister John Howard had guaranteed earlier this year that Australia "would not be used as bases or staging (posts) for separatists". "And now it's in the framework of a security agreement," Mr Wirajuda said. While there was no specific mention of Papua in the agreement, the "principle" of rejecting separatism was applicable.
In a letter to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ahead of a meeting in June, Mr Howard said Australia did not support separatism and secessionist movements in Indonesia. He also pledged that no Australian development funding would be used to fund such activities. "My Government does not wish to see Australia become a staging point for any such activities," the letter read.
Today, Mr Wirajuda said it was a clear commitment, but did not say what Indonesia expected Australia to do in order to meet the pledge. "Certainly this framework agreement will be the guiding principle on how Indonesia manages its relations with Australia and vice versa," he said. "It's a question of principle that's very clear, there's no doubt about that. That commitment is no longer verbal, but a treaty-based commitment."
The wide-ranging agreement also includes cooperation in tackling problems of people smuggling, money laundering, terrorism, corruption, illegal fishing, cybercrime and drug trafficking.
However, Mr Wirajuda said it was different to the deal reached in 1995 between the two nations, which Indonesia tore up in 1999 following the crisis in East Timor. "It's not a security pact, compared to Indonesia's security agreement in 1995," Mr Wirajuda said.
"The 1995 agreement was more like a security pact – there the main element was in case one country was facing threats from a third party, then both countries would help each other. In the security agreement that will be signed, there's no such thing." He said Australia and Indonesia's relationship had had "its ups and downs", but the latest agreement was a historic move.
"The framework of security agreement is something... that we hope is an important contribution to improve the relationship between Indonesia and Australia," he said.
Reuters - November 10, 2006
Indonesia is hoping a new security treaty with Australia will uphold the sovereignty of both countries, including restive areas such as Papua, Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda says.
The treaty, due to be signed on Monday, was almost scuppered after Australia granted visas this year to 43 Papuan asylum seekers who claimed they were being persecuted.
Wirajuda told reporters the pact did not specifically say that Australia rejected Papuan independence, but that the issue was implicit in its wording.
"There is a provision in which Australia and Indonesia will not support any separatist movement directed against one side," he said. "Certainly, its main principle will be applicable when we talk about separatism in Papua. A treaty has a long time span and it will bind any kind of government in Australia as well as in Indonesia."
Indonesia tore up a defence pact with its southern neighbour seven years ago after the Australian-led intervention in East Timor. Both countries have spent two years negotiating this latest treaty, which also includes cooperation in anti-terrorism and nuclear issues.
The pact has been slammed by some Australian opposition politicians and non-governmental groups, who argue it could give a free hand to suppress groups seeking independence in Papua.
Australian Greens leader Bob Brown described the pact as "undemocratic and repugnant".
John Dowd, the president of the International Commission of Jurists, said the treaty would allow for increased military cooperation at a time when Indonesian forces were being used against some people in Papua. "The treaty should also include provisions for human rights monitors and foreign journalists to be allowed access," Dowd said in a statement.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the new pact did not mean Australia will reject more Papuan asylum seekers, or that pro- Papuan independence groups in Australia would be banned.
| Economy & investment |
Jakarta Post - November 15, 2006
Jakarta – Local and foreign analysts are upbeat that Indonesia will be able to meet its economic growth target of 6.3 percent next year despite an expected slowdown in world trade.
UBS Investment Bank Global Economics managing director Paul Donovan said in Jakarta on Tuesday that Indonesia, as one of the world's major commodities exporters, would benefit from the expected increase in the international demand for commodities, which would continue to increase despite the projected decline in overall trade. "The damage caused by the slowing down of US consumer spending will be limited in Indonesia," he said.
Donovan said that global trade and services would likely decline next year, partly as a result of slower growth in orders from the United States, which is facing an economic slowdown.
He predicted that the slowdown in the US economy would result in a fall in US domestic consumption growth to only about 2 percent next year from about 4.5 percent this year. This, according to Donovan, would result in a decline in the average growth of Asian countries to 7 percent from about 8 percent this year. "For Indonesia, however, we are more positive next year on growth. We are looking to growth of 6.3 percent next year," he said.
In the second quarter of this year, Indonesian economic growth reached 5.2 percent. The government has targeted 5.6 percent growth by the end of this year. For next year, the government expects economic growth to reach 6.3 percent.
Donovan said that an expected further surge in demand from China, the second largest economy in the world, would be able offset weaker demand in the US "China's economic growth next year is important to Indonesia because its imports of raw materials will continue to increase," he said.
Separately, PermataBank commissioner Gunawan Geniusahardja said that besides increasing Indonesian commodities exports, a further drop in lending rates would also spur economic growth.
"The signs of improvement in Indonesia's economy have been evident since the second quarter of this year, since the fall in Bank Indonesia's key rate and lending rates," he said as quoted by Antara.
Bank Indonesia cut its key interest rate to 10.25 percent last week, the sixth cut since May amid improvements in the country's economic fundamentals, especially inflation. The central bank's key rate reached as high as 12.75 percent in January.
Meanwhile, the lending rate has declined to about 16 percent from more than 18 percent earlier this year, but analysts said it is still too high to boost investment. Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) chairman Muhammad Hidayat has said that an ideal lending rate would be about 12 percent.
Jakarta Post - November 13, 2006
Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – Despite widespread poverty and alarming pollution levels, Jakarta has been named the best province in the country in terms of economic and human development.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono presented the 2006 Best Human Development Index (HDI) award to Governor Sutiyoso on Friday, after the city ranked first above Yogyakarta's Sleman regency.
HDI is a means to measure the economic development of an area by taking into account social and environmental aspects, as well as the purchasing power of its residents.
"This award is a milestone for all to remind us that development should not only be based on economic aspects, but on social, educational, health and environmental factors as well," Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said as quoted by newsportal detik.com.
Jakarta accounted for 17 percent of national gross domestic product and reported some 7 percent of its population living under the poverty line in 2005 data from the Central Statistics Agency.
In the environmental sector, a report produced last year by the Jakarta Environmental Management Agency (BPLHD) reveals that there were only 20 days this year – up to and including September – when the air quality was categorized as good, compared to 53 days in 2004 and 25 days in 2003.
A worsening trend is evident over the past five years with good air quality reaching 108 days in 2001 and 75 in 2002.
Vehicular emission accounts for 70 percent of pollution in the city, while the remaining 30 percent comes from industrial estates and households, the report said.
Despite the high level of pollution, the conversion rate of parks into commercial areas in 2004 was recorded at a high 55 percent in West Jakarta and almost 25 percent in South Jakarta, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) revealed.
A better performance could probably be seen in the education sector as the administration has provided free education for the mandatory first nine years of schooling for children for the last couple of years. This applies only for legal residents or those who hold a Jakarta identity card
However, there still are 48,666 illiterate people among Jakarta's 10 million residents.
There are 16,222 illiterates between 10 and 15 years of age, 17,421 between 16 and 24 years and 15,023 between 25 and 44 years.
Criticism over other human development awards had also been heard of last year. In October 2005, the United Nation's Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT) also gave the Jakarta administration an award for transforming the city into a safer, better-serviced and greener place under the two terms of Sutiyoso's leadership.
The award of Habitat Scroll of Honor – highlighting the upgrading of the city's flood canal system, improvements to parks, and the reconstruction of major public facilities – was slammed by urban activists.
Activists from Jakarta's Urban Poor Network, Greater Jakarta Becak Network, Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), and Urban Poor Linkage (UPLINK) said the widespread evictions of Jakarta's urban poor, or those considered illegal residents had disgraced the current administration.
| Opinion & analysis |
Canberra Times Editorial (Australia) - November 12, 2006
Let's hope that the head of the Hutt River Province, His Royal Highness Prince Leonard, does not have many ardent followers in Indonesia. So far, Prince Leonard – formerly plain Leonard Casley – has got away pretty much unscathed with his claim to have seceded from Australia, along with his farm 600km north of Perth.
But a new security treaty between Australia and Indonesian, due to be signed on Monday, will require Jakarta to crack down hard on any Indonesian resident who supports secessionist movements in Australia. In turn, the treaty will require the Australian Government to crack down on anyone in Australia who supports secessionist movements in Indonesia.
Privately, Indonesian officials make no attempt to hide the reality that the treaty is aimed at anyone supporting independence for West Papua, rather than Prince Leonard or anyone else claiming to break away from Australia. Article Two of the treaty commits each party not to support anything which threatens the "stability, sovereignty or territorial integrity of the other party". This explicitly includes support for separatism and could encompass calls for autonomy if this were deemed to foster instability.
The treaty goes much too far in limiting the freedom to advocate independence, or even autonomy, for West Papua which Indonesia invaded in the early 1960s, before it officially gained control in 1969 in what is widely regarded as a rigged plebiscite.
Earlier this year, Australian immigration officials accepted that a group of West Papuans should be granted protection visas because they were fleeing percussion. Australian residents were always allowed to advocate independence in the Baltic States, even though they appeared to be hopeless cases while they were part of the Soviet Union. Likewise, there is no ban on arguing for formal independence from China for Taiwan or Tibet. Nor should there be when it comes to West Papua.
Jakarta Post Editorial - November 10, 2006
The idea of heroes is far from the minds of most people these days, with so many non-heroic deeds going on around them. They know that those who steal money are able to walk away with impunity; a man who ordered the murder of a judge had his punishment cut by half; the killers of a human rights activist remain free; a well-connected company that submerged a huge tract of land under mud has yet to be punished.
The nation has been taught, for better or worse, to look to the elite for examples. History shows that the idea of heroism has become more elitist since independence in 1945, thanks to the increasingly stronger position of the state vis-a-vis the people.
Heroes range from freedom fighter Sukarno to the murdered Army generals of 1965. But it is useful to remind ourselves that National Heroes Day, which is marked every Nov. 10, is a commemoration of the famous Battle of Surabaya in 1945. In this battle, thousands of common people fought with unparalleled bravery against Dutch colonial forces.
There is nothing wrong with leaders becoming heroes. What is wrong is when the hero-worship of our leaders becomes excessive. During the 30 years of the New Order, government ministers were entitled to be buried in hero cemeteries, because they were regarded as heroes of development. Five-star Army general Soeharto was dubbed the father of development, his alleged stolen fortune notwithstanding.
Streets were named after military men and statues went up around the country. The state had the upper hand in deciding who was a hero. Under a dictatorship, the people are reduced to mere furniture.
Fortunately, heroes are born every day and they don't necessarily dance to the tune of the government. Nor do they have to be part of the powerful elite. In all societies, heroes can be found in every walk of life. They are the ones who answer the challenges in their lives, often without government assistance.
In Indonesia, there have been countless such heroes over the 61 years of our independence and six governments.
Indonesian workers who find employment overseas are heroes. With limited education and training they help governments solve the chronic unemployment problem. Most come from rural areas, and their bravery in living and working in a foreign country equals that of the Surabaya heroes.
Small traders and street vendors in big cities are heroes. They were the ones behind the country's economic resilience in the years following the 1997 financial crisis. Without them, Indonesia's economy might still be slumping today.
This makes the inhumane treatment many migrant workers and street vendors receive at the hands of unscrupulous government officials even worse. The government should learn from the Philippines how to treat these heroes.
We have no shortage of heroes. They are businesspeople who keep their businesses running despite the government's often absurd regulations; religious leaders who quietly set up interfaith networks to dampen rising tensions between believers; common people who fight pollution in their own backyards; bureaucrats who wage an unseen battle against colleagues who abuse their power.
These days heroes from elite circles have little currency. The number one and two men in the country are in apparent disharmony over a new presidential advisory body. And many leaders below President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla are less than inspiring, often because of their narrow political interests.
In many ways this is unfortunate, since the country badly needs heroes from the ranks of its leadership: true reformers, able to put the needs of the country above their own needs and those of their political party. But such leaders are not forthcoming.
True heroes don't crave popularity. They prefer to work quietly, far from the glare of the spotlight. Their happiness stems from the fact that their work benefits the country or the world community. They are the true patriots.
The Irrawaddy - November 2006
Andreas Harsono, Jakarta – The restoration by the US of full military ties with Indonesia, in the common interest of combating global terrorism, has been used by Jakarta's generals to further their own domestic political interests as well as to hunt down Islamic extremists.
They divided Papua into two different provinces to weaken rising Papuan nationalism, even though the move was against Papua's special autonomy law. The central government managed to persuade Indonesia's Supreme Court to rule in favor of the division. Jakarta also negotiated with the nationalists in Aceh province to sign a peace agreement in Helsinki, a move widely applauded although Jakarta later betrayed the agreement by passing a contradictory Aceh bill.
Furthermore, the Indonesian military has dragged its feet in handing over its business empire to the government. This continued manipulation of power by the military, and the elected executive's failure to reform it since the end of the Suharto dictatorship in 1998, follows one of six scenarios put forward for Indonesia's future in a report by the Rand Corporation, a US think-tank, which is closely linked with the Pentagon.
The report, published in 2002 as The Military and Democracy in Indonesia: Challenges, Politics, and Power, was written by two American military strategists, Angel Rabasa and John Haseman. Rabasa is a senior policy analyst at Rand Corporation. Haseman is a retired colonel and former US defense attache in Jakarta from 1978 to 1994. He once declared that Indonesia's military "was, is, and will remain the most powerful and important political institution in Indonesia."
According to Haseman, the Indonesian military has three priorities: to maintain power, to protect its business empire and to maintain internal control of senior assignments. Rabasa and Haseman argued that the US should engage the Indonesian military and restore the American military training and education program for Indonesian officers. These programs were initially cut off after Indonesian soldiers killed more than 200 protesters in Dili in November 1991. They were totally scrapped after Indonesian army-backed militias ransacked East Timor after it voted for independence in 1999.
The report also delved into what the authors called Indonesia's six post-9/11 "scenarios." The first, and best, scenario is a "consolidated democracy." This would mean developing a secular state to improve its economic performance and to satisfy demands for autonomy, especially on the outer islands. But this scenario is the most difficult and the most unlikely. Indonesia is a relatively young entity. Dutch colonialists were the first to unite this vast archipelago comprising more than 17,000 islands and stretching over six time zones. Its 220 million people speak more than 500 different languages and 88 percent of them are Muslim. It has a Christian majority in eastern areas.
Since the 1950s, Aceh in northern Sumatra has struggled to secede from Indonesia. Papua set up its own Free Papua Organization in 1965. Four million people have been killed in Indonesia over the last six decades as a result of "rebellion" in the pursuit of separatism. Haseman said the Indonesian military's concept of "reform" does not include any enthusiasm for accountability for past transgressions and can be expected to resist it.
The second scenario is defined as "muddling through," in which Indonesia continues on a democratic path but fails to make progress on economic, political and military reform. "This scenario reflects the current situation in Indonesia," say Haseman and Rabasa. "A weak Indonesian government would continue to find it difficult to take meaningful action against terrorists and radical Islam groups."
New York Times columnist Thomas L Friedman calls Indonesia a messy state. Indonesia is too big to fail, but too messy to work. It has rampant corruption. Neither the military, the parliament, the executive, nor the remnants of the Suharto order, have the strength to assert their will. Terrorists love such conditions. "That's why in messy states, you never quite know when arms are sold, people murdered or payoffs demanded, or whether this is by design of those ostensibly in charge or because no one is in charge," writes Friedman.
The third scenario is a return to authoritarian rule. Messiness would generate a fragile economy and a breakdown in order. It would later promote the idea that a strong ruler was needed. Some media and politicians are already talking about "the good old times" under Suharto. But a return to authoritarian rule must have the backing of the military, as in Pakistan and Burma. "An authoritarian government might be better able to take more forceful action against terrorist and radical networks," Rabasa and Haseman write. But it will have legal and policy restrictions on the US's interaction with Indonesia. It would therefore hamper meaningful cooperation on counter-terrorism efforts.
The fourth scenario is radical Islamic influence or control. This is partially happening today where more than 30 Indonesian regencies have produced Shariah-based laws, including the dictate that women must wear headdresses. The Rand report says that under this scenario it is not realistic to expect Western engagement with the Indonesian military.
The fifth scenario is a radical decentralization. A much weaker Jakarta might accept wide-ranging autonomy initiatives that replicate the Acehnese and Papuan special privileges. For this to happen, Jakarta might finally only control defense, foreign affairs, fiscal policy and the core legal system. Such an Indonesian state is likely to be unstable as centrifugal pressures force it apart.
A loose federation would make it harder to achieve counterterrorism objectives. The Jakarta government might be powerless to control terrorist activities in the provinces. Some areas of Indonesia could end up like the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan on the Afghan border, where the Taliban moves freely.
The sixth and last scenario is Indonesia's disintegration. Weak government and chaotic conditions would make the central government less relevant, and rich provinces would challenge their subordinate political and economic relationship with Jakarta.
Only months after the Rand report was published, two night clubs were blown up in Bali, killing 202 people and crippling Bali's tourism industry. The victims were mostly young foreign tourists. Many Balinese working in the Kuta beach area were also killed. Hundreds more suffered horrific burns and other injuries.
The suspected culprit was Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida satellite group in Southeast Asia, led by Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Basyir. In his hometown Solo, several hours after the bombings, Basyir blamed the US and Israel for the attacks. The vice president at that time, Hamzah Haz, who initially denied any terrorist activity in Indonesia and even visited some radical Islamist groups, suddenly found himself in a corner.
The then president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, however, remained aloof. She ordered her chief security minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to hunt down the bombers. Dozens of militants were arrested. In 2003, a Bali court found some of them, alumni of the Afghan jihad campaign, guilty of planning and organizing the bombing. Three Islamists were sentenced to death. Several others were given jail terms. They claimed that they disliked "infidels" polluting Indonesia's Islamic community. Basyir was additionally found guilty of producing fake identities.
Other bombings took place in Bali and Jakarta, including one outside the Australian embassy. The US had no option but to reinstate its military ties with Indonesia. Both the State and Defense departments in Washington petitioned to reinstate two agreements-the International Military and Education Training arrangement, known as IMET, and the Foreign Military Finance pact-as a demonstration of Washington's gratitude for Indonesian assistance in the global war on terrorism.
The Bush administration and Republican allies in Congress said the previous policy of punishing Indonesia for human rights violations had not paid dividends; the hoped-for reform of the Indonesian military and security apparatus had not taken place.
In 2004, Yudhoyono ran for presidential office against his former boss, Megawati Sukarnoputri. Yudhoyono, a retired three-star general educated in the US, won Indonesia's first direct presidential election and immediately lobbied Washington to fully restore military ties with his country. In February 2005, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared that the Indonesian military had reformed itself sufficiently to merit the resumption of IMET status; in November, the restrictions on FMF and defense exports were lifted.
In Minahasa, northern Sulawesi, a small group of politicians declared a Free Minahasa Movement in September 2006, saying the Christian minorities in Indonesia, including Minahasa, were continually being discriminated against. It is too early to predict which of the six scenarios laid out by Rabasa and Haseman-if any-will develop in Indonesia.
The first and sixth scenarios are improbable in the future. A combination of a messy state peppered with growing Islamist influence and sporadic decentralization drives is perhaps more likely. The world is changing after September 11, 2001, and it is still not clear in which direction Indonesia is going.
[Andreas Harsono is head of the Pantau media organization in Jakarta, and is writing a book, From Sabang to Merauke: Debunking the Myth of Indonesian Nationalism.]
Sydney Morning Herald - November 9, 2006
Mark Forbes, Jakarta – John Howard and Alexander Downer should trumpet a new security treaty with Indonesia, but their attempts to play down elements unpalatable to some Australians – suppressing support for Papuan activists and assisting Indonesia's nuclear ambitions – are disingenuous.
Mr Downer quickly claimed credit for securing the treaty, but the real plaudits must go to his counterpart, Hassan Wirayuda, and the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
It was Yudhoyono who rose above his anguish at Australia granting asylum to 43 Papuans to resurrect the negotiations. And it was Yudhoyono, then defence minister, who suggested several years ago that the security pact signed by Paul Keating and torn up amid East Timor's tumultuous path to independence should be replaced.
In his attempts to appease Indonesia, Downer gave significant ground. Under the treaty to be signed on Monday, Australia will not only support Indonesian sovereignty over Papua but promise to prevent independence activists using Australia as a rallying point.
Jakarta is in no doubt that the clause is aimed at Papua, but Downer yesterday attempted to claim it was "nothing to do with asylum seekers in that sense. It's to do with not... supporting activities that are going to be... a threat to each other's countries.
"We don't want to see people, or we wouldn't want to see the Indonesian Government, supporting activities that could be a threat to our security."
Possibly, as one official joked, Canberra fears Aboriginal activists could gather in Bali to campaign for a breakaway state.
Downer also dodged on Australia's support for Indonesia's nuclear power program. "It's not about Australia establishing a nuclear power program in Indonesia – we don't have the technology," he said.
Australia is also considering developing a nuclear power capacity. More significantly, it is the most obvious source of uranium for the reactor Indonesia plans to build.
Aside from the dangers of a reactor in earthquake-prone Java, there is little to fear from the program. Jakarta is committed to nuclear non-proliferation.
If assisting Indonesia's nuclear ambitions is not envisaged, it is difficult to understand why the treaty includes a clause backing "strengthened co-operation" on the development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Although the treaty endorses full co-operation in defence and law enforcement, it stops short of a formal military alliance.
The treaty provides a road map for deeper co-operation. Intelligence and counter-terrorism operations will receive the highest priority, along with border protection.
But Australia's suggestion yesterday that Jakarta was scrambling to make arrangements for Monday's signing came as a surprise to officials who booked the venue more than a week ago.
Melbourne Age - November 9, 2006
Damien Kingsbury – On Monday, Australia's Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, and Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Hassan Wirayuda, will sign a so-far secret treaty intended to bring the two countries closer together. As policy prescriptions for improving bilateral relations, the treaty should be generally well received in Jakarta, but its benefits for Australia remain questionable.
The underlying assumption of the treaty is that Australia needs to buy Indonesia's friendship. In the past, Australia has found that buying good relations is a short-term arrangement, and has not secured a genuine long-term friendship.
Key among Australia's promises to Indonesia is support in establishing a nuclear power industry, which neatly dovetails with the Australian Government's thinly veiled push to develop a domestic nuclear power industry. The agreement also secures another nuclear customer for Australian uranium exports.
Indonesia has struggled with energy production, especially since it became a net oil importer early last year, and it requires energy to develop its industrial base. However, the nuclear option had already been considered and dropped.
Indonesia earlier toyed with the idea of a nuclear power industry, but scrapped it in the mid-1990s because the country is too geologically unstable. Indonesia is situated along a shifting tectonic plate, and its regular earthquakes could produce a Chernobyl-like nuclear meltdown. This would affect tens of millions of Indonesians and have disastrous implications for the region, including Australia.
Indonesia is unlikely to go the further nuclear step of developing weapons, although some more pronounced Indonesian nationalists would see this as a reasonable development of the country's projection of military power. Such technology could also fall into the hands of religious extremists, such as Jemaah Islamiah, which has already demonstrated a willingness to deploy bombs to take innocent lives.
The core of the treaty concerns security, specifically closer military-to-military links, joint maritime border patrols and suppression of Papuan separatism. Joint military links should be of concern, given the slow pace of reform of the Indonesian military, or TNI.
On this, it is worth noting that the strongest advocate of military links with Indonesia, then foreign minister Gareth Evans, has since admitted the policy was a mistake. Close cooperation did not improve the TNI's human rights record, and only gave comfort to those who least deserved it.
Closer military ties to Indonesia fits United States strategic preferences, however, primarily to enhance closer US-Indonesia military links, which have been increasing after an earlier ban on training and arms after the destruction of East Timor in 1999 and earlier atrocities. US President George Bush is scheduled to visit Indonesia one week after the treaty with Australia is signed.
The treaty also proposes joint maritime patrols, which are otherwise reasonable, except their primary target is Papuan asylum seekers. The focus here should logically be to address the cause of Papuans needing to seek asylum, not in trying to deny its symptoms.
In this respect, a particularly troubling part of the treaty is the reported agreement to suppress Papuan activism. The Indonesian military has brutally suppressed Papuan activism for decades, and the Government abrogated its own "special autonomy" law for Papua, which was intended to help resolve continuing problems in the now divided province.
But further, the treaty also bans Australia from being used as a "staging post" for Papuan activism. If this was targeted at support for military activity it would be reasonable, and is already covered under existing Australian law. However, this proposed limitation looks to be more aimed at activists in Australia and at limiting free speech over Papuan human rights issues.
On this, people with concerns over human rights abuses are frequently reported as supporting Papuan independence, the most recent example of which was the Lowy Institute paper Pitfalls of Papua. A recent survey showed that 76 per cent of Australians in fact support self-determination for Papua, but this is a separate issue to that of human rights.
The Lowy Institute paper seriously misrepresented a number of individuals named in it, me included. This is especially worrying because its author, Rod McGibbon, is about to assume a senior role with Australia's peak intelligence body, the Office of National Assessments, which directly advises the Prime Minister on such issues.
The proposed bilateral treaty includes closer intelligence links, and mistakes such as those in the McGibbon paper are likely to have serious implications for Australian researchers working on Indonesia.
Australia and Indonesia do need to have closer and stronger relations. But, as we have seen in the past, friendship cannot be bought, and such "friendship" that is bought remains shallow and vulnerable to reversals.
No doubt there will be many in Jakarta who are pleased with the outcome of this treaty, as it gives Indonesia much. But one is left wondering what Australia gains from it, how much it may cost, and whether it can – or should – last.
[Damien Kingsbury is associate professor in the school of international and political studies at Deakin University.]
Jakarta Post Editorial - November 9, 2006
The outlook is bright on this side of the world for convicted murderers, particularly those who plot to assassinate the law enforcers who punished them for other crimes.
All one has to do is sit pretty, preferably with a good number of handy connections and a deep pot of cash. The rewards of patience will come, perhaps slowly but steadily, in the form of multiple chunks of sentence cuts – and whoa, you're free!
That's been the message coming out loud and clear since Hutomo Mandala Putra, popularly known as Tommy Soeharto, walked out of jail on a conditional release last Monday with a beaming face. His release stamped out any claim of progress that the country has made toward delivering real justice.
Instead we gave a slap in the face to all victims of injustice, including the family of the late Supreme Court justice, Syafiuddin Kartasasmita. If the deck had not been stacked in Tommy's favor, "he would still be in jail," said his widow, Soimah. Her husband, who was gunned down in broad daylight in July 2001, had sentenced Tommy to 18 months in prison for his role in a land scam.
Having been found guilty of masterminding the murder, Tommy, initially sentenced to 15 years for this crime, joined thousands of convicts waiting to be grouped neatly into those who deserved sentence reductions and those who did not – and his "good behavior" meant he was entitled to such a privilege.
What policy-makers were thinking when they drew up the new criteria for sentence cuts is not quite clear. Convicts like Tommy were not declared ineligible for sentence cuts; only terrorists, drug traffickers, and those guilty of "human rights abuses" and transnational crimes were denied them.
The new government regulation issued in July this year also changed the minimum sentence that must be served before any convict's sentence can be cut. Convicts can no longer waltz out after a token period behind bars. They have to serve at least two-thirds of their term, instead of only half their term.
Here there seemed to be some improvement. Australians who howled over the sentence cuts and eventual freedom of Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir were somewhat mollified, while the government effectively conveyed the idea that drug traffickers of any nationality were in the same league as those spreading terror.
So, going by the book, which never mentioned whether people guilty of premeditated murder deserve a one-day reduction, or a month, or even two,Tommy was freed. He has served less than half of the final sentence of 10 years he received on appeal, and now he is a free man with the luxury of mulling a pilgrimage trip. Some think he might just as well be allowed to report to parole officers by text message from Mecca.
Of course we're left with a big gap between what is legal and what has now become a hallmark of this country's bizarre picture of justice. Even the review of the 1999 rule on sentence cuts failed to use the opportunity to insert a bit more sense into the handling of convicts.
The family of the late Syafiuddin is not alone in thinking their country could do much better than completely ignoring the magnitude of the crime. This was not death by mugging. Syafiuddin sat on the country's highest judicial institution, handling the case of the offspring of a much-feared ruler.
Judges across the archipelago know full well that in their daily work they can either profit handsomely from many a dispute, or risk intimidation and even lose their lives if they are seen as trying to mete out what they believe constitutes justice. The murder of Syafiuddin, and the subsequent release of the jovial mastermind, can only strengthen their conviction that an honest judge is not what the country really needs.
For those seeking justice, formal declarations of attempted judicial reforms will ring increasingly hollow. A further review of the regulation to exempt privileges for those guilty of extraordinary crimes, including corruption, would lend a little more credibility to those who enjoy the people's votes.